Read Ebook: The Rambler Club with the Northwest Mounted by Sheppard W Crispin William Crispin

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Ebook has 2026 lines and 50715 words, and 41 pages

PAGE

"HOW DO YOU DO?" 67

"GOOD LUCK, OLD BOY" 147

THE WHOLE CROWD WAS THERE 203

HE LOOKED UP AT THE MAN 273

The Rambler Club Among the Northwest Mounted

AT THE BARRACKS

Sergeant Jarvis Erskine of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police, stationed at a lonely outpost barracks, was hard at work on his headquarters' report. Occasionally the sergeant, a tall, spare man with a military bearing, stopped to stroke his iron-gray moustache, while a serious expression now and again seemed to creep into his keen, deep-set eyes. He glanced toward his lone companion, Teddy Banes, a half-breed, who sat so motionless in a shadowed corner of the room as to give the impression that he was enjoying a doze.

Teddy Banes, often employed by the police as a trail-breaker and scout, had on many occasions rendered valuable assistance to the "riders of the plains." And though his sullen, morose nature prevented him from being a favorite, he possessed the confidence and esteem of the men at the post.

For the first time, Teddy Banes stirred, shifting his position so that the light fell full across his swarthy, large-featured face and long black hair.

"Yes, a bad business, sergeant," he echoed. "He gone. No one ever see him more. He--what you call him--deserter."

The palm of the sergeant's hand came down upon his desk with a bang.

"Aye! It looks that way, man. And a fine, well-built chap he was, too."

"Bad man scare him, maybe," said the half-breed, sinking back into his former position.

"Jed Warren didn't look like a chap who could be easily frightened," answered Erskine, with a negative shake of his head. "It's a most unfortunate affair--a mystery that the Northwest Mounted Police are going to solve in mighty short order."

The explosive force with which the sergeant uttered these words seemed to have the effect of jerking Teddy Banes to his feet. He began to pace slowly to and fro, his gaunt shadow trailing fantastically over the floor and walls of the sturdy log cabin.

"Aye, that's so," agreed the military-looking sergeant, "but, somehow, I can't believe it of Warren. He should have reported here at least a week ago."

"For sure," grunted Banes.

"Of course a good many things could happen to a trooper in a vast country like this, but a man of his intelligence ought certainly to have been able to get some word to the post."

Teddy Banes came to a halt in front of one of the windows and gazed reflectively out into the black, gloomy night. Borne over the air, blending in with the sighing breeze and faint whisperings of grasses and leaves, came the musical chirping of crickets, or the occasional cry of some nocturnal bird.

"Guess we never know," he said, laconically.

Sergeant Erskine made no reply, but an uplifting of his eyebrows and a sudden tightening of his lips indicated that he did not agree with Teddy Banes' views.

For fully ten minutes neither man spoke. Then the sergeant looked toward the half-breed, who had resumed his place in the chair. "Banes," he said, abruptly, "what in thunder is the matter with you?"

"Matter with me!" echoed Teddy. "What you mean?"

"Why don't you say something, instead of sitting there like a bronze statue?"

"Me?--I got nothings to say."

"What are you thinking about, then?"

"What I think about?"

"Yes. I can't stand a man sitting around looking into space. It gets on my nerves. But if you're trying to think out a solution of this little affair I'll forgive you." The sergeant, having finished his report, rose to his feet and strode across the floor, his tall, erect form coming to a halt before the half-breed. "Teddy," he said, "you've done some pretty good work for the police, and in the job that's ahead of us you must do your share."

"Why for you ask that, sergeant?" queried the other. The monotonous tone of his voice rose slightly. "Always I work hard for the police. Me the best frien' they have; they the best frien's I have."

"Correct," answered the sergeant, with a short laugh.

A strict disciplinarian, Sergeant Jarvis Erskine, a man whom all his subordinates highly respected and liked, yet feared, had always treated the scout with a consideration which often excited the envy and wonder of the troopers at the post; and while his stern presence and penetrating voice may have sometimes awed them it never seemed to have that effect upon the imperturbable, sullen Teddy Banes.

The officer turned on his heel and opened the door, to let a flood of light pour out for a short distance over the ground. To his left he saw the men's quarters, still illuminated, and faintly heard the sound of their voices. A dim yellow beam shone from one of the stable windows, but beyond and on all sides contours and forms were lost in the darkness of the night. The pine-clad hill to the north might as well have been a part of the sky for all that could be seen of its bold, rugged sides, which dropped abruptly to the plain. Between the rifts of cloud, now beginning to break away, a few stars beamed brightly upon the earth.

To the grizzled and seasoned veteran of the Royal Mounted Police the uninspiring sight made no impression, and the sudden and peculiar manner with which he stepped outside the door was not caused by any phenomenon of nature.

"Banes," he called sharply, "come here!"

The lethargic movements of the scout seemed suddenly to desert him. A few long strides took him to the officer's side.

"Banes"--the sergeant spoke with curious intensity--"listen!"

"Ah, you have hear something, sergeant?"

"No, me think not," interrupted Banes. "For sure he crossed the line. No--never see him more."

The half-breed paused, for his keen ears had suddenly detected the sound of human voices. True they were so faint and partly swallowed up in the breeze that only a man whose ears were trained by long experience would have noticed them.

"They were louder than that before, Banes," exclaimed the sergeant.

"Wonder who it be?"

"Evidently some one who isn't afraid of traveling on a dark night."

"They come this way, I think."

"I only hope it's Jed Warren, or some one with a message from him. This is not quite the hour for receiving visitors." Erskine chuckled audibly. "Still, my suspicions are always roused when men pass by the brightly-lighted barracks of the police without stopping in to say howdy-do."

"Yes; for they sure come this way," said Teddy Banes. "One, two, three--four, maybe."

"Yes; and mounted, as every respectable man ought to be in a country like this. I'll stake my month's pay I heard the neigh of a horse."

"For sure. I hear him, too."

Straining all their faculties the two stepped from the bright light which issued from the open door and windows into the gloom beyond. For some time neither uttered a sound. But, at length, as the voices which had so aroused their curiosity were no longer heard, Sergeant Erskine spoke up:

"I've a good mind to saddle my horse and take a run out on the prairie."

The half-breed grunted a monosyllable.

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