"You're presuming a good deal," was the answer; and Lane's face grew malevolent as he glanced at Steel and me. "How do you know he did destroy himself, anyway; and if he did, I guess it's an open secret he had trouble with Ormesby and Steel."
I sprang forward, but Cotton laid a heavy hand on my shoulder, and there was a threatening ejaculation from one of the bystanders. "Well, to satisfy you, I solemnly declare I am in no way connected with what has befallen the deceased rancher, and know of no reason why he should have attempted his life. This isn't a court; but because I'm in a hurry, and to stop chattering tongues, I call heaven to witness it is the truth."
I believed that, after a villainous attempt to divert suspicion to me, the man was deliberately perjuring himself, and several of the bystanders must have believed it, too. Most of them were not wholly free from superstition, and their faces were almost expectant as they stood strung up and intent about the dead man under the deepening gloom. Then a flicker of pale lightning filled the hollow. Each face was lit up for a second, and Lane's was livid; and, when the flash faded, the dusk seemed to deepen suddenly, and a boom of distant thunder rolled from swelling level to level across the prairie. Thunder had been very frequent during the last few weeks, but the listeners seemed to find the coincidence significant.
"Ye can pass," said the sergeant, whose voice seemed a trifle unsteady. "But it will be on horseback, and we may want ye later. Lardeau—it's a charity—ye will lend Redmond the wagon."
"You can't have it," said Lane. "I have a long journey before me and a rheumatic thigh. If you take the wagon I hired what am I to do?"
"You can ride with Redmond. His house is on your way, and you can't hurt him, anyway. The poor devil's beyond you now," said a stern voice; and Lane, who allowed the teamster to help him onto one of the horses which was replaced, departed hurriedly.
"I congratulate ye," said Sergeant Mackay significantly. "He was a fellow-creature, boys. Who'll help me lift him in? We will e'en need the same service ourselves some day."
I shuddered, but took my place with Steel among the rest; and when the task was accomplished, the latter expressed both our feelings as he said: "I wouldn't for five hundred dollars do that again; but it seemed the poor devil's due after what we said about him. I guess he wasn't quite responsible, and was driven to it; but, when it comes to the reckoning, God help the man who drove him."
It was dark when we gained the level and followed the creaking wagon that jolted before us across the prairie. Few words were spoken. A low rumbling of thunder rolled across the great emptiness, while now and then a pale blue flash fell athwart the lathered horses and set faces of the men. "The beasts," said one big farmer, "know considerably more than they can tell. Look at the near one sweating! I guess they find Redmond or the load he's carrying mighty heavy."
"Then," added another voice, which broke harshly through the thuds of hoofs, "ten teams wouldn't move the man who rode away."