The Mesa Trail Read online

  CHAPTER VI--THADY SHEA SMELLS WHISKEY

  The little town of Zacaton City, within easy trucking distance of therailroad, formed the nucleus of a goodly mining centre. Its residentialsection was extensive, and consisted of adobes occupied by "native"miners or workmen. Its business section was made up chiefly of a bank,the Central Mercantile Store, hardware, drug, and harness shops, and asoda-water parlour that adjoined the Central Mercantile. This last was ablind pig, maintained with circumspection and profit by Ben Aimes,manager of the store. Aimes also ran the combination hotel-garage acrossthe street.

  Thady Shea came into town about sunset. He had broken bread on the way,and disdained to seek further dinner. Having been much cautioned, he waswary of danger. Leaving the dust-white flivver at the garage, he went tothe express office and sent off his ore samples and letter, then hesought the emporium of Ben Aimes.

  The two native clerks being busy, Aimes, a brisk fellow of thirty,espied the tall figure of Shea, and in person took charge of thecustomer.

  "Well, partner, what can I do for you?" he inquired, cheerfully. "Can'tsay as I've seen you before. Stranger in town?"

  Shea fumbled in his pocket for the list of supplies, and transfixed themerchant with his cavernous black eyes. He had been particularly warnedagainst Aimes.

  "Friend," he trumpeted, "you say sooth. Truth sits upon thy lips, marryit does!"

  Aimes blinked rapidly. "Stranger, I don't get you! You're a prospector?"

  "That, sir, is somewhat of my present business," boomed Shea. "Yet haveI seen the day when every room hath blazed with lights and brayed withminstrelsy, when thick-eyed musing and cursed melancholy fled frombefore me like twin evil spirits! Make ready, friend, thy pencil for itstask."

  Those sonorous tones drew grinning attention from others. Aimes, quiteovercome by the rounded periods and the imposing gestures, asked no morequestions, but devoted himself to making ready packages as Shea read offfrom his list the supplies required.

  Two or three loafers sauntered along and listened to Shea's enunciationwith awed delight. When the end of the list was reached, the amountstotalled, and the money handed over, Thady Shea carelessly crumpled upthe list and tossed it behind the counter.

  His arms filled with the bundles, he left the store and crossed thestreet to his car. He had laid up the flivver for the night, and nowattended to having it filled with gas and oil. He stated to the mechanicthat he might be here for several days; at this juncture, it occurred tohim that he had forgotten that axe helve which Mrs. Crump had demandedespecially.

  Meantime, Ben Aimes had retrieved the list of supplies, and had staredat the uncrumpled paper with amazed recognition. He swiftly summoned oneof the idling loafers.

  "If this ain't the writing of Mrs. Crump, I'm a liar! You chase over tothe garage and get the number o' that feller's car--hump, now!"

  Thady Shea reentered the store, in blissful ignorance that he was donefor, and demanded his axe helve. Ben Aimes, in blissful ignorance ofwhat that axe helve was destined to mean to him and to others, filledthe order. Then, handling Shea his change, Aimes gave him a meaningwink.

  "Step into the sody parlour a minute, stranger! Have a cigar on thestore."

  The offer was entirely innocuous. Shea greatly desired to avoid anyargument or trouble, so he followed Aimes into the adjoining room, whichat this hour was deserted. Aimes procured cigars, then went to the sodafountain.

  "Want you to try somethin' new we got here," he said, and paused. "Whatdid you say your name was?"

  "My cognomen, sir, is Shea. Thaddeus Shea."

  "Well, Shea, just hold this under your nose and see if it smells likesody."

  Unsuspicious as any innocent, Shea took the proffered glass and held itto his nose. A tremor ran through him--an uncontrollable shiver thatsent fever into his eyes. He lowered the glass slightly and forced aghastly smile. Already defeat had engulfed him.

  "Friend, I am sorry thus to disappoint you, but I have sworn thatnever----"

  "Shucks!" Aimes grinned and held up his own glass. To meet it, that ofShea again came within sniffing distance. "Just one between businessacquaintances, Mr. Shea. It's the finest licker ever got to this city!Absolutely twenty year old, partner. One little snifter now--don't itsmell good? The real thing, the real thing!"

  Thady Shea's entire system was impregnated by that whiff. His bigfingers closed upon the little glass with a convulsive contraction.

  "One, sir, and one only!" he declaimed. "To the dead god Bacchus, allhail!"

  He tossed down the drink and smacked his lips.

  It was upon a Saturday evening that these things happened. That smellhad done the business for Thady Shea; that raw odour of whiskey, whichin a flash had permeated to the very deeps of his being with its awfullure. No guile, no argument could have forced him to drink, but thatsniff had ruined him utterly.

  Twenty minutes later, in maudlin confidence, he was relating to BenAimes how two miners of his acquaintance had driven several hundredmiles in deadly fear of being hoisted by dynamite at every jolt.

  Shea mentioned no names. Drunk or not, he knew subconsciously that hemust mention no names. Also subconsciously, he knew that he must hang onto his axe helve or Mrs. Crump would be much disappointed in him. So hewas still hanging on to it when, after a parting drink, he was thrustforth into the cold night air. That parting drink had been soggy withopiates.

  Ben Aimes went to the telephone and called up the sheriff at SilverCity.

  "This is Aimes at Zacaton, Bill," he said. "A queer guy just blew inhere to-night with a grand souse and is sleeping it off now. You knowold lady Crump, don't you? Heard of her at any rate. Well, he says thatshe's out in the hills a piece with two other fellers. These two wererun out o' Magdalena last month for talking agin' the gov'ment andthey're said to be dangerous characters. The place is north o' the badlands, over in Socorro County.

  "The p'int is, Bill, this here guy says they've got heap o' dynamite andsuch stuff out there. Them two anarchists ought to be prevented usin'it; according to this guy, they got no licenses and never heard o' thenew license law. This here is plumb illegal and you'd ought to stop it.Both these fellers are I. W. W. organizers, he says, and prob'ly areGerman spies; this guy talked with a queer kind of accent.

  "No, I wouldn't think it o' Mrs. Crump, neither, but you never can tellthese days. What's that? Well, I got the location pretty straight fromthis guy. Yep, a car can make it; he come into town that way. Get up onthe night train and you can take my car out there. Sure, I'll meet thetrain. You're welcome."

  This pleasant duty finished, Aimes dispatched a lengthy telegram to AbelDorales at Santa Fe. He then summoned the constable in search of ThadyShea. But Shea had vanished from human ken, although the dust-whiteflivver remained in the garage.

  Bright and early next morning Aimes departed in his automobile, went tothe railroad and met the sheriff, and brought that official back totown. The hardware merchant was pressed into service as a deputy, andthe sheriff took over Aimes' car.

  "I'd like to go along myself," said Aimes, regretfully, "but I got to'tend the garridge myself to-day account of my mechanic hurting himselflast night and being laid up. Tell ye what, Bill! Why not take the wholecrowd right down to Silver City? It'll save ye comin' back here, andyour new deppity yonder can fetch the car back here. Sure, you're deadwelcome! I ain't got no use for the car anyhow."

  To this arrangement the sheriff consented gladly, and Aimes watched themdepart with a twinkle in his eye. Before Mrs. Crump could possiblyreturn from Silver City, to say nothing of her two men, Abel Doraleswould be on the spot to take charge of things. Aimes considered that hehad managed things very neatly indeed, and he mentally patted himself onthe back that morning.

  Ben Aimes, however, did not take local politics into account. It is suchlittle unconsidered trifles which very often go to make up the warp ofaffairs of larger moment.

  Only a few months previously an ancient and honourable gentleman by thename of Ferris had been
ousted from the job of justice of the peace,mainly on account of certain hostility to Ben Aimes and the Mackintaversforces. It is quite possible that old man Ferris was no good as ajustice, yet he had an inconspicuous but important part to play in thetangled affairs of Thady Shea and Sandy Mackintavers, to say nothing ofthe seven stone gods.

  In broad daylight, therefore, Thady Shea came to his senses. While slowremembrance dawned upon him, he found himself reposing in the back yardof an adobe house; how he got there was never explained. A furred tongueand an aching head gradually brought home some errant sense of shame.This feeling was intensified by a goat-like visage above him.

  "Well, pilgrim!" sounded a raucous voice. "Slep' it off, have ye?"

  Shea groaned and sat up. "Where--where am I?"

  "Town of Zacaton City, county o' Grant, State o' New Mexico." The otherchuckled. He was a disreputable old fellow, distinguished by shiftlessgarb and dirty gray hair. "I reckon Ben Aimes must have give ye quite ajag, eh? If I was you, I'd spill out o' town right smart. He's got theconstable lookin' for ye."

  Shea clasped his head and groaned again, not understanding the wordsclearly.

  "I've fallen!" he moaned.

  "With a thud," agreed the other. "But worse'n that, pilgrim. Ye've goneand got ol' Mis' Crump in real bad. If ye wasn't so mis'able I'd boot yeout o' here for it."

  Thady Shea stared up dully. "What--what's that you say?"

  Old man Ferris surveyed him in pitying contempt, and carefully sank hisremaining fangs into a plug of tobacco.

  "D'ye mean as ye don't know what ye been an' done? Well, I can't say asI can see why Mis' Crump ever's taken up with the likes of you, but it'splumb certain that ye've gone an' done for her this trip, ye no-accountswine!"

  Shea's brow broke into cold perspiration. His quickening faculties beganto grasp the sense of these words.

  "Expound!" he said. "What have I done?"

  "A plenty. The sheriff come over this mornin'. Him and a deppity hasgone to arrest Mis' Crump--and all along o' you, ye mis'able coyote!"

  "Arrest her? Why?" Shea stared, his heart sinking. So piteous was hisgaze that old man Ferris turned aside, spat, and resumed his discoursein kindlier tones.

  "Don't ye know that they's a new law about explosives? Well, they is.Everybody what handles powder or dynamite has got to have a license.From what I gather, Mis' Crump ain't wise to it and ain't got none.

  "Last night you done blabbed out your soul to Aimes. Danged fool! Whydid Aimes git the sheriff after Mis' Crump? Ain't but one answer tothat--so's that devil Mackintavers could profit! And sheriff's goin' totake 'em to Silver City, too. If Mis' Crump has located an ore prop'ty,as looks likely, Mackintavers is after it.

  "Once she gits out'n the way and they ain't nobody to hold down thelocation, some o' Mackintavers' crowd is going to jump it sure'sshooting! Huh! Git out'n my back yard 'fore I come back, ye swine!"

  Snorting angrily, old man Ferris turned and stamped away, and so out ofthe story. He had fulfilled his share in destiny, with greater measurethan he knew.

  Thady Shea sat staring, his eyes terrible with comprehension. With everymoment that final exposition sank more deeply into his brain. Theghastly consequences of his own weakness left him stunned and paralyzed.

  He could dimly remember what had happened, up to that final drink. Hewas certain that he had not mentioned the name of Mehitabel Crump. Yethe could remember telling about those explosives; as he connectedthings, he groaned again. Aimes had been pumping him, of course; hadsomehow suspected something.

  The pitiless deduction of old man Ferris struck upon Shea's brain like atrip-hammer. The mine was left unprotected, or soon would be, andMackintavers' men would grab it. Of course!

  Frightful remorse crumpled Thady Shea, mentally and bodily. He owed allthat he was, all that he might be, to Mrs. Crump; yet his action hadliterally ruined her. That cursed sniff of whiskey had done it! Sheawasted no recrimination upon himself for his lapse from rectitude. Hehad gone through all that before. It was the consequence of this lapsethat horrified him, that lashed down upon his soul.

  "What have I done!" he mumbled, groping for coherency. "What have Idone!"

  All the old memories of Mrs. Crump flooded into his mind. He recalledall her actions and words, he pictured mentally all the deep waters ofhuman kindness that lay hidden below her mask of harshness, he visionedanew how she had picked him out of the very gutter and had set him uponhis feet, a man. How had he repaid her?

  In this hour Thady Shea was cast absolutely upon himself. There was noneto whom he might go for advice or aid. He was alone with hisconsciousness of guilt, alone with the remorse that ate into his heartlike acid. A month previously he would have mouthed a curse at the worldand have gone shambling away in search of the nearest saloon, where hewould have recited "The Face on the Barroom Floor" as the sure andcertain price of liquor.

  This thought recurred to him. He pictured himself as he was a month ago.From his lips was wrenched an inarticulate cry, the voice of a soul inanguish. Heedless of the burning ache in his head, he brought his longbody erect and looked up at the sky.

  "Oh, God!" he said, a dry sob in his throat. "Oh, God! I have scoffedand blasphemed because You let me stumble down into hell. It was my ownfault, God. Now, for the sake of that woman who helped me to findmyself, it's up to You to give me a hand! I don't know what to do. ButI've got to make up for this thing that I've done, and there is no oneto help me except You--and it's for her sake----"

  The words failed, for as he spoke out his heart the deepness of feelingthat had laid hold upon him ebbed; just as the bitterness of grief ebbswith tears. A tremor shook him, and for a moment he stood motionless.

  Close at hand was an _acequia_, an open ditch with running water. Hewent to it, kneeled, and plunged his head into the water; it cooled hisbrain and steadied him. He rose and saw his axe helve lying where he hadlain that night. He picked it up and stood there, indecision eating intohim.

  What was to be done? He must do something. The constable was seekinghim--why? No matter. The name of Ben Aimes explained everything. Themorning was wearing along, and by this time all hope of warning Mrs.Crump was gone. Of course, there was the dust-white flivver. He couldtake that and sneak back to the mine. It would be deserted.

  Deserted? But that was what Mackintavers wanted, according to thisdisreputable ancient! That was why Mrs. Crump was under arrest! That wasthe aim and purpose of the whole affair--to have the mine left deserted,so that the man Dorales could step in and seize upon it.

  The gaunt, grim face of Shea tightened and hardened. "One thing I cando--go there," he reflected. "What the hell have I to worry about--canthey do any worse to me than I have done to myself? No. They'll try toarrest me, they'll try to keep me here. They can't do it! I'm going."

  As he left the place and sought the road, there was a sublimeunconsciousness of self in him. He was in no condition of mind to do theusual, the conventional thing, the thing that any sane man would havedone, the thing that any one would be expected to do.

  No! From that hour, Shea was a different man. He had entered upon thisnew and primitive existence, and now it took hold upon him. His courseof life had been abruptly shifted, and he was climbing new paths; as heclimbed, the exhilaration of the heights sang in his blood. He had flungaway the lessons of his old dreary years. Now his actions were to be thesimple, terrible, and impulsive actions of a child who fears noconsequences.

  Finding that he was only a couple of blocks from the main street of thetown, Shea walked toward it, the axe helve still in his hand. He meantto take out his flivver and go.

  There was no church in Zacaton City, and it was not yet time for theMormon chapel to open. The garage doors were wide. In front, standing inthe warm sunlight, Ben Aimes was chatting with the constable about themysterious disappearance of the man Shea. Half-a-dozen idlers were linedup to one side, smoking and discussing the coming and going of thesheriff. Around the corner of the store, across the street, swung thegau
nt figure of Shea.

  "By gosh!" exclaimed Aimes, staring. He clutched the arm of theconstable. "There's the cuss now! Lay him up until Dorales gets hereto-morrow, anyhow. Whew! I'm glad he's showed up at last. Must ha' beenlaying in a ditch."

  The loafers galvanized into sudden interest. The constable startedacross the street and met Shea midway. He held out one hand, with theother showing his badge of office.

  "Get out of my way," said Shea, lifelessly, looking through him.

  "None o' that, now," snorted the constable. "You come along with me."

  With a smack that was heard for half a block, the axe helve swung avicious half-circle and landed over the officer's ear. The constablethrew out his hands and fell on his face, lying motionless. Shea strodeforward.

  "Lay on to him, boys, he's locoed!" cried Aimes, turning to the menbehind. He whirled again to face Shea, and his right hand crept to hiship. "Hello, Shea! lay down that----"

  "You gave me a drink last night, didn't you?" said Shea, halting beforehim.

  Aimes laughed, thinking that he perceived what was in the other's mind.

  "Oh, want another, do ye?" he returned. "Well, lay down that----"

  "You're the man that gave me a drink," said Shea. His deep bass voiceboomed upon the morning air like a bell. "If any man dares to give me adrink again, he'll get worse than this."

  Aimes suddenly perceived danger, and whipped out his weapon. Swifterthan his hand was the axe helve. It struck his wrist and knocked therevolver away. As he staggered to the blow, the axe helve swung againand smote him over the head. Aimes made a queer noise in his throat andlimply sank down.

  There was something frightful in the deliberate way those two men hadbeen felled. For a moment Shea stood gazing at the loafers, who shrankback before his blazing eyes. Then:

  "I'll do worse than this to any man who dares give me a drink again," hesaid.

  Without further heed, he passed into the garage. Up and down the streetmen were calling, running. The group outside the place looked at eachother, their faces blanched.

  "My Lord!" gasped someone. "He's done killed 'em both! In after him,boys."

  Thady Shea laid down his bludgeon in front of the dust-white flivver,and began to crank. For almost the first time in his life he had strucka man in cold anger; more terrible than this thought, however, was theacid-like bitterness in his soul.

  Just as the engine caught and roared, Shea, rising, saw over hisshoulder the string of men pouring in upon him. He had no time to getinto his car. With a quick motion he caught up the axe helve; swiftlythe foremost men flung themselves upon him, and found him facing them.

  There in the obscurity of the little garage ensued a scene that is stilltold of from Silver City to Magdalena. All noise was drowned in the roarof the engine that throbbed behind Shea. Outside, other men paused toask what was going on, to group about the figures of Aimes and theconstable. Inside, Shea fought for more than his life.

  There were six men against him; yet, in the felling of those twooutside, the battle had been half won, for the cold terror of Shea'sblows had made itself felt. The first man at him shrieked out and fell,crawling away with a broken arm. The others came in before Shea couldrecover from the blow, and fastened upon him like dogs upon a mountainlion.

  Silent, deadly, Shea swung up his weapon and waited. He took their blowswithout return. He braced himself against the throbbing car behind him,and awaited his time. Then he began to strike. There was nothing blindand frantic in his blows; rather there was something fearful andinhuman, for inside him was that which rendered him insensible to thesmiting fists, and when he brought down his weapon it was with simpleand deadly intent.

  Three times he struck, each time lifting on his toes, and twice liftingone man who had fastened about his waist. To his three blows, a manreeled away into the darkness; a second plunged forward beneath anadjacent car; a third ran screaming into the open air, across his face abloody blotch. A fourth man, unhurt, turned and ran.

  Shea looked down, curiously, at the last assailant, who was stillgripping him around the waist, trying to bend him backward. Then hedeliberately heaved up his axe helve and brought down the rounded ovalof the halt against the man's head twice. At the second crunching blowthe man's grip relaxed. Shea threw him, staggering and clutching, clearacross the garage floor, then turned and leaped into his car.

  With a grinding roar and a honk of the horn, the dust-white flivver wentout of the wide-open doorway into the street.

  Men jumped aside, yelled, pursued. Somebody fired a revolver, and thebullet smashed the windshield in front of Shea's face. Other shotssounded, but flew wild. The car went around the nearest corner on twowheels, and shot away toward the west at thirty miles an hour.

  Thady Shea had come and gone.