Bransford of Rainbow Range

by Eugene Manlove Rhodes

  CHAPTER XIII

  THE SIEGE OF DOUBLE MOUNTAIN (_Continued_)

  "If the bowl had been stronger My tale had been longer."

  --_Mother Goose_.

  When the sun peeped over Rainbow Range, Captain Griffith bent over TobeLong's bed. His eyes were aching, burned and sunken; the lids twitched;his face was haggard and drawn--but he had arrived at an unalterabledecision. This thing could not and should not go on. His brain reelednow--another such night would entitle him to state protection.

  He shook Mr. Long roughly.

  "See here! I believe you're Bransford himself!"

  Thus taken off his guard, Long threw back the bedding, rose to oneelbow, still half asleep, and reached for his shoes, laughing andyawning alternately. Then, as he woke up a little more, he saw a betterway to dress, dropped the shoes and unfurled his pillow--which, by day,he wore as overalls. Fumbling behind him, where the pillow had lain, hefound a much-soiled handkerchief and tenderly dabbed at his swollen eye.

  "Bit of steel in my eye from a drill-head," he explained. "Jiminy, butit's sore!"

  Plainly he took the accusation as a pleasantry calling for no answer.

  "I mean it! I'm going to keep you under guard!" said Captain Griffithbitingly.

  Poor, sleepy Tobe, half-way into his overalls, stared up at Mr.Griffith; his mouth dropped open--he was quite at a loss for words. Thecaptain glared back at him. Tobe kicked the overalls off and cuddledback into bed.

  "Bully!" he said. "Then I won't have to get breakfast!"

  Gurdon Steele sat up in bed, a happy man. His eye gave Mr. Long adiscreetly confidential look, as of one who restrains himself, out ofinstinctive politeness, from a sympathetic and meaningful tap of one'sforehead. A new thought struck Mr. Long. He reached over behind Steelefor the rifle at the bed's edge and thrust it into the latter's hands.

  "Here, Boy Scout! Watch me!" he whispered. "Don't let me escape while Isleep a few lines! I'm Bransford!"

  Gurdie rubbed his eyes and giggled.

  "Don't you mind Rex. That's the worst of this pipe habit. You never cantell how they'll break out next."

  "Yes, laugh, you blind bat!" said Rex bitterly. "I've got him all thesame, and I'm going to keep him while you go to Escondido!" His riflewas tucked under his arm; he patted the barrel significantly.

  It slowly dawned upon Mr. Long that Captain Griffith was not joking,after all, and an angry man was he. He sat up in bed.

  "Oh, piffle! Oh, fudge! Oh, pickled moonshine! If I'm Bransford what thedeuce am I doing here? Why, you was both asleep! I could 'a' shot yoursilly heads off and you'd 'a' never woke up. You make me tired!"

  "Don't mind him, Long. He'll feel better when he takes a nap," said Gurdjoyfully. "He has poor spells like this and he misses his nurse. Wealways make allowances for him."

  Mr. Long's indignation at last overcame his politeness, and in his wrathhe attacked friend and foe indiscriminately.

  "Do you mean to tell me you two puling infants are out hunting down aman you never saw? Don't the men at the other side know him either? Byjinks, you hike out o' this after breakfast and send for some grown-upmen. I want part of that reward--and I'm going to have it! Look here!"He turned blackly to Gurdon. "Are you sure that Bransford, or any oneelse, came in here at all yesterday, or did you dream it? Or was it alla damfool kid joke? Listen here! I worked like a dog yesterday. If youhad me stand guard three hours, tired as I was, for nothing, there'sgoing to be more to it. What kind of a sack-and-snipe trick is this,anyway? You just come one at a time and I'll lick the stuffin' out o'both o' you! I ain't feelin' like any schoolboy pranks just now."

  "No, no; that part's all straight. Bransford's in there, all right,"protested Gurdon. "If you hadn't been working in the tunnel you'd haveseen him when he went by. Here's the note he left. And his horse andsaddle are up at the spring. We left the horse there because he was lameand about all in. Bransford can't get away on him. Rex is justexcited--that's all the matter with him. Hankering for glory! I told himlast night not to make a driveling idiot of himself. Here, read thisinsolent note, will you?"

  Long glowered at the note and flung it aside. "Anybody could 'a' wrotethat! How am I to know this thing ain't some more of your funny streaks?You take these horses to water and bring back Bransford's horse andsaddle, and then I'll know what to believe. Be damn sure you bring them,too, or we'll go to producing glory right here--great gobs and chunks ofit! You Griffith! put down that gun or I'll knock your fool head off!I'm takin' charge of this outfit now, and don't you forget it! And Idon't want no maniac wanderin' round me with a gun. You go to gatherin'up wood as fast as ever God'll let you!"

  "Say, I was mistaken," said the deposed leader, thoroughly convincedonce more. "You do look like Bransford, you know." He laid down hisrifle obediently.

  "Look like your grandmother's left hind foot!" sneered the outragedminer. "My eyes is brown and so's Bransford's. Outside o' that----"

  "No, but you do, a little," said his ally, Steele. "I noticed it myself,last night. Not much--but still there's a resemblance. Poor Cap Griffithjust let his nerves and imagination run away with him--that's all."

  Long sniffed. "Funny I never heard of it before," he said. He wassomewhat mollified, nevertheless; and, while cooking breakfast, hereceived very graciously a stammered and half-hearted apology from youngMr. Griffith, now reduced to the ranks. "Oh, that's all right, kid. Butsay--you be careful and don't shoot your pardner when he comes back."

  Gurdon brought back the sorrel horse and the saddle, thereby allayingMr. Long's wrathful mistrust that the whole affair was a practical joke.

  "I told you butter wouldn't suit the works!" said Rex triumphantly, andwatched the working of his test with a jealous eye.

  Long knew his Alice. "'But it was the best butter,'" he said. Hesurveyed the sorrel horse; his eye brightened. "We'll whack up thatblood-money yet," he announced confidently. "Now I'm going to walk overto the south side and get one of those fellows to ride sign round themountain. You boys can sleep, turn and turn about, till I get back. ThenI want Steele to go to Escondido and wire up to Arcadia that we've gotour bear by the tail and want help to turn him loose, and tell PappySanders to send me out some grub or I'll skin him. Pappy's putting upfor the mine, you know. I'll stay here and keep an eye on Griffith." Hegave that luckless warrior a jeering look, as one who has forgiven butnot forgotten.

  "Why don't you ride one of our horses?" said Gurdon.

  "Want to keep 'em fresh. Then if Bransford gets out over the cliffs youcan run him down like a mad dog," said Tobe. "Besides, if I ride a freshhorse in here he'll maybe shoot me to get the horse; and if he couldcatch you lads away from shelter maybe so he'd make a dash for it,a-shootin'. See here! If I was dodgin' in here like him--know what I'ddo? I'd just shoot a few lines on general principles to draw you awayfrom the gates. Then if you went in to see about it I'd either kill youif I had to, or slip out if you give me the chance. You just stay righthere, whatever happens. Keep under shelter and keep your horses rightby you. We got him bottled up and we won't draw the cork till thesheriff comes. I'll tell 'em to do the same way at the other end. Iwon't take any gun with me and I'll stick to the big main road. That wayBransford won't feel no call to shoot me. Likely he's 'way up in thecliffs, anyhow."

  "Ride the sorrel horse then, why don't you? He isn't lame enough to hurtmuch, but he's lame enough that Bransford won't want him." Thus Mr.Griffith, again dissimulating. Every detail of Mr. Long's planforestalled suspicion. That these measures were precisely calculated todisarm suspicion now occurred to Griffith's stubborn mind. For he had astubborn mind; the morning's coffee had cleared it of cobwebs, and itclung more tenaciously than ever to the untenable and thrice-explodedtheory that Long and Bransford were one and inseparable, now andforever.

  He meditated an ungenerous scheme for vindication and, to that end,wished Mr. Long to ride the sorrel horse. For Mr. Long, if he wereindeed the murderer--as, of course, he was--would indubitably,
upon someplausible pretext, attempt to pass the guards at the farther end of thetrip, where was no clear-eyed Griffith on guard. What more plausiblethat a modification of the plan already rehearsed--for Long to tell thewardens that Griffith had sent him to telegraph to the sheriff? Let himonce pass those warders on any pretext! That would be final betrayal,for all his shrewdness. There was no possibility that Long and Bransfordcould complete their escape on that lame sorrel. He would not be allowedto get much of a start--just enough to betray himself. Then he,Griffith, would bring them back in triumph.

  It was a good scheme: all things considered, it reflected great creditupon Mr. Griffith's imagination. As in Poe's game of "odd or even,"where you must outguess your opponent and follow his thought, Mr. RexGriffith had guessed correctly in every respect. Such, indeed, had beenMr. Long's plan. Only Rex did not guess quite often enough. Mr. Long hadguessed just one layer deeper--namely, that Mr. Griffith would followhis thought correctly and also follow him. Therefore Mr. Long switchedagain. It was a bully game--better than poker. Mr. Long enjoyed it verymuch.

  Just as Rex expected, Tobe allowed himself to be overpersuaded and rodethe sorrel horse. He renamed the sorrel horse Goldie, on the spot,saddled him awkwardly, mounted in like manner, and rode into the shadowydepths of Double Mountain.

  Once he was out of sight Mr. Griffith followed, despite the angryprotest of Mr. Steele--alleging falsely that he was going to try for adeer.

  Tobe rode slowly up the crooked and brush-lined canyon. Behind him,cautiously hidden, came Griffith, the hawk-eyed avenger--waiting at eachbend until Mr. Long had passed the next one, for closer observation ofhow Mr. Long bore himself in solitude.

  Mr. Long bore himself most disappointingly. He rode slowly andawkwardly, scanning with anxious care the hillsides before him. Not oncedid he look back lest he should detect Mr. Griffith. Near the summit theGoldie horse shied and jumped. It was only one little jump, whereuntoGoldie had been privately instigated by Mr. Long's thumb--"thumbing" ahorse, as done by one conversant with equine anatomy, producessurprising results!--but it caught Mr. Long unawares and tumbled himignominiously in the dust.

  Mr. Long sat in the sand and rubbed his shoulder: Goldie turned andlooked down at him in unqualified astonishment. Mr. Long then cursed Mr.Bransford's sorrel horse; he cursed Mr. Bransford for bringing thesorrel horse; he cursed himself for riding the sorrel horse; he cursedMr. Griffith, with one last, longest, heart-felt, crackling,hair-raising, comprehensive and masterly curse, for having persuaded himto ride the sorrel horse. Then he tied the sorrel horse to a bush andhobbled on afoot, saying it all over backward.

  Poor Griffith experienced the most intense mortification--except one--ofhis life. This was conclusive. Bransford was reputed the best rider inRainbow. This was Long. He was convinced, positively, finally andirrevocably. He did not even follow Mr. Long to the other side of DoubleMountain, but turned back to camp, keeping a sharp eye out for traces ofthe real Bransford; to no effect. It was only by chance--a realchance--that, clambering on the gatepost cliffs to examine a curiouswhorl of gneiss, he happened to see Mr. Long as he returned. Mr. Longcame afoot, leading the sorrel horse. Just before he came within sightof camp he led the horse up beside a boulder, climbed clumsily into thesaddle, clutched the saddle-horn, and so rode into camp. The act was sonatural a one that Griffith, already convinced, was convinced again--themore so because Long preserved a discreet silence as to the misadventurewith the sorrel horse.

  Mr. Long reported profanely that the men on the other side had also beendisposed to arrest him, and had been dissuaded with difficulty.

  "So I guess I must look some like Bransford, though I would never 'a'guessed it. Reckon nobody knows what they really look like. Chances area feller wouldn't know himself if he met him in the road. That squaresyou, kid. No hard feelings?"

  "Not a bit. I certainly thought you were Bransford, at first," saidGriffith.

  "Well, the black-eyed one--Stone--he's coming round on the west sidenow, cutting sign. You be all ready to start for Escondido as soon as hegets here, Gurd. Say, you don't want to wait for the sheriff if he's upon Rainbow. You wire a lot of your friends to come on the train at nineo'clock to-night. Sheriff can come when he gets back. There ain't but afew horses at Escondido. You get Pappy Sanders to send your gang out ina wagon--such as can't find horses."

  "Better take in both of ours, Gurd," said Griffith. He knew Long was allright, as has been said, but he was also newly persuaded of his ownfallibility. He had been mistaken about Long being Bransford; thereforehe might be mistaken about Long being Long. In this spirit of humilityhe made the suggestion recorded above, and was grieved that Longindorsed it.

  "And I want you to do two errands for me, kid. You give this to PappySanders--the storekeeper, you know"--here he produced the littleeohippus from his pocket--"and tell him to send it to a jeweler for meand get a hole bored in it so it'll balance. Want to use it for awatch-charm when I get a watch. And if we pull off this Bransford affairI'll have me a watch. Now don't you lose that! It's turquoise--worth aheap o' money. Besides, he's a lucky little horse."

  "I'll put him in my pocketbook," said Gurdon.

  "Better give him to Pappy first off, else you're liable to forget abouthim, he's so small. Then you tell Pappy to send me out some grub. Iwon't make out no bill. He's grubstakin' the mine; he'll know what tosend. You just tell him I'm about out of patience. Tell him I want abouteverything there is, and want it quick; and a jar for sour dough--Ibroke mine. And get some newspapers." He hesitated perceptibly. "Seehere, boys, I hate to mention this; but old Pappy, him and this JeffBransford is purty good friends. I reckon Pappy won't much like it tofurnish grub for you while you're puttin' the kibosh on Jeff. You betterget some of your own. You see how it is, don't you? 'Tain't like it wasmy chuck."

  Stone came while they saddled. He spoke apart with Griffith as to Mr.Long, and a certain favor he bore to the escaped bank-robber; butGriffith, admitting his own self-deception in that line, outlined thehistory of the past unhappy night. Stone, who had suffered only a slightmisgiving, was fully satisfied.

  As Steele started for the railroad Mr. Stone set out to complete thecircuit of Double Mountain, in the which he found no runaway tracks. AndGriffith and Long, sleeping alternately--especially Griffith--keptfaithful ward over the gloomy gate of Double Mountain.