WHATEVER THE REASON for such good acoustics at that spot, the voices sounded clearly, and Montana’s conclusions were confirmed. Eggers was back of all this, aided by Lefty Hoag. Not guessing that they might be heard, that slip of the tongue was doubly betraying.
Just how much so was made evident as Serene Chase exclaimed, between horror and incredulity, and it became aware that the Bad Egg had been moving boldly in social and political circles.
“Mr. Eggers! What are you doing in this?”
There was a moment of silence, showing that voices from inside could be heard in turn. Montana could picture Eggers’ consternation at this revelation of his complicity, even as he regretted so incautious a betrayal on Serene’s part of their awareness. She might travel in political circles, but she was no politician.
Eggers snarled furiously as Hoag started to speak.
“Shut up, you fool! Now you’ve kicked over the whole kettle of beans.”
“Me?” Hoag, as usual, was half-drunk and irrepressible. “You been doing the talking.” Apparently the reminder induced a greater caution. When next the voices sounded they were an indistinct mumble. Melissa was regarding her friend with a look between anger and exasperation. Serene was clearly bewildered. “Did I say something wrong?”
“Of course not.” Melissa laid a comforting hand on her friend’s arm. “It’s only that they know we overheard them. But at least we know where they stand, and that they can’t be trusted, no matter what they say.” More dubiously she added, “But I still don’t understand what this is about, or what they want.”
“I expect we’ll soon be finding out,” Montana returned. It was suddenly an altered situation, with Eggers’ part in it known. He had wanted to remain aloof, but his anxiety and eagerness to be on hand and boss the job had ruined that.
Hoag’s voice sounded, less clear than before, but somehow closer. Montana guessed that he had climbed to a spot near the door.
“Let’s talk things over, Abbott,” he suggested. “You wasn’t exactly invited, but you come along. Which ain’t no matter for wonder. You’re sure the lucky dog, havin’ such a pair of ladies for company.”
Receiving no reply, he took another tack.
“Be better for all of you to be reasonable, Yankee. Ain’t nobody been hurt—yet.”
From somewhere below, Eggers interrupted angrily.
“Never mind fooling, you idiot. Get down to business.”
“I ain’t the idiot,” Hoag returned comfortably. “And since you ain’t no fool, Abbott, I reckon you know what we want. You had to go to messin’ around with that bunch of bills, and find the joker we’d slipped in the deck. Then you aimed to balk. But we’re givin’ you a choice. You can persuade the Governor to sign the whole bunch the way they are—or he’ll be missing some friends till he does. If you got the sense of a quackin’ goose, you won’t have no trouble making up your mind.”
Montana temporized.
“Suppose we agree? Will you send us back to talk to the Governor?”
“And have him say no, like the stubborn jackass he’s been all along? You stay where you are, till he signs. But that’ll come a lot quicker if all three of you make it clear to him that he has to.”
“Considering how stubborn he is, aren’t you fellows taking a big chance, just to get a toll gate on a road that nobody travels?”
Lefty’s reply was surprisingly politic.
“Bad Egg wants that toll. He figures it’ll turn into a good deal. But right now, while nobody else thinks it amounts to a hill of beans, why make a fuss?”
On balance, it was a logical argument. But attention had already been called to the matter, along with the proviso in the bill to create the toll gate, so that it was assuming an importance seemingly out of proportion.
The real crux of the matter was how badly Eggers had miscalculated. To kidnap Montana alone would have been bad enough, but to make prisoners of Melissa and Serene, holding them as hostages, was a crime of the first magnitude, certain to bring down the wrath of Ashley and the full power of government against those responsible.
The brutal reality was that it had already gone beyond words or compromise. Montana countered with a sudden accusation, which was not the stab in the dark that it appeared.
“So it was you who killed Barnaby Jones?” There was a silence, Hoag clearly startled and uncertain. Then he growled angrily.
“Maybe I did an’ maybe I didn’t. What’s he got to do with this?”
It could be dangerous to press such a question, to gain information on such a topic. But already, Serene had caught at this, tensely interested, her mind also leaping to a conclusion.
“I’d like to know,” he declared. “Barnaby Jones was a friend of mine. Was he killed because he’d been visiting Butte and made some important discovery? He wrote me last summer that he was going there, to investigate the possibilities of the copper they have been finding among the silver.”
“Maybe he did find out too much,” Lefty admitted sullenly. “He was aimin’ to shoot his yawp off, to make a report—”
He was interrupted by Eggers, listening from the background and increasingly furious at such indiscreet admissions. “Shut up, you,” he howled, then added, for the benefit of those inside. “We’ll talk in the morning. Come on, you drunken blabbermouth,” and they could be heard retreating, bickering heatedly.
In the yellow light of the lantern, the faces of both girls showed pale and strained. Serene was bewildered.
“What is this all about?” she asked. “I don’t understand. And when we met Mr. Eggers in town the other evening, he seemed so pleasant a gentleman—”
“Whatever he is, he’s no gentleman,” Melissa snapped. “But I’m beginning to understand. He’s trying to place a toll-gate across the road from Butte, and to have it approved by law, so that it can’t be challenged. Isn’t that it?” At Montana’s nod, she went on.
“They had counted on managing that with no one noticing, on a matter too trifling to fuss about. As for Barnaby, he must have come to the conclusion that Butte’s copper could turn out to be worth more than the silver. Eggers didn’t want that news to get out, at least not before he had his toll road, so poor Barnaby was killed.”
“That seems a reasonable guess,” Montana agreed.
“And if a lot of copper was dug and hauled down the mountains and somewhere on south to be smelted—then whoever could charge a toll could make a fortune over the next few years! I’m beginning to understand a lot—such as why Mr. Eggers was so interested and sympathetic in regard to my husband, where he had been seen and when, his nickname—”
She broke off on a gasping breath, her eyes widening. For the first time, like Montana, the girls were beginning to understand the scope and deadly nature of the plot; to realize the predicament in which events had placed them.
“What—what will they do, to us?” Serena half-whispered the question.
Both had demonstrated high courage, but they were badly in need of reassurance. Montana tried to give it.
“With all three of us disappearing, Governor Ashley will be doing all that he can to find out what’s happening, and to institute a general search for us. We’re sufficiently important that he’ll leave no stone unturned.”
“It’s because we are important that we’re here, as hostages,” Melissa countered soberly. “And we’re an awfully long way from town, with the storm to cover our tracks—”
They had just come over that weary route, and could assess the possibilities as well as he. Their friends would search, but they would have little notion of where to concentrate their efforts, across a vast sweep of unmarked wilderness. Not only was this hiding place remote, but he doubted if anybody, aside from themselves and their captors, even knew of its existence.
Help from outside was not to be expected. More immediately, there was the trio who had imprisoned them. The guide hardly counted, save as added force in the event of a struggle.
Lefty Hoag, supplied with liquor—and Eggers would make sure on that point—would take risks without caring. He was accustomed to them.
Ham Eggers was a different sort, but even more deadly—akin less to a rattlesnake than to a venomous creature trapped and desperate. He had intended to keep out of sight, with others running the risks. Now he was known, too deeply involved to draw back.
If he was to cash in on his toll road, his part must remain secret, never allowed to come to light. Such a silence could be assured only by silencing them.
That his companions understood was clear to Montana. What had been intended merely as a threat, to have as powerful a leverage as might be necessary to insure against any failure of his plans, had suddenly gotten out of hand. In trying too hard to avoid any mis-step, Eggers had made several. Now he was caught in his own trap. And so were they.
“Let’s have some supper,” Abbott suggested. “At least they have supplied us with food enough for several days, and I expect you’re as hungry as I am. And this isn’t all one-sided, even if they’ve managed to have it go their way so far. We’ve got a few high cards of our own to play, before the game’s over.”
Melissa managed a game smile.
“With you here, Montana, I’m not worried—or not much,” she said. “That’s where they overreached, as they’ll be after finding out.”
It was not exactly a picnic, but they made a good meal, and as he had pointed out, there were reassuring factors. There was an extra tin of coal-oil, so that they would have light. For at least a few days there was food and ample water. Aside from being prisoners, the situation was not too uncomfortable.
“And if they come back to the toll-road in the morning, we might be smart to agree,” Montana added, as the discussion returned to their situation. “If the legislature can pass a bill, they can also rescind a law, or pass a new one.”
“That will probably have occurred to Mr. Eggers, by now,” Melissa pointed out. “We may as well face reality. Their only hope, not merely for success with the toll, but to remain free instead of being hunted down, is for our disappearance to remain a mystery—with at least the supposition that we became lost and perished in the storm.”
Such a belief could be bolstered by the finding of bodies, days or months later, at some point well away from the abandoned mine. Eggers had planned elaborately; being shrewd, he would alter his scheme to changing circumstances.
While a search continued, and the Governor and their friends were increasingly frantic, the joker in that deck of bills might well be slipped past, almost unnoticed.
Their value as hostages had abruptly dropped to zero. They might be allowed a day or so, while Eggers pondered his course. But he would return to the inevitable conclusion that, alive, they were too great a menace both to wealth and life itself.
Even if he might be inclined to some lesser measure, Lefty Hoag would not allow it. He had Eggers over a barrel, and he held the whip hand. Drunk or sober, he was coldly brutal.
Montana distributed the blankets, and despite the rush and gurgle of the water, a gentle snore of utter weariness told him that the girls slept. He lay in the heavy blackness, assessing the possibilities. This was considerably different from most situations, but about as tight as any he’d ever found himself in. Their lives as well as his own were in the balance.
Once out from this man-made cavern, he’d stand a fighting chance, even against the trio. But first he had to get out.
After they had rested, he would have a better look around, but he was already certain that the only exit was by the door where they had entered. That door had been carefully built, with this situation in mind, fitting tightly, too heavy to move, and barred or locked on the outside.
Should the situation become too risky, there was no need that even their bodies should ever be found. The door could remain shut, camouflaged and covered by the increasing snows of winter. Their food would last a few days, and so would the light. After that would be the long dark.