diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 20:05:59 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 20:05:59 -0700 |
| commit | 8ddd1b8df260d20c4a28b5ede127c761bdea4891 (patch) | |
| tree | 31c6e7100c8b1f1ec60cc610dfbfe989cbb7c810 | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 36523-8.txt | 12029 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 36523-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 200036 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 36523-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 208237 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 36523-h/36523-h.htm | 19841 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 36523-h/images/img-252.jpg | bin | 0 -> 1541 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 36523.txt | 12029 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 36523.zip | bin | 0 -> 200006 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
10 files changed, 43915 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/36523-8.txt b/36523-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0a53e22 --- /dev/null +++ b/36523-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12029 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Last Straw, by Harold Titus + +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 Last Straw + +Author: Harold Titus + +Illustrator: George W. Gage + +Release Date: June 26, 2011 [EBook #36523] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAST STRAW *** + + + + +Produced by Andrew Sly, Al Haines and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +THE LAST STRAW + + +BY + +HAROLD TITUS + + +Author of "Bruce of the Circle A," "I--Conquered," etc. + + + +ILLUSTRATED BY + +GEORGE W. GAGE + + + +BOSTON + +SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY + +PUBLISHERS + + + + +Copyright, 1920, + +BY SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY + +(INCORPORATED) + + +_Second Printing, June, 1920._ + + +PRESS OF GEO. H. ELLIS CO., BOSTON, MASS. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I THE NEW BOSS + II MY ADVICE, MA'AM + III THE NESTER--AND ANOTHER + IV THE CHAMPION + V THE COURTING + VI OUTCASTS + VII THE CATAMOUNT + VIII AND NOW, THE CLERGY + IX THE DESTROYER + X A MATTER OF DIRECTION + XI HEPBURN'S PLAY + XII A NEIGHBORLY CALL + XIII THE FRAME-UP + XIV THE BIG CHANCE + XV WAR! + XVI THE WARNING + XVII HIS FAITHFUL LITTLE PONY + XVIII AN INTERRUPTED PROPOSAL + XIX CONCERNING SAM MCKEE + XX "WORK AMONG THE HEATHEN" + XXI RENUNCIATION + XXII THE REVEREND'S STRATEGY + XXIII BECK'S DEPARTURE + XXIV IN THE SHADOW + XXV A MOUNTAIN PORTIA + XXVI BATTLE! + XXVII THE LAST STRAW + + + + +THE LAST STRAW + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE NEW BOSS + + +The last patches of snow, even in the most secluded gulches, had been +licked up by the mounting sun; the waters of Coyote Creek had returned +to the confines of the stream bed; in places a suggestion of green was +making its appearance about the bases of grass clumps, and cottonwood +buds were swelling. Four men sat on the bench before the bunkhouse of +the H.C. ranch; one was braiding a belt, another whittling and two +more, hats over their eyes to shield them from the brilliant light, +joined in the desultory conversation from time to time. + +In the pauses, such as the one now prevailing, was something besides +the spirit of idling. Dad Hepburn, gray of hair, eye and mustache, but +with the body of a young man, who sat nearest the doorway, glanced +frequently towards the road as though expecting to see another come +that way to bring fresh interest; Two-Bits Beal was uneasy and did not +remain long in one pose, as men do who sit in the first real warmth of +spring for its own sake; Jimmy Oliver, the whittler, stopped now and +then and held his head at an angle, as if listening; and although he +worked industriously at the belt it was evident that Tom Beck had +thought for other affairs. + +"So she was his nephew an' only heir," commented Two-Bits, gravely. +Hepburn stirred and snorted softly. Jimmy Oliver looked at the homely, +freckle-blotched face of the gaunt speaker and grinned. After a moment +Tom Beck said: + +"Two-Bits, for a smart man you know less than anybody I ever +encountered! When I first set eyes on you, I said to myself, 'That man +ain't real. He's no work of God A'mighty. Some of these _hombres_ +that draw cartoons for newspapers got him up.' But I thought you must +have brains, seein' you're so powerful low on looks. You're a good +cowhand and a first rate horse handler, but won't you ever get anything +in your head but those things? Or did this cartoonist make a mistake +an' put your kidneys in your skull? + +"Niece; _niece!_ Not nephew!" + +"Have it your way," Two-Bits said in his high voice, swallowing so his +immense Adam's apple shot up half the extraordinary length of his lean +throat toward his pointed chin, and slipped back again with a jerk. "I +was half right, wasn't I? She's his only heir, ain't she? You can't ask +a man to be more'n half right, can you?" + +"If his heir'd been a nephew instead of a niece, we wouldn't all be +settin' here so anxious about this arrival," opined Jimmy. "An' we +wouldn't all be wonderin' if we was goin' to work for a squaw outfit. +It'll be a relief when this lady lands in our midst. Mebby there'll be +less speculatin' and more work done." + +"You're right," assented Dad, and pulled at his mustache. "There's a +lot to do." + +Tom Beck began to whistle softly and the older man glanced sideways at +him uneasily; then fixed his eyes on the road. + +"I'll bet two bit," volunteered Two-Bits, "that she's as homely as Tom +claims I am an' about as pleasant as a hod full of bumble bees." + +No one demonstrated interest in his offer and, as though he had not +even heard it, Beck said: + +"Seems to me there's been a lot goin' on lately, Dad. Or did you mean +there was a lot _more_ to do?" + +"I don't remember such awful activity," the other replied. "'Course, +there's been--" + +"Nobody ever located those four mares an' their colts, did they? And +the last we heard about that bunch of white faces they was headed +towards Utah with a shod horse trailing 'em." + +Hepburn changed what started as an impatient expostulation into a sharp +sigh and relieved himself by stabbing a spur into the hard ground. + +"Yes, there has been stealin'," he admitted. "There's been a lot of it. +But who could do anything? The old man had been slack for years and in +the last months before the end he just let go entire. He wouldn't even +give anybody else authority enough to have any say; didn't even have a +foreman. That's why horses an' cattle have been stole from him. + +"'Course, there's been more devil to pay since he died than went on +before, but when a man leaves things in a lawyer's hands and the lawyer +won't even look in on the job, what you goin' to do?" + +His manner was as benevolent as it was deliberate and he turned a +paternal smile on Beck. + +"Let the thievin' go merrily on, I expect," the other said, giving the +leather strips a series of sturdy jerks to tighten the mesh. + +"I expect you'd like to be foreman, wouldn't you, Dad?" Two-Bits asked +innocently, whereupon Hepburn certified the accuracy of that surmisal +by moving uneasily. "You'd make a fair foreman ... _fair_. Now +Tommy here," he continued, oblivious of the older man's discomfiture +and the delighted smiles of the others, "would make a fine foreman if +he'd only give a damn. But he don't ... he don't. It's too bad, Tommy, +you don't settle down and amount to somethin'. You're the best hand in +this country!" + +Beck lifted his face and sniffed loudly. + +"The smell of your bouquet is about as delicate as your diplomacy, +Two-Bits!" he said. + +Another pause. Beck resumed his whistling and Hepburn devoted his +attention to the road. Once he looked at the other from the tail of his +eye and a flicker of ill temper showed in his broad, grizzled face. + +"Her name's Jane, ain't it?" Two-Bits was an ardent conversationalist. +"Jane Hunter! I knowed a school marm named Hunter onct. She was worse'n +thunder for sourin' milk." + +"I'll bet--" + +"Listen!" + +Oliver held up his knife in gesture and Two-Bits stopped talking. The +sounds of an approaching wagon were clearly audible. + +"I'll bet it's the mail instead of--" + +"You lose," muttered Hepburn, getting to his feet as a buckboard swung +around the bend. + +"An' she sure's come to stay!" from Jimmy as he closed his knife with +an air of finality. + +The body of the wagon was piled high with trunks and bags and beside +the driver sat a very small woman. That she was not of the west, not +the sort of woman these men had been accustomed to deal with, was +evident from the clothes she wore, but at least one of them remarked +that she was not wholly without the qualities essential to the frontier +for, when the driver dropped down to open the gate, he gave her the +reins to the lathered, excited horses which had brought her from the +railroad. As soon as the gate swung open they sprang forward, but she +put her weight on the reins and spoke with confident authority and +wrenched them back. + +"Not exactly helpless, anyhow," Tom Beck said to himself. + +He was the only one of the group who did not walk across toward the +cottonwoods which sheltered the long, red ranch house beside the creek. +He sat there, braiding his belt, an indefinable half smile on his face. + +The girl--for girlishness was her outstanding quality--jumped out +unassisted. She looked about slowly, at the house first of all, then at +the low stable and the corrals and, lastly, down the creek, on either +side of which the hills rose sharply, giving a false appearance of +narrowness to the bottoms, and her eyes rested for a long moment on the +ridges far below, blue and sharp in the crystal distance. + +She was unaware that the driver was waiting for her to give further +directions and that the three others had come close and stopped, +waiting for her to notice them, for she said aloud, as though to +herself: + +"For a beginning, this is quite remarkable!" Then she laughed sharply, +with a hard mirthless quality, and turned about. She was genuinely +surprised to confront the men; evidence of this was in her eyes, which +were large and remarkably blue. She smiled brightly and said: + +"Oh, I didn't know I was overlooking any one! I suppose you men belong +here, on the ranch, and it's likely you've been waiting for the new +owner to come. Well, here I am! I'm Jane Hunter and I want to know who +you are. Now what is your name?" + +Her frankness, that unhesitating, assured manner of a distinct type of +city-bred woman, was new but it over-rode somewhat the embarrassment +they all felt. + +"My name is Hepburn, ma'am," Dad said and shook hands heavily. "I hope +you like this place." + +"I know I shall, Mr. Hepburn. And your name?" + +"That's Jimmy Oliver, Miss Hunter," Hepburn said. + +Two-Bits had watched this with growing confusion and when she turned on +him her searching, straightforward glance his freckles became lost in a +pink suffusion. He swayed his body from the hips and looked high over +her head as he offered a limp hand. + +"I'm Mister Beal," he said weakly. + +"Don't you believe that!" laughed Hepburn. "That's Two-Bits. He ain't +entitled to any frills." + +"Two-Bits it is!" the girl cried, scanning his face in amazement at its +color and contour. "I couldn't call you mister, Two-Bits. We're going +to be too good friends for that!" + +"Oh my gosh!" giggled the flustered cowboy and turned away, seeking +refuge in the bunkhouse. + +"You talk about me bein' got up by a feller that draws pictures, Tom," +he said to Beck. "Holy Tin Can, you ought to see her! Why, this feller +that paints them girls for these here, now, magazines painted her! She +looks like she walked right out of a picture, with blue eyes an' yeller +hair an' all pink an' white. An' friendly.... Oh my, I'll bet she makes +this outfit take notice!" + +Old Carlotta, the half-breed Mexican woman who had been housekeeper at +the HC for years had come from the house to greet her new mistress. +The trunks were carried in, the buckboard departed for its twenty-five +mile trip back to town and the riders who had been at work further down +the creek straggled in to hear the first tales of their new boss. + +Conjecture was high as to her plan of procedure. + +"It won't take long for things to happen. You can bank on that," Jimmy +Oliver declared. "She ain't our kind of a woman an' the good Lord alone +knows what notions she'll have, but she'll get busy! She's that kind." + +He was not wrong for just as the sun was drawing down into the hills +Carlotta appeared at the bunkhouse. + +"Miss Hunter, she want to spik to Seņor Dad an' Beck an' Jimmy an' +Curtis," she said. "Right away, quick-_pronto_." + +"This must be a mass meetin' with th' rest of us left out," Two-Bits +said. "I'd give a dollar to look at her again ... clost up. I'll bet I +wouldn't be _afraid_ to look next time." + +The four men summoned went immediately to the big house. Beck lagged a +trifle and it was certain from his manner that his curiosity was not +greatly excited. He appeared to be amused, for his black eyes twinkled +gaily, but as they passed through the gate they set their gaze on the +back of Hepburn's broad neck and a curious speculation showed in them. + +Jane Hunter was waiting on the veranda which ran the length of the +ranch house and without formalities began her explanation. + +"You all know the situation, I believe. My uncle left me this ranch and +I have come from New York to take possession. How long I remain depends +on a number of things, but I find that for the present at least, I must +conduct my own business. For the last four weeks, since the property +came to me, it has been in the hands of Mr. Alward, the attorney in +town. I arrived yesterday expecting to have his help, but his doctor +has sent him into a lower altitude because of some heart difficulty and +I'm alone on the job with nothing to guide me but a lengthy letter he +wrote. + +"I know little about business of any sort, I know nothing at all about +ranching, so I have a great deal to learn. I do know that the first +thing I need is an actual head for this place and that is why I called +you here: to select a ... a foreman, you call him? + +"Mr. Alward left word that any one of you four men would be competent +and I'm going to choose one of you by chance: Understand, this is no +guarantee to keep whoever is chosen on the job for any length of time, +but I don't care to take the responsibility of handling the men myself, +as my uncle and as Mr. Alward have done. Some one must do this and +until I learn enough to know what I want I will be dependent upon +whomever is selected." + +She had spoken rapidly, at no loss for words, without a trace of +hesitation or embarrassment, looking intently from face to face, +studying the men as she explained her plan, but as she paused her eyes +were on Beck's eyes and their gaze was arrested there a moment as +though it had encountered something not usual. + +"I am going to need all your help and all the suggestions that you can +give me,"--with a slight gesture to include the four, though she still +looked straight at the tall Westerner,--"but I feel that at first there +must be system of some sort, a man at the head of the organization. I'm +going to let you draw straws for the place." + +The men stirred and looked at one another. + +"That's fair enough," said Dad, with just a trace of indecision in his +voice. + +"For us," commented Curtis, a lean, leathery man. + +Jane stooped and picked up an oat straw. She broke off four pieces and +placed them tightly between her thumb and palm. + +"Now, draw!" she directed, with a smile, holding them toward Curtis. +"The lucky straw will be the shortest." + +Curtis silently selected one of the bits. Then Jimmy Oliver drew and +the two stood eyeing the lots they had picked. Hepburn had cleared his +throat twice rather sharply when the drawing commenced and as he +stepped forward at her gesture he manifested an eagerness which did not +quite harmonize with his usual deliberation. He drew, eyed his straw +and glanced sharply at those held by the other two. + +Beck had not moved forward with the others, but stood back, thumbs +hooked in his belt, his eyes, which were mildly smiling, still on the +girl's face. She looked at him again and saw there something other than +the interest that approached eagerness which had been evident in the +others; she read another thing which caught her attention; the man was +laughing at her, she felt, laughing at her and at the entire +performance. It seemed to him to be an absurdity and as she searched +his expression again and perceived that this was no bucolic whim but +the attitude of a man whose assurance was as stable as her own the +smile which had been on her face faded a degree. + +"Now it is your turn ... the last straw," she said to him. + +"Thank you, ma'am," he replied in an even, matter-of-fact voice, though +that annoying smile was still in his eyes, "but I guess you can count +me out." + +She lowered the hand which held the straw. + +"You don't care to draw?" + +"That's what I meant, ma'am." + +"And why not?" + +She was piqued, without good reason, at this refusal. + +"In the first place, ma'am, I've never taken a chance in my life, if I +knew it. I've tried to arrange so I wouldn't have to. I'm a poor +gambler." + +A suggestion of a flush crept into the girl's cheeks, for, though his +manner was all frankness, he gave the impression that this was not his +reason, or, at least, not his best reason; he seemed, in a subtle +manner, to be poking fun at her. "Besides," he went on, "pickin' at +pieces of straw don't seem like a good way to pick men." + +"You understand why it is being done that way?" Though her manner did +not betray it, she felt as though she were on the defensive. + +"Yes, ma'am. I wasn't reflecting on you especially. I was thinkin' +about your lawyer. But you won't be so very mad, if I ain't crazy to +take a chance, will you? If anybody wants to know whether I can hold a +job or not, I'd sooner have 'em ask about me or try me; when it comes +to drawing lots I'll have to be counted out." + +His eyes had been squarely on hers throughout and when he ceased +speaking they still clung. Beyond a doubt, she reasoned, that flicker +in them was amusement and yet she felt no resentment towards him; was +not even annoyed as she had been at his first refusal. It was +interesting; it impressed her with a difference between him and the +three who had drawn. For a moment she was impelled to argue; she wanted +that man to help her more than she wanted to retain her poise ... just +an instant. + +Abruptly she turned to the others. + +"Very well, we will see who did win." + +The four drew close together and measured. + +"Mr. Hepburn's is the shortest!" she cried; then looked at the fourth +straw she still held. It was shorter by half an inch. + +"You would have drawn well," she said to Beck, holding it up. + +"So it seems, ma'am," he answered, but she noticed that he did not look +at her. His eyes were on the new foreman's face, which was flushed with +the depressions beneath the eyes puffed a bit. He was nervously +breaking to shreds the straw which had won the place but about him was +a bearing of unmistakable elation and something in his eyes, which were +small, and about his chin suggested greed.... + +The four started away and Jane stood watching them. Four! And one of +them was to be her deputy in life's first--and perhaps life's +saving--adventure. But she did not watch him, in fact, had no thought +for him. Her eyes followed Tom Beck until he was out of sight and as +she turned to enter the house she said: + +"But he looks as though he might take a ... long chance...." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +MY ADVICE, MA'AM + + +He stood on a bearskin rug before the blazing fire, hat in hand, boots +polished, tall and trim with his handsome head bowed just a trifle. The +blazing logs gave the only light to the place and his bronzed face was +burnished by their reflection. + +"You sent for me?" he asked as she came into the room. + +She advanced from the shadows and for a moment did not reply. She felt +that he was taking her in from her crown of light hair, down through +the smart, high-collared waist to the short, scant skirt which showed +her silken clad ankles and the modish shoes. His eyes rested on those +shoes. He was thinking that they were wonderfully plain for a city girl +to wear, at least the sort of city girl he had ever known. But they had +a simplicity which he thought went well with her manner. + +"I had planned on talking to Mr. Hepburn this evening," she said. "I +want to get all the information and all the advice I can from the +start. Carlotta said he had gone away, so, in spite of the fact that +you wouldn't gamble with me this afternoon, I sent for you. I think +that you can tell me many things I need to know. You don't mind my +asking you, do you? You don't feel that you'd be ... be taking a +chance, talking to me?" + +She took his hat. + +"Sit down," motioning to the davenport before the fire. "Would you like +to start with a drink?" + +"Why, yes," eyeing her calculatingly. + +"There's not much here. I slipped one bottle of Vermouth in a trunk. +I'll have to try to mix a cocktail in a tumbler and there isn't any +ice. It's likely to be a bad cocktail, but maybe it will help us talk." + +She walked down the long room toward the dining table and sideboard at +the far end and he heard glass clinking and liquids gurgling as he sat +looking about with that small part of a smile on his features. All +along the walls were books and above the cases hung trophies of the +country: heads of deer and elk, a pelt of a mountain lion and of a +bobcat, a pair of magnificent sheep's horns and a stuffed eagle. In the +low windows were boxes of geraniums, Carlotta's pride. + +"Here you are," she said as she returned, holding one of the two +glasses toward Beck, who rose to accept it. "My uncle left a very small +stock of drinks, but as soon as I know what I'm about I'll try to +remedy that defect in an otherwise splendid establishment." Her manner +was terse, brisk, open and her eyes met another's directly when she +talked. + +She lifted her glass to her chin's level and smiled at him. + +"To the future!" she said. + +His question was adroitly timed for she had just given the glass a +slight toss and was already carrying its rim toward her lips when his +words checked the movement. + +"I take it, ma'am, that you'll want this liquor to go where it'll do +your future the most good?" + +He looked from her down to the cocktail he held and moved the glass in +a quick little circle to set the yellow liquid swirling. His voice had +been quite casual, but when he raised his eyes to meet her inquiring +look the last of a twinkle was giving way to gravity. + +"You mean?..." + +"Just about what I said: that you'd like to have this brace of drinks +do your future some good?" + +"Why, yes, that was my intention. Why?" + +"You called me down here to get a little advice. Let's commence here." + +He reached out for her glass in a manner which was at once gentle and +dominating, presumptuous but unoffending, with a measure of certainty; +still, by his face, she might have told that he was experimenting with +her, not just sure of how she would react, not, perhaps, caring a great +deal. His fingers closed on her glass and she yielded with half +laughing, half protesting astonishment. He took both glasses in one +hand, moved deliberately toward the hearth and tossed their contents +into the flames. He then set the empty tumblers on the mantel and +turned about with a questioning smile on his lips. + +The sharp, slowly dwindling hiss of quenched flame which followed +completely died out before she spoke. Color had leaped into her cheeks +and ebbed as quickly; her lips had shut in a tight line and for a +fraction of time it was as though she would angrily demand explanation. + +But she said evenly enough: "I don't understand that." + +"I'm glad you didn't show how mad it made you," he replied. + +"But why.... What made you do it?" + +"You said, you know, that you wanted that liquor to go where it'd help +your future. I thought the fire was about the best place for it under +the circumstances." + +"But why di--" + +"And I believed you when you said you had a lot to learn and that you +called me down to start the job. You have a way of makin' people think +you mean what you say. I'm mighty glad to give you advice; I thought +this was a good way to begin." + +Jane gave a queer laugh and sat down, looking blankly into the fire. +She turned her face after a moment and found him studying her as he sat +at the other end of the davenport. + +"I understand your meaning," she said, "but you're as startling in your +actions as you must be in your reasoning. You didn't object to the idea +of a drink; I didn't think many of you people did out here." + +"We don't, ma'am. Most of us drink our share. I do." + +"But just now you threw yours away." + +"You see, I was bound to throw _yours_ away. It wouldn't have been +polite, would it, for me to drink and not let you?" His smile mocked +her. "Besides," dryly--"I ain't much on these fancy drinks. You warned +me that it wouldn't be so very good anyhow." + +She stared at him in perplexity. + +"You have no scruples against drinking?" + +"Moderate drinking; no." + +"Then why did you take this liberty with me?"--suggesting indignation. + +"You see, you're a woman. You guessed a minute ago that there wasn't +much objection to hard liquor here. I told you you were right; most of +us boys drink, but we can afford to and you can't." His manner was +light, almost to the degree of banter, as if that which had aroused her +was the simplest of matters. + +"A man in this country don't build a reputation on many things. So long +as he's honest, he gets along pretty well. But a woman: that's +different. She has to make people know she's right in everything she +does." + +"An occasional drink will make her less right?" + +"Not a bit less, ma'am, but it won't help other folks to know she's +right. And that's all that counts. Everybody, man or woman, who comes +into the west has to make or break by what he does here; nothin' that +has been, good or bad, matters. They commence from the bottom again and +by what they do people judge them. + +"Reputation is the first thing you've got to make for yourself. +Everybody is watchin' you: the boys here on the ranch, the neighbors +down creek, the people in town. You've got to show that you're honest, +that you've got courage; if you were a man it could stop there, but +you're a woman an' that makes it.... + +"Well, men out here expect things from a woman that I guess men in +cities don't think so much about and you might as well know now as any +time that men in this country don't like to see a woman do some of the +things they do. We ain't as polite as some; we ain't as gentle, when +it's necessary to act quick and for sure, but maybe we make up for some +of our roughness in the idea we have of women. We think a good woman is +about as fine a thing as God has made, ma'am, and we have our ideas of +goodness. + +"You see, you've got to handle men; you've got to have their respect +and you won't have their respect if you don't understand how they +think, and then act accordingly. + +"Besides, you're on a job that's going to take all the brains and grit +and strength you've got. Booze never helped anybody on a job like that. +If you was a man and your job was just ridin' after cattle it'd be +different. But neither one is the case.... + +"My advice, ma'am!" + +She watched his face a moment before saying: + +"As long as I can remember, women about me have been drinking. Ever +since I grew up I've been drinking. I've never taken too much; I've +never needed it; I've done it because ... because it was being done." + +"Yeah. Well, it ain't done here. It's a new country and a new life for +you and one of the first things you've got to learn is how to get on +with people. Maybe back east some of the folks wouldn't respect you if +you didn't drink. There are folks like that, who think it's smart to do +certain things, and maybe there are a lot of 'em like you, who don't +need it, don't even want it, but they do it because of their +reputations. + +"You see, it's the same rule workin' backwards out here." + +The girl moved to face the fire again. She scowled a trifle and the +glow on her cheeks was not wholly due to the reflection of the blazing +logs. + +"Did it ever occur to you that there might be people who gave little +attention to what others think of them?" she asked rather coldly. + +"Sure thing! There are lots like that." + +"I can see where, if a stranger were to plan to stay in a place like +this for long it might be expedient to ... to cater to the community +morals. I don't intend to be a permanent resident. That is, I won't if +I can help it. I don't expect that I'd ever come up to your notion of a +worthy woman,"--a bitterness creeping into the voice--"so perhaps it is +fortunate that I look on this ranch only as means to an end." + +"You mean, money, ma'am?" he asked, and when she did not reply at once +he went on: "Folks generally come west for one of three reasons: money +or health or because they like the country. I take it your health's all +right ... and that you ain't just struck with the country." + +She made a slight grimace and sat forward, elbows on knees. + +"Yes, money!" she said under her breath. "I came here to get it. I'm +going to." She looked up at him quickly, eyebrows arched in a somewhat +defiant query, and, after a pause, went on: "You don't seem to approve?" + +"No, ma'am," candidly, that smile only half hidden in his eyes. + +"And why not? What else is there out here for a woman like me?" + +"That's a hard question. One thing she might find is herself, for +instance." + +She gave a startled laugh and asked: + +"Herself?" + +"The same, ma'am. I s'pose there are folks who live for money and what +it'll bring 'em. Cities must be full of 'em, or there wouldn't be so +many cities. Folks do work pretty hard to make money an' pile it up, +but I've never seen any of 'em that got to be very successful in other +ways. The more money they made the more they seemed to depend on makin' +money to attract attention. They don't seem to think that it ain't what +a man does that really counts so much as what he is. The same goes for +a woman." + +She sat back, brows drawn together. + +"Are you trying to preach to me?" she asked sharply. + +Beck laughed lightly, as though that obvious hurting of her pride +delighted him. + +"Not just, ma'am. Preachers hammer away at folks about sin and such. I +hadn't thought about you as a sinner; I was just considerin' you and +your job; and what you say brought you here. + +"It's none of my business what you want to get out of life. You told me +what you wanted and asked me if I didn't like it, and I don't. That's +all. + +"It seems to me that everybody who's alive ought to want to get the +best out of himself and I don't think you can do it by just tryin' to +herd dollars." He divined in her retort what she was withholding. +"Sure, I'm only an ordinary cowpuncher, ma'am. I don't seem to care +much about any kind of success but I'm afflicted like everybody else: +I'm a human being, and every one of us likes to pick on the faults he +finds in others that correspond to his own faults.... + +"You see, you've got a big chance here. You've got a chance to be +somebody. This is one of the biggest outfits in this state. All this +country out here has been this outfit's range for years. You ain't got +a neighbor in miles because you amount to so much. Away down Coyote +Creek, 'most thirty miles, is Riley's ranch, an' close by him is +Hewitt's. Off west an' south is Pat Webb's who, far as you're +concerned, might better be a good deal further west," dryly. + +"Your uncle an' Riley was the first in here. Why, ma'am, they had to +fight Indians to protect their cattle! They made names for 'emselves. +They made money, too, or at least your uncle did, but he wasn't +respected just because he made money. Men liked him because he +_did_ things. + +"Men will like you if you do things, ma'am.... Perhaps you'll like +yourself better, too." + +He looked into her eyes and their gazes were for the moment very +serious. Jane Hunter was meeting with a new sense of values; Tom Beck +had sensed a faint recklessness, a despair, about her and, behind all +his mockery and lightness, was a warm heart. Then she terminated the +interval of silence by saying rather impatiently: + +"That's all very interesting, but what you said about my needing my +brains and my grit is of greater interest. Do you mean that it's just a +big job naturally or that there are complications?" + +"Both." + +"How much of both?" + +Beck shoved a hand into his pocket and gave his head a skeptical twist. + +"That remains to be seen. It's a man's job to run this place under +favorable conditions. Your uncle, Colonel Hunter, sort of got shiftless +in the last years. He let things slide. I don't know about debts and +such, but I suspect there are some. There are other things, though. +You've got some envious neighbors ... and some that ain't particular +how they make their money,"--with just a shade of emphasis on the last. + +"You mean that they steal?" + +"Plenty, ma'am." + +"But how? Who?" + +"I don't know, but it seems to be gettin' quite the custom here to get +rich off the HC ... especially since the place changed owners." + +"Why at that particular time?" + +"Since it got noised about that a woman was goin' to own it there's +been a lively interest in crime. I told you that your uncle was a man +who was respected a lot. Some feared him, too." + +"And they won't respect me because I'm a woman?" + +"That's about it. It's believed, ma'am, that a woman, 'specially an +Eastern woman, can't make a go of it out here, so what's the use of +givin' her a fair show?" + +He waited for her to speak again but she did not and he added with that +experimental manner: + +"So, maybe, if you want to make money, it'd be well to find a buyer. +Maybe if you was to take an interest in this ranch and did want to be +... to stay in this country, you couldn't make it go." + +"Do you think that's impossible?" + +He waited a moment before saying: + +"I don't know. You don't make a very good start, ma'am." + +"At least you are deliciously frank!" + +"It pays; it does away with misunderstandings. I wouldn't want you to +think--since you've asked me--that I believed you could make a go of +this ranch, even if you wanted to." + +That stung her sharply; she drew her breath in with a slight sound and +leaned quickly forward as if ready to denounce his skepticism, but she +did not speak. + +She only arose impatiently and walked to the mantel. + +"Do you smoke?" she asked, holding out a box of cigarettes. + +"Yes; do you?" + +"Yes." + +In the word was a clear defiance. She struck a match and held it +towards him; then lighted her own cigarette. + +Seated again, she stared into the fire, smoking slowly, but as his eyes +remained fast on her the color crept upward into her cheeks, higher and +brighter until she turned to meet the gaze that was on her and with a +bite to the words asked: + +"You don't approve of this, either?" + +"Why, ma'am, I like to smoke." + +"But you stare at me as though I were committing a crime." + +"You see, you're the first good white woman I've ever seen smoke." + +"You--" She checked the question, looked at him and then eyed her +cigarette critically. + +"I don't suppose women out here do smoke, do they?" + +"No, ma'am; not much." + +"And you men? You men who drink and smoke don't want the women to enjoy +the same privilege?" + +"That appears about it." + +She did not answer. He rose and looked down upon her. One tendril of +her golden hair, like silk in texture, caressed her fine-grained cheek, +delicately contrasted against its alluring color. He would have liked +to press it closer to the skin with his fingers ... quite gently. But +he said: + +"I guess you and I don't understand each other very well, and, if we +don't, it ain't any use in our talking further. As for advisin' you +about your business...." + +Jane blew on her ash. + +"I just tried to show you how to start right, accordin' to my notion, +and if it made you mad I'm sorry. + +"After all, it don't make so much difference what other folks think of +us. It's what we think of ourselves that counts most, but none of us +can get clear away from the other _hombre's_ ideas." + +That twinkle crept back in to his eyes. Her little frame fairly +bristled independence and self-sufficiency; it was in the pert set of +her head, the poise of her square shoulders, the languid swinging of +one small foot. + +"I think that you think a lot of yourself, ma'am. That's more 'n most +folks can say." + +She rose as he reached for his hat. + +"I'm glad to have your opinion on the proportions of my job," she said +briefly, "and for that I am glad that you came in." + +The oblique rebuke could not be misunderstood. + +"I'm complimented," he replied, and, although she looked frankly and +impersonally up at him, she had a quick fear that despite her assurance +this man was leaving her with a strange feeling of inferiority, and +when he went through the doorway into the night she was quite certain +he was smiling merrily. + +She stood until the sound of his footsteps dwindled, then turned to the +table and stood idly caressing the wood. Her fingers encountered +something which she picked up and examined, at first abstractedly. It +was a bit of straw, the one Beck had refused and, which drawn, would +have made him her right hand man. She moved towards the fire to toss it +into the flames; checked herself and, instead, put it between the +covers of a book which lay handy. + +She stood on the stone hearth thinking of what he had said, cigarette +smoke curling up her small hand and delicate wrist. The offended +feeling subsided and, wonderingly, she tried to restimulate it; the +sensation would not return! Of a sudden she felt small and weak and of +little consequence. + +So he doubted, even, that she could be herself! + +She dropped the stub of her cigarette into the fire and, frowning, +reached for another, and tapped its end on the mantel. She struck a +match and put the white cylinder to her lips. Then, quite slowly, she +waved the glare out and tossed the tiny stick into the coals. With a +movement which was so deliberate that it was almost weary she dropped +the unlighted cigarette after it. Slight as was the gesture there was +in it something of finality. + +The coals were dimmed with ash before she moved to walk slowly to the +window and look out. It was cold and still. + +A movement among the cottonwoods attracted her. A man was walking +there, slowly, as one on patrol. She watched him go the length of the +row of trees; then followed his slow progress back, saw him stand +watching the house a moment before he moved on towards the bunkhouse. + +She lay awake for hours that night, partly from a helpless rage and, +later, a rare thrill, a hope, perhaps, kept sleep from her mind. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE NESTER--AND ANOTHER + + +"Now about the men, Miss Hunter," said Hepburn. When he reached this +subject he looked through the deep window far down the creek and had +Jane known him better she might have seen hesitancy with his +deliberation, as though he approached the subject reluctantly. + +"How many will you need?" she asked. + +"Not many yet. Four besides myself. There's seven here now. That is, +there'll be six, because one is pullin' out this mornin' of his own +accord. We'll need more when the round-up starts, but until then--about +June--we can get along. The fewer the better." + +"That will be largely up to you. Of course, I will be consulted." + +"I guess we'll keep Curtis and Oliver. Then there's Two-Bits--" + +"Oh, keep Two-Bits by all means!" she laughed. "I'm in love with him +already!" + +"All right, we'll keep Two-Bits. As for the other, there's a chance to +choose because--" + +"Beck; how about him?" + +Her manner was a bit too casual and she folded a sheet of memoranda +with minute care before her foreman, who eyed her sharply, replied: + +"He's settled that for himself, I guess. He was packin' his war bag +when I come down here. I told him to come to the house for his time." + +"You mean he's leaving?" + +Hepburn nodded. + +"Why?" + +"Well, I guess his nose is out of joint at not bein' picked for +foreman." + +"But he wouldn't even draw. Said he wouldn't take a chance!" + +"I know. He appeared not to give a hang for the job, but he's a funny +man. He an' I never got along any too well. We don't hitch." + +"Is he a good worker?" + +"If he wants to be. He don't say much, but he always.... Why, he always +seems to be laughin' at everybody and everything." + +"I think _I_ could persuade him to want to work for me." + +"Perhaps. But then, too, he's hot tempered. In kind of bad with some of +the boys over trouble he's had." + +"What trouble?" + +"Why, principally because he beat up a man--Sam McKee--on the beef ride +last fall." + +"What for?" + +"Well.... He thought this man was a little rough with his horse." + +"And he whipped him because he had abused a horse? That, it seems to +me, isn't much against him." + +"No; maybe not. He beat him a sight worse than he beat his horse," he +explained, moving uneasily. "Anyhow, he's settled that. Here he comes +now, after his time." + +Jane stepped nearer the window. Beck approached, whistling softly. He +wore leather chaps with a leather fringe and great, silver conchos. A +revolver swung at his hip. His movements were easy and graceful. She +opened the door and, seeing her, he removed his hat. + +"I've come for my time, ma'am," he explained. + +"Won't you come in? Maybe you're not going to go just yet." + +He entered and she thought that as he glanced at Hepburn, who did not +look up, his eyes danced with a flicker of delight. + +"I don't know as I can stay, ma'am. I told your foreman a little while +ago that I'd be going. Somebody's got to go, and it may as well be one +as another." + +"Don't you think my wishes should be consulted?" she asked. + +He twirled his hat, looking at her with a half smile. + +"This is your outfit, ma'am. I should think your wishes ought to go, +but it won't do for you to start in with more trouble than's necessary." + +"But if I want you and Mr. Hepburn wants you, where is the chance for +trouble? You _do_ want him, don't you, Mr. Hepburn?" + +The older man looked up with a forced grin. + +"Bless you, Miss Hunter, yes! Why, Tom, the only reason I thought we +might as well part was because I figured you'd be discontented here." + +"Now! You see, your employer wants you and your foreman wants you. What +more can you ask?" the girl exclaimed, facing Beck. + +"Nothin' much, of course, unless what I think about it might matter." + +Her enthusiasm ebbed and she looked at him, clearly troubled. + +"I am not urging you to stay because I need one more man. It is +essential to have men I can trust. I can trust you. I need you. I ... +I'm quite alone, you know, and I have decided to stay ... if I +_can_ stay." + +She flushed ever so slightly at the indefinable change in his eyes. + +"You told me last night some of the things I must do, which I can't do +wholly alone. I should like very much to have you stay,"--ending with a +girlish simplicity quite unlike her usual manner. + +"Maybe my advice and help ain't what you'd call good," he said. + +"I thought it over when you had gone," she said, "and I came to the +conclusion that it was good advice." Her eyes remained on his, +splendidly frank. + +"Some of us are apt to be disconcerted when we listen to new things; +and, again, when we know that they come sincerely and our pride quits +hurting we're inclined, perhaps, to take a new point of view. I have, +on some things." + +His face sobered in the rare way it had and he said: + +"I'm mighty glad." + +Hepburn had watched them closely, not understanding, and in his usually +amiable face was a cunning speculation. + +"I wouldn't ask you to take a chance against your better judgment. If +you must move on, I'm sorry. But ... I need you." + +With those three words she had ended: I need you. But in them was a +plea, frank, unabashed, and her eyes were filled with it and as he +stood looking down at his hat, evidently undecided, she lifted one hand +in appeal and spoke again in a tone that was low and sweet: + +"Won't you, please?" + +He nodded and said: + +"I'll stay." + +"I'm so glad!" she cried. "And you're glad, aren't you, Mr. Hepburn?" + +The foreman had watched closely, trying to determine just what this all +meant, but not knowing what had gone before, he was mystified. At her +question he forced a show of heavy enthusiasm and said: + +"Bet your life!" Then looking up to see the tall cowboy eyeing him with +that half humorous smile, he rose and said: + +"Now we can start doing business. Tom, Miss Hunter wants a horse, says +she can ride and wants the best we've got, right off, to-day. There's +that bunch that's been ranging in Little Piņon all winter. Guess we'd +better bring 'em down this forenoon and let her pick one." + +They departed. They had little to say to one another in the hours it +required to gather the horses and bring them down, but when they were +within sight of the corrals Hepburn began to speak as though what he +had to say was the result of careful deliberation. + +"I don't want us to have any misunderstandin', Tom. This mornin' I +figured you wanted to move and I don't want any man in the outfit who'd +rather be somewhere else, so long as I'm runnin' it." He shifted his +weight in the saddle and glanced at Beck, who rode looking straight +ahead. "'Course, you and I ain't been pals. I've thought sometimes you +didn't just like me--" + +"I s'pose she'll want a gentle horse," the other broke in. + +"Prob'ly.... + +"You and I can be friends, I know. We can get along--" + +"Look at this outfit!" Beck interrupted again, this time with better +reason. + +Around the bend in the road appeared a queer cavalcade. It was headed +by a pair of ancient mules drawing a covered wagon, on the seat of +which sat a scrawny, discouraged man with drooping lids, mustache and +shoulders. To the wagon were tied three old mares and behind them +trailed a half dozen colts, ranging from one only a few weeks old to a +runty three-year-old. + +These were followed by a score of cattle, mostly cows and yearling +calves, and the rear was brought up by a girl, riding a big brown horse. + +She was young, and yet her face was strangely mature. She wore a hat, +the worse for wear, a red shirt, open at the throat, a riding skirt and +dusty boots. She was slouched easily in the saddle, as one who has +ridden much. + +Tom spurred ahead to prevent their horses from entering a draw which +opened on the road just where they must pass and as he slowed to a walk +and looked back he saw Hepburn making a movement of one hand. That hand +was just dropping to the fork of his saddle but--and he knew that this +may have been purely a product of his imagination--he thought that it +had been lifted in a gesture of warning. + +The foreman halted and the wagon stopped with a creak, as of relief. + +"Just foller on down and swing to the left. Keep right on. You'll pass +the state boundry," Beck heard Hepburn say. + +The wagon started again and Dad joined him. + +"Goin' some place?" Tom asked. + +"Utah. He was askin' the way." + +Just then the girl came within easy talking distance. + +"Goin' far?" Tom asked. + +"Not so very fur," the other replied sullenly and swung a worn quirt +against her boot. + +They rode on after their horses. + +"Nesters," Beck commented grimly. "They're a bad lot to see comin' in." + +"Thank God, they're headed for Utah," Dad replied. + +"Yeah. Utah's a long ways, though. The girl didn't seem to think they +was going so very far." + +The other made no answer and after a moment Beck said: + +"Notice the brand on them cattle? THO? That ain't a good neighbor for +the HC to have.... Unless it's an honest neighbor." + +"Well, they're goin' into Utah," Dad said doggedly. + +"You know, Hepburn, one of the first things I'd do if I was foreman of +this outfit?" Beck asked. + +"What's that?" + +"Take up the water in Devil's Hole. That's the best early feed this +outfit has got, but without water it's worthless. Nesters are comin' +in, which would worry me, if I was foreman. The Colonel had somebody +file on it once, planning to buy when he'd patented the claim. This +party didn't make good, and the matter dropped." + +The other did not reply for a moment, but looked hard at his horse's +ears, as if struggling to control himself. + +"I've already took that up with her," he said sulkily, and stirred in +his saddle. + +"If I wasn't foreman of an outfit, do you know what I'd do? I'd let the +foreman do the worryin'." + +Beck scratched his chin with a concern which surely could not have been +genuine, for he said: + +"Yeah. That's the best way. Only..." + +"Well, you had your chance to be foreman; why didn't you take it?" + +Beck pondered a moment. + +"In the first place I wasn't crazy wild to stay with this outfit, +'cause when I lift my nose in the air and sniff real careful, I can +smell a lot of hell coming this way, and I'm a mighty meek and peaceful +citizen. + +"In the second place, I don't care much about drawing the best job in +the country like I'd draw a prize cake at a church social." + +Hepburn sniffed. + +"You passed it up, though. Now, why don't you pass up worryin' about my +job?" + +Beck did not reply at once, but turned on the other a taunting, +maddening smile. + +"You're right. I passed it up, but there's something that won't let me +pass up the worry. + +"You know what that is,"--nodding toward the distant ranch house. "You +know she's in a jack pot. You heard her tell me she needed good men, +men she could trust, and the good Lord knows that's so. You know I +stayed on because she asked me like she meant it and not because I +fancied the job. + +"I've got a notion that makin' good out here means more to her than +making money; I like her style, and I like to help her sort if I can. +That's why I may do more 'n an ordinary hand's share of worryin'. + +"You know, somebody's got to,"--significantly. + +"What's meant by that, Beck?" Dad asked after a moment and the grit in +his tone told that the insinuation had not missed its mark. + +"If it was so awful hard for you to guess, Hepburn, I don't think you'd +get on the peck so easy. I mean that since she's asked me to stay and +work for her, I'm on the job. Not only with both hands and feet and +what head I've got, but with my eyes and my ears and my heart. + +"I don't want trouble, but if I've got to take trouble on, I'll do it +on the run; you can tie to that! I don't like you, Hepburn; I don't +trust you. Your way ain't my way--No, no, you listen to _me!_" as +the other attempted to interrupt. "A while back you was trying to talk +friendship to me when I'm about as popular with you as fever. I don't +do things in that style. I ain't got a thing on you, but if this was my +ranch I wouldn't want you for my foreman." + +"You mean you think I'd double cross her an--" + +"I don't recall bein' that specific. I just mentioned that I don't +trust you. There's no use in your getting so wrought up over it. I may +be wrong. If I am you'll win. I may be takin' a chance, which is +against my religion, but I'm here to work for this Hunter girl and her +only and it won't be healthy for anybody who is working against her to +bring himself to my notice. + +"I guess we understand each other. Maybe you can get me fired. If so, +that's satisfactory to me. So long as I'm here and working for you, +I'll be the best hand you've got. If you're lookin' for good hands I'll +satisfy you. If you ain't ... we may not get along so well." + +There was a seriousness in his eyes, but behind it was again the +flicker of mockery as though this might not be such a serious matter +after all. + +"We'll see, Beck," Hepburn said with a slow nodding. "We understand +each other. You've covered a lot of territory. Your cards are on the +table. Bet!" + +Tom stroked his horse's withers thoughtfully. He continued to smile, +but the smile was not pleasant. + +When they entered the big gate an automobile was standing before the +bunkhouse and after turning the horses into a corral they dismounted +and walked towards it. + +"Hello, Larry!" exclaimed Hepburn. "What brings you out?" + +"Nothin' much, judgin' by his conversation," replied the man who had +driven the car. + +"Visitor?" + +"Dude. Regular dude from N'Yawk, b' Gosh!" He spat and grinned. "Come +in yesterday and was busier 'n hell all day buzzin' around town. First +thing this a. m. he wants to come here. Great attraction you've got, it +seems." + +"The new boss?" + +"Th' same, indeed! I seen her. Quite a peach, I'll go on record. But +... Th' boys tell me she's going to run this outfit with her own lily +white hands." + +"So she says," replied Dad benevolently. "I think she'll do a good job, +too." + +"Like so much hell, you do! An' I hear you're foreman, Dad. You +figurin' on marryin' the outfit or gettin' rich by honest endeavor?" + +"Sho, Larry! You and your jokes!" the man grumbled good naturedly and +entered the building. + +"Well, if any of you waddies are calculatin' marryin' this filly you've +got to build to her. This dude sure means business. He's found out more +about the HC in one day than I ever knew. Besides, what I knew an' he +didn't he got comin' out. Sure's a devil for obtainin' news. + +"There he is now; see?" + +He gestured toward the ranch house where Jane and the stranger stood on +the veranda, the girl pointing to the great sweep of country which +showed down creek. Then they turned and reentered the house. + +"And so this is yours!" the man laughed. "Yours and your business!" + +"My business, Dick! For the first time I feel as though I had a real +object in living." + +He smiled cynically. + +"Jane, Queen of the Range!" he mocked. + +She did not smile with him, but said soberly: + +"I expect it is funny to you. It must be funny to all the old crowd. I +can hear them, as soon as they know that I have decided to stay here, +the girls at tea, the men in their clubs, talking it over. Jane Hunter, +burying herself in the mountains and _doing_ something, becoming +earnest and serious minded, getting up with the sun and going to bed at +dark! It is strange!" + +"It's too strange for life, Jane," he said, pulling up his trousers +gingerly and sitting on the davenport. He leaned back and smoothed his +sleek hair. "It isn't real. You're going to wake up before long and +find that out. + +"It was absurd enough for you to come here, but this preposterous +notion that you are going to _stay_.... Why, that's beyond words! +What got into you, anyhow?" + +He eyed her closely. + +"I don't know, yet. It's a strange impulse but it's real, the first +real thing that's ever gotten into me, I guess. I know only that ... +except that it is a pleasant sensation. + +"When I left New York I was desperate. I came here to take something +tangible that was mine and go back with it and now I've found out that +the thing I want is nothing that I can see or touch, that I can't take +it away with me. Not for a long time, anyhow. It isn't waiting +ready-made for me; I must create it from the materials that are in my +hands." + +He continued to look at her a thoughtful moment. + +"You've told me a lot about yourself and about this ranch and about +these men who are working for you. You've told me about this country +and, rather vaguely, about your plans. I suspect you don't know much +about them yet," he added parenthetically. "You've not asked a question +about New York, nor why I came." + +She picked a yellowed leaf from a geranium plant and turned to face him. + +"As for New York," she said with a lift of the eyebrows and a quick +tilt of her head, "I don't give a ... damn,"--softly. "As for your +coming, I didn't need ask. When a man has followed a girl wherever she +has gone, to sea, to other countries, for four years, there is nothing +surprising in the fact that he should trail her only two-thirds of the +way across this continent.... + +"But it's no use, Dick. I made up my mind that I would not marry you +before I came here. I tried to convince you of the honesty of my +purpose in my last letter, but perhaps I failed because I wasn't truly +honest with myself then. I thought I was through, but, in reality, I +was only planning a variation of the old way of doing things. + +"Now I'm finished, absolutely, with the rot I've called life!" + +She lifted her chin and shook her head in emphasis. The man laughed. + +"You amuse as much as you thrill me," he said, looking at her hungrily. + +"That's a splendid way to help a fellow: to laugh at the first effort I +make to justify my existence." + +"I want to help you, Jane. I've always wanted to help you. I've put +myself and what I have at your disposal. I've not only done that, but +I've begged and pleaded and schemed to make you take them. You'd never +listen when I talked love to you. + +"You've always seemed to be a peculiarly material-minded girl and I had +to play on that. But when I've talked ease and comfort and luxury to +you, you know that I've meant more than just those things. It's been +love, Jane ... love in every syllable." + +He rose and walked to stand before her. + +"That hurt," she said, with a sharp little laugh. "That ... +materialism. But I believe it was only too true. It had to be, you see. +It was the only thing I could see to live for. There was the one thing +I missed, the thing I had expected to find. It was the thing you talked +about: Love. I wanted love, tried to find love and at twenty-five gave +it up. That's a horrible thing, Dick. Giving that up at twenty-five!" + +"But I have offered you love, continually, for four years." + +"Dick ... oh, Dick! You don't know what that means. You showed that +when you selected your tactics: trying to give me things that I could +taste and touch and see. + +"If it had been love, the real thing, that you felt, you'd have +overwhelmed me with it, you would not have allowed another +consideration to enter, you'd have swept me off my feet with making me +understand that it was love. You wouldn't have talked places and +motors, luxury and aimlessness." + +Her voice shook. She was hurt, bordering on anger. + +"You pass the buck," he retorted evenly. "You've told me, time after +time, that love didn't matter to you." + +"Not the sort you offered. It never could." + +"There's another kind, then?" + +"Somewhere,"--with an emphatic nod. + +"You think you can find the sort you're looking for here?" + +"I don't know. I haven't thought of that yet, but I know there is +something else I can find." + +"And that?" + +"Myself!"--stoutly. + +He threw back his head with a hearty laugh. + +"You talk like a convert, Jane!" + +"I am, Dick. Just that. I've seen the evil of my ways, I have seen the +light; I'm going to try to justify my existence, going to try to stand +for something, to be something, not just a girl with looks or with ... +money. + +"I may miss love entirely, but I have realized, all of a sudden, that +as yet I'm not fit for the love I wanted. Why, I have nothing to give +to a man; I would take all and give nothing. A woman doesn't win a true +love by such a transaction. If I can stand alone, if I can fight my own +battles, if I can overcome obstacles that are as real as the love I +have wanted, then I will be justified in seeking that love.... + +"And there's another consideration: If this thing I have wanted never +does come I have the opportunity of gaining all that you say you could +give me by my own efforts: the comforts, the material things. I +wouldn't be trading myself for them, you see; I'll be winning them with +my hands and what intelligence I may possess." + +"Are you sure of that, Jane? Are you sure that a girl who has never +done a tap of work in her life, who has not even talked business with +business men can come out here and beat this game? Oh, I know what I'm +talking about and you don't. I spent all yesterday in town looking up +this place because your letter was convincing in at least one thing. I +know your enthusiasm, when it's aroused. I know that you'd rush in +where a business prince wouldn't even chance a peek! + +"When men talk about you in town they grin. The bartender grinned when +he told me about you. The banker grinned. The man who drove me out +thought it was a fine joke! These men know; they're not skeptical +because they know you or your past, but they know the job and that +you're a stranger. That's enough. You can't beat another man's game." + +"I can try, can't I?" + +"But what's the use?"--with a gesture of impatience and a set of the +mouth that was far from pleasant. "You're doomed to fail and even if +you should hit on the one chance in a thousand of pulling through, what +would you get? Less than I can give you in the time it takes to sign my +name. You won't let me talk love and you don't seem to have much hope +that you ever will find the love you think you want, so let's put love +aside once more. Come with me, Jane. I'll give you all you could ever +hope to get here and without the cost of the awful effort anything like +success would require. + +"You've been bored, perhaps, and discouraged. You've taken this thing +as a ... a last straw. Won't you listen to reason?" + +"The last straw," she repeated. "Yes, I guess that is it. Dick, do you +know how close I came to letting you do the thing you want to do?" She +put the question sharply. "I'll tell you: Within three hundred dollars! +That's how close. + +"Oh, you don't know the game I've played. No one knows it. You all have +just seen the exterior, the show. You've never been behind the scenes +with me. + +"I never knew my mother. I never knew my father well. I don't know that +he cared much for me after she went; perhaps, though, he was only +afraid to bring up a girl alone. First, it was boarding school, then +finishing school, then a woman companion of the smart sort. Then he +died, and we discovered that his fortune was not what it had been, that +it was a miserable thing for a girl to depend on who had been trained +as I had been trained. + +"You met me soon after I was alone. I fell in with your crowd and they +picked me up. I didn't like them particularly and certainly I didn't +like their life, but it was the only one open for me. We lived hard, +heartless lives, made up of week-ends and dances and cocktails and +greed! + +"Materialism is the right charge! I was steeped in it; all those girls +were. It was the only thing any of us lived for. Girls sold themselves +for material advantage; they loathed it, most of them, but they lied to +themselves and tried to make the rest of us believe it was happiness. +They knew, and we knew what it was and we knew, too, that they were +helpless to do otherwise. + +"Then you came and made love to me on the same crass basis. I liked +you, Dick. I didn't love you. I cared no more for you than I did for +three or four men so I kept putting you off, never actually +discouraging you to a point where you would give up. I was simply +closing my eyes to the inevitable. + +"Now and then we met women, to us strange creatures, who did things. I +never can make anyone understand how inferior I felt beside them. Why, +I remember one little decorator who, because she was young and cheap, +came to do my apartment over. I had her stay for dinner and she was +quite overwhelmed with many things. + +"When she went away I cried from sheer envy ... and she was going down +somewhere into Greenwich Village to sleep in a stuffy little studio. +But she was _doing_ something. I used to feel guilty before my +dressmaker and even my maid. I didn't understand why that was, then; it +was not a sensation produced by reason; by intuition, rather. + +"And then I had to look at things as they were. I paid up everything +and totaled my bank balance. Every source of income I had ever had was +gone and I had left ... three hundred and two dollars. That was on a +Friday, the Friday of our last week-end party at the Hollisters' in +Westchester. + +"You talked to me again that night after we had been playing billiards. +Dick, I had made up my mind to take you up. The words were on my lips; +I was within a breath of telling you that it was a bargain, that I'd +sell myself to you for the things you could buy me.... + +"I don't know why I didn't. Maybe it was this part of me I had never +known until I came here, this part which enthuses so over what lies +before me now, the part that used to envy the girls who did things. We +went back to town and there was a letter for me from this little +frontier law office, telling me I had inherited this ranch. I didn't +sleep a minute. I was sole owner of a big business.... + +"I never can make you understand the relief I experienced! It meant +money and money meant that I could go on in the old way, putting off +the inevitable, blinding myself to what I actually was. + +"That was my motive in coming here: to turn this property into money. +And no sooner had I made the acquaintance of these people than I began +to learn that my point of view had been radically different from +theirs. I had thought that money would give me the thing I wanted, +independence and prestige; but I found that with them, with the best of +them, anyhow, that sort of standing was not considered. + +"The thing that counts out here is being yourself, Dick, in making a +place by your determination, your wits, by impressing people with the +best that is in you. Material things don't count in the mountains; that +is, they don't count primarily. They are nice things to possess but the +possession of them alone does not bring respect ... the respect of +others or self respect. That, I think, is what I want: respect. That is +what I am going to win. The only way I can win it is to establish a +place for myself by my own efforts. These men doubt that I can do it. +You are right, I believe, when you picture the whole country expecting +me to fail. Well, that's an incentive, isn't it, to do my best? That is +what I am here to do! + +"There, there's Book One." Then looking out into the country.... +"There's the rest of the story." + +The man did not reply for an instant but stood frowning at the floor. + +"And when you fail? What then?" + +She laughed almost merrily. + +"Don't say _when_ so positively! But if I should fail, Dick, I +might have to take you up! It might break my faith in myself because +it's a young, immature faith, but it will give me a chance, a few +months of seeing whether I'm of any account. It gives me a hope." + +As she spoke of her alternative a glimmer as of hope passed across the +man's thin, finely moulded face but he did not let her see. He shook +his head and said: + +"After this the first thing I need is a drink." + +"On the sideboard," she answered, "is my stock." + +He walked down the room and examined the bottles, then poured out two +drinks and returned with them. + +"Anyhow, we'll drink to your future, whatever and wherever it may be," +he said, cynical again. + +"That's kind of you, but I'm afraid you'll have to drink alone." + +She put the glass he had handed her on the table. + +"It's the first time I've ever seen you refuse a drink." + +"A record broken! That, like the rest of the old life, all belongs in +Book One." + +"You ... you never thought you used enough to hurt?" + +"No. I'm sure I never used enough to hurt my body. I never thought I +used enough to hurt anything about me ... until last night." + +"What made you change your mind?" + +She was half impelled to pass the question off, then said resolutely: + +"A man came here to talk to me, one of my cowpunchers. I made a +cocktail. He threw it away." + +"Well, that was a devil of a thing to do. Did you fire him, as he +deserved?" + +"No,"--deliberately, tracing a line on a rug with her toe and watching +it critically--"I took his advice. You see, the men out here expect +things from women that no one has ever expected from me before." + +He sneered: "Turned Puritan, Jane? A sweet thing to face, trying to be +other than yourself, confining yourself to the morals of the crowd." + +"Not just that, Dick. There's a sweetness about it, yes. As for morals: +we didn't discuss them at all.... + +"This man said that he supposed some people thought it was smart to +drink. That hit me rather on the head. We were, the smartest people in +New York, weren't we?" + +"Rot!" + +"Perhaps. It interested me, though, when I'd gotten over the first +shock. He said another thing that interested me; he said that I was the +first _good_ white woman he'd ever seen smoke." + +He laughed harshly. + +"At least he did you the honor to think you good." + +"Yes,"--still deliberately,--"and it was a novel sensation. It was the +first time any man had ever appealed to the commonplace thing in me +that we call womanhood. He wasn't preaching. It was a practical matter +with him.... + +"I don't think you'd understand this man, Dick. He takes little things +quite seriously and yet he appears to be laughing at the whole scheme +all the time." + +He put his glass down slowly. + +"Do you mean that one of these roughnecks has been making love to you?" + +"Oh, by no means. I don't think he even likes me and I want him to! +Why, this morning he was going away, was not even going to work for me, +and I had to beg him to stay. + +"Dick, you don't understand! This man is so different from you, from +me, from all of us. Rough, yes, but I don't think he'd try to buy a +woman. And if he should I'm sure he'd be most frank about it; he +wouldn't hide behind words." + +She looked hard at him and though she smiled her words stung him, but +before he could break in she went on: + +"When I sat here having him talk to me last night I had that dreadful +inferior feeling again, felt as though I weren't up to the standard of +good women that these roughnecks hold. I can't explain it to you +because you wouldn't let yourself understand. I was furious for a time, +but he was right, according to his way of thinking. + +"That way is going to be my way,"--with growing firmness. "I'm playing +a new game and I must play it according to the rules. I did more than +make up my mind to leave the drinks and cigarettes alone. I resolved +that I'd try to be worthy in every way of the respect I want these men +to have for me!" + +"Because this Westerner doesn't approve of the way you have lived?" + +"Yes. He knows the rules of the new game." + +"Jane, I'm going to stop this foolishness!" He advanced to her and +caught her hands in his. "I love you, I love you! I'm not going to see +you losing your head this way!" + +She struggled to withdraw her hands. + +"No, I'm going to hold you, going to keep you. I'm--" He drew her to +him roughly, but she slipped from the clasp of his arm and backed +across the room, her hands still imprisoned in his. + +"Dick!" + +It was not her cry which caused him to halt. It was a step outside the +door and, standing there, her hands in his, he met the level, amused +gaze of Tom Beck. + +Jane turned from him and he let her go without attempt to restrain her +further. + +"Ma'am, the horses are here. Your foreman said to tell you." + +His face lost a measure of its lightness as he stood hat in hand, +looking from the man whose face was lined with passion to the girl, +flushed and a bit breathless. + +"Very well.... And thank you. I'll be out soon." + +He stood a moment irresolute, as though he thought his presence might +be needed there. Then turned and walked away. + +"Your help seems rather unceremonious," Hilton remarked. + +"Thanks for that! What if he had seen more? Dick, are you beside +yourself? You call this love?" + +"It proves that it's love," he replied tensely. "You set me wild with +your vagaries, Jane! You--" He checked himself and, with an obvious +effort, smiled. Then went on with voice and manner under control: "You +see, I am much in love with you and losing you for only a little while +puts me a bit off my head. + +"I have wanted you for four years and I'm jealous of the months, even +the weeks. I'm sure, but that doesn't help much." + +"Sure? Of what?" + +"Of you." + +"And why?" + +"Because I know you. You confessed your weaknesses just a moment ago. +You know as well as I that you're without foundation, without +background in this experience. Why, Jane, if you'd been capable of +fighting your own battles, you'd have forced the issue long before it +was necessary, but you are not. You need help, you need the faith of +other people. + +"Why, women like you weren't made to stand alone!" + +"Flattering!" + +"Yes, it is. You were made to be loved, to be protected, to have the +men take the knocks for you, you and all your kind. You were born to +lean and to make the lives of men worth while by leaning on them, never +to attempt to go your own way. You have always done just this and you +have admitted it, here, this afternoon. + +"Your wild wants, your absurd desires.... Everyone has them. That is a +rule of life: wanting to do the thing you are not fitted to do. You can +no more be a business woman than I can fly; you can no more cut +yourself away from your old environment and slip into this than one of +your cowpunchers could fit into my life. + +"Don't you see that you're risking disaster? In your old life you had a +belief in yourself; in this you think you have, but you have not, your +eyes will be opened and when you see that you have failed ... then you +will be a failure, and nothing is so hopeless as that realization. + +"You are weak, and I thank God for that weakness. You know that it is +either this, or me. You are trying this, trying to refuse me, but you +will come back to me just as surely as we stand together in this room. +You may come back without a shred of faith in yourself, but I have +faith in you, in the old Jane, the one I know and love, and I can bring +that back. The future won't be bad; it will be wholly good." + +His words were very gentle, his manner most kindly, but beneath it was +a scarcely detectable hardness, a deliberate, cold determination, and +perhaps it was this which struck a fear into the girl's heart. + +Weak? Surely, she was weak! Always had been weak, never had proved +strength by act or decision until now. And she did not know ... she did +not know.... + +"You are sure that I will come back?" she managed to say naturally +enough. "What if I should fail? Might I not try somewhere else?" + +"You might, if you were another sort. But you won't. And you will fail, +in spite of all you can do, Jane." + +She sensed clearly the harsh strength beneath his smooth manner; his +pronouncement had not been as an opinion; as a verdict, rather, and +ominous in its assurance. + +He picked up his hat and gloves. + +"I know; I know. It is of no use to argue with you. You must learn this +lesson by experience. It is going to be bitter, but I will do all I can +to make what waits beyond take away that taste, Jane. + +"I am not going away. I'm going to stay in this little town. After four +years of waiting and following I can well do that. Your world is there, +Jane, yours for the asking. There are the things you wanted; there is +the love you want if you only will see it." + +He left her then and when he had gone she felt a quick panic come. It +all seemed so absurd, her struggling in the things which held her back; +and his manner left her with a sense that he thought more than he had +spoken, that his assurance was founded well, that he would not be the +tacit waiter he had suggested. She knew his passion for her, she knew +his will and it came to her then that beneath his sleekness he was +ruthless. + +She stared down Coyote creek, not following him with her eyes. + +"The things I have wanted.... Yes," she thought. "But love: is that +anywhere?" + +The sound of the car departing roused her and she watched it go. Then a +commotion in the corral attracted her. She saw horses milling, saw Tom +Beck standing ready, rope in his hand; then, with a dexterous flip of +the loop, a slight, overhand motion, he snared a pinto and braced his +feet against the antics of the animal and held firmly until it had +quieted. + +She watched him go down the rope slowly, hand over hand, with caution +and assurance until he rested his fingers on the nose of the frightened +animal. A forefoot shot out in a lightning stroke at him but he did not +flinch. She saw that he was talking to the horse, gently, quietly, with +the born confidence of the master. + +"Anywhere?" she asked herself again, this time aloud, still watching +Beck. "Why,"--eyes lighting in surprise that was almost +astonishment--"it might be ... _might_ be!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE CHAMPION + + +Beck was still busy with the horses when Jane appeared, bareheaded and +clad in a riding habit. He had separated the unbroken stock from the +horses that had been turned loose for the winter and was playing with +these last, overcoming the shyness that months on the range had +engendered. + +As she stopped at the corral he walked toward her, studying her face. +There was no trace of confusion or embarrassment and for all he could +discern she might have had her mind on horses only since early +forenoon. That puzzled him because, though he was far from certain, he +had felt that the scene which he had interrupted had caused her +distress. Still, he reminded himself, this was not the type of woman he +knew. She was completely strange to him; good margin, that, for coming +to mistaken conclusions. + +"These, ma'am, are the gentle horses," he explained. "I cut 'em out for +you. They're some of the best you've got." + +"They're rough, of course," she remarked after eyeing the animals a +moment and he looked at her sharply because her manner was of one who +is familiar with horses, "but nothing here looks particularly good. Are +these all you brought in?" + +"I cut the rest into the little corral. There's some good ones there, +but they ain't gentle." + +They walked toward the other enclosure and at their approach the colts +gave evidence of alarm. + +"Now that brown horse's been ridden some--" + +"But what about the sorrel?" she broke in as a shapely head with a +white star between the eyes and a flowing forelock tossed back over +delicate ears rose above the mass of backs. + +"Him, ma'am? He's probably the best colt you own; got the makin's of a +fine horse, but he's a bad actor." + +Just then the crowding of the horses broke into a milling and the +sorrel came into full view. A beautiful beast with white stockings +behind, deep chest, high withers, short, straight back. + +"He's a beauty!" she declared. "He has bone and leg. He's gaunt now; +not enough belly, but I suppose that's because he's been on the range. +I like that square hipped sort when you can get its strength without +sacrificing looks." + +"You're acquainted with horses somewhat, I take it." + +"I've ridden some; hunted a little. Can you bring him out?" + +Beck entered the corral and roped the horse. For an instant he +resisted, head flung back and feet securely planted; then he came out +of the bunch on a trot. + +"He knows what a rope is. It don't take an intelligent creature, man or +beast, long to learn." + +The horse stood watching him suspiciously, ready to run if given the +opportunity. + +"Where shall we try him?" Jane asked. + +"In the big corral," he replied and led the sorrel through the gate. + +The colt, closely snubbed, stood trembling while the blanket was put +on; then flinched and breathed loudly as the weight of the saddle was +gently placed on his back. He stepped about and kicked as the cinch was +drawn tight and resisted a long time the efforts of the man to slip a +bit between his teeth. + +Jane stood by watching, her attention divided between admiration of the +man and the horse. The former was assured, gentle, positive in every +move; the latter alarmed, rebellious but recognized the fact that he +was under control. + +"Now, if you'll shorten the stirrups I'll try him," she said. + +"_You_'ll try him, ma'am? Why, this horse ain't been ridden three +times in his life. He'll buck an' buck hard." + +"So much more reason why I should try him. We spoke of reputations last +night; they can only be formed at the cost of knocks. There are many +things I must try to do out here; there are bound to be some that I +can't even try but this is not one." + +"But you--" + +"Must I order you to let me ride him?" + +There was no lightness in the question; she meant business, Beck +realized. And her bruskness delighted him for when he turned to give +the cinch one more hitch--his only reply to her question--he was +smiling merrily. + +It was not much of a ride as western riding goes. Beck blindfolded the +sorrel with the black silk scarf he wore about his neck, helped Jane to +mount, saw that she had both stirrups, took the rope cautiously from +the trembling bronco's neck and, at her nod, drew off the blind. + +For a moment the great colt stood there as if bewildered. Then, with a +grunt and a bound, he bowed his back, hung his head and pitched. + +"Keep his head up! His head!" warned Beck, watching with intense +interest. "Watch him...." + +The horse went straight forward for a half dozen jumps. Erect in the +saddle, sitting too far back, trusting too much to her stirrups, Jane +rode. + +The violence of the lunging jerked her head unmercifully but she had +her balance.... Until he sunfished, with a wrenching movement that +heaved her forward against the fork, dangerously near a fall. + +"Grab it all!" called Beck, not remembering that his injunction to hang +on was as Greek to her. "He--Look out!" + +With a vicious fling of his whole body the sorrel swapped ends and as +he came down, head toward the man, the girl shot into the air, turned +completely over and struck full on her back. + +Beck ran to her, heedless of the horse, which circled at a gallop. She +lay very still with her eyes closed; a smudge of dirt was on her white +cheek. He knelt beside her. + +"Are you hurt, ma'am?" he asked, and when she did not reply raised her +head to his knee. Her body was surprisingly light, surprisingly firm, +as he held it with an arm beneath her shoulders. He was fumbling with +her collar to open it, knuckles against her soft throat, when she +opened her eyes and gasped and coughed. She tried to speak but for a +moment continued to choke; then smiled and said weakly: + +"I didn't ... ride him." + +"But you made a fine try!" he said with more enthusiasm than she had +seen him display. "And I sure _am_ glad you ain't hurt bad!" + +She laughed feebly and he felt her breath on his cheek, for their faces +were very close; he felt his heart leap, too, and helped her up, saying +words of which he was not conscious. + +"I can stand alone," she said after he had steadied her an interval and +reluctantly he took his arm from about her. "I'd like to try him again." + +"But you're not going to, not to-day. I'm giving you that order,"--with +resolution. "I wouldn't want you to be hurt, ma'am. I--" + +He checked himself, realizing that he had become very earnest and that +she was looking straight into his eyes, reading the concern that was +there. + + * * * * * + +There was talk of that ride in the bunkhouse when the men came in. +Jimmy Oliver had seen from a distance and asked Beck for the story. He +related the incident rather lightly and ended: + +"Tried to keep her off him, but only got orders to take orders. If she +breaks her neck tryin' some such tricks, I wouldn't be surprised." + +"She appears to have sand, though," Oliver commented, as though he were +making a concession. + +Others had opinions to pass, briefly, to the point. Those men were not +given to accepting readily a stranger and this stranger, being a woman, +came to them under an added handicap. Where a man, inept and showing +the same courage, might have found himself quietly accepted, Jane's +attempt at riding was not received with noticeable warmth. The +performance was in her favor, and that was about all that could be said. + +A close observer might have noticed that Tom Beck gave attention +whenever another spoke of their new boss, as though deeply interested +in what the men had to say. Yet when he spoke of her, his manner was +rather disparaging. + +Mail had come in that afternoon and, a happening without precedent, +there were two letters for Two-Bits. The man, who could not write and +whose reading was limited to brands, never received mail and before he +arrived there was speculation as to the writer of the one letter. Of +the other there was no mystery because each man of the outfit had +received a similar envelope containing a circular letter from a boot +manufacturer. + +Two-Bits arrived late, riding slowly toward the corral with his eyes on +the ranch house for a possible look at his fair employer. + +"Mail for you, Two-Bits," Curtis remarked casually as he entered. + +The others concealed their interest while Beck handed the letters to +Two-Bits, who stood eyeing them gravely, striving to cover his +surprise. This could not be done, though, for his agitated Adam's apple +gave him away as he stood with a letter in each hand, looking from one +to the other. + +"I'll bet two-bits somebody's dead," he said with concern, then walked +to the window under a growing sense of importance at his deluge of +correspondence. + +He opened the letter which they knew contained the solicitation of the +maker of boots and all watched him as he stood scowling at it for +minutes. He folded the sheet with a sigh and stuffed it, with the other +letter, into his _chap_ pocket and walked thoughtfully to his +bunk, sitting down heavily, elbows on his knees. He shook his head +sorrowfully and made a depreciatory clicking with his tongue. + +"Boys, I always knowed that girl'd turn out a bad one! It's awful.... +An' her mother a lady!" + +For a moment their restraint held and then their laughter cut loose +with a roar. Curtis fell face down on his bunk and laughed until his +entire length shook. Jimmy Oliver gasped for breath, hands across his +stomach, and the others reeled about the floor or leaned against the +walls, weak with mirth. + +"It ain't nothin' to laugh at!" Two-Bits protested, but when he failed +to convince them of the gravity he shammed, he rose and permitted an +abashed grin to distort his freckled face, muttered something about +feeding his horse and walked out. + +It was Saturday evening in a season of light work and the social +diversions of Ute Crossing had called HC riders. Hepburn departed +early and after their horses had eaten Beck and Two-Bits rode out of +the ranch townward bound. Out of sight of the building Two-Bits said: + +"Tom, my eyes ain't very good. I'd like to get you to read this here +other letter for me." + +Beck knew that such confidence was high compliment for Two-Bits was +sensitive over his educational shortcomings, so he took the letter and, +after glancing down the single page, said: + +"This is from the Reverend Azariah Beal." + +"Oh, my gosh! That's my brother! What's the matter with him, Tom?" + +The other read as follows: + + +My dear Brother:--God willing, I shall visit you. I have often been +impelled to renew our fraternal relationships but my various charges +have demanded my sole attention. Now, however, I am on a brief sojourn +in the marts of trade and my interests call me in your direction. I +expect to arrive shortly after you receive this. May the Almighty guard +and bless thee and keep thee safe until our hands meet in the clasp of +brotherly love. + + +"Oh, my gosh!" cried Two-Bits again, Adam's apple leaping and his gray +eyes, usually so mild, alight with enthusiasm. "He's comin' to visit +me. Gosh, Tom, but he's a smart man! Ain't that elegant language? Say, +he's the smartest man in our family an' he's comin' clean from Texas to +see me." + +"How long since you've seen him?" + +"Oh, quite a while. Since I was three years old." + +"And how long ago was that?" + +"You got me. I heard about him. He's a preacher. My, oh my, but +_she_'ll like him. He's smart, like she is." + +His manner was high elation and he spoke breathlessly, and while they +trotted on he chattered in his high voice, eulogizing the virtues of +this brother he had not seen since infancy, regaling the other with +long and vague tales of his accomplishments. Pressed for details he +could not offer them because his knowledge of the relative had come to +him verbally through the devious channels of the cattle country, but +this did not shake his conviction that the Reverend Beal was peerless. + +Tom's mind was not on the extravagant talk of Two-Bits. Curiously, it +persisted in thinking of Jane Hunter. + +Two days before he had thought this girl from the east was a +rattle-brained piece of inconsequence with her selection of a foreman +by the drawing of straws. Now he was not so sure that she did not +possess at least several admirable qualities. He had offended her, +gently bullied her, only last evening; he had sensed the waning of her +own feeling of superiority, had understood that, behind her pique, she +took to heart the things he had said, things which he had said not +because he thought she should know them but because he wanted to see +how she would react to blunt truths. + +She wanted something very badly. Not money; that had been a means. +Perhaps it was that vague thing, Herself, of which he had spoken. He +did not understand, but he liked her determination.... And what was +this other stranger, this man, to her? + +He put his horse into a lope with a queer misgiving. He was taking this +woman seriously! He was saying slighting things about her and yet +hoping that other men would speak about her highly! He had never taken +many things--particularly women--seriously before and his experience +with women had not been meager. It frightened him.... + +They dismounted before the saloon which adjoined the hotel, eased their +cinches and approached the doorway. + +In the shadow of the next building two men were talking and Beck eyed +the figures closely. One, he knew, was Hepburn, and the other, from the +intonation of his cautiously lowered voice, he took to be Pat Webb, the +rancher of whom he had spoken to Jane Hunter, telling her that his +presence in the country was not an asset for her. + +He went inside, rather absorbed. Sam McKee was there, one of Webb's +riders, the one on whom Beck had inflicted terrible punishment for +cruelty to a horse. McKee looked away, a nasty light playing across his +gray eyes, but Beck did not even give him a glance. What was Hepburn +doing in close talk with Webb? he asked himself. For years Webb had +been under suspicion as a thief and a friend of the lawless. Colonel +Hunter had never trusted him, and now the foreman of the HC was +talking with him, secretly.... + +A moment later Hepburn entered and lounged up to the bar and shortly +afterwards Webb came in. He was a small man with sharp features and +bright, button-like eyes which roved restlessly. His skin was mottled, +his lips hard and cruel; his body seemed to be all nerves for he was in +constant motion. + +Webb ordered a drink and glanced about, eyeing Beck and Two-Bits with a +suggestive smile. He drank with a swagger and wiped his lips with a +sharp smack, still smiling as though some unpleasant thought amused him. + +A man at the far end of the bar moved closer to Hepburn. + +"How's the new boss?" he said with a grin, and Hepburn said, in his +benevolent manner, that he believed she would do very well. + +Others, interested, came closer and more questions followed. Then Webb +broke in: + +"I shouldn't think that you HC waddies 'uld be in town nights any +more,"--his glittering eyes on them rather jubilantly. + +The talk stopped, for Webb, unsavory as to reputation, was still a +figure in the country and his manner as he spoke was laden with +significance. + +"How's that, Webb?" Hepburn asked. + +"How's that!" the other mocked. "I've seen her, ain't that enough? +There's only two reasons why men want to come to this hole nights; +one's booze, an' th' other's women. You can carry your booze out home +an'--" + +He went on with his blackguard inference and when he had ended a laugh +went up, a ribald, obscene, barroom laugh. It had reached its height +when Tom Beck, whose eyes had been on Hepburn as Webb gave voice to his +insult, elbowed the foreman from his way and faced the one who had +occasioned that laugh. + +There was in his manner a quality which caught attention like nippers. + +He stood, forcing Webb to look into his threatening face a quiet +instant. Then he spoke: + +"That's a lie!" + +The bantering smile swept from the other's face and his mouth drew down +in a slanting snarl. + +"What's a lie?" + +"What you said is a lie, Webb, an' you're a liar--" + +The smaller man's hand whipped to his holster and Beck, breaking short, +closed on him, fingers like steel gripping the ready wrist. + +"Don't try that with me, you rat!" + +With a steady pull he lifted the resisting hand which gripped the gun +away from the man's side while Webb struggled, cursing as he found +himself unable to resist that strength. + +"Give me that gun!" + +Beck wrenched the weapon free. The group had drawn back and behind him +Sam McKee made a quick movement. Two-Bits, beside him, dropped his hand +to his hip and muttered: + +"Keep out of this!" + +McKee, hate flickering in his face, subsided, without protest, as a +craven will. + +Tom broke the gun and the cartridges scattered on the floor. He closed +it with a snap and sent it spinning down the bar, clear to the far end. +His eyes had not left Webb's face. + +"You're a liar," he said again quietly. "You're a liar and you're going +to tell all the boys here that you're a liar." + +"Don't tell me I lie!"--retreating a step as Beck's body swayed toward +him. + +"You lied," Tom said quietly, though his voice was not just steady. His +hands were clenched and he held them slightly before his body as though +yearning for opportunity to seize upon and injure the other. + +"What is it to you, anyhow, if--" + +"It's this to me, Webb: It makes me want to strangle the foul breath in +your throat! That's what it is to me an' before these boys I will if +you don't swallow your own dirty words just to get their taste. + +"I don't want to be a killer, even over such as you are, but you've got +me mad. We don't know an' nobody else knows how this girl's goin' to +make it in this country, but, by God, Webb, she's goin' to have a fair +chance. There ain't going to be any rotten talk that ain't called for +an' it ain't called for ... yet. + +"I expect I'd get into trouble if I killed you for this. There's just +one chance for me to keep out of trouble, and that's for you to say you +lied!" + +He moved closer as Webb retreated slowly, his spurs ringing ever so +slightly, yet their sound was audible in the stillness. + +"Say it!" he insisted. "Say it, you whelp!" + +Webb's face had gone from red to the color of suet and the blotches +stood sharply out against the pallor. His dirty assurance was beaten +down and before this man he was frightened ... and enraged at his own +fright. + +"Mebby I spoke too quick--" + +"You lied! Nothin' short of that! Say you lied and say it now.... +Quick!" + +He half lurched forward, lifting his eager, vengeful hands, when Webb +relaxed and gave a short, half laugh and said: + +"Have it your own way. I lied, I guess. I didn't mean--" + +"That'll do, Webb. You've said all that's necessary." + +He stood back and dropped his hands limply to his side, eyeing the +other with dying wrath. His gaze then went to Hepburn and clung there a +moment, eloquent of contempt and he might as well have said: "You're +her foreman. Why didn't _you_ take this up?" + +Then he moved to the bar and asked for a drink. Constrained talk arose. +Webb sulkily recovered his gun and stood close to Sam McKee, drinking. +From the doorway which led into the hotel office Dick Hilton turned +back, whistling lowly to himself, a speculative whistle. + + * * * * * + +Tom Beck rode home alone, hours before he had intended to leave town. +Why had he done that? Always he had disliked Webb but why had this +thing roused in him such tremendous rage? he asked as he unsaddled. + +He laughed softly to himself as though he had done something +ridiculous; then he strolled down toward the creek and stood under the +cottonwoods a long interval, watching a lighted chamber window. + +"You're a queer little yellow-head," he said aloud to that window. +"You're the kind that gets men into trouble, but maybe you're ... worth +it, a lot of it." + +He stood for some time, until his wrath had wholly gone and the mood +which sent merriment dancing in his eyes had returned. It had been a +day of understanding: he had broken down the barrier of deceit which +Hepburn had attempted to build, he had come to understand that there +was something strange in the pursuit of Jane Hunter by Dick Hilton, he +had understood that in his employer was at least a physical courage +which was promising, he had humiliated Webb and given the whole country +to understand that there should be no doubting of the new girl's +reputation. + +Of those incidents the only one now giving him concern was the attitude +of the foreman. His suspicion was strong, his evidence wholly +inadequate. + +Tom stood beside his bunk for a time. He had thrown down his gauntlet; +he had taken a chance. He might, from now on, face danger or +humiliation but he experienced a relief at knowledge that so far as he +was concerned there was no longer anything under cover. He did not fear +Hepburn or Webb so far as his own safety went. But there were other +things, he told himself. + +What _was_ up? Just what game would Hepburn play ... if any? And +who was that man from the East? To what was Jane's confusion due that +afternoon? Was it only embarrassment? Only? + +He dozed off and woke with a start. Again he felt the weight of her +body on his arm, again the warmth of her breath on his cheek. He lay +there with his heart hammering, then, with a growl, rolled over and +went to sleep. + +Well he could that night! But other nights were coming when he would +ponder the significance of Hilton, when the cloud which he then saw +vaguely over Jane Hunter's future would be real and appalling, when he +would actually feel her body in his arms, when her warm breath would +mingle with her warm tears on his cheek, when he would hope that death +might come to him as a tribute to her. Oh, yes, Tom Beck could put it +all aside and sleep this night, but there were others coming ... other +nights.... + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE COURTING + + +Jane Hunter was in work up to her trim elbows. She had little time for +anything else. Twice again Dick Hilton came to see her, riding a horse +in the second visit, but his stays were not lengthy ... and not +satisfactory, because the girl had little thought for anything but +ranch affairs. + +For long hours she sat at the desk which she had placed in a bay window +that commanded a superb view of far ridges and pored over records she +had found. She discovered a detailed diary of events for the past ten +years, a voluminous chronicle kept more for the sake of giving +self-expression to the old colonel than for an efficient record, but it +served her well as a key to the fortunes of the property. + +From time to time she sent for one of her men and quizzed him rigidly +on some phase of the work with which he was particularly familiar, +never satisfied until she had learned all that he could teach her. +Every evening Hepburn sat with her and discussed ranch affairs at +length, Jane forcing him into argument to defend his statements. + +While with the girl Dad maintained his paternal, patronizing attitude, +yet he was not content, as was evident from the moroseness which he +displayed before the men. He had been stripped of initiative until his +authority was reduced to executing orders; this, despite the fact that +Jane depended on him for most of her information. + +Beck watched the foreman's attitude carefully. Hepburn was chagrined, +yet dogged, as though staying on and accepting the situation for +definite purpose. It had been decided after Jane had argued away +Hepburn's objections that Beck was to have a free hand with the horses, +gathering the saddle stock and getting it in shape for the summer's +work, breaking young horses, watching the mares and colts. This made it +unnecessary for Beck to look to the older man for detailed orders and +delayed the clashes which were bound to come between them. + +Jane's approach to her responsibilities was considered admirable by the +men, but it occasioned little comment. Their judgment of her was still +suspended; that is, with the exception of Two-Bits. Her first look had +won him without reservation. + +"She's smart!" he declared at frequent intervals. "She's the smartest +girl I've ever seen ... an' the loveliest!" The last with a drop in the +voice which provoked laughter. + +Once he said to Beck: + +"My gosh, Tommy, how'd you like to have wife like her?" + +The other smiled cryptically. + +"Now you're gettin' into a profound subject," he said. "It ain't wise +to pick out a wife like you'd pick out a horse. There ain't much can +fool a man who knows horses when he looks one over careful-like, but +there's a lot about women that you can't know by lookin' 'em over and +watching 'em step." + +He was watching Jane "step" and though he still was the first to listen +when others spoke of her qualities his manner toward her was the least +flattering of any. + +After she had ridden the sorrel twice, each time accompanied by Beck or +Hepburn she sent Two-Bits to saddle him. + +"What you doing with that horse?" Beck asked, looking up from the hoof +of a colt which he pared gently to reveal some hidden infection. + +"She wants him to ride," the cowboy explained. + +"Goin' alone?" + +"Guess so." + +"Then take that saddle off and put it on the little pinto." + +"But she said to--" + +"Makes no difference. You take it off or I'll make you look like two +bits, Mex!" + +On finding her order miscarried Jane demanded explanation. + +"Tommy, he told me," Two-Bits said, uneasily. + +"But I ordered the sorrel--" + +"And I told Two-Bits to give you this paint, ma'am," Beck said, the +foot of the colt still between his knees. + +"And why?"--with a show of spirit. + +"Because you ain't up to him yet and he ain't down to you. If somebody +was with you, it'd be different. You can't ride him alone, ma'am." + +She gave her head an indignant toss and was about to demand the +execution of her plan but he turned back to his work, talking gently to +the animal. Then with a grudgingly resigned sigh she walked toward the +pinto, for there was something about Beck that precluded argument. + +Again she told him of a contemplated visit to the ranches further down +the creek. + +"Why, ma'am?" he asked. + +"There are many things to talk over, plans for the summer's work and +the like. Besides, I want to become acquainted." + +He smiled and said: + +"That last is fine, but I guess you'd better wait for the rest." + +"Wait? What for?" + +"Until you know, ma'am. You see, you've only been here a little while; +you've learned a lot, but you don't know enough to talk business with +anybody yet. It won't be good for you to go talking about something you +don't understand." + +"I think I am capable of judging that," she said bruskly. "I will go." + +But she did not. She had intended to go the next day but as she lay +awake that morning she told herself that he had been right, she did not +know enough about her affairs to discuss her relationships with +neighbors intelligently. She still smarted from his frankness, but the +hurt was leavened by a feeling that behind his presumption had been +thought of her own welfare. + +She tired quickly in the first days that she rode and once, remarking +on it, she drew this advice from Beck: + +"You'd do a lot better without corsets." + +Simply, bluntly, impersonally and with so much assurance that she could +not even reply. His observation had smacked of no disagreeable +intimacy. She had told him that she tired; he had given her his idea of +the cause. + +She took off her corsets. + +A day of cold rain came on; at noon the downpour abated for a time and +Jane asked Hepburn to ride down the creek with her to look over land +that was to be cleared and irrigated. + +"Have you got a slicker, ma'am?" Beck asked when she requested that a +horse be saddled. + +She had none. + +"There ain't an extra one on the place," he said, "so I guess you'd +better not go." + +"But the rain is over. Anyhow, what hurt will a wetting do?" + +"I don't guess the rain's all over," he said. "And to get wet and cold +ain't a good thing for anybody; it'd be a mighty bad thing for you. +You're a city woman; you can't do these things yet." + +An exasperating sense of inferiority came over her, bringing a helpless +sort of rage. This man was not even her foreman and yet he brought her +up short, time after time. She started to tell him so, but changed her +mind. Also, she changed her plans for the day. + +He was not rough, not obtrusive in any of this. Just frank and simple, +and when she bridled under it all she saw that twinkle creep into his +eye, as though she were a child and her spirit amused him! + +But she did more than amuse. She could not see, she could not know; +nights he roused from sleep and lay awake trying to fathom the +sensations he experienced; days he rode without sufficient thought for +the work that was before him. At times he was impelled to be irritable +toward her and this because his stronger impulse was to be gentle! + +He did not want to care for this woman and he found himself caring in +spite of himself! He rode to town and spent an evening with a waitress +from the hotel, taking her to a picture show, paying her broad +compliments, seeing her pride rise because of his attentions, and he +rode home before daylight, disgusted with himself. His life was being +reshaped, his tastes, his desires. His caution against taking chances +was being beaten down. + +She commenced to ride with him regularly and these rides grew longer as +she found her body becoming toughened and her endurance greater until +they were together many hours each day, until, in fact, escorting her +had become Beck's job. The ostensible purpose of this was to learn the +country and the manner of range work but though she did learn rapidly +their talk was largely personal. Beck was not responsive and the more +reserved he became the greater Jane's efforts to force him to talk of +himself. + +These efforts netted her little and after a time she gave up, +tentatively, and adopted other means of winning his confidence. + +Once she helped him gather a bunch of horses that had not been corraled +for seasons. The way led down a steep point and Jane was ahead, holding +up the bunch while Beck crowded them from behind. She took the descent +with a degree of hesitation for the going--so steep that she was forced +to clamp a hand behind her cantle to retain a seat--chilled her with +fear. On the level she fanned the sorrel and kept ahead of the horses +until she could lead them safely into a corral. + +The gate closed, Jane looked at Beck with sparkling eyes, expecting a +word of reward, but he only said: + +"You've got to keep goin' with horses. The country's all got to look +level to you. You slowed up bustin' off that point." + +The rebuke hurt her ... and stimulated her ambition. + +He taught her to use a rifle and she brought down her first deer, a +yearling buck, at long range. + +"I told you to hold just behind his shoulder; see where you hit," he +said, indicating the wound, a hand's breadth too far back. + +She shot with his revolver and he told her that she would never learn +to use the weapon. She bade him teach her the rudiments of roping and +he decried the woman movements of arms and body. + +In all this he was quick to criticise, niggardly of praise; ready to +teach, reluctant to grant progress. + +She was resentful but her resentment was no match for her +determination. Now and then his rebukes whipped flushes to her cheeks +and more than once she left him with tears standing in her eyes, only +to tell herself aloud that she _would_ make him acknowledge her +accomplishments.... + +Once, riding on alone after Jane had turned back toward the ranch Beck +encountered Sam McKee. The man had dismounted and was recinching when +Tom passed him. He looked up with that baleful expression, as though he +was impelled to do the HC rider great harm and held back only by his +cowardice. When Tom had passed McKee mounted and before he started on +his way he turned to shout over his shoulder: + +"Chaperone!" + +In it he put all that contempt which small, timid boys put into their +shouted taunts. + +Beck was not angered but that gave him something to think about. + +Another time as, on his roan, he led the sorrel toward the gate to the +houseyard he saw Hepburn smiling at him with scornful humour and when +the foreman saw that Beck had seen he said: + +"A regular chaperone, ain't you?" + +Tom did not reply though it roiled him. He thought about the remark at +length but the thing which interested him was that Hepburn had used the +same word that McKee had used.... Was that, he asked himself, mere +chance? + +They had ridden far to the eastward one afternoon and returning long +after dark Jane made a meal herself and they ate together at her table. +Beck was noticeably restrained and when finished hastened to leave. + +"Can't you sit and talk with me a while?" she asked. + +"I could, ma'am, but is it necessary?" + +"Not necessary to the business, perhaps, but it might mean a pleasant +evening for me." + +He gave her steady gaze for steady gaze and then said: + +"Anybody would think you were courtin' me, ma'am." + +She laughed easily, yet her gaze wavered. She asked: + +"And what if I should be?" + +This disconcerted him but he replied: + +"It's likely I'd quit." + +"I'm ... wholly distasteful to you, then?" + +"If I was to say yes, it'd hurt your feelings, needless. So I won't. I +don't mind tellin' you, though, that the country is calling me your +chaperone." + +"And does what people say worry you?" + +"Not when they talk about something that I'm responsible for. I didn't +hire out as a ... a companion, ma'am." + +She stepped closer, hands behind her and said: + +"The first time you talked to me at any length you had a great deal to +say about respect. No one had ever talked to me as you did. I took it +because it was true ... and I respected you. + +"Since that time I have been trying to be worthy of the respect of you +men; of yours particularly because you are the only one with whom I +have talked so frankly about myself. But at every turn you repulse me, +drive me back. Nothing that I do seems to be pleasing to you. You pick +on me, Tom Beck! Why do you do it?" + +He eyed her calculatingly. + +"What would you think if I told you that it was because I don't like +you?" + +"I would think it was not the truth." + +He flushed and this time his eyes fell from hers. + +"I would think just that, but I might be wrong." She breathed rapidly, +one hand on a gold locket that was at her throat. "I might think that +you fear that becoming my friend would be taking a chance ... but I +might not want to think that. + +"You were the first man who ever dared tell me just how little I have +amounted to. You are the first individual that ever made me feel +ashamed of myself. You did those things; you opened my eyes, you showed +me what real achievement is. + +"Now I'm fighting for a place. I have won one thing: my self respect. +Now I'm going to win another: the respect of other people and if I can +win their respect I can win their friendship. + +"I may be overconfident. Time will prove that. But there is one thing I +want, Tom Beck, and that is your friendship. Before I get through, and +if I succeed, you are going to be glad to be my ... friend!" + +There was challenge in her tone, which, withal its assurance, was sweet +and gentle, almost appealing; and that combination of qualities +indicated that her words did not express her whole thought. It steeled +him and with that mocking twinkle again he said: + +"You seem quite sure, ma'am." + +"As sure as I have ever been of anything in my life!" + +But her assurance did not compare with her desire, for when he had gone +she was seized with the fear that she had said too much, had gone too +far. And that which she had boasted would be hers was to Jane Hunter a +precious possession. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +OUTCASTS + + +At sunset a girl rider descended from the uplands into the shadows of +Devil's Hole. The big brown which carried her picked his way slowly +down the treacherous trail, nose low, ears forward, selecting his +footing with care. + +The girl sat braced back in her saddle. Her face was dark, eyes filled +with a brooding, but the mouth though sternly set showed a rueful droop +at the corners. + +Her mind was not on her progress. She was lost in a very definite +consideration, something which stirred resentment, it was evident from +her face. Finally she drew a sharp deep breath of impatience. + +"Oh, get along, you dromedary!" she muttered and rowelled her horse +sharply. + +The big beast sprang forward with a grunt and went down the trail in +long, shaking bounds, even more intent on his footing than before and +when they reached the level he crashed through the brush at a high +lope, leaping little washes with great lunges and bearing his light +rider swiftly toward the cabin from which a whisp of smoke curled. + +The discouraged looking man stood before the doorway watching her come +and as the girl swung down, before the horse was well halted, she +flashed a quick smile at him. + +"I heerd you comin', daughter, away back thar. I shore thought the +devil himself might 've been after you!" + +He smiled wanly. + +"I seen her again," the girl said as she dragged her saddle off. + +The man pulled languidly at his mustache. + +"She see you?" + +"No. I set under a juniper and watched 'em ... her an' that Beck man." + +"Mebby if you was to talk to her an' get friendly--" + +"I don't want to be no friends with her! I hate her already!" + +She spat out the words and her face was a storm of dislike. + +"What I meant ... mebby 't would be easier for us if you played like +you was friends. Then she mightn't suspect." + +She rolled her saddle to its side and spread the blanket over it. + +"No. I can't do things that-a way, Alf,"--with a slow shake of her +head. "Mebby 't would get us more ... but there's somethin' in me, in +here,"--a palm to her breast--"that won't let me. I can steal her blind +an' only be glad about it, but I couldn't make up like I was her friend +while I done it." + +"Mebby ... mebby you would sure enough like her," he persisted. "You +ain't never had no friends--" + +"I'd never like her, not while we're this way,"--with a gesture to +include the litter about the cabin. "She's got all that I want. She's +had all the things I've never had. She's got clothes, lots of pretty +clothes; she's lived in towns an's always had things easy. She's got +friends and folks to respect her. You can tell that by lookin' at +her.... + +"What makes me that way, Alf? What makes me hate folks that have got +the things I want?" + +He pulled on his mustache again and scanned the scarlet sky which rose +above the purple heights to the westward. He shook his head rather +helplessly and then looked at the girl who stood before him, the +eagerness of her query showing in her eyes with an intensity that was +almost desperate. + +"Mebby you get it from me. I've had it ... always. That's all I have +had ... that an' hard luck." + +"But I don't like it!" she said and in the tone was something of the +spirit of a bewildered little girl. "I'd like to be like other girls. +I'd like to have friends ... girl friends, but the more I want 'em, the +more I hate those that have 'em! + +"What's the matter with me, Alf?" + +"The same thing that's the matter with me, daughter: hard luck. I've +wanted things so bad that not hevin' 'em has soured me. I've watched +other outfits grow big an' rich an' nothin' like that has ever come my +way. The bigger the rest got, the harder 't was for me to get along ... +an' the worse I hated 'em!" + +There was no iron in his voice; just the whine of a weakling, +dispirited to a point where his resentment at ill fortune, even, was a +passive thing. + +"Why, she's got a fine house to live in, an' I'll bet she always had. +She's never knowed what it was to set out a norther in a wagon. She's +never lived on buckskin an' frozen spuds all winter. She's never been +chased from one place to another.... + +"Folks respect her for what she's got. Why don't folks get respected +for just what they are?" + +There was pathos in that query. + +The man answered: + +"It ain't what you are that matters, daughter. It's what you own." + +"You've always said that, ever since I can remember. Mebby if you +hadn't said it so much, Alf, I wouldn't feel like I do." + +He shifted his footing uneasily and looked again at the flaring sky. + +"Well, it's so," he whined. "You'd have found it out yourself. I've +brung you up the best I knowed how." + +"Oh, Alf! I didn't mean I was finding fault! Damned if you _ain't_ +brought me up good! Why, you're the only friend I got Alf! What'd I do +without you? You're the only one I've ever knowed ... real well. You're +the only one who's ever been good to me!" She put her hands on his +shoulders and looked into his face with a smile of genuine affection. +"Good old Alf! We've been pals, ain't we?" + +He nodded, and said: + +"An' if you stick to me a little mite longer, you'll have enough. + +"You're brighter'n I be, daughter. You got a longer head. Now's your +chanct to use it!" He looked about, somewhat nervously, as if they +might be overheard. "Sometimes I get afeerd. Lately, since we've come +here, I've been afeerd. It's the only time I ever let anybody else know +what my plans was an' it makes me feel creepy to think somebody else +_knows!_" + +"'Fraid of what, Alf?" she asked. + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"Gettin' caught again, an'--" + +"Oh, but you won't! You can't. Alf, you can't get caught an' sent to +jail an' leave me alone again!" + +She spoke in a whisper and gripped her fist for emphasis. + +"I shore don't want to leave you, daughter. I shore don't want to get +catched. That's where you come in ... helpin' me scheme! I ain't afeerd +of havin' 'em come up on me an' git me red-handed so much as I am of +havin' somebody else know what's goin' on." + +"But he sent for us. He told us the outfit was goin' to be owned by a +tenderfoot. He's as much in danger as we, ain't he?" + +Her father nodded slowly. + +"You're right ... in a way, but if it ever come to a show-down, I'd be +the one to hold th' bag, wouldn't I? That's what we got to watch out +for. 'Course, it's easy pickin', with this gal tryin' to run things +herself, an' what with her brand workin' over into ourn so easy, there +ain't many chances.... Except havin' somebody else to know." + +"If anybody ever was to double cross you, Alf, I'd get 'em if it was +the last thing I done!" + +That threat carried conviction and her father looked at her with a rare +brand of admiration in his eyes. + +"Lord, daughter, sometimes I think you was meant to be a man ... an' a +hard man! Sometimes you almost scare me, th' way you say things!" + +She made no reply and he said: + +"All we got to do is go slow. A brandin' iron has built many a fortune, +an' nobody ever had it any easier 'n us." + +"Do you think we'll ever get rich enough, Alf, to have a regular house? +An' be respected by folks?" + +"Luck's bound to change sometime," he muttered. "Ours has been bad a +long time ... a long, long time." + +He gathered an arm load of wood and entered the cabin. The girl stood +alone a long time, watching the brilliant flowering of the sky sink +slowly into the west, drawing steely night to cover its garden. A sharp +star bored its way through the failing light and stood half way between +earth and heaven. A vagrant breeze slid down the creek, bringing with +it the breath of sage, and afar off somewhere a cow bawled plaintively. + +"She has 'em," she muttered to herself. "Friends ... an' respect ... +an' everything I want.... + +"I wonder what makes me hate folks so...." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE CATAMOUNT + + +Three weeks after her arrival Jane made her first trip to town and Beck +drove the pair of strong bays which swirled their buckboard over the +road at a spanking trot. + +Events had arisen to prevent their being together in the days +immediately following the frank discussion of their attitudes toward +one another and Jane thought that she detected a feeling of curiosity +in him, as though he wondered just how she would go about forcing him +to like her. Shrewdly, she avoided personalities and talked much of the +ranch. + +When they broke over the divide and began the long drop into town, he +said: + +"Since you asked advice from me, I keep thinkin' up more, ma'am." + +"That's nice. I need it. What now?" + +"I s'pose Dad mentioned that water in Devil's Hole?" + +"Why, I don't recall it. We've talked so much and about so many things +that perhaps it's slipped my mind." + +"Maybe. He said he had." + +She questioned him further but he said it might be well for her to +mention it to Hepburn. "He's foreman, you know." + +They swung into the one street of Ute Crossing and stopped before the +bank. As Beck stepped down to tie the team a girl came out of a store +across the way and vaulted into the saddle on a big brown horse with +graceful ease. It was the nester's daughter. + +Two men came from the saloon just as she reined her horse about. They +eyed her insolently with that stare of a type of loafer which is +eloquent of all that is despicable and one of them, a short, stodgy +man, smiled brazenly. + +The girl gave them one stare, hostility in her brown eyes, and then +looked away, her lips moving in an unheard word, surely of contempt. + +Then the man spoke. It is not well to repeat. His words were few, but +they were ugly. The girl had touched her horse with a spur and he +leaped forward. Just that one bound. As he made it the man spoke and +with a wrench she set the brown back on his haunches and whirled him +about. Her face was suddenly white, her lips in a tight, red line, and +her eyes blazed. + +She rode back to the men, who had continued on their way, holding her +horse to a mincing trot, for he seemed to have caught the tensity of +her mood. + +"Did I hear you right?" she said to the man who had spoken. + +He stood still and looked up with the rude leer. + +"That depends on your ears, likely. All I said was that you--" + +She did not give him time to repeat. Her right arm flashed up and the +quirt, slung to its wrist, hissed angrily as it cut back and with a +stinging crack wound its thong about the man's face. + +"Take that!" she cried. "And that ... and that!" + +At the first blow the man ducked and turned, throwing up his hands to +guard, and as other slashes, relentless, rapid, of scourging vigor, +fell upon his head and face and neck, he doubled over and ran for the +shelter of a store. But the girl's wrath was not satisfied. She sent +the big horse from street to sidewalk where his hoofs thundered on the +planks, crowded in between her quarry and the building fronts, cutting +off his flight, striking faster, harder, teeth showing now between her +drawn lips. + +The man fled into the street again, but she followed, guiding her horse +without conscious thought, surely, for no woman roused as her face +showed she was roused could have had thought for other than the +thrashing she administered. Endangered by the excited hoofs which were +all about him as he ducked and dodged in vain to escape, the man ran +with hands and arms close about his head, moving them with each blow +that fell in futile attempts to save other parts from the cut and smart +of that rawhide. + +The girl uttered no word. All the rancor, all the rage he had roused by +his insult, found vent in the whipping. Her whole lithe torso moved +with each stroke as she put into the downward swing all the strength +she could command, and across the man's cheek rose broad red welts, +contrasting with his pallor of fright, until his face looked like a +fancy berry pie. + +Scuttling, dodging, doubling, the man worked across the street, turned +back time and again but persisting until, with a cry of pain and +desperation, he threw out one hand, caught the bridle and in the +instant's respite the move gave him stumbled to the other sidewalk, +across it and sprawled through the swinging doors of the saloon he had +left moments before. + +The horse came to a halt with a slam against the flimsy front of the +building. The girl drew back her quirt as for a final blow, but the +man, regaining his feet, fled through the bar room and disappeared. She +dropped her hand to the top of the door, pushed it open and held it so, +peering darkly into the room. + +People had come into the street to watch. There had been excited shouts +and a scream or two, but as the girl sat looking into the place a quick +silence shut down and when she spoke her voice, trembling with emotion +but scarcely raised above its normal pitch, was easily heard. + +"I've took a lot from men," she said, "ever since I was a kid. When I +come into this country I thought maybe I'd get a little respect ... for +bein' just a girl. I didn't get it ... I've got to take it. + +"If that man's a sample of the kind you've got here, you're a nest of +skunks. And you talk easy hereafter, every one of you, because so long +as I've got a quirt and an arm, I'll hide you till you're raw if you +make any breaks like he did. Keep that in mind!" + +She released her hold on the door; it swung outward smartly and as it +struck the horse he sprang sideways, wheeled, and clearing the shallow +gutter with a lunge, swung down the street at a gallop. + +When she passed Jane Hunter, who stood amazed in her buckboard, tears +showed in the girl's eyes, but her back was as erect, her shoulders as +trimly set as though no great emotion was surging in her heart. + +"She's quite a catamount, I'll guess," said Tom Beck as he gave the +knot in the tie rope a securing tug and turned to face Jane. + +His eyes were fired with admiration. + +"But a girl--" + +"She was magnificent!" + +It was Dick Hilton who had interrupted with the words. Beck looked at +him and the enthusiasm which had been in his face faded. He eyed the +Easterner briefly and turned to adjust a buckle on the harness. + +"And only a girl!" exclaimed Jane under her breath. "Dick, did you see +it all?" + +"A typical Western girl, I should say," he replied. "Your.... Your +neighbor and associate? Your companion, Jane?" he asked. "The sort you +want to cast your lot with?" + +"And a moment ago you thought her magnificent!" she taunted as she +stepped down and offered him her hand. + +"I'll meet you in, say, two hours, ma'am," Beck said. + +"Very well; right here," she replied, and he left her as she turned to +meet Hilton's unpleasant smile. + + * * * * * + +They began the return trip shortly after noon. Hilton had been with +Jane when Tom returned and he stood beside the buckboard talking some +minutes after Beck had picked up the reins and was ready to commence +the drive. Occasionally Dick's eyes wandered from Jane to the other +man's face but Tom sat, knees crossed, idly toying with the whip, as +indifferent to what was being said as if the others were out of sight +and hearing. Hilton made an obvious effort to exclude the Westerner but +Beck's disregard of him was as genuine as it was evident. He sat +patiently, with an easy sense of superiority and the contrast was not +lost on Jane Hunter. + +The town was far behind and below them, a mere cluster of miniature +buildings, before either spoke. Then it was Jane. + +"That girl.... There was something splendid about her, wasn't there?" + +"There was," he agreed. "She sure expressed her opinion of men in +general!" + +"A newcomer, evidently." + +Beck nodded. "Came in soon after you did, with her father, it looked +like." + +"And she wins the respect of strange men by blows!" she said. + +"He deserved all he got, didn't he?" Beck asked, smiling. "I like to +see a bad _hombre_ like that get set down by a woman. There's +something humiliating about it that counts a lot more than the whippin' +she gave him." + +"But wouldn't it have spoken more for the chivalry of the country if +some man had done it for her?" + +"That's likely. But there ain't much chivalry here, ma'am." + +"And am I so fortunate as to have enjoyed the protection of what little +there is?" + +He looked at her blankly. + +"I had to come clear to Ute Crossing to learn how one man defended me +from the insult of another." + +He stirred uneasily on the seat. + +"That was nothin'," he growled. "I'd been waiting for a chance to land +on Webb for a long time." + +He did not look at her and his manner had none of its usual bluntness; +clearly he was evasive and, more, uncomfortable. + +"First, I want to thank you," Jane said after she had looked at him a +moment. "You don't know how a woman such as I am can feel about a thing +like that. I think it was the finest thing a man has ever done for me +... and many men have been trying to do fine things for me for a long +time." + +She was deeply touched and her voice was not just steady but when Beck +did not answer, just looked straight ahead with his tell-tale flush +deepening, a delight crept into her eyes and the corners of her pretty +mouth quirked. + +"Besides, it was a great deal to expect of a man who has made up his +mind not to like me!" + +They had topped the divide and the sorrels had been fighting the bits. +As she spoke Tom gave them their heads and the team swept the buckboard +forward with a banging and clatter that would have drowned words +anyhow, but the fact that he did not reply gave Jane a feeling of +jubilation. Her thrust had pricked his reserve, showing it to be not +wholly genuine! + +Dick Hilton had told her of the encounter Beck had had with Webb, told +it jeeringly as he attempted to impress her with the distasteful phases +of her environment. He had failed in that. He had impressed her only +with the fact that Tom Beck had gone out of his way, had taken a +chance, to protect her standing. Others of her men had heard her +insulted, men from other ranches had been there, but of them all Beck +had been her champion. + +And it was Beck who had bullied her, had doubted her in the face of her +best efforts to convince him of fitness! He had even challenged her to +make herself his friend! + +She had believed before she came into those hills that she knew men of +all sorts but now she had found something new. Here was a man who, in +her presence, would plot to humiliate her and yet when she could not +see or hear his loyalty and his belief in her were outstanding. + +And what was it, she asked herself, that made her pulse leap and her +throat tighten? It was not wholly gratitude. It was not merely because +he resisted her efforts to win his open regard. Those things were +potent influences, surely, but there was something more fundamental +about him, a basic quality which she had not before encountered in men; +she could not analyze it but daily she had sensed its growing strength. +Now she felt it ... felt, but could not identify. + +Two-Bits opened the gate for them and Tom carried her bundles into the +house. + +At the corral, as Beck unharnessed, the homely cow puncher said: + +"Gosh, Tommy, how'd it seem, ridin' all the way to town an' back with +her settin' up beside you?" + +"Just about like you was there, Two-Bits, only we didn't swear quite so +much." + +"I got lots of respect for you, Tommy, but I think you're a damned +liar." + +And Beck chuckled to himself as though, perhaps, the other had been +right. + +"Two weeks now since he wrote," Two-Bits sighed. "He shore ought to be +comin'. Gosh, Tom, but he's a bright man!" + +Again that night Jane Hunter looked from a window after the lights in +the bunk house had gone out and the place was quiet, to see a tall, +silent figure move slowly beneath the cottonwoods, watching the house, +pausing at times as if listening. Then it went back through the shadows +more rapidly, as though satisfied that all was well. + +Many times she had watched this but tonight it seemed of greater +significance than ever before. He denied her his friendship; he had +made Webb his sworn enemy by defending her (she had not told him that +part of the tale she heard in Ute Crossing) and yet disclaimed any +great interest in her as a motive. Still, he patrolled her dooryard at +night! + +A sudden impulse to do something that would _make_ him give her +that consideration in her presence which he gave before others came to +life. His attitude suddenly angered her beyond reason and she felt her +body shaking as tears sprang into her eyes. The great thing which she +desired was just there, just out of reach and the fact exasperated her, +grew, became a fever until, on her knees at the window, hammering the +sill with her fists, she cried: + +"Tom Beck you're going to love me!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +AND NOW, THE CLERGY + + +Two-bits was the last into the bunkhouse the following evening. He had +ridden his Nigger horse in from the westward hills and had not come +through the big gate so not until he stepped across the threshold were +the others aware of his presence. + +"Here he is!" said a rider from down the creek who was stopping for the +night and the group in the center of the low room broke apart. + +"Two-Bits, here's your brother," said Curtis. + +A small man stood beside him. He wore a green, battered derby hat, band +and binding of which were sadly frayed. He wore spectacles, steel +rimmed, over searching gray eyes. He was unshaven. A celluloid collar, +buttoned behind, made an overly large cylinder for his wrinkled neck. +He wore a frock coat, also green with age, the pockets of which bulged +and sagged and their torn corners spoke of long overloading. His +overalls, patched and newly washed, were tucked into boots with +run-down heels. In his hand he held a fountain pen. + +At the entrance of Two-Bits all talk had ceased; at Curtis' +introduction, Two-Bits stopped. He swallowed, setting his Adam's apple +in sharp vibration. He took off his hat. He flushed and his mild eyes +wavered. Then he advanced across the room, extending a limp hand and +said in a thin, embarrassed voice: + +"Please to meet you, Mister Beal." + +Tom Beck bit his lips but one or two of the others laughed outright; +they ceased, however, when the Reverend Beal, in a voice that was +tremendously deep and impressive for such a small man, said: + +"My brother, I extend to you the right hand of fellowship! It is a deed +of God that enables me to look once more into your beloved face after +these years of separation. Give me your hand, brother. May the +blessings of Heaven descend upon and abide with thee!" + +He shook Two-Bits' paw, looking up earnestly into his face, while the +blushing became more furious. + +"Marvelous are the ways of Providence!" he boomed. "Let us give thanks." + +He doffed his hat, and still clinging to Two-Bits' hand, lowered his +head. + +"Almighty Father, whose blessings are diverse and manifold, we, +brothers of the flesh, give our thanks to Thee for bringing about this +reunion on earth. We realize, oh Lord, that these mundane moments are +but brief forerunners of greater joys that are to come, that they are +but passing pleasures; but joy here below is a rare thing and from this +valley of tears and sin we lift our hearts and our voices in thanks +that such blessings have been visited upon us by Thy blessed +magnanimity!" + +He lifted his head and honest tears showed behind his spectacles. + +"And now, brother,"--in a brusk, business-like manner, "you, too, will +be interested in this article which I was about to demonstrate to the +congregation." + +He replaced his hat with a dead _punk_, held the pen aloft in +gesture, drew a pad of paper from one of his sagging pockets and +continued: + +"Made of India rubber, combined in a secret process with Belgian talc +and Swedish, water-proof shellac, this pen will withstand the acid +action of the strongest inks. It is self-filling, durable, compact, +artistic in design. The clip prevents its falling from the pocket and +consequent loss. + +"The point is of the finest, specially selected California, eighteen +carat gold. It was designed by that peerless inventor, Thomas Edison. +Its every feature, from the safety shank to the velvet tip, is covered +by patents granted by the authority of this great republic! + +"It does not leak!"--shaking it vigorously. "It does not fail to flow. +It does not scratch or prick. Follow me closely, men; watch every move." + +With facility he guided the point across the paper in great flourishes, +sketching a crudely designed bird on the wing. + +"See? See what can be done with this invention? How can any mature man +or woman do without this article? _Such_ an article! + +"This, men, is a three dollar commodity, but for the purposes of +advertising I am permitted by the firm to charge you--Two-fifty? No! +Two dollars? _No!_ One fifty? NO! For the sum of one dollar, +American money, E Pluribus Unum and In God We Trust, I will place this +invaluable article in your possession. One dollar, men! _One +dollar!_ + +"But wait. Further"--diving into another pocket, "we will give away +absolutely free of charge to every purchaser one of these celebrated +key rings and chains, made of a new conglomerate called white metal, +guaranteed not to rust, tarnish or break except under excessive strain. +Keeps your keys safe and always handy. Free, with each and every +individual purchase! + +"Still more!"--making another dive into the inexhaustable +pockets--"Another article used by every gentleman and lady. A hand +mirror, a magnifying hand mirror. Carry it in your pocket, have it +always handy for the thousand and one uses to which it may be put. + +"Think! This magnificent fountain pen, this key-ring and chain, this +pocket mirror, a collection which regularly would retail for from four +to five dollars, are yours for one dollar.... + +"Now, who's first?" + +Two-Bits who had watched and listened with a growing amazement, mouth +open, Adam's apple jumping, was roused. + +"I am, Mister Beal," he said eagerly, digging in a pocket for the money. + +"Ah, brother, part of being a Beal is knowing a bargain! Who else, now?" + +He sold six of the pens before the big bell at the ranch house summoned +the men to supper; then slipped his stock back in the pockets of that +clerical looking garment and, grasping Two-Bits by the arm, beaming up +into his face, stumped along by his side. + +At the table he ate and talked, at one and the same time, doing both +with astonishing ease. No matter how great the excess of food in his +mouth, he was still able to articulate, and no matter how rapidly he +talked, he could always thrust more nourishment between his lips. + +"Oh, it warms the heart of a seeker after strays from the herds of the +Master to look upon the bright, honest faces of stalwart men!" he +cried, brandishing his fork and helping himself to more syrup with the +other hand. + +"Blessed are the pure in heart, it is written, and I know that when in +the presence of such men as you, I am among the blessed of the Father! +I can see integrity, devotion to duty, uprightness and honor in all +your faces. Or, that is, in _most_ of your faces. What +contrast!"--heedless of the uproar his qualification of a broad +statement caused. "What contrast to the iniquitous ways of those who +dwell in the tents of the wicked. + +"Why, brethren, only last night I stood in the hotel in yonder +settlement and watched and listened to the cries of a lost soul, a +young man sunk hopelessly in sin. He was a stranger in a strange land, +but he had not yet felt the heavy hand of a slowly-roused God, had not +yet become the Prodigal. He had tasted of the wine when it was red and +out of his mouth flowed much evil. + +"A man possessed of a devil, I am sure, and I spoke to him, asking if +he did not desire to seek redemption in the straight and narrow way +which leads to the only righteous life. + +"'Righteousness, hell!' he shouted at me, his face black with ungodly +thoughts. + +"'That's what I want _less_ of: righteousness! That's what's +raised hell in me!' + +"Oh, it was terrible, brothers! He drank continually and finally they +carried him off to bed, cursing and swearing, cherishing bitterness in +his heart, which is against the word of the Almighty. A definite wrong +was in his mind, I was led to presume, for he cried again and again: +'I'll break her if it's the last thing I do! I'll ruin her and bring +her back!' + +"I tell you, my fellow men, I prayed fervently for that lost soul +through the night. Something heavy is upon him, something tremendous." + +"Likely some of that high-pressure booze," remarked one, at which +everybody except the Reverend and Two-Bits laughed. + +"Goin' to stay long?" Oliver asked. + +"Alas, I am not my own master. My feet are guided from up Yonder. To +tarry with my dear brother is my most devout prayer and wish, but we +have no promise of the morrow. I may remain in your midst a day, a +month. I cannot tell when the call will come." + +Tom Beck had watched with a glimmer in his eye until the newcomer told +of the scene in the hotel. It was not difficult for him to identify the +sin beset young man as Hilton and at that he became less attentive to +the garrulous talk of the itinerant preacher-peddler. In fact, he gave +no heed at all until, returned to the bunk house, the Reverend made a +point of seeking out Dad Hepburn and talking to him in confidence. + +Dad's bed was directly across from Tom's and he could not help hearing. + +"I waited to get you alone," Beal said, dropping his elocutionary +manner, "because what others don't know won't hurt 'em, and so forth. +But just before I was leaving town, saddling my mare in the corral, I +heard two men talking and it may interest you. + +"This outfit uses the HC on horses as well as cattle, don't it?" + +"That's right." + +"Exactly! One of the men said (they didn't know I was near, +understand). 'So there's eight more HC horses gone west.' And the +other one said, 'Yes, they was camped at the mouth of Twenty Mile this +mornin'. It's easy. They had the horses in a box gulch, with a tree +down across the mouth, most natural.' + +"Have you sold any horses lately?" + +Hepburn glanced about cautiously and just before he turned to reply his +eyes met Beck's gaze, cold and hard this time, flinging an unmistakable +challenge at him. + +"Not a horse," he mumbled. "They're sneaking out of the country with +'em. Tom, come here,"--with a jerk of his head. Beck walked over and +sat down. "Did you hear what the Reverend says?" Dad asked. "About the +horses?" + +"Yes, I ain't surprised. Are you?" + +His eyes, again amused, bored into Hepburn's face with the query: + +"No, but--" + +The sharp batter of running hoofs cut him short. The whole assemblage +was listening. The rider stopped short at the gate, they heard it creak +and a moment later he came across toward the bunk house at a high lope. +They heard him speak gruffly to the horse, heard the creak of leather +as he swung down and then jingling spurs marked his further progress +toward the door. + +It was Henry Riley, owner of the Bar Z ranch, thirty miles down Coyote +creek. A cattleman of the old order, a man not given to haste or +excitement. His appearance caught the interest of all, for he was +breathing fast and his eyes blazed. + +"Where's Dad?" he asked and Hepburn, rising, said: "Here. What's the +matter, Henry?" + +"Who's this nester in Devil's Hole?" Riley asked. + +"Why ... I didn't know there was a nester there." + +Dad answered hesitatingly and Beck scraped one foot on the floor. + +"Well, there is. Guess we've all been asleep. He's there, with a girl, +and they filed on that water yesterday. That shuts your outfit and mine +out of the best range in the country if he fences, which he will! If +they're goin' to dry farm our steers off the range we'd better look +alive." + +"I'll be damned," muttered Hepburn. "That was one of the next things I +was goin' to have her do, file on that water." + +He scratched his head and turned. Beck was waiting for him to face +about. + +"Now," he said slowly, "what are you going to do?" + +His eyes flashed angrily and any who watched could see the challenge. + +Silently Hepburn reached for his belt and gun, strapped it on, dug in +his blankets for another revolver and shoved it into his shirt. + +"First," he said, "I'm goin' after those horses. _That_ ain't too +late to be remedied. No, I'll go alone!" as Tom stepped toward his bunk +where his gun hung. + +Hepburn gave Beck stare for stare as though defying him now to impute +his motives and strode out into a fine rain, drawing on his slicker. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE DESTROYER + + +While the men were eating that night another rider had come to H.C. He +entered slowly, tied his horse to the fence and walked down along the +cottonwoods toward the house. He stood outside a time, looking through +the window at Jane whose golden head was bowed in the mellow glow of +the student lamp as she worked at her desk. + +He stepped lightly across the veranda and rapped; at her bidding he +entered. + +"Dick!" she exclaimed. + +"Undoubtedly," he said, with forced attempt at lightness. + +"How did you get here? Why come at this time of day?"--rising and +walking toward him. + +"I rode a horse, and I came because I couldn't stay away from you any +longer." + +She looked at him, head tilted a bit to one side, and genuine regret +was in her slow smile. + +"Oh, Dick, don't look or feel like that! I'm glad to see you, but I +_wish_ you'd stop thinking and talking and looking like that. I +don't like to have you so dreadfully determined ... when it's no use. + +"All this way to see me! And did you eat? Of course you didn't!" + +"I don't want anything," he protested glumly. + +"But you must." + +She seized on his need as welcome distraction from the love making, +which undoubtedly was his purpose. She took his coat and hat, placed +cigarettes for him and went to the kitchen to help Carlotta prepare a +quick meal. She served it herself, going to pains to make it +attractive, and finally seated herself across the table from Hilton, +who made a pretense of eating. + +She talked, a bit feverishly, perhaps, but compelled him to stick to +matters far from personal and after he had finished his scant meal and +lighted a cigarette he leaned back in his chair and smiled easily at +her. It was a good smile, open and frank and gentle, but when it died +that nasty light came back; as though the smile showed the man Jane +Hunter had tolerated for long, masking the man she now tried to put +from her. + +"If your enthusiasm were for anything else, I'd like it," he said. + +"But it isn't. Why can't you like it as it is?" + +He ignored the question. + +"Busy, Jane?" + +"As the devil on Forty-Second street." + +"And still think it's worth while?" + +"The only worth-while thing I've ever done; more worth while every day. +So much worth while that I'm made over from the heart out and I've been +here less than a month!" + +"After taking a bottle of your bitters I am now able to support my +husband and children," he quoted ironically. + +"Laugh if you must,"--with a lift of her shoulders. "I mean it." + +"You get along with the men, Jane?" + +"Very well so far. They're fine, real, honest men. I like them all. +There are some things I don't quite understand yet," examining a finger +nail closely. "I haven't made up my mind that my foreman can be trusted +or that he's as honest as he seems to be." + +"The fellow who was with you yesterday?" + +"No; Dad Hepburn. An older man. He.... He seems to evade me some times." + +Hilton watched her closely. She was one of the few women he knew who +had been able to judge men; he made a mental note of the name she had +mentioned. + +The talk became desultory and Dick's eyes clung more closely to Jane's +face, their hard, bright light accentuated. It began to rain and Jane, +hearing, looked out. + +"Raining! You can't go back tonight. You'll have to stay here. Mr. +Hepburn can fix you up with the rest of the men." + +He smiled peculiarly at that, for it cut. He made no comment beyond +expressing the belief that a wetting, since it was not cold, would do +no harm. She knew that he did not mean that and contrasted his evasion +with Beck's quiet candor. + +"What's the idea of the locket?" he asked and Jane looked down at the +trinket with which she had been toying. "You never were much addicted +to ornaments." + +She laughed with an expression which he did not understand. + +"Something is in there which is very dear to me," she said. "I don't +wear it as an ornament; as a talisman, rather. I'm getting to be quite +dependent on it." Her manner was outwardly light but at bottom was a +seriousness which she did not wholly cover. + +"Excuse me ... for intruding on privacies," he said bitterly. Then, +after a moment: "The picture of some cow-puncher lover, perhaps?" + +"No, though that wouldn't be unreasonable," she replied. "Such things +have happened in--" + +"Let's cut this!" he said savagely, breaking in on her and sitting +forward. "Let's quit these absurd banalities. + +"You know why I came here. You know what's in my mind. There's a job +before me that gets bigger every day; the least you can do is to help +me." + +"In what?" + +"Tell me what I must do to make you understand that I love you." + +He leaned across the table intently. The girl laughed. + +"Prove to me first that two and two make six!" + +"Meaning?" + +"That it can't be done." + +"It's the first time you've ever been that certain." + +"The first time I've ever expressed the certainty, perhaps. Things +happen, Dick. I progress." + +"Do you mean such an impossible thing as that there is someone else?" + +"Another question which you have no right to ask." + +"Jane, look at me! Are you wholly insane?" + +"No, but as I look back I think I have been a little off, perhaps." + +"But you're putting behind you everything that is of you,"--his color +rising with his voice as her secure conviction maddened him. "The life +that is yours by nature and training. You're going blindly ahead into +something you don't know, among people who are not yours!" + +He became suddenly tense, as though the passion which he had repressed +until that moment swept through him with a mighty urge. His breath +slipped out in a long sigh. + +"You are repeatedly mistaken, Dick. I have just found my people." + +"_Your_ people!" he scoffed. + +She nodded. + +"'East is East and West is West,' you know, and the two shall never +meet. It must be true, and, if so, I have never been of the east. I +never felt comfortable there, with the lies and the shams and the +hypocrisies that were all about us. Out here, I do. + +"Perhaps that is why you and I...." She shrugged her shoulders again. +"You see, Dick, I have cast my lot here. The East is gone, for me; it +never can pass for you. I have found my people; they are my people, +their Gods are my Gods. I have a strength, a peace of mind, self +respect, ambitions and natural, real impulses that I never knew before. +I feel that I have come home!" + +He laughed dryly, but she went on as though she had not heard: + +"You have never understood me; you never can hope to now. There's a +gulf between us, Dick, that will never be bridged. I am sorry, in a +way. I never can love you and I hate to see you wasting your desires on +me. + +"I have thought about you a great deal lately. You are missing all that +is fine in life and because of that I am sorry for you. We used to have +one thing in common: the lack of worthy ideals. I have wiped out that +lack and I wish you might; I truly wish that, Dick! And it seems +possible to me that you may, just because you are here where realities +count. There's an incentive in the atmosphere and I do hope it gets +into your blood. + +"It is all so nonsensical, the thing you are doing, so foolish. I +suppose I am the only thing you have ever wanted that you couldn't get +and that's what stimulates your want. It's not love, Dick." + +"How do you know?" + +"I have learned things in these weeks," with a wistful smile. "I have +learned about ... men, for one thing. I have found an honesty, an +honor, a simple directness, which I have never known before." + +He rose and leaned his fists on the table. + +"You mean you've found a lover?" + +She met his eyes frankly. + +"Again I say, you have no right to ask that question. In the second +place, I am not yet sure." + +His mouth drew down in a leer. + +"So that's it, eh? So you would turn me away for some rough-neck who +murders the English language and smells of horse. You'd let a thing +like that overwhelm you in a few days when a civilized human has failed +after years of trying! + +"I've tried to treat you with respect. I've tried to be gentle and +honorable. Now if you don't want that, if you want this he-man sort of +wooing, by God you'll get it!" + +He kicked his chair back angrily and advanced about the table. A big +blue vein which ran down over his forehead stood out in knots. Jane +rose. + +"Dick!" she cried and in the one word was disappointment, anger, +appeal, reproach, query. + +"Oh, I'm through," he muttered. "I used to think you were a different +sort; used to think you were fine and finished. But if you're a woman +in the raw ... then I'll treat you as such. You've got me, either way; +I can't get you out of my mind an hour. + +"I'm through holding myself back, now. You've driven me mad and you +prove by your own insinuations that the lover you want is not the one +who will dally with you. You want the primitive, go-and-get-it kind, +the kind that takes and keeps. Well, mine can be that kind!" + +She backed from him slowly and he kept on advancing with a menacing +assurance, his face contorted with jealousy and desire. + +"The other day,"--stopping a moment, "when I took your hands and felt +your body here in this room I was almost beside myself. You haven't +been out of my thoughts an hour since then! I tried to kill it with +reason and then with drink. I've tried to be patient and wait among the + ... the cattle in that little town." He walked on toward +her. + +"Dick, are you mad?" she challenged, trying to summon her assurance +through the fright which he had given her. "It's not what you think.... +It's none of your affair-- + +"Dick!" + +He grasped her wrists roughly. + +"Am I mad?" he repeated, looking down at her, his jaw clenched. "Yes, +I'm mad. Mad from want of you ... your eyes, your lips, your hair, +your very breath drives me mad and when I hear you tell me that you've +found the flesh that calls to your flesh among these men it drives me +wild! I can offer you more than any of them can a thousand times +over.... + +"Great God, I love you!" + +But his snarl was not the snarl of devotion, of affection. It was the +lust cry of the destroyer, he who would possess hungrily, unthinkingly, +without sympathy or understanding ... even without respect. + +He drew her to him roughly and she struggled, too frightened to cry +out, face white and lips closed. He imprisoned both her hands in his +one and with the other arm about her body crushed it against his, her +breast to his breast, her limbs to his limbs. He lowered his lips +toward her face and she bent backward, crying out lowly, but the touch +of her lithe torso, tense in the struggle to be free, made his strength +greater, swept away the last barrier of caution and his body was aflame +with desire. + +"Dick ... stop...." she panted and managed to free one hand. + +She struck him on the mouth and struck again, blindly. He gave her +efforts no notice but, releasing her hands, crushed her to him with +both arms and she could feel the quick come and go of his breath +through her hair as he buried his face in it. + +And at that she became possessed of fresh strength. She turned and half +slipped, half fought her way through his clutch, running down the room +to the fireplace where she stood with the davenport between them +breathing irregularly, a hand clenched at her breast. + +"You ... you beast!" she said, slowly, unsteadily as he came toward her +again. + +"Yes, beast!" he echoed. "We're all beasts, every one of us who sees +and feels and I've seen you and I've felt you and the beast is hungry!" + +"And you call that love!" She spoke rapidly, breathlessly. "An hour ago +if anyone would have said that Dick Hilton, sober, would have displayed +this, this _thing_ which is his true self, I'd have come to your +defense! But now ... you ... you!" + +Her face was flaming, her voice shook with outraged pride. + +"Stop!" she cried, drawing herself up, no longer afraid. She emerged +from fear commanding, impressive, and Hilton hesitated, putting one +hand to a chair back and eyeing her calculatingly as though scheming. +The vein on his forehead still stood out like an uneven seam. + +"For shame!" she cried again. "Shame on you, Dick Hilton, and shame on +me for having tolerated, for having believed in you ... little as I +did! Oh, I loathe it all, you and myself--that was--because if it had +not been for that other self which tolerated you, which gave you the +opening, this ... this insult would never have been. You, who failing +to buy a woman's love, would take it by strength! You would do this, +and talk of your desire as love. You, who scoff at men whose respect +for women is as real as the lives they lead. You ... you beast!" + +She hissed the word. + +"Yes, beast!" he repeated again. "Like all these other beasts, these +others who are blinding you as you say I have blinded you, who have--" + +"Stop it!" she demanded again. "There is nothing more to be said ... +ever. We understand one another now and there is but one thing left for +you to do." + +"And that?" + +"Go." + +He laughed bitterly and ran a hand over his sleek hair. + +"If I go, you go with me," he said evenly. + +"Leave this house," the girl commanded, but instead of obeying he moved +toward her again menacingly, a disgusting smile on his lips. + +He passed the end of the davenport and she, in turn, retreated to the +far side. + +"When I go, two of--" + +"I take it that you heard what was said to you, sir." + +At the sound of the intruding voice Hilton wheeled sharply. He faced +Tom Beck, who stood in the doorway, framed against the black night, +arms limp and rather awkwardly hanging at his sides, eyes dangerously +luminous; still, playing across them was that half amused look, as +though this were not in reality so serious a matter. + +For an interval there was no sound except Hilton's breathing: a sort of +hoarse gasp. The two men eyed each other and Jane, supporting her +suddenly weakened limbs by a hand on the table, looked from one to the +other. + +"What the devil are you doing here?" Dick asked heavily. + +"Just standin' quiet, waiting to open the gate for you when you ride +out." + +The Easterner braced his shoulders backward and sniffed. + +"And if I don't choose to ride out? What will you do then?" + +Beck looked at Jane slowly and his eyes danced. + +"It ain't necessary to talk about things that won't happen. You're +going to go." + +"Who the hell are you to be so certain?" + +"My name's Beck, sir. I'm just workin' here." + +"And playing the role of a protector?" + +"Well, nothing much ever comes up that I don't _try_ to do." + +Hilton made as if to speak again but checked himself, walked down the +room in long strides, seized his coat, thrust his arms into the sleeves +viciously and stood buttoning the garment. Beck looked away into the +night as though nothing within interested him and Jane stood clutching +the locket at her throat, caressing it with her slim, nervous fingers. + +"Under the circumstances, making my farewells must be to the point," +Hilton said. He spoke sharply, belligerently. "I have just this to say: +I am not through." + +"Oh, go!" moaned Jane, dropping into a chair and covering her face with +her hands. + +She heard the men leave the veranda, heard a gruff, low word from +Hilton and knew that he went on alone. After the outer gate had closed +she heard Tom walk slowly up the path toward the bunk house. He had +left her without comment, without any attempt at an expression of +concern or sympathy. She knew it was no oversight, but only a delicacy +which would not have been shown by many men. + +Her loathing was gone, her anger dead; the near past was a numb memory +and she looked up and about the room as though it were a strange place. +There, within those walls, she had experienced the rebirth, she had +felt ambition to stand alone come into full being, she had shaken off +the fetters with which the past had sought to hamper her.... + +And now she was free, wholly free. The tentacle that had been reached +out to draw her back had been cast away. Tonight's renunciation had +burned the last bridge to that which had been; Dick Hilton, she +believed, would never again be an active influence in her life. + +She could not--perhaps fortunately--foretell how mistaken this belief +actually would prove to be. She did not know the intensity of a man's +jealousy, particularly when Fate has tricked him of his most valued +prize. Nor could she foresee those events which would impell her to +send for Hilton, to call him back, and the wells of misery which that +action would tap! + +To-night he was gone, and she was even strong enough to rise above +loathing and pity him for the failure he was. Just one fact of him +remained. Again she heard his ominous prediction, pronounced on his +first visit there: You cannot stand alone! You will fail! You will come +back to me! + +She knew, now, that she would never return to him, but there were other +possibilities as disastrous. Could she meet this new life and beat it +and make in it a place for herself? Was her faith in herself strong +enough to outride the defeat which very possibly confronted her? + +She did not know.... + +Outside the rain drummed and the cottonwoods, now in full leaf, sighed +as the wind bowed their water weighted branches. She went to the window +and looked out, searching the darkness for movement. There was none but +he was not far away she knew.... + +Her fingers again sought the locket and she lifted it quickly, holding +it pressed tightly against her mouth. + +"It's all there, locked up in a little gold disc!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A MATTER OF DIRECTION + + +If Dick Hilton had not been bewildered by passion, jealousy and rage at +thwarted desires, he might have known that his horse was not taking the +homeward way, and had the horse not been bred and raised by one of +Colonel Hunter's mares he might have carried his rider straight back to +Ute Crossing. + +But he was a canny little beast, he was cold and drenched, the trip to +town was long and the range on which he had spent his happy colthood +was not far off. Horses know riders before riders know horses so, as he +went through the gate, he slyly tried out this rider and instead of +swinging to the right he bore to the left. He went tentatively through +the pitch darkness, one ear cocked backward at first but when Hilton, +collar up, hat down, bowed before the storm, gave no evidence of +detecting this plan, the beast picked up his rapid walk and took the +trail for the nearer, more satisfactory place where many times in the +past he had stood out such downpours with no great discomfort under the +shelter of a spreading cedar. + +And direction was the last thing in Dick Hilton's mind. For a long +interval his thoughts were incoherent and the conflicting emotions they +provoked were distressing. Being alone, made physically uncomfortable +by the water seeping through his shoulders and breeches, sensing the +steady movement of the animal under him, brought some order to his +mental chaos and finally realization began to dawn. + +Yes, he had followed his strongest impulses; there could be no question +about what he had done, but as for its wisdom: Ah, that was another +matter, and he cursed himself for a fool, at first mentally, then under +his breath and when the horse began mounting a steep incline, +clattering over rocks with his unshod hoofs, Hilton halted him and +looked about in foolish attempt to make out his whereabouts and said +aloud: + +"Off the road. That's twice you've made an ass of yourself tonight!" + +There was nothing for him to do but go on and trust to the horse. He +knew that this was not the highway but consoled himself that it might +be a short cut to the Crossing. Small consolation and it was dissipated +when they commenced a lurching descent with a wall of rock +uncomfortably close to his right, so close that at times his knee +scrubbed it smartly. He became alarmed for the horse went cautiously, +head low, feeling his way over insecure footing. Once his fore feet +slipped and he stopped short while loosened stones rolled before them +on the trail and Hilton heard one strike far below to his left, and +strike again and again, sounds growing fainter. He peered down into the +gloom but could see nothing, hear nothing but the hiss of rain. An +empty ache came into his viscera as he imagined the depths that might +wait to that side. + +After a moment the horse went on, picking his way gingerly. + +Somewhere beyond or below he made out a light. It was a feeble glow and +its location became a weird thing for lack of perceptive, but it +cheered him. He was decidedly uncomfortable and his state of mind added +to the physical need of warmth and shelter so he urged the horse on. + +Finally they reached a flat and he felt wet brush slapping at his legs +as the horse, intent on the light himself, trotted forward. + +Their destination was a cabin. The glow finally resolved itself into +cracks of light showing between logs and through a tarpaulin which hung +across the doorway. + +Dick shouted. Movement inside; the curtain was drawn back and he rode +blinking into the light, which he could see came from a fireplace. A +woman stood outlined against the flare. + +"Who's there?" she asked sharply, and Dick stopped his horse. + +"My name is Hilton," he said, "but that won't do you much good. I'm a +stranger and I'm off my way, I guess." + +The other did not reply as he dismounted and walked toward her. + +"Without a slicker," she said. "Come in." + +The first thing he saw inside was movement: A cartridge belt, swinging +from a nail. A rifle leaned handily against the door casing. + +The girl who had held the curtain back for him to enter let it drop and +turned to face him. Hilton drew his breath sharply. Blue-black hair, in +a heavy, orderly mass atop a shapely, high-held head and falling down +her straight trim back in one thick plait; brown eyes, ripe red lips, a +delicate chin and a throat of exquisite proportions. His gaze traveled +down her figure, the natural grace of which could not be concealed by +the shirt and riding skirt she wore. She was wholly beautiful. + +"Oh, I've seen you before," he said slowly. "You're the girl that +demanded respect and got it in the Crossing the other day!" + +She eyed him in silence a moment, evidently unaware of the admiration +in his tone. + +"I never saw you. I ain't been here long," she said, her expression +still defiant, as though he had challenged her. She searched his face, +his clothing, and back at his face again. "Where was you travelin' +tonight?" + +"I was going to the Crossing," he said with a short laugh. "My horse +brought me here." + +Without comment she walked to the fire and threw on another knot. He +watched her movements, the free rhythmic swing of her walk, the easy +grace with which her hands and arms moved, the perfect assurance in +even her smallest gesture. His eyes kindled. + +"Set," she said, indicating a box by the hearth. "You're soaked. Lucky +you struck here or you'd made a night of it." + +Hilton seated himself, holding his hands toward the fire. He looked +about the one room of the cabin. In two corners were beds on the +earthen floor, a table made from a packing box contained dishes, Dutch +ovens and a frying pan were on the hearth. The roof leaked. + +The girl sat eyeing the fire, rather sullenly. He held his gaze on her, +watching the play of light over her throat as it threw a velvety sheen +on the wind kissed skin. Her shirt was open at the neck and he could +see the easy rise and fall of her breast as she breathed. He noticed +that her fingers were slender and that her wrists, bronzed by exposure, +indicated with all their delicacy, wiry strength. Another thing: She +was clean. + +Suddenly the girl looked up. + +"Think you'd know me again?" she said bruskly, and rather swaggered as +she moved. + +"I don't think I shall ever forget you," he replied. "I knew I should +not the first time I saw you. I shall never forget the way you gave +that fellow what he deserved. It was great!" + +His manner was kindly, showing no resentment at her belligerence and +though her only reply was a sniff he knew that what he had said pleased +her. + +"I wouldn't want you to think I'm staring at you," he went on. "A man +shouldn't be blamed for looking at you closely." + +"How's that?" + +"You are very beautiful." + +She poked at the fire with a stick. + +"I reckon that'll be enough of that," she said as she walked back +toward the door. + +The man smiled and followed her with his eyes, which squinted +speculatively. + +"You'd better unsaddle that horse," she said. "He'll roll with your kak +if you don't." + +Hilton looked about the room again. + +"Are you alone?" he asked. + +She whirled and looked at him with temper. Her hand, perhaps +unconsciously, was pressed against the wall near that rifle. + +"What if I am?"--sharply. + +"Because if you are I shall not unsaddle my horse. I'll have to go on." + +When she put her question she had been rigidly expectant but at his +answer she relaxed and the fierceness that had been about her yielded +to a curiosity. + +"Go on in the rain? How's that?"--in a voice that was quite different, +as though she had encountered something she did not understand. + +He looked at her a lengthy interval before replying. + +"Because I respect you very much. Do you understand that?" + +She moved back to the fireplace, eyeing him questioningly, and he met +that look with an easy smile. + +"No, I don't understand that," she said. + +"You should. I saw you beat a man the other day because he didn't +respect you. No one but that type of man would refuse to respect you. +It's wise, perhaps, for you to take down that rifle when strangers come +at night ... but it isn't always necessary. Some men might stay here +with you alone, but I couldn't." + +"You mean, that you'd ride on in the rain?" + +"Surely." + +"Well.... You ain't afraid of the gun, are you?" + +He laughed outright. + +"No, it's not that! It's because I'd ride any distance rather than do +something that might bring you unhappiness. Don't you see?" He leaned +forward, elbows on knees, looking up into her serious face. "Don't you +see that if I stayed here with you, alone, and people heard about it, +they might not respect you?" + +"It's none of their business!" + +"Neither was it any business of that man to insult you in town the +other day. But he did." + +"But it's rainin' and you're cold. I ain't afraid of you." + +It was raining, but he was not cold. The fire was close and, besides, +another warmth was seeping through his body as he looked earnestly into +the face of that daughter of the mountains. The ready defiance was gone +from it and the features, in repose, gave it an expression that was +little less than wistful. + +"And you are a young girl who deserves the admiration of every man that +walks. If I stayed here with you, you would know it's all right, and so +would I.... Others might not understand." + +She sat down abruptly, leaned back, clasped one knee with her hands and +smiled for the first time. It was a beautiful smile, in great contrast +to her earlier sullen defiance. + +"I like you," she said simply, and Hilton's face grew hot. + +"If you like me, my night's ride hasn't gone to waste," he replied, and +laughed. + +She looked him over again, calculatingly, as closely as she had at +first, but with a different interest. Her smile faded but the lips +remained slightly parted, showing teeth of calcium whiteness. + +"You're the first man that's ever talked that-a way to me. I've been +travelin' ever since I can remember, first one place, then another. +I've always had to look out for men.... I've been able to, too, since I +got big enough to be bothered. + +"This is the first time any man's talked like you're talkin' to me." + +"Bless you," he said very gently, "that's been tough luck. A girl like +you are doesn't deserve that." + +"Don't she? Well, it ain't what you deserve that counts, it's what you +get." + +"What's your name?" + +"Bobby.... Bobby Cole." + +"How old are you?" + +She shook her head. + +"I don't know ... just. About twenty. Alf knows; I ain't thought to ask +him for quite a while." + +"Who's Alf?" + +"My father." + +"... And your mother?" + +"I never had none that I recall. She died early; that was back in +Oklahoma, Alf says." + +"No brothers or sisters?" + +A shake of the head. + +"And since then you've been alone with your father?" + +She nodded. "For weeks an' months, without talkin' to another soul." + +"Have you always lived so far away as that? Always in such remote +places that you didn't even see people?" + +"Huh! Usually I've seen 'em, 'most every day.... But there's a +difference between seein' folks and talkin' to 'em." + +He was puzzled and said so. + +"Funny!" she repeated after him. "Maybe it's funny ... but I can't see +it that-a way." + +"But surely you've made friends! A girl like you couldn't help make +friends." + +"I've never had a friend in my life ... but Alf," she answered bitterly. + +"Then it must have been because you didn't want to make friends with +people." + +"Didn't want to!" she echoed almost angrily. "What else does anybody +want but friends ... an' things like that? Oh, I wanted to all right, +but folks don't make friends with ... with trash like we are. We ain't +got enough to have friends; ain't got enough even to have peace." + +Hilton studied her face carefully. It was a queer blending of appealing +want and virulence. + +"They won't even let you have peace?" he asked deliberately to urge her +in further revelation. + +"Folks that have things don't want other folks to have 'em. In this +country when poor folks try to get ahead all they get is trouble." + +"Is that always so?" + +She shrugged and said, "It's always been so with us. Big cattle outfits +have drove us out time after time. They're always sayin' Alf steals; +they're always makin' us trouble. I hate 'em! + +"I could get along all right. I can fight but Alf can't. He's had so +much bad luck that it's took th' heart out of him.... If it wasn't for +me he couldn't get along at all. He's discouraged." + +"You must think a lot of your father." + +She shook her head as if to infer that measuring such devotion was an +impossibility. + +"Think a lot of him? God, yes! He's all I got. He's all I ever had. +He's the only one that hasn't chased me out ... or chased after me. +We've been on the move ever since I can recollect, stayin' a few months +or a year or two, then hittin' the trail again. Move, move, move! +Always chased out by big outfits, always made fun of, an' he's been +good to me through it all. I'd crawl through fire for Alf." + +"A devotion like that is a very fine and noble thing." + +"Is it? It comes sort of natural to me. I never thought about +it,"--with a weary sigh. + +"How did you happen to come here?" he asked. + +She looked at him and a flicker as of suspicion crossed her face. + +"Just come," she replied, rather evasively, he thought. + +For a time they did not speak. The fire crackled dully. Steam rose in +wisps from Hilton's soaked clothing and a cunning crept into his +expression. The rain pattered on the roof and dripped through in +several places, forming dark spots on the hard floor; the horse stamped +in the mud outside. + +The man saw the regular leap of the pulse in her throat and caressed +his thumb with finger tips as delicately as though they stroked that +smooth skin. + +Her lips were parted ... and _such_ lips! He told himself that she +was more beautiful than he had first thought and as filled with +contrasts as the heavens themselves. Shortly before she had been +defiant, ready for trouble, prepared to defend herself with a rifle if +necessary; now she was a child; that, and no more ... and she was +distinctive ... quite so. + +"You better stay," she said rather shyly after a time. "Alf'll be back +some time before mornin'. Nobody'll know." + +He shook his head. + +"You and I would know, and after I've told you what I think about it, +maybe you wouldn't like me if I did stay ... you've said you did like +me." + +He rose, smiling. + +"Sure enough goin'?" + +"Sure enough going." + +"But you're soaked and cold." + +"No man could do less for a girl like you." + +He bowed playfully low and when he lifted his eyes to her again they +read her simple pleasure. He had touched her greatest love, the desire +to be treated by men with respect. + +"I'll just ask you to show me the way." + +"You come by the way, I guess. Just start back that trail and your +cayuse'll take you to the road-- + +"But Alf'll be back. We've never turned anybody out in the rain before." + +"Then this is something new. Don't ask me again, please. When you ask a +man it makes it very hard to refuse and I must ... for your sake. + +"After I strike the road, then what?" + +"Follow right past the HC ranch to town. You know where that is?" + +A wave of rage swept through him. + +"I ought to!" he said bitterly. "I was sent away from there tonight." + +"Sent away? In the _rain_?" + +"In the rain." + +"Why did they do that?" + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"Because there are things which some people do not value as highly as +you do. Generosity, thoughtfulness for the desires of others, +hospitality." + +He licked his lips almost greedily as he watched her. + +"Did _she_ know?" + +"Who do you mean?" + +"That greenhorn gal." + +"Yes, she knew," he answered grimly, and buttoned his coat. + +He put out his hand and she took it, rather awed. + +"Some time I may come back and thank you for what you've wanted to do." + +"Oh, you'll come back?" + +"Do you want me to?" + +"Yes,"--eagerly. + +"Then it is impossible for me to stay away for long!" + +She stood watching, as, touching his hat, he rode into the night. She +let the curtain drop and returned to the fire, standing there a moment. +Then she sat down, rather weakly, and stretched her slim legs across +the hearth. + +"I'll be damned!" she said, rather reverently. + +Hilton did not ride far. His horse was reluctant to go at first and +then stopped and stood with head in the air, nickering softly and would +not go on when his rider spurred him. After a moment Hilton sat still +and listened. He heard the steady _plunk-plunk-plunk_ of a +trotting horse and, soon, the swish of brush; then a call, rather low +and cautious. + +The canvas before the doorway was drawn back. + +"You decided to stay?" Then, in surprise, "Who's there?"--sharply. + +One word in answer and Hilton remembered it: + +"Hepburn." + +The rider dismounted and entered. + +Dick rode on up the trail. When he reached Ute Crossing his clothing +was dried by the early sun. He ate breakfast and crawled into his bed, +angered one moment, puzzled the next and, finally, thrilled as he +dropped asleep with a vision of firelight playing over a deliciously +slender throat. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +HEPBURN'S PLAY + + +It was the next morning. Beck, standing beside Jane's desk, had told +her of the foreman's departure and its motive. + +"But doesn't that mean he'll be in danger?" she queried in frank dismay. + +"A man who goes after horse thieves is likely to run into trouble, +ma'am. That is, if he gets close to 'em. He wouldn't let anybody go +with him so I guess he figures he's competent,"--dryly. "He'll come +back all right. I'd bet on it." + +"But I don't want any of you men to put yourselves in danger for me, +for the things I own. I won't have it! Haven't we any law to protect +us?" + +Beck shook his head. + +"There's law, on books. But using that law takes time and in some +cases, like this, there ain't time to spare. You've got to make a law +of your own or those that somebody else makes won't be worth much to +you. + +"It ain't just pleasant to have to go gunning for your horses and +cattle, but if that's the only way to hold 'em it's got to be done. +It's either go get 'em and drive the thieves out or be driven out +yourself. You don't want to be driven out, do you, ma'am?" + +"You know the answer to that," she declared resolutely. "Where is this +place? How long will it take him to get there?" + +"Can't tell that. Twenty Mile is only a short ride, but we got the news +late. They're probably gone yonder by now and he might trail 'em a good +many days an' then lose 'em." + +Again that dryness of manner as he looked at the girl. + +"And this other? This water hole? What about that?" + +Beck could not give her an answer. + +"It all depends on what sort of nester this is. He might be talked out +of it, though that ain't likely." + +She tapped the desk with nervous fingers. + +"I came down to tell you about Dad last night. That's why I was here," +he explained, as though he considered an explanation necessary. And +with it was an indication of the curiosity which he could not conceal. + +Jane flushed, and her gaze fell. The man stood looking down at her +golden hair, the soft skin of cheeks and throat, the parted lips. One +of his hands closed slowly, tightly. For a moment he let himself want +her! + +"I am very glad that you did come. I don't know how much you heard or +what you saw but--" + +"Nothing that I can recall, except that you wasn't havin' your own way." + +The courtesy of this touched her and she smiled her gratitude. + +"Dick Hilton had been an old friend of mine; that is, I thought he was +a friend. I.... + +"He said some things last night that I wouldn't want you to +misunderstand. They.... That is, it would hurt me to think that you +might believe what you heard him say." + +"I don't think there's any danger of me misunderstanding anything that +man would say about you. I mean, his meaning, ma'am, not only his +words." + +"That is as much assurance as could be given," she replied. + + * * * * * + +For forty-eight hours following Hepburn's departure the HC was in a +state of expectation. Frequently, even on the first night following, +the men would stop talking and listen at any unusual sound as though +that all believed it might be the foreman returning or some one with +the word that he would never return, because the remainder of the crew +did not have the faith in his well being that Beck had expressed to +Jane Hunter. + +The Reverend held the floor much of the time, preaching frequent +impromptu sermons, discoursing largely on small matters. To him the +rest listened in delight with the exception of Two-Bits, who was +overawed by the verboseness of his kin. + +A less obvious activity of the Reverend's was his pertinent, never +ceasing questioning. He asked questions casually and covered his +attempts to glean information by long-winded comments on irrelevant +subjects. Tom Beck, even, caught himself expressing opinions when he +had not intended to and guarded himself thereafter. + +"He's an old fox!" he thought. "He knows a heap more than he lets on +... like some other folks." + +Otherwise the man seemed harmless. He let no opportunity pass to sell +his fountain pens which he carried always in the pockets of his frock +coat. He took frequent inventories of his stock and when he miscounted +or actually found some article missing he turned the place upside down +until the loss was adjusted. + +He seemed inclined to linger because though assuring the rest that his +plans were not of mortal making he often spoke of the summer's work. He +was no mean ranch hand himself and was with his brother much, doing +everything from branding colts to digging post holes. + +When, on the morning of the third day Hepburn had not returned, Jane +called Beck to the house and asked if he did not think it wise to send +help. The man did not reply at once because at this suggestion a +possibility flashed into his mind which he had not considered hitherto. +He looked at the girl who stood fingering the locket and asked himself: + +"Has he taken this chance to quit the country? Has something happened +that is bound to come to light?" + +Aloud, he said: + +"Your worry is in the wrong place. You're worrying over your men and +you ought to be worrying over your stock. You've come into this +country; you want to stay; you don't seem to understand, quite, that +this is no polite game you're playing. + +"When a man goes to work for an outfit, if he's the right kind to be a +top hand out here, he's willing to do anything that comes up, even if +it's risking his life. That ain't right pleasant to think about, ma'am, +but we all understand it. If it has to be it has to be; no choice. + +"If you're going to worry more about your men in a case like this than +you do about havin' them hold up your end of the game you ain't going +to play up to your part. You can't be soft hearted and stand off horse +thieves." + +"But, don't you see that I can't feel that way?" she pleaded. + +"Then you've got to act that way, ma'am," he replied in rebuke. "Your +men have got to understand that you care whether school keeps or not +... or school ain't going to keep. Get that straight in your head." + +He looked down at her a moment and his face changed, that little +dancing light coming into his eyes at first; then he smiled openly. + +"There's a word we use out here that I guess that they didn't use in +the country you come from. It's Guts. They're necessary, ma'am." + +He waited to see how she would take his assertion, but she only flushed +slightly. + +"If Hepburn don't show up soon, it might be wise to go prospectin', but +it won't be best to think more about him than you do about the men he's +after ... least, it won't be wise to show you do. I ain't advisin' you +to be hard hearted. Just play the game; that's all." + +He left her, with a deal to think about. + +After all, there had been no occasion for concern because at noon, dust +covered, on a gaunt horse, the foreman brought eight HC horses into +the ranch. + +The men hastened from the dinner table but Hepburn did not respond to +their queries and congratulations. He bore himself with dignity and had +an eye only for the completion of his task. + +"Open the gate to the little corral, Two-Bits," he directed and, this +done, urged the horses within. + +Next he dragged his saddle from the big bay and rubbed the animal's +back solicitously, let him roll and led him to the stable where he +measured out a lavish feed of oats. + +Meanwhile he had been surrounded by insistent questioners but he put +them off rather abruptly; when he emerged from the stable, slapping his +palms together to rid them of moist horse hair he stopped, hitched up +his chaps and looked from face to face until his eyes met those of Tom +Beck, who had been the last to approach. Their gazes clung, Hepburn's +in challenge, now, and in the other's an expression which defied +definition. + +"I brought 'em in," the foreman said, still staring at Beck and bit +savagely down on his tobacco. "Does _that_ mean anything?" + +Beck smiled, as though it did not matter much, and said: + +"For the present ... you win." + +The others had not caught the significance of this exchange and when +Dad moved forward their talk broke out afresh. The foreman grinned, +pleased at the stir. + +"Now, now! Don't swamp a waddie when he comes in after next to no sleep +an' ridin' from hell to breakfast!" he protested. "One at a time, one +at a time." + +"Tie to the story an' drag her past us," advised Curtis. + +"It ain't much,"--with a modesty that was somewhat forced. "It wasn't +nothin' but a case of goin' and gettin' the goods. Picked up the trail +at the mouth of Twenty Mile early the mornin' after I set out and +dragged right along on it. There was three of 'em, so I laid pretty low +after noon. Then one cuts off towards the rail road and at night the +others turned the horses into that old corral at the Ute's buckskin +camp. I waited until they got to sleep, saw I couldn't sneak the stock +away so,"--he spat and wiped his mustache, "I just naturally scattered +their fire all ways!" + +He laughed heartily. + +"You'd ought to seen 'em coming out of their blankets! I dropped two +shots in the coals and then blazed away at the first man up. Missed him +but cut 'em off from their ridin' horses, got ours out of the corral +while their saddle stock was stampedin' all over the brush and lit out +for here, hittin' the breeze! + +"That's about all. Stopped at Webb's last night and tried to figure out +the men, but they're strangers, I guess." + +There were comments and questions. Then Jimmy Oliver, looking at Dad's +saddle, said: + +"What happened to your horn, there?" + +The foreman chuckled. + +"One of 'em almost got me, boys, but a miss is as good as four or five +days' ride, ain't it? Was circlin' for the horses, shootin' sideways at +'em when one of 'em put some lead in betwixt me and the horn, only +quite close to the horn, it seems." + +"Well, I'll be darned if you didn't have a close shave, and--" + +Just then Jane Hunter rode up on her sorrel and when she saw her +foreman she smiled in relief. + +"You're back, and safely!" she said as she dismounted. + +"With the bacon, ma'am." + +"An' they almost got his bacon, Miss Hunter," Oliver said. "Look here!" +He indicated the damaged saddle and explained. + +"They came that close to shooting you?" she asked Dad. Her voice was +even enough but she could not conceal her dismay at his narrow escape. + +"Why, Miss Hunter, that ain't nothin'! I was just tellin' the boys that +a miss is as good as a long ride. I'm your foreman, they was your +horses--" + +"Such things have to be," she broke in, making an effort to be decisive +and convincing, but her voice was not just steady and Beck, at least, +knew how desperately she tried to play up to her part, to smother her +impulse to show that she held life dearer than she did her property, to +shrink from the hard facts of the hard life she faced. + +"So long as I'm your foreman nobody's goin' to get away with your stock +without a fight," Hepburn went on pompously, well satisfied with the +impression he had made. "If necessary they'll come a lot closer to +lettin' blessed sunshine in to my carcass than this! There ain't a man +of us who wouldn't do it for you an' gladly. If they're goin' to try to +fleece you they've got us to reckon with first. + +"Ain't that the truth, Tom?" + +Beck did not reply but watched Jane Hunter as she stood looking down at +the saddle with its tell tale scar. + +The Reverend remained when the group broke up. He leaned low over the +saddle and examined the leather binding about the horn. He fingered it, +then lowered his face close against it. For a moment he held so and +then straightened slowly. He walked toward the bunk house so absorbed +that he talked to himself and as he passed Beck he was muttering: + +"... wolf in sheep's clothing ..." + +"What's that?" asked Beck. + +The Reverend stopped, surprised that he had been overheard. He looked +at Tom and blinked and rattled the pens in his coat pocket; then looked +about to see whether they were observed. + +"Brother, when a man is honest does he go to great pains to make that +honesty evident? Does he lie to make people believe he does not act a +lie?" + +"Not usually. What are you drivin' at, Reverend?" + +The other stepped closer. + +"If you'll examine that saddle horn, you'll discover that the shot +which tore it was fired from a gun held so close that the powder burned +the leather. More: that it was fired so recently that the smell of +powder is still there. + +"There is something rotten, brother, in a locality nearer than Denmark!" + +Beck whistled softly to himself. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A NEIGHBORLY CALL + + +The mountains which had been brown and saffron when Jane Hunter came to +take possession of her ranch grew tinted with green as grasses sprouted +under the coaxing sun. Piņons were edged with lighter tints, +contrasting sharply with the deep color of older growth. Service bushes +turned cream color with bloom and sage put out new growth; calves, +high-tailed and venturesome, frolicked between frequent meals from +swollen udders, birds nested and shy mountain flowers completed their +scant cycle. + +No life remained arrested and with the rest the girl developed. She +took on a more robust color, her eyes which had always been clear and +cool, possessed a different look and a thin sprinkling of tiny freckles +appeared across her nose. She had taken to the ways of the mountains +easily. Her modish clothing was discarded and she wore brightly colored +shirts, a brimmed hat, drab riding skirt and the smallest pair of boots +that had ever been manufactured in that country. + +Two-Bits was wide-eyed in his enthusiasm. + +"My gosh, Reverend!" he whispered, "look at them boots! Ain't they th' +grandest little things you ever seen?... Gosh, they're too little for +any spurs she can buy, ain't they? _Gosh_ ..."--in helpless +admiration. + +Two-Bits and the Reverend had something on. This was evident from the +manner in which they kept apart from the others. Each evening they +would sit on a wagon seat or perch on a corral or Azariah would stand +near while his brother groomed his little horse, Nigger, and they would +talk, low and confidently, the Reverend gesticulating and Two-Bits +looking far away and talking laboriously as though he were memorizing +something. + +The homely fellow took several mysterious trips to town and once he +borrowed ten dollars from Beck and offered a buckskin bridle as +security, which the other waved away with affectionate curses. + +Hepburn had been commissioned to talk with Cole, the nester, and +determine his plans as they might affect the HC. This took him away +from the ranch repeatedly ... so many times, in fact, that it gave Beck +one more thing to wonder about. Also, there was a letter for Hepburn, +arriving a day or two after his return with the stolen horses, which +sent him suddenly to Ute Crossing; thereafter he went frequently. + +There seemed no way around the potential difficulty which the nester +presented and, as one of her last resorts, Jane sent Tom to the +Crossing to look up the record of the filing himself and to confer with +the one remaining attorney in the town. He announced his going and +Two-Bits, hearing, asked him to bring back a package which would be +waiting there. When Tom returned that night he handed the gawky lad a +small parcel which he immediately stuffed into his shirt and carried to +the supper table. + +"Them your jooles?" Oliver asked. + +"None of your gol-darned business!" + +"Ah, come on, old timer, an' let us in on it," the other pleaded. "I'll +bet it's a present for your best girl." + +"If you got to know, it's corn plasters for th' corns on your brains, +Jimmy," Two-Bits countered. + +He hurried through his meal and from the table and, with the Reverend, +walked down toward the creek where they went through their usual +performance, this time, however, with less prompting from the +clergyman. Then, brushing the dust from his shirt, adjusting his scarf, +Two-Bits walked nervously toward the ranch house. + +Jane answered his knock with a call to enter. He stepped in with the +package in his hand, but as he removed his hat the parcel dropped to +the floor and when he regained an erect position after recovering it +his face was fiery red. + +"What's your trouble tonight, Two-Bits?" Jane asked, approaching him. + +"In," he began and stopped to clear his throat. He swallowed with great +difficulty. "In--In recognition of your--your God--" He coughed and +swallowed once more. + +_"What?"_--in amazement. + +"In recognition of your God--your God given beauty, an' +estim--estimable qualifications--" + +He ran a finger inside his collar and dropped his hat. Perspiration +stood on his lip in beads and his dismayed eyes roved the room. He +moved his feet nervously. + +"In recognition of your God--" he began again, but broke short: + +"Hell, ma'am," he exploded, "my brother taught me a fine speech-- + +"Here!"--holding the package toward her with an unsteady hand and a +great relief coming into his eyes. "I found this in th' road an' +thought mebby you might want 'em." + +Controlling her desire to laugh at his confusion Jane took the package +and turned it over in her hands. + +"What is it, Two-Bits? Why do you bring it to me?" + +"I can't use it--'em. I thought ... I ..." he began, backing rapidly +toward the door, moving with accelerated speed as he put distance +between them. + +"Two-Bits, you wait!" she commanded. "I'm going to find out what this +is before you go." + +He looked about in a fresh agony of embarrassment but her order had +rendered him unable to move. Jane broke the string, took off the +wrapping and opened a paper box. Within reposed a pair of spurs, as +small spurs as her boots were small boots. They were beautiful products +of some mountain forge, one-piece steel, heavily engraved by hand, +silver plated. Small silver chains and hand-tooled straps were attached +and as she held them up the delicate rowels jingled like tiny bells. + +"Two-Bits!" she cried. "Aren't they beautiful?" + +"Yes, ma'am," he said, and made for the door again. + +She caught him by the arm that time, else he would have fled, and she +made him look at her. + +"Two-Bits, you lied to me! You didn't find these on the road, now, did +you?" + +"Well, that is.... Not exactly, ma'am,"--weakly. + +"Where did they come from?" + +"A fella, he made 'em an' give 'em to me an' they was too small for +me--" + +"Don't you tell me another single lie! _Where_ did you get them?" + +"Well ... I had 'em made,"--swallowing again, and _very_ weakly. + +"Two-Bits!"--seizing his rough, cold hand while a suggestion of tears +came into her eyes. "You had these made for me? Why, bless your heart, +I've never had a finer gift before. And to think-- + +"You're a dear!" + +"Oh, my gosh!" he whimpered, and despite her detaining hand, fled the +disquieting presence. + + * * * * * + +Of all men in that country, Two-Bits was the only one who openly +accepted Jane Hunter and his devotion was caused by an awed +appreciation of her beauty. The others, even her own riders, remained +stolidly skeptical of her ability to measure up to the task she had +undertaken and when men talked of the business of the country they +unconsciously spoke of the prestige of the HC as a thing of the past. + +Hepburn had brought back some of her property that was being driven off +but he had not halted attempts to make away with her horses and cattle. +There were rumors, vague but persistent, of other depredations and +those who best knew the ways of the cattle country awaited that time +when the situation must reach a crisis, when Jane Hunter must be put to +the ordeal that would test her mettle. + +She was yet unconscious of much of this for her urge to make a place +for herself centered on penetrating the callousness of the one man she +wanted to impress most of all. He remained aloof, watching her either +with that tantalizing amusement or a subtle challenge to win his open +friendship. There were moments when, as on that night after their drive +to Ute Crossing, she wanted to throw herself on him, to beg, to plead +that he lower his reserve and give her a place ... a place in his heart. + +But that, reason told her, would be the last thing to win him. She must +trust to the force of her personality to drive her way into his life.... + +Occasionally he would talk, for she offered a sympathetic audience to +the things he had to say but never did their conversation become +intimate; the subjects he discussed were invariably abstract and +impersonal. While listening she studied the man, striving to define +that quality about him which lay behind his reserve and drew her on. +She could not seize and analyze it.... He was, aside from obvious minor +qualities, a closed book. + +Still she saw him at night patrolling the cottonwoods before he slept! + +She could not know what went on in the heart of that man, of the fight +he waged with himself, of the struggle he made to stick to his creed: +never to take a chance. He did not know that she was aware of those +nightly vigils. The first had been on that night after he had played +with her pride and her high spirits. Returned to the bunk house he had +suddenly seen her not a smart, capable stranger but as a girl, alone, +facing a new life, surrounded by strange people and unfriendly +influences. He sensed a pity for her and walked back to look about the +place and see that all was well, as he might have watched over a +sleeping child. + +And then, the day that the sorrel threw her, he had felt her body and +the man in him had been stirred and when next he paced those shadows it +was not as a protector of some defenseless life, but as one who quite +tenderly lays siege to the heart of a woman. + +He did not admit that even to himself. He reasoned that he was +protecting her because she was a stranger in a strange land and that +the impulse was only kindness. But his reason in that was a conscious +lie for as he stood under the stars with the cool, quiet night all +about him he could hear her voice in the murmur of the creek, hear her +limbs rustling her skirts in the soft sigh of wind in the trees, could +feel her presence there ... when he was stark alone.... + +And he fought it off, fought stubbornly, coldly because he did not +know, he did not know love, did not know the ground into which he was +being carried. + +Women? He had had many but the experiences had been casual, mere +surface rifflings, and he had never been stirred as this woman stirred +him. It was new, entirely new, and Tom Beck feared that which he did +not know. + +He was accustomed to talk to his horses as men will who love them and +while he rode the gulches alone he would in later days reason aloud +with his own roan or the HC black or bay he used. + +"Why, old stager, we can't take a chance like that!" he said time after +time. "We've kept our heels out of trouble by playing a close game, not +gettin' out on a limb, but up to now everything that come along has +been boy's play ... compared to this. + +"If an _hombre_ took a chance with his love that'd be the limit, +wouldn't it? He'd have his stack on the table, an' the deal wouldn't be +more than started!" + +He talked over the loves of other men with those horses, earnestly, +soberly. He recalled the marriages he had known between men and women +who were from the same stocks, who knew none but the same life; so many +were failures! And this girl, this girl of whom he dreamed at night and +thought by day, scarcely yet spoke his language! + +But he could not argue away the disturbing impulse. He could cover it, +hide it from others, hide it from himself at times, but drive it out? +Never! + + * * * * * + +Tom's report to Jane after his trip to town offered no encouragement. +The filing had been legally accomplished and its significance was +further impressed on the girl when he said: + +"It's a mighty popular subject in town, ma'am. Everybody's interested." + +"I suppose they all think it will mean trouble for me?" + +"Yes, an' they're likely to be right." + +She shook her head sharply. + +"We don't want trouble, but if it does come we must meet it half way!" +She leaned forward determinedly and Beck stirred in his chair. It was a +gesture of delight for those were almost his very words to Hepburn when +they cleared their relationships of pretense; but he said only: + +"That's the easiest way to take trouble on." + +Just then Hepburn came in with his report on his visit to the Hole. + +"The old fellow seems reasonable, Miss Hunter," he said ponderously. +"He don't look like he's a permanent neighbor even if he has bought +some cows from Webb, which I found out today. He's poor as a church +mouse to begin with--" + +"And buyin' more cattle?" put in Beck. + +"Oh, they were old stock an' I guess Webb was glad to get rid of 'em," +the foreman said with a wave of his hand, yet he did not return Beck's +searching gaze. + +"Cole told me he didn't have any intention of fencin' up the water so I +guess there ain't anything to fret you, Miss Hunter. I sounded him out +on buyin' but didn't get far. He's a shiftless old cuss, from th' look +of things, so I don't anticipate any trouble at all. He may not even +last the summer out." + +Tom left and afterward Hepburn talked at length of the situation, +minimizing the menace the others saw, urging Jane to put the matter out +of her mind. But the girl was not satisfied and the next day, with Tom, +rode off toward the Hole. + +They made an early start, riding out of the ranch just as the sun +topped the heights to the eastward. Dew hung heavily on the sage from +which fresh, clean fragrance rose as their horses stirred the brush. +Their shadows were thrown far in advance as they followed a narrow +gulch and the sunlight was caught and concentrated and scattered again +as the drops flew from leaf and twig. + +The girl breathed deeply of the light, sweet air and looked at Beck +with a little laugh as of relief. + +"When I sit at that desk, I feel like a prosaic business woman whose +interest is in ledgers," she said, "but when I ride in this country I +feel like a character in some romantic story." + +Tom scratched his chin thoughtfully. + +"That's too bad, 'ma'am," he said. + +"Which?" + +"Both." + +"I can see disadvantages to the first, but why the other?" + +"I guess I ain't struck much with stories. Used to read 'em, used to +get real interested in some but that was before I commenced to get +interested in folks." + +"Yes?" she encouraged after a moment. + +"You see, I think the folks I see and hear and live with and get to +know are a lot more interestin' than the folks somebody's thought up +out of his head. + +"A man in a book talks and acts like a man in a book an' nothing else. +You never hear men talk out here in the bunk house or ridin' the +country like a writer would make 'em talk on the page of a book; take +my word for that.... + +"Folks are mighty interestin'. The best fun I get is watching folks, +studying them. It's a lot more fun than reading about some man or woman +you know ain't real, ma'am. + +"Life is mighty interesting if you look at it right. If you try to +glorify and lie about it you cheapen the whole works. It's either +damned serious or a joke. There's no in between. I don't know which it +is, yet, but I do know that most of the books I ever read was th' +in-between kind, neither one thing nor the other. + +"I've been around considerable among men but I never seen things happen +in life like writers make things happen in books. Everything works out +so lovely in books, folks never make mistakes in anything ... that is, +the heroes don't. Why, love even works out right in books!" + +He spoke the last in a lowered voice as if he talked of a sacred thing +that had been mistreated. Unconsciously he had voiced the fear that had +grown in his own soul and when he turned to look at her his eyes +reflected a queer mental conflict, almost fright! + +She caught something of his mood and waited a moment to summon the +courage to ask very gently: + +"And doesn't it ... doesn't love work out in life?" + +He shook his head. + +"Seldom, ma'am. In books folks gamble with it like it was ... why, +ma'am, like their love was a white chip!" + +Again he spoke as of a sacrilege and his earnestness, though he did not +appear to be thinking of her, confused the girl. The wordless interval +which followed was distressing to her so she said: + +"And the other forms of expression? Music? Poetry? Painting?" + +"You've got me on music," he confessed with a laugh. "I've heard +greasers playin' fandangoes on busted old guitars that sounded a lot +sweeter to me than any band I ever heard. + +"As for poetry ... I don't know,"--shaking his head. "I read some; +tried to understand it, but it seems all messed up with words as if +poets liked to take the long, painful way of telling things. + +"I expect poets want to tell something that's sort of ... delicate an' +beautiful.... Now and then I've got a funny feel out of poetry, but it +ain't anything to me like, say, seeing a bunch of little quail run +along under the brush, heads up, lookin' back at you, whistlin' to each +other. That's the most delicate thing I've ever seen or heard.... + +"I've seen some paintings, in Los and San Francisco; once in Chicago +and once in Denver. I don't know. They don't get my idea of it. I never +want to see anything more beautiful than sunrise over the Grand Caņon, +or sunsets over these hills, dust storm on the desert, snow blowin' +before a norther off the ridges, and things like that. God, who's such +a close friend to the Reverend, and who I don't know much about, is as +good a painter as any I've ever seen." + +He said no more but rode apparently thinking of much more that might be +said and Jane watched him carefully, a hungry look coming into her +eyes. His words had partly analyzed him for her: + +He was _real_. + +He was the most real human being she had ever known, real because he +lived a real life, because he appreciated realities; he was sufficient +to himself, finding such an interest in life about him that his own +impressions and reactions occupied the foreground of his consciousness. + +All her life she had been fed on the artificial, living on a soft pad +of unrealities which softened and hid the bed-rock foundation of +existence from her. Within the last weeks she had had her first taste +of the real, was face to face with life and with herself; it had been +sweet and inspiring; she felt a great urge for more of that experience +and her mind sped ahead into the vague future, the future which her +imagination could not even conjure because the new foundation beneath +her feet was as yet unfamiliar. But for all that vagueness she thrilled +and as she peered forward eagerly she saw this man, this clean, frank +man ever at her side.... + +And yet he had spoken of love as a gamble which did not work itself out +in life! A sharp stab of shame shot through her heart, for she had once +handled her love as though it had been a white chip, she had been +willing to chance it as a thing of little value and she knew that to +him that would be the outraging of a sacred thing. + +And again she heard the pronouncement of Hilton: You cannot stand +alone! You will fail! A knave, she now knew, but he knew her as she had +been. And could he be right? Could she measure up to where a real man's +love would not be wasted upon her? She did not know; she dared not +think further, so driving back these doubts, she said: + +"There's one question I want to ask and I want your honest answer. What +is your opinion of Hepburn?" + +He looked at her with that twinkle in his eye again. + +"In just what way, ma'am?" + +"At times he seems reluctant to talk to me, as though he knew more than +he wanted to tell and again I've had a notion he didn't want me asking +about certain ranch matters at all. + +"I confess to you that with all the talk of thieving I've wondered if +he didn't know more about it than he gave me to understand, but what he +did the other day seems, in all reason, to wipe that suspicion out." + +He said: "It seems you've answered your own question. When you've said +that he went a long ways to prove that he's the man you want by what +he's just done, you've said all there was to say." + +"But do you mean that? Are you keeping some suspicion of your own from +me?" + +He deliberated a moment, then smiled. + +"It's easy to suspect but it don't pay very big until you know +somethin'. Then you don't need to." + +They climbed out of the gulch, horses breathing loudly as they made the +last steep ascent and gained the ridge they were to follow and there +was little more talk until they stopped and sat looking down across the +great flat-bottomed cavity of Devil's Hole. It was a pear-shaped +depression, perhaps four miles from rim to rim at the widest point and +fully a score of miles in length. Its sides were sprinkled with cedars +which clung to the sheer cliffs determinedly, but its bottom was +blanketed with thrifty sage brush, purple in the sunlight that was just +then slanting across the floor and beneath this sheen they could see +the bright green of new grasses. A dark line marked with the clarity of +a map the course of the creek and half way down toward the neck of the +Hole was a small cabin erected by the man who had filed on the land for +Colonel Hunter and who had drifted on without establishing title. + +"There's your neighbor," Beck said. + +Jane looked for a moment, then lifted her eyes to the country which +showed through the narrow outlet of the deep valley. Behind her endless +ridges tossed upward to a sharp horizon, but out through that gap the +range lay in a vast basin, rising gently to diminutive lavendar buttes +plastered against the sky many miles away. It seemed soft and vague and +unreal ... like one of the unreal paintings Beck had seen hanging +within walls. + +Tom led the way through trees and among upstanding ledges of rock into +the narrow, dangerous trail and as he went down, his big roan picking +the way quickly yet cautiously, he half turned in his saddle to explain +the significance of the descent. + +It was the only egress on that side of the Hole. There was one trail on +the far side, so steep and hazardous that a man must lead his horse +either up or down. The only other outlet was through the narrow Gap +where the wash of flood water during storms had made the going easy for +men and stock. Out to the northwest, however, lay miles of desert, the +great basin of which Jane had had a glimpse, well enough to use for +range in three seasons, but in summer it became parched and useless. In +the Hole cattle could feed on the abundant gramma, could drink from the +creek, but getting them out and over the divide to the more plentiful +water of Coyote Creek was an undertaking. + +"That's the danger," he told her, "It's a long, hard climb for stock in +good shape, but if anything should happen to prevent your stock from +drinkin' down here and they should get low from lack of water, why then +you'd leave a lot of 'em down there if you tried to bring 'em up." + +He pointed over the abrupt drop at his left where a pebble would fall +hundreds of feet before striking again and as he indicated his right +chap scrubbed the face of the cliff, so narrow was the way to which +they clung. + +Finally they reached the flat and swung along at a free trot through +the brash sage. + +"There's water here now," he explained, as they followed the steep +creek bank, "but that don't last. It's mighty low right this mornin'. +The creek sinks when it don't rain an' its been comin' up in just one +spot for years. That's what makes a nester dangerous for you." + +They approached the cabin. A mare and a newly born colt eyed them +suspiciously. An ancient wagon, its top tattered, its tires red with +rust, stood close beside a frail corral. Fire wood was scattered about; +here was an axe with a broken helve, there a rust-eaten shovel, and the +whole place spoke of poverty. + +And yet piled against the cabin was spool upon spool of new barbed wire! + +"Fence!" muttered Beck. + +"But Mr. Hepburn said--" + +"Yeah, I recall what he _said!_" + +Just then the canvas which served as a door was thrown back and the +girl stepped out. She stood just across the threshold looking at them, +sullen and defiant. + +"Good-morning," said Jane. + +"Howdy," replied the girl indifferently. + +An awkward pause. Surely, she would volunteer no more and Beck asked: + +"Your dad around?" + +"What do you want with him?"--a demand rather than a question. + +"I am Miss Hunter. I own the--" + +"Oh, I know who you are!" the girl cut in defiantly. + +"I came down to talk to your father. We are neighbors. If we are to be +good neighbors there are things we must discuss." + +Jane was unpoised by the attitude of the other but she dismounted and +walked toward the cabin. + +"What did you want with him?" the girl asked again. + +"I want to ask some things about your plans." + +"And what is our business to you?" The girl's eyes snapped and her +vivid color intensified. + +"It may be a great deal to me. That is why I am frank in coming here. +For years this place has been range for HC cattle. Recently water has +been short. You have wire and evidently are going to fence. + +"I don't come as an enemy. Now that you are here I want to make the +best of it." + +"But you don't want us here!" + +The simple declaration, voiced with that same defiance, confused Jane; +then she met the other on her own ground. + +"No, we don't want you here unless you will work with us as we all try +to work together. I think you will do that because it is the wiser--" + +"So you start out workin' with us by lookin' up our claim, the way we +filed it, before you come to talk!" + +"Yes, I did that,"--frankly. "I wanted to be sure just what your rights +were before I came to talk business." + +"Well, you know now. You know no lawyers can run us off. Ain't that +enough? If you know we've got rights, what do you come here for?" She +stopped, but before Jane could reply went on, her eyes flashing sudden +heat: "You don't want us here but we've come to stay an' from the way +you've started in to talk your business I guess that's all you'll find +out." + +Jane eyed her for an interval then said: + +"You and I are the only women for miles about in this country. We are +near neighbors as neighbors go in the mountains; do you think this is +the best way to start in being friends?" + +"Who said anything about bein' friends?" + +"I want to be your friend." The sincerity of this balked the girl and +her eyes became puzzled. "I want to be your friend and want you for my +friend. We can help each other in a good many ways." + +"I don't recollect askin' for your help." + +"No, but I want to give it to you and I want to ask yours in return. We +are here in a big country. We are all dependent to an extent on those +about us. None of us can get along so well alone as we can by working +together." + +"Like turnin' folks out in the rain at night, for instance?" + +Jane's cheeks flamed. + +"I don't understand," she said. + +"Think it over an' maybe you will!" + +The girl's eyes blazed uncovered hate, but as they took Jane in again +from hat to boots a curious envy showed in them. + +"I've seen how much you big outfits want to help poor folks before," +she said. "I know all about that,"--bitterly. "Maybe it's a good thing +you come here today so you'll get to understand, first hand, instead of +sendin' your men around to learn things for you. + +"We've come a long ways. We've been on th' move ever since I can +recollect. Folks have offered to help us before, an' they have helped +us ... to decide to move. We've come to stay here; we can take care of +ourselves; we don't ask nothin' but to be let alone, an' we're goin' to +be let alone if we have to make it stick with gun play." + +She had advanced and, hands on her hips, weight on one foot, spoke the +last with her face close to Jane's, her head nodding in slow emphasis. + +"I trust it won't come to that," Jane said evenly. She had not +flinched, but studied the girl carefully, impersonally, though the +color in her cheeks had died; her face was in repose, her bearing +dignified and assured, yet without suggestion of any superficial +superiority. "If it does come to that it will not be because I am +unwilling to do all that is reasonable. I have come down here to talk +to you, which should be evidence of my good faith; I have been frank. +You meet me as though I had come to cheat you or drive you out. I don't +think that is fair." + +The other drew back a step, clearly puzzled again. Her face, in spite +of its forbidding expression, was very beautiful. + +"That sounds all right," she said at length, "but I've heard it before +and I know how much it's worth. You ain't my kind. You don't belong +here and I do. You don't want to be my friend ... you wouldn't know how. + +"All we want is to be let alone. Our business ain't yours an' we won't +try to make yours ours. Have you said all you wanted to say?" + +"No, not quite all, but if you won't listen to me, if you won't believe +me, there is only one more thing I can say: You will know where to find +me any time you want to talk to me. I will be ready to work with you, +to do my share, and maybe a little more. I hope there will be no +trouble, for it would force me to make my share of that." + +She turned abruptly and walked toward Beck. + +The man had purposely held aloof to watch the encounter between the two +women. He had been certain that the meeting would be anything but +amicable and it was like other situations into which he had let Jane +Hunter walk, needlessly and only to see how she would handle herself. +Usually the result only amused him but today he had watched Jane bear +up admirably under difficult circumstances, refusing to be angered or +confused, refusing to plead yet, while retaining dignity, leaving the +door to friendship open. + +As Jane mounted Bobby Cole stepped back into the cabin with no word and +the riders turned back on the way they had come. + +"I've been wonderin'," Beck said after a time, "how this old codger +rakes up the dust to buy cattle and wire." + +Jane did not reply. She wondered at that, too, but there was another +wonder in her mind about another, more human mystery, going back to a +night of storm in the heavens and storm in hearts. How did Bobby Cole +know she had turned Dick Hilton out? + +As they went silently each thinking of significant things which had +been revealed the girl threw back the curtain in the doorway and +watched them. + +"I hate you!" she whispered at Jane Hunter. "I hate you!... Because you +turned him out ... because you're ... you're _you_." + +She stood a long time watching them and with the darkness in her face +another quality finally mingled: that envy again. + +After a time Jane said: + +"A queer creature, that girl." + +"On the peck from the start!" Beck replied. + +"And beautiful!" + +"Ain't she, though?... Poor kid! I've seen 'em before, kids of movers +like that, not so good lookin', not so smart as she is, but like her +because they was always suspicious, always ready to scrap.... + +"That's because they've never had a chance to be decent, brought up in +a wagon that way." + +"A shame!" Jane whispered. + +"I like kids," he said later, as though his mind had been on nothing +else. "I like all kids, but I feel sorry for a lot of 'em ... for most +of 'em.... Every kid that's born ought to have a chance, a fair show +against the world, because the old world don't seem to like kids any +too much. + +"That girl didn't have a chance, never will have it. She was marked +from the day she was born. + +"Why, ma'am, one winter I worked for a cow man down in the Salt River +valley which is in Arizona. He didn't have a big outfit, he didn't have +much luck; trouble with his water, his cattle got sick and his horses +didn't do well and he had just one dose of trouble after another. + +"But he had three kids, all in a row they seemed,"--indicating +progressive heights with his hand. "I think they was the happiest kids +I've ever seen. I always think of 'em when I see kids that've had to +grow up like that girl. I remember those mornin's when we used to start +out for a day's ride, looking back and seeing those kids playing in the +dirt beside the rose bushes. Their clothes was dirty the minute they +stepped outside and their hands an' faces was a sight from the 'dobe, +but there was roses in their cheeks as bright as th' roses on the +bushes and they laughed loud and their eyes always smiled ... like that +Arizona sky, which ain't got a match anywhere.... + +"This man and his wife just buckled down an' bucked old Mister Hard +Luck from the word Go, for them kids! They sure thought the world of +'em. I guess that was what put the roses in their cheeks an' the smiles +in their eyes.... + +"I'll never forget those kids by the rose bushes with somebody to care +for 'em, an' work their hearts out for 'em. That's the way kids ought +to grow up; not like that catamount grew up." + +He smiled in reminiscence and his smile was tender. + +"Roses and kids," he repeated after a while. "They ought to go +together." + +He looked at Jane and saw that her eyes were filmed. + +She rode closer to him, until her knee touched his chap and said: + +"I think that is beautiful: Roses and kids. I shall always remember it; +always...." + +She knew, now, the man she loved, the man whose love she would win, the +man behind that exasperating front of caution. His clear eyes and keen +mind were interested only in realities and yet he could display a +tenderness more delicate than she had ever before encountered in men. +He was strong, and as gentle as he was strong; he was generous while a +skeptic; he had poise and personality. And he could liken love to a +poker chip; without using the word make her know that he held love +sacred! + +She raised her hand to that locket again and held it tightly in her +small palm. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE FRAME-UP + + +The water in Devil's Hole was fenced. + +It was the Reverend who brought word of the fencing. He had made a +circuit of the ranches, holding services and selling pens, and on his +way back from the lower reaches of Coyote Creek he stopped to call on +the Coles. His visit was not financially productive but he did see long +rows of posts set by three Mexicans, and saw wire being stretched on +them. + +Another thing he saw, which he did not mention to Hepburn: He saw Bobby +Cole riding beside a man, a man who did not wear the dress of her +country but who wore swagger riding clothes; who did not talk with the +self consciousness of a mountain man who rides beside a pretty girl, +but who leaned toward her and talked engagingly, so engagingly that the +girl lost her hostile attitude and looked up into his face with wide, +eager eyes. + +The fencing stirred the country as nothing had done since the first and +only time sheep bands attempted to come in. There was talk of it in +town, there was talk of it when men met on trail or road, there was +talk of it in ranch houses down the creek and there was talk of it +elsewhere, at length, in stealthy jubilation.... + +Riley of the Bar Z rode the thirty miles from his ranch to discuss it +with Jane Hunter. + +"I don't guess you quite understand how serious it is, Miss Hunter," he +said after they had talked a time. "Do you realize that if we have a +dry summer--and it's startin' out that way--that this is goin' to cut +your cattle off some of your best range. It may break you." + +"I understand that, Mr. Riley," she said, leaning across her desk, "but +there are other things I do not understand and I am inclined to believe +that they are of first importance. Without understanding them, this +condition can not be remedied." + +He gave evidence of his surprise. + +"I'm not wanted here," she went on. "I'm not wanted because the HC is +a rich prize. It seems to be the accepted opinion that I cannot stay, +that I will be unable to stand my ground. + +"I want to know _why!_ I want to know who is going to drive me +out. Some one is behind this nester, I am convinced, and it is the +influence behind the things we can see that is dangerous. Loss of range +is serious, surely; but by what manner has that range been lost. +_That_ is what I want to know!" + +Riley eyed her with approval. + +"I came up here with the idea that you didn't understand but I guess +you do," he said quietly. "You've got the situation sized up right, but +there's one thing I want to tell you: So far only one blow has been +struck; it has fallen on you. The next and the next may fall on you, +but every time you are hurt it's goin' to hurt the rest of us. That +makes your fight our fight.... If you fail, others are likely to fail. + +"I've lived here too long in peace after fighting for that peace, to +stand by and see trouble start again if I can help it. I'm of the old +school, Miss Hunter; your uncle and I came in here together. I think a +lot of his ranch and ... well, if it comes to a fight I can fight again +beside his heir as I fought by his side. + +"It won't be pleasant for a woman. Cattle wars ain't gentle affairs. +They can't be if they're going to be short wars. There's three things +to be used; just three: guns an' rope and nerve." + +"I trust I can stand unpleasantness if necessary," was her reply. + +Riley was impressed with the girl's courage but like the others he was +reluctant to believe that she was made of the stuff that could +recognize disaster and fight it out, her strength unweakened by panic. + +Another visitor was there that day: Pat Webb. Jimmy Oliver had found +one of his colts badly cut by wire and had brought it in. Webb had come +to see the animal and had lingered to talk intimately with Hepburn. + +This gave Beck much to think about. + +He was saddling his horse at noon when Hepburn approached and asked his +plans for the balance of the day. + +"It depends on what I find. I'm after horses first, but I might have a +look at other things. There's so damned much happenin' around here that +it pays a man to look sharp." + +"You'd better cut out that sort of talk, Beck!" + +"What talk?"--mockingly. "Seems to me if you didn't know any more than +I do you wouldn't be so easily roiled up, Hepburn." + +"You mind your business and I'll look after mine," the foreman warned, +breathing heavily. "About one more break from you and we'll part +company." + +His eyes glittered ominously and his face was malicious. + +"I wouldn't be surprised. This outfit's a little too small for you and +me. It seems to shrink every day, Dad. Maybe, sometime, you'll have to +go, but just keep this in your head: I've promised Miss Hunter to stay +and my word is good." + +He mounted and Hepburn, walking slowly toward the stable, twirled his +mustache speculatively, one eye lid drooped as though he saw faintly a +plan which promised to solve perplexities. + +Beck was cautious that afternoon, as he had trained himself to be when +riding alone. He kept an eye on the back trail and scanned both gulches +when he rode a ridge; but cautious as he was he did not see the two +riders who sat on quiet horses beneath a spreading juniper tree at the +head of Twenty Mile. + +It was after dark when he returned to the ranch and the moon was just +commencing to show. The others were at supper. He threw his gun and +chaps into the bunk house and fed his horse. As he walked down toward +the ranch house the other men were straggling out and their dining room +was empty. Carlotta brought him steaming food and he ate with gusto. + +When he had nearly finished Jane entered and he started to rise, but +she made him remain seated. + +"What do you suppose that man Webb is doing here?" she asked. "Hepburn +explains that he is trying to arrange to send a representative with our +round-up." + +"Whatever he's doin' here, it ain't for your good," he replied. + +"Nor yours." + +"Don't you worry about mine, ma'am and unless he's a lot smarter than I +think he is, or unless he's got lots of help, don't figure he's goin' +to do you any great harm. He's just a low-down--" + +A man was running toward the house and he broke off to listen. + +Two-Bits came hurriedly into the room, eyes wide, face white, showing +none of his usual confusion at Jane's presence. + +"Tommy, they want you," he said unnaturally. + +"Yeah? What for, Two-Bits?" + +"I don't know, Tommy. Hepburn an' Riley an' Webb an' the rest want you. +I don't know what it is, Tommy, but it must be serious." + +Tom saw the anxiety in Jane's eyes. She did not put her query into +words; it was not necessary; he knew and answered: + +"I ain't got an idea, ma'am, but I'll go find out. You're all wound up, +Two-Bits!"--laughing. + +"My gosh, Tommy, they acted funny. Have you done anything?" the cowboy +asked in an undertone as they left the house. + +"A lot, Two-Bits. I sure hope they don't go proddin' into my awful +past! There's some terrible things they might find!" + +He hooked his arm through the other's and laughed at the boy's +apprehension. + +But Beck knew that something of grave consequence impended the instant +he set foot in the bunk house for the men, who had been talking lowly, +stopped and eyed him in sober silence. Afterward he had a distinct +recollection of Two-Bits slipping along the wall, looking at him over +his shoulder with the freckles showing in great blotches against his +white skin. Hepburn, Riley and Webb sat on one bed. The foreman was +leaning back, hands clasping a knee, but he chewed his tobacco with +nervous vigor. + +"The Reverend about to offer prayer?" Tom asked easily. + +There was no responsive smile on any face. Someone coughed loudly and +sharply as if it had been an unnecessary cough. Tom halted. + +"I'm here. What's up?" he asked quietly. "This is like a funeral ... or +a trial." + +At that Hepburn cleared his throat. + +"Want to ask you somethin', Beck. I want you to tell these other men +what you said to me this noon." + +Tom hitched up his belt. + +"If you want 'em to know, why don't you speak the piece yourself? You +recall it, don't you?" + +"Better talk, Tom," Riley advised. + +"I don't know what this is all about; I don't know what difference what +I said to Hepburn can make to the rest of you, but I respect your +opinions, Riley, and if he's willing for you to know what I said, I +sure am willing to repeat it. + +"Hepburn and I've had a little argument. It's been goin' on for some +time. He'd be pleased to have me move on, I take it, but I sort of like +this outfit." + +"Go on," Hepburn said impatiently. + +"I told you, Hepburn, and I'll tell you again that this ranch is +gettin' a little small to hold both of us. It seems to shrink every day +and I don't get good elbow room any more, but so far as I'm concerned +I'm more or less permanent." + +Webb nodded and Riley shifted uneasily, looking from Beck to Hepburn, +frankly puzzled. + +"Yes, that's what you said to me. Now will you tell the boys where you +rode this afternoon?" + +Beck eyed him a long moment and the foreman stared back, assured but +not quite composed, his little eyes dark. Once he bit his chew savagely +but his expression did not change. + +"I rode out of here straight up Sunny Gulch, climbed out at the head, +rode those little dry gulches as far down as Twenty Mile and came up +the far ridge. Then I took a circle to the east and came home by the +road." + +"You admit bein' at the head of Twenty Mile, then?" + +"Admit it? Yes." + +"What time?" + +"Three o'clock or thereabouts,"--after a pause in which he considered. + +"See any other men?" + +"Not a man until I got back." + +Hepburn looked about. Two-Bits muttered lowly to himself. Riley dragged +a spur across the floor slowly. Every eye in the room was on Beck, and +Beck's eyes were on Hepburn. + +"Then will you tell the boys how come this?" + +The foreman drew a gun and holster from behind him. It was Beck's gun. +He drew it from the scabbard, broke it and dropped the cartridges into +his palm. + +Three of the shells were empty. + +The two gave one another stare for stare. Hepburn was breathing rapidly +but his look was of a man who faces a crisis with all confidence. Beck +did not move or speak. His eyes smouldered and his face settled into +stern lines. Then that smouldering burst into blaze and before the +glare of will the foreman's hand, holding the contents of the revolver +chambers, trembled. He closed it quickly and looked away and where a +moment before he had been the accuser he was now on the defense. It was +determination against determination and in the conflict words were +wrung from him. + +"Somebody fired three shots at me at the head of Twenty Mile at three +o'clock this afternoon." + +And that sentence, though it was an indictment, was voiced more in a +manner of defense than in accusation. With it Beck's expression +changed; it became alert, as though following some play upon which +great stakes hung, but following intelligently, not blind to the way of +the game. + +"I can explain those empty shells. I took a shot at a coyote on the way +back. I didn't see you, Hepburn, after I left here this afternoon until +I got back." + +Webb got up. + +"I guess that makes the case," he said to no one in particular. + +Then to Tom: "I was with Dad; he was ten rod ahead of me. Th' shots +come from above and landed all around him. + +"_We_ didn't have to look very hard for somebody who wants to get +rid of Dad, but we wanted it from you, Beck." + +Triumph was in his little beady eyes and on his mottled face. There was +a shuffling of feet and Tom hooked one thumb in his belt, with a slow, +uncertain movement. His eyes held on Hepburn's face, prying, searching, +striving to force a meeting but the other would not look at him, he +busied himself stuffing the evidence into his shirt pocket. + +Riley rose and the low stir which had followed the revelation subsided. + +"Isn't there something else you want to say, Beck?" he asked. "Didn't +you see any other man? Can't you say something for yourself?" + +"I didn't see another man this afternoon," the other replied, still +striving to make Hepburn meet his gaze, "an' besides there don't seem +to be much to say. I've told my story. It's simple enough.... You've +heard the other story, which seems simple enough. Now it's my word +against Hepburn's ... an' Webb's,"--as though the last were in +afterthought, and of little matter. + +Riley faced the circle of listeners. + +"This is no boy's play," he said grimly. "The foreman of the biggest +outfit in this country has been shot at, shot at by somebody who didn't +come from cover and give him even a fair show for a fight. We know that +there's been bad blood between these two men; Tommy's admitted that. I +hate like hell to think he lost his head over a quarrel and that he'd +fight a man from cover, but it looks bad. + +"We can't have this go on! There's been stealing and rumors of stealing +for months. There's trouble comin' over water and fence. We've gotten +along like good neighbors for years but now trouble seems to be in the +air. I don't see that there's much to it but to take Tom to town an' +turn him over to the sheriff. + +"Unless,"--facing Beck. "Tommy, ain't there anything you want to say? +You've refused once but I keep thinkin' you've got something else you +could tell us." + +"No, Riley, I'd be taking a chance by doing more talkin' tonight. I'll +do it when it'll do me more good," he said, but at his own words, brave +though they sounded, his heart sank and a rage boiled up in him. + +"Then I'm afraid it's jail for you, son," Riley said. "I can--" + +"Jail?" + +Jane Hunter had stepped into the bunk house. It was the first time she +had ever been there and that was reason enough to rivet attention on +her; but now she came under circumstances which were stressed, her face +was white, lips parted, eyes wide with a child-like wonder and as she +paused on the threshold, one hand against the casing, dread was in +every line of her figure. + +"Jail?" she repeated in a strained voice. "And why?" + +The silence was oppressive and for a breath no one moved or spoke. Beck +had not turned to face her; his eyes never left Hepburn's face and it +was he who broke the suspense with one word, addressed to the foreman. + +"Well?"--a challenge. + +Hepburn moved slowly toward the girl. + +"There's been a little trouble, Miss Hunter," with an attempt at a +laugh, which resulted dismally. + +"Trouble?"--with rising inflection. + +She took a step forward, looking about at the serious faces. She looked +back at Hepburn; then at Beck. Her eyes clung to him a moment, then +swept the circle again. + +"Trouble? About what? Who is in trouble?" + +"I didn't want to bother you with it," her foreman said, his assurance +coming back, for Beck had ceased looking at him. "It's a nasty mess; I +don't like it. None of us like it. Even if he is inclined to be a +little hot-headed, we all thought better of Tom--" + +"Tom?" + +Slowly she turned to face Beck. + +"Yes. Tom. We're.... We're sorry, ma'am," Dad stammered; then recovered +and with an effort to belittle the situation by his manner proceeded: +"Somebody did a small amount of shootin' at me this afternoon. Webb, +here, an' I was at the head of Twenty-Mile and somebody fired three +times at me. Tom come in tonight with three empty shells in his gun. +He.... He didn't explain well enough to suit us because all he could +say was that he fired at a coyote comin' down the road, but--" + +"And you're going to take him to jail?" + +Her hand had gone slowly to her throat, fingers clamping on the gold +locket as if for support. Her eyes had become very dark. + +"Well, ma'am, that's about all we can do: turn him over to the +sheriff," Hepburn said. + +She drew a deep breath, a second interval of tense silence prevailed +and then Jane, putting one arm across her eyes, began to laugh. The +laugh started low in her throat and rippled upward until it was full +and as clear as the ringing of a glass gong. She swayed back against +the wall and pressed her extended palms hard against the tough logs.... + +"On that evidence?" she cried. "On such evidence you would charge a man +with attempted murder and turn him over to the law? Because there were +empty shells in his revolver? + +"Why, I was with him when he came down the road and he _did_ shoot +at a coyote ... three times ... I heard it; I saw it ... I was there." + +She leaned her head back and her body shook with silent, nervous +laughter. + +"Praise ye the Lord!" chanted the Reverend, "For his ways are wonderous +and strange to behold!" + +A babel of comments, loud, profane, excited, relieved, arose. Hepburn +stood as if struck dumb, mouth agape and then, face growing dark with a +rush of blood under the bronzed skin, he said: + +"I thought you said you didn't see a soul!" + +"I said I didn't see a man, you pole-cat!" Beck retorted and his eyes +danced. Webb sat down on a bunk as though suddenly weakened. Riley, +voice husky, took Tom's hand, shook it gravely. + +"Why didn't you tell us, my boy?" he questioned. + +The rest stopped to hear the answer: + +"I didn't want to spill my case before this ... this _hombre_ +showed his full hand," he lied. + +He turned to look at the other who had lied ... but Jane Hunter had +fled. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE BIG CHANCE + + +Hours later, after the Reverend had offered a strong, verbose prayer, +invoking the wrath of the Almighty upon those who plot to strike from +cover, after the bunk house had finally become quiet, Beck stole out +into the night. + +The moon rode high, flooding the creek bottom with its cold, blue-white +light and he stood bareheaded, shirt open at the chest, staring at one +bright star which stared back from the edge of the hills. Far off, away +down the creek, a coyote yapped and, waiting, cried again and its faint +echo reverberated into silence. A horse in the corral stomped and blew +loudly.... + +He moved on down toward the cottonwoods and reaching them stood in +their shadows, arms at his sides, shoulders slacked as if weakened, +irresolute. The ranch house was dark, its shingles smeared with a sheen +of silver by the moon, the veranda in deep black. + +Tom did not see her coming until she was halfway across the dooryard. +Then, rather heavily, he climbed the wire fence and met her. + +Without words of greeting Jane put out her hands and he took them both, +holding them between his, looking down into her face silently. Her eyes +were dry, but there had been tears on her cheeks, and her lips, as she +looked into his smouldering eyes, trembled. + +"What were they trying to do to you?" she whispered. + +"They were trying to send me to jail for shooting at a man," he +answered. "Why did you lie for me?" + +"Oh, you were in trouble! I didn't know. I couldn't think.... I saw it +all so clearly, all in a flash, saw that all you needed was one little +word from someone else to make it right and I didn't care beyond that. +It was the only thing that mattered. If they had taken you away I'd +have been alone, wholly alone...." + +"You believed me when I told 'em I shot at a coyote?" + +"Believe? Believe? I didn't think, didn't consider. It made no +difference to me what you had done. The only thing I wanted to do was +to set you free, to clear you!" + +"You'd lie for me, even if you thought I'd shot to kill a man?" he +insisted. + +"I didn't know what you had--" + +"You'd take a chance like that? Why would you, ma'am?" + +For a long moment their eyes, half seen to one another in those +shadows, clung almost fiercely, his inquisitory, hers changing as wave +followed wave of emotion through her body. She had never seen him so +dominating, and he had no need to insist again that she answer. She let +her head fall back with a half smile. + +"Oh, I did it because it was the only thing I could do.... I did it, +Tom, because I--" + +He straightened sharply and cut in: + +"I know, ma'am; you did it because you need me here, on the ranch." + +His chest swelled with a great breath and he released her hands, +stepping back and putting a hand slowly to his head. + +For an instant she made no sound. Then she laughed strangely. + +"Because I need you here.... Yes, that was it. That was why I lied for +you." She spoke with nervous rapidity, rather breathlessly, and one +hand went again to that locket, clutching it in a cold clasp. "I knew +it was not like you to try to shoot a man unfairly. I didn't think +there was much chance in lying. All I saw was them taking you away and +leaving me here alone to face all this, without anyone I can trust, +without anyone to help me. That was why I lied to them. + +"You promised me once that you would stay. I knew then that I needed +you; every hour since that promise was made I've had a greater +realization of my need for you until it ... it ..." Her breath caught +in a sob and she pressed knuckles to her lips. + +Beck stood silently watching her, a cold moisture forming on his brow, +hands clenched as if he were holding himself against the urge of some +great impulse. + +"I felt when I stepped in there and learned what it all was, that the +last thing I have to depend on was slipping away ... and I reached out +and grasped you like I'd grasp a straw in a sea. It ... I can't tell +you,"--her voice trembled, "what it meant, what it means to me...." + +Words, words! They spilled from her lips with a rapidity that +approached hysteria. She was talking without thought, without reason, +letting her voice run on while her consciousness, divorced entirely +from it, fell into chaos. + +"Everything seems to be working against me and now, because you have +been my help, my strength, they are trying to take you away. Oh, I need +all the help there is, and that is you!"--with a stamp of the foot as +she drove tears back. + +"There are influences which I can't see, which I can only feel, all +about me, within me,"--beating her breast--"and outside." + +"It may be interestin' to you to know that I didn't shoot at any +coyote." + +She gasped lightly and for a moment did not speak. + +"Then you did shoot at Hepburn?"--in a whisper. + +"No, I didn't. I'd never shoot from cover." + +"I knew that," she said quickly, knowing that by her question she had +hurt him. + +"It appears that I ain't very welcome with your foreman. It was a +frame-up, a good way to get rid of me. They planted that evidence in my +gun while I was eating. It was one of those influences at work, the +kind you've only felt. You can see some of 'em now, ma'am.... + +"It's lucky you thought to lie," he said, with a weak laugh that was +unlike him. "I guess you're going to need all your luck.... + +"But you better go in now. It's late and cold." + +He wanted her to be away from him, to be rid of her presence, for it +pulled him, drew him, and he fought against it, fought against the +strongest impulse that has been born to man, fought blindly, his old, +deeply rooted caution, dragging him back ... dragging him.... + +"I don't want to go in; I don't want to leave you," she said. "I want--" + +"But you must go. Have I got to pick you up an' carry you into your +house, ma'am?" + +"I want you to take this," she went on where he had interrupted, +fumbling at the catch of the chain which held the locket against her +throat. "Take it," she said, holding it swinging toward him, spattered +with moonlight. "It's brought me all the luck I've ever had; it will +help you, it will protect you. You need luck as much as I do ... and +you need it for me. Wear it, a foolish little trinket but it means ... +oh, more than you can know! I'd like to think of you as wearing it...." + +"I don't think I need that, ma'am. What's in it?" + +"Don't ask that! Don't even open it, please. Just take it and wear it, +for me." + +He made no move to take the ornament, just stood looking at it +skeptically. + +"Take it ... and then I will go in, without being carried." + +She reached up to place the chain about his neck with her own hands; +her unsteady fingers, fumbling with the catch, slipped and her cool, +bared arms, touched his flesh. At the contact she swayed against him. + +"Oh, carry me in," she pleaded gently, "carry me in ... not into my +house, but into your life!" + +All the caution, all the reason he had summoned to hold back that urge +was swept aside. The touch of her skin against his skin sent seething +blood to the ends of his limbs. It did not need her plea to break him +down; the touch accomplished it, and fiercely, roughly, he caught her +to him. + +"It's all been a lie, another lie, all this you've said!" he cried +lowly. "You didn't lie tonight because you need me; you lied because +you love me, ma'am! You love me, like a good woman can love, and I love +you.... I love you, ma'am, like I never thought I could love. It's +bigger than I am, bigger than all the rest of my life.... + +"From that first night you talked to me I've been afraid I was goin' to +love you. That was why I planned to go away because I didn't want to +take a chance with my love. It's the only sacred thing I've ever owned +and I've kept it back, savin' it for the time when I could turn it +loose.... + +"When you told me you'd made up your mind to stay here, that you wanted +to do something that was real and worth-while, I felt that I couldn't +hold it back.... + +"But I didn't know you. I got to love you so much I was afraid of you, +afraid of myself. That was why I bullied you, that was why I picked on +you. I tried to drive you away from me, I tried, even, to keep from +bein' your friend, but somethin' told me all the time that this had to +come. + +"I've watched you grow strong and big. I've hurt you on purpose. I've +made some things hard for you to do, but you've done 'em. You're like a +man, in the way you stand up to things ... and the gentlest, the +sweetest woman down in your heart!" + +"Not that!" she pleaded. "Not all that. I'm not what you think, I'm +only what you can make me. I'm weak and need it. I want to be carried +... along and upward by it!" + +Chin drawn in, he looked down into her face as she lay in his arms, her +breath quick and fast and warm on his cheek. He could feel his limbs +vibrate as his pulse leaped and his whole body trembled as he read the +look in her eyes, revealed by the moonlight. + +Up on the hills a little owl hooted and again the coyote yapped. A +vagrant night wind touched the trees above them and the leaves +whispered sleepily, as if roused by a pleasant dream. The murmur of the +creek sounded almost as a blessing. None of these they heard. They were +lost in a vague, limitless world, alone, swayed by the most powerful, +the most beautiful forces in life. + +"You lied because you love me," he whispered. + +And at that she stirred and her breath slipped out in a long sob. He +lowered his face to hers as scalding tears brimmed from her eyes. He +felt them on his cheek, mingled with her breath and he felt her arms +tighten about his neck, her body draw closer to his. + +"It wasn't any chance!" he whispered fiercely. "It wasn't any chance, +and I've been holdin' back, fighting it off, denying it to myself for +weeks ... afraid to risk it, afraid to let it come out ... afraid of +what is _so!_" + +"Isn't it a chance?" she asked almost in a gasp. "Isn't it? Are you +sure, Tom?" + +"As sure as I am that the moon is up there, Jane." + +He lowered his lips to hers and for a long kiss they clung. + +"But you don't know--you don't know!" she cried, suddenly struggling to +be free. "You don't know me," pressing her palms against his chest as +he held her. "It's big, it's fine ... the biggest, the finest thing +that has ever come into my life. + +"Tom! What if it should be a chance?" + +"But, Jane it can't--" + +With a faint little cry, almost as though she were hurt, she broke from +him and fled toward the house through the moonlight. + +He stood alone, the feel of her lips still on his, heart leaping, mind +swirling. And, looking down, he saw that in his hand he held the little +gold locket. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +WAR! + + +So, for Jane and Tom, at least, Hepburn came into the open. + +And for Hepburn, these two displayed their hands. + +Of greater consequence, Beck's reserve, his caution was swept away. He +had taken his big chance! + +"You're all there is to me," he told Jane the following morning with a +desperation in his eyes and a seriousness in his voice that made her +search his face with alarm. "I fought against my love for you but it +wasn't any use. You _made_ me love you. You'll make me keep lovin' +you, won't you, Jane?" + +"I hope so! You don't know how much I hope so!" she assured him as her +arms clasped his neck closely. "It frightens me, having this +responsibility. It's the greatest I've ever had and I'm weak, Tom, a +weak woman!" + +"No, strong!" he declared and stopped her further protest with kisses. + +Dad Hepburn, of course, could not stay on under the circumstances. + +"There's an advantage of having a reptile in sight if you've got to +have one in the country," Beck told Jane as they discussed the matter, +"but he won't stay. He's got an excuse to back out gracefully now and +we haven't any excuse to keep him on." + +"And will you be my foreman?" she asked. + +"If you'll trust me that far," he replied with the laugh in his eyes +again. + +Hepburn departed that day, telling Jane that he would like to stay but +that he did not feel like risking his life for the sake of a job, to +which she made no reply other than writing his check. This nettled him; +he did not meet her gaze because, though they both had lied, her guilt +was white while his was smirched with treachery. + +His farewell to Beck was not open but his successor read in it an +ominous quality. + +"I wish you luck on your job, Beck," he said as he mounted, ready to +ride away. "Lots of luck." + +"Mostly bad luck, Hepburn?" Tom taunted and the flush that whipped into +the face of the older man was not that of humiliation. + +He reined his horse away with a growl and did not look back. + +If the little gold locket which Tom wore about his neck brought luck, +it supplied a dire need. He had two determined personal enemies in the +country, Webb and Hepburn, and as foreman of the HC he had many +others, identities not fully established. + +There was Cole and the Mexicans he had hired to build the fence and +clear his land. There was the usual gathering of riff-raff at Webb's. +And there was Sam McKee, the coward, who was not reckoned as a menace +by Beck and who, in later days, was to figure so largely! + +Another piece of news the Reverend brought: + +"They're talkin' about you in town, brother. They're saying that now +some of this thieving will stop. They're looking to you to clean up the +country." + +"Ain't that a lot of responsibility to put on one peaceful citizen?" +Beck asked, but though he jested over the fact he did not fail to +appreciate its significance. + +"Be cautious. These men are without scruple, brother." + +"And so am I ... but I got lots of luck, Reverend!" was his parting. + +He needed his luck. + +Riding alone, under a rim rock, with the country falling away to the +westward, he speculated on his luck and on the talisman Jane had given +him. He drew the locket from his shirt front and held it on his big +palm eyeing the thing, wondering what it contained that Jane had wanted +to conceal from him. + +"I've got a half grown notion to open it," he muttered and stopped his +horse shortly. + +And he might have sprung the lid had not a zipping and a dull, dead +spatter on the rock just ahead caught his attention. He looked up +sharply, saw the stain of metal against the ledge and saw in the +sunlight a fragment of the bullet that had shattered itself there, that +would have drilled him had his horse taken the next step. + +Whoever fired had calculated on that next step because he was at such a +distance that no report of a rifle reached him. + +Beck turned his horse and raced to cover and lay for an hour scanning +the country, but his assailant did not appear. + +When Tom rode away he smiled grimly to himself and said to the roan: + +"We won't look in it now. Stoppin' to consider saved our skin that +time; maybe we'll need that luck again ... and worse." + +Another time, the same week, he threw his bed on a pack horse and +started a two-day ride to the south-east for, as foreman, he gave close +heed to the detail of his work. + +At sundown he made camp and while his coffee boiled stripped himself +and bathed luxuriously in a waterhole. + +He lay looking upward at the stars that night thinking more of Jane +Hunter than her property, thrilling at memory of her hair and eyes and +lips, telling himself that conditions were reversed now, and that +instead of fighting her off, evading her charms, he was consumed with +an eagerness for them. + +Drowsiness came and, turning on his side, he reached a hand for the +locket to hold it fast while he slept. It was not about his neck. He +remembered that he had left it on a rock where he had undressed for his +bath and, slipping out of his blankets, turning them back that the +night chill might not dampen his bed, he picked his way carefully to +the place and groped for the trinket. + +His fingers had just touched the gold disc when the quiet of the night +was punctured by a shot ... then four more in quick succession. + +He squatted low, holding his breath. He heard booted feet running over +rocks, heard a man speak gruffly to a horse and, in a moment, heard +galloping hoofs carrying a rider away. He waited a half hour, then +stole back to his bed. The tarp and blankets were drilled by five +bullet holes. + +"Maybe I'm superstitious," he muttered, fastening the gold chain about +his neck, "but this thing, or whatever is in it, has saved my hide +twice in one week." + +The man who had fired into his blankets had trailed him deliberately, +had waited until satisfied that he was asleep and had stolen up to +murder him without offering a fighting chance. + + * * * * * + +"Hepburn has gone into partnership with Webb," Jane told him on his +return to the ranch. "The Reverend brought in that word. What do you +make of it?" + +"Not much. Without my help it makes about the finest couple of snakes +that could be brought together!" Tom muttered. + +"And somebody tampered with the ditch in the upper field. Curtis and +the men started the water down late in the afternoon. They left their +tools there and the ditch bank was broken. They tell me it surely was +shoveled out. The water is low and losing it hurt." + +"That looks quite like war," he told her. + +War it was. That night the men in the bunk house were awakened by a +bright glare and looking out Beck saw that four stacks of hay, totaling +more than a hundred tons of feed left from the winter, were in a blaze. +While the others hastily dressed and ran toward the stack yard in the +futile hope that some portion might be saved, the foreman stayed behind +... listening. From far up the road he heard the faint, quick rattle of +a running horse. + +In the morning a note was found stuck in the latch of the big gate. It +was addressed to Jane Hunter and, in a rude scrawl, had been written: + +"The longer you stay the more you will lose." + +She showed it to Beck and after he had read and re-read and turned the +single sheet of paper over in his hands he looked up to see her eyes +tear filled. + +"It isn't worth it!" she cried with a stamp of her foot. "This is only +the start. Do you know what they are saying in town? The word has been +passed that first you are to be driven out and that then I will have to +go. People are saying that the others are too many and too ruthless for +you, that they are bound to drive us away. It is being said that you +are too straight to win a crooked fight! + +"I could risk losing the things I own, my property, but I wouldn't risk +you, Tom dear ... I wouldn't do that!" + +"And there's somethin' else you wouldn't do," he said lowly, stroking +her forehead. "You wouldn't let 'em drive you out. You didn't start +that way. You come out here to beat the game and if you quit cold you +wouldn't think much of yourself, would you? We didn't want trouble, but +we've got to go and meet it!" + +"But you!" she moaned, putting her arms about his big shoulders. "What +of you?" + +"Don't worry about me when the only danger is from men that won't come +into the open! Maybe I'm a bigger crook than I'm given credit for. +Besides, you've given me lots of luck.... + +"I don't know what's in this thing,"--holding out the locket--"but I've +got a lot of faith in it ... and in you, Jane!" + +Where, before he gave his love recognition, he had taken pains to bring +Jane into contact with adversities, he now was impelled to shield her +from all that he could. In the natural rôle of her protector he did +everything possible to allay her apprehension. He could not blind her +to the broad situation but he could and did withhold the seriousness of +some of its detail, even keeping some things that transpired, such as +the attempts on his life, to himself. + +But he did worry about the enemy that worked from cover, that shot at +sleeping men, that broke ditches and burned property and sent unsigned +threats to women. That made his fight a battle in the darkness and his +strength was the strength of light, of frankness, of honesty. His mind +was not adapted to scheming and skulking. + +To drive his foe into the open was his first objective and that night +he set out. + +"You call it recognizing a state of war, I believe," he told Jane with +a twinkle in his eye when she queried his going. + +"Tom! You're not going--" + +"Not going to take a chance," he said soberly. "It's just a diplomatic +mission, you might say." + +He put her off and rode out of the ranch gate. It was dark and when he +had progressed a mile he halted his horse, dropped off, loosened the +cinch so the leather would not creak when the animal breathed, and +stood listening. Aside from the natural noises of the night, the world +was without sound. + +He drew his gun from its holster and twirled the cylinder. Usually he +carried the trigger over an empty chamber; tonight it was filled. And +inside his shirt was another gun. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE WARNING + + +The fire in Webb's cook stove was not all that furnished warmth to the +three men sitting about it that night, for they drank frequently from +the bottle which, when not passing from hand to hand, was nestled on +Dick Hilton's lap, his hands caressing its smooth surface lovingly ... +save the word! + +Sam McKee and three other men played solo on the table, noisily and +quarrelsomely after the manner of their kind. Engrossed in the game +they gave little heed to the talk of the others. It was shop talk, of +plots and schemes, of danger and distrust. + +Webb's little button eyes were even more ugly than usual, Hilton's +mouth drawn in lines that were even more cruel, but Hepburn, under +influence of the liquor, only became more paternal, more deliberate as +the evening and the drinking went on. He was not nettled by Webb's +disfavor, and even smiled on the rancher indulgently as he listened to +the querulous plaint. + +"If you'd only used yer head an' stayed there," Webb went on, "then +we'd hev had it all easy-like. You could've stole her blind an' she'd +never knew. Then you had to git on the peck about _him!_" He +sniffed in disgust. + +"Now, Webb, you're too harsh in what you say," the other replied +blandly. "I done all I could but Beck wouldn't be blinded! He's got +second sight or somethin',"--with a degree of heat. + +"We had him scotched all right, but we hadn't figured on the girl. +Nobody'd thought she was sweet on him!" + +Hilton stirred uneasily and the color in his face deepened. He looked +at Hepburn with an ugly light in his eyes. + +"That upset everything," Hepburn went on. "There wasn't no use tryin' +to play a quiet game after that. They both know we want to get rid of +'em worst way and now we've got to keep under cover an' use our heads +harder'n ever." + +"There's too many in it," Webb whined. "I tell you the's too many in +it! If you'd let me alone, just me an' the boys, I'd felt safer. But +now there's Cole an' his daughter an' ... half the country!" + +He flashed an indecisive glance at Hilton who studied the bottle, +frowning. + +"Lots in it," Hepburn said heavily, "but they've got to hang together +or...." + +"Separately," added Dick cynically. + +Hepburn nodded and Webb shifted and jerked his head petulantly. + +"But there's nothin' to fret about," Dad went on. "None of us will be a +leak. Cole can't because we could put him behind bars by just lettin' +on that he'd used his homestead rights under another name an' had no +right on this place, let alone other things. + +"We can use his brand, which is why I brought him in here. I've spread +the news that he's bought cows of you an' between workin' over the HC +and ventin' your marks we'll have a herd here in a couple of seasons +that'll make us rich! + +"An' we'll have range for 'em, too. She won't stand up under a range +war!" + +"But Beck will," Webb protested. + +"He will if you don't get rid of him!" with slow anger behind the words +and a cunning glitter in his eyes. "I don't see how in hell you missed +him. You must've been drunk!" + +"He wasn't in his bed, I tell you. He couldn't 've been!" + +"Well, if _I_ had against him what you got, I'd get him," Hepburn +stated emphatically, well satisfied, and showing it, that this was a +masterly stroke. "He made you laughed at by the whole country." + +"You wait," Webb snarled. "My time's comin'!" + +"Deliberately, I'd say," Hilton put in ironically. + +"Oh, you're always kickin'!" Webb protested. "I don't see why you stay +on if things don't satisfy you. You've got to have sheets on your bed, +you've got to have grub cooked different, you've got to sleep late an' +you've got to have hot water to wash and shave always when th' kettle's +cold! You've got into this deal an' you'd like to run it your way. + +"What the hell do you stay on for?" + +Hepburn looked at Hilton's face as though he, too, wondered just why he +stayed on, but, pursuing his usual tactics, he said: + +"Why, if Mr. Hilton can pay for it, why can't he have his way? He has +the money. He's willing to spend it. I'm sure his willingness to stake +Cole to fence and hired help means a lot to all of us, Webb. That's +goin' to drive her out of the Hole entire this summer. + +"The booze has made you irritable, Webb." + +Webb sat forward, elbows on knees, chin in his hands and grumbled: + +"I have to stand a lot, I do. Both of you eggin' me on all the time, +all the time! I do th' best I can, but nothin's ever satisfactory. +Nobody ever does anything for me!" + +"Sho, Webb, that ain't so. Didn't Mr. Hilton give you a brand new +automatic? Ain't I been reasonable in turnin' a chance to make good +your way?" + +The other fidgeted, then looked up at Hilton. + +"I don't see why _you've_ got such an interest in this for, +anyhow. Course, it's none of my business, but I don't see why you +should always egg me on about Beck." + +"I am concerned to see the THO prosper," said Hilton mockingly. "That +is why I bought fence; that is why I want your friend, the HC foreman, +out of the way." + +He rose, placed the bottle on the table and stepped out of the house. +They heard him walk across the dooryard and into the stable. + +"You s'pose he's goin' to meet her again tonight?" Webb growled. + +"Likely.... It's likely." + +"I wish th' hell he'd clear out. I don't see what you wanted to take +him in for!" + +Hepburn chuckled. + +"How could you keep him out? The girl, she knows everything, an' what +she knows he knows. His money's valuable to us an' besides ... it'll +keep her quiet if we ever do get out on a limb." + +Webb looked up in query. + +"You're right when you say there's too many in it, Webb, but there's +just _one_ too many. That's the girl! I can't figure her out; I +can't trust her. If we was to try to pass the buck to Cole, in a pinch, +she'd raise the deuce.... That is, she would if it wasn't for Hilton." + +"How's that?" + +"If she turned on the rest of us, it'd catch Hilton an' she's gone on +him. Never saw a girl who was so loyal to her father but when you bring +in another man that loyalty won't stand up in a pinch; not if it's a +choice between a father and a lover." + +"But he ain't on the level with her!" + +"Makes no difference. She's took to him like girls of her sort do. He +can handle her an' she's the only one that knows our side who'll ever +need any handlin'. He was right when he said the rest of us'd have to +hang together, or separately." + +Outside a horseman rode quietly to the gate and sat looking through the +open doorway and the one window of the room. He counted the men +carefully; counted again, then rode back the way he had come and +stopped and waited. + +"But what about the other girl ... Hunter?" Webb asked after a silent +interval. "Hilton was sweet on her." + +Hepburn's eyes kindled. + +"His jealousy is another asset. Hilton wanted her an' couldn't get her, +an' he knows the reason now: It's Beck. You think he's been practicin' +with a rifle and pistol for the fun of it? Not on your life!" Leaning +closer: "The time may come, Webb, when Hilton'll clear Beck out of our +way.... That'd be easier. I don't want to try it in the open; I don't +guess you do. He's got a crimp in all the boys. Look at Sam, for +instance. He's itchin' to kill Beck but he ain't got the sand!" + +"If she ever found out he wasn't on the level with her,"--Webb's mind +going back to Bobby Cole--"she'd claw him up fearful." + +"Yup. But she's in love an' love plays hell with men and women, Webb." + +The other started to reply, then sat rigid, listening. + +A horse came up the road at a slow trot and halted by the gate. A +saddle creaked, then the bars complained as they were lowered. A man +was whistling lightly as he rode toward the house and dismounted, +leaving his horse standing. + +"Must be one of the boys," he said, and settled back. None who had +other than friendly business there would come uncautious. + +"I was going to say," went on Hepburn, "that they'll be fooled about +that Hole range. It's time for the cattle to start comin' in from the +desert. They'll get up there and the creek'll be an ash bed with a +couple more days of this sun. They can't take 'em back through the Gap +without a big loss and if they leave 'em in the Hole without water long +enough they can't get 'em up the trail without loss so--" + +"If you'll all rise up and put up your hands we won't have any trouble +... tonight!" + +Hepburn looked slowly over his shoulder, slightly bewildered. Webb, who +had been stooped forward, raised his eyes and breath slipped through +his lips in a long hiss. Sam McKee, who had reached out to take a +trick, let his ace drop from limp fingers. The other three started up +like guilty men sharply accused of their crime. + +Tom Beck, a revolver in each hand, stood framed in the doorway, bending +forward from the hips, hat back, eyes burning. His voice had been level +and natural, with something akin to a laugh in it, but when he spoke +again it was a rasp: + +"Get up on your rattles, you snakes, and put up your hands!" + +With an oath Hepburn sprang to his feet, faced about and raised his +arms. Webb followed, with jerky movements, his face pallid with fear. +The four card players got from their chairs. As McKee's hands went +slowly above his head they trembled like aspen branches in a breeze. + +For a long moment there was no sound, save Hepburn's heavy breathing. +Then Tom Beck let a curious smile run across his lips. + +"This is a hell of a way to come to talk business," he commented. "I +don't like it ... but little more than you seem to. It's the safest way +for me. That's why I'm here, to consider my safety." + +He let his gaze run from face to face. Webb's eyes met his squarely, a +baleful challenge in them, but as he glared at Hepburn, Hepburn's gaze +wavered, flicking back twice, only to drop again. McKee whimpered under +his breath. The other three stared back sullenly, alert for an opening. + +Beck moved into the room just one step. + +"I don't know who it is that's been tryin' to kill me, but it wouldn't +take many guesses," he said. Again his eyes ran from face to face. "It +might be you, Hepburn, and it might be you, Webb. It's like both of +you, to shoot from cover ... like you accused me of shootin'. It might +be McKee, but even that takes more nerve than he's got. I wouldn't put +it past any of the rest of you. + +"I didn't come here to try to find out. I got more important things to +do than to identify the party right now. + +"I rode over this evening to make a little call an' to drop the word +that if I see any of this outfit anywhere near the HC ranch or on its +range there's goin' to be shootin' a-plenty and that if you want to be +the first to shoot, you want to draw almighty quick! If any of you see +one of my men anywhere, you hit the breeze. It's the best way out of +trouble. + +"Hepburn, you an' Webb tried to frame me once. That's sufficient cause. +I'd kill you like I'd kill a ... a scorpion. McKee don't count. You +other three probably are in on the threat to drive me out of the +country. Just workin' here puts you beyond the law that protects honest +men. + +"Now there's a little matter of trouble that's happened around the HC. +That's going to stop from now on. We've got lots of men over there who +are handy with their artillery. They're pretty well worked up. There +won't be a finger lifted to prevent you workin' within your rights, but +the first crooked move one of you makes ... there'll be a new table +boarder in th' devil's kitchen. + +"That's all I come to say. That's all the conversation that'll be +necessary between us from now on. The HC is goin' to keep doing +business, and its present owner is going to stay on the job. As for me +... it's been talked around that I was to be drove out an' all I've got +to say is, come on and do your driving!" + +His mouth set with an expression of finality and his eyes bored into +theirs. He was through, but even as he straightened preparatory to +backing through the doorway into the night a flicker of cunning crossed +Dad Hepburn's face, set there by a faint, faint creaking of the stable +door, unheard by Beck whose own voice had been in his ears. + +"Don't you think you're a little quick in passin' judgment, Tom?" he +asked. + +Beck laughed shortly. + +"Looking for me to handle you with gloves, Dad? After you tried to +frame me? After you--" He checked himself shortly as he was about to +accuse Hepburn of one specific art of treachery against the H.C. He +might need that later. "After you've tried to get me? + +"No, somebody shot at my bed one night; somebody shot at me while I was +riding open country one day." At that a glint of astonishment showed in +Webb's face. "There's just one way to handle men like that, and I'm +doin' it now, to-night. I'm--" + +The crash of a shot from behind, the splintering of the door panel at +his shoulder, cut him short. Webb jumped as though the bullet had been +sent at him. Hepburn's face contorted into a grimace of elation. + +With a catch of his breath Beck wheeled, senses steeled to this +emergency, driving down the quick panic that wanted to throttle his +heart. + +There in the shaft of yellow light, bareheaded, stepping toward him, +arm raised to fire again, was Dick Hilton. It was a situation in which +fractions of time were infinitely precious. That first shot had gone +wild because the Easterner, unfamiliar with fire arms, unnerved by the +rage which swept up within him, had let his eagerness have full sway. +But now he was stepping forward, coming closer. At that range he could +not miss! + +And Beck saw all that in the split second it required for him to whirl, +leaving his back exposed to those other men for the instant. He +squeezed the trigger as he flipped his left-hand gun toward his +assailant. The two reports sounded almost as one, but the stream of +fire from Hilton's weapon instead of stabbing toward Beck streaked into +the air and the automatic, ripped from his hand by the same ball that +tore his fingers, spun clinking to earth. + +But even as it struck, before Beck could turn again to cover the room +behind, a swinging palm sent the lamp crashing to the floor. He sprang +clear of the doorway. An instant before he had dominated the situation, +now he was a fugitive. + +Inside, darkness; out in the dooryard, starlight. Inside, ruthless +enemies who had listened to a declaration that precluded quarter; +outside, their target who could not hope to live before the fusillade +that must come. + +"Put up your hands!" Beck gasped, jabbing a gun into Hilton's stomach +and springing behind the Easterner's body, screening himself. + +Crouched there, peering over the other's shoulder, one gun against +Hilton's trembling body, the other thrust past it to cover the doorway, +he paused. He heard quick, unsteady footsteps, an oath, a hurried word +and then the man before him cried huskily: + +"For God's sake don't shoot, boys! You'll get me!" + +After that there passed a moment in which Hilton's breath made the only +sound that came to Beck's ears. + +"I'm going to back up to my horse," he said lowly, "you follow me." + +It was unnecessary to add a threat. Enough threat in the situation! + +Slowly he began to back, feeling his way, shoving the one gun harder +against Hilton's body, keeping the other ready for instant use should +those who watched choose to shoot down the Easterner to be at him. The +roan snorted softly in query and Beck spoke. But the animal, startled +by the shooting, unsatisfied that this huddle creeping toward him was +wholly friendly, backed off. Tom spoke again; then ceased all movement, +for from inside had come a muttering and stealthy footsteps crossed the +floor. A door at the rear of the house creaked. One or several had gone +out to stalk him! The others, he knew, waited within to take first +opportunity to kill that might be offered. + +"Stand still!" he said sharply to the horse and turned his head ever so +quickly to see the animal, head to him, back slowly. + +He moved backward faster for a few steps, shoving the revolver harder +into Hilton's body to assure his obedience, but the horse only +progressed as rapidly, snuffing loudly at this performance which no +horse could be expected to understand! + +They moved in a circle, swinging in toward the house, Beck ever keeping +Hilton as a direct screen. He stopped and the horse stopped. He +listened. He heard soft movements within the house. He thought he heard +a faint rustling behind a far corner of the building but a cow, bawling +at the moment, obscured the faint sound. + +Beck felt a cold damp standing out on his body. From the darkness, from +any direction, disaster might strike at any second! + +He began to talk to the horse soothingly, moving toward him slowly, but +the roan would not understand. Once he was within an arm's length of +the bridle, but before he could grasp it the animal had swung his head +ever so slightly and was moving off again, passing a corner of the +house from where that suggestion of a rustle had come. + +And then, of a sudden, the horse leaped sideways, with a startled +grunt, as a horse will that comes upon a coiled snake. He lunged toward +Beck and Hilton, swinging about on his hind feet, beginning to run for +the gate, thoroughly frightened and bent on escape from the thing that +alarmed him. + +It was Beck's last chance! As the horse leaped toward the gate he +sprang back a pace from Hilton, raised both guns and fired, one at the +window, one at the doorway. Glass burst and tinkled and he heard the +panel of the door again sliver. As he opened fire the great roan +swerved; his hoofs spurned the ground in the impatience of fright and +Beck, shooting again toward the house, turned and ran swiftly for the +fleeing horse. + +Down in the shadows the thing which had frightened the horse rose, +stumbling into shape. Flame streamed from Beck's guns toward it, but he +shot as he ran and his fire was inaccurate. He cried sharply as the +animal swung even wider in his circuit toward the gate, sprang forward +in long strides, dropped the gun from his right hand, leaped, fastened +his fingers about the horn, took two quick strides and vaulted into the +saddle. + +The animal leaped the half lowered bars and Beck fired again, twice at +the house, once at the figure outside, and then flung himself far down +over the roan's shoulder as the window belched flame and stabs of it +came from about the building and bullets screeched overhead. He fanned +the roan's belly with his hat and twenty rods further swung into an +erect position again, leaning low as they ate the road. + +"A close one, old timer!" he muttered to the horse. "_That_ was a +chance!" + +And miles further on, when the roan had cooled from his first desperate +dash that had carried Tom to unquestionable safety for the night, he +said aloud: + +"Now what was _he_ doin' there? And how much will he count?" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +HIS FAITHFUL LITTLE PONY + + +In the days that followed you might have seen approaching from a +distance a rider for the HC. Watching, you would have noticed that he +stopped his horse, rode on, stopped again, rode on and stopped the +third time. Had you not halted and repeated the performance he would +not have come toward you and, on coming within eyesight, you might have +seen him sitting with a hand on his holster, or rifle scabbard--for the +deadlier weapons appeared--carelessly enough, outwardly, but latent +with disaster. For war had been declared. Jane Hunter's men were ready +for trouble, waiting for trouble, but it did not come at once for +though Hepburn and Webb and their following hated Tom Beck for the man +he was they respected him and gave heed to his warning to stay away +from HC property ... or at least not to be seen thereabouts. + +The war went on, but it was a silent, covert struggle, and though Beck +suspected happenings, he could not know all that transpired. + +For instance: + +It was Webb who finally dropped the pliers and declared the job +finished, standing back to survey the stout cedars which had been bound +together with wire to form a gate for one of the numerous little blind +draws that stabbed back into the parapet which surrounded Devil's Hole. +In the recesses of that draw was the smallest amount of seeping water, +enough, say, to keep young calves alive. From a distance of a hundred +yards this barricade of tough boughs and steel strands would not be +detected. + +Again: + +They came up from the mouth of the Hole after dusk had fallen, Bobby +Cole and her father, the old horses drawing the wagon along the +indistinct track which wound through the sage. They were tired and +silent and finally the girl's head dropped to Cole's shoulder and she +slept, with his arm about her, holding her close, his lids and mustache +and shoulders drooping. + +The wagon halted, hours later, before the blocked draw and, straddled +upon their bodies, the girl liberated first one calf, then another, +until six had been shoved from the tail gate into the hidden pen. Then +they drove back toward their cabin. + +"Why don't I think it's wrong to steal?" the girl asked soberly. + +Alf shook his head. "It ain't ... for us...." + +"But I've read that it is," she protested, scowling into the darkness. +"I read it in a book, about a man that stole; that book said it was +wrong. Why don't I think it's wrong?" + +She turned her face to him and he looked down to see, under the +starlight, her mouth pathetically drooping, her lips trembling, and the +big brown eyes filled with perplexed tears. + +"Why'm I so different from other folks? Maybe that's why I never had no +friends...." + +"It ain't wrong for you to steal from her," he said defensively. + +The girl looked ahead again. + +"No, it can't be. I hate her.... I like to steal from her. But why +ain't it wrong for me if it's wrong for anybody else?" + +"I've allus told you it was the thing to do. Ain't that enough?" he +asked wearily.... + +"Did you see him this mornin'?"--as if to change the subject. + +Bobby nodded her head. + +"He was down. He hurt his hand; got it shut under Webb's window. He.... +He stayed a long time." + +Her voice was quite changed; rather soft and reverent. "I'm glad he +did. When he's there I feel like I ain't so different ... not so awful +different from other folks...." + +Alf did not reply. The wagon chucked heavily on, the brush scratched +the wagon bed, the horses plodded listlessly. Dawn came.... + + * * * * * + +Another thing: + +Far out to the north and west of the Gap in Devil's Hole was a natural +reservoir, Cathedral Tank. Winter floods were stored there and long +after surrounding miles of quickly growing grasses had become useless +as range because of the lack of drink, this tank afforded water for the +H C cattle. Late in the Spring, of course, it became scum covered and +fetid but until the caked silt commenced to show on the boulder basin +the cattle would cling there, saving higher range for later use. Then, +in other years, they would drift up toward the Hole, graze through the +Gap and water in the creek until the round-up caught and carried them +into still higher country. + +This spring the desert tank was of far greater importance than ever +before. The Hole was closed to the HC unless rain fell, and the days +were uniformly clear, so it was wisdom to delay the round-up until the +tank was emptied, then shove the cattle straight past the mouth of the +Hole and start them up country from the lower waters of Coyote Creek. +Beck rode to the tank himself and arranged his plans in accordance with +the water he found. + +But after Beck had been there another horseman made the ride, leaving +the timber at dusk, shacking along across the waste country in a +straight line for the tank. Cattle, bedded for the night about the +water hole, stirred themselves as he approached and dismounted, then +stood nearby and watched a strange proceeding. The man found a crevice +in the rock basin, scraped deeply into it with a clasp knife. Then he +wedged in five sticks of dynamite with stones and, finally, rolled +boulders over them. + +He led his horse far back after the fuse had been spit, but even where +he stood, outside the circle of steers, rock fell. After the explosion +had died into the night he pulled at his mustache and regained his +saddle rather deliberately, chuckling to himself. + +The fact that a steer with a broken leg was bawling loudly and that +another, its life torn out of its side, moaned softly in helplessness, +did not impress him. He rode back as he had come. + + * * * * * + +There was little time for love making in the life of the HC foreman. +More riders were necessary for the round-up and he was particular about +the men he hired. The country had taken sides; rather, it was either +openly behind Beck in his handicapped fight, though skeptical of his +chances for winning or openly forecasting failure for him and Jane +Hunter; and of the latter Tom had his doubts. Many of them were not +neutral, he knew. + +But he was with Jane when he could be although, since he had declared +himself to Webb and Hepburn, he did not permit her to ride far from the +ranch, even when with escort. He wanted her witness to no tragedy, and +tragedy impended. + +Of the motives of Webb, Hepburn, Cole and their following he had no +doubts but there was one whose reasons were a mystery to him. He +studied this long hours, when at work, when lying sleepless on his bunk +and even when with Jane Hunter. Hilton was at Webb's and that was +enough to brand him ... but how deeply? He hesitated to enlist her aid +in the solution but when he had spent days puzzling to no result he +said to her: + +"Nothing about what you have been matters with me, but there's one +thing I want to ask you." + +"And that?" + +He eyed her a speculative moment as they sat beside her desk, the +yellow light on her yellow hair. + +"What was this Hilton to you?" + +She colored and dropped her gaze from his, picking at a book in her lap. + +"That belongs to the past," she said, "and you've just said that the +past doesn't matter. I had hoped you never would want to know because +it touches a spot that isn't healed yet.... + +"There was a time," lifting her eyes to his, "when I had made up my +mind to marry Dick Hilton." + +He sat very quietly and his expression did not change. + +"That would have been too bad, Jane," he said after a moment. + +She nodded slowly in affirmation. + +"I'd rather he wasn't in the country just now," he went on. "You +wouldn't mind, would you, if I drove him out?" + +She said quickly: + +"You trust me, don't you?" + +He smiled gently and looked at her with a light in his eyes that was +almost humble. + +"I've trusted you with my love. I want to do things for you. I'd like +to drive this man out of your way." + +He was reluctant to give his real reason because, by doing so, he would +necessarily make her aware of the strength of the menace of which +Hilton, he felt but could not prove, was a part. He still wanted to +shield her from full realization of the force aligned against her. + +She leaned forward, elbows on knees, hands folded. + +"I wish he would go away, but I wouldn't want to see him driven. You +see, there are things about me which you will never understand. Dick +Hilton, for a man, was not far different from what I used to be, as a +woman. Our impulses were quite similar. Since I feel that I have +established my right to exist by trying to do something, to be somebody +to ... walk alone, I've come to an appreciation of the thing that I +used to be, and I pity the old Jane Hunter and all her kind. In spite +of all that he has been, I pity Dick Hilton, Tom, and in that very fact +I see an indication of strength of which I'm proud.... + +"You see, I like to think about myself now; that didn't used to be true. + +"Last year I would have been deeply resentful toward Dick for what he +has done, but now, after my natural anger has gone, I can only be sorry +for him. That, I feel, is true strength. + +"I am not bitter. I don't wish him harm. His environment is to blame +for what he is and perhaps this country, the people he comes in contact +with here, will do for him what they have done for me." Beck thought +that this was an unconscious absurdity! "I begrudge him nothing. I only +wish that he might come to see life as I have come to see it. + +"If he could only see himself as he is! Why, he is intelligent, he has +a good mind, he has been generous and kindly, and if he could only get +set straight in his outlook I feel that I could call him my friend. + +"Do you understand that?" + +He shook his head, driving back the perplexity he felt. + +"No, I don't understand that.... There's lots of things I'll never +quite understand about you, I expect. That's one thing that made me +love you; you interest me. + +"I just thought maybe you'd like him out of the country." + +"I can never be a dog in the manger," she replied. "What is good about +this life I would share with my worst enemy, and gladly, because at one +time I was my own worst enemy." + +"You ... you don't think you'd ever want to see him again, Jane?" With +that evidence of natural jealousy was a gentle reproach, a woe-begone +expression which, being so groundless in fact, set Jane Hunter laughing. + +"Silly!" she cried, throwing her arms about him. + +"Look at me and read the answer!" + +Beck laughed at himself then. + +"Who wouldn't want _you_ all to himself!" he whispered. "And who +wouldn't believe in you!" + +Beck stood a long time under the stars that night, the feel of her lips +still on his, but an uncomfortable doubt in his heart. He was tolerant, +as mountain men are tolerant, but he had been bred in a hard school; he +had learned to weigh men and to discard those who were found wanting. +He was not vindictive, but he took no chances. Placing his trust in +those who had showed repeatedly that they were unworthy of trust was +taking a chance and though Jane Hunter had done her best to make her +reasoning carry, he could not comprehend. + +Finally he said: "This ain't any compliment to her, wonderin' like +this. It's her way and she sure's got a right to it!" + +But he went to sleep unsatisfied. + + * * * * * + +Out at Cathedral Tank that night the cattle stood snuffing rather +wonderingly. Two days before there had been water which reached their +knees at the deepest place; today there was none. It had trickled +through the scars the blast had torn in the basin. The bellies of some +were a bit shrunken from lack of it and bodies of the steers that had +been killed were bloated. One, even, had already furnished food to a +coyote and a pair of vultures. + +Three or four licked the last of the damp silt and then turned eastward +and began the slow trek back toward Devil's Hole, where at this season +they had gone since they had been calves. + +The Reverend saw this scattered stringing of cattle and reported it to +Beck. Tom looked up from the wheel of the chuck wagon which he was +repairing and considered. + +"They're early," he muttered. "I hadn't figured they'd leave before the +end of the week.... That's bad...." + +The next morning he and Two-Bits, the latter riding his beloved Nigger, +with an extra horse carrying the tee-pee, bed and grub, clattered down +the trail into the Hole and made through the brush for the Gap. They +skirted the Cole ranch, eyeing the Mexicans who were at work clearing +sage brush, and a mile further on halted their horses ... rode forward, +halted again, rode forward ... stopped. + +"It's McKee," Two-Bits said. "That's Webb's gray horse." + +The other rider came on and they rode forward again, Beck's holster +hitched a bit forward, thumb locked in his belt. + +Two-Bits had been right and when McKee recognized them he averted his +face as though he would ride past without speaking. But this was not to +be for Beck stopped directly in his way and said: + +"Sam, if it was anybody else I'd been shootin' long ago. I ain't got +the heart to kill you. You recollect, don't you, what I told you and +your crowd about driftin' into our territory?" + +"This ain't your range," McKee grumbled. "This is Cole's." + +His gray eyes met Beck's just once and fell off, showing helpless hate +in their depths, the hate of the man who would give battle but who +dares not, who is outraged by forces from without and by his own +weakness. + +"No need to argue," Beck replied, tolerance replaced by a snap in his +tone. "You drag it for your own range, McKee, and don't you stop to +look back." + +Two-Bits was delighted at the hot flush which swept into the other's +face. He loathed McKee and to see him under the dominion of a strong +man like Beck appealed to him as immensely funny. + +"An' if my brother was here he'd tell you about a woman that looked +back an' turned to salt," he said. "But if you turn an' look back I'll +bet two-bits you turn to somethin' worse!" + +The other flashed one look at him, a look of long-standing hate, devoid +of a measure of the fear which he evidenced for Beck. He rode on +without a word and Two-Bits laughed aloud. McKee did not even look back. + +At the Gap there was water, just enough for a man and his horses for a +few days. The seep had stopped and the water was not fresh. + +"I guess it'll do, though," Beck said. "It's mighty important we keep +this stock out of the Hole, Two-Bits. That's why I brought a +trustworthy man. + +"Lord, they're stringin' up fast,"--staring out on the desert where the +steers slowly ate their way to the mouth of the Hole. "Funny they're +out of water so soon. If they get up in here,"--gesturing back through +the Gap,--"there may be hell to pay." + +He helped Two-Bits pitch his tee-pee and rode away. + +Throughout that day the homely cow-boy met the drifting steers and +turned them eastward, past the Hole toward the lower waters of Coyote +Creek. They were reluctant to go for they knew that beyond the Gap lay +water but Two-Bits slapped his chaps with rein ends and whooped and +chased them until the van of the procession moved on in the desired +direction. + +He was up late at night and awoke early in the morning, riding up the +Gap to turn back those that had stolen past in the night, then +stationing himself in the shade of the parapet to await the others that +came in increasing numbers. + +Two-Bits did not see the gray horse picking its way along the heights +above him. The gray's rider saw to it that he was not exposed. Nor +could he know that the animal was picketed and that a man crawled over +the rocks on his belly, shoving a rifle before him until, from a point +that screened him well, he could look down into the Gap. + +Steers strolled up and eyed the sentinel, lifting their noses to snuff, +flinging heads about now and then to dislodge flies that their flicking +tails could not reach. He would ride out toward them, shoving them down +around the shoulder of the point toward the east, then return to head +off others that took advantage of his absence to make a steal for the +Gap. + +As he worked, he sang: + + "Ho, I'm a jolly _cow_boy, from Texas now I _hail!_ + Give me my quirt and _po-o_-ony, I'm ready for the _trail_; + I love the rolling _prai_ries, they're free from care an' _strife!_ + Behind a herd of _long_horns I'll journey all my _life!_" + + +His voice was unmusical, unlovely, but he sang with fervor, sang as +conscientiously as he worked. + +As he came and went the man above watched him, his gray eyes squinting +in the glare of light, following now and then the barrel of the rifle, +bringing the ivory sight to bear on the man's back, caressing the +trigger with his finger. A dozen times he stiffened and held his breath +and the finger twitched; and each time his body relaxed quickly and he +cursed softly, rolling over on his side, impatient at his indecision. + +A continued flush was on his cheeks and the light in his eyes was +baleful, resolved, yet the lines of his mouth were weak and indecisive. +Once, when Two-Bits' raucous voice reached him, he muttered aloud and +stiffened again and squeezed the stock with his trigger hand ... then +went limp. + +Noon came and shadows commenced to spill into the gap from the +westward. The steers that drifted up from the far reaches of +wash-ribbed desert came faster, were more intent, more reluctant to be +driven back. Two-Bits changed to his Nigger horse and drank from the +water hole and rode yipping toward a big roan steer that advanced +determinedly. The animal doubled and dodged but, shoulder against its +rump, nipping viciously at the critter's back, Nigger aided his rider +to success; then swung back. + +Two-Bits' voice floated up as he stroked his horse's neck: + + "Oh, I'm a Texas _cow_boy, lighthearted, brave an' _free_, + To roam the wide _prai_rie is always joy to _me_. + My trusty little _po-o_-ony is my companion _true_ + O'er creeks an' hills an' _riv_ers he's sure to pull me _through!_" + + +From above a dull spat. In Two-Bits' ears an abrupt crunching as he was +knocked forward and down and a dull, rending pain spread across his +shoulders. He struck the ground with his face first and instinctively +his hand started back toward his holster. The first movement was a +whip, then became jerky, faltering, and when the fingers found the +handle of his revolver they fumbled and could not close. He half raised +himself on the other elbow, dragging his knees beneath his body slowly. + +His mouth was filled with sand. His eyes were.... He did not know what +ailed them, but he could not see. He felt dizzy and sick. He hitched +himself upward another degree, striving to close those fingers on his +revolver butt. It was a Herculean task, but the only necessary action +that his groggy mind could recall. He gritted the sand between his +teeth in the effort. He would draw! He would fight back! He wasn't gone +... yet ... wasn't ... + +And then he collapsed, limp and flat on the ground, as an inert body +will lie. + +The fingers twitched convulsively; then were still. A stain seeped +through his vest, dark in the sun. The breath slipped through his teeth +slowly. The horse stood looking at him, nose low; then stepped closer +and snuffed gently; looked rather resentfully at a steer trailing +through the Gap unheeded, then snuffed again.... + +Up above a man was crawling back across the hot rocks to where a gray +horse waited in the sun.... + +"I got him," he muttered feverishly as he covered the last distance at +a run. "Now, by God, I'll get-- ..." + +Nigger stood there, switching at the flies which alighted on him. From +time to time he snuffed and stamped; occasionally he peered far up the +Hole or out onto the desert almost hopefully, watching distant objects +with erect ears; then the ears would droop quickly and he would chew +his bit and look back at his master with helpless eyes. + +Cattle strayed back from the east where Two-Bits had sent them and +entered the Hole, those which had once been driven away passing the +prone figure and the watching horse on a trot, others with their noses +in the air smelling water, heedless of else. + +The shadows crept closer and deeper about Two-Bits. Overhead a buzzard +wheeled, banking sharply, coming down lazily, then flapped upward and +on. It was not yet his time! + +The horse dozed fitfully, one hip slumped, waking now and then with a +jerk, pricking his ears at the quiet figure as though he detected +movement; then letting them droop again rather forlornly. Once he +walked completely about his master, slowly, reins trailing and then +stopped to nose the body gently as if to say: + +"What is this, my friend? I'm only a horse and I don't understand; if I +knew how to help you I would. Won't you tell me what to do? I'm waiting +here just for that; to help you. But I'm only a horse..." + +He plucked grass aimlessly and returned to stand above the man's body +chewing abstractedly, stopping and holding his breath while he gazed +down at the inanimate lump; then chewing again. Once he sighed deeply +and the saddle creaked from the strain his inhalation put on the cinch. + +For hours there had been no movement. Night stole down from the east, +shrouding the desert in purple, softening the harsh distances, making +them seem gentle and easy. Then from the still man came a sound, like a +sigh that was choked off, and the hand which, hours before had groped +haltingly for the revolver, stirred ever so slightly. + +Nigger's ears went forward. He stepped gingerly about the body, keeping +his fore feet close to it, swinging his hind parts in a big circle. He +nickered softly, almost entreatingly, as if begging his master to +speak, to make more movement; he nuzzled the body rather roughly, then +stamped in impatience ... sighed again and slumped a hip, chewing on +his bit.... + +Two-Bits was wet with dew when daylight came, but he had not stirred. +The sun peered into the Gap and the drops of moisture, blinking back a +brief interval, seemed to draw into his clothing and skin; the rays +licked up the damp that had gathered in the hoof prints about the +figure. + +Nigger lifted his head high and whinnered shrilly at nothing at all. +This was another day; there might be hope! + +The flies came and lighted on the crusted stain on the vest and crawled +down inside the shirt ... and after an aeon a sharp, white wire of +consciousness commenced to glow in Two-Bits' blank mind. The one +hand--the gun hand--twitched again and the fingers, puffed from their +cramped position, stretched stiffly, resuming their struggle for the +gun where it had left off yesterday. + +One foot moved a trifle and a muffled cough sent a small spurt of dust +from beneath the face pressed into it. Slowly the gun hand gave up its +search and was still, gathering strength. The arm drew up along the +man's side, the hand reached his face. Elbows pressed into the ground +and with a moan Two-Bits tried to lift his body ... tried and failed +and sank back, with his face turned away from the dirt. + +Nigger blew loudly and shook his whole body and stared. The other horse +came up and stared, too; then moved toward the water hole, the precious +water, and drank deeply. Nigger watched him as though he, too, would +drink. But he did not go; remained there, with the reins dangling among +the flies. Now and then his nostrils twitched and fluttered; his ears +quirked in constant query. + +Noon, and another effort to rise. A muttered word this time and a +squinting of the eyes that was not wholly witless. + +Two-Bits shifted his position. He could see his tee-pee, his black +kettle on the ashes, his water bucket ... his bucket ... water bucket +... water.... He worked his lips heavily. They were burned and cracked +and his mouth was an insensate orifice.... + +After a time he commenced to crawl, moving an inch at a time, settling +back, moaning. The crusted stain on his vest took on fresh life and the +flies buzzed angrily when disturbed. His arms were of little use and he +progressed by slow undulations of his limbs. Once he found a crack +between two rocks with a toe and shoved himself forward a foot. + +"Damn..." he muttered in feeble triumph. + +A fevered glow came into his eyes. His breath quickened under the +effort. He moaned more; rested less. + +And behind, beside or before him went the excited Nigger. He muttered +softly, as in encouragement, doing his best to put his hope into +sounds. His heavy mane and forelock fell about his eyes, giving him a +disheveled appearance, but he seemed to be trying to say: + +"You're alive; you're alive! You _can_ move after all; you +_can_ move! Let me help! Oh, pardner, let me help you!" + +The horse pawed the earth desperately, sending stones and dirt +scattering, dust drifting. + +"Keep on!" he seemed to say. "Keep it up! I'm here; we'll get there +somehow!" + +Two-Bits gained shadows. The water was less than a hundred feet away. +He moved his head from side to side in an agony of effort and threw one +hand clumsily before him. It touched sage brush and after moments of +struggle he clamped his fingers about the stalk and dragged himself on, +gritting his teeth against the pain. He reached a little wash and tried +to rise to his feet. He could not. He floundered in effort and rolled +into it, crying lowly as his torso doubled limply and he sprawled on +his back. + +Nigger stood at the edge, snuffing, peering down. He kicked at a fly +irritably and stepped down into the wash himself, nickering in tender +query. + +It took a long time for Two-Bits to roll over. He cried hoarsely from +the hurt of the effort and the fevered light in his eyes mounted. His +mouth was no longer without sensation. It and his throat stung and +smarted. Their hurt was worse than the weight of suffering on his +shoulders.... He wanted water as only a man whose life is in the +balance can want water! + +Somehow he crawled out of the wash. It was fifty feet to the hole +now.... He cut it to twenty and lay gasping, trembling, burning, Nigger +close beside him, first on one side, then the other, sometimes at his +feet. Never, though, standing motionless in his path.... + +It was ten feet.... Then five. Lifting eye lids was a world of effort +in itself. His mouth was open, breath sucking in the dust, but he could +not close it. He made a hand's breadth and stopped. His limbs twitched +spasmodically and drew up. He made a straining, strangling sound, +gathering all the life that remained in his body. He rose on his elbows +and on one knee. He swayed forward, he scrambled drunkenly. He pitched +down and as he went he made one last, awkward attempt to push his own +weight along. Then fell ... short. + +The right hand half propped his body up. It slid slowly forward, +impelled by the weight upon it alone, shoving light sand in its way.... +Then went limp and extended. + +The tip of his second finger just dented the surface of the water in +the pool! + +The horse switched his tail slowly, as if disconsolate at a waning hope. + +"Hang it all," he might have thought. "Here I thought you were going to +make it and you can't! I _wish_ I knew how to help!" + +He sighed again, this time as if in despair. He waited a long time +before drinking himself as if hoping that his master would move. But +the body was motionless ... utterly. The shallow, quick come and go of +breath was not in evidence. Two-Bits had done all that he could do for +himself.... + +Nigger moved to the lip of rock which held the water against the cliff. +He snuffed, as if to tantalize himself and then plunged his nose into +the place, guzzling greedily. Great gulps ran down his long throat, +little shoots of water left his lips beside the bit and fell back. He +breathed and drank and made great sounds in satisfying his thirst. He +lifted his head and caught his breath and let it slip out in a sigh of +satisfaction ... drank again. + +Finally he was through and stepped back, holding his lips close, as +horses will whose mouth contains one more swallow. Then he stared at +Two-Bits and moved close to him and chewed instinctively on the bit, +letting the water that he did not need spill from his mouth.... + +It fell squarely on the back of the man's neck, spattering on his hair, +running down under his shirt, driving out the flies.... + +Two-Bits swam back again. A strength, a pleasing chill ran through him. +He moved the one arm and the fingers slid on into the water. With a +choking cry he wriggled forward and thrust his face into the pool.... +After a long time he drew back and let his fevered forehead soak, +breathing more easily through his mouth. + +It was nearly sunset when he rolled over, slowly, painfully, weakly, +but not as a man on the edge of death. He looked up at Nigger standing +beside him, nose fluttering encouragement. Just above him a stirrup +swung to and fro in a short arc. + +"After a while ... a week or so, I can ... get hold of that ... mebby," +the man said huskily. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +AN INTERRUPTED PROPOSAL + + +The love that grew in the hearts of Tom Beck and Jane Hunter was not +the only suit which approached a climax in the hills. Another existed, +quite different, unknown to them, unsuspected, even, but it was not a +secret to one who rode from the HC ranch. + +This was the Reverend Azariah Beal. He stayed on, though assuring Beck +that the call might come any hour which would send him on his way. He +was sent on many errands of importance, because Beck had come to +believe that he could trust the clergyman as he could trust no other +man and it was this riding which gave Beal his knowledge of that other +love making. + +Day after day he saw Dick Hilton in Devil's Hole. He saw him joined by +another rider, by Bobby Cole, and knew that the Easterner spent many +days at the ranch house down there in the deep valley. + +Hilton treated the girl as she never had been treated before. He told +her tales of cities and men and women that held her breathless and he +wooed her with an artfulness which kept her unaware of love making. +When with him, as when with her father, that ready defiance, her +expectation of trouble, became reduced to a wistfulness, an eager +inquiry which left her, not the self-sufficient bundle of passionate +strength, but a simple mountain child. + +He would ride beside her or sit at night by the fire in her father's +cabin and talk for hours, giving of his experience well, for he was a +glib talker. He asked nothing in return ... openly, but while he talked +his eyes were on her eyes, prodding their depths, on her red mouth, +hungering, on her wonderful throat, fired by desire. He bided his time, +for his was a choice prize. + +Now and then she talked to him of Jane Hunter and though her allusions +were scornful and her face assumed that hostility, he knew that this +only resulted from her envy, the curiosity which she would not let come +into being. He played upon this, dropping hints of the reason for his +coming west, lying insinuations of his relationships with the mistress +of the big ranch, each hint a fertile seed planted in the rich soil of +her imagination. + +One afternoon they dismounted in a clump of willows where early in the +season and in wet summers a spring bubbled under a rim rock. Now it was +dry, almost dust-dry in places, and the girl sat on the grass while +Hilton stretched at her feet, smoking idly. + +He talked to her for long and when he paused she said, looking far away: + +"I'd like to see somethin' else besides this. I'd like to have some of +the chances other gals have. I'd give anything for a chance to be +somebody!" + +He threw away his cigarette. + +"I'd give anything to give you a chance, Bobby," he said. + +"Yes, but you can't!" she laughed hopelessly. "You're a gentleman and +I.... Why, I'm just the daughter of a nester." + +"And maybe that very combination of circumstances gives me my chance to +give you yours. + +"I should like very much to take you east, Bobby." + +"Yes, but there's Alf. I couldn't leave him,"--shaking her head, still +innocent of his intent. + +Hilton was not unprepared. + +"But if he had a comfortable ranch, with good buildings and plenty of +stock, and could come to visit you at times?" + +"But he ain't got any of them an' besides-- + +"You don't mean for me to _stay!_" she said suddenly, eyes +incredulous. + +"To stay, Bobby. To stay with me, forever and ever." + +She started to laugh but checked herself and leaned suddenly toward +him, her lips parted. He lifted himself to an elbow and reached out for +her hand. + +"Don't you understand, dear girl? Don't you see that I love you?" + +She withdrew her hand from his clasp and looked away, brows drawn +toward one another a trifle. He watched her craftily, timing his urging +to her realization. + +"Don't you see that I came west, guided by something bigger than my own +reason, directed by something that regulates the loves of men to bring +them to a good end?" + +She looked back at him and shook her head slowly. + +"I never thought I'd be loved. I never thought you cared for me that-a +way." + +"Bless you! That night when I went walking into your cabin and you met +me with a rifle ready I knew I would love you and that you would love +me. It's one of the things neither of us can explain, but I was sure of +it, sure of it. Didn't you guess? Didn't you feel it deep down in your +heart?" + +"No, never. Nothin' good had ever happened to me. I didn't calculate +anything good ever would happen. The only bein' I ever thought I'd love +was Alf and I'd go through fire for him.... + +"But this ... it's different. It ain't like that. This is somethin' ... +I don't know...." + +She rose and pressed her hands to her breast as though some bursting +emotion hurt her. Hilton stood before her, his breath a trifle quick, +lips parted greedily. His particular hour, he felt, had struck! + +"One of the reasons that has made me love you has been your devotion to +your father. Another was your distrust. You never did trust me at +first. I felt that you were keeping me off, holding yourself away from +me, Bobby. I wanted to tell you all this long ago,"--which was the +truth--"but I wanted you to be sure of yourself; I wanted you to +recognize love and know that this thing between us is the lasting +sort"--which was a lie. + +"The lasting kind?" she queried. "You love me? For good? Honest?" + +"Honest!" he promised, taking both her hands. "I love you with all the +love a man can give a woman! I love you enough to devote my whole life +to making you happy. I have money. We can go where we please, do what +we please. You will have friends and respect. You can see cities and +the ocean. You can live in grand hotels and eat wonderful food that +someone else has cooked; you can hear music and go to theaters; you +will have flowers and automobiles; you'll see California and Florida +and Europe...." + +"And because you love?" she demanded as he put his arms about her. +"It's because you love me, ain't it? If I thought ... if I thought it +was for anything else I'd kill you." Her tone was even enough, her +voice the soft, full voice of a woman touched by love, but beneath its +velvet was a matter-of-fact certainty that caused the faintest tremor +to run through his limbs. + +They looked into one another's eyes, felt each other's breath upon +their cheeks, the one consumed by passion, the other swept upward into +a new world, a new, incredible life, as a beautiful hope touched her +heart. They did not see their horses standing with intent ears and, as +they were up wind they did not hear the slight sounds of another +approaching. + +"Because I love you, Bobby! Will you come?" + +"And I'll be your wife and you won't be ashamed of me ... ever?" + +"Never!"--in a tone that was too firm for conviction. + +"An' Alf'll come to see us whenever he wants to?" + +"Whenever he wants to. Don't you believe me? Why question?"--hurriedly. +"Say you love me, now, today, this hour,"--straining her to him. "Say +it to me, Bobby; say that you love me as I love you!" + +His eyes burned into hers and he closed his lips to press them on hers, +to touch the woman of her into being, to accomplish the end he sought. + +"Oh, Mister Hilton, I--" + +Her voice had the quality of a sob and he waited for her to go on +before he sealed his tricky pact with a kiss, but as she choked a +crashing of the brush shocked him into a realization of the outside +world and a resounding voice cried: + +"One moment! Just one moment!" + +The Reverend Azariah Beal advanced toward them through the willows. + +Bobby whirled to face him and Hilton, with an oath, released her. + +For a moment, portentous silence. The Reverend halted, plainly +confused. Before Hilton's glare and the girl's breathless fury his eyes +wavered. He opened his lips to speak and closed them helplessly. Then a +queer glimmer crossed his face, half hope, half smile. + +He reached into his pocket, brought forth a fountain pen, held it up +and said: + +"One moment of your time to bring to your attention this article, known +from coast to coast, indispensable to any man, woman or child, which we +are introducing for the purposes of further advertising at a trifling +price, which--" + +"Who the devil sent you here?" demanded Hilton, advancing. + +The Reverend lowered his hand and blinked through his spectacles. + +"I do not recall that I came from that black deity," he replied mildly. +"My feet are directed from Above,"--gesturing. "I have been called +upon--" + +"Now you're called upon to get out. Understand? Get out!" + +"Brother, is it possible that you are not interested in this article? +Made of pure India rubber--" + +"You heard me! Get out!" cried Hilton. + +For a moment the Reverend stood, as though undecided. + +"I am sorry," he said, "that I can not interest you. If not today, then +another time, perhaps? A splendid gift for a lady, my friend, a--" + +"Nobody here wants to listen to you. Be on your way!" + +Sorrowfully the Reverend replaced the pen in his pocket, rattling it +against the remainder of his stock. As he turned away he drew them all +out and stood for some time beside his horse, counting them carefully, +muttering to himself. He looked about his feet, retraced his steps to +where he had stood in his attempt to make a sale, scanning the ground. + +"Can it be," he asked absently, "that I have miscounted?" + +He gave no heed to the two who watched him but it was a matter of ten +minutes before he was finally satisfied that there had been no loss--or +that nothing else would be lost that day--and rode away. + +By that time Hilton's ill temper was implacable and in Bobby's face was +a half frightened, bewildered look. She turned to the Easterner with a +questioning little gesture but he did not respond. + +"He spoiled it for a while, Bobby," he said. "Let's ride back." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +CONCERNING SAM MCKEE + + +Webb was building biscuits and Hepburn was slicing a steak from the +hind quarter of a carcass that a few days before had been an HC steer. +McKee entered with an armful of wood. He dropped it into the box beside +the stove with a clatter and went out again. He was whistling a doleful +little tune, as a preoccupied man will whistle. His gray eyes were +peculiarly grim and when he stopped whistling, his mouth set into +determined lines. + +"What's got into him?" Webb asked. + +The other shrugged his shoulders. + +"He's changed in the last day or two. Wouldn't think he was the same +man," Webb went on. "Do you think there's a chance...." + +It was unnecessary to finish the question for there was only one +subject that these men discussed which called for the cautious tone +which Webb had adopted. Hepburn chuckled scornfully. + +"Hell, no!" he said. "Sam's the last one to double-cross us, 'specially +when Beck's on th' other side. + +"Somethin's got into him all right, but it ain't anything to hurt us. +He's changed." + +"You know how he used to be, Dad, kind of a bully, always lookin' for +trouble. Well, it wasn't that he was quarrelsome like most mean men +are. It was because he was afraid to be any other way. That was what +made him abuse his horse that time; the pony had put a crimp in Sam an' +th' only way Sam could work up his nerve to get aboard was to work him +over unmerciful. + +"That give Beck his chance, an' he sure did comb poor Sam! It took all +th' starch out of him, but that wasn't th' worst. It give everybody +that didn't like him a chance to rub it in, an' they sure done it! +Sam's been a standin' joke ever since. They seem to look for chances to +ride him. Two-Bits ain't let him alone a minute when they was near +together. + +"Sam used to swear he'd get both Two-Bits an' Beck, but he won't. He +ain't that kind, I guess. Beck knocked what little sand he had left all +out of him. + +"Somethin's changed him again, though ..." + +"You've rubbed it into him pretty strong yourself, Webb," Hepburn +reminded. + +"Different reason." Webb waxed philosophical. "When a man's enemies +bother him it only drives him down; that is, a man like Sam. But when +his friends ride him it's likely to put a little color in his liver. +That's why I keep after him. I never did figure he'd try to get Beck in +an open fight, but I used to think he might do it some other way. +That's what I'd like to see him do!"--darkly. + +"Maybe he will. Somethin's changed him again, Webb. I tell you he's +been goin' around today like a man whose done somethin' big! It's a +sort of ... of confidence, you'd call it." + +"Mebby Hilton's got under his skin. He don't like Sam but he talks a +lot to him about Beck, quiet-like, as if it wasn't of much importance. +Still, he keeps dingin' away at it." + +"Like he does to us about things, eh? Always sort of suggestin' until +you go do somethin' that seems like a good play an' then, after a +while, wake up to realize that he was the one who started you on your +way!" + +Hilton came in and the four--the other riders were on the range--ate +their meal and talked lowly of the war they waged. That is, Hepburn and +Webb talked. McKee listened; neither of the others bothered to address +him or even consciously include him as an auditor.... And Hilton +listened and watched McKee, his eyes speculative. + +"With th' tank gone that cuts down just so much on their range," Webb +said, "an' it's plain they don't figure on usin' the Hole or they'd let +their stuff drift in there as they've always done." + +"You don't want to be too sure that their stuff won't get into the +Hole," put in McKee with a nodding of his head. + +"I s'pose they put a man in the Gap to go to sleep, did they?" Webb +returned. "It was a good move on Beck's part. I wish to hell they would +get by and perish of thirst. We'd keep 'em out of Cole's water, you +bet! Beck's too wise to give us a chance, though." + +"Mebby he ain't so wise as he thinks," McKee insisted in that queer, +lofty manner. "He put a man there all right, all right, but everybody +ain't been asleep." + +Hepburn started to say something to Webb but was arrested by this. + +"What you got in your head, Sam?" he asked, with more intent than he +had used in questioning McKee in months. + +Sam felt himself assuming a sudden importance at this; his manner of +mystery and confidence had caught their interest and it was the first +time he had so succeeded for long, the first time he had really been an +insider in the game they played. It was gratifying to know facts which +they did not know; he cherished this superiority, so he said: + +"Never you mind what's in Sam's head. You've been figurin' I'm a +helpless sort of waddie for a long time but I guess you'll think +different when you find out some things I know!" + +Hepburn urged again but McKee was no more responsive so the older man +put McKee's secretiveness down as pique, concealing nothing of value, +and went on with the talk. + +Later in the evening Webb said: + +"Sure you didn't leave anything by the tank that'd give us away?" + +"Think I'm simple minded?" Hepburn countered. + +"It's a damn good thing not to be. That's th' first place they'll ride +when th' round-up starts an' as soon as Beck hears the Tank's gone +he'll go over that place himself with a fine tooth comb. If he could +hang that on us it'd be all he'd need." + +"He can go over it with a microscope but he'll find nothin'!" + +"You sure he will?" McKee asked, rather breathlessly, his eyes lighted +with a peculiar glow. + +"Will what?" + +"Go there to look it over?" + +Hepburn snorted. + +"That's one thing you can be sure about Beck: he watches details an' +don't let nothin' get away from him. He's always pryin' into things +himself; he ain't satisfied to get his information second hand. A thing +like this, which has meant a lot to them ... why, he'll investigate it +until he's found somethin' or hell freezes!" + +McKee sat back, staring at the floor, his hands limp in his lap. Still +that strange light showed in his eyes and occasionally his lips moved +as though he rehearsed a declaration to himself.... And Hilton, +stretched on his bed, watched McKee. + +After a time Sam roused and rolled a cigarette with fingers that were +not just steady and sat smoking as he planned, already triumphing in +anticipation. His eyes changed, and the lines of his face were +remoulded ... and Hilton watched. + +Late that evening McKee went out into the dooryard to be alone with the +memory of the one stroke he had made and to continue his plans for the +master blow he was to make. But he was not alone. Hilton followed and +spoke quietly over his shoulder, saying: + +"Yes, Sam, the chances are that he'll go to the tank alone." + +Whereupon the other started and whispered savagely: + +"How'd you know I was thinkin' _that?_" + +Hilton laughed lowly and put an arm across Sam's shoulders and they +walked at length in the darkness, talking, talking.... The Easterner +looked close into McKee's face and flattered and suggested and +encouraged.... + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +"WORK AMONG THE HEATHEN" + + +The chuck wagon had gone, followed by the bed wagon and the cavet, the +last made up of one hundred and forty saddle horses, stringing along +the road, a solid column of horse flesh. In a day the round-up would be +on. Camp was to be made first far down on Coyote Creek and the country +from Cathedral Tank eastward would first be ridden. + +Outwardly the departure was not so different from others of its sort. +There were rifles on saddles, to be sure, but there was banter and fun. +Still, a spirit prevailed which told that the men were not wholly +concerned with the normal business of the range. There were other +things, more grim, more serious, than gathering steers and branding +calves. + +H C hands were not the only ones who rode heavily armed. There were +others, skulking on high ridges, watching, waiting. The whole country +knew they were there. The eyes of the whole country were on the +factions. The ears of the country were strained to catch what sounds of +clash might rise. For the coming of that clash was sensed as an +impending crash of thunder will be sensed under cloud banked skies. + +"I'll be joinin' them tonight or in the morning," Beck told Jane as the +cavalcade disappeared down creek. "I'm glad there are things to hold me +here a few hours longer because I'll be gone a long time an' I'm +jealous of the days I have to be away from you." + +"You'll come to say good-bye?" + +"If I have to crawl to you!"--as he gave her one of his lingering +kisses. "When I come back from the ride there's something I'd like to +talk over with you ... which we ain't mentioned yet." + +"I'll be waiting to talk it over, dear," she whispered, for she +understood. + +Not long after Beck had ridden away the Reverend stumped down from the +corral to the big ranch house and rapped on the door. Jane was at her +desk and looked up in surprise for it was the first time the elder Beal +had ever come to her alone. + +"I come to ask for aid, ma'am, in what might be termed work among the +heathen, though, it is in a sense the task of a home missionary." + +Jane put down her pen and sat back in her chair, trying to hide her +amusement. + +"Yes, Reverend," in her crisp manner--"I'm interested." + +He blinked and rattled pens in a side pocket of the rusty coat. + +"I trust that you will bear with me, ma'am, until I have finished. I +have been moved to speak to you for long but have hesitated because it +is difficult to present the matter without intruding on privacies. + +"An unholy love is being hidden in the solitudes of these hills, a man +who is at heart a serpent seeks to corrupt the white soul of a child. +You possess a knowledge of this man which may hold the only hope of +salvation for the innocent." + +A feeling of apprehension swept through the girl; with it was +suspicion, for though her mind easily fastened on Dick Hilton as the +man referred to, she could connect him with no other woman. + +"I trust, ma'am, that you will be charitable in your estimate of my +works. It is no more possible for Azariah Beal to go through life with +his eyes closed and his powers of deduction dormant than it is for the +birds to refrain from flight or the fishes from swimming. I try to do +good as I go my way. I realize that it is not in the orthodox manner, +that my methods are strange; but my work is among unusual people and +the old ways of accomplishment will not produce results any more than +the old standards of morality will fit the lives of my people. + +"I observed this man, a stranger to the country, in town on my arrival. +When I reached here to tarry with my brother until I am called to move +I observed you, also a stranger to the frontier. I observed other +things which you will not consider prying curiosity, I hope. There was +a connection, a logical connection, between you two strangers: were it +not for subsequent events this observation would have remained in my +heart. So far it has, but now I must reveal it to you. + +"You are the only individual who stands between Dick Hilton and the +ruin of Bobby Cole!" + +He stopped talking and rattled his pens again. The apprehension which +had possessed Jane passed and she experienced a sharp abhorrence. + +"You mean that he ..." she began and let the question trail off. + +The Reverend nodded. + +"Exactly. He has charmed her. He speaks with the cunning of a serpent +and she, under his influence, is as guileless as a quail. + +"He cannot be driven off by threats because he is not that sort. The +girl cannot be convinced of his wicked purpose because she trusts no +man but him. If the affair proceeds she will pay the price of a broken +heart because, in spirit, she is pure gold. + +"He might protest his sincerity to men of this country and force them +into belief, but with you it is different. There is in every man, no +matter how far he may have fallen, a sense of shame. He can bury it +deeply from those who do not know him but to his own kind it is ever +near the surface. + +"I beg of you, ma'am, to join me in this holy cause and dissuade him +from his black purpose, if not by an appeal to honor, then by an appeal +to his shame." + +Jane rose. + +"You mean that he has been making ... making love to this girl? And +that you think I can save her?" + +"It's the only way. She will not listen to men, she will not listen to +you because she considers you her enemy. He may be so far sunk in sin +that he will not heed the advice of one he has known and respected and, +excuse me, loved ... after his manner of loving." Jane flushed but he +gave no notice. "But unless I attempt to bring your influence to bear +upon him I will feel that I have not answered the call to duty." + +He blinked again and looked at her with an appeal that wiped out any +impression of charlatanry, of preposterousness that she might have had; +he was wholly sincere. + +"Why ... I don't know what I could say ... what I could do." + +"Nor I. But you know Hilton; you know the girl; I have made you +familiar with the situation. I rely on your resourcefulness. May I +bring him to you?" + +"Why, he wouldn't come here!" + +The Reverend rattled his pens and said: + +"I think I might persuade him. Have I, as your employee, your +permission, I might say, your _order_, to bring him here?" + +"Of course. If there is anything I can do.... Ugh!" She shuddered and +pressed a wrist against her eyes. "It's beastly! Beastly!" + +The Reverend departed and throughout the day Jane Hunter could think of +little other than the situation which he had outlined to her. Her wrath +was roused, replacing the disgust she had felt at first, and her heart +went out to Bobby Cole with a tenderness that only woman can know for +woman. + +She tried to think ahead, to consider what she could say or do, to +speculate on what the results of this next meeting with Dick Hilton +might be. + +Evening was well into dusk with the first stars pricking through the +failing daylight when two riders came through the HC gate. Dick Hilton +rode first and behind him, one hand in a deep pocket of his frock coat, +rode the Reverend. + +"You can get down and open the gate," the Reverend said and Hilton, +sulkily obeying, led his horse through. + +"Now what?" he asked in surly submission. + +"Now I'll finish my errand by escorting you to the owner of this +establishment." + +Hilton led his horse across to the dooryard. The Reverend dismounted +and the two walked down the cottonwoods to the big veranda, the +Easterner still in the lead, the other with his hand in his side pocket. + +Jane saw them; she was at the door. + +"Good evening!" said Hilton with bitterness. + +"In accordance with your orders, ma'am, I persuaded this gentleman to +call," said Beal, almost humbly. "I'll feed his horse and return later." + +He turned and hurried up the path. + +Hilton pulled down his coat sleeves irritably and looked at Jane with a +bitter smile. + +"To what do I owe the ... the honor of such a summons?" + +"Come in, Dick. I want to talk to you,"--keeping her voice and +expression steady. She held the door open to him and he entered, his +mouth drawn down in a sardonic grimace. A single shaded lamp was +lighted and as she turned to him she could see his eyes glittering +balefully in the semi-darkness. + +"Rather different from our last meeting," he said testily. "Then you +were concerned with my going; now you seem determined to have me here." + +"Let's not discuss the past, Dick. I called you here for a definite +purpose. Can you guess what it is?" + +He eyed her in hostile speculation. + +"I don't see where anything that concerns me could concern you now. +That is, unless you've changed your mind." + +She gave him a wry smile and a shake of her head. + +"I shall never change, Dick. It was no interest in you that made me +send for you. It was interest in the well-being of another woman." + +"Oh, another woman! And who, pray, may she be?"--frigidly, face +darkening. + +"Can't you guess? Have there been so many out here?" + +"You know there's only one woman for me," he said bitterly, "and she +drove me off like a thief and has called me back as though I were a +thief!" + +"Perhaps you are." + +"What do you mean by that?" + +There was that about him which made her think of a man cornered. + +"I have called you here because I have reason to believe that you are +trying to steal the heart of a young girl--of Bobby Cole." + +He laughed unpleasantly, but there was in the laugh a queer relief, as +though he had anticipated other things. + +"Now who's been tattling to you?" + +"My men have seen you come and go, they have seen you with the girl. +One of them came to me and begged that I send for you and try to talk +you out of this. They know, Dick. These men understand men ... like +you." + +"Because they see me with her and because I'm not considered fit by you +to stay beneath your roof, even when it is night and storming, they +think I'm damned beyond hope, do they? They think I'm menacing her +happiness, do they?" + +"But aren't you?" she countered. "I know her. I have talked to her and +watched her. Dick, she is a lonely, pathetic little creature with the +world against her. There have been just two things left in her life: +her own splendid self respect and her devotion to her father. Why, she +hasn't even had the respect of the people about her! + +"And now she is facing loss of the biggest thing she possesses: the +loss of her belief in herself, for you will destroy that just as surely +as you force her to listen to your ... to what I suppose you still call +your love-making." + +He eyed her a moment before saying: + +"You used, at least, to be fair, Jane; you used to go slowly in judging +people and their motives and usually you were more or less right. Have +you put all that behind you? Does the fact that a man is charged with +some irregularity convince you of his guilt now?" + +"Why no. But knowing you and knowing her..." + +"Don't you think it possible for a man, even, for the sake of the +argument, a blackguard like me,"--bowing slightly--"to change a trifle?" + +He put the question with so much confidence, with so much of his old +certainty that it checked Jane. + +"Why, we all may change," she said slowly. + +"I am glad you will grant that much,"--ironically. "Think back, just a +few weeks, and you may recall one somewhat theatrical statement you +made to me about finding yourself among these people. I thought it +preposterous then but I have lived and learned; I know now that you +could mean what you said then.... Jane, I, too, have found my people +... at least my woman." + +She stared hard at him. + +"Do you mean that, Dick Hilton?"--very lowly. + +"As much as I have ever meant anything in my life!" + +"Sit down," she said, more to give her time to think than in +consideration of his comfort. Then, after a moment: "It isn't much of a +boast, to mean this as much as you have ever meant anything." + +"Then need we talk further? You ask questions; I answer; you do not +believe. Why continue?" + +She sat down in a chair before him. + +"This is the reason: That I think you have lied to me again. I don't +believe you are sincere. No, no, you must listen to me, now!"--as he +started forward with an enraged exclamation. "I brought you here to +make what is left of the Dick Hilton I once liked see this thing as I +see it." + +And try she did. She talked rapidly, almost hurriedly, carried along by +her own conviction, made dominant by it, sweeping aside his early +protests, forcing him to listen to her. She put her best into that +effort for as he sat there with his cruel, cynical smile on her she +realized that this was a task worthy of her best mettle. + +She sketched Bobby Cole's life as she knew it, she argued in detail to +show him how the girl had never had a chance to taste the things which +are sweetest to girlhood. She touched on the incident in town where, in +desperation, Bobby had tried to force the respect of men and she told +him of the defiance with which her own advances of friendship had been +met. + +Jane was eloquent. For the better part of an hour she talked steadily, +occasionally interrupted by a skeptical laugh or a sneering retort, but +she persisted. Hilton listened and watched, eyes hard, mouth drawn into +forbidding lines, a manner of suspicious caution about him, as though +there were much that he wanted to conceal. + +Finally her sincerity had an effect and she could see his cold +assurance melting. His gaze left hers and a flush crept into his +cheeks. She moved quickly to sit beside him. + +"Dick! Dick! For the sake of what you once were, for the sake of what +you still can be, go away! If you won't go for the sake of the girl, go +for your own salvation!" + +"It's not what you think," he protested feebly, without looking at her. +"I'm not philandering. I--" + +"No, Dick, not philandering, because that is too gentle a word. It is +something worse, something darker, which will bring more shame to you +and to all who once knew and trusted you. + +"Don't you see that you're playing with something as delicate as a +mountain flower? Don't you see you will crush it? Because this girl is +strong of body and thoroughly able to contend for her own position with +muscles and weapons, don't think that her heart can be treated roughly. +It would wither if she gave it to you and found that you held it of +little value." + +"I tell you I'm on the level with her." + +"Would you marry her?"--leaning closer to him as his manner told of the +effect her pleas were having. + +"Of course." + +"You'd take her east, to your friends?" + +"Why, why not?"--shifting uneasily. + +"Dick, look at me!" Tears in her eyes, she put her hands on his +shoulders and forced him to turn his face. "You can't mean that? I can +see you don't. Dick, oh, Dick! For the sake of all that is good and +fine in life, for the sake of the manhood you can regain, don't do this +thing! + +"I'm asking it of you. Perhaps I have little right to make any requests +of you but in the name of the love you say you once bore for me try to +look into my, a woman's heart, and see what this thing means. I'm not +trying to make it difficult for you; I'm not trying to interfere and be +mean. I'm begging you, Dick, to give her up and if nothing else will +appeal to you, do it for my sake!" + +She shook him gently as he turned his head from her, humiliated, +shamed, beaten. He was convinced: she knew that his sham was broken +down, that his purpose was clear to her and the conscience that +remained in his soul tortured him. + +Jane held so a long moment, fingers gripping his shoulders, appeal in +every tense line of her body. + +And close outside the window another figure held tense, watching, +holding breath in futile attempt to catch the low words they spoke. It +was a slender figure and had ridden up on a soft-stepping horse, +dismounted, slipped over the fence, ran stealthily along the creek, +halted in the shadow of the cottonwoods and then crept slowly forward +until it stood close to the shaft of yellow light which streamed from +the window. There it stood spying.... + +"You have said that you loved me, Dick. Do this for me in the name of +that love! I am asking it with a sincerity that was never in any other +request I have made of you." + +She shook him again and slowly he turned his face to hers, showing an +expression of weakness, of helplessness, as one who turns to ask +humbly, almost desperately for aid. + +The figure out there started forward as though it would leap through +the window, making a sharp sound of breath hissing through teeth, in +fright or in hatred. The movement was checked, for the gate creaked +open, the scuffling boots of a man were heard on the path. The figure +skulked swiftly along the house, ducking along the cottonwoods, out +toward the road where a horse stood waiting. + +It was the Reverend coming and he whistled "_Yield not to +Temptation_," as he neared the house, as if to give warning of his +approach. Hilton heard and looked up sharply and a glitter of rage +appeared in his eyes. He shook Jane Hunter off savagely and rose. + +"I'd let you make an ass of me!" he cried savagely. "You won't believe +when I tell you the truth.... + +"But what the devil should I care?" he broke off shortly. "Whatever I +do and where and why is my own affair; none of yours, though you try to +make it yours, try to judge me as you judge your own, new friends, +probably. + +"You talk of the man I once was. Well, if I've changed in your eyes, it +is not my fault; it's yours, Jane Hunter, yours! You'd drive me on, +lead me on, and when finally cornered you'd be perfectly frank to tell +me that you'd only toyed with me, that you tolerated me because you +thought you might have to use the things I owned!" + +"Not that, Dick! You're putting it all wrong...." + +"Listen to me!" he shouted, quivering with rage. "If I've changed it is +you who have changed me! If life means nothing to me, it is you who +have made it so!" He was towering in his anger and, seeking to shift +responsibility for his own rottenness to the shoulders of the woman +before him, he aroused a sense of injury and genuine indignation. "You +played me as your last straw as long as you dared and now, by God, when +I go my way, the only way open to me, when I try to redeem a little +happiness, you hound me, try to shame me with your sham morals!" + +"Dick, that's not true." + +"It is true. Why, you haven't a leg to stand on, you--" + +His storming was interrupted by a rap on the door and he turned to see +the Reverend standing there, battered derby in his hands. + +"Excuse me," he said mildly, "but the gentleman's horse is fed." + +It was his way of letting Jane Hunter--and Dick Hilton--know that she +was not alone; but if the Reverend had intended to stop the tirade +which he had heard from outside he did not succeed for the Easterner +was further enraged at sight of him. + +"I suppose this is part of your plan!" he snapped. "You found out that +it's no use to wheedle me, so you've had your gun-man come to drive me +off as he brought me!" + +"Dick, don't be silly! You're absurd. A gun. The idea!" + +Hilton laughed tauntingly and said: + +"He's standing there now, covering me with a gun! Look at him." He +pointed to the Reverend's pocket. A hand was in it and the garment +bulged sharply as though a revolver, concealed there, was ready for +instant use. "That's how you treat me; that's how you got me here. God +knows I wouldn't have come otherwise if your existence depended on it. + +"This man met me on the trail. He said you wanted to see me. I +consigned him to the Hell from which he tries to have sinners and he +covered me from his pocket just as he has me covered now and said it +would be wise for me to answer your summons. + +"How else do you think he brought me?" he demanded, wheeling to face +Jane again. + +The girl looked quickly to Beal, lips parted in surprise. + +"I sent Mr. Beal for you, yes, but I said nothing about using force to +bring you. I wouldn't do that. I'm sure there is some mistake." + +"Yes, ma'am, I'm sure there is," said the Reverend, blinking and +withdrawing his hand slowly. "I'm a man of peace. I'm not a man of +force." + +He lifted his hand clear, the ominous bulge in his pocket giving way, +and held up one of his pens. + +"One dollar," he said rather weakly ... as though frightened, or vastly +amused. + +Standing there, looking rather blankly about, holding that pen in his +hand he was in ludicrous contrast to the furious Hilton. It made the +other man seem absurd, his raging like the burlesque of some clowning +actor. + +With a helpless, choking oath Hilton turned, livid with rage, and +strode for the doorway. + +"For the last time I've been made a fool of!" he cried, and hastened up +the path. + +They heard him mount his horse and ride away. + +Jane was too busied with more somber thoughts to appreciate the humor +of the situation; she did later. Even had she been able to give +attention to the contrast between Hilton's rage and the chagrin which +followed so closely, the change in the Reverend would have diverted her +attention. He stood looking at her with grief in his eyes and when he +spoke his voice shook. + +"I feel that I have done my duty, ma'am, but that is all Azariah Beal +has to say for himself. There has been no result. I may have been too +late in my attempt. Surely, there is nothing more to be done.... + +"Nothing more, unless you may succeed in ridding yourself of your +enemies." + +"Do you think that would have an effect on Bobby Cole?" + +He nodded gravely. + +"You and she have something in common: an enemy." + +"He has been here tonight? You mean that Hilton is my enemy in the +sense that he may imperil the future of the HC?" + +"The same, ma'am." + +"Reverend, it is likely that you are right. I am beginning to see a +connection between factors which have seemed to be unrelated." + +He started to speak but a shout checked him. They listened to a +confusion of voices. + +"Something's wrong," Beal said and stepped to the veranda. "Why ... +somebody's hurt!" + +Jane ran to the doorway but he had already started up the path. She +followed as she saw a close huddle of men about the lighted doorway of +the bunk house move slowly in, carrying a burden gently and as she +neared the building a rather tragic quiet marked the group. + +Nigger, Two-Bits' horse, was standing saddled in the path of light. +Inside a man was lying face down on the floor. The Reverend knelt +beside him, leaning forward, and others stood close, silent and grave. + +The prostrate man was Two-Bits and his shoulders dripped blood. As Jane +became a part of the group he stirred and struggled to raise his head. + +"What is it, brother?" Azariah asked gently, turning Two-Bits over and +supporting his head. "Tell us. You're not done for. It's ripped your +back open, but that's all. Who was it?" + +The other looked about slowly with bewildered eyes. + +"From behind," he said weakly. "They got me from behind...." His gaze +wavered from face to face and finally rested on Jane's. He moved feebly. + +"A big bunch of your cattle must be in th' Hole, ma'am," he said. +"There ain't ... any water there.... I was keepin' 'em ... out ... an' +somebody got me from behind.... They must of waited ... to get me ... +from behind.... And the only water's ... in fence.... + +"It looks like ... a lot of trouble, ma'am...." + +He stopped talking, exhausted. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +RENUNCIATION + + +It looked like trouble and there was trouble. + +Beck, with the Reverend, Curtis and two of the ranch hands preceded +Jane to the Hole at dawn and when she rode down the trail she saw them +on their horses, forming a little group well away from the nester's +cabin. + +Her cattle were there and the fenced area was fringed with them as they +moved back and forth, sniffing at the water they wanted, which they +needed and which, though just on the other side of the wire strands, +might as well have been days away. Inside the fence grazed Cole's herd +with plenty to eat and drink. + +Tom's face was troubled as he rode to meet the girl. + +"It's serious," he said. "There's enough of your stock down here to +ruin you, ma'am, unless we get 'em out to water." + +"Let's take them out, then!" + +He shook his head skeptically. + +"They're in bad shape. They're crazy wild and we haven't got enough men +here to shove 'em up the trail. It's an awful job with quiet cattle +because they have to go in single file and there's no drivin' 'em. I +don't dare risk taking these through the Gap and around to water the +other way. Why, Jane, that's forty miles! + +"It'll be another day before we can get the boys back to help get 'em +out and it looks like a heavy loss at best unless we get water. There's +only one way to get it and that's to persuade Cole or his daughter that +we'd ought to have it." + +"They must have water!" she cried. "It's inhuman not to give it to +them!" She watched a big steer going past at a rapid walk, eyes bright +and protruding as in fright; he bawled hoarsely for drink. "Why, Tom, +people can't refuse water to beasts that need it." + +"See! There's Cole and Bobby now,"--pointing toward the cabin. "Come. +I'll buy water if necessary." + +She spurred her horse and Beck followed at a gallop. When he came +abreast he looked curiously at her face. Her jaw was tight and her eyes +dark with determination. This was her fight and she was thoroughly +aroused to it. She asked no advice, she showed no hesitation; she went +forward with all confidence, certain that in this cause which involved +not only the loss of property but the suffering of dumb creatures she +could have her way. + +A hundred yards from the cabin a steer thrust his head through the wire +strands and shoved, heedless of barbs, tantalized by the smell of +water. Cole shouted with his weak voice and picked up a stick and ran +toward the animal, brandishing his cudgel. + +Bobby stood watching the riders approach. + +"I've come to see you again," Jane said in brief preface. "This time it +is an urgent matter." She dismounted and faced the other girl. "My +cattle are here and they need drink very badly. You have all the water. +Will you let them through your fence? As soon as they can be moved we +will take them out and they will bother you no more." + +Bobby eyed her with loathing but it was not as she had been on their +previous encounter, for about her manner was something more concrete, +as though she cherished a definite grudge this time. + +"Is your memory so bad that you don't recollect what I told you +before?" she asked slowly. "I told you once to keep away from us; I +tell you that again. This is our range now; your stock ain't got any +rights here." + +"I'll grant you that I have no right to ask. I did what I could to keep +my cattle out of here. The man I set to guard the Gap was shot down; +that is why they are here this morning; that is why I must have your +water, because it is the only water available. + +"I am willing to pay. This means very much to me. Won't you name a +price, give me water? I am asking it as a favor and will be willing to +pay for that favor." + +"Favor!" + +The girl shot the word out harshly. + +"Favor! You're a sweet one to come askin' _me_ for a favor!" + +A fever of rage rose in her face and her brows gathered threateningly. + +"Nothin' we've got is for sale to you! I wouldn't help you if I could +save your outfit by liftin' my hand ... an' if I was starvin' for that +you'd give me in pay!" + +Jane was nonplussed. Bobby's breast rose and fell quickly and her white +teeth gleamed behind drawn lips. She was the catamount, ready to fight! + +"But think of these cattle! They're suffering--" + +"Cattle! You ask me to think of cattle because they're suffering and +you'd make human beings suffer from worse things than thirst!" + +"I don't understand you. What have I done that would make people +suffer?" + +"I s'pose you don't know?"--jeeringly. "I s'pose you don't _want_ +to know in front of him,"--with a flirt of her quirt to indicate Beck. +"I wouldn't either if I was in your place, you--sneak!" + +"Sneak?" Jane repeated, stung to open resentment. "Sneak?" + +"Yes, sneak. You'd run us out of this country if you could, but you +can't. You'd take my man if you could ... but you can't!"--through shut +teeth. + +"Your man?"--looking at the girl and then at Beck in bewilderment. +"Your--" + +"Yes, my man! Oh, don't think I don't know. I saw it all. I saw one of +your hands take him to your home last night. I followed him, I watched +through your window. I seen you beg with him and plead with him. I know +what you want.... + +"Why, he's told me everything, from th' first! You got him to follow +you out here, you got mad at him and threw him out of your house once. +Now you want him back. You want him back. I suppose while he,"--tilting +her head toward Tom--"is away on round-up! You want him back when +you've got everything you want and he's all I got, all I ever had!" + +Tears sprang into her eyes and her voice came trembling through +trembling lips. Jane, swept by confusion, sought words and found none. +It was preposterous! And yet the very accusation degraded her. Drawn +into a quarrel over a man, and such a man! + +"You'd take this claim, if you could, when you've got more land than +anybody around here. You'd take my man when you've got lots of others +yourself. You _must_ have lots like you got lots of other things. +Maybe you think that by takin' him you can drive me out and get the +claim that way. Maybe that's your reason, you ... you...." She seemed +to search in vain for an expletive that would convey her contempt. + +"But you misunderstand! You're all wrong." + +"Wrong, am I? Wrong, when you put your arms around his neck and put +your face close to his an' make him look at you an' beg him to do +things for your sake. I watched through your window last night. I heard +those words, 'For my sake.' You said 'em. I suppose that's wrong, is +it? I--" + +"But it wasn't that! It wasn't what you think it--" + +"I s'pose you thought he wouldn't tell me, but he did. He won't come +back to you. You couldn't get him away from me!"--in triumph. + +Her manner was so assured, she was so convinced of the truth of +Hilton's version of last night's encounter that Jane Hunter was at a +loss for argument. Impulsively she turned to look at Beck, as for +suggestion, and what she saw there stripped her of ability to fight +back. His face was as devoid of expression as a countenance can be, but +his eyes challenged, accused, bore down upon her, demanding that she +explain! + +He _demanded_ that she explain! + +He suspected her! He gave credence to Bobby's accusation. He could do +that! + +A word, even a gesture, would have cleared the situation but his look +struck her inarticulate, immobile. She had been so confident of +herself, of his trust; and now he had grasped upon this monstrous +charge and held her to answer. + +"You with your fine notions, your money, your city ways!" the other +taunted. "You, with all you've got, would take the only thing I've got, +the only thing I've ever had! + +"An' now you come, askin' favors. Favors from me! Why, all I'll do for +you is to run you out of this country. I've heard what they call me +here: the catamount. I'll show you how the catamount can scratch and +bite!" + +It swept over Jane that she must reply, that she must say some word in +her defense, that she must say it now ... _now_ ... that in this +second of time her fate swung in balance, that bitter though +explanation might be she must make it, for Beck was listening, Beck was +watching, Beck was doubting! + +And, as she would have spoken, lamely, but with enough clarity to +absolve her from suspicion, Bobby stepped closer. + +"You take your men an' light out!" she snapped. "You keep your men out +of here an' your cattle away from this fence. Th' first steer that +breaks through 'll get shot down, th' first man that tries to help 'em +through will find that he needs help himself. I hate you!" she cried. +"I hate you worse 'n I hate a snake an' I'll treat you like a snake +from now on. + +"You carry that idea home with you an' you carry this ... as first +payment, to bind the bargain!" + +With a quick, sharp swing of her arm, she whipped her quirt through the +air and it wrapped about Jane's soft throat with a vicious snap. + +She stepped back with a choking cry, hiding her face. She heard Beck's +short, "That'll do!" in a strange, unnatural voice, as though his +throat were dry. She heard the Catamount's contemptuous sniff and her +hard, "Clear out!" + +She found herself in her saddle again, riding beside Beck as they moved +toward the other HC riders, who, dismounted and seated on the ground, +had not witnessed the dramatic parley and its humiliating climax. She +was confronted by a situation which clearly spelled disaster for her +ranch unless solved and solved quickly but that did not matter now. + +She had been whipped, as the man who had insulted Bobby Cole had been +whipped. Had been drawn into a brawl! And, far worse, she had found +that the man toward whom she had toiled from the Jane Hunter that had +been to the Jane Hunter she had one day dreamed she might be, had +doubted her! + +He was talking haltingly, something about bringing more men to shove +the cattle up into the Coyote Creek country, but even through her +confusion she realized that his thoughts were not finding words, that +he was forcing himself to talk of those things. Her heart wanted to cry +out, to tell him that he had misunderstood, that her encounter with +Hilton was not occasioned by the motive Bobby Cole had suspected. The +old Jane Hunter would have done so, but with her new strength had come +another thing, until that hour hidden: it was pride, a pride which was +as noble as her love, which would permit no cavail, which would not +stoop to conquer! + +She fought it down, striving for clarified thought, feeling for the +word, the brief sentence which would explain away Beck's suspicion and +leave that pride uninjured, for there must be such a way. And while she +fought, blinded by tears and confused by humiliation, the moment of +opportunity passed. Beck left her. + +They were with the others, who grouped about her foreman, and he said: + +"I was going to send one of you men to bring a dozen of the boys from +the wagon to help save this stuff, if we can, but I've changed my +mind,"--with a bitter significance which they did not catch. "I'm goin' +myself. Curtis, you're in charge. Keep your head. Keep the cattle from +breakin' his fence because they'll shoot 'em down an' if they start +shooting cattle there'll be a lot of us get shot." + +He started away at a gallop without so much as a look at Jane. +Impulsively she called his name and spurred her sorrel after him. He +set his horse on his haunches, wheeled and waited for her, face white, +those eyes so dark, so accusing. That look checked the words that were +on her lips as effectively as a blow on the mouth and he spoke first as +she halted beside him: + +"You did send for him, I take it? You didn't deny that." + +He was hard, cruel, brows gathered, and the storm within him stung that +pride of hers further, roused it to newer life. + +"Yes, I sent for him," she managed to say, "but Tom, won't--" + +"That's all that's necessary then," he said, and was gone. + +She sat on her horse watching him ride across the flat for the steep +trail that led out of the Hole and she felt that all the sweetness, all +the worth-while quality of her life was riding hard behind that +straight figure. A bitterness rose in her heart, a rebellion. He would +not listen to her and she had tried to speak! + +Jane did not consider that this was but one evidence of the greatness +of the love of such a man, of the sacredness with which he treasured +it; all she saw was the distrust, unbelief, and after a time she rode +slowly on, watching him become a fleck on the face of the mountain, +seeing him finally disappear over the rim, out of her life, it seemed. + + * * * * * + +With leaden heart she entered her house and sat heavily in the chair +before the desk. An envelope was there, addressed to her in Beck's +coarse hand. She tore it open with unsteady fingers. + +The little gold locket which had been warmed first by her heart, then +by Beck's, which had been her talisman for months, slipped into her +palm. With tear-dimmed eyes she looked at it and then turned to the +letter, reading: + + +"It is likely that you need your luck worse than I do so I am returning +your gift. I would go away from your outfit now but if I did they would +say that they drove me out as they have said they would do. My +reputation is all I have left now and I would like to keep that because +a man must have something. + +"I did not want to love you in the first place as you may recall but I +guess I was pretty weak for a man. I told you once that there were +things I did not understand about you and I guess the way you think +about men is one of them. I wanted to drive him out of the country and +you would not let me. I waited a long time today for you to deny what +the Cole girl said and you did not do it. I was pretty mad when I left +you but I realize now it is all my fault. I took a chance which is not +the way to do and now I am paying for it. Well, I am able to pay. + +"I hope you will not answer this and will not try to talk to me again +unless on business. I do not blame you. I blame myself but I do not +want to talk about it. I will take good care of your cattle and your +men because that is my job. I will run these men out of this country +and then if I am able to resign I will. + +"Respectfully, + "TOM BECK." + + +She put down the letter, feeling queerly numb. She experienced no +particular resentment because she could well see how her failure to +speak at the proper moment had condemned her in Beck's eyes; her +sensation was of one who has failed in a crisis. Bobby Cole had +dominated her, had swept her off her feet, had given her that +depressing feeling of inferiority again and before her lover's eyes; it +had shaken her assurance, made her question the strength of which she +had been so certain in the last weeks! It was that which hurt her far +more than the stinging welt about her throat where the lash had bitten +her flesh. + +She inquired for Two-Bits, learning that the doctor had left him with +the assurance that his recovery would not be unduly delayed. She ate +her dinner abstractedly. In all she did she moved as one who is only +partly alive; a portion of her body, even, seemed insensate, while her +mind was dead. A dull ache pervaded her, an emptiness, for something +vastly important was gone and she was without resource to call it back. + +The Reverend came and went, taking beds on pack horses and when Jane +saw him departing she laughed rather weakly to herself. + +It was so simple! There was the agency which could bridge this chasm +and while so doing could save the pride which was creating the conflict +within her. + +The Reverend knew her motive in sending for Hilton. He could and would +make Beck aware of what had transpired. She even thought of writing Tom +a note, something as follows: + + +"I am terribly hurt but in a way it is of my own doing. I have just one +thing to request: Ask the Reverend how Dick Hilton came to be here." + + +But she had no one to send with it and Beck would be back on the morrow +with the men to move the thirst tortured cattle. Besides, there must be +another way than the despatch of such a message. That was too cold and +formal. It would bring him humbly to her but she knew how he would +suffer when his pride was hurt; and such a thing would do no less than +hurt his pride. She would make it as easy as possible. + +A let-down came and she cried and when she slept that night her dreams +were not distressing. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE REVEREND'S STRATEGY + + +Throughout the day the sun beat into the caņon, its heat relieved by +rare breezes of brief duration. What wind did come raised swirls of +dust and rustled wilted foliage, for the country had become ash dry. + +The cattle, most of them on their fourth waterless day, bawled +dismally, a thirsty chorus rising as the day aged. They did not eat; +they wandered rapidly about seeking moisture. Those spots of the creek +bed which showed damp above and below Cole's fence were tramped to +powder by uneasy hoofs and a narrow area outside the fence was cut to +fluff by the restless wanderings of the suffering steers. + +As afternoon came on they abandoned their futile search for unguarded +drink and clung closer to the wire barrier, snuffing loudly as their +nostrils drank in the smell of water as greedily as their throats would +have swallowed the fluid itself. Their eyes became wider, wilder, and +the bawling was without cessation. Flanks pumped the hot air into their +bodies in rapid tempo and slaver hung from loose chops. The herd was in +desperate condition. + +Now and then a big beefer would rush the fence as if to tear his way +through but the new wire and solid posts always flung them back. Again, +another would push his head tentatively between the strands and attempt +entrance by gentler methods, but always they were driven back either by +one of the HC riders or by Cole himself. + +By the time the sun was half way to the horizon the steers were moving +in a compact mass back and forth along the fence, snuffing, crying, +sobbing in dry throats, bodies growing more gaunt hourly as frenzy +added its toll to physical suffering. + +The bawling became a din. Big steers shook their heads and hooked at +one another groggily. The first one went down and could not rise alone; +the men "tailed" him up and worked him to shade, where he sank to his +side again, panting, drooling and silent. + +"Damn an outfit like that!" growled Curtis, looking across the bunch to +Cole, who stood staring back. + +"There's goin' to be hell a-poppin' here," commented one of the men. +"They're waitin' for trouble an' you can't prevent 'em havin' it--" + +"Look at that!" + +A half dozen steers, surging against the fence, put their combined +weight on a panel and the post gave with a snap. + +Bobby ran forward, brandishing a club, and drove them back as they +floundered in the sagging wire, heedless of barbs, eyes protruding with +want of the drink that dilated nostrils told them was near. + +After he had propped the post up again the nester shook his fist at +Curtis and shouted: + +"I'll protect my property! You can protect yourn if you will. Th' next +critter that breaks my fence gits lead in his carcass!" + +He slouched back to the cabin and came out a moment later with a rifle. +Seating himself on a stump he crossed his knees and with the weapon +across his lap sat waiting. + +"We'll bunch 'em so we can make a show at holdin' 'em tonight," Curtis +said. "That'll save time in th' mornin' ... an' we'll need all our +time." + +Forthwith he and the others began gathering the suffering stragglers in +a loose bunch. + +The Reverend came riding across the flat before this was completed. His +face was serious and as he came close to the herd and saw the condition +of the cattle he shook his head apprehensively. + +"I fear, brother, that by another day there'll be little strength in +those bodies to get 'em up to open water," he said to Curtis. + +"It'll be the devil's own job for sure! It'll take twenty men to move +'em and if we don't lose half we'll be lucky. + +"If that old cuss 'uld let 'em water once it'd be a cinch, but he's a +bad _hombre_; he won't. There's something back of this, Reverend." + +Beal scratched his chin and blinked and looked across to where Cole +sat. One of his Mexicans also was armed and had taken up his position +further down the fence. + +"So it would appear," he replied. "As Joshua said to Moses, 'There's a +noise of war in the camp.' + +"I see a relationship between the smiting of my beloved brother and the +refusal of this outfit to grant water. + +"Oh, another watcher!" + +He indicated Pat Webb who evidently had gained the Cole ranch by a +circuitous route and had taken up his position within the fence, armed +with a rifle. + +Night came on with a dry wind in the trees on the heights. Its draft +did not reach the Hole but the sound did and that uneasy, distant roar +served to intensify the distress of the cattle. + +Beds were made on a knoll not far from the bunched steers and the +Reverend was the first to rest, while the others, singing, whistling, +slapping chaps with quirts rode round and round the herd keeping them +away from the fence to give the riflemen no opportunity to shoot. +Azariah did not sleep but rolled uneasily on his tarp watching the +bright, dry stars, muttering to himself now and then. + +Once he got up and fussed about his blankets and Curtis, riding by, +stopped. + +"No, I can't rest," the Reverend replied to his query. "I believe I +have lost one pen.... + +"By the way, brother, if these were your cattle how many head would you +give just to get them to water tonight?" + +"I'd give several," Curtis answered bitterly. "Yes, I'd give a good +many and look at it as a good investment. Without water we're goin' to +make lots of feed for buzzards an' coyotes, tryin' to make up that +trail tomorrow!" + +"A good many.... A good many," the clergyman muttered as Curtis rode +on. "She is for peace, but when she speaks, they are for war," he +paraphrased the Psalm. + +"'They that war against thee shall be as nothing.'... An investment ... +a good investment...." + +He sat hunched on his bed for some time, whispering over and over.... +"A good investment ... investment...." + +Then suddenly he rose and pawed about him for a dried bough of cedar +which he had cast aside to make his bed. With trembling fingers he +sought a match, struck and applied it. + +The flame licked up the tinder and burst into a brilliant torch. The +bawling of the cattle cut off sharply. Whites of terrified eyes showed +for an instant and then vanished as heads were quickly turned away. + +The herd stirred, like a concentrated mass, body crowding body; it +swayed forward, a rumbling of hoofs arose. And from the far side came +the shrill yipping of horsemen as they broke into a gallop and sought +to set the cattle milling. + +Futile effort! Driven mad by thirst it would have required a much less +conspicuous disturbance than that flare of fire to start the wild rush. +With a roll of hoofs, a sickening, overwhelming sound, heads down, +crowded together into a knitted body of frightened strength the bunch +was in full stampede! + +Down the far side rode Curtis, high in his stirrups, his revolver +spitting fire into the air. A big white steer charged straight at his +horse like a blinded thing and the animal carried his rider to +momentary safety with a hand's breath to spare. + +On another flank of the herd another rider charged in and shouted and +shot and swung off. There was no time; there was no room! It was less +than a hundred yards to the fence and to be caught between its stout +strands and those charging heads meant terrible death. Curtis' warning +cry cut in above the fury of the flight as he doubled back toward +safety. + +Within the fence were shouts. Figures sprang to outline in the +darkness. The first steer's shoulders struck the wire, the fence held, +threw him back and then, driven forward again by oncoming numbers the +creature went through, torn and raw, through a torn and tangled +barrier. There was a creaking strain of wire for rods, a snapping of +stout posts and then orange stabs out of the night.... Two ... four ... +five, and the sound of rifle shots pricked through the background of +heavier sounds. + +A steer bawled once, its voice pitched high, and went down. Another +dropped beneath mincing hoofs without a sound. From their path ran the +riflemen, desperate in their fright, heedless of damage done property +or rights. Over, under and through the fence went the cattle, pouring +across the cleared land, crowding, snorting, gaining momentum with each +stride. On across the flat, on down the steep bank of the creek, on +into the water that sloshed about their knees.... + +And there, as quickly as it had come, their panic departed, for the +need of that water dissipated their fright. Noise of the flight +subsided and into the night rose the greedy sound of their guzzling as +the water which Cole had fenced and sought to hold was gulped down the +parched throats of HC cattle. + +Curtis rode up at a gallop, drawing his horse to such a quick stop that +his hoofs scattered dirt over Azariah. + +"What th' hell?" he began. + +"I found it!" cried the Reverend in exultation, holding up a fountain +pen. "Must have dropped out when I took off my coat--" + +"But look what you've done!" cried the other. "They knocked four steers +dead as the Populist party!" + +Azariah looked up at him, the shrewdness in his face covered by +darkness, but his voice was guile itself. + +"A small investment, brother, a good investment. Perhaps a parable is +writ this night.... A pillar of fire, a smiting of the rock?" + +Curtis whistled lowly. + +"Reverend, you planned it all out?" + +"It is not given to me to plan; I am guided by the spirit of +righteousness! Besides, those who lack wisdom are the only ones who +divulge their innermost thoughts, brother. I found a way out of Egypt +for the cattle, as 't were. Remember, brother, the way of the Lord is +strength!" + +They had not heard Bobby Cole running through the brush toward them but +as the Reverend stopped she stepped between him and Oliver's horse. + +"So that's it!" she hissed. "So you're th' one to blame! I'll tell you +what I told your boss this mornin', that I'll run you out of the +country if it's th' last thing I do, you Bible talkin' rat! + +"This ain't th' first thing I've got against you,"--darkly. "I might +'ve forgot th' other because she was to blame for it, but I've heard +what you just said an' I won't forget this! And don't think I'm th' +only one who'll keep it in mind! + +"Why, you'll be run out of this country like a snake 'uld be chased out +of a cabin! Remember that!" + +For a moment she stood confronting him in the darkness and though +features were not clearly distinguishable they could see by the poise +of her figure that those were no idle threats. Then she went as quickly +as she had come, leaving the Reverend scratching his chin and Curtis +whistling softly to himself. + +"A woman possessed of the devil!" said Beal softly. + +"Yeah. Or three or four," commented the other. + +"Yesterday I sought to save her soul and tomorrow I must seek to save +my own skin!" + +There was no more shooting because HC cattle were mingled with Cole's. +Curtis parlayed with the nester who made whining threats of a suit for +damages. When Curtis returned to the beds for the remainder of the +night the Reverend was not there. + +"Dragged it for the ranch!" he chuckled. + +So he thought. The Reverend had dragged it, but not for the HC or any +other nearby stopping place. Though Beal did not know all that +transpired to bring about the ruin of Jane Hunter he knew enough to +realize that he had made one determined enemy that night, that to make +one was to make many and that Bobby Cole's inference that he had +plunged himself into disfavor with others was no empty warning. Azariah +Beal was not a coward but he was discreet. The risk of remaining was +not justified by the end he might serve and now he sought sanctuary in +distance. + + * * * * * + +Tom Beck led the riders from the wagon into the Hole at dawn. Gathering +and moving the refreshed cattle up the trail was a difficult task but +it was accomplished without further loss, a fact which satisfied the +men. They reached the ranch on their way back to the round-up camp in +late afternoon. + +News of the saving stampede had been carried ahead and Jane realized +that one difficulty had been surmounted and that the financial ruin +which confronted her yesterday was no more. However, removal of that +distraction allowed her mind to concentrate on the greater difficulty: +the breach which separated her from Tom Beck. Only one way seemed open: +to prevail upon the Reverend to explain matters, and that way was +closed when a passing cow-boy delivered her a note, written hastily on +rough paper. She read: + +"The call has come and my feet are turned toward a far country. + +"My arm has been lifted for you; though I am no longer in your presence +my prayers will continue to be lifted in your behalf. + +"Respy., + "A. BEAL." + + +Azariah had served the HC well. But for his strategy she might even +then be suffering from a loss which would doom the ranch. And yet he +could have served her infinitely better by staying on, by untangling +the snarl which circumstances had made in her affairs. + +There was just one remaining course to follow, she told herself. This +was to go to Tom and explain everything. Then up rose her pride and +made denial. She could not do that! If his love would not bear up under +doubt, then she must keep her pride intact, for that was all she +possessed. Torn between desire to fling herself upon him and sob out +the whole story and to maintain her stand until he should be proven +wrong and come to her contrite, she dallied with the decision until the +riders had come and gone. + +She watched Beck, riding at a trot down the road, looking neither to +the right nor left. She could not know that a similar struggle tortured +him. "Turn back!" one voice in his heart commanded. "Seek her out and +question and question until you know why; if it is the worst, if she +has been hiding a secret affection from you, beg her to turn from it, +to come to you; offer her your all, your pride, your life if need be. +She is all that living holds for you!" + +And then that other, sterner self, which said over and over: "That +cannot be! If there is that in her heart which must be hidden from you, +draw back now and save all that is left to you: your pride!" + +So pride held the one in her house and it led the other down Coyote +Creek, and each mile, each hour put between them multiplied the +difficulties, wore down the chance of reconciliation. For by such +simple, basic conflicts are loves ruined! + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +BECK'S DEPARTURE + + +Night had come upon the round-up camp, fires near the cook wagon were +dying. On the rise to the southward the night-hawk sat with an eye on +the saddle stock which grazed over a wide area and in their tee-pees +the men were sleeping, preparatory to the first day's riding. + +Tom Beck sat alone by the glowing remnants of the cook's fire, staring +stolidly into the coals, mouth set, struggling with his pride. That +quiet, inner voice continued its insistence that he yield a trifle, +give Jane Hunter one more chance. "What?" it asked, "will you gain by +denying her this? What, indeed, will be left for you if you persist?" + +But the voice was weaker than it had been early that day. The +alternative it raised in his consciousness less appealing, and a +determination to smother it grew steadily. He had been crossed; he had +been duped! + +Oh, he had been a fool! he told himself. He had thrown to the winds his +caution and his reserve; he had taken the biggest chance that life, the +trickster, dangles before men. He had taken it blindly, against his +better judgment; it left him embittered, with nothing beyond except the +position which he held among men. That was a mawkish attainment now; it +was so cheap and inconsequential compared to the sense of +accomplishment which had been his when Jane Hunter had thrown herself +into his arms and begged that he carry her into his life! Deluded +though he may have been, that moment had opened to him sensations, +vistas, that he had never before imagined existed. + +And now! All else that remained was gray and dead. He had been lifted +up to see what might be, only to find that it was denied him; more, +those moments of glory had taken the zest from the life that had been +his before and that now remained. + +For long he sat there and gradually the inner voice died entirely, +slowly a cold, heartless desire to cling to a dead thing like his +standing in the country took its place as his chief interest in life. +He had written Jane that such was all that remained to him. He had not +realized as he scrawled those words what a pitiful bauble it was but +now it was necessary to endow it with values that he could not truly +feel. But he forced himself to believe it of consequence, for men like +Tom Beck must have some one valuable thing to live for. + +The tee-pees were quiet when he arose, dropped his dead cigarette into +the expiring embers and sought his bed. But in one tee-pee a man looked +out at the faint jingle of spurs. It was Riley who, with others from +the lower country, was riding with the HC wagon to help the larger +outfit and, in turn, to be helped in his branding. He was bunked with +Jimmy Oliver and Oliver said: + +"What's he doin'?" + +"Turnin' in." + +Riley settled back in his blankets and muttered: + +"It's funny ... damned funny, Jim." + +"He's like a man that's _through_. Didn't appear to have any real +interest in the work today, seems like he don't give a damn. I don't +understand it." + +"If it wasn't Tom Beck I'd say that they'd got his goat. It's hard to +believe of him." + +"It can't be that." Oliver was loyal. "It's somethin' else, but it +seems like somethin' worse than a man bein' sick of his job. Still, he +said twice today that he wouldn't be here long an' the way he said +_long_ made me think it'd be a mighty short time." + +Silence for a time. + +"Mebby," said Riley, "it's her." + +"Mebby you're right," the other replied. "Tom didn't used to give a +damn whether school kept or not. Then, after she come he changed, got +to takin' things seriously and anybody could see he was gone on her. +Now.... + +"Well, he ain't afraid of men. There ain't bad men enough in this +country to drive Tom Beck out.... But women.... They'll put a crimp in +th' best of us!" + + * * * * * + +It was the following evening that news of the destruction of Cathedral +Tank was brought to Tom Beck. Riley had ridden the far circle himself +and had found no cattle at the waterhole which the HC foreman had +visited only a few days before. That is, no live cattle. He found four +steer carcasses, already ravaged by coyotes and buzzards, found the +fresh gash in the rock basin and had ridden back to help those cowboys +who were on shorter circles, holding explanation of the fact that he +returned empty handed until he could give it first to Beck. + +Tom received the news silently. + +"I expect you can fix up the basin with some concrete so it'll hold +next winter," Riley said. + +"It's likely," the other responded, "but next winter's plans for this +outfit ain't worryin' me, Riley." + +He meant, of course, that there were matters of greater importance just +then. The dynamiting had been accomplished after his warning to Webb +and Hepburn, which was clear evidence that the war went on as +desperately as before and that these other men were not cowed, their +determination to run him from the country had not been shaken. A hot +rage swept through him. Next winter's plans were remote indeed! Fate +had taken his woman from him; these renegades would take away the last +hold on life! + +But Riley did not construe his meaning as such and when, the following +morning, Tom called Jimmy Oliver aside and talked to him the +misunderstanding of what went on in his mind was more complicated for +he said: + +"Jimmy, you're goin' to lead this round-up for a while ... mebby for +good." + +"So, Tom?"--in surprise, and in hope that an explanation would be +forthcoming. + +"I'm leavin' here an' mebby I won't be back." + +Beck was thinking that he would inspect that tank and track down the +men responsible for its destruction and make them pay. He said that he +might not be back because he had warned them away from HC property and +could expect no leniency if he invaded their stronghold. Invade it he +would, for this had gone past the point where he could play a waiting +game. So long as it had been his safety which mattered most he could +assume and retain the defensive, but now Two-Bits had all but lost his +life while executing his orders and HC cattle had been driven by +hundreds into high country before he had planned they should come. It +was time to counter-attack. + +Rapidly the word ran through the camp: Beck was leaving! As it passed +from man to man it grew, as rumors all will, and took more definite +shape: Beck was quitting. + +He ate silently with the others and his very silence was so marked that +it quieted the rest, warded off the questions which under other +circumstances might have been put to him. + +The wrangler brought in the horses and Beck was the first to approach +the cavet with rope ready. He selected his big roan, looked the animal +over carefully and slinging a canteen over the horn, climbed rather +heavily to the saddle. + +Other men were catching up their horses. One was pitching and fighting +the rope; two others were trying desperately to break out of the cavet. +There was running about and confusion, but as Beck rode away to the +west-way, head down, so obviously absorbed in himself, men stopped to +watch and to wonder. + + * * * * * + +The HC foreman was not the only individual in that country who, as the +sun shoved over the far rim of the world, thought so intensely of his +own, wholly personal interests that consciousness of what transpired +about him was lost. + +Jane Hunter sat suddenly up in her bed, golden hair in a shower about +her shoulders, blue eyes that had been waking and painful until dawn, +filled with tears. She stared about her as one will who rouses abruptly +from a startling dream, lips parted, a hand to her flushed throat, +breath quick and irregular. She held so a moment, then sank back into +the pillows, calling softly: + +"Tom; Tom!" + +Her slender body quivered spasmodically and her sobbing became like +that of a child. One hand, flung across the cover, clenched feebly and +feebly beat the bedding, as though it hammered hopelessly at walls +which held her in, making her a prisoner ... as she was, a prisoner to +her pride. + +And high up on the point which formed the western flank of the Gap to +Devil's Hole, Sam McKee dropped down from his gray horse and stood +looking far out across the level country beneath him. In the clear air +he could see the smoke of the round-up camp fire. + +Yesterday he had watched from there, with Hilton's words still in his +ears, Hilton's hope in his heart, and had known that Riley rode to the +tank. Last night he had talked and walked in the darkness with the +Easterner again, had heard Hilton's crafty questioning of Hepburn and +Webb which caused them to repeat again and again their belief that Tom +Beck would take it upon himself to inspect the damage done by dynamite. +He had slept fitfully, in a fever of anticipation. + +And yet he had kept secret his achievement in shooting down Two-Bits. +There was a time for all things and the time to divulge that minor +accomplishment was not yet. For long he had been belittled, and had no +standing among his associates; now they were banded in common cause, he +had made one step toward triumph and that move had reestablished the +confidence that had lain dormant for long. It had enabled Hilton's +suggestions to take hold, enabled him to whet his own hate, to work +himself into a paroxysm of rage, and today he was to emerge a figure of +consequence, for he was to remove the obstacle which was in the path of +all. + +Webb's battered field glasses were slung over his shoulder and as he +picked out the lone dot of moving life, coming slowly in his direction, +he unstrapped the case with hands that trembled. It required but one +moment to identify that horse for none but Beck's roan swung along with +the same distance-eating shack; but McKee stared for a long interval, +his body tense, his breath slow and audible, as if tantalizing himself +by sight of that isolated rider, teasing his hatred, teasing it.... + +Then he mounted the gray and swung down the treacherous point, seeking +a big wash that made a wrinkle on in the floor of the desert where +storm waters had rushed toward the tank for countless decades. In this +he could ride unseen and he went forward at a trot, eyes straight +ahead, moistening his lips from time to time.... + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +IN THE SHADOW + + +The outcropping which formed Cathedral Tank stood stark and saffron in +the lap of the desert under the morning sun, flinging out slow waves of +heat even at that early hour, as Sam McKee rode from the wash into the +basin and stopped his horse. + +Since the mountains themselves were made that group of pinnacles and +ledges had jutted up from the seamed desert, a landmark for miles +around, catching the flood waters that rushed toward it from far hills. + +The name of the tank was result of no far-fetched imaginings for the +granite rose in long, slender spires, as though the thirsty desert +reached great fingers toward the sky in stiff appeal. Narrow defiles +struck back into the granite and sharp crevices cut deeply down between +the natural minarets, and at one place a larger opening led backward +into the rocks, widened and narrowed again, forming the rough outlines +of transept and nave. More, the wind which always blew there often +sounded deep notes as of an organ when it wandered through narrow +spaces. + +On three sides this abrupt, ragged rise of rock shut in the basin and +the other was open to the waters that swept down from the south and +eastward. When McKee neared this entrance he stopped his horse and +reconnoitered. The other rider was not in sight, lost in some of the +many depressions of the valley and many miles yonder, for the gray +horse had traveled a shorter distance and that at a trot. The roan +could not arrive for some time.... So he reasoned.... + +The man stopped his horse at the edge of the fresh, deep scar which +Hepburn's explosive had made. Other tracks were there, made by Riley +yesterday. Across the way lay the dead steers and overhead a buzzard +wheeled slowly, waiting to return to the feast from which he had been +frightened by Sam's approach. + +"Bone dry!" the man said aloud, and laughed. + +Then he drank from his canteen and wiped his lips with a long sigh, +either in satisfaction or anticipation, and then looked about; not +absently, but with plan and craft. + +To that point Beck would come, there he would stand, and behind was a +ledge on the face of the towering rock, higher than a mounted man's +head, deep and with enough backward pitch to conceal thoroughly a man's +body. It would be a hard scramble, but he could gain it by aid of a +tough stub which grew on the wall. Once there he would be protected. + +McKee rode close under this ledge and stood in his saddle, lips parted +and eyes alight. He could hold off a regiment there; what chance would +one unsuspecting man have? As he stood so he unstrapped his gun and lay +it with its belt on the shelf. + +He dropped down and rode into a nearby, narrow crevice, where his horse +could remain concealed, dismounted, and took down his rope, preparatory +to tieing the animal. + +He believed his growing haste was only anticipation, but perhaps there +was a quality of premonition there. He had been unable to follow Beck's +progress and remain concealed himself; therefore he had not seen the +roan pick up his swinging trot as Tom's concentrated thought reached +ferment and he sought relief in speed. + +McKee reached for the reins to lead his horse further into the crevice. +Then his heart leaped and he went quickly cold as he looked at the +animal. + +The gray's head was up, ears stiff, eyes alert as a horse will pose on +sensing the approach of another animal. Even as Sam's hands flashed out +for his nose the nostrils fluttered and had he been an instant later a +betraying whinner would have gone echoing through the rocks to warn +Beck. He drove his fingers into the soft muzzle and choked back the +sound. The gray stepped quickly and shook his head whereat McKee +relaxed his grasp somewhat. They then stood quiet, both listening, the +horse alert, the man weak and white, breathing in fluttering gasps. + +He was trapped! Outside on the ledge where he had planned to wait and +shoot Beck down without giving or taking a chance, lay his gun. On +either side the walls rose sheer, without so much as a hand-hold for +yards above his head; before was a blank wall; outside was Tom Beck. +And fear of a degree such as the man had never known shook his body. + +It was that fear which is as dangerous to an enemy as the most absurd +courage. Discovery would mean catastrophe; he had nothing to gain by +shirking now! + +Slowly he released his grip on the gray's nostrils, holding ready to +clamp down again should the horse attempt to greet the other. He heard +hoofs clatter on the rock basin, knew that Beck had stopped. Then the +wind soughed through the rocks with its prolonged organ tone and for +the moment McKee could only guess what happened out there. + +The gray, with head turned, stared toward the opening of the crevice +and then as no other sounds came, swung his head back to its normal +position and switched rather languidly at flies. + +Carefully McKee stole toward the entrance of the crevice where he might +see the other man. He went with a hand against the granite, putting +down his boots very carefully, hoping against hope that Beck would be +far enough away so that he might either recover his gun or devise some +means of escape. Perspiration ran from beneath his hat band and his +hands were clammy cold. His breath continued in that fluttering gasp. + +Beck had dismounted and was squatted beside the scar in the rocks. His +roan stood a dozen feet behind him. McKee peered out, measuring the +distance quickly. The other's back was to him but there was no chance +that he could regain his gun without being detected. Beck's revolver +swung from his hip, and McKee had nothing with which to fight but the +rope in his hands.... + +The rope! He stared down at it and drew back behind the boulder of +rock. The rope! + +An absurd, impotent device, but it had served purposes as desperate as +this! Besides ... there was a hope in it and, for McKee, there was no +other hope beneath that blue dome of sky.... + +He looked out again as he built his loop. Beck was on hands and knees, +peering down into the crack through which stored waters had trickled +away. Sam made the loop quickly, steeled to caution. He moved out from +his hiding place a step ... then another. The roan looked up, with a +little whiff of breath and Beck, attracted by the movement, the slight +noise, turned his head sharply toward the horse. + +It was then that the loop swirled and that McKee sped forward a dozen +paces as quickly, as quietly as a cat, balanced, sure of himself in +that crisis. From the tail of his eye Beck saw the first loop cut the +corner of his range of vision and his body made the first lunge toward +an erect position as the lithe writhing thing sped through the air.... + +McKee had never thrown as true. The loop settled about Tom's arms and +beneath his knees. It came taut with an angry rip through the hondou +even as the snared man made the first move to throw it off. He was +pitched violently forward on his face, arms pinned to his sides, legs +doubled against his stomach. + +The breath went from him in an angry oath of surprise as McKee's breath +shot from his lips in another oath ... of triumph. Hand over hand he +went down the rope, keeping it taut, yet hastening to reach the doubled +body before Beck could wriggle free. He fell upon the other just as one +arm worked slack enough to permit the hand to strain for the revolver +at his hip. + +Snarling, gibbering with a mingling of terror and rage, McKee's one +hand fastened on the gun. He clung to the rope with the other, +battering Beck, who struggled to rise, back to earth with his knees. +His fingers clamped on the grip of the Colt; he pulled free: it flashed +in the air as his thumb sought the hammer and then, as he drove the +muzzle downward against its living target the man beneath him bowed and +writhed and he went over with a cry. A fist struck his wrist, the +revolver exploded in the air and fell clattering, a dozen feet away. + +Then it was man to man, a fight of bone and muscle ... bone, muscle and +rope. Blindly McKee clung to the strand with one hand. It passed about +his body as they rolled over. Beck's own weight, struggling to tear +from it, tightened its hold. Tom struck savagely at the face beside him +with his one free fist but McKee's knees, jamming into his stomach, +crushed breath from him. + +For one vibrant instant their strength was matched, the one's physical +advantage offset by the handicap of the lariat about him. And then the +rope told. Slowly Tom's resistance became less, gradually McKee wound +the hemp about his own hand and wrist, shutting down its sinuous grasp, +drawing Beck's body into a more compact knot. With a desperate shift he +was on top, winding the hard-twist about Tom's hands, trussing them +tightly behind his back, licking his lips as he made his victim secure. + +In that time neither had spoken nor did McKee utter a sound as he rose, +wiped the dust and sweat from his eyes and surveyed the figure at his +feet. Beck looked back at him, the rage in his eyes giving way to a +sane calculation. At the cost of great effort he rolled over and +propped himself on one elbow. A scratch on his forehead sent a trickle +of blood into one eye and he shook his head to be rid of it, coughing +slightly as he did so. + +"Now," he said, his panting becoming less noticeable, "what do you +think you're goin' to do?" + +McKee laughed sharply and looked away. He walked to where the revolver +lay in the sharp sunlight, picked it up, broke it, examined the +cartridges and closed it again. + +"I come out here to kill you, Beck; that's what I'm goin' to do next." + +He did not lift his voice but about his manner was a defined swagger, +the boasting of the craven who, for once, is beyond fear of +retribution. A slow shadow crossed between them as the buzzard wheeled, +waiting, lazily impatient.... + +Beck delayed a brief interval before asking: + +"Right here, Sam? You going to kill me right here?" + +"Right here, you--!" He spat out the unforgiveable epithet with a curl +to his lip. For once he had this man where he wanted him; Beck's life +was in his hands ... right in his _palm_.... "I'm goin' to kill +you like I'd kill a snake! I've took a lot off you; I've stood for a +lot from you, but you've gone too fur, you've played your hand too +high!" + +He began to feel a greater sense of his importance. He was dominating +and it was sweet. + +"I've waited a long time, Beck; I ain't forgot a thing you've done to +me; I've been waitin' for just this chance! + +"Now I'm goin' to kill you, you--!" + +Again the word, with even great conviction. The man's lips trembled +with rage, but as he glared down at the other he saw the level, mocking +eyes studying his. He had not yet impressed Tom Beck, had not made him +fear! It was disconcerting. + +"What you goin' to kill me with, Sam?" + +"With your own gun, by God!"--spinning the cylinder. + +A moment of silence while Sam looked at the dull barrel, a queer, quick +hesitancy coming over him, something he did not understand, something +he did not will. When, a moment before, he felt that the situation +would take a course exactly as he willed! + +"With my own gun!" Beck repeated. + +McKee cocked the weapon and looked about. + +"When you goin' to do this killing, Sam?" + +The level, mocking tone infuriated the other. + +"Now!" he cried, shaken by hate. "Now, by God!" + +He screamed the curse, threw the gun up to position and glared into +Beck's face, moving forward a step, standing poised as though he would +shoot and then fling himself upon his victim to vent his festering rage +with his fists. + +But he had failed to reckon throughout on one fact: The human eye is a +stronger weapon than the inventive genius of man has ever devised, and +he was meeting the gaze from an eye that was as steady, as fearless, as +collected as any he had ever seen. His courage was the courage bred of +cowardly impulses and it could not stand before fearlessness.... + +"Right now, Sam?" + +The question was low, gentle, and with another shade of inflection +might have been a plea. But it was no plea. It was subtle, stinging +mockery which penetrated McKee's understanding and gave full life to +that desire to hesitate which had shaken him a moment before. + +"You ain't goin' to kill me right off, are you Sam?" + +And at that McKee's irresolution became full blown. His body swung +backward from its menacing poise, the gun hand dropped just a degree; +his gaze, an instant before fixed and red with hate, now wavered. + +"No, you ain't going to kill me now, Sam. You ain't got the guts!" + +Prostrate, bound, wholly helpless, miles from aid, Beck flung those +words from his lips. They pelted on McKee's ears like hard flung stones +and he looked back to see the eyes that a moment ago had been amused, +blazing righteous wrath. + +"You wouldn't kill anybody, McKee," Beck said, after a breathless +pause. In that pause McKee's gun hand had gone to his side and as it +went down so did the flare of rage in Beck's face. His eyes grew calm +and steady again with that covert amusement in them. + +"You ain't just that kind of a man. If you'd been goin' to kill me +you'd have done it right off. You wouldn't have waited, like you're +waitin' now.... You missed out on your intentions, Sam, when you didn't +do it _pronto_." + +Across McKee's face swept a wave of helpless rage, humiliation, shame, +self revulsion.... He stood there unable to move. He wanted to kill +with a lust that men seldom feel, but he could not for he knew that he +was a coward, knew that Beck knew, and the assurance that it was within +his physical power to take a life without risk to his own mattered not +at all. The moral force was lacking. + +He tried to meet Beck's gaze and hold it but he could not. That man, +even now, did not fear him, and to a man who had been impelled to every +strong act by fear, fearlessness is of itself an overwhelming force. + +Tom talked on, lowly, confidently. He chided, he made fun of his +captor; he belittled himself, discussed his inability to defend +himself, but time after time he said with emphasis: + +"You're afraid of me, Sam." + +Afraid of him! Yes, McKee was fear-filled. He could not kill and yet +thought of the retribution that might come for going even this far put +him in a panic. There were others who would kill. Webb would have done +it, Hepburn might have ... there was one other who would have killed +... Hilton, but _he_ could not and the others were far off. They +would know, they would ridicule him and thought of that, coming so +close on that high expectation of triumph that had sent him out onto +the desert, made his position hopeless. + +He turned and walked slowly toward the ledge which was to have been his +assassin's hiding place. + +"Goin' to leave me, Sam?" Beck asked. + +"You'll see what I'm goin' to do?" McKee raved, wheeling, suddenly +articulate. "You'll see what'll happen to you, you--! What's already +happened is only a starter. I didn't intend to kill you myself. I only +come here to hogtie you. I guess I done that, didn't I?" + +"Ain't you just sure, Sam?" + +The tone was stinging and where McKee might have raved on he simply +grasped the stub on the rock and scrambled up until he could reach his +revolver. + +Beck asked if that was McKee's arsenal; wanted to know more about Sam's +plans; wanted to know who sent him; wanted to know if any one else was +coming or if they were going out to meet others.... He talked gently, +slowly, tauntingly until McKee fidgetted like an embarrassed school +girl. + +After a time Beck struggled to a sitting position, back against a rock. +The searing sun beat down on his bared head, his wrists were puffing, +fingers numb and swollen from the ropes cutting into his flesh. His +body ached miserably, but he would not betray that. His throat burned +for water and there was water on his saddle, but he would not mention +thirst. There yet was danger! He must keep the other impressed with his +inferiority.... + +"That your pet buzzard, Sam?" he asked once, squinting upward at the +wheeling scavenger. "Somebody said you kept one ... to pick up after +you...." + +"You wait! You'll have less to say after a while," McKee growled and +stared off toward the heights to the eastward, feigning expectancy. + +And then, as McKee paced back and forth, covering his helplessness and +his fear to make another move, by the sham of watching for other +arrivals, Beck's mind began working on a theory. Two-Bits had been shot +down the day he had driven McKee off HC range. He had been shot from +behind. McKee was the only one in the country who had a personal +quarrel with the homely cowboy. + +It was clear enough to him but he feared that an accusation, bringing +some demonstration of guilt, might bring other things that he dared not +risk. He played a game that was desperate enough. He lived by the grace +of McKee's cowardice and that cowardice had permitted this triumph by +the scantest possible margin. To provoke the desperation that he knew +was latent in Sam's heart would be the rankest folly. + +Noon, with blistering heat. McKee drank greedily, water running down +his chin and spattering over his boots. It was agony for Beck but he +fought against betraying evidence of it, holding his eyes on the other +and smiling a trifle and wondering how long he could keep back the +groans. + +McKee squatted in the shade of a rock for a time. Once he looked at +Beck while Tom was staring across the desert and that hate flickered up +in his eyes again; then Tom looked back and he got up and walked, +licking his lips. + +Two o'clock: "I don't guess they're comin' today, Sam. Maybe you +misunderstood 'em." + +Three: "Sure is too bad to have your plans all go to hell, isn't it, +Sam?" + +The sensation had entirely gone from hands and lower arms. His biceps +and shoulders ached as though they had been mauled; his back was shot +with hot stabs of pain. + +But at four o'clock he said: "You'd ought to have killed me, Sam. +That'd surprised 'em for sure!" + +He bit his lips to hold back the moan and for a time things swam. He +hoped that he would not lose consciousness ... hoped this rather +vaguely, for vaguely he felt that McKee would kill him should he be +unable to realize what transpired. He had a confused notion that Jane +Hunter was there and this disturbed him. He felt a poorly defined +sinking sensation ... Jane ... and this. Why, then this really mattered +very little! That his life was in danger, that his body hurt, were +inconsequential details compared to the love that had died yesterday, +to the hurt of his heart! + +A draft of cooler air, sucking through the rocks, roused him and he +looked up to find that the tank was entirely in shadows. The rocks were +still hot but the air which moved above them was heavier, cooler. McKee +paced nervously back and forth. He wore two guns. + +"You reckon somebody's goin' to steal me?" Beck asked, forcing his +voice to be steady. "I didn't realize I was valuable enough to be close +herded by a two-gun man." + +With the moderation of temperature Tom's alertness revived. + +"I'm goin' to sleep right here, Sam; where are you going to turn in?" +he asked. "I sleep pretty well in th' open; how about you?" + +He leaned forward slightly and his eye had a brighter glint. Question +after question he flung at the other. Now and then McKee growled; twice +he cursed Beck, in vile explosions of oaths. At these Beck nodded in +assent. + +"I sure am an undesirable," he said. + +Back and forth, bewildered, McKee walked. He dared not face the future +with Beck alive; he dared not take Beck's life. He feared the +punishment that might be his for this much he had done; he feared the +relentless ridicule of Webb and Hepburn and of Hilton; he feared to go, +he feared to stay. And gradually this last fear grew. + +"I think you ought to start out an' ride after 'em, Sam," Beck advised. +"Do they _sabe_ this country? You better go; they might get +strayed. I'll be here. I figure on stayin' quite a time. I.... Honest, +Sam, I've had a hell of a good time today...." + +McKee wheeled in his walking. + +"You'll stay all right!" he screamed. "You damned bet your dirty skin +you won't go far! You've been talkin' a lot wiser than you know, you--! +You'll stay!" + +He dropped to his knees beside Tom and with a wrench pulled off the +man's boots. + +The movement sent exquisite pains through Tom's body, but he shut his +teeth against them. He smiled, demonstrating more of the Spartan by +that smile than he had at any time during the day. + +"You ain't figuring on walkin' your boots out, are you?" he asked in +mock solicitation. + +"Never you mind, you--!" McKee snarled. + +He brought out his horse, tightened the cinch and led him toward the +roan. He tied Tom's boots to his own saddle and then without looking at +the man he had come to kill and who he was leaving bound, waterless, +without boots or a horse, twenty miles from the first help, he lashed +the roan with his quirt, sharply about the head and, when the big +creature wheeled in surprise, about the hocks. + +Kicking, frightened, stepping on the reins and breaking them off, +Beck's horse ran away. Ran scot free, head up, out to the eastward, +abused and headed for home. He began to buck, pitching desperately. The +saddle worked back and under and down. He kicked it free. Somewhere +between the tank and that fallen saddle, Beck knew was his canteen. But +McKee did not know. He mounted and stuck into the wash through which he +had ridden hours before, lashing the gray to a gallop, putting distance +between his menace, his shame.... + +And back in the tank as night came on a man for whom every move was +torment rolled and wriggled from place to place, searching doggedly for +a ragged rock, among those that were water-worn and smooth. + +The buzzard had ceased his wheeling, the stars came out. Beck talked +aloud rather crazily. Everything seemed smooth; even the pain became +less harsh; everything was soft and easy ... remarkably so.... Until +his cheek felt a ragged, narrow edge of rock, close in against the base +of the tallest spire. Moaning feebly he wriggled against it until the +ropes touched the edge. Then, with great labor, he began to writhe and +twist. It took hours to fray out a single strand, and his arms were +bound by many ... hours.... + +And when finally his arms fell apart, sensations, fiendish, killing +sensations, began to stab through them, he laughed lightly and ended +shortly. He was free!... + +Free? + + * * * * * + +Just at that time back in the HC ranch house a woman rose from her +tumbled bed and dressed. Her eyes were dry though her breath came +unevenly. + +She looked into her mirror as she put on her hat. + +"You're a fool!" she cried lowly. "A fool!... False pride has taken two +days out of your life ... two precious days!" + +She ran down the stairs, out to the corral and saddled her sorrel horse. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +A MOUNTAIN PORTIA + + +It was a long ride from the HC to the round-up camp but the sorrel was +not spared. The impulse that sent Jane Hunter through the last hours of +darkness had only accumulated strength before the resistance which had +held it back through those dragging days. She was on her way to her +lover, to explain in a word the situation that had caused the breach +between them; she had fought down the pride of which that resistance +was made and now her every thought, her every want was to make Beck +know that it was humiliation and injured pride rather than infidelity +which had sent him away. + +Thought that she had failed to stand self possessed before Bobby +Cole--a burning, shaming thought yesterday--was relegated to an obscure +place in her consciousness. She had fallen short of the poise her lover +would have her retain, but that did not matter ... not now. + +Without Beck's love there was nothing for her, she had come to believe +and she experienced a strange, little-girl feeling, fleeing toward the +protecting arms that could comfort and hold her safe from the blackness +that was elsewhere. + +She leaned low on the sorrel's neck and called to him and he ran +through the dying night breathing excitedly as her impatience was +communicated to him. Dawn yawned in the east and the mountains took +shape. The road became discernable before her. She drew the excited +horse down to a trot and forced herself to force him to conserve some +of his splendid energy.... Then urged him forward, a moment later, at a +stretching run.... + +The round-up camp was moving that day. The riders were up and the first +had swung off for the work of the morning before she pulled her horse +to a stop beside the chuck wagon. + +"He ain't here, ma'am," Oliver replied to her query for Beck. + +"Not here?"--sharply, for she sensed from him that something was wrong. + +"No. He left yesterday. He told me to head this ride. He--" + +"And where did he go?" she broke in, voice not just steady. + +"I don't know, ma'am." The man studied her face intently, seeing the +confusion there, adding it to the evidence he had collected to piece +out a theory. "I thought maybe he said something to you about quitting." + +"_Quitting!_ You don't mean that!" + +"It looks like it, ma'am. I didn't know just how to take what he said. +It seems like somethin' 's got him worried. He wasn't like himself. You +wouldn't know him. + +"He said that future plans for this outfit didn't interest him. He said +he was leavin' and it wasn't likely he'd be back but it wasn't so much +what he said as it was th' way he said it that made me think he was +goin' to drift. We all know he's got some pretty active enemies but it +wasn't like Beck to run away from 'em. Still.... + +"He left me in charge an' said I was to take orders from you. He ain't +showed up since and Lord knows where he'd go except out of the country." + +Out of the country! The words made her hear but vaguely the story of +the ruined Tank and the questions about the work that Oliver put to +her. Out of the country! He had gone, then, thinking that her love had +not been a fast love, that she was wholly unworthy. He had taken his +chance and had lost and that loss had taken from him even the desire to +stay and face the men who would drive him out of the country because he +had defended her! + +Later Jane found herself riding homeward, the sorrel at a walk, her +mind numb and heavy. Last night it had been a question of love against +her pride; she had sacrificed the latter only to find that that +sacrifice had been made too late. + +She wanted, suddenly, to quit ... to quit trying ... thinking.... + +She canvased the situation: she was alone, without an understanding +individual upon whom to lean. She was the target for great forces of +evil which sought to undermine her very determination to exist in that +country. A faint wave of resentment made itself felt at that. They +would continue their war and upon a lone woman! She realized her +position more keenly than she had before, when Beck had been shielding +her. Now she stood unprotected. If she were to exist she _must stand +alone!_ + +Her mind went back to that time when Dick Hilton had told her that she +could not stand alone and her resentment became a degree more +pronounced. + +The lethargy, the hopelessness clung but behind it was something else, +a realization that she had not lost utterly. She had lost the love she +had found, but had she failed to gain anything? Yesterday it seemed +that the ripest fruits of experience were hers; she had +position--menaced, but still hers--she had love. Months before she had +abandoned the quest of love, seeking only to stand alone. She might go +back to her outlook of those days, put aside the call of her heart and +seek only for place; she could make that search intelligently now! + +She sat at her desk, a spirit of resignation coming as a sort of +comfort. If she had lost love, had she lost all that there was in life? +No, not that! There was something else she had found in these months: +She had found _herself!_ + +Tom Beck was gone, his love for her was dead, miles were between them, +and she believed she knew him well enough to understand that he had put +her forever behind him. She had lost the true fulfillment of life, +perhaps, but something remained. And the question came: Why not make +the best of it? Why not keep what remains? Why not fight for it? Why +not _stand alone?_ + +Oh, she had not known the strength that had been born of Beck's +resistance to her wooing! That morning she believed that she could +quit, that she could drift aimlessly, buffeted by vagrant influences, +but now she knew that she could not. A compelling force had been +started within her which would not down, a driving impulse to keep on, +to salvage her self respect, to wrest from life what remained. + +And in this she recognized that quality which Beck had planted in her, +which he had nourished and coaxed and made to grow. To keep on would be +rite offered at the shrine of her love for him ... though he was +gone.... + +For a moment she cried and after that hope was born. He might return; +she might even follow and make him understand. She set that back, +resolutely. Tom Beck was gone from her life, she told herself, but his +influence remained. That could never go; by error she had lost final +achievement: love. By error she had been thrown back upon herself, her +own resources, her own will. + +The war that was waged upon her had been a terrifying thing yesterday; +now it was even more horrible for it sought to take from her the last +thing that remained to be desired, and that could not be! + +She wiped her eyes angrily and repeated aloud: + +"That cannot _be!_" + +She must fight on alone; fight harder than she ever had fought in her +life before. It was up to her, now, to remain fast in the face of +efforts to dislodge her. + +Jane paced the floor nervously, in quick, swinging strides. There was +the burning of hay, the breaking of ditches; there was the shooting +down of Two-Bits, the destruction of Cathedral Tank, there was the +presence in the Hole of the nester and his daughter. At thought of +Bobby a sharp pang shot through her. There was a woman who could +dominate! There, perhaps, was the key to the puzzle. + +Beck had intimated that her enemies found a nucleus in the nester's +outfit; the Reverend had been outspoken in his suspicion; she had +confided in Riley that she suspected something of the sort. Cole +himself was a negligible quantity but the girl was not. The catamount +might hold Jane Hunter's fate in her hand ... the hand that had struck +her! + +On her desk lay the envelope in which had been Beck's note; beside it +the locket. She paused, picked up the trinket and studied it as it lay +on her small palm. Slowly she lifted it to her lips, clutched it +tightly and then with a catch of breath fastened it about her neck, +where it nestled as though coming home again. + +She needed her luck, he had written! Oh yes, she needed her luck! + +And even then a rider was speeding across the hills toward her, lashing +his horse, crashing through brush, leaping down timber, clattering over +treacherous ledges to save time: and other men were riding on Jimmy +Oliver's orders, bringing the cow-boys in off their circles, assembling +them in Devil's Hole where a group of men stood silent and sullen.... + +Oh, she would fight on, desperate in her determination to crowd thought +of a lost love from her life! She welcomed combat for it would be as a +balm to that gaping wound of loss. + +Later she saw the rider come into the ranch on his lathered horse. He +flung off at the bunk house and, a moment later, came running toward +her with Curtis at his side. + +Alarmed, Jane met them at the door with a query on her lips. + +"They want you in the Hole, ma'am," Curtis said. + +"What's the trouble?"--for it could be nothing but trouble which would +bring men in such haste and she had a crisp fear that it pertained to +Beck. + +"They've got Cole down there with a lot of your calves an' he's put his +brand on 'em. Webb's there, too, an' Hepburn. They're holdin' 'em all +for you to come," the messenger said. He was excited, he breathed +rapidly and added: "Oliver an' Riley agreed you ought to come. It's +your property ... an' it's your fight." + +Her fight! Her fight, indeed! Perhaps this was a drawing to a head of +the forces that had been arrayed against her. The man had mentioned +Webb and Hepburn as though he considered their presence of significance. + +A pinto, this time, bore her away from the ranch, the man, tense and +silent, riding beside her. She did not speak as they scrambled up the +point and gained high country nor did she look at him as they set into +a gallop again. An indistinct haze was coming in the west with a +looming thunder head protruding from it here and there. The wind in +their faces was hot and fitful. The scarf about her neck fluttered +erratically. + +Jane had little attention for the detail of that ride. This was her +fight and she raced to meet it with an eagerness born of necessity to +retain what she might of the happiness she had made hers. And as she +rode Tom Beck, pieces cut from his chaps bound about his feet to +protect them on the long journey by foot, his retrieved canteen over +his shoulder, limped into the camp, heard the cook's vague, +disconnected story of the discovery that had been made in the Hole, +borrowed boots, saddled a horse and rode swiftly across the hills. + + * * * * * + +The pinto took Jane down the trail in great lunges, for she had no +thought for dangers of the descent. At the foot was one of her men, +Baldy Bowen, sitting ominously on his horse with a rifle across the +horn. He watched her come and before she could speak jerked his head +and said: + +"They're waitin' for you, straight across there, ma'am." + +She glanced in his direction and set off with renewed speed, winding +through the cedars. + +Against the far wall of the Hole was formed a curious group before a +fence of brush and wire that blocked the entrance to a box gulch. HC +riders were there, dismounted, in a silent, unsmiling cluster. Under a +cedar tree sat Cole, the nester, knees drawn up, arms falling limply +over them; more than ever he seemed to be drooping, in spirit as well +as body. He did not glance up; just sat, staring from beneath drooping +lids at the ground. Nearby lounged one of Jane's cowboys, his holster +hitched significantly forward. + +Apart from these others stood Hepburn, Webb and Bobby Cole and one +other, curiously out of place in his smart clothes: Dick Hilton. Now +and then one of the four spoke and the others would eye the speaker +closely; then look away, absorbed in a situation that was evidently +beyond words. Sitting grouped on the ground were Webb's riders and +Cole's Mexicans. They talked and laughed lowly among themselves and +from time to time turned rather taunting grins at Jane Hunter's men. + +At a short distance stood horses, grazing or dozing; listless, all. But +there was no listlessness among the men. The atmosphere was tense ... +to the breaking point. + +A rider came through the brush and stopped his horse. It was Sam McKee. +He looked with widening eyes at the gathering, hesitated, as though to +turn and leave, then approached. + +"I seen two men in th' Gap," he said to Webb. "They said...." + +He looked about again. + +"Well, get down an' set," Webb said cynically. + +McKee stared from face to face. + +"I guess I'll go on." + +"I guess you'll stay here," said Jimmy Oliver firmly. "We've got a +little matter to talk over an' nobody leaves. I guess the boys in th' +Gap probably thought you'd like to hear what was goin' on." + +Hilton stepped toward Oliver. + +"Look here," he said, "I'm a disinterested party to all this. There's +no use in my staying here." + +"What I said to Sam goes for everybody else, Mister. When we put riders +in the Gap an' at the trails we intended for everybody to hang around. +That goes. Everybody!" + +Then he added: "If anybody wants to get out it'll be pretty good +evidence that he's got somethin' to hide. This 's a matter that the +whole country's interested in. You ain't got nothin' to hide, have you?" + +The Easterner did not reply; turned back to Bobby with a grimace. + +Sound of running hoofs and a quick silence shut down upon the +gathering. The clouds were coming up more rapidly from the west; day +was drawing down into them; the wind on the heights soughed restlessly. + +Jane Hunter brought her pinto to an abrupt stop and sat, flushed and +wind-blown, looking about. + +"Well?" she said to Jimmy Oliver as he stepped forward. + +"We sent for you, ma'am, because we stumbled onto somethin' that looks +bad ... for somebody." + +Her eyes ran from face to face. In the expression of her men she read a +curious loyalty, mingled with speculation. They watched her closely as +Oliver spoke, as men look upon a leader, as though waiting for her to +speak that they might act. Still, about them was a reservation, as +though their acceptance of her was conditional, as though they wondered +what she would say or do. + +She saw Webb and Hepburn eyeing her craftily; she saw Bobby Cole's gaze +on her, filled with hate and scorn ... and a strange brand of fear. And +she saw Dick Hilton, eyeing her with helpless rage and offended +dignity. The entire assemblage was grimly in earnest. + +"Go on," she said lowly and dismounted, standing erect on a rise of +rock that put her head and shoulders above the others. + +"Jim Black here,"--indicating a cowboy in white angora chaps--"took +down the trail after a renegade steer this forenoon. He came on this +place and a hot fire and a yearlin' steer of yours whose brand had been +tampered with. + +"There's been enough goin' on recent, ma'am, to let everybody know that +something was pretty wrong. Mebby we've run onto the answer today. +That's why we sent for you." + +She looked about again and old Riley, moving out from the group slowly, +as a man who feels that the welfare of others may be in his hands might +move, said: + +"For twenty years we've lived quite peaceable here, Miss Hunter. Since +spring we've had anything but peace. It ain't a question that concerns +any one of us alone; it affects the whole country. We've got evidence +here of stealin'; we've got a man who, in our minds, ought to be tried +for that crime.... + +"We sent for you because it happened to be your property. There's +plenty of law in the mountains, but things have happened here that have +put men beyond that law. Parties have resorted to the law of strength, +and not honest strength at that. It's time it was stopped or some of us +ain't goin' to exist.... + +"I know this ain't a pleasant task for a woman, but it seems like +somethin' you've got to face ... if you're goin' to stay here. I guess +you understand that, ma'am." + +Jane's heart leaped in apprehension, she was short of breath, blood +roared in her ears, but she fought to retain at least a show of +composure. + +"It seemed there wasn't any way out of it, but to turn the matter over +to you. We'll all tell what we know; we'll see that there's order here. +We agreed you ought to sit as judge on the evidence against this man." + +Again a consciousness of those faces upon her; faces of her men, +honest, rugged, brave fellows, looking to her to stand alone! She knew, +then, what that alloy in their loyalty had been. They would follow if +she would lead; there was doubt in their hearts that she _could_ +lead, for she was a woman, she was a stranger and not their kind! For +months they had watched her, refusing to judge, but now the time had +come. Now, if she ever was to stand alone, she must rise in her own +strength and be worthy to lead such men! + +Then there were those others: Hepburn and Webb and their outlaw +following; perhaps, among them, the man who had shot Two-Bits down when +he was serving her; perhaps the man who had burned her hay, broken her +ditches, run off her horses. The men who would drive her out. + +She felt suddenly weak. They were all watching her. This was the hour +in which she must win or lose. It was _she_, not Alf Cole, who was +on trial! + +Jane began to speak, rather slowly, but evenly and clearly. + +"I want the story from the beginning. Jim Black, will you tell what you +know?" + +Thus simply she accepted her responsibility to the country, took up her +final fight for position there. + +Black stepped forward, serious, quiet, showing no self consciousness +whatever as the eyes swung upon him. Webb's riders had risen and were +grouped behind their leader. + +"Jimmy told you how I happened here. This steer, ma'am, cut across the +flat an' I followed. I heard bawlin' over this way an', naturally, was +surprised. Pulled up my hoss an' rode over. There was a fire in that +gulch, an' it'd just been scattered. A man had been kneelin' down by +it, an' there was one of your yearlin's hog-tied there. Your ear mark +was still on him but your brand had been made from an HC into a THO +by crossin' the H an' closin' the C." + +He stooped and with his quirt demonstrated thusly: + +[Illustration: HC THO] + +"There was other calves in there. I counted sixteen. They was all THO +stuff an' they was all mighty young." + +"Did you see any men?" she asked. + +He shook his head. "I dragged it for high country, got Jimmy an' told +him." + +"Oliver, have someone bring out this yearling," Jane said. + +Two men mounted their horses, opened the brush gate, roped the steer +and dragged him, bawling, into the assemblage. Jane stepped down from +her rock and, with a dozen others crowding about, examined the brand. + +"That's unmistakable," she said lowly as she straightened. "Part of +that brand healed months ago; the rest is fresh." + +She moved back to the rock on which she had stood and rested a hand on +the pinto's withers. + +"Oliver, what did you do?" she asked. + +"I gathered the boys an' come down here as fast as I could. I saw this +pen an' the calves. I sent men to both trails an' two to the Gap with +orders to shoot to kill anybody that tried to get out. Then I went to +Cole's house. + +"Cole swore up an' down that he didn't know anything about it. His gal +was there an' this here party from the east,"--with a rather +contemptuous jerk of his head toward Hilton. "I brought Cole back here +an' the others followed. + +"Seems Webb and Hepburn an' their men was in th' Hole. I didn't know +it. Th' gal ... she went to get 'em. + +"It's just as well,"--dryly. "This ain't a matter that affects any one +of us. It's for everybody in th' country to consider." + +Hepburn stirred uneasily as Jane looked from Oliver to him. + +"I think all that's necessary is to talk to Mr. Cole," she said. + +The nester looked up slowly and laboriously gained his feet. He +slouched toward the girl. + +"I don't know nothin' about it," he said in his whining voice. + +Bobby Cole took a quick step forward as he spoke, but Hepburn put out a +detaining hand and muttered a word. She stopped. Her face was +colorless; eyes hard and bright; she breathed quickly and seemed almost +on the verge of tears. + +"Who built this pen?" Jane asked. + +"I don't know." + +"Did you ever see it before?" + +"No, I--well, I did _see_ it, but I don't know nothin' about it." + +"You've been here all the Spring and didn't know anything about it?" + +Her tone was sharp, decisive and the color had mounted in her face. She +leaned slightly forward from the hips. + +"No, I don't know nothin' about it," he protested, lifting his +characterless eyes to hers. + +"Who brands your cattle?" + +"I do." + +"No one else?" + +"Not another,"--with a slow shaking of the head. + +"Can you think of anybody who would put your brand on my cattle?" + +"No. Nobody would hev done that." + +"But have you looked at this steer?"--indicating the yearling with the +indisputable evidence on his side. + +Cole lifted an unsteady hand to scratch his mustache, eyed the animal +furtively and glanced at Hepburn. As their eyes met Hepburn's head +moved in slight, quick negation. Ever so slight, ever so quick, but +Jane Hunter saw and Hepburn saw that she saw and a guilty flush whipped +into his face, spreading clear to the eyes. + +"Hasn't someone been working over my brand?" she demanded, forcing Cole +to look at her again. + +"I don't know ... I dunno nothin' about it...." + +She breathed deeply and moved a step backward. + +"How do you suppose these calves come to be here? My calves, with your +brand on them?" + +"Them is my calves, ma'am," he protested, weakly, "Them is old brands." + +"Oh, all but this yearling belong to you?" + +"Yes,"--nodding his head as his confidence rallied. "Them's all mine. I +branded 'em myself." + +"And why do you keep them here?" + +"Well, there's water an' feed an' I wanted to wean 'em--" + +"And a moment ago you said you knew nothing about this pen?" + +A flicker of confusion crossed the man's face and again he looked away +toward Hepburn in mute appeal. Hepburn's face reflected a contempt, a +wrath, and for a fraction of time Jane studied it intently, a quick +hope forming in her breast. She lifted a hand to touch, in unconscious +caress, the locket which was at her throat. + +"Look at me, Cole!" she cried and her body trembled. Her tone was +compelling, she experienced a sensation of mounting power, felt that +she was dominating and without looking she knew that the men before her +stirred, impressed by her rising confidence. "Look at me and answer my +questions!" + +Hesitatingly the man looked back and then dropped his eyes. + +"Well, I said I knew it was here." + +"You knew more than that. You have been using it. How long ago was it +built?" + +"A month--Oh, I dunno--" + +"What about a month?" she insisted, gesturing bruskly. "What about a +month?" + +"I dunno." + +She relaxed a trifle again and eyed the confused, visibly agitated man. +For a breath the place was in utter silence. The gloom deepened; the +wind held off. It was as though the crisis were at hand.... And just +then the man at the foot of the trail across the flat put down his +rifle and said with a short laugh: + +"I didn't make you out, Tom." + + * * * * * + +When Jane spoke again it was in an easier tone. + +"How did you happen to come to this country, Cole?" + +He looked up, relief showing in his face as she abandoned the other +line of questioning. Hepburn stirred and Webb lifted a hand to hook his +thumb in his belt. + +"Why, I heered about this place. Good feed an' water an' a place to +settle. So I just come; that's all." + +"How did you hear about it?" + +"A feller told me." + +"Who?" + +"I dunno his name. I--" + +"How many cows have you?" + +Her voice was suddenly sharp and hard as she cut in on his impotent +evasion and shifted her subject again. + +"Why, 'bout twenty." + +"And how many calves are with them?" + +He seemed to calculate, but she insisted, leaning closer to him: + +"How many calves?" + +"Why, not more'n half of 'em got calves." + +"Sure? Not more than half?" + +"Why ... I guess--" + +"And you've got sixteen young calves in this pen! How do you account +for that?" + +A murmur ran among her men and Cole looked at her with fright in his +eyes. + +"I dunno!" he suddenly burst out, voice trembling. "I dunno nothin' +about it. You've all got me here an' are pickin' on me. I didn't steal +anything. I thought they was all mine." And then, in a broken, +repressedly frantic appeal: "I don't want to go to jail again. I don't +know nothin'...." + +"Again?" she said, quite gently. + +He looked at her and nodded slowly. The little resistance he had +offered her was gone; his limbs trembled and his eyes had that whipped, +abject look that a broken spirited dog will show. + +"You've been in jail once? For stealing cattle?" + +"I didn't steal.... They said I did. They didn't want me around. +They're like all you big outfits; they don't want me ... they don't +want me...." + +He lifted one hand in a gesture of hopeless appeal and tears showed in +his eyes. They didn't want him, as she didn't want him! And suddenly an +overwhelming pity surged upward in the girl for this man. It was like +her, like all the Jane Hunters, like all men and women in whose hearts +great strength and great pity is combined. There was no question of his +guilt, but he was helpless before her; his fate was in her hands ... +and back in her mind that other theory was forming; that other hope was +coming to stronger life.... + +"Cole, did you steal my calves?" + +She leaned low and spoke intently; her voice was a mingling of +resolution and warmth that created confidence in his heart. For a +moment he evaded her look; then answered it and a sob came up into his +thin throat and shook it. He looked from her to Hepburn and then to +Webb and read there something that Jane, whose eyes followed his, could +not read; all she could read was threat ... threat, threat! + +"Did you steal my calves?" she repeated in a tone even lower. + +She saw her men strain forward. + +"Oh, I don't want to go to jail!" he said and tears streamed down his +seamed cheeks. "I took 'em ... but I'm a poor man ... a poor man...." + +From Bobby came a stifled cry. She started forward again, but this time +it was Hilton who grasped her arm, rather roughly. He drew her back, +hissing a word between his teeth. His eyes glittered. + +Riley stepped forward quickly beside Cole. His face was strained; mouth +very grim. Oliver was beside him; breathing quickly. + +"What's your verdict, Miss Hunter?" Riley asked. His voice was hoarse. + +"You have heard it," she said gently. "You heard it from his lips." + +She was not looking at them, but at Bobby Cole, who stood with knuckles +pressed against her lips, fright, misery in her staring eyes. The +strength, the vindictiveness was gone. She was a little girl, then, a +little girl in trouble! + +"Then I guess there's nothin' to do, but to go through with this +ourselves." The old cattle man spoke slowly and rather heavily. "Cole, +there's a way of treatin' thieves in this country that's gone out of +fashion in recent years; we ain't had to hang nobody for a long time, +but--" + +"Stop!" + +It was a clear, ringing cry from Jane that checked Riley, that caused +the man who had grimly picked up his rope to stand holding it +motionless in his hand. + +"This is a matter for all of us, but by common consent I was selected +to judge this man. He has admitted his guilt after an opportunity to +protest his innocence. Now you must let me pass sentence...." + +"Sentence, ma'am?" Riley asked. "There's only one way. This has been +war: they've warred you, they've threatened to drive you out. It's you +or ... your enemies. This man is your proven enemy. Make an example of +him. He's guilty; nothin' else should be considered!" + +"One thing," she said, smiling for the first time that afternoon, a +slow, serious, grave smile, withal a tender smile, as she looked at +Cole, the trembling craven. + +"One thing: The quality of mercy! + +"Men, do you know that line? 'The quality of mercy is not strained. It +droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven'? + +"Mercy is the most holy thing in human relations. It is a blessing not +only to the man who receives it, but to the man that gives!" + +The first, dissenting stir died. This was no dodging, no evading the +issue. This was something new and her manner caught their interest as +she stood with one outstretched hand appealing frankly for their +attention and understanding. + +"This man has stolen from me. You have seen him here. He has shown +himself to be a weakling, a poor, wretched man, who has neither friends +nor respect for himself. He has known trouble before." She looked from +the man before her to Bobby whose strained face was on hers with +amazement, whose breast rose and fell irregularly, in whose eyes stood +tears. "I think that he has known little but trouble; he has been +unfortunate perhaps because he tried to help himself by troubling +others. There is only one thing left in life for him and that is his +liberty. + +"He cannot hurt me. He cannot hurt any of us from now on. He knows what +we know of this thing today. He will stand before us all as a man who +has not played the game fairly. + +"Do you fear him? Do you young, strong men fear this man?... No, you +don't! No more than I. We have seen him humbled; we have heard him +plead. Giving him his liberty will cost us nothing. I will go so far as +to promise you that he will never steal from us again ... if we do this +for him.... Don't you agree with me?" + +She looked from face to face, but as her eyes traveled they were not +for an instant unconscious of other faces ... back there; faces to +which had come relief, relaxation, color, after tensity and pallor; +faces which the next instant were dark and apprehensive, for she said: + +"I don't want you to think that I am through ... not now. There has +been stealing, but that has been only a part of the trouble. There have +been other things, things which this man who we know has stolen would +not do. Let us not be satisfied with cutting off the top of this weed +which has poisoned the range; let us try to get to the roots and tear +them out!" + +She stood, beautiful in the confidence which, with a sentence, with a +gesture, had checked these men in their determination to administer +justice as it once had been administered in those hills, which had +stilled dissent on their lips, which had switched their reasoning into +a new path. Alone among them she could dominate! Her strength, doubted +an hour ago, over-rode Riley's influence, created by years of prestige +on the range, even made that old cattleman stand back and wait +respectfully, wondering what she had to say. Her color was high, eyes +bright, lips parted slightly in a grave, assured smile, and her one +extended hand, small, white, delicate held them! + +"This thievery was only a symptom, only an indication of what has +transpired," she went on. "Just the outward evidence of those desires +and impulses which have turned into chaos the peace of this beautiful +country. Into that we must inquire and there is one more witness I want +to call." + +She hesitated, then said gently: + +"Bobby Cole." + +A low murmur again ran through the group and from the clouds above them +came a muttering of thunder. + +All turned to look at the girl and so intent were they that they did +not see a horseman ride through the trees and stop and look; and +dismount. Tom Beck walked slowly toward the group, until he could lay a +hand on the hip of Jane Hunter's pinto. Then he stood behind her, eyes +curious. + +"Will you come up here and talk to me?" Jane asked. + +The other girl remained motionless. + +"Well now, Miss Hunter, don't you think--" Hepburn began in mild +protest. + +"I think many things, Mr. Hepburn. My purpose is either to justify or +to convince myself that I think wrongly. Will you come ... Bobby?" + +Almost mechanically the girl moved forward. Hilton muttered a quick +word to Webb and Webb glanced back nervously. Two of his men moved +closer. + +"But we've found out about your calves, Miss Hunter. What else do you +want to know?" + +Hepburn's voice was breath-choked though outwardly he maintained +composure. + +"It makes damned little difference." It was Riley speaking and his hand +was on his holster. "Hepburn, you and everybody else stand pat until +you're called for." + +Hepburn's eyes flared malevolently. He started to speak again, but +closed his lips, as in forebearance. Sam McKee coughed with a dry, +forced sound. + +"What is it you want with me?" + +Bobby stopped before Jane and eyed her up and down, gaze settling on +the girl's face finally. There was hostility in it; there was hate ... +a degree; but these were softened, subdued, leavened by an outstanding +appreciation. Her lips trembled and, almost thoughtlessly, she put out +a hand to touch her father's, fingers squeezing his in a movement of +affection ... and relief. + +For a moment Jane did not speak. Then she began, lowly, rapidly, +flushed but resolute and with a light of friendliness in her eyes. + +"I want you to understand me ... without any more delay. You and I came +into this country at about the same time. Where we should have been +friends from the first we have been enemies; it even came to such a +pass that you promised to drive me from the country." + +Her voice shook a bit and on the words that old hostility leaped back +into Bobby's face. + +"I think that was because you did not understand me. You have thought +that I wished you bad luck from the first and that is not so. Had I +wanted to have vengeance on you, had I wanted to drive you out, I could +have done so this afternoon ... only a moment ago. I am not trying to +impress you with my generosity because I don't feel that I have been +generous. I have tried to be just; that is all. I have tried to do the +thing that would mean the most to all of us.... + +"But there are things with which you can help me. I am sure. There are +so many things that we have in common. You see, you and I are very much +alike." + +That touched the other's curiosity. She was all intent, lips parted, +eyes wondering. + +"Alike?" She was incredulous. + +Jane nodded. + +"The thing that you want most of all is the thing that I want more than +anything else: That is the respect of men." + +She paused and Bobby's brows drew together in perplexity. + +"The first time I saw you, you were trying to win the respect of the +men in this country with your quirt. Perhaps that helped you. Perhaps +it would have helped me had I been able or inclined to take it that way. + +"That doesn't matter. The thing that matters, which gives us something +in common is this: You found that men did not respect you and so did I. +Men showed their disrespect for you by ... well, by saying unpardonable +things. Men have shown their disrespect for me by trying to drive me +out of the country, by burning and stealing and shooting at my men.... + +"You and I are the only women here. These men,"--with a gesture--"can +not understand what their respect means to us. It is the only thing +worth while in our lives. Isn't that so? No woman can be happy or +satisfied unless she has the respect of men. That is because our +mothers for generations back have been mothers because men respected +them.... + +"I don't believe from what I know of you that you have ever had much +respect from men. I can appreciate what that means to you, because it +appears that the man who should have respected me the most in the +country where I came from, did not respect me. + +"There was one man I used to know who was supposed to give me all the +respect that a man could give a woman: he said that he loved me. That +man,"--there was a quick movement in the group which she +ignored--"followed me west to tell me that he loved me again and when +he found that I could not love him, he showed that he did anything but +respect me. Do you understand how that could hurt? When a man who had +sworn for years that he loved me proved that ... it was something quite +different?" + +She paused and Bobby, wide-eyed, said: + +"He follered you out here to ... try to get you to marry him?" + +Jane nodded. + +The other girl turned and her eyes sought out Hilton's face, which was +contorted with raging humiliation. + +"Is that _so?_" she asked. + +"That's a lie!" he snarled, but looked away. + +"Is that _so?_" + +Her tone was lowered, but she hissed the question at him. She strained +forward, glaring at him, and averting his face he said again: + +"It's a lie." + +But the assertion was without conviction, without strength. + +Bobby turned back. Her lips were tight and trembling. + +"Well?" she said, tears in her eyes again, and her manner proved that +Hilton's denial had fallen far short of being convincing. + +"Then there were other factors: As soon as I arrived here things +commenced to go wrong. Because I was a woman, people thought they could +usurp my rights. My horses were stolen; my hay was burned; my ditches +broken. My men were shot at. A note was sent to me, telling me that I'd +better leave the country while I had something left. + +"You see, don't you, that that meant that men--it must have been men +who did it--had no respect for me? + +"This water down here was fenced. That was your right, but I thought I +could persuade you to help me a little. I think yet that I could have +done so but for your misunderstanding.... + +"I knew that you wanted the respect of men. I knew that about all you +had in life was your self respect. I knew that the same man who had +made love to me and who had not meant it, was making love to you and +not meaning it. I called him to see me and tried to talk him out of it, +begged him to go away from you before ... before you had stopped +respecting yourself. You must have mistaken my motive in--" + +"You didn't send for him to ask him to take you back? You didn't do +that?" + +"I have told you my motive once; that was the truth ... whole truth." + +Again Bobby turned and again her accusing, flaring eyes sought Hilton's +distraught face. + +"So you lied to me again, did you? That was a lie, was it?" She waited. +"Well, why don't you answer?" she flung at him and stood, directing on +him the hate that she had once shown for Jane Hunter. + +But when she wheeled sharply back to confront the mistress of the HC +her eyes were bathed in tears, her head was thrown back, and she threw +her arms wide. + +"He did lie to me!" she panted. "He did.... I hated you because I +thought you had friends an' folks that respected you. He lied an' it +made me hate you worse...." She choked with sobs and Jane stepped down +from the rock to put hands on her shoulders. + +"Oh, miss, I've acted so bad to you!" Bobby moaned lowly. "I ... I +didn't know, didn't understand. I thought you didn't want anything but +harm to come to us. I stole from you because I hated you.... I ..." + +She threw back her head again and the weakness of spiritual distress +dropped from her. Her voice grew full and firm. + +"You've treated us like nobody else ever treated us before. You had Alf +tied down to a calf stealin' an' you let him go. You.... You've been +tryin' to do me good all the while I've been tryin' to do you harm. +They've been warrin' on you an' I ... I could have stopped it!" + +She wheeled, facing the men, her back to Jane. Her shoulders were drawn +up and she leaned backward. Her face was white, voice shrill. Her eyes +burned. + +"Well ... you, Webb, an' Hepburn an' your whole filthy crew ... I'm +done with you at last!" + +Thunder boomed sharply. The gloom was so deep that the features of the +men she addressed could scarcely be made out. + +"You've tried to double-cross us from the first. You was as guilty as +Alf today but you had it on us. I couldn't make a move without gettin' +in worse.... You, Hilton, if it hadn't been for you, I'd have sent the +bunch of you to hell by tellin' th' straight story when they came for +Alf to-day! I ... I thought you loved me,"--gaspingly. "Ah! I thought +you loved me, an' I'd have let Alf go to jail alone because of it.... + +"Well, it ain't too late! Listen, all of you! You HC riders, don't let +a man move until I get through!" + +Her eyes, quick, alert, intent, ran from face to face before her and +her whole body trembled as though the things that she would tell +clamoured to be out and were held back by great effort until she could +make them coherent. + +"Hepburn, you're first!" + +The man made one movement aside as if he would evade and Tom Beck's +voice rang out sharply: + +"Not a move!" + +Jane Hunter wheeled, a stifled word in her throat and watched him +slowly advance. His face was drawn as by great suffering, his eyes +burned as though his heart was wrenched with every beat. His mouth was +set and his jaw thrust forward and the revolver he held close against +his hip was as steady as rock. He moved slowly forward. + +"Swing back there, you men,"--and at his gesture the HC riders +deployed, swinging to either side. He stood beside the two girls at the +point of a V, the sides of which were formed by cowboys and beyond the +opening of which the other group drew together as for protection in the +face of this coming storm. Hepburn was foremost and the true scoundrel +now glared through the mask of his benevolence. + +"Go on," Beck said quietly. + +"You're first," the girl repeated, as though there had been no +interruption. + +"You planned to steal the HC blind, as soon as th' old owner died. You +didn't have th' nerve to do it like I'd 've done it. You sent for us, +because you knowed Alf had this brand which 'uld make stealin' easy!" + +"You're lying!" + +The man's voice was the merest croak, weak and unimpressive. + +"You wrote us, sayin' it would be easy pickin'. You said you would +likely be foreman an' that anyhow you'd be workin' for the HC an' was +goin' to help us from the inside. + +"When Miss Hunter come an' you saw what she was like you was mighty +glad of it. You thought you could ruin her an' pretend you was trying +to protect her. You was goin' to get half what we got for your share. + +"You had Webb run off them eight horses. Th' cat got out of the bag an' +you had to bring 'em back to make good with Beck. I heard you tell Alf +about it the night you started out an' stayed with us. Beck suspected +you, so you shot your own saddle horn to make your story good. + +"Beck wasn't satisfied. He was in your way, so you an' Webb framed up a +lie about him an' fixed his gun so it would look bad for him ... an' it +didn't work because Miss Hunter here beat you to it. + +"Then you threw in with Webb an' we was all goin' to work together and +drive the HC out in a rush. + +"You dynamited Cathedral Tank to spoil that range. Then somebody shot +Two-Bits an' you planned with us not to let her have water, knowin' her +cattle would perish. I was glad enough to keep 'em from water then +because I thought ... I thought she wasn't ... what she is." + +She paused, panting, and brushed a quick hand at her tears. + +"Webb, you've been stealin' off th' HC for years." + +The man took a quick step forward and halted as gun hands jerked rigid. + +"You've been waitin' your chance. When Beck made you swallow your words +about Miss Hunter you went hog-wild to get him. You got carin' more +about that than you did about gettin' rich. + +"You shot at Beck's bed to kill him when he slept. You broke her +ditches an' fired her hay with your own hands. You wrote that note, +warnin' her to get out. You helped build this pen here an' you helped +steal these calves an' every one of 'em was took away from an HC cow. +You stole twenty head of horses that nobody knows about. + +"You an' Hepburn thought I didn't know a lot of this. Well, I did know! +I knowed you was goin' to double-cross us if the pinch come an' Alf, he +was afraid of it, too! + +"I heard you talkin' nights in our place. I watched you ridin' when you +didn't know I was around. I listened an' remembered. I was one of you, +but I didn't trust you. I wanted to steal from Miss Hunter. I wanted to +drive her out because ... because I didn't know anybody could be kind +to me like she's been. I never thought anybody'd do anythin' for me!" + +She stopped again to regain control of her surging emotions. + +"An' their riders, Miss Hunter"--half turning to look at the other +woman. "They're a bunch of cut-throats. So are our greasers. They ain't +been in on the stealin'. They didn't care about bein' inside, but they +was ready to murder if they had a chance. They--Hepburn an' Webb--they +thought that they was safe because every one of the rest had enough +over him to hang. If one squealed they'd all get caught.... + +"Even us! Why, we never had any right on this claim. Alf's used his +homestead rights before, under another name. This water don't belong to +us. Not by rights. It's all open range! That's what we was: t' worst +nest of outlaws that ever got together in these hills!" + +She choked and Jane, her hands on the other's arms, could feel the +tremors shooting through her lithe frame. + +Riley moved a step forward as thunder rolled heavily overhead, as if +this much of the story was enough, but the girl cried out: + +"That ain't all! I've got to go through with it! I've finished with the +rest an' now it's you.... Hilton!" + +Into the word she put bitter contempt and biting scorn. + +"Bah! You liar!" she drawled. "You liar, you sneak, you coward! You +thought none of us could follow your game an' none of us could ... +until now. + +"Why, you've been behind this whole thing. It was you called Hepburn to +town an' offered him money to use in his dirty work. You paid for this +fence of ours. You listened an' used your head. You saw things quicker +'n Hepburn an' Webb did, an' you set them two thinkin' an' they never +knew you was doin' it.... + +"He was th' brains, I tell you!"--with an inclusive gesture to the men +who listened so attentively. "He wanted to drive Miss Hunter out worse +'n anybody. He wanted to kill Tom Beck. He didn't have the nerve to do +it himself ... in a fair fight. He shot at him one day with a rifle but +just as he shot Beck stopped his horse to look at somethin' in his +hands, that locket he always wears an' is always lookin' at, I +guess.... He didn't know I saw that but I did.... + +"He was always talkin' Sam McKee, there, up to kill Beck. It's likely +McKee shot Two-Bits--" + +"He didn't! I didn't do it!" + +McKee's voice, an excited cackle, broke in on her but the girl, +ignoring, went on: + +"... It was just like he tried to talk Webb an' Hepburn into killin'. +That was his way: makin' other folks do th' things he was scared to do! + +"An' he was as slick with me as he was with them, with his lies about +being called here to help Miss Hunter on business! That's why I didn't +think all this out before, that's why I didn't think he was a sneak +until now. He ... he said he wanted to marry ... to marry me...." + +She put a palm against her lips, tears spilled over her cheeks as she +turned. For a brief, heartbroken moment she stood looking into Jane +Hunter's face, then bowed her head to the other's shoulder and cried +stormily. + +Beside the girls was a quick movement, a man uttering one explosive +word as though it gave vent to an emotion that had been pent deep in +his heart for long and while the black storm clouds seemed to shut down +and muffle every sound, even Bobby Cole's excited sobbing, Tom Beck +cried twice: + +"Jane!... Jane!" + +Bobby, at that, turned from Jane to her father and the mistress of the +H C faced her foreman. When she had first seen him she betrayed little +except surprise; now she made one movement as though she would throw +herself upon him but again the look in his face checked her. + +"You came back to me, Tom," she said. + +"Back," he answered.... "But I can't ever come back to ... you...." + +It was the miserable self loathing, the shame in his heart, which +spoke, and it was that which made her see him, not as the strong man he +had been but as a broken, penitent, self denying individual ... denying +himself the love that was in her eyes, mingled with the relief at his +return and the joy of triumph which still thrilled her ... that love +which he felt unworthy to claim because he had doubted it! + +And then he changed. A movement sharp, decided, in the group, stiffened +him. + +"Hold up!" he cried. "Don't one of you move! Jimmy, take two men to the +Gap. Hold everybody in this Hole until we can get the sheriff, this'll +be a clean-up for--" + +A blinding flare, a crash of thunder that tore sky and shook earth, +broke in on him. There was a rending of tough timber as the bolt ripped +down a cedar, a snorting of horses. And in that stunning instant Dick +Hilton leaped from the group, vaulted to his saddle and lashing the +horse frantically, made off. + +A revolver cracked, a rifle crashed. Hilton disappeared into a deluge +of huge drops that came from the low, scudding clouds. Others got to +their horses and a fusillade of shots sounded like the ripping of +strong cloth. And above it rang Jane Hunter's voice: + +"Tom! Oliver! Hold these men. I'll bring the sheriff! You can spare me +and only me!" + +With a hoarse cry Riley dropped his revolver and clutched at his +wounded shoulder. Horses with riders and horses running wild circled +the place where a moment before had been a compact group of men, but +now Jane Hunter and Tom Beck stood there alone while from all about +stabs of fire pricked the darkness or were lost as the sky blazed, +while those who shot scarcely knew whether they were defending +themselves from friend or foe. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +BATTLE! + + +Jane found herself on the pinto racing through the night, ducking under +cedars until she was clear of the timber, crashing through brush, +leaping washes and at her side, silent, close, protecting her, an arm +ready to grasp her body should her horse fall, rode Tom Beck. + +They made straight across the flat toward the foot of the trail. To +their right was shooting and behind them a sharp volley rattled. A +stray bullet _zinged_ angrily, close over their heads. + +"You've got to get out of this, ma'am," Beck cried. "There'll be hell +to pay before mornin'. There's nothing they won't do now." + +"Tom! You came!" + +Her eyes were blinded by tears as she turned her face to him, trying to +put into words the forgiveness which she deemed unnecessary and which +she knew was the one essential to Tom Beck, which she knew would be +almost impossible to convey convincingly. But through the tears she saw +the flash of a gun before them and an answering flash. A lengthy +flicker of lightning showed two figures. One, Dick Hilton, horse drawn +back on his hocks, revolver lifted. They saw him shoot again and they +saw that other figure, Baldy Bowen, who was there to block the trail, +crumple in his saddle and sag forward, struggle heavily to regain his +position and then, as his frightened horse moved quickly, plunge in an +ungainly mass to the ground. + +Beck raised his gun as Hilton's horse leaped for the trail. He shot but +the instant of light had passed, making the world darker by contrast. +They saw fire shoot from scrambling hoofs. + +The burst of rain had ceased, the interval of fury broken; the storm +still swirled, roaring, above them, but it was dry and black, +threatening, holding in reserve its strength.... + +The sound of another horse, cutting in before them, running +frantically, and Beck's gun hand went up only to poise arrested as a +voice came to them with the singing of a rope end that flayed the +animal's flanks. + +"Go; go! Take me after him!" + +It was Bobby Cole's cry. She had seen. She was riding on the trail of +the man who would have been her betrayer. + +They dismounted hastily and stooped over the figure that lay quiet on +the rocks. Jane stilled her sobbing as Beck rolled the body over and +felt and listened. + +"Dead," he said huskily. + +"Dead!" echoed Jane. "Dick killed him! Oh ... beastly!" + +Fresh firing behind them. The shout of a man and an answer. More shots, +coming closer. + +"You've got to get out," Beck said lowly, lifting her from her knees +beside the dead rider. "There'll be hell here to-night and it's no +place for you. You bring the law!" + +"I feel as though I should stay. There'll be others killed and it's my +fight!" + +Hers was a cry of anguish, but he replied: + +"You'll save lives by bringin' help. And hurry, ma'am, hurry!" + +His only thought was to get her to safety. + +A rifle crashed twice not a hundred yards from them and they heard a +running horse grunt as spurs raked his sides. + +"Get up and get out!" he cried hoarsely, fearful that she might insist +on lingering in this place which, this night, was well named Devil's +Hole. + +"There's only one of 'em ahead of you. He's bound only to make his +get-away.... An' the Catamount, she'll clear your way if he does turn +back!" + +He lifted her bodily to her horse. + +"It seems my place to stay!" she cried as shots peppered the storm. "To +stay with you, Tom!" + +"It's your place to get out! Ride!" + +He swung his hat across the pinto's hind quarters and the animal leaped +into the trail. He heard Jane cry out to him to stop. + +"Go on!" he shouted. "Go on! It's your job to bring help!" + +And he heard her go on, the horse floundering up the steep rise, and +knew that she obeyed. Then he turned and looked out across the flat. + +Far down toward Cole's cabin was a shot. A riderless horse went past +him, blowing with excitement. He crouched behind a boulder, gun in his +hands, peering into the darkness. Others would not travel that trail +that night so long as he was on guard.... + +The fight had been carried in both directions, further up into the +Hole, on down toward the Gap. HC riders, partially assembled and +identified, had closed on the outlaws, cut them off from the trail and +for the space of many minutes there was no revealed action, each +waiting for the others to show themselves. + +Again in the distance was the mutter of thunder and a brilliant, +prolonged flash of lightning. The wind had subsided to breathless +silence as if the heavens marshaled their forces for fresh outbursts. +Beck started up as the clouds flared, looking quickly about. He saw a +horse with an empty saddle. He saw a man standing waist deep in brush, +a rifle at his hip, ready to fire. He could not recognize the man. +Darkness; again, a silent lighting of the skies, and with that the +stillness was broken. There was the sharp crack of a rifle far to his +left, up toward the head of the Hole. None replied to the shot. A +moment later the clouds sent out their flare again ... and this time +two shots echoed. + +Beck started up with a low cry. Above on the trail he had seen Jane +Hunter's pinto, making for the high country, and those two stabs of +yellow flame had been aimed upward and toward the wall to which her +path clung. + +It seemed to the man an age until lightning again revealed the earth. +He had an impression of a horseman far toward the top of the trail and +behind him another, riding hard; and lastly, Jane's pinto toiling +bravely up the sharp climb. + +And as darkness cut in again two more fangs of flame darted toward her! + +Jane Hunter, without protection, wholly revealed by the lightning, was +a target for merciless men, for men who had nothing to lose and at +least a fighting chance to gain by stopping her! + +He had believed that she was going to safety; he had underestimated the +maliciousness of those men she had driven into the open that afternoon. +He had neglected to consider the fact that on the trail she was without +protection of any sort and that lightning would make her stand out like +a cameo! He forgot his mental stress, he relegated his duty as sentinel +to inconsequence, for she was in great danger and needed help! It was a +joy to know that the life in his body, the blood in his flesh, might be +the one thing she needed, for only by offering those possessions could +he atone for his faithlessness. He had no idea that he could regain +that desire to possess her. He only wanted her to know that what he had +to give was hers; that was all! + +Then another rider was on the trail: Tom Beck, roweling his horse, +fanning his shoulders with the rein ends, crying aloud to him for +speed, his gun in his holster, a useless thing. + +He rode with abandon in the darkness, urging the horse to a speed that +mocked safety. Stones were scattered by the animal's spurning feet and +he heard them strike below, the sounds becoming fainter as he mounted +the steep rise. Lightning again and the viper spits down there in the +flat licked out for the woman ahead. Beck swore aloud and beat his +horse's flanks with his hat. + +The darkness, though it handicapped speed and enhanced the danger of +his race, was relief. When it was dark they could not fire.... + +And he knew they were waiting down there, rifles ready, straining to +see in the next burst of light.... + +He begged of the Almighty to send rain, to hold back the lightning, but +no rain came; the flares continued. He heard another shot, closer, from +behind, and knew it was the rifleman he had seen standing in the brush +firing at those who menaced Jane Hunter's safety. + +He was gaining on the pinto, slowly, with agonizing slowness. His big +brown horse drove on, but, when in darkness and without perspective, it +seemed as though his hoofs beat upon a treadmill. The animal's excited +breathing became more clearly defined.... The pinto ahead crawled +slowly and awkwardly like a dying animal, many minutes from shelter.... + +One of those spurts of flame stung toward Beck. He heard, almost as he +saw it, the spatter of a bullet on the rock behind him. He lay low on +his horse's mane. + +The glimmer of lightning, unaccompanied now by thunder, became almost +continuous. Against the white face of the mountain the riders were like +silhouette targets. Below there were stabs of fire from a dozen places, +like fire-flies on a summer night, but carrying death. + +Two bullets, close together, snarled past him, one above, the other +just ahead, perhaps in a line behind his horse's ears. He hoped wildly +that they were directing all their fire at him, that he was drawing it +from the girl above but even as this hope mounted the skies coruscated +again and he saw that the pinto was stopped, saw that Jane was slipping +to the narrow trail, her body wedged between the cliff and the body of +the horse. + +For an interminable time blackness seemed to hold. The big brown, whose +breath was now laboring with exhaustion as well as with excitement, +gasped scarcely a dozen breaths before the greeny light came again but +to his rider it was an aeon of time. Tom Beck passed through the +veriest depths of torment in that interval and unconsciously he shouted +into the night incoherent cries of suffering. He had been too late! He +had sent her to physical suffering, to her death, perhaps, and before +he could make her understand that he blamed himself as only a just man +who has been unjust can crush himself with execration! + +But light came and he saw her, still alive, still safe! + +The pinto was down, hind feet over the trail. Wounded, he had tried to +turn back, tail to the abyss as a mountain bred animal will turn. He +had moved on unsteady limbs, his hind feet slipped over the edge and +moaning, head back, eyes bulging, he clawed with his fore hoofs to stay +his fall. Clinging to the reins, calling aloud her encouragement, the +girl helped with voice and limbs. + +For an interval she balanced the pull of the animal's own weight.... + +And when Tom Beck could see again she was alone on the trail, one arm +raised to her face as she cringed from the bullets that spattered all +about! + +He cursed his horse, lashing furiously, spurring in the shoulders +without mercy. He came up to her and she faced him, lips tight and in +the dance of cloud fire he saw her eyes wide, nostrils distended. + +"Get up here!" he muttered and lifted her to his saddle horn, winding +his arms about her, bowing his head and shoulders over hers to take the +missiles in his own body first. + +She clutched him frantically, her warm arms around his neck, her +trembling limbs across his thigh with his hand hooked beneath the +knees, her soft breast cleaving to his and, slipping through his opened +shirt the little gold locket that was at her throat pressed against his +heart.... It was cold from the night and he felt it send a tingle +through his body. Even then he wondered, with the strange sharpness +which stressed thought will give to irrelevant matters, what it +contained! + +"Tom! It's good to have you!" + +Good to have him! With death singing all about her it was good to have +him; it was her first thought! + +"It would be good to die for you!" he said. + +"No, no!"--sharply. "Not that, Tom! Live for me ... live for me!" + +She felt him start and shudder and sway and a moan broke from his lips +as a searching, tearing thing ripped at the small of his back, +burrowing devilishly into his very vitals. She clutched him closer, not +understanding. + +"It's all I've got to give you," he muttered unnaturally. "My life's +all I've got, ma'am. I'd be proud to give it.... It's a little thing to +give to pay ... a debt like I owe you.... + +"You keep your body behind mine ... always ... until we get to the +top...." + +"Tom!"--in alarm. "You're hit.... Oh, Tom!" She shook him, hitching +herself about that she might see his face. "Tom!" + +"A scratch," he said. "Just a--" + +The horse threw up his head and recoiled as a bullet sang past. + +"A--scratch," he finished. + +The girl looked about wildly. She knew there was no shelter there, not +a ledge behind which they could hide, not a tree that would screen +them. The wall rose straight on one side, fell sheer on the other. +There was no place to go but up; they could not turn there and go down +for there was no room ... the pinto, shot through the belly, had tried +that! + +The firing below grew more rapid. It did not wait for the lightning +flashes now. Those spats of yellow fire struck upward continuously; in +darkness, blindly; in light searching intelligently as the riders moved +upward, nearer safety. HC men closed in on those who shot at the +figures on the trail, aiming at the flurries of viper light, meeting +counter fire as they drew nearer the murderous group of men. + +"Fireflies!" Beck muttered as he looked down again. "Lightnin' bugs let +loose from hell!" + +When there was no fire in the clouds those light points looked so +harmless, down there in the soft, velvet darkness! Well they might have +been insects, bedecking a summer night ... but from them came the +whining, droning, searching projectiles that flew to find his life and +Jane Hunter's life! + +Fifty yards further was the first rise of rock that would protect them +from below. Fifty yards, and the horse, under added burden, was sobbing +as he staggered. + +Beck swayed forward and regained his balance with an effort that cost +him a groan, but his arms, tight about Jane Hunter's body did not relax +a trifle; they held like tough, green wood. The girl cried out to him +again, that he was hurt.... + +"It's nothin', ... my life," he replied. "It's all I could do ... for +doubtin' you. I couldn't ask you to ... love me.... I could die for you +... that's all, ma'am...." + +"Tom, Tom! Keep your head; keep your head one minute longer; we'll be +safe.... Safe, then...." + +Thirty yards to the place where the trail ran between uprising walls of +rock; thirty yards to that shelter; thirty yards to safety.... + +But she looked down at those deadly fireflies playing on the flat, and +did not see a hatless man, crouched forward, run down the trail toward +them, pistol in his hand.... + +Dick Hilton, who had escaped the Hole only to realize that there was no +escape, was waiting to vent the last drop of poison in his heart.... +Nor did Jane see, nor did Hilton suspect, that waiting there for him +was another stalker, who had followed and lost him, who had turned +back, who had seen the travelers up the trail and who waited their +approach screened by timber.... + +Bobby Cole's heart leaped as she saw him run crouching to meet Tom +Beck, and her gun leaped to position ... and she waited there in the +darkness for the next flash of light ... as men waited below ... as +Jane Hunter waited, with her heart racing in despair; as Dick Hilton, +gibbering under his breath, waited.... + +The big brown horse stumbled and Tom Beck cried aloud in fear and pain, +cried drunkenly, as his blood drenched the saddle. Twenty yards to the +shelter of solid rock ... ten ... five.... + +And a scarecrow figure leaped from it at them, revealed by a long, +green glimmer. + +"Damn you, Beck! Damn you, you've ruined me; you drove me to this.... +Now, take th--" + +His gun had whipped up even as the gun of the girl they saw behind him +whipped up. + +Neither fired. + +Down below had come those winking fangs again and Hilton's voice +trailed into a rising, rasping gasp as missiles from his compatriots +drilled his body. + +His pistol dropped to the rock. He put his hands to his stomach. + +"Damn your--" + +He choked on the word, and as he choked he took one blind step forward, +over the brink. As he fell he threw up his hands and sailed downward +into the depths, into the coming darkness.... + +The brown horse had halted, but as Jane Hunter slipped to the ground, +holding Beck's sagging body with all her strength, he stepped forward, +in behind the rocks: their haven.... + +"Oh, they got him!" Bobby sobbed. "They got him...." + +She might have meant Hilton, but if so the pity, the regret in her +voice was a mourning of her dead love, not the dead lover; or she might +have meant Tom Beck and the tone might have been sympathy for the woman +she had come to understand, the woman who had respect for her and who +she could respect.... + +They let Tom's body to the trail. The horse moved off. Hastily Bobby +ripped open his shirt.... + +"Through the hips," she whispered. "Through the hips.... + +"Look!"--starting up. "He's movin' his foot. It didn't get his spine; +it didn't get his spine...." + +She tore open her shirt and tugged at the undergarment beneath it. She +stuffed it into the wound deftly, staying the blood while Jane Hunter, +Beck's head in her lap, cried aloud. + +"Listen!" Bobby knelt beside the other woman, hands on her shoulders, +peering into her face.... "You're safe here. They've got 'em cut off +from this trail below.... + +"My horse is fresh. I'm goin' to your ranch for help. He ain't goin' to +die, ma'am.... I promise you that.... He ain't goin' to die!" + +She was gone and Jane Hunter, half faint, clinging to that promise as +the last, the only thing in life, lowered her lips to her lover's eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE LAST STRAW + + +It was the first day that Tom Beck could lie on his back. For weeks he +had lain on his face there in the living room of the ranch house, +nursed back to health by Jane Hunter's gentle hands. Now the doctor had +turned him over, with the promise that he would not only be sitting up +but walking before long, and the Veterans' Society had been in session. + +That was what Two-Bits called it: The Veterans' Society. Every +afternoon they had gathered there, Two-Bits with his slowly healing +back, Jimmy Oliver, after his leg had mended and he could hobble with a +cane, Joe Black, whose arm was just out of its sling and, occasionally, +Riley, who rode up the creek holding gingerly his one shoulder, to +fight the battle over again. + +Summer was ripening and the golden sunlight spilled down onto peaceful +mountains from a mighty sweep of sky. A gentle breeze bent the tall +cottonwoods, making them whisper, making the birds in their branches +sing in lazy contentment. Unmolested cattle ranged in prospering +hundreds. The work was up, fall and beef ride were coming ... and other +years to bring their toll of happiness and well being, for after its +one paroxysm of strife the country had settled back to easier ways, to +a better, more wholesome manner of living. + +There were memories, true, kept fresh by such things as this Veterans' +Society, and the three graves in Devil's Hole where rested the bodies +of Sam McKee, Dad Hepburn and Dick Hilton, for there was none to claim +what remained of them. Under the cottonwoods slept Baldy Bowen, his +grave surrounded by white pickets and his head marked by a stone. + +But even now those memories were less poignant than they had been weeks +before. Interest in the range war was waning and though it would be +talked about across bar and bunk house stove for many winters the +thrill of it was gone ... as the horror of it was largely gone for +those who had suffered most. + +Two-Bits had lingered after the departure of the rest and sat in a +chair beside Tom's cot. Beck's face was pale, but his eyes were alive +and as of old, evidence of satisfactory convalescence. + +"So you think there _is_ a hell, Tommy?" he asked. + +Beck grunted assent. + +"Yeah. I know there's a hell, Two-Bits." + +"My brother always said there was. He said it was an awful place, +Tommy. I'll bet two bits th' old Devil was sorry to see Hepburn an' +Hilton an' Sam McKee comin' in that mornin'! I'll bet he says to +hisself: 'Here's some right smart competition for me!'" + +Beck laughed silently. + +"Sometimes I get feelin' mighty sorry for 'em," the lanky cow-boy +continued. "I use to hate Webb somethin' awful an' I sure did think +Hepburn was about th' lowest critter that walked.... God ought to 've +made him crawl! Sam McKee never was no good. He was th' meanest man I +ever saw.... + +"But, shucks, Tommy, I hate to think of 'em bein' blistered all th' +time!" + +"That ain't the kind of hell I referred to, Two-Bits. I don't know much +about that kind, with brimstone and fire and all the rest.... + +"There's a hell, though, Tommy. It's when a man lets the weakness in +him run off with what strength he has, when he don't trust those who +deserve to be trusted, when he's suspicious of those his heart tells +him are above suspicion." + +Two-Bits swallowed, setting his Adam's apple leaping. His eyes widened. + +"Gosh, you talk just like th' Reverend!" he said, and Beck laughed +until his wound hurt him. + +"Well, if they ain't in hell, they're under an awful lot of rocks," he +added. "That's all I care, to have 'em out of her way." + +"Yes, it makes it smoother. Real folks, men who deserve the name, won't +do anything but trust her and help her." + +"Not after the way she made 'em come out of their holes! That trial +must've been grand, Tommy! I'd 've give two bits to seen it an' heard +it! + +"She won't have no trouble no more. Everybody knows she's got more head +than most men on this here creek. But she's got somethin' else! She's +got a ... a gentle way with her that makes everybody want to do things +for her. + +"Look at how she treated Cole. Why, anybody else 'd run him off! 'Stead +of that she gets Bobby Cole to file on that claim an' helps 'em to +build a good house an' wants 'em to stay. You can bet your life that H +C cattle'll get water there now. That catamount ... hell, she'd +_carry_ it for 'em if there wasn't any other way to get it to 'em!" + +"Yes, Bobby's changed." + +"Should say she is changed! She's got a different look to her, not so +hard an' horstile as she used to be; she's plumb doe-cyle now! + +"I expect she's glad she didn't kill Hilton. If she hadn't changed +she'd been glad to do it. But, bein' like she is now, she wouldn't want +to hurt nobody.... Unless that somebody wanted to hurt Miss Hunter." + +His eyes roved off down the road and settled on a swiftly moving horse, +the great sorrel who was bringing Jane Hunter back to the ranch after a +ride far down the creek. + +"Speakin' of Hell, Tommy: there mebby ain't any like the Reverend +claims there is, but there's a Heaven! I'll bet two bits there is! I'll +gamble on it because I know an angel that stepped right down that +there, now, solid gold ladder.... + +"She's comin' up th' road.... An' Mister Two-Bits Beal, _esquire_, +is goin' to drift out of here!" + +With a broad wink, which set a suggestion of a flush into Beck's +cheeks, he took his hat and departed. + + * * * * * + +Jane entered, drawing the pin from her hat; then stopped on the +threshold with a cry. + +"Oh, the doctor's been here!" + +"Yes, and he's rolled the old carcass over," Beck answered. + +She stood looking down at him for a moment and then dropped quickly to +her knees. + +"It's so good to look into your eyes again," she whispered, and though +her own eyes were bright there were tears in her voice. + +Beck's gaze wavered and he slowly withdrew the hand that she had taken. + +"You mustn't look like that!" he said, turning his face from her. "It's +more than I've deserved, it's more than I have a right to!" + +She put her hands on his shoulders, gently, bearing no weight upon +them, and said soberly: + +"Look at me, Tom Beck!" + +He obeyed, rather reluctantly. + +"I have waited, oh, so long, to talk to you! I promised the doctor that +nothing should disturb you until you were well. That's one reason why I +brought you into the house, instead of leaving you with the men: so you +could be quiet. + +"But there was another reason, a greater: I wanted you here, in this +room, in my house, near me, where I could see and feel and help you, +because seeing and touching and helping you helped me! + +"I needed your help, Tom! I shall always need you near me!" + +"Nobody would agree with you," he protested. "You're the most capable +man in the country. You sure can look out for yourself." + +"But looking out for myself isn't all. That's just a tiny part of +life,"--indicating how small it was with a thumb and fore-finger. "It +belongs to the side of me which owns this ranch, which is a cattle +woman, which wants to fatten steers and raise calves and prosper.... + +"There's the other part, the big part, the part that is really worth +while: It's my heart, Tom. It's my heart that needs you!" + +His brows puckered. + +"I wish you wouldn't!" he said huskily. "I can't help that part, I had +my chance ... an' I threw it away." + +"And I picked it up! Tom, that morning when you were crawling back from +Cathedral Tank, across the desert, I was at the round-up camp. I went +there to tell you, to make you understand--" + +"That's what hurts: that you had to ride thirty miles to tell me, to +make me understand. Why, ma'am, I hadn't any right to have you do that +for me. It was me who should have come crawlin' to you!" + +She took his hand again. + +"Look at me!" + +"Yes, ma'am," striving to lighten his manner. + +"Yes, _Jane!_" she insisted. + +"Jane," very softly. + +"You are very foolish, sticking to an abstract idea of how you should +have conducted yourself. You wanted to die for me once; you want to put +me off now because you think you wronged me. + +"Don't you see what a wrong that would be! Don't you see that?" + +She leaned forward, hands clasped at her chin, and tears swam upward +into her eyes. + +"I am saying the things I've waited so long to say. + +"You have lain here ever since that black night when they carried you +in and I had to feel your heart to know whether you lived. I've tried +to say nothing that would disturb you, tried to keep your mind off the +thing that has occupied mine. But I know you've been thinking; I know +you've been uneasy. I have seen that in the looks, the words, the way +you've laughed, rather forced and weakly at times. I have known what +you thought.... + +"You are very foolish to be concerned with an idea of how you should +have conducted yourself. You wanted to die for me once; you want to put +me off now because you think you wronged me. + +"I am not forgiving you because there is nothing to forgive. My pride +was hurt and by yielding to it I shook your faith in me. It was weak +for me to yield to pride; it was foolish for you to give way to +suspicion. It was not I who yielded, Tom; it was that other girl, the +girl who came to you to be hurt and ridiculed and made strong! And it +was not the Tom Beck who loved me that suspected; it was that other +man, the one who held himself back, who did not take chances, who, +perhaps, would have denied himself the finest thing in life if he had +always walked on ground with which he was familiar.... + +"And now to carry this breach from the past into the future.... Don't +you see what a wrong that would be? Don't you see how you would be +harming yourself? You, who wanted to die for me, would be refusing to +live for me! And I who need you would walk alone.... Don't you see what +a horrible thing that would be to both of us ... my lover?" + +She leaned forward, hands clasped at her breast, and the tears swam +into her eyes. She was very beautiful, very gentle and tender, but as +he looked he felt rather than saw the strength that was in her: the +character that had stood alone, that had been herself in the face of +the loss of love and position, and that, by so standing, had triumphed. + +For a breathless instant she poised so, with unsteady lips, and she saw +the want come into his face, saw the old reserve, the old resolution to +punish himself melt away. + +"I want you, Jane!" he whispered. + + * * * * * + +The evening shadows had come before she rose from her knees and drew up +a chair to sit stroking his hand. + +His eyes rested on her hungrily and after a time they concentrated on +the locket at her throat. + +"Say! Now that you've done me the honor to give me a second chance at +lovin' you, there's somethin' I want to ask." + +"Ask it." + +"What's in that locket?" + +She laughed as she caught it in her fingers. + +"My luck!" + +"I understand that. It brought me luck, too, but there's something +else. Won't you tell me?" + +She unclasped the trinket and held it in her hand, turning it over +slowly. Then she sprung the catch and held it so he could see. + +Behind the disc of mica lay a piece of oat straw. + +"That is the last straw," she said simply. + +He did not understand. + +"The one you would not draw that day, which seems so long ago!" + +His face brightened. + +"You kept it?" + +"I clung to it as though it were ... the last straw! + +"Why, Tom, can't you see what it has meant? If you had drawn you would +have been my foreman. You would have protected me, fought for me, taken +care of me. I'd never have been forced to stand alone, never been +forced to try to do something for myself, by myself. Your refusal put +on me the responsibility of being a woman or a leech.... + +"I drew the last straw that day. I drew the responsibility of keeping +the HC on its feet. I feel that I have helped to do that...." + +"You have." + +"Through sickness and through death, through dark days and storms. I +have done something! I have walked alone, unaided.... + +"And I have made you love me, Tom.... _That_ is the biggest thing +I have done. To be worthy of your love was my greatest undertaking. By +being worthy, by winning you, I have justified my being here, my +walking the earth, my breathing the air...." + +"Sho!" he cried in embarrassment, and took the locket and fingered it. + +His hand dropped to the blanket and he stared upward as though a fresh +idea had occurred to him. + +"Say, I wonder if the Reverend was a regular preacher?" he asked. + +"Why? He was a doer of good works. Why consider his actual standing?" + +"Yeah. But I mean, could he marry folks, do you s'pose?" + +He looked at her again and in his eyes was that amused twinkle, the +laugh of a man assured, content, self sufficient ... and behind it was +the tenderness that comes to a strong man's eyes only when he looks +upon the woman who has given him love for love. + +"If he could he'd be glad to," he said, "and I suspect that he'd throw +a little variety into the ceremony ... something, likely, about your +fightin' a good fight!" + + + + +THE END + + + + +[Transcriber's note: Italicized text is indicated with _underscores_.] + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Last Straw, by Harold Titus + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAST STRAW *** + +***** This file should be named 36523-8.txt or 36523-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/5/2/36523/ + +Produced by Andrew Sly, Al Haines and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/36523-8.zip b/36523-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..508deac --- /dev/null +++ b/36523-8.zip diff --git a/36523-h.zip b/36523-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ce1636e --- /dev/null +++ b/36523-h.zip diff --git a/36523-h/36523-h.htm b/36523-h/36523-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7205524 --- /dev/null +++ b/36523-h/36523-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,19841 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of The Last Straw, by Harold Titus +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.t1 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 200%; + text-align: center } + +P.t2 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 150%; + text-align: center } + +P.t3 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 100%; + text-align: center } + +P.t4 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 80%; + text-align: center } + +P.t5 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 50%; + text-align: center } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%;} + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.footnote {font-size: 80%; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.transnote {text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.intro {font-size: 90% ; + text-indent: -5% ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Last Straw, by Harold Titus + +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 Last Straw + +Author: Harold Titus + +Illustrator: George W. Gage + +Release Date: June 26, 2011 [EBook #36523] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAST STRAW *** + + + + +Produced by Andrew Sly, Al Haines and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<P CLASS="t1"> +THE LAST STRAW +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +BY +</P> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +HAROLD TITUS +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +Author of "Bruce of the Circle A,"<BR> +"I—Conquered," etc. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +ILLUSTRATED BY +<BR> +GEORGE W. GAGE +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +BOSTON +<BR> +SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY +<BR> +PUBLISHERS +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +Copyright, 1920, +<BR> +BY SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY +<BR> +(INCORPORATED) +<BR><BR> +<i>Second Printing, June, 1920.</i> +<BR><BR><BR> +PRESS OF GEO. H. ELLIS CO., BOSTON, MASS. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +CONTENTS +</P> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAPTER</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">THE NEW BOSS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">MY ADVICE, MA'AM</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">THE NESTER—AND ANOTHER</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">THE CHAMPION</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">THE COURTING</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">OUTCASTS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">THE CATAMOUNT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">AND NOW, THE CLERGY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">THE DESTROYER</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">A MATTER OF DIRECTION</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">HEPBURN'S PLAY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">A NEIGHBORLY CALL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">THE FRAME-UP</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">THE BIG CHANCE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">WAR!</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">THE WARNING</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">HIS FAITHFUL LITTLE PONY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">AN INTERRUPTED PROPOSAL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19">CONCERNING SAM MCKEE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20">"WORK AMONG THE HEATHEN"</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap21">RENUNCIATION</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap22">THE REVEREND'S STRATEGY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap23">BECK'S DEPARTURE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap24">IN THE SHADOW</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap25">A MOUNTAIN PORTIA</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXVI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap26">BATTLE!</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXVII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap27">THE LAST STRAW</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +THE LAST STRAW +</H2> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE NEW BOSS +</H4> + +<P> +The last patches of snow, even in the most secluded +gulches, had been licked up by the mounting sun; +the waters of Coyote Creek had returned to the confines of +the stream bed; in places a suggestion of green was making +its appearance about the bases of grass clumps, and cottonwood +buds were swelling. Four men sat on the bench before +the bunkhouse of the H.C. ranch; one was braiding a +belt, another whittling and two more, hats over their eyes +to shield them from the brilliant light, joined in the +desultory conversation from time to time. +</P> + +<P> +In the pauses, such as the one now prevailing, was something +besides the spirit of idling. Dad Hepburn, gray of +hair, eye and mustache, but with the body of a young man, +who sat nearest the doorway, glanced frequently towards +the road as though expecting to see another come that way +to bring fresh interest; Two-Bits Beal was uneasy and did +not remain long in one pose, as men do who sit in the first +real warmth of spring for its own sake; Jimmy Oliver, the +whittler, stopped now and then and held his head at an +angle, as if listening; and although he worked industriously +at the belt it was evident that Tom Beck had thought for +other affairs. +</P> + +<P> +"So she was his nephew an' only heir," commented Two-Bits, +gravely. Hepburn stirred and snorted softly. Jimmy +Oliver looked at the homely, freckle-blotched face of the +gaunt speaker and grinned. After a moment Tom Beck +said: +</P> + +<P> +"Two-Bits, for a smart man you know less than anybody +I ever encountered! When I first set eyes on you, +I said to myself, 'That man ain't real. He's no work of +God A'mighty. Some of these <i>hombres</i> that draw cartoons +for newspapers got him up.' But I thought you must have +brains, seein' you're so powerful low on looks. You're a +good cowhand and a first rate horse handler, but won't you +ever get anything in your head but those things? Or did +this cartoonist make a mistake an' put your kidneys in +your skull? +</P> + +<P> +"Niece; <i>niece!</i> Not nephew!" +</P> + +<P> +"Have it your way," Two-Bits said in his high voice, +swallowing so his immense Adam's apple shot up half the +extraordinary length of his lean throat toward his pointed +chin, and slipped back again with a jerk. "I was half +right, wasn't I? She's his only heir, ain't she? You can't +ask a man to be more'n half right, can you?" +</P> + +<P> +"If his heir'd been a nephew instead of a niece, we +wouldn't all be settin' here so anxious about this arrival," +opined Jimmy. "An' we wouldn't all be wonderin' if we +was goin' to work for a squaw outfit. It'll be a relief when +this lady lands in our midst. Mebby there'll be less speculatin' +and more work done." +</P> + +<P> +"You're right," assented Dad, and pulled at his mustache. +"There's a lot to do." +</P> + +<P> +Tom Beck began to whistle softly and the older man +glanced sideways at him uneasily; then fixed his eyes on +the road. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll bet two bit," volunteered Two-Bits, "that she's +as homely as Tom claims I am an' about as pleasant as a +hod full of bumble bees." +</P> + +<P> +No one demonstrated interest in his offer and, as though +he had not even heard it, Beck said: +</P> + +<P> +"Seems to me there's been a lot goin' on lately, Dad. +Or did you mean there was a lot <i>more</i> to do?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't remember such awful activity," the other replied. +"'Course, there's been—" +</P> + +<P> +"Nobody ever located those four mares an' their colts, +did they? And the last we heard about that bunch of +white faces they was headed towards Utah with a shod +horse trailing 'em." +</P> + +<P> +Hepburn changed what started as an impatient expostulation +into a sharp sigh and relieved himself by stabbing +a spur into the hard ground. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, there has been stealin'," he admitted. "There's +been a lot of it. But who could do anything? The old +man had been slack for years and in the last months before +the end he just let go entire. He wouldn't even give anybody +else authority enough to have any say; didn't even +have a foreman. That's why horses an' cattle have been +stole from him. +</P> + +<P> +"'Course, there's been more devil to pay since he died +than went on before, but when a man leaves things in a +lawyer's hands and the lawyer won't even look in on the +job, what you goin' to do?" +</P> + +<P> +His manner was as benevolent as it was deliberate and +he turned a paternal smile on Beck. +</P> + +<P> +"Let the thievin' go merrily on, I expect," the other said, +giving the leather strips a series of sturdy jerks to tighten +the mesh. +</P> + +<P> +"I expect you'd like to be foreman, wouldn't you, Dad?" +Two-Bits asked innocently, whereupon Hepburn certified +the accuracy of that surmisal by moving uneasily. "You'd +make a fair foreman ... <i>fair</i>. Now Tommy here," he +continued, oblivious of the older man's discomfiture and the +delighted smiles of the others, "would make a fine foreman +if he'd only give a damn. But he don't ... he don't. It's +too bad, Tommy, you don't settle down and amount to somethin'. +You're the best hand in this country!" +</P> + +<P> +Beck lifted his face and sniffed loudly. +</P> + +<P> +"The smell of your bouquet is about as delicate as your +diplomacy, Two-Bits!" he said. +</P> + +<P> +Another pause. Beck resumed his whistling and Hepburn +devoted his attention to the road. Once he looked at +the other from the tail of his eye and a flicker of ill temper +showed in his broad, grizzled face. +</P> + +<P> +"Her name's Jane, ain't it?" Two-Bits was an ardent +conversationalist. "Jane Hunter! I knowed a school +marm named Hunter onct. She was worse'n thunder for +sourin' milk." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll bet—" +</P> + +<P> +"Listen!" +</P> + +<P> +Oliver held up his knife in gesture and Two-Bits stopped +talking. The sounds of an approaching wagon were clearly +audible. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll bet it's the mail instead of—" +</P> + +<P> +"You lose," muttered Hepburn, getting to his feet as a +buckboard swung around the bend. +</P> + +<P> +"An' she sure's come to stay!" from Jimmy as he closed +his knife with an air of finality. +</P> + +<P> +The body of the wagon was piled high with trunks and +bags and beside the driver sat a very small woman. That +she was not of the west, not the sort of woman these men +had been accustomed to deal with, was evident from the +clothes she wore, but at least one of them remarked that +she was not wholly without the qualities essential to the +frontier for, when the driver dropped down to open the +gate, he gave her the reins to the lathered, excited +horses which had brought her from the railroad. As +soon as the gate swung open they sprang forward, but +she put her weight on the reins and spoke with confident +authority and wrenched them back. +</P> + +<P> +"Not exactly helpless, anyhow," Tom Beck said to himself. +</P> + +<P> +He was the only one of the group who did not walk +across toward the cottonwoods which sheltered the long, +red ranch house beside the creek. He sat there, braiding his +belt, an indefinable half smile on his face. +</P> + +<P> +The girl—for girlishness was her outstanding quality—jumped +out unassisted. She looked about slowly, at the +house first of all, then at the low stable and the corrals and, +lastly, down the creek, on either side of which the hills rose +sharply, giving a false appearance of narrowness to the +bottoms, and her eyes rested for a long moment on the +ridges far below, blue and sharp in the crystal distance. +</P> + +<P> +She was unaware that the driver was waiting for her +to give further directions and that the three others had +come close and stopped, waiting for her to notice them, +for she said aloud, as though to herself: +</P> + +<P> +"For a beginning, this is quite remarkable!" Then +she laughed sharply, with a hard mirthless quality, and +turned about. She was genuinely surprised to confront +the men; evidence of this was in her eyes, which were large +and remarkably blue. She smiled brightly and said: +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I didn't know I was overlooking any one! I suppose +you men belong here, on the ranch, and it's likely you've +been waiting for the new owner to come. Well, here I +am! I'm Jane Hunter and I want to know who you are. +Now what is your name?" +</P> + +<P> +Her frankness, that unhesitating, assured manner of a +distinct type of city-bred woman, was new but it over-rode +somewhat the embarrassment they all felt. +</P> + +<P> +"My name is Hepburn, ma'am," Dad said and shook +hands heavily. "I hope you like this place." +</P> + +<P> +"I know I shall, Mr. Hepburn. And your name?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's Jimmy Oliver, Miss Hunter," Hepburn said. +</P> + +<P> +Two-Bits had watched this with growing confusion and +when she turned on him her searching, straightforward +glance his freckles became lost in a pink suffusion. He +swayed his body from the hips and looked high over her +head as he offered a limp hand. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm Mister Beal," he said weakly. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you believe that!" laughed Hepburn. "That's +Two-Bits. He ain't entitled to any frills." +</P> + +<P> +"Two-Bits it is!" the girl cried, scanning his face in +amazement at its color and contour. "I couldn't call you +mister, Two-Bits. We're going to be too good friends for +that!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh my gosh!" giggled the flustered cowboy and turned +away, seeking refuge in the bunkhouse. +</P> + +<P> +"You talk about me bein' got up by a feller that draws +pictures, Tom," he said to Beck. "Holy Tin Can, you +ought to see her! Why, this feller that paints them girls for +these here, now, magazines painted her! She looks like +she walked right out of a picture, with blue eyes an' yeller +hair an' all pink an' white. An' friendly.... Oh my, +I'll bet she makes this outfit take notice!" +</P> + +<P> +Old Carlotta, the half-breed Mexican woman who had +been housekeeper at the HC for years had come from the +house to greet her new mistress. The trunks were carried +in, the buckboard departed for its twenty-five mile trip +back to town and the riders who had been at work further +down the creek straggled in to hear the first tales of their +new boss. +</P> + +<P> +Conjecture was high as to her plan of procedure. +</P> + +<P> +"It won't take long for things to happen. You can +bank on that," Jimmy Oliver declared. "She ain't our kind +of a woman an' the good Lord alone knows what notions +she'll have, but she'll get busy! She's that kind." +</P> + +<P> +He was not wrong for just as the sun was drawing down +into the hills Carlotta appeared at the bunkhouse. +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Hunter, she want to spik to Seņor Dad an' Beck +an' Jimmy an' Curtis," she said. "Right away, quick-<i>pronto</i>." +</P> + +<P> +"This must be a mass meetin' with th' rest of us left +out," Two-Bits said. "I'd give a dollar to look at her +again ... clost up. I'll bet I wouldn't be <i>afraid</i> to look +next time." +</P> + +<P> +The four men summoned went immediately to the big +house. Beck lagged a trifle and it was certain from his +manner that his curiosity was not greatly excited. He appeared +to be amused, for his black eyes twinkled gaily, but +as they passed through the gate they set their gaze on the +back of Hepburn's broad neck and a curious speculation +showed in them. +</P> + +<P> +Jane Hunter was waiting on the veranda which ran the +length of the ranch house and without formalities began her +explanation. +</P> + +<P> +"You all know the situation, I believe. My uncle left +me this ranch and I have come from New York to take +possession. How long I remain depends on a number of +things, but I find that for the present at least, I must conduct +my own business. For the last four weeks, since +the property came to me, it has been in the hands of Mr. +Alward, the attorney in town. I arrived yesterday expecting +to have his help, but his doctor has sent him into a lower +altitude because of some heart difficulty and I'm alone on +the job with nothing to guide me but a lengthy letter he +wrote. +</P> + +<P> +"I know little about business of any sort, I know nothing +at all about ranching, so I have a great deal to learn. I +do know that the first thing I need is an actual head for +this place and that is why I called you here: to select a ... +a foreman, you call him? +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Alward left word that any one of you four men +would be competent and I'm going to choose one of you by +chance: Understand, this is no guarantee to keep whoever +is chosen on the job for any length of time, but I don't care +to take the responsibility of handling the men myself, as my +uncle and as Mr. Alward have done. Some one must do +this and until I learn enough to know what I want I will be +dependent upon whomever is selected." +</P> + +<P> +She had spoken rapidly, at no loss for words, without a +trace of hesitation or embarrassment, looking intently from +face to face, studying the men as she explained her plan, +but as she paused her eyes were on Beck's eyes and their +gaze was arrested there a moment as though it had encountered +something not usual. +</P> + +<P> +"I am going to need all your help and all the suggestions +that you can give me,"—with a slight gesture to include +the four, though she still looked straight at the tall Westerner,—"but +I feel that at first there must be system of +some sort, a man at the head of the organization. I'm +going to let you draw straws for the place." +</P> + +<P> +The men stirred and looked at one another. +</P> + +<P> +"That's fair enough," said Dad, with just a trace of +indecision in his voice. +</P> + +<P> +"For us," commented Curtis, a lean, leathery man. +</P> + +<P> +Jane stooped and picked up an oat straw. She broke off +four pieces and placed them tightly between her thumb and +palm. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, draw!" she directed, with a smile, holding them +toward Curtis. "The lucky straw will be the shortest." +</P> + +<P> +Curtis silently selected one of the bits. Then Jimmy +Oliver drew and the two stood eyeing the lots they had +picked. Hepburn had cleared his throat twice rather +sharply when the drawing commenced and as he stepped +forward at her gesture he manifested an eagerness which +did not quite harmonize with his usual deliberation. He +drew, eyed his straw and glanced sharply at those held by +the other two. +</P> + +<P> +Beck had not moved forward with the others, but stood +back, thumbs hooked in his belt, his eyes, which were mildly +smiling, still on the girl's face. She looked at him again +and saw there something other than the interest that approached +eagerness which had been evident in the others; +she read another thing which caught her attention; the man +was laughing at her, she felt, laughing at her and at the +entire performance. It seemed to him to be an absurdity +and as she searched his expression again and perceived that +this was no bucolic whim but the attitude of a man whose +assurance was as stable as her own the smile which had been +on her face faded a degree. +</P> + +<P> +"Now it is your turn ... the last straw," she said to +him. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, ma'am," he replied in an even, matter-of-fact +voice, though that annoying smile was still in his eyes, +"but I guess you can count me out." +</P> + +<P> +She lowered the hand which held the straw. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't care to draw?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's what I meant, ma'am." +</P> + +<P> +"And why not?" +</P> + +<P> +She was piqued, without good reason, at this refusal. +</P> + +<P> +"In the first place, ma'am, I've never taken a chance in +my life, if I knew it. I've tried to arrange so I wouldn't +have to. I'm a poor gambler." +</P> + +<P> +A suggestion of a flush crept into the girl's cheeks, for, +though his manner was all frankness, he gave the impression +that this was not his reason, or, at least, not his best reason; +he seemed, in a subtle manner, to be poking fun at her. +"Besides," he went on, "pickin' at pieces of straw don't +seem like a good way to pick men." +</P> + +<P> +"You understand why it is being done that way?" +Though her manner did not betray it, she felt as though she +were on the defensive. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, ma'am. I wasn't reflecting on you especially. I +was thinkin' about your lawyer. But you won't be so very +mad, if I ain't crazy to take a chance, will you? If anybody +wants to know whether I can hold a job or not, I'd +sooner have 'em ask about me or try me; when it comes to +drawing lots I'll have to be counted out." +</P> + +<P> +His eyes had been squarely on hers throughout and when +he ceased speaking they still clung. Beyond a doubt, she +reasoned, that flicker in them was amusement and yet she +felt no resentment towards him; was not even annoyed as +she had been at his first refusal. It was interesting; it +impressed her with a difference between him and the three +who had drawn. For a moment she was impelled to argue; +she wanted that man to help her more than she wanted to +retain her poise ... just an instant. +</P> + +<P> +Abruptly she turned to the others. +</P> + +<P> +"Very well, we will see who did win." +</P> + +<P> +The four drew close together and measured. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Hepburn's is the shortest!" she cried; then looked +at the fourth straw she still held. It was shorter by half +an inch. +</P> + +<P> +"You would have drawn well," she said to Beck, holding +it up. +</P> + +<P> +"So it seems, ma'am," he answered, but she noticed that +he did not look at her. His eyes were on the new foreman's +face, which was flushed with the depressions beneath +the eyes puffed a bit. He was nervously breaking to shreds +the straw which had won the place but about him was a +bearing of unmistakable elation and something in his eyes, +which were small, and about his chin suggested greed.... +</P> + +<P> +The four started away and Jane stood watching them. +Four! And one of them was to be her deputy in life's +first—and perhaps life's saving—adventure. But she +did not watch him, in fact, had no thought for him. Her +eyes followed Tom Beck until he was out of sight and as +she turned to enter the house she said: +</P> + +<P> +"But he looks as though he might take a ... long +chance...." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +MY ADVICE, MA'AM +</H4> + +<P> +He stood on a bearskin rug before the blazing fire, hat +in hand, boots polished, tall and trim with his handsome +head bowed just a trifle. The blazing logs gave the +only light to the place and his bronzed face was burnished +by their reflection. +</P> + +<P> +"You sent for me?" he asked as she came into the room. +</P> + +<P> +She advanced from the shadows and for a moment did not +reply. She felt that he was taking her in from her crown +of light hair, down through the smart, high-collared waist +to the short, scant skirt which showed her silken clad ankles +and the modish shoes. His eyes rested on those shoes. He +was thinking that they were wonderfully plain for a city +girl to wear, at least the sort of city girl he had ever known. +But they had a simplicity which he thought went well with +her manner. +</P> + +<P> +"I had planned on talking to Mr. Hepburn this evening," +she said. "I want to get all the information and all the advice +I can from the start. Carlotta said he had gone away, +so, in spite of the fact that you wouldn't gamble with me +this afternoon, I sent for you. I think that you can tell +me many things I need to know. You don't mind my asking +you, do you? You don't feel that you'd be ... be +taking a chance, talking to me?" +</P> + +<P> +She took his hat. +</P> + +<P> +"Sit down," motioning to the davenport before the fire. +"Would you like to start with a drink?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, yes," eyeing her calculatingly. +</P> + +<P> +"There's not much here. I slipped one bottle of Vermouth +in a trunk. I'll have to try to mix a cocktail in a +tumbler and there isn't any ice. It's likely to be a bad cocktail, +but maybe it will help us talk." +</P> + +<P> +She walked down the long room toward the dining table +and sideboard at the far end and he heard glass clinking +and liquids gurgling as he sat looking about with that small +part of a smile on his features. All along the walls were +books and above the cases hung trophies of the country: +heads of deer and elk, a pelt of a mountain lion and of a +bobcat, a pair of magnificent sheep's horns and a stuffed +eagle. In the low windows were boxes of geraniums, Carlotta's +pride. +</P> + +<P> +"Here you are," she said as she returned, holding one of +the two glasses toward Beck, who rose to accept it. "My +uncle left a very small stock of drinks, but as soon as I know +what I'm about I'll try to remedy that defect in an otherwise +splendid establishment." Her manner was terse, +brisk, open and her eyes met another's directly when she +talked. +</P> + +<P> +She lifted her glass to her chin's level and smiled at him. +</P> + +<P> +"To the future!" she said. +</P> + +<P> +His question was adroitly timed for she had just given +the glass a slight toss and was already carrying its rim toward +her lips when his words checked the movement. +</P> + +<P> +"I take it, ma'am, that you'll want this liquor to go where +it'll do your future the most good?" +</P> + +<P> +He looked from her down to the cocktail he held and +moved the glass in a quick little circle to set the yellow liquid +swirling. His voice had been quite casual, but when he +raised his eyes to meet her inquiring look the last of a +twinkle was giving way to gravity. +</P> + +<P> +"You mean?..." +</P> + +<P> +"Just about what I said: that you'd like to have this brace +of drinks do your future some good?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, yes, that was my intention. Why?" +</P> + +<P> +"You called me down here to get a little advice. Let's +commence here." +</P> + +<P> +He reached out for her glass in a manner which was at +once gentle and dominating, presumptuous but unoffending, +with a measure of certainty; still, by his face, she might have +told that he was experimenting with her, not just sure of +how she would react, not, perhaps, caring a great deal. His +fingers closed on her glass and she yielded with half laughing, +half protesting astonishment. He took both glasses +in one hand, moved deliberately toward the hearth and +tossed their contents into the flames. He then set the empty +tumblers on the mantel and turned about with a questioning +smile on his lips. +</P> + +<P> +The sharp, slowly dwindling hiss of quenched flame which +followed completely died out before she spoke. Color had +leaped into her cheeks and ebbed as quickly; her lips had +shut in a tight line and for a fraction of time it was as +though she would angrily demand explanation. +</P> + +<P> +But she said evenly enough: "I don't understand that." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad you didn't show how mad it made you," he +replied. +</P> + +<P> +"But why.... What made you do it?" +</P> + +<P> +"You said, you know, that you wanted that liquor to go +where it'd help your future. I thought the fire was about +the best place for it under the circumstances." +</P> + +<P> +"But why di—" +</P> + +<P> +"And I believed you when you said you had a lot to +learn and that you called me down to start the job. You +have a way of makin' people think you mean what you say. +I'm mighty glad to give you advice; I thought this was a +good way to begin." +</P> + +<P> +Jane gave a queer laugh and sat down, looking blankly +into the fire. She turned her face after a moment and +found him studying her as he sat at the other end of the +davenport. +</P> + +<P> +"I understand your meaning," she said, "but you're as +startling in your actions as you must be in your reasoning. +You didn't object to the idea of a drink; I didn't think many +of you people did out here." +</P> + +<P> +"We don't, ma'am. Most of us drink our share. I do." +</P> + +<P> +"But just now you threw yours away." +</P> + +<P> +"You see, I was bound to throw <i>yours</i> away. It wouldn't +have been polite, would it, for me to drink and not let you?" +His smile mocked her. "Besides," dryly—"I ain't much +on these fancy drinks. You warned me that it wouldn't be +so very good anyhow." +</P> + +<P> +She stared at him in perplexity. +</P> + +<P> +"You have no scruples against drinking?" +</P> + +<P> +"Moderate drinking; no." +</P> + +<P> +"Then why did you take this liberty with me?"—suggesting +indignation. +</P> + +<P> +"You see, you're a woman. You guessed a minute ago +that there wasn't much objection to hard liquor here. I +told you you were right; most of us boys drink, but we can +afford to and you can't." His manner was light, almost to +the degree of banter, as if that which had aroused her was +the simplest of matters. +</P> + +<P> +"A man in this country don't build a reputation on many +things. So long as he's honest, he gets along pretty well. +But a woman: that's different. She has to make people +know she's right in everything she does." +</P> + +<P> +"An occasional drink will make her less right?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not a bit less, ma'am, but it won't help other folks to +know she's right. And that's all that counts. Everybody, +man or woman, who comes into the west has to make or +break by what he does here; nothin' that has been, good or +bad, matters. They commence from the bottom again and +by what they do people judge them. +</P> + +<P> +"Reputation is the first thing you've got to make for yourself. +Everybody is watchin' you: the boys here on the +ranch, the neighbors down creek, the people in town. +You've got to show that you're honest, that you've got +courage; if you were a man it could stop there, but you're +a woman an' that makes it.... +</P> + +<P> +"Well, men out here expect things from a woman that I +guess men in cities don't think so much about and you might +as well know now as any time that men in this country don't +like to see a woman do some of the things they do. We +ain't as polite as some; we ain't as gentle, when it's necessary +to act quick and for sure, but maybe we make up for +some of our roughness in the idea we have of women. We +think a good woman is about as fine a thing as God has +made, ma'am, and we have our ideas of goodness. +</P> + +<P> +"You see, you've got to handle men; you've got to have +their respect and you won't have their respect if you don't +understand how they think, and then act accordingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Besides, you're on a job that's going to take all the +brains and grit and strength you've got. Booze never helped +anybody on a job like that. If you was a man and your +job was just ridin' after cattle it'd be different. But neither +one is the case.... +</P> + +<P> +"My advice, ma'am!" +</P> + +<P> +She watched his face a moment before saying: +</P> + +<P> +"As long as I can remember, women about me have been +drinking. Ever since I grew up I've been drinking. I've +never taken too much; I've never needed it; I've done it because +... because it was being done." +</P> + +<P> +"Yeah. Well, it ain't done here. It's a new country +and a new life for you and one of the first things you've got +to learn is how to get on with people. Maybe back east +some of the folks wouldn't respect you if you didn't drink. +There are folks like that, who think it's smart to do certain +things, and maybe there are a lot of 'em like you, who don't +need it, don't even want it, but they do it because of their +reputations. +</P> + +<P> +"You see, it's the same rule workin' backwards out here." +</P> + +<P> +The girl moved to face the fire again. She scowled a +trifle and the glow on her cheeks was not wholly due to the +reflection of the blazing logs. +</P> + +<P> +"Did it ever occur to you that there might be people who +gave little attention to what others think of them?" she +asked rather coldly. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure thing! There are lots like that." +</P> + +<P> +"I can see where, if a stranger were to plan to stay in a +place like this for long it might be expedient to ... to +cater to the community morals. I don't intend to be a permanent +resident. That is, I won't if I can help it. I don't +expect that I'd ever come up to your notion of a worthy +woman,"—a bitterness creeping into the voice—"so perhaps +it is fortunate that I look on this ranch only as means +to an end." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean, money, ma'am?" he asked, and when she did +not reply at once he went on: "Folks generally come west +for one of three reasons: money or health or because they +like the country. I take it your health's all right ... and +that you ain't just struck with the country." +</P> + +<P> +She made a slight grimace and sat forward, elbows on +knees. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, money!" she said under her breath. "I came here +to get it. I'm going to." She looked up at him quickly, +eyebrows arched in a somewhat defiant query, and, after a +pause, went on: "You don't seem to approve?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, ma'am," candidly, that smile only half hidden in his +eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"And why not? What else is there out here for a woman +like me?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's a hard question. One thing she might find is +herself, for instance." +</P> + +<P> +She gave a startled laugh and asked: +</P> + +<P> +"Herself?" +</P> + +<P> +"The same, ma'am. I s'pose there are folks who live for +money and what it'll bring 'em. Cities must be full of 'em, +or there wouldn't be so many cities. Folks do work pretty +hard to make money an' pile it up, but I've never seen any +of 'em that got to be very successful in other ways. The +more money they made the more they seemed to depend on +makin' money to attract attention. They don't seem to think +that it ain't what a man does that really counts so much as +what he is. The same goes for a woman." +</P> + +<P> +She sat back, brows drawn together. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you trying to preach to me?" she asked sharply. +</P> + +<P> +Beck laughed lightly, as though that obvious hurting of +her pride delighted him. +</P> + +<P> +"Not just, ma'am. Preachers hammer away at folks +about sin and such. I hadn't thought about you as a sinner; +I was just considerin' you and your job; and what you say +brought you here. +</P> + +<P> +"It's none of my business what you want to get out of +life. You told me what you wanted and asked me if I +didn't like it, and I don't. That's all. +</P> + +<P> +"It seems to me that everybody who's alive ought to +want to get the best out of himself and I don't think you +can do it by just tryin' to herd dollars." He divined in her +retort what she was withholding. "Sure, I'm only an +ordinary cowpuncher, ma'am. I don't seem to care much +about any kind of success but I'm afflicted like everybody +else: I'm a human being, and every one of us likes to pick +on the faults he finds in others that correspond to his own +faults.... +</P> + +<P> +"You see, you've got a big chance here. You've got a +chance to be somebody. This is one of the biggest outfits in +this state. All this country out here has been this outfit's +range for years. You ain't got a neighbor in miles because +you amount to so much. Away down Coyote Creek, 'most +thirty miles, is Riley's ranch, an' close by him is Hewitt's. +Off west an' south is Pat Webb's who, far as you're concerned, +might better be a good deal further west," dryly. +</P> + +<P> +"Your uncle an' Riley was the first in here. Why, +ma'am, they had to fight Indians to protect their cattle! +They made names for 'emselves. They made money, too, +or at least your uncle did, but he wasn't respected just because +he made money. Men liked him because he <i>did</i> +things. +</P> + +<P> +"Men will like you if you do things, ma'am.... Perhaps +you'll like yourself better, too." +</P> + +<P> +He looked into her eyes and their gazes were for the moment +very serious. Jane Hunter was meeting with a new +sense of values; Tom Beck had sensed a faint recklessness, +a despair, about her and, behind all his mockery and lightness, +was a warm heart. Then she terminated the interval +of silence by saying rather impatiently: +</P> + +<P> +"That's all very interesting, but what you said about my +needing my brains and my grit is of greater interest. Do +you mean that it's just a big job naturally or that there are +complications?" +</P> + +<P> +"Both." +</P> + +<P> +"How much of both?" +</P> + +<P> +Beck shoved a hand into his pocket and gave his head a +skeptical twist. +</P> + +<P> +"That remains to be seen. It's a man's job to run this +place under favorable conditions. Your uncle, Colonel +Hunter, sort of got shiftless in the last years. He let things +slide. I don't know about debts and such, but I suspect +there are some. There are other things, though. You've +got some envious neighbors ... and some that ain't particular +how they make their money,"—with just a shade of +emphasis on the last. +</P> + +<P> +"You mean that they steal?" +</P> + +<P> +"Plenty, ma'am." +</P> + +<P> +"But how? Who?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know, but it seems to be gettin' quite the custom +here to get rich off the HC ... especially since the place +changed owners." +</P> + +<P> +"Why at that particular time?" +</P> + +<P> +"Since it got noised about that a woman was goin' to own +it there's been a lively interest in crime. I told you that +your uncle was a man who was respected a lot. Some +feared him, too." +</P> + +<P> +"And they won't respect me because I'm a woman?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's about it. It's believed, ma'am, that a woman, +'specially an Eastern woman, can't make a go of it out here, +so what's the use of givin' her a fair show?" +</P> + +<P> +He waited for her to speak again but she did not and +he added with that experimental manner: +</P> + +<P> +"So, maybe, if you want to make money, it'd be well to +find a buyer. Maybe if you was to take an interest in this +ranch and did want to be ... to stay in this country, you +couldn't make it go." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think that's impossible?" +</P> + +<P> +He waited a moment before saying: +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know. You don't make a very good start, +ma'am." +</P> + +<P> +"At least you are deliciously frank!" +</P> + +<P> +"It pays; it does away with misunderstandings. I +wouldn't want you to think—since you've asked me—that +I believed you could make a go of this ranch, even if you +wanted to." +</P> + +<P> +That stung her sharply; she drew her breath in with a +slight sound and leaned quickly forward as if ready to denounce +his skepticism, but she did not speak. +</P> + +<P> +She only arose impatiently and walked to the mantel. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you smoke?" she asked, holding out a box of cigarettes. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; do you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +In the word was a clear defiance. She struck a match +and held it towards him; then lighted her own cigarette. +</P> + +<P> +Seated again, she stared into the fire, smoking slowly, but +as his eyes remained fast on her the color crept upward into +her cheeks, higher and brighter until she turned to meet +the gaze that was on her and with a bite to the words asked: +</P> + +<P> +"You don't approve of this, either?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, ma'am, I like to smoke." +</P> + +<P> +"But you stare at me as though I were committing a +crime." +</P> + +<P> +"You see, you're the first good white woman I've ever +seen smoke." +</P> + +<P> +"You—" She checked the question, looked at him and +then eyed her cigarette critically. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't suppose women out here do smoke, do they?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, ma'am; not much." +</P> + +<P> +"And you men? You men who drink and smoke don't +want the women to enjoy the same privilege?" +</P> + +<P> +"That appears about it." +</P> + +<P> +She did not answer. He rose and looked down upon her. +One tendril of her golden hair, like silk in texture, caressed +her fine-grained cheek, delicately contrasted against its alluring +color. He would have liked to press it closer to the +skin with his fingers ... quite gently. But he said: +</P> + +<P> +"I guess you and I don't understand each other very well, +and, if we don't, it ain't any use in our talking further. As +for advisin' you about your business...." +</P> + +<P> +Jane blew on her ash. +</P> + +<P> +"I just tried to show you how to start right, accordin' to +my notion, and if it made you mad I'm sorry. +</P> + +<P> +"After all, it don't make so much difference what other +folks think of us. It's what we think of ourselves that +counts most, but none of us can get clear away from the +other <i>hombre's</i> ideas." +</P> + +<P> +That twinkle crept back in to his eyes. Her little frame +fairly bristled independence and self-sufficiency; it was in +the pert set of her head, the poise of her square shoulders, +the languid swinging of one small foot. +</P> + +<P> +"I think that you think a lot of yourself, ma'am. That's +more 'n most folks can say." +</P> + +<P> +She rose as he reached for his hat. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad to have your opinion on the proportions of my +job," she said briefly, "and for that I am glad that you +came in." +</P> + +<P> +The oblique rebuke could not be misunderstood. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm complimented," he replied, and, although she looked +frankly and impersonally up at him, she had a quick fear +that despite her assurance this man was leaving her with a +strange feeling of inferiority, and when he went through the +doorway into the night she was quite certain he was smiling +merrily. +</P> + +<P> +She stood until the sound of his footsteps dwindled, then +turned to the table and stood idly caressing the wood. Her +fingers encountered something which she picked up and examined, +at first abstractedly. It was a bit of straw, the one +Beck had refused and, which drawn, would have made him +her right hand man. She moved towards the fire to toss it +into the flames; checked herself and, instead, put it between +the covers of a book which lay handy. +</P> + +<P> +She stood on the stone hearth thinking of what he had +said, cigarette smoke curling up her small hand and delicate +wrist. The offended feeling subsided and, wonderingly, she +tried to restimulate it; the sensation would not return! Of +a sudden she felt small and weak and of little consequence. +</P> + +<P> +So he doubted, even, that she could be herself! +</P> + +<P> +She dropped the stub of her cigarette into the fire and, +frowning, reached for another, and tapped its end on the +mantel. She struck a match and put the white cylinder to +her lips. Then, quite slowly, she waved the glare out and +tossed the tiny stick into the coals. With a movement which +was so deliberate that it was almost weary she dropped the +unlighted cigarette after it. Slight as was the gesture there +was in it something of finality. +</P> + +<P> +The coals were dimmed with ash before she moved to +walk slowly to the window and look out. It was cold and +still. +</P> + +<P> +A movement among the cottonwoods attracted her. A +man was walking there, slowly, as one on patrol. She +watched him go the length of the row of trees; then followed +his slow progress back, saw him stand watching the +house a moment before he moved on towards the bunkhouse. +</P> + +<P> +She lay awake for hours that night, partly from a helpless +rage and, later, a rare thrill, a hope, perhaps, kept sleep +from her mind. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE NESTER—AND ANOTHER +</H4> + +<P> +"Now about the men, Miss Hunter," said Hepburn. +When he reached this subject he looked through +the deep window far down the creek and had Jane known +him better she might have seen hesitancy with his deliberation, +as though he approached the subject reluctantly. +</P> + +<P> +"How many will you need?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Not many yet. Four besides myself. There's seven +here now. That is, there'll be six, because one is pullin' +out this mornin' of his own accord. We'll need more when +the round-up starts, but until then—about June—we can +get along. The fewer the better." +</P> + +<P> +"That will be largely up to you. Of course, I will be +consulted." +</P> + +<P> +"I guess we'll keep Curtis and Oliver. Then there's +Two-Bits—" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, keep Two-Bits by all means!" she laughed. "I'm +in love with him already!" +</P> + +<P> +"All right, we'll keep Two-Bits. As for the other, there's +a chance to choose because—" +</P> + +<P> +"Beck; how about him?" +</P> + +<P> +Her manner was a bit too casual and she folded a sheet +of memoranda with minute care before her foreman, who +eyed her sharply, replied: +</P> + +<P> +"He's settled that for himself, I guess. He was packin' +his war bag when I come down here. I told him to come to +the house for his time." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean he's leaving?" +</P> + +<P> +Hepburn nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Why?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I guess his nose is out of joint at not bein' picked +for foreman." +</P> + +<P> +"But he wouldn't even draw. Said he wouldn't take a +chance!" +</P> + +<P> +"I know. He appeared not to give a hang for the job, +but he's a funny man. He an' I never got along any too +well. We don't hitch." +</P> + +<P> +"Is he a good worker?" +</P> + +<P> +"If he wants to be. He don't say much, but he always.... +Why, he always seems to be laughin' at everybody +and everything." +</P> + +<P> +"I think <i>I</i> could persuade him to want to work for me." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps. But then, too, he's hot tempered. In kind of +bad with some of the boys over trouble he's had." +</P> + +<P> +"What trouble?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, principally because he beat up a man—Sam McKee—on +the beef ride last fall." +</P> + +<P> +"What for?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well.... He thought this man was a little rough with +his horse." +</P> + +<P> +"And he whipped him because he had abused a horse? +That, it seems to me, isn't much against him." +</P> + +<P> +"No; maybe not. He beat him a sight worse than he +beat his horse," he explained, moving uneasily. "Anyhow, +he's settled that. Here he comes now, after his time." +</P> + +<P> +Jane stepped nearer the window. Beck approached, +whistling softly. He wore leather chaps with a leather +fringe and great, silver conchos. A revolver swung at his +hip. His movements were easy and graceful. She opened +the door and, seeing her, he removed his hat. +</P> + +<P> +"I've come for my time, ma'am," he explained. +</P> + +<P> +"Won't you come in? Maybe you're not going to go +just yet." +</P> + +<P> +He entered and she thought that as he glanced at Hepburn, +who did not look up, his eyes danced with a flicker +of delight. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know as I can stay, ma'am. I told your foreman +a little while ago that I'd be going. Somebody's got +to go, and it may as well be one as another." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you think my wishes should be consulted?" she +asked. +</P> + +<P> +He twirled his hat, looking at her with a half smile. +</P> + +<P> +"This is your outfit, ma'am. I should think your wishes +ought to go, but it won't do for you to start in with more +trouble than's necessary." +</P> + +<P> +"But if I want you and Mr. Hepburn wants you, where +is the chance for trouble? You <i>do</i> want him, don't you, Mr. +Hepburn?" +</P> + +<P> +The older man looked up with a forced grin. +</P> + +<P> +"Bless you, Miss Hunter, yes! Why, Tom, the only +reason I thought we might as well part was because I figured +you'd be discontented here." +</P> + +<P> +"Now! You see, your employer wants you and your +foreman wants you. What more can you ask?" the girl +exclaimed, facing Beck. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothin' much, of course, unless what I think about it +might matter." +</P> + +<P> +Her enthusiasm ebbed and she looked at him, clearly +troubled. +</P> + +<P> +"I am not urging you to stay because I need one more +man. It is essential to have men I can trust. I can trust +you. I need you. I ... I'm quite alone, you know, and +I have decided to stay ... if I <i>can</i> stay." +</P> + +<P> +She flushed ever so slightly at the indefinable change in his +eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"You told me last night some of the things I must do, +which I can't do wholly alone. I should like very much to +have you stay,"—ending with a girlish simplicity quite unlike +her usual manner. +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe my advice and help ain't what you'd call good," +he said. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought it over when you had gone," she said, "and +I came to the conclusion that it was good advice." Her eyes +remained on his, splendidly frank. +</P> + +<P> +"Some of us are apt to be disconcerted when we listen to +new things; and, again, when we know that they come sincerely +and our pride quits hurting we're inclined, perhaps, +to take a new point of view. I have, on some things." +</P> + +<P> +His face sobered in the rare way it had and he said: +</P> + +<P> +"I'm mighty glad." +</P> + +<P> +Hepburn had watched them closely, not understanding, +and in his usually amiable face was a cunning speculation. +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't ask you to take a chance against your better +judgment. If you must move on, I'm sorry. But ... I +need you." +</P> + +<P> +With those three words she had ended: I need you. But +in them was a plea, frank, unabashed, and her eyes were +filled with it and as he stood looking down at his hat, evidently +undecided, she lifted one hand in appeal and spoke +again in a tone that was low and sweet: +</P> + +<P> +"Won't you, please?" +</P> + +<P> +He nodded and said: +</P> + +<P> +"I'll stay." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm so glad!" she cried. "And you're glad, aren't you, +Mr. Hepburn?" +</P> + +<P> +The foreman had watched closely, trying to determine +just what this all meant, but not knowing what had gone +before, he was mystified. At her question he forced a show +of heavy enthusiasm and said: +</P> + +<P> +"Bet your life!" Then looking up to see the tall cowboy +eyeing him with that half humorous smile, he rose and +said: +</P> + +<P> +"Now we can start doing business. Tom, Miss Hunter +wants a horse, says she can ride and wants the best we've +got, right off, to-day. There's that bunch that's been ranging +in Little Piņon all winter. Guess we'd better bring 'em +down this forenoon and let her pick one." +</P> + +<P> +They departed. They had little to say to one another in +the hours it required to gather the horses and bring them +down, but when they were within sight of the corrals Hepburn +began to speak as though what he had to say was the +result of careful deliberation. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't want us to have any misunderstandin', Tom. +This mornin' I figured you wanted to move and I don't +want any man in the outfit who'd rather be somewhere else, +so long as I'm runnin' it." He shifted his weight in the +saddle and glanced at Beck, who rode looking straight +ahead. "'Course, you and I ain't been pals. I've thought +sometimes you didn't just like me—" +</P> + +<P> +"I s'pose she'll want a gentle horse," the other broke in. +</P> + +<P> +"Prob'ly.... +</P> + +<P> +"You and I can be friends, I know. We can get +along—" +</P> + +<P> +"Look at this outfit!" Beck interrupted again, this time +with better reason. +</P> + +<P> +Around the bend in the road appeared a queer cavalcade. +It was headed by a pair of ancient mules drawing a covered +wagon, on the seat of which sat a scrawny, discouraged man +with drooping lids, mustache and shoulders. To the wagon +were tied three old mares and behind them trailed a half +dozen colts, ranging from one only a few weeks old to a +runty three-year-old. +</P> + +<P> +These were followed by a score of cattle, mostly cows +and yearling calves, and the rear was brought up by a girl, +riding a big brown horse. +</P> + +<P> +She was young, and yet her face was strangely mature. +She wore a hat, the worse for wear, a red shirt, open at the +throat, a riding skirt and dusty boots. She was slouched +easily in the saddle, as one who has ridden much. +</P> + +<P> +Tom spurred ahead to prevent their horses from entering +a draw which opened on the road just where they must +pass and as he slowed to a walk and looked back he saw +Hepburn making a movement of one hand. That hand was +just dropping to the fork of his saddle but—and he knew +that this may have been purely a product of his imagination—he +thought that it had been lifted in a gesture of warning. +</P> + +<P> +The foreman halted and the wagon stopped with a creak, +as of relief. +</P> + +<P> +"Just foller on down and swing to the left. Keep right +on. You'll pass the state boundry," Beck heard Hepburn +say. +</P> + +<P> +The wagon started again and Dad joined him. +</P> + +<P> +"Goin' some place?" Tom asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Utah. He was askin' the way." +</P> + +<P> +Just then the girl came within easy talking distance. +</P> + +<P> +"Goin' far?" Tom asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Not so very fur," the other replied sullenly and swung +a worn quirt against her boot. +</P> + +<P> +They rode on after their horses. +</P> + +<P> +"Nesters," Beck commented grimly. "They're a bad lot +to see comin' in." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank God, they're headed for Utah," Dad replied. +</P> + +<P> +"Yeah. Utah's a long ways, though. The girl didn't +seem to think they was going so very far." +</P> + +<P> +The other made no answer and after a moment Beck said: +</P> + +<P> +"Notice the brand on them cattle? THO? That ain't +a good neighbor for the HC to have.... Unless it's an +honest neighbor." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, they're goin' into Utah," Dad said doggedly. +</P> + +<P> +"You know, Hepburn, one of the first things I'd do if I +was foreman of this outfit?" Beck asked. +</P> + +<P> +"What's that?" +</P> + +<P> +"Take up the water in Devil's Hole. That's the best +early feed this outfit has got, but without water it's worthless. +Nesters are comin' in, which would worry me, if I +was foreman. The Colonel had somebody file on it once, +planning to buy when he'd patented the claim. This party +didn't make good, and the matter dropped." +</P> + +<P> +The other did not reply for a moment, but looked hard +at his horse's ears, as if struggling to control himself. +</P> + +<P> +"I've already took that up with her," he said sulkily, and +stirred in his saddle. +</P> + +<P> +"If I wasn't foreman of an outfit, do you know what I'd +do? I'd let the foreman do the worryin'." +</P> + +<P> +Beck scratched his chin with a concern which surely +could not have been genuine, for he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Yeah. That's the best way. Only..." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you had your chance to be foreman; why didn't +you take it?" +</P> + +<P> +Beck pondered a moment. +</P> + +<P> +"In the first place I wasn't crazy wild to stay with this +outfit, 'cause when I lift my nose in the air and sniff real +careful, I can smell a lot of hell coming this way, and I'm +a mighty meek and peaceful citizen. +</P> + +<P> +"In the second place, I don't care much about drawing the +best job in the country like I'd draw a prize cake at a church +social." +</P> + +<P> +Hepburn sniffed. +</P> + +<P> +"You passed it up, though. Now, why don't you pass up +worryin' about my job?" +</P> + +<P> +Beck did not reply at once, but turned on the other a +taunting, maddening smile. +</P> + +<P> +"You're right. I passed it up, but there's something that +won't let me pass up the worry. +</P> + +<P> +"You know what that is,"—nodding toward the distant +ranch house. "You know she's in a jack pot. You heard +her tell me she needed good men, men she could trust, and +the good Lord knows that's so. You know I stayed on because +she asked me like she meant it and not because I +fancied the job. +</P> + +<P> +"I've got a notion that makin' good out here means more +to her than making money; I like her style, and I like to +help her sort if I can. That's why I may do more 'n an +ordinary hand's share of worryin'. +</P> + +<P> +"You know, somebody's got to,"—significantly. +</P> + +<P> +"What's meant by that, Beck?" Dad asked after a moment +and the grit in his tone told that the insinuation had +not missed its mark. +</P> + +<P> +"If it was so awful hard for you to guess, Hepburn, I +don't think you'd get on the peck so easy. I mean that since +she's asked me to stay and work for her, I'm on the job. +Not only with both hands and feet and what head I've got, +but with my eyes and my ears and my heart. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't want trouble, but if I've got to take trouble on, +I'll do it on the run; you can tie to that! I don't like you, +Hepburn; I don't trust you. Your way ain't my way—No, +no, you listen to <i>me!</i>" as the other attempted to interrupt. +"A while back you was trying to talk friendship to +me when I'm about as popular with you as fever. I don't +do things in that style. I ain't got a thing on you, but if this +was my ranch I wouldn't want you for my foreman." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean you think I'd double cross her an—" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't recall bein' that specific. I just mentioned that +I don't trust you. There's no use in your getting so +wrought up over it. I may be wrong. If I am you'll win. +I may be takin' a chance, which is against my religion, but +I'm here to work for this Hunter girl and her only and it +won't be healthy for anybody who is working against her to +bring himself to my notice. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess we understand each other. Maybe you can get +me fired. If so, that's satisfactory to me. So long as I'm +here and working for you, I'll be the best hand you've got. +If you're lookin' for good hands I'll satisfy you. If you +ain't ... we may not get along so well." +</P> + +<P> +There was a seriousness in his eyes, but behind it was +again the flicker of mockery as though this might not be +such a serious matter after all. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll see, Beck," Hepburn said with a slow nodding. +"We understand each other. You've covered a lot of territory. +Your cards are on the table. Bet!" +</P> + +<P> +Tom stroked his horse's withers thoughtfully. He continued +to smile, but the smile was not pleasant. +</P> + +<P> +When they entered the big gate an automobile was standing +before the bunkhouse and after turning the horses into +a corral they dismounted and walked towards it. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Larry!" exclaimed Hepburn. "What brings +you out?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothin' much, judgin' by his conversation," replied the +man who had driven the car. +</P> + +<P> +"Visitor?" +</P> + +<P> +"Dude. Regular dude from N'Yawk, b' Gosh!" He +spat and grinned. "Come in yesterday and was busier 'n +hell all day buzzin' around town. First thing this a. m. he +wants to come here. Great attraction you've got, it seems." +</P> + +<P> +"The new boss?" +</P> + +<P> +"Th' same, indeed! I seen her. Quite a peach, I'll go +on record. But ... Th' boys tell me she's going to run +this outfit with her own lily white hands." +</P> + +<P> +"So she says," replied Dad benevolently. "I think she'll +do a good job, too." +</P> + +<P> +"Like so much hell, you do! An' I hear you're foreman, +Dad. You figurin' on marryin' the outfit or gettin' rich by +honest endeavor?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sho, Larry! You and your jokes!" the man grumbled +good naturedly and entered the building. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, if any of you waddies are calculatin' marryin' this +filly you've got to build to her. This dude sure means business. +He's found out more about the HC in one day than +I ever knew. Besides, what I knew an' he didn't he got +comin' out. Sure's a devil for obtainin' news. +</P> + +<P> +"There he is now; see?" +</P> + +<P> +He gestured toward the ranch house where Jane and the +stranger stood on the veranda, the girl pointing to the great +sweep of country which showed down creek. Then they +turned and reentered the house. +</P> + +<P> +"And so this is yours!" the man laughed. "Yours and +your business!" +</P> + +<P> +"My business, Dick! For the first time I feel as though I +had a real object in living." +</P> + +<P> +He smiled cynically. +</P> + +<P> +"Jane, Queen of the Range!" he mocked. +</P> + +<P> +She did not smile with him, but said soberly: +</P> + +<P> +"I expect it is funny to you. It must be funny to all the +old crowd. I can hear them, as soon as they know that I +have decided to stay here, the girls at tea, the men in their +clubs, talking it over. Jane Hunter, burying herself in the +mountains and <i>doing</i> something, becoming earnest and serious +minded, getting up with the sun and going to bed at +dark! It is strange!" +</P> + +<P> +"It's too strange for life, Jane," he said, pulling up his +trousers gingerly and sitting on the davenport. He leaned +back and smoothed his sleek hair. "It isn't real. You're +going to wake up before long and find that out. +</P> + +<P> +"It was absurd enough for you to come here, but this +preposterous notion that you are going to <i>stay</i>.... Why, +that's beyond words! What got into you, anyhow?" +</P> + +<P> +He eyed her closely. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know, yet. It's a strange impulse but it's real, +the first real thing that's ever gotten into me, I guess. I +know only that ... except that it is a pleasant sensation. +</P> + +<P> +"When I left New York I was desperate. I came here +to take something tangible that was mine and go back with +it and now I've found out that the thing I want is nothing +that I can see or touch, that I can't take it away with me. +Not for a long time, anyhow. It isn't waiting ready-made +for me; I must create it from the materials that are in my +hands." +</P> + +<P> +He continued to look at her a thoughtful moment. +</P> + +<P> +"You've told me a lot about yourself and about this ranch +and about these men who are working for you. You've told +me about this country and, rather vaguely, about your plans. +I suspect you don't know much about them yet," he added +parenthetically. "You've not asked a question about New +York, nor why I came." +</P> + +<P> +She picked a yellowed leaf from a geranium plant and +turned to face him. +</P> + +<P> +"As for New York," she said with a lift of the eyebrows +and a quick tilt of her head, "I don't give a ... damn,"—softly. +"As for your coming, I didn't need ask. When a +man has followed a girl wherever she has gone, to sea, to +other countries, for four years, there is nothing surprising in +the fact that he should trail her only two-thirds of the way +across this continent.... +</P> + +<P> +"But it's no use, Dick. I made up my mind that I would +not marry you before I came here. I tried to convince you +of the honesty of my purpose in my last letter, but perhaps +I failed because I wasn't truly honest with myself then. I +thought I was through, but, in reality, I was only planning +a variation of the old way of doing things. +</P> + +<P> +"Now I'm finished, absolutely, with the rot I've called +life!" +</P> + +<P> +She lifted her chin and shook her head in emphasis. The +man laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"You amuse as much as you thrill me," he said, looking +at her hungrily. +</P> + +<P> +"That's a splendid way to help a fellow: to laugh at the +first effort I make to justify my existence." +</P> + +<P> +"I want to help you, Jane. I've always wanted to help +you. I've put myself and what I have at your disposal. +I've not only done that, but I've begged and pleaded and +schemed to make you take them. You'd never listen when I +talked love to you. +</P> + +<P> +"You've always seemed to be a peculiarly material-minded +girl and I had to play on that. But when I've talked ease +and comfort and luxury to you, you know that I've meant +more than just those things. It's been love, Jane ... love +in every syllable." +</P> + +<P> +He rose and walked to stand before her. +</P> + +<P> +"That hurt," she said, with a sharp little laugh. "That +... materialism. But I believe it was only too true. It +had to be, you see. It was the only thing I could see to live +for. There was the one thing I missed, the thing I had expected +to find. It was the thing you talked about: Love. +I wanted love, tried to find love and at twenty-five gave it up. +That's a horrible thing, Dick. Giving that up at twenty-five!" +</P> + +<P> +"But I have offered you love, continually, for four years." +</P> + +<P> +"Dick ... oh, Dick! You don't know what that means. +You showed that when you selected your tactics: trying to +give me things that I could taste and touch and see. +</P> + +<P> +"If it had been love, the real thing, that you felt, you'd +have overwhelmed me with it, you would not have allowed +another consideration to enter, you'd have swept me off my +feet with making me understand that it was love. You +wouldn't have talked places and motors, luxury and aimlessness." +</P> + +<P> +Her voice shook. She was hurt, bordering on anger. +</P> + +<P> +"You pass the buck," he retorted evenly. "You've told +me, time after time, that love didn't matter to you." +</P> + +<P> +"Not the sort you offered. It never could." +</P> + +<P> +"There's another kind, then?" +</P> + +<P> +"Somewhere,"—with an emphatic nod. +</P> + +<P> +"You think you can find the sort you're looking for +here?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know. I haven't thought of that yet, but I know +there is something else I can find." +</P> + +<P> +"And that?" +</P> + +<P> +"Myself!"—stoutly. +</P> + +<P> +He threw back his head with a hearty laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"You talk like a convert, Jane!" +</P> + +<P> +"I am, Dick. Just that. I've seen the evil of my ways, +I have seen the light; I'm going to try to justify my existence, +going to try to stand for something, to be something, +not just a girl with looks or with ... money. +</P> + +<P> +"I may miss love entirely, but I have realized, all of a +sudden, that as yet I'm not fit for the love I wanted. Why, +I have nothing to give to a man; I would take all and give +nothing. A woman doesn't win a true love by such a transaction. +If I can stand alone, if I can fight my own battles, +if I can overcome obstacles that are as real as the love I +have wanted, then I will be justified in seeking that love.... +</P> + +<P> +"And there's another consideration: If this thing I have +wanted never does come I have the opportunity of gaining all +that you say you could give me by my own efforts: the comforts, +the material things. I wouldn't be trading myself for +them, you see; I'll be winning them with my hands and what +intelligence I may possess." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you sure of that, Jane? Are you sure that a girl +who has never done a tap of work in her life, who has not +even talked business with business men can come out here +and beat this game? Oh, I know what I'm talking about and +you don't. I spent all yesterday in town looking up this +place because your letter was convincing in at least one +thing. I know your enthusiasm, when it's aroused. I know +that you'd rush in where a business prince wouldn't even +chance a peek! +</P> + +<P> +"When men talk about you in town they grin. The bartender +grinned when he told me about you. The banker +grinned. The man who drove me out thought it was a fine +joke! These men know; they're not skeptical because they +know you or your past, but they know the job and that +you're a stranger. That's enough. You can't beat another +man's game." +</P> + +<P> +"I can try, can't I?" +</P> + +<P> +"But what's the use?"—with a gesture of impatience +and a set of the mouth that was far from pleasant. +"You're doomed to fail and even if you should hit on the +one chance in a thousand of pulling through, what would +you get? Less than I can give you in the time it takes to +sign my name. You won't let me talk love and you don't +seem to have much hope that you ever will find the love +you think you want, so let's put love aside once more. Come +with me, Jane. I'll give you all you could ever hope to get +here and without the cost of the awful effort anything like +success would require. +</P> + +<P> +"You've been bored, perhaps, and discouraged. You've +taken this thing as a ... a last straw. Won't you listen +to reason?" +</P> + +<P> +"The last straw," she repeated. "Yes, I guess that is it. +Dick, do you know how close I came to letting you do the +thing you want to do?" She put the question sharply. +"I'll tell you: Within three hundred dollars! That's how +close. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you don't know the game I've played. No one +knows it. You all have just seen the exterior, the show. +You've never been behind the scenes with me. +</P> + +<P> +"I never knew my mother. I never knew my father well. +I don't know that he cared much for me after she went; +perhaps, though, he was only afraid to bring up a girl alone. +First, it was boarding school, then finishing school, then a +woman companion of the smart sort. Then he died, and +we discovered that his fortune was not what it had been, +that it was a miserable thing for a girl to depend on who +had been trained as I had been trained. +</P> + +<P> +"You met me soon after I was alone. I fell in with +your crowd and they picked me up. I didn't like them particularly +and certainly I didn't like their life, but it was the +only one open for me. We lived hard, heartless lives, made +up of week-ends and dances and cocktails and greed! +</P> + +<P> +"Materialism is the right charge! I was steeped in it; +all those girls were. It was the only thing any of us lived +for. Girls sold themselves for material advantage; they +loathed it, most of them, but they lied to themselves and +tried to make the rest of us believe it was happiness. They +knew, and we knew what it was and we knew, too, that they +were helpless to do otherwise. +</P> + +<P> +"Then you came and made love to me on the same crass +basis. I liked you, Dick. I didn't love you. I cared no +more for you than I did for three or four men so I kept +putting you off, never actually discouraging you to a point +where you would give up. I was simply closing my eyes +to the inevitable. +</P> + +<P> +"Now and then we met women, to us strange creatures, +who did things. I never can make anyone understand how +inferior I felt beside them. Why, I remember one little +decorator who, because she was young and cheap, came to +do my apartment over. I had her stay for dinner and she +was quite overwhelmed with many things. +</P> + +<P> +"When she went away I cried from sheer envy ... and +she was going down somewhere into Greenwich Village to +sleep in a stuffy little studio. But she was <i>doing</i> something. +I used to feel guilty before my dressmaker and even +my maid. I didn't understand why that was, then; it was +not a sensation produced by reason; by intuition, rather. +</P> + +<P> +"And then I had to look at things as they were. I paid +up everything and totaled my bank balance. Every source +of income I had ever had was gone and I had left ... three +hundred and two dollars. That was on a Friday, the Friday +of our last week-end party at the Hollisters' in Westchester. +</P> + +<P> +"You talked to me again that night after we had been +playing billiards. Dick, I had made up my mind to take +you up. The words were on my lips; I was within a breath +of telling you that it was a bargain, that I'd sell myself to +you for the things you could buy me.... +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know why I didn't. Maybe it was this part of +me I had never known until I came here, this part which +enthuses so over what lies before me now, the part that +used to envy the girls who did things. We went back to +town and there was a letter for me from this little frontier +law office, telling me I had inherited this ranch. I didn't +sleep a minute. I was sole owner of a big business.... +</P> + +<P> +"I never can make you understand the relief I experienced! +It meant money and money meant that I could go +on in the old way, putting off the inevitable, blinding myself +to what I actually was. +</P> + +<P> +"That was my motive in coming here: to turn this property +into money. And no sooner had I made the acquaintance +of these people than I began to learn that my point of +view had been radically different from theirs. I had thought +that money would give me the thing I wanted, independence +and prestige; but I found that with them, with the best of +them, anyhow, that sort of standing was not considered. +</P> + +<P> +"The thing that counts out here is being yourself, Dick, +in making a place by your determination, your wits, by impressing +people with the best that is in you. Material things +don't count in the mountains; that is, they don't count primarily. +They are nice things to possess but the possession +of them alone does not bring respect ... the respect of +others or self respect. That, I think, is what I want: respect. +That is what I am going to win. The only way I +can win it is to establish a place for myself by my own +efforts. These men doubt that I can do it. You are right, +I believe, when you picture the whole country expecting me +to fail. Well, that's an incentive, isn't it, to do my best? +That is what I am here to do! +</P> + +<P> +"There, there's Book One." Then looking out into the +country.... "There's the rest of the story." +</P> + +<P> +The man did not reply for an instant but stood frowning +at the floor. +</P> + +<P> +"And when you fail? What then?" +</P> + +<P> +She laughed almost merrily. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't say <i>when</i> so positively! But if I should fail, +Dick, I might have to take you up! It might break my faith +in myself because it's a young, immature faith, but it will +give me a chance, a few months of seeing whether I'm of +any account. It gives me a hope." +</P> + +<P> +As she spoke of her alternative a glimmer as of hope +passed across the man's thin, finely moulded face but he +did not let her see. He shook his head and said: +</P> + +<P> +"After this the first thing I need is a drink." +</P> + +<P> +"On the sideboard," she answered, "is my stock." +</P> + +<P> +He walked down the room and examined the bottles, then +poured out two drinks and returned with them. +</P> + +<P> +"Anyhow, we'll drink to your future, whatever and wherever +it may be," he said, cynical again. +</P> + +<P> +"That's kind of you, but I'm afraid you'll have to drink +alone." +</P> + +<P> +She put the glass he had handed her on the table. +</P> + +<P> +"It's the first time I've ever seen you refuse a drink." +</P> + +<P> +"A record broken! That, like the rest of the old life, +all belongs in Book One." +</P> + +<P> +"You ... you never thought you used enough to hurt?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. I'm sure I never used enough to hurt my body. I +never thought I used enough to hurt anything about me ... +until last night." +</P> + +<P> +"What made you change your mind?" +</P> + +<P> +She was half impelled to pass the question off, then said +resolutely: +</P> + +<P> +"A man came here to talk to me, one of my cowpunchers. +I made a cocktail. He threw it away." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, that was a devil of a thing to do. Did you fire +him, as he deserved?" +</P> + +<P> +"No,"—deliberately, tracing a line on a rug with her +toe and watching it critically—"I took his advice. You +see, the men out here expect things from women that no one +has ever expected from me before." +</P> + +<P> +He sneered: "Turned Puritan, Jane? A sweet thing to +face, trying to be other than yourself, confining yourself to +the morals of the crowd." +</P> + +<P> +"Not just that, Dick. There's a sweetness about it, yes. +As for morals: we didn't discuss them at all.... +</P> + +<P> +"This man said that he supposed some people thought it +was smart to drink. That hit me rather on the head. We +were, the smartest people in New York, weren't we?" +</P> + +<P> +"Rot!" +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps. It interested me, though, when I'd gotten +over the first shock. He said another thing that interested +me; he said that I was the first <i>good</i> white woman he'd ever +seen smoke." +</P> + +<P> +He laughed harshly. +</P> + +<P> +"At least he did you the honor to think you good." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes,"—still deliberately,—"and it was a novel sensation. +It was the first time any man had ever appealed to +the commonplace thing in me that we call womanhood. He +wasn't preaching. It was a practical matter with him.... +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think you'd understand this man, Dick. He +takes little things quite seriously and yet he appears to be +laughing at the whole scheme all the time." +</P> + +<P> +He put his glass down slowly. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean that one of these roughnecks has been +making love to you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, by no means. I don't think he even likes me and +I want him to! Why, this morning he was going away, was +not even going to work for me, and I had to beg him to +stay. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, you don't understand! This man is so different +from you, from me, from all of us. Rough, yes, but I don't +think he'd try to buy a woman. And if he should I'm sure +he'd be most frank about it; he wouldn't hide behind words." +</P> + +<P> +She looked hard at him and though she smiled her words +stung him, but before he could break in she went on: +</P> + +<P> +"When I sat here having him talk to me last night I had +that dreadful inferior feeling again, felt as though I weren't +up to the standard of good women that these roughnecks +hold. I can't explain it to you because you wouldn't let +yourself understand. I was furious for a time, but he was +right, according to his way of thinking. +</P> + +<P> +"That way is going to be my way,"—with growing firmness. +"I'm playing a new game and I must play it according +to the rules. I did more than make up my mind to leave +the drinks and cigarettes alone. I resolved that I'd try to +be worthy in every way of the respect I want these men to +have for me!" +</P> + +<P> +"Because this Westerner doesn't approve of the way you +have lived?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. He knows the rules of the new game." +</P> + +<P> +"Jane, I'm going to stop this foolishness!" He advanced +to her and caught her hands in his. "I love you, +I love you! I'm not going to see you losing your head this +way!" +</P> + +<P> +She struggled to withdraw her hands. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I'm going to hold you, going to keep you. I'm—" +He drew her to him roughly, but she slipped from the clasp +of his arm and backed across the room, her hands still imprisoned +in his. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick!" +</P> + +<P> +It was not her cry which caused him to halt. It was a +step outside the door and, standing there, her hands in his, +he met the level, amused gaze of Tom Beck. +</P> + +<P> +Jane turned from him and he let her go without attempt +to restrain her further. +</P> + +<P> +"Ma'am, the horses are here. Your foreman said to tell +you." +</P> + +<P> +His face lost a measure of its lightness as he stood hat +in hand, looking from the man whose face was lined with +passion to the girl, flushed and a bit breathless. +</P> + +<P> +"Very well.... And thank you. I'll be out soon." +</P> + +<P> +He stood a moment irresolute, as though he thought his +presence might be needed there. Then turned and walked +away. +</P> + +<P> +"Your help seems rather unceremonious," Hilton remarked. +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks for that! What if he had seen more? Dick, +are you beside yourself? You call this love?" +</P> + +<P> +"It proves that it's love," he replied tensely. "You set +me wild with your vagaries, Jane! You—" He checked +himself and, with an obvious effort, smiled. Then went on +with voice and manner under control: "You see, I am +much in love with you and losing you for only a little while +puts me a bit off my head. +</P> + +<P> +"I have wanted you for four years and I'm jealous of the +months, even the weeks. I'm sure, but that doesn't help +much." +</P> + +<P> +"Sure? Of what?" +</P> + +<P> +"Of you." +</P> + +<P> +"And why?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because I know you. You confessed your weaknesses +just a moment ago. You know as well as I that you're without +foundation, without background in this experience. +Why, Jane, if you'd been capable of fighting your own battles, +you'd have forced the issue long before it was necessary, +but you are not. You need help, you need the faith +of other people. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, women like you weren't made to stand alone!" +</P> + +<P> +"Flattering!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it is. You were made to be loved, to be protected, +to have the men take the knocks for you, you and all your +kind. You were born to lean and to make the lives of men +worth while by leaning on them, never to attempt to go your +own way. You have always done just this and you have admitted +it, here, this afternoon. +</P> + +<P> +"Your wild wants, your absurd desires.... Everyone +has them. That is a rule of life: wanting to do the thing +you are not fitted to do. You can no more be a business +woman than I can fly; you can no more cut yourself away +from your old environment and slip into this than one of +your cowpunchers could fit into my life. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you see that you're risking disaster? In your old +life you had a belief in yourself; in this you think you have, +but you have not, your eyes will be opened and when you +see that you have failed ... then you will be a failure, and +nothing is so hopeless as that realization. +</P> + +<P> +"You are weak, and I thank God for that weakness. You +know that it is either this, or me. You are trying this, +trying to refuse me, but you will come back to me just as +surely as we stand together in this room. You may come +back without a shred of faith in yourself, but I have faith +in you, in the old Jane, the one I know and love, and I can +bring that back. The future won't be bad; it will be wholly +good." +</P> + +<P> +His words were very gentle, his manner most kindly, but +beneath it was a scarcely detectable hardness, a deliberate, +cold determination, and perhaps it was this which struck a +fear into the girl's heart. +</P> + +<P> +Weak? Surely, she was weak! Always had been weak, +never had proved strength by act or decision until now. +And she did not know ... she did not know.... +</P> + +<P> +"You are sure that I will come back?" she managed to +say naturally enough. "What if I should fail? Might I +not try somewhere else?" +</P> + +<P> +"You might, if you were another sort. But you won't. +And you will fail, in spite of all you can do, Jane." +</P> + +<P> +She sensed clearly the harsh strength beneath his smooth +manner; his pronouncement had not been as an opinion; as +a verdict, rather, and ominous in its assurance. +</P> + +<P> +He picked up his hat and gloves. +</P> + +<P> +"I know; I know. It is of no use to argue with you. +You must learn this lesson by experience. It is going to be +bitter, but I will do all I can to make what waits beyond +take away that taste, Jane. +</P> + +<P> +"I am not going away. I'm going to stay in this little +town. After four years of waiting and following I can well +do that. Your world is there, Jane, yours for the asking. +There are the things you wanted; there is the love you want +if you only will see it." +</P> + +<P> +He left her then and when he had gone she felt a quick +panic come. It all seemed so absurd, her struggling in the +things which held her back; and his manner left her with a +sense that he thought more than he had spoken, that his +assurance was founded well, that he would not be the tacit +waiter he had suggested. She knew his passion for her, she +knew his will and it came to her then that beneath his sleekness +he was ruthless. +</P> + +<P> +She stared down Coyote creek, not following him with +her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"The things I have wanted.... Yes," she thought. +"But love: is that anywhere?" +</P> + +<P> +The sound of the car departing roused her and she +watched it go. Then a commotion in the corral attracted +her. She saw horses milling, saw Tom Beck standing ready, +rope in his hand; then, with a dexterous flip of the loop, a +slight, overhand motion, he snared a pinto and braced his +feet against the antics of the animal and held firmly until it +had quieted. +</P> + +<P> +She watched him go down the rope slowly, hand over +hand, with caution and assurance until he rested his fingers +on the nose of the frightened animal. A forefoot shot out +in a lightning stroke at him but he did not flinch. She saw +that he was talking to the horse, gently, quietly, with the +born confidence of the master. +</P> + +<P> +"Anywhere?" she asked herself again, this time aloud, +still watching Beck. "Why,"—eyes lighting in surprise +that was almost astonishment—"it might be ... <i>might</i> +be!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE CHAMPION +</H4> + +<P> +Beck was still busy with the horses when Jane appeared, +bareheaded and clad in a riding habit. He +had separated the unbroken stock from the horses that had +been turned loose for the winter and was playing with these +last, overcoming the shyness that months on the range had +engendered. +</P> + +<P> +As she stopped at the corral he walked toward her, studying +her face. There was no trace of confusion or embarrassment +and for all he could discern she might have had +her mind on horses only since early forenoon. That puzzled +him because, though he was far from certain, he had +felt that the scene which he had interrupted had caused her +distress. Still, he reminded himself, this was not the type +of woman he knew. She was completely strange to him; +good margin, that, for coming to mistaken conclusions. +</P> + +<P> +"These, ma'am, are the gentle horses," he explained. "I +cut 'em out for you. They're some of the best you've got." +</P> + +<P> +"They're rough, of course," she remarked after eyeing the +animals a moment and he looked at her sharply because her +manner was of one who is familiar with horses, "but nothing +here looks particularly good. Are these all you brought +in?" +</P> + +<P> +"I cut the rest into the little corral. There's some good +ones there, but they ain't gentle." +</P> + +<P> +They walked toward the other enclosure and at their approach +the colts gave evidence of alarm. +</P> + +<P> +"Now that brown horse's been ridden some—" +</P> + +<P> +"But what about the sorrel?" she broke in as a shapely +head with a white star between the eyes and a flowing forelock +tossed back over delicate ears rose above the mass of +backs. +</P> + +<P> +"Him, ma'am? He's probably the best colt you own; +got the makin's of a fine horse, but he's a bad actor." +</P> + +<P> +Just then the crowding of the horses broke into a milling +and the sorrel came into full view. A beautiful beast with +white stockings behind, deep chest, high withers, short, +straight back. +</P> + +<P> +"He's a beauty!" she declared. "He has bone and leg. +He's gaunt now; not enough belly, but I suppose that's because +he's been on the range. I like that square hipped sort +when you can get its strength without sacrificing looks." +</P> + +<P> +"You're acquainted with horses somewhat, I take it." +</P> + +<P> +"I've ridden some; hunted a little. Can you bring him +out?" +</P> + +<P> +Beck entered the corral and roped the horse. For an instant +he resisted, head flung back and feet securely planted; +then he came out of the bunch on a trot. +</P> + +<P> +"He knows what a rope is. It don't take an intelligent +creature, man or beast, long to learn." +</P> + +<P> +The horse stood watching him suspiciously, ready to run +if given the opportunity. +</P> + +<P> +"Where shall we try him?" Jane asked. +</P> + +<P> +"In the big corral," he replied and led the sorrel through +the gate. +</P> + +<P> +The colt, closely snubbed, stood trembling while the blanket +was put on; then flinched and breathed loudly as the +weight of the saddle was gently placed on his back. He +stepped about and kicked as the cinch was drawn tight and +resisted a long time the efforts of the man to slip a bit between +his teeth. +</P> + +<P> +Jane stood by watching, her attention divided between +admiration of the man and the horse. The former was assured, +gentle, positive in every move; the latter alarmed, +rebellious but recognized the fact that he was under control. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, if you'll shorten the stirrups I'll try him," she +said. +</P> + +<P> +"<i>You</i>'ll try him, ma'am? Why, this horse ain't been ridden +three times in his life. He'll buck an' buck hard." +</P> + +<P> +"So much more reason why I should try him. We spoke +of reputations last night; they can only be formed at the +cost of knocks. There are many things I must try to do +out here; there are bound to be some that I can't even try +but this is not one." +</P> + +<P> +"But you—" +</P> + +<P> +"Must I order you to let me ride him?" +</P> + +<P> +There was no lightness in the question; she meant business, +Beck realized. And her bruskness delighted him for +when he turned to give the cinch one more hitch—his only +reply to her question—he was smiling merrily. +</P> + +<P> +It was not much of a ride as western riding goes. Beck +blindfolded the sorrel with the black silk scarf he wore +about his neck, helped Jane to mount, saw that she had both +stirrups, took the rope cautiously from the trembling bronco's +neck and, at her nod, drew off the blind. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment the great colt stood there as if bewildered. +Then, with a grunt and a bound, he bowed his back, hung +his head and pitched. +</P> + +<P> +"Keep his head up! His head!" warned Beck, watching +with intense interest. "Watch him...." +</P> + +<P> +The horse went straight forward for a half dozen jumps. +Erect in the saddle, sitting too far back, trusting too much +to her stirrups, Jane rode. +</P> + +<P> +The violence of the lunging jerked her head unmercifully +but she had her balance.... Until he sunfished, with a +wrenching movement that heaved her forward against the +fork, dangerously near a fall. +</P> + +<P> +"Grab it all!" called Beck, not remembering that his injunction +to hang on was as Greek to her. "He— Look +out!" +</P> + +<P> +With a vicious fling of his whole body the sorrel swapped +ends and as he came down, head toward the man, the girl +shot into the air, turned completely over and struck full on +her back. +</P> + +<P> +Beck ran to her, heedless of the horse, which circled at a +gallop. She lay very still with her eyes closed; a smudge +of dirt was on her white cheek. He knelt beside her. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you hurt, ma'am?" he asked, and when she did not +reply raised her head to his knee. Her body was surprisingly +light, surprisingly firm, as he held it with an arm beneath +her shoulders. He was fumbling with her collar to +open it, knuckles against her soft throat, when she opened +her eyes and gasped and coughed. She tried to speak but +for a moment continued to choke; then smiled and said +weakly: +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't ... ride him." +</P> + +<P> +"But you made a fine try!" he said with more enthusiasm +than she had seen him display. "And I sure <i>am</i> glad +you ain't hurt bad!" +</P> + +<P> +She laughed feebly and he felt her breath on his cheek, +for their faces were very close; he felt his heart leap, too, +and helped her up, saying words of which he was not conscious. +</P> + +<P> +"I can stand alone," she said after he had steadied her an +interval and reluctantly he took his arm from about her. +"I'd like to try him again." +</P> + +<P> +"But you're not going to, not to-day. I'm giving you +that order,"—with resolution. "I wouldn't want you to +be hurt, ma'am. I—" +</P> + +<P> +He checked himself, realizing that he had become very +earnest and that she was looking straight into his eyes, reading +the concern that was there. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +There was talk of that ride in the bunkhouse when the +men came in. Jimmy Oliver had seen from a distance and +asked Beck for the story. He related the incident rather +lightly and ended: +</P> + +<P> +"Tried to keep her off him, but only got orders to take +orders. If she breaks her neck tryin' some such tricks, I +wouldn't be surprised." +</P> + +<P> +"She appears to have sand, though," Oliver commented, +as though he were making a concession. +</P> + +<P> +Others had opinions to pass, briefly, to the point. Those +men were not given to accepting readily a stranger and this +stranger, being a woman, came to them under an added +handicap. Where a man, inept and showing the same courage, +might have found himself quietly accepted, Jane's attempt +at riding was not received with noticeable warmth. +The performance was in her favor, and that was about all +that could be said. +</P> + +<P> +A close observer might have noticed that Tom Beck gave +attention whenever another spoke of their new boss, as +though deeply interested in what the men had to say. Yet +when he spoke of her, his manner was rather disparaging. +</P> + +<P> +Mail had come in that afternoon and, a happening without +precedent, there were two letters for Two-Bits. The +man, who could not write and whose reading was limited +to brands, never received mail and before he arrived there +was speculation as to the writer of the one letter. Of the +other there was no mystery because each man of the outfit +had received a similar envelope containing a circular letter +from a boot manufacturer. +</P> + +<P> +Two-Bits arrived late, riding slowly toward the corral +with his eyes on the ranch house for a possible look at his +fair employer. +</P> + +<P> +"Mail for you, Two-Bits," Curtis remarked casually as +he entered. +</P> + +<P> +The others concealed their interest while Beck handed the +letters to Two-Bits, who stood eyeing them gravely, striving +to cover his surprise. This could not be done, though, for +his agitated Adam's apple gave him away as he stood with a +letter in each hand, looking from one to the other. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll bet two-bits somebody's dead," he said with concern, +then walked to the window under a growing sense of +importance at his deluge of correspondence. +</P> + +<P> +He opened the letter which they knew contained the solicitation +of the maker of boots and all watched him as he stood +scowling at it for minutes. He folded the sheet with a sigh +and stuffed it, with the other letter, into his <i>chap</i> pocket and +walked thoughtfully to his bunk, sitting down heavily, elbows +on his knees. He shook his head sorrowfully and +made a depreciatory clicking with his tongue. +</P> + +<P> +"Boys, I always knowed that girl'd turn out a bad one! +It's awful.... An' her mother a lady!" +</P> + +<P> +For a moment their restraint held and then their laughter +cut loose with a roar. Curtis fell face down on his bunk +and laughed until his entire length shook. Jimmy Oliver +gasped for breath, hands across his stomach, and the others +reeled about the floor or leaned against the walls, weak with +mirth. +</P> + +<P> +"It ain't nothin' to laugh at!" Two-Bits protested, but +when he failed to convince them of the gravity he shammed, +he rose and permitted an abashed grin to distort his freckled +face, muttered something about feeding his horse and walked +out. +</P> + +<P> +It was Saturday evening in a season of light work and the +social diversions of Ute Crossing had called HC riders. +Hepburn departed early and after their horses had eaten +Beck and Two-Bits rode out of the ranch townward bound. +Out of sight of the building Two-Bits said: +</P> + +<P> +"Tom, my eyes ain't very good. I'd like to get you to +read this here other letter for me." +</P> + +<P> +Beck knew that such confidence was high compliment for +Two-Bits was sensitive over his educational shortcomings, +so he took the letter and, after glancing down the single page, +said: +</P> + +<P> +"This is from the Reverend Azariah Beal." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, my gosh! That's my brother! What's the matter +with him, Tom?" +</P> + +<P> +The other read as follows: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +My dear Brother:—God willing, I shall visit you. I have +often been impelled to renew our fraternal relationships but +my various charges have demanded my sole attention. +Now, however, I am on a brief sojourn in the marts of trade +and my interests call me in your direction. I expect to +arrive shortly after you receive this. May the Almighty +guard and bless thee and keep thee safe until our hands +meet in the clasp of brotherly love. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Oh, my gosh!" cried Two-Bits again, Adam's apple +leaping and his gray eyes, usually so mild, alight with enthusiasm. +"He's comin' to visit me. Gosh, Tom, but he's +a smart man! Ain't that elegant language? Say, he's the +smartest man in our family an' he's comin' clean from +Texas to see me." +</P> + +<P> +"How long since you've seen him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, quite a while. Since I was three years old." +</P> + +<P> +"And how long ago was that?" +</P> + +<P> +"You got me. I heard about him. He's a preacher. +My, oh my, but <i>she</i>'ll like him. He's smart, like she is." +</P> + +<P> +His manner was high elation and he spoke breathlessly, +and while they trotted on he chattered in his high voice, +eulogizing the virtues of this brother he had not seen since +infancy, regaling the other with long and vague tales of his +accomplishments. Pressed for details he could not offer +them because his knowledge of the relative had come to him +verbally through the devious channels of the cattle country, +but this did not shake his conviction that the Reverend Beal +was peerless. +</P> + +<P> +Tom's mind was not on the extravagant talk of Two-Bits. +Curiously, it persisted in thinking of Jane Hunter. +</P> + +<P> +Two days before he had thought this girl from the east +was a rattle-brained piece of inconsequence with her selection +of a foreman by the drawing of straws. Now he was +not so sure that she did not possess at least several admirable +qualities. He had offended her, gently bullied her, only last +evening; he had sensed the waning of her own feeling of superiority, +had understood that, behind her pique, she took +to heart the things he had said, things which he had said not +because he thought she should know them but because he +wanted to see how she would react to blunt truths. +</P> + +<P> +She wanted something very badly. Not money; that had +been a means. Perhaps it was that vague thing, Herself, of +which he had spoken. He did not understand, but he liked +her determination.... And what was this other stranger, +this man, to her? +</P> + +<P> +He put his horse into a lope with a queer misgiving. He +was taking this woman seriously! He was saying slighting +things about her and yet hoping that other men would speak +about her highly! He had never taken many things—particularly +women—seriously before and his experience with +women had not been meager. It frightened him.... +</P> + +<P> +They dismounted before the saloon which adjoined the +hotel, eased their cinches and approached the doorway. +</P> + +<P> +In the shadow of the next building two men were talking +and Beck eyed the figures closely. One, he knew, was Hepburn, +and the other, from the intonation of his cautiously +lowered voice, he took to be Pat Webb, the rancher of whom +he had spoken to Jane Hunter, telling her that his presence +in the country was not an asset for her. +</P> + +<P> +He went inside, rather absorbed. Sam McKee was there, +one of Webb's riders, the one on whom Beck had inflicted +terrible punishment for cruelty to a horse. McKee looked +away, a nasty light playing across his gray eyes, but Beck +did not even give him a glance. What was Hepburn doing +in close talk with Webb? he asked himself. For years Webb +had been under suspicion as a thief and a friend of the lawless. +Colonel Hunter had never trusted him, and now the +foreman of the HC was talking with him, secretly.... +</P> + +<P> +A moment later Hepburn entered and lounged up to the +bar and shortly afterwards Webb came in. He was a small +man with sharp features and bright, button-like eyes which +roved restlessly. His skin was mottled, his lips hard and +cruel; his body seemed to be all nerves for he was in constant +motion. +</P> + +<P> +Webb ordered a drink and glanced about, eyeing Beck and +Two-Bits with a suggestive smile. He drank with a swagger +and wiped his lips with a sharp smack, still smiling as +though some unpleasant thought amused him. +</P> + +<P> +A man at the far end of the bar moved closer to Hepburn. +</P> + +<P> +"How's the new boss?" he said with a grin, and Hepburn +said, in his benevolent manner, that he believed she would +do very well. +</P> + +<P> +Others, interested, came closer and more questions followed. +Then Webb broke in: +</P> + +<P> +"I shouldn't think that you HC waddies 'uld be in town +nights any more,"—his glittering eyes on them rather jubilantly. +</P> + +<P> +The talk stopped, for Webb, unsavory as to reputation, +was still a figure in the country and his manner as he spoke +was laden with significance. +</P> + +<P> +"How's that, Webb?" Hepburn asked. +</P> + +<P> +"How's that!" the other mocked. "I've seen her, ain't +that enough? There's only two reasons why men want to +come to this hole nights; one's booze, an' th' other's women. +You can carry your booze out home an'—" +</P> + +<P> +He went on with his blackguard inference and when he +had ended a laugh went up, a ribald, obscene, barroom laugh. +It had reached its height when Tom Beck, whose eyes had +been on Hepburn as Webb gave voice to his insult, elbowed +the foreman from his way and faced the one who had occasioned +that laugh. +</P> + +<P> +There was in his manner a quality which caught attention +like nippers. +</P> + +<P> +He stood, forcing Webb to look into his threatening face +a quiet instant. Then he spoke: +</P> + +<P> +"That's a lie!" +</P> + +<P> +The bantering smile swept from the other's face and his +mouth drew down in a slanting snarl. +</P> + +<P> +"What's a lie?" +</P> + +<P> +"What you said is a lie, Webb, an' you're a liar—" +</P> + +<P> +The smaller man's hand whipped to his holster and Beck, +breaking short, closed on him, fingers like steel gripping the +ready wrist. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't try that with me, you rat!" +</P> + +<P> +With a steady pull he lifted the resisting hand which +gripped the gun away from the man's side while Webb +struggled, cursing as he found himself unable to resist that +strength. +</P> + +<P> +"Give me that gun!" +</P> + +<P> +Beck wrenched the weapon free. The group had drawn +back and behind him Sam McKee made a quick movement. +Two-Bits, beside him, dropped his hand to his hip and muttered: +</P> + +<P> +"Keep out of this!" +</P> + +<P> +McKee, hate flickering in his face, subsided, without protest, +as a craven will. +</P> + +<P> +Tom broke the gun and the cartridges scattered on the +floor. He closed it with a snap and sent it spinning down +the bar, clear to the far end. His eyes had not left Webb's +face. +</P> + +<P> +"You're a liar," he said again quietly. "You're a liar +and you're going to tell all the boys here that you're a liar." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't tell me I lie!"—retreating a step as Beck's body +swayed toward him. +</P> + +<P> +"You lied," Tom said quietly, though his voice was not +just steady. His hands were clenched and he held them +slightly before his body as though yearning for opportunity +to seize upon and injure the other. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it to you, anyhow, if—" +</P> + +<P> +"It's this to me, Webb: It makes me want to strangle +the foul breath in your throat! That's what it is to me an' +before these boys I will if you don't swallow your own dirty +words just to get their taste. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't want to be a killer, even over such as you are, +but you've got me mad. We don't know an' nobody else +knows how this girl's goin' to make it in this country, but, +by God, Webb, she's goin' to have a fair chance. There +ain't going to be any rotten talk that ain't called for an' it +ain't called for ... yet. +</P> + +<P> +"I expect I'd get into trouble if I killed you for this. +There's just one chance for me to keep out of trouble, and +that's for you to say you lied!" +</P> + +<P> +He moved closer as Webb retreated slowly, his spurs +ringing ever so slightly, yet their sound was audible in the +stillness. +</P> + +<P> +"Say it!" he insisted. "Say it, you whelp!" +</P> + +<P> +Webb's face had gone from red to the color of suet and +the blotches stood sharply out against the pallor. His dirty +assurance was beaten down and before this man he was +frightened ... and enraged at his own fright. +</P> + +<P> +"Mebby I spoke too quick—" +</P> + +<P> +"You lied! Nothin' short of that! Say you lied and +say it now.... Quick!" +</P> + +<P> +He half lurched forward, lifting his eager, vengeful hands, +when Webb relaxed and gave a short, half laugh and said: +</P> + +<P> +"Have it your own way. I lied, I guess. I didn't +mean—" +</P> + +<P> +"That'll do, Webb. You've said all that's necessary." +</P> + +<P> +He stood back and dropped his hands limply to his side, +eyeing the other with dying wrath. His gaze then went to +Hepburn and clung there a moment, eloquent of contempt +and he might as well have said: "You're her foreman. +Why didn't <i>you</i> take this up?" +</P> + +<P> +Then he moved to the bar and asked for a drink. Constrained +talk arose. Webb sulkily recovered his gun and +stood close to Sam McKee, drinking. From the doorway +which led into the hotel office Dick Hilton turned back, +whistling lowly to himself, a speculative whistle. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Tom Beck rode home alone, hours before he had intended +to leave town. Why had he done that? Always he had +disliked Webb but why had this thing roused in him such +tremendous rage? he asked as he unsaddled. +</P> + +<P> +He laughed softly to himself as though he had done something +ridiculous; then he strolled down toward the creek +and stood under the cottonwoods a long interval, watching a +lighted chamber window. +</P> + +<P> +"You're a queer little yellow-head," he said aloud to that +window. "You're the kind that gets men into trouble, but +maybe you're ... worth it, a lot of it." +</P> + +<P> +He stood for some time, until his wrath had wholly gone +and the mood which sent merriment dancing in his eyes +had returned. It had been a day of understanding: he had +broken down the barrier of deceit which Hepburn had attempted +to build, he had come to understand that there was +something strange in the pursuit of Jane Hunter by Dick +Hilton, he had understood that in his employer was at +least a physical courage which was promising, he had humiliated +Webb and given the whole country to understand that +there should be no doubting of the new girl's reputation. +</P> + +<P> +Of those incidents the only one now giving him concern +was the attitude of the foreman. His suspicion was strong, +his evidence wholly inadequate. +</P> + +<P> +Tom stood beside his bunk for a time. He had thrown +down his gauntlet; he had taken a chance. He might, from +now on, face danger or humiliation but he experienced a +relief at knowledge that so far as he was concerned there +was no longer anything under cover. He did not fear Hepburn +or Webb so far as his own safety went. But there +were other things, he told himself. +</P> + +<P> +What <i>was</i> up? Just what game would Hepburn play ... +if any? And who was that man from the East? To what +was Jane's confusion due that afternoon? Was it only embarrassment? +Only? +</P> + +<P> +He dozed off and woke with a start. Again he felt the +weight of her body on his arm, again the warmth of her +breath on his cheek. He lay there with his heart hammering, +then, with a growl, rolled over and went to sleep. +</P> + +<P> +Well he could that night! But other nights were coming +when he would ponder the significance of Hilton, when the +cloud which he then saw vaguely over Jane Hunter's future +would be real and appalling, when he would actually feel her +body in his arms, when her warm breath would mingle with +her warm tears on his cheek, when he would hope that +death might come to him as a tribute to her. Oh, yes, Tom +Beck could put it all aside and sleep this night, but there +were others coming ... other nights.... +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE COURTING +</H4> + +<P> +Jane Hunter was in work up to her trim elbows. +She had little time for anything else. Twice again Dick +Hilton came to see her, riding a horse in the second visit, +but his stays were not lengthy ... and not satisfactory, because +the girl had little thought for anything but ranch affairs. +</P> + +<P> +For long hours she sat at the desk which she had placed +in a bay window that commanded a superb view of far +ridges and pored over records she had found. She discovered +a detailed diary of events for the past ten years, a +voluminous chronicle kept more for the sake of giving self-expression +to the old colonel than for an efficient record, but +it served her well as a key to the fortunes of the property. +</P> + +<P> +From time to time she sent for one of her men and +quizzed him rigidly on some phase of the work with which +he was particularly familiar, never satisfied until she had +learned all that he could teach her. Every evening Hepburn +sat with her and discussed ranch affairs at length, Jane +forcing him into argument to defend his statements. +</P> + +<P> +While with the girl Dad maintained his paternal, patronizing +attitude, yet he was not content, as was evident from +the moroseness which he displayed before the men. He +had been stripped of initiative until his authority was reduced +to executing orders; this, despite the fact that Jane +depended on him for most of her information. +</P> + +<P> +Beck watched the foreman's attitude carefully. Hepburn +was chagrined, yet dogged, as though staying on and accepting +the situation for definite purpose. It had been decided +after Jane had argued away Hepburn's objections that +Beck was to have a free hand with the horses, gathering the +saddle stock and getting it in shape for the summer's work, +breaking young horses, watching the mares and colts. This +made it unnecessary for Beck to look to the older man for +detailed orders and delayed the clashes which were bound +to come between them. +</P> + +<P> +Jane's approach to her responsibilities was considered +admirable by the men, but it occasioned little comment. +Their judgment of her was still suspended; that is, with +the exception of Two-Bits. Her first look had won him +without reservation. +</P> + +<P> +"She's smart!" he declared at frequent intervals. +"She's the smartest girl I've ever seen ... an' the loveliest!" +The last with a drop in the voice which provoked +laughter. +</P> + +<P> +Once he said to Beck: +</P> + +<P> +"My gosh, Tommy, how'd you like to have wife like her?" +</P> + +<P> +The other smiled cryptically. +</P> + +<P> +"Now you're gettin' into a profound subject," he said. +"It ain't wise to pick out a wife like you'd pick out a horse. +There ain't much can fool a man who knows horses when +he looks one over careful-like, but there's a lot about women +that you can't know by lookin' 'em over and watching 'em +step." +</P> + +<P> +He was watching Jane "step" and though he still was +the first to listen when others spoke of her qualities his manner +toward her was the least flattering of any. +</P> + +<P> +After she had ridden the sorrel twice, each time accompanied +by Beck or Hepburn she sent Two-Bits to saddle +him. +</P> + +<P> +"What you doing with that horse?" Beck asked, looking +up from the hoof of a colt which he pared gently to reveal +some hidden infection. +</P> + +<P> +"She wants him to ride," the cowboy explained. +</P> + +<P> +"Goin' alone?" +</P> + +<P> +"Guess so." +</P> + +<P> +"Then take that saddle off and put it on the little pinto." +</P> + +<P> +"But she said to—" +</P> + +<P> +"Makes no difference. You take it off or I'll make you +look like two bits, Mex!" +</P> + +<P> +On finding her order miscarried Jane demanded explanation. +</P> + +<P> +"Tommy, he told me," Two-Bits said, uneasily. +</P> + +<P> +"But I ordered the sorrel—" +</P> + +<P> +"And I told Two-Bits to give you this paint, ma'am," +Beck said, the foot of the colt still between his knees. +</P> + +<P> +"And why?"—with a show of spirit. +</P> + +<P> +"Because you ain't up to him yet and he ain't down +to you. If somebody was with you, it'd be different. You +can't ride him alone, ma'am." +</P> + +<P> +She gave her head an indignant toss and was about to +demand the execution of her plan but he turned back to +his work, talking gently to the animal. Then with a grudgingly +resigned sigh she walked toward the pinto, for +there was something about Beck that precluded argument. +</P> + +<P> +Again she told him of a contemplated visit to the ranches +further down the creek. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, ma'am?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"There are many things to talk over, plans for the summer's +work and the like. Besides, I want to become acquainted." +</P> + +<P> +He smiled and said: +</P> + +<P> +"That last is fine, but I guess you'd better wait for the +rest." +</P> + +<P> +"Wait? What for?" +</P> + +<P> +"Until you know, ma'am. You see, you've only been +here a little while; you've learned a lot, but you don't +know enough to talk business with anybody yet. It won't +be good for you to go talking about something you don't +understand." +</P> + +<P> +"I think I am capable of judging that," she said bruskly. +"I will go." +</P> + +<P> +But she did not. She had intended to go the next day +but as she lay awake that morning she told herself that +he had been right, she did not know enough about her +affairs to discuss her relationships with neighbors intelligently. +She still smarted from his frankness, but the +hurt was leavened by a feeling that behind his presumption +had been thought of her own welfare. +</P> + +<P> +She tired quickly in the first days that she rode and once, +remarking on it, she drew this advice from Beck: +</P> + +<P> +"You'd do a lot better without corsets." +</P> + +<P> +Simply, bluntly, impersonally and with so much assurance +that she could not even reply. His observation had +smacked of no disagreeable intimacy. She had told him +that she tired; he had given her his idea of the cause. +</P> + +<P> +She took off her corsets. +</P> + +<P> +A day of cold rain came on; at noon the downpour abated +for a time and Jane asked Hepburn to ride down the creek +with her to look over land that was to be cleared and irrigated. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you got a slicker, ma'am?" Beck asked when she +requested that a horse be saddled. +</P> + +<P> +She had none. +</P> + +<P> +"There ain't an extra one on the place," he said, "so I +guess you'd better not go." +</P> + +<P> +"But the rain is over. Anyhow, what hurt will a wetting +do?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't guess the rain's all over," he said. "And to +get wet and cold ain't a good thing for anybody; it'd be a +mighty bad thing for you. You're a city woman; you can't +do these things yet." +</P> + +<P> +An exasperating sense of inferiority came over her, bringing +a helpless sort of rage. This man was not even her +foreman and yet he brought her up short, time after time. +She started to tell him so, but changed her mind. Also, +she changed her plans for the day. +</P> + +<P> +He was not rough, not obtrusive in any of this. Just +frank and simple, and when she bridled under it all she +saw that twinkle creep into his eye, as though she were a +child and her spirit amused him! +</P> + +<P> +But she did more than amuse. She could not see, she +could not know; nights he roused from sleep and lay +awake trying to fathom the sensations he experienced; days +he rode without sufficient thought for the work that was +before him. At times he was impelled to be irritable toward +her and this because his stronger impulse was to be +gentle! +</P> + +<P> +He did not want to care for this woman and he found +himself caring in spite of himself! He rode to town and +spent an evening with a waitress from the hotel, taking her +to a picture show, paying her broad compliments, seeing +her pride rise because of his attentions, and he rode home +before daylight, disgusted with himself. His life was being +reshaped, his tastes, his desires. His caution against +taking chances was being beaten down. +</P> + +<P> +She commenced to ride with him regularly and these +rides grew longer as she found her body becoming toughened +and her endurance greater until they were together +many hours each day, until, in fact, escorting her had +become Beck's job. The ostensible purpose of this was to +learn the country and the manner of range work but +though she did learn rapidly their talk was largely personal. +Beck was not responsive and the more reserved he became +the greater Jane's efforts to force him to talk of himself. +</P> + +<P> +These efforts netted her little and after a time she gave +up, tentatively, and adopted other means of winning his +confidence. +</P> + +<P> +Once she helped him gather a bunch of horses that had +not been corraled for seasons. The way led down a steep +point and Jane was ahead, holding up the bunch while +Beck crowded them from behind. She took the descent +with a degree of hesitation for the going—so steep that +she was forced to clamp a hand behind her cantle to retain +a seat—chilled her with fear. On the level she fanned +the sorrel and kept ahead of the horses until she could +lead them safely into a corral. +</P> + +<P> +The gate closed, Jane looked at Beck with sparkling eyes, +expecting a word of reward, but he only said: +</P> + +<P> +"You've got to keep goin' with horses. The country's +all got to look level to you. You slowed up bustin' off that +point." +</P> + +<P> +The rebuke hurt her ... and stimulated her ambition. +</P> + +<P> +He taught her to use a rifle and she brought down her +first deer, a yearling buck, at long range. +</P> + +<P> +"I told you to hold just behind his shoulder; see where +you hit," he said, indicating the wound, a hand's breadth +too far back. +</P> + +<P> +She shot with his revolver and he told her that she would +never learn to use the weapon. She bade him teach her the +rudiments of roping and he decried the woman movements +of arms and body. +</P> + +<P> +In all this he was quick to criticise, niggardly of praise; +ready to teach, reluctant to grant progress. +</P> + +<P> +She was resentful but her resentment was no match +for her determination. Now and then his rebukes whipped +flushes to her cheeks and more than once she left him +with tears standing in her eyes, only to tell herself aloud +that she <i>would</i> make him acknowledge her accomplishments.... +</P> + +<P> +Once, riding on alone after Jane had turned back toward +the ranch Beck encountered Sam McKee. The man had +dismounted and was recinching when Tom passed him. He +looked up with that baleful expression, as though he was +impelled to do the HC rider great harm and held back only +by his cowardice. When Tom had passed McKee mounted +and before he started on his way he turned to shout over his +shoulder: +</P> + +<P> +"Chaperone!" +</P> + +<P> +In it he put all that contempt which small, timid boys +put into their shouted taunts. +</P> + +<P> +Beck was not angered but that gave him something to +think about. +</P> + +<P> +Another time as, on his roan, he led the sorrel toward +the gate to the houseyard he saw Hepburn smiling at him +with scornful humour and when the foreman saw that +Beck had seen he said: +</P> + +<P> +"A regular chaperone, ain't you?" +</P> + +<P> +Tom did not reply though it roiled him. He thought +about the remark at length but the thing which interested +him was that Hepburn had used the same word that McKee +had used.... Was that, he asked himself, mere chance? +</P> + +<P> +They had ridden far to the eastward one afternoon and +returning long after dark Jane made a meal herself and +they ate together at her table. Beck was noticeably restrained +and when finished hastened to leave. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't you sit and talk with me a while?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I could, ma'am, but is it necessary?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not necessary to the business, perhaps, but it might +mean a pleasant evening for me." +</P> + +<P> +He gave her steady gaze for steady gaze and then said: +</P> + +<P> +"Anybody would think you were courtin' me, ma'am." +</P> + +<P> +She laughed easily, yet her gaze wavered. She asked: +</P> + +<P> +"And what if I should be?" +</P> + +<P> +This disconcerted him but he replied: +</P> + +<P> +"It's likely I'd quit." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm ... wholly distasteful to you, then?" +</P> + +<P> +"If I was to say yes, it'd hurt your feelings, needless. +So I won't. I don't mind tellin' you, though, that the +country is calling me your chaperone." +</P> + +<P> +"And does what people say worry you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not when they talk about something that I'm responsible +for. I didn't hire out as a ... a companion, ma'am." +</P> + +<P> +She stepped closer, hands behind her and said: +</P> + +<P> +"The first time you talked to me at any length you had +a great deal to say about respect. No one had ever talked +to me as you did. I took it because it was true ... and +I respected you. +</P> + +<P> +"Since that time I have been trying to be worthy of the +respect of you men; of yours particularly because you are +the only one with whom I have talked so frankly about +myself. But at every turn you repulse me, drive me back. +Nothing that I do seems to be pleasing to you. You pick +on me, Tom Beck! Why do you do it?" +</P> + +<P> +He eyed her calculatingly. +</P> + +<P> +"What would you think if I told you that it was because +I don't like you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I would think it was not the truth." +</P> + +<P> +He flushed and this time his eyes fell from hers. +</P> + +<P> +"I would think just that, but I might be wrong." She +breathed rapidly, one hand on a gold locket that was at +her throat. "I might think that you fear that becoming my +friend would be taking a chance ... but I might not want +to think that. +</P> + +<P> +"You were the first man who ever dared tell me just +how little I have amounted to. You are the first individual +that ever made me feel ashamed of myself. You did those +things; you opened my eyes, you showed me what real +achievement is. +</P> + +<P> +"Now I'm fighting for a place. I have won one thing: +my self respect. Now I'm going to win another: the respect +of other people and if I can win their respect I can +win their friendship. +</P> + +<P> +"I may be overconfident. Time will prove that. But +there is one thing I want, Tom Beck, and that is your friendship. +Before I get through, and if I succeed, you are going +to be glad to be my ... friend!" +</P> + +<P> +There was challenge in her tone, which, withal its assurance, +was sweet and gentle, almost appealing; and that +combination of qualities indicated that her words did not +express her whole thought. It steeled him and with that +mocking twinkle again he said: +</P> + +<P> +"You seem quite sure, ma'am." +</P> + +<P> +"As sure as I have ever been of anything in my life!" +</P> + +<P> +But her assurance did not compare with her desire, for +when he had gone she was seized with the fear that she had +said too much, had gone too far. And that which she had +boasted would be hers was to Jane Hunter a precious possession. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +OUTCASTS +</H4> + +<P> +At sunset a girl rider descended from the uplands +into the shadows of Devil's Hole. The big brown +which carried her picked his way slowly down the treacherous +trail, nose low, ears forward, selecting his footing with +care. +</P> + +<P> +The girl sat braced back in her saddle. Her face was +dark, eyes filled with a brooding, but the mouth though +sternly set showed a rueful droop at the corners. +</P> + +<P> +Her mind was not on her progress. She was lost in a +very definite consideration, something which stirred resentment, +it was evident from her face. Finally she drew +a sharp deep breath of impatience. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, get along, you dromedary!" she muttered and +rowelled her horse sharply. +</P> + +<P> +The big beast sprang forward with a grunt and went +down the trail in long, shaking bounds, even more intent +on his footing than before and when they reached the level +he crashed through the brush at a high lope, leaping little +washes with great lunges and bearing his light rider swiftly +toward the cabin from which a whisp of smoke curled. +</P> + +<P> +The discouraged looking man stood before the doorway +watching her come and as the girl swung down, before the +horse was well halted, she flashed a quick smile at him. +</P> + +<P> +"I heerd you comin', daughter, away back thar. I shore +thought the devil himself might 've been after you!" +</P> + +<P> +He smiled wanly. +</P> + +<P> +"I seen her again," the girl said as she dragged her saddle +off. +</P> + +<P> +The man pulled languidly at his mustache. +</P> + +<P> +"She see you?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. I set under a juniper and watched 'em ... her +an' that Beck man." +</P> + +<P> +"Mebby if you was to talk to her an' get friendly—" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't want to be no friends with her! I hate her +already!" +</P> + +<P> +She spat out the words and her face was a storm of dislike. +</P> + +<P> +"What I meant ... mebby 't would be easier for us +if you played like you was friends. Then she mightn't +suspect." +</P> + +<P> +She rolled her saddle to its side and spread the blanket +over it. +</P> + +<P> +"No. I can't do things that-a way, Alf,"—with a slow +shake of her head. "Mebby 't would get us more ... but +there's somethin' in me, in here,"—a palm to her breast—"that +won't let me. I can steal her blind an' only be +glad about it, but I couldn't make up like I was her friend +while I done it." +</P> + +<P> +"Mebby ... mebby you would sure enough like her," +he persisted. "You ain't never had no friends—" +</P> + +<P> +"I'd never like her, not while we're this way,"—with a +gesture to include the litter about the cabin. "She's got +all that I want. She's had all the things I've never had. +She's got clothes, lots of pretty clothes; she's lived in towns +an's always had things easy. She's got friends and folks +to respect her. You can tell that by lookin' at her.... +</P> + +<P> +"What makes me that way, Alf? What makes me hate +folks that have got the things I want?" +</P> + +<P> +He pulled on his mustache again and scanned the scarlet +sky which rose above the purple heights to the westward. +He shook his head rather helplessly and then looked at the +girl who stood before him, the eagerness of her query +showing in her eyes with an intensity that was almost desperate. +</P> + +<P> +"Mebby you get it from me. I've had it ... always. +That's all I have had ... that an' hard luck." +</P> + +<P> +"But I don't like it!" she said and in the tone was +something of the spirit of a bewildered little girl. "I'd +like to be like other girls. I'd like to have friends ... +girl friends, but the more I want 'em, the more I hate those +that have 'em! +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter with me, Alf?" +</P> + +<P> +"The same thing that's the matter with me, daughter: +hard luck. I've wanted things so bad that not hevin' 'em +has soured me. I've watched other outfits grow big an' +rich an' nothin' like that has ever come my way. The bigger +the rest got, the harder 't was for me to get along +... an' the worse I hated 'em!" +</P> + +<P> +There was no iron in his voice; just the whine of a +weakling, dispirited to a point where his resentment at ill +fortune, even, was a passive thing. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, she's got a fine house to live in, an' I'll bet she always +had. She's never knowed what it was to set out a +norther in a wagon. She's never lived on buckskin an' +frozen spuds all winter. She's never been chased from +one place to another.... +</P> + +<P> +"Folks respect her for what she's got. Why don't +folks get respected for just what they are?" +</P> + +<P> +There was pathos in that query. +</P> + +<P> +The man answered: +</P> + +<P> +"It ain't what you are that matters, daughter. It's +what you own." +</P> + +<P> +"You've always said that, ever since I can remember. +Mebby if you hadn't said it so much, Alf, I wouldn't feel +like I do." +</P> + +<P> +He shifted his footing uneasily and looked again at the +flaring sky. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it's so," he whined. "You'd have found it out +yourself. I've brung you up the best I knowed how." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Alf! I didn't mean I was finding fault! Damned +if you <i>ain't</i> brought me up good! Why, you're the only +friend I got Alf! What'd I do without you? You're the +only one I've ever knowed ... real well. You're the only +one who's ever been good to me!" She put her hands on +his shoulders and looked into his face with a smile of genuine +affection. "Good old Alf! We've been pals, ain't +we?" +</P> + +<P> +He nodded, and said: +</P> + +<P> +"An' if you stick to me a little mite longer, you'll have +enough. +</P> + +<P> +"You're brighter'n I be, daughter. You got a longer +head. Now's your chanct to use it!" He looked about, +somewhat nervously, as if they might be overheard. +"Sometimes I get afeerd. Lately, since we've come here, +I've been afeerd. It's the only time I ever let anybody else +know what my plans was an' it makes me feel creepy to +think somebody else <i>knows!</i>" +</P> + +<P> +"'Fraid of what, Alf?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +He shrugged his shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"Gettin' caught again, an'—" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, but you won't! You can't. Alf, you can't get +caught an' sent to jail an' leave me alone again!" +</P> + +<P> +She spoke in a whisper and gripped her fist for emphasis. +</P> + +<P> +"I shore don't want to leave you, daughter. I shore +don't want to get catched. That's where you come in ... +helpin' me scheme! I ain't afeerd of havin' 'em come up on +me an' git me red-handed so much as I am of havin' somebody +else know what's goin' on." +</P> + +<P> +"But he sent for us. He told us the outfit was goin' +to be owned by a tenderfoot. He's as much in danger as we, +ain't he?" +</P> + +<P> +Her father nodded slowly. +</P> + +<P> +"You're right ... in a way, but if it ever come to a +show-down, I'd be the one to hold th' bag, wouldn't I? +That's what we got to watch out for. 'Course, it's easy +pickin', with this gal tryin' to run things herself, an' what +with her brand workin' over into ourn so easy, there ain't +many chances.... Except havin' somebody else to know." +</P> + +<P> +"If anybody ever was to double cross you, Alf, I'd get +'em if it was the last thing I done!" +</P> + +<P> +That threat carried conviction and her father looked at +her with a rare brand of admiration in his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Lord, daughter, sometimes I think you was meant to +be a man ... an' a hard man! Sometimes you almost +scare me, th' way you say things!" +</P> + +<P> +She made no reply and he said: +</P> + +<P> +"All we got to do is go slow. A brandin' iron has built +many a fortune, an' nobody ever had it any easier 'n +us." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think we'll ever get rich enough, Alf, to have +a regular house? An' be respected by folks?" +</P> + +<P> +"Luck's bound to change sometime," he muttered. +"Ours has been bad a long time ... a long, long time." +</P> + +<P> +He gathered an arm load of wood and entered the cabin. +The girl stood alone a long time, watching the brilliant +flowering of the sky sink slowly into the west, drawing +steely night to cover its garden. A sharp star bored its +way through the failing light and stood half way between +earth and heaven. A vagrant breeze slid down the creek, +bringing with it the breath of sage, and afar off somewhere +a cow bawled plaintively. +</P> + +<P> +"She has 'em," she muttered to herself. "Friends ... +an' respect ... an' everything I want.... +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder what makes me hate folks so...." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE CATAMOUNT +</H4> + +<P> +Three weeks after her arrival Jane made her first +trip to town and Beck drove the pair of strong bays +which swirled their buckboard over the road at a spanking +trot. +</P> + +<P> +Events had arisen to prevent their being together in the +days immediately following the frank discussion of their +attitudes toward one another and Jane thought that she +detected a feeling of curiosity in him, as though he wondered +just how she would go about forcing him to like +her. Shrewdly, she avoided personalities and talked much +of the ranch. +</P> + +<P> +When they broke over the divide and began the long +drop into town, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Since you asked advice from me, I keep thinkin' up +more, ma'am." +</P> + +<P> +"That's nice. I need it. What now?" +</P> + +<P> +"I s'pose Dad mentioned that water in Devil's Hole?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, I don't recall it. We've talked so much and +about so many things that perhaps it's slipped my mind." +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe. He said he had." +</P> + +<P> +She questioned him further but he said it might be well +for her to mention it to Hepburn. "He's foreman, you +know." +</P> + +<P> +They swung into the one street of Ute Crossing and +stopped before the bank. As Beck stepped down to tie +the team a girl came out of a store across the way and +vaulted into the saddle on a big brown horse with graceful +ease. It was the nester's daughter. +</P> + +<P> +Two men came from the saloon just as she reined her +horse about. They eyed her insolently with that stare of a +type of loafer which is eloquent of all that is despicable +and one of them, a short, stodgy man, smiled brazenly. +</P> + +<P> +The girl gave them one stare, hostility in her brown +eyes, and then looked away, her lips moving in an unheard +word, surely of contempt. +</P> + +<P> +Then the man spoke. It is not well to repeat. His words +were few, but they were ugly. The girl had touched her +horse with a spur and he leaped forward. Just that one +bound. As he made it the man spoke and with a wrench +she set the brown back on his haunches and whirled him +about. Her face was suddenly white, her lips in a tight, red +line, and her eyes blazed. +</P> + +<P> +She rode back to the men, who had continued on their +way, holding her horse to a mincing trot, for he seemed to +have caught the tensity of her mood. +</P> + +<P> +"Did I hear you right?" she said to the man who had +spoken. +</P> + +<P> +He stood still and looked up with the rude leer. +</P> + +<P> +"That depends on your ears, likely. All I said was that +you—" +</P> + +<P> +She did not give him time to repeat. Her right arm +flashed up and the quirt, slung to its wrist, hissed angrily +as it cut back and with a stinging crack wound its thong +about the man's face. +</P> + +<P> +"Take that!" she cried. "And that ... and that!" +</P> + +<P> +At the first blow the man ducked and turned, throwing +up his hands to guard, and as other slashes, relentless, rapid, +of scourging vigor, fell upon his head and face and neck, +he doubled over and ran for the shelter of a store. But +the girl's wrath was not satisfied. She sent the big horse +from street to sidewalk where his hoofs thundered on the +planks, crowded in between her quarry and the building +fronts, cutting off his flight, striking faster, harder, teeth +showing now between her drawn lips. +</P> + +<P> +The man fled into the street again, but she followed, +guiding her horse without conscious thought, surely, for +no woman roused as her face showed she was roused could +have had thought for other than the thrashing she administered. +Endangered by the excited hoofs which were +all about him as he ducked and dodged in vain to escape, the +man ran with hands and arms close about his head, moving +them with each blow that fell in futile attempts to save +other parts from the cut and smart of that rawhide. +</P> + +<P> +The girl uttered no word. All the rancor, all the rage +he had roused by his insult, found vent in the whipping. +Her whole lithe torso moved with each stroke as she put +into the downward swing all the strength she could command, +and across the man's cheek rose broad red welts, contrasting +with his pallor of fright, until his face looked +like a fancy berry pie. +</P> + +<P> +Scuttling, dodging, doubling, the man worked across +the street, turned back time and again but persisting until, +with a cry of pain and desperation, he threw out one hand, +caught the bridle and in the instant's respite the move gave +him stumbled to the other sidewalk, across it and sprawled +through the swinging doors of the saloon he had left moments +before. +</P> + +<P> +The horse came to a halt with a slam against the flimsy +front of the building. The girl drew back her quirt as for +a final blow, but the man, regaining his feet, fled through +the bar room and disappeared. She dropped her hand to +the top of the door, pushed it open and held it so, peering +darkly into the room. +</P> + +<P> +People had come into the street to watch. There had +been excited shouts and a scream or two, but as the girl +sat looking into the place a quick silence shut down and +when she spoke her voice, trembling with emotion but +scarcely raised above its normal pitch, was easily heard. +</P> + +<P> +"I've took a lot from men," she said, "ever since I was +a kid. When I come into this country I thought maybe +I'd get a little respect ... for bein' just a girl. I didn't +get it ... I've got to take it. +</P> + +<P> +"If that man's a sample of the kind you've got here, +you're a nest of skunks. And you talk easy hereafter, every +one of you, because so long as I've got a quirt and an arm, I'll +hide you till you're raw if you make any breaks like he did. +Keep that in mind!" +</P> + +<P> +She released her hold on the door; it swung outward +smartly and as it struck the horse he sprang sideways, +wheeled, and clearing the shallow gutter with a lunge, swung +down the street at a gallop. +</P> + +<P> +When she passed Jane Hunter, who stood amazed in her +buckboard, tears showed in the girl's eyes, but her back was +as erect, her shoulders as trimly set as though no great +emotion was surging in her heart. +</P> + +<P> +"She's quite a catamount, I'll guess," said Tom Beck +as he gave the knot in the tie rope a securing tug and turned +to face Jane. +</P> + +<P> +His eyes were fired with admiration. +</P> + +<P> +"But a girl—" +</P> + +<P> +"She was magnificent!" +</P> + +<P> +It was Dick Hilton who had interrupted with the words. +Beck looked at him and the enthusiasm which had been in +his face faded. He eyed the Easterner briefly and turned +to adjust a buckle on the harness. +</P> + +<P> +"And only a girl!" exclaimed Jane under her breath. +"Dick, did you see it all?" +</P> + +<P> +"A typical Western girl, I should say," he replied. +"Your.... Your neighbor and associate? Your companion, +Jane?" he asked. "The sort you want to cast your +lot with?" +</P> + +<P> +"And a moment ago you thought her magnificent!" she +taunted as she stepped down and offered him her hand. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll meet you in, say, two hours, ma'am," Beck said. +</P> + +<P> +"Very well; right here," she replied, and he left her +as she turned to meet Hilton's unpleasant smile. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +They began the return trip shortly after noon. Hilton +had been with Jane when Tom returned and he stood beside +the buckboard talking some minutes after Beck had +picked up the reins and was ready to commence the drive. +Occasionally Dick's eyes wandered from Jane to the other +man's face but Tom sat, knees crossed, idly toying with the +whip, as indifferent to what was being said as if the others +were out of sight and hearing. Hilton made an obvious +effort to exclude the Westerner but Beck's disregard of +him was as genuine as it was evident. He sat patiently, with +an easy sense of superiority and the contrast was not lost +on Jane Hunter. +</P> + +<P> +The town was far behind and below them, a mere cluster +of miniature buildings, before either spoke. Then it was +Jane. +</P> + +<P> +"That girl.... There was something splendid about her, +wasn't there?" +</P> + +<P> +"There was," he agreed. "She sure expressed her opinion +of men in general!" +</P> + +<P> +"A newcomer, evidently." +</P> + +<P> +Beck nodded. "Came in soon after you did, with her +father, it looked like." +</P> + +<P> +"And she wins the respect of strange men by blows!" +she said. +</P> + +<P> +"He deserved all he got, didn't he?" Beck asked, smiling. +"I like to see a bad <i>hombre</i> like that get set down +by a woman. There's something humiliating about it that +counts a lot more than the whippin' she gave him." +</P> + +<P> +"But wouldn't it have spoken more for the chivalry of +the country if some man had done it for her?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's likely. But there ain't much chivalry here, +ma'am." +</P> + +<P> +"And am I so fortunate as to have enjoyed the protection +of what little there is?" +</P> + +<P> +He looked at her blankly. +</P> + +<P> +"I had to come clear to Ute Crossing to learn how one +man defended me from the insult of another." +</P> + +<P> +He stirred uneasily on the seat. +</P> + +<P> +"That was nothin'," he growled. "I'd been waiting for +a chance to land on Webb for a long time." +</P> + +<P> +He did not look at her and his manner had none of its +usual bluntness; clearly he was evasive and, more, uncomfortable. +</P> + +<P> +"First, I want to thank you," Jane said after she had +looked at him a moment. "You don't know how a woman +such as I am can feel about a thing like that. I think it was +the finest thing a man has ever done for me ... and many +men have been trying to do fine things for me for a long +time." +</P> + +<P> +She was deeply touched and her voice was not just steady +but when Beck did not answer, just looked straight ahead +with his tell-tale flush deepening, a delight crept into her +eyes and the corners of her pretty mouth quirked. +</P> + +<P> +"Besides, it was a great deal to expect of a man who +has made up his mind not to like me!" +</P> + +<P> +They had topped the divide and the sorrels had been +fighting the bits. As she spoke Tom gave them their heads +and the team swept the buckboard forward with a banging +and clatter that would have drowned words anyhow, but +the fact that he did not reply gave Jane a feeling of jubilation. +Her thrust had pricked his reserve, showing it to be +not wholly genuine! +</P> + +<P> +Dick Hilton had told her of the encounter Beck had +had with Webb, told it jeeringly as he attempted to impress +her with the distasteful phases of her environment. +He had failed in that. He had impressed her only with the +fact that Tom Beck had gone out of his way, had taken a +chance, to protect her standing. Others of her men had +heard her insulted, men from other ranches had been there, +but of them all Beck had been her champion. +</P> + +<P> +And it was Beck who had bullied her, had doubted her +in the face of her best efforts to convince him of fitness! +He had even challenged her to make herself his friend! +</P> + +<P> +She had believed before she came into those hills that she +knew men of all sorts but now she had found something +new. Here was a man who, in her presence, would plot to +humiliate her and yet when she could not see or hear his +loyalty and his belief in her were outstanding. +</P> + +<P> +And what was it, she asked herself, that made her pulse +leap and her throat tighten? It was not wholly gratitude. +It was not merely because he resisted her efforts to win his +open regard. Those things were potent influences, surely, +but there was something more fundamental about him, a +basic quality which she had not before encountered in men; +she could not analyze it but daily she had sensed its growing +strength. Now she felt it ... felt, but could not identify. +</P> + +<P> +Two-Bits opened the gate for them and Tom carried her +bundles into the house. +</P> + +<P> +At the corral, as Beck unharnessed, the homely cow +puncher said: +</P> + +<P> +"Gosh, Tommy, how'd it seem, ridin' all the way to town +an' back with her settin' up beside you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Just about like you was there, Two-Bits, only we didn't +swear quite so much." +</P> + +<P> +"I got lots of respect for you, Tommy, but I think you're +a damned liar." +</P> + +<P> +And Beck chuckled to himself as though, perhaps, the +other had been right. +</P> + +<P> +"Two weeks now since he wrote," Two-Bits sighed. +"He shore ought to be comin'. Gosh, Tom, but he's a +bright man!" +</P> + +<P> +Again that night Jane Hunter looked from a window after +the lights in the bunk house had gone out and the place +was quiet, to see a tall, silent figure move slowly beneath +the cottonwoods, watching the house, pausing at times as +if listening. Then it went back through the shadows more +rapidly, as though satisfied that all was well. +</P> + +<P> +Many times she had watched this but tonight it seemed of +greater significance than ever before. He denied her his +friendship; he had made Webb his sworn enemy by defending +her (she had not told him that part of the tale she +heard in Ute Crossing) and yet disclaimed any great interest +in her as a motive. Still, he patrolled her dooryard +at night! +</P> + +<P> +A sudden impulse to do something that would <i>make</i> +him give her that consideration in her presence which he +gave before others came to life. His attitude suddenly angered +her beyond reason and she felt her body shaking as +tears sprang into her eyes. The great thing which she desired +was just there, just out of reach and the fact exasperated +her, grew, became a fever until, on her knees at the +window, hammering the sill with her fists, she cried: +</P> + +<P> +"Tom Beck you're going to love me!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +AND NOW, THE CLERGY +</H4> + +<P> +Two-bits was the last into the bunkhouse the following +evening. He had ridden his Nigger horse in +from the westward hills and had not come through the big +gate so not until he stepped across the threshold were +the others aware of his presence. +</P> + +<P> +"Here he is!" said a rider from down the creek who +was stopping for the night and the group in the center of the +low room broke apart. +</P> + +<P> +"Two-Bits, here's your brother," said Curtis. +</P> + +<P> +A small man stood beside him. He wore a green, battered +derby hat, band and binding of which were sadly +frayed. He wore spectacles, steel rimmed, over searching +gray eyes. He was unshaven. A celluloid collar, buttoned +behind, made an overly large cylinder for his wrinkled neck. +He wore a frock coat, also green with age, the pockets of +which bulged and sagged and their torn corners spoke of +long overloading. His overalls, patched and newly washed, +were tucked into boots with run-down heels. In his hand he +held a fountain pen. +</P> + +<P> +At the entrance of Two-Bits all talk had ceased; at Curtis' +introduction, Two-Bits stopped. He swallowed, setting his +Adam's apple in sharp vibration. He took off his hat. He +flushed and his mild eyes wavered. Then he advanced +across the room, extending a limp hand and said in a thin, +embarrassed voice: +</P> + +<P> +"Please to meet you, Mister Beal." +</P> + +<P> +Tom Beck bit his lips but one or two of the others +laughed outright; they ceased, however, when the Reverend +Beal, in a voice that was tremendously deep and impressive +for such a small man, said: +</P> + +<P> +"My brother, I extend to you the right hand of fellowship! +It is a deed of God that enables me to look once +more into your beloved face after these years of separation. +Give me your hand, brother. May the blessings of +Heaven descend upon and abide with thee!" +</P> + +<P> +He shook Two-Bits' paw, looking up earnestly into his +face, while the blushing became more furious. +</P> + +<P> +"Marvelous are the ways of Providence!" he boomed. +"Let us give thanks." +</P> + +<P> +He doffed his hat, and still clinging to Two-Bits' hand, +lowered his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Almighty Father, whose blessings are diverse and manifold, +we, brothers of the flesh, give our thanks to Thee for +bringing about this reunion on earth. We realize, oh Lord, +that these mundane moments are but brief forerunners of +greater joys that are to come, that they are but passing +pleasures; but joy here below is a rare thing and from this +valley of tears and sin we lift our hearts and our voices in +thanks that such blessings have been visited upon us by Thy +blessed magnanimity!" +</P> + +<P> +He lifted his head and honest tears showed behind his +spectacles. +</P> + +<P> +"And now, brother,"—in a brusk, business-like manner, +"you, too, will be interested in this article which I +was about to demonstrate to the congregation." +</P> + +<P> +He replaced his hat with a dead <i>punk</i>, held the pen aloft +in gesture, drew a pad of paper from one of his sagging +pockets and continued: +</P> + +<P> +"Made of India rubber, combined in a secret process with +Belgian talc and Swedish, water-proof shellac, this pen will +withstand the acid action of the strongest inks. It is self-filling, +durable, compact, artistic in design. The clip prevents +its falling from the pocket and consequent loss. +</P> + +<P> +"The point is of the finest, specially selected California, +eighteen carat gold. It was designed by that peerless inventor, +Thomas Edison. Its every feature, from the safety +shank to the velvet tip, is covered by patents granted by +the authority of this great republic! +</P> + +<P> +"It does not leak!"—shaking it vigorously. "It does +not fail to flow. It does not scratch or prick. Follow me +closely, men; watch every move." +</P> + +<P> +With facility he guided the point across the paper in great +flourishes, sketching a crudely designed bird on the wing. +</P> + +<P> +"See? See what can be done with this invention? How +can any mature man or woman do without this article? +<i>Such</i> an article! +</P> + +<P> +"This, men, is a three dollar commodity, but for the +purposes of advertising I am permitted by the firm to charge +you—Two-fifty? No! Two dollars? <i>No!</i> One fifty? +NO! For the sum of one dollar, American money, E +Pluribus Unum and In God We Trust, I will place this invaluable +article in your possession. One dollar, men! <i>One +dollar!</i> +</P> + +<P> +"But wait. Further"—diving into another pocket, "we +will give away absolutely free of charge to every purchaser +one of these celebrated key rings and chains, made of a new +conglomerate called white metal, guaranteed not to rust, +tarnish or break except under excessive strain. Keeps your +keys safe and always handy. Free, with each and every individual +purchase! +</P> + +<P> +"Still more!"—making another dive into the inexhaustable +pockets—"Another article used by every gentleman +and lady. A hand mirror, a magnifying hand mirror. +Carry it in your pocket, have it always handy for the thousand +and one uses to which it may be put. +</P> + +<P> +"Think! This magnificent fountain pen, this key-ring +and chain, this pocket mirror, a collection which regularly +would retail for from four to five dollars, are yours for +one dollar.... +</P> + +<P> +"Now, who's first?" +</P> + +<P> +Two-Bits who had watched and listened with a growing +amazement, mouth open, Adam's apple jumping, was roused. +</P> + +<P> +"I am, Mister Beal," he said eagerly, digging in a pocket +for the money. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, brother, part of being a Beal is knowing a bargain! +Who else, now?" +</P> + +<P> +He sold six of the pens before the big bell at the ranch +house summoned the men to supper; then slipped his +stock back in the pockets of that clerical looking garment +and, grasping Two-Bits by the arm, beaming up into his +face, stumped along by his side. +</P> + +<P> +At the table he ate and talked, at one and the same time, +doing both with astonishing ease. No matter how great +the excess of food in his mouth, he was still able to articulate, +and no matter how rapidly he talked, he could always thrust +more nourishment between his lips. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it warms the heart of a seeker after strays from +the herds of the Master to look upon the bright, honest +faces of stalwart men!" he cried, brandishing his fork and +helping himself to more syrup with the other hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Blessed are the pure in heart, it is written, and I know +that when in the presence of such men as you, I am among +the blessed of the Father! I can see integrity, devotion to +duty, uprightness and honor in all your faces. Or, that is, +in <i>most</i> of your faces. What contrast!"—heedless of the +uproar his qualification of a broad statement caused. +"What contrast to the iniquitous ways of those who dwell +in the tents of the wicked. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, brethren, only last night I stood in the hotel in +yonder settlement and watched and listened to the cries of +a lost soul, a young man sunk hopelessly in sin. He was +a stranger in a strange land, but he had not yet felt the +heavy hand of a slowly-roused God, had not yet become +the Prodigal. He had tasted of the wine when it was red +and out of his mouth flowed much evil. +</P> + +<P> +"A man possessed of a devil, I am sure, and I spoke +to him, asking if he did not desire to seek redemption in +the straight and narrow way which leads to the only righteous +life. +</P> + +<P> +"'Righteousness, hell!' he shouted at me, his face black +with ungodly thoughts. +</P> + +<P> +"'That's what I want <i>less</i> of: righteousness! That's +what's raised hell in me!' +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it was terrible, brothers! He drank continually +and finally they carried him off to bed, cursing and swearing, +cherishing bitterness in his heart, which is against the +word of the Almighty. A definite wrong was in his mind, +I was led to presume, for he cried again and again: 'I'll +break her if it's the last thing I do! I'll ruin her and bring +her back!' +</P> + +<P> +"I tell you, my fellow men, I prayed fervently for that +lost soul through the night. Something heavy is upon him, +something tremendous." +</P> + +<P> +"Likely some of that high-pressure booze," remarked +one, at which everybody except the Reverend and Two-Bits +laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Goin' to stay long?" Oliver asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Alas, I am not my own master. My feet are guided +from up Yonder. To tarry with my dear brother is my +most devout prayer and wish, but we have no promise of +the morrow. I may remain in your midst a day, a month. +I cannot tell when the call will come." +</P> + +<P> +Tom Beck had watched with a glimmer in his eye until +the newcomer told of the scene in the hotel. It was not +difficult for him to identify the sin beset young man as Hilton +and at that he became less attentive to the garrulous talk +of the itinerant preacher-peddler. In fact, he gave no heed +at all until, returned to the bunk house, the Reverend made +a point of seeking out Dad Hepburn and talking to him in +confidence. +</P> + +<P> +Dad's bed was directly across from Tom's and he could +not help hearing. +</P> + +<P> +"I waited to get you alone," Beal said, dropping his +elocutionary manner, "because what others don't know +won't hurt 'em, and so forth. But just before I was leaving +town, saddling my mare in the corral, I heard two men +talking and it may interest you. +</P> + +<P> +"This outfit uses the HC on horses as well as cattle, +don't it?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's right." +</P> + +<P> +"Exactly! One of the men said (they didn't know I +was near, understand). 'So there's eight more HC horses +gone west.' And the other one said, 'Yes, they was camped +at the mouth of Twenty Mile this mornin'. It's easy. They +had the horses in a box gulch, with a tree down across the +mouth, most natural.' +</P> + +<P> +"Have you sold any horses lately?" +</P> + +<P> +Hepburn glanced about cautiously and just before he +turned to reply his eyes met Beck's gaze, cold and hard +this time, flinging an unmistakable challenge at him. +</P> + +<P> +"Not a horse," he mumbled. "They're sneaking out of +the country with 'em. Tom, come here,"—with a jerk of +his head. Beck walked over and sat down. "Did you +hear what the Reverend says?" Dad asked. "About the +horses?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I ain't surprised. Are you?" +</P> + +<P> +His eyes, again amused, bored into Hepburn's face with +the query: +</P> + +<P> +"No, but—" +</P> + +<P> +The sharp batter of running hoofs cut him short. The +whole assemblage was listening. The rider stopped short +at the gate, they heard it creak and a moment later he +came across toward the bunk house at a high lope. They +heard him speak gruffly to the horse, heard the creak of +leather as he swung down and then jingling spurs marked +his further progress toward the door. +</P> + +<P> +It was Henry Riley, owner of the Bar Z ranch, thirty +miles down Coyote creek. A cattleman of the old order, a +man not given to haste or excitement. His appearance +caught the interest of all, for he was breathing fast and +his eyes blazed. +</P> + +<P> +"Where's Dad?" he asked and Hepburn, rising, said: +"Here. What's the matter, Henry?" +</P> + +<P> +"Who's this nester in Devil's Hole?" Riley asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Why ... I didn't know there was a nester there." +</P> + +<P> +Dad answered hesitatingly and Beck scraped one foot +on the floor. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, there is. Guess we've all been asleep. He's there, +with a girl, and they filed on that water yesterday. That +shuts your outfit and mine out of the best range in the +country if he fences, which he will! If they're goin' to dry +farm our steers off the range we'd better look alive." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be damned," muttered Hepburn. "That was one +of the next things I was goin' to have her do, file on that +water." +</P> + +<P> +He scratched his head and turned. Beck was waiting +for him to face about. +</P> + +<P> +"Now," he said slowly, "what are you going to do?" +</P> + +<P> +His eyes flashed angrily and any who watched could see +the challenge. +</P> + +<P> +Silently Hepburn reached for his belt and gun, strapped +it on, dug in his blankets for another revolver and shoved +it into his shirt. +</P> + +<P> +"First," he said, "I'm goin' after those horses. <i>That</i> +ain't too late to be remedied. No, I'll go alone!" as Tom +stepped toward his bunk where his gun hung. +</P> + +<P> +Hepburn gave Beck stare for stare as though defying +him now to impute his motives and strode out into a fine +rain, drawing on his slicker. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE DESTROYER +</H4> + +<P> +While the men were eating that night another rider +had come to H.C. He entered slowly, tied his horse +to the fence and walked down along the cottonwoods toward +the house. He stood outside a time, looking through the +window at Jane whose golden head was bowed in the mellow +glow of the student lamp as she worked at her desk. +</P> + +<P> +He stepped lightly across the veranda and rapped; at her +bidding he entered. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick!" she exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +"Undoubtedly," he said, with forced attempt at lightness. +</P> + +<P> +"How did you get here? Why come at this time of +day?"—rising and walking toward him. +</P> + +<P> +"I rode a horse, and I came because I couldn't stay away +from you any longer." +</P> + +<P> +She looked at him, head tilted a bit to one side, and +genuine regret was in her slow smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Dick, don't look or feel like that! I'm glad to +see you, but I <i>wish</i> you'd stop thinking and talking and looking +like that. I don't like to have you so dreadfully determined +... when it's no use. +</P> + +<P> +"All this way to see me! And did you eat? Of course +you didn't!" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't want anything," he protested glumly. +</P> + +<P> +"But you must." +</P> + +<P> +She seized on his need as welcome distraction from the +love making, which undoubtedly was his purpose. She +took his coat and hat, placed cigarettes for him and went +to the kitchen to help Carlotta prepare a quick meal. She +served it herself, going to pains to make it attractive, and +finally seated herself across the table from Hilton, who +made a pretense of eating. +</P> + +<P> +She talked, a bit feverishly, perhaps, but compelled him +to stick to matters far from personal and after he had finished +his scant meal and lighted a cigarette he leaned back +in his chair and smiled easily at her. It was a good smile, +open and frank and gentle, but when it died that nasty light +came back; as though the smile showed the man Jane +Hunter had tolerated for long, masking the man she now +tried to put from her. +</P> + +<P> +"If your enthusiasm were for anything else, I'd like it," +he said. +</P> + +<P> +"But it isn't. Why can't you like it as it is?" +</P> + +<P> +He ignored the question. +</P> + +<P> +"Busy, Jane?" +</P> + +<P> +"As the devil on Forty-Second street." +</P> + +<P> +"And still think it's worth while?" +</P> + +<P> +"The only worth-while thing I've ever done; more worth +while every day. So much worth while that I'm made over +from the heart out and I've been here less than a month!" +</P> + +<P> +"After taking a bottle of your bitters I am now able to +support my husband and children," he quoted ironically. +</P> + +<P> +"Laugh if you must,"—with a lift of her shoulders. +"I mean it." +</P> + +<P> +"You get along with the men, Jane?" +</P> + +<P> +"Very well so far. They're fine, real, honest men. I +like them all. There are some things I don't quite understand +yet," examining a finger nail closely. "I haven't +made up my mind that my foreman can be trusted or that +he's as honest as he seems to be." +</P> + +<P> +"The fellow who was with you yesterday?" +</P> + +<P> +"No; Dad Hepburn. An older man. He.... He +seems to evade me some times." +</P> + +<P> +Hilton watched her closely. She was one of the few +women he knew who had been able to judge men; he made +a mental note of the name she had mentioned. +</P> + +<P> +The talk became desultory and Dick's eyes clung more +closely to Jane's face, their hard, bright light accentuated. +It began to rain and Jane, hearing, looked out. +</P> + +<P> +"Raining! You can't go back tonight. You'll have to +stay here. Mr. Hepburn can fix you up with the rest of +the men." +</P> + +<P> +He smiled peculiarly at that, for it cut. He made no +comment beyond expressing the belief that a wetting, since +it was not cold, would do no harm. She knew that he +did not mean that and contrasted his evasion with Beck's +quiet candor. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the idea of the locket?" he asked and Jane +looked down at the trinket with which she had been toying. +"You never were much addicted to ornaments." +</P> + +<P> +She laughed with an expression which he did not understand. +</P> + +<P> +"Something is in there which is very dear to me," she +said. "I don't wear it as an ornament; as a talisman, +rather. I'm getting to be quite dependent on it." Her +manner was outwardly light but at bottom was a seriousness +which she did not wholly cover. +</P> + +<P> +"Excuse me ... for intruding on privacies," he said +bitterly. Then, after a moment: "The picture of some +cow-puncher lover, perhaps?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, though that wouldn't be unreasonable," she replied. +"Such things have happened in—" +</P> + +<P> +"Let's cut this!" he said savagely, breaking in on her +and sitting forward. "Let's quit these absurd banalities. +</P> + +<P> +"You know why I came here. You know what's in my +mind. There's a job before me that gets bigger every day; +the least you can do is to help me." +</P> + +<P> +"In what?" +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me what I must do to make you understand that I +love you." +</P> + +<P> +He leaned across the table intently. The girl laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Prove to me first that two and two make six!" +</P> + +<P> +"Meaning?" +</P> + +<P> +"That it can't be done." +</P> + +<P> +"It's the first time you've ever been that certain." +</P> + +<P> +"The first time I've ever expressed the certainty, perhaps. +Things happen, Dick. I progress." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean such an impossible thing as that there is +someone else?" +</P> + +<P> +"Another question which you have no right to ask." +</P> + +<P> +"Jane, look at me! Are you wholly insane?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, but as I look back I think I have been a little off, +perhaps." +</P> + +<P> +"But you're putting behind you everything that is of +you,"—his color rising with his voice as her secure conviction +maddened him. "The life that is yours by nature +and training. You're going blindly ahead into something +you don't know, among people who are not yours!" +</P> + +<P> +He became suddenly tense, as though the passion which +he had repressed until that moment swept through him with +a mighty urge. His breath slipped out in a long sigh. +</P> + +<P> +"You are repeatedly mistaken, Dick. I have just found +my people." +</P> + +<P> +"<i>Your</i> people!" he scoffed. +</P> + +<P> +She nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"'East is East and West is West,' you know, and the two +shall never meet. It must be true, and, if so, I have never +been of the east. I never felt comfortable there, with the +lies and the shams and the hypocrisies that were all about +us. Out here, I do. +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps that is why you and I...." She shrugged +her shoulders again. "You see, Dick, I have cast my lot +here. The East is gone, for me; it never can pass for you. +I have found my people; they are my people, their Gods are +my Gods. I have a strength, a peace of mind, self respect, +ambitions and natural, real impulses that I never knew before. +I feel that I have come home!" +</P> + +<P> +He laughed dryly, but she went on as though she had not +heard: +</P> + +<P> +"You have never understood me; you never can hope +to now. There's a gulf between us, Dick, that will never +be bridged. I am sorry, in a way. I never can love you and +I hate to see you wasting your desires on me. +</P> + +<P> +"I have thought about you a great deal lately. You are +missing all that is fine in life and because of that I am sorry +for you. We used to have one thing in common: the lack +of worthy ideals. I have wiped out that lack and I wish +you might; I truly wish that, Dick! And it seems possible +to me that you may, just because you are here where realities +count. There's an incentive in the atmosphere and +I do hope it gets into your blood. +</P> + +<P> +"It is all so nonsensical, the thing you are doing, so +foolish. I suppose I am the only thing you have ever +wanted that you couldn't get and that's what stimulates your +want. It's not love, Dick." +</P> + +<P> +"How do you know?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have learned things in these weeks," with a wistful +smile. "I have learned about ... men, for one thing. I +have found an honesty, an honor, a simple directness, which +I have never known before." +</P> + +<P> +He rose and leaned his fists on the table. +</P> + +<P> +"You mean you've found a lover?" +</P> + +<P> +She met his eyes frankly. +</P> + +<P> +"Again I say, you have no right to ask that question. In +the second place, I am not yet sure." +</P> + +<P> +His mouth drew down in a leer. +</P> + +<P> +"So that's it, eh? So you would turn me away for some +rough-neck who murders the English language and smells +of horse. You'd let a thing like that overwhelm you in a +few days when a civilized human has failed after years of +trying! +</P> + +<P> +"I've tried to treat you with respect. I've tried to be +gentle and honorable. Now if you don't want that, if you +want this he-man sort of wooing, by God you'll get it!" +</P> + +<P> +He kicked his chair back angrily and advanced about +the table. A big blue vein which ran down over his forehead +stood out in knots. Jane rose. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick!" she cried and in the one word was disappointment, +anger, appeal, reproach, query. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I'm through," he muttered. "I used to think you +were a different sort; used to think you were fine and finished. +But if you're a woman in the raw ... then I'll +treat you as such. You've got me, either way; I can't get +you out of my mind an hour. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm through holding myself back, now. You've driven +me mad and you prove by your own insinuations that the +lover you want is not the one who will dally with you. You +want the primitive, go-and-get-it kind, the kind that takes +and keeps. Well, mine can be that kind!" +</P> + +<P> +She backed from him slowly and he kept on advancing +with a menacing assurance, his face contorted with jealousy +and desire. +</P> + +<P> +"The other day,"—stopping a moment, "when I took +your hands and felt your body here in this room I was almost +beside myself. You haven't been out of my thoughts an +hour since then! I tried to kill it with reason and then +with drink. I've tried to be patient and wait among the + ... the cattle in that little town." He walked on toward<BR> +her. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, are you mad?" she challenged, trying to summon +her assurance through the fright which he had given her. +"It's not what you think.... It's none of your affair— +</P> + +<P> +"Dick!" +</P> + +<P> +He grasped her wrists roughly. +</P> + +<P> +"Am I mad?" he repeated, looking down at her, his +jaw clenched. "Yes, I'm mad. Mad from want of you +... your eyes, your lips, your hair, your very breath +drives me mad and when I hear you tell me that you've +found the flesh that calls to your flesh among these men it +drives me wild! I can offer you more than any of them +can a thousand times over.... +</P> + +<P> +"Great God, I love you!" +</P> + +<P> +But his snarl was not the snarl of devotion, of affection. +It was the lust cry of the destroyer, he who would possess +hungrily, unthinkingly, without sympathy or understanding +... even without respect. +</P> + +<P> +He drew her to him roughly and she struggled, too frightened +to cry out, face white and lips closed. He imprisoned +both her hands in his one and with the other arm about her +body crushed it against his, her breast to his breast, her +limbs to his limbs. He lowered his lips toward her face +and she bent backward, crying out lowly, but the touch of +her lithe torso, tense in the struggle to be free, made his +strength greater, swept away the last barrier of caution +and his body was aflame with desire. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick ... stop...." she panted and managed to free +one hand. +</P> + +<P> +She struck him on the mouth and struck again, blindly. +He gave her efforts no notice but, releasing her hands, +crushed her to him with both arms and she could feel the +quick come and go of his breath through her hair as he +buried his face in it. +</P> + +<P> +And at that she became possessed of fresh strength. She +turned and half slipped, half fought her way through his +clutch, running down the room to the fireplace where she +stood with the davenport between them breathing irregularly, +a hand clenched at her breast. +</P> + +<P> +"You ... you beast!" she said, slowly, unsteadily as +he came toward her again. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, beast!" he echoed. "We're all beasts, every one +of us who sees and feels and I've seen you and I've felt +you and the beast is hungry!" +</P> + +<P> +"And you call that love!" She spoke rapidly, breathlessly. +"An hour ago if anyone would have said that Dick +Hilton, sober, would have displayed this, this <i>thing</i> which is +his true self, I'd have come to your defense! But +now ... you ... you!" +</P> + +<P> +Her face was flaming, her voice shook with outraged +pride. +</P> + +<P> +"Stop!" she cried, drawing herself up, no longer afraid. +She emerged from fear commanding, impressive, and Hilton +hesitated, putting one hand to a chair back and eyeing +her calculatingly as though scheming. The vein on his forehead +still stood out like an uneven seam. +</P> + +<P> +"For shame!" she cried again. "Shame on you, Dick +Hilton, and shame on me for having tolerated, for having +believed in you ... little as I did! Oh, I loathe it all, you +and myself—that was—because if it had not been for that +other self which tolerated you, which gave you the opening, +this ... this insult would never have been. You, who +failing to buy a woman's love, would take it by strength! +You would do this, and talk of your desire as love. You, +who scoff at men whose respect for women is as real as the +lives they lead. You ... you beast!" +</P> + +<P> +She hissed the word. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, beast!" he repeated again. "Like all these other +beasts, these others who are blinding you as you say I have +blinded you, who have—" +</P> + +<P> +"Stop it!" she demanded again. "There is nothing +more to be said ... ever. We understand one another now +and there is but one thing left for you to do." +</P> + +<P> +"And that?" +</P> + +<P> +"Go." +</P> + +<P> +He laughed bitterly and ran a hand over his sleek hair. +</P> + +<P> +"If I go, you go with me," he said evenly. +</P> + +<P> +"Leave this house," the girl commanded, but instead of +obeying he moved toward her again menacingly, a disgusting +smile on his lips. +</P> + +<P> +He passed the end of the davenport and she, in turn, retreated +to the far side. +</P> + +<P> +"When I go, two of—" +</P> + +<P> +"I take it that you heard what was said to you, sir." +</P> + +<P> +At the sound of the intruding voice Hilton wheeled +sharply. He faced Tom Beck, who stood in the doorway, +framed against the black night, arms limp and rather awkwardly +hanging at his sides, eyes dangerously luminous; +still, playing across them was that half amused look, as +though this were not in reality so serious a matter. +</P> + +<P> +For an interval there was no sound except Hilton's breathing: +a sort of hoarse gasp. The two men eyed each other +and Jane, supporting her suddenly weakened limbs by a hand +on the table, looked from one to the other. +</P> + +<P> +"What the devil are you doing here?" Dick asked heavily. +</P> + +<P> +"Just standin' quiet, waiting to open the gate for you when +you ride out." +</P> + +<P> +The Easterner braced his shoulders backward and sniffed. +</P> + +<P> +"And if I don't choose to ride out? What will you do +then?" +</P> + +<P> +Beck looked at Jane slowly and his eyes danced. +</P> + +<P> +"It ain't necessary to talk about things that won't happen. +You're going to go." +</P> + +<P> +"Who the hell are you to be so certain?" +</P> + +<P> +"My name's Beck, sir. I'm just workin' here." +</P> + +<P> +"And playing the role of a protector?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, nothing much ever comes up that I don't <i>try</i> to +do." +</P> + +<P> +Hilton made as if to speak again but checked himself, +walked down the room in long strides, seized his coat, thrust +his arms into the sleeves viciously and stood buttoning the +garment. Beck looked away into the night as though nothing +within interested him and Jane stood clutching the locket +at her throat, caressing it with her slim, nervous fingers. +</P> + +<P> +"Under the circumstances, making my farewells must +be to the point," Hilton said. He spoke sharply, belligerently. +"I have just this to say: I am not through." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, go!" moaned Jane, dropping into a chair and covering +her face with her hands. +</P> + +<P> +She heard the men leave the veranda, heard a gruff, low +word from Hilton and knew that he went on alone. After +the outer gate had closed she heard Tom walk slowly up the +path toward the bunk house. He had left her without comment, +without any attempt at an expression of concern or +sympathy. She knew it was no oversight, but only a delicacy +which would not have been shown by many men. +</P> + +<P> +Her loathing was gone, her anger dead; the near past was +a numb memory and she looked up and about the room as +though it were a strange place. There, within those walls, +she had experienced the rebirth, she had felt ambition to +stand alone come into full being, she had shaken off the fetters +with which the past had sought to hamper her.... +</P> + +<P> +And now she was free, wholly free. The tentacle that +had been reached out to draw her back had been cast away. +Tonight's renunciation had burned the last bridge to that +which had been; Dick Hilton, she believed, would never +again be an active influence in her life. +</P> + +<P> +She could not—perhaps fortunately—foretell how mistaken +this belief actually would prove to be. She did not +know the intensity of a man's jealousy, particularly when +Fate has tricked him of his most valued prize. Nor could +she foresee those events which would impell her to send for +Hilton, to call him back, and the wells of misery which that +action would tap! +</P> + +<P> +To-night he was gone, and she was even strong enough to +rise above loathing and pity him for the failure he was. +Just one fact of him remained. Again she heard his ominous +prediction, pronounced on his first visit there: You +cannot stand alone! You will fail! You will come back +to me! +</P> + +<P> +She knew, now, that she would never return to him, but +there were other possibilities as disastrous. Could she meet +this new life and beat it and make in it a place for herself? +Was her faith in herself strong enough to outride the defeat +which very possibly confronted her? +</P> + +<P> +She did not know.... +</P> + +<P> +Outside the rain drummed and the cottonwoods, now in +full leaf, sighed as the wind bowed their water weighted +branches. She went to the window and looked out, searching +the darkness for movement. There was none but he was +not far away she knew.... +</P> + +<P> +Her fingers again sought the locket and she lifted it +quickly, holding it pressed tightly against her mouth. +</P> + +<P> +"It's all there, locked up in a little gold disc!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A MATTER OF DIRECTION +</H4> + +<P> +If Dick Hilton had not been bewildered by passion, jealousy +and rage at thwarted desires, he might have known +that his horse was not taking the homeward way, and had +the horse not been bred and raised by one of Colonel +Hunter's mares he might have carried his rider straight +back to Ute Crossing. +</P> + +<P> +But he was a canny little beast, he was cold and drenched, +the trip to town was long and the range on which he had +spent his happy colthood was not far off. Horses know +riders before riders know horses so, as he went through the +gate, he slyly tried out this rider and instead of swinging +to the right he bore to the left. He went tentatively through +the pitch darkness, one ear cocked backward at first but +when Hilton, collar up, hat down, bowed before the storm, +gave no evidence of detecting this plan, the beast picked up +his rapid walk and took the trail for the nearer, more satisfactory +place where many times in the past he had stood out +such downpours with no great discomfort under the shelter +of a spreading cedar. +</P> + +<P> +And direction was the last thing in Dick Hilton's mind. +For a long interval his thoughts were incoherent and the +conflicting emotions they provoked were distressing. Being +alone, made physically uncomfortable by the water seeping +through his shoulders and breeches, sensing the steady +movement of the animal under him, brought some order to +his mental chaos and finally realization began to dawn. +</P> + +<P> +Yes, he had followed his strongest impulses; there could +be no question about what he had done, but as for its wisdom: +Ah, that was another matter, and he cursed himself +for a fool, at first mentally, then under his breath and when +the horse began mounting a steep incline, clattering over +rocks with his unshod hoofs, Hilton halted him and looked +about in foolish attempt to make out his whereabouts and +said aloud: +</P> + +<P> +"Off the road. That's twice you've made an ass of yourself +tonight!" +</P> + +<P> +There was nothing for him to do but go on and trust to +the horse. He knew that this was not the highway but consoled +himself that it might be a short cut to the Crossing. +Small consolation and it was dissipated when they commenced +a lurching descent with a wall of rock uncomfortably +close to his right, so close that at times his knee +scrubbed it smartly. He became alarmed for the horse went +cautiously, head low, feeling his way over insecure footing. +Once his fore feet slipped and he stopped short while loosened +stones rolled before them on the trail and Hilton heard +one strike far below to his left, and strike again and again, +sounds growing fainter. He peered down into the gloom +but could see nothing, hear nothing but the hiss of rain. An +empty ache came into his viscera as he imagined the depths +that might wait to that side. +</P> + +<P> +After a moment the horse went on, picking his way gingerly. +</P> + +<P> +Somewhere beyond or below he made out a light. It was +a feeble glow and its location became a weird thing for lack +of perceptive, but it cheered him. He was decidedly uncomfortable +and his state of mind added to the physical need +of warmth and shelter so he urged the horse on. +</P> + +<P> +Finally they reached a flat and he felt wet brush slapping +at his legs as the horse, intent on the light himself, trotted +forward. +</P> + +<P> +Their destination was a cabin. The glow finally resolved +itself into cracks of light showing between logs and through +a tarpaulin which hung across the doorway. +</P> + +<P> +Dick shouted. Movement inside; the curtain was drawn +back and he rode blinking into the light, which he could see +came from a fireplace. A woman stood outlined against the +flare. +</P> + +<P> +"Who's there?" she asked sharply, and Dick stopped his +horse. +</P> + +<P> +"My name is Hilton," he said, "but that won't do you +much good. I'm a stranger and I'm off my way, I guess." +</P> + +<P> +The other did not reply as he dismounted and walked +toward her. +</P> + +<P> +"Without a slicker," she said. "Come in." +</P> + +<P> +The first thing he saw inside was movement: A cartridge +belt, swinging from a nail. A rifle leaned handily against +the door casing. +</P> + +<P> +The girl who had held the curtain back for him to enter +let it drop and turned to face him. Hilton drew his breath +sharply. Blue-black hair, in a heavy, orderly mass atop a +shapely, high-held head and falling down her straight trim +back in one thick plait; brown eyes, ripe red lips, a delicate +chin and a throat of exquisite proportions. His gaze traveled +down her figure, the natural grace of which could not +be concealed by the shirt and riding skirt she wore. She +was wholly beautiful. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I've seen you before," he said slowly. "You're +the girl that demanded respect and got it in the Crossing +the other day!" +</P> + +<P> +She eyed him in silence a moment, evidently unaware of +the admiration in his tone. +</P> + +<P> +"I never saw you. I ain't been here long," she said, her +expression still defiant, as though he had challenged her. +She searched his face, his clothing, and back at his face +again. "Where was you travelin' tonight?" +</P> + +<P> +"I was going to the Crossing," he said with a short laugh. +"My horse brought me here." +</P> + +<P> +Without comment she walked to the fire and threw on another +knot. He watched her movements, the free rhythmic +swing of her walk, the easy grace with which her hands and +arms moved, the perfect assurance in even her smallest gesture. +His eyes kindled. +</P> + +<P> +"Set," she said, indicating a box by the hearth. "You're +soaked. Lucky you struck here or you'd made a night +of it." +</P> + +<P> +Hilton seated himself, holding his hands toward the +fire. He looked about the one room of the cabin. In two +corners were beds on the earthen floor, a table made from a +packing box contained dishes, Dutch ovens and a frying pan +were on the hearth. The roof leaked. +</P> + +<P> +The girl sat eyeing the fire, rather sullenly. He held +his gaze on her, watching the play of light over her throat +as it threw a velvety sheen on the wind kissed skin. Her +shirt was open at the neck and he could see the easy rise and +fall of her breast as she breathed. He noticed that her fingers +were slender and that her wrists, bronzed by exposure, +indicated with all their delicacy, wiry strength. Another +thing: She was clean. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the girl looked up. +</P> + +<P> +"Think you'd know me again?" she said bruskly, and +rather swaggered as she moved. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think I shall ever forget you," he replied. "I +knew I should not the first time I saw you. I shall never +forget the way you gave that fellow what he deserved. It +was great!" +</P> + +<P> +His manner was kindly, showing no resentment at her +belligerence and though her only reply was a sniff he knew +that what he had said pleased her. +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't want you to think I'm staring at you," he +went on. "A man shouldn't be blamed for looking at you +closely." +</P> + +<P> +"How's that?" +</P> + +<P> +"You are very beautiful." +</P> + +<P> +She poked at the fire with a stick. +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon that'll be enough of that," she said as she +walked back toward the door. +</P> + +<P> +The man smiled and followed her with his eyes, which +squinted speculatively. +</P> + +<P> +"You'd better unsaddle that horse," she said. "He'll +roll with your kak if you don't." +</P> + +<P> +Hilton looked about the room again. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you alone?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +She whirled and looked at him with temper. Her hand, +perhaps unconsciously, was pressed against the wall near +that rifle. +</P> + +<P> +"What if I am?"—sharply. +</P> + +<P> +"Because if you are I shall not unsaddle my horse. I'll +have to go on." +</P> + +<P> +When she put her question she had been rigidly expectant +but at his answer she relaxed and the fierceness that had +been about her yielded to a curiosity. +</P> + +<P> +"Go on in the rain? How's that?"—in a voice that was +quite different, as though she had encountered something +she did not understand. +</P> + +<P> +He looked at her a lengthy interval before replying. +</P> + +<P> +"Because I respect you very much. Do you understand +that?" +</P> + +<P> +She moved back to the fireplace, eyeing him questioningly, +and he met that look with an easy smile. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I don't understand that," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"You should. I saw you beat a man the other day because +he didn't respect you. No one but that type of man +would refuse to respect you. It's wise, perhaps, for you +to take down that rifle when strangers come at night ... +but it isn't always necessary. Some men might stay here +with you alone, but I couldn't." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean, that you'd ride on in the rain?" +</P> + +<P> +"Surely." +</P> + +<P> +"Well.... You ain't afraid of the gun, are you?" +</P> + +<P> +He laughed outright. +</P> + +<P> +"No, it's not that! It's because I'd ride any distance +rather than do something that might bring you unhappiness. +Don't you see?" He leaned forward, elbows on knees, +looking up into her serious face. "Don't you see that if I +stayed here with you, alone, and people heard about it, they +might not respect you?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's none of their business!" +</P> + +<P> +"Neither was it any business of that man to insult you +in town the other day. But he did." +</P> + +<P> +"But it's rainin' and you're cold. I ain't afraid of you." +</P> + +<P> +It was raining, but he was not cold. The fire was close +and, besides, another warmth was seeping through his body +as he looked earnestly into the face of that daughter of the +mountains. The ready defiance was gone from it and the +features, in repose, gave it an expression that was little less +than wistful. +</P> + +<P> +"And you are a young girl who deserves the admiration +of every man that walks. If I stayed here with you, you +would know it's all right, and so would I.... Others +might not understand." +</P> + +<P> +She sat down abruptly, leaned back, clasped one knee +with her hands and smiled for the first time. It was a beautiful +smile, in great contrast to her earlier sullen defiance. +</P> + +<P> +"I like you," she said simply, and Hilton's face grew hot. +</P> + +<P> +"If you like me, my night's ride hasn't gone to waste," +he replied, and laughed. +</P> + +<P> +She looked him over again, calculatingly, as closely as she +had at first, but with a different interest. Her smile faded +but the lips remained slightly parted, showing teeth of calcium +whiteness. +</P> + +<P> +"You're the first man that's ever talked that-a way to me. +I've been travelin' ever since I can remember, first one place, +then another. I've always had to look out for men.... +I've been able to, too, since I got big enough to be bothered. +</P> + +<P> +"This is the first time any man's talked like you're talkin' +to me." +</P> + +<P> +"Bless you," he said very gently, "that's been tough luck. +A girl like you are doesn't deserve that." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't she? Well, it ain't what you deserve that counts, +it's what you get." +</P> + +<P> +"What's your name?" +</P> + +<P> +"Bobby.... Bobby Cole." +</P> + +<P> +"How old are you?" +</P> + +<P> +She shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know ... just. About twenty. Alf knows; +I ain't thought to ask him for quite a while." +</P> + +<P> +"Who's Alf?" +</P> + +<P> +"My father." +</P> + +<P> +"... And your mother?" +</P> + +<P> +"I never had none that I recall. She died early; that was +back in Oklahoma, Alf says." +</P> + +<P> +"No brothers or sisters?" +</P> + +<P> +A shake of the head. +</P> + +<P> +"And since then you've been alone with your father?" +</P> + +<P> +She nodded. "For weeks an' months, without talkin' to +another soul." +</P> + +<P> +"Have you always lived so far away as that? Always in +such remote places that you didn't even see people?" +</P> + +<P> +"Huh! Usually I've seen 'em, 'most every day.... +But there's a difference between seein' folks and talkin' to +'em." +</P> + +<P> +He was puzzled and said so. +</P> + +<P> +"Funny!" she repeated after him. "Maybe it's funny +... but I can't see it that-a way." +</P> + +<P> +"But surely you've made friends! A girl like you +couldn't help make friends." +</P> + +<P> +"I've never had a friend in my life ... but Alf," she +answered bitterly. +</P> + +<P> +"Then it must have been because you didn't want to make +friends with people." +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't want to!" she echoed almost angrily. "What +else does anybody want but friends ... an' things like +that? Oh, I wanted to all right, but folks don't make +friends with ... with trash like we are. We ain't got +enough to have friends; ain't got enough even to have +peace." +</P> + +<P> +Hilton studied her face carefully. It was a queer blending +of appealing want and virulence. +</P> + +<P> +"They won't even let you have peace?" he asked deliberately +to urge her in further revelation. +</P> + +<P> +"Folks that have things don't want other folks to have +'em. In this country when poor folks try to get ahead all +they get is trouble." +</P> + +<P> +"Is that always so?" +</P> + +<P> +She shrugged and said, "It's always been so with us. Big +cattle outfits have drove us out time after time. They're +always sayin' Alf steals; they're always makin' us trouble. +I hate 'em! +</P> + +<P> +"I could get along all right. I can fight but Alf can't. +He's had so much bad luck that it's took th' heart out of +him.... If it wasn't for me he couldn't get along at all. +He's discouraged." +</P> + +<P> +"You must think a lot of your father." +</P> + +<P> +She shook her head as if to infer that measuring such +devotion was an impossibility. +</P> + +<P> +"Think a lot of him? God, yes! He's all I got. He's +all I ever had. He's the only one that hasn't chased me +out ... or chased after me. We've been on the move ever +since I can recollect, stayin' a few months or a year or two, +then hittin' the trail again. Move, move, move! Always +chased out by big outfits, always made fun of, an' he's been +good to me through it all. I'd crawl through fire for Alf." +</P> + +<P> +"A devotion like that is a very fine and noble thing." +</P> + +<P> +"Is it? It comes sort of natural to me. I never thought +about it,"—with a weary sigh. +</P> + +<P> +"How did you happen to come here?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +She looked at him and a flicker as of suspicion crossed +her face. +</P> + +<P> +"Just come," she replied, rather evasively, he thought. +</P> + +<P> +For a time they did not speak. The fire crackled dully. +Steam rose in wisps from Hilton's soaked clothing and a +cunning crept into his expression. The rain pattered on the +roof and dripped through in several places, forming dark +spots on the hard floor; the horse stamped in the mud outside. +</P> + +<P> +The man saw the regular leap of the pulse in her throat +and caressed his thumb with finger tips as delicately as +though they stroked that smooth skin. +</P> + +<P> +Her lips were parted ... and <i>such</i> lips! He told himself +that she was more beautiful than he had first thought +and as filled with contrasts as the heavens themselves. +Shortly before she had been defiant, ready for trouble, prepared +to defend herself with a rifle if necessary; now she +was a child; that, and no more ... and she was distinctive +... quite so. +</P> + +<P> +"You better stay," she said rather shyly after a time. +"Alf'll be back some time before mornin'. Nobody'll +know." +</P> + +<P> +He shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"You and I would know, and after I've told you what I +think about it, maybe you wouldn't like me if I did stay ... +you've said you did like me." +</P> + +<P> +He rose, smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure enough goin'?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure enough going." +</P> + +<P> +"But you're soaked and cold." +</P> + +<P> +"No man could do less for a girl like you." +</P> + +<P> +He bowed playfully low and when he lifted his eyes to her +again they read her simple pleasure. He had touched her +greatest love, the desire to be treated by men with respect. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll just ask you to show me the way." +</P> + +<P> +"You come by the way, I guess. Just start back that +trail and your cayuse'll take you to the road— +</P> + +<P> +"But Alf'll be back. We've never turned anybody out +in the rain before." +</P> + +<P> +"Then this is something new. Don't ask me again, please. +When you ask a man it makes it very hard to refuse and I +must ... for your sake. +</P> + +<P> +"After I strike the road, then what?" +</P> + +<P> +"Follow right past the HC ranch to town. You know +where that is?" +</P> + +<P> +A wave of rage swept through him. +</P> + +<P> +"I ought to!" he said bitterly. "I was sent away from +there tonight." +</P> + +<P> +"Sent away? In the <i>rain</i>?" +</P> + +<P> +"In the rain." +</P> + +<P> +"Why did they do that?" +</P> + +<P> +He shrugged his shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"Because there are things which some people do not value +as highly as you do. Generosity, thoughtfulness for the desires +of others, hospitality." +</P> + +<P> +He licked his lips almost greedily as he watched her. +</P> + +<P> +"Did <i>she</i> know?" +</P> + +<P> +"Who do you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"That greenhorn gal." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, she knew," he answered grimly, and buttoned his +coat. +</P> + +<P> +He put out his hand and she took it, rather awed. +</P> + +<P> +"Some time I may come back and thank you for what +you've wanted to do." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you'll come back?" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you want me to?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes,"—eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"Then it is impossible for me to stay away for long!" +</P> + +<P> +She stood watching, as, touching his hat, he rode into the +night. She let the curtain drop and returned to the fire, +standing there a moment. Then she sat down, rather +weakly, and stretched her slim legs across the hearth. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be damned!" she said, rather reverently. +</P> + +<P> +Hilton did not ride far. His horse was reluctant to go +at first and then stopped and stood with head in the air, +nickering softly and would not go on when his rider spurred +him. After a moment Hilton sat still and listened. He +heard the steady <i>plunk-plunk-plunk</i> of a trotting horse and, +soon, the swish of brush; then a call, rather low and cautious. +</P> + +<P> +The canvas before the doorway was drawn back. +</P> + +<P> +"You decided to stay?" Then, in surprise, "Who's +there?"—sharply. +</P> + +<P> +One word in answer and Hilton remembered it: +</P> + +<P> +"Hepburn." +</P> + +<P> +The rider dismounted and entered. +</P> + +<P> +Dick rode on up the trail. When he reached Ute Crossing +his clothing was dried by the early sun. He ate breakfast +and crawled into his bed, angered one moment, puzzled +the next and, finally, thrilled as he dropped asleep with +a vision of firelight playing over a deliciously slender throat. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +HEPBURN'S PLAY +</H4> + +<P> +It was the next morning. Beck, standing beside Jane's +desk, had told her of the foreman's departure and its +motive. +</P> + +<P> +"But doesn't that mean he'll be in danger?" she queried +in frank dismay. +</P> + +<P> +"A man who goes after horse thieves is likely to run into +trouble, ma'am. That is, if he gets close to 'em. He +wouldn't let anybody go with him so I guess he figures he's +competent,"—dryly. "He'll come back all right. I'd bet +on it." +</P> + +<P> +"But I don't want any of you men to put yourselves in +danger for me, for the things I own. I won't have it! +Haven't we any law to protect us?" +</P> + +<P> +Beck shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"There's law, on books. But using that law takes time +and in some cases, like this, there ain't time to spare. +You've got to make a law of your own or those that somebody +else makes won't be worth much to you. +</P> + +<P> +"It ain't just pleasant to have to go gunning for your +horses and cattle, but if that's the only way to hold 'em it's +got to be done. It's either go get 'em and drive the thieves +out or be driven out yourself. You don't want to be driven +out, do you, ma'am?" +</P> + +<P> +"You know the answer to that," she declared resolutely. +"Where is this place? How long will it take him to get +there?" +</P> + +<P> +"Can't tell that. Twenty Mile is only a short ride, but +we got the news late. They're probably gone yonder by now +and he might trail 'em a good many days an' then lose 'em." +</P> + +<P> +Again that dryness of manner as he looked at the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"And this other? This water hole? What about that?" +</P> + +<P> +Beck could not give her an answer. +</P> + +<P> +"It all depends on what sort of nester this is. He might +be talked out of it, though that ain't likely." +</P> + +<P> +She tapped the desk with nervous fingers. +</P> + +<P> +"I came down to tell you about Dad last night. That's +why I was here," he explained, as though he considered an +explanation necessary. And with it was an indication of the +curiosity which he could not conceal. +</P> + +<P> +Jane flushed, and her gaze fell. The man stood looking +down at her golden hair, the soft skin of cheeks and throat, +the parted lips. One of his hands closed slowly, tightly. +For a moment he let himself want her! +</P> + +<P> +"I am very glad that you did come. I don't know how +much you heard or what you saw but—" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing that I can recall, except that you wasn't havin' +your own way." +</P> + +<P> +The courtesy of this touched her and she smiled her +gratitude. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick Hilton had been an old friend of mine; that is, I +thought he was a friend. I.... +</P> + +<P> +"He said some things last night that I wouldn't want you +to misunderstand. They.... That is, it would hurt me +to think that you might believe what you heard him say." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think there's any danger of me misunderstanding +anything that man would say about you. I mean, his meaning, +ma'am, not only his words." +</P> + +<P> +"That is as much assurance as could be given," she replied. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +For forty-eight hours following Hepburn's departure the +H C was in a state of expectation. Frequently, even on the +first night following, the men would stop talking and listen +at any unusual sound as though that all believed it might +be the foreman returning or some one with the word that he +would never return, because the remainder of the crew did +not have the faith in his well being that Beck had expressed +to Jane Hunter. +</P> + +<P> +The Reverend held the floor much of the time, preaching +frequent impromptu sermons, discoursing largely on small +matters. To him the rest listened in delight with the exception +of Two-Bits, who was overawed by the verboseness of +his kin. +</P> + +<P> +A less obvious activity of the Reverend's was his pertinent, +never ceasing questioning. He asked questions casually and +covered his attempts to glean information by long-winded +comments on irrelevant subjects. Tom Beck, even, caught +himself expressing opinions when he had not intended to +and guarded himself thereafter. +</P> + +<P> +"He's an old fox!" he thought. "He knows a heap more +than he lets on ... like some other folks." +</P> + +<P> +Otherwise the man seemed harmless. He let no opportunity +pass to sell his fountain pens which he carried always +in the pockets of his frock coat. He took frequent inventories +of his stock and when he miscounted or actually found +some article missing he turned the place upside down until +the loss was adjusted. +</P> + +<P> +He seemed inclined to linger because though assuring the +rest that his plans were not of mortal making he often spoke +of the summer's work. He was no mean ranch hand himself +and was with his brother much, doing everything from +branding colts to digging post holes. +</P> + +<P> +When, on the morning of the third day Hepburn had not +returned, Jane called Beck to the house and asked if he did +not think it wise to send help. The man did not reply at +once because at this suggestion a possibility flashed into his +mind which he had not considered hitherto. He looked at +the girl who stood fingering the locket and asked himself: +</P> + +<P> +"Has he taken this chance to quit the country? Has +something happened that is bound to come to light?" +</P> + +<P> +Aloud, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Your worry is in the wrong place. You're worrying +over your men and you ought to be worrying over your +stock. You've come into this country; you want to stay; +you don't seem to understand, quite, that this is no polite +game you're playing. +</P> + +<P> +"When a man goes to work for an outfit, if he's the right +kind to be a top hand out here, he's willing to do anything +that comes up, even if it's risking his life. That ain't right +pleasant to think about, ma'am, but we all understand it. +If it has to be it has to be; no choice. +</P> + +<P> +"If you're going to worry more about your men in a case +like this than you do about havin' them hold up your end of +the game you ain't going to play up to your part. You can't +be soft hearted and stand off horse thieves." +</P> + +<P> +"But, don't you see that I can't feel that way?" she +pleaded. +</P> + +<P> +"Then you've got to act that way, ma'am," he replied in +rebuke. "Your men have got to understand that you care +whether school keeps or not ... or school ain't going to +keep. Get that straight in your head." +</P> + +<P> +He looked down at her a moment and his face changed, +that little dancing light coming into his eyes at first; then he +smiled openly. +</P> + +<P> +"There's a word we use out here that I guess that they +didn't use in the country you come from. It's Guts. +They're necessary, ma'am." +</P> + +<P> +He waited to see how she would take his assertion, but +she only flushed slightly. +</P> + +<P> +"If Hepburn don't show up soon, it might be wise to go +prospectin', but it won't be best to think more about him +than you do about the men he's after ... least, it won't be +wise to show you do. I ain't advisin' you to be hard hearted. +Just play the game; that's all." +</P> + +<P> +He left her, with a deal to think about. +</P> + +<P> +After all, there had been no occasion for concern because +at noon, dust covered, on a gaunt horse, the foreman brought +eight HC horses into the ranch. +</P> + +<P> +The men hastened from the dinner table but Hepburn did +not respond to their queries and congratulations. He bore +himself with dignity and had an eye only for the completion +of his task. +</P> + +<P> +"Open the gate to the little corral, Two-Bits," he directed +and, this done, urged the horses within. +</P> + +<P> +Next he dragged his saddle from the big bay and rubbed +the animal's back solicitously, let him roll and led him to the +stable where he measured out a lavish feed of oats. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile he had been surrounded by insistent questioners +but he put them off rather abruptly; when he emerged +from the stable, slapping his palms together to rid them of +moist horse hair he stopped, hitched up his chaps and looked +from face to face until his eyes met those of Tom Beck, +who had been the last to approach. Their gazes clung, +Hepburn's in challenge, now, and in the other's an expression +which defied definition. +</P> + +<P> +"I brought 'em in," the foreman said, still staring at Beck +and bit savagely down on his tobacco. "Does <i>that</i> mean +anything?" +</P> + +<P> +Beck smiled, as though it did not matter much, and said: +</P> + +<P> +"For the present ... you win." +</P> + +<P> +The others had not caught the significance of this exchange +and when Dad moved forward their talk broke out +afresh. The foreman grinned, pleased at the stir. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, now! Don't swamp a waddie when he comes in +after next to no sleep an' ridin' from hell to breakfast!" +he protested. "One at a time, one at a time." +</P> + +<P> +"Tie to the story an' drag her past us," advised Curtis. +</P> + +<P> +"It ain't much,"—with a modesty that was somewhat +forced. "It wasn't nothin' but a case of goin' and gettin' +the goods. Picked up the trail at the mouth of Twenty +Mile early the mornin' after I set out and dragged right +along on it. There was three of 'em, so I laid pretty low +after noon. Then one cuts off towards the rail road and +at night the others turned the horses into that old corral at +the Ute's buckskin camp. I waited until they got to sleep, +saw I couldn't sneak the stock away so,"—he spat and +wiped his mustache, "I just naturally scattered their fire +all ways!" +</P> + +<P> +He laughed heartily. +</P> + +<P> +"You'd ought to seen 'em coming out of their blankets! +I dropped two shots in the coals and then blazed away at +the first man up. Missed him but cut 'em off from their +ridin' horses, got ours out of the corral while their saddle +stock was stampedin' all over the brush and lit out for here, +hittin' the breeze! +</P> + +<P> +"That's about all. Stopped at Webb's last night and tried +to figure out the men, but they're strangers, I guess." +</P> + +<P> +There were comments and questions. Then Jimmy +Oliver, looking at Dad's saddle, said: +</P> + +<P> +"What happened to your horn, there?" +</P> + +<P> +The foreman chuckled. +</P> + +<P> +"One of 'em almost got me, boys, but a miss is as good +as four or five days' ride, ain't it? Was circlin' for the +horses, shootin' sideways at 'em when one of 'em put some +lead in betwixt me and the horn, only quite close to the +horn, it seems." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'll be darned if you didn't have a close shave, +and—" +</P> + +<P> +Just then Jane Hunter rode up on her sorrel and when +she saw her foreman she smiled in relief. +</P> + +<P> +"You're back, and safely!" she said as she dismounted. +</P> + +<P> +"With the bacon, ma'am." +</P> + +<P> +"An' they almost got his bacon, Miss Hunter," Oliver +said. "Look here!" He indicated the damaged saddle +and explained. +</P> + +<P> +"They came that close to shooting you?" she asked Dad. +Her voice was even enough but she could not conceal her +dismay at his narrow escape. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Miss Hunter, that ain't nothin'! I was just tellin' +the boys that a miss is as good as a long ride. I'm your +foreman, they was your horses—" +</P> + +<P> +"Such things have to be," she broke in, making an effort +to be decisive and convincing, but her voice was not just +steady and Beck, at least, knew how desperately she tried to +play up to her part, to smother her impulse to show that she +held life dearer than she did her property, to shrink from +the hard facts of the hard life she faced. +</P> + +<P> +"So long as I'm your foreman nobody's goin' to get away +with your stock without a fight," Hepburn went on pompously, +well satisfied with the impression he had made. "If +necessary they'll come a lot closer to lettin' blessed sunshine +in to my carcass than this! There ain't a man of us who +wouldn't do it for you an' gladly. If they're goin' to try +to fleece you they've got us to reckon with first. +</P> + +<P> +"Ain't that the truth, Tom?" +</P> + +<P> +Beck did not reply but watched Jane Hunter as she stood +looking down at the saddle with its tell tale scar. +</P> + +<P> +The Reverend remained when the group broke up. He +leaned low over the saddle and examined the leather binding +about the horn. He fingered it, then lowered his face close +against it. For a moment he held so and then straightened +slowly. He walked toward the bunk house so absorbed that +he talked to himself and as he passed Beck he was muttering: +</P> + +<P> +"... wolf in sheep's clothing ..." +</P> + +<P> +"What's that?" asked Beck. +</P> + +<P> +The Reverend stopped, surprised that he had been overheard. +He looked at Tom and blinked and rattled the pens +in his coat pocket; then looked about to see whether they +were observed. +</P> + +<P> +"Brother, when a man is honest does he go to great pains +to make that honesty evident? Does he lie to make people +believe he does not act a lie?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not usually. What are you drivin' at, Reverend?" +</P> + +<P> +The other stepped closer. +</P> + +<P> +"If you'll examine that saddle horn, you'll discover that +the shot which tore it was fired from a gun held so close +that the powder burned the leather. More: that it was +fired so recently that the smell of powder is still there. +</P> + +<P> +"There is something rotten, brother, in a locality nearer +than Denmark!" +</P> + +<P> +Beck whistled softly to himself. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A NEIGHBORLY CALL +</H4> + +<P> +The mountains which had been brown and saffron +when Jane Hunter came to take possession of her +ranch grew tinted with green as grasses sprouted under the +coaxing sun. Piņons were edged with lighter tints, contrasting +sharply with the deep color of older growth. Service +bushes turned cream color with bloom and sage put out +new growth; calves, high-tailed and venturesome, frolicked +between frequent meals from swollen udders, birds nested +and shy mountain flowers completed their scant cycle. +</P> + +<P> +No life remained arrested and with the rest the girl developed. +She took on a more robust color, her eyes which +had always been clear and cool, possessed a different look +and a thin sprinkling of tiny freckles appeared across her +nose. She had taken to the ways of the mountains easily. +Her modish clothing was discarded and she wore brightly +colored shirts, a brimmed hat, drab riding skirt and the +smallest pair of boots that had ever been manufactured in +that country. +</P> + +<P> +Two-Bits was wide-eyed in his enthusiasm. +</P> + +<P> +"My gosh, Reverend!" he whispered, "look at them +boots! Ain't they th' grandest little things you ever seen?... +Gosh, they're too little for any spurs she can buy, ain't +they? <i>Gosh</i> ..."—in helpless admiration. +</P> + +<P> +Two-Bits and the Reverend had something on. This was +evident from the manner in which they kept apart from the +others. Each evening they would sit on a wagon seat or +perch on a corral or Azariah would stand near while his +brother groomed his little horse, Nigger, and they would +talk, low and confidently, the Reverend gesticulating and +Two-Bits looking far away and talking laboriously as though +he were memorizing something. +</P> + +<P> +The homely fellow took several mysterious trips to town +and once he borrowed ten dollars from Beck and offered a +buckskin bridle as security, which the other waved away +with affectionate curses. +</P> + +<P> +Hepburn had been commissioned to talk with Cole, the +nester, and determine his plans as they might affect the HC. +This took him away from the ranch repeatedly ... so +many times, in fact, that it gave Beck one more thing to +wonder about. Also, there was a letter for Hepburn, arriving +a day or two after his return with the stolen horses, +which sent him suddenly to Ute Crossing; thereafter he +went frequently. +</P> + +<P> +There seemed no way around the potential difficulty which +the nester presented and, as one of her last resorts, Jane +sent Tom to the Crossing to look up the record of the filing +himself and to confer with the one remaining attorney in +the town. He announced his going and Two-Bits, hearing, +asked him to bring back a package which would be waiting +there. When Tom returned that night he handed the gawky +lad a small parcel which he immediately stuffed into his +shirt and carried to the supper table. +</P> + +<P> +"Them your jooles?" Oliver asked. +</P> + +<P> +"None of your gol-darned business!" +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, come on, old timer, an' let us in on it," the other +pleaded. "I'll bet it's a present for your best girl." +</P> + +<P> +"If you got to know, it's corn plasters for th' corns on +your brains, Jimmy," Two-Bits countered. +</P> + +<P> +He hurried through his meal and from the table and, with +the Reverend, walked down toward the creek where they +went through their usual performance, this time, however, +with less prompting from the clergyman. Then, brushing +the dust from his shirt, adjusting his scarf, Two-Bits walked +nervously toward the ranch house. +</P> + +<P> +Jane answered his knock with a call to enter. He stepped +in with the package in his hand, but as he removed his hat +the parcel dropped to the floor and when he regained an erect +position after recovering it his face was fiery red. +</P> + +<P> +"What's your trouble tonight, Two-Bits?" Jane asked, +approaching him. +</P> + +<P> +"In," he began and stopped to clear his throat. He swallowed +with great difficulty. "In—In recognition of your—your +God—" He coughed and swallowed once more. +</P> + +<P> +<i>"What?"</i>—in amazement. +</P> + +<P> +"In recognition of your God—your God given beauty, +an' estim—estimable qualifications—" +</P> + +<P> +He ran a finger inside his collar and dropped his hat. +Perspiration stood on his lip in beads and his dismayed eyes +roved the room. He moved his feet nervously. +</P> + +<P> +"In recognition of your God—" he began again, but +broke short: +</P> + +<P> +"Hell, ma'am," he exploded, "my brother taught me a +fine speech— +</P> + +<P> +"Here!"—holding the package toward her with an unsteady +hand and a great relief coming into his eyes. "I +found this in th' road an' thought mebby you might want +'em." +</P> + +<P> +Controlling her desire to laugh at his confusion Jane took +the package and turned it over in her hands. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it, Two-Bits? Why do you bring it to me?" +</P> + +<P> +"I can't use it—'em. I thought ... I ..." he began, +backing rapidly toward the door, moving with accelerated +speed as he put distance between them. +</P> + +<P> +"Two-Bits, you wait!" she commanded. "I'm going to +find out what this is before you go." +</P> + +<P> +He looked about in a fresh agony of embarrassment but +her order had rendered him unable to move. Jane broke +the string, took off the wrapping and opened a paper box. +Within reposed a pair of spurs, as small spurs as her boots +were small boots. They were beautiful products of some +mountain forge, one-piece steel, heavily engraved by hand, +silver plated. Small silver chains and hand-tooled straps +were attached and as she held them up the delicate rowels +jingled like tiny bells. +</P> + +<P> +"Two-Bits!" she cried. "Aren't they beautiful?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, ma'am," he said, and made for the door again. +</P> + +<P> +She caught him by the arm that time, else he would have +fled, and she made him look at her. +</P> + +<P> +"Two-Bits, you lied to me! You didn't find these on the +road, now, did you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, that is.... Not exactly, ma'am,"—weakly. +</P> + +<P> +"Where did they come from?" +</P> + +<P> +"A fella, he made 'em an' give 'em to me an' they was +too small for me—" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you tell me another single lie! <i>Where</i> did you +get them?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well ... I had 'em made,"—swallowing again, and +<i>very</i> weakly. +</P> + +<P> +"Two-Bits!"—seizing his rough, cold hand while a suggestion +of tears came into her eyes. "You had these made +for me? Why, bless your heart, I've never had a finer gift +before. And to think— +</P> + +<P> +"You're a dear!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, my gosh!" he whimpered, and despite her detaining +hand, fled the disquieting presence. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Of all men in that country, Two-Bits was the only one +who openly accepted Jane Hunter and his devotion was +caused by an awed appreciation of her beauty. The others, +even her own riders, remained stolidly skeptical of her ability +to measure up to the task she had undertaken and when +men talked of the business of the country they unconsciously +spoke of the prestige of the HC as a thing of the past. +</P> + +<P> +Hepburn had brought back some of her property that was +being driven off but he had not halted attempts to make away +with her horses and cattle. There were rumors, vague but +persistent, of other depredations and those who best knew +the ways of the cattle country awaited that time when the +situation must reach a crisis, when Jane Hunter must be put +to the ordeal that would test her mettle. +</P> + +<P> +She was yet unconscious of much of this for her urge +to make a place for herself centered on penetrating the +callousness of the one man she wanted to impress most of +all. He remained aloof, watching her either with that +tantalizing amusement or a subtle challenge to win his open +friendship. There were moments when, as on that night +after their drive to Ute Crossing, she wanted to throw herself +on him, to beg, to plead that he lower his reserve and +give her a place ... a place in his heart. +</P> + +<P> +But that, reason told her, would be the last thing to win +him. She must trust to the force of her personality to drive +her way into his life.... +</P> + +<P> +Occasionally he would talk, for she offered a sympathetic +audience to the things he had to say but never did their +conversation become intimate; the subjects he discussed were +invariably abstract and impersonal. While listening she +studied the man, striving to define that quality about him +which lay behind his reserve and drew her on. She could +not seize and analyze it.... He was, aside from obvious +minor qualities, a closed book. +</P> + +<P> +Still she saw him at night patrolling the cottonwoods before +he slept! +</P> + +<P> +She could not know what went on in the heart of that +man, of the fight he waged with himself, of the struggle he +made to stick to his creed: never to take a chance. He did +not know that she was aware of those nightly vigils. The +first had been on that night after he had played with her +pride and her high spirits. Returned to the bunk house +he had suddenly seen her not a smart, capable stranger but +as a girl, alone, facing a new life, surrounded by strange +people and unfriendly influences. He sensed a pity for her +and walked back to look about the place and see that all was +well, as he might have watched over a sleeping child. +</P> + +<P> +And then, the day that the sorrel threw her, he had felt +her body and the man in him had been stirred and when next +he paced those shadows it was not as a protector of some +defenseless life, but as one who quite tenderly lays siege to +the heart of a woman. +</P> + +<P> +He did not admit that even to himself. He reasoned that +he was protecting her because she was a stranger in a strange +land and that the impulse was only kindness. But his reason +in that was a conscious lie for as he stood under the +stars with the cool, quiet night all about him he could hear +her voice in the murmur of the creek, hear her limbs rustling +her skirts in the soft sigh of wind in the trees, could feel her +presence there ... when he was stark alone.... +</P> + +<P> +And he fought it off, fought stubbornly, coldly because +he did not know, he did not know love, did not know the +ground into which he was being carried. +</P> + +<P> +Women? He had had many but the experiences had been +casual, mere surface rifflings, and he had never been stirred +as this woman stirred him. It was new, entirely new, and +Tom Beck feared that which he did not know. +</P> + +<P> +He was accustomed to talk to his horses as men will who +love them and while he rode the gulches alone he would in +later days reason aloud with his own roan or the HC black +or bay he used. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, old stager, we can't take a chance like that!" he +said time after time. "We've kept our heels out of trouble +by playing a close game, not gettin' out on a limb, but up to +now everything that come along has been boy's play ... +compared to this. +</P> + +<P> +"If an <i>hombre</i> took a chance with his love that'd be the +limit, wouldn't it? He'd have his stack on the table, an' the +deal wouldn't be more than started!" +</P> + +<P> +He talked over the loves of other men with those horses, +earnestly, soberly. He recalled the marriages he had known +between men and women who were from the same stocks, +who knew none but the same life; so many were failures! +And this girl, this girl of whom he dreamed at night and +thought by day, scarcely yet spoke his language! +</P> + +<P> +But he could not argue away the disturbing impulse. He +could cover it, hide it from others, hide it from himself at +times, but drive it out? Never! +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Tom's report to Jane after his trip to town offered no encouragement. +The filing had been legally accomplished and +its significance was further impressed on the girl when he +said: +</P> + +<P> +"It's a mighty popular subject in town, ma'am. Everybody's +interested." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose they all think it will mean trouble for me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, an' they're likely to be right." +</P> + +<P> +She shook her head sharply. +</P> + +<P> +"We don't want trouble, but if it does come we must +meet it half way!" She leaned forward determinedly and +Beck stirred in his chair. It was a gesture of delight for +those were almost his very words to Hepburn when they +cleared their relationships of pretense; but he said only: +</P> + +<P> +"That's the easiest way to take trouble on." +</P> + +<P> +Just then Hepburn came in with his report on his visit +to the Hole. +</P> + +<P> +"The old fellow seems reasonable, Miss Hunter," he +said ponderously. "He don't look like he's a permanent +neighbor even if he has bought some cows from Webb, +which I found out today. He's poor as a church mouse to +begin with—" +</P> + +<P> +"And buyin' more cattle?" put in Beck. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, they were old stock an' I guess Webb was glad +to get rid of 'em," the foreman said with a wave of his hand, +yet he did not return Beck's searching gaze. +</P> + +<P> +"Cole told me he didn't have any intention of fencin' up +the water so I guess there ain't anything to fret you, Miss +Hunter. I sounded him out on buyin' but didn't get far. +He's a shiftless old cuss, from th' look of things, so I don't +anticipate any trouble at all. He may not even last the +summer out." +</P> + +<P> +Tom left and afterward Hepburn talked at length of the +situation, minimizing the menace the others saw, urging +Jane to put the matter out of her mind. But the girl was +not satisfied and the next day, with Tom, rode off toward +the Hole. +</P> + +<P> +They made an early start, riding out of the ranch just as +the sun topped the heights to the eastward. Dew hung +heavily on the sage from which fresh, clean fragrance rose +as their horses stirred the brush. Their shadows were +thrown far in advance as they followed a narrow gulch and +the sunlight was caught and concentrated and scattered again +as the drops flew from leaf and twig. +</P> + +<P> +The girl breathed deeply of the light, sweet air and looked +at Beck with a little laugh as of relief. +</P> + +<P> +"When I sit at that desk, I feel like a prosaic business +woman whose interest is in ledgers," she said, "but when +I ride in this country I feel like a character in some romantic +story." +</P> + +<P> +Tom scratched his chin thoughtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"That's too bad, 'ma'am," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Which?" +</P> + +<P> +"Both." +</P> + +<P> +"I can see disadvantages to the first, but why the other?" +</P> + +<P> +"I guess I ain't struck much with stories. Used to read +'em, used to get real interested in some but that was before I +commenced to get interested in folks." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes?" she encouraged after a moment. +</P> + +<P> +"You see, I think the folks I see and hear and live with +and get to know are a lot more interestin' than the folks +somebody's thought up out of his head. +</P> + +<P> +"A man in a book talks and acts like a man in a book an' +nothing else. You never hear men talk out here in the bunk +house or ridin' the country like a writer would make 'em talk +on the page of a book; take my word for that.... +</P> + +<P> +"Folks are mighty interestin'. The best fun I get is +watching folks, studying them. It's a lot more fun than +reading about some man or woman you know ain't real, +ma'am. +</P> + +<P> +"Life is mighty interesting if you look at it right. If +you try to glorify and lie about it you cheapen the whole +works. It's either damned serious or a joke. There's no +in between. I don't know which it is, yet, but I do know +that most of the books I ever read was th' in-between kind, +neither one thing nor the other. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been around considerable among men but I never +seen things happen in life like writers make things happen +in books. Everything works out so lovely in books, folks +never make mistakes in anything ... that is, the heroes +don't. Why, love even works out right in books!" +</P> + +<P> +He spoke the last in a lowered voice as if he talked of a +sacred thing that had been mistreated. Unconsciously he +had voiced the fear that had grown in his own soul and +when he turned to look at her his eyes reflected a queer mental +conflict, almost fright! +</P> + +<P> +She caught something of his mood and waited a moment +to summon the courage to ask very gently: +</P> + +<P> +"And doesn't it ... doesn't love work out in life?" +</P> + +<P> +He shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Seldom, ma'am. In books folks gamble with it like it +was ... why, ma'am, like their love was a white chip!" +</P> + +<P> +Again he spoke as of a sacrilege and his earnestness, +though he did not appear to be thinking of her, confused the +girl. The wordless interval which followed was distressing +to her so she said: +</P> + +<P> +"And the other forms of expression? Music? Poetry? +Painting?" +</P> + +<P> +"You've got me on music," he confessed with a laugh. +"I've heard greasers playin' fandangoes on busted old guitars +that sounded a lot sweeter to me than any band I ever +heard. +</P> + +<P> +"As for poetry ... I don't know,"—shaking his head. +"I read some; tried to understand it, but it seems all messed +up with words as if poets liked to take the long, painful way +of telling things. +</P> + +<P> +"I expect poets want to tell something that's sort of ... +delicate an' beautiful.... Now and then I've got a funny +feel out of poetry, but it ain't anything to me like, say, seeing +a bunch of little quail run along under the brush, heads up, +lookin' back at you, whistlin' to each other. That's the +most delicate thing I've ever seen or heard.... +</P> + +<P> +"I've seen some paintings, in Los and San Francisco; +once in Chicago and once in Denver. I don't know. They +don't get my idea of it. I never want to see anything more +beautiful than sunrise over the Grand Caņon, or sunsets over +these hills, dust storm on the desert, snow blowin' before a +norther off the ridges, and things like that. God, who's such +a close friend to the Reverend, and who I don't know much +about, is as good a painter as any I've ever seen." +</P> + +<P> +He said no more but rode apparently thinking of much +more that might be said and Jane watched him carefully, a +hungry look coming into her eyes. His words had partly +analyzed him for her: +</P> + +<P> +He was <i>real</i>. +</P> + +<P> +He was the most real human being she had ever known, +real because he lived a real life, because he appreciated +realities; he was sufficient to himself, finding such an interest +in life about him that his own impressions and reactions +occupied the foreground of his consciousness. +</P> + +<P> +All her life she had been fed on the artificial, living on a +soft pad of unrealities which softened and hid the bed-rock +foundation of existence from her. Within the last weeks +she had had her first taste of the real, was face to face with +life and with herself; it had been sweet and inspiring; she +felt a great urge for more of that experience and her mind +sped ahead into the vague future, the future which her imagination +could not even conjure because the new foundation +beneath her feet was as yet unfamiliar. But for all that +vagueness she thrilled and as she peered forward eagerly +she saw this man, this clean, frank man ever at her side.... +</P> + +<P> +And yet he had spoken of love as a gamble which did not +work itself out in life! A sharp stab of shame shot through +her heart, for she had once handled her love as though it +had been a white chip, she had been willing to chance it as +a thing of little value and she knew that to him that would +be the outraging of a sacred thing. +</P> + +<P> +And again she heard the pronouncement of Hilton: You +cannot stand alone! You will fail! A knave, she now +knew, but he knew her as she had been. And could he be +right? Could she measure up to where a real man's love +would not be wasted upon her? She did not know; she +dared not think further, so driving back these doubts, she +said: +</P> + +<P> +"There's one question I want to ask and I want your +honest answer. What is your opinion of Hepburn?" +</P> + +<P> +He looked at her with that twinkle in his eye again. +</P> + +<P> +"In just what way, ma'am?" +</P> + +<P> +"At times he seems reluctant to talk to me, as though he +knew more than he wanted to tell and again I've had a notion +he didn't want me asking about certain ranch matters +at all. +</P> + +<P> +"I confess to you that with all the talk of thieving I've +wondered if he didn't know more about it than he gave me +to understand, but what he did the other day seems, in all +reason, to wipe that suspicion out." +</P> + +<P> +He said: "It seems you've answered your own question. +When you've said that he went a long ways to prove that +he's the man you want by what he's just done, you've said +all there was to say." +</P> + +<P> +"But do you mean that? Are you keeping some suspicion +of your own from me?" +</P> + +<P> +He deliberated a moment, then smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"It's easy to suspect but it don't pay very big until you +know somethin'. Then you don't need to." +</P> + +<P> +They climbed out of the gulch, horses breathing loudly as +they made the last steep ascent and gained the ridge they +were to follow and there was little more talk until they +stopped and sat looking down across the great flat-bottomed +cavity of Devil's Hole. It was a pear-shaped depression, +perhaps four miles from rim to rim at the widest point and +fully a score of miles in length. Its sides were sprinkled +with cedars which clung to the sheer cliffs determinedly, but +its bottom was blanketed with thrifty sage brush, purple in +the sunlight that was just then slanting across the floor and +beneath this sheen they could see the bright green of new +grasses. A dark line marked with the clarity of a map +the course of the creek and half way down toward the +neck of the Hole was a small cabin erected by the man +who had filed on the land for Colonel Hunter and who had +drifted on without establishing title. +</P> + +<P> +"There's your neighbor," Beck said. +</P> + +<P> +Jane looked for a moment, then lifted her eyes to the +country which showed through the narrow outlet of the +deep valley. Behind her endless ridges tossed upward to +a sharp horizon, but out through that gap the range lay in +a vast basin, rising gently to diminutive lavendar buttes +plastered against the sky many miles away. It seemed soft +and vague and unreal ... like one of the unreal paintings +Beck had seen hanging within walls. +</P> + +<P> +Tom led the way through trees and among upstanding +ledges of rock into the narrow, dangerous trail and as he +went down, his big roan picking the way quickly yet cautiously, +he half turned in his saddle to explain the significance +of the descent. +</P> + +<P> +It was the only egress on that side of the Hole. There +was one trail on the far side, so steep and hazardous +that a man must lead his horse either up or down. The +only other outlet was through the narrow Gap where the +wash of flood water during storms had made the going +easy for men and stock. Out to the northwest, however, lay +miles of desert, the great basin of which Jane had had a +glimpse, well enough to use for range in three seasons, but +in summer it became parched and useless. In the Hole +cattle could feed on the abundant gramma, could drink +from the creek, but getting them out and over the divide +to the more plentiful water of Coyote Creek was an undertaking. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the danger," he told her, "It's a long, hard climb +for stock in good shape, but if anything should happen to +prevent your stock from drinkin' down here and they should +get low from lack of water, why then you'd leave a lot of +'em down there if you tried to bring 'em up." +</P> + +<P> +He pointed over the abrupt drop at his left where a +pebble would fall hundreds of feet before striking again and +as he indicated his right chap scrubbed the face of the +cliff, so narrow was the way to which they clung. +</P> + +<P> +Finally they reached the flat and swung along at a free +trot through the brash sage. +</P> + +<P> +"There's water here now," he explained, as they followed +the steep creek bank, "but that don't last. It's mighty low +right this mornin'. The creek sinks when it don't rain +an' its been comin' up in just one spot for years. That's +what makes a nester dangerous for you." +</P> + +<P> +They approached the cabin. A mare and a newly born +colt eyed them suspiciously. An ancient wagon, its top tattered, +its tires red with rust, stood close beside a frail +corral. Fire wood was scattered about; here was an axe +with a broken helve, there a rust-eaten shovel, and the whole +place spoke of poverty. +</P> + +<P> +And yet piled against the cabin was spool upon spool +of new barbed wire! +</P> + +<P> +"Fence!" muttered Beck. +</P> + +<P> +"But Mr. Hepburn said—" +</P> + +<P> +"Yeah, I recall what he <i>said!</i>" +</P> + +<P> +Just then the canvas which served as a door was thrown +back and the girl stepped out. She stood just across the +threshold looking at them, sullen and defiant. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-morning," said Jane. +</P> + +<P> +"Howdy," replied the girl indifferently. +</P> + +<P> +An awkward pause. Surely, she would volunteer no +more and Beck asked: +</P> + +<P> +"Your dad around?" +</P> + +<P> +"What do you want with him?"—a demand rather than +a question. +</P> + +<P> +"I am Miss Hunter. I own the—" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I know who you are!" the girl cut in defiantly. +</P> + +<P> +"I came down to talk to your father. We are neighbors. +If we are to be good neighbors there are things we +must discuss." +</P> + +<P> +Jane was unpoised by the attitude of the other but she +dismounted and walked toward the cabin. +</P> + +<P> +"What did you want with him?" the girl asked again. +</P> + +<P> +"I want to ask some things about your plans." +</P> + +<P> +"And what is our business to you?" The girl's eyes +snapped and her vivid color intensified. +</P> + +<P> +"It may be a great deal to me. That is why I am frank +in coming here. For years this place has been range for +H C cattle. Recently water has been short. You have +wire and evidently are going to fence. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't come as an enemy. Now that you are here +I want to make the best of it." +</P> + +<P> +"But you don't want us here!" +</P> + +<P> +The simple declaration, voiced with that same defiance, +confused Jane; then she met the other on her own ground. +</P> + +<P> +"No, we don't want you here unless you will work with +us as we all try to work together. I think you will do +that because it is the wiser—" +</P> + +<P> +"So you start out workin' with us by lookin' up our +claim, the way we filed it, before you come to talk!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I did that,"—frankly. "I wanted to be sure just +what your rights were before I came to talk business." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you know now. You know no lawyers can run +us off. Ain't that enough? If you know we've got rights, +what do you come here for?" She stopped, but before +Jane could reply went on, her eyes flashing sudden heat: +"You don't want us here but we've come to stay an' from +the way you've started in to talk your business I guess +that's all you'll find out." +</P> + +<P> +Jane eyed her for an interval then said: +</P> + +<P> +"You and I are the only women for miles about in +this country. We are near neighbors as neighbors go in +the mountains; do you think this is the best way to start +in being friends?" +</P> + +<P> +"Who said anything about bein' friends?" +</P> + +<P> +"I want to be your friend." The sincerity of this balked +the girl and her eyes became puzzled. "I want to be your +friend and want you for my friend. We can help each +other in a good many ways." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't recollect askin' for your help." +</P> + +<P> +"No, but I want to give it to you and I want to ask +yours in return. We are here in a big country. We are +all dependent to an extent on those about us. None of us +can get along so well alone as we can by working together." +</P> + +<P> +"Like turnin' folks out in the rain at night, for instance?" +</P> + +<P> +Jane's cheeks flamed. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't understand," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"Think it over an' maybe you will!" +</P> + +<P> +The girl's eyes blazed uncovered hate, but as they took +Jane in again from hat to boots a curious envy showed +in them. +</P> + +<P> +"I've seen how much you big outfits want to help poor +folks before," she said. "I know all about that,"—bitterly. +"Maybe it's a good thing you come here today so you'll +get to understand, first hand, instead of sendin' your men +around to learn things for you. +</P> + +<P> +"We've come a long ways. We've been on th' move ever +since I can recollect. Folks have offered to help us before, +an' they have helped us ... to decide to move. +We've come to stay here; we can take care of ourselves; +we don't ask nothin' but to be let alone, an' we're goin' to +be let alone if we have to make it stick with gun play." +</P> + +<P> +She had advanced and, hands on her hips, weight on one +foot, spoke the last with her face close to Jane's, her head +nodding in slow emphasis. +</P> + +<P> +"I trust it won't come to that," Jane said evenly. She +had not flinched, but studied the girl carefully, impersonally, +though the color in her cheeks had died; her face was in +repose, her bearing dignified and assured, yet without +suggestion of any superficial superiority. "If it does come +to that it will not be because I am unwilling to do all that +is reasonable. I have come down here to talk to you, which +should be evidence of my good faith; I have been frank. +You meet me as though I had come to cheat you or drive +you out. I don't think that is fair." +</P> + +<P> +The other drew back a step, clearly puzzled again. Her +face, in spite of its forbidding expression, was very beautiful. +</P> + +<P> +"That sounds all right," she said at length, "but I've +heard it before and I know how much it's worth. You ain't +my kind. You don't belong here and I do. You don't want +to be my friend ... you wouldn't know how. +</P> + +<P> +"All we want is to be let alone. Our business ain't yours +an' we won't try to make yours ours. Have you said all you +wanted to say?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, not quite all, but if you won't listen to me, if you +won't believe me, there is only one more thing I can say: +You will know where to find me any time you want to talk +to me. I will be ready to work with you, to do my share, +and maybe a little more. I hope there will be no trouble, +for it would force me to make my share of that." +</P> + +<P> +She turned abruptly and walked toward Beck. +</P> + +<P> +The man had purposely held aloof to watch the encounter +between the two women. He had been certain that +the meeting would be anything but amicable and it was +like other situations into which he had let Jane Hunter +walk, needlessly and only to see how she would handle +herself. Usually the result only amused him but today +he had watched Jane bear up admirably under difficult circumstances, +refusing to be angered or confused, refusing +to plead yet, while retaining dignity, leaving the door to +friendship open. +</P> + +<P> +As Jane mounted Bobby Cole stepped back into the cabin +with no word and the riders turned back on the way they +had come. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been wonderin'," Beck said after a time, "how this +old codger rakes up the dust to buy cattle and wire." +</P> + +<P> +Jane did not reply. She wondered at that, too, but there +was another wonder in her mind about another, more human +mystery, going back to a night of storm in the heavens +and storm in hearts. How did Bobby Cole know she had +turned Dick Hilton out? +</P> + +<P> +As they went silently each thinking of significant things +which had been revealed the girl threw back the curtain +in the doorway and watched them. +</P> + +<P> +"I hate you!" she whispered at Jane Hunter. "I hate +you!... Because you turned him out ... because you're +... you're <i>you</i>." +</P> + +<P> +She stood a long time watching them and with the darkness +in her face another quality finally mingled: that envy +again. +</P> + +<P> +After a time Jane said: +</P> + +<P> +"A queer creature, that girl." +</P> + +<P> +"On the peck from the start!" Beck replied. +</P> + +<P> +"And beautiful!" +</P> + +<P> +"Ain't she, though?... Poor kid! I've seen 'em before, +kids of movers like that, not so good lookin', not so +smart as she is, but like her because they was always +suspicious, always ready to scrap.... +</P> + +<P> +"That's because they've never had a chance to be decent, +brought up in a wagon that way." +</P> + +<P> +"A shame!" Jane whispered. +</P> + +<P> +"I like kids," he said later, as though his mind had been +on nothing else. "I like all kids, but I feel sorry for a lot +of 'em ... for most of 'em.... Every kid that's born +ought to have a chance, a fair show against the world, because +the old world don't seem to like kids any too much. +</P> + +<P> +"That girl didn't have a chance, never will have it. She +was marked from the day she was born. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, ma'am, one winter I worked for a cow man +down in the Salt River valley which is in Arizona. He +didn't have a big outfit, he didn't have much luck; trouble +with his water, his cattle got sick and his horses didn't do +well and he had just one dose of trouble after another. +</P> + +<P> +"But he had three kids, all in a row they seemed,"—indicating +progressive heights with his hand. "I think +they was the happiest kids I've ever seen. I always think +of 'em when I see kids that've had to grow up like that +girl. I remember those mornin's when we used to start +out for a day's ride, looking back and seeing those kids +playing in the dirt beside the rose bushes. Their clothes +was dirty the minute they stepped outside and their hands +an' faces was a sight from the 'dobe, but there was roses +in their cheeks as bright as th' roses on the bushes and they +laughed loud and their eyes always smiled ... like that +Arizona sky, which ain't got a match anywhere.... +</P> + +<P> +"This man and his wife just buckled down an' bucked +old Mister Hard Luck from the word Go, for them kids! +They sure thought the world of 'em. I guess that was +what put the roses in their cheeks an' the smiles in their +eyes.... +</P> + +<P> +"I'll never forget those kids by the rose bushes with +somebody to care for 'em, an' work their hearts out for 'em. +That's the way kids ought to grow up; not like that catamount +grew up." +</P> + +<P> +He smiled in reminiscence and his smile was tender. +</P> + +<P> +"Roses and kids," he repeated after a while. "They +ought to go together." +</P> + +<P> +He looked at Jane and saw that her eyes were filmed. +</P> + +<P> +She rode closer to him, until her knee touched his chap +and said: +</P> + +<P> +"I think that is beautiful: Roses and kids. I shall always +remember it; always...." +</P> + +<P> +She knew, now, the man she loved, the man whose love +she would win, the man behind that exasperating front of +caution. His clear eyes and keen mind were interested only +in realities and yet he could display a tenderness more +delicate than she had ever before encountered in men. He +was strong, and as gentle as he was strong; he was generous +while a skeptic; he had poise and personality. And he +could liken love to a poker chip; without using the word +make her know that he held love sacred! +</P> + +<P> +She raised her hand to that locket again and held it +tightly in her small palm. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE FRAME-UP +</H4> + +<P> +The water in Devil's Hole was fenced. +</P> + +<P> +It was the Reverend who brought word of the +fencing. He had made a circuit of the ranches, holding +services and selling pens, and on his way back from the +lower reaches of Coyote Creek he stopped to call on the +Coles. His visit was not financially productive but he did +see long rows of posts set by three Mexicans, and saw +wire being stretched on them. +</P> + +<P> +Another thing he saw, which he did not mention to +Hepburn: He saw Bobby Cole riding beside a man, a +man who did not wear the dress of her country but who +wore swagger riding clothes; who did not talk with the +self consciousness of a mountain man who rides beside a +pretty girl, but who leaned toward her and talked engagingly, +so engagingly that the girl lost her hostile attitude and +looked up into his face with wide, eager eyes. +</P> + +<P> +The fencing stirred the country as nothing had done +since the first and only time sheep bands attempted to come +in. There was talk of it in town, there was talk of it when +men met on trail or road, there was talk of it in ranch +houses down the creek and there was talk of it elsewhere, +at length, in stealthy jubilation.... +</P> + +<P> +Riley of the Bar Z rode the thirty miles from his ranch +to discuss it with Jane Hunter. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't guess you quite understand how serious it is, +Miss Hunter," he said after they had talked a time. "Do +you realize that if we have a dry summer—and it's startin' +out that way—that this is goin' to cut your cattle off some +of your best range. It may break you." +</P> + +<P> +"I understand that, Mr. Riley," she said, leaning across +her desk, "but there are other things I do not understand +and I am inclined to believe that they are of first importance. +Without understanding them, this condition can not be +remedied." +</P> + +<P> +He gave evidence of his surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not wanted here," she went on. "I'm not wanted +because the HC is a rich prize. It seems to be the accepted +opinion that I cannot stay, that I will be unable to stand +my ground. +</P> + +<P> +"I want to know <i>why!</i> I want to know who is going to +drive me out. Some one is behind this nester, I am convinced, +and it is the influence behind the things we can +see that is dangerous. Loss of range is serious, surely; but +by what manner has that range been lost. <i>That</i> is what +I want to know!" +</P> + +<P> +Riley eyed her with approval. +</P> + +<P> +"I came up here with the idea that you didn't understand +but I guess you do," he said quietly. "You've got the +situation sized up right, but there's one thing I want to +tell you: So far only one blow has been struck; it has +fallen on you. The next and the next may fall on you, but +every time you are hurt it's goin' to hurt the rest of us. +That makes your fight our fight.... If you fail, others +are likely to fail. +</P> + +<P> +"I've lived here too long in peace after fighting for that +peace, to stand by and see trouble start again if I can help +it. I'm of the old school, Miss Hunter; your uncle and +I came in here together. I think a lot of his ranch and +... well, if it comes to a fight I can fight again beside his +heir as I fought by his side. +</P> + +<P> +"It won't be pleasant for a woman. Cattle wars ain't +gentle affairs. They can't be if they're going to be short +wars. There's three things to be used; just three: guns +an' rope and nerve." +</P> + +<P> +"I trust I can stand unpleasantness if necessary," was +her reply. +</P> + +<P> +Riley was impressed with the girl's courage but like the +others he was reluctant to believe that she was made of the +stuff that could recognize disaster and fight it out, her +strength unweakened by panic. +</P> + +<P> +Another visitor was there that day: Pat Webb. Jimmy +Oliver had found one of his colts badly cut by wire and +had brought it in. Webb had come to see the animal and +had lingered to talk intimately with Hepburn. +</P> + +<P> +This gave Beck much to think about. +</P> + +<P> +He was saddling his horse at noon when Hepburn approached +and asked his plans for the balance of the day. +</P> + +<P> +"It depends on what I find. I'm after horses first, but +I might have a look at other things. There's so damned +much happenin' around here that it pays a man to look +sharp." +</P> + +<P> +"You'd better cut out that sort of talk, Beck!" +</P> + +<P> +"What talk?"—mockingly. "Seems to me if you didn't +know any more than I do you wouldn't be so easily roiled up, +Hepburn." +</P> + +<P> +"You mind your business and I'll look after mine," the +foreman warned, breathing heavily. "About one more +break from you and we'll part company." +</P> + +<P> +His eyes glittered ominously and his face was malicious. +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't be surprised. This outfit's a little too small +for you and me. It seems to shrink every day, Dad. +Maybe, sometime, you'll have to go, but just keep this in +your head: I've promised Miss Hunter to stay and my +word is good." +</P> + +<P> +He mounted and Hepburn, walking slowly toward the +stable, twirled his mustache speculatively, one eye lid +drooped as though he saw faintly a plan which promised to +solve perplexities. +</P> + +<P> +Beck was cautious that afternoon, as he had trained himself +to be when riding alone. He kept an eye on the back +trail and scanned both gulches when he rode a ridge; but +cautious as he was he did not see the two riders who sat on +quiet horses beneath a spreading juniper tree at the head +of Twenty Mile. +</P> + +<P> +It was after dark when he returned to the ranch and the +moon was just commencing to show. The others were at +supper. He threw his gun and chaps into the bunk house +and fed his horse. As he walked down toward the ranch +house the other men were straggling out and their dining +room was empty. Carlotta brought him steaming food and +he ate with gusto. +</P> + +<P> +When he had nearly finished Jane entered and he started +to rise, but she made him remain seated. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you suppose that man Webb is doing here?" +she asked. "Hepburn explains that he is trying to arrange +to send a representative with our round-up." +</P> + +<P> +"Whatever he's doin' here, it ain't for your good," he +replied. +</P> + +<P> +"Nor yours." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you worry about mine, ma'am and unless he's a +lot smarter than I think he is, or unless he's got lots of +help, don't figure he's goin' to do you any great harm. +He's just a low-down—" +</P> + +<P> +A man was running toward the house and he broke off to +listen. +</P> + +<P> +Two-Bits came hurriedly into the room, eyes wide, +face white, showing none of his usual confusion at Jane's +presence. +</P> + +<P> +"Tommy, they want you," he said unnaturally. +</P> + +<P> +"Yeah? What for, Two-Bits?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know, Tommy. Hepburn an' Riley an' Webb an' +the rest want you. I don't know what it is, Tommy, but it +must be serious." +</P> + +<P> +Tom saw the anxiety in Jane's eyes. She did not put her +query into words; it was not necessary; he knew and answered: +</P> + +<P> +"I ain't got an idea, ma'am, but I'll go find out. You're +all wound up, Two-Bits!"—laughing. +</P> + +<P> +"My gosh, Tommy, they acted funny. Have you done +anything?" the cowboy asked in an undertone as they left +the house. +</P> + +<P> +"A lot, Two-Bits. I sure hope they don't go proddin' +into my awful past! There's some terrible things they +might find!" +</P> + +<P> +He hooked his arm through the other's and laughed at +the boy's apprehension. +</P> + +<P> +But Beck knew that something of grave consequence impended +the instant he set foot in the bunk house for the +men, who had been talking lowly, stopped and eyed him in +sober silence. Afterward he had a distinct recollection of +Two-Bits slipping along the wall, looking at him over his +shoulder with the freckles showing in great blotches against +his white skin. Hepburn, Riley and Webb sat on one bed. +The foreman was leaning back, hands clasping a knee, but +he chewed his tobacco with nervous vigor. +</P> + +<P> +"The Reverend about to offer prayer?" Tom asked +easily. +</P> + +<P> +There was no responsive smile on any face. Someone +coughed loudly and sharply as if it had been an unnecessary +cough. Tom halted. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm here. What's up?" he asked quietly. "This is +like a funeral ... or a trial." +</P> + +<P> +At that Hepburn cleared his throat. +</P> + +<P> +"Want to ask you somethin', Beck. I want you to tell +these other men what you said to me this noon." +</P> + +<P> +Tom hitched up his belt. +</P> + +<P> +"If you want 'em to know, why don't you speak the piece +yourself? You recall it, don't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Better talk, Tom," Riley advised. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know what this is all about; I don't know what +difference what I said to Hepburn can make to the rest of +you, but I respect your opinions, Riley, and if he's willing +for you to know what I said, I sure am willing to repeat it. +</P> + +<P> +"Hepburn and I've had a little argument. It's been +goin' on for some time. He'd be pleased to have me move +on, I take it, but I sort of like this outfit." +</P> + +<P> +"Go on," Hepburn said impatiently. +</P> + +<P> +"I told you, Hepburn, and I'll tell you again that this +ranch is gettin' a little small to hold both of us. It seems +to shrink every day and I don't get good elbow room any +more, but so far as I'm concerned I'm more or less permanent." +</P> + +<P> +Webb nodded and Riley shifted uneasily, looking from +Beck to Hepburn, frankly puzzled. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, that's what you said to me. Now will you tell +the boys where you rode this afternoon?" +</P> + +<P> +Beck eyed him a long moment and the foreman stared +back, assured but not quite composed, his little eyes dark. +Once he bit his chew savagely but his expression did not +change. +</P> + +<P> +"I rode out of here straight up Sunny Gulch, climbed out +at the head, rode those little dry gulches as far down as +Twenty Mile and came up the far ridge. Then I took a +circle to the east and came home by the road." +</P> + +<P> +"You admit bein' at the head of Twenty Mile, then?" +</P> + +<P> +"Admit it? Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"What time?" +</P> + +<P> +"Three o'clock or thereabouts,"—after a pause in which +he considered. +</P> + +<P> +"See any other men?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not a man until I got back." +</P> + +<P> +Hepburn looked about. Two-Bits muttered lowly to +himself. Riley dragged a spur across the floor slowly. +Every eye in the room was on Beck, and Beck's eyes were +on Hepburn. +</P> + +<P> +"Then will you tell the boys how come this?" +</P> + +<P> +The foreman drew a gun and holster from behind him. +It was Beck's gun. He drew it from the scabbard, broke it +and dropped the cartridges into his palm. +</P> + +<P> +Three of the shells were empty. +</P> + +<P> +The two gave one another stare for stare. Hepburn +was breathing rapidly but his look was of a man who faces +a crisis with all confidence. Beck did not move or speak. +His eyes smouldered and his face settled into stern lines. +Then that smouldering burst into blaze and before the +glare of will the foreman's hand, holding the contents of +the revolver chambers, trembled. He closed it quickly and +looked away and where a moment before he had been the +accuser he was now on the defense. It was determination +against determination and in the conflict words were wrung +from him. +</P> + +<P> +"Somebody fired three shots at me at the head of Twenty +Mile at three o'clock this afternoon." +</P> + +<P> +And that sentence, though it was an indictment, was +voiced more in a manner of defense than in accusation. +With it Beck's expression changed; it became alert, as +though following some play upon which great stakes hung, +but following intelligently, not blind to the way of the +game. +</P> + +<P> +"I can explain those empty shells. I took a shot at a +coyote on the way back. I didn't see you, Hepburn, after I +left here this afternoon until I got back." +</P> + +<P> +Webb got up. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess that makes the case," he said to no one in particular. +</P> + +<P> +Then to Tom: "I was with Dad; he was ten rod ahead +of me. Th' shots come from above and landed all around +him. +</P> + +<P> +"<i>We</i> didn't have to look very hard for somebody who +wants to get rid of Dad, but we wanted it from you, +Beck." +</P> + +<P> +Triumph was in his little beady eyes and on his mottled +face. There was a shuffling of feet and Tom hooked one +thumb in his belt, with a slow, uncertain movement. His +eyes held on Hepburn's face, prying, searching, striving +to force a meeting but the other would not look at him, he +busied himself stuffing the evidence into his shirt pocket. +</P> + +<P> +Riley rose and the low stir which had followed the revelation +subsided. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't there something else you want to say, Beck?" he +asked. "Didn't you see any other man? Can't you say +something for yourself?" +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't see another man this afternoon," the other replied, +still striving to make Hepburn meet his gaze, "an' besides +there don't seem to be much to say. I've told my +story. It's simple enough.... You've heard the other +story, which seems simple enough. Now it's my word +against Hepburn's ... an' Webb's,"—as though the last +were in afterthought, and of little matter. +</P> + +<P> +Riley faced the circle of listeners. +</P> + +<P> +"This is no boy's play," he said grimly. "The foreman +of the biggest outfit in this country has been shot at, shot at +by somebody who didn't come from cover and give him +even a fair show for a fight. We know that there's been +bad blood between these two men; Tommy's admitted that. +I hate like hell to think he lost his head over a quarrel and +that he'd fight a man from cover, but it looks bad. +</P> + +<P> +"We can't have this go on! There's been stealing and +rumors of stealing for months. There's trouble comin' +over water and fence. We've gotten along like good neighbors +for years but now trouble seems to be in the air. I +don't see that there's much to it but to take Tom to town +an' turn him over to the sheriff. +</P> + +<P> +"Unless,"—facing Beck. "Tommy, ain't there anything +you want to say? You've refused once but I keep +thinkin' you've got something else you could tell us." +</P> + +<P> +"No, Riley, I'd be taking a chance by doing more talkin' +tonight. I'll do it when it'll do me more good," he said, but +at his own words, brave though they sounded, his heart +sank and a rage boiled up in him. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I'm afraid it's jail for you, son," Riley said. "I +can—" +</P> + +<P> +"Jail?" +</P> + +<P> +Jane Hunter had stepped into the bunk house. It was +the first time she had ever been there and that was reason +enough to rivet attention on her; but now she came under +circumstances which were stressed, her face was white, +lips parted, eyes wide with a child-like wonder and as she +paused on the threshold, one hand against the casing, dread +was in every line of her figure. +</P> + +<P> +"Jail?" she repeated in a strained voice. "And why?" +</P> + +<P> +The silence was oppressive and for a breath no one moved +or spoke. Beck had not turned to face her; his eyes never +left Hepburn's face and it was he who broke the suspense +with one word, addressed to the foreman. +</P> + +<P> +"Well?"—a challenge. +</P> + +<P> +Hepburn moved slowly toward the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"There's been a little trouble, Miss Hunter," with an attempt +at a laugh, which resulted dismally. +</P> + +<P> +"Trouble?"—with rising inflection. +</P> + +<P> +She took a step forward, looking about at the serious +faces. She looked back at Hepburn; then at Beck. Her +eyes clung to him a moment, then swept the circle again. +</P> + +<P> +"Trouble? About what? Who is in trouble?" +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't want to bother you with it," her foreman said, +his assurance coming back, for Beck had ceased looking +at him. "It's a nasty mess; I don't like it. None of us +like it. Even if he is inclined to be a little hot-headed, +we all thought better of Tom—" +</P> + +<P> +"Tom?" +</P> + +<P> +Slowly she turned to face Beck. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. Tom. We're.... We're sorry, ma'am," Dad +stammered; then recovered and with an effort to belittle +the situation by his manner proceeded: "Somebody did a +small amount of shootin' at me this afternoon. Webb, +here, an' I was at the head of Twenty-Mile and somebody +fired three times at me. Tom come in tonight with three +empty shells in his gun. He.... He didn't explain well +enough to suit us because all he could say was that he fired +at a coyote comin' down the road, but—" +</P> + +<P> +"And you're going to take him to jail?" +</P> + +<P> +Her hand had gone slowly to her throat, fingers clamping +on the gold locket as if for support. Her eyes had become +very dark. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, ma'am, that's about all we can do: turn him over +to the sheriff," Hepburn said. +</P> + +<P> +She drew a deep breath, a second interval of tense silence +prevailed and then Jane, putting one arm across her eyes, +began to laugh. The laugh started low in her throat and +rippled upward until it was full and as clear as the ringing +of a glass gong. She swayed back against the wall and +pressed her extended palms hard against the tough logs.... +</P> + +<P> +"On that evidence?" she cried. "On such evidence +you would charge a man with attempted murder and turn +him over to the law? Because there were empty shells in +his revolver? +</P> + +<P> +"Why, I was with him when he came down the road +and he <i>did</i> shoot at a coyote ... three times ... I heard +it; I saw it ... I was there." +</P> + +<P> +She leaned her head back and her body shook with silent, +nervous laughter. +</P> + +<P> +"Praise ye the Lord!" chanted the Reverend, "For his +ways are wonderous and strange to behold!" +</P> + +<P> +A babel of comments, loud, profane, excited, relieved, +arose. Hepburn stood as if struck dumb, mouth agape and +then, face growing dark with a rush of blood under the +bronzed skin, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"I thought you said you didn't see a soul!" +</P> + +<P> +"I said I didn't see a man, you pole-cat!" Beck retorted +and his eyes danced. Webb sat down on a bunk as though +suddenly weakened. Riley, voice husky, took Tom's hand, +shook it gravely. +</P> + +<P> +"Why didn't you tell us, my boy?" he questioned. +</P> + +<P> +The rest stopped to hear the answer: +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't want to spill my case before this ... this +<i>hombre</i> showed his full hand," he lied. +</P> + +<P> +He turned to look at the other who had lied ... but +Jane Hunter had fled. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE BIG CHANCE +</H4> + +<P> +Hours later, after the Reverend had offered a strong, +verbose prayer, invoking the wrath of the Almighty +upon those who plot to strike from cover, after the bunk +house had finally become quiet, Beck stole out into the +night. +</P> + +<P> +The moon rode high, flooding the creek bottom with its +cold, blue-white light and he stood bareheaded, shirt open +at the chest, staring at one bright star which stared back +from the edge of the hills. Far off, away down the creek, +a coyote yapped and, waiting, cried again and its faint echo +reverberated into silence. A horse in the corral stomped and +blew loudly.... +</P> + +<P> +He moved on down toward the cottonwoods and reaching +them stood in their shadows, arms at his sides, shoulders +slacked as if weakened, irresolute. The ranch house was +dark, its shingles smeared with a sheen of silver by the +moon, the veranda in deep black. +</P> + +<P> +Tom did not see her coming until she was halfway across +the dooryard. Then, rather heavily, he climbed the wire +fence and met her. +</P> + +<P> +Without words of greeting Jane put out her hands and +he took them both, holding them between his, looking down +into her face silently. Her eyes were dry, but there had +been tears on her cheeks, and her lips, as she looked into +his smouldering eyes, trembled. +</P> + +<P> +"What were they trying to do to you?" she whispered. +</P> + +<P> +"They were trying to send me to jail for shooting at a +man," he answered. "Why did you lie for me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you were in trouble! I didn't know. I couldn't +think.... I saw it all so clearly, all in a flash, saw that all +you needed was one little word from someone else to make +it right and I didn't care beyond that. It was the only +thing that mattered. If they had taken you away I'd have +been alone, wholly alone...." +</P> + +<P> +"You believed me when I told 'em I shot at a coyote?" +</P> + +<P> +"Believe? Believe? I didn't think, didn't consider. It +made no difference to me what you had done. The only +thing I wanted to do was to set you free, to clear you!" +</P> + +<P> +"You'd lie for me, even if you thought I'd shot to kill +a man?" he insisted. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't know what you had—" +</P> + +<P> +"You'd take a chance like that? Why would you, +ma'am?" +</P> + +<P> +For a long moment their eyes, half seen to one another +in those shadows, clung almost fiercely, his inquisitory, hers +changing as wave followed wave of emotion through her +body. She had never seen him so dominating, and he had +no need to insist again that she answer. She let her head +fall back with a half smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I did it because it was the only thing I could do.... +I did it, Tom, because I—" +</P> + +<P> +He straightened sharply and cut in: +</P> + +<P> +"I know, ma'am; you did it because you need me here, +on the ranch." +</P> + +<P> +His chest swelled with a great breath and he released her +hands, stepping back and putting a hand slowly to his head. +</P> + +<P> +For an instant she made no sound. Then she laughed +strangely. +</P> + +<P> +"Because I need you here.... Yes, that was it. That +was why I lied for you." She spoke with nervous rapidity, +rather breathlessly, and one hand went again to that locket, +clutching it in a cold clasp. "I knew it was not like you to +try to shoot a man unfairly. I didn't think there was much +chance in lying. All I saw was them taking you away and +leaving me here alone to face all this, without anyone I +can trust, without anyone to help me. That was why I +lied to them. +</P> + +<P> +"You promised me once that you would stay. I knew +then that I needed you; every hour since that promise was +made I've had a greater realization of my need for you +until it ... it ..." Her breath caught in a sob and she +pressed knuckles to her lips. +</P> + +<P> +Beck stood silently watching her, a cold moisture forming +on his brow, hands clenched as if he were holding himself +against the urge of some great impulse. +</P> + +<P> +"I felt when I stepped in there and learned what it all +was, that the last thing I have to depend on was slipping +away ... and I reached out and grasped you like I'd grasp +a straw in a sea. It ... I can't tell you,"—her voice +trembled, "what it meant, what it means to me...." +</P> + +<P> +Words, words! They spilled from her lips with a rapidity +that approached hysteria. She was talking without +thought, without reason, letting her voice run on while her +consciousness, divorced entirely from it, fell into chaos. +</P> + +<P> +"Everything seems to be working against me and now, +because you have been my help, my strength, they are trying +to take you away. Oh, I need all the help there is, and +that is you!"—with a stamp of the foot as she drove tears +back. +</P> + +<P> +"There are influences which I can't see, which I can only +feel, all about me, within me,"—beating her breast—"and +outside." +</P> + +<P> +"It may be interestin' to you to know that I didn't shoot +at any coyote." +</P> + +<P> +She gasped lightly and for a moment did not speak. +</P> + +<P> +"Then you did shoot at Hepburn?"—in a whisper. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I didn't. I'd never shoot from cover." +</P> + +<P> +"I knew that," she said quickly, knowing that by her +question she had hurt him. +</P> + +<P> +"It appears that I ain't very welcome with your foreman. +It was a frame-up, a good way to get rid of me. They +planted that evidence in my gun while I was eating. It was +one of those influences at work, the kind you've only felt. +You can see some of 'em now, ma'am.... +</P> + +<P> +"It's lucky you thought to lie," he said, with a weak +laugh that was unlike him. "I guess you're going to need +all your luck.... +</P> + +<P> +"But you better go in now. It's late and cold." +</P> + +<P> +He wanted her to be away from him, to be rid of her +presence, for it pulled him, drew him, and he fought against +it, fought against the strongest impulse that has been born +to man, fought blindly, his old, deeply rooted caution, dragging +him back ... dragging him.... +</P> + +<P> +"I don't want to go in; I don't want to leave you," she +said. "I want—" +</P> + +<P> +"But you must go. Have I got to pick you up an' carry +you into your house, ma'am?" +</P> + +<P> +"I want you to take this," she went on where he had +interrupted, fumbling at the catch of the chain which held +the locket against her throat. "Take it," she said, holding +it swinging toward him, spattered with moonlight. "It's +brought me all the luck I've ever had; it will help you, it +will protect you. You need luck as much as I do ... and +you need it for me. Wear it, a foolish little trinket but +it means ... oh, more than you can know! I'd like to +think of you as wearing it...." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think I need that, ma'am. What's in it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't ask that! Don't even open it, please. Just take +it and wear it, for me." +</P> + +<P> +He made no move to take the ornament, just stood looking +at it skeptically. +</P> + +<P> +"Take it ... and then I will go in, without being carried." +</P> + +<P> +She reached up to place the chain about his neck with her +own hands; her unsteady fingers, fumbling with the catch, +slipped and her cool, bared arms, touched his flesh. At the +contact she swayed against him. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, carry me in," she pleaded gently, "carry me in ... +not into my house, but into your life!" +</P> + +<P> +All the caution, all the reason he had summoned to hold +back that urge was swept aside. The touch of her skin +against his skin sent seething blood to the ends of his limbs. +It did not need her plea to break him down; the touch +accomplished it, and fiercely, roughly, he caught her to +him. +</P> + +<P> +"It's all been a lie, another lie, all this you've said!" he +cried lowly. "You didn't lie tonight because you need me; +you lied because you love me, ma'am! You love me, like a +good woman can love, and I love you.... I love you, +ma'am, like I never thought I could love. It's bigger than +I am, bigger than all the rest of my life.... +</P> + +<P> +"From that first night you talked to me I've been afraid +I was goin' to love you. That was why I planned to go +away because I didn't want to take a chance with my love. +It's the only sacred thing I've ever owned and I've kept +it back, savin' it for the time when I could turn it loose.... +</P> + +<P> +"When you told me you'd made up your mind to stay +here, that you wanted to do something that was real and +worth-while, I felt that I couldn't hold it back.... +</P> + +<P> +"But I didn't know you. I got to love you so much I +was afraid of you, afraid of myself. That was why I bullied +you, that was why I picked on you. I tried to drive +you away from me, I tried, even, to keep from bein' your +friend, but somethin' told me all the time that this had to +come. +</P> + +<P> +"I've watched you grow strong and big. I've hurt you +on purpose. I've made some things hard for you to do, but +you've done 'em. You're like a man, in the way you stand +up to things ... and the gentlest, the sweetest woman down +in your heart!" +</P> + +<P> +"Not that!" she pleaded. "Not all that. I'm not what +you think, I'm only what you can make me. I'm weak and +need it. I want to be carried ... along and upward by +it!" +</P> + +<P> +Chin drawn in, he looked down into her face as she lay +in his arms, her breath quick and fast and warm on his +cheek. He could feel his limbs vibrate as his pulse leaped +and his whole body trembled as he read the look in her eyes, +revealed by the moonlight. +</P> + +<P> +Up on the hills a little owl hooted and again the coyote +yapped. A vagrant night wind touched the trees above +them and the leaves whispered sleepily, as if roused by a +pleasant dream. The murmur of the creek sounded almost +as a blessing. None of these they heard. They were lost in +a vague, limitless world, alone, swayed by the most powerful, +the most beautiful forces in life. +</P> + +<P> +"You lied because you love me," he whispered. +</P> + +<P> +And at that she stirred and her breath slipped out in a +long sob. He lowered his face to hers as scalding tears +brimmed from her eyes. He felt them on his cheek, +mingled with her breath and he felt her arms tighten about +his neck, her body draw closer to his. +</P> + +<P> +"It wasn't any chance!" he whispered fiercely. "It +wasn't any chance, and I've been holdin' back, fighting it off, +denying it to myself for weeks ... afraid to risk it, afraid +to let it come out ... afraid of what is <i>so!</i>" +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't it a chance?" she asked almost in a gasp. "Isn't +it? Are you sure, Tom?" +</P> + +<P> +"As sure as I am that the moon is up there, Jane." +</P> + +<P> +He lowered his lips to hers and for a long kiss they +clung. +</P> + +<P> +"But you don't know—you don't know!" she cried, +suddenly struggling to be free. "You don't know me," +pressing her palms against his chest as he held her. "It's +big, it's fine ... the biggest, the finest thing that has ever +come into my life. +</P> + +<P> +"Tom! What if it should be a chance?" +</P> + +<P> +"But, Jane it can't—" +</P> + +<P> +With a faint little cry, almost as though she were hurt, +she broke from him and fled toward the house through the +moonlight. +</P> + +<P> +He stood alone, the feel of her lips still on his, heart +leaping, mind swirling. And, looking down, he saw that in +his hand he held the little gold locket. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +WAR! +</H4> + +<P> +So, for Jane and Tom, at least, Hepburn came into the +open. +</P> + +<P> +And for Hepburn, these two displayed their hands. +</P> + +<P> +Of greater consequence, Beck's reserve, his caution was +swept away. He had taken his big chance! +</P> + +<P> +"You're all there is to me," he told Jane the following +morning with a desperation in his eyes and a seriousness +in his voice that made her search his face with alarm. "I +fought against my love for you but it wasn't any use. You +<i>made</i> me love you. You'll make me keep lovin' you, won't +you, Jane?" +</P> + +<P> +"I hope so! You don't know how much I hope so!" +she assured him as her arms clasped his neck closely. "It +frightens me, having this responsibility. It's the greatest +I've ever had and I'm weak, Tom, a weak woman!" +</P> + +<P> +"No, strong!" he declared and stopped her further protest +with kisses. +</P> + +<P> +Dad Hepburn, of course, could not stay on under the +circumstances. +</P> + +<P> +"There's an advantage of having a reptile in sight if +you've got to have one in the country," Beck told Jane as +they discussed the matter, "but he won't stay. He's got an +excuse to back out gracefully now and we haven't any excuse +to keep him on." +</P> + +<P> +"And will you be my foreman?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"If you'll trust me that far," he replied with the laugh in +his eyes again. +</P> + +<P> +Hepburn departed that day, telling Jane that he would +like to stay but that he did not feel like risking his life for +the sake of a job, to which she made no reply other than +writing his check. This nettled him; he did not meet her +gaze because, though they both had lied, her guilt was white +while his was smirched with treachery. +</P> + +<P> +His farewell to Beck was not open but his successor read +in it an ominous quality. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish you luck on your job, Beck," he said as he +mounted, ready to ride away. "Lots of luck." +</P> + +<P> +"Mostly bad luck, Hepburn?" Tom taunted and the flush +that whipped into the face of the older man was not that of +humiliation. +</P> + +<P> +He reined his horse away with a growl and did not look +back. +</P> + +<P> +If the little gold locket which Tom wore about his neck +brought luck, it supplied a dire need. He had two determined +personal enemies in the country, Webb and Hepburn, +and as foreman of the HC he had many others, identities +not fully established. +</P> + +<P> +There was Cole and the Mexicans he had hired to build +the fence and clear his land. There was the usual gathering +of riff-raff at Webb's. And there was Sam McKee, the +coward, who was not reckoned as a menace by Beck and +who, in later days, was to figure so largely! +</P> + +<P> +Another piece of news the Reverend brought: +</P> + +<P> +"They're talkin' about you in town, brother. They're +saying that now some of this thieving will stop. They're +looking to you to clean up the country." +</P> + +<P> +"Ain't that a lot of responsibility to put on one peaceful +citizen?" Beck asked, but though he jested over the fact +he did not fail to appreciate its significance. +</P> + +<P> +"Be cautious. These men are without scruple, brother." +</P> + +<P> +"And so am I ... but I got lots of luck, Reverend!" +was his parting. +</P> + +<P> +He needed his luck. +</P> + +<P> +Riding alone, under a rim rock, with the country falling +away to the westward, he speculated on his luck and on the +talisman Jane had given him. He drew the locket from +his shirt front and held it on his big palm eyeing the thing, +wondering what it contained that Jane had wanted to conceal +from him. +</P> + +<P> +"I've got a half grown notion to open it," he muttered +and stopped his horse shortly. +</P> + +<P> +And he might have sprung the lid had not a zipping +and a dull, dead spatter on the rock just ahead caught his +attention. He looked up sharply, saw the stain of metal +against the ledge and saw in the sunlight a fragment of the +bullet that had shattered itself there, that would have drilled +him had his horse taken the next step. +</P> + +<P> +Whoever fired had calculated on that next step because +he was at such a distance that no report of a rifle reached +him. +</P> + +<P> +Beck turned his horse and raced to cover and lay for an +hour scanning the country, but his assailant did not appear. +</P> + +<P> +When Tom rode away he smiled grimly to himself and +said to the roan: +</P> + +<P> +"We won't look in it now. Stoppin' to consider saved +our skin that time; maybe we'll need that luck again ... +and worse." +</P> + +<P> +Another time, the same week, he threw his bed on a +pack horse and started a two-day ride to the south-east for, +as foreman, he gave close heed to the detail of his work. +</P> + +<P> +At sundown he made camp and while his coffee boiled +stripped himself and bathed luxuriously in a waterhole. +</P> + +<P> +He lay looking upward at the stars that night thinking +more of Jane Hunter than her property, thrilling at memory +of her hair and eyes and lips, telling himself that conditions +were reversed now, and that instead of fighting her off, evading +her charms, he was consumed with an eagerness for +them. +</P> + +<P> +Drowsiness came and, turning on his side, he reached a +hand for the locket to hold it fast while he slept. It was +not about his neck. He remembered that he had left it +on a rock where he had undressed for his bath and, slipping +out of his blankets, turning them back that the night chill +might not dampen his bed, he picked his way carefully to +the place and groped for the trinket. +</P> + +<P> +His fingers had just touched the gold disc when the +quiet of the night was punctured by a shot ... then four +more in quick succession. +</P> + +<P> +He squatted low, holding his breath. He heard booted +feet running over rocks, heard a man speak gruffly to a +horse and, in a moment, heard galloping hoofs carrying a +rider away. He waited a half hour, then stole back to his +bed. The tarp and blankets were drilled by five bullet holes. +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe I'm superstitious," he muttered, fastening the +gold chain about his neck, "but this thing, or whatever is in +it, has saved my hide twice in one week." +</P> + +<P> +The man who had fired into his blankets had trailed him +deliberately, had waited until satisfied that he was asleep +and had stolen up to murder him without offering a fighting +chance. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Hepburn has gone into partnership with Webb," Jane +told him on his return to the ranch. "The Reverend +brought in that word. What do you make of it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not much. Without my help it makes about the finest +couple of snakes that could be brought together!" Tom +muttered. +</P> + +<P> +"And somebody tampered with the ditch in the upper +field. Curtis and the men started the water down late in +the afternoon. They left their tools there and the ditch bank +was broken. They tell me it surely was shoveled out. The +water is low and losing it hurt." +</P> + +<P> +"That looks quite like war," he told her. +</P> + +<P> +War it was. That night the men in the bunk house were +awakened by a bright glare and looking out Beck saw that +four stacks of hay, totaling more than a hundred tons of +feed left from the winter, were in a blaze. While the others +hastily dressed and ran toward the stack yard in the futile +hope that some portion might be saved, the foreman stayed +behind ... listening. From far up the road he heard the +faint, quick rattle of a running horse. +</P> + +<P> +In the morning a note was found stuck in the latch of +the big gate. It was addressed to Jane Hunter and, in a +rude scrawl, had been written: +</P> + +<P> +"The longer you stay the more you will lose." +</P> + +<P> +She showed it to Beck and after he had read and re-read +and turned the single sheet of paper over in his hands +he looked up to see her eyes tear filled. +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't worth it!" she cried with a stamp of her foot. +"This is only the start. Do you know what they are +saying in town? The word has been passed that first you +are to be driven out and that then I will have to go. People +are saying that the others are too many and too ruthless for +you, that they are bound to drive us away. It is being said +that you are too straight to win a crooked fight! +</P> + +<P> +"I could risk losing the things I own, my property, but +I wouldn't risk you, Tom dear ... I wouldn't do that!" +</P> + +<P> +"And there's somethin' else you wouldn't do," he said +lowly, stroking her forehead. "You wouldn't let 'em +drive you out. You didn't start that way. You come out +here to beat the game and if you quit cold you wouldn't +think much of yourself, would you? We didn't want +trouble, but we've got to go and meet it!" +</P> + +<P> +"But you!" she moaned, putting her arms about his big +shoulders. "What of you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't worry about me when the only danger is from +men that won't come into the open! Maybe I'm a bigger +crook than I'm given credit for. Besides, you've given me +lots of luck.... +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know what's in this thing,"—holding out the +locket—"but I've got a lot of faith in it ... and in you, +Jane!" +</P> + +<P> +Where, before he gave his love recognition, he had taken +pains to bring Jane into contact with adversities, he now was +impelled to shield her from all that he could. In the +natural rôle of her protector he did everything possible +to allay her apprehension. He could not blind her to the +broad situation but he could and did withhold the seriousness +of some of its detail, even keeping some things that transpired, +such as the attempts on his life, to himself. +</P> + +<P> +But he did worry about the enemy that worked from +cover, that shot at sleeping men, that broke ditches and +burned property and sent unsigned threats to women. That +made his fight a battle in the darkness and his strength was +the strength of light, of frankness, of honesty. His mind +was not adapted to scheming and skulking. +</P> + +<P> +To drive his foe into the open was his first objective and +that night he set out. +</P> + +<P> +"You call it recognizing a state of war, I believe," he +told Jane with a twinkle in his eye when she queried his +going. +</P> + +<P> +"Tom! You're not going—" +</P> + +<P> +"Not going to take a chance," he said soberly. "It's +just a diplomatic mission, you might say." +</P> + +<P> +He put her off and rode out of the ranch gate. It was +dark and when he had progressed a mile he halted his horse, +dropped off, loosened the cinch so the leather would not +creak when the animal breathed, and stood listening. Aside +from the natural noises of the night, the world was without +sound. +</P> + +<P> +He drew his gun from its holster and twirled the cylinder. +Usually he carried the trigger over an empty chamber; tonight +it was filled. And inside his shirt was another gun. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE WARNING +</H4> + +<P> +The fire in Webb's cook stove was not all that furnished +warmth to the three men sitting about it that +night, for they drank frequently from the bottle which, +when not passing from hand to hand, was nestled on Dick +Hilton's lap, his hands caressing its smooth surface lovingly +... save the word! +</P> + +<P> +Sam McKee and three other men played solo on the +table, noisily and quarrelsomely after the manner of their +kind. Engrossed in the game they gave little heed to the +talk of the others. It was shop talk, of plots and schemes, +of danger and distrust. +</P> + +<P> +Webb's little button eyes were even more ugly than +usual, Hilton's mouth drawn in lines that were even more +cruel, but Hepburn, under influence of the liquor, only +became more paternal, more deliberate as the evening and +the drinking went on. He was not nettled by Webb's disfavor, +and even smiled on the rancher indulgently as he +listened to the querulous plaint. +</P> + +<P> +"If you'd only used yer head an' stayed there," Webb +went on, "then we'd hev had it all easy-like. You could've +stole her blind an' she'd never knew. Then you had +to git on the peck about <i>him!</i>" He sniffed in disgust. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Webb, you're too harsh in what you say," the +other replied blandly. "I done all I could but Beck wouldn't +be blinded! He's got second sight or somethin',"—with +a degree of heat. +</P> + +<P> +"We had him scotched all right, but we hadn't figured +on the girl. Nobody'd thought she was sweet on him!" +</P> + +<P> +Hilton stirred uneasily and the color in his face deepened. +He looked at Hepburn with an ugly light in his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"That upset everything," Hepburn went on. "There +wasn't no use tryin' to play a quiet game after that. They +both know we want to get rid of 'em worst way and now +we've got to keep under cover an' use our heads harder'n +ever." +</P> + +<P> +"There's too many in it," Webb whined. "I tell you +the's too many in it! If you'd let me alone, just me an' +the boys, I'd felt safer. But now there's Cole an' his +daughter an' ... half the country!" +</P> + +<P> +He flashed an indecisive glance at Hilton who studied +the bottle, frowning. +</P> + +<P> +"Lots in it," Hepburn said heavily, "but they've got to +hang together or...." +</P> + +<P> +"Separately," added Dick cynically. +</P> + +<P> +Hepburn nodded and Webb shifted and jerked his head +petulantly. +</P> + +<P> +"But there's nothin' to fret about," Dad went on. "None +of us will be a leak. Cole can't because we could put him +behind bars by just lettin' on that he'd used his homestead +rights under another name an' had no right on this place, +let alone other things. +</P> + +<P> +"We can use his brand, which is why I brought him in +here. I've spread the news that he's bought cows of you +an' between workin' over the HC and ventin' your marks +we'll have a herd here in a couple of seasons that'll make +us rich! +</P> + +<P> +"An' we'll have range for 'em, too. She won't stand +up under a range war!" +</P> + +<P> +"But Beck will," Webb protested. +</P> + +<P> +"He will if you don't get rid of him!" with slow anger +behind the words and a cunning glitter in his eyes. "I +don't see how in hell you missed him. You must've been +drunk!" +</P> + +<P> +"He wasn't in his bed, I tell you. He couldn't 've +been!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, if <i>I</i> had against him what you got, I'd get him," +Hepburn stated emphatically, well satisfied, and showing +it, that this was a masterly stroke. "He made you laughed +at by the whole country." +</P> + +<P> +"You wait," Webb snarled. "My time's comin'!" +</P> + +<P> +"Deliberately, I'd say," Hilton put in ironically. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you're always kickin'!" Webb protested. "I don't +see why you stay on if things don't satisfy you. You've +got to have sheets on your bed, you've got to have grub +cooked different, you've got to sleep late an' you've got to +have hot water to wash and shave always when th' kettle's +cold! You've got into this deal an' you'd like to run it your +way. +</P> + +<P> +"What the hell do you stay on for?" +</P> + +<P> +Hepburn looked at Hilton's face as though he, too, wondered +just why he stayed on, but, pursuing his usual tactics, +he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Why, if Mr. Hilton can pay for it, why can't he have +his way? He has the money. He's willing to spend it. +I'm sure his willingness to stake Cole to fence and hired +help means a lot to all of us, Webb. That's goin' to drive +her out of the Hole entire this summer. +</P> + +<P> +"The booze has made you irritable, Webb." +</P> + +<P> +Webb sat forward, elbows on knees, chin in his hands and +grumbled: +</P> + +<P> +"I have to stand a lot, I do. Both of you eggin' me on +all the time, all the time! I do th' best I can, but nothin's +ever satisfactory. Nobody ever does anything for me!" +</P> + +<P> +"Sho, Webb, that ain't so. Didn't Mr. Hilton give you +a brand new automatic? Ain't I been reasonable in turnin' +a chance to make good your way?" +</P> + +<P> +The other fidgeted, then looked up at Hilton. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see why <i>you've</i> got such an interest in this for, +anyhow. Course, it's none of my business, but I don't see +why you should always egg me on about Beck." +</P> + +<P> +"I am concerned to see the THO prosper," said Hilton +mockingly. "That is why I bought fence; that is why +I want your friend, the HC foreman, out of the way." +</P> + +<P> +He rose, placed the bottle on the table and stepped out +of the house. They heard him walk across the dooryard +and into the stable. +</P> + +<P> +"You s'pose he's goin' to meet her again tonight?" +Webb growled. +</P> + +<P> +"Likely.... It's likely." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish th' hell he'd clear out. I don't see what you +wanted to take him in for!" +</P> + +<P> +Hepburn chuckled. +</P> + +<P> +"How could you keep him out? The girl, she knows +everything, an' what she knows he knows. His money's +valuable to us an' besides ... it'll keep her quiet if we +ever do get out on a limb." +</P> + +<P> +Webb looked up in query. +</P> + +<P> +"You're right when you say there's too many in it, +Webb, but there's just <i>one</i> too many. That's the girl! I +can't figure her out; I can't trust her. If we was to try +to pass the buck to Cole, in a pinch, she'd raise the deuce.... +That is, she would if it wasn't for Hilton." +</P> + +<P> +"How's that?" +</P> + +<P> +"If she turned on the rest of us, it'd catch Hilton an' she's +gone on him. Never saw a girl who was so loyal to her +father but when you bring in another man that loyalty won't +stand up in a pinch; not if it's a choice between a father +and a lover." +</P> + +<P> +"But he ain't on the level with her!" +</P> + +<P> +"Makes no difference. She's took to him like girls of +her sort do. He can handle her an' she's the only one that +knows our side who'll ever need any handlin'. He was +right when he said the rest of us'd have to hang together, +or separately." +</P> + +<P> +Outside a horseman rode quietly to the gate and sat +looking through the open doorway and the one window of +the room. He counted the men carefully; counted again, +then rode back the way he had come and stopped and waited. +</P> + +<P> +"But what about the other girl ... Hunter?" Webb +asked after a silent interval. "Hilton was sweet on her." +</P> + +<P> +Hepburn's eyes kindled. +</P> + +<P> +"His jealousy is another asset. Hilton wanted her an' +couldn't get her, an' he knows the reason now: It's Beck. +You think he's been practicin' with a rifle and pistol for +the fun of it? Not on your life!" Leaning closer: "The +time may come, Webb, when Hilton'll clear Beck out of +our way.... That'd be easier. I don't want to try it in +the open; I don't guess you do. He's got a crimp in all +the boys. Look at Sam, for instance. He's itchin' to kill +Beck but he ain't got the sand!" +</P> + +<P> +"If she ever found out he wasn't on the level with her,"—Webb's +mind going back to Bobby Cole—"she'd claw +him up fearful." +</P> + +<P> +"Yup. But she's in love an' love plays hell with men and +women, Webb." +</P> + +<P> +The other started to reply, then sat rigid, listening. +</P> + +<P> +A horse came up the road at a slow trot and halted by +the gate. A saddle creaked, then the bars complained as +they were lowered. A man was whistling lightly as he +rode toward the house and dismounted, leaving his horse +standing. +</P> + +<P> +"Must be one of the boys," he said, and settled back. +None who had other than friendly business there would +come uncautious. +</P> + +<P> +"I was going to say," went on Hepburn, "that they'll be +fooled about that Hole range. It's time for the cattle to +start comin' in from the desert. They'll get up there and +the creek'll be an ash bed with a couple more days of this +sun. They can't take 'em back through the Gap without a +big loss and if they leave 'em in the Hole without water long +enough they can't get 'em up the trail without loss so—" +</P> + +<P> +"If you'll all rise up and put up your hands we won't have +any trouble ... tonight!" +</P> + +<P> +Hepburn looked slowly over his shoulder, slightly bewildered. +Webb, who had been stooped forward, raised +his eyes and breath slipped through his lips in a long hiss. +Sam McKee, who had reached out to take a trick, let his ace +drop from limp fingers. The other three started up like +guilty men sharply accused of their crime. +</P> + +<P> +Tom Beck, a revolver in each hand, stood framed in the +doorway, bending forward from the hips, hat back, eyes +burning. His voice had been level and natural, with something +akin to a laugh in it, but when he spoke again it was +a rasp: +</P> + +<P> +"Get up on your rattles, you snakes, and put up your +hands!" +</P> + +<P> +With an oath Hepburn sprang to his feet, faced about +and raised his arms. Webb followed, with jerky movements, +his face pallid with fear. The four card players got +from their chairs. As McKee's hands went slowly above his +head they trembled like aspen branches in a breeze. +</P> + +<P> +For a long moment there was no sound, save Hepburn's +heavy breathing. Then Tom Beck let a curious smile run +across his lips. +</P> + +<P> +"This is a hell of a way to come to talk business," he commented. +"I don't like it ... but little more than you seem +to. It's the safest way for me. That's why I'm here, to +consider my safety." +</P> + +<P> +He let his gaze run from face to face. Webb's eyes met +his squarely, a baleful challenge in them, but as he glared +at Hepburn, Hepburn's gaze wavered, flicking back twice, +only to drop again. McKee whimpered under his breath. +The other three stared back sullenly, alert for an opening. +</P> + +<P> +Beck moved into the room just one step. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know who it is that's been tryin' to kill me, +but it wouldn't take many guesses," he said. Again his eyes +ran from face to face. "It might be you, Hepburn, and it +might be you, Webb. It's like both of you, to shoot from +cover ... like you accused me of shootin'. It might be +McKee, but even that takes more nerve than he's got. I +wouldn't put it past any of the rest of you. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't come here to try to find out. I got more important +things to do than to identify the party right now. +</P> + +<P> +"I rode over this evening to make a little call an' to drop +the word that if I see any of this outfit anywhere near the +H C ranch or on its range there's goin' to be shootin' +a-plenty and that if you want to be the first to shoot, you +want to draw almighty quick! If any of you see one of +my men anywhere, you hit the breeze. It's the best way out +of trouble. +</P> + +<P> +"Hepburn, you an' Webb tried to frame me once. +That's sufficient cause. I'd kill you like I'd kill a ... a +scorpion. McKee don't count. You other three probably +are in on the threat to drive me out of the country. Just +workin' here puts you beyond the law that protects honest +men. +</P> + +<P> +"Now there's a little matter of trouble that's happened +around the HC. That's going to stop from now on. We've +got lots of men over there who are handy with their artillery. +They're pretty well worked up. There won't be a +finger lifted to prevent you workin' within your rights, but +the first crooked move one of you makes ... there'll be +a new table boarder in th' devil's kitchen. +</P> + +<P> +"That's all I come to say. That's all the conversation +that'll be necessary between us from now on. The HC +is goin' to keep doing business, and its present owner is going +to stay on the job. As for me ... it's been talked +around that I was to be drove out an' all I've got to say is, +come on and do your driving!" +</P> + +<P> +His mouth set with an expression of finality and his eyes +bored into theirs. He was through, but even as he straightened +preparatory to backing through the doorway into the +night a flicker of cunning crossed Dad Hepburn's face, set +there by a faint, faint creaking of the stable door, unheard +by Beck whose own voice had been in his ears. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you think you're a little quick in passin' judgment, +Tom?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +Beck laughed shortly. +</P> + +<P> +"Looking for me to handle you with gloves, Dad? After +you tried to frame me? After you—" He checked himself +shortly as he was about to accuse Hepburn of one +specific art of treachery against the H.C. He might need +that later. "After you've tried to get me? +</P> + +<P> +"No, somebody shot at my bed one night; somebody shot +at me while I was riding open country one day." At that +a glint of astonishment showed in Webb's face. "There's +just one way to handle men like that, and I'm doin' it now, +to-night. I'm—" +</P> + +<P> +The crash of a shot from behind, the splintering of the +door panel at his shoulder, cut him short. Webb jumped as +though the bullet had been sent at him. Hepburn's face +contorted into a grimace of elation. +</P> + +<P> +With a catch of his breath Beck wheeled, senses steeled to +this emergency, driving down the quick panic that wanted +to throttle his heart. +</P> + +<P> +There in the shaft of yellow light, bareheaded, stepping +toward him, arm raised to fire again, was Dick Hilton. It +was a situation in which fractions of time were infinitely +precious. That first shot had gone wild because the Easterner, +unfamiliar with fire arms, unnerved by the rage +which swept up within him, had let his eagerness have full +sway. But now he was stepping forward, coming closer. +At that range he could not miss! +</P> + +<P> +And Beck saw all that in the split second it required for +him to whirl, leaving his back exposed to those other men for +the instant. He squeezed the trigger as he flipped his left-hand +gun toward his assailant. The two reports sounded +almost as one, but the stream of fire from Hilton's weapon +instead of stabbing toward Beck streaked into the air and +the automatic, ripped from his hand by the same ball that +tore his fingers, spun clinking to earth. +</P> + +<P> +But even as it struck, before Beck could turn again to +cover the room behind, a swinging palm sent the lamp crashing +to the floor. He sprang clear of the doorway. An +instant before he had dominated the situation, now he was +a fugitive. +</P> + +<P> +Inside, darkness; out in the dooryard, starlight. Inside, +ruthless enemies who had listened to a declaration that precluded +quarter; outside, their target who could not hope to +live before the fusillade that must come. +</P> + +<P> +"Put up your hands!" Beck gasped, jabbing a gun into +Hilton's stomach and springing behind the Easterner's body, +screening himself. +</P> + +<P> +Crouched there, peering over the other's shoulder, one gun +against Hilton's trembling body, the other thrust past it to +cover the doorway, he paused. He heard quick, unsteady +footsteps, an oath, a hurried word and then the man before +him cried huskily: +</P> + +<P> +"For God's sake don't shoot, boys! You'll get me!" +</P> + +<P> +After that there passed a moment in which Hilton's breath +made the only sound that came to Beck's ears. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going to back up to my horse," he said lowly, +"you follow me." +</P> + +<P> +It was unnecessary to add a threat. Enough threat in the +situation! +</P> + +<P> +Slowly he began to back, feeling his way, shoving the +one gun harder against Hilton's body, keeping the other +ready for instant use should those who watched choose to +shoot down the Easterner to be at him. The roan snorted +softly in query and Beck spoke. But the animal, startled by +the shooting, unsatisfied that this huddle creeping toward +him was wholly friendly, backed off. Tom spoke again; +then ceased all movement, for from inside had come a muttering +and stealthy footsteps crossed the floor. A door at +the rear of the house creaked. One or several had gone +out to stalk him! The others, he knew, waited within to +take first opportunity to kill that might be offered. +</P> + +<P> +"Stand still!" he said sharply to the horse and turned +his head ever so quickly to see the animal, head to him, +back slowly. +</P> + +<P> +He moved backward faster for a few steps, shoving the +revolver harder into Hilton's body to assure his obedience, +but the horse only progressed as rapidly, snuffing loudly at +this performance which no horse could be expected to understand! +</P> + +<P> +They moved in a circle, swinging in toward the house, +Beck ever keeping Hilton as a direct screen. He stopped +and the horse stopped. He listened. He heard soft movements +within the house. He thought he heard a faint +rustling behind a far corner of the building but a cow, +bawling at the moment, obscured the faint sound. +</P> + +<P> +Beck felt a cold damp standing out on his body. From +the darkness, from any direction, disaster might strike at +any second! +</P> + +<P> +He began to talk to the horse soothingly, moving toward +him slowly, but the roan would not understand. Once he +was within an arm's length of the bridle, but before he could +grasp it the animal had swung his head ever so slightly +and was moving off again, passing a corner of the house +from where that suggestion of a rustle had come. +</P> + +<P> +And then, of a sudden, the horse leaped sideways, with a +startled grunt, as a horse will that comes upon a coiled +snake. He lunged toward Beck and Hilton, swinging about +on his hind feet, beginning to run for the gate, thoroughly +frightened and bent on escape from the thing that alarmed +him. +</P> + +<P> +It was Beck's last chance! As the horse leaped toward the +gate he sprang back a pace from Hilton, raised both guns +and fired, one at the window, one at the doorway. Glass +burst and tinkled and he heard the panel of the door again +sliver. As he opened fire the great roan swerved; his hoofs +spurned the ground in the impatience of fright and Beck, +shooting again toward the house, turned and ran swiftly for +the fleeing horse. +</P> + +<P> +Down in the shadows the thing which had frightened the +horse rose, stumbling into shape. Flame streamed from +Beck's guns toward it, but he shot as he ran and his fire was +inaccurate. He cried sharply as the animal swung even +wider in his circuit toward the gate, sprang forward in long +strides, dropped the gun from his right hand, leaped, fastened +his fingers about the horn, took two quick strides and +vaulted into the saddle. +</P> + +<P> +The animal leaped the half lowered bars and Beck fired +again, twice at the house, once at the figure outside, and +then flung himself far down over the roan's shoulder as the +window belched flame and stabs of it came from about the +building and bullets screeched overhead. He fanned the +roan's belly with his hat and twenty rods further swung +into an erect position again, leaning low as they ate the +road. +</P> + +<P> +"A close one, old timer!" he muttered to the horse. +"<i>That</i> was a chance!" +</P> + +<P> +And miles further on, when the roan had cooled from his +first desperate dash that had carried Tom to unquestionable +safety for the night, he said aloud: +</P> + +<P> +"Now what was <i>he</i> doin' there? And how much will he +count?" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +HIS FAITHFUL LITTLE PONY +</H4> + +<P> +In the days that followed you might have seen approaching +from a distance a rider for the HC. Watching, +you would have noticed that he stopped his horse, rode on, +stopped again, rode on and stopped the third time. Had you +not halted and repeated the performance he would not have +come toward you and, on coming within eyesight, you might +have seen him sitting with a hand on his holster, or rifle +scabbard—for the deadlier weapons appeared—carelessly +enough, outwardly, but latent with disaster. For war had +been declared. Jane Hunter's men were ready for trouble, +waiting for trouble, but it did not come at once for though +Hepburn and Webb and their following hated Tom Beck +for the man he was they respected him and gave heed to his +warning to stay away from HC property ... or at least +not to be seen thereabouts. +</P> + +<P> +The war went on, but it was a silent, covert struggle, and +though Beck suspected happenings, he could not know all +that transpired. +</P> + +<P> +For instance: +</P> + +<P> +It was Webb who finally dropped the pliers and declared +the job finished, standing back to survey the stout cedars +which had been bound together with wire to form a gate for +one of the numerous little blind draws that stabbed back +into the parapet which surrounded Devil's Hole. In the +recesses of that draw was the smallest amount of seeping +water, enough, say, to keep young calves alive. From a +distance of a hundred yards this barricade of tough boughs +and steel strands would not be detected. +</P> + +<P> +Again: +</P> + +<P> +They came up from the mouth of the Hole after dusk had +fallen, Bobby Cole and her father, the old horses drawing +the wagon along the indistinct track which wound through +the sage. They were tired and silent and finally the girl's +head dropped to Cole's shoulder and she slept, with his +arm about her, holding her close, his lids and mustache and +shoulders drooping. +</P> + +<P> +The wagon halted, hours later, before the blocked draw +and, straddled upon their bodies, the girl liberated first one +calf, then another, until six had been shoved from the tail +gate into the hidden pen. Then they drove back toward +their cabin. +</P> + +<P> +"Why don't I think it's wrong to steal?" the girl asked +soberly. +</P> + +<P> +Alf shook his head. "It ain't ... for us...." +</P> + +<P> +"But I've read that it is," she protested, scowling into the +darkness. "I read it in a book, about a man that stole; that +book said it was wrong. Why don't I think it's wrong?" +</P> + +<P> +She turned her face to him and he looked down to see, +under the starlight, her mouth pathetically drooping, her +lips trembling, and the big brown eyes filled with perplexed +tears. +</P> + +<P> +"Why'm I so different from other folks? Maybe that's +why I never had no friends...." +</P> + +<P> +"It ain't wrong for you to steal from her," he said defensively. +</P> + +<P> +The girl looked ahead again. +</P> + +<P> +"No, it can't be. I hate her.... I like to steal from +her. But why ain't it wrong for me if it's wrong for anybody +else?" +</P> + +<P> +"I've allus told you it was the thing to do. Ain't that +enough?" he asked wearily.... +</P> + +<P> +"Did you see him this mornin'?"—as if to change the +subject. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby nodded her head. +</P> + +<P> +"He was down. He hurt his hand; got it shut under +Webb's window. He.... He stayed a long time." +</P> + +<P> +Her voice was quite changed; rather soft and reverent. +"I'm glad he did. When he's there I feel like I ain't so +different ... not so awful different from other folks...." +</P> + +<P> +Alf did not reply. The wagon chucked heavily on, the +brush scratched the wagon bed, the horses plodded listlessly. +Dawn came.... +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Another thing: +</P> + +<P> +Far out to the north and west of the Gap in Devil's Hole +was a natural reservoir, Cathedral Tank. Winter floods +were stored there and long after surrounding miles of +quickly growing grasses had become useless as range because +of the lack of drink, this tank afforded water for +the HC cattle. Late in the Spring, of course, it became +scum covered and fetid but until the caked silt commenced +to show on the boulder basin the cattle would cling there, +saving higher range for later use. Then, in other years, +they would drift up toward the Hole, graze through the +Gap and water in the creek until the round-up caught and +carried them into still higher country. +</P> + +<P> +This spring the desert tank was of far greater importance +than ever before. The Hole was closed to the HC unless +rain fell, and the days were uniformly clear, so it was wisdom +to delay the round-up until the tank was emptied, then +shove the cattle straight past the mouth of the Hole and +start them up country from the lower waters of Coyote +Creek. Beck rode to the tank himself and arranged his +plans in accordance with the water he found. +</P> + +<P> +But after Beck had been there another horseman made +the ride, leaving the timber at dusk, shacking along across +the waste country in a straight line for the tank. Cattle, +bedded for the night about the water hole, stirred themselves +as he approached and dismounted, then stood nearby and +watched a strange proceeding. The man found a crevice +in the rock basin, scraped deeply into it with a clasp knife. +Then he wedged in five sticks of dynamite with stones and, +finally, rolled boulders over them. +</P> + +<P> +He led his horse far back after the fuse had been spit, but +even where he stood, outside the circle of steers, rock fell. +After the explosion had died into the night he pulled at his +mustache and regained his saddle rather deliberately, chuckling +to himself. +</P> + +<P> +The fact that a steer with a broken leg was bawling loudly +and that another, its life torn out of its side, moaned softly +in helplessness, did not impress him. He rode back as he +had come. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +There was little time for love making in the life of the HC +foreman. More riders were necessary for the round-up +and he was particular about the men he hired. The country +had taken sides; rather, it was either openly behind Beck +in his handicapped fight, though skeptical of his chances for +winning or openly forecasting failure for him and Jane +Hunter; and of the latter Tom had his doubts. Many of +them were not neutral, he knew. +</P> + +<P> +But he was with Jane when he could be although, since +he had declared himself to Webb and Hepburn, he did not +permit her to ride far from the ranch, even when with escort. +He wanted her witness to no tragedy, and tragedy impended. +</P> + +<P> +Of the motives of Webb, Hepburn, Cole and their following +he had no doubts but there was one whose reasons were +a mystery to him. He studied this long hours, when at +work, when lying sleepless on his bunk and even when with +Jane Hunter. Hilton was at Webb's and that was enough +to brand him ... but how deeply? He hesitated to enlist +her aid in the solution but when he had spent days puzzling +to no result he said to her: +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing about what you have been matters with me, +but there's one thing I want to ask you." +</P> + +<P> +"And that?" +</P> + +<P> +He eyed her a speculative moment as they sat beside +her desk, the yellow light on her yellow hair. +</P> + +<P> +"What was this Hilton to you?" +</P> + +<P> +She colored and dropped her gaze from his, picking at +a book in her lap. +</P> + +<P> +"That belongs to the past," she said, "and you've just +said that the past doesn't matter. I had hoped you never +would want to know because it touches a spot that isn't +healed yet.... +</P> + +<P> +"There was a time," lifting her eyes to his, "when I +had made up my mind to marry Dick Hilton." +</P> + +<P> +He sat very quietly and his expression did not change. +</P> + +<P> +"That would have been too bad, Jane," he said after a +moment. +</P> + +<P> +She nodded slowly in affirmation. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd rather he wasn't in the country just now," he went +on. "You wouldn't mind, would you, if I drove him out?" +</P> + +<P> +She said quickly: +</P> + +<P> +"You trust me, don't you?" +</P> + +<P> +He smiled gently and looked at her with a light in +his eyes that was almost humble. +</P> + +<P> +"I've trusted you with my love. I want to do things for +you. I'd like to drive this man out of your way." +</P> + +<P> +He was reluctant to give his real reason because, by doing +so, he would necessarily make her aware of the strength +of the menace of which Hilton, he felt but could not prove, +was a part. He still wanted to shield her from full realization +of the force aligned against her. +</P> + +<P> +She leaned forward, elbows on knees, hands folded. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish he would go away, but I wouldn't want to see him +driven. You see, there are things about me which you will +never understand. Dick Hilton, for a man, was not far +different from what I used to be, as a woman. Our impulses +were quite similar. Since I feel that I have established +my right to exist by trying to do something, to be +somebody to ... walk alone, I've come to an appreciation +of the thing that I used to be, and I pity the old Jane Hunter +and all her kind. In spite of all that he has been, I pity +Dick Hilton, Tom, and in that very fact I see an indication +of strength of which I'm proud.... +</P> + +<P> +"You see, I like to think about myself now; that didn't +used to be true. +</P> + +<P> +"Last year I would have been deeply resentful toward +Dick for what he has done, but now, after my natural anger +has gone, I can only be sorry for him. That, I feel, is true +strength. +</P> + +<P> +"I am not bitter. I don't wish him harm. His environment +is to blame for what he is and perhaps this country, +the people he comes in contact with here, will do for him +what they have done for me." Beck thought that this was +an unconscious absurdity! "I begrudge him nothing. I +only wish that he might come to see life as I have come to +see it. +</P> + +<P> +"If he could only see himself as he is! Why, he is intelligent, +he has a good mind, he has been generous and +kindly, and if he could only get set straight in his outlook +I feel that I could call him my friend. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you understand that?" +</P> + +<P> +He shook his head, driving back the perplexity he felt. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I don't understand that.... There's lots of things +I'll never quite understand about you, I expect. That's one +thing that made me love you; you interest me. +</P> + +<P> +"I just thought maybe you'd like him out of the country." +</P> + +<P> +"I can never be a dog in the manger," she replied. +"What is good about this life I would share with my worst +enemy, and gladly, because at one time I was my own worst +enemy." +</P> + +<P> +"You ... you don't think you'd ever want to see him +again, Jane?" With that evidence of natural jealousy was +a gentle reproach, a woe-begone expression which, being +so groundless in fact, set Jane Hunter laughing. +</P> + +<P> +"Silly!" she cried, throwing her arms about him. +</P> + +<P> +"Look at me and read the answer!" +</P> + +<P> +Beck laughed at himself then. +</P> + +<P> +"Who wouldn't want <i>you</i> all to himself!" he whispered. +"And who wouldn't believe in you!" +</P> + +<P> +Beck stood a long time under the stars that night, the feel +of her lips still on his, but an uncomfortable doubt in his +heart. He was tolerant, as mountain men are tolerant, but +he had been bred in a hard school; he had learned to weigh +men and to discard those who were found wanting. He was +not vindictive, but he took no chances. Placing his trust +in those who had showed repeatedly that they were unworthy +of trust was taking a chance and though Jane Hunter had +done her best to make her reasoning carry, he could not +comprehend. +</P> + +<P> +Finally he said: "This ain't any compliment to her, +wonderin' like this. It's her way and she sure's got a right +to it!" +</P> + +<P> +But he went to sleep unsatisfied. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Out at Cathedral Tank that night the cattle stood snuffing +rather wonderingly. Two days before there had been water +which reached their knees at the deepest place; today there +was none. It had trickled through the scars the blast had +torn in the basin. The bellies of some were a bit shrunken +from lack of it and bodies of the steers that had been killed +were bloated. One, even, had already furnished food to a +coyote and a pair of vultures. +</P> + +<P> +Three or four licked the last of the damp silt and then +turned eastward and began the slow trek back toward Devil's +Hole, where at this season they had gone since they had +been calves. +</P> + +<P> +The Reverend saw this scattered stringing of cattle and +reported it to Beck. Tom looked up from the wheel of the +chuck wagon which he was repairing and considered. +</P> + +<P> +"They're early," he muttered. "I hadn't figured they'd +leave before the end of the week.... That's bad...." +</P> + +<P> +The next morning he and Two-Bits, the latter riding his +beloved Nigger, with an extra horse carrying the tee-pee, +bed and grub, clattered down the trail into the Hole and +made through the brush for the Gap. They skirted the Cole +ranch, eyeing the Mexicans who were at work clearing sage +brush, and a mile further on halted their horses ... rode +forward, halted again, rode forward ... stopped. +</P> + +<P> +"It's McKee," Two-Bits said. "That's Webb's gray +horse." +</P> + +<P> +The other rider came on and they rode forward again, +Beck's holster hitched a bit forward, thumb locked in his +belt. +</P> + +<P> +Two-Bits had been right and when McKee recognized +them he averted his face as though he would ride past without +speaking. But this was not to be for Beck stopped directly +in his way and said: +</P> + +<P> +"Sam, if it was anybody else I'd been shootin' long ago. +I ain't got the heart to kill you. You recollect, don't you, +what I told you and your crowd about driftin' into our territory?" +</P> + +<P> +"This ain't your range," McKee grumbled. "This is +Cole's." +</P> + +<P> +His gray eyes met Beck's just once and fell off, showing +helpless hate in their depths, the hate of the man who would +give battle but who dares not, who is outraged by forces +from without and by his own weakness. +</P> + +<P> +"No need to argue," Beck replied, tolerance replaced by +a snap in his tone. "You drag it for your own range, McKee, +and don't you stop to look back." +</P> + +<P> +Two-Bits was delighted at the hot flush which swept into +the other's face. He loathed McKee and to see him under +the dominion of a strong man like Beck appealed to him as +immensely funny. +</P> + +<P> +"An' if my brother was here he'd tell you about a woman +that looked back an' turned to salt," he said. "But if you +turn an' look back I'll bet two-bits you turn to somethin' +worse!" +</P> + +<P> +The other flashed one look at him, a look of long-standing +hate, devoid of a measure of the fear which he evidenced for +Beck. He rode on without a word and Two-Bits laughed +aloud. McKee did not even look back. +</P> + +<P> +At the Gap there was water, just enough for a man and +his horses for a few days. The seep had stopped and the +water was not fresh. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess it'll do, though," Beck said. "It's mighty important +we keep this stock out of the Hole, Two-Bits. +That's why I brought a trustworthy man. +</P> + +<P> +"Lord, they're stringin' up fast,"—staring out on the +desert where the steers slowly ate their way to the mouth +of the Hole. "Funny they're out of water so soon. If +they get up in here,"—gesturing back through the Gap,—"there +may be hell to pay." +</P> + +<P> +He helped Two-Bits pitch his tee-pee and rode away. +</P> + +<P> +Throughout that day the homely cow-boy met the drifting +steers and turned them eastward, past the Hole toward the +lower waters of Coyote Creek. They were reluctant to go +for they knew that beyond the Gap lay water but Two-Bits +slapped his chaps with rein ends and whooped and chased +them until the van of the procession moved on in the desired +direction. +</P> + +<P> +He was up late at night and awoke early in the morning, +riding up the Gap to turn back those that had stolen past +in the night, then stationing himself in the shade of the +parapet to await the others that came in increasing numbers. +</P> + +<P> +Two-Bits did not see the gray horse picking its way along +the heights above him. The gray's rider saw to it that he +was not exposed. Nor could he know that the animal was +picketed and that a man crawled over the rocks on his belly, +shoving a rifle before him until, from a point that screened +him well, he could look down into the Gap. +</P> + +<P> +Steers strolled up and eyed the sentinel, lifting their noses +to snuff, flinging heads about now and then to dislodge flies +that their flicking tails could not reach. He would ride out +toward them, shoving them down around the shoulder of +the point toward the east, then return to head off others +that took advantage of his absence to make a steal for the +Gap. +</P> + +<P> +As he worked, he sang: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Ho, I'm a jolly <i>cow</i>boy, from Texas now I <i>hail!</i><BR> + Give me my quirt and <i>po-o</i>-ony, I'm ready for the <i>trail</i>;<BR> + I love the rolling <i>prai</i>ries, they're free from care an' <i>strife!</i><BR> + Behind a herd of <i>long</i>horns I'll journey all my <i>life!</i>"<BR> +</P> + +<BR> +<P> +His voice was unmusical, unlovely, but he sang with fervor, +sang as conscientiously as he worked. +</P> + +<P> +As he came and went the man above watched him, his +gray eyes squinting in the glare of light, following now and +then the barrel of the rifle, bringing the ivory sight to bear +on the man's back, caressing the trigger with his finger. A +dozen times he stiffened and held his breath and the finger +twitched; and each time his body relaxed quickly and he +cursed softly, rolling over on his side, impatient at his indecision. +</P> + +<P> +A continued flush was on his cheeks and the light in his +eyes was baleful, resolved, yet the lines of his mouth were +weak and indecisive. Once, when Two-Bits' raucous voice +reached him, he muttered aloud and stiffened again and +squeezed the stock with his trigger hand ... then went +limp. +</P> + +<P> +Noon came and shadows commenced to spill into the gap +from the westward. The steers that drifted up from the far +reaches of wash-ribbed desert came faster, were more intent, +more reluctant to be driven back. Two-Bits changed +to his Nigger horse and drank from the water hole and rode +yipping toward a big roan steer that advanced determinedly. +The animal doubled and dodged but, shoulder against its +rump, nipping viciously at the critter's back, Nigger aided +his rider to success; then swung back. +</P> + +<P> +Two-Bits' voice floated up as he stroked his horse's neck: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Oh, I'm a Texas <i>cow</i>boy, lighthearted, brave an' <i>free</i>,<BR> + To roam the wide <i>prai</i>rie is always joy to <i>me</i>.<BR> + My trusty little <i>po-o</i>-ony is my companion <i>true</i><BR> + O'er creeks an' hills an' <i>riv</i>ers he's sure to pull me <i>through!</i>"<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +From above a dull spat. In Two-Bits' ears an abrupt +crunching as he was knocked forward and down and a dull, +rending pain spread across his shoulders. He struck the +ground with his face first and instinctively his hand started +back toward his holster. The first movement was a whip, +then became jerky, faltering, and when the fingers found +the handle of his revolver they fumbled and could not close. +He half raised himself on the other elbow, dragging his +knees beneath his body slowly. +</P> + +<P> +His mouth was filled with sand. His eyes were.... +He did not know what ailed them, but he could not see. +He felt dizzy and sick. He hitched himself upward another +degree, striving to close those fingers on his revolver butt. +It was a Herculean task, but the only necessary action that +his groggy mind could recall. He gritted the sand between +his teeth in the effort. He would draw! He would fight +back! He wasn't gone ... yet ... wasn't ... +</P> + +<P> +And then he collapsed, limp and flat on the ground, as an +inert body will lie. +</P> + +<P> +The fingers twitched convulsively; then were still. A +stain seeped through his vest, dark in the sun. The breath +slipped through his teeth slowly. The horse stood looking +at him, nose low; then stepped closer and snuffed gently; +looked rather resentfully at a steer trailing through the Gap +unheeded, then snuffed again.... +</P> + +<P> +Up above a man was crawling back across the hot rocks +to where a gray horse waited in the sun.... +</P> + +<P> +"I got him," he muttered feverishly as he covered the last +distance at a run. "Now, by God, I'll get— ..." +</P> + +<P> +Nigger stood there, switching at the flies which alighted +on him. From time to time he snuffed and stamped; occasionally +he peered far up the Hole or out onto the desert +almost hopefully, watching distant objects with erect ears; +then the ears would droop quickly and he would chew his bit +and look back at his master with helpless eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Cattle strayed back from the east where Two-Bits had +sent them and entered the Hole, those which had once been +driven away passing the prone figure and the watching horse +on a trot, others with their noses in the air smelling water, +heedless of else. +</P> + +<P> +The shadows crept closer and deeper about Two-Bits. +Overhead a buzzard wheeled, banking sharply, coming down +lazily, then flapped upward and on. It was not yet his time! +</P> + +<P> +The horse dozed fitfully, one hip slumped, waking now +and then with a jerk, pricking his ears at the quiet figure as +though he detected movement; then letting them droop again +rather forlornly. Once he walked completely about his +master, slowly, reins trailing and then stopped to nose the +body gently as if to say: +</P> + +<P> +"What is this, my friend? I'm only a horse and I don't +understand; if I knew how to help you I would. Won't +you tell me what to do? I'm waiting here just for that; to +help you. But I'm only a horse..." +</P> + +<P> +He plucked grass aimlessly and returned to stand above +the man's body chewing abstractedly, stopping and holding +his breath while he gazed down at the inanimate lump; then +chewing again. Once he sighed deeply and the saddle +creaked from the strain his inhalation put on the cinch. +</P> + +<P> +For hours there had been no movement. Night stole +down from the east, shrouding the desert in purple, softening +the harsh distances, making them seem gentle and easy. +Then from the still man came a sound, like a sigh that was +choked off, and the hand which, hours before had groped +haltingly for the revolver, stirred ever so slightly. +</P> + +<P> +Nigger's ears went forward. He stepped gingerly about +the body, keeping his fore feet close to it, swinging his hind +parts in a big circle. He nickered softly, almost entreatingly, +as if begging his master to speak, to make more movement; +he nuzzled the body rather roughly, then stamped in +impatience ... sighed again and slumped a hip, chewing +on his bit.... +</P> + +<P> +Two-Bits was wet with dew when daylight came, but he +had not stirred. The sun peered into the Gap and the drops +of moisture, blinking back a brief interval, seemed to draw +into his clothing and skin; the rays licked up the damp that +had gathered in the hoof prints about the figure. +</P> + +<P> +Nigger lifted his head high and whinnered shrilly at +nothing at all. This was another day; there might be hope! +</P> + +<P> +The flies came and lighted on the crusted stain on the vest +and crawled down inside the shirt ... and after an aeon +a sharp, white wire of consciousness commenced to glow in +Two-Bits' blank mind. The one hand—the gun hand—twitched +again and the fingers, puffed from their cramped +position, stretched stiffly, resuming their struggle for the +gun where it had left off yesterday. +</P> + +<P> +One foot moved a trifle and a muffled cough sent a small +spurt of dust from beneath the face pressed into it. Slowly +the gun hand gave up its search and was still, gathering +strength. The arm drew up along the man's side, the hand +reached his face. Elbows pressed into the ground and with +a moan Two-Bits tried to lift his body ... tried and failed +and sank back, with his face turned away from the dirt. +</P> + +<P> +Nigger blew loudly and shook his whole body and stared. +The other horse came up and stared, too; then moved toward +the water hole, the precious water, and drank deeply. +Nigger watched him as though he, too, would drink. But +he did not go; remained there, with the reins dangling among +the flies. Now and then his nostrils twitched and fluttered; +his ears quirked in constant query. +</P> + +<P> +Noon, and another effort to rise. A muttered word this +time and a squinting of the eyes that was not wholly witless. +</P> + +<P> +Two-Bits shifted his position. He could see his tee-pee, +his black kettle on the ashes, his water bucket ... his +bucket ... water bucket ... water.... He worked his +lips heavily. They were burned and cracked and his mouth +was an insensate orifice.... +</P> + +<P> +After a time he commenced to crawl, moving an inch at a +time, settling back, moaning. The crusted stain on his vest +took on fresh life and the flies buzzed angrily when disturbed. +His arms were of little use and he progressed by slow undulations +of his limbs. Once he found a crack between two +rocks with a toe and shoved himself forward a foot. +</P> + +<P> +"Damn..." he muttered in feeble triumph. +</P> + +<P> +A fevered glow came into his eyes. His breath quickened +under the effort. He moaned more; rested less. +</P> + +<P> +And behind, beside or before him went the excited Nigger. +He muttered softly, as in encouragement, doing his best to +put his hope into sounds. His heavy mane and forelock +fell about his eyes, giving him a disheveled appearance, but +he seemed to be trying to say: +</P> + +<P> +"You're alive; you're alive! You <i>can</i> move after all; +you <i>can</i> move! Let me help! Oh, pardner, let me help +you!" +</P> + +<P> +The horse pawed the earth desperately, sending stones and +dirt scattering, dust drifting. +</P> + +<P> +"Keep on!" he seemed to say. "Keep it up! I'm here; +we'll get there somehow!" +</P> + +<P> +Two-Bits gained shadows. The water was less than a +hundred feet away. He moved his head from side to side +in an agony of effort and threw one hand clumsily before +him. It touched sage brush and after moments of struggle +he clamped his fingers about the stalk and dragged himself +on, gritting his teeth against the pain. He reached a little +wash and tried to rise to his feet. He could not. He floundered +in effort and rolled into it, crying lowly as his torso +doubled limply and he sprawled on his back. +</P> + +<P> +Nigger stood at the edge, snuffing, peering down. He +kicked at a fly irritably and stepped down into the wash +himself, nickering in tender query. +</P> + +<P> +It took a long time for Two-Bits to roll over. He cried +hoarsely from the hurt of the effort and the fevered light +in his eyes mounted. His mouth was no longer without +sensation. It and his throat stung and smarted. Their +hurt was worse than the weight of suffering on his shoulders.... +He wanted water as only a man whose life is in the +balance can want water! +</P> + +<P> +Somehow he crawled out of the wash. It was fifty feet +to the hole now.... He cut it to twenty and lay gasping, +trembling, burning, Nigger close beside him, first on one +side, then the other, sometimes at his feet. Never, though, +standing motionless in his path.... +</P> + +<P> +It was ten feet.... Then five. Lifting eye lids was a +world of effort in itself. His mouth was open, breath sucking +in the dust, but he could not close it. He made a hand's +breadth and stopped. His limbs twitched spasmodically and +drew up. He made a straining, strangling sound, gathering +all the life that remained in his body. He rose on his elbows +and on one knee. He swayed forward, he scrambled drunkenly. +He pitched down and as he went he made one last, +awkward attempt to push his own weight along. Then fell +... short. +</P> + +<P> +The right hand half propped his body up. It slid slowly +forward, impelled by the weight upon it alone, shoving light +sand in its way.... Then went limp and extended. +</P> + +<P> +The tip of his second finger just dented the surface of the +water in the pool! +</P> + +<P> +The horse switched his tail slowly, as if disconsolate at +a waning hope. +</P> + +<P> +"Hang it all," he might have thought. "Here I thought +you were going to make it and you can't! I <i>wish</i> I knew +how to help!" +</P> + +<P> +He sighed again, this time as if in despair. He waited +a long time before drinking himself as if hoping that his +master would move. But the body was motionless ... +utterly. The shallow, quick come and go of breath was not +in evidence. Two-Bits had done all that he could do for +himself.... +</P> + +<P> +Nigger moved to the lip of rock which held the water +against the cliff. He snuffed, as if to tantalize himself and +then plunged his nose into the place, guzzling greedily. +Great gulps ran down his long throat, little shoots of water +left his lips beside the bit and fell back. He breathed and +drank and made great sounds in satisfying his thirst. He +lifted his head and caught his breath and let it slip out in +a sigh of satisfaction ... drank again. +</P> + +<P> +Finally he was through and stepped back, holding his lips +close, as horses will whose mouth contains one more swallow. +Then he stared at Two-Bits and moved close to him and +chewed instinctively on the bit, letting the water that he did +not need spill from his mouth.... +</P> + +<P> +It fell squarely on the back of the man's neck, spattering +on his hair, running down under his shirt, driving out the +flies.... +</P> + +<P> +Two-Bits swam back again. A strength, a pleasing chill +ran through him. He moved the one arm and the fingers +slid on into the water. With a choking cry he wriggled forward +and thrust his face into the pool.... After a long +time he drew back and let his fevered forehead soak, breathing +more easily through his mouth. +</P> + +<P> +It was nearly sunset when he rolled over, slowly, painfully, +weakly, but not as a man on the edge of death. He +looked up at Nigger standing beside him, nose fluttering +encouragement. Just above him a stirrup swung to and fro +in a short arc. +</P> + +<P> +"After a while ... a week or so, I can ... get hold +of that ... mebby," the man said huskily. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +AN INTERRUPTED PROPOSAL +</H4> + +<P> +The love that grew in the hearts of Tom Beck and +Jane Hunter was not the only suit which approached +a climax in the hills. Another existed, quite different, unknown +to them, unsuspected, even, but it was not a secret +to one who rode from the HC ranch. +</P> + +<P> +This was the Reverend Azariah Beal. He stayed on, +though assuring Beck that the call might come any hour +which would send him on his way. He was sent on many +errands of importance, because Beck had come to believe that +he could trust the clergyman as he could trust no other man +and it was this riding which gave Beal his knowledge of +that other love making. +</P> + +<P> +Day after day he saw Dick Hilton in Devil's Hole. He +saw him joined by another rider, by Bobby Cole, and knew +that the Easterner spent many days at the ranch house down +there in the deep valley. +</P> + +<P> +Hilton treated the girl as she never had been treated before. +He told her tales of cities and men and women that +held her breathless and he wooed her with an artfulness +which kept her unaware of love making. When with him, +as when with her father, that ready defiance, her expectation +of trouble, became reduced to a wistfulness, an eager inquiry +which left her, not the self-sufficient bundle of passionate +strength, but a simple mountain child. +</P> + +<P> +He would ride beside her or sit at night by the fire in her +father's cabin and talk for hours, giving of his experience +well, for he was a glib talker. He asked nothing in return +... openly, but while he talked his eyes were on her eyes, +prodding their depths, on her red mouth, hungering, on her +wonderful throat, fired by desire. He bided his time, for his +was a choice prize. +</P> + +<P> +Now and then she talked to him of Jane Hunter and +though her allusions were scornful and her face assumed that +hostility, he knew that this only resulted from her envy, the +curiosity which she would not let come into being. He +played upon this, dropping hints of the reason for his coming +west, lying insinuations of his relationships with the +mistress of the big ranch, each hint a fertile seed planted in +the rich soil of her imagination. +</P> + +<P> +One afternoon they dismounted in a clump of willows +where early in the season and in wet summers a spring +bubbled under a rim rock. Now it was dry, almost dust-dry +in places, and the girl sat on the grass while Hilton +stretched at her feet, smoking idly. +</P> + +<P> +He talked to her for long and when he paused she said, +looking far away: +</P> + +<P> +"I'd like to see somethin' else besides this. I'd like to +have some of the chances other gals have. I'd give anything +for a chance to be somebody!" +</P> + +<P> +He threw away his cigarette. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd give anything to give you a chance, Bobby," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but you can't!" she laughed hopelessly. "You're +a gentleman and I.... Why, I'm just the daughter of a +nester." +</P> + +<P> +"And maybe that very combination of circumstances gives +me my chance to give you yours. +</P> + +<P> +"I should like very much to take you east, Bobby." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but there's Alf. I couldn't leave him,"—shaking +her head, still innocent of his intent. +</P> + +<P> +Hilton was not unprepared. +</P> + +<P> +"But if he had a comfortable ranch, with good buildings +and plenty of stock, and could come to visit you at times?" +</P> + +<P> +"But he ain't got any of them an' besides— +</P> + +<P> +"You don't mean for me to <i>stay!</i>" she said suddenly, eyes +incredulous. +</P> + +<P> +"To stay, Bobby. To stay with me, forever and ever." +</P> + +<P> +She started to laugh but checked herself and leaned +suddenly toward him, her lips parted. He lifted himself +to an elbow and reached out for her hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you understand, dear girl? Don't you see that +I love you?" +</P> + +<P> +She withdrew her hand from his clasp and looked away, +brows drawn toward one another a trifle. He watched her +craftily, timing his urging to her realization. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you see that I came west, guided by something +bigger than my own reason, directed by something that +regulates the loves of men to bring them to a good end?" +</P> + +<P> +She looked back at him and shook her head slowly. +</P> + +<P> +"I never thought I'd be loved. I never thought you +cared for me that-a way." +</P> + +<P> +"Bless you! That night when I went walking into your +cabin and you met me with a rifle ready I knew I would +love you and that you would love me. It's one of the things +neither of us can explain, but I was sure of it, sure of it. +Didn't you guess? Didn't you feel it deep down in your +heart?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, never. Nothin' good had ever happened to me. I +didn't calculate anything good ever would happen. The +only bein' I ever thought I'd love was Alf and I'd go +through fire for him.... +</P> + +<P> +"But this ... it's different. It ain't like that. This +is somethin' ... I don't know...." +</P> + +<P> +She rose and pressed her hands to her breast as though +some bursting emotion hurt her. Hilton stood before her, +his breath a trifle quick, lips parted greedily. His particular +hour, he felt, had struck! +</P> + +<P> +"One of the reasons that has made me love you has been +your devotion to your father. Another was your distrust. +You never did trust me at first. I felt that you were keeping +me off, holding yourself away from me, Bobby. I wanted +to tell you all this long ago,"—which was the truth—"but +I wanted you to be sure of yourself; I wanted you to recognize +love and know that this thing between us is the lasting +sort"—which was a lie. +</P> + +<P> +"The lasting kind?" she queried. "You love me? For +good? Honest?" +</P> + +<P> +"Honest!" he promised, taking both her hands. "I love +you with all the love a man can give a woman! I love you +enough to devote my whole life to making you happy. I +have money. We can go where we please, do what we +please. You will have friends and respect. You can see +cities and the ocean. You can live in grand hotels and eat +wonderful food that someone else has cooked; you can hear +music and go to theaters; you will have flowers and automobiles; +you'll see California and Florida and Europe...." +</P> + +<P> +"And because you love?" she demanded as he put his +arms about her. "It's because you love me, ain't it? If I +thought ... if I thought it was for anything else I'd kill +you." Her tone was even enough, her voice the soft, full +voice of a woman touched by love, but beneath its velvet was +a matter-of-fact certainty that caused the faintest tremor to +run through his limbs. +</P> + +<P> +They looked into one another's eyes, felt each other's +breath upon their cheeks, the one consumed by passion, the +other swept upward into a new world, a new, incredible life, +as a beautiful hope touched her heart. They did not see +their horses standing with intent ears and, as they were +up wind they did not hear the slight sounds of another +approaching. +</P> + +<P> +"Because I love you, Bobby! Will you come?" +</P> + +<P> +"And I'll be your wife and you won't be ashamed of me +... ever?" +</P> + +<P> +"Never!"—in a tone that was too firm for conviction. +</P> + +<P> +"An' Alf'll come to see us whenever he wants to?" +</P> + +<P> +"Whenever he wants to. Don't you believe me? Why +question?"—hurriedly. "Say you love me, now, today, +this hour,"—straining her to him. "Say it to me, Bobby; +say that you love me as I love you!" +</P> + +<P> +His eyes burned into hers and he closed his lips to press +them on hers, to touch the woman of her into being, to accomplish +the end he sought. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Mister Hilton, I—" +</P> + +<P> +Her voice had the quality of a sob and he waited for her +to go on before he sealed his tricky pact with a kiss, but as +she choked a crashing of the brush shocked him into a +realization of the outside world and a resounding voice +cried: +</P> + +<P> +"One moment! Just one moment!" +</P> + +<P> +The Reverend Azariah Beal advanced toward them +through the willows. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby whirled to face him and Hilton, with an oath, released +her. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment, portentous silence. The Reverend halted, +plainly confused. Before Hilton's glare and the girl's +breathless fury his eyes wavered. He opened his lips to +speak and closed them helplessly. Then a queer glimmer +crossed his face, half hope, half smile. +</P> + +<P> +He reached into his pocket, brought forth a fountain pen, +held it up and said: +</P> + +<P> +"One moment of your time to bring to your attention this +article, known from coast to coast, indispensable to any +man, woman or child, which we are introducing for the +purposes of further advertising at a trifling price, which—" +</P> + +<P> +"Who the devil sent you here?" demanded Hilton, advancing. +</P> + +<P> +The Reverend lowered his hand and blinked through his +spectacles. +</P> + +<P> +"I do not recall that I came from that black deity," he replied +mildly. "My feet are directed from Above,"—gesturing. +"I have been called upon—" +</P> + +<P> +"Now you're called upon to get out. Understand? Get +out!" +</P> + +<P> +"Brother, is it possible that you are not interested in this +article? Made of pure India rubber—" +</P> + +<P> +"You heard me! Get out!" cried Hilton. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment the Reverend stood, as though undecided. +</P> + +<P> +"I am sorry," he said, "that I can not interest you. If +not today, then another time, perhaps? A splendid gift for +a lady, my friend, a—" +</P> + +<P> +"Nobody here wants to listen to you. Be on your way!" +</P> + +<P> +Sorrowfully the Reverend replaced the pen in his pocket, +rattling it against the remainder of his stock. As he turned +away he drew them all out and stood for some time beside +his horse, counting them carefully, muttering to himself. +He looked about his feet, retraced his steps to where he +had stood in his attempt to make a sale, scanning the ground. +</P> + +<P> +"Can it be," he asked absently, "that I have miscounted?" +</P> + +<P> +He gave no heed to the two who watched him but it was +a matter of ten minutes before he was finally satisfied that +there had been no loss—or that nothing else would be lost +that day—and rode away. +</P> + +<P> +By that time Hilton's ill temper was implacable and in +Bobby's face was a half frightened, bewildered look. She +turned to the Easterner with a questioning little gesture but +he did not respond. +</P> + +<P> +"He spoiled it for a while, Bobby," he said. "Let's ride +back." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +CONCERNING SAM MCKEE +</H4> + +<P> +Webb was building biscuits and Hepburn was slicing +a steak from the hind quarter of a carcass that a +few days before had been an HC steer. McKee entered +with an armful of wood. He dropped it into the box beside +the stove with a clatter and went out again. He was +whistling a doleful little tune, as a preoccupied man will +whistle. His gray eyes were peculiarly grim and when he +stopped whistling, his mouth set into determined lines. +</P> + +<P> +"What's got into him?" Webb asked. +</P> + +<P> +The other shrugged his shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"He's changed in the last day or two. Wouldn't think +he was the same man," Webb went on. "Do you think +there's a chance...." +</P> + +<P> +It was unnecessary to finish the question for there was +only one subject that these men discussed which called for +the cautious tone which Webb had adopted. Hepburn +chuckled scornfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Hell, no!" he said. "Sam's the last one to double-cross +us, 'specially when Beck's on th' other side. +</P> + +<P> +"Somethin's got into him all right, but it ain't anything +to hurt us. He's changed." +</P> + +<P> +"You know how he used to be, Dad, kind of a bully, always +lookin' for trouble. Well, it wasn't that he was quarrelsome +like most mean men are. It was because he was +afraid to be any other way. That was what made him abuse +his horse that time; the pony had put a crimp in Sam an' +th' only way Sam could work up his nerve to get aboard was +to work him over unmerciful. +</P> + +<P> +"That give Beck his chance, an' he sure did comb poor +Sam! It took all th' starch out of him, but that wasn't th' +worst. It give everybody that didn't like him a chance to +rub it in, an' they sure done it! Sam's been a standin' joke +ever since. They seem to look for chances to ride him. +Two-Bits ain't let him alone a minute when they was near +together. +</P> + +<P> +"Sam used to swear he'd get both Two-Bits an' Beck, but +he won't. He ain't that kind, I guess. Beck knocked what +little sand he had left all out of him. +</P> + +<P> +"Somethin's changed him again, though ..." +</P> + +<P> +"You've rubbed it into him pretty strong yourself, Webb," +Hepburn reminded. +</P> + +<P> +"Different reason." Webb waxed philosophical. +"When a man's enemies bother him it only drives him down; +that is, a man like Sam. But when his friends ride him it's +likely to put a little color in his liver. That's why I keep +after him. I never did figure he'd try to get Beck in an +open fight, but I used to think he might do it some other +way. That's what I'd like to see him do!"—darkly. +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe he will. Somethin's changed him again, Webb. +I tell you he's been goin' around today like a man whose +done somethin' big! It's a sort of ... of confidence, you'd +call it." +</P> + +<P> +"Mebby Hilton's got under his skin. He don't like Sam +but he talks a lot to him about Beck, quiet-like, as if it +wasn't of much importance. Still, he keeps dingin' away +at it." +</P> + +<P> +"Like he does to us about things, eh? Always sort of +suggestin' until you go do somethin' that seems like a good +play an' then, after a while, wake up to realize that he was +the one who started you on your way!" +</P> + +<P> +Hilton came in and the four—the other riders were on +the range—ate their meal and talked lowly of the war they +waged. That is, Hepburn and Webb talked. McKee listened; +neither of the others bothered to address him or even +consciously include him as an auditor.... And Hilton listened +and watched McKee, his eyes speculative. +</P> + +<P> +"With th' tank gone that cuts down just so much on their +range," Webb said, "an' it's plain they don't figure on usin' +the Hole or they'd let their stuff drift in there as they've +always done." +</P> + +<P> +"You don't want to be too sure that their stuff won't get +into the Hole," put in McKee with a nodding of his head. +</P> + +<P> +"I s'pose they put a man in the Gap to go to sleep, did +they?" Webb returned. "It was a good move on Beck's +part. I wish to hell they would get by and perish of thirst. +We'd keep 'em out of Cole's water, you bet! Beck's too +wise to give us a chance, though." +</P> + +<P> +"Mebby he ain't so wise as he thinks," McKee insisted +in that queer, lofty manner. "He put a man there all right, +all right, but everybody ain't been asleep." +</P> + +<P> +Hepburn started to say something to Webb but was arrested +by this. +</P> + +<P> +"What you got in your head, Sam?" he asked, with more +intent than he had used in questioning McKee in months. +</P> + +<P> +Sam felt himself assuming a sudden importance at this; +his manner of mystery and confidence had caught their interest +and it was the first time he had so succeeded for long, +the first time he had really been an insider in the game they +played. It was gratifying to know facts which they did not +know; he cherished this superiority, so he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Never you mind what's in Sam's head. You've been +figurin' I'm a helpless sort of waddie for a long time but I +guess you'll think different when you find out some things +I know!" +</P> + +<P> +Hepburn urged again but McKee was no more responsive +so the older man put McKee's secretiveness down as +pique, concealing nothing of value, and went on with the +talk. +</P> + +<P> +Later in the evening Webb said: +</P> + +<P> +"Sure you didn't leave anything by the tank that'd give +us away?" +</P> + +<P> +"Think I'm simple minded?" Hepburn countered. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a damn good thing not to be. That's th' first place +they'll ride when th' round-up starts an' as soon as Beck +hears the Tank's gone he'll go over that place himself with +a fine tooth comb. If he could hang that on us it'd be all +he'd need." +</P> + +<P> +"He can go over it with a microscope but he'll find +nothin'!" +</P> + +<P> +"You sure he will?" McKee asked, rather breathlessly, +his eyes lighted with a peculiar glow. +</P> + +<P> +"Will what?" +</P> + +<P> +"Go there to look it over?" +</P> + +<P> +Hepburn snorted. +</P> + +<P> +"That's one thing you can be sure about Beck: he watches +details an' don't let nothin' get away from him. He's always +pryin' into things himself; he ain't satisfied to get his +information second hand. A thing like this, which has +meant a lot to them ... why, he'll investigate it until he's +found somethin' or hell freezes!" +</P> + +<P> +McKee sat back, staring at the floor, his hands limp in his +lap. Still that strange light showed in his eyes and occasionally +his lips moved as though he rehearsed a declaration +to himself.... And Hilton, stretched on his bed, watched +McKee. +</P> + +<P> +After a time Sam roused and rolled a cigarette with fingers +that were not just steady and sat smoking as he planned, +already triumphing in anticipation. His eyes changed, and +the lines of his face were remoulded ... and Hilton +watched. +</P> + +<P> +Late that evening McKee went out into the dooryard to +be alone with the memory of the one stroke he had made +and to continue his plans for the master blow he was to +make. But he was not alone. Hilton followed and spoke +quietly over his shoulder, saying: +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Sam, the chances are that he'll go to the tank +alone." +</P> + +<P> +Whereupon the other started and whispered savagely: +</P> + +<P> +"How'd you know I was thinkin' <i>that?</i>" +</P> + +<P> +Hilton laughed lowly and put an arm across Sam's shoulders +and they walked at length in the darkness, talking, +talking.... The Easterner looked close into McKee's face +and flattered and suggested and encouraged.... +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +"WORK AMONG THE HEATHEN" +</H4> + +<P> +The chuck wagon had gone, followed by the bed wagon +and the cavet, the last made up of one hundred and +forty saddle horses, stringing along the road, a solid column +of horse flesh. In a day the round-up would be on. Camp +was to be made first far down on Coyote Creek and the +country from Cathedral Tank eastward would first be ridden. +</P> + +<P> +Outwardly the departure was not so different from others +of its sort. There were rifles on saddles, to be sure, but +there was banter and fun. Still, a spirit prevailed which +told that the men were not wholly concerned with the normal +business of the range. There were other things, more +grim, more serious, than gathering steers and branding +calves. +</P> + +<P> +H C hands were not the only ones who rode heavily +armed. There were others, skulking on high ridges, watching, +waiting. The whole country knew they were there. +The eyes of the whole country were on the factions. The +ears of the country were strained to catch what sounds of +clash might rise. For the coming of that clash was sensed +as an impending crash of thunder will be sensed under cloud +banked skies. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be joinin' them tonight or in the morning," Beck +told Jane as the cavalcade disappeared down creek. "I'm +glad there are things to hold me here a few hours longer +because I'll be gone a long time an' I'm jealous of the days +I have to be away from you." +</P> + +<P> +"You'll come to say good-bye?" +</P> + +<P> +"If I have to crawl to you!"—as he gave her one of his +lingering kisses. "When I come back from the ride there's +something I'd like to talk over with you ... which we ain't +mentioned yet." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be waiting to talk it over, dear," she whispered, for +she understood. +</P> + +<P> +Not long after Beck had ridden away the Reverend +stumped down from the corral to the big ranch house and +rapped on the door. Jane was at her desk and looked up in +surprise for it was the first time the elder Beal had ever +come to her alone. +</P> + +<P> +"I come to ask for aid, ma'am, in what might be termed +work among the heathen, though, it is in a sense the task +of a home missionary." +</P> + +<P> +Jane put down her pen and sat back in her chair, trying to +hide her amusement. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Reverend," in her crisp manner—"I'm interested." +</P> + +<P> +He blinked and rattled pens in a side pocket of the rusty +coat. +</P> + +<P> +"I trust that you will bear with me, ma'am, until I have +finished. I have been moved to speak to you for long but +have hesitated because it is difficult to present the matter +without intruding on privacies. +</P> + +<P> +"An unholy love is being hidden in the solitudes of these +hills, a man who is at heart a serpent seeks to corrupt the +white soul of a child. You possess a knowledge of this +man which may hold the only hope of salvation for the +innocent." +</P> + +<P> +A feeling of apprehension swept through the girl; with it +was suspicion, for though her mind easily fastened on Dick +Hilton as the man referred to, she could connect him with +no other woman. +</P> + +<P> +"I trust, ma'am, that you will be charitable in your estimate +of my works. It is no more possible for Azariah Beal +to go through life with his eyes closed and his powers of +deduction dormant than it is for the birds to refrain from +flight or the fishes from swimming. I try to do good as I +go my way. I realize that it is not in the orthodox manner, +that my methods are strange; but my work is among +unusual people and the old ways of accomplishment will not +produce results any more than the old standards of morality +will fit the lives of my people. +</P> + +<P> +"I observed this man, a stranger to the country, in town +on my arrival. When I reached here to tarry with my +brother until I am called to move I observed you, also a +stranger to the frontier. I observed other things which you +will not consider prying curiosity, I hope. There was a +connection, a logical connection, between you two strangers: +were it not for subsequent events this observation would +have remained in my heart. So far it has, but now I must +reveal it to you. +</P> + +<P> +"You are the only individual who stands between Dick +Hilton and the ruin of Bobby Cole!" +</P> + +<P> +He stopped talking and rattled his pens again. The apprehension +which had possessed Jane passed and she experienced +a sharp abhorrence. +</P> + +<P> +"You mean that he ..." she began and let the question +trail off. +</P> + +<P> +The Reverend nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Exactly. He has charmed her. He speaks with the +cunning of a serpent and she, under his influence, is as guileless +as a quail. +</P> + +<P> +"He cannot be driven off by threats because he is not that +sort. The girl cannot be convinced of his wicked purpose +because she trusts no man but him. If the affair proceeds +she will pay the price of a broken heart because, in spirit, +she is pure gold. +</P> + +<P> +"He might protest his sincerity to men of this country +and force them into belief, but with you it is different. +There is in every man, no matter how far he may have +fallen, a sense of shame. He can bury it deeply from those +who do not know him but to his own kind it is ever near the +surface. +</P> + +<P> +"I beg of you, ma'am, to join me in this holy cause and +dissuade him from his black purpose, if not by an appeal to +honor, then by an appeal to his shame." +</P> + +<P> +Jane rose. +</P> + +<P> +"You mean that he has been making ... making love +to this girl? And that you think I can save her?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's the only way. She will not listen to men, she will +not listen to you because she considers you her enemy. He +may be so far sunk in sin that he will not heed the advice +of one he has known and respected and, excuse me, loved +... after his manner of loving." Jane flushed but he gave +no notice. "But unless I attempt to bring your influence +to bear upon him I will feel that I have not answered the +call to duty." +</P> + +<P> +He blinked again and looked at her with an appeal that +wiped out any impression of charlatanry, of preposterousness +that she might have had; he was wholly sincere. +</P> + +<P> +"Why ... I don't know what I could say ... what I +could do." +</P> + +<P> +"Nor I. But you know Hilton; you know the girl; I +have made you familiar with the situation. I rely on your +resourcefulness. May I bring him to you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, he wouldn't come here!" +</P> + +<P> +The Reverend rattled his pens and said: +</P> + +<P> +"I think I might persuade him. Have I, as your employee, +your permission, I might say, your <i>order</i>, to bring +him here?" +</P> + +<P> +"Of course. If there is anything I can do.... Ugh!" +She shuddered and pressed a wrist against her eyes. "It's +beastly! Beastly!" +</P> + +<P> +The Reverend departed and throughout the day Jane +Hunter could think of little other than the situation which +he had outlined to her. Her wrath was roused, replacing +the disgust she had felt at first, and her heart went out to +Bobby Cole with a tenderness that only woman can know +for woman. +</P> + +<P> +She tried to think ahead, to consider what she could say +or do, to speculate on what the results of this next meeting +with Dick Hilton might be. +</P> + +<P> +Evening was well into dusk with the first stars pricking +through the failing daylight when two riders came through +the HC gate. Dick Hilton rode first and behind him, one +hand in a deep pocket of his frock coat, rode the Reverend. +</P> + +<P> +"You can get down and open the gate," the Reverend +said and Hilton, sulkily obeying, led his horse through. +</P> + +<P> +"Now what?" he asked in surly submission. +</P> + +<P> +"Now I'll finish my errand by escorting you to the owner +of this establishment." +</P> + +<P> +Hilton led his horse across to the dooryard. The Reverend +dismounted and the two walked down the cottonwoods +to the big veranda, the Easterner still in the lead, the other +with his hand in his side pocket. +</P> + +<P> +Jane saw them; she was at the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Good evening!" said Hilton with bitterness. +</P> + +<P> +"In accordance with your orders, ma'am, I persuaded +this gentleman to call," said Beal, almost humbly. "I'll +feed his horse and return later." +</P> + +<P> +He turned and hurried up the path. +</P> + +<P> +Hilton pulled down his coat sleeves irritably and looked +at Jane with a bitter smile. +</P> + +<P> +"To what do I owe the ... the honor of such a summons?" +</P> + +<P> +"Come in, Dick. I want to talk to you,"—keeping her +voice and expression steady. She held the door open to him +and he entered, his mouth drawn down in a sardonic grimace. +A single shaded lamp was lighted and as she turned to him +she could see his eyes glittering balefully in the semi-darkness. +</P> + +<P> +"Rather different from our last meeting," he said testily. +"Then you were concerned with my going; now you seem +determined to have me here." +</P> + +<P> +"Let's not discuss the past, Dick. I called you here for +a definite purpose. Can you guess what it is?" +</P> + +<P> +He eyed her in hostile speculation. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see where anything that concerns me could concern +you now. That is, unless you've changed your mind." +</P> + +<P> +She gave him a wry smile and a shake of her head. +</P> + +<P> +"I shall never change, Dick. It was no interest in you +that made me send for you. It was interest in the well-being +of another woman." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, another woman! And who, pray, may she be?"—frigidly, +face darkening. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't you guess? Have there been so many out here?" +</P> + +<P> +"You know there's only one woman for me," he said bitterly, +"and she drove me off like a thief and has called me +back as though I were a thief!" +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps you are." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean by that?" +</P> + +<P> +There was that about him which made her think of a man +cornered. +</P> + +<P> +"I have called you here because I have reason to believe +that you are trying to steal the heart of a young girl—of +Bobby Cole." +</P> + +<P> +He laughed unpleasantly, but there was in the laugh a +queer relief, as though he had anticipated other things. +</P> + +<P> +"Now who's been tattling to you?" +</P> + +<P> +"My men have seen you come and go, they have seen +you with the girl. One of them came to me and begged +that I send for you and try to talk you out of this. They +know, Dick. These men understand men ... like you." +</P> + +<P> +"Because they see me with her and because I'm not considered +fit by you to stay beneath your roof, even when it +is night and storming, they think I'm damned beyond hope, +do they? They think I'm menacing her happiness, do +they?" +</P> + +<P> +"But aren't you?" she countered. "I know her. I have +talked to her and watched her. Dick, she is a lonely, pathetic +little creature with the world against her. There have +been just two things left in her life: her own splendid self +respect and her devotion to her father. Why, she hasn't +even had the respect of the people about her! +</P> + +<P> +"And now she is facing loss of the biggest thing she possesses: +the loss of her belief in herself, for you will destroy +that just as surely as you force her to listen to your +... to what I suppose you still call your love-making." +</P> + +<P> +He eyed her a moment before saying: +</P> + +<P> +"You used, at least, to be fair, Jane; you used to go +slowly in judging people and their motives and usually you +were more or less right. Have you put all that behind you? +Does the fact that a man is charged with some irregularity +convince you of his guilt now?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why no. But knowing you and knowing her..." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you think it possible for a man, even, for the +sake of the argument, a blackguard like me,"—bowing +slightly—"to change a trifle?" +</P> + +<P> +He put the question with so much confidence, with so +much of his old certainty that it checked Jane. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, we all may change," she said slowly. +</P> + +<P> +"I am glad you will grant that much,"—ironically. +"Think back, just a few weeks, and you may recall one +somewhat theatrical statement you made to me about finding +yourself among these people. I thought it preposterous +then but I have lived and learned; I know now that you +could mean what you said then.... Jane, I, too, have +found my people ... at least my woman." +</P> + +<P> +She stared hard at him. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean that, Dick Hilton?"—very lowly. +</P> + +<P> +"As much as I have ever meant anything in my life!" +</P> + +<P> +"Sit down," she said, more to give her time to think than +in consideration of his comfort. Then, after a moment: +"It isn't much of a boast, to mean this as much as you have +ever meant anything." +</P> + +<P> +"Then need we talk further? You ask questions; I answer; +you do not believe. Why continue?" +</P> + +<P> +She sat down in a chair before him. +</P> + +<P> +"This is the reason: That I think you have lied to me +again. I don't believe you are sincere. No, no, you must +listen to me, now!"—as he started forward with an enraged +exclamation. "I brought you here to make what is +left of the Dick Hilton I once liked see this thing as I +see it." +</P> + +<P> +And try she did. She talked rapidly, almost hurriedly, +carried along by her own conviction, made dominant by it, +sweeping aside his early protests, forcing him to listen to +her. She put her best into that effort for as he sat there +with his cruel, cynical smile on her she realized that this +was a task worthy of her best mettle. +</P> + +<P> +She sketched Bobby Cole's life as she knew it, she argued +in detail to show him how the girl had never had a chance +to taste the things which are sweetest to girlhood. She +touched on the incident in town where, in desperation, Bobby +had tried to force the respect of men and she told him of +the defiance with which her own advances of friendship had +been met. +</P> + +<P> +Jane was eloquent. For the better part of an hour she +talked steadily, occasionally interrupted by a skeptical laugh +or a sneering retort, but she persisted. Hilton listened and +watched, eyes hard, mouth drawn into forbidding lines, a +manner of suspicious caution about him, as though there +were much that he wanted to conceal. +</P> + +<P> +Finally her sincerity had an effect and she could see his +cold assurance melting. His gaze left hers and a flush crept +into his cheeks. She moved quickly to sit beside him. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick! Dick! For the sake of what you once were, +for the sake of what you still can be, go away! If you +won't go for the sake of the girl, go for your own salvation!" +</P> + +<P> +"It's not what you think," he protested feebly, without +looking at her. "I'm not philandering. I—" +</P> + +<P> +"No, Dick, not philandering, because that is too gentle a +word. It is something worse, something darker, which will +bring more shame to you and to all who once knew and +trusted you. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you see that you're playing with something as +delicate as a mountain flower? Don't you see you will crush +it? Because this girl is strong of body and thoroughly able +to contend for her own position with muscles and weapons, +don't think that her heart can be treated roughly. It would +wither if she gave it to you and found that you held it of +little value." +</P> + +<P> +"I tell you I'm on the level with her." +</P> + +<P> +"Would you marry her?"—leaning closer to him as his +manner told of the effect her pleas were having. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course." +</P> + +<P> +"You'd take her east, to your friends?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, why not?"—shifting uneasily. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, look at me!" Tears in her eyes, she put her hands +on his shoulders and forced him to turn his face. "You +can't mean that? I can see you don't. Dick, oh, Dick! +For the sake of all that is good and fine in life, for the sake +of the manhood you can regain, don't do this thing! +</P> + +<P> +"I'm asking it of you. Perhaps I have little right to +make any requests of you but in the name of the love you +say you once bore for me try to look into my, a woman's +heart, and see what this thing means. I'm not trying to +make it difficult for you; I'm not trying to interfere and +be mean. I'm begging you, Dick, to give her up and if +nothing else will appeal to you, do it for my sake!" +</P> + +<P> +She shook him gently as he turned his head from her, +humiliated, shamed, beaten. He was convinced: she knew +that his sham was broken down, that his purpose was clear +to her and the conscience that remained in his soul tortured +him. +</P> + +<P> +Jane held so a long moment, fingers gripping his shoulders, +appeal in every tense line of her body. +</P> + +<P> +And close outside the window another figure held tense, +watching, holding breath in futile attempt to catch the low +words they spoke. It was a slender figure and had ridden +up on a soft-stepping horse, dismounted, slipped over the +fence, ran stealthily along the creek, halted in the shadow +of the cottonwoods and then crept slowly forward until it +stood close to the shaft of yellow light which streamed from +the window. There it stood spying.... +</P> + +<P> +"You have said that you loved me, Dick. Do this for me +in the name of that love! I am asking it with a sincerity +that was never in any other request I have made of you." +</P> + +<P> +She shook him again and slowly he turned his face to hers, +showing an expression of weakness, of helplessness, as one +who turns to ask humbly, almost desperately for aid. +</P> + +<P> +The figure out there started forward as though it would +leap through the window, making a sharp sound of breath +hissing through teeth, in fright or in hatred. The movement +was checked, for the gate creaked open, the scuffling +boots of a man were heard on the path. The figure skulked +swiftly along the house, ducking along the cottonwoods, out +toward the road where a horse stood waiting. +</P> + +<P> +It was the Reverend coming and he whistled "<i>Yield not +to Temptation</i>," as he neared the house, as if to give warning +of his approach. Hilton heard and looked up sharply +and a glitter of rage appeared in his eyes. He shook Jane +Hunter off savagely and rose. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd let you make an ass of me!" he cried savagely. +"You won't believe when I tell you the truth.... +</P> + +<P> +"But what the devil should I care?" he broke off shortly. +"Whatever I do and where and why is my own affair; none +of yours, though you try to make it yours, try to judge me +as you judge your own, new friends, probably. +</P> + +<P> +"You talk of the man I once was. Well, if I've changed +in your eyes, it is not my fault; it's yours, Jane Hunter, +yours! You'd drive me on, lead me on, and when finally +cornered you'd be perfectly frank to tell me that you'd +only toyed with me, that you tolerated me because you +thought you might have to use the things I owned!" +</P> + +<P> +"Not that, Dick! You're putting it all wrong...." +</P> + +<P> +"Listen to me!" he shouted, quivering with rage. "If +I've changed it is you who have changed me! If life means +nothing to me, it is you who have made it so!" He was +towering in his anger and, seeking to shift responsibility for +his own rottenness to the shoulders of the woman before +him, he aroused a sense of injury and genuine indignation. +"You played me as your last straw as long as you dared +and now, by God, when I go my way, the only way open to +me, when I try to redeem a little happiness, you hound me, +try to shame me with your sham morals!" +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, that's not true." +</P> + +<P> +"It is true. Why, you haven't a leg to stand on, you—" +</P> + +<P> +His storming was interrupted by a rap on the door and +he turned to see the Reverend standing there, battered derby +in his hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Excuse me," he said mildly, "but the gentleman's horse +is fed." +</P> + +<P> +It was his way of letting Jane Hunter—and Dick Hilton—know +that she was not alone; but if the Reverend had +intended to stop the tirade which he had heard from outside +he did not succeed for the Easterner was further enraged +at sight of him. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose this is part of your plan!" he snapped. "You +found out that it's no use to wheedle me, so you've had your +gun-man come to drive me off as he brought me!" +</P> + +<P> +"Dick, don't be silly! You're absurd. A gun. The +idea!" +</P> + +<P> +Hilton laughed tauntingly and said: +</P> + +<P> +"He's standing there now, covering me with a gun! +Look at him." He pointed to the Reverend's pocket. A +hand was in it and the garment bulged sharply as though +a revolver, concealed there, was ready for instant use. +"That's how you treat me; that's how you got me here. +God knows I wouldn't have come otherwise if your existence +depended on it. +</P> + +<P> +"This man met me on the trail. He said you wanted to +see me. I consigned him to the Hell from which he tries +to have sinners and he covered me from his pocket just as +he has me covered now and said it would be wise for me to +answer your summons. +</P> + +<P> +"How else do you think he brought me?" he demanded, +wheeling to face Jane again. +</P> + +<P> +The girl looked quickly to Beal, lips parted in surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"I sent Mr. Beal for you, yes, but I said nothing about +using force to bring you. I wouldn't do that. I'm sure +there is some mistake." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, ma'am, I'm sure there is," said the Reverend, blinking +and withdrawing his hand slowly. "I'm a man of peace. +I'm not a man of force." +</P> + +<P> +He lifted his hand clear, the ominous bulge in his pocket +giving way, and held up one of his pens. +</P> + +<P> +"One dollar," he said rather weakly ... as though +frightened, or vastly amused. +</P> + +<P> +Standing there, looking rather blankly about, holding that +pen in his hand he was in ludicrous contrast to the furious +Hilton. It made the other man seem absurd, his raging +like the burlesque of some clowning actor. +</P> + +<P> +With a helpless, choking oath Hilton turned, livid with +rage, and strode for the doorway. +</P> + +<P> +"For the last time I've been made a fool of!" he cried, +and hastened up the path. +</P> + +<P> +They heard him mount his horse and ride away. +</P> + +<P> +Jane was too busied with more somber thoughts to appreciate +the humor of the situation; she did later. Even +had she been able to give attention to the contrast between +Hilton's rage and the chagrin which followed so closely, the +change in the Reverend would have diverted her attention. +He stood looking at her with grief in his eyes and when he +spoke his voice shook. +</P> + +<P> +"I feel that I have done my duty, ma'am, but that is all +Azariah Beal has to say for himself. There has been no +result. I may have been too late in my attempt. Surely, +there is nothing more to be done.... +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing more, unless you may succeed in ridding yourself +of your enemies." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think that would have an effect on Bobby +Cole?" +</P> + +<P> +He nodded gravely. +</P> + +<P> +"You and she have something in common: an enemy." +</P> + +<P> +"He has been here tonight? You mean that Hilton is +my enemy in the sense that he may imperil the future of the +H C?" +</P> + +<P> +"The same, ma'am." +</P> + +<P> +"Reverend, it is likely that you are right. I am beginning +to see a connection between factors which have seemed to be +unrelated." +</P> + +<P> +He started to speak but a shout checked him. They listened +to a confusion of voices. +</P> + +<P> +"Something's wrong," Beal said and stepped to the veranda. +"Why ... somebody's hurt!" +</P> + +<P> +Jane ran to the doorway but he had already started up +the path. She followed as she saw a close huddle of men +about the lighted doorway of the bunk house move slowly +in, carrying a burden gently and as she neared the building +a rather tragic quiet marked the group. +</P> + +<P> +Nigger, Two-Bits' horse, was standing saddled in the path +of light. Inside a man was lying face down on the floor. +The Reverend knelt beside him, leaning forward, and others +stood close, silent and grave. +</P> + +<P> +The prostrate man was Two-Bits and his shoulders +dripped blood. As Jane became a part of the group he +stirred and struggled to raise his head. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it, brother?" Azariah asked gently, turning +Two-Bits over and supporting his head. "Tell us. You're +not done for. It's ripped your back open, but that's all. +Who was it?" +</P> + +<P> +The other looked about slowly with bewildered eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"From behind," he said weakly. "They got me from +behind...." His gaze wavered from face to face and +finally rested on Jane's. He moved feebly. +</P> + +<P> +"A big bunch of your cattle must be in th' Hole, ma'am," +he said. "There ain't ... any water there.... I was +keepin' 'em ... out ... an' somebody got me from behind.... +They must of waited ... to get me ... from +behind.... And the only water's ... in fence.... +</P> + +<P> +"It looks like ... a lot of trouble, ma'am...." +</P> + +<P> +He stopped talking, exhausted. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +RENUNCIATION +</H4> + +<P> +It looked like trouble and there was trouble. +</P> + +<P> +Beck, with the Reverend, Curtis and two of the ranch +hands preceded Jane to the Hole at dawn and when she rode +down the trail she saw them on their horses, forming a little +group well away from the nester's cabin. +</P> + +<P> +Her cattle were there and the fenced area was fringed +with them as they moved back and forth, sniffing at the water +they wanted, which they needed and which, though just +on the other side of the wire strands, might as well have +been days away. Inside the fence grazed Cole's herd with +plenty to eat and drink. +</P> + +<P> +Tom's face was troubled as he rode to meet the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"It's serious," he said. "There's enough of your stock +down here to ruin you, ma'am, unless we get 'em out to +water." +</P> + +<P> +"Let's take them out, then!" +</P> + +<P> +He shook his head skeptically. +</P> + +<P> +"They're in bad shape. They're crazy wild and we +haven't got enough men here to shove 'em up the trail. It's +an awful job with quiet cattle because they have to go in +single file and there's no drivin' 'em. I don't dare risk taking +these through the Gap and around to water the other way. +Why, Jane, that's forty miles! +</P> + +<P> +"It'll be another day before we can get the boys back to +help get 'em out and it looks like a heavy loss at best unless +we get water. There's only one way to get it and that's to +persuade Cole or his daughter that we'd ought to have it." +</P> + +<P> +"They must have water!" she cried. "It's inhuman not +to give it to them!" She watched a big steer going past at +a rapid walk, eyes bright and protruding as in fright; he +bawled hoarsely for drink. "Why, Tom, people can't refuse +water to beasts that need it." +</P> + +<P> +"See! There's Cole and Bobby now,"—pointing toward +the cabin. "Come. I'll buy water if necessary." +</P> + +<P> +She spurred her horse and Beck followed at a gallop. +When he came abreast he looked curiously at her face. Her +jaw was tight and her eyes dark with determination. This +was her fight and she was thoroughly aroused to it. She +asked no advice, she showed no hesitation; she went forward +with all confidence, certain that in this cause which involved +not only the loss of property but the suffering of dumb creatures +she could have her way. +</P> + +<P> +A hundred yards from the cabin a steer thrust his head +through the wire strands and shoved, heedless of barbs, tantalized +by the smell of water. Cole shouted with his weak +voice and picked up a stick and ran toward the animal, +brandishing his cudgel. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby stood watching the riders approach. +</P> + +<P> +"I've come to see you again," Jane said in brief preface. +"This time it is an urgent matter." She dismounted and +faced the other girl. "My cattle are here and they need +drink very badly. You have all the water. Will you let +them through your fence? As soon as they can be moved +we will take them out and they will bother you no more." +</P> + +<P> +Bobby eyed her with loathing but it was not as she had +been on their previous encounter, for about her manner was +something more concrete, as though she cherished a definite +grudge this time. +</P> + +<P> +"Is your memory so bad that you don't recollect what I +told you before?" she asked slowly. "I told you once to +keep away from us; I tell you that again. This is our range +now; your stock ain't got any rights here." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll grant you that I have no right to ask. I did what I +could to keep my cattle out of here. The man I set to +guard the Gap was shot down; that is why they are here this +morning; that is why I must have your water, because it is +the only water available. +</P> + +<P> +"I am willing to pay. This means very much to me. +Won't you name a price, give me water? I am asking it as +a favor and will be willing to pay for that favor." +</P> + +<P> +"Favor!" +</P> + +<P> +The girl shot the word out harshly. +</P> + +<P> +"Favor! You're a sweet one to come askin' <i>me</i> for a +favor!" +</P> + +<P> +A fever of rage rose in her face and her brows gathered +threateningly. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothin' we've got is for sale to you! I wouldn't help +you if I could save your outfit by liftin' my hand ... an' +if I was starvin' for that you'd give me in pay!" +</P> + +<P> +Jane was nonplussed. Bobby's breast rose and fell quickly +and her white teeth gleamed behind drawn lips. She was +the catamount, ready to fight! +</P> + +<P> +"But think of these cattle! They're suffering—" +</P> + +<P> +"Cattle! You ask me to think of cattle because they're +suffering and you'd make human beings suffer from worse +things than thirst!" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't understand you. What have I done that would +make people suffer?" +</P> + +<P> +"I s'pose you don't know?"—jeeringly. "I s'pose you +don't <i>want</i> to know in front of him,"—with a flirt of her +quirt to indicate Beck. "I wouldn't either if I was in your +place, you—sneak!" +</P> + +<P> +"Sneak?" Jane repeated, stung to open resentment. +"Sneak?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sneak. You'd run us out of this country if you +could, but you can't. You'd take my man if you could ... +but you can't!"—through shut teeth. +</P> + +<P> +"Your man?"—looking at the girl and then at Beck in +bewilderment. "Your—" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, my man! Oh, don't think I don't know. I saw it +all. I saw one of your hands take him to your home last +night. I followed him, I watched through your window. +I seen you beg with him and plead with him. I know what +you want.... +</P> + +<P> +"Why, he's told me everything, from th' first! You got +him to follow you out here, you got mad at him and threw +him out of your house once. Now you want him back. +You want him back. I suppose while he,"—tilting her +head toward Tom—"is away on round-up! You want him +back when you've got everything you want and he's all I +got, all I ever had!" +</P> + +<P> +Tears sprang into her eyes and her voice came trembling +through trembling lips. Jane, swept by confusion, sought +words and found none. It was preposterous! And yet the +very accusation degraded her. Drawn into a quarrel over a +man, and such a man! +</P> + +<P> +"You'd take this claim, if you could, when you've got +more land than anybody around here. You'd take my man +when you've got lots of others yourself. You <i>must</i> have +lots like you got lots of other things. Maybe you think that +by takin' him you can drive me out and get the claim that +way. Maybe that's your reason, you ... you...." She +seemed to search in vain for an expletive that would convey +her contempt. +</P> + +<P> +"But you misunderstand! You're all wrong." +</P> + +<P> +"Wrong, am I? Wrong, when you put your arms around +his neck and put your face close to his an' make him look +at you an' beg him to do things for your sake. I watched +through your window last night. I heard those words, +'For my sake.' You said 'em. I suppose that's wrong, is +it? I—" +</P> + +<P> +"But it wasn't that! It wasn't what you think it—" +</P> + +<P> +"I s'pose you thought he wouldn't tell me, but he did. +He won't come back to you. You couldn't get him away +from me!"—in triumph. +</P> + +<P> +Her manner was so assured, she was so convinced of the +truth of Hilton's version of last night's encounter that Jane +Hunter was at a loss for argument. Impulsively she turned +to look at Beck, as for suggestion, and what she saw there +stripped her of ability to fight back. His face was as devoid +of expression as a countenance can be, but his eyes challenged, +accused, bore down upon her, demanding that she +explain! +</P> + +<P> +He <i>demanded</i> that she explain! +</P> + +<P> +He suspected her! He gave credence to Bobby's accusation. +He could do that! +</P> + +<P> +A word, even a gesture, would have cleared the situation +but his look struck her inarticulate, immobile. She had been +so confident of herself, of his trust; and now he had grasped +upon this monstrous charge and held her to answer. +</P> + +<P> +"You with your fine notions, your money, your city +ways!" the other taunted. "You, with all you've got, +would take the only thing I've got, the only thing I've ever +had! +</P> + +<P> +"An' now you come, askin' favors. Favors from me! +Why, all I'll do for you is to run you out of this country. +I've heard what they call me here: the catamount. I'll show +you how the catamount can scratch and bite!" +</P> + +<P> +It swept over Jane that she must reply, that she must say +some word in her defense, that she must say it now ... +<i>now</i> ... that in this second of time her fate swung in balance, +that bitter though explanation might be she must make +it, for Beck was listening, Beck was watching, Beck was +doubting! +</P> + +<P> +And, as she would have spoken, lamely, but with enough +clarity to absolve her from suspicion, Bobby stepped closer. +</P> + +<P> +"You take your men an' light out!" she snapped. "You +keep your men out of here an' your cattle away from this +fence. Th' first steer that breaks through 'll get shot down, +th' first man that tries to help 'em through will find that he +needs help himself. I hate you!" she cried. "I hate you +worse 'n I hate a snake an' I'll treat you like a snake from +now on. +</P> + +<P> +"You carry that idea home with you an' you carry this +... as first payment, to bind the bargain!" +</P> + +<P> +With a quick, sharp swing of her arm, she whipped her +quirt through the air and it wrapped about Jane's soft throat +with a vicious snap. +</P> + +<P> +She stepped back with a choking cry, hiding her face. +She heard Beck's short, "That'll do!" in a strange, unnatural +voice, as though his throat were dry. She heard the +Catamount's contemptuous sniff and her hard, "Clear out!" +</P> + +<P> +She found herself in her saddle again, riding beside Beck +as they moved toward the other HC riders, who, dismounted +and seated on the ground, had not witnessed the dramatic +parley and its humiliating climax. She was confronted by +a situation which clearly spelled disaster for her ranch unless +solved and solved quickly but that did not matter now. +</P> + +<P> +She had been whipped, as the man who had insulted +Bobby Cole had been whipped. Had been drawn into a +brawl! And, far worse, she had found that the man toward +whom she had toiled from the Jane Hunter that had been +to the Jane Hunter she had one day dreamed she might be, +had doubted her! +</P> + +<P> +He was talking haltingly, something about bringing more +men to shove the cattle up into the Coyote Creek country, +but even through her confusion she realized that his thoughts +were not finding words, that he was forcing himself to talk +of those things. Her heart wanted to cry out, to tell him +that he had misunderstood, that her encounter with Hilton +was not occasioned by the motive Bobby Cole had suspected. +The old Jane Hunter would have done so, but with her new +strength had come another thing, until that hour hidden: it +was pride, a pride which was as noble as her love, which +would permit no cavail, which would not stoop to conquer! +</P> + +<P> +She fought it down, striving for clarified thought, feeling +for the word, the brief sentence which would explain away +Beck's suspicion and leave that pride uninjured, for there +must be such a way. And while she fought, blinded by +tears and confused by humiliation, the moment of opportunity +passed. Beck left her. +</P> + +<P> +They were with the others, who grouped about her foreman, +and he said: +</P> + +<P> +"I was going to send one of you men to bring a dozen of +the boys from the wagon to help save this stuff, if we can, +but I've changed my mind,"—with a bitter significance +which they did not catch. "I'm goin' myself. Curtis, +you're in charge. Keep your head. Keep the cattle from +breakin' his fence because they'll shoot 'em down an' if they +start shooting cattle there'll be a lot of us get shot." +</P> + +<P> +He started away at a gallop without so much as a look +at Jane. Impulsively she called his name and spurred her +sorrel after him. He set his horse on his haunches, wheeled +and waited for her, face white, those eyes so dark, so accusing. +That look checked the words that were on her lips +as effectively as a blow on the mouth and he spoke first as +she halted beside him: +</P> + +<P> +"You did send for him, I take it? You didn't deny +that." +</P> + +<P> +He was hard, cruel, brows gathered, and the storm within +him stung that pride of hers further, roused it to newer life. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I sent for him," she managed to say, "but Tom, +won't—" +</P> + +<P> +"That's all that's necessary then," he said, and was gone. +</P> + +<P> +She sat on her horse watching him ride across the flat for +the steep trail that led out of the Hole and she felt that all +the sweetness, all the worth-while quality of her life was +riding hard behind that straight figure. A bitterness rose +in her heart, a rebellion. He would not listen to her and she +had tried to speak! +</P> + +<P> +Jane did not consider that this was but one evidence of +the greatness of the love of such a man, of the sacredness +with which he treasured it; all she saw was the distrust, unbelief, +and after a time she rode slowly on, watching him +become a fleck on the face of the mountain, seeing him finally +disappear over the rim, out of her life, it seemed. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +With leaden heart she entered her house and sat heavily +in the chair before the desk. An envelope was there, addressed +to her in Beck's coarse hand. She tore it open with +unsteady fingers. +</P> + +<P> +The little gold locket which had been warmed first by +her heart, then by Beck's, which had been her talisman for +months, slipped into her palm. With tear-dimmed eyes she +looked at it and then turned to the letter, reading: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"It is likely that you need your luck worse than I do so I +am returning your gift. I would go away from your outfit +now but if I did they would say that they drove me out as +they have said they would do. My reputation is all I have +left now and I would like to keep that because a man must +have something. +</P> + +<P> +"I did not want to love you in the first place as you may +recall but I guess I was pretty weak for a man. I told you +once that there were things I did not understand about you +and I guess the way you think about men is one of them. +I wanted to drive him out of the country and you would not +let me. I waited a long time today for you to deny what +the Cole girl said and you did not do it. I was pretty mad +when I left you but I realize now it is all my fault. I took +a chance which is not the way to do and now I am paying +for it. Well, I am able to pay. +</P> + +<P> +"I hope you will not answer this and will not try to talk +to me again unless on business. I do not blame you. I +blame myself but I do not want to talk about it. I will take +good care of your cattle and your men because that is my +job. I will run these men out of this country and then if I +am able to resign I will. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"Respectfully,<BR> + "TOM BECK."<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +She put down the letter, feeling queerly numb. She experienced +no particular resentment because she could well +see how her failure to speak at the proper moment had condemned +her in Beck's eyes; her sensation was of one who +has failed in a crisis. Bobby Cole had dominated her, had +swept her off her feet, had given her that depressing feeling +of inferiority again and before her lover's eyes; it had +shaken her assurance, made her question the strength of +which she had been so certain in the last weeks! It was +that which hurt her far more than the stinging welt about +her throat where the lash had bitten her flesh. +</P> + +<P> +She inquired for Two-Bits, learning that the doctor had +left him with the assurance that his recovery would not be +unduly delayed. She ate her dinner abstractedly. In all +she did she moved as one who is only partly alive; a portion +of her body, even, seemed insensate, while her mind was +dead. A dull ache pervaded her, an emptiness, for something +vastly important was gone and she was without resource +to call it back. +</P> + +<P> +The Reverend came and went, taking beds on pack horses +and when Jane saw him departing she laughed rather weakly +to herself. +</P> + +<P> +It was so simple! There was the agency which could +bridge this chasm and while so doing could save the pride +which was creating the conflict within her. +</P> + +<P> +The Reverend knew her motive in sending for Hilton. +He could and would make Beck aware of what had +transpired. She even thought of writing Tom a note, something +as follows: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"I am terribly hurt but in a way it is of my own doing. +I have just one thing to request: Ask the Reverend how +Dick Hilton came to be here." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +But she had no one to send with it and Beck would be +back on the morrow with the men to move the thirst tortured +cattle. Besides, there must be another way than the despatch +of such a message. That was too cold and formal. +It would bring him humbly to her but she knew how he +would suffer when his pride was hurt; and such a thing +would do no less than hurt his pride. She would make it as +easy as possible. +</P> + +<P> +A let-down came and she cried and when she slept that +night her dreams were not distressing. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap22"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE REVEREND'S STRATEGY +</H4> + +<P> +Throughout the day the sun beat into the caņon, +its heat relieved by rare breezes of brief duration. +What wind did come raised swirls of dust and rustled wilted +foliage, for the country had become ash dry. +</P> + +<P> +The cattle, most of them on their fourth waterless day, +bawled dismally, a thirsty chorus rising as the day aged. +They did not eat; they wandered rapidly about seeking +moisture. Those spots of the creek bed which showed damp +above and below Cole's fence were tramped to powder by +uneasy hoofs and a narrow area outside the fence was cut +to fluff by the restless wanderings of the suffering steers. +</P> + +<P> +As afternoon came on they abandoned their futile search +for unguarded drink and clung closer to the wire barrier, +snuffing loudly as their nostrils drank in the smell of water +as greedily as their throats would have swallowed the fluid +itself. Their eyes became wider, wilder, and the bawling +was without cessation. Flanks pumped the hot air into their +bodies in rapid tempo and slaver hung from loose chops. +The herd was in desperate condition. +</P> + +<P> +Now and then a big beefer would rush the fence as if to +tear his way through but the new wire and solid posts always +flung them back. Again, another would push his head +tentatively between the strands and attempt entrance by +gentler methods, but always they were driven back either +by one of the HC riders or by Cole himself. +</P> + +<P> +By the time the sun was half way to the horizon the steers +were moving in a compact mass back and forth along the +fence, snuffing, crying, sobbing in dry throats, bodies growing +more gaunt hourly as frenzy added its toll to physical +suffering. +</P> + +<P> +The bawling became a din. Big steers shook their heads +and hooked at one another groggily. The first one went +down and could not rise alone; the men "tailed" him up +and worked him to shade, where he sank to his side again, +panting, drooling and silent. +</P> + +<P> +"Damn an outfit like that!" growled Curtis, looking +across the bunch to Cole, who stood staring back. +</P> + +<P> +"There's goin' to be hell a-poppin' here," commented one +of the men. "They're waitin' for trouble an' you can't prevent +'em havin' it—" +</P> + +<P> +"Look at that!" +</P> + +<P> +A half dozen steers, surging against the fence, put their +combined weight on a panel and the post gave with a snap. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby ran forward, brandishing a club, and drove them +back as they floundered in the sagging wire, heedless of +barbs, eyes protruding with want of the drink that dilated +nostrils told them was near. +</P> + +<P> +After he had propped the post up again the nester shook +his fist at Curtis and shouted: +</P> + +<P> +"I'll protect my property! You can protect yourn if you +will. Th' next critter that breaks my fence gits lead in his +carcass!" +</P> + +<P> +He slouched back to the cabin and came out a moment +later with a rifle. Seating himself on a stump he crossed his +knees and with the weapon across his lap sat waiting. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll bunch 'em so we can make a show at holdin' 'em +tonight," Curtis said. "That'll save time in th' mornin' +... an' we'll need all our time." +</P> + +<P> +Forthwith he and the others began gathering the suffering +stragglers in a loose bunch. +</P> + +<P> +The Reverend came riding across the flat before this was +completed. His face was serious and as he came close to the +herd and saw the condition of the cattle he shook his head +apprehensively. +</P> + +<P> +"I fear, brother, that by another day there'll be little +strength in those bodies to get 'em up to open water," he +said to Curtis. +</P> + +<P> +"It'll be the devil's own job for sure! It'll take twenty +men to move 'em and if we don't lose half we'll be lucky. +</P> + +<P> +"If that old cuss 'uld let 'em water once it'd be a cinch, +but he's a bad <i>hombre</i>; he won't. There's something back +of this, Reverend." +</P> + +<P> +Beal scratched his chin and blinked and looked across to +where Cole sat. One of his Mexicans also was armed and +had taken up his position further down the fence. +</P> + +<P> +"So it would appear," he replied. "As Joshua said to +Moses, 'There's a noise of war in the camp.' +</P> + +<P> +"I see a relationship between the smiting of my beloved +brother and the refusal of this outfit to grant water. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, another watcher!" +</P> + +<P> +He indicated Pat Webb who evidently had gained the +Cole ranch by a circuitous route and had taken up his position +within the fence, armed with a rifle. +</P> + +<P> +Night came on with a dry wind in the trees on the heights. +Its draft did not reach the Hole but the sound did and that +uneasy, distant roar served to intensify the distress of the +cattle. +</P> + +<P> +Beds were made on a knoll not far from the bunched +steers and the Reverend was the first to rest, while the others, +singing, whistling, slapping chaps with quirts rode round +and round the herd keeping them away from the fence to +give the riflemen no opportunity to shoot. Azariah did not +sleep but rolled uneasily on his tarp watching the bright, +dry stars, muttering to himself now and then. +</P> + +<P> +Once he got up and fussed about his blankets and Curtis, +riding by, stopped. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I can't rest," the Reverend replied to his query. +"I believe I have lost one pen.... +</P> + +<P> +"By the way, brother, if these were your cattle how many +head would you give just to get them to water tonight?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'd give several," Curtis answered bitterly. "Yes, +I'd give a good many and look at it as a good investment. +Without water we're goin' to make lots of feed for buzzards +an' coyotes, tryin' to make up that trail tomorrow!" +</P> + +<P> +"A good many.... A good many," the clergyman muttered +as Curtis rode on. "She is for peace, but when she +speaks, they are for war," he paraphrased the Psalm. +</P> + +<P> +"'They that war against thee shall be as nothing.'... An +investment ... a good investment...." +</P> + +<P> +He sat hunched on his bed for some time, whispering over +and over.... "A good investment ... investment...." +</P> + +<P> +Then suddenly he rose and pawed about him for a dried +bough of cedar which he had cast aside to make his bed. +With trembling fingers he sought a match, struck and applied +it. +</P> + +<P> +The flame licked up the tinder and burst into a brilliant +torch. The bawling of the cattle cut off sharply. Whites +of terrified eyes showed for an instant and then vanished as +heads were quickly turned away. +</P> + +<P> +The herd stirred, like a concentrated mass, body crowding +body; it swayed forward, a rumbling of hoofs arose. And +from the far side came the shrill yipping of horsemen as +they broke into a gallop and sought to set the cattle milling. +</P> + +<P> +Futile effort! Driven mad by thirst it would have required +a much less conspicuous disturbance than that flare +of fire to start the wild rush. With a roll of hoofs, a sickening, +overwhelming sound, heads down, crowded together into +a knitted body of frightened strength the bunch was in full +stampede! +</P> + +<P> +Down the far side rode Curtis, high in his stirrups, his revolver +spitting fire into the air. A big white steer charged +straight at his horse like a blinded thing and the animal carried +his rider to momentary safety with a hand's breath to +spare. +</P> + +<P> +On another flank of the herd another rider charged in and +shouted and shot and swung off. There was no time; there +was no room! It was less than a hundred yards to the +fence and to be caught between its stout strands and those +charging heads meant terrible death. Curtis' warning cry +cut in above the fury of the flight as he doubled back +toward safety. +</P> + +<P> +Within the fence were shouts. Figures sprang to outline +in the darkness. The first steer's shoulders struck the +wire, the fence held, threw him back and then, driven +forward again by oncoming numbers the creature went +through, torn and raw, through a torn and tangled barrier. +There was a creaking strain of wire for rods, a snapping +of stout posts and then orange stabs out of the night.... +Two ... four ... five, and the sound of rifle shots +pricked through the background of heavier sounds. +</P> + +<P> +A steer bawled once, its voice pitched high, and went +down. Another dropped beneath mincing hoofs without a +sound. From their path ran the riflemen, desperate in their +fright, heedless of damage done property or rights. Over, +under and through the fence went the cattle, pouring across +the cleared land, crowding, snorting, gaining momentum with +each stride. On across the flat, on down the steep bank +of the creek, on into the water that sloshed about their +knees.... +</P> + +<P> +And there, as quickly as it had come, their panic departed, +for the need of that water dissipated their fright. +Noise of the flight subsided and into the night rose the +greedy sound of their guzzling as the water which Cole +had fenced and sought to hold was gulped down the parched +throats of HC cattle. +</P> + +<P> +Curtis rode up at a gallop, drawing his horse to such a +quick stop that his hoofs scattered dirt over Azariah. +</P> + +<P> +"What th' hell?" he began. +</P> + +<P> +"I found it!" cried the Reverend in exultation, holding +up a fountain pen. "Must have dropped out when I took +off my coat—" +</P> + +<P> +"But look what you've done!" cried the other. "They +knocked four steers dead as the Populist party!" +</P> + +<P> +Azariah looked up at him, the shrewdness in his face covered +by darkness, but his voice was guile itself. +</P> + +<P> +"A small investment, brother, a good investment. Perhaps +a parable is writ this night.... A pillar of fire, a +smiting of the rock?" +</P> + +<P> +Curtis whistled lowly. +</P> + +<P> +"Reverend, you planned it all out?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is not given to me to plan; I am guided by the spirit +of righteousness! Besides, those who lack wisdom are the +only ones who divulge their innermost thoughts, brother. +I found a way out of Egypt for the cattle, as 't were. Remember, +brother, the way of the Lord is strength!" +</P> + +<P> +They had not heard Bobby Cole running through the +brush toward them but as the Reverend stopped she stepped +between him and Oliver's horse. +</P> + +<P> +"So that's it!" she hissed. "So you're th' one to blame! +I'll tell you what I told your boss this mornin', that I'll run +you out of the country if it's th' last thing I do, you Bible +talkin' rat! +</P> + +<P> +"This ain't th' first thing I've got against you,"—darkly. +"I might 've forgot th' other because she was to blame +for it, but I've heard what you just said an' I won't +forget this! And don't think I'm th' only one who'll keep +it in mind! +</P> + +<P> +"Why, you'll be run out of this country like a snake +'uld be chased out of a cabin! Remember that!" +</P> + +<P> +For a moment she stood confronting him in the darkness +and though features were not clearly distinguishable they +could see by the poise of her figure that those were no idle +threats. Then she went as quickly as she had come, leaving +the Reverend scratching his chin and Curtis whistling softly +to himself. +</P> + +<P> +"A woman possessed of the devil!" said Beal softly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yeah. Or three or four," commented the other. +</P> + +<P> +"Yesterday I sought to save her soul and tomorrow I +must seek to save my own skin!" +</P> + +<P> +There was no more shooting because HC cattle were +mingled with Cole's. Curtis parlayed with the nester who +made whining threats of a suit for damages. When Curtis +returned to the beds for the remainder of the night the +Reverend was not there. +</P> + +<P> +"Dragged it for the ranch!" he chuckled. +</P> + +<P> +So he thought. The Reverend had dragged it, but not +for the HC or any other nearby stopping place. Though +Beal did not know all that transpired to bring about the +ruin of Jane Hunter he knew enough to realize that he had +made one determined enemy that night, that to make one +was to make many and that Bobby Cole's inference that he +had plunged himself into disfavor with others was no +empty warning. Azariah Beal was not a coward but he +was discreet. The risk of remaining was not justified by +the end he might serve and now he sought sanctuary in +distance. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Tom Beck led the riders from the wagon into the Hole +at dawn. Gathering and moving the refreshed cattle up the +trail was a difficult task but it was accomplished without +further loss, a fact which satisfied the men. They reached +the ranch on their way back to the round-up camp in late +afternoon. +</P> + +<P> +News of the saving stampede had been carried ahead and +Jane realized that one difficulty had been surmounted and +that the financial ruin which confronted her yesterday was +no more. However, removal of that distraction allowed +her mind to concentrate on the greater difficulty: the breach +which separated her from Tom Beck. Only one way +seemed open: to prevail upon the Reverend to explain matters, +and that way was closed when a passing cow-boy delivered +her a note, written hastily on rough paper. She +read: +</P> + +<P> +"The call has come and my feet are turned toward a far +country. +</P> + +<P> +"My arm has been lifted for you; though I am no longer +in your presence my prayers will continue to be lifted in +your behalf. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"Respy.,<BR> + "A. BEAL."<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Azariah had served the HC well. But for his strategy +she might even then be suffering from a loss which would +doom the ranch. And yet he could have served her infinitely +better by staying on, by untangling the snarl which +circumstances had made in her affairs. +</P> + +<P> +There was just one remaining course to follow, she told +herself. This was to go to Tom and explain everything. +Then up rose her pride and made denial. She could +not do that! If his love would not bear up under doubt, +then she must keep her pride intact, for that was all she +possessed. Torn between desire to fling herself upon him +and sob out the whole story and to maintain her stand +until he should be proven wrong and come to her contrite, +she dallied with the decision until the riders had +come and gone. +</P> + +<P> +She watched Beck, riding at a trot down the road, looking +neither to the right nor left. She could not know that a +similar struggle tortured him. "Turn back!" one voice in +his heart commanded. "Seek her out and question and +question until you know why; if it is the worst, if she has +been hiding a secret affection from you, beg her to turn from +it, to come to you; offer her your all, your pride, your life +if need be. She is all that living holds for you!" +</P> + +<P> +And then that other, sterner self, which said over and +over: "That cannot be! If there is that in her heart +which must be hidden from you, draw back now and +save all that is left to you: your pride!" +</P> + +<P> +So pride held the one in her house and it led the other +down Coyote Creek, and each mile, each hour put between +them multiplied the difficulties, wore down the chance +of reconciliation. For by such simple, basic conflicts are +loves ruined! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap23"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +BECK'S DEPARTURE +</H4> + +<P> +Night had come upon the round-up camp, fires near +the cook wagon were dying. On the rise to the +southward the night-hawk sat with an eye on the saddle +stock which grazed over a wide area and in their tee-pees +the men were sleeping, preparatory to the first day's riding. +</P> + +<P> +Tom Beck sat alone by the glowing remnants of the +cook's fire, staring stolidly into the coals, mouth set, struggling +with his pride. That quiet, inner voice continued +its insistence that he yield a trifle, give Jane Hunter one +more chance. "What?" it asked, "will you gain by denying +her this? What, indeed, will be left for you if you +persist?" +</P> + +<P> +But the voice was weaker than it had been early that +day. The alternative it raised in his consciousness less +appealing, and a determination to smother it grew steadily. +He had been crossed; he had been duped! +</P> + +<P> +Oh, he had been a fool! he told himself. He had thrown +to the winds his caution and his reserve; he had taken the +biggest chance that life, the trickster, dangles before men. +He had taken it blindly, against his better judgment; it left +him embittered, with nothing beyond except the position +which he held among men. That was a mawkish attainment +now; it was so cheap and inconsequential compared +to the sense of accomplishment which had been his when +Jane Hunter had thrown herself into his arms and begged +that he carry her into his life! Deluded though he may +have been, that moment had opened to him sensations, vistas, +that he had never before imagined existed. +</P> + +<P> +And now! All else that remained was gray and dead. +He had been lifted up to see what might be, only to find +that it was denied him; more, those moments of glory +had taken the zest from the life that had been his before and +that now remained. +</P> + +<P> +For long he sat there and gradually the inner voice +died entirely, slowly a cold, heartless desire to cling to +a dead thing like his standing in the country took its +place as his chief interest in life. He had written Jane +that such was all that remained to him. He had not realized +as he scrawled those words what a pitiful bauble it +was but now it was necessary to endow it with values that +he could not truly feel. But he forced himself to believe +it of consequence, for men like Tom Beck must have some +one valuable thing to live for. +</P> + +<P> +The tee-pees were quiet when he arose, dropped his +dead cigarette into the expiring embers and sought his +bed. But in one tee-pee a man looked out at the faint +jingle of spurs. It was Riley who, with others from the +lower country, was riding with the HC wagon to help the +larger outfit and, in turn, to be helped in his branding. He +was bunked with Jimmy Oliver and Oliver said: +</P> + +<P> +"What's he doin'?" +</P> + +<P> +"Turnin' in." +</P> + +<P> +Riley settled back in his blankets and muttered: +</P> + +<P> +"It's funny ... damned funny, Jim." +</P> + +<P> +"He's like a man that's <i>through</i>. Didn't appear to have +any real interest in the work today, seems like he don't give +a damn. I don't understand it." +</P> + +<P> +"If it wasn't Tom Beck I'd say that they'd got his goat. +It's hard to believe of him." +</P> + +<P> +"It can't be that." Oliver was loyal. "It's somethin' +else, but it seems like somethin' worse than a man bein' +sick of his job. Still, he said twice today that he wouldn't +be here long an' the way he said <i>long</i> made me think it'd +be a mighty short time." +</P> + +<P> +Silence for a time. +</P> + +<P> +"Mebby," said Riley, "it's her." +</P> + +<P> +"Mebby you're right," the other replied. "Tom didn't +used to give a damn whether school kept or not. Then, +after she come he changed, got to takin' things seriously +and anybody could see he was gone on her. Now.... +</P> + +<P> +"Well, he ain't afraid of men. There ain't bad men +enough in this country to drive Tom Beck out.... But +women.... They'll put a crimp in th' best of us!" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +It was the following evening that news of the destruction +of Cathedral Tank was brought to Tom Beck. Riley had +ridden the far circle himself and had found no cattle at +the waterhole which the HC foreman had visited only a +few days before. That is, no live cattle. He found four +steer carcasses, already ravaged by coyotes and buzzards, +found the fresh gash in the rock basin and had ridden back +to help those cowboys who were on shorter circles, holding +explanation of the fact that he returned empty handed until +he could give it first to Beck. +</P> + +<P> +Tom received the news silently. +</P> + +<P> +"I expect you can fix up the basin with some concrete +so it'll hold next winter," Riley said. +</P> + +<P> +"It's likely," the other responded, "but next winter's +plans for this outfit ain't worryin' me, Riley." +</P> + +<P> +He meant, of course, that there were matters of greater +importance just then. The dynamiting had been accomplished +after his warning to Webb and Hepburn, which +was clear evidence that the war went on as desperately as +before and that these other men were not cowed, their +determination to run him from the country had not been +shaken. A hot rage swept through him. Next winter's +plans were remote indeed! Fate had taken his woman from +him; these renegades would take away the last hold on +life! +</P> + +<P> +But Riley did not construe his meaning as such and +when, the following morning, Tom called Jimmy Oliver +aside and talked to him the misunderstanding of what went +on in his mind was more complicated for he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Jimmy, you're goin' to lead this round-up for a while +... mebby for good." +</P> + +<P> +"So, Tom?"—in surprise, and in hope that an explanation +would be forthcoming. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm leavin' here an' mebby I won't be back." +</P> + +<P> +Beck was thinking that he would inspect that tank and +track down the men responsible for its destruction and +make them pay. He said that he might not be back because +he had warned them away from HC property and could +expect no leniency if he invaded their stronghold. Invade +it he would, for this had gone past the point where he could +play a waiting game. So long as it had been his safety +which mattered most he could assume and retain the defensive, +but now Two-Bits had all but lost his life while +executing his orders and HC cattle had been driven by +hundreds into high country before he had planned they +should come. It was time to counter-attack. +</P> + +<P> +Rapidly the word ran through the camp: Beck was +leaving! As it passed from man to man it grew, as rumors +all will, and took more definite shape: Beck was quitting. +</P> + +<P> +He ate silently with the others and his very silence was +so marked that it quieted the rest, warded off the questions +which under other circumstances might have been put to +him. +</P> + +<P> +The wrangler brought in the horses and Beck was the +first to approach the cavet with rope ready. He selected +his big roan, looked the animal over carefully and slinging +a canteen over the horn, climbed rather heavily to the +saddle. +</P> + +<P> +Other men were catching up their horses. One was +pitching and fighting the rope; two others were trying +desperately to break out of the cavet. There was running +about and confusion, but as Beck rode away to the west-way, +head down, so obviously absorbed in himself, men +stopped to watch and to wonder. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The HC foreman was not the only individual in that +country who, as the sun shoved over the far rim of the +world, thought so intensely of his own, wholly personal +interests that consciousness of what transpired about him +was lost. +</P> + +<P> +Jane Hunter sat suddenly up in her bed, golden hair in +a shower about her shoulders, blue eyes that had been +waking and painful until dawn, filled with tears. She stared +about her as one will who rouses abruptly from a startling +dream, lips parted, a hand to her flushed throat, breath +quick and irregular. She held so a moment, then sank +back into the pillows, calling softly: +</P> + +<P> +"Tom; Tom!" +</P> + +<P> +Her slender body quivered spasmodically and her sobbing +became like that of a child. One hand, flung across +the cover, clenched feebly and feebly beat the bedding, as +though it hammered hopelessly at walls which held her in, +making her a prisoner ... as she was, a prisoner to her +pride. +</P> + +<P> +And high up on the point which formed the western +flank of the Gap to Devil's Hole, Sam McKee dropped +down from his gray horse and stood looking far out across +the level country beneath him. In the clear air he could +see the smoke of the round-up camp fire. +</P> + +<P> +Yesterday he had watched from there, with Hilton's words +still in his ears, Hilton's hope in his heart, and had known +that Riley rode to the tank. Last night he had talked and +walked in the darkness with the Easterner again, had heard +Hilton's crafty questioning of Hepburn and Webb which +caused them to repeat again and again their belief that Tom +Beck would take it upon himself to inspect the damage done +by dynamite. He had slept fitfully, in a fever of anticipation. +</P> + +<P> +And yet he had kept secret his achievement in shooting +down Two-Bits. There was a time for all things and the +time to divulge that minor accomplishment was not yet. +For long he had been belittled, and had no standing among +his associates; now they were banded in common cause, +he had made one step toward triumph and that move had reestablished +the confidence that had lain dormant for long. +It had enabled Hilton's suggestions to take hold, enabled +him to whet his own hate, to work himself into a paroxysm +of rage, and today he was to emerge a figure of consequence, +for he was to remove the obstacle which was in the +path of all. +</P> + +<P> +Webb's battered field glasses were slung over his shoulder +and as he picked out the lone dot of moving life, coming +slowly in his direction, he unstrapped the case with +hands that trembled. It required but one moment to identify +that horse for none but Beck's roan swung along with +the same distance-eating shack; but McKee stared for a +long interval, his body tense, his breath slow and audible, +as if tantalizing himself by sight of that isolated rider, +teasing his hatred, teasing it.... +</P> + +<P> +Then he mounted the gray and swung down the treacherous +point, seeking a big wash that made a wrinkle on in the +floor of the desert where storm waters had rushed toward +the tank for countless decades. In this he could ride unseen +and he went forward at a trot, eyes straight ahead, moistening +his lips from time to time.... +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap24"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +IN THE SHADOW +</H4> + +<P> +The outcropping which formed Cathedral Tank stood +stark and saffron in the lap of the desert under the +morning sun, flinging out slow waves of heat even at that +early hour, as Sam McKee rode from the wash into the basin +and stopped his horse. +</P> + +<P> +Since the mountains themselves were made that group +of pinnacles and ledges had jutted up from the seamed +desert, a landmark for miles around, catching the flood +waters that rushed toward it from far hills. +</P> + +<P> +The name of the tank was result of no far-fetched imaginings +for the granite rose in long, slender spires, as +though the thirsty desert reached great fingers toward the +sky in stiff appeal. Narrow defiles struck back into the +granite and sharp crevices cut deeply down between the +natural minarets, and at one place a larger opening led +backward into the rocks, widened and narrowed again, +forming the rough outlines of transept and nave. More, +the wind which always blew there often sounded deep notes +as of an organ when it wandered through narrow spaces. +</P> + +<P> +On three sides this abrupt, ragged rise of rock shut in +the basin and the other was open to the waters that swept +down from the south and eastward. When McKee neared +this entrance he stopped his horse and reconnoitered. The +other rider was not in sight, lost in some of the many depressions +of the valley and many miles yonder, for the gray +horse had traveled a shorter distance and that at a trot. +The roan could not arrive for some time.... So he reasoned.... +</P> + +<P> +The man stopped his horse at the edge of the fresh, deep +scar which Hepburn's explosive had made. Other tracks +were there, made by Riley yesterday. Across the way lay +the dead steers and overhead a buzzard wheeled slowly, +waiting to return to the feast from which he had been +frightened by Sam's approach. +</P> + +<P> +"Bone dry!" the man said aloud, and laughed. +</P> + +<P> +Then he drank from his canteen and wiped his lips with +a long sigh, either in satisfaction or anticipation, and then +looked about; not absently, but with plan and craft. +</P> + +<P> +To that point Beck would come, there he would stand, and +behind was a ledge on the face of the towering rock, higher +than a mounted man's head, deep and with enough backward +pitch to conceal thoroughly a man's body. It would be a +hard scramble, but he could gain it by aid of a tough stub +which grew on the wall. Once there he would be protected. +</P> + +<P> +McKee rode close under this ledge and stood in his +saddle, lips parted and eyes alight. He could hold off a +regiment there; what chance would one unsuspecting man +have? As he stood so he unstrapped his gun and lay it with +its belt on the shelf. +</P> + +<P> +He dropped down and rode into a nearby, narrow crevice, +where his horse could remain concealed, dismounted, and +took down his rope, preparatory to tieing the animal. +</P> + +<P> +He believed his growing haste was only anticipation, but +perhaps there was a quality of premonition there. He had +been unable to follow Beck's progress and remain concealed +himself; therefore he had not seen the roan pick up his +swinging trot as Tom's concentrated thought reached ferment +and he sought relief in speed. +</P> + +<P> +McKee reached for the reins to lead his horse further +into the crevice. Then his heart leaped and he went quickly +cold as he looked at the animal. +</P> + +<P> +The gray's head was up, ears stiff, eyes alert as a horse +will pose on sensing the approach of another animal. Even +as Sam's hands flashed out for his nose the nostrils fluttered +and had he been an instant later a betraying whinner +would have gone echoing through the rocks to warn Beck. +He drove his fingers into the soft muzzle and choked back +the sound. The gray stepped quickly and shook his head +whereat McKee relaxed his grasp somewhat. They then +stood quiet, both listening, the horse alert, the man weak +and white, breathing in fluttering gasps. +</P> + +<P> +He was trapped! Outside on the ledge where he had +planned to wait and shoot Beck down without giving or +taking a chance, lay his gun. On either side the walls rose +sheer, without so much as a hand-hold for yards above +his head; before was a blank wall; outside was Tom Beck. +And fear of a degree such as the man had never known +shook his body. +</P> + +<P> +It was that fear which is as dangerous to an enemy as +the most absurd courage. Discovery would mean catastrophe; +he had nothing to gain by shirking now! +</P> + +<P> +Slowly he released his grip on the gray's nostrils, holding +ready to clamp down again should the horse attempt to +greet the other. He heard hoofs clatter on the rock basin, +knew that Beck had stopped. Then the wind soughed +through the rocks with its prolonged organ tone and for +the moment McKee could only guess what happened out +there. +</P> + +<P> +The gray, with head turned, stared toward the opening +of the crevice and then as no other sounds came, swung his +head back to its normal position and switched rather languidly +at flies. +</P> + +<P> +Carefully McKee stole toward the entrance of the crevice +where he might see the other man. He went with a hand +against the granite, putting down his boots very carefully, +hoping against hope that Beck would be far enough away so +that he might either recover his gun or devise some means of +escape. Perspiration ran from beneath his hat band and +his hands were clammy cold. His breath continued in that +fluttering gasp. +</P> + +<P> +Beck had dismounted and was squatted beside the scar +in the rocks. His roan stood a dozen feet behind him. +McKee peered out, measuring the distance quickly. The +other's back was to him but there was no chance that he +could regain his gun without being detected. Beck's revolver +swung from his hip, and McKee had nothing with +which to fight but the rope in his hands.... +</P> + +<P> +The rope! He stared down at it and drew back behind +the boulder of rock. The rope! +</P> + +<P> +An absurd, impotent device, but it had served purposes as +desperate as this! Besides ... there was a hope in it and, +for McKee, there was no other hope beneath that blue +dome of sky.... +</P> + +<P> +He looked out again as he built his loop. Beck was on +hands and knees, peering down into the crack through which +stored waters had trickled away. Sam made the loop +quickly, steeled to caution. He moved out from his hiding +place a step ... then another. The roan looked up, with +a little whiff of breath and Beck, attracted by the movement, +the slight noise, turned his head sharply toward the horse. +</P> + +<P> +It was then that the loop swirled and that McKee sped +forward a dozen paces as quickly, as quietly as a cat, +balanced, sure of himself in that crisis. From the tail +of his eye Beck saw the first loop cut the corner of his +range of vision and his body made the first lunge toward an +erect position as the lithe writhing thing sped through the +air.... +</P> + +<P> +McKee had never thrown as true. The loop settled about +Tom's arms and beneath his knees. It came taut with an +angry rip through the hondou even as the snared man made +the first move to throw it off. He was pitched violently forward +on his face, arms pinned to his sides, legs doubled +against his stomach. +</P> + +<P> +The breath went from him in an angry oath of surprise +as McKee's breath shot from his lips in another oath ... +of triumph. Hand over hand he went down the rope, +keeping it taut, yet hastening to reach the doubled body before +Beck could wriggle free. He fell upon the other just +as one arm worked slack enough to permit the hand to +strain for the revolver at his hip. +</P> + +<P> +Snarling, gibbering with a mingling of terror and rage, +McKee's one hand fastened on the gun. He clung to the +rope with the other, battering Beck, who struggled to rise, +back to earth with his knees. His fingers clamped on +the grip of the Colt; he pulled free: it flashed in the air +as his thumb sought the hammer and then, as he drove the +muzzle downward against its living target the man beneath +him bowed and writhed and he went over with a cry. A +fist struck his wrist, the revolver exploded in the air and +fell clattering, a dozen feet away. +</P> + +<P> +Then it was man to man, a fight of bone and muscle ... +bone, muscle and rope. Blindly McKee clung to the strand +with one hand. It passed about his body as they rolled +over. Beck's own weight, struggling to tear from it, tightened +its hold. Tom struck savagely at the face beside him +with his one free fist but McKee's knees, jamming into his +stomach, crushed breath from him. +</P> + +<P> +For one vibrant instant their strength was matched, the +one's physical advantage offset by the handicap of the lariat +about him. And then the rope told. Slowly Tom's resistance +became less, gradually McKee wound the hemp +about his own hand and wrist, shutting down its sinuous +grasp, drawing Beck's body into a more compact knot. +With a desperate shift he was on top, winding the hard-twist +about Tom's hands, trussing them tightly behind his +back, licking his lips as he made his victim secure. +</P> + +<P> +In that time neither had spoken nor did McKee utter +a sound as he rose, wiped the dust and sweat from his +eyes and surveyed the figure at his feet. Beck looked back +at him, the rage in his eyes giving way to a sane calculation. +At the cost of great effort he rolled over and +propped himself on one elbow. A scratch on his forehead +sent a trickle of blood into one eye and he shook his head +to be rid of it, coughing slightly as he did so. +</P> + +<P> +"Now," he said, his panting becoming less noticeable, +"what do you think you're goin' to do?" +</P> + +<P> +McKee laughed sharply and looked away. He walked +to where the revolver lay in the sharp sunlight, picked it +up, broke it, examined the cartridges and closed it again. +</P> + +<P> +"I come out here to kill you, Beck; that's what I'm goin' +to do next." +</P> + +<P> +He did not lift his voice but about his manner was a defined +swagger, the boasting of the craven who, for once, is +beyond fear of retribution. A slow shadow crossed between +them as the buzzard wheeled, waiting, lazily impatient.... +</P> + +<P> +Beck delayed a brief interval before asking: +</P> + +<P> +"Right here, Sam? You going to kill me right here?" +</P> + +<P> +"Right here, you—!" He spat out the unforgiveable +epithet with a curl to his lip. For once he had this man +where he wanted him; Beck's life was in his hands ... +right in his <i>palm</i>.... "I'm goin' to kill you like I'd kill +a snake! I've took a lot off you; I've stood for a lot from +you, but you've gone too fur, you've played your hand too +high!" +</P> + +<P> +He began to feel a greater sense of his importance. He +was dominating and it was sweet. +</P> + +<P> +"I've waited a long time, Beck; I ain't forgot a thing +you've done to me; I've been waitin' for just this chance! +</P> + +<P> +"Now I'm goin' to kill you, you—!" +</P> + +<P> +Again the word, with even great conviction. The man's +lips trembled with rage, but as he glared down at the +other he saw the level, mocking eyes studying his. He +had not yet impressed Tom Beck, had not made him fear! +It was disconcerting. +</P> + +<P> +"What you goin' to kill me with, Sam?" +</P> + +<P> +"With your own gun, by God!"—spinning the cylinder. +</P> + +<P> +A moment of silence while Sam looked at the dull barrel, +a queer, quick hesitancy coming over him, something he +did not understand, something he did not will. When, a +moment before, he felt that the situation would take a course +exactly as he willed! +</P> + +<P> +"With my own gun!" Beck repeated. +</P> + +<P> +McKee cocked the weapon and looked about. +</P> + +<P> +"When you goin' to do this killing, Sam?" +</P> + +<P> +The level, mocking tone infuriated the other. +</P> + +<P> +"Now!" he cried, shaken by hate. "Now, by God!" +</P> + +<P> +He screamed the curse, threw the gun up to position and +glared into Beck's face, moving forward a step, standing +poised as though he would shoot and then fling himself upon +his victim to vent his festering rage with his fists. +</P> + +<P> +But he had failed to reckon throughout on one fact: +The human eye is a stronger weapon than the inventive +genius of man has ever devised, and he was meeting the +gaze from an eye that was as steady, as fearless, as collected +as any he had ever seen. His courage was the +courage bred of cowardly impulses and it could not stand +before fearlessness.... +</P> + +<P> +"Right now, Sam?" +</P> + +<P> +The question was low, gentle, and with another shade +of inflection might have been a plea. But it was no plea. +It was subtle, stinging mockery which penetrated McKee's +understanding and gave full life to that desire to hesitate +which had shaken him a moment before. +</P> + +<P> +"You ain't goin' to kill me right off, are you Sam?" +</P> + +<P> +And at that McKee's irresolution became full blown. +His body swung backward from its menacing poise, the gun +hand dropped just a degree; his gaze, an instant before fixed +and red with hate, now wavered. +</P> + +<P> +"No, you ain't going to kill me now, Sam. You ain't got +the guts!" +</P> + +<P> +Prostrate, bound, wholly helpless, miles from aid, Beck +flung those words from his lips. They pelted on McKee's +ears like hard flung stones and he looked back to see the +eyes that a moment ago had been amused, blazing righteous +wrath. +</P> + +<P> +"You wouldn't kill anybody, McKee," Beck said, after a +breathless pause. In that pause McKee's gun hand had +gone to his side and as it went down so did the flare of rage +in Beck's face. His eyes grew calm and steady again with +that covert amusement in them. +</P> + +<P> +"You ain't just that kind of a man. If you'd been goin' +to kill me you'd have done it right off. You wouldn't have +waited, like you're waitin' now.... You missed out on +your intentions, Sam, when you didn't do it <i>pronto</i>." +</P> + +<P> +Across McKee's face swept a wave of helpless rage, +humiliation, shame, self revulsion.... He stood there unable +to move. He wanted to kill with a lust that men seldom +feel, but he could not for he knew that he was a coward, +knew that Beck knew, and the assurance that it was within +his physical power to take a life without risk to his own +mattered not at all. The moral force was lacking. +</P> + +<P> +He tried to meet Beck's gaze and hold it but he could +not. That man, even now, did not fear him, and to a man +who had been impelled to every strong act by fear, fearlessness +is of itself an overwhelming force. +</P> + +<P> +Tom talked on, lowly, confidently. He chided, he made +fun of his captor; he belittled himself, discussed his inability +to defend himself, but time after time he said with +emphasis: +</P> + +<P> +"You're afraid of me, Sam." +</P> + +<P> +Afraid of him! Yes, McKee was fear-filled. He could +not kill and yet thought of the retribution that might come +for going even this far put him in a panic. There were +others who would kill. Webb would have done it, Hepburn +might have ... there was one other who would have +killed ... Hilton, but <i>he</i> could not and the others were far +off. They would know, they would ridicule him and thought +of that, coming so close on that high expectation of triumph +that had sent him out onto the desert, made his position +hopeless. +</P> + +<P> +He turned and walked slowly toward the ledge which was +to have been his assassin's hiding place. +</P> + +<P> +"Goin' to leave me, Sam?" Beck asked. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll see what I'm goin' to do?" McKee raved, wheeling, +suddenly articulate. "You'll see what'll happen to +you, you—! What's already happened is only a starter. +I didn't intend to kill you myself. I only come here to hogtie +you. I guess I done that, didn't I?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ain't you just sure, Sam?" +</P> + +<P> +The tone was stinging and where McKee might have +raved on he simply grasped the stub on the rock and +scrambled up until he could reach his revolver. +</P> + +<P> +Beck asked if that was McKee's arsenal; wanted to know +more about Sam's plans; wanted to know who sent him; +wanted to know if any one else was coming or if they +were going out to meet others.... He talked gently, slowly, +tauntingly until McKee fidgetted like an embarrassed school +girl. +</P> + +<P> +After a time Beck struggled to a sitting position, back +against a rock. The searing sun beat down on his bared +head, his wrists were puffing, fingers numb and swollen +from the ropes cutting into his flesh. His body ached +miserably, but he would not betray that. His throat burned +for water and there was water on his saddle, but he would +not mention thirst. There yet was danger! He must keep +the other impressed with his inferiority.... +</P> + +<P> +"That your pet buzzard, Sam?" he asked once, squinting +upward at the wheeling scavenger. "Somebody said +you kept one ... to pick up after you...." +</P> + +<P> +"You wait! You'll have less to say after a while," McKee +growled and stared off toward the heights to the eastward, +feigning expectancy. +</P> + +<P> +And then, as McKee paced back and forth, covering his +helplessness and his fear to make another move, by the +sham of watching for other arrivals, Beck's mind began +working on a theory. Two-Bits had been shot down the +day he had driven McKee off HC range. He had been +shot from behind. McKee was the only one in the country +who had a personal quarrel with the homely cowboy. +</P> + +<P> +It was clear enough to him but he feared that an accusation, +bringing some demonstration of guilt, might bring +other things that he dared not risk. He played a game +that was desperate enough. He lived by the grace of McKee's +cowardice and that cowardice had permitted this +triumph by the scantest possible margin. To provoke the +desperation that he knew was latent in Sam's heart would +be the rankest folly. +</P> + +<P> +Noon, with blistering heat. McKee drank greedily, +water running down his chin and spattering over his boots. +It was agony for Beck but he fought against betraying +evidence of it, holding his eyes on the other and smiling a +trifle and wondering how long he could keep back the +groans. +</P> + +<P> +McKee squatted in the shade of a rock for a time. Once +he looked at Beck while Tom was staring across the desert +and that hate flickered up in his eyes again; then Tom looked +back and he got up and walked, licking his lips. +</P> + +<P> +Two o'clock: "I don't guess they're comin' today, Sam. +Maybe you misunderstood 'em." +</P> + +<P> +Three: "Sure is too bad to have your plans all go to +hell, isn't it, Sam?" +</P> + +<P> +The sensation had entirely gone from hands and lower +arms. His biceps and shoulders ached as though they had +been mauled; his back was shot with hot stabs of pain. +</P> + +<P> +But at four o'clock he said: "You'd ought to have killed +me, Sam. That'd surprised 'em for sure!" +</P> + +<P> +He bit his lips to hold back the moan and for a time things +swam. He hoped that he would not lose consciousness +... hoped this rather vaguely, for vaguely he felt that +McKee would kill him should he be unable to realize what +transpired. He had a confused notion that Jane Hunter +was there and this disturbed him. He felt a poorly defined +sinking sensation ... Jane ... and this. Why, then +this really mattered very little! That his life was in danger, +that his body hurt, were inconsequential details compared +to the love that had died yesterday, to the hurt of +his heart! +</P> + +<P> +A draft of cooler air, sucking through the rocks, roused +him and he looked up to find that the tank was entirely in +shadows. The rocks were still hot but the air which moved +above them was heavier, cooler. McKee paced nervously +back and forth. He wore two guns. +</P> + +<P> +"You reckon somebody's goin' to steal me?" Beck asked, +forcing his voice to be steady. "I didn't realize I was valuable +enough to be close herded by a two-gun man." +</P> + +<P> +With the moderation of temperature Tom's alertness revived. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm goin' to sleep right here, Sam; where are you going +to turn in?" he asked. "I sleep pretty well in th' open; +how about you?" +</P> + +<P> +He leaned forward slightly and his eye had a brighter +glint. Question after question he flung at the other. Now +and then McKee growled; twice he cursed Beck, in vile explosions +of oaths. At these Beck nodded in assent. +</P> + +<P> +"I sure am an undesirable," he said. +</P> + +<P> +Back and forth, bewildered, McKee walked. He dared +not face the future with Beck alive; he dared not take +Beck's life. He feared the punishment that might be his +for this much he had done; he feared the relentless ridicule +of Webb and Hepburn and of Hilton; he feared to go, he +feared to stay. And gradually this last fear grew. +</P> + +<P> +"I think you ought to start out an' ride after 'em, Sam," +Beck advised. "Do they <i>sabe</i> this country? You better +go; they might get strayed. I'll be here. I figure on stayin' +quite a time. I.... Honest, Sam, I've had a hell of a +good time today...." +</P> + +<P> +McKee wheeled in his walking. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll stay all right!" he screamed. "You damned +bet your dirty skin you won't go far! You've been talkin' a +lot wiser than you know, you—! You'll stay!" +</P> + +<P> +He dropped to his knees beside Tom and with a wrench +pulled off the man's boots. +</P> + +<P> +The movement sent exquisite pains through Tom's body, +but he shut his teeth against them. He smiled, demonstrating +more of the Spartan by that smile than he had at any +time during the day. +</P> + +<P> +"You ain't figuring on walkin' your boots out, are you?" +he asked in mock solicitation. +</P> + +<P> +"Never you mind, you—!" McKee snarled. +</P> + +<P> +He brought out his horse, tightened the cinch and led him +toward the roan. He tied Tom's boots to his own saddle +and then without looking at the man he had come to kill +and who he was leaving bound, waterless, without boots or a +horse, twenty miles from the first help, he lashed the roan +with his quirt, sharply about the head and, when the big +creature wheeled in surprise, about the hocks. +</P> + +<P> +Kicking, frightened, stepping on the reins and breaking +them off, Beck's horse ran away. Ran scot free, head up, +out to the eastward, abused and headed for home. He +began to buck, pitching desperately. The saddle worked +back and under and down. He kicked it free. Somewhere +between the tank and that fallen saddle, Beck knew was his +canteen. But McKee did not know. He mounted and +stuck into the wash through which he had ridden hours +before, lashing the gray to a gallop, putting distance between +his menace, his shame.... +</P> + +<P> +And back in the tank as night came on a man for whom +every move was torment rolled and wriggled from place to +place, searching doggedly for a ragged rock, among those +that were water-worn and smooth. +</P> + +<P> +The buzzard had ceased his wheeling, the stars came out. +Beck talked aloud rather crazily. Everything seemed +smooth; even the pain became less harsh; everything was +soft and easy ... remarkably so.... Until his cheek felt +a ragged, narrow edge of rock, close in against the base +of the tallest spire. Moaning feebly he wriggled against +it until the ropes touched the edge. Then, with great labor, +he began to writhe and twist. It took hours to fray out +a single strand, and his arms were bound by many ... +hours.... +</P> + +<P> +And when finally his arms fell apart, sensations, fiendish, +killing sensations, began to stab through them, he laughed +lightly and ended shortly. He was free!... +</P> + +<P> +Free? +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Just at that time back in the HC ranch house a woman +rose from her tumbled bed and dressed. Her eyes were dry +though her breath came unevenly. +</P> + +<P> +She looked into her mirror as she put on her hat. +</P> + +<P> +"You're a fool!" she cried lowly. "A fool!... False +pride has taken two days out of your life ... two precious +days!" +</P> + +<P> +She ran down the stairs, out to the corral and saddled +her sorrel horse. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap25"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A MOUNTAIN PORTIA +</H4> + +<P> +It was a long ride from the HC to the round-up camp +but the sorrel was not spared. The impulse that sent +Jane Hunter through the last hours of darkness had only +accumulated strength before the resistance which had held +it back through those dragging days. She was on her +way to her lover, to explain in a word the situation that +had caused the breach between them; she had fought down +the pride of which that resistance was made and now her +every thought, her every want was to make Beck know +that it was humiliation and injured pride rather than infidelity +which had sent him away. +</P> + +<P> +Thought that she had failed to stand self possessed before +Bobby Cole—a burning, shaming thought yesterday—was +relegated to an obscure place in her consciousness. +She had fallen short of the poise her lover would have her +retain, but that did not matter ... not now. +</P> + +<P> +Without Beck's love there was nothing for her, she had +come to believe and she experienced a strange, little-girl +feeling, fleeing toward the protecting arms that could comfort +and hold her safe from the blackness that was elsewhere. +</P> + +<P> +She leaned low on the sorrel's neck and called to him and +he ran through the dying night breathing excitedly as her +impatience was communicated to him. Dawn yawned in +the east and the mountains took shape. The road became +discernable before her. She drew the excited horse down +to a trot and forced herself to force him to conserve some +of his splendid energy.... Then urged him forward, a +moment later, at a stretching run.... +</P> + +<P> +The round-up camp was moving that day. The riders +were up and the first had swung off for the work of the +morning before she pulled her horse to a stop beside the +chuck wagon. +</P> + +<P> +"He ain't here, ma'am," Oliver replied to her query for +Beck. +</P> + +<P> +"Not here?"—sharply, for she sensed from him that +something was wrong. +</P> + +<P> +"No. He left yesterday. He told me to head this +ride. He—" +</P> + +<P> +"And where did he go?" she broke in, voice not just +steady. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know, ma'am." The man studied her face intently, +seeing the confusion there, adding it to the evidence +he had collected to piece out a theory. "I thought maybe +he said something to you about quitting." +</P> + +<P> +"<i>Quitting!</i> You don't mean that!" +</P> + +<P> +"It looks like it, ma'am. I didn't know just how to take +what he said. It seems like somethin' 's got him worried. +He wasn't like himself. You wouldn't know him. +</P> + +<P> +"He said that future plans for this outfit didn't interest +him. He said he was leavin' and it wasn't likely he'd be +back but it wasn't so much what he said as it was th' way +he said it that made me think he was goin' to drift. We +all know he's got some pretty active enemies but it wasn't +like Beck to run away from 'em. Still.... +</P> + +<P> +"He left me in charge an' said I was to take orders from +you. He ain't showed up since and Lord knows where he'd +go except out of the country." +</P> + +<P> +Out of the country! The words made her hear but +vaguely the story of the ruined Tank and the questions +about the work that Oliver put to her. Out of the country! +He had gone, then, thinking that her love had not +been a fast love, that she was wholly unworthy. He had +taken his chance and had lost and that loss had taken from +him even the desire to stay and face the men who would +drive him out of the country because he had defended her! +</P> + +<P> +Later Jane found herself riding homeward, the sorrel +at a walk, her mind numb and heavy. Last night it had been +a question of love against her pride; she had sacrificed the +latter only to find that that sacrifice had been made too +late. +</P> + +<P> +She wanted, suddenly, to quit ... to quit trying ... +thinking.... +</P> + +<P> +She canvased the situation: she was alone, without an understanding +individual upon whom to lean. She was the target +for great forces of evil which sought to undermine her +very determination to exist in that country. A faint wave +of resentment made itself felt at that. They would continue +their war and upon a lone woman! She realized her position +more keenly than she had before, when Beck had been +shielding her. Now she stood unprotected. If she were to +exist she <i>must stand alone!</i> +</P> + +<P> +Her mind went back to that time when Dick Hilton had +told her that she could not stand alone and her resentment +became a degree more pronounced. +</P> + +<P> +The lethargy, the hopelessness clung but behind it was +something else, a realization that she had not lost utterly. +She had lost the love she had found, but had she failed to +gain anything? Yesterday it seemed that the ripest fruits +of experience were hers; she had position—menaced, but +still hers—she had love. Months before she had abandoned +the quest of love, seeking only to stand alone. She +might go back to her outlook of those days, put aside the +call of her heart and seek only for place; she could make +that search intelligently now! +</P> + +<P> +She sat at her desk, a spirit of resignation coming as a +sort of comfort. If she had lost love, had she lost all that +there was in life? No, not that! There was something else +she had found in these months: She had found <i>herself!</i> +</P> + +<P> +Tom Beck was gone, his love for her was dead, miles +were between them, and she believed she knew him well +enough to understand that he had put her forever behind +him. She had lost the true fulfillment of life, perhaps, but +something remained. And the question came: Why not +make the best of it? Why not keep what remains? Why +not fight for it? Why not <i>stand alone?</i> +</P> + +<P> +Oh, she had not known the strength that had been born +of Beck's resistance to her wooing! That morning she believed +that she could quit, that she could drift aimlessly, +buffeted by vagrant influences, but now she knew that she +could not. A compelling force had been started within her +which would not down, a driving impulse to keep on, to +salvage her self respect, to wrest from life what remained. +</P> + +<P> +And in this she recognized that quality which Beck had +planted in her, which he had nourished and coaxed and +made to grow. To keep on would be rite offered at the +shrine of her love for him ... though he was gone.... +</P> + +<P> +For a moment she cried and after that hope was born. +He might return; she might even follow and make him understand. +She set that back, resolutely. Tom Beck was +gone from her life, she told herself, but his influence remained. +That could never go; by error she had lost final +achievement: love. By error she had been thrown back +upon herself, her own resources, her own will. +</P> + +<P> +The war that was waged upon her had been a terrifying +thing yesterday; now it was even more horrible for it +sought to take from her the last thing that remained to be +desired, and that could not be! +</P> + +<P> +She wiped her eyes angrily and repeated aloud: +</P> + +<P> +"That cannot <i>be!</i>" +</P> + +<P> +She must fight on alone; fight harder than she ever had +fought in her life before. It was up to her, now, to remain +fast in the face of efforts to dislodge her. +</P> + +<P> +Jane paced the floor nervously, in quick, swinging strides. +There was the burning of hay, the breaking of ditches; there +was the shooting down of Two-Bits, the destruction of +Cathedral Tank, there was the presence in the Hole of the +nester and his daughter. At thought of Bobby a sharp +pang shot through her. There was a woman who could +dominate! There, perhaps, was the key to the puzzle. +</P> + +<P> +Beck had intimated that her enemies found a nucleus in the +nester's outfit; the Reverend had been outspoken in his +suspicion; she had confided in Riley that she suspected something +of the sort. Cole himself was a negligible quantity +but the girl was not. The catamount might hold Jane Hunter's +fate in her hand ... the hand that had struck her! +</P> + +<P> +On her desk lay the envelope in which had been Beck's +note; beside it the locket. She paused, picked up the +trinket and studied it as it lay on her small palm. Slowly +she lifted it to her lips, clutched it tightly and then with a +catch of breath fastened it about her neck, where it nestled +as though coming home again. +</P> + +<P> +She needed her luck, he had written! Oh yes, she needed +her luck! +</P> + +<P> +And even then a rider was speeding across the hills toward +her, lashing his horse, crashing through brush, leaping +down timber, clattering over treacherous ledges to save +time: and other men were riding on Jimmy Oliver's orders, +bringing the cow-boys in off their circles, assembling them in +Devil's Hole where a group of men stood silent and sullen.... +</P> + +<P> +Oh, she would fight on, desperate in her determination to +crowd thought of a lost love from her life! She welcomed +combat for it would be as a balm to that gaping wound of +loss. +</P> + +<P> +Later she saw the rider come into the ranch on his lathered +horse. He flung off at the bunk house and, a moment later, +came running toward her with Curtis at his side. +</P> + +<P> +Alarmed, Jane met them at the door with a query on her +lips. +</P> + +<P> +"They want you in the Hole, ma'am," Curtis said. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the trouble?"—for it could be nothing but +trouble which would bring men in such haste and she had a +crisp fear that it pertained to Beck. +</P> + +<P> +"They've got Cole down there with a lot of your calves +an' he's put his brand on 'em. Webb's there, too, an' Hepburn. +They're holdin' 'em all for you to come," the messenger +said. He was excited, he breathed rapidly and +added: "Oliver an' Riley agreed you ought to come. It's +your property ... an' it's your fight." +</P> + +<P> +Her fight! Her fight, indeed! Perhaps this was a drawing +to a head of the forces that had been arrayed against +her. The man had mentioned Webb and Hepburn as though +he considered their presence of significance. +</P> + +<P> +A pinto, this time, bore her away from the ranch, the +man, tense and silent, riding beside her. She did not speak +as they scrambled up the point and gained high country +nor did she look at him as they set into a gallop again. +An indistinct haze was coming in the west with a looming +thunder head protruding from it here and there. The +wind in their faces was hot and fitful. The scarf about +her neck fluttered erratically. +</P> + +<P> +Jane had little attention for the detail of that ride. This +was her fight and she raced to meet it with an eagerness +born of necessity to retain what she might of the happiness +she had made hers. And as she rode Tom Beck, pieces +cut from his chaps bound about his feet to protect them +on the long journey by foot, his retrieved canteen over his +shoulder, limped into the camp, heard the cook's vague, disconnected +story of the discovery that had been made in the +Hole, borrowed boots, saddled a horse and rode swiftly +across the hills. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The pinto took Jane down the trail in great lunges, for +she had no thought for dangers of the descent. At the foot +was one of her men, Baldy Bowen, sitting ominously on his +horse with a rifle across the horn. He watched her come +and before she could speak jerked his head and said: +</P> + +<P> +"They're waitin' for you, straight across there, ma'am." +</P> + +<P> +She glanced in his direction and set off with renewed +speed, winding through the cedars. +</P> + +<P> +Against the far wall of the Hole was formed a curious +group before a fence of brush and wire that blocked the +entrance to a box gulch. HC riders were there, dismounted, +in a silent, unsmiling cluster. Under a cedar tree +sat Cole, the nester, knees drawn up, arms falling limply +over them; more than ever he seemed to be drooping, in +spirit as well as body. He did not glance up; just sat, +staring from beneath drooping lids at the ground. Nearby +lounged one of Jane's cowboys, his holster hitched significantly +forward. +</P> + +<P> +Apart from these others stood Hepburn, Webb and Bobby +Cole and one other, curiously out of place in his smart +clothes: Dick Hilton. Now and then one of the four spoke +and the others would eye the speaker closely; then look +away, absorbed in a situation that was evidently beyond +words. Sitting grouped on the ground were Webb's riders +and Cole's Mexicans. They talked and laughed lowly +among themselves and from time to time turned rather +taunting grins at Jane Hunter's men. +</P> + +<P> +At a short distance stood horses, grazing or dozing; listless, +all. But there was no listlessness among the men. +The atmosphere was tense ... to the breaking point. +</P> + +<P> +A rider came through the brush and stopped his horse. It +was Sam McKee. He looked with widening eyes at the +gathering, hesitated, as though to turn and leave, then approached. +</P> + +<P> +"I seen two men in th' Gap," he said to Webb. "They +said...." +</P> + +<P> +He looked about again. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, get down an' set," Webb said cynically. +</P> + +<P> +McKee stared from face to face. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess I'll go on." +</P> + +<P> +"I guess you'll stay here," said Jimmy Oliver firmly. +"We've got a little matter to talk over an' nobody leaves. +I guess the boys in th' Gap probably thought you'd like to +hear what was goin' on." +</P> + +<P> +Hilton stepped toward Oliver. +</P> + +<P> +"Look here," he said, "I'm a disinterested party to all +this. There's no use in my staying here." +</P> + +<P> +"What I said to Sam goes for everybody else, Mister. +When we put riders in the Gap an' at the trails we intended +for everybody to hang around. That goes. Everybody!" +</P> + +<P> +Then he added: "If anybody wants to get out it'll be +pretty good evidence that he's got somethin' to hide. This +'s a matter that the whole country's interested in. You ain't +got nothin' to hide, have you?" +</P> + +<P> +The Easterner did not reply; turned back to Bobby with +a grimace. +</P> + +<P> +Sound of running hoofs and a quick silence shut down +upon the gathering. The clouds were coming up more +rapidly from the west; day was drawing down into them; +the wind on the heights soughed restlessly. +</P> + +<P> +Jane Hunter brought her pinto to an abrupt stop and +sat, flushed and wind-blown, looking about. +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" she said to Jimmy Oliver as he stepped forward. +</P> + +<P> +"We sent for you, ma'am, because we stumbled onto +somethin' that looks bad ... for somebody." +</P> + +<P> +Her eyes ran from face to face. In the expression of her +men she read a curious loyalty, mingled with speculation. +They watched her closely as Oliver spoke, as men look upon +a leader, as though waiting for her to speak that they +might act. Still, about them was a reservation, as though +their acceptance of her was conditional, as though they wondered +what she would say or do. +</P> + +<P> +She saw Webb and Hepburn eyeing her craftily; she saw +Bobby Cole's gaze on her, filled with hate and scorn ... +and a strange brand of fear. And she saw Dick Hilton, eyeing +her with helpless rage and offended dignity. The entire +assemblage was grimly in earnest. +</P> + +<P> +"Go on," she said lowly and dismounted, standing erect +on a rise of rock that put her head and shoulders above the +others. +</P> + +<P> +"Jim Black here,"—indicating a cowboy in white angora +chaps—"took down the trail after a renegade steer this +forenoon. He came on this place and a hot fire and a +yearlin' steer of yours whose brand had been tampered with. +</P> + +<P> +"There's been enough goin' on recent, ma'am, to let +everybody know that something was pretty wrong. Mebby +we've run onto the answer today. That's why we sent for +you." +</P> + +<P> +She looked about again and old Riley, moving out from +the group slowly, as a man who feels that the welfare of +others may be in his hands might move, said: +</P> + +<P> +"For twenty years we've lived quite peaceable here, Miss +Hunter. Since spring we've had anything but peace. It +ain't a question that concerns any one of us alone; it affects +the whole country. We've got evidence here of +stealin'; we've got a man who, in our minds, ought to be +tried for that crime.... +</P> + +<P> +"We sent for you because it happened to be your property. +There's plenty of law in the mountains, but things +have happened here that have put men beyond that law. +Parties have resorted to the law of strength, and not honest +strength at that. It's time it was stopped or some of us +ain't goin' to exist.... +</P> + +<P> +"I know this ain't a pleasant task for a woman, but it +seems like somethin' you've got to face ... if you're goin' +to stay here. I guess you understand that, ma'am." +</P> + +<P> +Jane's heart leaped in apprehension, she was short of +breath, blood roared in her ears, but she fought to retain +at least a show of composure. +</P> + +<P> +"It seemed there wasn't any way out of it, but to turn +the matter over to you. We'll all tell what we know; +we'll see that there's order here. We agreed you ought to +sit as judge on the evidence against this man." +</P> + +<P> +Again a consciousness of those faces upon her; faces +of her men, honest, rugged, brave fellows, looking to her +to stand alone! She knew, then, what that alloy in their +loyalty had been. They would follow if she would lead; +there was doubt in their hearts that she <i>could</i> lead, for she +was a woman, she was a stranger and not their kind! For +months they had watched her, refusing to judge, but now +the time had come. Now, if she ever was to stand alone, +she must rise in her own strength and be worthy to lead +such men! +</P> + +<P> +Then there were those others: Hepburn and Webb and +their outlaw following; perhaps, among them, the man who +had shot Two-Bits down when he was serving her; perhaps +the man who had burned her hay, broken her ditches, run +off her horses. The men who would drive her out. +</P> + +<P> +She felt suddenly weak. They were all watching her. +This was the hour in which she must win or lose. It was +<i>she</i>, not Alf Cole, who was on trial! +</P> + +<P> +Jane began to speak, rather slowly, but evenly and clearly. +</P> + +<P> +"I want the story from the beginning. Jim Black, will +you tell what you know?" +</P> + +<P> +Thus simply she accepted her responsibility to the country, +took up her final fight for position there. +</P> + +<P> +Black stepped forward, serious, quiet, showing no self +consciousness whatever as the eyes swung upon him. +Webb's riders had risen and were grouped behind their +leader. +</P> + +<P> +"Jimmy told you how I happened here. This steer, +ma'am, cut across the flat an' I followed. I heard bawlin' +over this way an', naturally, was surprised. Pulled up +my hoss an' rode over. There was a fire in that gulch, an' +it'd just been scattered. A man had been kneelin' down +by it, an' there was one of your yearlin's hog-tied there. +Your ear mark was still on him but your brand had been +made from an HC into a THO by crossin' the H an' +closin' the C." +</P> + +<P> +He stooped and with his quirt demonstrated thusly: +</P> + +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-252.jpg" ALT="HC THO" BORDER=""> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"There was other calves in there. I counted sixteen. +They was all THO stuff an' they was all mighty young." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you see any men?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +He shook his head. "I dragged it for high country, got +Jimmy an' told him." +</P> + +<P> +"Oliver, have someone bring out this yearling," Jane said. +</P> + +<P> +Two men mounted their horses, opened the brush gate, +roped the steer and dragged him, bawling, into the assemblage. +Jane stepped down from her rock and, with a dozen +others crowding about, examined the brand. +</P> + +<P> +"That's unmistakable," she said lowly as she straightened. +"Part of that brand healed months ago; the rest is +fresh." +</P> + +<P> +She moved back to the rock on which she had stood and +rested a hand on the pinto's withers. +</P> + +<P> +"Oliver, what did you do?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I gathered the boys an' come down here as fast as I +could. I saw this pen an' the calves. I sent men to both +trails an' two to the Gap with orders to shoot to kill anybody +that tried to get out. Then I went to Cole's house. +</P> + +<P> +"Cole swore up an' down that he didn't know anything +about it. His gal was there an' this here party from the +east,"—with a rather contemptuous jerk of his head toward +Hilton. "I brought Cole back here an' the others +followed. +</P> + +<P> +"Seems Webb and Hepburn an' their men was in th' Hole. +I didn't know it. Th' gal ... she went to get 'em. +</P> + +<P> +"It's just as well,"—dryly. "This ain't a matter that affects +any one of us. It's for everybody in th' country to +consider." +</P> + +<P> +Hepburn stirred uneasily as Jane looked from Oliver to +him. +</P> + +<P> +"I think all that's necessary is to talk to Mr. Cole," she +said. +</P> + +<P> +The nester looked up slowly and laboriously gained his +feet. He slouched toward the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know nothin' about it," he said in his whining +voice. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby Cole took a quick step forward as he spoke, but +Hepburn put out a detaining hand and muttered a word. +She stopped. Her face was colorless; eyes hard and bright; +she breathed quickly and seemed almost on the verge of +tears. +</P> + +<P> +"Who built this pen?" Jane asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you ever see it before?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I—well, I did <i>see</i> it, but I don't know nothin' about +it." +</P> + +<P> +"You've been here all the Spring and didn't know anything +about it?" +</P> + +<P> +Her tone was sharp, decisive and the color had mounted +in her face. She leaned slightly forward from the hips. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I don't know nothin' about it," he protested, lifting +his characterless eyes to hers. +</P> + +<P> +"Who brands your cattle?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do." +</P> + +<P> +"No one else?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not another,"—with a slow shaking of the head. +</P> + +<P> +"Can you think of anybody who would put your brand +on my cattle?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. Nobody would hev done that." +</P> + +<P> +"But have you looked at this steer?"—indicating the +yearling with the indisputable evidence on his side. +</P> + +<P> +Cole lifted an unsteady hand to scratch his mustache, +eyed the animal furtively and glanced at Hepburn. As +their eyes met Hepburn's head moved in slight, quick negation. +Ever so slight, ever so quick, but Jane Hunter saw +and Hepburn saw that she saw and a guilty flush whipped +into his face, spreading clear to the eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Hasn't someone been working over my brand?" she +demanded, forcing Cole to look at her again. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know ... I dunno nothin' about it...." +</P> + +<P> +She breathed deeply and moved a step backward. +</P> + +<P> +"How do you suppose these calves come to be here? +My calves, with your brand on them?" +</P> + +<P> +"Them is my calves, ma'am," he protested, weakly, +"Them is old brands." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, all but this yearling belong to you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes,"—nodding his head as his confidence rallied. +"Them's all mine. I branded 'em myself." +</P> + +<P> +"And why do you keep them here?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, there's water an' feed an' I wanted to wean +'em—" +</P> + +<P> +"And a moment ago you said you knew nothing about +this pen?" +</P> + +<P> +A flicker of confusion crossed the man's face and again +he looked away toward Hepburn in mute appeal. Hepburn's +face reflected a contempt, a wrath, and for a fraction +of time Jane studied it intently, a quick hope forming +in her breast. She lifted a hand to touch, in unconscious +caress, the locket which was at her throat. +</P> + +<P> +"Look at me, Cole!" she cried and her body trembled. +Her tone was compelling, she experienced a sensation of +mounting power, felt that she was dominating and without +looking she knew that the men before her stirred, impressed +by her rising confidence. "Look at me and answer my questions!" +</P> + +<P> +Hesitatingly the man looked back and then dropped his +eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I said I knew it was here." +</P> + +<P> +"You knew more than that. You have been using it. +How long ago was it built?" +</P> + +<P> +"A month—Oh, I dunno—" +</P> + +<P> +"What about a month?" she insisted, gesturing bruskly. +"What about a month?" +</P> + +<P> +"I dunno." +</P> + +<P> +She relaxed a trifle again and eyed the confused, visibly +agitated man. For a breath the place was in utter silence. +The gloom deepened; the wind held off. It was as though +the crisis were at hand.... And just then the man at the +foot of the trail across the flat put down his rifle and said +with a short laugh: +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't make you out, Tom." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +When Jane spoke again it was in an easier tone. +</P> + +<P> +"How did you happen to come to this country, Cole?" +</P> + +<P> +He looked up, relief showing in his face as she abandoned +the other line of questioning. Hepburn stirred and +Webb lifted a hand to hook his thumb in his belt. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, I heered about this place. Good feed an' water +an' a place to settle. So I just come; that's all." +</P> + +<P> +"How did you hear about it?" +</P> + +<P> +"A feller told me." +</P> + +<P> +"Who?" +</P> + +<P> +"I dunno his name. I—" +</P> + +<P> +"How many cows have you?" +</P> + +<P> +Her voice was suddenly sharp and hard as she cut in +on his impotent evasion and shifted her subject again. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, 'bout twenty." +</P> + +<P> +"And how many calves are with them?" +</P> + +<P> +He seemed to calculate, but she insisted, leaning closer +to him: +</P> + +<P> +"How many calves?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, not more'n half of 'em got calves." +</P> + +<P> +"Sure? Not more than half?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why ... I guess—" +</P> + +<P> +"And you've got sixteen young calves in this pen! How +do you account for that?" +</P> + +<P> +A murmur ran among her men and Cole looked at her +with fright in his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"I dunno!" he suddenly burst out, voice trembling. "I +dunno nothin' about it. You've all got me here an' are +pickin' on me. I didn't steal anything. I thought they +was all mine." And then, in a broken, repressedly frantic +appeal: "I don't want to go to jail again. I don't know +nothin'...." +</P> + +<P> +"Again?" she said, quite gently. +</P> + +<P> +He looked at her and nodded slowly. The little resistance +he had offered her was gone; his limbs trembled and +his eyes had that whipped, abject look that a broken spirited +dog will show. +</P> + +<P> +"You've been in jail once? For stealing cattle?" +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't steal.... They said I did. They didn't want +me around. They're like all you big outfits; they don't want +me ... they don't want me...." +</P> + +<P> +He lifted one hand in a gesture of hopeless appeal and +tears showed in his eyes. They didn't want him, as she +didn't want him! And suddenly an overwhelming pity +surged upward in the girl for this man. It was like her, +like all the Jane Hunters, like all men and women in whose +hearts great strength and great pity is combined. There +was no question of his guilt, but he was helpless before her; +his fate was in her hands ... and back in her mind that +other theory was forming; that other hope was coming to +stronger life.... +</P> + +<P> +"Cole, did you steal my calves?" +</P> + +<P> +She leaned low and spoke intently; her voice was a +mingling of resolution and warmth that created confidence +in his heart. For a moment he evaded her look; then answered +it and a sob came up into his thin throat and shook +it. He looked from her to Hepburn and then to Webb and +read there something that Jane, whose eyes followed his, +could not read; all she could read was threat ... threat, +threat! +</P> + +<P> +"Did you steal my calves?" she repeated in a tone even +lower. +</P> + +<P> +She saw her men strain forward. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I don't want to go to jail!" he said and tears +streamed down his seamed cheeks. "I took 'em ... but +I'm a poor man ... a poor man...." +</P> + +<P> +From Bobby came a stifled cry. She started forward +again, but this time it was Hilton who grasped her arm, +rather roughly. He drew her back, hissing a word between +his teeth. His eyes glittered. +</P> + +<P> +Riley stepped forward quickly beside Cole. His face was +strained; mouth very grim. Oliver was beside him; breathing +quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"What's your verdict, Miss Hunter?" Riley asked. His +voice was hoarse. +</P> + +<P> +"You have heard it," she said gently. "You heard it +from his lips." +</P> + +<P> +She was not looking at them, but at Bobby Cole, who +stood with knuckles pressed against her lips, fright, misery +in her staring eyes. The strength, the vindictiveness was +gone. She was a little girl, then, a little girl in trouble! +</P> + +<P> +"Then I guess there's nothin' to do, but to go through with +this ourselves." The old cattle man spoke slowly and rather +heavily. "Cole, there's a way of treatin' thieves in this +country that's gone out of fashion in recent years; we ain't +had to hang nobody for a long time, but—" +</P> + +<P> +"Stop!" +</P> + +<P> +It was a clear, ringing cry from Jane that checked Riley, +that caused the man who had grimly picked up his rope to +stand holding it motionless in his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"This is a matter for all of us, but by common consent +I was selected to judge this man. He has admitted his +guilt after an opportunity to protest his innocence. Now +you must let me pass sentence...." +</P> + +<P> +"Sentence, ma'am?" Riley asked. "There's only one +way. This has been war: they've warred you, they've +threatened to drive you out. It's you or ... your enemies. +This man is your proven enemy. Make an example of him. +He's guilty; nothin' else should be considered!" +</P> + +<P> +"One thing," she said, smiling for the first time that +afternoon, a slow, serious, grave smile, withal a tender smile, +as she looked at Cole, the trembling craven. +</P> + +<P> +"One thing: The quality of mercy! +</P> + +<P> +"Men, do you know that line? 'The quality of mercy +is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from +heaven'? +</P> + +<P> +"Mercy is the most holy thing in human relations. It is +a blessing not only to the man who receives it, but to the +man that gives!" +</P> + +<P> +The first, dissenting stir died. This was no dodging, no +evading the issue. This was something new and her manner +caught their interest as she stood with one outstretched +hand appealing frankly for their attention and understanding. +</P> + +<P> +"This man has stolen from me. You have seen him +here. He has shown himself to be a weakling, a poor, +wretched man, who has neither friends nor respect for +himself. He has known trouble before." She looked from +the man before her to Bobby whose strained face was on +hers with amazement, whose breast rose and fell irregularly, +in whose eyes stood tears. "I think that he has known +little but trouble; he has been unfortunate perhaps because +he tried to help himself by troubling others. There is only +one thing left in life for him and that is his liberty. +</P> + +<P> +"He cannot hurt me. He cannot hurt any of us from +now on. He knows what we know of this thing today. +He will stand before us all as a man who has not played +the game fairly. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you fear him? Do you young, strong men fear +this man?... No, you don't! No more than I. We have +seen him humbled; we have heard him plead. Giving him +his liberty will cost us nothing. I will go so far as to +promise you that he will never steal from us again ... if +we do this for him.... Don't you agree with me?" +</P> + +<P> +She looked from face to face, but as her eyes traveled +they were not for an instant unconscious of other faces ... +back there; faces to which had come relief, relaxation, color, +after tensity and pallor; faces which the next instant were +dark and apprehensive, for she said: +</P> + +<P> +"I don't want you to think that I am through ... not +now. There has been stealing, but that has been only a part +of the trouble. There have been other things, things which +this man who we know has stolen would not do. Let us not +be satisfied with cutting off the top of this weed which has +poisoned the range; let us try to get to the roots and tear +them out!" +</P> + +<P> +She stood, beautiful in the confidence which, with a sentence, +with a gesture, had checked these men in their determination +to administer justice as it once had been administered +in those hills, which had stilled dissent on their lips, +which had switched their reasoning into a new path. Alone +among them she could dominate! Her strength, doubted an +hour ago, over-rode Riley's influence, created by years of +prestige on the range, even made that old cattleman stand +back and wait respectfully, wondering what she had to say. +Her color was high, eyes bright, lips parted slightly in a +grave, assured smile, and her one extended hand, small, +white, delicate held them! +</P> + +<P> +"This thievery was only a symptom, only an indication +of what has transpired," she went on. "Just the outward +evidence of those desires and impulses which have turned +into chaos the peace of this beautiful country. Into that +we must inquire and there is one more witness I want to +call." +</P> + +<P> +She hesitated, then said gently: +</P> + +<P> +"Bobby Cole." +</P> + +<P> +A low murmur again ran through the group and from +the clouds above them came a muttering of thunder. +</P> + +<P> +All turned to look at the girl and so intent were they that +they did not see a horseman ride through the trees and +stop and look; and dismount. Tom Beck walked slowly toward +the group, until he could lay a hand on the hip of Jane +Hunter's pinto. Then he stood behind her, eyes curious. +</P> + +<P> +"Will you come up here and talk to me?" Jane asked. +</P> + +<P> +The other girl remained motionless. +</P> + +<P> +"Well now, Miss Hunter, don't you think—" Hepburn +began in mild protest. +</P> + +<P> +"I think many things, Mr. Hepburn. My purpose is +either to justify or to convince myself that I think wrongly. +Will you come ... Bobby?" +</P> + +<P> +Almost mechanically the girl moved forward. Hilton +muttered a quick word to Webb and Webb glanced back +nervously. Two of his men moved closer. +</P> + +<P> +"But we've found out about your calves, Miss Hunter. +What else do you want to know?" +</P> + +<P> +Hepburn's voice was breath-choked though outwardly he +maintained composure. +</P> + +<P> +"It makes damned little difference." It was Riley speaking +and his hand was on his holster. "Hepburn, you and +everybody else stand pat until you're called for." +</P> + +<P> +Hepburn's eyes flared malevolently. He started to speak +again, but closed his lips, as in forebearance. Sam McKee +coughed with a dry, forced sound. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it you want with me?" +</P> + +<P> +Bobby stopped before Jane and eyed her up and down, +gaze settling on the girl's face finally. There was hostility +in it; there was hate ... a degree; but these were softened, +subdued, leavened by an outstanding appreciation. +Her lips trembled and, almost thoughtlessly, she put out +a hand to touch her father's, fingers squeezing his in a +movement of affection ... and relief. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment Jane did not speak. Then she began, +lowly, rapidly, flushed but resolute and with a light of +friendliness in her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"I want you to understand me ... without any more +delay. You and I came into this country at about the same +time. Where we should have been friends from the first +we have been enemies; it even came to such a pass that +you promised to drive me from the country." +</P> + +<P> +Her voice shook a bit and on the words that old hostility +leaped back into Bobby's face. +</P> + +<P> +"I think that was because you did not understand me. +You have thought that I wished you bad luck from the first +and that is not so. Had I wanted to have vengeance on +you, had I wanted to drive you out, I could have done so +this afternoon ... only a moment ago. I am not trying +to impress you with my generosity because I don't feel that +I have been generous. I have tried to be just; that is all. +I have tried to do the thing that would mean the most to +all of us.... +</P> + +<P> +"But there are things with which you can help me. I +am sure. There are so many things that we have in common. +You see, you and I are very much alike." +</P> + +<P> +That touched the other's curiosity. She was all intent, +lips parted, eyes wondering. +</P> + +<P> +"Alike?" She was incredulous. +</P> + +<P> +Jane nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"The thing that you want most of all is the thing that I +want more than anything else: That is the respect of men." +</P> + +<P> +She paused and Bobby's brows drew together in perplexity. +</P> + +<P> +"The first time I saw you, you were trying to win the respect +of the men in this country with your quirt. Perhaps +that helped you. Perhaps it would have helped me had I +been able or inclined to take it that way. +</P> + +<P> +"That doesn't matter. The thing that matters, which +gives us something in common is this: You found that +men did not respect you and so did I. Men showed their +disrespect for you by ... well, by saying unpardonable +things. Men have shown their disrespect for me by trying +to drive me out of the country, by burning and stealing and +shooting at my men.... +</P> + +<P> +"You and I are the only women here. These men,"—with +a gesture—"can not understand what their respect +means to us. It is the only thing worth while in our lives. +Isn't that so? No woman can be happy or satisfied unless +she has the respect of men. That is because our mothers +for generations back have been mothers because men respected +them.... +</P> + +<P> +"I don't believe from what I know of you that you have +ever had much respect from men. I can appreciate what +that means to you, because it appears that the man who +should have respected me the most in the country where I +came from, did not respect me. +</P> + +<P> +"There was one man I used to know who was supposed +to give me all the respect that a man could give a woman: +he said that he loved me. That man,"—there was a quick +movement in the group which she ignored—"followed me +west to tell me that he loved me again and when he found +that I could not love him, he showed that he did anything +but respect me. Do you understand how that could hurt? +When a man who had sworn for years that he loved me +proved that ... it was something quite different?" +</P> + +<P> +She paused and Bobby, wide-eyed, said: +</P> + +<P> +"He follered you out here to ... try to get you to marry +him?" +</P> + +<P> +Jane nodded. +</P> + +<P> +The other girl turned and her eyes sought out Hilton's +face, which was contorted with raging humiliation. +</P> + +<P> +"Is that <i>so?</i>" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"That's a lie!" he snarled, but looked away. +</P> + +<P> +"Is that <i>so?</i>" +</P> + +<P> +Her tone was lowered, but she hissed the question at him. +She strained forward, glaring at him, and averting his face +he said again: +</P> + +<P> +"It's a lie." +</P> + +<P> +But the assertion was without conviction, without strength. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby turned back. Her lips were tight and trembling. +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" she said, tears in her eyes again, and her manner +proved that Hilton's denial had fallen far short of being +convincing. +</P> + +<P> +"Then there were other factors: As soon as I arrived +here things commenced to go wrong. Because I was a +woman, people thought they could usurp my rights. My +horses were stolen; my hay was burned; my ditches broken. +My men were shot at. A note was sent to me, telling me +that I'd better leave the country while I had something left. +</P> + +<P> +"You see, don't you, that that meant that men—it must +have been men who did it—had no respect for me? +</P> + +<P> +"This water down here was fenced. That was your +right, but I thought I could persuade you to help me a little. +I think yet that I could have done so but for your misunderstanding.... +</P> + +<P> +"I knew that you wanted the respect of men. I knew +that about all you had in life was your self respect. I knew +that the same man who had made love to me and who had +not meant it, was making love to you and not meaning it. I +called him to see me and tried to talk him out of it, begged +him to go away from you before ... before you had +stopped respecting yourself. You must have mistaken my +motive in—" +</P> + +<P> +"You didn't send for him to ask him to take you back? +You didn't do that?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have told you my motive once; that was the truth ... +whole truth." +</P> + +<P> +Again Bobby turned and again her accusing, flaring eyes +sought Hilton's distraught face. +</P> + +<P> +"So you lied to me again, did you? That was a lie, was +it?" She waited. "Well, why don't you answer?" she +flung at him and stood, directing on him the hate that she +had once shown for Jane Hunter. +</P> + +<P> +But when she wheeled sharply back to confront the mistress +of the HC her eyes were bathed in tears, her head was +thrown back, and she threw her arms wide. +</P> + +<P> +"He did lie to me!" she panted. "He did.... I hated +you because I thought you had friends an' folks that respected +you. He lied an' it made me hate you worse...." +She choked with sobs and Jane stepped down from the rock +to put hands on her shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, miss, I've acted so bad to you!" Bobby moaned +lowly. "I ... I didn't know, didn't understand. I +thought you didn't want anything but harm to come to us. +I stole from you because I hated you.... I ..." +</P> + +<P> +She threw back her head again and the weakness of spiritual +distress dropped from her. Her voice grew full and +firm. +</P> + +<P> +"You've treated us like nobody else ever treated us before. +You had Alf tied down to a calf stealin' an' you +let him go. You.... You've been tryin' to do me good +all the while I've been tryin' to do you harm. They've been +warrin' on you an' I ... I could have stopped it!" +</P> + +<P> +She wheeled, facing the men, her back to Jane. Her +shoulders were drawn up and she leaned backward. Her +face was white, voice shrill. Her eyes burned. +</P> + +<P> +"Well ... you, Webb, an' Hepburn an' your whole +filthy crew ... I'm done with you at last!" +</P> + +<P> +Thunder boomed sharply. The gloom was so deep that +the features of the men she addressed could scarcely be +made out. +</P> + +<P> +"You've tried to double-cross us from the first. You +was as guilty as Alf today but you had it on us. I couldn't +make a move without gettin' in worse.... You, Hilton, +if it hadn't been for you, I'd have sent the bunch of you to +hell by tellin' th' straight story when they came for Alf to-day! +I ... I thought you loved me,"—gaspingly. "Ah! +I thought you loved me, an' I'd have let Alf go to jail alone +because of it.... +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it ain't too late! Listen, all of you! You HC +riders, don't let a man move until I get through!" +</P> + +<P> +Her eyes, quick, alert, intent, ran from face to face before +her and her whole body trembled as though the things that +she would tell clamoured to be out and were held back by +great effort until she could make them coherent. +</P> + +<P> +"Hepburn, you're first!" +</P> + +<P> +The man made one movement aside as if he would evade +and Tom Beck's voice rang out sharply: +</P> + +<P> +"Not a move!" +</P> + +<P> +Jane Hunter wheeled, a stifled word in her throat and +watched him slowly advance. His face was drawn as by +great suffering, his eyes burned as though his heart was +wrenched with every beat. His mouth was set and his jaw +thrust forward and the revolver he held close against his +hip was as steady as rock. He moved slowly forward. +</P> + +<P> +"Swing back there, you men,"—and at his gesture the +H C riders deployed, swinging to either side. He stood +beside the two girls at the point of a V, the sides of which +were formed by cowboys and beyond the opening of which +the other group drew together as for protection in the face +of this coming storm. Hepburn was foremost and the true +scoundrel now glared through the mask of his benevolence. +</P> + +<P> +"Go on," Beck said quietly. +</P> + +<P> +"You're first," the girl repeated, as though there had been +no interruption. +</P> + +<P> +"You planned to steal the HC blind, as soon as th' old +owner died. You didn't have th' nerve to do it like I'd 've +done it. You sent for us, because you knowed Alf had this +brand which 'uld make stealin' easy!" +</P> + +<P> +"You're lying!" +</P> + +<P> +The man's voice was the merest croak, weak and unimpressive. +</P> + +<P> +"You wrote us, sayin' it would be easy pickin'. You +said you would likely be foreman an' that anyhow you'd be +workin' for the HC an' was goin' to help us from the +inside. +</P> + +<P> +"When Miss Hunter come an' you saw what she was like +you was mighty glad of it. You thought you could ruin her +an' pretend you was trying to protect her. You was goin' to +get half what we got for your share. +</P> + +<P> +"You had Webb run off them eight horses. Th' cat got +out of the bag an' you had to bring 'em back to make good +with Beck. I heard you tell Alf about it the night you +started out an' stayed with us. Beck suspected you, so you +shot your own saddle horn to make your story good. +</P> + +<P> +"Beck wasn't satisfied. He was in your way, so you an' +Webb framed up a lie about him an' fixed his gun so it +would look bad for him ... an' it didn't work because Miss +Hunter here beat you to it. +</P> + +<P> +"Then you threw in with Webb an' we was all goin' to +work together and drive the HC out in a rush. +</P> + +<P> +"You dynamited Cathedral Tank to spoil that range. +Then somebody shot Two-Bits an' you planned with us not +to let her have water, knowin' her cattle would perish. I +was glad enough to keep 'em from water then because I +thought ... I thought she wasn't ... what she is." +</P> + +<P> +She paused, panting, and brushed a quick hand at her +tears. +</P> + +<P> +"Webb, you've been stealin' off th' HC for years." +</P> + +<P> +The man took a quick step forward and halted as gun +hands jerked rigid. +</P> + +<P> +"You've been waitin' your chance. When Beck made +you swallow your words about Miss Hunter you went hog-wild +to get him. You got carin' more about that than you +did about gettin' rich. +</P> + +<P> +"You shot at Beck's bed to kill him when he slept. You +broke her ditches an' fired her hay with your own hands. +You wrote that note, warnin' her to get out. You helped +build this pen here an' you helped steal these calves an' every +one of 'em was took away from an HC cow. You stole +twenty head of horses that nobody knows about. +</P> + +<P> +"You an' Hepburn thought I didn't know a lot of this. +Well, I did know! I knowed you was goin' to double-cross +us if the pinch come an' Alf, he was afraid of it, too! +</P> + +<P> +"I heard you talkin' nights in our place. I watched you +ridin' when you didn't know I was around. I listened an' +remembered. I was one of you, but I didn't trust you. +I wanted to steal from Miss Hunter. I wanted to drive her +out because ... because I didn't know anybody could be +kind to me like she's been. I never thought anybody'd do +anythin' for me!" +</P> + +<P> +She stopped again to regain control of her surging emotions. +</P> + +<P> +"An' their riders, Miss Hunter"—half turning to look +at the other woman. "They're a bunch of cut-throats. So +are our greasers. They ain't been in on the stealin'. They +didn't care about bein' inside, but they was ready to murder +if they had a chance. They—Hepburn an' Webb—they +thought that they was safe because every one of the rest had +enough over him to hang. If one squealed they'd all get +caught.... +</P> + +<P> +"Even us! Why, we never had any right on this claim. +Alf's used his homestead rights before, under another name. +This water don't belong to us. Not by rights. It's all open +range! That's what we was: t' worst nest of outlaws that +ever got together in these hills!" +</P> + +<P> +She choked and Jane, her hands on the other's arms, could +feel the tremors shooting through her lithe frame. +</P> + +<P> +Riley moved a step forward as thunder rolled heavily overhead, +as if this much of the story was enough, but the girl +cried out: +</P> + +<P> +"That ain't all! I've got to go through with it! I've +finished with the rest an' now it's you.... Hilton!" +</P> + +<P> +Into the word she put bitter contempt and biting scorn. +</P> + +<P> +"Bah! You liar!" she drawled. "You liar, you sneak, +you coward! You thought none of us could follow your +game an' none of us could ... until now. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, you've been behind this whole thing. It was you +called Hepburn to town an' offered him money to use in his +dirty work. You paid for this fence of ours. You listened +an' used your head. You saw things quicker 'n Hepburn +an' Webb did, an' you set them two thinkin' an' they never +knew you was doin' it.... +</P> + +<P> +"He was th' brains, I tell you!"—with an inclusive gesture +to the men who listened so attentively. "He wanted +to drive Miss Hunter out worse 'n anybody. He wanted to +kill Tom Beck. He didn't have the nerve to do it himself +... in a fair fight. He shot at him one day with a rifle +but just as he shot Beck stopped his horse to look at somethin' +in his hands, that locket he always wears an' is always +lookin' at, I guess.... He didn't know I saw that but I +did.... +</P> + +<P> +"He was always talkin' Sam McKee, there, up to kill +Beck. It's likely McKee shot Two-Bits—" +</P> + +<P> +"He didn't! I didn't do it!" +</P> + +<P> +McKee's voice, an excited cackle, broke in on her but the +girl, ignoring, went on: +</P> + +<P> +"... It was just like he tried to talk Webb an' Hepburn +into killin'. That was his way: makin' other folks do th' +things he was scared to do! +</P> + +<P> +"An' he was as slick with me as he was with them, with +his lies about being called here to help Miss Hunter on business! +That's why I didn't think all this out before, that's +why I didn't think he was a sneak until now. He ... he +said he wanted to marry ... to marry me...." +</P> + +<P> +She put a palm against her lips, tears spilled over her +cheeks as she turned. For a brief, heartbroken moment she +stood looking into Jane Hunter's face, then bowed her head +to the other's shoulder and cried stormily. +</P> + +<P> +Beside the girls was a quick movement, a man uttering +one explosive word as though it gave vent to an emotion +that had been pent deep in his heart for long and while the +black storm clouds seemed to shut down and muffle every +sound, even Bobby Cole's excited sobbing, Tom Beck cried +twice: +</P> + +<P> +"Jane!... Jane!" +</P> + +<P> +Bobby, at that, turned from Jane to her father and the +mistress of the HC faced her foreman. When she had first +seen him she betrayed little except surprise; now she made +one movement as though she would throw herself upon him +but again the look in his face checked her. +</P> + +<P> +"You came back to me, Tom," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"Back," he answered.... "But I can't ever come back +to ... you...." +</P> + +<P> +It was the miserable self loathing, the shame in his heart, +which spoke, and it was that which made her see him, not +as the strong man he had been but as a broken, penitent, +self denying individual ... denying himself the love that +was in her eyes, mingled with the relief at his return and +the joy of triumph which still thrilled her ... that love +which he felt unworthy to claim because he had doubted it! +</P> + +<P> +And then he changed. A movement sharp, decided, in the +group, stiffened him. +</P> + +<P> +"Hold up!" he cried. "Don't one of you move! +Jimmy, take two men to the Gap. Hold everybody in this +Hole until we can get the sheriff, this'll be a clean-up +for—" +</P> + +<P> +A blinding flare, a crash of thunder that tore sky and +shook earth, broke in on him. There was a rending of +tough timber as the bolt ripped down a cedar, a snorting of +horses. And in that stunning instant Dick Hilton leaped +from the group, vaulted to his saddle and lashing the horse +frantically, made off. +</P> + +<P> +A revolver cracked, a rifle crashed. Hilton disappeared +into a deluge of huge drops that came from the low, scudding +clouds. Others got to their horses and a fusillade of +shots sounded like the ripping of strong cloth. And above +it rang Jane Hunter's voice: +</P> + +<P> +"Tom! Oliver! Hold these men. I'll bring the sheriff! +You can spare me and only me!" +</P> + +<P> +With a hoarse cry Riley dropped his revolver and clutched +at his wounded shoulder. Horses with riders and horses +running wild circled the place where a moment before had +been a compact group of men, but now Jane Hunter and +Tom Beck stood there alone while from all about stabs of +fire pricked the darkness or were lost as the sky blazed, +while those who shot scarcely knew whether they were defending +themselves from friend or foe. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap26"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +BATTLE! +</H4> + +<P> +Jane found herself on the pinto racing through the night, +ducking under cedars until she was clear of the timber, +crashing through brush, leaping washes and at her side, +silent, close, protecting her, an arm ready to grasp her body +should her horse fall, rode Tom Beck. +</P> + +<P> +They made straight across the flat toward the foot of the +trail. To their right was shooting and behind them a sharp +volley rattled. A stray bullet <i>zinged</i> angrily, close over +their heads. +</P> + +<P> +"You've got to get out of this, ma'am," Beck cried. +"There'll be hell to pay before mornin'. There's nothing +they won't do now." +</P> + +<P> +"Tom! You came!" +</P> + +<P> +Her eyes were blinded by tears as she turned her face to +him, trying to put into words the forgiveness which she +deemed unnecessary and which she knew was the one essential +to Tom Beck, which she knew would be almost impossible +to convey convincingly. But through the tears she saw +the flash of a gun before them and an answering flash. A +lengthy flicker of lightning showed two figures. One, Dick +Hilton, horse drawn back on his hocks, revolver lifted. +They saw him shoot again and they saw that other figure, +Baldy Bowen, who was there to block the trail, crumple in +his saddle and sag forward, struggle heavily to regain his +position and then, as his frightened horse moved quickly, +plunge in an ungainly mass to the ground. +</P> + +<P> +Beck raised his gun as Hilton's horse leaped for the trail. +He shot but the instant of light had passed, making the +world darker by contrast. They saw fire shoot from scrambling +hoofs. +</P> + +<P> +The burst of rain had ceased, the interval of fury broken; +the storm still swirled, roaring, above them, but it was dry +and black, threatening, holding in reserve its strength.... +</P> + +<P> +The sound of another horse, cutting in before them, running +frantically, and Beck's gun hand went up only to poise +arrested as a voice came to them with the singing of a rope +end that flayed the animal's flanks. +</P> + +<P> +"Go; go! Take me after him!" +</P> + +<P> +It was Bobby Cole's cry. She had seen. She was riding +on the trail of the man who would have been her betrayer. +</P> + +<P> +They dismounted hastily and stooped over the figure that +lay quiet on the rocks. Jane stilled her sobbing as Beck +rolled the body over and felt and listened. +</P> + +<P> +"Dead," he said huskily. +</P> + +<P> +"Dead!" echoed Jane. "Dick killed him! Oh ... +beastly!" +</P> + +<P> +Fresh firing behind them. The shout of a man and an +answer. More shots, coming closer. +</P> + +<P> +"You've got to get out," Beck said lowly, lifting her from +her knees beside the dead rider. "There'll be hell here to-night +and it's no place for you. You bring the law!" +</P> + +<P> +"I feel as though I should stay. There'll be others killed +and it's my fight!" +</P> + +<P> +Hers was a cry of anguish, but he replied: +</P> + +<P> +"You'll save lives by bringin' help. And hurry, ma'am, +hurry!" +</P> + +<P> +His only thought was to get her to safety. +</P> + +<P> +A rifle crashed twice not a hundred yards from them and +they heard a running horse grunt as spurs raked his sides. +</P> + +<P> +"Get up and get out!" he cried hoarsely, fearful that she +might insist on lingering in this place which, this night, was +well named Devil's Hole. +</P> + +<P> +"There's only one of 'em ahead of you. He's bound only +to make his get-away.... An' the Catamount, she'll clear +your way if he does turn back!" +</P> + +<P> +He lifted her bodily to her horse. +</P> + +<P> +"It seems my place to stay!" she cried as shots peppered +the storm. "To stay with you, Tom!" +</P> + +<P> +"It's your place to get out! Ride!" +</P> + +<P> +He swung his hat across the pinto's hind quarters and the +animal leaped into the trail. He heard Jane cry out to him +to stop. +</P> + +<P> +"Go on!" he shouted. "Go on! It's your job to bring +help!" +</P> + +<P> +And he heard her go on, the horse floundering up the +steep rise, and knew that she obeyed. Then he turned and +looked out across the flat. +</P> + +<P> +Far down toward Cole's cabin was a shot. A riderless +horse went past him, blowing with excitement. He +crouched behind a boulder, gun in his hands, peering into +the darkness. Others would not travel that trail that night +so long as he was on guard.... +</P> + +<P> +The fight had been carried in both directions, further up +into the Hole, on down toward the Gap. HC riders, partially +assembled and identified, had closed on the outlaws, +cut them off from the trail and for the space of many minutes +there was no revealed action, each waiting for the +others to show themselves. +</P> + +<P> +Again in the distance was the mutter of thunder and a +brilliant, prolonged flash of lightning. The wind had subsided +to breathless silence as if the heavens marshaled their +forces for fresh outbursts. Beck started up as the clouds +flared, looking quickly about. He saw a horse with an empty +saddle. He saw a man standing waist deep in brush, a rifle +at his hip, ready to fire. He could not recognize the man. +Darkness; again, a silent lighting of the skies, and with that +the stillness was broken. There was the sharp crack of a +rifle far to his left, up toward the head of the Hole. None +replied to the shot. A moment later the clouds sent out +their flare again ... and this time two shots echoed. +</P> + +<P> +Beck started up with a low cry. Above on the trail he +had seen Jane Hunter's pinto, making for the high country, +and those two stabs of yellow flame had been aimed upward +and toward the wall to which her path clung. +</P> + +<P> +It seemed to the man an age until lightning again revealed +the earth. He had an impression of a horseman far toward +the top of the trail and behind him another, riding hard; +and lastly, Jane's pinto toiling bravely up the sharp climb. +</P> + +<P> +And as darkness cut in again two more fangs of flame +darted toward her! +</P> + +<P> +Jane Hunter, without protection, wholly revealed by the +lightning, was a target for merciless men, for men who had +nothing to lose and at least a fighting chance to gain by +stopping her! +</P> + +<P> +He had believed that she was going to safety; he had underestimated +the maliciousness of those men she had driven +into the open that afternoon. He had neglected to consider +the fact that on the trail she was without protection of +any sort and that lightning would make her stand out like +a cameo! He forgot his mental stress, he relegated his duty +as sentinel to inconsequence, for she was in great danger +and needed help! It was a joy to know that the life in his +body, the blood in his flesh, might be the one thing she +needed, for only by offering those possessions could he atone +for his faithlessness. He had no idea that he could regain +that desire to possess her. He only wanted her to know +that what he had to give was hers; that was all! +</P> + +<P> +Then another rider was on the trail: Tom Beck, roweling +his horse, fanning his shoulders with the rein ends, crying +aloud to him for speed, his gun in his holster, a useless thing. +</P> + +<P> +He rode with abandon in the darkness, urging the horse +to a speed that mocked safety. Stones were scattered by +the animal's spurning feet and he heard them strike below, +the sounds becoming fainter as he mounted the steep rise. +Lightning again and the viper spits down there in the flat +licked out for the woman ahead. Beck swore aloud and beat +his horse's flanks with his hat. +</P> + +<P> +The darkness, though it handicapped speed and enhanced +the danger of his race, was relief. When it was dark they +could not fire.... +</P> + +<P> +And he knew they were waiting down there, rifles ready, +straining to see in the next burst of light.... +</P> + +<P> +He begged of the Almighty to send rain, to hold back the +lightning, but no rain came; the flares continued. He heard +another shot, closer, from behind, and knew it was the rifleman +he had seen standing in the brush firing at those who +menaced Jane Hunter's safety. +</P> + +<P> +He was gaining on the pinto, slowly, with agonizing slowness. +His big brown horse drove on, but, when in darkness +and without perspective, it seemed as though his hoofs beat +upon a treadmill. The animal's excited breathing became +more clearly defined.... The pinto ahead crawled slowly +and awkwardly like a dying animal, many minutes from +shelter.... +</P> + +<P> +One of those spurts of flame stung toward Beck. He +heard, almost as he saw it, the spatter of a bullet on the rock +behind him. He lay low on his horse's mane. +</P> + +<P> +The glimmer of lightning, unaccompanied now by thunder, +became almost continuous. Against the white face of +the mountain the riders were like silhouette targets. Below +there were stabs of fire from a dozen places, like fire-flies +on a summer night, but carrying death. +</P> + +<P> +Two bullets, close together, snarled past him, one above, +the other just ahead, perhaps in a line behind his horse's +ears. He hoped wildly that they were directing all their fire +at him, that he was drawing it from the girl above but even +as this hope mounted the skies coruscated again and he saw +that the pinto was stopped, saw that Jane was slipping to the +narrow trail, her body wedged between the cliff and the body +of the horse. +</P> + +<P> +For an interminable time blackness seemed to hold. The +big brown, whose breath was now laboring with exhaustion +as well as with excitement, gasped scarcely a dozen breaths +before the greeny light came again but to his rider it was +an aeon of time. Tom Beck passed through the veriest +depths of torment in that interval and unconsciously he +shouted into the night incoherent cries of suffering. He +had been too late! He had sent her to physical suffering, to +her death, perhaps, and before he could make her understand +that he blamed himself as only a just man who has +been unjust can crush himself with execration! +</P> + +<P> +But light came and he saw her, still alive, still safe! +</P> + +<P> +The pinto was down, hind feet over the trail. Wounded, +he had tried to turn back, tail to the abyss as a mountain +bred animal will turn. He had moved on unsteady limbs, +his hind feet slipped over the edge and moaning, head back, +eyes bulging, he clawed with his fore hoofs to stay his fall. +Clinging to the reins, calling aloud her encouragement, the +girl helped with voice and limbs. +</P> + +<P> +For an interval she balanced the pull of the animal's own +weight.... +</P> + +<P> +And when Tom Beck could see again she was alone on the +trail, one arm raised to her face as she cringed from the bullets +that spattered all about! +</P> + +<P> +He cursed his horse, lashing furiously, spurring in the +shoulders without mercy. He came up to her and she faced +him, lips tight and in the dance of cloud fire he saw her +eyes wide, nostrils distended. +</P> + +<P> +"Get up here!" he muttered and lifted her to his saddle +horn, winding his arms about her, bowing his head and +shoulders over hers to take the missiles in his own body first. +</P> + +<P> +She clutched him frantically, her warm arms around his +neck, her trembling limbs across his thigh with his hand +hooked beneath the knees, her soft breast cleaving to his +and, slipping through his opened shirt the little gold locket +that was at her throat pressed against his heart.... It was +cold from the night and he felt it send a tingle through his +body. Even then he wondered, with the strange sharpness +which stressed thought will give to irrelevant matters, what +it contained! +</P> + +<P> +"Tom! It's good to have you!" +</P> + +<P> +Good to have him! With death singing all about her it +was good to have him; it was her first thought! +</P> + +<P> +"It would be good to die for you!" he said. +</P> + +<P> +"No, no!"—sharply. "Not that, Tom! Live for me +... live for me!" +</P> + +<P> +She felt him start and shudder and sway and a moan broke +from his lips as a searching, tearing thing ripped at the small +of his back, burrowing devilishly into his very vitals. She +clutched him closer, not understanding. +</P> + +<P> +"It's all I've got to give you," he muttered unnaturally. +"My life's all I've got, ma'am. I'd be proud to give it.... +It's a little thing to give to pay ... a debt like I owe +you.... +</P> + +<P> +"You keep your body behind mine ... always ... until +we get to the top...." +</P> + +<P> +"Tom!"—in alarm. "You're hit.... Oh, Tom!" +She shook him, hitching herself about that she might see his +face. "Tom!" +</P> + +<P> +"A scratch," he said. "Just a—" +</P> + +<P> +The horse threw up his head and recoiled as a bullet sang +past. +</P> + +<P> +"A—scratch," he finished. +</P> + +<P> +The girl looked about wildly. She knew there was no +shelter there, not a ledge behind which they could hide, not +a tree that would screen them. The wall rose straight on +one side, fell sheer on the other. There was no place to go +but up; they could not turn there and go down for there +was no room ... the pinto, shot through the belly, had +tried that! +</P> + +<P> +The firing below grew more rapid. It did not wait for +the lightning flashes now. Those spats of yellow fire struck +upward continuously; in darkness, blindly; in light searching +intelligently as the riders moved upward, nearer safety. +H C men closed in on those who shot at the figures on the +trail, aiming at the flurries of viper light, meeting counter +fire as they drew nearer the murderous group of men. +</P> + +<P> +"Fireflies!" Beck muttered as he looked down again. +"Lightnin' bugs let loose from hell!" +</P> + +<P> +When there was no fire in the clouds those light points +looked so harmless, down there in the soft, velvet darkness! +Well they might have been insects, bedecking a summer +night ... but from them came the whining, droning, searching +projectiles that flew to find his life and Jane Hunter's +life! +</P> + +<P> +Fifty yards further was the first rise of rock that would +protect them from below. Fifty yards, and the horse, under +added burden, was sobbing as he staggered. +</P> + +<P> +Beck swayed forward and regained his balance with an +effort that cost him a groan, but his arms, tight about Jane +Hunter's body did not relax a trifle; they held like tough, +green wood. The girl cried out to him again, that he was +hurt.... +</P> + +<P> +"It's nothin', ... my life," he replied. "It's all I could +do ... for doubtin' you. I couldn't ask you to ... love +me.... I could die for you ... that's all, ma'am...." +</P> + +<P> +"Tom, Tom! Keep your head; keep your head one minute +longer; we'll be safe.... Safe, then...." +</P> + +<P> +Thirty yards to the place where the trail ran between uprising +walls of rock; thirty yards to that shelter; thirty yards +to safety.... +</P> + +<P> +But she looked down at those deadly fireflies playing on +the flat, and did not see a hatless man, crouched forward, +run down the trail toward them, pistol in his hand.... +</P> + +<P> +Dick Hilton, who had escaped the Hole only to realize +that there was no escape, was waiting to vent the last drop +of poison in his heart.... Nor did Jane see, nor did Hilton +suspect, that waiting there for him was another stalker, who +had followed and lost him, who had turned back, who had +seen the travelers up the trail and who waited their approach +screened by timber.... +</P> + +<P> +Bobby Cole's heart leaped as she saw him run crouching +to meet Tom Beck, and her gun leaped to position ... and +she waited there in the darkness for the next flash of light +... as men waited below ... as Jane Hunter waited, with +her heart racing in despair; as Dick Hilton, gibbering under +his breath, waited.... +</P> + +<P> +The big brown horse stumbled and Tom Beck cried aloud +in fear and pain, cried drunkenly, as his blood drenched the +saddle. Twenty yards to the shelter of solid rock ... ten +... five.... +</P> + +<P> +And a scarecrow figure leaped from it at them, revealed +by a long, green glimmer. +</P> + +<P> +"Damn you, Beck! Damn you, you've ruined me; you +drove me to this.... Now, take th—" +</P> + +<P> +His gun had whipped up even as the gun of the girl they +saw behind him whipped up. +</P> + +<P> +Neither fired. +</P> + +<P> +Down below had come those winking fangs again and +Hilton's voice trailed into a rising, rasping gasp as missiles +from his compatriots drilled his body. +</P> + +<P> +His pistol dropped to the rock. He put his hands to his +stomach. +</P> + +<P> +"Damn your—" +</P> + +<P> +He choked on the word, and as he choked he took one +blind step forward, over the brink. As he fell he threw +up his hands and sailed downward into the depths, into the +coming darkness.... +</P> + +<P> +The brown horse had halted, but as Jane Hunter slipped +to the ground, holding Beck's sagging body with all her +strength, he stepped forward, in behind the rocks: their +haven.... +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, they got him!" Bobby sobbed. "They got +him...." +</P> + +<P> +She might have meant Hilton, but if so the pity, the regret +in her voice was a mourning of her dead love, not the dead +lover; or she might have meant Tom Beck and the tone +might have been sympathy for the woman she had come to +understand, the woman who had respect for her and who +she could respect.... +</P> + +<P> +They let Tom's body to the trail. The horse moved off. +Hastily Bobby ripped open his shirt.... +</P> + +<P> +"Through the hips," she whispered. "Through the +hips.... +</P> + +<P> +"Look!"—starting up. "He's movin' his foot. It +didn't get his spine; it didn't get his spine...." +</P> + +<P> +She tore open her shirt and tugged at the undergarment +beneath it. She stuffed it into the wound deftly, staying the +blood while Jane Hunter, Beck's head in her lap, cried aloud. +</P> + +<P> +"Listen!" Bobby knelt beside the other woman, hands +on her shoulders, peering into her face.... "You're safe +here. They've got 'em cut off from this trail below.... +</P> + +<P> +"My horse is fresh. I'm goin' to your ranch for help. +He ain't goin' to die, ma'am.... I promise you that.... +He ain't goin' to die!" +</P> + +<P> +She was gone and Jane Hunter, half faint, clinging to +that promise as the last, the only thing in life, lowered her +lips to her lover's eyes. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap27"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE LAST STRAW +</H4> + +<P> +It was the first day that Tom Beck could lie on his back. +For weeks he had lain on his face there in the living +room of the ranch house, nursed back to health by Jane +Hunter's gentle hands. Now the doctor had turned him +over, with the promise that he would not only be sitting up +but walking before long, and the Veterans' Society had been +in session. +</P> + +<P> +That was what Two-Bits called it: The Veterans' Society. +Every afternoon they had gathered there, Two-Bits with his +slowly healing back, Jimmy Oliver, after his leg had mended +and he could hobble with a cane, Joe Black, whose arm was +just out of its sling and, occasionally, Riley, who rode up the +creek holding gingerly his one shoulder, to fight the battle +over again. +</P> + +<P> +Summer was ripening and the golden sunlight spilled down +onto peaceful mountains from a mighty sweep of sky. A +gentle breeze bent the tall cottonwoods, making them whisper, +making the birds in their branches sing in lazy contentment. +Unmolested cattle ranged in prospering hundreds. +The work was up, fall and beef ride were coming ... and +other years to bring their toll of happiness and well being, +for after its one paroxysm of strife the country had settled +back to easier ways, to a better, more wholesome manner of +living. +</P> + +<P> +There were memories, true, kept fresh by such things as +this Veterans' Society, and the three graves in Devil's Hole +where rested the bodies of Sam McKee, Dad Hepburn and +Dick Hilton, for there was none to claim what remained of +them. Under the cottonwoods slept Baldy Bowen, his grave +surrounded by white pickets and his head marked by a stone. +</P> + +<P> +But even now those memories were less poignant than +they had been weeks before. Interest in the range war was +waning and though it would be talked about across bar and +bunk house stove for many winters the thrill of it was gone +... as the horror of it was largely gone for those who had +suffered most. +</P> + +<P> +Two-Bits had lingered after the departure of the rest and +sat in a chair beside Tom's cot. Beck's face was pale, but +his eyes were alive and as of old, evidence of satisfactory +convalescence. +</P> + +<P> +"So you think there <i>is</i> a hell, Tommy?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +Beck grunted assent. +</P> + +<P> +"Yeah. I know there's a hell, Two-Bits." +</P> + +<P> +"My brother always said there was. He said it was an +awful place, Tommy. I'll bet two bits th' old Devil was +sorry to see Hepburn an' Hilton an' Sam McKee comin' in +that mornin'! I'll bet he says to hisself: 'Here's some right +smart competition for me!'" +</P> + +<P> +Beck laughed silently. +</P> + +<P> +"Sometimes I get feelin' mighty sorry for 'em," the +lanky cow-boy continued. "I use to hate Webb somethin' +awful an' I sure did think Hepburn was about th' lowest +critter that walked.... God ought to 've made him crawl! +Sam McKee never was no good. He was th' meanest man I +ever saw.... +</P> + +<P> +"But, shucks, Tommy, I hate to think of 'em bein' blistered +all th' time!" +</P> + +<P> +"That ain't the kind of hell I referred to, Two-Bits. I +don't know much about that kind, with brimstone and fire +and all the rest.... +</P> + +<P> +"There's a hell, though, Tommy. It's when a man lets +the weakness in him run off with what strength he has, when +he don't trust those who deserve to be trusted, when he's suspicious +of those his heart tells him are above suspicion." +</P> + +<P> +Two-Bits swallowed, setting his Adam's apple leaping. +His eyes widened. +</P> + +<P> +"Gosh, you talk just like th' Reverend!" he said, and +Beck laughed until his wound hurt him. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, if they ain't in hell, they're under an awful lot of +rocks," he added. "That's all I care, to have 'em out of +her way." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it makes it smoother. Real folks, men who deserve +the name, won't do anything but trust her and help +her." +</P> + +<P> +"Not after the way she made 'em come out of their holes! +That trial must've been grand, Tommy! I'd 've give two +bits to seen it an' heard it! +</P> + +<P> +"She won't have no trouble no more. Everybody knows +she's got more head than most men on this here creek. +But she's got somethin' else! She's got a ... a gentle +way with her that makes everybody want to do things for +her. +</P> + +<P> +"Look at how she treated Cole. Why, anybody else 'd +run him off! 'Stead of that she gets Bobby Cole to file on +that claim an' helps 'em to build a good house an' wants 'em +to stay. You can bet your life that HC cattle'll get water +there now. That catamount ... hell, she'd <i>carry</i> it for +'em if there wasn't any other way to get it to 'em!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Bobby's changed." +</P> + +<P> +"Should say she is changed! She's got a different look +to her, not so hard an' horstile as she used to be; she's plumb +doe-cyle now! +</P> + +<P> +"I expect she's glad she didn't kill Hilton. If she hadn't +changed she'd been glad to do it. But, bein' like she is now, +she wouldn't want to hurt nobody.... Unless that somebody +wanted to hurt Miss Hunter." +</P> + +<P> +His eyes roved off down the road and settled on a swiftly +moving horse, the great sorrel who was bringing Jane +Hunter back to the ranch after a ride far down the creek. +</P> + +<P> +"Speakin' of Hell, Tommy: there mebby ain't any like +the Reverend claims there is, but there's a Heaven! I'll +bet two bits there is! I'll gamble on it because I know an +angel that stepped right down that there, now, solid gold +ladder.... +</P> + +<P> +"She's comin' up th' road.... An' Mister Two-Bits +Beal, <i>esquire</i>, is goin' to drift out of here!" +</P> + +<P> +With a broad wink, which set a suggestion of a flush into +Beck's cheeks, he took his hat and departed. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Jane entered, drawing the pin from her hat; then stopped +on the threshold with a cry. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, the doctor's been here!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and he's rolled the old carcass over," Beck answered. +</P> + +<P> +She stood looking down at him for a moment and then +dropped quickly to her knees. +</P> + +<P> +"It's so good to look into your eyes again," she whispered, +and though her own eyes were bright there were tears in her +voice. +</P> + +<P> +Beck's gaze wavered and he slowly withdrew the hand +that she had taken. +</P> + +<P> +"You mustn't look like that!" he said, turning his face +from her. "It's more than I've deserved, it's more than I +have a right to!" +</P> + +<P> +She put her hands on his shoulders, gently, bearing no +weight upon them, and said soberly: +</P> + +<P> +"Look at me, Tom Beck!" +</P> + +<P> +He obeyed, rather reluctantly. +</P> + +<P> +"I have waited, oh, so long, to talk to you! I promised +the doctor that nothing should disturb you until you were +well. That's one reason why I brought you into the house, +instead of leaving you with the men: so you could be quiet. +</P> + +<P> +"But there was another reason, a greater: I wanted you +here, in this room, in my house, near me, where I could see +and feel and help you, because seeing and touching and +helping you helped me! +</P> + +<P> +"I needed your help, Tom! I shall always need you +near me!" +</P> + +<P> +"Nobody would agree with you," he protested. "You're +the most capable man in the country. You sure can look +out for yourself." +</P> + +<P> +"But looking out for myself isn't all. That's just a tiny +part of life,"—indicating how small it was with a thumb +and fore-finger. "It belongs to the side of me which owns +this ranch, which is a cattle woman, which wants to fatten +steers and raise calves and prosper.... +</P> + +<P> +"There's the other part, the big part, the part that is +really worth while: It's my heart, Tom. It's my heart +that needs you!" +</P> + +<P> +His brows puckered. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish you wouldn't!" he said huskily. "I can't help +that part, I had my chance ... an' I threw it away." +</P> + +<P> +"And I picked it up! Tom, that morning when you were +crawling back from Cathedral Tank, across the desert, I was +at the round-up camp. I went there to tell you, to make +you understand—" +</P> + +<P> +"That's what hurts: that you had to ride thirty miles to +tell me, to make me understand. Why, ma'am, I hadn't any +right to have you do that for me. It was me who should +have come crawlin' to you!" +</P> + +<P> +She took his hand again. +</P> + +<P> +"Look at me!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, ma'am," striving to lighten his manner. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, <i>Jane!</i>" she insisted. +</P> + +<P> +"Jane," very softly. +</P> + +<P> +"You are very foolish, sticking to an abstract idea of how +you should have conducted yourself. You wanted to die for +me once; you want to put me off now because you think +you wronged me. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you see what a wrong that would be! Don't you +see that?" +</P> + +<P> +She leaned forward, hands clasped at her chin, and tears +swam upward into her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"I am saying the things I've waited so long to say. +</P> + +<P> +"You have lain here ever since that black night when they +carried you in and I had to feel your heart to know whether +you lived. I've tried to say nothing that would disturb you, +tried to keep your mind off the thing that has occupied mine. +But I know you've been thinking; I know you've been uneasy. +I have seen that in the looks, the words, the way +you've laughed, rather forced and weakly at times. I have +known what you thought.... +</P> + +<P> +"You are very foolish to be concerned with an idea of +how you should have conducted yourself. You wanted to +die for me once; you want to put me off now because you +think you wronged me. +</P> + +<P> +"I am not forgiving you because there is nothing to forgive. +My pride was hurt and by yielding to it I shook your +faith in me. It was weak for me to yield to pride; it was +foolish for you to give way to suspicion. It was not I who +yielded, Tom; it was that other girl, the girl who came to +you to be hurt and ridiculed and made strong! And it was +not the Tom Beck who loved me that suspected; it was that +other man, the one who held himself back, who did not +take chances, who, perhaps, would have denied himself the +finest thing in life if he had always walked on ground with +which he was familiar.... +</P> + +<P> +"And now to carry this breach from the past into the future.... +Don't you see what a wrong that would be? +Don't you see how you would be harming yourself? You, +who wanted to die for me, would be refusing to live for me! +And I who need you would walk alone.... Don't you see +what a horrible thing that would be to both of us ... my +lover?" +</P> + +<P> +She leaned forward, hands clasped at her breast, and the +tears swam into her eyes. She was very beautiful, very +gentle and tender, but as he looked he felt rather than saw +the strength that was in her: the character that had stood +alone, that had been herself in the face of the loss of love +and position, and that, by so standing, had triumphed. +</P> + +<P> +For a breathless instant she poised so, with unsteady lips, +and she saw the want come into his face, saw the old reserve, +the old resolution to punish himself melt away. +</P> + +<P> +"I want you, Jane!" he whispered. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The evening shadows had come before she rose from her +knees and drew up a chair to sit stroking his hand. +</P> + +<P> +His eyes rested on her hungrily and after a time they +concentrated on the locket at her throat. +</P> + +<P> +"Say! Now that you've done me the honor to give me +a second chance at lovin' you, there's somethin' I want to +ask." +</P> + +<P> +"Ask it." +</P> + +<P> +"What's in that locket?" +</P> + +<P> +She laughed as she caught it in her fingers. +</P> + +<P> +"My luck!" +</P> + +<P> +"I understand that. It brought me luck, too, but there's +something else. Won't you tell me?" +</P> + +<P> +She unclasped the trinket and held it in her hand, turning +it over slowly. Then she sprung the catch and held it so he +could see. +</P> + +<P> +Behind the disc of mica lay a piece of oat straw. +</P> + +<P> +"That is the last straw," she said simply. +</P> + +<P> +He did not understand. +</P> + +<P> +"The one you would not draw that day, which seems so +long ago!" +</P> + +<P> +His face brightened. +</P> + +<P> +"You kept it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I clung to it as though it were ... the last straw! +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Tom, can't you see what it has meant? If you +had drawn you would have been my foreman. You would +have protected me, fought for me, taken care of me. I'd +never have been forced to stand alone, never been forced to +try to do something for myself, by myself. Your refusal +put on me the responsibility of being a woman or a +leech.... +</P> + +<P> +"I drew the last straw that day. I drew the responsibility +of keeping the HC on its feet. I feel that I have helped +to do that...." +</P> + +<P> +"You have." +</P> + +<P> +"Through sickness and through death, through dark days +and storms. I have done something! I have walked alone, +unaided.... +</P> + +<P> +"And I have made you love me, Tom.... <i>That</i> is the +biggest thing I have done. To be worthy of your love was +my greatest undertaking. By being worthy, by winning +you, I have justified my being here, my walking the earth, +my breathing the air...." +</P> + +<P> +"Sho!" he cried in embarrassment, and took the locket +and fingered it. +</P> + +<P> +His hand dropped to the blanket and he stared upward +as though a fresh idea had occurred to him. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, I wonder if the Reverend was a regular preacher?" +he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Why? He was a doer of good works. Why consider +his actual standing?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yeah. But I mean, could he marry folks, do you +s'pose?" +</P> + +<P> +He looked at her again and in his eyes was that amused +twinkle, the laugh of a man assured, content, self sufficient +... and behind it was the tenderness that comes to a strong +man's eyes only when he looks upon the woman who has +given him love for love. +</P> + +<P> +"If he could he'd be glad to," he said, "and I suspect +that he'd throw a little variety into the ceremony ... something, +likely, about your fightin' a good fight!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="finis"> +THE END +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Last Straw, by Harold Titus + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAST STRAW *** + +***** This file should be named 36523-h.htm or 36523-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/5/2/36523/ + +Produced by Andrew Sly, Al Haines and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</BODY> + +</HTML> + + diff --git a/36523-h/images/img-252.jpg b/36523-h/images/img-252.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6a9ad91 --- /dev/null +++ b/36523-h/images/img-252.jpg diff --git a/36523.txt b/36523.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4186821 --- /dev/null +++ b/36523.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12029 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Last Straw, by Harold Titus + +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 Last Straw + +Author: Harold Titus + +Illustrator: George W. Gage + +Release Date: June 26, 2011 [EBook #36523] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAST STRAW *** + + + + +Produced by Andrew Sly, Al Haines and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +THE LAST STRAW + + +BY + +HAROLD TITUS + + +Author of "Bruce of the Circle A," "I--Conquered," etc. + + + +ILLUSTRATED BY + +GEORGE W. GAGE + + + +BOSTON + +SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY + +PUBLISHERS + + + + +Copyright, 1920, + +BY SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY + +(INCORPORATED) + + +_Second Printing, June, 1920._ + + +PRESS OF GEO. H. ELLIS CO., BOSTON, MASS. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I THE NEW BOSS + II MY ADVICE, MA'AM + III THE NESTER--AND ANOTHER + IV THE CHAMPION + V THE COURTING + VI OUTCASTS + VII THE CATAMOUNT + VIII AND NOW, THE CLERGY + IX THE DESTROYER + X A MATTER OF DIRECTION + XI HEPBURN'S PLAY + XII A NEIGHBORLY CALL + XIII THE FRAME-UP + XIV THE BIG CHANCE + XV WAR! + XVI THE WARNING + XVII HIS FAITHFUL LITTLE PONY + XVIII AN INTERRUPTED PROPOSAL + XIX CONCERNING SAM MCKEE + XX "WORK AMONG THE HEATHEN" + XXI RENUNCIATION + XXII THE REVEREND'S STRATEGY + XXIII BECK'S DEPARTURE + XXIV IN THE SHADOW + XXV A MOUNTAIN PORTIA + XXVI BATTLE! + XXVII THE LAST STRAW + + + + +THE LAST STRAW + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE NEW BOSS + + +The last patches of snow, even in the most secluded gulches, had been +licked up by the mounting sun; the waters of Coyote Creek had returned +to the confines of the stream bed; in places a suggestion of green was +making its appearance about the bases of grass clumps, and cottonwood +buds were swelling. Four men sat on the bench before the bunkhouse of +the H.C. ranch; one was braiding a belt, another whittling and two +more, hats over their eyes to shield them from the brilliant light, +joined in the desultory conversation from time to time. + +In the pauses, such as the one now prevailing, was something besides +the spirit of idling. Dad Hepburn, gray of hair, eye and mustache, but +with the body of a young man, who sat nearest the doorway, glanced +frequently towards the road as though expecting to see another come +that way to bring fresh interest; Two-Bits Beal was uneasy and did not +remain long in one pose, as men do who sit in the first real warmth of +spring for its own sake; Jimmy Oliver, the whittler, stopped now and +then and held his head at an angle, as if listening; and although he +worked industriously at the belt it was evident that Tom Beck had +thought for other affairs. + +"So she was his nephew an' only heir," commented Two-Bits, gravely. +Hepburn stirred and snorted softly. Jimmy Oliver looked at the homely, +freckle-blotched face of the gaunt speaker and grinned. After a moment +Tom Beck said: + +"Two-Bits, for a smart man you know less than anybody I ever +encountered! When I first set eyes on you, I said to myself, 'That man +ain't real. He's no work of God A'mighty. Some of these _hombres_ +that draw cartoons for newspapers got him up.' But I thought you must +have brains, seein' you're so powerful low on looks. You're a good +cowhand and a first rate horse handler, but won't you ever get anything +in your head but those things? Or did this cartoonist make a mistake +an' put your kidneys in your skull? + +"Niece; _niece!_ Not nephew!" + +"Have it your way," Two-Bits said in his high voice, swallowing so his +immense Adam's apple shot up half the extraordinary length of his lean +throat toward his pointed chin, and slipped back again with a jerk. "I +was half right, wasn't I? She's his only heir, ain't she? You can't ask +a man to be more'n half right, can you?" + +"If his heir'd been a nephew instead of a niece, we wouldn't all be +settin' here so anxious about this arrival," opined Jimmy. "An' we +wouldn't all be wonderin' if we was goin' to work for a squaw outfit. +It'll be a relief when this lady lands in our midst. Mebby there'll be +less speculatin' and more work done." + +"You're right," assented Dad, and pulled at his mustache. "There's a +lot to do." + +Tom Beck began to whistle softly and the older man glanced sideways at +him uneasily; then fixed his eyes on the road. + +"I'll bet two bit," volunteered Two-Bits, "that she's as homely as Tom +claims I am an' about as pleasant as a hod full of bumble bees." + +No one demonstrated interest in his offer and, as though he had not +even heard it, Beck said: + +"Seems to me there's been a lot goin' on lately, Dad. Or did you mean +there was a lot _more_ to do?" + +"I don't remember such awful activity," the other replied. "'Course, +there's been--" + +"Nobody ever located those four mares an' their colts, did they? And +the last we heard about that bunch of white faces they was headed +towards Utah with a shod horse trailing 'em." + +Hepburn changed what started as an impatient expostulation into a sharp +sigh and relieved himself by stabbing a spur into the hard ground. + +"Yes, there has been stealin'," he admitted. "There's been a lot of it. +But who could do anything? The old man had been slack for years and in +the last months before the end he just let go entire. He wouldn't even +give anybody else authority enough to have any say; didn't even have a +foreman. That's why horses an' cattle have been stole from him. + +"'Course, there's been more devil to pay since he died than went on +before, but when a man leaves things in a lawyer's hands and the lawyer +won't even look in on the job, what you goin' to do?" + +His manner was as benevolent as it was deliberate and he turned a +paternal smile on Beck. + +"Let the thievin' go merrily on, I expect," the other said, giving the +leather strips a series of sturdy jerks to tighten the mesh. + +"I expect you'd like to be foreman, wouldn't you, Dad?" Two-Bits asked +innocently, whereupon Hepburn certified the accuracy of that surmisal +by moving uneasily. "You'd make a fair foreman ... _fair_. Now +Tommy here," he continued, oblivious of the older man's discomfiture +and the delighted smiles of the others, "would make a fine foreman if +he'd only give a damn. But he don't ... he don't. It's too bad, Tommy, +you don't settle down and amount to somethin'. You're the best hand in +this country!" + +Beck lifted his face and sniffed loudly. + +"The smell of your bouquet is about as delicate as your diplomacy, +Two-Bits!" he said. + +Another pause. Beck resumed his whistling and Hepburn devoted his +attention to the road. Once he looked at the other from the tail of his +eye and a flicker of ill temper showed in his broad, grizzled face. + +"Her name's Jane, ain't it?" Two-Bits was an ardent conversationalist. +"Jane Hunter! I knowed a school marm named Hunter onct. She was worse'n +thunder for sourin' milk." + +"I'll bet--" + +"Listen!" + +Oliver held up his knife in gesture and Two-Bits stopped talking. The +sounds of an approaching wagon were clearly audible. + +"I'll bet it's the mail instead of--" + +"You lose," muttered Hepburn, getting to his feet as a buckboard swung +around the bend. + +"An' she sure's come to stay!" from Jimmy as he closed his knife with +an air of finality. + +The body of the wagon was piled high with trunks and bags and beside +the driver sat a very small woman. That she was not of the west, not +the sort of woman these men had been accustomed to deal with, was +evident from the clothes she wore, but at least one of them remarked +that she was not wholly without the qualities essential to the frontier +for, when the driver dropped down to open the gate, he gave her the +reins to the lathered, excited horses which had brought her from the +railroad. As soon as the gate swung open they sprang forward, but she +put her weight on the reins and spoke with confident authority and +wrenched them back. + +"Not exactly helpless, anyhow," Tom Beck said to himself. + +He was the only one of the group who did not walk across toward the +cottonwoods which sheltered the long, red ranch house beside the creek. +He sat there, braiding his belt, an indefinable half smile on his face. + +The girl--for girlishness was her outstanding quality--jumped out +unassisted. She looked about slowly, at the house first of all, then at +the low stable and the corrals and, lastly, down the creek, on either +side of which the hills rose sharply, giving a false appearance of +narrowness to the bottoms, and her eyes rested for a long moment on the +ridges far below, blue and sharp in the crystal distance. + +She was unaware that the driver was waiting for her to give further +directions and that the three others had come close and stopped, +waiting for her to notice them, for she said aloud, as though to +herself: + +"For a beginning, this is quite remarkable!" Then she laughed sharply, +with a hard mirthless quality, and turned about. She was genuinely +surprised to confront the men; evidence of this was in her eyes, which +were large and remarkably blue. She smiled brightly and said: + +"Oh, I didn't know I was overlooking any one! I suppose you men belong +here, on the ranch, and it's likely you've been waiting for the new +owner to come. Well, here I am! I'm Jane Hunter and I want to know who +you are. Now what is your name?" + +Her frankness, that unhesitating, assured manner of a distinct type of +city-bred woman, was new but it over-rode somewhat the embarrassment +they all felt. + +"My name is Hepburn, ma'am," Dad said and shook hands heavily. "I hope +you like this place." + +"I know I shall, Mr. Hepburn. And your name?" + +"That's Jimmy Oliver, Miss Hunter," Hepburn said. + +Two-Bits had watched this with growing confusion and when she turned on +him her searching, straightforward glance his freckles became lost in a +pink suffusion. He swayed his body from the hips and looked high over +her head as he offered a limp hand. + +"I'm Mister Beal," he said weakly. + +"Don't you believe that!" laughed Hepburn. "That's Two-Bits. He ain't +entitled to any frills." + +"Two-Bits it is!" the girl cried, scanning his face in amazement at its +color and contour. "I couldn't call you mister, Two-Bits. We're going +to be too good friends for that!" + +"Oh my gosh!" giggled the flustered cowboy and turned away, seeking +refuge in the bunkhouse. + +"You talk about me bein' got up by a feller that draws pictures, Tom," +he said to Beck. "Holy Tin Can, you ought to see her! Why, this feller +that paints them girls for these here, now, magazines painted her! She +looks like she walked right out of a picture, with blue eyes an' yeller +hair an' all pink an' white. An' friendly.... Oh my, I'll bet she makes +this outfit take notice!" + +Old Carlotta, the half-breed Mexican woman who had been housekeeper at +the HC for years had come from the house to greet her new mistress. +The trunks were carried in, the buckboard departed for its twenty-five +mile trip back to town and the riders who had been at work further down +the creek straggled in to hear the first tales of their new boss. + +Conjecture was high as to her plan of procedure. + +"It won't take long for things to happen. You can bank on that," Jimmy +Oliver declared. "She ain't our kind of a woman an' the good Lord alone +knows what notions she'll have, but she'll get busy! She's that kind." + +He was not wrong for just as the sun was drawing down into the hills +Carlotta appeared at the bunkhouse. + +"Miss Hunter, she want to spik to Senor Dad an' Beck an' Jimmy an' +Curtis," she said. "Right away, quick-_pronto_." + +"This must be a mass meetin' with th' rest of us left out," Two-Bits +said. "I'd give a dollar to look at her again ... clost up. I'll bet I +wouldn't be _afraid_ to look next time." + +The four men summoned went immediately to the big house. Beck lagged a +trifle and it was certain from his manner that his curiosity was not +greatly excited. He appeared to be amused, for his black eyes twinkled +gaily, but as they passed through the gate they set their gaze on the +back of Hepburn's broad neck and a curious speculation showed in them. + +Jane Hunter was waiting on the veranda which ran the length of the +ranch house and without formalities began her explanation. + +"You all know the situation, I believe. My uncle left me this ranch and +I have come from New York to take possession. How long I remain depends +on a number of things, but I find that for the present at least, I must +conduct my own business. For the last four weeks, since the property +came to me, it has been in the hands of Mr. Alward, the attorney in +town. I arrived yesterday expecting to have his help, but his doctor +has sent him into a lower altitude because of some heart difficulty and +I'm alone on the job with nothing to guide me but a lengthy letter he +wrote. + +"I know little about business of any sort, I know nothing at all about +ranching, so I have a great deal to learn. I do know that the first +thing I need is an actual head for this place and that is why I called +you here: to select a ... a foreman, you call him? + +"Mr. Alward left word that any one of you four men would be competent +and I'm going to choose one of you by chance: Understand, this is no +guarantee to keep whoever is chosen on the job for any length of time, +but I don't care to take the responsibility of handling the men myself, +as my uncle and as Mr. Alward have done. Some one must do this and +until I learn enough to know what I want I will be dependent upon +whomever is selected." + +She had spoken rapidly, at no loss for words, without a trace of +hesitation or embarrassment, looking intently from face to face, +studying the men as she explained her plan, but as she paused her eyes +were on Beck's eyes and their gaze was arrested there a moment as +though it had encountered something not usual. + +"I am going to need all your help and all the suggestions that you can +give me,"--with a slight gesture to include the four, though she still +looked straight at the tall Westerner,--"but I feel that at first there +must be system of some sort, a man at the head of the organization. I'm +going to let you draw straws for the place." + +The men stirred and looked at one another. + +"That's fair enough," said Dad, with just a trace of indecision in his +voice. + +"For us," commented Curtis, a lean, leathery man. + +Jane stooped and picked up an oat straw. She broke off four pieces and +placed them tightly between her thumb and palm. + +"Now, draw!" she directed, with a smile, holding them toward Curtis. +"The lucky straw will be the shortest." + +Curtis silently selected one of the bits. Then Jimmy Oliver drew and +the two stood eyeing the lots they had picked. Hepburn had cleared his +throat twice rather sharply when the drawing commenced and as he +stepped forward at her gesture he manifested an eagerness which did not +quite harmonize with his usual deliberation. He drew, eyed his straw +and glanced sharply at those held by the other two. + +Beck had not moved forward with the others, but stood back, thumbs +hooked in his belt, his eyes, which were mildly smiling, still on the +girl's face. She looked at him again and saw there something other than +the interest that approached eagerness which had been evident in the +others; she read another thing which caught her attention; the man was +laughing at her, she felt, laughing at her and at the entire +performance. It seemed to him to be an absurdity and as she searched +his expression again and perceived that this was no bucolic whim but +the attitude of a man whose assurance was as stable as her own the +smile which had been on her face faded a degree. + +"Now it is your turn ... the last straw," she said to him. + +"Thank you, ma'am," he replied in an even, matter-of-fact voice, though +that annoying smile was still in his eyes, "but I guess you can count +me out." + +She lowered the hand which held the straw. + +"You don't care to draw?" + +"That's what I meant, ma'am." + +"And why not?" + +She was piqued, without good reason, at this refusal. + +"In the first place, ma'am, I've never taken a chance in my life, if I +knew it. I've tried to arrange so I wouldn't have to. I'm a poor +gambler." + +A suggestion of a flush crept into the girl's cheeks, for, though his +manner was all frankness, he gave the impression that this was not his +reason, or, at least, not his best reason; he seemed, in a subtle +manner, to be poking fun at her. "Besides," he went on, "pickin' at +pieces of straw don't seem like a good way to pick men." + +"You understand why it is being done that way?" Though her manner did +not betray it, she felt as though she were on the defensive. + +"Yes, ma'am. I wasn't reflecting on you especially. I was thinkin' +about your lawyer. But you won't be so very mad, if I ain't crazy to +take a chance, will you? If anybody wants to know whether I can hold a +job or not, I'd sooner have 'em ask about me or try me; when it comes +to drawing lots I'll have to be counted out." + +His eyes had been squarely on hers throughout and when he ceased +speaking they still clung. Beyond a doubt, she reasoned, that flicker +in them was amusement and yet she felt no resentment towards him; was +not even annoyed as she had been at his first refusal. It was +interesting; it impressed her with a difference between him and the +three who had drawn. For a moment she was impelled to argue; she wanted +that man to help her more than she wanted to retain her poise ... just +an instant. + +Abruptly she turned to the others. + +"Very well, we will see who did win." + +The four drew close together and measured. + +"Mr. Hepburn's is the shortest!" she cried; then looked at the fourth +straw she still held. It was shorter by half an inch. + +"You would have drawn well," she said to Beck, holding it up. + +"So it seems, ma'am," he answered, but she noticed that he did not look +at her. His eyes were on the new foreman's face, which was flushed with +the depressions beneath the eyes puffed a bit. He was nervously +breaking to shreds the straw which had won the place but about him was +a bearing of unmistakable elation and something in his eyes, which were +small, and about his chin suggested greed.... + +The four started away and Jane stood watching them. Four! And one of +them was to be her deputy in life's first--and perhaps life's +saving--adventure. But she did not watch him, in fact, had no thought +for him. Her eyes followed Tom Beck until he was out of sight and as +she turned to enter the house she said: + +"But he looks as though he might take a ... long chance...." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +MY ADVICE, MA'AM + + +He stood on a bearskin rug before the blazing fire, hat in hand, boots +polished, tall and trim with his handsome head bowed just a trifle. The +blazing logs gave the only light to the place and his bronzed face was +burnished by their reflection. + +"You sent for me?" he asked as she came into the room. + +She advanced from the shadows and for a moment did not reply. She felt +that he was taking her in from her crown of light hair, down through +the smart, high-collared waist to the short, scant skirt which showed +her silken clad ankles and the modish shoes. His eyes rested on those +shoes. He was thinking that they were wonderfully plain for a city girl +to wear, at least the sort of city girl he had ever known. But they had +a simplicity which he thought went well with her manner. + +"I had planned on talking to Mr. Hepburn this evening," she said. "I +want to get all the information and all the advice I can from the +start. Carlotta said he had gone away, so, in spite of the fact that +you wouldn't gamble with me this afternoon, I sent for you. I think +that you can tell me many things I need to know. You don't mind my +asking you, do you? You don't feel that you'd be ... be taking a +chance, talking to me?" + +She took his hat. + +"Sit down," motioning to the davenport before the fire. "Would you like +to start with a drink?" + +"Why, yes," eyeing her calculatingly. + +"There's not much here. I slipped one bottle of Vermouth in a trunk. +I'll have to try to mix a cocktail in a tumbler and there isn't any +ice. It's likely to be a bad cocktail, but maybe it will help us talk." + +She walked down the long room toward the dining table and sideboard at +the far end and he heard glass clinking and liquids gurgling as he sat +looking about with that small part of a smile on his features. All +along the walls were books and above the cases hung trophies of the +country: heads of deer and elk, a pelt of a mountain lion and of a +bobcat, a pair of magnificent sheep's horns and a stuffed eagle. In the +low windows were boxes of geraniums, Carlotta's pride. + +"Here you are," she said as she returned, holding one of the two +glasses toward Beck, who rose to accept it. "My uncle left a very small +stock of drinks, but as soon as I know what I'm about I'll try to +remedy that defect in an otherwise splendid establishment." Her manner +was terse, brisk, open and her eyes met another's directly when she +talked. + +She lifted her glass to her chin's level and smiled at him. + +"To the future!" she said. + +His question was adroitly timed for she had just given the glass a +slight toss and was already carrying its rim toward her lips when his +words checked the movement. + +"I take it, ma'am, that you'll want this liquor to go where it'll do +your future the most good?" + +He looked from her down to the cocktail he held and moved the glass in +a quick little circle to set the yellow liquid swirling. His voice had +been quite casual, but when he raised his eyes to meet her inquiring +look the last of a twinkle was giving way to gravity. + +"You mean?..." + +"Just about what I said: that you'd like to have this brace of drinks +do your future some good?" + +"Why, yes, that was my intention. Why?" + +"You called me down here to get a little advice. Let's commence here." + +He reached out for her glass in a manner which was at once gentle and +dominating, presumptuous but unoffending, with a measure of certainty; +still, by his face, she might have told that he was experimenting with +her, not just sure of how she would react, not, perhaps, caring a great +deal. His fingers closed on her glass and she yielded with half +laughing, half protesting astonishment. He took both glasses in one +hand, moved deliberately toward the hearth and tossed their contents +into the flames. He then set the empty tumblers on the mantel and +turned about with a questioning smile on his lips. + +The sharp, slowly dwindling hiss of quenched flame which followed +completely died out before she spoke. Color had leaped into her cheeks +and ebbed as quickly; her lips had shut in a tight line and for a +fraction of time it was as though she would angrily demand explanation. + +But she said evenly enough: "I don't understand that." + +"I'm glad you didn't show how mad it made you," he replied. + +"But why.... What made you do it?" + +"You said, you know, that you wanted that liquor to go where it'd help +your future. I thought the fire was about the best place for it under +the circumstances." + +"But why di--" + +"And I believed you when you said you had a lot to learn and that you +called me down to start the job. You have a way of makin' people think +you mean what you say. I'm mighty glad to give you advice; I thought +this was a good way to begin." + +Jane gave a queer laugh and sat down, looking blankly into the fire. +She turned her face after a moment and found him studying her as he sat +at the other end of the davenport. + +"I understand your meaning," she said, "but you're as startling in your +actions as you must be in your reasoning. You didn't object to the idea +of a drink; I didn't think many of you people did out here." + +"We don't, ma'am. Most of us drink our share. I do." + +"But just now you threw yours away." + +"You see, I was bound to throw _yours_ away. It wouldn't have been +polite, would it, for me to drink and not let you?" His smile mocked +her. "Besides," dryly--"I ain't much on these fancy drinks. You warned +me that it wouldn't be so very good anyhow." + +She stared at him in perplexity. + +"You have no scruples against drinking?" + +"Moderate drinking; no." + +"Then why did you take this liberty with me?"--suggesting indignation. + +"You see, you're a woman. You guessed a minute ago that there wasn't +much objection to hard liquor here. I told you you were right; most of +us boys drink, but we can afford to and you can't." His manner was +light, almost to the degree of banter, as if that which had aroused her +was the simplest of matters. + +"A man in this country don't build a reputation on many things. So long +as he's honest, he gets along pretty well. But a woman: that's +different. She has to make people know she's right in everything she +does." + +"An occasional drink will make her less right?" + +"Not a bit less, ma'am, but it won't help other folks to know she's +right. And that's all that counts. Everybody, man or woman, who comes +into the west has to make or break by what he does here; nothin' that +has been, good or bad, matters. They commence from the bottom again and +by what they do people judge them. + +"Reputation is the first thing you've got to make for yourself. +Everybody is watchin' you: the boys here on the ranch, the neighbors +down creek, the people in town. You've got to show that you're honest, +that you've got courage; if you were a man it could stop there, but +you're a woman an' that makes it.... + +"Well, men out here expect things from a woman that I guess men in +cities don't think so much about and you might as well know now as any +time that men in this country don't like to see a woman do some of the +things they do. We ain't as polite as some; we ain't as gentle, when +it's necessary to act quick and for sure, but maybe we make up for some +of our roughness in the idea we have of women. We think a good woman is +about as fine a thing as God has made, ma'am, and we have our ideas of +goodness. + +"You see, you've got to handle men; you've got to have their respect +and you won't have their respect if you don't understand how they +think, and then act accordingly. + +"Besides, you're on a job that's going to take all the brains and grit +and strength you've got. Booze never helped anybody on a job like that. +If you was a man and your job was just ridin' after cattle it'd be +different. But neither one is the case.... + +"My advice, ma'am!" + +She watched his face a moment before saying: + +"As long as I can remember, women about me have been drinking. Ever +since I grew up I've been drinking. I've never taken too much; I've +never needed it; I've done it because ... because it was being done." + +"Yeah. Well, it ain't done here. It's a new country and a new life for +you and one of the first things you've got to learn is how to get on +with people. Maybe back east some of the folks wouldn't respect you if +you didn't drink. There are folks like that, who think it's smart to do +certain things, and maybe there are a lot of 'em like you, who don't +need it, don't even want it, but they do it because of their +reputations. + +"You see, it's the same rule workin' backwards out here." + +The girl moved to face the fire again. She scowled a trifle and the +glow on her cheeks was not wholly due to the reflection of the blazing +logs. + +"Did it ever occur to you that there might be people who gave little +attention to what others think of them?" she asked rather coldly. + +"Sure thing! There are lots like that." + +"I can see where, if a stranger were to plan to stay in a place like +this for long it might be expedient to ... to cater to the community +morals. I don't intend to be a permanent resident. That is, I won't if +I can help it. I don't expect that I'd ever come up to your notion of a +worthy woman,"--a bitterness creeping into the voice--"so perhaps it is +fortunate that I look on this ranch only as means to an end." + +"You mean, money, ma'am?" he asked, and when she did not reply at once +he went on: "Folks generally come west for one of three reasons: money +or health or because they like the country. I take it your health's all +right ... and that you ain't just struck with the country." + +She made a slight grimace and sat forward, elbows on knees. + +"Yes, money!" she said under her breath. "I came here to get it. I'm +going to." She looked up at him quickly, eyebrows arched in a somewhat +defiant query, and, after a pause, went on: "You don't seem to approve?" + +"No, ma'am," candidly, that smile only half hidden in his eyes. + +"And why not? What else is there out here for a woman like me?" + +"That's a hard question. One thing she might find is herself, for +instance." + +She gave a startled laugh and asked: + +"Herself?" + +"The same, ma'am. I s'pose there are folks who live for money and what +it'll bring 'em. Cities must be full of 'em, or there wouldn't be so +many cities. Folks do work pretty hard to make money an' pile it up, +but I've never seen any of 'em that got to be very successful in other +ways. The more money they made the more they seemed to depend on makin' +money to attract attention. They don't seem to think that it ain't what +a man does that really counts so much as what he is. The same goes for +a woman." + +She sat back, brows drawn together. + +"Are you trying to preach to me?" she asked sharply. + +Beck laughed lightly, as though that obvious hurting of her pride +delighted him. + +"Not just, ma'am. Preachers hammer away at folks about sin and such. I +hadn't thought about you as a sinner; I was just considerin' you and +your job; and what you say brought you here. + +"It's none of my business what you want to get out of life. You told me +what you wanted and asked me if I didn't like it, and I don't. That's +all. + +"It seems to me that everybody who's alive ought to want to get the +best out of himself and I don't think you can do it by just tryin' to +herd dollars." He divined in her retort what she was withholding. +"Sure, I'm only an ordinary cowpuncher, ma'am. I don't seem to care +much about any kind of success but I'm afflicted like everybody else: +I'm a human being, and every one of us likes to pick on the faults he +finds in others that correspond to his own faults.... + +"You see, you've got a big chance here. You've got a chance to be +somebody. This is one of the biggest outfits in this state. All this +country out here has been this outfit's range for years. You ain't got +a neighbor in miles because you amount to so much. Away down Coyote +Creek, 'most thirty miles, is Riley's ranch, an' close by him is +Hewitt's. Off west an' south is Pat Webb's who, far as you're +concerned, might better be a good deal further west," dryly. + +"Your uncle an' Riley was the first in here. Why, ma'am, they had to +fight Indians to protect their cattle! They made names for 'emselves. +They made money, too, or at least your uncle did, but he wasn't +respected just because he made money. Men liked him because he +_did_ things. + +"Men will like you if you do things, ma'am.... Perhaps you'll like +yourself better, too." + +He looked into her eyes and their gazes were for the moment very +serious. Jane Hunter was meeting with a new sense of values; Tom Beck +had sensed a faint recklessness, a despair, about her and, behind all +his mockery and lightness, was a warm heart. Then she terminated the +interval of silence by saying rather impatiently: + +"That's all very interesting, but what you said about my needing my +brains and my grit is of greater interest. Do you mean that it's just a +big job naturally or that there are complications?" + +"Both." + +"How much of both?" + +Beck shoved a hand into his pocket and gave his head a skeptical twist. + +"That remains to be seen. It's a man's job to run this place under +favorable conditions. Your uncle, Colonel Hunter, sort of got shiftless +in the last years. He let things slide. I don't know about debts and +such, but I suspect there are some. There are other things, though. +You've got some envious neighbors ... and some that ain't particular +how they make their money,"--with just a shade of emphasis on the last. + +"You mean that they steal?" + +"Plenty, ma'am." + +"But how? Who?" + +"I don't know, but it seems to be gettin' quite the custom here to get +rich off the HC ... especially since the place changed owners." + +"Why at that particular time?" + +"Since it got noised about that a woman was goin' to own it there's +been a lively interest in crime. I told you that your uncle was a man +who was respected a lot. Some feared him, too." + +"And they won't respect me because I'm a woman?" + +"That's about it. It's believed, ma'am, that a woman, 'specially an +Eastern woman, can't make a go of it out here, so what's the use of +givin' her a fair show?" + +He waited for her to speak again but she did not and he added with that +experimental manner: + +"So, maybe, if you want to make money, it'd be well to find a buyer. +Maybe if you was to take an interest in this ranch and did want to be +... to stay in this country, you couldn't make it go." + +"Do you think that's impossible?" + +He waited a moment before saying: + +"I don't know. You don't make a very good start, ma'am." + +"At least you are deliciously frank!" + +"It pays; it does away with misunderstandings. I wouldn't want you to +think--since you've asked me--that I believed you could make a go of +this ranch, even if you wanted to." + +That stung her sharply; she drew her breath in with a slight sound and +leaned quickly forward as if ready to denounce his skepticism, but she +did not speak. + +She only arose impatiently and walked to the mantel. + +"Do you smoke?" she asked, holding out a box of cigarettes. + +"Yes; do you?" + +"Yes." + +In the word was a clear defiance. She struck a match and held it +towards him; then lighted her own cigarette. + +Seated again, she stared into the fire, smoking slowly, but as his eyes +remained fast on her the color crept upward into her cheeks, higher and +brighter until she turned to meet the gaze that was on her and with a +bite to the words asked: + +"You don't approve of this, either?" + +"Why, ma'am, I like to smoke." + +"But you stare at me as though I were committing a crime." + +"You see, you're the first good white woman I've ever seen smoke." + +"You--" She checked the question, looked at him and then eyed her +cigarette critically. + +"I don't suppose women out here do smoke, do they?" + +"No, ma'am; not much." + +"And you men? You men who drink and smoke don't want the women to enjoy +the same privilege?" + +"That appears about it." + +She did not answer. He rose and looked down upon her. One tendril of +her golden hair, like silk in texture, caressed her fine-grained cheek, +delicately contrasted against its alluring color. He would have liked +to press it closer to the skin with his fingers ... quite gently. But +he said: + +"I guess you and I don't understand each other very well, and, if we +don't, it ain't any use in our talking further. As for advisin' you +about your business...." + +Jane blew on her ash. + +"I just tried to show you how to start right, accordin' to my notion, +and if it made you mad I'm sorry. + +"After all, it don't make so much difference what other folks think of +us. It's what we think of ourselves that counts most, but none of us +can get clear away from the other _hombre's_ ideas." + +That twinkle crept back in to his eyes. Her little frame fairly +bristled independence and self-sufficiency; it was in the pert set of +her head, the poise of her square shoulders, the languid swinging of +one small foot. + +"I think that you think a lot of yourself, ma'am. That's more 'n most +folks can say." + +She rose as he reached for his hat. + +"I'm glad to have your opinion on the proportions of my job," she said +briefly, "and for that I am glad that you came in." + +The oblique rebuke could not be misunderstood. + +"I'm complimented," he replied, and, although she looked frankly and +impersonally up at him, she had a quick fear that despite her assurance +this man was leaving her with a strange feeling of inferiority, and +when he went through the doorway into the night she was quite certain +he was smiling merrily. + +She stood until the sound of his footsteps dwindled, then turned to the +table and stood idly caressing the wood. Her fingers encountered +something which she picked up and examined, at first abstractedly. It +was a bit of straw, the one Beck had refused and, which drawn, would +have made him her right hand man. She moved towards the fire to toss it +into the flames; checked herself and, instead, put it between the +covers of a book which lay handy. + +She stood on the stone hearth thinking of what he had said, cigarette +smoke curling up her small hand and delicate wrist. The offended +feeling subsided and, wonderingly, she tried to restimulate it; the +sensation would not return! Of a sudden she felt small and weak and of +little consequence. + +So he doubted, even, that she could be herself! + +She dropped the stub of her cigarette into the fire and, frowning, +reached for another, and tapped its end on the mantel. She struck a +match and put the white cylinder to her lips. Then, quite slowly, she +waved the glare out and tossed the tiny stick into the coals. With a +movement which was so deliberate that it was almost weary she dropped +the unlighted cigarette after it. Slight as was the gesture there was +in it something of finality. + +The coals were dimmed with ash before she moved to walk slowly to the +window and look out. It was cold and still. + +A movement among the cottonwoods attracted her. A man was walking +there, slowly, as one on patrol. She watched him go the length of the +row of trees; then followed his slow progress back, saw him stand +watching the house a moment before he moved on towards the bunkhouse. + +She lay awake for hours that night, partly from a helpless rage and, +later, a rare thrill, a hope, perhaps, kept sleep from her mind. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE NESTER--AND ANOTHER + + +"Now about the men, Miss Hunter," said Hepburn. When he reached this +subject he looked through the deep window far down the creek and had +Jane known him better she might have seen hesitancy with his +deliberation, as though he approached the subject reluctantly. + +"How many will you need?" she asked. + +"Not many yet. Four besides myself. There's seven here now. That is, +there'll be six, because one is pullin' out this mornin' of his own +accord. We'll need more when the round-up starts, but until then--about +June--we can get along. The fewer the better." + +"That will be largely up to you. Of course, I will be consulted." + +"I guess we'll keep Curtis and Oliver. Then there's Two-Bits--" + +"Oh, keep Two-Bits by all means!" she laughed. "I'm in love with him +already!" + +"All right, we'll keep Two-Bits. As for the other, there's a chance to +choose because--" + +"Beck; how about him?" + +Her manner was a bit too casual and she folded a sheet of memoranda +with minute care before her foreman, who eyed her sharply, replied: + +"He's settled that for himself, I guess. He was packin' his war bag +when I come down here. I told him to come to the house for his time." + +"You mean he's leaving?" + +Hepburn nodded. + +"Why?" + +"Well, I guess his nose is out of joint at not bein' picked for +foreman." + +"But he wouldn't even draw. Said he wouldn't take a chance!" + +"I know. He appeared not to give a hang for the job, but he's a funny +man. He an' I never got along any too well. We don't hitch." + +"Is he a good worker?" + +"If he wants to be. He don't say much, but he always.... Why, he always +seems to be laughin' at everybody and everything." + +"I think _I_ could persuade him to want to work for me." + +"Perhaps. But then, too, he's hot tempered. In kind of bad with some of +the boys over trouble he's had." + +"What trouble?" + +"Why, principally because he beat up a man--Sam McKee--on the beef ride +last fall." + +"What for?" + +"Well.... He thought this man was a little rough with his horse." + +"And he whipped him because he had abused a horse? That, it seems to +me, isn't much against him." + +"No; maybe not. He beat him a sight worse than he beat his horse," he +explained, moving uneasily. "Anyhow, he's settled that. Here he comes +now, after his time." + +Jane stepped nearer the window. Beck approached, whistling softly. He +wore leather chaps with a leather fringe and great, silver conchos. A +revolver swung at his hip. His movements were easy and graceful. She +opened the door and, seeing her, he removed his hat. + +"I've come for my time, ma'am," he explained. + +"Won't you come in? Maybe you're not going to go just yet." + +He entered and she thought that as he glanced at Hepburn, who did not +look up, his eyes danced with a flicker of delight. + +"I don't know as I can stay, ma'am. I told your foreman a little while +ago that I'd be going. Somebody's got to go, and it may as well be one +as another." + +"Don't you think my wishes should be consulted?" she asked. + +He twirled his hat, looking at her with a half smile. + +"This is your outfit, ma'am. I should think your wishes ought to go, +but it won't do for you to start in with more trouble than's necessary." + +"But if I want you and Mr. Hepburn wants you, where is the chance for +trouble? You _do_ want him, don't you, Mr. Hepburn?" + +The older man looked up with a forced grin. + +"Bless you, Miss Hunter, yes! Why, Tom, the only reason I thought we +might as well part was because I figured you'd be discontented here." + +"Now! You see, your employer wants you and your foreman wants you. What +more can you ask?" the girl exclaimed, facing Beck. + +"Nothin' much, of course, unless what I think about it might matter." + +Her enthusiasm ebbed and she looked at him, clearly troubled. + +"I am not urging you to stay because I need one more man. It is +essential to have men I can trust. I can trust you. I need you. I ... +I'm quite alone, you know, and I have decided to stay ... if I +_can_ stay." + +She flushed ever so slightly at the indefinable change in his eyes. + +"You told me last night some of the things I must do, which I can't do +wholly alone. I should like very much to have you stay,"--ending with a +girlish simplicity quite unlike her usual manner. + +"Maybe my advice and help ain't what you'd call good," he said. + +"I thought it over when you had gone," she said, "and I came to the +conclusion that it was good advice." Her eyes remained on his, +splendidly frank. + +"Some of us are apt to be disconcerted when we listen to new things; +and, again, when we know that they come sincerely and our pride quits +hurting we're inclined, perhaps, to take a new point of view. I have, +on some things." + +His face sobered in the rare way it had and he said: + +"I'm mighty glad." + +Hepburn had watched them closely, not understanding, and in his usually +amiable face was a cunning speculation. + +"I wouldn't ask you to take a chance against your better judgment. If +you must move on, I'm sorry. But ... I need you." + +With those three words she had ended: I need you. But in them was a +plea, frank, unabashed, and her eyes were filled with it and as he +stood looking down at his hat, evidently undecided, she lifted one hand +in appeal and spoke again in a tone that was low and sweet: + +"Won't you, please?" + +He nodded and said: + +"I'll stay." + +"I'm so glad!" she cried. "And you're glad, aren't you, Mr. Hepburn?" + +The foreman had watched closely, trying to determine just what this all +meant, but not knowing what had gone before, he was mystified. At her +question he forced a show of heavy enthusiasm and said: + +"Bet your life!" Then looking up to see the tall cowboy eyeing him with +that half humorous smile, he rose and said: + +"Now we can start doing business. Tom, Miss Hunter wants a horse, says +she can ride and wants the best we've got, right off, to-day. There's +that bunch that's been ranging in Little Pinon all winter. Guess we'd +better bring 'em down this forenoon and let her pick one." + +They departed. They had little to say to one another in the hours it +required to gather the horses and bring them down, but when they were +within sight of the corrals Hepburn began to speak as though what he +had to say was the result of careful deliberation. + +"I don't want us to have any misunderstandin', Tom. This mornin' I +figured you wanted to move and I don't want any man in the outfit who'd +rather be somewhere else, so long as I'm runnin' it." He shifted his +weight in the saddle and glanced at Beck, who rode looking straight +ahead. "'Course, you and I ain't been pals. I've thought sometimes you +didn't just like me--" + +"I s'pose she'll want a gentle horse," the other broke in. + +"Prob'ly.... + +"You and I can be friends, I know. We can get along--" + +"Look at this outfit!" Beck interrupted again, this time with better +reason. + +Around the bend in the road appeared a queer cavalcade. It was headed +by a pair of ancient mules drawing a covered wagon, on the seat of +which sat a scrawny, discouraged man with drooping lids, mustache and +shoulders. To the wagon were tied three old mares and behind them +trailed a half dozen colts, ranging from one only a few weeks old to a +runty three-year-old. + +These were followed by a score of cattle, mostly cows and yearling +calves, and the rear was brought up by a girl, riding a big brown horse. + +She was young, and yet her face was strangely mature. She wore a hat, +the worse for wear, a red shirt, open at the throat, a riding skirt and +dusty boots. She was slouched easily in the saddle, as one who has +ridden much. + +Tom spurred ahead to prevent their horses from entering a draw which +opened on the road just where they must pass and as he slowed to a walk +and looked back he saw Hepburn making a movement of one hand. That hand +was just dropping to the fork of his saddle but--and he knew that this +may have been purely a product of his imagination--he thought that it +had been lifted in a gesture of warning. + +The foreman halted and the wagon stopped with a creak, as of relief. + +"Just foller on down and swing to the left. Keep right on. You'll pass +the state boundry," Beck heard Hepburn say. + +The wagon started again and Dad joined him. + +"Goin' some place?" Tom asked. + +"Utah. He was askin' the way." + +Just then the girl came within easy talking distance. + +"Goin' far?" Tom asked. + +"Not so very fur," the other replied sullenly and swung a worn quirt +against her boot. + +They rode on after their horses. + +"Nesters," Beck commented grimly. "They're a bad lot to see comin' in." + +"Thank God, they're headed for Utah," Dad replied. + +"Yeah. Utah's a long ways, though. The girl didn't seem to think they +was going so very far." + +The other made no answer and after a moment Beck said: + +"Notice the brand on them cattle? THO? That ain't a good neighbor for +the HC to have.... Unless it's an honest neighbor." + +"Well, they're goin' into Utah," Dad said doggedly. + +"You know, Hepburn, one of the first things I'd do if I was foreman of +this outfit?" Beck asked. + +"What's that?" + +"Take up the water in Devil's Hole. That's the best early feed this +outfit has got, but without water it's worthless. Nesters are comin' +in, which would worry me, if I was foreman. The Colonel had somebody +file on it once, planning to buy when he'd patented the claim. This +party didn't make good, and the matter dropped." + +The other did not reply for a moment, but looked hard at his horse's +ears, as if struggling to control himself. + +"I've already took that up with her," he said sulkily, and stirred in +his saddle. + +"If I wasn't foreman of an outfit, do you know what I'd do? I'd let the +foreman do the worryin'." + +Beck scratched his chin with a concern which surely could not have been +genuine, for he said: + +"Yeah. That's the best way. Only..." + +"Well, you had your chance to be foreman; why didn't you take it?" + +Beck pondered a moment. + +"In the first place I wasn't crazy wild to stay with this outfit, +'cause when I lift my nose in the air and sniff real careful, I can +smell a lot of hell coming this way, and I'm a mighty meek and peaceful +citizen. + +"In the second place, I don't care much about drawing the best job in +the country like I'd draw a prize cake at a church social." + +Hepburn sniffed. + +"You passed it up, though. Now, why don't you pass up worryin' about my +job?" + +Beck did not reply at once, but turned on the other a taunting, +maddening smile. + +"You're right. I passed it up, but there's something that won't let me +pass up the worry. + +"You know what that is,"--nodding toward the distant ranch house. "You +know she's in a jack pot. You heard her tell me she needed good men, +men she could trust, and the good Lord knows that's so. You know I +stayed on because she asked me like she meant it and not because I +fancied the job. + +"I've got a notion that makin' good out here means more to her than +making money; I like her style, and I like to help her sort if I can. +That's why I may do more 'n an ordinary hand's share of worryin'. + +"You know, somebody's got to,"--significantly. + +"What's meant by that, Beck?" Dad asked after a moment and the grit in +his tone told that the insinuation had not missed its mark. + +"If it was so awful hard for you to guess, Hepburn, I don't think you'd +get on the peck so easy. I mean that since she's asked me to stay and +work for her, I'm on the job. Not only with both hands and feet and +what head I've got, but with my eyes and my ears and my heart. + +"I don't want trouble, but if I've got to take trouble on, I'll do it +on the run; you can tie to that! I don't like you, Hepburn; I don't +trust you. Your way ain't my way--No, no, you listen to _me!_" as +the other attempted to interrupt. "A while back you was trying to talk +friendship to me when I'm about as popular with you as fever. I don't +do things in that style. I ain't got a thing on you, but if this was my +ranch I wouldn't want you for my foreman." + +"You mean you think I'd double cross her an--" + +"I don't recall bein' that specific. I just mentioned that I don't +trust you. There's no use in your getting so wrought up over it. I may +be wrong. If I am you'll win. I may be takin' a chance, which is +against my religion, but I'm here to work for this Hunter girl and her +only and it won't be healthy for anybody who is working against her to +bring himself to my notice. + +"I guess we understand each other. Maybe you can get me fired. If so, +that's satisfactory to me. So long as I'm here and working for you, +I'll be the best hand you've got. If you're lookin' for good hands I'll +satisfy you. If you ain't ... we may not get along so well." + +There was a seriousness in his eyes, but behind it was again the +flicker of mockery as though this might not be such a serious matter +after all. + +"We'll see, Beck," Hepburn said with a slow nodding. "We understand +each other. You've covered a lot of territory. Your cards are on the +table. Bet!" + +Tom stroked his horse's withers thoughtfully. He continued to smile, +but the smile was not pleasant. + +When they entered the big gate an automobile was standing before the +bunkhouse and after turning the horses into a corral they dismounted +and walked towards it. + +"Hello, Larry!" exclaimed Hepburn. "What brings you out?" + +"Nothin' much, judgin' by his conversation," replied the man who had +driven the car. + +"Visitor?" + +"Dude. Regular dude from N'Yawk, b' Gosh!" He spat and grinned. "Come +in yesterday and was busier 'n hell all day buzzin' around town. First +thing this a. m. he wants to come here. Great attraction you've got, it +seems." + +"The new boss?" + +"Th' same, indeed! I seen her. Quite a peach, I'll go on record. But +... Th' boys tell me she's going to run this outfit with her own lily +white hands." + +"So she says," replied Dad benevolently. "I think she'll do a good job, +too." + +"Like so much hell, you do! An' I hear you're foreman, Dad. You +figurin' on marryin' the outfit or gettin' rich by honest endeavor?" + +"Sho, Larry! You and your jokes!" the man grumbled good naturedly and +entered the building. + +"Well, if any of you waddies are calculatin' marryin' this filly you've +got to build to her. This dude sure means business. He's found out more +about the HC in one day than I ever knew. Besides, what I knew an' he +didn't he got comin' out. Sure's a devil for obtainin' news. + +"There he is now; see?" + +He gestured toward the ranch house where Jane and the stranger stood on +the veranda, the girl pointing to the great sweep of country which +showed down creek. Then they turned and reentered the house. + +"And so this is yours!" the man laughed. "Yours and your business!" + +"My business, Dick! For the first time I feel as though I had a real +object in living." + +He smiled cynically. + +"Jane, Queen of the Range!" he mocked. + +She did not smile with him, but said soberly: + +"I expect it is funny to you. It must be funny to all the old crowd. I +can hear them, as soon as they know that I have decided to stay here, +the girls at tea, the men in their clubs, talking it over. Jane Hunter, +burying herself in the mountains and _doing_ something, becoming +earnest and serious minded, getting up with the sun and going to bed at +dark! It is strange!" + +"It's too strange for life, Jane," he said, pulling up his trousers +gingerly and sitting on the davenport. He leaned back and smoothed his +sleek hair. "It isn't real. You're going to wake up before long and +find that out. + +"It was absurd enough for you to come here, but this preposterous +notion that you are going to _stay_.... Why, that's beyond words! +What got into you, anyhow?" + +He eyed her closely. + +"I don't know, yet. It's a strange impulse but it's real, the first +real thing that's ever gotten into me, I guess. I know only that ... +except that it is a pleasant sensation. + +"When I left New York I was desperate. I came here to take something +tangible that was mine and go back with it and now I've found out that +the thing I want is nothing that I can see or touch, that I can't take +it away with me. Not for a long time, anyhow. It isn't waiting +ready-made for me; I must create it from the materials that are in my +hands." + +He continued to look at her a thoughtful moment. + +"You've told me a lot about yourself and about this ranch and about +these men who are working for you. You've told me about this country +and, rather vaguely, about your plans. I suspect you don't know much +about them yet," he added parenthetically. "You've not asked a question +about New York, nor why I came." + +She picked a yellowed leaf from a geranium plant and turned to face him. + +"As for New York," she said with a lift of the eyebrows and a quick +tilt of her head, "I don't give a ... damn,"--softly. "As for your +coming, I didn't need ask. When a man has followed a girl wherever she +has gone, to sea, to other countries, for four years, there is nothing +surprising in the fact that he should trail her only two-thirds of the +way across this continent.... + +"But it's no use, Dick. I made up my mind that I would not marry you +before I came here. I tried to convince you of the honesty of my +purpose in my last letter, but perhaps I failed because I wasn't truly +honest with myself then. I thought I was through, but, in reality, I +was only planning a variation of the old way of doing things. + +"Now I'm finished, absolutely, with the rot I've called life!" + +She lifted her chin and shook her head in emphasis. The man laughed. + +"You amuse as much as you thrill me," he said, looking at her hungrily. + +"That's a splendid way to help a fellow: to laugh at the first effort I +make to justify my existence." + +"I want to help you, Jane. I've always wanted to help you. I've put +myself and what I have at your disposal. I've not only done that, but +I've begged and pleaded and schemed to make you take them. You'd never +listen when I talked love to you. + +"You've always seemed to be a peculiarly material-minded girl and I had +to play on that. But when I've talked ease and comfort and luxury to +you, you know that I've meant more than just those things. It's been +love, Jane ... love in every syllable." + +He rose and walked to stand before her. + +"That hurt," she said, with a sharp little laugh. "That ... +materialism. But I believe it was only too true. It had to be, you see. +It was the only thing I could see to live for. There was the one thing +I missed, the thing I had expected to find. It was the thing you talked +about: Love. I wanted love, tried to find love and at twenty-five gave +it up. That's a horrible thing, Dick. Giving that up at twenty-five!" + +"But I have offered you love, continually, for four years." + +"Dick ... oh, Dick! You don't know what that means. You showed that +when you selected your tactics: trying to give me things that I could +taste and touch and see. + +"If it had been love, the real thing, that you felt, you'd have +overwhelmed me with it, you would not have allowed another +consideration to enter, you'd have swept me off my feet with making me +understand that it was love. You wouldn't have talked places and +motors, luxury and aimlessness." + +Her voice shook. She was hurt, bordering on anger. + +"You pass the buck," he retorted evenly. "You've told me, time after +time, that love didn't matter to you." + +"Not the sort you offered. It never could." + +"There's another kind, then?" + +"Somewhere,"--with an emphatic nod. + +"You think you can find the sort you're looking for here?" + +"I don't know. I haven't thought of that yet, but I know there is +something else I can find." + +"And that?" + +"Myself!"--stoutly. + +He threw back his head with a hearty laugh. + +"You talk like a convert, Jane!" + +"I am, Dick. Just that. I've seen the evil of my ways, I have seen the +light; I'm going to try to justify my existence, going to try to stand +for something, to be something, not just a girl with looks or with ... +money. + +"I may miss love entirely, but I have realized, all of a sudden, that +as yet I'm not fit for the love I wanted. Why, I have nothing to give +to a man; I would take all and give nothing. A woman doesn't win a true +love by such a transaction. If I can stand alone, if I can fight my own +battles, if I can overcome obstacles that are as real as the love I +have wanted, then I will be justified in seeking that love.... + +"And there's another consideration: If this thing I have wanted never +does come I have the opportunity of gaining all that you say you could +give me by my own efforts: the comforts, the material things. I +wouldn't be trading myself for them, you see; I'll be winning them with +my hands and what intelligence I may possess." + +"Are you sure of that, Jane? Are you sure that a girl who has never +done a tap of work in her life, who has not even talked business with +business men can come out here and beat this game? Oh, I know what I'm +talking about and you don't. I spent all yesterday in town looking up +this place because your letter was convincing in at least one thing. I +know your enthusiasm, when it's aroused. I know that you'd rush in +where a business prince wouldn't even chance a peek! + +"When men talk about you in town they grin. The bartender grinned when +he told me about you. The banker grinned. The man who drove me out +thought it was a fine joke! These men know; they're not skeptical +because they know you or your past, but they know the job and that +you're a stranger. That's enough. You can't beat another man's game." + +"I can try, can't I?" + +"But what's the use?"--with a gesture of impatience and a set of the +mouth that was far from pleasant. "You're doomed to fail and even if +you should hit on the one chance in a thousand of pulling through, what +would you get? Less than I can give you in the time it takes to sign my +name. You won't let me talk love and you don't seem to have much hope +that you ever will find the love you think you want, so let's put love +aside once more. Come with me, Jane. I'll give you all you could ever +hope to get here and without the cost of the awful effort anything like +success would require. + +"You've been bored, perhaps, and discouraged. You've taken this thing +as a ... a last straw. Won't you listen to reason?" + +"The last straw," she repeated. "Yes, I guess that is it. Dick, do you +know how close I came to letting you do the thing you want to do?" She +put the question sharply. "I'll tell you: Within three hundred dollars! +That's how close. + +"Oh, you don't know the game I've played. No one knows it. You all have +just seen the exterior, the show. You've never been behind the scenes +with me. + +"I never knew my mother. I never knew my father well. I don't know that +he cared much for me after she went; perhaps, though, he was only +afraid to bring up a girl alone. First, it was boarding school, then +finishing school, then a woman companion of the smart sort. Then he +died, and we discovered that his fortune was not what it had been, that +it was a miserable thing for a girl to depend on who had been trained +as I had been trained. + +"You met me soon after I was alone. I fell in with your crowd and they +picked me up. I didn't like them particularly and certainly I didn't +like their life, but it was the only one open for me. We lived hard, +heartless lives, made up of week-ends and dances and cocktails and +greed! + +"Materialism is the right charge! I was steeped in it; all those girls +were. It was the only thing any of us lived for. Girls sold themselves +for material advantage; they loathed it, most of them, but they lied to +themselves and tried to make the rest of us believe it was happiness. +They knew, and we knew what it was and we knew, too, that they were +helpless to do otherwise. + +"Then you came and made love to me on the same crass basis. I liked +you, Dick. I didn't love you. I cared no more for you than I did for +three or four men so I kept putting you off, never actually +discouraging you to a point where you would give up. I was simply +closing my eyes to the inevitable. + +"Now and then we met women, to us strange creatures, who did things. I +never can make anyone understand how inferior I felt beside them. Why, +I remember one little decorator who, because she was young and cheap, +came to do my apartment over. I had her stay for dinner and she was +quite overwhelmed with many things. + +"When she went away I cried from sheer envy ... and she was going down +somewhere into Greenwich Village to sleep in a stuffy little studio. +But she was _doing_ something. I used to feel guilty before my +dressmaker and even my maid. I didn't understand why that was, then; it +was not a sensation produced by reason; by intuition, rather. + +"And then I had to look at things as they were. I paid up everything +and totaled my bank balance. Every source of income I had ever had was +gone and I had left ... three hundred and two dollars. That was on a +Friday, the Friday of our last week-end party at the Hollisters' in +Westchester. + +"You talked to me again that night after we had been playing billiards. +Dick, I had made up my mind to take you up. The words were on my lips; +I was within a breath of telling you that it was a bargain, that I'd +sell myself to you for the things you could buy me.... + +"I don't know why I didn't. Maybe it was this part of me I had never +known until I came here, this part which enthuses so over what lies +before me now, the part that used to envy the girls who did things. We +went back to town and there was a letter for me from this little +frontier law office, telling me I had inherited this ranch. I didn't +sleep a minute. I was sole owner of a big business.... + +"I never can make you understand the relief I experienced! It meant +money and money meant that I could go on in the old way, putting off +the inevitable, blinding myself to what I actually was. + +"That was my motive in coming here: to turn this property into money. +And no sooner had I made the acquaintance of these people than I began +to learn that my point of view had been radically different from +theirs. I had thought that money would give me the thing I wanted, +independence and prestige; but I found that with them, with the best of +them, anyhow, that sort of standing was not considered. + +"The thing that counts out here is being yourself, Dick, in making a +place by your determination, your wits, by impressing people with the +best that is in you. Material things don't count in the mountains; that +is, they don't count primarily. They are nice things to possess but the +possession of them alone does not bring respect ... the respect of +others or self respect. That, I think, is what I want: respect. That is +what I am going to win. The only way I can win it is to establish a +place for myself by my own efforts. These men doubt that I can do it. +You are right, I believe, when you picture the whole country expecting +me to fail. Well, that's an incentive, isn't it, to do my best? That is +what I am here to do! + +"There, there's Book One." Then looking out into the country.... +"There's the rest of the story." + +The man did not reply for an instant but stood frowning at the floor. + +"And when you fail? What then?" + +She laughed almost merrily. + +"Don't say _when_ so positively! But if I should fail, Dick, I +might have to take you up! It might break my faith in myself because +it's a young, immature faith, but it will give me a chance, a few +months of seeing whether I'm of any account. It gives me a hope." + +As she spoke of her alternative a glimmer as of hope passed across the +man's thin, finely moulded face but he did not let her see. He shook +his head and said: + +"After this the first thing I need is a drink." + +"On the sideboard," she answered, "is my stock." + +He walked down the room and examined the bottles, then poured out two +drinks and returned with them. + +"Anyhow, we'll drink to your future, whatever and wherever it may be," +he said, cynical again. + +"That's kind of you, but I'm afraid you'll have to drink alone." + +She put the glass he had handed her on the table. + +"It's the first time I've ever seen you refuse a drink." + +"A record broken! That, like the rest of the old life, all belongs in +Book One." + +"You ... you never thought you used enough to hurt?" + +"No. I'm sure I never used enough to hurt my body. I never thought I +used enough to hurt anything about me ... until last night." + +"What made you change your mind?" + +She was half impelled to pass the question off, then said resolutely: + +"A man came here to talk to me, one of my cowpunchers. I made a +cocktail. He threw it away." + +"Well, that was a devil of a thing to do. Did you fire him, as he +deserved?" + +"No,"--deliberately, tracing a line on a rug with her toe and watching +it critically--"I took his advice. You see, the men out here expect +things from women that no one has ever expected from me before." + +He sneered: "Turned Puritan, Jane? A sweet thing to face, trying to be +other than yourself, confining yourself to the morals of the crowd." + +"Not just that, Dick. There's a sweetness about it, yes. As for morals: +we didn't discuss them at all.... + +"This man said that he supposed some people thought it was smart to +drink. That hit me rather on the head. We were, the smartest people in +New York, weren't we?" + +"Rot!" + +"Perhaps. It interested me, though, when I'd gotten over the first +shock. He said another thing that interested me; he said that I was the +first _good_ white woman he'd ever seen smoke." + +He laughed harshly. + +"At least he did you the honor to think you good." + +"Yes,"--still deliberately,--"and it was a novel sensation. It was the +first time any man had ever appealed to the commonplace thing in me +that we call womanhood. He wasn't preaching. It was a practical matter +with him.... + +"I don't think you'd understand this man, Dick. He takes little things +quite seriously and yet he appears to be laughing at the whole scheme +all the time." + +He put his glass down slowly. + +"Do you mean that one of these roughnecks has been making love to you?" + +"Oh, by no means. I don't think he even likes me and I want him to! +Why, this morning he was going away, was not even going to work for me, +and I had to beg him to stay. + +"Dick, you don't understand! This man is so different from you, from +me, from all of us. Rough, yes, but I don't think he'd try to buy a +woman. And if he should I'm sure he'd be most frank about it; he +wouldn't hide behind words." + +She looked hard at him and though she smiled her words stung him, but +before he could break in she went on: + +"When I sat here having him talk to me last night I had that dreadful +inferior feeling again, felt as though I weren't up to the standard of +good women that these roughnecks hold. I can't explain it to you +because you wouldn't let yourself understand. I was furious for a time, +but he was right, according to his way of thinking. + +"That way is going to be my way,"--with growing firmness. "I'm playing +a new game and I must play it according to the rules. I did more than +make up my mind to leave the drinks and cigarettes alone. I resolved +that I'd try to be worthy in every way of the respect I want these men +to have for me!" + +"Because this Westerner doesn't approve of the way you have lived?" + +"Yes. He knows the rules of the new game." + +"Jane, I'm going to stop this foolishness!" He advanced to her and +caught her hands in his. "I love you, I love you! I'm not going to see +you losing your head this way!" + +She struggled to withdraw her hands. + +"No, I'm going to hold you, going to keep you. I'm--" He drew her to +him roughly, but she slipped from the clasp of his arm and backed +across the room, her hands still imprisoned in his. + +"Dick!" + +It was not her cry which caused him to halt. It was a step outside the +door and, standing there, her hands in his, he met the level, amused +gaze of Tom Beck. + +Jane turned from him and he let her go without attempt to restrain her +further. + +"Ma'am, the horses are here. Your foreman said to tell you." + +His face lost a measure of its lightness as he stood hat in hand, +looking from the man whose face was lined with passion to the girl, +flushed and a bit breathless. + +"Very well.... And thank you. I'll be out soon." + +He stood a moment irresolute, as though he thought his presence might +be needed there. Then turned and walked away. + +"Your help seems rather unceremonious," Hilton remarked. + +"Thanks for that! What if he had seen more? Dick, are you beside +yourself? You call this love?" + +"It proves that it's love," he replied tensely. "You set me wild with +your vagaries, Jane! You--" He checked himself and, with an obvious +effort, smiled. Then went on with voice and manner under control: "You +see, I am much in love with you and losing you for only a little while +puts me a bit off my head. + +"I have wanted you for four years and I'm jealous of the months, even +the weeks. I'm sure, but that doesn't help much." + +"Sure? Of what?" + +"Of you." + +"And why?" + +"Because I know you. You confessed your weaknesses just a moment ago. +You know as well as I that you're without foundation, without +background in this experience. Why, Jane, if you'd been capable of +fighting your own battles, you'd have forced the issue long before it +was necessary, but you are not. You need help, you need the faith of +other people. + +"Why, women like you weren't made to stand alone!" + +"Flattering!" + +"Yes, it is. You were made to be loved, to be protected, to have the +men take the knocks for you, you and all your kind. You were born to +lean and to make the lives of men worth while by leaning on them, never +to attempt to go your own way. You have always done just this and you +have admitted it, here, this afternoon. + +"Your wild wants, your absurd desires.... Everyone has them. That is a +rule of life: wanting to do the thing you are not fitted to do. You can +no more be a business woman than I can fly; you can no more cut +yourself away from your old environment and slip into this than one of +your cowpunchers could fit into my life. + +"Don't you see that you're risking disaster? In your old life you had a +belief in yourself; in this you think you have, but you have not, your +eyes will be opened and when you see that you have failed ... then you +will be a failure, and nothing is so hopeless as that realization. + +"You are weak, and I thank God for that weakness. You know that it is +either this, or me. You are trying this, trying to refuse me, but you +will come back to me just as surely as we stand together in this room. +You may come back without a shred of faith in yourself, but I have +faith in you, in the old Jane, the one I know and love, and I can bring +that back. The future won't be bad; it will be wholly good." + +His words were very gentle, his manner most kindly, but beneath it was +a scarcely detectable hardness, a deliberate, cold determination, and +perhaps it was this which struck a fear into the girl's heart. + +Weak? Surely, she was weak! Always had been weak, never had proved +strength by act or decision until now. And she did not know ... she did +not know.... + +"You are sure that I will come back?" she managed to say naturally +enough. "What if I should fail? Might I not try somewhere else?" + +"You might, if you were another sort. But you won't. And you will fail, +in spite of all you can do, Jane." + +She sensed clearly the harsh strength beneath his smooth manner; his +pronouncement had not been as an opinion; as a verdict, rather, and +ominous in its assurance. + +He picked up his hat and gloves. + +"I know; I know. It is of no use to argue with you. You must learn this +lesson by experience. It is going to be bitter, but I will do all I can +to make what waits beyond take away that taste, Jane. + +"I am not going away. I'm going to stay in this little town. After four +years of waiting and following I can well do that. Your world is there, +Jane, yours for the asking. There are the things you wanted; there is +the love you want if you only will see it." + +He left her then and when he had gone she felt a quick panic come. It +all seemed so absurd, her struggling in the things which held her back; +and his manner left her with a sense that he thought more than he had +spoken, that his assurance was founded well, that he would not be the +tacit waiter he had suggested. She knew his passion for her, she knew +his will and it came to her then that beneath his sleekness he was +ruthless. + +She stared down Coyote creek, not following him with her eyes. + +"The things I have wanted.... Yes," she thought. "But love: is that +anywhere?" + +The sound of the car departing roused her and she watched it go. Then a +commotion in the corral attracted her. She saw horses milling, saw Tom +Beck standing ready, rope in his hand; then, with a dexterous flip of +the loop, a slight, overhand motion, he snared a pinto and braced his +feet against the antics of the animal and held firmly until it had +quieted. + +She watched him go down the rope slowly, hand over hand, with caution +and assurance until he rested his fingers on the nose of the frightened +animal. A forefoot shot out in a lightning stroke at him but he did not +flinch. She saw that he was talking to the horse, gently, quietly, with +the born confidence of the master. + +"Anywhere?" she asked herself again, this time aloud, still watching +Beck. "Why,"--eyes lighting in surprise that was almost +astonishment--"it might be ... _might_ be!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE CHAMPION + + +Beck was still busy with the horses when Jane appeared, bareheaded and +clad in a riding habit. He had separated the unbroken stock from the +horses that had been turned loose for the winter and was playing with +these last, overcoming the shyness that months on the range had +engendered. + +As she stopped at the corral he walked toward her, studying her face. +There was no trace of confusion or embarrassment and for all he could +discern she might have had her mind on horses only since early +forenoon. That puzzled him because, though he was far from certain, he +had felt that the scene which he had interrupted had caused her +distress. Still, he reminded himself, this was not the type of woman he +knew. She was completely strange to him; good margin, that, for coming +to mistaken conclusions. + +"These, ma'am, are the gentle horses," he explained. "I cut 'em out for +you. They're some of the best you've got." + +"They're rough, of course," she remarked after eyeing the animals a +moment and he looked at her sharply because her manner was of one who +is familiar with horses, "but nothing here looks particularly good. Are +these all you brought in?" + +"I cut the rest into the little corral. There's some good ones there, +but they ain't gentle." + +They walked toward the other enclosure and at their approach the colts +gave evidence of alarm. + +"Now that brown horse's been ridden some--" + +"But what about the sorrel?" she broke in as a shapely head with a +white star between the eyes and a flowing forelock tossed back over +delicate ears rose above the mass of backs. + +"Him, ma'am? He's probably the best colt you own; got the makin's of a +fine horse, but he's a bad actor." + +Just then the crowding of the horses broke into a milling and the +sorrel came into full view. A beautiful beast with white stockings +behind, deep chest, high withers, short, straight back. + +"He's a beauty!" she declared. "He has bone and leg. He's gaunt now; +not enough belly, but I suppose that's because he's been on the range. +I like that square hipped sort when you can get its strength without +sacrificing looks." + +"You're acquainted with horses somewhat, I take it." + +"I've ridden some; hunted a little. Can you bring him out?" + +Beck entered the corral and roped the horse. For an instant he +resisted, head flung back and feet securely planted; then he came out +of the bunch on a trot. + +"He knows what a rope is. It don't take an intelligent creature, man or +beast, long to learn." + +The horse stood watching him suspiciously, ready to run if given the +opportunity. + +"Where shall we try him?" Jane asked. + +"In the big corral," he replied and led the sorrel through the gate. + +The colt, closely snubbed, stood trembling while the blanket was put +on; then flinched and breathed loudly as the weight of the saddle was +gently placed on his back. He stepped about and kicked as the cinch was +drawn tight and resisted a long time the efforts of the man to slip a +bit between his teeth. + +Jane stood by watching, her attention divided between admiration of the +man and the horse. The former was assured, gentle, positive in every +move; the latter alarmed, rebellious but recognized the fact that he +was under control. + +"Now, if you'll shorten the stirrups I'll try him," she said. + +"_You_'ll try him, ma'am? Why, this horse ain't been ridden three +times in his life. He'll buck an' buck hard." + +"So much more reason why I should try him. We spoke of reputations last +night; they can only be formed at the cost of knocks. There are many +things I must try to do out here; there are bound to be some that I +can't even try but this is not one." + +"But you--" + +"Must I order you to let me ride him?" + +There was no lightness in the question; she meant business, Beck +realized. And her bruskness delighted him for when he turned to give +the cinch one more hitch--his only reply to her question--he was +smiling merrily. + +It was not much of a ride as western riding goes. Beck blindfolded the +sorrel with the black silk scarf he wore about his neck, helped Jane to +mount, saw that she had both stirrups, took the rope cautiously from +the trembling bronco's neck and, at her nod, drew off the blind. + +For a moment the great colt stood there as if bewildered. Then, with a +grunt and a bound, he bowed his back, hung his head and pitched. + +"Keep his head up! His head!" warned Beck, watching with intense +interest. "Watch him...." + +The horse went straight forward for a half dozen jumps. Erect in the +saddle, sitting too far back, trusting too much to her stirrups, Jane +rode. + +The violence of the lunging jerked her head unmercifully but she had +her balance.... Until he sunfished, with a wrenching movement that +heaved her forward against the fork, dangerously near a fall. + +"Grab it all!" called Beck, not remembering that his injunction to hang +on was as Greek to her. "He--Look out!" + +With a vicious fling of his whole body the sorrel swapped ends and as +he came down, head toward the man, the girl shot into the air, turned +completely over and struck full on her back. + +Beck ran to her, heedless of the horse, which circled at a gallop. She +lay very still with her eyes closed; a smudge of dirt was on her white +cheek. He knelt beside her. + +"Are you hurt, ma'am?" he asked, and when she did not reply raised her +head to his knee. Her body was surprisingly light, surprisingly firm, +as he held it with an arm beneath her shoulders. He was fumbling with +her collar to open it, knuckles against her soft throat, when she +opened her eyes and gasped and coughed. She tried to speak but for a +moment continued to choke; then smiled and said weakly: + +"I didn't ... ride him." + +"But you made a fine try!" he said with more enthusiasm than she had +seen him display. "And I sure _am_ glad you ain't hurt bad!" + +She laughed feebly and he felt her breath on his cheek, for their faces +were very close; he felt his heart leap, too, and helped her up, saying +words of which he was not conscious. + +"I can stand alone," she said after he had steadied her an interval and +reluctantly he took his arm from about her. "I'd like to try him again." + +"But you're not going to, not to-day. I'm giving you that order,"--with +resolution. "I wouldn't want you to be hurt, ma'am. I--" + +He checked himself, realizing that he had become very earnest and that +she was looking straight into his eyes, reading the concern that was +there. + + * * * * * + +There was talk of that ride in the bunkhouse when the men came in. +Jimmy Oliver had seen from a distance and asked Beck for the story. He +related the incident rather lightly and ended: + +"Tried to keep her off him, but only got orders to take orders. If she +breaks her neck tryin' some such tricks, I wouldn't be surprised." + +"She appears to have sand, though," Oliver commented, as though he were +making a concession. + +Others had opinions to pass, briefly, to the point. Those men were not +given to accepting readily a stranger and this stranger, being a woman, +came to them under an added handicap. Where a man, inept and showing +the same courage, might have found himself quietly accepted, Jane's +attempt at riding was not received with noticeable warmth. The +performance was in her favor, and that was about all that could be said. + +A close observer might have noticed that Tom Beck gave attention +whenever another spoke of their new boss, as though deeply interested +in what the men had to say. Yet when he spoke of her, his manner was +rather disparaging. + +Mail had come in that afternoon and, a happening without precedent, +there were two letters for Two-Bits. The man, who could not write and +whose reading was limited to brands, never received mail and before he +arrived there was speculation as to the writer of the one letter. Of +the other there was no mystery because each man of the outfit had +received a similar envelope containing a circular letter from a boot +manufacturer. + +Two-Bits arrived late, riding slowly toward the corral with his eyes on +the ranch house for a possible look at his fair employer. + +"Mail for you, Two-Bits," Curtis remarked casually as he entered. + +The others concealed their interest while Beck handed the letters to +Two-Bits, who stood eyeing them gravely, striving to cover his +surprise. This could not be done, though, for his agitated Adam's apple +gave him away as he stood with a letter in each hand, looking from one +to the other. + +"I'll bet two-bits somebody's dead," he said with concern, then walked +to the window under a growing sense of importance at his deluge of +correspondence. + +He opened the letter which they knew contained the solicitation of the +maker of boots and all watched him as he stood scowling at it for +minutes. He folded the sheet with a sigh and stuffed it, with the other +letter, into his _chap_ pocket and walked thoughtfully to his +bunk, sitting down heavily, elbows on his knees. He shook his head +sorrowfully and made a depreciatory clicking with his tongue. + +"Boys, I always knowed that girl'd turn out a bad one! It's awful.... +An' her mother a lady!" + +For a moment their restraint held and then their laughter cut loose +with a roar. Curtis fell face down on his bunk and laughed until his +entire length shook. Jimmy Oliver gasped for breath, hands across his +stomach, and the others reeled about the floor or leaned against the +walls, weak with mirth. + +"It ain't nothin' to laugh at!" Two-Bits protested, but when he failed +to convince them of the gravity he shammed, he rose and permitted an +abashed grin to distort his freckled face, muttered something about +feeding his horse and walked out. + +It was Saturday evening in a season of light work and the social +diversions of Ute Crossing had called HC riders. Hepburn departed +early and after their horses had eaten Beck and Two-Bits rode out of +the ranch townward bound. Out of sight of the building Two-Bits said: + +"Tom, my eyes ain't very good. I'd like to get you to read this here +other letter for me." + +Beck knew that such confidence was high compliment for Two-Bits was +sensitive over his educational shortcomings, so he took the letter and, +after glancing down the single page, said: + +"This is from the Reverend Azariah Beal." + +"Oh, my gosh! That's my brother! What's the matter with him, Tom?" + +The other read as follows: + + +My dear Brother:--God willing, I shall visit you. I have often been +impelled to renew our fraternal relationships but my various charges +have demanded my sole attention. Now, however, I am on a brief sojourn +in the marts of trade and my interests call me in your direction. I +expect to arrive shortly after you receive this. May the Almighty guard +and bless thee and keep thee safe until our hands meet in the clasp of +brotherly love. + + +"Oh, my gosh!" cried Two-Bits again, Adam's apple leaping and his gray +eyes, usually so mild, alight with enthusiasm. "He's comin' to visit +me. Gosh, Tom, but he's a smart man! Ain't that elegant language? Say, +he's the smartest man in our family an' he's comin' clean from Texas to +see me." + +"How long since you've seen him?" + +"Oh, quite a while. Since I was three years old." + +"And how long ago was that?" + +"You got me. I heard about him. He's a preacher. My, oh my, but +_she_'ll like him. He's smart, like she is." + +His manner was high elation and he spoke breathlessly, and while they +trotted on he chattered in his high voice, eulogizing the virtues of +this brother he had not seen since infancy, regaling the other with +long and vague tales of his accomplishments. Pressed for details he +could not offer them because his knowledge of the relative had come to +him verbally through the devious channels of the cattle country, but +this did not shake his conviction that the Reverend Beal was peerless. + +Tom's mind was not on the extravagant talk of Two-Bits. Curiously, it +persisted in thinking of Jane Hunter. + +Two days before he had thought this girl from the east was a +rattle-brained piece of inconsequence with her selection of a foreman +by the drawing of straws. Now he was not so sure that she did not +possess at least several admirable qualities. He had offended her, +gently bullied her, only last evening; he had sensed the waning of her +own feeling of superiority, had understood that, behind her pique, she +took to heart the things he had said, things which he had said not +because he thought she should know them but because he wanted to see +how she would react to blunt truths. + +She wanted something very badly. Not money; that had been a means. +Perhaps it was that vague thing, Herself, of which he had spoken. He +did not understand, but he liked her determination.... And what was +this other stranger, this man, to her? + +He put his horse into a lope with a queer misgiving. He was taking this +woman seriously! He was saying slighting things about her and yet +hoping that other men would speak about her highly! He had never taken +many things--particularly women--seriously before and his experience +with women had not been meager. It frightened him.... + +They dismounted before the saloon which adjoined the hotel, eased their +cinches and approached the doorway. + +In the shadow of the next building two men were talking and Beck eyed +the figures closely. One, he knew, was Hepburn, and the other, from the +intonation of his cautiously lowered voice, he took to be Pat Webb, the +rancher of whom he had spoken to Jane Hunter, telling her that his +presence in the country was not an asset for her. + +He went inside, rather absorbed. Sam McKee was there, one of Webb's +riders, the one on whom Beck had inflicted terrible punishment for +cruelty to a horse. McKee looked away, a nasty light playing across his +gray eyes, but Beck did not even give him a glance. What was Hepburn +doing in close talk with Webb? he asked himself. For years Webb had +been under suspicion as a thief and a friend of the lawless. Colonel +Hunter had never trusted him, and now the foreman of the HC was +talking with him, secretly.... + +A moment later Hepburn entered and lounged up to the bar and shortly +afterwards Webb came in. He was a small man with sharp features and +bright, button-like eyes which roved restlessly. His skin was mottled, +his lips hard and cruel; his body seemed to be all nerves for he was in +constant motion. + +Webb ordered a drink and glanced about, eyeing Beck and Two-Bits with a +suggestive smile. He drank with a swagger and wiped his lips with a +sharp smack, still smiling as though some unpleasant thought amused him. + +A man at the far end of the bar moved closer to Hepburn. + +"How's the new boss?" he said with a grin, and Hepburn said, in his +benevolent manner, that he believed she would do very well. + +Others, interested, came closer and more questions followed. Then Webb +broke in: + +"I shouldn't think that you HC waddies 'uld be in town nights any +more,"--his glittering eyes on them rather jubilantly. + +The talk stopped, for Webb, unsavory as to reputation, was still a +figure in the country and his manner as he spoke was laden with +significance. + +"How's that, Webb?" Hepburn asked. + +"How's that!" the other mocked. "I've seen her, ain't that enough? +There's only two reasons why men want to come to this hole nights; +one's booze, an' th' other's women. You can carry your booze out home +an'--" + +He went on with his blackguard inference and when he had ended a laugh +went up, a ribald, obscene, barroom laugh. It had reached its height +when Tom Beck, whose eyes had been on Hepburn as Webb gave voice to his +insult, elbowed the foreman from his way and faced the one who had +occasioned that laugh. + +There was in his manner a quality which caught attention like nippers. + +He stood, forcing Webb to look into his threatening face a quiet +instant. Then he spoke: + +"That's a lie!" + +The bantering smile swept from the other's face and his mouth drew down +in a slanting snarl. + +"What's a lie?" + +"What you said is a lie, Webb, an' you're a liar--" + +The smaller man's hand whipped to his holster and Beck, breaking short, +closed on him, fingers like steel gripping the ready wrist. + +"Don't try that with me, you rat!" + +With a steady pull he lifted the resisting hand which gripped the gun +away from the man's side while Webb struggled, cursing as he found +himself unable to resist that strength. + +"Give me that gun!" + +Beck wrenched the weapon free. The group had drawn back and behind him +Sam McKee made a quick movement. Two-Bits, beside him, dropped his hand +to his hip and muttered: + +"Keep out of this!" + +McKee, hate flickering in his face, subsided, without protest, as a +craven will. + +Tom broke the gun and the cartridges scattered on the floor. He closed +it with a snap and sent it spinning down the bar, clear to the far end. +His eyes had not left Webb's face. + +"You're a liar," he said again quietly. "You're a liar and you're going +to tell all the boys here that you're a liar." + +"Don't tell me I lie!"--retreating a step as Beck's body swayed toward +him. + +"You lied," Tom said quietly, though his voice was not just steady. His +hands were clenched and he held them slightly before his body as though +yearning for opportunity to seize upon and injure the other. + +"What is it to you, anyhow, if--" + +"It's this to me, Webb: It makes me want to strangle the foul breath in +your throat! That's what it is to me an' before these boys I will if +you don't swallow your own dirty words just to get their taste. + +"I don't want to be a killer, even over such as you are, but you've got +me mad. We don't know an' nobody else knows how this girl's goin' to +make it in this country, but, by God, Webb, she's goin' to have a fair +chance. There ain't going to be any rotten talk that ain't called for +an' it ain't called for ... yet. + +"I expect I'd get into trouble if I killed you for this. There's just +one chance for me to keep out of trouble, and that's for you to say you +lied!" + +He moved closer as Webb retreated slowly, his spurs ringing ever so +slightly, yet their sound was audible in the stillness. + +"Say it!" he insisted. "Say it, you whelp!" + +Webb's face had gone from red to the color of suet and the blotches +stood sharply out against the pallor. His dirty assurance was beaten +down and before this man he was frightened ... and enraged at his own +fright. + +"Mebby I spoke too quick--" + +"You lied! Nothin' short of that! Say you lied and say it now.... +Quick!" + +He half lurched forward, lifting his eager, vengeful hands, when Webb +relaxed and gave a short, half laugh and said: + +"Have it your own way. I lied, I guess. I didn't mean--" + +"That'll do, Webb. You've said all that's necessary." + +He stood back and dropped his hands limply to his side, eyeing the +other with dying wrath. His gaze then went to Hepburn and clung there a +moment, eloquent of contempt and he might as well have said: "You're +her foreman. Why didn't _you_ take this up?" + +Then he moved to the bar and asked for a drink. Constrained talk arose. +Webb sulkily recovered his gun and stood close to Sam McKee, drinking. +From the doorway which led into the hotel office Dick Hilton turned +back, whistling lowly to himself, a speculative whistle. + + * * * * * + +Tom Beck rode home alone, hours before he had intended to leave town. +Why had he done that? Always he had disliked Webb but why had this +thing roused in him such tremendous rage? he asked as he unsaddled. + +He laughed softly to himself as though he had done something +ridiculous; then he strolled down toward the creek and stood under the +cottonwoods a long interval, watching a lighted chamber window. + +"You're a queer little yellow-head," he said aloud to that window. +"You're the kind that gets men into trouble, but maybe you're ... worth +it, a lot of it." + +He stood for some time, until his wrath had wholly gone and the mood +which sent merriment dancing in his eyes had returned. It had been a +day of understanding: he had broken down the barrier of deceit which +Hepburn had attempted to build, he had come to understand that there +was something strange in the pursuit of Jane Hunter by Dick Hilton, he +had understood that in his employer was at least a physical courage +which was promising, he had humiliated Webb and given the whole country +to understand that there should be no doubting of the new girl's +reputation. + +Of those incidents the only one now giving him concern was the attitude +of the foreman. His suspicion was strong, his evidence wholly +inadequate. + +Tom stood beside his bunk for a time. He had thrown down his gauntlet; +he had taken a chance. He might, from now on, face danger or +humiliation but he experienced a relief at knowledge that so far as he +was concerned there was no longer anything under cover. He did not fear +Hepburn or Webb so far as his own safety went. But there were other +things, he told himself. + +What _was_ up? Just what game would Hepburn play ... if any? And +who was that man from the East? To what was Jane's confusion due that +afternoon? Was it only embarrassment? Only? + +He dozed off and woke with a start. Again he felt the weight of her +body on his arm, again the warmth of her breath on his cheek. He lay +there with his heart hammering, then, with a growl, rolled over and +went to sleep. + +Well he could that night! But other nights were coming when he would +ponder the significance of Hilton, when the cloud which he then saw +vaguely over Jane Hunter's future would be real and appalling, when he +would actually feel her body in his arms, when her warm breath would +mingle with her warm tears on his cheek, when he would hope that death +might come to him as a tribute to her. Oh, yes, Tom Beck could put it +all aside and sleep this night, but there were others coming ... other +nights.... + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE COURTING + + +Jane Hunter was in work up to her trim elbows. She had little time for +anything else. Twice again Dick Hilton came to see her, riding a horse +in the second visit, but his stays were not lengthy ... and not +satisfactory, because the girl had little thought for anything but +ranch affairs. + +For long hours she sat at the desk which she had placed in a bay window +that commanded a superb view of far ridges and pored over records she +had found. She discovered a detailed diary of events for the past ten +years, a voluminous chronicle kept more for the sake of giving +self-expression to the old colonel than for an efficient record, but it +served her well as a key to the fortunes of the property. + +From time to time she sent for one of her men and quizzed him rigidly +on some phase of the work with which he was particularly familiar, +never satisfied until she had learned all that he could teach her. +Every evening Hepburn sat with her and discussed ranch affairs at +length, Jane forcing him into argument to defend his statements. + +While with the girl Dad maintained his paternal, patronizing attitude, +yet he was not content, as was evident from the moroseness which he +displayed before the men. He had been stripped of initiative until his +authority was reduced to executing orders; this, despite the fact that +Jane depended on him for most of her information. + +Beck watched the foreman's attitude carefully. Hepburn was chagrined, +yet dogged, as though staying on and accepting the situation for +definite purpose. It had been decided after Jane had argued away +Hepburn's objections that Beck was to have a free hand with the horses, +gathering the saddle stock and getting it in shape for the summer's +work, breaking young horses, watching the mares and colts. This made it +unnecessary for Beck to look to the older man for detailed orders and +delayed the clashes which were bound to come between them. + +Jane's approach to her responsibilities was considered admirable by the +men, but it occasioned little comment. Their judgment of her was still +suspended; that is, with the exception of Two-Bits. Her first look had +won him without reservation. + +"She's smart!" he declared at frequent intervals. "She's the smartest +girl I've ever seen ... an' the loveliest!" The last with a drop in the +voice which provoked laughter. + +Once he said to Beck: + +"My gosh, Tommy, how'd you like to have wife like her?" + +The other smiled cryptically. + +"Now you're gettin' into a profound subject," he said. "It ain't wise +to pick out a wife like you'd pick out a horse. There ain't much can +fool a man who knows horses when he looks one over careful-like, but +there's a lot about women that you can't know by lookin' 'em over and +watching 'em step." + +He was watching Jane "step" and though he still was the first to listen +when others spoke of her qualities his manner toward her was the least +flattering of any. + +After she had ridden the sorrel twice, each time accompanied by Beck or +Hepburn she sent Two-Bits to saddle him. + +"What you doing with that horse?" Beck asked, looking up from the hoof +of a colt which he pared gently to reveal some hidden infection. + +"She wants him to ride," the cowboy explained. + +"Goin' alone?" + +"Guess so." + +"Then take that saddle off and put it on the little pinto." + +"But she said to--" + +"Makes no difference. You take it off or I'll make you look like two +bits, Mex!" + +On finding her order miscarried Jane demanded explanation. + +"Tommy, he told me," Two-Bits said, uneasily. + +"But I ordered the sorrel--" + +"And I told Two-Bits to give you this paint, ma'am," Beck said, the +foot of the colt still between his knees. + +"And why?"--with a show of spirit. + +"Because you ain't up to him yet and he ain't down to you. If somebody +was with you, it'd be different. You can't ride him alone, ma'am." + +She gave her head an indignant toss and was about to demand the +execution of her plan but he turned back to his work, talking gently to +the animal. Then with a grudgingly resigned sigh she walked toward the +pinto, for there was something about Beck that precluded argument. + +Again she told him of a contemplated visit to the ranches further down +the creek. + +"Why, ma'am?" he asked. + +"There are many things to talk over, plans for the summer's work and +the like. Besides, I want to become acquainted." + +He smiled and said: + +"That last is fine, but I guess you'd better wait for the rest." + +"Wait? What for?" + +"Until you know, ma'am. You see, you've only been here a little while; +you've learned a lot, but you don't know enough to talk business with +anybody yet. It won't be good for you to go talking about something you +don't understand." + +"I think I am capable of judging that," she said bruskly. "I will go." + +But she did not. She had intended to go the next day but as she lay +awake that morning she told herself that he had been right, she did not +know enough about her affairs to discuss her relationships with +neighbors intelligently. She still smarted from his frankness, but the +hurt was leavened by a feeling that behind his presumption had been +thought of her own welfare. + +She tired quickly in the first days that she rode and once, remarking +on it, she drew this advice from Beck: + +"You'd do a lot better without corsets." + +Simply, bluntly, impersonally and with so much assurance that she could +not even reply. His observation had smacked of no disagreeable +intimacy. She had told him that she tired; he had given her his idea of +the cause. + +She took off her corsets. + +A day of cold rain came on; at noon the downpour abated for a time and +Jane asked Hepburn to ride down the creek with her to look over land +that was to be cleared and irrigated. + +"Have you got a slicker, ma'am?" Beck asked when she requested that a +horse be saddled. + +She had none. + +"There ain't an extra one on the place," he said, "so I guess you'd +better not go." + +"But the rain is over. Anyhow, what hurt will a wetting do?" + +"I don't guess the rain's all over," he said. "And to get wet and cold +ain't a good thing for anybody; it'd be a mighty bad thing for you. +You're a city woman; you can't do these things yet." + +An exasperating sense of inferiority came over her, bringing a helpless +sort of rage. This man was not even her foreman and yet he brought her +up short, time after time. She started to tell him so, but changed her +mind. Also, she changed her plans for the day. + +He was not rough, not obtrusive in any of this. Just frank and simple, +and when she bridled under it all she saw that twinkle creep into his +eye, as though she were a child and her spirit amused him! + +But she did more than amuse. She could not see, she could not know; +nights he roused from sleep and lay awake trying to fathom the +sensations he experienced; days he rode without sufficient thought for +the work that was before him. At times he was impelled to be irritable +toward her and this because his stronger impulse was to be gentle! + +He did not want to care for this woman and he found himself caring in +spite of himself! He rode to town and spent an evening with a waitress +from the hotel, taking her to a picture show, paying her broad +compliments, seeing her pride rise because of his attentions, and he +rode home before daylight, disgusted with himself. His life was being +reshaped, his tastes, his desires. His caution against taking chances +was being beaten down. + +She commenced to ride with him regularly and these rides grew longer as +she found her body becoming toughened and her endurance greater until +they were together many hours each day, until, in fact, escorting her +had become Beck's job. The ostensible purpose of this was to learn the +country and the manner of range work but though she did learn rapidly +their talk was largely personal. Beck was not responsive and the more +reserved he became the greater Jane's efforts to force him to talk of +himself. + +These efforts netted her little and after a time she gave up, +tentatively, and adopted other means of winning his confidence. + +Once she helped him gather a bunch of horses that had not been corraled +for seasons. The way led down a steep point and Jane was ahead, holding +up the bunch while Beck crowded them from behind. She took the descent +with a degree of hesitation for the going--so steep that she was forced +to clamp a hand behind her cantle to retain a seat--chilled her with +fear. On the level she fanned the sorrel and kept ahead of the horses +until she could lead them safely into a corral. + +The gate closed, Jane looked at Beck with sparkling eyes, expecting a +word of reward, but he only said: + +"You've got to keep goin' with horses. The country's all got to look +level to you. You slowed up bustin' off that point." + +The rebuke hurt her ... and stimulated her ambition. + +He taught her to use a rifle and she brought down her first deer, a +yearling buck, at long range. + +"I told you to hold just behind his shoulder; see where you hit," he +said, indicating the wound, a hand's breadth too far back. + +She shot with his revolver and he told her that she would never learn +to use the weapon. She bade him teach her the rudiments of roping and +he decried the woman movements of arms and body. + +In all this he was quick to criticise, niggardly of praise; ready to +teach, reluctant to grant progress. + +She was resentful but her resentment was no match for her +determination. Now and then his rebukes whipped flushes to her cheeks +and more than once she left him with tears standing in her eyes, only +to tell herself aloud that she _would_ make him acknowledge her +accomplishments.... + +Once, riding on alone after Jane had turned back toward the ranch Beck +encountered Sam McKee. The man had dismounted and was recinching when +Tom passed him. He looked up with that baleful expression, as though he +was impelled to do the HC rider great harm and held back only by his +cowardice. When Tom had passed McKee mounted and before he started on +his way he turned to shout over his shoulder: + +"Chaperone!" + +In it he put all that contempt which small, timid boys put into their +shouted taunts. + +Beck was not angered but that gave him something to think about. + +Another time as, on his roan, he led the sorrel toward the gate to the +houseyard he saw Hepburn smiling at him with scornful humour and when +the foreman saw that Beck had seen he said: + +"A regular chaperone, ain't you?" + +Tom did not reply though it roiled him. He thought about the remark at +length but the thing which interested him was that Hepburn had used the +same word that McKee had used.... Was that, he asked himself, mere +chance? + +They had ridden far to the eastward one afternoon and returning long +after dark Jane made a meal herself and they ate together at her table. +Beck was noticeably restrained and when finished hastened to leave. + +"Can't you sit and talk with me a while?" she asked. + +"I could, ma'am, but is it necessary?" + +"Not necessary to the business, perhaps, but it might mean a pleasant +evening for me." + +He gave her steady gaze for steady gaze and then said: + +"Anybody would think you were courtin' me, ma'am." + +She laughed easily, yet her gaze wavered. She asked: + +"And what if I should be?" + +This disconcerted him but he replied: + +"It's likely I'd quit." + +"I'm ... wholly distasteful to you, then?" + +"If I was to say yes, it'd hurt your feelings, needless. So I won't. I +don't mind tellin' you, though, that the country is calling me your +chaperone." + +"And does what people say worry you?" + +"Not when they talk about something that I'm responsible for. I didn't +hire out as a ... a companion, ma'am." + +She stepped closer, hands behind her and said: + +"The first time you talked to me at any length you had a great deal to +say about respect. No one had ever talked to me as you did. I took it +because it was true ... and I respected you. + +"Since that time I have been trying to be worthy of the respect of you +men; of yours particularly because you are the only one with whom I +have talked so frankly about myself. But at every turn you repulse me, +drive me back. Nothing that I do seems to be pleasing to you. You pick +on me, Tom Beck! Why do you do it?" + +He eyed her calculatingly. + +"What would you think if I told you that it was because I don't like +you?" + +"I would think it was not the truth." + +He flushed and this time his eyes fell from hers. + +"I would think just that, but I might be wrong." She breathed rapidly, +one hand on a gold locket that was at her throat. "I might think that +you fear that becoming my friend would be taking a chance ... but I +might not want to think that. + +"You were the first man who ever dared tell me just how little I have +amounted to. You are the first individual that ever made me feel +ashamed of myself. You did those things; you opened my eyes, you showed +me what real achievement is. + +"Now I'm fighting for a place. I have won one thing: my self respect. +Now I'm going to win another: the respect of other people and if I can +win their respect I can win their friendship. + +"I may be overconfident. Time will prove that. But there is one thing I +want, Tom Beck, and that is your friendship. Before I get through, and +if I succeed, you are going to be glad to be my ... friend!" + +There was challenge in her tone, which, withal its assurance, was sweet +and gentle, almost appealing; and that combination of qualities +indicated that her words did not express her whole thought. It steeled +him and with that mocking twinkle again he said: + +"You seem quite sure, ma'am." + +"As sure as I have ever been of anything in my life!" + +But her assurance did not compare with her desire, for when he had gone +she was seized with the fear that she had said too much, had gone too +far. And that which she had boasted would be hers was to Jane Hunter a +precious possession. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +OUTCASTS + + +At sunset a girl rider descended from the uplands into the shadows of +Devil's Hole. The big brown which carried her picked his way slowly +down the treacherous trail, nose low, ears forward, selecting his +footing with care. + +The girl sat braced back in her saddle. Her face was dark, eyes filled +with a brooding, but the mouth though sternly set showed a rueful droop +at the corners. + +Her mind was not on her progress. She was lost in a very definite +consideration, something which stirred resentment, it was evident from +her face. Finally she drew a sharp deep breath of impatience. + +"Oh, get along, you dromedary!" she muttered and rowelled her horse +sharply. + +The big beast sprang forward with a grunt and went down the trail in +long, shaking bounds, even more intent on his footing than before and +when they reached the level he crashed through the brush at a high +lope, leaping little washes with great lunges and bearing his light +rider swiftly toward the cabin from which a whisp of smoke curled. + +The discouraged looking man stood before the doorway watching her come +and as the girl swung down, before the horse was well halted, she +flashed a quick smile at him. + +"I heerd you comin', daughter, away back thar. I shore thought the +devil himself might 've been after you!" + +He smiled wanly. + +"I seen her again," the girl said as she dragged her saddle off. + +The man pulled languidly at his mustache. + +"She see you?" + +"No. I set under a juniper and watched 'em ... her an' that Beck man." + +"Mebby if you was to talk to her an' get friendly--" + +"I don't want to be no friends with her! I hate her already!" + +She spat out the words and her face was a storm of dislike. + +"What I meant ... mebby 't would be easier for us if you played like +you was friends. Then she mightn't suspect." + +She rolled her saddle to its side and spread the blanket over it. + +"No. I can't do things that-a way, Alf,"--with a slow shake of her +head. "Mebby 't would get us more ... but there's somethin' in me, in +here,"--a palm to her breast--"that won't let me. I can steal her blind +an' only be glad about it, but I couldn't make up like I was her friend +while I done it." + +"Mebby ... mebby you would sure enough like her," he persisted. "You +ain't never had no friends--" + +"I'd never like her, not while we're this way,"--with a gesture to +include the litter about the cabin. "She's got all that I want. She's +had all the things I've never had. She's got clothes, lots of pretty +clothes; she's lived in towns an's always had things easy. She's got +friends and folks to respect her. You can tell that by lookin' at +her.... + +"What makes me that way, Alf? What makes me hate folks that have got +the things I want?" + +He pulled on his mustache again and scanned the scarlet sky which rose +above the purple heights to the westward. He shook his head rather +helplessly and then looked at the girl who stood before him, the +eagerness of her query showing in her eyes with an intensity that was +almost desperate. + +"Mebby you get it from me. I've had it ... always. That's all I have +had ... that an' hard luck." + +"But I don't like it!" she said and in the tone was something of the +spirit of a bewildered little girl. "I'd like to be like other girls. +I'd like to have friends ... girl friends, but the more I want 'em, the +more I hate those that have 'em! + +"What's the matter with me, Alf?" + +"The same thing that's the matter with me, daughter: hard luck. I've +wanted things so bad that not hevin' 'em has soured me. I've watched +other outfits grow big an' rich an' nothin' like that has ever come my +way. The bigger the rest got, the harder 't was for me to get along ... +an' the worse I hated 'em!" + +There was no iron in his voice; just the whine of a weakling, +dispirited to a point where his resentment at ill fortune, even, was a +passive thing. + +"Why, she's got a fine house to live in, an' I'll bet she always had. +She's never knowed what it was to set out a norther in a wagon. She's +never lived on buckskin an' frozen spuds all winter. She's never been +chased from one place to another.... + +"Folks respect her for what she's got. Why don't folks get respected +for just what they are?" + +There was pathos in that query. + +The man answered: + +"It ain't what you are that matters, daughter. It's what you own." + +"You've always said that, ever since I can remember. Mebby if you +hadn't said it so much, Alf, I wouldn't feel like I do." + +He shifted his footing uneasily and looked again at the flaring sky. + +"Well, it's so," he whined. "You'd have found it out yourself. I've +brung you up the best I knowed how." + +"Oh, Alf! I didn't mean I was finding fault! Damned if you _ain't_ +brought me up good! Why, you're the only friend I got Alf! What'd I do +without you? You're the only one I've ever knowed ... real well. You're +the only one who's ever been good to me!" She put her hands on his +shoulders and looked into his face with a smile of genuine affection. +"Good old Alf! We've been pals, ain't we?" + +He nodded, and said: + +"An' if you stick to me a little mite longer, you'll have enough. + +"You're brighter'n I be, daughter. You got a longer head. Now's your +chanct to use it!" He looked about, somewhat nervously, as if they +might be overheard. "Sometimes I get afeerd. Lately, since we've come +here, I've been afeerd. It's the only time I ever let anybody else know +what my plans was an' it makes me feel creepy to think somebody else +_knows!_" + +"'Fraid of what, Alf?" she asked. + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"Gettin' caught again, an'--" + +"Oh, but you won't! You can't. Alf, you can't get caught an' sent to +jail an' leave me alone again!" + +She spoke in a whisper and gripped her fist for emphasis. + +"I shore don't want to leave you, daughter. I shore don't want to get +catched. That's where you come in ... helpin' me scheme! I ain't afeerd +of havin' 'em come up on me an' git me red-handed so much as I am of +havin' somebody else know what's goin' on." + +"But he sent for us. He told us the outfit was goin' to be owned by a +tenderfoot. He's as much in danger as we, ain't he?" + +Her father nodded slowly. + +"You're right ... in a way, but if it ever come to a show-down, I'd be +the one to hold th' bag, wouldn't I? That's what we got to watch out +for. 'Course, it's easy pickin', with this gal tryin' to run things +herself, an' what with her brand workin' over into ourn so easy, there +ain't many chances.... Except havin' somebody else to know." + +"If anybody ever was to double cross you, Alf, I'd get 'em if it was +the last thing I done!" + +That threat carried conviction and her father looked at her with a rare +brand of admiration in his eyes. + +"Lord, daughter, sometimes I think you was meant to be a man ... an' a +hard man! Sometimes you almost scare me, th' way you say things!" + +She made no reply and he said: + +"All we got to do is go slow. A brandin' iron has built many a fortune, +an' nobody ever had it any easier 'n us." + +"Do you think we'll ever get rich enough, Alf, to have a regular house? +An' be respected by folks?" + +"Luck's bound to change sometime," he muttered. "Ours has been bad a +long time ... a long, long time." + +He gathered an arm load of wood and entered the cabin. The girl stood +alone a long time, watching the brilliant flowering of the sky sink +slowly into the west, drawing steely night to cover its garden. A sharp +star bored its way through the failing light and stood half way between +earth and heaven. A vagrant breeze slid down the creek, bringing with +it the breath of sage, and afar off somewhere a cow bawled plaintively. + +"She has 'em," she muttered to herself. "Friends ... an' respect ... +an' everything I want.... + +"I wonder what makes me hate folks so...." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE CATAMOUNT + + +Three weeks after her arrival Jane made her first trip to town and Beck +drove the pair of strong bays which swirled their buckboard over the +road at a spanking trot. + +Events had arisen to prevent their being together in the days +immediately following the frank discussion of their attitudes toward +one another and Jane thought that she detected a feeling of curiosity +in him, as though he wondered just how she would go about forcing him +to like her. Shrewdly, she avoided personalities and talked much of the +ranch. + +When they broke over the divide and began the long drop into town, he +said: + +"Since you asked advice from me, I keep thinkin' up more, ma'am." + +"That's nice. I need it. What now?" + +"I s'pose Dad mentioned that water in Devil's Hole?" + +"Why, I don't recall it. We've talked so much and about so many things +that perhaps it's slipped my mind." + +"Maybe. He said he had." + +She questioned him further but he said it might be well for her to +mention it to Hepburn. "He's foreman, you know." + +They swung into the one street of Ute Crossing and stopped before the +bank. As Beck stepped down to tie the team a girl came out of a store +across the way and vaulted into the saddle on a big brown horse with +graceful ease. It was the nester's daughter. + +Two men came from the saloon just as she reined her horse about. They +eyed her insolently with that stare of a type of loafer which is +eloquent of all that is despicable and one of them, a short, stodgy +man, smiled brazenly. + +The girl gave them one stare, hostility in her brown eyes, and then +looked away, her lips moving in an unheard word, surely of contempt. + +Then the man spoke. It is not well to repeat. His words were few, but +they were ugly. The girl had touched her horse with a spur and he +leaped forward. Just that one bound. As he made it the man spoke and +with a wrench she set the brown back on his haunches and whirled him +about. Her face was suddenly white, her lips in a tight, red line, and +her eyes blazed. + +She rode back to the men, who had continued on their way, holding her +horse to a mincing trot, for he seemed to have caught the tensity of +her mood. + +"Did I hear you right?" she said to the man who had spoken. + +He stood still and looked up with the rude leer. + +"That depends on your ears, likely. All I said was that you--" + +She did not give him time to repeat. Her right arm flashed up and the +quirt, slung to its wrist, hissed angrily as it cut back and with a +stinging crack wound its thong about the man's face. + +"Take that!" she cried. "And that ... and that!" + +At the first blow the man ducked and turned, throwing up his hands to +guard, and as other slashes, relentless, rapid, of scourging vigor, +fell upon his head and face and neck, he doubled over and ran for the +shelter of a store. But the girl's wrath was not satisfied. She sent +the big horse from street to sidewalk where his hoofs thundered on the +planks, crowded in between her quarry and the building fronts, cutting +off his flight, striking faster, harder, teeth showing now between her +drawn lips. + +The man fled into the street again, but she followed, guiding her horse +without conscious thought, surely, for no woman roused as her face +showed she was roused could have had thought for other than the +thrashing she administered. Endangered by the excited hoofs which were +all about him as he ducked and dodged in vain to escape, the man ran +with hands and arms close about his head, moving them with each blow +that fell in futile attempts to save other parts from the cut and smart +of that rawhide. + +The girl uttered no word. All the rancor, all the rage he had roused by +his insult, found vent in the whipping. Her whole lithe torso moved +with each stroke as she put into the downward swing all the strength +she could command, and across the man's cheek rose broad red welts, +contrasting with his pallor of fright, until his face looked like a +fancy berry pie. + +Scuttling, dodging, doubling, the man worked across the street, turned +back time and again but persisting until, with a cry of pain and +desperation, he threw out one hand, caught the bridle and in the +instant's respite the move gave him stumbled to the other sidewalk, +across it and sprawled through the swinging doors of the saloon he had +left moments before. + +The horse came to a halt with a slam against the flimsy front of the +building. The girl drew back her quirt as for a final blow, but the +man, regaining his feet, fled through the bar room and disappeared. She +dropped her hand to the top of the door, pushed it open and held it so, +peering darkly into the room. + +People had come into the street to watch. There had been excited shouts +and a scream or two, but as the girl sat looking into the place a quick +silence shut down and when she spoke her voice, trembling with emotion +but scarcely raised above its normal pitch, was easily heard. + +"I've took a lot from men," she said, "ever since I was a kid. When I +come into this country I thought maybe I'd get a little respect ... for +bein' just a girl. I didn't get it ... I've got to take it. + +"If that man's a sample of the kind you've got here, you're a nest of +skunks. And you talk easy hereafter, every one of you, because so long +as I've got a quirt and an arm, I'll hide you till you're raw if you +make any breaks like he did. Keep that in mind!" + +She released her hold on the door; it swung outward smartly and as it +struck the horse he sprang sideways, wheeled, and clearing the shallow +gutter with a lunge, swung down the street at a gallop. + +When she passed Jane Hunter, who stood amazed in her buckboard, tears +showed in the girl's eyes, but her back was as erect, her shoulders as +trimly set as though no great emotion was surging in her heart. + +"She's quite a catamount, I'll guess," said Tom Beck as he gave the +knot in the tie rope a securing tug and turned to face Jane. + +His eyes were fired with admiration. + +"But a girl--" + +"She was magnificent!" + +It was Dick Hilton who had interrupted with the words. Beck looked at +him and the enthusiasm which had been in his face faded. He eyed the +Easterner briefly and turned to adjust a buckle on the harness. + +"And only a girl!" exclaimed Jane under her breath. "Dick, did you see +it all?" + +"A typical Western girl, I should say," he replied. "Your.... Your +neighbor and associate? Your companion, Jane?" he asked. "The sort you +want to cast your lot with?" + +"And a moment ago you thought her magnificent!" she taunted as she +stepped down and offered him her hand. + +"I'll meet you in, say, two hours, ma'am," Beck said. + +"Very well; right here," she replied, and he left her as she turned to +meet Hilton's unpleasant smile. + + * * * * * + +They began the return trip shortly after noon. Hilton had been with +Jane when Tom returned and he stood beside the buckboard talking some +minutes after Beck had picked up the reins and was ready to commence +the drive. Occasionally Dick's eyes wandered from Jane to the other +man's face but Tom sat, knees crossed, idly toying with the whip, as +indifferent to what was being said as if the others were out of sight +and hearing. Hilton made an obvious effort to exclude the Westerner but +Beck's disregard of him was as genuine as it was evident. He sat +patiently, with an easy sense of superiority and the contrast was not +lost on Jane Hunter. + +The town was far behind and below them, a mere cluster of miniature +buildings, before either spoke. Then it was Jane. + +"That girl.... There was something splendid about her, wasn't there?" + +"There was," he agreed. "She sure expressed her opinion of men in +general!" + +"A newcomer, evidently." + +Beck nodded. "Came in soon after you did, with her father, it looked +like." + +"And she wins the respect of strange men by blows!" she said. + +"He deserved all he got, didn't he?" Beck asked, smiling. "I like to +see a bad _hombre_ like that get set down by a woman. There's +something humiliating about it that counts a lot more than the whippin' +she gave him." + +"But wouldn't it have spoken more for the chivalry of the country if +some man had done it for her?" + +"That's likely. But there ain't much chivalry here, ma'am." + +"And am I so fortunate as to have enjoyed the protection of what little +there is?" + +He looked at her blankly. + +"I had to come clear to Ute Crossing to learn how one man defended me +from the insult of another." + +He stirred uneasily on the seat. + +"That was nothin'," he growled. "I'd been waiting for a chance to land +on Webb for a long time." + +He did not look at her and his manner had none of its usual bluntness; +clearly he was evasive and, more, uncomfortable. + +"First, I want to thank you," Jane said after she had looked at him a +moment. "You don't know how a woman such as I am can feel about a thing +like that. I think it was the finest thing a man has ever done for me +... and many men have been trying to do fine things for me for a long +time." + +She was deeply touched and her voice was not just steady but when Beck +did not answer, just looked straight ahead with his tell-tale flush +deepening, a delight crept into her eyes and the corners of her pretty +mouth quirked. + +"Besides, it was a great deal to expect of a man who has made up his +mind not to like me!" + +They had topped the divide and the sorrels had been fighting the bits. +As she spoke Tom gave them their heads and the team swept the buckboard +forward with a banging and clatter that would have drowned words +anyhow, but the fact that he did not reply gave Jane a feeling of +jubilation. Her thrust had pricked his reserve, showing it to be not +wholly genuine! + +Dick Hilton had told her of the encounter Beck had had with Webb, told +it jeeringly as he attempted to impress her with the distasteful phases +of her environment. He had failed in that. He had impressed her only +with the fact that Tom Beck had gone out of his way, had taken a +chance, to protect her standing. Others of her men had heard her +insulted, men from other ranches had been there, but of them all Beck +had been her champion. + +And it was Beck who had bullied her, had doubted her in the face of her +best efforts to convince him of fitness! He had even challenged her to +make herself his friend! + +She had believed before she came into those hills that she knew men of +all sorts but now she had found something new. Here was a man who, in +her presence, would plot to humiliate her and yet when she could not +see or hear his loyalty and his belief in her were outstanding. + +And what was it, she asked herself, that made her pulse leap and her +throat tighten? It was not wholly gratitude. It was not merely because +he resisted her efforts to win his open regard. Those things were +potent influences, surely, but there was something more fundamental +about him, a basic quality which she had not before encountered in men; +she could not analyze it but daily she had sensed its growing strength. +Now she felt it ... felt, but could not identify. + +Two-Bits opened the gate for them and Tom carried her bundles into the +house. + +At the corral, as Beck unharnessed, the homely cow puncher said: + +"Gosh, Tommy, how'd it seem, ridin' all the way to town an' back with +her settin' up beside you?" + +"Just about like you was there, Two-Bits, only we didn't swear quite so +much." + +"I got lots of respect for you, Tommy, but I think you're a damned +liar." + +And Beck chuckled to himself as though, perhaps, the other had been +right. + +"Two weeks now since he wrote," Two-Bits sighed. "He shore ought to be +comin'. Gosh, Tom, but he's a bright man!" + +Again that night Jane Hunter looked from a window after the lights in +the bunk house had gone out and the place was quiet, to see a tall, +silent figure move slowly beneath the cottonwoods, watching the house, +pausing at times as if listening. Then it went back through the shadows +more rapidly, as though satisfied that all was well. + +Many times she had watched this but tonight it seemed of greater +significance than ever before. He denied her his friendship; he had +made Webb his sworn enemy by defending her (she had not told him that +part of the tale she heard in Ute Crossing) and yet disclaimed any +great interest in her as a motive. Still, he patrolled her dooryard at +night! + +A sudden impulse to do something that would _make_ him give her +that consideration in her presence which he gave before others came to +life. His attitude suddenly angered her beyond reason and she felt her +body shaking as tears sprang into her eyes. The great thing which she +desired was just there, just out of reach and the fact exasperated her, +grew, became a fever until, on her knees at the window, hammering the +sill with her fists, she cried: + +"Tom Beck you're going to love me!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +AND NOW, THE CLERGY + + +Two-bits was the last into the bunkhouse the following evening. He had +ridden his Nigger horse in from the westward hills and had not come +through the big gate so not until he stepped across the threshold were +the others aware of his presence. + +"Here he is!" said a rider from down the creek who was stopping for the +night and the group in the center of the low room broke apart. + +"Two-Bits, here's your brother," said Curtis. + +A small man stood beside him. He wore a green, battered derby hat, band +and binding of which were sadly frayed. He wore spectacles, steel +rimmed, over searching gray eyes. He was unshaven. A celluloid collar, +buttoned behind, made an overly large cylinder for his wrinkled neck. +He wore a frock coat, also green with age, the pockets of which bulged +and sagged and their torn corners spoke of long overloading. His +overalls, patched and newly washed, were tucked into boots with +run-down heels. In his hand he held a fountain pen. + +At the entrance of Two-Bits all talk had ceased; at Curtis' +introduction, Two-Bits stopped. He swallowed, setting his Adam's apple +in sharp vibration. He took off his hat. He flushed and his mild eyes +wavered. Then he advanced across the room, extending a limp hand and +said in a thin, embarrassed voice: + +"Please to meet you, Mister Beal." + +Tom Beck bit his lips but one or two of the others laughed outright; +they ceased, however, when the Reverend Beal, in a voice that was +tremendously deep and impressive for such a small man, said: + +"My brother, I extend to you the right hand of fellowship! It is a deed +of God that enables me to look once more into your beloved face after +these years of separation. Give me your hand, brother. May the +blessings of Heaven descend upon and abide with thee!" + +He shook Two-Bits' paw, looking up earnestly into his face, while the +blushing became more furious. + +"Marvelous are the ways of Providence!" he boomed. "Let us give thanks." + +He doffed his hat, and still clinging to Two-Bits' hand, lowered his +head. + +"Almighty Father, whose blessings are diverse and manifold, we, +brothers of the flesh, give our thanks to Thee for bringing about this +reunion on earth. We realize, oh Lord, that these mundane moments are +but brief forerunners of greater joys that are to come, that they are +but passing pleasures; but joy here below is a rare thing and from this +valley of tears and sin we lift our hearts and our voices in thanks +that such blessings have been visited upon us by Thy blessed +magnanimity!" + +He lifted his head and honest tears showed behind his spectacles. + +"And now, brother,"--in a brusk, business-like manner, "you, too, will +be interested in this article which I was about to demonstrate to the +congregation." + +He replaced his hat with a dead _punk_, held the pen aloft in +gesture, drew a pad of paper from one of his sagging pockets and +continued: + +"Made of India rubber, combined in a secret process with Belgian talc +and Swedish, water-proof shellac, this pen will withstand the acid +action of the strongest inks. It is self-filling, durable, compact, +artistic in design. The clip prevents its falling from the pocket and +consequent loss. + +"The point is of the finest, specially selected California, eighteen +carat gold. It was designed by that peerless inventor, Thomas Edison. +Its every feature, from the safety shank to the velvet tip, is covered +by patents granted by the authority of this great republic! + +"It does not leak!"--shaking it vigorously. "It does not fail to flow. +It does not scratch or prick. Follow me closely, men; watch every move." + +With facility he guided the point across the paper in great flourishes, +sketching a crudely designed bird on the wing. + +"See? See what can be done with this invention? How can any mature man +or woman do without this article? _Such_ an article! + +"This, men, is a three dollar commodity, but for the purposes of +advertising I am permitted by the firm to charge you--Two-fifty? No! +Two dollars? _No!_ One fifty? NO! For the sum of one dollar, +American money, E Pluribus Unum and In God We Trust, I will place this +invaluable article in your possession. One dollar, men! _One +dollar!_ + +"But wait. Further"--diving into another pocket, "we will give away +absolutely free of charge to every purchaser one of these celebrated +key rings and chains, made of a new conglomerate called white metal, +guaranteed not to rust, tarnish or break except under excessive strain. +Keeps your keys safe and always handy. Free, with each and every +individual purchase! + +"Still more!"--making another dive into the inexhaustable +pockets--"Another article used by every gentleman and lady. A hand +mirror, a magnifying hand mirror. Carry it in your pocket, have it +always handy for the thousand and one uses to which it may be put. + +"Think! This magnificent fountain pen, this key-ring and chain, this +pocket mirror, a collection which regularly would retail for from four +to five dollars, are yours for one dollar.... + +"Now, who's first?" + +Two-Bits who had watched and listened with a growing amazement, mouth +open, Adam's apple jumping, was roused. + +"I am, Mister Beal," he said eagerly, digging in a pocket for the money. + +"Ah, brother, part of being a Beal is knowing a bargain! Who else, now?" + +He sold six of the pens before the big bell at the ranch house summoned +the men to supper; then slipped his stock back in the pockets of that +clerical looking garment and, grasping Two-Bits by the arm, beaming up +into his face, stumped along by his side. + +At the table he ate and talked, at one and the same time, doing both +with astonishing ease. No matter how great the excess of food in his +mouth, he was still able to articulate, and no matter how rapidly he +talked, he could always thrust more nourishment between his lips. + +"Oh, it warms the heart of a seeker after strays from the herds of the +Master to look upon the bright, honest faces of stalwart men!" he +cried, brandishing his fork and helping himself to more syrup with the +other hand. + +"Blessed are the pure in heart, it is written, and I know that when in +the presence of such men as you, I am among the blessed of the Father! +I can see integrity, devotion to duty, uprightness and honor in all +your faces. Or, that is, in _most_ of your faces. What +contrast!"--heedless of the uproar his qualification of a broad +statement caused. "What contrast to the iniquitous ways of those who +dwell in the tents of the wicked. + +"Why, brethren, only last night I stood in the hotel in yonder +settlement and watched and listened to the cries of a lost soul, a +young man sunk hopelessly in sin. He was a stranger in a strange land, +but he had not yet felt the heavy hand of a slowly-roused God, had not +yet become the Prodigal. He had tasted of the wine when it was red and +out of his mouth flowed much evil. + +"A man possessed of a devil, I am sure, and I spoke to him, asking if +he did not desire to seek redemption in the straight and narrow way +which leads to the only righteous life. + +"'Righteousness, hell!' he shouted at me, his face black with ungodly +thoughts. + +"'That's what I want _less_ of: righteousness! That's what's +raised hell in me!' + +"Oh, it was terrible, brothers! He drank continually and finally they +carried him off to bed, cursing and swearing, cherishing bitterness in +his heart, which is against the word of the Almighty. A definite wrong +was in his mind, I was led to presume, for he cried again and again: +'I'll break her if it's the last thing I do! I'll ruin her and bring +her back!' + +"I tell you, my fellow men, I prayed fervently for that lost soul +through the night. Something heavy is upon him, something tremendous." + +"Likely some of that high-pressure booze," remarked one, at which +everybody except the Reverend and Two-Bits laughed. + +"Goin' to stay long?" Oliver asked. + +"Alas, I am not my own master. My feet are guided from up Yonder. To +tarry with my dear brother is my most devout prayer and wish, but we +have no promise of the morrow. I may remain in your midst a day, a +month. I cannot tell when the call will come." + +Tom Beck had watched with a glimmer in his eye until the newcomer told +of the scene in the hotel. It was not difficult for him to identify the +sin beset young man as Hilton and at that he became less attentive to +the garrulous talk of the itinerant preacher-peddler. In fact, he gave +no heed at all until, returned to the bunk house, the Reverend made a +point of seeking out Dad Hepburn and talking to him in confidence. + +Dad's bed was directly across from Tom's and he could not help hearing. + +"I waited to get you alone," Beal said, dropping his elocutionary +manner, "because what others don't know won't hurt 'em, and so forth. +But just before I was leaving town, saddling my mare in the corral, I +heard two men talking and it may interest you. + +"This outfit uses the HC on horses as well as cattle, don't it?" + +"That's right." + +"Exactly! One of the men said (they didn't know I was near, +understand). 'So there's eight more HC horses gone west.' And the +other one said, 'Yes, they was camped at the mouth of Twenty Mile this +mornin'. It's easy. They had the horses in a box gulch, with a tree +down across the mouth, most natural.' + +"Have you sold any horses lately?" + +Hepburn glanced about cautiously and just before he turned to reply his +eyes met Beck's gaze, cold and hard this time, flinging an unmistakable +challenge at him. + +"Not a horse," he mumbled. "They're sneaking out of the country with +'em. Tom, come here,"--with a jerk of his head. Beck walked over and +sat down. "Did you hear what the Reverend says?" Dad asked. "About the +horses?" + +"Yes, I ain't surprised. Are you?" + +His eyes, again amused, bored into Hepburn's face with the query: + +"No, but--" + +The sharp batter of running hoofs cut him short. The whole assemblage +was listening. The rider stopped short at the gate, they heard it creak +and a moment later he came across toward the bunk house at a high lope. +They heard him speak gruffly to the horse, heard the creak of leather +as he swung down and then jingling spurs marked his further progress +toward the door. + +It was Henry Riley, owner of the Bar Z ranch, thirty miles down Coyote +creek. A cattleman of the old order, a man not given to haste or +excitement. His appearance caught the interest of all, for he was +breathing fast and his eyes blazed. + +"Where's Dad?" he asked and Hepburn, rising, said: "Here. What's the +matter, Henry?" + +"Who's this nester in Devil's Hole?" Riley asked. + +"Why ... I didn't know there was a nester there." + +Dad answered hesitatingly and Beck scraped one foot on the floor. + +"Well, there is. Guess we've all been asleep. He's there, with a girl, +and they filed on that water yesterday. That shuts your outfit and mine +out of the best range in the country if he fences, which he will! If +they're goin' to dry farm our steers off the range we'd better look +alive." + +"I'll be damned," muttered Hepburn. "That was one of the next things I +was goin' to have her do, file on that water." + +He scratched his head and turned. Beck was waiting for him to face +about. + +"Now," he said slowly, "what are you going to do?" + +His eyes flashed angrily and any who watched could see the challenge. + +Silently Hepburn reached for his belt and gun, strapped it on, dug in +his blankets for another revolver and shoved it into his shirt. + +"First," he said, "I'm goin' after those horses. _That_ ain't too +late to be remedied. No, I'll go alone!" as Tom stepped toward his bunk +where his gun hung. + +Hepburn gave Beck stare for stare as though defying him now to impute +his motives and strode out into a fine rain, drawing on his slicker. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE DESTROYER + + +While the men were eating that night another rider had come to H.C. He +entered slowly, tied his horse to the fence and walked down along the +cottonwoods toward the house. He stood outside a time, looking through +the window at Jane whose golden head was bowed in the mellow glow of +the student lamp as she worked at her desk. + +He stepped lightly across the veranda and rapped; at her bidding he +entered. + +"Dick!" she exclaimed. + +"Undoubtedly," he said, with forced attempt at lightness. + +"How did you get here? Why come at this time of day?"--rising and +walking toward him. + +"I rode a horse, and I came because I couldn't stay away from you any +longer." + +She looked at him, head tilted a bit to one side, and genuine regret +was in her slow smile. + +"Oh, Dick, don't look or feel like that! I'm glad to see you, but I +_wish_ you'd stop thinking and talking and looking like that. I +don't like to have you so dreadfully determined ... when it's no use. + +"All this way to see me! And did you eat? Of course you didn't!" + +"I don't want anything," he protested glumly. + +"But you must." + +She seized on his need as welcome distraction from the love making, +which undoubtedly was his purpose. She took his coat and hat, placed +cigarettes for him and went to the kitchen to help Carlotta prepare a +quick meal. She served it herself, going to pains to make it +attractive, and finally seated herself across the table from Hilton, +who made a pretense of eating. + +She talked, a bit feverishly, perhaps, but compelled him to stick to +matters far from personal and after he had finished his scant meal and +lighted a cigarette he leaned back in his chair and smiled easily at +her. It was a good smile, open and frank and gentle, but when it died +that nasty light came back; as though the smile showed the man Jane +Hunter had tolerated for long, masking the man she now tried to put +from her. + +"If your enthusiasm were for anything else, I'd like it," he said. + +"But it isn't. Why can't you like it as it is?" + +He ignored the question. + +"Busy, Jane?" + +"As the devil on Forty-Second street." + +"And still think it's worth while?" + +"The only worth-while thing I've ever done; more worth while every day. +So much worth while that I'm made over from the heart out and I've been +here less than a month!" + +"After taking a bottle of your bitters I am now able to support my +husband and children," he quoted ironically. + +"Laugh if you must,"--with a lift of her shoulders. "I mean it." + +"You get along with the men, Jane?" + +"Very well so far. They're fine, real, honest men. I like them all. +There are some things I don't quite understand yet," examining a finger +nail closely. "I haven't made up my mind that my foreman can be trusted +or that he's as honest as he seems to be." + +"The fellow who was with you yesterday?" + +"No; Dad Hepburn. An older man. He.... He seems to evade me some times." + +Hilton watched her closely. She was one of the few women he knew who +had been able to judge men; he made a mental note of the name she had +mentioned. + +The talk became desultory and Dick's eyes clung more closely to Jane's +face, their hard, bright light accentuated. It began to rain and Jane, +hearing, looked out. + +"Raining! You can't go back tonight. You'll have to stay here. Mr. +Hepburn can fix you up with the rest of the men." + +He smiled peculiarly at that, for it cut. He made no comment beyond +expressing the belief that a wetting, since it was not cold, would do +no harm. She knew that he did not mean that and contrasted his evasion +with Beck's quiet candor. + +"What's the idea of the locket?" he asked and Jane looked down at the +trinket with which she had been toying. "You never were much addicted +to ornaments." + +She laughed with an expression which he did not understand. + +"Something is in there which is very dear to me," she said. "I don't +wear it as an ornament; as a talisman, rather. I'm getting to be quite +dependent on it." Her manner was outwardly light but at bottom was a +seriousness which she did not wholly cover. + +"Excuse me ... for intruding on privacies," he said bitterly. Then, +after a moment: "The picture of some cow-puncher lover, perhaps?" + +"No, though that wouldn't be unreasonable," she replied. "Such things +have happened in--" + +"Let's cut this!" he said savagely, breaking in on her and sitting +forward. "Let's quit these absurd banalities. + +"You know why I came here. You know what's in my mind. There's a job +before me that gets bigger every day; the least you can do is to help +me." + +"In what?" + +"Tell me what I must do to make you understand that I love you." + +He leaned across the table intently. The girl laughed. + +"Prove to me first that two and two make six!" + +"Meaning?" + +"That it can't be done." + +"It's the first time you've ever been that certain." + +"The first time I've ever expressed the certainty, perhaps. Things +happen, Dick. I progress." + +"Do you mean such an impossible thing as that there is someone else?" + +"Another question which you have no right to ask." + +"Jane, look at me! Are you wholly insane?" + +"No, but as I look back I think I have been a little off, perhaps." + +"But you're putting behind you everything that is of you,"--his color +rising with his voice as her secure conviction maddened him. "The life +that is yours by nature and training. You're going blindly ahead into +something you don't know, among people who are not yours!" + +He became suddenly tense, as though the passion which he had repressed +until that moment swept through him with a mighty urge. His breath +slipped out in a long sigh. + +"You are repeatedly mistaken, Dick. I have just found my people." + +"_Your_ people!" he scoffed. + +She nodded. + +"'East is East and West is West,' you know, and the two shall never +meet. It must be true, and, if so, I have never been of the east. I +never felt comfortable there, with the lies and the shams and the +hypocrisies that were all about us. Out here, I do. + +"Perhaps that is why you and I...." She shrugged her shoulders again. +"You see, Dick, I have cast my lot here. The East is gone, for me; it +never can pass for you. I have found my people; they are my people, +their Gods are my Gods. I have a strength, a peace of mind, self +respect, ambitions and natural, real impulses that I never knew before. +I feel that I have come home!" + +He laughed dryly, but she went on as though she had not heard: + +"You have never understood me; you never can hope to now. There's a +gulf between us, Dick, that will never be bridged. I am sorry, in a +way. I never can love you and I hate to see you wasting your desires on +me. + +"I have thought about you a great deal lately. You are missing all that +is fine in life and because of that I am sorry for you. We used to have +one thing in common: the lack of worthy ideals. I have wiped out that +lack and I wish you might; I truly wish that, Dick! And it seems +possible to me that you may, just because you are here where realities +count. There's an incentive in the atmosphere and I do hope it gets +into your blood. + +"It is all so nonsensical, the thing you are doing, so foolish. I +suppose I am the only thing you have ever wanted that you couldn't get +and that's what stimulates your want. It's not love, Dick." + +"How do you know?" + +"I have learned things in these weeks," with a wistful smile. "I have +learned about ... men, for one thing. I have found an honesty, an +honor, a simple directness, which I have never known before." + +He rose and leaned his fists on the table. + +"You mean you've found a lover?" + +She met his eyes frankly. + +"Again I say, you have no right to ask that question. In the second +place, I am not yet sure." + +His mouth drew down in a leer. + +"So that's it, eh? So you would turn me away for some rough-neck who +murders the English language and smells of horse. You'd let a thing +like that overwhelm you in a few days when a civilized human has failed +after years of trying! + +"I've tried to treat you with respect. I've tried to be gentle and +honorable. Now if you don't want that, if you want this he-man sort of +wooing, by God you'll get it!" + +He kicked his chair back angrily and advanced about the table. A big +blue vein which ran down over his forehead stood out in knots. Jane +rose. + +"Dick!" she cried and in the one word was disappointment, anger, +appeal, reproach, query. + +"Oh, I'm through," he muttered. "I used to think you were a different +sort; used to think you were fine and finished. But if you're a woman +in the raw ... then I'll treat you as such. You've got me, either way; +I can't get you out of my mind an hour. + +"I'm through holding myself back, now. You've driven me mad and you +prove by your own insinuations that the lover you want is not the one +who will dally with you. You want the primitive, go-and-get-it kind, +the kind that takes and keeps. Well, mine can be that kind!" + +She backed from him slowly and he kept on advancing with a menacing +assurance, his face contorted with jealousy and desire. + +"The other day,"--stopping a moment, "when I took your hands and felt +your body here in this room I was almost beside myself. You haven't +been out of my thoughts an hour since then! I tried to kill it with +reason and then with drink. I've tried to be patient and wait among the + ... the cattle in that little town." He walked on toward +her. + +"Dick, are you mad?" she challenged, trying to summon her assurance +through the fright which he had given her. "It's not what you think.... +It's none of your affair-- + +"Dick!" + +He grasped her wrists roughly. + +"Am I mad?" he repeated, looking down at her, his jaw clenched. "Yes, +I'm mad. Mad from want of you ... your eyes, your lips, your hair, +your very breath drives me mad and when I hear you tell me that you've +found the flesh that calls to your flesh among these men it drives me +wild! I can offer you more than any of them can a thousand times +over.... + +"Great God, I love you!" + +But his snarl was not the snarl of devotion, of affection. It was the +lust cry of the destroyer, he who would possess hungrily, unthinkingly, +without sympathy or understanding ... even without respect. + +He drew her to him roughly and she struggled, too frightened to cry +out, face white and lips closed. He imprisoned both her hands in his +one and with the other arm about her body crushed it against his, her +breast to his breast, her limbs to his limbs. He lowered his lips +toward her face and she bent backward, crying out lowly, but the touch +of her lithe torso, tense in the struggle to be free, made his strength +greater, swept away the last barrier of caution and his body was aflame +with desire. + +"Dick ... stop...." she panted and managed to free one hand. + +She struck him on the mouth and struck again, blindly. He gave her +efforts no notice but, releasing her hands, crushed her to him with +both arms and she could feel the quick come and go of his breath +through her hair as he buried his face in it. + +And at that she became possessed of fresh strength. She turned and half +slipped, half fought her way through his clutch, running down the room +to the fireplace where she stood with the davenport between them +breathing irregularly, a hand clenched at her breast. + +"You ... you beast!" she said, slowly, unsteadily as he came toward her +again. + +"Yes, beast!" he echoed. "We're all beasts, every one of us who sees +and feels and I've seen you and I've felt you and the beast is hungry!" + +"And you call that love!" She spoke rapidly, breathlessly. "An hour ago +if anyone would have said that Dick Hilton, sober, would have displayed +this, this _thing_ which is his true self, I'd have come to your +defense! But now ... you ... you!" + +Her face was flaming, her voice shook with outraged pride. + +"Stop!" she cried, drawing herself up, no longer afraid. She emerged +from fear commanding, impressive, and Hilton hesitated, putting one +hand to a chair back and eyeing her calculatingly as though scheming. +The vein on his forehead still stood out like an uneven seam. + +"For shame!" she cried again. "Shame on you, Dick Hilton, and shame on +me for having tolerated, for having believed in you ... little as I +did! Oh, I loathe it all, you and myself--that was--because if it had +not been for that other self which tolerated you, which gave you the +opening, this ... this insult would never have been. You, who failing +to buy a woman's love, would take it by strength! You would do this, +and talk of your desire as love. You, who scoff at men whose respect +for women is as real as the lives they lead. You ... you beast!" + +She hissed the word. + +"Yes, beast!" he repeated again. "Like all these other beasts, these +others who are blinding you as you say I have blinded you, who have--" + +"Stop it!" she demanded again. "There is nothing more to be said ... +ever. We understand one another now and there is but one thing left for +you to do." + +"And that?" + +"Go." + +He laughed bitterly and ran a hand over his sleek hair. + +"If I go, you go with me," he said evenly. + +"Leave this house," the girl commanded, but instead of obeying he moved +toward her again menacingly, a disgusting smile on his lips. + +He passed the end of the davenport and she, in turn, retreated to the +far side. + +"When I go, two of--" + +"I take it that you heard what was said to you, sir." + +At the sound of the intruding voice Hilton wheeled sharply. He faced +Tom Beck, who stood in the doorway, framed against the black night, +arms limp and rather awkwardly hanging at his sides, eyes dangerously +luminous; still, playing across them was that half amused look, as +though this were not in reality so serious a matter. + +For an interval there was no sound except Hilton's breathing: a sort of +hoarse gasp. The two men eyed each other and Jane, supporting her +suddenly weakened limbs by a hand on the table, looked from one to the +other. + +"What the devil are you doing here?" Dick asked heavily. + +"Just standin' quiet, waiting to open the gate for you when you ride +out." + +The Easterner braced his shoulders backward and sniffed. + +"And if I don't choose to ride out? What will you do then?" + +Beck looked at Jane slowly and his eyes danced. + +"It ain't necessary to talk about things that won't happen. You're +going to go." + +"Who the hell are you to be so certain?" + +"My name's Beck, sir. I'm just workin' here." + +"And playing the role of a protector?" + +"Well, nothing much ever comes up that I don't _try_ to do." + +Hilton made as if to speak again but checked himself, walked down the +room in long strides, seized his coat, thrust his arms into the sleeves +viciously and stood buttoning the garment. Beck looked away into the +night as though nothing within interested him and Jane stood clutching +the locket at her throat, caressing it with her slim, nervous fingers. + +"Under the circumstances, making my farewells must be to the point," +Hilton said. He spoke sharply, belligerently. "I have just this to say: +I am not through." + +"Oh, go!" moaned Jane, dropping into a chair and covering her face with +her hands. + +She heard the men leave the veranda, heard a gruff, low word from +Hilton and knew that he went on alone. After the outer gate had closed +she heard Tom walk slowly up the path toward the bunk house. He had +left her without comment, without any attempt at an expression of +concern or sympathy. She knew it was no oversight, but only a delicacy +which would not have been shown by many men. + +Her loathing was gone, her anger dead; the near past was a numb memory +and she looked up and about the room as though it were a strange place. +There, within those walls, she had experienced the rebirth, she had +felt ambition to stand alone come into full being, she had shaken off +the fetters with which the past had sought to hamper her.... + +And now she was free, wholly free. The tentacle that had been reached +out to draw her back had been cast away. Tonight's renunciation had +burned the last bridge to that which had been; Dick Hilton, she +believed, would never again be an active influence in her life. + +She could not--perhaps fortunately--foretell how mistaken this belief +actually would prove to be. She did not know the intensity of a man's +jealousy, particularly when Fate has tricked him of his most valued +prize. Nor could she foresee those events which would impell her to +send for Hilton, to call him back, and the wells of misery which that +action would tap! + +To-night he was gone, and she was even strong enough to rise above +loathing and pity him for the failure he was. Just one fact of him +remained. Again she heard his ominous prediction, pronounced on his +first visit there: You cannot stand alone! You will fail! You will come +back to me! + +She knew, now, that she would never return to him, but there were other +possibilities as disastrous. Could she meet this new life and beat it +and make in it a place for herself? Was her faith in herself strong +enough to outride the defeat which very possibly confronted her? + +She did not know.... + +Outside the rain drummed and the cottonwoods, now in full leaf, sighed +as the wind bowed their water weighted branches. She went to the window +and looked out, searching the darkness for movement. There was none but +he was not far away she knew.... + +Her fingers again sought the locket and she lifted it quickly, holding +it pressed tightly against her mouth. + +"It's all there, locked up in a little gold disc!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A MATTER OF DIRECTION + + +If Dick Hilton had not been bewildered by passion, jealousy and rage at +thwarted desires, he might have known that his horse was not taking the +homeward way, and had the horse not been bred and raised by one of +Colonel Hunter's mares he might have carried his rider straight back to +Ute Crossing. + +But he was a canny little beast, he was cold and drenched, the trip to +town was long and the range on which he had spent his happy colthood +was not far off. Horses know riders before riders know horses so, as he +went through the gate, he slyly tried out this rider and instead of +swinging to the right he bore to the left. He went tentatively through +the pitch darkness, one ear cocked backward at first but when Hilton, +collar up, hat down, bowed before the storm, gave no evidence of +detecting this plan, the beast picked up his rapid walk and took the +trail for the nearer, more satisfactory place where many times in the +past he had stood out such downpours with no great discomfort under the +shelter of a spreading cedar. + +And direction was the last thing in Dick Hilton's mind. For a long +interval his thoughts were incoherent and the conflicting emotions they +provoked were distressing. Being alone, made physically uncomfortable +by the water seeping through his shoulders and breeches, sensing the +steady movement of the animal under him, brought some order to his +mental chaos and finally realization began to dawn. + +Yes, he had followed his strongest impulses; there could be no question +about what he had done, but as for its wisdom: Ah, that was another +matter, and he cursed himself for a fool, at first mentally, then under +his breath and when the horse began mounting a steep incline, +clattering over rocks with his unshod hoofs, Hilton halted him and +looked about in foolish attempt to make out his whereabouts and said +aloud: + +"Off the road. That's twice you've made an ass of yourself tonight!" + +There was nothing for him to do but go on and trust to the horse. He +knew that this was not the highway but consoled himself that it might +be a short cut to the Crossing. Small consolation and it was dissipated +when they commenced a lurching descent with a wall of rock +uncomfortably close to his right, so close that at times his knee +scrubbed it smartly. He became alarmed for the horse went cautiously, +head low, feeling his way over insecure footing. Once his fore feet +slipped and he stopped short while loosened stones rolled before them +on the trail and Hilton heard one strike far below to his left, and +strike again and again, sounds growing fainter. He peered down into the +gloom but could see nothing, hear nothing but the hiss of rain. An +empty ache came into his viscera as he imagined the depths that might +wait to that side. + +After a moment the horse went on, picking his way gingerly. + +Somewhere beyond or below he made out a light. It was a feeble glow and +its location became a weird thing for lack of perceptive, but it +cheered him. He was decidedly uncomfortable and his state of mind added +to the physical need of warmth and shelter so he urged the horse on. + +Finally they reached a flat and he felt wet brush slapping at his legs +as the horse, intent on the light himself, trotted forward. + +Their destination was a cabin. The glow finally resolved itself into +cracks of light showing between logs and through a tarpaulin which hung +across the doorway. + +Dick shouted. Movement inside; the curtain was drawn back and he rode +blinking into the light, which he could see came from a fireplace. A +woman stood outlined against the flare. + +"Who's there?" she asked sharply, and Dick stopped his horse. + +"My name is Hilton," he said, "but that won't do you much good. I'm a +stranger and I'm off my way, I guess." + +The other did not reply as he dismounted and walked toward her. + +"Without a slicker," she said. "Come in." + +The first thing he saw inside was movement: A cartridge belt, swinging +from a nail. A rifle leaned handily against the door casing. + +The girl who had held the curtain back for him to enter let it drop and +turned to face him. Hilton drew his breath sharply. Blue-black hair, in +a heavy, orderly mass atop a shapely, high-held head and falling down +her straight trim back in one thick plait; brown eyes, ripe red lips, a +delicate chin and a throat of exquisite proportions. His gaze traveled +down her figure, the natural grace of which could not be concealed by +the shirt and riding skirt she wore. She was wholly beautiful. + +"Oh, I've seen you before," he said slowly. "You're the girl that +demanded respect and got it in the Crossing the other day!" + +She eyed him in silence a moment, evidently unaware of the admiration +in his tone. + +"I never saw you. I ain't been here long," she said, her expression +still defiant, as though he had challenged her. She searched his face, +his clothing, and back at his face again. "Where was you travelin' +tonight?" + +"I was going to the Crossing," he said with a short laugh. "My horse +brought me here." + +Without comment she walked to the fire and threw on another knot. He +watched her movements, the free rhythmic swing of her walk, the easy +grace with which her hands and arms moved, the perfect assurance in +even her smallest gesture. His eyes kindled. + +"Set," she said, indicating a box by the hearth. "You're soaked. Lucky +you struck here or you'd made a night of it." + +Hilton seated himself, holding his hands toward the fire. He looked +about the one room of the cabin. In two corners were beds on the +earthen floor, a table made from a packing box contained dishes, Dutch +ovens and a frying pan were on the hearth. The roof leaked. + +The girl sat eyeing the fire, rather sullenly. He held his gaze on her, +watching the play of light over her throat as it threw a velvety sheen +on the wind kissed skin. Her shirt was open at the neck and he could +see the easy rise and fall of her breast as she breathed. He noticed +that her fingers were slender and that her wrists, bronzed by exposure, +indicated with all their delicacy, wiry strength. Another thing: She +was clean. + +Suddenly the girl looked up. + +"Think you'd know me again?" she said bruskly, and rather swaggered as +she moved. + +"I don't think I shall ever forget you," he replied. "I knew I should +not the first time I saw you. I shall never forget the way you gave +that fellow what he deserved. It was great!" + +His manner was kindly, showing no resentment at her belligerence and +though her only reply was a sniff he knew that what he had said pleased +her. + +"I wouldn't want you to think I'm staring at you," he went on. "A man +shouldn't be blamed for looking at you closely." + +"How's that?" + +"You are very beautiful." + +She poked at the fire with a stick. + +"I reckon that'll be enough of that," she said as she walked back +toward the door. + +The man smiled and followed her with his eyes, which squinted +speculatively. + +"You'd better unsaddle that horse," she said. "He'll roll with your kak +if you don't." + +Hilton looked about the room again. + +"Are you alone?" he asked. + +She whirled and looked at him with temper. Her hand, perhaps +unconsciously, was pressed against the wall near that rifle. + +"What if I am?"--sharply. + +"Because if you are I shall not unsaddle my horse. I'll have to go on." + +When she put her question she had been rigidly expectant but at his +answer she relaxed and the fierceness that had been about her yielded +to a curiosity. + +"Go on in the rain? How's that?"--in a voice that was quite different, +as though she had encountered something she did not understand. + +He looked at her a lengthy interval before replying. + +"Because I respect you very much. Do you understand that?" + +She moved back to the fireplace, eyeing him questioningly, and he met +that look with an easy smile. + +"No, I don't understand that," she said. + +"You should. I saw you beat a man the other day because he didn't +respect you. No one but that type of man would refuse to respect you. +It's wise, perhaps, for you to take down that rifle when strangers come +at night ... but it isn't always necessary. Some men might stay here +with you alone, but I couldn't." + +"You mean, that you'd ride on in the rain?" + +"Surely." + +"Well.... You ain't afraid of the gun, are you?" + +He laughed outright. + +"No, it's not that! It's because I'd ride any distance rather than do +something that might bring you unhappiness. Don't you see?" He leaned +forward, elbows on knees, looking up into her serious face. "Don't you +see that if I stayed here with you, alone, and people heard about it, +they might not respect you?" + +"It's none of their business!" + +"Neither was it any business of that man to insult you in town the +other day. But he did." + +"But it's rainin' and you're cold. I ain't afraid of you." + +It was raining, but he was not cold. The fire was close and, besides, +another warmth was seeping through his body as he looked earnestly into +the face of that daughter of the mountains. The ready defiance was gone +from it and the features, in repose, gave it an expression that was +little less than wistful. + +"And you are a young girl who deserves the admiration of every man that +walks. If I stayed here with you, you would know it's all right, and so +would I.... Others might not understand." + +She sat down abruptly, leaned back, clasped one knee with her hands and +smiled for the first time. It was a beautiful smile, in great contrast +to her earlier sullen defiance. + +"I like you," she said simply, and Hilton's face grew hot. + +"If you like me, my night's ride hasn't gone to waste," he replied, and +laughed. + +She looked him over again, calculatingly, as closely as she had at +first, but with a different interest. Her smile faded but the lips +remained slightly parted, showing teeth of calcium whiteness. + +"You're the first man that's ever talked that-a way to me. I've been +travelin' ever since I can remember, first one place, then another. +I've always had to look out for men.... I've been able to, too, since I +got big enough to be bothered. + +"This is the first time any man's talked like you're talkin' to me." + +"Bless you," he said very gently, "that's been tough luck. A girl like +you are doesn't deserve that." + +"Don't she? Well, it ain't what you deserve that counts, it's what you +get." + +"What's your name?" + +"Bobby.... Bobby Cole." + +"How old are you?" + +She shook her head. + +"I don't know ... just. About twenty. Alf knows; I ain't thought to ask +him for quite a while." + +"Who's Alf?" + +"My father." + +"... And your mother?" + +"I never had none that I recall. She died early; that was back in +Oklahoma, Alf says." + +"No brothers or sisters?" + +A shake of the head. + +"And since then you've been alone with your father?" + +She nodded. "For weeks an' months, without talkin' to another soul." + +"Have you always lived so far away as that? Always in such remote +places that you didn't even see people?" + +"Huh! Usually I've seen 'em, 'most every day.... But there's a +difference between seein' folks and talkin' to 'em." + +He was puzzled and said so. + +"Funny!" she repeated after him. "Maybe it's funny ... but I can't see +it that-a way." + +"But surely you've made friends! A girl like you couldn't help make +friends." + +"I've never had a friend in my life ... but Alf," she answered bitterly. + +"Then it must have been because you didn't want to make friends with +people." + +"Didn't want to!" she echoed almost angrily. "What else does anybody +want but friends ... an' things like that? Oh, I wanted to all right, +but folks don't make friends with ... with trash like we are. We ain't +got enough to have friends; ain't got enough even to have peace." + +Hilton studied her face carefully. It was a queer blending of appealing +want and virulence. + +"They won't even let you have peace?" he asked deliberately to urge her +in further revelation. + +"Folks that have things don't want other folks to have 'em. In this +country when poor folks try to get ahead all they get is trouble." + +"Is that always so?" + +She shrugged and said, "It's always been so with us. Big cattle outfits +have drove us out time after time. They're always sayin' Alf steals; +they're always makin' us trouble. I hate 'em! + +"I could get along all right. I can fight but Alf can't. He's had so +much bad luck that it's took th' heart out of him.... If it wasn't for +me he couldn't get along at all. He's discouraged." + +"You must think a lot of your father." + +She shook her head as if to infer that measuring such devotion was an +impossibility. + +"Think a lot of him? God, yes! He's all I got. He's all I ever had. +He's the only one that hasn't chased me out ... or chased after me. +We've been on the move ever since I can recollect, stayin' a few months +or a year or two, then hittin' the trail again. Move, move, move! +Always chased out by big outfits, always made fun of, an' he's been +good to me through it all. I'd crawl through fire for Alf." + +"A devotion like that is a very fine and noble thing." + +"Is it? It comes sort of natural to me. I never thought about +it,"--with a weary sigh. + +"How did you happen to come here?" he asked. + +She looked at him and a flicker as of suspicion crossed her face. + +"Just come," she replied, rather evasively, he thought. + +For a time they did not speak. The fire crackled dully. Steam rose in +wisps from Hilton's soaked clothing and a cunning crept into his +expression. The rain pattered on the roof and dripped through in +several places, forming dark spots on the hard floor; the horse stamped +in the mud outside. + +The man saw the regular leap of the pulse in her throat and caressed +his thumb with finger tips as delicately as though they stroked that +smooth skin. + +Her lips were parted ... and _such_ lips! He told himself that she +was more beautiful than he had first thought and as filled with +contrasts as the heavens themselves. Shortly before she had been +defiant, ready for trouble, prepared to defend herself with a rifle if +necessary; now she was a child; that, and no more ... and she was +distinctive ... quite so. + +"You better stay," she said rather shyly after a time. "Alf'll be back +some time before mornin'. Nobody'll know." + +He shook his head. + +"You and I would know, and after I've told you what I think about it, +maybe you wouldn't like me if I did stay ... you've said you did like +me." + +He rose, smiling. + +"Sure enough goin'?" + +"Sure enough going." + +"But you're soaked and cold." + +"No man could do less for a girl like you." + +He bowed playfully low and when he lifted his eyes to her again they +read her simple pleasure. He had touched her greatest love, the desire +to be treated by men with respect. + +"I'll just ask you to show me the way." + +"You come by the way, I guess. Just start back that trail and your +cayuse'll take you to the road-- + +"But Alf'll be back. We've never turned anybody out in the rain before." + +"Then this is something new. Don't ask me again, please. When you ask a +man it makes it very hard to refuse and I must ... for your sake. + +"After I strike the road, then what?" + +"Follow right past the HC ranch to town. You know where that is?" + +A wave of rage swept through him. + +"I ought to!" he said bitterly. "I was sent away from there tonight." + +"Sent away? In the _rain_?" + +"In the rain." + +"Why did they do that?" + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"Because there are things which some people do not value as highly as +you do. Generosity, thoughtfulness for the desires of others, +hospitality." + +He licked his lips almost greedily as he watched her. + +"Did _she_ know?" + +"Who do you mean?" + +"That greenhorn gal." + +"Yes, she knew," he answered grimly, and buttoned his coat. + +He put out his hand and she took it, rather awed. + +"Some time I may come back and thank you for what you've wanted to do." + +"Oh, you'll come back?" + +"Do you want me to?" + +"Yes,"--eagerly. + +"Then it is impossible for me to stay away for long!" + +She stood watching, as, touching his hat, he rode into the night. She +let the curtain drop and returned to the fire, standing there a moment. +Then she sat down, rather weakly, and stretched her slim legs across +the hearth. + +"I'll be damned!" she said, rather reverently. + +Hilton did not ride far. His horse was reluctant to go at first and +then stopped and stood with head in the air, nickering softly and would +not go on when his rider spurred him. After a moment Hilton sat still +and listened. He heard the steady _plunk-plunk-plunk_ of a +trotting horse and, soon, the swish of brush; then a call, rather low +and cautious. + +The canvas before the doorway was drawn back. + +"You decided to stay?" Then, in surprise, "Who's there?"--sharply. + +One word in answer and Hilton remembered it: + +"Hepburn." + +The rider dismounted and entered. + +Dick rode on up the trail. When he reached Ute Crossing his clothing +was dried by the early sun. He ate breakfast and crawled into his bed, +angered one moment, puzzled the next and, finally, thrilled as he +dropped asleep with a vision of firelight playing over a deliciously +slender throat. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +HEPBURN'S PLAY + + +It was the next morning. Beck, standing beside Jane's desk, had told +her of the foreman's departure and its motive. + +"But doesn't that mean he'll be in danger?" she queried in frank dismay. + +"A man who goes after horse thieves is likely to run into trouble, +ma'am. That is, if he gets close to 'em. He wouldn't let anybody go +with him so I guess he figures he's competent,"--dryly. "He'll come +back all right. I'd bet on it." + +"But I don't want any of you men to put yourselves in danger for me, +for the things I own. I won't have it! Haven't we any law to protect +us?" + +Beck shook his head. + +"There's law, on books. But using that law takes time and in some +cases, like this, there ain't time to spare. You've got to make a law +of your own or those that somebody else makes won't be worth much to +you. + +"It ain't just pleasant to have to go gunning for your horses and +cattle, but if that's the only way to hold 'em it's got to be done. +It's either go get 'em and drive the thieves out or be driven out +yourself. You don't want to be driven out, do you, ma'am?" + +"You know the answer to that," she declared resolutely. "Where is this +place? How long will it take him to get there?" + +"Can't tell that. Twenty Mile is only a short ride, but we got the news +late. They're probably gone yonder by now and he might trail 'em a good +many days an' then lose 'em." + +Again that dryness of manner as he looked at the girl. + +"And this other? This water hole? What about that?" + +Beck could not give her an answer. + +"It all depends on what sort of nester this is. He might be talked out +of it, though that ain't likely." + +She tapped the desk with nervous fingers. + +"I came down to tell you about Dad last night. That's why I was here," +he explained, as though he considered an explanation necessary. And +with it was an indication of the curiosity which he could not conceal. + +Jane flushed, and her gaze fell. The man stood looking down at her +golden hair, the soft skin of cheeks and throat, the parted lips. One +of his hands closed slowly, tightly. For a moment he let himself want +her! + +"I am very glad that you did come. I don't know how much you heard or +what you saw but--" + +"Nothing that I can recall, except that you wasn't havin' your own way." + +The courtesy of this touched her and she smiled her gratitude. + +"Dick Hilton had been an old friend of mine; that is, I thought he was +a friend. I.... + +"He said some things last night that I wouldn't want you to +misunderstand. They.... That is, it would hurt me to think that you +might believe what you heard him say." + +"I don't think there's any danger of me misunderstanding anything that +man would say about you. I mean, his meaning, ma'am, not only his +words." + +"That is as much assurance as could be given," she replied. + + * * * * * + +For forty-eight hours following Hepburn's departure the HC was in a +state of expectation. Frequently, even on the first night following, +the men would stop talking and listen at any unusual sound as though +that all believed it might be the foreman returning or some one with +the word that he would never return, because the remainder of the crew +did not have the faith in his well being that Beck had expressed to +Jane Hunter. + +The Reverend held the floor much of the time, preaching frequent +impromptu sermons, discoursing largely on small matters. To him the +rest listened in delight with the exception of Two-Bits, who was +overawed by the verboseness of his kin. + +A less obvious activity of the Reverend's was his pertinent, never +ceasing questioning. He asked questions casually and covered his +attempts to glean information by long-winded comments on irrelevant +subjects. Tom Beck, even, caught himself expressing opinions when he +had not intended to and guarded himself thereafter. + +"He's an old fox!" he thought. "He knows a heap more than he lets on +... like some other folks." + +Otherwise the man seemed harmless. He let no opportunity pass to sell +his fountain pens which he carried always in the pockets of his frock +coat. He took frequent inventories of his stock and when he miscounted +or actually found some article missing he turned the place upside down +until the loss was adjusted. + +He seemed inclined to linger because though assuring the rest that his +plans were not of mortal making he often spoke of the summer's work. He +was no mean ranch hand himself and was with his brother much, doing +everything from branding colts to digging post holes. + +When, on the morning of the third day Hepburn had not returned, Jane +called Beck to the house and asked if he did not think it wise to send +help. The man did not reply at once because at this suggestion a +possibility flashed into his mind which he had not considered hitherto. +He looked at the girl who stood fingering the locket and asked himself: + +"Has he taken this chance to quit the country? Has something happened +that is bound to come to light?" + +Aloud, he said: + +"Your worry is in the wrong place. You're worrying over your men and +you ought to be worrying over your stock. You've come into this +country; you want to stay; you don't seem to understand, quite, that +this is no polite game you're playing. + +"When a man goes to work for an outfit, if he's the right kind to be a +top hand out here, he's willing to do anything that comes up, even if +it's risking his life. That ain't right pleasant to think about, ma'am, +but we all understand it. If it has to be it has to be; no choice. + +"If you're going to worry more about your men in a case like this than +you do about havin' them hold up your end of the game you ain't going +to play up to your part. You can't be soft hearted and stand off horse +thieves." + +"But, don't you see that I can't feel that way?" she pleaded. + +"Then you've got to act that way, ma'am," he replied in rebuke. "Your +men have got to understand that you care whether school keeps or not +... or school ain't going to keep. Get that straight in your head." + +He looked down at her a moment and his face changed, that little +dancing light coming into his eyes at first; then he smiled openly. + +"There's a word we use out here that I guess that they didn't use in +the country you come from. It's Guts. They're necessary, ma'am." + +He waited to see how she would take his assertion, but she only flushed +slightly. + +"If Hepburn don't show up soon, it might be wise to go prospectin', but +it won't be best to think more about him than you do about the men he's +after ... least, it won't be wise to show you do. I ain't advisin' you +to be hard hearted. Just play the game; that's all." + +He left her, with a deal to think about. + +After all, there had been no occasion for concern because at noon, dust +covered, on a gaunt horse, the foreman brought eight HC horses into +the ranch. + +The men hastened from the dinner table but Hepburn did not respond to +their queries and congratulations. He bore himself with dignity and had +an eye only for the completion of his task. + +"Open the gate to the little corral, Two-Bits," he directed and, this +done, urged the horses within. + +Next he dragged his saddle from the big bay and rubbed the animal's +back solicitously, let him roll and led him to the stable where he +measured out a lavish feed of oats. + +Meanwhile he had been surrounded by insistent questioners but he put +them off rather abruptly; when he emerged from the stable, slapping his +palms together to rid them of moist horse hair he stopped, hitched up +his chaps and looked from face to face until his eyes met those of Tom +Beck, who had been the last to approach. Their gazes clung, Hepburn's +in challenge, now, and in the other's an expression which defied +definition. + +"I brought 'em in," the foreman said, still staring at Beck and bit +savagely down on his tobacco. "Does _that_ mean anything?" + +Beck smiled, as though it did not matter much, and said: + +"For the present ... you win." + +The others had not caught the significance of this exchange and when +Dad moved forward their talk broke out afresh. The foreman grinned, +pleased at the stir. + +"Now, now! Don't swamp a waddie when he comes in after next to no sleep +an' ridin' from hell to breakfast!" he protested. "One at a time, one +at a time." + +"Tie to the story an' drag her past us," advised Curtis. + +"It ain't much,"--with a modesty that was somewhat forced. "It wasn't +nothin' but a case of goin' and gettin' the goods. Picked up the trail +at the mouth of Twenty Mile early the mornin' after I set out and +dragged right along on it. There was three of 'em, so I laid pretty low +after noon. Then one cuts off towards the rail road and at night the +others turned the horses into that old corral at the Ute's buckskin +camp. I waited until they got to sleep, saw I couldn't sneak the stock +away so,"--he spat and wiped his mustache, "I just naturally scattered +their fire all ways!" + +He laughed heartily. + +"You'd ought to seen 'em coming out of their blankets! I dropped two +shots in the coals and then blazed away at the first man up. Missed him +but cut 'em off from their ridin' horses, got ours out of the corral +while their saddle stock was stampedin' all over the brush and lit out +for here, hittin' the breeze! + +"That's about all. Stopped at Webb's last night and tried to figure out +the men, but they're strangers, I guess." + +There were comments and questions. Then Jimmy Oliver, looking at Dad's +saddle, said: + +"What happened to your horn, there?" + +The foreman chuckled. + +"One of 'em almost got me, boys, but a miss is as good as four or five +days' ride, ain't it? Was circlin' for the horses, shootin' sideways at +'em when one of 'em put some lead in betwixt me and the horn, only +quite close to the horn, it seems." + +"Well, I'll be darned if you didn't have a close shave, and--" + +Just then Jane Hunter rode up on her sorrel and when she saw her +foreman she smiled in relief. + +"You're back, and safely!" she said as she dismounted. + +"With the bacon, ma'am." + +"An' they almost got his bacon, Miss Hunter," Oliver said. "Look here!" +He indicated the damaged saddle and explained. + +"They came that close to shooting you?" she asked Dad. Her voice was +even enough but she could not conceal her dismay at his narrow escape. + +"Why, Miss Hunter, that ain't nothin'! I was just tellin' the boys that +a miss is as good as a long ride. I'm your foreman, they was your +horses--" + +"Such things have to be," she broke in, making an effort to be decisive +and convincing, but her voice was not just steady and Beck, at least, +knew how desperately she tried to play up to her part, to smother her +impulse to show that she held life dearer than she did her property, to +shrink from the hard facts of the hard life she faced. + +"So long as I'm your foreman nobody's goin' to get away with your stock +without a fight," Hepburn went on pompously, well satisfied with the +impression he had made. "If necessary they'll come a lot closer to +lettin' blessed sunshine in to my carcass than this! There ain't a man +of us who wouldn't do it for you an' gladly. If they're goin' to try to +fleece you they've got us to reckon with first. + +"Ain't that the truth, Tom?" + +Beck did not reply but watched Jane Hunter as she stood looking down at +the saddle with its tell tale scar. + +The Reverend remained when the group broke up. He leaned low over the +saddle and examined the leather binding about the horn. He fingered it, +then lowered his face close against it. For a moment he held so and +then straightened slowly. He walked toward the bunk house so absorbed +that he talked to himself and as he passed Beck he was muttering: + +"... wolf in sheep's clothing ..." + +"What's that?" asked Beck. + +The Reverend stopped, surprised that he had been overheard. He looked +at Tom and blinked and rattled the pens in his coat pocket; then looked +about to see whether they were observed. + +"Brother, when a man is honest does he go to great pains to make that +honesty evident? Does he lie to make people believe he does not act a +lie?" + +"Not usually. What are you drivin' at, Reverend?" + +The other stepped closer. + +"If you'll examine that saddle horn, you'll discover that the shot +which tore it was fired from a gun held so close that the powder burned +the leather. More: that it was fired so recently that the smell of +powder is still there. + +"There is something rotten, brother, in a locality nearer than Denmark!" + +Beck whistled softly to himself. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A NEIGHBORLY CALL + + +The mountains which had been brown and saffron when Jane Hunter came to +take possession of her ranch grew tinted with green as grasses sprouted +under the coaxing sun. Pinons were edged with lighter tints, +contrasting sharply with the deep color of older growth. Service bushes +turned cream color with bloom and sage put out new growth; calves, +high-tailed and venturesome, frolicked between frequent meals from +swollen udders, birds nested and shy mountain flowers completed their +scant cycle. + +No life remained arrested and with the rest the girl developed. She +took on a more robust color, her eyes which had always been clear and +cool, possessed a different look and a thin sprinkling of tiny freckles +appeared across her nose. She had taken to the ways of the mountains +easily. Her modish clothing was discarded and she wore brightly colored +shirts, a brimmed hat, drab riding skirt and the smallest pair of boots +that had ever been manufactured in that country. + +Two-Bits was wide-eyed in his enthusiasm. + +"My gosh, Reverend!" he whispered, "look at them boots! Ain't they th' +grandest little things you ever seen?... Gosh, they're too little for +any spurs she can buy, ain't they? _Gosh_ ..."--in helpless +admiration. + +Two-Bits and the Reverend had something on. This was evident from the +manner in which they kept apart from the others. Each evening they +would sit on a wagon seat or perch on a corral or Azariah would stand +near while his brother groomed his little horse, Nigger, and they would +talk, low and confidently, the Reverend gesticulating and Two-Bits +looking far away and talking laboriously as though he were memorizing +something. + +The homely fellow took several mysterious trips to town and once he +borrowed ten dollars from Beck and offered a buckskin bridle as +security, which the other waved away with affectionate curses. + +Hepburn had been commissioned to talk with Cole, the nester, and +determine his plans as they might affect the HC. This took him away +from the ranch repeatedly ... so many times, in fact, that it gave Beck +one more thing to wonder about. Also, there was a letter for Hepburn, +arriving a day or two after his return with the stolen horses, which +sent him suddenly to Ute Crossing; thereafter he went frequently. + +There seemed no way around the potential difficulty which the nester +presented and, as one of her last resorts, Jane sent Tom to the +Crossing to look up the record of the filing himself and to confer with +the one remaining attorney in the town. He announced his going and +Two-Bits, hearing, asked him to bring back a package which would be +waiting there. When Tom returned that night he handed the gawky lad a +small parcel which he immediately stuffed into his shirt and carried to +the supper table. + +"Them your jooles?" Oliver asked. + +"None of your gol-darned business!" + +"Ah, come on, old timer, an' let us in on it," the other pleaded. "I'll +bet it's a present for your best girl." + +"If you got to know, it's corn plasters for th' corns on your brains, +Jimmy," Two-Bits countered. + +He hurried through his meal and from the table and, with the Reverend, +walked down toward the creek where they went through their usual +performance, this time, however, with less prompting from the +clergyman. Then, brushing the dust from his shirt, adjusting his scarf, +Two-Bits walked nervously toward the ranch house. + +Jane answered his knock with a call to enter. He stepped in with the +package in his hand, but as he removed his hat the parcel dropped to +the floor and when he regained an erect position after recovering it +his face was fiery red. + +"What's your trouble tonight, Two-Bits?" Jane asked, approaching him. + +"In," he began and stopped to clear his throat. He swallowed with great +difficulty. "In--In recognition of your--your God--" He coughed and +swallowed once more. + +_"What?"_--in amazement. + +"In recognition of your God--your God given beauty, an' +estim--estimable qualifications--" + +He ran a finger inside his collar and dropped his hat. Perspiration +stood on his lip in beads and his dismayed eyes roved the room. He +moved his feet nervously. + +"In recognition of your God--" he began again, but broke short: + +"Hell, ma'am," he exploded, "my brother taught me a fine speech-- + +"Here!"--holding the package toward her with an unsteady hand and a +great relief coming into his eyes. "I found this in th' road an' +thought mebby you might want 'em." + +Controlling her desire to laugh at his confusion Jane took the package +and turned it over in her hands. + +"What is it, Two-Bits? Why do you bring it to me?" + +"I can't use it--'em. I thought ... I ..." he began, backing rapidly +toward the door, moving with accelerated speed as he put distance +between them. + +"Two-Bits, you wait!" she commanded. "I'm going to find out what this +is before you go." + +He looked about in a fresh agony of embarrassment but her order had +rendered him unable to move. Jane broke the string, took off the +wrapping and opened a paper box. Within reposed a pair of spurs, as +small spurs as her boots were small boots. They were beautiful products +of some mountain forge, one-piece steel, heavily engraved by hand, +silver plated. Small silver chains and hand-tooled straps were attached +and as she held them up the delicate rowels jingled like tiny bells. + +"Two-Bits!" she cried. "Aren't they beautiful?" + +"Yes, ma'am," he said, and made for the door again. + +She caught him by the arm that time, else he would have fled, and she +made him look at her. + +"Two-Bits, you lied to me! You didn't find these on the road, now, did +you?" + +"Well, that is.... Not exactly, ma'am,"--weakly. + +"Where did they come from?" + +"A fella, he made 'em an' give 'em to me an' they was too small for +me--" + +"Don't you tell me another single lie! _Where_ did you get them?" + +"Well ... I had 'em made,"--swallowing again, and _very_ weakly. + +"Two-Bits!"--seizing his rough, cold hand while a suggestion of tears +came into her eyes. "You had these made for me? Why, bless your heart, +I've never had a finer gift before. And to think-- + +"You're a dear!" + +"Oh, my gosh!" he whimpered, and despite her detaining hand, fled the +disquieting presence. + + * * * * * + +Of all men in that country, Two-Bits was the only one who openly +accepted Jane Hunter and his devotion was caused by an awed +appreciation of her beauty. The others, even her own riders, remained +stolidly skeptical of her ability to measure up to the task she had +undertaken and when men talked of the business of the country they +unconsciously spoke of the prestige of the HC as a thing of the past. + +Hepburn had brought back some of her property that was being driven off +but he had not halted attempts to make away with her horses and cattle. +There were rumors, vague but persistent, of other depredations and +those who best knew the ways of the cattle country awaited that time +when the situation must reach a crisis, when Jane Hunter must be put to +the ordeal that would test her mettle. + +She was yet unconscious of much of this for her urge to make a place +for herself centered on penetrating the callousness of the one man she +wanted to impress most of all. He remained aloof, watching her either +with that tantalizing amusement or a subtle challenge to win his open +friendship. There were moments when, as on that night after their drive +to Ute Crossing, she wanted to throw herself on him, to beg, to plead +that he lower his reserve and give her a place ... a place in his heart. + +But that, reason told her, would be the last thing to win him. She must +trust to the force of her personality to drive her way into his life.... + +Occasionally he would talk, for she offered a sympathetic audience to +the things he had to say but never did their conversation become +intimate; the subjects he discussed were invariably abstract and +impersonal. While listening she studied the man, striving to define +that quality about him which lay behind his reserve and drew her on. +She could not seize and analyze it.... He was, aside from obvious minor +qualities, a closed book. + +Still she saw him at night patrolling the cottonwoods before he slept! + +She could not know what went on in the heart of that man, of the fight +he waged with himself, of the struggle he made to stick to his creed: +never to take a chance. He did not know that she was aware of those +nightly vigils. The first had been on that night after he had played +with her pride and her high spirits. Returned to the bunk house he had +suddenly seen her not a smart, capable stranger but as a girl, alone, +facing a new life, surrounded by strange people and unfriendly +influences. He sensed a pity for her and walked back to look about the +place and see that all was well, as he might have watched over a +sleeping child. + +And then, the day that the sorrel threw her, he had felt her body and +the man in him had been stirred and when next he paced those shadows it +was not as a protector of some defenseless life, but as one who quite +tenderly lays siege to the heart of a woman. + +He did not admit that even to himself. He reasoned that he was +protecting her because she was a stranger in a strange land and that +the impulse was only kindness. But his reason in that was a conscious +lie for as he stood under the stars with the cool, quiet night all +about him he could hear her voice in the murmur of the creek, hear her +limbs rustling her skirts in the soft sigh of wind in the trees, could +feel her presence there ... when he was stark alone.... + +And he fought it off, fought stubbornly, coldly because he did not +know, he did not know love, did not know the ground into which he was +being carried. + +Women? He had had many but the experiences had been casual, mere +surface rifflings, and he had never been stirred as this woman stirred +him. It was new, entirely new, and Tom Beck feared that which he did +not know. + +He was accustomed to talk to his horses as men will who love them and +while he rode the gulches alone he would in later days reason aloud +with his own roan or the HC black or bay he used. + +"Why, old stager, we can't take a chance like that!" he said time after +time. "We've kept our heels out of trouble by playing a close game, not +gettin' out on a limb, but up to now everything that come along has +been boy's play ... compared to this. + +"If an _hombre_ took a chance with his love that'd be the limit, +wouldn't it? He'd have his stack on the table, an' the deal wouldn't be +more than started!" + +He talked over the loves of other men with those horses, earnestly, +soberly. He recalled the marriages he had known between men and women +who were from the same stocks, who knew none but the same life; so many +were failures! And this girl, this girl of whom he dreamed at night and +thought by day, scarcely yet spoke his language! + +But he could not argue away the disturbing impulse. He could cover it, +hide it from others, hide it from himself at times, but drive it out? +Never! + + * * * * * + +Tom's report to Jane after his trip to town offered no encouragement. +The filing had been legally accomplished and its significance was +further impressed on the girl when he said: + +"It's a mighty popular subject in town, ma'am. Everybody's interested." + +"I suppose they all think it will mean trouble for me?" + +"Yes, an' they're likely to be right." + +She shook her head sharply. + +"We don't want trouble, but if it does come we must meet it half way!" +She leaned forward determinedly and Beck stirred in his chair. It was a +gesture of delight for those were almost his very words to Hepburn when +they cleared their relationships of pretense; but he said only: + +"That's the easiest way to take trouble on." + +Just then Hepburn came in with his report on his visit to the Hole. + +"The old fellow seems reasonable, Miss Hunter," he said ponderously. +"He don't look like he's a permanent neighbor even if he has bought +some cows from Webb, which I found out today. He's poor as a church +mouse to begin with--" + +"And buyin' more cattle?" put in Beck. + +"Oh, they were old stock an' I guess Webb was glad to get rid of 'em," +the foreman said with a wave of his hand, yet he did not return Beck's +searching gaze. + +"Cole told me he didn't have any intention of fencin' up the water so I +guess there ain't anything to fret you, Miss Hunter. I sounded him out +on buyin' but didn't get far. He's a shiftless old cuss, from th' look +of things, so I don't anticipate any trouble at all. He may not even +last the summer out." + +Tom left and afterward Hepburn talked at length of the situation, +minimizing the menace the others saw, urging Jane to put the matter out +of her mind. But the girl was not satisfied and the next day, with Tom, +rode off toward the Hole. + +They made an early start, riding out of the ranch just as the sun +topped the heights to the eastward. Dew hung heavily on the sage from +which fresh, clean fragrance rose as their horses stirred the brush. +Their shadows were thrown far in advance as they followed a narrow +gulch and the sunlight was caught and concentrated and scattered again +as the drops flew from leaf and twig. + +The girl breathed deeply of the light, sweet air and looked at Beck +with a little laugh as of relief. + +"When I sit at that desk, I feel like a prosaic business woman whose +interest is in ledgers," she said, "but when I ride in this country I +feel like a character in some romantic story." + +Tom scratched his chin thoughtfully. + +"That's too bad, 'ma'am," he said. + +"Which?" + +"Both." + +"I can see disadvantages to the first, but why the other?" + +"I guess I ain't struck much with stories. Used to read 'em, used to +get real interested in some but that was before I commenced to get +interested in folks." + +"Yes?" she encouraged after a moment. + +"You see, I think the folks I see and hear and live with and get to +know are a lot more interestin' than the folks somebody's thought up +out of his head. + +"A man in a book talks and acts like a man in a book an' nothing else. +You never hear men talk out here in the bunk house or ridin' the +country like a writer would make 'em talk on the page of a book; take +my word for that.... + +"Folks are mighty interestin'. The best fun I get is watching folks, +studying them. It's a lot more fun than reading about some man or woman +you know ain't real, ma'am. + +"Life is mighty interesting if you look at it right. If you try to +glorify and lie about it you cheapen the whole works. It's either +damned serious or a joke. There's no in between. I don't know which it +is, yet, but I do know that most of the books I ever read was th' +in-between kind, neither one thing nor the other. + +"I've been around considerable among men but I never seen things happen +in life like writers make things happen in books. Everything works out +so lovely in books, folks never make mistakes in anything ... that is, +the heroes don't. Why, love even works out right in books!" + +He spoke the last in a lowered voice as if he talked of a sacred thing +that had been mistreated. Unconsciously he had voiced the fear that had +grown in his own soul and when he turned to look at her his eyes +reflected a queer mental conflict, almost fright! + +She caught something of his mood and waited a moment to summon the +courage to ask very gently: + +"And doesn't it ... doesn't love work out in life?" + +He shook his head. + +"Seldom, ma'am. In books folks gamble with it like it was ... why, +ma'am, like their love was a white chip!" + +Again he spoke as of a sacrilege and his earnestness, though he did not +appear to be thinking of her, confused the girl. The wordless interval +which followed was distressing to her so she said: + +"And the other forms of expression? Music? Poetry? Painting?" + +"You've got me on music," he confessed with a laugh. "I've heard +greasers playin' fandangoes on busted old guitars that sounded a lot +sweeter to me than any band I ever heard. + +"As for poetry ... I don't know,"--shaking his head. "I read some; +tried to understand it, but it seems all messed up with words as if +poets liked to take the long, painful way of telling things. + +"I expect poets want to tell something that's sort of ... delicate an' +beautiful.... Now and then I've got a funny feel out of poetry, but it +ain't anything to me like, say, seeing a bunch of little quail run +along under the brush, heads up, lookin' back at you, whistlin' to each +other. That's the most delicate thing I've ever seen or heard.... + +"I've seen some paintings, in Los and San Francisco; once in Chicago +and once in Denver. I don't know. They don't get my idea of it. I never +want to see anything more beautiful than sunrise over the Grand Canyon, +or sunsets over these hills, dust storm on the desert, snow blowin' +before a norther off the ridges, and things like that. God, who's such +a close friend to the Reverend, and who I don't know much about, is as +good a painter as any I've ever seen." + +He said no more but rode apparently thinking of much more that might be +said and Jane watched him carefully, a hungry look coming into her +eyes. His words had partly analyzed him for her: + +He was _real_. + +He was the most real human being she had ever known, real because he +lived a real life, because he appreciated realities; he was sufficient +to himself, finding such an interest in life about him that his own +impressions and reactions occupied the foreground of his consciousness. + +All her life she had been fed on the artificial, living on a soft pad +of unrealities which softened and hid the bed-rock foundation of +existence from her. Within the last weeks she had had her first taste +of the real, was face to face with life and with herself; it had been +sweet and inspiring; she felt a great urge for more of that experience +and her mind sped ahead into the vague future, the future which her +imagination could not even conjure because the new foundation beneath +her feet was as yet unfamiliar. But for all that vagueness she thrilled +and as she peered forward eagerly she saw this man, this clean, frank +man ever at her side.... + +And yet he had spoken of love as a gamble which did not work itself out +in life! A sharp stab of shame shot through her heart, for she had once +handled her love as though it had been a white chip, she had been +willing to chance it as a thing of little value and she knew that to +him that would be the outraging of a sacred thing. + +And again she heard the pronouncement of Hilton: You cannot stand +alone! You will fail! A knave, she now knew, but he knew her as she had +been. And could he be right? Could she measure up to where a real man's +love would not be wasted upon her? She did not know; she dared not +think further, so driving back these doubts, she said: + +"There's one question I want to ask and I want your honest answer. What +is your opinion of Hepburn?" + +He looked at her with that twinkle in his eye again. + +"In just what way, ma'am?" + +"At times he seems reluctant to talk to me, as though he knew more than +he wanted to tell and again I've had a notion he didn't want me asking +about certain ranch matters at all. + +"I confess to you that with all the talk of thieving I've wondered if +he didn't know more about it than he gave me to understand, but what he +did the other day seems, in all reason, to wipe that suspicion out." + +He said: "It seems you've answered your own question. When you've said +that he went a long ways to prove that he's the man you want by what +he's just done, you've said all there was to say." + +"But do you mean that? Are you keeping some suspicion of your own from +me?" + +He deliberated a moment, then smiled. + +"It's easy to suspect but it don't pay very big until you know +somethin'. Then you don't need to." + +They climbed out of the gulch, horses breathing loudly as they made the +last steep ascent and gained the ridge they were to follow and there +was little more talk until they stopped and sat looking down across the +great flat-bottomed cavity of Devil's Hole. It was a pear-shaped +depression, perhaps four miles from rim to rim at the widest point and +fully a score of miles in length. Its sides were sprinkled with cedars +which clung to the sheer cliffs determinedly, but its bottom was +blanketed with thrifty sage brush, purple in the sunlight that was just +then slanting across the floor and beneath this sheen they could see +the bright green of new grasses. A dark line marked with the clarity of +a map the course of the creek and half way down toward the neck of the +Hole was a small cabin erected by the man who had filed on the land for +Colonel Hunter and who had drifted on without establishing title. + +"There's your neighbor," Beck said. + +Jane looked for a moment, then lifted her eyes to the country which +showed through the narrow outlet of the deep valley. Behind her endless +ridges tossed upward to a sharp horizon, but out through that gap the +range lay in a vast basin, rising gently to diminutive lavendar buttes +plastered against the sky many miles away. It seemed soft and vague and +unreal ... like one of the unreal paintings Beck had seen hanging +within walls. + +Tom led the way through trees and among upstanding ledges of rock into +the narrow, dangerous trail and as he went down, his big roan picking +the way quickly yet cautiously, he half turned in his saddle to explain +the significance of the descent. + +It was the only egress on that side of the Hole. There was one trail on +the far side, so steep and hazardous that a man must lead his horse +either up or down. The only other outlet was through the narrow Gap +where the wash of flood water during storms had made the going easy for +men and stock. Out to the northwest, however, lay miles of desert, the +great basin of which Jane had had a glimpse, well enough to use for +range in three seasons, but in summer it became parched and useless. In +the Hole cattle could feed on the abundant gramma, could drink from the +creek, but getting them out and over the divide to the more plentiful +water of Coyote Creek was an undertaking. + +"That's the danger," he told her, "It's a long, hard climb for stock in +good shape, but if anything should happen to prevent your stock from +drinkin' down here and they should get low from lack of water, why then +you'd leave a lot of 'em down there if you tried to bring 'em up." + +He pointed over the abrupt drop at his left where a pebble would fall +hundreds of feet before striking again and as he indicated his right +chap scrubbed the face of the cliff, so narrow was the way to which +they clung. + +Finally they reached the flat and swung along at a free trot through +the brash sage. + +"There's water here now," he explained, as they followed the steep +creek bank, "but that don't last. It's mighty low right this mornin'. +The creek sinks when it don't rain an' its been comin' up in just one +spot for years. That's what makes a nester dangerous for you." + +They approached the cabin. A mare and a newly born colt eyed them +suspiciously. An ancient wagon, its top tattered, its tires red with +rust, stood close beside a frail corral. Fire wood was scattered about; +here was an axe with a broken helve, there a rust-eaten shovel, and the +whole place spoke of poverty. + +And yet piled against the cabin was spool upon spool of new barbed wire! + +"Fence!" muttered Beck. + +"But Mr. Hepburn said--" + +"Yeah, I recall what he _said!_" + +Just then the canvas which served as a door was thrown back and the +girl stepped out. She stood just across the threshold looking at them, +sullen and defiant. + +"Good-morning," said Jane. + +"Howdy," replied the girl indifferently. + +An awkward pause. Surely, she would volunteer no more and Beck asked: + +"Your dad around?" + +"What do you want with him?"--a demand rather than a question. + +"I am Miss Hunter. I own the--" + +"Oh, I know who you are!" the girl cut in defiantly. + +"I came down to talk to your father. We are neighbors. If we are to be +good neighbors there are things we must discuss." + +Jane was unpoised by the attitude of the other but she dismounted and +walked toward the cabin. + +"What did you want with him?" the girl asked again. + +"I want to ask some things about your plans." + +"And what is our business to you?" The girl's eyes snapped and her +vivid color intensified. + +"It may be a great deal to me. That is why I am frank in coming here. +For years this place has been range for HC cattle. Recently water has +been short. You have wire and evidently are going to fence. + +"I don't come as an enemy. Now that you are here I want to make the +best of it." + +"But you don't want us here!" + +The simple declaration, voiced with that same defiance, confused Jane; +then she met the other on her own ground. + +"No, we don't want you here unless you will work with us as we all try +to work together. I think you will do that because it is the wiser--" + +"So you start out workin' with us by lookin' up our claim, the way we +filed it, before you come to talk!" + +"Yes, I did that,"--frankly. "I wanted to be sure just what your rights +were before I came to talk business." + +"Well, you know now. You know no lawyers can run us off. Ain't that +enough? If you know we've got rights, what do you come here for?" She +stopped, but before Jane could reply went on, her eyes flashing sudden +heat: "You don't want us here but we've come to stay an' from the way +you've started in to talk your business I guess that's all you'll find +out." + +Jane eyed her for an interval then said: + +"You and I are the only women for miles about in this country. We are +near neighbors as neighbors go in the mountains; do you think this is +the best way to start in being friends?" + +"Who said anything about bein' friends?" + +"I want to be your friend." The sincerity of this balked the girl and +her eyes became puzzled. "I want to be your friend and want you for my +friend. We can help each other in a good many ways." + +"I don't recollect askin' for your help." + +"No, but I want to give it to you and I want to ask yours in return. We +are here in a big country. We are all dependent to an extent on those +about us. None of us can get along so well alone as we can by working +together." + +"Like turnin' folks out in the rain at night, for instance?" + +Jane's cheeks flamed. + +"I don't understand," she said. + +"Think it over an' maybe you will!" + +The girl's eyes blazed uncovered hate, but as they took Jane in again +from hat to boots a curious envy showed in them. + +"I've seen how much you big outfits want to help poor folks before," +she said. "I know all about that,"--bitterly. "Maybe it's a good thing +you come here today so you'll get to understand, first hand, instead of +sendin' your men around to learn things for you. + +"We've come a long ways. We've been on th' move ever since I can +recollect. Folks have offered to help us before, an' they have helped +us ... to decide to move. We've come to stay here; we can take care of +ourselves; we don't ask nothin' but to be let alone, an' we're goin' to +be let alone if we have to make it stick with gun play." + +She had advanced and, hands on her hips, weight on one foot, spoke the +last with her face close to Jane's, her head nodding in slow emphasis. + +"I trust it won't come to that," Jane said evenly. She had not +flinched, but studied the girl carefully, impersonally, though the +color in her cheeks had died; her face was in repose, her bearing +dignified and assured, yet without suggestion of any superficial +superiority. "If it does come to that it will not be because I am +unwilling to do all that is reasonable. I have come down here to talk +to you, which should be evidence of my good faith; I have been frank. +You meet me as though I had come to cheat you or drive you out. I don't +think that is fair." + +The other drew back a step, clearly puzzled again. Her face, in spite +of its forbidding expression, was very beautiful. + +"That sounds all right," she said at length, "but I've heard it before +and I know how much it's worth. You ain't my kind. You don't belong +here and I do. You don't want to be my friend ... you wouldn't know how. + +"All we want is to be let alone. Our business ain't yours an' we won't +try to make yours ours. Have you said all you wanted to say?" + +"No, not quite all, but if you won't listen to me, if you won't believe +me, there is only one more thing I can say: You will know where to find +me any time you want to talk to me. I will be ready to work with you, +to do my share, and maybe a little more. I hope there will be no +trouble, for it would force me to make my share of that." + +She turned abruptly and walked toward Beck. + +The man had purposely held aloof to watch the encounter between the two +women. He had been certain that the meeting would be anything but +amicable and it was like other situations into which he had let Jane +Hunter walk, needlessly and only to see how she would handle herself. +Usually the result only amused him but today he had watched Jane bear +up admirably under difficult circumstances, refusing to be angered or +confused, refusing to plead yet, while retaining dignity, leaving the +door to friendship open. + +As Jane mounted Bobby Cole stepped back into the cabin with no word and +the riders turned back on the way they had come. + +"I've been wonderin'," Beck said after a time, "how this old codger +rakes up the dust to buy cattle and wire." + +Jane did not reply. She wondered at that, too, but there was another +wonder in her mind about another, more human mystery, going back to a +night of storm in the heavens and storm in hearts. How did Bobby Cole +know she had turned Dick Hilton out? + +As they went silently each thinking of significant things which had +been revealed the girl threw back the curtain in the doorway and +watched them. + +"I hate you!" she whispered at Jane Hunter. "I hate you!... Because you +turned him out ... because you're ... you're _you_." + +She stood a long time watching them and with the darkness in her face +another quality finally mingled: that envy again. + +After a time Jane said: + +"A queer creature, that girl." + +"On the peck from the start!" Beck replied. + +"And beautiful!" + +"Ain't she, though?... Poor kid! I've seen 'em before, kids of movers +like that, not so good lookin', not so smart as she is, but like her +because they was always suspicious, always ready to scrap.... + +"That's because they've never had a chance to be decent, brought up in +a wagon that way." + +"A shame!" Jane whispered. + +"I like kids," he said later, as though his mind had been on nothing +else. "I like all kids, but I feel sorry for a lot of 'em ... for most +of 'em.... Every kid that's born ought to have a chance, a fair show +against the world, because the old world don't seem to like kids any +too much. + +"That girl didn't have a chance, never will have it. She was marked +from the day she was born. + +"Why, ma'am, one winter I worked for a cow man down in the Salt River +valley which is in Arizona. He didn't have a big outfit, he didn't have +much luck; trouble with his water, his cattle got sick and his horses +didn't do well and he had just one dose of trouble after another. + +"But he had three kids, all in a row they seemed,"--indicating +progressive heights with his hand. "I think they was the happiest kids +I've ever seen. I always think of 'em when I see kids that've had to +grow up like that girl. I remember those mornin's when we used to start +out for a day's ride, looking back and seeing those kids playing in the +dirt beside the rose bushes. Their clothes was dirty the minute they +stepped outside and their hands an' faces was a sight from the 'dobe, +but there was roses in their cheeks as bright as th' roses on the +bushes and they laughed loud and their eyes always smiled ... like that +Arizona sky, which ain't got a match anywhere.... + +"This man and his wife just buckled down an' bucked old Mister Hard +Luck from the word Go, for them kids! They sure thought the world of +'em. I guess that was what put the roses in their cheeks an' the smiles +in their eyes.... + +"I'll never forget those kids by the rose bushes with somebody to care +for 'em, an' work their hearts out for 'em. That's the way kids ought +to grow up; not like that catamount grew up." + +He smiled in reminiscence and his smile was tender. + +"Roses and kids," he repeated after a while. "They ought to go +together." + +He looked at Jane and saw that her eyes were filmed. + +She rode closer to him, until her knee touched his chap and said: + +"I think that is beautiful: Roses and kids. I shall always remember it; +always...." + +She knew, now, the man she loved, the man whose love she would win, the +man behind that exasperating front of caution. His clear eyes and keen +mind were interested only in realities and yet he could display a +tenderness more delicate than she had ever before encountered in men. +He was strong, and as gentle as he was strong; he was generous while a +skeptic; he had poise and personality. And he could liken love to a +poker chip; without using the word make her know that he held love +sacred! + +She raised her hand to that locket again and held it tightly in her +small palm. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE FRAME-UP + + +The water in Devil's Hole was fenced. + +It was the Reverend who brought word of the fencing. He had made a +circuit of the ranches, holding services and selling pens, and on his +way back from the lower reaches of Coyote Creek he stopped to call on +the Coles. His visit was not financially productive but he did see long +rows of posts set by three Mexicans, and saw wire being stretched on +them. + +Another thing he saw, which he did not mention to Hepburn: He saw Bobby +Cole riding beside a man, a man who did not wear the dress of her +country but who wore swagger riding clothes; who did not talk with the +self consciousness of a mountain man who rides beside a pretty girl, +but who leaned toward her and talked engagingly, so engagingly that the +girl lost her hostile attitude and looked up into his face with wide, +eager eyes. + +The fencing stirred the country as nothing had done since the first and +only time sheep bands attempted to come in. There was talk of it in +town, there was talk of it when men met on trail or road, there was +talk of it in ranch houses down the creek and there was talk of it +elsewhere, at length, in stealthy jubilation.... + +Riley of the Bar Z rode the thirty miles from his ranch to discuss it +with Jane Hunter. + +"I don't guess you quite understand how serious it is, Miss Hunter," he +said after they had talked a time. "Do you realize that if we have a +dry summer--and it's startin' out that way--that this is goin' to cut +your cattle off some of your best range. It may break you." + +"I understand that, Mr. Riley," she said, leaning across her desk, "but +there are other things I do not understand and I am inclined to believe +that they are of first importance. Without understanding them, this +condition can not be remedied." + +He gave evidence of his surprise. + +"I'm not wanted here," she went on. "I'm not wanted because the HC is +a rich prize. It seems to be the accepted opinion that I cannot stay, +that I will be unable to stand my ground. + +"I want to know _why!_ I want to know who is going to drive me +out. Some one is behind this nester, I am convinced, and it is the +influence behind the things we can see that is dangerous. Loss of range +is serious, surely; but by what manner has that range been lost. +_That_ is what I want to know!" + +Riley eyed her with approval. + +"I came up here with the idea that you didn't understand but I guess +you do," he said quietly. "You've got the situation sized up right, but +there's one thing I want to tell you: So far only one blow has been +struck; it has fallen on you. The next and the next may fall on you, +but every time you are hurt it's goin' to hurt the rest of us. That +makes your fight our fight.... If you fail, others are likely to fail. + +"I've lived here too long in peace after fighting for that peace, to +stand by and see trouble start again if I can help it. I'm of the old +school, Miss Hunter; your uncle and I came in here together. I think a +lot of his ranch and ... well, if it comes to a fight I can fight again +beside his heir as I fought by his side. + +"It won't be pleasant for a woman. Cattle wars ain't gentle affairs. +They can't be if they're going to be short wars. There's three things +to be used; just three: guns an' rope and nerve." + +"I trust I can stand unpleasantness if necessary," was her reply. + +Riley was impressed with the girl's courage but like the others he was +reluctant to believe that she was made of the stuff that could +recognize disaster and fight it out, her strength unweakened by panic. + +Another visitor was there that day: Pat Webb. Jimmy Oliver had found +one of his colts badly cut by wire and had brought it in. Webb had come +to see the animal and had lingered to talk intimately with Hepburn. + +This gave Beck much to think about. + +He was saddling his horse at noon when Hepburn approached and asked his +plans for the balance of the day. + +"It depends on what I find. I'm after horses first, but I might have a +look at other things. There's so damned much happenin' around here that +it pays a man to look sharp." + +"You'd better cut out that sort of talk, Beck!" + +"What talk?"--mockingly. "Seems to me if you didn't know any more than +I do you wouldn't be so easily roiled up, Hepburn." + +"You mind your business and I'll look after mine," the foreman warned, +breathing heavily. "About one more break from you and we'll part +company." + +His eyes glittered ominously and his face was malicious. + +"I wouldn't be surprised. This outfit's a little too small for you and +me. It seems to shrink every day, Dad. Maybe, sometime, you'll have to +go, but just keep this in your head: I've promised Miss Hunter to stay +and my word is good." + +He mounted and Hepburn, walking slowly toward the stable, twirled his +mustache speculatively, one eye lid drooped as though he saw faintly a +plan which promised to solve perplexities. + +Beck was cautious that afternoon, as he had trained himself to be when +riding alone. He kept an eye on the back trail and scanned both gulches +when he rode a ridge; but cautious as he was he did not see the two +riders who sat on quiet horses beneath a spreading juniper tree at the +head of Twenty Mile. + +It was after dark when he returned to the ranch and the moon was just +commencing to show. The others were at supper. He threw his gun and +chaps into the bunk house and fed his horse. As he walked down toward +the ranch house the other men were straggling out and their dining room +was empty. Carlotta brought him steaming food and he ate with gusto. + +When he had nearly finished Jane entered and he started to rise, but +she made him remain seated. + +"What do you suppose that man Webb is doing here?" she asked. "Hepburn +explains that he is trying to arrange to send a representative with our +round-up." + +"Whatever he's doin' here, it ain't for your good," he replied. + +"Nor yours." + +"Don't you worry about mine, ma'am and unless he's a lot smarter than I +think he is, or unless he's got lots of help, don't figure he's goin' +to do you any great harm. He's just a low-down--" + +A man was running toward the house and he broke off to listen. + +Two-Bits came hurriedly into the room, eyes wide, face white, showing +none of his usual confusion at Jane's presence. + +"Tommy, they want you," he said unnaturally. + +"Yeah? What for, Two-Bits?" + +"I don't know, Tommy. Hepburn an' Riley an' Webb an' the rest want you. +I don't know what it is, Tommy, but it must be serious." + +Tom saw the anxiety in Jane's eyes. She did not put her query into +words; it was not necessary; he knew and answered: + +"I ain't got an idea, ma'am, but I'll go find out. You're all wound up, +Two-Bits!"--laughing. + +"My gosh, Tommy, they acted funny. Have you done anything?" the cowboy +asked in an undertone as they left the house. + +"A lot, Two-Bits. I sure hope they don't go proddin' into my awful +past! There's some terrible things they might find!" + +He hooked his arm through the other's and laughed at the boy's +apprehension. + +But Beck knew that something of grave consequence impended the instant +he set foot in the bunk house for the men, who had been talking lowly, +stopped and eyed him in sober silence. Afterward he had a distinct +recollection of Two-Bits slipping along the wall, looking at him over +his shoulder with the freckles showing in great blotches against his +white skin. Hepburn, Riley and Webb sat on one bed. The foreman was +leaning back, hands clasping a knee, but he chewed his tobacco with +nervous vigor. + +"The Reverend about to offer prayer?" Tom asked easily. + +There was no responsive smile on any face. Someone coughed loudly and +sharply as if it had been an unnecessary cough. Tom halted. + +"I'm here. What's up?" he asked quietly. "This is like a funeral ... or +a trial." + +At that Hepburn cleared his throat. + +"Want to ask you somethin', Beck. I want you to tell these other men +what you said to me this noon." + +Tom hitched up his belt. + +"If you want 'em to know, why don't you speak the piece yourself? You +recall it, don't you?" + +"Better talk, Tom," Riley advised. + +"I don't know what this is all about; I don't know what difference what +I said to Hepburn can make to the rest of you, but I respect your +opinions, Riley, and if he's willing for you to know what I said, I +sure am willing to repeat it. + +"Hepburn and I've had a little argument. It's been goin' on for some +time. He'd be pleased to have me move on, I take it, but I sort of like +this outfit." + +"Go on," Hepburn said impatiently. + +"I told you, Hepburn, and I'll tell you again that this ranch is +gettin' a little small to hold both of us. It seems to shrink every day +and I don't get good elbow room any more, but so far as I'm concerned +I'm more or less permanent." + +Webb nodded and Riley shifted uneasily, looking from Beck to Hepburn, +frankly puzzled. + +"Yes, that's what you said to me. Now will you tell the boys where you +rode this afternoon?" + +Beck eyed him a long moment and the foreman stared back, assured but +not quite composed, his little eyes dark. Once he bit his chew savagely +but his expression did not change. + +"I rode out of here straight up Sunny Gulch, climbed out at the head, +rode those little dry gulches as far down as Twenty Mile and came up +the far ridge. Then I took a circle to the east and came home by the +road." + +"You admit bein' at the head of Twenty Mile, then?" + +"Admit it? Yes." + +"What time?" + +"Three o'clock or thereabouts,"--after a pause in which he considered. + +"See any other men?" + +"Not a man until I got back." + +Hepburn looked about. Two-Bits muttered lowly to himself. Riley dragged +a spur across the floor slowly. Every eye in the room was on Beck, and +Beck's eyes were on Hepburn. + +"Then will you tell the boys how come this?" + +The foreman drew a gun and holster from behind him. It was Beck's gun. +He drew it from the scabbard, broke it and dropped the cartridges into +his palm. + +Three of the shells were empty. + +The two gave one another stare for stare. Hepburn was breathing rapidly +but his look was of a man who faces a crisis with all confidence. Beck +did not move or speak. His eyes smouldered and his face settled into +stern lines. Then that smouldering burst into blaze and before the +glare of will the foreman's hand, holding the contents of the revolver +chambers, trembled. He closed it quickly and looked away and where a +moment before he had been the accuser he was now on the defense. It was +determination against determination and in the conflict words were +wrung from him. + +"Somebody fired three shots at me at the head of Twenty Mile at three +o'clock this afternoon." + +And that sentence, though it was an indictment, was voiced more in a +manner of defense than in accusation. With it Beck's expression +changed; it became alert, as though following some play upon which +great stakes hung, but following intelligently, not blind to the way of +the game. + +"I can explain those empty shells. I took a shot at a coyote on the way +back. I didn't see you, Hepburn, after I left here this afternoon until +I got back." + +Webb got up. + +"I guess that makes the case," he said to no one in particular. + +Then to Tom: "I was with Dad; he was ten rod ahead of me. Th' shots +come from above and landed all around him. + +"_We_ didn't have to look very hard for somebody who wants to get +rid of Dad, but we wanted it from you, Beck." + +Triumph was in his little beady eyes and on his mottled face. There was +a shuffling of feet and Tom hooked one thumb in his belt, with a slow, +uncertain movement. His eyes held on Hepburn's face, prying, searching, +striving to force a meeting but the other would not look at him, he +busied himself stuffing the evidence into his shirt pocket. + +Riley rose and the low stir which had followed the revelation subsided. + +"Isn't there something else you want to say, Beck?" he asked. "Didn't +you see any other man? Can't you say something for yourself?" + +"I didn't see another man this afternoon," the other replied, still +striving to make Hepburn meet his gaze, "an' besides there don't seem +to be much to say. I've told my story. It's simple enough.... You've +heard the other story, which seems simple enough. Now it's my word +against Hepburn's ... an' Webb's,"--as though the last were in +afterthought, and of little matter. + +Riley faced the circle of listeners. + +"This is no boy's play," he said grimly. "The foreman of the biggest +outfit in this country has been shot at, shot at by somebody who didn't +come from cover and give him even a fair show for a fight. We know that +there's been bad blood between these two men; Tommy's admitted that. I +hate like hell to think he lost his head over a quarrel and that he'd +fight a man from cover, but it looks bad. + +"We can't have this go on! There's been stealing and rumors of stealing +for months. There's trouble comin' over water and fence. We've gotten +along like good neighbors for years but now trouble seems to be in the +air. I don't see that there's much to it but to take Tom to town an' +turn him over to the sheriff. + +"Unless,"--facing Beck. "Tommy, ain't there anything you want to say? +You've refused once but I keep thinkin' you've got something else you +could tell us." + +"No, Riley, I'd be taking a chance by doing more talkin' tonight. I'll +do it when it'll do me more good," he said, but at his own words, brave +though they sounded, his heart sank and a rage boiled up in him. + +"Then I'm afraid it's jail for you, son," Riley said. "I can--" + +"Jail?" + +Jane Hunter had stepped into the bunk house. It was the first time she +had ever been there and that was reason enough to rivet attention on +her; but now she came under circumstances which were stressed, her face +was white, lips parted, eyes wide with a child-like wonder and as she +paused on the threshold, one hand against the casing, dread was in +every line of her figure. + +"Jail?" she repeated in a strained voice. "And why?" + +The silence was oppressive and for a breath no one moved or spoke. Beck +had not turned to face her; his eyes never left Hepburn's face and it +was he who broke the suspense with one word, addressed to the foreman. + +"Well?"--a challenge. + +Hepburn moved slowly toward the girl. + +"There's been a little trouble, Miss Hunter," with an attempt at a +laugh, which resulted dismally. + +"Trouble?"--with rising inflection. + +She took a step forward, looking about at the serious faces. She looked +back at Hepburn; then at Beck. Her eyes clung to him a moment, then +swept the circle again. + +"Trouble? About what? Who is in trouble?" + +"I didn't want to bother you with it," her foreman said, his assurance +coming back, for Beck had ceased looking at him. "It's a nasty mess; I +don't like it. None of us like it. Even if he is inclined to be a +little hot-headed, we all thought better of Tom--" + +"Tom?" + +Slowly she turned to face Beck. + +"Yes. Tom. We're.... We're sorry, ma'am," Dad stammered; then recovered +and with an effort to belittle the situation by his manner proceeded: +"Somebody did a small amount of shootin' at me this afternoon. Webb, +here, an' I was at the head of Twenty-Mile and somebody fired three +times at me. Tom come in tonight with three empty shells in his gun. +He.... He didn't explain well enough to suit us because all he could +say was that he fired at a coyote comin' down the road, but--" + +"And you're going to take him to jail?" + +Her hand had gone slowly to her throat, fingers clamping on the gold +locket as if for support. Her eyes had become very dark. + +"Well, ma'am, that's about all we can do: turn him over to the +sheriff," Hepburn said. + +She drew a deep breath, a second interval of tense silence prevailed +and then Jane, putting one arm across her eyes, began to laugh. The +laugh started low in her throat and rippled upward until it was full +and as clear as the ringing of a glass gong. She swayed back against +the wall and pressed her extended palms hard against the tough logs.... + +"On that evidence?" she cried. "On such evidence you would charge a man +with attempted murder and turn him over to the law? Because there were +empty shells in his revolver? + +"Why, I was with him when he came down the road and he _did_ shoot +at a coyote ... three times ... I heard it; I saw it ... I was there." + +She leaned her head back and her body shook with silent, nervous +laughter. + +"Praise ye the Lord!" chanted the Reverend, "For his ways are wonderous +and strange to behold!" + +A babel of comments, loud, profane, excited, relieved, arose. Hepburn +stood as if struck dumb, mouth agape and then, face growing dark with a +rush of blood under the bronzed skin, he said: + +"I thought you said you didn't see a soul!" + +"I said I didn't see a man, you pole-cat!" Beck retorted and his eyes +danced. Webb sat down on a bunk as though suddenly weakened. Riley, +voice husky, took Tom's hand, shook it gravely. + +"Why didn't you tell us, my boy?" he questioned. + +The rest stopped to hear the answer: + +"I didn't want to spill my case before this ... this _hombre_ +showed his full hand," he lied. + +He turned to look at the other who had lied ... but Jane Hunter had +fled. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE BIG CHANCE + + +Hours later, after the Reverend had offered a strong, verbose prayer, +invoking the wrath of the Almighty upon those who plot to strike from +cover, after the bunk house had finally become quiet, Beck stole out +into the night. + +The moon rode high, flooding the creek bottom with its cold, blue-white +light and he stood bareheaded, shirt open at the chest, staring at one +bright star which stared back from the edge of the hills. Far off, away +down the creek, a coyote yapped and, waiting, cried again and its faint +echo reverberated into silence. A horse in the corral stomped and blew +loudly.... + +He moved on down toward the cottonwoods and reaching them stood in +their shadows, arms at his sides, shoulders slacked as if weakened, +irresolute. The ranch house was dark, its shingles smeared with a sheen +of silver by the moon, the veranda in deep black. + +Tom did not see her coming until she was halfway across the dooryard. +Then, rather heavily, he climbed the wire fence and met her. + +Without words of greeting Jane put out her hands and he took them both, +holding them between his, looking down into her face silently. Her eyes +were dry, but there had been tears on her cheeks, and her lips, as she +looked into his smouldering eyes, trembled. + +"What were they trying to do to you?" she whispered. + +"They were trying to send me to jail for shooting at a man," he +answered. "Why did you lie for me?" + +"Oh, you were in trouble! I didn't know. I couldn't think.... I saw it +all so clearly, all in a flash, saw that all you needed was one little +word from someone else to make it right and I didn't care beyond that. +It was the only thing that mattered. If they had taken you away I'd +have been alone, wholly alone...." + +"You believed me when I told 'em I shot at a coyote?" + +"Believe? Believe? I didn't think, didn't consider. It made no +difference to me what you had done. The only thing I wanted to do was +to set you free, to clear you!" + +"You'd lie for me, even if you thought I'd shot to kill a man?" he +insisted. + +"I didn't know what you had--" + +"You'd take a chance like that? Why would you, ma'am?" + +For a long moment their eyes, half seen to one another in those +shadows, clung almost fiercely, his inquisitory, hers changing as wave +followed wave of emotion through her body. She had never seen him so +dominating, and he had no need to insist again that she answer. She let +her head fall back with a half smile. + +"Oh, I did it because it was the only thing I could do.... I did it, +Tom, because I--" + +He straightened sharply and cut in: + +"I know, ma'am; you did it because you need me here, on the ranch." + +His chest swelled with a great breath and he released her hands, +stepping back and putting a hand slowly to his head. + +For an instant she made no sound. Then she laughed strangely. + +"Because I need you here.... Yes, that was it. That was why I lied for +you." She spoke with nervous rapidity, rather breathlessly, and one +hand went again to that locket, clutching it in a cold clasp. "I knew +it was not like you to try to shoot a man unfairly. I didn't think +there was much chance in lying. All I saw was them taking you away and +leaving me here alone to face all this, without anyone I can trust, +without anyone to help me. That was why I lied to them. + +"You promised me once that you would stay. I knew then that I needed +you; every hour since that promise was made I've had a greater +realization of my need for you until it ... it ..." Her breath caught +in a sob and she pressed knuckles to her lips. + +Beck stood silently watching her, a cold moisture forming on his brow, +hands clenched as if he were holding himself against the urge of some +great impulse. + +"I felt when I stepped in there and learned what it all was, that the +last thing I have to depend on was slipping away ... and I reached out +and grasped you like I'd grasp a straw in a sea. It ... I can't tell +you,"--her voice trembled, "what it meant, what it means to me...." + +Words, words! They spilled from her lips with a rapidity that +approached hysteria. She was talking without thought, without reason, +letting her voice run on while her consciousness, divorced entirely +from it, fell into chaos. + +"Everything seems to be working against me and now, because you have +been my help, my strength, they are trying to take you away. Oh, I need +all the help there is, and that is you!"--with a stamp of the foot as +she drove tears back. + +"There are influences which I can't see, which I can only feel, all +about me, within me,"--beating her breast--"and outside." + +"It may be interestin' to you to know that I didn't shoot at any +coyote." + +She gasped lightly and for a moment did not speak. + +"Then you did shoot at Hepburn?"--in a whisper. + +"No, I didn't. I'd never shoot from cover." + +"I knew that," she said quickly, knowing that by her question she had +hurt him. + +"It appears that I ain't very welcome with your foreman. It was a +frame-up, a good way to get rid of me. They planted that evidence in my +gun while I was eating. It was one of those influences at work, the +kind you've only felt. You can see some of 'em now, ma'am.... + +"It's lucky you thought to lie," he said, with a weak laugh that was +unlike him. "I guess you're going to need all your luck.... + +"But you better go in now. It's late and cold." + +He wanted her to be away from him, to be rid of her presence, for it +pulled him, drew him, and he fought against it, fought against the +strongest impulse that has been born to man, fought blindly, his old, +deeply rooted caution, dragging him back ... dragging him.... + +"I don't want to go in; I don't want to leave you," she said. "I want--" + +"But you must go. Have I got to pick you up an' carry you into your +house, ma'am?" + +"I want you to take this," she went on where he had interrupted, +fumbling at the catch of the chain which held the locket against her +throat. "Take it," she said, holding it swinging toward him, spattered +with moonlight. "It's brought me all the luck I've ever had; it will +help you, it will protect you. You need luck as much as I do ... and +you need it for me. Wear it, a foolish little trinket but it means ... +oh, more than you can know! I'd like to think of you as wearing it...." + +"I don't think I need that, ma'am. What's in it?" + +"Don't ask that! Don't even open it, please. Just take it and wear it, +for me." + +He made no move to take the ornament, just stood looking at it +skeptically. + +"Take it ... and then I will go in, without being carried." + +She reached up to place the chain about his neck with her own hands; +her unsteady fingers, fumbling with the catch, slipped and her cool, +bared arms, touched his flesh. At the contact she swayed against him. + +"Oh, carry me in," she pleaded gently, "carry me in ... not into my +house, but into your life!" + +All the caution, all the reason he had summoned to hold back that urge +was swept aside. The touch of her skin against his skin sent seething +blood to the ends of his limbs. It did not need her plea to break him +down; the touch accomplished it, and fiercely, roughly, he caught her +to him. + +"It's all been a lie, another lie, all this you've said!" he cried +lowly. "You didn't lie tonight because you need me; you lied because +you love me, ma'am! You love me, like a good woman can love, and I love +you.... I love you, ma'am, like I never thought I could love. It's +bigger than I am, bigger than all the rest of my life.... + +"From that first night you talked to me I've been afraid I was goin' to +love you. That was why I planned to go away because I didn't want to +take a chance with my love. It's the only sacred thing I've ever owned +and I've kept it back, savin' it for the time when I could turn it +loose.... + +"When you told me you'd made up your mind to stay here, that you wanted +to do something that was real and worth-while, I felt that I couldn't +hold it back.... + +"But I didn't know you. I got to love you so much I was afraid of you, +afraid of myself. That was why I bullied you, that was why I picked on +you. I tried to drive you away from me, I tried, even, to keep from +bein' your friend, but somethin' told me all the time that this had to +come. + +"I've watched you grow strong and big. I've hurt you on purpose. I've +made some things hard for you to do, but you've done 'em. You're like a +man, in the way you stand up to things ... and the gentlest, the +sweetest woman down in your heart!" + +"Not that!" she pleaded. "Not all that. I'm not what you think, I'm +only what you can make me. I'm weak and need it. I want to be carried +... along and upward by it!" + +Chin drawn in, he looked down into her face as she lay in his arms, her +breath quick and fast and warm on his cheek. He could feel his limbs +vibrate as his pulse leaped and his whole body trembled as he read the +look in her eyes, revealed by the moonlight. + +Up on the hills a little owl hooted and again the coyote yapped. A +vagrant night wind touched the trees above them and the leaves +whispered sleepily, as if roused by a pleasant dream. The murmur of the +creek sounded almost as a blessing. None of these they heard. They were +lost in a vague, limitless world, alone, swayed by the most powerful, +the most beautiful forces in life. + +"You lied because you love me," he whispered. + +And at that she stirred and her breath slipped out in a long sob. He +lowered his face to hers as scalding tears brimmed from her eyes. He +felt them on his cheek, mingled with her breath and he felt her arms +tighten about his neck, her body draw closer to his. + +"It wasn't any chance!" he whispered fiercely. "It wasn't any chance, +and I've been holdin' back, fighting it off, denying it to myself for +weeks ... afraid to risk it, afraid to let it come out ... afraid of +what is _so!_" + +"Isn't it a chance?" she asked almost in a gasp. "Isn't it? Are you +sure, Tom?" + +"As sure as I am that the moon is up there, Jane." + +He lowered his lips to hers and for a long kiss they clung. + +"But you don't know--you don't know!" she cried, suddenly struggling to +be free. "You don't know me," pressing her palms against his chest as +he held her. "It's big, it's fine ... the biggest, the finest thing +that has ever come into my life. + +"Tom! What if it should be a chance?" + +"But, Jane it can't--" + +With a faint little cry, almost as though she were hurt, she broke from +him and fled toward the house through the moonlight. + +He stood alone, the feel of her lips still on his, heart leaping, mind +swirling. And, looking down, he saw that in his hand he held the little +gold locket. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +WAR! + + +So, for Jane and Tom, at least, Hepburn came into the open. + +And for Hepburn, these two displayed their hands. + +Of greater consequence, Beck's reserve, his caution was swept away. He +had taken his big chance! + +"You're all there is to me," he told Jane the following morning with a +desperation in his eyes and a seriousness in his voice that made her +search his face with alarm. "I fought against my love for you but it +wasn't any use. You _made_ me love you. You'll make me keep lovin' +you, won't you, Jane?" + +"I hope so! You don't know how much I hope so!" she assured him as her +arms clasped his neck closely. "It frightens me, having this +responsibility. It's the greatest I've ever had and I'm weak, Tom, a +weak woman!" + +"No, strong!" he declared and stopped her further protest with kisses. + +Dad Hepburn, of course, could not stay on under the circumstances. + +"There's an advantage of having a reptile in sight if you've got to +have one in the country," Beck told Jane as they discussed the matter, +"but he won't stay. He's got an excuse to back out gracefully now and +we haven't any excuse to keep him on." + +"And will you be my foreman?" she asked. + +"If you'll trust me that far," he replied with the laugh in his eyes +again. + +Hepburn departed that day, telling Jane that he would like to stay but +that he did not feel like risking his life for the sake of a job, to +which she made no reply other than writing his check. This nettled him; +he did not meet her gaze because, though they both had lied, her guilt +was white while his was smirched with treachery. + +His farewell to Beck was not open but his successor read in it an +ominous quality. + +"I wish you luck on your job, Beck," he said as he mounted, ready to +ride away. "Lots of luck." + +"Mostly bad luck, Hepburn?" Tom taunted and the flush that whipped into +the face of the older man was not that of humiliation. + +He reined his horse away with a growl and did not look back. + +If the little gold locket which Tom wore about his neck brought luck, +it supplied a dire need. He had two determined personal enemies in the +country, Webb and Hepburn, and as foreman of the HC he had many +others, identities not fully established. + +There was Cole and the Mexicans he had hired to build the fence and +clear his land. There was the usual gathering of riff-raff at Webb's. +And there was Sam McKee, the coward, who was not reckoned as a menace +by Beck and who, in later days, was to figure so largely! + +Another piece of news the Reverend brought: + +"They're talkin' about you in town, brother. They're saying that now +some of this thieving will stop. They're looking to you to clean up the +country." + +"Ain't that a lot of responsibility to put on one peaceful citizen?" +Beck asked, but though he jested over the fact he did not fail to +appreciate its significance. + +"Be cautious. These men are without scruple, brother." + +"And so am I ... but I got lots of luck, Reverend!" was his parting. + +He needed his luck. + +Riding alone, under a rim rock, with the country falling away to the +westward, he speculated on his luck and on the talisman Jane had given +him. He drew the locket from his shirt front and held it on his big +palm eyeing the thing, wondering what it contained that Jane had wanted +to conceal from him. + +"I've got a half grown notion to open it," he muttered and stopped his +horse shortly. + +And he might have sprung the lid had not a zipping and a dull, dead +spatter on the rock just ahead caught his attention. He looked up +sharply, saw the stain of metal against the ledge and saw in the +sunlight a fragment of the bullet that had shattered itself there, that +would have drilled him had his horse taken the next step. + +Whoever fired had calculated on that next step because he was at such a +distance that no report of a rifle reached him. + +Beck turned his horse and raced to cover and lay for an hour scanning +the country, but his assailant did not appear. + +When Tom rode away he smiled grimly to himself and said to the roan: + +"We won't look in it now. Stoppin' to consider saved our skin that +time; maybe we'll need that luck again ... and worse." + +Another time, the same week, he threw his bed on a pack horse and +started a two-day ride to the south-east for, as foreman, he gave close +heed to the detail of his work. + +At sundown he made camp and while his coffee boiled stripped himself +and bathed luxuriously in a waterhole. + +He lay looking upward at the stars that night thinking more of Jane +Hunter than her property, thrilling at memory of her hair and eyes and +lips, telling himself that conditions were reversed now, and that +instead of fighting her off, evading her charms, he was consumed with +an eagerness for them. + +Drowsiness came and, turning on his side, he reached a hand for the +locket to hold it fast while he slept. It was not about his neck. He +remembered that he had left it on a rock where he had undressed for his +bath and, slipping out of his blankets, turning them back that the +night chill might not dampen his bed, he picked his way carefully to +the place and groped for the trinket. + +His fingers had just touched the gold disc when the quiet of the night +was punctured by a shot ... then four more in quick succession. + +He squatted low, holding his breath. He heard booted feet running over +rocks, heard a man speak gruffly to a horse and, in a moment, heard +galloping hoofs carrying a rider away. He waited a half hour, then +stole back to his bed. The tarp and blankets were drilled by five +bullet holes. + +"Maybe I'm superstitious," he muttered, fastening the gold chain about +his neck, "but this thing, or whatever is in it, has saved my hide +twice in one week." + +The man who had fired into his blankets had trailed him deliberately, +had waited until satisfied that he was asleep and had stolen up to +murder him without offering a fighting chance. + + * * * * * + +"Hepburn has gone into partnership with Webb," Jane told him on his +return to the ranch. "The Reverend brought in that word. What do you +make of it?" + +"Not much. Without my help it makes about the finest couple of snakes +that could be brought together!" Tom muttered. + +"And somebody tampered with the ditch in the upper field. Curtis and +the men started the water down late in the afternoon. They left their +tools there and the ditch bank was broken. They tell me it surely was +shoveled out. The water is low and losing it hurt." + +"That looks quite like war," he told her. + +War it was. That night the men in the bunk house were awakened by a +bright glare and looking out Beck saw that four stacks of hay, totaling +more than a hundred tons of feed left from the winter, were in a blaze. +While the others hastily dressed and ran toward the stack yard in the +futile hope that some portion might be saved, the foreman stayed behind +... listening. From far up the road he heard the faint, quick rattle of +a running horse. + +In the morning a note was found stuck in the latch of the big gate. It +was addressed to Jane Hunter and, in a rude scrawl, had been written: + +"The longer you stay the more you will lose." + +She showed it to Beck and after he had read and re-read and turned the +single sheet of paper over in his hands he looked up to see her eyes +tear filled. + +"It isn't worth it!" she cried with a stamp of her foot. "This is only +the start. Do you know what they are saying in town? The word has been +passed that first you are to be driven out and that then I will have to +go. People are saying that the others are too many and too ruthless for +you, that they are bound to drive us away. It is being said that you +are too straight to win a crooked fight! + +"I could risk losing the things I own, my property, but I wouldn't risk +you, Tom dear ... I wouldn't do that!" + +"And there's somethin' else you wouldn't do," he said lowly, stroking +her forehead. "You wouldn't let 'em drive you out. You didn't start +that way. You come out here to beat the game and if you quit cold you +wouldn't think much of yourself, would you? We didn't want trouble, but +we've got to go and meet it!" + +"But you!" she moaned, putting her arms about his big shoulders. "What +of you?" + +"Don't worry about me when the only danger is from men that won't come +into the open! Maybe I'm a bigger crook than I'm given credit for. +Besides, you've given me lots of luck.... + +"I don't know what's in this thing,"--holding out the locket--"but I've +got a lot of faith in it ... and in you, Jane!" + +Where, before he gave his love recognition, he had taken pains to bring +Jane into contact with adversities, he now was impelled to shield her +from all that he could. In the natural role of her protector he did +everything possible to allay her apprehension. He could not blind her +to the broad situation but he could and did withhold the seriousness of +some of its detail, even keeping some things that transpired, such as +the attempts on his life, to himself. + +But he did worry about the enemy that worked from cover, that shot at +sleeping men, that broke ditches and burned property and sent unsigned +threats to women. That made his fight a battle in the darkness and his +strength was the strength of light, of frankness, of honesty. His mind +was not adapted to scheming and skulking. + +To drive his foe into the open was his first objective and that night +he set out. + +"You call it recognizing a state of war, I believe," he told Jane with +a twinkle in his eye when she queried his going. + +"Tom! You're not going--" + +"Not going to take a chance," he said soberly. "It's just a diplomatic +mission, you might say." + +He put her off and rode out of the ranch gate. It was dark and when he +had progressed a mile he halted his horse, dropped off, loosened the +cinch so the leather would not creak when the animal breathed, and +stood listening. Aside from the natural noises of the night, the world +was without sound. + +He drew his gun from its holster and twirled the cylinder. Usually he +carried the trigger over an empty chamber; tonight it was filled. And +inside his shirt was another gun. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE WARNING + + +The fire in Webb's cook stove was not all that furnished warmth to the +three men sitting about it that night, for they drank frequently from +the bottle which, when not passing from hand to hand, was nestled on +Dick Hilton's lap, his hands caressing its smooth surface lovingly ... +save the word! + +Sam McKee and three other men played solo on the table, noisily and +quarrelsomely after the manner of their kind. Engrossed in the game +they gave little heed to the talk of the others. It was shop talk, of +plots and schemes, of danger and distrust. + +Webb's little button eyes were even more ugly than usual, Hilton's +mouth drawn in lines that were even more cruel, but Hepburn, under +influence of the liquor, only became more paternal, more deliberate as +the evening and the drinking went on. He was not nettled by Webb's +disfavor, and even smiled on the rancher indulgently as he listened to +the querulous plaint. + +"If you'd only used yer head an' stayed there," Webb went on, "then +we'd hev had it all easy-like. You could've stole her blind an' she'd +never knew. Then you had to git on the peck about _him!_" He +sniffed in disgust. + +"Now, Webb, you're too harsh in what you say," the other replied +blandly. "I done all I could but Beck wouldn't be blinded! He's got +second sight or somethin',"--with a degree of heat. + +"We had him scotched all right, but we hadn't figured on the girl. +Nobody'd thought she was sweet on him!" + +Hilton stirred uneasily and the color in his face deepened. He looked +at Hepburn with an ugly light in his eyes. + +"That upset everything," Hepburn went on. "There wasn't no use tryin' +to play a quiet game after that. They both know we want to get rid of +'em worst way and now we've got to keep under cover an' use our heads +harder'n ever." + +"There's too many in it," Webb whined. "I tell you the's too many in +it! If you'd let me alone, just me an' the boys, I'd felt safer. But +now there's Cole an' his daughter an' ... half the country!" + +He flashed an indecisive glance at Hilton who studied the bottle, +frowning. + +"Lots in it," Hepburn said heavily, "but they've got to hang together +or...." + +"Separately," added Dick cynically. + +Hepburn nodded and Webb shifted and jerked his head petulantly. + +"But there's nothin' to fret about," Dad went on. "None of us will be a +leak. Cole can't because we could put him behind bars by just lettin' +on that he'd used his homestead rights under another name an' had no +right on this place, let alone other things. + +"We can use his brand, which is why I brought him in here. I've spread +the news that he's bought cows of you an' between workin' over the HC +and ventin' your marks we'll have a herd here in a couple of seasons +that'll make us rich! + +"An' we'll have range for 'em, too. She won't stand up under a range +war!" + +"But Beck will," Webb protested. + +"He will if you don't get rid of him!" with slow anger behind the words +and a cunning glitter in his eyes. "I don't see how in hell you missed +him. You must've been drunk!" + +"He wasn't in his bed, I tell you. He couldn't 've been!" + +"Well, if _I_ had against him what you got, I'd get him," Hepburn +stated emphatically, well satisfied, and showing it, that this was a +masterly stroke. "He made you laughed at by the whole country." + +"You wait," Webb snarled. "My time's comin'!" + +"Deliberately, I'd say," Hilton put in ironically. + +"Oh, you're always kickin'!" Webb protested. "I don't see why you stay +on if things don't satisfy you. You've got to have sheets on your bed, +you've got to have grub cooked different, you've got to sleep late an' +you've got to have hot water to wash and shave always when th' kettle's +cold! You've got into this deal an' you'd like to run it your way. + +"What the hell do you stay on for?" + +Hepburn looked at Hilton's face as though he, too, wondered just why he +stayed on, but, pursuing his usual tactics, he said: + +"Why, if Mr. Hilton can pay for it, why can't he have his way? He has +the money. He's willing to spend it. I'm sure his willingness to stake +Cole to fence and hired help means a lot to all of us, Webb. That's +goin' to drive her out of the Hole entire this summer. + +"The booze has made you irritable, Webb." + +Webb sat forward, elbows on knees, chin in his hands and grumbled: + +"I have to stand a lot, I do. Both of you eggin' me on all the time, +all the time! I do th' best I can, but nothin's ever satisfactory. +Nobody ever does anything for me!" + +"Sho, Webb, that ain't so. Didn't Mr. Hilton give you a brand new +automatic? Ain't I been reasonable in turnin' a chance to make good +your way?" + +The other fidgeted, then looked up at Hilton. + +"I don't see why _you've_ got such an interest in this for, +anyhow. Course, it's none of my business, but I don't see why you +should always egg me on about Beck." + +"I am concerned to see the THO prosper," said Hilton mockingly. "That +is why I bought fence; that is why I want your friend, the HC foreman, +out of the way." + +He rose, placed the bottle on the table and stepped out of the house. +They heard him walk across the dooryard and into the stable. + +"You s'pose he's goin' to meet her again tonight?" Webb growled. + +"Likely.... It's likely." + +"I wish th' hell he'd clear out. I don't see what you wanted to take +him in for!" + +Hepburn chuckled. + +"How could you keep him out? The girl, she knows everything, an' what +she knows he knows. His money's valuable to us an' besides ... it'll +keep her quiet if we ever do get out on a limb." + +Webb looked up in query. + +"You're right when you say there's too many in it, Webb, but there's +just _one_ too many. That's the girl! I can't figure her out; I +can't trust her. If we was to try to pass the buck to Cole, in a pinch, +she'd raise the deuce.... That is, she would if it wasn't for Hilton." + +"How's that?" + +"If she turned on the rest of us, it'd catch Hilton an' she's gone on +him. Never saw a girl who was so loyal to her father but when you bring +in another man that loyalty won't stand up in a pinch; not if it's a +choice between a father and a lover." + +"But he ain't on the level with her!" + +"Makes no difference. She's took to him like girls of her sort do. He +can handle her an' she's the only one that knows our side who'll ever +need any handlin'. He was right when he said the rest of us'd have to +hang together, or separately." + +Outside a horseman rode quietly to the gate and sat looking through the +open doorway and the one window of the room. He counted the men +carefully; counted again, then rode back the way he had come and +stopped and waited. + +"But what about the other girl ... Hunter?" Webb asked after a silent +interval. "Hilton was sweet on her." + +Hepburn's eyes kindled. + +"His jealousy is another asset. Hilton wanted her an' couldn't get her, +an' he knows the reason now: It's Beck. You think he's been practicin' +with a rifle and pistol for the fun of it? Not on your life!" Leaning +closer: "The time may come, Webb, when Hilton'll clear Beck out of our +way.... That'd be easier. I don't want to try it in the open; I don't +guess you do. He's got a crimp in all the boys. Look at Sam, for +instance. He's itchin' to kill Beck but he ain't got the sand!" + +"If she ever found out he wasn't on the level with her,"--Webb's mind +going back to Bobby Cole--"she'd claw him up fearful." + +"Yup. But she's in love an' love plays hell with men and women, Webb." + +The other started to reply, then sat rigid, listening. + +A horse came up the road at a slow trot and halted by the gate. A +saddle creaked, then the bars complained as they were lowered. A man +was whistling lightly as he rode toward the house and dismounted, +leaving his horse standing. + +"Must be one of the boys," he said, and settled back. None who had +other than friendly business there would come uncautious. + +"I was going to say," went on Hepburn, "that they'll be fooled about +that Hole range. It's time for the cattle to start comin' in from the +desert. They'll get up there and the creek'll be an ash bed with a +couple more days of this sun. They can't take 'em back through the Gap +without a big loss and if they leave 'em in the Hole without water long +enough they can't get 'em up the trail without loss so--" + +"If you'll all rise up and put up your hands we won't have any trouble +... tonight!" + +Hepburn looked slowly over his shoulder, slightly bewildered. Webb, who +had been stooped forward, raised his eyes and breath slipped through +his lips in a long hiss. Sam McKee, who had reached out to take a +trick, let his ace drop from limp fingers. The other three started up +like guilty men sharply accused of their crime. + +Tom Beck, a revolver in each hand, stood framed in the doorway, bending +forward from the hips, hat back, eyes burning. His voice had been level +and natural, with something akin to a laugh in it, but when he spoke +again it was a rasp: + +"Get up on your rattles, you snakes, and put up your hands!" + +With an oath Hepburn sprang to his feet, faced about and raised his +arms. Webb followed, with jerky movements, his face pallid with fear. +The four card players got from their chairs. As McKee's hands went +slowly above his head they trembled like aspen branches in a breeze. + +For a long moment there was no sound, save Hepburn's heavy breathing. +Then Tom Beck let a curious smile run across his lips. + +"This is a hell of a way to come to talk business," he commented. "I +don't like it ... but little more than you seem to. It's the safest way +for me. That's why I'm here, to consider my safety." + +He let his gaze run from face to face. Webb's eyes met his squarely, a +baleful challenge in them, but as he glared at Hepburn, Hepburn's gaze +wavered, flicking back twice, only to drop again. McKee whimpered under +his breath. The other three stared back sullenly, alert for an opening. + +Beck moved into the room just one step. + +"I don't know who it is that's been tryin' to kill me, but it wouldn't +take many guesses," he said. Again his eyes ran from face to face. "It +might be you, Hepburn, and it might be you, Webb. It's like both of +you, to shoot from cover ... like you accused me of shootin'. It might +be McKee, but even that takes more nerve than he's got. I wouldn't put +it past any of the rest of you. + +"I didn't come here to try to find out. I got more important things to +do than to identify the party right now. + +"I rode over this evening to make a little call an' to drop the word +that if I see any of this outfit anywhere near the HC ranch or on its +range there's goin' to be shootin' a-plenty and that if you want to be +the first to shoot, you want to draw almighty quick! If any of you see +one of my men anywhere, you hit the breeze. It's the best way out of +trouble. + +"Hepburn, you an' Webb tried to frame me once. That's sufficient cause. +I'd kill you like I'd kill a ... a scorpion. McKee don't count. You +other three probably are in on the threat to drive me out of the +country. Just workin' here puts you beyond the law that protects honest +men. + +"Now there's a little matter of trouble that's happened around the HC. +That's going to stop from now on. We've got lots of men over there who +are handy with their artillery. They're pretty well worked up. There +won't be a finger lifted to prevent you workin' within your rights, but +the first crooked move one of you makes ... there'll be a new table +boarder in th' devil's kitchen. + +"That's all I come to say. That's all the conversation that'll be +necessary between us from now on. The HC is goin' to keep doing +business, and its present owner is going to stay on the job. As for me +... it's been talked around that I was to be drove out an' all I've got +to say is, come on and do your driving!" + +His mouth set with an expression of finality and his eyes bored into +theirs. He was through, but even as he straightened preparatory to +backing through the doorway into the night a flicker of cunning crossed +Dad Hepburn's face, set there by a faint, faint creaking of the stable +door, unheard by Beck whose own voice had been in his ears. + +"Don't you think you're a little quick in passin' judgment, Tom?" he +asked. + +Beck laughed shortly. + +"Looking for me to handle you with gloves, Dad? After you tried to +frame me? After you--" He checked himself shortly as he was about to +accuse Hepburn of one specific art of treachery against the H.C. He +might need that later. "After you've tried to get me? + +"No, somebody shot at my bed one night; somebody shot at me while I was +riding open country one day." At that a glint of astonishment showed in +Webb's face. "There's just one way to handle men like that, and I'm +doin' it now, to-night. I'm--" + +The crash of a shot from behind, the splintering of the door panel at +his shoulder, cut him short. Webb jumped as though the bullet had been +sent at him. Hepburn's face contorted into a grimace of elation. + +With a catch of his breath Beck wheeled, senses steeled to this +emergency, driving down the quick panic that wanted to throttle his +heart. + +There in the shaft of yellow light, bareheaded, stepping toward him, +arm raised to fire again, was Dick Hilton. It was a situation in which +fractions of time were infinitely precious. That first shot had gone +wild because the Easterner, unfamiliar with fire arms, unnerved by the +rage which swept up within him, had let his eagerness have full sway. +But now he was stepping forward, coming closer. At that range he could +not miss! + +And Beck saw all that in the split second it required for him to whirl, +leaving his back exposed to those other men for the instant. He +squeezed the trigger as he flipped his left-hand gun toward his +assailant. The two reports sounded almost as one, but the stream of +fire from Hilton's weapon instead of stabbing toward Beck streaked into +the air and the automatic, ripped from his hand by the same ball that +tore his fingers, spun clinking to earth. + +But even as it struck, before Beck could turn again to cover the room +behind, a swinging palm sent the lamp crashing to the floor. He sprang +clear of the doorway. An instant before he had dominated the situation, +now he was a fugitive. + +Inside, darkness; out in the dooryard, starlight. Inside, ruthless +enemies who had listened to a declaration that precluded quarter; +outside, their target who could not hope to live before the fusillade +that must come. + +"Put up your hands!" Beck gasped, jabbing a gun into Hilton's stomach +and springing behind the Easterner's body, screening himself. + +Crouched there, peering over the other's shoulder, one gun against +Hilton's trembling body, the other thrust past it to cover the doorway, +he paused. He heard quick, unsteady footsteps, an oath, a hurried word +and then the man before him cried huskily: + +"For God's sake don't shoot, boys! You'll get me!" + +After that there passed a moment in which Hilton's breath made the only +sound that came to Beck's ears. + +"I'm going to back up to my horse," he said lowly, "you follow me." + +It was unnecessary to add a threat. Enough threat in the situation! + +Slowly he began to back, feeling his way, shoving the one gun harder +against Hilton's body, keeping the other ready for instant use should +those who watched choose to shoot down the Easterner to be at him. The +roan snorted softly in query and Beck spoke. But the animal, startled +by the shooting, unsatisfied that this huddle creeping toward him was +wholly friendly, backed off. Tom spoke again; then ceased all movement, +for from inside had come a muttering and stealthy footsteps crossed the +floor. A door at the rear of the house creaked. One or several had gone +out to stalk him! The others, he knew, waited within to take first +opportunity to kill that might be offered. + +"Stand still!" he said sharply to the horse and turned his head ever so +quickly to see the animal, head to him, back slowly. + +He moved backward faster for a few steps, shoving the revolver harder +into Hilton's body to assure his obedience, but the horse only +progressed as rapidly, snuffing loudly at this performance which no +horse could be expected to understand! + +They moved in a circle, swinging in toward the house, Beck ever keeping +Hilton as a direct screen. He stopped and the horse stopped. He +listened. He heard soft movements within the house. He thought he heard +a faint rustling behind a far corner of the building but a cow, bawling +at the moment, obscured the faint sound. + +Beck felt a cold damp standing out on his body. From the darkness, from +any direction, disaster might strike at any second! + +He began to talk to the horse soothingly, moving toward him slowly, but +the roan would not understand. Once he was within an arm's length of +the bridle, but before he could grasp it the animal had swung his head +ever so slightly and was moving off again, passing a corner of the +house from where that suggestion of a rustle had come. + +And then, of a sudden, the horse leaped sideways, with a startled +grunt, as a horse will that comes upon a coiled snake. He lunged toward +Beck and Hilton, swinging about on his hind feet, beginning to run for +the gate, thoroughly frightened and bent on escape from the thing that +alarmed him. + +It was Beck's last chance! As the horse leaped toward the gate he +sprang back a pace from Hilton, raised both guns and fired, one at the +window, one at the doorway. Glass burst and tinkled and he heard the +panel of the door again sliver. As he opened fire the great roan +swerved; his hoofs spurned the ground in the impatience of fright and +Beck, shooting again toward the house, turned and ran swiftly for the +fleeing horse. + +Down in the shadows the thing which had frightened the horse rose, +stumbling into shape. Flame streamed from Beck's guns toward it, but he +shot as he ran and his fire was inaccurate. He cried sharply as the +animal swung even wider in his circuit toward the gate, sprang forward +in long strides, dropped the gun from his right hand, leaped, fastened +his fingers about the horn, took two quick strides and vaulted into the +saddle. + +The animal leaped the half lowered bars and Beck fired again, twice at +the house, once at the figure outside, and then flung himself far down +over the roan's shoulder as the window belched flame and stabs of it +came from about the building and bullets screeched overhead. He fanned +the roan's belly with his hat and twenty rods further swung into an +erect position again, leaning low as they ate the road. + +"A close one, old timer!" he muttered to the horse. "_That_ was a +chance!" + +And miles further on, when the roan had cooled from his first desperate +dash that had carried Tom to unquestionable safety for the night, he +said aloud: + +"Now what was _he_ doin' there? And how much will he count?" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +HIS FAITHFUL LITTLE PONY + + +In the days that followed you might have seen approaching from a +distance a rider for the HC. Watching, you would have noticed that he +stopped his horse, rode on, stopped again, rode on and stopped the +third time. Had you not halted and repeated the performance he would +not have come toward you and, on coming within eyesight, you might have +seen him sitting with a hand on his holster, or rifle scabbard--for the +deadlier weapons appeared--carelessly enough, outwardly, but latent +with disaster. For war had been declared. Jane Hunter's men were ready +for trouble, waiting for trouble, but it did not come at once for +though Hepburn and Webb and their following hated Tom Beck for the man +he was they respected him and gave heed to his warning to stay away +from HC property ... or at least not to be seen thereabouts. + +The war went on, but it was a silent, covert struggle, and though Beck +suspected happenings, he could not know all that transpired. + +For instance: + +It was Webb who finally dropped the pliers and declared the job +finished, standing back to survey the stout cedars which had been bound +together with wire to form a gate for one of the numerous little blind +draws that stabbed back into the parapet which surrounded Devil's Hole. +In the recesses of that draw was the smallest amount of seeping water, +enough, say, to keep young calves alive. From a distance of a hundred +yards this barricade of tough boughs and steel strands would not be +detected. + +Again: + +They came up from the mouth of the Hole after dusk had fallen, Bobby +Cole and her father, the old horses drawing the wagon along the +indistinct track which wound through the sage. They were tired and +silent and finally the girl's head dropped to Cole's shoulder and she +slept, with his arm about her, holding her close, his lids and mustache +and shoulders drooping. + +The wagon halted, hours later, before the blocked draw and, straddled +upon their bodies, the girl liberated first one calf, then another, +until six had been shoved from the tail gate into the hidden pen. Then +they drove back toward their cabin. + +"Why don't I think it's wrong to steal?" the girl asked soberly. + +Alf shook his head. "It ain't ... for us...." + +"But I've read that it is," she protested, scowling into the darkness. +"I read it in a book, about a man that stole; that book said it was +wrong. Why don't I think it's wrong?" + +She turned her face to him and he looked down to see, under the +starlight, her mouth pathetically drooping, her lips trembling, and the +big brown eyes filled with perplexed tears. + +"Why'm I so different from other folks? Maybe that's why I never had no +friends...." + +"It ain't wrong for you to steal from her," he said defensively. + +The girl looked ahead again. + +"No, it can't be. I hate her.... I like to steal from her. But why +ain't it wrong for me if it's wrong for anybody else?" + +"I've allus told you it was the thing to do. Ain't that enough?" he +asked wearily.... + +"Did you see him this mornin'?"--as if to change the subject. + +Bobby nodded her head. + +"He was down. He hurt his hand; got it shut under Webb's window. He.... +He stayed a long time." + +Her voice was quite changed; rather soft and reverent. "I'm glad he +did. When he's there I feel like I ain't so different ... not so awful +different from other folks...." + +Alf did not reply. The wagon chucked heavily on, the brush scratched +the wagon bed, the horses plodded listlessly. Dawn came.... + + * * * * * + +Another thing: + +Far out to the north and west of the Gap in Devil's Hole was a natural +reservoir, Cathedral Tank. Winter floods were stored there and long +after surrounding miles of quickly growing grasses had become useless +as range because of the lack of drink, this tank afforded water for the +H C cattle. Late in the Spring, of course, it became scum covered and +fetid but until the caked silt commenced to show on the boulder basin +the cattle would cling there, saving higher range for later use. Then, +in other years, they would drift up toward the Hole, graze through the +Gap and water in the creek until the round-up caught and carried them +into still higher country. + +This spring the desert tank was of far greater importance than ever +before. The Hole was closed to the HC unless rain fell, and the days +were uniformly clear, so it was wisdom to delay the round-up until the +tank was emptied, then shove the cattle straight past the mouth of the +Hole and start them up country from the lower waters of Coyote Creek. +Beck rode to the tank himself and arranged his plans in accordance with +the water he found. + +But after Beck had been there another horseman made the ride, leaving +the timber at dusk, shacking along across the waste country in a +straight line for the tank. Cattle, bedded for the night about the +water hole, stirred themselves as he approached and dismounted, then +stood nearby and watched a strange proceeding. The man found a crevice +in the rock basin, scraped deeply into it with a clasp knife. Then he +wedged in five sticks of dynamite with stones and, finally, rolled +boulders over them. + +He led his horse far back after the fuse had been spit, but even where +he stood, outside the circle of steers, rock fell. After the explosion +had died into the night he pulled at his mustache and regained his +saddle rather deliberately, chuckling to himself. + +The fact that a steer with a broken leg was bawling loudly and that +another, its life torn out of its side, moaned softly in helplessness, +did not impress him. He rode back as he had come. + + * * * * * + +There was little time for love making in the life of the HC foreman. +More riders were necessary for the round-up and he was particular about +the men he hired. The country had taken sides; rather, it was either +openly behind Beck in his handicapped fight, though skeptical of his +chances for winning or openly forecasting failure for him and Jane +Hunter; and of the latter Tom had his doubts. Many of them were not +neutral, he knew. + +But he was with Jane when he could be although, since he had declared +himself to Webb and Hepburn, he did not permit her to ride far from the +ranch, even when with escort. He wanted her witness to no tragedy, and +tragedy impended. + +Of the motives of Webb, Hepburn, Cole and their following he had no +doubts but there was one whose reasons were a mystery to him. He +studied this long hours, when at work, when lying sleepless on his bunk +and even when with Jane Hunter. Hilton was at Webb's and that was +enough to brand him ... but how deeply? He hesitated to enlist her aid +in the solution but when he had spent days puzzling to no result he +said to her: + +"Nothing about what you have been matters with me, but there's one +thing I want to ask you." + +"And that?" + +He eyed her a speculative moment as they sat beside her desk, the +yellow light on her yellow hair. + +"What was this Hilton to you?" + +She colored and dropped her gaze from his, picking at a book in her lap. + +"That belongs to the past," she said, "and you've just said that the +past doesn't matter. I had hoped you never would want to know because +it touches a spot that isn't healed yet.... + +"There was a time," lifting her eyes to his, "when I had made up my +mind to marry Dick Hilton." + +He sat very quietly and his expression did not change. + +"That would have been too bad, Jane," he said after a moment. + +She nodded slowly in affirmation. + +"I'd rather he wasn't in the country just now," he went on. "You +wouldn't mind, would you, if I drove him out?" + +She said quickly: + +"You trust me, don't you?" + +He smiled gently and looked at her with a light in his eyes that was +almost humble. + +"I've trusted you with my love. I want to do things for you. I'd like +to drive this man out of your way." + +He was reluctant to give his real reason because, by doing so, he would +necessarily make her aware of the strength of the menace of which +Hilton, he felt but could not prove, was a part. He still wanted to +shield her from full realization of the force aligned against her. + +She leaned forward, elbows on knees, hands folded. + +"I wish he would go away, but I wouldn't want to see him driven. You +see, there are things about me which you will never understand. Dick +Hilton, for a man, was not far different from what I used to be, as a +woman. Our impulses were quite similar. Since I feel that I have +established my right to exist by trying to do something, to be somebody +to ... walk alone, I've come to an appreciation of the thing that I +used to be, and I pity the old Jane Hunter and all her kind. In spite +of all that he has been, I pity Dick Hilton, Tom, and in that very fact +I see an indication of strength of which I'm proud.... + +"You see, I like to think about myself now; that didn't used to be true. + +"Last year I would have been deeply resentful toward Dick for what he +has done, but now, after my natural anger has gone, I can only be sorry +for him. That, I feel, is true strength. + +"I am not bitter. I don't wish him harm. His environment is to blame +for what he is and perhaps this country, the people he comes in contact +with here, will do for him what they have done for me." Beck thought +that this was an unconscious absurdity! "I begrudge him nothing. I only +wish that he might come to see life as I have come to see it. + +"If he could only see himself as he is! Why, he is intelligent, he has +a good mind, he has been generous and kindly, and if he could only get +set straight in his outlook I feel that I could call him my friend. + +"Do you understand that?" + +He shook his head, driving back the perplexity he felt. + +"No, I don't understand that.... There's lots of things I'll never +quite understand about you, I expect. That's one thing that made me +love you; you interest me. + +"I just thought maybe you'd like him out of the country." + +"I can never be a dog in the manger," she replied. "What is good about +this life I would share with my worst enemy, and gladly, because at one +time I was my own worst enemy." + +"You ... you don't think you'd ever want to see him again, Jane?" With +that evidence of natural jealousy was a gentle reproach, a woe-begone +expression which, being so groundless in fact, set Jane Hunter laughing. + +"Silly!" she cried, throwing her arms about him. + +"Look at me and read the answer!" + +Beck laughed at himself then. + +"Who wouldn't want _you_ all to himself!" he whispered. "And who +wouldn't believe in you!" + +Beck stood a long time under the stars that night, the feel of her lips +still on his, but an uncomfortable doubt in his heart. He was tolerant, +as mountain men are tolerant, but he had been bred in a hard school; he +had learned to weigh men and to discard those who were found wanting. +He was not vindictive, but he took no chances. Placing his trust in +those who had showed repeatedly that they were unworthy of trust was +taking a chance and though Jane Hunter had done her best to make her +reasoning carry, he could not comprehend. + +Finally he said: "This ain't any compliment to her, wonderin' like +this. It's her way and she sure's got a right to it!" + +But he went to sleep unsatisfied. + + * * * * * + +Out at Cathedral Tank that night the cattle stood snuffing rather +wonderingly. Two days before there had been water which reached their +knees at the deepest place; today there was none. It had trickled +through the scars the blast had torn in the basin. The bellies of some +were a bit shrunken from lack of it and bodies of the steers that had +been killed were bloated. One, even, had already furnished food to a +coyote and a pair of vultures. + +Three or four licked the last of the damp silt and then turned eastward +and began the slow trek back toward Devil's Hole, where at this season +they had gone since they had been calves. + +The Reverend saw this scattered stringing of cattle and reported it to +Beck. Tom looked up from the wheel of the chuck wagon which he was +repairing and considered. + +"They're early," he muttered. "I hadn't figured they'd leave before the +end of the week.... That's bad...." + +The next morning he and Two-Bits, the latter riding his beloved Nigger, +with an extra horse carrying the tee-pee, bed and grub, clattered down +the trail into the Hole and made through the brush for the Gap. They +skirted the Cole ranch, eyeing the Mexicans who were at work clearing +sage brush, and a mile further on halted their horses ... rode forward, +halted again, rode forward ... stopped. + +"It's McKee," Two-Bits said. "That's Webb's gray horse." + +The other rider came on and they rode forward again, Beck's holster +hitched a bit forward, thumb locked in his belt. + +Two-Bits had been right and when McKee recognized them he averted his +face as though he would ride past without speaking. But this was not to +be for Beck stopped directly in his way and said: + +"Sam, if it was anybody else I'd been shootin' long ago. I ain't got +the heart to kill you. You recollect, don't you, what I told you and +your crowd about driftin' into our territory?" + +"This ain't your range," McKee grumbled. "This is Cole's." + +His gray eyes met Beck's just once and fell off, showing helpless hate +in their depths, the hate of the man who would give battle but who +dares not, who is outraged by forces from without and by his own +weakness. + +"No need to argue," Beck replied, tolerance replaced by a snap in his +tone. "You drag it for your own range, McKee, and don't you stop to +look back." + +Two-Bits was delighted at the hot flush which swept into the other's +face. He loathed McKee and to see him under the dominion of a strong +man like Beck appealed to him as immensely funny. + +"An' if my brother was here he'd tell you about a woman that looked +back an' turned to salt," he said. "But if you turn an' look back I'll +bet two-bits you turn to somethin' worse!" + +The other flashed one look at him, a look of long-standing hate, devoid +of a measure of the fear which he evidenced for Beck. He rode on +without a word and Two-Bits laughed aloud. McKee did not even look back. + +At the Gap there was water, just enough for a man and his horses for a +few days. The seep had stopped and the water was not fresh. + +"I guess it'll do, though," Beck said. "It's mighty important we keep +this stock out of the Hole, Two-Bits. That's why I brought a +trustworthy man. + +"Lord, they're stringin' up fast,"--staring out on the desert where the +steers slowly ate their way to the mouth of the Hole. "Funny they're +out of water so soon. If they get up in here,"--gesturing back through +the Gap,--"there may be hell to pay." + +He helped Two-Bits pitch his tee-pee and rode away. + +Throughout that day the homely cow-boy met the drifting steers and +turned them eastward, past the Hole toward the lower waters of Coyote +Creek. They were reluctant to go for they knew that beyond the Gap lay +water but Two-Bits slapped his chaps with rein ends and whooped and +chased them until the van of the procession moved on in the desired +direction. + +He was up late at night and awoke early in the morning, riding up the +Gap to turn back those that had stolen past in the night, then +stationing himself in the shade of the parapet to await the others that +came in increasing numbers. + +Two-Bits did not see the gray horse picking its way along the heights +above him. The gray's rider saw to it that he was not exposed. Nor +could he know that the animal was picketed and that a man crawled over +the rocks on his belly, shoving a rifle before him until, from a point +that screened him well, he could look down into the Gap. + +Steers strolled up and eyed the sentinel, lifting their noses to snuff, +flinging heads about now and then to dislodge flies that their flicking +tails could not reach. He would ride out toward them, shoving them down +around the shoulder of the point toward the east, then return to head +off others that took advantage of his absence to make a steal for the +Gap. + +As he worked, he sang: + + "Ho, I'm a jolly _cow_boy, from Texas now I _hail!_ + Give me my quirt and _po-o_-ony, I'm ready for the _trail_; + I love the rolling _prai_ries, they're free from care an' _strife!_ + Behind a herd of _long_horns I'll journey all my _life!_" + + +His voice was unmusical, unlovely, but he sang with fervor, sang as +conscientiously as he worked. + +As he came and went the man above watched him, his gray eyes squinting +in the glare of light, following now and then the barrel of the rifle, +bringing the ivory sight to bear on the man's back, caressing the +trigger with his finger. A dozen times he stiffened and held his breath +and the finger twitched; and each time his body relaxed quickly and he +cursed softly, rolling over on his side, impatient at his indecision. + +A continued flush was on his cheeks and the light in his eyes was +baleful, resolved, yet the lines of his mouth were weak and indecisive. +Once, when Two-Bits' raucous voice reached him, he muttered aloud and +stiffened again and squeezed the stock with his trigger hand ... then +went limp. + +Noon came and shadows commenced to spill into the gap from the +westward. The steers that drifted up from the far reaches of +wash-ribbed desert came faster, were more intent, more reluctant to be +driven back. Two-Bits changed to his Nigger horse and drank from the +water hole and rode yipping toward a big roan steer that advanced +determinedly. The animal doubled and dodged but, shoulder against its +rump, nipping viciously at the critter's back, Nigger aided his rider +to success; then swung back. + +Two-Bits' voice floated up as he stroked his horse's neck: + + "Oh, I'm a Texas _cow_boy, lighthearted, brave an' _free_, + To roam the wide _prai_rie is always joy to _me_. + My trusty little _po-o_-ony is my companion _true_ + O'er creeks an' hills an' _riv_ers he's sure to pull me _through!_" + + +From above a dull spat. In Two-Bits' ears an abrupt crunching as he was +knocked forward and down and a dull, rending pain spread across his +shoulders. He struck the ground with his face first and instinctively +his hand started back toward his holster. The first movement was a +whip, then became jerky, faltering, and when the fingers found the +handle of his revolver they fumbled and could not close. He half raised +himself on the other elbow, dragging his knees beneath his body slowly. + +His mouth was filled with sand. His eyes were.... He did not know what +ailed them, but he could not see. He felt dizzy and sick. He hitched +himself upward another degree, striving to close those fingers on his +revolver butt. It was a Herculean task, but the only necessary action +that his groggy mind could recall. He gritted the sand between his +teeth in the effort. He would draw! He would fight back! He wasn't gone +... yet ... wasn't ... + +And then he collapsed, limp and flat on the ground, as an inert body +will lie. + +The fingers twitched convulsively; then were still. A stain seeped +through his vest, dark in the sun. The breath slipped through his teeth +slowly. The horse stood looking at him, nose low; then stepped closer +and snuffed gently; looked rather resentfully at a steer trailing +through the Gap unheeded, then snuffed again.... + +Up above a man was crawling back across the hot rocks to where a gray +horse waited in the sun.... + +"I got him," he muttered feverishly as he covered the last distance at +a run. "Now, by God, I'll get-- ..." + +Nigger stood there, switching at the flies which alighted on him. From +time to time he snuffed and stamped; occasionally he peered far up the +Hole or out onto the desert almost hopefully, watching distant objects +with erect ears; then the ears would droop quickly and he would chew +his bit and look back at his master with helpless eyes. + +Cattle strayed back from the east where Two-Bits had sent them and +entered the Hole, those which had once been driven away passing the +prone figure and the watching horse on a trot, others with their noses +in the air smelling water, heedless of else. + +The shadows crept closer and deeper about Two-Bits. Overhead a buzzard +wheeled, banking sharply, coming down lazily, then flapped upward and +on. It was not yet his time! + +The horse dozed fitfully, one hip slumped, waking now and then with a +jerk, pricking his ears at the quiet figure as though he detected +movement; then letting them droop again rather forlornly. Once he +walked completely about his master, slowly, reins trailing and then +stopped to nose the body gently as if to say: + +"What is this, my friend? I'm only a horse and I don't understand; if I +knew how to help you I would. Won't you tell me what to do? I'm waiting +here just for that; to help you. But I'm only a horse..." + +He plucked grass aimlessly and returned to stand above the man's body +chewing abstractedly, stopping and holding his breath while he gazed +down at the inanimate lump; then chewing again. Once he sighed deeply +and the saddle creaked from the strain his inhalation put on the cinch. + +For hours there had been no movement. Night stole down from the east, +shrouding the desert in purple, softening the harsh distances, making +them seem gentle and easy. Then from the still man came a sound, like a +sigh that was choked off, and the hand which, hours before had groped +haltingly for the revolver, stirred ever so slightly. + +Nigger's ears went forward. He stepped gingerly about the body, keeping +his fore feet close to it, swinging his hind parts in a big circle. He +nickered softly, almost entreatingly, as if begging his master to +speak, to make more movement; he nuzzled the body rather roughly, then +stamped in impatience ... sighed again and slumped a hip, chewing on +his bit.... + +Two-Bits was wet with dew when daylight came, but he had not stirred. +The sun peered into the Gap and the drops of moisture, blinking back a +brief interval, seemed to draw into his clothing and skin; the rays +licked up the damp that had gathered in the hoof prints about the +figure. + +Nigger lifted his head high and whinnered shrilly at nothing at all. +This was another day; there might be hope! + +The flies came and lighted on the crusted stain on the vest and crawled +down inside the shirt ... and after an aeon a sharp, white wire of +consciousness commenced to glow in Two-Bits' blank mind. The one +hand--the gun hand--twitched again and the fingers, puffed from their +cramped position, stretched stiffly, resuming their struggle for the +gun where it had left off yesterday. + +One foot moved a trifle and a muffled cough sent a small spurt of dust +from beneath the face pressed into it. Slowly the gun hand gave up its +search and was still, gathering strength. The arm drew up along the +man's side, the hand reached his face. Elbows pressed into the ground +and with a moan Two-Bits tried to lift his body ... tried and failed +and sank back, with his face turned away from the dirt. + +Nigger blew loudly and shook his whole body and stared. The other horse +came up and stared, too; then moved toward the water hole, the precious +water, and drank deeply. Nigger watched him as though he, too, would +drink. But he did not go; remained there, with the reins dangling among +the flies. Now and then his nostrils twitched and fluttered; his ears +quirked in constant query. + +Noon, and another effort to rise. A muttered word this time and a +squinting of the eyes that was not wholly witless. + +Two-Bits shifted his position. He could see his tee-pee, his black +kettle on the ashes, his water bucket ... his bucket ... water bucket +... water.... He worked his lips heavily. They were burned and cracked +and his mouth was an insensate orifice.... + +After a time he commenced to crawl, moving an inch at a time, settling +back, moaning. The crusted stain on his vest took on fresh life and the +flies buzzed angrily when disturbed. His arms were of little use and he +progressed by slow undulations of his limbs. Once he found a crack +between two rocks with a toe and shoved himself forward a foot. + +"Damn..." he muttered in feeble triumph. + +A fevered glow came into his eyes. His breath quickened under the +effort. He moaned more; rested less. + +And behind, beside or before him went the excited Nigger. He muttered +softly, as in encouragement, doing his best to put his hope into +sounds. His heavy mane and forelock fell about his eyes, giving him a +disheveled appearance, but he seemed to be trying to say: + +"You're alive; you're alive! You _can_ move after all; you +_can_ move! Let me help! Oh, pardner, let me help you!" + +The horse pawed the earth desperately, sending stones and dirt +scattering, dust drifting. + +"Keep on!" he seemed to say. "Keep it up! I'm here; we'll get there +somehow!" + +Two-Bits gained shadows. The water was less than a hundred feet away. +He moved his head from side to side in an agony of effort and threw one +hand clumsily before him. It touched sage brush and after moments of +struggle he clamped his fingers about the stalk and dragged himself on, +gritting his teeth against the pain. He reached a little wash and tried +to rise to his feet. He could not. He floundered in effort and rolled +into it, crying lowly as his torso doubled limply and he sprawled on +his back. + +Nigger stood at the edge, snuffing, peering down. He kicked at a fly +irritably and stepped down into the wash himself, nickering in tender +query. + +It took a long time for Two-Bits to roll over. He cried hoarsely from +the hurt of the effort and the fevered light in his eyes mounted. His +mouth was no longer without sensation. It and his throat stung and +smarted. Their hurt was worse than the weight of suffering on his +shoulders.... He wanted water as only a man whose life is in the +balance can want water! + +Somehow he crawled out of the wash. It was fifty feet to the hole +now.... He cut it to twenty and lay gasping, trembling, burning, Nigger +close beside him, first on one side, then the other, sometimes at his +feet. Never, though, standing motionless in his path.... + +It was ten feet.... Then five. Lifting eye lids was a world of effort +in itself. His mouth was open, breath sucking in the dust, but he could +not close it. He made a hand's breadth and stopped. His limbs twitched +spasmodically and drew up. He made a straining, strangling sound, +gathering all the life that remained in his body. He rose on his elbows +and on one knee. He swayed forward, he scrambled drunkenly. He pitched +down and as he went he made one last, awkward attempt to push his own +weight along. Then fell ... short. + +The right hand half propped his body up. It slid slowly forward, +impelled by the weight upon it alone, shoving light sand in its way.... +Then went limp and extended. + +The tip of his second finger just dented the surface of the water in +the pool! + +The horse switched his tail slowly, as if disconsolate at a waning hope. + +"Hang it all," he might have thought. "Here I thought you were going to +make it and you can't! I _wish_ I knew how to help!" + +He sighed again, this time as if in despair. He waited a long time +before drinking himself as if hoping that his master would move. But +the body was motionless ... utterly. The shallow, quick come and go of +breath was not in evidence. Two-Bits had done all that he could do for +himself.... + +Nigger moved to the lip of rock which held the water against the cliff. +He snuffed, as if to tantalize himself and then plunged his nose into +the place, guzzling greedily. Great gulps ran down his long throat, +little shoots of water left his lips beside the bit and fell back. He +breathed and drank and made great sounds in satisfying his thirst. He +lifted his head and caught his breath and let it slip out in a sigh of +satisfaction ... drank again. + +Finally he was through and stepped back, holding his lips close, as +horses will whose mouth contains one more swallow. Then he stared at +Two-Bits and moved close to him and chewed instinctively on the bit, +letting the water that he did not need spill from his mouth.... + +It fell squarely on the back of the man's neck, spattering on his hair, +running down under his shirt, driving out the flies.... + +Two-Bits swam back again. A strength, a pleasing chill ran through him. +He moved the one arm and the fingers slid on into the water. With a +choking cry he wriggled forward and thrust his face into the pool.... +After a long time he drew back and let his fevered forehead soak, +breathing more easily through his mouth. + +It was nearly sunset when he rolled over, slowly, painfully, weakly, +but not as a man on the edge of death. He looked up at Nigger standing +beside him, nose fluttering encouragement. Just above him a stirrup +swung to and fro in a short arc. + +"After a while ... a week or so, I can ... get hold of that ... mebby," +the man said huskily. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +AN INTERRUPTED PROPOSAL + + +The love that grew in the hearts of Tom Beck and Jane Hunter was not +the only suit which approached a climax in the hills. Another existed, +quite different, unknown to them, unsuspected, even, but it was not a +secret to one who rode from the HC ranch. + +This was the Reverend Azariah Beal. He stayed on, though assuring Beck +that the call might come any hour which would send him on his way. He +was sent on many errands of importance, because Beck had come to +believe that he could trust the clergyman as he could trust no other +man and it was this riding which gave Beal his knowledge of that other +love making. + +Day after day he saw Dick Hilton in Devil's Hole. He saw him joined by +another rider, by Bobby Cole, and knew that the Easterner spent many +days at the ranch house down there in the deep valley. + +Hilton treated the girl as she never had been treated before. He told +her tales of cities and men and women that held her breathless and he +wooed her with an artfulness which kept her unaware of love making. +When with him, as when with her father, that ready defiance, her +expectation of trouble, became reduced to a wistfulness, an eager +inquiry which left her, not the self-sufficient bundle of passionate +strength, but a simple mountain child. + +He would ride beside her or sit at night by the fire in her father's +cabin and talk for hours, giving of his experience well, for he was a +glib talker. He asked nothing in return ... openly, but while he talked +his eyes were on her eyes, prodding their depths, on her red mouth, +hungering, on her wonderful throat, fired by desire. He bided his time, +for his was a choice prize. + +Now and then she talked to him of Jane Hunter and though her allusions +were scornful and her face assumed that hostility, he knew that this +only resulted from her envy, the curiosity which she would not let come +into being. He played upon this, dropping hints of the reason for his +coming west, lying insinuations of his relationships with the mistress +of the big ranch, each hint a fertile seed planted in the rich soil of +her imagination. + +One afternoon they dismounted in a clump of willows where early in the +season and in wet summers a spring bubbled under a rim rock. Now it was +dry, almost dust-dry in places, and the girl sat on the grass while +Hilton stretched at her feet, smoking idly. + +He talked to her for long and when he paused she said, looking far away: + +"I'd like to see somethin' else besides this. I'd like to have some of +the chances other gals have. I'd give anything for a chance to be +somebody!" + +He threw away his cigarette. + +"I'd give anything to give you a chance, Bobby," he said. + +"Yes, but you can't!" she laughed hopelessly. "You're a gentleman and +I.... Why, I'm just the daughter of a nester." + +"And maybe that very combination of circumstances gives me my chance to +give you yours. + +"I should like very much to take you east, Bobby." + +"Yes, but there's Alf. I couldn't leave him,"--shaking her head, still +innocent of his intent. + +Hilton was not unprepared. + +"But if he had a comfortable ranch, with good buildings and plenty of +stock, and could come to visit you at times?" + +"But he ain't got any of them an' besides-- + +"You don't mean for me to _stay!_" she said suddenly, eyes +incredulous. + +"To stay, Bobby. To stay with me, forever and ever." + +She started to laugh but checked herself and leaned suddenly toward +him, her lips parted. He lifted himself to an elbow and reached out for +her hand. + +"Don't you understand, dear girl? Don't you see that I love you?" + +She withdrew her hand from his clasp and looked away, brows drawn +toward one another a trifle. He watched her craftily, timing his urging +to her realization. + +"Don't you see that I came west, guided by something bigger than my own +reason, directed by something that regulates the loves of men to bring +them to a good end?" + +She looked back at him and shook her head slowly. + +"I never thought I'd be loved. I never thought you cared for me that-a +way." + +"Bless you! That night when I went walking into your cabin and you met +me with a rifle ready I knew I would love you and that you would love +me. It's one of the things neither of us can explain, but I was sure of +it, sure of it. Didn't you guess? Didn't you feel it deep down in your +heart?" + +"No, never. Nothin' good had ever happened to me. I didn't calculate +anything good ever would happen. The only bein' I ever thought I'd love +was Alf and I'd go through fire for him.... + +"But this ... it's different. It ain't like that. This is somethin' ... +I don't know...." + +She rose and pressed her hands to her breast as though some bursting +emotion hurt her. Hilton stood before her, his breath a trifle quick, +lips parted greedily. His particular hour, he felt, had struck! + +"One of the reasons that has made me love you has been your devotion to +your father. Another was your distrust. You never did trust me at +first. I felt that you were keeping me off, holding yourself away from +me, Bobby. I wanted to tell you all this long ago,"--which was the +truth--"but I wanted you to be sure of yourself; I wanted you to +recognize love and know that this thing between us is the lasting +sort"--which was a lie. + +"The lasting kind?" she queried. "You love me? For good? Honest?" + +"Honest!" he promised, taking both her hands. "I love you with all the +love a man can give a woman! I love you enough to devote my whole life +to making you happy. I have money. We can go where we please, do what +we please. You will have friends and respect. You can see cities and +the ocean. You can live in grand hotels and eat wonderful food that +someone else has cooked; you can hear music and go to theaters; you +will have flowers and automobiles; you'll see California and Florida +and Europe...." + +"And because you love?" she demanded as he put his arms about her. +"It's because you love me, ain't it? If I thought ... if I thought it +was for anything else I'd kill you." Her tone was even enough, her +voice the soft, full voice of a woman touched by love, but beneath its +velvet was a matter-of-fact certainty that caused the faintest tremor +to run through his limbs. + +They looked into one another's eyes, felt each other's breath upon +their cheeks, the one consumed by passion, the other swept upward into +a new world, a new, incredible life, as a beautiful hope touched her +heart. They did not see their horses standing with intent ears and, as +they were up wind they did not hear the slight sounds of another +approaching. + +"Because I love you, Bobby! Will you come?" + +"And I'll be your wife and you won't be ashamed of me ... ever?" + +"Never!"--in a tone that was too firm for conviction. + +"An' Alf'll come to see us whenever he wants to?" + +"Whenever he wants to. Don't you believe me? Why question?"--hurriedly. +"Say you love me, now, today, this hour,"--straining her to him. "Say +it to me, Bobby; say that you love me as I love you!" + +His eyes burned into hers and he closed his lips to press them on hers, +to touch the woman of her into being, to accomplish the end he sought. + +"Oh, Mister Hilton, I--" + +Her voice had the quality of a sob and he waited for her to go on +before he sealed his tricky pact with a kiss, but as she choked a +crashing of the brush shocked him into a realization of the outside +world and a resounding voice cried: + +"One moment! Just one moment!" + +The Reverend Azariah Beal advanced toward them through the willows. + +Bobby whirled to face him and Hilton, with an oath, released her. + +For a moment, portentous silence. The Reverend halted, plainly +confused. Before Hilton's glare and the girl's breathless fury his eyes +wavered. He opened his lips to speak and closed them helplessly. Then a +queer glimmer crossed his face, half hope, half smile. + +He reached into his pocket, brought forth a fountain pen, held it up +and said: + +"One moment of your time to bring to your attention this article, known +from coast to coast, indispensable to any man, woman or child, which we +are introducing for the purposes of further advertising at a trifling +price, which--" + +"Who the devil sent you here?" demanded Hilton, advancing. + +The Reverend lowered his hand and blinked through his spectacles. + +"I do not recall that I came from that black deity," he replied mildly. +"My feet are directed from Above,"--gesturing. "I have been called +upon--" + +"Now you're called upon to get out. Understand? Get out!" + +"Brother, is it possible that you are not interested in this article? +Made of pure India rubber--" + +"You heard me! Get out!" cried Hilton. + +For a moment the Reverend stood, as though undecided. + +"I am sorry," he said, "that I can not interest you. If not today, then +another time, perhaps? A splendid gift for a lady, my friend, a--" + +"Nobody here wants to listen to you. Be on your way!" + +Sorrowfully the Reverend replaced the pen in his pocket, rattling it +against the remainder of his stock. As he turned away he drew them all +out and stood for some time beside his horse, counting them carefully, +muttering to himself. He looked about his feet, retraced his steps to +where he had stood in his attempt to make a sale, scanning the ground. + +"Can it be," he asked absently, "that I have miscounted?" + +He gave no heed to the two who watched him but it was a matter of ten +minutes before he was finally satisfied that there had been no loss--or +that nothing else would be lost that day--and rode away. + +By that time Hilton's ill temper was implacable and in Bobby's face was +a half frightened, bewildered look. She turned to the Easterner with a +questioning little gesture but he did not respond. + +"He spoiled it for a while, Bobby," he said. "Let's ride back." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +CONCERNING SAM MCKEE + + +Webb was building biscuits and Hepburn was slicing a steak from the +hind quarter of a carcass that a few days before had been an HC steer. +McKee entered with an armful of wood. He dropped it into the box beside +the stove with a clatter and went out again. He was whistling a doleful +little tune, as a preoccupied man will whistle. His gray eyes were +peculiarly grim and when he stopped whistling, his mouth set into +determined lines. + +"What's got into him?" Webb asked. + +The other shrugged his shoulders. + +"He's changed in the last day or two. Wouldn't think he was the same +man," Webb went on. "Do you think there's a chance...." + +It was unnecessary to finish the question for there was only one +subject that these men discussed which called for the cautious tone +which Webb had adopted. Hepburn chuckled scornfully. + +"Hell, no!" he said. "Sam's the last one to double-cross us, 'specially +when Beck's on th' other side. + +"Somethin's got into him all right, but it ain't anything to hurt us. +He's changed." + +"You know how he used to be, Dad, kind of a bully, always lookin' for +trouble. Well, it wasn't that he was quarrelsome like most mean men +are. It was because he was afraid to be any other way. That was what +made him abuse his horse that time; the pony had put a crimp in Sam an' +th' only way Sam could work up his nerve to get aboard was to work him +over unmerciful. + +"That give Beck his chance, an' he sure did comb poor Sam! It took all +th' starch out of him, but that wasn't th' worst. It give everybody +that didn't like him a chance to rub it in, an' they sure done it! +Sam's been a standin' joke ever since. They seem to look for chances to +ride him. Two-Bits ain't let him alone a minute when they was near +together. + +"Sam used to swear he'd get both Two-Bits an' Beck, but he won't. He +ain't that kind, I guess. Beck knocked what little sand he had left all +out of him. + +"Somethin's changed him again, though ..." + +"You've rubbed it into him pretty strong yourself, Webb," Hepburn +reminded. + +"Different reason." Webb waxed philosophical. "When a man's enemies +bother him it only drives him down; that is, a man like Sam. But when +his friends ride him it's likely to put a little color in his liver. +That's why I keep after him. I never did figure he'd try to get Beck in +an open fight, but I used to think he might do it some other way. +That's what I'd like to see him do!"--darkly. + +"Maybe he will. Somethin's changed him again, Webb. I tell you he's +been goin' around today like a man whose done somethin' big! It's a +sort of ... of confidence, you'd call it." + +"Mebby Hilton's got under his skin. He don't like Sam but he talks a +lot to him about Beck, quiet-like, as if it wasn't of much importance. +Still, he keeps dingin' away at it." + +"Like he does to us about things, eh? Always sort of suggestin' until +you go do somethin' that seems like a good play an' then, after a +while, wake up to realize that he was the one who started you on your +way!" + +Hilton came in and the four--the other riders were on the range--ate +their meal and talked lowly of the war they waged. That is, Hepburn and +Webb talked. McKee listened; neither of the others bothered to address +him or even consciously include him as an auditor.... And Hilton +listened and watched McKee, his eyes speculative. + +"With th' tank gone that cuts down just so much on their range," Webb +said, "an' it's plain they don't figure on usin' the Hole or they'd let +their stuff drift in there as they've always done." + +"You don't want to be too sure that their stuff won't get into the +Hole," put in McKee with a nodding of his head. + +"I s'pose they put a man in the Gap to go to sleep, did they?" Webb +returned. "It was a good move on Beck's part. I wish to hell they would +get by and perish of thirst. We'd keep 'em out of Cole's water, you +bet! Beck's too wise to give us a chance, though." + +"Mebby he ain't so wise as he thinks," McKee insisted in that queer, +lofty manner. "He put a man there all right, all right, but everybody +ain't been asleep." + +Hepburn started to say something to Webb but was arrested by this. + +"What you got in your head, Sam?" he asked, with more intent than he +had used in questioning McKee in months. + +Sam felt himself assuming a sudden importance at this; his manner of +mystery and confidence had caught their interest and it was the first +time he had so succeeded for long, the first time he had really been an +insider in the game they played. It was gratifying to know facts which +they did not know; he cherished this superiority, so he said: + +"Never you mind what's in Sam's head. You've been figurin' I'm a +helpless sort of waddie for a long time but I guess you'll think +different when you find out some things I know!" + +Hepburn urged again but McKee was no more responsive so the older man +put McKee's secretiveness down as pique, concealing nothing of value, +and went on with the talk. + +Later in the evening Webb said: + +"Sure you didn't leave anything by the tank that'd give us away?" + +"Think I'm simple minded?" Hepburn countered. + +"It's a damn good thing not to be. That's th' first place they'll ride +when th' round-up starts an' as soon as Beck hears the Tank's gone +he'll go over that place himself with a fine tooth comb. If he could +hang that on us it'd be all he'd need." + +"He can go over it with a microscope but he'll find nothin'!" + +"You sure he will?" McKee asked, rather breathlessly, his eyes lighted +with a peculiar glow. + +"Will what?" + +"Go there to look it over?" + +Hepburn snorted. + +"That's one thing you can be sure about Beck: he watches details an' +don't let nothin' get away from him. He's always pryin' into things +himself; he ain't satisfied to get his information second hand. A thing +like this, which has meant a lot to them ... why, he'll investigate it +until he's found somethin' or hell freezes!" + +McKee sat back, staring at the floor, his hands limp in his lap. Still +that strange light showed in his eyes and occasionally his lips moved +as though he rehearsed a declaration to himself.... And Hilton, +stretched on his bed, watched McKee. + +After a time Sam roused and rolled a cigarette with fingers that were +not just steady and sat smoking as he planned, already triumphing in +anticipation. His eyes changed, and the lines of his face were +remoulded ... and Hilton watched. + +Late that evening McKee went out into the dooryard to be alone with the +memory of the one stroke he had made and to continue his plans for the +master blow he was to make. But he was not alone. Hilton followed and +spoke quietly over his shoulder, saying: + +"Yes, Sam, the chances are that he'll go to the tank alone." + +Whereupon the other started and whispered savagely: + +"How'd you know I was thinkin' _that?_" + +Hilton laughed lowly and put an arm across Sam's shoulders and they +walked at length in the darkness, talking, talking.... The Easterner +looked close into McKee's face and flattered and suggested and +encouraged.... + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +"WORK AMONG THE HEATHEN" + + +The chuck wagon had gone, followed by the bed wagon and the cavet, the +last made up of one hundred and forty saddle horses, stringing along +the road, a solid column of horse flesh. In a day the round-up would be +on. Camp was to be made first far down on Coyote Creek and the country +from Cathedral Tank eastward would first be ridden. + +Outwardly the departure was not so different from others of its sort. +There were rifles on saddles, to be sure, but there was banter and fun. +Still, a spirit prevailed which told that the men were not wholly +concerned with the normal business of the range. There were other +things, more grim, more serious, than gathering steers and branding +calves. + +H C hands were not the only ones who rode heavily armed. There were +others, skulking on high ridges, watching, waiting. The whole country +knew they were there. The eyes of the whole country were on the +factions. The ears of the country were strained to catch what sounds of +clash might rise. For the coming of that clash was sensed as an +impending crash of thunder will be sensed under cloud banked skies. + +"I'll be joinin' them tonight or in the morning," Beck told Jane as the +cavalcade disappeared down creek. "I'm glad there are things to hold me +here a few hours longer because I'll be gone a long time an' I'm +jealous of the days I have to be away from you." + +"You'll come to say good-bye?" + +"If I have to crawl to you!"--as he gave her one of his lingering +kisses. "When I come back from the ride there's something I'd like to +talk over with you ... which we ain't mentioned yet." + +"I'll be waiting to talk it over, dear," she whispered, for she +understood. + +Not long after Beck had ridden away the Reverend stumped down from the +corral to the big ranch house and rapped on the door. Jane was at her +desk and looked up in surprise for it was the first time the elder Beal +had ever come to her alone. + +"I come to ask for aid, ma'am, in what might be termed work among the +heathen, though, it is in a sense the task of a home missionary." + +Jane put down her pen and sat back in her chair, trying to hide her +amusement. + +"Yes, Reverend," in her crisp manner--"I'm interested." + +He blinked and rattled pens in a side pocket of the rusty coat. + +"I trust that you will bear with me, ma'am, until I have finished. I +have been moved to speak to you for long but have hesitated because it +is difficult to present the matter without intruding on privacies. + +"An unholy love is being hidden in the solitudes of these hills, a man +who is at heart a serpent seeks to corrupt the white soul of a child. +You possess a knowledge of this man which may hold the only hope of +salvation for the innocent." + +A feeling of apprehension swept through the girl; with it was +suspicion, for though her mind easily fastened on Dick Hilton as the +man referred to, she could connect him with no other woman. + +"I trust, ma'am, that you will be charitable in your estimate of my +works. It is no more possible for Azariah Beal to go through life with +his eyes closed and his powers of deduction dormant than it is for the +birds to refrain from flight or the fishes from swimming. I try to do +good as I go my way. I realize that it is not in the orthodox manner, +that my methods are strange; but my work is among unusual people and +the old ways of accomplishment will not produce results any more than +the old standards of morality will fit the lives of my people. + +"I observed this man, a stranger to the country, in town on my arrival. +When I reached here to tarry with my brother until I am called to move +I observed you, also a stranger to the frontier. I observed other +things which you will not consider prying curiosity, I hope. There was +a connection, a logical connection, between you two strangers: were it +not for subsequent events this observation would have remained in my +heart. So far it has, but now I must reveal it to you. + +"You are the only individual who stands between Dick Hilton and the +ruin of Bobby Cole!" + +He stopped talking and rattled his pens again. The apprehension which +had possessed Jane passed and she experienced a sharp abhorrence. + +"You mean that he ..." she began and let the question trail off. + +The Reverend nodded. + +"Exactly. He has charmed her. He speaks with the cunning of a serpent +and she, under his influence, is as guileless as a quail. + +"He cannot be driven off by threats because he is not that sort. The +girl cannot be convinced of his wicked purpose because she trusts no +man but him. If the affair proceeds she will pay the price of a broken +heart because, in spirit, she is pure gold. + +"He might protest his sincerity to men of this country and force them +into belief, but with you it is different. There is in every man, no +matter how far he may have fallen, a sense of shame. He can bury it +deeply from those who do not know him but to his own kind it is ever +near the surface. + +"I beg of you, ma'am, to join me in this holy cause and dissuade him +from his black purpose, if not by an appeal to honor, then by an appeal +to his shame." + +Jane rose. + +"You mean that he has been making ... making love to this girl? And +that you think I can save her?" + +"It's the only way. She will not listen to men, she will not listen to +you because she considers you her enemy. He may be so far sunk in sin +that he will not heed the advice of one he has known and respected and, +excuse me, loved ... after his manner of loving." Jane flushed but he +gave no notice. "But unless I attempt to bring your influence to bear +upon him I will feel that I have not answered the call to duty." + +He blinked again and looked at her with an appeal that wiped out any +impression of charlatanry, of preposterousness that she might have had; +he was wholly sincere. + +"Why ... I don't know what I could say ... what I could do." + +"Nor I. But you know Hilton; you know the girl; I have made you +familiar with the situation. I rely on your resourcefulness. May I +bring him to you?" + +"Why, he wouldn't come here!" + +The Reverend rattled his pens and said: + +"I think I might persuade him. Have I, as your employee, your +permission, I might say, your _order_, to bring him here?" + +"Of course. If there is anything I can do.... Ugh!" She shuddered and +pressed a wrist against her eyes. "It's beastly! Beastly!" + +The Reverend departed and throughout the day Jane Hunter could think of +little other than the situation which he had outlined to her. Her wrath +was roused, replacing the disgust she had felt at first, and her heart +went out to Bobby Cole with a tenderness that only woman can know for +woman. + +She tried to think ahead, to consider what she could say or do, to +speculate on what the results of this next meeting with Dick Hilton +might be. + +Evening was well into dusk with the first stars pricking through the +failing daylight when two riders came through the HC gate. Dick Hilton +rode first and behind him, one hand in a deep pocket of his frock coat, +rode the Reverend. + +"You can get down and open the gate," the Reverend said and Hilton, +sulkily obeying, led his horse through. + +"Now what?" he asked in surly submission. + +"Now I'll finish my errand by escorting you to the owner of this +establishment." + +Hilton led his horse across to the dooryard. The Reverend dismounted +and the two walked down the cottonwoods to the big veranda, the +Easterner still in the lead, the other with his hand in his side pocket. + +Jane saw them; she was at the door. + +"Good evening!" said Hilton with bitterness. + +"In accordance with your orders, ma'am, I persuaded this gentleman to +call," said Beal, almost humbly. "I'll feed his horse and return later." + +He turned and hurried up the path. + +Hilton pulled down his coat sleeves irritably and looked at Jane with a +bitter smile. + +"To what do I owe the ... the honor of such a summons?" + +"Come in, Dick. I want to talk to you,"--keeping her voice and +expression steady. She held the door open to him and he entered, his +mouth drawn down in a sardonic grimace. A single shaded lamp was +lighted and as she turned to him she could see his eyes glittering +balefully in the semi-darkness. + +"Rather different from our last meeting," he said testily. "Then you +were concerned with my going; now you seem determined to have me here." + +"Let's not discuss the past, Dick. I called you here for a definite +purpose. Can you guess what it is?" + +He eyed her in hostile speculation. + +"I don't see where anything that concerns me could concern you now. +That is, unless you've changed your mind." + +She gave him a wry smile and a shake of her head. + +"I shall never change, Dick. It was no interest in you that made me +send for you. It was interest in the well-being of another woman." + +"Oh, another woman! And who, pray, may she be?"--frigidly, face +darkening. + +"Can't you guess? Have there been so many out here?" + +"You know there's only one woman for me," he said bitterly, "and she +drove me off like a thief and has called me back as though I were a +thief!" + +"Perhaps you are." + +"What do you mean by that?" + +There was that about him which made her think of a man cornered. + +"I have called you here because I have reason to believe that you are +trying to steal the heart of a young girl--of Bobby Cole." + +He laughed unpleasantly, but there was in the laugh a queer relief, as +though he had anticipated other things. + +"Now who's been tattling to you?" + +"My men have seen you come and go, they have seen you with the girl. +One of them came to me and begged that I send for you and try to talk +you out of this. They know, Dick. These men understand men ... like +you." + +"Because they see me with her and because I'm not considered fit by you +to stay beneath your roof, even when it is night and storming, they +think I'm damned beyond hope, do they? They think I'm menacing her +happiness, do they?" + +"But aren't you?" she countered. "I know her. I have talked to her and +watched her. Dick, she is a lonely, pathetic little creature with the +world against her. There have been just two things left in her life: +her own splendid self respect and her devotion to her father. Why, she +hasn't even had the respect of the people about her! + +"And now she is facing loss of the biggest thing she possesses: the +loss of her belief in herself, for you will destroy that just as surely +as you force her to listen to your ... to what I suppose you still call +your love-making." + +He eyed her a moment before saying: + +"You used, at least, to be fair, Jane; you used to go slowly in judging +people and their motives and usually you were more or less right. Have +you put all that behind you? Does the fact that a man is charged with +some irregularity convince you of his guilt now?" + +"Why no. But knowing you and knowing her..." + +"Don't you think it possible for a man, even, for the sake of the +argument, a blackguard like me,"--bowing slightly--"to change a trifle?" + +He put the question with so much confidence, with so much of his old +certainty that it checked Jane. + +"Why, we all may change," she said slowly. + +"I am glad you will grant that much,"--ironically. "Think back, just a +few weeks, and you may recall one somewhat theatrical statement you +made to me about finding yourself among these people. I thought it +preposterous then but I have lived and learned; I know now that you +could mean what you said then.... Jane, I, too, have found my people +... at least my woman." + +She stared hard at him. + +"Do you mean that, Dick Hilton?"--very lowly. + +"As much as I have ever meant anything in my life!" + +"Sit down," she said, more to give her time to think than in +consideration of his comfort. Then, after a moment: "It isn't much of a +boast, to mean this as much as you have ever meant anything." + +"Then need we talk further? You ask questions; I answer; you do not +believe. Why continue?" + +She sat down in a chair before him. + +"This is the reason: That I think you have lied to me again. I don't +believe you are sincere. No, no, you must listen to me, now!"--as he +started forward with an enraged exclamation. "I brought you here to +make what is left of the Dick Hilton I once liked see this thing as I +see it." + +And try she did. She talked rapidly, almost hurriedly, carried along by +her own conviction, made dominant by it, sweeping aside his early +protests, forcing him to listen to her. She put her best into that +effort for as he sat there with his cruel, cynical smile on her she +realized that this was a task worthy of her best mettle. + +She sketched Bobby Cole's life as she knew it, she argued in detail to +show him how the girl had never had a chance to taste the things which +are sweetest to girlhood. She touched on the incident in town where, in +desperation, Bobby had tried to force the respect of men and she told +him of the defiance with which her own advances of friendship had been +met. + +Jane was eloquent. For the better part of an hour she talked steadily, +occasionally interrupted by a skeptical laugh or a sneering retort, but +she persisted. Hilton listened and watched, eyes hard, mouth drawn into +forbidding lines, a manner of suspicious caution about him, as though +there were much that he wanted to conceal. + +Finally her sincerity had an effect and she could see his cold +assurance melting. His gaze left hers and a flush crept into his +cheeks. She moved quickly to sit beside him. + +"Dick! Dick! For the sake of what you once were, for the sake of what +you still can be, go away! If you won't go for the sake of the girl, go +for your own salvation!" + +"It's not what you think," he protested feebly, without looking at her. +"I'm not philandering. I--" + +"No, Dick, not philandering, because that is too gentle a word. It is +something worse, something darker, which will bring more shame to you +and to all who once knew and trusted you. + +"Don't you see that you're playing with something as delicate as a +mountain flower? Don't you see you will crush it? Because this girl is +strong of body and thoroughly able to contend for her own position with +muscles and weapons, don't think that her heart can be treated roughly. +It would wither if she gave it to you and found that you held it of +little value." + +"I tell you I'm on the level with her." + +"Would you marry her?"--leaning closer to him as his manner told of the +effect her pleas were having. + +"Of course." + +"You'd take her east, to your friends?" + +"Why, why not?"--shifting uneasily. + +"Dick, look at me!" Tears in her eyes, she put her hands on his +shoulders and forced him to turn his face. "You can't mean that? I can +see you don't. Dick, oh, Dick! For the sake of all that is good and +fine in life, for the sake of the manhood you can regain, don't do this +thing! + +"I'm asking it of you. Perhaps I have little right to make any requests +of you but in the name of the love you say you once bore for me try to +look into my, a woman's heart, and see what this thing means. I'm not +trying to make it difficult for you; I'm not trying to interfere and be +mean. I'm begging you, Dick, to give her up and if nothing else will +appeal to you, do it for my sake!" + +She shook him gently as he turned his head from her, humiliated, +shamed, beaten. He was convinced: she knew that his sham was broken +down, that his purpose was clear to her and the conscience that +remained in his soul tortured him. + +Jane held so a long moment, fingers gripping his shoulders, appeal in +every tense line of her body. + +And close outside the window another figure held tense, watching, +holding breath in futile attempt to catch the low words they spoke. It +was a slender figure and had ridden up on a soft-stepping horse, +dismounted, slipped over the fence, ran stealthily along the creek, +halted in the shadow of the cottonwoods and then crept slowly forward +until it stood close to the shaft of yellow light which streamed from +the window. There it stood spying.... + +"You have said that you loved me, Dick. Do this for me in the name of +that love! I am asking it with a sincerity that was never in any other +request I have made of you." + +She shook him again and slowly he turned his face to hers, showing an +expression of weakness, of helplessness, as one who turns to ask +humbly, almost desperately for aid. + +The figure out there started forward as though it would leap through +the window, making a sharp sound of breath hissing through teeth, in +fright or in hatred. The movement was checked, for the gate creaked +open, the scuffling boots of a man were heard on the path. The figure +skulked swiftly along the house, ducking along the cottonwoods, out +toward the road where a horse stood waiting. + +It was the Reverend coming and he whistled "_Yield not to +Temptation_," as he neared the house, as if to give warning of his +approach. Hilton heard and looked up sharply and a glitter of rage +appeared in his eyes. He shook Jane Hunter off savagely and rose. + +"I'd let you make an ass of me!" he cried savagely. "You won't believe +when I tell you the truth.... + +"But what the devil should I care?" he broke off shortly. "Whatever I +do and where and why is my own affair; none of yours, though you try to +make it yours, try to judge me as you judge your own, new friends, +probably. + +"You talk of the man I once was. Well, if I've changed in your eyes, it +is not my fault; it's yours, Jane Hunter, yours! You'd drive me on, +lead me on, and when finally cornered you'd be perfectly frank to tell +me that you'd only toyed with me, that you tolerated me because you +thought you might have to use the things I owned!" + +"Not that, Dick! You're putting it all wrong...." + +"Listen to me!" he shouted, quivering with rage. "If I've changed it is +you who have changed me! If life means nothing to me, it is you who +have made it so!" He was towering in his anger and, seeking to shift +responsibility for his own rottenness to the shoulders of the woman +before him, he aroused a sense of injury and genuine indignation. "You +played me as your last straw as long as you dared and now, by God, when +I go my way, the only way open to me, when I try to redeem a little +happiness, you hound me, try to shame me with your sham morals!" + +"Dick, that's not true." + +"It is true. Why, you haven't a leg to stand on, you--" + +His storming was interrupted by a rap on the door and he turned to see +the Reverend standing there, battered derby in his hands. + +"Excuse me," he said mildly, "but the gentleman's horse is fed." + +It was his way of letting Jane Hunter--and Dick Hilton--know that she +was not alone; but if the Reverend had intended to stop the tirade +which he had heard from outside he did not succeed for the Easterner +was further enraged at sight of him. + +"I suppose this is part of your plan!" he snapped. "You found out that +it's no use to wheedle me, so you've had your gun-man come to drive me +off as he brought me!" + +"Dick, don't be silly! You're absurd. A gun. The idea!" + +Hilton laughed tauntingly and said: + +"He's standing there now, covering me with a gun! Look at him." He +pointed to the Reverend's pocket. A hand was in it and the garment +bulged sharply as though a revolver, concealed there, was ready for +instant use. "That's how you treat me; that's how you got me here. God +knows I wouldn't have come otherwise if your existence depended on it. + +"This man met me on the trail. He said you wanted to see me. I +consigned him to the Hell from which he tries to have sinners and he +covered me from his pocket just as he has me covered now and said it +would be wise for me to answer your summons. + +"How else do you think he brought me?" he demanded, wheeling to face +Jane again. + +The girl looked quickly to Beal, lips parted in surprise. + +"I sent Mr. Beal for you, yes, but I said nothing about using force to +bring you. I wouldn't do that. I'm sure there is some mistake." + +"Yes, ma'am, I'm sure there is," said the Reverend, blinking and +withdrawing his hand slowly. "I'm a man of peace. I'm not a man of +force." + +He lifted his hand clear, the ominous bulge in his pocket giving way, +and held up one of his pens. + +"One dollar," he said rather weakly ... as though frightened, or vastly +amused. + +Standing there, looking rather blankly about, holding that pen in his +hand he was in ludicrous contrast to the furious Hilton. It made the +other man seem absurd, his raging like the burlesque of some clowning +actor. + +With a helpless, choking oath Hilton turned, livid with rage, and +strode for the doorway. + +"For the last time I've been made a fool of!" he cried, and hastened up +the path. + +They heard him mount his horse and ride away. + +Jane was too busied with more somber thoughts to appreciate the humor +of the situation; she did later. Even had she been able to give +attention to the contrast between Hilton's rage and the chagrin which +followed so closely, the change in the Reverend would have diverted her +attention. He stood looking at her with grief in his eyes and when he +spoke his voice shook. + +"I feel that I have done my duty, ma'am, but that is all Azariah Beal +has to say for himself. There has been no result. I may have been too +late in my attempt. Surely, there is nothing more to be done.... + +"Nothing more, unless you may succeed in ridding yourself of your +enemies." + +"Do you think that would have an effect on Bobby Cole?" + +He nodded gravely. + +"You and she have something in common: an enemy." + +"He has been here tonight? You mean that Hilton is my enemy in the +sense that he may imperil the future of the HC?" + +"The same, ma'am." + +"Reverend, it is likely that you are right. I am beginning to see a +connection between factors which have seemed to be unrelated." + +He started to speak but a shout checked him. They listened to a +confusion of voices. + +"Something's wrong," Beal said and stepped to the veranda. "Why ... +somebody's hurt!" + +Jane ran to the doorway but he had already started up the path. She +followed as she saw a close huddle of men about the lighted doorway of +the bunk house move slowly in, carrying a burden gently and as she +neared the building a rather tragic quiet marked the group. + +Nigger, Two-Bits' horse, was standing saddled in the path of light. +Inside a man was lying face down on the floor. The Reverend knelt +beside him, leaning forward, and others stood close, silent and grave. + +The prostrate man was Two-Bits and his shoulders dripped blood. As Jane +became a part of the group he stirred and struggled to raise his head. + +"What is it, brother?" Azariah asked gently, turning Two-Bits over and +supporting his head. "Tell us. You're not done for. It's ripped your +back open, but that's all. Who was it?" + +The other looked about slowly with bewildered eyes. + +"From behind," he said weakly. "They got me from behind...." His gaze +wavered from face to face and finally rested on Jane's. He moved feebly. + +"A big bunch of your cattle must be in th' Hole, ma'am," he said. +"There ain't ... any water there.... I was keepin' 'em ... out ... an' +somebody got me from behind.... They must of waited ... to get me ... +from behind.... And the only water's ... in fence.... + +"It looks like ... a lot of trouble, ma'am...." + +He stopped talking, exhausted. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +RENUNCIATION + + +It looked like trouble and there was trouble. + +Beck, with the Reverend, Curtis and two of the ranch hands preceded +Jane to the Hole at dawn and when she rode down the trail she saw them +on their horses, forming a little group well away from the nester's +cabin. + +Her cattle were there and the fenced area was fringed with them as they +moved back and forth, sniffing at the water they wanted, which they +needed and which, though just on the other side of the wire strands, +might as well have been days away. Inside the fence grazed Cole's herd +with plenty to eat and drink. + +Tom's face was troubled as he rode to meet the girl. + +"It's serious," he said. "There's enough of your stock down here to +ruin you, ma'am, unless we get 'em out to water." + +"Let's take them out, then!" + +He shook his head skeptically. + +"They're in bad shape. They're crazy wild and we haven't got enough men +here to shove 'em up the trail. It's an awful job with quiet cattle +because they have to go in single file and there's no drivin' 'em. I +don't dare risk taking these through the Gap and around to water the +other way. Why, Jane, that's forty miles! + +"It'll be another day before we can get the boys back to help get 'em +out and it looks like a heavy loss at best unless we get water. There's +only one way to get it and that's to persuade Cole or his daughter that +we'd ought to have it." + +"They must have water!" she cried. "It's inhuman not to give it to +them!" She watched a big steer going past at a rapid walk, eyes bright +and protruding as in fright; he bawled hoarsely for drink. "Why, Tom, +people can't refuse water to beasts that need it." + +"See! There's Cole and Bobby now,"--pointing toward the cabin. "Come. +I'll buy water if necessary." + +She spurred her horse and Beck followed at a gallop. When he came +abreast he looked curiously at her face. Her jaw was tight and her eyes +dark with determination. This was her fight and she was thoroughly +aroused to it. She asked no advice, she showed no hesitation; she went +forward with all confidence, certain that in this cause which involved +not only the loss of property but the suffering of dumb creatures she +could have her way. + +A hundred yards from the cabin a steer thrust his head through the wire +strands and shoved, heedless of barbs, tantalized by the smell of +water. Cole shouted with his weak voice and picked up a stick and ran +toward the animal, brandishing his cudgel. + +Bobby stood watching the riders approach. + +"I've come to see you again," Jane said in brief preface. "This time it +is an urgent matter." She dismounted and faced the other girl. "My +cattle are here and they need drink very badly. You have all the water. +Will you let them through your fence? As soon as they can be moved we +will take them out and they will bother you no more." + +Bobby eyed her with loathing but it was not as she had been on their +previous encounter, for about her manner was something more concrete, +as though she cherished a definite grudge this time. + +"Is your memory so bad that you don't recollect what I told you +before?" she asked slowly. "I told you once to keep away from us; I +tell you that again. This is our range now; your stock ain't got any +rights here." + +"I'll grant you that I have no right to ask. I did what I could to keep +my cattle out of here. The man I set to guard the Gap was shot down; +that is why they are here this morning; that is why I must have your +water, because it is the only water available. + +"I am willing to pay. This means very much to me. Won't you name a +price, give me water? I am asking it as a favor and will be willing to +pay for that favor." + +"Favor!" + +The girl shot the word out harshly. + +"Favor! You're a sweet one to come askin' _me_ for a favor!" + +A fever of rage rose in her face and her brows gathered threateningly. + +"Nothin' we've got is for sale to you! I wouldn't help you if I could +save your outfit by liftin' my hand ... an' if I was starvin' for that +you'd give me in pay!" + +Jane was nonplussed. Bobby's breast rose and fell quickly and her white +teeth gleamed behind drawn lips. She was the catamount, ready to fight! + +"But think of these cattle! They're suffering--" + +"Cattle! You ask me to think of cattle because they're suffering and +you'd make human beings suffer from worse things than thirst!" + +"I don't understand you. What have I done that would make people +suffer?" + +"I s'pose you don't know?"--jeeringly. "I s'pose you don't _want_ +to know in front of him,"--with a flirt of her quirt to indicate Beck. +"I wouldn't either if I was in your place, you--sneak!" + +"Sneak?" Jane repeated, stung to open resentment. "Sneak?" + +"Yes, sneak. You'd run us out of this country if you could, but you +can't. You'd take my man if you could ... but you can't!"--through shut +teeth. + +"Your man?"--looking at the girl and then at Beck in bewilderment. +"Your--" + +"Yes, my man! Oh, don't think I don't know. I saw it all. I saw one of +your hands take him to your home last night. I followed him, I watched +through your window. I seen you beg with him and plead with him. I know +what you want.... + +"Why, he's told me everything, from th' first! You got him to follow +you out here, you got mad at him and threw him out of your house once. +Now you want him back. You want him back. I suppose while he,"--tilting +her head toward Tom--"is away on round-up! You want him back when +you've got everything you want and he's all I got, all I ever had!" + +Tears sprang into her eyes and her voice came trembling through +trembling lips. Jane, swept by confusion, sought words and found none. +It was preposterous! And yet the very accusation degraded her. Drawn +into a quarrel over a man, and such a man! + +"You'd take this claim, if you could, when you've got more land than +anybody around here. You'd take my man when you've got lots of others +yourself. You _must_ have lots like you got lots of other things. +Maybe you think that by takin' him you can drive me out and get the +claim that way. Maybe that's your reason, you ... you...." She seemed +to search in vain for an expletive that would convey her contempt. + +"But you misunderstand! You're all wrong." + +"Wrong, am I? Wrong, when you put your arms around his neck and put +your face close to his an' make him look at you an' beg him to do +things for your sake. I watched through your window last night. I heard +those words, 'For my sake.' You said 'em. I suppose that's wrong, is +it? I--" + +"But it wasn't that! It wasn't what you think it--" + +"I s'pose you thought he wouldn't tell me, but he did. He won't come +back to you. You couldn't get him away from me!"--in triumph. + +Her manner was so assured, she was so convinced of the truth of +Hilton's version of last night's encounter that Jane Hunter was at a +loss for argument. Impulsively she turned to look at Beck, as for +suggestion, and what she saw there stripped her of ability to fight +back. His face was as devoid of expression as a countenance can be, but +his eyes challenged, accused, bore down upon her, demanding that she +explain! + +He _demanded_ that she explain! + +He suspected her! He gave credence to Bobby's accusation. He could do +that! + +A word, even a gesture, would have cleared the situation but his look +struck her inarticulate, immobile. She had been so confident of +herself, of his trust; and now he had grasped upon this monstrous +charge and held her to answer. + +"You with your fine notions, your money, your city ways!" the other +taunted. "You, with all you've got, would take the only thing I've got, +the only thing I've ever had! + +"An' now you come, askin' favors. Favors from me! Why, all I'll do for +you is to run you out of this country. I've heard what they call me +here: the catamount. I'll show you how the catamount can scratch and +bite!" + +It swept over Jane that she must reply, that she must say some word in +her defense, that she must say it now ... _now_ ... that in this +second of time her fate swung in balance, that bitter though +explanation might be she must make it, for Beck was listening, Beck was +watching, Beck was doubting! + +And, as she would have spoken, lamely, but with enough clarity to +absolve her from suspicion, Bobby stepped closer. + +"You take your men an' light out!" she snapped. "You keep your men out +of here an' your cattle away from this fence. Th' first steer that +breaks through 'll get shot down, th' first man that tries to help 'em +through will find that he needs help himself. I hate you!" she cried. +"I hate you worse 'n I hate a snake an' I'll treat you like a snake +from now on. + +"You carry that idea home with you an' you carry this ... as first +payment, to bind the bargain!" + +With a quick, sharp swing of her arm, she whipped her quirt through the +air and it wrapped about Jane's soft throat with a vicious snap. + +She stepped back with a choking cry, hiding her face. She heard Beck's +short, "That'll do!" in a strange, unnatural voice, as though his +throat were dry. She heard the Catamount's contemptuous sniff and her +hard, "Clear out!" + +She found herself in her saddle again, riding beside Beck as they moved +toward the other HC riders, who, dismounted and seated on the ground, +had not witnessed the dramatic parley and its humiliating climax. She +was confronted by a situation which clearly spelled disaster for her +ranch unless solved and solved quickly but that did not matter now. + +She had been whipped, as the man who had insulted Bobby Cole had been +whipped. Had been drawn into a brawl! And, far worse, she had found +that the man toward whom she had toiled from the Jane Hunter that had +been to the Jane Hunter she had one day dreamed she might be, had +doubted her! + +He was talking haltingly, something about bringing more men to shove +the cattle up into the Coyote Creek country, but even through her +confusion she realized that his thoughts were not finding words, that +he was forcing himself to talk of those things. Her heart wanted to cry +out, to tell him that he had misunderstood, that her encounter with +Hilton was not occasioned by the motive Bobby Cole had suspected. The +old Jane Hunter would have done so, but with her new strength had come +another thing, until that hour hidden: it was pride, a pride which was +as noble as her love, which would permit no cavail, which would not +stoop to conquer! + +She fought it down, striving for clarified thought, feeling for the +word, the brief sentence which would explain away Beck's suspicion and +leave that pride uninjured, for there must be such a way. And while she +fought, blinded by tears and confused by humiliation, the moment of +opportunity passed. Beck left her. + +They were with the others, who grouped about her foreman, and he said: + +"I was going to send one of you men to bring a dozen of the boys from +the wagon to help save this stuff, if we can, but I've changed my +mind,"--with a bitter significance which they did not catch. "I'm goin' +myself. Curtis, you're in charge. Keep your head. Keep the cattle from +breakin' his fence because they'll shoot 'em down an' if they start +shooting cattle there'll be a lot of us get shot." + +He started away at a gallop without so much as a look at Jane. +Impulsively she called his name and spurred her sorrel after him. He +set his horse on his haunches, wheeled and waited for her, face white, +those eyes so dark, so accusing. That look checked the words that were +on her lips as effectively as a blow on the mouth and he spoke first as +she halted beside him: + +"You did send for him, I take it? You didn't deny that." + +He was hard, cruel, brows gathered, and the storm within him stung that +pride of hers further, roused it to newer life. + +"Yes, I sent for him," she managed to say, "but Tom, won't--" + +"That's all that's necessary then," he said, and was gone. + +She sat on her horse watching him ride across the flat for the steep +trail that led out of the Hole and she felt that all the sweetness, all +the worth-while quality of her life was riding hard behind that +straight figure. A bitterness rose in her heart, a rebellion. He would +not listen to her and she had tried to speak! + +Jane did not consider that this was but one evidence of the greatness +of the love of such a man, of the sacredness with which he treasured +it; all she saw was the distrust, unbelief, and after a time she rode +slowly on, watching him become a fleck on the face of the mountain, +seeing him finally disappear over the rim, out of her life, it seemed. + + * * * * * + +With leaden heart she entered her house and sat heavily in the chair +before the desk. An envelope was there, addressed to her in Beck's +coarse hand. She tore it open with unsteady fingers. + +The little gold locket which had been warmed first by her heart, then +by Beck's, which had been her talisman for months, slipped into her +palm. With tear-dimmed eyes she looked at it and then turned to the +letter, reading: + + +"It is likely that you need your luck worse than I do so I am returning +your gift. I would go away from your outfit now but if I did they would +say that they drove me out as they have said they would do. My +reputation is all I have left now and I would like to keep that because +a man must have something. + +"I did not want to love you in the first place as you may recall but I +guess I was pretty weak for a man. I told you once that there were +things I did not understand about you and I guess the way you think +about men is one of them. I wanted to drive him out of the country and +you would not let me. I waited a long time today for you to deny what +the Cole girl said and you did not do it. I was pretty mad when I left +you but I realize now it is all my fault. I took a chance which is not +the way to do and now I am paying for it. Well, I am able to pay. + +"I hope you will not answer this and will not try to talk to me again +unless on business. I do not blame you. I blame myself but I do not +want to talk about it. I will take good care of your cattle and your +men because that is my job. I will run these men out of this country +and then if I am able to resign I will. + +"Respectfully, + "TOM BECK." + + +She put down the letter, feeling queerly numb. She experienced no +particular resentment because she could well see how her failure to +speak at the proper moment had condemned her in Beck's eyes; her +sensation was of one who has failed in a crisis. Bobby Cole had +dominated her, had swept her off her feet, had given her that +depressing feeling of inferiority again and before her lover's eyes; it +had shaken her assurance, made her question the strength of which she +had been so certain in the last weeks! It was that which hurt her far +more than the stinging welt about her throat where the lash had bitten +her flesh. + +She inquired for Two-Bits, learning that the doctor had left him with +the assurance that his recovery would not be unduly delayed. She ate +her dinner abstractedly. In all she did she moved as one who is only +partly alive; a portion of her body, even, seemed insensate, while her +mind was dead. A dull ache pervaded her, an emptiness, for something +vastly important was gone and she was without resource to call it back. + +The Reverend came and went, taking beds on pack horses and when Jane +saw him departing she laughed rather weakly to herself. + +It was so simple! There was the agency which could bridge this chasm +and while so doing could save the pride which was creating the conflict +within her. + +The Reverend knew her motive in sending for Hilton. He could and would +make Beck aware of what had transpired. She even thought of writing Tom +a note, something as follows: + + +"I am terribly hurt but in a way it is of my own doing. I have just one +thing to request: Ask the Reverend how Dick Hilton came to be here." + + +But she had no one to send with it and Beck would be back on the morrow +with the men to move the thirst tortured cattle. Besides, there must be +another way than the despatch of such a message. That was too cold and +formal. It would bring him humbly to her but she knew how he would +suffer when his pride was hurt; and such a thing would do no less than +hurt his pride. She would make it as easy as possible. + +A let-down came and she cried and when she slept that night her dreams +were not distressing. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE REVEREND'S STRATEGY + + +Throughout the day the sun beat into the canyon, its heat relieved by +rare breezes of brief duration. What wind did come raised swirls of +dust and rustled wilted foliage, for the country had become ash dry. + +The cattle, most of them on their fourth waterless day, bawled +dismally, a thirsty chorus rising as the day aged. They did not eat; +they wandered rapidly about seeking moisture. Those spots of the creek +bed which showed damp above and below Cole's fence were tramped to +powder by uneasy hoofs and a narrow area outside the fence was cut to +fluff by the restless wanderings of the suffering steers. + +As afternoon came on they abandoned their futile search for unguarded +drink and clung closer to the wire barrier, snuffing loudly as their +nostrils drank in the smell of water as greedily as their throats would +have swallowed the fluid itself. Their eyes became wider, wilder, and +the bawling was without cessation. Flanks pumped the hot air into their +bodies in rapid tempo and slaver hung from loose chops. The herd was in +desperate condition. + +Now and then a big beefer would rush the fence as if to tear his way +through but the new wire and solid posts always flung them back. Again, +another would push his head tentatively between the strands and attempt +entrance by gentler methods, but always they were driven back either by +one of the HC riders or by Cole himself. + +By the time the sun was half way to the horizon the steers were moving +in a compact mass back and forth along the fence, snuffing, crying, +sobbing in dry throats, bodies growing more gaunt hourly as frenzy +added its toll to physical suffering. + +The bawling became a din. Big steers shook their heads and hooked at +one another groggily. The first one went down and could not rise alone; +the men "tailed" him up and worked him to shade, where he sank to his +side again, panting, drooling and silent. + +"Damn an outfit like that!" growled Curtis, looking across the bunch to +Cole, who stood staring back. + +"There's goin' to be hell a-poppin' here," commented one of the men. +"They're waitin' for trouble an' you can't prevent 'em havin' it--" + +"Look at that!" + +A half dozen steers, surging against the fence, put their combined +weight on a panel and the post gave with a snap. + +Bobby ran forward, brandishing a club, and drove them back as they +floundered in the sagging wire, heedless of barbs, eyes protruding with +want of the drink that dilated nostrils told them was near. + +After he had propped the post up again the nester shook his fist at +Curtis and shouted: + +"I'll protect my property! You can protect yourn if you will. Th' next +critter that breaks my fence gits lead in his carcass!" + +He slouched back to the cabin and came out a moment later with a rifle. +Seating himself on a stump he crossed his knees and with the weapon +across his lap sat waiting. + +"We'll bunch 'em so we can make a show at holdin' 'em tonight," Curtis +said. "That'll save time in th' mornin' ... an' we'll need all our +time." + +Forthwith he and the others began gathering the suffering stragglers in +a loose bunch. + +The Reverend came riding across the flat before this was completed. His +face was serious and as he came close to the herd and saw the condition +of the cattle he shook his head apprehensively. + +"I fear, brother, that by another day there'll be little strength in +those bodies to get 'em up to open water," he said to Curtis. + +"It'll be the devil's own job for sure! It'll take twenty men to move +'em and if we don't lose half we'll be lucky. + +"If that old cuss 'uld let 'em water once it'd be a cinch, but he's a +bad _hombre_; he won't. There's something back of this, Reverend." + +Beal scratched his chin and blinked and looked across to where Cole +sat. One of his Mexicans also was armed and had taken up his position +further down the fence. + +"So it would appear," he replied. "As Joshua said to Moses, 'There's a +noise of war in the camp.' + +"I see a relationship between the smiting of my beloved brother and the +refusal of this outfit to grant water. + +"Oh, another watcher!" + +He indicated Pat Webb who evidently had gained the Cole ranch by a +circuitous route and had taken up his position within the fence, armed +with a rifle. + +Night came on with a dry wind in the trees on the heights. Its draft +did not reach the Hole but the sound did and that uneasy, distant roar +served to intensify the distress of the cattle. + +Beds were made on a knoll not far from the bunched steers and the +Reverend was the first to rest, while the others, singing, whistling, +slapping chaps with quirts rode round and round the herd keeping them +away from the fence to give the riflemen no opportunity to shoot. +Azariah did not sleep but rolled uneasily on his tarp watching the +bright, dry stars, muttering to himself now and then. + +Once he got up and fussed about his blankets and Curtis, riding by, +stopped. + +"No, I can't rest," the Reverend replied to his query. "I believe I +have lost one pen.... + +"By the way, brother, if these were your cattle how many head would you +give just to get them to water tonight?" + +"I'd give several," Curtis answered bitterly. "Yes, I'd give a good +many and look at it as a good investment. Without water we're goin' to +make lots of feed for buzzards an' coyotes, tryin' to make up that +trail tomorrow!" + +"A good many.... A good many," the clergyman muttered as Curtis rode +on. "She is for peace, but when she speaks, they are for war," he +paraphrased the Psalm. + +"'They that war against thee shall be as nothing.'... An investment ... +a good investment...." + +He sat hunched on his bed for some time, whispering over and over.... +"A good investment ... investment...." + +Then suddenly he rose and pawed about him for a dried bough of cedar +which he had cast aside to make his bed. With trembling fingers he +sought a match, struck and applied it. + +The flame licked up the tinder and burst into a brilliant torch. The +bawling of the cattle cut off sharply. Whites of terrified eyes showed +for an instant and then vanished as heads were quickly turned away. + +The herd stirred, like a concentrated mass, body crowding body; it +swayed forward, a rumbling of hoofs arose. And from the far side came +the shrill yipping of horsemen as they broke into a gallop and sought +to set the cattle milling. + +Futile effort! Driven mad by thirst it would have required a much less +conspicuous disturbance than that flare of fire to start the wild rush. +With a roll of hoofs, a sickening, overwhelming sound, heads down, +crowded together into a knitted body of frightened strength the bunch +was in full stampede! + +Down the far side rode Curtis, high in his stirrups, his revolver +spitting fire into the air. A big white steer charged straight at his +horse like a blinded thing and the animal carried his rider to +momentary safety with a hand's breath to spare. + +On another flank of the herd another rider charged in and shouted and +shot and swung off. There was no time; there was no room! It was less +than a hundred yards to the fence and to be caught between its stout +strands and those charging heads meant terrible death. Curtis' warning +cry cut in above the fury of the flight as he doubled back toward +safety. + +Within the fence were shouts. Figures sprang to outline in the +darkness. The first steer's shoulders struck the wire, the fence held, +threw him back and then, driven forward again by oncoming numbers the +creature went through, torn and raw, through a torn and tangled +barrier. There was a creaking strain of wire for rods, a snapping of +stout posts and then orange stabs out of the night.... Two ... four ... +five, and the sound of rifle shots pricked through the background of +heavier sounds. + +A steer bawled once, its voice pitched high, and went down. Another +dropped beneath mincing hoofs without a sound. From their path ran the +riflemen, desperate in their fright, heedless of damage done property +or rights. Over, under and through the fence went the cattle, pouring +across the cleared land, crowding, snorting, gaining momentum with each +stride. On across the flat, on down the steep bank of the creek, on +into the water that sloshed about their knees.... + +And there, as quickly as it had come, their panic departed, for the +need of that water dissipated their fright. Noise of the flight +subsided and into the night rose the greedy sound of their guzzling as +the water which Cole had fenced and sought to hold was gulped down the +parched throats of HC cattle. + +Curtis rode up at a gallop, drawing his horse to such a quick stop that +his hoofs scattered dirt over Azariah. + +"What th' hell?" he began. + +"I found it!" cried the Reverend in exultation, holding up a fountain +pen. "Must have dropped out when I took off my coat--" + +"But look what you've done!" cried the other. "They knocked four steers +dead as the Populist party!" + +Azariah looked up at him, the shrewdness in his face covered by +darkness, but his voice was guile itself. + +"A small investment, brother, a good investment. Perhaps a parable is +writ this night.... A pillar of fire, a smiting of the rock?" + +Curtis whistled lowly. + +"Reverend, you planned it all out?" + +"It is not given to me to plan; I am guided by the spirit of +righteousness! Besides, those who lack wisdom are the only ones who +divulge their innermost thoughts, brother. I found a way out of Egypt +for the cattle, as 't were. Remember, brother, the way of the Lord is +strength!" + +They had not heard Bobby Cole running through the brush toward them but +as the Reverend stopped she stepped between him and Oliver's horse. + +"So that's it!" she hissed. "So you're th' one to blame! I'll tell you +what I told your boss this mornin', that I'll run you out of the +country if it's th' last thing I do, you Bible talkin' rat! + +"This ain't th' first thing I've got against you,"--darkly. "I might +'ve forgot th' other because she was to blame for it, but I've heard +what you just said an' I won't forget this! And don't think I'm th' +only one who'll keep it in mind! + +"Why, you'll be run out of this country like a snake 'uld be chased out +of a cabin! Remember that!" + +For a moment she stood confronting him in the darkness and though +features were not clearly distinguishable they could see by the poise +of her figure that those were no idle threats. Then she went as quickly +as she had come, leaving the Reverend scratching his chin and Curtis +whistling softly to himself. + +"A woman possessed of the devil!" said Beal softly. + +"Yeah. Or three or four," commented the other. + +"Yesterday I sought to save her soul and tomorrow I must seek to save +my own skin!" + +There was no more shooting because HC cattle were mingled with Cole's. +Curtis parlayed with the nester who made whining threats of a suit for +damages. When Curtis returned to the beds for the remainder of the +night the Reverend was not there. + +"Dragged it for the ranch!" he chuckled. + +So he thought. The Reverend had dragged it, but not for the HC or any +other nearby stopping place. Though Beal did not know all that +transpired to bring about the ruin of Jane Hunter he knew enough to +realize that he had made one determined enemy that night, that to make +one was to make many and that Bobby Cole's inference that he had +plunged himself into disfavor with others was no empty warning. Azariah +Beal was not a coward but he was discreet. The risk of remaining was +not justified by the end he might serve and now he sought sanctuary in +distance. + + * * * * * + +Tom Beck led the riders from the wagon into the Hole at dawn. Gathering +and moving the refreshed cattle up the trail was a difficult task but +it was accomplished without further loss, a fact which satisfied the +men. They reached the ranch on their way back to the round-up camp in +late afternoon. + +News of the saving stampede had been carried ahead and Jane realized +that one difficulty had been surmounted and that the financial ruin +which confronted her yesterday was no more. However, removal of that +distraction allowed her mind to concentrate on the greater difficulty: +the breach which separated her from Tom Beck. Only one way seemed open: +to prevail upon the Reverend to explain matters, and that way was +closed when a passing cow-boy delivered her a note, written hastily on +rough paper. She read: + +"The call has come and my feet are turned toward a far country. + +"My arm has been lifted for you; though I am no longer in your presence +my prayers will continue to be lifted in your behalf. + +"Respy., + "A. BEAL." + + +Azariah had served the HC well. But for his strategy she might even +then be suffering from a loss which would doom the ranch. And yet he +could have served her infinitely better by staying on, by untangling +the snarl which circumstances had made in her affairs. + +There was just one remaining course to follow, she told herself. This +was to go to Tom and explain everything. Then up rose her pride and +made denial. She could not do that! If his love would not bear up under +doubt, then she must keep her pride intact, for that was all she +possessed. Torn between desire to fling herself upon him and sob out +the whole story and to maintain her stand until he should be proven +wrong and come to her contrite, she dallied with the decision until the +riders had come and gone. + +She watched Beck, riding at a trot down the road, looking neither to +the right nor left. She could not know that a similar struggle tortured +him. "Turn back!" one voice in his heart commanded. "Seek her out and +question and question until you know why; if it is the worst, if she +has been hiding a secret affection from you, beg her to turn from it, +to come to you; offer her your all, your pride, your life if need be. +She is all that living holds for you!" + +And then that other, sterner self, which said over and over: "That +cannot be! If there is that in her heart which must be hidden from you, +draw back now and save all that is left to you: your pride!" + +So pride held the one in her house and it led the other down Coyote +Creek, and each mile, each hour put between them multiplied the +difficulties, wore down the chance of reconciliation. For by such +simple, basic conflicts are loves ruined! + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +BECK'S DEPARTURE + + +Night had come upon the round-up camp, fires near the cook wagon were +dying. On the rise to the southward the night-hawk sat with an eye on +the saddle stock which grazed over a wide area and in their tee-pees +the men were sleeping, preparatory to the first day's riding. + +Tom Beck sat alone by the glowing remnants of the cook's fire, staring +stolidly into the coals, mouth set, struggling with his pride. That +quiet, inner voice continued its insistence that he yield a trifle, +give Jane Hunter one more chance. "What?" it asked, "will you gain by +denying her this? What, indeed, will be left for you if you persist?" + +But the voice was weaker than it had been early that day. The +alternative it raised in his consciousness less appealing, and a +determination to smother it grew steadily. He had been crossed; he had +been duped! + +Oh, he had been a fool! he told himself. He had thrown to the winds his +caution and his reserve; he had taken the biggest chance that life, the +trickster, dangles before men. He had taken it blindly, against his +better judgment; it left him embittered, with nothing beyond except the +position which he held among men. That was a mawkish attainment now; it +was so cheap and inconsequential compared to the sense of +accomplishment which had been his when Jane Hunter had thrown herself +into his arms and begged that he carry her into his life! Deluded +though he may have been, that moment had opened to him sensations, +vistas, that he had never before imagined existed. + +And now! All else that remained was gray and dead. He had been lifted +up to see what might be, only to find that it was denied him; more, +those moments of glory had taken the zest from the life that had been +his before and that now remained. + +For long he sat there and gradually the inner voice died entirely, +slowly a cold, heartless desire to cling to a dead thing like his +standing in the country took its place as his chief interest in life. +He had written Jane that such was all that remained to him. He had not +realized as he scrawled those words what a pitiful bauble it was but +now it was necessary to endow it with values that he could not truly +feel. But he forced himself to believe it of consequence, for men like +Tom Beck must have some one valuable thing to live for. + +The tee-pees were quiet when he arose, dropped his dead cigarette into +the expiring embers and sought his bed. But in one tee-pee a man looked +out at the faint jingle of spurs. It was Riley who, with others from +the lower country, was riding with the HC wagon to help the larger +outfit and, in turn, to be helped in his branding. He was bunked with +Jimmy Oliver and Oliver said: + +"What's he doin'?" + +"Turnin' in." + +Riley settled back in his blankets and muttered: + +"It's funny ... damned funny, Jim." + +"He's like a man that's _through_. Didn't appear to have any real +interest in the work today, seems like he don't give a damn. I don't +understand it." + +"If it wasn't Tom Beck I'd say that they'd got his goat. It's hard to +believe of him." + +"It can't be that." Oliver was loyal. "It's somethin' else, but it +seems like somethin' worse than a man bein' sick of his job. Still, he +said twice today that he wouldn't be here long an' the way he said +_long_ made me think it'd be a mighty short time." + +Silence for a time. + +"Mebby," said Riley, "it's her." + +"Mebby you're right," the other replied. "Tom didn't used to give a +damn whether school kept or not. Then, after she come he changed, got +to takin' things seriously and anybody could see he was gone on her. +Now.... + +"Well, he ain't afraid of men. There ain't bad men enough in this +country to drive Tom Beck out.... But women.... They'll put a crimp in +th' best of us!" + + * * * * * + +It was the following evening that news of the destruction of Cathedral +Tank was brought to Tom Beck. Riley had ridden the far circle himself +and had found no cattle at the waterhole which the HC foreman had +visited only a few days before. That is, no live cattle. He found four +steer carcasses, already ravaged by coyotes and buzzards, found the +fresh gash in the rock basin and had ridden back to help those cowboys +who were on shorter circles, holding explanation of the fact that he +returned empty handed until he could give it first to Beck. + +Tom received the news silently. + +"I expect you can fix up the basin with some concrete so it'll hold +next winter," Riley said. + +"It's likely," the other responded, "but next winter's plans for this +outfit ain't worryin' me, Riley." + +He meant, of course, that there were matters of greater importance just +then. The dynamiting had been accomplished after his warning to Webb +and Hepburn, which was clear evidence that the war went on as +desperately as before and that these other men were not cowed, their +determination to run him from the country had not been shaken. A hot +rage swept through him. Next winter's plans were remote indeed! Fate +had taken his woman from him; these renegades would take away the last +hold on life! + +But Riley did not construe his meaning as such and when, the following +morning, Tom called Jimmy Oliver aside and talked to him the +misunderstanding of what went on in his mind was more complicated for +he said: + +"Jimmy, you're goin' to lead this round-up for a while ... mebby for +good." + +"So, Tom?"--in surprise, and in hope that an explanation would be +forthcoming. + +"I'm leavin' here an' mebby I won't be back." + +Beck was thinking that he would inspect that tank and track down the +men responsible for its destruction and make them pay. He said that he +might not be back because he had warned them away from HC property and +could expect no leniency if he invaded their stronghold. Invade it he +would, for this had gone past the point where he could play a waiting +game. So long as it had been his safety which mattered most he could +assume and retain the defensive, but now Two-Bits had all but lost his +life while executing his orders and HC cattle had been driven by +hundreds into high country before he had planned they should come. It +was time to counter-attack. + +Rapidly the word ran through the camp: Beck was leaving! As it passed +from man to man it grew, as rumors all will, and took more definite +shape: Beck was quitting. + +He ate silently with the others and his very silence was so marked that +it quieted the rest, warded off the questions which under other +circumstances might have been put to him. + +The wrangler brought in the horses and Beck was the first to approach +the cavet with rope ready. He selected his big roan, looked the animal +over carefully and slinging a canteen over the horn, climbed rather +heavily to the saddle. + +Other men were catching up their horses. One was pitching and fighting +the rope; two others were trying desperately to break out of the cavet. +There was running about and confusion, but as Beck rode away to the +west-way, head down, so obviously absorbed in himself, men stopped to +watch and to wonder. + + * * * * * + +The HC foreman was not the only individual in that country who, as the +sun shoved over the far rim of the world, thought so intensely of his +own, wholly personal interests that consciousness of what transpired +about him was lost. + +Jane Hunter sat suddenly up in her bed, golden hair in a shower about +her shoulders, blue eyes that had been waking and painful until dawn, +filled with tears. She stared about her as one will who rouses abruptly +from a startling dream, lips parted, a hand to her flushed throat, +breath quick and irregular. She held so a moment, then sank back into +the pillows, calling softly: + +"Tom; Tom!" + +Her slender body quivered spasmodically and her sobbing became like +that of a child. One hand, flung across the cover, clenched feebly and +feebly beat the bedding, as though it hammered hopelessly at walls +which held her in, making her a prisoner ... as she was, a prisoner to +her pride. + +And high up on the point which formed the western flank of the Gap to +Devil's Hole, Sam McKee dropped down from his gray horse and stood +looking far out across the level country beneath him. In the clear air +he could see the smoke of the round-up camp fire. + +Yesterday he had watched from there, with Hilton's words still in his +ears, Hilton's hope in his heart, and had known that Riley rode to the +tank. Last night he had talked and walked in the darkness with the +Easterner again, had heard Hilton's crafty questioning of Hepburn and +Webb which caused them to repeat again and again their belief that Tom +Beck would take it upon himself to inspect the damage done by dynamite. +He had slept fitfully, in a fever of anticipation. + +And yet he had kept secret his achievement in shooting down Two-Bits. +There was a time for all things and the time to divulge that minor +accomplishment was not yet. For long he had been belittled, and had no +standing among his associates; now they were banded in common cause, he +had made one step toward triumph and that move had reestablished the +confidence that had lain dormant for long. It had enabled Hilton's +suggestions to take hold, enabled him to whet his own hate, to work +himself into a paroxysm of rage, and today he was to emerge a figure of +consequence, for he was to remove the obstacle which was in the path of +all. + +Webb's battered field glasses were slung over his shoulder and as he +picked out the lone dot of moving life, coming slowly in his direction, +he unstrapped the case with hands that trembled. It required but one +moment to identify that horse for none but Beck's roan swung along with +the same distance-eating shack; but McKee stared for a long interval, +his body tense, his breath slow and audible, as if tantalizing himself +by sight of that isolated rider, teasing his hatred, teasing it.... + +Then he mounted the gray and swung down the treacherous point, seeking +a big wash that made a wrinkle on in the floor of the desert where +storm waters had rushed toward the tank for countless decades. In this +he could ride unseen and he went forward at a trot, eyes straight +ahead, moistening his lips from time to time.... + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +IN THE SHADOW + + +The outcropping which formed Cathedral Tank stood stark and saffron in +the lap of the desert under the morning sun, flinging out slow waves of +heat even at that early hour, as Sam McKee rode from the wash into the +basin and stopped his horse. + +Since the mountains themselves were made that group of pinnacles and +ledges had jutted up from the seamed desert, a landmark for miles +around, catching the flood waters that rushed toward it from far hills. + +The name of the tank was result of no far-fetched imaginings for the +granite rose in long, slender spires, as though the thirsty desert +reached great fingers toward the sky in stiff appeal. Narrow defiles +struck back into the granite and sharp crevices cut deeply down between +the natural minarets, and at one place a larger opening led backward +into the rocks, widened and narrowed again, forming the rough outlines +of transept and nave. More, the wind which always blew there often +sounded deep notes as of an organ when it wandered through narrow +spaces. + +On three sides this abrupt, ragged rise of rock shut in the basin and +the other was open to the waters that swept down from the south and +eastward. When McKee neared this entrance he stopped his horse and +reconnoitered. The other rider was not in sight, lost in some of the +many depressions of the valley and many miles yonder, for the gray +horse had traveled a shorter distance and that at a trot. The roan +could not arrive for some time.... So he reasoned.... + +The man stopped his horse at the edge of the fresh, deep scar which +Hepburn's explosive had made. Other tracks were there, made by Riley +yesterday. Across the way lay the dead steers and overhead a buzzard +wheeled slowly, waiting to return to the feast from which he had been +frightened by Sam's approach. + +"Bone dry!" the man said aloud, and laughed. + +Then he drank from his canteen and wiped his lips with a long sigh, +either in satisfaction or anticipation, and then looked about; not +absently, but with plan and craft. + +To that point Beck would come, there he would stand, and behind was a +ledge on the face of the towering rock, higher than a mounted man's +head, deep and with enough backward pitch to conceal thoroughly a man's +body. It would be a hard scramble, but he could gain it by aid of a +tough stub which grew on the wall. Once there he would be protected. + +McKee rode close under this ledge and stood in his saddle, lips parted +and eyes alight. He could hold off a regiment there; what chance would +one unsuspecting man have? As he stood so he unstrapped his gun and lay +it with its belt on the shelf. + +He dropped down and rode into a nearby, narrow crevice, where his horse +could remain concealed, dismounted, and took down his rope, preparatory +to tieing the animal. + +He believed his growing haste was only anticipation, but perhaps there +was a quality of premonition there. He had been unable to follow Beck's +progress and remain concealed himself; therefore he had not seen the +roan pick up his swinging trot as Tom's concentrated thought reached +ferment and he sought relief in speed. + +McKee reached for the reins to lead his horse further into the crevice. +Then his heart leaped and he went quickly cold as he looked at the +animal. + +The gray's head was up, ears stiff, eyes alert as a horse will pose on +sensing the approach of another animal. Even as Sam's hands flashed out +for his nose the nostrils fluttered and had he been an instant later a +betraying whinner would have gone echoing through the rocks to warn +Beck. He drove his fingers into the soft muzzle and choked back the +sound. The gray stepped quickly and shook his head whereat McKee +relaxed his grasp somewhat. They then stood quiet, both listening, the +horse alert, the man weak and white, breathing in fluttering gasps. + +He was trapped! Outside on the ledge where he had planned to wait and +shoot Beck down without giving or taking a chance, lay his gun. On +either side the walls rose sheer, without so much as a hand-hold for +yards above his head; before was a blank wall; outside was Tom Beck. +And fear of a degree such as the man had never known shook his body. + +It was that fear which is as dangerous to an enemy as the most absurd +courage. Discovery would mean catastrophe; he had nothing to gain by +shirking now! + +Slowly he released his grip on the gray's nostrils, holding ready to +clamp down again should the horse attempt to greet the other. He heard +hoofs clatter on the rock basin, knew that Beck had stopped. Then the +wind soughed through the rocks with its prolonged organ tone and for +the moment McKee could only guess what happened out there. + +The gray, with head turned, stared toward the opening of the crevice +and then as no other sounds came, swung his head back to its normal +position and switched rather languidly at flies. + +Carefully McKee stole toward the entrance of the crevice where he might +see the other man. He went with a hand against the granite, putting +down his boots very carefully, hoping against hope that Beck would be +far enough away so that he might either recover his gun or devise some +means of escape. Perspiration ran from beneath his hat band and his +hands were clammy cold. His breath continued in that fluttering gasp. + +Beck had dismounted and was squatted beside the scar in the rocks. His +roan stood a dozen feet behind him. McKee peered out, measuring the +distance quickly. The other's back was to him but there was no chance +that he could regain his gun without being detected. Beck's revolver +swung from his hip, and McKee had nothing with which to fight but the +rope in his hands.... + +The rope! He stared down at it and drew back behind the boulder of +rock. The rope! + +An absurd, impotent device, but it had served purposes as desperate as +this! Besides ... there was a hope in it and, for McKee, there was no +other hope beneath that blue dome of sky.... + +He looked out again as he built his loop. Beck was on hands and knees, +peering down into the crack through which stored waters had trickled +away. Sam made the loop quickly, steeled to caution. He moved out from +his hiding place a step ... then another. The roan looked up, with a +little whiff of breath and Beck, attracted by the movement, the slight +noise, turned his head sharply toward the horse. + +It was then that the loop swirled and that McKee sped forward a dozen +paces as quickly, as quietly as a cat, balanced, sure of himself in +that crisis. From the tail of his eye Beck saw the first loop cut the +corner of his range of vision and his body made the first lunge toward +an erect position as the lithe writhing thing sped through the air.... + +McKee had never thrown as true. The loop settled about Tom's arms and +beneath his knees. It came taut with an angry rip through the hondou +even as the snared man made the first move to throw it off. He was +pitched violently forward on his face, arms pinned to his sides, legs +doubled against his stomach. + +The breath went from him in an angry oath of surprise as McKee's breath +shot from his lips in another oath ... of triumph. Hand over hand he +went down the rope, keeping it taut, yet hastening to reach the doubled +body before Beck could wriggle free. He fell upon the other just as one +arm worked slack enough to permit the hand to strain for the revolver +at his hip. + +Snarling, gibbering with a mingling of terror and rage, McKee's one +hand fastened on the gun. He clung to the rope with the other, +battering Beck, who struggled to rise, back to earth with his knees. +His fingers clamped on the grip of the Colt; he pulled free: it flashed +in the air as his thumb sought the hammer and then, as he drove the +muzzle downward against its living target the man beneath him bowed and +writhed and he went over with a cry. A fist struck his wrist, the +revolver exploded in the air and fell clattering, a dozen feet away. + +Then it was man to man, a fight of bone and muscle ... bone, muscle and +rope. Blindly McKee clung to the strand with one hand. It passed about +his body as they rolled over. Beck's own weight, struggling to tear +from it, tightened its hold. Tom struck savagely at the face beside him +with his one free fist but McKee's knees, jamming into his stomach, +crushed breath from him. + +For one vibrant instant their strength was matched, the one's physical +advantage offset by the handicap of the lariat about him. And then the +rope told. Slowly Tom's resistance became less, gradually McKee wound +the hemp about his own hand and wrist, shutting down its sinuous grasp, +drawing Beck's body into a more compact knot. With a desperate shift he +was on top, winding the hard-twist about Tom's hands, trussing them +tightly behind his back, licking his lips as he made his victim secure. + +In that time neither had spoken nor did McKee utter a sound as he rose, +wiped the dust and sweat from his eyes and surveyed the figure at his +feet. Beck looked back at him, the rage in his eyes giving way to a +sane calculation. At the cost of great effort he rolled over and +propped himself on one elbow. A scratch on his forehead sent a trickle +of blood into one eye and he shook his head to be rid of it, coughing +slightly as he did so. + +"Now," he said, his panting becoming less noticeable, "what do you +think you're goin' to do?" + +McKee laughed sharply and looked away. He walked to where the revolver +lay in the sharp sunlight, picked it up, broke it, examined the +cartridges and closed it again. + +"I come out here to kill you, Beck; that's what I'm goin' to do next." + +He did not lift his voice but about his manner was a defined swagger, +the boasting of the craven who, for once, is beyond fear of +retribution. A slow shadow crossed between them as the buzzard wheeled, +waiting, lazily impatient.... + +Beck delayed a brief interval before asking: + +"Right here, Sam? You going to kill me right here?" + +"Right here, you--!" He spat out the unforgiveable epithet with a curl +to his lip. For once he had this man where he wanted him; Beck's life +was in his hands ... right in his _palm_.... "I'm goin' to kill +you like I'd kill a snake! I've took a lot off you; I've stood for a +lot from you, but you've gone too fur, you've played your hand too +high!" + +He began to feel a greater sense of his importance. He was dominating +and it was sweet. + +"I've waited a long time, Beck; I ain't forgot a thing you've done to +me; I've been waitin' for just this chance! + +"Now I'm goin' to kill you, you--!" + +Again the word, with even great conviction. The man's lips trembled +with rage, but as he glared down at the other he saw the level, mocking +eyes studying his. He had not yet impressed Tom Beck, had not made him +fear! It was disconcerting. + +"What you goin' to kill me with, Sam?" + +"With your own gun, by God!"--spinning the cylinder. + +A moment of silence while Sam looked at the dull barrel, a queer, quick +hesitancy coming over him, something he did not understand, something +he did not will. When, a moment before, he felt that the situation +would take a course exactly as he willed! + +"With my own gun!" Beck repeated. + +McKee cocked the weapon and looked about. + +"When you goin' to do this killing, Sam?" + +The level, mocking tone infuriated the other. + +"Now!" he cried, shaken by hate. "Now, by God!" + +He screamed the curse, threw the gun up to position and glared into +Beck's face, moving forward a step, standing poised as though he would +shoot and then fling himself upon his victim to vent his festering rage +with his fists. + +But he had failed to reckon throughout on one fact: The human eye is a +stronger weapon than the inventive genius of man has ever devised, and +he was meeting the gaze from an eye that was as steady, as fearless, as +collected as any he had ever seen. His courage was the courage bred of +cowardly impulses and it could not stand before fearlessness.... + +"Right now, Sam?" + +The question was low, gentle, and with another shade of inflection +might have been a plea. But it was no plea. It was subtle, stinging +mockery which penetrated McKee's understanding and gave full life to +that desire to hesitate which had shaken him a moment before. + +"You ain't goin' to kill me right off, are you Sam?" + +And at that McKee's irresolution became full blown. His body swung +backward from its menacing poise, the gun hand dropped just a degree; +his gaze, an instant before fixed and red with hate, now wavered. + +"No, you ain't going to kill me now, Sam. You ain't got the guts!" + +Prostrate, bound, wholly helpless, miles from aid, Beck flung those +words from his lips. They pelted on McKee's ears like hard flung stones +and he looked back to see the eyes that a moment ago had been amused, +blazing righteous wrath. + +"You wouldn't kill anybody, McKee," Beck said, after a breathless +pause. In that pause McKee's gun hand had gone to his side and as it +went down so did the flare of rage in Beck's face. His eyes grew calm +and steady again with that covert amusement in them. + +"You ain't just that kind of a man. If you'd been goin' to kill me +you'd have done it right off. You wouldn't have waited, like you're +waitin' now.... You missed out on your intentions, Sam, when you didn't +do it _pronto_." + +Across McKee's face swept a wave of helpless rage, humiliation, shame, +self revulsion.... He stood there unable to move. He wanted to kill +with a lust that men seldom feel, but he could not for he knew that he +was a coward, knew that Beck knew, and the assurance that it was within +his physical power to take a life without risk to his own mattered not +at all. The moral force was lacking. + +He tried to meet Beck's gaze and hold it but he could not. That man, +even now, did not fear him, and to a man who had been impelled to every +strong act by fear, fearlessness is of itself an overwhelming force. + +Tom talked on, lowly, confidently. He chided, he made fun of his +captor; he belittled himself, discussed his inability to defend +himself, but time after time he said with emphasis: + +"You're afraid of me, Sam." + +Afraid of him! Yes, McKee was fear-filled. He could not kill and yet +thought of the retribution that might come for going even this far put +him in a panic. There were others who would kill. Webb would have done +it, Hepburn might have ... there was one other who would have killed +... Hilton, but _he_ could not and the others were far off. They +would know, they would ridicule him and thought of that, coming so +close on that high expectation of triumph that had sent him out onto +the desert, made his position hopeless. + +He turned and walked slowly toward the ledge which was to have been his +assassin's hiding place. + +"Goin' to leave me, Sam?" Beck asked. + +"You'll see what I'm goin' to do?" McKee raved, wheeling, suddenly +articulate. "You'll see what'll happen to you, you--! What's already +happened is only a starter. I didn't intend to kill you myself. I only +come here to hogtie you. I guess I done that, didn't I?" + +"Ain't you just sure, Sam?" + +The tone was stinging and where McKee might have raved on he simply +grasped the stub on the rock and scrambled up until he could reach his +revolver. + +Beck asked if that was McKee's arsenal; wanted to know more about Sam's +plans; wanted to know who sent him; wanted to know if any one else was +coming or if they were going out to meet others.... He talked gently, +slowly, tauntingly until McKee fidgetted like an embarrassed school +girl. + +After a time Beck struggled to a sitting position, back against a rock. +The searing sun beat down on his bared head, his wrists were puffing, +fingers numb and swollen from the ropes cutting into his flesh. His +body ached miserably, but he would not betray that. His throat burned +for water and there was water on his saddle, but he would not mention +thirst. There yet was danger! He must keep the other impressed with his +inferiority.... + +"That your pet buzzard, Sam?" he asked once, squinting upward at the +wheeling scavenger. "Somebody said you kept one ... to pick up after +you...." + +"You wait! You'll have less to say after a while," McKee growled and +stared off toward the heights to the eastward, feigning expectancy. + +And then, as McKee paced back and forth, covering his helplessness and +his fear to make another move, by the sham of watching for other +arrivals, Beck's mind began working on a theory. Two-Bits had been shot +down the day he had driven McKee off HC range. He had been shot from +behind. McKee was the only one in the country who had a personal +quarrel with the homely cowboy. + +It was clear enough to him but he feared that an accusation, bringing +some demonstration of guilt, might bring other things that he dared not +risk. He played a game that was desperate enough. He lived by the grace +of McKee's cowardice and that cowardice had permitted this triumph by +the scantest possible margin. To provoke the desperation that he knew +was latent in Sam's heart would be the rankest folly. + +Noon, with blistering heat. McKee drank greedily, water running down +his chin and spattering over his boots. It was agony for Beck but he +fought against betraying evidence of it, holding his eyes on the other +and smiling a trifle and wondering how long he could keep back the +groans. + +McKee squatted in the shade of a rock for a time. Once he looked at +Beck while Tom was staring across the desert and that hate flickered up +in his eyes again; then Tom looked back and he got up and walked, +licking his lips. + +Two o'clock: "I don't guess they're comin' today, Sam. Maybe you +misunderstood 'em." + +Three: "Sure is too bad to have your plans all go to hell, isn't it, +Sam?" + +The sensation had entirely gone from hands and lower arms. His biceps +and shoulders ached as though they had been mauled; his back was shot +with hot stabs of pain. + +But at four o'clock he said: "You'd ought to have killed me, Sam. +That'd surprised 'em for sure!" + +He bit his lips to hold back the moan and for a time things swam. He +hoped that he would not lose consciousness ... hoped this rather +vaguely, for vaguely he felt that McKee would kill him should he be +unable to realize what transpired. He had a confused notion that Jane +Hunter was there and this disturbed him. He felt a poorly defined +sinking sensation ... Jane ... and this. Why, then this really mattered +very little! That his life was in danger, that his body hurt, were +inconsequential details compared to the love that had died yesterday, +to the hurt of his heart! + +A draft of cooler air, sucking through the rocks, roused him and he +looked up to find that the tank was entirely in shadows. The rocks were +still hot but the air which moved above them was heavier, cooler. McKee +paced nervously back and forth. He wore two guns. + +"You reckon somebody's goin' to steal me?" Beck asked, forcing his +voice to be steady. "I didn't realize I was valuable enough to be close +herded by a two-gun man." + +With the moderation of temperature Tom's alertness revived. + +"I'm goin' to sleep right here, Sam; where are you going to turn in?" +he asked. "I sleep pretty well in th' open; how about you?" + +He leaned forward slightly and his eye had a brighter glint. Question +after question he flung at the other. Now and then McKee growled; twice +he cursed Beck, in vile explosions of oaths. At these Beck nodded in +assent. + +"I sure am an undesirable," he said. + +Back and forth, bewildered, McKee walked. He dared not face the future +with Beck alive; he dared not take Beck's life. He feared the +punishment that might be his for this much he had done; he feared the +relentless ridicule of Webb and Hepburn and of Hilton; he feared to go, +he feared to stay. And gradually this last fear grew. + +"I think you ought to start out an' ride after 'em, Sam," Beck advised. +"Do they _sabe_ this country? You better go; they might get +strayed. I'll be here. I figure on stayin' quite a time. I.... Honest, +Sam, I've had a hell of a good time today...." + +McKee wheeled in his walking. + +"You'll stay all right!" he screamed. "You damned bet your dirty skin +you won't go far! You've been talkin' a lot wiser than you know, you--! +You'll stay!" + +He dropped to his knees beside Tom and with a wrench pulled off the +man's boots. + +The movement sent exquisite pains through Tom's body, but he shut his +teeth against them. He smiled, demonstrating more of the Spartan by +that smile than he had at any time during the day. + +"You ain't figuring on walkin' your boots out, are you?" he asked in +mock solicitation. + +"Never you mind, you--!" McKee snarled. + +He brought out his horse, tightened the cinch and led him toward the +roan. He tied Tom's boots to his own saddle and then without looking at +the man he had come to kill and who he was leaving bound, waterless, +without boots or a horse, twenty miles from the first help, he lashed +the roan with his quirt, sharply about the head and, when the big +creature wheeled in surprise, about the hocks. + +Kicking, frightened, stepping on the reins and breaking them off, +Beck's horse ran away. Ran scot free, head up, out to the eastward, +abused and headed for home. He began to buck, pitching desperately. The +saddle worked back and under and down. He kicked it free. Somewhere +between the tank and that fallen saddle, Beck knew was his canteen. But +McKee did not know. He mounted and stuck into the wash through which he +had ridden hours before, lashing the gray to a gallop, putting distance +between his menace, his shame.... + +And back in the tank as night came on a man for whom every move was +torment rolled and wriggled from place to place, searching doggedly for +a ragged rock, among those that were water-worn and smooth. + +The buzzard had ceased his wheeling, the stars came out. Beck talked +aloud rather crazily. Everything seemed smooth; even the pain became +less harsh; everything was soft and easy ... remarkably so.... Until +his cheek felt a ragged, narrow edge of rock, close in against the base +of the tallest spire. Moaning feebly he wriggled against it until the +ropes touched the edge. Then, with great labor, he began to writhe and +twist. It took hours to fray out a single strand, and his arms were +bound by many ... hours.... + +And when finally his arms fell apart, sensations, fiendish, killing +sensations, began to stab through them, he laughed lightly and ended +shortly. He was free!... + +Free? + + * * * * * + +Just at that time back in the HC ranch house a woman rose from her +tumbled bed and dressed. Her eyes were dry though her breath came +unevenly. + +She looked into her mirror as she put on her hat. + +"You're a fool!" she cried lowly. "A fool!... False pride has taken two +days out of your life ... two precious days!" + +She ran down the stairs, out to the corral and saddled her sorrel horse. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +A MOUNTAIN PORTIA + + +It was a long ride from the HC to the round-up camp but the sorrel was +not spared. The impulse that sent Jane Hunter through the last hours of +darkness had only accumulated strength before the resistance which had +held it back through those dragging days. She was on her way to her +lover, to explain in a word the situation that had caused the breach +between them; she had fought down the pride of which that resistance +was made and now her every thought, her every want was to make Beck +know that it was humiliation and injured pride rather than infidelity +which had sent him away. + +Thought that she had failed to stand self possessed before Bobby +Cole--a burning, shaming thought yesterday--was relegated to an obscure +place in her consciousness. She had fallen short of the poise her lover +would have her retain, but that did not matter ... not now. + +Without Beck's love there was nothing for her, she had come to believe +and she experienced a strange, little-girl feeling, fleeing toward the +protecting arms that could comfort and hold her safe from the blackness +that was elsewhere. + +She leaned low on the sorrel's neck and called to him and he ran +through the dying night breathing excitedly as her impatience was +communicated to him. Dawn yawned in the east and the mountains took +shape. The road became discernable before her. She drew the excited +horse down to a trot and forced herself to force him to conserve some +of his splendid energy.... Then urged him forward, a moment later, at a +stretching run.... + +The round-up camp was moving that day. The riders were up and the first +had swung off for the work of the morning before she pulled her horse +to a stop beside the chuck wagon. + +"He ain't here, ma'am," Oliver replied to her query for Beck. + +"Not here?"--sharply, for she sensed from him that something was wrong. + +"No. He left yesterday. He told me to head this ride. He--" + +"And where did he go?" she broke in, voice not just steady. + +"I don't know, ma'am." The man studied her face intently, seeing the +confusion there, adding it to the evidence he had collected to piece +out a theory. "I thought maybe he said something to you about quitting." + +"_Quitting!_ You don't mean that!" + +"It looks like it, ma'am. I didn't know just how to take what he said. +It seems like somethin' 's got him worried. He wasn't like himself. You +wouldn't know him. + +"He said that future plans for this outfit didn't interest him. He said +he was leavin' and it wasn't likely he'd be back but it wasn't so much +what he said as it was th' way he said it that made me think he was +goin' to drift. We all know he's got some pretty active enemies but it +wasn't like Beck to run away from 'em. Still.... + +"He left me in charge an' said I was to take orders from you. He ain't +showed up since and Lord knows where he'd go except out of the country." + +Out of the country! The words made her hear but vaguely the story of +the ruined Tank and the questions about the work that Oliver put to +her. Out of the country! He had gone, then, thinking that her love had +not been a fast love, that she was wholly unworthy. He had taken his +chance and had lost and that loss had taken from him even the desire to +stay and face the men who would drive him out of the country because he +had defended her! + +Later Jane found herself riding homeward, the sorrel at a walk, her +mind numb and heavy. Last night it had been a question of love against +her pride; she had sacrificed the latter only to find that that +sacrifice had been made too late. + +She wanted, suddenly, to quit ... to quit trying ... thinking.... + +She canvased the situation: she was alone, without an understanding +individual upon whom to lean. She was the target for great forces of +evil which sought to undermine her very determination to exist in that +country. A faint wave of resentment made itself felt at that. They +would continue their war and upon a lone woman! She realized her +position more keenly than she had before, when Beck had been shielding +her. Now she stood unprotected. If she were to exist she _must stand +alone!_ + +Her mind went back to that time when Dick Hilton had told her that she +could not stand alone and her resentment became a degree more +pronounced. + +The lethargy, the hopelessness clung but behind it was something else, +a realization that she had not lost utterly. She had lost the love she +had found, but had she failed to gain anything? Yesterday it seemed +that the ripest fruits of experience were hers; she had +position--menaced, but still hers--she had love. Months before she had +abandoned the quest of love, seeking only to stand alone. She might go +back to her outlook of those days, put aside the call of her heart and +seek only for place; she could make that search intelligently now! + +She sat at her desk, a spirit of resignation coming as a sort of +comfort. If she had lost love, had she lost all that there was in life? +No, not that! There was something else she had found in these months: +She had found _herself!_ + +Tom Beck was gone, his love for her was dead, miles were between them, +and she believed she knew him well enough to understand that he had put +her forever behind him. She had lost the true fulfillment of life, +perhaps, but something remained. And the question came: Why not make +the best of it? Why not keep what remains? Why not fight for it? Why +not _stand alone?_ + +Oh, she had not known the strength that had been born of Beck's +resistance to her wooing! That morning she believed that she could +quit, that she could drift aimlessly, buffeted by vagrant influences, +but now she knew that she could not. A compelling force had been +started within her which would not down, a driving impulse to keep on, +to salvage her self respect, to wrest from life what remained. + +And in this she recognized that quality which Beck had planted in her, +which he had nourished and coaxed and made to grow. To keep on would be +rite offered at the shrine of her love for him ... though he was +gone.... + +For a moment she cried and after that hope was born. He might return; +she might even follow and make him understand. She set that back, +resolutely. Tom Beck was gone from her life, she told herself, but his +influence remained. That could never go; by error she had lost final +achievement: love. By error she had been thrown back upon herself, her +own resources, her own will. + +The war that was waged upon her had been a terrifying thing yesterday; +now it was even more horrible for it sought to take from her the last +thing that remained to be desired, and that could not be! + +She wiped her eyes angrily and repeated aloud: + +"That cannot _be!_" + +She must fight on alone; fight harder than she ever had fought in her +life before. It was up to her, now, to remain fast in the face of +efforts to dislodge her. + +Jane paced the floor nervously, in quick, swinging strides. There was +the burning of hay, the breaking of ditches; there was the shooting +down of Two-Bits, the destruction of Cathedral Tank, there was the +presence in the Hole of the nester and his daughter. At thought of +Bobby a sharp pang shot through her. There was a woman who could +dominate! There, perhaps, was the key to the puzzle. + +Beck had intimated that her enemies found a nucleus in the nester's +outfit; the Reverend had been outspoken in his suspicion; she had +confided in Riley that she suspected something of the sort. Cole +himself was a negligible quantity but the girl was not. The catamount +might hold Jane Hunter's fate in her hand ... the hand that had struck +her! + +On her desk lay the envelope in which had been Beck's note; beside it +the locket. She paused, picked up the trinket and studied it as it lay +on her small palm. Slowly she lifted it to her lips, clutched it +tightly and then with a catch of breath fastened it about her neck, +where it nestled as though coming home again. + +She needed her luck, he had written! Oh yes, she needed her luck! + +And even then a rider was speeding across the hills toward her, lashing +his horse, crashing through brush, leaping down timber, clattering over +treacherous ledges to save time: and other men were riding on Jimmy +Oliver's orders, bringing the cow-boys in off their circles, assembling +them in Devil's Hole where a group of men stood silent and sullen.... + +Oh, she would fight on, desperate in her determination to crowd thought +of a lost love from her life! She welcomed combat for it would be as a +balm to that gaping wound of loss. + +Later she saw the rider come into the ranch on his lathered horse. He +flung off at the bunk house and, a moment later, came running toward +her with Curtis at his side. + +Alarmed, Jane met them at the door with a query on her lips. + +"They want you in the Hole, ma'am," Curtis said. + +"What's the trouble?"--for it could be nothing but trouble which would +bring men in such haste and she had a crisp fear that it pertained to +Beck. + +"They've got Cole down there with a lot of your calves an' he's put his +brand on 'em. Webb's there, too, an' Hepburn. They're holdin' 'em all +for you to come," the messenger said. He was excited, he breathed +rapidly and added: "Oliver an' Riley agreed you ought to come. It's +your property ... an' it's your fight." + +Her fight! Her fight, indeed! Perhaps this was a drawing to a head of +the forces that had been arrayed against her. The man had mentioned +Webb and Hepburn as though he considered their presence of significance. + +A pinto, this time, bore her away from the ranch, the man, tense and +silent, riding beside her. She did not speak as they scrambled up the +point and gained high country nor did she look at him as they set into +a gallop again. An indistinct haze was coming in the west with a +looming thunder head protruding from it here and there. The wind in +their faces was hot and fitful. The scarf about her neck fluttered +erratically. + +Jane had little attention for the detail of that ride. This was her +fight and she raced to meet it with an eagerness born of necessity to +retain what she might of the happiness she had made hers. And as she +rode Tom Beck, pieces cut from his chaps bound about his feet to +protect them on the long journey by foot, his retrieved canteen over +his shoulder, limped into the camp, heard the cook's vague, +disconnected story of the discovery that had been made in the Hole, +borrowed boots, saddled a horse and rode swiftly across the hills. + + * * * * * + +The pinto took Jane down the trail in great lunges, for she had no +thought for dangers of the descent. At the foot was one of her men, +Baldy Bowen, sitting ominously on his horse with a rifle across the +horn. He watched her come and before she could speak jerked his head +and said: + +"They're waitin' for you, straight across there, ma'am." + +She glanced in his direction and set off with renewed speed, winding +through the cedars. + +Against the far wall of the Hole was formed a curious group before a +fence of brush and wire that blocked the entrance to a box gulch. HC +riders were there, dismounted, in a silent, unsmiling cluster. Under a +cedar tree sat Cole, the nester, knees drawn up, arms falling limply +over them; more than ever he seemed to be drooping, in spirit as well +as body. He did not glance up; just sat, staring from beneath drooping +lids at the ground. Nearby lounged one of Jane's cowboys, his holster +hitched significantly forward. + +Apart from these others stood Hepburn, Webb and Bobby Cole and one +other, curiously out of place in his smart clothes: Dick Hilton. Now +and then one of the four spoke and the others would eye the speaker +closely; then look away, absorbed in a situation that was evidently +beyond words. Sitting grouped on the ground were Webb's riders and +Cole's Mexicans. They talked and laughed lowly among themselves and +from time to time turned rather taunting grins at Jane Hunter's men. + +At a short distance stood horses, grazing or dozing; listless, all. But +there was no listlessness among the men. The atmosphere was tense ... +to the breaking point. + +A rider came through the brush and stopped his horse. It was Sam McKee. +He looked with widening eyes at the gathering, hesitated, as though to +turn and leave, then approached. + +"I seen two men in th' Gap," he said to Webb. "They said...." + +He looked about again. + +"Well, get down an' set," Webb said cynically. + +McKee stared from face to face. + +"I guess I'll go on." + +"I guess you'll stay here," said Jimmy Oliver firmly. "We've got a +little matter to talk over an' nobody leaves. I guess the boys in th' +Gap probably thought you'd like to hear what was goin' on." + +Hilton stepped toward Oliver. + +"Look here," he said, "I'm a disinterested party to all this. There's +no use in my staying here." + +"What I said to Sam goes for everybody else, Mister. When we put riders +in the Gap an' at the trails we intended for everybody to hang around. +That goes. Everybody!" + +Then he added: "If anybody wants to get out it'll be pretty good +evidence that he's got somethin' to hide. This 's a matter that the +whole country's interested in. You ain't got nothin' to hide, have you?" + +The Easterner did not reply; turned back to Bobby with a grimace. + +Sound of running hoofs and a quick silence shut down upon the +gathering. The clouds were coming up more rapidly from the west; day +was drawing down into them; the wind on the heights soughed restlessly. + +Jane Hunter brought her pinto to an abrupt stop and sat, flushed and +wind-blown, looking about. + +"Well?" she said to Jimmy Oliver as he stepped forward. + +"We sent for you, ma'am, because we stumbled onto somethin' that looks +bad ... for somebody." + +Her eyes ran from face to face. In the expression of her men she read a +curious loyalty, mingled with speculation. They watched her closely as +Oliver spoke, as men look upon a leader, as though waiting for her to +speak that they might act. Still, about them was a reservation, as +though their acceptance of her was conditional, as though they wondered +what she would say or do. + +She saw Webb and Hepburn eyeing her craftily; she saw Bobby Cole's gaze +on her, filled with hate and scorn ... and a strange brand of fear. And +she saw Dick Hilton, eyeing her with helpless rage and offended +dignity. The entire assemblage was grimly in earnest. + +"Go on," she said lowly and dismounted, standing erect on a rise of +rock that put her head and shoulders above the others. + +"Jim Black here,"--indicating a cowboy in white angora chaps--"took +down the trail after a renegade steer this forenoon. He came on this +place and a hot fire and a yearlin' steer of yours whose brand had been +tampered with. + +"There's been enough goin' on recent, ma'am, to let everybody know that +something was pretty wrong. Mebby we've run onto the answer today. +That's why we sent for you." + +She looked about again and old Riley, moving out from the group slowly, +as a man who feels that the welfare of others may be in his hands might +move, said: + +"For twenty years we've lived quite peaceable here, Miss Hunter. Since +spring we've had anything but peace. It ain't a question that concerns +any one of us alone; it affects the whole country. We've got evidence +here of stealin'; we've got a man who, in our minds, ought to be tried +for that crime.... + +"We sent for you because it happened to be your property. There's +plenty of law in the mountains, but things have happened here that have +put men beyond that law. Parties have resorted to the law of strength, +and not honest strength at that. It's time it was stopped or some of us +ain't goin' to exist.... + +"I know this ain't a pleasant task for a woman, but it seems like +somethin' you've got to face ... if you're goin' to stay here. I guess +you understand that, ma'am." + +Jane's heart leaped in apprehension, she was short of breath, blood +roared in her ears, but she fought to retain at least a show of +composure. + +"It seemed there wasn't any way out of it, but to turn the matter over +to you. We'll all tell what we know; we'll see that there's order here. +We agreed you ought to sit as judge on the evidence against this man." + +Again a consciousness of those faces upon her; faces of her men, +honest, rugged, brave fellows, looking to her to stand alone! She knew, +then, what that alloy in their loyalty had been. They would follow if +she would lead; there was doubt in their hearts that she _could_ +lead, for she was a woman, she was a stranger and not their kind! For +months they had watched her, refusing to judge, but now the time had +come. Now, if she ever was to stand alone, she must rise in her own +strength and be worthy to lead such men! + +Then there were those others: Hepburn and Webb and their outlaw +following; perhaps, among them, the man who had shot Two-Bits down when +he was serving her; perhaps the man who had burned her hay, broken her +ditches, run off her horses. The men who would drive her out. + +She felt suddenly weak. They were all watching her. This was the hour +in which she must win or lose. It was _she_, not Alf Cole, who was +on trial! + +Jane began to speak, rather slowly, but evenly and clearly. + +"I want the story from the beginning. Jim Black, will you tell what you +know?" + +Thus simply she accepted her responsibility to the country, took up her +final fight for position there. + +Black stepped forward, serious, quiet, showing no self consciousness +whatever as the eyes swung upon him. Webb's riders had risen and were +grouped behind their leader. + +"Jimmy told you how I happened here. This steer, ma'am, cut across the +flat an' I followed. I heard bawlin' over this way an', naturally, was +surprised. Pulled up my hoss an' rode over. There was a fire in that +gulch, an' it'd just been scattered. A man had been kneelin' down by +it, an' there was one of your yearlin's hog-tied there. Your ear mark +was still on him but your brand had been made from an HC into a THO +by crossin' the H an' closin' the C." + +He stooped and with his quirt demonstrated thusly: + +[Illustration: HC THO] + +"There was other calves in there. I counted sixteen. They was all THO +stuff an' they was all mighty young." + +"Did you see any men?" she asked. + +He shook his head. "I dragged it for high country, got Jimmy an' told +him." + +"Oliver, have someone bring out this yearling," Jane said. + +Two men mounted their horses, opened the brush gate, roped the steer +and dragged him, bawling, into the assemblage. Jane stepped down from +her rock and, with a dozen others crowding about, examined the brand. + +"That's unmistakable," she said lowly as she straightened. "Part of +that brand healed months ago; the rest is fresh." + +She moved back to the rock on which she had stood and rested a hand on +the pinto's withers. + +"Oliver, what did you do?" she asked. + +"I gathered the boys an' come down here as fast as I could. I saw this +pen an' the calves. I sent men to both trails an' two to the Gap with +orders to shoot to kill anybody that tried to get out. Then I went to +Cole's house. + +"Cole swore up an' down that he didn't know anything about it. His gal +was there an' this here party from the east,"--with a rather +contemptuous jerk of his head toward Hilton. "I brought Cole back here +an' the others followed. + +"Seems Webb and Hepburn an' their men was in th' Hole. I didn't know +it. Th' gal ... she went to get 'em. + +"It's just as well,"--dryly. "This ain't a matter that affects any one +of us. It's for everybody in th' country to consider." + +Hepburn stirred uneasily as Jane looked from Oliver to him. + +"I think all that's necessary is to talk to Mr. Cole," she said. + +The nester looked up slowly and laboriously gained his feet. He +slouched toward the girl. + +"I don't know nothin' about it," he said in his whining voice. + +Bobby Cole took a quick step forward as he spoke, but Hepburn put out a +detaining hand and muttered a word. She stopped. Her face was +colorless; eyes hard and bright; she breathed quickly and seemed almost +on the verge of tears. + +"Who built this pen?" Jane asked. + +"I don't know." + +"Did you ever see it before?" + +"No, I--well, I did _see_ it, but I don't know nothin' about it." + +"You've been here all the Spring and didn't know anything about it?" + +Her tone was sharp, decisive and the color had mounted in her face. She +leaned slightly forward from the hips. + +"No, I don't know nothin' about it," he protested, lifting his +characterless eyes to hers. + +"Who brands your cattle?" + +"I do." + +"No one else?" + +"Not another,"--with a slow shaking of the head. + +"Can you think of anybody who would put your brand on my cattle?" + +"No. Nobody would hev done that." + +"But have you looked at this steer?"--indicating the yearling with the +indisputable evidence on his side. + +Cole lifted an unsteady hand to scratch his mustache, eyed the animal +furtively and glanced at Hepburn. As their eyes met Hepburn's head +moved in slight, quick negation. Ever so slight, ever so quick, but +Jane Hunter saw and Hepburn saw that she saw and a guilty flush whipped +into his face, spreading clear to the eyes. + +"Hasn't someone been working over my brand?" she demanded, forcing Cole +to look at her again. + +"I don't know ... I dunno nothin' about it...." + +She breathed deeply and moved a step backward. + +"How do you suppose these calves come to be here? My calves, with your +brand on them?" + +"Them is my calves, ma'am," he protested, weakly, "Them is old brands." + +"Oh, all but this yearling belong to you?" + +"Yes,"--nodding his head as his confidence rallied. "Them's all mine. I +branded 'em myself." + +"And why do you keep them here?" + +"Well, there's water an' feed an' I wanted to wean 'em--" + +"And a moment ago you said you knew nothing about this pen?" + +A flicker of confusion crossed the man's face and again he looked away +toward Hepburn in mute appeal. Hepburn's face reflected a contempt, a +wrath, and for a fraction of time Jane studied it intently, a quick +hope forming in her breast. She lifted a hand to touch, in unconscious +caress, the locket which was at her throat. + +"Look at me, Cole!" she cried and her body trembled. Her tone was +compelling, she experienced a sensation of mounting power, felt that +she was dominating and without looking she knew that the men before her +stirred, impressed by her rising confidence. "Look at me and answer my +questions!" + +Hesitatingly the man looked back and then dropped his eyes. + +"Well, I said I knew it was here." + +"You knew more than that. You have been using it. How long ago was it +built?" + +"A month--Oh, I dunno--" + +"What about a month?" she insisted, gesturing bruskly. "What about a +month?" + +"I dunno." + +She relaxed a trifle again and eyed the confused, visibly agitated man. +For a breath the place was in utter silence. The gloom deepened; the +wind held off. It was as though the crisis were at hand.... And just +then the man at the foot of the trail across the flat put down his +rifle and said with a short laugh: + +"I didn't make you out, Tom." + + * * * * * + +When Jane spoke again it was in an easier tone. + +"How did you happen to come to this country, Cole?" + +He looked up, relief showing in his face as she abandoned the other +line of questioning. Hepburn stirred and Webb lifted a hand to hook his +thumb in his belt. + +"Why, I heered about this place. Good feed an' water an' a place to +settle. So I just come; that's all." + +"How did you hear about it?" + +"A feller told me." + +"Who?" + +"I dunno his name. I--" + +"How many cows have you?" + +Her voice was suddenly sharp and hard as she cut in on his impotent +evasion and shifted her subject again. + +"Why, 'bout twenty." + +"And how many calves are with them?" + +He seemed to calculate, but she insisted, leaning closer to him: + +"How many calves?" + +"Why, not more'n half of 'em got calves." + +"Sure? Not more than half?" + +"Why ... I guess--" + +"And you've got sixteen young calves in this pen! How do you account +for that?" + +A murmur ran among her men and Cole looked at her with fright in his +eyes. + +"I dunno!" he suddenly burst out, voice trembling. "I dunno nothin' +about it. You've all got me here an' are pickin' on me. I didn't steal +anything. I thought they was all mine." And then, in a broken, +repressedly frantic appeal: "I don't want to go to jail again. I don't +know nothin'...." + +"Again?" she said, quite gently. + +He looked at her and nodded slowly. The little resistance he had +offered her was gone; his limbs trembled and his eyes had that whipped, +abject look that a broken spirited dog will show. + +"You've been in jail once? For stealing cattle?" + +"I didn't steal.... They said I did. They didn't want me around. +They're like all you big outfits; they don't want me ... they don't +want me...." + +He lifted one hand in a gesture of hopeless appeal and tears showed in +his eyes. They didn't want him, as she didn't want him! And suddenly an +overwhelming pity surged upward in the girl for this man. It was like +her, like all the Jane Hunters, like all men and women in whose hearts +great strength and great pity is combined. There was no question of his +guilt, but he was helpless before her; his fate was in her hands ... +and back in her mind that other theory was forming; that other hope was +coming to stronger life.... + +"Cole, did you steal my calves?" + +She leaned low and spoke intently; her voice was a mingling of +resolution and warmth that created confidence in his heart. For a +moment he evaded her look; then answered it and a sob came up into his +thin throat and shook it. He looked from her to Hepburn and then to +Webb and read there something that Jane, whose eyes followed his, could +not read; all she could read was threat ... threat, threat! + +"Did you steal my calves?" she repeated in a tone even lower. + +She saw her men strain forward. + +"Oh, I don't want to go to jail!" he said and tears streamed down his +seamed cheeks. "I took 'em ... but I'm a poor man ... a poor man...." + +From Bobby came a stifled cry. She started forward again, but this time +it was Hilton who grasped her arm, rather roughly. He drew her back, +hissing a word between his teeth. His eyes glittered. + +Riley stepped forward quickly beside Cole. His face was strained; mouth +very grim. Oliver was beside him; breathing quickly. + +"What's your verdict, Miss Hunter?" Riley asked. His voice was hoarse. + +"You have heard it," she said gently. "You heard it from his lips." + +She was not looking at them, but at Bobby Cole, who stood with knuckles +pressed against her lips, fright, misery in her staring eyes. The +strength, the vindictiveness was gone. She was a little girl, then, a +little girl in trouble! + +"Then I guess there's nothin' to do, but to go through with this +ourselves." The old cattle man spoke slowly and rather heavily. "Cole, +there's a way of treatin' thieves in this country that's gone out of +fashion in recent years; we ain't had to hang nobody for a long time, +but--" + +"Stop!" + +It was a clear, ringing cry from Jane that checked Riley, that caused +the man who had grimly picked up his rope to stand holding it +motionless in his hand. + +"This is a matter for all of us, but by common consent I was selected +to judge this man. He has admitted his guilt after an opportunity to +protest his innocence. Now you must let me pass sentence...." + +"Sentence, ma'am?" Riley asked. "There's only one way. This has been +war: they've warred you, they've threatened to drive you out. It's you +or ... your enemies. This man is your proven enemy. Make an example of +him. He's guilty; nothin' else should be considered!" + +"One thing," she said, smiling for the first time that afternoon, a +slow, serious, grave smile, withal a tender smile, as she looked at +Cole, the trembling craven. + +"One thing: The quality of mercy! + +"Men, do you know that line? 'The quality of mercy is not strained. It +droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven'? + +"Mercy is the most holy thing in human relations. It is a blessing not +only to the man who receives it, but to the man that gives!" + +The first, dissenting stir died. This was no dodging, no evading the +issue. This was something new and her manner caught their interest as +she stood with one outstretched hand appealing frankly for their +attention and understanding. + +"This man has stolen from me. You have seen him here. He has shown +himself to be a weakling, a poor, wretched man, who has neither friends +nor respect for himself. He has known trouble before." She looked from +the man before her to Bobby whose strained face was on hers with +amazement, whose breast rose and fell irregularly, in whose eyes stood +tears. "I think that he has known little but trouble; he has been +unfortunate perhaps because he tried to help himself by troubling +others. There is only one thing left in life for him and that is his +liberty. + +"He cannot hurt me. He cannot hurt any of us from now on. He knows what +we know of this thing today. He will stand before us all as a man who +has not played the game fairly. + +"Do you fear him? Do you young, strong men fear this man?... No, you +don't! No more than I. We have seen him humbled; we have heard him +plead. Giving him his liberty will cost us nothing. I will go so far as +to promise you that he will never steal from us again ... if we do this +for him.... Don't you agree with me?" + +She looked from face to face, but as her eyes traveled they were not +for an instant unconscious of other faces ... back there; faces to +which had come relief, relaxation, color, after tensity and pallor; +faces which the next instant were dark and apprehensive, for she said: + +"I don't want you to think that I am through ... not now. There has +been stealing, but that has been only a part of the trouble. There have +been other things, things which this man who we know has stolen would +not do. Let us not be satisfied with cutting off the top of this weed +which has poisoned the range; let us try to get to the roots and tear +them out!" + +She stood, beautiful in the confidence which, with a sentence, with a +gesture, had checked these men in their determination to administer +justice as it once had been administered in those hills, which had +stilled dissent on their lips, which had switched their reasoning into +a new path. Alone among them she could dominate! Her strength, doubted +an hour ago, over-rode Riley's influence, created by years of prestige +on the range, even made that old cattleman stand back and wait +respectfully, wondering what she had to say. Her color was high, eyes +bright, lips parted slightly in a grave, assured smile, and her one +extended hand, small, white, delicate held them! + +"This thievery was only a symptom, only an indication of what has +transpired," she went on. "Just the outward evidence of those desires +and impulses which have turned into chaos the peace of this beautiful +country. Into that we must inquire and there is one more witness I want +to call." + +She hesitated, then said gently: + +"Bobby Cole." + +A low murmur again ran through the group and from the clouds above them +came a muttering of thunder. + +All turned to look at the girl and so intent were they that they did +not see a horseman ride through the trees and stop and look; and +dismount. Tom Beck walked slowly toward the group, until he could lay a +hand on the hip of Jane Hunter's pinto. Then he stood behind her, eyes +curious. + +"Will you come up here and talk to me?" Jane asked. + +The other girl remained motionless. + +"Well now, Miss Hunter, don't you think--" Hepburn began in mild +protest. + +"I think many things, Mr. Hepburn. My purpose is either to justify or +to convince myself that I think wrongly. Will you come ... Bobby?" + +Almost mechanically the girl moved forward. Hilton muttered a quick +word to Webb and Webb glanced back nervously. Two of his men moved +closer. + +"But we've found out about your calves, Miss Hunter. What else do you +want to know?" + +Hepburn's voice was breath-choked though outwardly he maintained +composure. + +"It makes damned little difference." It was Riley speaking and his hand +was on his holster. "Hepburn, you and everybody else stand pat until +you're called for." + +Hepburn's eyes flared malevolently. He started to speak again, but +closed his lips, as in forebearance. Sam McKee coughed with a dry, +forced sound. + +"What is it you want with me?" + +Bobby stopped before Jane and eyed her up and down, gaze settling on +the girl's face finally. There was hostility in it; there was hate ... +a degree; but these were softened, subdued, leavened by an outstanding +appreciation. Her lips trembled and, almost thoughtlessly, she put out +a hand to touch her father's, fingers squeezing his in a movement of +affection ... and relief. + +For a moment Jane did not speak. Then she began, lowly, rapidly, +flushed but resolute and with a light of friendliness in her eyes. + +"I want you to understand me ... without any more delay. You and I came +into this country at about the same time. Where we should have been +friends from the first we have been enemies; it even came to such a +pass that you promised to drive me from the country." + +Her voice shook a bit and on the words that old hostility leaped back +into Bobby's face. + +"I think that was because you did not understand me. You have thought +that I wished you bad luck from the first and that is not so. Had I +wanted to have vengeance on you, had I wanted to drive you out, I could +have done so this afternoon ... only a moment ago. I am not trying to +impress you with my generosity because I don't feel that I have been +generous. I have tried to be just; that is all. I have tried to do the +thing that would mean the most to all of us.... + +"But there are things with which you can help me. I am sure. There are +so many things that we have in common. You see, you and I are very much +alike." + +That touched the other's curiosity. She was all intent, lips parted, +eyes wondering. + +"Alike?" She was incredulous. + +Jane nodded. + +"The thing that you want most of all is the thing that I want more than +anything else: That is the respect of men." + +She paused and Bobby's brows drew together in perplexity. + +"The first time I saw you, you were trying to win the respect of the +men in this country with your quirt. Perhaps that helped you. Perhaps +it would have helped me had I been able or inclined to take it that way. + +"That doesn't matter. The thing that matters, which gives us something +in common is this: You found that men did not respect you and so did I. +Men showed their disrespect for you by ... well, by saying unpardonable +things. Men have shown their disrespect for me by trying to drive me +out of the country, by burning and stealing and shooting at my men.... + +"You and I are the only women here. These men,"--with a gesture--"can +not understand what their respect means to us. It is the only thing +worth while in our lives. Isn't that so? No woman can be happy or +satisfied unless she has the respect of men. That is because our +mothers for generations back have been mothers because men respected +them.... + +"I don't believe from what I know of you that you have ever had much +respect from men. I can appreciate what that means to you, because it +appears that the man who should have respected me the most in the +country where I came from, did not respect me. + +"There was one man I used to know who was supposed to give me all the +respect that a man could give a woman: he said that he loved me. That +man,"--there was a quick movement in the group which she +ignored--"followed me west to tell me that he loved me again and when +he found that I could not love him, he showed that he did anything but +respect me. Do you understand how that could hurt? When a man who had +sworn for years that he loved me proved that ... it was something quite +different?" + +She paused and Bobby, wide-eyed, said: + +"He follered you out here to ... try to get you to marry him?" + +Jane nodded. + +The other girl turned and her eyes sought out Hilton's face, which was +contorted with raging humiliation. + +"Is that _so?_" she asked. + +"That's a lie!" he snarled, but looked away. + +"Is that _so?_" + +Her tone was lowered, but she hissed the question at him. She strained +forward, glaring at him, and averting his face he said again: + +"It's a lie." + +But the assertion was without conviction, without strength. + +Bobby turned back. Her lips were tight and trembling. + +"Well?" she said, tears in her eyes again, and her manner proved that +Hilton's denial had fallen far short of being convincing. + +"Then there were other factors: As soon as I arrived here things +commenced to go wrong. Because I was a woman, people thought they could +usurp my rights. My horses were stolen; my hay was burned; my ditches +broken. My men were shot at. A note was sent to me, telling me that I'd +better leave the country while I had something left. + +"You see, don't you, that that meant that men--it must have been men +who did it--had no respect for me? + +"This water down here was fenced. That was your right, but I thought I +could persuade you to help me a little. I think yet that I could have +done so but for your misunderstanding.... + +"I knew that you wanted the respect of men. I knew that about all you +had in life was your self respect. I knew that the same man who had +made love to me and who had not meant it, was making love to you and +not meaning it. I called him to see me and tried to talk him out of it, +begged him to go away from you before ... before you had stopped +respecting yourself. You must have mistaken my motive in--" + +"You didn't send for him to ask him to take you back? You didn't do +that?" + +"I have told you my motive once; that was the truth ... whole truth." + +Again Bobby turned and again her accusing, flaring eyes sought Hilton's +distraught face. + +"So you lied to me again, did you? That was a lie, was it?" She waited. +"Well, why don't you answer?" she flung at him and stood, directing on +him the hate that she had once shown for Jane Hunter. + +But when she wheeled sharply back to confront the mistress of the HC +her eyes were bathed in tears, her head was thrown back, and she threw +her arms wide. + +"He did lie to me!" she panted. "He did.... I hated you because I +thought you had friends an' folks that respected you. He lied an' it +made me hate you worse...." She choked with sobs and Jane stepped down +from the rock to put hands on her shoulders. + +"Oh, miss, I've acted so bad to you!" Bobby moaned lowly. "I ... I +didn't know, didn't understand. I thought you didn't want anything but +harm to come to us. I stole from you because I hated you.... I ..." + +She threw back her head again and the weakness of spiritual distress +dropped from her. Her voice grew full and firm. + +"You've treated us like nobody else ever treated us before. You had Alf +tied down to a calf stealin' an' you let him go. You.... You've been +tryin' to do me good all the while I've been tryin' to do you harm. +They've been warrin' on you an' I ... I could have stopped it!" + +She wheeled, facing the men, her back to Jane. Her shoulders were drawn +up and she leaned backward. Her face was white, voice shrill. Her eyes +burned. + +"Well ... you, Webb, an' Hepburn an' your whole filthy crew ... I'm +done with you at last!" + +Thunder boomed sharply. The gloom was so deep that the features of the +men she addressed could scarcely be made out. + +"You've tried to double-cross us from the first. You was as guilty as +Alf today but you had it on us. I couldn't make a move without gettin' +in worse.... You, Hilton, if it hadn't been for you, I'd have sent the +bunch of you to hell by tellin' th' straight story when they came for +Alf to-day! I ... I thought you loved me,"--gaspingly. "Ah! I thought +you loved me, an' I'd have let Alf go to jail alone because of it.... + +"Well, it ain't too late! Listen, all of you! You HC riders, don't let +a man move until I get through!" + +Her eyes, quick, alert, intent, ran from face to face before her and +her whole body trembled as though the things that she would tell +clamoured to be out and were held back by great effort until she could +make them coherent. + +"Hepburn, you're first!" + +The man made one movement aside as if he would evade and Tom Beck's +voice rang out sharply: + +"Not a move!" + +Jane Hunter wheeled, a stifled word in her throat and watched him +slowly advance. His face was drawn as by great suffering, his eyes +burned as though his heart was wrenched with every beat. His mouth was +set and his jaw thrust forward and the revolver he held close against +his hip was as steady as rock. He moved slowly forward. + +"Swing back there, you men,"--and at his gesture the HC riders +deployed, swinging to either side. He stood beside the two girls at the +point of a V, the sides of which were formed by cowboys and beyond the +opening of which the other group drew together as for protection in the +face of this coming storm. Hepburn was foremost and the true scoundrel +now glared through the mask of his benevolence. + +"Go on," Beck said quietly. + +"You're first," the girl repeated, as though there had been no +interruption. + +"You planned to steal the HC blind, as soon as th' old owner died. You +didn't have th' nerve to do it like I'd 've done it. You sent for us, +because you knowed Alf had this brand which 'uld make stealin' easy!" + +"You're lying!" + +The man's voice was the merest croak, weak and unimpressive. + +"You wrote us, sayin' it would be easy pickin'. You said you would +likely be foreman an' that anyhow you'd be workin' for the HC an' was +goin' to help us from the inside. + +"When Miss Hunter come an' you saw what she was like you was mighty +glad of it. You thought you could ruin her an' pretend you was trying +to protect her. You was goin' to get half what we got for your share. + +"You had Webb run off them eight horses. Th' cat got out of the bag an' +you had to bring 'em back to make good with Beck. I heard you tell Alf +about it the night you started out an' stayed with us. Beck suspected +you, so you shot your own saddle horn to make your story good. + +"Beck wasn't satisfied. He was in your way, so you an' Webb framed up a +lie about him an' fixed his gun so it would look bad for him ... an' it +didn't work because Miss Hunter here beat you to it. + +"Then you threw in with Webb an' we was all goin' to work together and +drive the HC out in a rush. + +"You dynamited Cathedral Tank to spoil that range. Then somebody shot +Two-Bits an' you planned with us not to let her have water, knowin' her +cattle would perish. I was glad enough to keep 'em from water then +because I thought ... I thought she wasn't ... what she is." + +She paused, panting, and brushed a quick hand at her tears. + +"Webb, you've been stealin' off th' HC for years." + +The man took a quick step forward and halted as gun hands jerked rigid. + +"You've been waitin' your chance. When Beck made you swallow your words +about Miss Hunter you went hog-wild to get him. You got carin' more +about that than you did about gettin' rich. + +"You shot at Beck's bed to kill him when he slept. You broke her +ditches an' fired her hay with your own hands. You wrote that note, +warnin' her to get out. You helped build this pen here an' you helped +steal these calves an' every one of 'em was took away from an HC cow. +You stole twenty head of horses that nobody knows about. + +"You an' Hepburn thought I didn't know a lot of this. Well, I did know! +I knowed you was goin' to double-cross us if the pinch come an' Alf, he +was afraid of it, too! + +"I heard you talkin' nights in our place. I watched you ridin' when you +didn't know I was around. I listened an' remembered. I was one of you, +but I didn't trust you. I wanted to steal from Miss Hunter. I wanted to +drive her out because ... because I didn't know anybody could be kind +to me like she's been. I never thought anybody'd do anythin' for me!" + +She stopped again to regain control of her surging emotions. + +"An' their riders, Miss Hunter"--half turning to look at the other +woman. "They're a bunch of cut-throats. So are our greasers. They ain't +been in on the stealin'. They didn't care about bein' inside, but they +was ready to murder if they had a chance. They--Hepburn an' Webb--they +thought that they was safe because every one of the rest had enough +over him to hang. If one squealed they'd all get caught.... + +"Even us! Why, we never had any right on this claim. Alf's used his +homestead rights before, under another name. This water don't belong to +us. Not by rights. It's all open range! That's what we was: t' worst +nest of outlaws that ever got together in these hills!" + +She choked and Jane, her hands on the other's arms, could feel the +tremors shooting through her lithe frame. + +Riley moved a step forward as thunder rolled heavily overhead, as if +this much of the story was enough, but the girl cried out: + +"That ain't all! I've got to go through with it! I've finished with the +rest an' now it's you.... Hilton!" + +Into the word she put bitter contempt and biting scorn. + +"Bah! You liar!" she drawled. "You liar, you sneak, you coward! You +thought none of us could follow your game an' none of us could ... +until now. + +"Why, you've been behind this whole thing. It was you called Hepburn to +town an' offered him money to use in his dirty work. You paid for this +fence of ours. You listened an' used your head. You saw things quicker +'n Hepburn an' Webb did, an' you set them two thinkin' an' they never +knew you was doin' it.... + +"He was th' brains, I tell you!"--with an inclusive gesture to the men +who listened so attentively. "He wanted to drive Miss Hunter out worse +'n anybody. He wanted to kill Tom Beck. He didn't have the nerve to do +it himself ... in a fair fight. He shot at him one day with a rifle but +just as he shot Beck stopped his horse to look at somethin' in his +hands, that locket he always wears an' is always lookin' at, I +guess.... He didn't know I saw that but I did.... + +"He was always talkin' Sam McKee, there, up to kill Beck. It's likely +McKee shot Two-Bits--" + +"He didn't! I didn't do it!" + +McKee's voice, an excited cackle, broke in on her but the girl, +ignoring, went on: + +"... It was just like he tried to talk Webb an' Hepburn into killin'. +That was his way: makin' other folks do th' things he was scared to do! + +"An' he was as slick with me as he was with them, with his lies about +being called here to help Miss Hunter on business! That's why I didn't +think all this out before, that's why I didn't think he was a sneak +until now. He ... he said he wanted to marry ... to marry me...." + +She put a palm against her lips, tears spilled over her cheeks as she +turned. For a brief, heartbroken moment she stood looking into Jane +Hunter's face, then bowed her head to the other's shoulder and cried +stormily. + +Beside the girls was a quick movement, a man uttering one explosive +word as though it gave vent to an emotion that had been pent deep in +his heart for long and while the black storm clouds seemed to shut down +and muffle every sound, even Bobby Cole's excited sobbing, Tom Beck +cried twice: + +"Jane!... Jane!" + +Bobby, at that, turned from Jane to her father and the mistress of the +H C faced her foreman. When she had first seen him she betrayed little +except surprise; now she made one movement as though she would throw +herself upon him but again the look in his face checked her. + +"You came back to me, Tom," she said. + +"Back," he answered.... "But I can't ever come back to ... you...." + +It was the miserable self loathing, the shame in his heart, which +spoke, and it was that which made her see him, not as the strong man he +had been but as a broken, penitent, self denying individual ... denying +himself the love that was in her eyes, mingled with the relief at his +return and the joy of triumph which still thrilled her ... that love +which he felt unworthy to claim because he had doubted it! + +And then he changed. A movement sharp, decided, in the group, stiffened +him. + +"Hold up!" he cried. "Don't one of you move! Jimmy, take two men to the +Gap. Hold everybody in this Hole until we can get the sheriff, this'll +be a clean-up for--" + +A blinding flare, a crash of thunder that tore sky and shook earth, +broke in on him. There was a rending of tough timber as the bolt ripped +down a cedar, a snorting of horses. And in that stunning instant Dick +Hilton leaped from the group, vaulted to his saddle and lashing the +horse frantically, made off. + +A revolver cracked, a rifle crashed. Hilton disappeared into a deluge +of huge drops that came from the low, scudding clouds. Others got to +their horses and a fusillade of shots sounded like the ripping of +strong cloth. And above it rang Jane Hunter's voice: + +"Tom! Oliver! Hold these men. I'll bring the sheriff! You can spare me +and only me!" + +With a hoarse cry Riley dropped his revolver and clutched at his +wounded shoulder. Horses with riders and horses running wild circled +the place where a moment before had been a compact group of men, but +now Jane Hunter and Tom Beck stood there alone while from all about +stabs of fire pricked the darkness or were lost as the sky blazed, +while those who shot scarcely knew whether they were defending +themselves from friend or foe. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +BATTLE! + + +Jane found herself on the pinto racing through the night, ducking under +cedars until she was clear of the timber, crashing through brush, +leaping washes and at her side, silent, close, protecting her, an arm +ready to grasp her body should her horse fall, rode Tom Beck. + +They made straight across the flat toward the foot of the trail. To +their right was shooting and behind them a sharp volley rattled. A +stray bullet _zinged_ angrily, close over their heads. + +"You've got to get out of this, ma'am," Beck cried. "There'll be hell +to pay before mornin'. There's nothing they won't do now." + +"Tom! You came!" + +Her eyes were blinded by tears as she turned her face to him, trying to +put into words the forgiveness which she deemed unnecessary and which +she knew was the one essential to Tom Beck, which she knew would be +almost impossible to convey convincingly. But through the tears she saw +the flash of a gun before them and an answering flash. A lengthy +flicker of lightning showed two figures. One, Dick Hilton, horse drawn +back on his hocks, revolver lifted. They saw him shoot again and they +saw that other figure, Baldy Bowen, who was there to block the trail, +crumple in his saddle and sag forward, struggle heavily to regain his +position and then, as his frightened horse moved quickly, plunge in an +ungainly mass to the ground. + +Beck raised his gun as Hilton's horse leaped for the trail. He shot but +the instant of light had passed, making the world darker by contrast. +They saw fire shoot from scrambling hoofs. + +The burst of rain had ceased, the interval of fury broken; the storm +still swirled, roaring, above them, but it was dry and black, +threatening, holding in reserve its strength.... + +The sound of another horse, cutting in before them, running +frantically, and Beck's gun hand went up only to poise arrested as a +voice came to them with the singing of a rope end that flayed the +animal's flanks. + +"Go; go! Take me after him!" + +It was Bobby Cole's cry. She had seen. She was riding on the trail of +the man who would have been her betrayer. + +They dismounted hastily and stooped over the figure that lay quiet on +the rocks. Jane stilled her sobbing as Beck rolled the body over and +felt and listened. + +"Dead," he said huskily. + +"Dead!" echoed Jane. "Dick killed him! Oh ... beastly!" + +Fresh firing behind them. The shout of a man and an answer. More shots, +coming closer. + +"You've got to get out," Beck said lowly, lifting her from her knees +beside the dead rider. "There'll be hell here to-night and it's no +place for you. You bring the law!" + +"I feel as though I should stay. There'll be others killed and it's my +fight!" + +Hers was a cry of anguish, but he replied: + +"You'll save lives by bringin' help. And hurry, ma'am, hurry!" + +His only thought was to get her to safety. + +A rifle crashed twice not a hundred yards from them and they heard a +running horse grunt as spurs raked his sides. + +"Get up and get out!" he cried hoarsely, fearful that she might insist +on lingering in this place which, this night, was well named Devil's +Hole. + +"There's only one of 'em ahead of you. He's bound only to make his +get-away.... An' the Catamount, she'll clear your way if he does turn +back!" + +He lifted her bodily to her horse. + +"It seems my place to stay!" she cried as shots peppered the storm. "To +stay with you, Tom!" + +"It's your place to get out! Ride!" + +He swung his hat across the pinto's hind quarters and the animal leaped +into the trail. He heard Jane cry out to him to stop. + +"Go on!" he shouted. "Go on! It's your job to bring help!" + +And he heard her go on, the horse floundering up the steep rise, and +knew that she obeyed. Then he turned and looked out across the flat. + +Far down toward Cole's cabin was a shot. A riderless horse went past +him, blowing with excitement. He crouched behind a boulder, gun in his +hands, peering into the darkness. Others would not travel that trail +that night so long as he was on guard.... + +The fight had been carried in both directions, further up into the +Hole, on down toward the Gap. HC riders, partially assembled and +identified, had closed on the outlaws, cut them off from the trail and +for the space of many minutes there was no revealed action, each +waiting for the others to show themselves. + +Again in the distance was the mutter of thunder and a brilliant, +prolonged flash of lightning. The wind had subsided to breathless +silence as if the heavens marshaled their forces for fresh outbursts. +Beck started up as the clouds flared, looking quickly about. He saw a +horse with an empty saddle. He saw a man standing waist deep in brush, +a rifle at his hip, ready to fire. He could not recognize the man. +Darkness; again, a silent lighting of the skies, and with that the +stillness was broken. There was the sharp crack of a rifle far to his +left, up toward the head of the Hole. None replied to the shot. A +moment later the clouds sent out their flare again ... and this time +two shots echoed. + +Beck started up with a low cry. Above on the trail he had seen Jane +Hunter's pinto, making for the high country, and those two stabs of +yellow flame had been aimed upward and toward the wall to which her +path clung. + +It seemed to the man an age until lightning again revealed the earth. +He had an impression of a horseman far toward the top of the trail and +behind him another, riding hard; and lastly, Jane's pinto toiling +bravely up the sharp climb. + +And as darkness cut in again two more fangs of flame darted toward her! + +Jane Hunter, without protection, wholly revealed by the lightning, was +a target for merciless men, for men who had nothing to lose and at +least a fighting chance to gain by stopping her! + +He had believed that she was going to safety; he had underestimated the +maliciousness of those men she had driven into the open that afternoon. +He had neglected to consider the fact that on the trail she was without +protection of any sort and that lightning would make her stand out like +a cameo! He forgot his mental stress, he relegated his duty as sentinel +to inconsequence, for she was in great danger and needed help! It was a +joy to know that the life in his body, the blood in his flesh, might be +the one thing she needed, for only by offering those possessions could +he atone for his faithlessness. He had no idea that he could regain +that desire to possess her. He only wanted her to know that what he had +to give was hers; that was all! + +Then another rider was on the trail: Tom Beck, roweling his horse, +fanning his shoulders with the rein ends, crying aloud to him for +speed, his gun in his holster, a useless thing. + +He rode with abandon in the darkness, urging the horse to a speed that +mocked safety. Stones were scattered by the animal's spurning feet and +he heard them strike below, the sounds becoming fainter as he mounted +the steep rise. Lightning again and the viper spits down there in the +flat licked out for the woman ahead. Beck swore aloud and beat his +horse's flanks with his hat. + +The darkness, though it handicapped speed and enhanced the danger of +his race, was relief. When it was dark they could not fire.... + +And he knew they were waiting down there, rifles ready, straining to +see in the next burst of light.... + +He begged of the Almighty to send rain, to hold back the lightning, but +no rain came; the flares continued. He heard another shot, closer, from +behind, and knew it was the rifleman he had seen standing in the brush +firing at those who menaced Jane Hunter's safety. + +He was gaining on the pinto, slowly, with agonizing slowness. His big +brown horse drove on, but, when in darkness and without perspective, it +seemed as though his hoofs beat upon a treadmill. The animal's excited +breathing became more clearly defined.... The pinto ahead crawled +slowly and awkwardly like a dying animal, many minutes from shelter.... + +One of those spurts of flame stung toward Beck. He heard, almost as he +saw it, the spatter of a bullet on the rock behind him. He lay low on +his horse's mane. + +The glimmer of lightning, unaccompanied now by thunder, became almost +continuous. Against the white face of the mountain the riders were like +silhouette targets. Below there were stabs of fire from a dozen places, +like fire-flies on a summer night, but carrying death. + +Two bullets, close together, snarled past him, one above, the other +just ahead, perhaps in a line behind his horse's ears. He hoped wildly +that they were directing all their fire at him, that he was drawing it +from the girl above but even as this hope mounted the skies coruscated +again and he saw that the pinto was stopped, saw that Jane was slipping +to the narrow trail, her body wedged between the cliff and the body of +the horse. + +For an interminable time blackness seemed to hold. The big brown, whose +breath was now laboring with exhaustion as well as with excitement, +gasped scarcely a dozen breaths before the greeny light came again but +to his rider it was an aeon of time. Tom Beck passed through the +veriest depths of torment in that interval and unconsciously he shouted +into the night incoherent cries of suffering. He had been too late! He +had sent her to physical suffering, to her death, perhaps, and before +he could make her understand that he blamed himself as only a just man +who has been unjust can crush himself with execration! + +But light came and he saw her, still alive, still safe! + +The pinto was down, hind feet over the trail. Wounded, he had tried to +turn back, tail to the abyss as a mountain bred animal will turn. He +had moved on unsteady limbs, his hind feet slipped over the edge and +moaning, head back, eyes bulging, he clawed with his fore hoofs to stay +his fall. Clinging to the reins, calling aloud her encouragement, the +girl helped with voice and limbs. + +For an interval she balanced the pull of the animal's own weight.... + +And when Tom Beck could see again she was alone on the trail, one arm +raised to her face as she cringed from the bullets that spattered all +about! + +He cursed his horse, lashing furiously, spurring in the shoulders +without mercy. He came up to her and she faced him, lips tight and in +the dance of cloud fire he saw her eyes wide, nostrils distended. + +"Get up here!" he muttered and lifted her to his saddle horn, winding +his arms about her, bowing his head and shoulders over hers to take the +missiles in his own body first. + +She clutched him frantically, her warm arms around his neck, her +trembling limbs across his thigh with his hand hooked beneath the +knees, her soft breast cleaving to his and, slipping through his opened +shirt the little gold locket that was at her throat pressed against his +heart.... It was cold from the night and he felt it send a tingle +through his body. Even then he wondered, with the strange sharpness +which stressed thought will give to irrelevant matters, what it +contained! + +"Tom! It's good to have you!" + +Good to have him! With death singing all about her it was good to have +him; it was her first thought! + +"It would be good to die for you!" he said. + +"No, no!"--sharply. "Not that, Tom! Live for me ... live for me!" + +She felt him start and shudder and sway and a moan broke from his lips +as a searching, tearing thing ripped at the small of his back, +burrowing devilishly into his very vitals. She clutched him closer, not +understanding. + +"It's all I've got to give you," he muttered unnaturally. "My life's +all I've got, ma'am. I'd be proud to give it.... It's a little thing to +give to pay ... a debt like I owe you.... + +"You keep your body behind mine ... always ... until we get to the +top...." + +"Tom!"--in alarm. "You're hit.... Oh, Tom!" She shook him, hitching +herself about that she might see his face. "Tom!" + +"A scratch," he said. "Just a--" + +The horse threw up his head and recoiled as a bullet sang past. + +"A--scratch," he finished. + +The girl looked about wildly. She knew there was no shelter there, not +a ledge behind which they could hide, not a tree that would screen +them. The wall rose straight on one side, fell sheer on the other. +There was no place to go but up; they could not turn there and go down +for there was no room ... the pinto, shot through the belly, had tried +that! + +The firing below grew more rapid. It did not wait for the lightning +flashes now. Those spats of yellow fire struck upward continuously; in +darkness, blindly; in light searching intelligently as the riders moved +upward, nearer safety. HC men closed in on those who shot at the +figures on the trail, aiming at the flurries of viper light, meeting +counter fire as they drew nearer the murderous group of men. + +"Fireflies!" Beck muttered as he looked down again. "Lightnin' bugs let +loose from hell!" + +When there was no fire in the clouds those light points looked so +harmless, down there in the soft, velvet darkness! Well they might have +been insects, bedecking a summer night ... but from them came the +whining, droning, searching projectiles that flew to find his life and +Jane Hunter's life! + +Fifty yards further was the first rise of rock that would protect them +from below. Fifty yards, and the horse, under added burden, was sobbing +as he staggered. + +Beck swayed forward and regained his balance with an effort that cost +him a groan, but his arms, tight about Jane Hunter's body did not relax +a trifle; they held like tough, green wood. The girl cried out to him +again, that he was hurt.... + +"It's nothin', ... my life," he replied. "It's all I could do ... for +doubtin' you. I couldn't ask you to ... love me.... I could die for you +... that's all, ma'am...." + +"Tom, Tom! Keep your head; keep your head one minute longer; we'll be +safe.... Safe, then...." + +Thirty yards to the place where the trail ran between uprising walls of +rock; thirty yards to that shelter; thirty yards to safety.... + +But she looked down at those deadly fireflies playing on the flat, and +did not see a hatless man, crouched forward, run down the trail toward +them, pistol in his hand.... + +Dick Hilton, who had escaped the Hole only to realize that there was no +escape, was waiting to vent the last drop of poison in his heart.... +Nor did Jane see, nor did Hilton suspect, that waiting there for him +was another stalker, who had followed and lost him, who had turned +back, who had seen the travelers up the trail and who waited their +approach screened by timber.... + +Bobby Cole's heart leaped as she saw him run crouching to meet Tom +Beck, and her gun leaped to position ... and she waited there in the +darkness for the next flash of light ... as men waited below ... as +Jane Hunter waited, with her heart racing in despair; as Dick Hilton, +gibbering under his breath, waited.... + +The big brown horse stumbled and Tom Beck cried aloud in fear and pain, +cried drunkenly, as his blood drenched the saddle. Twenty yards to the +shelter of solid rock ... ten ... five.... + +And a scarecrow figure leaped from it at them, revealed by a long, +green glimmer. + +"Damn you, Beck! Damn you, you've ruined me; you drove me to this.... +Now, take th--" + +His gun had whipped up even as the gun of the girl they saw behind him +whipped up. + +Neither fired. + +Down below had come those winking fangs again and Hilton's voice +trailed into a rising, rasping gasp as missiles from his compatriots +drilled his body. + +His pistol dropped to the rock. He put his hands to his stomach. + +"Damn your--" + +He choked on the word, and as he choked he took one blind step forward, +over the brink. As he fell he threw up his hands and sailed downward +into the depths, into the coming darkness.... + +The brown horse had halted, but as Jane Hunter slipped to the ground, +holding Beck's sagging body with all her strength, he stepped forward, +in behind the rocks: their haven.... + +"Oh, they got him!" Bobby sobbed. "They got him...." + +She might have meant Hilton, but if so the pity, the regret in her +voice was a mourning of her dead love, not the dead lover; or she might +have meant Tom Beck and the tone might have been sympathy for the woman +she had come to understand, the woman who had respect for her and who +she could respect.... + +They let Tom's body to the trail. The horse moved off. Hastily Bobby +ripped open his shirt.... + +"Through the hips," she whispered. "Through the hips.... + +"Look!"--starting up. "He's movin' his foot. It didn't get his spine; +it didn't get his spine...." + +She tore open her shirt and tugged at the undergarment beneath it. She +stuffed it into the wound deftly, staying the blood while Jane Hunter, +Beck's head in her lap, cried aloud. + +"Listen!" Bobby knelt beside the other woman, hands on her shoulders, +peering into her face.... "You're safe here. They've got 'em cut off +from this trail below.... + +"My horse is fresh. I'm goin' to your ranch for help. He ain't goin' to +die, ma'am.... I promise you that.... He ain't goin' to die!" + +She was gone and Jane Hunter, half faint, clinging to that promise as +the last, the only thing in life, lowered her lips to her lover's eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE LAST STRAW + + +It was the first day that Tom Beck could lie on his back. For weeks he +had lain on his face there in the living room of the ranch house, +nursed back to health by Jane Hunter's gentle hands. Now the doctor had +turned him over, with the promise that he would not only be sitting up +but walking before long, and the Veterans' Society had been in session. + +That was what Two-Bits called it: The Veterans' Society. Every +afternoon they had gathered there, Two-Bits with his slowly healing +back, Jimmy Oliver, after his leg had mended and he could hobble with a +cane, Joe Black, whose arm was just out of its sling and, occasionally, +Riley, who rode up the creek holding gingerly his one shoulder, to +fight the battle over again. + +Summer was ripening and the golden sunlight spilled down onto peaceful +mountains from a mighty sweep of sky. A gentle breeze bent the tall +cottonwoods, making them whisper, making the birds in their branches +sing in lazy contentment. Unmolested cattle ranged in prospering +hundreds. The work was up, fall and beef ride were coming ... and other +years to bring their toll of happiness and well being, for after its +one paroxysm of strife the country had settled back to easier ways, to +a better, more wholesome manner of living. + +There were memories, true, kept fresh by such things as this Veterans' +Society, and the three graves in Devil's Hole where rested the bodies +of Sam McKee, Dad Hepburn and Dick Hilton, for there was none to claim +what remained of them. Under the cottonwoods slept Baldy Bowen, his +grave surrounded by white pickets and his head marked by a stone. + +But even now those memories were less poignant than they had been weeks +before. Interest in the range war was waning and though it would be +talked about across bar and bunk house stove for many winters the +thrill of it was gone ... as the horror of it was largely gone for +those who had suffered most. + +Two-Bits had lingered after the departure of the rest and sat in a +chair beside Tom's cot. Beck's face was pale, but his eyes were alive +and as of old, evidence of satisfactory convalescence. + +"So you think there _is_ a hell, Tommy?" he asked. + +Beck grunted assent. + +"Yeah. I know there's a hell, Two-Bits." + +"My brother always said there was. He said it was an awful place, +Tommy. I'll bet two bits th' old Devil was sorry to see Hepburn an' +Hilton an' Sam McKee comin' in that mornin'! I'll bet he says to +hisself: 'Here's some right smart competition for me!'" + +Beck laughed silently. + +"Sometimes I get feelin' mighty sorry for 'em," the lanky cow-boy +continued. "I use to hate Webb somethin' awful an' I sure did think +Hepburn was about th' lowest critter that walked.... God ought to 've +made him crawl! Sam McKee never was no good. He was th' meanest man I +ever saw.... + +"But, shucks, Tommy, I hate to think of 'em bein' blistered all th' +time!" + +"That ain't the kind of hell I referred to, Two-Bits. I don't know much +about that kind, with brimstone and fire and all the rest.... + +"There's a hell, though, Tommy. It's when a man lets the weakness in +him run off with what strength he has, when he don't trust those who +deserve to be trusted, when he's suspicious of those his heart tells +him are above suspicion." + +Two-Bits swallowed, setting his Adam's apple leaping. His eyes widened. + +"Gosh, you talk just like th' Reverend!" he said, and Beck laughed +until his wound hurt him. + +"Well, if they ain't in hell, they're under an awful lot of rocks," he +added. "That's all I care, to have 'em out of her way." + +"Yes, it makes it smoother. Real folks, men who deserve the name, won't +do anything but trust her and help her." + +"Not after the way she made 'em come out of their holes! That trial +must've been grand, Tommy! I'd 've give two bits to seen it an' heard +it! + +"She won't have no trouble no more. Everybody knows she's got more head +than most men on this here creek. But she's got somethin' else! She's +got a ... a gentle way with her that makes everybody want to do things +for her. + +"Look at how she treated Cole. Why, anybody else 'd run him off! 'Stead +of that she gets Bobby Cole to file on that claim an' helps 'em to +build a good house an' wants 'em to stay. You can bet your life that H +C cattle'll get water there now. That catamount ... hell, she'd +_carry_ it for 'em if there wasn't any other way to get it to 'em!" + +"Yes, Bobby's changed." + +"Should say she is changed! She's got a different look to her, not so +hard an' horstile as she used to be; she's plumb doe-cyle now! + +"I expect she's glad she didn't kill Hilton. If she hadn't changed +she'd been glad to do it. But, bein' like she is now, she wouldn't want +to hurt nobody.... Unless that somebody wanted to hurt Miss Hunter." + +His eyes roved off down the road and settled on a swiftly moving horse, +the great sorrel who was bringing Jane Hunter back to the ranch after a +ride far down the creek. + +"Speakin' of Hell, Tommy: there mebby ain't any like the Reverend +claims there is, but there's a Heaven! I'll bet two bits there is! I'll +gamble on it because I know an angel that stepped right down that +there, now, solid gold ladder.... + +"She's comin' up th' road.... An' Mister Two-Bits Beal, _esquire_, +is goin' to drift out of here!" + +With a broad wink, which set a suggestion of a flush into Beck's +cheeks, he took his hat and departed. + + * * * * * + +Jane entered, drawing the pin from her hat; then stopped on the +threshold with a cry. + +"Oh, the doctor's been here!" + +"Yes, and he's rolled the old carcass over," Beck answered. + +She stood looking down at him for a moment and then dropped quickly to +her knees. + +"It's so good to look into your eyes again," she whispered, and though +her own eyes were bright there were tears in her voice. + +Beck's gaze wavered and he slowly withdrew the hand that she had taken. + +"You mustn't look like that!" he said, turning his face from her. "It's +more than I've deserved, it's more than I have a right to!" + +She put her hands on his shoulders, gently, bearing no weight upon +them, and said soberly: + +"Look at me, Tom Beck!" + +He obeyed, rather reluctantly. + +"I have waited, oh, so long, to talk to you! I promised the doctor that +nothing should disturb you until you were well. That's one reason why I +brought you into the house, instead of leaving you with the men: so you +could be quiet. + +"But there was another reason, a greater: I wanted you here, in this +room, in my house, near me, where I could see and feel and help you, +because seeing and touching and helping you helped me! + +"I needed your help, Tom! I shall always need you near me!" + +"Nobody would agree with you," he protested. "You're the most capable +man in the country. You sure can look out for yourself." + +"But looking out for myself isn't all. That's just a tiny part of +life,"--indicating how small it was with a thumb and fore-finger. "It +belongs to the side of me which owns this ranch, which is a cattle +woman, which wants to fatten steers and raise calves and prosper.... + +"There's the other part, the big part, the part that is really worth +while: It's my heart, Tom. It's my heart that needs you!" + +His brows puckered. + +"I wish you wouldn't!" he said huskily. "I can't help that part, I had +my chance ... an' I threw it away." + +"And I picked it up! Tom, that morning when you were crawling back from +Cathedral Tank, across the desert, I was at the round-up camp. I went +there to tell you, to make you understand--" + +"That's what hurts: that you had to ride thirty miles to tell me, to +make me understand. Why, ma'am, I hadn't any right to have you do that +for me. It was me who should have come crawlin' to you!" + +She took his hand again. + +"Look at me!" + +"Yes, ma'am," striving to lighten his manner. + +"Yes, _Jane!_" she insisted. + +"Jane," very softly. + +"You are very foolish, sticking to an abstract idea of how you should +have conducted yourself. You wanted to die for me once; you want to put +me off now because you think you wronged me. + +"Don't you see what a wrong that would be! Don't you see that?" + +She leaned forward, hands clasped at her chin, and tears swam upward +into her eyes. + +"I am saying the things I've waited so long to say. + +"You have lain here ever since that black night when they carried you +in and I had to feel your heart to know whether you lived. I've tried +to say nothing that would disturb you, tried to keep your mind off the +thing that has occupied mine. But I know you've been thinking; I know +you've been uneasy. I have seen that in the looks, the words, the way +you've laughed, rather forced and weakly at times. I have known what +you thought.... + +"You are very foolish to be concerned with an idea of how you should +have conducted yourself. You wanted to die for me once; you want to put +me off now because you think you wronged me. + +"I am not forgiving you because there is nothing to forgive. My pride +was hurt and by yielding to it I shook your faith in me. It was weak +for me to yield to pride; it was foolish for you to give way to +suspicion. It was not I who yielded, Tom; it was that other girl, the +girl who came to you to be hurt and ridiculed and made strong! And it +was not the Tom Beck who loved me that suspected; it was that other +man, the one who held himself back, who did not take chances, who, +perhaps, would have denied himself the finest thing in life if he had +always walked on ground with which he was familiar.... + +"And now to carry this breach from the past into the future.... Don't +you see what a wrong that would be? Don't you see how you would be +harming yourself? You, who wanted to die for me, would be refusing to +live for me! And I who need you would walk alone.... Don't you see what +a horrible thing that would be to both of us ... my lover?" + +She leaned forward, hands clasped at her breast, and the tears swam +into her eyes. She was very beautiful, very gentle and tender, but as +he looked he felt rather than saw the strength that was in her: the +character that had stood alone, that had been herself in the face of +the loss of love and position, and that, by so standing, had triumphed. + +For a breathless instant she poised so, with unsteady lips, and she saw +the want come into his face, saw the old reserve, the old resolution to +punish himself melt away. + +"I want you, Jane!" he whispered. + + * * * * * + +The evening shadows had come before she rose from her knees and drew up +a chair to sit stroking his hand. + +His eyes rested on her hungrily and after a time they concentrated on +the locket at her throat. + +"Say! Now that you've done me the honor to give me a second chance at +lovin' you, there's somethin' I want to ask." + +"Ask it." + +"What's in that locket?" + +She laughed as she caught it in her fingers. + +"My luck!" + +"I understand that. It brought me luck, too, but there's something +else. Won't you tell me?" + +She unclasped the trinket and held it in her hand, turning it over +slowly. Then she sprung the catch and held it so he could see. + +Behind the disc of mica lay a piece of oat straw. + +"That is the last straw," she said simply. + +He did not understand. + +"The one you would not draw that day, which seems so long ago!" + +His face brightened. + +"You kept it?" + +"I clung to it as though it were ... the last straw! + +"Why, Tom, can't you see what it has meant? If you had drawn you would +have been my foreman. You would have protected me, fought for me, taken +care of me. I'd never have been forced to stand alone, never been +forced to try to do something for myself, by myself. Your refusal put +on me the responsibility of being a woman or a leech.... + +"I drew the last straw that day. I drew the responsibility of keeping +the HC on its feet. I feel that I have helped to do that...." + +"You have." + +"Through sickness and through death, through dark days and storms. I +have done something! I have walked alone, unaided.... + +"And I have made you love me, Tom.... _That_ is the biggest thing +I have done. To be worthy of your love was my greatest undertaking. By +being worthy, by winning you, I have justified my being here, my +walking the earth, my breathing the air...." + +"Sho!" he cried in embarrassment, and took the locket and fingered it. + +His hand dropped to the blanket and he stared upward as though a fresh +idea had occurred to him. + +"Say, I wonder if the Reverend was a regular preacher?" he asked. + +"Why? He was a doer of good works. Why consider his actual standing?" + +"Yeah. But I mean, could he marry folks, do you s'pose?" + +He looked at her again and in his eyes was that amused twinkle, the +laugh of a man assured, content, self sufficient ... and behind it was +the tenderness that comes to a strong man's eyes only when he looks +upon the woman who has given him love for love. + +"If he could he'd be glad to," he said, "and I suspect that he'd throw +a little variety into the ceremony ... something, likely, about your +fightin' a good fight!" + + + + +THE END + + + + +[Transcriber's note: Italicized text is indicated with _underscores_.] + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Last Straw, by Harold Titus + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAST STRAW *** + +***** This file should be named 36523.txt or 36523.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/5/2/36523/ + +Produced by Andrew Sly, Al Haines and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/36523.zip b/36523.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..42441b8 --- /dev/null +++ b/36523.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..164a450 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #36523 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36523) |
