He eased back into the chair, slowly relaxing. His forehead was damp with perspiration, and he felt tired. He was still weak from that blow on the head and from the loss of blood.
Gradually his tenseness slackened, and presently he fell asleep.
CHAPTER 9
HE AWOKE SUDDENLY, to find himself slouched down in the chair. The room was still in darkness, but there was light from an open door down a hallway. He got to his feet, listening.
In that lighted room he could hear the scratching of a pen. He went down the hall and stopped by the door.
Judge Niland sat at a table writing. He glanced up and gestured toward a chair. “Have a seat. I’ll be with you in a moment,” he said.
When he had finished what he was writing and had blotted the paper, he took off his glasses and put his hands on the table.
“I suppose you are wondering why I have done this,” he said, “and just where I fit into this picture.”
“Yes.”
“I heard you introduce yourself as Jonas Mandrin, and was surprised. But after a few minutes’ thought I knew I shouldn’t be at all surprised—except that you are alive.”
“You have told me nothing.”
“No, I suppose not. Then accept this as truth. I am your friend, and I should like to continue to be your friend. I also, it might be said, was a friend to Tom Davidge.”
“Then tell me: Why should Peg Cullane put those men on me?”
Judge Niland was surprised now. He threw a sharp glance at Noon, and said, “But you should understand that. Peg is money-hungry, and she wants that money. She was the one who egged Dean into making his try for it. They are afraid of you because they are sure you know where it is.”
Money? What money?
“They could be wrong,” he said.
“Yes, but even if they are wrong, they know you were sent here to get rid of Ben Janish….Oh, yes! I know who you are! That was why you surprised me when you said you were Jonas Mandrin.”
“Did you expect me to introduce myself as Ruble Noon?”
“Of course not. What I cannot understand is how Ruble Noon could use the name Jonas Mandrin. Unless—”
“Yes?”
“Unless Ruble Noon and Jonas Mandrin were somehow connected.”
Ruble Noon offered no comment. He had no idea who Jonas Mandrin was, but he was very curious as to how Judge Niland knew he was Ruble Noon.
The Judge was obviously a man of property and of importance. The house which they were in gave evidence of luxury. It was more like an eastern house than a western house at this period. The furnishings of the East were expensive items west of the Mississippi, and the cost of transporting them was high. The walls of this house were lined with books, and not all of them were the Judge’s law library.
“I was Tom Davidge’s attorney,” Judge Niland said. “I am still his daughter’s attorney. I knew when he began liquidating his eastern holdings, and I knew why he did it. I wrote his will. I also took steps to eliminate Janish and his outfit. Those steps were failures.
“I am afraid that Tom was a believer in somewhat more violent methods than I would lend myself to. When my way failed—I had gone to the law—he hired you.
“Tom never told me how he got in touch with you, or what he knew about you. All he would say was that he knew the man for the job. Had he been younger I do believe he would have tried it himself.
“The trouble seems to have been that he made arrangements for you to be paid by the worst man possible under the circumstances. You see, Tom Davidge never realized that anyone else knew of what he was doing with his money. We may never know how Peg Cullane found out, but she did. She thought she knew where the money was, but she was sure that you had been told that, too. And so you had to be killed before you could recover it…either for Fan or for yourself.”
“So she told Ben Janish who I was, and why I was coming out there?”
“No, she didn’t. She had her brother do it. Dean pulled out of here suddenly after Tom died, and he hasn’t been seen since. Just the other day we received a report that he was dead.”
“And that I had killed him?”
“Something like that.” Niland looked at him inquiringly. “Did you?”
“No.” Even as he said it, he knew he really didn’t know. But he did not believe he had, or did not want to believe it.
“You were accused of it.”
Did that explain the mob at the station? The men who searched the train?
“If you have not grasped the situation,” Judge Niland said slowly, “you must. Fan Davidge does not even know there is half a million dollars hidden on her ranch. She does not know there is any money at all.
“Dean Cullane knew, but he is dead. Peg Cullane knows, but she is not going to tell Fan. She wants that money for herself. And Peg does not know that I know, although she has probably wondered about it. She would assume that if I knew I would tell Fan, but I haven’t done so, and she knows I have not.”
“How about Ben Janish?”
“A good question.” Judge Niland sat back in his chair and put the tips of his fingers together. “And if you did not kill Dean Cullane, who did? If it was Ben Janish who killed Dean, then Ben must know about the money. I can think of no other reason why he would kill him.”
“Then,” Ruble Noon commented thoughtfully, “if Ben Janish knows, and you and I know…”
The Judge smiled slightly. “It seems we have to get rid of Ben—and quickly.”
“Could Dean Cullane have known where the money was?”
“No.” Judge Niland was firm. “Tom Davidge knew just what sort of man Dean was. Dean came of a good family, but he was a jackleg lawyer, and one who dealt with men on the wrong side of the law in ways not concerned with the legal profession. Davidge might use Dean to act as a go-between to cover his own trail, but he would never confide in him. That, of course, does not rule out that Dean might know Davidge had the money.”
Ruble Noon was silent. Being silent had proved a good way to be, for he had learned almost all he needed to know—almost all.
“Tom Davidge was a shrewd man,” Judge Niland went on. “He suffered reverses in the East, though not such bad reverses that he had no money. What he did know, however, was that the wolves would be on his trail; so, as quietly as possible, he turned whatever he could into cash and negotiable securities. Negotiable,” he repeated, “but he would use someone who knows how to negotiate them, and who would not be questioned by those with whom he negotiated.” He smiled again. “Not a drifting gunman, for instance, or some unknown person from out of nowhere.”
Ruble Noon shrugged. “There are ‘fences.’ There are always men who can handle such things.”
“But at great cost, my friend, a far greater cost, let us say, than an even split. With a fence, you’d be lucky to get forty cents on the dollar. On the other hand, you could have sixty—with forty for your partner.”
So there it was…out in the open.
Or was it? Suppose the Judge was merely testing him?
“I suppose you could look at it that way,” he said, “but there’s still Ben Janish.”
“A job for which you have already been paid.”
“What about Tom Davidge’s daughter?”
“She will have the ranch, free and clear. It is all she expects to have.”
Then Judge Niland straightened up. “There it is, my friend. Although I am no longer a judge, I do have connections. It would be a simple thing for me to arrange that all charges against you are dropped. I could also handle the securities without trouble.”
“And I take care of the obstacle? Of Ben Janish?”
“Exactly. You, and only you, know where the money is hidden. I do not know why Tom Davidge trusted you, but he did. We need each other, you and I.”
He was i
mpelled to laugh at the irony of it, but he held his face still. Only he knew where the half-million dollars was hidden, and he had lost his memory! He could just imagine trying to convince the Judge of that.
“It seems the first order of business is Janish,” he said; “but what about Peg Cullane?”
Niland looked straight at him. “I was thinking about her,” he said. “She could become a problem…if she lives.”
Ruble Noon kept his eyes down, not to show the anger in him. What manner of man was Ruble Noon if Niland could suggest that he murder a woman? Or was it the Judge’s idea that a man who was willing to kill might as easily kill a woman as a man? When he looked up, his face was calm.
“One thing at a time,” he said, committing himself to nothing.
He was puzzled at himself, and at the fix he was in. He was wondering if he meant to do what the Judge implied, or seemed to imply.
A half-million—that was more money than he could imagine. It was true that Fan had the ranch, or would have it after he killed Ben Janish…if he killed him. But that was just it. He could not take the money unless he left her with something, with the ranch. If he killed Ben Janish she would be free—she’d have it then.
But suppose Janish killed him? What had happened back there in that nameless town? How had Janish shot at him without his knowing? How had Janish almost killed him?
Of course, he’d been warned. Dean Cullane had warned him.
Well, there was no use his thinking about it; he would not kill Ben Janish. The man who was willing to kill was in another life; now he did not want to kill. Anyway, he did not know where the money was. If he had ever known, he did not know now.
He stood up. “I’ve got miles to go,” he said.
“You’d best be careful. Don’t you low-rate that girl. Peg is sly as a fox—I’ve seen it before this. And she’s cold. She’ll have her boys out looking for you.”
“Who were those men?” Ruble Noon asked.
“Some of the town boys, and some from ranches around,” Niland answered. “They set store by her; she’s the belle of the country around. Those boys will do anything for her, though some of them are decent enough lads. You be careful now.”
Ruble Noon paused at the door. “You going back by trail?” the Judge asked.
Noon shrugged, and did not really answer the question. “There’s always the railroad. Tom Davidge owned stock in it, you know. He financed the building of a good part of it, and brought others in to do the rest. And they stood by him, that lot. They’d do anything for old Tom.”
He added, “It will take time, Judge. Ben Janish is no fool.”
“You bring it here,” Niland said. “Right here to me, but come by night. If nobody knows we’re acquainted it will help.”
When Ruble Noon stepped outside the dark doorway he stood still for a moment, listening. Sometimes it seemed that he had been living in a dream from which he might wake up at any moment. He kept expecting to wake up.
He moved away from the door, but did not go to the gate. Instead, he walked along the hedge to the place where he remembered there was a small gap. Easing through it, he crossed the yard in the darkness, and reached a street. He went on until he came to the stable where he had left his horse.
Not until he was settling down to sleep in the hay did he remember: He had forgotten to get the talk around to Jonas Mandrin.
Who was Jonas Mandrin? How did he fit into the life of Ruble Noon?
CHAPTER 10
HE AWOKE TO the sound of rain, and for a moment he lay still, listening. Suddenly he heard a low voice calling, calling very softly. “Señor? Señor?”
“Si?”
“I think they look for you, señor. It is better you go now.”
Ruble Noon stood up and brushed the hay from his clothes, eased his gun into position, and came down the ladder from the loft.
“They have not come here yet,” the Mexican said, “but they look on another street. I see them.” He had already saddled the roan.
“Is there a way out of here, keeping off the streets?”
The Mexican squatted on his heels and traced in the dust with his finger. “Between the adobes…see? Then around the house of Alvarado…past the barn and into the brush. I wish you luck, señor.”
Ruble Noon led the horse to the back door and stepped into the saddle. The rain was falling harder now.
The Mexican went to the small room and took a poncho from a nail. “Here, take this…I will pay. And go with God.”
Ruble Noon took a gold eagle from his pocket and handed it to him. “Don’t spend it for a few days, amigo. They might guess where it came from.”
He walked the horse through the door, then cantered along the route the Mexican had indicated. The poncho was merely a thickly woven blanket, with a hole in the center for his head. Wearing the wide-brimmed hat, he might easily pass for a Mexican.
Outside of town he took to the brush. Weaving his way through mesquite thickets, he made for the railroad. The rain fell steadily, and it was likely that whatever trail he left would soon be wiped out. Several times he drew up in the partial shelter of trees to study his back trail, but he saw no one, and of course there was no dust. But visibility was not good, and it made him uneasy.
It was out of the question to return to the ranch after the recent ambush there, so he took a trail northward toward Mesilla. His every instinct was to run and hide, to hole up somewhere and wait until he could sort out his knowledge and his feelings, to come nearer to discovering more about himself.
He must have been a killer, but before that he had been somebody else, somewhere else. Suddenly he thought of newspaper files. If he could go through the files he might find in one of the back issues some report of himself, or some information about Jonas Mandrin. But he must proceed very carefully. He might be known in Mesilla.
It was past nine o’clock when he rode into the quiet town near the Rio Grande. A few lights showed from the doors of saloons, and here and there men were seated on benches or chairs along the boardwalk. One chair was in front of the newspaper office.
He drew up and stepped down from the saddle, and a man seated there looked up curiously.
Ruble Noon knew that this was a time in which to be wary. The Lincoln County war was playing itself out, the warriors were beginning to drift to more healthful climes, but haphazard violence continued. Solitary riders were apt to be regarded with some suspicion until their destinations and intentions became clear.
He looked up the quiet street. He would have liked to sit in one of those chairs himself, listening to the sound of voices, waiting to go to bed until the night had cooled somewhat.
“A pleasant evening,” he said. “You’re not working?” he asked. He was taking it for granted that the man belonged on the newspaper.
“No. This is a case when no news is good news,” the man said. His voice sounded young. “Riding through?”
“As a matter of fact, I was going to ask if I might go over the files of your papers. Last year, maybe, or the year before.”
“Now, that’s the first time I’ve been asked that.” The newspaperman sat up. “Not many people care what happened that long ago. Anything I can help you with? I’ve a good memory.” He stood at the door of the office.
“Hell, no. To tell you the truth, I was just wanting to get the feel of the country. You know, a man can read a lot between the lines of a newspaper, and I want to see what goes on around.”
“Help yourself. Try that set of drawers over there.”
“Do you copy much news from out of town? Or much eastern news?”
The man’s attention suddenly became sharper. “Occasionally,” he said. “If it has any local connection we do, or if it is of major interest. Once in a while we use eastern or California stuff just to fill in space. Local news usually gets around by grape
vine before we can print it.”
Ruble Noon went inside and took out the first sheaf of newspapers from the drawer. Settling down near the light, he began to scan the pages.
Outside, the printer turned a little in his chair. His attention had been arrested by the use of the word “copy.” It was a newspaperman’s use of the word. He had heard it used in this way many times in the East, but rarely west of the Mississippi.
That did not imply that this stranger had been a newspaperman, but he had seen a good many of them drifting along the trails—more since the railroad had come in a few months back. Mallory himself was a tramp printer who had worked on more than a dozen newspapers, and not so much as a year on any of them after his first, when he was fourteen. He had worked in big towns and small ones, but he preferred the little towns, and the western ones.
He had been in Mesilla for only three months now, but he was about ready to drift. He was going to try Santa Fe next, or perhaps go to Arizona. He lighted his pipe and tipped back his chair. This stranger, now…what he had said was true: the best way to make a quick judgment of a town was through its newspaper, to read the advertisements, the news items on local issues…but Mallory did not for a minute believe this man was interested in settling in Mesilla.
The fact was that Las Cruces was the coming town. Since the railroad had come to Las Cruces the population here had fallen off a little, and the center of activity seemed to be shifting. For himself, he liked Mesilla.
He stoked his pipe again, and glanced around, hitching his chair a little to watch the stranger, who had finished one sheaf of papers and gone on to another. He was scanning the paper with a rapidity that Mallory envied. He was obviously looking for something particular, and he seemed to be checking most of the items.
The difficulty was that Ruble Noon did not himself know what he was looking for. Some mention of Jonas Mandrin, perhaps, or some news story that might jog his memory, some clue from the time before he was shot. He was trying to eliminate all items that offered no interest, reading more carefully those items that might provide him with the information he wanted.
The Man Called Noon (Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures) Page 8