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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:16:40 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:16:40 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/1206-0.txt b/1206-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fcd8aa0 --- /dev/null +++ b/1206-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4449 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1206 *** + +FLYING U RANCH + +By B. M. Bower + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER + I. The Coming of a Native Son + II. “When Greek Meets Greek” + III. Bad News + IV. Some Hopes + V. Sheep + VI. What Happened to Andy + VII. Truth Crushed to Earth, etc. + VIII. The Dot Outfit + IX. More Sheep + X. The Happy Family Herd Sheep + XI. Weary Unburdens + XII. Two of a Kind + XIII. The Happy Family Learn Something + XIV. Happy Jack + XV. Oleson + XVI. The End of the Dots + XVII. Good News + + + + +FLYING U RANCH + + + +CHAPTER I. The Coming of a Native Son + +The Happy Family, waiting for the Sunday supper call, were grouped +around the open door of the bunk-house, gossiping idly of things purely +local, when the Old Man returned from the Stock Association at Helena; +beside him on the buggy seat sat a stranger. The Old Man pulled up at +the bunk-house, the stranger sprang out over the wheel with the agility +which bespoke youthful muscles, and the Old Man introduced him with a +quirk of the lips: + +“This is Mr. Mig-u-ell Rapponi, boys--a peeler straight from the Golden +Gate. Throw out your war-bag and make yourself to home, Mig-u-ell; some +of the boys'll show you where to bed down.” + +The Old Man drove on to the house with his own luggage, and Happy Jack +followed to take charge of the team; but the remainder of the Happy +Family unobtrusively took the measure of the foreign element. From his +black-and-white horsehair hatband, with tassels that swept to the very +edge of his gray hatbrim, to the crimson silk neckerchief draped over +the pale blue bosom of his shirt; from the beautifully stamped leather +cuffs, down to the exaggerated height of his tan boot-heels, their +critical eyes swept in swift, appraising glances; and unanimous +disapproval was the result. The Happy Family had themselves an eye to +picturesque garb upon occasion, but this passed even Pink's love of +display. + +“He's some gaudy to look at,” Irish murmured under his breath to Cal +Emmett. + +“All he lacks is a spot-light and a brass band,” Cal returned, in much +the same tone with which a woman remarks upon a last season's hat on the +head of a rival. + +Miguel was not embarrassed by the inspection. He was tall, straight, +and swarthily handsome, and he stood with the complacence of a stage +favorite waiting for the applause to cease so that he might speak his +first lines; and, while he waited, he sifted tobacco into a cigarette +paper daintily, with his little finger extended. There was a ring upon +that finger; a ring with a moonstone setting as large and round as the +eye of a startled cat, and the Happy Family caught the pale gleam of it +and drew a long breath. He lighted a match nonchalantly, by the artfully +simple method of pinching the head of it with his fingernails, leaned +negligently against the wall of the bunk-house, and regarded the group +incuriously while he smoked. + +“Any pretty girls up this way?” he inquired languidly, after a moment, +fanning a thin smoke-cloud from before his face while he spoke. + +The Happy Family went prickly hot. The girls in that neighborhood were +held in esteem, and there was that in his tone which gave offense. + +“Sure, there's pretty girls here!” Big Medicine bellowed unexpectedly, +close beside him. “We're all of us engaged to `em, by cripes!” + +Miguel shot an oblique glance at Big Medicine, examined the end of his +cigarette, and gave a lift of shoulder, which might mean anything +or nothing, and so was irritating to a degree. He did not pursue the +subject further, and so several belated retorts were left tickling +futilely the tongues of the Happy Family--which does not make for +amiability. + +To a man they liked him little, in spite of their easy friendliness with +mankind in general. At supper they talked with him perfunctorily, and +covertly sneered because he sprinkled his food liberally with cayenne +and his speech with Spanish words pronounced with soft, slurred +vowels that made them sound unfamiliar, and against which his English +contrasted sharply with its crisp, American enunciation. He met their +infrequent glances with the cool stare of absolute indifference to their +opinion of him, and their perfunctory civility with introspective calm. + +The next morning, when there was riding to be done, and Miguel +appeared at the last moment in his working clothes, even Weary, the +sunny-hearted, had an unmistakable curl of his lip after the first +glance. + +Miguel wore the hatband, the crimson kerchief tied loosely with the +point draped over his chest, the stamped leather cuffs and the tan boots +with the highest heels ever built by the cobbler craft. Also, the lower +half of him was incased in chaps the like of which had never before been +brought into Flying U coulee. Black Angora chaps they were; long-haired, +crinkly to the very hide, with three white, diamond-shaped patches +running down each leg of them, and with the leather waistband stamped +elaborately to match the cuffs. The bands of his spurs were two inches +wide and inlaid to the edge with beaten silver, and each concho was +engraved to represent a large, wild rose, with a golden center. A dollar +laid upon the rowels would have left a fringe of prongs all around. + +He bent over his sacked riding outfit, and undid it, revealing a +wonderful saddle of stamped leather inlaid on skirt and cantle with +more beaten silver. He straightened the skirts, carefully ignoring the +glances thrown in his direction, and swore softly to himself when he +discovered where the leather had been scratched through the canvas +wrappings and the end of the silver scroll ripped up. He drew out his +bridle and shook it into shape, and the silver mountings and the reins +of braided leather with horsehair tassels made Happy Jack's eyes greedy +with desire. His blanket was a scarlet Navajo, and his rope a rawhide +lariat. + +Altogether, his splendor when he was mounted so disturbed the fine +mental poise of the Happy Family that they left him jingling richly +off by himself, while they rode closely grouped and discussed him +acrimoniously. + +“By gosh, a man might do worse than locate that Native Son for a silver +mine,” Cal began, eyeing the interloper scornfully. “It's plumb wicked +to ride around with all that wealth and fussy stuff. He must 'a' robbed +a bank and put the money all into a riding outfit.” + +“By golly, he looks to me like a pair uh trays when he comes bow-leggin' +along with them white diamonds on his legs,” Slim stated solemnly. + +“And I'll gamble that's a spot higher than he stacks up in the cow +game,” Pink observed with the pessimism which matrimony had given him. +“You mind him asking about bad horses, last night? That Lizzie-boy never +saw a bad horse; they don't grow 'em where he come from. What they don't +know about riding they make up for with a swell rig--” + +“And, oh, mamma! It sure is a swell rig!” Weary paid generous tribute. +“Only I will say old Banjo reminds me of an Irish cook rigged out in +silk and diamonds. That outfit on Glory, now--” He sighed enviously. + +“Well, I've gone up against a few real ones in my long and varied +career,” Irish remarked reminiscently, “and I've noticed that a hoss +never has any respect or admiration for a swell rig. When he gets real +busy it ain't the silver filigree stuff that's going to help you hold +connections with your saddle, and a silver-mounted bridle-bit ain't a +darned bit better than a plain one.” + +“Just take a look at him!” cried Pink, with intense disgust. “Ambling +off there, so the sun can strike all that silver and bounce back in our +eyes. And that braided lariat--I'd sure love to see the pieces if he +ever tries to anchor anything bigger than a yearling!” + +“Why, you don't think for a minute he could ever get out and rope +anything, do yuh?” Irish laughed. “That there Native Son throws on +a-w-l-together too much dog to really get out and do anything.” + +“Aw,” fleered Happy Jack, “he ain't any Natiff Son. He's a dago!” + +“He's got the earmarks uh both,” Big Medicine stated authoritatively. “I +know 'em, by cripes, and I know their ways.” He jerked his thumb toward +the dazzling Miguel. “I can tell yuh the kinda cow-puncher he is; I've +saw 'em workin' at it. Haw-haw-haw! They'll start out to move ten or a +dozen head uh tame old cows from one field to another, and there'll be +six or eight fellers, rigged up like this here tray-spot, ridin' along, +important as hell, drivin' them few cows down a lane, with peach trees +on both sides, by cripes, jingling their big, silver spurs, all wearin' +fancy chaps to ride four or five miles down the road. Honest to grandma, +they call that punchin' cows! Oh, he's a Native Son, all right. I've +saw lots of 'em, only I never saw one so far away from the Promised Land +before. That there looks queer to me. Natiff Sons--the real ones, like +him--are as scarce outside Calyforny as buffalo are right here in this +coulee.” + +“That's the way they do it, all right,” Irish agreed. “And then they'll +have a 'rodeo'--” + +“Haw-haw-haw!” Big Medicine interrupted, and took up the tale, which +might have been entitled “Some Cowpunching I Have Seen.” + +“They have them rodeos on a Sunday, mostly, and they invite everybody to +it, like it was a picnic. And there'll be two or three fellers to +every calf, all lit up, like Mig-u-ell, over there, in chaps and silver +fixin's, fussin' around on horseback in a corral, and every feller +trying to pile his rope on the same calf, by cripes! They stretch 'em +out with two ropes--calves, remember! Little, weenty fellers you could +pack under one arm! Yuh can't blame 'em much. They never have more'n +thirty or forty head to brand at a time, and they never git more'n a +taste uh real work. So they make the most uh what they git, and go in +heavy on fancy outfits. And this here silver-mounted fellow thinks he's +a real cowpuncher, by cripes!” + +The Happy Family laughed at the idea; laughed so loud that Miguel left +his lonely splendor and swung over to them, ostensibly to borrow a +match. + +“What's the joke?” he inquired languidly, his chin thrust out and his +eyes upon the match blazing at the end of his cigarette. + +The Happy Family hesitated and glanced at one another. Then Cal spoke +truthfully. + +“You're it,” he said bluntly, with a secret desire to test the temper of +this dark-skinned son of the West. + +Miguel darted one of his swift glances at Cal, blew out his match and +threw it away. + +“Oh, how funny. Ha-ha.” His voice was soft and absolutely +expressionless, his face blank of any emotion whatever. He merely spoke +the words as a machine might have done. + +If he had been one of them, the Happy Family would have laughed at the +whimsical humor of it. As it was, they repressed the impulse, though +Weary warmed toward him slightly. + +“Don't you believe anything this innocent-eyed gazabo tells you, Mr. +Rapponi,” he warned amiably. “He's known to be a liar.” + +“That's funny, too. Ha-ha some more.” Miguel permitted a thin ribbon of +smoke to slide from between his lips, and gazed off to the crinkled line +of hills. + +“Sure, it is--now you mention it,” Weary agreed after a perceptible +pause. + +“How fortunate that I brought the humor to your attention,” drawled +Miguel, in the same expressionless tone, much as if he were reciting a +text. + +“Virtue is its own penalty,” paraphrased Pink, not stopping to see +whether the statement applied to the subject. + +“Haw-haw-haw!” roared Big Medicine, quite as irrelevantly. + +“He-he-he,” supplemented the silver-trimmed one. + +Big Medicine stopped laughing suddenly, reined his horse close to the +other, and stared at him challengingly, with his pale, protruding eyes, +while the Happy Family glanced meaningly at one another. Big Medicine +was quite as unsafe as he looked, at that moment, and they wondered if +the offender realized his precarious situation. + +Miguel smoked with the infinite leisure which is a fine art when it is +not born of genuine abstraction, and none could decide whether he was +aware of the unfriendly proximity of Big Medicine. Weary was just on the +point of saying something to relieve the tension, when Miguel blew the +ash gently from his cigarette and spoke lazily. + +“Parrots are so common, out on the Coast, that they use them in cheap +restaurants for stew. I've often heard them gabbling together in the +kettle.” + +The statement was so ambiguous that the Happy Family glanced at him +doubtfully. Big Medicine's stare became more curious than hostile, +and he permitted his horse to lag a length. It is difficult to fight +absolute passivity. Then Slim, who ever tramped solidly over the flowers +of sarcasm, blurted one of his unexpected retorts. + +“I was just wonderin', by golly, where yuh learnt to talk!” + +Miguel turned his velvet eyes sleepily toward the speaker. “From the +boarders who ate those parrots, amigo,” he smiled serenely. + +At this, Slim--once justly accused by Irish of being a “single-shot” + when it came to repartee--turned purple and dumb. The Happy Family, +forswearing loyalty in their enjoyment of his discomfiture, grinned and +left to Miguel the barren triumph of the last word. + +He did not gain in popularity as the days passed. They tilted noses at +his beautiful riding gear, and would have died rather than speak of it +in his presence. They never gossiped with him of horses or men or the +lands he knew. They were ready to snub him at a moment's notice--and +it did not lessen their dislike of him that he failed to yield them an +opportunity. It is to be hoped that he found his thoughts sufficient +entertainment, since he was left to them as much as is humanly possible +when half a dozen men eat and sleep and work together. It annoyed them +exceedingly that Miguel did not seem to know that they held him at a +distance; they objected to his manner of smoking cigarettes and staring +off at the skyline as if he were alone and content with his dreams. When +he did talk they listened with an air of weary tolerance. When he +did not talk they ignored his presence, and when he was absent they +criticized him mercilessly. + +They let him ride unwarned into an adobe patch one day--at least, Big +Medicine, Pink, Cal Emmett and Irish did, for they were with him--and +laughed surreptitiously together while he wallowed there and came out +afoot, his horse floundering behind him, mud to the ears, both of them. + +“Pretty soft going, along there, ain't it?” Pink commiserated +deceitfully. + +“It is, kinda,” Miguel responded evenly, scraping the adobe off Banjo +with a flat rock. And the subject was closed. + +“Well, it's some relief to the eyes to have the shine taken off him, +anyway,” Pink observed a little guiltily afterward. + +“I betche he ain't goin' to forget that, though,” Happy Jack warned when +he saw the caked mud on Miguel's Angora chaps and silver spurs, and the +condition of his saddle. “Yuh better watch out and not turn your backs +on him in the dark, none uh you guys. I betche he packs a knife. Them +kind always does.” + +“Haw-haw-haw!” bellowed Big Medicine uproariously. “I'd love to see him +git out an' try to use it, by cripes!” + +“I wish Andy was here,” Pink sighed. “Andy'd take the starch outa him, +all right.” + +“Wouldn't he be pickings for old Andy, though? Gee!” Cal looked around +at them, with his wide, baby-blue eyes, and laughed. “Let's kinda jolly +him along, boys, till Andy gets back. It sure would be great to watch +'em. I'll bet he can jar the eternal calm outa that Native Son. That's +what grinds me worse than his throwin' on so much dog; he's so blamed +satisfied with himself! You snub him, and he looks at yuh as if you was +his hired man--and then forgets all about yuh. He come outa that 'doby +like he'd been swimmin' a river on a bet, and had made good and was +a hee-ro right before the ladies. Kinda 'Oh, that's nothing to what I +could do if it was worth while,' way he had with him.” + +“It wouldn't matter so much if he wasn't all front,” Pink complained. +“You'll notice that's always the way, though. The fellow all fussed +up with silver and braided leather can't get out and do anything. +I remember up on Milk river--” Pink trailed off into absorbing +reminiscence, which, however, is too lengthy to repeat here. + +“Say, Mig-u-ell's down at the stable, sweatin from every pore trying to +get his saddle clean, by golly!” Slim reported cheerfully, just as Pink +was relighting the cigarette which had gone out during the big scene of +his story. “He was cussin' in Spanish, when I walked up to him--but he +shut up when he seen me and got that peaceful look uh hisn on his face. +I wonder, by golly--” + +“Oh, shut up and go awn,” Irish commanded bluntly, and looked at Pink. +“Did he call it off, then? Or did you have to wade in--” + +“Naw; he was like this here Native Son--all front. He could look sudden +death, all right; he had black eyes like Mig-u-ell--but all a fellow had +to do was go after him, and he'd back up so blamed quick--” + +Slim listened that far, saw that he had interrupted a tale evidently +more interesting than anything he could say, and went off, muttering to +himself. + + + +CHAPTER II. “When Greek Meets Greek” + +The next morning, which was Sunday, the machinations of Big Medicine +took Pink down to the creek behind the bunk-house. “What's hurtin' yuh?” + he asked curiously, when he came to where Big Medicine stood in the +fringe of willows, choking between his spasms of mirth. + +“Haw-haw-haw!” roared Big Medicine; and, seizing Pink's arm in a +gorilla-like grip, he pointed down the bank. + +Miguel, seated upon a convenient rock in a sunny spot, was painstakingly +combing out the tangled hair of his chaps, which he had washed quite as +carefully not long before, as the cake of soap beside him testified. + +“Combing--combing--his chaps, by cripes!” Big Medicine gasped, +and waggled his finger at the spectacle. “Haw-haw-haw! +C-combin'--his--chaps!” + +Miguel glanced up at them as impersonally as if they were two cackling +hens, rather than derisive humans, then bent his head over a stubborn +knot and whistled La Paloma softly while he coaxed out the tangle. + +Pink's eyes widened as he looked, but he did not say anything. He backed +up the path and went thoughtfully to the corrals, leaving Big Medicine +to follow or not, as he chose. + +“Combin'--his chaps, by cripes!” came rumbling behind him. Pink turned. + +“Say! Don't make so much noise about it,” he advised guardedly. “I've +got an idea.” + +“Yuh want to hog-tie it, then,” Big Medicine retorted, resentful because +Pink seemed not to grasp the full humor of the thing. “Idees sure seems +to be skurce in this outfit--or that there lily-uh-the-valley couldn't +set and comb no chaps in broad daylight, by cripes; not and get off with +it.” + +“He's an ornament to the Flying U,” Pink stated dreamily. “Us boneheads +don't appreciate him, is all that ails us. What we ought to do is--help +him be as pretty as he wants to be, and--” + +“Looky here, Little One.” Big Medicine hurried his steps until he was +close alongside. “I wouldn't give a punched nickel for a four-horse load +uh them idees, and that's the truth.” He passed Pink and went on ahead, +disgust in every line of his square-shouldered figure. “Combin' his +chaps, by cripes!” he snorted again, and straightway told the tale +profanely to his fellows, who laughed until they were weak and +watery-eyed as they listened. + +Afterward, because Pink implored them and made a mystery of it, they +invited Miguel to take a hand in a long-winded game--rather, a series +of games--of seven-up, while his chaps hung to dry upon a willow by the +creek bank--or so he believed. + +The chaps, however, were up in the white-house kitchen, where were also +the reek of scorched hair and the laughing expostulations of the +Little Doctor and the boyish titter of Pink and Irish, who were curling +laboriously the chaps of Miguel with the curling tongs of the Little +Doctor and those of the Countess besides. + +“It's a shame, and I just hope Miguel thrashes you both for it,” the +Little Doctor told them more than once; but she laughed, nevertheless, +and showed Pink how to give the twist which made of each lock a +corkscrew ringlet. The Countess stopped, with her dishcloth dangling +from one red, bony hand, while she looked. “You boys couldn't sleep +nights if you didn't pester the life outa somebody,” she scolded. “Seems +to me I'd friz them diamonds, if I was goin' to be mean enough to do +anything.” + +“You would, eh?” Pink glanced up at her and dimpled. “I'll find you +a rich husband to pay for that.” He straightway proceeded to friz the +diamonds of white. + +“Why don't you have a strip of ringlets down each leg, with tight little +curls between?” suggested the Little Doctor, not to be outdone by any +other woman. + +“Correct you are,” praised Irish. + +“And, remember, you're not heating branding-irons, mister man,” she +added. “You'll burn all the hair off, if you let the tongs get red-hot. +Just so they'll sizzle; I've told you five times already.” She picked +up the Kid, kissed many times the finger he held up for sympathy--the +finger with which he had touched the tongs as Pink was putting them +back into the grate of the kitchen stove, and spoke again to ease her +conscience. “I think it's awfully mean of you to do it. Miguel ought to +thrash you both.” + +“We're dead willing to let him try, Mrs. Chip. We know it's mean. We're +real ashamed of ourselves.” Irish tested his tongs as he had been told +to do. “But we'd rather be ashamed than good, any old time.” + +The Little Doctor giggled behind the Kid's tousled curls, and reached +out a slim hand once more to give Pink's tongs the expert twist he was +trying awkwardly to learn. “I'm sorry for Miguel; he's got lovely eyes, +anyway.” + +“Yes, ain't he?” Pink looked up briefly from his task. “How's your leg, +Irish? Mine's done.” + +“Seems to me I'd make a deep border of them corkscrew curls all around +the bottoms, if I was doin' it,” said the Countess peevishly, from the +kitchen sink. “If I was that dago I'd murder the hull outfit; I never +did see a body so hectored in my life--and him not ever ketchin' on. He +must be plumb simple-minded.” + +When the curling was done to the hilarious satisfaction of Irish and +Pink, and, while Pink was dancing in them to show them off, another +entered with mail from town. And, because the mail-bearer was Andy Green +himself, back from a winter's journeyings, Cal, Happy Jack and Slim +followed close behind, talking all at once, in their joy at beholding +the man they loved well and hated occasionally also. Andy delivered the +mail into the hands of the Little Doctor, pinched the Kid's cheek, +and said how he had grown good-looking as his mother, almost, spoke a +cheerful howdy to the Countess, and turned to shake hands with Pink. It +was then that the honest, gray eyes of him widened with amazement. + +“Well, by golly!” gasped Slim, goggling at the chaps of Miguel. + +“That there Natiff Son'll just about kill yuh for that,” warned Happy +Jack, as mournfully as he might with laughing. “He'll knife yuh, sure.” + +Andy, demanding the meaning of it all, learned all about Miguel +Rapponi--from the viewpoint of the Happy Family. At least, he learned as +much as it was politic to tell in the presence of the Little Doctor; and +afterward, while Pink was putting the chaps back upon the willow, where +Miguel had left them, he was told that they looked to him, Andy Green, +for assistance. + +“Oh, gosh! You don't want to depend on me, Pink,” Andy expostulated +modestly. “I can't think of anything--and, besides, I've reformed. I +don't know as it's any compliment to me, by gracious--being told soon as +I land that I'm expected to lie to a perfect stranger.” + +“You come on down to the stable and take a look at his saddle and +bridle,” urged Cal. “And wait till you see him smoking and looking past +you, as if you was an ornery little peak that didn't do nothing but +obstruct the scenery. I've seen mean cusses--lots of 'em; and I've seen +men that was stuck on themselves. But I never--” + +“Come outa that 'doby,” Pink interrupted, “mud to his eyebrows, just +about. And he knew darned well we headed him in there deliberate. And +when I remarks it's soft going, he says: 'It is, kinda,'--just like +that.” Pink managed to imitate the languid tone of Miguel very well. +“Not another word outa him. Didn't even make him mad! He--” + +“Tell him about the parrots, Slim,” Cal suggested soberly. But Slim only +turned purple at the memory, and swore. + +“Old Patsy sure has got it in for him,” Happy Jack observed. “He asked +Patsy if he ever had enchiladas. Patsy won't speak to him no more. He +claims Mig-u-ell insulted him. He told Mig-u-ell--” + +“Enchiladas are sure fine eating,” said Andy. “I took to 'em like a +she-bear to honey, down in New Mexico this winter. Your Native Son is +solid there, all right.” + +“Aw, gwan! He ain't solid nowhere but in the head. Maybe you'll love him +to death when yuh see him--chances is you will, if you've took to eatin' +dago grub.” + +Andy patted Happy Jack reassuringly on the shoulder. “Don't get +excited,” he soothed. “I'll put it all over the gentleman, just to show +my heart's in the right place. Just this once, though; I've reformed. +And I've got to have time to size him up. Where do you keep him when he +ain't in the show window?” He swung into step with Pink. “I'll tell you +the truth,” he confided engagingly. “Any man that'll wear chaps like +he's got--even leaving out the extra finish you fellows have given +'em--had ought to be taught a lesson he'll remember. He sure must be a +tough proposition, if the whole bunch of yuh have had to give him up. By +gracious--” + +“We haven't tried,” Pink defended. “It kinda looked to us as if he was +aiming to make us guy him; so we didn't. We've left him strictly alone. +To-day”--he glanced over his shoulder to where the becurled chaps swung +comically from the willow branch--“to-day's the first time anybody's +made a move. Unless,” he added, as an afterthought, “you count yesterday +in the 'doby patch--and even then we didn't tell him to ride into it; we +just let him do it.” + +“And kinda herded him over towards it,” Cal amended slyly. + +“Can he ride?” asked Andy, going straight to the main point, in the mind +of a cowpuncher. + +“W-e-ell-he hasn't been piled, so far. But then,” Pink qualified +hastily, “he hasn't topped anything worse than Crow-hop. He ain't hard +to ride. Happy Jack could--” + +“Aw, I'm gittin' good and sick of' hearin' that there tune,” Happy +growled indignantly. “Why don't you point out Slim as the limit, once in +a while?” + +“Come on down to the stable, and let's talk it over,” Andy suggested, +and led the way. “What's his style, anyway? Mouthy, or what?” + +With four willing tongues to enlighten him, it would be strange, indeed, +if one so acute as Andy Green failed at last to have a very fair mental +picture of Miguel. He gazed thoughtfully at his boots, laughed suddenly, +and slapped Irish quite painfully upon the back. + +“Come on up and introduce me, boys,” he said. “We'll make this Native +Son so hungry for home--you watch me put it on the gentleman. Only it +does seem a shame to do it.” + +“No, it ain't. If you'd been around him for two weeks, you'd want to +kill him just to make him take notice,” Irish assured him. + +“What gets me,” Andy mused, “is why you fellows come crying to me for +help. I should think the bunch of you ought to be able to handle one +lone Native Son.” + +“Aw, you're the biggest liar and faker in the bunch, is why,” Happy Jack +blurted. + +“Oh, I see.” Andy hummed a little tune and pushed his hands deep into +his pockets, and at the corners of his lips there flickered a smile. + +The Native Son sat with his hat tilted slightly back upon his head and a +cigarette between his lips, and was reaching lazily for the trick which +made the fourth game his, when the group invaded the bunk-house. He +looked up indifferently, swept Andy's face and figure with a glance +too impersonal to hold even a shade of curiosity, and began rapidly +shuffling his cards to count the points he had made. + +Andy stopped short, just inside the door, and stared hard at Miguel, +who gave no sign. He turned his honest, gray eyes upon Pink and Irish +accusingly--whereat they wondered greatly. + +“Your deal--if you want to play,” drawled Miguel, and shoved his cards +toward Big Medicine. But the boys were already uptilting chairs to +grasp the quicker the outstretched hand of the prodigal, so that Miguel +gathered up the cards, evened their edges mechanically, and deigned +another glance at this stranger who was being welcomed so vociferously. +Also he sighed a bit--for even a languid-eyed stoic of a Native Son may +feel the twinge of loneliness. Andy shook hands all round, swore amiably +at Weary, and advanced finally upon Miguel. + +“You don't know me from Adam's off ox,” he began genially, “but I know +you, all right, all right. I hollered my head off with the rest of 'em +when you played merry hell in that bull-ring, last Christmas. Also, I +was part of your bodyguard when them greasers were trying to tickle you +in the ribs with their knives in that dark alley. Shake, old-timer! You +done yourself proud, and I'm glad to know yuh!” + +Miguel, for the first time in two weeks, permitted himself the luxury +of an expressive countenance. He gave Andy Green one quick, grateful +look--and a smile, the like of which made the Happy Family quiver +inwardly with instinctive sympathy. + +“So you were there, too, eh?” Miguel exclaimed softly, and rose to greet +him. “And that scrap in the alley--we sure had a hell of a time there +for a few minutes, didn't we? Are you that tall fellow who kicked that +squint-eyed greaser in the stomach? Muchos gracios, senor! They were +piling on me three deep, right then, and I always believed they'd have +got me, only for a tall vaquero I couldn't locate afterward.” He smiled +again that wonderful smile, which lighted the darkness of his eyes as +with a flame, and murmured a sentence or two in Spanish. + +“Did you get the spurs me and my friends sent you afterward?” asked Andy +eagerly. “We heard about the Arizona boys giving you the saddle--and we +raked high and low for them spurs. And, by gracious, they were beauts, +too--did yuh get 'em?” + +“I wear them every day I ride,” answered Miguel, a peculiar, caressing +note in his voice. + +“I didn't know--we heard you had disappeared off the earth. Why--” + +Miguel laughed outright. “To fight a bull with bare hands is one thing, +amigo,” he said. “To take a chance on getting a knife stuck in your +back is another. Those Mexicans--they don't love the man who crosses the +river and makes of their bull-fights a plaything.” + +“That's right; only I thought, you being a--” + +“Not a Mexican.” Miguel's voice sharpened a trifle. “My father was +Spanish, yes. My mother”--his eyes flashed briefly at the faces of the +gaping Happy Family--“my mother was born in Ireland.” + +“And that sure makes a hard combination to beat,” cried Andy heartily. +He looked at the others--at all, that is, save Pink and Irish, who had +disappeared. “Well, boys, I never thought I'd come home and find--” + +“Miguel Rapponi,” supplied the Native Son quickly. “As well forget that +other name. And,” he added with the shrug which the Happy Family had +come to hate, “as well forget the story, also. I am not hungry for the +feel of a knife in my back.” He smiled again engagingly at Andy Green. +It was astonishing how readily that smile had sprung to life with the +warmth of a little friendship, and how pleasant it was, withal. + +“Just as you say,” Andy agreed, not trying to hide his admiration. “I +guess nobody's got a better right to holler for silence. But--say, you +sure delivered the goods, old boy! You musta read about it, you fellows; +about the American puncher that went over the line and rode one of +their crack bulls all round the ring, and then--” He stopped and looked +apologetically at Miguel, in whose dark eyes there flashed a warning +light. “I clean forgot,” he confessed impulsively. “This meeting you +here unexpectedly, like this, has kinda got me rattled, I guess. But--I +never saw yuh before in my life,” he declared emphatically. “I don't +know a darn thing about--anything that ever happened in an alley in +the city of--oh, come on, old-timer; let's talk about the weather, or +something safe!” + +After that the boys of the Flying U behaved very much as do children +who have quarreled foolishly and are trying shamefacedly to re-establish +friendly relations without the preliminary indignity of open repentance. +They avoided meeting the velvet-eyed glances of Miguel, and at the same +time they were plainly anxious to include him in their talk as if that +had been their habit from the first. A difficult situation to meet, even +with the fine aplomb of the Happy Family to ease the awkwardness. + +Later Miguel went unobtrusively down to the creek after his chaps; he +did not get them, just then, but he stood for a long time hidden behind +the willow-fringe, watching Pink and Irish feverishly combing out +certain corkscrew ringlets, and dampening their combs in the creek to +facilitate the process of straightening certain patches of rebellious +frizzes. Miguel did not laugh aloud, as Big Medicine had done. He stood +until he wearied of the sight, then lifted his shoulders in the gesture +which may mean anything, smiled and went his way. + +Not until dusk did Andy get a private word with him. When he did find +him alone, he pumped Miguel's hand up and down and afterward clutched at +the manger for support, and came near strangling. Miguel leaned beside +him and smiled to himself. + +“Good team work, old boy,” Andy gasped at length, in a whisper. “Best I +ever saw in m'life, impromptu on the spot, like that. I saw you had the +makings in you, soon as I caught your eye. And the whole, blame bunch +fell for it--woo-oof!” He laid his face down again upon his folded arms +and shook in all the long length of him. + +“They had it coming,” said Miguel softly, with a peculiar relish. “Two +whole weeks, and never a friendly word from one of them--oh, hell!” + +“I know--I heard it all, soon as I hit the ranch,” Andy replied weakly, +standing up and wiping his eyes. “I just thought I'd learn 'em a +lesson--and the way you played up--say, my hat's off to you, all right!” + +“One learns to seize opportunities without stuttering,” Miguel observed +calmly--and a queer look came into his eyes as they rested upon the face +of Andy. “And, if the chance comes, I'll do as much for you. By the way, +did you see the saddle those Arizona boys sent me? It's over here. It's +a pip-pin--almost as fine as the spurs, which I keep in the bunk-house +when they're not on my heels. And, if I didn't say so before, I'm sure +glad to meet the man that helped me through that alley. That big, fat +devil would have landed me, sure, if you hadn't--” + +“Ah--what?” Andy leaned and peered into the face of Miguel, his jaw +hanging slack. “You don't mean to tell me--it's true?” + +“True? Why, I thought you were the fellow--” Miguel faced him steadily. +His eyes were frankly puzzled. + +“I'll tell you the truth, so help me,” Andy said heavily. “I don't know +a darned thing about it, only what I read in the papers. I spent the +whole winter in Colorado and Wyoming. I was just joshing the boys.” + +“Oh,” said Miguel. + +They stood there in the dusk and silence for a space, after which Andy +went forth into the night to meditate upon this thing. Miguel stood and +looked after him. + +“He's the real goods when it comes to lying--but there are others,” he +said aloud, and smiled a peculiar smile. But for all that he felt that +he was going to like Andy very much indeed. And, since the Happy Family +had shown a disposition to make him one of themselves, he knew that he +was going to become quite as foolishly attached to the Flying U as was +even Slim, confessedly the most rabid of partisans. + +In this wise did Miguel Rapponi, then, become a member of Jim Whitmore's +Happy Family, and play his part in the events which followed his +adoption. + + + +CHAPTER III. Bad News + +Andy Green, that honest-eyed young man whom everyone loved, but whom +not a man believed save when he was indulging his love for more or less +fantastic flights of the imagination, pulled up on the brow of Flying U +coulee and stared somberly at the picture spread below him. On the porch +of the White House the hammock swung gently under the weight of the +Little Doctor, who pushed her shipper-toe mechanically against a post +support at regular intervals while she read. + +On the steps the Kid was crawling laboriously upward, only to descend +again quite as laboriously when he attained the top. One of the boys was +just emerging from the blacksmith shop; from the build of him Andy knew +it must be either Weary or Irish, though it would take a much closer +observation, and some familiarity with the two to identify the man more +exactly. In the corral were a swirl of horses and an overhanging cloud +of dust, with two or three figures discernible in the midst, and away +in the little pasture two other figures were galloping after a fleeing +dozen of horses. While he looked, old Patsy came out of the messhouse, +and went, with flapping flour-sack apron, to the woodpile. + +Peaceful it was, and home-like and contentedly prosperous; a little +world tucked away in its hills, with its own little triumphs and +defeats, its own heartaches and rejoicings; a lucky little world, +because its triumphs had been satisfying, its defeats small, its +heartaches brief, and its rejoicings untainted with harassment or guilt. +Yet Andy stared down upon it with a frown; and, when he twitched the +reins and began the descent, he sighed impatiently. + +Past the stable he rode with scarcely a glance toward Weary, who shouted +a casual “Hello” at him from the corral; through the big gate and up the +trail to the White House, and straight to the porch, where the Little +Doctor flipped a leaf of her magazine and glanced at him with a smile, +and the Kid turned his plump body upon the middle step and wrinkled his +nose in a smile of recognition, while he threw out an arm in welcome, +and made a wobbling effort to get upon his feet. + +Andy smiled at the Kid, but his smile did not reach his eyes, and faded +almost immediately. He glanced at the Little Doctor, sent his horse past +the steps and the Kid, and close to the railing, so that he could lean +and toss the mail into the Little Doctor's lap. There was a yellow +envelope among the letters, and her fingers singled it out curiously. +Andy folded his hands upon the saddle-horn and watched her frankly. + +“Must be from J. G.,” guessed the Little Doctor, inserting a slim finger +under the badly sealed flap. “I've been wondering if he wasn't going +to send some word--he's been gone a week--Baby! He's right between +your horse's legs, Andy! Oh-h--baby boy, what won't you do next?” She +scattered letters and papers from her lap and flew to the rescue. “Will +he kick, Andy? You little ruffian.” She held out her arms coaxingly from +the top of the steps, and her face, Andy saw when he looked at her, had +lost some of its color. + +“The horse is quiet enough,” he reassured her. “But at the same time I +wouldn't hand him out as a plaything for a kid.” He leaned cautiously +and peered backward. + +“Oh--did you ever see such a child! Come to mother, Baby!” Her voice was +becoming strained. + +The Kid, wrinkling his nose, and jabbering unintelligibly at her, so +that four tiny teeth showed in his pink mouth, moved farther backward, +and sat down violently under the horse's sweat-roughened belly. He +wriggled round so that he faced forward, reached out gleefully, caught +the front fetlocks, and cried “Dup!” while he pulled. The Little Doctor +turned white. + +“He's all right,” soothed Andy, and, leaning with a twist of his slim +body, caught the Kid firmly by the back of his pink dress, and lifted +him clear of danger. He came up with a red face, tossed the Kid into the +eager arms of the Little Doctor, and soothed his horse with soft words +and a series of little slaps upon the neck. He was breathing unevenly, +because the Kid had really been in rather a ticklish position; but the +Little Doctor had her face hidden on the baby's neck and did not see. + +“Where's Chip?” Andy turned to ride back to the stable, glancing toward +the telegram lying on the floor of the porch; and from it his eyes went +to the young woman trying to laugh away her trembling while she scolded +adoringly her adventurous man-child. He was about to speak again, but +thought better of it, and sighed. + +“Down at the stables somewhere--I don't know, really; the boys can tell +you. Mother's baby mustn't touch the naughty horses. Naughty horses hurt +mother's baby! Make him cry!” + +Andy gave her a long look, which had in it much pity, and rode away. +He knew what was in that telegram, for the agent had told him when he +hunted him up at Rusty Brown's and gave it to him; and the horse of Andy +bore mute testimony to the speed with which he had brought it to the +ranch. Not until he had reached the coulee had he slackened his pace. +He decided, after that glance, that he would not remind her that she +had not read the telegram; instead, he thought he ought to find Chip +immediately and send him to her. + +Chip was rummaging after something in the store-house, and, when Andy +saw him there, he dismounted and stood blotting out the light from +the doorway. Chip looked up, said “Hello” carelessly, and flung an old +slicker aside that he might search beneath it. “Back early, aren't you?” + he asked, for sake of saying something. + +Andy's attitude was not as casual as he would have had it. + +“Say, maybe you better go on up to the house,” he began diffidently. “I +guess your wife wants to see yuh, maybe.” + +“Just as a good wife should,” grinned Chip. “What's the matter? Kid fall +off the porch?” + +“N-o-o--I brought out a wire from Chicago. It's from a doctor +there--some hospital. The--Old Man got hurt. One of them cussed +automobiles knocked him down. They want you to come.” + +Chip had straightened up and was hooking at Andy blankly. “If you're +just--” + +“Honest,” Andy asserted, and flushed a little. “I'll go tell some one to +catch up the team--you'll want to make that 11:20, I take it.” He added, +as Chip went by him hastily, “I had the agent wire for sleeper berths on +the 11:20 so--” + +“Thanks. Yes, you have the team caught up, Andy.” Chip was already well +on his way to the house. + +Andy waited till he saw the Little Doctor come hurriedly to the end of +the porch overlooking the pathway, with the telegram fluttering in her +fingers, and then led his horse down through the gate and to the stable. +He yanked the saddle off, turned the tired animal into a stall, and went +on to the corral, where he leaned elbows on a warped rail and peered +through at the turmoil within. Close beside him stood Weary, with his +loop dragging behind him, waiting for a chance to throw it over the head +of a buckskin three-year-old with black mane and tail. + +“Get in here and make a hand, why don't you?” Weary bantered, his eye +on the buckskin. “Good chance to make a 'rep' for yourself, Andy. +Gawd greased that buckskin--he sure can slide out from under a rope as +easy--” + +He broke off to flip the hoop dexterously forward, had the reward of +seeing the buckskin dodge backward, so that the rope barely flicked him +on the nose, and drew in his rope disgustedly. “Come on, Andy--my hands +are up in the air; I can't land him--that's the fourth throw.” + +Andy's interest in the buckskin, however, was scant. His face was sober, +his whole attitude one of extreme dejection. + +“You got the tummy-ache?” Pink inquired facetiously, moving around so +that he got a fair look at his face. + +“Naw--his girl's went back on him!” Happy Jack put in, coiling his rope +as he came up. + +“Oh, shut up!” Andy's voice was sharp with trouble. “Boys, the Old +Man's--well, he's most likely dead by this time. I brought out a +telegram--” + +“Go on!” Pink's eyes widened incredulously. “Don't you try that kind of +a load, Andy Green, or I'll just about--” + +“Oh, you fellows make me sick!” Andy took his elbows off the rail and +stood straight. “Dammit, the telegram's up at the house--go and read it +yourselves, then!” + +The three stared after him doubtfully, fear struggling with the caution +born of much experience. + +“He don't act, to me, like he was putting up a josh,” Weary stated +uneasily, after a minute of silence. “Run up to the house and find out, +Cadwalloper. The Old Man--oh, good Lord!” The tan on Weary's face took a +lighter tinge. “Scoot--it won't take but a minute to find out for sure. +Go on, Pink.” + +“So help me Josephine, I'll kill that same Andy Green if he's lied about +it,” Pink declared, while he climbed the fence. + +In three minutes he was back, and before he had said a word, his face +confirmed the bad news. Their eyes besought him for details, and he +gave them jerkily. “Automobile run over him. He ain't dead, but they +think--Chip and the Little Doctor are going to catch the night train. +You go haze in the team, Happy. And give 'em a feed of oats, Chip said.” + +Irish and Big Medicine, seeing the three standing soberly together +there, and sensing something unusual, came up and heard the news in +stunned silence. Andy, forgetting his pique at their first disbelief, +came forlornly back and stood with them. + +The Old Man--the thing could not be true! To every man of them his +presence, conjured by the impending tragedy, was almost a palpable +thing. His stocky figure seemed almost to stand in their midst; +he looked at them with his whimsical eyes, which had the radiating +crows-feet of age, humor and habitual squinting against sun and wind; +the bald spot on his head, the wrinkling shirt-collar that seldom knew +a tie, the carpet slippers which were his favorite footgear because they +were kind to his bunions, his husky voice, good-naturedly complaining, +were poignantly real to them at that moment. Then Irish mentally +pictured him lying maimed, dying, perhaps, in a far-off hospital among +strangers, and swore. + +“If he's got to die, it oughta be here, where folks know him and--where +he knows--” Irish was not accustomed to giving voice to his deeper +feelings, and he blundered awkwardly over it. + +“I never did go much on them darned hospitals, anyway,” Weary observed +gloomily. “He oughta be home, where folks can look after him. Mam-ma! It +sure is a fright.” + +“I betche Chip and the Little Doctor won't get there in time,” Happy +Jack predicted, with his usual pessimism. “The Old Man's gittin' old--” + +“He ain't but fifty-two; yuh call that old, consarn yuh? He's younger +right now than you'll be when you're forty.” + +“Countess is going along, too, so she can ride herd on the Kid,” Pink +informed then. “I heard the Little Doctor tell her to pack up, and +'never mind if she did have sponge all set!' Countess seemed to think +her bread was a darned sight more important than the Old Man. That's the +way with women. They'll pass up--” + +“Well, by golly, I like to see a woman take some interest in her own +affairs,” Slim defended. “What they packin' up for, and where they +goin'?” Slim had just ridden up to the group in time to overhear Pink's +criticism. + +They told him the news, and Slim swallowed twice, said “By golly!” quite +huskily, and then rode slowly away with his head bowed. He had worked +for the Flying U when it was strictly a bachelor outfit, and with the +tenacity of slow minds he held J. G. Whitmore, his beloved “Old Man,” + as but a degree lower than that mysterious power which made the sun to +shine--and, if the truth were known, he had accepted him as being quite +as eternal. His loyalty adjusted everything to the interests of the +Flying U. That the Old Man could die--the possibility stunned him. + +They were a sorry company that gathered that night around the long table +with its mottled oil-cloth covering and benches polished to a glass-like +smoothness with their own vigorous bodies. They did not talk much about +the Old Man; indeed, they came no nearer the subject than to ask Weary +if he were going to drive the team in to Dry Lake. They did not talk +much about anything, for that matter; even the knives and forks seemed +to share the general depression of spirits, and failed to give forth the +cheerful clatter which was a daily accompaniment of meals in that room. + +Old Patsy, he who had cooked for J. G. Whitmore when the Flying U +coulee was a wilderness and the brand yet unrecorded and the irons +unmade--Patsy lumbered heavily about the room and could not find his +dish-cloth when it was squeezed tight in one great, fat hand, and +unthinkingly started to fill their coffee cups from the tea-kettle. + +“Py cosh, I vould keel der fool vot made her first von of der +automo-beels, yet!” he exclaimed unexpectedly, after a long silence, and +cast his pipe vindictively toward his bunk in one corner. + +The Happy Family looked around at him, then understandingly at one +another. + +“Same here, Patsy,” Jack Bates agreed. “What they want of the damned +things when the country's full uh good horses gits me.” + +“So some Yahoo with just sense enough to put goggles on to cover up +his fool face can run over folks he ain't good enough to speak to, by +cripes!” Big Medicine glared aggressively up and down the table. + +Weary got up suddenly and went out, and Slim followed him, though his +supper was half-uneaten. + +“This goin' to be hard on the Little Doctor--only brother she's got,” + they heard Happy Jack point out unnecessarily; and Weary, the equable, +was guilty of slamming the door so that the whole building shook, by way +of demonstrating his dislike of speech upon the subject. + +They were a sorry company who waved hands at the Little Doctor and +the Kid and the Countess, just when the afterglow of a red sunset +was merging into the vague, purple shadows of coming dusk. They stood +silent, for the most part, and let them go without the usual facetious +advice to “Be good to yourselves,” and the hackneyed admonition to Chip +to keep out of jail if he could. There must have been something very +wistful in their faces, for the Little Doctor smiled bravely down upon +then from the buggy seat, and lifted up the Kid for a four-toothed smile +and an ecstatic “Bye!” accompanied by a vigorous flopping of hands, +which included then all. + +“We'll telegraph first thing, boys,” the Little Doctor called back, as +the rig chucked into the pebbly creek crossing. “We'll keep you posted, +and I'll write all the particulars as soon as I can. Don't think the +worst--unless you have to. I don't.” She smiled again, and waved her +hand hastily because of the Kid's contortions; and, though the smile +had tears close behind it, though her voice was tremulous in spite of +herself, the Happy Family took heart from her courage and waved their +hats gravely, and smiled back as best they could. + +“There's a lot uh cake you boys might just as well eat up,” the Countess +called belatedly. “It'll all dry out, if yuh don't--and there ain't no +use wastin' it--and there's two lemon pies in the brown cupboard, and +what under the shinin' sun--” The wheels bumped violently against a +rock, and the Happy Family heard no more. + + + +CHAPTER IV. Some Hopes + +On the third day after the Happy Family decided that there should be +some word from Chicago; and, since that day was Sunday, they rode in a +body to Dry Lake after it. They had not discussed the impending tragedy +very much, but they were an exceedingly Unhappy Family, nevertheless; +and, since Flying U coulee was but a place of gloom, they were not +averse to leaving it behind them for a few hours, and riding where every +stick and stone did not remind then of the Old Man. + +In Dry Lake was a message, brief but heartening: + +“J. G. still alive. Some hopes”. + +They left the station with lighter spirits after reading that; rode to +the hotel, tied their horses to the long hitching pole there and went +in. And right there the Happy Family unwittingly became cast for the +leading parts in one of those dramas of the West which never is heard +of outside the theater in which grim circumstance stages it for a single +playing--unless, indeed, the curtain rings down on a tragedy that brings +the actors before their district judge for trial. And, as so frequently +is the case, the beginning was casual to the point of triviality. + +Sary, Ellen, Marg'reet, Sybilly and Jos'phine Denson (spelled in +accordance with parental pronunciation) were swinging idly upon the +hitching pole, with the self-conscious sang froid of country children +come to town. They backed away from the Happy Family's approach, grinned +foolishly in response to their careless greeting, and tittered openly +at the resplendence of the Native Son, who was wearing his black Angora +chaps with the three white diamonds down each leg, the gay horsehair +hatband, crimson neckerchief and Mexican spurs with their immense +rowels and ornate conchos of hand-beaten silver. Sary, Ellen, Marg'reet, +Jos'phine and Sybilly were also resplendent, in their way. Their carroty +hair was tied with ribbons quite aggressively new, their freckles +shone with maternal scrubbing, and there was a hint of home-made +“crochet-lace” beneath each stiffly starched dress. + +“Hello, kids,” Weary greeted them amiably, with a secret smile over the +memory of a time when they had purloined the Little Doctor's pills and +had made reluctant acquaintance with a stomach pump. “Where's the circus +going to be at?” + +“There ain't goin' to be no circus,” Sybilly retorted, because she was +the forward one of the family. “We're going away; on the train. The next +one that comes along. We're going to be on it all night, too; and we'll +have to eat on it, too.” + +“Well, by golly, you'll want something to eat, then!” Slim was feeling +abstractedly in his pocket for a coin, for these were the nieces of the +Countess, and therefore claimed more than a cursory interest from +Slim. “You take this up to the store and see if yuh can't swop it for +something good to eat.” Because Sary was the smallest of the lot he +pressed the dollar into her shrinking, amazed palm. + +“Paw's got more money'n that,” Sybilly announced proudly. “Paw's got +a million dollars. A man bought our ranch and gave him a lot of money. +We're rich now. Maybe paw'll buy us a phony-graft. He said maybe he +would. And maw's goin' to have a blue silk dress with green onto it. +And--” + +“Better haze along and buy that grub stake,” Slim interrupted the family +gift for profuse speech. He had caught the boys grinning, and fancied +that they were tracing a likeness between the garrulity of Sybilly and +the fluency of her aunt, the Countess. “You don't want that train to go +off and leave yuh, by golly.” + +“Wonder who bought Denson out?” Cal Emmett asked of no one in +particular, as the children went strutting off to the store to spend the +dollar which little Sary clutched so tightly it seemed as if the goddess +of liberty must surely have been imprinted upon her palm. + +When they went inside and found Denson himself pompously “setting 'em up +to the house,” Cal repeated the question in a slightly different form to +the man himself. + +Denson, while he was ready to impress the beholders with his +unaccustomed affluence, became noticeably embarrassed at the inquiry, +and edged off into vague generalities. + +“I jest nacherlly had to sell when I got m' price,” he told the Happy +Family in a tone that savored strongly of apology. “I like the country, +and I like m' neighbors fine. Never'd ask for better than the Flyin' U +has been t' me. I ain't got no kick comin' there. Sorry to hear the Old +Man's hurt back East. Mary was real put out at not bein' able to +see Louise 'fore she went away”--Louise being the Countess' and Mary +Denson's sister--“but soon as I sold I got oneasy like. The feller +wanted p'session right away, too, so I told Mary we might as well start +b'fore we git outa the notion. I wouldn't uh cared about sellin', maybe, +but the kids needs to be in school. They're growin' up in ign'rance +out here, and Mary's folks wants us to come back 'n' settle close handy +by--they been at us t' sell out and move fer the last five years, now, +and I told Mary--” + +Even Cal forgot, eventually, that he had asked a question which remained +unanswered; what interest he had felt at first was smothered to death +beneath that blanket of words, and he eagerly followed the boys out +and over to Rusty Brown's place, where Denson, because of an old grudge +against Rusty, might be trusted not to follow. + +“Mamma!” Weary commented amusedly, when they were crossing the street, +“that Denson bunch can sure talk the fastest and longest, and say the +least, of any outfit I ever saw.” + +“Wonder who did buy him out?” Jack Bates queried. “Old ginger-whiskers +didn't pass out any facts, yuh notice. He couldn't have got much; his +land's mostly gravel and 'doby patches. He's got a water right on Flying +U creek, you know--first right, at that, seems to me--and a dandy fine +spring in that coulee. Wonder why our outfit didn't buy him out--seeing +he wanted to sell so bad?” + +“This wantin' to sell is something I never heard of b'fore,” Slim said +slowly. “To hear him tell it, that ranch uh hisn was worth a dollar an +inch, by golly. I don't b'lieve he's been wantin' to sell out. If he +had, Mis' Bixby woulda said something about it. She don't know about +this here sellin' business, or she'd a said--” + +“Yeah, you can most generally bank on the Countess telling all she +knows,” Cal assented with some sarcasm; at which Slim grunted and turned +sulky afterward. + +Denson and his affairs they speedily forgot for a time, in the diversion +which Rusty Brown's familiar place afforded to young men with unjaded +nerves and a zest for the primitive pleasures. Not until mid-afternoon +did it occur to them that Flying U coulee was deserted by all save old +Patsy, and that there were chores to be done, if all the creatures of +the coulee would sleep in comfort that night. Pink, therefore, withdrew +his challenge to the bunch, and laid his billiard cue down with a sigh +and the remark that all he lacked was time, to have the scalps of every +last one of them hanging from his belt. Pink was figurative in his +speech, you will understand; and also a bit vainglorious over beating +Andy Green and Big Medicine twice in succession. + +It occurred to Weary then that a word of cheer to the Old Man and +his anxious watchers might not cone amiss. Therefore the Happy Family +mounted and rode to the depot to send it, and on the way wrangled over +the wording of the message after their usual contentious manner. + +“Better tell 'em everything is fine, at this end uh the line,” Cal +suggested, and was hooted at for a poet. + +“Just say,” Weary began, when he was interrupted by the discordant +clamor from a trainload of sheep that had just pulled in and stopped. +“'Maa-aa, Ma-a-aaa,' darn yuh,” he shouted derisively, at the peering, +plaintive faces, glimpsed between the close-set bars. “Mamma, how I do +love sheep!” Whereupon he put spurs to his horse and galloped down to +the station to rid his ears of the turbulent wave of protest from the +cars. + +Naturally it required some time to compose the telegram in a style +satisfactory to all parties. Outside, cars banged together, an engine +snorted stertorously, and suffocating puffs of coal smoke now and +then invaded the waiting-room while the Happy Family were sending that +message of cheer to Chicago. If you are curious, the final version of +their combined sentiments was not at all spectacular. It said merely: + +“Everything fine here. Take good care of the Old Man. How's the Kid +stacking up?” + +It was signed simply “The Bunch.” + +“Mary's little lambs are here yet, I see,” the Native Son remarked +carelessly when they went out. “Enough lambs for all the Marys in the +country. How would you like to be Mary?” + +“Not for me,” Irish declared, and turned his face away from the stench +of them. + +Others there were who rode the length of the train with faces averted +and looks of disdain; cowmen, all of them, they shared the range +prejudice, and took no pains to hide it. + +The wind blew strong from the east, that day; it whistled through the +open, double-decked cars packed with gray, woolly bodies, whose voices +were ever raised in strident complaint; and the stench of them smote +the unaccustomed nostrils of the Happy Family and put them to disgusted +flight up the track and across it to where the air was clean again. + +“Honest to grandma, I'd make the poorest kind of a sheepherder,” Big +Medicine bawled earnestly, when they were well away from the noise and +smell of the detested animals. “If I had to herd sheep, by cripes, do +you know what I'd do? I'd haze 'em into a coulee and turn loose with a +good rifle and plenty uh shells, and call in the coyotes to git a square +meal. That's the way I'd herd sheep. It's the only way you can shut 'em +up. They just 'baa-aa, baa-aa, baa-aa' from the time they're dropped +till somebody kills 'em off. Honest, they blat in their sleep. I've +heard 'em.” + +“When you and the dogs were shooting off coyotes?” asked Andy Green +pointedly, and so precipitated dissension which lasted for ten miles. + + + +CHAPTER V. Sheep + +Slim rising first from dinner on the next day but one opened the door +of the mess-house, and stood there idly picking his teeth before he went +about his work. After a minute of listening to the boys “joshing” old +Patsy about some gooseberry pies he had baked without sugar, he turned +his face outward, threw up his head like a startled bull, and began to +sniff. + +“Say, I smell sheep, by golly!” he announced in the bellowing tone which +was his conversational voice, and sniffed again. + +“Oh, that's just a left-over in your system from the dose yuh got in +town Sunday,” Weary explained soothingly. “I've smelled sheep, and +tasted sheep, and dreamed sheep, ever since.” + +“No, by golly, it's sheep! It ain't no memory. I--I b'hieve I hear +'em, too, by golly.” Slim stepped out away from the building and faced +suspiciously down the coulee. + +“Slim, I never suspected you of imagination before,” the Native Son +drawled, and loitered out to where Slim stood still sniffing. “I wonder +if you're catching it from Andy and me. Don't you think you ought to be +vaccinated?” + +“That ain't imagination,” Pink called out from within. “When anybody +claims there's sheep in Flying U coulee, that's straight loco.” + +“Come on out here and smell 'em yourself, then!” Slim bawled +indignantly. “I never seen such an outfit as this is gittin' to be; you +fellers don't believe nobody, no more. We ain't all Andy Greens.” + +Upon hearing this Andy pushed back his chair and strolled outside. He +clapped his hand down upon Slim's fat-cushioned shoulder and swayed him +gently. “Never mind, Slim; you can't all be famous,” he comforted. “Some +day, maybe, I'll teach yuh the fine art of lying more convincingly than +the ordinary man can tell the truth. It is a fine art; it takes a genius +to put it across. Now, the only time anybody doubts my word is when I'm +sticking to the truth hike a sand burr to a dog's tail.” + +From away to the west, borne on the wind which swept steadily down the +coulee, came that faint, humming sing-song, which can be made only by a +herd of a thousand or more sheep, all blatting in different keys--or +by a distant band playing monotonously upon the middle octave of their +varied instruments. + +“Slim's right, by gracious! It's sheep, sure as yuh live.” Andy did not +wait for more, but started at a fast walk for the stable and his horse. +After him went the Native Son, who had not been with the Flying U long +enough to sense the magnitude of the affront, and Slim, who knew to a +nicety just what “cowmen” considered the unpardonable sin, and the rest +of the Happy Family, who were rather incredulous still. + +“Must be some fool herder just crossing the coulee, on the move +somewhere,” Weary gave as a solution. “Half of 'em don't know a fence +when they see it.” + +As they galloped toward the sound and the smell, they expressed freely +their opinion of sheep, the men who owned them, and the lunatics who +watched over the blatting things. They were cattlemen to the marrow +in their bones, and they gloried in their prejudice against the woolly +despoilers of the range. + +All these years had the Flying U been immune from the nuisance, save for +an occasional trespasser, who was quickly sent about his business. The +Flying U range had been kept in the main inviolate from the little, gray +vandals, which ate the grass clean to the sod, and trampled with their +sharp-pointed hoofs the very roots into lifelessness; which polluted the +water-holes and creeks until cattle and horses went thirsty rather than +drink; which, in that land of scant rainfall, devastated the range +where they fed so that a long-established prairie-dog town was not more +barren. What wonder if the men who owned cattle, and those who tended +them, hated sheep? So does the farmer dread an invasion of grasshoppers. + +A mile down the coulee they came upon the band with two herders and four +dogs keeping watch. Across the coulee and up the hillsides they spread +like a noisome gray blanket. “Maa-aa, maa-aa, maa-aa,” two thousand +strong they blatted a strident medley while they hurried here and there +after sweeter bunches of grass, very much like a disturbed ant-hill. + +The herders loitered upon either slope, their dogs lying close beside +them. There was good grass in that part of the coulee; the Flying U +had saved it for the saddle horses that were to be gathered and held +temporarily at the ranch; for it would save herding, and a week in that +pasture would put a keen edge on their spirits for the hard work of the +calf roundup. A dozen or two that ranged close had already been driven +into the field and were feeding disdainfully in a corner as far away +from the sheep as the fence would permit. + +The Happy Family, riding close-grouped, stiffened in their saddles and +stared amazed at the outrage. + +“Sheepherders never did have any nerve,” Irish observed after a minute. +“They keep their places fine! They'll drive their sheep right into your +dooryard and tell 'en to help themselves to anything that happens to +look good to them. Oh, they're sure modest and retiring!” + +Weary, who had charge of the outfit during Chip's absence, was making +straight for the nearest herder. Pink and Andy went with him, as a +matter of course. + +“You fellows ride up around that side, and put the run on them sheep,” + Weary shouted back to the others. “We'll start the other side moving. +Make 'em travel--back where they came from.” He jerked his head toward +the north. He knew, just as they all knew, that there had been no sheep +to the south, unless one counted those that ranged across the Missouri +river. + +As the three forced their horses up the steep slope, the herder, sitting +slouched upon a rock, glanced up at them dully. He had a long stick, +with which he was apathetically turning over the smaller stones within +his reach, and as apathetically killing the black bugs that scuttled out +from the moist earth beneath. He desisted from this unexciting pastime +as they drew near, and eyed them with the sullenness that comes of +long isolation when the person's nature forbids that other extreme of +babbling garrulity, for no man can live long months alone and remain +perfectly normal. Nature, that stern mistress, always exacts a penalty +from us foolish mortals who would ignore the instincts she has wisely +implanted within us for our good. + +“Maybe,” Weary began mildly and without preface, “you don't know this is +private property. Get busy with your dogs, and haze these sheep back on +the bench.” He waved his hand to the north. “And, when you get a good +start in that direction,” he added, “yuh better keep right on going.” + +The herder surveyed him morosely, but he said nothing; neither did he +rise from the rock to obey the command. The dogs sat upon their haunches +and perked their ears inquiringly, as if they understood better than did +their master that these men were not to be quite overlooked. + +“I meant to-day,” Weary hinted, with the manner of one who deliberately +holds his voice quiet. + +“I never asked yuh what yuh meant,” the herder mumbled, scowling. “We +got to keep 'em on water another hour, yet.” He went back to turning +over the small rocks and to pursuing with his stick the bugs, as if the +whole subject were squeezed dry of interest. + +For a minute Weary stared unwinkingly down at him, uncertain whether to +resent this as pure insolence, or to condone it as imbecility. “Mamma!” + he breathed eloquently, and grinned at Andy and Pink. “This is a real +talkative cuss, and obliging, too. Come on, boys; he's too busy to +bother with a little thing like sheep.” + +He led the way around to the far side of the band, the nearest sheep +scuttling away from then as they passed. “I don't suppose we could work +the combination on those dogs--what?” he considered aloud, glancing back +at them where they still sat upon their haunches and watched the strange +riders. “Say, Cadwalloper, you took a few lessons in sheepherding, a +couple of years ago, when you was stuck on that girl--remember? Whistle +'em up here and set 'en to work.” + +“You go to the devil,” Pink's curved hips replied amiably to his boss. +“I've got loss-uh-memory on the sheep business.” + +Whereat Weary grinned and said no more about it. + +On the opposite side of the coulee, the boys seemed to be laboring +quite as fruitlessly with the other herder. They heard Big Medicine's +truculent bellow, as he leaned from the saddle and waved a fist close to +the face of the herder, but, though they rode with their eyes fixed upon +the group, they failed to see any resultant movement of dogs, sheep or +man. + +There is, at times, a certain safety in being the hopeless minority. +Though seven indignant cowpunchers surrounded him, that herder was +secure from any personal molestation--and he knew it. They were seven +against one; therefore, after making some caustic remarks, which +produced as little effect as had Weary's command upon the first man, the +seven were constrained to ride here and there along the wavering, gray +line, and, with shouts and swinging ropes, themselves drive the sheep +from the coulee. + +There was much clamor and dust and riding to and fro. There was language +which would have made the mothers of then weep, and there were faces +grown crimson from wrath. Eventually, however, the Happy Family faced +the north fence of the Flying U boundary, and saw the last woolly back +scrape under the lower wire, leaving a toll of greasy wool hanging from +the barbs. + +The herders had drawn together, and were looking on from a distance, and +the four dogs were yelping uneasily over their enforced inaction. The +Happy Family went back and rounded up the herders, and by sheer weight +of numbers forced them to the fence without laying so much as a finger +upon then. The one who had been killing black bugs gave then an ugly +look as he crawled through, but even he did not say anything. + +“Snap them wires down where they belong,” Weary commanded tersely. + +The man hesitated a minute, then sullenly unhooked the barbs of the two +lower strands, so that the wires, which had thus been lifted to permit +the passing of the sheep, twanged apart and once more stretched straight +from post to post. + +“Now, just keep in mind the fact that fences are built for use. This is +a private ranch, and sheep are just about as welcome as smallpox. Haze +them stinking things as far north as they'll travel before dark, and at +daylight start 'em going again. Where's your camp, anyhow?” + +“None of your business,” mumbled the bugkiller sourly. + +Weary scanned the undulating slope beyond the fence, saw no sign of a +camp, and glanced uncertainly at his fellows. “Well, it don't matter +much where it is; you see to it you don't sleep within five miles of +here, or you're liable to have bad dreams. Hit the trail, now!” + +They waited inside the fence until the retreating sheep lost their +individuality as blatting animals, ambling erratically here and there, +while they moved toward the brow of the hill, and merged into a great, +gray blotch against the faint green of the new grass--a blotch from +which rose again that vibrant, sing-song humming of many voices mingled. +Then they rode back down the coulee to their own work, taking it +for granted that the trespassing was an incident which would not be +repeated--by those particular sheep, at any rate. + +It was, therefore, with something of a shock that the Happy Family +awoke the next morning to hear Pink's melodious treble shouting in the +bunk-house at sunrise next morning: + +“'G'wa-a-y round' 'em, Shep! Seven black ones in the coulee!” Men who +know well the West are familiar with that facetious call. + +“Ah, what's the matter with yuh?” Irish raised a rumpled, brown head +from his pillow, and blinked sleepily at him. “I've been dreaming I was +a sheepherder, all night.” + +“Well, you've got the swellest chance in the world to 'make every dream +cone true, dearie,'” Pink retorted. “The whole blamed coulee's full uh +sheep. I woke up a while ago and thought I just imagined I heard 'en +again; so I went out to take a look--or a smell, it was--and they're +sure enough there!” + +Weary swung one long leg out from under his blankets and reached for his +clothes. He did not say anything, but his face portended trouble for the +invaders. + +“Say!” cried Big Medicine, coming out of his bunk as if it were afire, +“I tell yuh right now then blattin' human apes wouldn't git gay around +here if I was runnin' this outfit. The way I'd have of puttin' them +sheep on the run wouldn't be slow, by cripes! I'll guarantee--” + +By then the bunk-house was buzzing with voices, and there was none to +give heed to Big Medicine s blatant boasting. Others there were who +seemed rather inclined to give Weary good advice while they pulled +on their boots and sought for their gloves and rolled early-morning +cigarettes, and otherwise prepared themselves for what Fate might have +waiting for then outside the door. + +“Are you sure they're in the coulee, Cadwalloper?” Weary asked, during a +brief lull. “They could be up on the hill--” + +“Hell, yes!” was Pink's forceful answer. “They could be on the hill, but +they ain't. Why, darn it, they're straggling into the little pasture! I +could see 'em from the stable. They--” + +“Come and eat your breakfast first, boys, anyway.” Weary had his hand +upon the door-knob. “A few minutes more won't make any difference, one +way or the other.” He went out and over to the mess-house to see if +Patsy had the coffee ready; for this was a good three-quarters of an +hour earlier than the Flying U outfit usually bestirred themselves on +these days of preparation for roundup and waiting for good grass. + +“I'll be darned if I'd be as calm as he is,” Cal Emmett muttered while +the door was being closed. “Good thing the Old Man ain't here, now. He'd +go straight up in the air. He wouldn't wait for no breakfast.” + +“I betche there'll be a killin' yet, before we're through with them +sheep,” gloomed Happy Jack. “When sheepherders starts in once to be +ornery, there ain't no way uh stoppin' 'em except by killin' 'em off. +And that'll mean the pen for a lot of us fellers--” + +“Well, by golly, it won't be me,” Slim declared loudly. “Yuh wouldn't +ketch me goin' t' jail for no doggone sheepherder. They oughta be a +bounty on 'en by rights.” + +“Seems queer they'd be right back here this morning, after being hazed +out yesterday afternoon,” said Andy Green thoughtfully. “Looks like +they're plumb anxious to build a lot of trouble for themselves.” + +Patsy, thumping energetically the bottom of a tin pan, sent them +trooping to the mess-house. There it was evident that the breakfast had +been unduly hurried; there were no biscuits in sight, for one thing, +though Patsy was lumbering about the stove frying hot-cakes. They were +in too great a hurry to wait for them, however. They swallowed their +coffee hurriedly, bolted a few mouthfuls of meat and fried eggs, and let +it go at that. + +Weary looked at then with a faint smile. “I'm going to give a few of you +fellows a chance to herd sheep to-day,” he announced, cooling his coffee +so that it would not actually scald his palate. “That's why I wanted +you to get some grub into you. Some of you fellows will have to take the +trail up on the hill, and meet us outside the fence, so when we chase +'em through you can make a good job of it this time. I wonder--” + +“You don't need to call out the troops for that job; one man is +enough to put the fear uh the Lord into then herders,” Andy remarked +slightingly. “Once they're on the move--” + +“All right, my boy; we'll let you be the man,” Weary told him promptly. +“I was going to have a bunch of you take a packadero outfit down toward +Boiler Bottom and comb the breaks along there for horses--and I sure +do hate to spend the whole day chasing sheepherders around over the +country. So we'll haze 'em through the fence again, and, seeing you feel +that way about it, I'll let you go around and keep 'em going. And, if +you locate their camp, kinda impress it on the tender, if you can round +him up, that the Flying U ain't pasturing sheep this spring. No matter +what kinda talk he puts up, you put the run on 'em till you see 'em +across One-Man coulee. Better have Patsy put you up a lunch--unless +you're fond of mutton.” + +Andy twisted his mouth disgustedly. “Say, I'm going to quit handing out +any valuable advice to you, Weary,” he expostulated. + +“Haw-haw-haw-w-w!” laughed Big Medicine, and slapped Andy on the +shoulder so that his face almost came in contact with his plate. +“Yuh will try to work some innercent man into sheepherdin', will yuh? +Haw-haw-haw-w! You'll come in tonight blattin'--if yuh don't stay out +on the range tryin' t' eat grass, by cripes! Andy had a little lamb that +follered him around--” + +“Better let Bud take that herdin' job, Weary,” Andy suggested. “It won't +hurt him--he's blattin' already.” + +“If you think you're liable to need somebody along,” Weary began, +soft-heartedly relenting, “why, I guess--” + +“If I can't handle two crazy sheepherders without any help, by gracious, +I'll get me a job holdin' yarn in an old ladies' hone,” Andy cut in +hastily, and got up from the table. “Being a truthful man, I can't say +I'm stuck on the job; but I'm game for it. And I'll promise you there +won't be no more sheep of that brand lickin' our doorsteps. What darned +outfit is it, anyway? I never bumped into any Dot sheep before, to my +knowledge.” + +“It's a new one on me,” Weary testified, heading the procession down +to the stable. “If they belonged anywhere in this part of the country, +though, they wouldn't be acting the way they are. They'd be wise to the +fact that it ain't healthy.” + +Even while he spoke his eyes were fixed with cold intensity upon a +fringe of gray across the coulee below the little pasture. To the +nostrils of the outraged Happy Family was borne that indescribable aroma +which betrays the presence of sheep; that aroma which sheepmen love and +which cattlemen hate, and which a favorable wind will carry a long way. + +They slapped saddles on their horses in record time that morning, and +raced down the coulee ironically shouting commiserating sentences to +the unfortunate Andy, who rode slowly up to the mess-house for the lunch +which Patsy had waiting for him in a flour sack, and afterward climbed +the grade and loped along outside the line fence to a point opposite +the sheep and the shouting horsemen, who forced them back by weight of +numbers. + +This morning the herders were not quite so passive. The bug-killer still +scowled, but he spoke without the preliminary sulky silence of the day +before, + +“We're goin' across the coulee,” he growled. “Them's orders. We range +south uh here.” + +“No, you don't,” Weary dissented calmly. “Not by a long shot, you don't. +You're going back where you come from--if you ask me. And you're going +quick!” + + + +CHAPTER VI. What Happened to Andy + +With the sun shining comfortably upon his back, and with a cigarette +between his lips, Andy sat upon his horse and watched in silent glee +while the irate Happy Family scurried here and there behind the band, +swinging their ropes down upon the woolly backs, and searching their +vocabularies for new and terrible epithets. Andy smiled broadly as a +colorful phrase now and then boomed across the coulee in that clear, +snappy atmosphere, which carries sounds so far. He did not expect to +do much smiling upon his own account, that day, and he was therefore +grateful for the opportunity to behold the spectacle before him. + +There was Slim, for instance, unwillingly careening down hill toward +home, because, in his zeal to slap an old ewe smartly with his rope, he +drove her unexpectedly under his horse, and so created a momentary panic +that came near standing both horse and rider upon their heads. And there +was Big Medicine whistling until he was purple, while the herder, with a +single gesture, held the dog motionless, though a dozen sheep broke +back from the band and climbed a slope so steep that Big Medicine was +compelled to go after them afoot, and turn them with stones and profane +objurgations. + +It was very funny--when one could sit at ease upon the hilltop and smoke +a cigarette while others risked apoplexy and their souls' salvation +below. By the time they panted up the last rock-strewn slope of the +bluff, and sent the vanguard of the invaders under the fence, Andy's +mood was complacent in the extreme, and his smile offensively wide. + +“Oh, you needn't look so sorry for us,” drawled the Native Son, jingling +over toward him until only the fence and a few feet of space divided +them. “Here's where you get yours, amigo. I wish you a pleasant day--and +a long one!” He waved his hand in mocking adieu, touched his horse with +his silver spurs, and rode gaily away down the coulee. + +“Here, sheepherder's your outfit. Ma-aa-a-a!” jeered Big Medicine. +“You'll wisht, by cripes, you was a dozen men just like yuh before +you're through with the deal. Haw-haw-haw-w!” + +There were others who, seeing Andy's grin, had something to say upon the +subject before they left. + +Weary rode up, and looked undecidedly from Andy to the sheep, and back +again. + +“If you don't feel like tackling it single-handed, I'll send--” + +“What do yuh think I am, anyway?” Andy interrupted crisply, “a +Montgomery Ward two-for-a-quarter cowpuncher? Don't you fellows waste +any time worrying over me!” + +The herders stared at Andy curiously when he swung in behind the +tail-end of the band and kept pace with their slow moving, but they did +not speak beyond shouting an occasional command to their dogs. Neither +did Andy have anything to say, until he saw that they were swinging +steadily to the west, instead of keeping straight north, as they had +been told to do. Then he rode over to the nearest herder, who happened +to be the bug-killer. + +“You don't want to get turned around,” he hinted quietly. “That's north, +over there.” + +“I'm workin' fer the man that pays my wages,” the fellow retorted +glumly, and waved an arm to a collie that was waiting for orders. The +dog dropped his head, and ran around the right wing of the band, with +sharp yelps and dartings here and there, turning them still more to the +west. + +Andy hesitated, decided to leave the man alone for the present, and rode +around to the other herder. + +“You swing these sheep north!” he commanded, disdaining preface or +explanation. + +“I'm workin' for the man that pays my wages,” the herder made answer +stolidly, and chewed steadily upon a quid of tobacco that had stained +his lips unbecomingly. + +So they had talked the thing over--had those two herders--and were +following a premeditated plan of defiance! Andy hooked at the man a +minute. “You turn them sheep, damn you,” he commanded again, and laid a +hand upon his saddle-horn suggestively. + +“You go to the devil, damn yuh,” advised the herder, and cocked a wary +eye at him from under his hat-brim. Not all herders, let it be said +in passing, take unto themselves the mental attributes of their sheep; +there are those who believe that a bold front is better than weak +compliance, and who will back that belief by a very bold front indeed. + +Andy appraised him mentally, decided that he was an able-bodied man +and therefore fightable, and threw his right leg over the cantle with a +quite surprising alacrity. + +“Are you going to turn them sheep?” Andy was taking off his coat when he +made that inquiry. + +“Not for your tellin'. You keep back, young feller, or I'll sick the +dogs on yuh.” He turned and whistled to the nearest one, and Andy hit +him on the ear. + +They clinched and pummeled when they could and where they could. The +dog came up, circled the gyrating forms twice, then sat down upon his +haunches at a safe distance, tilted his head sidewise and lifted his +ears interestedly. He was a wise little dog; the other dog was also +wise, and remained phlegmatically at his post, as did the bug-killer. + +“Are you going to turn them sheep?” Andy spoke breathlessly, but with +deadly significance. + +“N-yes.” + +Andy took his fingers from the other's Adam's apple, his knee from the +other's diaphragm, and went over to where he had thrown down his coat, +felt in a pocket for his handkerchief, and, when he had found it, +applied it to his nose, which was bleeding profusely. + +“Fly at it, then,” he advised, eyeing the other sternly over the +handkerchief. “I'd hate to ask you a third time.” + +“I'd hate to have yuh,” conceded the herder reluctantly. “I was sure I +c'd lick yuh, or I'd 'a' turned 'em before.” He sent the dog racing down +the south line of the band. + +Andy got thoughtfully back upon his horse, and sat looking hard at the +herder. “Say, you're grade above the general run uh lamb-hickers,” he +observed, after a minute. “Who are you working for, and what's your +object in throwing sheep on Flying U land? There's plenty of range to +the north.” + +“I'm workin',” said the herder, “for the Dot outfit. I thought you could +read brands.” + +“Don't get sassy--I've got a punch or two I haven't used yet. Who owns +these woollies?” + +“Well--Whittaker and Oleson, if yuh want to know.” + +“I do.” Andy was keeping pace with him around the band, which edged +off from then and the dogs. “And what makes you so crazy about Flying U +grass?” he pursued. + +“We've got to cross that coulee to git to where we're headed for; we got +a right to, and we're going to do it.” The herder paused and glanced up +at Andy sourly. “We knowed you was a mean outfit; the boss told us so. +And he told us you was blank ca'tridges and we needn't back up just +'cause you raised up on your hind legs and howled a little. I've had +truck with you cowmen before. I've herded sheep in Wyoming.” He walked a +few steps with his head down, considering. + +“I better go over and talk some sense into the other fellow,” he said, +looking up at Andy as if all his antagonism had oozed in the fight. “You +ride along this edge, so they won't scatter--we ought to be grazin' 'em +along, by rights; only you seem to be in such an all-fired rush--” + +“You go on and tell that loco son-of-a-gun over there what he's up +against,” Andy urged. “Blank cartridges--I sure do like that! If you +only knew it, high power dum-dums would be a lot closer to our brand. +Run along--I am in a kinda hurry, this morning.” + +Andy, riding slowly upon the outskirts of the grazing, blatting band, +watched the two confer earnestly together a hundred yards or so +away. They seemed to be having some sort of argument; the bug-killer +gesticulated with the long stick he carried, and the sheep, while +the herders talked, scattered irresponsibly. Andy wondered what made +sheepmen so “ornery,” particularly herders. He wondered why the fellow +he had thrashed was so insultingly defiant at first, and, after +the thrashing, so unresentful and communicative, and so amenable to +authority withal. He felt his nose, and decided that it was, all +things considered, a cheap victory, and yet one of which he need not be +ashamed. + +The herder cane back presently and helped drive the sheep over the edge +of the bluff which bordered Antelope coulee. The bug-killer, upon his +side, also seemed imbued with the spirit of obedience; Andy heard him +curse a collie into frenzied zeal, and smiled approvingly. + +“Now you're acting a heap more human,” he observed; and the man from +Wyoming grinned ruefully by way of reply. + +Antelope coulee, at that point, was steep; too steep for riding, so that +Andy dismounted and dug his boot-heels into the soft soil, to gain a +foothold on the descent. When he was halfway down, he chanced to look +back, straight into the scowling gaze of the bug-killer, who was sliding +down behind him. + +“Thought you were hazing down the other side of 'em,” Andy called back, +but the herder did not choose to answer save with another scowl. + +Andy edged his horse around an impracticable slope of shale stuff and +went on. The herder followed. When he was within twelve feet or so +of the bottom, there was a sound of pebbles knocked loose in haste, a +scrambling, and then came the impact of his body. Andy teetered, lost +his balance, and went to the bottom in one glorious slide. He landed +with the bug-killer on top--and the bug-killer failed to remove his +person as speedily as true courtesy exacted. + +Andy kicked and wriggled and tried to remember what was that +high-colored, vituperative sentence that Irish had invented over a +stubborn sheep, that he might repeat it to the bug-killer. The herder +from Wyoming ran up, caught Andy's horse, and untied Andy's rope from +the saddle. + +“Good fer you, Oscar,” he praised the bug-killer. “Hang onto him while +I take a few turns.” He thereupon helped force Andy's arms to his side, +and wound the rope several times rather tightly around Andy's outraged, +squirming person. + +“Oh, it ain't goin' to do yuh no good to buck 'n bawl,” admonished +the tier. “I learnt this here little trick down in Wyoming. A bunch uh +punchers done it to me--and I've been just achin' all over fer a chance +to return the favor to some uh you gay boys. And,” he added, with +malicious satisfaction, while he rolled Andy over and tied a perfectly +unslippable knot behind, “it gives me great pleasure to hand the dose +out to you, in p'ticular. If I was a mean man, I'd hand yuh the boot a +few times fer luck; but I'll save that up till next time.” + +“You can bet your sweet life there'll be a next time,” Andy promised +earnestly, with embellishments better suited to the occasion than to a +children's party. + +“Well, when it arrives I'm sure Johnny-on-the-spot. Them Wyoming +punchers beat me up after they'd got me tied. I'm tellin' yuh so you'll +see I ain't mean unless I'm drove to it. Turn him feet down hill, Oscar, +so he won't git a rush uh brains to the head and die on our hands. Now +you're goin' to mind your own business, sonny. Next time yuh set out to +herd sheep, better see the boss first and git on the job right.” + +He rose to his feet, surveyed Andy with his hands on his hips, mentally +pronounced the job well done, and took a generous chew of tobacco, after +which he grinned down at the trussed one. + +“That the language uh flowers you're talkin'?” he inquired banteringly, +before he turned his attention to the horse, which he disposed of by +tying up the reins and giving it a slap on the rump. When it had trotted +fifty yards down the coulee bottom, and showed a disposition to go +farther, he whistled to his dogs, and turned again to Andy. + +“This here is just a hint to that bunch you trot with, to leave us and +our sheep alone,” he said. “We don't pick no quarrels, but we're goin' +to cross our sheep wherever we dern please, to git where we want to go. +Gawd didn't make this range and hand it over to you cowmen to put in yer +pockets--I guess there's a chance fer other folks to hang on by their +eyebrows, anyway.” + +Andy, lying there like a very good presentation of a giant cocoon, roped +round and round, with his arms pinned to his sides, had the doubtful +pleasure of seeing that noisome, foolish-faced band trail down Antelope +coulee and back upon the level they had just left, and of knowing to a +gloomy certainty that he could do nothing about it, except swear; and +even that palls when a man has gone over his entire repertoire three +times in rapid succession. + +Andy, therefore, when the last sheep had trotted out of sight, hearing +and smell, wriggled himself into as comfortable a position as his bonds +would permit, and took a nap. + + + +CHAPTER VII. Truth Crushed to Earth, etc. + +Andy, only half awake, tried to obey both instinct and habit and reach +up to pull his hat down over his eyes, so that the sun could not shine +upon his lids so hotly; when he discovered that he could do no more than +wiggle his fingers, he came back with a jolt to reality and tried to sit +up. It is surprising to a man to discover suddenly just how important a +part his arms play in the most simple of body movements; Andy, with his +arms pinioned tightly the whole length of them, rolled over on his face, +kicked a good deal, and rolled back again, but he did not sit up, as he +had confidently expected to do. + +He lay absolutely quiet for at least five minutes, staring up at the +brilliant blue arch above him. Then he began to speak rapidly and +earnestly; a man just close enough to hear his voice sweeping up to a +certain rhetorical climax, pausing there and commencing again with a +rhythmic fluency of intonation, might have thought that he was repeating +poetry; indeed, it sounded like some of Milton's majestic blank +verse, but it was not. Andy was engaged in a methodical, scientific, +reprehensibly soul-satisfying period of swearing. + +A curlew, soaring low, with long beak outstretched before him, and +long legs outstretched behind cast a beady eye upon him, and shrilled +“Cor-reck! Cor-reck!” in unregenerate approbation of the blasphemy. + +Andy stopped suddenly and laughed. “Glad you agree with me, old sport,” + he addressed the bird whimsically, with a reaction to his normally +cheerful outlook. “Sheepherders are all those things I named over, +birdie, and some that I can't think of at present.” + +He tried again, this time with a more careful realization of his +limitations, to assume an upright position; and being a persevering +young man, and one with a ready wit, he managed at length to wriggle +himself back upon the slope from which he had slid in his sleep, and, by +digging in his heels and going carefully, he did at last rise upon his +knees, and from there triumphantly to his feet. + +He had at first believed that one of the herders would, in the course +of an hour or so, return and untie him, when he hoped to be able to +retrieve, in a measure, his self-respect, which he had lost when the +first three feet of his own rope had encircled him. To be tied and +trussed by sheepherders! Andy gritted his teeth and started down the +coulee. + +He was hungry, and his lunch was tied to his saddle. He looked eagerly +down the coulee, in the faint hope of seeing his horse grazing somewhere +along its length, until the numbness of his arms and hands reminded him +that forty lunches, tied upon forty saddles at his side, would be of no +use to him in his present position. His hands he could not move from his +thighs; he could wiggle his fingers--which he did, to relieve as much +as possible that unpleasant, prickly sensation which we call a “going to +sleep” of the afflicted members. When it occurred to him that he could +not do anything with his horse if he found it, he gave up looking for it +and started for the ranch, walking awkwardly, because of his bonds, the +sun shining hotly upon his brown head, because his hat had been knocked +off in the scuffle, and he could not pick it up and put it back where it +belonged. + +Taking a straight course across the prairie, he struck Flying U coulee +at the point where the sheep had left it. On the way there he had +crossed their trail where they went through the fence farther along +the coulee than before, and therefore with a better chance of passing +undetected; especially since the Happy Family, believing that he was +forcing them steadily to the north, would not be watching for sheep. The +barbed wire barrier bothered him somewhat. He was compelled to lie down +and roll under the fence, in the most undignified manner, and, when he +was through, there was the problem of getting upon his feet again. But +he managed it somehow, and went on down the coulee, perspiring with the +heat and a bitter realization of his ignominy. What the Happy Family +would have to say when they saw him, even Andy Green's vivid imagination +declined to picture. + +He knew by the sun that it was full noon when he came in sight of the +stable and corrals, and his soul sickened at the thought of facing that +derisive bunch of punchers, with their fiendish grins and their barbed +tongues. But he was hungry, and his arms had reached the limit of +prickly sensations and were numb to his shoulders. He shook his hair +back from his beaded forehead, cast a wary glance at the silent stables, +set his jaw, and went on up the hill to the mess-house, wishing tardily +that he had waited until they were off at work again, when he might +intimidate old Patsy into keeping quiet about his predicament. + +Within the mess-house was the clatter of knives and forks plied by +hungry men, the sound of desultory talk and a savory odor of good +things to eat. The door was closed. Andy stood before it as a +guilty-conscienced child stands before its teacher; clicked his teeth +together, and, since he could not open the door, lifted his right foot +and gave it a kick to strain the hinges. + +Within were exclamations of astonishment, silence and then a heavy +tread. Patsy opened the door, gasped and stood still, his eyes popping +out like a startled rabbit. + +“Well, what's eating you?” Andy demanded querulously, and pushed past +him into the room. + +Not all of the Happy Family were there. Cal, Jack Bates, Irish and +Happy Jack had gone into the Bad Lands next to the river; but there were +enough left to make the soul of Andy quiver forebodingly, and to send +the flush of extreme humiliation to his cheeks. + +The Happy Family looked at him in stunned surprise; then they glanced at +one another in swift, wordless inquiry, grinned wisely and warily, and +went on with their dinner. At least they pretended to go on with +their dinner, while Andy glared at them with amazed reproach in his +misleadingly honest gray eyes. + +“When you've got plenty of time,” he said at last in a choked tone, +“maybe one of you obliging cusses will untie this damned rope.” + +“Why, sure!” Pink threw a leg over the bench and got up with cheerful +alacrity. “I'll do it now, if you say so; I didn't know but what that +was some new fad of yours, like--” + +“Fad!” Andy repeated the word like an explosion. + +“Well, by golly, Andy needn't think I'm goin' to foller that there +style,” Slim stated solemnly. “I need m' rope for something else than to +tie n' clothes on with.” + +“I sure do hate to see a man wear funny things just to make himself +conspicuous,” Pink observed, while he fumbled at the knot, which was +intricate. Andy jerked away from him that he might face him ragefully. + +“Maybe this looks funny to you,” he cried, husky with wrath. “But I +can't seem to see the joke, myself. I admit I let then herders make +a monkey of me.... They slipped up behind, going down into Antelope +coulee, and slid down the bluff onto me; and, before I could get up, +they got me tied, all right. I licked one of 'en before that, and +thought I had 'en gentled down--” + +Andy stopped short, silenced by that unexplainable sense which warns us +when our words are received with cold disbelief. + +“Mh-hm--I thought maybe you'd run up against a hostile jackrabbit, or +something,” Pink purred, and went back to his place on the bench. + +“Haw-haw-haw-w-w!” came Big Medicine's tardy bellow. “That's more +reasonable than the sheepherder story, by cripes!” + +Andy looked at them much as he had stared up at the sky before he began +to swear--speechlessly, with a trembling of the muscles around his +mouth. He was quite white, considering how tanned he was, and his +forehead was shiny, with beads of perspiration standing thickly upon it. + +“Weary, I wish you'd untie this rope. I can't.” He spoke still in that +peculiar, husky tone, and, when the last words were out, his teeth went +together with a snap. + +Weary glanced inquiringly across at the Native Son, who was regarding +Andy steadily, as one gazes upon a tangled rope, looking for the end +which will easiest lead to an untangling. + +Miguel's brown eyes turned languidly to meet the look. “You'd better +untie him,” he advised in his soft drawl. “He may not be in the habit of +doing it--but he's telling the truth.” + +“Untie me, Miguel,” begged Andy, going over to him, “and let me at this +bunch.” + +“I'll do it,” said Weary, and rose pacifically. “I kinda believe you +myself, Andy. But you can't blame the boys none; you've fooled 'em till +they're dead shy of anything they can't see through. And, besides, it +sure does look like a plant. I'd back you single-handed against a dozen +sheepherders like then two we've been chasing around. If I hadn't felt +that way I wouldn't have sent yuh out alone with 'em.” + +“Well, Andy needn't think he's goin' to stick me on that there story,” + Slim declared with brutal emphasis. “I've swallered too many baits, +by golly. He's figurin' on gettin' us all out on the war-path, runnin' +around in circles, so's't he can give us the laugh. I'll bet, by golly, +he paid then herders to tie him up like that. He can't fool me!” + +“Say, Slim, I do believe your brains is commencin' to sprout!” Big +Medicine thumped him painfully upon the back by way of accenting the +compliment. “You got the idee, all right.” + +Andy stood quiet while Weary unwound the rope; lifted his numbed arms +with some difficulty, and displayed to the doubters his rope-creased +wrists, and purple, swollen hands. + +“I couldn't fight a caterpiller right now,” he said thickly. “Look at +them hands! Do yuh call that a josh? I've been tied up like a bed-roll +for five hours, you--” Well, never mind, he merely repeated a part of +what he had recited aloud in Antelope coulee, the only difference being +that he applied the vitriolic utterances to the Happy Family instead of +to sheepherders, and that with the second recitation he gained much in +fluency and dramatic delivery. + +It is not nice for a man to swear; to swear the way Andy did, at any +rate. But the result perhaps atoned in a measure for the wickedness, in +that the Happy Family were absolutely convinced of his sincerity, and +the feelings of Andy greatly relieved, so that, when he had for the +third time that day completely exhausted his vocabulary, he sat down and +began to eat his dinner with a keen appetite. + +“I don't suppose you know where your horse is at, by this tine,” Weary +observed, as casually as possible, breaking a somewhat constrained +silence. + +“I don't--and I don't give a darn,” Andy snapped back. He ate a few +mouthfuls, and added less savagely: “He wasn't in sight, as I came +along. I didn't follow the trail; I struck straight across and came down +the coulee. He may be at the gate, and he may be down toward Rogers'.” + +Pink reached for a toothpick, eyeing Andy side-long; dimpled his cheeks +disarmingly, and cleared his throat. “Please don't kill me off when you +get that pie swallowed,” he began pacifically. “Strange as it may seem, +I believe you, Andy. What I want to know is this: Who owns them Dots? +And what are they chasing all over the Flying U range for? It looks +plumb malicious, to me. Did you find out anything about 'en, Andy, while +you--er--while they--” His eyes twinkled and betrayed him for an arrant +pretender. (Pink was not afraid of anything on earth--least of all Andy +Green.) + +“I will kill yuh by inches, if I hear any remarks out of yuh that +ain't respectful,” Andy promised, thawing to his normal tone, which was +pleasant to the ear. “I didn't find out much about 'em. The fellow I +licked told me that Whittaker and Oleson owned the sheep. He didn't +say--” + +“Well--by--golly!” Shin thrust his head forward belligerently. +“Whittaker! Well, what d'yuh think uh that!” He glared from one face +to the other, his gaze at last resting upon Weary. “Say, do yuh reckon +it's--Dunk?” + +Weary paid no heed to Slim. He leaned forward, his face turned to Andy +with that concentration of attention which means so much more than mere +exclamation. “You're sure he said Whittaker?” he asked. + +His tone and his attitude arrested Andy's cup midway to his mouth. +“Sure--Whittaker and Oleson. I never heard of the outfit--who's this +Whittaker person?” + +Weary settled back in his place and smiled, but his eyes had quite lost +their habitually sunny expression. + +“Up until four years ago,” he explained evenly, “he was the Old Man's +partner. We caught him in some mighty dirty work, and--well, he sold +out to the Old Man. The old party with the hoofs and tail can't be +everywhere at once, the way I've got it sized up, so he turns some of +his business over to other folks. Dunk Whittaker's his top hand.” + +“Why, by golly, he framed up a job on the Gordon boys, and railroaded +'em to the pen, just--” + +“Oh, that's the gazabo!” Andy's eyes shone with enlightenment. “I've +heard a lot about Dunk, but I didn't know his last name--” + +“Say! I'll bet they're the outfit that bought out Denson. That's why old +Denson acted so queer, maybe. Selling to a sheep outfit would make the +old devil feel kinda uneasy, talking to us--” Pink's eyes were big and +purple with excitement. “And that train-load of sheep we saw Sunday, +I'll bet is the same identical outfit.” + +“Dunk Whittaker'd better not try to monkey with me, by golly!” Slim's +face was lowering. “And he'd better not monkey with the Flying U either. +I'd pump him so full uh holes he'd look like a colander, by golly!” + +Weary got up and started to the door, his face suddenly grown careworn. +“Slim, you and Miguel better go and hunt up Andy's horse,” he said with +a hint of abstraction in his tone, as though his mind was busy with more +important things. “Maybe Andy'll feel able to help you set those posts, +Bud--and you'd better go along the upper end of the little pasture with +the wire stretchers and tighten her up; the top wire is pretty loose, I +noticed this morning.” His fingers fumbled with the door-knob. + +“Want me to do anything?” Pink asked quizzically just behind him. “I +thought sure we'd go and remonstrate with then gay--” + +Weary interrupted him. “The herders can wait--and, anyway, I've kinda +got an idea Andy wants to hand out his own brand of poison to that +bunch. You and I will take a ride over to Denson's and see what's going +on over there. Mamma!” he added fervently, under his breath, “I sure do +wish Chip and the Old Man were here!” + + + +CHAPTER VIII. The Dot Outfit + +Before he laid him down to sleep, that night, Weary had repeated to +himself many times and fervently that wish for old J. G. Whitmore and +the stout staff upon which he was beginning more and more to lean, his +brother-in-law, Chip Bennett. As matters stood, Weary could not even +bring himself to let then know anything about his trouble--and that the +thing was beginning to assume the form and shape and general malevolent +attributes of Trouble, Weary was forced to admit to himself. + +Just at present an unthinking, unobserving person might pass over +this sheep outfit as a mere unsavory incident; but Weary was neither +unobserving nor unthinking--nor, for the matter of that, were the +rest of the Happy Family. It needed no Happy Jack, with his foreboding +nature, to point out the unpleasant possibilities that night when the +committee of two made their informal report at the supper table. + +They had ridden to Denson coulee, which was in reality a meandering +branch of Flying U coulee itself. To reach it one rode out of Flying +U coulee and over a wide hill, and down again to Denson's. But the +creek--Flying U creek--followed the devious turnings from Denson coulee +down to the Flying U. A long mile of Flying U coulee J. G. Whitmore +owned outright. Another mile he held under no other title save a fence. +The creek flowed through it all--but that creek had its source somewhere +up near the head of Denson coulee. J. G. Whitmore had, to his regret, +been unable to claim the whole earth--or at least that portion of +it--for his own; so, when he was constrained to make a choice, he +settled himself in the wider, more fertile coulee, which he thereafter +called the Flying U. While it is good policy to locate as near as +possible to the source of those erratic little creeks which water +certain garden spots of the northern range land, it is also well to +choose land that will grow plenty of hay. J. G. Whitmore chose the hay +land, and trusted that providence would insure the water supply. Through +all these years Flying U creek had never once disappointed him. Denson, +who settled in the tributary coulee, had not made any difference in the +water supply, and his stock had consisted of thirty or forty head of +cattle and horses. + +When Denson sold, however, things might be different. And, if he had +sold to a sheepman, the change might be unpleasant If he had sold to +Dunk Whittaker--the Flying U boys faced that possibility just as they +would face any other disaster, undaunted, but grim and unsmiling. + +It was thus that Pink and Weary rode slowly down into Denson coulee. Two +miles back they had passed the band of Dot sheep, feeding leisurely +just without the Flying U fence, which was the southern boundary. The +bug-killer and the other were there, and they noted that the features +of that other bore witness to the truth of Andy's story of the fight. He +regarded them with one perfectly good eye and one which was considerably +swollen, and grinned a swollen grin. + +The two had ridden ten paces past him when Pink pulled up suddenly. “I'm +going to get off and lick that son-of-a-gun myself, just for luck,” he +stated dispassionately. “I'm going to lick 'em both,” he revised while +he dismounted. + +“Oh, come on, Cadwalloper,” Weary dissuaded. “You'll likely have all the +excitement you need, without that.” + +“Here, you hold this fool cayuse. No.” He shook his head, cutting short +further protest. “You're the boss, and you don't want to mix in, and +that part is all right. But I ain't responsible--and I sure am going +to take a fall or two out of these geesers. They're a-w-l together too +stuck on themselves to suit me.” Pink did not say that he was thinking +of Andy, but nevertheless a vivid recollection of that unfortunate young +man's rope-creased wrists and swollen hands sent him toward the herder +with long, eager strides. + +Pink was not tall, and he was slight and boyish of build; also, his +cherubic face, topped by tawny curls and lighted by eyes as deeply blue +and as innocent as a baby's, probably deceived that herder, just as +they had deceived many another. For Pink was a good deal like a stick +of dynamite wrapped in white tissue paper and tied with blue ribbon; +and Weary was not at all uneasy over the outcome, as he watched Pink go +clanking back, though he loved him well. + +Pink did not waste any time or words on the preliminaries. With a +delightful frankness of purpose he pulled off his coat and threw it +on the ground, as he came up, sent his hat after it, and arrived fist +first. + +The herder had waited grinning, and he had shouted something to Weary +about spanking the kid if Weary didn't make him behave. Speedily he +became a very surprised herder, and a distressed one as well. + +“All right,” Pink remarked, a little quick-breathed, when the herder +decided for the third time to get up. “A friend of mine worked yuh over +a little, this morning, and I just thought I'd make a better job than he +did. Your eyes didn't match. They will, now.” + +The herder mumbled maledictions after him, but Pink would not even give +him the satisfaction of resenting it. + +“I'd like to have broken a knuckle against his teeth, darn him,” he +observed ruefully when he was in the saddle again. “Come on, Weary. It +won't take but a minute to hand a punch or two to that bug-killer, +and then I'll feel better. They've both got it coming--come on!” This +because Weary showed a strong inclination to take the trail and keep it +to his destination. “Well, I'll go alone, then. I've got to kinda square +myself for the way I threw it into Andy; and you know blamed well, +Weary, they played it low-down on him, or they'd never have got that +rope on him. And I'm going to lick that--” + +“Mamma! You sure are a rambunctious person when you feel that way,” + Weary made querulous comment; but he rode over with Pink to where the +bug-killer was standing with his long stick held in a somewhat menacing +manner, and once more he held Pink's horse for him. + +Pink was gone longer this time, and he came back with a cut lip and a +large lump on his forehead; the bug-killer had thrown a small rock with +the precision which comes of much practice--such as stoning disobedient +dogs, and the like--and, when Pink rushed at him furiously, the herder +caught him very neatly alongside the head with his stick. These little +amenities serving merely to whet Pink's appetite for battle, he stopped +long enough to thrash that particular herder very thoroughly and to his +own complete satisfaction. + +“Well, I guess I'm ready to go on now,” he observed, dimpling rather +one-sidedly as he got back on his horse. + +“I thought maybe you'd want to whip the dogs, too,” Weary told him +dryly; which was the nearest he came to expressing any disapproval +of the incident. Weary was a peace-loving soul, whenever peace was +compatible with self-respect; and it would never have occurred to him to +punish strange men as summarily as Pink had done. + +“I would, if the dogs were half as ornery as the men,” Pink retorted. +“Say, they hang together like bull snakes and rattlers, don't they? If +they was human, they'd have helped each other out--but nothing doing! Do +you reckon a man could ride up to a couple of our bunch, and thrash one +at a time without the other fellow having something to say about it?” He +turned in the saddle and looked back. “So help me, Josephine, I've got a +good mind to go back and lick them again, for not hanging together like +they ought to.” But the threat was an idle one, and they went on to +Denson's, Weary still with that anxious look in his eyes, and Pink quite +complacent over his exploit. + +In Denson coulee was an unwonted atmosphere of activity; heretofore the +place had been animated chiefly by young Densons engaged in the pursuit +of pleasure, but now a covered buggy, evidently just arrived, bore mute +witness to the new order of things. There were more horses about the +place, a covered wagon or two, three or four men working upon the +corral, and, lastly, there was one whom Weary recognized the moment he +caught sight of him. + +“Looks like a sheep outfit, all right,” he said somberly. “And, if that +ain't old Dunk himself, it's the devil, and that's next thing to him.” + +Dunk, they judged, had just arrived with another man whom they did not +know: a tall man with light hair that hung lank to his collar, a thin, +sharp-nosed face and a wide mouth, which stretched easily into a smile, +but which was none the pleasanter for that. When he turned inquiringly +toward them they saw that he was stoop-shouldered; though not from any +deformity, but from sheer, slouching lankness. Dunk gave them a swift, +sour look from under his eyebrows and went on. + +Weary rode straight past the lank man, whom he judged to be Oleson, and +overtook Dunk Whittaker himself. + +“Hello, Dunk,” he said cheerfully, sliding over in the saddle so that a +foot hung free of the stirrup, as men who ride much have learned to do +when they stop for a chat, thereby resting while they may. “Back on the +old stamping ground, are you?” + +“Since you see me here, I suppose I am,” Dunk made churlish response. + +“Do you happen to own those Dot sheep, back there on the hill?” Weary +tilted his head toward home. + +“I happen to own half of them.” By then they had reached the gate and +Dunk passed through and started on to the house. + +“Oh, don't be in a rush--come on back and be sociable,” Weary called +out, in the mildest of tones, twisting the reins around his saddle-horn +so that he might roll a cigarette at ease. + +Dunk remembered, perhaps, certain things he had learned when he was +J. G. Whitmore's partner, and had more or less to do with the charter +members of the Happy Family. He came back and stood by the gate, +ungraciously enough, to be sure; still, he came back. Weary smiled under +cover of lighting his cigarette. Dunk, by that reluctant compliance, +betrayed something which Weary had been rather anxious to know. + +“We've been having a little trouble with those sheep of yours,” Weary +remarked between puffs. “You've got some poor excuses for humans herding +them. They drove the bunch across our coulee just exactly three times. +There ain't enough grass left in our lower field to graze a prairie +dog.” He glanced back to see where Pink was, saw that he was close +behind, as was the lank man, and spoke in a tone that included them all. + +“The Flying U ain't pasturing sheep, this spring,” he informed them +pleasantly. “But, seeing the grass is eat up, we'll let yuh pay for it. +Why didn't you bring them in along the trail, anyway?” + +“I didn't bring them in. I just came down from Butte to-day. I suppose +the herders brought them out where the feed was best; they did if +they're worth their wages.” + +“They happened to strike some feed that was pretty expensive. And,” + he smiled down at Whittaker misleadingly, “you ought to keep an eye +on those herders, or they might let you in for another grass bill. The +Flying U has got quite a lot of range, right around here, you recollect. +And we've got plenty of cattle to eat it. We don't need any help to keep +the grass down so we can ride through it.” + +“Now, look here,” began the lank man with that sort of persuasiveness +which can turn instantly into bluster, “all this is pure foolishness, +you know. We're here to stay. We've bought this place, and some other +land to go with it, and we expect to stay right here and make a living. +It happens that we expect to make a living off of sheep. Now, we don't +want to start in by quarreling with our neighbors, and we don't want our +neighbors to start any quarrel with us. All we want--” + +“Mamma! You're taking a fine way to make us love yuh,” Weary cut in +ironically. “I know what you want. You want the same as every other meek +and lovely sheepman wants. You want it all--core, seeds and peeling. +Dunk,” he said with a more impatient disgust than he was in the habit +of showing for his fellowmen, “this man's a stranger; but I should think +you'd know better than to come in here with sheep.” + +“I don't know why a sheep outfit isn't exactly as good as a cow outfit, +and I don't know why they haven't as much right here. You're welcome to +what land you own, but it always seemed to me that public land is open +to the use of the public. Now, as Oleson says, we expect to raise sheep +here, and we expect your outfit to leave us alone. As far as our sheep +crossing your coulee is concerned--I don't know that they did. But, if +they did, and, if they did any damage, let J. G. do the talking about +that. I deal with the owners--not with the hired men.” + +Weary, you must understand, was never a bellicose young man. But, for +all that, he leaned over and gave Dunk a slap on the jaw which must have +stung considerably--and the full reason for his violence lay four years +behind the two, when Dunk was part owner of the Flying U, and when his +sneering arrogance had been very hard to endure. + +“Are you going to swallow that--from a hired man?” Weary inquired, +after a minute during which nothing whatever occurred beyond the slow +reddening of Dunk's face. + +“I'm not going to fight, if that's what you mean,” Dunk sneered. “I +decline to bring myself down to your level. One doesn't expect anything +from a jackass but a bray, you know--and one doesn't feel compelled to +bray because the jackass does.” He smiled that supercilious smile which +Weary had hated of old, and which, he knew, was well used to covering +much treachery and small meannesses of various sorts. + +“As I said, if the Flying U has any claim against us, let the owner +present it in the usual way.” Dunk drew down his black brows, lifted a +corner of his lip and turned his back deliberately upon them. + +Oleson let himself through the gate, which he closed somewhat hastily +behind him. “I'm sorry you fellows seem to want to make trouble,” he +said, without looking up from the latch, which seemed somewhat out of +repair, like the rest of the Denson property. “That's a poor way +to start in with new neighbors.” He lifted his hat with what Pink +considered insulting politeness, and followed Dunk into the house. + +Weary waited there until they had gone in and closed the door, then +turned and rode back home again, frowning thoughtfully at the trail +ahead of them all the way, and making no reply to Pink's importunings +for war. + +“I'd hate to say you've lost your nerve, Weary,” Pink cried at last, in +sheer desperation. “But why the devil didn't you get down and thump the +daylights out of that black son-of-a-gun? I came pretty near walking +into him myself, only I hate to butt into another fellow's scrap. But, +if I'd known you were going to set there and let him walk off with that +sneer on his face--” + +“I can't fight a man that won't hit back,” Weary protested. “You +couldn't either, Cadwalloper. You'd have done just what I did; you'd +have let him go.” + +“He will hit back, all right enough,” Pink retorted passionately. “He'll +do it when you ain't looking, though. He--” + +“I know it,” Weary sighed. “I'm kinda sorry, now, I slapped him. He'll +hit back--but he won't hit me; he'll aim at the outfit. If the Old Man +was here, or Chip, I'd feel a whole lot easier in my mind.” + +“They couldn't do anything you can't do,” Pink assured him loyally, +forgetting his petulance when he saw the careworn look in Weary's +face. “All they can do is gobble all the range around here--and I guess +there's a few of us that will have a word or two to say about that.” + +“What makes me sore,” Weary confided, “is knowing that Dunk isn't +thinking altogether of the dollar end of it. He's tickled to death to +get a whack at the outfit. And I hate to see him get away with it; but I +guess we'll have to stand for it.” + +That sentiment did not please Pink; nor, when Weary repeated it later +that evening in the bunk-house, did it please the Happy Family. The less +pleasing it was because it was perfectly true and every man of them knew +it. Beyond keeping the sheep off Flying U land, there was nothing they +could do without stepping over the line into lawlessness--and, while +they were not in any sense a meek Happy Family, they were far more +law-abiding than their conversation that night made them appear. + + + +CHAPTER IX. More Sheep + +The next week was a time of harassment for the Flying U; a week +filled to overflowing with petty irritations, traceable, directly or +indirectly, to their new neighbors, the Dot sheepmen. The band in charge +of the bug-chaser and that other unlovable man from Wyoming fed just as +close to the Flying U boundary as their guardians dared let them feed; a +great deal closer than was good for the tempers of the Happy Family, who +rode fretfully here and there upon their own business and at the same +time tried to keep an eye upon their unsavory neighbors--a proceeding as +nerve-racking as it was futile. + +The Native Son, riding home in jingling haste from Dry Lake, whither +he had hurried one afternoon in the hope of cheering news from Chicago, +reported another trainload of Dots on the wide level beyond Antelope +coulee. There were, he said, four men in charge of the band, and he +believed they carried guns, though he was not positive of that. They +were moving slowly, and he thought they would not attempt to cross +Flying U coulee before the next day; though, from the course they were +taking, he was sure they meant to cross. + +Coupled with that bit of ill-tidings, the brief note from Chip, saying +very little about the Old Man, but implying a good deal by its very +omissions, would have been enough to send the Happy Family to sleepless +beds that night if they had been the kind to endure with silent +fortitude their troubles. + +“If you fellers would back me up,” brooded Big Medicine down by the +corral after supper, “I'd see to it them sheep never gits across the +coulee, by cripes! I'd send 'em so far the other way they'd git plumb +turned around and forgit they ever wanted to go south.” + +“It's all Dunk's devilishness,” Jack Bates declared. “He could take them +in the other way, even if the feed ain't so good along the trail. It's +most all prairie-dog towns--but that's good enough for sheep.” Jack, in +his intense partisanship, spoke as if sheep were not entitled to decent +grass at any time or under any circumstances. + +“Them herders packin' guns looks to me like they're goin' to make +trouble if they kin,” gloomed Happy Jack. “I betche they'll kill +somebody before they're through. When sheepmen gits mean--” + +Pink picked up his rope and started for the large corral, where a few +saddle horses had been driven in just before supper and had not yet been +turned out. + +“You fellows can stand around and chew the rag, if you want to,” he said +caustically, “and wait for Weary to make a war-talk. But I'm going to +keep cases on them Dots, if I have to stand an all-night guard on 'em. I +don't blame Weary; he's looking out for the law-and-order business--and +that's all right. But I'm not in charge of the outfit. I'm going to do +as I darn please, and, if they don't like my style, they can give me my +time.” + +“Good for you, Little One!” Big Medicine hurried to overtake him so +that he might slap him on the shoulder with his favorite, sledge-hammer +method of signifying his approval of a man's sentiments. “Honest to +grandma, I was just b'ginnin' to think this bunch was gitting all +streaked up with yeller. 'Course, we ain't goin' to wait for no official +orders, by cripes! I'd ruther lock Weary up in the blacksmith shop than +let him tell us to go ahead. Go awn and tell him a good, stiff lie, +Andy--just to keep him interested while us fellers make a gitaway. He +ain't in on this; we don't want him in on it.” + +“What yuh goin' to do?” Happy Jack inquired suspiciously. “Yuh can't +go and monkey with them sheep, er them herders. They ain't on our land. +And, if you don't git killed, old Dunk'll fix yuh like he fixed the +Gordon boys--I know him--to a fare-you-well. It'd tickle him to death to +git something on us fellers. I betche that's what he's aiming t'do. Git +us to fightin' his outfit so's't--” + +“Oh, go off and lie down!” Andy implored him contemptuously. “We're +going to hang those herders, and drive the sheep all over a cut-back +somewhere, like Jesus done to the hogs, and then we're going over and +murder old Dunk, if he's at home, and burn the house to hide the guilty +deed. And, if the sheriff comes snooping around, asking disagreeable +questions, we'll all swear you done it. So now you know our plans; shut +your face and go on to bed. And be sure,” he added witheringly, “you +pull the soogans over your head, so you won't hear the dying shriek of +our victims. We're liable to get kinda excited and torture 'em a while +before we kill 'em.” + +“Aw, gwan!” gulped Happy Jack mechanically. “You make me sick! If yuh +think I'm goin' to swaller all that, you're away off! You wouldn't dast +do nothing of the kind; and, if yuh did, you'd sure have a sweet time +layin' it onto me!” + +“Oh, I don't know,” drawled the Native Son, with a slow, velvet-eyed +glance, “any jury in the country would hang you on your looks, Happy. I +knew a man down in the lower part of California, who was arrested, tried +and hanged for murder. And all the evidence there was against him was +the fact that he was seen within five miles of the place on the same day +the murder was committed; and his face. They had an expert physiognomist +there, and he swore that the fellow had the face of a murderer; the poor +devil looked like a criminal--and, though he had one of the best lawyers +on the Coast, it was adios for him.” + +“I s'pose you mean I got the face of a criminal!” sputtered Happy Jack. +“It ain't always the purty fellers that wins out--like you 'n' Pink. I +never seen the purty man yit that was worth the powder it'd take to +blow him up! Aw, you fellers make me sick!” He went off, muttering his +opinion of them all, and particularly of the Native Son, who smiled +while he listened. “You go awn and start something--and you'll wisht you +hadn't,” they heard him croak from the big gate, and chuckled over his +wrath. + +As a matter of fact, the Happy Family, as a whole, or as individuals, +had no intention of committing any great violence that evening. Pink +wanted to see just where this new band of sheep was spending the night, +and to find out, if possible, what were the herders' intentions. Since +the boys were all restless under their worry, and, since there is a +contagious element in seeking a trouble-zone, none save Happy Jack, who +was “sore” at them, and Weary stayed behind in the coulee with old Patsy +while the others rode away up the grade and out toward Antelope coulee +beyond. + +They meant only to reconnoiter, and to warn the herders against +attempting to cross Flying U coulee; though they were not exactly +sure that they would be perfectly polite, or that they would confine +themselves rigidly to the language they were wont to employ at dances. +Andy Green, in particular, seemed rather to look forward with pleasure +to the meeting. Andy, by the way, had remained heartbrokenly passive +during that whole week, because Weary had extracted from him a promise +which Andy, mendacious though he had the name of being, felt constrained +to keep intact. Though of a truth it irked him much to think of two +sheepherders walking abroad unpunished for their outrage upon his +person. + +Weary, as he had made plain to them all, wanted to avoid trouble if it +were possible to do so. And, though they grinned together in secret +over his own affair with Dunk--which was not, in their opinion, exactly +pacific--they meant to respect his wishes as far as human nature was +able to do so. So that the Happy Family, galloping toward the red sunset +and the great, gray blot on the prairie, just where the glory of +the west tinged the grass blades with red, were not one-half as +blood-thirsty as they had proclaimed themselves to be. + +While they were yet afar off they could see two men walking slowly in +the immediate vicinity of the huddled band. A hundred yards away was +a small tent, with a couple of horses picketed near by and feeding +placidly. The men turned, gazed long at their approach, and walked to +the tent, which they entered somewhat hastily. + +“Look at 'em dodge outa sight, will you!” cried Cal Emmett, and lifted +up his voice in the yell which sometimes announced the Happy Family's +arrival in Dry Lake after a long, thirsty absence on roundup. Other +voices joined in after that first, shrill “Ow-ow-ow-eee!” of Cal's; so +that presently the whole lot of them were emitting nerve-crimping yells +and spurring their horses into a thunder of hoofbeats, as they bore down +upon the tent. Between howls they laughed, picturing to themselves four +terrified sheepherders cowering within those frail, canvas walls. + +“I'm a rambler, and a gambler, and far from my ho-o-me, And if yuh don't +like me, jest leave me alo-o-ne!” chanted Big Medicine most horribly, +and finished with a yell that almost scared himself and set his horse to +plunging wildly. + +“Come out of there, you lop-eared mutton-chewers, and let us pick the +wool outa your teeth!” shouted Andy Green, telling himself hastily +that this was not breaking his promise to Weary, and yielding to the +temptation of coming as close to the guilty persons as he might; for, +while these were not the men who had tied him and left him alone on the +prairie, they belonged to the same outfit, and there was some comfort in +giving them a few disagreeable minutes. + +Pink, in the lead, was turning to ride around the tent, still yelling, +when someone within the tent fired a rifle--and did not aim as high as +he should. The bullet zipped close over the head of Big Medicine, who +happened to be opposite the crack between the tent-flaps. The hand of +Big Medicine jerked back to his hip; but, quick as he was, the Native +Son plunged between him and the tent before he could take aim. + +“Steady, amigo,” smiled Miguel. “You aren't a crazy sheepherder.” + +“No, but I'm goin' to kill off one. Git outa my way!” Big Medicine was +transformed into a cold-eyed, iron-jawed fighting machine. He dug the +spurs in, meaning to ride ahead of Miguel. But Miguel's spurs also +pressed home, so that the two horses plunged as one. Big Medicine, +bellowing one solitary oath, drew his right leg from the stirrup to +dismount. Miguel reached out, caught him by the arm, and held him to the +saddle. And, though Big Medicine was a strong man, the grip held firm +and unyielding. + +“You must think of the outfit, you know,” said Miguel, smiling still. +“There must be no shooting. Once that begins--” He shrugged his +shoulders with that slight, eloquent movement, which the Happy Family +had come to know so well. He was speaking to them all, as they crowded +up to the scuffle. “The man who feels the trigger-itch had better throw +his gun away,” he advised coolly. “I know, boys. I've seen these things +start before. All hell can't stop you, once you begin to shoot. Put it +up, Bud, or give it to me.” + +“The man don't live that can shoot at me, by cripes, and git away with +it. Not if he misses killin' me!” Big Medicine was shaking with rage; +but the Native Son saw that he hesitated, nevertheless, and laughed +outright. + +“Call him out and give him a thumping. That's good enough for a +sheepherder,” he suggested as a substitute. + +Perhaps because the Native Son so seldom offered advice, and, because of +his cool courage in interfering with Big Medicine at such a time, Bud's +jaw relaxed and his pale eyes became more human in their expression. He +even permitted Miguel to remove the big, wicked Colt from his hand, +and slide it into his own pocket; whereat the Happy Family gasped with +astonishment. Not even Pink would have dreamed of attempting such a +thing. + +“Well he's got to come out and take a lickin', anyway,” shouted Big +Medicine vengefully, and rode close enough to slap the canvas smartly +with his quirt. By all the gods he knew by name he called upon the +offender to come forth, while the others drew up in a rude half-circle +to await developments. Heavy silence was the reply he got. It was as +though the men within were sitting tense and watchful, like cougars +crouched for a spring, with claws unsheathed and muscles quivering. + +“You better come out,” called Andy sharply, after they had waited a +decent interval. “We didn't come here hunting trouble; we want to know +where you're headed for with these sheep. The fellow that cut loose with +the gun--” + +“Aw, don't talk so purty! I'm gitting almighty tired, just setting here +lettin' m' legs hang down. Git your ropes, boys!” With one sweeping +gesture of his arm Big Medicine made plain his meaning as he rode a few +paces away, his fingers fumbling with the string that held his rope. +“I'm goin' to have a look at 'em, anyway,” he grinned. “I sure do hate +to see men act so bashful.” + +With his rope free and ready for action, Big Medicine shook the loop +out, glanced around, and saw that Andy, Pink and Cal Emmett were also +ready, and, with a dexterous flip, settled the noose neatly over the +iron pin that thrust up through the end of the ridge-pole in front. +Andy's loop sank neatly over it a second later, and the two wheeled and +dashed away together, with Pink and Irish duplicating their performance +at the other end of the tent. The dingy, smoke-stained canvas swayed, +toppled, as the pegs gave way, and finally lay flat upon the prairie +fifty feet from where it had stood, leaving the inmates exposed to the +cruel stare of eight unfriendly cowpunchers. Four cowering figures they +were, with guns in their hands that shook. + +“Drop them guns!” thundered Big Medicine, flipping his rope loose and +recoiling it mechanically as he plunged up to the group. + +One man obeyed. One gave a squawk of terror and permitted his gun to go +off at random before he fled toward the coulee. The other two crouched +behind their bed-rolls, set their jaws doggedly and glared defiance. + +Pink, Andy, Irish, Big Medicine and the Native Son slid off their horses +and made a rush at them. A rifle barked viciously, and Slim, sitting +prudently on his horse well in the rear, gave a yell and started for +home at a rapid pace. + +Considering the provocation the Happy Family behaved with quite +praiseworthy self-control and leniency. They did not lynch those two +herders. They did not kill them, either by bullets, knives, or beating +to death. They took away the guns, however, and they told them with +extreme bluntness what sort of men they believed them to be. They +defined accurately their position in society at large, in that +neighborhood, and stated what would be their future fate if they +persisted in acting with so little caution and common sense. + +At Andy Green's earnest behest they also wound them round and round with +ropes, before they departed, and gave them some very good advice upon +the matter of range rules and the herding of sheep, particularly of Dot +sheep. + +“You're playing big luck, if you only had sense enough to know it,” Andy +pointed out to the recumbent three before they rode away. “We didn't +come over here on the warpath, and, if you hadn't got in such a darned +hurry to start something, you'd be a whole lot more comfortable right +now. We rode over to tell yuh not to start them sheep across Flying U +coulee; because, if you do, you're going to have both hands and your +hats plumb full uh trouble. It has taken some little time and fussing +to get yuh gentled down so we can talk to you, and I sure do hope yuh +remember what I'm saying.” + +“Oh, we'll remember it, all right!” menaced one of the men, lifting his +head turtlewise that he might glare at the group. “And our bosses'll +remember it; you needn't worry about that none. You wait till--” + +The next man to him turned his head and muttered a sentence, and the +speaker dropped his head back upon the ground, silenced. + +“It was your own outfit started this style of rope trimming, so you +can't kick about that part of the deal,” Pink informed them melodiously. +“It's liable to get to be all the rage with us. So, if you don't like +it, don't come around where we are. And say!” His dimples stood deep in +his cheeks. “You send those ropes home to-morrow, will yuh? We're liable +to need 'em.” + +“By cripes!” Big Medicine bawled. “What say we haze them sheep a few +miles north, boys?” + +“Oh, I guess they'll be all right where they are,” Andy protested, his +thirst for revenge assuaged at sight of those three trussed as he had +been trussed, and apparently not liking it any better than he had liked +it. “They'll be good and careful not to come around the Flying U--or I +miss my guess a mile.” + +The others cast comprehensive glances at their immediate surroundings, +and decided that they had at least made their meaning plain; there +was no occasion for emphasizing their disapproval any further. They +confiscated the rifles, and they told the fellows why they did so. +They very kindly pulled a tarpaulin over the three to protect them in a +measure from the chill night that was close upon them, and they wished +them good night and pleasant dreams, and rode away home. + +On the way they met Weary and Happy Jack, galloping anxiously to the +battle scene. Slim, it appeared from Weary's rapid explanation, had +arrived at the ranch with his horse in a lather and with a four-inch +furrow in the fleshiest part of his leg, where a bullet had flicked him +in passing. The tale he told had led Weary to believe that Slim was the +sole survivor of that reckless company. + +“Mamma! I'm so glad to see you boys able to fork your horses and swear +natural, that I don't believe I can speak my little piece about staying +on your own side the fence and letting trouble do some of the hunting,” + he exclaimed thankfully. “I wish you'd stayed at home and left these +blamed Dots alone. But, seeing yuh didn't, I'm tickled to death to hear +you didn't kill anybody off. I don't want the folks to come home and +find the whole bunch in the pen. It might look as if--” + +“You don't want the folks to come home and find the whole ranch sheeped +off, either, and the herders camping up in the white house, do yuh?” + Pink inquired pointedly. “I kinda think,” he added dryly, “those same +herders will feel like going away around Flying U fences with their +sheep. I don't believe they'll do any cutting across.” + +“I betche old Dunk'll make it interestin' fer this outfit, just the +same,” Happy Jack predicted. “Tyin' up three men uh hisn, like that, and +ropin' their tent and draggin' it off, ain't things he'll pass up. He'll +have a possy out here--you see if he don't!” + +“In that case, I'll be sorry for you, Happy,” purred Miguel close beside +him. “You're the only one in the outfit that looks capable of such a +vile deed.” + +“Oh, Dunk won't do anything,” Weary said cheerfully. “You'll have to +take those guns back, though. They might take a notion to call that +stealing!” + +“You forget,” the Native Son reminded calmly, “that we left them three +good ropes in exchange.” + +Whereupon the Happy Family laughed and went to offer their unsought +sympathy to Slim. + + + +CHAPTER X. The Happy Family Herd Sheep + +The boys of the Flying U had many faults in common, aside from certain +individual frailties; one of their chief weaknesses was over-confidence +in their own ability to cope with any situation which might arise, +unexpectedly or otherwise, and a belief that others felt that same +confidence in them, and that enemies were wont to sit a long time +counting the cost before venturing to offer too great an affront. Also +they believed--and made it manifest in their conversation--that they +could even bring the Old Man back to health if they only had him on +the ranch where they could get at him. They maligned the hospitals and +Chicago doctors most unjustly, and were agreed that all he needed was +to be back on the ranch where somebody could look after him right. They +asserted that, if they ever got tired of living and wanted to cash in +without using a gun or anything, they'd go to a hospital and tell the +doctors to turn loose and try to cure them of something. + +This by way of illustration; also as an explanation of their sleeping +soundly that night, instead of watching for some hostile demonstration +on the part of the Dot outfit. To a man--one never counted Happy Jack's +prophecies of disaster as being anything more than a personal deformity +of thought--they were positive in their belief that the Dot sheepherders +would be very, very careful not to provoke the Happy Family to further +manifestations of disapproval. They knew what they'd get, if they tried +any more funny business, and they'd be mighty careful where they drove +their sheep after this. + +So, with the comfortable glow of victory in their souls, they laid +them down, and, when the animated discussion of that night's adventure +flagged, as their tongues grew sleep-clogged and their eyelids drooped, +they slept in peace; save when Slim, awakened by the soreness of his +leg, grunted a malediction or two before he began snoring again. + +They rose and ate their breakfast in a fair humor with the world. One +grows accustomed to the thought of sickness, even when it strikes close +to the affections, and, with the resilience of youth and hope, life +adjusts itself to make room for the specter of fear, so that it does +not crowd unduly, but stands half-forgotten in the background of one's +thoughts. For that reason they no longer spoke soberly because of the +Old Man lying hurt unto death in Chicago. And, when they mentioned the +Dot sheep and men, they spoke as men speak of the vanquished. + +With the taste of hot biscuits and maple syrup still lingering +pleasantly against their palates, they went out and were confronted with +sheep, blatting sheep, stinking sheep, devastating sheep, Dot sheep. On +the south side of the coulee, up on the bluff, grazed the band. They fed +upon the brow of the hill opposite the ranch buildings; they squeezed +under the fence and spilled a ragged fringe of running, gray animals +down the slope. Half a mile away though the nearest of them were, the +murmur of them, the smell of them, the whole intolerable presence of +them, filled the Happy Family with an amazed loathing too deep for +words. + +Technically, that high, level stretch of land bounding Flying U coulee +on the south was open range. It belonged to the government. The soil was +not fertile enough even for the most optimistic of “dry land” farmers to +locate upon it; and this was before the dry-land farming craze had swept +the country, gathering in all public land as claims. J. G. Whitmore +had contented himself with acquiring title to the whole of the Flying +U coulee, secure in his belief that the old order of things would not +change, in his life-time, at least, and that the unwritten law of the +range land, which leaves the vicinity of a ranch to the use of the ranch +owner, would never be repealed by new customs imposed by a new class of +people. + +Legally, there was no trespassing of the Dots, beyond the two or three +hundred which had made their way through the fence. Morally, however, +and by right of custom, their offense would not be much greater if they +came on down the hill and invaded the Old Man's pet meadows, just beyond +the “little pasture.” + +Ladies may read this story, so I am not going to pretend to repeat the +things they said, once they were released from dumb amazement. I should +be compelled to improvise and substitute--which would remove much of the +flavor. Let bare facts suffice, at present. + +They saddled in haste, and in haste they rode to the scene. This, they +were convinced, was the band herded by the bug-killer and the man from +Wyoming; and the nerve of those two almost excited the admiration of the +Happy Family. It did not, however, deter them from their purpose. + +Weary, to look at him, was no longer in the mood to preach patience and +a turning of the other cheek. He also made that change of heart manifest +in his speech when Pink, his eyes almost black, rode up close and +gritted at him: + +“Well, what's the orders now? Want me to go back and get the wire +nippers so we can let them poor little sheep down into the meadow? Maybe +we better ask the herders down to have some of Patsy's grub, too; I +don't believe they had time to cook much breakfast. And it wouldn't be +a bad idea to haze our own stuff clear off the range. I'm afraid Dunk's +sheep are going to fare kinda slim, if we go on letting our cattle eat +all the good grass!” Pink did not often indulge in such lengthy sarcasm, +especially toward his beloved Weary; but his exasperation toward Weary's +mild tactics had been growing apace. + +Weary's reply, I fear, will have to be omitted. It was terribly +unrefined. + +“I want you boys to spread out, around the whole bunch,” was his first +printable utterance, “and haze these sheep just as far south as they +can get without taking to the river. Don't get all het up chasing 'em +yourself--make the men (Weary did not call them men; he called them +something very naughty) that's paid for it do the driving.” + +“And, if they don't go,” drawled the smooth voice of the Native Son, +“what shall we do, amigo? Slap them on the wrist?” + +Weary twisted in the saddle and sent him a baleful glance, which was not +at all like Weary the sunny-hearted. + +“If you can't figure that out for yourself,” he snapped, “you had better +go back and wipe the dishes for Patsy; and, when that's done, you can +pull the weeds out of his radishes. Maybe he'll give you a nickel to buy +candy with, if you do it good.” Before he faced to the front again his +harsh glance swept the faces of his companions. + +They were grinning, every man of them, and he knew why. To see him lose +his temper was something of an event with the Happy Family, who used +sometimes to fix the date of an incident by saying, “It was right after +that time Weary got mad, a year ago last fall,” or something of the +sort. He grinned himself, shamefacedly, and told them that they were +a bunch of no-account cusses, anyway, and he'd just about as soon herd +sheep himself as to have to run with such an outfit; which swept his +anger from him and left him his usual self, with but the addition of a +purpose from which nothing could stay him. He was going to settle the +sheep question, and he was going to settle it that day. + +Only one injunction did he lay upon the Happy Family. “You fellows don't +want to get excited and go to shooting,” he warned, while they were +still out of hearing of the herders. “We don't want Dunk to get anything +like that on us; savvy?” + +They “savvied,” and they told him so, each after his own individual +manner. + +“I guess we ought to be able to put the run on a couple of sheepherders, +without wasting any powder,” Pink said loftily, remembering his meeting +with them a few days before. + +“One thing sure--we'll make a good job of it this time,” promised Irish, +and spurred after Weary, who was leading the way around the band. + +The herders watched them openly and with the manner of men who are +expecting the worst to happen. Unlike the four whose camp had been laid +low the night before, these two were unarmed, as they had been from the +first; which, in Weary's opinion, was a bit of guile upon the part of +Dunk. If trouble came--trouble which it would take a jury to settle--the +fact that the sheepmen were unarmed would tell heavily in their favor; +for, while the petty meanness of range-stealing and nagging trespass may +be harder to bear than the flourishing of a gun before one's face, it +all sounds harmless enough in the telling. + +Weary headed straight for the nearest herder, told him to put his dogs +to work rounding up the sheep, which were scattered over an area half +a mile across while they fed, and, when the herder, who was the +bug-killer, made no move to obey, Weary deliberately pulled his gun and +pointed at his head. + +“You move,” he directed with grim intent, “and don't take too much time +about it, either.” + +The bug-killer, an unkempt, ungainly figure, standing with his back to +the morning sun, scowled up at Weary stolidly. + +“Yuh dassent shoot,” he stated sourly, and did not move. + +For answer, Weary pulled back the hammer; also he smiled as malignantly +as it was in his nature to do, and hoped in his heart that he looked +sufficiently terrifying to convince the man. So they faced each other in +a silent clash of wills. + +Big Medicine had not been saying much on the way over, which was +unusual. Now he rode forward until he was abreast of Weary, and he +grinned down at the bug-killer in a way to distract his attention from +the gun. + +“Nobody don't have to shoot, by cripes!” he bawled. “We hain't goin' to +kill yuh. We'll make yuh wisht, by cripes, we had, though, b'fore we +git through. Git to work, boys, 'n' gether up some dry grass an' sticks. +Over there in them rose-bushes you oughta find enough bresh. We'll give +him a taste uh what we was talkin' about comm' over, by cripes! I guess +he'll be willin' to drive sheep, all right, when we git through with +him. Haw-haw-haw-w-w!” He leaned forward in the saddle and ogled the +bug-killer with horrid significance. + +“Git busy with that bresh!” he yelled authoritatively, when a glance +showed him that the Happy Family was hesitating and eyeing him +uncertainly. “Git a fire goin' quick's yuh kin--I'll do the rest. Down +in Coconino county we used to have a way uh fixin' sheepherders--” + +“Aw, gwan! We don't want no torture business!” remonstrated Happy Jack +uneasily, edging away. + +“Yuh don't, hey?” Big Medicine turned in the saddle wrathfully and +glared. When he had succeeded in catching Andy Green's eye he winked, +and that young man's face kindled understandingly. “Well, now, you +hain't runnin' this here show. Honest to grandma, I've saw the time when +a little foot-warmin' done a sheepherder a whole lot uh good; and, it +looks to me, by cripes, as if this here feller needed a dose to gentle +him down. You git the fire started. That's all I want you t' do, Happy. +Some uh you boys help me rope him--like him and that other jasper over +there done to Andy. C'mon, Andy--it ain't goin' to take long!” + +“You bet your sweet life I'll come on!” exclaimed Andy, dismounting +eagerly. “Let me take your rope, Weary. Too bad we haven't got a +branding iron--” + +“Aw, we don't need no irons.” Big Medicine was also on the ground by +then, and untying his rope. “Lemme git his shoes off once, and I'll show +yuh.” + +The bug-killer lifted his stick, snarling like a mongrel dog when +a stranger tries to drive it out of the house; hurled the stick +hysterically, as Big Medicine, rope in hand, advanced implacably, and, +with a squawk of horror, turned suddenly and ran. After him, bellowing +terribly, lunged Big Medicine, straight through the band like a +snowplow, leaving behind them a wide, open trail. + +“Say, we kinda overplayed that bet, by gracious,” Andy commented to +Weary, while he watched the chase. “That gazabo's scared silly; let's +try the other one. That torture talk works fine.” + +In his enthusiasm Andy remounted and was about to lead the way to +the other herder when Big Medicine returned puffing, the bug-killer +squirming in his grasp. “Tell him what yuh want him to do, Weary,” he +panted, with some difficulty holding his limp victim upright by a +greasy coat-collar. “And if he don't fall over himself doin' it, why--by +cripes--we'll take off his shoes!” + +Whereupon the bug-killer gave another howl and professed himself eager +to drive the sheep--well, what he said was that he would drive them to +that place which ladies dislike to hear mentioned, if the Happy Family +wanted him to. + +“That's all right, then. Start 'em south, and don't quit till somebody +tells you to.” Weary carefully let down the hammer of his six-shooter +and shoved it thankfully into his scabbard. + +“Now, you don't want to pile it on quite so thick, next time,” Irish +admonished Big Medicine, when they turned away from watching the +bug-killer set his dogs to work by gestures and a shouted word or two. +“You like to have sent this one plumb nutty.” + +“I betche Bud gets us all pinched for that,” grumbled Happy Jack. +“Torturing folks is purty darned serious business. You might as well +shoot 'em up decent and be done with it.” + +“Haw-haw-haw-w-w!” Big Medicine ogled the group mirthfully. “Nobody +can't swear I done a thing, or said a thing. All I said definite was +that I'd take off his shoes. Any jury in the country'd know that +would be hull lot worse fer us than it would fer him, by cripes. +Haw-haw-haw-w-w!” + +“Say, that's right; yuh didn't say nothin', ner do nothin'. By golly, +that was purty slick work, all right!” Slim forgot his sore leg until he +clapped his hand enthusiastically down upon the place as comprehension +of Bud's finesse dawned upon him. He yelped, and the Happy Family +laughed unfeelingly. + +“You want to be careful and don't try to see through any jokes, Slim, +till that leg uh yours gets well,” Irish bantered, and they laughed the +louder. + +All this was mere byplay; a momentary swinging of their mood to +pleasantry, because they were a temperamentally cheerful lot, and +laughter came to them easily, as it always does to youth and perfect +mental and physical health. Their brief hilarity over Slim's misfortune +did not swerve them from their purpose, nor soften the mood of them +toward their adversaries. They were unsmiling and unfriendly when they +reached the man from Wyoming; and, if they ever behaved like boys let +out of school, they did not show it then. + +The Wyoming man was wiser than his fellow. He had been given several +minutes grace in which to meditate upon the unwisdom of defiance; and he +had seen the bug-killer change abruptly from sullenness to terror, and +afterward to abject obedience. He did not know what they had said to +him, or what they had done; but he knew the bug-killer was a hard man to +stampede. And he was one man, and they were many; also he judged that, +being human, and this being the third offense of the Dot sheep under his +care, it would be extremely unsafe to trust that their indignation would +vent itself in mere words. + +Therefore, when Weary told him to get the stragglers back through the +fence and up on the level, he stopped only long enough for a good look +at their faces. After that he called his dogs and crawled through the +fence. + +It really did not require the entire Family to force those sheep south +that morning. But Weary's jaw was set, as was his heart, upon a +thorough cleaning of that particular bit of range; and, since he did +not definitely request any man to turn back, and every fellow there +was minded to see the thing to a finish, they straggled out behind the +trailing two thousand--and never had one bunch of sheep so efficient a +convoy. + +After the first few miles the way grew rough. Sheep lagged, and the +blatting increased to an uproar. Old ewes and yearlings these were +mostly, and there were few to suffer more than hunger and thirst, +perhaps. So Weary was merciless, and drove them forward without a stop +until the first jumble of hills and deep-worn gullies held them back +from easy traveling. + +But the Happy Family had not ridden those breaks for cattle, all these +years, to be hindered by rough going. Weary, when the band stopped and +huddled, blatting incessantly against a sheer wall of sandstone and +gravel, got the herders together and told them what he wanted. + +“You take 'em down that slope till you come to the second little coulee. +Don't go up the first one--that's a blind pocket. In the second coulee, +up a mile or so, there's a spring creek. You can hold 'em there on water +for half an hour. That's more than any of yuh deserve. Haze 'em down +there.” + +The herders did not know it, but that second coulee was the rude gateway +to an intricate system of high ridges and winding waterways that would +later be dry as a bleached bone--the real beginning of the bad lands +which border the Missouri river for long, terrible miles. Down there, +it is possible for two men to reach places where they may converse quite +easily across a chasm, and yet be compelled to ride fifteen or twenty +miles, perhaps, in order to shake hands. Yet, even in that scrap-heap of +Nature there are ways of passing deep into the heart of the upheaval. + +The Happy Family knew those ways as they knew the most complicated +figures of the quadrilles they danced so lightfootedly with the girls of +the Bear Paw country. When they forced the sheep and their herders out +of the coulee Weary had indicated he sent Irish and Pink ahead to point +the way, and he told them to head for the Wash Bowl; which they did with +praiseworthy zeal and scant pity for the sheep. + +When at last, after a slow, heartbreaking climb up a long, bare ridge, +Pink and Irish paused upon the brow of a slope and let the trail-weary +band spill itself reluctantly down the steep slope beyond, the sun stood +high in the blue above them and their stomachs clamored for food; by +which signs they knew that it must be near noon. + +When the last sheep had passed, blatting discordantly, down the bluff, +Weary halted the sweating herders for a parting admonition. + +“We don't aim to deal you any more misery, for a while, if you stay +where you're at. You're only working for a living, like the rest of +us--but I must say I don't admire your trade none. Anyway, I'll send +some of your bunch down here with grub and beds. This is good enough +range for sheep. You keep away from the Flying U and nobody'll bother +you. Over there in them trees,” he added, pointing a gloved finger +toward a little grove on the far side of the basin, “you'll find a +cabin, and water. And, farther down the river there's pretty good grass, +in the little bottoms. Now, git.” + +The herders looked as if they would enjoy murdering them all, but they +did not say a word. With their dogs at heel they scrambled down +the bluff in the wake of their sheep, and the Happy Family, rolling +cigarettes while they watched them depart, told one another that this +settled that bunch; they wouldn't bed down in the Flying U door-yard +that night, anyway. + + + +CHAPTER XI. Weary Unburdens + +Hungry with the sharp, gnawing hunger of healthy stomachs accustomed +to regular and generous feeding; tired with the weariness of healthy +muscles pushed past their accustomed limit of action; and hot with the +unaccustomed heat of a blazing day shunted unaccountably into the midst +of soft spring weather, the Happy Family rode out of the embrace of +the last barren coulee and up on the wide level where the breeze swept +gratefully up from the west, and where every day brought with it a +deeper tinge of green into its grassy carpet. + +Only for this harassment of the Dot sheep, the roundup wagons would +be loaded and ready to rattle abroad over the land. Meadow larks and +curlews and little, pert-eyed ground sparrows called out to them that +roundup time was come. They passed a bunch of feeding Flying U cattle, +and flat-ribbed, bandy-legged calves galloped in brief panic to their +mothers and from the sanctuary of grass-filled paunches watched the +riders with wide, inquisitive eyes. + +“We ought to be starting out, by now,” Weary observed a bit gloomily to +Andy and Pink, who rode upon either side of him. “The calf crop is going +to be good, if this weather holds on another two weeks or so. But--” he +waved his cigarette disgustedly “--that darned Dot outfit would be all +over the place, if we pulled out on roundup and left 'em the run of +things.” He smoked moodily for a minute. “My religion has changed a lot +in the last few days,” he observed whimsically. “My idea of hell is +a place where there ain't anything but sheep and sheepherders; and +cowpunchers have got to spend thousands uh years right in the middle of +the corrals.” + +“If that's the case, I'm going to quit cussing, and say my prayers every +night,” Andy Green asserted emphatically. + +“What worries me,” Weary confided, obeying the impulse to talk over his +troubles with those who sympathized, “is how I'm going to keep the work +going along like it ought to, and at the same time keep them Dot sheep +outa the house. Dunk's wise, all right. He knows enough about the cow +business to know we ye got to get out on the range pretty quick, now. +And he's so mean that every day or every half day he can feed his sheep +on Flying U grass, he calls that much to the good. And he knows we won't +go to opening up any real gun-fights if we can get out of it; he counts +on our faunching around and kicking up a lot of dust, maybe--but we +won't do anything like what he'd do, in our places. He knows the Old Man +and Chip are gone, and he knows we've just naturally got to sit back and +swallow our tongues because we haven't any authority. Mamma! It comes +pretty tough, when a low-down skunk like that just banks on your doing +the square thing. He wouldn't do it, but he knows we will; and so he +takes advantage of white men and gets the best of 'em. And if we should +happen to break out and do something, he knows the herders would be the +ones to get it in the neck; and he'd wait till the dust settled, and bob +up with the sheriff--” He waved his hand again with a hopeless gesture. +“It may not look that way on the face of it,” he added gloomily, “but +Dunk has got us right where he wants us. From the way they've been +letting sheep on our land, time and time again, I'd gamble he's just +trying to make us so mad we'll break out. He's got it in for the whole +outfit, from the Old Man and the Little Doctor down to Slim. If any of +us boys got into trouble, the Old Man would spend his last cent to clear +us; and Dunk knows that just as well as he knows the way from the house +to the stable. He'd see to it that it would just about take the Old +Man's last cent, too. And he's using these Dot sheep like you'd use a +red flag on a bull, to make us so crazy mad we'll kill off somebody. + +“That's why,” he said to them all when he saw that they had ridden up +close that they might hear what he was saying, “I've been hollering so +loud for the meek-and-mild stunt. When I slapped him on the jaw, and he +stood there and took it, I saw his game. He had a witness to swear I hit +him and he didn't hit back. And when I saw them Dots in our field again, +I knew, just as well as if Dunk had told me, that he was kinda hoping +we'd kill a herder or two so he could cinch us good and plenty. I don't +say,” he qualified with a rueful grin, “that Dunk went into the sheep +business just to get r-re-venge, as they say in shows. But if he can +make money running sheep--and he can, all right, because there's more +money in them right now than there is in cattle--and at the same time +get a good whack at the Flying U, he's the lad that will sure make a +running jump at the chance.” He spat upon the burnt end of his cigarette +stub from force of the habit that fear of range fires had built, and +cast it petulantly from him; as if he would like to have been able to +throw Dunk and his sheep problem as easily out of his path. + +“So I wish you boys would hang onto yourselves when you hear a sheep +blatting under your window,” he summed up his unburdening whimsically. +“As Bud said this morning, you can't hang a man for telling a +sheepherder you'll take off his shoes. And they can't send us over the +road for moving that band of sheep onto new range to-day. Last night +you all were kinda disorderly, maybe, but you didn't hurt anybody, or +destroy any property. You see what I mean. Our only show is to stop with +our toes on the right side of the dead line.” + +“If Andy, here, would jest git his think-wheels greased and going good,” + Big Medicine suggested loudly, “he ought to frame up something that +would put them Dots on the run permanent. I d'no, by cripes, why it is +a feller can always think uh lies and joshes by the dozens, and put 'em +over O. K. when there ain't nothing to be made out of it except hard +feelin's; and then when a deal like this here sheep deal comes up, he's +got about as many idees, by cripes, as that there line-back calf over +there. Honest to grandma, Andy makes me feel kinda faint. Only time he +did have a chanc't, he let them--” It occurred to Big Medicine at that +point that perhaps his remarks might be construed by the object of +them as being offensively personal. He turned his head and grinned +good-naturedly in Andy's direction, and refrained from finishing what he +was going to say. “I sure do like them wind-flowers scattered all +over the ground,” he observed with such deliberate and ostentatious +irrelevance that the Happy Family laughed, even to Andy Green, who had +at first been inclined toward anger. + +“Everything,” declared Andy in the tone of a paid instructor, “has its +proper time and place, boys; I've told you that before. For instance, I +wouldn't try to kill a skunk by talking it to death; and I wouldn't +be hopeful of putting the run on this Dunk person by telling him ghost +stories. As to ideas--I'm plumb full of them. But they're all about +grub, just right at present.” + +That started Slim and Happy Jack to complaining because no one had had +sense enough to go back after some lunch before taking that long trail +south; the longer because it was a slow one, with sheep to set the pace. +And by the time they had presented their arguments against the Happy +Family's having enough brains to last them overnight, and the Happy +Family had indignantly pointed out just where the mental deficiency was +most noticeable, they were upon that last, broad stretch of “bench” land +beyond which lay Flying U coulee and Patsy and dinner; a belated dinner, +to be sure, but for that the more welcome. + +And when they reached the point where they could look away to the +very rim of the coulee, they saw sheep--sheep to the skyline, feeding +scattered and at ease, making the prairie look, in the distance, as +if it were covered with a thin growth of gray sage-brush. Four herders +moved slowly upon the outskirts, and the dogs were little, scurrying, +black dots which stopped occasionally to wait thankfully until the +master-minds again urged them to endeavor. + +The Happy Family drew up and stared in silence. + +“Do I see sheep?” Pink inquired plaintively at last. “Tell me, +somebody.” + +“It's that bunch you fellows tackled last night,” said Weary miserably. +“I ought to have had sense enough to leave somebody on the ranch to look +out for this.” + +“They've got their nerve,” stated Irish, “after the deal they got last +night. I'd have bet good money that you couldn't drag them herders +across Flying U coulee with a log chain.” + +“Say, by golly, do we have to drive this here bunch anywheres before we +git anything to eat?” Slim wanted to know distressfully. + +Weary considered briefly. “No, I guess we'll pass 'em up for the +present. An hour or so won't make much difference in the long run, and +our horses are about all in, right now--” + +“So'm I, by cripes!” Big Medicine attested, grinning mirthlessly. “This +here sheep business is plumb wearin' on a man. 'Specially,” he added +with a fretful note, “when you've got to handle 'em gentle. The things +I'd like to do to them Dots is all ruled outa the game, seems like. +Honest to grandma, a little gore would look better to me right now than +a Dutch picnic before the foam's all blowed off the refreshments. Lemme +kill off jest one herder, Weary?” he pleaded. “The one that took a shot +at me las' night. Purty, please!” + +“If you killed one,” Weary told him glumly, “you might as well make a +clean sweep and take in the whole bunch.” + +“Well, I won't charge nothin' extra fer that, either,” Bud assured him +generously. “I'm willin' to throw in the other three--and the dawgs, +too, by cripes!” He goggled the Happy Family quizzically. “Nobody can't +say there's anything small about me. Why, down in the Coconino country +they used to set half a dozen greasers diggin' graves, by cripes, soon +as I started in to argy with a man. It was a safe bet they'd need three +or four, anyways, if old Bud cut loose oncet. Sheepherders? Why, they +jest natcherly couldn't keep enough on hand, securely, to run their +sheep. They used to order sheepherders like they did woolsacks, by +cripes! You could always tell when I was in the country, by the number +uh extra herders them sheep outfits always kep' in reserve. Honest to +grandma, I've knowed two or three outfits to club together and ship in +a carload at a time, when they heard I was headed their way. And so when +it comes to killin' off four, why that ain't skurcely enough to make it +worth m'while to dirty up m'gun!” + +“Aw, I betche yuh never killed a man in your life!” Happy Jack grumbled +in his characteristic tone of disparagement; but such was his respect +for Big Medicine's prowess that he took care not to speak loud enough +to be overheard by that modest gentleman, who continued with certain +fearsome details of alleged murderous exploits of his own, down in +Coconino County, Arizona. + +But as they passed the detested animals, thankful that the trail +permitted them to ride by at a distance sufficient to blur the most +unsavory details, even Big Medicine gave over his deliberate boastings +and relapsed into silence. + +He had begun his fantastic vauntings from an instinctive impulse +to leaven with humor a situation which, at the moment, could not be +bettered. Just as they had, when came the news of the Old Man's dire +plight, sought to push the tragedy of it into the background and cling +to their creed of optimism, they had avoided openly facing the sheep +complication squarely with mutual admissions of all it might mean to the +Flying U. + +Until Weary had unburdened his heart of worry on the ride home that day, +they had not said much about it, beyond a general vilification of the +sheep industry as a whole, of Dunk as the chief of the encroaching Dots, +and of the herders personally. + +But there were times when they could not well avoid thinking rather +deeply upon the subject, even if they did refuse to put their +forebodings into speech. They were not children; neither were they to +any degree lacking in intelligence. Swearing, about herders and at them, +was all very well; bluffing, threatening, pummeling even with willing +fists, tearing down tents and binding men with ropes might serve to +relieve the emotions upon occasion. But there was the grim economic +problem which faced squarely the Flying U as a “cow outfit”--the problem +of range and water; the Happy Family did not call it by name, but they +realized to the full what it meant to the Old Man to have sheep just +over his boundary line always. They realized, too, what it meant to have +the Old Man absent at this time--worse, to have him lying in a +hospital, likely to die at any moment; what it meant to have the whole +responsibility shifted to their shoulders, willing though they might be +to bear the burden; what it meant to have the general of an army gone +when the enemy was approaching in overwhelming numbers. + +Pink, when they were descending the first slope of the bluff which was +the southern rim of Flying U coulee, turned and glared vindictively back +at the wavering, gray blanket out there to the west. When he faced to +the front his face had the look it wore when he was fighting. + +“So help me, Josephine!” he gritted desperately, “we've got to clean the +range of them Dots before the Old Man comes back, or--” He snapped his +jaws shut viciously. + +Weary turned haggard eyes toward him. + +“How?” he asked simply. And Pink had no answer for him. + + + +CHAPTER XII. Two of a Kind + +Patsy, staunch old partisan that he was, placed before them much food +which he had tried his best to keep hot without burning everything to +a crisp, and while they ate with ravenous haste he told, with German +epithets and a trembling lower jaw, of his troubles that day. + +“Dem sheeps, dey coom by der leetle pasture,” he lamented while he +poured coffee muddy from long boiling. “Looks like dey know so soon you +ride away, und dey cooms cheeky as you pleece, und eats der grass und +crawls under der fence and leafs der vool sthicking by der vires. I goes +out mit a club, py cosh, und der sheeps chust looks und valks by some +better place alreatty, und I throw rocks and yells till mine neck iss +sore. + +“Und' dose herders, dey sets dem by der rock and laugh till I felt like +I could kill der whole punch, by cosh! Und von yells, 'Hey, dutchy, +pring me some pie, alreatty!' Und he laughs some more pecause der sheeps +dey don't go avay; dey chust run around und eat more grass and baa-aa!” + He turned and went heavily back to the greasy range with the depleted +coffee pot, lifted the lid of a kettle and looked in upon the contents +with a purely mechanical glance; gave a perfunctory prod or two with a +long-handled fork, and came back to stand uneasily behind Weary. + +“If you poys are goin' to shtand fer dot,” he began querulously, “Py +cosh I von't! Py myself I vill go and tell dot Dunk W'ittaker vot +lowdown skunk I t'ink he iss. Sheep's vool shtickin' by der fences +efferwhere on der ranch, py cosh! Dot vould sure kill der Old Man quick +if he see it. Shtinkin' off sheeps py our noses all der time, till I +can't eat no more mit der shmell of dem. Neffer pefore did I see vool on +der Flying U fences, py cosh, und sheeps baa-aain' in der coulee!” + +Never had they seen Patsy take so to heart a matter of mere business +importance. They did not say much to him; there was not much that they +could say. They ate their fill and went out disconsolately to discuss +the thing among themselves, away from Patsy's throaty complainings. They +hated it as badly as did he; with Weary's urgent plea for no violence +holding them in leash, they hated it more, if that were possible. + +The Native Son tilted his head unobtrusively stableward when he caught +Andy's eye, and as unobtrusively wandered away from the group. Andy +stopped long enough to roll and light a cigarette and then strolled +after him with apparent aimlessness, secretly curious over the summons. +He found Miguel in the stable waiting for him, and Miguel led the way, +rope in hand across the corral and into the little pasture where fed a +horse he meant to ride. He did not say anything until he had turned to +close the gate, and to make sure that they were alone and that their +departure had not carried to the Happy Family any betraying air of +significance. + +“You remember when you blew in here, a few weeks or so ago?” the Native +Son asked abruptly, a twinkle in his fathomless eyes. “You put up a good +one on the boys, that time, you remember. Bluffed them into thinking I +was a hero in disguise, and that you'd seen me pull off a big stunt of +bull-fighting and bull-dogging down in Mexico. It was a fine josh. They +believe it yet.” + +Andy glanced at him perplexedly. “Yes--but when it turned out to be +true,” he amended, “the josh was on me, I guess; I thought I was just +lying, when I wasn't. I've wondered a good deal about that. By +gracious, it makes a man feel funny to frame up a yarn out of his own +think-machine, and then find out he's been telling the truth all the +while. It's like a fellow handing out a twenty-four karat gold bar to a +rube by mistake, under the impression it only looks like one. Of course +they believe it! Only they don't know I just merely hit the truth by +accident.” + +The Native Son smiled his slow, amused smile, that somehow never failed +to be impressive. “That's the funny part of it,” he drawled. “You +didn't. I just piled another little josh on top of yours, that's all. I +never throwed a bull in my life, except with my lariat. I'd heard a +good deal about you, and--well, I thought I'd see if I could go you one +better. And you put that Mexico yarn across so smooth and easy, I just +simply couldn't resist the temptation to make you think it was all +straight goods. Sabe?” + +Andy Green did not say a word, but he looked exceedingly foolish. + +“So I think we can both safely consider ourselves top-hands when it +comes to lying,” the Native Son went on shamelessly. “And if you're +willing to go in with me on it and help put Dunk on the run--” He +glanced over his shoulder, saw that Happy Jack, on horseback, was coming +out to haze in the saddle bunch, and turned to stroll back as lazily as +he had come. He continued to speak smoothly and swiftly, in a voice +that would not carry ten paces. While Andy Green, with brown head bent +attentively, listened eagerly and added a sentence or two on his own +account now and then, and smiled--which he had not been in the habit of +doing lately. + +“Say, you fellers are gittin' awful energetic, ain't yuh?--wranglin' +horses afoot!” Happy Jack bantered at the top of his voice when he +passed them by. “Better save up your strength while you kin. Weary's +goin' to set us herdin' sheep agin--and I betche there's goin' to be +something more'n herdin' on our hands before we git through.” + +“I wouldn't be a bit surprised if there was,” sang out Andy, as +cheerfully as if he had been invited to dance “Ladies' choice” with the +prettiest girl in the crowd. “Wonder what hole he's going to dump this +bunch into,” he added to the Native Son. “By gracious, he ought to send +'em just as far north as he can drive 'em without paying duty! I'd sure +take 'em over into Canada, if it was me running the show.” + +“It was a mistake,” the Native Son volunteered, “for the whole bunch to +go off like we did to-day. They had those sheep up here on the hill just +for a bait. They knew we'd go straight up in the air and come down on +those two freaks herding 'em, and that gave them the chance to cross the +other bunch. I thought so all along, but I didn't like to butt in.” + +“Well Weary's mad enough now to do things that will leave a dent, +anyway,” Andy commented under his breath when, from the corral gate, he +got a good look at Weary's profile, which showed the set of his mouth +and chin. “See that mouth? It's hunt the top rail, and do it quick, when +old Weary straightens out his lips like that.” + +Behind them, Happy Jack bellowed for an open gate and no obstructions, +and they drew hastily to one side to let the saddle horses gallop +past with a great upflinging of dust. Pink, with a quite obtrusive +facetiousness, began lustily chanting that it looked to him like a big +night to-night--with occasional, furtive glances at Weary's face; for +he, also, had been quick to read those close-pressed lips, which did not +soften in response to the ditty. Usually he laughed at Pink's drollery. + +They rode rather quietly upon the hill again, to where fed the sheep. +During the hour or so that they had been absent the sheep had not moved +appreciably; they still grazed close enough to the boundary to make +their position seem a direct insult to the Flying U, a virtual slap in +the face. And these young men who worked for the Flying U, and who made +its interests right loyally their own, were growing very, very tired +of turning the other cheek. With them, the time for profanity and for +horseplay bluffing and judicious temporizing was past. There were other +lips besides Weary's that were drawn tight and thin when they approached +that particular band of sheep. More than one pair of eyes turned +inquiringly toward him and away again when they met no answering look. + +They topped a rise of ground, and in the shallow wrinkle which had +hidden him until now they came full upon Dunk Whittaker, riding a chunky +black which stepped restlessly about while he conferred in low tones +with a couple of the herders. The Happy Family recognized them as two +of the fellows in whose safe keeping they had left their ropes the night +before. Dunk looked around quickly when the group appeared over the +little ridge, scowled, hesitated and then came straight up to them. + +“I want you rowdies to bring back those sheep you took the trouble to +drive off this morning,” he began, with the even, grating voice and the +sneering lift of lip under his little, black mustache which the older +members of the Happy Family remembered--and hated--so vividly. +“I've stood just all I'm going to stand, of these typically Flying U +performances you've been indulging in so freely during the past week. +It's all very well to terrorize a neighborhood of long-haired rubes who +don't know enough to teach you your places; but interfering with another +man's property is--” + +“Interfering with another--what?” Big Medicine, his pale blue eyes +standing out more like a frog's than ever upon his face, gave his horse +a kick and lunged close that he might lean and thrust his red face near +to Dunk's. “Another what? I don't see nothin' in your saddle that looks +t'me like a man, by cripes! All I can see is a smooth-skinned, slippery +vermin I'd hate to name a snake after, that crawls around in the dark +and lets cheap rough-necks do all his dirty work. I've saw dogs sneak +up and grab a man behind, but most always they let out a growl or two +first. And even a rattler is square enough to buzz at yuh and give yuh +a chanc't to side-step him. Honest to grandma, I don't hardly know what +kinda reptyle y'are. I hate to insult any of 'em, by cripes, by namin' +yuh after 'em. But don't, for Lordy's sake, ever call yourself a man +agin!” + +Big Medicine turned his head and spat disgustedly into the grass and +looked back slightingly with other annihilating remarks close behind his +wide-apart teeth, but instead of speaking he made an unbelievably quick +motion with his hand. The blow smacked loudly upon Dunk's cheek, and so +nearly sent him out of the saddle that he grabbed for the horn to save +himself. + +“Oh, I seert yuh keepin' yer hand next yer six-gun all the while,” Big +Medicine bawled. “That's one reason I say yuh ain't no man! Yuh wouldn't +dast talk up to a prairie dog if yuh wasn't all set to make a quick +draw. Yuh got your face slapped oncet before by a Flyin' U man, and yuh +had it comm'. Now you're--gittin'--it--done--right!” + +If you have ever seen an irate, proletarian mother cuffing her offspring +over an empty wood-box, you may picture perhaps the present proceeding +of Big Medicine. To many a man the thing would have been unfeasible, +after the first blow, because of the horses. But Big Medicine was very +nearly all that he claimed to be; and one of his pet vanities was his +horsemanship; he managed to keep within a fine slapping distance of +Dunk. He stopped when his hand began to sting through his glove. + +“Now you keep your hand away from that gun--that you ain't honest enough +to carry where folks can see it, but 'ye got it cached in your pocket!” + he thundered. “And go on with what you was goin' t'say. Only don't get +swell-headed enough to think you're a man, agin. You ain't.” + +“I've got this to say!” Mere type cannot reproduce the malevolence of +Dunk's spluttering speech. “I've sent for the county sheriff and a dozen +deputies to arrest you, and you, and you, damn you!” He was pointing +a shaking finger at the older members of the Happy Family, whom he +recognized not gladly, but too well. “I'll have you all in Deer Lodge +before that lying, thieving, cattle-stealing Old Man of yours can lift a +finger. I'll sheep Flying U coulee to the very doors of the white house. +I'll skin the range between here and the river--and I'll have every one +of you hounds put where the dogs won't bite you!” He drew a hand across +his mouth and smiled as they say Satan himself can smile upon occasion. + +“You've done enough to send you all over the road; destroying property +and assaulting harmless men--you wait! There are other and better +ways to fight than with the fists, and I haven't forgotten any of you +fellows--there are a few more rounders among you--” + +“Hey! You apologize fer that, by cripes, er I'll kill yuh the longest +way I know. And that--” Big Medicine again laid violent hands upon Dunk, +“and that way won't feel good, now I'm tellin' yuh. Apologize, er--” + +“Say, all this don't do any good, Bud,” Weary expostulated. “Let Dunk +froth at the mouth if he wants to; what we want is to get these sheep +off the range. And,” he added recklessly, “so long as the sheriff is +headed for us anyway, we may as well get busy and make it worth his +while. So--” He stopped, silenced by a most amazing interruption. + +On the brow of the hill, when first they had sighted Dunk in the hollow, +something had gone wrong with Miguel's saddle so that he had stopped +behind; and, to keep him company, Andy had stopped also and waited for +him. Later, when Dunk was spluttering threats, they had galloped up to +the edge of the group and pulled their horses to a stand. Now, Miguel +rode abruptly close to Dunk as rides one with a purpose. + +He leaned and peered intently into Dunk's distorted countenance until +every man there, struck by his manner, was watching him curiously. Then +he sat back in the saddle, straightened his legs in the stirrups and +laughed. And like his smile when he would have it so, or the little +twitch of shoulders by which he could so incense a man, that laugh +brought a deeper flush to Dunk's face, reddened though it was by Big +Medicine's vigorous slapping. + +“Say, you've got nerve,” drawled the Native Son, “to let a sheriff +travel toward you. I can remember when you were more timid, amigo.” He +turned his head until his eyes fell upon Andy. “Say, Andy!” he called. +“Come and take a look at this hombre. You'll have to think back a few +years,” he assisted laconically. + +In response, Andy rode up eagerly. Like the Native Son, he leaned and +peered into eyes that stared back defiantly, wavered, and turned away. +Andy also sat back in the saddle then, and snorted. + +“So this is the Dunk Whittaker that's been raising merry hell around +here! And talks about sending for the sheriff, huh? I've always heard +that a lot uh gall is the best disguise a man can hide under, but, by +gracious, this beats the deuce!” He turned to the astounded Happy Family +with growing excitement in his manner. + +“Boys, we don't have to worry much about this gazabo! We'll just +freeze onto him till the sheriff heaves in sight. Gee! There'll sure be +something stirring when we tell him who this Dunk person really is! +And you say he was in with the Old Man, once? Oh, Lord!” He looked +with withering contempt at Dunk; and Dunk's glance flickered again and +dropped, just as his hand dropped to the pocket of his coat. + +“No, yuh don't, by cripes!” Big Medicine's hand gripped Dunk's arm on +the instant. With his other he plucked the gun from Dunk's pocket, and +released him as he would let go of something foul which he had been +compelled to touch. + +“He'll be good, or he'll lose his dinner quick,” drawled the Native +Son, drawing his own silver-mounted six-shooter and resting it upon the +saddle horn so that it pointed straight at Dunk's diaphragm. “You take +Weary off somewhere and tell him something about this deal, Andy. I'll +watch this slippery gentleman.” He smiled slowly and got an answering +grin from Andy Green, who immediately rode a few rods away, with Weary +and Pink close behind. + +“Say, by golly, what's Dunk wanted fer?” Slim blurted inquisitively +after a short silence. + +“Not for riding or driving over a bridge faster than a walk Slim,” + purred the Native Son, shifting his gun a trifle as Dunk moved uneasily +in the saddle. “You know the man. Look at his face--and use your +imagination, if you've got any.” + + + +CHAPTER XIII. The Happy Family Learn Something + +“Well, I hope this farce is about over,” Dunk sneered, with as near an +approach to his old, supercilious manner as he could command, when the +three who had ridden apart returned presently. “Perhaps, Weary, you'll +be good enough to have this fellow put up his gun, and these--” he +hesitated, after a swift glance, to apply any epithet whatever to the +Happy Family. “I have two witnesses here to swear that you have without +any excuse assaulted and maligned and threatened me, and you may +consider yourselves lucky if I do not insist--” + +“Ah, cut that out,” Andy advised wearily. “I don't know how it strikes +the rest, but it sounds pretty sickening to me. Don't overlook the fact +that two of us happen to know all about you; and we know just where to +send word, to dig up a lot more identification. So bluffing ain't going +to help you out, a darned bit.” + +“Miguel, you can go with Andy,” Weary said with brisk decision. “Take +Dunk down to the ranch till the sheriff gets here--if it's straight +goods about Dunk sending for him. If he didn't, we can take Dunk in +to-morrow, ourselves.” He turned and fixed a cold, commanding eye upon +the slack-jawed herders. “Come along, you two, and get these sheep +headed outa here.” + +“Say, we'll just lock him up in the blacksmith shop, and come on back,” + Andy amended the order after his own free fashion. “He couldn't get out +in a million years; not after I'm through staking him out to the anvil +with a log-chain.” He smiled maliciously into Dunk's fear-yellowed +countenance, and waved him a signal to ride ahead, which Dunk did +without a word of protest while the Happy Family looked on dazedly. + +“What's it all about, Weary?” Irish asked, when the three were gone. +“What is it they've got on Dunk? Must be something pretty fierce, the +way he wilted down into the saddle.” + +“You'll have to wait and ask the boys.” Weary rode off to hurry the +herders on the far side of the band. + +So the Happy Family remained perforce unenlightened upon the subject and +for that they said hard things about Weary, and about Andy and Miguel as +well. They believed that they were entitled to know the truth, and they +called it a smart-aleck trick to keep the thing so almighty secret. + +There is in resentment a crisis; when that crisis is reached, and the +dam of repression gives way, the full flood does not always sweep down +upon those who have provoked the disaster. Frequently it happens that +perfectly innocent victims are made to suffer. The Happy Family had +been extremely forbearing, as has been pointed out before. They had +frequently come to the boiling point of rage and had cooled without +committing any real act of violence. But that day had held a long series +of petty annoyances; and here was a really important thing kept from +them as if they were mere outsiders. When Weary was gone, Irish asked +Pink what crime Dunk had committed in the past. And Pink shook his head +and said he didn't know. Irish mentally accused Pink of lying, and +his temper was none the better for the rebuff, as anyone can readily +understand. + +When the herders, therefore, rounded up the sheep and started them +moving south, the Happy Family speedily rebelled against that shuffling, +nibbling, desultory pace that had kept them long, weary hours in the +saddle with the other band. But it was Irish who first took measures to +accelerate that pace. + +He got down his rope and whacked the loop viciously down across the +nearest gray back. The sheep jumped, scuttled away a few paces and +returned to its nibbling progress. Irish called it names and whacked +another. + +After a few minutes he grew tired of swinging his loop and seeing it +have so fleeting an effect, and pulled his gun. He fired close to the +heels of a yearling buck that had more than once stopped to look up at +him foolishly and blat, and the buck charged ahead in a panic at the +noise and the spat of the bullet behind him. + +“Hit him agin in the same place!” yelled Big Medicine, and drew his own +gun. The Happy Family, at that high tension where they were ready for +anything, caught the infection and began shooting and yelling like crazy +men. + +The effect was not at all what they expected. Instead of adding impetus +to the band, as would have been the case if they had been driving +cattle, the result was exactly the opposite. The sheep ran--but they +ran to a common center. As the shooting went on they bunched tighter and +tighter, until it seemed as though those in the center must surely be +crushed flat. From an ambling, feeding company of animals, they become +a lumpy gray blanket, with here and there a long, vacuous face showing +idiotically upon the surface. + +The herders grinned and drew together as against a common enemy--or +as with a new joke to be discussed among themselves. The dogs wandered +helplessly about, yelped half-heartedly at the woolly mass, then sat +down upon their haunches and lolled red tongues far out over their +pointed little teeth, and tilted knowing heads at the Happy Family. + +“Look at the darned things!” wailed Pink, riding twice around the +huddle, almost ready to shed tears of pure rage and helplessness. +“Git outa that! Hi! Woopp-ee!” He fired again and again, and gave the +range-old cattle-yell; the yell which had sent many a tired herd over +many a weary mile; the yell before which had fled fat steers into the +stockyards at shipping time, and up the chutes into the cars; the yell +that had hoarsened many a cowpuncher's voice and left him with a mere +croak to curse his fate with; a yell to bring results--but it did not +start those sheep. + +The Happy Family, riding furiously round and round, fired every +cartridge they had upon their persons; they said every improper thing +they could remember or invent; they yelled until their eyes were +starting from their sockets; they glued that band of sheep so tight +together that dynamite could scarcely have pried them apart. + +And the herders, sitting apart with grimy hands clasped loosely over +hunched-up knees, looked on, and talked together in low tones, and +grinned. + +Irish glanced that way and caught them grinning; caught them pointing +derisively, with heaving shoulders. He swore a great oath and made for +them, calling aloud that he would knock those grins so far in that they +would presently find themselves smiling wrong-side-out from the back of +their heads. + +Pink, overhearing him, gave a last swat at the waggling tail of a +burrowing buck, and wheeled to overtake Irish and have a hand in +reversing the grins. Big Medicine saw them start, and came bellowing up +from the far side of the huddle like a bull challenging to combat from +across a meadow. Big Medicine did not know what it was all about, but he +scented battle, and that was sufficient. Cal Emmett and Weary, equally +ignorant of the cause, started at a lope toward the trouble center. + +It began to look as if the whole Family was about to fall upon those +herders and rend them asunder with teeth and nails; so much so that +the herders jumped up and ran like scared cottontails toward the rim of +Denson coulee, a hundred yards or so to the west. + +“Mamma! I wish we could make the sheep hit that gait and keep it,” + exclaimed Weary, with the first laugh they had heard from him that day. + +While he was still laughing, there was a shot from the ridge toward +which they were running; the sharp, vicious crack of a rifle. The Happy +Family heard the whistling hum of the bullet, singing low over their +heads; quite low indeed; altogether too low to be funny. And they had +squandered all their ammunition on the prairie sod, to hurry a band of +sheep that flatly refused to hurry anywhere except under one another's +odorous, perspiring bodies. + +From the edge of the coulee the rifle spoke again. A tiny geyser of +dust, spurting up from the ground ten feet to one side of Cal Emmett, +showed them all where the bullet struck. + +“Get outa range, everybody!” yelled Weary, and set the example by +tilting his rowels against Glory's smooth hide, and heading eastward. +“I like to be accommodating, all right, but I draw the line on standing +around for a target while my neighbors practise shooting.” + +The Happy Family, having no other recourse, therefore retreated in haste +toward the eastern skyline. Bullets followed them, overtook them as +the shooter raised his sights for the increasing distance, and whined +harmlessly over their heads. All save one. + + + +CHAPTER XIV. Happy Jack + +Big Medicine, Irish and Pink, racing almost abreast, heard a scream +behind them and pulled up their horses with short, stiff-legged plunges. +A brown horse overtook them; a brown horse, with Happy Jack clinging to +the saddle-horn, his body swaying far over to one side. Even as he went +hurtling past them his hold grew slack and he slumped, head foremost, to +the ground. The brown horse gave a startled leap away from him and went +on with empty stirrups flapping. + +They sprang down and lifted him to a less awkward position, and Big +Medicine pillowed the sweat-dampened, carroty head in the hollow of his +arm. Those who had been in the lead looked back startled when the brown +horse tore past them with that empty saddle; saw what had happened, +wheeled and galloped back. They dismounted and stood silently grouped +about poor, ungainly Happy Jack, lying there limp and motionless in Big +Medicine's arms. Not one of them remembered then that there was a man +with a rifle not more than two hundred yards away; or, if they did, they +quite forgot that the rifle might be dangerous to themselves. They were +thinking of Happy Jack. + +Happy Jack, butt of all their jokes and jibes; Happy the croaker, +the lugubrious forecaster of trouble; Happy Jack, the ugliest, the +stupidest, the softest-hearted man of them all. He had “betched” there +would be someone killed, over these Dot sheep; he had predicted trouble +of every conceivable kind; and they had laughed at him, swore at him, +lied to him, “joshed” him unmercifully, and kept him in a state of +chronic indignation, never dreaming that the memory of it would choke +them and strike them dumb with that horrible, dull weight in their +chests with which men suffer when a woman would find the relief of +weeping. + +“Where's he hurt?” asked Weary, in the repressed tone which only tragedy +can bring into a man's voice, and knelt beside Big Medicine. + +“I dunno--through the lungs, I guess; my sleeve's gitting soppy right +under his shoulder.” Big Medicine did not bellow; his voice was as quiet +as Weary's. + +Weary looked up briefly at the circle of staring faces. “Pink, you pile +onto Glory and go wire for a doctor. Try Havre first; you may get one +up on the nine o' clock train. If you can't, get one down on the +'leven-twenty, from Great Falls. Or there's Benton--anyway, git one. If +you could catch MacPherson, do it. Try him first, and never mind a Havre +doctor unless you can't get MacPherson. I'd rather wait a couple of +hours longer, for him. I'll have a rig--no, you better get a team from +Jim. They'll be fresh, and you can put 'em through. If you kill 'em,” he +added grimly, “we can pay for 'em.” He had his jack-knife out, and +was already slashing carefully the shirt of Happy Jack, that he might +inspect the wound. + +Pink gave a last, wistful look at Happy Jack's face, which seemed +unfamiliar with all the color and all the expression wiped out of it +like that, and turned away. “Come and help me change saddles, Cal,” + he said shortly. “Weary's stirrups are too darned long.” Even with the +delay, he was mounted on Glory and galloping toward Flying U coulee +before Weary was through uncovering the wound; and that does not mean +that Weary was slow. + +The rifle cracked again, and a bullet plucked into the sod twenty feet +beyond the circle of men and horses. But no one looked up or gave any +other sign of realization that they were still the target; they were +staring, with that frowning painfully intent look men have at such +moments, at a purplish hole not much bigger than if punched by a lead +pencil, just under the point of Happy Jack's shoulder blade; and at the +blood oozing sluggishly from it in a tiny stream across the girlishly +white flesh and dripping upon Big Medicine's arm. + +“Hadn't we better get a rig to take him home with?” Irish suggested. + +Weary, exploring farther, had just disclosed a ragged wound under the +arm where the bullet had passed out; he made no immediate reply. + +“Well, he ain't got it stuck inside of 'im, anyway,” Big Medicine +commented relievedly. “Don't look to me like it's so awful bad--went +through kinda anglin', and maybe missed his lungs. I've saw men shot up +before--” + +“Aw--I betche you'd--think it was bad--if you had it--” murmured Happy +Jack peevishly, lifting his eyelids heavily for a resentful glance when +they moved him a little. But even as Big Medicine grinned joyfully down +at him he went off again into mental darkness, and the grin faded into +solicitude. + +“You'd kick, by golly, if you was goin' to be hung,” Slim bantered +tritely and belatedly, and gulped remorsefully when he saw that he was +“joshing” an unconscious man. + +“We better get him home. Irish, you--” Weary looked up and discovered +that Irish and jack Bates were already headed for home and a conveyance. +He gave a sigh of approval and turned his attention toward wiping the +sweat and grime from Happy's face with his handkerchief. + +“Somebody else is goin' to git hit, by golly, if we stay here,” Slim +blurted suddenly, when another bullet dug up the dirt in that vicinity. + +“That gol-darned fool'll keep on till he kills somebody. I wisht I +had m' thirty-thirty here--I'd make him wisht his mother was a man, by +golly!” + +Big Medicine looked toward the coulee rim. “I ain't got a shell left,” + he growled regretfully. “I wisht we'd thought to tell the boys to bring +them rifles. Say, Slim, you crawl onto your hoss and go git 'em. It +won't take more'n a minute. There'll likely be some shells in the +magazines.” + +“Go on, Slim,” urged Weary grimly. “We've got to do something. They +can't do a thing like this--” he glanced down at Happy Jack-- “and get +away with it.” + +“I got half a box uh shells for my thirty-thirty, I'll bring that.” Slim +turned to go, stopped short and stared at the coulee rim. “By golly, +they're comm' over here!” he exclaimed. + +Big Medicine glanced up, took off his hat, crumpled it for a pillow +and eased Happy Jack down upon it. He got up stiffly, wiped his fingers +mechanically upon his trouser legs, broke his gun open just to make sure +that it was indeed empty, put it back and picked up a handful of rocks. + +“Let 'em come,” he said viciously. “I c'n kill every damn' one with m' +bare hands!” + + + +CHAPTER XV. Oleson + +“Say, ain't that Andy and Mig following along behind?” Cal asked after a +minute of watching the approach. “Sure, it is. Now what--” + +“They're drivin' 'em, by cripes!” Big Medicine, under the stress of the +moment, returned to his usual bellowing tone. “Who's that tall, lanky +feller in the lead? I don't call to mind ever seem him before. Them four +herders I'd know a mile off.” + +“That?” Weary shaded his eyes with his hat-brim, against the slant rays +of the westering sun. “That's Oleson, Dunk's partner.” + +“His mother'd be a-weepin',” Big Medicine observed bodefully, “if she +knowed what was due to happen to her son right away quick. Must be him +that done the shootin'.” + +They came on steadily, the four herders and Oleson walking reluctantly +ahead, with Andy Green and the Native Son riding relentlessly in the +rear, their guns held unwaveringly in a line with the backs of their +captives. Andy was carrying a rifle, evidently taken from one of the +men--Oleson, they judged for the guilty one. Half the distance was +covered when Andy was seen to turn his head and speak briefly with the +Native Son, after which he lunged past the captives and galloped up to +the waiting group. His quick eye sought first the face of Happy Jack +in anxious questioning; then, miserably, he searched the faces of his +friends. + +“Good Lord!” he exclaimed mechanically, dismounted and bent over the +figure on the ground. For a long minute he knelt there; he laid his ear +close to Happy Jack's mouth, took off his glove and laid his hand over +Happy's heart; reached up, twitched off his neckerchief, shook out the +creases and spread it reverently over Happy Jack's face. He stood up +then and spoke slowly, his eyes fixed upon the stumbling approach of the +captives. + +“Pink told us Happy had been shot, so we rode around and come up behind +'em. It was a cinch. And--say, boys, we've got the Dots in a pocket. +They've got to eat outa our hands, now. So don't think about--our own +feelings, or about--” he stopped abruptly and let a downward glance +finish the sentence. “We've got to keep our own hands clean, and--now +don't let your fingers get the itch, Bud!” This, because of certain +manifestations of a murderous intent on the part of Big Medicine. + +“Oh, it's all right to talk, if yuh feel like talking,” Big Medicine +retorted savagely. “I don't.” He made a catlike spring at the foremost +man, who happened to be Oleson, and got a merciless grip with his +fingers on his throat, snarling like a predatory animal over its kill. +From behind, Andy, with Weary to help, pulled him off. + +“I didn't mean to--to kill anybody,” gasped Oleson, pasty white. “I +heard a lot of shooting, and so I ran up the hill--and the herders came +running toward me, and I thought I was defending my property and men. I +had a right to defend--” + +“Defend hell!” Big Medicine writhed in the restraining grasp of those +who held him. “Look at that there! As good hearted a boy as ever turned +a cow! Never harmed a soul in 'is life. Is all your dirty, stinkin' +sheep, an' all your lousy herders, worth that boy's life? Yuh shot 'im +down like a dog--lemme go, boys.” His voice was husky. “Lemme tromp the +life outa him.” + +“I thought you were killing my men, or I never--I never meant to--to +kill--” Oleson, shaking till he could scarcely stand, broke down and +wept; wept pitiably, hysterically, as men of a certain fiber will weep +when black tragedy confronts them all unawares. He cowered miserably +before the Happy Family, his face hidden behind his two hands. + +“Boys, I want to say a word or two. Come over here.” Andy's voice, quiet +as ever, contrasted strangely with the man's sobbing. He led them back +a few paces--Weary, Cal, Big Medicine and Slim, and spoke hurriedly. The +Native Son eyed them sidelong from his horse, but he was careful to keep +Oleson covered with his gun--and the herders too, although they were +unarmed. Once or twice he glanced at that long, ungainly figure in the +grass with the handkerchief of Andy Green hiding the face except where +a corner, fluttering in the faint breeze which came creeping out of the +west, lifted now and then and gave a glimpse of sunbrowned throat and a +quiet chin and mouth. + +“Quit that blubbering, Oleson, and listen here.” Andys voice broke +relentlessly upon the other's woe. “All these boys want to hang yuh +without any red tape; far as I'm concerned, I'm dead willing. But we're +going to give yuh a chance. Your partner, as we told yuh coming over, +we've got the dead immortal cinch on, right now. And--well you can see +what you're up against. But we'll give yuh a chance. Have you got any +family?” + +Oleson, trying to pull himself together, shook his head. + +“Well, then, you can get rid of them sheep, can't yuh? Sell 'em, ship +'em outa here--we don't give a darn what yuh do, only so yuh get 'em off +the range.” + +“Y-yes, I'll do that.” Oleson's consent was reluctant, but it was fairly +prompt. “I'll get rid of the sheep,” he said, as if he was minded to +clinch the promise. “I'll do it at once.” + +“That's nice.” Andy spoke with grim irony. “And you'll get rid of the +ranch, too. You'll sell it to the Flying U--cheap.” + +“But my partner--Whittaker might object--” + +“Look here, old-timer. You'll fix that part up; you'll find a way +of fixing it. Look here--at what you're up against.” He waited, with +pointing finger, for one terrible minute. “Will you sell to the Flying +U?” + +“Y-yes!” The word was really a gulp. He tried to avoid looking where +Andy pointed; failed, and shuddered at what he saw. + +“I thought you would. We'll get that in writing. And we're going to wait +just exactly twenty-four hours before we make a move. It'll take some +fine work, but we'll do it. Our boss, here, will fix up the business end +with you. He'll go with yuh right now, and stay with yuh till you +make good. And the first crooked move you make--” Andy, in unconscious +imitation of the Native Son, shrugged a shoulder expressively and urged +Weary by a glance to take the leadership. + +“Irish, you come with me. The rest of you fellows know about what to +do. Andy, I guess you'll have to ride point till I get back.” Weary +hesitated, looked from Happy Jack to Oleson and the herders, and back +to the sober faces of his fellows. “Do what you can for him, boys--and I +wish one of you would ride over, after Pink gets back, and--let me know +how things stack up, will you?” + +Incredible as was the situation on the face of it, nevertheless it was +extremely matter-of-fact in the handling; which is the way sometimes +with incredible situations; as if, since we know instinctively that we +cannot rise unprepared to the bigness of its possibilities, we keep our +feet planted steadfastly on the ground and refuse to rise at all. And +afterward, perhaps, we look back and wonder how it all came about. + +At the last moment Weary turned back and exchanged guns with Andy Green, +because his own was empty and he realized the possible need of one--or +at least the need of having the sheep-men perfectly aware that he had +one ready for use. The Native Son, without a word of comment, handed his +own silver-trimmed weapon over to Irish, and rolled a cigarette deftly +with one hand while he watched them ride away. + +“Does this strike anybody else as being pretty raw?” he inquired calmly, +dismounting among them. “I'd do a good deal for the outfit, myself; +but letting that man get off--Say, you fellows up this way don't think +killing a man amounts to much, do you?” He looked from one to the other +with a queer, contemptuous hostility in his eyes. + +Andy Green took a forward step and laid a hand familiarly on his rigid +shoulder. “Quit it, Mig. We would do a lot for the outfit; that's the +God's truth. And I played the game right up to the hilt, I admit. But +nobody's killed. I told Happy to play dead. By gracious, I caught him +just in the nick uh time; he'd been setting up, in another minute.” To +prove it, he bent and twitched the handkerchief from the face of Happy +Jack, and Happy opened his eyes and made shift to growl. + +“Yuh purty near-smothered me t'death, darn yuh.” + +“Dios!” breathed the Native Son, for once since they knew him jolted out +of his eternal calm. “God, but I'm glad!” + +“I guess the rest of us ain't,” insinuated Andy softly, and lifted his +hat to wipe the sweat off his forehead. “I will say that--” After +all, he did not. Instead, he knelt beside Happy Jack and painstakingly +adjusted the crumpled hat a hair's breadth differently. + +“How do yuh feel, old-timer?” he asked with a very thin disguise of +cheerfulness upon the anxiety of his tone. + +“Well, I could feel a lot--better, without hurtin' nothin,” Happy Jack +responded somberly. “I hope you fellers--feel better, now. Yuh got +'em--tryin' to murder--the hull outfit; jes' like I--told yuh +they would--” Gunshot wounds, contrary to the tales of certain +sentimentalists, do not appreciably sweeten, or even change, a man's +disposition. Happy Jack with a bullet hole through one side of him was +still Happy Jack. + +“Aw, quit your beefin',” Big Medicine advised gruffly. “A feller with +a hole in his lung yuh could throw a calf through sideways ain't got no +business statin' his views on nothin', by cripes!” + +“Aw gwan. I thought you said--it didn't amount t' nothin',” Happy +reminded him, anxiety stealing into his face. + +“Well, it don't. May lay yuh up a day or two; wouldn't be su'prised if +yuh had to stay on the bed-ground two or three meals. But look at Slim, +here. Shot through the leg--shattered a bone, by cripes!--las' night, +only; and here he's makin' a hand and ridin' and cussin' same as any of +us t'day. We ain't goin' to let yuh grouch around, that's all. We claim +we got a vacation comm' to us; you're shot up, now, and that's fun +enough for one man, without throwin' it into the whole bunch. Why, a +little nick like that ain't nothin'; nothin' a-tall. Why, I've been +shot right through here, by cripes”--Big Medicine laid an impressive +finger-tip on the top button of his trousers--“and it come out back +here”--he whirled and showed his thumb against the small of his +back--“and I never laid off but that day and part uh the next. I was +sore,” he admitted, goggling Happy Jack earnestly, “but I kep' a-goin'. +I was right in fall roundup, an' I had to. A man can't lay down an' cry, +by cripes, jes' because he gets pinked a little--” + +“Aw, that's jest because--it ain't you. I betche you'd lay 'em +down--jest like other folks, if yuh got shot--through the lungs. That +ain't no--joke, lemme tell yuh!” Happy Jack was beginning to show +considerable spirit for a wounded man. So much spirit that Andy Green, +who had seen men stricken down with various ills, read fever signs in +the countenance and in the voice of Happy, and led Big Medicine somewhat +peremptorily out of ear-shot. + +“Ain't you got any sense?” he inquired with fine candor. “What do you +want to throw it into him like that, for? You may not think so, but he's +pretty bad off--if you ask me.” + +Big Medicine's pale eyes turned commiseratingly toward Happy Jack. “I +know he is; I ain't no fool. I was jest tryin' to cheer 'im up a little. +He was beginnin' to look like he was gittin' scared about it; I reckon +maybe I made a break, sayin' what I did about it, so I jest wanted to +take the cuss off. Honest to gran'ma--” + +“If you know anything at all about such things, you must know what fever +means in such a case. And, recollect, it's going to be quite a while +before a doctor can get here.” + +“Oh, I'll be careful. Maybe I did throw it purty strong; I won't, no +more.” Big Medicine s meekness was not the least amazing incident of +the day. He was a big-hearted soul under his bellow and bluff, and his +sympathy for Happy Jack struck deep. He went back walking on his toes, +and he stood so that his sturdy body shaded Happy Jack's face from the +sun, and he did not open his mouth for another word until Irish and Jack +Bates came rattling up with the spring wagon hurriedly transformed with +mattress, pillows and blankets into an ambulance. + +They had been thoughtful to a degree. They brought with them a jug of +water and a tin cup, and they gave Happy Jack a long, cooling drink of +it and bathed his face before they lifted him into the wagon. And of all +the hands that ministered to his needs, the hands of Big Medicine were +the eagerest and gentlest, and his voice was the most vibrant with +sympathy; which was saying a good deal. + + + +CHAPTER XVI. The End of the Dots + +Slim may not have been more curious than his fellows, but he was perhaps +more single-hearted in his loyalty to the outfit. To him the shooting +of Happy Jack, once he felt assured that the wound was not necessarily +fatal, became of secondary importance. It was all in behalf of the +Flying U; and if the bullet which laid Happy Jack upon the ground was +also the means of driving the hated Dots from that neighborhood, he +felt, in his slow, phlegmatic way, that it wasn't such a catastrophe as +some of the others seemed to think. Of course, he wouldn't want Happy +to die; but he didn't believe, after all, that Happy was going to do +anything like that. Old Patsy knew a lot about sickness and wounds. (Who +can cook for a cattle outfit, for twenty years and more, and not know a +good deal of hurts?) Old Patsy had looked Happy over carefully, and had +given a grin and a snort. + +“Py cosh, dot vos lucky for you, alreatty,” he had pronounced. “So you +don't git plood-poisonings, mit fever, you be all right pretty soon. +You go to shleep, yet. If fix you oop till der dochtor he cooms. I seen +fellers shot plumb through der middle off dem, und git yell. You ain't +shot so bad. You go to shleep.” + +So, his immediate fears relieved, Slim's slow mind had swung back to +the Dots, and to Oleson, whom Weary was even now assisting to keep his +promise (Slim grinned widely to himself when he thought of the abject +fear which Oleson had displayed because of the murder he thought he had +done, while Happy Jack obediently “played dead”). And of Dunk, whom Slim +had hated most abominably of old; Dunk, a criminal found out; Dunk, a +prisoner right there on the very ranch he had thought to despoil; Dunk, +at that very moment locked in the blacksmith shop. Perhaps it was not +curiosity alone which sent him down there; perhaps it was partly a +desire to look upon Dunk humbled--he who had trodden so arrogantly +upon the necks of those below him; so arrogantly that even Slim, the +slow-witted one, had many a time trembled with anger at his tone. + +Slim walked slowly, as was his wont; with deadly directness, as was his +nature. The blacksmith shop was silent, closed--as grimly noncommittal +as a vault. You might guess whatever you pleased about its inmate; it +was like trying to imagine the emotions pictured upon the face behind +a smooth, black mask. Slim stopped before the closed door and listened. +The rusty, iron hasp attracted his slow gaze, at first puzzling him a +little, making him vaguely aware that something about it did not quite +harmonize with his mental attitude toward it. It took him a full minute +to realize that he had expected to find the door locked, and that the +hasp hung downward uselessly, just as it hung every day in the year. + +He remembered then that Andy had spoken of chaining Dunk to the anvil. +That would make it unnecessary to lock the door, of course. Slim seized +the hanging strip of iron, gave it a jerk and bathed all the dingy +interior with a soft, sunset glow. Cobwebs quivered at the inrush of the +breeze, and glistened like threads of fine gold. The forge remained a +dark blot in the corner. A new chisel, lying upon the earthen floor, +became a bar of yellow light. + +Slim's eyes went to the anvil and clung there in a widening stare. His +hands, white and soft when his gloves were off, drew up convulsively +into fighting fists, and as he stood looking, the cords swelled and +stood out upon his thick neck. For years he had hated Dunk Whittaker-- + +The Happy Family, with rare good sense, had not hesitated to turn the +white house into an impromptu hospital. They knew that if the Little +Doctor and Chip and the Old Man had been at home Happy Jack would have +been taken unquestioningly into the guest chamber--which was a square, +three-windowed room off the big livingroom. More than one of them had +occupied it upon occasion. They took Happy Jack up there and put him to +bed quite as a matter-of-course, and when he was asleep they lingered +upon the wide, front porch; the hammock of the Little Doctor squeaked +under the weight of Andy Green, and the wide-armed chairs received the +weary forms of divers young cowpunchers who did not give a thought to +the intrusion, but were thankful for the comfort. Andy was swinging +luxuriously and drawing the last few puffs from a cigarette when Slim, +purple and puffing audibly, appeared portentously before him. + +“I thought you said you was goin' to lock Dunk up in the blacksmith +shop,” he launched accusingly at Andy. + +“We did,” averred that young man, pushing his toe against the railing to +accelerate the voluptuous motion of the hammock. + +“He ain't there. He's broke loose. The chain--by golly, yuh went an' +used that chain that was broke an' jest barely hangin' together! His +horse ain't anywheres around, either. You fellers make me sick. Lollin' +around here an' not paying no attention, by golly--he's liable to be ten +mile from here by this time!” When Slim stopped, his jaw quivered like +a dish of disturbed jelly, and I wish I could give you his tone; choppy, +every sentence an accusation that should have made those fellows wince. + +Irish, Big Medicine and Jack Bates had sprung guiltily to their feet +and started down the steps. The drawling voice of the Native Son stopped +them, ten feet from the porch. + +“Twelve, or fifteen, I should make it. That horse of his looked to me +like a drifter.” + +“Well--are yuh goin' t' set there on your haunches an' let him GO?” + Slim, by the look of him, was ripe for murder. + +“You want to look out, or you'll get apoplexy sure,” Andy soothed, +giving himself another luxurious push and pulling the last, little whiff +from his cigarette before he threw away the stub. “Fat men can't afford +to get as excited as skinny ones can.” + +“Aw, say! Where did you put him, Andy?” asked Big Medicine, his first +flurry subsiding before the absolute calm of those two on the porch. + +“In the blacksmith shop,” said Andy, with a slurring accent on the first +word that made the whole sentence perfectly maddening. “Ah, come on back +here and sit down. I guess we better tell 'em the how of it. Huh, Mig?” + +Miguel cast a slow, humorous glance over the four. “Ye-es--they'll have +us treed in about two minutes if we don't,” he assented. “Go ahead.” + +“Well,” Andy lifted his head and shoulders that he might readjust a +pillow to his liking, “we wanted him to make a getaway. Fact is, if he +hadn't, we'd have been--strictly up against it. Right! If he hadn't--how +about it, Mig? I guess we'd have been to the Little Rockies ourselves.” + +“You've got a sweet little voice,” Irish cut in savagely, “but we're +tired. We'd rather hear yuh say something!” + +“Oh--all right. Well, Mig and I just ribbed up a josh on Dunk. I'd read +somewhere about the same kinda deal, so it ain't original; I don't lay +any claim to the idea at all; we just borrowed it. You see, it's like +this: We figured that a man as mean as this Dunk person most likely had +stepped over the line, somewhere. So we just took a gambling chance, and +let him do the rest. You see, we never saw him before in our lives. All +that identification stunt of ours was just a bluff. But the minute I +shoved my chips to the center, I knew we had him dead to rights. You +were there. You saw him wilt. By gracious--” + +“Yuh don't know anything against him?” gasped Irish. + +“Not a darned thing--any more than what you all know,” testified Andy +complacently. + +It took a minute or two for that to sink in. + +“Well, I'll be damned!” breathed Irish. + +“We did chain him to the anvil,” Andy went on. “On the way down, we +talked about being in a hurry to get back to you fellows, and I told +Mig--so Dunk could hear--that we wouldn't bother with the horse. We tied +him to the corral. And I hunted around for that bum chain, and then we +made out we couldn't find the padlock for the door; so we decided, right +out loud, that he'd be dead safe for an hour or two, till the bunch of +us got back. Not knowing a darn thing about him, except what you boys +have told us, we sure would have been in bad if he hadn't taken a sneak. +Fact is, we were kinda worried for fear he wouldn't have nerve enough +to try it. We waited, up on the hill, till we saw him sneak down to the +corral and jump on his horse and take off down the coulee like a scared +coyote. It was,” quoth the young man, unmistakably pleased with himself, +“pretty smooth work, if you ask me.” + +“I'd hate to ride as fast and far to-night as that hombre will,” + supplemented Miguel with his brief smile, that was just a flash of +white, even teeth and a momentary lightening of his languorous eyes. + +Slim stood for five minutes, a stolid, stocky figure in the midst of +a storm of congratulatory comment. They forgot all about Happy Jack, +asleep inside the house, and so their voices were not hushed. Indeed, +Big Medicine's bull-like remarks boomed full-throated across the coulee +and were flung back mockingly by the barren hills. Slim did not hear +a word they were saying; he was thinking it over, with that complete +mental concentration which is the chief recompense of a slow-working +mind. He was methodically thinking it all out--and, eventually, he saw +the joke. + +“Well, by golly!” he bawled suddenly, and brought his palm down with +a terrific smack upon his sore leg--whereat his fellows laughed +uproariously. + +“We told you not to try to see through any more jokes till your leg gets +well, Slim,” Andy reminded condescendingly. + +“Say, by golly, that's a good one on Dunk, ain't it? Chasin' himself +clean outa the country, by golly--scared plumb to death---and you +fellers was only jest makin' b'lieve yuh knowed him! By golly, that sure +is a good one, all right!” + +“You've got it; give you time enough and you could see through a +barbed-wire fence,” patronized Andy, from the hammock. “Yes, since you +mention it, I think myself it ain't so bad.” + +“Aw-w shut up, out there, an' let a feller sleep!” came a querulous +voice from within. “I'd ruther bed down with a corral full uh calves at +weanin' time, than be anywheres within ten mile uh you darned, mouthy--” + The rest was indistinguishable, but it did not matter. The Happy Family, +save Slim, who stayed to look after the patient, tiptoed penitently +off the porch and took themselves and their enthusiasm down to the +bunk-house. + + + +CHAPTER XVII. Good News + +Pink rolled over in his bed so that he might look--however +sleepily--upon his fellows, dressing more or less quietly in the cool +dawn-hour. + +“Say, I got a letter for you, Weary,” he yawned, stretching both arms +above his head. “I opened it and read it; it was from Chip, so--” + +“What did he have to say?” + +“Old Man any better?” + +“How they comm', back here?” + +Several voices, speaking at once, necessitated a delayed reply. + +“They'll be here, to-day or to-morrow,” Pink replied without any +circumlocution whatever, while he fumbled in his coat pocket for the +letter. “He says the Old Man wants to come, and the doctors think he +might as well tackle it as stay there fussing over it. They're coming in +a special car, and we've got to rig up an outfit to meet him. The Little +Doctor tells just how she wants things fixed. I thought maybe it was +important--it come special delivery,” Pink added naively, “so I just +played it was mine and read it.” + +“That's all right, Cadwalloper,” Weary assured him while he read hastily +the letter. “Well, we'll fix up the spring wagon and take it in right +away; somebody's got to go back anyway, with MacPherson. Hello, Cal; +how's Happy?” + +“All right,” answered Cal, who had watched over him during the night and +came in at that moment after someone to take his place in the sickroom. +“Waked up on the fight because I just happened to be setting with my +eyes shut. I wasn't asleep, but he said I was; claimed I snored so loud +I kept him awake all night. Gee whiz! I'd ruther nurse a she bear with +the mumps!” + +“Old Man's coming home, Cal.” Pink announced with more joy in his +tone and in his face than had appeared in either for many a weary +day. Whereupon Cal gave an exultant whoop. “Go tell that to Happy,” + he shouted. “Maybe he'll forget a grouch or two. Say, luck seems to be +kinda casting loving glances our way again--what?” + +“By golly, seems to me Pink oughta told us when he come in, las' night,” + grumbled Slim, when he could make himself heard. + +“You were all dead to the world,” Pink defended, “and I wanted to +be. Two o'clock in the morning is a mighty poor time for elegant +conversation, if you want my opinion.” + +“And the main point is, you knew all about it, and you didn't give a +darn whether we did or not,” Irish said bluntly. “And Weary sneaked in, +too, and never let a yip outa him about things over in Denson coulee.” + +“Oh, what was the use?” asked Weary blandly. “I got an option out of +Oleson for the ranch and outfit, and all his sheep, at a mighty good +figure--for the Flying U. The Old Man can do what he likes about it; +but ten to one he'll buy him out. That is, Oleson's share, which was +two-thirds. I kinda counted on Dunk letting go easy. And,” he added, +reaching for his hat, “once I got the papers for it, there wasn't +anything to hang around for, was there? Especially,” he said with his +old, sunny smile, “when we weren't urged a whole lot to stay.” + +Remained therefore little, save the actual arrival of the Old Man--a +pitifully weak Old Man, bandaged and odorous with antiseptics, and quite +pathetically glad to be back home--and his recovery, which was rather +slow, and the recovery of Happy Jack, which was rapid. + +For a brief space the Flying U outfit owned the Dots; very brief it +was; not a day longer than it took Chip to find a buyer--at a figure +considerably above that named in the option, by the way. + +So, after a season of worry and trouble and impending tragedy such as +no man may face unflinchingly, life dropped back to its usual level, and +the trail of the Flying U outfit once more led through pleasant places. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Flying U Ranch, by B. M. Bower + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1206 *** diff --git a/1206-h/1206-h.htm b/1206-h/1206-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..762600a --- /dev/null +++ b/1206-h/1206-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5309 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Flying U Ranch, by B. M. Bower + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1206 ***</div> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + FLYING U RANCH + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By B. M. Bower + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> <big><b>FLYING U RANCH</b></big> </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. The Coming of a Native Son </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. “When Greek Meets Greek” </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. Bad News </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. Some Hopes </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. Sheep </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. What Happened to Andy </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII. Truth Crushed to Earth, etc. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII. The Dot Outfit </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX. More Sheep </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X. The Happy Family Herd Sheep </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI. Weary Unburdens </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII. Two of a Kind </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII. The Happy Family Learn Something + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV. Happy Jack </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER XV. Oleson </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER XVI. The End of the Dots </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0017"> CHAPTER XVII. Good News </a> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h1> + FLYING U RANCH + </h1> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I. The Coming of a Native Son + </h2> + <p> + The Happy Family, waiting for the Sunday supper call, were grouped around + the open door of the bunk-house, gossiping idly of things purely local, + when the Old Man returned from the Stock Association at Helena; beside him + on the buggy seat sat a stranger. The Old Man pulled up at the bunk-house, + the stranger sprang out over the wheel with the agility which bespoke + youthful muscles, and the Old Man introduced him with a quirk of the lips: + </p> + <p> + “This is Mr. Mig-u-ell Rapponi, boys—a peeler straight from the + Golden Gate. Throw out your war-bag and make yourself to home, Mig-u-ell; + some of the boys'll show you where to bed down.” + </p> + <p> + The Old Man drove on to the house with his own luggage, and Happy Jack + followed to take charge of the team; but the remainder of the Happy Family + unobtrusively took the measure of the foreign element. From his + black-and-white horsehair hatband, with tassels that swept to the very + edge of his gray hatbrim, to the crimson silk neckerchief draped over the + pale blue bosom of his shirt; from the beautifully stamped leather cuffs, + down to the exaggerated height of his tan boot-heels, their critical eyes + swept in swift, appraising glances; and unanimous disapproval was the + result. The Happy Family had themselves an eye to picturesque garb upon + occasion, but this passed even Pink's love of display. + </p> + <p> + “He's some gaudy to look at,” Irish murmured under his breath to Cal + Emmett. + </p> + <p> + “All he lacks is a spot-light and a brass band,” Cal returned, in much the + same tone with which a woman remarks upon a last season's hat on the head + of a rival. + </p> + <p> + Miguel was not embarrassed by the inspection. He was tall, straight, and + swarthily handsome, and he stood with the complacence of a stage favorite + waiting for the applause to cease so that he might speak his first lines; + and, while he waited, he sifted tobacco into a cigarette paper daintily, + with his little finger extended. There was a ring upon that finger; a ring + with a moonstone setting as large and round as the eye of a startled cat, + and the Happy Family caught the pale gleam of it and drew a long breath. + He lighted a match nonchalantly, by the artfully simple method of pinching + the head of it with his fingernails, leaned negligently against the wall + of the bunk-house, and regarded the group incuriously while he smoked. + </p> + <p> + “Any pretty girls up this way?” he inquired languidly, after a moment, + fanning a thin smoke-cloud from before his face while he spoke. + </p> + <p> + The Happy Family went prickly hot. The girls in that neighborhood were + held in esteem, and there was that in his tone which gave offense. + </p> + <p> + “Sure, there's pretty girls here!” Big Medicine bellowed unexpectedly, + close beside him. “We're all of us engaged to `em, by cripes!” + </p> + <p> + Miguel shot an oblique glance at Big Medicine, examined the end of his + cigarette, and gave a lift of shoulder, which might mean anything or + nothing, and so was irritating to a degree. He did not pursue the subject + further, and so several belated retorts were left tickling futilely the + tongues of the Happy Family—which does not make for amiability. + </p> + <p> + To a man they liked him little, in spite of their easy friendliness with + mankind in general. At supper they talked with him perfunctorily, and + covertly sneered because he sprinkled his food liberally with cayenne and + his speech with Spanish words pronounced with soft, slurred vowels that + made them sound unfamiliar, and against which his English contrasted + sharply with its crisp, American enunciation. He met their infrequent + glances with the cool stare of absolute indifference to their opinion of + him, and their perfunctory civility with introspective calm. + </p> + <p> + The next morning, when there was riding to be done, and Miguel appeared at + the last moment in his working clothes, even Weary, the sunny-hearted, had + an unmistakable curl of his lip after the first glance. + </p> + <p> + Miguel wore the hatband, the crimson kerchief tied loosely with the point + draped over his chest, the stamped leather cuffs and the tan boots with + the highest heels ever built by the cobbler craft. Also, the lower half of + him was incased in chaps the like of which had never before been brought + into Flying U coulee. Black Angora chaps they were; long-haired, crinkly + to the very hide, with three white, diamond-shaped patches running down + each leg of them, and with the leather waistband stamped elaborately to + match the cuffs. The bands of his spurs were two inches wide and inlaid to + the edge with beaten silver, and each concho was engraved to represent a + large, wild rose, with a golden center. A dollar laid upon the rowels + would have left a fringe of prongs all around. + </p> + <p> + He bent over his sacked riding outfit, and undid it, revealing a wonderful + saddle of stamped leather inlaid on skirt and cantle with more beaten + silver. He straightened the skirts, carefully ignoring the glances thrown + in his direction, and swore softly to himself when he discovered where the + leather had been scratched through the canvas wrappings and the end of the + silver scroll ripped up. He drew out his bridle and shook it into shape, + and the silver mountings and the reins of braided leather with horsehair + tassels made Happy Jack's eyes greedy with desire. His blanket was a + scarlet Navajo, and his rope a rawhide lariat. + </p> + <p> + Altogether, his splendor when he was mounted so disturbed the fine mental + poise of the Happy Family that they left him jingling richly off by + himself, while they rode closely grouped and discussed him acrimoniously. + </p> + <p> + “By gosh, a man might do worse than locate that Native Son for a silver + mine,” Cal began, eyeing the interloper scornfully. “It's plumb wicked to + ride around with all that wealth and fussy stuff. He must 'a' robbed a + bank and put the money all into a riding outfit.” + </p> + <p> + “By golly, he looks to me like a pair uh trays when he comes bow-leggin' + along with them white diamonds on his legs,” Slim stated solemnly. + </p> + <p> + “And I'll gamble that's a spot higher than he stacks up in the cow game,” + Pink observed with the pessimism which matrimony had given him. “You mind + him asking about bad horses, last night? That Lizzie-boy never saw a bad + horse; they don't grow 'em where he come from. What they don't know about + riding they make up for with a swell rig—” + </p> + <p> + “And, oh, mamma! It sure is a swell rig!” Weary paid generous tribute. + “Only I will say old Banjo reminds me of an Irish cook rigged out in silk + and diamonds. That outfit on Glory, now—” He sighed enviously. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I've gone up against a few real ones in my long and varied career,” + Irish remarked reminiscently, “and I've noticed that a hoss never has any + respect or admiration for a swell rig. When he gets real busy it ain't the + silver filigree stuff that's going to help you hold connections with your + saddle, and a silver-mounted bridle-bit ain't a darned bit better than a + plain one.” + </p> + <p> + “Just take a look at him!” cried Pink, with intense disgust. “Ambling off + there, so the sun can strike all that silver and bounce back in our eyes. + And that braided lariat—I'd sure love to see the pieces if he ever + tries to anchor anything bigger than a yearling!” + </p> + <p> + “Why, you don't think for a minute he could ever get out and rope + anything, do yuh?” Irish laughed. “That there Native Son throws on + a-w-l-together too much dog to really get out and do anything.” + </p> + <p> + “Aw,” fleered Happy Jack, “he ain't any Natiff Son. He's a dago!” + </p> + <p> + “He's got the earmarks uh both,” Big Medicine stated authoritatively. “I + know 'em, by cripes, and I know their ways.” He jerked his thumb toward + the dazzling Miguel. “I can tell yuh the kinda cow-puncher he is; I've saw + 'em workin' at it. Haw-haw-haw! They'll start out to move ten or a dozen + head uh tame old cows from one field to another, and there'll be six or + eight fellers, rigged up like this here tray-spot, ridin' along, important + as hell, drivin' them few cows down a lane, with peach trees on both + sides, by cripes, jingling their big, silver spurs, all wearin' fancy + chaps to ride four or five miles down the road. Honest to grandma, they + call that punchin' cows! Oh, he's a Native Son, all right. I've saw lots + of 'em, only I never saw one so far away from the Promised Land before. + That there looks queer to me. Natiff Sons—the real ones, like him—are + as scarce outside Calyforny as buffalo are right here in this coulee.” + </p> + <p> + “That's the way they do it, all right,” Irish agreed. “And then they'll + have a 'rodeo'—” + </p> + <p> + “Haw-haw-haw!” Big Medicine interrupted, and took up the tale, which might + have been entitled “Some Cowpunching I Have Seen.” + </p> + <p> + “They have them rodeos on a Sunday, mostly, and they invite everybody to + it, like it was a picnic. And there'll be two or three fellers to every + calf, all lit up, like Mig-u-ell, over there, in chaps and silver fixin's, + fussin' around on horseback in a corral, and every feller trying to pile + his rope on the same calf, by cripes! They stretch 'em out with two ropes—calves, + remember! Little, weenty fellers you could pack under one arm! Yuh can't + blame 'em much. They never have more'n thirty or forty head to brand at a + time, and they never git more'n a taste uh real work. So they make the + most uh what they git, and go in heavy on fancy outfits. And this here + silver-mounted fellow thinks he's a real cowpuncher, by cripes!” + </p> + <p> + The Happy Family laughed at the idea; laughed so loud that Miguel left his + lonely splendor and swung over to them, ostensibly to borrow a match. + </p> + <p> + “What's the joke?” he inquired languidly, his chin thrust out and his eyes + upon the match blazing at the end of his cigarette. + </p> + <p> + The Happy Family hesitated and glanced at one another. Then Cal spoke + truthfully. + </p> + <p> + “You're it,” he said bluntly, with a secret desire to test the temper of + this dark-skinned son of the West. + </p> + <p> + Miguel darted one of his swift glances at Cal, blew out his match and + threw it away. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, how funny. Ha-ha.” His voice was soft and absolutely expressionless, + his face blank of any emotion whatever. He merely spoke the words as a + machine might have done. + </p> + <p> + If he had been one of them, the Happy Family would have laughed at the + whimsical humor of it. As it was, they repressed the impulse, though Weary + warmed toward him slightly. + </p> + <p> + “Don't you believe anything this innocent-eyed gazabo tells you, Mr. + Rapponi,” he warned amiably. “He's known to be a liar.” + </p> + <p> + “That's funny, too. Ha-ha some more.” Miguel permitted a thin ribbon of + smoke to slide from between his lips, and gazed off to the crinkled line + of hills. + </p> + <p> + “Sure, it is—now you mention it,” Weary agreed after a perceptible + pause. + </p> + <p> + “How fortunate that I brought the humor to your attention,” drawled + Miguel, in the same expressionless tone, much as if he were reciting a + text. + </p> + <p> + “Virtue is its own penalty,” paraphrased Pink, not stopping to see whether + the statement applied to the subject. + </p> + <p> + “Haw-haw-haw!” roared Big Medicine, quite as irrelevantly. + </p> + <p> + “He-he-he,” supplemented the silver-trimmed one. + </p> + <p> + Big Medicine stopped laughing suddenly, reined his horse close to the + other, and stared at him challengingly, with his pale, protruding eyes, + while the Happy Family glanced meaningly at one another. Big Medicine was + quite as unsafe as he looked, at that moment, and they wondered if the + offender realized his precarious situation. + </p> + <p> + Miguel smoked with the infinite leisure which is a fine art when it is not + born of genuine abstraction, and none could decide whether he was aware of + the unfriendly proximity of Big Medicine. Weary was just on the point of + saying something to relieve the tension, when Miguel blew the ash gently + from his cigarette and spoke lazily. + </p> + <p> + “Parrots are so common, out on the Coast, that they use them in cheap + restaurants for stew. I've often heard them gabbling together in the + kettle.” + </p> + <p> + The statement was so ambiguous that the Happy Family glanced at him + doubtfully. Big Medicine's stare became more curious than hostile, and he + permitted his horse to lag a length. It is difficult to fight absolute + passivity. Then Slim, who ever tramped solidly over the flowers of + sarcasm, blurted one of his unexpected retorts. + </p> + <p> + “I was just wonderin', by golly, where yuh learnt to talk!” + </p> + <p> + Miguel turned his velvet eyes sleepily toward the speaker. “From the + boarders who ate those parrots, amigo,” he smiled serenely. + </p> + <p> + At this, Slim—once justly accused by Irish of being a “single-shot” + when it came to repartee—turned purple and dumb. The Happy Family, + forswearing loyalty in their enjoyment of his discomfiture, grinned and + left to Miguel the barren triumph of the last word. + </p> + <p> + He did not gain in popularity as the days passed. They tilted noses at his + beautiful riding gear, and would have died rather than speak of it in his + presence. They never gossiped with him of horses or men or the lands he + knew. They were ready to snub him at a moment's notice—and it did + not lessen their dislike of him that he failed to yield them an + opportunity. It is to be hoped that he found his thoughts sufficient + entertainment, since he was left to them as much as is humanly possible + when half a dozen men eat and sleep and work together. It annoyed them + exceedingly that Miguel did not seem to know that they held him at a + distance; they objected to his manner of smoking cigarettes and staring + off at the skyline as if he were alone and content with his dreams. When + he did talk they listened with an air of weary tolerance. When he did not + talk they ignored his presence, and when he was absent they criticized him + mercilessly. + </p> + <p> + They let him ride unwarned into an adobe patch one day—at least, Big + Medicine, Pink, Cal Emmett and Irish did, for they were with him—and + laughed surreptitiously together while he wallowed there and came out + afoot, his horse floundering behind him, mud to the ears, both of them. + </p> + <p> + “Pretty soft going, along there, ain't it?” Pink commiserated deceitfully. + </p> + <p> + “It is, kinda,” Miguel responded evenly, scraping the adobe off Banjo with + a flat rock. And the subject was closed. + </p> + <p> + “Well, it's some relief to the eyes to have the shine taken off him, + anyway,” Pink observed a little guiltily afterward. + </p> + <p> + “I betche he ain't goin' to forget that, though,” Happy Jack warned when + he saw the caked mud on Miguel's Angora chaps and silver spurs, and the + condition of his saddle. “Yuh better watch out and not turn your backs on + him in the dark, none uh you guys. I betche he packs a knife. Them kind + always does.” + </p> + <p> + “Haw-haw-haw!” bellowed Big Medicine uproariously. “I'd love to see him + git out an' try to use it, by cripes!” + </p> + <p> + “I wish Andy was here,” Pink sighed. “Andy'd take the starch outa him, all + right.” + </p> + <p> + “Wouldn't he be pickings for old Andy, though? Gee!” Cal looked around at + them, with his wide, baby-blue eyes, and laughed. “Let's kinda jolly him + along, boys, till Andy gets back. It sure would be great to watch 'em. + I'll bet he can jar the eternal calm outa that Native Son. That's what + grinds me worse than his throwin' on so much dog; he's so blamed satisfied + with himself! You snub him, and he looks at yuh as if you was his hired + man—and then forgets all about yuh. He come outa that 'doby like + he'd been swimmin' a river on a bet, and had made good and was a hee-ro + right before the ladies. Kinda 'Oh, that's nothing to what I could do if + it was worth while,' way he had with him.” + </p> + <p> + “It wouldn't matter so much if he wasn't all front,” Pink complained. + “You'll notice that's always the way, though. The fellow all fussed up + with silver and braided leather can't get out and do anything. I remember + up on Milk river—” Pink trailed off into absorbing reminiscence, + which, however, is too lengthy to repeat here. + </p> + <p> + “Say, Mig-u-ell's down at the stable, sweatin from every pore trying to + get his saddle clean, by golly!” Slim reported cheerfully, just as Pink + was relighting the cigarette which had gone out during the big scene of + his story. “He was cussin' in Spanish, when I walked up to him—but + he shut up when he seen me and got that peaceful look uh hisn on his face. + I wonder, by golly—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, shut up and go awn,” Irish commanded bluntly, and looked at Pink. + “Did he call it off, then? Or did you have to wade in—” + </p> + <p> + “Naw; he was like this here Native Son—all front. He could look + sudden death, all right; he had black eyes like Mig-u-ell—but all a + fellow had to do was go after him, and he'd back up so blamed quick—” + </p> + <p> + Slim listened that far, saw that he had interrupted a tale evidently more + interesting than anything he could say, and went off, muttering to + himself. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II. “When Greek Meets Greek” + </h2> + <p> + The next morning, which was Sunday, the machinations of Big Medicine took + Pink down to the creek behind the bunk-house. “What's hurtin' yuh?” he + asked curiously, when he came to where Big Medicine stood in the fringe of + willows, choking between his spasms of mirth. + </p> + <p> + “Haw-haw-haw!” roared Big Medicine; and, seizing Pink's arm in a + gorilla-like grip, he pointed down the bank. + </p> + <p> + Miguel, seated upon a convenient rock in a sunny spot, was painstakingly + combing out the tangled hair of his chaps, which he had washed quite as + carefully not long before, as the cake of soap beside him testified. + </p> + <p> + “Combing—combing—his chaps, by cripes!” Big Medicine gasped, + and waggled his finger at the spectacle. “Haw-haw-haw! C-combin'—his—chaps!” + </p> + <p> + Miguel glanced up at them as impersonally as if they were two cackling + hens, rather than derisive humans, then bent his head over a stubborn knot + and whistled La Paloma softly while he coaxed out the tangle. + </p> + <p> + Pink's eyes widened as he looked, but he did not say anything. He backed + up the path and went thoughtfully to the corrals, leaving Big Medicine to + follow or not, as he chose. + </p> + <p> + “Combin'—his chaps, by cripes!” came rumbling behind him. Pink + turned. + </p> + <p> + “Say! Don't make so much noise about it,” he advised guardedly. “I've got + an idea.” + </p> + <p> + “Yuh want to hog-tie it, then,” Big Medicine retorted, resentful because + Pink seemed not to grasp the full humor of the thing. “Idees sure seems to + be skurce in this outfit—or that there lily-uh-the-valley couldn't + set and comb no chaps in broad daylight, by cripes; not and get off with + it.” + </p> + <p> + “He's an ornament to the Flying U,” Pink stated dreamily. “Us boneheads + don't appreciate him, is all that ails us. What we ought to do is—help + him be as pretty as he wants to be, and—” + </p> + <p> + “Looky here, Little One.” Big Medicine hurried his steps until he was + close alongside. “I wouldn't give a punched nickel for a four-horse load + uh them idees, and that's the truth.” He passed Pink and went on ahead, + disgust in every line of his square-shouldered figure. “Combin' his chaps, + by cripes!” he snorted again, and straightway told the tale profanely to + his fellows, who laughed until they were weak and watery-eyed as they + listened. + </p> + <p> + Afterward, because Pink implored them and made a mystery of it, they + invited Miguel to take a hand in a long-winded game—rather, a series + of games—of seven-up, while his chaps hung to dry upon a willow by + the creek bank—or so he believed. + </p> + <p> + The chaps, however, were up in the white-house kitchen, where were also + the reek of scorched hair and the laughing expostulations of the Little + Doctor and the boyish titter of Pink and Irish, who were curling + laboriously the chaps of Miguel with the curling tongs of the Little + Doctor and those of the Countess besides. + </p> + <p> + “It's a shame, and I just hope Miguel thrashes you both for it,” the + Little Doctor told them more than once; but she laughed, nevertheless, and + showed Pink how to give the twist which made of each lock a corkscrew + ringlet. The Countess stopped, with her dishcloth dangling from one red, + bony hand, while she looked. “You boys couldn't sleep nights if you didn't + pester the life outa somebody,” she scolded. “Seems to me I'd friz them + diamonds, if I was goin' to be mean enough to do anything.” + </p> + <p> + “You would, eh?” Pink glanced up at her and dimpled. “I'll find you a rich + husband to pay for that.” He straightway proceeded to friz the diamonds of + white. + </p> + <p> + “Why don't you have a strip of ringlets down each leg, with tight little + curls between?” suggested the Little Doctor, not to be outdone by any + other woman. + </p> + <p> + “Correct you are,” praised Irish. + </p> + <p> + “And, remember, you're not heating branding-irons, mister man,” she added. + “You'll burn all the hair off, if you let the tongs get red-hot. Just so + they'll sizzle; I've told you five times already.” She picked up the Kid, + kissed many times the finger he held up for sympathy—the finger with + which he had touched the tongs as Pink was putting them back into the + grate of the kitchen stove, and spoke again to ease her conscience. “I + think it's awfully mean of you to do it. Miguel ought to thrash you both.” + </p> + <p> + “We're dead willing to let him try, Mrs. Chip. We know it's mean. We're + real ashamed of ourselves.” Irish tested his tongs as he had been told to + do. “But we'd rather be ashamed than good, any old time.” + </p> + <p> + The Little Doctor giggled behind the Kid's tousled curls, and reached out + a slim hand once more to give Pink's tongs the expert twist he was trying + awkwardly to learn. “I'm sorry for Miguel; he's got lovely eyes, anyway.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, ain't he?” Pink looked up briefly from his task. “How's your leg, + Irish? Mine's done.” + </p> + <p> + “Seems to me I'd make a deep border of them corkscrew curls all around the + bottoms, if I was doin' it,” said the Countess peevishly, from the kitchen + sink. “If I was that dago I'd murder the hull outfit; I never did see a + body so hectored in my life—and him not ever ketchin' on. He must be + plumb simple-minded.” + </p> + <p> + When the curling was done to the hilarious satisfaction of Irish and Pink, + and, while Pink was dancing in them to show them off, another entered with + mail from town. And, because the mail-bearer was Andy Green himself, back + from a winter's journeyings, Cal, Happy Jack and Slim followed close + behind, talking all at once, in their joy at beholding the man they loved + well and hated occasionally also. Andy delivered the mail into the hands + of the Little Doctor, pinched the Kid's cheek, and said how he had grown + good-looking as his mother, almost, spoke a cheerful howdy to the + Countess, and turned to shake hands with Pink. It was then that the + honest, gray eyes of him widened with amazement. + </p> + <p> + “Well, by golly!” gasped Slim, goggling at the chaps of Miguel. + </p> + <p> + “That there Natiff Son'll just about kill yuh for that,” warned Happy + Jack, as mournfully as he might with laughing. “He'll knife yuh, sure.” + </p> + <p> + Andy, demanding the meaning of it all, learned all about Miguel Rapponi—from + the viewpoint of the Happy Family. At least, he learned as much as it was + politic to tell in the presence of the Little Doctor; and afterward, while + Pink was putting the chaps back upon the willow, where Miguel had left + them, he was told that they looked to him, Andy Green, for assistance. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, gosh! You don't want to depend on me, Pink,” Andy expostulated + modestly. “I can't think of anything—and, besides, I've reformed. I + don't know as it's any compliment to me, by gracious—being told soon + as I land that I'm expected to lie to a perfect stranger.” + </p> + <p> + “You come on down to the stable and take a look at his saddle and bridle,” + urged Cal. “And wait till you see him smoking and looking past you, as if + you was an ornery little peak that didn't do nothing but obstruct the + scenery. I've seen mean cusses—lots of 'em; and I've seen men that + was stuck on themselves. But I never—” + </p> + <p> + “Come outa that 'doby,” Pink interrupted, “mud to his eyebrows, just + about. And he knew darned well we headed him in there deliberate. And when + I remarks it's soft going, he says: 'It is, kinda,'—just like that.” + Pink managed to imitate the languid tone of Miguel very well. “Not another + word outa him. Didn't even make him mad! He—” + </p> + <p> + “Tell him about the parrots, Slim,” Cal suggested soberly. But Slim only + turned purple at the memory, and swore. + </p> + <p> + “Old Patsy sure has got it in for him,” Happy Jack observed. “He asked + Patsy if he ever had enchiladas. Patsy won't speak to him no more. He + claims Mig-u-ell insulted him. He told Mig-u-ell—” + </p> + <p> + “Enchiladas are sure fine eating,” said Andy. “I took to 'em like a + she-bear to honey, down in New Mexico this winter. Your Native Son is + solid there, all right.” + </p> + <p> + “Aw, gwan! He ain't solid nowhere but in the head. Maybe you'll love him + to death when yuh see him—chances is you will, if you've took to + eatin' dago grub.” + </p> + <p> + Andy patted Happy Jack reassuringly on the shoulder. “Don't get excited,” + he soothed. “I'll put it all over the gentleman, just to show my heart's + in the right place. Just this once, though; I've reformed. And I've got to + have time to size him up. Where do you keep him when he ain't in the show + window?” He swung into step with Pink. “I'll tell you the truth,” he + confided engagingly. “Any man that'll wear chaps like he's got—even + leaving out the extra finish you fellows have given 'em—had ought to + be taught a lesson he'll remember. He sure must be a tough proposition, if + the whole bunch of yuh have had to give him up. By gracious—” + </p> + <p> + “We haven't tried,” Pink defended. “It kinda looked to us as if he was + aiming to make us guy him; so we didn't. We've left him strictly alone. + To-day”—he glanced over his shoulder to where the becurled chaps + swung comically from the willow branch—“to-day's the first time + anybody's made a move. Unless,” he added, as an afterthought, “you count + yesterday in the 'doby patch—and even then we didn't tell him to + ride into it; we just let him do it.” + </p> + <p> + “And kinda herded him over towards it,” Cal amended slyly. + </p> + <p> + “Can he ride?” asked Andy, going straight to the main point, in the mind + of a cowpuncher. + </p> + <p> + “W-e-ell-he hasn't been piled, so far. But then,” Pink qualified hastily, + “he hasn't topped anything worse than Crow-hop. He ain't hard to ride. + Happy Jack could—” + </p> + <p> + “Aw, I'm gittin' good and sick of' hearin' that there tune,” Happy growled + indignantly. “Why don't you point out Slim as the limit, once in a while?” + </p> + <p> + “Come on down to the stable, and let's talk it over,” Andy suggested, and + led the way. “What's his style, anyway? Mouthy, or what?” + </p> + <p> + With four willing tongues to enlighten him, it would be strange, indeed, + if one so acute as Andy Green failed at last to have a very fair mental + picture of Miguel. He gazed thoughtfully at his boots, laughed suddenly, + and slapped Irish quite painfully upon the back. + </p> + <p> + “Come on up and introduce me, boys,” he said. “We'll make this Native Son + so hungry for home—you watch me put it on the gentleman. Only it + does seem a shame to do it.” + </p> + <p> + “No, it ain't. If you'd been around him for two weeks, you'd want to kill + him just to make him take notice,” Irish assured him. + </p> + <p> + “What gets me,” Andy mused, “is why you fellows come crying to me for + help. I should think the bunch of you ought to be able to handle one lone + Native Son.” + </p> + <p> + “Aw, you're the biggest liar and faker in the bunch, is why,” Happy Jack + blurted. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I see.” Andy hummed a little tune and pushed his hands deep into his + pockets, and at the corners of his lips there flickered a smile. + </p> + <p> + The Native Son sat with his hat tilted slightly back upon his head and a + cigarette between his lips, and was reaching lazily for the trick which + made the fourth game his, when the group invaded the bunk-house. He looked + up indifferently, swept Andy's face and figure with a glance too + impersonal to hold even a shade of curiosity, and began rapidly shuffling + his cards to count the points he had made. + </p> + <p> + Andy stopped short, just inside the door, and stared hard at Miguel, who + gave no sign. He turned his honest, gray eyes upon Pink and Irish + accusingly—whereat they wondered greatly. + </p> + <p> + “Your deal—if you want to play,” drawled Miguel, and shoved his + cards toward Big Medicine. But the boys were already uptilting chairs to + grasp the quicker the outstretched hand of the prodigal, so that Miguel + gathered up the cards, evened their edges mechanically, and deigned + another glance at this stranger who was being welcomed so vociferously. + Also he sighed a bit—for even a languid-eyed stoic of a Native Son + may feel the twinge of loneliness. Andy shook hands all round, swore + amiably at Weary, and advanced finally upon Miguel. + </p> + <p> + “You don't know me from Adam's off ox,” he began genially, “but I know + you, all right, all right. I hollered my head off with the rest of 'em + when you played merry hell in that bull-ring, last Christmas. Also, I was + part of your bodyguard when them greasers were trying to tickle you in the + ribs with their knives in that dark alley. Shake, old-timer! You done + yourself proud, and I'm glad to know yuh!” + </p> + <p> + Miguel, for the first time in two weeks, permitted himself the luxury of + an expressive countenance. He gave Andy Green one quick, grateful look—and + a smile, the like of which made the Happy Family quiver inwardly with + instinctive sympathy. + </p> + <p> + “So you were there, too, eh?” Miguel exclaimed softly, and rose to greet + him. “And that scrap in the alley—we sure had a hell of a time there + for a few minutes, didn't we? Are you that tall fellow who kicked that + squint-eyed greaser in the stomach? Muchos gracios, senor! They were + piling on me three deep, right then, and I always believed they'd have got + me, only for a tall vaquero I couldn't locate afterward.” He smiled again + that wonderful smile, which lighted the darkness of his eyes as with a + flame, and murmured a sentence or two in Spanish. + </p> + <p> + “Did you get the spurs me and my friends sent you afterward?” asked Andy + eagerly. “We heard about the Arizona boys giving you the saddle—and + we raked high and low for them spurs. And, by gracious, they were beauts, + too—did yuh get 'em?” + </p> + <p> + “I wear them every day I ride,” answered Miguel, a peculiar, caressing + note in his voice. + </p> + <p> + “I didn't know—we heard you had disappeared off the earth. Why—” + </p> + <p> + Miguel laughed outright. “To fight a bull with bare hands is one thing, + amigo,” he said. “To take a chance on getting a knife stuck in your back + is another. Those Mexicans—they don't love the man who crosses the + river and makes of their bull-fights a plaything.” + </p> + <p> + “That's right; only I thought, you being a—” + </p> + <p> + “Not a Mexican.” Miguel's voice sharpened a trifle. “My father was + Spanish, yes. My mother”—his eyes flashed briefly at the faces of + the gaping Happy Family—“my mother was born in Ireland.” + </p> + <p> + “And that sure makes a hard combination to beat,” cried Andy heartily. He + looked at the others—at all, that is, save Pink and Irish, who had + disappeared. “Well, boys, I never thought I'd come home and find—” + </p> + <p> + “Miguel Rapponi,” supplied the Native Son quickly. “As well forget that + other name. And,” he added with the shrug which the Happy Family had come + to hate, “as well forget the story, also. I am not hungry for the feel of + a knife in my back.” He smiled again engagingly at Andy Green. It was + astonishing how readily that smile had sprung to life with the warmth of a + little friendship, and how pleasant it was, withal. + </p> + <p> + “Just as you say,” Andy agreed, not trying to hide his admiration. “I + guess nobody's got a better right to holler for silence. But—say, + you sure delivered the goods, old boy! You musta read about it, you + fellows; about the American puncher that went over the line and rode one + of their crack bulls all round the ring, and then—” He stopped and + looked apologetically at Miguel, in whose dark eyes there flashed a + warning light. “I clean forgot,” he confessed impulsively. “This meeting + you here unexpectedly, like this, has kinda got me rattled, I guess. But—I + never saw yuh before in my life,” he declared emphatically. “I don't know + a darn thing about—anything that ever happened in an alley in the + city of—oh, come on, old-timer; let's talk about the weather, or + something safe!” + </p> + <p> + After that the boys of the Flying U behaved very much as do children who + have quarreled foolishly and are trying shamefacedly to re-establish + friendly relations without the preliminary indignity of open repentance. + They avoided meeting the velvet-eyed glances of Miguel, and at the same + time they were plainly anxious to include him in their talk as if that had + been their habit from the first. A difficult situation to meet, even with + the fine aplomb of the Happy Family to ease the awkwardness. + </p> + <p> + Later Miguel went unobtrusively down to the creek after his chaps; he did + not get them, just then, but he stood for a long time hidden behind the + willow-fringe, watching Pink and Irish feverishly combing out certain + corkscrew ringlets, and dampening their combs in the creek to facilitate + the process of straightening certain patches of rebellious frizzes. Miguel + did not laugh aloud, as Big Medicine had done. He stood until he wearied + of the sight, then lifted his shoulders in the gesture which may mean + anything, smiled and went his way. + </p> + <p> + Not until dusk did Andy get a private word with him. When he did find him + alone, he pumped Miguel's hand up and down and afterward clutched at the + manger for support, and came near strangling. Miguel leaned beside him and + smiled to himself. + </p> + <p> + “Good team work, old boy,” Andy gasped at length, in a whisper. “Best I + ever saw in m'life, impromptu on the spot, like that. I saw you had the + makings in you, soon as I caught your eye. And the whole, blame bunch fell + for it—woo-oof!” He laid his face down again upon his folded arms + and shook in all the long length of him. + </p> + <p> + “They had it coming,” said Miguel softly, with a peculiar relish. “Two + whole weeks, and never a friendly word from one of them—oh, hell!” + </p> + <p> + “I know—I heard it all, soon as I hit the ranch,” Andy replied + weakly, standing up and wiping his eyes. “I just thought I'd learn 'em a + lesson—and the way you played up—say, my hat's off to you, all + right!” + </p> + <p> + “One learns to seize opportunities without stuttering,” Miguel observed + calmly—and a queer look came into his eyes as they rested upon the + face of Andy. “And, if the chance comes, I'll do as much for you. By the + way, did you see the saddle those Arizona boys sent me? It's over here. + It's a pip-pin—almost as fine as the spurs, which I keep in the + bunk-house when they're not on my heels. And, if I didn't say so before, + I'm sure glad to meet the man that helped me through that alley. That big, + fat devil would have landed me, sure, if you hadn't—” + </p> + <p> + “Ah—what?” Andy leaned and peered into the face of Miguel, his jaw + hanging slack. “You don't mean to tell me—it's true?” + </p> + <p> + “True? Why, I thought you were the fellow—” Miguel faced him + steadily. His eyes were frankly puzzled. + </p> + <p> + “I'll tell you the truth, so help me,” Andy said heavily. “I don't know a + darned thing about it, only what I read in the papers. I spent the whole + winter in Colorado and Wyoming. I was just joshing the boys.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” said Miguel. + </p> + <p> + They stood there in the dusk and silence for a space, after which Andy + went forth into the night to meditate upon this thing. Miguel stood and + looked after him. + </p> + <p> + “He's the real goods when it comes to lying—but there are others,” + he said aloud, and smiled a peculiar smile. But for all that he felt that + he was going to like Andy very much indeed. And, since the Happy Family + had shown a disposition to make him one of themselves, he knew that he was + going to become quite as foolishly attached to the Flying U as was even + Slim, confessedly the most rabid of partisans. + </p> + <p> + In this wise did Miguel Rapponi, then, become a member of Jim Whitmore's + Happy Family, and play his part in the events which followed his adoption. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III. Bad News + </h2> + <p> + Andy Green, that honest-eyed young man whom everyone loved, but whom not a + man believed save when he was indulging his love for more or less + fantastic flights of the imagination, pulled up on the brow of Flying U + coulee and stared somberly at the picture spread below him. On the porch + of the White House the hammock swung gently under the weight of the Little + Doctor, who pushed her shipper-toe mechanically against a post support at + regular intervals while she read. + </p> + <p> + On the steps the Kid was crawling laboriously upward, only to descend + again quite as laboriously when he attained the top. One of the boys was + just emerging from the blacksmith shop; from the build of him Andy knew it + must be either Weary or Irish, though it would take a much closer + observation, and some familiarity with the two to identify the man more + exactly. In the corral were a swirl of horses and an overhanging cloud of + dust, with two or three figures discernible in the midst, and away in the + little pasture two other figures were galloping after a fleeing dozen of + horses. While he looked, old Patsy came out of the messhouse, and went, + with flapping flour-sack apron, to the woodpile. + </p> + <p> + Peaceful it was, and home-like and contentedly prosperous; a little world + tucked away in its hills, with its own little triumphs and defeats, its + own heartaches and rejoicings; a lucky little world, because its triumphs + had been satisfying, its defeats small, its heartaches brief, and its + rejoicings untainted with harassment or guilt. Yet Andy stared down upon + it with a frown; and, when he twitched the reins and began the descent, he + sighed impatiently. + </p> + <p> + Past the stable he rode with scarcely a glance toward Weary, who shouted a + casual “Hello” at him from the corral; through the big gate and up the + trail to the White House, and straight to the porch, where the Little + Doctor flipped a leaf of her magazine and glanced at him with a smile, and + the Kid turned his plump body upon the middle step and wrinkled his nose + in a smile of recognition, while he threw out an arm in welcome, and made + a wobbling effort to get upon his feet. + </p> + <p> + Andy smiled at the Kid, but his smile did not reach his eyes, and faded + almost immediately. He glanced at the Little Doctor, sent his horse past + the steps and the Kid, and close to the railing, so that he could lean and + toss the mail into the Little Doctor's lap. There was a yellow envelope + among the letters, and her fingers singled it out curiously. Andy folded + his hands upon the saddle-horn and watched her frankly. + </p> + <p> + “Must be from J. G.,” guessed the Little Doctor, inserting a slim finger + under the badly sealed flap. “I've been wondering if he wasn't going to + send some word—he's been gone a week—Baby! He's right between + your horse's legs, Andy! Oh-h—baby boy, what won't you do next?” She + scattered letters and papers from her lap and flew to the rescue. “Will he + kick, Andy? You little ruffian.” She held out her arms coaxingly from the + top of the steps, and her face, Andy saw when he looked at her, had lost + some of its color. + </p> + <p> + “The horse is quiet enough,” he reassured her. “But at the same time I + wouldn't hand him out as a plaything for a kid.” He leaned cautiously and + peered backward. + </p> + <p> + “Oh—did you ever see such a child! Come to mother, Baby!” Her voice + was becoming strained. + </p> + <p> + The Kid, wrinkling his nose, and jabbering unintelligibly at her, so that + four tiny teeth showed in his pink mouth, moved farther backward, and sat + down violently under the horse's sweat-roughened belly. He wriggled round + so that he faced forward, reached out gleefully, caught the front + fetlocks, and cried “Dup!” while he pulled. The Little Doctor turned + white. + </p> + <p> + “He's all right,” soothed Andy, and, leaning with a twist of his slim + body, caught the Kid firmly by the back of his pink dress, and lifted him + clear of danger. He came up with a red face, tossed the Kid into the eager + arms of the Little Doctor, and soothed his horse with soft words and a + series of little slaps upon the neck. He was breathing unevenly, because + the Kid had really been in rather a ticklish position; but the Little + Doctor had her face hidden on the baby's neck and did not see. + </p> + <p> + “Where's Chip?” Andy turned to ride back to the stable, glancing toward + the telegram lying on the floor of the porch; and from it his eyes went to + the young woman trying to laugh away her trembling while she scolded + adoringly her adventurous man-child. He was about to speak again, but + thought better of it, and sighed. + </p> + <p> + “Down at the stables somewhere—I don't know, really; the boys can + tell you. Mother's baby mustn't touch the naughty horses. Naughty horses + hurt mother's baby! Make him cry!” + </p> + <p> + Andy gave her a long look, which had in it much pity, and rode away. He + knew what was in that telegram, for the agent had told him when he hunted + him up at Rusty Brown's and gave it to him; and the horse of Andy bore + mute testimony to the speed with which he had brought it to the ranch. Not + until he had reached the coulee had he slackened his pace. He decided, + after that glance, that he would not remind her that she had not read the + telegram; instead, he thought he ought to find Chip immediately and send + him to her. + </p> + <p> + Chip was rummaging after something in the store-house, and, when Andy saw + him there, he dismounted and stood blotting out the light from the + doorway. Chip looked up, said “Hello” carelessly, and flung an old slicker + aside that he might search beneath it. “Back early, aren't you?” he asked, + for sake of saying something. + </p> + <p> + Andy's attitude was not as casual as he would have had it. + </p> + <p> + “Say, maybe you better go on up to the house,” he began diffidently. “I + guess your wife wants to see yuh, maybe.” + </p> + <p> + “Just as a good wife should,” grinned Chip. “What's the matter? Kid fall + off the porch?” + </p> + <p> + “N-o-o—I brought out a wire from Chicago. It's from a doctor there—some + hospital. The—Old Man got hurt. One of them cussed automobiles + knocked him down. They want you to come.” + </p> + <p> + Chip had straightened up and was hooking at Andy blankly. “If you're just—” + </p> + <p> + “Honest,” Andy asserted, and flushed a little. “I'll go tell some one to + catch up the team—you'll want to make that 11:20, I take it.” He + added, as Chip went by him hastily, “I had the agent wire for sleeper + berths on the 11:20 so—” + </p> + <p> + “Thanks. Yes, you have the team caught up, Andy.” Chip was already well on + his way to the house. + </p> + <p> + Andy waited till he saw the Little Doctor come hurriedly to the end of the + porch overlooking the pathway, with the telegram fluttering in her + fingers, and then led his horse down through the gate and to the stable. + He yanked the saddle off, turned the tired animal into a stall, and went + on to the corral, where he leaned elbows on a warped rail and peered + through at the turmoil within. Close beside him stood Weary, with his loop + dragging behind him, waiting for a chance to throw it over the head of a + buckskin three-year-old with black mane and tail. + </p> + <p> + “Get in here and make a hand, why don't you?” Weary bantered, his eye on + the buckskin. “Good chance to make a 'rep' for yourself, Andy. Gawd + greased that buckskin—he sure can slide out from under a rope as + easy—” + </p> + <p> + He broke off to flip the hoop dexterously forward, had the reward of + seeing the buckskin dodge backward, so that the rope barely flicked him on + the nose, and drew in his rope disgustedly. “Come on, Andy—my hands + are up in the air; I can't land him—that's the fourth throw.” + </p> + <p> + Andy's interest in the buckskin, however, was scant. His face was sober, + his whole attitude one of extreme dejection. + </p> + <p> + “You got the tummy-ache?” Pink inquired facetiously, moving around so that + he got a fair look at his face. + </p> + <p> + “Naw—his girl's went back on him!” Happy Jack put in, coiling his + rope as he came up. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, shut up!” Andy's voice was sharp with trouble. “Boys, the Old Man's—well, + he's most likely dead by this time. I brought out a telegram—” + </p> + <p> + “Go on!” Pink's eyes widened incredulously. “Don't you try that kind of a + load, Andy Green, or I'll just about—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you fellows make me sick!” Andy took his elbows off the rail and + stood straight. “Dammit, the telegram's up at the house—go and read + it yourselves, then!” + </p> + <p> + The three stared after him doubtfully, fear struggling with the caution + born of much experience. + </p> + <p> + “He don't act, to me, like he was putting up a josh,” Weary stated + uneasily, after a minute of silence. “Run up to the house and find out, + Cadwalloper. The Old Man—oh, good Lord!” The tan on Weary's face + took a lighter tinge. “Scoot—it won't take but a minute to find out + for sure. Go on, Pink.” + </p> + <p> + “So help me Josephine, I'll kill that same Andy Green if he's lied about + it,” Pink declared, while he climbed the fence. + </p> + <p> + In three minutes he was back, and before he had said a word, his face + confirmed the bad news. Their eyes besought him for details, and he gave + them jerkily. “Automobile run over him. He ain't dead, but they think—Chip + and the Little Doctor are going to catch the night train. You go haze in + the team, Happy. And give 'em a feed of oats, Chip said.” + </p> + <p> + Irish and Big Medicine, seeing the three standing soberly together there, + and sensing something unusual, came up and heard the news in stunned + silence. Andy, forgetting his pique at their first disbelief, came + forlornly back and stood with them. + </p> + <p> + The Old Man—the thing could not be true! To every man of them his + presence, conjured by the impending tragedy, was almost a palpable thing. + His stocky figure seemed almost to stand in their midst; he looked at them + with his whimsical eyes, which had the radiating crows-feet of age, humor + and habitual squinting against sun and wind; the bald spot on his head, + the wrinkling shirt-collar that seldom knew a tie, the carpet slippers + which were his favorite footgear because they were kind to his bunions, + his husky voice, good-naturedly complaining, were poignantly real to them + at that moment. Then Irish mentally pictured him lying maimed, dying, + perhaps, in a far-off hospital among strangers, and swore. + </p> + <p> + “If he's got to die, it oughta be here, where folks know him and—where + he knows—” Irish was not accustomed to giving voice to his deeper + feelings, and he blundered awkwardly over it. + </p> + <p> + “I never did go much on them darned hospitals, anyway,” Weary observed + gloomily. “He oughta be home, where folks can look after him. Mam-ma! It + sure is a fright.” + </p> + <p> + “I betche Chip and the Little Doctor won't get there in time,” Happy Jack + predicted, with his usual pessimism. “The Old Man's gittin' old—” + </p> + <p> + “He ain't but fifty-two; yuh call that old, consarn yuh? He's younger + right now than you'll be when you're forty.” + </p> + <p> + “Countess is going along, too, so she can ride herd on the Kid,” Pink + informed then. “I heard the Little Doctor tell her to pack up, and 'never + mind if she did have sponge all set!' Countess seemed to think her bread + was a darned sight more important than the Old Man. That's the way with + women. They'll pass up—” + </p> + <p> + “Well, by golly, I like to see a woman take some interest in her own + affairs,” Slim defended. “What they packin' up for, and where they goin'?” + Slim had just ridden up to the group in time to overhear Pink's criticism. + </p> + <p> + They told him the news, and Slim swallowed twice, said “By golly!” quite + huskily, and then rode slowly away with his head bowed. He had worked for + the Flying U when it was strictly a bachelor outfit, and with the tenacity + of slow minds he held J. G. Whitmore, his beloved “Old Man,” as but a + degree lower than that mysterious power which made the sun to shine—and, + if the truth were known, he had accepted him as being quite as eternal. + His loyalty adjusted everything to the interests of the Flying U. That the + Old Man could die—the possibility stunned him. + </p> + <p> + They were a sorry company that gathered that night around the long table + with its mottled oil-cloth covering and benches polished to a glass-like + smoothness with their own vigorous bodies. They did not talk much about + the Old Man; indeed, they came no nearer the subject than to ask Weary if + he were going to drive the team in to Dry Lake. They did not talk much + about anything, for that matter; even the knives and forks seemed to share + the general depression of spirits, and failed to give forth the cheerful + clatter which was a daily accompaniment of meals in that room. + </p> + <p> + Old Patsy, he who had cooked for J. G. Whitmore when the Flying U coulee + was a wilderness and the brand yet unrecorded and the irons unmade—Patsy + lumbered heavily about the room and could not find his dish-cloth when it + was squeezed tight in one great, fat hand, and unthinkingly started to + fill their coffee cups from the tea-kettle. + </p> + <p> + “Py cosh, I vould keel der fool vot made her first von of der + automo-beels, yet!” he exclaimed unexpectedly, after a long silence, and + cast his pipe vindictively toward his bunk in one corner. + </p> + <p> + The Happy Family looked around at him, then understandingly at one + another. + </p> + <p> + “Same here, Patsy,” Jack Bates agreed. “What they want of the damned + things when the country's full uh good horses gits me.” + </p> + <p> + “So some Yahoo with just sense enough to put goggles on to cover up his + fool face can run over folks he ain't good enough to speak to, by cripes!” + Big Medicine glared aggressively up and down the table. + </p> + <p> + Weary got up suddenly and went out, and Slim followed him, though his + supper was half-uneaten. + </p> + <p> + “This goin' to be hard on the Little Doctor—only brother she's got,” + they heard Happy Jack point out unnecessarily; and Weary, the equable, was + guilty of slamming the door so that the whole building shook, by way of + demonstrating his dislike of speech upon the subject. + </p> + <p> + They were a sorry company who waved hands at the Little Doctor and the Kid + and the Countess, just when the afterglow of a red sunset was merging into + the vague, purple shadows of coming dusk. They stood silent, for the most + part, and let them go without the usual facetious advice to “Be good to + yourselves,” and the hackneyed admonition to Chip to keep out of jail if + he could. There must have been something very wistful in their faces, for + the Little Doctor smiled bravely down upon then from the buggy seat, and + lifted up the Kid for a four-toothed smile and an ecstatic “Bye!” + accompanied by a vigorous flopping of hands, which included then all. + </p> + <p> + “We'll telegraph first thing, boys,” the Little Doctor called back, as the + rig chucked into the pebbly creek crossing. “We'll keep you posted, and + I'll write all the particulars as soon as I can. Don't think the worst—unless + you have to. I don't.” She smiled again, and waved her hand hastily + because of the Kid's contortions; and, though the smile had tears close + behind it, though her voice was tremulous in spite of herself, the Happy + Family took heart from her courage and waved their hats gravely, and + smiled back as best they could. + </p> + <p> + “There's a lot uh cake you boys might just as well eat up,” the Countess + called belatedly. “It'll all dry out, if yuh don't—and there ain't + no use wastin' it—and there's two lemon pies in the brown cupboard, + and what under the shinin' sun—” The wheels bumped violently against + a rock, and the Happy Family heard no more. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV. Some Hopes + </h2> + <p> + On the third day after the Happy Family decided that there should be some + word from Chicago; and, since that day was Sunday, they rode in a body to + Dry Lake after it. They had not discussed the impending tragedy very much, + but they were an exceedingly Unhappy Family, nevertheless; and, since + Flying U coulee was but a place of gloom, they were not averse to leaving + it behind them for a few hours, and riding where every stick and stone did + not remind then of the Old Man. + </p> + <p> + In Dry Lake was a message, brief but heartening: + </p> + <p> + “J. G. still alive. Some hopes”. + </p> + <p> + They left the station with lighter spirits after reading that; rode to the + hotel, tied their horses to the long hitching pole there and went in. And + right there the Happy Family unwittingly became cast for the leading parts + in one of those dramas of the West which never is heard of outside the + theater in which grim circumstance stages it for a single playing—unless, + indeed, the curtain rings down on a tragedy that brings the actors before + their district judge for trial. And, as so frequently is the case, the + beginning was casual to the point of triviality. + </p> + <p> + Sary, Ellen, Marg'reet, Sybilly and Jos'phine Denson (spelled in + accordance with parental pronunciation) were swinging idly upon the + hitching pole, with the self-conscious sang froid of country children come + to town. They backed away from the Happy Family's approach, grinned + foolishly in response to their careless greeting, and tittered openly at + the resplendence of the Native Son, who was wearing his black Angora chaps + with the three white diamonds down each leg, the gay horsehair hatband, + crimson neckerchief and Mexican spurs with their immense rowels and ornate + conchos of hand-beaten silver. Sary, Ellen, Marg'reet, Jos'phine and + Sybilly were also resplendent, in their way. Their carroty hair was tied + with ribbons quite aggressively new, their freckles shone with maternal + scrubbing, and there was a hint of home-made “crochet-lace” beneath each + stiffly starched dress. + </p> + <p> + “Hello, kids,” Weary greeted them amiably, with a secret smile over the + memory of a time when they had purloined the Little Doctor's pills and had + made reluctant acquaintance with a stomach pump. “Where's the circus going + to be at?” + </p> + <p> + “There ain't goin' to be no circus,” Sybilly retorted, because she was the + forward one of the family. “We're going away; on the train. The next one + that comes along. We're going to be on it all night, too; and we'll have + to eat on it, too.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, by golly, you'll want something to eat, then!” Slim was feeling + abstractedly in his pocket for a coin, for these were the nieces of the + Countess, and therefore claimed more than a cursory interest from Slim. + “You take this up to the store and see if yuh can't swop it for something + good to eat.” Because Sary was the smallest of the lot he pressed the + dollar into her shrinking, amazed palm. + </p> + <p> + “Paw's got more money'n that,” Sybilly announced proudly. “Paw's got a + million dollars. A man bought our ranch and gave him a lot of money. We're + rich now. Maybe paw'll buy us a phony-graft. He said maybe he would. And + maw's goin' to have a blue silk dress with green onto it. And—” + </p> + <p> + “Better haze along and buy that grub stake,” Slim interrupted the family + gift for profuse speech. He had caught the boys grinning, and fancied that + they were tracing a likeness between the garrulity of Sybilly and the + fluency of her aunt, the Countess. “You don't want that train to go off + and leave yuh, by golly.” + </p> + <p> + “Wonder who bought Denson out?” Cal Emmett asked of no one in particular, + as the children went strutting off to the store to spend the dollar which + little Sary clutched so tightly it seemed as if the goddess of liberty + must surely have been imprinted upon her palm. + </p> + <p> + When they went inside and found Denson himself pompously “setting 'em up + to the house,” Cal repeated the question in a slightly different form to + the man himself. + </p> + <p> + Denson, while he was ready to impress the beholders with his unaccustomed + affluence, became noticeably embarrassed at the inquiry, and edged off + into vague generalities. + </p> + <p> + “I jest nacherlly had to sell when I got m' price,” he told the Happy + Family in a tone that savored strongly of apology. “I like the country, + and I like m' neighbors fine. Never'd ask for better than the Flyin' U has + been t' me. I ain't got no kick comin' there. Sorry to hear the Old Man's + hurt back East. Mary was real put out at not bein' able to see Louise + 'fore she went away”—Louise being the Countess' and Mary Denson's + sister—“but soon as I sold I got oneasy like. The feller wanted + p'session right away, too, so I told Mary we might as well start b'fore we + git outa the notion. I wouldn't uh cared about sellin', maybe, but the + kids needs to be in school. They're growin' up in ign'rance out here, and + Mary's folks wants us to come back 'n' settle close handy by—they + been at us t' sell out and move fer the last five years, now, and I told + Mary—” + </p> + <p> + Even Cal forgot, eventually, that he had asked a question which remained + unanswered; what interest he had felt at first was smothered to death + beneath that blanket of words, and he eagerly followed the boys out and + over to Rusty Brown's place, where Denson, because of an old grudge + against Rusty, might be trusted not to follow. + </p> + <p> + “Mamma!” Weary commented amusedly, when they were crossing the street, + “that Denson bunch can sure talk the fastest and longest, and say the + least, of any outfit I ever saw.” + </p> + <p> + “Wonder who did buy him out?” Jack Bates queried. “Old ginger-whiskers + didn't pass out any facts, yuh notice. He couldn't have got much; his + land's mostly gravel and 'doby patches. He's got a water right on Flying U + creek, you know—first right, at that, seems to me—and a dandy + fine spring in that coulee. Wonder why our outfit didn't buy him out—seeing + he wanted to sell so bad?” + </p> + <p> + “This wantin' to sell is something I never heard of b'fore,” Slim said + slowly. “To hear him tell it, that ranch uh hisn was worth a dollar an + inch, by golly. I don't b'lieve he's been wantin' to sell out. If he had, + Mis' Bixby woulda said something about it. She don't know about this here + sellin' business, or she'd a said—” + </p> + <p> + “Yeah, you can most generally bank on the Countess telling all she knows,” + Cal assented with some sarcasm; at which Slim grunted and turned sulky + afterward. + </p> + <p> + Denson and his affairs they speedily forgot for a time, in the diversion + which Rusty Brown's familiar place afforded to young men with unjaded + nerves and a zest for the primitive pleasures. Not until mid-afternoon did + it occur to them that Flying U coulee was deserted by all save old Patsy, + and that there were chores to be done, if all the creatures of the coulee + would sleep in comfort that night. Pink, therefore, withdrew his challenge + to the bunch, and laid his billiard cue down with a sigh and the remark + that all he lacked was time, to have the scalps of every last one of them + hanging from his belt. Pink was figurative in his speech, you will + understand; and also a bit vainglorious over beating Andy Green and Big + Medicine twice in succession. + </p> + <p> + It occurred to Weary then that a word of cheer to the Old Man and his + anxious watchers might not cone amiss. Therefore the Happy Family mounted + and rode to the depot to send it, and on the way wrangled over the wording + of the message after their usual contentious manner. + </p> + <p> + “Better tell 'em everything is fine, at this end uh the line,” Cal + suggested, and was hooted at for a poet. + </p> + <p> + “Just say,” Weary began, when he was interrupted by the discordant clamor + from a trainload of sheep that had just pulled in and stopped. “'Maa-aa, + Ma-a-aaa,' darn yuh,” he shouted derisively, at the peering, plaintive + faces, glimpsed between the close-set bars. “Mamma, how I do love sheep!” + Whereupon he put spurs to his horse and galloped down to the station to + rid his ears of the turbulent wave of protest from the cars. + </p> + <p> + Naturally it required some time to compose the telegram in a style + satisfactory to all parties. Outside, cars banged together, an engine + snorted stertorously, and suffocating puffs of coal smoke now and then + invaded the waiting-room while the Happy Family were sending that message + of cheer to Chicago. If you are curious, the final version of their + combined sentiments was not at all spectacular. It said merely: + </p> + <p> + “Everything fine here. Take good care of the Old Man. How's the Kid + stacking up?” + </p> + <p> + It was signed simply “The Bunch.” + </p> + <p> + “Mary's little lambs are here yet, I see,” the Native Son remarked + carelessly when they went out. “Enough lambs for all the Marys in the + country. How would you like to be Mary?” + </p> + <p> + “Not for me,” Irish declared, and turned his face away from the stench of + them. + </p> + <p> + Others there were who rode the length of the train with faces averted and + looks of disdain; cowmen, all of them, they shared the range prejudice, + and took no pains to hide it. + </p> + <p> + The wind blew strong from the east, that day; it whistled through the + open, double-decked cars packed with gray, woolly bodies, whose voices + were ever raised in strident complaint; and the stench of them smote the + unaccustomed nostrils of the Happy Family and put them to disgusted flight + up the track and across it to where the air was clean again. + </p> + <p> + “Honest to grandma, I'd make the poorest kind of a sheepherder,” Big + Medicine bawled earnestly, when they were well away from the noise and + smell of the detested animals. “If I had to herd sheep, by cripes, do you + know what I'd do? I'd haze 'em into a coulee and turn loose with a good + rifle and plenty uh shells, and call in the coyotes to git a square meal. + That's the way I'd herd sheep. It's the only way you can shut 'em up. They + just 'baa-aa, baa-aa, baa-aa' from the time they're dropped till somebody + kills 'em off. Honest, they blat in their sleep. I've heard 'em.” + </p> + <p> + “When you and the dogs were shooting off coyotes?” asked Andy Green + pointedly, and so precipitated dissension which lasted for ten miles. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V. Sheep + </h2> + <p> + Slim rising first from dinner on the next day but one opened the door of + the mess-house, and stood there idly picking his teeth before he went + about his work. After a minute of listening to the boys “joshing” old + Patsy about some gooseberry pies he had baked without sugar, he turned his + face outward, threw up his head like a startled bull, and began to sniff. + </p> + <p> + “Say, I smell sheep, by golly!” he announced in the bellowing tone which + was his conversational voice, and sniffed again. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, that's just a left-over in your system from the dose yuh got in town + Sunday,” Weary explained soothingly. “I've smelled sheep, and tasted + sheep, and dreamed sheep, ever since.” + </p> + <p> + “No, by golly, it's sheep! It ain't no memory. I—I b'hieve I hear + 'em, too, by golly.” Slim stepped out away from the building and faced + suspiciously down the coulee. + </p> + <p> + “Slim, I never suspected you of imagination before,” the Native Son + drawled, and loitered out to where Slim stood still sniffing. “I wonder if + you're catching it from Andy and me. Don't you think you ought to be + vaccinated?” + </p> + <p> + “That ain't imagination,” Pink called out from within. “When anybody + claims there's sheep in Flying U coulee, that's straight loco.” + </p> + <p> + “Come on out here and smell 'em yourself, then!” Slim bawled indignantly. + “I never seen such an outfit as this is gittin' to be; you fellers don't + believe nobody, no more. We ain't all Andy Greens.” + </p> + <p> + Upon hearing this Andy pushed back his chair and strolled outside. He + clapped his hand down upon Slim's fat-cushioned shoulder and swayed him + gently. “Never mind, Slim; you can't all be famous,” he comforted. “Some + day, maybe, I'll teach yuh the fine art of lying more convincingly than + the ordinary man can tell the truth. It is a fine art; it takes a genius + to put it across. Now, the only time anybody doubts my word is when I'm + sticking to the truth hike a sand burr to a dog's tail.” + </p> + <p> + From away to the west, borne on the wind which swept steadily down the + coulee, came that faint, humming sing-song, which can be made only by a + herd of a thousand or more sheep, all blatting in different keys—or + by a distant band playing monotonously upon the middle octave of their + varied instruments. + </p> + <p> + “Slim's right, by gracious! It's sheep, sure as yuh live.” Andy did not + wait for more, but started at a fast walk for the stable and his horse. + After him went the Native Son, who had not been with the Flying U long + enough to sense the magnitude of the affront, and Slim, who knew to a + nicety just what “cowmen” considered the unpardonable sin, and the rest of + the Happy Family, who were rather incredulous still. + </p> + <p> + “Must be some fool herder just crossing the coulee, on the move + somewhere,” Weary gave as a solution. “Half of 'em don't know a fence when + they see it.” + </p> + <p> + As they galloped toward the sound and the smell, they expressed freely + their opinion of sheep, the men who owned them, and the lunatics who + watched over the blatting things. They were cattlemen to the marrow in + their bones, and they gloried in their prejudice against the woolly + despoilers of the range. + </p> + <p> + All these years had the Flying U been immune from the nuisance, save for + an occasional trespasser, who was quickly sent about his business. The + Flying U range had been kept in the main inviolate from the little, gray + vandals, which ate the grass clean to the sod, and trampled with their + sharp-pointed hoofs the very roots into lifelessness; which polluted the + water-holes and creeks until cattle and horses went thirsty rather than + drink; which, in that land of scant rainfall, devastated the range where + they fed so that a long-established prairie-dog town was not more barren. + What wonder if the men who owned cattle, and those who tended them, hated + sheep? So does the farmer dread an invasion of grasshoppers. + </p> + <p> + A mile down the coulee they came upon the band with two herders and four + dogs keeping watch. Across the coulee and up the hillsides they spread + like a noisome gray blanket. “Maa-aa, maa-aa, maa-aa,” two thousand strong + they blatted a strident medley while they hurried here and there after + sweeter bunches of grass, very much like a disturbed ant-hill. + </p> + <p> + The herders loitered upon either slope, their dogs lying close beside + them. There was good grass in that part of the coulee; the Flying U had + saved it for the saddle horses that were to be gathered and held + temporarily at the ranch; for it would save herding, and a week in that + pasture would put a keen edge on their spirits for the hard work of the + calf roundup. A dozen or two that ranged close had already been driven + into the field and were feeding disdainfully in a corner as far away from + the sheep as the fence would permit. + </p> + <p> + The Happy Family, riding close-grouped, stiffened in their saddles and + stared amazed at the outrage. + </p> + <p> + “Sheepherders never did have any nerve,” Irish observed after a minute. + “They keep their places fine! They'll drive their sheep right into your + dooryard and tell 'en to help themselves to anything that happens to look + good to them. Oh, they're sure modest and retiring!” + </p> + <p> + Weary, who had charge of the outfit during Chip's absence, was making + straight for the nearest herder. Pink and Andy went with him, as a matter + of course. + </p> + <p> + “You fellows ride up around that side, and put the run on them sheep,” + Weary shouted back to the others. “We'll start the other side moving. Make + 'em travel—back where they came from.” He jerked his head toward the + north. He knew, just as they all knew, that there had been no sheep to the + south, unless one counted those that ranged across the Missouri river. + </p> + <p> + As the three forced their horses up the steep slope, the herder, sitting + slouched upon a rock, glanced up at them dully. He had a long stick, with + which he was apathetically turning over the smaller stones within his + reach, and as apathetically killing the black bugs that scuttled out from + the moist earth beneath. He desisted from this unexciting pastime as they + drew near, and eyed them with the sullenness that comes of long isolation + when the person's nature forbids that other extreme of babbling garrulity, + for no man can live long months alone and remain perfectly normal. Nature, + that stern mistress, always exacts a penalty from us foolish mortals who + would ignore the instincts she has wisely implanted within us for our + good. + </p> + <p> + “Maybe,” Weary began mildly and without preface, “you don't know this is + private property. Get busy with your dogs, and haze these sheep back on + the bench.” He waved his hand to the north. “And, when you get a good + start in that direction,” he added, “yuh better keep right on going.” + </p> + <p> + The herder surveyed him morosely, but he said nothing; neither did he rise + from the rock to obey the command. The dogs sat upon their haunches and + perked their ears inquiringly, as if they understood better than did their + master that these men were not to be quite overlooked. + </p> + <p> + “I meant to-day,” Weary hinted, with the manner of one who deliberately + holds his voice quiet. + </p> + <p> + “I never asked yuh what yuh meant,” the herder mumbled, scowling. “We got + to keep 'em on water another hour, yet.” He went back to turning over the + small rocks and to pursuing with his stick the bugs, as if the whole + subject were squeezed dry of interest. + </p> + <p> + For a minute Weary stared unwinkingly down at him, uncertain whether to + resent this as pure insolence, or to condone it as imbecility. “Mamma!” he + breathed eloquently, and grinned at Andy and Pink. “This is a real + talkative cuss, and obliging, too. Come on, boys; he's too busy to bother + with a little thing like sheep.” + </p> + <p> + He led the way around to the far side of the band, the nearest sheep + scuttling away from then as they passed. “I don't suppose we could work + the combination on those dogs—what?” he considered aloud, glancing + back at them where they still sat upon their haunches and watched the + strange riders. “Say, Cadwalloper, you took a few lessons in sheepherding, + a couple of years ago, when you was stuck on that girl—remember? + Whistle 'em up here and set 'en to work.” + </p> + <p> + “You go to the devil,” Pink's curved hips replied amiably to his boss. + “I've got loss-uh-memory on the sheep business.” + </p> + <p> + Whereat Weary grinned and said no more about it. + </p> + <p> + On the opposite side of the coulee, the boys seemed to be laboring quite + as fruitlessly with the other herder. They heard Big Medicine's truculent + bellow, as he leaned from the saddle and waved a fist close to the face of + the herder, but, though they rode with their eyes fixed upon the group, + they failed to see any resultant movement of dogs, sheep or man. + </p> + <p> + There is, at times, a certain safety in being the hopeless minority. + Though seven indignant cowpunchers surrounded him, that herder was secure + from any personal molestation—and he knew it. They were seven + against one; therefore, after making some caustic remarks, which produced + as little effect as had Weary's command upon the first man, the seven were + constrained to ride here and there along the wavering, gray line, and, + with shouts and swinging ropes, themselves drive the sheep from the + coulee. + </p> + <p> + There was much clamor and dust and riding to and fro. There was language + which would have made the mothers of then weep, and there were faces grown + crimson from wrath. Eventually, however, the Happy Family faced the north + fence of the Flying U boundary, and saw the last woolly back scrape under + the lower wire, leaving a toll of greasy wool hanging from the barbs. + </p> + <p> + The herders had drawn together, and were looking on from a distance, and + the four dogs were yelping uneasily over their enforced inaction. The + Happy Family went back and rounded up the herders, and by sheer weight of + numbers forced them to the fence without laying so much as a finger upon + then. The one who had been killing black bugs gave then an ugly look as he + crawled through, but even he did not say anything. + </p> + <p> + “Snap them wires down where they belong,” Weary commanded tersely. + </p> + <p> + The man hesitated a minute, then sullenly unhooked the barbs of the two + lower strands, so that the wires, which had thus been lifted to permit the + passing of the sheep, twanged apart and once more stretched straight from + post to post. + </p> + <p> + “Now, just keep in mind the fact that fences are built for use. This is a + private ranch, and sheep are just about as welcome as smallpox. Haze them + stinking things as far north as they'll travel before dark, and at + daylight start 'em going again. Where's your camp, anyhow?” + </p> + <p> + “None of your business,” mumbled the bugkiller sourly. + </p> + <p> + Weary scanned the undulating slope beyond the fence, saw no sign of a + camp, and glanced uncertainly at his fellows. “Well, it don't matter much + where it is; you see to it you don't sleep within five miles of here, or + you're liable to have bad dreams. Hit the trail, now!” + </p> + <p> + They waited inside the fence until the retreating sheep lost their + individuality as blatting animals, ambling erratically here and there, + while they moved toward the brow of the hill, and merged into a great, + gray blotch against the faint green of the new grass—a blotch from + which rose again that vibrant, sing-song humming of many voices mingled. + Then they rode back down the coulee to their own work, taking it for + granted that the trespassing was an incident which would not be repeated—by + those particular sheep, at any rate. + </p> + <p> + It was, therefore, with something of a shock that the Happy Family awoke + the next morning to hear Pink's melodious treble shouting in the + bunk-house at sunrise next morning: + </p> + <p> + “'G'wa-a-y round' 'em, Shep! Seven black ones in the coulee!” Men who know + well the West are familiar with that facetious call. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, what's the matter with yuh?” Irish raised a rumpled, brown head from + his pillow, and blinked sleepily at him. “I've been dreaming I was a + sheepherder, all night.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, you've got the swellest chance in the world to 'make every dream + cone true, dearie,'” Pink retorted. “The whole blamed coulee's full uh + sheep. I woke up a while ago and thought I just imagined I heard 'en + again; so I went out to take a look—or a smell, it was—and + they're sure enough there!” + </p> + <p> + Weary swung one long leg out from under his blankets and reached for his + clothes. He did not say anything, but his face portended trouble for the + invaders. + </p> + <p> + “Say!” cried Big Medicine, coming out of his bunk as if it were afire, “I + tell yuh right now then blattin' human apes wouldn't git gay around here + if I was runnin' this outfit. The way I'd have of puttin' them sheep on + the run wouldn't be slow, by cripes! I'll guarantee—” + </p> + <p> + By then the bunk-house was buzzing with voices, and there was none to give + heed to Big Medicine s blatant boasting. Others there were who seemed + rather inclined to give Weary good advice while they pulled on their boots + and sought for their gloves and rolled early-morning cigarettes, and + otherwise prepared themselves for what Fate might have waiting for then + outside the door. + </p> + <p> + “Are you sure they're in the coulee, Cadwalloper?” Weary asked, during a + brief lull. “They could be up on the hill—” + </p> + <p> + “Hell, yes!” was Pink's forceful answer. “They could be on the hill, but + they ain't. Why, darn it, they're straggling into the little pasture! I + could see 'em from the stable. They—” + </p> + <p> + “Come and eat your breakfast first, boys, anyway.” Weary had his hand upon + the door-knob. “A few minutes more won't make any difference, one way or + the other.” He went out and over to the mess-house to see if Patsy had the + coffee ready; for this was a good three-quarters of an hour earlier than + the Flying U outfit usually bestirred themselves on these days of + preparation for roundup and waiting for good grass. + </p> + <p> + “I'll be darned if I'd be as calm as he is,” Cal Emmett muttered while the + door was being closed. “Good thing the Old Man ain't here, now. He'd go + straight up in the air. He wouldn't wait for no breakfast.” + </p> + <p> + “I betche there'll be a killin' yet, before we're through with them + sheep,” gloomed Happy Jack. “When sheepherders starts in once to be + ornery, there ain't no way uh stoppin' 'em except by killin' 'em off. And + that'll mean the pen for a lot of us fellers—” + </p> + <p> + “Well, by golly, it won't be me,” Slim declared loudly. “Yuh wouldn't + ketch me goin' t' jail for no doggone sheepherder. They oughta be a bounty + on 'en by rights.” + </p> + <p> + “Seems queer they'd be right back here this morning, after being hazed out + yesterday afternoon,” said Andy Green thoughtfully. “Looks like they're + plumb anxious to build a lot of trouble for themselves.” + </p> + <p> + Patsy, thumping energetically the bottom of a tin pan, sent them trooping + to the mess-house. There it was evident that the breakfast had been unduly + hurried; there were no biscuits in sight, for one thing, though Patsy was + lumbering about the stove frying hot-cakes. They were in too great a hurry + to wait for them, however. They swallowed their coffee hurriedly, bolted a + few mouthfuls of meat and fried eggs, and let it go at that. + </p> + <p> + Weary looked at then with a faint smile. “I'm going to give a few of you + fellows a chance to herd sheep to-day,” he announced, cooling his coffee + so that it would not actually scald his palate. “That's why I wanted you + to get some grub into you. Some of you fellows will have to take the trail + up on the hill, and meet us outside the fence, so when we chase 'em + through you can make a good job of it this time. I wonder—” + </p> + <p> + “You don't need to call out the troops for that job; one man is enough to + put the fear uh the Lord into then herders,” Andy remarked slightingly. + “Once they're on the move—” + </p> + <p> + “All right, my boy; we'll let you be the man,” Weary told him promptly. “I + was going to have a bunch of you take a packadero outfit down toward + Boiler Bottom and comb the breaks along there for horses—and I sure + do hate to spend the whole day chasing sheepherders around over the + country. So we'll haze 'em through the fence again, and, seeing you feel + that way about it, I'll let you go around and keep 'em going. And, if you + locate their camp, kinda impress it on the tender, if you can round him + up, that the Flying U ain't pasturing sheep this spring. No matter what + kinda talk he puts up, you put the run on 'em till you see 'em across + One-Man coulee. Better have Patsy put you up a lunch—unless you're + fond of mutton.” + </p> + <p> + Andy twisted his mouth disgustedly. “Say, I'm going to quit handing out + any valuable advice to you, Weary,” he expostulated. + </p> + <p> + “Haw-haw-haw-w-w!” laughed Big Medicine, and slapped Andy on the shoulder + so that his face almost came in contact with his plate. “Yuh will try to + work some innercent man into sheepherdin', will yuh? Haw-haw-haw-w! You'll + come in tonight blattin'—if yuh don't stay out on the range tryin' + t' eat grass, by cripes! Andy had a little lamb that follered him around—” + </p> + <p> + “Better let Bud take that herdin' job, Weary,” Andy suggested. “It won't + hurt him—he's blattin' already.” + </p> + <p> + “If you think you're liable to need somebody along,” Weary began, + soft-heartedly relenting, “why, I guess—” + </p> + <p> + “If I can't handle two crazy sheepherders without any help, by gracious, + I'll get me a job holdin' yarn in an old ladies' hone,” Andy cut in + hastily, and got up from the table. “Being a truthful man, I can't say I'm + stuck on the job; but I'm game for it. And I'll promise you there won't be + no more sheep of that brand lickin' our doorsteps. What darned outfit is + it, anyway? I never bumped into any Dot sheep before, to my knowledge.” + </p> + <p> + “It's a new one on me,” Weary testified, heading the procession down to + the stable. “If they belonged anywhere in this part of the country, + though, they wouldn't be acting the way they are. They'd be wise to the + fact that it ain't healthy.” + </p> + <p> + Even while he spoke his eyes were fixed with cold intensity upon a fringe + of gray across the coulee below the little pasture. To the nostrils of the + outraged Happy Family was borne that indescribable aroma which betrays the + presence of sheep; that aroma which sheepmen love and which cattlemen + hate, and which a favorable wind will carry a long way. + </p> + <p> + They slapped saddles on their horses in record time that morning, and + raced down the coulee ironically shouting commiserating sentences to the + unfortunate Andy, who rode slowly up to the mess-house for the lunch which + Patsy had waiting for him in a flour sack, and afterward climbed the grade + and loped along outside the line fence to a point opposite the sheep and + the shouting horsemen, who forced them back by weight of numbers. + </p> + <p> + This morning the herders were not quite so passive. The bug-killer still + scowled, but he spoke without the preliminary sulky silence of the day + before, + </p> + <p> + “We're goin' across the coulee,” he growled. “Them's orders. We range + south uh here.” + </p> + <p> + “No, you don't,” Weary dissented calmly. “Not by a long shot, you don't. + You're going back where you come from—if you ask me. And you're + going quick!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI. What Happened to Andy + </h2> + <p> + With the sun shining comfortably upon his back, and with a cigarette + between his lips, Andy sat upon his horse and watched in silent glee while + the irate Happy Family scurried here and there behind the band, swinging + their ropes down upon the woolly backs, and searching their vocabularies + for new and terrible epithets. Andy smiled broadly as a colorful phrase + now and then boomed across the coulee in that clear, snappy atmosphere, + which carries sounds so far. He did not expect to do much smiling upon his + own account, that day, and he was therefore grateful for the opportunity + to behold the spectacle before him. + </p> + <p> + There was Slim, for instance, unwillingly careening down hill toward home, + because, in his zeal to slap an old ewe smartly with his rope, he drove + her unexpectedly under his horse, and so created a momentary panic that + came near standing both horse and rider upon their heads. And there was + Big Medicine whistling until he was purple, while the herder, with a + single gesture, held the dog motionless, though a dozen sheep broke back + from the band and climbed a slope so steep that Big Medicine was compelled + to go after them afoot, and turn them with stones and profane + objurgations. + </p> + <p> + It was very funny—when one could sit at ease upon the hilltop and + smoke a cigarette while others risked apoplexy and their souls' salvation + below. By the time they panted up the last rock-strewn slope of the bluff, + and sent the vanguard of the invaders under the fence, Andy's mood was + complacent in the extreme, and his smile offensively wide. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you needn't look so sorry for us,” drawled the Native Son, jingling + over toward him until only the fence and a few feet of space divided them. + “Here's where you get yours, amigo. I wish you a pleasant day—and a + long one!” He waved his hand in mocking adieu, touched his horse with his + silver spurs, and rode gaily away down the coulee. + </p> + <p> + “Here, sheepherder's your outfit. Ma-aa-a-a!” jeered Big Medicine. “You'll + wisht, by cripes, you was a dozen men just like yuh before you're through + with the deal. Haw-haw-haw-w!” + </p> + <p> + There were others who, seeing Andy's grin, had something to say upon the + subject before they left. + </p> + <p> + Weary rode up, and looked undecidedly from Andy to the sheep, and back + again. + </p> + <p> + “If you don't feel like tackling it single-handed, I'll send—” + </p> + <p> + “What do yuh think I am, anyway?” Andy interrupted crisply, “a Montgomery + Ward two-for-a-quarter cowpuncher? Don't you fellows waste any time + worrying over me!” + </p> + <p> + The herders stared at Andy curiously when he swung in behind the tail-end + of the band and kept pace with their slow moving, but they did not speak + beyond shouting an occasional command to their dogs. Neither did Andy have + anything to say, until he saw that they were swinging steadily to the + west, instead of keeping straight north, as they had been told to do. Then + he rode over to the nearest herder, who happened to be the bug-killer. + </p> + <p> + “You don't want to get turned around,” he hinted quietly. “That's north, + over there.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm workin' fer the man that pays my wages,” the fellow retorted glumly, + and waved an arm to a collie that was waiting for orders. The dog dropped + his head, and ran around the right wing of the band, with sharp yelps and + dartings here and there, turning them still more to the west. + </p> + <p> + Andy hesitated, decided to leave the man alone for the present, and rode + around to the other herder. + </p> + <p> + “You swing these sheep north!” he commanded, disdaining preface or + explanation. + </p> + <p> + “I'm workin' for the man that pays my wages,” the herder made answer + stolidly, and chewed steadily upon a quid of tobacco that had stained his + lips unbecomingly. + </p> + <p> + So they had talked the thing over—had those two herders—and + were following a premeditated plan of defiance! Andy hooked at the man a + minute. “You turn them sheep, damn you,” he commanded again, and laid a + hand upon his saddle-horn suggestively. + </p> + <p> + “You go to the devil, damn yuh,” advised the herder, and cocked a wary eye + at him from under his hat-brim. Not all herders, let it be said in + passing, take unto themselves the mental attributes of their sheep; there + are those who believe that a bold front is better than weak compliance, + and who will back that belief by a very bold front indeed. + </p> + <p> + Andy appraised him mentally, decided that he was an able-bodied man and + therefore fightable, and threw his right leg over the cantle with a quite + surprising alacrity. + </p> + <p> + “Are you going to turn them sheep?” Andy was taking off his coat when he + made that inquiry. + </p> + <p> + “Not for your tellin'. You keep back, young feller, or I'll sick the dogs + on yuh.” He turned and whistled to the nearest one, and Andy hit him on + the ear. + </p> + <p> + They clinched and pummeled when they could and where they could. The dog + came up, circled the gyrating forms twice, then sat down upon his haunches + at a safe distance, tilted his head sidewise and lifted his ears + interestedly. He was a wise little dog; the other dog was also wise, and + remained phlegmatically at his post, as did the bug-killer. + </p> + <p> + “Are you going to turn them sheep?” Andy spoke breathlessly, but with + deadly significance. + </p> + <p> + “N-yes.” + </p> + <p> + Andy took his fingers from the other's Adam's apple, his knee from the + other's diaphragm, and went over to where he had thrown down his coat, + felt in a pocket for his handkerchief, and, when he had found it, applied + it to his nose, which was bleeding profusely. + </p> + <p> + “Fly at it, then,” he advised, eyeing the other sternly over the + handkerchief. “I'd hate to ask you a third time.” + </p> + <p> + “I'd hate to have yuh,” conceded the herder reluctantly. “I was sure I c'd + lick yuh, or I'd 'a' turned 'em before.” He sent the dog racing down the + south line of the band. + </p> + <p> + Andy got thoughtfully back upon his horse, and sat looking hard at the + herder. “Say, you're grade above the general run uh lamb-hickers,” he + observed, after a minute. “Who are you working for, and what's your object + in throwing sheep on Flying U land? There's plenty of range to the north.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm workin',” said the herder, “for the Dot outfit. I thought you could + read brands.” + </p> + <p> + “Don't get sassy—I've got a punch or two I haven't used yet. Who + owns these woollies?” + </p> + <p> + “Well—Whittaker and Oleson, if yuh want to know.” + </p> + <p> + “I do.” Andy was keeping pace with him around the band, which edged off + from then and the dogs. “And what makes you so crazy about Flying U + grass?” he pursued. + </p> + <p> + “We've got to cross that coulee to git to where we're headed for; we got a + right to, and we're going to do it.” The herder paused and glanced up at + Andy sourly. “We knowed you was a mean outfit; the boss told us so. And he + told us you was blank ca'tridges and we needn't back up just 'cause you + raised up on your hind legs and howled a little. I've had truck with you + cowmen before. I've herded sheep in Wyoming.” He walked a few steps with + his head down, considering. + </p> + <p> + “I better go over and talk some sense into the other fellow,” he said, + looking up at Andy as if all his antagonism had oozed in the fight. “You + ride along this edge, so they won't scatter—we ought to be grazin' + 'em along, by rights; only you seem to be in such an all-fired rush—” + </p> + <p> + “You go on and tell that loco son-of-a-gun over there what he's up + against,” Andy urged. “Blank cartridges—I sure do like that! If you + only knew it, high power dum-dums would be a lot closer to our brand. Run + along—I am in a kinda hurry, this morning.” + </p> + <p> + Andy, riding slowly upon the outskirts of the grazing, blatting band, + watched the two confer earnestly together a hundred yards or so away. They + seemed to be having some sort of argument; the bug-killer gesticulated + with the long stick he carried, and the sheep, while the herders talked, + scattered irresponsibly. Andy wondered what made sheepmen so “ornery,” + particularly herders. He wondered why the fellow he had thrashed was so + insultingly defiant at first, and, after the thrashing, so unresentful and + communicative, and so amenable to authority withal. He felt his nose, and + decided that it was, all things considered, a cheap victory, and yet one + of which he need not be ashamed. + </p> + <p> + The herder cane back presently and helped drive the sheep over the edge of + the bluff which bordered Antelope coulee. The bug-killer, upon his side, + also seemed imbued with the spirit of obedience; Andy heard him curse a + collie into frenzied zeal, and smiled approvingly. + </p> + <p> + “Now you're acting a heap more human,” he observed; and the man from + Wyoming grinned ruefully by way of reply. + </p> + <p> + Antelope coulee, at that point, was steep; too steep for riding, so that + Andy dismounted and dug his boot-heels into the soft soil, to gain a + foothold on the descent. When he was halfway down, he chanced to look + back, straight into the scowling gaze of the bug-killer, who was sliding + down behind him. + </p> + <p> + “Thought you were hazing down the other side of 'em,” Andy called back, + but the herder did not choose to answer save with another scowl. + </p> + <p> + Andy edged his horse around an impracticable slope of shale stuff and went + on. The herder followed. When he was within twelve feet or so of the + bottom, there was a sound of pebbles knocked loose in haste, a scrambling, + and then came the impact of his body. Andy teetered, lost his balance, and + went to the bottom in one glorious slide. He landed with the bug-killer on + top—and the bug-killer failed to remove his person as speedily as + true courtesy exacted. + </p> + <p> + Andy kicked and wriggled and tried to remember what was that high-colored, + vituperative sentence that Irish had invented over a stubborn sheep, that + he might repeat it to the bug-killer. The herder from Wyoming ran up, + caught Andy's horse, and untied Andy's rope from the saddle. + </p> + <p> + “Good fer you, Oscar,” he praised the bug-killer. “Hang onto him while I + take a few turns.” He thereupon helped force Andy's arms to his side, and + wound the rope several times rather tightly around Andy's outraged, + squirming person. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, it ain't goin' to do yuh no good to buck 'n bawl,” admonished the + tier. “I learnt this here little trick down in Wyoming. A bunch uh + punchers done it to me—and I've been just achin' all over fer a + chance to return the favor to some uh you gay boys. And,” he added, with + malicious satisfaction, while he rolled Andy over and tied a perfectly + unslippable knot behind, “it gives me great pleasure to hand the dose out + to you, in p'ticular. If I was a mean man, I'd hand yuh the boot a few + times fer luck; but I'll save that up till next time.” + </p> + <p> + “You can bet your sweet life there'll be a next time,” Andy promised + earnestly, with embellishments better suited to the occasion than to a + children's party. + </p> + <p> + “Well, when it arrives I'm sure Johnny-on-the-spot. Them Wyoming punchers + beat me up after they'd got me tied. I'm tellin' yuh so you'll see I ain't + mean unless I'm drove to it. Turn him feet down hill, Oscar, so he won't + git a rush uh brains to the head and die on our hands. Now you're goin' to + mind your own business, sonny. Next time yuh set out to herd sheep, better + see the boss first and git on the job right.” + </p> + <p> + He rose to his feet, surveyed Andy with his hands on his hips, mentally + pronounced the job well done, and took a generous chew of tobacco, after + which he grinned down at the trussed one. + </p> + <p> + “That the language uh flowers you're talkin'?” he inquired banteringly, + before he turned his attention to the horse, which he disposed of by tying + up the reins and giving it a slap on the rump. When it had trotted fifty + yards down the coulee bottom, and showed a disposition to go farther, he + whistled to his dogs, and turned again to Andy. + </p> + <p> + “This here is just a hint to that bunch you trot with, to leave us and our + sheep alone,” he said. “We don't pick no quarrels, but we're goin' to + cross our sheep wherever we dern please, to git where we want to go. Gawd + didn't make this range and hand it over to you cowmen to put in yer + pockets—I guess there's a chance fer other folks to hang on by their + eyebrows, anyway.” + </p> + <p> + Andy, lying there like a very good presentation of a giant cocoon, roped + round and round, with his arms pinned to his sides, had the doubtful + pleasure of seeing that noisome, foolish-faced band trail down Antelope + coulee and back upon the level they had just left, and of knowing to a + gloomy certainty that he could do nothing about it, except swear; and even + that palls when a man has gone over his entire repertoire three times in + rapid succession. + </p> + <p> + Andy, therefore, when the last sheep had trotted out of sight, hearing and + smell, wriggled himself into as comfortable a position as his bonds would + permit, and took a nap. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII. Truth Crushed to Earth, etc. + </h2> + <p> + Andy, only half awake, tried to obey both instinct and habit and reach up + to pull his hat down over his eyes, so that the sun could not shine upon + his lids so hotly; when he discovered that he could do no more than wiggle + his fingers, he came back with a jolt to reality and tried to sit up. It + is surprising to a man to discover suddenly just how important a part his + arms play in the most simple of body movements; Andy, with his arms + pinioned tightly the whole length of them, rolled over on his face, kicked + a good deal, and rolled back again, but he did not sit up, as he had + confidently expected to do. + </p> + <p> + He lay absolutely quiet for at least five minutes, staring up at the + brilliant blue arch above him. Then he began to speak rapidly and + earnestly; a man just close enough to hear his voice sweeping up to a + certain rhetorical climax, pausing there and commencing again with a + rhythmic fluency of intonation, might have thought that he was repeating + poetry; indeed, it sounded like some of Milton's majestic blank verse, but + it was not. Andy was engaged in a methodical, scientific, reprehensibly + soul-satisfying period of swearing. + </p> + <p> + A curlew, soaring low, with long beak outstretched before him, and long + legs outstretched behind cast a beady eye upon him, and shrilled + “Cor-reck! Cor-reck!” in unregenerate approbation of the blasphemy. + </p> + <p> + Andy stopped suddenly and laughed. “Glad you agree with me, old sport,” he + addressed the bird whimsically, with a reaction to his normally cheerful + outlook. “Sheepherders are all those things I named over, birdie, and some + that I can't think of at present.” + </p> + <p> + He tried again, this time with a more careful realization of his + limitations, to assume an upright position; and being a persevering young + man, and one with a ready wit, he managed at length to wriggle himself + back upon the slope from which he had slid in his sleep, and, by digging + in his heels and going carefully, he did at last rise upon his knees, and + from there triumphantly to his feet. + </p> + <p> + He had at first believed that one of the herders would, in the course of + an hour or so, return and untie him, when he hoped to be able to retrieve, + in a measure, his self-respect, which he had lost when the first three + feet of his own rope had encircled him. To be tied and trussed by + sheepherders! Andy gritted his teeth and started down the coulee. + </p> + <p> + He was hungry, and his lunch was tied to his saddle. He looked eagerly + down the coulee, in the faint hope of seeing his horse grazing somewhere + along its length, until the numbness of his arms and hands reminded him + that forty lunches, tied upon forty saddles at his side, would be of no + use to him in his present position. His hands he could not move from his + thighs; he could wiggle his fingers—which he did, to relieve as much + as possible that unpleasant, prickly sensation which we call a “going to + sleep” of the afflicted members. When it occurred to him that he could not + do anything with his horse if he found it, he gave up looking for it and + started for the ranch, walking awkwardly, because of his bonds, the sun + shining hotly upon his brown head, because his hat had been knocked off in + the scuffle, and he could not pick it up and put it back where it + belonged. + </p> + <p> + Taking a straight course across the prairie, he struck Flying U coulee at + the point where the sheep had left it. On the way there he had crossed + their trail where they went through the fence farther along the coulee + than before, and therefore with a better chance of passing undetected; + especially since the Happy Family, believing that he was forcing them + steadily to the north, would not be watching for sheep. The barbed wire + barrier bothered him somewhat. He was compelled to lie down and roll under + the fence, in the most undignified manner, and, when he was through, there + was the problem of getting upon his feet again. But he managed it somehow, + and went on down the coulee, perspiring with the heat and a bitter + realization of his ignominy. What the Happy Family would have to say when + they saw him, even Andy Green's vivid imagination declined to picture. + </p> + <p> + He knew by the sun that it was full noon when he came in sight of the + stable and corrals, and his soul sickened at the thought of facing that + derisive bunch of punchers, with their fiendish grins and their barbed + tongues. But he was hungry, and his arms had reached the limit of prickly + sensations and were numb to his shoulders. He shook his hair back from his + beaded forehead, cast a wary glance at the silent stables, set his jaw, + and went on up the hill to the mess-house, wishing tardily that he had + waited until they were off at work again, when he might intimidate old + Patsy into keeping quiet about his predicament. + </p> + <p> + Within the mess-house was the clatter of knives and forks plied by hungry + men, the sound of desultory talk and a savory odor of good things to eat. + The door was closed. Andy stood before it as a guilty-conscienced child + stands before its teacher; clicked his teeth together, and, since he could + not open the door, lifted his right foot and gave it a kick to strain the + hinges. + </p> + <p> + Within were exclamations of astonishment, silence and then a heavy tread. + Patsy opened the door, gasped and stood still, his eyes popping out like a + startled rabbit. + </p> + <p> + “Well, what's eating you?” Andy demanded querulously, and pushed past him + into the room. + </p> + <p> + Not all of the Happy Family were there. Cal, Jack Bates, Irish and Happy + Jack had gone into the Bad Lands next to the river; but there were enough + left to make the soul of Andy quiver forebodingly, and to send the flush + of extreme humiliation to his cheeks. + </p> + <p> + The Happy Family looked at him in stunned surprise; then they glanced at + one another in swift, wordless inquiry, grinned wisely and warily, and + went on with their dinner. At least they pretended to go on with their + dinner, while Andy glared at them with amazed reproach in his misleadingly + honest gray eyes. + </p> + <p> + “When you've got plenty of time,” he said at last in a choked tone, “maybe + one of you obliging cusses will untie this damned rope.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, sure!” Pink threw a leg over the bench and got up with cheerful + alacrity. “I'll do it now, if you say so; I didn't know but what that was + some new fad of yours, like—” + </p> + <p> + “Fad!” Andy repeated the word like an explosion. + </p> + <p> + “Well, by golly, Andy needn't think I'm goin' to foller that there style,” + Slim stated solemnly. “I need m' rope for something else than to tie n' + clothes on with.” + </p> + <p> + “I sure do hate to see a man wear funny things just to make himself + conspicuous,” Pink observed, while he fumbled at the knot, which was + intricate. Andy jerked away from him that he might face him ragefully. + </p> + <p> + “Maybe this looks funny to you,” he cried, husky with wrath. “But I can't + seem to see the joke, myself. I admit I let then herders make a monkey of + me.... They slipped up behind, going down into Antelope coulee, and slid + down the bluff onto me; and, before I could get up, they got me tied, all + right. I licked one of 'en before that, and thought I had 'en gentled down—” + </p> + <p> + Andy stopped short, silenced by that unexplainable sense which warns us + when our words are received with cold disbelief. + </p> + <p> + “Mh-hm—I thought maybe you'd run up against a hostile jackrabbit, or + something,” Pink purred, and went back to his place on the bench. + </p> + <p> + “Haw-haw-haw-w-w!” came Big Medicine's tardy bellow. “That's more + reasonable than the sheepherder story, by cripes!” + </p> + <p> + Andy looked at them much as he had stared up at the sky before he began to + swear—speechlessly, with a trembling of the muscles around his + mouth. He was quite white, considering how tanned he was, and his forehead + was shiny, with beads of perspiration standing thickly upon it. + </p> + <p> + “Weary, I wish you'd untie this rope. I can't.” He spoke still in that + peculiar, husky tone, and, when the last words were out, his teeth went + together with a snap. + </p> + <p> + Weary glanced inquiringly across at the Native Son, who was regarding Andy + steadily, as one gazes upon a tangled rope, looking for the end which will + easiest lead to an untangling. + </p> + <p> + Miguel's brown eyes turned languidly to meet the look. “You'd better untie + him,” he advised in his soft drawl. “He may not be in the habit of doing + it—but he's telling the truth.” + </p> + <p> + “Untie me, Miguel,” begged Andy, going over to him, “and let me at this + bunch.” + </p> + <p> + “I'll do it,” said Weary, and rose pacifically. “I kinda believe you + myself, Andy. But you can't blame the boys none; you've fooled 'em till + they're dead shy of anything they can't see through. And, besides, it sure + does look like a plant. I'd back you single-handed against a dozen + sheepherders like then two we've been chasing around. If I hadn't felt + that way I wouldn't have sent yuh out alone with 'em.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, Andy needn't think he's goin' to stick me on that there story,” + Slim declared with brutal emphasis. “I've swallered too many baits, by + golly. He's figurin' on gettin' us all out on the war-path, runnin' around + in circles, so's't he can give us the laugh. I'll bet, by golly, he paid + then herders to tie him up like that. He can't fool me!” + </p> + <p> + “Say, Slim, I do believe your brains is commencin' to sprout!” Big + Medicine thumped him painfully upon the back by way of accenting the + compliment. “You got the idee, all right.” + </p> + <p> + Andy stood quiet while Weary unwound the rope; lifted his numbed arms with + some difficulty, and displayed to the doubters his rope-creased wrists, + and purple, swollen hands. + </p> + <p> + “I couldn't fight a caterpiller right now,” he said thickly. “Look at them + hands! Do yuh call that a josh? I've been tied up like a bed-roll for five + hours, you—” Well, never mind, he merely repeated a part of what he + had recited aloud in Antelope coulee, the only difference being that he + applied the vitriolic utterances to the Happy Family instead of to + sheepherders, and that with the second recitation he gained much in + fluency and dramatic delivery. + </p> + <p> + It is not nice for a man to swear; to swear the way Andy did, at any rate. + But the result perhaps atoned in a measure for the wickedness, in that the + Happy Family were absolutely convinced of his sincerity, and the feelings + of Andy greatly relieved, so that, when he had for the third time that day + completely exhausted his vocabulary, he sat down and began to eat his + dinner with a keen appetite. + </p> + <p> + “I don't suppose you know where your horse is at, by this tine,” Weary + observed, as casually as possible, breaking a somewhat constrained + silence. + </p> + <p> + “I don't—and I don't give a darn,” Andy snapped back. He ate a few + mouthfuls, and added less savagely: “He wasn't in sight, as I came along. + I didn't follow the trail; I struck straight across and came down the + coulee. He may be at the gate, and he may be down toward Rogers'.” + </p> + <p> + Pink reached for a toothpick, eyeing Andy side-long; dimpled his cheeks + disarmingly, and cleared his throat. “Please don't kill me off when you + get that pie swallowed,” he began pacifically. “Strange as it may seem, I + believe you, Andy. What I want to know is this: Who owns them Dots? And + what are they chasing all over the Flying U range for? It looks plumb + malicious, to me. Did you find out anything about 'en, Andy, while you—er—while + they—” His eyes twinkled and betrayed him for an arrant pretender. + (Pink was not afraid of anything on earth—least of all Andy Green.) + </p> + <p> + “I will kill yuh by inches, if I hear any remarks out of yuh that ain't + respectful,” Andy promised, thawing to his normal tone, which was pleasant + to the ear. “I didn't find out much about 'em. The fellow I licked told me + that Whittaker and Oleson owned the sheep. He didn't say—” + </p> + <p> + “Well—by—golly!” Shin thrust his head forward belligerently. + “Whittaker! Well, what d'yuh think uh that!” He glared from one face to + the other, his gaze at last resting upon Weary. “Say, do yuh reckon it's—Dunk?” + </p> + <p> + Weary paid no heed to Slim. He leaned forward, his face turned to Andy + with that concentration of attention which means so much more than mere + exclamation. “You're sure he said Whittaker?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + His tone and his attitude arrested Andy's cup midway to his mouth. “Sure—Whittaker + and Oleson. I never heard of the outfit—who's this Whittaker + person?” + </p> + <p> + Weary settled back in his place and smiled, but his eyes had quite lost + their habitually sunny expression. + </p> + <p> + “Up until four years ago,” he explained evenly, “he was the Old Man's + partner. We caught him in some mighty dirty work, and—well, he sold + out to the Old Man. The old party with the hoofs and tail can't be + everywhere at once, the way I've got it sized up, so he turns some of his + business over to other folks. Dunk Whittaker's his top hand.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, by golly, he framed up a job on the Gordon boys, and railroaded 'em + to the pen, just—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, that's the gazabo!” Andy's eyes shone with enlightenment. “I've heard + a lot about Dunk, but I didn't know his last name—” + </p> + <p> + “Say! I'll bet they're the outfit that bought out Denson. That's why old + Denson acted so queer, maybe. Selling to a sheep outfit would make the old + devil feel kinda uneasy, talking to us—” Pink's eyes were big and + purple with excitement. “And that train-load of sheep we saw Sunday, I'll + bet is the same identical outfit.” + </p> + <p> + “Dunk Whittaker'd better not try to monkey with me, by golly!” Slim's face + was lowering. “And he'd better not monkey with the Flying U either. I'd + pump him so full uh holes he'd look like a colander, by golly!” + </p> + <p> + Weary got up and started to the door, his face suddenly grown careworn. + “Slim, you and Miguel better go and hunt up Andy's horse,” he said with a + hint of abstraction in his tone, as though his mind was busy with more + important things. “Maybe Andy'll feel able to help you set those posts, + Bud—and you'd better go along the upper end of the little pasture + with the wire stretchers and tighten her up; the top wire is pretty loose, + I noticed this morning.” His fingers fumbled with the door-knob. + </p> + <p> + “Want me to do anything?” Pink asked quizzically just behind him. “I + thought sure we'd go and remonstrate with then gay—” + </p> + <p> + Weary interrupted him. “The herders can wait—and, anyway, I've kinda + got an idea Andy wants to hand out his own brand of poison to that bunch. + You and I will take a ride over to Denson's and see what's going on over + there. Mamma!” he added fervently, under his breath, “I sure do wish Chip + and the Old Man were here!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII. The Dot Outfit + </h2> + <p> + Before he laid him down to sleep, that night, Weary had repeated to + himself many times and fervently that wish for old J. G. Whitmore and the + stout staff upon which he was beginning more and more to lean, his + brother-in-law, Chip Bennett. As matters stood, Weary could not even bring + himself to let then know anything about his trouble—and that the + thing was beginning to assume the form and shape and general malevolent + attributes of Trouble, Weary was forced to admit to himself. + </p> + <p> + Just at present an unthinking, unobserving person might pass over this + sheep outfit as a mere unsavory incident; but Weary was neither + unobserving nor unthinking—nor, for the matter of that, were the + rest of the Happy Family. It needed no Happy Jack, with his foreboding + nature, to point out the unpleasant possibilities that night when the + committee of two made their informal report at the supper table. + </p> + <p> + They had ridden to Denson coulee, which was in reality a meandering branch + of Flying U coulee itself. To reach it one rode out of Flying U coulee and + over a wide hill, and down again to Denson's. But the creek—Flying U + creek—followed the devious turnings from Denson coulee down to the + Flying U. A long mile of Flying U coulee J. G. Whitmore owned outright. + Another mile he held under no other title save a fence. The creek flowed + through it all—but that creek had its source somewhere up near the + head of Denson coulee. J. G. Whitmore had, to his regret, been unable to + claim the whole earth—or at least that portion of it—for his + own; so, when he was constrained to make a choice, he settled himself in + the wider, more fertile coulee, which he thereafter called the Flying U. + While it is good policy to locate as near as possible to the source of + those erratic little creeks which water certain garden spots of the + northern range land, it is also well to choose land that will grow plenty + of hay. J. G. Whitmore chose the hay land, and trusted that providence + would insure the water supply. Through all these years Flying U creek had + never once disappointed him. Denson, who settled in the tributary coulee, + had not made any difference in the water supply, and his stock had + consisted of thirty or forty head of cattle and horses. + </p> + <p> + When Denson sold, however, things might be different. And, if he had sold + to a sheepman, the change might be unpleasant If he had sold to Dunk + Whittaker—the Flying U boys faced that possibility just as they + would face any other disaster, undaunted, but grim and unsmiling. + </p> + <p> + It was thus that Pink and Weary rode slowly down into Denson coulee. Two + miles back they had passed the band of Dot sheep, feeding leisurely just + without the Flying U fence, which was the southern boundary. The + bug-killer and the other were there, and they noted that the features of + that other bore witness to the truth of Andy's story of the fight. He + regarded them with one perfectly good eye and one which was considerably + swollen, and grinned a swollen grin. + </p> + <p> + The two had ridden ten paces past him when Pink pulled up suddenly. “I'm + going to get off and lick that son-of-a-gun myself, just for luck,” he + stated dispassionately. “I'm going to lick 'em both,” he revised while he + dismounted. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, come on, Cadwalloper,” Weary dissuaded. “You'll likely have all the + excitement you need, without that.” + </p> + <p> + “Here, you hold this fool cayuse. No.” He shook his head, cutting short + further protest. “You're the boss, and you don't want to mix in, and that + part is all right. But I ain't responsible—and I sure am going to + take a fall or two out of these geesers. They're a-w-l together too stuck + on themselves to suit me.” Pink did not say that he was thinking of Andy, + but nevertheless a vivid recollection of that unfortunate young man's + rope-creased wrists and swollen hands sent him toward the herder with + long, eager strides. + </p> + <p> + Pink was not tall, and he was slight and boyish of build; also, his + cherubic face, topped by tawny curls and lighted by eyes as deeply blue + and as innocent as a baby's, probably deceived that herder, just as they + had deceived many another. For Pink was a good deal like a stick of + dynamite wrapped in white tissue paper and tied with blue ribbon; and + Weary was not at all uneasy over the outcome, as he watched Pink go + clanking back, though he loved him well. + </p> + <p> + Pink did not waste any time or words on the preliminaries. With a + delightful frankness of purpose he pulled off his coat and threw it on the + ground, as he came up, sent his hat after it, and arrived fist first. + </p> + <p> + The herder had waited grinning, and he had shouted something to Weary + about spanking the kid if Weary didn't make him behave. Speedily he became + a very surprised herder, and a distressed one as well. + </p> + <p> + “All right,” Pink remarked, a little quick-breathed, when the herder + decided for the third time to get up. “A friend of mine worked yuh over a + little, this morning, and I just thought I'd make a better job than he + did. Your eyes didn't match. They will, now.” + </p> + <p> + The herder mumbled maledictions after him, but Pink would not even give + him the satisfaction of resenting it. + </p> + <p> + “I'd like to have broken a knuckle against his teeth, darn him,” he + observed ruefully when he was in the saddle again. “Come on, Weary. It + won't take but a minute to hand a punch or two to that bug-killer, and + then I'll feel better. They've both got it coming—come on!” This + because Weary showed a strong inclination to take the trail and keep it to + his destination. “Well, I'll go alone, then. I've got to kinda square + myself for the way I threw it into Andy; and you know blamed well, Weary, + they played it low-down on him, or they'd never have got that rope on him. + And I'm going to lick that—” + </p> + <p> + “Mamma! You sure are a rambunctious person when you feel that way,” Weary + made querulous comment; but he rode over with Pink to where the bug-killer + was standing with his long stick held in a somewhat menacing manner, and + once more he held Pink's horse for him. + </p> + <p> + Pink was gone longer this time, and he came back with a cut lip and a + large lump on his forehead; the bug-killer had thrown a small rock with + the precision which comes of much practice—such as stoning + disobedient dogs, and the like—and, when Pink rushed at him + furiously, the herder caught him very neatly alongside the head with his + stick. These little amenities serving merely to whet Pink's appetite for + battle, he stopped long enough to thrash that particular herder very + thoroughly and to his own complete satisfaction. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I guess I'm ready to go on now,” he observed, dimpling rather + one-sidedly as he got back on his horse. + </p> + <p> + “I thought maybe you'd want to whip the dogs, too,” Weary told him dryly; + which was the nearest he came to expressing any disapproval of the + incident. Weary was a peace-loving soul, whenever peace was compatible + with self-respect; and it would never have occurred to him to punish + strange men as summarily as Pink had done. + </p> + <p> + “I would, if the dogs were half as ornery as the men,” Pink retorted. + “Say, they hang together like bull snakes and rattlers, don't they? If + they was human, they'd have helped each other out—but nothing doing! + Do you reckon a man could ride up to a couple of our bunch, and thrash one + at a time without the other fellow having something to say about it?” He + turned in the saddle and looked back. “So help me, Josephine, I've got a + good mind to go back and lick them again, for not hanging together like + they ought to.” But the threat was an idle one, and they went on to + Denson's, Weary still with that anxious look in his eyes, and Pink quite + complacent over his exploit. + </p> + <p> + In Denson coulee was an unwonted atmosphere of activity; heretofore the + place had been animated chiefly by young Densons engaged in the pursuit of + pleasure, but now a covered buggy, evidently just arrived, bore mute + witness to the new order of things. There were more horses about the + place, a covered wagon or two, three or four men working upon the corral, + and, lastly, there was one whom Weary recognized the moment he caught + sight of him. + </p> + <p> + “Looks like a sheep outfit, all right,” he said somberly. “And, if that + ain't old Dunk himself, it's the devil, and that's next thing to him.” + </p> + <p> + Dunk, they judged, had just arrived with another man whom they did not + know: a tall man with light hair that hung lank to his collar, a thin, + sharp-nosed face and a wide mouth, which stretched easily into a smile, + but which was none the pleasanter for that. When he turned inquiringly + toward them they saw that he was stoop-shouldered; though not from any + deformity, but from sheer, slouching lankness. Dunk gave them a swift, + sour look from under his eyebrows and went on. + </p> + <p> + Weary rode straight past the lank man, whom he judged to be Oleson, and + overtook Dunk Whittaker himself. + </p> + <p> + “Hello, Dunk,” he said cheerfully, sliding over in the saddle so that a + foot hung free of the stirrup, as men who ride much have learned to do + when they stop for a chat, thereby resting while they may. “Back on the + old stamping ground, are you?” + </p> + <p> + “Since you see me here, I suppose I am,” Dunk made churlish response. + </p> + <p> + “Do you happen to own those Dot sheep, back there on the hill?” Weary + tilted his head toward home. + </p> + <p> + “I happen to own half of them.” By then they had reached the gate and Dunk + passed through and started on to the house. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, don't be in a rush—come on back and be sociable,” Weary called + out, in the mildest of tones, twisting the reins around his saddle-horn so + that he might roll a cigarette at ease. + </p> + <p> + Dunk remembered, perhaps, certain things he had learned when he was J. G. + Whitmore's partner, and had more or less to do with the charter members of + the Happy Family. He came back and stood by the gate, ungraciously enough, + to be sure; still, he came back. Weary smiled under cover of lighting his + cigarette. Dunk, by that reluctant compliance, betrayed something which + Weary had been rather anxious to know. + </p> + <p> + “We've been having a little trouble with those sheep of yours,” Weary + remarked between puffs. “You've got some poor excuses for humans herding + them. They drove the bunch across our coulee just exactly three times. + There ain't enough grass left in our lower field to graze a prairie dog.” + He glanced back to see where Pink was, saw that he was close behind, as + was the lank man, and spoke in a tone that included them all. + </p> + <p> + “The Flying U ain't pasturing sheep, this spring,” he informed them + pleasantly. “But, seeing the grass is eat up, we'll let yuh pay for it. + Why didn't you bring them in along the trail, anyway?” + </p> + <p> + “I didn't bring them in. I just came down from Butte to-day. I suppose the + herders brought them out where the feed was best; they did if they're + worth their wages.” + </p> + <p> + “They happened to strike some feed that was pretty expensive. And,” he + smiled down at Whittaker misleadingly, “you ought to keep an eye on those + herders, or they might let you in for another grass bill. The Flying U has + got quite a lot of range, right around here, you recollect. And we've got + plenty of cattle to eat it. We don't need any help to keep the grass down + so we can ride through it.” + </p> + <p> + “Now, look here,” began the lank man with that sort of persuasiveness + which can turn instantly into bluster, “all this is pure foolishness, you + know. We're here to stay. We've bought this place, and some other land to + go with it, and we expect to stay right here and make a living. It happens + that we expect to make a living off of sheep. Now, we don't want to start + in by quarreling with our neighbors, and we don't want our neighbors to + start any quarrel with us. All we want—” + </p> + <p> + “Mamma! You're taking a fine way to make us love yuh,” Weary cut in + ironically. “I know what you want. You want the same as every other meek + and lovely sheepman wants. You want it all—core, seeds and peeling. + Dunk,” he said with a more impatient disgust than he was in the habit of + showing for his fellowmen, “this man's a stranger; but I should think + you'd know better than to come in here with sheep.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know why a sheep outfit isn't exactly as good as a cow outfit, + and I don't know why they haven't as much right here. You're welcome to + what land you own, but it always seemed to me that public land is open to + the use of the public. Now, as Oleson says, we expect to raise sheep here, + and we expect your outfit to leave us alone. As far as our sheep crossing + your coulee is concerned—I don't know that they did. But, if they + did, and, if they did any damage, let J. G. do the talking about that. I + deal with the owners—not with the hired men.” + </p> + <p> + Weary, you must understand, was never a bellicose young man. But, for all + that, he leaned over and gave Dunk a slap on the jaw which must have stung + considerably—and the full reason for his violence lay four years + behind the two, when Dunk was part owner of the Flying U, and when his + sneering arrogance had been very hard to endure. + </p> + <p> + “Are you going to swallow that—from a hired man?” Weary inquired, + after a minute during which nothing whatever occurred beyond the slow + reddening of Dunk's face. + </p> + <p> + “I'm not going to fight, if that's what you mean,” Dunk sneered. “I + decline to bring myself down to your level. One doesn't expect anything + from a jackass but a bray, you know—and one doesn't feel compelled + to bray because the jackass does.” He smiled that supercilious smile which + Weary had hated of old, and which, he knew, was well used to covering much + treachery and small meannesses of various sorts. + </p> + <p> + “As I said, if the Flying U has any claim against us, let the owner + present it in the usual way.” Dunk drew down his black brows, lifted a + corner of his lip and turned his back deliberately upon them. + </p> + <p> + Oleson let himself through the gate, which he closed somewhat hastily + behind him. “I'm sorry you fellows seem to want to make trouble,” he said, + without looking up from the latch, which seemed somewhat out of repair, + like the rest of the Denson property. “That's a poor way to start in with + new neighbors.” He lifted his hat with what Pink considered insulting + politeness, and followed Dunk into the house. + </p> + <p> + Weary waited there until they had gone in and closed the door, then turned + and rode back home again, frowning thoughtfully at the trail ahead of them + all the way, and making no reply to Pink's importunings for war. + </p> + <p> + “I'd hate to say you've lost your nerve, Weary,” Pink cried at last, in + sheer desperation. “But why the devil didn't you get down and thump the + daylights out of that black son-of-a-gun? I came pretty near walking into + him myself, only I hate to butt into another fellow's scrap. But, if I'd + known you were going to set there and let him walk off with that sneer on + his face—” + </p> + <p> + “I can't fight a man that won't hit back,” Weary protested. “You couldn't + either, Cadwalloper. You'd have done just what I did; you'd have let him + go.” + </p> + <p> + “He will hit back, all right enough,” Pink retorted passionately. “He'll + do it when you ain't looking, though. He—” + </p> + <p> + “I know it,” Weary sighed. “I'm kinda sorry, now, I slapped him. He'll hit + back—but he won't hit me; he'll aim at the outfit. If the Old Man + was here, or Chip, I'd feel a whole lot easier in my mind.” + </p> + <p> + “They couldn't do anything you can't do,” Pink assured him loyally, + forgetting his petulance when he saw the careworn look in Weary's face. + “All they can do is gobble all the range around here—and I guess + there's a few of us that will have a word or two to say about that.” + </p> + <p> + “What makes me sore,” Weary confided, “is knowing that Dunk isn't thinking + altogether of the dollar end of it. He's tickled to death to get a whack + at the outfit. And I hate to see him get away with it; but I guess we'll + have to stand for it.” + </p> + <p> + That sentiment did not please Pink; nor, when Weary repeated it later that + evening in the bunk-house, did it please the Happy Family. The less + pleasing it was because it was perfectly true and every man of them knew + it. Beyond keeping the sheep off Flying U land, there was nothing they + could do without stepping over the line into lawlessness—and, while + they were not in any sense a meek Happy Family, they were far more + law-abiding than their conversation that night made them appear. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX. More Sheep + </h2> + <p> + The next week was a time of harassment for the Flying U; a week filled to + overflowing with petty irritations, traceable, directly or indirectly, to + their new neighbors, the Dot sheepmen. The band in charge of the + bug-chaser and that other unlovable man from Wyoming fed just as close to + the Flying U boundary as their guardians dared let them feed; a great deal + closer than was good for the tempers of the Happy Family, who rode + fretfully here and there upon their own business and at the same time + tried to keep an eye upon their unsavory neighbors—a proceeding as + nerve-racking as it was futile. + </p> + <p> + The Native Son, riding home in jingling haste from Dry Lake, whither he + had hurried one afternoon in the hope of cheering news from Chicago, + reported another trainload of Dots on the wide level beyond Antelope + coulee. There were, he said, four men in charge of the band, and he + believed they carried guns, though he was not positive of that. They were + moving slowly, and he thought they would not attempt to cross Flying U + coulee before the next day; though, from the course they were taking, he + was sure they meant to cross. + </p> + <p> + Coupled with that bit of ill-tidings, the brief note from Chip, saying + very little about the Old Man, but implying a good deal by its very + omissions, would have been enough to send the Happy Family to sleepless + beds that night if they had been the kind to endure with silent fortitude + their troubles. + </p> + <p> + “If you fellers would back me up,” brooded Big Medicine down by the corral + after supper, “I'd see to it them sheep never gits across the coulee, by + cripes! I'd send 'em so far the other way they'd git plumb turned around + and forgit they ever wanted to go south.” + </p> + <p> + “It's all Dunk's devilishness,” Jack Bates declared. “He could take them + in the other way, even if the feed ain't so good along the trail. It's + most all prairie-dog towns—but that's good enough for sheep.” Jack, + in his intense partisanship, spoke as if sheep were not entitled to decent + grass at any time or under any circumstances. + </p> + <p> + “Them herders packin' guns looks to me like they're goin' to make trouble + if they kin,” gloomed Happy Jack. “I betche they'll kill somebody before + they're through. When sheepmen gits mean—” + </p> + <p> + Pink picked up his rope and started for the large corral, where a few + saddle horses had been driven in just before supper and had not yet been + turned out. + </p> + <p> + “You fellows can stand around and chew the rag, if you want to,” he said + caustically, “and wait for Weary to make a war-talk. But I'm going to keep + cases on them Dots, if I have to stand an all-night guard on 'em. I don't + blame Weary; he's looking out for the law-and-order business—and + that's all right. But I'm not in charge of the outfit. I'm going to do as + I darn please, and, if they don't like my style, they can give me my + time.” + </p> + <p> + “Good for you, Little One!” Big Medicine hurried to overtake him so that + he might slap him on the shoulder with his favorite, sledge-hammer method + of signifying his approval of a man's sentiments. “Honest to grandma, I + was just b'ginnin' to think this bunch was gitting all streaked up with + yeller. 'Course, we ain't goin' to wait for no official orders, by cripes! + I'd ruther lock Weary up in the blacksmith shop than let him tell us to go + ahead. Go awn and tell him a good, stiff lie, Andy—just to keep him + interested while us fellers make a gitaway. He ain't in on this; we don't + want him in on it.” + </p> + <p> + “What yuh goin' to do?” Happy Jack inquired suspiciously. “Yuh can't go + and monkey with them sheep, er them herders. They ain't on our land. And, + if you don't git killed, old Dunk'll fix yuh like he fixed the Gordon boys—I + know him—to a fare-you-well. It'd tickle him to death to git + something on us fellers. I betche that's what he's aiming t'do. Git us to + fightin' his outfit so's't—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, go off and lie down!” Andy implored him contemptuously. “We're going + to hang those herders, and drive the sheep all over a cut-back somewhere, + like Jesus done to the hogs, and then we're going over and murder old + Dunk, if he's at home, and burn the house to hide the guilty deed. And, if + the sheriff comes snooping around, asking disagreeable questions, we'll + all swear you done it. So now you know our plans; shut your face and go on + to bed. And be sure,” he added witheringly, “you pull the soogans over + your head, so you won't hear the dying shriek of our victims. We're liable + to get kinda excited and torture 'em a while before we kill 'em.” + </p> + <p> + “Aw, gwan!” gulped Happy Jack mechanically. “You make me sick! If yuh + think I'm goin' to swaller all that, you're away off! You wouldn't dast do + nothing of the kind; and, if yuh did, you'd sure have a sweet time layin' + it onto me!” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I don't know,” drawled the Native Son, with a slow, velvet-eyed + glance, “any jury in the country would hang you on your looks, Happy. I + knew a man down in the lower part of California, who was arrested, tried + and hanged for murder. And all the evidence there was against him was the + fact that he was seen within five miles of the place on the same day the + murder was committed; and his face. They had an expert physiognomist + there, and he swore that the fellow had the face of a murderer; the poor + devil looked like a criminal—and, though he had one of the best + lawyers on the Coast, it was adios for him.” + </p> + <p> + “I s'pose you mean I got the face of a criminal!” sputtered Happy Jack. + “It ain't always the purty fellers that wins out—like you 'n' Pink. + I never seen the purty man yit that was worth the powder it'd take to blow + him up! Aw, you fellers make me sick!” He went off, muttering his opinion + of them all, and particularly of the Native Son, who smiled while he + listened. “You go awn and start something—and you'll wisht you + hadn't,” they heard him croak from the big gate, and chuckled over his + wrath. + </p> + <p> + As a matter of fact, the Happy Family, as a whole, or as individuals, had + no intention of committing any great violence that evening. Pink wanted to + see just where this new band of sheep was spending the night, and to find + out, if possible, what were the herders' intentions. Since the boys were + all restless under their worry, and, since there is a contagious element + in seeking a trouble-zone, none save Happy Jack, who was “sore” at them, + and Weary stayed behind in the coulee with old Patsy while the others rode + away up the grade and out toward Antelope coulee beyond. + </p> + <p> + They meant only to reconnoiter, and to warn the herders against attempting + to cross Flying U coulee; though they were not exactly sure that they + would be perfectly polite, or that they would confine themselves rigidly + to the language they were wont to employ at dances. Andy Green, in + particular, seemed rather to look forward with pleasure to the meeting. + Andy, by the way, had remained heartbrokenly passive during that whole + week, because Weary had extracted from him a promise which Andy, + mendacious though he had the name of being, felt constrained to keep + intact. Though of a truth it irked him much to think of two sheepherders + walking abroad unpunished for their outrage upon his person. + </p> + <p> + Weary, as he had made plain to them all, wanted to avoid trouble if it + were possible to do so. And, though they grinned together in secret over + his own affair with Dunk—which was not, in their opinion, exactly + pacific—they meant to respect his wishes as far as human nature was + able to do so. So that the Happy Family, galloping toward the red sunset + and the great, gray blot on the prairie, just where the glory of the west + tinged the grass blades with red, were not one-half as blood-thirsty as + they had proclaimed themselves to be. + </p> + <p> + While they were yet afar off they could see two men walking slowly in the + immediate vicinity of the huddled band. A hundred yards away was a small + tent, with a couple of horses picketed near by and feeding placidly. The + men turned, gazed long at their approach, and walked to the tent, which + they entered somewhat hastily. + </p> + <p> + “Look at 'em dodge outa sight, will you!” cried Cal Emmett, and lifted up + his voice in the yell which sometimes announced the Happy Family's arrival + in Dry Lake after a long, thirsty absence on roundup. Other voices joined + in after that first, shrill “Ow-ow-ow-eee!” of Cal's; so that presently + the whole lot of them were emitting nerve-crimping yells and spurring + their horses into a thunder of hoofbeats, as they bore down upon the tent. + Between howls they laughed, picturing to themselves four terrified + sheepherders cowering within those frail, canvas walls. + </p> + <p> + “I'm a rambler, and a gambler, and far from my ho-o-me, And if yuh don't + like me, jest leave me alo-o-ne!” chanted Big Medicine most horribly, and + finished with a yell that almost scared himself and set his horse to + plunging wildly. + </p> + <p> + “Come out of there, you lop-eared mutton-chewers, and let us pick the wool + outa your teeth!” shouted Andy Green, telling himself hastily that this + was not breaking his promise to Weary, and yielding to the temptation of + coming as close to the guilty persons as he might; for, while these were + not the men who had tied him and left him alone on the prairie, they + belonged to the same outfit, and there was some comfort in giving them a + few disagreeable minutes. + </p> + <p> + Pink, in the lead, was turning to ride around the tent, still yelling, + when someone within the tent fired a rifle—and did not aim as high + as he should. The bullet zipped close over the head of Big Medicine, who + happened to be opposite the crack between the tent-flaps. The hand of Big + Medicine jerked back to his hip; but, quick as he was, the Native Son + plunged between him and the tent before he could take aim. + </p> + <p> + “Steady, amigo,” smiled Miguel. “You aren't a crazy sheepherder.” + </p> + <p> + “No, but I'm goin' to kill off one. Git outa my way!” Big Medicine was + transformed into a cold-eyed, iron-jawed fighting machine. He dug the + spurs in, meaning to ride ahead of Miguel. But Miguel's spurs also pressed + home, so that the two horses plunged as one. Big Medicine, bellowing one + solitary oath, drew his right leg from the stirrup to dismount. Miguel + reached out, caught him by the arm, and held him to the saddle. And, + though Big Medicine was a strong man, the grip held firm and unyielding. + </p> + <p> + “You must think of the outfit, you know,” said Miguel, smiling still. + “There must be no shooting. Once that begins—” He shrugged his + shoulders with that slight, eloquent movement, which the Happy Family had + come to know so well. He was speaking to them all, as they crowded up to + the scuffle. “The man who feels the trigger-itch had better throw his gun + away,” he advised coolly. “I know, boys. I've seen these things start + before. All hell can't stop you, once you begin to shoot. Put it up, Bud, + or give it to me.” + </p> + <p> + “The man don't live that can shoot at me, by cripes, and git away with it. + Not if he misses killin' me!” Big Medicine was shaking with rage; but the + Native Son saw that he hesitated, nevertheless, and laughed outright. + </p> + <p> + “Call him out and give him a thumping. That's good enough for a + sheepherder,” he suggested as a substitute. + </p> + <p> + Perhaps because the Native Son so seldom offered advice, and, because of + his cool courage in interfering with Big Medicine at such a time, Bud's + jaw relaxed and his pale eyes became more human in their expression. He + even permitted Miguel to remove the big, wicked Colt from his hand, and + slide it into his own pocket; whereat the Happy Family gasped with + astonishment. Not even Pink would have dreamed of attempting such a thing. + </p> + <p> + “Well he's got to come out and take a lickin', anyway,” shouted Big + Medicine vengefully, and rode close enough to slap the canvas smartly with + his quirt. By all the gods he knew by name he called upon the offender to + come forth, while the others drew up in a rude half-circle to await + developments. Heavy silence was the reply he got. It was as though the men + within were sitting tense and watchful, like cougars crouched for a + spring, with claws unsheathed and muscles quivering. + </p> + <p> + “You better come out,” called Andy sharply, after they had waited a decent + interval. “We didn't come here hunting trouble; we want to know where + you're headed for with these sheep. The fellow that cut loose with the gun—” + </p> + <p> + “Aw, don't talk so purty! I'm gitting almighty tired, just setting here + lettin' m' legs hang down. Git your ropes, boys!” With one sweeping + gesture of his arm Big Medicine made plain his meaning as he rode a few + paces away, his fingers fumbling with the string that held his rope. “I'm + goin' to have a look at 'em, anyway,” he grinned. “I sure do hate to see + men act so bashful.” + </p> + <p> + With his rope free and ready for action, Big Medicine shook the loop out, + glanced around, and saw that Andy, Pink and Cal Emmett were also ready, + and, with a dexterous flip, settled the noose neatly over the iron pin + that thrust up through the end of the ridge-pole in front. Andy's loop + sank neatly over it a second later, and the two wheeled and dashed away + together, with Pink and Irish duplicating their performance at the other + end of the tent. The dingy, smoke-stained canvas swayed, toppled, as the + pegs gave way, and finally lay flat upon the prairie fifty feet from where + it had stood, leaving the inmates exposed to the cruel stare of eight + unfriendly cowpunchers. Four cowering figures they were, with guns in + their hands that shook. + </p> + <p> + “Drop them guns!” thundered Big Medicine, flipping his rope loose and + recoiling it mechanically as he plunged up to the group. + </p> + <p> + One man obeyed. One gave a squawk of terror and permitted his gun to go + off at random before he fled toward the coulee. The other two crouched + behind their bed-rolls, set their jaws doggedly and glared defiance. + </p> + <p> + Pink, Andy, Irish, Big Medicine and the Native Son slid off their horses + and made a rush at them. A rifle barked viciously, and Slim, sitting + prudently on his horse well in the rear, gave a yell and started for home + at a rapid pace. + </p> + <p> + Considering the provocation the Happy Family behaved with quite + praiseworthy self-control and leniency. They did not lynch those two + herders. They did not kill them, either by bullets, knives, or beating to + death. They took away the guns, however, and they told them with extreme + bluntness what sort of men they believed them to be. They defined + accurately their position in society at large, in that neighborhood, and + stated what would be their future fate if they persisted in acting with so + little caution and common sense. + </p> + <p> + At Andy Green's earnest behest they also wound them round and round with + ropes, before they departed, and gave them some very good advice upon the + matter of range rules and the herding of sheep, particularly of Dot sheep. + </p> + <p> + “You're playing big luck, if you only had sense enough to know it,” Andy + pointed out to the recumbent three before they rode away. “We didn't come + over here on the warpath, and, if you hadn't got in such a darned hurry to + start something, you'd be a whole lot more comfortable right now. We rode + over to tell yuh not to start them sheep across Flying U coulee; because, + if you do, you're going to have both hands and your hats plumb full uh + trouble. It has taken some little time and fussing to get yuh gentled down + so we can talk to you, and I sure do hope yuh remember what I'm saying.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, we'll remember it, all right!” menaced one of the men, lifting his + head turtlewise that he might glare at the group. “And our bosses'll + remember it; you needn't worry about that none. You wait till—” + </p> + <p> + The next man to him turned his head and muttered a sentence, and the + speaker dropped his head back upon the ground, silenced. + </p> + <p> + “It was your own outfit started this style of rope trimming, so you can't + kick about that part of the deal,” Pink informed them melodiously. “It's + liable to get to be all the rage with us. So, if you don't like it, don't + come around where we are. And say!” His dimples stood deep in his cheeks. + “You send those ropes home to-morrow, will yuh? We're liable to need 'em.” + </p> + <p> + “By cripes!” Big Medicine bawled. “What say we haze them sheep a few miles + north, boys?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I guess they'll be all right where they are,” Andy protested, his + thirst for revenge assuaged at sight of those three trussed as he had been + trussed, and apparently not liking it any better than he had liked it. + “They'll be good and careful not to come around the Flying U—or I + miss my guess a mile.” + </p> + <p> + The others cast comprehensive glances at their immediate surroundings, and + decided that they had at least made their meaning plain; there was no + occasion for emphasizing their disapproval any further. They confiscated + the rifles, and they told the fellows why they did so. They very kindly + pulled a tarpaulin over the three to protect them in a measure from the + chill night that was close upon them, and they wished them good night and + pleasant dreams, and rode away home. + </p> + <p> + On the way they met Weary and Happy Jack, galloping anxiously to the + battle scene. Slim, it appeared from Weary's rapid explanation, had + arrived at the ranch with his horse in a lather and with a four-inch + furrow in the fleshiest part of his leg, where a bullet had flicked him in + passing. The tale he told had led Weary to believe that Slim was the sole + survivor of that reckless company. + </p> + <p> + “Mamma! I'm so glad to see you boys able to fork your horses and swear + natural, that I don't believe I can speak my little piece about staying on + your own side the fence and letting trouble do some of the hunting,” he + exclaimed thankfully. “I wish you'd stayed at home and left these blamed + Dots alone. But, seeing yuh didn't, I'm tickled to death to hear you + didn't kill anybody off. I don't want the folks to come home and find the + whole bunch in the pen. It might look as if—” + </p> + <p> + “You don't want the folks to come home and find the whole ranch sheeped + off, either, and the herders camping up in the white house, do yuh?” Pink + inquired pointedly. “I kinda think,” he added dryly, “those same herders + will feel like going away around Flying U fences with their sheep. I don't + believe they'll do any cutting across.” + </p> + <p> + “I betche old Dunk'll make it interestin' fer this outfit, just the same,” + Happy Jack predicted. “Tyin' up three men uh hisn, like that, and ropin' + their tent and draggin' it off, ain't things he'll pass up. He'll have a + possy out here—you see if he don't!” + </p> + <p> + “In that case, I'll be sorry for you, Happy,” purred Miguel close beside + him. “You're the only one in the outfit that looks capable of such a vile + deed.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Dunk won't do anything,” Weary said cheerfully. “You'll have to take + those guns back, though. They might take a notion to call that stealing!” + </p> + <p> + “You forget,” the Native Son reminded calmly, “that we left them three + good ropes in exchange.” + </p> + <p> + Whereupon the Happy Family laughed and went to offer their unsought + sympathy to Slim. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER X. The Happy Family Herd Sheep + </h2> + <p> + The boys of the Flying U had many faults in common, aside from certain + individual frailties; one of their chief weaknesses was over-confidence in + their own ability to cope with any situation which might arise, + unexpectedly or otherwise, and a belief that others felt that same + confidence in them, and that enemies were wont to sit a long time counting + the cost before venturing to offer too great an affront. Also they + believed—and made it manifest in their conversation—that they + could even bring the Old Man back to health if they only had him on the + ranch where they could get at him. They maligned the hospitals and Chicago + doctors most unjustly, and were agreed that all he needed was to be back + on the ranch where somebody could look after him right. They asserted + that, if they ever got tired of living and wanted to cash in without using + a gun or anything, they'd go to a hospital and tell the doctors to turn + loose and try to cure them of something. + </p> + <p> + This by way of illustration; also as an explanation of their sleeping + soundly that night, instead of watching for some hostile demonstration on + the part of the Dot outfit. To a man—one never counted Happy Jack's + prophecies of disaster as being anything more than a personal deformity of + thought—they were positive in their belief that the Dot sheepherders + would be very, very careful not to provoke the Happy Family to further + manifestations of disapproval. They knew what they'd get, if they tried + any more funny business, and they'd be mighty careful where they drove + their sheep after this. + </p> + <p> + So, with the comfortable glow of victory in their souls, they laid them + down, and, when the animated discussion of that night's adventure flagged, + as their tongues grew sleep-clogged and their eyelids drooped, they slept + in peace; save when Slim, awakened by the soreness of his leg, grunted a + malediction or two before he began snoring again. + </p> + <p> + They rose and ate their breakfast in a fair humor with the world. One + grows accustomed to the thought of sickness, even when it strikes close to + the affections, and, with the resilience of youth and hope, life adjusts + itself to make room for the specter of fear, so that it does not crowd + unduly, but stands half-forgotten in the background of one's thoughts. For + that reason they no longer spoke soberly because of the Old Man lying hurt + unto death in Chicago. And, when they mentioned the Dot sheep and men, + they spoke as men speak of the vanquished. + </p> + <p> + With the taste of hot biscuits and maple syrup still lingering pleasantly + against their palates, they went out and were confronted with sheep, + blatting sheep, stinking sheep, devastating sheep, Dot sheep. On the south + side of the coulee, up on the bluff, grazed the band. They fed upon the + brow of the hill opposite the ranch buildings; they squeezed under the + fence and spilled a ragged fringe of running, gray animals down the slope. + Half a mile away though the nearest of them were, the murmur of them, the + smell of them, the whole intolerable presence of them, filled the Happy + Family with an amazed loathing too deep for words. + </p> + <p> + Technically, that high, level stretch of land bounding Flying U coulee on + the south was open range. It belonged to the government. The soil was not + fertile enough even for the most optimistic of “dry land” farmers to + locate upon it; and this was before the dry-land farming craze had swept + the country, gathering in all public land as claims. J. G. Whitmore had + contented himself with acquiring title to the whole of the Flying U + coulee, secure in his belief that the old order of things would not + change, in his life-time, at least, and that the unwritten law of the + range land, which leaves the vicinity of a ranch to the use of the ranch + owner, would never be repealed by new customs imposed by a new class of + people. + </p> + <p> + Legally, there was no trespassing of the Dots, beyond the two or three + hundred which had made their way through the fence. Morally, however, and + by right of custom, their offense would not be much greater if they came + on down the hill and invaded the Old Man's pet meadows, just beyond the + “little pasture.” + </p> + <p> + Ladies may read this story, so I am not going to pretend to repeat the + things they said, once they were released from dumb amazement. I should be + compelled to improvise and substitute—which would remove much of the + flavor. Let bare facts suffice, at present. + </p> + <p> + They saddled in haste, and in haste they rode to the scene. This, they + were convinced, was the band herded by the bug-killer and the man from + Wyoming; and the nerve of those two almost excited the admiration of the + Happy Family. It did not, however, deter them from their purpose. + </p> + <p> + Weary, to look at him, was no longer in the mood to preach patience and a + turning of the other cheek. He also made that change of heart manifest in + his speech when Pink, his eyes almost black, rode up close and gritted at + him: + </p> + <p> + “Well, what's the orders now? Want me to go back and get the wire nippers + so we can let them poor little sheep down into the meadow? Maybe we better + ask the herders down to have some of Patsy's grub, too; I don't believe + they had time to cook much breakfast. And it wouldn't be a bad idea to + haze our own stuff clear off the range. I'm afraid Dunk's sheep are going + to fare kinda slim, if we go on letting our cattle eat all the good + grass!” Pink did not often indulge in such lengthy sarcasm, especially + toward his beloved Weary; but his exasperation toward Weary's mild tactics + had been growing apace. + </p> + <p> + Weary's reply, I fear, will have to be omitted. It was terribly unrefined. + </p> + <p> + “I want you boys to spread out, around the whole bunch,” was his first + printable utterance, “and haze these sheep just as far south as they can + get without taking to the river. Don't get all het up chasing 'em yourself—make + the men (Weary did not call them men; he called them something very + naughty) that's paid for it do the driving.” + </p> + <p> + “And, if they don't go,” drawled the smooth voice of the Native Son, “what + shall we do, amigo? Slap them on the wrist?” + </p> + <p> + Weary twisted in the saddle and sent him a baleful glance, which was not + at all like Weary the sunny-hearted. + </p> + <p> + “If you can't figure that out for yourself,” he snapped, “you had better + go back and wipe the dishes for Patsy; and, when that's done, you can pull + the weeds out of his radishes. Maybe he'll give you a nickel to buy candy + with, if you do it good.” Before he faced to the front again his harsh + glance swept the faces of his companions. + </p> + <p> + They were grinning, every man of them, and he knew why. To see him lose + his temper was something of an event with the Happy Family, who used + sometimes to fix the date of an incident by saying, “It was right after + that time Weary got mad, a year ago last fall,” or something of the sort. + He grinned himself, shamefacedly, and told them that they were a bunch of + no-account cusses, anyway, and he'd just about as soon herd sheep himself + as to have to run with such an outfit; which swept his anger from him and + left him his usual self, with but the addition of a purpose from which + nothing could stay him. He was going to settle the sheep question, and he + was going to settle it that day. + </p> + <p> + Only one injunction did he lay upon the Happy Family. “You fellows don't + want to get excited and go to shooting,” he warned, while they were still + out of hearing of the herders. “We don't want Dunk to get anything like + that on us; savvy?” + </p> + <p> + They “savvied,” and they told him so, each after his own individual + manner. + </p> + <p> + “I guess we ought to be able to put the run on a couple of sheepherders, + without wasting any powder,” Pink said loftily, remembering his meeting + with them a few days before. + </p> + <p> + “One thing sure—we'll make a good job of it this time,” promised + Irish, and spurred after Weary, who was leading the way around the band. + </p> + <p> + The herders watched them openly and with the manner of men who are + expecting the worst to happen. Unlike the four whose camp had been laid + low the night before, these two were unarmed, as they had been from the + first; which, in Weary's opinion, was a bit of guile upon the part of + Dunk. If trouble came—trouble which it would take a jury to settle—the + fact that the sheepmen were unarmed would tell heavily in their favor; + for, while the petty meanness of range-stealing and nagging trespass may + be harder to bear than the flourishing of a gun before one's face, it all + sounds harmless enough in the telling. + </p> + <p> + Weary headed straight for the nearest herder, told him to put his dogs to + work rounding up the sheep, which were scattered over an area half a mile + across while they fed, and, when the herder, who was the bug-killer, made + no move to obey, Weary deliberately pulled his gun and pointed at his + head. + </p> + <p> + “You move,” he directed with grim intent, “and don't take too much time + about it, either.” + </p> + <p> + The bug-killer, an unkempt, ungainly figure, standing with his back to the + morning sun, scowled up at Weary stolidly. + </p> + <p> + “Yuh dassent shoot,” he stated sourly, and did not move. + </p> + <p> + For answer, Weary pulled back the hammer; also he smiled as malignantly as + it was in his nature to do, and hoped in his heart that he looked + sufficiently terrifying to convince the man. So they faced each other in a + silent clash of wills. + </p> + <p> + Big Medicine had not been saying much on the way over, which was unusual. + Now he rode forward until he was abreast of Weary, and he grinned down at + the bug-killer in a way to distract his attention from the gun. + </p> + <p> + “Nobody don't have to shoot, by cripes!” he bawled. “We hain't goin' to + kill yuh. We'll make yuh wisht, by cripes, we had, though, b'fore we git + through. Git to work, boys, 'n' gether up some dry grass an' sticks. Over + there in them rose-bushes you oughta find enough bresh. We'll give him a + taste uh what we was talkin' about comm' over, by cripes! I guess he'll be + willin' to drive sheep, all right, when we git through with him. + Haw-haw-haw-w-w!” He leaned forward in the saddle and ogled the bug-killer + with horrid significance. + </p> + <p> + “Git busy with that bresh!” he yelled authoritatively, when a glance + showed him that the Happy Family was hesitating and eyeing him + uncertainly. “Git a fire goin' quick's yuh kin—I'll do the rest. + Down in Coconino county we used to have a way uh fixin' sheepherders—” + </p> + <p> + “Aw, gwan! We don't want no torture business!” remonstrated Happy Jack + uneasily, edging away. + </p> + <p> + “Yuh don't, hey?” Big Medicine turned in the saddle wrathfully and glared. + When he had succeeded in catching Andy Green's eye he winked, and that + young man's face kindled understandingly. “Well, now, you hain't runnin' + this here show. Honest to grandma, I've saw the time when a little + foot-warmin' done a sheepherder a whole lot uh good; and, it looks to me, + by cripes, as if this here feller needed a dose to gentle him down. You + git the fire started. That's all I want you t' do, Happy. Some uh you boys + help me rope him—like him and that other jasper over there done to + Andy. C'mon, Andy—it ain't goin' to take long!” + </p> + <p> + “You bet your sweet life I'll come on!” exclaimed Andy, dismounting + eagerly. “Let me take your rope, Weary. Too bad we haven't got a branding + iron—” + </p> + <p> + “Aw, we don't need no irons.” Big Medicine was also on the ground by then, + and untying his rope. “Lemme git his shoes off once, and I'll show yuh.” + </p> + <p> + The bug-killer lifted his stick, snarling like a mongrel dog when a + stranger tries to drive it out of the house; hurled the stick + hysterically, as Big Medicine, rope in hand, advanced implacably, and, + with a squawk of horror, turned suddenly and ran. After him, bellowing + terribly, lunged Big Medicine, straight through the band like a snowplow, + leaving behind them a wide, open trail. + </p> + <p> + “Say, we kinda overplayed that bet, by gracious,” Andy commented to Weary, + while he watched the chase. “That gazabo's scared silly; let's try the + other one. That torture talk works fine.” + </p> + <p> + In his enthusiasm Andy remounted and was about to lead the way to the + other herder when Big Medicine returned puffing, the bug-killer squirming + in his grasp. “Tell him what yuh want him to do, Weary,” he panted, with + some difficulty holding his limp victim upright by a greasy coat-collar. + “And if he don't fall over himself doin' it, why—by cripes—we'll + take off his shoes!” + </p> + <p> + Whereupon the bug-killer gave another howl and professed himself eager to + drive the sheep—well, what he said was that he would drive them to + that place which ladies dislike to hear mentioned, if the Happy Family + wanted him to. + </p> + <p> + “That's all right, then. Start 'em south, and don't quit till somebody + tells you to.” Weary carefully let down the hammer of his six-shooter and + shoved it thankfully into his scabbard. + </p> + <p> + “Now, you don't want to pile it on quite so thick, next time,” Irish + admonished Big Medicine, when they turned away from watching the + bug-killer set his dogs to work by gestures and a shouted word or two. + “You like to have sent this one plumb nutty.” + </p> + <p> + “I betche Bud gets us all pinched for that,” grumbled Happy Jack. + “Torturing folks is purty darned serious business. You might as well shoot + 'em up decent and be done with it.” + </p> + <p> + “Haw-haw-haw-w-w!” Big Medicine ogled the group mirthfully. “Nobody can't + swear I done a thing, or said a thing. All I said definite was that I'd + take off his shoes. Any jury in the country'd know that would be hull lot + worse fer us than it would fer him, by cripes. Haw-haw-haw-w-w!” + </p> + <p> + “Say, that's right; yuh didn't say nothin', ner do nothin'. By golly, that + was purty slick work, all right!” Slim forgot his sore leg until he + clapped his hand enthusiastically down upon the place as comprehension of + Bud's finesse dawned upon him. He yelped, and the Happy Family laughed + unfeelingly. + </p> + <p> + “You want to be careful and don't try to see through any jokes, Slim, till + that leg uh yours gets well,” Irish bantered, and they laughed the louder. + </p> + <p> + All this was mere byplay; a momentary swinging of their mood to + pleasantry, because they were a temperamentally cheerful lot, and laughter + came to them easily, as it always does to youth and perfect mental and + physical health. Their brief hilarity over Slim's misfortune did not + swerve them from their purpose, nor soften the mood of them toward their + adversaries. They were unsmiling and unfriendly when they reached the man + from Wyoming; and, if they ever behaved like boys let out of school, they + did not show it then. + </p> + <p> + The Wyoming man was wiser than his fellow. He had been given several + minutes grace in which to meditate upon the unwisdom of defiance; and he + had seen the bug-killer change abruptly from sullenness to terror, and + afterward to abject obedience. He did not know what they had said to him, + or what they had done; but he knew the bug-killer was a hard man to + stampede. And he was one man, and they were many; also he judged that, + being human, and this being the third offense of the Dot sheep under his + care, it would be extremely unsafe to trust that their indignation would + vent itself in mere words. + </p> + <p> + Therefore, when Weary told him to get the stragglers back through the + fence and up on the level, he stopped only long enough for a good look at + their faces. After that he called his dogs and crawled through the fence. + </p> + <p> + It really did not require the entire Family to force those sheep south + that morning. But Weary's jaw was set, as was his heart, upon a thorough + cleaning of that particular bit of range; and, since he did not definitely + request any man to turn back, and every fellow there was minded to see the + thing to a finish, they straggled out behind the trailing two thousand—and + never had one bunch of sheep so efficient a convoy. + </p> + <p> + After the first few miles the way grew rough. Sheep lagged, and the + blatting increased to an uproar. Old ewes and yearlings these were mostly, + and there were few to suffer more than hunger and thirst, perhaps. So + Weary was merciless, and drove them forward without a stop until the first + jumble of hills and deep-worn gullies held them back from easy traveling. + </p> + <p> + But the Happy Family had not ridden those breaks for cattle, all these + years, to be hindered by rough going. Weary, when the band stopped and + huddled, blatting incessantly against a sheer wall of sandstone and + gravel, got the herders together and told them what he wanted. + </p> + <p> + “You take 'em down that slope till you come to the second little coulee. + Don't go up the first one—that's a blind pocket. In the second + coulee, up a mile or so, there's a spring creek. You can hold 'em there on + water for half an hour. That's more than any of yuh deserve. Haze 'em down + there.” + </p> + <p> + The herders did not know it, but that second coulee was the rude gateway + to an intricate system of high ridges and winding waterways that would + later be dry as a bleached bone—the real beginning of the bad lands + which border the Missouri river for long, terrible miles. Down there, it + is possible for two men to reach places where they may converse quite + easily across a chasm, and yet be compelled to ride fifteen or twenty + miles, perhaps, in order to shake hands. Yet, even in that scrap-heap of + Nature there are ways of passing deep into the heart of the upheaval. + </p> + <p> + The Happy Family knew those ways as they knew the most complicated figures + of the quadrilles they danced so lightfootedly with the girls of the Bear + Paw country. When they forced the sheep and their herders out of the + coulee Weary had indicated he sent Irish and Pink ahead to point the way, + and he told them to head for the Wash Bowl; which they did with + praiseworthy zeal and scant pity for the sheep. + </p> + <p> + When at last, after a slow, heartbreaking climb up a long, bare ridge, + Pink and Irish paused upon the brow of a slope and let the trail-weary + band spill itself reluctantly down the steep slope beyond, the sun stood + high in the blue above them and their stomachs clamored for food; by which + signs they knew that it must be near noon. + </p> + <p> + When the last sheep had passed, blatting discordantly, down the bluff, + Weary halted the sweating herders for a parting admonition. + </p> + <p> + “We don't aim to deal you any more misery, for a while, if you stay where + you're at. You're only working for a living, like the rest of us—but + I must say I don't admire your trade none. Anyway, I'll send some of your + bunch down here with grub and beds. This is good enough range for sheep. + You keep away from the Flying U and nobody'll bother you. Over there in + them trees,” he added, pointing a gloved finger toward a little grove on + the far side of the basin, “you'll find a cabin, and water. And, farther + down the river there's pretty good grass, in the little bottoms. Now, + git.” + </p> + <p> + The herders looked as if they would enjoy murdering them all, but they did + not say a word. With their dogs at heel they scrambled down the bluff in + the wake of their sheep, and the Happy Family, rolling cigarettes while + they watched them depart, told one another that this settled that bunch; + they wouldn't bed down in the Flying U door-yard that night, anyway. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XI. Weary Unburdens + </h2> + <p> + Hungry with the sharp, gnawing hunger of healthy stomachs accustomed to + regular and generous feeding; tired with the weariness of healthy muscles + pushed past their accustomed limit of action; and hot with the + unaccustomed heat of a blazing day shunted unaccountably into the midst of + soft spring weather, the Happy Family rode out of the embrace of the last + barren coulee and up on the wide level where the breeze swept gratefully + up from the west, and where every day brought with it a deeper tinge of + green into its grassy carpet. + </p> + <p> + Only for this harassment of the Dot sheep, the roundup wagons would be + loaded and ready to rattle abroad over the land. Meadow larks and curlews + and little, pert-eyed ground sparrows called out to them that roundup time + was come. They passed a bunch of feeding Flying U cattle, and flat-ribbed, + bandy-legged calves galloped in brief panic to their mothers and from the + sanctuary of grass-filled paunches watched the riders with wide, + inquisitive eyes. + </p> + <p> + “We ought to be starting out, by now,” Weary observed a bit gloomily to + Andy and Pink, who rode upon either side of him. “The calf crop is going + to be good, if this weather holds on another two weeks or so. But—” + he waved his cigarette disgustedly “—that darned Dot outfit would be + all over the place, if we pulled out on roundup and left 'em the run of + things.” He smoked moodily for a minute. “My religion has changed a lot in + the last few days,” he observed whimsically. “My idea of hell is a place + where there ain't anything but sheep and sheepherders; and cowpunchers + have got to spend thousands uh years right in the middle of the corrals.” + </p> + <p> + “If that's the case, I'm going to quit cussing, and say my prayers every + night,” Andy Green asserted emphatically. + </p> + <p> + “What worries me,” Weary confided, obeying the impulse to talk over his + troubles with those who sympathized, “is how I'm going to keep the work + going along like it ought to, and at the same time keep them Dot sheep + outa the house. Dunk's wise, all right. He knows enough about the cow + business to know we ye got to get out on the range pretty quick, now. And + he's so mean that every day or every half day he can feed his sheep on + Flying U grass, he calls that much to the good. And he knows we won't go + to opening up any real gun-fights if we can get out of it; he counts on + our faunching around and kicking up a lot of dust, maybe—but we + won't do anything like what he'd do, in our places. He knows the Old Man + and Chip are gone, and he knows we've just naturally got to sit back and + swallow our tongues because we haven't any authority. Mamma! It comes + pretty tough, when a low-down skunk like that just banks on your doing the + square thing. He wouldn't do it, but he knows we will; and so he takes + advantage of white men and gets the best of 'em. And if we should happen + to break out and do something, he knows the herders would be the ones to + get it in the neck; and he'd wait till the dust settled, and bob up with + the sheriff—” He waved his hand again with a hopeless gesture. “It + may not look that way on the face of it,” he added gloomily, “but Dunk has + got us right where he wants us. From the way they've been letting sheep on + our land, time and time again, I'd gamble he's just trying to make us so + mad we'll break out. He's got it in for the whole outfit, from the Old Man + and the Little Doctor down to Slim. If any of us boys got into trouble, + the Old Man would spend his last cent to clear us; and Dunk knows that + just as well as he knows the way from the house to the stable. He'd see to + it that it would just about take the Old Man's last cent, too. And he's + using these Dot sheep like you'd use a red flag on a bull, to make us so + crazy mad we'll kill off somebody. + </p> + <p> + “That's why,” he said to them all when he saw that they had ridden up + close that they might hear what he was saying, “I've been hollering so + loud for the meek-and-mild stunt. When I slapped him on the jaw, and he + stood there and took it, I saw his game. He had a witness to swear I hit + him and he didn't hit back. And when I saw them Dots in our field again, I + knew, just as well as if Dunk had told me, that he was kinda hoping we'd + kill a herder or two so he could cinch us good and plenty. I don't say,” + he qualified with a rueful grin, “that Dunk went into the sheep business + just to get r-re-venge, as they say in shows. But if he can make money + running sheep—and he can, all right, because there's more money in + them right now than there is in cattle—and at the same time get a + good whack at the Flying U, he's the lad that will sure make a running + jump at the chance.” He spat upon the burnt end of his cigarette stub from + force of the habit that fear of range fires had built, and cast it + petulantly from him; as if he would like to have been able to throw Dunk + and his sheep problem as easily out of his path. + </p> + <p> + “So I wish you boys would hang onto yourselves when you hear a sheep + blatting under your window,” he summed up his unburdening whimsically. “As + Bud said this morning, you can't hang a man for telling a sheepherder + you'll take off his shoes. And they can't send us over the road for moving + that band of sheep onto new range to-day. Last night you all were kinda + disorderly, maybe, but you didn't hurt anybody, or destroy any property. + You see what I mean. Our only show is to stop with our toes on the right + side of the dead line.” + </p> + <p> + “If Andy, here, would jest git his think-wheels greased and going good,” + Big Medicine suggested loudly, “he ought to frame up something that would + put them Dots on the run permanent. I d'no, by cripes, why it is a feller + can always think uh lies and joshes by the dozens, and put 'em over O. K. + when there ain't nothing to be made out of it except hard feelin's; and + then when a deal like this here sheep deal comes up, he's got about as + many idees, by cripes, as that there line-back calf over there. Honest to + grandma, Andy makes me feel kinda faint. Only time he did have a chanc't, + he let them—” It occurred to Big Medicine at that point that perhaps + his remarks might be construed by the object of them as being offensively + personal. He turned his head and grinned good-naturedly in Andy's + direction, and refrained from finishing what he was going to say. “I sure + do like them wind-flowers scattered all over the ground,” he observed with + such deliberate and ostentatious irrelevance that the Happy Family + laughed, even to Andy Green, who had at first been inclined toward anger. + </p> + <p> + “Everything,” declared Andy in the tone of a paid instructor, “has its + proper time and place, boys; I've told you that before. For instance, I + wouldn't try to kill a skunk by talking it to death; and I wouldn't be + hopeful of putting the run on this Dunk person by telling him ghost + stories. As to ideas—I'm plumb full of them. But they're all about + grub, just right at present.” + </p> + <p> + That started Slim and Happy Jack to complaining because no one had had + sense enough to go back after some lunch before taking that long trail + south; the longer because it was a slow one, with sheep to set the pace. + And by the time they had presented their arguments against the Happy + Family's having enough brains to last them overnight, and the Happy Family + had indignantly pointed out just where the mental deficiency was most + noticeable, they were upon that last, broad stretch of “bench” land beyond + which lay Flying U coulee and Patsy and dinner; a belated dinner, to be + sure, but for that the more welcome. + </p> + <p> + And when they reached the point where they could look away to the very rim + of the coulee, they saw sheep—sheep to the skyline, feeding + scattered and at ease, making the prairie look, in the distance, as if it + were covered with a thin growth of gray sage-brush. Four herders moved + slowly upon the outskirts, and the dogs were little, scurrying, black dots + which stopped occasionally to wait thankfully until the master-minds again + urged them to endeavor. + </p> + <p> + The Happy Family drew up and stared in silence. + </p> + <p> + “Do I see sheep?” Pink inquired plaintively at last. “Tell me, somebody.” + </p> + <p> + “It's that bunch you fellows tackled last night,” said Weary miserably. “I + ought to have had sense enough to leave somebody on the ranch to look out + for this.” + </p> + <p> + “They've got their nerve,” stated Irish, “after the deal they got last + night. I'd have bet good money that you couldn't drag them herders across + Flying U coulee with a log chain.” + </p> + <p> + “Say, by golly, do we have to drive this here bunch anywheres before we + git anything to eat?” Slim wanted to know distressfully. + </p> + <p> + Weary considered briefly. “No, I guess we'll pass 'em up for the present. + An hour or so won't make much difference in the long run, and our horses + are about all in, right now—” + </p> + <p> + “So'm I, by cripes!” Big Medicine attested, grinning mirthlessly. “This + here sheep business is plumb wearin' on a man. 'Specially,” he added with + a fretful note, “when you've got to handle 'em gentle. The things I'd like + to do to them Dots is all ruled outa the game, seems like. Honest to + grandma, a little gore would look better to me right now than a Dutch + picnic before the foam's all blowed off the refreshments. Lemme kill off + jest one herder, Weary?” he pleaded. “The one that took a shot at me las' + night. Purty, please!” + </p> + <p> + “If you killed one,” Weary told him glumly, “you might as well make a + clean sweep and take in the whole bunch.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I won't charge nothin' extra fer that, either,” Bud assured him + generously. “I'm willin' to throw in the other three—and the dawgs, + too, by cripes!” He goggled the Happy Family quizzically. “Nobody can't + say there's anything small about me. Why, down in the Coconino country + they used to set half a dozen greasers diggin' graves, by cripes, soon as + I started in to argy with a man. It was a safe bet they'd need three or + four, anyways, if old Bud cut loose oncet. Sheepherders? Why, they jest + natcherly couldn't keep enough on hand, securely, to run their sheep. They + used to order sheepherders like they did woolsacks, by cripes! You could + always tell when I was in the country, by the number uh extra herders them + sheep outfits always kep' in reserve. Honest to grandma, I've knowed two + or three outfits to club together and ship in a carload at a time, when + they heard I was headed their way. And so when it comes to killin' off + four, why that ain't skurcely enough to make it worth m'while to dirty up + m'gun!” + </p> + <p> + “Aw, I betche yuh never killed a man in your life!” Happy Jack grumbled in + his characteristic tone of disparagement; but such was his respect for Big + Medicine's prowess that he took care not to speak loud enough to be + overheard by that modest gentleman, who continued with certain fearsome + details of alleged murderous exploits of his own, down in Coconino County, + Arizona. + </p> + <p> + But as they passed the detested animals, thankful that the trail permitted + them to ride by at a distance sufficient to blur the most unsavory + details, even Big Medicine gave over his deliberate boastings and relapsed + into silence. + </p> + <p> + He had begun his fantastic vauntings from an instinctive impulse to leaven + with humor a situation which, at the moment, could not be bettered. Just + as they had, when came the news of the Old Man's dire plight, sought to + push the tragedy of it into the background and cling to their creed of + optimism, they had avoided openly facing the sheep complication squarely + with mutual admissions of all it might mean to the Flying U. + </p> + <p> + Until Weary had unburdened his heart of worry on the ride home that day, + they had not said much about it, beyond a general vilification of the + sheep industry as a whole, of Dunk as the chief of the encroaching Dots, + and of the herders personally. + </p> + <p> + But there were times when they could not well avoid thinking rather deeply + upon the subject, even if they did refuse to put their forebodings into + speech. They were not children; neither were they to any degree lacking in + intelligence. Swearing, about herders and at them, was all very well; + bluffing, threatening, pummeling even with willing fists, tearing down + tents and binding men with ropes might serve to relieve the emotions upon + occasion. But there was the grim economic problem which faced squarely the + Flying U as a “cow outfit”—the problem of range and water; the Happy + Family did not call it by name, but they realized to the full what it + meant to the Old Man to have sheep just over his boundary line always. + They realized, too, what it meant to have the Old Man absent at this time—worse, + to have him lying in a hospital, likely to die at any moment; what it + meant to have the whole responsibility shifted to their shoulders, willing + though they might be to bear the burden; what it meant to have the general + of an army gone when the enemy was approaching in overwhelming numbers. + </p> + <p> + Pink, when they were descending the first slope of the bluff which was the + southern rim of Flying U coulee, turned and glared vindictively back at + the wavering, gray blanket out there to the west. When he faced to the + front his face had the look it wore when he was fighting. + </p> + <p> + “So help me, Josephine!” he gritted desperately, “we've got to clean the + range of them Dots before the Old Man comes back, or—” He snapped + his jaws shut viciously. + </p> + <p> + Weary turned haggard eyes toward him. + </p> + <p> + “How?” he asked simply. And Pink had no answer for him. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XII. Two of a Kind + </h2> + <p> + Patsy, staunch old partisan that he was, placed before them much food + which he had tried his best to keep hot without burning everything to a + crisp, and while they ate with ravenous haste he told, with German + epithets and a trembling lower jaw, of his troubles that day. + </p> + <p> + “Dem sheeps, dey coom by der leetle pasture,” he lamented while he poured + coffee muddy from long boiling. “Looks like dey know so soon you ride + away, und dey cooms cheeky as you pleece, und eats der grass und crawls + under der fence and leafs der vool sthicking by der vires. I goes out mit + a club, py cosh, und der sheeps chust looks und valks by some better place + alreatty, und I throw rocks and yells till mine neck iss sore. + </p> + <p> + “Und' dose herders, dey sets dem by der rock and laugh till I felt like I + could kill der whole punch, by cosh! Und von yells, 'Hey, dutchy, pring me + some pie, alreatty!' Und he laughs some more pecause der sheeps dey don't + go avay; dey chust run around und eat more grass and baa-aa!” He turned + and went heavily back to the greasy range with the depleted coffee pot, + lifted the lid of a kettle and looked in upon the contents with a purely + mechanical glance; gave a perfunctory prod or two with a long-handled + fork, and came back to stand uneasily behind Weary. + </p> + <p> + “If you poys are goin' to shtand fer dot,” he began querulously, “Py cosh + I von't! Py myself I vill go and tell dot Dunk W'ittaker vot lowdown skunk + I t'ink he iss. Sheep's vool shtickin' by der fences efferwhere on der + ranch, py cosh! Dot vould sure kill der Old Man quick if he see it. + Shtinkin' off sheeps py our noses all der time, till I can't eat no more + mit der shmell of dem. Neffer pefore did I see vool on der Flying U + fences, py cosh, und sheeps baa-aain' in der coulee!” + </p> + <p> + Never had they seen Patsy take so to heart a matter of mere business + importance. They did not say much to him; there was not much that they + could say. They ate their fill and went out disconsolately to discuss the + thing among themselves, away from Patsy's throaty complainings. They hated + it as badly as did he; with Weary's urgent plea for no violence holding + them in leash, they hated it more, if that were possible. + </p> + <p> + The Native Son tilted his head unobtrusively stableward when he caught + Andy's eye, and as unobtrusively wandered away from the group. Andy + stopped long enough to roll and light a cigarette and then strolled after + him with apparent aimlessness, secretly curious over the summons. He found + Miguel in the stable waiting for him, and Miguel led the way, rope in hand + across the corral and into the little pasture where fed a horse he meant + to ride. He did not say anything until he had turned to close the gate, + and to make sure that they were alone and that their departure had not + carried to the Happy Family any betraying air of significance. + </p> + <p> + “You remember when you blew in here, a few weeks or so ago?” the Native + Son asked abruptly, a twinkle in his fathomless eyes. “You put up a good + one on the boys, that time, you remember. Bluffed them into thinking I was + a hero in disguise, and that you'd seen me pull off a big stunt of + bull-fighting and bull-dogging down in Mexico. It was a fine josh. They + believe it yet.” + </p> + <p> + Andy glanced at him perplexedly. “Yes—but when it turned out to be + true,” he amended, “the josh was on me, I guess; I thought I was just + lying, when I wasn't. I've wondered a good deal about that. By gracious, + it makes a man feel funny to frame up a yarn out of his own think-machine, + and then find out he's been telling the truth all the while. It's like a + fellow handing out a twenty-four karat gold bar to a rube by mistake, + under the impression it only looks like one. Of course they believe it! + Only they don't know I just merely hit the truth by accident.” + </p> + <p> + The Native Son smiled his slow, amused smile, that somehow never failed to + be impressive. “That's the funny part of it,” he drawled. “You didn't. I + just piled another little josh on top of yours, that's all. I never + throwed a bull in my life, except with my lariat. I'd heard a good deal + about you, and—well, I thought I'd see if I could go you one better. + And you put that Mexico yarn across so smooth and easy, I just simply + couldn't resist the temptation to make you think it was all straight + goods. Sabe?” + </p> + <p> + Andy Green did not say a word, but he looked exceedingly foolish. + </p> + <p> + “So I think we can both safely consider ourselves top-hands when it comes + to lying,” the Native Son went on shamelessly. “And if you're willing to + go in with me on it and help put Dunk on the run—” He glanced over + his shoulder, saw that Happy Jack, on horseback, was coming out to haze in + the saddle bunch, and turned to stroll back as lazily as he had come. He + continued to speak smoothly and swiftly, in a voice that would not carry + ten paces. While Andy Green, with brown head bent attentively, listened + eagerly and added a sentence or two on his own account now and then, and + smiled—which he had not been in the habit of doing lately. + </p> + <p> + “Say, you fellers are gittin' awful energetic, ain't yuh?—wranglin' + horses afoot!” Happy Jack bantered at the top of his voice when he passed + them by. “Better save up your strength while you kin. Weary's goin' to set + us herdin' sheep agin—and I betche there's goin' to be something + more'n herdin' on our hands before we git through.” + </p> + <p> + “I wouldn't be a bit surprised if there was,” sang out Andy, as cheerfully + as if he had been invited to dance “Ladies' choice” with the prettiest + girl in the crowd. “Wonder what hole he's going to dump this bunch into,” + he added to the Native Son. “By gracious, he ought to send 'em just as far + north as he can drive 'em without paying duty! I'd sure take 'em over into + Canada, if it was me running the show.” + </p> + <p> + “It was a mistake,” the Native Son volunteered, “for the whole bunch to go + off like we did to-day. They had those sheep up here on the hill just for + a bait. They knew we'd go straight up in the air and come down on those + two freaks herding 'em, and that gave them the chance to cross the other + bunch. I thought so all along, but I didn't like to butt in.” + </p> + <p> + “Well Weary's mad enough now to do things that will leave a dent, anyway,” + Andy commented under his breath when, from the corral gate, he got a good + look at Weary's profile, which showed the set of his mouth and chin. “See + that mouth? It's hunt the top rail, and do it quick, when old Weary + straightens out his lips like that.” + </p> + <p> + Behind them, Happy Jack bellowed for an open gate and no obstructions, and + they drew hastily to one side to let the saddle horses gallop past with a + great upflinging of dust. Pink, with a quite obtrusive facetiousness, + began lustily chanting that it looked to him like a big night to-night—with + occasional, furtive glances at Weary's face; for he, also, had been quick + to read those close-pressed lips, which did not soften in response to the + ditty. Usually he laughed at Pink's drollery. + </p> + <p> + They rode rather quietly upon the hill again, to where fed the sheep. + During the hour or so that they had been absent the sheep had not moved + appreciably; they still grazed close enough to the boundary to make their + position seem a direct insult to the Flying U, a virtual slap in the face. + And these young men who worked for the Flying U, and who made its + interests right loyally their own, were growing very, very tired of + turning the other cheek. With them, the time for profanity and for + horseplay bluffing and judicious temporizing was past. There were other + lips besides Weary's that were drawn tight and thin when they approached + that particular band of sheep. More than one pair of eyes turned + inquiringly toward him and away again when they met no answering look. + </p> + <p> + They topped a rise of ground, and in the shallow wrinkle which had hidden + him until now they came full upon Dunk Whittaker, riding a chunky black + which stepped restlessly about while he conferred in low tones with a + couple of the herders. The Happy Family recognized them as two of the + fellows in whose safe keeping they had left their ropes the night before. + Dunk looked around quickly when the group appeared over the little ridge, + scowled, hesitated and then came straight up to them. + </p> + <p> + “I want you rowdies to bring back those sheep you took the trouble to + drive off this morning,” he began, with the even, grating voice and the + sneering lift of lip under his little, black mustache which the older + members of the Happy Family remembered—and hated—so vividly. + “I've stood just all I'm going to stand, of these typically Flying U + performances you've been indulging in so freely during the past week. It's + all very well to terrorize a neighborhood of long-haired rubes who don't + know enough to teach you your places; but interfering with another man's + property is—” + </p> + <p> + “Interfering with another—what?” Big Medicine, his pale blue eyes + standing out more like a frog's than ever upon his face, gave his horse a + kick and lunged close that he might lean and thrust his red face near to + Dunk's. “Another what? I don't see nothin' in your saddle that looks t'me + like a man, by cripes! All I can see is a smooth-skinned, slippery vermin + I'd hate to name a snake after, that crawls around in the dark and lets + cheap rough-necks do all his dirty work. I've saw dogs sneak up and grab a + man behind, but most always they let out a growl or two first. And even a + rattler is square enough to buzz at yuh and give yuh a chanc't to + side-step him. Honest to grandma, I don't hardly know what kinda reptyle + y'are. I hate to insult any of 'em, by cripes, by namin' yuh after 'em. + But don't, for Lordy's sake, ever call yourself a man agin!” + </p> + <p> + Big Medicine turned his head and spat disgustedly into the grass and + looked back slightingly with other annihilating remarks close behind his + wide-apart teeth, but instead of speaking he made an unbelievably quick + motion with his hand. The blow smacked loudly upon Dunk's cheek, and so + nearly sent him out of the saddle that he grabbed for the horn to save + himself. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I seert yuh keepin' yer hand next yer six-gun all the while,” Big + Medicine bawled. “That's one reason I say yuh ain't no man! Yuh wouldn't + dast talk up to a prairie dog if yuh wasn't all set to make a quick draw. + Yuh got your face slapped oncet before by a Flyin' U man, and yuh had it + comm'. Now you're—gittin'—it—done—right!” + </p> + <p> + If you have ever seen an irate, proletarian mother cuffing her offspring + over an empty wood-box, you may picture perhaps the present proceeding of + Big Medicine. To many a man the thing would have been unfeasible, after + the first blow, because of the horses. But Big Medicine was very nearly + all that he claimed to be; and one of his pet vanities was his + horsemanship; he managed to keep within a fine slapping distance of Dunk. + He stopped when his hand began to sting through his glove. + </p> + <p> + “Now you keep your hand away from that gun—that you ain't honest + enough to carry where folks can see it, but 'ye got it cached in your + pocket!” he thundered. “And go on with what you was goin' t'say. Only + don't get swell-headed enough to think you're a man, agin. You ain't.” + </p> + <p> + “I've got this to say!” Mere type cannot reproduce the malevolence of + Dunk's spluttering speech. “I've sent for the county sheriff and a dozen + deputies to arrest you, and you, and you, damn you!” He was pointing a + shaking finger at the older members of the Happy Family, whom he + recognized not gladly, but too well. “I'll have you all in Deer Lodge + before that lying, thieving, cattle-stealing Old Man of yours can lift a + finger. I'll sheep Flying U coulee to the very doors of the white house. + I'll skin the range between here and the river—and I'll have every + one of you hounds put where the dogs won't bite you!” He drew a hand + across his mouth and smiled as they say Satan himself can smile upon + occasion. + </p> + <p> + “You've done enough to send you all over the road; destroying property and + assaulting harmless men—you wait! There are other and better ways to + fight than with the fists, and I haven't forgotten any of you fellows—there + are a few more rounders among you—” + </p> + <p> + “Hey! You apologize fer that, by cripes, er I'll kill yuh the longest way + I know. And that—” Big Medicine again laid violent hands upon Dunk, + “and that way won't feel good, now I'm tellin' yuh. Apologize, er—” + </p> + <p> + “Say, all this don't do any good, Bud,” Weary expostulated. “Let Dunk + froth at the mouth if he wants to; what we want is to get these sheep off + the range. And,” he added recklessly, “so long as the sheriff is headed + for us anyway, we may as well get busy and make it worth his while. So—” + He stopped, silenced by a most amazing interruption. + </p> + <p> + On the brow of the hill, when first they had sighted Dunk in the hollow, + something had gone wrong with Miguel's saddle so that he had stopped + behind; and, to keep him company, Andy had stopped also and waited for + him. Later, when Dunk was spluttering threats, they had galloped up to the + edge of the group and pulled their horses to a stand. Now, Miguel rode + abruptly close to Dunk as rides one with a purpose. + </p> + <p> + He leaned and peered intently into Dunk's distorted countenance until + every man there, struck by his manner, was watching him curiously. Then he + sat back in the saddle, straightened his legs in the stirrups and laughed. + And like his smile when he would have it so, or the little twitch of + shoulders by which he could so incense a man, that laugh brought a deeper + flush to Dunk's face, reddened though it was by Big Medicine's vigorous + slapping. + </p> + <p> + “Say, you've got nerve,” drawled the Native Son, “to let a sheriff travel + toward you. I can remember when you were more timid, amigo.” He turned his + head until his eyes fell upon Andy. “Say, Andy!” he called. “Come and take + a look at this hombre. You'll have to think back a few years,” he assisted + laconically. + </p> + <p> + In response, Andy rode up eagerly. Like the Native Son, he leaned and + peered into eyes that stared back defiantly, wavered, and turned away. + Andy also sat back in the saddle then, and snorted. + </p> + <p> + “So this is the Dunk Whittaker that's been raising merry hell around here! + And talks about sending for the sheriff, huh? I've always heard that a lot + uh gall is the best disguise a man can hide under, but, by gracious, this + beats the deuce!” He turned to the astounded Happy Family with growing + excitement in his manner. + </p> + <p> + “Boys, we don't have to worry much about this gazabo! We'll just freeze + onto him till the sheriff heaves in sight. Gee! There'll sure be something + stirring when we tell him who this Dunk person really is! And you say he + was in with the Old Man, once? Oh, Lord!” He looked with withering + contempt at Dunk; and Dunk's glance flickered again and dropped, just as + his hand dropped to the pocket of his coat. + </p> + <p> + “No, yuh don't, by cripes!” Big Medicine's hand gripped Dunk's arm on the + instant. With his other he plucked the gun from Dunk's pocket, and + released him as he would let go of something foul which he had been + compelled to touch. + </p> + <p> + “He'll be good, or he'll lose his dinner quick,” drawled the Native Son, + drawing his own silver-mounted six-shooter and resting it upon the saddle + horn so that it pointed straight at Dunk's diaphragm. “You take Weary off + somewhere and tell him something about this deal, Andy. I'll watch this + slippery gentleman.” He smiled slowly and got an answering grin from Andy + Green, who immediately rode a few rods away, with Weary and Pink close + behind. + </p> + <p> + “Say, by golly, what's Dunk wanted fer?” Slim blurted inquisitively after + a short silence. + </p> + <p> + “Not for riding or driving over a bridge faster than a walk Slim,” purred + the Native Son, shifting his gun a trifle as Dunk moved uneasily in the + saddle. “You know the man. Look at his face—and use your + imagination, if you've got any.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIII. The Happy Family Learn Something + </h2> + <p> + “Well, I hope this farce is about over,” Dunk sneered, with as near an + approach to his old, supercilious manner as he could command, when the + three who had ridden apart returned presently. “Perhaps, Weary, you'll be + good enough to have this fellow put up his gun, and these—” he + hesitated, after a swift glance, to apply any epithet whatever to the + Happy Family. “I have two witnesses here to swear that you have without + any excuse assaulted and maligned and threatened me, and you may consider + yourselves lucky if I do not insist—” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, cut that out,” Andy advised wearily. “I don't know how it strikes the + rest, but it sounds pretty sickening to me. Don't overlook the fact that + two of us happen to know all about you; and we know just where to send + word, to dig up a lot more identification. So bluffing ain't going to help + you out, a darned bit.” + </p> + <p> + “Miguel, you can go with Andy,” Weary said with brisk decision. “Take Dunk + down to the ranch till the sheriff gets here—if it's straight goods + about Dunk sending for him. If he didn't, we can take Dunk in to-morrow, + ourselves.” He turned and fixed a cold, commanding eye upon the + slack-jawed herders. “Come along, you two, and get these sheep headed outa + here.” + </p> + <p> + “Say, we'll just lock him up in the blacksmith shop, and come on back,” + Andy amended the order after his own free fashion. “He couldn't get out in + a million years; not after I'm through staking him out to the anvil with a + log-chain.” He smiled maliciously into Dunk's fear-yellowed countenance, + and waved him a signal to ride ahead, which Dunk did without a word of + protest while the Happy Family looked on dazedly. + </p> + <p> + “What's it all about, Weary?” Irish asked, when the three were gone. “What + is it they've got on Dunk? Must be something pretty fierce, the way he + wilted down into the saddle.” + </p> + <p> + “You'll have to wait and ask the boys.” Weary rode off to hurry the + herders on the far side of the band. + </p> + <p> + So the Happy Family remained perforce unenlightened upon the subject and + for that they said hard things about Weary, and about Andy and Miguel as + well. They believed that they were entitled to know the truth, and they + called it a smart-aleck trick to keep the thing so almighty secret. + </p> + <p> + There is in resentment a crisis; when that crisis is reached, and the dam + of repression gives way, the full flood does not always sweep down upon + those who have provoked the disaster. Frequently it happens that perfectly + innocent victims are made to suffer. The Happy Family had been extremely + forbearing, as has been pointed out before. They had frequently come to + the boiling point of rage and had cooled without committing any real act + of violence. But that day had held a long series of petty annoyances; and + here was a really important thing kept from them as if they were mere + outsiders. When Weary was gone, Irish asked Pink what crime Dunk had + committed in the past. And Pink shook his head and said he didn't know. + Irish mentally accused Pink of lying, and his temper was none the better + for the rebuff, as anyone can readily understand. + </p> + <p> + When the herders, therefore, rounded up the sheep and started them moving + south, the Happy Family speedily rebelled against that shuffling, + nibbling, desultory pace that had kept them long, weary hours in the + saddle with the other band. But it was Irish who first took measures to + accelerate that pace. + </p> + <p> + He got down his rope and whacked the loop viciously down across the + nearest gray back. The sheep jumped, scuttled away a few paces and + returned to its nibbling progress. Irish called it names and whacked + another. + </p> + <p> + After a few minutes he grew tired of swinging his loop and seeing it have + so fleeting an effect, and pulled his gun. He fired close to the heels of + a yearling buck that had more than once stopped to look up at him + foolishly and blat, and the buck charged ahead in a panic at the noise and + the spat of the bullet behind him. + </p> + <p> + “Hit him agin in the same place!” yelled Big Medicine, and drew his own + gun. The Happy Family, at that high tension where they were ready for + anything, caught the infection and began shooting and yelling like crazy + men. + </p> + <p> + The effect was not at all what they expected. Instead of adding impetus to + the band, as would have been the case if they had been driving cattle, the + result was exactly the opposite. The sheep ran—but they ran to a + common center. As the shooting went on they bunched tighter and tighter, + until it seemed as though those in the center must surely be crushed flat. + From an ambling, feeding company of animals, they become a lumpy gray + blanket, with here and there a long, vacuous face showing idiotically upon + the surface. + </p> + <p> + The herders grinned and drew together as against a common enemy—or + as with a new joke to be discussed among themselves. The dogs wandered + helplessly about, yelped half-heartedly at the woolly mass, then sat down + upon their haunches and lolled red tongues far out over their pointed + little teeth, and tilted knowing heads at the Happy Family. + </p> + <p> + “Look at the darned things!” wailed Pink, riding twice around the huddle, + almost ready to shed tears of pure rage and helplessness. “Git outa that! + Hi! Woopp-ee!” He fired again and again, and gave the range-old + cattle-yell; the yell which had sent many a tired herd over many a weary + mile; the yell before which had fled fat steers into the stockyards at + shipping time, and up the chutes into the cars; the yell that had + hoarsened many a cowpuncher's voice and left him with a mere croak to + curse his fate with; a yell to bring results—but it did not start + those sheep. + </p> + <p> + The Happy Family, riding furiously round and round, fired every cartridge + they had upon their persons; they said every improper thing they could + remember or invent; they yelled until their eyes were starting from their + sockets; they glued that band of sheep so tight together that dynamite + could scarcely have pried them apart. + </p> + <p> + And the herders, sitting apart with grimy hands clasped loosely over + hunched-up knees, looked on, and talked together in low tones, and + grinned. + </p> + <p> + Irish glanced that way and caught them grinning; caught them pointing + derisively, with heaving shoulders. He swore a great oath and made for + them, calling aloud that he would knock those grins so far in that they + would presently find themselves smiling wrong-side-out from the back of + their heads. + </p> + <p> + Pink, overhearing him, gave a last swat at the waggling tail of a + burrowing buck, and wheeled to overtake Irish and have a hand in reversing + the grins. Big Medicine saw them start, and came bellowing up from the far + side of the huddle like a bull challenging to combat from across a meadow. + Big Medicine did not know what it was all about, but he scented battle, + and that was sufficient. Cal Emmett and Weary, equally ignorant of the + cause, started at a lope toward the trouble center. + </p> + <p> + It began to look as if the whole Family was about to fall upon those + herders and rend them asunder with teeth and nails; so much so that the + herders jumped up and ran like scared cottontails toward the rim of Denson + coulee, a hundred yards or so to the west. + </p> + <p> + “Mamma! I wish we could make the sheep hit that gait and keep it,” + exclaimed Weary, with the first laugh they had heard from him that day. + </p> + <p> + While he was still laughing, there was a shot from the ridge toward which + they were running; the sharp, vicious crack of a rifle. The Happy Family + heard the whistling hum of the bullet, singing low over their heads; quite + low indeed; altogether too low to be funny. And they had squandered all + their ammunition on the prairie sod, to hurry a band of sheep that flatly + refused to hurry anywhere except under one another's odorous, perspiring + bodies. + </p> + <p> + From the edge of the coulee the rifle spoke again. A tiny geyser of dust, + spurting up from the ground ten feet to one side of Cal Emmett, showed + them all where the bullet struck. + </p> + <p> + “Get outa range, everybody!” yelled Weary, and set the example by tilting + his rowels against Glory's smooth hide, and heading eastward. “I like to + be accommodating, all right, but I draw the line on standing around for a + target while my neighbors practise shooting.” + </p> + <p> + The Happy Family, having no other recourse, therefore retreated in haste + toward the eastern skyline. Bullets followed them, overtook them as the + shooter raised his sights for the increasing distance, and whined + harmlessly over their heads. All save one. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIV. Happy Jack + </h2> + <p> + Big Medicine, Irish and Pink, racing almost abreast, heard a scream behind + them and pulled up their horses with short, stiff-legged plunges. A brown + horse overtook them; a brown horse, with Happy Jack clinging to the + saddle-horn, his body swaying far over to one side. Even as he went + hurtling past them his hold grew slack and he slumped, head foremost, to + the ground. The brown horse gave a startled leap away from him and went on + with empty stirrups flapping. + </p> + <p> + They sprang down and lifted him to a less awkward position, and Big + Medicine pillowed the sweat-dampened, carroty head in the hollow of his + arm. Those who had been in the lead looked back startled when the brown + horse tore past them with that empty saddle; saw what had happened, + wheeled and galloped back. They dismounted and stood silently grouped + about poor, ungainly Happy Jack, lying there limp and motionless in Big + Medicine's arms. Not one of them remembered then that there was a man with + a rifle not more than two hundred yards away; or, if they did, they quite + forgot that the rifle might be dangerous to themselves. They were thinking + of Happy Jack. + </p> + <p> + Happy Jack, butt of all their jokes and jibes; Happy the croaker, the + lugubrious forecaster of trouble; Happy Jack, the ugliest, the stupidest, + the softest-hearted man of them all. He had “betched” there would be + someone killed, over these Dot sheep; he had predicted trouble of every + conceivable kind; and they had laughed at him, swore at him, lied to him, + “joshed” him unmercifully, and kept him in a state of chronic indignation, + never dreaming that the memory of it would choke them and strike them dumb + with that horrible, dull weight in their chests with which men suffer when + a woman would find the relief of weeping. + </p> + <p> + “Where's he hurt?” asked Weary, in the repressed tone which only tragedy + can bring into a man's voice, and knelt beside Big Medicine. + </p> + <p> + “I dunno—through the lungs, I guess; my sleeve's gitting soppy right + under his shoulder.” Big Medicine did not bellow; his voice was as quiet + as Weary's. + </p> + <p> + Weary looked up briefly at the circle of staring faces. “Pink, you pile + onto Glory and go wire for a doctor. Try Havre first; you may get one up + on the nine o' clock train. If you can't, get one down on the + 'leven-twenty, from Great Falls. Or there's Benton—anyway, git one. + If you could catch MacPherson, do it. Try him first, and never mind a + Havre doctor unless you can't get MacPherson. I'd rather wait a couple of + hours longer, for him. I'll have a rig—no, you better get a team + from Jim. They'll be fresh, and you can put 'em through. If you kill 'em,” + he added grimly, “we can pay for 'em.” He had his jack-knife out, and was + already slashing carefully the shirt of Happy Jack, that he might inspect + the wound. + </p> + <p> + Pink gave a last, wistful look at Happy Jack's face, which seemed + unfamiliar with all the color and all the expression wiped out of it like + that, and turned away. “Come and help me change saddles, Cal,” he said + shortly. “Weary's stirrups are too darned long.” Even with the delay, he + was mounted on Glory and galloping toward Flying U coulee before Weary was + through uncovering the wound; and that does not mean that Weary was slow. + </p> + <p> + The rifle cracked again, and a bullet plucked into the sod twenty feet + beyond the circle of men and horses. But no one looked up or gave any + other sign of realization that they were still the target; they were + staring, with that frowning painfully intent look men have at such + moments, at a purplish hole not much bigger than if punched by a lead + pencil, just under the point of Happy Jack's shoulder blade; and at the + blood oozing sluggishly from it in a tiny stream across the girlishly + white flesh and dripping upon Big Medicine's arm. + </p> + <p> + “Hadn't we better get a rig to take him home with?” Irish suggested. + </p> + <p> + Weary, exploring farther, had just disclosed a ragged wound under the arm + where the bullet had passed out; he made no immediate reply. + </p> + <p> + “Well, he ain't got it stuck inside of 'im, anyway,” Big Medicine + commented relievedly. “Don't look to me like it's so awful bad—went + through kinda anglin', and maybe missed his lungs. I've saw men shot up + before—” + </p> + <p> + “Aw—I betche you'd—think it was bad—if you had it—” + murmured Happy Jack peevishly, lifting his eyelids heavily for a resentful + glance when they moved him a little. But even as Big Medicine grinned + joyfully down at him he went off again into mental darkness, and the grin + faded into solicitude. + </p> + <p> + “You'd kick, by golly, if you was goin' to be hung,” Slim bantered tritely + and belatedly, and gulped remorsefully when he saw that he was “joshing” + an unconscious man. + </p> + <p> + “We better get him home. Irish, you—” Weary looked up and discovered + that Irish and jack Bates were already headed for home and a conveyance. + He gave a sigh of approval and turned his attention toward wiping the + sweat and grime from Happy's face with his handkerchief. + </p> + <p> + “Somebody else is goin' to git hit, by golly, if we stay here,” Slim + blurted suddenly, when another bullet dug up the dirt in that vicinity. + </p> + <p> + “That gol-darned fool'll keep on till he kills somebody. I wisht I had m' + thirty-thirty here—I'd make him wisht his mother was a man, by + golly!” + </p> + <p> + Big Medicine looked toward the coulee rim. “I ain't got a shell left,” he + growled regretfully. “I wisht we'd thought to tell the boys to bring them + rifles. Say, Slim, you crawl onto your hoss and go git 'em. It won't take + more'n a minute. There'll likely be some shells in the magazines.” + </p> + <p> + “Go on, Slim,” urged Weary grimly. “We've got to do something. They can't + do a thing like this—” he glanced down at Happy Jack— “and get + away with it.” + </p> + <p> + “I got half a box uh shells for my thirty-thirty, I'll bring that.” Slim + turned to go, stopped short and stared at the coulee rim. “By golly, + they're comm' over here!” he exclaimed. + </p> + <p> + Big Medicine glanced up, took off his hat, crumpled it for a pillow and + eased Happy Jack down upon it. He got up stiffly, wiped his fingers + mechanically upon his trouser legs, broke his gun open just to make sure + that it was indeed empty, put it back and picked up a handful of rocks. + </p> + <p> + “Let 'em come,” he said viciously. “I c'n kill every damn' one with m' + bare hands!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XV. Oleson + </h2> + <p> + “Say, ain't that Andy and Mig following along behind?” Cal asked after a + minute of watching the approach. “Sure, it is. Now what—” + </p> + <p> + “They're drivin' 'em, by cripes!” Big Medicine, under the stress of the + moment, returned to his usual bellowing tone. “Who's that tall, lanky + feller in the lead? I don't call to mind ever seem him before. Them four + herders I'd know a mile off.” + </p> + <p> + “That?” Weary shaded his eyes with his hat-brim, against the slant rays of + the westering sun. “That's Oleson, Dunk's partner.” + </p> + <p> + “His mother'd be a-weepin',” Big Medicine observed bodefully, “if she + knowed what was due to happen to her son right away quick. Must be him + that done the shootin'.” + </p> + <p> + They came on steadily, the four herders and Oleson walking reluctantly + ahead, with Andy Green and the Native Son riding relentlessly in the rear, + their guns held unwaveringly in a line with the backs of their captives. + Andy was carrying a rifle, evidently taken from one of the men—Oleson, + they judged for the guilty one. Half the distance was covered when Andy + was seen to turn his head and speak briefly with the Native Son, after + which he lunged past the captives and galloped up to the waiting group. + His quick eye sought first the face of Happy Jack in anxious questioning; + then, miserably, he searched the faces of his friends. + </p> + <p> + “Good Lord!” he exclaimed mechanically, dismounted and bent over the + figure on the ground. For a long minute he knelt there; he laid his ear + close to Happy Jack's mouth, took off his glove and laid his hand over + Happy's heart; reached up, twitched off his neckerchief, shook out the + creases and spread it reverently over Happy Jack's face. He stood up then + and spoke slowly, his eyes fixed upon the stumbling approach of the + captives. + </p> + <p> + “Pink told us Happy had been shot, so we rode around and come up behind + 'em. It was a cinch. And—say, boys, we've got the Dots in a pocket. + They've got to eat outa our hands, now. So don't think about—our own + feelings, or about—” he stopped abruptly and let a downward glance + finish the sentence. “We've got to keep our own hands clean, and—now + don't let your fingers get the itch, Bud!” This, because of certain + manifestations of a murderous intent on the part of Big Medicine. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, it's all right to talk, if yuh feel like talking,” Big Medicine + retorted savagely. “I don't.” He made a catlike spring at the foremost + man, who happened to be Oleson, and got a merciless grip with his fingers + on his throat, snarling like a predatory animal over its kill. From + behind, Andy, with Weary to help, pulled him off. + </p> + <p> + “I didn't mean to—to kill anybody,” gasped Oleson, pasty white. “I + heard a lot of shooting, and so I ran up the hill—and the herders + came running toward me, and I thought I was defending my property and men. + I had a right to defend—” + </p> + <p> + “Defend hell!” Big Medicine writhed in the restraining grasp of those who + held him. “Look at that there! As good hearted a boy as ever turned a cow! + Never harmed a soul in 'is life. Is all your dirty, stinkin' sheep, an' + all your lousy herders, worth that boy's life? Yuh shot 'im down like a + dog—lemme go, boys.” His voice was husky. “Lemme tromp the life outa + him.” + </p> + <p> + “I thought you were killing my men, or I never—I never meant to—to + kill—” Oleson, shaking till he could scarcely stand, broke down and + wept; wept pitiably, hysterically, as men of a certain fiber will weep + when black tragedy confronts them all unawares. He cowered miserably + before the Happy Family, his face hidden behind his two hands. + </p> + <p> + “Boys, I want to say a word or two. Come over here.” Andy's voice, quiet + as ever, contrasted strangely with the man's sobbing. He led them back a + few paces—Weary, Cal, Big Medicine and Slim, and spoke hurriedly. + The Native Son eyed them sidelong from his horse, but he was careful to + keep Oleson covered with his gun—and the herders too, although they + were unarmed. Once or twice he glanced at that long, ungainly figure in + the grass with the handkerchief of Andy Green hiding the face except where + a corner, fluttering in the faint breeze which came creeping out of the + west, lifted now and then and gave a glimpse of sunbrowned throat and a + quiet chin and mouth. + </p> + <p> + “Quit that blubbering, Oleson, and listen here.” Andys voice broke + relentlessly upon the other's woe. “All these boys want to hang yuh + without any red tape; far as I'm concerned, I'm dead willing. But we're + going to give yuh a chance. Your partner, as we told yuh coming over, + we've got the dead immortal cinch on, right now. And—well you can + see what you're up against. But we'll give yuh a chance. Have you got any + family?” + </p> + <p> + Oleson, trying to pull himself together, shook his head. + </p> + <p> + “Well, then, you can get rid of them sheep, can't yuh? Sell 'em, ship 'em + outa here—we don't give a darn what yuh do, only so yuh get 'em off + the range.” + </p> + <p> + “Y-yes, I'll do that.” Oleson's consent was reluctant, but it was fairly + prompt. “I'll get rid of the sheep,” he said, as if he was minded to + clinch the promise. “I'll do it at once.” + </p> + <p> + “That's nice.” Andy spoke with grim irony. “And you'll get rid of the + ranch, too. You'll sell it to the Flying U—cheap.” + </p> + <p> + “But my partner—Whittaker might object—” + </p> + <p> + “Look here, old-timer. You'll fix that part up; you'll find a way of + fixing it. Look here—at what you're up against.” He waited, with + pointing finger, for one terrible minute. “Will you sell to the Flying U?” + </p> + <p> + “Y-yes!” The word was really a gulp. He tried to avoid looking where Andy + pointed; failed, and shuddered at what he saw. + </p> + <p> + “I thought you would. We'll get that in writing. And we're going to wait + just exactly twenty-four hours before we make a move. It'll take some fine + work, but we'll do it. Our boss, here, will fix up the business end with + you. He'll go with yuh right now, and stay with yuh till you make good. + And the first crooked move you make—” Andy, in unconscious imitation + of the Native Son, shrugged a shoulder expressively and urged Weary by a + glance to take the leadership. + </p> + <p> + “Irish, you come with me. The rest of you fellows know about what to do. + Andy, I guess you'll have to ride point till I get back.” Weary hesitated, + looked from Happy Jack to Oleson and the herders, and back to the sober + faces of his fellows. “Do what you can for him, boys—and I wish one + of you would ride over, after Pink gets back, and—let me know how + things stack up, will you?” + </p> + <p> + Incredible as was the situation on the face of it, nevertheless it was + extremely matter-of-fact in the handling; which is the way sometimes with + incredible situations; as if, since we know instinctively that we cannot + rise unprepared to the bigness of its possibilities, we keep our feet + planted steadfastly on the ground and refuse to rise at all. And + afterward, perhaps, we look back and wonder how it all came about. + </p> + <p> + At the last moment Weary turned back and exchanged guns with Andy Green, + because his own was empty and he realized the possible need of one—or + at least the need of having the sheep-men perfectly aware that he had one + ready for use. The Native Son, without a word of comment, handed his own + silver-trimmed weapon over to Irish, and rolled a cigarette deftly with + one hand while he watched them ride away. + </p> + <p> + “Does this strike anybody else as being pretty raw?” he inquired calmly, + dismounting among them. “I'd do a good deal for the outfit, myself; but + letting that man get off—Say, you fellows up this way don't think + killing a man amounts to much, do you?” He looked from one to the other + with a queer, contemptuous hostility in his eyes. + </p> + <p> + Andy Green took a forward step and laid a hand familiarly on his rigid + shoulder. “Quit it, Mig. We would do a lot for the outfit; that's the + God's truth. And I played the game right up to the hilt, I admit. But + nobody's killed. I told Happy to play dead. By gracious, I caught him just + in the nick uh time; he'd been setting up, in another minute.” To prove + it, he bent and twitched the handkerchief from the face of Happy Jack, and + Happy opened his eyes and made shift to growl. + </p> + <p> + “Yuh purty near-smothered me t'death, darn yuh.” + </p> + <p> + “Dios!” breathed the Native Son, for once since they knew him jolted out + of his eternal calm. “God, but I'm glad!” + </p> + <p> + “I guess the rest of us ain't,” insinuated Andy softly, and lifted his hat + to wipe the sweat off his forehead. “I will say that—” After all, he + did not. Instead, he knelt beside Happy Jack and painstakingly adjusted + the crumpled hat a hair's breadth differently. + </p> + <p> + “How do yuh feel, old-timer?” he asked with a very thin disguise of + cheerfulness upon the anxiety of his tone. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I could feel a lot—better, without hurtin' nothin,” Happy + Jack responded somberly. “I hope you fellers—feel better, now. Yuh + got 'em—tryin' to murder—the hull outfit; jes' like I—told + yuh they would—” Gunshot wounds, contrary to the tales of certain + sentimentalists, do not appreciably sweeten, or even change, a man's + disposition. Happy Jack with a bullet hole through one side of him was + still Happy Jack. + </p> + <p> + “Aw, quit your beefin',” Big Medicine advised gruffly. “A feller with a + hole in his lung yuh could throw a calf through sideways ain't got no + business statin' his views on nothin', by cripes!” + </p> + <p> + “Aw gwan. I thought you said—it didn't amount t' nothin',” Happy + reminded him, anxiety stealing into his face. + </p> + <p> + “Well, it don't. May lay yuh up a day or two; wouldn't be su'prised if yuh + had to stay on the bed-ground two or three meals. But look at Slim, here. + Shot through the leg—shattered a bone, by cripes!—las' night, + only; and here he's makin' a hand and ridin' and cussin' same as any of us + t'day. We ain't goin' to let yuh grouch around, that's all. We claim we + got a vacation comm' to us; you're shot up, now, and that's fun enough for + one man, without throwin' it into the whole bunch. Why, a little nick like + that ain't nothin'; nothin' a-tall. Why, I've been shot right through + here, by cripes”—Big Medicine laid an impressive finger-tip on the + top button of his trousers—“and it come out back here”—he + whirled and showed his thumb against the small of his back—“and I + never laid off but that day and part uh the next. I was sore,” he + admitted, goggling Happy Jack earnestly, “but I kep' a-goin'. I was right + in fall roundup, an' I had to. A man can't lay down an' cry, by cripes, + jes' because he gets pinked a little—” + </p> + <p> + “Aw, that's jest because—it ain't you. I betche you'd lay 'em down—jest + like other folks, if yuh got shot—through the lungs. That ain't no—joke, + lemme tell yuh!” Happy Jack was beginning to show considerable spirit for + a wounded man. So much spirit that Andy Green, who had seen men stricken + down with various ills, read fever signs in the countenance and in the + voice of Happy, and led Big Medicine somewhat peremptorily out of + ear-shot. + </p> + <p> + “Ain't you got any sense?” he inquired with fine candor. “What do you want + to throw it into him like that, for? You may not think so, but he's pretty + bad off—if you ask me.” + </p> + <p> + Big Medicine's pale eyes turned commiseratingly toward Happy Jack. “I know + he is; I ain't no fool. I was jest tryin' to cheer 'im up a little. He was + beginnin' to look like he was gittin' scared about it; I reckon maybe I + made a break, sayin' what I did about it, so I jest wanted to take the + cuss off. Honest to gran'ma—” + </p> + <p> + “If you know anything at all about such things, you must know what fever + means in such a case. And, recollect, it's going to be quite a while + before a doctor can get here.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I'll be careful. Maybe I did throw it purty strong; I won't, no + more.” Big Medicine s meekness was not the least amazing incident of the + day. He was a big-hearted soul under his bellow and bluff, and his + sympathy for Happy Jack struck deep. He went back walking on his toes, and + he stood so that his sturdy body shaded Happy Jack's face from the sun, + and he did not open his mouth for another word until Irish and Jack Bates + came rattling up with the spring wagon hurriedly transformed with + mattress, pillows and blankets into an ambulance. + </p> + <p> + They had been thoughtful to a degree. They brought with them a jug of + water and a tin cup, and they gave Happy Jack a long, cooling drink of it + and bathed his face before they lifted him into the wagon. And of all the + hands that ministered to his needs, the hands of Big Medicine were the + eagerest and gentlest, and his voice was the most vibrant with sympathy; + which was saying a good deal. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVI. The End of the Dots + </h2> + <p> + Slim may not have been more curious than his fellows, but he was perhaps + more single-hearted in his loyalty to the outfit. To him the shooting of + Happy Jack, once he felt assured that the wound was not necessarily fatal, + became of secondary importance. It was all in behalf of the Flying U; and + if the bullet which laid Happy Jack upon the ground was also the means of + driving the hated Dots from that neighborhood, he felt, in his slow, + phlegmatic way, that it wasn't such a catastrophe as some of the others + seemed to think. Of course, he wouldn't want Happy to die; but he didn't + believe, after all, that Happy was going to do anything like that. Old + Patsy knew a lot about sickness and wounds. (Who can cook for a cattle + outfit, for twenty years and more, and not know a good deal of hurts?) Old + Patsy had looked Happy over carefully, and had given a grin and a snort. + </p> + <p> + “Py cosh, dot vos lucky for you, alreatty,” he had pronounced. “So you + don't git plood-poisonings, mit fever, you be all right pretty soon. You + go to shleep, yet. If fix you oop till der dochtor he cooms. I seen + fellers shot plumb through der middle off dem, und git yell. You ain't + shot so bad. You go to shleep.” + </p> + <p> + So, his immediate fears relieved, Slim's slow mind had swung back to the + Dots, and to Oleson, whom Weary was even now assisting to keep his promise + (Slim grinned widely to himself when he thought of the abject fear which + Oleson had displayed because of the murder he thought he had done, while + Happy Jack obediently “played dead”). And of Dunk, whom Slim had hated + most abominably of old; Dunk, a criminal found out; Dunk, a prisoner right + there on the very ranch he had thought to despoil; Dunk, at that very + moment locked in the blacksmith shop. Perhaps it was not curiosity alone + which sent him down there; perhaps it was partly a desire to look upon + Dunk humbled—he who had trodden so arrogantly upon the necks of + those below him; so arrogantly that even Slim, the slow-witted one, had + many a time trembled with anger at his tone. + </p> + <p> + Slim walked slowly, as was his wont; with deadly directness, as was his + nature. The blacksmith shop was silent, closed—as grimly + noncommittal as a vault. You might guess whatever you pleased about its + inmate; it was like trying to imagine the emotions pictured upon the face + behind a smooth, black mask. Slim stopped before the closed door and + listened. The rusty, iron hasp attracted his slow gaze, at first puzzling + him a little, making him vaguely aware that something about it did not + quite harmonize with his mental attitude toward it. It took him a full + minute to realize that he had expected to find the door locked, and that + the hasp hung downward uselessly, just as it hung every day in the year. + </p> + <p> + He remembered then that Andy had spoken of chaining Dunk to the anvil. + That would make it unnecessary to lock the door, of course. Slim seized + the hanging strip of iron, gave it a jerk and bathed all the dingy + interior with a soft, sunset glow. Cobwebs quivered at the inrush of the + breeze, and glistened like threads of fine gold. The forge remained a dark + blot in the corner. A new chisel, lying upon the earthen floor, became a + bar of yellow light. + </p> + <p> + Slim's eyes went to the anvil and clung there in a widening stare. His + hands, white and soft when his gloves were off, drew up convulsively into + fighting fists, and as he stood looking, the cords swelled and stood out + upon his thick neck. For years he had hated Dunk Whittaker— + </p> + <p> + The Happy Family, with rare good sense, had not hesitated to turn the + white house into an impromptu hospital. They knew that if the Little + Doctor and Chip and the Old Man had been at home Happy Jack would have + been taken unquestioningly into the guest chamber—which was a + square, three-windowed room off the big livingroom. More than one of them + had occupied it upon occasion. They took Happy Jack up there and put him + to bed quite as a matter-of-course, and when he was asleep they lingered + upon the wide, front porch; the hammock of the Little Doctor squeaked + under the weight of Andy Green, and the wide-armed chairs received the + weary forms of divers young cowpunchers who did not give a thought to the + intrusion, but were thankful for the comfort. Andy was swinging + luxuriously and drawing the last few puffs from a cigarette when Slim, + purple and puffing audibly, appeared portentously before him. + </p> + <p> + “I thought you said you was goin' to lock Dunk up in the blacksmith shop,” + he launched accusingly at Andy. + </p> + <p> + “We did,” averred that young man, pushing his toe against the railing to + accelerate the voluptuous motion of the hammock. + </p> + <p> + “He ain't there. He's broke loose. The chain—by golly, yuh went an' + used that chain that was broke an' jest barely hangin' together! His horse + ain't anywheres around, either. You fellers make me sick. Lollin' around + here an' not paying no attention, by golly—he's liable to be ten + mile from here by this time!” When Slim stopped, his jaw quivered like a + dish of disturbed jelly, and I wish I could give you his tone; choppy, + every sentence an accusation that should have made those fellows wince. + </p> + <p> + Irish, Big Medicine and Jack Bates had sprung guiltily to their feet and + started down the steps. The drawling voice of the Native Son stopped them, + ten feet from the porch. + </p> + <p> + “Twelve, or fifteen, I should make it. That horse of his looked to me like + a drifter.” + </p> + <p> + “Well—are yuh goin' t' set there on your haunches an' let him GO?” + Slim, by the look of him, was ripe for murder. + </p> + <p> + “You want to look out, or you'll get apoplexy sure,” Andy soothed, giving + himself another luxurious push and pulling the last, little whiff from his + cigarette before he threw away the stub. “Fat men can't afford to get as + excited as skinny ones can.” + </p> + <p> + “Aw, say! Where did you put him, Andy?” asked Big Medicine, his first + flurry subsiding before the absolute calm of those two on the porch. + </p> + <p> + “In the blacksmith shop,” said Andy, with a slurring accent on the first + word that made the whole sentence perfectly maddening. “Ah, come on back + here and sit down. I guess we better tell 'em the how of it. Huh, Mig?” + </p> + <p> + Miguel cast a slow, humorous glance over the four. “Ye-es—they'll + have us treed in about two minutes if we don't,” he assented. “Go ahead.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” Andy lifted his head and shoulders that he might readjust a pillow + to his liking, “we wanted him to make a getaway. Fact is, if he hadn't, + we'd have been—strictly up against it. Right! If he hadn't—how + about it, Mig? I guess we'd have been to the Little Rockies ourselves.” + </p> + <p> + “You've got a sweet little voice,” Irish cut in savagely, “but we're + tired. We'd rather hear yuh say something!” + </p> + <p> + “Oh—all right. Well, Mig and I just ribbed up a josh on Dunk. I'd + read somewhere about the same kinda deal, so it ain't original; I don't + lay any claim to the idea at all; we just borrowed it. You see, it's like + this: We figured that a man as mean as this Dunk person most likely had + stepped over the line, somewhere. So we just took a gambling chance, and + let him do the rest. You see, we never saw him before in our lives. All + that identification stunt of ours was just a bluff. But the minute I + shoved my chips to the center, I knew we had him dead to rights. You were + there. You saw him wilt. By gracious—” + </p> + <p> + “Yuh don't know anything against him?” gasped Irish. + </p> + <p> + “Not a darned thing—any more than what you all know,” testified Andy + complacently. + </p> + <p> + It took a minute or two for that to sink in. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I'll be damned!” breathed Irish. + </p> + <p> + “We did chain him to the anvil,” Andy went on. “On the way down, we talked + about being in a hurry to get back to you fellows, and I told Mig—so + Dunk could hear—that we wouldn't bother with the horse. We tied him + to the corral. And I hunted around for that bum chain, and then we made + out we couldn't find the padlock for the door; so we decided, right out + loud, that he'd be dead safe for an hour or two, till the bunch of us got + back. Not knowing a darn thing about him, except what you boys have told + us, we sure would have been in bad if he hadn't taken a sneak. Fact is, we + were kinda worried for fear he wouldn't have nerve enough to try it. We + waited, up on the hill, till we saw him sneak down to the corral and jump + on his horse and take off down the coulee like a scared coyote. It was,” + quoth the young man, unmistakably pleased with himself, “pretty smooth + work, if you ask me.” + </p> + <p> + “I'd hate to ride as fast and far to-night as that hombre will,” + supplemented Miguel with his brief smile, that was just a flash of white, + even teeth and a momentary lightening of his languorous eyes. + </p> + <p> + Slim stood for five minutes, a stolid, stocky figure in the midst of a + storm of congratulatory comment. They forgot all about Happy Jack, asleep + inside the house, and so their voices were not hushed. Indeed, Big + Medicine's bull-like remarks boomed full-throated across the coulee and + were flung back mockingly by the barren hills. Slim did not hear a word + they were saying; he was thinking it over, with that complete mental + concentration which is the chief recompense of a slow-working mind. He was + methodically thinking it all out—and, eventually, he saw the joke. + </p> + <p> + “Well, by golly!” he bawled suddenly, and brought his palm down with a + terrific smack upon his sore leg—whereat his fellows laughed + uproariously. + </p> + <p> + “We told you not to try to see through any more jokes till your leg gets + well, Slim,” Andy reminded condescendingly. + </p> + <p> + “Say, by golly, that's a good one on Dunk, ain't it? Chasin' himself clean + outa the country, by golly—scared plumb to death—-and you + fellers was only jest makin' b'lieve yuh knowed him! By golly, that sure + is a good one, all right!” + </p> + <p> + “You've got it; give you time enough and you could see through a + barbed-wire fence,” patronized Andy, from the hammock. “Yes, since you + mention it, I think myself it ain't so bad.” + </p> + <p> + “Aw-w shut up, out there, an' let a feller sleep!” came a querulous voice + from within. “I'd ruther bed down with a corral full uh calves at weanin' + time, than be anywheres within ten mile uh you darned, mouthy—” The + rest was indistinguishable, but it did not matter. The Happy Family, save + Slim, who stayed to look after the patient, tiptoed penitently off the + porch and took themselves and their enthusiasm down to the bunk-house. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVII. Good News + </h2> + <p> + Pink rolled over in his bed so that he might look—however sleepily—upon + his fellows, dressing more or less quietly in the cool dawn-hour. + </p> + <p> + “Say, I got a letter for you, Weary,” he yawned, stretching both arms + above his head. “I opened it and read it; it was from Chip, so—” + </p> + <p> + “What did he have to say?” + </p> + <p> + “Old Man any better?” + </p> + <p> + “How they comm', back here?” + </p> + <p> + Several voices, speaking at once, necessitated a delayed reply. + </p> + <p> + “They'll be here, to-day or to-morrow,” Pink replied without any + circumlocution whatever, while he fumbled in his coat pocket for the + letter. “He says the Old Man wants to come, and the doctors think he might + as well tackle it as stay there fussing over it. They're coming in a + special car, and we've got to rig up an outfit to meet him. The Little + Doctor tells just how she wants things fixed. I thought maybe it was + important—it come special delivery,” Pink added naively, “so I just + played it was mine and read it.” + </p> + <p> + “That's all right, Cadwalloper,” Weary assured him while he read hastily + the letter. “Well, we'll fix up the spring wagon and take it in right + away; somebody's got to go back anyway, with MacPherson. Hello, Cal; how's + Happy?” + </p> + <p> + “All right,” answered Cal, who had watched over him during the night and + came in at that moment after someone to take his place in the sickroom. + “Waked up on the fight because I just happened to be setting with my eyes + shut. I wasn't asleep, but he said I was; claimed I snored so loud I kept + him awake all night. Gee whiz! I'd ruther nurse a she bear with the + mumps!” + </p> + <p> + “Old Man's coming home, Cal.” Pink announced with more joy in his tone and + in his face than had appeared in either for many a weary day. Whereupon + Cal gave an exultant whoop. “Go tell that to Happy,” he shouted. “Maybe + he'll forget a grouch or two. Say, luck seems to be kinda casting loving + glances our way again—what?” + </p> + <p> + “By golly, seems to me Pink oughta told us when he come in, las' night,” + grumbled Slim, when he could make himself heard. + </p> + <p> + “You were all dead to the world,” Pink defended, “and I wanted to be. Two + o'clock in the morning is a mighty poor time for elegant conversation, if + you want my opinion.” + </p> + <p> + “And the main point is, you knew all about it, and you didn't give a darn + whether we did or not,” Irish said bluntly. “And Weary sneaked in, too, + and never let a yip outa him about things over in Denson coulee.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, what was the use?” asked Weary blandly. “I got an option out of + Oleson for the ranch and outfit, and all his sheep, at a mighty good + figure—for the Flying U. The Old Man can do what he likes about it; + but ten to one he'll buy him out. That is, Oleson's share, which was + two-thirds. I kinda counted on Dunk letting go easy. And,” he added, + reaching for his hat, “once I got the papers for it, there wasn't anything + to hang around for, was there? Especially,” he said with his old, sunny + smile, “when we weren't urged a whole lot to stay.” + </p> + <p> + Remained therefore little, save the actual arrival of the Old Man—a + pitifully weak Old Man, bandaged and odorous with antiseptics, and quite + pathetically glad to be back home—and his recovery, which was rather + slow, and the recovery of Happy Jack, which was rapid. + </p> + <p> + For a brief space the Flying U outfit owned the Dots; very brief it was; + not a day longer than it took Chip to find a buyer—at a figure + considerably above that named in the option, by the way. + </p> + <p> + So, after a season of worry and trouble and impending tragedy such as no + man may face unflinchingly, life dropped back to its usual level, and the + trail of the Flying U outfit once more led through pleasant places. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1206 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a597441 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #1206 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1206) diff --git a/old/1206-0.txt b/old/1206-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d741ff8 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1206-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4836 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Flying U Ranch, by B. M. Bower + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Flying U Ranch + +Author: B. M. Bower + +Posting Date: August 20, 2008 [EBook #1206] +Release Date: February, 1998 +Last Updated: March 9, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FLYING U RANCH *** + + + + +Produced by Anthony Matonak + + + + + +FLYING U RANCH + +By B. M. Bower + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER + I. The Coming of a Native Son + II. “When Greek Meets Greek” + III. Bad News + IV. Some Hopes + V. Sheep + VI. What Happened to Andy + VII. Truth Crushed to Earth, etc. + VIII. The Dot Outfit + IX. More Sheep + X. The Happy Family Herd Sheep + XI. Weary Unburdens + XII. Two of a Kind + XIII. The Happy Family Learn Something + XIV. Happy Jack + XV. Oleson + XVI. The End of the Dots + XVII. Good News + + + + +FLYING U RANCH + + + +CHAPTER I. The Coming of a Native Son + +The Happy Family, waiting for the Sunday supper call, were grouped +around the open door of the bunk-house, gossiping idly of things purely +local, when the Old Man returned from the Stock Association at Helena; +beside him on the buggy seat sat a stranger. The Old Man pulled up at +the bunk-house, the stranger sprang out over the wheel with the agility +which bespoke youthful muscles, and the Old Man introduced him with a +quirk of the lips: + +“This is Mr. Mig-u-ell Rapponi, boys--a peeler straight from the Golden +Gate. Throw out your war-bag and make yourself to home, Mig-u-ell; some +of the boys'll show you where to bed down.” + +The Old Man drove on to the house with his own luggage, and Happy Jack +followed to take charge of the team; but the remainder of the Happy +Family unobtrusively took the measure of the foreign element. From his +black-and-white horsehair hatband, with tassels that swept to the very +edge of his gray hatbrim, to the crimson silk neckerchief draped over +the pale blue bosom of his shirt; from the beautifully stamped leather +cuffs, down to the exaggerated height of his tan boot-heels, their +critical eyes swept in swift, appraising glances; and unanimous +disapproval was the result. The Happy Family had themselves an eye to +picturesque garb upon occasion, but this passed even Pink's love of +display. + +“He's some gaudy to look at,” Irish murmured under his breath to Cal +Emmett. + +“All he lacks is a spot-light and a brass band,” Cal returned, in much +the same tone with which a woman remarks upon a last season's hat on the +head of a rival. + +Miguel was not embarrassed by the inspection. He was tall, straight, +and swarthily handsome, and he stood with the complacence of a stage +favorite waiting for the applause to cease so that he might speak his +first lines; and, while he waited, he sifted tobacco into a cigarette +paper daintily, with his little finger extended. There was a ring upon +that finger; a ring with a moonstone setting as large and round as the +eye of a startled cat, and the Happy Family caught the pale gleam of it +and drew a long breath. He lighted a match nonchalantly, by the artfully +simple method of pinching the head of it with his fingernails, leaned +negligently against the wall of the bunk-house, and regarded the group +incuriously while he smoked. + +“Any pretty girls up this way?” he inquired languidly, after a moment, +fanning a thin smoke-cloud from before his face while he spoke. + +The Happy Family went prickly hot. The girls in that neighborhood were +held in esteem, and there was that in his tone which gave offense. + +“Sure, there's pretty girls here!” Big Medicine bellowed unexpectedly, +close beside him. “We're all of us engaged to `em, by cripes!” + +Miguel shot an oblique glance at Big Medicine, examined the end of his +cigarette, and gave a lift of shoulder, which might mean anything +or nothing, and so was irritating to a degree. He did not pursue the +subject further, and so several belated retorts were left tickling +futilely the tongues of the Happy Family--which does not make for +amiability. + +To a man they liked him little, in spite of their easy friendliness with +mankind in general. At supper they talked with him perfunctorily, and +covertly sneered because he sprinkled his food liberally with cayenne +and his speech with Spanish words pronounced with soft, slurred +vowels that made them sound unfamiliar, and against which his English +contrasted sharply with its crisp, American enunciation. He met their +infrequent glances with the cool stare of absolute indifference to their +opinion of him, and their perfunctory civility with introspective calm. + +The next morning, when there was riding to be done, and Miguel +appeared at the last moment in his working clothes, even Weary, the +sunny-hearted, had an unmistakable curl of his lip after the first +glance. + +Miguel wore the hatband, the crimson kerchief tied loosely with the +point draped over his chest, the stamped leather cuffs and the tan boots +with the highest heels ever built by the cobbler craft. Also, the lower +half of him was incased in chaps the like of which had never before been +brought into Flying U coulee. Black Angora chaps they were; long-haired, +crinkly to the very hide, with three white, diamond-shaped patches +running down each leg of them, and with the leather waistband stamped +elaborately to match the cuffs. The bands of his spurs were two inches +wide and inlaid to the edge with beaten silver, and each concho was +engraved to represent a large, wild rose, with a golden center. A dollar +laid upon the rowels would have left a fringe of prongs all around. + +He bent over his sacked riding outfit, and undid it, revealing a +wonderful saddle of stamped leather inlaid on skirt and cantle with +more beaten silver. He straightened the skirts, carefully ignoring the +glances thrown in his direction, and swore softly to himself when he +discovered where the leather had been scratched through the canvas +wrappings and the end of the silver scroll ripped up. He drew out his +bridle and shook it into shape, and the silver mountings and the reins +of braided leather with horsehair tassels made Happy Jack's eyes greedy +with desire. His blanket was a scarlet Navajo, and his rope a rawhide +lariat. + +Altogether, his splendor when he was mounted so disturbed the fine +mental poise of the Happy Family that they left him jingling richly +off by himself, while they rode closely grouped and discussed him +acrimoniously. + +“By gosh, a man might do worse than locate that Native Son for a silver +mine,” Cal began, eyeing the interloper scornfully. “It's plumb wicked +to ride around with all that wealth and fussy stuff. He must 'a' robbed +a bank and put the money all into a riding outfit.” + +“By golly, he looks to me like a pair uh trays when he comes bow-leggin' +along with them white diamonds on his legs,” Slim stated solemnly. + +“And I'll gamble that's a spot higher than he stacks up in the cow +game,” Pink observed with the pessimism which matrimony had given him. +“You mind him asking about bad horses, last night? That Lizzie-boy never +saw a bad horse; they don't grow 'em where he come from. What they don't +know about riding they make up for with a swell rig--” + +“And, oh, mamma! It sure is a swell rig!” Weary paid generous tribute. +“Only I will say old Banjo reminds me of an Irish cook rigged out in +silk and diamonds. That outfit on Glory, now--” He sighed enviously. + +“Well, I've gone up against a few real ones in my long and varied +career,” Irish remarked reminiscently, “and I've noticed that a hoss +never has any respect or admiration for a swell rig. When he gets real +busy it ain't the silver filigree stuff that's going to help you hold +connections with your saddle, and a silver-mounted bridle-bit ain't a +darned bit better than a plain one.” + +“Just take a look at him!” cried Pink, with intense disgust. “Ambling +off there, so the sun can strike all that silver and bounce back in our +eyes. And that braided lariat--I'd sure love to see the pieces if he +ever tries to anchor anything bigger than a yearling!” + +“Why, you don't think for a minute he could ever get out and rope +anything, do yuh?” Irish laughed. “That there Native Son throws on +a-w-l-together too much dog to really get out and do anything.” + +“Aw,” fleered Happy Jack, “he ain't any Natiff Son. He's a dago!” + +“He's got the earmarks uh both,” Big Medicine stated authoritatively. “I +know 'em, by cripes, and I know their ways.” He jerked his thumb toward +the dazzling Miguel. “I can tell yuh the kinda cow-puncher he is; I've +saw 'em workin' at it. Haw-haw-haw! They'll start out to move ten or a +dozen head uh tame old cows from one field to another, and there'll be +six or eight fellers, rigged up like this here tray-spot, ridin' along, +important as hell, drivin' them few cows down a lane, with peach trees +on both sides, by cripes, jingling their big, silver spurs, all wearin' +fancy chaps to ride four or five miles down the road. Honest to grandma, +they call that punchin' cows! Oh, he's a Native Son, all right. I've +saw lots of 'em, only I never saw one so far away from the Promised Land +before. That there looks queer to me. Natiff Sons--the real ones, like +him--are as scarce outside Calyforny as buffalo are right here in this +coulee.” + +“That's the way they do it, all right,” Irish agreed. “And then they'll +have a 'rodeo'--” + +“Haw-haw-haw!” Big Medicine interrupted, and took up the tale, which +might have been entitled “Some Cowpunching I Have Seen.” + +“They have them rodeos on a Sunday, mostly, and they invite everybody to +it, like it was a picnic. And there'll be two or three fellers to +every calf, all lit up, like Mig-u-ell, over there, in chaps and silver +fixin's, fussin' around on horseback in a corral, and every feller +trying to pile his rope on the same calf, by cripes! They stretch 'em +out with two ropes--calves, remember! Little, weenty fellers you could +pack under one arm! Yuh can't blame 'em much. They never have more'n +thirty or forty head to brand at a time, and they never git more'n a +taste uh real work. So they make the most uh what they git, and go in +heavy on fancy outfits. And this here silver-mounted fellow thinks he's +a real cowpuncher, by cripes!” + +The Happy Family laughed at the idea; laughed so loud that Miguel left +his lonely splendor and swung over to them, ostensibly to borrow a +match. + +“What's the joke?” he inquired languidly, his chin thrust out and his +eyes upon the match blazing at the end of his cigarette. + +The Happy Family hesitated and glanced at one another. Then Cal spoke +truthfully. + +“You're it,” he said bluntly, with a secret desire to test the temper of +this dark-skinned son of the West. + +Miguel darted one of his swift glances at Cal, blew out his match and +threw it away. + +“Oh, how funny. Ha-ha.” His voice was soft and absolutely +expressionless, his face blank of any emotion whatever. He merely spoke +the words as a machine might have done. + +If he had been one of them, the Happy Family would have laughed at the +whimsical humor of it. As it was, they repressed the impulse, though +Weary warmed toward him slightly. + +“Don't you believe anything this innocent-eyed gazabo tells you, Mr. +Rapponi,” he warned amiably. “He's known to be a liar.” + +“That's funny, too. Ha-ha some more.” Miguel permitted a thin ribbon of +smoke to slide from between his lips, and gazed off to the crinkled line +of hills. + +“Sure, it is--now you mention it,” Weary agreed after a perceptible +pause. + +“How fortunate that I brought the humor to your attention,” drawled +Miguel, in the same expressionless tone, much as if he were reciting a +text. + +“Virtue is its own penalty,” paraphrased Pink, not stopping to see +whether the statement applied to the subject. + +“Haw-haw-haw!” roared Big Medicine, quite as irrelevantly. + +“He-he-he,” supplemented the silver-trimmed one. + +Big Medicine stopped laughing suddenly, reined his horse close to the +other, and stared at him challengingly, with his pale, protruding eyes, +while the Happy Family glanced meaningly at one another. Big Medicine +was quite as unsafe as he looked, at that moment, and they wondered if +the offender realized his precarious situation. + +Miguel smoked with the infinite leisure which is a fine art when it is +not born of genuine abstraction, and none could decide whether he was +aware of the unfriendly proximity of Big Medicine. Weary was just on the +point of saying something to relieve the tension, when Miguel blew the +ash gently from his cigarette and spoke lazily. + +“Parrots are so common, out on the Coast, that they use them in cheap +restaurants for stew. I've often heard them gabbling together in the +kettle.” + +The statement was so ambiguous that the Happy Family glanced at him +doubtfully. Big Medicine's stare became more curious than hostile, +and he permitted his horse to lag a length. It is difficult to fight +absolute passivity. Then Slim, who ever tramped solidly over the flowers +of sarcasm, blurted one of his unexpected retorts. + +“I was just wonderin', by golly, where yuh learnt to talk!” + +Miguel turned his velvet eyes sleepily toward the speaker. “From the +boarders who ate those parrots, amigo,” he smiled serenely. + +At this, Slim--once justly accused by Irish of being a “single-shot” + when it came to repartee--turned purple and dumb. The Happy Family, +forswearing loyalty in their enjoyment of his discomfiture, grinned and +left to Miguel the barren triumph of the last word. + +He did not gain in popularity as the days passed. They tilted noses at +his beautiful riding gear, and would have died rather than speak of it +in his presence. They never gossiped with him of horses or men or the +lands he knew. They were ready to snub him at a moment's notice--and +it did not lessen their dislike of him that he failed to yield them an +opportunity. It is to be hoped that he found his thoughts sufficient +entertainment, since he was left to them as much as is humanly possible +when half a dozen men eat and sleep and work together. It annoyed them +exceedingly that Miguel did not seem to know that they held him at a +distance; they objected to his manner of smoking cigarettes and staring +off at the skyline as if he were alone and content with his dreams. When +he did talk they listened with an air of weary tolerance. When he +did not talk they ignored his presence, and when he was absent they +criticized him mercilessly. + +They let him ride unwarned into an adobe patch one day--at least, Big +Medicine, Pink, Cal Emmett and Irish did, for they were with him--and +laughed surreptitiously together while he wallowed there and came out +afoot, his horse floundering behind him, mud to the ears, both of them. + +“Pretty soft going, along there, ain't it?” Pink commiserated +deceitfully. + +“It is, kinda,” Miguel responded evenly, scraping the adobe off Banjo +with a flat rock. And the subject was closed. + +“Well, it's some relief to the eyes to have the shine taken off him, +anyway,” Pink observed a little guiltily afterward. + +“I betche he ain't goin' to forget that, though,” Happy Jack warned when +he saw the caked mud on Miguel's Angora chaps and silver spurs, and the +condition of his saddle. “Yuh better watch out and not turn your backs +on him in the dark, none uh you guys. I betche he packs a knife. Them +kind always does.” + +“Haw-haw-haw!” bellowed Big Medicine uproariously. “I'd love to see him +git out an' try to use it, by cripes!” + +“I wish Andy was here,” Pink sighed. “Andy'd take the starch outa him, +all right.” + +“Wouldn't he be pickings for old Andy, though? Gee!” Cal looked around +at them, with his wide, baby-blue eyes, and laughed. “Let's kinda jolly +him along, boys, till Andy gets back. It sure would be great to watch +'em. I'll bet he can jar the eternal calm outa that Native Son. That's +what grinds me worse than his throwin' on so much dog; he's so blamed +satisfied with himself! You snub him, and he looks at yuh as if you was +his hired man--and then forgets all about yuh. He come outa that 'doby +like he'd been swimmin' a river on a bet, and had made good and was +a hee-ro right before the ladies. Kinda 'Oh, that's nothing to what I +could do if it was worth while,' way he had with him.” + +“It wouldn't matter so much if he wasn't all front,” Pink complained. +“You'll notice that's always the way, though. The fellow all fussed +up with silver and braided leather can't get out and do anything. +I remember up on Milk river--” Pink trailed off into absorbing +reminiscence, which, however, is too lengthy to repeat here. + +“Say, Mig-u-ell's down at the stable, sweatin from every pore trying to +get his saddle clean, by golly!” Slim reported cheerfully, just as Pink +was relighting the cigarette which had gone out during the big scene of +his story. “He was cussin' in Spanish, when I walked up to him--but he +shut up when he seen me and got that peaceful look uh hisn on his face. +I wonder, by golly--” + +“Oh, shut up and go awn,” Irish commanded bluntly, and looked at Pink. +“Did he call it off, then? Or did you have to wade in--” + +“Naw; he was like this here Native Son--all front. He could look sudden +death, all right; he had black eyes like Mig-u-ell--but all a fellow had +to do was go after him, and he'd back up so blamed quick--” + +Slim listened that far, saw that he had interrupted a tale evidently +more interesting than anything he could say, and went off, muttering to +himself. + + + +CHAPTER II. “When Greek Meets Greek” + +The next morning, which was Sunday, the machinations of Big Medicine +took Pink down to the creek behind the bunk-house. “What's hurtin' yuh?” + he asked curiously, when he came to where Big Medicine stood in the +fringe of willows, choking between his spasms of mirth. + +“Haw-haw-haw!” roared Big Medicine; and, seizing Pink's arm in a +gorilla-like grip, he pointed down the bank. + +Miguel, seated upon a convenient rock in a sunny spot, was painstakingly +combing out the tangled hair of his chaps, which he had washed quite as +carefully not long before, as the cake of soap beside him testified. + +“Combing--combing--his chaps, by cripes!” Big Medicine gasped, +and waggled his finger at the spectacle. “Haw-haw-haw! +C-combin'--his--chaps!” + +Miguel glanced up at them as impersonally as if they were two cackling +hens, rather than derisive humans, then bent his head over a stubborn +knot and whistled La Paloma softly while he coaxed out the tangle. + +Pink's eyes widened as he looked, but he did not say anything. He backed +up the path and went thoughtfully to the corrals, leaving Big Medicine +to follow or not, as he chose. + +“Combin'--his chaps, by cripes!” came rumbling behind him. Pink turned. + +“Say! Don't make so much noise about it,” he advised guardedly. “I've +got an idea.” + +“Yuh want to hog-tie it, then,” Big Medicine retorted, resentful because +Pink seemed not to grasp the full humor of the thing. “Idees sure seems +to be skurce in this outfit--or that there lily-uh-the-valley couldn't +set and comb no chaps in broad daylight, by cripes; not and get off with +it.” + +“He's an ornament to the Flying U,” Pink stated dreamily. “Us boneheads +don't appreciate him, is all that ails us. What we ought to do is--help +him be as pretty as he wants to be, and--” + +“Looky here, Little One.” Big Medicine hurried his steps until he was +close alongside. “I wouldn't give a punched nickel for a four-horse load +uh them idees, and that's the truth.” He passed Pink and went on ahead, +disgust in every line of his square-shouldered figure. “Combin' his +chaps, by cripes!” he snorted again, and straightway told the tale +profanely to his fellows, who laughed until they were weak and +watery-eyed as they listened. + +Afterward, because Pink implored them and made a mystery of it, they +invited Miguel to take a hand in a long-winded game--rather, a series +of games--of seven-up, while his chaps hung to dry upon a willow by the +creek bank--or so he believed. + +The chaps, however, were up in the white-house kitchen, where were also +the reek of scorched hair and the laughing expostulations of the +Little Doctor and the boyish titter of Pink and Irish, who were curling +laboriously the chaps of Miguel with the curling tongs of the Little +Doctor and those of the Countess besides. + +“It's a shame, and I just hope Miguel thrashes you both for it,” the +Little Doctor told them more than once; but she laughed, nevertheless, +and showed Pink how to give the twist which made of each lock a +corkscrew ringlet. The Countess stopped, with her dishcloth dangling +from one red, bony hand, while she looked. “You boys couldn't sleep +nights if you didn't pester the life outa somebody,” she scolded. “Seems +to me I'd friz them diamonds, if I was goin' to be mean enough to do +anything.” + +“You would, eh?” Pink glanced up at her and dimpled. “I'll find you +a rich husband to pay for that.” He straightway proceeded to friz the +diamonds of white. + +“Why don't you have a strip of ringlets down each leg, with tight little +curls between?” suggested the Little Doctor, not to be outdone by any +other woman. + +“Correct you are,” praised Irish. + +“And, remember, you're not heating branding-irons, mister man,” she +added. “You'll burn all the hair off, if you let the tongs get red-hot. +Just so they'll sizzle; I've told you five times already.” She picked +up the Kid, kissed many times the finger he held up for sympathy--the +finger with which he had touched the tongs as Pink was putting them +back into the grate of the kitchen stove, and spoke again to ease her +conscience. “I think it's awfully mean of you to do it. Miguel ought to +thrash you both.” + +“We're dead willing to let him try, Mrs. Chip. We know it's mean. We're +real ashamed of ourselves.” Irish tested his tongs as he had been told +to do. “But we'd rather be ashamed than good, any old time.” + +The Little Doctor giggled behind the Kid's tousled curls, and reached +out a slim hand once more to give Pink's tongs the expert twist he was +trying awkwardly to learn. “I'm sorry for Miguel; he's got lovely eyes, +anyway.” + +“Yes, ain't he?” Pink looked up briefly from his task. “How's your leg, +Irish? Mine's done.” + +“Seems to me I'd make a deep border of them corkscrew curls all around +the bottoms, if I was doin' it,” said the Countess peevishly, from the +kitchen sink. “If I was that dago I'd murder the hull outfit; I never +did see a body so hectored in my life--and him not ever ketchin' on. He +must be plumb simple-minded.” + +When the curling was done to the hilarious satisfaction of Irish and +Pink, and, while Pink was dancing in them to show them off, another +entered with mail from town. And, because the mail-bearer was Andy Green +himself, back from a winter's journeyings, Cal, Happy Jack and Slim +followed close behind, talking all at once, in their joy at beholding +the man they loved well and hated occasionally also. Andy delivered the +mail into the hands of the Little Doctor, pinched the Kid's cheek, +and said how he had grown good-looking as his mother, almost, spoke a +cheerful howdy to the Countess, and turned to shake hands with Pink. It +was then that the honest, gray eyes of him widened with amazement. + +“Well, by golly!” gasped Slim, goggling at the chaps of Miguel. + +“That there Natiff Son'll just about kill yuh for that,” warned Happy +Jack, as mournfully as he might with laughing. “He'll knife yuh, sure.” + +Andy, demanding the meaning of it all, learned all about Miguel +Rapponi--from the viewpoint of the Happy Family. At least, he learned as +much as it was politic to tell in the presence of the Little Doctor; and +afterward, while Pink was putting the chaps back upon the willow, where +Miguel had left them, he was told that they looked to him, Andy Green, +for assistance. + +“Oh, gosh! You don't want to depend on me, Pink,” Andy expostulated +modestly. “I can't think of anything--and, besides, I've reformed. I +don't know as it's any compliment to me, by gracious--being told soon as +I land that I'm expected to lie to a perfect stranger.” + +“You come on down to the stable and take a look at his saddle and +bridle,” urged Cal. “And wait till you see him smoking and looking past +you, as if you was an ornery little peak that didn't do nothing but +obstruct the scenery. I've seen mean cusses--lots of 'em; and I've seen +men that was stuck on themselves. But I never--” + +“Come outa that 'doby,” Pink interrupted, “mud to his eyebrows, just +about. And he knew darned well we headed him in there deliberate. And +when I remarks it's soft going, he says: 'It is, kinda,'--just like +that.” Pink managed to imitate the languid tone of Miguel very well. +“Not another word outa him. Didn't even make him mad! He--” + +“Tell him about the parrots, Slim,” Cal suggested soberly. But Slim only +turned purple at the memory, and swore. + +“Old Patsy sure has got it in for him,” Happy Jack observed. “He asked +Patsy if he ever had enchiladas. Patsy won't speak to him no more. He +claims Mig-u-ell insulted him. He told Mig-u-ell--” + +“Enchiladas are sure fine eating,” said Andy. “I took to 'em like a +she-bear to honey, down in New Mexico this winter. Your Native Son is +solid there, all right.” + +“Aw, gwan! He ain't solid nowhere but in the head. Maybe you'll love him +to death when yuh see him--chances is you will, if you've took to eatin' +dago grub.” + +Andy patted Happy Jack reassuringly on the shoulder. “Don't get +excited,” he soothed. “I'll put it all over the gentleman, just to show +my heart's in the right place. Just this once, though; I've reformed. +And I've got to have time to size him up. Where do you keep him when he +ain't in the show window?” He swung into step with Pink. “I'll tell you +the truth,” he confided engagingly. “Any man that'll wear chaps like +he's got--even leaving out the extra finish you fellows have given +'em--had ought to be taught a lesson he'll remember. He sure must be a +tough proposition, if the whole bunch of yuh have had to give him up. By +gracious--” + +“We haven't tried,” Pink defended. “It kinda looked to us as if he was +aiming to make us guy him; so we didn't. We've left him strictly alone. +To-day”--he glanced over his shoulder to where the becurled chaps swung +comically from the willow branch--“to-day's the first time anybody's +made a move. Unless,” he added, as an afterthought, “you count yesterday +in the 'doby patch--and even then we didn't tell him to ride into it; we +just let him do it.” + +“And kinda herded him over towards it,” Cal amended slyly. + +“Can he ride?” asked Andy, going straight to the main point, in the mind +of a cowpuncher. + +“W-e-ell-he hasn't been piled, so far. But then,” Pink qualified +hastily, “he hasn't topped anything worse than Crow-hop. He ain't hard +to ride. Happy Jack could--” + +“Aw, I'm gittin' good and sick of' hearin' that there tune,” Happy +growled indignantly. “Why don't you point out Slim as the limit, once in +a while?” + +“Come on down to the stable, and let's talk it over,” Andy suggested, +and led the way. “What's his style, anyway? Mouthy, or what?” + +With four willing tongues to enlighten him, it would be strange, indeed, +if one so acute as Andy Green failed at last to have a very fair mental +picture of Miguel. He gazed thoughtfully at his boots, laughed suddenly, +and slapped Irish quite painfully upon the back. + +“Come on up and introduce me, boys,” he said. “We'll make this Native +Son so hungry for home--you watch me put it on the gentleman. Only it +does seem a shame to do it.” + +“No, it ain't. If you'd been around him for two weeks, you'd want to +kill him just to make him take notice,” Irish assured him. + +“What gets me,” Andy mused, “is why you fellows come crying to me for +help. I should think the bunch of you ought to be able to handle one +lone Native Son.” + +“Aw, you're the biggest liar and faker in the bunch, is why,” Happy Jack +blurted. + +“Oh, I see.” Andy hummed a little tune and pushed his hands deep into +his pockets, and at the corners of his lips there flickered a smile. + +The Native Son sat with his hat tilted slightly back upon his head and a +cigarette between his lips, and was reaching lazily for the trick which +made the fourth game his, when the group invaded the bunk-house. He +looked up indifferently, swept Andy's face and figure with a glance +too impersonal to hold even a shade of curiosity, and began rapidly +shuffling his cards to count the points he had made. + +Andy stopped short, just inside the door, and stared hard at Miguel, +who gave no sign. He turned his honest, gray eyes upon Pink and Irish +accusingly--whereat they wondered greatly. + +“Your deal--if you want to play,” drawled Miguel, and shoved his cards +toward Big Medicine. But the boys were already uptilting chairs to +grasp the quicker the outstretched hand of the prodigal, so that Miguel +gathered up the cards, evened their edges mechanically, and deigned +another glance at this stranger who was being welcomed so vociferously. +Also he sighed a bit--for even a languid-eyed stoic of a Native Son may +feel the twinge of loneliness. Andy shook hands all round, swore amiably +at Weary, and advanced finally upon Miguel. + +“You don't know me from Adam's off ox,” he began genially, “but I know +you, all right, all right. I hollered my head off with the rest of 'em +when you played merry hell in that bull-ring, last Christmas. Also, I +was part of your bodyguard when them greasers were trying to tickle you +in the ribs with their knives in that dark alley. Shake, old-timer! You +done yourself proud, and I'm glad to know yuh!” + +Miguel, for the first time in two weeks, permitted himself the luxury +of an expressive countenance. He gave Andy Green one quick, grateful +look--and a smile, the like of which made the Happy Family quiver +inwardly with instinctive sympathy. + +“So you were there, too, eh?” Miguel exclaimed softly, and rose to greet +him. “And that scrap in the alley--we sure had a hell of a time there +for a few minutes, didn't we? Are you that tall fellow who kicked that +squint-eyed greaser in the stomach? Muchos gracios, senor! They were +piling on me three deep, right then, and I always believed they'd have +got me, only for a tall vaquero I couldn't locate afterward.” He smiled +again that wonderful smile, which lighted the darkness of his eyes as +with a flame, and murmured a sentence or two in Spanish. + +“Did you get the spurs me and my friends sent you afterward?” asked Andy +eagerly. “We heard about the Arizona boys giving you the saddle--and we +raked high and low for them spurs. And, by gracious, they were beauts, +too--did yuh get 'em?” + +“I wear them every day I ride,” answered Miguel, a peculiar, caressing +note in his voice. + +“I didn't know--we heard you had disappeared off the earth. Why--” + +Miguel laughed outright. “To fight a bull with bare hands is one thing, +amigo,” he said. “To take a chance on getting a knife stuck in your +back is another. Those Mexicans--they don't love the man who crosses the +river and makes of their bull-fights a plaything.” + +“That's right; only I thought, you being a--” + +“Not a Mexican.” Miguel's voice sharpened a trifle. “My father was +Spanish, yes. My mother”--his eyes flashed briefly at the faces of the +gaping Happy Family--“my mother was born in Ireland.” + +“And that sure makes a hard combination to beat,” cried Andy heartily. +He looked at the others--at all, that is, save Pink and Irish, who had +disappeared. “Well, boys, I never thought I'd come home and find--” + +“Miguel Rapponi,” supplied the Native Son quickly. “As well forget that +other name. And,” he added with the shrug which the Happy Family had +come to hate, “as well forget the story, also. I am not hungry for the +feel of a knife in my back.” He smiled again engagingly at Andy Green. +It was astonishing how readily that smile had sprung to life with the +warmth of a little friendship, and how pleasant it was, withal. + +“Just as you say,” Andy agreed, not trying to hide his admiration. “I +guess nobody's got a better right to holler for silence. But--say, you +sure delivered the goods, old boy! You musta read about it, you fellows; +about the American puncher that went over the line and rode one of +their crack bulls all round the ring, and then--” He stopped and looked +apologetically at Miguel, in whose dark eyes there flashed a warning +light. “I clean forgot,” he confessed impulsively. “This meeting you +here unexpectedly, like this, has kinda got me rattled, I guess. But--I +never saw yuh before in my life,” he declared emphatically. “I don't +know a darn thing about--anything that ever happened in an alley in +the city of--oh, come on, old-timer; let's talk about the weather, or +something safe!” + +After that the boys of the Flying U behaved very much as do children +who have quarreled foolishly and are trying shamefacedly to re-establish +friendly relations without the preliminary indignity of open repentance. +They avoided meeting the velvet-eyed glances of Miguel, and at the same +time they were plainly anxious to include him in their talk as if that +had been their habit from the first. A difficult situation to meet, even +with the fine aplomb of the Happy Family to ease the awkwardness. + +Later Miguel went unobtrusively down to the creek after his chaps; he +did not get them, just then, but he stood for a long time hidden behind +the willow-fringe, watching Pink and Irish feverishly combing out +certain corkscrew ringlets, and dampening their combs in the creek to +facilitate the process of straightening certain patches of rebellious +frizzes. Miguel did not laugh aloud, as Big Medicine had done. He stood +until he wearied of the sight, then lifted his shoulders in the gesture +which may mean anything, smiled and went his way. + +Not until dusk did Andy get a private word with him. When he did find +him alone, he pumped Miguel's hand up and down and afterward clutched at +the manger for support, and came near strangling. Miguel leaned beside +him and smiled to himself. + +“Good team work, old boy,” Andy gasped at length, in a whisper. “Best I +ever saw in m'life, impromptu on the spot, like that. I saw you had the +makings in you, soon as I caught your eye. And the whole, blame bunch +fell for it--woo-oof!” He laid his face down again upon his folded arms +and shook in all the long length of him. + +“They had it coming,” said Miguel softly, with a peculiar relish. “Two +whole weeks, and never a friendly word from one of them--oh, hell!” + +“I know--I heard it all, soon as I hit the ranch,” Andy replied weakly, +standing up and wiping his eyes. “I just thought I'd learn 'em a +lesson--and the way you played up--say, my hat's off to you, all right!” + +“One learns to seize opportunities without stuttering,” Miguel observed +calmly--and a queer look came into his eyes as they rested upon the face +of Andy. “And, if the chance comes, I'll do as much for you. By the way, +did you see the saddle those Arizona boys sent me? It's over here. It's +a pip-pin--almost as fine as the spurs, which I keep in the bunk-house +when they're not on my heels. And, if I didn't say so before, I'm sure +glad to meet the man that helped me through that alley. That big, fat +devil would have landed me, sure, if you hadn't--” + +“Ah--what?” Andy leaned and peered into the face of Miguel, his jaw +hanging slack. “You don't mean to tell me--it's true?” + +“True? Why, I thought you were the fellow--” Miguel faced him steadily. +His eyes were frankly puzzled. + +“I'll tell you the truth, so help me,” Andy said heavily. “I don't know +a darned thing about it, only what I read in the papers. I spent the +whole winter in Colorado and Wyoming. I was just joshing the boys.” + +“Oh,” said Miguel. + +They stood there in the dusk and silence for a space, after which Andy +went forth into the night to meditate upon this thing. Miguel stood and +looked after him. + +“He's the real goods when it comes to lying--but there are others,” he +said aloud, and smiled a peculiar smile. But for all that he felt that +he was going to like Andy very much indeed. And, since the Happy Family +had shown a disposition to make him one of themselves, he knew that he +was going to become quite as foolishly attached to the Flying U as was +even Slim, confessedly the most rabid of partisans. + +In this wise did Miguel Rapponi, then, become a member of Jim Whitmore's +Happy Family, and play his part in the events which followed his +adoption. + + + +CHAPTER III. Bad News + +Andy Green, that honest-eyed young man whom everyone loved, but whom +not a man believed save when he was indulging his love for more or less +fantastic flights of the imagination, pulled up on the brow of Flying U +coulee and stared somberly at the picture spread below him. On the porch +of the White House the hammock swung gently under the weight of the +Little Doctor, who pushed her shipper-toe mechanically against a post +support at regular intervals while she read. + +On the steps the Kid was crawling laboriously upward, only to descend +again quite as laboriously when he attained the top. One of the boys was +just emerging from the blacksmith shop; from the build of him Andy knew +it must be either Weary or Irish, though it would take a much closer +observation, and some familiarity with the two to identify the man more +exactly. In the corral were a swirl of horses and an overhanging cloud +of dust, with two or three figures discernible in the midst, and away +in the little pasture two other figures were galloping after a fleeing +dozen of horses. While he looked, old Patsy came out of the messhouse, +and went, with flapping flour-sack apron, to the woodpile. + +Peaceful it was, and home-like and contentedly prosperous; a little +world tucked away in its hills, with its own little triumphs and +defeats, its own heartaches and rejoicings; a lucky little world, +because its triumphs had been satisfying, its defeats small, its +heartaches brief, and its rejoicings untainted with harassment or guilt. +Yet Andy stared down upon it with a frown; and, when he twitched the +reins and began the descent, he sighed impatiently. + +Past the stable he rode with scarcely a glance toward Weary, who shouted +a casual “Hello” at him from the corral; through the big gate and up the +trail to the White House, and straight to the porch, where the Little +Doctor flipped a leaf of her magazine and glanced at him with a smile, +and the Kid turned his plump body upon the middle step and wrinkled his +nose in a smile of recognition, while he threw out an arm in welcome, +and made a wobbling effort to get upon his feet. + +Andy smiled at the Kid, but his smile did not reach his eyes, and faded +almost immediately. He glanced at the Little Doctor, sent his horse past +the steps and the Kid, and close to the railing, so that he could lean +and toss the mail into the Little Doctor's lap. There was a yellow +envelope among the letters, and her fingers singled it out curiously. +Andy folded his hands upon the saddle-horn and watched her frankly. + +“Must be from J. G.,” guessed the Little Doctor, inserting a slim finger +under the badly sealed flap. “I've been wondering if he wasn't going +to send some word--he's been gone a week--Baby! He's right between +your horse's legs, Andy! Oh-h--baby boy, what won't you do next?” She +scattered letters and papers from her lap and flew to the rescue. “Will +he kick, Andy? You little ruffian.” She held out her arms coaxingly from +the top of the steps, and her face, Andy saw when he looked at her, had +lost some of its color. + +“The horse is quiet enough,” he reassured her. “But at the same time I +wouldn't hand him out as a plaything for a kid.” He leaned cautiously +and peered backward. + +“Oh--did you ever see such a child! Come to mother, Baby!” Her voice was +becoming strained. + +The Kid, wrinkling his nose, and jabbering unintelligibly at her, so +that four tiny teeth showed in his pink mouth, moved farther backward, +and sat down violently under the horse's sweat-roughened belly. He +wriggled round so that he faced forward, reached out gleefully, caught +the front fetlocks, and cried “Dup!” while he pulled. The Little Doctor +turned white. + +“He's all right,” soothed Andy, and, leaning with a twist of his slim +body, caught the Kid firmly by the back of his pink dress, and lifted +him clear of danger. He came up with a red face, tossed the Kid into the +eager arms of the Little Doctor, and soothed his horse with soft words +and a series of little slaps upon the neck. He was breathing unevenly, +because the Kid had really been in rather a ticklish position; but the +Little Doctor had her face hidden on the baby's neck and did not see. + +“Where's Chip?” Andy turned to ride back to the stable, glancing toward +the telegram lying on the floor of the porch; and from it his eyes went +to the young woman trying to laugh away her trembling while she scolded +adoringly her adventurous man-child. He was about to speak again, but +thought better of it, and sighed. + +“Down at the stables somewhere--I don't know, really; the boys can tell +you. Mother's baby mustn't touch the naughty horses. Naughty horses hurt +mother's baby! Make him cry!” + +Andy gave her a long look, which had in it much pity, and rode away. +He knew what was in that telegram, for the agent had told him when he +hunted him up at Rusty Brown's and gave it to him; and the horse of Andy +bore mute testimony to the speed with which he had brought it to the +ranch. Not until he had reached the coulee had he slackened his pace. +He decided, after that glance, that he would not remind her that she +had not read the telegram; instead, he thought he ought to find Chip +immediately and send him to her. + +Chip was rummaging after something in the store-house, and, when Andy +saw him there, he dismounted and stood blotting out the light from +the doorway. Chip looked up, said “Hello” carelessly, and flung an old +slicker aside that he might search beneath it. “Back early, aren't you?” + he asked, for sake of saying something. + +Andy's attitude was not as casual as he would have had it. + +“Say, maybe you better go on up to the house,” he began diffidently. “I +guess your wife wants to see yuh, maybe.” + +“Just as a good wife should,” grinned Chip. “What's the matter? Kid fall +off the porch?” + +“N-o-o--I brought out a wire from Chicago. It's from a doctor +there--some hospital. The--Old Man got hurt. One of them cussed +automobiles knocked him down. They want you to come.” + +Chip had straightened up and was hooking at Andy blankly. “If you're +just--” + +“Honest,” Andy asserted, and flushed a little. “I'll go tell some one to +catch up the team--you'll want to make that 11:20, I take it.” He added, +as Chip went by him hastily, “I had the agent wire for sleeper berths on +the 11:20 so--” + +“Thanks. Yes, you have the team caught up, Andy.” Chip was already well +on his way to the house. + +Andy waited till he saw the Little Doctor come hurriedly to the end of +the porch overlooking the pathway, with the telegram fluttering in her +fingers, and then led his horse down through the gate and to the stable. +He yanked the saddle off, turned the tired animal into a stall, and went +on to the corral, where he leaned elbows on a warped rail and peered +through at the turmoil within. Close beside him stood Weary, with his +loop dragging behind him, waiting for a chance to throw it over the head +of a buckskin three-year-old with black mane and tail. + +“Get in here and make a hand, why don't you?” Weary bantered, his eye +on the buckskin. “Good chance to make a 'rep' for yourself, Andy. +Gawd greased that buckskin--he sure can slide out from under a rope as +easy--” + +He broke off to flip the hoop dexterously forward, had the reward of +seeing the buckskin dodge backward, so that the rope barely flicked him +on the nose, and drew in his rope disgustedly. “Come on, Andy--my hands +are up in the air; I can't land him--that's the fourth throw.” + +Andy's interest in the buckskin, however, was scant. His face was sober, +his whole attitude one of extreme dejection. + +“You got the tummy-ache?” Pink inquired facetiously, moving around so +that he got a fair look at his face. + +“Naw--his girl's went back on him!” Happy Jack put in, coiling his rope +as he came up. + +“Oh, shut up!” Andy's voice was sharp with trouble. “Boys, the Old +Man's--well, he's most likely dead by this time. I brought out a +telegram--” + +“Go on!” Pink's eyes widened incredulously. “Don't you try that kind of +a load, Andy Green, or I'll just about--” + +“Oh, you fellows make me sick!” Andy took his elbows off the rail and +stood straight. “Dammit, the telegram's up at the house--go and read it +yourselves, then!” + +The three stared after him doubtfully, fear struggling with the caution +born of much experience. + +“He don't act, to me, like he was putting up a josh,” Weary stated +uneasily, after a minute of silence. “Run up to the house and find out, +Cadwalloper. The Old Man--oh, good Lord!” The tan on Weary's face took a +lighter tinge. “Scoot--it won't take but a minute to find out for sure. +Go on, Pink.” + +“So help me Josephine, I'll kill that same Andy Green if he's lied about +it,” Pink declared, while he climbed the fence. + +In three minutes he was back, and before he had said a word, his face +confirmed the bad news. Their eyes besought him for details, and he +gave them jerkily. “Automobile run over him. He ain't dead, but they +think--Chip and the Little Doctor are going to catch the night train. +You go haze in the team, Happy. And give 'em a feed of oats, Chip said.” + +Irish and Big Medicine, seeing the three standing soberly together +there, and sensing something unusual, came up and heard the news in +stunned silence. Andy, forgetting his pique at their first disbelief, +came forlornly back and stood with them. + +The Old Man--the thing could not be true! To every man of them his +presence, conjured by the impending tragedy, was almost a palpable +thing. His stocky figure seemed almost to stand in their midst; +he looked at them with his whimsical eyes, which had the radiating +crows-feet of age, humor and habitual squinting against sun and wind; +the bald spot on his head, the wrinkling shirt-collar that seldom knew +a tie, the carpet slippers which were his favorite footgear because they +were kind to his bunions, his husky voice, good-naturedly complaining, +were poignantly real to them at that moment. Then Irish mentally +pictured him lying maimed, dying, perhaps, in a far-off hospital among +strangers, and swore. + +“If he's got to die, it oughta be here, where folks know him and--where +he knows--” Irish was not accustomed to giving voice to his deeper +feelings, and he blundered awkwardly over it. + +“I never did go much on them darned hospitals, anyway,” Weary observed +gloomily. “He oughta be home, where folks can look after him. Mam-ma! It +sure is a fright.” + +“I betche Chip and the Little Doctor won't get there in time,” Happy +Jack predicted, with his usual pessimism. “The Old Man's gittin' old--” + +“He ain't but fifty-two; yuh call that old, consarn yuh? He's younger +right now than you'll be when you're forty.” + +“Countess is going along, too, so she can ride herd on the Kid,” Pink +informed then. “I heard the Little Doctor tell her to pack up, and +'never mind if she did have sponge all set!' Countess seemed to think +her bread was a darned sight more important than the Old Man. That's the +way with women. They'll pass up--” + +“Well, by golly, I like to see a woman take some interest in her own +affairs,” Slim defended. “What they packin' up for, and where they +goin'?” Slim had just ridden up to the group in time to overhear Pink's +criticism. + +They told him the news, and Slim swallowed twice, said “By golly!” quite +huskily, and then rode slowly away with his head bowed. He had worked +for the Flying U when it was strictly a bachelor outfit, and with the +tenacity of slow minds he held J. G. Whitmore, his beloved “Old Man,” + as but a degree lower than that mysterious power which made the sun to +shine--and, if the truth were known, he had accepted him as being quite +as eternal. His loyalty adjusted everything to the interests of the +Flying U. That the Old Man could die--the possibility stunned him. + +They were a sorry company that gathered that night around the long table +with its mottled oil-cloth covering and benches polished to a glass-like +smoothness with their own vigorous bodies. They did not talk much about +the Old Man; indeed, they came no nearer the subject than to ask Weary +if he were going to drive the team in to Dry Lake. They did not talk +much about anything, for that matter; even the knives and forks seemed +to share the general depression of spirits, and failed to give forth the +cheerful clatter which was a daily accompaniment of meals in that room. + +Old Patsy, he who had cooked for J. G. Whitmore when the Flying U +coulee was a wilderness and the brand yet unrecorded and the irons +unmade--Patsy lumbered heavily about the room and could not find his +dish-cloth when it was squeezed tight in one great, fat hand, and +unthinkingly started to fill their coffee cups from the tea-kettle. + +“Py cosh, I vould keel der fool vot made her first von of der +automo-beels, yet!” he exclaimed unexpectedly, after a long silence, and +cast his pipe vindictively toward his bunk in one corner. + +The Happy Family looked around at him, then understandingly at one +another. + +“Same here, Patsy,” Jack Bates agreed. “What they want of the damned +things when the country's full uh good horses gits me.” + +“So some Yahoo with just sense enough to put goggles on to cover up +his fool face can run over folks he ain't good enough to speak to, by +cripes!” Big Medicine glared aggressively up and down the table. + +Weary got up suddenly and went out, and Slim followed him, though his +supper was half-uneaten. + +“This goin' to be hard on the Little Doctor--only brother she's got,” + they heard Happy Jack point out unnecessarily; and Weary, the equable, +was guilty of slamming the door so that the whole building shook, by way +of demonstrating his dislike of speech upon the subject. + +They were a sorry company who waved hands at the Little Doctor and +the Kid and the Countess, just when the afterglow of a red sunset +was merging into the vague, purple shadows of coming dusk. They stood +silent, for the most part, and let them go without the usual facetious +advice to “Be good to yourselves,” and the hackneyed admonition to Chip +to keep out of jail if he could. There must have been something very +wistful in their faces, for the Little Doctor smiled bravely down upon +then from the buggy seat, and lifted up the Kid for a four-toothed smile +and an ecstatic “Bye!” accompanied by a vigorous flopping of hands, +which included then all. + +“We'll telegraph first thing, boys,” the Little Doctor called back, as +the rig chucked into the pebbly creek crossing. “We'll keep you posted, +and I'll write all the particulars as soon as I can. Don't think the +worst--unless you have to. I don't.” She smiled again, and waved her +hand hastily because of the Kid's contortions; and, though the smile +had tears close behind it, though her voice was tremulous in spite of +herself, the Happy Family took heart from her courage and waved their +hats gravely, and smiled back as best they could. + +“There's a lot uh cake you boys might just as well eat up,” the Countess +called belatedly. “It'll all dry out, if yuh don't--and there ain't no +use wastin' it--and there's two lemon pies in the brown cupboard, and +what under the shinin' sun--” The wheels bumped violently against a +rock, and the Happy Family heard no more. + + + +CHAPTER IV. Some Hopes + +On the third day after the Happy Family decided that there should be +some word from Chicago; and, since that day was Sunday, they rode in a +body to Dry Lake after it. They had not discussed the impending tragedy +very much, but they were an exceedingly Unhappy Family, nevertheless; +and, since Flying U coulee was but a place of gloom, they were not +averse to leaving it behind them for a few hours, and riding where every +stick and stone did not remind then of the Old Man. + +In Dry Lake was a message, brief but heartening: + +“J. G. still alive. Some hopes”. + +They left the station with lighter spirits after reading that; rode to +the hotel, tied their horses to the long hitching pole there and went +in. And right there the Happy Family unwittingly became cast for the +leading parts in one of those dramas of the West which never is heard +of outside the theater in which grim circumstance stages it for a single +playing--unless, indeed, the curtain rings down on a tragedy that brings +the actors before their district judge for trial. And, as so frequently +is the case, the beginning was casual to the point of triviality. + +Sary, Ellen, Marg'reet, Sybilly and Jos'phine Denson (spelled in +accordance with parental pronunciation) were swinging idly upon the +hitching pole, with the self-conscious sang froid of country children +come to town. They backed away from the Happy Family's approach, grinned +foolishly in response to their careless greeting, and tittered openly +at the resplendence of the Native Son, who was wearing his black Angora +chaps with the three white diamonds down each leg, the gay horsehair +hatband, crimson neckerchief and Mexican spurs with their immense +rowels and ornate conchos of hand-beaten silver. Sary, Ellen, Marg'reet, +Jos'phine and Sybilly were also resplendent, in their way. Their carroty +hair was tied with ribbons quite aggressively new, their freckles +shone with maternal scrubbing, and there was a hint of home-made +“crochet-lace” beneath each stiffly starched dress. + +“Hello, kids,” Weary greeted them amiably, with a secret smile over the +memory of a time when they had purloined the Little Doctor's pills and +had made reluctant acquaintance with a stomach pump. “Where's the circus +going to be at?” + +“There ain't goin' to be no circus,” Sybilly retorted, because she was +the forward one of the family. “We're going away; on the train. The next +one that comes along. We're going to be on it all night, too; and we'll +have to eat on it, too.” + +“Well, by golly, you'll want something to eat, then!” Slim was feeling +abstractedly in his pocket for a coin, for these were the nieces of the +Countess, and therefore claimed more than a cursory interest from +Slim. “You take this up to the store and see if yuh can't swop it for +something good to eat.” Because Sary was the smallest of the lot he +pressed the dollar into her shrinking, amazed palm. + +“Paw's got more money'n that,” Sybilly announced proudly. “Paw's got +a million dollars. A man bought our ranch and gave him a lot of money. +We're rich now. Maybe paw'll buy us a phony-graft. He said maybe he +would. And maw's goin' to have a blue silk dress with green onto it. +And--” + +“Better haze along and buy that grub stake,” Slim interrupted the family +gift for profuse speech. He had caught the boys grinning, and fancied +that they were tracing a likeness between the garrulity of Sybilly and +the fluency of her aunt, the Countess. “You don't want that train to go +off and leave yuh, by golly.” + +“Wonder who bought Denson out?” Cal Emmett asked of no one in +particular, as the children went strutting off to the store to spend the +dollar which little Sary clutched so tightly it seemed as if the goddess +of liberty must surely have been imprinted upon her palm. + +When they went inside and found Denson himself pompously “setting 'em up +to the house,” Cal repeated the question in a slightly different form to +the man himself. + +Denson, while he was ready to impress the beholders with his +unaccustomed affluence, became noticeably embarrassed at the inquiry, +and edged off into vague generalities. + +“I jest nacherlly had to sell when I got m' price,” he told the Happy +Family in a tone that savored strongly of apology. “I like the country, +and I like m' neighbors fine. Never'd ask for better than the Flyin' U +has been t' me. I ain't got no kick comin' there. Sorry to hear the Old +Man's hurt back East. Mary was real put out at not bein' able to +see Louise 'fore she went away”--Louise being the Countess' and Mary +Denson's sister--“but soon as I sold I got oneasy like. The feller +wanted p'session right away, too, so I told Mary we might as well start +b'fore we git outa the notion. I wouldn't uh cared about sellin', maybe, +but the kids needs to be in school. They're growin' up in ign'rance +out here, and Mary's folks wants us to come back 'n' settle close handy +by--they been at us t' sell out and move fer the last five years, now, +and I told Mary--” + +Even Cal forgot, eventually, that he had asked a question which remained +unanswered; what interest he had felt at first was smothered to death +beneath that blanket of words, and he eagerly followed the boys out +and over to Rusty Brown's place, where Denson, because of an old grudge +against Rusty, might be trusted not to follow. + +“Mamma!” Weary commented amusedly, when they were crossing the street, +“that Denson bunch can sure talk the fastest and longest, and say the +least, of any outfit I ever saw.” + +“Wonder who did buy him out?” Jack Bates queried. “Old ginger-whiskers +didn't pass out any facts, yuh notice. He couldn't have got much; his +land's mostly gravel and 'doby patches. He's got a water right on Flying +U creek, you know--first right, at that, seems to me--and a dandy fine +spring in that coulee. Wonder why our outfit didn't buy him out--seeing +he wanted to sell so bad?” + +“This wantin' to sell is something I never heard of b'fore,” Slim said +slowly. “To hear him tell it, that ranch uh hisn was worth a dollar an +inch, by golly. I don't b'lieve he's been wantin' to sell out. If he +had, Mis' Bixby woulda said something about it. She don't know about +this here sellin' business, or she'd a said--” + +“Yeah, you can most generally bank on the Countess telling all she +knows,” Cal assented with some sarcasm; at which Slim grunted and turned +sulky afterward. + +Denson and his affairs they speedily forgot for a time, in the diversion +which Rusty Brown's familiar place afforded to young men with unjaded +nerves and a zest for the primitive pleasures. Not until mid-afternoon +did it occur to them that Flying U coulee was deserted by all save old +Patsy, and that there were chores to be done, if all the creatures of +the coulee would sleep in comfort that night. Pink, therefore, withdrew +his challenge to the bunch, and laid his billiard cue down with a sigh +and the remark that all he lacked was time, to have the scalps of every +last one of them hanging from his belt. Pink was figurative in his +speech, you will understand; and also a bit vainglorious over beating +Andy Green and Big Medicine twice in succession. + +It occurred to Weary then that a word of cheer to the Old Man and +his anxious watchers might not cone amiss. Therefore the Happy Family +mounted and rode to the depot to send it, and on the way wrangled over +the wording of the message after their usual contentious manner. + +“Better tell 'em everything is fine, at this end uh the line,” Cal +suggested, and was hooted at for a poet. + +“Just say,” Weary began, when he was interrupted by the discordant +clamor from a trainload of sheep that had just pulled in and stopped. +“'Maa-aa, Ma-a-aaa,' darn yuh,” he shouted derisively, at the peering, +plaintive faces, glimpsed between the close-set bars. “Mamma, how I do +love sheep!” Whereupon he put spurs to his horse and galloped down to +the station to rid his ears of the turbulent wave of protest from the +cars. + +Naturally it required some time to compose the telegram in a style +satisfactory to all parties. Outside, cars banged together, an engine +snorted stertorously, and suffocating puffs of coal smoke now and +then invaded the waiting-room while the Happy Family were sending that +message of cheer to Chicago. If you are curious, the final version of +their combined sentiments was not at all spectacular. It said merely: + +“Everything fine here. Take good care of the Old Man. How's the Kid +stacking up?” + +It was signed simply “The Bunch.” + +“Mary's little lambs are here yet, I see,” the Native Son remarked +carelessly when they went out. “Enough lambs for all the Marys in the +country. How would you like to be Mary?” + +“Not for me,” Irish declared, and turned his face away from the stench +of them. + +Others there were who rode the length of the train with faces averted +and looks of disdain; cowmen, all of them, they shared the range +prejudice, and took no pains to hide it. + +The wind blew strong from the east, that day; it whistled through the +open, double-decked cars packed with gray, woolly bodies, whose voices +were ever raised in strident complaint; and the stench of them smote +the unaccustomed nostrils of the Happy Family and put them to disgusted +flight up the track and across it to where the air was clean again. + +“Honest to grandma, I'd make the poorest kind of a sheepherder,” Big +Medicine bawled earnestly, when they were well away from the noise and +smell of the detested animals. “If I had to herd sheep, by cripes, do +you know what I'd do? I'd haze 'em into a coulee and turn loose with a +good rifle and plenty uh shells, and call in the coyotes to git a square +meal. That's the way I'd herd sheep. It's the only way you can shut 'em +up. They just 'baa-aa, baa-aa, baa-aa' from the time they're dropped +till somebody kills 'em off. Honest, they blat in their sleep. I've +heard 'em.” + +“When you and the dogs were shooting off coyotes?” asked Andy Green +pointedly, and so precipitated dissension which lasted for ten miles. + + + +CHAPTER V. Sheep + +Slim rising first from dinner on the next day but one opened the door +of the mess-house, and stood there idly picking his teeth before he went +about his work. After a minute of listening to the boys “joshing” old +Patsy about some gooseberry pies he had baked without sugar, he turned +his face outward, threw up his head like a startled bull, and began to +sniff. + +“Say, I smell sheep, by golly!” he announced in the bellowing tone which +was his conversational voice, and sniffed again. + +“Oh, that's just a left-over in your system from the dose yuh got in +town Sunday,” Weary explained soothingly. “I've smelled sheep, and +tasted sheep, and dreamed sheep, ever since.” + +“No, by golly, it's sheep! It ain't no memory. I--I b'hieve I hear +'em, too, by golly.” Slim stepped out away from the building and faced +suspiciously down the coulee. + +“Slim, I never suspected you of imagination before,” the Native Son +drawled, and loitered out to where Slim stood still sniffing. “I wonder +if you're catching it from Andy and me. Don't you think you ought to be +vaccinated?” + +“That ain't imagination,” Pink called out from within. “When anybody +claims there's sheep in Flying U coulee, that's straight loco.” + +“Come on out here and smell 'em yourself, then!” Slim bawled +indignantly. “I never seen such an outfit as this is gittin' to be; you +fellers don't believe nobody, no more. We ain't all Andy Greens.” + +Upon hearing this Andy pushed back his chair and strolled outside. He +clapped his hand down upon Slim's fat-cushioned shoulder and swayed him +gently. “Never mind, Slim; you can't all be famous,” he comforted. “Some +day, maybe, I'll teach yuh the fine art of lying more convincingly than +the ordinary man can tell the truth. It is a fine art; it takes a genius +to put it across. Now, the only time anybody doubts my word is when I'm +sticking to the truth hike a sand burr to a dog's tail.” + +From away to the west, borne on the wind which swept steadily down the +coulee, came that faint, humming sing-song, which can be made only by a +herd of a thousand or more sheep, all blatting in different keys--or +by a distant band playing monotonously upon the middle octave of their +varied instruments. + +“Slim's right, by gracious! It's sheep, sure as yuh live.” Andy did not +wait for more, but started at a fast walk for the stable and his horse. +After him went the Native Son, who had not been with the Flying U long +enough to sense the magnitude of the affront, and Slim, who knew to a +nicety just what “cowmen” considered the unpardonable sin, and the rest +of the Happy Family, who were rather incredulous still. + +“Must be some fool herder just crossing the coulee, on the move +somewhere,” Weary gave as a solution. “Half of 'em don't know a fence +when they see it.” + +As they galloped toward the sound and the smell, they expressed freely +their opinion of sheep, the men who owned them, and the lunatics who +watched over the blatting things. They were cattlemen to the marrow +in their bones, and they gloried in their prejudice against the woolly +despoilers of the range. + +All these years had the Flying U been immune from the nuisance, save for +an occasional trespasser, who was quickly sent about his business. The +Flying U range had been kept in the main inviolate from the little, gray +vandals, which ate the grass clean to the sod, and trampled with their +sharp-pointed hoofs the very roots into lifelessness; which polluted the +water-holes and creeks until cattle and horses went thirsty rather than +drink; which, in that land of scant rainfall, devastated the range +where they fed so that a long-established prairie-dog town was not more +barren. What wonder if the men who owned cattle, and those who tended +them, hated sheep? So does the farmer dread an invasion of grasshoppers. + +A mile down the coulee they came upon the band with two herders and four +dogs keeping watch. Across the coulee and up the hillsides they spread +like a noisome gray blanket. “Maa-aa, maa-aa, maa-aa,” two thousand +strong they blatted a strident medley while they hurried here and there +after sweeter bunches of grass, very much like a disturbed ant-hill. + +The herders loitered upon either slope, their dogs lying close beside +them. There was good grass in that part of the coulee; the Flying U +had saved it for the saddle horses that were to be gathered and held +temporarily at the ranch; for it would save herding, and a week in that +pasture would put a keen edge on their spirits for the hard work of the +calf roundup. A dozen or two that ranged close had already been driven +into the field and were feeding disdainfully in a corner as far away +from the sheep as the fence would permit. + +The Happy Family, riding close-grouped, stiffened in their saddles and +stared amazed at the outrage. + +“Sheepherders never did have any nerve,” Irish observed after a minute. +“They keep their places fine! They'll drive their sheep right into your +dooryard and tell 'en to help themselves to anything that happens to +look good to them. Oh, they're sure modest and retiring!” + +Weary, who had charge of the outfit during Chip's absence, was making +straight for the nearest herder. Pink and Andy went with him, as a +matter of course. + +“You fellows ride up around that side, and put the run on them sheep,” + Weary shouted back to the others. “We'll start the other side moving. +Make 'em travel--back where they came from.” He jerked his head toward +the north. He knew, just as they all knew, that there had been no sheep +to the south, unless one counted those that ranged across the Missouri +river. + +As the three forced their horses up the steep slope, the herder, sitting +slouched upon a rock, glanced up at them dully. He had a long stick, +with which he was apathetically turning over the smaller stones within +his reach, and as apathetically killing the black bugs that scuttled out +from the moist earth beneath. He desisted from this unexciting pastime +as they drew near, and eyed them with the sullenness that comes of +long isolation when the person's nature forbids that other extreme of +babbling garrulity, for no man can live long months alone and remain +perfectly normal. Nature, that stern mistress, always exacts a penalty +from us foolish mortals who would ignore the instincts she has wisely +implanted within us for our good. + +“Maybe,” Weary began mildly and without preface, “you don't know this is +private property. Get busy with your dogs, and haze these sheep back on +the bench.” He waved his hand to the north. “And, when you get a good +start in that direction,” he added, “yuh better keep right on going.” + +The herder surveyed him morosely, but he said nothing; neither did he +rise from the rock to obey the command. The dogs sat upon their haunches +and perked their ears inquiringly, as if they understood better than did +their master that these men were not to be quite overlooked. + +“I meant to-day,” Weary hinted, with the manner of one who deliberately +holds his voice quiet. + +“I never asked yuh what yuh meant,” the herder mumbled, scowling. “We +got to keep 'em on water another hour, yet.” He went back to turning +over the small rocks and to pursuing with his stick the bugs, as if the +whole subject were squeezed dry of interest. + +For a minute Weary stared unwinkingly down at him, uncertain whether to +resent this as pure insolence, or to condone it as imbecility. “Mamma!” + he breathed eloquently, and grinned at Andy and Pink. “This is a real +talkative cuss, and obliging, too. Come on, boys; he's too busy to +bother with a little thing like sheep.” + +He led the way around to the far side of the band, the nearest sheep +scuttling away from then as they passed. “I don't suppose we could work +the combination on those dogs--what?” he considered aloud, glancing back +at them where they still sat upon their haunches and watched the strange +riders. “Say, Cadwalloper, you took a few lessons in sheepherding, a +couple of years ago, when you was stuck on that girl--remember? Whistle +'em up here and set 'en to work.” + +“You go to the devil,” Pink's curved hips replied amiably to his boss. +“I've got loss-uh-memory on the sheep business.” + +Whereat Weary grinned and said no more about it. + +On the opposite side of the coulee, the boys seemed to be laboring +quite as fruitlessly with the other herder. They heard Big Medicine's +truculent bellow, as he leaned from the saddle and waved a fist close to +the face of the herder, but, though they rode with their eyes fixed upon +the group, they failed to see any resultant movement of dogs, sheep or +man. + +There is, at times, a certain safety in being the hopeless minority. +Though seven indignant cowpunchers surrounded him, that herder was +secure from any personal molestation--and he knew it. They were seven +against one; therefore, after making some caustic remarks, which +produced as little effect as had Weary's command upon the first man, the +seven were constrained to ride here and there along the wavering, gray +line, and, with shouts and swinging ropes, themselves drive the sheep +from the coulee. + +There was much clamor and dust and riding to and fro. There was language +which would have made the mothers of then weep, and there were faces +grown crimson from wrath. Eventually, however, the Happy Family faced +the north fence of the Flying U boundary, and saw the last woolly back +scrape under the lower wire, leaving a toll of greasy wool hanging from +the barbs. + +The herders had drawn together, and were looking on from a distance, and +the four dogs were yelping uneasily over their enforced inaction. The +Happy Family went back and rounded up the herders, and by sheer weight +of numbers forced them to the fence without laying so much as a finger +upon then. The one who had been killing black bugs gave then an ugly +look as he crawled through, but even he did not say anything. + +“Snap them wires down where they belong,” Weary commanded tersely. + +The man hesitated a minute, then sullenly unhooked the barbs of the two +lower strands, so that the wires, which had thus been lifted to permit +the passing of the sheep, twanged apart and once more stretched straight +from post to post. + +“Now, just keep in mind the fact that fences are built for use. This is +a private ranch, and sheep are just about as welcome as smallpox. Haze +them stinking things as far north as they'll travel before dark, and at +daylight start 'em going again. Where's your camp, anyhow?” + +“None of your business,” mumbled the bugkiller sourly. + +Weary scanned the undulating slope beyond the fence, saw no sign of a +camp, and glanced uncertainly at his fellows. “Well, it don't matter +much where it is; you see to it you don't sleep within five miles of +here, or you're liable to have bad dreams. Hit the trail, now!” + +They waited inside the fence until the retreating sheep lost their +individuality as blatting animals, ambling erratically here and there, +while they moved toward the brow of the hill, and merged into a great, +gray blotch against the faint green of the new grass--a blotch from +which rose again that vibrant, sing-song humming of many voices mingled. +Then they rode back down the coulee to their own work, taking it +for granted that the trespassing was an incident which would not be +repeated--by those particular sheep, at any rate. + +It was, therefore, with something of a shock that the Happy Family +awoke the next morning to hear Pink's melodious treble shouting in the +bunk-house at sunrise next morning: + +“'G'wa-a-y round' 'em, Shep! Seven black ones in the coulee!” Men who +know well the West are familiar with that facetious call. + +“Ah, what's the matter with yuh?” Irish raised a rumpled, brown head +from his pillow, and blinked sleepily at him. “I've been dreaming I was +a sheepherder, all night.” + +“Well, you've got the swellest chance in the world to 'make every dream +cone true, dearie,'” Pink retorted. “The whole blamed coulee's full uh +sheep. I woke up a while ago and thought I just imagined I heard 'en +again; so I went out to take a look--or a smell, it was--and they're +sure enough there!” + +Weary swung one long leg out from under his blankets and reached for his +clothes. He did not say anything, but his face portended trouble for the +invaders. + +“Say!” cried Big Medicine, coming out of his bunk as if it were afire, +“I tell yuh right now then blattin' human apes wouldn't git gay around +here if I was runnin' this outfit. The way I'd have of puttin' them +sheep on the run wouldn't be slow, by cripes! I'll guarantee--” + +By then the bunk-house was buzzing with voices, and there was none to +give heed to Big Medicine s blatant boasting. Others there were who +seemed rather inclined to give Weary good advice while they pulled +on their boots and sought for their gloves and rolled early-morning +cigarettes, and otherwise prepared themselves for what Fate might have +waiting for then outside the door. + +“Are you sure they're in the coulee, Cadwalloper?” Weary asked, during a +brief lull. “They could be up on the hill--” + +“Hell, yes!” was Pink's forceful answer. “They could be on the hill, but +they ain't. Why, darn it, they're straggling into the little pasture! I +could see 'em from the stable. They--” + +“Come and eat your breakfast first, boys, anyway.” Weary had his hand +upon the door-knob. “A few minutes more won't make any difference, one +way or the other.” He went out and over to the mess-house to see if +Patsy had the coffee ready; for this was a good three-quarters of an +hour earlier than the Flying U outfit usually bestirred themselves on +these days of preparation for roundup and waiting for good grass. + +“I'll be darned if I'd be as calm as he is,” Cal Emmett muttered while +the door was being closed. “Good thing the Old Man ain't here, now. He'd +go straight up in the air. He wouldn't wait for no breakfast.” + +“I betche there'll be a killin' yet, before we're through with them +sheep,” gloomed Happy Jack. “When sheepherders starts in once to be +ornery, there ain't no way uh stoppin' 'em except by killin' 'em off. +And that'll mean the pen for a lot of us fellers--” + +“Well, by golly, it won't be me,” Slim declared loudly. “Yuh wouldn't +ketch me goin' t' jail for no doggone sheepherder. They oughta be a +bounty on 'en by rights.” + +“Seems queer they'd be right back here this morning, after being hazed +out yesterday afternoon,” said Andy Green thoughtfully. “Looks like +they're plumb anxious to build a lot of trouble for themselves.” + +Patsy, thumping energetically the bottom of a tin pan, sent them +trooping to the mess-house. There it was evident that the breakfast had +been unduly hurried; there were no biscuits in sight, for one thing, +though Patsy was lumbering about the stove frying hot-cakes. They were +in too great a hurry to wait for them, however. They swallowed their +coffee hurriedly, bolted a few mouthfuls of meat and fried eggs, and let +it go at that. + +Weary looked at then with a faint smile. “I'm going to give a few of you +fellows a chance to herd sheep to-day,” he announced, cooling his coffee +so that it would not actually scald his palate. “That's why I wanted +you to get some grub into you. Some of you fellows will have to take the +trail up on the hill, and meet us outside the fence, so when we chase +'em through you can make a good job of it this time. I wonder--” + +“You don't need to call out the troops for that job; one man is +enough to put the fear uh the Lord into then herders,” Andy remarked +slightingly. “Once they're on the move--” + +“All right, my boy; we'll let you be the man,” Weary told him promptly. +“I was going to have a bunch of you take a packadero outfit down toward +Boiler Bottom and comb the breaks along there for horses--and I sure +do hate to spend the whole day chasing sheepherders around over the +country. So we'll haze 'em through the fence again, and, seeing you feel +that way about it, I'll let you go around and keep 'em going. And, if +you locate their camp, kinda impress it on the tender, if you can round +him up, that the Flying U ain't pasturing sheep this spring. No matter +what kinda talk he puts up, you put the run on 'em till you see 'em +across One-Man coulee. Better have Patsy put you up a lunch--unless +you're fond of mutton.” + +Andy twisted his mouth disgustedly. “Say, I'm going to quit handing out +any valuable advice to you, Weary,” he expostulated. + +“Haw-haw-haw-w-w!” laughed Big Medicine, and slapped Andy on the +shoulder so that his face almost came in contact with his plate. +“Yuh will try to work some innercent man into sheepherdin', will yuh? +Haw-haw-haw-w! You'll come in tonight blattin'--if yuh don't stay out +on the range tryin' t' eat grass, by cripes! Andy had a little lamb that +follered him around--” + +“Better let Bud take that herdin' job, Weary,” Andy suggested. “It won't +hurt him--he's blattin' already.” + +“If you think you're liable to need somebody along,” Weary began, +soft-heartedly relenting, “why, I guess--” + +“If I can't handle two crazy sheepherders without any help, by gracious, +I'll get me a job holdin' yarn in an old ladies' hone,” Andy cut in +hastily, and got up from the table. “Being a truthful man, I can't say +I'm stuck on the job; but I'm game for it. And I'll promise you there +won't be no more sheep of that brand lickin' our doorsteps. What darned +outfit is it, anyway? I never bumped into any Dot sheep before, to my +knowledge.” + +“It's a new one on me,” Weary testified, heading the procession down +to the stable. “If they belonged anywhere in this part of the country, +though, they wouldn't be acting the way they are. They'd be wise to the +fact that it ain't healthy.” + +Even while he spoke his eyes were fixed with cold intensity upon a +fringe of gray across the coulee below the little pasture. To the +nostrils of the outraged Happy Family was borne that indescribable aroma +which betrays the presence of sheep; that aroma which sheepmen love and +which cattlemen hate, and which a favorable wind will carry a long way. + +They slapped saddles on their horses in record time that morning, and +raced down the coulee ironically shouting commiserating sentences to +the unfortunate Andy, who rode slowly up to the mess-house for the lunch +which Patsy had waiting for him in a flour sack, and afterward climbed +the grade and loped along outside the line fence to a point opposite +the sheep and the shouting horsemen, who forced them back by weight of +numbers. + +This morning the herders were not quite so passive. The bug-killer still +scowled, but he spoke without the preliminary sulky silence of the day +before, + +“We're goin' across the coulee,” he growled. “Them's orders. We range +south uh here.” + +“No, you don't,” Weary dissented calmly. “Not by a long shot, you don't. +You're going back where you come from--if you ask me. And you're going +quick!” + + + +CHAPTER VI. What Happened to Andy + +With the sun shining comfortably upon his back, and with a cigarette +between his lips, Andy sat upon his horse and watched in silent glee +while the irate Happy Family scurried here and there behind the band, +swinging their ropes down upon the woolly backs, and searching their +vocabularies for new and terrible epithets. Andy smiled broadly as a +colorful phrase now and then boomed across the coulee in that clear, +snappy atmosphere, which carries sounds so far. He did not expect to +do much smiling upon his own account, that day, and he was therefore +grateful for the opportunity to behold the spectacle before him. + +There was Slim, for instance, unwillingly careening down hill toward +home, because, in his zeal to slap an old ewe smartly with his rope, he +drove her unexpectedly under his horse, and so created a momentary panic +that came near standing both horse and rider upon their heads. And there +was Big Medicine whistling until he was purple, while the herder, with a +single gesture, held the dog motionless, though a dozen sheep broke +back from the band and climbed a slope so steep that Big Medicine was +compelled to go after them afoot, and turn them with stones and profane +objurgations. + +It was very funny--when one could sit at ease upon the hilltop and smoke +a cigarette while others risked apoplexy and their souls' salvation +below. By the time they panted up the last rock-strewn slope of the +bluff, and sent the vanguard of the invaders under the fence, Andy's +mood was complacent in the extreme, and his smile offensively wide. + +“Oh, you needn't look so sorry for us,” drawled the Native Son, jingling +over toward him until only the fence and a few feet of space divided +them. “Here's where you get yours, amigo. I wish you a pleasant day--and +a long one!” He waved his hand in mocking adieu, touched his horse with +his silver spurs, and rode gaily away down the coulee. + +“Here, sheepherder's your outfit. Ma-aa-a-a!” jeered Big Medicine. +“You'll wisht, by cripes, you was a dozen men just like yuh before +you're through with the deal. Haw-haw-haw-w!” + +There were others who, seeing Andy's grin, had something to say upon the +subject before they left. + +Weary rode up, and looked undecidedly from Andy to the sheep, and back +again. + +“If you don't feel like tackling it single-handed, I'll send--” + +“What do yuh think I am, anyway?” Andy interrupted crisply, “a +Montgomery Ward two-for-a-quarter cowpuncher? Don't you fellows waste +any time worrying over me!” + +The herders stared at Andy curiously when he swung in behind the +tail-end of the band and kept pace with their slow moving, but they did +not speak beyond shouting an occasional command to their dogs. Neither +did Andy have anything to say, until he saw that they were swinging +steadily to the west, instead of keeping straight north, as they had +been told to do. Then he rode over to the nearest herder, who happened +to be the bug-killer. + +“You don't want to get turned around,” he hinted quietly. “That's north, +over there.” + +“I'm workin' fer the man that pays my wages,” the fellow retorted +glumly, and waved an arm to a collie that was waiting for orders. The +dog dropped his head, and ran around the right wing of the band, with +sharp yelps and dartings here and there, turning them still more to the +west. + +Andy hesitated, decided to leave the man alone for the present, and rode +around to the other herder. + +“You swing these sheep north!” he commanded, disdaining preface or +explanation. + +“I'm workin' for the man that pays my wages,” the herder made answer +stolidly, and chewed steadily upon a quid of tobacco that had stained +his lips unbecomingly. + +So they had talked the thing over--had those two herders--and were +following a premeditated plan of defiance! Andy hooked at the man a +minute. “You turn them sheep, damn you,” he commanded again, and laid a +hand upon his saddle-horn suggestively. + +“You go to the devil, damn yuh,” advised the herder, and cocked a wary +eye at him from under his hat-brim. Not all herders, let it be said +in passing, take unto themselves the mental attributes of their sheep; +there are those who believe that a bold front is better than weak +compliance, and who will back that belief by a very bold front indeed. + +Andy appraised him mentally, decided that he was an able-bodied man +and therefore fightable, and threw his right leg over the cantle with a +quite surprising alacrity. + +“Are you going to turn them sheep?” Andy was taking off his coat when he +made that inquiry. + +“Not for your tellin'. You keep back, young feller, or I'll sick the +dogs on yuh.” He turned and whistled to the nearest one, and Andy hit +him on the ear. + +They clinched and pummeled when they could and where they could. The +dog came up, circled the gyrating forms twice, then sat down upon his +haunches at a safe distance, tilted his head sidewise and lifted his +ears interestedly. He was a wise little dog; the other dog was also +wise, and remained phlegmatically at his post, as did the bug-killer. + +“Are you going to turn them sheep?” Andy spoke breathlessly, but with +deadly significance. + +“N-yes.” + +Andy took his fingers from the other's Adam's apple, his knee from the +other's diaphragm, and went over to where he had thrown down his coat, +felt in a pocket for his handkerchief, and, when he had found it, +applied it to his nose, which was bleeding profusely. + +“Fly at it, then,” he advised, eyeing the other sternly over the +handkerchief. “I'd hate to ask you a third time.” + +“I'd hate to have yuh,” conceded the herder reluctantly. “I was sure I +c'd lick yuh, or I'd 'a' turned 'em before.” He sent the dog racing down +the south line of the band. + +Andy got thoughtfully back upon his horse, and sat looking hard at the +herder. “Say, you're grade above the general run uh lamb-hickers,” he +observed, after a minute. “Who are you working for, and what's your +object in throwing sheep on Flying U land? There's plenty of range to +the north.” + +“I'm workin',” said the herder, “for the Dot outfit. I thought you could +read brands.” + +“Don't get sassy--I've got a punch or two I haven't used yet. Who owns +these woollies?” + +“Well--Whittaker and Oleson, if yuh want to know.” + +“I do.” Andy was keeping pace with him around the band, which edged +off from then and the dogs. “And what makes you so crazy about Flying U +grass?” he pursued. + +“We've got to cross that coulee to git to where we're headed for; we got +a right to, and we're going to do it.” The herder paused and glanced up +at Andy sourly. “We knowed you was a mean outfit; the boss told us so. +And he told us you was blank ca'tridges and we needn't back up just +'cause you raised up on your hind legs and howled a little. I've had +truck with you cowmen before. I've herded sheep in Wyoming.” He walked a +few steps with his head down, considering. + +“I better go over and talk some sense into the other fellow,” he said, +looking up at Andy as if all his antagonism had oozed in the fight. “You +ride along this edge, so they won't scatter--we ought to be grazin' 'em +along, by rights; only you seem to be in such an all-fired rush--” + +“You go on and tell that loco son-of-a-gun over there what he's up +against,” Andy urged. “Blank cartridges--I sure do like that! If you +only knew it, high power dum-dums would be a lot closer to our brand. +Run along--I am in a kinda hurry, this morning.” + +Andy, riding slowly upon the outskirts of the grazing, blatting band, +watched the two confer earnestly together a hundred yards or so +away. They seemed to be having some sort of argument; the bug-killer +gesticulated with the long stick he carried, and the sheep, while +the herders talked, scattered irresponsibly. Andy wondered what made +sheepmen so “ornery,” particularly herders. He wondered why the fellow +he had thrashed was so insultingly defiant at first, and, after +the thrashing, so unresentful and communicative, and so amenable to +authority withal. He felt his nose, and decided that it was, all +things considered, a cheap victory, and yet one of which he need not be +ashamed. + +The herder cane back presently and helped drive the sheep over the edge +of the bluff which bordered Antelope coulee. The bug-killer, upon his +side, also seemed imbued with the spirit of obedience; Andy heard him +curse a collie into frenzied zeal, and smiled approvingly. + +“Now you're acting a heap more human,” he observed; and the man from +Wyoming grinned ruefully by way of reply. + +Antelope coulee, at that point, was steep; too steep for riding, so that +Andy dismounted and dug his boot-heels into the soft soil, to gain a +foothold on the descent. When he was halfway down, he chanced to look +back, straight into the scowling gaze of the bug-killer, who was sliding +down behind him. + +“Thought you were hazing down the other side of 'em,” Andy called back, +but the herder did not choose to answer save with another scowl. + +Andy edged his horse around an impracticable slope of shale stuff and +went on. The herder followed. When he was within twelve feet or so +of the bottom, there was a sound of pebbles knocked loose in haste, a +scrambling, and then came the impact of his body. Andy teetered, lost +his balance, and went to the bottom in one glorious slide. He landed +with the bug-killer on top--and the bug-killer failed to remove his +person as speedily as true courtesy exacted. + +Andy kicked and wriggled and tried to remember what was that +high-colored, vituperative sentence that Irish had invented over a +stubborn sheep, that he might repeat it to the bug-killer. The herder +from Wyoming ran up, caught Andy's horse, and untied Andy's rope from +the saddle. + +“Good fer you, Oscar,” he praised the bug-killer. “Hang onto him while +I take a few turns.” He thereupon helped force Andy's arms to his side, +and wound the rope several times rather tightly around Andy's outraged, +squirming person. + +“Oh, it ain't goin' to do yuh no good to buck 'n bawl,” admonished +the tier. “I learnt this here little trick down in Wyoming. A bunch uh +punchers done it to me--and I've been just achin' all over fer a chance +to return the favor to some uh you gay boys. And,” he added, with +malicious satisfaction, while he rolled Andy over and tied a perfectly +unslippable knot behind, “it gives me great pleasure to hand the dose +out to you, in p'ticular. If I was a mean man, I'd hand yuh the boot a +few times fer luck; but I'll save that up till next time.” + +“You can bet your sweet life there'll be a next time,” Andy promised +earnestly, with embellishments better suited to the occasion than to a +children's party. + +“Well, when it arrives I'm sure Johnny-on-the-spot. Them Wyoming +punchers beat me up after they'd got me tied. I'm tellin' yuh so you'll +see I ain't mean unless I'm drove to it. Turn him feet down hill, Oscar, +so he won't git a rush uh brains to the head and die on our hands. Now +you're goin' to mind your own business, sonny. Next time yuh set out to +herd sheep, better see the boss first and git on the job right.” + +He rose to his feet, surveyed Andy with his hands on his hips, mentally +pronounced the job well done, and took a generous chew of tobacco, after +which he grinned down at the trussed one. + +“That the language uh flowers you're talkin'?” he inquired banteringly, +before he turned his attention to the horse, which he disposed of by +tying up the reins and giving it a slap on the rump. When it had trotted +fifty yards down the coulee bottom, and showed a disposition to go +farther, he whistled to his dogs, and turned again to Andy. + +“This here is just a hint to that bunch you trot with, to leave us and +our sheep alone,” he said. “We don't pick no quarrels, but we're goin' +to cross our sheep wherever we dern please, to git where we want to go. +Gawd didn't make this range and hand it over to you cowmen to put in yer +pockets--I guess there's a chance fer other folks to hang on by their +eyebrows, anyway.” + +Andy, lying there like a very good presentation of a giant cocoon, roped +round and round, with his arms pinned to his sides, had the doubtful +pleasure of seeing that noisome, foolish-faced band trail down Antelope +coulee and back upon the level they had just left, and of knowing to a +gloomy certainty that he could do nothing about it, except swear; and +even that palls when a man has gone over his entire repertoire three +times in rapid succession. + +Andy, therefore, when the last sheep had trotted out of sight, hearing +and smell, wriggled himself into as comfortable a position as his bonds +would permit, and took a nap. + + + +CHAPTER VII. Truth Crushed to Earth, etc. + +Andy, only half awake, tried to obey both instinct and habit and reach +up to pull his hat down over his eyes, so that the sun could not shine +upon his lids so hotly; when he discovered that he could do no more than +wiggle his fingers, he came back with a jolt to reality and tried to sit +up. It is surprising to a man to discover suddenly just how important a +part his arms play in the most simple of body movements; Andy, with his +arms pinioned tightly the whole length of them, rolled over on his face, +kicked a good deal, and rolled back again, but he did not sit up, as he +had confidently expected to do. + +He lay absolutely quiet for at least five minutes, staring up at the +brilliant blue arch above him. Then he began to speak rapidly and +earnestly; a man just close enough to hear his voice sweeping up to a +certain rhetorical climax, pausing there and commencing again with a +rhythmic fluency of intonation, might have thought that he was repeating +poetry; indeed, it sounded like some of Milton's majestic blank +verse, but it was not. Andy was engaged in a methodical, scientific, +reprehensibly soul-satisfying period of swearing. + +A curlew, soaring low, with long beak outstretched before him, and +long legs outstretched behind cast a beady eye upon him, and shrilled +“Cor-reck! Cor-reck!” in unregenerate approbation of the blasphemy. + +Andy stopped suddenly and laughed. “Glad you agree with me, old sport,” + he addressed the bird whimsically, with a reaction to his normally +cheerful outlook. “Sheepherders are all those things I named over, +birdie, and some that I can't think of at present.” + +He tried again, this time with a more careful realization of his +limitations, to assume an upright position; and being a persevering +young man, and one with a ready wit, he managed at length to wriggle +himself back upon the slope from which he had slid in his sleep, and, by +digging in his heels and going carefully, he did at last rise upon his +knees, and from there triumphantly to his feet. + +He had at first believed that one of the herders would, in the course +of an hour or so, return and untie him, when he hoped to be able to +retrieve, in a measure, his self-respect, which he had lost when the +first three feet of his own rope had encircled him. To be tied and +trussed by sheepherders! Andy gritted his teeth and started down the +coulee. + +He was hungry, and his lunch was tied to his saddle. He looked eagerly +down the coulee, in the faint hope of seeing his horse grazing somewhere +along its length, until the numbness of his arms and hands reminded him +that forty lunches, tied upon forty saddles at his side, would be of no +use to him in his present position. His hands he could not move from his +thighs; he could wiggle his fingers--which he did, to relieve as much +as possible that unpleasant, prickly sensation which we call a “going to +sleep” of the afflicted members. When it occurred to him that he could +not do anything with his horse if he found it, he gave up looking for it +and started for the ranch, walking awkwardly, because of his bonds, the +sun shining hotly upon his brown head, because his hat had been knocked +off in the scuffle, and he could not pick it up and put it back where it +belonged. + +Taking a straight course across the prairie, he struck Flying U coulee +at the point where the sheep had left it. On the way there he had +crossed their trail where they went through the fence farther along +the coulee than before, and therefore with a better chance of passing +undetected; especially since the Happy Family, believing that he was +forcing them steadily to the north, would not be watching for sheep. The +barbed wire barrier bothered him somewhat. He was compelled to lie down +and roll under the fence, in the most undignified manner, and, when he +was through, there was the problem of getting upon his feet again. But +he managed it somehow, and went on down the coulee, perspiring with the +heat and a bitter realization of his ignominy. What the Happy Family +would have to say when they saw him, even Andy Green's vivid imagination +declined to picture. + +He knew by the sun that it was full noon when he came in sight of the +stable and corrals, and his soul sickened at the thought of facing that +derisive bunch of punchers, with their fiendish grins and their barbed +tongues. But he was hungry, and his arms had reached the limit of +prickly sensations and were numb to his shoulders. He shook his hair +back from his beaded forehead, cast a wary glance at the silent stables, +set his jaw, and went on up the hill to the mess-house, wishing tardily +that he had waited until they were off at work again, when he might +intimidate old Patsy into keeping quiet about his predicament. + +Within the mess-house was the clatter of knives and forks plied by +hungry men, the sound of desultory talk and a savory odor of good +things to eat. The door was closed. Andy stood before it as a +guilty-conscienced child stands before its teacher; clicked his teeth +together, and, since he could not open the door, lifted his right foot +and gave it a kick to strain the hinges. + +Within were exclamations of astonishment, silence and then a heavy +tread. Patsy opened the door, gasped and stood still, his eyes popping +out like a startled rabbit. + +“Well, what's eating you?” Andy demanded querulously, and pushed past +him into the room. + +Not all of the Happy Family were there. Cal, Jack Bates, Irish and +Happy Jack had gone into the Bad Lands next to the river; but there were +enough left to make the soul of Andy quiver forebodingly, and to send +the flush of extreme humiliation to his cheeks. + +The Happy Family looked at him in stunned surprise; then they glanced at +one another in swift, wordless inquiry, grinned wisely and warily, and +went on with their dinner. At least they pretended to go on with +their dinner, while Andy glared at them with amazed reproach in his +misleadingly honest gray eyes. + +“When you've got plenty of time,” he said at last in a choked tone, +“maybe one of you obliging cusses will untie this damned rope.” + +“Why, sure!” Pink threw a leg over the bench and got up with cheerful +alacrity. “I'll do it now, if you say so; I didn't know but what that +was some new fad of yours, like--” + +“Fad!” Andy repeated the word like an explosion. + +“Well, by golly, Andy needn't think I'm goin' to foller that there +style,” Slim stated solemnly. “I need m' rope for something else than to +tie n' clothes on with.” + +“I sure do hate to see a man wear funny things just to make himself +conspicuous,” Pink observed, while he fumbled at the knot, which was +intricate. Andy jerked away from him that he might face him ragefully. + +“Maybe this looks funny to you,” he cried, husky with wrath. “But I +can't seem to see the joke, myself. I admit I let then herders make +a monkey of me.... They slipped up behind, going down into Antelope +coulee, and slid down the bluff onto me; and, before I could get up, +they got me tied, all right. I licked one of 'en before that, and +thought I had 'en gentled down--” + +Andy stopped short, silenced by that unexplainable sense which warns us +when our words are received with cold disbelief. + +“Mh-hm--I thought maybe you'd run up against a hostile jackrabbit, or +something,” Pink purred, and went back to his place on the bench. + +“Haw-haw-haw-w-w!” came Big Medicine's tardy bellow. “That's more +reasonable than the sheepherder story, by cripes!” + +Andy looked at them much as he had stared up at the sky before he began +to swear--speechlessly, with a trembling of the muscles around his +mouth. He was quite white, considering how tanned he was, and his +forehead was shiny, with beads of perspiration standing thickly upon it. + +“Weary, I wish you'd untie this rope. I can't.” He spoke still in that +peculiar, husky tone, and, when the last words were out, his teeth went +together with a snap. + +Weary glanced inquiringly across at the Native Son, who was regarding +Andy steadily, as one gazes upon a tangled rope, looking for the end +which will easiest lead to an untangling. + +Miguel's brown eyes turned languidly to meet the look. “You'd better +untie him,” he advised in his soft drawl. “He may not be in the habit of +doing it--but he's telling the truth.” + +“Untie me, Miguel,” begged Andy, going over to him, “and let me at this +bunch.” + +“I'll do it,” said Weary, and rose pacifically. “I kinda believe you +myself, Andy. But you can't blame the boys none; you've fooled 'em till +they're dead shy of anything they can't see through. And, besides, it +sure does look like a plant. I'd back you single-handed against a dozen +sheepherders like then two we've been chasing around. If I hadn't felt +that way I wouldn't have sent yuh out alone with 'em.” + +“Well, Andy needn't think he's goin' to stick me on that there story,” + Slim declared with brutal emphasis. “I've swallered too many baits, +by golly. He's figurin' on gettin' us all out on the war-path, runnin' +around in circles, so's't he can give us the laugh. I'll bet, by golly, +he paid then herders to tie him up like that. He can't fool me!” + +“Say, Slim, I do believe your brains is commencin' to sprout!” Big +Medicine thumped him painfully upon the back by way of accenting the +compliment. “You got the idee, all right.” + +Andy stood quiet while Weary unwound the rope; lifted his numbed arms +with some difficulty, and displayed to the doubters his rope-creased +wrists, and purple, swollen hands. + +“I couldn't fight a caterpiller right now,” he said thickly. “Look at +them hands! Do yuh call that a josh? I've been tied up like a bed-roll +for five hours, you--” Well, never mind, he merely repeated a part of +what he had recited aloud in Antelope coulee, the only difference being +that he applied the vitriolic utterances to the Happy Family instead of +to sheepherders, and that with the second recitation he gained much in +fluency and dramatic delivery. + +It is not nice for a man to swear; to swear the way Andy did, at any +rate. But the result perhaps atoned in a measure for the wickedness, in +that the Happy Family were absolutely convinced of his sincerity, and +the feelings of Andy greatly relieved, so that, when he had for the +third time that day completely exhausted his vocabulary, he sat down and +began to eat his dinner with a keen appetite. + +“I don't suppose you know where your horse is at, by this tine,” Weary +observed, as casually as possible, breaking a somewhat constrained +silence. + +“I don't--and I don't give a darn,” Andy snapped back. He ate a few +mouthfuls, and added less savagely: “He wasn't in sight, as I came +along. I didn't follow the trail; I struck straight across and came down +the coulee. He may be at the gate, and he may be down toward Rogers'.” + +Pink reached for a toothpick, eyeing Andy side-long; dimpled his cheeks +disarmingly, and cleared his throat. “Please don't kill me off when you +get that pie swallowed,” he began pacifically. “Strange as it may seem, +I believe you, Andy. What I want to know is this: Who owns them Dots? +And what are they chasing all over the Flying U range for? It looks +plumb malicious, to me. Did you find out anything about 'en, Andy, while +you--er--while they--” His eyes twinkled and betrayed him for an arrant +pretender. (Pink was not afraid of anything on earth--least of all Andy +Green.) + +“I will kill yuh by inches, if I hear any remarks out of yuh that +ain't respectful,” Andy promised, thawing to his normal tone, which was +pleasant to the ear. “I didn't find out much about 'em. The fellow I +licked told me that Whittaker and Oleson owned the sheep. He didn't +say--” + +“Well--by--golly!” Shin thrust his head forward belligerently. +“Whittaker! Well, what d'yuh think uh that!” He glared from one face +to the other, his gaze at last resting upon Weary. “Say, do yuh reckon +it's--Dunk?” + +Weary paid no heed to Slim. He leaned forward, his face turned to Andy +with that concentration of attention which means so much more than mere +exclamation. “You're sure he said Whittaker?” he asked. + +His tone and his attitude arrested Andy's cup midway to his mouth. +“Sure--Whittaker and Oleson. I never heard of the outfit--who's this +Whittaker person?” + +Weary settled back in his place and smiled, but his eyes had quite lost +their habitually sunny expression. + +“Up until four years ago,” he explained evenly, “he was the Old Man's +partner. We caught him in some mighty dirty work, and--well, he sold +out to the Old Man. The old party with the hoofs and tail can't be +everywhere at once, the way I've got it sized up, so he turns some of +his business over to other folks. Dunk Whittaker's his top hand.” + +“Why, by golly, he framed up a job on the Gordon boys, and railroaded +'em to the pen, just--” + +“Oh, that's the gazabo!” Andy's eyes shone with enlightenment. “I've +heard a lot about Dunk, but I didn't know his last name--” + +“Say! I'll bet they're the outfit that bought out Denson. That's why old +Denson acted so queer, maybe. Selling to a sheep outfit would make the +old devil feel kinda uneasy, talking to us--” Pink's eyes were big and +purple with excitement. “And that train-load of sheep we saw Sunday, +I'll bet is the same identical outfit.” + +“Dunk Whittaker'd better not try to monkey with me, by golly!” Slim's +face was lowering. “And he'd better not monkey with the Flying U either. +I'd pump him so full uh holes he'd look like a colander, by golly!” + +Weary got up and started to the door, his face suddenly grown careworn. +“Slim, you and Miguel better go and hunt up Andy's horse,” he said with +a hint of abstraction in his tone, as though his mind was busy with more +important things. “Maybe Andy'll feel able to help you set those posts, +Bud--and you'd better go along the upper end of the little pasture with +the wire stretchers and tighten her up; the top wire is pretty loose, I +noticed this morning.” His fingers fumbled with the door-knob. + +“Want me to do anything?” Pink asked quizzically just behind him. “I +thought sure we'd go and remonstrate with then gay--” + +Weary interrupted him. “The herders can wait--and, anyway, I've kinda +got an idea Andy wants to hand out his own brand of poison to that +bunch. You and I will take a ride over to Denson's and see what's going +on over there. Mamma!” he added fervently, under his breath, “I sure do +wish Chip and the Old Man were here!” + + + +CHAPTER VIII. The Dot Outfit + +Before he laid him down to sleep, that night, Weary had repeated to +himself many times and fervently that wish for old J. G. Whitmore and +the stout staff upon which he was beginning more and more to lean, his +brother-in-law, Chip Bennett. As matters stood, Weary could not even +bring himself to let then know anything about his trouble--and that the +thing was beginning to assume the form and shape and general malevolent +attributes of Trouble, Weary was forced to admit to himself. + +Just at present an unthinking, unobserving person might pass over +this sheep outfit as a mere unsavory incident; but Weary was neither +unobserving nor unthinking--nor, for the matter of that, were the +rest of the Happy Family. It needed no Happy Jack, with his foreboding +nature, to point out the unpleasant possibilities that night when the +committee of two made their informal report at the supper table. + +They had ridden to Denson coulee, which was in reality a meandering +branch of Flying U coulee itself. To reach it one rode out of Flying +U coulee and over a wide hill, and down again to Denson's. But the +creek--Flying U creek--followed the devious turnings from Denson coulee +down to the Flying U. A long mile of Flying U coulee J. G. Whitmore +owned outright. Another mile he held under no other title save a fence. +The creek flowed through it all--but that creek had its source somewhere +up near the head of Denson coulee. J. G. Whitmore had, to his regret, +been unable to claim the whole earth--or at least that portion of +it--for his own; so, when he was constrained to make a choice, he +settled himself in the wider, more fertile coulee, which he thereafter +called the Flying U. While it is good policy to locate as near as +possible to the source of those erratic little creeks which water +certain garden spots of the northern range land, it is also well to +choose land that will grow plenty of hay. J. G. Whitmore chose the hay +land, and trusted that providence would insure the water supply. Through +all these years Flying U creek had never once disappointed him. Denson, +who settled in the tributary coulee, had not made any difference in the +water supply, and his stock had consisted of thirty or forty head of +cattle and horses. + +When Denson sold, however, things might be different. And, if he had +sold to a sheepman, the change might be unpleasant If he had sold to +Dunk Whittaker--the Flying U boys faced that possibility just as they +would face any other disaster, undaunted, but grim and unsmiling. + +It was thus that Pink and Weary rode slowly down into Denson coulee. Two +miles back they had passed the band of Dot sheep, feeding leisurely +just without the Flying U fence, which was the southern boundary. The +bug-killer and the other were there, and they noted that the features +of that other bore witness to the truth of Andy's story of the fight. He +regarded them with one perfectly good eye and one which was considerably +swollen, and grinned a swollen grin. + +The two had ridden ten paces past him when Pink pulled up suddenly. “I'm +going to get off and lick that son-of-a-gun myself, just for luck,” he +stated dispassionately. “I'm going to lick 'em both,” he revised while +he dismounted. + +“Oh, come on, Cadwalloper,” Weary dissuaded. “You'll likely have all the +excitement you need, without that.” + +“Here, you hold this fool cayuse. No.” He shook his head, cutting short +further protest. “You're the boss, and you don't want to mix in, and +that part is all right. But I ain't responsible--and I sure am going +to take a fall or two out of these geesers. They're a-w-l together too +stuck on themselves to suit me.” Pink did not say that he was thinking +of Andy, but nevertheless a vivid recollection of that unfortunate young +man's rope-creased wrists and swollen hands sent him toward the herder +with long, eager strides. + +Pink was not tall, and he was slight and boyish of build; also, his +cherubic face, topped by tawny curls and lighted by eyes as deeply blue +and as innocent as a baby's, probably deceived that herder, just as +they had deceived many another. For Pink was a good deal like a stick +of dynamite wrapped in white tissue paper and tied with blue ribbon; +and Weary was not at all uneasy over the outcome, as he watched Pink go +clanking back, though he loved him well. + +Pink did not waste any time or words on the preliminaries. With a +delightful frankness of purpose he pulled off his coat and threw it +on the ground, as he came up, sent his hat after it, and arrived fist +first. + +The herder had waited grinning, and he had shouted something to Weary +about spanking the kid if Weary didn't make him behave. Speedily he +became a very surprised herder, and a distressed one as well. + +“All right,” Pink remarked, a little quick-breathed, when the herder +decided for the third time to get up. “A friend of mine worked yuh over +a little, this morning, and I just thought I'd make a better job than he +did. Your eyes didn't match. They will, now.” + +The herder mumbled maledictions after him, but Pink would not even give +him the satisfaction of resenting it. + +“I'd like to have broken a knuckle against his teeth, darn him,” he +observed ruefully when he was in the saddle again. “Come on, Weary. It +won't take but a minute to hand a punch or two to that bug-killer, +and then I'll feel better. They've both got it coming--come on!” This +because Weary showed a strong inclination to take the trail and keep it +to his destination. “Well, I'll go alone, then. I've got to kinda square +myself for the way I threw it into Andy; and you know blamed well, +Weary, they played it low-down on him, or they'd never have got that +rope on him. And I'm going to lick that--” + +“Mamma! You sure are a rambunctious person when you feel that way,” + Weary made querulous comment; but he rode over with Pink to where the +bug-killer was standing with his long stick held in a somewhat menacing +manner, and once more he held Pink's horse for him. + +Pink was gone longer this time, and he came back with a cut lip and a +large lump on his forehead; the bug-killer had thrown a small rock with +the precision which comes of much practice--such as stoning disobedient +dogs, and the like--and, when Pink rushed at him furiously, the herder +caught him very neatly alongside the head with his stick. These little +amenities serving merely to whet Pink's appetite for battle, he stopped +long enough to thrash that particular herder very thoroughly and to his +own complete satisfaction. + +“Well, I guess I'm ready to go on now,” he observed, dimpling rather +one-sidedly as he got back on his horse. + +“I thought maybe you'd want to whip the dogs, too,” Weary told him +dryly; which was the nearest he came to expressing any disapproval +of the incident. Weary was a peace-loving soul, whenever peace was +compatible with self-respect; and it would never have occurred to him to +punish strange men as summarily as Pink had done. + +“I would, if the dogs were half as ornery as the men,” Pink retorted. +“Say, they hang together like bull snakes and rattlers, don't they? If +they was human, they'd have helped each other out--but nothing doing! Do +you reckon a man could ride up to a couple of our bunch, and thrash one +at a time without the other fellow having something to say about it?” He +turned in the saddle and looked back. “So help me, Josephine, I've got a +good mind to go back and lick them again, for not hanging together like +they ought to.” But the threat was an idle one, and they went on to +Denson's, Weary still with that anxious look in his eyes, and Pink quite +complacent over his exploit. + +In Denson coulee was an unwonted atmosphere of activity; heretofore the +place had been animated chiefly by young Densons engaged in the pursuit +of pleasure, but now a covered buggy, evidently just arrived, bore mute +witness to the new order of things. There were more horses about the +place, a covered wagon or two, three or four men working upon the +corral, and, lastly, there was one whom Weary recognized the moment he +caught sight of him. + +“Looks like a sheep outfit, all right,” he said somberly. “And, if that +ain't old Dunk himself, it's the devil, and that's next thing to him.” + +Dunk, they judged, had just arrived with another man whom they did not +know: a tall man with light hair that hung lank to his collar, a thin, +sharp-nosed face and a wide mouth, which stretched easily into a smile, +but which was none the pleasanter for that. When he turned inquiringly +toward them they saw that he was stoop-shouldered; though not from any +deformity, but from sheer, slouching lankness. Dunk gave them a swift, +sour look from under his eyebrows and went on. + +Weary rode straight past the lank man, whom he judged to be Oleson, and +overtook Dunk Whittaker himself. + +“Hello, Dunk,” he said cheerfully, sliding over in the saddle so that a +foot hung free of the stirrup, as men who ride much have learned to do +when they stop for a chat, thereby resting while they may. “Back on the +old stamping ground, are you?” + +“Since you see me here, I suppose I am,” Dunk made churlish response. + +“Do you happen to own those Dot sheep, back there on the hill?” Weary +tilted his head toward home. + +“I happen to own half of them.” By then they had reached the gate and +Dunk passed through and started on to the house. + +“Oh, don't be in a rush--come on back and be sociable,” Weary called +out, in the mildest of tones, twisting the reins around his saddle-horn +so that he might roll a cigarette at ease. + +Dunk remembered, perhaps, certain things he had learned when he was +J. G. Whitmore's partner, and had more or less to do with the charter +members of the Happy Family. He came back and stood by the gate, +ungraciously enough, to be sure; still, he came back. Weary smiled under +cover of lighting his cigarette. Dunk, by that reluctant compliance, +betrayed something which Weary had been rather anxious to know. + +“We've been having a little trouble with those sheep of yours,” Weary +remarked between puffs. “You've got some poor excuses for humans herding +them. They drove the bunch across our coulee just exactly three times. +There ain't enough grass left in our lower field to graze a prairie +dog.” He glanced back to see where Pink was, saw that he was close +behind, as was the lank man, and spoke in a tone that included them all. + +“The Flying U ain't pasturing sheep, this spring,” he informed them +pleasantly. “But, seeing the grass is eat up, we'll let yuh pay for it. +Why didn't you bring them in along the trail, anyway?” + +“I didn't bring them in. I just came down from Butte to-day. I suppose +the herders brought them out where the feed was best; they did if +they're worth their wages.” + +“They happened to strike some feed that was pretty expensive. And,” + he smiled down at Whittaker misleadingly, “you ought to keep an eye +on those herders, or they might let you in for another grass bill. The +Flying U has got quite a lot of range, right around here, you recollect. +And we've got plenty of cattle to eat it. We don't need any help to keep +the grass down so we can ride through it.” + +“Now, look here,” began the lank man with that sort of persuasiveness +which can turn instantly into bluster, “all this is pure foolishness, +you know. We're here to stay. We've bought this place, and some other +land to go with it, and we expect to stay right here and make a living. +It happens that we expect to make a living off of sheep. Now, we don't +want to start in by quarreling with our neighbors, and we don't want our +neighbors to start any quarrel with us. All we want--” + +“Mamma! You're taking a fine way to make us love yuh,” Weary cut in +ironically. “I know what you want. You want the same as every other meek +and lovely sheepman wants. You want it all--core, seeds and peeling. +Dunk,” he said with a more impatient disgust than he was in the habit +of showing for his fellowmen, “this man's a stranger; but I should think +you'd know better than to come in here with sheep.” + +“I don't know why a sheep outfit isn't exactly as good as a cow outfit, +and I don't know why they haven't as much right here. You're welcome to +what land you own, but it always seemed to me that public land is open +to the use of the public. Now, as Oleson says, we expect to raise sheep +here, and we expect your outfit to leave us alone. As far as our sheep +crossing your coulee is concerned--I don't know that they did. But, if +they did, and, if they did any damage, let J. G. do the talking about +that. I deal with the owners--not with the hired men.” + +Weary, you must understand, was never a bellicose young man. But, for +all that, he leaned over and gave Dunk a slap on the jaw which must have +stung considerably--and the full reason for his violence lay four years +behind the two, when Dunk was part owner of the Flying U, and when his +sneering arrogance had been very hard to endure. + +“Are you going to swallow that--from a hired man?” Weary inquired, +after a minute during which nothing whatever occurred beyond the slow +reddening of Dunk's face. + +“I'm not going to fight, if that's what you mean,” Dunk sneered. “I +decline to bring myself down to your level. One doesn't expect anything +from a jackass but a bray, you know--and one doesn't feel compelled to +bray because the jackass does.” He smiled that supercilious smile which +Weary had hated of old, and which, he knew, was well used to covering +much treachery and small meannesses of various sorts. + +“As I said, if the Flying U has any claim against us, let the owner +present it in the usual way.” Dunk drew down his black brows, lifted a +corner of his lip and turned his back deliberately upon them. + +Oleson let himself through the gate, which he closed somewhat hastily +behind him. “I'm sorry you fellows seem to want to make trouble,” he +said, without looking up from the latch, which seemed somewhat out of +repair, like the rest of the Denson property. “That's a poor way +to start in with new neighbors.” He lifted his hat with what Pink +considered insulting politeness, and followed Dunk into the house. + +Weary waited there until they had gone in and closed the door, then +turned and rode back home again, frowning thoughtfully at the trail +ahead of them all the way, and making no reply to Pink's importunings +for war. + +“I'd hate to say you've lost your nerve, Weary,” Pink cried at last, in +sheer desperation. “But why the devil didn't you get down and thump the +daylights out of that black son-of-a-gun? I came pretty near walking +into him myself, only I hate to butt into another fellow's scrap. But, +if I'd known you were going to set there and let him walk off with that +sneer on his face--” + +“I can't fight a man that won't hit back,” Weary protested. “You +couldn't either, Cadwalloper. You'd have done just what I did; you'd +have let him go.” + +“He will hit back, all right enough,” Pink retorted passionately. “He'll +do it when you ain't looking, though. He--” + +“I know it,” Weary sighed. “I'm kinda sorry, now, I slapped him. He'll +hit back--but he won't hit me; he'll aim at the outfit. If the Old Man +was here, or Chip, I'd feel a whole lot easier in my mind.” + +“They couldn't do anything you can't do,” Pink assured him loyally, +forgetting his petulance when he saw the careworn look in Weary's +face. “All they can do is gobble all the range around here--and I guess +there's a few of us that will have a word or two to say about that.” + +“What makes me sore,” Weary confided, “is knowing that Dunk isn't +thinking altogether of the dollar end of it. He's tickled to death to +get a whack at the outfit. And I hate to see him get away with it; but I +guess we'll have to stand for it.” + +That sentiment did not please Pink; nor, when Weary repeated it later +that evening in the bunk-house, did it please the Happy Family. The less +pleasing it was because it was perfectly true and every man of them knew +it. Beyond keeping the sheep off Flying U land, there was nothing they +could do without stepping over the line into lawlessness--and, while +they were not in any sense a meek Happy Family, they were far more +law-abiding than their conversation that night made them appear. + + + +CHAPTER IX. More Sheep + +The next week was a time of harassment for the Flying U; a week +filled to overflowing with petty irritations, traceable, directly or +indirectly, to their new neighbors, the Dot sheepmen. The band in charge +of the bug-chaser and that other unlovable man from Wyoming fed just as +close to the Flying U boundary as their guardians dared let them feed; a +great deal closer than was good for the tempers of the Happy Family, who +rode fretfully here and there upon their own business and at the same +time tried to keep an eye upon their unsavory neighbors--a proceeding as +nerve-racking as it was futile. + +The Native Son, riding home in jingling haste from Dry Lake, whither +he had hurried one afternoon in the hope of cheering news from Chicago, +reported another trainload of Dots on the wide level beyond Antelope +coulee. There were, he said, four men in charge of the band, and he +believed they carried guns, though he was not positive of that. They +were moving slowly, and he thought they would not attempt to cross +Flying U coulee before the next day; though, from the course they were +taking, he was sure they meant to cross. + +Coupled with that bit of ill-tidings, the brief note from Chip, saying +very little about the Old Man, but implying a good deal by its very +omissions, would have been enough to send the Happy Family to sleepless +beds that night if they had been the kind to endure with silent +fortitude their troubles. + +“If you fellers would back me up,” brooded Big Medicine down by the +corral after supper, “I'd see to it them sheep never gits across the +coulee, by cripes! I'd send 'em so far the other way they'd git plumb +turned around and forgit they ever wanted to go south.” + +“It's all Dunk's devilishness,” Jack Bates declared. “He could take them +in the other way, even if the feed ain't so good along the trail. It's +most all prairie-dog towns--but that's good enough for sheep.” Jack, in +his intense partisanship, spoke as if sheep were not entitled to decent +grass at any time or under any circumstances. + +“Them herders packin' guns looks to me like they're goin' to make +trouble if they kin,” gloomed Happy Jack. “I betche they'll kill +somebody before they're through. When sheepmen gits mean--” + +Pink picked up his rope and started for the large corral, where a few +saddle horses had been driven in just before supper and had not yet been +turned out. + +“You fellows can stand around and chew the rag, if you want to,” he said +caustically, “and wait for Weary to make a war-talk. But I'm going to +keep cases on them Dots, if I have to stand an all-night guard on 'em. I +don't blame Weary; he's looking out for the law-and-order business--and +that's all right. But I'm not in charge of the outfit. I'm going to do +as I darn please, and, if they don't like my style, they can give me my +time.” + +“Good for you, Little One!” Big Medicine hurried to overtake him so +that he might slap him on the shoulder with his favorite, sledge-hammer +method of signifying his approval of a man's sentiments. “Honest to +grandma, I was just b'ginnin' to think this bunch was gitting all +streaked up with yeller. 'Course, we ain't goin' to wait for no official +orders, by cripes! I'd ruther lock Weary up in the blacksmith shop than +let him tell us to go ahead. Go awn and tell him a good, stiff lie, +Andy--just to keep him interested while us fellers make a gitaway. He +ain't in on this; we don't want him in on it.” + +“What yuh goin' to do?” Happy Jack inquired suspiciously. “Yuh can't +go and monkey with them sheep, er them herders. They ain't on our land. +And, if you don't git killed, old Dunk'll fix yuh like he fixed the +Gordon boys--I know him--to a fare-you-well. It'd tickle him to death to +git something on us fellers. I betche that's what he's aiming t'do. Git +us to fightin' his outfit so's't--” + +“Oh, go off and lie down!” Andy implored him contemptuously. “We're +going to hang those herders, and drive the sheep all over a cut-back +somewhere, like Jesus done to the hogs, and then we're going over and +murder old Dunk, if he's at home, and burn the house to hide the guilty +deed. And, if the sheriff comes snooping around, asking disagreeable +questions, we'll all swear you done it. So now you know our plans; shut +your face and go on to bed. And be sure,” he added witheringly, “you +pull the soogans over your head, so you won't hear the dying shriek of +our victims. We're liable to get kinda excited and torture 'em a while +before we kill 'em.” + +“Aw, gwan!” gulped Happy Jack mechanically. “You make me sick! If yuh +think I'm goin' to swaller all that, you're away off! You wouldn't dast +do nothing of the kind; and, if yuh did, you'd sure have a sweet time +layin' it onto me!” + +“Oh, I don't know,” drawled the Native Son, with a slow, velvet-eyed +glance, “any jury in the country would hang you on your looks, Happy. I +knew a man down in the lower part of California, who was arrested, tried +and hanged for murder. And all the evidence there was against him was +the fact that he was seen within five miles of the place on the same day +the murder was committed; and his face. They had an expert physiognomist +there, and he swore that the fellow had the face of a murderer; the poor +devil looked like a criminal--and, though he had one of the best lawyers +on the Coast, it was adios for him.” + +“I s'pose you mean I got the face of a criminal!” sputtered Happy Jack. +“It ain't always the purty fellers that wins out--like you 'n' Pink. I +never seen the purty man yit that was worth the powder it'd take to +blow him up! Aw, you fellers make me sick!” He went off, muttering his +opinion of them all, and particularly of the Native Son, who smiled +while he listened. “You go awn and start something--and you'll wisht you +hadn't,” they heard him croak from the big gate, and chuckled over his +wrath. + +As a matter of fact, the Happy Family, as a whole, or as individuals, +had no intention of committing any great violence that evening. Pink +wanted to see just where this new band of sheep was spending the night, +and to find out, if possible, what were the herders' intentions. Since +the boys were all restless under their worry, and, since there is a +contagious element in seeking a trouble-zone, none save Happy Jack, who +was “sore” at them, and Weary stayed behind in the coulee with old Patsy +while the others rode away up the grade and out toward Antelope coulee +beyond. + +They meant only to reconnoiter, and to warn the herders against +attempting to cross Flying U coulee; though they were not exactly +sure that they would be perfectly polite, or that they would confine +themselves rigidly to the language they were wont to employ at dances. +Andy Green, in particular, seemed rather to look forward with pleasure +to the meeting. Andy, by the way, had remained heartbrokenly passive +during that whole week, because Weary had extracted from him a promise +which Andy, mendacious though he had the name of being, felt constrained +to keep intact. Though of a truth it irked him much to think of two +sheepherders walking abroad unpunished for their outrage upon his +person. + +Weary, as he had made plain to them all, wanted to avoid trouble if it +were possible to do so. And, though they grinned together in secret +over his own affair with Dunk--which was not, in their opinion, exactly +pacific--they meant to respect his wishes as far as human nature was +able to do so. So that the Happy Family, galloping toward the red sunset +and the great, gray blot on the prairie, just where the glory of +the west tinged the grass blades with red, were not one-half as +blood-thirsty as they had proclaimed themselves to be. + +While they were yet afar off they could see two men walking slowly in +the immediate vicinity of the huddled band. A hundred yards away was +a small tent, with a couple of horses picketed near by and feeding +placidly. The men turned, gazed long at their approach, and walked to +the tent, which they entered somewhat hastily. + +“Look at 'em dodge outa sight, will you!” cried Cal Emmett, and lifted +up his voice in the yell which sometimes announced the Happy Family's +arrival in Dry Lake after a long, thirsty absence on roundup. Other +voices joined in after that first, shrill “Ow-ow-ow-eee!” of Cal's; so +that presently the whole lot of them were emitting nerve-crimping yells +and spurring their horses into a thunder of hoofbeats, as they bore down +upon the tent. Between howls they laughed, picturing to themselves four +terrified sheepherders cowering within those frail, canvas walls. + +“I'm a rambler, and a gambler, and far from my ho-o-me, And if yuh don't +like me, jest leave me alo-o-ne!” chanted Big Medicine most horribly, +and finished with a yell that almost scared himself and set his horse to +plunging wildly. + +“Come out of there, you lop-eared mutton-chewers, and let us pick the +wool outa your teeth!” shouted Andy Green, telling himself hastily +that this was not breaking his promise to Weary, and yielding to the +temptation of coming as close to the guilty persons as he might; for, +while these were not the men who had tied him and left him alone on the +prairie, they belonged to the same outfit, and there was some comfort in +giving them a few disagreeable minutes. + +Pink, in the lead, was turning to ride around the tent, still yelling, +when someone within the tent fired a rifle--and did not aim as high as +he should. The bullet zipped close over the head of Big Medicine, who +happened to be opposite the crack between the tent-flaps. The hand of +Big Medicine jerked back to his hip; but, quick as he was, the Native +Son plunged between him and the tent before he could take aim. + +“Steady, amigo,” smiled Miguel. “You aren't a crazy sheepherder.” + +“No, but I'm goin' to kill off one. Git outa my way!” Big Medicine was +transformed into a cold-eyed, iron-jawed fighting machine. He dug the +spurs in, meaning to ride ahead of Miguel. But Miguel's spurs also +pressed home, so that the two horses plunged as one. Big Medicine, +bellowing one solitary oath, drew his right leg from the stirrup to +dismount. Miguel reached out, caught him by the arm, and held him to the +saddle. And, though Big Medicine was a strong man, the grip held firm +and unyielding. + +“You must think of the outfit, you know,” said Miguel, smiling still. +“There must be no shooting. Once that begins--” He shrugged his +shoulders with that slight, eloquent movement, which the Happy Family +had come to know so well. He was speaking to them all, as they crowded +up to the scuffle. “The man who feels the trigger-itch had better throw +his gun away,” he advised coolly. “I know, boys. I've seen these things +start before. All hell can't stop you, once you begin to shoot. Put it +up, Bud, or give it to me.” + +“The man don't live that can shoot at me, by cripes, and git away with +it. Not if he misses killin' me!” Big Medicine was shaking with rage; +but the Native Son saw that he hesitated, nevertheless, and laughed +outright. + +“Call him out and give him a thumping. That's good enough for a +sheepherder,” he suggested as a substitute. + +Perhaps because the Native Son so seldom offered advice, and, because of +his cool courage in interfering with Big Medicine at such a time, Bud's +jaw relaxed and his pale eyes became more human in their expression. He +even permitted Miguel to remove the big, wicked Colt from his hand, +and slide it into his own pocket; whereat the Happy Family gasped with +astonishment. Not even Pink would have dreamed of attempting such a +thing. + +“Well he's got to come out and take a lickin', anyway,” shouted Big +Medicine vengefully, and rode close enough to slap the canvas smartly +with his quirt. By all the gods he knew by name he called upon the +offender to come forth, while the others drew up in a rude half-circle +to await developments. Heavy silence was the reply he got. It was as +though the men within were sitting tense and watchful, like cougars +crouched for a spring, with claws unsheathed and muscles quivering. + +“You better come out,” called Andy sharply, after they had waited a +decent interval. “We didn't come here hunting trouble; we want to know +where you're headed for with these sheep. The fellow that cut loose with +the gun--” + +“Aw, don't talk so purty! I'm gitting almighty tired, just setting here +lettin' m' legs hang down. Git your ropes, boys!” With one sweeping +gesture of his arm Big Medicine made plain his meaning as he rode a few +paces away, his fingers fumbling with the string that held his rope. +“I'm goin' to have a look at 'em, anyway,” he grinned. “I sure do hate +to see men act so bashful.” + +With his rope free and ready for action, Big Medicine shook the loop +out, glanced around, and saw that Andy, Pink and Cal Emmett were also +ready, and, with a dexterous flip, settled the noose neatly over the +iron pin that thrust up through the end of the ridge-pole in front. +Andy's loop sank neatly over it a second later, and the two wheeled and +dashed away together, with Pink and Irish duplicating their performance +at the other end of the tent. The dingy, smoke-stained canvas swayed, +toppled, as the pegs gave way, and finally lay flat upon the prairie +fifty feet from where it had stood, leaving the inmates exposed to the +cruel stare of eight unfriendly cowpunchers. Four cowering figures they +were, with guns in their hands that shook. + +“Drop them guns!” thundered Big Medicine, flipping his rope loose and +recoiling it mechanically as he plunged up to the group. + +One man obeyed. One gave a squawk of terror and permitted his gun to go +off at random before he fled toward the coulee. The other two crouched +behind their bed-rolls, set their jaws doggedly and glared defiance. + +Pink, Andy, Irish, Big Medicine and the Native Son slid off their horses +and made a rush at them. A rifle barked viciously, and Slim, sitting +prudently on his horse well in the rear, gave a yell and started for +home at a rapid pace. + +Considering the provocation the Happy Family behaved with quite +praiseworthy self-control and leniency. They did not lynch those two +herders. They did not kill them, either by bullets, knives, or beating +to death. They took away the guns, however, and they told them with +extreme bluntness what sort of men they believed them to be. They +defined accurately their position in society at large, in that +neighborhood, and stated what would be their future fate if they +persisted in acting with so little caution and common sense. + +At Andy Green's earnest behest they also wound them round and round with +ropes, before they departed, and gave them some very good advice upon +the matter of range rules and the herding of sheep, particularly of Dot +sheep. + +“You're playing big luck, if you only had sense enough to know it,” Andy +pointed out to the recumbent three before they rode away. “We didn't +come over here on the warpath, and, if you hadn't got in such a darned +hurry to start something, you'd be a whole lot more comfortable right +now. We rode over to tell yuh not to start them sheep across Flying U +coulee; because, if you do, you're going to have both hands and your +hats plumb full uh trouble. It has taken some little time and fussing +to get yuh gentled down so we can talk to you, and I sure do hope yuh +remember what I'm saying.” + +“Oh, we'll remember it, all right!” menaced one of the men, lifting his +head turtlewise that he might glare at the group. “And our bosses'll +remember it; you needn't worry about that none. You wait till--” + +The next man to him turned his head and muttered a sentence, and the +speaker dropped his head back upon the ground, silenced. + +“It was your own outfit started this style of rope trimming, so you +can't kick about that part of the deal,” Pink informed them melodiously. +“It's liable to get to be all the rage with us. So, if you don't like +it, don't come around where we are. And say!” His dimples stood deep in +his cheeks. “You send those ropes home to-morrow, will yuh? We're liable +to need 'em.” + +“By cripes!” Big Medicine bawled. “What say we haze them sheep a few +miles north, boys?” + +“Oh, I guess they'll be all right where they are,” Andy protested, his +thirst for revenge assuaged at sight of those three trussed as he had +been trussed, and apparently not liking it any better than he had liked +it. “They'll be good and careful not to come around the Flying U--or I +miss my guess a mile.” + +The others cast comprehensive glances at their immediate surroundings, +and decided that they had at least made their meaning plain; there +was no occasion for emphasizing their disapproval any further. They +confiscated the rifles, and they told the fellows why they did so. +They very kindly pulled a tarpaulin over the three to protect them in a +measure from the chill night that was close upon them, and they wished +them good night and pleasant dreams, and rode away home. + +On the way they met Weary and Happy Jack, galloping anxiously to the +battle scene. Slim, it appeared from Weary's rapid explanation, had +arrived at the ranch with his horse in a lather and with a four-inch +furrow in the fleshiest part of his leg, where a bullet had flicked him +in passing. The tale he told had led Weary to believe that Slim was the +sole survivor of that reckless company. + +“Mamma! I'm so glad to see you boys able to fork your horses and swear +natural, that I don't believe I can speak my little piece about staying +on your own side the fence and letting trouble do some of the hunting,” + he exclaimed thankfully. “I wish you'd stayed at home and left these +blamed Dots alone. But, seeing yuh didn't, I'm tickled to death to hear +you didn't kill anybody off. I don't want the folks to come home and +find the whole bunch in the pen. It might look as if--” + +“You don't want the folks to come home and find the whole ranch sheeped +off, either, and the herders camping up in the white house, do yuh?” + Pink inquired pointedly. “I kinda think,” he added dryly, “those same +herders will feel like going away around Flying U fences with their +sheep. I don't believe they'll do any cutting across.” + +“I betche old Dunk'll make it interestin' fer this outfit, just the +same,” Happy Jack predicted. “Tyin' up three men uh hisn, like that, and +ropin' their tent and draggin' it off, ain't things he'll pass up. He'll +have a possy out here--you see if he don't!” + +“In that case, I'll be sorry for you, Happy,” purred Miguel close beside +him. “You're the only one in the outfit that looks capable of such a +vile deed.” + +“Oh, Dunk won't do anything,” Weary said cheerfully. “You'll have to +take those guns back, though. They might take a notion to call that +stealing!” + +“You forget,” the Native Son reminded calmly, “that we left them three +good ropes in exchange.” + +Whereupon the Happy Family laughed and went to offer their unsought +sympathy to Slim. + + + +CHAPTER X. The Happy Family Herd Sheep + +The boys of the Flying U had many faults in common, aside from certain +individual frailties; one of their chief weaknesses was over-confidence +in their own ability to cope with any situation which might arise, +unexpectedly or otherwise, and a belief that others felt that same +confidence in them, and that enemies were wont to sit a long time +counting the cost before venturing to offer too great an affront. Also +they believed--and made it manifest in their conversation--that they +could even bring the Old Man back to health if they only had him on +the ranch where they could get at him. They maligned the hospitals and +Chicago doctors most unjustly, and were agreed that all he needed was +to be back on the ranch where somebody could look after him right. They +asserted that, if they ever got tired of living and wanted to cash in +without using a gun or anything, they'd go to a hospital and tell the +doctors to turn loose and try to cure them of something. + +This by way of illustration; also as an explanation of their sleeping +soundly that night, instead of watching for some hostile demonstration +on the part of the Dot outfit. To a man--one never counted Happy Jack's +prophecies of disaster as being anything more than a personal deformity +of thought--they were positive in their belief that the Dot sheepherders +would be very, very careful not to provoke the Happy Family to further +manifestations of disapproval. They knew what they'd get, if they tried +any more funny business, and they'd be mighty careful where they drove +their sheep after this. + +So, with the comfortable glow of victory in their souls, they laid +them down, and, when the animated discussion of that night's adventure +flagged, as their tongues grew sleep-clogged and their eyelids drooped, +they slept in peace; save when Slim, awakened by the soreness of his +leg, grunted a malediction or two before he began snoring again. + +They rose and ate their breakfast in a fair humor with the world. One +grows accustomed to the thought of sickness, even when it strikes close +to the affections, and, with the resilience of youth and hope, life +adjusts itself to make room for the specter of fear, so that it does +not crowd unduly, but stands half-forgotten in the background of one's +thoughts. For that reason they no longer spoke soberly because of the +Old Man lying hurt unto death in Chicago. And, when they mentioned the +Dot sheep and men, they spoke as men speak of the vanquished. + +With the taste of hot biscuits and maple syrup still lingering +pleasantly against their palates, they went out and were confronted with +sheep, blatting sheep, stinking sheep, devastating sheep, Dot sheep. On +the south side of the coulee, up on the bluff, grazed the band. They fed +upon the brow of the hill opposite the ranch buildings; they squeezed +under the fence and spilled a ragged fringe of running, gray animals +down the slope. Half a mile away though the nearest of them were, the +murmur of them, the smell of them, the whole intolerable presence of +them, filled the Happy Family with an amazed loathing too deep for +words. + +Technically, that high, level stretch of land bounding Flying U coulee +on the south was open range. It belonged to the government. The soil was +not fertile enough even for the most optimistic of “dry land” farmers to +locate upon it; and this was before the dry-land farming craze had swept +the country, gathering in all public land as claims. J. G. Whitmore +had contented himself with acquiring title to the whole of the Flying +U coulee, secure in his belief that the old order of things would not +change, in his life-time, at least, and that the unwritten law of the +range land, which leaves the vicinity of a ranch to the use of the ranch +owner, would never be repealed by new customs imposed by a new class of +people. + +Legally, there was no trespassing of the Dots, beyond the two or three +hundred which had made their way through the fence. Morally, however, +and by right of custom, their offense would not be much greater if they +came on down the hill and invaded the Old Man's pet meadows, just beyond +the “little pasture.” + +Ladies may read this story, so I am not going to pretend to repeat the +things they said, once they were released from dumb amazement. I should +be compelled to improvise and substitute--which would remove much of the +flavor. Let bare facts suffice, at present. + +They saddled in haste, and in haste they rode to the scene. This, they +were convinced, was the band herded by the bug-killer and the man from +Wyoming; and the nerve of those two almost excited the admiration of the +Happy Family. It did not, however, deter them from their purpose. + +Weary, to look at him, was no longer in the mood to preach patience and +a turning of the other cheek. He also made that change of heart manifest +in his speech when Pink, his eyes almost black, rode up close and +gritted at him: + +“Well, what's the orders now? Want me to go back and get the wire +nippers so we can let them poor little sheep down into the meadow? Maybe +we better ask the herders down to have some of Patsy's grub, too; I +don't believe they had time to cook much breakfast. And it wouldn't be +a bad idea to haze our own stuff clear off the range. I'm afraid Dunk's +sheep are going to fare kinda slim, if we go on letting our cattle eat +all the good grass!” Pink did not often indulge in such lengthy sarcasm, +especially toward his beloved Weary; but his exasperation toward Weary's +mild tactics had been growing apace. + +Weary's reply, I fear, will have to be omitted. It was terribly +unrefined. + +“I want you boys to spread out, around the whole bunch,” was his first +printable utterance, “and haze these sheep just as far south as they +can get without taking to the river. Don't get all het up chasing 'em +yourself--make the men (Weary did not call them men; he called them +something very naughty) that's paid for it do the driving.” + +“And, if they don't go,” drawled the smooth voice of the Native Son, +“what shall we do, amigo? Slap them on the wrist?” + +Weary twisted in the saddle and sent him a baleful glance, which was not +at all like Weary the sunny-hearted. + +“If you can't figure that out for yourself,” he snapped, “you had better +go back and wipe the dishes for Patsy; and, when that's done, you can +pull the weeds out of his radishes. Maybe he'll give you a nickel to buy +candy with, if you do it good.” Before he faced to the front again his +harsh glance swept the faces of his companions. + +They were grinning, every man of them, and he knew why. To see him lose +his temper was something of an event with the Happy Family, who used +sometimes to fix the date of an incident by saying, “It was right after +that time Weary got mad, a year ago last fall,” or something of the +sort. He grinned himself, shamefacedly, and told them that they were +a bunch of no-account cusses, anyway, and he'd just about as soon herd +sheep himself as to have to run with such an outfit; which swept his +anger from him and left him his usual self, with but the addition of a +purpose from which nothing could stay him. He was going to settle the +sheep question, and he was going to settle it that day. + +Only one injunction did he lay upon the Happy Family. “You fellows don't +want to get excited and go to shooting,” he warned, while they were +still out of hearing of the herders. “We don't want Dunk to get anything +like that on us; savvy?” + +They “savvied,” and they told him so, each after his own individual +manner. + +“I guess we ought to be able to put the run on a couple of sheepherders, +without wasting any powder,” Pink said loftily, remembering his meeting +with them a few days before. + +“One thing sure--we'll make a good job of it this time,” promised Irish, +and spurred after Weary, who was leading the way around the band. + +The herders watched them openly and with the manner of men who are +expecting the worst to happen. Unlike the four whose camp had been laid +low the night before, these two were unarmed, as they had been from the +first; which, in Weary's opinion, was a bit of guile upon the part of +Dunk. If trouble came--trouble which it would take a jury to settle--the +fact that the sheepmen were unarmed would tell heavily in their favor; +for, while the petty meanness of range-stealing and nagging trespass may +be harder to bear than the flourishing of a gun before one's face, it +all sounds harmless enough in the telling. + +Weary headed straight for the nearest herder, told him to put his dogs +to work rounding up the sheep, which were scattered over an area half +a mile across while they fed, and, when the herder, who was the +bug-killer, made no move to obey, Weary deliberately pulled his gun and +pointed at his head. + +“You move,” he directed with grim intent, “and don't take too much time +about it, either.” + +The bug-killer, an unkempt, ungainly figure, standing with his back to +the morning sun, scowled up at Weary stolidly. + +“Yuh dassent shoot,” he stated sourly, and did not move. + +For answer, Weary pulled back the hammer; also he smiled as malignantly +as it was in his nature to do, and hoped in his heart that he looked +sufficiently terrifying to convince the man. So they faced each other in +a silent clash of wills. + +Big Medicine had not been saying much on the way over, which was +unusual. Now he rode forward until he was abreast of Weary, and he +grinned down at the bug-killer in a way to distract his attention from +the gun. + +“Nobody don't have to shoot, by cripes!” he bawled. “We hain't goin' to +kill yuh. We'll make yuh wisht, by cripes, we had, though, b'fore we +git through. Git to work, boys, 'n' gether up some dry grass an' sticks. +Over there in them rose-bushes you oughta find enough bresh. We'll give +him a taste uh what we was talkin' about comm' over, by cripes! I guess +he'll be willin' to drive sheep, all right, when we git through with +him. Haw-haw-haw-w-w!” He leaned forward in the saddle and ogled the +bug-killer with horrid significance. + +“Git busy with that bresh!” he yelled authoritatively, when a glance +showed him that the Happy Family was hesitating and eyeing him +uncertainly. “Git a fire goin' quick's yuh kin--I'll do the rest. Down +in Coconino county we used to have a way uh fixin' sheepherders--” + +“Aw, gwan! We don't want no torture business!” remonstrated Happy Jack +uneasily, edging away. + +“Yuh don't, hey?” Big Medicine turned in the saddle wrathfully and +glared. When he had succeeded in catching Andy Green's eye he winked, +and that young man's face kindled understandingly. “Well, now, you +hain't runnin' this here show. Honest to grandma, I've saw the time when +a little foot-warmin' done a sheepherder a whole lot uh good; and, it +looks to me, by cripes, as if this here feller needed a dose to gentle +him down. You git the fire started. That's all I want you t' do, Happy. +Some uh you boys help me rope him--like him and that other jasper over +there done to Andy. C'mon, Andy--it ain't goin' to take long!” + +“You bet your sweet life I'll come on!” exclaimed Andy, dismounting +eagerly. “Let me take your rope, Weary. Too bad we haven't got a +branding iron--” + +“Aw, we don't need no irons.” Big Medicine was also on the ground by +then, and untying his rope. “Lemme git his shoes off once, and I'll show +yuh.” + +The bug-killer lifted his stick, snarling like a mongrel dog when +a stranger tries to drive it out of the house; hurled the stick +hysterically, as Big Medicine, rope in hand, advanced implacably, and, +with a squawk of horror, turned suddenly and ran. After him, bellowing +terribly, lunged Big Medicine, straight through the band like a +snowplow, leaving behind them a wide, open trail. + +“Say, we kinda overplayed that bet, by gracious,” Andy commented to +Weary, while he watched the chase. “That gazabo's scared silly; let's +try the other one. That torture talk works fine.” + +In his enthusiasm Andy remounted and was about to lead the way to +the other herder when Big Medicine returned puffing, the bug-killer +squirming in his grasp. “Tell him what yuh want him to do, Weary,” he +panted, with some difficulty holding his limp victim upright by a +greasy coat-collar. “And if he don't fall over himself doin' it, why--by +cripes--we'll take off his shoes!” + +Whereupon the bug-killer gave another howl and professed himself eager +to drive the sheep--well, what he said was that he would drive them to +that place which ladies dislike to hear mentioned, if the Happy Family +wanted him to. + +“That's all right, then. Start 'em south, and don't quit till somebody +tells you to.” Weary carefully let down the hammer of his six-shooter +and shoved it thankfully into his scabbard. + +“Now, you don't want to pile it on quite so thick, next time,” Irish +admonished Big Medicine, when they turned away from watching the +bug-killer set his dogs to work by gestures and a shouted word or two. +“You like to have sent this one plumb nutty.” + +“I betche Bud gets us all pinched for that,” grumbled Happy Jack. +“Torturing folks is purty darned serious business. You might as well +shoot 'em up decent and be done with it.” + +“Haw-haw-haw-w-w!” Big Medicine ogled the group mirthfully. “Nobody +can't swear I done a thing, or said a thing. All I said definite was +that I'd take off his shoes. Any jury in the country'd know that +would be hull lot worse fer us than it would fer him, by cripes. +Haw-haw-haw-w-w!” + +“Say, that's right; yuh didn't say nothin', ner do nothin'. By golly, +that was purty slick work, all right!” Slim forgot his sore leg until he +clapped his hand enthusiastically down upon the place as comprehension +of Bud's finesse dawned upon him. He yelped, and the Happy Family +laughed unfeelingly. + +“You want to be careful and don't try to see through any jokes, Slim, +till that leg uh yours gets well,” Irish bantered, and they laughed the +louder. + +All this was mere byplay; a momentary swinging of their mood to +pleasantry, because they were a temperamentally cheerful lot, and +laughter came to them easily, as it always does to youth and perfect +mental and physical health. Their brief hilarity over Slim's misfortune +did not swerve them from their purpose, nor soften the mood of them +toward their adversaries. They were unsmiling and unfriendly when they +reached the man from Wyoming; and, if they ever behaved like boys let +out of school, they did not show it then. + +The Wyoming man was wiser than his fellow. He had been given several +minutes grace in which to meditate upon the unwisdom of defiance; and he +had seen the bug-killer change abruptly from sullenness to terror, and +afterward to abject obedience. He did not know what they had said to +him, or what they had done; but he knew the bug-killer was a hard man to +stampede. And he was one man, and they were many; also he judged that, +being human, and this being the third offense of the Dot sheep under his +care, it would be extremely unsafe to trust that their indignation would +vent itself in mere words. + +Therefore, when Weary told him to get the stragglers back through the +fence and up on the level, he stopped only long enough for a good look +at their faces. After that he called his dogs and crawled through the +fence. + +It really did not require the entire Family to force those sheep south +that morning. But Weary's jaw was set, as was his heart, upon a +thorough cleaning of that particular bit of range; and, since he did +not definitely request any man to turn back, and every fellow there +was minded to see the thing to a finish, they straggled out behind the +trailing two thousand--and never had one bunch of sheep so efficient a +convoy. + +After the first few miles the way grew rough. Sheep lagged, and the +blatting increased to an uproar. Old ewes and yearlings these were +mostly, and there were few to suffer more than hunger and thirst, +perhaps. So Weary was merciless, and drove them forward without a stop +until the first jumble of hills and deep-worn gullies held them back +from easy traveling. + +But the Happy Family had not ridden those breaks for cattle, all these +years, to be hindered by rough going. Weary, when the band stopped and +huddled, blatting incessantly against a sheer wall of sandstone and +gravel, got the herders together and told them what he wanted. + +“You take 'em down that slope till you come to the second little coulee. +Don't go up the first one--that's a blind pocket. In the second coulee, +up a mile or so, there's a spring creek. You can hold 'em there on water +for half an hour. That's more than any of yuh deserve. Haze 'em down +there.” + +The herders did not know it, but that second coulee was the rude gateway +to an intricate system of high ridges and winding waterways that would +later be dry as a bleached bone--the real beginning of the bad lands +which border the Missouri river for long, terrible miles. Down there, +it is possible for two men to reach places where they may converse quite +easily across a chasm, and yet be compelled to ride fifteen or twenty +miles, perhaps, in order to shake hands. Yet, even in that scrap-heap of +Nature there are ways of passing deep into the heart of the upheaval. + +The Happy Family knew those ways as they knew the most complicated +figures of the quadrilles they danced so lightfootedly with the girls of +the Bear Paw country. When they forced the sheep and their herders out +of the coulee Weary had indicated he sent Irish and Pink ahead to point +the way, and he told them to head for the Wash Bowl; which they did with +praiseworthy zeal and scant pity for the sheep. + +When at last, after a slow, heartbreaking climb up a long, bare ridge, +Pink and Irish paused upon the brow of a slope and let the trail-weary +band spill itself reluctantly down the steep slope beyond, the sun stood +high in the blue above them and their stomachs clamored for food; by +which signs they knew that it must be near noon. + +When the last sheep had passed, blatting discordantly, down the bluff, +Weary halted the sweating herders for a parting admonition. + +“We don't aim to deal you any more misery, for a while, if you stay +where you're at. You're only working for a living, like the rest of +us--but I must say I don't admire your trade none. Anyway, I'll send +some of your bunch down here with grub and beds. This is good enough +range for sheep. You keep away from the Flying U and nobody'll bother +you. Over there in them trees,” he added, pointing a gloved finger +toward a little grove on the far side of the basin, “you'll find a +cabin, and water. And, farther down the river there's pretty good grass, +in the little bottoms. Now, git.” + +The herders looked as if they would enjoy murdering them all, but they +did not say a word. With their dogs at heel they scrambled down +the bluff in the wake of their sheep, and the Happy Family, rolling +cigarettes while they watched them depart, told one another that this +settled that bunch; they wouldn't bed down in the Flying U door-yard +that night, anyway. + + + +CHAPTER XI. Weary Unburdens + +Hungry with the sharp, gnawing hunger of healthy stomachs accustomed +to regular and generous feeding; tired with the weariness of healthy +muscles pushed past their accustomed limit of action; and hot with the +unaccustomed heat of a blazing day shunted unaccountably into the midst +of soft spring weather, the Happy Family rode out of the embrace of +the last barren coulee and up on the wide level where the breeze swept +gratefully up from the west, and where every day brought with it a +deeper tinge of green into its grassy carpet. + +Only for this harassment of the Dot sheep, the roundup wagons would +be loaded and ready to rattle abroad over the land. Meadow larks and +curlews and little, pert-eyed ground sparrows called out to them that +roundup time was come. They passed a bunch of feeding Flying U cattle, +and flat-ribbed, bandy-legged calves galloped in brief panic to their +mothers and from the sanctuary of grass-filled paunches watched the +riders with wide, inquisitive eyes. + +“We ought to be starting out, by now,” Weary observed a bit gloomily to +Andy and Pink, who rode upon either side of him. “The calf crop is going +to be good, if this weather holds on another two weeks or so. But--” he +waved his cigarette disgustedly “--that darned Dot outfit would be all +over the place, if we pulled out on roundup and left 'em the run of +things.” He smoked moodily for a minute. “My religion has changed a lot +in the last few days,” he observed whimsically. “My idea of hell is +a place where there ain't anything but sheep and sheepherders; and +cowpunchers have got to spend thousands uh years right in the middle of +the corrals.” + +“If that's the case, I'm going to quit cussing, and say my prayers every +night,” Andy Green asserted emphatically. + +“What worries me,” Weary confided, obeying the impulse to talk over his +troubles with those who sympathized, “is how I'm going to keep the work +going along like it ought to, and at the same time keep them Dot sheep +outa the house. Dunk's wise, all right. He knows enough about the cow +business to know we ye got to get out on the range pretty quick, now. +And he's so mean that every day or every half day he can feed his sheep +on Flying U grass, he calls that much to the good. And he knows we won't +go to opening up any real gun-fights if we can get out of it; he counts +on our faunching around and kicking up a lot of dust, maybe--but we +won't do anything like what he'd do, in our places. He knows the Old Man +and Chip are gone, and he knows we've just naturally got to sit back and +swallow our tongues because we haven't any authority. Mamma! It comes +pretty tough, when a low-down skunk like that just banks on your doing +the square thing. He wouldn't do it, but he knows we will; and so he +takes advantage of white men and gets the best of 'em. And if we should +happen to break out and do something, he knows the herders would be the +ones to get it in the neck; and he'd wait till the dust settled, and bob +up with the sheriff--” He waved his hand again with a hopeless gesture. +“It may not look that way on the face of it,” he added gloomily, “but +Dunk has got us right where he wants us. From the way they've been +letting sheep on our land, time and time again, I'd gamble he's just +trying to make us so mad we'll break out. He's got it in for the whole +outfit, from the Old Man and the Little Doctor down to Slim. If any of +us boys got into trouble, the Old Man would spend his last cent to clear +us; and Dunk knows that just as well as he knows the way from the house +to the stable. He'd see to it that it would just about take the Old +Man's last cent, too. And he's using these Dot sheep like you'd use a +red flag on a bull, to make us so crazy mad we'll kill off somebody. + +“That's why,” he said to them all when he saw that they had ridden up +close that they might hear what he was saying, “I've been hollering so +loud for the meek-and-mild stunt. When I slapped him on the jaw, and he +stood there and took it, I saw his game. He had a witness to swear I hit +him and he didn't hit back. And when I saw them Dots in our field again, +I knew, just as well as if Dunk had told me, that he was kinda hoping +we'd kill a herder or two so he could cinch us good and plenty. I don't +say,” he qualified with a rueful grin, “that Dunk went into the sheep +business just to get r-re-venge, as they say in shows. But if he can +make money running sheep--and he can, all right, because there's more +money in them right now than there is in cattle--and at the same time +get a good whack at the Flying U, he's the lad that will sure make a +running jump at the chance.” He spat upon the burnt end of his cigarette +stub from force of the habit that fear of range fires had built, and +cast it petulantly from him; as if he would like to have been able to +throw Dunk and his sheep problem as easily out of his path. + +“So I wish you boys would hang onto yourselves when you hear a sheep +blatting under your window,” he summed up his unburdening whimsically. +“As Bud said this morning, you can't hang a man for telling a +sheepherder you'll take off his shoes. And they can't send us over the +road for moving that band of sheep onto new range to-day. Last night +you all were kinda disorderly, maybe, but you didn't hurt anybody, or +destroy any property. You see what I mean. Our only show is to stop with +our toes on the right side of the dead line.” + +“If Andy, here, would jest git his think-wheels greased and going good,” + Big Medicine suggested loudly, “he ought to frame up something that +would put them Dots on the run permanent. I d'no, by cripes, why it is +a feller can always think uh lies and joshes by the dozens, and put 'em +over O. K. when there ain't nothing to be made out of it except hard +feelin's; and then when a deal like this here sheep deal comes up, he's +got about as many idees, by cripes, as that there line-back calf over +there. Honest to grandma, Andy makes me feel kinda faint. Only time he +did have a chanc't, he let them--” It occurred to Big Medicine at that +point that perhaps his remarks might be construed by the object of +them as being offensively personal. He turned his head and grinned +good-naturedly in Andy's direction, and refrained from finishing what he +was going to say. “I sure do like them wind-flowers scattered all +over the ground,” he observed with such deliberate and ostentatious +irrelevance that the Happy Family laughed, even to Andy Green, who had +at first been inclined toward anger. + +“Everything,” declared Andy in the tone of a paid instructor, “has its +proper time and place, boys; I've told you that before. For instance, I +wouldn't try to kill a skunk by talking it to death; and I wouldn't +be hopeful of putting the run on this Dunk person by telling him ghost +stories. As to ideas--I'm plumb full of them. But they're all about +grub, just right at present.” + +That started Slim and Happy Jack to complaining because no one had had +sense enough to go back after some lunch before taking that long trail +south; the longer because it was a slow one, with sheep to set the pace. +And by the time they had presented their arguments against the Happy +Family's having enough brains to last them overnight, and the Happy +Family had indignantly pointed out just where the mental deficiency was +most noticeable, they were upon that last, broad stretch of “bench” land +beyond which lay Flying U coulee and Patsy and dinner; a belated dinner, +to be sure, but for that the more welcome. + +And when they reached the point where they could look away to the +very rim of the coulee, they saw sheep--sheep to the skyline, feeding +scattered and at ease, making the prairie look, in the distance, as +if it were covered with a thin growth of gray sage-brush. Four herders +moved slowly upon the outskirts, and the dogs were little, scurrying, +black dots which stopped occasionally to wait thankfully until the +master-minds again urged them to endeavor. + +The Happy Family drew up and stared in silence. + +“Do I see sheep?” Pink inquired plaintively at last. “Tell me, +somebody.” + +“It's that bunch you fellows tackled last night,” said Weary miserably. +“I ought to have had sense enough to leave somebody on the ranch to look +out for this.” + +“They've got their nerve,” stated Irish, “after the deal they got last +night. I'd have bet good money that you couldn't drag them herders +across Flying U coulee with a log chain.” + +“Say, by golly, do we have to drive this here bunch anywheres before we +git anything to eat?” Slim wanted to know distressfully. + +Weary considered briefly. “No, I guess we'll pass 'em up for the +present. An hour or so won't make much difference in the long run, and +our horses are about all in, right now--” + +“So'm I, by cripes!” Big Medicine attested, grinning mirthlessly. “This +here sheep business is plumb wearin' on a man. 'Specially,” he added +with a fretful note, “when you've got to handle 'em gentle. The things +I'd like to do to them Dots is all ruled outa the game, seems like. +Honest to grandma, a little gore would look better to me right now than +a Dutch picnic before the foam's all blowed off the refreshments. Lemme +kill off jest one herder, Weary?” he pleaded. “The one that took a shot +at me las' night. Purty, please!” + +“If you killed one,” Weary told him glumly, “you might as well make a +clean sweep and take in the whole bunch.” + +“Well, I won't charge nothin' extra fer that, either,” Bud assured him +generously. “I'm willin' to throw in the other three--and the dawgs, +too, by cripes!” He goggled the Happy Family quizzically. “Nobody can't +say there's anything small about me. Why, down in the Coconino country +they used to set half a dozen greasers diggin' graves, by cripes, soon +as I started in to argy with a man. It was a safe bet they'd need three +or four, anyways, if old Bud cut loose oncet. Sheepherders? Why, they +jest natcherly couldn't keep enough on hand, securely, to run their +sheep. They used to order sheepherders like they did woolsacks, by +cripes! You could always tell when I was in the country, by the number +uh extra herders them sheep outfits always kep' in reserve. Honest to +grandma, I've knowed two or three outfits to club together and ship in +a carload at a time, when they heard I was headed their way. And so when +it comes to killin' off four, why that ain't skurcely enough to make it +worth m'while to dirty up m'gun!” + +“Aw, I betche yuh never killed a man in your life!” Happy Jack grumbled +in his characteristic tone of disparagement; but such was his respect +for Big Medicine's prowess that he took care not to speak loud enough +to be overheard by that modest gentleman, who continued with certain +fearsome details of alleged murderous exploits of his own, down in +Coconino County, Arizona. + +But as they passed the detested animals, thankful that the trail +permitted them to ride by at a distance sufficient to blur the most +unsavory details, even Big Medicine gave over his deliberate boastings +and relapsed into silence. + +He had begun his fantastic vauntings from an instinctive impulse +to leaven with humor a situation which, at the moment, could not be +bettered. Just as they had, when came the news of the Old Man's dire +plight, sought to push the tragedy of it into the background and cling +to their creed of optimism, they had avoided openly facing the sheep +complication squarely with mutual admissions of all it might mean to the +Flying U. + +Until Weary had unburdened his heart of worry on the ride home that day, +they had not said much about it, beyond a general vilification of the +sheep industry as a whole, of Dunk as the chief of the encroaching Dots, +and of the herders personally. + +But there were times when they could not well avoid thinking rather +deeply upon the subject, even if they did refuse to put their +forebodings into speech. They were not children; neither were they to +any degree lacking in intelligence. Swearing, about herders and at them, +was all very well; bluffing, threatening, pummeling even with willing +fists, tearing down tents and binding men with ropes might serve to +relieve the emotions upon occasion. But there was the grim economic +problem which faced squarely the Flying U as a “cow outfit”--the problem +of range and water; the Happy Family did not call it by name, but they +realized to the full what it meant to the Old Man to have sheep just +over his boundary line always. They realized, too, what it meant to have +the Old Man absent at this time--worse, to have him lying in a +hospital, likely to die at any moment; what it meant to have the whole +responsibility shifted to their shoulders, willing though they might be +to bear the burden; what it meant to have the general of an army gone +when the enemy was approaching in overwhelming numbers. + +Pink, when they were descending the first slope of the bluff which was +the southern rim of Flying U coulee, turned and glared vindictively back +at the wavering, gray blanket out there to the west. When he faced to +the front his face had the look it wore when he was fighting. + +“So help me, Josephine!” he gritted desperately, “we've got to clean the +range of them Dots before the Old Man comes back, or--” He snapped his +jaws shut viciously. + +Weary turned haggard eyes toward him. + +“How?” he asked simply. And Pink had no answer for him. + + + +CHAPTER XII. Two of a Kind + +Patsy, staunch old partisan that he was, placed before them much food +which he had tried his best to keep hot without burning everything to +a crisp, and while they ate with ravenous haste he told, with German +epithets and a trembling lower jaw, of his troubles that day. + +“Dem sheeps, dey coom by der leetle pasture,” he lamented while he +poured coffee muddy from long boiling. “Looks like dey know so soon you +ride away, und dey cooms cheeky as you pleece, und eats der grass und +crawls under der fence and leafs der vool sthicking by der vires. I goes +out mit a club, py cosh, und der sheeps chust looks und valks by some +better place alreatty, und I throw rocks and yells till mine neck iss +sore. + +“Und' dose herders, dey sets dem by der rock and laugh till I felt like +I could kill der whole punch, by cosh! Und von yells, 'Hey, dutchy, +pring me some pie, alreatty!' Und he laughs some more pecause der sheeps +dey don't go avay; dey chust run around und eat more grass and baa-aa!” + He turned and went heavily back to the greasy range with the depleted +coffee pot, lifted the lid of a kettle and looked in upon the contents +with a purely mechanical glance; gave a perfunctory prod or two with a +long-handled fork, and came back to stand uneasily behind Weary. + +“If you poys are goin' to shtand fer dot,” he began querulously, “Py +cosh I von't! Py myself I vill go and tell dot Dunk W'ittaker vot +lowdown skunk I t'ink he iss. Sheep's vool shtickin' by der fences +efferwhere on der ranch, py cosh! Dot vould sure kill der Old Man quick +if he see it. Shtinkin' off sheeps py our noses all der time, till I +can't eat no more mit der shmell of dem. Neffer pefore did I see vool on +der Flying U fences, py cosh, und sheeps baa-aain' in der coulee!” + +Never had they seen Patsy take so to heart a matter of mere business +importance. They did not say much to him; there was not much that they +could say. They ate their fill and went out disconsolately to discuss +the thing among themselves, away from Patsy's throaty complainings. They +hated it as badly as did he; with Weary's urgent plea for no violence +holding them in leash, they hated it more, if that were possible. + +The Native Son tilted his head unobtrusively stableward when he caught +Andy's eye, and as unobtrusively wandered away from the group. Andy +stopped long enough to roll and light a cigarette and then strolled +after him with apparent aimlessness, secretly curious over the summons. +He found Miguel in the stable waiting for him, and Miguel led the way, +rope in hand across the corral and into the little pasture where fed a +horse he meant to ride. He did not say anything until he had turned to +close the gate, and to make sure that they were alone and that their +departure had not carried to the Happy Family any betraying air of +significance. + +“You remember when you blew in here, a few weeks or so ago?” the Native +Son asked abruptly, a twinkle in his fathomless eyes. “You put up a good +one on the boys, that time, you remember. Bluffed them into thinking I +was a hero in disguise, and that you'd seen me pull off a big stunt of +bull-fighting and bull-dogging down in Mexico. It was a fine josh. They +believe it yet.” + +Andy glanced at him perplexedly. “Yes--but when it turned out to be +true,” he amended, “the josh was on me, I guess; I thought I was just +lying, when I wasn't. I've wondered a good deal about that. By +gracious, it makes a man feel funny to frame up a yarn out of his own +think-machine, and then find out he's been telling the truth all the +while. It's like a fellow handing out a twenty-four karat gold bar to a +rube by mistake, under the impression it only looks like one. Of course +they believe it! Only they don't know I just merely hit the truth by +accident.” + +The Native Son smiled his slow, amused smile, that somehow never failed +to be impressive. “That's the funny part of it,” he drawled. “You +didn't. I just piled another little josh on top of yours, that's all. I +never throwed a bull in my life, except with my lariat. I'd heard a +good deal about you, and--well, I thought I'd see if I could go you one +better. And you put that Mexico yarn across so smooth and easy, I just +simply couldn't resist the temptation to make you think it was all +straight goods. Sabe?” + +Andy Green did not say a word, but he looked exceedingly foolish. + +“So I think we can both safely consider ourselves top-hands when it +comes to lying,” the Native Son went on shamelessly. “And if you're +willing to go in with me on it and help put Dunk on the run--” He +glanced over his shoulder, saw that Happy Jack, on horseback, was coming +out to haze in the saddle bunch, and turned to stroll back as lazily as +he had come. He continued to speak smoothly and swiftly, in a voice +that would not carry ten paces. While Andy Green, with brown head bent +attentively, listened eagerly and added a sentence or two on his own +account now and then, and smiled--which he had not been in the habit of +doing lately. + +“Say, you fellers are gittin' awful energetic, ain't yuh?--wranglin' +horses afoot!” Happy Jack bantered at the top of his voice when he +passed them by. “Better save up your strength while you kin. Weary's +goin' to set us herdin' sheep agin--and I betche there's goin' to be +something more'n herdin' on our hands before we git through.” + +“I wouldn't be a bit surprised if there was,” sang out Andy, as +cheerfully as if he had been invited to dance “Ladies' choice” with the +prettiest girl in the crowd. “Wonder what hole he's going to dump this +bunch into,” he added to the Native Son. “By gracious, he ought to send +'em just as far north as he can drive 'em without paying duty! I'd sure +take 'em over into Canada, if it was me running the show.” + +“It was a mistake,” the Native Son volunteered, “for the whole bunch to +go off like we did to-day. They had those sheep up here on the hill just +for a bait. They knew we'd go straight up in the air and come down on +those two freaks herding 'em, and that gave them the chance to cross the +other bunch. I thought so all along, but I didn't like to butt in.” + +“Well Weary's mad enough now to do things that will leave a dent, +anyway,” Andy commented under his breath when, from the corral gate, he +got a good look at Weary's profile, which showed the set of his mouth +and chin. “See that mouth? It's hunt the top rail, and do it quick, when +old Weary straightens out his lips like that.” + +Behind them, Happy Jack bellowed for an open gate and no obstructions, +and they drew hastily to one side to let the saddle horses gallop +past with a great upflinging of dust. Pink, with a quite obtrusive +facetiousness, began lustily chanting that it looked to him like a big +night to-night--with occasional, furtive glances at Weary's face; for +he, also, had been quick to read those close-pressed lips, which did not +soften in response to the ditty. Usually he laughed at Pink's drollery. + +They rode rather quietly upon the hill again, to where fed the sheep. +During the hour or so that they had been absent the sheep had not moved +appreciably; they still grazed close enough to the boundary to make +their position seem a direct insult to the Flying U, a virtual slap in +the face. And these young men who worked for the Flying U, and who made +its interests right loyally their own, were growing very, very tired +of turning the other cheek. With them, the time for profanity and for +horseplay bluffing and judicious temporizing was past. There were other +lips besides Weary's that were drawn tight and thin when they approached +that particular band of sheep. More than one pair of eyes turned +inquiringly toward him and away again when they met no answering look. + +They topped a rise of ground, and in the shallow wrinkle which had +hidden him until now they came full upon Dunk Whittaker, riding a chunky +black which stepped restlessly about while he conferred in low tones +with a couple of the herders. The Happy Family recognized them as two +of the fellows in whose safe keeping they had left their ropes the night +before. Dunk looked around quickly when the group appeared over the +little ridge, scowled, hesitated and then came straight up to them. + +“I want you rowdies to bring back those sheep you took the trouble to +drive off this morning,” he began, with the even, grating voice and the +sneering lift of lip under his little, black mustache which the older +members of the Happy Family remembered--and hated--so vividly. +“I've stood just all I'm going to stand, of these typically Flying U +performances you've been indulging in so freely during the past week. +It's all very well to terrorize a neighborhood of long-haired rubes who +don't know enough to teach you your places; but interfering with another +man's property is--” + +“Interfering with another--what?” Big Medicine, his pale blue eyes +standing out more like a frog's than ever upon his face, gave his horse +a kick and lunged close that he might lean and thrust his red face near +to Dunk's. “Another what? I don't see nothin' in your saddle that looks +t'me like a man, by cripes! All I can see is a smooth-skinned, slippery +vermin I'd hate to name a snake after, that crawls around in the dark +and lets cheap rough-necks do all his dirty work. I've saw dogs sneak +up and grab a man behind, but most always they let out a growl or two +first. And even a rattler is square enough to buzz at yuh and give yuh +a chanc't to side-step him. Honest to grandma, I don't hardly know what +kinda reptyle y'are. I hate to insult any of 'em, by cripes, by namin' +yuh after 'em. But don't, for Lordy's sake, ever call yourself a man +agin!” + +Big Medicine turned his head and spat disgustedly into the grass and +looked back slightingly with other annihilating remarks close behind his +wide-apart teeth, but instead of speaking he made an unbelievably quick +motion with his hand. The blow smacked loudly upon Dunk's cheek, and so +nearly sent him out of the saddle that he grabbed for the horn to save +himself. + +“Oh, I seert yuh keepin' yer hand next yer six-gun all the while,” Big +Medicine bawled. “That's one reason I say yuh ain't no man! Yuh wouldn't +dast talk up to a prairie dog if yuh wasn't all set to make a quick +draw. Yuh got your face slapped oncet before by a Flyin' U man, and yuh +had it comm'. Now you're--gittin'--it--done--right!” + +If you have ever seen an irate, proletarian mother cuffing her offspring +over an empty wood-box, you may picture perhaps the present proceeding +of Big Medicine. To many a man the thing would have been unfeasible, +after the first blow, because of the horses. But Big Medicine was very +nearly all that he claimed to be; and one of his pet vanities was his +horsemanship; he managed to keep within a fine slapping distance of +Dunk. He stopped when his hand began to sting through his glove. + +“Now you keep your hand away from that gun--that you ain't honest enough +to carry where folks can see it, but 'ye got it cached in your pocket!” + he thundered. “And go on with what you was goin' t'say. Only don't get +swell-headed enough to think you're a man, agin. You ain't.” + +“I've got this to say!” Mere type cannot reproduce the malevolence of +Dunk's spluttering speech. “I've sent for the county sheriff and a dozen +deputies to arrest you, and you, and you, damn you!” He was pointing +a shaking finger at the older members of the Happy Family, whom he +recognized not gladly, but too well. “I'll have you all in Deer Lodge +before that lying, thieving, cattle-stealing Old Man of yours can lift a +finger. I'll sheep Flying U coulee to the very doors of the white house. +I'll skin the range between here and the river--and I'll have every one +of you hounds put where the dogs won't bite you!” He drew a hand across +his mouth and smiled as they say Satan himself can smile upon occasion. + +“You've done enough to send you all over the road; destroying property +and assaulting harmless men--you wait! There are other and better +ways to fight than with the fists, and I haven't forgotten any of you +fellows--there are a few more rounders among you--” + +“Hey! You apologize fer that, by cripes, er I'll kill yuh the longest +way I know. And that--” Big Medicine again laid violent hands upon Dunk, +“and that way won't feel good, now I'm tellin' yuh. Apologize, er--” + +“Say, all this don't do any good, Bud,” Weary expostulated. “Let Dunk +froth at the mouth if he wants to; what we want is to get these sheep +off the range. And,” he added recklessly, “so long as the sheriff is +headed for us anyway, we may as well get busy and make it worth his +while. So--” He stopped, silenced by a most amazing interruption. + +On the brow of the hill, when first they had sighted Dunk in the hollow, +something had gone wrong with Miguel's saddle so that he had stopped +behind; and, to keep him company, Andy had stopped also and waited for +him. Later, when Dunk was spluttering threats, they had galloped up to +the edge of the group and pulled their horses to a stand. Now, Miguel +rode abruptly close to Dunk as rides one with a purpose. + +He leaned and peered intently into Dunk's distorted countenance until +every man there, struck by his manner, was watching him curiously. Then +he sat back in the saddle, straightened his legs in the stirrups and +laughed. And like his smile when he would have it so, or the little +twitch of shoulders by which he could so incense a man, that laugh +brought a deeper flush to Dunk's face, reddened though it was by Big +Medicine's vigorous slapping. + +“Say, you've got nerve,” drawled the Native Son, “to let a sheriff +travel toward you. I can remember when you were more timid, amigo.” He +turned his head until his eyes fell upon Andy. “Say, Andy!” he called. +“Come and take a look at this hombre. You'll have to think back a few +years,” he assisted laconically. + +In response, Andy rode up eagerly. Like the Native Son, he leaned and +peered into eyes that stared back defiantly, wavered, and turned away. +Andy also sat back in the saddle then, and snorted. + +“So this is the Dunk Whittaker that's been raising merry hell around +here! And talks about sending for the sheriff, huh? I've always heard +that a lot uh gall is the best disguise a man can hide under, but, by +gracious, this beats the deuce!” He turned to the astounded Happy Family +with growing excitement in his manner. + +“Boys, we don't have to worry much about this gazabo! We'll just +freeze onto him till the sheriff heaves in sight. Gee! There'll sure be +something stirring when we tell him who this Dunk person really is! +And you say he was in with the Old Man, once? Oh, Lord!” He looked +with withering contempt at Dunk; and Dunk's glance flickered again and +dropped, just as his hand dropped to the pocket of his coat. + +“No, yuh don't, by cripes!” Big Medicine's hand gripped Dunk's arm on +the instant. With his other he plucked the gun from Dunk's pocket, and +released him as he would let go of something foul which he had been +compelled to touch. + +“He'll be good, or he'll lose his dinner quick,” drawled the Native +Son, drawing his own silver-mounted six-shooter and resting it upon the +saddle horn so that it pointed straight at Dunk's diaphragm. “You take +Weary off somewhere and tell him something about this deal, Andy. I'll +watch this slippery gentleman.” He smiled slowly and got an answering +grin from Andy Green, who immediately rode a few rods away, with Weary +and Pink close behind. + +“Say, by golly, what's Dunk wanted fer?” Slim blurted inquisitively +after a short silence. + +“Not for riding or driving over a bridge faster than a walk Slim,” + purred the Native Son, shifting his gun a trifle as Dunk moved uneasily +in the saddle. “You know the man. Look at his face--and use your +imagination, if you've got any.” + + + +CHAPTER XIII. The Happy Family Learn Something + +“Well, I hope this farce is about over,” Dunk sneered, with as near an +approach to his old, supercilious manner as he could command, when the +three who had ridden apart returned presently. “Perhaps, Weary, you'll +be good enough to have this fellow put up his gun, and these--” he +hesitated, after a swift glance, to apply any epithet whatever to the +Happy Family. “I have two witnesses here to swear that you have without +any excuse assaulted and maligned and threatened me, and you may +consider yourselves lucky if I do not insist--” + +“Ah, cut that out,” Andy advised wearily. “I don't know how it strikes +the rest, but it sounds pretty sickening to me. Don't overlook the fact +that two of us happen to know all about you; and we know just where to +send word, to dig up a lot more identification. So bluffing ain't going +to help you out, a darned bit.” + +“Miguel, you can go with Andy,” Weary said with brisk decision. “Take +Dunk down to the ranch till the sheriff gets here--if it's straight +goods about Dunk sending for him. If he didn't, we can take Dunk in +to-morrow, ourselves.” He turned and fixed a cold, commanding eye upon +the slack-jawed herders. “Come along, you two, and get these sheep +headed outa here.” + +“Say, we'll just lock him up in the blacksmith shop, and come on back,” + Andy amended the order after his own free fashion. “He couldn't get out +in a million years; not after I'm through staking him out to the anvil +with a log-chain.” He smiled maliciously into Dunk's fear-yellowed +countenance, and waved him a signal to ride ahead, which Dunk did +without a word of protest while the Happy Family looked on dazedly. + +“What's it all about, Weary?” Irish asked, when the three were gone. +“What is it they've got on Dunk? Must be something pretty fierce, the +way he wilted down into the saddle.” + +“You'll have to wait and ask the boys.” Weary rode off to hurry the +herders on the far side of the band. + +So the Happy Family remained perforce unenlightened upon the subject and +for that they said hard things about Weary, and about Andy and Miguel as +well. They believed that they were entitled to know the truth, and they +called it a smart-aleck trick to keep the thing so almighty secret. + +There is in resentment a crisis; when that crisis is reached, and the +dam of repression gives way, the full flood does not always sweep down +upon those who have provoked the disaster. Frequently it happens that +perfectly innocent victims are made to suffer. The Happy Family had +been extremely forbearing, as has been pointed out before. They had +frequently come to the boiling point of rage and had cooled without +committing any real act of violence. But that day had held a long series +of petty annoyances; and here was a really important thing kept from +them as if they were mere outsiders. When Weary was gone, Irish asked +Pink what crime Dunk had committed in the past. And Pink shook his head +and said he didn't know. Irish mentally accused Pink of lying, and +his temper was none the better for the rebuff, as anyone can readily +understand. + +When the herders, therefore, rounded up the sheep and started them +moving south, the Happy Family speedily rebelled against that shuffling, +nibbling, desultory pace that had kept them long, weary hours in the +saddle with the other band. But it was Irish who first took measures to +accelerate that pace. + +He got down his rope and whacked the loop viciously down across the +nearest gray back. The sheep jumped, scuttled away a few paces and +returned to its nibbling progress. Irish called it names and whacked +another. + +After a few minutes he grew tired of swinging his loop and seeing it +have so fleeting an effect, and pulled his gun. He fired close to the +heels of a yearling buck that had more than once stopped to look up at +him foolishly and blat, and the buck charged ahead in a panic at the +noise and the spat of the bullet behind him. + +“Hit him agin in the same place!” yelled Big Medicine, and drew his own +gun. The Happy Family, at that high tension where they were ready for +anything, caught the infection and began shooting and yelling like crazy +men. + +The effect was not at all what they expected. Instead of adding impetus +to the band, as would have been the case if they had been driving +cattle, the result was exactly the opposite. The sheep ran--but they +ran to a common center. As the shooting went on they bunched tighter and +tighter, until it seemed as though those in the center must surely be +crushed flat. From an ambling, feeding company of animals, they become +a lumpy gray blanket, with here and there a long, vacuous face showing +idiotically upon the surface. + +The herders grinned and drew together as against a common enemy--or +as with a new joke to be discussed among themselves. The dogs wandered +helplessly about, yelped half-heartedly at the woolly mass, then sat +down upon their haunches and lolled red tongues far out over their +pointed little teeth, and tilted knowing heads at the Happy Family. + +“Look at the darned things!” wailed Pink, riding twice around the +huddle, almost ready to shed tears of pure rage and helplessness. +“Git outa that! Hi! Woopp-ee!” He fired again and again, and gave the +range-old cattle-yell; the yell which had sent many a tired herd over +many a weary mile; the yell before which had fled fat steers into the +stockyards at shipping time, and up the chutes into the cars; the yell +that had hoarsened many a cowpuncher's voice and left him with a mere +croak to curse his fate with; a yell to bring results--but it did not +start those sheep. + +The Happy Family, riding furiously round and round, fired every +cartridge they had upon their persons; they said every improper thing +they could remember or invent; they yelled until their eyes were +starting from their sockets; they glued that band of sheep so tight +together that dynamite could scarcely have pried them apart. + +And the herders, sitting apart with grimy hands clasped loosely over +hunched-up knees, looked on, and talked together in low tones, and +grinned. + +Irish glanced that way and caught them grinning; caught them pointing +derisively, with heaving shoulders. He swore a great oath and made for +them, calling aloud that he would knock those grins so far in that they +would presently find themselves smiling wrong-side-out from the back of +their heads. + +Pink, overhearing him, gave a last swat at the waggling tail of a +burrowing buck, and wheeled to overtake Irish and have a hand in +reversing the grins. Big Medicine saw them start, and came bellowing up +from the far side of the huddle like a bull challenging to combat from +across a meadow. Big Medicine did not know what it was all about, but he +scented battle, and that was sufficient. Cal Emmett and Weary, equally +ignorant of the cause, started at a lope toward the trouble center. + +It began to look as if the whole Family was about to fall upon those +herders and rend them asunder with teeth and nails; so much so that +the herders jumped up and ran like scared cottontails toward the rim of +Denson coulee, a hundred yards or so to the west. + +“Mamma! I wish we could make the sheep hit that gait and keep it,” + exclaimed Weary, with the first laugh they had heard from him that day. + +While he was still laughing, there was a shot from the ridge toward +which they were running; the sharp, vicious crack of a rifle. The Happy +Family heard the whistling hum of the bullet, singing low over their +heads; quite low indeed; altogether too low to be funny. And they had +squandered all their ammunition on the prairie sod, to hurry a band of +sheep that flatly refused to hurry anywhere except under one another's +odorous, perspiring bodies. + +From the edge of the coulee the rifle spoke again. A tiny geyser of +dust, spurting up from the ground ten feet to one side of Cal Emmett, +showed them all where the bullet struck. + +“Get outa range, everybody!” yelled Weary, and set the example by +tilting his rowels against Glory's smooth hide, and heading eastward. +“I like to be accommodating, all right, but I draw the line on standing +around for a target while my neighbors practise shooting.” + +The Happy Family, having no other recourse, therefore retreated in haste +toward the eastern skyline. Bullets followed them, overtook them as +the shooter raised his sights for the increasing distance, and whined +harmlessly over their heads. All save one. + + + +CHAPTER XIV. Happy Jack + +Big Medicine, Irish and Pink, racing almost abreast, heard a scream +behind them and pulled up their horses with short, stiff-legged plunges. +A brown horse overtook them; a brown horse, with Happy Jack clinging to +the saddle-horn, his body swaying far over to one side. Even as he went +hurtling past them his hold grew slack and he slumped, head foremost, to +the ground. The brown horse gave a startled leap away from him and went +on with empty stirrups flapping. + +They sprang down and lifted him to a less awkward position, and Big +Medicine pillowed the sweat-dampened, carroty head in the hollow of his +arm. Those who had been in the lead looked back startled when the brown +horse tore past them with that empty saddle; saw what had happened, +wheeled and galloped back. They dismounted and stood silently grouped +about poor, ungainly Happy Jack, lying there limp and motionless in Big +Medicine's arms. Not one of them remembered then that there was a man +with a rifle not more than two hundred yards away; or, if they did, they +quite forgot that the rifle might be dangerous to themselves. They were +thinking of Happy Jack. + +Happy Jack, butt of all their jokes and jibes; Happy the croaker, +the lugubrious forecaster of trouble; Happy Jack, the ugliest, the +stupidest, the softest-hearted man of them all. He had “betched” there +would be someone killed, over these Dot sheep; he had predicted trouble +of every conceivable kind; and they had laughed at him, swore at him, +lied to him, “joshed” him unmercifully, and kept him in a state of +chronic indignation, never dreaming that the memory of it would choke +them and strike them dumb with that horrible, dull weight in their +chests with which men suffer when a woman would find the relief of +weeping. + +“Where's he hurt?” asked Weary, in the repressed tone which only tragedy +can bring into a man's voice, and knelt beside Big Medicine. + +“I dunno--through the lungs, I guess; my sleeve's gitting soppy right +under his shoulder.” Big Medicine did not bellow; his voice was as quiet +as Weary's. + +Weary looked up briefly at the circle of staring faces. “Pink, you pile +onto Glory and go wire for a doctor. Try Havre first; you may get one +up on the nine o' clock train. If you can't, get one down on the +'leven-twenty, from Great Falls. Or there's Benton--anyway, git one. If +you could catch MacPherson, do it. Try him first, and never mind a Havre +doctor unless you can't get MacPherson. I'd rather wait a couple of +hours longer, for him. I'll have a rig--no, you better get a team from +Jim. They'll be fresh, and you can put 'em through. If you kill 'em,” he +added grimly, “we can pay for 'em.” He had his jack-knife out, and +was already slashing carefully the shirt of Happy Jack, that he might +inspect the wound. + +Pink gave a last, wistful look at Happy Jack's face, which seemed +unfamiliar with all the color and all the expression wiped out of it +like that, and turned away. “Come and help me change saddles, Cal,” + he said shortly. “Weary's stirrups are too darned long.” Even with the +delay, he was mounted on Glory and galloping toward Flying U coulee +before Weary was through uncovering the wound; and that does not mean +that Weary was slow. + +The rifle cracked again, and a bullet plucked into the sod twenty feet +beyond the circle of men and horses. But no one looked up or gave any +other sign of realization that they were still the target; they were +staring, with that frowning painfully intent look men have at such +moments, at a purplish hole not much bigger than if punched by a lead +pencil, just under the point of Happy Jack's shoulder blade; and at the +blood oozing sluggishly from it in a tiny stream across the girlishly +white flesh and dripping upon Big Medicine's arm. + +“Hadn't we better get a rig to take him home with?” Irish suggested. + +Weary, exploring farther, had just disclosed a ragged wound under the +arm where the bullet had passed out; he made no immediate reply. + +“Well, he ain't got it stuck inside of 'im, anyway,” Big Medicine +commented relievedly. “Don't look to me like it's so awful bad--went +through kinda anglin', and maybe missed his lungs. I've saw men shot up +before--” + +“Aw--I betche you'd--think it was bad--if you had it--” murmured Happy +Jack peevishly, lifting his eyelids heavily for a resentful glance when +they moved him a little. But even as Big Medicine grinned joyfully down +at him he went off again into mental darkness, and the grin faded into +solicitude. + +“You'd kick, by golly, if you was goin' to be hung,” Slim bantered +tritely and belatedly, and gulped remorsefully when he saw that he was +“joshing” an unconscious man. + +“We better get him home. Irish, you--” Weary looked up and discovered +that Irish and jack Bates were already headed for home and a conveyance. +He gave a sigh of approval and turned his attention toward wiping the +sweat and grime from Happy's face with his handkerchief. + +“Somebody else is goin' to git hit, by golly, if we stay here,” Slim +blurted suddenly, when another bullet dug up the dirt in that vicinity. + +“That gol-darned fool'll keep on till he kills somebody. I wisht I +had m' thirty-thirty here--I'd make him wisht his mother was a man, by +golly!” + +Big Medicine looked toward the coulee rim. “I ain't got a shell left,” + he growled regretfully. “I wisht we'd thought to tell the boys to bring +them rifles. Say, Slim, you crawl onto your hoss and go git 'em. It +won't take more'n a minute. There'll likely be some shells in the +magazines.” + +“Go on, Slim,” urged Weary grimly. “We've got to do something. They +can't do a thing like this--” he glanced down at Happy Jack-- “and get +away with it.” + +“I got half a box uh shells for my thirty-thirty, I'll bring that.” Slim +turned to go, stopped short and stared at the coulee rim. “By golly, +they're comm' over here!” he exclaimed. + +Big Medicine glanced up, took off his hat, crumpled it for a pillow +and eased Happy Jack down upon it. He got up stiffly, wiped his fingers +mechanically upon his trouser legs, broke his gun open just to make sure +that it was indeed empty, put it back and picked up a handful of rocks. + +“Let 'em come,” he said viciously. “I c'n kill every damn' one with m' +bare hands!” + + + +CHAPTER XV. Oleson + +“Say, ain't that Andy and Mig following along behind?” Cal asked after a +minute of watching the approach. “Sure, it is. Now what--” + +“They're drivin' 'em, by cripes!” Big Medicine, under the stress of the +moment, returned to his usual bellowing tone. “Who's that tall, lanky +feller in the lead? I don't call to mind ever seem him before. Them four +herders I'd know a mile off.” + +“That?” Weary shaded his eyes with his hat-brim, against the slant rays +of the westering sun. “That's Oleson, Dunk's partner.” + +“His mother'd be a-weepin',” Big Medicine observed bodefully, “if she +knowed what was due to happen to her son right away quick. Must be him +that done the shootin'.” + +They came on steadily, the four herders and Oleson walking reluctantly +ahead, with Andy Green and the Native Son riding relentlessly in the +rear, their guns held unwaveringly in a line with the backs of their +captives. Andy was carrying a rifle, evidently taken from one of the +men--Oleson, they judged for the guilty one. Half the distance was +covered when Andy was seen to turn his head and speak briefly with the +Native Son, after which he lunged past the captives and galloped up to +the waiting group. His quick eye sought first the face of Happy Jack +in anxious questioning; then, miserably, he searched the faces of his +friends. + +“Good Lord!” he exclaimed mechanically, dismounted and bent over the +figure on the ground. For a long minute he knelt there; he laid his ear +close to Happy Jack's mouth, took off his glove and laid his hand over +Happy's heart; reached up, twitched off his neckerchief, shook out the +creases and spread it reverently over Happy Jack's face. He stood up +then and spoke slowly, his eyes fixed upon the stumbling approach of the +captives. + +“Pink told us Happy had been shot, so we rode around and come up behind +'em. It was a cinch. And--say, boys, we've got the Dots in a pocket. +They've got to eat outa our hands, now. So don't think about--our own +feelings, or about--” he stopped abruptly and let a downward glance +finish the sentence. “We've got to keep our own hands clean, and--now +don't let your fingers get the itch, Bud!” This, because of certain +manifestations of a murderous intent on the part of Big Medicine. + +“Oh, it's all right to talk, if yuh feel like talking,” Big Medicine +retorted savagely. “I don't.” He made a catlike spring at the foremost +man, who happened to be Oleson, and got a merciless grip with his +fingers on his throat, snarling like a predatory animal over its kill. +From behind, Andy, with Weary to help, pulled him off. + +“I didn't mean to--to kill anybody,” gasped Oleson, pasty white. “I +heard a lot of shooting, and so I ran up the hill--and the herders came +running toward me, and I thought I was defending my property and men. I +had a right to defend--” + +“Defend hell!” Big Medicine writhed in the restraining grasp of those +who held him. “Look at that there! As good hearted a boy as ever turned +a cow! Never harmed a soul in 'is life. Is all your dirty, stinkin' +sheep, an' all your lousy herders, worth that boy's life? Yuh shot 'im +down like a dog--lemme go, boys.” His voice was husky. “Lemme tromp the +life outa him.” + +“I thought you were killing my men, or I never--I never meant to--to +kill--” Oleson, shaking till he could scarcely stand, broke down and +wept; wept pitiably, hysterically, as men of a certain fiber will weep +when black tragedy confronts them all unawares. He cowered miserably +before the Happy Family, his face hidden behind his two hands. + +“Boys, I want to say a word or two. Come over here.” Andy's voice, quiet +as ever, contrasted strangely with the man's sobbing. He led them back +a few paces--Weary, Cal, Big Medicine and Slim, and spoke hurriedly. The +Native Son eyed them sidelong from his horse, but he was careful to keep +Oleson covered with his gun--and the herders too, although they were +unarmed. Once or twice he glanced at that long, ungainly figure in the +grass with the handkerchief of Andy Green hiding the face except where +a corner, fluttering in the faint breeze which came creeping out of the +west, lifted now and then and gave a glimpse of sunbrowned throat and a +quiet chin and mouth. + +“Quit that blubbering, Oleson, and listen here.” Andys voice broke +relentlessly upon the other's woe. “All these boys want to hang yuh +without any red tape; far as I'm concerned, I'm dead willing. But we're +going to give yuh a chance. Your partner, as we told yuh coming over, +we've got the dead immortal cinch on, right now. And--well you can see +what you're up against. But we'll give yuh a chance. Have you got any +family?” + +Oleson, trying to pull himself together, shook his head. + +“Well, then, you can get rid of them sheep, can't yuh? Sell 'em, ship +'em outa here--we don't give a darn what yuh do, only so yuh get 'em off +the range.” + +“Y-yes, I'll do that.” Oleson's consent was reluctant, but it was fairly +prompt. “I'll get rid of the sheep,” he said, as if he was minded to +clinch the promise. “I'll do it at once.” + +“That's nice.” Andy spoke with grim irony. “And you'll get rid of the +ranch, too. You'll sell it to the Flying U--cheap.” + +“But my partner--Whittaker might object--” + +“Look here, old-timer. You'll fix that part up; you'll find a way +of fixing it. Look here--at what you're up against.” He waited, with +pointing finger, for one terrible minute. “Will you sell to the Flying +U?” + +“Y-yes!” The word was really a gulp. He tried to avoid looking where +Andy pointed; failed, and shuddered at what he saw. + +“I thought you would. We'll get that in writing. And we're going to wait +just exactly twenty-four hours before we make a move. It'll take some +fine work, but we'll do it. Our boss, here, will fix up the business end +with you. He'll go with yuh right now, and stay with yuh till you +make good. And the first crooked move you make--” Andy, in unconscious +imitation of the Native Son, shrugged a shoulder expressively and urged +Weary by a glance to take the leadership. + +“Irish, you come with me. The rest of you fellows know about what to +do. Andy, I guess you'll have to ride point till I get back.” Weary +hesitated, looked from Happy Jack to Oleson and the herders, and back +to the sober faces of his fellows. “Do what you can for him, boys--and I +wish one of you would ride over, after Pink gets back, and--let me know +how things stack up, will you?” + +Incredible as was the situation on the face of it, nevertheless it was +extremely matter-of-fact in the handling; which is the way sometimes +with incredible situations; as if, since we know instinctively that we +cannot rise unprepared to the bigness of its possibilities, we keep our +feet planted steadfastly on the ground and refuse to rise at all. And +afterward, perhaps, we look back and wonder how it all came about. + +At the last moment Weary turned back and exchanged guns with Andy Green, +because his own was empty and he realized the possible need of one--or +at least the need of having the sheep-men perfectly aware that he had +one ready for use. The Native Son, without a word of comment, handed his +own silver-trimmed weapon over to Irish, and rolled a cigarette deftly +with one hand while he watched them ride away. + +“Does this strike anybody else as being pretty raw?” he inquired calmly, +dismounting among them. “I'd do a good deal for the outfit, myself; +but letting that man get off--Say, you fellows up this way don't think +killing a man amounts to much, do you?” He looked from one to the other +with a queer, contemptuous hostility in his eyes. + +Andy Green took a forward step and laid a hand familiarly on his rigid +shoulder. “Quit it, Mig. We would do a lot for the outfit; that's the +God's truth. And I played the game right up to the hilt, I admit. But +nobody's killed. I told Happy to play dead. By gracious, I caught him +just in the nick uh time; he'd been setting up, in another minute.” To +prove it, he bent and twitched the handkerchief from the face of Happy +Jack, and Happy opened his eyes and made shift to growl. + +“Yuh purty near-smothered me t'death, darn yuh.” + +“Dios!” breathed the Native Son, for once since they knew him jolted out +of his eternal calm. “God, but I'm glad!” + +“I guess the rest of us ain't,” insinuated Andy softly, and lifted his +hat to wipe the sweat off his forehead. “I will say that--” After +all, he did not. Instead, he knelt beside Happy Jack and painstakingly +adjusted the crumpled hat a hair's breadth differently. + +“How do yuh feel, old-timer?” he asked with a very thin disguise of +cheerfulness upon the anxiety of his tone. + +“Well, I could feel a lot--better, without hurtin' nothin,” Happy Jack +responded somberly. “I hope you fellers--feel better, now. Yuh got +'em--tryin' to murder--the hull outfit; jes' like I--told yuh +they would--” Gunshot wounds, contrary to the tales of certain +sentimentalists, do not appreciably sweeten, or even change, a man's +disposition. Happy Jack with a bullet hole through one side of him was +still Happy Jack. + +“Aw, quit your beefin',” Big Medicine advised gruffly. “A feller with +a hole in his lung yuh could throw a calf through sideways ain't got no +business statin' his views on nothin', by cripes!” + +“Aw gwan. I thought you said--it didn't amount t' nothin',” Happy +reminded him, anxiety stealing into his face. + +“Well, it don't. May lay yuh up a day or two; wouldn't be su'prised if +yuh had to stay on the bed-ground two or three meals. But look at Slim, +here. Shot through the leg--shattered a bone, by cripes!--las' night, +only; and here he's makin' a hand and ridin' and cussin' same as any of +us t'day. We ain't goin' to let yuh grouch around, that's all. We claim +we got a vacation comm' to us; you're shot up, now, and that's fun +enough for one man, without throwin' it into the whole bunch. Why, a +little nick like that ain't nothin'; nothin' a-tall. Why, I've been +shot right through here, by cripes”--Big Medicine laid an impressive +finger-tip on the top button of his trousers--“and it come out back +here”--he whirled and showed his thumb against the small of his +back--“and I never laid off but that day and part uh the next. I was +sore,” he admitted, goggling Happy Jack earnestly, “but I kep' a-goin'. +I was right in fall roundup, an' I had to. A man can't lay down an' cry, +by cripes, jes' because he gets pinked a little--” + +“Aw, that's jest because--it ain't you. I betche you'd lay 'em +down--jest like other folks, if yuh got shot--through the lungs. That +ain't no--joke, lemme tell yuh!” Happy Jack was beginning to show +considerable spirit for a wounded man. So much spirit that Andy Green, +who had seen men stricken down with various ills, read fever signs in +the countenance and in the voice of Happy, and led Big Medicine somewhat +peremptorily out of ear-shot. + +“Ain't you got any sense?” he inquired with fine candor. “What do you +want to throw it into him like that, for? You may not think so, but he's +pretty bad off--if you ask me.” + +Big Medicine's pale eyes turned commiseratingly toward Happy Jack. “I +know he is; I ain't no fool. I was jest tryin' to cheer 'im up a little. +He was beginnin' to look like he was gittin' scared about it; I reckon +maybe I made a break, sayin' what I did about it, so I jest wanted to +take the cuss off. Honest to gran'ma--” + +“If you know anything at all about such things, you must know what fever +means in such a case. And, recollect, it's going to be quite a while +before a doctor can get here.” + +“Oh, I'll be careful. Maybe I did throw it purty strong; I won't, no +more.” Big Medicine s meekness was not the least amazing incident of +the day. He was a big-hearted soul under his bellow and bluff, and his +sympathy for Happy Jack struck deep. He went back walking on his toes, +and he stood so that his sturdy body shaded Happy Jack's face from the +sun, and he did not open his mouth for another word until Irish and Jack +Bates came rattling up with the spring wagon hurriedly transformed with +mattress, pillows and blankets into an ambulance. + +They had been thoughtful to a degree. They brought with them a jug of +water and a tin cup, and they gave Happy Jack a long, cooling drink of +it and bathed his face before they lifted him into the wagon. And of all +the hands that ministered to his needs, the hands of Big Medicine were +the eagerest and gentlest, and his voice was the most vibrant with +sympathy; which was saying a good deal. + + + +CHAPTER XVI. The End of the Dots + +Slim may not have been more curious than his fellows, but he was perhaps +more single-hearted in his loyalty to the outfit. To him the shooting +of Happy Jack, once he felt assured that the wound was not necessarily +fatal, became of secondary importance. It was all in behalf of the +Flying U; and if the bullet which laid Happy Jack upon the ground was +also the means of driving the hated Dots from that neighborhood, he +felt, in his slow, phlegmatic way, that it wasn't such a catastrophe as +some of the others seemed to think. Of course, he wouldn't want Happy +to die; but he didn't believe, after all, that Happy was going to do +anything like that. Old Patsy knew a lot about sickness and wounds. (Who +can cook for a cattle outfit, for twenty years and more, and not know a +good deal of hurts?) Old Patsy had looked Happy over carefully, and had +given a grin and a snort. + +“Py cosh, dot vos lucky for you, alreatty,” he had pronounced. “So you +don't git plood-poisonings, mit fever, you be all right pretty soon. +You go to shleep, yet. If fix you oop till der dochtor he cooms. I seen +fellers shot plumb through der middle off dem, und git yell. You ain't +shot so bad. You go to shleep.” + +So, his immediate fears relieved, Slim's slow mind had swung back to +the Dots, and to Oleson, whom Weary was even now assisting to keep his +promise (Slim grinned widely to himself when he thought of the abject +fear which Oleson had displayed because of the murder he thought he had +done, while Happy Jack obediently “played dead”). And of Dunk, whom Slim +had hated most abominably of old; Dunk, a criminal found out; Dunk, a +prisoner right there on the very ranch he had thought to despoil; Dunk, +at that very moment locked in the blacksmith shop. Perhaps it was not +curiosity alone which sent him down there; perhaps it was partly a +desire to look upon Dunk humbled--he who had trodden so arrogantly +upon the necks of those below him; so arrogantly that even Slim, the +slow-witted one, had many a time trembled with anger at his tone. + +Slim walked slowly, as was his wont; with deadly directness, as was his +nature. The blacksmith shop was silent, closed--as grimly noncommittal +as a vault. You might guess whatever you pleased about its inmate; it +was like trying to imagine the emotions pictured upon the face behind +a smooth, black mask. Slim stopped before the closed door and listened. +The rusty, iron hasp attracted his slow gaze, at first puzzling him a +little, making him vaguely aware that something about it did not quite +harmonize with his mental attitude toward it. It took him a full minute +to realize that he had expected to find the door locked, and that the +hasp hung downward uselessly, just as it hung every day in the year. + +He remembered then that Andy had spoken of chaining Dunk to the anvil. +That would make it unnecessary to lock the door, of course. Slim seized +the hanging strip of iron, gave it a jerk and bathed all the dingy +interior with a soft, sunset glow. Cobwebs quivered at the inrush of the +breeze, and glistened like threads of fine gold. The forge remained a +dark blot in the corner. A new chisel, lying upon the earthen floor, +became a bar of yellow light. + +Slim's eyes went to the anvil and clung there in a widening stare. His +hands, white and soft when his gloves were off, drew up convulsively +into fighting fists, and as he stood looking, the cords swelled and +stood out upon his thick neck. For years he had hated Dunk Whittaker-- + +The Happy Family, with rare good sense, had not hesitated to turn the +white house into an impromptu hospital. They knew that if the Little +Doctor and Chip and the Old Man had been at home Happy Jack would have +been taken unquestioningly into the guest chamber--which was a square, +three-windowed room off the big livingroom. More than one of them had +occupied it upon occasion. They took Happy Jack up there and put him to +bed quite as a matter-of-course, and when he was asleep they lingered +upon the wide, front porch; the hammock of the Little Doctor squeaked +under the weight of Andy Green, and the wide-armed chairs received the +weary forms of divers young cowpunchers who did not give a thought to +the intrusion, but were thankful for the comfort. Andy was swinging +luxuriously and drawing the last few puffs from a cigarette when Slim, +purple and puffing audibly, appeared portentously before him. + +“I thought you said you was goin' to lock Dunk up in the blacksmith +shop,” he launched accusingly at Andy. + +“We did,” averred that young man, pushing his toe against the railing to +accelerate the voluptuous motion of the hammock. + +“He ain't there. He's broke loose. The chain--by golly, yuh went an' +used that chain that was broke an' jest barely hangin' together! His +horse ain't anywheres around, either. You fellers make me sick. Lollin' +around here an' not paying no attention, by golly--he's liable to be ten +mile from here by this time!” When Slim stopped, his jaw quivered like +a dish of disturbed jelly, and I wish I could give you his tone; choppy, +every sentence an accusation that should have made those fellows wince. + +Irish, Big Medicine and Jack Bates had sprung guiltily to their feet +and started down the steps. The drawling voice of the Native Son stopped +them, ten feet from the porch. + +“Twelve, or fifteen, I should make it. That horse of his looked to me +like a drifter.” + +“Well--are yuh goin' t' set there on your haunches an' let him GO?” + Slim, by the look of him, was ripe for murder. + +“You want to look out, or you'll get apoplexy sure,” Andy soothed, +giving himself another luxurious push and pulling the last, little whiff +from his cigarette before he threw away the stub. “Fat men can't afford +to get as excited as skinny ones can.” + +“Aw, say! Where did you put him, Andy?” asked Big Medicine, his first +flurry subsiding before the absolute calm of those two on the porch. + +“In the blacksmith shop,” said Andy, with a slurring accent on the first +word that made the whole sentence perfectly maddening. “Ah, come on back +here and sit down. I guess we better tell 'em the how of it. Huh, Mig?” + +Miguel cast a slow, humorous glance over the four. “Ye-es--they'll have +us treed in about two minutes if we don't,” he assented. “Go ahead.” + +“Well,” Andy lifted his head and shoulders that he might readjust a +pillow to his liking, “we wanted him to make a getaway. Fact is, if he +hadn't, we'd have been--strictly up against it. Right! If he hadn't--how +about it, Mig? I guess we'd have been to the Little Rockies ourselves.” + +“You've got a sweet little voice,” Irish cut in savagely, “but we're +tired. We'd rather hear yuh say something!” + +“Oh--all right. Well, Mig and I just ribbed up a josh on Dunk. I'd read +somewhere about the same kinda deal, so it ain't original; I don't lay +any claim to the idea at all; we just borrowed it. You see, it's like +this: We figured that a man as mean as this Dunk person most likely had +stepped over the line, somewhere. So we just took a gambling chance, and +let him do the rest. You see, we never saw him before in our lives. All +that identification stunt of ours was just a bluff. But the minute I +shoved my chips to the center, I knew we had him dead to rights. You +were there. You saw him wilt. By gracious--” + +“Yuh don't know anything against him?” gasped Irish. + +“Not a darned thing--any more than what you all know,” testified Andy +complacently. + +It took a minute or two for that to sink in. + +“Well, I'll be damned!” breathed Irish. + +“We did chain him to the anvil,” Andy went on. “On the way down, we +talked about being in a hurry to get back to you fellows, and I told +Mig--so Dunk could hear--that we wouldn't bother with the horse. We tied +him to the corral. And I hunted around for that bum chain, and then we +made out we couldn't find the padlock for the door; so we decided, right +out loud, that he'd be dead safe for an hour or two, till the bunch of +us got back. Not knowing a darn thing about him, except what you boys +have told us, we sure would have been in bad if he hadn't taken a sneak. +Fact is, we were kinda worried for fear he wouldn't have nerve enough +to try it. We waited, up on the hill, till we saw him sneak down to the +corral and jump on his horse and take off down the coulee like a scared +coyote. It was,” quoth the young man, unmistakably pleased with himself, +“pretty smooth work, if you ask me.” + +“I'd hate to ride as fast and far to-night as that hombre will,” + supplemented Miguel with his brief smile, that was just a flash of +white, even teeth and a momentary lightening of his languorous eyes. + +Slim stood for five minutes, a stolid, stocky figure in the midst of +a storm of congratulatory comment. They forgot all about Happy Jack, +asleep inside the house, and so their voices were not hushed. Indeed, +Big Medicine's bull-like remarks boomed full-throated across the coulee +and were flung back mockingly by the barren hills. Slim did not hear +a word they were saying; he was thinking it over, with that complete +mental concentration which is the chief recompense of a slow-working +mind. He was methodically thinking it all out--and, eventually, he saw +the joke. + +“Well, by golly!” he bawled suddenly, and brought his palm down with +a terrific smack upon his sore leg--whereat his fellows laughed +uproariously. + +“We told you not to try to see through any more jokes till your leg gets +well, Slim,” Andy reminded condescendingly. + +“Say, by golly, that's a good one on Dunk, ain't it? Chasin' himself +clean outa the country, by golly--scared plumb to death---and you +fellers was only jest makin' b'lieve yuh knowed him! By golly, that sure +is a good one, all right!” + +“You've got it; give you time enough and you could see through a +barbed-wire fence,” patronized Andy, from the hammock. “Yes, since you +mention it, I think myself it ain't so bad.” + +“Aw-w shut up, out there, an' let a feller sleep!” came a querulous +voice from within. “I'd ruther bed down with a corral full uh calves at +weanin' time, than be anywheres within ten mile uh you darned, mouthy--” + The rest was indistinguishable, but it did not matter. The Happy Family, +save Slim, who stayed to look after the patient, tiptoed penitently +off the porch and took themselves and their enthusiasm down to the +bunk-house. + + + +CHAPTER XVII. Good News + +Pink rolled over in his bed so that he might look--however +sleepily--upon his fellows, dressing more or less quietly in the cool +dawn-hour. + +“Say, I got a letter for you, Weary,” he yawned, stretching both arms +above his head. “I opened it and read it; it was from Chip, so--” + +“What did he have to say?” + +“Old Man any better?” + +“How they comm', back here?” + +Several voices, speaking at once, necessitated a delayed reply. + +“They'll be here, to-day or to-morrow,” Pink replied without any +circumlocution whatever, while he fumbled in his coat pocket for the +letter. “He says the Old Man wants to come, and the doctors think he +might as well tackle it as stay there fussing over it. They're coming in +a special car, and we've got to rig up an outfit to meet him. The Little +Doctor tells just how she wants things fixed. I thought maybe it was +important--it come special delivery,” Pink added naively, “so I just +played it was mine and read it.” + +“That's all right, Cadwalloper,” Weary assured him while he read hastily +the letter. “Well, we'll fix up the spring wagon and take it in right +away; somebody's got to go back anyway, with MacPherson. Hello, Cal; +how's Happy?” + +“All right,” answered Cal, who had watched over him during the night and +came in at that moment after someone to take his place in the sickroom. +“Waked up on the fight because I just happened to be setting with my +eyes shut. I wasn't asleep, but he said I was; claimed I snored so loud +I kept him awake all night. Gee whiz! I'd ruther nurse a she bear with +the mumps!” + +“Old Man's coming home, Cal.” Pink announced with more joy in his +tone and in his face than had appeared in either for many a weary +day. Whereupon Cal gave an exultant whoop. “Go tell that to Happy,” + he shouted. “Maybe he'll forget a grouch or two. Say, luck seems to be +kinda casting loving glances our way again--what?” + +“By golly, seems to me Pink oughta told us when he come in, las' night,” + grumbled Slim, when he could make himself heard. + +“You were all dead to the world,” Pink defended, “and I wanted to +be. Two o'clock in the morning is a mighty poor time for elegant +conversation, if you want my opinion.” + +“And the main point is, you knew all about it, and you didn't give a +darn whether we did or not,” Irish said bluntly. “And Weary sneaked in, +too, and never let a yip outa him about things over in Denson coulee.” + +“Oh, what was the use?” asked Weary blandly. “I got an option out of +Oleson for the ranch and outfit, and all his sheep, at a mighty good +figure--for the Flying U. The Old Man can do what he likes about it; +but ten to one he'll buy him out. That is, Oleson's share, which was +two-thirds. I kinda counted on Dunk letting go easy. And,” he added, +reaching for his hat, “once I got the papers for it, there wasn't +anything to hang around for, was there? Especially,” he said with his +old, sunny smile, “when we weren't urged a whole lot to stay.” + +Remained therefore little, save the actual arrival of the Old Man--a +pitifully weak Old Man, bandaged and odorous with antiseptics, and quite +pathetically glad to be back home--and his recovery, which was rather +slow, and the recovery of Happy Jack, which was rapid. + +For a brief space the Flying U outfit owned the Dots; very brief it +was; not a day longer than it took Chip to find a buyer--at a figure +considerably above that named in the option, by the way. + +So, after a season of worry and trouble and impending tragedy such as +no man may face unflinchingly, life dropped back to its usual level, and +the trail of the Flying U outfit once more led through pleasant places. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Flying U Ranch, by B. M. 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Bower + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Flying U Ranch, by B. M. Bower + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Flying U Ranch + +Author: B. M. Bower + +Release Date: August 20, 2008 [EBook #1206] +Last Updated: March 9, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FLYING U RANCH *** + + + + +Produced by Anthony Matonak, and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + FLYING U RANCH + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By B. M. Bower + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> <big><b>FLYING U RANCH</b></big> </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. The Coming of a Native Son </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. “When Greek Meets Greek” </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. Bad News </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. Some Hopes </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. Sheep </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. What Happened to Andy </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII. Truth Crushed to Earth, etc. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII. The Dot Outfit </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX. More Sheep </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X. The Happy Family Herd Sheep </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI. Weary Unburdens </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII. Two of a Kind </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII. The Happy Family Learn Something + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV. Happy Jack </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER XV. Oleson </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER XVI. The End of the Dots </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0017"> CHAPTER XVII. Good News </a> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h1> + FLYING U RANCH + </h1> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I. The Coming of a Native Son + </h2> + <p> + The Happy Family, waiting for the Sunday supper call, were grouped around + the open door of the bunk-house, gossiping idly of things purely local, + when the Old Man returned from the Stock Association at Helena; beside him + on the buggy seat sat a stranger. The Old Man pulled up at the bunk-house, + the stranger sprang out over the wheel with the agility which bespoke + youthful muscles, and the Old Man introduced him with a quirk of the lips: + </p> + <p> + “This is Mr. Mig-u-ell Rapponi, boys—a peeler straight from the + Golden Gate. Throw out your war-bag and make yourself to home, Mig-u-ell; + some of the boys'll show you where to bed down.” + </p> + <p> + The Old Man drove on to the house with his own luggage, and Happy Jack + followed to take charge of the team; but the remainder of the Happy Family + unobtrusively took the measure of the foreign element. From his + black-and-white horsehair hatband, with tassels that swept to the very + edge of his gray hatbrim, to the crimson silk neckerchief draped over the + pale blue bosom of his shirt; from the beautifully stamped leather cuffs, + down to the exaggerated height of his tan boot-heels, their critical eyes + swept in swift, appraising glances; and unanimous disapproval was the + result. The Happy Family had themselves an eye to picturesque garb upon + occasion, but this passed even Pink's love of display. + </p> + <p> + “He's some gaudy to look at,” Irish murmured under his breath to Cal + Emmett. + </p> + <p> + “All he lacks is a spot-light and a brass band,” Cal returned, in much the + same tone with which a woman remarks upon a last season's hat on the head + of a rival. + </p> + <p> + Miguel was not embarrassed by the inspection. He was tall, straight, and + swarthily handsome, and he stood with the complacence of a stage favorite + waiting for the applause to cease so that he might speak his first lines; + and, while he waited, he sifted tobacco into a cigarette paper daintily, + with his little finger extended. There was a ring upon that finger; a ring + with a moonstone setting as large and round as the eye of a startled cat, + and the Happy Family caught the pale gleam of it and drew a long breath. + He lighted a match nonchalantly, by the artfully simple method of pinching + the head of it with his fingernails, leaned negligently against the wall + of the bunk-house, and regarded the group incuriously while he smoked. + </p> + <p> + “Any pretty girls up this way?” he inquired languidly, after a moment, + fanning a thin smoke-cloud from before his face while he spoke. + </p> + <p> + The Happy Family went prickly hot. The girls in that neighborhood were + held in esteem, and there was that in his tone which gave offense. + </p> + <p> + “Sure, there's pretty girls here!” Big Medicine bellowed unexpectedly, + close beside him. “We're all of us engaged to `em, by cripes!” + </p> + <p> + Miguel shot an oblique glance at Big Medicine, examined the end of his + cigarette, and gave a lift of shoulder, which might mean anything or + nothing, and so was irritating to a degree. He did not pursue the subject + further, and so several belated retorts were left tickling futilely the + tongues of the Happy Family—which does not make for amiability. + </p> + <p> + To a man they liked him little, in spite of their easy friendliness with + mankind in general. At supper they talked with him perfunctorily, and + covertly sneered because he sprinkled his food liberally with cayenne and + his speech with Spanish words pronounced with soft, slurred vowels that + made them sound unfamiliar, and against which his English contrasted + sharply with its crisp, American enunciation. He met their infrequent + glances with the cool stare of absolute indifference to their opinion of + him, and their perfunctory civility with introspective calm. + </p> + <p> + The next morning, when there was riding to be done, and Miguel appeared at + the last moment in his working clothes, even Weary, the sunny-hearted, had + an unmistakable curl of his lip after the first glance. + </p> + <p> + Miguel wore the hatband, the crimson kerchief tied loosely with the point + draped over his chest, the stamped leather cuffs and the tan boots with + the highest heels ever built by the cobbler craft. Also, the lower half of + him was incased in chaps the like of which had never before been brought + into Flying U coulee. Black Angora chaps they were; long-haired, crinkly + to the very hide, with three white, diamond-shaped patches running down + each leg of them, and with the leather waistband stamped elaborately to + match the cuffs. The bands of his spurs were two inches wide and inlaid to + the edge with beaten silver, and each concho was engraved to represent a + large, wild rose, with a golden center. A dollar laid upon the rowels + would have left a fringe of prongs all around. + </p> + <p> + He bent over his sacked riding outfit, and undid it, revealing a wonderful + saddle of stamped leather inlaid on skirt and cantle with more beaten + silver. He straightened the skirts, carefully ignoring the glances thrown + in his direction, and swore softly to himself when he discovered where the + leather had been scratched through the canvas wrappings and the end of the + silver scroll ripped up. He drew out his bridle and shook it into shape, + and the silver mountings and the reins of braided leather with horsehair + tassels made Happy Jack's eyes greedy with desire. His blanket was a + scarlet Navajo, and his rope a rawhide lariat. + </p> + <p> + Altogether, his splendor when he was mounted so disturbed the fine mental + poise of the Happy Family that they left him jingling richly off by + himself, while they rode closely grouped and discussed him acrimoniously. + </p> + <p> + “By gosh, a man might do worse than locate that Native Son for a silver + mine,” Cal began, eyeing the interloper scornfully. “It's plumb wicked to + ride around with all that wealth and fussy stuff. He must 'a' robbed a + bank and put the money all into a riding outfit.” + </p> + <p> + “By golly, he looks to me like a pair uh trays when he comes bow-leggin' + along with them white diamonds on his legs,” Slim stated solemnly. + </p> + <p> + “And I'll gamble that's a spot higher than he stacks up in the cow game,” + Pink observed with the pessimism which matrimony had given him. “You mind + him asking about bad horses, last night? That Lizzie-boy never saw a bad + horse; they don't grow 'em where he come from. What they don't know about + riding they make up for with a swell rig—” + </p> + <p> + “And, oh, mamma! It sure is a swell rig!” Weary paid generous tribute. + “Only I will say old Banjo reminds me of an Irish cook rigged out in silk + and diamonds. That outfit on Glory, now—” He sighed enviously. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I've gone up against a few real ones in my long and varied career,” + Irish remarked reminiscently, “and I've noticed that a hoss never has any + respect or admiration for a swell rig. When he gets real busy it ain't the + silver filigree stuff that's going to help you hold connections with your + saddle, and a silver-mounted bridle-bit ain't a darned bit better than a + plain one.” + </p> + <p> + “Just take a look at him!” cried Pink, with intense disgust. “Ambling off + there, so the sun can strike all that silver and bounce back in our eyes. + And that braided lariat—I'd sure love to see the pieces if he ever + tries to anchor anything bigger than a yearling!” + </p> + <p> + “Why, you don't think for a minute he could ever get out and rope + anything, do yuh?” Irish laughed. “That there Native Son throws on + a-w-l-together too much dog to really get out and do anything.” + </p> + <p> + “Aw,” fleered Happy Jack, “he ain't any Natiff Son. He's a dago!” + </p> + <p> + “He's got the earmarks uh both,” Big Medicine stated authoritatively. “I + know 'em, by cripes, and I know their ways.” He jerked his thumb toward + the dazzling Miguel. “I can tell yuh the kinda cow-puncher he is; I've saw + 'em workin' at it. Haw-haw-haw! They'll start out to move ten or a dozen + head uh tame old cows from one field to another, and there'll be six or + eight fellers, rigged up like this here tray-spot, ridin' along, important + as hell, drivin' them few cows down a lane, with peach trees on both + sides, by cripes, jingling their big, silver spurs, all wearin' fancy + chaps to ride four or five miles down the road. Honest to grandma, they + call that punchin' cows! Oh, he's a Native Son, all right. I've saw lots + of 'em, only I never saw one so far away from the Promised Land before. + That there looks queer to me. Natiff Sons—the real ones, like him—are + as scarce outside Calyforny as buffalo are right here in this coulee.” + </p> + <p> + “That's the way they do it, all right,” Irish agreed. “And then they'll + have a 'rodeo'—” + </p> + <p> + “Haw-haw-haw!” Big Medicine interrupted, and took up the tale, which might + have been entitled “Some Cowpunching I Have Seen.” + </p> + <p> + “They have them rodeos on a Sunday, mostly, and they invite everybody to + it, like it was a picnic. And there'll be two or three fellers to every + calf, all lit up, like Mig-u-ell, over there, in chaps and silver fixin's, + fussin' around on horseback in a corral, and every feller trying to pile + his rope on the same calf, by cripes! They stretch 'em out with two ropes—calves, + remember! Little, weenty fellers you could pack under one arm! Yuh can't + blame 'em much. They never have more'n thirty or forty head to brand at a + time, and they never git more'n a taste uh real work. So they make the + most uh what they git, and go in heavy on fancy outfits. And this here + silver-mounted fellow thinks he's a real cowpuncher, by cripes!” + </p> + <p> + The Happy Family laughed at the idea; laughed so loud that Miguel left his + lonely splendor and swung over to them, ostensibly to borrow a match. + </p> + <p> + “What's the joke?” he inquired languidly, his chin thrust out and his eyes + upon the match blazing at the end of his cigarette. + </p> + <p> + The Happy Family hesitated and glanced at one another. Then Cal spoke + truthfully. + </p> + <p> + “You're it,” he said bluntly, with a secret desire to test the temper of + this dark-skinned son of the West. + </p> + <p> + Miguel darted one of his swift glances at Cal, blew out his match and + threw it away. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, how funny. Ha-ha.” His voice was soft and absolutely expressionless, + his face blank of any emotion whatever. He merely spoke the words as a + machine might have done. + </p> + <p> + If he had been one of them, the Happy Family would have laughed at the + whimsical humor of it. As it was, they repressed the impulse, though Weary + warmed toward him slightly. + </p> + <p> + “Don't you believe anything this innocent-eyed gazabo tells you, Mr. + Rapponi,” he warned amiably. “He's known to be a liar.” + </p> + <p> + “That's funny, too. Ha-ha some more.” Miguel permitted a thin ribbon of + smoke to slide from between his lips, and gazed off to the crinkled line + of hills. + </p> + <p> + “Sure, it is—now you mention it,” Weary agreed after a perceptible + pause. + </p> + <p> + “How fortunate that I brought the humor to your attention,” drawled + Miguel, in the same expressionless tone, much as if he were reciting a + text. + </p> + <p> + “Virtue is its own penalty,” paraphrased Pink, not stopping to see whether + the statement applied to the subject. + </p> + <p> + “Haw-haw-haw!” roared Big Medicine, quite as irrelevantly. + </p> + <p> + “He-he-he,” supplemented the silver-trimmed one. + </p> + <p> + Big Medicine stopped laughing suddenly, reined his horse close to the + other, and stared at him challengingly, with his pale, protruding eyes, + while the Happy Family glanced meaningly at one another. Big Medicine was + quite as unsafe as he looked, at that moment, and they wondered if the + offender realized his precarious situation. + </p> + <p> + Miguel smoked with the infinite leisure which is a fine art when it is not + born of genuine abstraction, and none could decide whether he was aware of + the unfriendly proximity of Big Medicine. Weary was just on the point of + saying something to relieve the tension, when Miguel blew the ash gently + from his cigarette and spoke lazily. + </p> + <p> + “Parrots are so common, out on the Coast, that they use them in cheap + restaurants for stew. I've often heard them gabbling together in the + kettle.” + </p> + <p> + The statement was so ambiguous that the Happy Family glanced at him + doubtfully. Big Medicine's stare became more curious than hostile, and he + permitted his horse to lag a length. It is difficult to fight absolute + passivity. Then Slim, who ever tramped solidly over the flowers of + sarcasm, blurted one of his unexpected retorts. + </p> + <p> + “I was just wonderin', by golly, where yuh learnt to talk!” + </p> + <p> + Miguel turned his velvet eyes sleepily toward the speaker. “From the + boarders who ate those parrots, amigo,” he smiled serenely. + </p> + <p> + At this, Slim—once justly accused by Irish of being a “single-shot” + when it came to repartee—turned purple and dumb. The Happy Family, + forswearing loyalty in their enjoyment of his discomfiture, grinned and + left to Miguel the barren triumph of the last word. + </p> + <p> + He did not gain in popularity as the days passed. They tilted noses at his + beautiful riding gear, and would have died rather than speak of it in his + presence. They never gossiped with him of horses or men or the lands he + knew. They were ready to snub him at a moment's notice—and it did + not lessen their dislike of him that he failed to yield them an + opportunity. It is to be hoped that he found his thoughts sufficient + entertainment, since he was left to them as much as is humanly possible + when half a dozen men eat and sleep and work together. It annoyed them + exceedingly that Miguel did not seem to know that they held him at a + distance; they objected to his manner of smoking cigarettes and staring + off at the skyline as if he were alone and content with his dreams. When + he did talk they listened with an air of weary tolerance. When he did not + talk they ignored his presence, and when he was absent they criticized him + mercilessly. + </p> + <p> + They let him ride unwarned into an adobe patch one day—at least, Big + Medicine, Pink, Cal Emmett and Irish did, for they were with him—and + laughed surreptitiously together while he wallowed there and came out + afoot, his horse floundering behind him, mud to the ears, both of them. + </p> + <p> + “Pretty soft going, along there, ain't it?” Pink commiserated deceitfully. + </p> + <p> + “It is, kinda,” Miguel responded evenly, scraping the adobe off Banjo with + a flat rock. And the subject was closed. + </p> + <p> + “Well, it's some relief to the eyes to have the shine taken off him, + anyway,” Pink observed a little guiltily afterward. + </p> + <p> + “I betche he ain't goin' to forget that, though,” Happy Jack warned when + he saw the caked mud on Miguel's Angora chaps and silver spurs, and the + condition of his saddle. “Yuh better watch out and not turn your backs on + him in the dark, none uh you guys. I betche he packs a knife. Them kind + always does.” + </p> + <p> + “Haw-haw-haw!” bellowed Big Medicine uproariously. “I'd love to see him + git out an' try to use it, by cripes!” + </p> + <p> + “I wish Andy was here,” Pink sighed. “Andy'd take the starch outa him, all + right.” + </p> + <p> + “Wouldn't he be pickings for old Andy, though? Gee!” Cal looked around at + them, with his wide, baby-blue eyes, and laughed. “Let's kinda jolly him + along, boys, till Andy gets back. It sure would be great to watch 'em. + I'll bet he can jar the eternal calm outa that Native Son. That's what + grinds me worse than his throwin' on so much dog; he's so blamed satisfied + with himself! You snub him, and he looks at yuh as if you was his hired + man—and then forgets all about yuh. He come outa that 'doby like + he'd been swimmin' a river on a bet, and had made good and was a hee-ro + right before the ladies. Kinda 'Oh, that's nothing to what I could do if + it was worth while,' way he had with him.” + </p> + <p> + “It wouldn't matter so much if he wasn't all front,” Pink complained. + “You'll notice that's always the way, though. The fellow all fussed up + with silver and braided leather can't get out and do anything. I remember + up on Milk river—” Pink trailed off into absorbing reminiscence, + which, however, is too lengthy to repeat here. + </p> + <p> + “Say, Mig-u-ell's down at the stable, sweatin from every pore trying to + get his saddle clean, by golly!” Slim reported cheerfully, just as Pink + was relighting the cigarette which had gone out during the big scene of + his story. “He was cussin' in Spanish, when I walked up to him—but + he shut up when he seen me and got that peaceful look uh hisn on his face. + I wonder, by golly—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, shut up and go awn,” Irish commanded bluntly, and looked at Pink. + “Did he call it off, then? Or did you have to wade in—” + </p> + <p> + “Naw; he was like this here Native Son—all front. He could look + sudden death, all right; he had black eyes like Mig-u-ell—but all a + fellow had to do was go after him, and he'd back up so blamed quick—” + </p> + <p> + Slim listened that far, saw that he had interrupted a tale evidently more + interesting than anything he could say, and went off, muttering to + himself. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II. “When Greek Meets Greek” + </h2> + <p> + The next morning, which was Sunday, the machinations of Big Medicine took + Pink down to the creek behind the bunk-house. “What's hurtin' yuh?” he + asked curiously, when he came to where Big Medicine stood in the fringe of + willows, choking between his spasms of mirth. + </p> + <p> + “Haw-haw-haw!” roared Big Medicine; and, seizing Pink's arm in a + gorilla-like grip, he pointed down the bank. + </p> + <p> + Miguel, seated upon a convenient rock in a sunny spot, was painstakingly + combing out the tangled hair of his chaps, which he had washed quite as + carefully not long before, as the cake of soap beside him testified. + </p> + <p> + “Combing—combing—his chaps, by cripes!” Big Medicine gasped, + and waggled his finger at the spectacle. “Haw-haw-haw! C-combin'—his—chaps!” + </p> + <p> + Miguel glanced up at them as impersonally as if they were two cackling + hens, rather than derisive humans, then bent his head over a stubborn knot + and whistled La Paloma softly while he coaxed out the tangle. + </p> + <p> + Pink's eyes widened as he looked, but he did not say anything. He backed + up the path and went thoughtfully to the corrals, leaving Big Medicine to + follow or not, as he chose. + </p> + <p> + “Combin'—his chaps, by cripes!” came rumbling behind him. Pink + turned. + </p> + <p> + “Say! Don't make so much noise about it,” he advised guardedly. “I've got + an idea.” + </p> + <p> + “Yuh want to hog-tie it, then,” Big Medicine retorted, resentful because + Pink seemed not to grasp the full humor of the thing. “Idees sure seems to + be skurce in this outfit—or that there lily-uh-the-valley couldn't + set and comb no chaps in broad daylight, by cripes; not and get off with + it.” + </p> + <p> + “He's an ornament to the Flying U,” Pink stated dreamily. “Us boneheads + don't appreciate him, is all that ails us. What we ought to do is—help + him be as pretty as he wants to be, and—” + </p> + <p> + “Looky here, Little One.” Big Medicine hurried his steps until he was + close alongside. “I wouldn't give a punched nickel for a four-horse load + uh them idees, and that's the truth.” He passed Pink and went on ahead, + disgust in every line of his square-shouldered figure. “Combin' his chaps, + by cripes!” he snorted again, and straightway told the tale profanely to + his fellows, who laughed until they were weak and watery-eyed as they + listened. + </p> + <p> + Afterward, because Pink implored them and made a mystery of it, they + invited Miguel to take a hand in a long-winded game—rather, a series + of games—of seven-up, while his chaps hung to dry upon a willow by + the creek bank—or so he believed. + </p> + <p> + The chaps, however, were up in the white-house kitchen, where were also + the reek of scorched hair and the laughing expostulations of the Little + Doctor and the boyish titter of Pink and Irish, who were curling + laboriously the chaps of Miguel with the curling tongs of the Little + Doctor and those of the Countess besides. + </p> + <p> + “It's a shame, and I just hope Miguel thrashes you both for it,” the + Little Doctor told them more than once; but she laughed, nevertheless, and + showed Pink how to give the twist which made of each lock a corkscrew + ringlet. The Countess stopped, with her dishcloth dangling from one red, + bony hand, while she looked. “You boys couldn't sleep nights if you didn't + pester the life outa somebody,” she scolded. “Seems to me I'd friz them + diamonds, if I was goin' to be mean enough to do anything.” + </p> + <p> + “You would, eh?” Pink glanced up at her and dimpled. “I'll find you a rich + husband to pay for that.” He straightway proceeded to friz the diamonds of + white. + </p> + <p> + “Why don't you have a strip of ringlets down each leg, with tight little + curls between?” suggested the Little Doctor, not to be outdone by any + other woman. + </p> + <p> + “Correct you are,” praised Irish. + </p> + <p> + “And, remember, you're not heating branding-irons, mister man,” she added. + “You'll burn all the hair off, if you let the tongs get red-hot. Just so + they'll sizzle; I've told you five times already.” She picked up the Kid, + kissed many times the finger he held up for sympathy—the finger with + which he had touched the tongs as Pink was putting them back into the + grate of the kitchen stove, and spoke again to ease her conscience. “I + think it's awfully mean of you to do it. Miguel ought to thrash you both.” + </p> + <p> + “We're dead willing to let him try, Mrs. Chip. We know it's mean. We're + real ashamed of ourselves.” Irish tested his tongs as he had been told to + do. “But we'd rather be ashamed than good, any old time.” + </p> + <p> + The Little Doctor giggled behind the Kid's tousled curls, and reached out + a slim hand once more to give Pink's tongs the expert twist he was trying + awkwardly to learn. “I'm sorry for Miguel; he's got lovely eyes, anyway.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, ain't he?” Pink looked up briefly from his task. “How's your leg, + Irish? Mine's done.” + </p> + <p> + “Seems to me I'd make a deep border of them corkscrew curls all around the + bottoms, if I was doin' it,” said the Countess peevishly, from the kitchen + sink. “If I was that dago I'd murder the hull outfit; I never did see a + body so hectored in my life—and him not ever ketchin' on. He must be + plumb simple-minded.” + </p> + <p> + When the curling was done to the hilarious satisfaction of Irish and Pink, + and, while Pink was dancing in them to show them off, another entered with + mail from town. And, because the mail-bearer was Andy Green himself, back + from a winter's journeyings, Cal, Happy Jack and Slim followed close + behind, talking all at once, in their joy at beholding the man they loved + well and hated occasionally also. Andy delivered the mail into the hands + of the Little Doctor, pinched the Kid's cheek, and said how he had grown + good-looking as his mother, almost, spoke a cheerful howdy to the + Countess, and turned to shake hands with Pink. It was then that the + honest, gray eyes of him widened with amazement. + </p> + <p> + “Well, by golly!” gasped Slim, goggling at the chaps of Miguel. + </p> + <p> + “That there Natiff Son'll just about kill yuh for that,” warned Happy + Jack, as mournfully as he might with laughing. “He'll knife yuh, sure.” + </p> + <p> + Andy, demanding the meaning of it all, learned all about Miguel Rapponi—from + the viewpoint of the Happy Family. At least, he learned as much as it was + politic to tell in the presence of the Little Doctor; and afterward, while + Pink was putting the chaps back upon the willow, where Miguel had left + them, he was told that they looked to him, Andy Green, for assistance. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, gosh! You don't want to depend on me, Pink,” Andy expostulated + modestly. “I can't think of anything—and, besides, I've reformed. I + don't know as it's any compliment to me, by gracious—being told soon + as I land that I'm expected to lie to a perfect stranger.” + </p> + <p> + “You come on down to the stable and take a look at his saddle and bridle,” + urged Cal. “And wait till you see him smoking and looking past you, as if + you was an ornery little peak that didn't do nothing but obstruct the + scenery. I've seen mean cusses—lots of 'em; and I've seen men that + was stuck on themselves. But I never—” + </p> + <p> + “Come outa that 'doby,” Pink interrupted, “mud to his eyebrows, just + about. And he knew darned well we headed him in there deliberate. And when + I remarks it's soft going, he says: 'It is, kinda,'—just like that.” + Pink managed to imitate the languid tone of Miguel very well. “Not another + word outa him. Didn't even make him mad! He—” + </p> + <p> + “Tell him about the parrots, Slim,” Cal suggested soberly. But Slim only + turned purple at the memory, and swore. + </p> + <p> + “Old Patsy sure has got it in for him,” Happy Jack observed. “He asked + Patsy if he ever had enchiladas. Patsy won't speak to him no more. He + claims Mig-u-ell insulted him. He told Mig-u-ell—” + </p> + <p> + “Enchiladas are sure fine eating,” said Andy. “I took to 'em like a + she-bear to honey, down in New Mexico this winter. Your Native Son is + solid there, all right.” + </p> + <p> + “Aw, gwan! He ain't solid nowhere but in the head. Maybe you'll love him + to death when yuh see him—chances is you will, if you've took to + eatin' dago grub.” + </p> + <p> + Andy patted Happy Jack reassuringly on the shoulder. “Don't get excited,” + he soothed. “I'll put it all over the gentleman, just to show my heart's + in the right place. Just this once, though; I've reformed. And I've got to + have time to size him up. Where do you keep him when he ain't in the show + window?” He swung into step with Pink. “I'll tell you the truth,” he + confided engagingly. “Any man that'll wear chaps like he's got—even + leaving out the extra finish you fellows have given 'em—had ought to + be taught a lesson he'll remember. He sure must be a tough proposition, if + the whole bunch of yuh have had to give him up. By gracious—” + </p> + <p> + “We haven't tried,” Pink defended. “It kinda looked to us as if he was + aiming to make us guy him; so we didn't. We've left him strictly alone. + To-day”—he glanced over his shoulder to where the becurled chaps + swung comically from the willow branch—“to-day's the first time + anybody's made a move. Unless,” he added, as an afterthought, “you count + yesterday in the 'doby patch—and even then we didn't tell him to + ride into it; we just let him do it.” + </p> + <p> + “And kinda herded him over towards it,” Cal amended slyly. + </p> + <p> + “Can he ride?” asked Andy, going straight to the main point, in the mind + of a cowpuncher. + </p> + <p> + “W-e-ell-he hasn't been piled, so far. But then,” Pink qualified hastily, + “he hasn't topped anything worse than Crow-hop. He ain't hard to ride. + Happy Jack could—” + </p> + <p> + “Aw, I'm gittin' good and sick of' hearin' that there tune,” Happy growled + indignantly. “Why don't you point out Slim as the limit, once in a while?” + </p> + <p> + “Come on down to the stable, and let's talk it over,” Andy suggested, and + led the way. “What's his style, anyway? Mouthy, or what?” + </p> + <p> + With four willing tongues to enlighten him, it would be strange, indeed, + if one so acute as Andy Green failed at last to have a very fair mental + picture of Miguel. He gazed thoughtfully at his boots, laughed suddenly, + and slapped Irish quite painfully upon the back. + </p> + <p> + “Come on up and introduce me, boys,” he said. “We'll make this Native Son + so hungry for home—you watch me put it on the gentleman. Only it + does seem a shame to do it.” + </p> + <p> + “No, it ain't. If you'd been around him for two weeks, you'd want to kill + him just to make him take notice,” Irish assured him. + </p> + <p> + “What gets me,” Andy mused, “is why you fellows come crying to me for + help. I should think the bunch of you ought to be able to handle one lone + Native Son.” + </p> + <p> + “Aw, you're the biggest liar and faker in the bunch, is why,” Happy Jack + blurted. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I see.” Andy hummed a little tune and pushed his hands deep into his + pockets, and at the corners of his lips there flickered a smile. + </p> + <p> + The Native Son sat with his hat tilted slightly back upon his head and a + cigarette between his lips, and was reaching lazily for the trick which + made the fourth game his, when the group invaded the bunk-house. He looked + up indifferently, swept Andy's face and figure with a glance too + impersonal to hold even a shade of curiosity, and began rapidly shuffling + his cards to count the points he had made. + </p> + <p> + Andy stopped short, just inside the door, and stared hard at Miguel, who + gave no sign. He turned his honest, gray eyes upon Pink and Irish + accusingly—whereat they wondered greatly. + </p> + <p> + “Your deal—if you want to play,” drawled Miguel, and shoved his + cards toward Big Medicine. But the boys were already uptilting chairs to + grasp the quicker the outstretched hand of the prodigal, so that Miguel + gathered up the cards, evened their edges mechanically, and deigned + another glance at this stranger who was being welcomed so vociferously. + Also he sighed a bit—for even a languid-eyed stoic of a Native Son + may feel the twinge of loneliness. Andy shook hands all round, swore + amiably at Weary, and advanced finally upon Miguel. + </p> + <p> + “You don't know me from Adam's off ox,” he began genially, “but I know + you, all right, all right. I hollered my head off with the rest of 'em + when you played merry hell in that bull-ring, last Christmas. Also, I was + part of your bodyguard when them greasers were trying to tickle you in the + ribs with their knives in that dark alley. Shake, old-timer! You done + yourself proud, and I'm glad to know yuh!” + </p> + <p> + Miguel, for the first time in two weeks, permitted himself the luxury of + an expressive countenance. He gave Andy Green one quick, grateful look—and + a smile, the like of which made the Happy Family quiver inwardly with + instinctive sympathy. + </p> + <p> + “So you were there, too, eh?” Miguel exclaimed softly, and rose to greet + him. “And that scrap in the alley—we sure had a hell of a time there + for a few minutes, didn't we? Are you that tall fellow who kicked that + squint-eyed greaser in the stomach? Muchos gracios, senor! They were + piling on me three deep, right then, and I always believed they'd have got + me, only for a tall vaquero I couldn't locate afterward.” He smiled again + that wonderful smile, which lighted the darkness of his eyes as with a + flame, and murmured a sentence or two in Spanish. + </p> + <p> + “Did you get the spurs me and my friends sent you afterward?” asked Andy + eagerly. “We heard about the Arizona boys giving you the saddle—and + we raked high and low for them spurs. And, by gracious, they were beauts, + too—did yuh get 'em?” + </p> + <p> + “I wear them every day I ride,” answered Miguel, a peculiar, caressing + note in his voice. + </p> + <p> + “I didn't know—we heard you had disappeared off the earth. Why—” + </p> + <p> + Miguel laughed outright. “To fight a bull with bare hands is one thing, + amigo,” he said. “To take a chance on getting a knife stuck in your back + is another. Those Mexicans—they don't love the man who crosses the + river and makes of their bull-fights a plaything.” + </p> + <p> + “That's right; only I thought, you being a—” + </p> + <p> + “Not a Mexican.” Miguel's voice sharpened a trifle. “My father was + Spanish, yes. My mother”—his eyes flashed briefly at the faces of + the gaping Happy Family—“my mother was born in Ireland.” + </p> + <p> + “And that sure makes a hard combination to beat,” cried Andy heartily. He + looked at the others—at all, that is, save Pink and Irish, who had + disappeared. “Well, boys, I never thought I'd come home and find—” + </p> + <p> + “Miguel Rapponi,” supplied the Native Son quickly. “As well forget that + other name. And,” he added with the shrug which the Happy Family had come + to hate, “as well forget the story, also. I am not hungry for the feel of + a knife in my back.” He smiled again engagingly at Andy Green. It was + astonishing how readily that smile had sprung to life with the warmth of a + little friendship, and how pleasant it was, withal. + </p> + <p> + “Just as you say,” Andy agreed, not trying to hide his admiration. “I + guess nobody's got a better right to holler for silence. But—say, + you sure delivered the goods, old boy! You musta read about it, you + fellows; about the American puncher that went over the line and rode one + of their crack bulls all round the ring, and then—” He stopped and + looked apologetically at Miguel, in whose dark eyes there flashed a + warning light. “I clean forgot,” he confessed impulsively. “This meeting + you here unexpectedly, like this, has kinda got me rattled, I guess. But—I + never saw yuh before in my life,” he declared emphatically. “I don't know + a darn thing about—anything that ever happened in an alley in the + city of—oh, come on, old-timer; let's talk about the weather, or + something safe!” + </p> + <p> + After that the boys of the Flying U behaved very much as do children who + have quarreled foolishly and are trying shamefacedly to re-establish + friendly relations without the preliminary indignity of open repentance. + They avoided meeting the velvet-eyed glances of Miguel, and at the same + time they were plainly anxious to include him in their talk as if that had + been their habit from the first. A difficult situation to meet, even with + the fine aplomb of the Happy Family to ease the awkwardness. + </p> + <p> + Later Miguel went unobtrusively down to the creek after his chaps; he did + not get them, just then, but he stood for a long time hidden behind the + willow-fringe, watching Pink and Irish feverishly combing out certain + corkscrew ringlets, and dampening their combs in the creek to facilitate + the process of straightening certain patches of rebellious frizzes. Miguel + did not laugh aloud, as Big Medicine had done. He stood until he wearied + of the sight, then lifted his shoulders in the gesture which may mean + anything, smiled and went his way. + </p> + <p> + Not until dusk did Andy get a private word with him. When he did find him + alone, he pumped Miguel's hand up and down and afterward clutched at the + manger for support, and came near strangling. Miguel leaned beside him and + smiled to himself. + </p> + <p> + “Good team work, old boy,” Andy gasped at length, in a whisper. “Best I + ever saw in m'life, impromptu on the spot, like that. I saw you had the + makings in you, soon as I caught your eye. And the whole, blame bunch fell + for it—woo-oof!” He laid his face down again upon his folded arms + and shook in all the long length of him. + </p> + <p> + “They had it coming,” said Miguel softly, with a peculiar relish. “Two + whole weeks, and never a friendly word from one of them—oh, hell!” + </p> + <p> + “I know—I heard it all, soon as I hit the ranch,” Andy replied + weakly, standing up and wiping his eyes. “I just thought I'd learn 'em a + lesson—and the way you played up—say, my hat's off to you, all + right!” + </p> + <p> + “One learns to seize opportunities without stuttering,” Miguel observed + calmly—and a queer look came into his eyes as they rested upon the + face of Andy. “And, if the chance comes, I'll do as much for you. By the + way, did you see the saddle those Arizona boys sent me? It's over here. + It's a pip-pin—almost as fine as the spurs, which I keep in the + bunk-house when they're not on my heels. And, if I didn't say so before, + I'm sure glad to meet the man that helped me through that alley. That big, + fat devil would have landed me, sure, if you hadn't—” + </p> + <p> + “Ah—what?” Andy leaned and peered into the face of Miguel, his jaw + hanging slack. “You don't mean to tell me—it's true?” + </p> + <p> + “True? Why, I thought you were the fellow—” Miguel faced him + steadily. His eyes were frankly puzzled. + </p> + <p> + “I'll tell you the truth, so help me,” Andy said heavily. “I don't know a + darned thing about it, only what I read in the papers. I spent the whole + winter in Colorado and Wyoming. I was just joshing the boys.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” said Miguel. + </p> + <p> + They stood there in the dusk and silence for a space, after which Andy + went forth into the night to meditate upon this thing. Miguel stood and + looked after him. + </p> + <p> + “He's the real goods when it comes to lying—but there are others,” + he said aloud, and smiled a peculiar smile. But for all that he felt that + he was going to like Andy very much indeed. And, since the Happy Family + had shown a disposition to make him one of themselves, he knew that he was + going to become quite as foolishly attached to the Flying U as was even + Slim, confessedly the most rabid of partisans. + </p> + <p> + In this wise did Miguel Rapponi, then, become a member of Jim Whitmore's + Happy Family, and play his part in the events which followed his adoption. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III. Bad News + </h2> + <p> + Andy Green, that honest-eyed young man whom everyone loved, but whom not a + man believed save when he was indulging his love for more or less + fantastic flights of the imagination, pulled up on the brow of Flying U + coulee and stared somberly at the picture spread below him. On the porch + of the White House the hammock swung gently under the weight of the Little + Doctor, who pushed her shipper-toe mechanically against a post support at + regular intervals while she read. + </p> + <p> + On the steps the Kid was crawling laboriously upward, only to descend + again quite as laboriously when he attained the top. One of the boys was + just emerging from the blacksmith shop; from the build of him Andy knew it + must be either Weary or Irish, though it would take a much closer + observation, and some familiarity with the two to identify the man more + exactly. In the corral were a swirl of horses and an overhanging cloud of + dust, with two or three figures discernible in the midst, and away in the + little pasture two other figures were galloping after a fleeing dozen of + horses. While he looked, old Patsy came out of the messhouse, and went, + with flapping flour-sack apron, to the woodpile. + </p> + <p> + Peaceful it was, and home-like and contentedly prosperous; a little world + tucked away in its hills, with its own little triumphs and defeats, its + own heartaches and rejoicings; a lucky little world, because its triumphs + had been satisfying, its defeats small, its heartaches brief, and its + rejoicings untainted with harassment or guilt. Yet Andy stared down upon + it with a frown; and, when he twitched the reins and began the descent, he + sighed impatiently. + </p> + <p> + Past the stable he rode with scarcely a glance toward Weary, who shouted a + casual “Hello” at him from the corral; through the big gate and up the + trail to the White House, and straight to the porch, where the Little + Doctor flipped a leaf of her magazine and glanced at him with a smile, and + the Kid turned his plump body upon the middle step and wrinkled his nose + in a smile of recognition, while he threw out an arm in welcome, and made + a wobbling effort to get upon his feet. + </p> + <p> + Andy smiled at the Kid, but his smile did not reach his eyes, and faded + almost immediately. He glanced at the Little Doctor, sent his horse past + the steps and the Kid, and close to the railing, so that he could lean and + toss the mail into the Little Doctor's lap. There was a yellow envelope + among the letters, and her fingers singled it out curiously. Andy folded + his hands upon the saddle-horn and watched her frankly. + </p> + <p> + “Must be from J. G.,” guessed the Little Doctor, inserting a slim finger + under the badly sealed flap. “I've been wondering if he wasn't going to + send some word—he's been gone a week—Baby! He's right between + your horse's legs, Andy! Oh-h—baby boy, what won't you do next?” She + scattered letters and papers from her lap and flew to the rescue. “Will he + kick, Andy? You little ruffian.” She held out her arms coaxingly from the + top of the steps, and her face, Andy saw when he looked at her, had lost + some of its color. + </p> + <p> + “The horse is quiet enough,” he reassured her. “But at the same time I + wouldn't hand him out as a plaything for a kid.” He leaned cautiously and + peered backward. + </p> + <p> + “Oh—did you ever see such a child! Come to mother, Baby!” Her voice + was becoming strained. + </p> + <p> + The Kid, wrinkling his nose, and jabbering unintelligibly at her, so that + four tiny teeth showed in his pink mouth, moved farther backward, and sat + down violently under the horse's sweat-roughened belly. He wriggled round + so that he faced forward, reached out gleefully, caught the front + fetlocks, and cried “Dup!” while he pulled. The Little Doctor turned + white. + </p> + <p> + “He's all right,” soothed Andy, and, leaning with a twist of his slim + body, caught the Kid firmly by the back of his pink dress, and lifted him + clear of danger. He came up with a red face, tossed the Kid into the eager + arms of the Little Doctor, and soothed his horse with soft words and a + series of little slaps upon the neck. He was breathing unevenly, because + the Kid had really been in rather a ticklish position; but the Little + Doctor had her face hidden on the baby's neck and did not see. + </p> + <p> + “Where's Chip?” Andy turned to ride back to the stable, glancing toward + the telegram lying on the floor of the porch; and from it his eyes went to + the young woman trying to laugh away her trembling while she scolded + adoringly her adventurous man-child. He was about to speak again, but + thought better of it, and sighed. + </p> + <p> + “Down at the stables somewhere—I don't know, really; the boys can + tell you. Mother's baby mustn't touch the naughty horses. Naughty horses + hurt mother's baby! Make him cry!” + </p> + <p> + Andy gave her a long look, which had in it much pity, and rode away. He + knew what was in that telegram, for the agent had told him when he hunted + him up at Rusty Brown's and gave it to him; and the horse of Andy bore + mute testimony to the speed with which he had brought it to the ranch. Not + until he had reached the coulee had he slackened his pace. He decided, + after that glance, that he would not remind her that she had not read the + telegram; instead, he thought he ought to find Chip immediately and send + him to her. + </p> + <p> + Chip was rummaging after something in the store-house, and, when Andy saw + him there, he dismounted and stood blotting out the light from the + doorway. Chip looked up, said “Hello” carelessly, and flung an old slicker + aside that he might search beneath it. “Back early, aren't you?” he asked, + for sake of saying something. + </p> + <p> + Andy's attitude was not as casual as he would have had it. + </p> + <p> + “Say, maybe you better go on up to the house,” he began diffidently. “I + guess your wife wants to see yuh, maybe.” + </p> + <p> + “Just as a good wife should,” grinned Chip. “What's the matter? Kid fall + off the porch?” + </p> + <p> + “N-o-o—I brought out a wire from Chicago. It's from a doctor there—some + hospital. The—Old Man got hurt. One of them cussed automobiles + knocked him down. They want you to come.” + </p> + <p> + Chip had straightened up and was hooking at Andy blankly. “If you're just—” + </p> + <p> + “Honest,” Andy asserted, and flushed a little. “I'll go tell some one to + catch up the team—you'll want to make that 11:20, I take it.” He + added, as Chip went by him hastily, “I had the agent wire for sleeper + berths on the 11:20 so—” + </p> + <p> + “Thanks. Yes, you have the team caught up, Andy.” Chip was already well on + his way to the house. + </p> + <p> + Andy waited till he saw the Little Doctor come hurriedly to the end of the + porch overlooking the pathway, with the telegram fluttering in her + fingers, and then led his horse down through the gate and to the stable. + He yanked the saddle off, turned the tired animal into a stall, and went + on to the corral, where he leaned elbows on a warped rail and peered + through at the turmoil within. Close beside him stood Weary, with his loop + dragging behind him, waiting for a chance to throw it over the head of a + buckskin three-year-old with black mane and tail. + </p> + <p> + “Get in here and make a hand, why don't you?” Weary bantered, his eye on + the buckskin. “Good chance to make a 'rep' for yourself, Andy. Gawd + greased that buckskin—he sure can slide out from under a rope as + easy—” + </p> + <p> + He broke off to flip the hoop dexterously forward, had the reward of + seeing the buckskin dodge backward, so that the rope barely flicked him on + the nose, and drew in his rope disgustedly. “Come on, Andy—my hands + are up in the air; I can't land him—that's the fourth throw.” + </p> + <p> + Andy's interest in the buckskin, however, was scant. His face was sober, + his whole attitude one of extreme dejection. + </p> + <p> + “You got the tummy-ache?” Pink inquired facetiously, moving around so that + he got a fair look at his face. + </p> + <p> + “Naw—his girl's went back on him!” Happy Jack put in, coiling his + rope as he came up. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, shut up!” Andy's voice was sharp with trouble. “Boys, the Old Man's—well, + he's most likely dead by this time. I brought out a telegram—” + </p> + <p> + “Go on!” Pink's eyes widened incredulously. “Don't you try that kind of a + load, Andy Green, or I'll just about—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you fellows make me sick!” Andy took his elbows off the rail and + stood straight. “Dammit, the telegram's up at the house—go and read + it yourselves, then!” + </p> + <p> + The three stared after him doubtfully, fear struggling with the caution + born of much experience. + </p> + <p> + “He don't act, to me, like he was putting up a josh,” Weary stated + uneasily, after a minute of silence. “Run up to the house and find out, + Cadwalloper. The Old Man—oh, good Lord!” The tan on Weary's face + took a lighter tinge. “Scoot—it won't take but a minute to find out + for sure. Go on, Pink.” + </p> + <p> + “So help me Josephine, I'll kill that same Andy Green if he's lied about + it,” Pink declared, while he climbed the fence. + </p> + <p> + In three minutes he was back, and before he had said a word, his face + confirmed the bad news. Their eyes besought him for details, and he gave + them jerkily. “Automobile run over him. He ain't dead, but they think—Chip + and the Little Doctor are going to catch the night train. You go haze in + the team, Happy. And give 'em a feed of oats, Chip said.” + </p> + <p> + Irish and Big Medicine, seeing the three standing soberly together there, + and sensing something unusual, came up and heard the news in stunned + silence. Andy, forgetting his pique at their first disbelief, came + forlornly back and stood with them. + </p> + <p> + The Old Man—the thing could not be true! To every man of them his + presence, conjured by the impending tragedy, was almost a palpable thing. + His stocky figure seemed almost to stand in their midst; he looked at them + with his whimsical eyes, which had the radiating crows-feet of age, humor + and habitual squinting against sun and wind; the bald spot on his head, + the wrinkling shirt-collar that seldom knew a tie, the carpet slippers + which were his favorite footgear because they were kind to his bunions, + his husky voice, good-naturedly complaining, were poignantly real to them + at that moment. Then Irish mentally pictured him lying maimed, dying, + perhaps, in a far-off hospital among strangers, and swore. + </p> + <p> + “If he's got to die, it oughta be here, where folks know him and—where + he knows—” Irish was not accustomed to giving voice to his deeper + feelings, and he blundered awkwardly over it. + </p> + <p> + “I never did go much on them darned hospitals, anyway,” Weary observed + gloomily. “He oughta be home, where folks can look after him. Mam-ma! It + sure is a fright.” + </p> + <p> + “I betche Chip and the Little Doctor won't get there in time,” Happy Jack + predicted, with his usual pessimism. “The Old Man's gittin' old—” + </p> + <p> + “He ain't but fifty-two; yuh call that old, consarn yuh? He's younger + right now than you'll be when you're forty.” + </p> + <p> + “Countess is going along, too, so she can ride herd on the Kid,” Pink + informed then. “I heard the Little Doctor tell her to pack up, and 'never + mind if she did have sponge all set!' Countess seemed to think her bread + was a darned sight more important than the Old Man. That's the way with + women. They'll pass up—” + </p> + <p> + “Well, by golly, I like to see a woman take some interest in her own + affairs,” Slim defended. “What they packin' up for, and where they goin'?” + Slim had just ridden up to the group in time to overhear Pink's criticism. + </p> + <p> + They told him the news, and Slim swallowed twice, said “By golly!” quite + huskily, and then rode slowly away with his head bowed. He had worked for + the Flying U when it was strictly a bachelor outfit, and with the tenacity + of slow minds he held J. G. Whitmore, his beloved “Old Man,” as but a + degree lower than that mysterious power which made the sun to shine—and, + if the truth were known, he had accepted him as being quite as eternal. + His loyalty adjusted everything to the interests of the Flying U. That the + Old Man could die—the possibility stunned him. + </p> + <p> + They were a sorry company that gathered that night around the long table + with its mottled oil-cloth covering and benches polished to a glass-like + smoothness with their own vigorous bodies. They did not talk much about + the Old Man; indeed, they came no nearer the subject than to ask Weary if + he were going to drive the team in to Dry Lake. They did not talk much + about anything, for that matter; even the knives and forks seemed to share + the general depression of spirits, and failed to give forth the cheerful + clatter which was a daily accompaniment of meals in that room. + </p> + <p> + Old Patsy, he who had cooked for J. G. Whitmore when the Flying U coulee + was a wilderness and the brand yet unrecorded and the irons unmade—Patsy + lumbered heavily about the room and could not find his dish-cloth when it + was squeezed tight in one great, fat hand, and unthinkingly started to + fill their coffee cups from the tea-kettle. + </p> + <p> + “Py cosh, I vould keel der fool vot made her first von of der + automo-beels, yet!” he exclaimed unexpectedly, after a long silence, and + cast his pipe vindictively toward his bunk in one corner. + </p> + <p> + The Happy Family looked around at him, then understandingly at one + another. + </p> + <p> + “Same here, Patsy,” Jack Bates agreed. “What they want of the damned + things when the country's full uh good horses gits me.” + </p> + <p> + “So some Yahoo with just sense enough to put goggles on to cover up his + fool face can run over folks he ain't good enough to speak to, by cripes!” + Big Medicine glared aggressively up and down the table. + </p> + <p> + Weary got up suddenly and went out, and Slim followed him, though his + supper was half-uneaten. + </p> + <p> + “This goin' to be hard on the Little Doctor—only brother she's got,” + they heard Happy Jack point out unnecessarily; and Weary, the equable, was + guilty of slamming the door so that the whole building shook, by way of + demonstrating his dislike of speech upon the subject. + </p> + <p> + They were a sorry company who waved hands at the Little Doctor and the Kid + and the Countess, just when the afterglow of a red sunset was merging into + the vague, purple shadows of coming dusk. They stood silent, for the most + part, and let them go without the usual facetious advice to “Be good to + yourselves,” and the hackneyed admonition to Chip to keep out of jail if + he could. There must have been something very wistful in their faces, for + the Little Doctor smiled bravely down upon then from the buggy seat, and + lifted up the Kid for a four-toothed smile and an ecstatic “Bye!” + accompanied by a vigorous flopping of hands, which included then all. + </p> + <p> + “We'll telegraph first thing, boys,” the Little Doctor called back, as the + rig chucked into the pebbly creek crossing. “We'll keep you posted, and + I'll write all the particulars as soon as I can. Don't think the worst—unless + you have to. I don't.” She smiled again, and waved her hand hastily + because of the Kid's contortions; and, though the smile had tears close + behind it, though her voice was tremulous in spite of herself, the Happy + Family took heart from her courage and waved their hats gravely, and + smiled back as best they could. + </p> + <p> + “There's a lot uh cake you boys might just as well eat up,” the Countess + called belatedly. “It'll all dry out, if yuh don't—and there ain't + no use wastin' it—and there's two lemon pies in the brown cupboard, + and what under the shinin' sun—” The wheels bumped violently against + a rock, and the Happy Family heard no more. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV. Some Hopes + </h2> + <p> + On the third day after the Happy Family decided that there should be some + word from Chicago; and, since that day was Sunday, they rode in a body to + Dry Lake after it. They had not discussed the impending tragedy very much, + but they were an exceedingly Unhappy Family, nevertheless; and, since + Flying U coulee was but a place of gloom, they were not averse to leaving + it behind them for a few hours, and riding where every stick and stone did + not remind then of the Old Man. + </p> + <p> + In Dry Lake was a message, brief but heartening: + </p> + <p> + “J. G. still alive. Some hopes”. + </p> + <p> + They left the station with lighter spirits after reading that; rode to the + hotel, tied their horses to the long hitching pole there and went in. And + right there the Happy Family unwittingly became cast for the leading parts + in one of those dramas of the West which never is heard of outside the + theater in which grim circumstance stages it for a single playing—unless, + indeed, the curtain rings down on a tragedy that brings the actors before + their district judge for trial. And, as so frequently is the case, the + beginning was casual to the point of triviality. + </p> + <p> + Sary, Ellen, Marg'reet, Sybilly and Jos'phine Denson (spelled in + accordance with parental pronunciation) were swinging idly upon the + hitching pole, with the self-conscious sang froid of country children come + to town. They backed away from the Happy Family's approach, grinned + foolishly in response to their careless greeting, and tittered openly at + the resplendence of the Native Son, who was wearing his black Angora chaps + with the three white diamonds down each leg, the gay horsehair hatband, + crimson neckerchief and Mexican spurs with their immense rowels and ornate + conchos of hand-beaten silver. Sary, Ellen, Marg'reet, Jos'phine and + Sybilly were also resplendent, in their way. Their carroty hair was tied + with ribbons quite aggressively new, their freckles shone with maternal + scrubbing, and there was a hint of home-made “crochet-lace” beneath each + stiffly starched dress. + </p> + <p> + “Hello, kids,” Weary greeted them amiably, with a secret smile over the + memory of a time when they had purloined the Little Doctor's pills and had + made reluctant acquaintance with a stomach pump. “Where's the circus going + to be at?” + </p> + <p> + “There ain't goin' to be no circus,” Sybilly retorted, because she was the + forward one of the family. “We're going away; on the train. The next one + that comes along. We're going to be on it all night, too; and we'll have + to eat on it, too.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, by golly, you'll want something to eat, then!” Slim was feeling + abstractedly in his pocket for a coin, for these were the nieces of the + Countess, and therefore claimed more than a cursory interest from Slim. + “You take this up to the store and see if yuh can't swop it for something + good to eat.” Because Sary was the smallest of the lot he pressed the + dollar into her shrinking, amazed palm. + </p> + <p> + “Paw's got more money'n that,” Sybilly announced proudly. “Paw's got a + million dollars. A man bought our ranch and gave him a lot of money. We're + rich now. Maybe paw'll buy us a phony-graft. He said maybe he would. And + maw's goin' to have a blue silk dress with green onto it. And—” + </p> + <p> + “Better haze along and buy that grub stake,” Slim interrupted the family + gift for profuse speech. He had caught the boys grinning, and fancied that + they were tracing a likeness between the garrulity of Sybilly and the + fluency of her aunt, the Countess. “You don't want that train to go off + and leave yuh, by golly.” + </p> + <p> + “Wonder who bought Denson out?” Cal Emmett asked of no one in particular, + as the children went strutting off to the store to spend the dollar which + little Sary clutched so tightly it seemed as if the goddess of liberty + must surely have been imprinted upon her palm. + </p> + <p> + When they went inside and found Denson himself pompously “setting 'em up + to the house,” Cal repeated the question in a slightly different form to + the man himself. + </p> + <p> + Denson, while he was ready to impress the beholders with his unaccustomed + affluence, became noticeably embarrassed at the inquiry, and edged off + into vague generalities. + </p> + <p> + “I jest nacherlly had to sell when I got m' price,” he told the Happy + Family in a tone that savored strongly of apology. “I like the country, + and I like m' neighbors fine. Never'd ask for better than the Flyin' U has + been t' me. I ain't got no kick comin' there. Sorry to hear the Old Man's + hurt back East. Mary was real put out at not bein' able to see Louise + 'fore she went away”—Louise being the Countess' and Mary Denson's + sister—“but soon as I sold I got oneasy like. The feller wanted + p'session right away, too, so I told Mary we might as well start b'fore we + git outa the notion. I wouldn't uh cared about sellin', maybe, but the + kids needs to be in school. They're growin' up in ign'rance out here, and + Mary's folks wants us to come back 'n' settle close handy by—they + been at us t' sell out and move fer the last five years, now, and I told + Mary—” + </p> + <p> + Even Cal forgot, eventually, that he had asked a question which remained + unanswered; what interest he had felt at first was smothered to death + beneath that blanket of words, and he eagerly followed the boys out and + over to Rusty Brown's place, where Denson, because of an old grudge + against Rusty, might be trusted not to follow. + </p> + <p> + “Mamma!” Weary commented amusedly, when they were crossing the street, + “that Denson bunch can sure talk the fastest and longest, and say the + least, of any outfit I ever saw.” + </p> + <p> + “Wonder who did buy him out?” Jack Bates queried. “Old ginger-whiskers + didn't pass out any facts, yuh notice. He couldn't have got much; his + land's mostly gravel and 'doby patches. He's got a water right on Flying U + creek, you know—first right, at that, seems to me—and a dandy + fine spring in that coulee. Wonder why our outfit didn't buy him out—seeing + he wanted to sell so bad?” + </p> + <p> + “This wantin' to sell is something I never heard of b'fore,” Slim said + slowly. “To hear him tell it, that ranch uh hisn was worth a dollar an + inch, by golly. I don't b'lieve he's been wantin' to sell out. If he had, + Mis' Bixby woulda said something about it. She don't know about this here + sellin' business, or she'd a said—” + </p> + <p> + “Yeah, you can most generally bank on the Countess telling all she knows,” + Cal assented with some sarcasm; at which Slim grunted and turned sulky + afterward. + </p> + <p> + Denson and his affairs they speedily forgot for a time, in the diversion + which Rusty Brown's familiar place afforded to young men with unjaded + nerves and a zest for the primitive pleasures. Not until mid-afternoon did + it occur to them that Flying U coulee was deserted by all save old Patsy, + and that there were chores to be done, if all the creatures of the coulee + would sleep in comfort that night. Pink, therefore, withdrew his challenge + to the bunch, and laid his billiard cue down with a sigh and the remark + that all he lacked was time, to have the scalps of every last one of them + hanging from his belt. Pink was figurative in his speech, you will + understand; and also a bit vainglorious over beating Andy Green and Big + Medicine twice in succession. + </p> + <p> + It occurred to Weary then that a word of cheer to the Old Man and his + anxious watchers might not cone amiss. Therefore the Happy Family mounted + and rode to the depot to send it, and on the way wrangled over the wording + of the message after their usual contentious manner. + </p> + <p> + “Better tell 'em everything is fine, at this end uh the line,” Cal + suggested, and was hooted at for a poet. + </p> + <p> + “Just say,” Weary began, when he was interrupted by the discordant clamor + from a trainload of sheep that had just pulled in and stopped. “'Maa-aa, + Ma-a-aaa,' darn yuh,” he shouted derisively, at the peering, plaintive + faces, glimpsed between the close-set bars. “Mamma, how I do love sheep!” + Whereupon he put spurs to his horse and galloped down to the station to + rid his ears of the turbulent wave of protest from the cars. + </p> + <p> + Naturally it required some time to compose the telegram in a style + satisfactory to all parties. Outside, cars banged together, an engine + snorted stertorously, and suffocating puffs of coal smoke now and then + invaded the waiting-room while the Happy Family were sending that message + of cheer to Chicago. If you are curious, the final version of their + combined sentiments was not at all spectacular. It said merely: + </p> + <p> + “Everything fine here. Take good care of the Old Man. How's the Kid + stacking up?” + </p> + <p> + It was signed simply “The Bunch.” + </p> + <p> + “Mary's little lambs are here yet, I see,” the Native Son remarked + carelessly when they went out. “Enough lambs for all the Marys in the + country. How would you like to be Mary?” + </p> + <p> + “Not for me,” Irish declared, and turned his face away from the stench of + them. + </p> + <p> + Others there were who rode the length of the train with faces averted and + looks of disdain; cowmen, all of them, they shared the range prejudice, + and took no pains to hide it. + </p> + <p> + The wind blew strong from the east, that day; it whistled through the + open, double-decked cars packed with gray, woolly bodies, whose voices + were ever raised in strident complaint; and the stench of them smote the + unaccustomed nostrils of the Happy Family and put them to disgusted flight + up the track and across it to where the air was clean again. + </p> + <p> + “Honest to grandma, I'd make the poorest kind of a sheepherder,” Big + Medicine bawled earnestly, when they were well away from the noise and + smell of the detested animals. “If I had to herd sheep, by cripes, do you + know what I'd do? I'd haze 'em into a coulee and turn loose with a good + rifle and plenty uh shells, and call in the coyotes to git a square meal. + That's the way I'd herd sheep. It's the only way you can shut 'em up. They + just 'baa-aa, baa-aa, baa-aa' from the time they're dropped till somebody + kills 'em off. Honest, they blat in their sleep. I've heard 'em.” + </p> + <p> + “When you and the dogs were shooting off coyotes?” asked Andy Green + pointedly, and so precipitated dissension which lasted for ten miles. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V. Sheep + </h2> + <p> + Slim rising first from dinner on the next day but one opened the door of + the mess-house, and stood there idly picking his teeth before he went + about his work. After a minute of listening to the boys “joshing” old + Patsy about some gooseberry pies he had baked without sugar, he turned his + face outward, threw up his head like a startled bull, and began to sniff. + </p> + <p> + “Say, I smell sheep, by golly!” he announced in the bellowing tone which + was his conversational voice, and sniffed again. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, that's just a left-over in your system from the dose yuh got in town + Sunday,” Weary explained soothingly. “I've smelled sheep, and tasted + sheep, and dreamed sheep, ever since.” + </p> + <p> + “No, by golly, it's sheep! It ain't no memory. I—I b'hieve I hear + 'em, too, by golly.” Slim stepped out away from the building and faced + suspiciously down the coulee. + </p> + <p> + “Slim, I never suspected you of imagination before,” the Native Son + drawled, and loitered out to where Slim stood still sniffing. “I wonder if + you're catching it from Andy and me. Don't you think you ought to be + vaccinated?” + </p> + <p> + “That ain't imagination,” Pink called out from within. “When anybody + claims there's sheep in Flying U coulee, that's straight loco.” + </p> + <p> + “Come on out here and smell 'em yourself, then!” Slim bawled indignantly. + “I never seen such an outfit as this is gittin' to be; you fellers don't + believe nobody, no more. We ain't all Andy Greens.” + </p> + <p> + Upon hearing this Andy pushed back his chair and strolled outside. He + clapped his hand down upon Slim's fat-cushioned shoulder and swayed him + gently. “Never mind, Slim; you can't all be famous,” he comforted. “Some + day, maybe, I'll teach yuh the fine art of lying more convincingly than + the ordinary man can tell the truth. It is a fine art; it takes a genius + to put it across. Now, the only time anybody doubts my word is when I'm + sticking to the truth hike a sand burr to a dog's tail.” + </p> + <p> + From away to the west, borne on the wind which swept steadily down the + coulee, came that faint, humming sing-song, which can be made only by a + herd of a thousand or more sheep, all blatting in different keys—or + by a distant band playing monotonously upon the middle octave of their + varied instruments. + </p> + <p> + “Slim's right, by gracious! It's sheep, sure as yuh live.” Andy did not + wait for more, but started at a fast walk for the stable and his horse. + After him went the Native Son, who had not been with the Flying U long + enough to sense the magnitude of the affront, and Slim, who knew to a + nicety just what “cowmen” considered the unpardonable sin, and the rest of + the Happy Family, who were rather incredulous still. + </p> + <p> + “Must be some fool herder just crossing the coulee, on the move + somewhere,” Weary gave as a solution. “Half of 'em don't know a fence when + they see it.” + </p> + <p> + As they galloped toward the sound and the smell, they expressed freely + their opinion of sheep, the men who owned them, and the lunatics who + watched over the blatting things. They were cattlemen to the marrow in + their bones, and they gloried in their prejudice against the woolly + despoilers of the range. + </p> + <p> + All these years had the Flying U been immune from the nuisance, save for + an occasional trespasser, who was quickly sent about his business. The + Flying U range had been kept in the main inviolate from the little, gray + vandals, which ate the grass clean to the sod, and trampled with their + sharp-pointed hoofs the very roots into lifelessness; which polluted the + water-holes and creeks until cattle and horses went thirsty rather than + drink; which, in that land of scant rainfall, devastated the range where + they fed so that a long-established prairie-dog town was not more barren. + What wonder if the men who owned cattle, and those who tended them, hated + sheep? So does the farmer dread an invasion of grasshoppers. + </p> + <p> + A mile down the coulee they came upon the band with two herders and four + dogs keeping watch. Across the coulee and up the hillsides they spread + like a noisome gray blanket. “Maa-aa, maa-aa, maa-aa,” two thousand strong + they blatted a strident medley while they hurried here and there after + sweeter bunches of grass, very much like a disturbed ant-hill. + </p> + <p> + The herders loitered upon either slope, their dogs lying close beside + them. There was good grass in that part of the coulee; the Flying U had + saved it for the saddle horses that were to be gathered and held + temporarily at the ranch; for it would save herding, and a week in that + pasture would put a keen edge on their spirits for the hard work of the + calf roundup. A dozen or two that ranged close had already been driven + into the field and were feeding disdainfully in a corner as far away from + the sheep as the fence would permit. + </p> + <p> + The Happy Family, riding close-grouped, stiffened in their saddles and + stared amazed at the outrage. + </p> + <p> + “Sheepherders never did have any nerve,” Irish observed after a minute. + “They keep their places fine! They'll drive their sheep right into your + dooryard and tell 'en to help themselves to anything that happens to look + good to them. Oh, they're sure modest and retiring!” + </p> + <p> + Weary, who had charge of the outfit during Chip's absence, was making + straight for the nearest herder. Pink and Andy went with him, as a matter + of course. + </p> + <p> + “You fellows ride up around that side, and put the run on them sheep,” + Weary shouted back to the others. “We'll start the other side moving. Make + 'em travel—back where they came from.” He jerked his head toward the + north. He knew, just as they all knew, that there had been no sheep to the + south, unless one counted those that ranged across the Missouri river. + </p> + <p> + As the three forced their horses up the steep slope, the herder, sitting + slouched upon a rock, glanced up at them dully. He had a long stick, with + which he was apathetically turning over the smaller stones within his + reach, and as apathetically killing the black bugs that scuttled out from + the moist earth beneath. He desisted from this unexciting pastime as they + drew near, and eyed them with the sullenness that comes of long isolation + when the person's nature forbids that other extreme of babbling garrulity, + for no man can live long months alone and remain perfectly normal. Nature, + that stern mistress, always exacts a penalty from us foolish mortals who + would ignore the instincts she has wisely implanted within us for our + good. + </p> + <p> + “Maybe,” Weary began mildly and without preface, “you don't know this is + private property. Get busy with your dogs, and haze these sheep back on + the bench.” He waved his hand to the north. “And, when you get a good + start in that direction,” he added, “yuh better keep right on going.” + </p> + <p> + The herder surveyed him morosely, but he said nothing; neither did he rise + from the rock to obey the command. The dogs sat upon their haunches and + perked their ears inquiringly, as if they understood better than did their + master that these men were not to be quite overlooked. + </p> + <p> + “I meant to-day,” Weary hinted, with the manner of one who deliberately + holds his voice quiet. + </p> + <p> + “I never asked yuh what yuh meant,” the herder mumbled, scowling. “We got + to keep 'em on water another hour, yet.” He went back to turning over the + small rocks and to pursuing with his stick the bugs, as if the whole + subject were squeezed dry of interest. + </p> + <p> + For a minute Weary stared unwinkingly down at him, uncertain whether to + resent this as pure insolence, or to condone it as imbecility. “Mamma!” he + breathed eloquently, and grinned at Andy and Pink. “This is a real + talkative cuss, and obliging, too. Come on, boys; he's too busy to bother + with a little thing like sheep.” + </p> + <p> + He led the way around to the far side of the band, the nearest sheep + scuttling away from then as they passed. “I don't suppose we could work + the combination on those dogs—what?” he considered aloud, glancing + back at them where they still sat upon their haunches and watched the + strange riders. “Say, Cadwalloper, you took a few lessons in sheepherding, + a couple of years ago, when you was stuck on that girl—remember? + Whistle 'em up here and set 'en to work.” + </p> + <p> + “You go to the devil,” Pink's curved hips replied amiably to his boss. + “I've got loss-uh-memory on the sheep business.” + </p> + <p> + Whereat Weary grinned and said no more about it. + </p> + <p> + On the opposite side of the coulee, the boys seemed to be laboring quite + as fruitlessly with the other herder. They heard Big Medicine's truculent + bellow, as he leaned from the saddle and waved a fist close to the face of + the herder, but, though they rode with their eyes fixed upon the group, + they failed to see any resultant movement of dogs, sheep or man. + </p> + <p> + There is, at times, a certain safety in being the hopeless minority. + Though seven indignant cowpunchers surrounded him, that herder was secure + from any personal molestation—and he knew it. They were seven + against one; therefore, after making some caustic remarks, which produced + as little effect as had Weary's command upon the first man, the seven were + constrained to ride here and there along the wavering, gray line, and, + with shouts and swinging ropes, themselves drive the sheep from the + coulee. + </p> + <p> + There was much clamor and dust and riding to and fro. There was language + which would have made the mothers of then weep, and there were faces grown + crimson from wrath. Eventually, however, the Happy Family faced the north + fence of the Flying U boundary, and saw the last woolly back scrape under + the lower wire, leaving a toll of greasy wool hanging from the barbs. + </p> + <p> + The herders had drawn together, and were looking on from a distance, and + the four dogs were yelping uneasily over their enforced inaction. The + Happy Family went back and rounded up the herders, and by sheer weight of + numbers forced them to the fence without laying so much as a finger upon + then. The one who had been killing black bugs gave then an ugly look as he + crawled through, but even he did not say anything. + </p> + <p> + “Snap them wires down where they belong,” Weary commanded tersely. + </p> + <p> + The man hesitated a minute, then sullenly unhooked the barbs of the two + lower strands, so that the wires, which had thus been lifted to permit the + passing of the sheep, twanged apart and once more stretched straight from + post to post. + </p> + <p> + “Now, just keep in mind the fact that fences are built for use. This is a + private ranch, and sheep are just about as welcome as smallpox. Haze them + stinking things as far north as they'll travel before dark, and at + daylight start 'em going again. Where's your camp, anyhow?” + </p> + <p> + “None of your business,” mumbled the bugkiller sourly. + </p> + <p> + Weary scanned the undulating slope beyond the fence, saw no sign of a + camp, and glanced uncertainly at his fellows. “Well, it don't matter much + where it is; you see to it you don't sleep within five miles of here, or + you're liable to have bad dreams. Hit the trail, now!” + </p> + <p> + They waited inside the fence until the retreating sheep lost their + individuality as blatting animals, ambling erratically here and there, + while they moved toward the brow of the hill, and merged into a great, + gray blotch against the faint green of the new grass—a blotch from + which rose again that vibrant, sing-song humming of many voices mingled. + Then they rode back down the coulee to their own work, taking it for + granted that the trespassing was an incident which would not be repeated—by + those particular sheep, at any rate. + </p> + <p> + It was, therefore, with something of a shock that the Happy Family awoke + the next morning to hear Pink's melodious treble shouting in the + bunk-house at sunrise next morning: + </p> + <p> + “'G'wa-a-y round' 'em, Shep! Seven black ones in the coulee!” Men who know + well the West are familiar with that facetious call. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, what's the matter with yuh?” Irish raised a rumpled, brown head from + his pillow, and blinked sleepily at him. “I've been dreaming I was a + sheepherder, all night.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, you've got the swellest chance in the world to 'make every dream + cone true, dearie,'” Pink retorted. “The whole blamed coulee's full uh + sheep. I woke up a while ago and thought I just imagined I heard 'en + again; so I went out to take a look—or a smell, it was—and + they're sure enough there!” + </p> + <p> + Weary swung one long leg out from under his blankets and reached for his + clothes. He did not say anything, but his face portended trouble for the + invaders. + </p> + <p> + “Say!” cried Big Medicine, coming out of his bunk as if it were afire, “I + tell yuh right now then blattin' human apes wouldn't git gay around here + if I was runnin' this outfit. The way I'd have of puttin' them sheep on + the run wouldn't be slow, by cripes! I'll guarantee—” + </p> + <p> + By then the bunk-house was buzzing with voices, and there was none to give + heed to Big Medicine s blatant boasting. Others there were who seemed + rather inclined to give Weary good advice while they pulled on their boots + and sought for their gloves and rolled early-morning cigarettes, and + otherwise prepared themselves for what Fate might have waiting for then + outside the door. + </p> + <p> + “Are you sure they're in the coulee, Cadwalloper?” Weary asked, during a + brief lull. “They could be up on the hill—” + </p> + <p> + “Hell, yes!” was Pink's forceful answer. “They could be on the hill, but + they ain't. Why, darn it, they're straggling into the little pasture! I + could see 'em from the stable. They—” + </p> + <p> + “Come and eat your breakfast first, boys, anyway.” Weary had his hand upon + the door-knob. “A few minutes more won't make any difference, one way or + the other.” He went out and over to the mess-house to see if Patsy had the + coffee ready; for this was a good three-quarters of an hour earlier than + the Flying U outfit usually bestirred themselves on these days of + preparation for roundup and waiting for good grass. + </p> + <p> + “I'll be darned if I'd be as calm as he is,” Cal Emmett muttered while the + door was being closed. “Good thing the Old Man ain't here, now. He'd go + straight up in the air. He wouldn't wait for no breakfast.” + </p> + <p> + “I betche there'll be a killin' yet, before we're through with them + sheep,” gloomed Happy Jack. “When sheepherders starts in once to be + ornery, there ain't no way uh stoppin' 'em except by killin' 'em off. And + that'll mean the pen for a lot of us fellers—” + </p> + <p> + “Well, by golly, it won't be me,” Slim declared loudly. “Yuh wouldn't + ketch me goin' t' jail for no doggone sheepherder. They oughta be a bounty + on 'en by rights.” + </p> + <p> + “Seems queer they'd be right back here this morning, after being hazed out + yesterday afternoon,” said Andy Green thoughtfully. “Looks like they're + plumb anxious to build a lot of trouble for themselves.” + </p> + <p> + Patsy, thumping energetically the bottom of a tin pan, sent them trooping + to the mess-house. There it was evident that the breakfast had been unduly + hurried; there were no biscuits in sight, for one thing, though Patsy was + lumbering about the stove frying hot-cakes. They were in too great a hurry + to wait for them, however. They swallowed their coffee hurriedly, bolted a + few mouthfuls of meat and fried eggs, and let it go at that. + </p> + <p> + Weary looked at then with a faint smile. “I'm going to give a few of you + fellows a chance to herd sheep to-day,” he announced, cooling his coffee + so that it would not actually scald his palate. “That's why I wanted you + to get some grub into you. Some of you fellows will have to take the trail + up on the hill, and meet us outside the fence, so when we chase 'em + through you can make a good job of it this time. I wonder—” + </p> + <p> + “You don't need to call out the troops for that job; one man is enough to + put the fear uh the Lord into then herders,” Andy remarked slightingly. + “Once they're on the move—” + </p> + <p> + “All right, my boy; we'll let you be the man,” Weary told him promptly. “I + was going to have a bunch of you take a packadero outfit down toward + Boiler Bottom and comb the breaks along there for horses—and I sure + do hate to spend the whole day chasing sheepherders around over the + country. So we'll haze 'em through the fence again, and, seeing you feel + that way about it, I'll let you go around and keep 'em going. And, if you + locate their camp, kinda impress it on the tender, if you can round him + up, that the Flying U ain't pasturing sheep this spring. No matter what + kinda talk he puts up, you put the run on 'em till you see 'em across + One-Man coulee. Better have Patsy put you up a lunch—unless you're + fond of mutton.” + </p> + <p> + Andy twisted his mouth disgustedly. “Say, I'm going to quit handing out + any valuable advice to you, Weary,” he expostulated. + </p> + <p> + “Haw-haw-haw-w-w!” laughed Big Medicine, and slapped Andy on the shoulder + so that his face almost came in contact with his plate. “Yuh will try to + work some innercent man into sheepherdin', will yuh? Haw-haw-haw-w! You'll + come in tonight blattin'—if yuh don't stay out on the range tryin' + t' eat grass, by cripes! Andy had a little lamb that follered him around—” + </p> + <p> + “Better let Bud take that herdin' job, Weary,” Andy suggested. “It won't + hurt him—he's blattin' already.” + </p> + <p> + “If you think you're liable to need somebody along,” Weary began, + soft-heartedly relenting, “why, I guess—” + </p> + <p> + “If I can't handle two crazy sheepherders without any help, by gracious, + I'll get me a job holdin' yarn in an old ladies' hone,” Andy cut in + hastily, and got up from the table. “Being a truthful man, I can't say I'm + stuck on the job; but I'm game for it. And I'll promise you there won't be + no more sheep of that brand lickin' our doorsteps. What darned outfit is + it, anyway? I never bumped into any Dot sheep before, to my knowledge.” + </p> + <p> + “It's a new one on me,” Weary testified, heading the procession down to + the stable. “If they belonged anywhere in this part of the country, + though, they wouldn't be acting the way they are. They'd be wise to the + fact that it ain't healthy.” + </p> + <p> + Even while he spoke his eyes were fixed with cold intensity upon a fringe + of gray across the coulee below the little pasture. To the nostrils of the + outraged Happy Family was borne that indescribable aroma which betrays the + presence of sheep; that aroma which sheepmen love and which cattlemen + hate, and which a favorable wind will carry a long way. + </p> + <p> + They slapped saddles on their horses in record time that morning, and + raced down the coulee ironically shouting commiserating sentences to the + unfortunate Andy, who rode slowly up to the mess-house for the lunch which + Patsy had waiting for him in a flour sack, and afterward climbed the grade + and loped along outside the line fence to a point opposite the sheep and + the shouting horsemen, who forced them back by weight of numbers. + </p> + <p> + This morning the herders were not quite so passive. The bug-killer still + scowled, but he spoke without the preliminary sulky silence of the day + before, + </p> + <p> + “We're goin' across the coulee,” he growled. “Them's orders. We range + south uh here.” + </p> + <p> + “No, you don't,” Weary dissented calmly. “Not by a long shot, you don't. + You're going back where you come from—if you ask me. And you're + going quick!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI. What Happened to Andy + </h2> + <p> + With the sun shining comfortably upon his back, and with a cigarette + between his lips, Andy sat upon his horse and watched in silent glee while + the irate Happy Family scurried here and there behind the band, swinging + their ropes down upon the woolly backs, and searching their vocabularies + for new and terrible epithets. Andy smiled broadly as a colorful phrase + now and then boomed across the coulee in that clear, snappy atmosphere, + which carries sounds so far. He did not expect to do much smiling upon his + own account, that day, and he was therefore grateful for the opportunity + to behold the spectacle before him. + </p> + <p> + There was Slim, for instance, unwillingly careening down hill toward home, + because, in his zeal to slap an old ewe smartly with his rope, he drove + her unexpectedly under his horse, and so created a momentary panic that + came near standing both horse and rider upon their heads. And there was + Big Medicine whistling until he was purple, while the herder, with a + single gesture, held the dog motionless, though a dozen sheep broke back + from the band and climbed a slope so steep that Big Medicine was compelled + to go after them afoot, and turn them with stones and profane + objurgations. + </p> + <p> + It was very funny—when one could sit at ease upon the hilltop and + smoke a cigarette while others risked apoplexy and their souls' salvation + below. By the time they panted up the last rock-strewn slope of the bluff, + and sent the vanguard of the invaders under the fence, Andy's mood was + complacent in the extreme, and his smile offensively wide. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you needn't look so sorry for us,” drawled the Native Son, jingling + over toward him until only the fence and a few feet of space divided them. + “Here's where you get yours, amigo. I wish you a pleasant day—and a + long one!” He waved his hand in mocking adieu, touched his horse with his + silver spurs, and rode gaily away down the coulee. + </p> + <p> + “Here, sheepherder's your outfit. Ma-aa-a-a!” jeered Big Medicine. “You'll + wisht, by cripes, you was a dozen men just like yuh before you're through + with the deal. Haw-haw-haw-w!” + </p> + <p> + There were others who, seeing Andy's grin, had something to say upon the + subject before they left. + </p> + <p> + Weary rode up, and looked undecidedly from Andy to the sheep, and back + again. + </p> + <p> + “If you don't feel like tackling it single-handed, I'll send—” + </p> + <p> + “What do yuh think I am, anyway?” Andy interrupted crisply, “a Montgomery + Ward two-for-a-quarter cowpuncher? Don't you fellows waste any time + worrying over me!” + </p> + <p> + The herders stared at Andy curiously when he swung in behind the tail-end + of the band and kept pace with their slow moving, but they did not speak + beyond shouting an occasional command to their dogs. Neither did Andy have + anything to say, until he saw that they were swinging steadily to the + west, instead of keeping straight north, as they had been told to do. Then + he rode over to the nearest herder, who happened to be the bug-killer. + </p> + <p> + “You don't want to get turned around,” he hinted quietly. “That's north, + over there.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm workin' fer the man that pays my wages,” the fellow retorted glumly, + and waved an arm to a collie that was waiting for orders. The dog dropped + his head, and ran around the right wing of the band, with sharp yelps and + dartings here and there, turning them still more to the west. + </p> + <p> + Andy hesitated, decided to leave the man alone for the present, and rode + around to the other herder. + </p> + <p> + “You swing these sheep north!” he commanded, disdaining preface or + explanation. + </p> + <p> + “I'm workin' for the man that pays my wages,” the herder made answer + stolidly, and chewed steadily upon a quid of tobacco that had stained his + lips unbecomingly. + </p> + <p> + So they had talked the thing over—had those two herders—and + were following a premeditated plan of defiance! Andy hooked at the man a + minute. “You turn them sheep, damn you,” he commanded again, and laid a + hand upon his saddle-horn suggestively. + </p> + <p> + “You go to the devil, damn yuh,” advised the herder, and cocked a wary eye + at him from under his hat-brim. Not all herders, let it be said in + passing, take unto themselves the mental attributes of their sheep; there + are those who believe that a bold front is better than weak compliance, + and who will back that belief by a very bold front indeed. + </p> + <p> + Andy appraised him mentally, decided that he was an able-bodied man and + therefore fightable, and threw his right leg over the cantle with a quite + surprising alacrity. + </p> + <p> + “Are you going to turn them sheep?” Andy was taking off his coat when he + made that inquiry. + </p> + <p> + “Not for your tellin'. You keep back, young feller, or I'll sick the dogs + on yuh.” He turned and whistled to the nearest one, and Andy hit him on + the ear. + </p> + <p> + They clinched and pummeled when they could and where they could. The dog + came up, circled the gyrating forms twice, then sat down upon his haunches + at a safe distance, tilted his head sidewise and lifted his ears + interestedly. He was a wise little dog; the other dog was also wise, and + remained phlegmatically at his post, as did the bug-killer. + </p> + <p> + “Are you going to turn them sheep?” Andy spoke breathlessly, but with + deadly significance. + </p> + <p> + “N-yes.” + </p> + <p> + Andy took his fingers from the other's Adam's apple, his knee from the + other's diaphragm, and went over to where he had thrown down his coat, + felt in a pocket for his handkerchief, and, when he had found it, applied + it to his nose, which was bleeding profusely. + </p> + <p> + “Fly at it, then,” he advised, eyeing the other sternly over the + handkerchief. “I'd hate to ask you a third time.” + </p> + <p> + “I'd hate to have yuh,” conceded the herder reluctantly. “I was sure I c'd + lick yuh, or I'd 'a' turned 'em before.” He sent the dog racing down the + south line of the band. + </p> + <p> + Andy got thoughtfully back upon his horse, and sat looking hard at the + herder. “Say, you're grade above the general run uh lamb-hickers,” he + observed, after a minute. “Who are you working for, and what's your object + in throwing sheep on Flying U land? There's plenty of range to the north.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm workin',” said the herder, “for the Dot outfit. I thought you could + read brands.” + </p> + <p> + “Don't get sassy—I've got a punch or two I haven't used yet. Who + owns these woollies?” + </p> + <p> + “Well—Whittaker and Oleson, if yuh want to know.” + </p> + <p> + “I do.” Andy was keeping pace with him around the band, which edged off + from then and the dogs. “And what makes you so crazy about Flying U + grass?” he pursued. + </p> + <p> + “We've got to cross that coulee to git to where we're headed for; we got a + right to, and we're going to do it.” The herder paused and glanced up at + Andy sourly. “We knowed you was a mean outfit; the boss told us so. And he + told us you was blank ca'tridges and we needn't back up just 'cause you + raised up on your hind legs and howled a little. I've had truck with you + cowmen before. I've herded sheep in Wyoming.” He walked a few steps with + his head down, considering. + </p> + <p> + “I better go over and talk some sense into the other fellow,” he said, + looking up at Andy as if all his antagonism had oozed in the fight. “You + ride along this edge, so they won't scatter—we ought to be grazin' + 'em along, by rights; only you seem to be in such an all-fired rush—” + </p> + <p> + “You go on and tell that loco son-of-a-gun over there what he's up + against,” Andy urged. “Blank cartridges—I sure do like that! If you + only knew it, high power dum-dums would be a lot closer to our brand. Run + along—I am in a kinda hurry, this morning.” + </p> + <p> + Andy, riding slowly upon the outskirts of the grazing, blatting band, + watched the two confer earnestly together a hundred yards or so away. They + seemed to be having some sort of argument; the bug-killer gesticulated + with the long stick he carried, and the sheep, while the herders talked, + scattered irresponsibly. Andy wondered what made sheepmen so “ornery,” + particularly herders. He wondered why the fellow he had thrashed was so + insultingly defiant at first, and, after the thrashing, so unresentful and + communicative, and so amenable to authority withal. He felt his nose, and + decided that it was, all things considered, a cheap victory, and yet one + of which he need not be ashamed. + </p> + <p> + The herder cane back presently and helped drive the sheep over the edge of + the bluff which bordered Antelope coulee. The bug-killer, upon his side, + also seemed imbued with the spirit of obedience; Andy heard him curse a + collie into frenzied zeal, and smiled approvingly. + </p> + <p> + “Now you're acting a heap more human,” he observed; and the man from + Wyoming grinned ruefully by way of reply. + </p> + <p> + Antelope coulee, at that point, was steep; too steep for riding, so that + Andy dismounted and dug his boot-heels into the soft soil, to gain a + foothold on the descent. When he was halfway down, he chanced to look + back, straight into the scowling gaze of the bug-killer, who was sliding + down behind him. + </p> + <p> + “Thought you were hazing down the other side of 'em,” Andy called back, + but the herder did not choose to answer save with another scowl. + </p> + <p> + Andy edged his horse around an impracticable slope of shale stuff and went + on. The herder followed. When he was within twelve feet or so of the + bottom, there was a sound of pebbles knocked loose in haste, a scrambling, + and then came the impact of his body. Andy teetered, lost his balance, and + went to the bottom in one glorious slide. He landed with the bug-killer on + top—and the bug-killer failed to remove his person as speedily as + true courtesy exacted. + </p> + <p> + Andy kicked and wriggled and tried to remember what was that high-colored, + vituperative sentence that Irish had invented over a stubborn sheep, that + he might repeat it to the bug-killer. The herder from Wyoming ran up, + caught Andy's horse, and untied Andy's rope from the saddle. + </p> + <p> + “Good fer you, Oscar,” he praised the bug-killer. “Hang onto him while I + take a few turns.” He thereupon helped force Andy's arms to his side, and + wound the rope several times rather tightly around Andy's outraged, + squirming person. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, it ain't goin' to do yuh no good to buck 'n bawl,” admonished the + tier. “I learnt this here little trick down in Wyoming. A bunch uh + punchers done it to me—and I've been just achin' all over fer a + chance to return the favor to some uh you gay boys. And,” he added, with + malicious satisfaction, while he rolled Andy over and tied a perfectly + unslippable knot behind, “it gives me great pleasure to hand the dose out + to you, in p'ticular. If I was a mean man, I'd hand yuh the boot a few + times fer luck; but I'll save that up till next time.” + </p> + <p> + “You can bet your sweet life there'll be a next time,” Andy promised + earnestly, with embellishments better suited to the occasion than to a + children's party. + </p> + <p> + “Well, when it arrives I'm sure Johnny-on-the-spot. Them Wyoming punchers + beat me up after they'd got me tied. I'm tellin' yuh so you'll see I ain't + mean unless I'm drove to it. Turn him feet down hill, Oscar, so he won't + git a rush uh brains to the head and die on our hands. Now you're goin' to + mind your own business, sonny. Next time yuh set out to herd sheep, better + see the boss first and git on the job right.” + </p> + <p> + He rose to his feet, surveyed Andy with his hands on his hips, mentally + pronounced the job well done, and took a generous chew of tobacco, after + which he grinned down at the trussed one. + </p> + <p> + “That the language uh flowers you're talkin'?” he inquired banteringly, + before he turned his attention to the horse, which he disposed of by tying + up the reins and giving it a slap on the rump. When it had trotted fifty + yards down the coulee bottom, and showed a disposition to go farther, he + whistled to his dogs, and turned again to Andy. + </p> + <p> + “This here is just a hint to that bunch you trot with, to leave us and our + sheep alone,” he said. “We don't pick no quarrels, but we're goin' to + cross our sheep wherever we dern please, to git where we want to go. Gawd + didn't make this range and hand it over to you cowmen to put in yer + pockets—I guess there's a chance fer other folks to hang on by their + eyebrows, anyway.” + </p> + <p> + Andy, lying there like a very good presentation of a giant cocoon, roped + round and round, with his arms pinned to his sides, had the doubtful + pleasure of seeing that noisome, foolish-faced band trail down Antelope + coulee and back upon the level they had just left, and of knowing to a + gloomy certainty that he could do nothing about it, except swear; and even + that palls when a man has gone over his entire repertoire three times in + rapid succession. + </p> + <p> + Andy, therefore, when the last sheep had trotted out of sight, hearing and + smell, wriggled himself into as comfortable a position as his bonds would + permit, and took a nap. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII. Truth Crushed to Earth, etc. + </h2> + <p> + Andy, only half awake, tried to obey both instinct and habit and reach up + to pull his hat down over his eyes, so that the sun could not shine upon + his lids so hotly; when he discovered that he could do no more than wiggle + his fingers, he came back with a jolt to reality and tried to sit up. It + is surprising to a man to discover suddenly just how important a part his + arms play in the most simple of body movements; Andy, with his arms + pinioned tightly the whole length of them, rolled over on his face, kicked + a good deal, and rolled back again, but he did not sit up, as he had + confidently expected to do. + </p> + <p> + He lay absolutely quiet for at least five minutes, staring up at the + brilliant blue arch above him. Then he began to speak rapidly and + earnestly; a man just close enough to hear his voice sweeping up to a + certain rhetorical climax, pausing there and commencing again with a + rhythmic fluency of intonation, might have thought that he was repeating + poetry; indeed, it sounded like some of Milton's majestic blank verse, but + it was not. Andy was engaged in a methodical, scientific, reprehensibly + soul-satisfying period of swearing. + </p> + <p> + A curlew, soaring low, with long beak outstretched before him, and long + legs outstretched behind cast a beady eye upon him, and shrilled + “Cor-reck! Cor-reck!” in unregenerate approbation of the blasphemy. + </p> + <p> + Andy stopped suddenly and laughed. “Glad you agree with me, old sport,” he + addressed the bird whimsically, with a reaction to his normally cheerful + outlook. “Sheepherders are all those things I named over, birdie, and some + that I can't think of at present.” + </p> + <p> + He tried again, this time with a more careful realization of his + limitations, to assume an upright position; and being a persevering young + man, and one with a ready wit, he managed at length to wriggle himself + back upon the slope from which he had slid in his sleep, and, by digging + in his heels and going carefully, he did at last rise upon his knees, and + from there triumphantly to his feet. + </p> + <p> + He had at first believed that one of the herders would, in the course of + an hour or so, return and untie him, when he hoped to be able to retrieve, + in a measure, his self-respect, which he had lost when the first three + feet of his own rope had encircled him. To be tied and trussed by + sheepherders! Andy gritted his teeth and started down the coulee. + </p> + <p> + He was hungry, and his lunch was tied to his saddle. He looked eagerly + down the coulee, in the faint hope of seeing his horse grazing somewhere + along its length, until the numbness of his arms and hands reminded him + that forty lunches, tied upon forty saddles at his side, would be of no + use to him in his present position. His hands he could not move from his + thighs; he could wiggle his fingers—which he did, to relieve as much + as possible that unpleasant, prickly sensation which we call a “going to + sleep” of the afflicted members. When it occurred to him that he could not + do anything with his horse if he found it, he gave up looking for it and + started for the ranch, walking awkwardly, because of his bonds, the sun + shining hotly upon his brown head, because his hat had been knocked off in + the scuffle, and he could not pick it up and put it back where it + belonged. + </p> + <p> + Taking a straight course across the prairie, he struck Flying U coulee at + the point where the sheep had left it. On the way there he had crossed + their trail where they went through the fence farther along the coulee + than before, and therefore with a better chance of passing undetected; + especially since the Happy Family, believing that he was forcing them + steadily to the north, would not be watching for sheep. The barbed wire + barrier bothered him somewhat. He was compelled to lie down and roll under + the fence, in the most undignified manner, and, when he was through, there + was the problem of getting upon his feet again. But he managed it somehow, + and went on down the coulee, perspiring with the heat and a bitter + realization of his ignominy. What the Happy Family would have to say when + they saw him, even Andy Green's vivid imagination declined to picture. + </p> + <p> + He knew by the sun that it was full noon when he came in sight of the + stable and corrals, and his soul sickened at the thought of facing that + derisive bunch of punchers, with their fiendish grins and their barbed + tongues. But he was hungry, and his arms had reached the limit of prickly + sensations and were numb to his shoulders. He shook his hair back from his + beaded forehead, cast a wary glance at the silent stables, set his jaw, + and went on up the hill to the mess-house, wishing tardily that he had + waited until they were off at work again, when he might intimidate old + Patsy into keeping quiet about his predicament. + </p> + <p> + Within the mess-house was the clatter of knives and forks plied by hungry + men, the sound of desultory talk and a savory odor of good things to eat. + The door was closed. Andy stood before it as a guilty-conscienced child + stands before its teacher; clicked his teeth together, and, since he could + not open the door, lifted his right foot and gave it a kick to strain the + hinges. + </p> + <p> + Within were exclamations of astonishment, silence and then a heavy tread. + Patsy opened the door, gasped and stood still, his eyes popping out like a + startled rabbit. + </p> + <p> + “Well, what's eating you?” Andy demanded querulously, and pushed past him + into the room. + </p> + <p> + Not all of the Happy Family were there. Cal, Jack Bates, Irish and Happy + Jack had gone into the Bad Lands next to the river; but there were enough + left to make the soul of Andy quiver forebodingly, and to send the flush + of extreme humiliation to his cheeks. + </p> + <p> + The Happy Family looked at him in stunned surprise; then they glanced at + one another in swift, wordless inquiry, grinned wisely and warily, and + went on with their dinner. At least they pretended to go on with their + dinner, while Andy glared at them with amazed reproach in his misleadingly + honest gray eyes. + </p> + <p> + “When you've got plenty of time,” he said at last in a choked tone, “maybe + one of you obliging cusses will untie this damned rope.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, sure!” Pink threw a leg over the bench and got up with cheerful + alacrity. “I'll do it now, if you say so; I didn't know but what that was + some new fad of yours, like—” + </p> + <p> + “Fad!” Andy repeated the word like an explosion. + </p> + <p> + “Well, by golly, Andy needn't think I'm goin' to foller that there style,” + Slim stated solemnly. “I need m' rope for something else than to tie n' + clothes on with.” + </p> + <p> + “I sure do hate to see a man wear funny things just to make himself + conspicuous,” Pink observed, while he fumbled at the knot, which was + intricate. Andy jerked away from him that he might face him ragefully. + </p> + <p> + “Maybe this looks funny to you,” he cried, husky with wrath. “But I can't + seem to see the joke, myself. I admit I let then herders make a monkey of + me.... They slipped up behind, going down into Antelope coulee, and slid + down the bluff onto me; and, before I could get up, they got me tied, all + right. I licked one of 'en before that, and thought I had 'en gentled down—” + </p> + <p> + Andy stopped short, silenced by that unexplainable sense which warns us + when our words are received with cold disbelief. + </p> + <p> + “Mh-hm—I thought maybe you'd run up against a hostile jackrabbit, or + something,” Pink purred, and went back to his place on the bench. + </p> + <p> + “Haw-haw-haw-w-w!” came Big Medicine's tardy bellow. “That's more + reasonable than the sheepherder story, by cripes!” + </p> + <p> + Andy looked at them much as he had stared up at the sky before he began to + swear—speechlessly, with a trembling of the muscles around his + mouth. He was quite white, considering how tanned he was, and his forehead + was shiny, with beads of perspiration standing thickly upon it. + </p> + <p> + “Weary, I wish you'd untie this rope. I can't.” He spoke still in that + peculiar, husky tone, and, when the last words were out, his teeth went + together with a snap. + </p> + <p> + Weary glanced inquiringly across at the Native Son, who was regarding Andy + steadily, as one gazes upon a tangled rope, looking for the end which will + easiest lead to an untangling. + </p> + <p> + Miguel's brown eyes turned languidly to meet the look. “You'd better untie + him,” he advised in his soft drawl. “He may not be in the habit of doing + it—but he's telling the truth.” + </p> + <p> + “Untie me, Miguel,” begged Andy, going over to him, “and let me at this + bunch.” + </p> + <p> + “I'll do it,” said Weary, and rose pacifically. “I kinda believe you + myself, Andy. But you can't blame the boys none; you've fooled 'em till + they're dead shy of anything they can't see through. And, besides, it sure + does look like a plant. I'd back you single-handed against a dozen + sheepherders like then two we've been chasing around. If I hadn't felt + that way I wouldn't have sent yuh out alone with 'em.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, Andy needn't think he's goin' to stick me on that there story,” + Slim declared with brutal emphasis. “I've swallered too many baits, by + golly. He's figurin' on gettin' us all out on the war-path, runnin' around + in circles, so's't he can give us the laugh. I'll bet, by golly, he paid + then herders to tie him up like that. He can't fool me!” + </p> + <p> + “Say, Slim, I do believe your brains is commencin' to sprout!” Big + Medicine thumped him painfully upon the back by way of accenting the + compliment. “You got the idee, all right.” + </p> + <p> + Andy stood quiet while Weary unwound the rope; lifted his numbed arms with + some difficulty, and displayed to the doubters his rope-creased wrists, + and purple, swollen hands. + </p> + <p> + “I couldn't fight a caterpiller right now,” he said thickly. “Look at them + hands! Do yuh call that a josh? I've been tied up like a bed-roll for five + hours, you—” Well, never mind, he merely repeated a part of what he + had recited aloud in Antelope coulee, the only difference being that he + applied the vitriolic utterances to the Happy Family instead of to + sheepherders, and that with the second recitation he gained much in + fluency and dramatic delivery. + </p> + <p> + It is not nice for a man to swear; to swear the way Andy did, at any rate. + But the result perhaps atoned in a measure for the wickedness, in that the + Happy Family were absolutely convinced of his sincerity, and the feelings + of Andy greatly relieved, so that, when he had for the third time that day + completely exhausted his vocabulary, he sat down and began to eat his + dinner with a keen appetite. + </p> + <p> + “I don't suppose you know where your horse is at, by this tine,” Weary + observed, as casually as possible, breaking a somewhat constrained + silence. + </p> + <p> + “I don't—and I don't give a darn,” Andy snapped back. He ate a few + mouthfuls, and added less savagely: “He wasn't in sight, as I came along. + I didn't follow the trail; I struck straight across and came down the + coulee. He may be at the gate, and he may be down toward Rogers'.” + </p> + <p> + Pink reached for a toothpick, eyeing Andy side-long; dimpled his cheeks + disarmingly, and cleared his throat. “Please don't kill me off when you + get that pie swallowed,” he began pacifically. “Strange as it may seem, I + believe you, Andy. What I want to know is this: Who owns them Dots? And + what are they chasing all over the Flying U range for? It looks plumb + malicious, to me. Did you find out anything about 'en, Andy, while you—er—while + they—” His eyes twinkled and betrayed him for an arrant pretender. + (Pink was not afraid of anything on earth—least of all Andy Green.) + </p> + <p> + “I will kill yuh by inches, if I hear any remarks out of yuh that ain't + respectful,” Andy promised, thawing to his normal tone, which was pleasant + to the ear. “I didn't find out much about 'em. The fellow I licked told me + that Whittaker and Oleson owned the sheep. He didn't say—” + </p> + <p> + “Well—by—golly!” Shin thrust his head forward belligerently. + “Whittaker! Well, what d'yuh think uh that!” He glared from one face to + the other, his gaze at last resting upon Weary. “Say, do yuh reckon it's—Dunk?” + </p> + <p> + Weary paid no heed to Slim. He leaned forward, his face turned to Andy + with that concentration of attention which means so much more than mere + exclamation. “You're sure he said Whittaker?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + His tone and his attitude arrested Andy's cup midway to his mouth. “Sure—Whittaker + and Oleson. I never heard of the outfit—who's this Whittaker + person?” + </p> + <p> + Weary settled back in his place and smiled, but his eyes had quite lost + their habitually sunny expression. + </p> + <p> + “Up until four years ago,” he explained evenly, “he was the Old Man's + partner. We caught him in some mighty dirty work, and—well, he sold + out to the Old Man. The old party with the hoofs and tail can't be + everywhere at once, the way I've got it sized up, so he turns some of his + business over to other folks. Dunk Whittaker's his top hand.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, by golly, he framed up a job on the Gordon boys, and railroaded 'em + to the pen, just—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, that's the gazabo!” Andy's eyes shone with enlightenment. “I've heard + a lot about Dunk, but I didn't know his last name—” + </p> + <p> + “Say! I'll bet they're the outfit that bought out Denson. That's why old + Denson acted so queer, maybe. Selling to a sheep outfit would make the old + devil feel kinda uneasy, talking to us—” Pink's eyes were big and + purple with excitement. “And that train-load of sheep we saw Sunday, I'll + bet is the same identical outfit.” + </p> + <p> + “Dunk Whittaker'd better not try to monkey with me, by golly!” Slim's face + was lowering. “And he'd better not monkey with the Flying U either. I'd + pump him so full uh holes he'd look like a colander, by golly!” + </p> + <p> + Weary got up and started to the door, his face suddenly grown careworn. + “Slim, you and Miguel better go and hunt up Andy's horse,” he said with a + hint of abstraction in his tone, as though his mind was busy with more + important things. “Maybe Andy'll feel able to help you set those posts, + Bud—and you'd better go along the upper end of the little pasture + with the wire stretchers and tighten her up; the top wire is pretty loose, + I noticed this morning.” His fingers fumbled with the door-knob. + </p> + <p> + “Want me to do anything?” Pink asked quizzically just behind him. “I + thought sure we'd go and remonstrate with then gay—” + </p> + <p> + Weary interrupted him. “The herders can wait—and, anyway, I've kinda + got an idea Andy wants to hand out his own brand of poison to that bunch. + You and I will take a ride over to Denson's and see what's going on over + there. Mamma!” he added fervently, under his breath, “I sure do wish Chip + and the Old Man were here!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII. The Dot Outfit + </h2> + <p> + Before he laid him down to sleep, that night, Weary had repeated to + himself many times and fervently that wish for old J. G. Whitmore and the + stout staff upon which he was beginning more and more to lean, his + brother-in-law, Chip Bennett. As matters stood, Weary could not even bring + himself to let then know anything about his trouble—and that the + thing was beginning to assume the form and shape and general malevolent + attributes of Trouble, Weary was forced to admit to himself. + </p> + <p> + Just at present an unthinking, unobserving person might pass over this + sheep outfit as a mere unsavory incident; but Weary was neither + unobserving nor unthinking—nor, for the matter of that, were the + rest of the Happy Family. It needed no Happy Jack, with his foreboding + nature, to point out the unpleasant possibilities that night when the + committee of two made their informal report at the supper table. + </p> + <p> + They had ridden to Denson coulee, which was in reality a meandering branch + of Flying U coulee itself. To reach it one rode out of Flying U coulee and + over a wide hill, and down again to Denson's. But the creek—Flying U + creek—followed the devious turnings from Denson coulee down to the + Flying U. A long mile of Flying U coulee J. G. Whitmore owned outright. + Another mile he held under no other title save a fence. The creek flowed + through it all—but that creek had its source somewhere up near the + head of Denson coulee. J. G. Whitmore had, to his regret, been unable to + claim the whole earth—or at least that portion of it—for his + own; so, when he was constrained to make a choice, he settled himself in + the wider, more fertile coulee, which he thereafter called the Flying U. + While it is good policy to locate as near as possible to the source of + those erratic little creeks which water certain garden spots of the + northern range land, it is also well to choose land that will grow plenty + of hay. J. G. Whitmore chose the hay land, and trusted that providence + would insure the water supply. Through all these years Flying U creek had + never once disappointed him. Denson, who settled in the tributary coulee, + had not made any difference in the water supply, and his stock had + consisted of thirty or forty head of cattle and horses. + </p> + <p> + When Denson sold, however, things might be different. And, if he had sold + to a sheepman, the change might be unpleasant If he had sold to Dunk + Whittaker—the Flying U boys faced that possibility just as they + would face any other disaster, undaunted, but grim and unsmiling. + </p> + <p> + It was thus that Pink and Weary rode slowly down into Denson coulee. Two + miles back they had passed the band of Dot sheep, feeding leisurely just + without the Flying U fence, which was the southern boundary. The + bug-killer and the other were there, and they noted that the features of + that other bore witness to the truth of Andy's story of the fight. He + regarded them with one perfectly good eye and one which was considerably + swollen, and grinned a swollen grin. + </p> + <p> + The two had ridden ten paces past him when Pink pulled up suddenly. “I'm + going to get off and lick that son-of-a-gun myself, just for luck,” he + stated dispassionately. “I'm going to lick 'em both,” he revised while he + dismounted. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, come on, Cadwalloper,” Weary dissuaded. “You'll likely have all the + excitement you need, without that.” + </p> + <p> + “Here, you hold this fool cayuse. No.” He shook his head, cutting short + further protest. “You're the boss, and you don't want to mix in, and that + part is all right. But I ain't responsible—and I sure am going to + take a fall or two out of these geesers. They're a-w-l together too stuck + on themselves to suit me.” Pink did not say that he was thinking of Andy, + but nevertheless a vivid recollection of that unfortunate young man's + rope-creased wrists and swollen hands sent him toward the herder with + long, eager strides. + </p> + <p> + Pink was not tall, and he was slight and boyish of build; also, his + cherubic face, topped by tawny curls and lighted by eyes as deeply blue + and as innocent as a baby's, probably deceived that herder, just as they + had deceived many another. For Pink was a good deal like a stick of + dynamite wrapped in white tissue paper and tied with blue ribbon; and + Weary was not at all uneasy over the outcome, as he watched Pink go + clanking back, though he loved him well. + </p> + <p> + Pink did not waste any time or words on the preliminaries. With a + delightful frankness of purpose he pulled off his coat and threw it on the + ground, as he came up, sent his hat after it, and arrived fist first. + </p> + <p> + The herder had waited grinning, and he had shouted something to Weary + about spanking the kid if Weary didn't make him behave. Speedily he became + a very surprised herder, and a distressed one as well. + </p> + <p> + “All right,” Pink remarked, a little quick-breathed, when the herder + decided for the third time to get up. “A friend of mine worked yuh over a + little, this morning, and I just thought I'd make a better job than he + did. Your eyes didn't match. They will, now.” + </p> + <p> + The herder mumbled maledictions after him, but Pink would not even give + him the satisfaction of resenting it. + </p> + <p> + “I'd like to have broken a knuckle against his teeth, darn him,” he + observed ruefully when he was in the saddle again. “Come on, Weary. It + won't take but a minute to hand a punch or two to that bug-killer, and + then I'll feel better. They've both got it coming—come on!” This + because Weary showed a strong inclination to take the trail and keep it to + his destination. “Well, I'll go alone, then. I've got to kinda square + myself for the way I threw it into Andy; and you know blamed well, Weary, + they played it low-down on him, or they'd never have got that rope on him. + And I'm going to lick that—” + </p> + <p> + “Mamma! You sure are a rambunctious person when you feel that way,” Weary + made querulous comment; but he rode over with Pink to where the bug-killer + was standing with his long stick held in a somewhat menacing manner, and + once more he held Pink's horse for him. + </p> + <p> + Pink was gone longer this time, and he came back with a cut lip and a + large lump on his forehead; the bug-killer had thrown a small rock with + the precision which comes of much practice—such as stoning + disobedient dogs, and the like—and, when Pink rushed at him + furiously, the herder caught him very neatly alongside the head with his + stick. These little amenities serving merely to whet Pink's appetite for + battle, he stopped long enough to thrash that particular herder very + thoroughly and to his own complete satisfaction. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I guess I'm ready to go on now,” he observed, dimpling rather + one-sidedly as he got back on his horse. + </p> + <p> + “I thought maybe you'd want to whip the dogs, too,” Weary told him dryly; + which was the nearest he came to expressing any disapproval of the + incident. Weary was a peace-loving soul, whenever peace was compatible + with self-respect; and it would never have occurred to him to punish + strange men as summarily as Pink had done. + </p> + <p> + “I would, if the dogs were half as ornery as the men,” Pink retorted. + “Say, they hang together like bull snakes and rattlers, don't they? If + they was human, they'd have helped each other out—but nothing doing! + Do you reckon a man could ride up to a couple of our bunch, and thrash one + at a time without the other fellow having something to say about it?” He + turned in the saddle and looked back. “So help me, Josephine, I've got a + good mind to go back and lick them again, for not hanging together like + they ought to.” But the threat was an idle one, and they went on to + Denson's, Weary still with that anxious look in his eyes, and Pink quite + complacent over his exploit. + </p> + <p> + In Denson coulee was an unwonted atmosphere of activity; heretofore the + place had been animated chiefly by young Densons engaged in the pursuit of + pleasure, but now a covered buggy, evidently just arrived, bore mute + witness to the new order of things. There were more horses about the + place, a covered wagon or two, three or four men working upon the corral, + and, lastly, there was one whom Weary recognized the moment he caught + sight of him. + </p> + <p> + “Looks like a sheep outfit, all right,” he said somberly. “And, if that + ain't old Dunk himself, it's the devil, and that's next thing to him.” + </p> + <p> + Dunk, they judged, had just arrived with another man whom they did not + know: a tall man with light hair that hung lank to his collar, a thin, + sharp-nosed face and a wide mouth, which stretched easily into a smile, + but which was none the pleasanter for that. When he turned inquiringly + toward them they saw that he was stoop-shouldered; though not from any + deformity, but from sheer, slouching lankness. Dunk gave them a swift, + sour look from under his eyebrows and went on. + </p> + <p> + Weary rode straight past the lank man, whom he judged to be Oleson, and + overtook Dunk Whittaker himself. + </p> + <p> + “Hello, Dunk,” he said cheerfully, sliding over in the saddle so that a + foot hung free of the stirrup, as men who ride much have learned to do + when they stop for a chat, thereby resting while they may. “Back on the + old stamping ground, are you?” + </p> + <p> + “Since you see me here, I suppose I am,” Dunk made churlish response. + </p> + <p> + “Do you happen to own those Dot sheep, back there on the hill?” Weary + tilted his head toward home. + </p> + <p> + “I happen to own half of them.” By then they had reached the gate and Dunk + passed through and started on to the house. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, don't be in a rush—come on back and be sociable,” Weary called + out, in the mildest of tones, twisting the reins around his saddle-horn so + that he might roll a cigarette at ease. + </p> + <p> + Dunk remembered, perhaps, certain things he had learned when he was J. G. + Whitmore's partner, and had more or less to do with the charter members of + the Happy Family. He came back and stood by the gate, ungraciously enough, + to be sure; still, he came back. Weary smiled under cover of lighting his + cigarette. Dunk, by that reluctant compliance, betrayed something which + Weary had been rather anxious to know. + </p> + <p> + “We've been having a little trouble with those sheep of yours,” Weary + remarked between puffs. “You've got some poor excuses for humans herding + them. They drove the bunch across our coulee just exactly three times. + There ain't enough grass left in our lower field to graze a prairie dog.” + He glanced back to see where Pink was, saw that he was close behind, as + was the lank man, and spoke in a tone that included them all. + </p> + <p> + “The Flying U ain't pasturing sheep, this spring,” he informed them + pleasantly. “But, seeing the grass is eat up, we'll let yuh pay for it. + Why didn't you bring them in along the trail, anyway?” + </p> + <p> + “I didn't bring them in. I just came down from Butte to-day. I suppose the + herders brought them out where the feed was best; they did if they're + worth their wages.” + </p> + <p> + “They happened to strike some feed that was pretty expensive. And,” he + smiled down at Whittaker misleadingly, “you ought to keep an eye on those + herders, or they might let you in for another grass bill. The Flying U has + got quite a lot of range, right around here, you recollect. And we've got + plenty of cattle to eat it. We don't need any help to keep the grass down + so we can ride through it.” + </p> + <p> + “Now, look here,” began the lank man with that sort of persuasiveness + which can turn instantly into bluster, “all this is pure foolishness, you + know. We're here to stay. We've bought this place, and some other land to + go with it, and we expect to stay right here and make a living. It happens + that we expect to make a living off of sheep. Now, we don't want to start + in by quarreling with our neighbors, and we don't want our neighbors to + start any quarrel with us. All we want—” + </p> + <p> + “Mamma! You're taking a fine way to make us love yuh,” Weary cut in + ironically. “I know what you want. You want the same as every other meek + and lovely sheepman wants. You want it all—core, seeds and peeling. + Dunk,” he said with a more impatient disgust than he was in the habit of + showing for his fellowmen, “this man's a stranger; but I should think + you'd know better than to come in here with sheep.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know why a sheep outfit isn't exactly as good as a cow outfit, + and I don't know why they haven't as much right here. You're welcome to + what land you own, but it always seemed to me that public land is open to + the use of the public. Now, as Oleson says, we expect to raise sheep here, + and we expect your outfit to leave us alone. As far as our sheep crossing + your coulee is concerned—I don't know that they did. But, if they + did, and, if they did any damage, let J. G. do the talking about that. I + deal with the owners—not with the hired men.” + </p> + <p> + Weary, you must understand, was never a bellicose young man. But, for all + that, he leaned over and gave Dunk a slap on the jaw which must have stung + considerably—and the full reason for his violence lay four years + behind the two, when Dunk was part owner of the Flying U, and when his + sneering arrogance had been very hard to endure. + </p> + <p> + “Are you going to swallow that—from a hired man?” Weary inquired, + after a minute during which nothing whatever occurred beyond the slow + reddening of Dunk's face. + </p> + <p> + “I'm not going to fight, if that's what you mean,” Dunk sneered. “I + decline to bring myself down to your level. One doesn't expect anything + from a jackass but a bray, you know—and one doesn't feel compelled + to bray because the jackass does.” He smiled that supercilious smile which + Weary had hated of old, and which, he knew, was well used to covering much + treachery and small meannesses of various sorts. + </p> + <p> + “As I said, if the Flying U has any claim against us, let the owner + present it in the usual way.” Dunk drew down his black brows, lifted a + corner of his lip and turned his back deliberately upon them. + </p> + <p> + Oleson let himself through the gate, which he closed somewhat hastily + behind him. “I'm sorry you fellows seem to want to make trouble,” he said, + without looking up from the latch, which seemed somewhat out of repair, + like the rest of the Denson property. “That's a poor way to start in with + new neighbors.” He lifted his hat with what Pink considered insulting + politeness, and followed Dunk into the house. + </p> + <p> + Weary waited there until they had gone in and closed the door, then turned + and rode back home again, frowning thoughtfully at the trail ahead of them + all the way, and making no reply to Pink's importunings for war. + </p> + <p> + “I'd hate to say you've lost your nerve, Weary,” Pink cried at last, in + sheer desperation. “But why the devil didn't you get down and thump the + daylights out of that black son-of-a-gun? I came pretty near walking into + him myself, only I hate to butt into another fellow's scrap. But, if I'd + known you were going to set there and let him walk off with that sneer on + his face—” + </p> + <p> + “I can't fight a man that won't hit back,” Weary protested. “You couldn't + either, Cadwalloper. You'd have done just what I did; you'd have let him + go.” + </p> + <p> + “He will hit back, all right enough,” Pink retorted passionately. “He'll + do it when you ain't looking, though. He—” + </p> + <p> + “I know it,” Weary sighed. “I'm kinda sorry, now, I slapped him. He'll hit + back—but he won't hit me; he'll aim at the outfit. If the Old Man + was here, or Chip, I'd feel a whole lot easier in my mind.” + </p> + <p> + “They couldn't do anything you can't do,” Pink assured him loyally, + forgetting his petulance when he saw the careworn look in Weary's face. + “All they can do is gobble all the range around here—and I guess + there's a few of us that will have a word or two to say about that.” + </p> + <p> + “What makes me sore,” Weary confided, “is knowing that Dunk isn't thinking + altogether of the dollar end of it. He's tickled to death to get a whack + at the outfit. And I hate to see him get away with it; but I guess we'll + have to stand for it.” + </p> + <p> + That sentiment did not please Pink; nor, when Weary repeated it later that + evening in the bunk-house, did it please the Happy Family. The less + pleasing it was because it was perfectly true and every man of them knew + it. Beyond keeping the sheep off Flying U land, there was nothing they + could do without stepping over the line into lawlessness—and, while + they were not in any sense a meek Happy Family, they were far more + law-abiding than their conversation that night made them appear. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX. More Sheep + </h2> + <p> + The next week was a time of harassment for the Flying U; a week filled to + overflowing with petty irritations, traceable, directly or indirectly, to + their new neighbors, the Dot sheepmen. The band in charge of the + bug-chaser and that other unlovable man from Wyoming fed just as close to + the Flying U boundary as their guardians dared let them feed; a great deal + closer than was good for the tempers of the Happy Family, who rode + fretfully here and there upon their own business and at the same time + tried to keep an eye upon their unsavory neighbors—a proceeding as + nerve-racking as it was futile. + </p> + <p> + The Native Son, riding home in jingling haste from Dry Lake, whither he + had hurried one afternoon in the hope of cheering news from Chicago, + reported another trainload of Dots on the wide level beyond Antelope + coulee. There were, he said, four men in charge of the band, and he + believed they carried guns, though he was not positive of that. They were + moving slowly, and he thought they would not attempt to cross Flying U + coulee before the next day; though, from the course they were taking, he + was sure they meant to cross. + </p> + <p> + Coupled with that bit of ill-tidings, the brief note from Chip, saying + very little about the Old Man, but implying a good deal by its very + omissions, would have been enough to send the Happy Family to sleepless + beds that night if they had been the kind to endure with silent fortitude + their troubles. + </p> + <p> + “If you fellers would back me up,” brooded Big Medicine down by the corral + after supper, “I'd see to it them sheep never gits across the coulee, by + cripes! I'd send 'em so far the other way they'd git plumb turned around + and forgit they ever wanted to go south.” + </p> + <p> + “It's all Dunk's devilishness,” Jack Bates declared. “He could take them + in the other way, even if the feed ain't so good along the trail. It's + most all prairie-dog towns—but that's good enough for sheep.” Jack, + in his intense partisanship, spoke as if sheep were not entitled to decent + grass at any time or under any circumstances. + </p> + <p> + “Them herders packin' guns looks to me like they're goin' to make trouble + if they kin,” gloomed Happy Jack. “I betche they'll kill somebody before + they're through. When sheepmen gits mean—” + </p> + <p> + Pink picked up his rope and started for the large corral, where a few + saddle horses had been driven in just before supper and had not yet been + turned out. + </p> + <p> + “You fellows can stand around and chew the rag, if you want to,” he said + caustically, “and wait for Weary to make a war-talk. But I'm going to keep + cases on them Dots, if I have to stand an all-night guard on 'em. I don't + blame Weary; he's looking out for the law-and-order business—and + that's all right. But I'm not in charge of the outfit. I'm going to do as + I darn please, and, if they don't like my style, they can give me my + time.” + </p> + <p> + “Good for you, Little One!” Big Medicine hurried to overtake him so that + he might slap him on the shoulder with his favorite, sledge-hammer method + of signifying his approval of a man's sentiments. “Honest to grandma, I + was just b'ginnin' to think this bunch was gitting all streaked up with + yeller. 'Course, we ain't goin' to wait for no official orders, by cripes! + I'd ruther lock Weary up in the blacksmith shop than let him tell us to go + ahead. Go awn and tell him a good, stiff lie, Andy—just to keep him + interested while us fellers make a gitaway. He ain't in on this; we don't + want him in on it.” + </p> + <p> + “What yuh goin' to do?” Happy Jack inquired suspiciously. “Yuh can't go + and monkey with them sheep, er them herders. They ain't on our land. And, + if you don't git killed, old Dunk'll fix yuh like he fixed the Gordon boys—I + know him—to a fare-you-well. It'd tickle him to death to git + something on us fellers. I betche that's what he's aiming t'do. Git us to + fightin' his outfit so's't—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, go off and lie down!” Andy implored him contemptuously. “We're going + to hang those herders, and drive the sheep all over a cut-back somewhere, + like Jesus done to the hogs, and then we're going over and murder old + Dunk, if he's at home, and burn the house to hide the guilty deed. And, if + the sheriff comes snooping around, asking disagreeable questions, we'll + all swear you done it. So now you know our plans; shut your face and go on + to bed. And be sure,” he added witheringly, “you pull the soogans over + your head, so you won't hear the dying shriek of our victims. We're liable + to get kinda excited and torture 'em a while before we kill 'em.” + </p> + <p> + “Aw, gwan!” gulped Happy Jack mechanically. “You make me sick! If yuh + think I'm goin' to swaller all that, you're away off! You wouldn't dast do + nothing of the kind; and, if yuh did, you'd sure have a sweet time layin' + it onto me!” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I don't know,” drawled the Native Son, with a slow, velvet-eyed + glance, “any jury in the country would hang you on your looks, Happy. I + knew a man down in the lower part of California, who was arrested, tried + and hanged for murder. And all the evidence there was against him was the + fact that he was seen within five miles of the place on the same day the + murder was committed; and his face. They had an expert physiognomist + there, and he swore that the fellow had the face of a murderer; the poor + devil looked like a criminal—and, though he had one of the best + lawyers on the Coast, it was adios for him.” + </p> + <p> + “I s'pose you mean I got the face of a criminal!” sputtered Happy Jack. + “It ain't always the purty fellers that wins out—like you 'n' Pink. + I never seen the purty man yit that was worth the powder it'd take to blow + him up! Aw, you fellers make me sick!” He went off, muttering his opinion + of them all, and particularly of the Native Son, who smiled while he + listened. “You go awn and start something—and you'll wisht you + hadn't,” they heard him croak from the big gate, and chuckled over his + wrath. + </p> + <p> + As a matter of fact, the Happy Family, as a whole, or as individuals, had + no intention of committing any great violence that evening. Pink wanted to + see just where this new band of sheep was spending the night, and to find + out, if possible, what were the herders' intentions. Since the boys were + all restless under their worry, and, since there is a contagious element + in seeking a trouble-zone, none save Happy Jack, who was “sore” at them, + and Weary stayed behind in the coulee with old Patsy while the others rode + away up the grade and out toward Antelope coulee beyond. + </p> + <p> + They meant only to reconnoiter, and to warn the herders against attempting + to cross Flying U coulee; though they were not exactly sure that they + would be perfectly polite, or that they would confine themselves rigidly + to the language they were wont to employ at dances. Andy Green, in + particular, seemed rather to look forward with pleasure to the meeting. + Andy, by the way, had remained heartbrokenly passive during that whole + week, because Weary had extracted from him a promise which Andy, + mendacious though he had the name of being, felt constrained to keep + intact. Though of a truth it irked him much to think of two sheepherders + walking abroad unpunished for their outrage upon his person. + </p> + <p> + Weary, as he had made plain to them all, wanted to avoid trouble if it + were possible to do so. And, though they grinned together in secret over + his own affair with Dunk—which was not, in their opinion, exactly + pacific—they meant to respect his wishes as far as human nature was + able to do so. So that the Happy Family, galloping toward the red sunset + and the great, gray blot on the prairie, just where the glory of the west + tinged the grass blades with red, were not one-half as blood-thirsty as + they had proclaimed themselves to be. + </p> + <p> + While they were yet afar off they could see two men walking slowly in the + immediate vicinity of the huddled band. A hundred yards away was a small + tent, with a couple of horses picketed near by and feeding placidly. The + men turned, gazed long at their approach, and walked to the tent, which + they entered somewhat hastily. + </p> + <p> + “Look at 'em dodge outa sight, will you!” cried Cal Emmett, and lifted up + his voice in the yell which sometimes announced the Happy Family's arrival + in Dry Lake after a long, thirsty absence on roundup. Other voices joined + in after that first, shrill “Ow-ow-ow-eee!” of Cal's; so that presently + the whole lot of them were emitting nerve-crimping yells and spurring + their horses into a thunder of hoofbeats, as they bore down upon the tent. + Between howls they laughed, picturing to themselves four terrified + sheepherders cowering within those frail, canvas walls. + </p> + <p> + “I'm a rambler, and a gambler, and far from my ho-o-me, And if yuh don't + like me, jest leave me alo-o-ne!” chanted Big Medicine most horribly, and + finished with a yell that almost scared himself and set his horse to + plunging wildly. + </p> + <p> + “Come out of there, you lop-eared mutton-chewers, and let us pick the wool + outa your teeth!” shouted Andy Green, telling himself hastily that this + was not breaking his promise to Weary, and yielding to the temptation of + coming as close to the guilty persons as he might; for, while these were + not the men who had tied him and left him alone on the prairie, they + belonged to the same outfit, and there was some comfort in giving them a + few disagreeable minutes. + </p> + <p> + Pink, in the lead, was turning to ride around the tent, still yelling, + when someone within the tent fired a rifle—and did not aim as high + as he should. The bullet zipped close over the head of Big Medicine, who + happened to be opposite the crack between the tent-flaps. The hand of Big + Medicine jerked back to his hip; but, quick as he was, the Native Son + plunged between him and the tent before he could take aim. + </p> + <p> + “Steady, amigo,” smiled Miguel. “You aren't a crazy sheepherder.” + </p> + <p> + “No, but I'm goin' to kill off one. Git outa my way!” Big Medicine was + transformed into a cold-eyed, iron-jawed fighting machine. He dug the + spurs in, meaning to ride ahead of Miguel. But Miguel's spurs also pressed + home, so that the two horses plunged as one. Big Medicine, bellowing one + solitary oath, drew his right leg from the stirrup to dismount. Miguel + reached out, caught him by the arm, and held him to the saddle. And, + though Big Medicine was a strong man, the grip held firm and unyielding. + </p> + <p> + “You must think of the outfit, you know,” said Miguel, smiling still. + “There must be no shooting. Once that begins—” He shrugged his + shoulders with that slight, eloquent movement, which the Happy Family had + come to know so well. He was speaking to them all, as they crowded up to + the scuffle. “The man who feels the trigger-itch had better throw his gun + away,” he advised coolly. “I know, boys. I've seen these things start + before. All hell can't stop you, once you begin to shoot. Put it up, Bud, + or give it to me.” + </p> + <p> + “The man don't live that can shoot at me, by cripes, and git away with it. + Not if he misses killin' me!” Big Medicine was shaking with rage; but the + Native Son saw that he hesitated, nevertheless, and laughed outright. + </p> + <p> + “Call him out and give him a thumping. That's good enough for a + sheepherder,” he suggested as a substitute. + </p> + <p> + Perhaps because the Native Son so seldom offered advice, and, because of + his cool courage in interfering with Big Medicine at such a time, Bud's + jaw relaxed and his pale eyes became more human in their expression. He + even permitted Miguel to remove the big, wicked Colt from his hand, and + slide it into his own pocket; whereat the Happy Family gasped with + astonishment. Not even Pink would have dreamed of attempting such a thing. + </p> + <p> + “Well he's got to come out and take a lickin', anyway,” shouted Big + Medicine vengefully, and rode close enough to slap the canvas smartly with + his quirt. By all the gods he knew by name he called upon the offender to + come forth, while the others drew up in a rude half-circle to await + developments. Heavy silence was the reply he got. It was as though the men + within were sitting tense and watchful, like cougars crouched for a + spring, with claws unsheathed and muscles quivering. + </p> + <p> + “You better come out,” called Andy sharply, after they had waited a decent + interval. “We didn't come here hunting trouble; we want to know where + you're headed for with these sheep. The fellow that cut loose with the gun—” + </p> + <p> + “Aw, don't talk so purty! I'm gitting almighty tired, just setting here + lettin' m' legs hang down. Git your ropes, boys!” With one sweeping + gesture of his arm Big Medicine made plain his meaning as he rode a few + paces away, his fingers fumbling with the string that held his rope. “I'm + goin' to have a look at 'em, anyway,” he grinned. “I sure do hate to see + men act so bashful.” + </p> + <p> + With his rope free and ready for action, Big Medicine shook the loop out, + glanced around, and saw that Andy, Pink and Cal Emmett were also ready, + and, with a dexterous flip, settled the noose neatly over the iron pin + that thrust up through the end of the ridge-pole in front. Andy's loop + sank neatly over it a second later, and the two wheeled and dashed away + together, with Pink and Irish duplicating their performance at the other + end of the tent. The dingy, smoke-stained canvas swayed, toppled, as the + pegs gave way, and finally lay flat upon the prairie fifty feet from where + it had stood, leaving the inmates exposed to the cruel stare of eight + unfriendly cowpunchers. Four cowering figures they were, with guns in + their hands that shook. + </p> + <p> + “Drop them guns!” thundered Big Medicine, flipping his rope loose and + recoiling it mechanically as he plunged up to the group. + </p> + <p> + One man obeyed. One gave a squawk of terror and permitted his gun to go + off at random before he fled toward the coulee. The other two crouched + behind their bed-rolls, set their jaws doggedly and glared defiance. + </p> + <p> + Pink, Andy, Irish, Big Medicine and the Native Son slid off their horses + and made a rush at them. A rifle barked viciously, and Slim, sitting + prudently on his horse well in the rear, gave a yell and started for home + at a rapid pace. + </p> + <p> + Considering the provocation the Happy Family behaved with quite + praiseworthy self-control and leniency. They did not lynch those two + herders. They did not kill them, either by bullets, knives, or beating to + death. They took away the guns, however, and they told them with extreme + bluntness what sort of men they believed them to be. They defined + accurately their position in society at large, in that neighborhood, and + stated what would be their future fate if they persisted in acting with so + little caution and common sense. + </p> + <p> + At Andy Green's earnest behest they also wound them round and round with + ropes, before they departed, and gave them some very good advice upon the + matter of range rules and the herding of sheep, particularly of Dot sheep. + </p> + <p> + “You're playing big luck, if you only had sense enough to know it,” Andy + pointed out to the recumbent three before they rode away. “We didn't come + over here on the warpath, and, if you hadn't got in such a darned hurry to + start something, you'd be a whole lot more comfortable right now. We rode + over to tell yuh not to start them sheep across Flying U coulee; because, + if you do, you're going to have both hands and your hats plumb full uh + trouble. It has taken some little time and fussing to get yuh gentled down + so we can talk to you, and I sure do hope yuh remember what I'm saying.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, we'll remember it, all right!” menaced one of the men, lifting his + head turtlewise that he might glare at the group. “And our bosses'll + remember it; you needn't worry about that none. You wait till—” + </p> + <p> + The next man to him turned his head and muttered a sentence, and the + speaker dropped his head back upon the ground, silenced. + </p> + <p> + “It was your own outfit started this style of rope trimming, so you can't + kick about that part of the deal,” Pink informed them melodiously. “It's + liable to get to be all the rage with us. So, if you don't like it, don't + come around where we are. And say!” His dimples stood deep in his cheeks. + “You send those ropes home to-morrow, will yuh? We're liable to need 'em.” + </p> + <p> + “By cripes!” Big Medicine bawled. “What say we haze them sheep a few miles + north, boys?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I guess they'll be all right where they are,” Andy protested, his + thirst for revenge assuaged at sight of those three trussed as he had been + trussed, and apparently not liking it any better than he had liked it. + “They'll be good and careful not to come around the Flying U—or I + miss my guess a mile.” + </p> + <p> + The others cast comprehensive glances at their immediate surroundings, and + decided that they had at least made their meaning plain; there was no + occasion for emphasizing their disapproval any further. They confiscated + the rifles, and they told the fellows why they did so. They very kindly + pulled a tarpaulin over the three to protect them in a measure from the + chill night that was close upon them, and they wished them good night and + pleasant dreams, and rode away home. + </p> + <p> + On the way they met Weary and Happy Jack, galloping anxiously to the + battle scene. Slim, it appeared from Weary's rapid explanation, had + arrived at the ranch with his horse in a lather and with a four-inch + furrow in the fleshiest part of his leg, where a bullet had flicked him in + passing. The tale he told had led Weary to believe that Slim was the sole + survivor of that reckless company. + </p> + <p> + “Mamma! I'm so glad to see you boys able to fork your horses and swear + natural, that I don't believe I can speak my little piece about staying on + your own side the fence and letting trouble do some of the hunting,” he + exclaimed thankfully. “I wish you'd stayed at home and left these blamed + Dots alone. But, seeing yuh didn't, I'm tickled to death to hear you + didn't kill anybody off. I don't want the folks to come home and find the + whole bunch in the pen. It might look as if—” + </p> + <p> + “You don't want the folks to come home and find the whole ranch sheeped + off, either, and the herders camping up in the white house, do yuh?” Pink + inquired pointedly. “I kinda think,” he added dryly, “those same herders + will feel like going away around Flying U fences with their sheep. I don't + believe they'll do any cutting across.” + </p> + <p> + “I betche old Dunk'll make it interestin' fer this outfit, just the same,” + Happy Jack predicted. “Tyin' up three men uh hisn, like that, and ropin' + their tent and draggin' it off, ain't things he'll pass up. He'll have a + possy out here—you see if he don't!” + </p> + <p> + “In that case, I'll be sorry for you, Happy,” purred Miguel close beside + him. “You're the only one in the outfit that looks capable of such a vile + deed.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Dunk won't do anything,” Weary said cheerfully. “You'll have to take + those guns back, though. They might take a notion to call that stealing!” + </p> + <p> + “You forget,” the Native Son reminded calmly, “that we left them three + good ropes in exchange.” + </p> + <p> + Whereupon the Happy Family laughed and went to offer their unsought + sympathy to Slim. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER X. The Happy Family Herd Sheep + </h2> + <p> + The boys of the Flying U had many faults in common, aside from certain + individual frailties; one of their chief weaknesses was over-confidence in + their own ability to cope with any situation which might arise, + unexpectedly or otherwise, and a belief that others felt that same + confidence in them, and that enemies were wont to sit a long time counting + the cost before venturing to offer too great an affront. Also they + believed—and made it manifest in their conversation—that they + could even bring the Old Man back to health if they only had him on the + ranch where they could get at him. They maligned the hospitals and Chicago + doctors most unjustly, and were agreed that all he needed was to be back + on the ranch where somebody could look after him right. They asserted + that, if they ever got tired of living and wanted to cash in without using + a gun or anything, they'd go to a hospital and tell the doctors to turn + loose and try to cure them of something. + </p> + <p> + This by way of illustration; also as an explanation of their sleeping + soundly that night, instead of watching for some hostile demonstration on + the part of the Dot outfit. To a man—one never counted Happy Jack's + prophecies of disaster as being anything more than a personal deformity of + thought—they were positive in their belief that the Dot sheepherders + would be very, very careful not to provoke the Happy Family to further + manifestations of disapproval. They knew what they'd get, if they tried + any more funny business, and they'd be mighty careful where they drove + their sheep after this. + </p> + <p> + So, with the comfortable glow of victory in their souls, they laid them + down, and, when the animated discussion of that night's adventure flagged, + as their tongues grew sleep-clogged and their eyelids drooped, they slept + in peace; save when Slim, awakened by the soreness of his leg, grunted a + malediction or two before he began snoring again. + </p> + <p> + They rose and ate their breakfast in a fair humor with the world. One + grows accustomed to the thought of sickness, even when it strikes close to + the affections, and, with the resilience of youth and hope, life adjusts + itself to make room for the specter of fear, so that it does not crowd + unduly, but stands half-forgotten in the background of one's thoughts. For + that reason they no longer spoke soberly because of the Old Man lying hurt + unto death in Chicago. And, when they mentioned the Dot sheep and men, + they spoke as men speak of the vanquished. + </p> + <p> + With the taste of hot biscuits and maple syrup still lingering pleasantly + against their palates, they went out and were confronted with sheep, + blatting sheep, stinking sheep, devastating sheep, Dot sheep. On the south + side of the coulee, up on the bluff, grazed the band. They fed upon the + brow of the hill opposite the ranch buildings; they squeezed under the + fence and spilled a ragged fringe of running, gray animals down the slope. + Half a mile away though the nearest of them were, the murmur of them, the + smell of them, the whole intolerable presence of them, filled the Happy + Family with an amazed loathing too deep for words. + </p> + <p> + Technically, that high, level stretch of land bounding Flying U coulee on + the south was open range. It belonged to the government. The soil was not + fertile enough even for the most optimistic of “dry land” farmers to + locate upon it; and this was before the dry-land farming craze had swept + the country, gathering in all public land as claims. J. G. Whitmore had + contented himself with acquiring title to the whole of the Flying U + coulee, secure in his belief that the old order of things would not + change, in his life-time, at least, and that the unwritten law of the + range land, which leaves the vicinity of a ranch to the use of the ranch + owner, would never be repealed by new customs imposed by a new class of + people. + </p> + <p> + Legally, there was no trespassing of the Dots, beyond the two or three + hundred which had made their way through the fence. Morally, however, and + by right of custom, their offense would not be much greater if they came + on down the hill and invaded the Old Man's pet meadows, just beyond the + “little pasture.” + </p> + <p> + Ladies may read this story, so I am not going to pretend to repeat the + things they said, once they were released from dumb amazement. I should be + compelled to improvise and substitute—which would remove much of the + flavor. Let bare facts suffice, at present. + </p> + <p> + They saddled in haste, and in haste they rode to the scene. This, they + were convinced, was the band herded by the bug-killer and the man from + Wyoming; and the nerve of those two almost excited the admiration of the + Happy Family. It did not, however, deter them from their purpose. + </p> + <p> + Weary, to look at him, was no longer in the mood to preach patience and a + turning of the other cheek. He also made that change of heart manifest in + his speech when Pink, his eyes almost black, rode up close and gritted at + him: + </p> + <p> + “Well, what's the orders now? Want me to go back and get the wire nippers + so we can let them poor little sheep down into the meadow? Maybe we better + ask the herders down to have some of Patsy's grub, too; I don't believe + they had time to cook much breakfast. And it wouldn't be a bad idea to + haze our own stuff clear off the range. I'm afraid Dunk's sheep are going + to fare kinda slim, if we go on letting our cattle eat all the good + grass!” Pink did not often indulge in such lengthy sarcasm, especially + toward his beloved Weary; but his exasperation toward Weary's mild tactics + had been growing apace. + </p> + <p> + Weary's reply, I fear, will have to be omitted. It was terribly unrefined. + </p> + <p> + “I want you boys to spread out, around the whole bunch,” was his first + printable utterance, “and haze these sheep just as far south as they can + get without taking to the river. Don't get all het up chasing 'em yourself—make + the men (Weary did not call them men; he called them something very + naughty) that's paid for it do the driving.” + </p> + <p> + “And, if they don't go,” drawled the smooth voice of the Native Son, “what + shall we do, amigo? Slap them on the wrist?” + </p> + <p> + Weary twisted in the saddle and sent him a baleful glance, which was not + at all like Weary the sunny-hearted. + </p> + <p> + “If you can't figure that out for yourself,” he snapped, “you had better + go back and wipe the dishes for Patsy; and, when that's done, you can pull + the weeds out of his radishes. Maybe he'll give you a nickel to buy candy + with, if you do it good.” Before he faced to the front again his harsh + glance swept the faces of his companions. + </p> + <p> + They were grinning, every man of them, and he knew why. To see him lose + his temper was something of an event with the Happy Family, who used + sometimes to fix the date of an incident by saying, “It was right after + that time Weary got mad, a year ago last fall,” or something of the sort. + He grinned himself, shamefacedly, and told them that they were a bunch of + no-account cusses, anyway, and he'd just about as soon herd sheep himself + as to have to run with such an outfit; which swept his anger from him and + left him his usual self, with but the addition of a purpose from which + nothing could stay him. He was going to settle the sheep question, and he + was going to settle it that day. + </p> + <p> + Only one injunction did he lay upon the Happy Family. “You fellows don't + want to get excited and go to shooting,” he warned, while they were still + out of hearing of the herders. “We don't want Dunk to get anything like + that on us; savvy?” + </p> + <p> + They “savvied,” and they told him so, each after his own individual + manner. + </p> + <p> + “I guess we ought to be able to put the run on a couple of sheepherders, + without wasting any powder,” Pink said loftily, remembering his meeting + with them a few days before. + </p> + <p> + “One thing sure—we'll make a good job of it this time,” promised + Irish, and spurred after Weary, who was leading the way around the band. + </p> + <p> + The herders watched them openly and with the manner of men who are + expecting the worst to happen. Unlike the four whose camp had been laid + low the night before, these two were unarmed, as they had been from the + first; which, in Weary's opinion, was a bit of guile upon the part of + Dunk. If trouble came—trouble which it would take a jury to settle—the + fact that the sheepmen were unarmed would tell heavily in their favor; + for, while the petty meanness of range-stealing and nagging trespass may + be harder to bear than the flourishing of a gun before one's face, it all + sounds harmless enough in the telling. + </p> + <p> + Weary headed straight for the nearest herder, told him to put his dogs to + work rounding up the sheep, which were scattered over an area half a mile + across while they fed, and, when the herder, who was the bug-killer, made + no move to obey, Weary deliberately pulled his gun and pointed at his + head. + </p> + <p> + “You move,” he directed with grim intent, “and don't take too much time + about it, either.” + </p> + <p> + The bug-killer, an unkempt, ungainly figure, standing with his back to the + morning sun, scowled up at Weary stolidly. + </p> + <p> + “Yuh dassent shoot,” he stated sourly, and did not move. + </p> + <p> + For answer, Weary pulled back the hammer; also he smiled as malignantly as + it was in his nature to do, and hoped in his heart that he looked + sufficiently terrifying to convince the man. So they faced each other in a + silent clash of wills. + </p> + <p> + Big Medicine had not been saying much on the way over, which was unusual. + Now he rode forward until he was abreast of Weary, and he grinned down at + the bug-killer in a way to distract his attention from the gun. + </p> + <p> + “Nobody don't have to shoot, by cripes!” he bawled. “We hain't goin' to + kill yuh. We'll make yuh wisht, by cripes, we had, though, b'fore we git + through. Git to work, boys, 'n' gether up some dry grass an' sticks. Over + there in them rose-bushes you oughta find enough bresh. We'll give him a + taste uh what we was talkin' about comm' over, by cripes! I guess he'll be + willin' to drive sheep, all right, when we git through with him. + Haw-haw-haw-w-w!” He leaned forward in the saddle and ogled the bug-killer + with horrid significance. + </p> + <p> + “Git busy with that bresh!” he yelled authoritatively, when a glance + showed him that the Happy Family was hesitating and eyeing him + uncertainly. “Git a fire goin' quick's yuh kin—I'll do the rest. + Down in Coconino county we used to have a way uh fixin' sheepherders—” + </p> + <p> + “Aw, gwan! We don't want no torture business!” remonstrated Happy Jack + uneasily, edging away. + </p> + <p> + “Yuh don't, hey?” Big Medicine turned in the saddle wrathfully and glared. + When he had succeeded in catching Andy Green's eye he winked, and that + young man's face kindled understandingly. “Well, now, you hain't runnin' + this here show. Honest to grandma, I've saw the time when a little + foot-warmin' done a sheepherder a whole lot uh good; and, it looks to me, + by cripes, as if this here feller needed a dose to gentle him down. You + git the fire started. That's all I want you t' do, Happy. Some uh you boys + help me rope him—like him and that other jasper over there done to + Andy. C'mon, Andy—it ain't goin' to take long!” + </p> + <p> + “You bet your sweet life I'll come on!” exclaimed Andy, dismounting + eagerly. “Let me take your rope, Weary. Too bad we haven't got a branding + iron—” + </p> + <p> + “Aw, we don't need no irons.” Big Medicine was also on the ground by then, + and untying his rope. “Lemme git his shoes off once, and I'll show yuh.” + </p> + <p> + The bug-killer lifted his stick, snarling like a mongrel dog when a + stranger tries to drive it out of the house; hurled the stick + hysterically, as Big Medicine, rope in hand, advanced implacably, and, + with a squawk of horror, turned suddenly and ran. After him, bellowing + terribly, lunged Big Medicine, straight through the band like a snowplow, + leaving behind them a wide, open trail. + </p> + <p> + “Say, we kinda overplayed that bet, by gracious,” Andy commented to Weary, + while he watched the chase. “That gazabo's scared silly; let's try the + other one. That torture talk works fine.” + </p> + <p> + In his enthusiasm Andy remounted and was about to lead the way to the + other herder when Big Medicine returned puffing, the bug-killer squirming + in his grasp. “Tell him what yuh want him to do, Weary,” he panted, with + some difficulty holding his limp victim upright by a greasy coat-collar. + “And if he don't fall over himself doin' it, why—by cripes—we'll + take off his shoes!” + </p> + <p> + Whereupon the bug-killer gave another howl and professed himself eager to + drive the sheep—well, what he said was that he would drive them to + that place which ladies dislike to hear mentioned, if the Happy Family + wanted him to. + </p> + <p> + “That's all right, then. Start 'em south, and don't quit till somebody + tells you to.” Weary carefully let down the hammer of his six-shooter and + shoved it thankfully into his scabbard. + </p> + <p> + “Now, you don't want to pile it on quite so thick, next time,” Irish + admonished Big Medicine, when they turned away from watching the + bug-killer set his dogs to work by gestures and a shouted word or two. + “You like to have sent this one plumb nutty.” + </p> + <p> + “I betche Bud gets us all pinched for that,” grumbled Happy Jack. + “Torturing folks is purty darned serious business. You might as well shoot + 'em up decent and be done with it.” + </p> + <p> + “Haw-haw-haw-w-w!” Big Medicine ogled the group mirthfully. “Nobody can't + swear I done a thing, or said a thing. All I said definite was that I'd + take off his shoes. Any jury in the country'd know that would be hull lot + worse fer us than it would fer him, by cripes. Haw-haw-haw-w-w!” + </p> + <p> + “Say, that's right; yuh didn't say nothin', ner do nothin'. By golly, that + was purty slick work, all right!” Slim forgot his sore leg until he + clapped his hand enthusiastically down upon the place as comprehension of + Bud's finesse dawned upon him. He yelped, and the Happy Family laughed + unfeelingly. + </p> + <p> + “You want to be careful and don't try to see through any jokes, Slim, till + that leg uh yours gets well,” Irish bantered, and they laughed the louder. + </p> + <p> + All this was mere byplay; a momentary swinging of their mood to + pleasantry, because they were a temperamentally cheerful lot, and laughter + came to them easily, as it always does to youth and perfect mental and + physical health. Their brief hilarity over Slim's misfortune did not + swerve them from their purpose, nor soften the mood of them toward their + adversaries. They were unsmiling and unfriendly when they reached the man + from Wyoming; and, if they ever behaved like boys let out of school, they + did not show it then. + </p> + <p> + The Wyoming man was wiser than his fellow. He had been given several + minutes grace in which to meditate upon the unwisdom of defiance; and he + had seen the bug-killer change abruptly from sullenness to terror, and + afterward to abject obedience. He did not know what they had said to him, + or what they had done; but he knew the bug-killer was a hard man to + stampede. And he was one man, and they were many; also he judged that, + being human, and this being the third offense of the Dot sheep under his + care, it would be extremely unsafe to trust that their indignation would + vent itself in mere words. + </p> + <p> + Therefore, when Weary told him to get the stragglers back through the + fence and up on the level, he stopped only long enough for a good look at + their faces. After that he called his dogs and crawled through the fence. + </p> + <p> + It really did not require the entire Family to force those sheep south + that morning. But Weary's jaw was set, as was his heart, upon a thorough + cleaning of that particular bit of range; and, since he did not definitely + request any man to turn back, and every fellow there was minded to see the + thing to a finish, they straggled out behind the trailing two thousand—and + never had one bunch of sheep so efficient a convoy. + </p> + <p> + After the first few miles the way grew rough. Sheep lagged, and the + blatting increased to an uproar. Old ewes and yearlings these were mostly, + and there were few to suffer more than hunger and thirst, perhaps. So + Weary was merciless, and drove them forward without a stop until the first + jumble of hills and deep-worn gullies held them back from easy traveling. + </p> + <p> + But the Happy Family had not ridden those breaks for cattle, all these + years, to be hindered by rough going. Weary, when the band stopped and + huddled, blatting incessantly against a sheer wall of sandstone and + gravel, got the herders together and told them what he wanted. + </p> + <p> + “You take 'em down that slope till you come to the second little coulee. + Don't go up the first one—that's a blind pocket. In the second + coulee, up a mile or so, there's a spring creek. You can hold 'em there on + water for half an hour. That's more than any of yuh deserve. Haze 'em down + there.” + </p> + <p> + The herders did not know it, but that second coulee was the rude gateway + to an intricate system of high ridges and winding waterways that would + later be dry as a bleached bone—the real beginning of the bad lands + which border the Missouri river for long, terrible miles. Down there, it + is possible for two men to reach places where they may converse quite + easily across a chasm, and yet be compelled to ride fifteen or twenty + miles, perhaps, in order to shake hands. Yet, even in that scrap-heap of + Nature there are ways of passing deep into the heart of the upheaval. + </p> + <p> + The Happy Family knew those ways as they knew the most complicated figures + of the quadrilles they danced so lightfootedly with the girls of the Bear + Paw country. When they forced the sheep and their herders out of the + coulee Weary had indicated he sent Irish and Pink ahead to point the way, + and he told them to head for the Wash Bowl; which they did with + praiseworthy zeal and scant pity for the sheep. + </p> + <p> + When at last, after a slow, heartbreaking climb up a long, bare ridge, + Pink and Irish paused upon the brow of a slope and let the trail-weary + band spill itself reluctantly down the steep slope beyond, the sun stood + high in the blue above them and their stomachs clamored for food; by which + signs they knew that it must be near noon. + </p> + <p> + When the last sheep had passed, blatting discordantly, down the bluff, + Weary halted the sweating herders for a parting admonition. + </p> + <p> + “We don't aim to deal you any more misery, for a while, if you stay where + you're at. You're only working for a living, like the rest of us—but + I must say I don't admire your trade none. Anyway, I'll send some of your + bunch down here with grub and beds. This is good enough range for sheep. + You keep away from the Flying U and nobody'll bother you. Over there in + them trees,” he added, pointing a gloved finger toward a little grove on + the far side of the basin, “you'll find a cabin, and water. And, farther + down the river there's pretty good grass, in the little bottoms. Now, + git.” + </p> + <p> + The herders looked as if they would enjoy murdering them all, but they did + not say a word. With their dogs at heel they scrambled down the bluff in + the wake of their sheep, and the Happy Family, rolling cigarettes while + they watched them depart, told one another that this settled that bunch; + they wouldn't bed down in the Flying U door-yard that night, anyway. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XI. Weary Unburdens + </h2> + <p> + Hungry with the sharp, gnawing hunger of healthy stomachs accustomed to + regular and generous feeding; tired with the weariness of healthy muscles + pushed past their accustomed limit of action; and hot with the + unaccustomed heat of a blazing day shunted unaccountably into the midst of + soft spring weather, the Happy Family rode out of the embrace of the last + barren coulee and up on the wide level where the breeze swept gratefully + up from the west, and where every day brought with it a deeper tinge of + green into its grassy carpet. + </p> + <p> + Only for this harassment of the Dot sheep, the roundup wagons would be + loaded and ready to rattle abroad over the land. Meadow larks and curlews + and little, pert-eyed ground sparrows called out to them that roundup time + was come. They passed a bunch of feeding Flying U cattle, and flat-ribbed, + bandy-legged calves galloped in brief panic to their mothers and from the + sanctuary of grass-filled paunches watched the riders with wide, + inquisitive eyes. + </p> + <p> + “We ought to be starting out, by now,” Weary observed a bit gloomily to + Andy and Pink, who rode upon either side of him. “The calf crop is going + to be good, if this weather holds on another two weeks or so. But—” + he waved his cigarette disgustedly “—that darned Dot outfit would be + all over the place, if we pulled out on roundup and left 'em the run of + things.” He smoked moodily for a minute. “My religion has changed a lot in + the last few days,” he observed whimsically. “My idea of hell is a place + where there ain't anything but sheep and sheepherders; and cowpunchers + have got to spend thousands uh years right in the middle of the corrals.” + </p> + <p> + “If that's the case, I'm going to quit cussing, and say my prayers every + night,” Andy Green asserted emphatically. + </p> + <p> + “What worries me,” Weary confided, obeying the impulse to talk over his + troubles with those who sympathized, “is how I'm going to keep the work + going along like it ought to, and at the same time keep them Dot sheep + outa the house. Dunk's wise, all right. He knows enough about the cow + business to know we ye got to get out on the range pretty quick, now. And + he's so mean that every day or every half day he can feed his sheep on + Flying U grass, he calls that much to the good. And he knows we won't go + to opening up any real gun-fights if we can get out of it; he counts on + our faunching around and kicking up a lot of dust, maybe—but we + won't do anything like what he'd do, in our places. He knows the Old Man + and Chip are gone, and he knows we've just naturally got to sit back and + swallow our tongues because we haven't any authority. Mamma! It comes + pretty tough, when a low-down skunk like that just banks on your doing the + square thing. He wouldn't do it, but he knows we will; and so he takes + advantage of white men and gets the best of 'em. And if we should happen + to break out and do something, he knows the herders would be the ones to + get it in the neck; and he'd wait till the dust settled, and bob up with + the sheriff—” He waved his hand again with a hopeless gesture. “It + may not look that way on the face of it,” he added gloomily, “but Dunk has + got us right where he wants us. From the way they've been letting sheep on + our land, time and time again, I'd gamble he's just trying to make us so + mad we'll break out. He's got it in for the whole outfit, from the Old Man + and the Little Doctor down to Slim. If any of us boys got into trouble, + the Old Man would spend his last cent to clear us; and Dunk knows that + just as well as he knows the way from the house to the stable. He'd see to + it that it would just about take the Old Man's last cent, too. And he's + using these Dot sheep like you'd use a red flag on a bull, to make us so + crazy mad we'll kill off somebody. + </p> + <p> + “That's why,” he said to them all when he saw that they had ridden up + close that they might hear what he was saying, “I've been hollering so + loud for the meek-and-mild stunt. When I slapped him on the jaw, and he + stood there and took it, I saw his game. He had a witness to swear I hit + him and he didn't hit back. And when I saw them Dots in our field again, I + knew, just as well as if Dunk had told me, that he was kinda hoping we'd + kill a herder or two so he could cinch us good and plenty. I don't say,” + he qualified with a rueful grin, “that Dunk went into the sheep business + just to get r-re-venge, as they say in shows. But if he can make money + running sheep—and he can, all right, because there's more money in + them right now than there is in cattle—and at the same time get a + good whack at the Flying U, he's the lad that will sure make a running + jump at the chance.” He spat upon the burnt end of his cigarette stub from + force of the habit that fear of range fires had built, and cast it + petulantly from him; as if he would like to have been able to throw Dunk + and his sheep problem as easily out of his path. + </p> + <p> + “So I wish you boys would hang onto yourselves when you hear a sheep + blatting under your window,” he summed up his unburdening whimsically. “As + Bud said this morning, you can't hang a man for telling a sheepherder + you'll take off his shoes. And they can't send us over the road for moving + that band of sheep onto new range to-day. Last night you all were kinda + disorderly, maybe, but you didn't hurt anybody, or destroy any property. + You see what I mean. Our only show is to stop with our toes on the right + side of the dead line.” + </p> + <p> + “If Andy, here, would jest git his think-wheels greased and going good,” + Big Medicine suggested loudly, “he ought to frame up something that would + put them Dots on the run permanent. I d'no, by cripes, why it is a feller + can always think uh lies and joshes by the dozens, and put 'em over O. K. + when there ain't nothing to be made out of it except hard feelin's; and + then when a deal like this here sheep deal comes up, he's got about as + many idees, by cripes, as that there line-back calf over there. Honest to + grandma, Andy makes me feel kinda faint. Only time he did have a chanc't, + he let them—” It occurred to Big Medicine at that point that perhaps + his remarks might be construed by the object of them as being offensively + personal. He turned his head and grinned good-naturedly in Andy's + direction, and refrained from finishing what he was going to say. “I sure + do like them wind-flowers scattered all over the ground,” he observed with + such deliberate and ostentatious irrelevance that the Happy Family + laughed, even to Andy Green, who had at first been inclined toward anger. + </p> + <p> + “Everything,” declared Andy in the tone of a paid instructor, “has its + proper time and place, boys; I've told you that before. For instance, I + wouldn't try to kill a skunk by talking it to death; and I wouldn't be + hopeful of putting the run on this Dunk person by telling him ghost + stories. As to ideas—I'm plumb full of them. But they're all about + grub, just right at present.” + </p> + <p> + That started Slim and Happy Jack to complaining because no one had had + sense enough to go back after some lunch before taking that long trail + south; the longer because it was a slow one, with sheep to set the pace. + And by the time they had presented their arguments against the Happy + Family's having enough brains to last them overnight, and the Happy Family + had indignantly pointed out just where the mental deficiency was most + noticeable, they were upon that last, broad stretch of “bench” land beyond + which lay Flying U coulee and Patsy and dinner; a belated dinner, to be + sure, but for that the more welcome. + </p> + <p> + And when they reached the point where they could look away to the very rim + of the coulee, they saw sheep—sheep to the skyline, feeding + scattered and at ease, making the prairie look, in the distance, as if it + were covered with a thin growth of gray sage-brush. Four herders moved + slowly upon the outskirts, and the dogs were little, scurrying, black dots + which stopped occasionally to wait thankfully until the master-minds again + urged them to endeavor. + </p> + <p> + The Happy Family drew up and stared in silence. + </p> + <p> + “Do I see sheep?” Pink inquired plaintively at last. “Tell me, somebody.” + </p> + <p> + “It's that bunch you fellows tackled last night,” said Weary miserably. “I + ought to have had sense enough to leave somebody on the ranch to look out + for this.” + </p> + <p> + “They've got their nerve,” stated Irish, “after the deal they got last + night. I'd have bet good money that you couldn't drag them herders across + Flying U coulee with a log chain.” + </p> + <p> + “Say, by golly, do we have to drive this here bunch anywheres before we + git anything to eat?” Slim wanted to know distressfully. + </p> + <p> + Weary considered briefly. “No, I guess we'll pass 'em up for the present. + An hour or so won't make much difference in the long run, and our horses + are about all in, right now—” + </p> + <p> + “So'm I, by cripes!” Big Medicine attested, grinning mirthlessly. “This + here sheep business is plumb wearin' on a man. 'Specially,” he added with + a fretful note, “when you've got to handle 'em gentle. The things I'd like + to do to them Dots is all ruled outa the game, seems like. Honest to + grandma, a little gore would look better to me right now than a Dutch + picnic before the foam's all blowed off the refreshments. Lemme kill off + jest one herder, Weary?” he pleaded. “The one that took a shot at me las' + night. Purty, please!” + </p> + <p> + “If you killed one,” Weary told him glumly, “you might as well make a + clean sweep and take in the whole bunch.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I won't charge nothin' extra fer that, either,” Bud assured him + generously. “I'm willin' to throw in the other three—and the dawgs, + too, by cripes!” He goggled the Happy Family quizzically. “Nobody can't + say there's anything small about me. Why, down in the Coconino country + they used to set half a dozen greasers diggin' graves, by cripes, soon as + I started in to argy with a man. It was a safe bet they'd need three or + four, anyways, if old Bud cut loose oncet. Sheepherders? Why, they jest + natcherly couldn't keep enough on hand, securely, to run their sheep. They + used to order sheepherders like they did woolsacks, by cripes! You could + always tell when I was in the country, by the number uh extra herders them + sheep outfits always kep' in reserve. Honest to grandma, I've knowed two + or three outfits to club together and ship in a carload at a time, when + they heard I was headed their way. And so when it comes to killin' off + four, why that ain't skurcely enough to make it worth m'while to dirty up + m'gun!” + </p> + <p> + “Aw, I betche yuh never killed a man in your life!” Happy Jack grumbled in + his characteristic tone of disparagement; but such was his respect for Big + Medicine's prowess that he took care not to speak loud enough to be + overheard by that modest gentleman, who continued with certain fearsome + details of alleged murderous exploits of his own, down in Coconino County, + Arizona. + </p> + <p> + But as they passed the detested animals, thankful that the trail permitted + them to ride by at a distance sufficient to blur the most unsavory + details, even Big Medicine gave over his deliberate boastings and relapsed + into silence. + </p> + <p> + He had begun his fantastic vauntings from an instinctive impulse to leaven + with humor a situation which, at the moment, could not be bettered. Just + as they had, when came the news of the Old Man's dire plight, sought to + push the tragedy of it into the background and cling to their creed of + optimism, they had avoided openly facing the sheep complication squarely + with mutual admissions of all it might mean to the Flying U. + </p> + <p> + Until Weary had unburdened his heart of worry on the ride home that day, + they had not said much about it, beyond a general vilification of the + sheep industry as a whole, of Dunk as the chief of the encroaching Dots, + and of the herders personally. + </p> + <p> + But there were times when they could not well avoid thinking rather deeply + upon the subject, even if they did refuse to put their forebodings into + speech. They were not children; neither were they to any degree lacking in + intelligence. Swearing, about herders and at them, was all very well; + bluffing, threatening, pummeling even with willing fists, tearing down + tents and binding men with ropes might serve to relieve the emotions upon + occasion. But there was the grim economic problem which faced squarely the + Flying U as a “cow outfit”—the problem of range and water; the Happy + Family did not call it by name, but they realized to the full what it + meant to the Old Man to have sheep just over his boundary line always. + They realized, too, what it meant to have the Old Man absent at this time—worse, + to have him lying in a hospital, likely to die at any moment; what it + meant to have the whole responsibility shifted to their shoulders, willing + though they might be to bear the burden; what it meant to have the general + of an army gone when the enemy was approaching in overwhelming numbers. + </p> + <p> + Pink, when they were descending the first slope of the bluff which was the + southern rim of Flying U coulee, turned and glared vindictively back at + the wavering, gray blanket out there to the west. When he faced to the + front his face had the look it wore when he was fighting. + </p> + <p> + “So help me, Josephine!” he gritted desperately, “we've got to clean the + range of them Dots before the Old Man comes back, or—” He snapped + his jaws shut viciously. + </p> + <p> + Weary turned haggard eyes toward him. + </p> + <p> + “How?” he asked simply. And Pink had no answer for him. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XII. Two of a Kind + </h2> + <p> + Patsy, staunch old partisan that he was, placed before them much food + which he had tried his best to keep hot without burning everything to a + crisp, and while they ate with ravenous haste he told, with German + epithets and a trembling lower jaw, of his troubles that day. + </p> + <p> + “Dem sheeps, dey coom by der leetle pasture,” he lamented while he poured + coffee muddy from long boiling. “Looks like dey know so soon you ride + away, und dey cooms cheeky as you pleece, und eats der grass und crawls + under der fence and leafs der vool sthicking by der vires. I goes out mit + a club, py cosh, und der sheeps chust looks und valks by some better place + alreatty, und I throw rocks and yells till mine neck iss sore. + </p> + <p> + “Und' dose herders, dey sets dem by der rock and laugh till I felt like I + could kill der whole punch, by cosh! Und von yells, 'Hey, dutchy, pring me + some pie, alreatty!' Und he laughs some more pecause der sheeps dey don't + go avay; dey chust run around und eat more grass and baa-aa!” He turned + and went heavily back to the greasy range with the depleted coffee pot, + lifted the lid of a kettle and looked in upon the contents with a purely + mechanical glance; gave a perfunctory prod or two with a long-handled + fork, and came back to stand uneasily behind Weary. + </p> + <p> + “If you poys are goin' to shtand fer dot,” he began querulously, “Py cosh + I von't! Py myself I vill go and tell dot Dunk W'ittaker vot lowdown skunk + I t'ink he iss. Sheep's vool shtickin' by der fences efferwhere on der + ranch, py cosh! Dot vould sure kill der Old Man quick if he see it. + Shtinkin' off sheeps py our noses all der time, till I can't eat no more + mit der shmell of dem. Neffer pefore did I see vool on der Flying U + fences, py cosh, und sheeps baa-aain' in der coulee!” + </p> + <p> + Never had they seen Patsy take so to heart a matter of mere business + importance. They did not say much to him; there was not much that they + could say. They ate their fill and went out disconsolately to discuss the + thing among themselves, away from Patsy's throaty complainings. They hated + it as badly as did he; with Weary's urgent plea for no violence holding + them in leash, they hated it more, if that were possible. + </p> + <p> + The Native Son tilted his head unobtrusively stableward when he caught + Andy's eye, and as unobtrusively wandered away from the group. Andy + stopped long enough to roll and light a cigarette and then strolled after + him with apparent aimlessness, secretly curious over the summons. He found + Miguel in the stable waiting for him, and Miguel led the way, rope in hand + across the corral and into the little pasture where fed a horse he meant + to ride. He did not say anything until he had turned to close the gate, + and to make sure that they were alone and that their departure had not + carried to the Happy Family any betraying air of significance. + </p> + <p> + “You remember when you blew in here, a few weeks or so ago?” the Native + Son asked abruptly, a twinkle in his fathomless eyes. “You put up a good + one on the boys, that time, you remember. Bluffed them into thinking I was + a hero in disguise, and that you'd seen me pull off a big stunt of + bull-fighting and bull-dogging down in Mexico. It was a fine josh. They + believe it yet.” + </p> + <p> + Andy glanced at him perplexedly. “Yes—but when it turned out to be + true,” he amended, “the josh was on me, I guess; I thought I was just + lying, when I wasn't. I've wondered a good deal about that. By gracious, + it makes a man feel funny to frame up a yarn out of his own think-machine, + and then find out he's been telling the truth all the while. It's like a + fellow handing out a twenty-four karat gold bar to a rube by mistake, + under the impression it only looks like one. Of course they believe it! + Only they don't know I just merely hit the truth by accident.” + </p> + <p> + The Native Son smiled his slow, amused smile, that somehow never failed to + be impressive. “That's the funny part of it,” he drawled. “You didn't. I + just piled another little josh on top of yours, that's all. I never + throwed a bull in my life, except with my lariat. I'd heard a good deal + about you, and—well, I thought I'd see if I could go you one better. + And you put that Mexico yarn across so smooth and easy, I just simply + couldn't resist the temptation to make you think it was all straight + goods. Sabe?” + </p> + <p> + Andy Green did not say a word, but he looked exceedingly foolish. + </p> + <p> + “So I think we can both safely consider ourselves top-hands when it comes + to lying,” the Native Son went on shamelessly. “And if you're willing to + go in with me on it and help put Dunk on the run—” He glanced over + his shoulder, saw that Happy Jack, on horseback, was coming out to haze in + the saddle bunch, and turned to stroll back as lazily as he had come. He + continued to speak smoothly and swiftly, in a voice that would not carry + ten paces. While Andy Green, with brown head bent attentively, listened + eagerly and added a sentence or two on his own account now and then, and + smiled—which he had not been in the habit of doing lately. + </p> + <p> + “Say, you fellers are gittin' awful energetic, ain't yuh?—wranglin' + horses afoot!” Happy Jack bantered at the top of his voice when he passed + them by. “Better save up your strength while you kin. Weary's goin' to set + us herdin' sheep agin—and I betche there's goin' to be something + more'n herdin' on our hands before we git through.” + </p> + <p> + “I wouldn't be a bit surprised if there was,” sang out Andy, as cheerfully + as if he had been invited to dance “Ladies' choice” with the prettiest + girl in the crowd. “Wonder what hole he's going to dump this bunch into,” + he added to the Native Son. “By gracious, he ought to send 'em just as far + north as he can drive 'em without paying duty! I'd sure take 'em over into + Canada, if it was me running the show.” + </p> + <p> + “It was a mistake,” the Native Son volunteered, “for the whole bunch to go + off like we did to-day. They had those sheep up here on the hill just for + a bait. They knew we'd go straight up in the air and come down on those + two freaks herding 'em, and that gave them the chance to cross the other + bunch. I thought so all along, but I didn't like to butt in.” + </p> + <p> + “Well Weary's mad enough now to do things that will leave a dent, anyway,” + Andy commented under his breath when, from the corral gate, he got a good + look at Weary's profile, which showed the set of his mouth and chin. “See + that mouth? It's hunt the top rail, and do it quick, when old Weary + straightens out his lips like that.” + </p> + <p> + Behind them, Happy Jack bellowed for an open gate and no obstructions, and + they drew hastily to one side to let the saddle horses gallop past with a + great upflinging of dust. Pink, with a quite obtrusive facetiousness, + began lustily chanting that it looked to him like a big night to-night—with + occasional, furtive glances at Weary's face; for he, also, had been quick + to read those close-pressed lips, which did not soften in response to the + ditty. Usually he laughed at Pink's drollery. + </p> + <p> + They rode rather quietly upon the hill again, to where fed the sheep. + During the hour or so that they had been absent the sheep had not moved + appreciably; they still grazed close enough to the boundary to make their + position seem a direct insult to the Flying U, a virtual slap in the face. + And these young men who worked for the Flying U, and who made its + interests right loyally their own, were growing very, very tired of + turning the other cheek. With them, the time for profanity and for + horseplay bluffing and judicious temporizing was past. There were other + lips besides Weary's that were drawn tight and thin when they approached + that particular band of sheep. More than one pair of eyes turned + inquiringly toward him and away again when they met no answering look. + </p> + <p> + They topped a rise of ground, and in the shallow wrinkle which had hidden + him until now they came full upon Dunk Whittaker, riding a chunky black + which stepped restlessly about while he conferred in low tones with a + couple of the herders. The Happy Family recognized them as two of the + fellows in whose safe keeping they had left their ropes the night before. + Dunk looked around quickly when the group appeared over the little ridge, + scowled, hesitated and then came straight up to them. + </p> + <p> + “I want you rowdies to bring back those sheep you took the trouble to + drive off this morning,” he began, with the even, grating voice and the + sneering lift of lip under his little, black mustache which the older + members of the Happy Family remembered—and hated—so vividly. + “I've stood just all I'm going to stand, of these typically Flying U + performances you've been indulging in so freely during the past week. It's + all very well to terrorize a neighborhood of long-haired rubes who don't + know enough to teach you your places; but interfering with another man's + property is—” + </p> + <p> + “Interfering with another—what?” Big Medicine, his pale blue eyes + standing out more like a frog's than ever upon his face, gave his horse a + kick and lunged close that he might lean and thrust his red face near to + Dunk's. “Another what? I don't see nothin' in your saddle that looks t'me + like a man, by cripes! All I can see is a smooth-skinned, slippery vermin + I'd hate to name a snake after, that crawls around in the dark and lets + cheap rough-necks do all his dirty work. I've saw dogs sneak up and grab a + man behind, but most always they let out a growl or two first. And even a + rattler is square enough to buzz at yuh and give yuh a chanc't to + side-step him. Honest to grandma, I don't hardly know what kinda reptyle + y'are. I hate to insult any of 'em, by cripes, by namin' yuh after 'em. + But don't, for Lordy's sake, ever call yourself a man agin!” + </p> + <p> + Big Medicine turned his head and spat disgustedly into the grass and + looked back slightingly with other annihilating remarks close behind his + wide-apart teeth, but instead of speaking he made an unbelievably quick + motion with his hand. The blow smacked loudly upon Dunk's cheek, and so + nearly sent him out of the saddle that he grabbed for the horn to save + himself. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I seert yuh keepin' yer hand next yer six-gun all the while,” Big + Medicine bawled. “That's one reason I say yuh ain't no man! Yuh wouldn't + dast talk up to a prairie dog if yuh wasn't all set to make a quick draw. + Yuh got your face slapped oncet before by a Flyin' U man, and yuh had it + comm'. Now you're—gittin'—it—done—right!” + </p> + <p> + If you have ever seen an irate, proletarian mother cuffing her offspring + over an empty wood-box, you may picture perhaps the present proceeding of + Big Medicine. To many a man the thing would have been unfeasible, after + the first blow, because of the horses. But Big Medicine was very nearly + all that he claimed to be; and one of his pet vanities was his + horsemanship; he managed to keep within a fine slapping distance of Dunk. + He stopped when his hand began to sting through his glove. + </p> + <p> + “Now you keep your hand away from that gun—that you ain't honest + enough to carry where folks can see it, but 'ye got it cached in your + pocket!” he thundered. “And go on with what you was goin' t'say. Only + don't get swell-headed enough to think you're a man, agin. You ain't.” + </p> + <p> + “I've got this to say!” Mere type cannot reproduce the malevolence of + Dunk's spluttering speech. “I've sent for the county sheriff and a dozen + deputies to arrest you, and you, and you, damn you!” He was pointing a + shaking finger at the older members of the Happy Family, whom he + recognized not gladly, but too well. “I'll have you all in Deer Lodge + before that lying, thieving, cattle-stealing Old Man of yours can lift a + finger. I'll sheep Flying U coulee to the very doors of the white house. + I'll skin the range between here and the river—and I'll have every + one of you hounds put where the dogs won't bite you!” He drew a hand + across his mouth and smiled as they say Satan himself can smile upon + occasion. + </p> + <p> + “You've done enough to send you all over the road; destroying property and + assaulting harmless men—you wait! There are other and better ways to + fight than with the fists, and I haven't forgotten any of you fellows—there + are a few more rounders among you—” + </p> + <p> + “Hey! You apologize fer that, by cripes, er I'll kill yuh the longest way + I know. And that—” Big Medicine again laid violent hands upon Dunk, + “and that way won't feel good, now I'm tellin' yuh. Apologize, er—” + </p> + <p> + “Say, all this don't do any good, Bud,” Weary expostulated. “Let Dunk + froth at the mouth if he wants to; what we want is to get these sheep off + the range. And,” he added recklessly, “so long as the sheriff is headed + for us anyway, we may as well get busy and make it worth his while. So—” + He stopped, silenced by a most amazing interruption. + </p> + <p> + On the brow of the hill, when first they had sighted Dunk in the hollow, + something had gone wrong with Miguel's saddle so that he had stopped + behind; and, to keep him company, Andy had stopped also and waited for + him. Later, when Dunk was spluttering threats, they had galloped up to the + edge of the group and pulled their horses to a stand. Now, Miguel rode + abruptly close to Dunk as rides one with a purpose. + </p> + <p> + He leaned and peered intently into Dunk's distorted countenance until + every man there, struck by his manner, was watching him curiously. Then he + sat back in the saddle, straightened his legs in the stirrups and laughed. + And like his smile when he would have it so, or the little twitch of + shoulders by which he could so incense a man, that laugh brought a deeper + flush to Dunk's face, reddened though it was by Big Medicine's vigorous + slapping. + </p> + <p> + “Say, you've got nerve,” drawled the Native Son, “to let a sheriff travel + toward you. I can remember when you were more timid, amigo.” He turned his + head until his eyes fell upon Andy. “Say, Andy!” he called. “Come and take + a look at this hombre. You'll have to think back a few years,” he assisted + laconically. + </p> + <p> + In response, Andy rode up eagerly. Like the Native Son, he leaned and + peered into eyes that stared back defiantly, wavered, and turned away. + Andy also sat back in the saddle then, and snorted. + </p> + <p> + “So this is the Dunk Whittaker that's been raising merry hell around here! + And talks about sending for the sheriff, huh? I've always heard that a lot + uh gall is the best disguise a man can hide under, but, by gracious, this + beats the deuce!” He turned to the astounded Happy Family with growing + excitement in his manner. + </p> + <p> + “Boys, we don't have to worry much about this gazabo! We'll just freeze + onto him till the sheriff heaves in sight. Gee! There'll sure be something + stirring when we tell him who this Dunk person really is! And you say he + was in with the Old Man, once? Oh, Lord!” He looked with withering + contempt at Dunk; and Dunk's glance flickered again and dropped, just as + his hand dropped to the pocket of his coat. + </p> + <p> + “No, yuh don't, by cripes!” Big Medicine's hand gripped Dunk's arm on the + instant. With his other he plucked the gun from Dunk's pocket, and + released him as he would let go of something foul which he had been + compelled to touch. + </p> + <p> + “He'll be good, or he'll lose his dinner quick,” drawled the Native Son, + drawing his own silver-mounted six-shooter and resting it upon the saddle + horn so that it pointed straight at Dunk's diaphragm. “You take Weary off + somewhere and tell him something about this deal, Andy. I'll watch this + slippery gentleman.” He smiled slowly and got an answering grin from Andy + Green, who immediately rode a few rods away, with Weary and Pink close + behind. + </p> + <p> + “Say, by golly, what's Dunk wanted fer?” Slim blurted inquisitively after + a short silence. + </p> + <p> + “Not for riding or driving over a bridge faster than a walk Slim,” purred + the Native Son, shifting his gun a trifle as Dunk moved uneasily in the + saddle. “You know the man. Look at his face—and use your + imagination, if you've got any.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIII. The Happy Family Learn Something + </h2> + <p> + “Well, I hope this farce is about over,” Dunk sneered, with as near an + approach to his old, supercilious manner as he could command, when the + three who had ridden apart returned presently. “Perhaps, Weary, you'll be + good enough to have this fellow put up his gun, and these—” he + hesitated, after a swift glance, to apply any epithet whatever to the + Happy Family. “I have two witnesses here to swear that you have without + any excuse assaulted and maligned and threatened me, and you may consider + yourselves lucky if I do not insist—” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, cut that out,” Andy advised wearily. “I don't know how it strikes the + rest, but it sounds pretty sickening to me. Don't overlook the fact that + two of us happen to know all about you; and we know just where to send + word, to dig up a lot more identification. So bluffing ain't going to help + you out, a darned bit.” + </p> + <p> + “Miguel, you can go with Andy,” Weary said with brisk decision. “Take Dunk + down to the ranch till the sheriff gets here—if it's straight goods + about Dunk sending for him. If he didn't, we can take Dunk in to-morrow, + ourselves.” He turned and fixed a cold, commanding eye upon the + slack-jawed herders. “Come along, you two, and get these sheep headed outa + here.” + </p> + <p> + “Say, we'll just lock him up in the blacksmith shop, and come on back,” + Andy amended the order after his own free fashion. “He couldn't get out in + a million years; not after I'm through staking him out to the anvil with a + log-chain.” He smiled maliciously into Dunk's fear-yellowed countenance, + and waved him a signal to ride ahead, which Dunk did without a word of + protest while the Happy Family looked on dazedly. + </p> + <p> + “What's it all about, Weary?” Irish asked, when the three were gone. “What + is it they've got on Dunk? Must be something pretty fierce, the way he + wilted down into the saddle.” + </p> + <p> + “You'll have to wait and ask the boys.” Weary rode off to hurry the + herders on the far side of the band. + </p> + <p> + So the Happy Family remained perforce unenlightened upon the subject and + for that they said hard things about Weary, and about Andy and Miguel as + well. They believed that they were entitled to know the truth, and they + called it a smart-aleck trick to keep the thing so almighty secret. + </p> + <p> + There is in resentment a crisis; when that crisis is reached, and the dam + of repression gives way, the full flood does not always sweep down upon + those who have provoked the disaster. Frequently it happens that perfectly + innocent victims are made to suffer. The Happy Family had been extremely + forbearing, as has been pointed out before. They had frequently come to + the boiling point of rage and had cooled without committing any real act + of violence. But that day had held a long series of petty annoyances; and + here was a really important thing kept from them as if they were mere + outsiders. When Weary was gone, Irish asked Pink what crime Dunk had + committed in the past. And Pink shook his head and said he didn't know. + Irish mentally accused Pink of lying, and his temper was none the better + for the rebuff, as anyone can readily understand. + </p> + <p> + When the herders, therefore, rounded up the sheep and started them moving + south, the Happy Family speedily rebelled against that shuffling, + nibbling, desultory pace that had kept them long, weary hours in the + saddle with the other band. But it was Irish who first took measures to + accelerate that pace. + </p> + <p> + He got down his rope and whacked the loop viciously down across the + nearest gray back. The sheep jumped, scuttled away a few paces and + returned to its nibbling progress. Irish called it names and whacked + another. + </p> + <p> + After a few minutes he grew tired of swinging his loop and seeing it have + so fleeting an effect, and pulled his gun. He fired close to the heels of + a yearling buck that had more than once stopped to look up at him + foolishly and blat, and the buck charged ahead in a panic at the noise and + the spat of the bullet behind him. + </p> + <p> + “Hit him agin in the same place!” yelled Big Medicine, and drew his own + gun. The Happy Family, at that high tension where they were ready for + anything, caught the infection and began shooting and yelling like crazy + men. + </p> + <p> + The effect was not at all what they expected. Instead of adding impetus to + the band, as would have been the case if they had been driving cattle, the + result was exactly the opposite. The sheep ran—but they ran to a + common center. As the shooting went on they bunched tighter and tighter, + until it seemed as though those in the center must surely be crushed flat. + From an ambling, feeding company of animals, they become a lumpy gray + blanket, with here and there a long, vacuous face showing idiotically upon + the surface. + </p> + <p> + The herders grinned and drew together as against a common enemy—or + as with a new joke to be discussed among themselves. The dogs wandered + helplessly about, yelped half-heartedly at the woolly mass, then sat down + upon their haunches and lolled red tongues far out over their pointed + little teeth, and tilted knowing heads at the Happy Family. + </p> + <p> + “Look at the darned things!” wailed Pink, riding twice around the huddle, + almost ready to shed tears of pure rage and helplessness. “Git outa that! + Hi! Woopp-ee!” He fired again and again, and gave the range-old + cattle-yell; the yell which had sent many a tired herd over many a weary + mile; the yell before which had fled fat steers into the stockyards at + shipping time, and up the chutes into the cars; the yell that had + hoarsened many a cowpuncher's voice and left him with a mere croak to + curse his fate with; a yell to bring results—but it did not start + those sheep. + </p> + <p> + The Happy Family, riding furiously round and round, fired every cartridge + they had upon their persons; they said every improper thing they could + remember or invent; they yelled until their eyes were starting from their + sockets; they glued that band of sheep so tight together that dynamite + could scarcely have pried them apart. + </p> + <p> + And the herders, sitting apart with grimy hands clasped loosely over + hunched-up knees, looked on, and talked together in low tones, and + grinned. + </p> + <p> + Irish glanced that way and caught them grinning; caught them pointing + derisively, with heaving shoulders. He swore a great oath and made for + them, calling aloud that he would knock those grins so far in that they + would presently find themselves smiling wrong-side-out from the back of + their heads. + </p> + <p> + Pink, overhearing him, gave a last swat at the waggling tail of a + burrowing buck, and wheeled to overtake Irish and have a hand in reversing + the grins. Big Medicine saw them start, and came bellowing up from the far + side of the huddle like a bull challenging to combat from across a meadow. + Big Medicine did not know what it was all about, but he scented battle, + and that was sufficient. Cal Emmett and Weary, equally ignorant of the + cause, started at a lope toward the trouble center. + </p> + <p> + It began to look as if the whole Family was about to fall upon those + herders and rend them asunder with teeth and nails; so much so that the + herders jumped up and ran like scared cottontails toward the rim of Denson + coulee, a hundred yards or so to the west. + </p> + <p> + “Mamma! I wish we could make the sheep hit that gait and keep it,” + exclaimed Weary, with the first laugh they had heard from him that day. + </p> + <p> + While he was still laughing, there was a shot from the ridge toward which + they were running; the sharp, vicious crack of a rifle. The Happy Family + heard the whistling hum of the bullet, singing low over their heads; quite + low indeed; altogether too low to be funny. And they had squandered all + their ammunition on the prairie sod, to hurry a band of sheep that flatly + refused to hurry anywhere except under one another's odorous, perspiring + bodies. + </p> + <p> + From the edge of the coulee the rifle spoke again. A tiny geyser of dust, + spurting up from the ground ten feet to one side of Cal Emmett, showed + them all where the bullet struck. + </p> + <p> + “Get outa range, everybody!” yelled Weary, and set the example by tilting + his rowels against Glory's smooth hide, and heading eastward. “I like to + be accommodating, all right, but I draw the line on standing around for a + target while my neighbors practise shooting.” + </p> + <p> + The Happy Family, having no other recourse, therefore retreated in haste + toward the eastern skyline. Bullets followed them, overtook them as the + shooter raised his sights for the increasing distance, and whined + harmlessly over their heads. All save one. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIV. Happy Jack + </h2> + <p> + Big Medicine, Irish and Pink, racing almost abreast, heard a scream behind + them and pulled up their horses with short, stiff-legged plunges. A brown + horse overtook them; a brown horse, with Happy Jack clinging to the + saddle-horn, his body swaying far over to one side. Even as he went + hurtling past them his hold grew slack and he slumped, head foremost, to + the ground. The brown horse gave a startled leap away from him and went on + with empty stirrups flapping. + </p> + <p> + They sprang down and lifted him to a less awkward position, and Big + Medicine pillowed the sweat-dampened, carroty head in the hollow of his + arm. Those who had been in the lead looked back startled when the brown + horse tore past them with that empty saddle; saw what had happened, + wheeled and galloped back. They dismounted and stood silently grouped + about poor, ungainly Happy Jack, lying there limp and motionless in Big + Medicine's arms. Not one of them remembered then that there was a man with + a rifle not more than two hundred yards away; or, if they did, they quite + forgot that the rifle might be dangerous to themselves. They were thinking + of Happy Jack. + </p> + <p> + Happy Jack, butt of all their jokes and jibes; Happy the croaker, the + lugubrious forecaster of trouble; Happy Jack, the ugliest, the stupidest, + the softest-hearted man of them all. He had “betched” there would be + someone killed, over these Dot sheep; he had predicted trouble of every + conceivable kind; and they had laughed at him, swore at him, lied to him, + “joshed” him unmercifully, and kept him in a state of chronic indignation, + never dreaming that the memory of it would choke them and strike them dumb + with that horrible, dull weight in their chests with which men suffer when + a woman would find the relief of weeping. + </p> + <p> + “Where's he hurt?” asked Weary, in the repressed tone which only tragedy + can bring into a man's voice, and knelt beside Big Medicine. + </p> + <p> + “I dunno—through the lungs, I guess; my sleeve's gitting soppy right + under his shoulder.” Big Medicine did not bellow; his voice was as quiet + as Weary's. + </p> + <p> + Weary looked up briefly at the circle of staring faces. “Pink, you pile + onto Glory and go wire for a doctor. Try Havre first; you may get one up + on the nine o' clock train. If you can't, get one down on the + 'leven-twenty, from Great Falls. Or there's Benton—anyway, git one. + If you could catch MacPherson, do it. Try him first, and never mind a + Havre doctor unless you can't get MacPherson. I'd rather wait a couple of + hours longer, for him. I'll have a rig—no, you better get a team + from Jim. They'll be fresh, and you can put 'em through. If you kill 'em,” + he added grimly, “we can pay for 'em.” He had his jack-knife out, and was + already slashing carefully the shirt of Happy Jack, that he might inspect + the wound. + </p> + <p> + Pink gave a last, wistful look at Happy Jack's face, which seemed + unfamiliar with all the color and all the expression wiped out of it like + that, and turned away. “Come and help me change saddles, Cal,” he said + shortly. “Weary's stirrups are too darned long.” Even with the delay, he + was mounted on Glory and galloping toward Flying U coulee before Weary was + through uncovering the wound; and that does not mean that Weary was slow. + </p> + <p> + The rifle cracked again, and a bullet plucked into the sod twenty feet + beyond the circle of men and horses. But no one looked up or gave any + other sign of realization that they were still the target; they were + staring, with that frowning painfully intent look men have at such + moments, at a purplish hole not much bigger than if punched by a lead + pencil, just under the point of Happy Jack's shoulder blade; and at the + blood oozing sluggishly from it in a tiny stream across the girlishly + white flesh and dripping upon Big Medicine's arm. + </p> + <p> + “Hadn't we better get a rig to take him home with?” Irish suggested. + </p> + <p> + Weary, exploring farther, had just disclosed a ragged wound under the arm + where the bullet had passed out; he made no immediate reply. + </p> + <p> + “Well, he ain't got it stuck inside of 'im, anyway,” Big Medicine + commented relievedly. “Don't look to me like it's so awful bad—went + through kinda anglin', and maybe missed his lungs. I've saw men shot up + before—” + </p> + <p> + “Aw—I betche you'd—think it was bad—if you had it—” + murmured Happy Jack peevishly, lifting his eyelids heavily for a resentful + glance when they moved him a little. But even as Big Medicine grinned + joyfully down at him he went off again into mental darkness, and the grin + faded into solicitude. + </p> + <p> + “You'd kick, by golly, if you was goin' to be hung,” Slim bantered tritely + and belatedly, and gulped remorsefully when he saw that he was “joshing” + an unconscious man. + </p> + <p> + “We better get him home. Irish, you—” Weary looked up and discovered + that Irish and jack Bates were already headed for home and a conveyance. + He gave a sigh of approval and turned his attention toward wiping the + sweat and grime from Happy's face with his handkerchief. + </p> + <p> + “Somebody else is goin' to git hit, by golly, if we stay here,” Slim + blurted suddenly, when another bullet dug up the dirt in that vicinity. + </p> + <p> + “That gol-darned fool'll keep on till he kills somebody. I wisht I had m' + thirty-thirty here—I'd make him wisht his mother was a man, by + golly!” + </p> + <p> + Big Medicine looked toward the coulee rim. “I ain't got a shell left,” he + growled regretfully. “I wisht we'd thought to tell the boys to bring them + rifles. Say, Slim, you crawl onto your hoss and go git 'em. It won't take + more'n a minute. There'll likely be some shells in the magazines.” + </p> + <p> + “Go on, Slim,” urged Weary grimly. “We've got to do something. They can't + do a thing like this—” he glanced down at Happy Jack— “and get + away with it.” + </p> + <p> + “I got half a box uh shells for my thirty-thirty, I'll bring that.” Slim + turned to go, stopped short and stared at the coulee rim. “By golly, + they're comm' over here!” he exclaimed. + </p> + <p> + Big Medicine glanced up, took off his hat, crumpled it for a pillow and + eased Happy Jack down upon it. He got up stiffly, wiped his fingers + mechanically upon his trouser legs, broke his gun open just to make sure + that it was indeed empty, put it back and picked up a handful of rocks. + </p> + <p> + “Let 'em come,” he said viciously. “I c'n kill every damn' one with m' + bare hands!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XV. Oleson + </h2> + <p> + “Say, ain't that Andy and Mig following along behind?” Cal asked after a + minute of watching the approach. “Sure, it is. Now what—” + </p> + <p> + “They're drivin' 'em, by cripes!” Big Medicine, under the stress of the + moment, returned to his usual bellowing tone. “Who's that tall, lanky + feller in the lead? I don't call to mind ever seem him before. Them four + herders I'd know a mile off.” + </p> + <p> + “That?” Weary shaded his eyes with his hat-brim, against the slant rays of + the westering sun. “That's Oleson, Dunk's partner.” + </p> + <p> + “His mother'd be a-weepin',” Big Medicine observed bodefully, “if she + knowed what was due to happen to her son right away quick. Must be him + that done the shootin'.” + </p> + <p> + They came on steadily, the four herders and Oleson walking reluctantly + ahead, with Andy Green and the Native Son riding relentlessly in the rear, + their guns held unwaveringly in a line with the backs of their captives. + Andy was carrying a rifle, evidently taken from one of the men—Oleson, + they judged for the guilty one. Half the distance was covered when Andy + was seen to turn his head and speak briefly with the Native Son, after + which he lunged past the captives and galloped up to the waiting group. + His quick eye sought first the face of Happy Jack in anxious questioning; + then, miserably, he searched the faces of his friends. + </p> + <p> + “Good Lord!” he exclaimed mechanically, dismounted and bent over the + figure on the ground. For a long minute he knelt there; he laid his ear + close to Happy Jack's mouth, took off his glove and laid his hand over + Happy's heart; reached up, twitched off his neckerchief, shook out the + creases and spread it reverently over Happy Jack's face. He stood up then + and spoke slowly, his eyes fixed upon the stumbling approach of the + captives. + </p> + <p> + “Pink told us Happy had been shot, so we rode around and come up behind + 'em. It was a cinch. And—say, boys, we've got the Dots in a pocket. + They've got to eat outa our hands, now. So don't think about—our own + feelings, or about—” he stopped abruptly and let a downward glance + finish the sentence. “We've got to keep our own hands clean, and—now + don't let your fingers get the itch, Bud!” This, because of certain + manifestations of a murderous intent on the part of Big Medicine. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, it's all right to talk, if yuh feel like talking,” Big Medicine + retorted savagely. “I don't.” He made a catlike spring at the foremost + man, who happened to be Oleson, and got a merciless grip with his fingers + on his throat, snarling like a predatory animal over its kill. From + behind, Andy, with Weary to help, pulled him off. + </p> + <p> + “I didn't mean to—to kill anybody,” gasped Oleson, pasty white. “I + heard a lot of shooting, and so I ran up the hill—and the herders + came running toward me, and I thought I was defending my property and men. + I had a right to defend—” + </p> + <p> + “Defend hell!” Big Medicine writhed in the restraining grasp of those who + held him. “Look at that there! As good hearted a boy as ever turned a cow! + Never harmed a soul in 'is life. Is all your dirty, stinkin' sheep, an' + all your lousy herders, worth that boy's life? Yuh shot 'im down like a + dog—lemme go, boys.” His voice was husky. “Lemme tromp the life outa + him.” + </p> + <p> + “I thought you were killing my men, or I never—I never meant to—to + kill—” Oleson, shaking till he could scarcely stand, broke down and + wept; wept pitiably, hysterically, as men of a certain fiber will weep + when black tragedy confronts them all unawares. He cowered miserably + before the Happy Family, his face hidden behind his two hands. + </p> + <p> + “Boys, I want to say a word or two. Come over here.” Andy's voice, quiet + as ever, contrasted strangely with the man's sobbing. He led them back a + few paces—Weary, Cal, Big Medicine and Slim, and spoke hurriedly. + The Native Son eyed them sidelong from his horse, but he was careful to + keep Oleson covered with his gun—and the herders too, although they + were unarmed. Once or twice he glanced at that long, ungainly figure in + the grass with the handkerchief of Andy Green hiding the face except where + a corner, fluttering in the faint breeze which came creeping out of the + west, lifted now and then and gave a glimpse of sunbrowned throat and a + quiet chin and mouth. + </p> + <p> + “Quit that blubbering, Oleson, and listen here.” Andys voice broke + relentlessly upon the other's woe. “All these boys want to hang yuh + without any red tape; far as I'm concerned, I'm dead willing. But we're + going to give yuh a chance. Your partner, as we told yuh coming over, + we've got the dead immortal cinch on, right now. And—well you can + see what you're up against. But we'll give yuh a chance. Have you got any + family?” + </p> + <p> + Oleson, trying to pull himself together, shook his head. + </p> + <p> + “Well, then, you can get rid of them sheep, can't yuh? Sell 'em, ship 'em + outa here—we don't give a darn what yuh do, only so yuh get 'em off + the range.” + </p> + <p> + “Y-yes, I'll do that.” Oleson's consent was reluctant, but it was fairly + prompt. “I'll get rid of the sheep,” he said, as if he was minded to + clinch the promise. “I'll do it at once.” + </p> + <p> + “That's nice.” Andy spoke with grim irony. “And you'll get rid of the + ranch, too. You'll sell it to the Flying U—cheap.” + </p> + <p> + “But my partner—Whittaker might object—” + </p> + <p> + “Look here, old-timer. You'll fix that part up; you'll find a way of + fixing it. Look here—at what you're up against.” He waited, with + pointing finger, for one terrible minute. “Will you sell to the Flying U?” + </p> + <p> + “Y-yes!” The word was really a gulp. He tried to avoid looking where Andy + pointed; failed, and shuddered at what he saw. + </p> + <p> + “I thought you would. We'll get that in writing. And we're going to wait + just exactly twenty-four hours before we make a move. It'll take some fine + work, but we'll do it. Our boss, here, will fix up the business end with + you. He'll go with yuh right now, and stay with yuh till you make good. + And the first crooked move you make—” Andy, in unconscious imitation + of the Native Son, shrugged a shoulder expressively and urged Weary by a + glance to take the leadership. + </p> + <p> + “Irish, you come with me. The rest of you fellows know about what to do. + Andy, I guess you'll have to ride point till I get back.” Weary hesitated, + looked from Happy Jack to Oleson and the herders, and back to the sober + faces of his fellows. “Do what you can for him, boys—and I wish one + of you would ride over, after Pink gets back, and—let me know how + things stack up, will you?” + </p> + <p> + Incredible as was the situation on the face of it, nevertheless it was + extremely matter-of-fact in the handling; which is the way sometimes with + incredible situations; as if, since we know instinctively that we cannot + rise unprepared to the bigness of its possibilities, we keep our feet + planted steadfastly on the ground and refuse to rise at all. And + afterward, perhaps, we look back and wonder how it all came about. + </p> + <p> + At the last moment Weary turned back and exchanged guns with Andy Green, + because his own was empty and he realized the possible need of one—or + at least the need of having the sheep-men perfectly aware that he had one + ready for use. The Native Son, without a word of comment, handed his own + silver-trimmed weapon over to Irish, and rolled a cigarette deftly with + one hand while he watched them ride away. + </p> + <p> + “Does this strike anybody else as being pretty raw?” he inquired calmly, + dismounting among them. “I'd do a good deal for the outfit, myself; but + letting that man get off—Say, you fellows up this way don't think + killing a man amounts to much, do you?” He looked from one to the other + with a queer, contemptuous hostility in his eyes. + </p> + <p> + Andy Green took a forward step and laid a hand familiarly on his rigid + shoulder. “Quit it, Mig. We would do a lot for the outfit; that's the + God's truth. And I played the game right up to the hilt, I admit. But + nobody's killed. I told Happy to play dead. By gracious, I caught him just + in the nick uh time; he'd been setting up, in another minute.” To prove + it, he bent and twitched the handkerchief from the face of Happy Jack, and + Happy opened his eyes and made shift to growl. + </p> + <p> + “Yuh purty near-smothered me t'death, darn yuh.” + </p> + <p> + “Dios!” breathed the Native Son, for once since they knew him jolted out + of his eternal calm. “God, but I'm glad!” + </p> + <p> + “I guess the rest of us ain't,” insinuated Andy softly, and lifted his hat + to wipe the sweat off his forehead. “I will say that—” After all, he + did not. Instead, he knelt beside Happy Jack and painstakingly adjusted + the crumpled hat a hair's breadth differently. + </p> + <p> + “How do yuh feel, old-timer?” he asked with a very thin disguise of + cheerfulness upon the anxiety of his tone. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I could feel a lot—better, without hurtin' nothin,” Happy + Jack responded somberly. “I hope you fellers—feel better, now. Yuh + got 'em—tryin' to murder—the hull outfit; jes' like I—told + yuh they would—” Gunshot wounds, contrary to the tales of certain + sentimentalists, do not appreciably sweeten, or even change, a man's + disposition. Happy Jack with a bullet hole through one side of him was + still Happy Jack. + </p> + <p> + “Aw, quit your beefin',” Big Medicine advised gruffly. “A feller with a + hole in his lung yuh could throw a calf through sideways ain't got no + business statin' his views on nothin', by cripes!” + </p> + <p> + “Aw gwan. I thought you said—it didn't amount t' nothin',” Happy + reminded him, anxiety stealing into his face. + </p> + <p> + “Well, it don't. May lay yuh up a day or two; wouldn't be su'prised if yuh + had to stay on the bed-ground two or three meals. But look at Slim, here. + Shot through the leg—shattered a bone, by cripes!—las' night, + only; and here he's makin' a hand and ridin' and cussin' same as any of us + t'day. We ain't goin' to let yuh grouch around, that's all. We claim we + got a vacation comm' to us; you're shot up, now, and that's fun enough for + one man, without throwin' it into the whole bunch. Why, a little nick like + that ain't nothin'; nothin' a-tall. Why, I've been shot right through + here, by cripes”—Big Medicine laid an impressive finger-tip on the + top button of his trousers—“and it come out back here”—he + whirled and showed his thumb against the small of his back—“and I + never laid off but that day and part uh the next. I was sore,” he + admitted, goggling Happy Jack earnestly, “but I kep' a-goin'. I was right + in fall roundup, an' I had to. A man can't lay down an' cry, by cripes, + jes' because he gets pinked a little—” + </p> + <p> + “Aw, that's jest because—it ain't you. I betche you'd lay 'em down—jest + like other folks, if yuh got shot—through the lungs. That ain't no—joke, + lemme tell yuh!” Happy Jack was beginning to show considerable spirit for + a wounded man. So much spirit that Andy Green, who had seen men stricken + down with various ills, read fever signs in the countenance and in the + voice of Happy, and led Big Medicine somewhat peremptorily out of + ear-shot. + </p> + <p> + “Ain't you got any sense?” he inquired with fine candor. “What do you want + to throw it into him like that, for? You may not think so, but he's pretty + bad off—if you ask me.” + </p> + <p> + Big Medicine's pale eyes turned commiseratingly toward Happy Jack. “I know + he is; I ain't no fool. I was jest tryin' to cheer 'im up a little. He was + beginnin' to look like he was gittin' scared about it; I reckon maybe I + made a break, sayin' what I did about it, so I jest wanted to take the + cuss off. Honest to gran'ma—” + </p> + <p> + “If you know anything at all about such things, you must know what fever + means in such a case. And, recollect, it's going to be quite a while + before a doctor can get here.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I'll be careful. Maybe I did throw it purty strong; I won't, no + more.” Big Medicine s meekness was not the least amazing incident of the + day. He was a big-hearted soul under his bellow and bluff, and his + sympathy for Happy Jack struck deep. He went back walking on his toes, and + he stood so that his sturdy body shaded Happy Jack's face from the sun, + and he did not open his mouth for another word until Irish and Jack Bates + came rattling up with the spring wagon hurriedly transformed with + mattress, pillows and blankets into an ambulance. + </p> + <p> + They had been thoughtful to a degree. They brought with them a jug of + water and a tin cup, and they gave Happy Jack a long, cooling drink of it + and bathed his face before they lifted him into the wagon. And of all the + hands that ministered to his needs, the hands of Big Medicine were the + eagerest and gentlest, and his voice was the most vibrant with sympathy; + which was saying a good deal. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVI. The End of the Dots + </h2> + <p> + Slim may not have been more curious than his fellows, but he was perhaps + more single-hearted in his loyalty to the outfit. To him the shooting of + Happy Jack, once he felt assured that the wound was not necessarily fatal, + became of secondary importance. It was all in behalf of the Flying U; and + if the bullet which laid Happy Jack upon the ground was also the means of + driving the hated Dots from that neighborhood, he felt, in his slow, + phlegmatic way, that it wasn't such a catastrophe as some of the others + seemed to think. Of course, he wouldn't want Happy to die; but he didn't + believe, after all, that Happy was going to do anything like that. Old + Patsy knew a lot about sickness and wounds. (Who can cook for a cattle + outfit, for twenty years and more, and not know a good deal of hurts?) Old + Patsy had looked Happy over carefully, and had given a grin and a snort. + </p> + <p> + “Py cosh, dot vos lucky for you, alreatty,” he had pronounced. “So you + don't git plood-poisonings, mit fever, you be all right pretty soon. You + go to shleep, yet. If fix you oop till der dochtor he cooms. I seen + fellers shot plumb through der middle off dem, und git yell. You ain't + shot so bad. You go to shleep.” + </p> + <p> + So, his immediate fears relieved, Slim's slow mind had swung back to the + Dots, and to Oleson, whom Weary was even now assisting to keep his promise + (Slim grinned widely to himself when he thought of the abject fear which + Oleson had displayed because of the murder he thought he had done, while + Happy Jack obediently “played dead”). And of Dunk, whom Slim had hated + most abominably of old; Dunk, a criminal found out; Dunk, a prisoner right + there on the very ranch he had thought to despoil; Dunk, at that very + moment locked in the blacksmith shop. Perhaps it was not curiosity alone + which sent him down there; perhaps it was partly a desire to look upon + Dunk humbled—he who had trodden so arrogantly upon the necks of + those below him; so arrogantly that even Slim, the slow-witted one, had + many a time trembled with anger at his tone. + </p> + <p> + Slim walked slowly, as was his wont; with deadly directness, as was his + nature. The blacksmith shop was silent, closed—as grimly + noncommittal as a vault. You might guess whatever you pleased about its + inmate; it was like trying to imagine the emotions pictured upon the face + behind a smooth, black mask. Slim stopped before the closed door and + listened. The rusty, iron hasp attracted his slow gaze, at first puzzling + him a little, making him vaguely aware that something about it did not + quite harmonize with his mental attitude toward it. It took him a full + minute to realize that he had expected to find the door locked, and that + the hasp hung downward uselessly, just as it hung every day in the year. + </p> + <p> + He remembered then that Andy had spoken of chaining Dunk to the anvil. + That would make it unnecessary to lock the door, of course. Slim seized + the hanging strip of iron, gave it a jerk and bathed all the dingy + interior with a soft, sunset glow. Cobwebs quivered at the inrush of the + breeze, and glistened like threads of fine gold. The forge remained a dark + blot in the corner. A new chisel, lying upon the earthen floor, became a + bar of yellow light. + </p> + <p> + Slim's eyes went to the anvil and clung there in a widening stare. His + hands, white and soft when his gloves were off, drew up convulsively into + fighting fists, and as he stood looking, the cords swelled and stood out + upon his thick neck. For years he had hated Dunk Whittaker— + </p> + <p> + The Happy Family, with rare good sense, had not hesitated to turn the + white house into an impromptu hospital. They knew that if the Little + Doctor and Chip and the Old Man had been at home Happy Jack would have + been taken unquestioningly into the guest chamber—which was a + square, three-windowed room off the big livingroom. More than one of them + had occupied it upon occasion. They took Happy Jack up there and put him + to bed quite as a matter-of-course, and when he was asleep they lingered + upon the wide, front porch; the hammock of the Little Doctor squeaked + under the weight of Andy Green, and the wide-armed chairs received the + weary forms of divers young cowpunchers who did not give a thought to the + intrusion, but were thankful for the comfort. Andy was swinging + luxuriously and drawing the last few puffs from a cigarette when Slim, + purple and puffing audibly, appeared portentously before him. + </p> + <p> + “I thought you said you was goin' to lock Dunk up in the blacksmith shop,” + he launched accusingly at Andy. + </p> + <p> + “We did,” averred that young man, pushing his toe against the railing to + accelerate the voluptuous motion of the hammock. + </p> + <p> + “He ain't there. He's broke loose. The chain—by golly, yuh went an' + used that chain that was broke an' jest barely hangin' together! His horse + ain't anywheres around, either. You fellers make me sick. Lollin' around + here an' not paying no attention, by golly—he's liable to be ten + mile from here by this time!” When Slim stopped, his jaw quivered like a + dish of disturbed jelly, and I wish I could give you his tone; choppy, + every sentence an accusation that should have made those fellows wince. + </p> + <p> + Irish, Big Medicine and Jack Bates had sprung guiltily to their feet and + started down the steps. The drawling voice of the Native Son stopped them, + ten feet from the porch. + </p> + <p> + “Twelve, or fifteen, I should make it. That horse of his looked to me like + a drifter.” + </p> + <p> + “Well—are yuh goin' t' set there on your haunches an' let him GO?” + Slim, by the look of him, was ripe for murder. + </p> + <p> + “You want to look out, or you'll get apoplexy sure,” Andy soothed, giving + himself another luxurious push and pulling the last, little whiff from his + cigarette before he threw away the stub. “Fat men can't afford to get as + excited as skinny ones can.” + </p> + <p> + “Aw, say! Where did you put him, Andy?” asked Big Medicine, his first + flurry subsiding before the absolute calm of those two on the porch. + </p> + <p> + “In the blacksmith shop,” said Andy, with a slurring accent on the first + word that made the whole sentence perfectly maddening. “Ah, come on back + here and sit down. I guess we better tell 'em the how of it. Huh, Mig?” + </p> + <p> + Miguel cast a slow, humorous glance over the four. “Ye-es—they'll + have us treed in about two minutes if we don't,” he assented. “Go ahead.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” Andy lifted his head and shoulders that he might readjust a pillow + to his liking, “we wanted him to make a getaway. Fact is, if he hadn't, + we'd have been—strictly up against it. Right! If he hadn't—how + about it, Mig? I guess we'd have been to the Little Rockies ourselves.” + </p> + <p> + “You've got a sweet little voice,” Irish cut in savagely, “but we're + tired. We'd rather hear yuh say something!” + </p> + <p> + “Oh—all right. Well, Mig and I just ribbed up a josh on Dunk. I'd + read somewhere about the same kinda deal, so it ain't original; I don't + lay any claim to the idea at all; we just borrowed it. You see, it's like + this: We figured that a man as mean as this Dunk person most likely had + stepped over the line, somewhere. So we just took a gambling chance, and + let him do the rest. You see, we never saw him before in our lives. All + that identification stunt of ours was just a bluff. But the minute I + shoved my chips to the center, I knew we had him dead to rights. You were + there. You saw him wilt. By gracious—” + </p> + <p> + “Yuh don't know anything against him?” gasped Irish. + </p> + <p> + “Not a darned thing—any more than what you all know,” testified Andy + complacently. + </p> + <p> + It took a minute or two for that to sink in. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I'll be damned!” breathed Irish. + </p> + <p> + “We did chain him to the anvil,” Andy went on. “On the way down, we talked + about being in a hurry to get back to you fellows, and I told Mig—so + Dunk could hear—that we wouldn't bother with the horse. We tied him + to the corral. And I hunted around for that bum chain, and then we made + out we couldn't find the padlock for the door; so we decided, right out + loud, that he'd be dead safe for an hour or two, till the bunch of us got + back. Not knowing a darn thing about him, except what you boys have told + us, we sure would have been in bad if he hadn't taken a sneak. Fact is, we + were kinda worried for fear he wouldn't have nerve enough to try it. We + waited, up on the hill, till we saw him sneak down to the corral and jump + on his horse and take off down the coulee like a scared coyote. It was,” + quoth the young man, unmistakably pleased with himself, “pretty smooth + work, if you ask me.” + </p> + <p> + “I'd hate to ride as fast and far to-night as that hombre will,” + supplemented Miguel with his brief smile, that was just a flash of white, + even teeth and a momentary lightening of his languorous eyes. + </p> + <p> + Slim stood for five minutes, a stolid, stocky figure in the midst of a + storm of congratulatory comment. They forgot all about Happy Jack, asleep + inside the house, and so their voices were not hushed. Indeed, Big + Medicine's bull-like remarks boomed full-throated across the coulee and + were flung back mockingly by the barren hills. Slim did not hear a word + they were saying; he was thinking it over, with that complete mental + concentration which is the chief recompense of a slow-working mind. He was + methodically thinking it all out—and, eventually, he saw the joke. + </p> + <p> + “Well, by golly!” he bawled suddenly, and brought his palm down with a + terrific smack upon his sore leg—whereat his fellows laughed + uproariously. + </p> + <p> + “We told you not to try to see through any more jokes till your leg gets + well, Slim,” Andy reminded condescendingly. + </p> + <p> + “Say, by golly, that's a good one on Dunk, ain't it? Chasin' himself clean + outa the country, by golly—scared plumb to death—-and you + fellers was only jest makin' b'lieve yuh knowed him! By golly, that sure + is a good one, all right!” + </p> + <p> + “You've got it; give you time enough and you could see through a + barbed-wire fence,” patronized Andy, from the hammock. “Yes, since you + mention it, I think myself it ain't so bad.” + </p> + <p> + “Aw-w shut up, out there, an' let a feller sleep!” came a querulous voice + from within. “I'd ruther bed down with a corral full uh calves at weanin' + time, than be anywheres within ten mile uh you darned, mouthy—” The + rest was indistinguishable, but it did not matter. The Happy Family, save + Slim, who stayed to look after the patient, tiptoed penitently off the + porch and took themselves and their enthusiasm down to the bunk-house. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVII. Good News + </h2> + <p> + Pink rolled over in his bed so that he might look—however sleepily—upon + his fellows, dressing more or less quietly in the cool dawn-hour. + </p> + <p> + “Say, I got a letter for you, Weary,” he yawned, stretching both arms + above his head. “I opened it and read it; it was from Chip, so—” + </p> + <p> + “What did he have to say?” + </p> + <p> + “Old Man any better?” + </p> + <p> + “How they comm', back here?” + </p> + <p> + Several voices, speaking at once, necessitated a delayed reply. + </p> + <p> + “They'll be here, to-day or to-morrow,” Pink replied without any + circumlocution whatever, while he fumbled in his coat pocket for the + letter. “He says the Old Man wants to come, and the doctors think he might + as well tackle it as stay there fussing over it. They're coming in a + special car, and we've got to rig up an outfit to meet him. The Little + Doctor tells just how she wants things fixed. I thought maybe it was + important—it come special delivery,” Pink added naively, “so I just + played it was mine and read it.” + </p> + <p> + “That's all right, Cadwalloper,” Weary assured him while he read hastily + the letter. “Well, we'll fix up the spring wagon and take it in right + away; somebody's got to go back anyway, with MacPherson. Hello, Cal; how's + Happy?” + </p> + <p> + “All right,” answered Cal, who had watched over him during the night and + came in at that moment after someone to take his place in the sickroom. + “Waked up on the fight because I just happened to be setting with my eyes + shut. I wasn't asleep, but he said I was; claimed I snored so loud I kept + him awake all night. Gee whiz! I'd ruther nurse a she bear with the + mumps!” + </p> + <p> + “Old Man's coming home, Cal.” Pink announced with more joy in his tone and + in his face than had appeared in either for many a weary day. Whereupon + Cal gave an exultant whoop. “Go tell that to Happy,” he shouted. “Maybe + he'll forget a grouch or two. Say, luck seems to be kinda casting loving + glances our way again—what?” + </p> + <p> + “By golly, seems to me Pink oughta told us when he come in, las' night,” + grumbled Slim, when he could make himself heard. + </p> + <p> + “You were all dead to the world,” Pink defended, “and I wanted to be. Two + o'clock in the morning is a mighty poor time for elegant conversation, if + you want my opinion.” + </p> + <p> + “And the main point is, you knew all about it, and you didn't give a darn + whether we did or not,” Irish said bluntly. “And Weary sneaked in, too, + and never let a yip outa him about things over in Denson coulee.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, what was the use?” asked Weary blandly. “I got an option out of + Oleson for the ranch and outfit, and all his sheep, at a mighty good + figure—for the Flying U. The Old Man can do what he likes about it; + but ten to one he'll buy him out. That is, Oleson's share, which was + two-thirds. I kinda counted on Dunk letting go easy. And,” he added, + reaching for his hat, “once I got the papers for it, there wasn't anything + to hang around for, was there? Especially,” he said with his old, sunny + smile, “when we weren't urged a whole lot to stay.” + </p> + <p> + Remained therefore little, save the actual arrival of the Old Man—a + pitifully weak Old Man, bandaged and odorous with antiseptics, and quite + pathetically glad to be back home—and his recovery, which was rather + slow, and the recovery of Happy Jack, which was rapid. + </p> + <p> + For a brief space the Flying U outfit owned the Dots; very brief it was; + not a day longer than it took Chip to find a buyer—at a figure + considerably above that named in the option, by the way. + </p> + <p> + So, after a season of worry and trouble and impending tragedy such as no + man may face unflinchingly, life dropped back to its usual level, and the + trail of the Flying U outfit once more led through pleasant places. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Flying U Ranch, by B. M. 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Bower + +Posting Date: August 20, 2008 [EBook #1206] +Release Date: February, 1998 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FLYING U RANCH *** + + + + +Produced by Anthony Matonak + + + + + +FLYING U RANCH + +By B. M. Bower + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER + I. The Coming of a Native Son + II. "When Greek Meets Greek" + III. Bad News + IV. Some Hopes + V. Sheep + VI. What Happened to Andy + VII. Truth Crushed to Earth, etc. + VIII. The Dot Outfit + IX. More Sheep + X. The Happy Family Herd Sheep + XI. Weary Unburdens + XII. Two of a Kind + XIII. The Happy Family Learn Something + XIV. Happy Jack + XV. Oleson + XVI. The End of the Dots + XVII. Good News + + + + +FLYING U RANCH + + + +CHAPTER I. The Coming of a Native Son + +The Happy Family, waiting for the Sunday supper call, were grouped +around the open door of the bunk-house, gossiping idly of things purely +local, when the Old Man returned from the Stock Association at Helena; +beside him on the buggy seat sat a stranger. The Old Man pulled up at +the bunk-house, the stranger sprang out over the wheel with the agility +which bespoke youthful muscles, and the Old Man introduced him with a +quirk of the lips: + +"This is Mr. Mig-u-ell Rapponi, boys--a peeler straight from the Golden +Gate. Throw out your war-bag and make yourself to home, Mig-u-ell; some +of the boys'll show you where to bed down." + +The Old Man drove on to the house with his own luggage, and Happy Jack +followed to take charge of the team; but the remainder of the Happy +Family unobtrusively took the measure of the foreign element. From his +black-and-white horsehair hatband, with tassels that swept to the very +edge of his gray hatbrim, to the crimson silk neckerchief draped over +the pale blue bosom of his shirt; from the beautifully stamped leather +cuffs, down to the exaggerated height of his tan boot-heels, their +critical eyes swept in swift, appraising glances; and unanimous +disapproval was the result. The Happy Family had themselves an eye to +picturesque garb upon occasion, but this passed even Pink's love of +display. + +"He's some gaudy to look at," Irish murmured under his breath to Cal +Emmett. + +"All he lacks is a spot-light and a brass band," Cal returned, in much +the same tone with which a woman remarks upon a last season's hat on the +head of a rival. + +Miguel was not embarrassed by the inspection. He was tall, straight, +and swarthily handsome, and he stood with the complacence of a stage +favorite waiting for the applause to cease so that he might speak his +first lines; and, while he waited, he sifted tobacco into a cigarette +paper daintily, with his little finger extended. There was a ring upon +that finger; a ring with a moonstone setting as large and round as the +eye of a startled cat, and the Happy Family caught the pale gleam of it +and drew a long breath. He lighted a match nonchalantly, by the artfully +simple method of pinching the head of it with his fingernails, leaned +negligently against the wall of the bunk-house, and regarded the group +incuriously while he smoked. + +"Any pretty girls up this way?" he inquired languidly, after a moment, +fanning a thin smoke-cloud from before his face while he spoke. + +The Happy Family went prickly hot. The girls in that neighborhood were +held in esteem, and there was that in his tone which gave offense. + +"Sure, there's pretty girls here!" Big Medicine bellowed unexpectedly, +close beside him. "We're all of us engaged to `em, by cripes!" + +Miguel shot an oblique glance at Big Medicine, examined the end of his +cigarette, and gave a lift of shoulder, which might mean anything +or nothing, and so was irritating to a degree. He did not pursue the +subject further, and so several belated retorts were left tickling +futilely the tongues of the Happy Family--which does not make for +amiability. + +To a man they liked him little, in spite of their easy friendliness with +mankind in general. At supper they talked with him perfunctorily, and +covertly sneered because he sprinkled his food liberally with cayenne +and his speech with Spanish words pronounced with soft, slurred +vowels that made them sound unfamiliar, and against which his English +contrasted sharply with its crisp, American enunciation. He met their +infrequent glances with the cool stare of absolute indifference to their +opinion of him, and their perfunctory civility with introspective calm. + +The next morning, when there was riding to be done, and Miguel +appeared at the last moment in his working clothes, even Weary, the +sunny-hearted, had an unmistakable curl of his lip after the first +glance. + +Miguel wore the hatband, the crimson kerchief tied loosely with the +point draped over his chest, the stamped leather cuffs and the tan boots +with the highest heels ever built by the cobbler craft. Also, the lower +half of him was incased in chaps the like of which had never before been +brought into Flying U coulee. Black Angora chaps they were; long-haired, +crinkly to the very hide, with three white, diamond-shaped patches +running down each leg of them, and with the leather waistband stamped +elaborately to match the cuffs. The bands of his spurs were two inches +wide and inlaid to the edge with beaten silver, and each concho was +engraved to represent a large, wild rose, with a golden center. A dollar +laid upon the rowels would have left a fringe of prongs all around. + +He bent over his sacked riding outfit, and undid it, revealing a +wonderful saddle of stamped leather inlaid on skirt and cantle with +more beaten silver. He straightened the skirts, carefully ignoring the +glances thrown in his direction, and swore softly to himself when he +discovered where the leather had been scratched through the canvas +wrappings and the end of the silver scroll ripped up. He drew out his +bridle and shook it into shape, and the silver mountings and the reins +of braided leather with horsehair tassels made Happy Jack's eyes greedy +with desire. His blanket was a scarlet Navajo, and his rope a rawhide +lariat. + +Altogether, his splendor when he was mounted so disturbed the fine +mental poise of the Happy Family that they left him jingling richly +off by himself, while they rode closely grouped and discussed him +acrimoniously. + +"By gosh, a man might do worse than locate that Native Son for a silver +mine," Cal began, eyeing the interloper scornfully. "It's plumb wicked +to ride around with all that wealth and fussy stuff. He must 'a' robbed +a bank and put the money all into a riding outfit." + +"By golly, he looks to me like a pair uh trays when he comes bow-leggin' +along with them white diamonds on his legs," Slim stated solemnly. + +"And I'll gamble that's a spot higher than he stacks up in the cow +game," Pink observed with the pessimism which matrimony had given him. +"You mind him asking about bad horses, last night? That Lizzie-boy never +saw a bad horse; they don't grow 'em where he come from. What they don't +know about riding they make up for with a swell rig--" + +"And, oh, mamma! It sure is a swell rig!" Weary paid generous tribute. +"Only I will say old Banjo reminds me of an Irish cook rigged out in +silk and diamonds. That outfit on Glory, now--" He sighed enviously. + +"Well, I've gone up against a few real ones in my long and varied +career," Irish remarked reminiscently, "and I've noticed that a hoss +never has any respect or admiration for a swell rig. When he gets real +busy it ain't the silver filigree stuff that's going to help you hold +connections with your saddle, and a silver-mounted bridle-bit ain't a +darned bit better than a plain one." + +"Just take a look at him!" cried Pink, with intense disgust. "Ambling +off there, so the sun can strike all that silver and bounce back in our +eyes. And that braided lariat--I'd sure love to see the pieces if he +ever tries to anchor anything bigger than a yearling!" + +"Why, you don't think for a minute he could ever get out and rope +anything, do yuh?" Irish laughed. "That there Native Son throws on +a-w-l-together too much dog to really get out and do anything." + +"Aw," fleered Happy Jack, "he ain't any Natiff Son. He's a dago!" + +"He's got the earmarks uh both," Big Medicine stated authoritatively. "I +know 'em, by cripes, and I know their ways." He jerked his thumb toward +the dazzling Miguel. "I can tell yuh the kinda cow-puncher he is; I've +saw 'em workin' at it. Haw-haw-haw! They'll start out to move ten or a +dozen head uh tame old cows from one field to another, and there'll be +six or eight fellers, rigged up like this here tray-spot, ridin' along, +important as hell, drivin' them few cows down a lane, with peach trees +on both sides, by cripes, jingling their big, silver spurs, all wearin' +fancy chaps to ride four or five miles down the road. Honest to grandma, +they call that punchin' cows! Oh, he's a Native Son, all right. I've +saw lots of 'em, only I never saw one so far away from the Promised Land +before. That there looks queer to me. Natiff Sons--the real ones, like +him--are as scarce outside Calyforny as buffalo are right here in this +coulee." + +"That's the way they do it, all right," Irish agreed. "And then they'll +have a 'rodeo'--" + +"Haw-haw-haw!" Big Medicine interrupted, and took up the tale, which +might have been entitled "Some Cowpunching I Have Seen." + +"They have them rodeos on a Sunday, mostly, and they invite everybody to +it, like it was a picnic. And there'll be two or three fellers to +every calf, all lit up, like Mig-u-ell, over there, in chaps and silver +fixin's, fussin' around on horseback in a corral, and every feller +trying to pile his rope on the same calf, by cripes! They stretch 'em +out with two ropes--calves, remember! Little, weenty fellers you could +pack under one arm! Yuh can't blame 'em much. They never have more'n +thirty or forty head to brand at a time, and they never git more'n a +taste uh real work. So they make the most uh what they git, and go in +heavy on fancy outfits. And this here silver-mounted fellow thinks he's +a real cowpuncher, by cripes!" + +The Happy Family laughed at the idea; laughed so loud that Miguel left +his lonely splendor and swung over to them, ostensibly to borrow a +match. + +"What's the joke?" he inquired languidly, his chin thrust out and his +eyes upon the match blazing at the end of his cigarette. + +The Happy Family hesitated and glanced at one another. Then Cal spoke +truthfully. + +"You're it," he said bluntly, with a secret desire to test the temper of +this dark-skinned son of the West. + +Miguel darted one of his swift glances at Cal, blew out his match and +threw it away. + +"Oh, how funny. Ha-ha." His voice was soft and absolutely +expressionless, his face blank of any emotion whatever. He merely spoke +the words as a machine might have done. + +If he had been one of them, the Happy Family would have laughed at the +whimsical humor of it. As it was, they repressed the impulse, though +Weary warmed toward him slightly. + +"Don't you believe anything this innocent-eyed gazabo tells you, Mr. +Rapponi," he warned amiably. "He's known to be a liar." + +"That's funny, too. Ha-ha some more." Miguel permitted a thin ribbon of +smoke to slide from between his lips, and gazed off to the crinkled line +of hills. + +"Sure, it is--now you mention it," Weary agreed after a perceptible +pause. + +"How fortunate that I brought the humor to your attention," drawled +Miguel, in the same expressionless tone, much as if he were reciting a +text. + +"Virtue is its own penalty," paraphrased Pink, not stopping to see +whether the statement applied to the subject. + +"Haw-haw-haw!" roared Big Medicine, quite as irrelevantly. + +"He-he-he," supplemented the silver-trimmed one. + +Big Medicine stopped laughing suddenly, reined his horse close to the +other, and stared at him challengingly, with his pale, protruding eyes, +while the Happy Family glanced meaningly at one another. Big Medicine +was quite as unsafe as he looked, at that moment, and they wondered if +the offender realized his precarious situation. + +Miguel smoked with the infinite leisure which is a fine art when it is +not born of genuine abstraction, and none could decide whether he was +aware of the unfriendly proximity of Big Medicine. Weary was just on the +point of saying something to relieve the tension, when Miguel blew the +ash gently from his cigarette and spoke lazily. + +"Parrots are so common, out on the Coast, that they use them in cheap +restaurants for stew. I've often heard them gabbling together in the +kettle." + +The statement was so ambiguous that the Happy Family glanced at him +doubtfully. Big Medicine's stare became more curious than hostile, +and he permitted his horse to lag a length. It is difficult to fight +absolute passivity. Then Slim, who ever tramped solidly over the flowers +of sarcasm, blurted one of his unexpected retorts. + +"I was just wonderin', by golly, where yuh learnt to talk!" + +Miguel turned his velvet eyes sleepily toward the speaker. "From the +boarders who ate those parrots, amigo," he smiled serenely. + +At this, Slim--once justly accused by Irish of being a "single-shot" +when it came to repartee--turned purple and dumb. The Happy Family, +forswearing loyalty in their enjoyment of his discomfiture, grinned and +left to Miguel the barren triumph of the last word. + +He did not gain in popularity as the days passed. They tilted noses at +his beautiful riding gear, and would have died rather than speak of it +in his presence. They never gossiped with him of horses or men or the +lands he knew. They were ready to snub him at a moment's notice--and +it did not lessen their dislike of him that he failed to yield them an +opportunity. It is to be hoped that he found his thoughts sufficient +entertainment, since he was left to them as much as is humanly possible +when half a dozen men eat and sleep and work together. It annoyed them +exceedingly that Miguel did not seem to know that they held him at a +distance; they objected to his manner of smoking cigarettes and staring +off at the skyline as if he were alone and content with his dreams. When +he did talk they listened with an air of weary tolerance. When he +did not talk they ignored his presence, and when he was absent they +criticized him mercilessly. + +They let him ride unwarned into an adobe patch one day--at least, Big +Medicine, Pink, Cal Emmett and Irish did, for they were with him--and +laughed surreptitiously together while he wallowed there and came out +afoot, his horse floundering behind him, mud to the ears, both of them. + +"Pretty soft going, along there, ain't it?" Pink commiserated +deceitfully. + +"It is, kinda," Miguel responded evenly, scraping the adobe off Banjo +with a flat rock. And the subject was closed. + +"Well, it's some relief to the eyes to have the shine taken off him, +anyway," Pink observed a little guiltily afterward. + +"I betche he ain't goin' to forget that, though," Happy Jack warned when +he saw the caked mud on Miguel's Angora chaps and silver spurs, and the +condition of his saddle. "Yuh better watch out and not turn your backs +on him in the dark, none uh you guys. I betche he packs a knife. Them +kind always does." + +"Haw-haw-haw!" bellowed Big Medicine uproariously. "I'd love to see him +git out an' try to use it, by cripes!" + +"I wish Andy was here," Pink sighed. "Andy'd take the starch outa him, +all right." + +"Wouldn't he be pickings for old Andy, though? Gee!" Cal looked around +at them, with his wide, baby-blue eyes, and laughed. "Let's kinda jolly +him along, boys, till Andy gets back. It sure would be great to watch +'em. I'll bet he can jar the eternal calm outa that Native Son. That's +what grinds me worse than his throwin' on so much dog; he's so blamed +satisfied with himself! You snub him, and he looks at yuh as if you was +his hired man--and then forgets all about yuh. He come outa that 'doby +like he'd been swimmin' a river on a bet, and had made good and was +a hee-ro right before the ladies. Kinda 'Oh, that's nothing to what I +could do if it was worth while,' way he had with him." + +"It wouldn't matter so much if he wasn't all front," Pink complained. +"You'll notice that's always the way, though. The fellow all fussed +up with silver and braided leather can't get out and do anything. +I remember up on Milk river--" Pink trailed off into absorbing +reminiscence, which, however, is too lengthy to repeat here. + +"Say, Mig-u-ell's down at the stable, sweatin from every pore trying to +get his saddle clean, by golly!" Slim reported cheerfully, just as Pink +was relighting the cigarette which had gone out during the big scene of +his story. "He was cussin' in Spanish, when I walked up to him--but he +shut up when he seen me and got that peaceful look uh hisn on his face. +I wonder, by golly--" + +"Oh, shut up and go awn," Irish commanded bluntly, and looked at Pink. +"Did he call it off, then? Or did you have to wade in--" + +"Naw; he was like this here Native Son--all front. He could look sudden +death, all right; he had black eyes like Mig-u-ell--but all a fellow had +to do was go after him, and he'd back up so blamed quick--" + +Slim listened that far, saw that he had interrupted a tale evidently +more interesting than anything he could say, and went off, muttering to +himself. + + + +CHAPTER II. "When Greek Meets Greek" + +The next morning, which was Sunday, the machinations of Big Medicine +took Pink down to the creek behind the bunk-house. "What's hurtin' yuh?" +he asked curiously, when he came to where Big Medicine stood in the +fringe of willows, choking between his spasms of mirth. + +"Haw-haw-haw!" roared Big Medicine; and, seizing Pink's arm in a +gorilla-like grip, he pointed down the bank. + +Miguel, seated upon a convenient rock in a sunny spot, was painstakingly +combing out the tangled hair of his chaps, which he had washed quite as +carefully not long before, as the cake of soap beside him testified. + +"Combing--combing--his chaps, by cripes!" Big Medicine gasped, +and waggled his finger at the spectacle. "Haw-haw-haw! +C-combin'--his--chaps!" + +Miguel glanced up at them as impersonally as if they were two cackling +hens, rather than derisive humans, then bent his head over a stubborn +knot and whistled La Paloma softly while he coaxed out the tangle. + +Pink's eyes widened as he looked, but he did not say anything. He backed +up the path and went thoughtfully to the corrals, leaving Big Medicine +to follow or not, as he chose. + +"Combin'--his chaps, by cripes!" came rumbling behind him. Pink turned. + +"Say! Don't make so much noise about it," he advised guardedly. "I've +got an idea." + +"Yuh want to hog-tie it, then," Big Medicine retorted, resentful because +Pink seemed not to grasp the full humor of the thing. "Idees sure seems +to be skurce in this outfit--or that there lily-uh-the-valley couldn't +set and comb no chaps in broad daylight, by cripes; not and get off with +it." + +"He's an ornament to the Flying U," Pink stated dreamily. "Us boneheads +don't appreciate him, is all that ails us. What we ought to do is--help +him be as pretty as he wants to be, and--" + +"Looky here, Little One." Big Medicine hurried his steps until he was +close alongside. "I wouldn't give a punched nickel for a four-horse load +uh them idees, and that's the truth." He passed Pink and went on ahead, +disgust in every line of his square-shouldered figure. "Combin' his +chaps, by cripes!" he snorted again, and straightway told the tale +profanely to his fellows, who laughed until they were weak and +watery-eyed as they listened. + +Afterward, because Pink implored them and made a mystery of it, they +invited Miguel to take a hand in a long-winded game--rather, a series +of games--of seven-up, while his chaps hung to dry upon a willow by the +creek bank--or so he believed. + +The chaps, however, were up in the white-house kitchen, where were also +the reek of scorched hair and the laughing expostulations of the +Little Doctor and the boyish titter of Pink and Irish, who were curling +laboriously the chaps of Miguel with the curling tongs of the Little +Doctor and those of the Countess besides. + +"It's a shame, and I just hope Miguel thrashes you both for it," the +Little Doctor told them more than once; but she laughed, nevertheless, +and showed Pink how to give the twist which made of each lock a +corkscrew ringlet. The Countess stopped, with her dishcloth dangling +from one red, bony hand, while she looked. "You boys couldn't sleep +nights if you didn't pester the life outa somebody," she scolded. "Seems +to me I'd friz them diamonds, if I was goin' to be mean enough to do +anything." + +"You would, eh?" Pink glanced up at her and dimpled. "I'll find you +a rich husband to pay for that." He straightway proceeded to friz the +diamonds of white. + +"Why don't you have a strip of ringlets down each leg, with tight little +curls between?" suggested the Little Doctor, not to be outdone by any +other woman. + +"Correct you are," praised Irish. + +"And, remember, you're not heating branding-irons, mister man," she +added. "You'll burn all the hair off, if you let the tongs get red-hot. +Just so they'll sizzle; I've told you five times already." She picked +up the Kid, kissed many times the finger he held up for sympathy--the +finger with which he had touched the tongs as Pink was putting them +back into the grate of the kitchen stove, and spoke again to ease her +conscience. "I think it's awfully mean of you to do it. Miguel ought to +thrash you both." + +"We're dead willing to let him try, Mrs. Chip. We know it's mean. We're +real ashamed of ourselves." Irish tested his tongs as he had been told +to do. "But we'd rather be ashamed than good, any old time." + +The Little Doctor giggled behind the Kid's tousled curls, and reached +out a slim hand once more to give Pink's tongs the expert twist he was +trying awkwardly to learn. "I'm sorry for Miguel; he's got lovely eyes, +anyway." + +"Yes, ain't he?" Pink looked up briefly from his task. "How's your leg, +Irish? Mine's done." + +"Seems to me I'd make a deep border of them corkscrew curls all around +the bottoms, if I was doin' it," said the Countess peevishly, from the +kitchen sink. "If I was that dago I'd murder the hull outfit; I never +did see a body so hectored in my life--and him not ever ketchin' on. He +must be plumb simple-minded." + +When the curling was done to the hilarious satisfaction of Irish and +Pink, and, while Pink was dancing in them to show them off, another +entered with mail from town. And, because the mail-bearer was Andy Green +himself, back from a winter's journeyings, Cal, Happy Jack and Slim +followed close behind, talking all at once, in their joy at beholding +the man they loved well and hated occasionally also. Andy delivered the +mail into the hands of the Little Doctor, pinched the Kid's cheek, +and said how he had grown good-looking as his mother, almost, spoke a +cheerful howdy to the Countess, and turned to shake hands with Pink. It +was then that the honest, gray eyes of him widened with amazement. + +"Well, by golly!" gasped Slim, goggling at the chaps of Miguel. + +"That there Natiff Son'll just about kill yuh for that," warned Happy +Jack, as mournfully as he might with laughing. "He'll knife yuh, sure." + +Andy, demanding the meaning of it all, learned all about Miguel +Rapponi--from the viewpoint of the Happy Family. At least, he learned as +much as it was politic to tell in the presence of the Little Doctor; and +afterward, while Pink was putting the chaps back upon the willow, where +Miguel had left them, he was told that they looked to him, Andy Green, +for assistance. + +"Oh, gosh! You don't want to depend on me, Pink," Andy expostulated +modestly. "I can't think of anything--and, besides, I've reformed. I +don't know as it's any compliment to me, by gracious--being told soon as +I land that I'm expected to lie to a perfect stranger." + +"You come on down to the stable and take a look at his saddle and +bridle," urged Cal. "And wait till you see him smoking and looking past +you, as if you was an ornery little peak that didn't do nothing but +obstruct the scenery. I've seen mean cusses--lots of 'em; and I've seen +men that was stuck on themselves. But I never--" + +"Come outa that 'doby," Pink interrupted, "mud to his eyebrows, just +about. And he knew darned well we headed him in there deliberate. And +when I remarks it's soft going, he says: 'It is, kinda,'--just like +that." Pink managed to imitate the languid tone of Miguel very well. +"Not another word outa him. Didn't even make him mad! He--" + +"Tell him about the parrots, Slim," Cal suggested soberly. But Slim only +turned purple at the memory, and swore. + +"Old Patsy sure has got it in for him," Happy Jack observed. "He asked +Patsy if he ever had enchiladas. Patsy won't speak to him no more. He +claims Mig-u-ell insulted him. He told Mig-u-ell--" + +"Enchiladas are sure fine eating," said Andy. "I took to 'em like a +she-bear to honey, down in New Mexico this winter. Your Native Son is +solid there, all right." + +"Aw, gwan! He ain't solid nowhere but in the head. Maybe you'll love him +to death when yuh see him--chances is you will, if you've took to eatin' +dago grub." + +Andy patted Happy Jack reassuringly on the shoulder. "Don't get +excited," he soothed. "I'll put it all over the gentleman, just to show +my heart's in the right place. Just this once, though; I've reformed. +And I've got to have time to size him up. Where do you keep him when he +ain't in the show window?" He swung into step with Pink. "I'll tell you +the truth," he confided engagingly. "Any man that'll wear chaps like +he's got--even leaving out the extra finish you fellows have given +'em--had ought to be taught a lesson he'll remember. He sure must be a +tough proposition, if the whole bunch of yuh have had to give him up. By +gracious--" + +"We haven't tried," Pink defended. "It kinda looked to us as if he was +aiming to make us guy him; so we didn't. We've left him strictly alone. +To-day"--he glanced over his shoulder to where the becurled chaps swung +comically from the willow branch--"to-day's the first time anybody's +made a move. Unless," he added, as an afterthought, "you count yesterday +in the 'doby patch--and even then we didn't tell him to ride into it; we +just let him do it." + +"And kinda herded him over towards it," Cal amended slyly. + +"Can he ride?" asked Andy, going straight to the main point, in the mind +of a cowpuncher. + +"W-e-ell-he hasn't been piled, so far. But then," Pink qualified +hastily, "he hasn't topped anything worse than Crow-hop. He ain't hard +to ride. Happy Jack could--" + +"Aw, I'm gittin' good and sick of' hearin' that there tune," Happy +growled indignantly. "Why don't you point out Slim as the limit, once in +a while?" + +"Come on down to the stable, and let's talk it over," Andy suggested, +and led the way. "What's his style, anyway? Mouthy, or what?" + +With four willing tongues to enlighten him, it would be strange, indeed, +if one so acute as Andy Green failed at last to have a very fair mental +picture of Miguel. He gazed thoughtfully at his boots, laughed suddenly, +and slapped Irish quite painfully upon the back. + +"Come on up and introduce me, boys," he said. "We'll make this Native +Son so hungry for home--you watch me put it on the gentleman. Only it +does seem a shame to do it." + +"No, it ain't. If you'd been around him for two weeks, you'd want to +kill him just to make him take notice," Irish assured him. + +"What gets me," Andy mused, "is why you fellows come crying to me for +help. I should think the bunch of you ought to be able to handle one +lone Native Son." + +"Aw, you're the biggest liar and faker in the bunch, is why," Happy Jack +blurted. + +"Oh, I see." Andy hummed a little tune and pushed his hands deep into +his pockets, and at the corners of his lips there flickered a smile. + +The Native Son sat with his hat tilted slightly back upon his head and a +cigarette between his lips, and was reaching lazily for the trick which +made the fourth game his, when the group invaded the bunk-house. He +looked up indifferently, swept Andy's face and figure with a glance +too impersonal to hold even a shade of curiosity, and began rapidly +shuffling his cards to count the points he had made. + +Andy stopped short, just inside the door, and stared hard at Miguel, +who gave no sign. He turned his honest, gray eyes upon Pink and Irish +accusingly--whereat they wondered greatly. + +"Your deal--if you want to play," drawled Miguel, and shoved his cards +toward Big Medicine. But the boys were already uptilting chairs to +grasp the quicker the outstretched hand of the prodigal, so that Miguel +gathered up the cards, evened their edges mechanically, and deigned +another glance at this stranger who was being welcomed so vociferously. +Also he sighed a bit--for even a languid-eyed stoic of a Native Son may +feel the twinge of loneliness. Andy shook hands all round, swore amiably +at Weary, and advanced finally upon Miguel. + +"You don't know me from Adam's off ox," he began genially, "but I know +you, all right, all right. I hollered my head off with the rest of 'em +when you played merry hell in that bull-ring, last Christmas. Also, I +was part of your bodyguard when them greasers were trying to tickle you +in the ribs with their knives in that dark alley. Shake, old-timer! You +done yourself proud, and I'm glad to know yuh!" + +Miguel, for the first time in two weeks, permitted himself the luxury +of an expressive countenance. He gave Andy Green one quick, grateful +look--and a smile, the like of which made the Happy Family quiver +inwardly with instinctive sympathy. + +"So you were there, too, eh?" Miguel exclaimed softly, and rose to greet +him. "And that scrap in the alley--we sure had a hell of a time there +for a few minutes, didn't we? Are you that tall fellow who kicked that +squint-eyed greaser in the stomach? Muchos gracios, senor! They were +piling on me three deep, right then, and I always believed they'd have +got me, only for a tall vaquero I couldn't locate afterward." He smiled +again that wonderful smile, which lighted the darkness of his eyes as +with a flame, and murmured a sentence or two in Spanish. + +"Did you get the spurs me and my friends sent you afterward?" asked Andy +eagerly. "We heard about the Arizona boys giving you the saddle--and we +raked high and low for them spurs. And, by gracious, they were beauts, +too--did yuh get 'em?" + +"I wear them every day I ride," answered Miguel, a peculiar, caressing +note in his voice. + +"I didn't know--we heard you had disappeared off the earth. Why--" + +Miguel laughed outright. "To fight a bull with bare hands is one thing, +amigo," he said. "To take a chance on getting a knife stuck in your +back is another. Those Mexicans--they don't love the man who crosses the +river and makes of their bull-fights a plaything." + +"That's right; only I thought, you being a--" + +"Not a Mexican." Miguel's voice sharpened a trifle. "My father was +Spanish, yes. My mother"--his eyes flashed briefly at the faces of the +gaping Happy Family--"my mother was born in Ireland." + +"And that sure makes a hard combination to beat," cried Andy heartily. +He looked at the others--at all, that is, save Pink and Irish, who had +disappeared. "Well, boys, I never thought I'd come home and find--" + +"Miguel Rapponi," supplied the Native Son quickly. "As well forget that +other name. And," he added with the shrug which the Happy Family had +come to hate, "as well forget the story, also. I am not hungry for the +feel of a knife in my back." He smiled again engagingly at Andy Green. +It was astonishing how readily that smile had sprung to life with the +warmth of a little friendship, and how pleasant it was, withal. + +"Just as you say," Andy agreed, not trying to hide his admiration. "I +guess nobody's got a better right to holler for silence. But--say, you +sure delivered the goods, old boy! You musta read about it, you fellows; +about the American puncher that went over the line and rode one of +their crack bulls all round the ring, and then--" He stopped and looked +apologetically at Miguel, in whose dark eyes there flashed a warning +light. "I clean forgot," he confessed impulsively. "This meeting you +here unexpectedly, like this, has kinda got me rattled, I guess. But--I +never saw yuh before in my life," he declared emphatically. "I don't +know a darn thing about--anything that ever happened in an alley in +the city of--oh, come on, old-timer; let's talk about the weather, or +something safe!" + +After that the boys of the Flying U behaved very much as do children +who have quarreled foolishly and are trying shamefacedly to re-establish +friendly relations without the preliminary indignity of open repentance. +They avoided meeting the velvet-eyed glances of Miguel, and at the same +time they were plainly anxious to include him in their talk as if that +had been their habit from the first. A difficult situation to meet, even +with the fine aplomb of the Happy Family to ease the awkwardness. + +Later Miguel went unobtrusively down to the creek after his chaps; he +did not get them, just then, but he stood for a long time hidden behind +the willow-fringe, watching Pink and Irish feverishly combing out +certain corkscrew ringlets, and dampening their combs in the creek to +facilitate the process of straightening certain patches of rebellious +frizzes. Miguel did not laugh aloud, as Big Medicine had done. He stood +until he wearied of the sight, then lifted his shoulders in the gesture +which may mean anything, smiled and went his way. + +Not until dusk did Andy get a private word with him. When he did find +him alone, he pumped Miguel's hand up and down and afterward clutched at +the manger for support, and came near strangling. Miguel leaned beside +him and smiled to himself. + +"Good team work, old boy," Andy gasped at length, in a whisper. "Best I +ever saw in m'life, impromptu on the spot, like that. I saw you had the +makings in you, soon as I caught your eye. And the whole, blame bunch +fell for it--woo-oof!" He laid his face down again upon his folded arms +and shook in all the long length of him. + +"They had it coming," said Miguel softly, with a peculiar relish. "Two +whole weeks, and never a friendly word from one of them--oh, hell!" + +"I know--I heard it all, soon as I hit the ranch," Andy replied weakly, +standing up and wiping his eyes. "I just thought I'd learn 'em a +lesson--and the way you played up--say, my hat's off to you, all right!" + +"One learns to seize opportunities without stuttering," Miguel observed +calmly--and a queer look came into his eyes as they rested upon the face +of Andy. "And, if the chance comes, I'll do as much for you. By the way, +did you see the saddle those Arizona boys sent me? It's over here. It's +a pip-pin--almost as fine as the spurs, which I keep in the bunk-house +when they're not on my heels. And, if I didn't say so before, I'm sure +glad to meet the man that helped me through that alley. That big, fat +devil would have landed me, sure, if you hadn't--" + +"Ah--what?" Andy leaned and peered into the face of Miguel, his jaw +hanging slack. "You don't mean to tell me--it's true?" + +"True? Why, I thought you were the fellow--" Miguel faced him steadily. +His eyes were frankly puzzled. + +"I'll tell you the truth, so help me," Andy said heavily. "I don't know +a darned thing about it, only what I read in the papers. I spent the +whole winter in Colorado and Wyoming. I was just joshing the boys." + +"Oh," said Miguel. + +They stood there in the dusk and silence for a space, after which Andy +went forth into the night to meditate upon this thing. Miguel stood and +looked after him. + +"He's the real goods when it comes to lying--but there are others," he +said aloud, and smiled a peculiar smile. But for all that he felt that +he was going to like Andy very much indeed. And, since the Happy Family +had shown a disposition to make him one of themselves, he knew that he +was going to become quite as foolishly attached to the Flying U as was +even Slim, confessedly the most rabid of partisans. + +In this wise did Miguel Rapponi, then, become a member of Jim Whitmore's +Happy Family, and play his part in the events which followed his +adoption. + + + +CHAPTER III. Bad News + +Andy Green, that honest-eyed young man whom everyone loved, but whom +not a man believed save when he was indulging his love for more or less +fantastic flights of the imagination, pulled up on the brow of Flying U +coulee and stared somberly at the picture spread below him. On the porch +of the White House the hammock swung gently under the weight of the +Little Doctor, who pushed her shipper-toe mechanically against a post +support at regular intervals while she read. + +On the steps the Kid was crawling laboriously upward, only to descend +again quite as laboriously when he attained the top. One of the boys was +just emerging from the blacksmith shop; from the build of him Andy knew +it must be either Weary or Irish, though it would take a much closer +observation, and some familiarity with the two to identify the man more +exactly. In the corral were a swirl of horses and an overhanging cloud +of dust, with two or three figures discernible in the midst, and away +in the little pasture two other figures were galloping after a fleeing +dozen of horses. While he looked, old Patsy came out of the messhouse, +and went, with flapping flour-sack apron, to the woodpile. + +Peaceful it was, and home-like and contentedly prosperous; a little +world tucked away in its hills, with its own little triumphs and +defeats, its own heartaches and rejoicings; a lucky little world, +because its triumphs had been satisfying, its defeats small, its +heartaches brief, and its rejoicings untainted with harassment or guilt. +Yet Andy stared down upon it with a frown; and, when he twitched the +reins and began the descent, he sighed impatiently. + +Past the stable he rode with scarcely a glance toward Weary, who shouted +a casual "Hello" at him from the corral; through the big gate and up the +trail to the White House, and straight to the porch, where the Little +Doctor flipped a leaf of her magazine and glanced at him with a smile, +and the Kid turned his plump body upon the middle step and wrinkled his +nose in a smile of recognition, while he threw out an arm in welcome, +and made a wobbling effort to get upon his feet. + +Andy smiled at the Kid, but his smile did not reach his eyes, and faded +almost immediately. He glanced at the Little Doctor, sent his horse past +the steps and the Kid, and close to the railing, so that he could lean +and toss the mail into the Little Doctor's lap. There was a yellow +envelope among the letters, and her fingers singled it out curiously. +Andy folded his hands upon the saddle-horn and watched her frankly. + +"Must be from J. G.," guessed the Little Doctor, inserting a slim finger +under the badly sealed flap. "I've been wondering if he wasn't going +to send some word--he's been gone a week--Baby! He's right between +your horse's legs, Andy! Oh-h--baby boy, what won't you do next?" She +scattered letters and papers from her lap and flew to the rescue. "Will +he kick, Andy? You little ruffian." She held out her arms coaxingly from +the top of the steps, and her face, Andy saw when he looked at her, had +lost some of its color. + +"The horse is quiet enough," he reassured her. "But at the same time I +wouldn't hand him out as a plaything for a kid." He leaned cautiously +and peered backward. + +"Oh--did you ever see such a child! Come to mother, Baby!" Her voice was +becoming strained. + +The Kid, wrinkling his nose, and jabbering unintelligibly at her, so +that four tiny teeth showed in his pink mouth, moved farther backward, +and sat down violently under the horse's sweat-roughened belly. He +wriggled round so that he faced forward, reached out gleefully, caught +the front fetlocks, and cried "Dup!" while he pulled. The Little Doctor +turned white. + +"He's all right," soothed Andy, and, leaning with a twist of his slim +body, caught the Kid firmly by the back of his pink dress, and lifted +him clear of danger. He came up with a red face, tossed the Kid into the +eager arms of the Little Doctor, and soothed his horse with soft words +and a series of little slaps upon the neck. He was breathing unevenly, +because the Kid had really been in rather a ticklish position; but the +Little Doctor had her face hidden on the baby's neck and did not see. + +"Where's Chip?" Andy turned to ride back to the stable, glancing toward +the telegram lying on the floor of the porch; and from it his eyes went +to the young woman trying to laugh away her trembling while she scolded +adoringly her adventurous man-child. He was about to speak again, but +thought better of it, and sighed. + +"Down at the stables somewhere--I don't know, really; the boys can tell +you. Mother's baby mustn't touch the naughty horses. Naughty horses hurt +mother's baby! Make him cry!" + +Andy gave her a long look, which had in it much pity, and rode away. +He knew what was in that telegram, for the agent had told him when he +hunted him up at Rusty Brown's and gave it to him; and the horse of Andy +bore mute testimony to the speed with which he had brought it to the +ranch. Not until he had reached the coulee had he slackened his pace. +He decided, after that glance, that he would not remind her that she +had not read the telegram; instead, he thought he ought to find Chip +immediately and send him to her. + +Chip was rummaging after something in the store-house, and, when Andy +saw him there, he dismounted and stood blotting out the light from +the doorway. Chip looked up, said "Hello" carelessly, and flung an old +slicker aside that he might search beneath it. "Back early, aren't you?" +he asked, for sake of saying something. + +Andy's attitude was not as casual as he would have had it. + +"Say, maybe you better go on up to the house," he began diffidently. "I +guess your wife wants to see yuh, maybe." + +"Just as a good wife should," grinned Chip. "What's the matter? Kid fall +off the porch?" + +"N-o-o--I brought out a wire from Chicago. It's from a doctor +there--some hospital. The--Old Man got hurt. One of them cussed +automobiles knocked him down. They want you to come." + +Chip had straightened up and was hooking at Andy blankly. "If you're +just--" + +"Honest," Andy asserted, and flushed a little. "I'll go tell some one to +catch up the team--you'll want to make that 11:20, I take it." He added, +as Chip went by him hastily, "I had the agent wire for sleeper berths on +the 11:20 so--" + +"Thanks. Yes, you have the team caught up, Andy." Chip was already well +on his way to the house. + +Andy waited till he saw the Little Doctor come hurriedly to the end of +the porch overlooking the pathway, with the telegram fluttering in her +fingers, and then led his horse down through the gate and to the stable. +He yanked the saddle off, turned the tired animal into a stall, and went +on to the corral, where he leaned elbows on a warped rail and peered +through at the turmoil within. Close beside him stood Weary, with his +loop dragging behind him, waiting for a chance to throw it over the head +of a buckskin three-year-old with black mane and tail. + +"Get in here and make a hand, why don't you?" Weary bantered, his eye +on the buckskin. "Good chance to make a 'rep' for yourself, Andy. +Gawd greased that buckskin--he sure can slide out from under a rope as +easy--" + +He broke off to flip the hoop dexterously forward, had the reward of +seeing the buckskin dodge backward, so that the rope barely flicked him +on the nose, and drew in his rope disgustedly. "Come on, Andy--my hands +are up in the air; I can't land him--that's the fourth throw." + +Andy's interest in the buckskin, however, was scant. His face was sober, +his whole attitude one of extreme dejection. + +"You got the tummy-ache?" Pink inquired facetiously, moving around so +that he got a fair look at his face. + +"Naw--his girl's went back on him!" Happy Jack put in, coiling his rope +as he came up. + +"Oh, shut up!" Andy's voice was sharp with trouble. "Boys, the Old +Man's--well, he's most likely dead by this time. I brought out a +telegram--" + +"Go on!" Pink's eyes widened incredulously. "Don't you try that kind of +a load, Andy Green, or I'll just about--" + +"Oh, you fellows make me sick!" Andy took his elbows off the rail and +stood straight. "Dammit, the telegram's up at the house--go and read it +yourselves, then!" + +The three stared after him doubtfully, fear struggling with the caution +born of much experience. + +"He don't act, to me, like he was putting up a josh," Weary stated +uneasily, after a minute of silence. "Run up to the house and find out, +Cadwalloper. The Old Man--oh, good Lord!" The tan on Weary's face took a +lighter tinge. "Scoot--it won't take but a minute to find out for sure. +Go on, Pink." + +"So help me Josephine, I'll kill that same Andy Green if he's lied about +it," Pink declared, while he climbed the fence. + +In three minutes he was back, and before he had said a word, his face +confirmed the bad news. Their eyes besought him for details, and he +gave them jerkily. "Automobile run over him. He ain't dead, but they +think--Chip and the Little Doctor are going to catch the night train. +You go haze in the team, Happy. And give 'em a feed of oats, Chip said." + +Irish and Big Medicine, seeing the three standing soberly together +there, and sensing something unusual, came up and heard the news in +stunned silence. Andy, forgetting his pique at their first disbelief, +came forlornly back and stood with them. + +The Old Man--the thing could not be true! To every man of them his +presence, conjured by the impending tragedy, was almost a palpable +thing. His stocky figure seemed almost to stand in their midst; +he looked at them with his whimsical eyes, which had the radiating +crows-feet of age, humor and habitual squinting against sun and wind; +the bald spot on his head, the wrinkling shirt-collar that seldom knew +a tie, the carpet slippers which were his favorite footgear because they +were kind to his bunions, his husky voice, good-naturedly complaining, +were poignantly real to them at that moment. Then Irish mentally +pictured him lying maimed, dying, perhaps, in a far-off hospital among +strangers, and swore. + +"If he's got to die, it oughta be here, where folks know him and--where +he knows--" Irish was not accustomed to giving voice to his deeper +feelings, and he blundered awkwardly over it. + +"I never did go much on them darned hospitals, anyway," Weary observed +gloomily. "He oughta be home, where folks can look after him. Mam-ma! It +sure is a fright." + +"I betche Chip and the Little Doctor won't get there in time," Happy +Jack predicted, with his usual pessimism. "The Old Man's gittin' old--" + +"He ain't but fifty-two; yuh call that old, consarn yuh? He's younger +right now than you'll be when you're forty." + +"Countess is going along, too, so she can ride herd on the Kid," Pink +informed then. "I heard the Little Doctor tell her to pack up, and +'never mind if she did have sponge all set!' Countess seemed to think +her bread was a darned sight more important than the Old Man. That's the +way with women. They'll pass up--" + +"Well, by golly, I like to see a woman take some interest in her own +affairs," Slim defended. "What they packin' up for, and where they +goin'?" Slim had just ridden up to the group in time to overhear Pink's +criticism. + +They told him the news, and Slim swallowed twice, said "By golly!" quite +huskily, and then rode slowly away with his head bowed. He had worked +for the Flying U when it was strictly a bachelor outfit, and with the +tenacity of slow minds he held J. G. Whitmore, his beloved "Old Man," +as but a degree lower than that mysterious power which made the sun to +shine--and, if the truth were known, he had accepted him as being quite +as eternal. His loyalty adjusted everything to the interests of the +Flying U. That the Old Man could die--the possibility stunned him. + +They were a sorry company that gathered that night around the long table +with its mottled oil-cloth covering and benches polished to a glass-like +smoothness with their own vigorous bodies. They did not talk much about +the Old Man; indeed, they came no nearer the subject than to ask Weary +if he were going to drive the team in to Dry Lake. They did not talk +much about anything, for that matter; even the knives and forks seemed +to share the general depression of spirits, and failed to give forth the +cheerful clatter which was a daily accompaniment of meals in that room. + +Old Patsy, he who had cooked for J. G. Whitmore when the Flying U +coulee was a wilderness and the brand yet unrecorded and the irons +unmade--Patsy lumbered heavily about the room and could not find his +dish-cloth when it was squeezed tight in one great, fat hand, and +unthinkingly started to fill their coffee cups from the tea-kettle. + +"Py cosh, I vould keel der fool vot made her first von of der +automo-beels, yet!" he exclaimed unexpectedly, after a long silence, and +cast his pipe vindictively toward his bunk in one corner. + +The Happy Family looked around at him, then understandingly at one +another. + +"Same here, Patsy," Jack Bates agreed. "What they want of the damned +things when the country's full uh good horses gits me." + +"So some Yahoo with just sense enough to put goggles on to cover up +his fool face can run over folks he ain't good enough to speak to, by +cripes!" Big Medicine glared aggressively up and down the table. + +Weary got up suddenly and went out, and Slim followed him, though his +supper was half-uneaten. + +"This goin' to be hard on the Little Doctor--only brother she's got," +they heard Happy Jack point out unnecessarily; and Weary, the equable, +was guilty of slamming the door so that the whole building shook, by way +of demonstrating his dislike of speech upon the subject. + +They were a sorry company who waved hands at the Little Doctor and +the Kid and the Countess, just when the afterglow of a red sunset +was merging into the vague, purple shadows of coming dusk. They stood +silent, for the most part, and let them go without the usual facetious +advice to "Be good to yourselves," and the hackneyed admonition to Chip +to keep out of jail if he could. There must have been something very +wistful in their faces, for the Little Doctor smiled bravely down upon +then from the buggy seat, and lifted up the Kid for a four-toothed smile +and an ecstatic "Bye!" accompanied by a vigorous flopping of hands, +which included then all. + +"We'll telegraph first thing, boys," the Little Doctor called back, as +the rig chucked into the pebbly creek crossing. "We'll keep you posted, +and I'll write all the particulars as soon as I can. Don't think the +worst--unless you have to. I don't." She smiled again, and waved her +hand hastily because of the Kid's contortions; and, though the smile +had tears close behind it, though her voice was tremulous in spite of +herself, the Happy Family took heart from her courage and waved their +hats gravely, and smiled back as best they could. + +"There's a lot uh cake you boys might just as well eat up," the Countess +called belatedly. "It'll all dry out, if yuh don't--and there ain't no +use wastin' it--and there's two lemon pies in the brown cupboard, and +what under the shinin' sun--" The wheels bumped violently against a +rock, and the Happy Family heard no more. + + + +CHAPTER IV. Some Hopes + +On the third day after the Happy Family decided that there should be +some word from Chicago; and, since that day was Sunday, they rode in a +body to Dry Lake after it. They had not discussed the impending tragedy +very much, but they were an exceedingly Unhappy Family, nevertheless; +and, since Flying U coulee was but a place of gloom, they were not +averse to leaving it behind them for a few hours, and riding where every +stick and stone did not remind then of the Old Man. + +In Dry Lake was a message, brief but heartening: + +"J. G. still alive. Some hopes". + +They left the station with lighter spirits after reading that; rode to +the hotel, tied their horses to the long hitching pole there and went +in. And right there the Happy Family unwittingly became cast for the +leading parts in one of those dramas of the West which never is heard +of outside the theater in which grim circumstance stages it for a single +playing--unless, indeed, the curtain rings down on a tragedy that brings +the actors before their district judge for trial. And, as so frequently +is the case, the beginning was casual to the point of triviality. + +Sary, Ellen, Marg'reet, Sybilly and Jos'phine Denson (spelled in +accordance with parental pronunciation) were swinging idly upon the +hitching pole, with the self-conscious sang froid of country children +come to town. They backed away from the Happy Family's approach, grinned +foolishly in response to their careless greeting, and tittered openly +at the resplendence of the Native Son, who was wearing his black Angora +chaps with the three white diamonds down each leg, the gay horsehair +hatband, crimson neckerchief and Mexican spurs with their immense +rowels and ornate conchos of hand-beaten silver. Sary, Ellen, Marg'reet, +Jos'phine and Sybilly were also resplendent, in their way. Their carroty +hair was tied with ribbons quite aggressively new, their freckles +shone with maternal scrubbing, and there was a hint of home-made +"crochet-lace" beneath each stiffly starched dress. + +"Hello, kids," Weary greeted them amiably, with a secret smile over the +memory of a time when they had purloined the Little Doctor's pills and +had made reluctant acquaintance with a stomach pump. "Where's the circus +going to be at?" + +"There ain't goin' to be no circus," Sybilly retorted, because she was +the forward one of the family. "We're going away; on the train. The next +one that comes along. We're going to be on it all night, too; and we'll +have to eat on it, too." + +"Well, by golly, you'll want something to eat, then!" Slim was feeling +abstractedly in his pocket for a coin, for these were the nieces of the +Countess, and therefore claimed more than a cursory interest from +Slim. "You take this up to the store and see if yuh can't swop it for +something good to eat." Because Sary was the smallest of the lot he +pressed the dollar into her shrinking, amazed palm. + +"Paw's got more money'n that," Sybilly announced proudly. "Paw's got +a million dollars. A man bought our ranch and gave him a lot of money. +We're rich now. Maybe paw'll buy us a phony-graft. He said maybe he +would. And maw's goin' to have a blue silk dress with green onto it. +And--" + +"Better haze along and buy that grub stake," Slim interrupted the family +gift for profuse speech. He had caught the boys grinning, and fancied +that they were tracing a likeness between the garrulity of Sybilly and +the fluency of her aunt, the Countess. "You don't want that train to go +off and leave yuh, by golly." + +"Wonder who bought Denson out?" Cal Emmett asked of no one in +particular, as the children went strutting off to the store to spend the +dollar which little Sary clutched so tightly it seemed as if the goddess +of liberty must surely have been imprinted upon her palm. + +When they went inside and found Denson himself pompously "setting 'em up +to the house," Cal repeated the question in a slightly different form to +the man himself. + +Denson, while he was ready to impress the beholders with his +unaccustomed affluence, became noticeably embarrassed at the inquiry, +and edged off into vague generalities. + +"I jest nacherlly had to sell when I got m' price," he told the Happy +Family in a tone that savored strongly of apology. "I like the country, +and I like m' neighbors fine. Never'd ask for better than the Flyin' U +has been t' me. I ain't got no kick comin' there. Sorry to hear the Old +Man's hurt back East. Mary was real put out at not bein' able to +see Louise 'fore she went away"--Louise being the Countess' and Mary +Denson's sister--"but soon as I sold I got oneasy like. The feller +wanted p'session right away, too, so I told Mary we might as well start +b'fore we git outa the notion. I wouldn't uh cared about sellin', maybe, +but the kids needs to be in school. They're growin' up in ign'rance +out here, and Mary's folks wants us to come back 'n' settle close handy +by--they been at us t' sell out and move fer the last five years, now, +and I told Mary--" + +Even Cal forgot, eventually, that he had asked a question which remained +unanswered; what interest he had felt at first was smothered to death +beneath that blanket of words, and he eagerly followed the boys out +and over to Rusty Brown's place, where Denson, because of an old grudge +against Rusty, might be trusted not to follow. + +"Mamma!" Weary commented amusedly, when they were crossing the street, +"that Denson bunch can sure talk the fastest and longest, and say the +least, of any outfit I ever saw." + +"Wonder who did buy him out?" Jack Bates queried. "Old ginger-whiskers +didn't pass out any facts, yuh notice. He couldn't have got much; his +land's mostly gravel and 'doby patches. He's got a water right on Flying +U creek, you know--first right, at that, seems to me--and a dandy fine +spring in that coulee. Wonder why our outfit didn't buy him out--seeing +he wanted to sell so bad?" + +"This wantin' to sell is something I never heard of b'fore," Slim said +slowly. "To hear him tell it, that ranch uh hisn was worth a dollar an +inch, by golly. I don't b'lieve he's been wantin' to sell out. If he +had, Mis' Bixby woulda said something about it. She don't know about +this here sellin' business, or she'd a said--" + +"Yeah, you can most generally bank on the Countess telling all she +knows," Cal assented with some sarcasm; at which Slim grunted and turned +sulky afterward. + +Denson and his affairs they speedily forgot for a time, in the diversion +which Rusty Brown's familiar place afforded to young men with unjaded +nerves and a zest for the primitive pleasures. Not until mid-afternoon +did it occur to them that Flying U coulee was deserted by all save old +Patsy, and that there were chores to be done, if all the creatures of +the coulee would sleep in comfort that night. Pink, therefore, withdrew +his challenge to the bunch, and laid his billiard cue down with a sigh +and the remark that all he lacked was time, to have the scalps of every +last one of them hanging from his belt. Pink was figurative in his +speech, you will understand; and also a bit vainglorious over beating +Andy Green and Big Medicine twice in succession. + +It occurred to Weary then that a word of cheer to the Old Man and +his anxious watchers might not cone amiss. Therefore the Happy Family +mounted and rode to the depot to send it, and on the way wrangled over +the wording of the message after their usual contentious manner. + +"Better tell 'em everything is fine, at this end uh the line," Cal +suggested, and was hooted at for a poet. + +"Just say," Weary began, when he was interrupted by the discordant +clamor from a trainload of sheep that had just pulled in and stopped. +"'Maa-aa, Ma-a-aaa,' darn yuh," he shouted derisively, at the peering, +plaintive faces, glimpsed between the close-set bars. "Mamma, how I do +love sheep!" Whereupon he put spurs to his horse and galloped down to +the station to rid his ears of the turbulent wave of protest from the +cars. + +Naturally it required some time to compose the telegram in a style +satisfactory to all parties. Outside, cars banged together, an engine +snorted stertorously, and suffocating puffs of coal smoke now and +then invaded the waiting-room while the Happy Family were sending that +message of cheer to Chicago. If you are curious, the final version of +their combined sentiments was not at all spectacular. It said merely: + +"Everything fine here. Take good care of the Old Man. How's the Kid +stacking up?" + +It was signed simply "The Bunch." + +"Mary's little lambs are here yet, I see," the Native Son remarked +carelessly when they went out. "Enough lambs for all the Marys in the +country. How would you like to be Mary?" + +"Not for me," Irish declared, and turned his face away from the stench +of them. + +Others there were who rode the length of the train with faces averted +and looks of disdain; cowmen, all of them, they shared the range +prejudice, and took no pains to hide it. + +The wind blew strong from the east, that day; it whistled through the +open, double-decked cars packed with gray, woolly bodies, whose voices +were ever raised in strident complaint; and the stench of them smote +the unaccustomed nostrils of the Happy Family and put them to disgusted +flight up the track and across it to where the air was clean again. + +"Honest to grandma, I'd make the poorest kind of a sheepherder," Big +Medicine bawled earnestly, when they were well away from the noise and +smell of the detested animals. "If I had to herd sheep, by cripes, do +you know what I'd do? I'd haze 'em into a coulee and turn loose with a +good rifle and plenty uh shells, and call in the coyotes to git a square +meal. That's the way I'd herd sheep. It's the only way you can shut 'em +up. They just 'baa-aa, baa-aa, baa-aa' from the time they're dropped +till somebody kills 'em off. Honest, they blat in their sleep. I've +heard 'em." + +"When you and the dogs were shooting off coyotes?" asked Andy Green +pointedly, and so precipitated dissension which lasted for ten miles. + + + +CHAPTER V. Sheep + +Slim rising first from dinner on the next day but one opened the door +of the mess-house, and stood there idly picking his teeth before he went +about his work. After a minute of listening to the boys "joshing" old +Patsy about some gooseberry pies he had baked without sugar, he turned +his face outward, threw up his head like a startled bull, and began to +sniff. + +"Say, I smell sheep, by golly!" he announced in the bellowing tone which +was his conversational voice, and sniffed again. + +"Oh, that's just a left-over in your system from the dose yuh got in +town Sunday," Weary explained soothingly. "I've smelled sheep, and +tasted sheep, and dreamed sheep, ever since." + +"No, by golly, it's sheep! It ain't no memory. I--I b'hieve I hear +'em, too, by golly." Slim stepped out away from the building and faced +suspiciously down the coulee. + +"Slim, I never suspected you of imagination before," the Native Son +drawled, and loitered out to where Slim stood still sniffing. "I wonder +if you're catching it from Andy and me. Don't you think you ought to be +vaccinated?" + +"That ain't imagination," Pink called out from within. "When anybody +claims there's sheep in Flying U coulee, that's straight loco." + +"Come on out here and smell 'em yourself, then!" Slim bawled +indignantly. "I never seen such an outfit as this is gittin' to be; you +fellers don't believe nobody, no more. We ain't all Andy Greens." + +Upon hearing this Andy pushed back his chair and strolled outside. He +clapped his hand down upon Slim's fat-cushioned shoulder and swayed him +gently. "Never mind, Slim; you can't all be famous," he comforted. "Some +day, maybe, I'll teach yuh the fine art of lying more convincingly than +the ordinary man can tell the truth. It is a fine art; it takes a genius +to put it across. Now, the only time anybody doubts my word is when I'm +sticking to the truth hike a sand burr to a dog's tail." + +From away to the west, borne on the wind which swept steadily down the +coulee, came that faint, humming sing-song, which can be made only by a +herd of a thousand or more sheep, all blatting in different keys--or +by a distant band playing monotonously upon the middle octave of their +varied instruments. + +"Slim's right, by gracious! It's sheep, sure as yuh live." Andy did not +wait for more, but started at a fast walk for the stable and his horse. +After him went the Native Son, who had not been with the Flying U long +enough to sense the magnitude of the affront, and Slim, who knew to a +nicety just what "cowmen" considered the unpardonable sin, and the rest +of the Happy Family, who were rather incredulous still. + +"Must be some fool herder just crossing the coulee, on the move +somewhere," Weary gave as a solution. "Half of 'em don't know a fence +when they see it." + +As they galloped toward the sound and the smell, they expressed freely +their opinion of sheep, the men who owned them, and the lunatics who +watched over the blatting things. They were cattlemen to the marrow +in their bones, and they gloried in their prejudice against the woolly +despoilers of the range. + +All these years had the Flying U been immune from the nuisance, save for +an occasional trespasser, who was quickly sent about his business. The +Flying U range had been kept in the main inviolate from the little, gray +vandals, which ate the grass clean to the sod, and trampled with their +sharp-pointed hoofs the very roots into lifelessness; which polluted the +water-holes and creeks until cattle and horses went thirsty rather than +drink; which, in that land of scant rainfall, devastated the range +where they fed so that a long-established prairie-dog town was not more +barren. What wonder if the men who owned cattle, and those who tended +them, hated sheep? So does the farmer dread an invasion of grasshoppers. + +A mile down the coulee they came upon the band with two herders and four +dogs keeping watch. Across the coulee and up the hillsides they spread +like a noisome gray blanket. "Maa-aa, maa-aa, maa-aa," two thousand +strong they blatted a strident medley while they hurried here and there +after sweeter bunches of grass, very much like a disturbed ant-hill. + +The herders loitered upon either slope, their dogs lying close beside +them. There was good grass in that part of the coulee; the Flying U +had saved it for the saddle horses that were to be gathered and held +temporarily at the ranch; for it would save herding, and a week in that +pasture would put a keen edge on their spirits for the hard work of the +calf roundup. A dozen or two that ranged close had already been driven +into the field and were feeding disdainfully in a corner as far away +from the sheep as the fence would permit. + +The Happy Family, riding close-grouped, stiffened in their saddles and +stared amazed at the outrage. + +"Sheepherders never did have any nerve," Irish observed after a minute. +"They keep their places fine! They'll drive their sheep right into your +dooryard and tell 'en to help themselves to anything that happens to +look good to them. Oh, they're sure modest and retiring!" + +Weary, who had charge of the outfit during Chip's absence, was making +straight for the nearest herder. Pink and Andy went with him, as a +matter of course. + +"You fellows ride up around that side, and put the run on them sheep," +Weary shouted back to the others. "We'll start the other side moving. +Make 'em travel--back where they came from." He jerked his head toward +the north. He knew, just as they all knew, that there had been no sheep +to the south, unless one counted those that ranged across the Missouri +river. + +As the three forced their horses up the steep slope, the herder, sitting +slouched upon a rock, glanced up at them dully. He had a long stick, +with which he was apathetically turning over the smaller stones within +his reach, and as apathetically killing the black bugs that scuttled out +from the moist earth beneath. He desisted from this unexciting pastime +as they drew near, and eyed them with the sullenness that comes of +long isolation when the person's nature forbids that other extreme of +babbling garrulity, for no man can live long months alone and remain +perfectly normal. Nature, that stern mistress, always exacts a penalty +from us foolish mortals who would ignore the instincts she has wisely +implanted within us for our good. + +"Maybe," Weary began mildly and without preface, "you don't know this is +private property. Get busy with your dogs, and haze these sheep back on +the bench." He waved his hand to the north. "And, when you get a good +start in that direction," he added, "yuh better keep right on going." + +The herder surveyed him morosely, but he said nothing; neither did he +rise from the rock to obey the command. The dogs sat upon their haunches +and perked their ears inquiringly, as if they understood better than did +their master that these men were not to be quite overlooked. + +"I meant to-day," Weary hinted, with the manner of one who deliberately +holds his voice quiet. + +"I never asked yuh what yuh meant," the herder mumbled, scowling. "We +got to keep 'em on water another hour, yet." He went back to turning +over the small rocks and to pursuing with his stick the bugs, as if the +whole subject were squeezed dry of interest. + +For a minute Weary stared unwinkingly down at him, uncertain whether to +resent this as pure insolence, or to condone it as imbecility. "Mamma!" +he breathed eloquently, and grinned at Andy and Pink. "This is a real +talkative cuss, and obliging, too. Come on, boys; he's too busy to +bother with a little thing like sheep." + +He led the way around to the far side of the band, the nearest sheep +scuttling away from then as they passed. "I don't suppose we could work +the combination on those dogs--what?" he considered aloud, glancing back +at them where they still sat upon their haunches and watched the strange +riders. "Say, Cadwalloper, you took a few lessons in sheepherding, a +couple of years ago, when you was stuck on that girl--remember? Whistle +'em up here and set 'en to work." + +"You go to the devil," Pink's curved hips replied amiably to his boss. +"I've got loss-uh-memory on the sheep business." + +Whereat Weary grinned and said no more about it. + +On the opposite side of the coulee, the boys seemed to be laboring +quite as fruitlessly with the other herder. They heard Big Medicine's +truculent bellow, as he leaned from the saddle and waved a fist close to +the face of the herder, but, though they rode with their eyes fixed upon +the group, they failed to see any resultant movement of dogs, sheep or +man. + +There is, at times, a certain safety in being the hopeless minority. +Though seven indignant cowpunchers surrounded him, that herder was +secure from any personal molestation--and he knew it. They were seven +against one; therefore, after making some caustic remarks, which +produced as little effect as had Weary's command upon the first man, the +seven were constrained to ride here and there along the wavering, gray +line, and, with shouts and swinging ropes, themselves drive the sheep +from the coulee. + +There was much clamor and dust and riding to and fro. There was language +which would have made the mothers of then weep, and there were faces +grown crimson from wrath. Eventually, however, the Happy Family faced +the north fence of the Flying U boundary, and saw the last woolly back +scrape under the lower wire, leaving a toll of greasy wool hanging from +the barbs. + +The herders had drawn together, and were looking on from a distance, and +the four dogs were yelping uneasily over their enforced inaction. The +Happy Family went back and rounded up the herders, and by sheer weight +of numbers forced them to the fence without laying so much as a finger +upon then. The one who had been killing black bugs gave then an ugly +look as he crawled through, but even he did not say anything. + +"Snap them wires down where they belong," Weary commanded tersely. + +The man hesitated a minute, then sullenly unhooked the barbs of the two +lower strands, so that the wires, which had thus been lifted to permit +the passing of the sheep, twanged apart and once more stretched straight +from post to post. + +"Now, just keep in mind the fact that fences are built for use. This is +a private ranch, and sheep are just about as welcome as smallpox. Haze +them stinking things as far north as they'll travel before dark, and at +daylight start 'em going again. Where's your camp, anyhow?" + +"None of your business," mumbled the bugkiller sourly. + +Weary scanned the undulating slope beyond the fence, saw no sign of a +camp, and glanced uncertainly at his fellows. "Well, it don't matter +much where it is; you see to it you don't sleep within five miles of +here, or you're liable to have bad dreams. Hit the trail, now!" + +They waited inside the fence until the retreating sheep lost their +individuality as blatting animals, ambling erratically here and there, +while they moved toward the brow of the hill, and merged into a great, +gray blotch against the faint green of the new grass--a blotch from +which rose again that vibrant, sing-song humming of many voices mingled. +Then they rode back down the coulee to their own work, taking it +for granted that the trespassing was an incident which would not be +repeated--by those particular sheep, at any rate. + +It was, therefore, with something of a shock that the Happy Family +awoke the next morning to hear Pink's melodious treble shouting in the +bunk-house at sunrise next morning: + +"'G'wa-a-y round' 'em, Shep! Seven black ones in the coulee!" Men who +know well the West are familiar with that facetious call. + +"Ah, what's the matter with yuh?" Irish raised a rumpled, brown head +from his pillow, and blinked sleepily at him. "I've been dreaming I was +a sheepherder, all night." + +"Well, you've got the swellest chance in the world to 'make every dream +cone true, dearie,'" Pink retorted. "The whole blamed coulee's full uh +sheep. I woke up a while ago and thought I just imagined I heard 'en +again; so I went out to take a look--or a smell, it was--and they're +sure enough there!" + +Weary swung one long leg out from under his blankets and reached for his +clothes. He did not say anything, but his face portended trouble for the +invaders. + +"Say!" cried Big Medicine, coming out of his bunk as if it were afire, +"I tell yuh right now then blattin' human apes wouldn't git gay around +here if I was runnin' this outfit. The way I'd have of puttin' them +sheep on the run wouldn't be slow, by cripes! I'll guarantee--" + +By then the bunk-house was buzzing with voices, and there was none to +give heed to Big Medicine s blatant boasting. Others there were who +seemed rather inclined to give Weary good advice while they pulled +on their boots and sought for their gloves and rolled early-morning +cigarettes, and otherwise prepared themselves for what Fate might have +waiting for then outside the door. + +"Are you sure they're in the coulee, Cadwalloper?" Weary asked, during a +brief lull. "They could be up on the hill--" + +"Hell, yes!" was Pink's forceful answer. "They could be on the hill, but +they ain't. Why, darn it, they're straggling into the little pasture! I +could see 'em from the stable. They--" + +"Come and eat your breakfast first, boys, anyway." Weary had his hand +upon the door-knob. "A few minutes more won't make any difference, one +way or the other." He went out and over to the mess-house to see if +Patsy had the coffee ready; for this was a good three-quarters of an +hour earlier than the Flying U outfit usually bestirred themselves on +these days of preparation for roundup and waiting for good grass. + +"I'll be darned if I'd be as calm as he is," Cal Emmett muttered while +the door was being closed. "Good thing the Old Man ain't here, now. He'd +go straight up in the air. He wouldn't wait for no breakfast." + +"I betche there'll be a killin' yet, before we're through with them +sheep," gloomed Happy Jack. "When sheepherders starts in once to be +ornery, there ain't no way uh stoppin' 'em except by killin' 'em off. +And that'll mean the pen for a lot of us fellers--" + +"Well, by golly, it won't be me," Slim declared loudly. "Yuh wouldn't +ketch me goin' t' jail for no doggone sheepherder. They oughta be a +bounty on 'en by rights." + +"Seems queer they'd be right back here this morning, after being hazed +out yesterday afternoon," said Andy Green thoughtfully. "Looks like +they're plumb anxious to build a lot of trouble for themselves." + +Patsy, thumping energetically the bottom of a tin pan, sent them +trooping to the mess-house. There it was evident that the breakfast had +been unduly hurried; there were no biscuits in sight, for one thing, +though Patsy was lumbering about the stove frying hot-cakes. They were +in too great a hurry to wait for them, however. They swallowed their +coffee hurriedly, bolted a few mouthfuls of meat and fried eggs, and let +it go at that. + +Weary looked at then with a faint smile. "I'm going to give a few of you +fellows a chance to herd sheep to-day," he announced, cooling his coffee +so that it would not actually scald his palate. "That's why I wanted +you to get some grub into you. Some of you fellows will have to take the +trail up on the hill, and meet us outside the fence, so when we chase +'em through you can make a good job of it this time. I wonder--" + +"You don't need to call out the troops for that job; one man is +enough to put the fear uh the Lord into then herders," Andy remarked +slightingly. "Once they're on the move--" + +"All right, my boy; we'll let you be the man," Weary told him promptly. +"I was going to have a bunch of you take a packadero outfit down toward +Boiler Bottom and comb the breaks along there for horses--and I sure +do hate to spend the whole day chasing sheepherders around over the +country. So we'll haze 'em through the fence again, and, seeing you feel +that way about it, I'll let you go around and keep 'em going. And, if +you locate their camp, kinda impress it on the tender, if you can round +him up, that the Flying U ain't pasturing sheep this spring. No matter +what kinda talk he puts up, you put the run on 'em till you see 'em +across One-Man coulee. Better have Patsy put you up a lunch--unless +you're fond of mutton." + +Andy twisted his mouth disgustedly. "Say, I'm going to quit handing out +any valuable advice to you, Weary," he expostulated. + +"Haw-haw-haw-w-w!" laughed Big Medicine, and slapped Andy on the +shoulder so that his face almost came in contact with his plate. +"Yuh will try to work some innercent man into sheepherdin', will yuh? +Haw-haw-haw-w! You'll come in tonight blattin'--if yuh don't stay out +on the range tryin' t' eat grass, by cripes! Andy had a little lamb that +follered him around--" + +"Better let Bud take that herdin' job, Weary," Andy suggested. "It won't +hurt him--he's blattin' already." + +"If you think you're liable to need somebody along," Weary began, +soft-heartedly relenting, "why, I guess--" + +"If I can't handle two crazy sheepherders without any help, by gracious, +I'll get me a job holdin' yarn in an old ladies' hone," Andy cut in +hastily, and got up from the table. "Being a truthful man, I can't say +I'm stuck on the job; but I'm game for it. And I'll promise you there +won't be no more sheep of that brand lickin' our doorsteps. What darned +outfit is it, anyway? I never bumped into any Dot sheep before, to my +knowledge." + +"It's a new one on me," Weary testified, heading the procession down +to the stable. "If they belonged anywhere in this part of the country, +though, they wouldn't be acting the way they are. They'd be wise to the +fact that it ain't healthy." + +Even while he spoke his eyes were fixed with cold intensity upon a +fringe of gray across the coulee below the little pasture. To the +nostrils of the outraged Happy Family was borne that indescribable aroma +which betrays the presence of sheep; that aroma which sheepmen love and +which cattlemen hate, and which a favorable wind will carry a long way. + +They slapped saddles on their horses in record time that morning, and +raced down the coulee ironically shouting commiserating sentences to +the unfortunate Andy, who rode slowly up to the mess-house for the lunch +which Patsy had waiting for him in a flour sack, and afterward climbed +the grade and loped along outside the line fence to a point opposite +the sheep and the shouting horsemen, who forced them back by weight of +numbers. + +This morning the herders were not quite so passive. The bug-killer still +scowled, but he spoke without the preliminary sulky silence of the day +before, + +"We're goin' across the coulee," he growled. "Them's orders. We range +south uh here." + +"No, you don't," Weary dissented calmly. "Not by a long shot, you don't. +You're going back where you come from--if you ask me. And you're going +quick!" + + + +CHAPTER VI. What Happened to Andy + +With the sun shining comfortably upon his back, and with a cigarette +between his lips, Andy sat upon his horse and watched in silent glee +while the irate Happy Family scurried here and there behind the band, +swinging their ropes down upon the woolly backs, and searching their +vocabularies for new and terrible epithets. Andy smiled broadly as a +colorful phrase now and then boomed across the coulee in that clear, +snappy atmosphere, which carries sounds so far. He did not expect to +do much smiling upon his own account, that day, and he was therefore +grateful for the opportunity to behold the spectacle before him. + +There was Slim, for instance, unwillingly careening down hill toward +home, because, in his zeal to slap an old ewe smartly with his rope, he +drove her unexpectedly under his horse, and so created a momentary panic +that came near standing both horse and rider upon their heads. And there +was Big Medicine whistling until he was purple, while the herder, with a +single gesture, held the dog motionless, though a dozen sheep broke +back from the band and climbed a slope so steep that Big Medicine was +compelled to go after them afoot, and turn them with stones and profane +objurgations. + +It was very funny--when one could sit at ease upon the hilltop and smoke +a cigarette while others risked apoplexy and their souls' salvation +below. By the time they panted up the last rock-strewn slope of the +bluff, and sent the vanguard of the invaders under the fence, Andy's +mood was complacent in the extreme, and his smile offensively wide. + +"Oh, you needn't look so sorry for us," drawled the Native Son, jingling +over toward him until only the fence and a few feet of space divided +them. "Here's where you get yours, amigo. I wish you a pleasant day--and +a long one!" He waved his hand in mocking adieu, touched his horse with +his silver spurs, and rode gaily away down the coulee. + +"Here, sheepherder's your outfit. Ma-aa-a-a!" jeered Big Medicine. +"You'll wisht, by cripes, you was a dozen men just like yuh before +you're through with the deal. Haw-haw-haw-w!" + +There were others who, seeing Andy's grin, had something to say upon the +subject before they left. + +Weary rode up, and looked undecidedly from Andy to the sheep, and back +again. + +"If you don't feel like tackling it single-handed, I'll send--" + +"What do yuh think I am, anyway?" Andy interrupted crisply, "a +Montgomery Ward two-for-a-quarter cowpuncher? Don't you fellows waste +any time worrying over me!" + +The herders stared at Andy curiously when he swung in behind the +tail-end of the band and kept pace with their slow moving, but they did +not speak beyond shouting an occasional command to their dogs. Neither +did Andy have anything to say, until he saw that they were swinging +steadily to the west, instead of keeping straight north, as they had +been told to do. Then he rode over to the nearest herder, who happened +to be the bug-killer. + +"You don't want to get turned around," he hinted quietly. "That's north, +over there." + +"I'm workin' fer the man that pays my wages," the fellow retorted +glumly, and waved an arm to a collie that was waiting for orders. The +dog dropped his head, and ran around the right wing of the band, with +sharp yelps and dartings here and there, turning them still more to the +west. + +Andy hesitated, decided to leave the man alone for the present, and rode +around to the other herder. + +"You swing these sheep north!" he commanded, disdaining preface or +explanation. + +"I'm workin' for the man that pays my wages," the herder made answer +stolidly, and chewed steadily upon a quid of tobacco that had stained +his lips unbecomingly. + +So they had talked the thing over--had those two herders--and were +following a premeditated plan of defiance! Andy hooked at the man a +minute. "You turn them sheep, damn you," he commanded again, and laid a +hand upon his saddle-horn suggestively. + +"You go to the devil, damn yuh," advised the herder, and cocked a wary +eye at him from under his hat-brim. Not all herders, let it be said +in passing, take unto themselves the mental attributes of their sheep; +there are those who believe that a bold front is better than weak +compliance, and who will back that belief by a very bold front indeed. + +Andy appraised him mentally, decided that he was an able-bodied man +and therefore fightable, and threw his right leg over the cantle with a +quite surprising alacrity. + +"Are you going to turn them sheep?" Andy was taking off his coat when he +made that inquiry. + +"Not for your tellin'. You keep back, young feller, or I'll sick the +dogs on yuh." He turned and whistled to the nearest one, and Andy hit +him on the ear. + +They clinched and pummeled when they could and where they could. The +dog came up, circled the gyrating forms twice, then sat down upon his +haunches at a safe distance, tilted his head sidewise and lifted his +ears interestedly. He was a wise little dog; the other dog was also +wise, and remained phlegmatically at his post, as did the bug-killer. + +"Are you going to turn them sheep?" Andy spoke breathlessly, but with +deadly significance. + +"N-yes." + +Andy took his fingers from the other's Adam's apple, his knee from the +other's diaphragm, and went over to where he had thrown down his coat, +felt in a pocket for his handkerchief, and, when he had found it, +applied it to his nose, which was bleeding profusely. + +"Fly at it, then," he advised, eyeing the other sternly over the +handkerchief. "I'd hate to ask you a third time." + +"I'd hate to have yuh," conceded the herder reluctantly. "I was sure I +c'd lick yuh, or I'd 'a' turned 'em before." He sent the dog racing down +the south line of the band. + +Andy got thoughtfully back upon his horse, and sat looking hard at the +herder. "Say, you're grade above the general run uh lamb-hickers," he +observed, after a minute. "Who are you working for, and what's your +object in throwing sheep on Flying U land? There's plenty of range to +the north." + +"I'm workin'," said the herder, "for the Dot outfit. I thought you could +read brands." + +"Don't get sassy--I've got a punch or two I haven't used yet. Who owns +these woollies?" + +"Well--Whittaker and Oleson, if yuh want to know." + +"I do." Andy was keeping pace with him around the band, which edged +off from then and the dogs. "And what makes you so crazy about Flying U +grass?" he pursued. + +"We've got to cross that coulee to git to where we're headed for; we got +a right to, and we're going to do it." The herder paused and glanced up +at Andy sourly. "We knowed you was a mean outfit; the boss told us so. +And he told us you was blank ca'tridges and we needn't back up just +'cause you raised up on your hind legs and howled a little. I've had +truck with you cowmen before. I've herded sheep in Wyoming." He walked a +few steps with his head down, considering. + +"I better go over and talk some sense into the other fellow," he said, +looking up at Andy as if all his antagonism had oozed in the fight. "You +ride along this edge, so they won't scatter--we ought to be grazin' 'em +along, by rights; only you seem to be in such an all-fired rush--" + +"You go on and tell that loco son-of-a-gun over there what he's up +against," Andy urged. "Blank cartridges--I sure do like that! If you +only knew it, high power dum-dums would be a lot closer to our brand. +Run along--I am in a kinda hurry, this morning." + +Andy, riding slowly upon the outskirts of the grazing, blatting band, +watched the two confer earnestly together a hundred yards or so +away. They seemed to be having some sort of argument; the bug-killer +gesticulated with the long stick he carried, and the sheep, while +the herders talked, scattered irresponsibly. Andy wondered what made +sheepmen so "ornery," particularly herders. He wondered why the fellow +he had thrashed was so insultingly defiant at first, and, after +the thrashing, so unresentful and communicative, and so amenable to +authority withal. He felt his nose, and decided that it was, all +things considered, a cheap victory, and yet one of which he need not be +ashamed. + +The herder cane back presently and helped drive the sheep over the edge +of the bluff which bordered Antelope coulee. The bug-killer, upon his +side, also seemed imbued with the spirit of obedience; Andy heard him +curse a collie into frenzied zeal, and smiled approvingly. + +"Now you're acting a heap more human," he observed; and the man from +Wyoming grinned ruefully by way of reply. + +Antelope coulee, at that point, was steep; too steep for riding, so that +Andy dismounted and dug his boot-heels into the soft soil, to gain a +foothold on the descent. When he was halfway down, he chanced to look +back, straight into the scowling gaze of the bug-killer, who was sliding +down behind him. + +"Thought you were hazing down the other side of 'em," Andy called back, +but the herder did not choose to answer save with another scowl. + +Andy edged his horse around an impracticable slope of shale stuff and +went on. The herder followed. When he was within twelve feet or so +of the bottom, there was a sound of pebbles knocked loose in haste, a +scrambling, and then came the impact of his body. Andy teetered, lost +his balance, and went to the bottom in one glorious slide. He landed +with the bug-killer on top--and the bug-killer failed to remove his +person as speedily as true courtesy exacted. + +Andy kicked and wriggled and tried to remember what was that +high-colored, vituperative sentence that Irish had invented over a +stubborn sheep, that he might repeat it to the bug-killer. The herder +from Wyoming ran up, caught Andy's horse, and untied Andy's rope from +the saddle. + +"Good fer you, Oscar," he praised the bug-killer. "Hang onto him while +I take a few turns." He thereupon helped force Andy's arms to his side, +and wound the rope several times rather tightly around Andy's outraged, +squirming person. + +"Oh, it ain't goin' to do yuh no good to buck 'n bawl," admonished +the tier. "I learnt this here little trick down in Wyoming. A bunch uh +punchers done it to me--and I've been just achin' all over fer a chance +to return the favor to some uh you gay boys. And," he added, with +malicious satisfaction, while he rolled Andy over and tied a perfectly +unslippable knot behind, "it gives me great pleasure to hand the dose +out to you, in p'ticular. If I was a mean man, I'd hand yuh the boot a +few times fer luck; but I'll save that up till next time." + +"You can bet your sweet life there'll be a next time," Andy promised +earnestly, with embellishments better suited to the occasion than to a +children's party. + +"Well, when it arrives I'm sure Johnny-on-the-spot. Them Wyoming +punchers beat me up after they'd got me tied. I'm tellin' yuh so you'll +see I ain't mean unless I'm drove to it. Turn him feet down hill, Oscar, +so he won't git a rush uh brains to the head and die on our hands. Now +you're goin' to mind your own business, sonny. Next time yuh set out to +herd sheep, better see the boss first and git on the job right." + +He rose to his feet, surveyed Andy with his hands on his hips, mentally +pronounced the job well done, and took a generous chew of tobacco, after +which he grinned down at the trussed one. + +"That the language uh flowers you're talkin'?" he inquired banteringly, +before he turned his attention to the horse, which he disposed of by +tying up the reins and giving it a slap on the rump. When it had trotted +fifty yards down the coulee bottom, and showed a disposition to go +farther, he whistled to his dogs, and turned again to Andy. + +"This here is just a hint to that bunch you trot with, to leave us and +our sheep alone," he said. "We don't pick no quarrels, but we're goin' +to cross our sheep wherever we dern please, to git where we want to go. +Gawd didn't make this range and hand it over to you cowmen to put in yer +pockets--I guess there's a chance fer other folks to hang on by their +eyebrows, anyway." + +Andy, lying there like a very good presentation of a giant cocoon, roped +round and round, with his arms pinned to his sides, had the doubtful +pleasure of seeing that noisome, foolish-faced band trail down Antelope +coulee and back upon the level they had just left, and of knowing to a +gloomy certainty that he could do nothing about it, except swear; and +even that palls when a man has gone over his entire repertoire three +times in rapid succession. + +Andy, therefore, when the last sheep had trotted out of sight, hearing +and smell, wriggled himself into as comfortable a position as his bonds +would permit, and took a nap. + + + +CHAPTER VII. Truth Crushed to Earth, etc. + +Andy, only half awake, tried to obey both instinct and habit and reach +up to pull his hat down over his eyes, so that the sun could not shine +upon his lids so hotly; when he discovered that he could do no more than +wiggle his fingers, he came back with a jolt to reality and tried to sit +up. It is surprising to a man to discover suddenly just how important a +part his arms play in the most simple of body movements; Andy, with his +arms pinioned tightly the whole length of them, rolled over on his face, +kicked a good deal, and rolled back again, but he did not sit up, as he +had confidently expected to do. + +He lay absolutely quiet for at least five minutes, staring up at the +brilliant blue arch above him. Then he began to speak rapidly and +earnestly; a man just close enough to hear his voice sweeping up to a +certain rhetorical climax, pausing there and commencing again with a +rhythmic fluency of intonation, might have thought that he was repeating +poetry; indeed, it sounded like some of Milton's majestic blank +verse, but it was not. Andy was engaged in a methodical, scientific, +reprehensibly soul-satisfying period of swearing. + +A curlew, soaring low, with long beak outstretched before him, and +long legs outstretched behind cast a beady eye upon him, and shrilled +"Cor-reck! Cor-reck!" in unregenerate approbation of the blasphemy. + +Andy stopped suddenly and laughed. "Glad you agree with me, old sport," +he addressed the bird whimsically, with a reaction to his normally +cheerful outlook. "Sheepherders are all those things I named over, +birdie, and some that I can't think of at present." + +He tried again, this time with a more careful realization of his +limitations, to assume an upright position; and being a persevering +young man, and one with a ready wit, he managed at length to wriggle +himself back upon the slope from which he had slid in his sleep, and, by +digging in his heels and going carefully, he did at last rise upon his +knees, and from there triumphantly to his feet. + +He had at first believed that one of the herders would, in the course +of an hour or so, return and untie him, when he hoped to be able to +retrieve, in a measure, his self-respect, which he had lost when the +first three feet of his own rope had encircled him. To be tied and +trussed by sheepherders! Andy gritted his teeth and started down the +coulee. + +He was hungry, and his lunch was tied to his saddle. He looked eagerly +down the coulee, in the faint hope of seeing his horse grazing somewhere +along its length, until the numbness of his arms and hands reminded him +that forty lunches, tied upon forty saddles at his side, would be of no +use to him in his present position. His hands he could not move from his +thighs; he could wiggle his fingers--which he did, to relieve as much +as possible that unpleasant, prickly sensation which we call a "going to +sleep" of the afflicted members. When it occurred to him that he could +not do anything with his horse if he found it, he gave up looking for it +and started for the ranch, walking awkwardly, because of his bonds, the +sun shining hotly upon his brown head, because his hat had been knocked +off in the scuffle, and he could not pick it up and put it back where it +belonged. + +Taking a straight course across the prairie, he struck Flying U coulee +at the point where the sheep had left it. On the way there he had +crossed their trail where they went through the fence farther along +the coulee than before, and therefore with a better chance of passing +undetected; especially since the Happy Family, believing that he was +forcing them steadily to the north, would not be watching for sheep. The +barbed wire barrier bothered him somewhat. He was compelled to lie down +and roll under the fence, in the most undignified manner, and, when he +was through, there was the problem of getting upon his feet again. But +he managed it somehow, and went on down the coulee, perspiring with the +heat and a bitter realization of his ignominy. What the Happy Family +would have to say when they saw him, even Andy Green's vivid imagination +declined to picture. + +He knew by the sun that it was full noon when he came in sight of the +stable and corrals, and his soul sickened at the thought of facing that +derisive bunch of punchers, with their fiendish grins and their barbed +tongues. But he was hungry, and his arms had reached the limit of +prickly sensations and were numb to his shoulders. He shook his hair +back from his beaded forehead, cast a wary glance at the silent stables, +set his jaw, and went on up the hill to the mess-house, wishing tardily +that he had waited until they were off at work again, when he might +intimidate old Patsy into keeping quiet about his predicament. + +Within the mess-house was the clatter of knives and forks plied by +hungry men, the sound of desultory talk and a savory odor of good +things to eat. The door was closed. Andy stood before it as a +guilty-conscienced child stands before its teacher; clicked his teeth +together, and, since he could not open the door, lifted his right foot +and gave it a kick to strain the hinges. + +Within were exclamations of astonishment, silence and then a heavy +tread. Patsy opened the door, gasped and stood still, his eyes popping +out like a startled rabbit. + +"Well, what's eating you?" Andy demanded querulously, and pushed past +him into the room. + +Not all of the Happy Family were there. Cal, Jack Bates, Irish and +Happy Jack had gone into the Bad Lands next to the river; but there were +enough left to make the soul of Andy quiver forebodingly, and to send +the flush of extreme humiliation to his cheeks. + +The Happy Family looked at him in stunned surprise; then they glanced at +one another in swift, wordless inquiry, grinned wisely and warily, and +went on with their dinner. At least they pretended to go on with +their dinner, while Andy glared at them with amazed reproach in his +misleadingly honest gray eyes. + +"When you've got plenty of time," he said at last in a choked tone, +"maybe one of you obliging cusses will untie this damned rope." + +"Why, sure!" Pink threw a leg over the bench and got up with cheerful +alacrity. "I'll do it now, if you say so; I didn't know but what that +was some new fad of yours, like--" + +"Fad!" Andy repeated the word like an explosion. + +"Well, by golly, Andy needn't think I'm goin' to foller that there +style," Slim stated solemnly. "I need m' rope for something else than to +tie n' clothes on with." + +"I sure do hate to see a man wear funny things just to make himself +conspicuous," Pink observed, while he fumbled at the knot, which was +intricate. Andy jerked away from him that he might face him ragefully. + +"Maybe this looks funny to you," he cried, husky with wrath. "But I +can't seem to see the joke, myself. I admit I let then herders make +a monkey of me.... They slipped up behind, going down into Antelope +coulee, and slid down the bluff onto me; and, before I could get up, +they got me tied, all right. I licked one of 'en before that, and +thought I had 'en gentled down--" + +Andy stopped short, silenced by that unexplainable sense which warns us +when our words are received with cold disbelief. + +"Mh-hm--I thought maybe you'd run up against a hostile jackrabbit, or +something," Pink purred, and went back to his place on the bench. + +"Haw-haw-haw-w-w!" came Big Medicine's tardy bellow. "That's more +reasonable than the sheepherder story, by cripes!" + +Andy looked at them much as he had stared up at the sky before he began +to swear--speechlessly, with a trembling of the muscles around his +mouth. He was quite white, considering how tanned he was, and his +forehead was shiny, with beads of perspiration standing thickly upon it. + +"Weary, I wish you'd untie this rope. I can't." He spoke still in that +peculiar, husky tone, and, when the last words were out, his teeth went +together with a snap. + +Weary glanced inquiringly across at the Native Son, who was regarding +Andy steadily, as one gazes upon a tangled rope, looking for the end +which will easiest lead to an untangling. + +Miguel's brown eyes turned languidly to meet the look. "You'd better +untie him," he advised in his soft drawl. "He may not be in the habit of +doing it--but he's telling the truth." + +"Untie me, Miguel," begged Andy, going over to him, "and let me at this +bunch." + +"I'll do it," said Weary, and rose pacifically. "I kinda believe you +myself, Andy. But you can't blame the boys none; you've fooled 'em till +they're dead shy of anything they can't see through. And, besides, it +sure does look like a plant. I'd back you single-handed against a dozen +sheepherders like then two we've been chasing around. If I hadn't felt +that way I wouldn't have sent yuh out alone with 'em." + +"Well, Andy needn't think he's goin' to stick me on that there story," +Slim declared with brutal emphasis. "I've swallered too many baits, +by golly. He's figurin' on gettin' us all out on the war-path, runnin' +around in circles, so's't he can give us the laugh. I'll bet, by golly, +he paid then herders to tie him up like that. He can't fool me!" + +"Say, Slim, I do believe your brains is commencin' to sprout!" Big +Medicine thumped him painfully upon the back by way of accenting the +compliment. "You got the idee, all right." + +Andy stood quiet while Weary unwound the rope; lifted his numbed arms +with some difficulty, and displayed to the doubters his rope-creased +wrists, and purple, swollen hands. + +"I couldn't fight a caterpiller right now," he said thickly. "Look at +them hands! Do yuh call that a josh? I've been tied up like a bed-roll +for five hours, you--" Well, never mind, he merely repeated a part of +what he had recited aloud in Antelope coulee, the only difference being +that he applied the vitriolic utterances to the Happy Family instead of +to sheepherders, and that with the second recitation he gained much in +fluency and dramatic delivery. + +It is not nice for a man to swear; to swear the way Andy did, at any +rate. But the result perhaps atoned in a measure for the wickedness, in +that the Happy Family were absolutely convinced of his sincerity, and +the feelings of Andy greatly relieved, so that, when he had for the +third time that day completely exhausted his vocabulary, he sat down and +began to eat his dinner with a keen appetite. + +"I don't suppose you know where your horse is at, by this tine," Weary +observed, as casually as possible, breaking a somewhat constrained +silence. + +"I don't--and I don't give a darn," Andy snapped back. He ate a few +mouthfuls, and added less savagely: "He wasn't in sight, as I came +along. I didn't follow the trail; I struck straight across and came down +the coulee. He may be at the gate, and he may be down toward Rogers'." + +Pink reached for a toothpick, eyeing Andy side-long; dimpled his cheeks +disarmingly, and cleared his throat. "Please don't kill me off when you +get that pie swallowed," he began pacifically. "Strange as it may seem, +I believe you, Andy. What I want to know is this: Who owns them Dots? +And what are they chasing all over the Flying U range for? It looks +plumb malicious, to me. Did you find out anything about 'en, Andy, while +you--er--while they--" His eyes twinkled and betrayed him for an arrant +pretender. (Pink was not afraid of anything on earth--least of all Andy +Green.) + +"I will kill yuh by inches, if I hear any remarks out of yuh that +ain't respectful," Andy promised, thawing to his normal tone, which was +pleasant to the ear. "I didn't find out much about 'em. The fellow I +licked told me that Whittaker and Oleson owned the sheep. He didn't +say--" + +"Well--by--golly!" Shin thrust his head forward belligerently. +"Whittaker! Well, what d'yuh think uh that!" He glared from one face +to the other, his gaze at last resting upon Weary. "Say, do yuh reckon +it's--Dunk?" + +Weary paid no heed to Slim. He leaned forward, his face turned to Andy +with that concentration of attention which means so much more than mere +exclamation. "You're sure he said Whittaker?" he asked. + +His tone and his attitude arrested Andy's cup midway to his mouth. +"Sure--Whittaker and Oleson. I never heard of the outfit--who's this +Whittaker person?" + +Weary settled back in his place and smiled, but his eyes had quite lost +their habitually sunny expression. + +"Up until four years ago," he explained evenly, "he was the Old Man's +partner. We caught him in some mighty dirty work, and--well, he sold +out to the Old Man. The old party with the hoofs and tail can't be +everywhere at once, the way I've got it sized up, so he turns some of +his business over to other folks. Dunk Whittaker's his top hand." + +"Why, by golly, he framed up a job on the Gordon boys, and railroaded +'em to the pen, just--" + +"Oh, that's the gazabo!" Andy's eyes shone with enlightenment. "I've +heard a lot about Dunk, but I didn't know his last name--" + +"Say! I'll bet they're the outfit that bought out Denson. That's why old +Denson acted so queer, maybe. Selling to a sheep outfit would make the +old devil feel kinda uneasy, talking to us--" Pink's eyes were big and +purple with excitement. "And that train-load of sheep we saw Sunday, +I'll bet is the same identical outfit." + +"Dunk Whittaker'd better not try to monkey with me, by golly!" Slim's +face was lowering. "And he'd better not monkey with the Flying U either. +I'd pump him so full uh holes he'd look like a colander, by golly!" + +Weary got up and started to the door, his face suddenly grown careworn. +"Slim, you and Miguel better go and hunt up Andy's horse," he said with +a hint of abstraction in his tone, as though his mind was busy with more +important things. "Maybe Andy'll feel able to help you set those posts, +Bud--and you'd better go along the upper end of the little pasture with +the wire stretchers and tighten her up; the top wire is pretty loose, I +noticed this morning." His fingers fumbled with the door-knob. + +"Want me to do anything?" Pink asked quizzically just behind him. "I +thought sure we'd go and remonstrate with then gay--" + +Weary interrupted him. "The herders can wait--and, anyway, I've kinda +got an idea Andy wants to hand out his own brand of poison to that +bunch. You and I will take a ride over to Denson's and see what's going +on over there. Mamma!" he added fervently, under his breath, "I sure do +wish Chip and the Old Man were here!" + + + +CHAPTER VIII. The Dot Outfit + +Before he laid him down to sleep, that night, Weary had repeated to +himself many times and fervently that wish for old J. G. Whitmore and +the stout staff upon which he was beginning more and more to lean, his +brother-in-law, Chip Bennett. As matters stood, Weary could not even +bring himself to let then know anything about his trouble--and that the +thing was beginning to assume the form and shape and general malevolent +attributes of Trouble, Weary was forced to admit to himself. + +Just at present an unthinking, unobserving person might pass over +this sheep outfit as a mere unsavory incident; but Weary was neither +unobserving nor unthinking--nor, for the matter of that, were the +rest of the Happy Family. It needed no Happy Jack, with his foreboding +nature, to point out the unpleasant possibilities that night when the +committee of two made their informal report at the supper table. + +They had ridden to Denson coulee, which was in reality a meandering +branch of Flying U coulee itself. To reach it one rode out of Flying +U coulee and over a wide hill, and down again to Denson's. But the +creek--Flying U creek--followed the devious turnings from Denson coulee +down to the Flying U. A long mile of Flying U coulee J. G. Whitmore +owned outright. Another mile he held under no other title save a fence. +The creek flowed through it all--but that creek had its source somewhere +up near the head of Denson coulee. J. G. Whitmore had, to his regret, +been unable to claim the whole earth--or at least that portion of +it--for his own; so, when he was constrained to make a choice, he +settled himself in the wider, more fertile coulee, which he thereafter +called the Flying U. While it is good policy to locate as near as +possible to the source of those erratic little creeks which water +certain garden spots of the northern range land, it is also well to +choose land that will grow plenty of hay. J. G. Whitmore chose the hay +land, and trusted that providence would insure the water supply. Through +all these years Flying U creek had never once disappointed him. Denson, +who settled in the tributary coulee, had not made any difference in the +water supply, and his stock had consisted of thirty or forty head of +cattle and horses. + +When Denson sold, however, things might be different. And, if he had +sold to a sheepman, the change might be unpleasant If he had sold to +Dunk Whittaker--the Flying U boys faced that possibility just as they +would face any other disaster, undaunted, but grim and unsmiling. + +It was thus that Pink and Weary rode slowly down into Denson coulee. Two +miles back they had passed the band of Dot sheep, feeding leisurely +just without the Flying U fence, which was the southern boundary. The +bug-killer and the other were there, and they noted that the features +of that other bore witness to the truth of Andy's story of the fight. He +regarded them with one perfectly good eye and one which was considerably +swollen, and grinned a swollen grin. + +The two had ridden ten paces past him when Pink pulled up suddenly. "I'm +going to get off and lick that son-of-a-gun myself, just for luck," he +stated dispassionately. "I'm going to lick 'em both," he revised while +he dismounted. + +"Oh, come on, Cadwalloper," Weary dissuaded. "You'll likely have all the +excitement you need, without that." + +"Here, you hold this fool cayuse. No." He shook his head, cutting short +further protest. "You're the boss, and you don't want to mix in, and +that part is all right. But I ain't responsible--and I sure am going +to take a fall or two out of these geesers. They're a-w-l together too +stuck on themselves to suit me." Pink did not say that he was thinking +of Andy, but nevertheless a vivid recollection of that unfortunate young +man's rope-creased wrists and swollen hands sent him toward the herder +with long, eager strides. + +Pink was not tall, and he was slight and boyish of build; also, his +cherubic face, topped by tawny curls and lighted by eyes as deeply blue +and as innocent as a baby's, probably deceived that herder, just as +they had deceived many another. For Pink was a good deal like a stick +of dynamite wrapped in white tissue paper and tied with blue ribbon; +and Weary was not at all uneasy over the outcome, as he watched Pink go +clanking back, though he loved him well. + +Pink did not waste any time or words on the preliminaries. With a +delightful frankness of purpose he pulled off his coat and threw it +on the ground, as he came up, sent his hat after it, and arrived fist +first. + +The herder had waited grinning, and he had shouted something to Weary +about spanking the kid if Weary didn't make him behave. Speedily he +became a very surprised herder, and a distressed one as well. + +"All right," Pink remarked, a little quick-breathed, when the herder +decided for the third time to get up. "A friend of mine worked yuh over +a little, this morning, and I just thought I'd make a better job than he +did. Your eyes didn't match. They will, now." + +The herder mumbled maledictions after him, but Pink would not even give +him the satisfaction of resenting it. + +"I'd like to have broken a knuckle against his teeth, darn him," he +observed ruefully when he was in the saddle again. "Come on, Weary. It +won't take but a minute to hand a punch or two to that bug-killer, +and then I'll feel better. They've both got it coming--come on!" This +because Weary showed a strong inclination to take the trail and keep it +to his destination. "Well, I'll go alone, then. I've got to kinda square +myself for the way I threw it into Andy; and you know blamed well, +Weary, they played it low-down on him, or they'd never have got that +rope on him. And I'm going to lick that--" + +"Mamma! You sure are a rambunctious person when you feel that way," +Weary made querulous comment; but he rode over with Pink to where the +bug-killer was standing with his long stick held in a somewhat menacing +manner, and once more he held Pink's horse for him. + +Pink was gone longer this time, and he came back with a cut lip and a +large lump on his forehead; the bug-killer had thrown a small rock with +the precision which comes of much practice--such as stoning disobedient +dogs, and the like--and, when Pink rushed at him furiously, the herder +caught him very neatly alongside the head with his stick. These little +amenities serving merely to whet Pink's appetite for battle, he stopped +long enough to thrash that particular herder very thoroughly and to his +own complete satisfaction. + +"Well, I guess I'm ready to go on now," he observed, dimpling rather +one-sidedly as he got back on his horse. + +"I thought maybe you'd want to whip the dogs, too," Weary told him +dryly; which was the nearest he came to expressing any disapproval +of the incident. Weary was a peace-loving soul, whenever peace was +compatible with self-respect; and it would never have occurred to him to +punish strange men as summarily as Pink had done. + +"I would, if the dogs were half as ornery as the men," Pink retorted. +"Say, they hang together like bull snakes and rattlers, don't they? If +they was human, they'd have helped each other out--but nothing doing! Do +you reckon a man could ride up to a couple of our bunch, and thrash one +at a time without the other fellow having something to say about it?" He +turned in the saddle and looked back. "So help me, Josephine, I've got a +good mind to go back and lick them again, for not hanging together like +they ought to." But the threat was an idle one, and they went on to +Denson's, Weary still with that anxious look in his eyes, and Pink quite +complacent over his exploit. + +In Denson coulee was an unwonted atmosphere of activity; heretofore the +place had been animated chiefly by young Densons engaged in the pursuit +of pleasure, but now a covered buggy, evidently just arrived, bore mute +witness to the new order of things. There were more horses about the +place, a covered wagon or two, three or four men working upon the +corral, and, lastly, there was one whom Weary recognized the moment he +caught sight of him. + +"Looks like a sheep outfit, all right," he said somberly. "And, if that +ain't old Dunk himself, it's the devil, and that's next thing to him." + +Dunk, they judged, had just arrived with another man whom they did not +know: a tall man with light hair that hung lank to his collar, a thin, +sharp-nosed face and a wide mouth, which stretched easily into a smile, +but which was none the pleasanter for that. When he turned inquiringly +toward them they saw that he was stoop-shouldered; though not from any +deformity, but from sheer, slouching lankness. Dunk gave them a swift, +sour look from under his eyebrows and went on. + +Weary rode straight past the lank man, whom he judged to be Oleson, and +overtook Dunk Whittaker himself. + +"Hello, Dunk," he said cheerfully, sliding over in the saddle so that a +foot hung free of the stirrup, as men who ride much have learned to do +when they stop for a chat, thereby resting while they may. "Back on the +old stamping ground, are you?" + +"Since you see me here, I suppose I am," Dunk made churlish response. + +"Do you happen to own those Dot sheep, back there on the hill?" Weary +tilted his head toward home. + +"I happen to own half of them." By then they had reached the gate and +Dunk passed through and started on to the house. + +"Oh, don't be in a rush--come on back and be sociable," Weary called +out, in the mildest of tones, twisting the reins around his saddle-horn +so that he might roll a cigarette at ease. + +Dunk remembered, perhaps, certain things he had learned when he was +J. G. Whitmore's partner, and had more or less to do with the charter +members of the Happy Family. He came back and stood by the gate, +ungraciously enough, to be sure; still, he came back. Weary smiled under +cover of lighting his cigarette. Dunk, by that reluctant compliance, +betrayed something which Weary had been rather anxious to know. + +"We've been having a little trouble with those sheep of yours," Weary +remarked between puffs. "You've got some poor excuses for humans herding +them. They drove the bunch across our coulee just exactly three times. +There ain't enough grass left in our lower field to graze a prairie +dog." He glanced back to see where Pink was, saw that he was close +behind, as was the lank man, and spoke in a tone that included them all. + +"The Flying U ain't pasturing sheep, this spring," he informed them +pleasantly. "But, seeing the grass is eat up, we'll let yuh pay for it. +Why didn't you bring them in along the trail, anyway?" + +"I didn't bring them in. I just came down from Butte to-day. I suppose +the herders brought them out where the feed was best; they did if +they're worth their wages." + +"They happened to strike some feed that was pretty expensive. And," +he smiled down at Whittaker misleadingly, "you ought to keep an eye +on those herders, or they might let you in for another grass bill. The +Flying U has got quite a lot of range, right around here, you recollect. +And we've got plenty of cattle to eat it. We don't need any help to keep +the grass down so we can ride through it." + +"Now, look here," began the lank man with that sort of persuasiveness +which can turn instantly into bluster, "all this is pure foolishness, +you know. We're here to stay. We've bought this place, and some other +land to go with it, and we expect to stay right here and make a living. +It happens that we expect to make a living off of sheep. Now, we don't +want to start in by quarreling with our neighbors, and we don't want our +neighbors to start any quarrel with us. All we want--" + +"Mamma! You're taking a fine way to make us love yuh," Weary cut in +ironically. "I know what you want. You want the same as every other meek +and lovely sheepman wants. You want it all--core, seeds and peeling. +Dunk," he said with a more impatient disgust than he was in the habit +of showing for his fellowmen, "this man's a stranger; but I should think +you'd know better than to come in here with sheep." + +"I don't know why a sheep outfit isn't exactly as good as a cow outfit, +and I don't know why they haven't as much right here. You're welcome to +what land you own, but it always seemed to me that public land is open +to the use of the public. Now, as Oleson says, we expect to raise sheep +here, and we expect your outfit to leave us alone. As far as our sheep +crossing your coulee is concerned--I don't know that they did. But, if +they did, and, if they did any damage, let J. G. do the talking about +that. I deal with the owners--not with the hired men." + +Weary, you must understand, was never a bellicose young man. But, for +all that, he leaned over and gave Dunk a slap on the jaw which must have +stung considerably--and the full reason for his violence lay four years +behind the two, when Dunk was part owner of the Flying U, and when his +sneering arrogance had been very hard to endure. + +"Are you going to swallow that--from a hired man?" Weary inquired, +after a minute during which nothing whatever occurred beyond the slow +reddening of Dunk's face. + +"I'm not going to fight, if that's what you mean," Dunk sneered. "I +decline to bring myself down to your level. One doesn't expect anything +from a jackass but a bray, you know--and one doesn't feel compelled to +bray because the jackass does." He smiled that supercilious smile which +Weary had hated of old, and which, he knew, was well used to covering +much treachery and small meannesses of various sorts. + +"As I said, if the Flying U has any claim against us, let the owner +present it in the usual way." Dunk drew down his black brows, lifted a +corner of his lip and turned his back deliberately upon them. + +Oleson let himself through the gate, which he closed somewhat hastily +behind him. "I'm sorry you fellows seem to want to make trouble," he +said, without looking up from the latch, which seemed somewhat out of +repair, like the rest of the Denson property. "That's a poor way +to start in with new neighbors." He lifted his hat with what Pink +considered insulting politeness, and followed Dunk into the house. + +Weary waited there until they had gone in and closed the door, then +turned and rode back home again, frowning thoughtfully at the trail +ahead of them all the way, and making no reply to Pink's importunings +for war. + +"I'd hate to say you've lost your nerve, Weary," Pink cried at last, in +sheer desperation. "But why the devil didn't you get down and thump the +daylights out of that black son-of-a-gun? I came pretty near walking +into him myself, only I hate to butt into another fellow's scrap. But, +if I'd known you were going to set there and let him walk off with that +sneer on his face--" + +"I can't fight a man that won't hit back," Weary protested. "You +couldn't either, Cadwalloper. You'd have done just what I did; you'd +have let him go." + +"He will hit back, all right enough," Pink retorted passionately. "He'll +do it when you ain't looking, though. He--" + +"I know it," Weary sighed. "I'm kinda sorry, now, I slapped him. He'll +hit back--but he won't hit me; he'll aim at the outfit. If the Old Man +was here, or Chip, I'd feel a whole lot easier in my mind." + +"They couldn't do anything you can't do," Pink assured him loyally, +forgetting his petulance when he saw the careworn look in Weary's +face. "All they can do is gobble all the range around here--and I guess +there's a few of us that will have a word or two to say about that." + +"What makes me sore," Weary confided, "is knowing that Dunk isn't +thinking altogether of the dollar end of it. He's tickled to death to +get a whack at the outfit. And I hate to see him get away with it; but I +guess we'll have to stand for it." + +That sentiment did not please Pink; nor, when Weary repeated it later +that evening in the bunk-house, did it please the Happy Family. The less +pleasing it was because it was perfectly true and every man of them knew +it. Beyond keeping the sheep off Flying U land, there was nothing they +could do without stepping over the line into lawlessness--and, while +they were not in any sense a meek Happy Family, they were far more +law-abiding than their conversation that night made them appear. + + + +CHAPTER IX. More Sheep + +The next week was a time of harassment for the Flying U; a week +filled to overflowing with petty irritations, traceable, directly or +indirectly, to their new neighbors, the Dot sheepmen. The band in charge +of the bug-chaser and that other unlovable man from Wyoming fed just as +close to the Flying U boundary as their guardians dared let them feed; a +great deal closer than was good for the tempers of the Happy Family, who +rode fretfully here and there upon their own business and at the same +time tried to keep an eye upon their unsavory neighbors--a proceeding as +nerve-racking as it was futile. + +The Native Son, riding home in jingling haste from Dry Lake, whither +he had hurried one afternoon in the hope of cheering news from Chicago, +reported another trainload of Dots on the wide level beyond Antelope +coulee. There were, he said, four men in charge of the band, and he +believed they carried guns, though he was not positive of that. They +were moving slowly, and he thought they would not attempt to cross +Flying U coulee before the next day; though, from the course they were +taking, he was sure they meant to cross. + +Coupled with that bit of ill-tidings, the brief note from Chip, saying +very little about the Old Man, but implying a good deal by its very +omissions, would have been enough to send the Happy Family to sleepless +beds that night if they had been the kind to endure with silent +fortitude their troubles. + +"If you fellers would back me up," brooded Big Medicine down by the +corral after supper, "I'd see to it them sheep never gits across the +coulee, by cripes! I'd send 'em so far the other way they'd git plumb +turned around and forgit they ever wanted to go south." + +"It's all Dunk's devilishness," Jack Bates declared. "He could take them +in the other way, even if the feed ain't so good along the trail. It's +most all prairie-dog towns--but that's good enough for sheep." Jack, in +his intense partisanship, spoke as if sheep were not entitled to decent +grass at any time or under any circumstances. + +"Them herders packin' guns looks to me like they're goin' to make +trouble if they kin," gloomed Happy Jack. "I betche they'll kill +somebody before they're through. When sheepmen gits mean--" + +Pink picked up his rope and started for the large corral, where a few +saddle horses had been driven in just before supper and had not yet been +turned out. + +"You fellows can stand around and chew the rag, if you want to," he said +caustically, "and wait for Weary to make a war-talk. But I'm going to +keep cases on them Dots, if I have to stand an all-night guard on 'em. I +don't blame Weary; he's looking out for the law-and-order business--and +that's all right. But I'm not in charge of the outfit. I'm going to do +as I darn please, and, if they don't like my style, they can give me my +time." + +"Good for you, Little One!" Big Medicine hurried to overtake him so +that he might slap him on the shoulder with his favorite, sledge-hammer +method of signifying his approval of a man's sentiments. "Honest to +grandma, I was just b'ginnin' to think this bunch was gitting all +streaked up with yeller. 'Course, we ain't goin' to wait for no official +orders, by cripes! I'd ruther lock Weary up in the blacksmith shop than +let him tell us to go ahead. Go awn and tell him a good, stiff lie, +Andy--just to keep him interested while us fellers make a gitaway. He +ain't in on this; we don't want him in on it." + +"What yuh goin' to do?" Happy Jack inquired suspiciously. "Yuh can't +go and monkey with them sheep, er them herders. They ain't on our land. +And, if you don't git killed, old Dunk'll fix yuh like he fixed the +Gordon boys--I know him--to a fare-you-well. It'd tickle him to death to +git something on us fellers. I betche that's what he's aiming t'do. Git +us to fightin' his outfit so's't--" + +"Oh, go off and lie down!" Andy implored him contemptuously. "We're +going to hang those herders, and drive the sheep all over a cut-back +somewhere, like Jesus done to the hogs, and then we're going over and +murder old Dunk, if he's at home, and burn the house to hide the guilty +deed. And, if the sheriff comes snooping around, asking disagreeable +questions, we'll all swear you done it. So now you know our plans; shut +your face and go on to bed. And be sure," he added witheringly, "you +pull the soogans over your head, so you won't hear the dying shriek of +our victims. We're liable to get kinda excited and torture 'em a while +before we kill 'em." + +"Aw, gwan!" gulped Happy Jack mechanically. "You make me sick! If yuh +think I'm goin' to swaller all that, you're away off! You wouldn't dast +do nothing of the kind; and, if yuh did, you'd sure have a sweet time +layin' it onto me!" + +"Oh, I don't know," drawled the Native Son, with a slow, velvet-eyed +glance, "any jury in the country would hang you on your looks, Happy. I +knew a man down in the lower part of California, who was arrested, tried +and hanged for murder. And all the evidence there was against him was +the fact that he was seen within five miles of the place on the same day +the murder was committed; and his face. They had an expert physiognomist +there, and he swore that the fellow had the face of a murderer; the poor +devil looked like a criminal--and, though he had one of the best lawyers +on the Coast, it was adios for him." + +"I s'pose you mean I got the face of a criminal!" sputtered Happy Jack. +"It ain't always the purty fellers that wins out--like you 'n' Pink. I +never seen the purty man yit that was worth the powder it'd take to +blow him up! Aw, you fellers make me sick!" He went off, muttering his +opinion of them all, and particularly of the Native Son, who smiled +while he listened. "You go awn and start something--and you'll wisht you +hadn't," they heard him croak from the big gate, and chuckled over his +wrath. + +As a matter of fact, the Happy Family, as a whole, or as individuals, +had no intention of committing any great violence that evening. Pink +wanted to see just where this new band of sheep was spending the night, +and to find out, if possible, what were the herders' intentions. Since +the boys were all restless under their worry, and, since there is a +contagious element in seeking a trouble-zone, none save Happy Jack, who +was "sore" at them, and Weary stayed behind in the coulee with old Patsy +while the others rode away up the grade and out toward Antelope coulee +beyond. + +They meant only to reconnoiter, and to warn the herders against +attempting to cross Flying U coulee; though they were not exactly +sure that they would be perfectly polite, or that they would confine +themselves rigidly to the language they were wont to employ at dances. +Andy Green, in particular, seemed rather to look forward with pleasure +to the meeting. Andy, by the way, had remained heartbrokenly passive +during that whole week, because Weary had extracted from him a promise +which Andy, mendacious though he had the name of being, felt constrained +to keep intact. Though of a truth it irked him much to think of two +sheepherders walking abroad unpunished for their outrage upon his +person. + +Weary, as he had made plain to them all, wanted to avoid trouble if it +were possible to do so. And, though they grinned together in secret +over his own affair with Dunk--which was not, in their opinion, exactly +pacific--they meant to respect his wishes as far as human nature was +able to do so. So that the Happy Family, galloping toward the red sunset +and the great, gray blot on the prairie, just where the glory of +the west tinged the grass blades with red, were not one-half as +blood-thirsty as they had proclaimed themselves to be. + +While they were yet afar off they could see two men walking slowly in +the immediate vicinity of the huddled band. A hundred yards away was +a small tent, with a couple of horses picketed near by and feeding +placidly. The men turned, gazed long at their approach, and walked to +the tent, which they entered somewhat hastily. + +"Look at 'em dodge outa sight, will you!" cried Cal Emmett, and lifted +up his voice in the yell which sometimes announced the Happy Family's +arrival in Dry Lake after a long, thirsty absence on roundup. Other +voices joined in after that first, shrill "Ow-ow-ow-eee!" of Cal's; so +that presently the whole lot of them were emitting nerve-crimping yells +and spurring their horses into a thunder of hoofbeats, as they bore down +upon the tent. Between howls they laughed, picturing to themselves four +terrified sheepherders cowering within those frail, canvas walls. + +"I'm a rambler, and a gambler, and far from my ho-o-me, And if yuh don't +like me, jest leave me alo-o-ne!" chanted Big Medicine most horribly, +and finished with a yell that almost scared himself and set his horse to +plunging wildly. + +"Come out of there, you lop-eared mutton-chewers, and let us pick the +wool outa your teeth!" shouted Andy Green, telling himself hastily +that this was not breaking his promise to Weary, and yielding to the +temptation of coming as close to the guilty persons as he might; for, +while these were not the men who had tied him and left him alone on the +prairie, they belonged to the same outfit, and there was some comfort in +giving them a few disagreeable minutes. + +Pink, in the lead, was turning to ride around the tent, still yelling, +when someone within the tent fired a rifle--and did not aim as high as +he should. The bullet zipped close over the head of Big Medicine, who +happened to be opposite the crack between the tent-flaps. The hand of +Big Medicine jerked back to his hip; but, quick as he was, the Native +Son plunged between him and the tent before he could take aim. + +"Steady, amigo," smiled Miguel. "You aren't a crazy sheepherder." + +"No, but I'm goin' to kill off one. Git outa my way!" Big Medicine was +transformed into a cold-eyed, iron-jawed fighting machine. He dug the +spurs in, meaning to ride ahead of Miguel. But Miguel's spurs also +pressed home, so that the two horses plunged as one. Big Medicine, +bellowing one solitary oath, drew his right leg from the stirrup to +dismount. Miguel reached out, caught him by the arm, and held him to the +saddle. And, though Big Medicine was a strong man, the grip held firm +and unyielding. + +"You must think of the outfit, you know," said Miguel, smiling still. +"There must be no shooting. Once that begins--" He shrugged his +shoulders with that slight, eloquent movement, which the Happy Family +had come to know so well. He was speaking to them all, as they crowded +up to the scuffle. "The man who feels the trigger-itch had better throw +his gun away," he advised coolly. "I know, boys. I've seen these things +start before. All hell can't stop you, once you begin to shoot. Put it +up, Bud, or give it to me." + +"The man don't live that can shoot at me, by cripes, and git away with +it. Not if he misses killin' me!" Big Medicine was shaking with rage; +but the Native Son saw that he hesitated, nevertheless, and laughed +outright. + +"Call him out and give him a thumping. That's good enough for a +sheepherder," he suggested as a substitute. + +Perhaps because the Native Son so seldom offered advice, and, because of +his cool courage in interfering with Big Medicine at such a time, Bud's +jaw relaxed and his pale eyes became more human in their expression. He +even permitted Miguel to remove the big, wicked Colt from his hand, +and slide it into his own pocket; whereat the Happy Family gasped with +astonishment. Not even Pink would have dreamed of attempting such a +thing. + +"Well he's got to come out and take a lickin', anyway," shouted Big +Medicine vengefully, and rode close enough to slap the canvas smartly +with his quirt. By all the gods he knew by name he called upon the +offender to come forth, while the others drew up in a rude half-circle +to await developments. Heavy silence was the reply he got. It was as +though the men within were sitting tense and watchful, like cougars +crouched for a spring, with claws unsheathed and muscles quivering. + +"You better come out," called Andy sharply, after they had waited a +decent interval. "We didn't come here hunting trouble; we want to know +where you're headed for with these sheep. The fellow that cut loose with +the gun--" + +"Aw, don't talk so purty! I'm gitting almighty tired, just setting here +lettin' m' legs hang down. Git your ropes, boys!" With one sweeping +gesture of his arm Big Medicine made plain his meaning as he rode a few +paces away, his fingers fumbling with the string that held his rope. +"I'm goin' to have a look at 'em, anyway," he grinned. "I sure do hate +to see men act so bashful." + +With his rope free and ready for action, Big Medicine shook the loop +out, glanced around, and saw that Andy, Pink and Cal Emmett were also +ready, and, with a dexterous flip, settled the noose neatly over the +iron pin that thrust up through the end of the ridge-pole in front. +Andy's loop sank neatly over it a second later, and the two wheeled and +dashed away together, with Pink and Irish duplicating their performance +at the other end of the tent. The dingy, smoke-stained canvas swayed, +toppled, as the pegs gave way, and finally lay flat upon the prairie +fifty feet from where it had stood, leaving the inmates exposed to the +cruel stare of eight unfriendly cowpunchers. Four cowering figures they +were, with guns in their hands that shook. + +"Drop them guns!" thundered Big Medicine, flipping his rope loose and +recoiling it mechanically as he plunged up to the group. + +One man obeyed. One gave a squawk of terror and permitted his gun to go +off at random before he fled toward the coulee. The other two crouched +behind their bed-rolls, set their jaws doggedly and glared defiance. + +Pink, Andy, Irish, Big Medicine and the Native Son slid off their horses +and made a rush at them. A rifle barked viciously, and Slim, sitting +prudently on his horse well in the rear, gave a yell and started for +home at a rapid pace. + +Considering the provocation the Happy Family behaved with quite +praiseworthy self-control and leniency. They did not lynch those two +herders. They did not kill them, either by bullets, knives, or beating +to death. They took away the guns, however, and they told them with +extreme bluntness what sort of men they believed them to be. They +defined accurately their position in society at large, in that +neighborhood, and stated what would be their future fate if they +persisted in acting with so little caution and common sense. + +At Andy Green's earnest behest they also wound them round and round with +ropes, before they departed, and gave them some very good advice upon +the matter of range rules and the herding of sheep, particularly of Dot +sheep. + +"You're playing big luck, if you only had sense enough to know it," Andy +pointed out to the recumbent three before they rode away. "We didn't +come over here on the warpath, and, if you hadn't got in such a darned +hurry to start something, you'd be a whole lot more comfortable right +now. We rode over to tell yuh not to start them sheep across Flying U +coulee; because, if you do, you're going to have both hands and your +hats plumb full uh trouble. It has taken some little time and fussing +to get yuh gentled down so we can talk to you, and I sure do hope yuh +remember what I'm saying." + +"Oh, we'll remember it, all right!" menaced one of the men, lifting his +head turtlewise that he might glare at the group. "And our bosses'll +remember it; you needn't worry about that none. You wait till--" + +The next man to him turned his head and muttered a sentence, and the +speaker dropped his head back upon the ground, silenced. + +"It was your own outfit started this style of rope trimming, so you +can't kick about that part of the deal," Pink informed them melodiously. +"It's liable to get to be all the rage with us. So, if you don't like +it, don't come around where we are. And say!" His dimples stood deep in +his cheeks. "You send those ropes home to-morrow, will yuh? We're liable +to need 'em." + +"By cripes!" Big Medicine bawled. "What say we haze them sheep a few +miles north, boys?" + +"Oh, I guess they'll be all right where they are," Andy protested, his +thirst for revenge assuaged at sight of those three trussed as he had +been trussed, and apparently not liking it any better than he had liked +it. "They'll be good and careful not to come around the Flying U--or I +miss my guess a mile." + +The others cast comprehensive glances at their immediate surroundings, +and decided that they had at least made their meaning plain; there +was no occasion for emphasizing their disapproval any further. They +confiscated the rifles, and they told the fellows why they did so. +They very kindly pulled a tarpaulin over the three to protect them in a +measure from the chill night that was close upon them, and they wished +them good night and pleasant dreams, and rode away home. + +On the way they met Weary and Happy Jack, galloping anxiously to the +battle scene. Slim, it appeared from Weary's rapid explanation, had +arrived at the ranch with his horse in a lather and with a four-inch +furrow in the fleshiest part of his leg, where a bullet had flicked him +in passing. The tale he told had led Weary to believe that Slim was the +sole survivor of that reckless company. + +"Mamma! I'm so glad to see you boys able to fork your horses and swear +natural, that I don't believe I can speak my little piece about staying +on your own side the fence and letting trouble do some of the hunting," +he exclaimed thankfully. "I wish you'd stayed at home and left these +blamed Dots alone. But, seeing yuh didn't, I'm tickled to death to hear +you didn't kill anybody off. I don't want the folks to come home and +find the whole bunch in the pen. It might look as if--" + +"You don't want the folks to come home and find the whole ranch sheeped +off, either, and the herders camping up in the white house, do yuh?" +Pink inquired pointedly. "I kinda think," he added dryly, "those same +herders will feel like going away around Flying U fences with their +sheep. I don't believe they'll do any cutting across." + +"I betche old Dunk'll make it interestin' fer this outfit, just the +same," Happy Jack predicted. "Tyin' up three men uh hisn, like that, and +ropin' their tent and draggin' it off, ain't things he'll pass up. He'll +have a possy out here--you see if he don't!" + +"In that case, I'll be sorry for you, Happy," purred Miguel close beside +him. "You're the only one in the outfit that looks capable of such a +vile deed." + +"Oh, Dunk won't do anything," Weary said cheerfully. "You'll have to +take those guns back, though. They might take a notion to call that +stealing!" + +"You forget," the Native Son reminded calmly, "that we left them three +good ropes in exchange." + +Whereupon the Happy Family laughed and went to offer their unsought +sympathy to Slim. + + + +CHAPTER X. The Happy Family Herd Sheep + +The boys of the Flying U had many faults in common, aside from certain +individual frailties; one of their chief weaknesses was over-confidence +in their own ability to cope with any situation which might arise, +unexpectedly or otherwise, and a belief that others felt that same +confidence in them, and that enemies were wont to sit a long time +counting the cost before venturing to offer too great an affront. Also +they believed--and made it manifest in their conversation--that they +could even bring the Old Man back to health if they only had him on +the ranch where they could get at him. They maligned the hospitals and +Chicago doctors most unjustly, and were agreed that all he needed was +to be back on the ranch where somebody could look after him right. They +asserted that, if they ever got tired of living and wanted to cash in +without using a gun or anything, they'd go to a hospital and tell the +doctors to turn loose and try to cure them of something. + +This by way of illustration; also as an explanation of their sleeping +soundly that night, instead of watching for some hostile demonstration +on the part of the Dot outfit. To a man--one never counted Happy Jack's +prophecies of disaster as being anything more than a personal deformity +of thought--they were positive in their belief that the Dot sheepherders +would be very, very careful not to provoke the Happy Family to further +manifestations of disapproval. They knew what they'd get, if they tried +any more funny business, and they'd be mighty careful where they drove +their sheep after this. + +So, with the comfortable glow of victory in their souls, they laid +them down, and, when the animated discussion of that night's adventure +flagged, as their tongues grew sleep-clogged and their eyelids drooped, +they slept in peace; save when Slim, awakened by the soreness of his +leg, grunted a malediction or two before he began snoring again. + +They rose and ate their breakfast in a fair humor with the world. One +grows accustomed to the thought of sickness, even when it strikes close +to the affections, and, with the resilience of youth and hope, life +adjusts itself to make room for the specter of fear, so that it does +not crowd unduly, but stands half-forgotten in the background of one's +thoughts. For that reason they no longer spoke soberly because of the +Old Man lying hurt unto death in Chicago. And, when they mentioned the +Dot sheep and men, they spoke as men speak of the vanquished. + +With the taste of hot biscuits and maple syrup still lingering +pleasantly against their palates, they went out and were confronted with +sheep, blatting sheep, stinking sheep, devastating sheep, Dot sheep. On +the south side of the coulee, up on the bluff, grazed the band. They fed +upon the brow of the hill opposite the ranch buildings; they squeezed +under the fence and spilled a ragged fringe of running, gray animals +down the slope. Half a mile away though the nearest of them were, the +murmur of them, the smell of them, the whole intolerable presence of +them, filled the Happy Family with an amazed loathing too deep for +words. + +Technically, that high, level stretch of land bounding Flying U coulee +on the south was open range. It belonged to the government. The soil was +not fertile enough even for the most optimistic of "dry land" farmers to +locate upon it; and this was before the dry-land farming craze had swept +the country, gathering in all public land as claims. J. G. Whitmore +had contented himself with acquiring title to the whole of the Flying +U coulee, secure in his belief that the old order of things would not +change, in his life-time, at least, and that the unwritten law of the +range land, which leaves the vicinity of a ranch to the use of the ranch +owner, would never be repealed by new customs imposed by a new class of +people. + +Legally, there was no trespassing of the Dots, beyond the two or three +hundred which had made their way through the fence. Morally, however, +and by right of custom, their offense would not be much greater if they +came on down the hill and invaded the Old Man's pet meadows, just beyond +the "little pasture." + +Ladies may read this story, so I am not going to pretend to repeat the +things they said, once they were released from dumb amazement. I should +be compelled to improvise and substitute--which would remove much of the +flavor. Let bare facts suffice, at present. + +They saddled in haste, and in haste they rode to the scene. This, they +were convinced, was the band herded by the bug-killer and the man from +Wyoming; and the nerve of those two almost excited the admiration of the +Happy Family. It did not, however, deter them from their purpose. + +Weary, to look at him, was no longer in the mood to preach patience and +a turning of the other cheek. He also made that change of heart manifest +in his speech when Pink, his eyes almost black, rode up close and +gritted at him: + +"Well, what's the orders now? Want me to go back and get the wire +nippers so we can let them poor little sheep down into the meadow? Maybe +we better ask the herders down to have some of Patsy's grub, too; I +don't believe they had time to cook much breakfast. And it wouldn't be +a bad idea to haze our own stuff clear off the range. I'm afraid Dunk's +sheep are going to fare kinda slim, if we go on letting our cattle eat +all the good grass!" Pink did not often indulge in such lengthy sarcasm, +especially toward his beloved Weary; but his exasperation toward Weary's +mild tactics had been growing apace. + +Weary's reply, I fear, will have to be omitted. It was terribly +unrefined. + +"I want you boys to spread out, around the whole bunch," was his first +printable utterance, "and haze these sheep just as far south as they +can get without taking to the river. Don't get all het up chasing 'em +yourself--make the men (Weary did not call them men; he called them +something very naughty) that's paid for it do the driving." + +"And, if they don't go," drawled the smooth voice of the Native Son, +"what shall we do, amigo? Slap them on the wrist?" + +Weary twisted in the saddle and sent him a baleful glance, which was not +at all like Weary the sunny-hearted. + +"If you can't figure that out for yourself," he snapped, "you had better +go back and wipe the dishes for Patsy; and, when that's done, you can +pull the weeds out of his radishes. Maybe he'll give you a nickel to buy +candy with, if you do it good." Before he faced to the front again his +harsh glance swept the faces of his companions. + +They were grinning, every man of them, and he knew why. To see him lose +his temper was something of an event with the Happy Family, who used +sometimes to fix the date of an incident by saying, "It was right after +that time Weary got mad, a year ago last fall," or something of the +sort. He grinned himself, shamefacedly, and told them that they were +a bunch of no-account cusses, anyway, and he'd just about as soon herd +sheep himself as to have to run with such an outfit; which swept his +anger from him and left him his usual self, with but the addition of a +purpose from which nothing could stay him. He was going to settle the +sheep question, and he was going to settle it that day. + +Only one injunction did he lay upon the Happy Family. "You fellows don't +want to get excited and go to shooting," he warned, while they were +still out of hearing of the herders. "We don't want Dunk to get anything +like that on us; savvy?" + +They "savvied," and they told him so, each after his own individual +manner. + +"I guess we ought to be able to put the run on a couple of sheepherders, +without wasting any powder," Pink said loftily, remembering his meeting +with them a few days before. + +"One thing sure--we'll make a good job of it this time," promised Irish, +and spurred after Weary, who was leading the way around the band. + +The herders watched them openly and with the manner of men who are +expecting the worst to happen. Unlike the four whose camp had been laid +low the night before, these two were unarmed, as they had been from the +first; which, in Weary's opinion, was a bit of guile upon the part of +Dunk. If trouble came--trouble which it would take a jury to settle--the +fact that the sheepmen were unarmed would tell heavily in their favor; +for, while the petty meanness of range-stealing and nagging trespass may +be harder to bear than the flourishing of a gun before one's face, it +all sounds harmless enough in the telling. + +Weary headed straight for the nearest herder, told him to put his dogs +to work rounding up the sheep, which were scattered over an area half +a mile across while they fed, and, when the herder, who was the +bug-killer, made no move to obey, Weary deliberately pulled his gun and +pointed at his head. + +"You move," he directed with grim intent, "and don't take too much time +about it, either." + +The bug-killer, an unkempt, ungainly figure, standing with his back to +the morning sun, scowled up at Weary stolidly. + +"Yuh dassent shoot," he stated sourly, and did not move. + +For answer, Weary pulled back the hammer; also he smiled as malignantly +as it was in his nature to do, and hoped in his heart that he looked +sufficiently terrifying to convince the man. So they faced each other in +a silent clash of wills. + +Big Medicine had not been saying much on the way over, which was +unusual. Now he rode forward until he was abreast of Weary, and he +grinned down at the bug-killer in a way to distract his attention from +the gun. + +"Nobody don't have to shoot, by cripes!" he bawled. "We hain't goin' to +kill yuh. We'll make yuh wisht, by cripes, we had, though, b'fore we +git through. Git to work, boys, 'n' gether up some dry grass an' sticks. +Over there in them rose-bushes you oughta find enough bresh. We'll give +him a taste uh what we was talkin' about comm' over, by cripes! I guess +he'll be willin' to drive sheep, all right, when we git through with +him. Haw-haw-haw-w-w!" He leaned forward in the saddle and ogled the +bug-killer with horrid significance. + +"Git busy with that bresh!" he yelled authoritatively, when a glance +showed him that the Happy Family was hesitating and eyeing him +uncertainly. "Git a fire goin' quick's yuh kin--I'll do the rest. Down +in Coconino county we used to have a way uh fixin' sheepherders--" + +"Aw, gwan! We don't want no torture business!" remonstrated Happy Jack +uneasily, edging away. + +"Yuh don't, hey?" Big Medicine turned in the saddle wrathfully and +glared. When he had succeeded in catching Andy Green's eye he winked, +and that young man's face kindled understandingly. "Well, now, you +hain't runnin' this here show. Honest to grandma, I've saw the time when +a little foot-warmin' done a sheepherder a whole lot uh good; and, it +looks to me, by cripes, as if this here feller needed a dose to gentle +him down. You git the fire started. That's all I want you t' do, Happy. +Some uh you boys help me rope him--like him and that other jasper over +there done to Andy. C'mon, Andy--it ain't goin' to take long!" + +"You bet your sweet life I'll come on!" exclaimed Andy, dismounting +eagerly. "Let me take your rope, Weary. Too bad we haven't got a +branding iron--" + +"Aw, we don't need no irons." Big Medicine was also on the ground by +then, and untying his rope. "Lemme git his shoes off once, and I'll show +yuh." + +The bug-killer lifted his stick, snarling like a mongrel dog when +a stranger tries to drive it out of the house; hurled the stick +hysterically, as Big Medicine, rope in hand, advanced implacably, and, +with a squawk of horror, turned suddenly and ran. After him, bellowing +terribly, lunged Big Medicine, straight through the band like a +snowplow, leaving behind them a wide, open trail. + +"Say, we kinda overplayed that bet, by gracious," Andy commented to +Weary, while he watched the chase. "That gazabo's scared silly; let's +try the other one. That torture talk works fine." + +In his enthusiasm Andy remounted and was about to lead the way to +the other herder when Big Medicine returned puffing, the bug-killer +squirming in his grasp. "Tell him what yuh want him to do, Weary," he +panted, with some difficulty holding his limp victim upright by a +greasy coat-collar. "And if he don't fall over himself doin' it, why--by +cripes--we'll take off his shoes!" + +Whereupon the bug-killer gave another howl and professed himself eager +to drive the sheep--well, what he said was that he would drive them to +that place which ladies dislike to hear mentioned, if the Happy Family +wanted him to. + +"That's all right, then. Start 'em south, and don't quit till somebody +tells you to." Weary carefully let down the hammer of his six-shooter +and shoved it thankfully into his scabbard. + +"Now, you don't want to pile it on quite so thick, next time," Irish +admonished Big Medicine, when they turned away from watching the +bug-killer set his dogs to work by gestures and a shouted word or two. +"You like to have sent this one plumb nutty." + +"I betche Bud gets us all pinched for that," grumbled Happy Jack. +"Torturing folks is purty darned serious business. You might as well +shoot 'em up decent and be done with it." + +"Haw-haw-haw-w-w!" Big Medicine ogled the group mirthfully. "Nobody +can't swear I done a thing, or said a thing. All I said definite was +that I'd take off his shoes. Any jury in the country'd know that +would be hull lot worse fer us than it would fer him, by cripes. +Haw-haw-haw-w-w!" + +"Say, that's right; yuh didn't say nothin', ner do nothin'. By golly, +that was purty slick work, all right!" Slim forgot his sore leg until he +clapped his hand enthusiastically down upon the place as comprehension +of Bud's finesse dawned upon him. He yelped, and the Happy Family +laughed unfeelingly. + +"You want to be careful and don't try to see through any jokes, Slim, +till that leg uh yours gets well," Irish bantered, and they laughed the +louder. + +All this was mere byplay; a momentary swinging of their mood to +pleasantry, because they were a temperamentally cheerful lot, and +laughter came to them easily, as it always does to youth and perfect +mental and physical health. Their brief hilarity over Slim's misfortune +did not swerve them from their purpose, nor soften the mood of them +toward their adversaries. They were unsmiling and unfriendly when they +reached the man from Wyoming; and, if they ever behaved like boys let +out of school, they did not show it then. + +The Wyoming man was wiser than his fellow. He had been given several +minutes grace in which to meditate upon the unwisdom of defiance; and he +had seen the bug-killer change abruptly from sullenness to terror, and +afterward to abject obedience. He did not know what they had said to +him, or what they had done; but he knew the bug-killer was a hard man to +stampede. And he was one man, and they were many; also he judged that, +being human, and this being the third offense of the Dot sheep under his +care, it would be extremely unsafe to trust that their indignation would +vent itself in mere words. + +Therefore, when Weary told him to get the stragglers back through the +fence and up on the level, he stopped only long enough for a good look +at their faces. After that he called his dogs and crawled through the +fence. + +It really did not require the entire Family to force those sheep south +that morning. But Weary's jaw was set, as was his heart, upon a +thorough cleaning of that particular bit of range; and, since he did +not definitely request any man to turn back, and every fellow there +was minded to see the thing to a finish, they straggled out behind the +trailing two thousand--and never had one bunch of sheep so efficient a +convoy. + +After the first few miles the way grew rough. Sheep lagged, and the +blatting increased to an uproar. Old ewes and yearlings these were +mostly, and there were few to suffer more than hunger and thirst, +perhaps. So Weary was merciless, and drove them forward without a stop +until the first jumble of hills and deep-worn gullies held them back +from easy traveling. + +But the Happy Family had not ridden those breaks for cattle, all these +years, to be hindered by rough going. Weary, when the band stopped and +huddled, blatting incessantly against a sheer wall of sandstone and +gravel, got the herders together and told them what he wanted. + +"You take 'em down that slope till you come to the second little coulee. +Don't go up the first one--that's a blind pocket. In the second coulee, +up a mile or so, there's a spring creek. You can hold 'em there on water +for half an hour. That's more than any of yuh deserve. Haze 'em down +there." + +The herders did not know it, but that second coulee was the rude gateway +to an intricate system of high ridges and winding waterways that would +later be dry as a bleached bone--the real beginning of the bad lands +which border the Missouri river for long, terrible miles. Down there, +it is possible for two men to reach places where they may converse quite +easily across a chasm, and yet be compelled to ride fifteen or twenty +miles, perhaps, in order to shake hands. Yet, even in that scrap-heap of +Nature there are ways of passing deep into the heart of the upheaval. + +The Happy Family knew those ways as they knew the most complicated +figures of the quadrilles they danced so lightfootedly with the girls of +the Bear Paw country. When they forced the sheep and their herders out +of the coulee Weary had indicated he sent Irish and Pink ahead to point +the way, and he told them to head for the Wash Bowl; which they did with +praiseworthy zeal and scant pity for the sheep. + +When at last, after a slow, heartbreaking climb up a long, bare ridge, +Pink and Irish paused upon the brow of a slope and let the trail-weary +band spill itself reluctantly down the steep slope beyond, the sun stood +high in the blue above them and their stomachs clamored for food; by +which signs they knew that it must be near noon. + +When the last sheep had passed, blatting discordantly, down the bluff, +Weary halted the sweating herders for a parting admonition. + +"We don't aim to deal you any more misery, for a while, if you stay +where you're at. You're only working for a living, like the rest of +us--but I must say I don't admire your trade none. Anyway, I'll send +some of your bunch down here with grub and beds. This is good enough +range for sheep. You keep away from the Flying U and nobody'll bother +you. Over there in them trees," he added, pointing a gloved finger +toward a little grove on the far side of the basin, "you'll find a +cabin, and water. And, farther down the river there's pretty good grass, +in the little bottoms. Now, git." + +The herders looked as if they would enjoy murdering them all, but they +did not say a word. With their dogs at heel they scrambled down +the bluff in the wake of their sheep, and the Happy Family, rolling +cigarettes while they watched them depart, told one another that this +settled that bunch; they wouldn't bed down in the Flying U door-yard +that night, anyway. + + + +CHAPTER XI. Weary Unburdens + +Hungry with the sharp, gnawing hunger of healthy stomachs accustomed +to regular and generous feeding; tired with the weariness of healthy +muscles pushed past their accustomed limit of action; and hot with the +unaccustomed heat of a blazing day shunted unaccountably into the midst +of soft spring weather, the Happy Family rode out of the embrace of +the last barren coulee and up on the wide level where the breeze swept +gratefully up from the west, and where every day brought with it a +deeper tinge of green into its grassy carpet. + +Only for this harassment of the Dot sheep, the roundup wagons would +be loaded and ready to rattle abroad over the land. Meadow larks and +curlews and little, pert-eyed ground sparrows called out to them that +roundup time was come. They passed a bunch of feeding Flying U cattle, +and flat-ribbed, bandy-legged calves galloped in brief panic to their +mothers and from the sanctuary of grass-filled paunches watched the +riders with wide, inquisitive eyes. + +"We ought to be starting out, by now," Weary observed a bit gloomily to +Andy and Pink, who rode upon either side of him. "The calf crop is going +to be good, if this weather holds on another two weeks or so. But--" he +waved his cigarette disgustedly "--that darned Dot outfit would be all +over the place, if we pulled out on roundup and left 'em the run of +things." He smoked moodily for a minute. "My religion has changed a lot +in the last few days," he observed whimsically. "My idea of hell is +a place where there ain't anything but sheep and sheepherders; and +cowpunchers have got to spend thousands uh years right in the middle of +the corrals." + +"If that's the case, I'm going to quit cussing, and say my prayers every +night," Andy Green asserted emphatically. + +"What worries me," Weary confided, obeying the impulse to talk over his +troubles with those who sympathized, "is how I'm going to keep the work +going along like it ought to, and at the same time keep them Dot sheep +outa the house. Dunk's wise, all right. He knows enough about the cow +business to know we ye got to get out on the range pretty quick, now. +And he's so mean that every day or every half day he can feed his sheep +on Flying U grass, he calls that much to the good. And he knows we won't +go to opening up any real gun-fights if we can get out of it; he counts +on our faunching around and kicking up a lot of dust, maybe--but we +won't do anything like what he'd do, in our places. He knows the Old Man +and Chip are gone, and he knows we've just naturally got to sit back and +swallow our tongues because we haven't any authority. Mamma! It comes +pretty tough, when a low-down skunk like that just banks on your doing +the square thing. He wouldn't do it, but he knows we will; and so he +takes advantage of white men and gets the best of 'em. And if we should +happen to break out and do something, he knows the herders would be the +ones to get it in the neck; and he'd wait till the dust settled, and bob +up with the sheriff--" He waved his hand again with a hopeless gesture. +"It may not look that way on the face of it," he added gloomily, "but +Dunk has got us right where he wants us. From the way they've been +letting sheep on our land, time and time again, I'd gamble he's just +trying to make us so mad we'll break out. He's got it in for the whole +outfit, from the Old Man and the Little Doctor down to Slim. If any of +us boys got into trouble, the Old Man would spend his last cent to clear +us; and Dunk knows that just as well as he knows the way from the house +to the stable. He'd see to it that it would just about take the Old +Man's last cent, too. And he's using these Dot sheep like you'd use a +red flag on a bull, to make us so crazy mad we'll kill off somebody. + +"That's why," he said to them all when he saw that they had ridden up +close that they might hear what he was saying, "I've been hollering so +loud for the meek-and-mild stunt. When I slapped him on the jaw, and he +stood there and took it, I saw his game. He had a witness to swear I hit +him and he didn't hit back. And when I saw them Dots in our field again, +I knew, just as well as if Dunk had told me, that he was kinda hoping +we'd kill a herder or two so he could cinch us good and plenty. I don't +say," he qualified with a rueful grin, "that Dunk went into the sheep +business just to get r-re-venge, as they say in shows. But if he can +make money running sheep--and he can, all right, because there's more +money in them right now than there is in cattle--and at the same time +get a good whack at the Flying U, he's the lad that will sure make a +running jump at the chance." He spat upon the burnt end of his cigarette +stub from force of the habit that fear of range fires had built, and +cast it petulantly from him; as if he would like to have been able to +throw Dunk and his sheep problem as easily out of his path. + +"So I wish you boys would hang onto yourselves when you hear a sheep +blatting under your window," he summed up his unburdening whimsically. +"As Bud said this morning, you can't hang a man for telling a +sheepherder you'll take off his shoes. And they can't send us over the +road for moving that band of sheep onto new range to-day. Last night +you all were kinda disorderly, maybe, but you didn't hurt anybody, or +destroy any property. You see what I mean. Our only show is to stop with +our toes on the right side of the dead line." + +"If Andy, here, would jest git his think-wheels greased and going good," +Big Medicine suggested loudly, "he ought to frame up something that +would put them Dots on the run permanent. I d'no, by cripes, why it is +a feller can always think uh lies and joshes by the dozens, and put 'em +over O. K. when there ain't nothing to be made out of it except hard +feelin's; and then when a deal like this here sheep deal comes up, he's +got about as many idees, by cripes, as that there line-back calf over +there. Honest to grandma, Andy makes me feel kinda faint. Only time he +did have a chanc't, he let them--" It occurred to Big Medicine at that +point that perhaps his remarks might be construed by the object of +them as being offensively personal. He turned his head and grinned +good-naturedly in Andy's direction, and refrained from finishing what he +was going to say. "I sure do like them wind-flowers scattered all +over the ground," he observed with such deliberate and ostentatious +irrelevance that the Happy Family laughed, even to Andy Green, who had +at first been inclined toward anger. + +"Everything," declared Andy in the tone of a paid instructor, "has its +proper time and place, boys; I've told you that before. For instance, I +wouldn't try to kill a skunk by talking it to death; and I wouldn't +be hopeful of putting the run on this Dunk person by telling him ghost +stories. As to ideas--I'm plumb full of them. But they're all about +grub, just right at present." + +That started Slim and Happy Jack to complaining because no one had had +sense enough to go back after some lunch before taking that long trail +south; the longer because it was a slow one, with sheep to set the pace. +And by the time they had presented their arguments against the Happy +Family's having enough brains to last them overnight, and the Happy +Family had indignantly pointed out just where the mental deficiency was +most noticeable, they were upon that last, broad stretch of "bench" land +beyond which lay Flying U coulee and Patsy and dinner; a belated dinner, +to be sure, but for that the more welcome. + +And when they reached the point where they could look away to the +very rim of the coulee, they saw sheep--sheep to the skyline, feeding +scattered and at ease, making the prairie look, in the distance, as +if it were covered with a thin growth of gray sage-brush. Four herders +moved slowly upon the outskirts, and the dogs were little, scurrying, +black dots which stopped occasionally to wait thankfully until the +master-minds again urged them to endeavor. + +The Happy Family drew up and stared in silence. + +"Do I see sheep?" Pink inquired plaintively at last. "Tell me, +somebody." + +"It's that bunch you fellows tackled last night," said Weary miserably. +"I ought to have had sense enough to leave somebody on the ranch to look +out for this." + +"They've got their nerve," stated Irish, "after the deal they got last +night. I'd have bet good money that you couldn't drag them herders +across Flying U coulee with a log chain." + +"Say, by golly, do we have to drive this here bunch anywheres before we +git anything to eat?" Slim wanted to know distressfully. + +Weary considered briefly. "No, I guess we'll pass 'em up for the +present. An hour or so won't make much difference in the long run, and +our horses are about all in, right now--" + +"So'm I, by cripes!" Big Medicine attested, grinning mirthlessly. "This +here sheep business is plumb wearin' on a man. 'Specially," he added +with a fretful note, "when you've got to handle 'em gentle. The things +I'd like to do to them Dots is all ruled outa the game, seems like. +Honest to grandma, a little gore would look better to me right now than +a Dutch picnic before the foam's all blowed off the refreshments. Lemme +kill off jest one herder, Weary?" he pleaded. "The one that took a shot +at me las' night. Purty, please!" + +"If you killed one," Weary told him glumly, "you might as well make a +clean sweep and take in the whole bunch." + +"Well, I won't charge nothin' extra fer that, either," Bud assured him +generously. "I'm willin' to throw in the other three--and the dawgs, +too, by cripes!" He goggled the Happy Family quizzically. "Nobody can't +say there's anything small about me. Why, down in the Coconino country +they used to set half a dozen greasers diggin' graves, by cripes, soon +as I started in to argy with a man. It was a safe bet they'd need three +or four, anyways, if old Bud cut loose oncet. Sheepherders? Why, they +jest natcherly couldn't keep enough on hand, securely, to run their +sheep. They used to order sheepherders like they did woolsacks, by +cripes! You could always tell when I was in the country, by the number +uh extra herders them sheep outfits always kep' in reserve. Honest to +grandma, I've knowed two or three outfits to club together and ship in +a carload at a time, when they heard I was headed their way. And so when +it comes to killin' off four, why that ain't skurcely enough to make it +worth m'while to dirty up m'gun!" + +"Aw, I betche yuh never killed a man in your life!" Happy Jack grumbled +in his characteristic tone of disparagement; but such was his respect +for Big Medicine's prowess that he took care not to speak loud enough +to be overheard by that modest gentleman, who continued with certain +fearsome details of alleged murderous exploits of his own, down in +Coconino County, Arizona. + +But as they passed the detested animals, thankful that the trail +permitted them to ride by at a distance sufficient to blur the most +unsavory details, even Big Medicine gave over his deliberate boastings +and relapsed into silence. + +He had begun his fantastic vauntings from an instinctive impulse +to leaven with humor a situation which, at the moment, could not be +bettered. Just as they had, when came the news of the Old Man's dire +plight, sought to push the tragedy of it into the background and cling +to their creed of optimism, they had avoided openly facing the sheep +complication squarely with mutual admissions of all it might mean to the +Flying U. + +Until Weary had unburdened his heart of worry on the ride home that day, +they had not said much about it, beyond a general vilification of the +sheep industry as a whole, of Dunk as the chief of the encroaching Dots, +and of the herders personally. + +But there were times when they could not well avoid thinking rather +deeply upon the subject, even if they did refuse to put their +forebodings into speech. They were not children; neither were they to +any degree lacking in intelligence. Swearing, about herders and at them, +was all very well; bluffing, threatening, pummeling even with willing +fists, tearing down tents and binding men with ropes might serve to +relieve the emotions upon occasion. But there was the grim economic +problem which faced squarely the Flying U as a "cow outfit"--the problem +of range and water; the Happy Family did not call it by name, but they +realized to the full what it meant to the Old Man to have sheep just +over his boundary line always. They realized, too, what it meant to have +the Old Man absent at this time--worse, to have him lying in a +hospital, likely to die at any moment; what it meant to have the whole +responsibility shifted to their shoulders, willing though they might be +to bear the burden; what it meant to have the general of an army gone +when the enemy was approaching in overwhelming numbers. + +Pink, when they were descending the first slope of the bluff which was +the southern rim of Flying U coulee, turned and glared vindictively back +at the wavering, gray blanket out there to the west. When he faced to +the front his face had the look it wore when he was fighting. + +"So help me, Josephine!" he gritted desperately, "we've got to clean the +range of them Dots before the Old Man comes back, or--" He snapped his +jaws shut viciously. + +Weary turned haggard eyes toward him. + +"How?" he asked simply. And Pink had no answer for him. + + + +CHAPTER XII. Two of a Kind + +Patsy, staunch old partisan that he was, placed before them much food +which he had tried his best to keep hot without burning everything to +a crisp, and while they ate with ravenous haste he told, with German +epithets and a trembling lower jaw, of his troubles that day. + +"Dem sheeps, dey coom by der leetle pasture," he lamented while he +poured coffee muddy from long boiling. "Looks like dey know so soon you +ride away, und dey cooms cheeky as you pleece, und eats der grass und +crawls under der fence and leafs der vool sthicking by der vires. I goes +out mit a club, py cosh, und der sheeps chust looks und valks by some +better place alreatty, und I throw rocks and yells till mine neck iss +sore. + +"Und' dose herders, dey sets dem by der rock and laugh till I felt like +I could kill der whole punch, by cosh! Und von yells, 'Hey, dutchy, +pring me some pie, alreatty!' Und he laughs some more pecause der sheeps +dey don't go avay; dey chust run around und eat more grass and baa-aa!" +He turned and went heavily back to the greasy range with the depleted +coffee pot, lifted the lid of a kettle and looked in upon the contents +with a purely mechanical glance; gave a perfunctory prod or two with a +long-handled fork, and came back to stand uneasily behind Weary. + +"If you poys are goin' to shtand fer dot," he began querulously, "Py +cosh I von't! Py myself I vill go and tell dot Dunk W'ittaker vot +lowdown skunk I t'ink he iss. Sheep's vool shtickin' by der fences +efferwhere on der ranch, py cosh! Dot vould sure kill der Old Man quick +if he see it. Shtinkin' off sheeps py our noses all der time, till I +can't eat no more mit der shmell of dem. Neffer pefore did I see vool on +der Flying U fences, py cosh, und sheeps baa-aain' in der coulee!" + +Never had they seen Patsy take so to heart a matter of mere business +importance. They did not say much to him; there was not much that they +could say. They ate their fill and went out disconsolately to discuss +the thing among themselves, away from Patsy's throaty complainings. They +hated it as badly as did he; with Weary's urgent plea for no violence +holding them in leash, they hated it more, if that were possible. + +The Native Son tilted his head unobtrusively stableward when he caught +Andy's eye, and as unobtrusively wandered away from the group. Andy +stopped long enough to roll and light a cigarette and then strolled +after him with apparent aimlessness, secretly curious over the summons. +He found Miguel in the stable waiting for him, and Miguel led the way, +rope in hand across the corral and into the little pasture where fed a +horse he meant to ride. He did not say anything until he had turned to +close the gate, and to make sure that they were alone and that their +departure had not carried to the Happy Family any betraying air of +significance. + +"You remember when you blew in here, a few weeks or so ago?" the Native +Son asked abruptly, a twinkle in his fathomless eyes. "You put up a good +one on the boys, that time, you remember. Bluffed them into thinking I +was a hero in disguise, and that you'd seen me pull off a big stunt of +bull-fighting and bull-dogging down in Mexico. It was a fine josh. They +believe it yet." + +Andy glanced at him perplexedly. "Yes--but when it turned out to be +true," he amended, "the josh was on me, I guess; I thought I was just +lying, when I wasn't. I've wondered a good deal about that. By +gracious, it makes a man feel funny to frame up a yarn out of his own +think-machine, and then find out he's been telling the truth all the +while. It's like a fellow handing out a twenty-four karat gold bar to a +rube by mistake, under the impression it only looks like one. Of course +they believe it! Only they don't know I just merely hit the truth by +accident." + +The Native Son smiled his slow, amused smile, that somehow never failed +to be impressive. "That's the funny part of it," he drawled. "You +didn't. I just piled another little josh on top of yours, that's all. I +never throwed a bull in my life, except with my lariat. I'd heard a +good deal about you, and--well, I thought I'd see if I could go you one +better. And you put that Mexico yarn across so smooth and easy, I just +simply couldn't resist the temptation to make you think it was all +straight goods. Sabe?" + +Andy Green did not say a word, but he looked exceedingly foolish. + +"So I think we can both safely consider ourselves top-hands when it +comes to lying," the Native Son went on shamelessly. "And if you're +willing to go in with me on it and help put Dunk on the run--" He +glanced over his shoulder, saw that Happy Jack, on horseback, was coming +out to haze in the saddle bunch, and turned to stroll back as lazily as +he had come. He continued to speak smoothly and swiftly, in a voice +that would not carry ten paces. While Andy Green, with brown head bent +attentively, listened eagerly and added a sentence or two on his own +account now and then, and smiled--which he had not been in the habit of +doing lately. + +"Say, you fellers are gittin' awful energetic, ain't yuh?--wranglin' +horses afoot!" Happy Jack bantered at the top of his voice when he +passed them by. "Better save up your strength while you kin. Weary's +goin' to set us herdin' sheep agin--and I betche there's goin' to be +something more'n herdin' on our hands before we git through." + +"I wouldn't be a bit surprised if there was," sang out Andy, as +cheerfully as if he had been invited to dance "Ladies' choice" with the +prettiest girl in the crowd. "Wonder what hole he's going to dump this +bunch into," he added to the Native Son. "By gracious, he ought to send +'em just as far north as he can drive 'em without paying duty! I'd sure +take 'em over into Canada, if it was me running the show." + +"It was a mistake," the Native Son volunteered, "for the whole bunch to +go off like we did to-day. They had those sheep up here on the hill just +for a bait. They knew we'd go straight up in the air and come down on +those two freaks herding 'em, and that gave them the chance to cross the +other bunch. I thought so all along, but I didn't like to butt in." + +"Well Weary's mad enough now to do things that will leave a dent, +anyway," Andy commented under his breath when, from the corral gate, he +got a good look at Weary's profile, which showed the set of his mouth +and chin. "See that mouth? It's hunt the top rail, and do it quick, when +old Weary straightens out his lips like that." + +Behind them, Happy Jack bellowed for an open gate and no obstructions, +and they drew hastily to one side to let the saddle horses gallop +past with a great upflinging of dust. Pink, with a quite obtrusive +facetiousness, began lustily chanting that it looked to him like a big +night to-night--with occasional, furtive glances at Weary's face; for +he, also, had been quick to read those close-pressed lips, which did not +soften in response to the ditty. Usually he laughed at Pink's drollery. + +They rode rather quietly upon the hill again, to where fed the sheep. +During the hour or so that they had been absent the sheep had not moved +appreciably; they still grazed close enough to the boundary to make +their position seem a direct insult to the Flying U, a virtual slap in +the face. And these young men who worked for the Flying U, and who made +its interests right loyally their own, were growing very, very tired +of turning the other cheek. With them, the time for profanity and for +horseplay bluffing and judicious temporizing was past. There were other +lips besides Weary's that were drawn tight and thin when they approached +that particular band of sheep. More than one pair of eyes turned +inquiringly toward him and away again when they met no answering look. + +They topped a rise of ground, and in the shallow wrinkle which had +hidden him until now they came full upon Dunk Whittaker, riding a chunky +black which stepped restlessly about while he conferred in low tones +with a couple of the herders. The Happy Family recognized them as two +of the fellows in whose safe keeping they had left their ropes the night +before. Dunk looked around quickly when the group appeared over the +little ridge, scowled, hesitated and then came straight up to them. + +"I want you rowdies to bring back those sheep you took the trouble to +drive off this morning," he began, with the even, grating voice and the +sneering lift of lip under his little, black mustache which the older +members of the Happy Family remembered--and hated--so vividly. +"I've stood just all I'm going to stand, of these typically Flying U +performances you've been indulging in so freely during the past week. +It's all very well to terrorize a neighborhood of long-haired rubes who +don't know enough to teach you your places; but interfering with another +man's property is--" + +"Interfering with another--what?" Big Medicine, his pale blue eyes +standing out more like a frog's than ever upon his face, gave his horse +a kick and lunged close that he might lean and thrust his red face near +to Dunk's. "Another what? I don't see nothin' in your saddle that looks +t'me like a man, by cripes! All I can see is a smooth-skinned, slippery +vermin I'd hate to name a snake after, that crawls around in the dark +and lets cheap rough-necks do all his dirty work. I've saw dogs sneak +up and grab a man behind, but most always they let out a growl or two +first. And even a rattler is square enough to buzz at yuh and give yuh +a chanc't to side-step him. Honest to grandma, I don't hardly know what +kinda reptyle y'are. I hate to insult any of 'em, by cripes, by namin' +yuh after 'em. But don't, for Lordy's sake, ever call yourself a man +agin!" + +Big Medicine turned his head and spat disgustedly into the grass and +looked back slightingly with other annihilating remarks close behind his +wide-apart teeth, but instead of speaking he made an unbelievably quick +motion with his hand. The blow smacked loudly upon Dunk's cheek, and so +nearly sent him out of the saddle that he grabbed for the horn to save +himself. + +"Oh, I seert yuh keepin' yer hand next yer six-gun all the while," Big +Medicine bawled. "That's one reason I say yuh ain't no man! Yuh wouldn't +dast talk up to a prairie dog if yuh wasn't all set to make a quick +draw. Yuh got your face slapped oncet before by a Flyin' U man, and yuh +had it comm'. Now you're--gittin'--it--done--right!" + +If you have ever seen an irate, proletarian mother cuffing her offspring +over an empty wood-box, you may picture perhaps the present proceeding +of Big Medicine. To many a man the thing would have been unfeasible, +after the first blow, because of the horses. But Big Medicine was very +nearly all that he claimed to be; and one of his pet vanities was his +horsemanship; he managed to keep within a fine slapping distance of +Dunk. He stopped when his hand began to sting through his glove. + +"Now you keep your hand away from that gun--that you ain't honest enough +to carry where folks can see it, but 'ye got it cached in your pocket!" +he thundered. "And go on with what you was goin' t'say. Only don't get +swell-headed enough to think you're a man, agin. You ain't." + +"I've got this to say!" Mere type cannot reproduce the malevolence of +Dunk's spluttering speech. "I've sent for the county sheriff and a dozen +deputies to arrest you, and you, and you, damn you!" He was pointing +a shaking finger at the older members of the Happy Family, whom he +recognized not gladly, but too well. "I'll have you all in Deer Lodge +before that lying, thieving, cattle-stealing Old Man of yours can lift a +finger. I'll sheep Flying U coulee to the very doors of the white house. +I'll skin the range between here and the river--and I'll have every one +of you hounds put where the dogs won't bite you!" He drew a hand across +his mouth and smiled as they say Satan himself can smile upon occasion. + +"You've done enough to send you all over the road; destroying property +and assaulting harmless men--you wait! There are other and better +ways to fight than with the fists, and I haven't forgotten any of you +fellows--there are a few more rounders among you--" + +"Hey! You apologize fer that, by cripes, er I'll kill yuh the longest +way I know. And that--" Big Medicine again laid violent hands upon Dunk, +"and that way won't feel good, now I'm tellin' yuh. Apologize, er--" + +"Say, all this don't do any good, Bud," Weary expostulated. "Let Dunk +froth at the mouth if he wants to; what we want is to get these sheep +off the range. And," he added recklessly, "so long as the sheriff is +headed for us anyway, we may as well get busy and make it worth his +while. So--" He stopped, silenced by a most amazing interruption. + +On the brow of the hill, when first they had sighted Dunk in the hollow, +something had gone wrong with Miguel's saddle so that he had stopped +behind; and, to keep him company, Andy had stopped also and waited for +him. Later, when Dunk was spluttering threats, they had galloped up to +the edge of the group and pulled their horses to a stand. Now, Miguel +rode abruptly close to Dunk as rides one with a purpose. + +He leaned and peered intently into Dunk's distorted countenance until +every man there, struck by his manner, was watching him curiously. Then +he sat back in the saddle, straightened his legs in the stirrups and +laughed. And like his smile when he would have it so, or the little +twitch of shoulders by which he could so incense a man, that laugh +brought a deeper flush to Dunk's face, reddened though it was by Big +Medicine's vigorous slapping. + +"Say, you've got nerve," drawled the Native Son, "to let a sheriff +travel toward you. I can remember when you were more timid, amigo." He +turned his head until his eyes fell upon Andy. "Say, Andy!" he called. +"Come and take a look at this hombre. You'll have to think back a few +years," he assisted laconically. + +In response, Andy rode up eagerly. Like the Native Son, he leaned and +peered into eyes that stared back defiantly, wavered, and turned away. +Andy also sat back in the saddle then, and snorted. + +"So this is the Dunk Whittaker that's been raising merry hell around +here! And talks about sending for the sheriff, huh? I've always heard +that a lot uh gall is the best disguise a man can hide under, but, by +gracious, this beats the deuce!" He turned to the astounded Happy Family +with growing excitement in his manner. + +"Boys, we don't have to worry much about this gazabo! We'll just +freeze onto him till the sheriff heaves in sight. Gee! There'll sure be +something stirring when we tell him who this Dunk person really is! +And you say he was in with the Old Man, once? Oh, Lord!" He looked +with withering contempt at Dunk; and Dunk's glance flickered again and +dropped, just as his hand dropped to the pocket of his coat. + +"No, yuh don't, by cripes!" Big Medicine's hand gripped Dunk's arm on +the instant. With his other he plucked the gun from Dunk's pocket, and +released him as he would let go of something foul which he had been +compelled to touch. + +"He'll be good, or he'll lose his dinner quick," drawled the Native +Son, drawing his own silver-mounted six-shooter and resting it upon the +saddle horn so that it pointed straight at Dunk's diaphragm. "You take +Weary off somewhere and tell him something about this deal, Andy. I'll +watch this slippery gentleman." He smiled slowly and got an answering +grin from Andy Green, who immediately rode a few rods away, with Weary +and Pink close behind. + +"Say, by golly, what's Dunk wanted fer?" Slim blurted inquisitively +after a short silence. + +"Not for riding or driving over a bridge faster than a walk Slim," +purred the Native Son, shifting his gun a trifle as Dunk moved uneasily +in the saddle. "You know the man. Look at his face--and use your +imagination, if you've got any." + + + +CHAPTER XIII. The Happy Family Learn Something + +"Well, I hope this farce is about over," Dunk sneered, with as near an +approach to his old, supercilious manner as he could command, when the +three who had ridden apart returned presently. "Perhaps, Weary, you'll +be good enough to have this fellow put up his gun, and these--" he +hesitated, after a swift glance, to apply any epithet whatever to the +Happy Family. "I have two witnesses here to swear that you have without +any excuse assaulted and maligned and threatened me, and you may +consider yourselves lucky if I do not insist--" + +"Ah, cut that out," Andy advised wearily. "I don't know how it strikes +the rest, but it sounds pretty sickening to me. Don't overlook the fact +that two of us happen to know all about you; and we know just where to +send word, to dig up a lot more identification. So bluffing ain't going +to help you out, a darned bit." + +"Miguel, you can go with Andy," Weary said with brisk decision. "Take +Dunk down to the ranch till the sheriff gets here--if it's straight +goods about Dunk sending for him. If he didn't, we can take Dunk in +to-morrow, ourselves." He turned and fixed a cold, commanding eye upon +the slack-jawed herders. "Come along, you two, and get these sheep +headed outa here." + +"Say, we'll just lock him up in the blacksmith shop, and come on back," +Andy amended the order after his own free fashion. "He couldn't get out +in a million years; not after I'm through staking him out to the anvil +with a log-chain." He smiled maliciously into Dunk's fear-yellowed +countenance, and waved him a signal to ride ahead, which Dunk did +without a word of protest while the Happy Family looked on dazedly. + +"What's it all about, Weary?" Irish asked, when the three were gone. +"What is it they've got on Dunk? Must be something pretty fierce, the +way he wilted down into the saddle." + +"You'll have to wait and ask the boys." Weary rode off to hurry the +herders on the far side of the band. + +So the Happy Family remained perforce unenlightened upon the subject and +for that they said hard things about Weary, and about Andy and Miguel as +well. They believed that they were entitled to know the truth, and they +called it a smart-aleck trick to keep the thing so almighty secret. + +There is in resentment a crisis; when that crisis is reached, and the +dam of repression gives way, the full flood does not always sweep down +upon those who have provoked the disaster. Frequently it happens that +perfectly innocent victims are made to suffer. The Happy Family had +been extremely forbearing, as has been pointed out before. They had +frequently come to the boiling point of rage and had cooled without +committing any real act of violence. But that day had held a long series +of petty annoyances; and here was a really important thing kept from +them as if they were mere outsiders. When Weary was gone, Irish asked +Pink what crime Dunk had committed in the past. And Pink shook his head +and said he didn't know. Irish mentally accused Pink of lying, and +his temper was none the better for the rebuff, as anyone can readily +understand. + +When the herders, therefore, rounded up the sheep and started them +moving south, the Happy Family speedily rebelled against that shuffling, +nibbling, desultory pace that had kept them long, weary hours in the +saddle with the other band. But it was Irish who first took measures to +accelerate that pace. + +He got down his rope and whacked the loop viciously down across the +nearest gray back. The sheep jumped, scuttled away a few paces and +returned to its nibbling progress. Irish called it names and whacked +another. + +After a few minutes he grew tired of swinging his loop and seeing it +have so fleeting an effect, and pulled his gun. He fired close to the +heels of a yearling buck that had more than once stopped to look up at +him foolishly and blat, and the buck charged ahead in a panic at the +noise and the spat of the bullet behind him. + +"Hit him agin in the same place!" yelled Big Medicine, and drew his own +gun. The Happy Family, at that high tension where they were ready for +anything, caught the infection and began shooting and yelling like crazy +men. + +The effect was not at all what they expected. Instead of adding impetus +to the band, as would have been the case if they had been driving +cattle, the result was exactly the opposite. The sheep ran--but they +ran to a common center. As the shooting went on they bunched tighter and +tighter, until it seemed as though those in the center must surely be +crushed flat. From an ambling, feeding company of animals, they become +a lumpy gray blanket, with here and there a long, vacuous face showing +idiotically upon the surface. + +The herders grinned and drew together as against a common enemy--or +as with a new joke to be discussed among themselves. The dogs wandered +helplessly about, yelped half-heartedly at the woolly mass, then sat +down upon their haunches and lolled red tongues far out over their +pointed little teeth, and tilted knowing heads at the Happy Family. + +"Look at the darned things!" wailed Pink, riding twice around the +huddle, almost ready to shed tears of pure rage and helplessness. +"Git outa that! Hi! Woopp-ee!" He fired again and again, and gave the +range-old cattle-yell; the yell which had sent many a tired herd over +many a weary mile; the yell before which had fled fat steers into the +stockyards at shipping time, and up the chutes into the cars; the yell +that had hoarsened many a cowpuncher's voice and left him with a mere +croak to curse his fate with; a yell to bring results--but it did not +start those sheep. + +The Happy Family, riding furiously round and round, fired every +cartridge they had upon their persons; they said every improper thing +they could remember or invent; they yelled until their eyes were +starting from their sockets; they glued that band of sheep so tight +together that dynamite could scarcely have pried them apart. + +And the herders, sitting apart with grimy hands clasped loosely over +hunched-up knees, looked on, and talked together in low tones, and +grinned. + +Irish glanced that way and caught them grinning; caught them pointing +derisively, with heaving shoulders. He swore a great oath and made for +them, calling aloud that he would knock those grins so far in that they +would presently find themselves smiling wrong-side-out from the back of +their heads. + +Pink, overhearing him, gave a last swat at the waggling tail of a +burrowing buck, and wheeled to overtake Irish and have a hand in +reversing the grins. Big Medicine saw them start, and came bellowing up +from the far side of the huddle like a bull challenging to combat from +across a meadow. Big Medicine did not know what it was all about, but he +scented battle, and that was sufficient. Cal Emmett and Weary, equally +ignorant of the cause, started at a lope toward the trouble center. + +It began to look as if the whole Family was about to fall upon those +herders and rend them asunder with teeth and nails; so much so that +the herders jumped up and ran like scared cottontails toward the rim of +Denson coulee, a hundred yards or so to the west. + +"Mamma! I wish we could make the sheep hit that gait and keep it," +exclaimed Weary, with the first laugh they had heard from him that day. + +While he was still laughing, there was a shot from the ridge toward +which they were running; the sharp, vicious crack of a rifle. The Happy +Family heard the whistling hum of the bullet, singing low over their +heads; quite low indeed; altogether too low to be funny. And they had +squandered all their ammunition on the prairie sod, to hurry a band of +sheep that flatly refused to hurry anywhere except under one another's +odorous, perspiring bodies. + +From the edge of the coulee the rifle spoke again. A tiny geyser of +dust, spurting up from the ground ten feet to one side of Cal Emmett, +showed them all where the bullet struck. + +"Get outa range, everybody!" yelled Weary, and set the example by +tilting his rowels against Glory's smooth hide, and heading eastward. +"I like to be accommodating, all right, but I draw the line on standing +around for a target while my neighbors practise shooting." + +The Happy Family, having no other recourse, therefore retreated in haste +toward the eastern skyline. Bullets followed them, overtook them as +the shooter raised his sights for the increasing distance, and whined +harmlessly over their heads. All save one. + + + +CHAPTER XIV. Happy Jack + +Big Medicine, Irish and Pink, racing almost abreast, heard a scream +behind them and pulled up their horses with short, stiff-legged plunges. +A brown horse overtook them; a brown horse, with Happy Jack clinging to +the saddle-horn, his body swaying far over to one side. Even as he went +hurtling past them his hold grew slack and he slumped, head foremost, to +the ground. The brown horse gave a startled leap away from him and went +on with empty stirrups flapping. + +They sprang down and lifted him to a less awkward position, and Big +Medicine pillowed the sweat-dampened, carroty head in the hollow of his +arm. Those who had been in the lead looked back startled when the brown +horse tore past them with that empty saddle; saw what had happened, +wheeled and galloped back. They dismounted and stood silently grouped +about poor, ungainly Happy Jack, lying there limp and motionless in Big +Medicine's arms. Not one of them remembered then that there was a man +with a rifle not more than two hundred yards away; or, if they did, they +quite forgot that the rifle might be dangerous to themselves. They were +thinking of Happy Jack. + +Happy Jack, butt of all their jokes and jibes; Happy the croaker, +the lugubrious forecaster of trouble; Happy Jack, the ugliest, the +stupidest, the softest-hearted man of them all. He had "betched" there +would be someone killed, over these Dot sheep; he had predicted trouble +of every conceivable kind; and they had laughed at him, swore at him, +lied to him, "joshed" him unmercifully, and kept him in a state of +chronic indignation, never dreaming that the memory of it would choke +them and strike them dumb with that horrible, dull weight in their +chests with which men suffer when a woman would find the relief of +weeping. + +"Where's he hurt?" asked Weary, in the repressed tone which only tragedy +can bring into a man's voice, and knelt beside Big Medicine. + +"I dunno--through the lungs, I guess; my sleeve's gitting soppy right +under his shoulder." Big Medicine did not bellow; his voice was as quiet +as Weary's. + +Weary looked up briefly at the circle of staring faces. "Pink, you pile +onto Glory and go wire for a doctor. Try Havre first; you may get one +up on the nine o' clock train. If you can't, get one down on the +'leven-twenty, from Great Falls. Or there's Benton--anyway, git one. If +you could catch MacPherson, do it. Try him first, and never mind a Havre +doctor unless you can't get MacPherson. I'd rather wait a couple of +hours longer, for him. I'll have a rig--no, you better get a team from +Jim. They'll be fresh, and you can put 'em through. If you kill 'em," he +added grimly, "we can pay for 'em." He had his jack-knife out, and +was already slashing carefully the shirt of Happy Jack, that he might +inspect the wound. + +Pink gave a last, wistful look at Happy Jack's face, which seemed +unfamiliar with all the color and all the expression wiped out of it +like that, and turned away. "Come and help me change saddles, Cal," +he said shortly. "Weary's stirrups are too darned long." Even with the +delay, he was mounted on Glory and galloping toward Flying U coulee +before Weary was through uncovering the wound; and that does not mean +that Weary was slow. + +The rifle cracked again, and a bullet plucked into the sod twenty feet +beyond the circle of men and horses. But no one looked up or gave any +other sign of realization that they were still the target; they were +staring, with that frowning painfully intent look men have at such +moments, at a purplish hole not much bigger than if punched by a lead +pencil, just under the point of Happy Jack's shoulder blade; and at the +blood oozing sluggishly from it in a tiny stream across the girlishly +white flesh and dripping upon Big Medicine's arm. + +"Hadn't we better get a rig to take him home with?" Irish suggested. + +Weary, exploring farther, had just disclosed a ragged wound under the +arm where the bullet had passed out; he made no immediate reply. + +"Well, he ain't got it stuck inside of 'im, anyway," Big Medicine +commented relievedly. "Don't look to me like it's so awful bad--went +through kinda anglin', and maybe missed his lungs. I've saw men shot up +before--" + +"Aw--I betche you'd--think it was bad--if you had it--" murmured Happy +Jack peevishly, lifting his eyelids heavily for a resentful glance when +they moved him a little. But even as Big Medicine grinned joyfully down +at him he went off again into mental darkness, and the grin faded into +solicitude. + +"You'd kick, by golly, if you was goin' to be hung," Slim bantered +tritely and belatedly, and gulped remorsefully when he saw that he was +"joshing" an unconscious man. + +"We better get him home. Irish, you--" Weary looked up and discovered +that Irish and jack Bates were already headed for home and a conveyance. +He gave a sigh of approval and turned his attention toward wiping the +sweat and grime from Happy's face with his handkerchief. + +"Somebody else is goin' to git hit, by golly, if we stay here," Slim +blurted suddenly, when another bullet dug up the dirt in that vicinity. + +"That gol-darned fool'll keep on till he kills somebody. I wisht I +had m' thirty-thirty here--I'd make him wisht his mother was a man, by +golly!" + +Big Medicine looked toward the coulee rim. "I ain't got a shell left," +he growled regretfully. "I wisht we'd thought to tell the boys to bring +them rifles. Say, Slim, you crawl onto your hoss and go git 'em. It +won't take more'n a minute. There'll likely be some shells in the +magazines." + +"Go on, Slim," urged Weary grimly. "We've got to do something. They +can't do a thing like this--" he glanced down at Happy Jack-- "and get +away with it." + +"I got half a box uh shells for my thirty-thirty, I'll bring that." Slim +turned to go, stopped short and stared at the coulee rim. "By golly, +they're comm' over here!" he exclaimed. + +Big Medicine glanced up, took off his hat, crumpled it for a pillow +and eased Happy Jack down upon it. He got up stiffly, wiped his fingers +mechanically upon his trouser legs, broke his gun open just to make sure +that it was indeed empty, put it back and picked up a handful of rocks. + +"Let 'em come," he said viciously. "I c'n kill every damn' one with m' +bare hands!" + + + +CHAPTER XV. Oleson + +"Say, ain't that Andy and Mig following along behind?" Cal asked after a +minute of watching the approach. "Sure, it is. Now what--" + +"They're drivin' 'em, by cripes!" Big Medicine, under the stress of the +moment, returned to his usual bellowing tone. "Who's that tall, lanky +feller in the lead? I don't call to mind ever seem him before. Them four +herders I'd know a mile off." + +"That?" Weary shaded his eyes with his hat-brim, against the slant rays +of the westering sun. "That's Oleson, Dunk's partner." + +"His mother'd be a-weepin'," Big Medicine observed bodefully, "if she +knowed what was due to happen to her son right away quick. Must be him +that done the shootin'." + +They came on steadily, the four herders and Oleson walking reluctantly +ahead, with Andy Green and the Native Son riding relentlessly in the +rear, their guns held unwaveringly in a line with the backs of their +captives. Andy was carrying a rifle, evidently taken from one of the +men--Oleson, they judged for the guilty one. Half the distance was +covered when Andy was seen to turn his head and speak briefly with the +Native Son, after which he lunged past the captives and galloped up to +the waiting group. His quick eye sought first the face of Happy Jack +in anxious questioning; then, miserably, he searched the faces of his +friends. + +"Good Lord!" he exclaimed mechanically, dismounted and bent over the +figure on the ground. For a long minute he knelt there; he laid his ear +close to Happy Jack's mouth, took off his glove and laid his hand over +Happy's heart; reached up, twitched off his neckerchief, shook out the +creases and spread it reverently over Happy Jack's face. He stood up +then and spoke slowly, his eyes fixed upon the stumbling approach of the +captives. + +"Pink told us Happy had been shot, so we rode around and come up behind +'em. It was a cinch. And--say, boys, we've got the Dots in a pocket. +They've got to eat outa our hands, now. So don't think about--our own +feelings, or about--" he stopped abruptly and let a downward glance +finish the sentence. "We've got to keep our own hands clean, and--now +don't let your fingers get the itch, Bud!" This, because of certain +manifestations of a murderous intent on the part of Big Medicine. + +"Oh, it's all right to talk, if yuh feel like talking," Big Medicine +retorted savagely. "I don't." He made a catlike spring at the foremost +man, who happened to be Oleson, and got a merciless grip with his +fingers on his throat, snarling like a predatory animal over its kill. +From behind, Andy, with Weary to help, pulled him off. + +"I didn't mean to--to kill anybody," gasped Oleson, pasty white. "I +heard a lot of shooting, and so I ran up the hill--and the herders came +running toward me, and I thought I was defending my property and men. I +had a right to defend--" + +"Defend hell!" Big Medicine writhed in the restraining grasp of those +who held him. "Look at that there! As good hearted a boy as ever turned +a cow! Never harmed a soul in 'is life. Is all your dirty, stinkin' +sheep, an' all your lousy herders, worth that boy's life? Yuh shot 'im +down like a dog--lemme go, boys." His voice was husky. "Lemme tromp the +life outa him." + +"I thought you were killing my men, or I never--I never meant to--to +kill--" Oleson, shaking till he could scarcely stand, broke down and +wept; wept pitiably, hysterically, as men of a certain fiber will weep +when black tragedy confronts them all unawares. He cowered miserably +before the Happy Family, his face hidden behind his two hands. + +"Boys, I want to say a word or two. Come over here." Andy's voice, quiet +as ever, contrasted strangely with the man's sobbing. He led them back +a few paces--Weary, Cal, Big Medicine and Slim, and spoke hurriedly. The +Native Son eyed them sidelong from his horse, but he was careful to keep +Oleson covered with his gun--and the herders too, although they were +unarmed. Once or twice he glanced at that long, ungainly figure in the +grass with the handkerchief of Andy Green hiding the face except where +a corner, fluttering in the faint breeze which came creeping out of the +west, lifted now and then and gave a glimpse of sunbrowned throat and a +quiet chin and mouth. + +"Quit that blubbering, Oleson, and listen here." Andys voice broke +relentlessly upon the other's woe. "All these boys want to hang yuh +without any red tape; far as I'm concerned, I'm dead willing. But we're +going to give yuh a chance. Your partner, as we told yuh coming over, +we've got the dead immortal cinch on, right now. And--well you can see +what you're up against. But we'll give yuh a chance. Have you got any +family?" + +Oleson, trying to pull himself together, shook his head. + +"Well, then, you can get rid of them sheep, can't yuh? Sell 'em, ship +'em outa here--we don't give a darn what yuh do, only so yuh get 'em off +the range." + +"Y-yes, I'll do that." Oleson's consent was reluctant, but it was fairly +prompt. "I'll get rid of the sheep," he said, as if he was minded to +clinch the promise. "I'll do it at once." + +"That's nice." Andy spoke with grim irony. "And you'll get rid of the +ranch, too. You'll sell it to the Flying U--cheap." + +"But my partner--Whittaker might object--" + +"Look here, old-timer. You'll fix that part up; you'll find a way +of fixing it. Look here--at what you're up against." He waited, with +pointing finger, for one terrible minute. "Will you sell to the Flying +U?" + +"Y-yes!" The word was really a gulp. He tried to avoid looking where +Andy pointed; failed, and shuddered at what he saw. + +"I thought you would. We'll get that in writing. And we're going to wait +just exactly twenty-four hours before we make a move. It'll take some +fine work, but we'll do it. Our boss, here, will fix up the business end +with you. He'll go with yuh right now, and stay with yuh till you +make good. And the first crooked move you make--" Andy, in unconscious +imitation of the Native Son, shrugged a shoulder expressively and urged +Weary by a glance to take the leadership. + +"Irish, you come with me. The rest of you fellows know about what to +do. Andy, I guess you'll have to ride point till I get back." Weary +hesitated, looked from Happy Jack to Oleson and the herders, and back +to the sober faces of his fellows. "Do what you can for him, boys--and I +wish one of you would ride over, after Pink gets back, and--let me know +how things stack up, will you?" + +Incredible as was the situation on the face of it, nevertheless it was +extremely matter-of-fact in the handling; which is the way sometimes +with incredible situations; as if, since we know instinctively that we +cannot rise unprepared to the bigness of its possibilities, we keep our +feet planted steadfastly on the ground and refuse to rise at all. And +afterward, perhaps, we look back and wonder how it all came about. + +At the last moment Weary turned back and exchanged guns with Andy Green, +because his own was empty and he realized the possible need of one--or +at least the need of having the sheep-men perfectly aware that he had +one ready for use. The Native Son, without a word of comment, handed his +own silver-trimmed weapon over to Irish, and rolled a cigarette deftly +with one hand while he watched them ride away. + +"Does this strike anybody else as being pretty raw?" he inquired calmly, +dismounting among them. "I'd do a good deal for the outfit, myself; +but letting that man get off--Say, you fellows up this way don't think +killing a man amounts to much, do you?" He looked from one to the other +with a queer, contemptuous hostility in his eyes. + +Andy Green took a forward step and laid a hand familiarly on his rigid +shoulder. "Quit it, Mig. We would do a lot for the outfit; that's the +God's truth. And I played the game right up to the hilt, I admit. But +nobody's killed. I told Happy to play dead. By gracious, I caught him +just in the nick uh time; he'd been setting up, in another minute." To +prove it, he bent and twitched the handkerchief from the face of Happy +Jack, and Happy opened his eyes and made shift to growl. + +"Yuh purty near-smothered me t'death, darn yuh." + +"Dios!" breathed the Native Son, for once since they knew him jolted out +of his eternal calm. "God, but I'm glad!" + +"I guess the rest of us ain't," insinuated Andy softly, and lifted his +hat to wipe the sweat off his forehead. "I will say that--" After +all, he did not. Instead, he knelt beside Happy Jack and painstakingly +adjusted the crumpled hat a hair's breadth differently. + +"How do yuh feel, old-timer?" he asked with a very thin disguise of +cheerfulness upon the anxiety of his tone. + +"Well, I could feel a lot--better, without hurtin' nothin," Happy Jack +responded somberly. "I hope you fellers--feel better, now. Yuh got +'em--tryin' to murder--the hull outfit; jes' like I--told yuh +they would--" Gunshot wounds, contrary to the tales of certain +sentimentalists, do not appreciably sweeten, or even change, a man's +disposition. Happy Jack with a bullet hole through one side of him was +still Happy Jack. + +"Aw, quit your beefin'," Big Medicine advised gruffly. "A feller with +a hole in his lung yuh could throw a calf through sideways ain't got no +business statin' his views on nothin', by cripes!" + +"Aw gwan. I thought you said--it didn't amount t' nothin'," Happy +reminded him, anxiety stealing into his face. + +"Well, it don't. May lay yuh up a day or two; wouldn't be su'prised if +yuh had to stay on the bed-ground two or three meals. But look at Slim, +here. Shot through the leg--shattered a bone, by cripes!--las' night, +only; and here he's makin' a hand and ridin' and cussin' same as any of +us t'day. We ain't goin' to let yuh grouch around, that's all. We claim +we got a vacation comm' to us; you're shot up, now, and that's fun +enough for one man, without throwin' it into the whole bunch. Why, a +little nick like that ain't nothin'; nothin' a-tall. Why, I've been +shot right through here, by cripes"--Big Medicine laid an impressive +finger-tip on the top button of his trousers--"and it come out back +here"--he whirled and showed his thumb against the small of his +back--"and I never laid off but that day and part uh the next. I was +sore," he admitted, goggling Happy Jack earnestly, "but I kep' a-goin'. +I was right in fall roundup, an' I had to. A man can't lay down an' cry, +by cripes, jes' because he gets pinked a little--" + +"Aw, that's jest because--it ain't you. I betche you'd lay 'em +down--jest like other folks, if yuh got shot--through the lungs. That +ain't no--joke, lemme tell yuh!" Happy Jack was beginning to show +considerable spirit for a wounded man. So much spirit that Andy Green, +who had seen men stricken down with various ills, read fever signs in +the countenance and in the voice of Happy, and led Big Medicine somewhat +peremptorily out of ear-shot. + +"Ain't you got any sense?" he inquired with fine candor. "What do you +want to throw it into him like that, for? You may not think so, but he's +pretty bad off--if you ask me." + +Big Medicine's pale eyes turned commiseratingly toward Happy Jack. "I +know he is; I ain't no fool. I was jest tryin' to cheer 'im up a little. +He was beginnin' to look like he was gittin' scared about it; I reckon +maybe I made a break, sayin' what I did about it, so I jest wanted to +take the cuss off. Honest to gran'ma--" + +"If you know anything at all about such things, you must know what fever +means in such a case. And, recollect, it's going to be quite a while +before a doctor can get here." + +"Oh, I'll be careful. Maybe I did throw it purty strong; I won't, no +more." Big Medicine s meekness was not the least amazing incident of +the day. He was a big-hearted soul under his bellow and bluff, and his +sympathy for Happy Jack struck deep. He went back walking on his toes, +and he stood so that his sturdy body shaded Happy Jack's face from the +sun, and he did not open his mouth for another word until Irish and Jack +Bates came rattling up with the spring wagon hurriedly transformed with +mattress, pillows and blankets into an ambulance. + +They had been thoughtful to a degree. They brought with them a jug of +water and a tin cup, and they gave Happy Jack a long, cooling drink of +it and bathed his face before they lifted him into the wagon. And of all +the hands that ministered to his needs, the hands of Big Medicine were +the eagerest and gentlest, and his voice was the most vibrant with +sympathy; which was saying a good deal. + + + +CHAPTER XVI. The End of the Dots + +Slim may not have been more curious than his fellows, but he was perhaps +more single-hearted in his loyalty to the outfit. To him the shooting +of Happy Jack, once he felt assured that the wound was not necessarily +fatal, became of secondary importance. It was all in behalf of the +Flying U; and if the bullet which laid Happy Jack upon the ground was +also the means of driving the hated Dots from that neighborhood, he +felt, in his slow, phlegmatic way, that it wasn't such a catastrophe as +some of the others seemed to think. Of course, he wouldn't want Happy +to die; but he didn't believe, after all, that Happy was going to do +anything like that. Old Patsy knew a lot about sickness and wounds. (Who +can cook for a cattle outfit, for twenty years and more, and not know a +good deal of hurts?) Old Patsy had looked Happy over carefully, and had +given a grin and a snort. + +"Py cosh, dot vos lucky for you, alreatty," he had pronounced. "So you +don't git plood-poisonings, mit fever, you be all right pretty soon. +You go to shleep, yet. If fix you oop till der dochtor he cooms. I seen +fellers shot plumb through der middle off dem, und git yell. You ain't +shot so bad. You go to shleep." + +So, his immediate fears relieved, Slim's slow mind had swung back to +the Dots, and to Oleson, whom Weary was even now assisting to keep his +promise (Slim grinned widely to himself when he thought of the abject +fear which Oleson had displayed because of the murder he thought he had +done, while Happy Jack obediently "played dead"). And of Dunk, whom Slim +had hated most abominably of old; Dunk, a criminal found out; Dunk, a +prisoner right there on the very ranch he had thought to despoil; Dunk, +at that very moment locked in the blacksmith shop. Perhaps it was not +curiosity alone which sent him down there; perhaps it was partly a +desire to look upon Dunk humbled--he who had trodden so arrogantly +upon the necks of those below him; so arrogantly that even Slim, the +slow-witted one, had many a time trembled with anger at his tone. + +Slim walked slowly, as was his wont; with deadly directness, as was his +nature. The blacksmith shop was silent, closed--as grimly noncommittal +as a vault. You might guess whatever you pleased about its inmate; it +was like trying to imagine the emotions pictured upon the face behind +a smooth, black mask. Slim stopped before the closed door and listened. +The rusty, iron hasp attracted his slow gaze, at first puzzling him a +little, making him vaguely aware that something about it did not quite +harmonize with his mental attitude toward it. It took him a full minute +to realize that he had expected to find the door locked, and that the +hasp hung downward uselessly, just as it hung every day in the year. + +He remembered then that Andy had spoken of chaining Dunk to the anvil. +That would make it unnecessary to lock the door, of course. Slim seized +the hanging strip of iron, gave it a jerk and bathed all the dingy +interior with a soft, sunset glow. Cobwebs quivered at the inrush of the +breeze, and glistened like threads of fine gold. The forge remained a +dark blot in the corner. A new chisel, lying upon the earthen floor, +became a bar of yellow light. + +Slim's eyes went to the anvil and clung there in a widening stare. His +hands, white and soft when his gloves were off, drew up convulsively +into fighting fists, and as he stood looking, the cords swelled and +stood out upon his thick neck. For years he had hated Dunk Whittaker-- + +The Happy Family, with rare good sense, had not hesitated to turn the +white house into an impromptu hospital. They knew that if the Little +Doctor and Chip and the Old Man had been at home Happy Jack would have +been taken unquestioningly into the guest chamber--which was a square, +three-windowed room off the big livingroom. More than one of them had +occupied it upon occasion. They took Happy Jack up there and put him to +bed quite as a matter-of-course, and when he was asleep they lingered +upon the wide, front porch; the hammock of the Little Doctor squeaked +under the weight of Andy Green, and the wide-armed chairs received the +weary forms of divers young cowpunchers who did not give a thought to +the intrusion, but were thankful for the comfort. Andy was swinging +luxuriously and drawing the last few puffs from a cigarette when Slim, +purple and puffing audibly, appeared portentously before him. + +"I thought you said you was goin' to lock Dunk up in the blacksmith +shop," he launched accusingly at Andy. + +"We did," averred that young man, pushing his toe against the railing to +accelerate the voluptuous motion of the hammock. + +"He ain't there. He's broke loose. The chain--by golly, yuh went an' +used that chain that was broke an' jest barely hangin' together! His +horse ain't anywheres around, either. You fellers make me sick. Lollin' +around here an' not paying no attention, by golly--he's liable to be ten +mile from here by this time!" When Slim stopped, his jaw quivered like +a dish of disturbed jelly, and I wish I could give you his tone; choppy, +every sentence an accusation that should have made those fellows wince. + +Irish, Big Medicine and Jack Bates had sprung guiltily to their feet +and started down the steps. The drawling voice of the Native Son stopped +them, ten feet from the porch. + +"Twelve, or fifteen, I should make it. That horse of his looked to me +like a drifter." + +"Well--are yuh goin' t' set there on your haunches an' let him GO?" +Slim, by the look of him, was ripe for murder. + +"You want to look out, or you'll get apoplexy sure," Andy soothed, +giving himself another luxurious push and pulling the last, little whiff +from his cigarette before he threw away the stub. "Fat men can't afford +to get as excited as skinny ones can." + +"Aw, say! Where did you put him, Andy?" asked Big Medicine, his first +flurry subsiding before the absolute calm of those two on the porch. + +"In the blacksmith shop," said Andy, with a slurring accent on the first +word that made the whole sentence perfectly maddening. "Ah, come on back +here and sit down. I guess we better tell 'em the how of it. Huh, Mig?" + +Miguel cast a slow, humorous glance over the four. "Ye-es--they'll have +us treed in about two minutes if we don't," he assented. "Go ahead." + +"Well," Andy lifted his head and shoulders that he might readjust a +pillow to his liking, "we wanted him to make a getaway. Fact is, if he +hadn't, we'd have been--strictly up against it. Right! If he hadn't--how +about it, Mig? I guess we'd have been to the Little Rockies ourselves." + +"You've got a sweet little voice," Irish cut in savagely, "but we're +tired. We'd rather hear yuh say something!" + +"Oh--all right. Well, Mig and I just ribbed up a josh on Dunk. I'd read +somewhere about the same kinda deal, so it ain't original; I don't lay +any claim to the idea at all; we just borrowed it. You see, it's like +this: We figured that a man as mean as this Dunk person most likely had +stepped over the line, somewhere. So we just took a gambling chance, and +let him do the rest. You see, we never saw him before in our lives. All +that identification stunt of ours was just a bluff. But the minute I +shoved my chips to the center, I knew we had him dead to rights. You +were there. You saw him wilt. By gracious--" + +"Yuh don't know anything against him?" gasped Irish. + +"Not a darned thing--any more than what you all know," testified Andy +complacently. + +It took a minute or two for that to sink in. + +"Well, I'll be damned!" breathed Irish. + +"We did chain him to the anvil," Andy went on. "On the way down, we +talked about being in a hurry to get back to you fellows, and I told +Mig--so Dunk could hear--that we wouldn't bother with the horse. We tied +him to the corral. And I hunted around for that bum chain, and then we +made out we couldn't find the padlock for the door; so we decided, right +out loud, that he'd be dead safe for an hour or two, till the bunch of +us got back. Not knowing a darn thing about him, except what you boys +have told us, we sure would have been in bad if he hadn't taken a sneak. +Fact is, we were kinda worried for fear he wouldn't have nerve enough +to try it. We waited, up on the hill, till we saw him sneak down to the +corral and jump on his horse and take off down the coulee like a scared +coyote. It was," quoth the young man, unmistakably pleased with himself, +"pretty smooth work, if you ask me." + +"I'd hate to ride as fast and far to-night as that hombre will," +supplemented Miguel with his brief smile, that was just a flash of +white, even teeth and a momentary lightening of his languorous eyes. + +Slim stood for five minutes, a stolid, stocky figure in the midst of +a storm of congratulatory comment. They forgot all about Happy Jack, +asleep inside the house, and so their voices were not hushed. Indeed, +Big Medicine's bull-like remarks boomed full-throated across the coulee +and were flung back mockingly by the barren hills. Slim did not hear +a word they were saying; he was thinking it over, with that complete +mental concentration which is the chief recompense of a slow-working +mind. He was methodically thinking it all out--and, eventually, he saw +the joke. + +"Well, by golly!" he bawled suddenly, and brought his palm down with +a terrific smack upon his sore leg--whereat his fellows laughed +uproariously. + +"We told you not to try to see through any more jokes till your leg gets +well, Slim," Andy reminded condescendingly. + +"Say, by golly, that's a good one on Dunk, ain't it? Chasin' himself +clean outa the country, by golly--scared plumb to death---and you +fellers was only jest makin' b'lieve yuh knowed him! By golly, that sure +is a good one, all right!" + +"You've got it; give you time enough and you could see through a +barbed-wire fence," patronized Andy, from the hammock. "Yes, since you +mention it, I think myself it ain't so bad." + +"Aw-w shut up, out there, an' let a feller sleep!" came a querulous +voice from within. "I'd ruther bed down with a corral full uh calves at +weanin' time, than be anywheres within ten mile uh you darned, mouthy--" +The rest was indistinguishable, but it did not matter. The Happy Family, +save Slim, who stayed to look after the patient, tiptoed penitently +off the porch and took themselves and their enthusiasm down to the +bunk-house. + + + +CHAPTER XVII. Good News + +Pink rolled over in his bed so that he might look--however +sleepily--upon his fellows, dressing more or less quietly in the cool +dawn-hour. + +"Say, I got a letter for you, Weary," he yawned, stretching both arms +above his head. "I opened it and read it; it was from Chip, so--" + +"What did he have to say?" + +"Old Man any better?" + +"How they comm', back here?" + +Several voices, speaking at once, necessitated a delayed reply. + +"They'll be here, to-day or to-morrow," Pink replied without any +circumlocution whatever, while he fumbled in his coat pocket for the +letter. "He says the Old Man wants to come, and the doctors think he +might as well tackle it as stay there fussing over it. They're coming in +a special car, and we've got to rig up an outfit to meet him. The Little +Doctor tells just how she wants things fixed. I thought maybe it was +important--it come special delivery," Pink added naively, "so I just +played it was mine and read it." + +"That's all right, Cadwalloper," Weary assured him while he read hastily +the letter. "Well, we'll fix up the spring wagon and take it in right +away; somebody's got to go back anyway, with MacPherson. Hello, Cal; +how's Happy?" + +"All right," answered Cal, who had watched over him during the night and +came in at that moment after someone to take his place in the sickroom. +"Waked up on the fight because I just happened to be setting with my +eyes shut. I wasn't asleep, but he said I was; claimed I snored so loud +I kept him awake all night. Gee whiz! I'd ruther nurse a she bear with +the mumps!" + +"Old Man's coming home, Cal." Pink announced with more joy in his +tone and in his face than had appeared in either for many a weary +day. Whereupon Cal gave an exultant whoop. "Go tell that to Happy," +he shouted. "Maybe he'll forget a grouch or two. Say, luck seems to be +kinda casting loving glances our way again--what?" + +"By golly, seems to me Pink oughta told us when he come in, las' night," +grumbled Slim, when he could make himself heard. + +"You were all dead to the world," Pink defended, "and I wanted to +be. Two o'clock in the morning is a mighty poor time for elegant +conversation, if you want my opinion." + +"And the main point is, you knew all about it, and you didn't give a +darn whether we did or not," Irish said bluntly. "And Weary sneaked in, +too, and never let a yip outa him about things over in Denson coulee." + +"Oh, what was the use?" asked Weary blandly. "I got an option out of +Oleson for the ranch and outfit, and all his sheep, at a mighty good +figure--for the Flying U. The Old Man can do what he likes about it; +but ten to one he'll buy him out. That is, Oleson's share, which was +two-thirds. I kinda counted on Dunk letting go easy. And," he added, +reaching for his hat, "once I got the papers for it, there wasn't +anything to hang around for, was there? Especially," he said with his +old, sunny smile, "when we weren't urged a whole lot to stay." + +Remained therefore little, save the actual arrival of the Old Man--a +pitifully weak Old Man, bandaged and odorous with antiseptics, and quite +pathetically glad to be back home--and his recovery, which was rather +slow, and the recovery of Happy Jack, which was rapid. + +For a brief space the Flying U outfit owned the Dots; very brief it +was; not a day longer than it took Chip to find a buyer--at a figure +considerably above that named in the option, by the way. + +So, after a season of worry and trouble and impending tragedy such as +no man may face unflinchingly, life dropped back to its usual level, and +the trail of the Flying U outfit once more led through pleasant places. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Flying U Ranch, by B. M. 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The Dot Outfit +IX. More Sheep +X. The Happy Family Herd Sheep +XI. Weary Unburdens +XII. Two of a Kind +XIII. The Happy Family Learn Something +XIV. Happy Jack +XV. Oleson +XVI. The End of the Dots +XVII. Good News + + + +FLYING U RANCH + + + +CHAPTER I. The Coming of a Native Son + +The Happy Family, waiting for the Sunday supper call, were +grouped around the open door of the bunk-house, gossiping idly of +things purely local, when the Old Man returned from the Stock +Association at Helena; beside him on the buggy seat sat a +stranger. The Old Man pulled up at the bunk-house, the stranger +sprang out over the wheel with the agility which bespoke youthful +muscles, and the Old Man introduced him with a quirk of the lips: + +"This is Mr. Mig-u-ell Rapponi, boys--a peeler straight from the +Golden Gate. Throw out your war-bag and make yourself to home, +Mig-u-ell; some of the boys'll show you where to bed down." + +The Old Man drove on to the house with his own luggage, and Happy +Jack followed to take charge of the team; but the remainder of +the Happy Family unobtrusively took the measure of the foreign +element. From his black-and-white horsehair hatband, with tassels +that swept to the very edge of his gray hatbrim, to the crimson +silk neckerchief draped over the pale blue bosom of his shirt; +from the beautifully stamped leather cuffs, down to the +exaggerated height of his tan boot-heels, their critical eyes +swept in swift, appraising glances; and unanimous disapproval was +the result. The Happy Family had themselves an eye to picturesque +garb upon occasion, but this passed even Pink's love of display. + +"He's some gaudy to look at," Irish murmured under his breath to +Cal Emmett. + +"All he lacks is a spot-light and a brass band," Cal returned, in +much the same tone with which a woman remarks upon a last +season's hat on the head of a rival. + +Miguel was not embarrassed by the inspection. He was tall, +straight, and swarthily handsome, and he stood with the +complacence of a stage favorite waiting for the applause to cease +so that he might speak his first lines; and, while he waited, he +sifted tobacco into a cigarette paper daintily, with his little +finger extended. There was a ring upon that finger; a ring with a +moonstone setting as large and round as the eye of a startled +cat, and the Happy Family caught the pale gleam of it and drew a +long breath. He lighted a match nonchalantly, by the artfully +simple method of pinching the head of it with his fingernails, +leaned negligently against the wall of the bunk-house, and +regarded the group incuriously while he smoked. + +"Any pretty girls up this way?" he inquired languidly, after a +moment, fanning a thin smoke-cloud from before his face while he +spoke. + +The Happy Family went prickly hot. The girls in that neighborhood +were held in esteem, and there was that in his tone which gave +offense. + +"Sure, there's pretty girls here!" Big Medicine bellowed +unexpectedly, close beside him. "We're all of us engaged to `em, +by cripes!" + +Miguel shot an oblique glance at Big Medicine, examined the end +of his cigarette, and gave a lift of shoulder, which might mean +anything or nothing, and so was irritating to a degree. He did +not pursue the subject further, and so several belated retorts +were left tickling futilely the tongues of the Happy Family-- +which does not make for amiability. + +To a man they liked him little, in spite of their easy +friendliness with mankind in general. At supper they talked with +him perfunctorily, and covertly sneered because he sprinkled his +food liberally with cayenne and his speech with Spanish words +pronounced with soft, slurred vowels that made them sound +unfamiliar, and against which his English contrasted sharply with +its crisp, American enunciation. He met their infrequent glances +with the cool stare of absolute indifference to their opinion of +him, and their perfunctory civility with introspective calm. + +The next morning, when there was riding to be done, and Miguel +appeared at the last moment in his working clothes, even Weary, +the sunny-hearted, had an unmistakable curl of his lip after the +first glance. + +Miguel wore the hatband, the crimson kerchief tied loosely with +the point draped over his chest, the stamped leather cuffs and +the tan boots with the highest heels ever built by the cobbler +craft. Also, the lower half of him was incased in chaps the like +of which had never before been brought into Flying U coulee. +Black Angora chaps they were; long-haired, crinkly to the very +hide, with three white, diamond-shaped patches running down each +leg of them, and with the leather waistband stamped elaborately +to match the cuffs. The bands of his spurs were two inches wide +and inlaid to the edge with beaten silver, and each concho was +engraved to represent a large, wild rose, with a golden center. A +dollar laid upon the rowels would have left a fringe of prongs +all around. + +He bent over his sacked riding outfit, and undid it, revealing a +wonderful saddle of stamped leather inlaid on skirt and cantle +with more beaten silver. He straightened the skirts, carefully +ignoring the glances thrown in his direction, and swore softly to +himself when he discovered where the leather had been scratched +through the canvas wrappings and the end of the silver scroll +ripped up. He drew out his bridle and shook it into shape, and +the silver mountings and the reins of braided leather with +horsehair tassels made Happy Jack's eyes greedy with desire. His +blanket was a scarlet Navajo, and his rope a rawhide lariat. + +Altogether, his splendor when he was mounted so disturbed the +fine mental poise of the Happy Family that they left him jingling +richly off by himself, while they rode closely grouped and +discussed him acrimoniously. + +"By gosh, a man might do worse than locate that Native Son for a +silver mine," Cal began, eyeing the interloper scornfully. "It's +plumb wicked to ride around with all that wealth and fussy stuff. +He must 'a' robbed a bank and put the money all into a riding +outfit." + +"By golly, he looks to me like a pair uh trays when he comes +bow-leggin' along with them white diamonds on his legs," Slim +stated solemnly. + +"And I'll gamble that's a spot higher than he stacks up in the +cow game," Pink observed with the pessimism which matrimony had +given him. "You mind him asking about bad horses, last night? +That Lizzie-boy never saw a bad horse; they don't grow 'em where +he come from. What they don't know about riding they make up for +with a swell rig--" + +"And, oh, mamma! It sure is a swell rig!" Weary paid generous +tribute. "Only I will say old Banjo reminds me of an Irish cook +rigged out in silk and diamonds. That outfit on Glory, now--" He +sighed enviously. + +"Well, I've gone up against a few real ones in my long and varied +career," Irish remarked reminiscently, "and I've noticed that a +hoss never has any respect or admiration for a swell rig. When he +gets real busy it ain't the silver filigree stuff that's going to +help you hold connections with your saddle, and a silver-mounted +bridle-bit ain't a darned bit better than a plain one." + +"Just take a look at him!" cried Pink, with intense disgust. +"Ambling off there, so the sun can strike all that silver and +bounce back in our eyes. And that braided lariat--I'd sure love +to see the pieces if he ever tries to anchor anything bigger than +a yearling!" + +"Why, you don't think for a minute he could ever get out and rope +anything, do yuh ?" Irish laughed. "That there Native Son throws +on a-w-l-together too much dog to really get out and do +anything." + +"Aw," fleered Happy Jack, "he ain't any Natiff Son. He's a dago!" + +"He's got the earmarks uh both," Big Medicine stated +authoritatively. "I know 'em, by cripes, and I know their ways." +He jerked his thumb toward the dazzling Miguel. "I can tell yuh +the kinda cow-puncher he is; I've saw 'em workin' at it. Haw-haw- +haw! They'll start out to move ten or a dozen head uh tame old +cows from one field to another, and there'll be six or eight +fellers, rigged up like this here tray-spot, ridin' along, +important as hell, drivin' them few cows down a lane, with peach +trees on both sides, by cripes, jingling their big, silver spurs, +all wearin' fancy chaps to ride four or five miles down the road. +Honest to grandma, they call that punchin' cows! Oh, he's a +Native Son, all right. I've saw lots of 'em, only I never saw one +so far away from the Promised Land before. That there looks queer +to me. Natiff Sons--the real ones, like him--are as scarce +outside Calyforny as buffalo are right here in this coulee." + +"That's the way they do it, all right," Irish agreed. "And then +they'll have a 'rodeo'--" + +"Haw-haw-haw!" Big Medicine interrupted, and took up the tale, +which might have been entitled "Some Cowpunching I Have Seen." + +"They have them rodeos on a Sunday, mostly, and they invite +everybody to it, like it was a picnic. And there'll be two or +three fellers to every calf, all lit up, like Mig-u-ell, over +there, in chaps and silver fixin's, fussin' around on horseback +in a corral, and every feller trying to pile his rope on the same +calf, by cripes! They stretch 'em out with two ropes--calves, +remember! Little, weenty fellers you could pack under one arm! +Yuh can't blame 'em much. They never have more'n thirty or forty +head to brand at a time, and they never git more'n a taste uh +real work. So they make the most uh what they git, and go in +heavy on fancy outfits. And this here silver-mounted fellow +thinks he's a real cowpuncher, by cripes!" + +The Happy Family laughed at the idea; laughed so loud that Miguel +left his lonely splendor and swung over to them, ostensibly to +borrow a match. + +"What's the joke?" he inquired languidly, his chin thrust out and +his eyes upon the match blazing at the end of his cigarette. + +The Happy Family hesitated and glanced at one another. Then Cal +spoke truthfully. + +"You're it," he said bluntly, with a secret desire to test the +temper of this dark-skinned son of the West. + +Miguel darted one of his swift glances at Cal, blew out his match +and threw it away. + +"Oh, how funny. Ha-ha." His voice was soft and absolutely +expressionless, his face blank of any emotion whatever. He merely +spoke the words as a machine might have done. + +If he had been one of them, the Happy Family would have laughed +at the whimsical humor of it. As it was, they repressed the +impulse, though Weary warmed toward him slightly. + +"Don't you believe anything this innocent-eyed gazabo tells you, +Mr. Rapponi," he warned amiably. "He's known to be a liar." + +"That's funny, too. Ha-ha some more." Miguel permitted a thin +ribbon of smoke to slide from between his lips, and gazed off to +the crinkled line of hills. + +"Sure, it is--now you mention it," Weary agreed after a +perceptible pause. + +"How fortunate that I brought the humor to your attention," +drawled Miguel, in the same expressionless tone, much as if he +were reciting a text. + +"Virtue is its own penalty," paraphrased Pink, not stopping to +see whether the statement applied to the subject. + +"Haw-haw-haw!" roared Big Medicine, quite as irrelevantly. + +"He-he-he," supplemented the silver-trimmed one. + +Big Medicine stopped laughing suddenly, reined his horse close to +the other, and stared at him challengingly, with his pale, +protruding eyes, while the Happy Family glanced meaningly at one +another. Big Medicine was quite as unsafe as he looked, at that +moment, and they wondered if the offender realized his precarious +situation. + +Miguel smoked with the infinite leisure which is a fine art when +it is not born of genuine abstraction, and none could decide +whether he was aware of the unfriendly proximity of Big Medicine. +Weary was just on the point of saying something to relieve the +tension, when Miguel blew the ash gently from his cigarette and +spoke lazily. + +"Parrots are so common, out on the Coast, that they use them in +cheap restaurants for stew. I've often heard them gabbling +together in the kettle." + +The statement was so ambiguous that the Happy Family glanced at +him doubtfully. Big Medicine's stare became more curious than +hostile, and he permitted his horse to lag a length. It is +difficult to fight absolute passivity. Then Slim, who ever +tramped solidly over the flowers of sarcasm, blurted one of his +unexpected retorts. + +"I was just wonderin', by golly, where yuh learnt to talk!" + +Miguel turned his velvet eyes sleepily toward the speaker. "From +the boarders who ate those parrots, amigo," he smiled serenely. + +At this, Slim--once justly accused by Irish of being a +"single-shot" when it came to repartee--turned purple and dumb. +The Happy Family, forswearing loyalty in their enjoyment of his +discomfiture, grinned and left to Miguel the barren triumph of +the last word. + +He did not gain in popularity as the days passed. They tilted +noses at his beautiful riding gear, and would have died rather +than speak of it in his presence. They never gossiped with him of +horses or men or the lands he knew. They were ready to snub him +at a moment's notice--and it did not lessen their dislike of him +that he failed to yield them an opportunity. It is to be hoped +that he found his thoughts sufficient entertainment, since he was +left to them as much as is humanly possible when half a dozen men +eat and sleep and work together. It annoyed them exceedingly that +Miguel did not seem to know that they held him at a distance; +they objected to his manner of smoking cigarettes and staring off +at the skyline as if he were alone and content with his dreams. +When he did talk they listened with an air of weary tolerance. +When he did not talk they ignored his presence, and when he was +absent they criticized him mercilessly. + +They let him ride unwarned into an adobe patch one day--at least, +Big Medicine, Pink, Cal Emmett and Irish did, for they were with +him--and laughed surreptitiously together while he wallowed there +and came out afoot, his horse floundering behind him, mud to the +ears, both of them. + +"Pretty soft going, along there, ain't it?" Pink commiserated +deceitfully. + +"It is, kinda," Miguel responded evenly, scraping the adobe off +Banjo with a flat rock. And the subject was closed. + +"Well, it's some relief to the eyes to have the shine taken off +him, anyway," Pink observed a little guiltily afterward. + +"I betche he ain't goin' to forget that, though," Happy Jack +warned when he saw the caked mud on Miguel's Angora chaps and +silver spurs, and the condition of his saddle. "Yuh better watch +out and not turn your backs on him in the dark, none uh you guys. +I betche he packs a knife. Them kind always does." + +"Haw-haw-haw!" bellowed Big Medicine uproariously. "I'd love to +see him git out an' try to use it, by cripes!" + +"I wish Andy was here," Pink sighed. "Andy'd take the starch outa +him, all right." + +"Wouldn't he be pickings for old Andy, though? Gee!" Cal looked +around at them, with his wide, baby-blue eyes, and laughed. +"Let's kinda jolly him along, boys, till Andy gets back. It sure +would be great to watch 'em. I'll bet he can jar the eternal calm +outa that Native Son. That's what grinds me worse than his +throwin' on so much dog; he's so blamed satisfied with himself! +You snub him, and he looks at yuh as if you was his hired man-- +and then forgets all about yuh. He come outa that 'doby like he'd +been swimmin' a river on a bet, and had made good and was a +hee-ro right before the ladies. Kinda 'Oh, that's nothing to what +I could do if it was worth while,' way he had with him." + +"It wouldn't matter so much if he wasn't all front," Pink +complained. "You'll notice that's always the way, though. The +fellow all fussed up with silver and braided leather can't get +out and do anything. I remember up on Milk river--" Pink trailed +off into absorbing reminiscence, which, however, is too lengthy +to repeat here. + +"Say, Mig-u-ell's down at the stable, sweatin from every pore +trying to get his saddle clean, by golly!" Slim reported +cheerfully, just as Pink was relighting the cigarette which had +gone out during the big scene of his story. "He was cussin' in +Spanish, when I walked up to him--but he shut up when he seen me +and got that peaceful look uh hisn on his face. I wonder, by +golly--" + +"Oh, shut up and go awn," Irish commanded bluntly, and looked at +Pink. "Did he call it off, then? Or did you have to wade in--" + +"Naw; he was like this here Native Son--all front. He could look +sudden death, all right; he had black eyes like Mig-u-ell-- but +all a fellow had to do was go after him, and he'd back up so +blamed quick--" + +Slim listened that far, saw that he had interrupted a tale +evidently more interesting than anything he could say, and went +off, muttering to himself. + + + +CHAPTER II. "When Greek Meets Greek" + +The next morning, which was Sunday, the machinations of Big +Medicine took Pink down to the creek behind the bunk-house. +"What's hurtin' yuh?" he asked curiously, when he came to where +Big Medicine stood in the fringe of willows, choking between his +spasms of mirth. + +"Haw-haw-haw!" roared Big Medicine; and, seizing Pink's arm in a +gorilla-like grip, he pointed down the bank. + +Miguel, seated upon a convenient rock in a sunny spot, was +painstakingly combing out the tangled hair of his chaps, which he +had washed quite as carefully not long before, as the cake of +soap beside him testified. + +"Combing--combing--his chaps, by cripes!" Big Medicine gasped, +and waggled his finger at the spectacle. "Haw-haw-haw! C- +combin'--his--chaps!" + +Miguel glanced up at them as impersonally as if they were two +cackling hens, rather than derisive humans, then bent his head +over a stubborn knot and whistled La Paloma softly while he +coaxed out the tangle. + +Pink's eyes widened as he looked, but he did not say anything. He +backed up the path and went thoughtfully to the corrals, leaving +Big Medicine to follow or not, as he chose. + +"Combin'--his chaps, by cripes!" came rumbling behind him. Pink +turned. + +"Say! Don't make so much noise about it," he advised guardedly. +"I've got an idea." + +"Yuh want to hog-tie it, then," Big Medicine retorted, resentful +because Pink seemed not to grasp the full humor of the thing. +"Idees sure seems to be skurce in this outfit--or that there +lily-uh-the-valley couldn't set and comb no chaps in broad +daylight, by cripes; not and get off with it." + +"He's an ornament to the Flying U," Pink stated dreamily. "Us +boneheads don't appreciate him, is all that ails us. What we +ought to do is--help him be as pretty as he wants to be, and--" + +"Looky here, Little One." Big Medicine hurried his steps until he +was close alongside. "I wouldn't give a punched nickel for a +four-horse load uh them idees, and that's the truth." He passed +Pink and went on ahead, disgust in every line of his square- +shouldered figure. "Combin' his chaps, by cripes!" he snorted +again, and straightway told the tale profanely to his fellows, +who laughed until they were weak and watery-eyed as they +listened. + +Afterward, because Pink implored them and made a mystery of it, +they invited Miguel to take a hand in a long-winded game--rather, +a series of games--of seven-up, while his chaps hung to dry upon +a willow by the creek bank--or so he believed. + +The chaps, however, were up in the white-house kitchen, where +were also the reek of scorched hair and the laughing +expostulations of the Little Doctor and the boyish titter of Pink +and Irish, who were curling laboriously the chaps of Miguel with +the curling tongs of the Little Doctor and those of the Countess +besides. + +"It's a shame, and I just hope Miguel thrashes you both for it," +the Little Doctor told them more than once; but she laughed, +nevertheless, and showed Pink how to give the twist which made of +each lock a corkscrew ringlet. The Countess stopped, with her +dishcloth dangling from one red, bony hand, while she looked. +"You boys couldn't sleep nights if you didn't pester the life +outa somebody," she scolded. "Seems to me I'd friz them diamonds, +if I was goin' to be mean enough to do anything." + +"You would, eh?" Pink glanced up at her and dimpled. "I'll find +you a rich husband to pay for that." He straightway proceeded to +friz the diamonds of white. + +"Why don't you have a strip of ringlets down each leg, with tight +little curls between?" suggested the Little Doctor, not to be +outdone by any other woman. + +"Correct you are," praised Irish. + +"And, remember, you're not heating branding-irons, mister man," +she added. "You'll burn all the hair off, if you let the tongs +get red-hot. Just so they'll sizzle; I've told you five times +already." She picked up the Kid, kissed many times the finger he +held up for sympathy--the finger with which he had touched the +tongs as Pink was putting them back into the grate of the kitchen +stove, and spoke again to ease her conscience. "I think it's +awfully mean of you to do it. Miguel ought to thrash you both." + +"We're dead willing to let him try, Mrs. Chip. We know it's mean. +We're real ashamed of ourselves." Irish tested his tongs as he +had been told to do. "But we'd rather be ashamed than good, any +old time." + +The Little Doctor giggled behind the Kid's tousled curls, and +reached out a slim hand once more to give Pink's tongs the expert +twist he was trying awkwardly to learn. "I'm sorry for Miguel; +he's got lovely eyes, anyway." + +"Yes, ain't he?" Pink looked up briefly from his task. "How's +your leg, Irish? Mine's done." + +"Seems to me I'd make a deep border of them corkscrew curls all +around the bottoms, if I was doin' it," said the Countess +peevishly, from the kitchen sink. "If I was that dago I'd murder +the hull outfit; I never did see a body so hectored in my life-- +and him not ever ketchin' on. He must be plumb simple-minded." + +When the curling was done to the hilarious satisfaction of Irish +and Pink, and, while Pink was dancing in them to show them off, +another entered with mail from town. And, because the mail- +bearer was Andy Green himself, back from a winter's journeyings, +Cal, Happy Jack and Slim followed close behind, talking all at +once, in their joy at beholding the man they loved well and hated +occasionally also. Andy delivered the mail into the hands of the +Little Doctor, pinched the Kid's cheek, and said how he had grown +good-looking as his mother, almost, spoke a cheerful howdy to the +Countess, and turned to shake hands with Pink. It was then that +the honest, gray eyes of him widened with amazement. + +"Well, by golly!" gasped Slim, goggling at the chaps of Miguel. + +"That there Natiff Son'll just about kill yuh for that," warned +Happy Jack, as mournfully as he might with laughing. "He'll knife +yuh, sure." + +Andy, demanding the meaning of it all, learned all about Miguel +Rapponi--from the viewpoint of the Happy Family. At least, he +learned as much as it was politic to tell in the presence of the +Little Doctor; and afterward, while Pink was putting the chaps +back upon the willow, where Miguel had left them, he was told +that they looked to him, Andy Green, for assistance. + +"Oh, gosh! You don't want to depend on me, Pink," Andy +expostulated modestly. "I can't think of anything--and, besides, +I've reformed. I don't know as it's any compliment to me, by +gracious--being told soon as I land that I'm expected to lie to a +perfect stranger." + +"You come on down to the stable and take a look at his saddle and +bridle," urged Cal. "And wait till you see him smoking and +looking past you, as if you was an ornery little peak that didn't +do nothing but obstruct the scenery. I've seen mean cusses--lots +of 'em; and I've seen men that was stuck on themselves. But I +never--" + +"Come outa that 'doby," Pink interrupted, "mud to his eyebrows, +just about. And he knew darned well we headed him in there +deliberate. And when I remarks it's soft going, he says: 'It is, +kinda,'--just like that." Pink managed to imitate the languid +tone of Miguel very well. "Not another word outa him. Didn't even +make him mad! He--" + +"Tell him about the parrots, Slim," Cal suggested soberly. But +Slim only turned purple at the memory, and swore. + +"Old Patsy sure has got it in for him," Happy Jack observed. "He +asked Patsy if he ever had enchiladas. Patsy won't speak to him +no more. He claims Mig-u-ell insulted him. He told Mig-u-ell--" + +"Enchiladas are sure fine eating," said Andy. "I took to 'em like +a she-bear to honey, down in New Mexico this winter. Your Native +Son is solid there, all right." + +"Aw, gwan! He ain't solid nowhere but in the head. Maybe you'll +love him to death when yuh see him--chances is you will, if +you've took to eatin' dago grub." + +Andy patted Happy Jack reassuringly on the shoulder. "Don't get +excited," he soothed. "I'll put it all over the gentleman, just +to show my heart's in the right place. Just this once, though; +I've reformed. And I've got to have time to size him up. Where do +you keep him when he ain't in the show window?" He swung into +step with Pink. "I'll tell you the truth," he confided +engagingly. "Any man that'll wear chaps like he's got--even +leaving out the extra finish you fellows have given 'em--had +ought to be taught a lesson he'll remember. He sure must be a +tough proposition, if the whole bunch of yuh have had to give him +up. By gracious--" + +"We haven't tried," Pink defended. "It kinda looked to us as if +he was aiming to make us guy him; so we didn't. We've left him +strictly alone. To-day"--he glanced over his shoulder to where +the becurled chaps swung comically from the willow +branch--"to-day's the first time anybody's made a move. Unless," +he added, as an afterthought, "you count yesterday in the 'doby +patch--and even then we didn't tell him to ride into it; we just +let him do it." + +"And kinda herded him over towards it," Cal amended slyly. + +"Can he ride?" asked Andy, going straight to the main point, in +the mind of a cowpuncher. + +"W-e-ell-he hasn't been piled, so far. But then," Pink qualified +hastily, "he hasn't topped anything worse than Crow- hop. He +ain't hard to ride. Happy Jack could--" + +"Aw, I'm gittin' good and sick of' hearin' that there tune," +Happy growled indignantly. "Why don't you point out Slim as the +limit, once in a while?" + +"Come on down to the stable, and let's talk it over," Andy +suggested, and led the way. "What's his style, anyway? Mouthy, or +what?" + +With four willing tongues to enlighten him, it would be strange, +indeed, if one so acute as Andy Green failed at last to have a +very fair mental picture of Miguel. He gazed thoughtfully at his +boots, laughed suddenly, and slapped Irish quite painfully upon +the back. + +"Come on up and introduce me, boys," he said. "We'll make this +Native Son so hungry for home--you watch me put it on the +gentleman. Only it does seem a shame to do it." + +"No, it ain't. If you'd been around him for two weeks, you'd want +to kill him just to make him take notice," Irish assured him. + +"What gets me," Andy mused, "is why you fellows come crying to me +for help. I should think the bunch of you ought to be able to +handle one lone Native Son." + +"Aw, you're the biggest liar and faker in the bunch, is why," +Happy Jack blurted. + +"Oh, I see." Andy hummed a little tune and pushed his hands deep +into his pockets, and at the corners of his lips there flickered +a smile. + +The Native Son sat with his hat tilted slightly back upon his +head and a cigarette between his lips, and was reaching lazily +for the trick which made the fourth game his, when the group +invaded the bunk-house. He looked up indifferently, swept Andy's +face and figure with a glance too impersonal to hold even a shade +of curiosity, and began rapidly shuffling his cards to count the +points he had made. + +Andy stopped short, just inside the door, and stared hard at +Miguel, who gave no sign. He turned his honest, gray eyes upon +Pink and Irish accusingly--whereat they wondered greatly. + +"Your deal--if you want to play," drawled Miguel, and shoved his +cards toward Big Medicine. But the boys were already uptilting +chairs to grasp the quicker the outstretched hand of the +prodigal, so that Miguel gathered up the cards, evened their +edges mechanically, and deigned another glance at this stranger +who was being welcomed so vociferously. Also he sighed a bit-- +for even a languid-eyed stoic of a Native Son may feel the twinge +of loneliness. Andy shook hands all round, swore amiably at +Weary, and advanced finally upon Miguel. + +"You don't know me from Adam's off ox," he began genially, "but I +know you, all right, all right. I hollered my head off with the +rest of 'em when you played merry hell in that bull-ring, last +Christmas. Also, I was part of your bodyguard when them greasers +were trying to tickle you in the ribs with their knives in that +dark alley. Shake, old-timer! You done yourself proud, and I'm +glad to know yuh!" + +Miguel, for the first time in two weeks, permitted himself the +luxury of an expressive countenance. He gave Andy Green one +quick, grateful look--and a smile, the like of which made the +Happy Family quiver inwardly with instinctive sympathy. + +"So you were there, too, eh?" Miguel exclaimed softly, and rose +to greet him. "And that scrap in the alley--we sure had a hell of +a time there for a few minutes, didn't we? Are you that tall +fellow who kicked that squint-eyed greaser in the stomach? Muchos +gracios, senor! They were piling on me three deep, right then, +and I always believed they'd have got me, only for a tall vaquero +I couldn't locate afterward." He smiled again that wonderful +smile, which lighted the darkness of his eyes as with a flame, +and murmured a sentence or two in Spanish. + +"Did you get the spurs me and my friends sent you afterward?" +asked Andy eagerly. "We heard about the Arizona boys giving you +the saddle--and we raked high and low for them spurs. And, by +gracious, they were beauts, too--did yuh get 'em?" + +"I wear them every day I ride," answered Miguel, a peculiar, +caressing note in his voice. + +"I didn't know--we heard you had disappeared off the earth. +Why--" + +Miguel laughed outright. "To fight a bull with bare hands is one +thing, amigo," he said. "To take a chance on getting a knife +stuck in your back is another. Those Mexicans--they don't love +the man who crosses the river and makes of their bull-fights a +plaything." + +"That's right; only I thought, you being a--" + +"Not a Mexican." Miguel's voice sharpened a trifle. "My father +was Spanish, yes. My mother"--his eyes flashed briefly at the +faces of the gaping Happy Family--"my mother was born in +Ireland." + +"And that sure makes a hard combination to beat," cried Andy +heartily. He looked at the others--at all, that is, save Pink and +Irish, who had disappeared. "Well, boys, I never thought I'd come +home and find--" + +"Miguel Rapponi," supplied the Native Son quickly. "As well +forget that other name. And," he added with the shrug which the +Happy Family had come to hate, "as well forget the story, also. I +am not hungry for the feel of a knife in my back." He smiled +again engagingly at Andy Green. It was astonishing how readily +that smile had sprung to life with the warmth of a little +friendship, and how pleasant it was, withal. + +"Just as you say," Andy agreed, not trying to hide his +admiration. "I guess nobody's got a better right to holler for +silence. But--say, you sure delivered the goods, old boy! You +musta read about it, you fellows; about the American puncher that +went over the line and rode one of their crack bulls all round +the ring, and then--" He stopped and looked apologetically at +Miguel, in whose dark eyes there flashed a warning light. "I +clean forgot," he confessed impulsively. "This meeting you here +unexpectedly, like this, has kinda got me rattled, I guess. +But--I never saw yuh before in my life," he declared +emphatically. "I don't know a darn thing about--anything that +ever happened in an alley in the city of--oh, come on, old-timer; +let's talk about the weather, or something safe!" + +After that the boys of the Flying U behaved very much as do +children who have quarreled foolishly and are trying shamefacedly +to re-establish friendly relations without the preliminary +indignity of open repentance. They avoided meeting the +velvet-eyed glances of Miguel, and at the same time they were +plainly anxious to include him in their talk as if that had been +their habit from the first. A difficult situation to meet, even +with the fine aplomb of the Happy Family to ease the awkwardness. + +Later Miguel went unobtrusively down to the creek after his +chaps; he did not get them, just then, but he stood for a long +time hidden behind the willow-fringe, watching Pink and Irish +feverishly combing out certain corkscrew ringlets, and dampening +their combs in the creek to facilitate the process of +straightening certain patches of rebellious frizzes. Miguel did +not laugh aloud, as Big Medicine had done. He stood until he +wearied of the sight, then lifted his shoulders in the gesture +which may mean anything, smiled and went his way. + +Not until dusk did Andy get a private word with him. When he did +find him alone, he pumped Miguel's hand up and down and afterward +clutched at the manger for support, and came near strangling. +Miguel leaned beside him and smiled to himself. + +"Good team work, old boy," Andy gasped at length, in a whisper. +"Best I ever saw in m'life, impromptu on the spot, like that. I +saw you had the makings in you, soon as I caught your eye. And +the whole, blame bunch fell for it--woo-oof!" He laid his face +down again upon his folded arms and shook in all the long length +of him. + +"They had it coming," said Miguel softly, with a peculiar relish. +"Two whole weeks, and never a friendly word from one of them--oh, +hell!" + +"I know--I heard it all, soon as I hit the ranch," Andy replied +weakly, standing up and wiping his eyes. "I just thought I'd +learn 'em a lesson--and the way you played up--say, my hat's off +to you, all right!" + +"One learns to seize opportunities without stuttering," Miguel +observed calmly--and a queer look came into his eyes as they +rested upon the face of Andy. "And, if the chance comes, I'll do +as much for you. By the way, did you see the saddle those Arizona +boys sent me? It's over here. It's a pip-pin--almost as fine as +the spurs, which I keep in the bunk-house when they're not on my +heels. And, if I didn't say so before, I'm sure glad to meet the +man that helped me through that alley. That big, fat devil would +have landed me, sure, if you hadn't--" + +"Ah--what?" Andy leaned and peered into the face of Miguel, his +jaw hanging slack. "You don't mean to tell me--it's true?" + +"True? Why, I thought you were the fellow--" Miguel faced him +steadily. His eyes were frankly puzzled. + +"I'll tell you the truth, so help me," Andy said heavily. "I +don't know a darned thing about it, only what I read in the +papers. I spent the whole winter in Colorado and Wyoming. I was +just joshing the boys." + +"Oh," said Miguel. + +They stood there in the dusk and silence for a space, after which +Andy went forth into the night to meditate upon this thing. +Miguel stood and looked after him. + +"He's the real goods when it comes to lying--but there are +others," he said aloud, and smiled a peculiar smile. But for all +that he felt that he was going to like Andy very much indeed. +And, since the Happy Family had shown a disposition to make him +one of themselves, he knew that he was going to become quite as +foolishly attached to the Flying U as was even Slim, confessedly +the most rabid of partisans. + +In this wise did Miguel Rapponi, then, become a member of Jim +Whitmore's Happy Family, and play his part in the events which +followed his adoption. + + + +CHAPTER III. Bad News + +Andy Green, that honest-eyed young man whom everyone loved, but +whom not a man believed save when he was indulging his love for +more or less fantastic flights of the imagination, pulled up on +the brow of Flying U coulee and stared somberly at the picture +spread below him. On the porch of the White House the hammock +swung gently under the weight of the Little Doctor, who pushed +her shipper-toe mechanically against a post support at regular +intervals while she read. + +On the steps the Kid was crawling laboriously upward, only to +descend again quite as laboriously when he attained the top. One +of the boys was just emerging from the blacksmith shop; from the +build of him Andy knew it must be either Weary or Irish, though +it would take a much closer observation, and some familiarity +with the two to identify the man more exactly. In the corral were +a swirl of horses and an overhanging cloud of dust, with two or +three figures discernible in the midst, and away in the little +pasture two other figures were galloping after a fleeing dozen of +horses. While he looked, old Patsy came out of the messhouse, and +went, with flapping flour-sack apron, to the woodpile. + +Peaceful it was, and home-like and contentedly prosperous; a +little world tucked away in its hills, with its own little +triumphs and defeats, its own heartaches and rejoicings; a lucky +little world, because its triumphs had been satisfying, its +defeats small, its heartaches brief, and its rejoicings untainted +with harassment or guilt. Yet Andy stared down upon it with a +frown; and, when he twitched the reins and began the descent, he +sighed impatiently. + +Past the stable he rode with scarcely a glance toward Weary, who +shouted a casual "Hello" at him from the corral; through the big +gate and up the trail to the White House, and straight to the +porch, where the Little Doctor flipped a leaf of her magazine and +glanced at him with a smile, and the Kid turned his plump body +upon the middle step and wrinkled his nose in a smile of +recognition, while he threw out an arm in welcome, and made a +wobbling effort to get upon his feet. + +Andy smiled at the Kid, but his smile did not reach his eyes, and +faded almost immediately. He glanced at the Little Doctor, sent +his horse past the steps and the Kid, and close to the railing, +so that he could lean and toss the mail into the Little Doctor's +lap. There was a yellow envelope among the letters, and her +fingers singled it out curiously. Andy folded his hands upon the +saddle-horn and watched her frankly. + +"Must be from J. G.," guessed the Little Doctor, inserting a slim +finger under the badly sealed flap. "I've been wondering if he +wasn't going to send some word--he's been gone a week--Baby! He's +right between your horse's legs, Andy! Oh-h--baby boy, what won't +you do next?" She scattered letters and papers from her lap and +flew to the rescue. "Will he kick, Andy? You little ruffian." She +held out her arms coaxingly from the top of the steps, and her +face, Andy saw when he looked at her, had lost some of its color. + +"The horse is quiet enough," he reassured her. "But at the same +time I wouldn't hand him out as a plaything for a kid." He leaned +cautiously and peered backward. + +"Oh--did you ever see such a child! Come to mother, Baby!" Her +voice was becoming strained. + +The Kid, wrinkling his nose, and jabbering unintelligibly at her, +so that four tiny teeth showed in his pink mouth, moved farther +backward, and sat down violently under the horse's sweat- +roughened belly. He wriggled round so that he faced forward, +reached out gleefully, caught the front fetlocks, and cried +"Dup!" while he pulled. The Little Doctor turned white. + +"He's all right," soothed Andy, and, leaning with a twist of his +slim body, caught the Kid firmly by the back of his pink dress, +and lifted him clear of danger. He came up with a red face, +tossed the Kid into the eager arms of the Little Doctor, and +soothed his horse with soft words and a series of little slaps +upon the neck. He was breathing unevenly, because the Kid had +really been in rather a ticklish position; but the Little Doctor +had her face hidden on the baby's neck and did not see. + +"Where's Chip?" Andy turned to ride back to the stable, glancing +toward the telegram lying on the floor of the porch; and from it +his eyes went to the young woman trying to laugh away her +trembling while she scolded adoringly her adventurous man-child. +He was about to speak again, but thought better of it, and +sighed. + +"Down at the stables somewhere--I don't know, really; the boys +can tell you. Mother's baby mustn't touch the naughty horses. +Naughty horses hurt mother's baby! Make him cry!" + +Andy gave her a long look, which had in it much pity, and rode +away. He knew what was in that telegram, for the agent had told +him when he hunted him up at Rusty Brown's and gave it to him; +and the horse of Andy bore mute testimony to the speed with which +he had brought it to the ranch. Not until he had reached the +coulee had he slackened his pace. He decided, after that glance, +that he would not remind her that she had not read the telegram; +instead, he thought he ought to find Chip immediately and send +him to her. + +Chip was rummaging after something in the store-house, and, when +Andy saw him there, he dismounted and stood blotting out the +light from the doorway. Chip looked up, said "Hello" carelessly, +and flung an old slicker aside that he might search beneath it. +"Back early, aren't you?" he asked, for sake of saying something. + +Andy's attitude was not as casual as he would have had it. + +"Say, maybe you better go on up to the house," he began +diffidently. "I guess your wife wants to see yuh, maybe." + +"Just as a good wife should," grinned Chip. "What's the matter? +Kid fall off the porch?" + +"N-o-o--I brought out a wire from Chicago. It's from a doctor +there--some hospital. The--Old Man got hurt. One of them cussed +automobiles knocked him down. They want you to come." + +Chip had straightened up and was hooking at Andy blankly. "If +you're just--" + +"Honest," Andy asserted, and flushed a little. "I'll go tell some +one to catch up the team--you'll want to make that 11:20, I take +it." He added, as Chip went by him hastily, "I had the agent wire +for sleeper berths on the 11:20 so--" + +"Thanks. Yes, you have the team caught up, Andy." Chip was +already well on his way to the house. + +Andy waited till he saw the Little Doctor come hurriedly to the +end of the porch overlooking the pathway, with the telegram +fluttering in her fingers, and then led his horse down through +the gate and to the stable. He yanked the saddle off, turned the +tired animal into a stall, and went on to the corral, where he +leaned elbows on a warped rail and peered through at the turmoil +within. Close beside him stood Weary, with his loop dragging +behind him, waiting for a chance to throw it over the head of a +buckskin three-year-old with black mane and tail. + +"Get in here and make a hand, why don't you?" Weary bantered, his +eye on the buckskin. "Good chance to make a 'rep' for yourself, +Andy. Gawd greased that buckskin--he sure can slide out from +under a rope as easy--" + +He broke off to flip the hoop dexterously forward, had the reward +of seeing the buckskin dodge backward, so that the rope barely +flicked him on the nose, and drew in his rope disgustedly. "Come +on, Andy--my hands are up in the air; I can't land him-- that's +the fourth throw." + +Andy's interest in the buckskin, however, was scant. His face was +sober, his whole attitude one of extreme dejection. + +"You got the tummy-ache?" Pink inquired facetiously, moving +around so that he got a fair look at his face. + +"Naw--his girl's went back on him!" Happy Jack put in, coiling +his rope as he came up. + +"Oh, shut up!" Andy's voice was sharp with trouble. "Boys, the +Old Man's--well, he's most likely dead by this time. I brought +out a telegram--" + +"Go on!" Pink's eyes widened incredulously. "Don't you try that +kind of a load, Andy Green, or I'll just about--" + +"Oh, you fellows make me sick!" Andy took his elbows off the rail +and stood straight. "Dammit, the telegram's up at the house--go +and read it yourselves, then!" + +The three stared after him doubtfully, fear struggling with the +caution born of much experience. + +"He don't act, to me, like he was putting up a josh," Weary +stated uneasily, after a minute of silence. "Run up to the house +and find out, Cadwalloper. The Old Man--oh, good Lord!" The tan +on Weary's face took a lighter tinge. "Scoot--it won't take but a +minute to find out for sure. Go on, Pink." + +"So help me Josephine, I'll kill that same Andy Green if he's +lied about it," Pink declared, while he climbed the fence. + +In three minutes he was back, and before he had said a word, his +face confirmed the bad news. Their eyes besought him for details, +and he gave them jerkily. "Automobile run over him. He ain't +dead, but they think--Chip and the Little Doctor are going to +catch the night train. You go haze in the team, Happy. And give +'em a feed of oats, Chip said." + +Irish and Big Medicine, seeing the, three standing soberly +together there, and sensing something unusual, came up and heard +the news in stunned silence. Andy, forgetting his pique at their +first disbelief, came forlornly back and stood with them. + +The Old Man--the thing could not be true! To every man of them +his presence, conjured by the impending tragedy, was almost a +palpable thing. His stocky figure seemed almost to stand in their +midst; he looked at them with his whimsical eyes, which had the +radiating crows-feet of age, humor and habitual squinting against +sun and wind; the bald spot on his head, the wrinkling +shirt-collar that seldom knew a tie, the carpet slippers which +were his favorite footgear because they were kind to his bunions, +his husky voice, good-naturedly complaining, were poignantly real +to them at that moment. Then Irish mentally pictured him lying +maimed, dying, perhaps, in a far-off hospital among strangers, +and swore. + +"If he's got to die, it oughta be here, where folks know him +and--where he knows--" Irish was not accustomed to giving voice +to his deeper feelings, and he blundered awkwardly over it. + +"I never did go much on them darned hospitals, anyway," Weary +observed gloomily. "He oughta be home, where folks can look after +him. Mam-ma! It sure is a fright." + +"I betche Chip and the Little Doctor won't get there in time," +Happy Jack predicted, with his usual pessimism. "The Old Man's +gittin' old--" + +"He ain't but fifty-two; yuh call that old, consarn yuh? He's +younger right now than you'll be when you're forty." + +"Countess is going along, too, so she can ride herd on the Kid," +Pink informed then. "I heard the Little Doctor tell her to pack +up, and 'never mind if she did have sponge all set!' Countess +seemed to think her bread was a darned sight more important than +the Old Man. That's the way with women. They'll pass up--" + +"Well, by golly, I like to see a woman take some interest in her +own affairs," Slim defended. "What they packin' up for, and where +they goin'?" Slim had just ridden up to the group in time to +overhear Pink's criticism. + +They told him the news, and Slim swallowed twice, said "By +golly!" quite huskily, and then rode slowly away with his head +bowed. He had worked for the Flying U when it was strictly a +bachelor outfit, and with the tenacity of slow minds he held J. +G. Whitmore, his beloved "Old Man," as but a degree lower than +that mysterious power which made the sun to shine--and, if the +truth were known, he had accepted him as being quite as eternal. +His loyalty adjusted everything to the interests of the Flying U. +That the Old Man could die--the possibility stunned him. + +They were a sorry company that gathered that night around the +long table with its mottled oil-cloth covering and benches +polished to a glass-like smoothness with their own vigorous +bodies. They did not talk much about the Old Man; indeed, they +came no nearer the subject than to ask Weary if he were going to +drive the team in to Dry Lake. They did not talk much about +anything, for that matter; even the knives and forks seemed to +share the general depression of spirits, and failed to give forth +the cheerful clatter which was a daily accompaniment of meals in +that room. + +Old Patsy, he who had cooked for J. G. Whitmore when the Flying U +coulee was a wilderness and the brand yet unrecorded and the +irons unmade--Patsy lumbered heavily about the room and could not +find his dish-cloth when it was squeezed tight in one great, fat +hand, and unthinkingly started to fill their coffee cups from the +tea-kettle. + +"Py cosh, I vould keel der fool vot made her first von of der +automo-beels, yet!" he exclaimed unexpectedly, after a long +silence, and cast his pipe vindictively toward his bunk in one +corner. + +The Happy Family looked around at him, then understandingly at +one another. + +"Same here, Patsy," Jack Bates agreed. "What they want of the +damned things when the country's full uh good horses gits me." + +"So some Yahoo with just sense enough to put goggles on to cover +up his fool face can run over folks he ain't good enough to speak +to, by cripes!" Big Medicine glared aggressively up and down the +table. + +Weary got up suddenly and went out, and Slim followed him, though +his supper was half-uneaten. + +"This goin' to be hard on the Little Doctor--only brother she's +got," they heard Happy Jack point out unnecessarily; and Weary, +the equable, was guilty of slamming the door so that the whole +building shook, by way of demonstrating his dislike of speech +upon the subject. + +They were a sorry company who waved hands at the Little Doctor +and the Kid and the Countess, just when the afterglow of a red +sunset was merging into the vague, purple shadows of coming dusk. +They stood silent, for the most part, and let them go without the +usual facetious advice to "Be good to yourselves," and the +hackneyed admonition to Chip to keep out of jail if he could. +There must have been something very wistful in their faces, for +the Little Doctor smiled bravely down upon then from the buggy +seat, and lifted up the Kid for a four-toothed smile and an +ecstatic "Bye!" accompanied by a vigorous flopping of hands, +which included then all. + +"We'll telegraph first thing, boys," the Little Doctor called +back, as the rig chucked into the pebbly creek crossing. "We'll +keep you posted, and I'll write all the particulars as soon as I +can. Don't think the worst--unless you have to. I don't." She +smiled again, and waved her hand hastily because of the Kid's +contortions; and, though the smile had tears close behind it, +though her voice was tremulous in spite of herself, the Happy +Family took heart from her courage and waved their hats gravely, +and smiled back as best they could. + +"There's a lot uh cake you boys might just as well eat up," the +Countess called belatedly. "It'll all dry out, if yuh don't--and +there ain't no use wastin' it--and there's two lemon pies in the +brown cupboard, and what under the shinin' sun--" The wheels +bumped violently against a rock, and the Happy Family heard no +more. + + + +CHAPTER IV. Some Hopes + +On the third day after the Happy Family decided that there should +be some word from Chicago; and, since that day was Sunday, they +rode in a body to Dry Lake after it. They had not discussed the +impending tragedy very much, but they were an exceedingly Unhappy +Family, nevertheless; and, since Flying U coulee was but a place +of gloom, they were not averse to leaving it behind them for a +few hours, and riding where every stick and stone did not remind +then of the Old Man. + +In Dry Lake was a message, brief but heartening: + +"J. G. still alive. Some hopes". + +They left the station with lighter spirits after reading that; +rode to the hotel, tied their horses to the long hitching pole +there and went in. And right there the Happy Family unwittingly +became cast for the leading parts in one of those dramas of the +West which never is heard of outside the theater in which grim +circumstance stages it for a single playing--unless, indeed, the +curtain rings down on a tragedy that brings the actors before +their district judge for trial. And, as so frequently is the +case, the beginning was casual to the point of triviality. + +Sary, Ellen, Marg'reet, Sybilly and Jos'phine Denson (spelled in +accordance with parental pronunciation) were swinging idly upon +the hitching pole, with the self-conscious sang froid of country +children come to town. They backed away from the Happy Family's +approach, grinned foolishly in response to their careless +greeting, and tittered openly at the resplendence of the Native +Son, who was wearing his black Angora chaps with the three white +diamonds down each leg, the gay horsehair hatband, crimson +neckerchief and Mexican spurs with their immense rowels and +ornate conchos of hand-beaten silver. Sary, Ellen, Marg'reet, +Jos'phine and Sybilly were also resplendent, in their way. Their +carroty hair was tied with ribbons quite aggressively new, their +freckles shone with maternal scrubbing, and there was a hint of +home-made "crochet-lace" beneath each stiffly starched dress. + +"Hello, kids," Weary greeted them amiably, with a secret smile +over the memory of a time when they had purloined the Little +Doctor's pills and had made reluctant acquaintance with a stomach +pump. "Where's the circus going to be at?" + +"There ain't goin' to be no circus," Sybilly retorted, because +she was the forward one of the family. "We're going away; on the +train. The next one that comes along. We're going to be on it all +night, too; and we'll have to eat on it, too." + +"Well, by golly, you'll want something to eat, then!" Slim was +feeling abstractedly in his pocket for a coin, for these were the +nieces of the Countess, and therefore claimed more than a cursory +interest from Slim. "You take this up to the store and see if yuh +can't swop it for something good to eat." Because Sary was the +smallest of the lot he pressed the dollar into her shrinking, +amazed palm. + +"Paw's got more money'n that," Sybilly announced proudly. "Paw's +got a million dollars. A man bought our ranch and gave him a lot +of money. We're rich now. Maybe paw'll buy us a phony-graft. He +said maybe he would. And maw's goin' to have a blue silk dress +with green onto it. And--" + +"Better haze along and buy that grub stake," Slim interrupted the +family gift for profuse speech. He had caught the boys grinning, +and fancied that they were tracing a likeness between the +garrulity of Sybilly and the fluency of her aunt, the Countess. +"You don't want that train to go off and leave yuh, by golly." + +"Wonder who bought Denson out?" Cal Emmett asked of no one in +particular, as the children went strutting off to the store to +spend the dollar which little Sary clutched so tightly it seemed +as if the goddess of liberty must surely have been imprinted upon +her palm. + +When they went inside and found Denson himself pompously "setting +'em up to the house," Cal repeated the question in a slightly +different form to the man himself. + +Denson, while he was ready to impress the beholders with his +unaccustomed affluence, became noticeably embarrassed at the +inquiry, and edged off into vague generalities. + +"I jest nacherlly had to sell when I got m' price," he told the +Happy Family in a tone that savored strongly of apology. "I like +the country, and I like m' neighbors fine. Never'd ask for better +than the Flyin' U has been t' me. I ain't got no kick comin' +there. Sorry to hear the Old Man's hurt back East. Mary was real +put out at not bein' able to see Louise 'fore she went away"-- +Louise being the Countess' and Mary Denson's sister--"but soon as +I sold I got oneasy like. The feller wanted p'session right away, +too, so I told Mary we might as well start b'fore we git outa the +notion. I wouldn't uh cared about sellin', maybe, but the kids +needs to be in school. They're growin' up in ign'rance out here, +and Mary's folks wants us to come back 'n' settle close handy +by--they been at us t' sell out and move fer the last five years, +now, and I told Mary--" + +Even Cal forgot, eventually, that he had asked a question which +remained unanswered; what interest he had felt at first was +smothered to death beneath that blanket of words, and he eagerly +followed the boys out and over to Rusty Brown's place, where +Denson, because of an old grudge against Rusty, might be trusted +not to follow. + +"Mamma!" Weary commented amusedly, when they were crossing the +street, "that Denson bunch can sure talk the fastest and longest, +and say the least, of any outfit I ever saw." + +"Wonder who did buy him out?" Jack Bates queried. "Old +ginger-whiskers didn't pass out any facts, yuh notice. He +couldn't have,got much; his land's mostly gravel and 'doby +patches. He's got a water right on Flying U creek, you +know--first right, at that, seems to me--and a dandy fine spring +in that coulee. Wonder why our outfit didn't buy him out--seeing +he wanted to sell so bad?" + +"This wantin' to sell is something I never heard of b'fore," Slim +said slowly. "To hear him tell it, that ranch uh hisn was worth a +dollar an inch, by golly. I don't b'lieve he's been wantin' to +sell out. If he had, Mis' Bixby woulda said something about it. +She don't know about this here sellin' business, or she'd a +said--" + +"Yeah, you can most generally bank on the Countess telling all +she knows," Cal assented with some sarcasm; at which Slim grunted +and turned sulky afterward. + +Denson and his affairs they speedily forgot for a time, in the +diversion which Rusty Brown's familiar place afforded to young +men with unjaded nerves and a zest for the primitive pleasures. +Not until mid-afternoon did it occur to them that Flying U coulee +was deserted by all save old Patsy, and that there were chores to +be done, if all the creatures of the coulee would sleep in +comfort that night. Pink, therefore, withdrew his challenge to +the bunch, and laid his billiard cue down with a sigh and the +remark that all he lacked was time, to have the scalps of every +last one of them hanging from his belt. Pink was figurative in +his speech, you will understand; and also a bit vainglorious over +beating Andy Green and Big Medicine twice in succession. + +It occurred to Weary then that a word of cheer to the Old Man and +his anxious watchers might not cone amiss. Therefore the Happy +Family mounted and rode to the depot to send it, and on the way +wrangled over the wording of the message after their usual +contentious manner. + +"Better tell 'em everything is fine, at this end uh the line," +Cal suggested, and was hooted at for a poet. + +"Just say," Weary began, when he was interrupted by the +discordant clamor from a trainload of sheep that had just pulled +in and stopped. "'Maa-aa, Ma-a-aaa,' darn yuh," he shouted +derisively, at the peering, plaintive faces, glimpsed between the +close-set bars. "Mamma, how I do love sheep!" Whereupon he put +spurs to his horse and galloped down to the station to rid his +ears of the turbulent wave of protest from the cars. + +Naturally it required some time to compose the telegram in a +style satisfactory to all parties. Outside, cars banged together, +an engine snorted stertorously, and suffocating puffs of coal +smoke now and then invaded the waiting-room while the Happy +Family were sending that message of cheer to Chicago. If you are +curious, the final version of their combined sentiments was not +at all spectacular. It said merely: + +"Everything fine here. Take good care of the Old Man. How's the +Kid stacking up?" + +It was signed simply "The Bunch." + +"Mary's little lambs are here yet, I see," the Native Son +remarked carelessly when they went out. "Enough lambs for all the +Marys in the country. How would you like to be Mary?" + +"Not for me," Irish declared, and turned his face away from the +stench of them. + +Others there were who rode the length of the train with faces +averted and looks of disdain; cowmen, all of them, they shared +the range prejudice, and took no pains to hide it. + +The wind blew strong from the east, that day; it whistled through +the open, double-decked cars packed with gray, woolly bodies, +whose voices were ever raised in strident complaint; and the +stench of them smote the unaccustomed nostrils of the Happy +Family and put them to disgusted flight up the track and across +it to where the air was clean again. + +"Honest to grandma, I'd make the poorest kind of a sheepherder," +Big Medicine bawled earnestly, when they were well away from the +noise and smell of the detested animals. "If I had to herd sheep, +by cripes, do you know what I'd do? I'd haze 'em into a coulee +and turn loose with a good rifle and plenty uh shells, and call +in the coyotes to git a square meal. That's the way I'd herd +sheep. It's the only way you can shut 'em up. They just 'baa-aa, +baa-aa, baa-aa' from the time they're dropped till somebody kills +'em off. Honest, they blat in their sleep. I've heard 'em." + +"When you and the dogs were shooting off coyotes?" asked Andy +Green pointedly, and so precipitated dissension which lasted for +ten miles. + + + +CHAPTER V. Sheep + +Slim rising first from dinner on the next day but one opened the +door of the mess-house, and stood there idly picking his teeth +before he went about his work. After a minute of listening to the +boys "joshing" old Patsy about some gooseberry pies he had baked +without sugar, he turned his face outward, threw up his head like +a startled bull, and began to sniff. + +"Say, I smell sheep, by golly!" he announced in the bellowing +tone which was his conversational voice, and sniffed again. + +"Oh, that's just a left-over in your system from the dose yuh got +in town Sunday," Weary explained soothingly. "I've smelled sheep, +and tasted sheep, and dreamed sheep, ever since." + +"No, by golly, it's sheep! It ain't no memory. I--I b'hieve I +hear 'em, too, by golly." Slim stepped out away from the building +and faced suspiciously down the coulee. + +"Slim, I never suspected you of imagination before," the Native +Son drawled, and loitered out to where Slim stood still sniffing. +"I wonder if you're catching it from Andy and me. Don't you think +you ought to be vaccinated?" + +"That ain't imagination," Pink called out from within. "When +anybody claims there's sheep in Flying U coulee, that's straight +loco." + +"Come on out here and smell 'em yourself, then!" Slim bawled +indignantly. "I never seen such an outfit as this is gittin' to +be; you fellers don't believe nobody, no more. We ain't all Andy +Greens." + +Upon hearing this Andy pushed back his chair and strolled +outside. He clapped his hand down upon Slim's fat-cushioned +shoulder and swayed him gently. "Never mind, Slim; you can't all +be famous," he comforted. "Some day, maybe, I'll teach yuh the +fine art of lying more convincingly than the ordinary man can +tell the truth. It is a fine art; it takes a genius to put it +across. Now, the only time anybody doubts my word is when I'm +sticking to the truth hike a sand burr to a dog's tail." + +From away to the west, borne on the wind which swept steadily +down the coulee, came that faint, humming sing-song, which can be +made only by a herd of a thousand or more sheep, all blatting in +different keys--or by a distant band playing monotonously upon +the middle octave of their varied instruments. + +"Slim's right, by gracious! It's sheep, sure as yuh live." Andy +did not wait for more, but started at a fast walk for the stable +and his horse. After him went the Native Son, who had not been +with the Flying U long enough to sense the magnitude of the +affront, and Slim, who knew to a nicety just what "cowmen" +considered the unpardonable sin, and the rest of the Happy +Family, who were rather incredulous still. + +"Must be some fool herder just crossing the coulee, on the move +somewhere," Weary gave as a solution. "Half of 'em don't know a +fence when they see it." + +As they galloped toward the sound and the smell, they expressed +freely their opinion of sheep, the men who owned them, and the +lunatics who watched over the blatting things. They were +cattlemen to the marrow in their bones, and they gloried in their +prejudice against the woolly despoilers of the range. + +All these years had the Flying U been immune from the nuisance, +save for an occasional trespasser, who was quickly sent about his +business. The Flying U range had been kept in the main inviolate +from the little, gray vandals, which ate the grass clean to the +sod, and trampled with their sharp-pointed hoofs the very roots +into lifelessness; which polluted the water-holes and creeks +until cattle and horses went thirsty rather than drink; which, in +that land of scant rainfall, devastated the range where they fed +so that a long-established prairie-dog town was not more barren. +What wonder if the men who owned cattle, and those who tended +them, hated sheep? So does the farmer dread an invasion of +grasshoppers. + +A mile down the coulee they came upon the band with two herders +and four dogs keeping watch. Across the coulee and up the +hillsides they spread like a noisome gray blanket. "Maa-aa, maa- +aa, maa-aa," two thousand strong they blatted a strident medley +while they hurried here and there after sweeter bunches of grass, +very much like a disturbed ant-hill. + +The herders loitered upon either slope, their dogs lying close +beside them. There was good grass in that part of the coulee; the +Flying U had saved it for the saddle horses that were to be +gathered and held temporarily at the ranch; for it would save +herding, and a week in that pasture would put a keen edge on +their spirits for the hard work of the calf roundup. A dozen or +two that ranged close had already been driven into the field and +were feeding disdainfully in a corner as far away from the sheep +as the fence would permit. + +The Happy Family, riding close-grouped, stiffened in their +saddles and stared amazed at the outrage. + +"Sheepherders never did have any nerve," Irish observed after a +minute. "They keep their places fine! They'll drive their sheep +right into your dooryard and tell 'en to help themselves to +anything that happens to look good to them. Oh, they're sure +modest and retiring!" + +Weary, who had charge of the outfit during Chip's absence, was +making straight for the nearest herder. Pink and Andy went with +him, as a matter of course. + +"You fellows ride up around that side, and put the run on them +sheep," Weary shouted back to the others. "We'll start the other +side moving. Make 'em travel--back where they came from." He +jerked his head toward the north. He knew, just as they all knew, +that there had been no sheep to the south, unless one counted +those that ranged across the Missouri river. + +As the three forced their horses up the steep slope, the herder, +sitting slouched upon a rock, glanced up at them dully. He had a +long stick, with which he was apathetically turning over the +smaller stones within his reach, and as apathetically killing the +black bugs that scuttled out from the moist earth beneath. He +desisted from this unexciting pastime as they drew near, and eyed +them with the sullenness that comes of long isolation when the +person's nature forbids that other extreme of babbling garrulity, +for no man can live long months alone and remain perfectly +normal. Nature, that stern mistress, always exacts a penalty from +us foolish mortals who would ignore the instincts she has wisely +implanted within us for our good. + +"Maybe," Weary began mildly and without preface, "you don't know +this is private property. Get busy with your dogs, and haze these +sheep back on the bench." He waved his hand to the north. "And, +when you get a good start in that direction," he added, "yuh +better keep right on going." + +The herder surveyed him morosely, but he said nothing; neither +did he rise from the rock to obey the command. The dogs sat upon +their haunches and perked their ears inquiringly, as if they +understood better than did their master that these men were not +to be quite overlooked. + +"I meant to-day," Weary hinted, with the manner of one who +deliberately holds his voice quiet. + +"I never asked yuh what yuh meant," the herder mumbled, scowling. +"We got to keep 'em on water another hour, yet." He went back to +turning over the small rocks and to pursuing with his stick the +bugs, as if the whole subject were squeezed dry of interest. + +For a minute Weary stared unwinkingly down at him, uncertain +whether to resent this as pure insolence, or to condone it as +imbecility. "Mamma!" he breathed eloquently, and grinned at Andy +and Pink. "This is a real talkative cuss, and obliging, too. Come +on, boys; he's too busy to bother with a little thing like +sheep." + +He led the way around to the far side of the band, the nearest +sheep scuttling away from then as they passed. "I don't suppose +we could work the combination on those dogs--what?" he considered +aloud, glancing back at them where they still sat upon their +haunches and watched the strange riders. "Say, Cadwalloper, you +took a few lessons in sheepherding, a couple of years ago, when +you was stuck on that girl--remember? Whistle 'em up here and set +'en to work." + +"You go to the devil," Pink's curved hips replied amiably to his +boss. "I've got loss-uh-memory on the sheep business." + +Whereat Weary grinned and said no more about it. + +On the opposite side of the coulee, the boys seemed to be +laboring quite as fruitlessly with the other herder. They heard +Big Medicine's truculent bellow, as he leaned from the saddle and +waved a fist close to the face of the herder, but, though they +rode with their eyes fixed upon the group, they failed to see any +resultant movement of dogs, sheep or man. + +There is, at times, a certain safety in being the hopeless +minority. Though seven indignant cowpunchers surrounded him, that +herder was secure from any personal molestation--and he knew it. +They were seven against one; therefore, after making some caustic +remarks, which produced as little effect as had Weary's command +upon the first man, the seven were constrained to ride here and +there along the wavering, gray line, and, with shouts and +swinging ropes, themselves drive the sheep from the coulee. + +There was much clamor and dust and riding to and fro. There was +language which would have made the mothers of then weep, and +there were faces grown crimson from wrath. Eventually, however, +the Happy Family faced the north fence of the Flying U boundary, +and saw the last woolly back scrape under the lower wire, leaving +a toll of greasy wool hanging from the barbs. + +The herders had drawn together, and were looking on from a +distance, and the four dogs were yelping uneasily over their +enforced inaction. The Happy Family went back and rounded up the +herders, and by sheer weight of numbers forced them to the fence +without laying so much as a finger upon then. The one who had +been killing black bugs gave then an ugly look as he crawled +through, but even he did not say anything. + +"Snap them wires down where they belong," Weary commanded +tersely. + +The man hesitated a minute, then sullenly unhooked the barbs of +the two lower strands, so that the wires, which had thus been +lifted to permit the passing of the sheep, twanged apart and once +more stretched straight from post to post. + +"Now, just keep in mind the fact that fences are built for use. +This is a private ranch, and sheep are just about as welcome as +smallpox. Haze them stinking things as far north as they'll +travel before dark, and at daylight start 'em going again. +Where's your camp, anyhow?" + +"None of your business," mumbled the bugkiller sourly. + +Weary scanned the undulating slope beyond the fence, saw no sign +of a camp, and glanced uncertainly at his fellows. "Well, it +don't matter much where it is; you see to it you don't sleep +within five miles of here, or you're liable to have bad dreams. +Hit the trail, now!" + +They waited inside the fence until the retreating sheep lost +their individuality as blatting animals, ambling erratically here +and there, while they moved toward the brow of the hill, and +merged into a great, gray blotch against the faint green of the +new grass--a blotch from which rose again that vibrant, sing-song +humming of many voices mingled. Then they rode back down the +coulee to their own work, taking it for granted that the +trespassing was an incident which would not be repeated--by those +particular sheep, at any rate. + +It was, therefore, with something of a shock that the Happy +Family awoke the next morning to hear Pink's melodious treble +shouting in the bunk-house at sunrise next morning: + +"'G'wa-a-y round' 'em, Shep! Seven black ones in the coulee!" Men +who know well the West are familiar with that facetious call. + +"Ah, what's the matter with yuh?" Irish raised a rumpled, brown +head from his pillow, and blinked sleepily at him. "I've been +dreaming I was a sheepherder, all night." + +"Well, you've got the swellest chance in the world to 'make every +dream cone true, dearie,'" Pink retorted. "The whole blamed +coulee's full uh sheep. I woke up a while ago and thought I just +imagined I heard 'en again; so I went out to take a look--or a +smell, it was--and they're sure enough there!" + +Weary swung one long leg out from under his blankets and reached +for his clothes. He did not say anything, but his face portended +trouble for the invaders. + +"Say!" cried Big Medicine, coming out of his bunk as if it were +afire, "I tell yuh right now then blattin' human apes wouldn't +git gay around here if I was runnin' this outfit. The way I'd +have of puttin' them sheep on the run wouldn't be slow, by +cripes! I'll guarantee--" + +By then the bunk-house was buzzing with voices, and there was +none to give heed to Big Medicine s blatant boasting. Others +there were who seemed rather inclined to give Weary good advice +while they pulled on their boots and sought for their gloves and +rolled early-morning cigarettes, and otherwise prepared +themselves for what Fate might have waiting for then outside the +door. + +"Are you sure they're in the coulee, Cadwalloper?" Weary asked, +during a brief lull. "They could be up on the hill--" + +"Hell, yes!" was Pink's forceful answer. "They could be on the +hill, but they ain't. Why, darn it, they're straggling into the +little pasture! I could see 'em from the stable. They--" + +"Come and eat your breakfast first, boys, anyway." Weary had his +hand upon the door-knob. "A few minutes more won't make any +difference, one way or the other." He went out and over to the +mess-house to see if Patsy had the coffee ready; for this was a +good three-quarters of an hour earlier than the Flying U outfit +usually bestirred themselves on these days of preparation for +roundup and waiting for good grass. + +"I'll be darned if I'd be as calm as he is," Cal Emmett muttered +while the door was being closed. "Good thing the Old Man ain't +here, now. He'd go straight up in the air. He wouldn't wait for +no breakfast." + +"I betche there'll be a killin' yet, before we're through with +them sheep," gloomed Happy Jack. "When sheepherders starts in +once to be ornery, there ain't no way uh stoppin' 'em except by +killin' 'em off. And that'll mean the pen for a lot of us +fellers--" + +"Well, by golly, it won't be me," Slim declared loudly. "Yuh +wouldn't ketch me goin' t' jail for no doggone sheepherder. They +oughta be a bounty on 'en by rights." + +"Seems queer they'd be right back here this morning, after being +hazed out yesterday afternoon," said Andy Green thoughtfully. +"Looks like they're plumb anxious to build a lot of trouble for +themselves." + +Patsy, thumping energetically the bottom of a tin pan, sent them +trooping to the mess-house. There it was evident that the +breakfast had been unduly hurried; there were no biscuits in +sight, for one thing, though Patsy was lumbering about the stove +frying hot-cakes. They were in too great a hurry to wait for +them, however. They swallowed their coffee hurriedly, bolted a +few mouthfuls of meat and fried eggs, and let it go at that. + +Weary looked at then with a faint smile. "I'm going to give a few +of you fellows a chance to herd sheep to-day," he announced, +cooling his coffee so that it would not actually scald his +palate. "That's why I wanted you to get some grub into you. Some +of you fellows will have to take the trail up on the hill, and +meet us outside the fence, so when we chase 'em through you can +make a good job of it this time. I wonder--" + +"You don't need to call out the troops for that job; one man is +enough to put the fear uh the Lord into then herders," Andy +remarked slightingly. "Once they're on the move--" + +"All right, my boy; we'll let you be the man," Weary told him +promptly. "I was going to have a bunch of you take a packadero +outfit down toward Boiler Bottom and comb the breaks along there +for horses--and I sure do hate to spend the whole day chasing +sheepherders around over the country. So we'll haze 'em through +the fence again, and, seeing you feel that way about it, I'll let +you go around and keep 'em going. And, if you locate their camp, +kinda impress it on the tender, if you can round him up, that the +Flying U ain't pasturing sheep this spring. No matter what kinda +talk he puts up, you put the run on 'em till you see 'em across +One-Man coulee. Better have Patsy put you up a lunch--unless +you're fond of mutton." + +Andy twisted his mouth disgustedly. "Say, I'm going to quit +handing out any valuable advice to you, Weary," he expostulated. + +"Haw-haw-haw-w-w!" laughed Big Medicine, and slapped Andy on the +shoulder so that his face almost came in contact with his plate. +"Yuh will try to work some innercent man into sheepherdin', will +yuh? Haw-haw-haw-w! You'll come in tonight blattin'--if yuh don't +stay out on the range tryin' t' eat grass, by cripes! Andy had a +little lamb that follered him around--" + +"Better let Bud take that herdin' job, Weary," Andy suggested. +"It won't hurt him--he's blattin' already." + +"If you think you're liable to need somebody along," Weary began, +soft-heartedly relenting, "why, I guess--" + +"If I can't handle two crazy sheepherders without any help, by +gracious, I'll get me a job holdin' yarn in an old ladies' hone," +Andy cut in hastily, and got up from the table. "Being a truthful +man, I can't say I'm stuck on the job; but I'm game for it. And +I'll promise you there won't be no more sheep of that brand +lickin' our doorsteps. What darned outfit is it, anyway? I never +bumped into any Dot sheep before, to my knowledge." + +"It's a new one on me," Weary testified, heading the procession +down to the stable. "If they belonged anywhere in this part of +the country, though, they wouldn't be acting the way they are. +They'd be wise to the fact that it ain't healthy." + +Even while he spoke his eyes were fixed with cold intensity upon +a fringe of gray across the coulee below the little pasture. To +the nostrils of the outraged Happy Family was borne that +indescribable aroma which betrays the presence of sheep; that +aroma which sheepmen love and which cattlemen hate, and which a +favorable wind will carry a long way. + +They slapped saddles on their horses in record time that morning, +and raced down the coulee ironically shouting commiserating +sentences to the unfortunate Andy, who rode slowly up to the +mess-house for the lunch which Patsy had waiting for him in a +flour sack, and afterward climbed the grade and loped along +outside the line fence to a point opposite the sheep and the +shouting horsemen, who forced them back by weight of numbers. + +This morning the herders were not quite so passive. The +bug-killer still scowled, but he spoke without the preliminary +sulky silence of the day before, + +"We're goin' across the coulee," he growled. "Them's orders. We +range south uh here." + +"No, you don't," Weary dissented calmly. "Not by a long shot, you +don't. You're going back where you come from--if you ask me. And +you're going quick!" + + + +CHAPTER VI. What Happened to Andy + +With the sun shining comfortably upon his back, and with a +cigarette between his lips, Andy sat upon his horse and watched +in silent glee while the irate Happy Family scurried here and +there behind the band, swinging their ropes down upon the woolly +backs, and searching their vocabularies for new and terrible +epithets. Andy smiled broadly as a colorful phrase now and then +boomed across the coulee in that clear, snappy atmosphere, which +carries sounds so far. He did not expect to do much smiling upon +his own account, that day, and he was therefore grateful for the +opportunity to behold the spectacle before him. + +There was Slim, for instance, unwillingly careening down hill +toward home, because, in his zeal to slap an old ewe smartly with +his rope, he drove her unexpectedly under his horse, and so +created a momentary panic that came near standing both horse and +rider upon their heads. And there was Big Medicine whistling +until he was purple, while the herder, with a single gesture, +held the dog motionless, though a dozen sheep broke back from the +band and climbed a slope so steep that Big Medicine was compelled +to go after them afoot, and turn them with stones and profane +objurgations. + +It was very funny--when one could sit at ease upon the hilltop +and smoke a cigarette while others risked apoplexy and their +souls' salvation below. By the time they panted up the last +rock-strewn slope of the bluff, and sent the vanguard of the +invaders under the fence, Andy's mood was complacent in the +extreme, and his smile offensively wide. + +"Oh, you needn't look so sorry for us," drawled the Native Son, +jingling over toward him until only the fence and a few feet of +space divided them. "Here's where you get yours, amigo. I wish +you a pleasant day--and a long one!" He waved his hand in mocking +adieu, touched his horse with his silver spurs, and rode gaily +away down the coulee. + +"Here, sheepherder's your outfit. Ma-aa-a-a!" jeered Big +Medicine. "You'll wisht, by cripes, you was a dozen men just like +yuh before you're through with the deal. Haw-haw-haw-w!" + +There were others who, seeing Andy's grin, had something to say +upon the subject before they left. + +Weary rode up, and looked undecidedly from Andy to the sheep, and +back again. + +"If you don't feel like tackling it single-handed, I'll send--" + +"What do yuh think I am, anyway ?" Andy interrupted crisply, "a +Montgomery Ward two-for-a-quarter cowpuncher? Don't you fellows +waste any time worrying over me!" + +The herders stared at Andy curiously when he swung in behind the +tail-end of the band and kept pace with their slow moving, but +they did not speak beyond shouting an occasional command to their +dogs. Neither did Andy have anything to say, until he saw that +they were swinging steadily to the west, instead of keeping +straight north, as they had been told to do. Then he rode over to +the nearest herder, who happened to be the bug-killer. + +"You don't want to get turned around," he hinted quietly. "That's +north, over there." + +"I'm workin' fer the man that pays my wages," the fellow retorted +glumly, and waved an arm to a collie that was waiting for orders. +The dog dropped his head, and ran around the right wing of the +band, with sharp yelps and dartings here and there, turning them +still more to the west. + +Andy hesitated, decided to leave the man alone for the present, +and rode around to the other herder. + +"You swing these sheep north!" he commanded, disdaining preface +or explanation. + +"I'm workin' for the man that pays my wages," the herder made +answer stolidly, and chewed steadily upon a quid of tobacco that +had stained his lips unbecomingly. + +So they had talked the thing over--had those two herders--and +were following a premeditated plan of defiance! Andy hooked at +the man a minute. "You turn them sheep, damn you," he commanded +again, and laid a hand upon his saddle-horn suggestively. + +"You go to the devil, damn yuh," advised the herder, and cocked a +wary eye at him from under his hat-brim. Not all herders, let it +be said in passing, take unto themselves the mental attributes of +their sheep; there are those who believe that a bold front is +better than weak compliance, and who will back that belief by a +very bold front indeed. + +Andy appraised him mentally, decided that he was an able-bodied +man and therefore fightable, and threw his right leg over the +cantle with a quite surprising alacrity. + +"Are you going to turn them sheep?" Andy was taking off his coat +when he made that inquiry. + +"Not for your tellin'. You keep back, young feller, or I'll sick +the dogs on yuh." He turned and whistled to the nearest one, and +Andy hit him on the ear. + +They clinched and pummeled when they could and where they could. +The dog came up, circled the gyrating forms twice, then sat down +upon his haunches at a safe distance, tilted his head sidewise +and lifted his ears interestedly. He was a wise little dog; the +other dog was also wise, and remained phlegmatically at his post, +as did the bug-killer. + +"Are you going to turn them sheep?" Andy spoke breathlessly, but +with deadly significance. + +"N-yes." + +Andy took his fingers from the other's Adam's apple, his knee +from the other's diaphragm, and went over to where he had thrown +down his coat, felt in a pocket for his handkerchief, and, when +he had found it, applied it to his nose, which was bleeding +profusely. + +"Fly at it, then," he advised, eyeing the other sternly over the +handkerchief. "I'd hate to ask you a third time." + +"I'd hate to have yuh," conceded the herder reluctantly. "I was +sure I c'd lick yuh, or I'd 'a' turned 'em before." He sent the +dog racing down the south line of the band. + +Andy got thoughtfully back upon his horse, and sat looking hard +at the herder. "Say, you're grade above the general run uh lamb- +hickers," he observed, after a minute. "Who are you working for, +and what's your object in throwing sheep on Flying U land? +There's plenty of range to the north." + +"I'm workin'," said the herder, "for the Dot outfit. I thought +you could read brands." + +"Don't get sassy--I've got a punch or two I haven't used yet. Who +owns these woollies?" + +"Well--Whittaker and Oleson, if yuh want to know." + +"I do." Andy was keeping pace with him around the band, which +edged off from then and the dogs. "And what makes you so crazy +about Flying U grass?" he pursued. + +"We've got to cross that coulee to git to where we're headed for; +we got a right to, and we're going to do it." The herder paused +and glanced up at Andy sourly. "We knowed you was a mean outfit; +the boss told us so. And he told us you was blank ca'tridges and +we needn't back up just 'cause you raised up on your hind legs +and howled a little. I've had truck with you cowmen before. I've +herded sheep in Wyoming." He walked a few steps with his head +down, considering. + +"I better go over and talk some sense into the other fellow," he +said, looking up at Andy as if all his antagonism had oozed in +the fight. "You ride along this edge, so they won't scatter--we +ought to be grazin' 'em along, by rights; only you seem to be in +such an all-fired rush--" + +"You go on and tell that loco son-of-a-gun over there what he's +up against," Andy urged. "Blank cartridges--I sure do like that! +If you only knew it, high power dum-dums would be a lot closer to +our brand. Run along--I am in a kinda hurry, this morning." + +Andy, riding slowly upon the outskirts of the grazing, blatting +band, watched the two confer earnestly together a hundred yards +or so away. They seemed to be having some sort of argument; the +bug-killer gesticulated with the long stick he carried, and the +sheep, while the herders talked, scattered irresponsibly. Andy +wondered what made sheepmen so "ornery," particularly herders. He +wondered why the fellow he had thrashed was so insultingly +defiant at first, and, after the thrashing, so unresentful and +communicative, and so amenable to authority withal. He felt his +nose, and decided that it was, all things considered, a cheap +victory, and yet one of which he need not be ashamed. + +The herder cane back presently and helped drive the sheep over +the edge of the bluff which bordered Antelope coulee. The +bug-killer, upon his side, also seemed imbued with the spirit of +obedience; Andy heard him curse a collie into frenzied zeal, and +smiled approvingly. + +"Now you're acting a heap more human," he observed; and the man +from Wyoming grinned ruefully by way of reply. + +Antelope coulee, at that point, was steep; too steep for riding, +so that Andy dismounted and dug his boot-heels into the soft +soil, to gain a foothold on the descent. When he was halfway +down, he chanced to look back, straight into the scowling gaze of +the bug-killer, who was sliding down behind him. + +"Thought you were hazing down the other side of 'em," Andy called +back, but the herder did not choose to answer save with another +scowl. + +Andy edged his horse around an impracticable slope of shale stuff +and went on. The herder followed. When he was within twelve feet +or so of the bottom, there was a sound of pebbles knocked loose +in haste, a scrambling, and then came the impact of his body. +Andy teetered, lost his balance, and went to the bottom in one +glorious slide. He landed with the bug-killer on top--and the +bug-killer failed to remove his person as speedily as true +courtesy exacted. + +Andy kicked and wriggled and tried to remember what was that +high-colored, vituperative sentence that Irish had invented over +a stubborn sheep, that he might repeat it to the bug-killer. The +herder from Wyoming ran up, caught Andy's horse, and untied +Andy's rope from the saddle. + +"Good fer you, Oscar," he praised the bug-killer. "Hang onto him +while I take a few turns." He thereupon helped force Andy's arms +to his side, and wound the rope several times rather tightly +around Andy's outraged, squirming person. + +"Oh, it ain't goin' to do yuh no good to buck 'n bawl," +admonished the tier. "I learnt this here little trick down in +Wyoming. A bunch uh punchers done it to me--and I've been just +achin' all over fer a chance to return the favor to some uh you +gay boys. And," he added, with malicious satisfaction, while he +rolled Andy over and tied a perfectly unslippable knot behind, +"it gives me great pleasure to hand the dose out to you, in +p'ticular. If I was a mean man, I'd hand yuh the boot a few times +fer luck; but I'll save that up till next time." + +"You can bet your sweet life there'll be a next time," Andy +promised earnestly, with embellishments better suited to the +occasion than to a children's party. + +"Well, when it arrives I'm sure Johnny-on-the-spot. Them Wyoming +punchers beat me up after they'd got me tied. I'm tellin' yuh so +you'll see I ain't mean unless I'm drove to it. Turn him feet +down hill, Oscar, so he won't git a rush uh brains to the head +and die on our hands. Now you're goin' to mind your own business, +sonny. Next time yuh set out to herd sheep, better see the boss +first and git on the job right." + +He rose to his feet, surveyed Andy with his hands on his hips, +mentally pronounced the job well done, and took a generous chew +of tobacco, after which he grinned down at the trussed one. + +"That the language uh flowers you're talkin'?" he inquired +banteringly, before he turned his attention to the horse, which +he disposed of by tying up the reins and giving it a slap on the +rump. When it had trotted fifty yards down the coulee bottom, and +showed a disposition to go farther, he whistled to his dogs, and +turned again to Andy. + +"This here is just a hint to that bunch you trot with, to leave +us and our sheep alone," he said. "We don't pick no quarrels, but +we're goin' to cross our sheep wherever we dern please, to git +where we want to go. Gawd didn't make this range and hand it over +to you cowmen to put in yer pockets--I guess there's a chance fer +other folks to hang on by their eyebrows, anyway." + +Andy, lying there like a very good presentation of a giant +cocoon, roped round and round, with his arms pinned to his sides, +had the doubtful pleasure of seeing that noisome, foolish-faced +band trail down Antelope coulee and back upon the level they had +just left, and of knowing to a gloomy certainty that he could do +nothing about it, except swear; and even that palls when a man +has gone over his entire repertoire three times in rapid +succession. + +Andy, therefore, when the last sheep had trotted out of sight, +hearing and smell, wriggled himself into as comfortable a +position as his bonds would permit, and took a nap. + + + +CHAPTER VII. Truth Crushed to Earth, etc. + +Andy, only half awake, tried to obey both instinct and habit and +reach up to pull his hat down over his eyes, so that the sun +could not shine upon his lids so hotly; when he discovered that +he could do no more than wiggle his fingers, he came back with a +jolt to reality and tried to sit up. It is surprising to a man to +discover suddenly just how important a part his arms play in the +most simple of body movements; Andy, with his arms pinioned +tightly the whole length of them, rolled over on his face, kicked +a good deal, and rolled back again, but he did not sit up, as he +had confidently expected to do. + +He lay absolutely quiet for at least five minutes, staring up at +the brilliant blue arch above him. Then he began to speak rapidly +and earnestly; a man just close enough to hear his voice sweeping +up to a certain rhetorical climax, pausing there and commencing +again with a rhythmic fluency of intonation, might have thought +that he was repeating poetry; indeed, it sounded like some of +Milton's majestic blank verse, but it was not. Andy was engaged +in a methodical, scientific, reprehensibly soul-satisfying period +of swearing. + +A curlew, soaring low, with long beak outstretched before him, +and long legs outstretched behind cast a beady eye upon him, and +shrilled "Cor-reck! Cor-reck!" in unregenerate approbation of the +blasphemy. + +Andy stopped suddenly and laughed. "Glad you agree with me, old +sport," he addressed the bird whimsically, with a reaction to his +normally cheerful outlook. "Sheepherders are all those things I +named over, birdie, and some that I can't think of at present." + +He tried again, this time with a more careful realization of his +limitations, to assume an upright position; and being a +persevering young man, and one with a ready wit, he managed at +length to wriggle himself back upon the slope from which he had +slid in his sleep, and, by digging in his heels and going +carefully, he did at last rise upon his knees, and from there +triumphantly to his feet. + +He had at first believed that one of the herders would, in the +course of an hour or so, return and untie him, when he hoped to +be able to retrieve, in a measure, his self-respect, which he had +lost when the first three feet of his own rope had encircled him. +To be tied and trussed by sheepherders! Andy gritted his teeth +and started down the coulee. + +He was hungry, and his lunch was tied to his saddle. He looked +eagerly down the coulee, in the faint hope of seeing his horse +grazing somewhere along its length, until the numbness of his +arms and hands reminded him that forty lunches, tied upon forty +saddles at his side, would be of no use to him in his present +position. His hands he could not move from his thighs; he could +wiggle his fingers--which he did, to relieve as much as possible +that unpleasant, prickly sensation which we call a "going to +sleep" of the afflicted members. When it occurred to him that he +could not do anything with his horse if he found it, he gave up +looking for it and started for the ranch, walking awkwardly, +because of his bonds, the sun shining hotly upon his brown head, +because his hat had been knocked off in the scuffle, and he could +not pick it up and put it back where it belonged. + +Taking a straight course across the prairie, he struck Flying U +coulee at the point where the sheep had left it. On the way there +he had crossed their trail where they went through the fence +farther along the coulee than before, and therefore with a better +chance of passing undetected; especially since the Happy Family, +believing that he was forcing them steadily to the north, would +not be watching for sheep. The barbed wire barrier bothered him +somewhat. He was compelled to lie down and roll under the fence, +in the most undignified manner, and, when he was through, there +was the problem of getting upon his feet again. But he managed it +somehow, and went on down the coulee, perspiring with the heat +and a bitter realization of his ignominy. What the Happy Family +would have to say when they saw him, even Andy Green's vivid +imagination declined to picture. + +He knew by the sun that it was full noon when he came in sight of +the stable and corrals, and his soul sickened at the thought of +facing that derisive bunch of punchers, with their fiendish grins +and their barbed tongues. But he was hungry, and his arms had +reached the limit of prickly sensations and were numb to his +shoulders. He shook his hair back from his beaded forehead, cast +a wary glance at the silent stables, set his jaw, and went on up +the hill to the mess-house, wishing tardily that he had waited +until they were off at work again, when he might intimidate old +Patsy into keeping quiet about his predicament. + +Within the mess-house was the clatter of knives and forks plied +by hungry men, the sound of desultory talk and a savory odor of +good things to eat. The door was closed. Andy stood before it as +a guilty-conscienced child stands before its teacher; clicked his +teeth together, and, since he could not open the door, lifted his +right foot and gave it a kick to strain the hinges. + +Within were exclamations of astonishment, silence and then a +heavy tread. Patsy opened the door, gasped and stood still, his +eyes popping out like a startled rabbit. + +"Well, what's eating you?" Andy demanded querulously, and pushed +past him into the room. + +Not all of the Happy Family were there. Cal, Jack Bates, Irish +and Happy Jack had gone into the Bad Lands next to the river; but +there were enough left to make the soul of Andy quiver +forebodingly, and to send the flush of extreme humiliation to his +cheeks. + +The Happy Family looked at him in stunned surprise; then they +glanced at one another in swift, wordless inquiry, grinned wisely +and warily, and went on with their dinner. At least they +pretended to go on with their dinner, while Andy glared at them +with amazed reproach in his misleadingly honest gray eyes. + +"When you've got plenty of time," he said at last in a choked +tone, "maybe one of you obliging cusses will untie this damned +rope." + +"Why, sure!" Pink threw a leg over the bench and got up with +cheerful alacrity. "I'll do it now, if you say so; I didn't know +but what that was some new fad of yours, like--" + +"Fad!" Andy repeated the word like an explosion. + +"Well, by golly, Andy needn't think I'm goin' to foller that +there style," Slim stated solemnly. "I need m' rope for something +else than to tie n' clothes on with." + +"I sure do hate to see a man wear funny things just to make +himself conspicuous," Pink observed, while he fumbled at the +knot, which was intricate. Andy jerked away from him that he +might face him ragefully. + +"Maybe this looks funny to you," he cried, husky with wrath. "But +I can't seem to see the joke, myself. I admit I let then herders +make a monkey of me.... They slipped up behind, going down into +Antelope coulee, and slid down the bluff onto me; and, before I +could get up, they got me tied, all right. I licked one of 'en +before that, and thought I had 'en gentled down--" + +Andy stopped short, silenced by that unexplainable sense which +warns us when our words are received with cold disbelief. + +"Mh-hm--I thought maybe you'd run up against a hostile +jackrabbit, or something," Pink purred, and went back to his +place on the bench. + +"Haw-haw-haw-w-w!" came Big Medicine's tardy bellow. "That's more +reasonable than the sheepherder story, by cripes!" + +Andy looked at them much as he had stared up at the sky before he +began to swear--speechlessly, with a trembling of the muscles +around his mouth. He was quite white, considering how tanned he +was, and his forehead was shiny, with beads of perspiration +standing thickly upon it. + +"Weary, I wish you'd untie this rope. I can't." He spoke still in +that peculiar, husky tone, and, when the last words were out, his +teeth went together with a snap. + +Weary glanced inquiringly across at the Native Son, who was +regarding Andy steadily, as one gazes upon a tangled rope, +looking for the end which will easiest lead to an untangling. + +Miguel's brown eyes turned languidly to meet the look. "You'd +better untie him," he advised in his soft drawl. "He may not be +in the habit of doing it--but he's telling the truth." + +"Untie me, Miguel," begged Andy, going over to him, "and let me +at this bunch." + +"I'll do it," said Weary, and rose pacifically. "I kinda believe +you myself, Andy. But you can't blame the boys none; you've +fooled 'em till they're dead shy of anything they can't see +through. And, besides, it sure does look like a plant. I'd back +you single-handed against a dozen sheepherders like then two +we've been chasing around. If I hadn't felt that way I wouldn't +have sent yuh out alone with 'em." + +"Well, Andy needn't think he's goin' to stick me on that there +story," Slim declared with brutal emphasis. "I've swallered too +many baits, by golly. He's figurin' on gettin' us all out on the +war-path, runnin' around in circles, so's't he can give us the +laugh. I'll bet, by golly, he paid then herders to tie him up +like that. He can't fool me!" + +"Say, Slim, I do believe your brains is commencin' to sprout!" +Big Medicine thumped him painfully upon the back by way of +accenting the compliment. "You got the idee, all right." + +Andy stood quiet while Weary unwound the rope; lifted his numbed +arms with some difficulty, and displayed to the doubters his +rope-creased wrists, and purple, swollen hands. + +"I couldn't fight a caterpiller right now," he said thickly. +"Look at them hands! Do yuh call that a josh? I've been tied up +like a bed-roll for five hours, you--" Well, never mind, he +merely repeated a part of what he had recited aloud in Antelope +coulee, the only difference being that he applied the vitriolic +utterances to the Happy Family instead of to sheepherders, and +that with the second recitation he gained much in fluency and +dramatic delivery. + +It is not nice for a man to swear; to swear the way Andy did, at +any rate. But the result perhaps atoned in a measure for the +wickedness, in that the Happy Family were absolutely convinced of +his sincerity, and the feelings of Andy greatly relieved, so +that, when he had for the third time that day completely +exhausted his vocabulary, he sat down and began to eat his dinner +with a keen appetite. + +"I don't suppose you know where your horse is at, by this tine," +Weary observed, as casually as possible, breaking a somewhat +constrained silence. + +"I don't--and I don't give a darn," Andy snapped back. He ate a +few mouthfuls, and added less savagely: "He wasn't in sight, as I +came along. I didn't follow the trail; I struck straight across +and came down the coulee. He may be at the gate, and he may be +down toward Rogers'." + +Pink reached for a toothpick, eyeing Andy side-long; dimpled his +cheeks disarmingly, and cleared his throat. "Please don't kill me +off when you get that pie swallowed," he began pacifically. +"Strange as it may seem, I believe you, Andy. What I want to know +is this: Who owns them Dots? And what are they chasing all over +the Flying U range for? It looks plumb malicious, to me. Did you +find out anything about 'en, Andy, while you--er--while they--" +His eyes twinkled and betrayed him for an arrant pretender. (Pink +was not afraid of anything on earth--least of all Andy Green.) + +"I will kill yuh by inches, if I hear any remarks out of yuh that +ain't respectful," Andy promised, thawing to his normal tone, +which was pleasant to the ear. "I didn't find out much about 'em. +The fellow I licked told me that Whittaker and Oleson owned the +sheep. He didn't say--" + +"Well--by--golly!" Shin thrust his head forward belligerently. +"Whittaker! Well, what d'yuh think uh that!" He glared from one +face to the other, his gaze at last resting upon Weary. "Say, do +yuh reckon it's--Dunk?" + +Weary paid no heed to Slim. He leaned forward, his face turned to +Andy with that concentration of attention which means so much +more than mere exclamation. "You're sure he said Whittaker?" he +asked. + +His tone and his attitude arrested Andy's cup midway to his +mouth. "Sure--Whittaker and Oleson. I never heard of the +outfit--who's this Whittaker person?" + +Weary settled back in his place and smiled, but his eyes had +quite lost their habitually sunny expression. + +"Up until four years ago," he explained evenly, "he was the Old +Man's partner. We caught him in some mighty dirty work, +and--well, he sold out to the Old Man. The old party with the +hoofs and tail can't be everywhere at once, the way I've got it +sized up, so he turns some of his business over to other folks. +Dunk Whittaker's his top hand." + +"Why, by golly, he framed up a job on the Gordon boys, and +railroaded 'em to the pen, just--" + +"Oh, that's the gazabo!" Andy's eyes shone with enlightenment. +"I've heard a lot about Dunk, but I didn't know his last name--" + +"Say! I'll bet they're the outfit that bought out Denson. That's +why old Denson acted so queer, maybe. Selling to a sheep outfit +would make the old devil feel kinda uneasy, talking to us--" +Pink's eyes were big and purple with excitement. "And that +train-load of sheep we saw Sunday, I'll bet is the same identical +outfit." + +"Dunk Whittaker'd better not try to monkey with me, by golly!" +Slim's face was lowering. "And he'd better not monkey with the +Flying U either. I'd pump him so full uh holes he'd look like a +colander, by golly!" + +Weary got up and started to the door, his face suddenly grown +careworn. "Slim, you and Miguel better go and hunt up Andy's +horse," he said with a hint of abstraction in his tone, as though +his mind was busy with more important things. "Maybe Andy'll feel +able to help you set those posts, Bud--and you'd better go along +the upper end of the little pasture with the wire stretchers and +tighten her up; the top wire is pretty loose, I noticed this +morning." His fingers fumbled with the door-knob. + +"Want me to do anything?" Pink asked quizzically just behind him. +"I thought sure we'd go and remonstrate with then gay--" + +Weary interrupted him. "The herders can wait--and, anyway, I've +kinda got an idea Andy wants to hand out his own brand of poison +to that bunch. You and I will take a ride over to Denson's and +see what's going on over there. Mamma!" he added fervently, under +his breath, "I sure do wish Chip and the Old Man were here!" + + + +CHAPTER VIII. The Dot Outfit + +Before he laid him down to sleep, that night, Weary had repeated +to himself many times and fervently that wish for old J. G. +Whitmore and the stout staff upon which he was beginning more and +more to lean, his brother-in-law, Chip Bennett. As matters stood, +Weary could not even bring himself to let then know anything +about his trouble--and that the thing was beginning to assume the +form and shape and general malevolent attributes of Trouble, +Weary was forced to admit to himself. + +Just at present an unthinking, unobserving person might pass over +this sheep outfit as a mere unsavory incident; but Weary was +neither unobserving nor unthinking--nor, for the matter of that, +were the rest of the Happy Family. It needed no Happy Jack, with +his foreboding nature, to point out the unpleasant possibilities +that night when the committee of two made their informal report +at the supper table. + +They had ridden to Denson coulee, which was in reality a +meandering branch of Flying U coulee itself. To reach it one rode +out of Flying U coulee and over a wide hill, and down again to +Denson's. But the creek--Flying U creek--followed the devious +turnings from Denson coulee down to the Flying U. A long mile of +Flying U coulee J. G. Whitmore owned outright. Another mile he +held under no other title save a fence. The creek flowed through +it all--but that creek had its source somewhere up near the head +of Denson coulee. J. G. Whitmore had, to his regret, been unable +to claim the whole earth--or at least that portion of it--for his +own; so, when he was constrained to make a choice, he settled +himself in the wider, more fertile coulee, which he thereafter +called the Flying U. While it is good policy to locate as near as +possible to the source of those erratic little creeks which water +certain garden spots of the northern range land, it is also well +to choose land that will grow plenty of hay. J. G. Whitmore chose +the hay land, and trusted that providence would insure the water +supply. Through all these years Flying U creek had never once +disappointed him. Denson, who settled in the tributary coulee, +had not made any difference in the water supply, and his stock +had consisted of thirty or forty head of cattle and horses. + +When Denson sold, however, things might be different. And, if he +had sold to a sheepman, the change might be unpleasant If he had +sold to Dunk Whittaker--the Flying U boys faced that possibility +just as they would face any other disaster, undaunted, but grim +and unsmiling. + +It was thus that Pink and Weary rode slowly down into Denson +coulee. Two miles back they had passed the band of Dot sheep, +feeding leisurely just without the Flying U fence, which was the +southern boundary. The bug-killer and the other were there, and +they noted that the features of that other bore witness to the +truth of Andy's story of the fight. He regarded them with one +perfectly good eye and one which was considerably swollen, and +grinned a swollen grin. + +The two had ridden ten paces past him when Pink pulled up +suddenly. "I'm going to get off and lick that son-of-a-gun +myself, just for luck," he stated dispassionately. "I'm going to +lick 'em both," he revised while he dismounted. + +"Oh, come on, Cadwalloper," Weary dissuaded. "You'll likely have +all the excitement you need, without that." + +"Here, you hold this fool cayuse. No." He shook his head, cutting +short further protest. "You're the boss, and you don't want to +mix in, and that part is all right. But I ain't responsible--and +I sure am going to take a fall or two out of these geesers. +They're a-w-l together too stuck on themselves to suit me." Pink +did not say that he was thinking of Andy, but nevertheless a +vivid recollection of that unfortunate young man's rope-creased +wrists and swollen hands sent him toward the herder with long, +eager strides. + +Pink was not tall, and he was slight and boyish of build; also, +his cherubic face, topped by tawny curls and lighted by eyes as +deeply blue and as innocent as a baby's, probably deceived that +herder, just as they had deceived many another. For Pink was a +good deal like a stick of dynamite wrapped in white tissue paper +and tied with blue ribbon; and Weary was not at all uneasy over +the outcome, as he watched Pink go clanking back, though he loved +him well. + +Pink did not waste any time or words on the preliminaries. With a +delightful frankness of purpose he pulled off his coat and threw +it on the ground, as he came up, sent his hat after it, and +arrived fist first. + +The herder had waited grinning, and he had shouted something to +Weary about spanking the kid if Weary didn't make him behave. +Speedily he became a very surprised herder, and a distressed one +as well. + +"All right," Pink remarked, a little quick-breathed, when the +herder decided for the third time to get up. "A friend of mine +worked yuh over a little, this morning, and I just thought I'd +make a better job than he did. Your eyes didn't match. They will, +now." + +The herder mumbled maledictions after him, but Pink would not +even give him the satisfaction of resenting it. + +"I'd like to have broken a knuckle against his teeth, darn him," +he observed ruefully when he was in the saddle again. "Come on, +Weary. It won't take but a minute to hand a punch or two to that +bug-killer, and then I'll feel better. They've both got it +coming--come on!" This because Weary showed a strong inclination +to take the trail and keep it to his destination. "Well, I'll go +alone, then. I've got to kinda square myself for the way I threw +it into Andy; and you know blamed well, Weary, they played it +low-down on him, or they'd never have got that rope on him. And +I'm going to lick that--" + +"Mamma! You sure are a rambunctious person when you feel that +way," Weary made querulous comment; but he rode over with Pink to +where the bug-killer was standing with his long stick held in a +somewhat menacing manner, and once more he held Pink's horse for +him. + +Pink was gone longer this time, and he came back with a cut lip +and a large lump on his forehead; the bug-killer had thrown a +small rock with the precision which comes of much practice--such +as stoning disobedient dogs, and the like--and, when Pink rushed +at him furiously, the herder caught him very neatly alongside the +head with his stick. These little amenities serving merely to +whet Pink's appetite for battle, he stopped long enough to thrash +that particular herder very thoroughly and to his own complete +satisfaction. + +"Well, I guess I'm ready to go on now," he observed, dimpling +rather one-sidedly as he got back on his horse. + +"I thought maybe you'd want to whip the dogs, too," Weary told +him dryly; which was the nearest he came to expressing any +disapproval of the incident. Weary was a peace-loving soul, +whenever peace was compatible with self-respect; and it would +never have occurred to him to punish strange men as summarily as +Pink had done. + +"I would, if the dogs were half as ornery as the men," Pink +retorted. "Say, they hang together like bull snakes and rattlers, +don't they? If they was human, they'd have helped each other +out--but nothing doing! Do you reckon a man could ride up to a +couple of our bunch, and thrash one at a time without the other +fellow having something to say about it?" He turned in the saddle +and looked back. "So help me, Josephine, I've got a good mind to +go back and lick them again, for not hanging together like they +ought to." But the threat was an idle one, and they went on to +Denson's, Weary still with that anxious look in his eyes, and +Pink quite complacent over his exploit. + +In Denson coulee was an unwonted atmosphere of activity; +heretofore the place had been animated chiefly by young Densons +engaged in the pursuit of pleasure, but now a covered buggy, +evidently just arrived, bore mute witness to the new order of +things. There were more horses about the place, a covered wagon +or two, three or four men working upon the corral, and, lastly, +there was one whom Weary recognized the moment he caught sight of +him. + +"Looks like a sheep outfit, all right," he said somberly. "And, +if that ain't old Dunk himself, it's the devil, and that's next +thing to him." + +Dunk, they judged, had just arrived with another man whom they +did not know: a tall man with light hair that hung lank to his +collar, a thin, sharp-nosed face and a wide mouth, which +stretched easily into a smile, but which was none the pleasanter +for that. When he turned inquiringly toward them they saw that he +was stoop-shouldered; though not from any deformity, but from +sheer, slouching lankness. Dunk gave them a swift, sour look from +under his eyebrows and went on. + +Weary rode straight past the lank man, whom he judged to be +Oleson, and overtook Dunk Whittaker himself. + +"Hello, Dunk," he said cheerfully, sliding over in the saddle so +that a foot hung free of the stirrup, as men who ride much have +learned to do when they stop for a chat, thereby resting while +they may. "Back on the old stamping ground, are you?" + +"Since you see me here, I suppose I am," Dunk made churlish +response. + +"Do you happen to own those Dot sheep, back there on the hill?" +Weary tilted his head toward home. + +"I happen to own half of them." By then they had reached the gate +and Dunk passed through and started on to the house. + +"Oh, don't be in a rush--come on back and be sociable," Weary +called out, in the mildest of tones, twisting the reins around +his saddle-horn so that he might roll a cigarette at ease. + +Dunk remembered, perhaps, certain things he had learned when he +was J. G. Whitmore's partner, and had more or less to do with the +charter members of the Happy Family. He came back and stood by +the gate, ungraciously enough, to be sure; still, he came back. +Weary smiled under cover of lighting his cigarette. Dunk, by that +reluctant compliance, betrayed something which Weary had been +rather anxious to know. + +"We've been having a little trouble with those sheep of yours," +Weary remarked between puffs. "You've got some poor excuses for +humans herding them. They drove the bunch across our coulee just +exactly three times. There ain't enough grass left in our lower +field to graze a prairie dog." He glanced back to see where Pink +was, saw that he was close behind, as was the lank man, and spoke +in a tone that included them all. + +"The Flying U ain't pasturing sheep, this spring," he informed +them pleasantly. "But, seeing the grass is eat up, we'll let yuh +pay for it. Why didn't you bring them in along the trail, +anyway?" + +"I didn't bring them in. I just came down from Butte to-day. I +suppose the herders brought them out where the feed was best; +they did if they're worth their wages." + +"They happened to strike some feed that was pretty expensive. +And," he smiled down at Whittaker misleadingly, "you ought to +keep an eye on those herders, or they might let you in for +another grass bill. The Flying U has got quite a lot of range, +right around here, you recollect. And we've got plenty of cattle +to eat it. We don't need any help to keep the grass down so we +can ride through it." + +"Now, look here," began the lank man with that sort of +persuasiveness which can turn instantly into bluster, "all this +is pure foolishness, you know. We're here to stay. We've bought +this place, and some other land to go with it, and we expect to +stay right here and make a living. It happens that we expect to +make a living off of sheep. Now, we don't want to start in by +quarreling with our neighbors, and we don't want our neighbors to +start any quarrel with us. All we want--" + +"Mamma! You're taking a fine way to make us love yuh," Weary cut +in ironically. "I know what you want. You want the same as every +other meek and lovely sheepman wants. You want it all-- core, +seeds and peeling. Dunk," he said with a more impatient disgust +than he was in the habit of showing for his fellowmen, "this +man's a stranger; but I should think you'd know better than to +come in here with sheep." + +"I don't know why a sheep outfit isn't exactly as good as a cow +outfit, and I don't know why they haven't as much right here. +You're welcome to what land you own, but it always seemed to me +that public land is open to the use of the public. Now, as Oleson +says, we expect to raise sheep here, and we expect your outfit to +leave us alone. As far as our sheep crossing your coulee is +concerned--I don't know that they did. But, if they did, and, if +they did any damage, let J. G. do the talking about that. I deal +with the owners--not with the hired men." + +Weary, you must understand, was never a bellicose young man. But, +for all that, he leaned over and gave Dunk a slap on the jaw +which must have stung considerably--and the full reason for his +violence lay four years behind the two, when Dunk was part owner +of the Flying U, and when his sneering arrogance had been very +hard to endure. + +"Are you going to swallow that--from a hired man?" Weary +inquired, after a minute during which nothing whatever occurred +beyond the slow reddening of Dunk's face. + +"I'm not going to fight, if that's what you mean,," Dunk sneered. +"I decline to bring myself down to your level. One doesn't expect +anything from a jackass but a bray, you know--and one doesn't +feel compelled to bray because the jackass does." He smiled that +supercilious smile which Weary had hated of old, and which, he +knew, was well used to covering much treachery and small +meannesses of various sorts. + +"As I said, if the Flying U has any claim against us, let the +owner present it in the usual way. Dunk drew down his black +brows, lifted a corner of his lip and turned his back +deliberately upon them. + +Oleson let himself through the gate, which he closed somewhat +hastily behind him. "I'm sorry you fellows seem to want to make +trouble," he said, without looking up from the latch, which +seemed somewhat out of repair, like the rest of the Denson +property. "That's a poor way to start in with new neighbors." He +lifted his hat with what Pink considered insulting politeness, +and followed Dunk into the house. + +Weary waited there until they had gone in and closed the door, +then turned and rode back home again, frowning thoughtfully at +the trail ahead of them all the way, and making no reply to +Pink's importunings for war. + +"I'd hate to say you've lost your nerve, Weary," Pink cried at +last, in sheer desperation. "But why the devil didn't you get +down and thump the daylights out of that black son-of-a-gun? I +came pretty near walking into him myself, only I hate to butt +into another fellow's scrap. But, if I'd known you were going to +set there and let him walk off with that sneer on his face--" + +"I can't fight a man that won't hit back," Weary protested. "You +couldn't either, Cadwalloper. You'd have done just what I did; +you'd have let him go." + +"He will hit back, all right enough," Pink retorted passionately. +"He'll do it when you ain't looking, though. He--" + +"I know it," Weary sighed. "I'm kinda sorry, now, I slapped him. +He'll hit back--but he won't hit me; he'll aim at the outfit. If +the Old Man was here, or Chip, I'd feel a whole lot easier in my +mind." + +"They couldn't do anything you can't do," Pink assured him +loyally, forgetting his petulance when he saw the careworn look +in Weary's face. "All they can do is gobble all the range around +here--and I guess there's a few of us that will have a word or +two to say about that." + +"What makes me sore," Weary confided, "is knowing that Dunk isn't +thinking altogether of the dollar end of it. He's tickled to +death to get a whack at the outfit. And I hate to see him get +away with it; but I guess we'll have to stand for it." + +That sentiment did not please Pink; nor, when Weary repeated it +later that evening in the bunk-house, did it please the Happy +Family. The less pleasing it was because it was perfectly true +and every man of them knew it. Beyond keeping the sheep off +Flying U land, there was nothing they could do without stepping +over the line into lawlessness--and, while they were not in any +sense a meek Happy Family, they were far more law-abiding than +their conversation that night made them appear. + + + +CHAPTER IX. More Sheep + +The next week was a time of harassment for the Flying U; a week +filled to overflowing with petty irritations, traceable, directly +or indirectly, to their new neighbors, the Dot sheepmen. The band +in charge of the bug-chaser and that other unlovable man from +Wyoming fed just as close to the Flying U boundary as their +guardians dared let them feed; a great deal closer than was good +for the tempers of the Happy Family, who rode fretfully here and +there upon their own business and at the same time tried to keep +an eye upon their unsavory neighbors--a proceeding as +nerve-racking as it was futile. + +The Native Son, riding home in jingling haste from Dry Lake, +whither he had hurried one afternoon in the hope of cheering news +from Chicago, reported another trainload of Dots on the wide +level beyond Antelope coulee. There were, he said, four men in +charge of the band, and he believed they carried guns, though he +was not positive of that. They were moving slowly, and he thought +they would not attempt to cross Flying U coulee before the next +day; though, from the course they were taking, he was sure they +meant to cross. + +Coupled with that bit of ill-tidings, the brief note from Chip, +saying very little about the Old Man, but implying a good deal by +its very omissions, would have been enough to send the Happy +Family to sleepless beds that night if they had been the kind to +endure with silent fortitude their troubles. + +"If you fellers would back me up," brooded Big Medicine down by +the corral after supper, "I'd see to it them sheep never gits +across the coulee, by cripes! I'd send 'em so far the other way +they'd git plumb turned around and forgit they ever wanted to go +south." + +"It's all Dunk's devilishness," Jack Bates declared. "He could +take them in the other way, even if the feed ain't so good along +the trail. It's most all prairie-dog towns--but that's good +enough for sheep." Jack, in his intense partisanship, spoke as if +sheep were not entitled to decent grass at any time or under any +circumstances. + +"Them herders packin' guns looks to me like they're goin' to make +trouble if they kin," gloomed Happy Jack. "I betche they'll kill +somebody before they're through. When sheepmen gits mean--" + +Pink picked up his rope and started for the large corral, where a +few saddle horses had been driven in just before supper and had +not yet been turned out. + +"You fellows can stand around and chew the rag, if you want to," +he said caustically, "and wait for Weary to make a war-talk. But +I'm going to keep cases on them Dots, if I have to stand an +all-night guard on 'em. I don't blame Weary; he's looking out for +the law-and-order business--and that's all right. But I'm not in +charge of the outfit. I'm going to do as I darn please, and, if +they don't like my style, they can give me my time." + +"Good for you, Little One!" Big Medicine hurried to overtake him +so that he might slap him on the shoulder with his favorite, +sledge-hammer method of signifying his approval of a man's +sentiments. "Honest to grandma, I was just b'ginnin' to think +this bunch was gitting all streaked up with yeller. 'Course, we +ain't goin' to wait for no official orders, by cripes! I'd ruther +lock Weary up in the blacksmith shop than let him tell us to go +ahead. Go awn and tell him a good, stiff lie, Andy--just to keep +him interested while us fellers make a gitaway. He ain't in on +this; we don't want him in on it." + +"What yuh goin' to do?" Happy Jack inquired suspiciously. "Yuh +can't go and monkey with them sheep, er them herders. They ain't +on our land. And, if you don't git killed, old Dunk'll fix yuh +like he fixed the Gordon boys--I know him--to a fare-you-well. +It'd tickle him to death to git something on us fellers. I betche +that's what he's aiming t'do. Git us to fightin' his outfit +so's't--" + +"Oh, go off and lie down!" Andy implored him contemptuously. +"We're going to hang those herders, and drive the sheep all over +a cut-back somewhere, like Jesus done to the hogs, and then we're +going over and murder old Dunk, if he's at home, and burn the +house to hide the guilty deed. And, if the sheriff comes snooping +around, asking disagreeable questions, we'll all swear you done +it. So now you know our plans; shut your face and go on to bed. +And be sure," he added witheringly, "you pull the soogans over +your head, so you won't hear the dying shriek of our victims. +We're liable to get kinda excited and torture 'em a while before +we kill 'em." + +"Aw, gwan!" gulped Happy Jack mechanically. "You make me sick! If +yuh think I'm goin' to swaller all that, you're away off! You +wouldn't dast do nothing of the kind; and, if yuh did, you'd sure +have a sweet time layin' it onto me!" + +"Oh, I don't know," drawled the Native Son, with a slow, +velvet-eyed glance, "any jury in the country would hang you on +your looks, Happy. I knew a man down in the lower part of +California, who was arrested, tried and hanged for murder. And +all the evidence there was against him was the fact that he was +seen within five miles of the place on the same day the murder +was committed; and his face. They had an expert physiognomist +there, and he swore that the fellow had the face of a murderer; +the poor devil looked like a criminal--and, though he had one of +the best lawyers on the Coast, it was adios for him." + +"I s'pose you mean I got the face of a criminal!" sputtered Happy +Jack. "It ain't always the purty fellers that wins out-- like you +'n' Pink. I never seen the purty man yit that was worth the +powder it'd take to blow him up! Aw, you fellers make me sick!" +He went off, muttering his opinion of them all, and particularly +of the Native Son, who smiled while he listened. "You go awn and +start something--and you'll wisht you hadn't," they heard him +croak from the big gate, and chuckled over his wrath. + +As a matter of fact, the Happy Family, as a whole, or as +individuals, had no intention of committing any great violence +that evening. Pink wanted to see just where this new band of +sheep was spending the night, and to find out, if possible, what +were the herders' intentions. Since the boys were all restless +under their worry, and, since there is a contagious element in +seeking a trouble-zone, none save Happy Jack, who was "sore" at +them, and Weary stayed behind in the coulee with old Patsy while +the others rode away up the grade and out toward Antelope coulee +beyond. + +They meant only to reconnoiter, and to warn the herders against +attempting to cross Flying U coulee; though they were not exactly +sure that they would be perfectly polite, or that they would +confine themselves rigidly to the language they were wont to +employ at dances. Andy Green, in particular, seemed rather to +look forward with pleasure to the meeting. Andy, by the way, had +remained heartbrokenly passive during that whole week, because +Weary had extracted from him a promise which Andy, mendacious +though he had the name of being, felt constrained to keep intact. +Though of a truth it irked him much to think of two sheepherders +walking abroad unpunished for their outrage upon his person. + +Weary, as he had made plain to them all, wanted to avoid trouble +if it were possible to do so. And, though they grinned together +in secret over his own affair with Dunk--which was not, in their +opinion, exactly pacific--they meant to respect his wishes as far +as human nature was able to do so. So that the Happy Family, +galloping toward the red sunset and the great, gray blot on the +prairie, just where the glory of the west tinged the grass blades +with red, were not one-half as blood-thirsty as they had +proclaimed themselves to be. + +While they were yet afar off they could see two men walking +slowly in the immediate vicinity of the huddled band. A hundred +yards away was a small tent, with a couple of horses picketed +near by and feeding placidly. The men turned, gazed long at their +approach, and walked to the tent, which they entered somewhat +hastily. + +"Look at 'em dodge outa sight, will you!" cried Cal Emmett, and +lifted up his voice in the yell which sometimes announced the +Happy Family's arrival in Dry Lake after a long, thirsty absence +on roundup. Other voices joined in after that first, shrill +"Ow-ow-ow-eee!" of Cal's; so that presently the whole lot of them +were emitting nerve-crimping yells and spurring their horses into +a thunder of hoofbeats, as they bore down upon the tent. Between +howls they laughed, picturing to themselves four terrified +sheepherders cowering within those frail, canvas walls. + +"I'm a rambler, and a gambler, and far from my ho-o-me, And if +yuh don't like me, jest leave me alo-o-ne!" chanted Big Medicine +most horribly, and finished with a yell that almost scared +himself and set his horse to plunging wildly. + +"Come out of there, you lop-eared mutton-chewers, and let us pick +the wool outa your teeth!" shouted Andy Green, telling himself +hastily that this was not breaking his promise to Weary, and +yielding to the temptation of coming as close to the guilty +persons as he might; for, while these were not the men who had +tied him and left him alone on the prairie, they belonged to the +same outfit, and there was some comfort in giving them a few +disagreeable minutes. + +Pink, in the lead, was turning to ride around the tent, still +yelling, when someone within the tent fired a rifle--and did not +aim as high as he should. The bullet zipped close over the head +of Big Medicine, who happened to be opposite the crack between +the tent-flaps. The hand of Big Medicine jerked back to his hip; +but, quick as he was, the Native Son plunged between him and the +tent before he could take aim. + +"Steady, amigo," smiled Miguel. "You aren't a crazy sheepherder." + +"No, but I'm goin' to kill off one. Git outa my way!" Big +Medicine was transformed into a cold-eyed, iron-jawed fighting +machine. He dug the spurs in, meaning to ride ahead of Miguel. +But Miguel's spurs also pressed home, so that the two horses +plunged as one. Big Medicine, bellowing one solitary oath, drew +his right leg from the stirrup to dismount. Miguel reached out, +caught him by the arm, and held him to the saddle. And, though +Big Medicine was a strong man, the grip held firm and unyielding. + +"You must think of the outfit, you know," said Miguel, smiling +still. "There must be no shooting. Once that begins--" He +shrugged his shoulders with that slight, eloquent movement, which +the Happy Family had come to know so well. He was speaking to +them all, as they crowded up to the scuffle. "The man who feels +the trigger-itch had better throw his gun away," he advised +coolly. "I know, boys. I've seen these things start before. All +hell can't stop you, once you begin to shoot. Put it up, Bud, or +give it to me." + +"The man don't live that can shoot at me, by cripes, and git away +with it. Not if he misses killin' me!" Big Medicine was shaking +with rage; but the Native Son saw that he hesitated, +nevertheless, and laughed outright. + +"Call him out and give him a thumping. That's good enough for a +sheepherder," he suggested as a substitute. + +Perhaps because the Native Son so seldom offered advice, and, +because of his cool courage in interfering with Big Medicine at +such a time, Bud's jaw relaxed and his pale eyes became more +human in their expression. He even permitted Miguel to remove the +big, wicked Colt from his hand, and slide it into his own pocket; +whereat the Happy Family gasped with astonishment. Not even Pink +would have dreamed of attempting such a thing. + +"Well he's got to come out and take a lickin', anyway," shouted +Big Medicine vengefully, and rode close enough to slap the canvas +smartly with his quirt. By all the gods he knew by name he called +upon the offender to come forth, while the others drew up in a +rude half-circle to await developments. Heavy silence was the +reply he got. It was as though the men within were sitting tense +and watchful, like cougars crouched for a spring, with claws +unsheathed and muscles quivering. + +"You better come out," called Andy sharply, after they had waited +a decent interval. "We didn't come here hunting trouble; we want +to know where you're headed for with these sheep. The fellow that +cut loose with the gun--" + +"Aw, don't talk so purty! I'm gitting almighty tired, just +setting here lettin' m' legs hang down. Git your ropes, boys!" +With one sweeping gesture of his arm Big Medicine made plain his +meaning as he rode a few paces away, his fingers fumbling with +the string that held his rope. "I'm goin' to have a look at 'em, +anyway," he grinned. "I sure do hate to see men act so bashful." + +With his rope free and ready for action, Big Medicine shook the +loop out, glanced around, and saw that Andy, Pink and Cal Emmett +were also ready, and, with a dexterous flip, settled the noose +neatly over the iron pin that thrust up through the end of the +ridge-pole in front. Andy's loop sank neatly over it a second +later, and the two wheeled and dashed away together, with Pink +and Irish duplicating their performance at the other end of the +tent. The dingy, smoke-stained canvas swayed, toppled, as the +pegs gave way, and finally lay flat upon the prairie fifty feet +from where it had stood, leaving the inmates exposed to the cruel +stare of eight unfriendly cowpunchers. Four cowering figures they +were, with guns in their hands that shook. + +"Drop them guns!" thundered Big Medicine, flipping his rope loose +and recoiling it mechanically as he plunged up to the group. + +One man obeyed. One gave a squawk of terror and permitted his gun +to go off at random before he fled toward the coulee. The other +two crouched behind their bed-rolls, set their jaws doggedly and +glared defiance. + +Pink, Andy, Irish, Big Medicine and the Native Son slid off their +horses and made a rush at them. A rifle barked viciously, and +Slim, sitting prudently on his horse well in the rear, gave a +yell and started for home at a rapid pace. + +Considering the provocation the Happy Family behaved with quite +praiseworthy self-control and leniency. They did not lynch those +two herders. They did not kill them, either by bullets, knives, +or beating to death. They took away the guns, however, and they +told them with extreme bluntness what sort of men they believed +them to be. They defined accurately their position in society at +large, in that neighborhood, and stated what would be their +future fate if they persisted in acting with so little caution +and common sense. + +At Andy Green's earnest behest they also wound them round and +round with ropes, before they departed, and gave them some very +good advice upon the matter of range rules and the herding of +sheep, particularly of Dot sheep. + +"You're playing big luck, if you only had sense enough to know +it," Andy pointed out to the recumbent three before they rode +away. "We didn't come over here on the warpath, and, if you +hadn't got in such a darned hurry to start something, you'd be a +whole lot more comfortable right now. We rode over to tell yuh +not to start them sheep across Flying U coulee; because, if you +do, you're going to have both hands and your hats plumb full uh +trouble. It has taken some little time and fussing to get yuh +gentled down so we can talk to you, and I sure do hope yuh +remember what I'm saying." + +"Oh, we'll remember it, all right!" menaced one of the men, +lifting his head turtlewise that he might glare at the group. +"And our bosses'll remember it; you needn't worry about that +none. You wait till--" + +The next man to him turned his head and muttered a sentence, and +the speaker dropped his head back upon the ground, silenced. + +"It was your own outfit started this style of rope trimming, so +you can't kick about that part of the deal," Pink informed them +melodiously. "It's liable to get to be all the rage with us. So, +if you don't like it, don't come around where we are. And say!" +His dimples stood deep in his cheeks. "You send those ropes home +to-morrow, will yuh? We're liable to need 'em." + +"by cripes!" Big Medicine bawled. "What say we haze them sheep a +few miles north, boys?" + +"Oh, I guess they'll be all right where they are," Andy +protested, his thirst for revenge assuaged at sight of those +three trussed as he had been trussed, and apparently not liking +it any better than he had liked it. "They'll be good and careful +not to come around the Flying U--or I miss my guess a mile." + +The others cast comprehensive glances at their immediate +surroundings, and decided that they had at least made their +meaning plain; there was no occasion for emphasizing their +disapproval any further. They confiscated the rifles, and they +told the fellows why they did so. They very kindly pulled a +tarpaulin over the three to protect them in a measure from the +chill night that was close upon them, and they wished them good +night and pleasant dreams, and rode away home. + +On the way they met Weary and Happy Jack, galloping anxiously to +the battle scene. Slim, it appeared from Weary's rapid +explanation, had arrived at the ranch with his horse in a lather +and with a four-inch furrow in the fleshiest part of his leg, +where a bullet had flicked him in passing. The tale he told had +led Weary to believe that Slim was the sole survivor of that +reckless company. + +"Mamma! I'm so glad to see you boys able to fork your horses and +swear natural, that I don't believe I can speak my little piece +about staying on your own side the fence and letting trouble do +some of the hunting," he exclaimed thankfully. "I wish you'd +stayed at home and left these blamed Dots alone. But, seeing yuh +didn't, I'm tickled to death to hear you didn't kill anybody off. +I don't want the folks to come home and find the whole bunch in +the pen. It might look as if--" + +"You don't want the folks to come home and find the whole ranch +sheeped off, either, and the herders camping up in the white +house, do yuh?" Pink inquired pointedly. "I kinda think," he +added dryly, "those same herders will feel like going away around +Flying U fences with their sheep. I don't believe they'll do any +cutting across." + +"I betche old Dunk'll make it interestin' fer this outfit, just +the same," Happy Jack predicted. "Tyin' up three men uh hisn, +like that, and ropin' their tent and draggin' it off, ain't +things he'll pass up. He'll have a possy out here--you see if he +don't!" + +"In that case, I'll be sorry for you, Happy," purred Miguel close +beside him. "You're the only one in the outfit that looks capable +of such a vile deed." + +"Oh, Dunk won't do anything," Weary said cheerfully. "You'll have +to take those guns back, though. They might take a notion to call +that stealing!" + +"You forget," the Native Son reminded calmly, "that we left them +three good ropes in exchange." + +Whereupon the Happy Family laughed and went to offer their +unsought sympathy to Slim. + + + +CHAPTER X. The Happy Family Herd Sheep + +The boys of the Flying U had many faults in common, aside from +certain individual frailties; one of their chief weaknesses was +over-confidence in their own ability to cope with any situation +which might arise, unexpectedly or otherwise, and a belief that +others felt that same confidence in them, and that enemies were +wont to sit a long time counting the cost before venturing to +offer too great an affront. Also they believed--and made it +manifest in their conversation--that they could even bring the +Old Man back to health if they only had him on the ranch where +they could get at him. They maligned the hospitals and Chicago +doctors most unjustly, and were agreed that all he needed was to +be back on the ranch where somebody could look after him right. +They asserted that, if they ever got tired of living and wanted +to cash in without using a gun or anything, they'd go to a +hospital and tell the doctors to turn loose and try to cure them +of something. + +This by way of illustration; also as an explanation of their +sleeping soundly that night, instead of watching for some hostile +demonstration on the part of the Dot outfit. To a man--one never +counted Happy Jack's prophecies of disaster as being anything +more than a personal deformity of thought--they were positive in +their belief that the Dot sheepherders would be very, very +careful not to provoke the Happy Family to further manifestations +of disapproval. They knew what they'd get, if they tried any more +funny business, and they'd be mighty careful where they drove +their sheep after this. + +So, with the comfortable glow of victory in their souls, they +laid them down, and, when the animated discussion of that night's +adventure flagged, as their tongues grew sleep-clogged and their +eyelids drooped, they slept in peace; save when Slim, awakened by +the soreness of his leg, grunted a malediction or two before he +began snoring again. + +They rose and ate their breakfast in a fair humor with the world. +One grows accustomed to the thought of sickness, even when it +strikes close to the affections, and, with the resilience of +youth and hope, life adjusts itself to make room for the specter +of fear, so that it does not crowd unduly, but stands +half-forgotten in the background of one's thoughts. For that +reason they no longer spoke soberly because of the Old Man lying +hurt unto death in Chicago. And, when they mentioned the Dot +sheep and men, they spoke as men speak of the vanquished. + +With the taste of hot biscuits and maple syrup still lingering +pleasantly against their palates, they went out and were +confronted with sheep, blatting sheep, stinking sheep, +devastating sheep, Dot sheep. On the south side of the coulee, up +on the bluff, grazed the band. They fed upon the brow of the hill +opposite the ranch buildings; they squeezed under the fence and +spilled a ragged fringe of running, gray animals down the slope. +Half a mile away though the nearest of them were, the murmur of +them, the smell of them, the whole intolerable presence of them, +filled the Happy Family with an amazed loathing too deep for +words. + +Technically, that high, level stretch of land bounding Flying U +coulee on the south was open range. It belonged to the +government. The soil was not fertile enough even for the most +optimistic of "dry land" farmers to locate upon it; and this was +before the dry-land farming craze had swept the country, +gathering in all public land as claims. J. G. Whitmore had +contented himself with acquiring title to the whole of the Flying +U coulee, secure in his belief that the old order of things would +not change, in his life-time, at least, and that the unwritten +law of the range land, which leaves the vicinity of a ranch to +the use of the ranch owner, would never be repealed by new +customs imposed by a new class of people. + +Legally, there was no trespassing of the Dots, beyond the two or +three hundred which had made their way through the fence. +Morally, however, and by right of custom, their offense would not +be much greater if they came on down the hill and invaded the Old +Man's pet meadows, just beyond the "little pasture." + +Ladies may read this story, so I am not going to pretend to +repeat the things they said, once they were released from dumb +amazement. I should be compelled to improvise and substitute-- +which would remove much of the flavor. Let bare facts suffice, at +present. + +They saddled in haste, and in haste they rode to the scene. This, +they were convinced, was the band herded by the bug-killer and +the man from Wyoming; and the nerve of those two almost excited +the admiration of the Happy Family. It did not, however, deter +them from their purpose. + +Weary, to look at him, was no longer in the mood to preach +patience and a turning of the other cheek. He also made that +change of heart manifest in his speech when Pink, his eyes almost +black, rode up close and gritted at him: + +"Well, what's the orders now? Want me to go back and get the wire +nippers so we can let them poor little sheep down into the +meadow? Maybe we better ask the herders down to have some of +Patsy's grub, too; I don't believe they had time to cook much +breakfast. And it wouldn't be a bad idea to haze our own stuff +clear off the range. I'm afraid Dunk's sheep are going to fare +kinda slim, if we go on letting our cattle eat all the good +grass!" Pink did not often indulge in such lengthy sarcasm, +especially toward his beloved Weary; but his exasperation toward +Weary's mild tactics had been growing apace. + +Weary's reply, I fear, will have to be omitted. It was terribly +unrefined. + +"I want you boys to spread out, around the whole bunch," was his +first printable utterance, "and haze these sheep just as far +south as they can get without taking to the river. Don't get all +het up chasing 'em yourself--make the men (Weary did not call +them men; he called them something very naughty) that's paid for +it do the driving." + +"And, if they don't go," drawled the smooth voice of the Native +Son, "what shall we do, amigo? Slap them on the wrist?" + +Weary twisted in the saddle and sent him a baleful glance, which +was not at all like Weary the sunny-hearted. + +"If you can't figure that out for yourself," he snapped, "you had +better go back and wipe the dishes for Patsy; and, when that's +done, you can pull the weeds out of his radishes. Maybe he'll +give you a nickel to buy candy with, if you do it good." Before +he faced to the front again his harsh glance swept the faces of +his companions. + +They were grinning, every man of them, and he knew why. To see +him lose his temper was something of an event with the Happy +Family, who used sometimes to fix the date of an incident by +saying, "It was right after that time Weary got mad, a year ago +last fall," or something of the sort. He grinned himself, +shamefacedly, and told them that they were a bunch of no-account +cusses, anyway, and he'd just about as soon herd sheep himself as +to have to run with such an outfit; which swept his anger from +him and left him his usual self, with but the addition of a +purpose from which nothing could stay him. He was going to settle +the sheep question, and he was going to settle it that day. + +Only one injunction did he lay upon the Happy Family. "You +fellows don't want to get excited and go to shooting," he warned, +while they were still out of hearing of the herders. "We don't +want Dunk to get anything like that on us; savvy?" + +They "savvied," and they told him so, each after his own +individual manner. + +"I guess we ought to be able to put the run on a couple of +sheepherders, without wasting any powder," Pink said loftily, +remembering his meeting with them a few days before. + +"One thing sure--we'll make a good job of it this time," promised +Irish, and spurred after Weary, who was leading the way around +the band. + +The herders watched them openly and with the manner of men who +are expecting the worst to happen. Unlike the four whose camp had +been laid low the night before, these two were unarmed, as they +had been from the first; which, in Weary's opinion, was a bit of +guile upon the part of Dunk. If trouble came--trouble which it +would take a jury to settle--the fact that the sheepmen were +unarmed would tell heavily in their favor; for, while the petty +meanness of range-stealing and nagging trespass may be harder to +bear than the flourishing of a gun before one's face, it all +sounds harmless enough in the telling. + +Weary headed straight for the nearest herder, told him to put his +dogs to work rounding up the sheep, which were scattered over an +area half a mile across while they fed, and, when the herder, who +was the bug-killer, made no move to obey, Weary deliberately +pulled his gun and pointed at his head. + +"You move," he directed with grim intent, "and don't take too +much time about it, either." + +The bug-killer, an unkempt, ungainly figure, standing with his +back to the morning sun, scowled up at Weary stolidly. + +"Yuh dassent shoot," he stated sourly, and did not move. + +For answer, Weary pulled back the hammer; also he smiled as +malignantly as it was in his nature to do, and hoped in his heart +that he looked sufficiently terrifying to convince the man. So +they faced each other in a silent clash of wills. + +Big Medicine had not been saying much on the way over, which was +unusual. Now he rode forward until he was abreast of Weary, and +he grinned down at the bug-killer in a way to distract his +attention from the gun. + +"Nobody don't have to shoot, by cripes!" he bawled. "We hain't +goin' to kill yuh. We'll make yuh wisht, by cripes, we had, +though, b'fore we git through. Git to work, boys, 'n' gether up +some dry grass an' sticks. Over there in them rose-bushes you +oughta find enough bresh. We'll give him a taste uh what we was +talkin' about comm' over, by cripes! I guess he'll be willin' to +drive sheep, all right, when we git through with him. +Haw-haw-haw-w-w!" He leaned forward in the saddle and ogled the +bug-killer with horrid significance. + +"Git busy with that bresh!" he yelled authoritatively, when a +glance showed him that the Happy Family was hesitating and eyeing +him uncertainly. "Git a fire goin' quick's yuh kin--I'll do the +rest. Down in Coconino county we used to have a way uh fixin' +sheepherders--" + +"Aw, gwan! We don't want no torture business!" remonstrated Happy +Jack uneasily, edging away. + +"Yuh don't, hey?" Big Medicine turned in the saddle wrathfully +and glared. When he had succeeded in catching Andy Green's eye he +winked, and that young man's face kindled understandingly. "Well, +now, you hain't runnin' this here show. Honest to grandma, I've +saw the time when a little foot-warmin' done a sheepherder a +whole lot uh good; and, it looks to me, by cripes, as if this +here feller needed a dose to gentle him down. You git the fire +started. That's all I want you t' do, Happy. Some uh you boys +help me rope him--like him and that other jasper over there done +to Andy. C'me on, Andy--it ain't goin' to take long!" + +"You bet your sweet life I'll come on!" exclaimed Andy, +dismounting eagerly. "Let me take your rope, Weary. Too bad we +haven't got a branding iron--" + +"Aw, we don't need no irons." Big Medicine was also on the ground +by then, and untying his rope. "Lemme git his shoes off once, and +I'll show yuh." + +The bug-killer lifted his stick, snarling like a mongrel dog when +a stranger tries to drive it out of the house; hurled the stick +hysterically, as Big Medicine, rope in hand, advanced implacably, +and, with a squawk of horror, turned suddenly and ran. After him, +bellowing terribly, lunged Big Medicine, straight through the +band like a snowplow, leaving behind them a wide, open trail. + +"Say, we kinda overplayed that bet, by gracious," Andy commented +to Weary, while he watched the chase. "That gazabo's scared +silly; let's try the other one. That torture talk works fine." + +In his enthusiasm Andy remounted and was about to lead the way to +the other herder when Big Medicine returned puffing, the +bug-killer squirming in his grasp. "Tell him what yuh want him to +do, Weary," he panted, with some difficulty holding his limp +victim upright by a greasy coat-collar. "And if he don't fall +over himself doin' it, why--by cripes--we'll take off his shoes!" + +Whereupon the bug-killer gave another howl and professed himself +eager to drive the sheep--well, what he said was that he would +drive them to that place which ladies dislike to hear mentioned, +if the Happy Family wanted him to. + +"That's all right, then. Start 'em south, and don't quit till +somebody tells you to." Weary carefully let down the hammer of +his six-shooter and shoved it thankfully into his scabbard. + +"Now, you don't want to pile it on quite so thick, next time," +Irish admonished Big Medicine, when they turned away from +watching the bug-killer set his dogs to work by gestures and a +shouted word or two. "You like to have sent this one plumb +nutty." + +"I betche Bud gets us all pinched for that," grumbled Happy Jack. +"Torturing folks is purty darned serious business. You might as +well shoot 'em up decent and be done with it." + +"Haw-haw-haw-w-w!" Big Medicine ogled the group mirthfully. +"Nobody can't swear I done a thing, or said a thing. All I said +definite was that I'd take off his shoes. Any jury in the +country'd know that would be hull lot worse fer us than it would +fer him, by cripes. Haw-haw-haw-w-w!" + +"Say, that's right; yuh didn't say nothin', ner do nothin'. By +golly, that was purty slick work, all right!" Slim forgot his +sore leg until he clapped his hand enthusiastically down upon the +place as comprehension of Bud's finesse dawned upon him. He +yelped, and the Happy Family laughed unfeelingly. + +"You want to be careful and don't try to see through any jokes, +Slim, till that leg uh yours gets well," Irish bantered, and they +laughed the louder. + +All this was mere byplay; a momentary swinging of their mood to +pleasantry, because they were a temperamentally cheerful lot, and +laughter came to them easily, as it always does to youth and +perfect mental and physical health. Their brief hilarity over +Slim's misfortune did not swerve them from their purpose, nor +soften the mood of them toward their adversaries. They were +unsmiling and unfriendly when they reached the man from Wyoming; +and, if they ever behaved like boys let out of school, they did +not show it then. + +The Wyoming man was wiser than his fellow. He had been given +several minutes grace in which to meditate upon the unwisdom of +defiance; and he had seen the bug-killer change abruptly from +sullenness to terror, and afterward to abject obedience. He did +not know what they had said to him, or what they had done; but he +knew the bug-killer was a hard man to stampede. And he was one +man, and they were many; also he judged that, being human, and +this being the third offense of the Dot sheep under his care, it +would be extremely unsafe to trust that their indignation would +vent itself in mere words. + +Therefore, when Weary told him to get the stragglers back through +the fence and up on the level, he stopped only long enough for a +good look at their faces. After that he called his dogs and +crawled through the fence. + +It really did not require the entire Family to force those sheep +south that morning. But Weary's jaw was set, as was his heart, +upon a thorough cleaning of that particular bit of range; and, +since he did not definitely request any man to turn back, and +every fellow there was minded to see the thing to a finish, they +straggled out behind the trailing two thousand--and never had one +bunch of sheep so efficient a convoy. + +After the first few miles the way grew rough. Sheep lagged, and +the blatting increased to an uproar. Old ewes and yearlings these +were mostly, and there were few to suffer more than hunger and +thirst, perhaps. So Weary was merciless, and drove them forward +without a stop until the first jumble of hills and deep-worn +gullies held them back from easy traveling. + +But the Happy Family had not ridden those breaks for cattle, all +these years, to be hindered by rough going. Weary, when the band +stopped and huddled, blatting incessantly against a sheer wall of +sandstone and gravel, got the herders together and told them what +he wanted. + +"You take 'em down that slope till you come to the second little +coulee. Don't go up the first one--that's a blind pocket. In the +second coulee, up a mile or so, there's a spring creek. You can +hold 'em there on water for half an hour. That's more than any of +yuh deserve. Haze 'em down there." + +The herders did not know it, but that second coulee was the rude +gateway to an intricate system of high ridges and winding +waterways that would later be dry as a bleached bone--the real +beginning of the bad lands which border the Missouri river for +long, terrible miles. Down there, it is possible for two men to +reach places where they may converse quite easily across a chasm, +and yet be compelled to ride fifteen or twenty miles, perhaps, in +order to shake hands. Yet, even in that scrap-heap of Nature +there are ways of passing deep into the heart of the upheaval. + +The Happy Family knew those ways as they knew the most +complicated figures of the quadrilles they danced so +lightfootedly with the girls of the Bear Paw country. When they +forced the sheep and their herders out of the coulee Weary had +indicated he sent Irish and Pink ahead to point the way, and he +told them to head for the Wash Bowl; which they did with +praiseworthy zeal and scant pity for the sheep. + +When at last, after a slow, heartbreaking climb up a long, bare +ridge, Pink and Irish paused upon the brow of a slope and let the +trail-weary band spill itself reluctantly down the steep slope +beyond, the sun stood high in the blue above them and their +stomachs clamored for food; by which signs they knew that it must +be near noon. + +When the last sheep had passed, blatting discordantly, down the +bluff, Weary halted the sweating herders for a parting +admonition. + +"We don't aim to deal you any more misery, for a while, if you +stay where you're at. You're only working for a living, like the +rest of us--but I must say I don't admire your trade none. +Anyway, I'll send some of your bunch down here with grub and +beds. This is good enough range for sheep. You keep away from the +Flying U and nobody'll bother you. Over there in them trees," he +added, pointing a gloved finger toward a little grove on the far +side of the basin, "you'll find a cabin, and water. And, farther +down the river there's pretty good grass, in the little bottoms. +Now, git." + +The herders looked as if they would enjoy murdering them all, but +they did not say a word. With their dogs at heel they scrambled +down the bluff in the wake of their sheep, and the Happy Family, +rolling cigarettes while they watched them depart, told one +another that this settled that bunch; they wouldn't bed down in +the Flying U door-yard that night, anyway. + + + +CHAPTER XI. Weary Unburdens + +Hungry with the sharp, gnawing hunger of healthy stomachs +accustomed to regular and generous feeding; tired with the +weariness of healthy muscles pushed past their accustomed limit +of action; and hot with the unaccustomed heat of a blazing day +shunted unaccountably into the midst of soft spring weather, the +Happy Family rode out of the embrace of the last barren coulee +and up on the wide level where the breeze swept gratefully up +from the west, and where every day brought with it a deeper tinge +of green into its grassy carpet. + +Only for this harassment of the Dot sheep, the roundup wagons +would be loaded and ready to rattle abroad over the land. Meadow +larks and curlews and little, pert-eyed ground sparrows called +out to them that roundup time was come. They passed a bunch of +feeding Flying U cattle, and flat-ribbed, bandy-legged calves +galloped in brief panic to their mothers and from the sanctuary +of grass-filled paunches watched the riders with wide, +inquisitive eyes. + +"We ought to be starting out, by now," Weary observed a bit +gloomily to Andy and Pink, who rode upon either side of him. "The +calf crop is going to be good, if this weather holds on another +two weeks or so. But--" he waved his cigarette disgustedly +"--that darned Dot outfit would be all over the place, if we +pulled out on roundup and left 'em the run of things." He smoked +moodily for a minute. "My religion has changed a lot in the last +few days," he observed whimsically. "My idea of hell is a place +where there ain't anything but sheep and sheepherders; and +cowpunchers have got to spend thousands uh years right in the +middle of the corrals." + +"If that's the case, I'm going to quit cussing, and say my +prayers every night," Andy Green asserted emphatically. + +"What worries me," Weary confided, obeying the impulse to talk +over his troubles with those who sympathized, "is how I'm going +to keep the work going along like it ought to, and at the same +time keep them Dot sheep outa the house. Dunk's wise, all right. +He knows enough about the cow business to know we ye got to get +out on the range pretty quick, now. And he's so mean that every +day or every half day he can feed his sheep on Flying U grass, he +calls that much to the good. And he knows we won't go to opening +up any real gun-fights if we can get out of it; he counts on our +faunching around and kicking up a lot of dust, maybe--but we +won't do anything like what he'd do, in our places. He knows the +Old Man and Chip are gone, and he knows we've just naturally got +to sit back and swallow our tongues because we haven't any +authority. Mamma! It comes pretty tough, when a low-down skunk +like that just banks on your doing the square thing. He wouldn't +do it, but he knows we will; and so he takes advantage of white +men and gets the best of 'em. And if we should happen to break +out and do something, he knows the herders would be the ones to +get it in the neck; and he'd wait till the dust settled, and bob +up with the sheriff--" He waved his hand again with a hopeless +gesture. "It may not look that way on the face of it," he added +gloomily, "but Dunk has got us right where he wants us. From the +way they've been letting sheep on our land, time and time again, +I'd gamble he's just trying to make us so mad we'll break out. +He's got it in for the whole outfit, from the Old Man and the +Little Doctor down to Slim. If any of us boys got into trouble, +the Old Man would spend his last cent to clear us; and Dunk knows +that just as well as he knows the way from the house to the +stable. He'd see to it that it would just about take the Old +Man's last cent, too. And he's using these Dot sheep like you'd +use a red flag on a bull, to make us so crazy mad we'll kill off +somebody. + +"That's why," he said to them all when he saw that they had +ridden up close that they might hear what he was saying, "I've +been hollering so loud for the meek-and-mild stunt. When I +slapped him on the jaw, and he stood there and took it, I saw his +game. He had a witness to swear I hit him and he didn't hit back. +And when I saw them Dots in our field again, I knew, just as well +as if Dunk had told me, that he was kinda hoping we'd kill a +herder or two so he could cinch us good and plenty. I don't say," +he qualified with a rueful grin, "that Dunk went into the sheep +business just to get r-re-venge, as they say in shows. But if he +can make money running sheep--and he can, all right, because +there's more money in them right now than there is in cattle--and +at the same time get a good whack at the Flying U, he's the lad +that will sure make a running jump at the chance." He spat upon +the burnt end of his cigarette stub from force of the habit that +fear of range fires had built, and cast it petulantly from him; +as if he would like to have been able to throw Dunk and his sheep +problem as easily out of his path. + +"So I wish you boys would hang onto yourselves when you hear a +sheep blatting under your window," he summed up his unburdening +whimsically. "As Bud said this morning, you can't hang a man for +telling a sheepherder you'll take off his shoes. And they can't +send us over the road for moving that band of sheep onto new +range to-day. Last night you all were kinda disorderly, maybe, +but you didn't hurt anybody, or destroy any property. You see +what I mean. Our only show is to stop with our toes on the right +side of the dead line." + +"If Andy, here, would jest git his think-wheels greased and going +good," Big Medicine suggested loudly, "he ought to frame up +something that would put them Dots on the run permanent. I d'no, +by cripes, why it is a feller can always think uh lies and joshes +by the dozens, and put 'em over O. K. when there ain't nothing to +be made out of it except hard feelin's; and then when a deal like +this here sheep deal comes up, he's got about as many idees, by +cripes, as that there line-back calf over there. Honest to +grandma, Andy makes me feel kinda faint. Only time he did have a +chanc't, he let them--" It occurred to Big Medicine at that point +that perhaps his remarks might be construed by the object of them +as being offensively personal. He turned his head and grinned +good-naturedly in Andy's direction, and refrained from finishing +what he was going to say. "I sure do like them wind- flowers +scattered all over the ground," he observed with such deliberate +and ostentatious irrelevance that the Happy Family laughed, even +to Andy Green, who had at first been inclined toward anger. + +"Everything," declared Andy in the tone of a paid instructor, +"has its proper time and place, boys; I've told you that before. +For instance, I wouldn't try to kill a skunk by talking it to +death; and I wouldn't be hopeful of putting the run on this Dunk +person by telling him ghost stories. As to ideas--I'm plumb full +of them. But they're all about grub, just right at present." + +That started Slim and Happy Jack to complaining because no one +had had sense enough to go back after some lunch before taking +that long trail south; the longer because it was a slow one, with +sheep to set the pace. And by the time they had presented their +arguments against the Happy Family's having enough brains to last +them overnight, and the Happy Family had indignantly pointed out +just where the mental deficiency was most noticeable, they were +upon that last, broad stretch of "bench" land beyond which lay +Flying U coulee and Patsy and dinner; a belated dinner, to be +sure, but for that the more welcome. + +And when they reached the point where they could look away to the +very rim of the coulee, they saw sheep--sheep to the skyline, +feeding scattered and at ease, making the prairie look, in the +distance, as if it were covered with a thin growth of gray +sage-brush. Four herders moved slowly upon the outskirts, and the +dogs were little, scurrying, black dots which stopped +occasionally to wait thankfully until the master-minds again +urged them to endeavor. + +The Happy Family drew up and stared in silence. + +"Do I see sheep?" Pink inquired plaintively at last. "Tell me, +somebody." + +"It's that bunch you fellows tackled last night," said Weary +miserably. "I ought to have had sense enough to leave somebody on +the ranch to look out for this." + +"They've got their nerve," stated Irish, "after the deal they got +last night. I'd have bet good money that you couldn't drag them +herders across Flying U coulee with a log chain." + +"Say, by golly, do we have to drive this here bunch anywheres +before we git anything to eat?" Slim wanted to know +distressfully. + +Weary considered briefly. "No, I guess we'll pass 'em up for the +present. An hour or so won't make much difference in the long +run, and our horses are about all in, right now--" + +"So'm I, by cripes!" Big Medicine attested, grinning mirthlessly. +"This here sheep business is plumb wearin' on a man. 'Specially," +he added with a fretful note, "when you've got to handle 'em +gentle. The things I'd like to do to them Dots is all ruled outa +the game, seems like. Honest to grandma, a little gore would look +better to me right now than a Dutch picnic before the foam's all +blowed off the refreshments. Lemme kill off jest one herder, +Weary?" he pleaded. "The one that took a shot at me las' night. +Purty, please!" + +"If you killed one," Weary told him glumly. "you might as well +make a clean sweep and take in the whole bunch." + +"Well, I won't charge nothin' extra fer that, either," Bud +assured him generously. "I'm willin' to throw in the other three +--and the dawgs, too, by cripes!" He goggled the Happy Family +quizzically. "Nobody can't say there's anything small about me. +Why, down in the Coconino country they used to set half a dozen +greasers diggin' graves, by cripes, soon as I started in to argy +with a man. It was a safe bet they'd need three or four, anyways, +if old Bud cut loose oncet. Sheepherders? Why, they jest +natcherly couldn't keep enough on hand, securely, to run their +sheep. They used to order sheepherders like they did woolsacks, +by cripes! You could always tell when I was in the country, by +the number uh extra herders them sheep outfits always kep' in +reserve. Honest to grandma, I've knowed two or three outfits to +club together and ship in a carload at a time, when they heard I +was headed their way. And so when it comes to killin' off four, +why that ain't skurcely enough to make it worth m'while to dirty +up m'gun!" + +"Aw, I betche yuh never killed a man in your life!" Happy Jack +grumbled in his characteristic tone of disparagement; but such +was his respect for Big Medicine's prowess that he took care not +to speak loud enough to be overheard by that modest gentleman, +who continued with certain fearsome details of alleged murderous +exploits of his own, down in Coconino County, Arizona. + +But as they passed the detested animals, thankful that the trail +permitted them to ride by at a distance sufficient to blur the +most unsavory details, even Big Medicine gave over his deliberate +boastings and relapsed into silence. + +He had begun his fantastic vauntings from an instinctive impulse +to leaven with humor a situation which, at the moment, could not +be bettered. Just as they had, when came the news of the Old +Man's dire plight, sought to push the tragedy of it into the +background and cling to their creed of optimism, they had avoided +openly facing the sheep complication squarely with mutual +admissions of all it might mean to the Flying U. + +Until Weary had unburdened his heart of worry on the ride home +that day, they had not said much about it, beyond a general +vilification of the sheep industry as a whole, of Dunk as the +chief of the encroaching Dots, and of the herders personally. + +But there were times when they could not well avoid thinking +rather deeply upon the subject, even if they did refuse to put +their forebodings into speech. They were not children; neither +were they to any degree lacking in intelligence. Swearing, about +herders and at them, was all very well; bluffing, threatening, +pummeling even with willing fists, tearing down tents and binding +men with ropes might serve to relieve the emotions upon occasion. +But there was the grim economic problem which faced squarely the +Flying U as a "cow outfit"--the problem of range and water; the +Happy Family did not call it by name, but they realized to the +full what it meant to the Old Man to have sheep just over his +boundary line always. They realized, too, what it meant to have +the Old Man absent at this time--worse, to have him lying in a +hospital, likely to die at any moment; what it meant to have the +whole responsibility shifted to their shoulders, willing though +they might be to bear the burden; what it meant to have the +general of an army gone when the enemy was approaching in +overwhelming numbers. + +Pink, when they were descending the first slope of the bluff +which was the southern rim of Flying U coulee, turned and glared +vindictively back at the wavering, gray blanket out there to the +west. When he faced to the front his face had the look it wore +when he was fighting. + +"So help me, Josephine!" he gritted desperately, "we've got to +clean the range of them Dots before the Old Man comes back, or--" +He snapped his jaws shut viciously. + +Weary turned haggard eyes toward him. + +"How?" he asked simply. And Pink had no answer for him. + + + +CHAPTER XII. Two of a Kind + +Patsy, staunch old partisan that he was, placed before them much +food which he had tried his best to keep hot without burning +everything to a crisp, and while they ate with ravenous haste he +told, with German epithets and a trembling lower jaw, of his +troubles that day. + +"Dem sheeps, dey coom by der leetle pasture," he lamented while +he poured coffee muddy from long boiling. "Looks like dey know so +soon you ride away, und dey cooms cheeky as you pleece, und eats +der grass und crawls under der fence and leafs der vool sthicking +by der vires. I goes out mit a club, py cosh, und der sheeps +chust looks und valks by some better place alreatty, und I throw +rocks and yells till mine neck iss sore. + +"Und' dose herders, dey sets dem by der rock and laugh till I +felt like I could kill der whole punch, by cosh! Und von yells, +'Hey, dutchy, pring me some pie, alreatty!' Und he laughs some +more pecause der sheeps dey don't go avay; dey chust run around +und eat more grass and baa-aa!" He turned and went heavily back +to the greasy range with the depleted coffee pot, lifted the lid +of a kettle and looked in upon the contents with a purely +mechanical glance; gave a perfunctory prod or two with a long- +handled fork, and came back to stand uneasily behind Weary. + +"If you poys are goin' to shtand fer dot," he began querulously, +"Py cosh I von't! Py myself I vill go and tell dot Dunk W'ittaker +vot lowdown skunk I t'ink he iss. Sheep's vool shtickin' by der +fences efferwhere on der ranch, py cosh! Dot vould sure kill der +Old Man quick if he see it. Shtinkin' off sheeps py our noses all +der time, till I can't eat no more mit der shmell of dem. Neffer +pefore did I see vool on der Flying U fences, py cosh, und sheeps +baa-aain' in der coulee!" + +Never had they seen Patsy take so to heart a matter of mere +business importance. They did not say much to him; there was not +much that they could say. They ate their fill and went out +disconsolately to discuss the thing among themselves, away from +Patsy's throaty complainings. They hated it as badly as did he; +with Weary's urgent plea for no violence holding them in leash, +they hated it more, if that were possible. + +The Native Son tilted his head unobtrusively stableward when he +caught Andy's eye, and as unobtrusively wandered away from the +group. Andy stopped long enough to roll and light a cigarette and +then strolled after him with apparent aimlessness, secretly +curious over the summons. He found Miguel in the stable waiting +for him, and Miguel led the way, rope in hand across the corral +and into the little pasture where fed a horse he meant to ride. +He did not say anything until he had turned to close the gate, +and to make sure that they were alone and that their departure +had not carried to the Happy Family any betraying air of +significance. + +"You remember when you blew in here, a few weeks or so ago?" the +Native Son asked abruptly, a twinkle in his fathomless eyes. "You +put up a good one on the boys, that time, you remember. Bluffed +them into thinking I was a hero in disguise, and that you'd seen +me pull off a big stunt of bull-fighting and bull- dogging down +in Mexico. It was a fine josh. They believe it yet." + +Andy glanced at him perplexedly. "Yes--but when it turned out to +be true," he amended, "the josh was on me, I guess; I thought I +was just lying, when I wasn't. I've wondered a good deal about +that. By gracious, it makes a man feel funny to frame up a yarn +out of his own think-machine, and then find out he's been telling +the truth all the while. It's like a fellow handing out a +twenty-four karat gold bar to a rube by mistake, under the +impression it only looks like one. Of course they believe it! +Only they don't know I just merely hit the truth by accident." + +The Native Son smiled his slow, amused smile, that somehow never +failed to be impressive. "That's the funny part of it," he +drawled. "You didn't. I just piled another little josh on top of +yours, that's all. I never throwed a bull in my life, except with +my lariat. I'd heard a good deal about you, and--well, I thought +I'd see if I could go you one better. And you put that Mexico +yarn across so smooth and easy, I just simply couldn't resist the +temptation to make you think it was all straight goods. Sabe?" + +Andy Green did not say a word, but he looked exceedingly foolish. + +"So I think we can both safely consider ourselves top-hands when +it comes to lying," the Native Son went on shamelessly. "And if +you're willing to go in with me on it and help put Dunk on the +run--" He glanced over his shoulder, saw that Happy Jack, on +horseback, was coming out to haze in the saddle bunch, and turned +to stroll back as lazily as he had come. He continued to speak +smoothly and swiftly, in a voice that would not carry ten paces. +While Andy Green, with brown head bent attentively, listened +eagerly and added a sentence or two on his own account now and +then, and smiled--which he had not been in the habit of doing +lately. + +"Say, you fellers are gittin' awful energetic, ain't +yuh?--wranglin' horses afoot!" Happy Jack bantered at the top of +his voice when he passed them by. "Better save up your strength +while you kin. Weary's goin' to set us herdin' sheep agin--and I +betche there's goin' to be something more'n herdin' on our hands +before we git through." + +"I wouldn't be a bit surprised if there was," sang out Andy, as +cheerfully as if he had been invited to dance "Ladies' choice" +with the prettiest girl in the crowd. "Wonder what hole he's +going to dump this bunch into," he added to the Native Son. "By +gracious, he ought to send 'em just as far north as he can drive +'em without paying duty! I'd sure take 'em over into Canada, if +it was me running the show." + +"It was a mistake," the Native Son volunteered, "for the whole +bunch to go off like we did to-day. They had those sheep up here +on the hill just for a bait. They knew we'd go straight up in the +air and come down on those two freaks herding 'em, and that gave +them the chance to cross the other bunch. I thought so all along, +but I didn't like to butt in." + +"Well Weary's mad enough now to do things that will leave a dent, +anyway," Andy commented under his breath when, from the corral +gate, he got a good look at Weary's profile, which showed the set +of his mouth and chin. "See that mouth? It's hunt the top rail, +and do it quick, when old Weary straightens out his lips like +that." + +Behind them, Happy Jack bellowed for an open gate and no +obstructions, and they drew hastily to one side to let the saddle +horses gallop past with a great upflinging of dust. Pink, with a +quite obtrusive facetiousness, began lustily chanting that it +looked to him like a big night to-night--with occasional, furtive +glances at Weary's face; for he, also, had been quick to read +those close-pressed lips, which did not soften in response to the +ditty. Usually he laughed at Pink's drollery. + +They rode rather quietly upon the hill again, to where fed the +sheep. During the hour or so that they had been absent the sheep +had not moved appreciably; they still grazed close enough to the +boundary to make their position seem a direct insult to the +Flying U, a virtual slap in the face. And these young men who +worked for the Flying U, and who made its interests right loyally +their own, were growing very, very tired of turning the other +cheek. With them, the time for profanity and for horseplay +bluffing and judicious temporizing was past. There were other +lips besides Weary's that were drawn tight and thin when they +approached that particular band of sheep. More than one pair of +eyes turned inquiringly toward him and away again when they met +no answering look. + +They topped a rise of ground, and in the shallow wrinkle which +had hidden him until now they came full upon Dunk Whittaker, +riding a chunky black which stepped restlessly about while he +conferred in low tones with a couple of the herders. The Happy +Family recognized them as two of the fellows in whose safe +keeping they had left their ropes the night before. Dunk looked +around quickly when the group appeared over the little ridge, +scowled, hesitated and then came straight up to them. + +"I want you rowdies to bring back those sheep you took the +trouble to drive off this morning," he began, with the even, +grating voice and the sneering lift of lip under his little, +black mustache which the older members of the Happy Family +remembered--and hated--so vividly. "I've stood just all I'm going +to stand, of these typically Flying U performances you've been +indulging in so freely during the past week. It's all very well +to terrorize a neighborhood of long-haired rubes who don't know +enough to teach you your places; but interfering with another +man's property is--" + +"Interfering with another--what?" Big Medicine, his pale blue +eyes standing out more like a frog's than ever upon his face, +gave his horse a kick and lunged close that he might lean and +thrust his red face near to Dunk's. "Another what? I don't see +nothin' in your saddle that looks t'me like a man, by cripes! All +I can see is a smooth-skinned, slippery vermin I'd hate to name a +snake after, that crawls around in the dark and lets cheap rough- +necks do all his dirty work. I've saw dogs sneak up and grab a +man behind, but most always they let out a growl or two first. +And even a rattler is square enough to buzz at yuh and give yuh a +chanc't to side-step him. Honest to grandma, I don't hardly know +what kinda reptyle y'are. I hate to insult any of 'em, by cripes, +by namin' yuh after 'em. But don't, for Lordy's sake, ever call +yourself a man agin!" + +Big Medicine turned his head and spat disgustedly into the grass +and looked back slightingly with other annihilating remarks close +behind his wide-apart teeth, but instead of speaking he made an +unbelievably quick motion with his hand. The blow smacked loudly +upon Dunk's cheek, and so nearly sent him out of the saddle that +he grabbed for the horn to save himself. + +"Oh, I seert yuh keepin' yer hand next yer six-gun all the +while," Big Medicine bawled. "That's one reason I say yuh ain't +no man! Yuh wouldn't dast talk up to a prairie dog if yuh wasn't +all set to make a quick draw. Yuh got your face slapped oncet +before by a Flyin' U man, and yuh had it comm'. Now +you're--gittin'--it--done--right!" + +If you have ever seen an irate, proletarian mother cuffing her +offspring over an empty wood-box, you may picture perhaps the +present proceeding of Big Medicine. To many a man the thing would +have been unfeasible, after the first blow, because of the +horses. But Big Medicine was very nearly all that he claimed to +be; and one of his pet vanities was his horsemanship; he managed +to keep within a fine slapping distance of Dunk. He stopped when +his hand began to sting through his glove. + +"Now you keep your hand away from that gun--that you ain't honest +enough to carry where folks can see it, but 'ye got it cached in +your pocket!" he thundered. "And go on with what you was goin' +t'say. Only don't get swell-headed enough to think you're a man, +agin. You ain't." + +"I've got this to say!" Mere type cannot reproduce the +malevolence of Dunk's spluttering speech. "I've sent for the +county sheriff and a dozen deputies to arrest you, and you, and +you, damn you!" He was pointing a shaking finger at the older +members of the Happy Family, whom he recognized not gladly, but +too well. "I'll have you all in Deer Lodge before that lying, +thieving, cattle-stealing Old Man of yours can lift a finger. +I'll sheep Flying U coulee to the very doors of the white house. +I'll skin the range between here and the river--and I'll have +every one of you hounds put where the dogs won't bite you!" He +drew a hand across his mouth and smiled as they say Satan himself +can smile upon occasion. + +"You've done enough to send you all over the road; destroying +property and assaulting harmless men--you wait! There are other +and better ways to fight than with the fists, and I haven't +forgotten any of you fellows--there are a few more rounders among +you--" + +"Hey! You apologize fer that, by cripes, er I'll kill yuh the +longest way I know. And that--" Big Medicine again laid violent +hands upon Dunk, "and that way won't feel good, now I'm tellin' +yuh. Apologize, er--" + +"Say, all this don't do any good, Bud," Weary expostulated. "Let +Dunk froth at the mouth if he wants to; what we want is to get +these sheep off the range. And," he added recklessly, "so long as +the sheriff is headed for us anyway, we may as well get busy and +make it worth his while. So--" He stopped, silenced by a most +amazing interruption. + +On the brow of the hill, when first they had sighted Dunk in the +hollow, something had gone wrong with Miguel's saddle so that he +had stopped behind; and, to keep him company, Andy had stopped +also and waited for him. Later, when Dunk was spluttering +threats, they had galloped up to the edge of the group and pulled +their horses to a stand. Now, Miguel rode abruptly close to Dunk +as rides one with a purpose. + +He leaned and peered intently into Dunk's distorted countenance +until every man there, struck by his manner, was watching him +curiously. Then he sat back in the saddle, straightened his legs +in the stirrups and laughed. And like his smile when he would +have it so, or the little twitch of shoulders by which he could +so incense a man, that laugh brought a deeper flush to Dunk's +face, reddened though it was by Big Medicine's vigorous slapping. + +"Say, you've got nerve," drawled the Native Son, "to let a +sheriff travel toward you. I can remember when you were more +timid, amigo." He turned his head until his eyes fell upon Andy. +"Say, Andy!" he called. "Come and take a look at this hombre. +You'll have to think back a few years," he assisted laconically. + +In response, Andy rode up eagerly. Like the Native Son, he leaned +and peered into eyes that stared back defiantly, wavered, and +turned away. Andy also sat back in the saddle then, and snorted. + +"So this is the Dunk Whittaker that's been raising merry hell +around here! And talks about sending for the sheriff, huh? I've +always heard that a lot uh gall is the best disguise a man can +hide under, but, by gracious, this beats the deuce!" He turned to +the astounded Happy Family with growing excitement in his manner. + +"Boys, we don't have to worry much about this gazabo! We'll just +freeze onto him till the sheriff heaves in sight. Gee! There'll +sure be something stirring when we tell him who this Dunk person +really is! And you say he was in with the Old Man, once? Oh, +Lord!" He looked with withering contempt at Dunk; and Dunk's +glance flickered again and dropped, just as his hand dropped to +the pocket of his coat. + +"No, yuh don't, by cripes!" Big Medicine's hand gripped Dunk's +arm on the instant. With his other he plucked the gun from Dunk's +pocket, and released him as he would let go of something foul +which he had been compelled to touch. + +"He'll be good, or he'll lose his dinner quick," drawled the +Native Son, drawing his own silver-mounted six-shooter and +resting it upon the saddle horn so that it pointed straight at +Dunk's diaphragm. "You take Weary off somewhere and tell him +something about this deal, Andy. I'll watch this slippery +gentleman." He smiled slowly and got an answering grin from Andy +Green, who immediately rode a few rods away, with Weary and Pink +close behind. + +"Say, by golly, what's Dunk wanted fer?" Slim blurted +inquisitively after a short silence. + +"Not for riding or driving over a bridge faster than a walk +Slim," purred the Native Son, shifting his gun a trifle as Dunk +moved uneasily in the saddle. "You know the man. Look at his +face--and use your imagination, if you've got any." + + + +CHAPTER XIII. The Happy Family Learn Something + +"Well, I hope this farce is about over," Dunk sneered, with as +near an approach to his old, supercilious manner as he could +command, when the three who had ridden apart returned presently. +"Perhaps, Weary, you'll be good enough to have this fellow put up +his gun, and these--" he hesitated, after a swift glance, to +apply any epithet whatever to the Happy Family. "I have two +witnesses here to swear that you have without any excuse +assaulted and maligned and threatened me, and you may consider +yourselves lucky if I do not insist--" + +"Ah, cut that out," Andy advised wearily. "I don't know how it +strikes the rest, but it sounds pretty sickening to me. Don't +overlook the fact that two of us happen to know all about you; +and we know just where to send word, to dig up a lot more +identification. So bluffing ain't going to help you out, a darned +bit." + +"Miguel, you can go with Andy," Weary said with brisk decision. +"Take Dunk down to the ranch till the sheriff gets here--if it's +straight goods about Dunk sending for him. If he didn't, we can +take Dunk in to-morrow, ourselves." He turned and fixed a cold, +commanding eye upon the slack-jawed herders. "Come along, you +two, and get these sheep headed outa here." + +"Say, we'll just lock him up in the blacksmith shop, and come on +back," Andy amended the order after his own free fashion. "He +couldn't get out in a million years; not after I'm through +staking him out to the anvil with a log-chain." He smiled +maliciously into Dunk's fear-yellowed countenance, and waved him +a signal to ride ahead, which Dunk did without a word of protest +while the Happy Family looked on dazedly. + +"What's it all about, Weary?" Irish asked, when the three were +gone. "What is it they've got on Dunk? Must be something pretty +fierce, the way he wilted down into the saddle." + +"You'll have to wait and ask the boys." Weary rode off to hurry +the herders on the far side of the band. + +So the Happy Family remained perforce unenlightened upon the +subject and for that they said hard things about Weary, and about +Andy and Miguel as well. They believed that they were entitled to +know the truth, and they called it a smart-aleck trick to keep +the thing so almighty secret. + +There is in resentment a crisis; when that crisis is reached, and +the dam of repression gives way, the full flood does not always +sweep down upon those who have provoked the disaster. Frequently +it happens that perfectly innocent victims are made to suffer. +The Happy Family had been extremely forbearing, as has been +pointed out before. They had frequently come to the boiling point +of rage and had cooled without committing any real act of +violence. But that day had held a long series of petty +annoyances; and here was a really important thing kept from them +as if they were mere outsiders. When Weary was gone, Irish asked +Pink what crime Dunk had committed in the past. And Pink shook +his head and said he didn't know. Irish mentally accused Pink of +lying, and his temper was none the better for the rebuff, as +anyone can readily understand. + +When the herders, therefore, rounded up the sheep and started +them moving south, the Happy Family speedily rebelled against +that shuffling, nibbling, desultory pace that had kept them long, +weary hours in the saddle with the other band. But it was Irish +who first took measures to accelerate that pace. + +He got down his rope and whacked the loop viciously down across +the nearest gray back. The sheep jumped, scuttled away a few +paces and returned to its nibbling progress. Irish called it +names and whacked another. + +After a few minutes he grew tired of swinging his loop and seeing +it have so fleeting an effect, and pulled his gun. He fired close +to the heels of a yearling buck that had more than once stopped +to look up at him foolishly and blat, and the buck charged ahead +in a panic at the noise and the spat of the bullet behind him. + +"Hit him agin in the same place!" yelled Big Medicine, and drew +his own gun. The Happy Family, at that high tension where they +were ready for anything, caught the infection and began shooting +and yelling like crazy men. + +The effect was not at all what they expected. Instead of adding +impetus to the band, as would have been the case if they had been +driving cattle, the result was exactly the opposite. The sheep +ran--but they ran to a common center. As the shooting went on +they bunched tighter and tighter, until it seemed as though those +in the center must surely be crushed flat. From an ambling, +feeding company of animals, they become a lumpy gray blanket, +with here and there a long, vacuous face showing idiotically upon +the surface. + +The herders grinned and drew together as against a common +enemy--or as with a new joke to be discussed among themselves. +The dogs wandered helplessly about, yelped half-heartedly at the +woolly mass, then sat down upon their haunches and lolled red +tongues far out over their pointed little teeth, and tilted +knowing heads at the Happy Family. + +"Look at the darned things!" wailed Pink, riding twice around the +huddle, almost ready to shed tears of pure rage and helplessness. +"Git outa that! Hi! Woopp-ee!" He fired again and again, and gave +the range-old cattle-yell; the yell which had sent many a tired +herd over many a weary mile; the yell before which had fled fat +steers into the stockyards at shipping time, and up the chutes +into the cars; the yell that had hoarsened many a cowpuncher's +voice and left him with a mere croak to curse his fate with; a +yell to bring results--but it did not start those sheep. + +The Happy Family, riding furiously round and round, fired every +cartridge they had upon their persons; they said every improper +thing they could remember or invent; they yelled until their eyes +were starting from their sockets; they glued that band of sheep +so tight together that dynamite could scarcely have pried them +apart. + +And the herders, sitting apart with grimy hands clasped loosely +over hunched-up knees, looked on, and talked together in low +tones, and grinned. + +Irish glanced that way and caught them grinning; caught them +pointing derisively, with heaving shoulders. He swore a great +oath and made for them, calling aloud that he would knock those +grins so far in that they would presently find themselves smiling +wrong-side-out from the back of their heads. + +Pink, overhearing him, gave a last swat at the waggling tail of a +burrowing buck, and wheeled to overtake Irish and have a hand in +reversing the grins. Big Medicine saw them start, and came +bellowing up from the far side of the huddle like a bull +challenging to combat from across a meadow. Big Medicine did not +know what it was all about, but he scented battle, and that was +sufficient. Cal Emmett and Weary, equally ignorant of the cause, +started at a lope toward the trouble center. + +It began to look as if the whole Family was about to fall upon +those herders and rend them asunder with teeth and nails; so much +so that the herders jumped up and ran like scared cottontails +toward the rim of Denson coulee, a hundred yards or so to the +west. + +"Mamma! I wish we could make the sheep hit that gait and keep +it," exclaimed Weary, with the first laugh they had heard from +him that day. + +While he was still laughing, there was a shot from the ridge +toward which they were running; the sharp, vicious crack of a +rifle. The Happy Family heard the whistling hum of the bullet, +singing low over their heads; quite low indeed; altogether too +low to be funny. And they had squandered all their ammunition on +the prairie sod, to hurry a band of sheep that flatly refused to +hurry anywhere except under one another's odorous, perspiring +bodies. + +From the edge of the coulee the rifle spoke again. A tiny geyser +of dust, spurting up from the ground ten feet to one side of Cal +Emmett, showed them all where the bullet struck. + +"Get outa range, everybody!" yelled Weary, and set the example by +tilting his rowels against Glory's smooth hide, and heading +eastward. "I like to be accommodating, all right, but I draw the +line on standing around for a target while my neighbors practise +shooting." + +The Happy Family, having no other recourse, therefore retreated +in haste toward the eastern skyline. Bullets followed them, +overtook them as the shooter raised his sights for the increasing +distance, and whined harmlessly over their heads. All save one. + + + +CHAPTER XIV. Happy Jack + +Big Medicine, Irish and Pink, racing almost abreast, heard a +scream behind them and pulled up their horses with short, +stiff-legged plunges. A brown horse overtook them; a brown horse, +with Happy Jack clinging to the saddle-horn, his body swaying far +over to one side. Even as he went hurtling past them his hold +grew slack and he slumped, head foremost, to the ground. The +brown horse gave a startled leap away from him and went on with +empty stirrups flapping. + +They sprang down and lifted him to a less awkward position, and +Big Medicine pillowed the sweat-dampened, carroty head in the +hollow of his arm. Those who had been in the lead looked back +startled when the brown horse tore past them with that empty +saddle; saw what had happened, wheeled and galloped back. They +dismounted and stood silently grouped about poor, ungainly Happy +Jack, lying there limp and motionless in Big Medicine's arms. Not +one of them remembered then that there was a man with a rifle not +more than two hundred yards away; or, if they did, they quite +forgot that the rifle might be dangerous to themselves. They were +thinking of Happy Jack. + +Happy Jack, butt of all their jokes and jibes; Happy the croaker, +the lugubrious forecaster of trouble; Happy Jack, the ugliest, +the stupidest, the softest-hearted man of them all. He had +"betched" there would be someone killed, over these Dot sheep; he +had predicted trouble of every conceivable kind; and they had +laughed at him, swore at him, lied to him, "joshed" him +unmercifully, and kept him in a state of chronic indignation, +never dreaming that the memory of it would choke them and strike +them dumb with that horrible, dull weight in their chests with +which men suffer when a woman would find the relief of weeping. + +"Where's he hurt?" asked Weary, in the repressed tone which only +tragedy can bring into a man's voice, and knelt beside Big +Medicine. + +"I dunno--through the lungs, I guess; my sleeve's gitting soppy +right under his shoulder." Big Medicine did not bellow; his voice +was as quiet as Weary's. + +Weary looked up briefly at the circle of staring faces. "Pink, +you pile onto Glory and go wire for a doctor. Try Havre first; +you may get one up on the nine o' clock train. If you can't, get +one down on the 'leven-twenty, from Great Falls. Or there's +Benton--anyway, git one. If you could catch MacPherson, do it. +Try him first, and never mind a Havre doctor unless you can't get +MacPherson. I'd rather wait a couple of hours longer, for him. +I'll have a rig--no, you better get a team from Jim. They'll be +fresh, and you can put 'em through. If you kill 'em," he added +grimly, "we can pay for 'em." He had his jack-knife out, and was +already slashing carefully the shirt of Happy Jack, that he might +inspect the wound. + +Pink gave a last, wistful look at Happy Jack's face, which seemed +unfamiliar with all the color and all the expression wiped out of +it like that, and turned away. "Come and help me change saddles, +Cal," he said shortly. "Weary's stirrups are too darned long." +Even with the delay, he was mounted on Glory and galloping toward +Flying U coulee before Weary was through uncovering the wound; +and that does not mean that Weary was slow. + +The rifle cracked again, and a bullet plucked into the sod twenty +feet beyond the circle of men and horses. But no one looked up or +gave any other sign of realization that they were still the +target; they were staring, with that frowning painfully intent +look men have at such moments, at a purplish hole not much bigger +than if punched by a lead pencil, just under the point of Happy +Jack's shoulder blade; and at the blood oozing sluggishly from it +in a tiny stream across the girlishly white flesh and dripping +upon Big Medicine's arm. + +"Hadn't we better get a rig to take him home with?" Irish +suggested. + +Weary, exploring farther, had just disclosed a ragged wound under +the arm where the bullet had passed out; he made no immediate +reply. + +"Well, he ain't got it stuck inside of 'im, anyway," Big Medicine +commented relievedly. "Don't look to me like it's so awful +bad--went through kinda anglin', and maybe missed his lungs. I've +saw men shot up before--" + +"Aw--I betche you'd--think it was bad--if you had it--" murmured +Happy Jack peevishly, lifting his eyelids heavily for a resentful +glance when they moved him a little. But even as Big Medicine +grinned joyfully down at him he went off again into mental +darkness, and the grin faded into solicitude. + +"You'd kick, by golly, if you was goin' to be hung," Slim +bantered tritely and belatedly, and gulped remorsefully when he +saw that he was "joshing" an unconscious man. + +"We better get him home. Irish, you--" Weary looked up and +discovered that Irish and jack Bates were already headed for home +and a conveyance. He gave a sigh of approval and turned his +attention toward wiping the sweat and grime from Happy's face +with his handkerchief. + +"Somebody else is goin' to git hit, by golly, if we stay here," +Slim blurted suddenly, when another bullet dug up the dirt in +that vicinity. + +"That gol-darned fool'll keep on till he kills somebody. I wisht +I had m' thirty-thirty here--I'd make him wisht his mother was a +man, by golly!" + +Big Medicine looked toward the coulee rim. "I ain't got a shell +left," he growled regretfully. "I wisht we'd thought to tell the +boys to bring them rifles. Say, Slim, you crawl onto your hoss +and go git 'em. It won't take more'n a minute. There'll likely be +some shells in the magazines." + +"Go on, Slim," urged Weary grimly. "We've got to do something. +They can't do a thing like this--"he glanced down at Happy Jack- +--"and get away with it." + +"I got half a box uh shells for my thirty-thirty, I'll bring +that." Slim turned to go, stopped short and stared at the coulee +rim. "By golly, they're comm' over here!" he exclaimed. + +Big Medicine glanced up, took off his hat, crumpled it for a +pillow and eased Happy Jack down upon it. He got up stiffly, +wiped his fingers mechanically upon his trouser legs, broke his +gun open just to make sure that it was indeed empty, put it back +and picked up a handful of rocks. + +"Let 'em come," he said viciously. "I c'n kill every damn' one +with m' bare hands!" + + + +CHAPTER XV. Oleson + +"Say, ain't that Andy and Mig following along behind?" Cal asked +after a minute of watching the approach. "Sure, it is. Now +what--" + +"They're drivin' 'em, by cripes!" Big Medicine, under the stress +of the moment, returned to his usual bellowing tone. "Who's that +tall, lanky feller in the lead? I don't call to mind ever seem +him before. Them four herders I'd know a mile off." + +"That?" Weary shaded his eyes with his hat-brim, against the +slant rays of the westering sun. "That's Oleson, Dunk's partner." + +"His mother'd be a-weepin'," Big Medicine observed bodefully, "if +she knowed what was due to happen to her son right away quick. +Must be him that done the shootin'." + +They came on steadily, the four herders and Oleson walking +reluctantly ahead, with Andy Green and the Native Son riding +relentlessly in the rear, their guns held unwaveringly in a line +with the backs of their captives. Andy was carrying a rifle, +evidently taken from one of the men--Oleson, they judged for the +guilty one. Half the distance was covered when Andy was seen to +turn his head and speak briefly with the Native Son, after which +he lunged past the captives and galloped up to the waiting group. +His quick eye sought first the face of Happy Jack in anxious +questioning; then, miserably, he searched the faces of his +friends. + +"Good Lord!" he exclaimed mechanically, dismounted and bent over +the figure on the ground. For a long minute he knelt there; he +laid his ear close to Happy Jack's mouth, took off his glove and +laid his hand over Happy's heart; reached up, twitched off his +neckerchief, shook out the creases and spread it reverently over +Happy Jack's face. He stood up then and spoke slowly, his eyes +fixed upon the stumbling approach of the captives. + +"Pink told us Happy had been shot, so we rode around and come up +behind 'em. It was a cinch. And--say, boys, we've got the Dots in +a pocket. They've got to eat outa our hands, now. So don't think +about--our own feelings, or about--" he stopped abruptly and let +a downward glance finish the sentence. "We've got to keep our own +hands clean, and--now don't let your fingers get the itch, Bud!" +This, because of certain manifestations of a murderous intent on +the part of Big Medicine. + +"Oh, it's all right to talk, if yuh feel like talking," Big +Medicine retorted savagely. "I don't." He made a catlike spring +at the foremost man, who happened to be Oleson, and got a +merciless grip with his fingers on his throat, snarling like a +predatory animal over its kill. From behind, Andy, with Weary to +help, pulled him off. + +"I didn't mean to--to kill anybody," gasped Oleson, pasty white. +"I heard a lot of shooting, and so I ran up the hill--and the +herders came running toward me, and I thought I was defending my +property and men. I had a right to defend--" + +"Defend hell!" Big Medicine writhed in the restraining grasp of +those who held him. "Look at that there! As good hearted a boy as +ever turned a cow! Never harmed a soul in 'is life. Is all your +dirty, stinkin' sheep, an' all your lousy herders, worth that +boy's life? Yuh shot 'im down like a dog--lemme go, boys." His +voice was husky. "Lemme tromp the life outa him." + +"I thought you were killing my men, or I never--I never meant +to--to kill--" Oleson, shaking till he could scarcely stand, +broke down and wept; wept pitiably, hysterically, as men of a +certain fiber will weep when black tragedy confronts them all +unawares. He cowered miserably before the Happy Family, his face +hidden behind his two hands. + +"Boys, I want to say a word or two. Come over here." Andy's +voice, quiet as ever, contrasted strangely with the man's +sobbing. He led them back a few paces--Weary, Cal, Big Medicine +and Slim, and spoke hurriedly. The Native Son eyed them sidelong +from his horse, but he was careful to keep Oleson covered with +his gun--and the herders too, although they were unarmed. Once or +twice he glanced at that long, ungainly figure in the grass with +the handkerchief of Andy Green hiding the face except where a +corner, fluttering in the faint breeze which came creeping out of +the west, lifted now and then and gave a glimpse of sunbrowned +throat and a quiet chin and mouth. + +"Quit that blubbering, Oleson, and listen here." Andys voice +broke relentlessly upon the other's woe. "All these boys want to +hang yuh without any red tape; far as I'm concerned, I'm dead +willing. But we're going to give yuh a chance. Your partner, as +we told yuh coming over, we've got the dead immortal cinch on, +right now. And--well you can see what you're up against. But +we'll give yuh a chance. Have you got any family?" + +Oleson, trying to pull himself together, shook his head. + +"Well, then, you can get rid of them sheep, can't yuh? Sell 'em, +ship 'em outa here--we don't give a darn what yuh do, only so yuh +get 'em off the range." + +"Y-yes, I'll do that." Oleson's consent was reluctant, but it was +fairly prompt. "I'll get rid of the sheep," he said, as if he was +minded to clinch the promise. "I'll do it at once." + +"That's nice." Andy spoke with grim irony. "And you'll get rid of +the ranch, too. You'll sell it to the Flying U--cheap." + +"But my partner--Whittaker might object--" + +"Look here, old-timer. You'll fix that part up; you'll find a way +of fixing it. Look here--at what you're up against." He waited, +with pointing finger, for one terrible minute. "Will you sell to +the Flying U?" + +"Y-yes!" The word was really a gulp. He tried to avoid looking +where Andy pointed; failed, and shuddered at what he saw. + +"I thought you would. We'll get that in writing. And we're going +to wait just exactly twenty-four hours before we make a move. +It'll take some fine work, but we'll do it. Our boss, here, will +fix up the business end with you. He'll go with yuh right now, +and stay with yuh till you make good. And the first crooked move +you make--" Andy, in unconscious imitation of the Native Son, +shrugged a shoulder expressively and urged Weary by a glance to +take the leadership. + +"Irish, you come with me. The rest of you fellows know about what +to do. Andy, I guess you'll have to ride point till I get back." +Weary hesitated, looked from Happy Jack to Oleson and the +herders, and back to the sober faces of his fellows. "Do what you +can for him, boys--and I wish one of you would ride over, after +Pink gets back, and--let me know how things stack up, will you?" + +Incredible as was the situation on the face of it, nevertheless +it was extremely matter-of-fact in the handling; which is the way +sometimes with incredible situations; as if, since we know +instinctively that we cannot rise unprepared to the bigness of +its possibilities, we keep our feet planted steadfastly on the +ground and refuse to rise at all. And afterward, perhaps, we look +back and wonder how it all came about. + +At the last moment Weary turned back and exchanged guns with Andy +Green, because his own was empty and he realized the possible +need of one--or at least the need of having the sheep-men +perfectly aware that he had one ready for use. The Native Son, +without a word of comment, handed his own silver-trimmed weapon +over to Irish, and rolled a cigarette deftly with one hand while +he watched them ride away. + +"Does this strike anybody else as being pretty raw?" he inquired +calmly, dismounting among them. "I'd do a good deal for the +outfit, myself; but letting that man get off--Say, you fellows up +this way don't think killing a man amounts to much, do you?" He +looked from one to the other with a queer, contemptuous hostility +in his eyes. + +Andy Green took a forward step and laid a hand familiarly on his +rigid shoulder. "Quit it, Mig. We would do a lot for the outfit; +that's the God's truth. And I played the game right up to the +hilt, I admit. But nobody's killed. I told Happy to play dead. By +gracious, I caught him just in the nick uh time; he'd been +setting up, in another minute." To prove it, he bent and twitched +the handkerchief from the face of Happy Jack, and Happy opened +his eyes and made shift to growl. + +"Yuh purty near-smothered me t'death, darn yuh." + +"Dios!" breathed the Native Son, for once since they knew him +jolted out of his eternal calm. "God, but I'm glad!" + +"I guess the rest of us ain't," insinuated Andy softly, and +lifted his hat to wipe the sweat off his forehead. "I will say +that--" After all, he did not. Instead, he knelt beside Happy +Jack and painstakingly adjusted the crumpled hat a hair's breadth +differently. + +"How do yuh feel, old-timer?" be asked with a very thin disguise +of cheerfulness upon the anxiety of his tone. + +"Well, I could feel a lot--better, without hurtin' nothin," Happy +Jack responded somberly. "I hope you fellers--feel better, now. +Yuh got 'em--tryin' to murder--the hull outfit; jes' like I--told +yuh they would--" Gunshot wounds, contrary to the tales of +certain sentimentalists, do not appreciably sweeten, or even +change, a man's disposition. Happy Jack with a bullet hole +through one side of him was still Happy Jack. + +"Aw, quit your beefin'," Big Medicine advised gruffly. "A feller +with a hole in his lung yuh could throw a calf through sideways +ain't got no business statin' his views on nothin', by cripes!" + +"Aw gwan. I thought you said--it didn't amount t' nothin'," Happy +reminded him, anxiety stealing into his face. + +"Well, it don't. May lay yuh up a day or two; wouldn't be +su'prised if yuh had to stay on the bed-ground two or three +meals. But look at Slim, here. Shot through the leg--shattered a +bone, by cripes!--las' night, only; and here he's makin' a hand +and ridin' and cussin' same as any of us t'day. We ain't goin' to +let yuh grouch around, that's all. We claim we got a vacation +comm' to us; you're shot up, now, and that's fun enough for one +man, without throwin' it into the whole bunch. Why, a little nick +like that ain't nothin'; nothin' a-tall. Why, I've been shot +right through here, by cripes"--Big Medicine laid an impressive +finger-tip on the top button of his trousers--"and it come out +back here"--he whirled and showed his thumb against the small of +his back--"and I never laid off but that day and part uh the +next. I was sore," he admitted, goggling Happy Jack earnestly, +"but I kep' a-goin'. I was right in fall roundup, an' I had to. A +man can't lay down an' cry, by cripes, jes' because he gets +pinked a little--" + +"Aw, that's jest because--it ain't you. I betche you'd lay 'em +down--jest like other folks, if yuh got shot--through the lungs. +That ain't no--joke, lemme tell yuh!" Happy Jack was beginning to +show considerable spirit for a wounded man. So much spirit that +Andy Green, who had seen men stricken down with various ills, +read fever signs in the countenance and in the voice of Happy, +and led Big Medicine somewhat peremptorily out of ear-shot. + +"Ain't you got any sense?" he inquired with fine candor. "What do +you want to throw it into him like that, for? You may not think +so, but he's pretty bad off--if you ask me." + +Big Medicine's pale eyes turned commiseratingly toward Happy +Jack. "I know he is; I ain't no fool. I was jest tryin' to cheer +'im up a little. He was beginnin' to look like he was gittin' +scared about it; I reckon maybe I made a break, sayin' what I did +about it, so I jest wanted to take the cuss off. Honest to +gran'ma--" + +"If you know anything at all about such things, you must know +what fever means in such a case. And, recollect, it's going to be +quite a while before a doctor can get here." + +"Oh, I'll be careful. Maybe I did throw it purty strong; I won't, +no more." Big Medicine s meekness was not the least amazing +incident of the day. He was a big-hearted soul under his bellow +and bluff, and his sympathy for Happy Jack struck deep. He went +back walking on his toes, and he stood so that his sturdy body +shaded Happy Jack's face from the sun, and he did not open his +mouth for another word until Irish and Jack Bates came rattling +up with the spring wagon hurriedly transformed with mattress, +pillows and blankets into an ambulance. + +They had been thoughtful to a degree. They brought with them a +jug of water and a tin cup, and they gave Happy Jack a long, +cooling drink of it and bathed his face before they lifted him +into the wagon. And of all the hands that ministered to his +needs, the hands of Big Medicine were the eagerest and gentlest, +and his voice was the most vibrant with sympathy; which was +saying a good deal. + + + +CHAPTER XVI. The End of the Dots + +Slim may not have been more curious than his fellows, but he was +perhaps more single-hearted in his loyalty to the outfit. To him +the shooting of Happy Jack, once he felt assured that the wound +was not necessarily fatal, became of secondary importance. It was +all in behalf of the Flying U; and if the bullet which laid Happy +Jack upon the ground was also the means of driving the hated Dots +from that neighborhood, he felt, in his slow, phlegmatic way, +that it wasn't such a catastrophe as some of the others seemed to +think. Of course, he wouldn't want Happy to die; but he didn't +believe, after all, that Happy was going to do anything like +that. Old Patsy knew a lot about sickness and wounds. (Who can +cook for a cattle outfit, for twenty years and more, and not know +a good deal of hurts?) Old Patsy had looked Happy over carefully, +and had given a grin and a snort. + +"Py cosh, dot vos lucky for you, alreatty," he had pronounced. +"So you don't git plood-poisonings, mit fever, you be all right +pretty soon. You go to shleep, yet. If fix you oop till der +dochtor he cooms. I seen fellers shot plumb through der middle +off dem, und git yell. You ain't shot so bad. You go to shleep." + +So, his immediate fears relieved, Slim's slow mind had swung back +to the Dots, and to Oleson, whom Weary was even now assisting to +keep his promise (Slim grinned widely to himself when he thought +of the abject fear which Oleson had displayed because of the +murder he thought he had done, while Happy Jack obediently +"played dead"). And of Dunk, whom Slim had hated most abominably +of old; Dunk, a criminal found out; Dunk, a prisoner right there +on the very ranch he had thought to despoil; Dunk, at that very +moment locked in the blacksmith shop. Perhape it was not +curiosity alone which sent him down there; perhaps it was partly +a desire to look upon Dunk humbled--he who had trodden so +arrogantly upon the necks of those below him; so arrogantly that +even Slim, the slow-witted one, had many a time trembled with +anger at his tone. + +Slim walked slowly, as was his wont; with deadly directness, as +was his nature. The blacksmith shop was silent, closed--as grimly +noncommittal as a vault. You might guess whatever you pleased +about its inmate; it was like trying to imagine the emotions +pictured upon the face behind a smooth, black mask. Slim stopped +before the closed door and listened. The rusty, iron hasp +attracted his slow gaze, at first puzzling him a little, making +him vaguely aware that something about it did not quite harmonize +with his mental attitude toward it. It took him a full minute to +realize that he had expected to find the door locked, and that +the hasp hung downward uselessly, just as it hung every day in +the year. + +He remembered then that Andy had spoken of chaining Dunk to the +anvil. That would make it unnecessary to lock the door, of +course. Slim seized the hanging strip of iron, gave it a jerk and +bathed all the dingy interior with a soft, sunset glow. Cobwebs +quivered at the inrush of the breeze, and glistened like threads +of fine gold. The forge remained a dark blot in the corner. A new +chisel, lying upon the earthen floor, became a bar of yellow +light. + +Slim's eyes went to the anvil and clung there in a widening +stare. His hands, white and soft when his gloves were off, drew +up convulsively into fighting fists, and as he stood looking, the +cords swelled and stood out upon his thick neck. For years he had +hated Dunk Whittaker-- + +The Happy Family, with rare good sense, had not hesitated to turn +the white house into an impromptu hospital. They knew that if the +Little Doctor and Chip and the Old Man had been at home Happy +Jack would have been taken unquestioningly into the guest +chamber--which was a square, three-windowed room off the big +livingroom. More than one of them had occupied it upon occasion. +They took Happy Jack up there and put him to bed quite as a +matter-of-course, and when he was asleep they lingered upon the +wide, front porch; the hammock of the Little Doctor squeaked +under the weight of Andy Green, and the wide-armed chairs +received the weary forms of divers young cowpunchers who did not +give a thought to the intrusion, but were thankful for the +comfort. Andy was swinging luxuriously and drawing the last few +puffs from a cigarette when Slim, purple and puffing audibly, +appeared portentously before him. + +"I thought you said you was goin' to lock Dunk up in the +blacksmith shop," he launched accusingly at Andy. + +"We did," averred that young man, pushing his toe against the +railing to accelerate the voluptuous motion of the hammock. + +"He ain't there. He's broke loose. The chain--by golly, yuh went +an' used that chain that was broke an' jest barely hangin' +together! His horse ain't anywheres around, either. You fellers +make me sick. Lollin' around here an' not paying no attention, by +golly--he's liable to be ten mile from here by this time!" When +Slim stopped, his jaw quivered like a dish of disturbed jelly, +and I wish I could give you his tone; choppy, every sentence an +accusation that should have made those fellows wince. + +Irish, Big Medicine and Jack Bates had sprung guiltily to their +feet and started down the steps. The drawling voice of the Native +Son stopped them, ten feet from the porch. + +"Twelve, or fifteen, I should make it. That horse of his looked +to me like a drifter." + +"Well--are yuh goin' t' set there on your haunches an' let him +GO?" Slim, by the look of him, was ripe for murder. + +"You want to look out, or you'll get apoplexy sure," Andy +soothed, giving himself another luxurious push and pulling the +last, little whiff from his cigarette before he threw away the +stub. "Fat men can't afford to get as excited as skinny ones +can." + +"Aw, say! Where did you put him, Andy?" asked Big Medicine, his +first flurry subsiding before the absolute calm of those two on +the porch. + +"In the blacksmith shop," said Andy, with a slurring accent on +the first word that made the whole sentence perfectly maddening. +"Ah, come on back here and sit down. I guess we better tell 'em +the how of it. Huh, Mig?" + +Miguel cast a slow, humorous glance over the four. "Ye-es-- +they'll have us treed in about two minutes if we don't," he +assented. "Go ahead." + +"Well," Andy lifted his head and shoulders that he might readjust +a pillow to his liking, "we wanted him to make a getaway. Fact +is, if he hadn't, we'd have been--strictly up against it. Right! +If he hadn't--how about it, Mig? I guess we'd have been to the +Little Rockies ourselves." + +"You've got a sweet little voice," Irish cut in savagely, "but +we're tired. We'd rather hear yuh say something!" + +"Oh--all right. Well, Mig and I just ribbed up a josh on Dunk. +I'd read somewhere about the same kinda deal, so it ain't +original; I don't lay any claim to the idea at all; we just +borrowed it. You see, it's like this: We figured that a man as +mean as this Dunk person most likely had stepped over the line, +somewhere. So we just took a gambling chance, and let him do the +rest. You see, we never saw him before in our lives. All that +identification stunt of ours was just a bluff. But the minute I +shoved my chips to the center, I knew we had him dead to rights. +You were there. You saw him wilt. By gracious--" + +"Yuh don't know anything against him?" gasped Irish. + +"Not a darned thing--any more than what you all know," testified +Andy complacently. + +It took a minute or two for that to sink in. + +"Well, I'll be damned!" breathed Irish. + +"We did chain him to the anvil," Andy went on. "On the way down, +we talked about being in a hurry to get back to you fellows, and +I told Mig--so Dunk could hear--that we wouldn't bother with the +horse. We tied him to the corral. And I hunted around for that +bum chain, and then we made out we couldn't find the padlock for +the door; so we decided, right out loud, that he'd be dead safe +for an hour or two, till the bunch of us got back. Not knowing a +darn thing about him, except what you boys have told us, we sure +would have been in bad if he hadn't taken a sneak. Fact is, we +were kinda worried for fear he wouldn't have nerve enough to try +it. We waited, up on the hill, till we saw him sneak down to the +corral and jump on his horse and take off down the coulee like a +scared coyote. It was," quoth the young man, unmistakably pleased +with himself, "pretty smooth work, if you ask me." + +"I'd hate to ride as fast and far to-night as that hombre will," +supplemented Miguel with his brief smile, that was just a flash +of white, even teeth and a momentary lightening of his languorous +eyes. + +Slim stood for five minutes, a stolid, stocky figure in the midst +of a storm of congratulatory comment. They forgot all about Happy +Jack, asleep inside the house, and so their voices were not +hushed. Indeed, Big Medicine's bull-like remarks boomed full- +throated across the coulee and were flung back mockingly by the +barren hills. Slim did not hear a word they were saying; he was +thinking it over, with that complete mental concentration which +is the chief recompense of a slow-working mind. He was +methodically thinking it all out--and, eventually, he saw the +joke. + +"Well, by golly!" he bawled suddenly, and brought his palm down +with a terrific smack upon his sore leg--whereat his fellows +laughed uproariously. + +"We told you not to try to see through any more jokes till your +leg gets well, Slim," Andy reminded condescendingly. + +"Say, by golly, that's a good one on Dunk, ain't it? Chasin' +himself clean outa the country, by golly--scared plumb to +death---and you fellers was only jest makin' b'lieve yuh knowed +him! By golly, that sure is a good one, all right!" + +"You've got it; give you time enough and you could see through a +barbed-wire fence," patronized Andy, from the hammock. "Yes, +since you mention it, I think myself it ain't so bad." + +"Aw-w shut up, out there, an' let a feller sleep!" came a +querulous voice from within. "I'd ruther bed down with a corral +full uh calves at weanin' time, than be anywheres within ten mile +uh you darned, mouthy--" The rest was indistinguishable, but it +did not matter. The Happy Family, save Slim, who stayed to look +after the patient, tiptoed penitently off the porch and took +themselves and their enthusiasm down to the bunk-house. + + + +CHAPTER XVII. Good News + +Pink rolled over in his bed so that he might look--however +sleepily--upon his fellows, dressing more or less quietly in the +cool dawn-hour. + +"Say, I got a letter for you, Weary," he yawned, stretching both +arms above his head. "I opened it and read it; it was from Chip, +so--" + +"What did he have to say?" + +"Old Man any better?" + +"How they comm', back here?" + +Several voices, speaking at once, necessitated a delayed reply. + +"They'll be here, to-day or to-morrow," Pink replied without any +circumlocution whatever, while he fumbled in his coat pocket for +the letter. "He says the Old Man wants to come, and the doctors +think he might as well tackle it as stay there fussing over it. +They're coming in a special car, and we've got to rig up an +outfit to meet him. The Little Doctor tells just how she wants +things fixed. I thought maybe it was important--it come special +delivery," Pink added naively, "so I just played it was mine and +read it." + +"That's all right, Cadwalloper," Weary assured him while he read +hastily the letter. "Well, we'll fix up the spring wagon and take +it in right away; somebody's got to go back anyway, with +MacPherson. Hello, Cal; how's Happy?" + +"All right," answered Cal, who had watched over him during the +night and came in at that moment after someone to take his place +in the sickroom. "Waked up on the fight because I just happened +to be setting with my eyes shut. I wasn't asleep, but he said I +was; claimed I snored so loud I kept him awake all night. Gee +whiz! I'd ruther nurse a she bear with the mumps!" + +"Old Man's coming home, Cal." Pink announced with more joy in his +tone and in his face than had appeared in either for many a weary +day. Whereupon Cal gave an exultant whoop. "Go tell that to +Happy," he shouted. "Maybe he'll forget a grouch or two. Say, +luck seems to be kinda casting loving glances our way again-- +what?" + +"By golly, seems to me Pink oughta told us when he come in, las' +night," grumbled Slim, when he could make himself heard. + +"You were all dead to the world," Pink defended, "and I wanted to +be. Two o'clock in the morning is a mighty poor time for elegant +conversation, if you want my opinion." + +"And the main point is, you knew all about it, and you didn't +give a darn whether we did or not," Irish said bluntly. "And +Weary sneaked in, too, and never let a yip outa him about things +over in Denson coulee." + +"Oh, what was the use?" asked Weary blandly. "I got an option out +of Oleson for the ranch and outfit, and all his sheep, at a +mighty good figure--for the Flying U. The Old Man can do what he +likes about it; but ten to one he'll buy him out. That is, +Oleson's share, which was two-thirds. I kinda counted on Dunk +letting go easy. And," he added, reaching for his hat, "once I +got the papers for it, there wasn't anything to hang around for, +was there? Especially," he said with his old, sunny smile, "when +we weren't urged a whole lot to stay." + +Remained therefore little, save the actual arrival of the Old +Man--a pitifully weak Old Man, bandaged and odorous with +antiseptics, and quite pathetically glad to be back home--and his +recovery, which was rather slow, and the recovery of Happy Jack, +which was rapid. + +For a brief space the Flying U outfit owned the Dots; very brief +it was; not a day longer than it took Chip to find a buyer--at a +figure considerably above that named in the option, by the way. + +So, after a season of worry and trouble and impending tragedy +such as no man may face unflinchingly, life dropped back to its +usual level, and the trail of the Flying U outfit once more led +through pleasant places. + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Flying U Ranch by B. M. 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