THREE FINGER SMITH AND HIS PARTY CAMPED at night in a coulee about ten miles from Oro Fino. Lee cut some boughs and made a bed for Dixie under a large fir tree. He made his own about ten feet away. Dixie ate supper and went to bed early. She was exhausted and nervous from the long ride and the harrowing experience of the last twenty-four hours. Now that Bob had betrayed them, she felt that she could trust no one.
"What better is he than the rest?" she asked herself. "He killed as recklessly as any of the gang!"
Until last night she had considered his action as necessary to the building of a great inland empire, but she did not believe that his duty went to extent of destroying anything as sacred as love. But perhaps he did not love her after all. No doubt the nice things he said were lies.
Through her tears she saw the shaggy men sitting about the small camp fire, smoking. Her heart reasoned that Bob could not be classed with these wild men. She remembered his soft words and his caresses. Oh, she wished she were dead! What hope was there left for her in that great, wild, almost untrodden West to which they were headed? As yet she was undefiled, but how long would she be able to say that? What chance had she against the avariciousness of these brute men? Only the thin protecting thread of her father stood in the way. And now he had become so enmeshed with the gang she feared he would be powerless when the test came. For come it would; of that she was certain.
She shuddered at thought of the way Three Finger had looked at her. She knew that only the fear of Plummer held him back. Her father would be no match for him.
She saw them leave the fire one by one to crawl into their blankets. Through the gleam of the dying embers she saw the hated form of Three Finger Smith crouched by the fire alone. Occasionally he would turn and stare in her direction. She could not see his eyes nor the expression on his face, but she knew what was written there. Softly she crept from her bed to where John lay snoring peacefully. Noiselessly extracting his bowie knife, she crept back to bed and waited. The slowly passing minutes seemed like hours.
Presently the man arose stealthily and disappeared in the brush. Her heart was pounding with fear but she did not move. An owl in the nearby tree hooted drearily. She gripped the handle of the sharp blade more firmly. The brush cracked almost at her shoulder. Through the darkness she saw a form silently crawling its way toward her on hands and knees. Still she waited...waited. He reached the edge of the bed and caught hold of the covers. A sharp gasp escaped his lips as he felt the point of steel pressed against his stomach.
"One more move, you devil, and I'll plunge this blade clear through you! And don't move a hand toward that gun! You've got just one chance!" she hissed dangerously. "Back to bed, or I'll slit you wide open!"
For a moment the man sat on his heels as though paralyzed. Then, with a curse, he slowly backed away as silently as he had come.
Dixie felt weak as a kitten. The tremor of her body shook the blankets. She wondered if she would be as lucky the next time. Noiselessly she arose and tugged her bed over beside her father and lay down to toss restlessly through the remainder of the night. With the breaking of the silver dawn she fell into a troubled sleep.
When she finally crept from her bed for breakfast, her head was heavy and her body ached from the loss of rest. Three Finger and some of the men were saddling the horses. For the first time she noticed that there was a string of pack mules in the band. John Lee, sitting beside her, hastened to explain.
"Plummer and Cleveland and some of the gang rode in this mawnin' and brought the mules. We're goin' tuh the Basin. Plummer said tuh get supplies at Elk City."
"Are we going to trail with them, John, with this bunch?"
He stopped his coffee cup half way between his plate and his mouth to observe her, as though the question were a surprise.
"Theah ain't no othah way now, gal. If it hadn't been foah that damn Pokerface Bob, theah might have been anothah!" The cup traveled to his mouth and he sucked the coffee through his teeth.
"Is the whole gang going with us? Is Three Finger?"
"What's Three Finger done, gal? I can tell theah's something happened."
"Nothing, John," she evaded, "only I don't like him and I don't trust him. Promise me you won't leave me alone with him."
John sat studying her for a moment, and as he did so his shoulders seemed to droop. "God!" he muttered softly. "Ah wish Ah could get yuh out of this! But if Ah tried Ah would be wiped out quick. Ah wouldn't care foah that, only it wouldn't save yuh."
"I know, John, dear. We'll have to go and trust to luck. And please don't ever mention Bob to me again. I hate him for what he has done!"
"That relieves me, Dixie, gal," the old man smiled. "Heah, take this little derringer, an' if anyone molests yuh, use it."
"Thanks, John," she said, putting it in her jacket pocket. "I only know of one person I may need to use it on."
They finished eating, and Dixie was clearing up the tin dishes, when Plummer and Cleveland rode in again. They dismounted and called the men together. There were five men and Dixie in the gang.
"Men," Plummer began, "here's my plan. You go on to Elk City and get ready to trail into the Basin as soon as the Grimes bunch comes along. I'm going to make a trip into Bannock and Virginia City to round up my men and head them for the Basin. We'll clean up things as we leave this country, for the pasture isn't green any more. Too much Vigilante business. I've known it was coming, and I think, considering, that we've done very well. I've only one regret; that some of the gang hasn't wiped out that Yankee, Pokerface Bob. Even that ain't so bad, for I heard he's in Lewiston living with the widow Ford, so I'm not much worried about him any more."
At mention of Bob, Dixie turned her head away. She felt nauseated. And she had secretly hoped that her surmises were wrong and that he would come for her and take her away from all this. Her last hope was shattered like a broken doll. There was nothing to care about now. She would ride through to the finish.
Plummer was still talking. "You're a selfish lot. You want all that country to yourselves to work and don't want me to bring all my men in. Well, let me tell you, that even in the Basin, robbery outside the law will not last long. Haven't you any heads on your shoulders? Back in Washington they're considering creating the Idaho Territory out of this, and it may pass this winter. Then the officers of the law will come, and it will spell doom to our professional business."
"Yeah? What then?" Three Finger grumbled.
"Then my men and friends will elect me sheriff. What will that mean to our gang? We'll be in tall grass. What will it do to Pokerface Bob and the Vigilantes if any of them have the crust to follow? It will put them beyond the law!" He laughed at his own joke. "We'll just change shoes with them. Now you'd better hit the trail. Me and Cleveland here will take two of the mules and hit for Oro Fino, and take the Lolo Trail after we've played a little."
That ended the council and the men began to pull up camp. Plummer came over to where Dixie and her father were standing.
"Lee, I've always treated you right, haven't I? And you want me to continue, don't you?"
"Sure, Plummer," the old man answered.
"Well, I'm going to continue so long as you watch yourself. I don't want my father-in-law to meet up with quick death--eh, gal? We'll set up housekeeping in the Basin like decent folks soon, won't we?" As he spoke he chucked her the chin.
"Don't put your hands on me, Plummer! I don't like it!" she protested.
"Leave the kid alone, Plummer," Cleveland interfered. "She don't like it, and neither do I!"
Plummer whirled about. "The hell you don't! I'll have you to know this is my play, and I don't take back talk from anyone!"
"You might use a little sense then. You're so rotten selfish in everything you do that I wonder you haven't got a slug of lead in your belly a long time ago."
"Cleveland," Plummer said furiously, "in spite of the fact that we've been partners a long time I'm liable to pistol whip you sometime, and don't forget it!"
Cleveland was surprisingly cool. "Maybe, but not just now. You need my help too much. Don't forget that part of our followers are loyal to me, and you'll need these men on your side to carry out your plans."
"Haven't I always given you an equal cut? And haven't we done twice as much since we joined forces?" Plummer demanded.
"I'll admit that. But leave that gal alone!"
Then abruptly Cleveland walked to his horse and mounted. "Come on, let's get away from here before someone comes burning lead after these mules."
With a parting shot to Lee, Plummer followed Cleveland's lead. "Remember what I said, Lee; and don't figure Cleveland in our deal."
They had just turned away when Three Finger Smith broke into an ugly laugh. "Say, fellers, did you ever hear o' the two dogs fightin' over a bone? 'Long comes another an, steals the shank an, runs."
With a strange feeling of apprehension Dixie caught the meaning of his words. She determined to kill herself before she would be forced to marry either of them.
The more she knew these wild men the more she despised them. Their only ambition in life was to steal, to murder, to plunder. Their only desire was to live off the labors of honest men. She knew what their end would be eventually, when order should evolve from this chaos. But they were already planning to undermine the coming government. What would become of them all?
She feared most for Bob, even though she believed he had lied to her and tricked her. Her love could not be killed so easily, even though she felt she never wanted to see him again. Strange as it seemed, deep in her heart she wanted him to triumph over these men.
She found herself wondering what Mrs. Ford looked like. Was she pretty? Was she good? Did he really love her for herself or through sympathy? "Oh, Bob!" she cried to herself, "why have you done this to me?"
"Come on, gal." Three Finger Smith smiled evilly. "Whatcha moonin' about? Yore friend, Plummer? Yore right popular in this bunch. We'll cut cards fer yuh in the end."
Without retort she mounted, and the caravan started down the trail toward Elk City, the beginning of an arduous adventure.