20 - Alcatraz - The Trap Shuts

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter twenty of Alcatraz by Max Brand. This LibriVox recording
is in the public domain. The trap shuts in one matter.
Lou Hervey had acted none too quickly. Shorty and Little
Joe arrived at the corral in time to find Mary
Anne in the very act of leading out her pony.

(00:22):
They told her firmly and gently that the horse must
go back, and when she defied them, they astonished her
by simply removing her hand from the lead rope and
taking the horse away. In vain, she stormed and threatened,
in vain. At length she broke in the tears. Either
of them would have given an arm to serve her,

(00:46):
but in fact they considered they were, at that moment
rendering the greatest service possible. They were saving her from herself.
She fled back to the house again finally, and threw
herself face down on her bed in an agony of
dread and helplessness and shame. Shame because from Little Joe's

(01:07):
brief remarks she gathered that Hervey had already spread the
news of her confession. But shame and fear were suddenly forgotten.
She found herself sitting wide eyed on the edge of
the bed repeating over and over in a shaking voice.
I have to get there, I have to get there.
But how utterly Hervey had tied her hands. She could

(01:31):
not budge to warn Paris or to join him. The
long night wore away with mary Anne crouched at the window,
straining her eyes towards the corrals. Night was the proper
time for such a thing as the murder of Red Paris.
They would not dare, she felt, for all their numbers,
to face him in the honest sunshine. So she peered

(01:54):
eagerly towards the shadowy outlines of the barns and sheds,
until at length dawn moon rose and gave her blessed light.
But no one approached the corrals from the bunk house,
and at length, when the dawn began to grow, she
fell asleep. It was asleep filled with nightmares, and before
the sun was well up she was awake again, and

(02:17):
at watch mid morning came. Yet still none of the
men rode out to their ordinary work. There could be
only one meaning. They were held back to join the expedition.
They were at this very moment, perhaps cleaning their guns
in the bunk house. Noon brought no action. They trooped
cheerfully towards the house in answer to the noon gong.

(02:41):
She heard them laughing and jesting. What cold blooded fiends
they were to be able to conduct themselves in this
manner when they intended to do a murder before the
day had ended, And indeed it was only for this
meal they seemed to have planned to wait before the
after noon was well begun. There was saddling and mounting,

(03:03):
and then Hervey, Little Joe, Shorty Mackintosh and Scottie climbed
onto their mounts and jogged out towards the east. Her
heart leaped with only a momentary hope when she saw
the direction, but instantly she undeceived herself. They would of
course swing north as soon as they were well out

(03:24):
of sight from the house, and then they would head
for the shack on the mountain side, aiming to reach
it at about the fall of twilight. And what could
she do to stop them? She ran out through the
patio to the front of the house. The dust cloud
already had swallowed the individual forms of the riders, and

(03:45):
turning to the left, she saw mc guire and Hastings
lolling in full view near the corrals, with consummate tact.
Hervey had chosen those of his men who were the oldest,
the hardest, the least liable to be melted by her persuasions. Moaning,
she turned back and looked east. The dust cloud was

(04:06):
dwindling every minute, and without hope, she cast another glance
towards the corrals. Evidently the men agreed that it was
unnecessary for two of them to stay in the heat
of the sun to prevent her from getting at a horse.
Hastings had turned his back and was strolling towards the
bunk house. McGuire was perched on a stump, rolling a

(04:29):
cigarette and grinning broadly towards her. He would be a
hard man to handle, but at least there was more
hope than before. One man was not so hard to
manage us too, each shaming the other into indifference. She
went slowly towards mc guire, turning again to see the
dust cloud roll out of view over a distant hill.

(04:52):
In that cloud of dust, Hervey kept the pace down
to an easy dog trot from midafternoon until evening, for
he did not intend to expose himself primarily and his
men in the second place, to the accurate gun of
Red Jim in broad daylight was a comfortable stretch in
which to make the journey to the shack on the

(05:14):
mountain side. Like a good general, he kept the minds
of his followers from growing tense by deftly turning the
talk on the way to other topics. As they swung
off the east trail towards Gloucesterville and journeyed due north
over the rolling foothills. There was only one chance in
three that he could have deceived the girl by his

(05:36):
first direction, but that chance was worth taking. He had
a wholesome respect for the mental powers of Oliver Jordan's daughter,
and he, by no means wished to drive her frantic
in the effort to get to Paris. With her warning.
Of course, it would be impossible for her to wheedle
mc guire and Hastings into letting her have a horse.

(05:58):
But if she should here Hervey abruptly turned his thoughts
in a new direction. The old one led to results
too unpleasant. In the meantime, As they wore out the
miles and the day turned towards sunset time, the cheery
conversation which Little Joe had led among the riders fell

(06:19):
away they were coming too close to the time and
place of action. What the action must be was only
too easy to guess. It was simply impossible to imagine
Red Paris submitting to an order to leave. He had
already defied their assembled forces once. He would certainly make

(06:39):
the attempt again. Of course, odds of five to one
were too great for even the most courageous and skillful
fighter to face. But he might do terrible damage before
the end. And it was a solemn procession which wound
up the hillside, through the darkening trees, until at length,
at a word from Hervey, they dismount mounted, tethered their

(07:01):
horses here and there where there was sufficient grass to
occupy them and keep them from growing nervous and neighing,
and then started out again on foot. At this point
Hervey took the lead. For that matter, he had never
been lacking in sheer animal courage, and now he wound
up the path with his long colt in his hand,

(07:22):
ready to shoot, and shoot to kill. Once or twice
small sounds made him pause, uneasy, but his progress was
fairly steady until he came to the edge of the
little clearing where the shack stood. There was no sign
of life about it. The shack seemed deserted. Thick darkness
filled its doorway in the window, though the rest of

(07:45):
the clearing was still permeated with a faint afterglow of
the sunset. He ain't here, said Little Joe softly, as
he came to the side of the watchful foreman. Don't
be too sure, said the other I'd trust his paris
and take about as many chances with him as I
would with a rattler in a six x six room.

(08:08):
Maybe he's in their playin possum, waiting for us to
make a break across the clearing. That'd be fine for
Red Jim. Damn his heart. Little Joe peered back at
the anxious faces of the others as they came up
the path one by one. He did not like to
be one of so large a party held up by

(08:28):
a single man. In fact, Joe was a good deal
of a warrior himself. He was new to the Valley
of the Eagles, but there were other parts of the
mountain desert where his fame was spread broadcast. There were
even places where sundry officers of the law would have
been glad to lay hands upon him. Well quoth Joe.

(08:51):
We'll give him a chance. If he ain't a fighting
man but just a plain murderer, we'll let him show it.
And so saying, He's said boldly out from the sheltering
darkness of the trees and strolled towards the hut, an
immense and awesome figure in the twilight. Low Hervey followed
at once. It would not do to be out dared

(09:13):
by one of his crew in a crisis as important
as this. But for all his haste, the long strides
of Joe had brought him to the door of the hut,
many yards in the lead, and he disappeared inside. Presently,
his big voice boomed, he ain't here, plumb vanished. They
gathered in the hut at once. Where's he gone, asked

(09:36):
the foreman, scratching his head. Maybe he ain't acting as
big as he talked, said shorty. Maybe he slid over
the mountains. Strike a light, somebody commanded the foreman. Three
or four sulfur matches were scratched at the same moment
on trousers made tight by cocking the knee up. Each
match glimmered through sheltering fingers with a dull blue light

(10:01):
for a moment, and then as the sulfur was exhausted
and the flame caught the wood, the hands opened and
directed shafts of light here and there. The whole cabin
was dimly illumined for a moment while man after man
thrust his burning match towards something he had discovered. Here's
his blankets, all must up. Here's a pair of boots.

(10:24):
Here's the frying pan right on the stove. They wondered
here and there, lighting new matches until little Joe spoke,
no use, boys. He declared, Paris has hopped out. Wise
gent at that he's seen the game was too big
for him. And I don't blame him for quitting. Ain't
nothing here that he'd come after them. Boots are wore out,

(10:47):
the blankets and the cooking things he got from the ranch.
Look at the way the blankets are piled up. Shows
he quit in a rush and started away. When a
gent figures on coming back, he tidies things up a
little when he leaves in the morning. No, boys, he's gone.
Main thing to answer is if he ain't left the valley,

(11:07):
why ain't he here in his shack? Now? Maybe he's
hunting that damn Hoss, suggested the foreman, but his voice
was weak with uncertainty. Hunting Alcatraz after dark, queried Little Joe.
There was no answer possible. The last glow of twilight
was fading to deep night. The trees on the edge

(11:29):
of the clearing seemed to grow taller and blacker each moment. Certainly,
if it were well nigh and possible to hunt the
stallion effectively in daylight, it was sheer madness to hunt
him at night. Every moment they waited in the cabin,
the certainty that Paris had left the valley grew greater.
It showed in their voices. For every man had spoken

(11:51):
softly at first, as though for fear the spirit of
the inhabitant of the shack might drift near, unseen and overhear.
Now their words came loud, disturbing and startling Hervey in
the midst of his thought, as he continued wandering about
the cabin lighting match after match, striving in vain to

(12:12):
find something which would reawaken his hopes. But there was
nothing of enough worth to induce Paris to return, and
finally Hervey gave up. We'll start on, he said, at length,
you boys ride along i'll give the place another look.
As a matter of fact, he merely wished to be alone,

(12:33):
and he was dimly pleased as they sauntered off through
the trees, their voices coming more and more vaguely back
to him, until the far off rattle of hoofs began.
The last he heard of them was a high pitched laugh.
It irritated hervey. It floated back to him, thin and small,
like mockery. And indeed he had failed miserably. How great

(12:56):
was his failure he could hardly estimate in a moment,
and he needed quiet to sum up his losses. First
of all, he had hopelessly alienated the girl, and while
offending her, he had failed to serve the rancher for red.
Jim Parris, driven by force from the ranch, would surely
return again to exact payment in full for the treatment

(13:20):
he had received. The whole affair was a hopeless muddle.
He had staked everything on his ability to trap Paris
and destroy him, thereby piling upon the shoulders of Oliver
Jordan a burden of gratitude which the rancher could never repay.
But now that Paris was footloose, he became a danger

(13:41):
in periling not only Jordan, but Hervey himself. The trap
had closed, and closed on nothing the future presented to
Hervey stark Ruin. So enthralling was the gloom of these
thoughts that the foreman did not hear the thudding hoofs
of a horse which rotted up through the trees. Not

(14:02):
until the horse and rider appeared in the clearing was
Hervey roused. And then, in the first glance, by the
size and the tossing head of the approaching pony, he
recognized the horse of Red Paris. End of Chapter twenty