it was december, but the balm of the bright days belied the season. the fall had elongated into a second springhood and save for a crispness in the evening air it might have been april. then, with the sudden vagary of prairie weather, came a change. it was three days after the reception of the invitation to the luncheon. the morning opened up with the mellow warmth of indian summer. ned pullar and his father carried their light overcoats upon their arms as they boarded the seven-thirty for the long ride to the city. an hour later a chill breath swept down from the north and winter was on. before their journey was half completed the yellow and black landscape had given place to a truly december white.
winter assumed the reins of power by the grand inaugural of a considerable blizzard. the wind was not as riotous and gusty as in the dreaded storm but steady and cold, snowing heavily and driving a close, surface blow. night drew down the curtain with the temperature slightly lower, the breeze unabated in its mild steadiness and the snow falling in a thickening sheet. with the stars blanketed by heavy clouds and the moon stark dead the night was black. the white covering of snow made little difference to the impenetrable pall.
pellawa was unusually quiet though a few hardy pedestrians braved the deepening drifts. louie swale's joint, however, boasted a small and interesting crowd. about the bar were some familiar faces, snoopy bill baird, nick ford and other members of mcclure's gang. the green baize door was shut. two men occupied the privacy of the "square room," sitting on opposite sides of the table, each with his amber-hued flask. rob mcclure was plainly on the defensive, withstanding some daring proposition being urged by reddy sykes. their frequent swigs were beginning to undermine mcclure's scepticism.
"you think this red knight wheat, as you call it, is no hoax," said rob.
"it's the real goods," averred sykes positively. "pullar has tested it for four years and the experts in the university have pronounced it o.k. that is why ned and the old man are toting into the city. it is good enough to be valued by ned at one hundred dollars a bushel. they tell me john t. c. norrgrene is interested in this thing himself. this wheat is due to cause a sensation with the result that ned pullar's stock goes up higher in the community as well as somewhere else. ned pullar's a mighty clever gink and i have a hunch that he has nothing on his old man. they've hit it lucky. the red knight is a gold mine to them."
mcclure scowled.
"grant that there's anything in it, how do you propose to get hold of the wheat? four hundred bushels is a big thing to lift."
"easy when you go about it right. i've got it whittled to a hair trigger. touch it and away she comes. you want to clap your claws on pullar. here is your chance to sink 'em deep. that four hundred bushels of red knight means more to old ed. pullar than his farm, stock and the whole works. he's doting on it. that makes it mean still more to ned. here is your chance to hand pullar and son a dizzy one."
sykes paused a moment while he took a long drink. mcclure pondered the proposition with a face that grew craftier the longer he simmered. his cogitations were suspended suddenly, however, by an innovation in the features of his companion. the pull of liquor had provoked immediate result, altering sykes' countenance and causing a sudden expansion of his confidence. with his face overspread by a secretive leer he leaned closer and whispered:
"i haven't let it loose before, rob, but i have red-hot grudge against your friend pullar. that party has cut into my trail three or four times in as many years. we've locked horns before but the breaks went to him. his luck takes a sag to-night. there are three ways we can beat him up. we can get him through the old man in the way we've been figuring. this would cripple him for fair, but we've got to wait for our chance. it will come. the next best bet is a raid on the red knight. this thing is bigger than you are reckoning. relieve him of this bunch of seed wheat and what have we done? we take forty thousand dollars out of his pocket and smother the one big howl of the old man's life. i am for putting over this surprise right off the bat."
he paused. mcclure waited patiently.
"go on," said rob. "give us your third bullet. it may do the trick alone. what is it?"
at the query sykes' face changed in a manner that surprised even his hardened colleague. the unscrupulous plotter became a fiend repulsively malicious. from his eyes shot a jealous malignity, while upon every muscle of his face outcropped the pure depravity of hate. the mask had inadvertently slipped. instinctively sykes caught himself and replaced it. as mcclure continued to search his face he realized that his companion was wearing his usual inscrutable smile. he could scarcely believe that the fiendish thing had disclosed itself.
"never mind number three," said sykes. "this is not a good time to consider it. it will be useful later."
mcclure looked at him askance. the fellow possessed a knowledge that baffled him. a vague uneasiness crept into his mind, a premonition warning him of the man. sykes realized that he had jeopardized matters not a little and exercised all his congenial graces to destroy the effect on the mind of his companion. he turned adroitly to levity and the flask and very soon they were on the old footing of boon companionship.
"we must get hold of the red knight," said mcclure, swinging suddenly in line under the spell of the odorous whiskey. "and the sooner, the better."
"to-night!" announced sykes with a fierce shutting of his jaws.
mcclure looked surprised.
"it's blowing a blizzard," was his objection. "and it's a good ten mile run."
"the kind of night i should select to kill a man," returned the other. "i could slip up to him out of the storm, pass him out and drop into the blizzard again. the snow would obligingly cover all trails. it is now eight o'clock. bill baird and his men are ready, six teams all told. they will pull the little raid at twelve. each man will have a sleigh with double box and no bells. they will slip up the valley along pullar's hay trail to his barnyard, coming in from the field instead of the road. the wheat is all located—two hundred bushels in the house, a hundred in the granary and the balance in a portable bin in the southeast quarter."
"but blackford is at the house. he'll put up a scrap. you can't pull dad's leg. he'll make a mess of it."
"we've arranged to put the old bloke away while the fun is on and it won't need any rough work. leave blackford to me."
"but they'll drop on us instantly without a clue. they'll search my farm and the elevators and every building in pellawa."
sykes threw back his head in glee.
"you're late coming into the game, rob. that's the trouble!" and he poked the other playfully on the chest. "we are not bringing the wheat in here. oh, no. there is old hunt's, the squatter's shack. it is water tight and drift tight and has not been used since the old geezer kicked out two years ago. the boys will drop the stuff there and we can market it by degrees through the winter. we'll hush up the detective stunt with an alibi, an alibi that will cover the honour of eight good men. here's the how. the gang's with louie now. when we are ready they come in here for an all-night deal. louie and the crowd see them enter. we let them out quietly through the rear into the dark. they sneak through the snow and do the job and turn up here in the wee sma' hours. louie will not disturb the square room. but he can swear that we held it for the night. we'll make it worth his while. there you are. but the alibi will not be needed at all. the blizzard will blind the trail and pad the whole event. this storm will cover over any track in ten minutes. it is getting late and the men are waiting."
sykes paused significantly.
"call them in," said mcclure, rubbing his hands in glee. "you are a wonder, red! we'll send them on the smart hike."
the green baize door opened and closed a few minutes later on the full gang of plotters. after being put through a detailed rehearsal of sykes' plan they drank a copious draft to the success of the adventure.
"this will be a come-back on that blankety hallowe'en foul," said snoopy bill with an avenging grin. "we'll proceed to tap pullar a little for his fun."
the remark was followed by a chorus of curses that revealed the rankle of revenge. this motive was the sleeping thing sykes had roused in his plying of the gang.
"you'll reach pullar's farm around twelve," concluded sykes. "a half-hour should see you loaded for the haul to hunt's. you'll be back here by four. come in quietly."
thus adjured, snoopy bill and his men, stealing out through the rear, vanished into the darkness and set off on their expedition.
