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diff --git a/33039.txt b/33039.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ee37f83 --- /dev/null +++ b/33039.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8897 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Orphan, by Clarence E. Mulford + +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: The Orphan + +Author: Clarence E. Mulford + +Illustrator: Allen True + +Release Date: July 1, 2010 [EBook #33039] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ORPHAN *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.fadedpage.net + + + + + +THE ORPHAN + + + + +[Illustration: "She unfastened the gold breast-pin which she wore at her +throat and pinned the bandage into place." (_See page 95._)] + + + + +THE ORPHAN + +By Clarence E. Mulford + +Author of "Bar-20" + +With Four Illustrations in Colors + +By ALLEN TRUE + +A. L. BURT COMPANY + +PUBLISHERS NEW YORK + + + + +Copyright, 1908, by + +THE OUTING PUBLISHING COMPANY + +Entered at Stationer's Hall, London, England + +All Rights Reserved + +THE ORPHAN + + + + +AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED TO + +MY MOTHER + + + + +CONTENTS + + I THE SHERIFF RIDES TO WAR 3 + II CONCERNING AN ARROW 14 + III THE SHERIFF FINDS THE ORPHAN 33 + IV THE SECOND OFFENSE 45 + V BILL JUSTIFIES HIS CREATION 60 + VI THE ORPHAN OBEYS AN IMPULSE 80 + VII THE OUTFIT HUNTS FOR STRAYS 104 + VIII "A TIMBER WOLF IN HIS OWN COUNTRY" 125 + IX THE CROSS BAR-8 LOSES SLEEP 131 + X THE ORPHAN PAYS TWO CALLS 147 + XI A VOICE FROM THE GALLERY 173 + XII A NEW DEAL ALL AROUND 193 + XIII THE STAR C GIVES WELCOME 210 + XIV THE SHERIFF STATES SOME FACTS 240 + XV AN UNDERSTANDING 266 + XVI THE FLYING-MARE 284 + XVII THE FEAST 299 + XVIII PREPARATION 325 + XIX THE ORPHAN GOES TO THE A-Y 340 + XX BILL ATTENDS THE PICNIC 352 + XXI THE ANNOUNCEMENT 368 + XXII TEX WILLIARD'S MISTAKE 375 + XXIII THE GREAT HAPPINESS 392 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + "She unfastened the gold breast-pin which she + wore at her throat and pinned the bandage into + place" _Frontispiece_ + "'The less you count the longer you'll live!' + said Shields" 192 + The Orphan gives Blake Shields' note 214 + "The Orphan stepped back a pace and dropped the + Colt into its holster" 390 + + + + +THE ORPHAN + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE SHERIFF RIDES TO WAR + + +Many men swore that The Orphan was bad, and many swore profanely and with +wonderful command of epithets because he was bad, but for obvious reasons +that was as far as the majority went to show their displeasure. Those of +the minority who had gone farther and who had shown their hatred by rash +actions only proved their foolishness; for they had indeed gone far and +would return no more. + +Tradition had it that The Orphan was a mongrel, a half-breed, asserting +that his mother had been a Sioux with negro blood in her veins. It also +asserted that his father had been nominated and unanimously elected, by a +posse, to an elevated position under a tree; and further, that The Orphan +himself had been born during a cloudburst at midnight on the thirteenth +of the month. The latter was from the Mexicans, who found great delight in +making such terrifying combinations of ill luck. + +But tradition was strongly questioned as to his mother, for how could +the son of such a mother be possessed of the dare-devil courage and grit +which had made his name a synonym of terror? This contention was well +stated and is borne out, for it can be authoritatively said that the +mother of The Orphan was white, and had neither Indian nor negro blood +in her veins, but on the contrary came from a family of gentlefolk. +Thus I start aright by refuting slander. The Orphan was white, his +profanity blue, and his anger red, and having started aright, I will +continue with the events which led to the discovery of his innate better +qualities and their final ascendency over the savagely hard nature +which circumstances had bred in him. These events began on the day +when James Shields, for reasons hereinafter set forth, became actively +interested in his career. + +Shields, by common consent Keeper of the Law over a territory as large as +the State of New Jersey and whom out of courtesy I will call sheriff, +was no coward, and neither was he a fool; and when word came to him +that The Orphan had made a mess of two sheep herders near the U Bend of +the Limping Water Creek, he did not forthwith pace the street and +inform the citizens of Ford's Station that he was about to start on a +journey which had for its object the congratulation of The Orphan at +long range. Upon occasions his taciturnity became oppressive, especially +when grave dangers or tense situations demanded concentration of thought. +The more he thought the less he talked, the one notable exception +being when stirred to righteous anger by personal insults, in which case +his words flowed smoothly along one channel while his thoughts gripped a +single idea. To his acquaintances he varied as the mood directed, often +saying practically nothing for hours, and at other times discoursing +volubly. One thing, a word of his, had become proverbial--when Shields +said "Hell!" he was in no mood for pleasantries, and the third repetition +of the word meant red, red anger. He was a man of strong personality, +who loved his friends in staunch, unswerving loyalty; and he tolerated +his enemies until the last ditch had been reached. + +He, like The Orphan, was essentially a humorist in the finest definition +of the term, inasmuch as he could find humor in the worst possible +situations. He was even now forcibly struck with the humor of his +contemplated ride, for The Orphan would be so very much surprised to see +him. He could picture the expression of weary toleration which would +grace the outlaw's face over the sights, and he chuckled inwardly as +he thought of how The Orphan would swear. He did his shooting as an +unavoidable duty, a business, a stern necessity; and he took great +delight in its accuracy. When he shot at a man he did it with becoming +gravity, but nevertheless he radiated pride and cheerfulness when he hit +the man's nose or eye or Adam's apple at a hundred yards. All the time +he knew that the man ought to die, that it was a case of necessity, and +this explains why he was so pleased about the eye or nose or Adam's apple. + +With The Orphan popular opinion said it was far different; that his humor +was ghastly, malevolent, murderous; that he shot to kill with the +same gravity, but that it was that of icy determination, chilling +ferocity. He was said to be methodical in the taking of innocent life, +even more accurate than the sheriff, wily and shrewd as the leader of +a wolf-pack, and equally relentless. The Orphan was looked upon as an +abnormal development of the idea of destruction; the sheriff, a corrective +force, and almost as strong as the evil he would endeavor to overcome. +The two came as near to the scientists' little joke of the irresistible +force meeting the immovable body as can be found in human agents. + +So Shields, upon hearing of The Orphan's latest manifestation of humor, +appreciated the joke to the fullest extent and made up his mind to play +a similar one on the frisky outlaw. He could not help but sympathize +with The Orphan, because every man knew what pests the sheepmen were, +and Shields, at one time a cowman, was naturally prejudiced against +sheep. He was exceedingly weary of having to guard herds of bleating +grass-shavers which so often passed across his domain, and he regarded +the sheep-raising industry as an unnecessary evil which should by all +rights be deported. But he could not excuse The Orphan's crude and savage +idea of deportation. The sheriff was really kind-hearted, and he became +angry when he thought of the outlaw driving two thousand sheep over +the steep bank of the Limping Water to a pitiful death by drowning; The +Orphan should have been satisfied in messing up the anatomy of the +herders. He did not like a glutton, and he would tell the outlaw so +in his own way. + +He walked briskly through his yard and called to his wife as he passed +the house, telling her that he was going to be gone for an indefinite +period, not revealing the object of his journey, as he did not wish +to worry her. Accustomed as she was to have him face danger, she had a +loving wife's fear for his safety, and lost many hours' sleep while he +was away. He took his rifle from where it leaned against the porch and +continued on his way to the small corral in the rear of the yard, where +two horses whisked flies and sought the shade. Leading one of them +outside, he deftly slung a saddle to its back, secured the cinches +and put on a light bridle. Dropping the Winchester into its saddle +holster, he mounted and fought the animal for a few minutes just as he +always had to fight it. He spun the cylinders of his .45 Colts and ran his +fingers along the under side of his belt for assurance as to ammunition. +Seeing that the black leather case which was slung from the pommel of +the saddle contained his field glass and that his canteen was full of +water, he rode to the back door of his house, where his wife gave him +a bag of food. Promising her that he would take good care of himself +and to return as speedily as possible, he cantered through the gate +and down the street toward the "Oasis," the door of which was always open. +Two dogs were stretched out in the doorway, lazily snapping at flies. +As the sheriff drew rein he heard snores which wheezed from the barroom. + +"Say, Dan!" he cried loudly. "Dan!" + +"Shout it out, Sheriff," came the response from within the darkened room, +and the bartender appeared at the door. + +"If anybody wants me, they may find me at Brent's; I'm going out that +way," the sheriff said, as he loosened the reins. "Bite, d------n you," +he growled at his horse. + +"All right, Jim," sleepily replied the bartender, watching the peace +officer as he cantered briskly down the street. He yawned, stretched +and returned to his chair, there to doze lightly as long as he might. + +Shields usually left word at the Oasis as to where he might be found in +case he should be badly needed, but in this instance he had left word +where he could not be found if needed. He cantered out of the town over +the trail which led to Brent's ranch and held to it until he had put +great enough distance behind to assure him that he was out of sight of any +curious citizen of Ford's Station. Then he wheeled abruptly as he reached +the bottom of an arroyo and swung sharply to the northeast at a right +angle to his former course and pushed his mount at a lope around the +chaparrals and cacti, all the time riding more to the east and in the +direction of the U Bend of the Limping Water. He frowned slightly and +grumbled as he estimated that The Orphan would have nearly three hours' +start of him by the time he reached his objective, which meant a long +chase in the pursuit of such a man. + +To a tenderfoot the heat would have been very oppressive, even dangerous, +but the sheriff thought it an ideal temperature for hunting. He smiled +pleasantly at his surroundings and was pleased by the playful vim of +his belligerent pinto, whose actions were not in the least intended to +be playful. When the animal suddenly turned its head and nipped hard and +quick at the sheriff's legs, getting a mouthful of nasty leather and +seasoned ash for its reward, he gleefully kicked the pony in the eye +when it let go, and then rowelled a streak of perforations in its ugly +hide with his spurs as an encouragement. The ensuing bucking was joy +to his heart, and he feared that he might eventually grow to like the +animal. + +When he arrived at the U Bend he put in half an hour burying the human +butts of The Orphan's joke, for the perpetrator liked to leave his +trophies where they could be seen and appreciated. Shields looked sadly +at the dead sheep, said "Hell" twice and forded the stream, picked up the +outlaw's trail on the further side and cantered along it. The trail +was very plain to him, straight as a chalk line, and it led toward +the northeast, which suited the sheriff, because there was a goodly +sized water hole twenty miles further on in that direction. Perhaps he +would find The Orphan fortified there, for it would be just like that +person to monopolize the only drinking water within twenty miles and +force his humorous adversary to either take the hole or go back to the +Limping Water for a drink. Anyway, The Orphan would get awfully soiled +wallowing about in the mud and water, and he would not hurt the water +much unless he lacked the decency to bleed on the bank. Having decided +to take the hole in preference to riding back to the creek, the sheriff +immediately dismissed that phase of the game from his mind and fell to +musing about the rumors which had persistently reiterated that the +Apaches were out. + +Practical joking with The Orphan and interfering with the traveling of +Apache war parties were much the same in results, so the sheriff made +up his mind to attend to the lesser matter, if need be, after he had +quieted the man he was following. Everybody knew that Apaches were very +bad, but that The Orphan was worse; and, besides, the latter would be +laughing derisively about that matter concerning a drink. The sheriff +grinned and rode happily forward, taking pains, however, to circle +around all chaparrals and covers of every nature, for he did not know but +that his playful enemy might have tired of riding before the water +hole had been reached and decided to camp out under cover. While the +sheriff was unafraid, he had befitting respect for the quality of The +Orphan's marksmanship, which was reputed as being above reproach; and he +was not expected to determine offhand whether the outlaw was above lying +in ambush. So he used his field glass constantly in sweeping covers and +rode forward toward the water hole. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +CONCERNING AN ARROW + + +The bleak foreground of gray soil, covered with drifts of alkali and +sand, was studded with clumps of mesquite and cacti and occasional tufts +of sun-burned grass, dusty and somber, while a few sagebrush blended their +leaves to the predominating color. Back of this was a near horizon to the +north and east, brought near by the skyline of a low, undulating range +of sand hills rising from the desert to meet a faded sky. The morning +glow brought this skyline into sharp definition as the dividing line +between the darkness of the plain in the shadow of the range and the fast +increasing morning light. To the south and west the plain blended into +the sky, and there was no horizon. + +Two trails met and crossed near a sand-buffeted bowlder of lava stone, +which was huge, grotesque and forbidding in its bulky indistinctness. +The first of the trails ran north and south and was faint but plainly +discernible, being beaten a trifle below the level of the desert and +forming a depression which the winds alternately filled and emptied of +dust; and its arrow-like directness, swerving neither to the right nor +left, bespoke of the haste which urged the unfortunate traveler to +have done with it as speedily as possible, since there was nothing +alluring along its heat-cursed course to bid him tarry in his riding. +There was yet another reason for haste, for the water holes were over +fifty miles apart, and in that country water holes were more or less +uncertain and doubtful as to being free from mineral poisons. On the +occasions when the Apaches awoke to find that many of their young men +were missing, and a proved warrior or two, this trail become weighted +with possibilities, for this desert was the playground of war parties, an +unlimited ante-room for the preliminaries to predatory pilgrimages; and +the northern trail then partook of the nature of a huge wire over which +played an alternating current, the potentials of which were the ranges +at one end and the savagery and war spirit of the painted tribes at the +other: and the voltage was frequently deadly. + +The other trail, crossing the first at right angles, led eastward to the +fertile valleys of the Canadian and the Cimarron; westward it spread out +like the sticks of a fan to anywhere and nowhere, gradually resolving +itself into the fainter and still more faint individual paths which +fed it as single strands feed a rope. It lacked the directness of its +intersector because of the impenetrable chaparrals which forced it to +wander hither and yon. Neither was it as plain to the eye, for preference, +except in cases of urgent necessity, foreswore its saving of miles and +journeyed by the more circuitous southern trail which wound beneath +cottonwoods and mottes of live oak and frequently dipped beneath the +waters of sluggish streams, the banks of which were fringed with willows. + +As a lean coyote loped past the point of intersection a moving object +suddenly topped the skyline of the southern end of the sandhills to the +east and sprang into sharp silhouette, paused for an instant on the edge +of the range and then, plunging down into the shadows at its base, rode +rapidly toward the bowlder. + +He was an Apache, and was magnificent in his proportions and the easy +erectness of his poise. He glanced sharply about him, letting his gaze +finally settle on the southern trail and then, leaning over, he placed an +object on the highest point of the rock. Wheeling abruptly, he galloped +back over his trail, the rising wind setting diligently at work to cover +the hoofprints of his pony. He had no sooner dropped from sight over the +hills than another figure began to be defined in the dim light, this time +from the north. + +The newcomer rode at an easy canter and found small pleasure in the cloud +of alkali dust which the wind kept at pace with him. His hat, the first +visible sign of his calling, proclaimed him to be a cowboy, and when +he had stopped at the bowlder his every possession endorsed the silent +testimony of the hat. + +He was bronzed and self-reliant, some reason for the latter being +suggested by the long-barreled rifle which swung from his right saddle +skirt and the pair of Colt's which lay along his thighs. He wore the +usual blue flannel shirt, open at the throat, the regular silk kerchief +about his neck, and the indispensable chaps, which were of angora +goatskin. His boots were tight fitting, with high heels, and huge +brass spurs projected therefrom. A forty-foot coil of rawhide hung from +the pommel of his "rocking-chair" saddle and a slicker was strapped +behind the cantle. + +He glanced behind him as he drew rein, wondering when the sheriff would +show himself, for he was being followed, of that he was certain. That was +why he had ridden through so many chaparrals and doubled on his trail. +He was now riding to describe a circle, the object being to get behind +his pursuer and to do some hunting on his own account. As he started to +continue on his way his quick eyes espied something on the bowlder +which made him suddenly draw rein again. Glancing to the ground he saw +the tracks made by the Apache, and he peered intently along the eastern +trail with his hand shading his eyes. The eyes were of a grayish blue, +hard and steely and cruel. They were calculating eyes, and never missed +anything worth seeing. The fierce glare of the semi-tropical sun which for +many years had daily assaulted them made it imperative that he squint +from half-closed lids, and had given his face a malevolent look. And the +characteristics promised by the eyes were endorsed by his jaw, which was +square and firm set, underlying thin, straight lips. But about his +lips were graven lines so cynical and yet so humorous as to baffle an +observer. + +Raising his canteen to his lips he counted seven swallows and then, +letting it fall to his side, he picked up the object which had made +him pause. There was no surprise in his face, for he never was surprised +at anything. + +As he looked at the object he remembered the rumors of the Apache war +dances and of fast-riding, paint-bedaubed "hunting parties." What had been +rumor he now knew to be a fact, and his face became even more cruel as +he realized that he was playing tag with the sheriff in the very heart +of the Apache playground, where death might lurk in any of the thorny +covers which surrounded him on all sides. + +"Apache war arrow," he grunted. "Now it shore beats the devil that me and +the sheriff can't have a free rein to settle up our accounts. Somebody is +always sticking their nose in my business," he grumbled. Then he frowned +at the arrow in his hand. "That red on the head is blood," he murmured, +noticing the salient points of the weapon, "and that yellow hair means +good scalping. The thong of leather spells plunder, and it was pointing +to the east. The buck that brought it went back again, so this is to +show his friends which way to ride. He was in a hurry, too, judging from +the way he threw sand, and from them toe-prints." + +He hated Apaches vindictively, malevolently, with a single purpose and +instinct, because of a little score he owed them. Once when he had managed +to rustle together a big herd of horses and was within a day's ride of a +ready market, a party of Apaches had ridden up in the night and made off +with not only the stolen animals, but also with his own horse. This had +lost him a neat sum and had forced him to carry a forty-pound saddle, a +bridle and a rifle for two days under a merciless sun before he reached +civilization. He did not thank them for not killing him, which they for +some reason neglected to do. Apache stock was down very low with him, and +he now had an opportunity to even the score. Then he thought of the +sheriff, and swore. Finally he decided that he would just shoot that +worthy as soon as he came within range, and so be free to play his lone +hand against the race that had stolen his horses. His eyes twinkled +at the game he was about to play, and he regarded the silent message and +guide with a smile. + +"If it's all the same to you, I'll just polish you up a bit"--and when +he replaced it on the bowlder its former owner would not have known +it to be the same weapon, for its head was not red, but as bright as +the friction of a handful of sand could make it. This destroyed its +message of plentiful slaughter and, he knew, would grieve his enemies. +He touched it gently with his hand and it swung at right angles to its +former position and now pointed northward and in the direction from which +he expected the sheriff. + +"It was d----d nice of that Apache leaving me this, but I reckon I'll +switch them reinforcements--the sheriff will be some pleased to meet +them," he said, grinning at the novelty of the situation. "Nobody +will even suspect how a lone puncher"--for he regarded himself as a +cowman--"squaring up a couple of scores went and saved the eastern +valleys from more devilment. If the war-whoops are out along the Cimarron +and Canadian they are shore havin' fun enough to give me a little. But +I would like to see the sheriff's face when he bumps into the little +party I'm sending his way. Wonder how many he will get before he goes +under?" + +Then he again took up the arrow and carefully removed the hair and thong +of leather, chuckling at the tale of woe the denuded weapon would tell, +after which he placed it as before, wishing he knew how to indicate that +the Apaches had been wiped out. + +He rode to a chaparral which lay three hundred yards to the southeast of +him and thence around it to the far side, where he dismounted and fastened +his horse to the empty air by simply allowing the reins to hang down in +front of the animal's eyes. The pony knew many things about ropes and +straps, and what it knew it knew well; nothing short of dynamite would +have moved it while the reins dangled before its eyes. + +Its master slowly returned to the bowlder, where he set to work to cover +his tracks with dust, for although the shifting sand was doing this for +him, it was not doing it fast enough to suit him. When he had assured +himself that he had performed his task in a thoroughly workmanlike manner +he returned to his horse, and finally found a snug place of concealment +for it and himself. First bandaging its eyes so that it would not whinny +at the approach of other horses, he searched his pockets and finally +brought to light a pack of greasy playing cards, with which he amused +himself at solitaire, diligently keeping his eyes on both ends of the +heavier trail. + +His intermittent scrutiny was finally rewarded by a cloud of dust which +steadily grew larger on the southern horizon and soon revealed the +character of the riders who made it. As they drew nearer to him his +implacable hatred caused him to pick up his rifle, but he let it slide +from him as he counted the number of the approaching party, before +which was being driven a herd of horses which were intended to be placed +as relays for the main force. + +"Two, five, eight, eleven, sixteen, twenty, twenty-four, twenty-seven," +he muttered, carefully settling himself more comfortably. He could +distinguish the war paint on the reddish-brown colored bodies, and he +smiled at what was in store for them. + +"I reckon I won't get gay with no twenty-seven Apaches," he muttered. "I +can wait, all right." + +Upon reaching the rock the leaders of the band glanced at the arrow, +excitedly exchanged monosyllables and set off to the north at a hard +gallop, being followed by the others. As he expected, they were Apaches, +which meant that of all red raiders they were the most proficient. They +were human hyenas with rare intelligence for war and a most aggravating +way of not being where one would expect them to be, as army officers will +testify. Besides, an Apache war party did not appear to have stomachs, +and so traveled faster and farther than the cavalry which so often +pursued them. + +The watcher chuckled softly at the success of his stratagem and, suddenly +arising, went carefully around the chaparral until he could see the +fast-vanishing braves. Waiting until they had disappeared over the +northern end of the crescent-shaped range of hills, he hurried to the +bowlder and again picked up the arrow. + +"Huh! Didn't take it with them, eh?" he soliloquized. "Well, that +means that there's more coming, so I'll just send the next batch plumb +west--they'll be some pleased to explore this God-forsaken desert some +extensive." + +Grinning joyously, he replaced the weapon with its head pointing westward +and then looked anxiously at the tracks of the party which had just +passed. Deciding that the wind would effectually cover them in an hour +at most, he returned to his hiding place, taking care to cover his own +tracks. Taking a chance on the second contingent going north was all +right, but he didn't care to run the risk of having them ride to him for +explanations. Picking up the cards again he shuffled them and suffered +defeat after defeat, and finally announced his displeasure at the luck +he was having. + +"I never saw nothing like it!" he grumbled petulantly. "Reckon I'll +hit up the Old Thirteen a few," beginning a new game. He had whiled +away an hour and a half, and as he stretched himself his uneasy eyes +discovered another cloud on the southern horizon, which was smaller than +the first. He placed the six of hearts on the five of hearts, ruffled +the pack and then put the cards down and took up his rifle, watching the +cloud closely. He was soon able to count seven warriors who were driving +another "cavvieyeh" of horses. + +"Huh! Only seven!" he grunted, shifting his rifle for action. The fighting +lust swept over him, but he choked it down and idly fingered the hammer of +the gun. "Nope, I reckon not--seven husky Apaches are too much for one +man to go out of his way to fight. Now, if the sheriff was only with me," +and he grinned at the humor of it, "we might cut loose and heave lead. +But since he ain't, this is where I don't chip in--I'll wait a while, +for they'll shore come back." + +The seven warriors went through almost the same actions which their +predecessors had gone through and great excitement prevailed among them. +The leaders pointed to the very faint tracks which led northward and +debated vehemently. But the two small stones which held the arrow securely +in its position against the possibility of the wind shifting it could +not be doubted, and after a few minutes had passed they rode as bidden, +leaving one of their number on guard at the bowlder. Soon the other +six were lost to sight among the chaparrals to the west and the guard sat +stolidly under the blazing sun. + +The dispatcher noted the position of a shadow thrown on the sand by a +cactus and laughed silently as he fingered his rifle. He could not think +out the game. Try as he would, he could find no really good excuse for +the placing of the guard, although many presented themselves, to be +finally cast aside. But the fact was enough, and when the moving shadow +gave assurance that nearly an hour had passed since the departure of +the guard's companions, the man with the grudge cautiously arose on one +knee. + +After examining the contents of his rifle, he brought it slowly to +his shoulder. A quick, calculating glance told him that the range was +slightly over three hundred yards, and he altered the elevation of the +rear sights accordingly. After a pause, during which he gauged the +strength and velocity of the northern wind, he dropped his cheek against +the walnut stock of the weapon. The echoless report rang out flatly +and a sudden gust of hot wind whipped the ragged, gray smoke cloud into +the chaparral, where it lay close to the ground and spread out like a +miniature fog. As the smoke cleared away a second cartridge, inserted +deftly and quickly, sent another cloud of smoke into the chaparral +and the marksman arose to his feet, mechanically reloading his gun. The +second shot was for the guard's horse, for it would be unnecessarily +perilous to risk its rejoining the departed braves, which it very probably +would do if allowed to escape. + +Dropping his rifle into the hollow of his arm he walked swiftly toward +the fallen Indian, hoping that there would be no more war parties, for +he had now made signs which the most stupid Apache could not fail to note +and understand. The dead guard could be hidden, and by the use of his own +horse and rope he could drag the carcass of the animal into the chaparral +and out of sight. But the trail which would be left in the loose sand +would be too deep and wide to be covered. He had crossed the Rubicon, and +must stand or fall by the step. + +The Indian had fallen forward against the bowlder and had slid down its +side, landing on his head and shoulders, in which grotesque position the +rock supported him. One glance assured the "cowman" that his aim had +been good, and another told him that he had to fear the arrival of no +more war parties, for the arrow was gone. He was not satisfied, however, +until he had made a good search for it, thinking that it might have +been displaced by the fall of the Apache. He lifted the body of the +dead warrior in his arms and flung it across the apex of the bowlder, +face up and balanced nicely, the head pointing to the north. Then he +looked for the arrow on the sand where the body had rested, but it was +not to be found. A sardonic grin flitted across his face as he secured +the weapons of the late guard, which were a heavy Colt's revolver and a +late pattern Winchester repeater. Taking the cartridges from his body, he +stood up triumphant. He now had what he needed to meet the smaller body +of Indians on their return, ten shots in one rifle and a spare Colt's. + +"One for my cavvieyeh!" he muttered savagely as he thought of the loss of +his horse herd. "There'll be more, too, before I get through, or my +name's not"-- he paused abruptly, hearing hoofbeats made by a galloping +horse over a stretch of hard soil which lay to the east of him. Leaping +quickly behind the bowlder, he leveled his own rifle across the body of +the guard and peered intently toward the east, wondering if the advancing +horseman would be the sheriff or another Apache. The hoofbeats came +rapidly nearer and another courier turned the corner of the chaparral +and went no further. Again a second shot took care of the horse and the +marksman strode to his second victim, from whose body and horse he took +another Winchester and Colt. + +"Now I am in for it!" he muttered as he looked down at the warrior. "This +is shore getting warm and it'll be a d----n sight warmer if his friends +get anxious about him and hunt him up." + +Glancing around the horizon and seeing no signs of an interruption, he +slung the body across his shoulders and staggered with it to the bowlder, +where he heaved and pushed it across the body of the first Apache. + +"Might as well make a good showing and make them mad, for I can't very +well hide you and the cayuses--I ain't no graveyard," he said, stepping +back to look at his work. He felt no remorse, for that was a sensation +not yet awakened in his consciousness. He was elated at his success, +joyous in catering to his love for fighting, for he would rather die +fighting than live the round of years heavily monotonous with peace, +and his only regret was having won by ambush. But in this, he told +himself, there was need, for his hatred ordered him to kill as many as +he could, and in any way possible. Knowing that he was, single-handed, +attempting to outwit wily chiefs and that he had before him a carnival of +fighting, he would not have hesitated to make use of traps if they were +at hand and could be used. Perhaps it was old Geronimo whose plans he +was defeating and, if so, no precautions nor means were unjustifiable and +too mean to make use of, for Geronimo was half-brother to the devil and a +genius for warfare and slaughter, with a ferocity and cruelty cold-blooded +and consummate. + +He had yet time to escape from his perilous position and meet the sheriff, +if that worthy had eluded the first war party. But his elation had the +upper hand and his brute courage was now blind to caution. He savagely +decided that his matter with the sheriff could wait and that he would +take care of the war parties first, since there was more honor in fighting +against odds. The two Winchesters and his own Sharps, not to consider +the four Colt's, gave him many shots without having to waste time in +reloading, and he drew assurance from the past that he placed his shots +quickly and with precision. He could put up a magnificent fight in the +chaparral, shifting his position after each shot, and he could hug the +ground where the trunks of the vegetation were thickest and would prove +an effective barrier against random shots. His wits were keen, his legs +nimble, his eyesight and accuracy above doubt, and he had no cause to +believe that his strategy was inferior to that of his foes. There would be +no moon for two nights, and he could escape in the darkness if hunger +and thirst should drive him out. Here he had struck, and here he would +strike again and again, and, if he fell, he would leave behind him such +a tale of fighting as had seldom been known before; and it pleased his +vanity to think of the amazement the story would call forth as it was +recounted around the campfires and across the bars of a country larger +than Europe. He did not realize that such a tale would die if he died and +would never be known. His was the joy of a master of the game, a virile, +fearless fighting machine, a man who had never failed in the playing of +the many hands he had held in desperate games with death. He was not +going to die; he was going to win and leave dying for others. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE SHERIFF FINDS THE ORPHAN + + +The day dragged wearily along for the man in the chaparral, and when the +sun showed that it was still two hours from the meridian he leaped to +his feet, rifle in hand, and peered intently to the west, where he +had seen a fast-riding horseman flit between two chaparrals which stood +far down on the western end of the Cimarron Trail. Without pausing, he +made his way out of cover and ran rapidly along the edge of the thicket +until he had gained its northwestern extremity, where he plunged into +it, unmindful of the cuts and slashes from the interlocked thorns. +Using the rifle as a club, he hammered and pushed until he was screened +from the view of anyone passing along the trail, but where he could +see all who approached. As he turned and faced the west he saw the +horseman suddenly emerge from the shelter of the last chaparral in his +course and ride straight for the intersection of the trails, his horse +flattened to the earth by the speed it was making. Waiting until the +rider was within fifty yards of him, he pushed his way out to the trail, +the rifle leaping to his shoulder as he stepped into the open. The +newcomer was looking back at half a dozen Apaches who had burst into view +by the chaparral he had just quitted, and when he turned he was stopped +by a hail and the sight of an unwavering rifle held by the man on foot. + +"A truce!" shouted The Orphan from behind the sights, having an idea and +wishing to share it. + +"Hell, yes!" cried the astonished sheriff in reply, slowing down and +mechanically following the already running outlaw to the place where +the latter had spent the last few hours. + +By keeping close to the edge of the chaparral, which receded from the +trail, The Orphan had not been seen by the Apaches, and as he turned into +his hiding place a yell reached his ears. His trophies on the bowlder +were not to be unmourned. + +As he wormed his way into the thicket, closely followed by the sheriff, +he tersely explained the situation, and Shields, feeling somewhat under +obligation to the man who had refrained from killing him, nodded and +smiled in good nature. The sheriff thought it was a fine joke and +enthusiastically slapped his enemy on the back to show his appreciation, +for the time forgetting that they very probably would try to kill each +other later on, after the Apaches had been taken care of. + +As they reached a point which gave them a clear view of the bowlder, The +Orphan kicked his companion on the shin, pointing to the Apaches grouped +around their dead. + +"It's a little over three hundred, Sheriff," he said. "You shoot first and +I'll follow you, so they'll think you shot twice--there's no use letting +them think that there's two of us, that is, not yet." + +"Good idea," replied the sheriff, nodding and throwing his rifle to +his shoulder. "Right end for me," he said, calling his shot so as to be +sure that the same brave would not receive all the attention. As he fired +his companion covered the second warrior, using one of his captured +Winchesters, and a second later the rifle spun flame. Both warriors +dropped and the remaining four hastily postponed their mourning and +tumbled helter skelter behind the bowlder, the sheriff's second shot +becoming a part of the last one to find cover. + +"Fine!" exulted the sheriff, delighted at the score. "Best game I ever +took a hand in, d-----d if it ain't! We'll have them guessing so hard that +they'll get brain fever." + +"Three shots in as many seconds will make them think that they are +facing a Winchester in the hands of a crack shot," remarked The Orphan, +smiling with pleasure at the sheriff's appreciation. "They'll think +that if they can back off from the bowlder and keep it between them and +you that they can get out of range in a few hundred yards more. That is +where I come in again. You sling a little lead to let them know that you +haven't moved a whole lot, but stop in a couple of minutes, while I go +down the line a ways. The chaparral sweeps to the north quite a little, +and mebby I can drop a slug behind their fort from down there. That'll +make them think you are a jack rabbit at covering ground and will bother +them. If they rush, which they won't after tasting that kind of shooting, +you whistle good and loud and we'll make them plumb disgusted. I'll take +a Winchester along with me, so they won't have any cause to suspect that +you are an arsenal. So long." + +The sheriff glanced up as his companion departed and was pleased at the +outlaw's command of the situation. He had a good chance to wipe out the +man, but that he would not do, for The Orphan trusted him, and Shields +was one who respected a thing like that. + +The outlaw finally stopped about a hundred yards down the trail and looked +out, using his glasses. A brown shoulder showed under the overhanging side +of the bowlder and he smiled, readjusting the sights on the Winchester as +he waited. Soon the shoulder raised from the ground and pushed out farther +into sight. Then a poll of black hair showed itself and slowly raised. +The Orphan took deliberate aim and pulled the trigger. The head dropped to +the sand and the shoulder heaved convulsively once or twice and then lay +quiet. Leaping up, the marksman hastened back to the side of the sheriff, +who did not trouble himself to look up. + +"I got him, Sheriff," he said. "Work up to the other end and I'll go back +to where I came from. They have got all the fighting they have any use for +and will be backing away purty soon now. The range from the point where I +held you is some closer than it is from here, so you ought to get in a +shot when they get far enough back." + +"All right," pleasantly responded Shields, vigorously attacking the thorns +as he began his journey to the western end of the thicket. "Ouch!" he +exclaimed as he felt the pricks. Then he stopped and slowly turned and +saw The Orphan smiling at him, and grinned: + +"Say," he began, "why can't I go around?" he asked, indicating with a +sweep of his arm the southern edge of the chaparral, and intimating that +it would be far more pleasant to skirt the thorns than to buck against +them. "These d------d thorns ain't no joke!" he added emphatically. + +The outlaw's smile enlarged and he glanced quickly at the bowlder to see +that all was as it should be. + +"You can go around in one day afoot," he replied. "By that time +they"--pointing to the Apaches--"will have made a day's journey on +cayuses. And we simply mustn't let them get the best of us that way." + +Shields grinned and turned half-way around again: "It's a whole lot dry +out here," he said, "and my canteen is on my cayuse." + +"Here, pardner," replied The Orphan, holding out his canteen and watching +the effect of the familiarity. "Seven swallows is the dose." + +The sheriff faced him, took the vessel, counted seven swallows and +returned it. + +"I'm some moist now," he remarked, as he returned to the thorns. "It's +too d------n bad you're bad," he grumbled. "You'd make a blamed good +cow-puncher." + +The Orphan, still smiling, placed his hands on hips and watched the +rapidly disappearing arm of the law. + +"He's all right--too bad he'll make me shoot him," he soliloquized, +turning toward his post. As he crawled through a particularly badly matted +bit of chaparral he stopped to release himself and laughed outright. "How +in thunder did he get so far west? My trail was as plain as day, too." +When he had reached his destination and had settled down to watch the +bowlder he laughed again and muttered: "Mebby he figured it out that I +was doubling back and was laying for me to show up. And that's just the +way I would have gone, too. He ain't any fool, all right." + +He thought of the sheriff at the far end of the chaparral and of the +repeater he carried, and an inexplicable impulse of generosity surged +over him. The sheriff would be pleased to do the rest himself, he thought, +and the thought was father to the act. He picked up the Winchester he +had brought with him and fired at the bowlder, only wishing to let the +Apaches know his position so that they would think the way clear to +the northwest, and so innocently give the sheriff a shot at them as +they retreated. Dropping the Winchester he took up his Sharps, his pet +rifle, with which he had done wonderful shooting, and arose to one +knee, supporting his left elbow on the other; between the fingers of +his left hand he held a cartridge in order that no time should be lost in +reloading. The range was now five hundred yards, and when The Orphan knew +the exact range he swore with rage if he missed. + +His shot had the effect he hoped it would have, for suddenly there was +movement behind the bowlder. A pony's hip showed for an instant and +then leaped from sight as the outlaw reloaded. A cloud of dust arose to +the northwest of and behind the bowlder, and a series of close reports +sounded from the direction of the sheriff. The Orphan leaped to his feet +and dashed out on the plain to where his sight would not be obstructed +and saw an Apache, who hung down on the far side of his horse, sweep +northward and gallop along the northern trail. He fired, but the range +was too great, and the warrior soon dropped from sight over the range +of hills. As The Orphan made his way toward the bowlder the sheriff +emerged from his shelter and pointed to the west. A pony lay on its side +and not far away was the huddled body of its rider. + +As they neared each other the outlaw noticed something peculiar about +the sheriff's ear, and his look of inquiry was rewarded. "Stung," +remarked Shields, grinning apologetically. "Just as I shot," he added in +explanation of the Apache's escape. "Wonder what my wife'll say?" he +mused, nursing the swelling. + +The Orphan's eyes opened a trifle at the sheriff's last words, and he +thought of the war party he had sent north. His decision was immediate: +no married man had any business to run risks, and he was glad that he +refrained from shooting on sight. + +"Sheriff, you vamoose. Clear out now, while you have the chance. Ride west +for an hour, and then strike north for Ford's Station. That buck that got +away is due to run into twenty-seven of his friends and relatives that I +sent north to meet you. And they won't waste any time in getting back, +neither." + +Shields felt of his ear and laughed softly. He had a sudden, strong liking +for his humorous, clever enemy, for he recognized qualities which he had +always held in high esteem. While he had waited in the chaparral for the +Apaches to break cover he had wondered if the Indians which The Orphan +had sent north had been sent for the purpose of meeting him, and now +he had the answer. Instead of embittering him against his companion, it +increased his respect for that individual's strategy, and he felt only +admiration. + +"I saw your reception committee in time to duck," the sheriff said, +laughing. "If they kept on going as they were when I saw them they must +have crossed my trail about three hours later. When they hit that it +is a safe bet that at least some of them took it up. So if it's all the +same to you, I'll leave both the north and the west alone and take another +route home. I have shot up all the war-whoops I care about, so I am +well satisfied." + +He suddenly reached down toward his belt, and then looked squarely into +The Orphan's gun, which rested easily on that person's hip. His hand +kept on, however, but more slowly and with but two fingers extended, +and disappeared into his chap's pocket, from which it slowly and gingerly +brought forth a package of tobacco and some rice paper. The Orphan looked +embarrassed for a second and then laughed softly. + +"You're a square man, Sheriff, but I wasn't sure," he said in apology. +"So long." + +"That's all right," cried the sheriff heartily. "I was a big fool to make +a play like that!" + +The Orphan smiled and turned squarely around and walked away in the +direction of his horse. Shields stared at his back and then rolled a +cigarette and grinned: "By George!" he ejaculated at the confidence +displayed by his companion, and he slowly followed. + +After they had mounted in silence the sheriff suddenly turned and looked +his companion squarely in the eyes and received a steady, frank look in +return. + +"What the devil made you ventilate them sheep herders that way?" he asked. +"And go and drive all of them sheep over the bank?" + +The Orphan frowned momentarily, but answered without reserve. + +"Those sheep herders reckoned they'd get a reputation!" he answered. "And +they would have gotten it, too, only I beat them on the draw. As for the +idiotic muttons, they went plumb loco at the shooting and pushed each +other over the bank. To hell with the herders--they only got what they was +trying to hand me. But I'm a whole lot sorry about the sheep, although I +can't say I'm dead stuck on range-killers of any kind." + +The sheriff reflectively eyed his companion's gun and remembered its +celerity into getting into action, which persuaded him that The Orphan +was telling the truth, and swept aside the last chance for fair warfare +between the two for the day. + +"Yes, it is too bad, all them innocent sheep drowned that way," he slowly +replied. "But they are shore awful skittish at times. Well, do we part?" +he asked, suddenly holding out his hand. + +"I reckon we do, Sheriff, and I'm blamed glad to have met you," replied +the outlaw as he shook hands with no uncertain grip. "Keep away from them +Apaches, and so long." + +"Thanks, I will," responded the arm of the law. "And I'm glad to have met +you, too. So long!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE SECOND OFFENSE + + +Bill Howland emerged from the six-by-six office of the F. S. and S. Stage +Company and strolled down the street to where his Concord stood. He +hitched up and, after examining the harness, gained his seat, gathered up +the lines and yelled. There was a lurch and a rumble, and Bill turned +the corner on two wheels to the gratification of sundry stray dogs, +whose gratification turned to yelps of surprise and pain as the driver +neatly flecked bits of hair from their bodies with his sixteen foot +"blacksnake." Twice each week Bill drove his Concord around the same +corner on the same two wheels and flecked bits of hair from stray dogs +with the same whip. He would have been deeply grieved if the supply of new +stray dogs gave out, for no dogs were ever known to get close enough +to be skinned the second time; once was enough, and those which had felt +the sting of Bill's leather were content to stand across the street and +create the necessary excitement to urge the new arrivals forward. The +local wit is reported as saying: "Dogs may come and dogs may go, but Bill +goes on forever," which saying pleased Bill greatly. + +As he threw the mail bag on the seat the sheriff came up and watched him, +his eyes a-twinkle with humor. + +"Well, Sheriff, how's the boy?" genially asked Bill, who could talk all +day on anything and two days on nothing without fatigue. + +"All right, Bill, thank you," the sheriff replied. "I hope you are able +to take something more than liquid nourishment," he added. + +"Oh, you trust me for that, Sheriff. When my appetite gives out I'll be +ready to plant. I see your ear is some smaller. Blamed funny how they do +swell sometimes," remarked the driver, loosening his collar. + +The sheriff knew what that action meant and hurried to break the thread +of the conversation. + +"New wheel?" he asked, eying what he knew to be old. + +"Nope, painted, that's all," the driver replied, grinning. "But she +shore does look new, don't she? You see, Dick put in two new spokes +yesterday, and when I saw 'em I says, says I, 'Dick, that new wheel don't +look good thataway,' says I. 'It'll look like a limp, them new spokes +coming 'round all alone like,' says I. So we paints it, but we didn't +have time to paint the others, but they won't make much difference, +anyhow. Funny how a little paint will change things, now ain't it? Why, I +can remember when-----" + +"Much mail nowadays?" interposed the sheriff calmly. + +"Nope. Folks out here ain't a-helpin' Uncle Sam much. Postmaster says he +only sold ten stamps this week. What he wants, as I told him, is women. +Then everybody'll be sendin' letters and presents and things. Now, I knows +what I'm talking about, because-----" + +"The Apaches are out," jabbed the sheriff, hopefully. + +"Yes, I heard that you had a soiree with them. But they won't get so +far north as this. No, siree, they won't. They knows too much, Apaches +do. Ain't they smart cusses, though? Now, there's old Geronimo--been +raising the devil for years. The cavalry goes out for him regular, and +shore thinks he's caught, but he ain't. When he's found he's home smoking +his pipe and counting his wives, which are shore numerous, they say. Now, +I've got a bully scheme for getting him, Sheriff----" + +"Hey, you," came from the office. "Do you reckon that train is going to +tie up and wait for you, hey? Do you think you are so d----d important +that they won't pull out unless you're on hand? Why in h--l don't you quit +chinning and get started?" + +"Oh, you choke up!" cried Bill, clambering up to his seat. "Who's running +this, anyhow!" he grumbled under his breath. Then he took up the reins +and carefully sorted them, after which he looked down at Shields, whose +face wore a smile of amusement. + +"Bill Howland ain't none a-scared because a lot of calamity howlers get a +hunch. Not on your life! I've reached the high C of rollicking progress +too many times to be airy scairt at rumors. Show me the feather-dusters +in war paint, and then I'll take some stock in raids. You get up a bet +on me Sheriff, make a little easy money. Back Bill Howland to be right +here in seventy-two hours, right side up and smiling, and you'll win. You +just bet you'll----" + +"Well, you won't get here in a year unless you starts, you pest! For +God's sake get a-going and give the sheriff a rest!" came explosively +from the office, accompanied by a sound as if a chair had dropped to its +four legs. A tall, angular man stood in the doorway and shook his fist at +the huge cloud of dust which rolled down the street, muttering savagely. +Bill Howland had started on his eighty-mile trip to Sagetown. + +"Damnedest talker on two laigs," asserted the clerk. "He'll drive me loco +some day with his eternal jabber, jabber. Why do you waste time with +him? Tell him to close his yap and go to h--l. Beat him over the head, +anything to shut him up!" + +Shields smiled: "Oh, he can't help it. He don't do anybody any harm." + +The clerk shook his head in doubt and started to return to his chair, and +then stopped. + +"I hear you expect some women out purty soon," he suggested. + +"Yes. Sisters and a friend," Shields replied shortly. + +"Ain't you a little leary about letting 'em come out here while the +Apaches are out?" + +"Not very much--I'll be on hand when they arrive," the sheriff assured him. + +"How soon are they due to land?" + +"Next trip if nothing hinders them." + +"Jim Hawes is comin' out next trip," volunteered the clerk. + +"Good," responded the sheriff, turning to go. "Every gun counts, and Jim +is a good man." + +"Say," the agent was lonesome, "I heard down at the Oasis last night that +The Orphant was seen out near the Cross Bar-8 yesterday. He ought to get +shot, d----n him! But that's a purty big contract, I reckon. They say he +can shoot like the very devil." + +"They're right, he can," Shields replied. "Everybody knows that." + +"Charley seems to be in a hurry," remarked the agent, looking down the +street at a cowboy, a friend of the sheriff, who was coming at a dead +gallop. The sheriff looked and Charley waved his arm. As he came within +hailing distance he shouted: + +"The Orphan killed Jimmy Ford this morning on Twenty Mile Trail! His +pardner got away by shootin' The Orphan's horse and taking to the trail +through Little Arroyo. But he's shot, just the same, 'though not bad. The +rest of the Cross Bar-8 outfit are going out for him; they've been out, +but they can't follow his trail." + +"Hell!" cried the sheriff, running toward his corral. "Wait!" he shouted +over his shoulder as he turned the corner. In less than five minutes he +was back again, and on his best horse, and following the impatient cowboy, +swung down the street at a gallop in the direction of Twenty Mile Trail. + +As they left the town behind and swung through the arroyo leading to the +Limping Water, through which the stage route lay, Charley began to speak +again: + +"Jimmy and Pete Carson were taking a rest in the shade of the chaparral +and playin' old sledge, when they looked up and saw The Orphan looking +down at them. They're rather easy-going, and so they asked him to take a +hand. He said he would, and got off his cayuse and sat down with them. +Jimmy started a new deal, but The Orphan objected to old sledge and +wanted poker, at the same time throwing a bag of dust down in front of +him. Jimmy looked at Pete, who nodded, and put his wealth in front of +him. Well, they played along for a while, and The Orphan began to have +great luck. When he had won five straight jack pots it was more than +Jimmy could stand, him being young and hasty. He saw his new Cheyenne +saddle, what he was going to buy, getting further away all the time, and +he yelled 'Cheat!' grabbing for his gun, what was plumb crazy for him to +do. + +"The Orphan fired from his hip quick as a wink, and Jimmy fell back just +as Pete drew. The Orphan swung on him and ordered him to drop his gun, +which same Pete did, being sick at the stomach at Jimmy's passing. Then +The Orphan told him to take his dirty money and his cheap life and go back +to his mamma. Pete didn't stop none to argue, but mounted and rode away. +But the fool wasn't satisfied at having a whole skin after a run-in +with The Orphan, and when he got off about four hundred yards and right +on the edge of Little Arroyo, where he could get cover in one jump, +he up and let drive, killing The Orphan's horse. Pete got two holes in +his shoulder before he could get out of sight, and he remembered that +his shot had hardly left his gun before he had 'em, too. Pete says he +wonders how in h--l The Orphan could shoot twice so quick, when his +gun's a Sharp's single shot." + +Shields was pleased with the knowledge that it was not a plain murder +this time, and fell to wondering if the other killings in which The +Orphan had figured had not in a measure been justified. Hearsay cried +"Murderer," but his own personal experience denied the term. Did not +The Orphan know that Shields was after him, and that the sheriff was no +man to be taken lightly when he had shown mercy near the big bowlder? The +outlaw must be fair and square, reasoned the sheriff, else he would not +have looked for those qualities in another, and least of all in an +enemy. The outlaw had given him plenty of chances to kill and had thought +nothing of it, time and time again turning his back without hesitation. +True, The Orphan had covered him when his hand had streaked for his +tobacco; but the sheriff would have done the same, because the movement +was decidedly hostile, and he had been fortunate in not having paid +dearly for his rash action. The Orphan had taken a chance when he +refrained from pulling the trigger. + +Charley continued: "Jimmy's outfit swear they'll have a lynchin' bee to +square things for the Kid. They are plumb crazy about it. Jimmy was a +whole lot liked by them, and the foreman is going to give them a week +off with no questions asked. They are getting things ready now." + +The sheriff turned to his companion, his hazel eyes aflame with anger +at this threat of lynching when he had given plain warning that such +lawlessness would not for one minute be tolerated by him. + +"We'll call on the Cross Bar-8 first, Charley, and find out when this +lynching bee is due to come off," he said, turning toward the northwest. +Charley looked surprised at the sudden change in the plans, but followed +without comment, secretly glad that trouble was in store for the ranch he +had no use for. + +After an hour of fast riding they rode up to the corral of the Cross +Bar-8, and Shields, seeing a cowboy busily engaged in cleaning a rifle, +asked for Sneed, at the same time making a mental note of the preparations +which were going on about him. + +The foreman, as if in answer to the sheriff's words, walked into sight +around the corral wall and stepped forward eagerly when he saw who the +caller was. + +"I see that you know all about it, Sheriff," he began, hastily. "I've +just told the boys that they can go out for him," he continued. "They're +getting ready now, and will soon be on his trail." + +"Yes?" coldly inquired the sheriff. + +"They'll get him if you don't," assured the foreman, who had about as much +tact as a mule. + +"I'll shoot the first man who tries it," the sheriff said, as he flecked +a bit of dust from his arm. + +"What!" cried Sneed in astonishment. "By God, Sheriff, that's a d----d +hard assertion to make!" + +"And I hold _you_ responsible," continued the sheriff, leaning forward +as if to give weight to his words. + +The cowboy stopped cleaning his rifle and stood up, covering the sheriff, +a sneer on his face and anger in his eyes. + +"If you're a-scared, we ain't, by God!" he cried. "The Orphan has got +away too many times already, and here is where he gets stopped for good! +When we gets through with him he won't shoot no more friends of ourn, +nor nobody else's!" + +Shields looked him squarely in the eyes: "If you don't drop that gun I'll +drop you, Bucknell," he said pleasantly, and his eyes proclaimed that he +meant what he said. + +Sneed sprang forward and knocked the gun aside; "You d----n fool!" he +cried. "You ornery, silly fool! Get back to the bunk house or I'll make +you wish you had never seen that gun! Go on, get the h--l out of here +before you join Jimmy!" + +Then the foreman turned to Shields, feeling that he had lost much through +the rashness of his man. + +"Don't pay any attention to that crazy yearling, Sheriff," he said +earnestly. "He's only feeling his oats. But we only wanted to round him +up," he continued on the main topic. "We meant to turn him over to you +after we'd got him. He's a blasted, thieving, murdering dog, that's what +he is, and he oughtn't get away this time!" + +"You keep out of this, and keep your men out of it, too," responded +Shields, turning away. "I mean what I say. Jimmy started the mess and +got the worst of it. I'll get The Orphan, or nobody will. As long as I'm +sheriff of this county I'll take care of my job without any lynching +parties. Come on, Charley." + +"Deputize some of my boys, Sheriff!" he begged. "Let 'em think they're +doing something. The Orphan is a bad man to go after alone. The boys are +so mad that they'll get him if they have to ride through hell after him. +Swear them in and let them get him lawfully." + +"Yes?" retorted Shields cynically. "And have to shoot them to keep them +from shooting him?" + +"By God, Sheriff," cried Sneed, losing control of his temper, "this is +our fight, and we're going to see it through! We'll get that cur, sheriff +or no sheriff, and when we do, he'll stretch rope! And anybody who tries +to stop us will get hurt! I ain't making any threats, Sheriff; only +telling plain facts, that's all." + +"Then I'll be a wreck," responded Shields, still smiling. "For I'll stop +it, even if I have to shoot you first, which are also plain facts." + +Sneed's men had been coming up while they talked and were freely voicing +their opinions of sheriffs. Sneed stepped close to the peace officer and +laughed, his face flushed with foolish elation at his strength. + +"Do you see 'em?" he asked, ironically, indicating his men by a sweep of +his arm. "Do you think you could shoot me?" + +The reply was instantaneous. The last word had hardly left his lips before +he peered blankly into the cold, unreasoning muzzle of a Colt, and the +sheriff's voice softly laughed up above him. The cowboys stood as if +turned to stone, not daring to risk their foreman's life by a move, for +they did not understand the sheriff's methods of arguments, never having +become thoroughly acquainted with him. + +"You know me better now, Sneed," Shields remarked quietly as he slipped +his Colt into its holster. "I'm running the law end of the game and I'll +keep right on running it as I d----d please while I'm called sheriff, +understand?" + +Sneed was a brave man, and he thoroughly appreciated the clean-cut +courage which had directed the sheriff's act, and he knew, then, that +Shields would keep his word. He involuntarily stepped back and intently +regarded the face above him, seeing a not unpleasant countenance, although +it was tanned by the suns and beaten by the weather of fifty years. The +hazel eyes twinkled and the thin lips twitched in that quiet humor for +which the man was famed; yet underlying the humor was stern, unyielding +determination. + +"You're shore nervy, Sheriff," at length remarked the foreman. "The boys +are loco, but I'll try to hold them." + +"You'll hold them, or bury them," responded the sheriff, and turning to +his companion he said: "Now I'm with you, Charley. So long, Sneed," he +pleasantly called over his shoulder as if there had been no unpleasant +disagreement. + +"So long, Sheriff," replied the foreman, looking after the departing pair +and hardly free from his astonishment. Then he turned to his men: "You +heard what he said, and you saw what he did. You keep out of this, or +I'll make you d----d sorry, if he don't. If The Orphan comes your way, +all right and good. But you let his trail religiously alone, do you hear?" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +BILL JUSTIFIES HIS CREATION + + +Bill Howland careened along the stage route, rapidly leaving Ford's +Station in his rear. He rolled through the arroyo on alternate pairs of +wheels, splashed through the Limping Water, leaving it roiled and +muddy, and shot up the opposite bank with a rush. Before him was a +stretch of a dozen miles, level as a billiard table, and then the +route traversed a country rocky and uneven and wound through cuts and +defiles and around rocky buttes of strange formation. This continued +for ten miles, and the last defile cut through a ridge of rock, called +the Backbone, which ranged in height from twenty to forty feet, smooth, +unbroken and perpendicular on its eastern face. This ridge wound and +twisted from the big chaparral twenty miles below the defile to a branch +of the Limping Water, fifteen miles above. And in all the thirty-five +miles there was but a single opening, the one used by Bill and the stage. + +In crossing the level plain Bill could see for miles to either side of +him, but when once in the rough country his view was restricted to yards, +and more often to feet. It was here that he expected trouble if at all, +and he usually went through it with a speed which was reckless, to say +the least. + +He had just dismissed the possibility of meeting with Apaches as he +turned into the last long defile, which he was pleased to call a canyon. As +he made the first turn he nearly fell from his seat in astonishment at +what he saw. Squarely in the center of the trail ahead of him was a +horseman, who rode the horse which had formerly belonged to Jimmy of +the Cross Bar-8, and across the cut lay a heavy piece of timber, one +of the dead trees which were found occasionally at that altitude, and +it effectively barred the passing of the stage. The horseman wore his +sombrero far back on his head and a rifle lay across his saddle, while +two repeating Winchesters were slung on either side of his horse. One +startled look revealed the worst to the driver--The Orphan, the terrible +Orphan faced him! + +"Don't choke--I'm not going to eat you," assured the horseman with a +smile. "But I'm going to smoke half of your tobacco--and you can bring me +a half pound when you come back from Sagetown. Just throw it up yonder," +pointing to a rocky ledge, "and keep going right ahead." + +Bill looked very much relieved, and hastily fumbled in his hip pocket, +which was a most suicidal thing to do in a hurry; but The Orphan didn't +even move at the play, having judged the man before him and having faith +in his judgment. The hand came out again with a pouch of tobacco, which +its owner flung to the outlaw. After putting half of it in his own pouch +and enclosing a coin to pay for his half pound, The Orphan tossed it +back again and then moved the tree trunk until it fell to the road, when +he dismounted and rolled it aside. + +"You forget right now that you have seen me or you'll have heart disease +some day in this place," warned the horseman, moving aside. Bill swore +earnestly that at times his memory was too short to even remember his own +name, and he enthusiastically lashed his cayuse sextet. As he swung out +on the plain again he glanced furtively over his shoulder and breathed a +deep breath of relief when he found that the outlaw was not in sight. +He then tied a knot in his handkerchief so as to be sure to remember to +get a half-pound package of tobacco. A new responsibility, and one which +he had never borne before, weighed upon him. He must keep silent--and what +a rich subject for endless conversations! Talking material which would +last him for years must be sealed tightly within his memory on penalty +of death if he failed to keep it secret. + +After an uneventful trip across the open plain, which passed so rapidly +because of his intent thoughts that he hardly realized it, he ripped +into Sagetown with a burst of speed and flung the mail bag at the station +agent, after which he hastened to float the dust down his throat. + +When he met his Sagetown friends he had fairly to choke down his secret, +and his aching desire to create a sensation pained and worried him. + +"You made her faster than usual, Bill," remarked the bartender casually. +"Yore half-an-hour ahead of time," he added in a congratulatory tone as +he placed a bottle and glass before the new arrival. + +"Yes, and I had to stop, too," Bill replied, and then hastily gulped down +his liquor to save himself. + +"That so?" asked old Pop Westley, an habitue of the saloon. Pop Westley +had fought through the Civil War and never forgot to tell of his +experiences, which must have been unusually numerous, even for four years +of hard campaigning, if one may judge from the fact that he never had to +repeat, and yet used them as his _coup d'etat_ in many conversational +bouts. "What was it, Injuns?" he asked, winking at the bartender as if +in prophecy as to what the driver would choose for his next lie. + +"Oh, no," replied Bill, groping for an idea to get him out of trouble. +"Nope, just had to lose twenty minutes rollin' rocks out of the +canyon--they must have been a little landslide since I went through her +the last time. Some of 'em was purty big, too." + +"I thought you might a had to kill some Injuns, like you did when they +broke out four years ago," responded the bartender gravely. "Tell us about +that time you licked them dozen mad Apache warriors, Bill," he requested. +"That was a blamed good scrap from what I can remember." + +"Oh, I've told you about that scrap so much I'm ashamed to tell it again," +replied the driver, wishing that he could remember just what he had said +about it, and sorry that his memory was so inferior to his imagination. + +"Bet you get scalped goin' back," pleasantly remarked Johnny Sands, who +had not fought in the Civil War, but who often ferociously wished he had +when old Pop Westley was telling of how Mead took Vicksburg, or some other +such bit of history. Pop must have been connected to a flying regiment, +for he had fought under every general on the Union side. + +"You're on for the drinks, Johnny," answered Bill promptly, feeling that +it would be a double joy to win. "The war-whoops never lived who could +scalp Bill Howland, and don't forget it, neither," he boastfully averred +as he made for the door, very anxious to get away from that awful gnawing +temptation to open their eyes wide about his recent experience. + +"Then The Orphan will get you, shore," came from Pop Westley. Bill jumped +and slammed the door so hard that it shook the building. + +He saw that his sextet was being properly fed and watered for the return +trip, which would not take place until the next day. But a trifle like +twenty-four hours had no effect on Bill under his present stress of +excitement, and he fooled about the coach as if it was his dearest +possession, inspecting the king-bolt, running-gear and whiffletrees with +anxious eyes. He wanted no break-down, because the Apaches _might_ be +farther north than was their custom. That done he took his rifle apart +and thoroughly cleaned and oiled it, seeing that the magazine was full +to the end. Then he had his supper and went straight therefrom to bed, +not daring to again meet his friends for fear of breaking his promise +to The Orphan. + +At dawn he drew up beside the small station and waited for the arrival of +the train, which even then was a speck at the meeting place of the rails +on the horizon. + +The station agent sauntered over to him and grinned. + +"I guess I will get that telegraph line after all, Bill," he remarked +happily. "I heard that the division superintendent wanted to get word +to me in a hurry the other day, and raised the devil when he couldn't. +I've been fighting for a wire to civilization for three years, and now I +reckon she'll come." + +"I always said you ought to have a telegraph line out here," Bill replied. +"Suppose that train should run off the track some day, what would they +do, hey?" + +"Huh, that train never goes fast enough to run off of anything," retorted +the station agent. "She'd stop dead if she hit a coyote--by gosh! Here +she comes now! What do you think of that, eh? Half-an-hour ahead of time, +too! Must be trying to hit up a better average than she's had for the +last year. She's usually due three hours late," he added in bewilderment. +"She owes the world about a month--must have left the day before by +mistake." + +"Johnny Sands says he raced her once for ten miles, and beat it a mile," +replied Bill, crossing his legs and yawning. Then he began one of his +endless talks, and the agent hastily departed and left him to himself. + +When the train finally stopped at its destination, after running past +the station and having to back to the platform, three women alighted and +looked around. Seeing the stage, they ordered their baggage transferred to +it and gave Bill a shock by their appearance. + +"Is this the stage which runs to Ford's Station?" the eldest asked of Bill. + +Bill fumbled at his sombrero and tore it from his head as he replied. + +"Yes, sir, er--ma'am!" he said, confusedly. "Are you Sheriff's sister, +ma'am?" + +"Yes," she answered. "Why do you ask? Has anything happened to him in this +awful country?" she asked in alarm. + +"No, ma'am, not yet," responded Bill in confusion. "He just didn't expect +you 'til the next train, ma'am, that's all. He was going to meet you then." + +"Now, _isn't_ that just like a man?" she asked her companions. "I +distinctly remember that I wrote him I would come on the twenty-fourth. +How stupid of him!" + +"Yes, ma'am, you did," interposed Bill, eagerly. "But this is only the +twenty-first, ma'am." + +She refused to notice the correction and waved her hand toward the coach. + +"Get in, dears," she said. "I _do_ so hope it isn't dirty and +uncomfortable, and we have so far to go in it, too. Thirty miles--think +of it!" + +Bill thought of it, but refrained from offering correction. If Shields +had said it was thirty miles when he knew it was eighty that was Shields' +affair, and he didn't care to have any unpleasantness. He had offered +correction about the date, and that was enough for him. Clambering down +heavily he opened the side door of the vehicle and then helped the +station agent put the trunks and valises and hat boxes on the hanging +shelf behind the coach and saw that they were lashed securely into +place. Then he threw the mail bag upon his seat, climbed after it and +started on his journey with a whoop and rush, for this trip was to be a +record-breaker. Shields had said it was thirty miles, and it behove +the driver to make it seem as short as possible. + +The unexpected arrival of the women had driven everything else from +his mind, even The Orphan, and after he had covered a mile he had a +strong desire to smoke. Giving his whip a jerk he threw it along the top +of the coach and slipped the handle under his arm. Then he felt for +his pouch, and as his fingers closed upon it he suddenly stiffened and +gasped. He had forgotten The Orphan's half pound! Swearing earnestly +and badly frightened at the close call he had from incurring the anger of +a man like the outlaw, he pulled on the reins with a suddenness which +caused the sextet to lay back their ears and indulge in a few heartfelt +kicks. But the darting whip kept peace and he swung around and returned +to town. + +As he drove past the station Mary Shields, the sheriff's elder sister, +poked her head out of the door and called to him. + +"Driver!" she exclaimed. "Driver!" + +Bill craned his neck and looked down. + +"Yes, ma'am," he replied anxiously. + +"Are we there already?" she asked. + +"Why, no, ma'am, it's ei--thirty miles yet," he responded as he sprang +to the ground. + +"Then where are we, for goodness' sake?" + +"Back in Sagetown, ma'am," he hurriedly replied. "I shore forgot +something," he added in explanation of the return as he ran toward +the saloon. + +She turned to her companions with a gesture of despair: + +"Isn't it awful," she asked, "what a terrible thing drinking is? A most +detestable habit! Here we are back to where we started from and just +because our driver must have a drink of nasty liquor! Why, we would have +been there by this time. I will most assuredly speak to James about this!" + +"Well, I suppose we may go on now!" she exclaimed as Bill bolted into +sight again, holding a package firmly in his two hands. "I suppose he +feels quite capable of driving now." + +Bill, blissfully ignorant of the remarks he had called forth, tossed +the tobacco upon the mail bag and climbed to his seat again. The long +whip hissed and cracked as he bellowed to the team, and once more they +started for Ford's Station. + +The passengers had all they could do to keep their seats because of the +gymnastics of the erratic stage. Bill, who had always found delight in +seeing how near he could come to missing things and who was elated at +the joy of getting over the worst parts of the trail with speed, decided +that this was a rare and most auspicious occasion to show just what he +could do in the way of fancy driving. The return to town had spoiled +his chances for a record, but he still could do some high-class work +with the reins. The weight of the baggage on the tail-board bothered +him until he discovered that it acted as a tail to his Concord kite, +and when he learned that he joyously essayed feats which he had long +dreamed of doing. The result was fully appreciated by the terrified +passengers who, choking with the dust which forced its way in to them, +could only hold fast to whatever came to their grasp and pray that they +would survive. + +As he passed a peculiarly formed clump of organ cacti, which he regarded +as being his half-way mark, he happened to glance behind, and his face +blanched in a sudden fear which gripped his heart in an icy grasp. + +He leaped to his feet, wrapping the reins about his wrists, and the +"blacksnake" coiled and writhed and hissed. Its reports sounded like +those of a gun, and every time it straightened out a horse lost a bit of +hair and skin. Both of the leaders had limp and torn ears, and a sudden +terror surged through the team, causing their eyes to dilate and grow +red. The driver's voice, strong and full, rang out in blood-curdling +whoops, which ended in the wailing howl of a coyote, wonderfully well +imitated. The combination of voice and whip was too much, and the six +horses, maddened by the terrible sting of the lash and the frightful, +haunting howl, became frenzied and bolted. + +Braced firmly on the footboard, poised carefully and with just the right +tension on the reins, the driver scanned the trail before him, avoiding +as best he could the rocks and deep ruts, and watching alertly for a +stumble. His sombrero had deserted him and his long brown hair snapped +behind him in the wind. Bill was frightened, but not for himself alone. +With all his bravado he was built of good timber, and his one thought was +for the women under his care. He unconsciously prayed that they might not +be brought face to face with the realization of what menaced them; that +they would not learn why the coach lurched so terribly; that the trunk +which obstructed the back window of the coach would not shift and give +them a sight of the danger. Oh, that the running gear held! That the +king-bolt, new, thank God, proved the words of the boasting blacksmith +to be true! He soon came to the beginning of a three-hundred-yard stretch +of perfect road and he hazarded a quick backward glance. Instantly his +eyes were to the front again, but his brain retained the picture he had +seen, retained it perfectly and in wonderful clearness. He saw that the +Apaches were no longer a mile away, but that they had gained upon him +a very little, so very little that only an eye accustomed to gauging +changing distances could have noticed the difference. And he also saw +that the group was no longer compact, but that it was already spreading +out into the dreaded, deadly crescent, a crescent with the best horses at +the horns, which would endeavor to sweep forward and past the coach, +drawing closer together until the circle was complete, with the stage +as the center. + +Another yell burst from him, and again and again the whip writhed and +hissed and cracked, and a new burst of speed was the reward. Well it +was that the horses were the best and most enduring to be found on the +range. He was dependent on his team, he and his passengers. He could not +hope to take up his rifle until the last desperate stand. Oh, if he only +had the sheriff, the cool, laughing, accurate sheriff with him to lie +against the seat and shoot for his sisters! Already the bullets were +dropping behind him, but he did not know of it. They dropped, as yet, +many yards too short, and he could not hear the flat reports. The wind +which roared and whistled past his ears spared him that. + +A stumble! But up again and without injury, for a master hand held the +reins, a hand as cunning as the eyes were calculating. Could Bill's +scoffing friends see him now their scoffing would freeze on lips open in +admiring astonishment. If he attained nothing more in his life he was +justifying his creation. He was doing his best, and doing it wonderfully +well. Long since had fear left him. He was now only a superb driver, +an alert, quick-thinking master of his chosen trade. He thrilled with +a peculiar elation, for was he not playing his hand against death? A +lone hand and with no hope of a lucky draw. All he could hope for was that +he be not unlucky and lose the game because of the weakness of a wheel, +or the traces, or that new king-bolt; that the splendid, ugly, terrorized +units of his sextet would last until he had gained the canyon, where +the stage would nearly block the narrow opening, and where he could +exchange reins for rifle! + +Within the coach three women were miserably huddled in a mass on the +floor. Two would be more proper, because the third, a slim girl of +nineteen, was temporarily out of her misery, having fainted, which was a +boon denied to her companions. Thrown from side to side as if they were +straws in weight, they first crashed into one wall and then into the +other, buffeted from the edge of the front seat to that of the rear one. +Bruised and bleeding and terrified, they dumbly prayed for deliverance +from the madman up above them. + +The driver's eye caught sight of the turn, which lay ten miles northeast +of the canyon--then he had passed it. + +"Only ten miles more, bronchs!" he shouted, imploringly, beseechingly. +"Hold it, boys! Hold it, pets! Only ten miles more!" he repeated until +the left-hand leader lurched forward and lost its footing. Another bit +of masterly manipulation of the reins saved it from going down, and again +the coyote yell rang out in all of its acute, quavering, hair-raising +mournfulness. The blacksnake again and again mercilessly leaped and +struck, and another wonderful burst of speed rewarded him. + +His heart suddenly went out to his horses, as he realized what speed they +were making and had been holding for so long a time, and he swore to treat +them better than they had ever known if they pulled him safely to the +mouth of the canyon. + +A second backward glance, forced from him because of the awful uncertainty +at his back, because if it was the last thing he ever did he must look +behind him as a child looks back into the awful darkness of the room, +caused his face to be convulsed with smiles, sudden and sincere. He +shouted madly in his joy at what he saw, dancing up and down regardless +of his perilous footing, bending his knees with a recklessness almost +criminal, as he uncoiled the hissing blacksnake high up in the air. +Again and again the whistling, hissing length of braided rawhide curled +and straightened and cracked, faster and faster until the reports +almost merged. He tossed his head and laughed wildly, hysterically, +and danced as only a man can dance when eased of a terrible nervous +tension; the rasping of the icy, grasping fingers of Death along his +back suddenly ceased, and there came to him assurance of life and +vengeance. Turning again he hurled the writhing length of his whip at +the yelling Apaches, snapping the rifle-like reports at their faces, +cursing them in shouted words; hot, joyous, cynical, taunting words +fresh from the soul of him, throbbing with his hatred; venomous, +contemptuous, scathing, too heartfelt to be over-profane. + +"Come _on_, d----n you! Your slide to h--l is greased _now!_ Come on, +you wolves! You cheap, blind vultures! Come on! _Come on!!_" he yelled, +well nigh out of his senses from the reaction. "Yes, yell! Yell, d----n +you!" he shouted as they replied to his taunts. "Yell! Shoot your tin guns +while you can, for you'll soon be so full of lead you'll stop forever! +_Come on!_ COME ON!" + +They came. All their energies were bent toward the grotesque figure that +reviled them. They could not catch his words, but their eyes flashed at +what they could see. Dust arose in huge, low clouds behind them, and they +gained rapidly for a time, but only for a time, for their mounts had +covered many miles in the last few days and were jaded and without their +usual strength because of insufficient food. But they gained enough to +drop their shots on the coach, although accurate shooting at the pace they +were keeping was beyond their skill. + +Puffs of dust spurted from the plain in front of the team and arose +beside it, and a jagged splinter of seasoned ash whizzed past the driver's +ear. A long, gray furrow suddenly appeared in the end of the seat and +holes began to show in the woodwork of the stage. One bullet, closer than +the others, almost tore the reins from the driver's hands as it hit the +loose end of leather which flapped in the air. Its jerk caused him to +turn again and renew his verbal cautery, tears in his eyes from the +fervor of his madness. + +"Hi-yi! Whoop-e-e!" he shouted at his straining, steaming sextet. "Keep it +up, bronchs! Hold her for ten minutes more, boys! We'll win! We'll win! +We'll laugh them into h--l yet! We'll dance on their painted faces! Keep +her steady! You're all right, every d----d one of you! Hold her steady! +Whoop-e-e!" + +A new factor had drawn cards, and the new factor could play his cards +better than any two men under that washed-out, faded blue sky. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE ORPHAN OBEYS AN IMPULSE + + +When Sneed promised to try to restrain his men he spoke in good faith, +and when he discovered that half of them were missing his anger began to +rise. But he was helpless now because they were beyond his reach, so he +could only hope that they would not meet the sheriff, not only because +of the displeasure of the peace officer, but also because good cowboys +were hard to obtain, and he knew what such a meeting might easily develop +into. + +The foreman knew that Ford's Station bore him and his ranch no love and +that if the sheriff should meet with armed resistance and, possibly, +mishap at the hands of any members of the Cross Bar-8, that trouble would +be the tune for him and his men to dance to. Angrily striding to and +fro in front of the bunk house he gave a profane and pointed lecture +to several of his men who stood near, abashed at their foreman's anger. He +suddenly stopped and looked toward the rocky stretch of land and hurled +epithets at what he feared might be taking place in its defiles and among +its rocks and bowlders. + +"Fools!" he shouted, shaking his fist at the Backbone. "Fools, to hunt +a man like that on his own ground, and in the way you'll do it! You can't +keep together for long, and as sure as you separate, some of you will be +missing to-night!" + +Had he been able, he would have seen six cowboys, who were keeping close +together as they worked their way southward, exploring every arroyo and +examining every thicket and bowlder. Their Colts were in their hands and +their nerves were tensed to the snapping point. + +They finally came to the stage road and, after a brief consultation, +plunged into it and scrambled up the opposite bank, where they left one of +their number on guard while they continued on their search. The guard +found concealment behind a huge bowlder which stood on the edge of the +canyon above the entrance. He lighted a cigarette, and the thin wisps of +pale blue smoke slowly made their way above him, twisting and turning, +halting for an instant, and then speeding upward as straight as a rod. +It was strong tobacco and very aromatic, and when the wind caught it up in +filmy clouds and carried it away it could be detected for many feet. + +Five minutes had passed since the searchers had become lost to sight +to the south when something moved on the other side of the canyon and +then became instantly quiet as the smoke streamed up. The guard was +cleverly hidden from sight, but he felt that he must smoke, for time +passed slowly for him. Again something moved, this time behind a thin +clump of mesquite. Gradually it took on the outlines of a man, and he was +intently watching the tell-tale vapor, the odor of which had warned him +in time. + +Retreating, he was soon lost to sight, and a few minutes later he peered +through a thin thicket which stood on the edge of the canyon wall. As +he did so the guard stuck his head out from the shelter of his bowlder +and glanced along the trail. Again seeking his cover he finished his +cigarette and lighted another. + +"He won't look again for a few minutes, the fool," muttered the other +as he dropped into the road and darted across it. After a bit of cautious +climbing he gained the top of the canyon wall and again became lost to +sight. + +Still the smoke ascended fitfully from behind the bowlder, and the +prowler gradually drew near it, at last gaining the side opposite the +smoker. He crouched and slowly crawled around it, his left hand holding +a Colt; his right, a lariat. As the guard again turned to examine the +lower end of the canyon his eyes looked into a steady gun, and while +his wits were rallying to his aid the rope leaped at him and neatly +dropped over his shoulders, pinning his arms to his side. It twitched and +a loop formed in it, running swiftly and almost horizontally. It whipped +over his head and tightened about his throat, while another loop sped +after it and assisted in throttling the puncher. Then the lariat twitched +and whirled and loops ran along it and fastened over the guard's wrists, +rapidly getting shorter; and when it ceased, its wielder was brought to +the side of his trussed victim. The bound man was turning purple in +the face and neck and his captor, hastily crowding the guard's own +neck-kerchief into the open, gasping mouth, released the throat clutch +of the rawhide and then securely fixed the gag into place. + +Roughly dragging his captive to a mass of debris he tore it apart and +dragged and pushed the man into it, after which he pushed the rubbish +back into place and then ran to the bowlder, where he covered all tracks. +Picking up the puncher's revolver he took the cylinder from it and hurled +it far out on the plain, throwing the frame across the defile into a +tangled mass of mesquite. Looking carefully about him, to be sure he had +not overlooked anything, he disappeared in the direction from which he had +come. + +He again appeared in the canyon, and ran swiftly along it until he came to +the tracks made by the guard's horse, which he followed into an arroyo +and where he found the animal hobbled. Loosening the hobbles he threw +them over the horse's neck and sprang into the saddle. He picked his +way carefully until he had reached the level plain, when he cantered +northward, keeping close to the rock wall of the Backbone to avoid +being seen by the searchers. When he had put a dozen miles behind him he +turned abruptly to the east, soon becoming lost to sight behind the +scattered chaparrals. + +The Orphan, surmounting a rise, looked to the southwest and saw something +which almost caused his hair to rise, and raising hair was not the +rule with him, which latter is mentioned to give proper emphasis to the +seriousness of what he looked upon. He leaped to the ground and saw that +the cinches were securely fastened, after which he vaulted back into the +saddle, and, instead of offering prayer for success, sent up profanity +at the possibility of failure. + +Two miles to the southwest of him he saw six horses flattened almost to +earth in keeping the speed they had attained and were holding. Back of +them lurched and rocked and heaved the sun-bleached coach, dull gray +and dusty, its tall driver standing up to his work, hatless and with +his arm rapidly rising and falling as he sent the cruel whip cruelly +home. Behind the stage whipped the baggage flap, a huge leathern apron +for the protection of luggage, standing out horizontally because of the +rush of wind caused by the speed of the coach. It flapped defiantly at +what so tenaciously pursued it. A thousand yards to the rear, riding +in crescent formation, the horns now far apart and well ahead of the +center, were five arm- and weapon-waving bronzed enthusiasts whose war +paint could just be discerned by The Orphan's good eyes and field glasses. + +As yet, the reason for the lifting hair has not been disclosed, because +The Orphan was proud in his belief that he had few nerves and a dormant +sympathy, and this scene alone would not have aroused much sympathy +in his heart for the driver, and neither would it have changed the +malevolent expression which disfigured his face, an expression caused +by the remembrance of six cowboys who had searched for him as if he was a +cowardly, cattle-killing coyote. But the exuberant baggage-flap revealed +two trunks, three valises and a pile of white cardboard boxes; and as if +this was not enough for a man adept at sign reading, the door of the +coach suddenly became unfastened and alternately swung open and shut as +the lurching of the coach affected it. And through the intermittent +opening he could see a mass of gray and brown and blue. + +The Orphan had spent ten years of his life battling against the hardest +kinds of odds, and his brain had foresworn long methods of thinking +and had adopted short cuts to conclusions. His mental processes were +sharp, quick and acted instantly on his nerves, often completing an action +before he became clearly conscious of its need. He forgot the pleasant +sheriff and the unpleasant, blundering cowboys who, very probably, were +now engaged in wondering where their companion had gone; and he forgot +his determination to return and free that puncher. He asked himself no +questions as to why or how, but simply sunk his spurs half an inch into a +horse that had peculiar and fixed ideas about their use, and that now +bucked, pitched and galloped forward because its rider had suddenly +decided to save those gray and brown and blue dresses. + +The Apaches had passed the point immediately south of him and were now +more to the west, going at right angles to the course he took. They +were so intent upon gaining yard upon yard that they did not look to +the side--their thoughts were centered on the tall, lanky man who stood +up against the sky and cursed them, and whose hat they had passed miles +back. As he turned and stole the look at them which had so pleased him, +they only waved guns and wasted cartridges more recklessly, yelling +savagely. + +Down from the north charged a brown, a dirty brown horse, and it was +comparatively fresh. It gained steadily, silently, and its gains were +measured in yards to each minute it ran, since it was coming at a sharp +angle. Astride of it and lying along its neck was a man whose spurs and +quirt urged it to its uttermost effort. Soon the man straightened up in +his saddle, the horse braced its legs and slid to a stand as a rifle +arose to the rider's shoulder, and at the shot the animal leaped forward +at its top speed. A puff of smoke flashed past the marksman's head to +mingle with the dust cloud in his wake, and the nearest brave, who was +the last in the crescent, dropped sprawlingly to the ground and rolled +rapidly several times. His horse, freed of its burden, ran off at an +angle and was soon left behind. The excitement of the chase and the noise +of the hoofbeats of their own horses and of the reports of their own +rifles effectually lost the report of the shot and soon another, and +nearest, Apache also plunged to the plain. This time the freed horse shot +ahead and ranged alongside the wearer of the head-dress, who turned in +his saddle and looked back. His eyesight was good, but not good enough +to see the .50 caliber slug which passed through his abdomen and tore the +ear of another warrior's horse. + +The rider of the horse owning the mutilated ear looked quickly backward, +screamed a warning and war-cry all in one and began to shoot rapidly. +His surprised companion followed suit as the coach came to a stand, and +another rifle, long silent, took a hand in the dispute with a vim as if +to make up for lost time. The first warrior fell, shot through by both +rifles, and the other, emptying his magazine at the new factor, who was +very busily engaged in extracting a jammed cartridge, wheeled his pony +about and fled toward the south, panic-stricken by the accuracy of the +newcomer and terrorized by the awful execution. But the Apache's last +shot nearly cleaned the sheriff's slate, grazing The Orphan's temple and +stunning him: a fraction of an inch more to the right would have cheated +the Cross Bar-8 of any chance of revenge. + +Bill, still holding the rifle, leaped to the sand and ran to where his +rescuer lay huddled in the dust of the plain. + +"I've got yore smoking," he exclaimed breathlessly, at last getting rid +of his mental burden. Then he stopped short, swore, and bent over the +figure, and grasping the body firmly by neck and thigh, slung it over +his shoulders and staggered toward the coach, his progress slow and +laborious because of the deep sand and dust. As he neared his objective +he glanced up and saw that his passengers had left the stage and were +grouped together on the plain like lambs lost in a lion country. + +They were hysterical, and all talked at once, sobbing and wringing their +hands. But when they noticed the driver stumbling toward them with the +body across his shoulders their tongues became suddenly mute with a new +fear. Up to then they had thought only of their own woes and bruises, but +here, perhaps, was Death; here was the man who had risked his life that +they might live, and he might have lost as they gained. + +They besieged Bill with tearful questions and gave him no chance to +reply. He staggered past them and placed his burden in the scant shadow +of the coach, while they cried aloud at sight of the blood-stained +face, frozen in their tracks with fear and horror. Bill, ignoring them, +hastily climbed with a wonderful celerity for him, to the high seat +and dropped to the ground with a canteen which he had torn from its +fastenings. Pouring its contents over the upturned face he half emptied a +pocket flask of whisky into The Orphan's mouth and then fell to chafing +and rubbing with his calloused, dust-covered hands, well knowing the +nature of the wound and that it had only stunned. + +Soon the eyelids quivered, fluttered and then flew back and the cruel eyes +stared unblinkingly into those of the man above him, who swore in sudden +joy. Then, weak as he was and only by the aid of an indomitable will, the +wounded man bounded to his feet and stood swaying slightly as one hand +reached out to the stage for support, the other instinctively leaping to +his Colt. He swayed still more as he slowly turned his head and searched +the plain for foes, the Colt half drawn from its holster. + +As soon as he had gained his feet and while he was looking about him in +a dazed way the women began to talk again, excitedly, hysterically. They +gathered around this unshaven, blood-stained man and tried to thank him +for their lives, their voices broken with sobs. He listened, vaguely +conscious of what they were trying to say, until his brain cleared and +made him capable of thought. Then he ceased to sway and spread his feet +far apart to stand erect. His hand went to his head for the sombrero +which was not there, and he smiled as he recalled how he had lost it. + +"Oh, how can we ever thank you!" cried the sheriff's eldest sister, +choking back a nervous sob. "How can we ever thank you for what you have +done! You saved our lives!" she cried, shuddering at the danger now +past. "You saved our lives! You saved our lives!" she repeated excitedly, +clasping and unclasping her hands in her agitation. + +"How can we ever thank you, how can we!" cried the girl who had fainted +when the chase had begun. "It was splendid, splendid!" she cried, swaying +in her weakness. She was so white and bruised and frail that The Orphan +felt pity for her and started to say something, but had no chance. The +three women monopolized the conversation even to the exclusion of Bill, +who suddenly felt that his talking ability was only commonplace after all. + +Blood trickled slowly down the outlaw's face as he smiled at them and +tried to calm them, and the younger sister, suddenly realizing the meaning +of what she had vaguely seen, turned to Bill with an imperative gesture. + +"Bring me some water, driver, immediately," she commanded impatiently, +and Bill hurried around to the rear axle from which swung a small keg of +three gallons' capacity. Quickly unsnapping the chain from it he returned +and pried out the wooden plug, slowly turning the keg until water began +to flow through the hole and trickle down to the sand. Miss Shields took a +small handkerchief from her waist and unfolded it, to be stopped by Bill. + +"Don't spoil that, miss!" he hastily exclaimed. "Take one of mine. They +ain't worth much, and besides, they're a whole lot bigger." + +"Thank you, but this is better," she replied, smiling as she regarded +the dusty neck-kerchief which he eagerly held out to her. She wet the +bit of clean linen and Bill followed her as she stepped to the side of +the outlaw, holding the keg for her and thinking that the sheriff was +not the only thoroughbred to bear the name of Shields. He turned the +keg for her as she needed water, and she bathed the wound carefully, +pushing back the long hair which persisted in getting in her way, all +the time vehemently declining the eager offers of assistance from her +companions. The Orphan had involuntarily raised his hand to stop her, +feeling foolish at so much attention given to so trivial a wound and not +at all accustomed to such things, especially from women with wonderful +deep, black eyes. + +"Please do not bother me," she commanded, pushing his hand aside. "You +can at least let me do this little thing, when you have done so much, or +I shall think you selfish." + +He stood as a bad boy stands when unexpectedly rewarded for some good +deed, uncomfortable because of the ridiculous seriousness given to his +gash, and ashamed because he was glad of the attention. He tried not to +look at her, but somehow his eyes would not stray from her face, her heavy +mass of black hair and her wonderful eyes. + +"You make me think that I'm really hurt," he feebly expostulated as he +capitulated to her deft hands. "Now, if it was a real wound, why it might +be all right. But, pshaw, all this fuss and feathers about a scratch!" + +"Indeed!" she cried, dropping the stained handkerchief to the ground +as she took another from her dress, plastering his hair back with her +free hand. "I suppose you would rather have what you call a real wound! +You should be thankful that it is no worse! Why, just the tiniest bit +more, and you would have--" she shuddered as she thought of it and turned +quickly away and tore a strip of linen from her skirt. Straightening up +and facing him again she ripped off the trimming and carefully plucked +the loose threads from it. Folding it into a neat bandage she placed the +handkerchief over the wound after pushing back the rebellious hair and +bound it into place with the strip, deftly patting it here and pushing it +there until it suited her. Then, drawing it tight, she unfastened the +gold breast-pin which she wore at her throat and pinned the bandage into +place, stepping back to regard her work with satisfaction. + +"There!" she cried laughing delightedly. "You look real well in a bandage! +But I am sorry there is need for one," she said, sobering instantly. +"But, then, it could have been much worse, very much worse, couldn't +it?" she asked, smiling brightly. + +Before The Orphan could reply, Bill saw a break in the conversation, or +thought he did, and hastened to say something, for he felt unnatural. + +"I got yore smokin', Orphant!" he cried, clambering up to his seat. +"Leastawise, I had before them war-whoops--yep! Here she is, right side +up and fine and dandy!" + +Could he have seen the look which the outlaw flashed at him he would have +quailed with sudden fear. Three gasps arose in chorus, and the women +drew back from the outlaw, fearful and shocked and severe. But with +the sheriff's younger sister it was only momentarily, for she quickly +recovered herself and the look of fear left her eyes. So this, then, +was the dreaded Orphan, the outlaw of whom her brother had written! This +young, sinewy, good-looking man, who had swayed so unsteadily on his +feet, was the man the stories of whose outrages had filled the pages of +Eastern newspapers and magazines! Could he possibly be guilty of the +murders ascribed to him? Was he capable of the inhumanity which had +made his name a synonym of terror? As she wondered, torn by conflicting +thoughts, he looked at her unflinchingly, and his thin lips wore a +peculiar smile, cynical and yet humorous. + +Bill leaped to the ground with the smoking tobacco and, blissfully +unconscious of what he had done, continued unruffled. + +"That was d----n fine--begging the ladies' pardon," he cried. "Yes sir, +it was plumb sumptious, it shore was! And when I tell the sheriff how +you saved his sisters, he'll be some tickled! You just bet he will! And +I'll tell it right, too! Just leave the telling of it to me. Lord, when +I looked back to see how far them war-whoops were from my back hair, and +saw you tearing along like you was a shore enough express train, I just +had to yell, I was so tickled. It was just like I held a pair of deuces +in a big jack-pot and drew two more! My, but didn't I feel good! And, +say--whenever you run out of smoking again, you just flag Bill Howland's +chariot: you can have all he's got. That's straight, you bet! Bill Howland +don't forget a turn like that, never." + +The enthusiasm he looked for did not materialize and he glanced from one +to another as he realized that something was up. + +"Come, dears, let us go," said Mary Shields, lifting her skirts and +abruptly turning her back on the outlaw. "We evidently have far to go, +and we have wasted _so_ much time. Come, Grace," she said to her friend, +stepping toward the coach. + +Bill stared and wondered how much time had been wasted, since never before +had he reached that point in so short a time. He had made two miles to +every one at his regular speed. + +"Come, Helen!" came the command from the elder, and with a trace of +surprise and impatience. + +"Sister! Why, Mary, how can you be so mean!" retorted the girl with the +black eyes, angry and indignant at the unkindness of the cut, her face +flushing at its injustice. Her spirit was up in arms immediately and she +deliberately walked to The Orphan and impulsively held out her hand, her +sister's words deciding the doubts in her mind in the outlaw's favor. + +"Forgive her!" she cried. "She doesn't mean to be rude! She is so very +nervous, and this afternoon has been too much for her. It was a man's +act, a brave man's act! And one which I will always cherish, for I will +never forget this day, never, never!" she reiterated earnestly. "I don't +care what they say about you, not a bit! I don't believe it, for you +could not have done what you have if you are as they paint you. I will +not wait for our driver to tell my brother about your splendid act--he, +at least, shall know you as you are, and some day he will return it, too." + +Then she looked from him to her hand: "Will you not shake hands with +me? Show me that you are not angry. Are you fair to me to class me as an +enemy, just because my brother is the sheriff?" + +He looked at her in wonderment and his face softened as he took the hand. + +"Thank you," he said simply. "You are kind, and fair. I do not think of +you as an enemy." + +"Helen! Are you coming?" came from the coach. + +He smiled at the words and then laughed bitterly, recklessly, his +shoulders unconsciously squaring. There was no malice in his face, +only a quizzical, baffling cynicism. + +"Oh, it's a shame!" she cried, her eyes growing moist. She made a gesture +of helplessness and looked him full in the eyes. "Whatever you have +done in the past, you will give them no cause to say such things in the +future, will you? You will leave it all behind you and get work, and not +be an outlaw any more, won't you? You will prove my faith in you, for I +_have_ faith in you, won't you? It will all be forgotten," she added, +as if her words made it so. Then she leaned forward to readjust the +bandage. "There, now it's all right--you must not touch it again like +that." + +"You are alone in your faith," he replied bitterly, not daring to look at +her. + +"Oh, I reckon not," muttered Bill, scowling at the stage as if he would +like to unhitch and leave it there. Then seeing The Orphan glance at the +horse which was grazing contentedly, he went out to capture the animal. +"D----d old hen, that's what she is!" he muttered fiercely. "I don't care +if she is the sheriff's sister, that's just what she is! Just a regular +ingrowing disposition!" + +"You are kind, as kind as you are beautiful," The Orphan responded simply. +"But you don't know." + +She flushed at his words and then decided that he spoke in simple +sincerity. + +"I know that you are going to do differently," she replied as she extended +her hand again. "Good-by." + +He bowed his head as he took it and flushed: "Good-by." + +She slowly turned and walked toward the coach, where she was received by +a chilling silence. + +Bill brought the horse to where The Orphan stood lost in thought, +unbuckled his cartridge belt and wrapped it around the pommel of the +saddle, the heavy Colt still in the holster. Then he clambered up for his +rifle and tied it to the saddle skirt by the thongs of leather which +dangled therefrom. Looking about him he espied the keg on the sand and, +driving home the plug, slung it behind the cantle of the saddle where +he fastend it by the straps which held the outlaw's "slicker." Jamming +the package of tobacco into the pocket of the garment he stepped back +and grinned sheepishly at his generous gifts. He turned abruptly and +strode to the outlaw and shoved out his hand. + +"There, pardner, shake!" he cried heartily. "Yore the best man in the +whole d----d cow country, and I'll tell 'em so, too, by God!" + +The outlaw came out of his reverie and looked him searchingly in the face +as he gripped the outstretched hand with a grip which made the driver +wince. + +"Don't be a fool, Bill," he replied. "You'll get yourself disliked if +you enthuse about me." Then he noticed the additions to his equipment +and frowned: "You better take those things, I can't. The spirit is enough." + +"Oh, you borrow them 'til you see me again," replied Bill. "You may need +'em," he added as he wheeled and walked to the coach. He climbed to his +seat and wrapped the lines about his hands, cracking the whip as soon as +he could, and the coach lurched on its way to Ford's Station, the driver +grunting about fool old maids who didn't know enough to be glad they were +alive. + +The Orphan hesitated about the gifts and then decided to take them for +the time. He mounted and rode past the coach door, keeping near to the +flank of the last horse, where he listened to Bill's endless talk. + +"How is it that you've got a Cross Bar-8 cayuse?" Bill asked at length, +too idiotically happy to realize the significance of his question. + +The Orphan's hand leaped suddenly and then stopped and dropped to the +pommel, and he looked up at the driver. + +"Oh, one of their punchers and I sort of swapped," he laughingly replied, +thinking of the man under the debris. "Say, if I don't get as far as +the canyon with you, just climb up above on the left hand side near the +entrance and release a fool puncher that is covered up under a pile of +rubbish, will you? I came near forgetting him, and I don't want him to die +in that way." + +As he spoke he saw a group of horsemen swing over a rise and he knew them +instinctively. + +"There's the gang now--tell them, I'm off for a ride," he said, dropping +back to the coach door, where he raised his hand to his head and bowed. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE OUTFIT HUNTS FOR STRAYS + + +As the group of punchers and the stage neared each other Bill saw two +horsemen ride out into view beside a chaparral half a mile to the +northwest, and he recognized Shields and Charley, who were loping forward +as if to overtake the cowboys, their approach noiseless because of +the deep sand. As the cowboys came nearer Bill recognized them as being +the five worst men of the Cross Bar-8 outfit, and his loyalty to his +new friend was no stronger than his dislike for the newcomers. They +swept up at a canter and stopped abruptly near the front wheel. + +"Who was _that?"_ asked Larry Thompson impatiently, with his gloved hand +indicating the direction taken by The Orphan. + +"Friend of mine," replied Bill, who was diplomatically pleasant. "Say," he +began, enthusing for effect, "you should have turned up sooner--you missed +a regular circus! We was chased by five Apaches, and my friend cleaned +'em up right, he shore did! You should a seen it. I wouldn't a missed it +for----" + +"Cheese it!" relentlessly continued Larry, interrupting the threatened +verbal deluge. "Don't be all day about it, Windy," he cried; "who is he?" + +"Why, a friend of mine, Tom Davis," lied Bill. "He just wiped out a bunch +of Apaches, like I was telling you. They was a-chasing me some plentiful +and things was getting real interesting when he chipped in and took a +hand from behind. And he certainly cleaned 'em up brown, he shore did! +Say, I'll bet you, even money, that he can lick the sheriff, or even The +Orphant! He's a holy terror on wheels, that's what he is! Talk about +lightning on the shoot--and he can hit twice in the same place, too, +if he wants to, though there ain't no use of it when he gets there once. +The way he can heave lead is enough to make----" + +"Choke it, Bill, choke it!" testily ordered Curley Smith, whose reputation +was unsavory. "Tell us why in h--l he hit th' trail so all-fired hard. +Is yore friend some bashful?" he inquired ironically. + +"Well," replied Bill, grinning exasperatingly, "it all depends on how +you looks at it. Women say he is, men swear he ain't; you can take your +choice. But they do say he ain't no ladies' man," he jabbed maliciously, +well knowing that Curley prided himself on being a "lady-killer." + +"Th' h--l he ain't!" retorted Curley, with a show of anger, preparing to +argue, which would take time; and Bill was trying to give the outlaw a +good start of them. "Th' h--l he ain't!" he repeated, leaning aggressively +forward. "Yu keep yore opinions close to home, yu big-mouthed coyote!" + +"Well, you asked me, didn't you?" replied Bill. "And I told you, didn't I? +He's a good man all around, and say, you should oughter hear him sing! +He's a singer from Singersville, he is. Got the finest voice this side +of Chicago, that's what." + +"That's _real_ interesting, and _just_ what we was askin' yu about," +replied Larry with withering sarcasm. "An' bein' so, Windy, we'll shore +give him all the music he wants to sing to before dark if we gets him. +Yore lying ability is real highfalutin'. Now, suppose yu tell th' truth +before we drag it outen yu--who is he?" + +"You ought to know it by this time. Didn't I say his name is Tom Davis?" +he replied, crossing his legs, his face wearing a bored look. "How many +names do you think he's got, anyhow? Ain't one enough?" + +"Look a-here!" cried Curley, pushing forward. "Was that th' d----d +Orphant? Come on, now, talk straight!" + +"Orphant!" ejaculated Bill in surprise. "Did you say Orphant? Orphant +nothing!" he responded. "What in h--l do you think I'd be lying about +him for? Do I look easy? He ain't no friend of mine! Besides, I wouldn't +know him if I saw him, never having seen that frisky gent. Holy gee! is +the Orphant loose in this country, out here along my route!" he cried, +simulating alarm. + +"Well, we'll take a chance anyhow," interposed Jack Kelly. "I can tell +when a fool lies. If it _is_ yore friend Tom Davis we won't hurt him none." + +"Honest, you won't hurt him?" asked Bill, grinning broadly. "No, I reckon +_you_ won't, all right," he added, for the sheriff was close at hand +now and was coming up at a walk, and Bill had an abiding faith in that +official. He could be a trifle reckless how he talked now. He laughed +sarcastically and hooked his thumbs in the armholes of his vest. "Nope, +I reckon _you_ won't hurt him, not a little bit. Not if he knows you're +going to try it on him. And if it should be Mister Orphant, well, I hear +that he's dead sore on being hunted--don't like it for a d----n. I also +hear he drinks blood instead of water and whips five men before breakfast +every morning to get up an appetite. Oh, no, and you won't hurt him +neither, will you?" + +"Yore real pert, now _ain't_ yu?" shouted Curley angrily. "Yore a whole +lot sassy an' smart, _ain't_ yu? But if we find that he is that Orphant, +we'll pay yu a visit so yu can explain just why yore so d----d friendly +with him. He seems to have a whole lot of friends about this country, he +does! Even the sheriff won't hurt him. Even th' brave sheriff loses his +trail. Must be somethin' in it for somebody, eh?" + +"You'd better tell that to somebody else, the sheriff, for instance. He'd +like to think it over," responded Bill easily. "It's a good chance to +see a little branding, a la Colt, as the French say. Tell it to him, why +don't you?" + +"I'm a-tellin' it to yu, _now_, an' I'll tell it to Shields when I sees +him, yu overgrown baby, yu!" shouted Curley, his hand dropping to his +Colt. "Everybody knows it! Everybody is a-talkin' about it! An' we'll +have a new sheriff, too, before long! An' as for yu, if we wasn't in such +a hurry, we'd give yu a lesson yu'd never forget! That d----d Orphant +has got a pull, but we're goin' to give him a push, an' plumb into hell! +Either a pull or our brave sheriff is some ascairt of him! He's a _fine_ +sheriff, _he_ is, th' big baby!" + +"Pleasant afternoon, Curley," came from behind the group, accompanied by a +soft laugh. The voice was very pleasant and low. Curley stiffened and +turned in his saddle like a flash. The sheriff was smiling, but there was +a glint in his fighting eyes that gave grave warning. The sheriff smiled, +but some men smile when most dangerous, and as an assurance of mastery +and coolness. + +"Looking for strays, or is it mavericks?" he casually asked, a question +which left no doubt as to what the smile indicated, for it was a +challenge. Maverick hunting was at that time akin to rustling, and it was +occurring on the range despite the sheriff's best efforts to stop it. + +Curley flushed and mumbled something about a missing herd. He had suddenly +remembered the scene at the corral, and it had a most subduing effect on +him. The sheriff regarded him closely and then noted the bullet holes in +the coach. The door of the vehicle was closed, the curtains down, and no +sound came from within it. The baggage flap had settled askew over the +tell-tale trunks and hid them from sight on that side. + +"Oh, it's a missing herd this time, is it?" he inquired coolly. "Well, +I reckon you won't find it out here. They don't wander over this layout +while the Limping Water is running." + +"Well, we'll take a look down south aways; it won't do no harm now that +we've got this far," replied Larry. "Come on, boys," he cried. "We've +wasted too much time with th' engineer." + +"Wait!" commanded the sheriff shortly. "Your foreman made me certain +promises, and I reckon that you are out against orders. I wouldn't be +surprised if Sneed wants you right now." + +Larry laughed uneasily. "Oh, I reckon he ain't losin' no sleep about us. +We won't hurt nobody" --whereat Bill grinned. "Come on, fellows." + +"Well, I hope you get what you're looking for," replied the sheriff, +whereat Bill snickered outright and winked at Charley, who sat alert +and scowling behind the sheriff, rather hoping for a fight. + +Larry flashed the driver a malicious look and, wheeling, cantered south, +followed by his companions. They rode straight for the point at which The +Orphan had disappeared, Bill waving his arms and crying: "Sic 'em." The +chase was on in earnest. + +The stage door suddenly flew open with a bang and interrupted the +explanations which Bill was about to offer, and in a flash the sheriff +was almost smothered by the attentions showered on him. Laughing and +struggling and delighted by the surprise, the peace officer could not +get a word edgewise in the rapid-fire exclamations and questions which +were hurled at him from all sides. + +But finally he could be heard as he extricated himself from the embraces +of his sisters. + +"Well, well!" he cried, smiles wreathing his face as he stepped back to +get a good look at them. "You're a sight to make a sick man well! My, +Helen, but how you've grown! It's been five years since I saw you--and +you were only a schoolgirl in short dresses! And Mary hasn't grown a +bit older, not a bit," addressing the elder of the two. Then he turned to +the friend. "You must pardon me, Miss Ritchie," he said as he shook hands +with her. "But I've been looking forward to this meeting for a long time. +And I'm really surprised, too, because I didn't expect you all until the +next stage trip. I had intended meeting you at the train and seeing you +safely to Ford's Station, because the Apaches are out. I couldn't get +word to you in time for you to postpone your visit, so I was going to +take Charley and several more of the boys and escort you home." + +Then he looked about for Charley, and found that person engaged in +conversation with Bill as the two examined the bullet-marked stage. + +"Come here, Charley!" he cried, beckoning his friend to his side. +"Ladies, this is Charley Winter, and he is a real good boy for a puncher. +Charley, Miss Ritchie, my sisters Mary and Helen. I reckon you ladies are +purty well acquainted with Bill Howland by this time, but in case you +ain't, I'll just say that he is the boss driver of the Southwest, noted +locally for his oppressive taciturnity. I reckon you two boys don't need +any introducing," he laughed. + +Then, while the conversation throbbed at fever heat, Bill suddenly +remembered and wheeled toward the sheriff. + +"The Orphant!" he yelled in alarm, hoping to gain attention that way. + +The sheriff and Charley wheeled, guns in hand, and leaped clear of the +women, their quick eyes glancing from point to point in search of the +danger. + +"Where?" cried the sheriff over his shoulder at Bill. + +"Down south, ahead of them fool punchers," Bill exclaimed. "He's only +got a little start on 'em. And they know he's there, too. That's why +they're looking for cows on a place cows never go." + +Then he related in detail the occurrences of the past few hours, to the +sheriff's great astonishment, and also to his delight at the way it had +turned out. Shields thought of his own personal experiences with the +outlaw, and this put him deeper in debt. His opinion as to there being +much good in his enemy's makeup was strengthened, and he smiled at the +fighting ability and fairness of the man who had declared a truce with +him by the big bowlder on the Apache Trail. + +"Oh, I hope they don't catch him!" Helen cried anxiously. "Can't you do +something, James?" she implored. "He saved us, and he is wounded, too! +Can't you stop them?" + +The sheriff looked to the south in the direction taken by the +cow-punchers, and a hard light grew in his eyes. + +"No, not now," he replied decisively. "They've had too much time now. And +it's safe to bet that they rode at full speed just as soon as they got +out of my sight. They knew Bill would tell me. They're miles away by +this time. But don't you worry, Sis--they won't get him. Five curs never +lived that could catch a timber wolf in his own country--and if they +do catch him, they will wish they hadn't. And I almost hope they win the +chase, for they'll lose their fool lives. It will be a lesson to the +rest of the bullies of the Cross Bar-8--and small loss to the community at +large, eh, Charley?" + +"Yore shore right, Jim," replied Charley, smiling at Miss Ritchie. +"Did you ever hear tell of the dog that retrieved a lighted dynamite +cartridge?" he asked her. "No? Well, the dog left for parts unknown." + +"That's good, Charley," Shields responded with a laugh. "The dog just +wouldn't mind, and he was only a snarling, no-account cur at that, +wasn't he?" Then he looked at the coach, and his heart softened to the +hunted man. "I can see it all, now," he said slowly. "Those punchers must +have forced him out of the Backbone, and he was getting away when he +saw the plight you were in. By God!" he cried in appreciation of the +act. "It wasn't no one man's work, five Apaches! One man stopping five of +those devils--it was no work for a murderer, not much! It was clean-cut +nerve, and if I ever see him I'll tell him so, too! I'll let him know that +he's got some friends in this country. They can say what they please, +but there's more manhood in him to the square inch than there is in all +the people who cry him down; and who are in a great way responsible for +his being an outlaw. I'm ready to swear that he never wantonly shot a man +down; no, sir, he didn't. And I reckon he never had much show, from +what I know of him." + +"Helen was real kind to him," remarked the spinster. "She bathed his wound +and bandaged it. Spoiled her very best skirt, too." + +"You're a good girl, Sis," Shields said, looking fondly at the beautiful +girl at his side. His arm went around her shoulder and he affectionately +patted her cheek. "I'm proud of you, and we'll have to see if we can't +get another 'very best skirt,' too." Then he laughed: "But I'll bet he +blesses the warrior who fired that shot--he's not used to having pretty +girls fuss about him." + +Mary looked quickly at her sister. "Why, Helen! You've lost your gold pin! +Where do you suppose it has gone? I'll look in the stage for it before we +forget about it. Dear me, dear me," she cried as she entered the vehicle, +"this has indeed been a terrible day!" + +Bill grinned and turned toward his team. "I reckon she'll find it some +day," he said in a low aside as he passed the sheriff. "I'll just bet she +does. It'll be in at the finish of a whole lot of things, and people, too, +you bet," he added enigmatically. + +Shields looked quickly at the driver, his face brightened and he smiled +knowingly at the words. "I reckon it will; fool punchers, for instance?" + +Bill turned his head and one eye closed in an emphatic wink. "Keno," he +replied. + +Mary bustled out again, very much agitated. "I can't find it. Where do +you suppose you lost it, dear? I've looked everywhere in the stage." + +"Probably back where we stopped before," Helen replied quietly. "We were +so agitated that we would never have noticed it if it slipped down." + +"Well--" began Mary. + +"No use going back for it, Miss Shields," promptly interrupted Bill from +his high seat. "We just couldn't find it in all that trampled sand, not +if we hunted all week for it with a comb." + +"You're right, Bill," gravely responded the sheriff. "We never could." + +As they entered the defile of the Backbone the sheriff suddenly remembered +what Bill had told him and he stopped and dismounted. + +"You keep right on, Bill," he said. "I'm going up to hunt that fool +puncher. Lord, but it's a joke! This game is getting better every day--I'm +getting so I sort of like to have The Orphan around. He's shore original, +all right." + +"He's better than a marked deck in a darkened room," laughed the driver. +"He shore ought to be framed, or something like that." + +"You better go with them, Charley," the sheriff said as his friend made a +move at dismounting. "There ain't no danger, but we won't take no chances +this time; we've got a precious coachful." + +"All right," replied Charley as he wheeled toward the disappearing stage. +"So long, Sheriff." + +The sheriff looked the wall over and then picked out a comparatively easy +place and climbed to the top. As he drew himself over the edge he espied +a pair of boots which showed from under a pile of debris, and he laughed +heartily. At the laugh the feet began to kick vigorously, so affecting +the sheriff that he had to stop a minute, for it was the most ludicrous +sight he had ever looked upon. + +Shields grabbed the boots and pulled, walking backward, and soon an +enraged and trussed cow-puncher came into view. Slowly and carefully +unrolling the rope from the unfortunate man, he coiled it methodically +and slung it over his shoulder, and then assisted in loosening the gag. + +The puncher was too stiff to rise and his liberator helped him to his +feet and slapped and rubbed and chuckled and rubbed to start the blood in +circulation. The gag had so affected the muscles of the puncher's jaw +that his mouth would not close without assistance and effort, and his +words were not at all clear for that reason. His first word was a curse. + +"'Ell!" he cried as he stamped and swung his arms. "'Ell! I'm asleep all +o'er! ----! 'Ait till I get 'im! ----! 'Ait till I get 'im!" + +"Sort of continuing the little nap you was taking when he roped you, eh?" +asked Shields, holding his sides. + +"Nap nothing! Nap nothing!" yelled the other in profane denial. "I wasn't +asleep, I tell yu! I was wide awake! He got th' drop on me, and then that +cussed rope of his'n was everywhere! Th' air was plumb full of rope and +guns! I didn't have no show! Not a bit of a show! Oh, just wait till I +get him! Why, I heard my pardners talking as they hunted for me, and there +I was not twenty feet away from them all the time, helpless! They're +fine lookers, they are! Wait till I sees them, too! I'll tell 'em a few +things, all right!" + +"Well, I reckon you may see one or two of them, if they're lucky--and you +can't beat a fool for luck," replied the sheriff. "They want to be angels; +they're on his trail now." + +"Hope they get him!" yelled the puncher, dancing with rage. "Hope they +burn him at th' stake! Hope they scalp him, an' hash him, an' saw his arms +off, an' cave his roof in! Hope they make him eat his fingers and toes! +Hope----" + +"You're some hopeful to-day," responded the sheriff. "If you like them, +you better hope they don't get him. That's hoping real hope." + +"Wait till I get him!" the puncher repeated, grabbing for his Colt, being +too enraged to notice its absence. "I'll show him if he can tie a man up +an' leave him to choke to death, an' starve an' roast! I'll show him if +he can run this country like he owns it, shooting and abusing everybody +he wants to!" + +"All right, Sonny," Shields laughed. "I'll shore wait till you gets him, +if I live long enough. But for your sake I shore hope you never finds him. +He wouldn't get any more reputation if he killed you, and your friends +would miss you." + +"Don't yu let that worry yu!" retorted the enraged man. "I can take care +of myself in a mix-up, all right! An' I'm going to chase after my friends +an' take a hand in th' game, too, by God! He ain't going to leave me high +an' dry an' live to boast about it! But I suppose you reckon yu'll stop +me, hey?" + +Shields raised both hands high in the air in denial. "I wouldn't think +of such a thing, not for the world," he cried, laughter shaking his big +frame. "You can go any place you please, only _I'd_ take a gun if I was +going after _him_," he added, eyeing the empty holster. "You know, you +_might_ need it," he was very grave in his use of the subjunctive. + +The puncher slapped his hand to his thigh and then jumped high into the +air: "----! ----!" he shouted. "Stole my gun! Stole my gun!" Then he +paused suddenly and his face cleared. "But I've got something better'n a +Colt on my cayuse!" he cried as he leaped toward the edge of the canyon. +"An' I'll give him all it holds, too!" he threatened as he bumped and +slid to the bottom. The sheriff took more care and time in descending and +had just reached the trail when he heard a heart-rending yell, followed +by a sizzling stream of throbbing profanity. + +"Where's my cayuse?" yelled the puncher as he rounded the corner of +the canyon wall on a peculiar lope and hop. "Where's my cayuse, yu +law-coyote?" he shouted, temporarily out of his senses from rage. +"Where's my cayuse!" dancing up to the sheriff and shaking both fists +under the laughter-convulsed face. + +When the sheriff could speak, he leaned against the canyon wall for support +and broke the news. + +"Why, Bill Howland said as how The Orphan was riding a Cross Bar-8 +cayuse--dirty brown, with a white stocking on his near front foot. It +had a big scar on its neck, too." + +"Th' d----d hoss thief!" began the puncher, but Shields kept right on +talking. + +"There was a dandy Cheyenne saddle," he said, counting on his fingers, "a +good gun, a pair of hobbles and a big coil of rawhide rope on the cayuse. +Was they yours?" + +"Was they mine! Was they mine!" his companion screamed. "My new saddle +gone, my gun gone and my fine rope gone! Oh, h--l! How'll I hunt him now? +How'll I get home? How'll I get back to th' ranch?" Words failed him, and +he could only wave his arms and yell. + +"Well, it wouldn't hardly be worth while chasing him on foot without a +gun, that's shore," the sheriff said, grave once more. "But you can get +home all right; that's easy." + +"How can I?" asked the puncher, eyeing the sheriff's horse and waiting +for the invitation to ride double on it. + +"Why, walk," was the reply. "It's only about twenty miles as the crow +flies--say twenty-five on the trail." + +"Walk! Walk!" cried his companion, savagely kicking at a lizard which +looked out from a crevice in the rock wall. "I never walked five miles +all at once in my life!" + +"Well, it'll be a new experience, and you can't begin any younger," +replied Shields as he swung into his saddle. "It'll do you good, +too--increase your appetite." + +"I'm so hungry now I'm half starved," replied the other. "But I'll pay up +for all this, you see if I don't! I'll get square with that d----d outlaw!" + +"You don't know enough to be glad you were found," retorted the sheriff. +"And if he hadn't told Bill where to look for you, you wouldn't have been, +neither. You got off easy, Bucknell, and don't you forget it, neither. +Men have been killed for less than what you tried to do." + +The puncher wilted, for twenty-five miles in high-heeled boots, over rocks +and sand, and with an empty stomach, was terrible to contemplate, and he +turned to the sheriff beseechingly. + +"Give me a lift, Sheriff," he implored. "Take me up behind you--I can't +walk all the way!" + +Shields looked at the sun, which was nearing the western horizon, and +thought for a minute. Then he shrugged his shoulders. + +"Well, I hadn't ought to help you a step, not a single, solitary step, and +you know it. You tried your best to run against me. You tried to hold me +up there by the corral, and then after I had warned you not to go out +for The Orphan you went right ahead. Now you're asking me to help you out +of your trouble, to make good for your fool stupidity. But I'll take you +as far as the end of the canyon--no, I'll take you on to the ford, and +then you can do the rest on foot. That'll leave you ten or a dozen miles. +Get aboard." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +"A TIMBER WOLF IN HIS OWN COUNTRY" + + +When The Orphan said good-by to Bill he sat quietly in his saddle for a +minute watching the departing stage and wondered how it was that he had +the decency to avoid a fight with the cowboys in the presence of the +women. Then Helen's words came to him and he smiled at the idea of peace +when he would have to fight the outfit before sundown. The heat of the sun +on his bare head recalled him from his mental wanderings and he wheeled +abruptly and galloped along the trail to where he remembered that a tiny, +blood-stained handkerchief lay in the dust and sand. Soon he espied it +and, swinging over in the saddle, deftly picked it up and regained his +upright position, his head reeling at the effort. Unfolding it he examined +the neat "H" done in silk in one corner and smiled as he put it in his +chaps pocket where he kept his extra ammunition. + +"Peace and war in one pocket," he muttered, grinning at his cartridges' +new and unusual companion. + +Then he espied a Winchester near a fallen brave, and he procured it as he +had the handkerchief. Describing an arc he picked up another, discarding +it after he had emptied the magazine, for ammunition was what he wanted. +Two Winchesters were all right, but three were too many. As he threw it +from him he glanced through a slight opening in the chaparral and saw the +outfit approach the stage. Then he galloped to where his sombrero lay, +picked it up and turned to the south for the Cimarron Trail. When +thoroughly screened by the chaparral he pushed on with the swinging lope +which his horse could maintain for hours, and which ate up distance in +an astonishing manner. He had lost time in going for his sombrero and +the handkerchief, and every minute before nightfall was precious. His +thoughts now bent to the problem of how either to elude or ambush his +pursuers, and the Winchesters bespoke his forethought, for up to six +hundred yards they were not a pleasant proposition to face. If he +eluded the cowboys in the darkness he was morally certain that they +would take up his trail at dawn, and what distance he had gained would be +at the expense of the freshness of his horse. While he would average ten +miles an hour through the night, their mounts, freshened by a night's +rest, might cut down his gain before the nightfall of the next day. + +One of the Winchesters worked loose from its lashings and started to slide +toward the ground. He quickly grasped it and made it secure, smiling at +the number of rifles he had had and lost during the past three weeks. + +"Funny how this country has been shedding Winchesters lately," he mused. +"There was the five I got by the big bowlder, which I lost playing tag +with that d----d Cross Bar-8 gang, and here's two more, and I just left +three what I didn't want. Well, they're real handy for stopping a rush, +and I reckons that's what I'm up against this time. If I can find a +likely spot for a scrap before dark I may stop that gang in bang-up +style, d----n them." + +Half an hour later he caught sight of a moving body of horsemen to the +southeast of him and his glasses enabled him to make them out. + +"'Paches!" he exclaimed, and then he smiled grimly and continued on his +way toward them, taking care to keep himself screened from their sight +by rises and chaparrals. His first thought had been of danger, but now +he laughed at the cards fate had put in his hand, for he would use the +Indians to great advantage later on. + +He counted them and made their number to be twenty-two, which accounted +for the five warriors who had pursued the stage coach. The odds were fine +and he laughed joyously, recklessly: "All is fair in love and war," he +muttered savagely. + +Before the Indians had come upon the scene he had been alone to face +five angry and vengeful men, and whom he had every reason to believe +were at least fair fighters. Had the positions been reversed they would +not have hesitated to make use of any stratagem to save themselves--and +here were two contingents, both of which would take his life at the first +opportunity. He felt no distaste at the game he was about to play; on +the other hand, it pleased him immensely to know that he was superior +in intellect to his enemies. They both wanted blood, and they should +have it. If they found too much, well and good--that was their lookout. +And no less pleasing was the knowledge that he had sent them north and +that now he could make use of them. He wondered what they had been doing +for the last three weeks and why they were still in that part of the +country, but he did not care, for they were where he wanted them to be. + +"Twenty-two mad Apaches on the warpath against five cow-wrastlers!" +he exulted. "More than four to one, and just aching to get square on +somebody! That Cross Bar-8 gang will have something to weep about purty +d----n soon! And I shore hope they don't get tired and quit chasing me." + +He stopped and waited when he had gained a screened position from where +he could look back over his trail, and he had not long to wait, for soon +he saw five cowboys galloping hard in his direction. Another look to +the southeast showed him that the war party was now riding slowly toward +him, not knowing of his presence, and they would arrive at his cover +at about the same time the cowboys would come up. Neither the Indians +nor the cowboys knew of the proximity of the other, while The Orphan +could see them both. He glanced at the thicket to the west of him and +saw that it was thin, being a connecting link between the two larger +chaparrals. + +"I don't know how you are on the jump, bronch," he said to his mount, "but +I reckon you can get through that, all right." + +The cowboys disappeared from his sight behind the northern chaparral, +and as they did so he sunk his spurs into his horse and rode straight at +the prickly screen and, going partly over and partly through it, galloped +westward as the war party and the ranch contingent met. The shots and +yells were as music to his ears, and he bowed in mockery and waved his +hand at the turmoil as he made his escape. The timber wolf had won. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE CROSS BAR-8 LOSES SLEEP + + +Sneed was angry, which could be seen by the way he talked, ate, moved and +swore. He had many cattle to care for and they were strewn over six +hundred square miles of territory. The work was hard enough when he had +his full dozen punchers, but now it forced groans from the tired bodies +of his men, who fell asleep while removing their saddles at night, and +who worked in a way almost mechanical. The extra work was not conducive to +sweetness of temper, and he was continually quelling fights among the +members of the outfit. Where only argument formerly would have arisen +over differences of opinion, guns now leaped forth; and the differences +were multiplied greatly, and getting worse every day. Things which +ordinarily would have provoked no notice, or a laugh at most, now caused +hot words and surliness. And the reason for the extra work was the +continued absence of five cow punchers. + +Sneed, tired of cursing the missing men and of offering himself +explanations as to why they had not returned, fell, instead, to +planning an appropriate reception for them on their return to the ranch. +He needed no rehearsing, for while he did not know in just what manner +he would reveal his ideas concerning them, he knew what his ideas were +and he had always been good at extemporizing when under pressure, and he +was under pressure now if he had ever been. + +The extra work was hard enough in itself to cause his anger to rise +and to create sensitiveness and surliness on the part of his men, but +it was only one factor of his discontent. Busy all day at driving the +scattered cattle away from the Backbone and closer to the ranch proper +where they would be less likely to fall prey to Apache raiders; working +all day from the first sign of dawn to the prohibitive blackness of the +night, they could have stood up under the strain, for these were men of +iron, inured to hardships and constant riding. But hardy as they were +there was one thing which they must have, and that was sleep. If they +could have only four hours of unbroken sleep when they threw themselves, +fully dressed with the exception of their boots, in their bunks, they +could have endured the labor for weeks. But this was denied them, and +constantly on their minds were thoughts of fire, slaughtered cattle +and death. + +For a week night had been a terror on the Cross Bar-8. No sooner had the +exhausted outfit fallen asleep than bits of window glass would fly about +them, cutting and stinging. There was not a whole window pane in the house +and the door was so full of lead that it sagged on its half-shattered +hinges. Cooking utensils were fast deserving premiums, for hardly an +unperforated tin could be found on the premises. And their cook, a +Mexican, who most devoutly believed in a personal devil and a brimstone +hell, and who feared that he was living in uncomfortable proximity to +both, stood the strain for just two nights and then, panic-stricken, had +fled from the accursed place and left them to get their own meals as +best they could. The protection of the saints was all very well and good +under ordinary circumstances, but when they failed to stop the bullets +which passed through his cook shack and which more than once had grazed +him, it was time for him to find some place far removed from the Cross +Bar-8, and where the devil was less strong. When the saints allowed a +devil-sped bullet to completely shatter a crucifix it was time to migrate, +which he did, but in broad daylight when the outfit had departed and when +the devil was not in evidence. + +The interiors of both the ranch house and the bunk house were wrecked. +The clock, the pride of the foreman, stood with half its wheels buried in +the wall behind it by a .50 caliber slug, its hands pointing to half-past +one. Lead filled the interior walls, where opposite windows, and the +holes and splinters were a disgrace. Sombreros, equipment and the few +pictures the walls boasted were like tops of pepper shakers. No sooner was +a light shown than it became the target for a shot, and more than one +wound gave proof as to the accuracy of the perpetrator. So tired that +they fell asleep at supper, the men were constantly awakened by the noise +of devastation and the whining hum of the bullets. Pursuit was a failure, +and was also hazardous, as proven by Bert Hodge's arm, broken by a .50 +caliber slug from somewhere. + +The two houses, wrecked as they were, were fortunate when compared to +the condition of the other appurtenances of the ranch. Horses were +found dead at all points, and always with a bullet hole in the center +of the forehead. The carcasses of cows dotted the plain, and fire had +half-destroyed the three corrals. The three new cook wagons, unsheltered, +were denuded of bolts and nuts, and their tarpaulins were hopelessly +ruined. A wheel was missing from each of them and their poles had been +cut through in the middle, the severed ends being found on the roof of +the ranch house three minutes after their crashing descent had +awakened the foreman, who heard the hum and thud of a bullet as he opened +the door. The best grass had been burned off and the outfit had fought +fire on several nights when it should have slept. And the small water +hole near the cook shack, which furnished water for the bunk house, +had been cleared of a dead calf on two mornings. Scouting was of no +avail, for the few remaining horses (which now spent the night in the +bunk house) were as exhausted as their riders. Keeping guard was a +farce, for it had been tried twice, and the guards had fallen asleep; +and, awakened by their foreman at dawn, found that their rifles, +sombreros and even their spurs were missing. With all his hatred for The +Orphan, Sneed was fair-minded enough to give his enemy credit for being +the better man. When the harassing outrages had first begun and the +foreman and his men were comparatively fresh, he had given the matter +his whole attention; and he was no fool. But he had gained nothing but a +sense of defeat, which fact did not improve his peace of mind or +cause him to lose a whit of his anger. Do what he could, plan as he +might, he was beaten, and beaten at every turn. He had to deal with a +man whose cunning and ingenuity were far above the average; a man who, +combining a rare courage and a wonderful accuracy in shooting with +devilish strategy, towered far above the ordinary rustler and outlaw. +Sneed knew that he was absolutely at the mercy of his persistent enemy +and wondered why it was that he did not steal up in the night and kill +the outfit as it slept, which was entirely feasible. Finally, when the +strain had grown too much for even his iron nerves the sheriff was +implored to take command on the ranch and give it his personal +protection. The relations between the sheriff and the ranch were not +as cordial as they might have been, and the asking of this favor was +gall and wormwood to the foreman and his outfit. + +When Shields arrived to take charge of the trouble, accompanied by Charley +and two others, he sought the foreman, for Charley had news of a grave +nature for the Cross Bar-8. + +The foreman ran out of the bunk house and met them near the corral, where +the disagreement had taken place. + +"By the living God, Sheriff!" he cried, white with anger. "This thing +has got to stop if we have to call out the cavalry! We can't get a +decent breakfast--not a whole plate or pan in the house! Our cayuses +and cows are being slaughtered by the score! And as for the rest of our +possessions, they are so full of holes that they whistle when the wind +blows!" + +"So I heard," replied the sheriff. "I'll do my best." + +"We've been doing our best, but what good is it?" cried the foreman. "We +are so plumb sleepy we go to sleep moving about! We dassent show our faces +after dark without being made a target of! Our new wagons are wrecks, the +corrals destroyed and the best grass made us fight for our lives while it +burned! That cursed outlaw has got to be killed, d----n him!" + +"We'll do our best, Sneed," responded Shields. "I reckon we can stop it; +at least we can give you a good night's rest." + +"Where are my five punchers?" Sneed asked; his words bellowed until his +voice broke. "And Bucknell! D----n near dead before you found him above +the canyon, tied up like a package of flour!" + +"Well, Charley can tell you about your men," Shields responded, viewing +the devastation on all sides of him. + +"Well, what about them?" cried the foreman turning to the sheriff's +deputy, anger flashing anew in his eyes. + +"Well," Charley slowly began, "I was taking a short cut this morning, +and when I got to a place about a dozen miles southeast of the mouth +of Bill's canyon, I saw five bodies on the desert. They were your +cow-punchers, and they was so full of arrows that they looked like big +brooms. Apaches, I reckon," he added sententiously. + +Sneed tore his hair and swore when he was not choking. + +"And after I told them to let up on that blasted outlaw's trail!" he +yelled. "Where will it end, between war-whoops and murders? What sort of +a God-forsaken layout is this, anyhow? A man can't stick his nose out of +his own house after dark without having it skinned by a slug! He's a +h--l of a hefty orphant, he is! Poor thing, ain't got no paw or maw to +look after his dear little hide! He needs a regiment of cavalry for a +papa, that's what he needs, and a good strong lariat for a mamma! Orphant! +He's a h--l of a sumptious orphant!" + +"Have you trailed him?" asked the sheriff, having to smile in spite of +himself at the execution on all sides of him, and at the foreman's words. + +"Trailed him!" yelled Sneed, raising on his toes in his vehemence. +"Trailed him! Good God, yes! But what good is it, what can we do when +our cayuses are so dod-gasted tired that they can't catch a tumble bug? +Trailed him! Yes, we trailed him, all right! We trailed him until we fell +asleep in the saddles on our sleeping cayuses! And while we were gone, +d----d if he didn't blow in and smash up our furniture! We trailed him, +all right; just like a lot of cross-eyed, locoed drunken ants! We had to +wake each other up, and he could-a killed the whole crowd of us with a +club! And my punchers who were so cock-sure they'd get him! How in +h--l did they go and mess up with Apaches? They wasn't no fool kids!" + +"The last time we saw them they were leaving the stage to go south after +him," Charley said. "They hadn't got more than ten miles south when they +must have met the Apaches. I have a suspicion that The Orphan had a hand +in that meeting, but how he did it I don't know. But I know that the spot +was lovely for a head-on collision. Punchers riding south would turn the +corner of the chaparral and run into the war party before they knowed +it. And I didn't see The Orphant's body laying around all full of arrows, +neither." + +Sneed's rage was pathetic. He almost frothed, and tears stood in his +blood-shot eyes. His neck and his face were red as fire and the veins +of his neck and forehead stood out like whip-cords, while his face +worked convulsively. He was incapable of coherent speech, his words being +unintelligible growls, a series of snarls, and he could only pace back +and forth, waving his arms and cursing wildly. + +Shields glanced about the ranch and gave a few orders, his men executing +them without delay. One man was to keep guard in the bunk house while +Sneed and his woe-begone men slept. The sheriff and Charley rode away +toward the north to begin the search for the outlaw; and there was to +be no quarter asked or given if his deputies had anything to do with it. + +The remaining deputy busied himself about the ranch in executing a +plan the sheriff had thought out, and his actions were peculiar. First +selecting a position from which a man could command an extensive view of +the premises, he began to pace off distances in all directions. The +place was about eight hundred yards west of the ranch house and bunk +house, and formed one angle of a triangle with them; and from it it was +possible to look in through the windows of both of them. Anyone passing +within good rifle range of either house would show up against the lights +in the windows; and if a man had been covered over with sand on that +particular outlying angle, he could pick off the intruder without being +seen. The Orphan was due to meet with a surprise if he paid his regular +visit the coming night. + +The deputy, after completing his work to his satisfaction found three more +positions where they respectively commanded the corrals, the wagons and +the rear of the bunk house. Then he paced more distances and was careful +that bulky objects interposed in the direct lines between the positions, +this latter precaution being to make it impossible for the deputies to +shoot each other. This done, he went into the house and consulted with +his companion in arms, laughing immoderately about the joke they would +play on the marauder. + +While Shields and Charley vainly searched the plain and while the +deputy paced and thought and paced, and while Sneed and his exhausted +cow-punchers slept as if in death, safely under guard, two men were +riding along the Ford's Station Sagetown Trail well to the east of the +Backbone, chatting amicably and smoking the same brand of tobacco. One of +them sat high up in the air on the seat of a stage coach, from where he +overlooked his six-horse team. His face was wreathed in grins and his +expression was one of beatific contentment. The other cantered alongside +on a dirty brown horse which had a white stocking on the near front +foot, keeping close watch of the surrounding plain, his mind active and +alert. + +Bill Howland laughed suddenly and slapped his thigh with enthusiasm: +"Say, Orphant," he cried, "you are shore raising h--l with that Cross +Bar-8 gang! You has got them so tangled up and miserable that they don't +know where they are! If their brains was money they'd have to chalk up +their drinks. They're about as dangerous as ossified prairie dogs. +They remind me of the feller who kicked a rattlesnake to see if it was +alive, and found out that it was. No, sir, they shore won't die of brain +fever. Why, they ain't had any sleep for a week, have to work double +hard, eat what they can cook in sieve tins, and can't say their soul's +their own after dark. They could get rest if they quit working one +day and all but one get plenty of sleep. Then the other feller could get +his at night. But they don't know enough. Oh, it's rich: the whole +blamed town is laughing at 'em fit to bust. It's the funniest thing +ever happened in these parts since I've been out here." + +Then he suddenly paused: "Say, Sneed sent a puncher to town this morning. +It was that brass-headed, flat-faced Bucknell, what you tied up by the +canyon. He begged the sheriff to swear in a dozen bad men and come out and +protect his foreman and the rest of the outfit. And the pin-headed wart +went and blabbed the whole thing right in front of the Taggert's saloon +crowd, and he shore had to blow, all right. He shore did, and that gang's +always thirsty." + +The horseman flecked the ashes from his cigarette and smiled: "Well?" he +asked, looking up. + +"So Shields took Charley Winter and the two Larkin boys and went out +to the ranch right after the puncher went back. So you want to go easy +to-night or you'll touch off some unexpected fireworks and such. Shields +and his men will stay out there for several days and nights. That'll +give the crazy hens a chance to rest up a bit nights. But you be blamed +careful about them pinwheels and skyrockets or you'll get burned some. +Now, don't you even remember that _I_ told you about it. I wouldn't-a +said nothing at all, seeing as it ain't none of my business, only you +went and got me out of a tight place, and Bill Howland don't forget a +favor, no siree! You gave me a square deal and a ace full on kings with +them animated paint shops, and I'll give you a lift every time I can. +It wouldn't be a bad scheme to watch for me once in a while--I might have +some news for you." + +Bill's offer, plain as it was that he wished to help, not only because +he was in debt to the outlaw, but also because he wished to have safe +trips, touched the horseman deeply. Never in his life had The Orphan +been offered a helping hand from a stranger; all he could hope for was +to get the drop first. He rode on silently, buried in thought, and then, +suddenly flipping his cigarette at a cactus, raised his head and looked +full at the man above him. + +"You play square with me, Bill, and I'll take care of you," he replied. +"The less you say, the less apt you are to put your foot in it. I'll +hold my mouth about your information, for if Shields knew what you've +just said he'd play a tune for you to dance to. The Cross Bar-8 would +shoot you before a day passed. Any time you have news for me, tie your +kerchief to that cactus," pointing to an exceptionally tall plant close +at hand. "Do it on your outward trip. If I see it in time I'll meet you +somewhere on the Sagetown end of the trail on your return. I'm going +back now, so by-by." + +"So long, and good luck," replied Bill heartily. "I'll do the handkerchief +game, all right. Be some cautious about the way you buzz around that +stacked deck of a Cross Bar-8 for the next few days." + +The Orphan wheeled and cantered back, making a detour to the south, for +he had a plan to develop and did not wish to be interrupted by meeting +any more hunting parties. Bill lashed his team and rolled on his way to +Sagetown, a happy smile illuminating his countenance. + +"They can't beat us, bronchs," he cried to his team. "Me and The Orphant +can lick the whole blasted territory, you bet we can!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE ORPHAN PAYS TWO CALLS + + +Shortly after nightfall a rider cantered along the stage route, fording +the Limping Water and rode toward the town, whose few lights were bunched +together as if for protection against the spirits of the night. He +soon passed the scattered corrals on the outskirts of Ford's Station +and, slowing to a walk, went carelessly past the row of saloons and the +general store and approached a neat, small house some two hundred yards +west of the stage office. He appeared careless as to being seen; in fact +a casual observer would have thought him to be some cowboy who was +familiar with the town and who feared the recognition of no man. But while +he had no fear, he was alert; under his affected nonchalance nerves +were set for instant action. He was in the heart of the enemy's country, +in the crude stronghold of the Law, and if anything hostile to him +occurred it would happen quickly. And he was familiar with the town, +because he had on more than one occasion ridden through and explored it, +but never before at such an early hour. + +Arriving at his destination he dismounted and, leaving his horse +unrestrained by rope or strap, walked boldly up to the door of the +sheriff's house and knocked. Soon he heard footsteps within and the +door opened wide, revealing him standing hat in hand and smiling. + +"Good evening, ma'am," he said uneasily. + +The sheriff's wife stepped aside and the light fell full on his face. +For an instant she was at a loss, and then the fresh scar on his forehead +and her husband's good description came to her aid. She gasped and +stepped back involuntarily, astonished at his daring. Her act allowed +her companions to see him and the effect was marked. Miss Ritchie sat +upright in expectation, her face beaming, for this was as romantic and +unexpected as she could wish. Mary gasped and dropped her hands to her +side, not knowing what to do or say, while Helen slowly laid her work +aside and leaned forward slightly, regarding him intently, a curious +expression on her face. + +"I only called to ask how the ladies were," he continued slowly, turning +his hat in his hands, apparently not noticing Mrs. Shields' surprise. +"I was afraid they might have--that their recent experience might have +bothered them some." + +Evidently it was to be only a social call, and Mrs. Shields owed something +to this fair-minded and chivalrous man. She smiled kindly, remembering +that the caller was rather well thought of by her husband--he was not a +man for women to fear, whatever else he might be. + +"It is very kind of you," she replied. "Won't you come in?" she asked from +the habit of politeness, hardly expecting that he would do so. + +"Thank you, I will be glad to for a minute," he responded, slowly stepping +into the room, where he suddenly felt awkward and not at all comfortable. + +Helen picked up her work to fasten a thread, and he found himself +marveling at the cleverness of her fingers. Again laying the work +aside, she arose to meet him, a mischievous twinkle in her dark eyes. +It was so unusual to have been saved by an outlaw whom her brother had +tried to capture, and still more unusual to have him dare to call on her +in her brother's own house, especially after her sister's direct cut at +the coach. + +"Won't you be seated?" she asked, indicating her own chair by the light +and taking his hat. When the hat left him he suffered a loss, for he +had nothing to twist and grip. He replied by dropping into the chair, +not even seeing that it was out of range of the door as a compliment +to his hostess. There was no sign of a weapon on him, his holster being +empty; but his blue flannel shirt was unbuttoned, the opening hidden by +his neck-kerchief. He had, however, only put his Colt there to have it +out of sight, and not because he feared trouble. Habitual caution was +responsible for the shirt being open, for he was not even sure that he +would fight if trouble should come upon him, unless the women gave him +a clear field. + +Helen drew a chair from the wall and seated herself in the semi-circle +which faced him. + +"I am very glad that your wound has healed so nicely," she said with a +smile. "We are very sorry that you were hurt in our defense." + +"Oh, it wasn't anything," he quickly replied, smiling deprecatingly. "You +fixed it up so nice that it didn't bother me at all--didn't hurt a bit." + +"I am glad it was no worse," she replied, looking around the circle. +"Grace, Mary, you surely remember Mr.--Mr.----" + +"Please call me by the name you know me by--The Orphan," smiling broadly. +"I've almost forgotten that I ever had any other name." + +"Mr. Orphan--how funny it sounds," she laughed. "It's most original. +Margaret, this is the gentleman to whom we certainly owe our lives. Oh! I +know you don't like to be reminded of it," she went on, answering his +deprecatory gesture, "no doubt you are accustomed to that sort of thing +out here, but in the East such an experience does not often occur." + +"I am glad indeed to know and thank you," said Mrs. Shields, impulsively +extending her hand. "Your bravery has put me still deeper in your +debt. My husband--" her feelings overcame her as she realized that this +was the man who had spared to her that husband, her laughing, burly, +broad-shouldered, big-hearted king of men. Was it possible that this +handsome, confident stripling was his peer? + +Helen relieved the tension: "Mr. Orphan, this is Miss Ritchie, the same +Miss Ritchie who was so badly frightened when she first met you. Perhaps +you'll remember it. And this----" + +"I wasn't! I wasn't one bit frightened!" declared Miss Ritchie hotly, to +The Orphan's great enjoyment. + +"Now, Grace, don't fib--you can't deny it. And this is my sister who was +mean enough to keep her senses when I didn't. We thought highly of you +then, but even more so now. You see, my brother has been talking about +you, he takes a keen interest in you, Mr. Orphan--I declare I can't help +laughing at that name, it sounds so funny; but you will forgive me, won't +you? I knew you would. Well, James has been saying nice things about you, +and so you see we know you better now. He likes you real well, as well +as you will let him, and I'm awful sorry that he is not at home," she +dared, her eyes flashing with delight. "I am sure he would like to meet +you very much; in fact he has said as much. Oh, he speaks of you quite +often." + +The caller flushed, but he was determined to let them think him perfectly +at ease. + +"I am glad that he remembers me," he responded gravely. "I have only +met him once, but I thought he was rather glad to see me. We had a very +enjoyable time together and I found him very pleasant." He was forced +to smile as he recalled the six Apaches in the sheriff's rear. + +"Helen was just saying what awful risks her brother ran," Miss Ritchie +remarked, intently studying the rugged face before her. "But then, he's +a man. If I was a man, I wouldn't be afraid of them!" + +"My, how brave you are, Grace," laughed Mrs. Shields. "I heard quite to +the contrary about the stage ride." + +"Goodness, Margaret!" retorted Miss Ritchie, up in arms at the remark. +"You would have been afraid in that old coach if you had been banged about +in it as I was. The noise was terrible, and that awful driver!" + +The caller smiled at her spirit and then replied to her, serious at once. + +"Well, he does take chances," he said. "But for that matter every man +out in this country has to run risks. Now, I've taken some myself," he +added, smiling quizzically. "But, you know, we get used to them after a +while--we get used to everything but hunger and thirst--and life. I've +even gotten used to being lonesome, and I find that it really isn't so bad +after all. And then, you know, lonesomeness does have its advantages at +times, for it certainly promotes peace, and the cartridges that it saves +are worth considerable. But it took me several years before I could accept +it in that light with any degree of ease." + +Helen laughed merrily, for she most of all appreciated this outcast's +humor, and she liked him better the more he talked. + +"Yes, in time I suppose one does become accustomed to danger," she +replied, "although I'll be frank enough to admit that I don't believe +I could," glancing at her friend. "You risked much by coming here +to-night--just suppose that you had called last night!" + +"The danger was only from a chance recognition in the street," he replied, +smiling, "and it would have been equally dangerous for the man who +recognized me, and perhaps more so, since I was on the lookout--that +balances. I would be the last man anyone would expect to be in Ford's +Station at this time, and once free of the town, I could elude the +pursuers in the dark. And as for the sheriff, I knew that he was not +at home to-night, and, had he been so, I doubt if it would have stayed +me, for he is fair and square, and an unarmed man is safe with him in +his own house. He understands what a truce means, and we had one before." + +Mrs. Shields smiled at him in such warmth that he thanked his stars that +he had played fair out by the bowlder. + +"He told us of that!" Helen exclaimed, laughingly. "It was splendid of +you, both of you. And, do you know, I liked you much better for it. And +I wanted to meet you again and talk with you; I'm dreadfully curious." + +"Helen!" reproved her sister, and, turning from the girl to him, she tried +to explain away her sister's boldness. "You must excuse Helen, Mr.--Mr. +Orphan, because she is not a day older than she was five years ago." + +"Why, Mary!" cried Helen, reproachfully, "how can you say that? Just the +other day you said that I was quite grown up and dignified. I am sure that +Mr.--oh, goodness, there's that name again!" she bewailed. "Why don't you +get another name--that one sounds so funny!" + +The Orphan laughed: "I am not responsible for the name, I had no hand in +it. But, let's see what we can do," he said, counting on his fingers. +"There's Smith, Brown, Jones--Jones sounds well, why not say it?" he asked +gravely. "I am sure that's easier to say and remember." + +"Yes, that _is_ better!" she cried. "Let's see," she said, experimenting. +"Mr. Jones, Mr. Jones--oh, pshaw, I like the other much better. I trust +that I'll get accustomed to it in time, and I certainly should, because I +hear it enough; only then it hasn't that formal Mister before it. And it +is the Mister that causes all the trouble. Now, I'll try it again: I'm +sure that The Orphan (I said that real nicely, didn't I?) I'm sure that +The Orphan doesn't think me lacking in dignity, does he?" she asked, +regarding him merrily, and with a dare in her eyes. + +"Well, now really," he began, and then, seeing the look of warning in her +face, he laughed softly. "Why, really, I think that you must be much more +dignified than you were five years ago." + +"That's such a neat evasion that I hardly know whether to be angry or +not," she retorted, and then turned to Miss Ritchie, who was smiling. + +"Grace," she cried, "for goodness sake, say something! You don't want me +to do all the talking, do you?" and before her friend could say a word +she began a new attack, her eyes sparkling at the fun she was having. + +"What have you done since I told you to behave yourself?" she asked, +assuming a judicial seriousness which was extremely comical. + +He laughed heartily, for she was so droll, her eyes flashing so with +vivacity, and so rarely beautiful that he breathed deep in unconscious +effort to absorb some of the atmosphere she had created. And he was not +alone in his mirth, for Helen's audacity had caused smiles to come to +Miss Ritchie and Mrs. Shields, who were content to take no part in the +conversation, and even Mary forgot to be serious. + +"Well, I haven't had time to do much," he replied in humble apology, +"although I have been occupied in a desultory way on the Cross Bar-8 for +a week, and before that I was quite busily engaged in traveling for my +health. You see, this climate occasionally affects me, and I am forced +to go south or west for a change of air. I was just starting out on my +last trip when I first met you, and I have reason to believe that my +promptness in leaving you saved me much annoyance. But I have cooked +quite a few meals in the interim--and I've learned how mutton should be +broiled, too. I'll have to confess, however, that I have been out late +nights. But then, I'll have a better record to report next time, honest I +will." + +Helen leveled an accusing finger at him: "You spoiled all the cooking +utensils on that ranch, and you scared that poor cook so bad that he fled +in terror of his life and left those poor, tired men to get all their +own meals. Now, that was not right, do you see? The poor cook, he was +almost frightened to death. I am almost ashamed of you; you will have +to promise that you will not do anything like that again." + +"I promise, cross my heart," he replied eagerly, thinking of the five dead +punchers she had been kind enough to overlook. "I solemnly promise never +to scare that cook again," then seeing that she was about to object, he +added, "nor any other cook." + +"And you'll promise not to spoil any more tins, or terrorize that poor +outfit, or burn any more corrals, and everything like that?" she asked +quickly, for she detected a trace of seriousness in his face and wished to +drive home her advantage. If she could get a serious promise from him she +would rest content, for she knew he would keep his word. + +He thought for an instant and then turned a smiling face to her. Seeing +veiled entreaty in her eyes, he suddenly felt a quiet gladness steal over +him. Perhaps she really cared about his welfare, after all, though he +dared not hope for that. He grew serious, and when he spoke she knew that +he had given his word. + +"I promise not to take the initiative in any warfare, nor to harass the +Cross Bar-8 unless they force me to in self-defense," he replied. + +She hid her elation, for she had gained the point her brother had failed +to win, and did not wish to risk anything by showing her feelings. As +if to reward him for yielding to her, she led the conversation from the +personal grounds it had assumed and cleverly got him to talk about the +country and everything pertaining to it. + +He was thoroughly at ease now, and for an hour held them interested by +his knowledge of the trails and the natural phenomena. He told them of +cattle herding, its dangers and sports; and his description of a stampede +was masterly. He recounted the struggles of the first settlers with +the Indians, and even quite extensively covered the field of practical +prospecting, lightening his story with naive bits of humor and witty +personal opinions which had them laughing heartily. It was not long before +they forgot that they were entertaining, or, rather, being entertained by +an outlaw; and as for himself, it was the most pleasant evening he had +ever known. There was such an air of friendliness and they were so natural +and human that he was stimulated to his best efforts; the barriers had +been broken down. + +"Oh, James says that you are a wonderful shot!" cried Helen, interrupting +his description of a shooting match at a cowboy carnival he had once +attended in a northern town. "He says that no man ever lived who could +hope to beat you with either rifle or revolver, six-shooter, as he calls +it. Won't you let me see you shoot, some day?" + +He laughed deprecatingly: "You ask the sheriff to shoot for you," he +responded. "He can beat me, I'm sure." + +"No, he can't!" she cried impulsively, "because he said he couldn't. That +was why he couldn't get you--" she stopped, horrified at what she had +said. Then, determined to make the best of it, and knowing that excuses +or apologies would make it worse, she hurriedly continued: "He says that +you are so fair and square that he just will not take any advantage of +you. He likes square people, and he isn't afraid to say it, either." + +The Orphan sat silently for half a minute, thinking hard, while Mrs. +Shields looked anxiously at him. Here was peace and happiness. The +sheriff could come and go as he pleased, and every good citizen was +his friend. He had a home--a pleasant contrast to the man who spent his +nights under the stars, not sure of his life from day to day, hounded +from point to point, having no friend, no one who cared for him; he +was just an outlaw, and damned by his fellow men. Then he remembered what +Helen had said before leaving him at the coach. She had faith in him, for +she had told him so--and she would not lie. Her kindness and faith in +him, an outcast, had been with him in his thoughts ever since, and he had +felt the loneliness of his life heavily from that day. He felt a strange +gnawing at his heart and he slowly raised his eyes to her, eagerly +drinking in her radiant beauty, a beauty wonderful to him, for never +before had he seen a beautiful woman. To him women had always been +repellent--and no wonder. He scorned those usually found in the cow +towns. At their best they were only ornaments, and to The Orphan's +mind ornaments were trash. But now he suddenly awoke to the fact that +she was more, that she was all that was worth fighting for, that she +was the missing half of his consciousness. And she herself had given him +heart for the fight, slight as it was, for he was like a drowning man +clutching at straws. But still his cynicism swayed him and made him +fear that it would be a hopeless battle. Again he thought of her brother +and suddenly envied him, and the liking he had felt for the sheriff +became strong and clear. Shields was a white man, just and square. + +He slowly raised his eyes to Mrs. Shields and smiled, which caused her +look of anxiety to clear. + +"The Sheriff is the whitest man in this whole country," he said quietly, +a trace of his mood being in his voice, "and only for that did I play +square with him. In confidence, just to let you know that I am not as +bad as people say, I will tell you that I have had him under my sights +more than once, and that I will never try to harm him while he remains +the man he is. I do not exaggerate when I say that I am naturally a good +judge of men, and I knew what he was in less than a minute after I met him. + +"At this minute he is watching for me, he and Charley Winter and the +Larkin brothers. They are lying quietly out on the plain, waiting for +me to show up between them and the lights of the windows. This is not +guesswork, for I know it. And if it was only the sheriff, and I did show +up over his sights, he would call out and give me a chance to surrender +or fight, and not shoot me down like a dog; the others wouldn't. And +because of my faith in his squareness, and because I above all others +can fully appreciate it at its highest value, I am going to ask you to +remember this, Mrs. Shields: If he ever needs a man to stand at his +back, and I can be found, he has only to let me know. He is compromising +himself with certain people because he has been fair to me, so please +remember what I said. He is the sheriff, and he only does his duty, +for which I cannot blame him. Bill Howland may be able to find me if +trouble should come upon you and yours. + +"Others have hunted for me as if I was a cattle-killing wolf. They have +tracked me and hounded me in gangs, determined to shoot me down at the +first opportunity, and unawares, if possible. They have laid traps for +me, tried to ambush me, and even stooped so low as to poison the water +of a remote water hole with wolf poison--strychnine. They knew that I +occasionally filled my canteen from it. Those who fight me foully I repay +in kind--but never with poison! It is my wits and gunplay against theirs +and against their cowardice and dirty tricks. When I fight, it is not +because I want to, except in the case of Indians, but because I must. +But your husband is a white man, madam, a thoroughbred. He stands so far +above the rest of the men in this country that I have only respect and +liking for him. Can you imagine the sheriff using poison to kill a man? + +"Once when I had finally found a good berth punching cows, once when I had +started out aright, I was discovered. They didn't get me, though they +tried to hard enough. And they call me a murderer because I declined to +remain inactive while they prepared for my funeral! Ever since I was a +lad of fifteen I have fought for my life at every turn, and continually. +I have no friends, not a living soul cares whether I live or die. There is +no one whom I can trust, and no one who trusts me. I have to be ever on +the lookout, and suspicious. Every man is my enemy, and all I have is +my life, worthless as it is. But pride will not let me lose it without +making a fight. + +"I hope the time will come when you can see me shoot, Miss Shields, that +the time will come when I can turn my back to my fellow men without +fearing a shot. Only once have I done that--it was with your brother, and +I enjoyed it immensely. And no one will welcome that day more devoutly +than the outlawed Orphan--the many times murderer--but by necessity: +for I never killed a man unless he was trying to kill me, and I never +will. I know what is _said_, but what I say is the truth. I can only ask +you to believe me, although I realize that I am asking much." + +He arose and walked over to his sombrero, taking it up and turning toward +the door. + +"To-night is the first time in ten years that I have been in a stranger's +house unarmed, and at ease. You have made the evening so pleasant for +me, so delightfully strange, and you all have been so good to talk to me +and treat me white that I find it impossible to thank you as I wish I +could. Words are hopelessly inadequate, and more or less empty, but you +will not lose by it," he said as he opened the door. "Good night, ladies." + +The door closed softly, quickly, and the women heard the cantering +hoofbeats of his horse as they grew fainter and finally died out on the +plain. + +His departure was seemingly unnoticed. They sat in silence for a minute +or more, each lost in her own thoughts, each deeply affected by his +words, staring before them and picturing each as her temperament +guided, the hunted man's dangers and loneliness. Mrs. Shields sat as he +had left her, her chin resting in her hand, seeing only two men in a +chaparral, one of whom was the man she loved. She could hear the +shooting and the war cries, she could see them meet, and clasp hands at +the parting; and her heart filled with kindly pity for the outcast, a +pity the others could not know. Helen, her face full in the light, her +arms outstretched on the table before her and her eyes moist, wondered at +the savage unkindness of men, the almost unbelievable harshness of +man for man. Her head dropped to her arms, and her sister Mary, also +under the spell, wondered at the expression she had seen on Helen's +face. Miss Ritchie, who had scarcely given more than a passing thought +to the sadness in his words, was picturing his fights, drinking in the +dash and courage which had so exalted him in her mind. With all his +loneliness, his danger, she almost envied him his devil-may-care, humorous +recklessness and good fortune, his superb self-confidence and prowess. +Here was a man who fought his own battles, who stood alone against the +best the world sent against him, giving blow for blow, and always +triumphing. + +Mrs. Shields stirred, glanced at Helen's bowed head and sighed: + +"Now I understand why James likes him so. Poor boy, I believe that if he +had a chance he would be a different and better man. James is right; he +always is." + +"I think he is just splendid!" cried Miss Ritchie with a start, emerging +from her dreams of deeds of daring. "Simply splendid! Don't you Helen?" +she asked impulsively. + +Helen arose and walked to the door of her room, turning her face toward +the wall as she passed them: "Yes, dear," she replied. "Good night." + +"Oh, why are men so cruel!" she cried softly as she paused before her +mirror. "Why must they fight and kill one another! It's awful!" + +The door had softly opened and closed and Miss Ritchie's arms were around +her neck, hugging tightly. + +"It _is_ awful, dear," she said. "But they can't kill _him!_ They can't +hurt him, so don't you care. Come on to bed--I have _so_ much to talk +about! Don't put your hair up to-night, Helen--let's go right to bed!" + +Helen impulsively kissed her and pushed her away, her face flushed. + +"You dear, silly goose, do you think I am worrying about him? Why, I had +forgotten him. I'm thinking about James." + +"Yes, of course you are," laughed Miss Ritchie. "I was only teasing you, +dear. But it _is_ too bad that nobody cares anything about him, isn't it, +Helen?" + +Tears trembled in Helen's eyes and she turned quickly toward the bed. +"Well, it's his own fault--oh, don't talk to me, Grace! Poor James, all +alone out there on that awful plain! I'm just as blue as I can be, so +there!" + +"Have a good, long cry, dear," suggested Miss Ritchie. "It does one _so_ +much good," she added as she stepped before the mirror. "But I think he is +just as splendid as he can be--I wish I was a man like him!" + +And while they played at pretending, the man who was uppermost in their +thoughts was playing a joke on the sheriff at the Cross Bar-8 which would +open that person's eyes wide in the morning. + + . . . . . + +On the ranch the darkness was intense and no sounds save the natural +noises of the night could be heard. The sky was overcast with clouds and +occasionally a drop of rain fell. The haunting wail of a distant coyote +quavered down the wind and the cattle in the corral were restless and +uneasy. A mounted man suddenly topped a rise at a walk and then stopped +to stare at the dim lights in the windows of the houses nearly a mile +away. He laughed softly at the foolishness of the inmates trying to +plot for _his_ death by doing something they had not dared to do for a +week. Who would be so foolish as to ride up to those lighted windows +unless he was a tenderfoot? + +Leaping lightly to the grass, he hobbled his horse and then took a bundle +from his saddle, which he strapped on his back and then went quietly +forward on foot, peering intently into the darkness before him. Soon he +dropped to his hands and knees and crawled cautiously and without a +sound. After covering several hundred yards in this manner he dropped +to his stomach and wriggled forward, his eyes strained for dangers. A +quarter of an hour elapsed, and then he heard a sneeze, muffled and +indistinct, but still a sneeze. Avoiding the place from whence it came, he +made a wide detour and finally stopped, chuckling silently. Untying +the bundle he removed it from his back and placed it upon a pile of +sand, which he heaped up for the purpose, and, printing his name in the +sand at its base, retreated as he had come and without mishap. After +searching for a quarter of an hour for his horse he finally found it, +removed the hobbles and vaulted to the saddle. Wheeling, he rode off at +a walk, soon changing to a canter, in the direction of the Limping +Water. When he had gained it he chanced the danger of quicksands and rode +north along the middle of the stream. If he was to be followed, the +probability was that his pursuers would ride south to find where he had +left the water; and they must be delayed as long as possible. + +An hour later daylight swiftly developed and a peculiarly shaped pile +of sand quaked and split asunder as a man arose from it. He shook himself +and spent some time in digging the sand from his pockets and boots and +in cleaning his rifle of it. Then he walked wearily toward the bunk-house, +whose occupants were still lost in the sleep of the exhausted. It was very +tedious to stay awake all night peering at the lights in the distant +windows; and it was very hard to keep one's eyes from closing when lying +in that position, and without any sleep for twenty-four hours. The +sheriff determined to crawl into a bunk as soon as he possibly could and +be prepared for his next vigil. + +As he glanced over the plain he espied something which caused him to stare +and rub his tired eyes, and which immediately banished sleep from his +mind. Running to it, he suddenly stopped and swore: "Hell!" he shouted. + +His wife's blue flower pot sat snugly on the apex of a pile of sand and +from it arose a geranium, which was tied to a supporting stick by a white +ribbon. He had whittled that stick himself, and he knew the flower pot. +Roughly traced in the sand at its base was one word--"Orphan." + +"Margaret's geranium in its blue pot, by God!" cried the sheriff, his +mouth open in amazement. "Well, I'll be d----d!" he exclaimed, running +toward the corral for his horse. "If that son-of-a-gun ain't been out +here under my very nose while I watched for him!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A VOICE FROM THE GALLERY + + +Matters were fast coming to a head as far as the sheriff and the Cross +Bar-8 were concerned. The loss of the five men who had won the friendship +of their fellows, the reign of terror caused by the outlaw, the loss +of their cook, the devastation and the extra work had only deepened the +hatred which the members of the outfit held for The Orphan; and it went +farther than The Orphan. + +Sneed was not long in learning what took place at the stage and of the +driver's loyalty to the outlaw, because Bill would talk; and the working +of his mind was the same as that of his men, for it followed the line of +least resistance. Questions of the nature of arraignments, and which +were answerable by the outfit in only one way, constantly presented +themselves in the minds of the men. They asked themselves why it was +that a man of the sheriff's proven courage, marksmanship and cleverness +should fail to get the man who so terrorized the ranch. Why was the +sheriff so apparently reluctant to take up the chase in earnest and push +it to a finish? Why was he so firm against the assistance of the ranchmen? +Why did he keep to his determination to allow no lynch law when the +evil was so great and the danger so pressing? And he was prepared to go +to great lengths to see that his orders were not disobeyed, as proven by +the scene at the corral. Why could he not have overlooked one lynching +party when property was being destroyed and lives in danger? And why had +the outrages suddenly ceased when Shields took charge of the defense of +the ranch?--there had been no molestation, not a shot had been fired, +not a cow killed. And how was it that a flower pot, which Shields had +admitted as belonging to his wife, had been placed at a point hardly two +hundred yards in front of the peace officer as he lay on guard? It was +true that it was out of line of him and the lights, but that could be +explained by events. From whom did The Orphan learn of the trap set for +him, and all of its details, even to the placing of the men, enabling him +to avoid the eager deputies and choose the position occupied by the +sheriff when he had so recklessly flaunted his contempt from a pile +of sand? + +The cowboys were naturally enough warped and prejudiced because of +their blind rage and hatred, and the questions which ran so riotously +through their minds found their answers waiting for them; in fact, the +answers induced the questions, and each recurrence gave them added +weight until they ceased to be questions and became, in reality, +statements of facts. Bill had talked too much when he had told in +careful detail of the attentions shown The Orphan by the sheriff's +sister; and to minds eager for confirmation of their suspicions this was +the crowning proof of the double dealing of the sheriff. And to make +matters worse, Tex Williard, who was as unscrupulous a man as ever wore +the garb of honesty, had tried to force his attentions on Helen when +she rode for exercise. His ideas of women had been developed among +those who frequented frontier bar-rooms, and he was enraged at his +rebuff, which had been sharp and final. She actually preferred a murdering +outlaw to a hardworking cowboy! His profane oratory as to the collusion, +or at least passive sympathy between the sheriff and the outlaw found +eager ears and receptive minds awaiting the torch of initiative, and it +was not long before low-voiced consultations began to plan a drastic +course of action. Credit must be given to Sneed, because he knew only of +the natural discontent and nothing of what was in the wind. Had he +known what was brewing he would have stamped it out with no uncertain +force, for he was wise enough to realize the folly of increasing the +antagonism which already was held by Ford's Station for his ranch. + +At first the conspirators had hopes of undermining Shields among the +citizens of the town, not knowing the feeling there as well as their +foreman knew it, but they were wise enough to go about it cautiously; +and the returns justified their caution, for they found the inhabitants +of Ford's Station unassailably loyal to the peace officer. To accuse +him, either directly or by suggestion, of double dealing would be to array +the two score inhabitants of the town on his side in hot and belligerent +partisanship, and this they wished to avoid by all means, for they had no +stomach for such a war as might easily follow. They then hit upon what +appeared to them to be an excellent plan, inasmuch as it was indirect and +would give the results desired; and the medium was to be the driver. + +The talkative one had shown more than passing friendliness for The +Orphan, and they had his boasting words for it and he could not deny it, +for Bill was very proud of the part he had played on that memorable day, +and he took delight in recounting the conversation he had held with the +outfit at the coach--and he had a way of adding to the tartness of his +repartee in its repetition. Tex Williard reasoned from experience that it +would not appear at all strange and unusual for Bill to be called to +account for his friendliness and assistance to the outlaw and for his +contemptuous words concerning the cowboys if it was done by some member or +members of the ranch as a personal affair and without the appearance +of being sanctioned by the foreman. And through the driver he hoped to +strike at Shields, for the sheriff would not remain passive in such an +event; and once he was drawn into a brawl, hot tempers or accident +would be the plea if he should be killed. The apologies and remorse of +the sorrowful participants could be profound. And thus was cold-blooded +murder planned by the very men who reviled The Orphan because they claimed +he was a murderer, and who cried aloud for his death on that charge. + +Tex was the ringleader and in his own way he was not without cunning, +and neither was he lacking in daring. He selected his assistants for the +game with cool, calculating judgment. The three he finally decided upon +were reckless and not lacking in intelligence and physical courage for +such work. After having made his selection he sounded them carefully +and finally made his plans known, going into minute rehearsal of every +phase and detail of the game with thoughtful care and studied sequence. +When he believed them to be well drilled he fixed upon the time and place +and caused word to get to Bill that he might expect trouble for his +assistance to The Orphan, and for having had a hand in sending the five +cowboys to their deaths. The news immediately reached the ears of the +sheriff, who determined to see that Bill received no injury at the hands +of the Cross Bar-8. He quietly made up his mind to be near the stage +route on the days when Bill drove through the defile of the Backbone, +and to be within call if he should be needed. If he should think it +necessary, he would even go so far as to become a regular passenger +in the coach until the trouble died down. To the masterly driving and +cool-headed courage of Bill no less than to the daring and accuracy of +The Orphan was the sheriff indebted for the lives of his sisters; and +the protection of Bill clove close to the line of duty, and not one +whit less to the line of law and order. + +Bill laughed and boasted and made a joke of the thought of any danger +from the malcontents of the Cross Bar-8, and flatly refused to allow the +sheriff to ride with him. He talked volubly until the agent profanely +sent him on his journey, and he tore through the streets of the town in +the same old way. He forded the Limping Water in safety and crossed the +ten mile stretch of open plain without a sign of trouble. As he left the +water of the stream the sheriff started after him from town, intending to +be not far behind him when he entered the rough country. + +When Bill plunged into the defile through the Backbone he began to grow a +little apprehensive, and he intently watched each stretch of the road as +each successive turn unfolded it to his sight. His foot was on the brakes +and he was braced to stop the rush of his team at the first glimpse of an +obstruction, or to tear past the danger if he could. One coyote yell and +one snap of the whip would send the team wild, for they remembered well. + +All was nice until he neared the place where The Orphan had held him up +for a smoke, and it was there the trouble occurred. As he swung around +the sharp turn he saw four cowboys bunched squarely in the center of the +trail and at such a distance from him that to attempt to dash past them +would be to lay himself open to several shots. They had him covered, and +as he grasped the situation Tex Williard rode forward and held up his hand. + +"Stop!" Tex shouted. "Get down!" + +"What in thunder do you want?" Bill asked, setting the brakes and stopping +his team, wonder showing on his face. + +"Yu!" came the laconic reply. "Get down!" + +"What's eating you?" Bill asked in no uncertain inflection. Had Tex been +less imperative and kept the insulting tone out of his words Bill might +have had time to become afraid, but the sting made him leap over fear to +anger; and genuine anger takes small heed of fear. + +Tex motioned to one of his men, who instantly leaped to the ground and +ran to the turn, where he knelt behind a rock, his rifle covering the back +trail. Then Tex returned to the driver. + +"Curiosity is eating me, yu half-breed!" he cried. "GET DOWN! d----n yu, +GET DOWN!! Don't wait all day, neither, do yu hear? What th' h--l do yu +think I'm a-talkin' for!" + +"Well, I'll be blamed!" ejaculated Bill, wrapping the reins about the +back of his seat. "Anybody would think you was the boss of the earth to +hear you! You ain't no road agent, you're only a fool amature with more +gall than brains! But I'll tell you right here and now that if you _are_ +playing road agent, I wouldn't be in your fool boots for a cool million. +And if you are joking you are showing d----d bad taste, and don't you +forget it. You're holding up a sack of U. S. mail, and if you don't know +what that means----" + +"Shut yore face! Yu talk when I ask yu to!" shouted Tex as the driver +dropped to the ground. "But since yore so unholy strong on th' palaver, +suppose yu just explains why yu are so all-fired friendly to Th' Orphant? +Suppose yu lisp why yu take such a peculiar interest in his health and +happiness. Come now, out with it--this ain't no Quaker meeting." + +"Warble, birdie, warble!" jeered one of the cowboys. "Sing, yu ---- ----!" + +"We're shore waitin', darlin'," jeered another. "Tune up an' get started, +Windy." + +"Well, since you talks like that," cried Bill, stung to reckless fury at +the cutting contempt of the words, "you can go to h--l and find out from +your fool friends!" he shouted, beside himself with rage. "Who are you to +stick me up and ask questions? It's none of your infernal business who +I like, you hog-nosed tanks! Why didn't you bring some decent men with +you, you flat-faced skunks? Why didn't you bring Sneed! White men would +a told you just what you are if you asked them to help you in your dirty +work, wouldn't they? Even a tin-horn gambler, a crooked cheat, would +give me more show for my money than you have, you bowlegged coyotes! +Ain't you man enough to turn the trick alone, Williard? Can't you play +a lone hand in ambush, you bob-tailed flush of a bad man! You're only a +lake-mouthed, red-headed wart of a two-by-four puncher, that's what----" + +Tex had been stunned by surprise at such an outburst from a man whom he +had always regarded as woefully lacking in courage. Then his face flamed +with an insane rage at the taunting insults hurled venomously at him and +he sprang to action as though he had been struck. It would have been bad +enough to hear such words from an equal, but from Bill! + +"Yu cur!" he yelled as he leaped forward into the tearing sting of the +driver's whip, which had been hanging from the wrist. + +"You're the fourth dog I cut to-day," Bill said, jerking it back for +another try. + +Tex shivered with pain as the lash cut through his ear, as it would have +cut through paper, and screamed his words as he avoided the second blow. +"I'll show yu if I am man enough! I'll kill yu for that, d----n yu!" + +As Tex threw his arms wide open to clinch, Bill leaped aside and drove +his heavy fist into the cowman's face as he passed, knocking him sidewise +against the wall of the defile; and then struggled like a madman in the +toils of two ropes. He was a Berserker now, a maniac without a hope +of life, and he screamed with rage as he tore frantically at the rough +hair ropes, wishing only to destroy, to kill with his bare hands. The blow +had not been well placed, being too high for the vital point, but it had +smashed the puncher's nose flat to his face and one eye was fast losing +its resemblance to the other. Tex staggered to his feet and returned +to the attack, striking savagely at the face of the bound man. Bill +avoided the blow by jerking his head aside and snarled like a beast +as he drove the heel of his heavy boot into his enemy's stomach. Then +everything grew black before his eyes and a roaring sound filled his +ears. The rope slackened and the men who had thrown him head-first on a +rock leaped from their horses and ran to him. + +When his senses returned he found himself bound hand and foot and under a +spur of rock which projected from the bank of the cut. His face was cut +and bruised and his scalp laid open, but through the blood which dripped +from his eyebrows he vaguely saw Tex, bent double and rocking back and +forth on the ground, intoned moans coming from him with a sound like that +made by a rasp on the edge of a box. + +As Bill's brain cleared he became conscious of excruciating pains in +his head, as if hammers were crashing against his skull. Glancing upward +he saw that a rope ran from his neck to the rock, over it and then to +the pommel of a saddle, and his face twitched as its meaning sifted +through his mind. Then he thought of the time The Orphan had held him +up in the defile--how unlike these men the outlaw was! If he would only +come now--what joy there would be in the flashing of his gun; what ecstasy +in the confusion, panic, rout that he would cause. He was dazed and +the throbbing, heavy, monotonous pain dulled him still more. He seemed +to be apart from his surroundings, to be an onlooker and not an actor +in the game. He wondered if that whip was his: yes, it must be . . . +certainly it was. He ought to know his own whip . . . of course it was +his. He regarded Tex curiously . . . there had been Indians, or was it +some other time? What was Tex doing there on the ground? He struggled to +think clearly, and then he knew. But the deadening pain was merciful +to him, it made him apathetic. Was he going to die? Perhaps, but what +of it? He didn't care, for then that pain wouldn't beat through him. Tex +looked funny. . . . He closed his eyes wearily and seemed to be far +away. He _was_ far away, and, oh, so tired! + +Tex finally managed to gain his feet and straighten up and revealed his +face, bloody and swollen and black from the blow. His words came with a +hesitation which suggested pain, and they were mumbled between split and +swollen lips. + +"Now, d----n yu!" he cried, brokenly, staggering to the helpless man +before him. "Now mebby yu'll talk! Why did yu help Th' Orphant? If yu +lie yu'll swing!" + +Bill swayed and his eyes opened, and after an interval he slowly and +wearily made reply, for his senses had returned again. + +"He saved my life," he said, "and I'll help--anybody for that." + +"Oh, he did, did he?" jeered Tex. "An' why? That ain't his way, helpin' +strangers at his own risk. Why?" + +"There was women--in the coach." + +"Oh, there was, hey?" ironically remarked Tex. "Mebby he wanted 'em all +to himself, eh?" + +"He's a white man, not a cur." + +"He's a cub of th' devil, that's what he is!" Tex cried. "He ain't no +orphant, not by a d----d sight--th' devil's his father, an' all hell is +his mother. Now, I want an answer to this one, and I want it quick: no lie +goes. Why don't th' sheriff get busy an' camp on his trail? What interest +has th' sheriff an' Th' Orphant in each other? Come on, out with it!" + +"I don't know," replied Bill, wishing that the sheriff was at hand to make +an appropriate answer. "Ask him, why don't you?" he asked, stretching his +neck to ease the hairy, bristling clutch of the lariat. + +"Oh, yu don't, an' yore still cheeky, eh?" cried the inquisitor. "An' yu +want yore d----d neck stretched, do yu?" + +He motioned to the man on the horse at the end of the rope and Bill +straightened up and daylight showed under his heels. As he struggled there +was an interruption from the man who covered the back trail: "'Nds up!" +he cried. "Don't move!" + +Tex signalled for Bill to be let down and ran backward to the opposite +side of the defile until he could see around the turn; and he discovered +the sheriff, who sat quietly under the gun of the cowboy. + +"Stop! Don't yu even wiggle!" cried the guard. "I'll blow yore head off +at the first move!" he added in warning; and for once in his eventful life +Shields knew that he was absolutely helpless, for the time, at least. +His hands were clasped over his sombrero, for it would be tiresome to hold +them out, and he felt that he might have need of fresh, quick muscles +before long. + +"All right, all right, bub," he responded in perfect good nature, +apparently. "Don't get nervous and let that gun go off, for it's shore +your turn now," he added, smiling his war smile. "Any particular thing you +want, or are you just practicing a short cut to eternity?" + +"I want yu to stay just like yu are!" snapped the man with the drop. "And +yu keep yore mouth shut, too!" + +"Since it's your last wish, why, it goes," replied the sheriff, ignoring +the command for silence. "Got any message for your folks? Any keep-sakes +you'd like to have sent back East? Give me the address of your folks and +I'll send them your last words, too." + +"That's enough, Sheriff," said Tex, moving cautiously forward behind his +leveled Colt. "I'll do all th' talkin' that's necessary; yu just listen +for a while." + +"Well, well," replied the sheriff, grinning and simulating surprise. "If +here ain't Tex Williard, too! What's your pet psalm, sonny? Good God, +what a face!" + +"What's that got to do with this?" asked Tex, intently watching for war. + +"Oh, nothing, nothing at all," replied the sheriff. "But, Lord, that +cayuse of yours can shore kick! Was you tickling it? They do go off like +that some times. Any of your nose coming out the back of your head yet? +But to reply to your touching inquiry, I'll say that the psalm might +work in handy after while, that's all. If you'll only tell me, I'll see +that it is sung over your grave. But, honest, how did you get that face?" + +"That'll just about do for yu!" cried the cowboy, angrily. "An' sit still, +yu!" he added. + +"Say, bub," confidentially said Shields, "my stomach itches like blazes. +Can't I scratch it, just once?" + +"No! Think I'm a fool!" yelled Tex, his finger tightening on the trigger. +"Yu sit still, d----n yu!" + +"Well, I only wanted to see just how much of a fool you really are," +grinned the sheriff exasperatingly. "Judging from your present position +I must say that I thought you didn't have any sense at all, but now I +reckon you've got a few brains after all. But suppose you scratch it +for me, hey? Just rub it easy like with your left paw." + +Tex swore luridly, too tense to realize what a fool the sheriff was making +of him. He could think of only one thing at a time, and he was thinking +very hard about the sheriff's hands. + +"Tut, tut, don't take it so hard," jeered the sheriff, smiling pleasantly. +"Now that I know that you are some rational, suppose you tell me the joke? +What's the secret? Who skinned his shin? What in thunder is all this +artillery saluting me for?" + +"Since yu want to know, I'll tell yu, all right," replied Tex. "Why are yu +an' Th' Orphant so d----d thick? Don't be all day about it?" + +"You d----d excuse!" responded the sheriff. "You mere accident! As the +poet said, it's none of your business! Catch that?" + +"Yes, I caught it," retorted Tex. "I reckon we needs a new sheriff, an' +d----d soon, too," he added venomously. + +"Well, people don't always get what they need," replied Shields easily. +"If they did, you would get yours right now, and good and hard, too," he +explained, making ready to put up the hardest fight of his life. Three +men had him covered, and he knew they would all shoot if he made a move, +for they had placed themselves in a desperate situation and could not back +out now. He knew that never before had he been in so tight a hole, but he +trusted to luck and his own quickness to crawl out with a whole skin. If +he was killed, he would have company across the Great Divide; of that +he was certain. + +"I reckon I'll take yore guns for a while, just to be doin' somethin'," +Tex said as he advanced a step. "Mebby that itch will go away then." + +"I reckon you'll be a d----n sight wiser if you don't force matters, for +they are purty well forced now," Shields replied. "No man gets my guns' +butts first without getting all mussed up inside. You'll certainly be +doing something if you try it." + +"Well, then," compromised Tex, "answer my question!" + +"And no man gets an answer to a question like that in words," the sheriff +continued, as if there had been no interruption. "But I'll give you and +your white-faced bums a chance for your lives--and I don't wonder The +Orphan shot up Jimmy, neither. Put up your wobbling guns and get out of +this country as fast as God will let you! If you ever come back I'll fill +you plumb full of lead! It's your move, Lovely Face, and the quicker you +do it the better it'll be for your health." + +[Illustration: "'The less you count the longer you'll live!' said Shields" +(See page 192.)] + +"Oh, I don't know about that," replied Tex with a leer and swagger. "To a +man up a tree it looks like yu are up agin a buzz saw this time." + +"To a man on the ground it looks like your tin buzz saw has hit the +hardest knot it ever struck, and you'll feel the jar purty soon, too," +Shields countered, his hazel eyes beginning to grow red. "You put up that +gun and scoot before I blow your d----d head off!" + +"I'll give yu 'til I counts three to answer my question," Tex said, +ignoring the advice. "One!" + +"The less you count the longer you'll live," said Shields, gripping his +horse with his knees in readiness to jump it sideways. + +"Two!" + +"Afternoon, gents," said a pleasant voice up above them, and all jumped +and looked up. As they did so Shields jerked his guns loose and laughed +softly: "That itch has plumb gone away," he said. "It's a new deal," he +exulted, his face wreathed in grins. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A NEW DEAL ALL AROUND + + +On the edge of the bank, thirty feet above them, a man squatted on his +heels, his forearms resting easily on his knees. In each hand was a +long-barreled Colt, held in a manner oppressively businesslike. One of +the guns was leveled at the stomach of the man who guarded Bill, and +who still held the rope; the other covered the man who had baited the +sheriff. Shields took care of the remaining two. One of the newcomer's +eyes was half closed, squinting to keep out the smoke which curled up +from the cigarette which protruded jauntily from a corner of his mouth. +If anything was needed to strengthen the air of pertness of the man +above it was supplied by his sombrero, which sat rakishly over one +ear. A quizzical grin flickered across his face and the cigarette bobbed +recklessly when he laughed. + +"Was you counting?" he asked of Tex in anxious inquiry. "And for God's +sake, who stepped on your face?" + +Tex made no reply, for his astonishment at the interruption had given way +to the iron hand of fear which gripped him almost to suffocation. In +the space of one breath he had been hurled from the mastery to defeat; +from a good fighting chance, with all the odds on his side, to what +he believed to be certain death, for to move was to die. Had it been +anyone but The Orphan who had turned the scale he would have hazarded a +shot and trusted to luck, for his gun was in his hand; but The Orphan's +gunplay was as swift as light and never missed at that distance, and +The Orphan's reputation was a host in itself. He had threatened the +sheriff with death, he had used Bill worse than he would have used a +dog, and now his cup of bitterness was full to overflowing. Above him a +pair of cruel gray eyes looked over a sight into his very soul and a +malevolent grin played about the thin, straight lips of the man who +had killed Jimmy, who had led his five friends to an awful death, and +who had instilled terror night after night into the hearts of seven good +men. His mind leaped back to a day ten years before, and what he saw +caused his face to blanch. Ten years of immunity, but at last he was to +pay for his crime. Before him stood the son of the man he had been +foremost in hanging, before him stood the man he had cruelly wronged. +His nerve left him and he stood a broken, trembling coward, a living lie +to the occupation he had made his own, an insult to his dress and his +companions. Had he by some miracle been given the drop he could not +have pulled the trigger. He now had no hope for mercy where he had +denied it. He had played a good hand, but he had made no allowance for +the joker, and no blame to him. + +No sooner had The Orphan spoken and the sheriff discovered that he had +things safely in his hands, than Shields had leaped to the ground and +quickly disarmed his opponents, tossing the captured weapons to the top +of the bank near the outlaw. Then he folded his arms and waited, laughing +silently all the while. + +As soon as Shields had disposed of the last gun, The Orphan gave his whole +attention to the man who was guarding Bill, and that person changed the +course of his hand just in time. + +"No, I wouldn't try to use that gun, neither, if I was you," The Orphan +said, still smiling. "You can just toss it up on the bank over your +head--that's right. Now drop that rope--I'm surprised that you didn't +do it before. When you get Bill all untangled from those fixings come +right around here, where I can see how nice you all look in a bunch. +It'll take you one whole minute to get out of sight around that turn, so I +wouldn't try any running." + +The Orphan was ignorant of the condition of Bill's face, since he had only +seen the driver's back as he had crawled to the edge of the bank, and now +the bend in the opposite wall just hid Bill from his sight. So he gave +no great attention to the driver, but turned to the sheriff and laughed. + +"I knew that you would pull through, Sheriff," he said, "but I couldn't +help having a surprise party; I'm a whole lot fond of surprise parties, +you know. And it's shore been a howling success, all right." + +"You have a very pleasant way of making yourself useful," Shields +replied. "From the holes you've pulled me out of within the past six +weeks you must have a poor impression of me. But seeing that you have +reason to laugh at me, I accept your apology and bid you welcome. It's +all yours." Then he glanced quickly up the trail and his face went red +with anger. "Hell!" he cried in amazement. + +The Orphan looked in the direction indicated and he leaped to his feet +in sudden anger at what he saw. A man, followed by a cowboy, staggered +and stumbled drunkenly along the trail toward them, his face a mass of +cuts and bruises and blood. His hair was matted with blood and dirt, and a +red ring showed around his neck. His hands opened and shut convulsively +and he made straight as he could for Tex, who shrank back involuntarily. + +"My God! It's Bill!" cried The Orphan, hardly able to believe his eyes. + +"You're the cur _I_ want!" Bill muttered brokenly to Tex, straightening up +and becoming rapidly steadier under the stimulus of his rage. "You're the +---- _I_ want, d----n you!" he repeated as he slowly advanced. "It's my +turn now, you cur! Lynch me, would you? Lynch me, eh? Tried to hit me when +I was tied, eh? Sicked your dogs on me, eh? Keep still, d----n you--you +can't get away!" he cried as Tex moved backward. + +"Stand to it like a man, or I'll blow your head off!" cried The Orphan +from his perch. "Go on, Bill!" + +"You said you wanted me, didn't you? Do you still want me?" he asked, not +hearing The Orphan's words. "Are you still curious?" he asked, backing +Tex into a corner. + +"Hash him up, Bill!" cried the man above, and then, "Hey, wait a minute--I +want to see this," he added as he slid down the bank. "Go ahead with the +slaughter--push his head off!" + +Bill's one hundred and eighty pounds of muscle and rage suddenly hurled +itself forward behind a huge fist and Tex hit the bank and careened into +the dust of the trail, unconscious before he had moved. + +"I told you you wasn't man enough to play a lone hand!" yelled the driver +as he leaped after his victim. But he was stopped by the sheriff, who +sprang forward and deflected him from his course. + +"That's enough--no killing!" Shields cried, regaining his balance and +swiftly interposing himself between the driver and Tex. + +Bill didn't hear him, for he had just caught sight of the man who had told +him to warble, and he lost no time in getting to him. A few quick blows +and the enraged driver left his second victim face down in the dirt and +passed on to the man who had held the rope. + +"Hurrah for Bill!" yelled The Orphan, hopping first on one foot and +then on the other in his joy. "Set 'em up in the other alley! I didn't +know you had it in you, Bill! Good boy!" he shouted as Bill clinched with +the third cowboy. "Oh, that was a beauty! Right on the nose--oh, what +a whopper to get on the jaw! Whoop her up! Fine, fine!" he laughed as +Bill dropped his man. "'And subsequent proceedings interested _him_ +no more!' Next!" he cried as Bill wheeled on the last of the group. "Eat +him up, Bill!--that's the way! Just above the belt for his--Good! All +down!" he yelled madly as Bill, drawing his arm back from the stomach of +the falling puncher, sent a swift uppercut hissing to the jaw. "You +lifted him five feet, Bill," The Orphan exulted as Bill wheeled for more +worlds to conquer. + +"Where's the rest of the gang?" savagely yelled the driver, looking twice +at The Orphan before he was sure of his identity. "Where's the rest of +'em?" he shouted again, running around the bend in hot search. "Come +out and fight, you cowards!" they heard him cry, and straightway the +outlaw and the guardian of the law clung to each other for support as +they cried with joy. + +As Bill hurried back to the field of carnage one of his victims was +mechanically striving to gain his hands and knees, to go down in a +quivering heap by a blow from the insane victor. As Bill drew back +his foot to finish his work, Shields broke from his companion and leaped +forward just in time to hurl Bill back several steps. "D----n you!" +he cried, standing over the prostrate figure, "If you hit another man +while he's down I'll trim you right! Cool down and get some sense before +I punch it into you!" + +The Orphan, leaning limply against the bank of the defile, was making +foolish motions with his hands, which still held the Colts, and was +babbling idiotically, tears of laughter streaming down his face and +dripping from his chin. His eyes were closed and he was bent over, rocking +to and fro against the wall. + +"Oh, Lord!" he sobbed senselessly. "Oh, Lord, oh, Lord! Let me die in +peace! Take him away, take him away! Let me die in peace!" + +"I'm a fine sight to hit Sagetown, ain't I?" yelled Bill, keeping keen +watch on the four prostrate punchers. "They'll think I was licked! +They'll point to my face and head and swear that some papoose kicked +the stuffing outen me! That's what they'll do! But I'll show them, all +right! I'll just take my game with me and prove that I am the best man, +that's what I'll do! I'll pile 'em in the coach and lug 'em with me!" +grabbing, as he finished, one of the men by the foot and dragging him +toward the stage. It took The Orphan and Shields several strenuous +minutes to dissuade him from his purpose. Shields placed his fingers on +the bones of Bill's hand in a peculiar grip, and the driver loosened +his hold without loss of time. + +"You go back to town and get fixed up," ordered the sheriff. "I'll take +your team out of this and turn them around, and then come back for you. +Charley can make the trip if you can't. I would do it myself, only I've +got to tell Sneed that he's shy four more men." + +"I'll turn 'em around myself--I ain't hurt," asserted Bill with decision. +"And when I get patched up I'll make the trip, Pop Westley or no Pop +Westley. And I'll lick the whole blamed town, too, if they get fresh +about my face! I'm a fighter from Fightersville, I am! I'm a man-eating +bad-man, I am! I can lick anything that ever walked on hind legs, I can!" +and he glared as if anxious to prove his words. + +After the cowboys regained consciousness and got so they could stand, the +sheriff lined them up with their backs to the wall and gave them the guns +which The Orphan had obtained for him. The outlaw held them covered while +the sheriff told them what they were, and he wound up his lecture with +instructions and a warning. + +"Get out of this country and don't never come back!" he told them. "I +don't care where you go, so long as you go right now. If you even show +your faces in these parts again I'll shoot first and talk after." + +"Same here!" endorsed The Orphan, frowning down his desire to laugh at +the wrecks in front of him. + +"I'll kill you next time!" shouted Bill, prancing uneasily. + +"The cayuses are yours," continued the sheriff. "I'll settle with Sneed if +he has the gall to ask about them. Now git!" + +Tex stared first at the sheriff and then at The Orphan and Bill as if +doubting his ears. He was ten years nearer the grave than he had been +before The Orphan had interrupted his counting. In less than half an hour +he had gone through hell, and now he suddenly burst into tears from the +reaction and staggered to his horse, which he finally managed to mount, a +nervous wreck. "Oh, God!" he moaned, "Oh, God!" + +The others stared at him in amazement until he had turned the bend, and +then his companions slowly followed him and were lost to sight. + +"D----n near dead from fright!" ejaculated the sheriff. "I never saw +anybody go to pieces so bad!" + +"He shore lost his nerve all right, all right," responded The Orphan. +Then he turned to where Bill stood looking after them: "Bill, you're all +right--you can fight like h--l!" + +Bill slowly turned and grinned through the blood: "Oh, that wasn't +nothing--you should oughter see me when I get real mad!" + + . . . . . + +Two men rode side by side after a lurching coach on their way toward the +Limping Water, both buried in thought at what the driver had told them. +As they emerged from the defile and left the Backbone behind, the elder +looked keenly, almost affectionately, at his companion and placed a kindly +hand on the shoulder of the man who had turned the balance, breaking the +long silence. + +"Son, why don't you get a job punching cows, or something, and quit your +d----d foolishness?" he bluntly asked. + +The younger man thought for a space, and a woman's words directed his +reply: + +"I've thought of that, and I'd like to do it," he said earnestly. "But, +pshaw, who will give me a try in this country?" he asked bitterly. Then +he added softly: "And I won't leave these parts, not now." + +"You won't have to leave the country," replied the sheriff. "Why not try +Blake, of the Star C?" he asked. "Blake is a shore square man, and he's a +good friend of mine, too." + +"Yes, I reckon he is square," replied The Orphan. "But he won't take no +stock in me, not a bit." + +"Tell him that you're a friend of mine, and that I sent you to punch for +him, and see," responded Shields, examining his cinch. + +"Do you mean that, Sheriff?" the other cried in surprise. + +"Hell, yes!" answered Shields gruffly. "I'll give you a note to him, and +if you watch your business you'll be his right-hand man in a month. I +ain't making any mistake." + +"By God, I'll do it!" cried the outlaw. "You're all right, Sheriff!" + +"Well, I don't know about that," replied Shields, grinning broadly. "Mebby +I just can't see the use of us shooting each other up, and that is what it +will come to if things go on as they are, you know. I'd a blamed sight +rather have you behaving yourself with Blake than bothering me with your +fool nonsense and raising the devil all the time. Why, it's got so that +every place I go I sort of looks for flower pots!" + +The Orphan laughed: "I shore had a fine time that night!" + +When half way to the Limping Water the sheriff said good-by to Bill and +wheeled, facing in the direction of the Cross Bar-8. + +"Orphan, you wait for me at the ford," he said. "I'm going up to break the +news to Sneed, and I'll get paper and pencil while I'm there, and write a +note to Blake. I'll get back as quick as I can--so long." + +"So long, and good luck," replied The Orphan, heartily shaking hands with +his new friend. + +Shields loped away and arrived at the ranch as Sneed was carrying water +to the cook shack. + +"Hullo, Sneed! Playing cook?" he said, pulling in to a stop. + +"I'll play _on_ the cook if I ever get my hands on him," replied Sneed, +setting the pail down. "Well, what's new? Seen Tex and the other three? +I'll play on _them_, too, when they gets home! Off playing hookey from +work when we all of us aches from double shifts--oh, just wait till I sees +'em sneaking in to bed! Just wait!" + +"You ought to give 'em all a good thrashing, they need it," replied the +sheriff, and then he asked: "Got any paper, and a pencil?" He wanted his +needs supplied before he broke the news, for then he might not get them. + +"Shore as you live I have," answered the foreman, picking up the pail and +starting toward the bunk-house. "Come in and wet the dust--it's hot out +here." + +"Let me have the paper first--I want to scrawl a note before I forget +about it," the sheriff responded as he seated himself on a bunk and looked +critically about him at the bullet-riddled walls and pictures. + +Sneed handed him an ink bottle and placed a piece of wrapping paper and +a corroded pen on the table. + +"That paper ain't for love letters, the ink is mud, and the pen's a +brush, but I reckon you can make tracks, all right," the host remarked as +he pushed a bench up to the table for his guest. "And if them punchers +don't make tracks for home purty lively, I'll salt their hides and peg +'em on the wall to cure," he grumbled, rummaging for a bottle and cup. +When he placed the tin cup on the table he grinned foolishly, for it +was plugged with a cork. "D----d outlaw!" he grunted. + +"There," remarked the sheriff, fanning the note in the air. "That's done, +if it'll ever dry." + +"Blow on it," suggested Sneed, and then smiled. + +"Here, wait a minute," he said, stepping to the door, where he scooped up +a handful of sand. "Throw this on it--it can't get no muddier, anyhow." + +Shields carefully folded the missive and tucked it in his hip pocket, and +then he looked up at the foreman. + +"Sneed," he slowly began, "your punchers ain't never coming back." + +"What!" yelled the foreman, leaping to his feet, and having visions of +his men being cut up by outlaws and Indians. + +"Nope," replied Shields with an air of finality. "Bill Howland gave them +the most awful beating up that I ever saw men get, the whole four of +them, too! When he got through with them I took a hand and ordered them to +get out of the country, and I told them that if they ever came back I'd +shoot on sight, and I will." + +Sneed's rage was pathetic, and was not induced by the beating his men +had received, nor by the sheriff's orders, but because it left him only +three men to work a ranch which needed twelve. As he listened to the +sheriff's story he paced back and forth in the small room and swore +luridly, kicking at everything in sight, except the sheriff. Then he +cooled down, spread his feet far apart and stared at Shields. + +"Why didn't you kill 'em, the d----d fools?" he cried. "That's what +they deserved!" Then he paused. "But what am I going to do?" he asked. +"Where'll I get men, and what'll I do 'til I do get 'em?" + +"I'll send Charley and half a dozen of the boys out from town to stay +with you 'til you get some others," replied the sheriff, walking toward +the door. "And you might tell the three that are left that I'll kill the +next man who tries that kind of work in this country. I'm getting good +and tired of it. So long." + +Sneed didn't hear him, but sat with his head in his hands for several +minutes after the sheriff had gone, swearing fluently. + +"Orphan h--l!" he yelled as he picked up the water pail and stamped to +the cook shack. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE STAR C GIVES WELCOME + + +The Limping Water, within a mile after it passed Ford's Station, turned +abruptly and flowed almost due west for thirty miles, where it again +proceeded southward. At the second bend stood the ranch houses and corrals +of the Star C, in a country rich in grass and water. Its cows numbered +far into the thousands and its horses were the best for miles around, +while the whole ranch had an air of opulence and plenty. Its ranch +house was a curiosity, for even now there were lace curtains in some of +the windows, badly torn and soiled, but still lace curtains; and on the +floors of several rooms were thick carpets, now covered with dust and +riding paraphernalia. Oddly shaped and badly scratched chairs were +piled high with accumulated trash, and the few gilt-framed paintings +which graced the walls were hanging awry and were torn and scratched. At +one time an Eastern woman had tried to live there, but that was when +the owner of the ranch and his wife had been enthusiasts. New York +regained and kept its own, and they now would rather receive quarterly +reports by mail than daily reports in person. The foreman and his wolf +hounds reigned supreme, not at all bothered by the stiff furniture and +lace curtains, because he would rather be comfortable than stylish, +and so lived in two rooms which he had fitted up to his ideas. Carpets and +two-inch spurs cause profanity and ravelings, and as for pictures, they +have a most annoying way of tilting when one hangs a six-shooter on +one corner of the frame, and they are so inviting that one is constantly +forgetting. So the unstable pictures, the dress-parade chairs, bothersome +curtains and clutching carpets were left under the dust. + +The Star C, being in a part of the country little traversed and crossed +by no trails, was removed from the zone of The Orphan's activities and +had no cause for animosity, save that induced by his reputation. Several +of its punchers had seen him, and all were well versed in his exploits, +for frequently Ford's Station shared its hospitality with one or more of +them; and in Ford's Station at that time The Orphan was the chief topic +of conversation and the bone of contention. But the foreman of the Star C +would not know him if he should see him, unless by intuition. + +Blake was a man much after the pattern of Shields in his ideas, and the +two were warm friends and had roughed it together when Ford's Station +had only been an adobe hut. Their affection for each other was of the +stern, silent kind, which seldom betrayed itself directly in words, +and they could ride together for hours in an understanding silence and +never weary of the companionship; and when need was, deeds spoke for +them. The Cross Bar-8 would have had more than Ford's Station to fight if +it had declared war on the sheriff, which the Cross Bar-8 knew. The +three cleverest manipulators of weapons in that section, in the order of +their merit, were The Orphan, Shields and Blake, which also the Cross +Bar-8 knew. + +The foreman of the Star C rode at a walk toward a distant point of his +dominions and cogitated as to whether he could ride over to Ford's +Station that night to see the sheriff. It was a matter of sixty miles for +the round trip, but it might have been sixty blocks, so far as the +distance troubled him. He had just decided to make the trip and to +spend a pleasant hour with his friend, and drink some of the delicious +coffee which Mrs. Shields always made for him and eat one of her prize +pies, or some of her light ginger bread, when he descried a horseman +coming toward him at a lope. + +[Illustration: The Orphan gives Blake Shields' note. (_See page_ +213.)] + +The newcomer was a stranger to Blake and appeared to be a young man, which +was of no consequence. But the thing which attracted more than a casual +glance from the foreman was a certain jaunty, reckless air about the man +which spoke well for the condition of his nerves and liver. + +The stranger approached to within a rod of Blake before he spoke, and then +he slowed down and nodded, but with wide-eyed alertness. + +"Howdy," he said. "Are you the foreman of the Star C?" + +"Howdy. I am," replied the foreman. + +"Then I reckon this is yours," said the stranger, holding out a bit of +straw-colored paper. + +The foreman took it and slowly read it. When he had finished reading he +turned it over to see if there was anything on the back, and then stuck +it in his pocket and looked up casually. + +"Are you The Orphan?" he asked, with no more interest than he would have +displayed if he had asked about the weather. + +"Yes," replied The Orphan, nonchalantly rolling another cigarette. + +"How is the sheriff?" Blake asked. + +"Shore well enough, but a little mad about the Cross Bar-8," answered the +other as he inhaled deeply and with much satisfaction. "He said there was +some good coffee waiting for you to-night if you wanted it," he added. + +"Did he?" asked Blake, grinning his delight. + +"Yes, and some--apricot pie," added The Orphan wistfully. + +Blake laughed: "Well, I reckon I've got some business over in town +to-night, so you keep on going 'til you get to the bunk house. Tell Lee +Lung to rustle the grub lively--I'll be there right after you. Apricot +pie!" he chuckled as he pushed on at a lope. + +Jim Carter was washing for supper, being urged to show more speed by +Bud Taylor, when the latter looked up and saw The Orphan dismount. His +mouth opened a trifle, but he continued his urging without a break. He +had seen The Orphan at Ace High the year before, when the outlaw had +ridden in for a supply of cartridges, and he instantly recalled the face. +But Bud was not only easy-going, but also very hungry at the time, and he +didn't care if the devil himself called as long as the devil respected the +etiquette of the range. Besides, if there was to be trouble it would rest +more comfortably on a full stomach. + +"Give me a quit-claim to that pan, yu coyote," he said pleasantly to Jim. +"Yu ain't taking no bath!" + +"Blub--no I ain't--blub blub--but you will be--blub--if yu don't lemme +alone," came from the pan. "Hand me that towel!" + +"Don't wallow in it, yu!" admonished Bud as he refilled the basin. "Leave +some dry spots for me, this time." + +Jim carefully hung the towel on a peg in the wall of the house and then +noticed the stranger, who was removing his saddle. + +"Howdy, stranger!" he said heartily. "Just in time to feed. Coax some of +that water from Bud, but get holt of the towel first, for there won't be +none left soon." + +The Orphan laughed and dusted his chaps. + +"Where'll I find Lee Lung?" he asked. "Blake wants him to rustle the grub +lively." + +"He's in the cook shack behind the house a-doing it and trying to sing," +replied Jim. "He's always trying to sing; it goes something like this: +Hop-lee, low-hop yum-see," he hummed in a monotonous wail as he combed +his hair before a broken bit of mirror stuck in a crack. "Hi-dee, hee-hee, +chop-chop----" + +"Gimme that comb, yu heathen Chinee," cried Bud, "and don't make that +noise." + +"Anything else yu wants?" asked Jim, deliberately putting the comb away +in the box. + +"I want to be in Kansas City with a million dollars and a whopper of a +thirst," replied Bud as he filled the basin for the stranger. "It's all +yourn, stranger. Grub's waiting for yu inside when yore ready." + +"Do yu know who that feller is?" Bud asked in a whisper as they made their +way to the table, from which came much laughter. "That's The Orphant," +he added. + +"Th' h--l it is!" said Jim. "Him? Him Th' Orphant? Tell another! I'm more +than six years old, even if yu ain't." + +"That's straight, fellers!" said Bud to the assembled outfit in a low +voice. "I ain't kidding yu none, honest. I saw him up to Ace High last +year. That's him, all right. Wait 'til he comes in and see!" + +"Well, I don't care if he's Jonah," responded Jim. "Only I reckons you're +plumb loco, all the same. But I'm too hungry to care if Gabriel blows if I +can fill up before these Oliver Twists eats it all up," he said, revealing +his last reading matter. + +"He shore enough wears his gun plumb low--and the holster is tied to his +chaps, too," muttered Jim as he seated himself at the table. "So would I, +too, if I was him. Pass them murphys, Humble," he ordered. + +"You has got to bust that piebald pet what you've been keeping around the +house to-morrow, Humble," exulted the man nearest to him. "And it'll shore +be a circus watching you do it, too!" + +The blankets which divided the bunk house into two rooms were pushed aside +and The Orphan entered, carrying his saddle and bridle, which he placed +beside the others on the floor. Then he unbuckled his belts and hung +them, Colts and all, over the pommel, which was etiquette and which gave +assurance that the guest was not hunting anyone. Then he seated himself +at the table in a chair which Humble pushed back for him. His entry in +no degree caused a lull in the conversation. + +"Well, you hasn't got no kick coming, has you?" asked Humble. "Hey, +Cookie!" he shouted into the dark gallery which led to the cook shack. +"Rustle in some more fixings for another place, and bring in the slush!" +Then he turned to his tormentor: "You has allus got something to say about +my business, ain't you, hey?" + +"Sic 'em, Humble!" said Silent Allen. "Go for him!" + +From the gallery came sounds of calamity and then a mongrel dog shot +out and collided with the table, glancing off it and under the curtain +in his haste to gain the outside world. A second later the cook, his +face fiendish, grasping a huge knife, followed the dog out on the plain. +Those eating sprang to their feet and streamed after the cook, yelling +encouragement to their favorite. + +"Go it, Old Woman!" "'Ray for Cookie!" "Beat him out, Lightning!" and +other expressions met Blake as he came up from the corral. + +"Cook got 'em again?" he asked, elbowing his way into the house. "I told +you to keep liquor away from him." + +"'Tain't liquor this time; it's th' kioodle," replied Docile Thomas as he +led the way back to the table. "Him an' th' dog don't mix extra well." + +Blake swept aside the blanket and saw The Orphan standing by the window +and laughing. Turning, he disappeared into the gallery and soon returned +with a tin plate, a steel knife, a tin cup and the coffee pot. + +"Sit down--good Lord, they would let a man starve," he said, roughly +clearing a place at the table for the new arrival. "I don't know how +you feel," he continued, "but I'm so all-fired hungry that I don't know +whether it's my back or stomach that hurts. Take some beef and throw +those potatoes down this way. Here, have some slush," filling The Orphan's +cup with coffee. "This ain't like the coffee the sheriff drinks, but it +is just a little bit better than nothing. You see, Cook's all right, only +he can't cook, never could and never will. But he's a whole lot better +than a sailor I once suffered under." + +"What's the matter between you and Lightning, Lee?" asked Bud as the cook +passed by the table on his way to the shack. + +"Wouldn't he drink yore slush? I allus said some dogs was smart," laughed +Jack Lawson. + +Lee's smile was bland. "Scalpee th' dlog," he asserted as he disappeared. +"No dlamn good!" wafted from the gallery. + +"Say, Humble," said Silent Allen in an aggrieved tone, "the beef will wag +its tail some night if you don't shoot that cur!" + +"That's right!" endorsed Jack. "I'll shoot him for a dollar," he added +hopefully. "The boys will all chip in to make up the purse and it won't +cost you a cent, not even a cartridge." + +"Anybody that don't like that setter can move," responded Humble with +decision. "He's a O. K. dog, that's what he is," he added loyally. + +"Well, he's a setter, all right," laughed Silent. "He ain't good for +nothing else but to set around all day in the shade and chew hisself up." + +"He ain't, ain't he?" cried Humble, delaying the morsel on his fork in +mid-air. "You ought to see him a-chasing coyotes!" + +"I did see him chasing coyotes, and that's why I want you to have him +killed," replied Silent, grinning. "His feet are too big. Every time he +shoves his hind feet between the front ones he throws hisself." + +"What did he ever catch except fleas and the mange?" asked Blake, winking +at The Orphan, who was extremely busy burying his hunger. + +"What did he ever catch!" indignantly cried Humble, dropping his fork. +"You saw him catch that gray wolf over near the timber, and you can't deny +it, neither!" + +"By George, he did!" exclaimed Blake seriously. "You're right this time, +Humble, he did. But he let go awful sudden. Besides, that gray wolf +you're talking about was a coyote, and he would have died of old age in +another week if you hadn't shot him to save the dog. And, what's more, I +never saw him chase anything since, not even rabbits." + +"He caught my boot one night," remarked Charley Bailey, reflectively, +"right plumb on his near eye. Oh, he's a catcher, all right." + +"He's so good he ought to be stuffed, then he could sit without having +to move around catching boots and things," said Jim. "Why don't you have +him stuffed, Humble?" + +"Oh, yore a whole lot smart, now ain't you?" blazed the persecuted +puncher, glaring at his tormentors. + +"He can't catch his tail, Silent," offered Bud. "I once saw him trying +to do it for ten minutes--he looked like a pinwheel what we used to have +when we were kids. Missed it every time, and all he got was a cheap drunk." + +Humble said a few things which came out so fast that they jammed up, and +he left the room to hunt for his dog. + +"Any particular reason why you call him Lightning, or is it just irony?" +asked The Orphan as he helped himself to the beef for the third time. "I +never heard that name used before." + +"Oh, it ain't irony at all!" hastily denied the foreman. "That's a real +good name, fits him all right," he assured. Then he explained: "You see, +lightning don't hit twice in the same place, and neither can the dog when +he scratches himself. And, besides, he can dodge awful quick. You have +to figure which way he'll jump when you want him to catch anything." + +"But you don't have to remember his name at all, Stranger," interposed +Silent, who was not at all silent. "Any handle will do, if you only yells. +Every time anybody yells he makes a crow line for the plain and howls at +every jump. He's got a regular, shore enough trail worn where he makes his +get-away." + +Silence descended over the table, and for a quarter of an hour only the +click of eating utensils could be heard. At the end of that time Blake +pushed back his chair and arose. He glanced around the table and then +spoke very distinctly: "Well, Orphan, get acquainted with your outfit." A +head or two raised at the name, but that seemed to be all the effect of +his words. "The boys will put you onto the game in the morning, and Bud +will show you where to begin in case I don't show up in time. Better take +a fresh cayuse and let yours rest up some. Don't hurt Humble's ki-yi and +he'll be plumb nice to you; and if Silent wants to know how you likes +his singing and banjo playing, lie and say it's fine." + +The laugh went around and all was serene with the good fellowship which +is so often found in good outfits. + +"Joe, I'll bring the mail out with me, so you needn't go after it," +continued the foreman as he strode towards the door. "That's what I'm +going over for," he laughed. + +"Lord, I'd go, too, if pie and cake and good coffee was on the card," +laughed Silent. + +"We'll shore have to go over in a gang some night and raid that pantry," +remarked Bud. "It would be a circus, all right." + +"The sheriff would get some good target practice, that's shore," responded +Blake. "But I've got something better than that, and since you brought +the subject up I'll tell you now, so you'll be good. + +"Mrs. Shields has promised to get up a fine feed for you fellows as soon +as Jim's sisters are on hand to help her, and as they are here now I +wouldn't be a whole lot surprised if I brought the invitation back with +me. How's that for a change, eh?" he asked. + +"Glory be!" cried Silent. "Hurry up and get home!" + +"Say, she's all right, ain't she!" shouted Jack, executing a jig to show +how glad he was. + +"Pinch me, Humble, pinch me!" begged Bud. "I may be asleep and +dreaming--_here!_ What the devil do you think I am, you wart-headed +coyote!" he yelled, dancing in pain and rubbing his leg frantically. +"You blamed doodle bug, yu!" + +"Well, I pinched you, didn't I?" indignantly cried Humble. "What's eating +you? Didn't you ask me to, you chump?" + +"Hurry up and get that mail, Tom," cried Jim. "It might spoil--and say, +if she leads at you with that invite, clinch!" + +Blake laughed and went off toward the corral. As he found the horse he +wished to ride he heard a riot in the bunk-house and he laughed silently. +A Virginia reel was in full swing and the noise was terrible. Riding +past the window, he saw Silent working like a madman at his banjo; and +assiduously playing a harmonica was The Orphan, all smiles and puffed-out +cheeks. + +"Well, The Orphan is all right now," the foreman muttered as he swung out +on the trail to Ford's Station. "I reckon he's found himself." + +In the bunk-house there was much hilarity, and laughter roared continually +at the grotesque gymnastics of the reel and at the sharp wit which cut +right and left, respecting no one save the new member of the outfit, +and eventually he came in for his share, which he repaid with interest. +Suddenly Jim, catching his spurs in a bear-skin rug which lay near a +bunk, threw out his arms to save himself and then went sprawling to the +floor. The uproar increased suddenly, and as it died down Jim could be +heard complaining. + +"---- ----!" he cried as he nursed his knee. "I've had that pelt for +nigh onto three years and regularly I go and get tangled up with it. It +shore beats all how I plumb forget its habit of wrapping itself around +them rowels, what are too big, anyhow. And it ain't a big one at that, +only about half as big as the one I got for a tenderfoot up in Montanny," +he deprecated in disgust. + +The outfit scented a story and became suddenly quiet. + +"Dod-blasted postage stamp of a pelt," he grumbled as he threw it into +his bunk. + +"The other skin couldn't 'a' been much bigger than that one," said Bud, +leading him on. "How big was it, anyhow, Jim?" + +"It couldn't, hey? It came off a nine-foot grizzly, that's how big it +was," retorted Jim, sitting down and filling his pipe. "Nine whole feet +from stub of tail to snoot, plumb full of cussedness, too." + +"How'd you get it--Sharps?" queried Charley. + +"No, Colt," responded Jim. "Luckiest shot _I_ ever made, all right. I +shore had visions of wearing wings when I pulled the trigger. Just one of +them lucky shots a man will make sometimes." + +"Give us the story, Jim," suggested Silent, settling himself easily in his +bunk. "Then we'll have another smoke and go right to bed. I'm some sleepy." + +"Well," began Jim after his pipe was going well, "I was sort of second +foreman for the Tadpole, up in Montanny, about six years ago. I had a good +foreman, a good ranch and about a dozen white punchers to look after. And +we had a real cook, no mistake about that, all right. + +"The Old Man hibernated in New York during the winter and came out every +spring right after the calf round-up was over to see how we was fixed and +to eat some of the cook's flapjacks. That cook wasn't no yaller-skinned +post for a hair clothes line, like this grinning monkey what we've got +here. The Old Man was a fine old cuss--one of the boys, and a darn good +one, too--and we was always plumb glad to see him. He minded his own +business, didn't tell us how we ought to punch cows and didn't bother +anybody what didn't want to be bothered, which we most of us did like. + +"Well, one day Jed Thompson, who rustled our mail for us twice a month, +handed me a letter for the foreman, who was down South and wouldn't +be back for some time. His mother had died and he went back home for a +spell. I saw that the letter was from the Old Man, and wondered what it +would say. I sort of figured that it would tell us when to hitch up to +the buckboard and go after him. Fearing that he might land before the +foreman got back, I went and opened it up. + +"It was from the Old Man, all right, but it was no go for him that spring. +He was sick abed in New York, and said as how he was plumb sorry he +couldn't get out to see his boys, and so was we sorry. But he said as +how he was sending us a friend of his'n who wanted to go hunting, and +would we see that he didn't shoot no cows. We said we would, and then +I went on and found out when this hunter was due to land. + +"When the unfortunate day rolled around I straddled the buckboard and lit +out for Whisky Crossing, twenty miles to the east, it being the nearest +burg on the stage line. And as I pulled in I saw Frank, who drove the +stage, and he was grinning from ear to ear. + +"'I reckon that's your'n,' he said, pointing to a circus clown what had +got loose and was sizing up the town. + +"'The drinks are on me when I sees you again, Frank,' I said, for somehow +I felt that he was right. + +"Then I sized up my present, and blamed if he wasn't all rigged out to +kill Indians. While my mouth was closing he ambled up to me and stared +at my gun, which must 'a' been purty big to him. + +"'Are you Mr. Fisher's hired man?' he asked, giving me a real tolerating +look. + +"Frank followed his grin into the saloon, leaving the door open so he +could hear everything. That made me plumb sore at Frank, him a-doing a +thing like that, and I glared. + +"'I ain't nobody's hired man, and never was,' I said, sort of riled. 'We +ain't had no hired man since we lynched the last one, but I'm next door +to the foreman. Won't I do, or do you insist on talking to a hired man? +If you do, he's in the saloon.' + +"'Oh, yes, you'll do!' he said, quick-like, and then he ups and climbs +aboard and we pulled out for home, Frank waving his sombrero at me and +laughing fit to kill. + +"We hadn't no more than got started when the hunter ups and grabs at the +lines, which he shore missed by a foot. I was driving them cayuses, not +him, and I told him so, too. + +"'But ain't you going to take my luggage?' he asked. + +"'Luggage! What luggage?' I answers, surprised-like. + +"Then he pointed behind him, and blamed if he didn't have two trunks, a +gripsack and three gun cases. I didn't say a word, being too full of cuss +words to let any of 'em loose, until Frank wobbled up and asked me if +I'd forgot something. Then I shore said a few, after which I busted my +back a-hoisting his freight cars aboard, and we started out again, Frank +acting like a d----n fool. + +"The cayuses raised their ears, wondering what we was taking the saloon +for, and I reckoned we would make them twenty miles in about eight hours +if nothing busted and we rustled real hard. + +"Well, about every twenty minutes I had to get off and hoist some of +his furniture aboard, it being jolted off, for the prairie wasn't paved +a whole lot, and us going cross-country. Considering my back, and the +fact that he kept calling me 'My man,' and Frank's grin, I wasn't in +no frame of mind to lead a religion round-up when I got home and dumped +Davy Crockett's war-duds overboard for Jed to rustle in. I was still sore +at Jed for bringing that letter. + +"Davy Crockett dusted for the house and ordered Sammy Johns to oil his +guns and put them together, after which he went off a-poking his nose into +everything in sight, and mostly everything that wasn't in sight. When he +got back to the house from his tour of inspection he found his guns just +like he'd left them, and that was in their cases. Then he ambled out to +me and registered his howl. + +"'My man,' he said, 'My man, that hired man what I told to put my guns +together ain't done it!' + +"'Oh, he didn't?' I said, hanging on to my cuss words, for I was some +surprised and couldn't say a whole lot. + +"'No, he hasn't, and so I've come out to report him,' he said, looking mad. + +"'My man!' said I, mad some myself, and looking him plumb in the eyes. 'My +man, if he had I'd shore think he was off his feed or loco. He ain't no +hired man, but he is a all-fired good cow-puncher, and I'm a heap scared +about him not filling you full of holes, you asking him to do a thing like +that! He must be real sick.' + +"He didn't have no come-back to that, but just looked sort of funny, and +then he trotted off to put his guns together hisself. I hustled around +and saw that some work was done right and then went in to supper. After it +was over my present got up and handed me a gun, and I near fell over. +It was a purty little Winchester, and I don't blame him a whole lot for +being tickled over it, for it shore was a beauty, but it oozed out a ball +about the size of a pea, and the makers would 'a' been some scared if +they had known it was running around loose in a grizzly-bear country. + +"'I reckon that'll stop him,' he said, happy-like. + +"'Stop what?' I asked him. + +"'Why, game--bears, of course,' he said, shocked at my appalling ignorance. + +"'Yes,' said I, slow-like, 'I reckon Ephraim may turn around and scratch +hisself, if you hits him.' + +"'Why, won't that stop a bear?' + +"'Yes, if it's a stuffed bear,' I said. + +"'Why, that's a blamed good rifle!' + +"'It shore is; it's as fine a gun as I ever laid my eyes on,' I replied, +'for prairie dogs and such.' + +"Then I felt plumb sorry for him, he being so ignorant, and so when he +hands me a peach of a shotgun to shoot coyotes with I laid it down and +got my breach-loading Sharps, .50 caliber, which I handed to him. + +"'There,' I said, 'that's the only gun in the room what any +self-respecting bear will give a d----n for.' + +"He looked at it, felt its heft, sized up the bunghole and then squinted +along the sights. + +"'Why, this gun will kick like the very deuce!' he said. + +"'Kick!' said I. 'KICK! She'll kick like a army mule if you holds her far +enough from your shoulder. But I'd a whole lot ruther get kicked by a mule +than hugged by a grizzly, and so'll you when you sees him a-heading your +way.' + +"'But what'll you use?' says he, 'I don't want to take your gun.' + +"Well, when he said that I reckoned that he had some good stuff in him +after all, and somehow I felt better. There he was, away from his mother +and sisters, among a bunch of gamboling cow-punchers, and right in the +middle of a good bear country. I sort of wondered if he was to blame, and +managed to lay all the fault on his city bringing-up. + +"'That's all right,' says I, 'I'll take an old muzzle-loading Bridesburg +what's been laying around the house ever since I came here. It heaves +enough lead at one crack to sink a man-of-war, being a .60 caliber.' + +"Well, bright and early the next morning we started out for bear, and I +knowed just where to look, too. You see, there was a thicket of berry +bushes about three miles from the ranch house and I had seen plenty of +tracks there, and there was a grizzly among them, too, and as big as a +house, judging from the signs. The boys had wanted to ride out in a gang +and rope him, but I said as how I was saving him for a dude hunter to +practice on, so they left him alone. + +"We footed it through the brush, and finally Davy Crockett, who simply +would go ahead of me, yelled out that he had found tracks. + +"I rustled over, and sure enough he had, only they wasn't made by no bear, +and I said so. + +"'Then what are they?' he asked, sort of disappointed. + +"'Cow tracks,' said I. 'When you see bear tracks you'll know it right +away,' and we went on a-hunting. + +"We had just got down in a little hollow, where the green flies were +purty bad, when I saw tracks, and they was bear tracks this time, and +whoppers. It had rained a little during the night and the ground was +just soft enough to show them nice. I called Davy Crockett and he came +up, and when he saw them tracks he was plumb tickled, and some scairt. + +"'Where is he?' he asked, looking around sort of anxious. + +"'At the front end of these tracks, making more,' said I. + +"'And what are we going to do now?' he asked, cocking the Sharps. + +"'We're going to trail him,' said I, 'and if we finds him and has any +accidents, you wants to telegraph yourself up a tree, and be sure that +it ain't a big tree, too.' + +"'"Be sure it ain't a big tree!"' he repeated, looking at me like he +thought I wanted him to get killed. + +"'Exactly,' said I, and then I explained: 'The bigger the tree, the sooner +you'll be a meal, for he climbs by hugging the trunk and pushing hisself +up. A little tree'll slide through his legs, and he can't get a holt.' + +"'I hope I don't forget that!' he exclaimed, looking dubious. + +"'The less you forgets when bear hunting,' said I, 'the longer you'll +remember.' + +"We took up the trail and purty soon we saw the bear, and he was so big he +didn't hardly know how to act. He was pawing berries into his mouth +for breakfast, and he turned his head and slowly sized us up. He dropped +on all fours and then got up again, and Davy Crockett, not listening to +me telling him where to shoot, lets drive and busted an ear. Ephraim +preferred all fours again and started coming straight at us, and Moses +and all his bullrushers couldn't have stopped him. He was due to arrive +near Davy Crockett in about four and a half seconds, and that person +dropped his gun and hot-footed it for a whopping big tree. I yelled +at him and told him to take a little one, but he was too blamed busy +hunting bear to listen to a no-account hired man like me, so he kept +on a-going for the big tree. + +"I figured, and figured blamed quick, that the bear would tag him just +about the time he tagged the tree, and so, hoping to create a diversion, +I whanged away at the bear's tail, him running plumb away from me. I +was real successful, for I created it all right. When he felt that +carload of lead slide up under his skin he braced hisself, slid and +wheeled, looking for the son-of-a-gun what done it, and he saw me pouring +powder hell-bent down my gun. He must 'a' knowed that I was the real +business end of the partnership, and that he'd have trouble a-plenty if +he let me finish my job, for he came at me like a bullet. + +"'Climb a _little_ tree! Climb a _little_ tree!' yelled Davy Crockett from +his perch in his two-foot-through oak. + +"I wasn't in no joyous frame of mind when a nine-foot grizzly was due in +the next mail, but I just had to laugh at his advice when I sized up his +layout. As I jumped to one side the bear slid past, trying awful hard to +stop, and he was doing real well, too. As he turned I slipped on some of +that green grass, and thought as how the Old Man would have to get another +puncher. + +"'I ain't never going to peter out with a tenderfoot looking on if I can +help it!' I said to myself, and I jerked loose my six-shooter, shooting +offhand and some hasty. It was just a last hope, the kick of a dying +man's foot, but it fetched him, blamed if it didn't! He went down in a +heap and clawed about for a spell, but I put five more in him, and then +sat down. Did you ever notice how long it takes a grizzly to die? I +loaded my gun in a hurry, the sweat pouring down my face, for that was +one of the times it ain't no disgrace to be some scared, which I was. + +"'Is he dead?' called Davy Crockett from his tree, hopeful-like and some +anxious. + +"'He is,' I said, 'or, leastawise, he was.' + +"Davy was a sight. He was all skinned up from his clinch with the tree, +though how he used his face getting up is more than I can tell. And he +was some white and unsteady. He had all the hunting he wanted, and he +managed to say that he was glad he hadn't come out alone, and that he +reckoned I was right about his guns after all. So we took a last look at +the bear and lit out for the ranch, where I told the boys to go out and +drag our game home." + +Jim knocked the ashes from his pipe and began to fill it anew, acting as +though the story was finished, but Bud knew him well, and he spoke up: + +"Well, what then?" he asked. + +"Oh, the hunter left for New York the very next day, and I skinned the +bear and sent the pelt after him as a present. When I wrote out my +quarterly report, the foreman not being back yet, I told the Old Man that +if he had any more friends what wanted to go hunting to send them up to +Frenchy McAllister on the Tin Cup. I was some sore at Frenchy for the +way he had cleaned me out at poker." + +He threw the skin to the floor and began to undress. + +"Come on, now, lights out," he said. "I'm tired." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE SHERIFF STATES SOME FACTS + + +The foreman of the Star C impatiently tossed his bridle reins over the +post which stood near the sheriff's door and knocked heavily, brushing +the dust of his ride from him. Quick, heavy steps approached within the +house and the door suddenly flew open. + +"Hullo, Tom!" Shields cried, shaking hands with his friend. "Come right +in--I knew you would come if we coaxed you a little." + +"You don't have to do much coaxing--I can't stay away, Jim," replied Blake +with a laugh. "How do you do, Mrs. Shields?" + +"Very well, Tom," she answered. "Miss Ritchie, Helen, Mary, this is Tom +Blake; Tom, Miss Ritchie and James' sisters. They are to stay with us just +as long as they can, and I'll see that it is a good, long time, too." + +"How do you do?" he cried heartily, acknowledging the introduction. "I +am glad to meet you, for I've heard a whole lot about you. I hope you'll +like this country--greatest country under the sky! You stay out here a +month and I'll bet you'll be just like lots of people, and not want to +go back East again." + +"It seems as though we have always known Mr. Blake, for James has written +about you so much," replied Helen, and then she laughed: "But I am not +so sure about liking this country, although very unusual things seem to +take place in it. The journey was very trying, and it seemed to get worse +as we neared our destination." + +"Well, I'll have to confess that the stage-ride part of it is a drawback, +and also that Apaches don't make good reception committees. They are a +little too pressing at times." + +"But, speaking seriously," responded Helen, "I have had a really +delightful time. James has managed to get me a very tame horse after +quite a long search, and I have taken many rides about the country." + +"Wait 'til you see that horse, Tom," laughed the sheriff. "It's warranted +not to raise any devilment, but it can't, for it has all it can do to +stand up alone, and can't very well run away." + +"I see that The Orphan delivered my message, contrary to the habits of +men," remarked the sheriff's wife as she took the guest's hat and offered +him a seat. "I spoke to James about it several days ago, and asked him to +send you word when he could, for you have not been here for a long time. +And the wonderful thing about it is that he remembered to tell The Orphan." + +"Thank you," he replied, seating himself. "Yes, he delivered it all +right, it was about the second thing he said. But I just couldn't get +here any sooner, Mrs. Shields. And I was just wondering if I could get +over to-night when he told me. When he said 'apricot pie' he looked sort +of sad." + +"Poor boy!" she exclaimed. "You must take him one--it was a shame to send +such a message by him, poor, lonesome boy!" + +"Well, he ain't so lonesome now," laughed Blake. + +Helen had looked up quickly at the mention of The Orphan's name, and the +sheriff replied to her look of inquiry. + +"I sent him out to punch for Blake, Helen," he said quickly. "If he has +the right spirit in him he'll get along with the Star C outfit; if he +hasn't, why, he won't get on with anybody. But I reckon Tom will bring +out all the good in him; he'll have a fair show, anyhow." + +"And you never told us about it!" cried Helen reproachfully. + +"Oh, I was saving it up," laughed the sheriff. "What do you think of him, +Tom?" he asked, turning to the foreman. + +"Why, he's a clean-looking boy," answered Blake. "I like his looks. He +seems to be a fellow what can be depended on in a pinch, and after all +I had heard about him he sort of took me by surprise. I thought he would +be a tough-looking killer, and there he was only a overgrown, mischievous +kid. But there is a look in his eyes that says there is a limit. But he +surprised me, all right." + +"You want to appreciate that, Miss Ritchie," remarked the sheriff, smiling +broadly. "Anything that takes Tom Blake by surprise must have merit of +some kind. And he is a good judge of men, too." + +"I do so hope he gets on well," she replied earnestly. "He was a perfect +gentleman when he was here, and his wit was sharp, too. And out there on +that awful plain, when he stood swaying with weakness, he looked just +splendid!" + +"Pure grit, pure grit!" cried the sheriff in reply. "That's why I'm +banking on him," he added, his eyes warming as he remembered. "Any fellow +who could turn a trick like that, and who has so much clean-cut courage, +must be worth looking after. He's got a bad reputation, but he's plumb +white and square with me, and I'm going to be square with him. And when +you know all that I know about him you'll take his reputation as a +natural result of hard luck, spunk, and other people's devilment and +foolishness. But he's going to have a show now, all right." + +"What did your men say when they saw him? Do they know who he is?" asked +Mrs. Shields anxiously. + +Blake laughed: "Oh, yes, they know who he is. They ain't the talking kind +in a case like that; they won't say a word to him about what he has +done. Besides, he was under their roof, eating their food, and that's +enough for them. Of course, they were a little surprised, but not half as +much as I thought they would be. He is a man who gives a good first +impression, and the boys are all fine fellows, big-hearted, square, +clean-living and peaceful. Reputations don't count for much with them, +for they know that reputations are gossip-made in most cases. I asked +him to stay, and they haven't got no reason to object, and they won't +waste no time looking for reasons, neither. If there is any trouble at +all, it will be his own fault. Then again, they know that he is all +sand and that his gunplay is real and sudden; not that they are afraid +of him, or anybody else, for that matter, but he is the kind of a man +they like--somebody who can stand up on his own legs and give better than +he gets." + +"I reckon he fills that bill, all right," laughed the sheriff. "He _can_ +stand up on his own legs, and when he does he makes good. And as for +gunplay, good Lord, he's a shore wizard! I reckoned I could do things +with a gun, but he can beat me. He ain't no Boston pet, and he ain't +no city tough, not nohow. And I'd rather have him with me in a mix-up +than against me. He's the coolest proposition loose in this part of the +country at any game, and I know what I'm talking about, too." + +"You promised to tell us everything about him, all you knew," reproached +Helen. "And I am sure that it will be well worth hearing." + +"Well, I was saving it up 'til I could tell it all at once and when you +would all be together," he replied. "There wasn't any use of telling it +twice," he explained as he brought out a box of cigars. "These are the +same brand you sampled last time you were here," he assured his friend +as he extended the box. + +"By George, that's fine!" cried the foreman, picking out the blackest +cigar he could see. "I could taste them cigars for a whole week, they +was so good. There's nothing like a good Perfecto to make a fellow feel +like he's too lucky to live." + +"Oh," said Mrs. Shields. "Then you won't care for the coffee and pie and +gingerbread," she sighed. "I'm very sorry." + +Blake jumped: "Lord, Ma'am," he cried hastily, "I meant in the smoking +line! Why, I've been losing sleep a-dreaming of your cooking. Every time +the cook fills my cup with his insult to coffee I feel so lonesome that +it hurts!" + +"You want to look out, Tom!" laughingly warned the sheriff, "or you'll +get yourself disliked! When I don't care for Margaret's cooking I ain't +fool enough to say so, not a bit of it." + +"You're a nice one to talk like that!" cried his wife. "You are just like +a little boy on baking day--I can hardly keep you out of the kitchen. You +bother me to death, and it is all I can do to cook enough for you!" + +After the laugh had subsided and a steaming cup of coffee had been placed +at the foreman's elbow, Helen impatiently urged her brother to begin his +story. + +He lighted his cigar with exasperating deliberateness and then laughed +softly: "Gosh! I'm getting to be a second fiddle around here. From morning +to night all I hear is The Orphan. The first thing that hits me when I +come home is, 'Have you seen The Orphan?' or, 'Have you heard anything +about him?' The worst offenders are Miss Ritchie and Helen. They pester +me nigh to death about him. But here goes: + +"I reckon I'd better begin with Old John Taylor," he slowly began. "I've +been doing some quiet hunting lately, and in the course of it I ran across +Old John down in Crockettsville. You remember him, don't you, Tom? Yes, +I reckoned you wouldn't forget the man who got us out of that Apache +scrape. Well, I had a good talk with him, and this is what I learned: + +"About twenty years ago a family named Gordon moved into northwestern +Texas and put up a shack in one of the valleys. There was three of them, +father, mother, and a bright little five-year-old boy, and they brought +about two hundred head of cattle, a few horses and a whole raft of +books. Gordon bought up quite a bit of land from a ranch nearby at +almost a song, and he never thought of asking for a deed--who would, +down there in those days? There wasn't a rancher who owned more than a +quarter section; you know the game, Tom--take up a hundred and sixty +acres on a stream and then claim about a million, and fight like the very +devil to hold it. We've all done it, I reckon, but there is plenty of +land for everybody, and so there is no kick. Well, he was shore lucky, +for his boundary on two sides was a fair-sized stream that never went +dry, and you know how scarce that is--a whole lot better than a gold mine +to a cattleman. + +"They got along all right for a while, had a tenderfoot's luck with their +cattle, which soon began to be more than a few specks on the plain, and he +was very well satisfied with everything, except that there wasn't no +school. Old man Gordon was daffy on education, which is a good thing to +be daffy over, and he was some strong in that line himself, having been a +school teacher back East. But he took his boy in hand and taught him +all he knew, which must have been a whole lot, judging from things in +general, and the kid was a smart, quick youngster. He was plumb crazy +about two things--books and guns. He read and re-read all the books he +could borrow, and got so he could handle a gun with any man on the range. + +"About five years after he had located, the ranchman from whom he bought +his range and water rights went and died. Some of the heirs, who were not +what you would call square, began to get an itching for Gordon's land, +which was improved by the first irrigation ditch in Texas. There was a +garden and a purty good orchard, which was just beginning to bear fruit. +It was pure, cussed hoggishness, for there was more land than anybody +had any use for, but they must grab everything in sight, no matter what +the cost. Trouble was the rule after that, and the old man was up against +it all the time. But he managed to hold his own, even though he did lose +a lot of cattle. + +"His brand was a gridiron, which wasn't much different from the gridiron +circle brand of the big ranch. It ain't much trouble to use a running iron +through a wet blanket and change a brand like that when you know how, +and the Gridiron Circle gang shore enough knew how. Their expertness with +a running iron would have caused questions to be asked, and probably a +lynching bee, in other parts of the country, but down there they were +purty well alone. They let Gordon know that he had jumped the range, +which was just what they had done, that he didn't own it, and that the +sooner he left the country the better it would be for his health. But +he had peculiar ideas about justice, and he shore was plumb full of +grit and obstinacy. He knew he was right, that he had paid for the land, +and that he had improved it. And he had a lot of faith in the law, not +realizing that he hadn't anything to show the law. And he didn't know +that law and justice don't always mean the same thing, not by a long shot. + +"Well, one day he went out looking for a vein of coal, which he thought +ought to be thereabouts, according to his books, and it ought to be close +to the surface of a fissure. He reckoned that coal of any quality would +be some better than chips and the little wood he owned, so he got busy. +But he didn't find coal, but something that made him hotfoot it to his +books. When the report came back from the assay office he knew that he +had hit on a vein of native silver, which was some better than coal. + +"It didn't take long for the news to get around, though God Himself only +knows how it did, unless the storekeeper told that a package had gone +through his hands addressed to the assay office, and things began to +happen in chunks. He caught three Gridiron Circle punchers shooting his +cows, and he was naturally mad about it and just shot up the bunch before +they knew he was around. He killed one and spoiled the health of the other +two for some time to come, which naturally spelled war with a big W. Then +about this time his wife went and died, which was a purty big addition +to his troubles. As he stood above her grave, all broken up, and about +ready to give up the fight and go back East, he was shot at from cover. +He didn't much care if he was killed or not, until he remembered that he +had a boy to take care of. Then he got fighting mad all at once, all of +his troubles coming up before him in a bunch, and he got his gun and +went hunting, which was only right and proper under the circumstances." + +The sheriff flecked the ashes of his cigar into a blue flower pot which +was gay with white ribbons, and poured himself a cup of coffee. + +"I hate to think that it is possible to find a whole ranch of hellions +from the owner down," he continued, "but the nature of the owner picks a +dirty foreman, and a dirty foreman needs dirty men, and there you are. +That fits the case of the Gridiron Circle to a T. There was not one white +man in the whole gang," and he sat in silence for a space. + +"Well, the boy, who was about fifteen years old by this time, took his +gun and went out to find his daddy, and he succeeded. He cut him down +and buried him and then went home. That night the shack burned to the +ground, the orchard was ruined and the boy disappeared. Some people said +that the kid took what he wanted and burned the house rather than to +have it profaned as a range house by the curs who murdered his dad; and +some said the other thing, but from what I know of the kid, I reckon he +did it himself. + +"Right there and then things began to happen that hurt the ease and safety +of the Gridiron Circle. Cows were found dead all over the range--juglars +cut in every case. Three of their punchers were found dead in one +week--a .5O-caliber Sharps had done it. A regular reign of terror began +and kept the outfit on the nervous jump all the time. They searched and +trailed and searched and swore, and if one of them went off by himself +he was usually ready to be buried. Ten experienced, old-time cowmen were +made fools of by a fifteen-year-old kid, who was never seen by anybody +that lived long enough to tell about it. When he got hungry, he just +killed another cow and had a porterhouse steak cooked between two others +over a good fire. He ate the middle steak, which had all the juices of +the two burned ones, and threw the others away. Three meals a day for six +months, and one cow to a meal, was the order of things on the ranges of +the Gridiron Circle. He had plenty of ammunition, because every dead +puncher was minus his belt when found and his guns were broken or gone; +and early in the game the boy had made a master stroke: he raided the +storehouse of the ranch one night and lugged away about five hundred +rounds of ammunition in his saddle bags, with a couple of spare Colts and +a repeating Winchester of the latest pattern, and he spoiled all the +rest of the guns he could lay his hands on. Humorous kid, wasn't he, +shooting up the ranch with its own guns and cartridges? + +"Finally, however, after the news had spread, which it did real quick, a +regular lynching party was arranged, and the U-B, which lay about sixty +miles to the east, sent over half a dozen men to take a hand. Then the +Gridiron Circle had a rest, but while the gang was hunting for him and +laying all sorts of elaborate traps to catch him, the boy was over on +the U-B, showing it how foolish it had been to take up another man's +quarrel. By this time the whole country knew about it, and even some +Eastern papers began to give it much attention. One of the punchers of +the Gridiron Circle, when he found a friend dead and saw the tracks of +the kid in the sand, swore and cried that it was 'that d----n Orphan' +who had done it, and the name stuck. He had become an outlaw and was +legitimate prey for any man who had the chance and grit to turn the +trick. For ten years he has been wandering all over the range like a +hunted gray wolf, fighting for his life at every turn against all kinds of +odds, both human and natural. And I reckon that explains why he is accused +of doing so much killing. He has been hunted and forced to shoot to +save his own life, and a gray wolf is a fighter when cornered. I know +that I wouldn't give up the ghost if I could help it, and neither would +anybody else." + +"Oh, it is a shame, an awful shame!" cried Helen, tears of sympathy in her +eyes. "How could they do it? I don't blame him, not a bit! He did right, +terrible as it was! And only a boy when they began, too! Oh, it is awful, +almost unbelievable!" + +"Yes, it is, Sis," replied Shields earnestly. "It ain't his fault, not +by any manner or means--he was warped." And then he added slowly: "But Tom +and I will straighten him out, and if some folks hereabouts don't like it, +they can shore lump it, or fight." + +"Tell me how you met him, Jim," requested Blake in the interval of +silence. "I've heard some of it, second-handed, or third-handed, but I'd +like to have it straight." + +"Well," the sheriff continued, "when he came to these parts I didn't +know anything about him except what I had heard, which was only bad. He +had a nasty way of handling his gun, a hair-trigger and a nervous finger +on his gun, and he had a distressing way of using one cow to a meal, so +I got busy. I didn't expect much trouble in getting him. I knew that he +was only a youngster and I counted on my fifty years, and most of them +of experience, getting him. Being young, I reckoned he would be foolhardy +and hasty and uncertain in his wisdom; but, Lord! it was just like trying +to catch a flea in the dark. He was here, there and everywhere. While +I was down south hunting along his trail he would be up north objecting +to the sheep industry in ingenious ways and varying his bill of fare +with choice cuts of lamb and mutton. And by the time I got down south he +would be--God only knows where, I didn't. I could only guess, and I +guessed wrong until the last one. And then it was the toss of a coin +that decided it. + +"After a while he began to get more daring, and when I say more daring I +mean an open game with no limit. He began to prove my ideas about his age +making him reckless, though he was cautious enough, to be sure. One day, +not long ago, he had a run-in with two sheepmen out by the U bend of the +creek, who had driven their herds up on Cross Bar-8 land and over the +dead-line established by the ranch. They must have taken him for some +Cross Bar-8 puncher and thought he was going to kick up a fuss about the +trespass, or else they recognized him. Anyway, when I got on the scene +they were ready to be planted, which I did for them. Then I went after +him on a plain trail north--and almost too plain to suit me, because it +looked like it had been made plain as an invitation. He had picked out +the softest ground and left plenty of good tracks. But I was some mad +and didn't care much what I run into. I thought he had driven the whole +blasted herd of baa-baas over that high bank and into the creek, for the +number of dead sheep was shore scandalous. + +"I followed that cussed trail north, east, south, west and then all +over the whole United States, it seemed to me. And it was always +growing older, because I had to waste time in dodging chaparrals and +things like that that might hold him and his gun. I went picking my +way on a roundabout course past thickets of honey mesquite and cactus +gardens, over alkali flats and everything else, and the more I fooled +about the madder I got. I ain't no real, genuine fool, and I've had +some experience at trailing, but I had to confess that I was just a +plain, ordinary monkey-on-a-stick when stacked up against a kid that was +only about half my age, because suddenly the plainness of the trail +disappeared and I was left out on the middle of a burning desert to +guess the answer as best I could. I knew what he had done, all right, +but that didn't help me a whole lot. Did you ever trail anybody that used +padded-leather footpads on his cayuse's feet, and that went on a +walk, picking out the hardest ground? No? Well, I have, and it's no cinch. + +"I got tired of chasing myself back to the same place four times out of +five, and I reckons that it wouldn't be very long before he had made his +circle and got me in front of him. It ain't no church fair to be hunting +a mad devil like him under the best conditions, and it's a whole lot +less like one when he gets behind you doing the same thing. I didn't +know whether he had swung to the north or south, so I tossed up a coin +and cried heads for north--and it was tails. I cut loose at a lope and +had been riding for some time when I saw something through an opening +in the chaparrals to the east of me, and it moved. I swung my glasses +on it, and I'm blamed if it wasn't an Apache war party bound north. +They were about a mile to the east of me, and if they kept on going +straight ahead they would run across my trail in about three hours, +for it gradually worked their way. I ducked right then and there and +struck west for a time, turning south again until I hit the Cimarron +Trail, which I followed east. Well, as I went around one side of the +chaparral six mad Apaches went around the other, and they hit my trail +too soon to suit me. I heard a hair-raising yell and lit out in the +direction of Chattanooga as hard as I could go, with a hungry chorus a +mile behind me. + +"I had just passed that freak bowlder on the Apache Trail when the man I +was looking for turned up, and with the drop, of course. We reckoned that +two was needed to stop the war-paints, which we did, him running the game +and doing most of the playing. I felt like I was his honored guest whom +he had invited to share in the festivities. He had plenty of chances to +nail me if he wanted to, and he had chipped in on a game that he didn't +have to take cards in; and to help me out. He could have let them get +me and they would have thought that I had done all the injury and that +there wasn't another man on the desert. But he didn't, and I began to +think he wasn't as bad as he was painted." + +Then he told of the trouble between The Orphan and Jimmy of the Cross +Bar-8, and of the rage which blossomed out on the ranch. + +"That shore settled it for the Cross Bar-8. They wanted lots of gore, and +they got it, all right, when he played five of their punchers against +the very war party he had sent north to meet me, while I was chasing him. +That war party must have found something to their liking, wandering about +the country all that time." + +Blake interrupted him: "War party that he sent north to meet you?" he +asked in surprise. "How could he do that?" + +"That's just what I said," replied Shields, and then he explained about +the arrow. "Any man who could stack a deck like that and use one danger to +wipe out another ain't going to get caught by an outfit of lunkheads--by +George! if he didn't work nearly the same trick on the Cross Bar-8 crowd! +Oh, it's great, simply great!" + +The foreman slapped his knee enthusiastically: "Fine! Fine!" he exulted. +"That fellow has got brains, plenty of them! And he'll make use of them +to the good of this country, too, before we get through with him." + +Shields continued: "After he sic'd the chumps of the Cross Bar-8 on the +Apaches he shore raised the devil on the ranch and I was asked to go out +and run things, which I did, or rather thought I would do. Charley and I +and the two Larkin boys laid out on the plain all night, covered up with +sand, waiting for him to show up between us and the windows--and the first +thing I saw in the morning was Helen's flower pot here--it used to be +Margaret's--setting up on top of a pile of sand under my very nose where +he had stuck it while I waited for him--and blamed if he hadn't signed +his name in the sand at its base!" He suddenly turned to his sister: +"Tell Tom about him calling on you while I was waiting for him out on +the ranch, Helen." + +Helen did so and the way she told it caused the women to look keenly at +her. + +Blake laughed heartily: "Now, don't that beat all!" he cried. + +"It don't beat this," responded the sheriff, turning again to Helen. "Tell +him about the stage coach, Sis." + +"Well, I don't know much about the first part of it," she replied. "All I +remember is a terrible ride --oh, it was awful!" she cried, shuddering as +she remembered the tortures of the Concord. "But when we stopped and +after I managed to get out of the coach I saw the driver carrying a man on +his shoulders and coming toward us. He laid his burden down and revived +him--and he was a young man, and covered with blood." Then she paused: +"He was real nice and polite and didn't seem to think that he had done +anything out of the ordinary. Then we went on and he left us." + +The sheriff laughed and leveled an accusing finger at her: + +"You have left out a whole lot, Sis," he said affectionately. "Helen acted +just like the thoroughbred she is, Tom," he continued. "I guess Bill told +you all about it, for he's aired it purty well. Why, she even lost her +gold pin a-helping him!" and he grinned broadly. + +Helen shot him a warning glance, but it was too late; Mary suddenly sat +bolt upright, her expression one of shocked surprise. + +"Helen Shields!" she cried, "and I never thought of it before! How could +you do it! Why, that horrid man will show your pin and boast about it to +everybody! The idea! I'm surprised at you!" + +"Tut, tut," exclaimed Shields. "I reckon that pin is all right. He might +find it handy some day to return it, it'll be a good excuse when he gets +on his feet. And I'd hate to be the man to laugh at it, or try to take it +from him. Now, come, Mary, think of it right; it was the first kind act +he had known since he lost his daddy. And that pin is one of my main +stand-bys in this game. I believe that he'll be square as long as he +has it." + +"Well, I don't care, James," warmly responded Mary. "It was _not_ a modest +thing to do when she had never seen him before, and he her brother's +enemy and an outlaw!" + +"How could I have fastened the bandage, sister dear?" asked Helen, her +complexion slightly more colored than its natural shade. "It was so very +little to do after all he had done for us!" + +"Well, Tom and I have some business to talk over, so we'll leave you +to fight the matter out among yourselves," the sheriff said, arising. +"Come to my room, Tom, I want to talk over that ranch scheme with you. +You bring the coffee pot and the cigars and I'll juggle the pie and +gingerbread," he laughed as he led the way. + +"Oh, Tom!" hastily called Mrs. Shields after good-nights had been said, +and just before the door closed; "I promised you a dinner for your boys +when Helen and Mary came, and if you think you can spare them this coming +Sunday I will have it then." + +"Thank you, Mrs. Shields," earnestly responded Blake, turning on the +threshold. "It is awful good of you to put yourself out that way, and you +can bet that the boys will be your devoted slaves ever after. If you +must go to that trouble, why, Sunday or any day you may name will do for +us. Gosh, but won't they be tickled!" he exulted as he pictured them +feasting on goodies. "It'll be better than a circus, it shore will!" + +"Why, it's no trouble at all, Tom," she replied, smiling at being able +to bring cheer to a crowd of men, lonely, as she thought. "And you will +arrange to have The Orphan with them, won't you?" + +"I most certainly will," he heartily replied. "It'll do wonders for him." +He glanced quickly at Helen, but she was busily engaged in threading a +needle under the lamp shade. + +"Good night, all," he said as he closed the door. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +AN UNDERSTANDING + + +Blake settled himself in the easy chair which his host pushed over to +him and crossed his feet on the seat of another, and became the +personification of contentment. One of the black Perfectos which a +friend in the East kept Shields supplied with, was tenderly nursed by his +lips, its fragrant smoke slowly issuing from his nose and mouth, +yielding its delights to a man who knew a good cigar when he smoked it, +and who knew how to smoke it. At his elbow stood a coffee pot, flanked +on one side by a plate piled high with gingerbread; on the other by an +apricot pie. His eyes half-closed and his arms were folded, and a great +peace stole over him. He had the philosopher's mind which so readily +yields to the magic touch of a perfect cigar. In that short space of +time he was recompensed for a life of hardships, perils and but few +pleasures. + +They sat each lost in his own thoughts, in a silence broken only by the +very low and indistinct hum of women's voices and the loud ticking of the +clock, which soon struck ten. The foreman sighed, stirred to knock the +ashes from his cigar, and then slowly reached his hand toward the pie. +Shields came to himself and very gravely relighted his cigar, watching +the blue smoke stream up over the lamp. He looked at his contented friend +for a few seconds and then broke the silence. + +"Tom," he said, "what I'm going to tell you now is all meat. I couldn't +say anything about it while the women were around, for they shore worry a +lot and there wasn't no good in scaring them. + +"The Cross Bar-8 outfit got saddled with the idea that they wanted a +new sheriff, and four of them didn't care a whole lot how they made the +necessary vacancy. I got word that they were going to pay Bill Howland +for the part he played, and on the face of it there wasn't nothing more +than that. It was natural enough that they were sore on him, and that +they would try to square matters. Well, of course, I couldn't let him +get wiped out and I took cards in the game. But, Lord, it wasn't what I +reckoned it was at all. He was in for his licking, all right, but _he_ +was the _little_ fish--and _I_ was the _big_ one. + +"They got Bill in the defile of the Backbone and were going to lynch +him--they beat him up shameful. He wouldn't tell them that I was +hand-in-glove with The Orphan, which they wanted to hear, so they tried to +scare him to lie, but it was no go. + +"Well, I followed Bill and, to make it short, that is just what they had +figured on. They posted an outpost to get the drop on me when I showed +up, and he got it. Tex Williard seemed to be the officer in charge, +and he asked me questions and suggested things that made me fighting +mad inside. But I was as cool as I could be apparently, for it ain't +no good to lose your temper in a place like that. I suppose they wanted +me to get out on the warpath so they could frame up some story about +self-defense. It looked bad for me, with three of them having their guns +on me, and Tex Williard had just given me an ultimatum and had counted +two, when, d----d if The Orphan didn't take a hand from up on the wall +of the defile. That let me get my guns out, and the rest was easy. We let +Bill get square on the gang for the beating he had got, by whipping +all of them to the queen's taste. When they got so they could stand up I +told them a few things and ordered them out of the country, and they were +blamed glad to get the chance to go, too. + +"The Orphan didn't have to mix up in that, not at all, and it makes the +third time he's put his head in danger to help me or mine, and he took big +chances every time. How in h--l can I help liking him? Can I be blamed +for treating him white and square when he's done so much for me? He is so +chock full of grit and squareness that I'll throw up this job rather than +to go out after him for his past deeds, and I mean it, too, Tom." + +Blake reached for another piece of pie, held his hand over it in +uncertainty and then, changing his mind, took gingerbread for a change. + +"Well, I reckon you're right, Jim," he replied. "Anyhow, it don't make +a whole lot of difference whether you are or not. You're the sheriff of +this layout, and you're to do what you think best, and that's the idea +of most of the people out here, too. If you want to experiment, that's +your business, for you'll be the first to get bit if you're wrong. And +it ain't necessary to tell you that your friends will back you up in +anything you try. Personally, I am rather glad of what you're doing, +for I like that man's looks, as I said before, and he'll be just the kind +of a puncher I want. He's a man that'll fight like h--l for the man he +ties up to and who treats him square. If he ain't, I'm getting childish +in my judgment." + +"I sent him to you," the sheriff continued, "because I wanted to get +him in with a good outfit and under a man who would be fair with him. I +knew that you would give him every chance in the world. And then Helen +takes such an interest in him, being young and sympathetic and romantic, +that I wanted to please her if I could, and I can. She'll be very much +pleased now that I've given him a start in the right direction and there +ain't nothing I can do for her that is not going to be done. She's a +blamed fine girl, Tom, as nice a girl as ever lived." + +"She shore is--there ain't no doubt about that!" cried the foreman, and +then he frowned slightly. "But have you thought of what all this might +develop into?" he asked, leaning forward in his earnestness. "It's shore +funny how I should think of such a thing, for it ain't in my line at all, +but the idea just sort of blew into my head." + +"What do you mean?" + +"Well, Helen, being young and sympathetic and romantic, as you said, +and owing her own life and the lives of her sister and friend, not to +mention yours, to him, might just go and fall in love with him, and I +reckon that if she did, she would stick to him in spite of hell. He's a +blamed good-looking, attractive fellow, full of energy and grit, somewhat +of a mystery, and women are strong on mysteries, and he might nurse +ideas about having some one to make gingerbread and apricot pie for +him; and if he does, as shore as God made little apples, it'll be Helen +that he'll want. He's never seen as pretty a girl, she's been kind and +sympathetic with him, and I'm willing to bet my hat that he's lost a bit +of sleep about her already. Good Lord, what can you expect? She pities +him, and what do the books say about pity?" + +The sheriff thought for a minute and then looked up with a peculiar light +in his eyes. + +"For a bachelor you're doing real well," he said, still thinking hard. + +"Being a bachelor don't mean that I ain't never rubbed elbows with women," +replied the foreman. "There are some people that are bachelors because +they are too darned smart to get roped and branded because the moon +happens to be real bright. But I'll confess to you that I ain't a bachelor +because I didn't want to get roped. We won't say any more about that, +however." + +"Well," said Shields, slowly. "If he tries to get her before I know that +he is straight and clean and good enough for her, I'll just have to +stop him any way I can. First of all, I'm looking out for my sister, +the h--l with anybody else. But on the other hand, if he makes good and +wants her bad enough to rustle for two and she has her mind made up that +she'd rather have him than stay single and is head over heels in love +with him, I don't see that there's anything to worry about. I tell you +that he is a good man, a real man, and if he changes like I want him +to, she would be a d----d sight better off with him than with some dudish +tenderfoot in love with money. He has had such a God-forsaken life that +he will be able to appreciate a change like that--he would be square as a +brick with her and attentive and loyal--and with him she wouldn't run +much chance of being left a widow. Why, I'll bet he'll worship the ground +she walks on--she could wind him all around her little finger and he'd +never peep. And she would have the best protection that walks around these +parts. But, pshaw, all this is too far ahead of the game. How about that +herd of cattle you spoke of?" + +"I can get you the whole herd dirt cheap," replied the foreman. "And they +are as hungry and healthy a lot as you could wish." + +"Well," responded the sheriff, "I've made up my mind to go ranching +again. I can't stand this loafing, for it don't amount to much more than +that now that The Orphan has graduated out of the outlaw class. I can run +a ranch and have plenty of time to attend to the sheriff part of it, +too. Ever since I sold the Three-S I have been like a fish out of water. +When I got rid of it I put the money away in Kansas City, thinking that I +might want to go back at it again. Then I got rid of that mine and bunked +the money with the ranch money. The interest has been accumulating for +a long time now and I have got something over thirty thousand lying idle. +Now, I'm going to put it to work. + +"I ran across Crawford last week, and he is dead anxious to sell out and +go back East--he don't like the West. I've determined to take the A-Y off +his hands, for it's a good ranch, has good buildings on it, two fine +windmills over driven wells, good grass and shelters. Why, he has put +up shelters in Long Valley that can't be duplicated under a thousand +dollars. His terms are good--five thousand down and the balance in +installments of two thousand a year at three per cent., and I can get +_over_ three per cent, while it is lying waiting to be paid to him. He +is too blamed sick of his white elephant to haggle over terms. He was +foolish to try to run it himself and to sink so much money in driven +wells, windmills and buildings--it would astonish you to know how much +money he spent in paint alone. What did he know about ranching, anyhow? +He can't hardly tell a cow from a heifer. He said that he knew how to +make money earn money in the East, but that he couldn't make a cent +raising cows. + +"If The Orphan attends to his new deal I'll put him in charge and the +rest lies with him. I'll provide him with a good outfit, everything he +needs and, if he makes good and the ranch pays, I'll fix it so he can +own a half-interest in it at less than it cost me, and that will give +him a good job to hold down for the rest of his life. It'll be something +for him to tie to in case of squalls, but there ain't much danger of his +becoming unsteady, because if he was at all inclined to that sort of thing +he would be dead now. + +"This ain't no fly-away notion, as you know. I've had an itching for a +good ranch for several years, and for just about that length of time +I've had my eyes on the A-Y. I was going to buy it when Crawford gobbled +it up at that fancy price and I felt a little put out when he took up +his option on it, but I'm glad he did, now. Why, Reeves sold out to +Crawford for almost three times what I am going to pay for it, and it +has been improved fifty per cent. since he has had it. But, of course, +there was more cattle then than there is now. You get me that herd at +a good figure and I'll be able to take care of them very soon now, just +as soon as I close the deal. But, mind you, no Texas cattle goes--I don't +want any Spanish fever in mine. + +"I'm thinking some of putting Charley in charge temporarily, just as +soon as Sneed gets some men, and when The Orphan takes it over things will +be in purty fair shape. I won't move out there because my wife don't +like ranching--she wants to be in town where she is near somebody, but +I'll spend most of my time out there until everything gets in running +order. Oh, yes--in consideration of the five thousand down at the time +the papers are signed, Crawford has agreed to leave the ranch-house +furnished practically as it is, and that will be nice for Helen and The +Orphan if they ever should decide to join hands in double blessedness. +You used to have a lot of fun about the high-faluting fixings in your +ranch-house, but just wait 'til you see this one! An inside look around +will open your eyes some, all right. It is a wonder, a real wonder! +Running water from the windmills, a bath-room, sinks in the kitchen, a +wood-burning boiler in the cellar, and all the comforts possible. If +Crawford tries to move all that stuff back East it would cost him more +than he could get for it, and he knows it, too. It's a bargain at twice +the price, and I'm going to nail it. I can't think of anything else." + +"Well," replied Blake, "I don't see how you could do anything better, +that's sure. It all depends on the price, and if you're satisfied with +that, there ain't no use of turning it down. I know you can make money +out there with any kind of attention, for I'm purty well acquainted with +the A-Y. And I'll see about the cattle next week, but you better leave +The Orphan stay with me a while longer. My boys are the best crowd that +ever lived in a bunk-house, and if he minds his business they'll smooth +down his corners until you won't hardly know him; and they'll teach him a +little about the cow-puncher game if he's rusty. + +"You remember the time we had that killing out there, don't you?" Blake +asked. "Well, you also remember that we agreed to cut out all gunplay on +the ranch in the future, and that I sent East for some boxing gloves, +which were to be used in case anybody wanted to settle any trouble. +They have been out there for two years now, and haven't been used except +in fun. Give the boys a chance and they'll cure him of the itching +trigger-finger, all right. They're only a lot of big-hearted, overgrown +kids, and they can get along with the devil himself if he'll let them. +But they are hell-fire and brimstone when aroused," then he laughed +softly: "They heard about your trouble with Sneed and they shore was +dead anxious to call on the Cross Bar-8 and make a few remarks about +long life and happiness, but I made them wait 'til they should be sent for. + +"They know all about The Orphan--that is, as much as I did before I +called to-night. Joe Haines is a great listener and when he rustles our +mail once a week he takes it all in, so of course they know all about +it. They had a lot of fun about the way he made the Cross Bar-8 sit +up and take notice, for they ain't wasting any love on Sneed's crowd. +And it took Bill Howland over an hour to tell Joe about his experiences. +So when The Orphan met the outfit they knew him to be the man who had +saved the sheriff's sisters, which went a long way with them. Say, Jim," +he exclaimed, "can I tell them what you said about him to-night? Let +me tell them everything, for it'll go far with them, especially with +Silent, who had some trouble with the U-B about five years ago. He was +taking a herd of about three thousand head across their range and he +swears yet at the treatment he got. Yes? All right, it'll make him solid +with the outfit." + +"Tell them anything you want about him," said the sheriff, "but don't say +anything about the A-Y. I want to keep it quiet for a while." + +Shields poured himself a cup of coffee and then glanced at the clock: "Too +late for a game, Tom?" he asked, expectantly. + +The foreman laughed: "It's seldom too late for that," he replied. + +"Good enough!" cried his host. "What shall it be this time--pinochle or +crib?" + +The foreman slowly closed his eyes as he replied: "Either suits me--this +feed has made me plumb easy to please. Why, I'd even play casino to-night!" + +"Well, what do you say to crib?" asked the sheriff. "You licked me so bad +at it the last time you were here that I hanker to get revenge." + +"Well, I don't blame you for wanting to get it, but I'll tell you right +now that you won't, for I can lick the man that invented crib to-night," +laughed the foreman. "Bring out your cards." + +Shields placed the cards on the table and arranged things where they would +be handy while his friend shuffled the pack. + +The foreman pushed the cards toward his host: "There you are--low deals +as usual, I suppose." + +"Oh, you might as well go ahead and deal," grumbled the sheriff +good-naturedly. "I don't remember ever cutting low enough for you--by +George! A five!" + +Blake picked up the cards and started to deal, but the sheriff stopped him. + +"Hey! You haven't cut yet!" Shields cried, putting his hand on the cards. +"What are you doing, anyhow?" + +Blake laughed with delight: "Well, anybody that can't cut lower than a +five hadn't ought to play the game. What's the use of wasting time?" + +"Well, you never mind about the time--you go ahead and beat me," cried +the sheriff. "Of all the nerve!" + +Blake picked up the cards again: "Do you want to cut again?" he asked. + +"Not a bit of it! That five stands!" + +"Well, how would a four do?" asked the foreman, lifting his hand. "It's a +three!" he exulted. "All that time wasted," he said. + +"You go to blazes," pleasantly replied the sheriff as he sorted his hand. +"This ain't so bad for you, not at all bad; you could have done worse, +but I doubt it." He discarded, cut, and Blake turned a six. + +"Seven," called Shields as he played. + +"Seventeen," replied Blake, playing a queen. + +"No you don't, either," grinned the sheriff. "You can play that four later +if you want to, but not now on twenty-seven. Call it twenty-five," he +said, playing an eight. + +Blake carefully scanned his hand and finally played the four, grumbling a +little as his friend laughed. + +"Thirty-one--first blood," remarked the sheriff, dropping the deuce. + +While he pegged his points Blake suddenly laughed. + +"Say, Jim," he said, "before I forget it I want to tell you a joke on +Humble. He thought it would be easy money if he taught Lee Lung how +to play poker. He bothered Lee's life out of him for several days, and +finally the Chinaman consented to learn the great American game." + +Blake played a six and the sheriff scored two by pairing, whereupon his +opponent made it threes for six, and took a point for the last card. + +"As I was saying, Humble wanted the cook to learn poker. Lee's face was +as blank as a cow's, and Humble had to explain everything several times +before the cook seemed to understand what he was driving at. Anybody would +have thought he had been brought up in a monastery and that he didn't know +a card from an army mule." + +Blake pegged his seven points and picked up his cards without breaking +the story. + +"But Lee had awful luck, and in half an hour he owned half of Humble's +next month's pay. Now, every time he gets a chance he shows Humble the +cards and asks for a game. 'Nicee game, ploker, nicee game,' he'll say. +What Humble says is pertinent, profane and permeating. Then the boys guy +him to a finish. He'll be wanting to teach Lee how to play fan-tan some +day, so the boys say. Lee must have graduated in poker before Humble +ever heard of the game." + +Shields laughed heartily and swiftly ran over his cards. + +"Fifteen two, four, six, a pair is eight, and a double run of three is +fourteen. Real good," he said as he pegged. "Passed the crack that time. +What have you got?" + +The foreman put his cards down, found three sixes and then turned the crib +face up. "Pair of tens and His Highness," he grumbled. "Only three in that +crib!" + +"That's what you get for cutting a three," laughed the sheriff. + +The game continued until the striking of the clock startled the guest. + +"Midnight!" he cried. "Thirty miles before I get to bed--no, no, I can't +stay with you to-night --much obliged, all the same." + +He clapped his sombrero on his head and started for the door: "Well, +better luck next time, Jim--three twenty-four hands shore did make a +difference. Right where they were needed, too. So long." + +"Sorry you won't stay, Tom," called his friend from the door as the +foreman mounted. "You might just as well, you know." + +"I'm sorry, too, but I've got to be on hand to-morrow--anyway, it's bright +moonlight--so long!" he cried as he cantered away. + +"Hey, Tom!" cried the sheriff, leaping from the porch and running to the +gate. "Tom!" + +"Hullo, what is it?" asked the foreman, drawing rein and returning. + +"Smoke this on your way, it'll seem shorter," said the sheriff, holding +out a cigar. + +"By George, I will!" laughed Blake. "That's fine, you're all right!" + +"Be good," cried the sheriff, watching his friend ride down the street. + +"Shore enough good--I have to be," floated back to his ears. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE FLYING-MARE + + +The Sunday morning following Blake's visit to Ford's Station found the +Star C in excitement. Notwithstanding the fact that on every pleasant +night after the day's work had been done it was the custom for the outfit +to indulge in a swim, and that Saturday night had been very pleasant, the +Limping Water was being violently disturbed, and laughter and splashing +greeted the sun as it looked over the rim of the bank. Cakes of soap +glistened on the sand on the west bank and towels hung from convenient +limbs of the bushes which fringed the creek. + +Silent, who was noted among his companions for the length of time he +could stay under water, challenged them to a submersion test. The rules +were simple, inasmuch as they consisted in all plunging under at the +same time, the winner being he who was the last man up. Silent had +steadfastly refused to have his endurance timed, which his friends +mistook for modesty, and no sooner had all "ducked under" than his head +popped up--but this time he was not alone. Humble, whose utmost limit +was not over half a minute, grew angry at his inability to make a good +showing and craftily determined to take a handicap. The two stared at +each other for a space and then burst into laughter, forgetting for the +time being what they should do. Other heads bobbed up, and the secret +was out. Only that Silent was the best swimmer in the crowd saved him +from a ducking, and as it was he had to grab his clothes and run. + +After being assured that he was forgiven for his trickery he rejoined his +friends and his towel. + +More fun was now the rule, for dressing required care. The sandy west bank +sloped gradually to the water's edge, and it was necessary to stand on one +foot on a small stone in the water while the other was dipped to remove +the sand. Still on one foot the other must be dried, the stocking put on, +then the trouser leg and lastly the boot, and woe to the man who lost his +balance and splashed stocking and trouser leg as he wildly sought to +save it! Humble splashed while his foot was only half-way through the +trouser leg, and The Orphan fared even worse. Then a race of awkward +runners was on toward the bunk house, where breakfast was annihilated. + +"Hey, Tom, what time do we leave?" asked Bud for the fifth time. + +"Nine o'clock, you chump," replied the foreman. + +"Three whole hours yet," grumbled Jim as he again plastered his hair to +his head. + +"I'll lose my appetite shore," worried Humble. "We got up too blamed +early, that's what we did." + +"Why, here's Humble!" cried Silent in mock surprise. "Do _you_ like +apricot pie, and gingerbread and _real_ coffee?" + +"You go to the devil," grumbled Humble. "You wouldn't 'a' been asked at +all, only she couldn't very well cut you out of it when she asked me +along. _I_'m the one she really wants to feed; you fellers just happen +to tag on behind, that's all." + +"Going to take Lightning with you, Humble?" asked Docile, winking at the +others. + +"Why, I shore am," replied Humble in surprise. "Do you reckon I'd leave +him and that d-----d Chink all alone together, you sheep?" + +"I was afraid you wouldn't," pessimistically grumbled Docile, but here +he smiled hopefully. "Suppose you take Lee Lung and leave the dog here?" +he queried. + +"Suppose you quit supposing with your feet!" sarcastically countered +Humble. "I know you ain't got much brains, but you might exercise what +little you have got once in a while. It won't hurt you none after you +get used to it." + +"How are you going to carry him, Humble--like a papoose?" queried Joe with +a great show of interest. + +Humble stared at him: "Huh!" he muttered, being too much astonished to +say more. + +"I asked you how you are going to carry your fighting wolfhound," Joe +said without the quiver of an eyelash. "I thought mebby you was going to +sling him on your back like a papoose." + +"Carry him! Papoose!" ejaculated Humble in withering irony. "What do you +reckon his legs are for? He ain't no statue, he ain't no ornament, he's a +dog." + +"Well, I knowed he ain't no ornament, but I wasn't shore about the rest of +it," responded Joe. "I only wanted to know how he'd get to town. There +ain't no crime in asking about that, is there? I know he can't follow the +gait we'll hit up for thirty miles, so I just naturally asked, _sabe?"_ + +"Oh, you did, did you!" cried Humble, not at all humbly. "He can't follow +us, can't he?" he yelled belligerently. + +"He shore can't, cross my heart," asserted Silent in great earnestness. +"If he runs to Ford's Station after us and gets there inside of two days +I'll buy him a collar. That goes." + +"Huh!" snorted Humble in disgust, "he won't wear your old collar after he +wins it. He's got too much pride to wear anything you'll give him." + +"He couldn't, you mean," jabbed Jim. "He's so plumb tender that it would +strain his back to carry it. Why, he has to sit down and rest if more'n +two flies get on the same spot at once." + +"He can't wag his tail more'n three times in an hour," added Bud, "and +when he scratches hisself he has to rest for the remainder of the day." + +Humble turned to The Orphan in an appealing way: "Did you ever see so many +d----d fools all at once?" he beseeched. + +The Orphan placed his finger to his chin and thought for fully half a +minute before replying: "I was just figuring," he explained in apology +for his abstraction. Then his face brightened: "You can tie him up in +a blanket--that's the best way. Yes, sir, tie him up in a blanket and +sling him at the pommel. We'll take turns carrying him." + +"Purple h--l!" yelled Humble. "You're another! The whole crowd are a lot +of ----!" + +"Sing it, Humble," suggested Tad, laughing. "Sing it!" + +"Whistle some of it, and send the rest by mail," assisted Jack Lawson. + +"Seen th' dlog?" came a bland, monotonous voice from the doorway, where +Lee Lung stood holding a chunk of beef in one hand, while his other hand +was hidden behind his back. Over his left shoulder projected half a foot +of club, which he thought concealed. "Seen th' dlog?" he repeated, smiling. + +"Miss Mirandy and holy hell!" shouted Humble, leaping forward at sight of +the club. There was a swish! and Humble rebounded from the door, at which +he stared. From the rear of the house came more monotonous words: "Nice +dlog-gie. Pletty Lightling. Here come. Gette glub," and Humble galloped +around the corner of the house, swearing at every jump. + +When the laughter had died down Blake smiled grimly: "Some day Lee _will_ +get that dog, and when he does he'll get him good and hard. Then we'll +have to get another cook. I've told him fifty times if I've told him once +not to let it go past a joke, but it's no use." + +"He won't hurt the cur, he's only stringing Humble," said Bud. "Nobody +would hurt a dog that minded his own business." + +"If anybody hit a dog of mine for no cause, he wouldn't do it again unless +he got me first," quietly remarked The Orphan. + +Jim hastily pointed to the corner of the house where a club projected into +sight: "There's Lee now!" he whispered hurriedly. "He's laying for him!" + +There was a sudden spurt of flame and smoke and the club flew several +yards, struck by three bullets. Humble hopped around the corner holding +his hand, his words too profane for repetition. + +Smoke filtered from The Orphan's holster and eyes opened wide in surprise +at the wonderful quickness of his gunplay, for no one had seen it. All +there was was smoke. + +"Good God!" breathed Blake, staring at the marksman, who had stepped +forward and was explaining to Humble. "It's a good thing Shields was +square!" he muttered. + +"Did you see that?" asked Bud of Jim in whispered awe. "And I thought _I_ +was some beans with a six-shooter!" + +"No, but I heard it--was they one or six?" replied Jim. + +"I didn't know it was you, Humble," explained The Orphan. "I thought it +was the Chink laying for the dog." + +"---- ----! Good for you!" cried Humble in sudden friendliness. "You're +all right, Orphant, but will you be sure next time? That stung like +blazes," he said as he held out his hand. "I can always tell a white +man by the way he treats a dog. If all men were as good as dogs this world +would be a blamed sight nicer place to live in, and don't you forget it." + +"Still going to take Lightning with you, Humble?" asked Bud. + +"No, I ain't going to take Lightning with me!" snapped Humble. "I'm going +to leave him right here on the ranch," here his voice arose to a roar, +"and if any sing-song, rope-haired, animated hash-wrastler gets gay while +I'm gone, I'll send him to his heathen hell!" + +"Come on, boys," said Blake, snapping his watch shut. "Time to get going." + +"Glory be!" exulted Silent, executing a few fancy steps toward the corral, +his companions close behind, with the exception of The Orphan, who had +gone into the bunk house for a minute. + +As they whooped their way toward the town Blake noticed that a gold +pin glittered at the knot of the new recruit's neck-kerchief, and he +chuckled when he recalled the warning he had given to the sheriff. He +shrewdly guessed that the apricot pie and the rest of the feast were +quite subordinated by The Orphan to the girl who had given him the pin. + +Bud suddenly turned in his saddle and pointed to a jackrabbit which +bounded away across the plain like an animated shadow. + +"Now, if Humble's bloodhound was only here," he said, "we would rope that +jack and make the cur fight it. It would be a fine fight, all right," he +laughed. + +"You go to the devil," grunted Humble, and he started ahead at full speed. +"Come on!" he cried. "Come on, you snails!" and a race was on. + + . . . . . + +The citizens of Ford's Station saw a low-hanging cloud of dust which +rolled rapidly up from the west and soon a hard-riding crowd of cowboys, +in gala attire, galloped down the main street of the town. They slowed +to a canter and rode abreast in a single line, the arms of each man over +the shoulders of his nearest companions, and all sang at the top of +their lungs. On the right end rode Blake, and on the left was The +Orphan. Bill Howland ran out into the street and spotted his new friend +immediately and swung his hat and cheered for the man who had helped +him out of two bad holes. The Orphan broke from the line and shook +hands with the driver, his face wreathed by a grin. + +"You old son-of-a-gun!" cried Bill, delighted at the familiarity from so +noted a person as the former outlaw. "How are you, hey?" + +The line cried warm greeting as it swung around to shake his hand, and +the driver's chest took on several inches of girth. + +"Hullo, Bill!" cried Bud with a laugh. "Seen your old friend Tex lately?" + +"Yes, I did," replied Bill. "I saw him out on Thirty-Mile Stretch, but he +didn't do nothing but swear. He didn't want no more run-ins with me, all +right, and, besides, my rifle was across my knees. He said as how he was +going to come back some day and start things moving about this old town, +and I told him to begin with the Star C when he did." + +He looked across the street and waved his hand at a group of his friends +who were looking on. "Come on over, fellows," he cried, and when they had +done so he turned and introduced The Orphan to them. + +"This ugly cuss here is Charley Winter; this slab-sided curiosity is Tommy +Larkin, and here is his brother Al; Chet Dare, Duke Irwin, Frank Hicks, +Hoke Jones, Gus Shaw and Roy Purvis. All good fellows, every one of them, +and all friends of the sheriff. Here comes Jed Carr, the only man in the +whole town who ain't afraid of me since I licked them punchers in the +defile. Hullo, Jed! Shake hands with the man who played h--l with the +Cross Bar-8 and the Apaches." + +"Glad to meet you, Orphan," remarked Jed as he shook hands. "Punching +for the Star C, eh? Good crowd, most of them, as they run, though Humble +ain't very much." + +"He ain't, ain't he?" grinned that puncher. "You're some sore about that +day when I cleaned up all your cush at poker, ain't you? Ain't had time to +get over it, have you? Want to borrow some?" + +"You want to look out for Humble, Jed," bantered Bud. "He's taken a lesson +at poker from our cook since he played you. Didn't you, Easy?" he asked +Humble. + +The roar of laughter which followed Bud's words forced Humble to stand +treat: "Come on over and have something with the only man in the crowd +that's got any money," he said. + +When they had lined up against the bar jokes began to fly thick and fast +and The Orphan felt a peculiar elation steal over him as he slowly puffed +at his cigar. Suddenly the door flew open and Bill's glass dropped from +his hand. + +"Bucknell, by God! And as drunk as a fool!" he exclaimed. + +The puncher whom The Orphan had tied up above the defile leaned against +the door frame and his gun wavered from point to point unsteadily as he +tried to peer into the dim interior of the room, his face leering as he +sought, with a courage born of drink, for the man who had made a fool of +him. + +A bottle crashed against the wall at his side, and as he lurched forward, +glancing at the broken glass, a figure leaped to meet him and with +agile strength grasped his right wrist, wheeled and got his shoulder +under Bucknell's armpit, took two short steps and straightened up with +a jerk. The intruder left the floor and flew headforemost through the +air, crashing against the rear wall, where he fell to the floor and lay +quiet. The Orphan, having foresworn unnecessary gunplay, and always +scorning to shoot a drunken man, had executed a clever, quick flying-mare. + +As the sheriff stepped into the room Blake ran forward and lifted Bucknell +to his feet, supporting him until he could stand alone. The puncher was +greatly sobered by the shock and blinked confusedly about him. The Orphan +was smoking nonchalantly at the bar and Bill had just given the sheriff +the victim's gun. + +"What's the matter?" asked Bucknell, rubbing his forehead, which was cut +and bruised. + +"Nothing's the matter, yet," answered Shields shortly. "But there would +have been if you hadn't been too drunk to know what you was doing. I saw +you and tried to get here first, but it's all right now. Take your gun +and get out. Here," he exclaimed, "you promise me to behave yourself and +you can go back to Sneed, for he needs you. Otherwise, it's out of the +country after Tex for you. Is it a go?" + +"What was that, and who done it?" asked Bucknell, clinging to the bar. +"What was it?" he repeated. + +"That was me trying to throw you through the wall," said the sheriff, +wishing to give Bucknell no greater cause for animosity against The +Orphan, and for the peace of the community; and also because he wished to +help The Orphan to refrain from using his gun in the future. "And I'd +'a' done it, too, only my hand was sweaty. Will you do what I said?" he +asked. + +Bucknell straightened up and staggered past the sheriff to where The +Orphan stood: "You done that, but it's all right, ain't it?" he asked. +"You ain't sore, are you?" His eyes had a crafty look, but the dimness +of the room concealed it, and The Orphan did not notice the look. + +"It's all right, Bucknell, and I ain't sore," he replied. "I won't be sore +if you do what the sheriff wants you to." + +"All right, all right," replied Bucknell. "Have a drink on me, boys. It's +all right now, ain't it? Have a drink on me." + +"No more drinking to-day," quickly said the bartender at a look from +Shields. "All the good stuff is used up and the rest ain't fit for dogs, +let alone my friends. Wait 'til next time, when I'll have some new." + +"That's too d----d bad," replied Bucknell, leering at the crowd. "Have a +smoke, then. Come on, have a smoke with me." + +"We shore will, Bucknell," responded Shields quickly. + +As the cowboy started for the door the sheriff placed a hand on his +shoulder: "You behave yourself, Bucknell," he said. "So long." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE FEAST + + +Joyous whoops, loud and heartfelt, brought the women to the door of the +sheriff's house in time to see their guests dismount. A perfect babel of +words greeted their appearance as the cowboys burst into a running fire +of jokes, salutations and comments. Even the ponies seemed to know that +something important and unusual was taking place, for they cavorted +and bit and squealed to prove that they were in accord with the spirit of +their riders and that thirty miles in less than three hours had not +subdued them. Bright colors prevailed, for the neck-kerchiefs in most +cases were new and yet showed the original folding creases, while new, +clean thongs of rawhide and glittering bits of metal flashed back the +sunlight. Spurs glittered and the clean looking horses appeared to have +had a dip in the Limping Water. Blake had hunted through the carpeted +rooms of his ranch-house for decorations, and in the drawer of a table +he had found a bunch of ribbons of many kinds and shades. These now +fluttered from the pommels of the saddles and in one case a red ribbon +was twined about the leg of a vicious pinto, and the pinto was not at +all pleased by the decoration. + +The sheriff led the way to the house closely followed by Blake, the others +coming in the order of their nerve. The Orphan was last, not from lack of +courage, but rather because of strategy. He thought that Helen would +remain at the door to welcome each arrival and if he was in the van +he would be passed on to make way for those behind him. Being the last +man he hoped to be able to say more to her than a few words of greeting. +As he mounted the steps she was drawn into the room for something and he +stepped to one side on the porch, well knowing that she would miss him. + +Bud poked his head out the door and started to say something, but The +Orphan fiercely whispered for him to be silent and to disappear, which +Bud did after grinning exasperatingly. + +The man on the porch was growing impatient when he heard the light +swish of skirts around the corner of the house. Sauntering carelessly to +the corner he looked into the back-yard and saw Helen with a tray in +her hands, nearing the back door. She espied him and stopped, flushing +suddenly as he leaped lightly to the ground and walked rapidly toward +her. Her cheeks became a deeper red when he stopped before her and took +the tray, for his eyes were rebellious and would not be subdued, and the +first thing she saw was the gold pin which stood out boldly against +the dark blue neck-kerchief. She was rarely beautiful in her white dress, +and the ribbon which she wore at her throat did not detract in its +effect. Later her sister was to wonder if it was a coincidence that the +ribbon and his neck-kerchief were so good a match in color. + +She welcomed him graciously and he felt a sudden new and strangely +exhilarating sensation steal over him as he took the hand she held out, +the tray all the while bobbing recklessly in his other hand. + +"Why aren't you in the house paying your respects to your hostess?" she +chided half in jest and half in earnest. + +"The delay will but add to my fervor when I do," he replied, "for I will +have had a stimulus then. As long as the hostesses are four and insist +on not being together, how can I pay my respects all at once?" + +"But there is only one hostess," she laughingly corrected. "I am afraid +you are not very good at making excuses. You probably never felt the need +to make them before. You see, I, too, am only a guest." + +"We two," he corrected daringly. + +"I am very glad to see you," she said, leading away from plurals. "You +are looking very well and much more contented. And then, this is ever so +much nicer than our first meeting, isn't it? No horrid Apaches." + +"I've gotten so that I rather like Apaches," he replied. "They are so +useful at times. But you mustn't try to tempt me to subordinate that +eventful day, not yet. It can't be done, although I've never tried to do +it," he hastily assured her, making a gesture of helplessness. "Sometimes +an unexpected incident will change the habits of a lifetime, making +the days seem brighter, and yet, somehow, adding a touch of sadness. I +have been a stranger to myself since then, restless, absentminded, moody +and hungry for I know not what." He paused and then slowly continued, "I +must beg to remain loyal to that day of all days when you bathed an +outlaw's head and showed your love for fair play and kindness." + +"Goodness!" she cried, for one instant meeting his eager eyes. "Why, I +thought it was a terrible day! And you really think differently?" + +"Very much so," he assured her as she withdrew her hand from his. "You +see, it was such a new and delightful experience to save a stage coach +and then find that it was a hospital with a wonderful doctor. I accused +that Apache of being stingy with his lead, for he might just as well have +given me a few more wounds to have dressed." + +"Yes," she laughingly retorted, "it was almost as new an experience +as starting on a long and supposedly peaceful journey and suddenly +finding oneself in the middle of a desert surrounded by dead Indians +and doctoring an Indian killer who was at war with one's brother. And +that after a terrible shaking up lasting for over an hour. Truly it +is a day to be remembered. Now, don't you think you should hurry in and +greet my sister-in-law?" + +"Yes, certainly," he quickly responded. "But before I lose the opportunity +I must ask you if you will care if I ride over and see you occasionally, +because it is terribly lonely on that ranch." + +"You know that we shall always be glad to see you whenever you can call," +she replied, smiling up at him. "We are all very deep in your debt and +brother and all of us think a great deal of you. Are you satisfied on the +Star C, and do you like your work and your companions?" + +"Thank you," he cried happily, "I will ride over and see you once in a +while. But as for my work, it is delightful! The Star C is fine and my +companions--well, they just simply can't be beat! they are the finest, +whitest set of men that ever gathered under one roof." + +"That's very nice, I am glad that you find things so congenial," she +replied in sincerity. "James was sure that you would, for Mr. Blake is an +old friend of his." + +"I'm very anxious about this pin," he said, putting his hand on it. "May +I keep it for a while longer?" he asked with a note of appeal in his voice. + +"Why, yes," she replied, "if you wish to. But only as long as you do +not displease me, and you will not do that, will you? James has such +deep confidence in you that I know you will not disappoint him. You will +justify him in his own mind and in the minds of his acquaintances and +prove that he has not erred in judgment, won't you?" + +"If I am the sum total of your brother's trouble, he will have a path of +roses to wander through all the rest of his life," he responded earnestly. +"And I'm really afraid that you will never again wear this pin as a +possession of yours. Of course you can borrow it occasionally," and he +smiled whimsically, "but as far as displeasing you is concerned, it is +mine forever. It will really and truly be mine on that condition, won't +it? My very own if I do not forfeit it?" + +"If you wish it so," she replied quickly, her face radiant with smiles. +"And you will work hard and you will never shoot a man, no matter what the +provocation may be, unless it is absolutely necessary to do it for the +saving of your own life or that of a friend or an innocent man. Promise +me that!" she commanded imperatively, pleased at being able to dictate +to him. "Men like you never break a promise," she added impulsively. + +"I promise never to shoot a man, woman, child or--or anybody," he +laughingly replied, "unless it is necessary to save life. And I'll work +real hard and save my money. And on Sundays, rain or shine, I'll ride in +and report to my new foreman." Then a bit of his old humor came to him: +"For I just about need this pin--knots are so clumsy, you know." + +She glanced at the knot which held the pin and laughed merrily, leading +the way into the house. + +As they entered Humble was extolling the virtues of his dog, to the +broad grins of his companions, who constantly added amendments and made +corrections _sotto voce._ + +"Why, here they are!" cried the sheriff in such a tone as to suffuse +Helen's face with blushes. The Orphan coolly shook hands with him. + +"Yes, here we are, Sheriff, every one of us," he replied. "We couldn't be +expected to stay away when Mrs. Shields put herself to so much trouble, +and we're all happy and proud to be so honored. How do you do, Mrs. +Shields," he continued as he took her hand. "It is awful kind of you to go +to such trouble for a lot of lonely, hungry fellows like us." + +"Goodness sakes!" she cried, delighted at his words and pleased at the +way he had parried her husband's teasing thrust. "Why, it was no trouble +at all--you are all my boys now, you know." + +"Thank you, Mrs. Shields," he replied slowly. "We will do our very best +to prove ourselves worthy of being called your boys." + +The sheriff regarded The Orphan with a look of approbation and turned to +his sister Helen. + +"He ain't nobody's fool, eh, Sis?" he whispered. "I'm wondering how you +ever made up your mind to share him with us!" + +"Oh, please don't!" she begged in confusion. "Please don't tease me now!" + +"All right, Sis," he replied in a whisper, pinching her ear. "I'll save +it all up for some other time, some time when he ain't around to turn it +off, eh? But I don't blame him a bit for exploring the yard first--you're +the prettiest girl this side of sun-up," he said, beaming with love and +pride. "How's that for a change, eh? Worth a kiss?" + +She kissed him hurriedly and then left the room to attend to her duties +in the kitchen, and he sauntered over to where The Orphan was talking with +Mrs. Shields, his hand rubbing his lips and a mischievous twinkle in his +kind eyes. + +"Did you notice the new flower-bed right by the side of the house as you +ran past it a while ago?" he asked, flashing a keen warning to his wife. + +The Orphan searched his memory for the flower-bed and not finding it, +turned and smiled, not willing to admit that his attention had been too +fully taken up with a fairer flower than ever grew in earth. + +"Why, yes, it is real pretty," he replied. "What about it?" + +"Oh, nothing much," gravely replied the sheriff as he edged away. "Only +we were thinking of putting a flower-bed there, although I haven't had +time to get at it yet." + +The Orphan flushed and glanced quickly at the outfit, who were too busy +cracking jokes and laughing to pay any attention to the conversation +across the room. + +"James!" cried Mrs. Shields. "Aren't you ashamed of yourself!" + +"When you tickle a mule," said the sheriff, grinning at his friend, "you +want to look out for the kick. Come again sometime, Sonny." + +"James!" his wife repeated, "how can you be so mean! Now, stop teasing and +behave yourself!" + +"For a long time I've been puzzled about what you resembled, but now +I have your words for it," easily countered The Orphan. "Thank you for +putting me straight." + +The sheriff grinned sheepishly and scratched his head: "I'm an old fool," +he grumbled, and forthwith departed to tell Helen of the fencing. + +Mrs. Shields excused herself and followed her husband into the kitchen to +look after the dinner, and The Orphan sauntered over to his outfit just +as Jim looked out of a rear window. Jim turned quickly, his face wearing +a grin from ear to ear. + +"Hey, Bud!" he called eagerly. "Bud!" + +"What?" asked Bud, turning at the hail. + +"Come over here for a minute, I want to show you something," Jim replied, +"but don't let Humble come." + +Bud obeyed and looked: "Jimminee!" he exulted. "Don't that look sumptious, +though? This is where we shine, all right." Then turned: "Hey, fellows, +come over here and take a look." + +As they crowded around the window Humble discovered that something was +in the wind and he followed them. What they saw was a long table beneath +two trees, and it was covered with a white cloth and dressed for a feast. +Bud turned quickly from the crowd and forcibly led Humble to a side +window before that unfortunate had seen anything and told him to put +his finger against the glass, which Humble finally did after an argument. + +"Feel the pain?" Bud asked. + +"Why, no," Humble replied, looking critically at his finger. "What's the +matter with you, anyhow?" + +"Nothing," replied Bud. "Think it over, Humble," he advised, turning away. + +Humble again put his finger to the glass and then snorted: + +"Locoed chump! Prosperity is making him nutty!" When he turned he saw his +friends laughing silently at him and making grimaces, and a light suddenly +broke in upon him. + +"Yes, I did!" he cried. "That joke is so old I plumb forgot it years ago! +Spring something that hasn't got whiskers and a halting step, will you?" + +Jim laughed and suggested a dance, but was promptly squelched. + +"You heathen!" snorted Blake in mock horror. "This is Sunday! If you want +to dance wait till you get back to the ranch--suppose one of the women was +here and heard you say that!" + +"Gee, I forgot all about it being Sunday," replied Jim, quickly looking +to see if any of the women were in the room. "We're regular barbarians, +ain't we!" he exclaimed in self-condemnation and relief when he saw that +no women were present. "We're regular land pirates, ain't we?" + +"You'll be asking to play poker yet, or have a race," jabbed Humble with +malice. "You ain't got no sense and never did have any." + +"Huh!" retorted Jim belligerently, "I won't try to learn a Chinee cook +how to play poker and get skinned out of my pay, anyhow! Got enough?" +he asked, "or shall I tell of the time you drifted into Sagetown and +asked----" + +"Shut up, you fool!" whispered Humble ferociously. "Yu'll get skun if you +say too much!" + +"'Skun' is real good," retorted Jim. "Got any more of them new words to +spring on us?" + +Helen had been passing to and fro past the window and Docile Thomas here +put his marveling into words, for he had been casting covert glances at +her, but now his restraint broke. + +"Gee whiz!" he exclaimed in a whisper to Jack Lawson. "Ain't she a regular +hummer, now! Lines like a thoroughbred, face like a dream and a smile +what shore is a winner! See her hair--fine and dandy, eh? She's in the +two-forty class, all right!" he enthused. "Why, when this country wakes +up to what's in it the sheriff will have to put up a stockade around this +house and mount guard. Everybody from Bill up will be stampeding this way +to talk business with the sheriff. No wonder The Orphan has got a bee +in his bonnet--lucky dog!" + +"She can take care of my pay every month just as soon as she says the +word," Jack replied. "But suppose you look away once in a while? Suppose +you shift your sights! You, too, Humble," he said, suddenly turning on +the latter. + +"Me what?" asked Humble, without interest and without shifting his gaze. +"What are you talking about?" + +"Look at something else, see?" + +"Shore I see," replied Humble. "That's why I'm looking. Do you think I +look with my eyes shut! Gee, but ain't she a picture, though!" + +"She shore is, but give it a rest, take a vacation, you chump!" retorted +Jack. "You're staring at her like she had you hoodooed. Come out of your +trance--wake up and make a fool of yourself some other way. Don't aim all +the time at her. Mebby Lee Lung has killed your dog!" + +"If he has we'll need a new cook," replied Humble with decision. + +"Come on, boys! Don't start milling!" cried the sheriff, suddenly entering +the room. "Dinner's all ready and waiting for us. And I shore hope you +have all got your best appetites with you, because Margaret likes to +see her food taken care of lively. If you don't clean it all up she'll +think you don't like it," he said, winking at Blake, "and if she once +gets that notion in her head it will be no more invitations for the Star +C." + +There was much excitement in the crowd, and the replies came fast. + +"I ain't had anything good to eat for fifteen long, aching years!" cried +Bud. "When I get through you'll need a new table. + +"Same here, only for thirty years," replied Jim hastily. "I just couldn't +sleep last night for thinking about the glorious surprise my abused +stomach was due to have to-day. I'll bet my gun on my performance if +the track is heavy, all right. I'm not poor on speed, and I'm a stayer +from Stayersville." + +"Well, I won't be among the also rans, you can bet on that," laughed +Silent. "I don't weigh very much, but I'm geared high." + +"I'll bet it's good!" cried Humble, "I'll bet it's real good!" + +"D----n good, you mean!" corrected Jack. "Hey, fellows!" he cried, "did +you hear what Humble said? He said that he'd bet it was _real_ good!" + +"Horray for Humble, the wit of the Star C," laughed Docile. + +"Me for the apricot pie!" exulted Charley. "Here's where I get square on +Blake for rubbing it in all these months about the fine pie he gets over +here." + +"There ain't no apricot pie," gravely lied the sheriff in surprise. + +"What!" cried Charley in alarm. "There ain't none for me! Oh, well, you +can't lose me in daylight, for I'll double up on everything else. I ain't +going to get left, all right!" + +"Don't wake me up," begged Joe Haines. "Let me dream on in peace and +plenty. Grub, real, genuine grub, grub what is grub! Oh, joy!" + +Mrs. Shields hurried into the room and then paused in surprise when she +saw that the outfit had not moved toward the feast. + +"Land sakes!" she cried. "Aren't you boys hungry, or is James up to some +of his everlasting teasing again!" + +"You talk to her, Bud," whispered Jim eagerly. "I'm so scary I shore +can't." + +"Yes, go ahead, Bud!" came instant and unanimous endorsement in whispers. + +"Well, ma'am," began Bud, clearing his throat, glancing around uneasily +to be sure that the crowd was giving him moral backing, and feeling +uncomfortable, "we was just getting up a--a----" + +"B, C, D," prompted Jim in a whisper. + +"We was just getting up a resolution of thanks, Mrs. Shields," he +continued, stabbing his elbow into the stomach of the offending Jim. +"You shut up!" he fiercely whispered. "I'm carrying one hundred and +forty pounds now without the saddle!" Then he continued: "We all of us +are plumb tickled about this, so plumb tickled we don't hardly know what +to say----" + +"That's right," whispered Jim, folding his arms across his stomach. +"You're proving it, all right." + +Silent and Jack hauled Jim to the rear and Bud continued unruffled: "But +we want to thank you, ma'am, from the bottoms, the very lowest bottoms of +our hearts for your kindness to a orphant outfit what ain't had anything +to eat since the war, and very little during it. Joe Haines, here, ma'am, +was just saying as how he was a-scared that it is all a dream----" + +"I didn't neither!" fiercely contradicted Joe in a whisper, looking very +self-conscious. He was whisked to the rear to join Jim and the speech went +on. + +"He is afraid it is a dream, ma'am, and I know we all of us have more or +less doubts about it being really true. But, ma'am, we shore are anxious +to find out all about it. We've rid thirty miles to see for ourselves, +and I don't reckon you'll have any fears about our appetites being left +at home when you sizes up the wreck left in the path of the storm after +the stampede is over. The boys want to give you three cheers even if it +is Sunday, ma'am, for your kindness to them, and I'm shore one of the +boys!" + +"Hip, hip, horray!" yelled the crowd, surging forward. + +"Good boy, Bud!" they cried. + +"I'm proud of you, Buddie!" exulted Charley, slapping him extra heartily +on the back. + +"I didn't know you had it in you, Bud!" cried Silent. "It was shore a +dandy speech, all right." + +"We'll send you to Congress for that, some day, Bud," cried Jack Lawson. +"You're all right!" + + "I once had a piece of pie, a piece of pie, a piece of pie, + I once had a piece of pie, when I was five years old," + +sang Charley as he pranced toward the door. + +"Good! Go on, Charley, go on!" cried his companions joyously. + + "Now I'll have another piece, another piece, another piece, + Now I'll have another piece, that's two all told. + + Good bye, Lee Lung, good bye Lee Lung, + Good bye, Lee Lung, we're going to forget you now!" + +"Again on that Lee Lung, altogether--it hits me right!" cried Bud, and the +matter pertaining to the farewells to Lee Lung was promptly and properly +attended to in heartfelt sincerity. + +The ladies laughed with delight, and Mrs. Shields whispered to her +husband, who nodded and escorted The Orphan to a seat near the head of the +table, where he was flanked by Helen and Blake. + +"Grab your partners, boys," the sheriff cried, pointing to the chairs. +There was a hasty piling of belts and guns on the ground, and after much +confusion all were seated. + +The sheriff arose: "Boys, Mrs. Shields wants me to tell you how pleased +she is to have you all here. She has felt plumb sorry about you and she +shore has shuddered at the thought of a Chinee cook----" + +"Which same we all do--it's chronic," interposed Jim to laughter. + +"She wants you to make yourselves at home," continued the sheriff, "learn +the lay of the land around this range and never forget the trail leading +here, because she insists that when any of you come to town you have +simply got to pay us a visit and see if there is a piece of pie or cake +to eat before you go back to that cook. And Tom says that he'll fire +the first man who renigs----" + +"I'm going to carry the mail hereafter!" cried Bud, scowling fiercely at +Joe. + +"Not if I can shoot first, you don't!" retorted the mail carrier. "I was +just a-wondering if it wouldn't be better to come in twice a week for it +instead of once. We might get more letters." + +"We'll bid for your job next year," laughed Silent. + +"Before I coax you to eat," continued the sheriff, "I----" + +"Wrong word, Sheriff," interposed Humble. "Not coax, but force." + +"I am going to ask you to reverse things a little, and drink a standing +toast to the man who saved the stage, to the man who saved Miss Ritchie +and my sisters and who made this dinner possible. This would be far from a +happy day but for him. I want you to drink to the long life and happiness +of The Orphan. All up!" + +The clink of glasses was lost in the spontaneous cheer which burst from +the lips of the former outlaw's new friends, and he sat confused and +embarrassed with a sudden timidity, his face crimson. + +"Speech!" cried Jim, the others joining in the cry. "Speech! Speech!" + +Finally, after some urging, The Orphan slowly arose to his feet, a foolish +smile playing about his lips. + +"It wasn't anything," he said deprecatingly. "You all would have done it, +every one of you. But I'm glad it was me. I'm glad I was on hand, although +it wasn't anything to make all this fuss about," and he dropped suddenly +into his seat, feeling hot and uncomfortable. + +"Well, we have different ideas about its being nothing," replied the +sheriff. "Now, boys, a toast to Bill Halloway," he requested. "Bill +couldn't get here to-day, but we mustn't forget him. His splendid grit +and driving made it possible for our friend to play his hand so well." + +"Hurrah for Bill!" cried Silent, leaping to his feet with the others. When +seated again he looked quickly at his glass and turned to Bud. + +"Real sweet cider!" he exulted. "Good Lord, but how time gallops past! +I'd almost forgotten what it was like! It's been over twenty years since I +tasted any! Ain't it fine?" + +"I was wondering what it was," remarked Humble, a trace of awe in his +voice as he refilled his glass. "It's shore enough sweet cider, and blamed +good, too!" + +Charley was romping with the mail carrier and he had a sudden inspiration: +"Speech from Joe! Speech for the pieces of pie and cake he's due to get!" + +"Now, look here, boy," Joe gravely replied. "I'm the mail carrier. I +don't have to go on jury duty, lead religion round-ups, go to war or make +speeches. As the books say, I'm exempt. All I have to do is punch cows, +rustle the mail and eat pie and cake once a week," he said, glancing +at Bud, who glared and groaned. + +"Good boy, Joe!" cried Humble, waving his glass excitedly. "You're shore +all right, you are, and I'm your deputy, ain't I?" + +"No, not my deputy, but my delirium," corrected Joe. + +"Glory be!" cried Silent as his plate was passed to him. "Chicken, real +chicken! Mashed potatoes, mashed turnips and dressing and gravy! And +here comes stewed corn, boiled onions and jelly and mother's bread. And +stewed tomatoes? Well, well! I guess we ain't going to be well fed, and +real happy, eh, fellows? My stomach won't know what's the matter--it'll +think it died and went to heaven by mistake. Holy smoke! It hurts my +eyes. What, cranberry jam? Well, I'm just going to close my eyes for a +minute if you don't mind; I want to recuperate from the shock. This is +where I live again!" + +Humble stared in rapture at the feast before him and finally heaved a long +drawn sigh of doubt and content. + +"Gee!" he cried softly, a far-away look in his eyes. "Look at it, just +look at it! Just like I used to get when I was a little tad back in +Connecticut--but that was shore a long time ago. Well," he exclaimed, +bracing up and bravely forgetting his boyhood, "there's one thing I hope, +and that is that Lee beats my dog. Then I can shoot him and get square +for all these years of imitation grub what he's handed out to me!" + +"Hey, Tom!" eagerly cried Charley, "why can't we handle a herd of chickens +out on the ranch, and have a garden? Why, we could have eggs every day +and chickens on holidays!" + +"No wonder Tom likes to ride to town," laughed Silent. "Gee whiz, I'd walk +it for pie and cake and real genuine coffee!" + +"Walk it!" snorted Jim. "Huh, I'd crawl, and stand on my head, knock my +feet together and crow every half mile! Walk it, huh!" + +Merriment reigned supreme throughout the meal and when the bashfulness had +worn off the conversation became fast and furious, abounding in terse wit, +verbal attacks and clever counters, and in concentrated onslaughts +against the unfortunate Humble, who soon found, however, a new and +loyal champion in Miss Ritchie, who took his part. Her assistance was so +doughty as to more than once put to rout his tormentors, and before the +dessert had been reached he was her devoted slave and admirer and was +henceforth to sing her praises at every opportunity, and even to make +opportunities. + +At The Orphan's end of the table all was serene. He, Helen, Blake and +the sheriff found much to talk about, and all the while Mrs. Shields +regarded the four in a motherly way, and tempered the keenness of her +husband's wit, for he was prone to break lances with The Orphan and to +tease his sister, much to her confusion. She was very happy, for here +at her side were her husband and the man she had feared would harm him, +laughing and joking and the best of friends; and down the table a crowd +of big-hearted boys, her boys now, were having the time of their lives. +They were good boys, too, she told herself; a trifle rough, but sterling +at the heart, and every one of them a loyal friend. How good it was to +see them eat and hear them laugh, all happy and mischievous. The welding +of the units had been finished, and now the Star C and The Orphan were +one in spirit. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +PREPARATION + + +After the dinner at the sheriff's house, life meant much to The Orphan, +for the dinner had done its work and done it well. Whatever had been +missing to complete the good fellowship between him and the others had +been supplied and by the time the outfit was ready to leave for home, +all corners had been rounded and all rough edges smoothed down. With +his outfit he was in hearty, loyal accord, and the spirit of the ranch +had become his own. With the sheriff his already strong liking had been +stripped of any undesirable qualities, and he felt that Shields was not +only the whitest man he had ever met, but also his best friend. He had +become more intimate with the sheriff's household, and for Mrs. Shields he +had only love and respect. + +With Helen his cup was full to overflowing, for he had managed to hold +several long talks with her during the afternoon, and to his mind he had +heard nothing detrimental to his hopes. His eyes had been opened as to +what it was he had been hungering for, and the knowledge thrilled him to +his finger-tips. He was a red-blooded, clean-limbed man, direct of words +and purpose, reveling in a joyous, surging, vigorous health, in tune with +his surroundings; he was dominant, fearless, and he had a saving grace +in his humor. To him came visions of the future, golden as the sunrise, +rich in promise and assurance as to a happiness such as he could only +feebly feel. Himself he was sure of, for he feared no failure on his part; +as far as he was concerned it was won. Helen, he believed from what the +day had given him, would not refuse him when the time came for her to +decide, and his effervescent spirits sent a song to his lips, which he +hurled to the sky as a war-cry, a slogan of triumph and a defiance. + +As yet he knew nothing of the sheriff's plans, and his thoughts concerning +his future position in the community did not dare to soar above that of +foreman of some ranch. To this end he would bend his energies with all the +power of his splendid trinity--heart, mind and body. He was far too +happy to think of failure, because there would be none; had the word +passed through his mind he would have laughed it into oblivion. His +experience gave him confidence, for he was no weakling sheltered and +protected by any guiding angel; to the contrary, he was the survivor +of a bitter war against conditions which would have destroyed a less +strong man; he was victor over himself and his enemies, a conqueror +of adverse conditions, a hewer of his own path; his enemies had been +his best friends, and his long fight, his salvation. For ten years he +had constantly fought a bitter fight against nature and man; hunger and +thirst, plots and ambushes had all played their parts, and he had won +out over all of them. He was young, hopeful and unafraid, and now that he +was on the right trail he would bend every energy to stay there, and +he would stay there, be the opposition what it might; and if the +opposition should be man, and of a strength dangerous to him, he would +destroy it as he had destroyed others before it. While now scorning to +use his gun on every provocation he would depend upon it as on a court +of last resort--and its decision would be final. + +He held ill wishes against no man save one, and that one was the man who +had placed the rope about the neck of his father. He did not know that +man's name, and he did not know that he might not be among those who had +already paid for that crime. But should he ever learn that he lived he +would take payment in full be the cost what it might. + +But he had no thoughts for strife, he only knew that the sun had never +been so bright, the sky so blue and the plain so full of life and beauty +as it was on this perfect day. Only one other day rivaled it--the day he +had swayed weakly by the side of a dusty coach and had felt warm, soft +fingers touching his forehead. But, he told himself with joy, there would +be days to come which would eclipse even that. + +He was aroused from his reverie by the approach of the foreman, who gave +him a hearty hail and smiled at the happy expression on the puncher's face. + +"Well, you look like you had struck it rich!" cried Blake. "What is it, +gold or silver?" + +"Gold or silver!" cried The Orphan in contempt at such cheapness. "By God, +Blake, I wouldn't sell my claim for all the gold and silver in this fool +earth! Gold or silver! Why, man, I know where there is plenty of both. +Here," he cried, plunging his hand into his chaps pocket, "look at this!" + +The foreman looked and whistled and took the object into his hand, where +he examined it critically. "By George, it's the yellow metal, all right, +and blamed near pure!" He returned it to its owner and added: "That's the +real stuff, Orphan." + +"Yes, it is," replied the other as he pocketed the nugget. "And I know +where it came from. There's plenty left that's just like it, but I +wouldn't go after it if it was diamonds." + +"You wouldn't!" exclaimed Blake in surprise. "By George, I'd go to-morrow, +to-night, if I knew. Gold like that ain't to be sneered at. It spells +ranches, ease, plenty, anything you want. And you wouldn't go for it?" + +"No, I wouldn't, and I won't," replied the puncher. "I'm going to stay +right here on this range and make good with my hands and brains. I'm +going to win the game with the cards I hold, and when I say win I mean it. +There are times when gold is a dangerous thing to have, and this is one +of them, as you'll understand when I disclose my hand. When I win I won't +need gold bad enough to go through hell and hot water for it and risk not +getting back to my claim, and it's one hundred to one that I wouldn't +get back, too. And if I lose, mind you, _if_, I won't have any use for +it. I picked that nugget up in the middle of the damnedest desert God +ever made, and when I got off it I was loco for a week. I won't tell +any friend of mine where it is because I want my friends to go on drawing +their breath. I need my friends a whole lot, and that's why I don't tell +you where it is. I was saving that for my enemies. Two have gone after +it already, and haven't been heard of since." + +"Well, you are the first man who ever told me that gold isn't worth going +after, and you have convinced me that in your case you are right," laughed +the foreman. + +"You wouldn't have to be told if you knew that desert as I do," replied +The Orphan. + +"How was the sheriff last night?" asked Blake. "Or didn't you notice, +being too much occupied in your claim?" + +The Orphan looked at him and then laughed softly: "He was the same as +ever--the best man I ever knew. But how in thunder do you know about my +claim? How did you know what I meant? I thought that I had covered that +trail pretty well." + +Blake put his hand on his friend's shoulders and gravely looked at him: +"Son, having eyes, I see; having ears, I hear; having brains, I think. +If you have been fooling yourself that you are on a quiet trail, just +listen to this: There ain't a man who knows you well that don't know what +you're playing for, even Bill had it all mapped out the second time he +saw you. And most of us wish you luck. You're not a man who needs help, +but if you _do_ need it, you know where to come for it." + +"Thank you, Blake," replied The Orphan, eagerly filling his lungs with the +crisp air. "That's why I ain't hankering for that gold--I'm too blamed +busy making my own." + +"Well, what I wanted to speak to you about is this," said the foreman, +thinking quickly as to how to say it. "Old man Crawford got me to promise +that I'd pick up a herd of cows for him before fall. Now, I would just +as soon do it myself as not, but if you want to try your hand at it, go +ahead. He wants about five thousand, to be delivered in five herds, a +thousand each, at his corrals. He won't pay any more than the regular +price for them, and the more you can drop the price the better he will +like it, of course. They must be good, healthy cattle and be delivered +to him before payment is made. What do you say?" + +"I say that it's a go!" cried The Orphan. "I've had some great luck +lately!" he exulted. "I'm ready to go after them whenever you say the +word, to-night if you say so. And I'll get the right number and kind +or know the reason why. And I'll take a hand in driving the last herd to +him myself. Good Lord, what luck!" + +Blake talked a while longer about the trip, giving necessary instructions +about prices and where he would be likely to find the herd, and then +rode off in the direction of Ford's Station for a consultation with his +friend, the sheriff. + +"Hullo, Tom!" came from the stage office as he rode past. He quickly +turned his head and then stopped, smiling broadly. + +"Why, hullo, Bill," he replied. "Glad to see you. How are things? Had any +trouble lately?" + +"Nope, times are real dull since that day in the defile," Bill answered +with a grin. "I saw Tex once at Sagetown, but he ain't talking none +these days, he's too busy thinking. You see, I've got a purty strong +combination backing me and nobody feels like starting it a-going, because +there ain't no telling just where it'll stop. The Orphant and the sheriff +make a blamed good team, all right." + +"None better at any game, Bill," replied Blake. "And you used the right +word, too. They're going to pull together from now on, in fact, the Star +C will be in harness with them." + +"That's the way to talk!" cried Bill enthusiastically. "I always said +that Orphant was a white man, even before I ever saw him," he said, +forgetting much that he might be in hearty accord. "He can call on me +any time he needs me, you bet. He cheated the devil twice with me, and I +ain't a-going to forget it. But say, what do you think of the sheriff's +sister, Helen? Ain't she a winner, hey? Finest girl these parts have +ever seen, all right, and her friend ain't second by no length, neither." + +"Why, Bill," exclaimed Blake, a twinkle coming to his eyes, "you are not +allowing yourself to get captured, are you? That's a risky game, like +starting up The Orphan and the sheriff, for there's no telling just where +it will stop." + +"No, I ain't letting myself get captured," sighed Bill. "I ain't no fool. +Bill Howland knows a thing or two, which he learned not more than a +thousand years ago. I've got it all sized up. And since then I've seen +a certain bang-up puncher hitting the trail for the sheriff's house some +regular twice a week. Nope, I'm a batchler now and forever, long may +I wave." + +"Say," he continued, suddenly remembering something. "What's the sheriff +up to now? Is he going to have a picnic out on Crawford's ranch? He asked +me if he could have the lend of the stage on an off day some time soon. +Wants me to drive it for him out to the A-Y and back. I don't know what +his game is, and I don't care none. I'll do it, all right. But what's he +going to do out there, anyhow?" + +Blake laughed: "Oh, nothing bad, I reckon. You'll probably learn all about +it as soon as the rest of us. How do you expect me to know anything about +it? Mebby he is going to have a picnic out there for all we know. The +A-Y is a good place for one, ain't it?" + +"You just bet it is," cried Bill. "Your ranch is all right, Blake, but I +like the A-Y better. It's got windmills and everything. Finest grove near +the ranch-house that I ever saw, and I've seen some fine groves in my +time. Old man Crawford knew a good thing when he saw it, all right. +Here comes Charley Winter like he had all day to go nowhere--he's got a +good job with the Cross Bar-8, but I wouldn't have it for a gift--no, +sir, money wouldn't tempt me to be one of that outfit. But I reckon +it's some better out there than it once was since the sheriff and The +Orphant amputated its inflamed fingers. Hullo, Charley," he cried as the +newcomer drew rein. "I was just telling Blake what a good job you have +got with Sneed." + +"Hullo, you old one-hoss driver," grinned Charley. "Hullo, Tom," he cried. +"Looking for the sheriff?" + +"Hullo, Charley," said the foreman, shaking hands with Sneed's substitute +puncher. "Yes, I am. Do you know where he is?" + +"He's out at the Cross Bar-8, giving Sneed a talking to," Charley +answered. "Bucknell went and got loaded again last night, raised h--l +in town and out of it all the way home. He thought he wanted to shoot +up The Orphan, so he was some primed. Jim is telling Sneed to hold him +down to water and peace unless he wants to lose him. He'll be in soon, +though. How's The Orphan getting on out at your place?" + +"Fine!" answered Blake, his face wearing a frown. "But I'm some sorry +about that fool Bucknell, though. He may get on a spree some day and +_find_ The Orphan. I don't want any more gunplay, and if that idiot does +find him and gets ambitious to notch up his gun another hole, there'll +shore be some loose lead. If he ever gets on Star C ground, and I catch +him there, I'll shore enough wipe up the earth with him, and when you +see him, just tell him what I said, will you? It ain't no joke, for I +will." + +"Shore I'll tell him," replied Charley. "When will that bunch of cattle +be on hand--I'm anxious to swap jobs." + +Blake flashed him a warning glance and tried to ignore the question by +changing the subject, but it was too late, for Bill was curious. + +"What cattle is that, Charley?" asked the driver in sudden interest. + +"Oh, some cattle that I'm going to get of Blake for Sneed," lied Charley +easily. + +"What in all get out does Sneed want with any Star C cows?" Bill asked in +surprise. "He's got plenty of cows of his own, unless The Orphant shot a +whole lot more than I thought he did." + +"I don't know, Bill," replied Charley. "I didn't ask him, it being plainly +none of my business." + +Bill scratched his head: "No, I reckon not," he replied doubtfully. + +"Here comes Shields now," said Blake suddenly. "I reckon I'll ride off +and meet him. So long, Bill." + +"So long," replied Bill. "Be sure to tell The Orphan I was asking about +him. So long, Charley." He turned abruptly and entered the stage office: +"I don't understand it," he muttered. "There's something in the wind that +I can't get onto nohow. He has shore got me guessing some, all right." + +The clerk tossed aside the paper and stared: "Well, that's too d----d +bad, now ain't it?" he asked sarcastically. "You ought to object, that's +what you ought to do! What right has anybody to keep quiet about their +own business when you want to know, hey? If I wanted to know everybody's +business as bad as you do, I'd shore raise h--l, I would. Why don't you +choke it out of him, wipe up the earth with him? Go out right now and give +him a piece of your mind." + +"Oh, you would, would you! You're blamed smart, now ain't you? You work +too hard--your nerves are giving away," drawled Bill as he picked up the +paper. "Sitting around all day with your feet on the table and a pipe in +your mouth that you're too lazy to light, working like the very devil +trying to find time to do the company's business, which there ain't none +to do. Ain't you ashamed to go to bed?--it must take a lot of gall to +hunt your rest at night after finding it and hugging it all day. What +would you do for a living if I forgot to bring the paper with me some day, +hey? You ain't got enough animation to want to know what is going on in +this little world of ours, you----" + +"You get out of here, right now, too!" yelled the clerk. "I don't want you +hanging around bothering me, you pest! Get out of here right now, before I +get up and throw you out! Do you hear me!" + +Bill crossed his legs, pushed back his sombrero, turned the page carefully +and then remarked, "I licked four husky cow-punchers, real bad men, last +month. One right after the other, and I was purty near all in, too." He +glanced at the next page disinterestedly, spat at a fly on the edge of +the box cuspidor and then added wearily and with great deprecation, "I'm +feeling fine to-day, never felt so good in my life, but I need more +exercise--I'm two pounds over weight right now." + +The clerk showed interest and awe: "Weight?" he asked. "What is your +fighting weight?" + +Bill looked up aggressively: "Fighting weight?" he asked, raising his +eyebrows. "My _fighting_ weight is something over nine hundred pounds, +when I'm real mad. Ordinarily, one hundred and eighty. Why?" + +"Oh, nothing," replied the clerk, staring out of the window. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE ORPHAN GOES TO THE A-Y + + +The A-Y had been a very busy place for the past two weeks because of the +cattle which had to be re-branded and taken care of, and of other things +which had to be done about the ranch. The sheriff had taken title and +had persuaded Crawford to remain in nominal charge for a month at the +most so as to keep the sale a secret until the new owner would be ready to +make it known. So word went around that Crawford had hired the sheriff to +put things on a paying basis and that half of the old outfit had left, +their places being filled by Charley, the two Larkin brothers and two +men from a northern ranch. + +Shields had been very much pleased with the cattle which The Orphan +had bought for him and had asked Blake if he could borrow the new +puncher to help him get things in good running shape. Blake had told The +Orphan of the sheriff's request and had advised him to accept, which the +puncher was very glad to do. So this is how the former outlaw became +temporary foreman of the A-Y under the sheriff. Only the sheriff's most +intimate friends knew his plans, one of whom was Charley Winter, who +found food for mirth in the unique position things had taken. The +sheriff's deputies who had lain out-doors all night on the Cross Bar-8 +waiting to capture or kill the outlaw were now working under him, and +the best of feelings prevailed. The man who had hunted The Orphan now +employed him as the bearer of the responsibilities of the new ranch. +Truly, a change! + +While The Orphan was busy with his duties on the A-Y the sheriff rode to +the Star C and sought out the foreman, whom he finally found engaged in +freeing a cow that had become mired in a quicksand. As the terror-stricken +animal galloped wildly away from the scene of torture and indignities to +its person Blake mopped his face and began to scrape the quicksand from +him. + +"Playing life-saver, eh?" laughed the sheriff. + +The foreman looked up and smiled sheepishly: "Yes," he replied as he shook +hands with the sheriff. "One cow more or less won't make nor break no +ranch, but I just can't see 'em suffer. The boys and I were passing, so +we stopped and got to work. But cows ain't got no gratitude, not nohow! +That ornery beast will be all ready to charge me the first time he sees +me afoot. Did you see him try to horn me when I let go?" + +His friend laughed, and when they had ridden some distance from the others +he turned in his saddle: + +"Well, The Orphan is working like a horse, and he likes it, too," he +said. "You ought to hear him giving orders--he just asks a man to do a +thing, don't order it done. When he talks it sounds like the puncher +would be doing him the greatest possible favor to do the work he is paid +to do, but there is a suggestion that if any nastiness develops, hell +will be a peaceful place compared to the near vicinity of the foreman +of the A-Y. He sizes up a thing with one look, and then tells how it +should be done. Everything has gone off so fine that I'm going to ask +you to lose a good man, and real soon, too. What do you say, Tom?" + +Blake laughed: "Why, we were a-plenty before he came and we'll be a-plenty +after he goes. That's for your asking me to turn him over to you. The +boys will be both sorry and glad to have him leave, because they like +him a whole lot. But of course they want to see him land everything +that he can, so they'll give him a good send-off. That reminds me to +say that I know they will want to be on hand when you break the news to +him. It'll be a circus for your Eastern friend, Miss Ritchie." + +"Now you're talking!" enthused the sheriff. "I want to have as many +fireworks at the ceremony as I can possibly get. Oh, it'll be a great +day, all right. We are all going out and take a bang-up lunch, just +like we're going on that picnic that Bill's been so worried about, and +Bill is going to drive the women over in his coach. The first surprise +will be the announcement of the new ownership of the A-Y, and right on +top of it I'm going to fire the second gun. I hope none of your boys +know anything about it," he added with anxiety. + +"Not a thing," hastily replied the foreman. "You have your wife send a +message to me by Joe when he rustles our mail to-morrow and ask us to come +to the picnic at the A-Y on the day which you will decide on. They'll go, +all right, no fear about that. Nothing more than your wife's cooking is +needed to attract them," and he laughed heartily at how suddenly they +would come to life at such a summons. + +Shields thought intently for a few seconds and then slapped his thigh: +"I've got it!" he exulted. "I'll ride over to your place with you and +write a letter to my wife telling her just what to do. Joe can deliver +it and bring back the invitation. You see, I won't be home to-night, but +that will do the trick, all right. Now, what do you say to this coming +Saturday?--this is, let me see: Wednesday. Will that be time enough for +you to make any arrangements you may want to make?" + +"Shore, plenty of time," Blake laughed. "It's good all the way. Joe will +be delighted to have a real good excuse to call at your house. He's a +bashful cuss, like all the rest. They talk big, but they're some bashful +all the same. He's been worrying about it, for one day he came to me +with a funny expression on his face and acted like he didn't know how +to begin. So I asked him what was troubling him, and he blurted out like +this, as near as I can remember: + +"'Well, you know Mrs. Shields said we was to go to her house when any of +us hit town?' he asked. + +"'I shore do,' I answered, wondering what was up. + +"'Well, I go to town a lot, and it takes a h--l of a lot of gall to do +it,' he complained, looking so serious that it was funny. + +"'Gall!' said I, surprised-like, and trying to keep my face straight. +'Gall! Well, I can't see that it takes such a brave man to call at a +friend's house when he's been told to do it.' + +"'Oh, that part of it is all right," he replied. 'But she'll think I only +call to get my face fed, and it makes me feel like a--I don't know what. +You see, I always get away quick.' + +"'Well, stay longer, there ain't no use of being in a hurry,' I said. +'Stay and talk a while.' + +"'Then they'll think I ain't got enough and push more pie at me, like they +did once,' he complained. + +"'Suppose I give Silent your terrible ordeal to do,' I suggested +tentatively, 'or Bud, he's dead anxious for your job.' + +"'Oh, it ain't as bad as that!' he cried quickly. 'I only thought that +I'd speak to you about it. I thought you could suggest something.' + +"'Well,' I replied, 'every time you call you say I sent you over to ask +about the sheriff's health. How'll that do?' + +"He grinned sheepishly and then swore: 'H--l, that would make a shore +enough mess of it,' he cried. 'I'd be a royal American idiot to say a +thing like that, now, wouldn't I?'" + +The sheriff laughed heartily, and they talked about the picnic until they +had reached the ranch-house, where he wrote the note to his wife. Bidding +his friend good-by, he rode out past the corrals and headed for the A-Y. + +When about half-way to his own ranch, and on A-Y ground, he surmounted a +rise and saw a figure flit from sight behind a thicket, and his curiosity +was immediately aroused. Not knowing who the man might be, he stalked his +quarry and finally found Bucknell standing beside his horse. + +"Well, what's the trouble now?" the sheriff asked as he came out into +sight. He was dangerously near angry, for Bucknell was on forbidden ground +and was flushed as if from liquor. "What's the trouble?" he repeated. + +Bucknell looked confused: "Nothing, Sheriff. Why?" he asked, evading the +searching gaze of the peace officer. + +"Oh, I thought something might have gone wrong on the Cross Bar-8, and +that you were looking for me," Shields coldly replied. + +Bucknell looked at the ground and coughed nervously before he replied, +which only made the sheriff all the more determined to get at the matter +in a true light. + +"No, nothing's wrong," replied the puncher. "I was just riding out this +way--I was some nervous, that's all." + +"That don't go with me!" the sheriff said sharply. "I've lived too long +to bite on a yarn like that. Why, you can't look at me!" + +The puncher did not reply and the sheriff continued: + +"Now, look here, Bucknell, take some good advice from me--stay on your +ranch, mind your own business and let liquor alone. As sure as you +monkey around the Star C Blake will give you a d----n sound licking, and +he's man enough to do it, too, make no error. And as for the A-Y, well, +the temporary foreman of that ranch is the cleverest man with a gun that I +ever saw, and I've seen some good ones in my time. If you go up against +him you'll get shot, for he'd think you were about the easiest proposition +he ever met. As sure as you drink you'll get drunk, and as sure as you +get drunk you'll work up an appetite for a fight, and if you pick a +fight with him you'll never know what hit you. You stick to water and +the Cross Bar-8." + +"Oh, I reckon I can take care of my own business," sullenly replied +Bucknell. "I can come out here drunk or sober if I wants to, I reckon." + +"You can do nothing of the kind," rejoined the sheriff. "And you certainly +ought to be able to take care of your own business, as you say," he +retorted, holding his temper with an effort. "But in the past you didn't, +and you may not in the future. And when your business gets too big for you +to handle it gets into my hands, and if you make any trouble I'll d----n +soon convince you that I can handle your surplus. Now, get out of here and +think it over." + +Bucknell swung into his saddle and then turned, the liquor making him +reckless. + +"D----n it!" he cried. "The Orphant killed Jimmy and a whole lot more good +cow-punchers! He's nothing but a murdering thief, a d----d rustler, that's +what he is! And you are his best friend, it seems!" + +The wan smile flickered across the sheriff's face, but still he refrained, +for such is the foolish consideration given by brave men to liquor. A +drunkard may do much with impunity, for the argument states he is not +responsible, forgetting that in the beginning he was responsible enough +to have left liquor alone, and that injury, whether unintentional or +not, is still injury. + +"There is no seem about it!" he retorted. "I _am_ his best friend, and +he needs friends bad enough, God knows. But speaking of murder, those +four good cow-punchers that stopped me in the defile tried hard enough to +qualify at it, and The Orphan not only saved me, but also some of them, +for I'd a gotten some of them before I cashed. You're a h--l of a fine +cub to talk about murders, you are!" + +"That's all right," retorted Bucknell, "he's just what I said he was. And +a side pardner of our brave sheriff, too!" + +"D----n you!" shouted Shields, his face dark with passion. "You have +said enough, any more from you and I'll break your dirty neck! Just +because I felt sorry for you when you got half killed in the saloon +and let you stay in the country don't think you are the boss of this +section. When I saw what a pitiful, drunken wreck you were, I felt sorry +for you, but not any more. You don't want decent treatment, you want +to get clubbed, and you're right in line to get just what you need, too! +Now, I'm not going to stand any more of your d----d foolishness--my +patience is played out. And if you were half a man you wouldn't sit there +like a bump on a log and swallow what I'm saying--you'd put up a fight +if you died for it. You are no good, just a drunken, lawless fool of a +puncher; just a bag of wind, and it's up to you to walk a chalk line or +I'll give you a taste of what I carry around with me for bums of your +kind. What in h--l do you think I am? No, you don't, you stay right +where you are 'til I get good and ready to have you go! You've come +d----d near the end of your rope and there is just one thing for you +to do, and that is, get out of this country and do it quick! You stay on +your own side of the Limping Water, for if I catch you riding off any +nervousness off of Cross Bar-8 ground without word from your foreman, +I'll shoot you down like I'd shoot a coyote! And for a dollar I'd wipe up +the earth with you right now! You d----d, sneaking, cowardly cur, you +tin-horn bully! Pull your stakes and get scarce and don't you open your +mouth to me--come on, lively! Pull your freight!" + +Bucknell slowly rode away, his eyes to the ground and not daring to say +what seethed in his heart. He swore to himself that he would get square +some day on both, not realizing in his anger that when sober he feared +them both. + +The sheriff stared after him and then returned to the point where he +had left his horse. As he mounted he shook his head savagely and swore. +Glancing again after the puncher he struck into a canter and rode toward +the ranch. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +BILL ATTENDS THE PICNIC + + +The picnic aroused quite a stir for so frivolous a thing. When Blake +read Mrs. Shields' invitation to the outfit they acted like schoolboys +dismissed for a vacation. Grins of delight were the style on the Star +C, and the overflow of bubbling happiness took the form of practical +joking against Humble, whose life suddenly held much anxiety. In Ford's +Station there was an air of expectancy, and Bill spent all of Saturday +morning from daylight until time to start in cleaning his stage and +grooming the horses, whose astonishment quickly passed into prohibitive +indignation. After narrowly escaping broken bones and chewed arms Bill +decided that the sextet could go as it was. + +"Serves 'em right!" he yelled to his friendly enemy, the clerk, after he +had barely dodged a vicious kick, wildly waving a curry comb. "Let the +ignoramuses go like they are! Let 'em show how cheap and common they are! +They never was any good for anything, anyhow, eating their heads off and +kicking their best friend!" + +"How about the time they beat out them Apaches?" asked the clerk, settling +back comfortably against the coach. + +"You get out!" yelled Bill pugnaciously. "Who asked you for talk, hey? And +get away from that coach, you idiot, you'll dirty it all up!" + +"Sic 'em, Tige!" jeered the clerk pleasantly. "Chew 'em up!" + +"What!" yelled Bill, swiftly grabbing up the pail of water which stood +near him. "Sic 'em, is it!" he cried, running forward. "Chew 'em up, +hey!" he continued, heaving the contents of the pail at the clerk, who +nimbly sprang inside the vehicle and slammed the door shut behind him as +the water struck it. He leaped out of the other door and was safely away +before Bill realized what had happened. Then the driver said things when +he saw the mess he had made of the coach, upon which he had spent two +hard hours in polishing. + +"Suffering dogs!" he shouted, dancing first on one foot and then on the +other. "Now look what you've done! You're a h--l of a feller, you are! +After me rubbing the skin off'n my hands and breaking my arms a-polishing +it up! You good for nothing, mangy half-breed! Wait till I get a hold of +you, you long pair of legs, you! Just wait! I'll show you, all right!" + +The clerk twiddled his fingers from afar and jeered in his laughter: +"Serves you right! Sic 'em, Towser! Eat 'em up, Fido! Sic 'em, sic 'em!" +he shouted joyously, and forthwith ran for his life. + +Bill returned to the coach and worked like mad to undo the evil effects +he had wrought and finally succeeded in bringing a phantom glow to the +time-battered wood. Then he hitched up and drove to the sheriff's house, +where he saw huge baskets on the porch. + +"Good morning, Mrs. Shields," he said as he stamped to the door. "Good +morning, ladies." + +"Good morning William," replied the sheriff's wife as she hurried to +collect shawls and blankets. "Will you mind putting those baskets on +the coach, William? We will soon be ready." + +"Why, certainly not, ma'am," he answered, recklessly grabbing up the two +largest. "Jimminee!" he exulted. "These are shore heavy, all right, all +right! Must be plumb full of good things! To-day is where your Uncle +Bill Halloway gets square for the dinner the company froze him out of. +Wonder if there's apricot pie in this one?" he mused curiously. He +gingerly raised the cover and a grin distorted his face. "Must be six, +yes, eight--mebby ten!" he soliloquized as he placed it on the stage. +"Hullo, bottles of some kind," he whispered as he picked up another +basket. "Hear the little devils clink, eh? Must be coffee and tea, hey? +Yes, shore enough it is. Good Lord, how hungry I am--wish I had eaten that +breakfast this morning--how in thunder did I know we was going to be so +late? I'll be the strong man at this picnic, all right!" + +"Here are some blankets, William," called Mrs. Shields. "Helen, would you +mind showing him how to carry that box?--he's sure to turn it upside down +if you don't." + +"Next!" he cried, returning from the trip with the blankets. "I put them +blankets up on top, Mrs. Shields, is it all right? How do you do, Miss +Helen, any more freight?" + +"How do you do," she replied. "This box is to go, please. Now, do be very +careful not to turn it up, or jar it!" she warned. "And put it on the seat +inside the coach where we can steady it." + +"Gee, what's in it?" asked Bill, nearly dying from his curiosity. "Must +be the joker of the feast, eh?" + +"Three layer cakes," she laughingly replied. "Chocolate, cocoanut and +lemon." + +"Um!" he said. "I'll carry this one high up, it deserves it." + +"Oh, do be careful!" she cried as he swooped it up to his shoulder. "Oh!" +she screamed as it thumped against the top of the door frame. + +"Whoa! Back up!" cried Bill, executing the order. "Easy, boy--all right, +off we go!" + +"Grace, Mary," cried Helen, "we are all ready to go!" + +"Ain't there any more boxes?" asked Bill from the coach. + +"Come, girls," cried Mrs. Shields as she stepped into the coach. "Close +the door after you, and lock it, dear." + +Bill gallantly helped the ladies into the coach, grinned at the cake box +and started toward the front wheel when he was called back. + +"Now, William," cautioned Mrs. Shields, laughing. "We will not be pursued +by Apaches to-day, and this cake must not be shaken!" + +"You won't know you're riding, ma'am, you shore won't," he assured her as +he danced toward the front wheel again. + +"Wake up there, you!" he yelled from the box. "Come on, Jerry, think +you're glued to the earth? Come on, Tom! Easy there, you fool jackrabbit! +--haven't you learned that you can't reach this high!" + +When they had arrived at the A-Y the baskets were carried into the +ranch-house and the women became very busy getting things ready for the +feast. Bill took care of his team and then carried the blankets to the +grove. + +While the picnic was being prepared there arose a series of blood-curdling +whoops off to the south where the outfit of the Star C made the air +blue with powder smoke. As they came nearer something peculiar was +noticed by Helen. It appeared to be a sort of drag drawn by a horse and +supported by two long, springy poles, one end of which rested on the +ground, and the other fastened to the saddle. While she wondered Bill +came up and she turned to him for light. + +"What have they got fastened to that horse?" she asked him. + +He looked and then smiled: "Why, it is a travois," he said. "But what +under the sun have they got on it? They must be bringing their own grub!" + +The travois dragged and bumped over the uneven plain and soon came near +enough for its burden to be made out. A man and a dog were strapped to it. + +At this point Blake joined Helen and Bill, and as he did so he espied the +travois. + +"Thunder!" he cried, running forward. "Somebody is hurt! What's the +matter, Silent?" he shouted. + +"Matter?" asked Silent, in surprise as the outfit drew near. "There ain't +nothing the matter. Why?" + +"What's that travois doing with you, then?" Blake demanded. + +Silent's face was as grave as that of an owl. "Travois?" he asked. +Then his face cleared: "Oh, yes--I near forgot about it," he added, +apologetically. "You see, Humble he shore wanted his dog to come to the +picnic, so we reckoned we'd let it come along. Bud and Jim was for +slinging it at the end of a rope and dragging it over, but I said no. +We ain't got any ropes to have all frayed out and cut a-dragging dogs +to picnics, and I said so, too. So we built the travois and strapped +Lightning to it. When Humble saw what we had done he acted real unpolite. +He said as how he wasn't going to have no dog of his'n toted twenty +miles in a fool travois. Said that he'd make it stay home first, which +was some mean after inviting the dog to come along. He said that he'd +go in a travois himself first before he'd let the setter be made a fool +of. Well, we simply had to subdue him, and he got so unreasonable that we +just had to tie him with his dog. He shore does get awful pig-headed at +times." + +"Take off the gag, Jim," requested Silent, turning to the grinning +cow-puncher. "Let him loose now, we've arrived." + +Jim leaned over and whispered in Humble's ear, the information being that +there were ladies about, and that all swearing must be thought and not +yelled. Then he slipped the gag, and untied the ropes. Gales of laughter +met the angry and indignant puncher when he had leaped to his feet, and +he flashed one quick glance at the women and then, boiling with wrath +and suppressed profanity, fled toward the corrals as swiftly as cramped +muscles would allow. The dog snarled at its tormentors and then set +off in hot pursuit of its discomfited master, whose waving arms kept +time with his speeding legs. + +"That's all the thanks we get," grumbled Bud, "but then, he don't know +any better anyhow." + +Blake laughed and regarded his grinning and expectant outfit, and the +longer he looked at them the more he laughed. They had paid their respects +to the women while Silent explained about the travois and now they cast +many longing glances at the blankets and cloths spread out on the grass +and at the baskets which Bill was busy over. They had tried to coax the +driver to them to give information as to what they might expect in the +way of edibles, but he had haughtily and disdainfully refused to enlighten +them, taking care, however, to arouse their curiosity by looking fondly +at the box and the baskets and even showed his elation by taking several +fancy steps for their benefit. + +"Well, get rid of the cayuses," said Blake, "and square things with +Humble. Bring him back with you or you don't get any pie. You're such a +darn fool crowd that I can't get mad this time, but don't ever drag a +man in a travois again." + +"Did he come, or was he kidnapped?" murmured Bud. "What we did once we can +do again, and Humble will be on hand when the feast begins." + +Jim had been scowling at Bill, whose manners were most aggravating. "You +just wait, you heathen," threatened Jim. "You're ace high with the grub, +all right, but just you wait 'til we get you alone!" + +"Yah!" laughed the driver. "I shore can handle the best cow-wrastler that +ever lived." + +"Bill seems to be running this here festival," Bud complained to Helen. + +"Oh, he is our right-hand man," she replied with enthusiasm. "We couldn't +possibly get along without him, now. He has charge of the pie and cake." + +Bill's chest expanded: "I'm foreman of the pie and cake herd," he +exclaimed proudly. "You can't get ahead of me." + +Bud looked at the driver and then significantly waved his hand at the +travois: "And you'll shore travel in style, just like a real pie foreman, +too, when we gets a chance to honor you like we wants to." + +"You'll get no pie if you acts smart, little boy," retorted the driver. +"Run along and play till lunch is ready, and don't dirty your hands and +face." + +"Well, we've got fine memories," Bud suggested as he led the way to the +corrals, where he found The Orphan. + +"Hullo, Orphan!" he cried enthusiastically as he gripped the outstretched +hand. "Plumb glad to see you. How's things?" + +"Glad to see you, boys," cried the temporary foreman, who was all smiles. +"One at a time!" he laughed as they crowded about him. "Make yourselves +right at home--that smallest corral is for your cayuses. And you'll find +plenty of soap and water and towels by the bunk-house, and there's a box +of good cigars, a tin of tobacco, and a jug on the table inside. Help +yourself to anything you want, the place is all yours." + +"Gee, this is a good game, all right," Bud laughed as he turned to put +his horse in the corral. "The sheriff shore knows how to deal." + +"Leave a cigar for me, Silent," jokingly warned Jim as his friend turned +toward the bunk-house. "Too many smokes will make you sick." + +"Well, you've got a gall, all right!" retorted Silent. "You better let me +bring yours out to you and keep away from the box, for I'm always plumb +suspicious of these goody-goody, it's-for-your-own-good people." + +A crafty look came to Jack Lawson's face and he turned to The Orphan: "Has +Bill Howland got his cigars yet?" he asked, winking at his friends. + +"Why, I don't know whether he has or not," replied The Orphan. "But I +don't believe that he has been out of sight of the pies since he came. +They've got him in a trance." + +"Guess I'll take him one," continued Jack, grinning broadly. "He likes to +smoke." + +"Shore enough, go ahead," endorsed the foreman of the A-Y as he turned +toward the grove. Then he stopped, and with a knowing look added: "If you +want to see Humble, he just went in the bunk-house." + +A yell of dismay arose as the outfit started pell-mell for the house. +Silent entered it first and his profanity informed his companions that +their fears were well grounded. Neither Humble, cigars, tobacco nor jug +were to be seen, and a search was forthwith instituted. Jack looked at +a distant corral and saw Lightning as the dog disappeared from sight into +it. + +"Hey!" he cried. "He's in the big corral--I just saw his dog go in, and +it was wagging its tail a whole lot. Come on, we'll surround it and show +that frisky gent a thing or two!" + +No more words were wasted, and in a very short time figures were creeping +around the corral. Then there was a scramble as most of the searchers +scaled the wall at different points while two of them ran in through +the gate. The first thing they saw was the dog, and his tail was still +wagging as he curiously followed, nose to the ground, a huge horned toad. +He looked up at the sudden disturbance and backed off suspiciously, +looking for a way to escape. + +"---- ----!" chorused the fooled punchers, who discovered that deductions +don't always deduct, and then they returned to the bunk-house to "slick +up." When finally satisfied about their appearance they made their way +to the grove and the sight which greeted their eyes as they entered it +almost made them drop in their tracks. + +Humble and Bill sat cross-legged on a blanket, which was surrounded with +guns. The jug, tobacco and cigars were flanked by pies and a cake, while +each of the conspirators held a lighted cigar in one hand while they took +turns at the jug. A huge piece of pie rested in a plate at Humble's side, +while Bill's knee held a piece of cake. + +"Hands up!" shouted Humble, grabbing a gun. "Don't you dare to raid the +gallery! You stay right where you are!" + +Bill's blacksnake whip leaped from point to point experimentally, picking +up twigs and leaves with disturbing accuracy. + +The invaders halted just beyond the range of the whip and consulted +uneasily, not noticing that the driver had shortened his weapon by twice +the length of its handle. Finally Jim and Docile ran back toward the +corral while their friends waited impatiently for their return, grinning +at the enemy with an I-told-you-so air. + +Bill suddenly leaned forward, the whip slid down into his hand to the end +of the handle and cracked viciously. Joe Haines, who had grown a little +careless, leaped into the air and yelled, grabbing at his leg. + +"Keep your distance, you!" warned the driver, trying to look ferocious. +"Twenty feet is the dead-line, children." + +Jim and Docile returned apace and brought with them half a dozen lariats, +which ranged in length from thirty to forty feet. + +"Hey, you!" cried Humble in alarm. "That ain't fair!" + +Grim silence was the only reply as the invaders each took his rope and +surrounded the two. Then, suddenly, the air was full of darting ropes +and in less time than it takes to tell of it the pair were hopelessly +and helplessly trussed. Silent ran in and hurled the whip away and then +squatted before the prisoners, throwing their cigars after the whip as +he took up the pie and cake, which he tantalizingly munched before their +eyes. + +"I like a hog, all right, but you suit me too blamed well!" asserted Bud, +grabbing at Silent's pie. + +"Gimme some of that," demanded Jim, trying for the cake. And when the +disturbance had ceased there were no signs of either pie or cake. + +"It's the travois for you, Humble dear!" softly hummed Charley Bailey. +"And to the ranch, by the way of town!" + +"And Bill will be pleased to explore the Limping Water on the bottom," +amended Jim. "One of us can drive the women home!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE ANNOUNCEMENT + + +About thirty people sat in a circle on the grass in the grove on the A-Y, +engaged in taking viands from the well-filled plates which made the +rounds. Keen humor from all sides kept them in roars of laughter, Humble +and Bill provoking the greater part of it. Humble sat next to Miss +Ritchie, while The Orphan and Bill flanked Helen, the sheriff next to his +new foreman. Humble's face had a look of benign condescension when he +allowed himself to bestow perfunctory attentions on the members of +his outfit, whom he graciously called "purty fair punchers in a way." + +Crawford, the former owner of the A-Y, sat next to Shields, and when the +lunch had reached the cigar stage he arose and cleared his throat. + +"Ladies and Gentlemen, Bill and Humble," he began amid laughter. "I +have been regarded as the host of this picnic, and the false position +embarrasses me. But any such momentary feeling is compensated by the +importance of what I have to tell you. + +"When I took up the A-Y it was with a determination to keep it and to +spend the rest of my days on it in peace. This I have found to be +impossible, and in consequence I have turned it over to a better man. The +energy which I have seen applied in the right way for the last few weeks +has assured me that the A-Y will soon be second in importance and +wealth to no ranch in this country. I have seen order, system, emerge +from chaos; I have seen five thousand cattle re-branded and taken care +of in such dispatch as to astonish me and be almost beyond my belief. +The sheriff has been as economical in the use of his energy as he can +be in the use of his words. By that I don't mean in the way that is +causing you to smile, but simply that he knows how to accomplish the +most work with the least possible expenditure of effort and time, as +witnessed by the condition of this ranch to-day. But while he has been +the guiding spirit in the work of putting the ranch on its proper +footing, he has had as good assistants as it is possible to find. + +"I don't wish to tire you with any long speech, for brevity is the soul +of more than wit, so I will close by telling you that the A-Y is in new +and better hands--our sheriff is now its owner, and I extend to him my +heartiest wishes for his success in his new venture. I must thank him and +all of you for a very pleasant day and a memory to take East with me." + +For an instant there was intense silence, and then a small battle seemed +to be taking place. The noise of the shooting and cheering was deafening +and smoke rolled down like a heavy fog. The sheriff met the rush toward +him and put in a very busy few minutes in shaking hands and replying +to the hearty congratulations which poured in upon him from all sides. +Everybody was happy and all were talking at once, and Bill could be heard +reeling off an unbroken string of words at high speed. + +The Orphan fought his way to his best friend and gripped both hands in his +own. + +"By God, Sheriff!" he cried. "This is great news, and I'm plumb glad to +hear it! I hope you have the very best of luck and that your returns, both +in pleasure and money, far exceed your fondest expectations. Anything I +can do is yours for the asking." + +"Thank you, son," replied the sheriff, looking fondly into his friend's +eyes. "I'm going to call on you just as soon as I can make myself heard +in all this hellabaloo. Just listen to that!" he exclaimed as Silent let +loose again. + +"Glory be!" yelled he of the misleading name, slapping Humble across the +back. "For this you ride home like a white man, Humble--all your sins are +forgiven! Hurrah for the sheriff, his family and the A-Y!" he shouted at +the top of his lungs, and his cheer was supported unanimously with true +cowboy enthusiasm and vim. + +"Hurray for me, too!" shouted Bill in laughter. Then he fled, with Silent +in hot pursuit. + +The sheriff tried to speak, and after several attempts was finally given +silence. + +"Thank you, everybody!" he cried, his face beaming. "I am happy for many +reasons to-day, but foremost among them is the fact that I have so many +warm and loyal friends. The A-Y is always open to all of you, and I'll be +some disappointed if you don't put in a lot of your spare time over here." + +He paused for a few seconds and then looked at The Orphan, who stood at +Helen's side. + +"Mr. Crawford did his part a whole lot better than I can do mine, I'm +afraid, but I'm going to do my best, anyhow. The news has only been half +told--the name of the new foreman of the A-Y henceforth will be The +Orphan! Whoop her up, boys!" he shouted, leading a cheer which was not +one whit less a cheer than those which had gone before. + +The Orphan stared in astonishment, for once in his life he had been +surprised. The sheriff at last had the drop on him. He looked from one to +another, started to step forward and then changed his mind and looked +appealingly at Helen, who smiled in a way to double the speed of his +heart-beats. + +Her eyes were moist, and the sudden consciousness that she formed half +of the objective of all eyes caused her cheeks to go crimson. Her hand +impulsively went to his shoulder and without thought on her part, and his +incredulous questioning was answered by her. + +"It's all true," she said earnestly. "I've known of it for a whole week +now. You are the real foreman of the A-Y, and I most earnestly hope for +your success." + +He suddenly seemed to be above the earth and his voice broke in his +stammered reply. For a fraction of a second her eyes had told him what +he had dreamed of, what he had hoped for above all things, and he grasped +her hand for a second as he stepped forward toward his new employer, +whose hand met his with a man's grasp. + +"Thank you, Sheriff," he said, his head whirling from the surprises of a +minute. "You've been squarer and fairer with me than any man I've ever +known, and hell will look nice to me if I don't make good with you. + +"Thank you, boys; thank you, Bill: you're all right, every one of you!" +he cried as his friends crowded about him. "What the sheriff said +about warm friends was the truth--thank you, Bud and Jim! Thank you, +Blake--you're another brick! Good God, what I have gained in two months! +I can scarcely believe it, it seems so like a dream. That's a real +warm grip, all right, though," he exclaimed as he shook hands with Humble, +"so I reckon it's all true. Two months!" he marveled. "Two glorious, +glorious months! A new start in life, a loyal crowd of friends, a--and +all in two months! And there is the man I owe it all to," he suddenly +cried, pointing to the sheriff. "There's the whitest man God ever made, +and I'll kill the man who says I lie!" + +"Good boy!" shouted Bill in enthusiastic endorsement. "You two make a pair +of aces what can beat any full-house ever got together, and _I_'ll lick +the man who says _I_ lie!" he yelled pugnaciously. "The Orphant may be +an orphant, all right, but he's got a whole lot of brothers." + +Mrs. Shields walked over to The Orphan and placed a motherly hand on his +shoulder as he recovered. + +"You won't be an orphan any longer, my boy," she said, smiling up at him. +"You're one of us now--I always wanted a son, and God has given me one +in you." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +TEX WILLIARD'S MISTAKE + + +During the month which followed the picnic things ran smoothly on the +A-Y, and the rejuvenated ranch was the pride of the whole contingent, +from the sheriff down to the cook. The Orphan had taken charge with a +determination which grew firmer with each passing day and the new +owner was delighted at the outcome of his plans. The foreman, elated +and happy at his sudden shift in fortune, radiated cheerfulness and +consideration. His men knew that he would not ask them to do anything +which he himself feared to do, which would not have been much consolation +to a timid man, since he feared nothing; but to them it meant that +they had a foreman who would stick by them through fire and water, +and a foreman who commands respect from his outfit is a man whose life +is made easy for him. He had known too much of unkindness, harshness, +to become angry at mistakes; instead, he set diligently at work to undo +them, and mistakes were rare. The very men who had once wished for his +life would now fight instantly to save it. They were proud of him, of +the owner, the ranch and themeselves; and proudest of all was Bill, once +driver of the stage, but now a cowboy working hard and loyally under the +man who had once held him up for a smoke. + +Visitors were numerous, and every man who called became enthusiastic +about the ranch, and after he had departed marveled at the complete +change in the man who was its foreman, and felt confidence in the good +judgment of the sheriff. Ford's Station was openly jubilant, for the town +exulted in the discomfiture of the Cross Bar-8 and in the proof that +their sheriff was right. And Ford's Station chuckled at the news it +heard, for the foreman of the Cross Bar-8 had called twice at the A-Y and +was fast losing his prejudice against The Orphan. Sneed had found a +quiet, optimistic foreman in the place of his former enemy, and the +laughter which lurked in The Orphan's eyes closed the breach. He had +seen the man in a new light, and when he had said his farewell at the +close of his second visit the grip of his hand was strong. As for the +Star C, a trail had been worn between the two ranches and hardly a day +passed but one or more of its punchers dropped in to say a few words to +their former bunkmate, and to stir up Bill. The Star C, no less than his +own men, swore by The Orphan. + +One bright morning the sheriff left for a trip to Chicago and other +packing cities to arrange for future cattle shipments, and announced +that he would be away for a week or two. On the night following his +departure trouble began. The ranch and bunk houses of the Cross Bar-8 +were fired into, and when Sneed and his men had returned after a fruitless +search in the dark the foreman stared at the wall and swore. Was it The +Orphan again? In the absence of the sheriff had he renewed the war? +First thought cried that he had, but gradually the idea became untenable. +Why should The Orphan risk his splendid berth on the A-Y, his prospects +now rich in promise, to work off any lingering hatred? When Sneed had +shaken hands with him he found apparent sincerity in the warm clasp. He +would ride over at daylight and have the matter settled once and for +all. And if satisfied that The Orphan was guiltless of the outrage he +would turn his whole attention to the imitator of the former outlaw. + +The Orphan was mending his saddle girth when he saw Sneed cantering past +the farthest corral. The latter's horse bore all the signs of hard riding +and he looked up inquiringly at the visitor. + +"Good morning, Sneed," he said pleasantly, arising and laying aside the +saddle. "What's up, anything?" + +"Yes, and I came over to find out about it," Sneed answered. "I hardly +know how to begin--but here, I'll tell it from the beginning," and he +related what had occurred, much to the wonder of The Orphan. + +"Now," finished the visitor, "I want to ask you a question, although I +may be a d----n fool for doing it. But I want to get this thing thrashed +out. Do you know who did it?" + +The foreman of the A-Y straightened up, his eyes flashing, and then he +realized that Sneed had some right to question him after what had occurred +in the past. + +"No, Sneed, I do not," he answered, "but in two guesses I can name the +man!" + +"Good!" cried Sneed. "Go ahead!" + +"Bucknell?" + +"No, he was with me in the bunk-house," replied the foreman of the Cross +Bar-8. "It wasn't him--go on." + +"Tex Williard," said The Orphan with decision. + +"Tex?" cried Sneed. "Why?" + +"It's plain as day, Sneed," The Orphan answered. "He's sore at me, but +lacks nerve." + +"But, thunderation, how would he hurt you by shooting at us?" Sneed +demanded, impatiently. + +"Oh, he would scare up a war during the sheriff's absence by throwing your +suspicions on me. He reckoned you would think that I did it, get good +and mad, fly off the handle and raise h--l generally. He figured that +I, according to the past, would meet you half way and that you or some +of your men might kill me. If you didn't, he reckoned that the sheriff +would kick me out of this berth, and that one or both of us might get +killed in the argument. He could sit back and laugh to himself at how easy +it was to square up old scores from a distance. It's Tex as sure as I am +here, and unless Tex changes his plans and gets out of this country d----n +soon he won't be long in getting what he seems to ache for." + +Sneed pushed back his sombrero and smiled grimly: "I reckon that you're +right," he replied. "But you ain't sore at the way I asked, are you? I +had to begin somewhere, you know." + +"Sore?" rejoined his companion, angrily. "Sore? I'm so sore that I'm going +out after Tex right now. And I'll get him or know the reason why, too. +You go back and post your men about this--and tell them on no account +to ride over my range for a few days, for they might get hurt before they +are known. Put a couple of them to bed as soon as you get back--you need +them to keep watch nights." + +He turned toward the corral and called to a man who was busy near it: +"Charley, you take anybody that you want and get in a good sleep before +nightfall. I will want both of you to work to-night." + +"All right, after dinner will be time enough," Charley replied. "I'll take +Lefty Lukins." + +The Orphan went into the ranch house and returned at once with his rifle, +a canteen of water and a package of food. As he threw a saddle on his +horse Bill galloped up, waving his arms and very much excited. + +"Hey, Orphant!" he shouted. "Somebody's shore enough plugged some of our +cows near the creek! I lost his trail at the Cottonwoods!" + +"All right, Bill," replied the foreman, "I'll go out and look them over. +You take another horse and ride to the Star C. Tell Blake to keep watch +for Tex Williard, and tell him to hold Tex for me if he sees him. Lively, +Bill!" + +Bill stared, leaped from his horse, took the saddle from its back and was +soon lost to sight in the corral. In a few minutes he galloped past his +foreman and Sneed swearing heartily. His quirt arose and fell and soon +he was lost to sight over a rise near the ranch-house. + +The foreman of the A-Y rode over to Charley: "Charley, in case I don't get +back to-night, you and Lefty keep guard somewhere out here, and shoot +any man who don't halt at your hail. If I return in the dark I'll whistle +Dixie as soon as I see the lights in the bunk house, and I'll keep it +up so you won't mistake me. So long." + +Sneed and he cantered away together and soon they parted, the former to +ride toward his ranch, the latter toward the Cottonwoods near the Limping +Water and along the trail left by Bill. + +When near the grove The Orphan saw five dead cows and he quickly +dismounted to examine them. + +"Not dead for long," he muttered as he examined the blood on them. He +leaped into his saddle and galloped through the grove. "Now, by God, +somebody pays for them!" he muttered. + +Here was a sudden change in things, positions had been reversed, and +now he could appreciate the feelings which he had, more than once, aroused +in the hearts of numerous foremen. He emerged from the grove and rode +rapidly along the trail left by the perpetrator, alert, grim and angry. +Soon the trail dipped beneath the waters of the creek and he stopped +and thought for a few seconds. If it was Tex, he would not have ridden +toward the Cross Bar-8 and the town, and neither would he have ridden +south toward the Star C, nor north in the direction of the A-Y. He would +seek cover for the day if he was still determined to carry on his game, +and would not emerge until night covered his movements. That left him +only the west along the creek, and more than that, the creek turned to the +south again about five miles farther on and flowed far too close to the +ranch-houses of the Star C for safety. He must have left the water at the +turn, and toward the turn rode The Orphan, watching intently for the trail +to emerge on either bank. His deductions were sound, for when he had +rounded the bend of the stream he picked up the trail where it left +the water and followed it westward. + +The country around the bend was very wild and rough, for ravines between +the hills cut seams and gashes in the plain. The underbrush was shoulder +high, and he did not know how soon he might become a target. The trail +was very fresh in the soft loam of the ravines and the broken branches +and trampled leaves were still wet with sap. Soon he hobbled his horse +and proceeded on foot, but to one side of and parallel with the trail. +He had spent an hour in his advance and had begun to regret having left +his horse so early, when he heard the report of a gun near at hand and +a bullet hissed viciously over his head as he stooped to go under a low +branch. + +He threw up his arms, the rifle falling from his hands, pitched forward +and rolled down the side of the hill and behind a fallen tree trunk +which lay against a thicket. As soon as he had gained this position he +glanced in the direction from whence the shot had come and, finding +himself screened from sight on that side, quickly jerked off his boots and +planted them among the bushes, where they looked as if he had crawled in +almost out of sight. That done, he crawled along the ground under the +protection of the tree trunk and then squirmed under it, when he pushed +himself, feet first, deep into a tangled thicket and waited, Colt in +hand, for a sign of his enemy's approach. + +A quarter of an hour had passed in silence when a shot, followed by +another, sounded from the hillside. After the lapse of a like interval +another shot was fired, this time from the opposite direction. He saw a +twig fall by the boots and heard the spat! of the bullet as it hit a +stone. Two more shots sounded in rapid succession, and then another long +interval of silence. Half an hour passed, but he was not impatient. He +most firmly believed that his man would, sooner or later, come out to +examine the boots, and time was of no consequence: he wanted the man. + +Whoever he was, he was certainly cautious, he did not believe in taking +any chances. It was almost certain that he would not leave until he had +been assured that he had accomplished his purpose, for it would be most +disconcerting at some future time to unexpectedly meet the man he thought +he had murdered. Another shot whizzed into the place where the body +should have been, according to the silent testimony of the boots. It +sounded much closer to the thicket, but in the same direction of the +last few shots. Then, after ten minutes of silence, a twig snapped, +and directly behind the thicket in which The Orphan was hidden! The +foreman's nerves were tense now, his every sense was alert, for his +was a most dangerous position. He quickly glanced over his shoulder into +the thicket and found that he could not penetrate the mass of leaves and +branches, which reassured him. He was very glad that he had forced himself +well into the cover, for soon the leaves rustled and a pebble rolled not +more than four feet off, and in front of him, slightly at his right. +More rustling and then a head and shoulder slowly pushed past him into +view. The man moved very slowly and cautiously and was crouched, his +head far in advance of his waist. The Orphan could see only one side +of the face, the angle of the man's jaw and an ear, but that was enough, +for he knew the owner. Slowly and without a sound the foreman's right +hand turned at the wrist until the Colt gleamed on a line with the +other's heart. The searcher leaned forward and to one side, that he +might better see the boots, when a sound met his ears. + +"Don't move," whispered the foreman. + +The prowler stiffened in his tracks, frozen to rigidity by the command. +Then he slowly turned his head and looked squarely into the gun of the +man he thought he had killed. + +"Christ!" he cried hoarsely, starting back. + +"I don't reckon you'll ever know Him," said The Orphan, his voice very +low and monotonous. "Stand just as you are--don't move--I want to talk +with you." + +Tex simply stared at him in pitiful helplessness and could not speak, +beads of perspiration standing out on his face, testifying to the agony +of fear he was in. + +"You're on the wrong side of the game again, Tex," The Orphan said slowly, +watching the puncher narrowly, his gun steady as a rock. "You still +want to kill me, it seems. I've given you your life twice, once to your +knowledge, and I told you with the sheriff that I would shoot you if you +ever returned; and still you have come back to have me do it. You were +not satisfied to let things rest as they were." + +Tex did not reply, and The Orphan continued, a flicker of contempt about +his lips. + +"You were never cast for an outlaw, Tex. If I do say it myself, it +takes a clever man to live at that game, and I know, for I've been all +through it. As you see, Sneed and I didn't shoot each other, for the +play was too plain, too transparent. You should have ambushed one of +his men, burned his corrals and slaughtered his cattle, for then he +might have shot and talked later. And he might have gotten me, too, +for I was unsuspecting. I don't say that I would kill an innocent man to +arouse his anger if I had been in your place, I'm only showing you +where you made the mistake, where you blundered. Had you killed one of +his men it is very probable that his rage would have known no bounds, +but as it was the provocation was not great enough." + +Tex remained silent and unconsciously toyed at his ear. The Orphan looked +keenly at the movement and wondered where he had seen it before, for it +was familiar. His face darkened as memory urged something forward to +him out of the dark catacombs of the past, and he stilled his breathing +to catch a clue to it. He saw the little ranch his father had worked so +hard over to improve, and had fought hard to save, and then the picture of +his dying mother came vividly before him; but still something avoided +his searching thoughts, something barely eluded him, trembling on the +edge of the Then and Now. He saw his father's body slowly swinging and +turning in the light breeze of a perfect day, and he quivered at the +nearness of what he was seeking, its proximity was tantalizing. The +rope!--the rope about his father's neck had been of manila fiber; he +could never forget the soiled, bleached-yellow streak which had led +upward to Eternity. And manila ropes were, at that time, a rarity in +that part of the country, for rawhide and braided-hair lariats had been +the rule. And on the day when he had given Tex his life in the defile he +had noticed the faded yellow rope which had swung at the puncher's saddle +horn. As he strained with renewed hope to catch the elusive impression +another scene came before him. It was of three men bent over a cow, +engaged in blotting out his father's brand, and instantly the face of +one of them sprang into sharp definition on his mental canvas. + +"D----n you!" he cried, his finger tightening on the trigger of the +Colt which for so many years had been his best friend. "I know you now, +changed as you are! Now I know why you have been so determined for my +death. On the day that I cut my father down I swore that I would kill +the man who had lynched him if kind fate let me find him, and I have +found him. You have just five minutes to live, so make the most of it, you +cowardly murderer!" + +Tex's face went suddenly white again and his nerve deserted him. His Colt +was in his hand, but oh, so useless! Should he fight to the end? A shudder +ran through him at the thought, for life was so good, so precious; far +too precious to waste a minute of it by dying before his time was up. +Perhaps the foreman would relent, perhaps he would become so wrapped +up in the memories of the years gone by as to forget, just for half a +second, where he was. The watch in The Orphan's hand gave him hope, +for he would wait until the other glanced at it--that would be his only +hope of life. + +The foreman's watch ticked loudly in the palm of his left hand and the +Colt in his right never quivered. The first minute passed in terrifying +silence, then the second, then the third, but all the time The Orphan's +eyes stared steadily at the man before him, gray, cruel, unblinking. + +"They told me to do it! They told me to do it!" shrieked the pitiful, +unnerved wreck of a man as he convulsively opened and shut his hand. +"I didn't want to do it! I swear I didn't want to do it! As God is above, +I didn't want to! They made me, they made me!" he cried, his words swiftly +becoming an unintelligible jumble of meaningless sounds. He stared at the +black muzzle of the Colt, frozen by terror, fascinated by horror and +deadened by despair. The watch ticked on in maddening noise, for his every +sense was now most acute, beating in upon his brain like the strokes of a +hammer. Then the foreman glanced quickly at it. The gun in Tex's hand +leaped up, but not quickly enough, and a spurt of smoke enveloped his face +as he fell. The Orphan stepped back, dropping the Colt into its holster. + +[Illustration: "The Orphan stepped back a pace and dropped the Colt into +its holster." (_See page_ 390.)] + +"The courage of despair!" he whispered. "But I'm glad he died game," he +slowly added. Then he suddenly buried his face in his hands: "Helen!" he +cried. "Helen--forgive me!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE GREAT HAPPINESS + + +The town was rapidly losing sharpness of detail, for the straggling +buildings were becoming more and more blurred and were growing into sharp +silhouettes in the increasing dusk, and the sickly yellow lights were +growing more numerous in the scattered windows. + +Helen moved about the dining-room engaged in setting the table and +she had just placed fresh flowers in the vase, when she suddenly stopped +and listened. Faintly to her ears came the pounding hoofbeats of a +galloping horse on the well-packed street, growing rapidly nearer with +portentous speed. It could not be Miss Ritchie, for there was a vast +difference between the comparatively lazy gallop of her horse and the +pulse-stirring tattoo which she now heard. The hoofbeats passed the +corner without slackening pace, and whirled up the street, stopping in +front of the house with a suddenness which she had long since learned +to attribute to cowboys. She stood still, afraid to go to the door, +numbed with a nameless fear--something terrible must have happened, +perhaps to The Orphan. The rider ran up the path, his spurs jingling +sharply, leaped to the porch, and the door was dashed open to show him +standing before her, sombrero in hand, his quirt dangling from his left +wrist. He was dusty and tired, but the expression on his face terrified +her, held her speechless. + +"Helen!" he cried hoarsely, driving her fear deeper into her heart by +his altered voice. "Helen!" She trembled, and he made a gesture of +hopelessness and involuntarily stepped toward her, letting the door swing +shut behind him. He stood just within the room, rigidly erect, his eyes +meeting hers in the silence of strong emotion. Breathlessly she retreated +as he advanced, as if instinct warned her of what he had to tell her, +until the table was between them; and a spasm of pain flickered across +his face as he noticed it, leaving him hard and stern again, but in +his eyes was a look of despair, a keen misery which softened her and +drew her toward him even while she feared him. + +The silence became unbearable and at last she could endure it no longer. +"What is it?" she breathed, tensely. "What have you to tell me?" + +His eyes never wavered from her face, fascinated in despair of what he +must read there, much as he dreaded it, and he answered her from between +set lips, much as a man would pronounce his own death sentence. "I have +broken my word," he said, harshly. + +"Broken your word--to me?" she asked. + +"Yes." + +Her face brightened and was softened by a child-like wonder, for she felt +relieved in a degree, and unconsciously she moved nearer to him. "What is +it--what have you done?" + +He regarded her without appraising the change in her expression and his +reply was as harsh and stern as his first statement, accompanied by no +excuses nor words of extenuation. "I have killed a man," he said. + +A shiver passed over her and her eyes went closed for a moment. The +great choice was at hand now, and in her heart a fierce, short battle +raged; on one side was arrayed her early training, all her teachings, all +regard for the ideas of law and order which she had absorbed in the East, +where human life was safeguarded as the first necessity; and on the +other was the Unwritten Law of the range as exemplified by The Orphan. +Blood, and human blood, was precious, and her early environment fought +bitterly against this regime of direct justice, so startlingly driven +into her mind by his bold, cold admission. And then, he had sinned in +this way again after he had promised her not to do so. The last thought +dominated her and she opened her eyes and looked at him hopefully. + +"Perhaps," she said, eagerly, "perhaps you could not avoid it--perhaps you +were forced to do it." + +"No." + +"Oh!" she cried. "You did not--you did not shoot him down without warning! +I _know_ you didn't!" + +"No, not that," he said slowly. "And, besides, this was his third offense. +Twice I have given him his life, and I would have done so again but for +what I discovered after I faced him." He paused for a moment and then +continued, with more feeling in his voice, a ring of victory and an +irrepressible elation. "I found that he was the man for whom I have +been looking for fifteen years, and whom I had sworn to kill. He killed +my father, killed him like a dog and without a chance for life, hung +him to a tree on his own land. And when I learned that, when he had +confessed to me, I forgot the new game, I forgot everything but the +watch in my hand slowly ticking away his life, the time I had given him +to make his peace with God--and I hated the slow seconds, I begrudged +him every movement of the hands. Then I shot him, and I was glad, so +glad--but oh, dear! If you--if you----" + +His voice wavered and broke and he dropped to his knees before her with +bowed head as she came slowly toward him and seized the hem of her gown +in both hands, kissing it passionately, burying his face in its folds like +a tired boy at his mother's knee. + +Her eyes were filled with tears and they rimmed her lashes as she looked +down on the man at her feet. Bending, she touched him and then placed her +hands on his head, tenderly kissing the tangled hair in loving forgiveness. + +"Dear, dear boy," she murmured softly. "Don't, dear heart. Don't, you +must not--oh, you must not! Please--come with me; get up, dear, and sit +with me over here in the corner; then you shall tell me all about it. I +am sure you have not done wrong--and if you have--don't you know I love +you, boy? Don't you know I love you?" + +He stirred slightly, as if awakening from a troubled sleep, and slowly +raised his head and looked at her with doubt in his eyes, for it was so +much like a dream--perhaps it was one. But he saw a light on her face, +a light which a man sees only on the face of one woman and which blinds +him against all other lights forever. Then it was true, all true--he had +heard aright! "Helen!" he cried, "Helen!" and the ring in his voice +brought new tears to her eyes. He sprang to his feet, tense, eager, all +his nerves tingling, and his quirt hissed through the air and snapped a +defiance, a warning to the world as he clasped her to him. "I _knew_, +I _knew!_" he cried passionately. "In my heart I _knew_ you were a +thoroughbred!" + +He tilted her head back, but she laughed low with delight and eluded him, +leading him to a chair, the chair he had occupied on the occasion of his +first visit, and then drew a low, rough footrest beside him and seated +herself at his feet, her elbows resting on his knees and her chin in her +hands. He looked down into the upturned face and then glanced swiftly +about the homelike room and back to her face again. She snuggled tightly +against his knees and waited patiently for his story. + +He sighed contentedly and touched her cheek reverently and then told her +all of the story of Tex Williard, from the very beginning to the very end, +from the time he had seen Tex bending over one of his father's cows to +the last scene in the thicket. When he had finished, Helen took his head +between her hands, pressing it warmly as she nodded wisely to show that +she understood. He looked deep into her eyes and then suddenly bent +his head until his lips touched her ear: "Helen, darling," he whispered, +"how long must I wait?" + +"Why, you scamp!" she exclaimed, teasingly, threatening to draw away from +him. "You haven't even told me that you love me!" + +He pressed her hands tightly and laughed aloud, joyously, filled with an +elated, effervescent gladness which surged over him in waves of delight: +"Haven't I? Oh, but you know better, dear. Many and many times I have +told you that, and in many ways, and you knew it and understood. You +never doubted it, and I hope," he added seriously, "that you never will." + +"I never will, dear." + +They did not hear Grace Ritchie in the kitchen, did not hear her quiet +step as it crossed the threshold and stopped, and then tiptoed to the +rear door and sped lightly around the house to the street, and down it +to where Mrs. Shields and Mary were walking toward the house. They did not +know that half an hour had passed since the coming of the quiet step and +the three women, and that the supper was hopelessly ruined. They knew +nothing--and Everything: they had learned the Great Happiness. + +THE END + + + + +Popular Copyright Books + +AT MODERATE PRICES + +Any of the following titles can be bought of your +bookseller at the price you paid for this volume + +Alternative, The. By George Barr McCutcheon. +Angel of Forgiveness, The. By Rosa N. Carey. +Angel of Pain, The. By E. F. Benson. +Annals of Ann, The. By Kate Trimble Sharber. +Battle Ground, The. By Ellen Glasgow. +Beau Brocade. By Baroness Orczy. +Beechy. By Bettina Von Hutten. +Bella Donna. By Robert Hichens. +Betrayal, The. By E. Phillips Oppenheim. +Bill Toppers, The. By Andre Castaigne. +Butterfly Man, The. By George Barr McCutcheon. +Cab No. 44. By R. F. Foster. +Calling of Dan Matthews, The. By Harold Bell Wright +Cape Cod Stories. By Joseph C. Lincoln. +Challoners, The. By E. F. Benson. +City of Six, The. By C. L. Canfield. +Conspirators, The, By Robert W. Chambers. +Dan Merrithew. By Lawrence Perry. +Day of the Dog, The. By George Barr McCutcheon. +Depot Master, The. By Joseph C. Lincoln. +Derelicts. By William J. Locke. +Diamonds Cut Paste. By Agnes & Egerton Castle. +Early Bird, The. By George Randolph Chester +Eleventh Hour, The. By David Potter. +Elizabeth in Rugen. By the author of Elizabeth and Her German Garden. +Flying Mercury, The. By Eleanor M. Ingram. +Gentleman, The. By Alfred Ollivant. +Girl Who Won, The. By Beth Ellis. +Going Some. By Rex Beach. +Hidden Water. By Dane Coolidge. +Honor of the Big Snows, The. By James Oliver Curwood. +Hopalong Cassidy. By Clarence E. Mulford. +House of the Whispering Pines, The. By Anna Katherine Green. +Imprudence of Prue, The. 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By Bettina Von Hutten. +Ladder of Swords, A. By Gilbert Parker. +Lorimer of the Northwest. By Harold Bindloss. +Lorraine. By Robert W. Chambers. +Loves of Miss Anne, The. By S. R. Crockett + + + + +Popular Copyright Books + +AT MODERATE PRICES + +Any of the following titles can be bought of your +bookseller at the price you paid for this volume + +Marcaria. By Augusta J. Evans. +Mam' Linda. By Will N. Harben. +Maids of Paradise, The. By Robert W. Chambers. +Man in the Corner, The. By Baroness Orczy. +Marriage A La Mode. By Mrs. Humphry Ward. +Master Mummer, The. By E. Phillips Oppenheim. +Much Ado About Peter. By Jean Webster. +Old, Old Story, The. By Rosa N. Carey. +Pardners. By Rex Beach. +Patience of John Moreland, The. By Mary Dillon. +Paul Anthony, Christian. By Hiram W. Hays. +Prince of Sinners, A. By E. Phillips Oppenheim. +Prodigious Hickey, The. By Owen Johnson. +Red Mouse, The. By William Hamilton Osborne. +Refugees, The. By A. Conan Doyle. +Round the Corner in Gay Street. 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