CHAPTER XXVII
THE RIDERS
Several days passed before the surgeon would express a definite opinion.
Collie lay, hollow-cheeked and ghastly, in the dim interior of the tent.His eyes were wide and fixed. Overland came in. Collie recognized himand tried to smile. Overland backed out of the tent and strode awaygrowling. The tears were running down his unshaven cheeks. He did notreturn until later in the day. Then he asked the surgeon thatoft-repeated question.
"I don't see how he can recover," said the surgeon quietly. "Of coursethere's a slim chance. Don't build on it, though."
"If there's a chance, I reckon he will freeze to it," said Overland."From what he was ramblin' about when he was off his head, I reckon he'sgot somethin' more to live for than just himself."
"Has he any relatives?" queried the surgeon.
"Nope. Except me. But he was expectin' to have, I guess. And I tell youwhat, Doc, she's worth gettin' shot up for."
"Too bad! Too bad," muttered the surgeon.
"What's too bad, eh?"
The other shook his head. "If there is any one that he would care tosee, or that would care to see him, you had better write at once."
Overland was stunned. The doctor's word had been given at last, and itwas not a word of hope.
Overland Red bowed to the doctor's opinion, but his heart wasunconquerable. He wrote a long letter to his old-time friend, BrandWilliams, of the Moonstone Ranch. The letter was curiously worded. Itdid not mention Louise Lacharme, nor Mrs. Stone, nor the rancher. Itwas, in the main, about Mexico and the "old days"; no hint of Collie'saccident was in the page until the very end. The letter concluded with"But you needn't think you owe me anything for that. I was glad to puthim to the hush because we was pals them days. Collie was shot bySaunders. The doctor says he will die most likely. He was shot in theback. It would go bad with Saunders if the Moonstone boys ever heard ofthis."
* * * * *
The letter dispatched by Winthrop, Overland Red took courage. He feltthat he himself was holding Collie's life from sinking. His hugeoptimism would not admit that his friend _could_ die.
He was leaning back against a rock near the notch and gazing at theslanting moonlight that spread across the somber canyon walls. A weekhad gone since he mailed his letter to Brand Williams, of theMoonstone, and Collie was still alive. Overland shifted his position,standing beside him the Winchester that had lain across his knees, andpulling his sombrero over his eyes. The notch made an excellentbackground for an object over the sights of a rifle, even at night, solong as the moon shone. Gophertown riders would never venture that farup the canon with horses. They would tether their ponies at the entranceand come afoot and under cover. Still, they would have to pass the notchin any event.
Thus it was that when, some few minutes later, Overland heard the faintjingle of rein-chains, he grinned. It was celestial music to him.
The sound came again, nearer the notch, and clearer. He remainedmotionless gazing at the shadowy opening.
Slowly a shaft of moonlight drew down toward the notch, silvering itsragged edges. Lower the light slid until it revealed the opening and init the figure of a horseman. In the white light Overland could see thequirt dangling from the other's wrist. The horseman's wide beltglittered.
"Brand!" called Overland Red softly. The opposite wall took up the namehesitatingly and tossed it back.
"Brand!" whispered the echoes that drifted to the darkened corners ofthe cliff and were lost in voiceless murmurings.
"Brand your own stock," came the answer, low and distinct.
Overland laughed. It was their old-time pun upon the foreman's name. Hegot to his feet and approached. "It does me good," he said, extendinghis hand.
"How is Collie?" asked Williams, dismounting.
Overland heaved great sigh. "He's floatin' somewhere between here andthe far shore. Mebby he's tryin' to pull through. The doc says the kiddon't seem to care whether he does or not. Did--the little RoseGirl--tell you anything to--to say to him?"
"When I was leavin' she come out to the gate," said Williams. "Shedidn't say much. She only hands me this, and kind of whispered, 'Givehim this. He will understand.'"
And Williams drew a small gray gauntlet from his shirt. Overland tookthe glove and tucked it in his pocket.
"Anything doing?" asked Williams.
"Nope. They're overdue to jump us if shootin' Collie was any sign."
"Like old times," said Williams.
"Like old times," echoed Overland. "No trouble findin' your way across?"
"Easy. Followed them automobile tracks clear to the range. We fed up atthe town. The boys gets kind of restless--"
"Boys? Ain't you alone?"
"Hell, no!" replied Williams disgustedly. "I wish I was! I got fourpigeon-toed, bow-legged, bat-eared Moonstoners down in that meadow, justitchin' mad to cut loose. And they ain't sayin' a word, which issuspicious. Worryin' across the old dry spot the last three days haskind of het 'em up. And then hearin' about Collie...."
"How'd you come to have so much comp'ny?" queried Overland.
"I was plumb fool enough to read that letter of yours to 'em. They alllike Collie first-rate. Better than I calculated on. The boss talkedturkey to 'em, but he had to let 'em come. He did everything he could tohold 'em, knowin' what was in the wind."
"And they quit?"
"Quit? Every red-eyed bat of 'em. Bud and Pars and Billy and Miguel.Told the boss they quit, because me bein' foreman they would do as Isays, but if they quit I wasn't their foreman any longer, and they woulddo as they dum please. They had the nerve to tell me that I could comealong if I was wishful."
"Kind of bad for Stone, eh?"
"The Price boys are holdin' down the ranch. You see, Jack, it hit uskind of hard, Collie ridin' away one mornin', and next thing yourletter that he was down and pretty nigh out. The boys didn't just likethat."
Overland nodded. "Well, Brand, I guess I'll step down and look 'emover."
"Only one thing, Jack. I feel kind of responsible for them boys, even ifI ain't their foreman just now. Don't you go to spielin' to 'em and get'em thinkin' foolish. They're about ready to shoot up a town, ifnecessary."
"Been hittin' the booze any?"
"Some. But not bad."
"All right. I don't want to say only 'How!' and thank 'em for Collie. IfI say more than three words after that, you can have my hat."
"It don't take three words, sometimes," said Williams, somewhatambiguously.
"Leave it to me," said Overland, still more ambiguously.
* * * * *
Ringed round their little fire in the meadow sat or lay the Moonstoneriders. While crossing the desert Williams had sketched a few of the redepisodes in Overland's early career. These pleased the riders mightily.They were anxious to meet Red Jack Summers. When Williams did introducehim, they were rather silent, asking after Collie in monosyllables. Theyseemed strangely reticent.
Both Williams and Overland felt an inexplicable tensity in thesituation.
Miguel, the young Mexican vaquero, broke silence. "How long you call itto this Gophertown place, I think?"
"Thirty miles," said Overland.
"Walkin' backwards--like Miguel's talk," said Billy Dime.
"That's easy," said Bud Light.
"What's easy?" questioned Williams.
"Walkin' backwards," replied the facetious Bud.
"If you don't step on your neck," said Pars Long.
"I'm gettin' cold feet," asserted Bud Light after a silence.
"That disease is ketchin'," said Billy Dime.
"I know it. I been sleepin' next to you," retorted Bud.
Brand Williams glanced across the fire at Overland, who smiledinscrutably. The undercurrent was unfathomable to Williams, though heguessed its main drift.
Suddenly Pars Long glanced at the foreman. "Brand," he said quietly, "weexpect you didn't read all of that letter from your friend
here. Yousaid Collie was shot. You didn't say how, which ain't natural. We beentalkin' about it. Where was he hit?"
Overland saw his chance and grasped it with both hands. "In the back,"he said slowly, and with great intensity.
Followed a silence in which the stamping of the tethered horses and thewhisper of the fire were the only sounds.
Presently Miguel ran his fingers through his glossy black hair. "In theback!" he exclaimed. "And you needn't to tell that he was run away,neither."
"In the back?" echoed Billy Dime.
Overland and Williams exchanged glances. "You done it now," saidWilliams.
"'Cordin' to agreement," said Overland.
"Make it a wireless," said Billy Dime. "We ain't listenin', anyhow."
"Only thirty miles. What do you say, Brand?"
"Nothin'."
"_As_ usual," ejaculated Dime.
"I say about three to-morrow morning," ventured Pars Long. "Light willbe good about nine. We can do the thirty by nine. A fella would be ableto ride round town then without fallin' over anything."
"What you fellas gettin' at?" queried Williams.
"Gophertown," replied Dime. "You want to come along?"
"Is it settled?" asked the foreman.
The group nodded.
"Well, boys, it would 'a' been _my_ way of evenin' up for a pal."
"Then you're comin', too?"
"Do you think I'm packin' these here two guns and this belt jest toreduce my shape?" queried Williams in a rather hurt tone.
"Whoop-ee for Brand!" they chorused, and the tethered ponies shied andcircled.
"I never rode out _lookin'_ for trouble," said Williams. "And I nevershied from lookin' _at_ it when it come my way."
"Who said anything about trouble?" queried Billy Dime innocently. "I'm_dry_. I want a _drink_. I'm goin' over to Gophertown to get it. I'lltreat the bunch."
"Which bunch?"
"Any and all--come stand up and down it."
"We'll be there when you call our numbers, sister. You comin'?" askedPars Long, nodding toward Overland.
"Me? Nope.... I'm goin'. I'm goin' to ask you boys to kindly allow methe privilege of gettin' my drink first and by my lonesome. There willbe a gent there with sore eyes. He got sore eyes waitin' and watchin'for me to call. I expect to cure him of his eye trouble. After that youwill be as welcome as Mary's little lamb--fried."
"Bur-rie me not on the lo-o-ne prai-ree," sang Bud Light.
"Not while you got the fastest hoss in the outfit," said Williams.
"Collie's hoss is here," said Overland. "I'm ridin' her this trip. Ikind of like the idea of usin' his hoss on this here errand of mercy."
"Three--to-morrow mornin'!" called Billy Dime, as Overland disappearedin the shadows.
* * * * *
Brand Williams, the taciturn, the silent, stepped from the fire andstrode across the meadow. He paused opposite the Yuma colt and gazed ather in the moonlight. He jerked up his chin and laughed noiselessly."Two-gun Jack Summers on that red Yuma hoss, ridin' into Gophertown withboth hands filled and lookin' for trouble.... God! He was bad enoughwhen he was dodgin' trouble. Well, I'm glad I'm livin' to see it. I wascommencin' to think they wasn't any more _men_ left in the country. I'mforty-seven year old. To-morrow I'll be twenty again ... or nothin'."
Overland Red: A Romance of the Moonstone Cañon Trail Page 28