The Desert Fiddler

by William H. Hamby

  CHAPTER XVI

  Mrs. Barnett went direct from the bank to Reedy Jenkins' office. Asshe climbed the outside stairway she was so angry she forgot to watchto see that her skirts did not lift above her shoe tops. As sheentered the door her head was held as high and stiff as though she hadbeen insulted by a disobedient cook. White showed around her mouth andthe base of her nose, and her nostrils were dilated.

  "Why, Mrs. Barnett!" Reedy arose with an oratorical gesture. "What apleasant surprise. Have a chair."

  She took the chair he placed for her without a word and her right handclutched the wrist of the left. She was breathing audibly.

  "Did you see Rogeen?" Jenkins suggested suavely.

  "Yes." The tone indicated that total annihilation should be the end ofthat unworthy creature. But her revenge, like Reedy's expectations,was in the future. She hated to confess this. She breathed hardtwice. "And I'll show him whose word counts."

  "You don't mean," Reedy swiped his left hand roughly at the wisp ofhair on his forehead, "that he disregarded your wishes?"

  "He certainly did." Indignation was getting the better of her voice."The low-lived--the contemptible--common person. And he insulted mewith that--that creature."

  "Well, of all the gall!" Reedy was quite as indignant as Mrs. Barnett,for very different if more substantial reasons. He had seen more andmore that a fight with Rogeen was ahead, a fight to the finish; and thefurther he went the larger that fight looked. The easiest way to smasha man, Reedy had found, was to deprive him of money. A man can't carryout many schemes unless he can get hold of money. Jenkins had kept aclose eye on Jim Crill, and had grown continually more uneasy lest theold chap become too favourably impressed with Rogeen. He had earlysensed the old man's weak spot--one of them--Crill hated to bepestered. That was the vulnerable side at which Evelyn Barnett, theniece, could jab. And Reedy had planned all her attacks. This lastmove of Crill's--hiring Rogeen to lend money for him, had alarmed Reedymore than anything that had happened. For it would give Rogeen a biginfluence on the Mexican side. Most of the ranchers needed to borrowmoney, and it would put the man on whose word the loans would be madein mighty high favour. To offset this, Reedy had engineered an attackby Mrs. Barnett on the old gentleman's leisure. She had worried himand nagged him with the argument that he ought not to bother with a lotof business details, but should turn them over to her. She would seeto the little things for him. He had reluctantly granted some sort ofconsent to this, a consent which Evelyn had construed meant blanketauthority.

  "He flatly refused," Mrs. Barnett was still thinking blisteringly ofBob Rogeen, "to obey my wishes in the matter. I told him plainly," shebit her lips again, "that neither Uncle nor I would consent to moneybeing furnished women like that."

  "I should say not." Reedy agreed with unctuous righteousness in hisplump face. "And to think of that scalawag, making a loan right inyour face, after you had vetoed it."

  "He'll never make another." Mrs. Barnett's lips would have almost bita thread in two. "Just wait until I get to Uncle Jim!"

  "I'll drive you up," said Reedy. He reached to the top of the desk forhis hat.

  "Of course," remarked Reedy on the way, "your uncle is very generous towant to help these fellows across the line that are broke. But theyare riff-raff. He will lose every dollar of it. I know them. GoodLord! haven't I befriended them, and helped them fifty ways? And dothey appreciate it? Well, I should say not!"

  "The more you do for people the less they appreciate it," said Mrs.Barnett still in a bitter mood.

  "Some people," corrected Reedy. "There are a few, a very few, whonever forget a favour."

  "Yes, that is true," assented the widow, and began to relent in hermind, seeing how kind was Mr. Jenkins.

  "I'm very sorry," continued Reedy, frowning, "that your uncle has takenup this fellow. I've been looking up Rogeen's past--and he is no good,absolutely no good. Been a drifter all his life. Never had a hundreddollars of his own.

  "By the way," Reedy suddenly remembered a coincidence in regard to thatundertaker's receipt, "where was it your husband lost the sale of thatmine?"

  "At Blindon, Colorado."

  "By George!" Reedy released the wheel with the right hand and slappedhis leg. "I thought so. Do you know who that young man with thefiddle was who ruined your fortune?"

  "No." Evelyn Barnett came around sharply.

  "Bob Rogeen--that fellow who insulted you this morning."

  "No? Not really?" Angry incredulity.

  Reedy nodded. "As I told you, I've been looking up his past. And Igot the story straight."

  "The vile scoundrel!" Mrs. Barnett said, bitterly. "And to think Unclewould trust him with his money."

  "We must stop it," said Reedy. "It isn't right that your uncle shouldbe fleeced by this rascal."

  "He shan't be!" declared Mrs. Barnett, gritting her teeth.

  "There are too many really worthy investments," added Reedy.

  "I'll see that this is the last money that man gets," Mrs. Barnettasseverated.

  "Your uncle is a little bull headed, isn't he?" suggested Reedy,cautiously. "Better be careful how you approach him."

  "Oh, I'll manage him, never fear," she said positively.

  Jenkins set Mrs. Barnett down at the entrance to the bungalow court.He preferred that Jim Crill should not see him with her. It might leadhim to think Reedy was trying to influence her.

  As Mrs. Barnett stalked up the steps, Jim Crill was sitting on theporch in his shirt sleeves, smoking.

  "How are you feeling, dear?" she asked, solicitously.

  "Ain't feelin'," Crill grunted--"I'm comfortable."

  Evelyn sank into a chair, held her hands, and sighed.

  "Oh, dear, it is so lonely since poor Tom Barnett died."

  Uncle Jim puffed on--he had some faint knowledge of the poor deceasedTom.

  "Do you know, Uncle Jim, I made a discovery to-day. The man who keptmy poor husband from making a fortune was that person."

  "What person?" growled the old chap looking straight ahead.

  "That Rogeen person you are trusting your money to."

  Jim Crill bit his pipe stem to hide a dry grin. He had often heard thestory of the bursted mine sale. He had some suspicions, knowingBarnett, of what the mine really was.

  "And, Uncle Jim, of course you won't keep him. Besides, he insulted methis morning."

  "How?" It was another grunt.

  Evelyn went into the painful details of her humiliation at the bank."When she got through Uncle Jim turned sharply in his chair.

  "Did you do that?"

  "Do what?" gasped Evelyn.

  "Try to interfere with his loans?"

  "Why, why, yes." She was aghast at the tone, ready to shed protectivetears. "Didn't you tell me--wasn't I to have charge of the littlethings?"

  "Oh, hell!" Uncle Jim burst out. "Little things, yes--about the houseI meant. Not my business. Dry up that sobbing now--and don't monkeyany more with my business."

  Uncle Jim got up and stalked off downtown.