CHAPTER XXX
ROGUES DISAGREE
With a heart that pounded queerly Arthur watched his friend cross thevalley and work his way to the ridge beyond. Even after Jack haddisappeared, he waited, nerves jumpy, for the crack of a rifle to carrynews of death in the mesquite.
No tidings of tragedy came. The minutes fulfilled the hour. The manysmall sounds of the desert were shattered by no report. At last,drowsing in the warmth of the sunlit land, the Ranger's eyes closed,opened, and shut again. He nodded, fell asleep.
When he awakened it was with a shock of dread. His heart died. Four menwere watching him. Two of them had him covered with revolvers. A thirdwas just removing noiselessly his rifle and six-shooter from reach ofhis hand.
He jumped to his feet. The consternation in his eyes showed howcompletely he had been caught napping.
One of the men--a long, lank, cross-eyed fellow--laughed mockingly, andthe sound of his mirth was evil.
"Whatta you doin' here?" demanded one whom he recognized as PeteDinsmore.
For a moment the Ranger's mind was a blank. He could not make it servehis needs. Words were out of reach of his tongue. Then, "I'm lost," hestammered.
"Are you alone?"
"Yes." Out of his confusion one idea stood up imperatively. He must notbetray Jack.
"Where's yore hawss?"
"It--it got away from me."
"When?"
"Last night." It seemed to him that he could keep just one jump ahead ofthis dominant man's menacing questions.
"Howcome that?"
"I shot a prairie-hen, and when I got down to get it--I don't know--myhorse got frightened and jerked away. I tried to catch it. The brutewouldn't let me. Then night came."
"What were you doin' so far from town?" cut in one of the two who werecovering him. He was a short, heavy-set man.
"That's right, Dave. Looks funny to me." Gurley seemed fairly to oozemalice. "Just happened to drift here to this herd, I reckon. It sure wasyore unlucky day."
Arthur looked from one to another despairingly. He found no hopeanywhere, not even in the expressionless face of Homer Dinsmore, who asyet had not spoken a word. There came over the boy what he afterwarddescribed as a "gone" feeling. It was the sensation, intensified manytimes, felt when an elevator drops from under one in swift descent.
"I--don't know what you mean," he faltered.
"You will," said Gurley brutally.
"Been across the valley to the herd yet?" asked Overstreet, elaboratelycareless.
Here was one question Ridley could answer with the truth. He spokeswiftly, eagerly. "No."
His questioner exchanged looks with Homer Dinsmore and laughed. TheRanger had betrayed himself. He had been so quick to deny that he hadbeen near the herd that his anxiety gave him away. They knew hesuspected them of having rustled the stock grazing on the slope. Verylikely he had already verified his doubts as to burnt brands.
Homer Dinsmore spoke for the first time. His voice was harsh. "Why don'tyou tell the truth? You came to get evidence against us."
"Evidence?" repeated Arthur dully.
"To prove we're rustlin' stock. You know damn well."
"Why, I--I--"
"And you didn't come alone. Ellison never sent a tenderfoot like you outexcept with others. Where are the rest of yore party? Come through."
"I'm alone." Arthur stuck to that doggedly.
"If he's got a bunch of Rangers back of him we better burn the windouta here," suggested Gurley, looking around uneasily.
Overstreet looked at him with scorn and chewed tobacco imperturbably."Keep yore shirt on, Steve. Time enough to holler when you're hurt."
"I haven't got a bunch of Rangers with me," cried Ridley desperately,beads of sweat on his brow. It had come to him that if he persuadedthese men he had no companions with him he would be sealing his doom.They could murder him with impunity. But he could not betray Jack. Hemust set his teeth to meet the worst before he did that. "I tell you I'malone. I don't know what you mean about the cattle. I haven't beenacross the valley. I came here, and I hadn't slept all night. So I wasall worn out. And somehow I fell asleep."
"All alone, eh?" Pete Dinsmore murmured it suavely. His crafty mind wasweighing the difference this made in the problem before the outlaws--thequestion as to what to do with this man. They could not let him go backwith his evidence. It would not be safe to kill him if he had merelystrayed from a band of Rangers. But assuming he told the truth, that hehad no companions, then there was a very easy and simple way out for therustlers. The Ranger could not tell what he knew--however much or littlethat might be--_if he never returned to town_.
"I keep telling you that I'm alone, that I got lost," Arthur insisted."What would I be doing here without a horse if I had friends?"
"Tha's right," agreed Gurley. "I reckon he got lost like he said."
He, too, by the same process of reasoning as Pete Dinsmore, had come toa similar conclusion. He reflected craftily that Ridley was probablytelling the truth. Why should he persist in the claim that he was aloneif he had friends in the neighborhood, since to persuade his captors ofthis was to put himself wholly in their power?
"You're easily fooled, Steve," sneered Homer. "I've camped with thisbird, an' I tell you he's got a passel of Rangers with him somewheres.We're standin' here jawin' waitin' for them to round us up, I reckon."
Overstreet looked at Homer. His eyebrows lifted in a slight surprise. Heand the younger Dinsmore had been side partners for years. Homer was acool customer. It wasn't like him to scare. There was something in thishe did not understand. Anyhow, he would back his pal's play till hefound out.
"I expect you're right. We can easy enough prove it. Let's light out forthe cap-rock an' hole up for a coupla days. Then one of us will slip outan' see if the herd's still here an' no Rangers in sight. We'll keepthis gent a prisoner till we know where we're at? How's that?"
"You talk like we was the United States Army, Dave," growled PeteDinsmore. "We got no way to take care o' prisoners. I'm for settlin'this thing right here."
The outlaws drew closer together and farther from Ridley. He was unarmedand wholly in their power. If he tried to run he could not get twentyyards. The voices of the men fell.
Arthur began to tremble. His face grew gray, his lips bloodless. On theissue of that conference his life hung. The easiest thing to do would beto make an end of him now. Would they choose that way out of thedifficulty? He could see that Gurley had, for the moment at least,joined forces with Homer and Dave Overstreet against Pete, but he couldhear none of the arguments.
"You're wrong, Pete. We're playin' safe. That's all. My notion is thisguy's tellin' the truth. There's only one thing to do. I don't reckonany of us want him to go back to town. But if we do anything with himhere, the Rangers are liable to find his body. Oncet up in the cap-rockwe can dry-gulch him."
The older Dinsmore gave way with an oath. "All right. Have yore own way,boys. Majority rules. We'll postpone this discussion till later."
Gurley brought the horses. Arthur was mounted behind him, his feet tiedbeneath the belly of the horse. The rustlers rode in pairs, HomerDinsmore and Overstreet in the rear.
"What makes you think this fellow has friends near, Homer?" asked hiscompanion.
"He doesn't know enough to ride alone. But I don't care whether he'salone or not. I'm not goin' to have the boy killed. He stood by me onthe island to a finish. Of course that wouldn't go with Steve an' Pete,so I put it on the other ground."
"Want to turn him loose, do you?"
"I'd swear him first to padlock his mouth. He'd do it, too, if he saidso."
"Some risk that, old-timer."
"I got to do it, Dave. Can't throw him down, can I?"
"Don't see as you can. Well, make yore play when you get ready. I'llshove my chips in beside yours. I never yet killed a man except in afight an' I've got no fancy for beginnin' now."
"Much obliged, Dave."
"How far do you 'low to go? If Pete
gets ugly like he sometimes does,he'll be onreasonable."
"I'll manage him. If he does get set there'll be a pair of us. Mebbe I'mjust about as stubborn as he is."
"I believe you. Well, I'll be with you at every jump of the road,"Overstreet promised.
The discussion renewed itself as soon as the outlaws had hiddenthemselves in a pocket of the cap-rock. Again they drew apart from theirprisoner and talked in excited but reduced voices.
"The Rangers have got no evidence we collected this fellow," arguedGurley. "Say he disappears off'n the earth. Mebbe he died of thirst loston the plains. Mebbe a buffalo bull killed him. Mebbe--"
"Mebbe he went to heaven in a chariot of fire," drawled Overstreet, tohelp out the other's imagination.
"The point is, why should we be held responsible? Nobody knows we werewithin fifty miles of him, doggone it."
"That's where you're wrong. The Rangers know it. They're right on ourheels, I tell you," differed Homer Dinsmore.
"We'll get the blame. No manner o' doubt about that," said Overstreet.
"Say we do. They can't prove a thing--not a thing."
"You talk plumb foolish, Steve. Why don't you use yore brains?" answeredHomer impatiently. "We can go just so far. If we overstep the limit thiscountry will get too hot for us. There'll be a grand round-up, an' we'dget ours without any judge or jury. The folks of this country arelaw-abidin', but there's a line we can't cross."
"That's all right," agreed Pete. "But there's somethin' in what Stevesays. If this tenderfoot wandered off an' got lost, nobody's goin' tohold us responsible for him."
"He didn't no such thing get lost. Listen. Tex Roberts was with him theday Steve--fell over the box. Tex was with him when we had the rumpuswith the Kiowas on the Canadian. Those lads hunt together. Is it likelythis Ridley, who don't know sic' 'em, got so far away from the beatentrails alone? Not in a thousand years. There's a bunch of Rangerssomewheres near. We got to play our hands close, Pete."
"We're millin' around in circles, Homer. Why does this fellow Ridleyclaim he's alone? He must know it's up to him to persuade us his friendsare about two jumps behind us."
"One guess is as good as another. Here's mine," said Overstreet. "Hewants to throw us off our guard. He's hopin' we'll pull some fool breakan' the Rangers will make a gather of our whole bunch."
"Good enough," said Homer, nodding agreement. "Another thing. This ladRidley's not game. But he's a long way from bein' yellow. He's not gonnaqueer the campaign of the Rangers by tellin' what he knows."
"Betcha I can make him talk," boasted Gurley. "Put a coupla sticksbetween the roots of his fingers an' press--"
"Think we're a bunch of 'Paches, Steve?" demanded Homer roughly. "Cometo that, I'll say plain that I'm no murderer, let alone torture. I'vekilled when I had to, but the other fellow had a run for his money. IfI beat him to the draw that was his lookout. He had no holler comin'.But this kid--not for me."
"Different here," said Pete evenly. "He knew what he was up against whenhe started. If it was us or him that had to go, I wouldn't hesitate aminute. Question is, what's safest for us?"
"The most dangerous thing for us is to harm him. Do that, an' we won'tlast a month in this country."
"What's yore idea, then, Homer? We can't hold him till Christmas. Soonas we let him go, he'll trot back an' tell all he knows," protested hisbrother irritably.
"What does he know? Nothin' except that we found him when he claimed tobe lost an' that we looked after him an' showed him how to get home.Even if he's seen those cattle he can't prove we burned the brands, canhe?"
"No-o."
"In a day or two we'll take the trail. I'll put it to Ridley that wehaven't time to take him back to town an' that he'd sure get lost if weturned him loose here. We'll drop him somewheres on the trail afterwe've crossed the line."
"Fine an' dandy," jeered Gurley. "We'll introduce him to the herd an'take him along so's he'll be sure we're the rustlers."
They wrangled back and forth, covering the same ground time and again.At last they agreed to postpone a decision till next day.
Homer reported the issue of their debate, colored to suit his purpose,to the white-faced Ranger. "I reckon we'll have to look out for you,Ridley. It wouldn't do to turn you loose. You'd get lost sure. Mebbe ina day or two some of us will be driftin' in to town an' can take youalong."
"If you'd start me in the right direction I think I could find my wayback," Arthur said timidly.
"No chance, young fellow. You'll stay right here till we get good an'ready for you to go. See?"
The Ranger did not push the point. He knew very well it would not be ofthe least use. His fears were temporarily allayed. He felt sure thatHomer Dinsmore would put up a stiff argument before he would let him besacrificed.
Oh, You Tex! Page 31