The Big Country

by Donald Hamilton

  Leech stepped back to give him room to rise. Looking up at the tall ranch foreman, McKay thought, His footwork will be poor in those boots. If he’s careful of his hands, as Ramon says, he won’t risk them against my head, a low guard will be sufficient. And he’s proud of his looks so he'll protect his own face carefully. Well, Mr. McKay, what are you waiting for? There was a sickness inside him, and a perverse and savage pleasure as well.

  He drew himself together to come up with a rush, in that moment Steve Leech reached out a long arm and casually flicked the hard hat from his head, to the sound of appreciative laughter. McKay saw the hat roll away; and suddenly he remembered Julie Maragon’s clear voice saying, A special kind of courage-the courage not to mind looking like a damn fool.

  After a moment, he drew a long breath, and brushed the dust from his clothes. He picked up the hat, turned his back on Steve Leech, and walked away, passing the girl by the house and her father without looking aside or speaking.

  There was never any triumphant feeling afterward; you had to be a man of God to actively enjoy turning the other cheek. Nevertheless, like most things that involved some difficulty, it was nice to know that you could do it. Well, he thought wryly, that’s over. In his room, he washed and shaved. He was putting his coat back on when somebody knocked at the door.

  There was never any triumphant feeling afterward; you had to be a man of God to actively enjoy turning the other cheek. Nevertheless, like most things that involved some difficulty, it was nice to know that you could do it. Well, he thought wryly, that’s over. In his room, he washed and shaved. He was putting his coat back on when somebody knocked at the door.

  “Jim?”

  “Come in,” he said.

  Patricia stepped inside, leaving the door open behind her. She had changed for dinner, into a white dress that left most of her shoulders bare. Her heavy crown of fair hair seemed to shine in the lamplight. He thought he had never seen anyone quite so lovely.

  “I’m sorry about-about what happened,” she said, not quite meeting his eyes. “I declare I can’t imagine what got into Steve-"

  “I can,” he said.

  She flushed slightly. “Well, I suppose he must be jealous, although I’m sure I’ve never given him the slightest-” She broke off. “Come on, darling, you must be starving and Dad’s waiting. It’s been a trying day for everyone. Let’s- let’s just not talk about it, shall we?”

  “Why not?” he said deliberately. “Better now than after we’re married and it’s too late.”

  “Jim, I-”

  “What do you want, my dear?” he asked. “If you want a man who’ll shoot to kill at the slightest provocation, risk his neck on a wild horse for no particularly good reason, and fight with anyone who feels like a brawl, it’s obvious that you’ve made a poor selection.”

  She said, rather sharply, “You make it sound so-so childish.”

  “It is childish.”

  She hesitated, then she drew herself up slightly and said “Courage isn’t childish, Jim McKay! It’s very important out here.”

  “No,” he said, shaking his head quickly. “No, Pat, that’s just the point. Courage isn’t something to be displayed on demand, like a railroad ticket. I have no intention of producing mine for inspection-assuming I do have some-every time somebody wants a look at it. I once knew a man who did that, I don’t want to be like him. I’m not going to spend the rest of my life demonstrating to you or Mr. Leech or anyone else how brave I am.”

  She licked her lips and said in an even and toneless voice, “I think you’ve already demonstrated that, Jim. Quite fully enough?"

  He looked at her, rather shocked. They faced each other in total silence for a full minute, maybe more. In that space of time so nothing terrible. and irrevocable happened between them, and they both knew it.

  "I don’t understand you!” Patricia cried abruptly. “I don’t see how-how you could humiliate me so, coming here in that ridiculous hat that makes you look like a whiskey drummer, and-and letting yourself be pushed around as if you didn’t have a spark of manhood-, I can’t imagine what I saw in you. It must have been the ship and the uniform and the air of authority, it’s very easy to be strong and masterful with law and tradition and a couple of rich uncles behind you! It’s a little different when you have to stand on your own two feet, isn’t it, Jim?”

  He cleared his throat, and spoke quietly to end the scene. “If you’ll have somebody saddle a horse for me, I’ll pack my things. I’d appreciate your sending the bags to the hotel in the wagon the next time it goes to town.”

  She turned on her heel, and went out. He closed the door, and took from his pocket the piece of paper with Julie Maragon’s signature that, he remembered, he had been planning to display triumphantly the minute he reached the ranch. He made a wry face at it, folded it carefully, and put it away in the depleted money belt he still wore.

  He thought himself to have his emotions under excellent control but the sudden sense of loss and loneliness took him by surprise. He had to steady himself against the bedpost for a moment, before he turned away to pack.

  Chapter 14

  JULIE MARAGON checked her horse when she saw the lights of Ladder ahead. In the two years that had passed since she had been welcome here, she had forgotten what an impressive sight it made even at night-the long house, a blaze with yellow lamplight, lying in the bend of the river that gleamed dully with the reflection of the starlit evening sky. As she urged the horse into motion, a tall figure stepped out of the shadows by the house to meet her as she rode up. Steve Leech came forward and looked up at her.

  “Riding late, ma’am,” he said.

  It occurred to her to wonder what he had been doing, standing there so still, almost as if he had been listening to the voices from the open front windows. She dismissed the first suspicion that came to mind, the man was loyal, if only because his fortunes and ambitions were bound up with Ladder, particularly now that his gun, according to McKay‘s report, had taken the life of a Hannesey spy. No, Steve Leech would not betray his employers, but he was the kind of man who would want to know what was being said in the big house for the pleasure and power the knowledge gave him. Or perhaps he was simply waiting for someone to come out to him or invite him in...

  Yes, I’m riding late, Steve,” Julie said. “Is Pat in there?”

  Maybe,” the foreman said coolly. “Does she want to see you, Miss Julie? Last I heard, she had no wish to meet you again. But maybe you’ve got business here that’ll change her feelings?"

  She thought, So they don't know he's bought it yet. Does that mean that he's simply not told, or that he hasn't come back? Her errand now seemed a stupid one that could easily be misconstrued, and, after all, what was James McKay to her? She could not be held responsible for every wandering tenderfoot who passed her door. She made a face at her own thoughts and, since Leech made no move to hand her down, extricated herself from the sidesaddle without help and dropped to the ground, pausing to slap at her dusty skirt before she spoke again.

  “I’m not selling any ranches tonight, if that’s what you mean,” she said, “I just dropped by to ask-"

  “Steve! Is that you, Steve?” The Major’s voice was loud and challenging. The front door swung open, throwing light across the yard. “Who’s there? Who’s sneaking around out there? Speak up before I put a bullet-, Steve, damn it, what are you doing there?”

  Another figure appeared in the lighted doorway. Patricia put her hand on her father’s arm. “Oh, put that gun down, Dad, before you hurt somebody. Who were you talking to, Steve? We heard you through the window. I declare, it’s so dark out there I can’t see a thing. Where are you hiding, anyway?”

  Julie felt Steve Leech grasp her arm firmly, then he was leading her forward without gentleness so that the impression they made, as they came into the. lamplight, was that of prisoner and captor. It was a characteristic Steve Leech trick, she reflected grimly.

  “It’s Julie Maragon,” the for
eman said-, “I saw her riding in, Miss Pat, so I thought I’d better come out and see what she wanted.”

  “What does she want?”

  “She won’t say. Just that she didn’t come here to sell anything.”

  “Well, put her back on her horse,” the Major said harshly. “Put her on her horse and kick her out of here. I didn't think the slut would have the nerve to show her face among decent people, after the way she-after the way-” He seemed to lose his way in the middle of the sentence, and he reached out a hand to steady himself against the door jamb. “Ah, I think I’ll go to bed, daughter,” he said thickly. “No, no, I’m perfectly all right, perfectly all right. Just a little tired. It’s been an emotional strain, the past few days, my dear. I didn’t want to influence you in any way. It’s your life, not mine. Didn’t want to influence you. Knew you’d make the right-the right decision. Very glad-very glad-”

  His voice trailed away. He turned and walked slowly and unsteady into the house. Julie, watching, felt a sense of shock and dismay. Why, he’s old, she thought, old and drunk. She pulled her arm out of Steve Leech's grasp and stepped forward.

  “Where’s Mr. McKay?” she asked.

  The tall girl in the doorway looked surprised at the question, then she laughed. “Who knows?” she said with an expansive gesture. “Who knows where Mr. McKay is? Why, he probably doesn’t know himself where he is, by this time!” She leaned forward to peer at her visitor narrowly. “Did you come all this way to ask about him?”

  Steve Leech said, “Should I send her away, ma’am?”

  “Yes-no, wait a minute. This is very interesting-, All right, Steve. She’s here, she might as well come in. Don’t bother to put her horse away. She won’t be staying long.”

  “I’ll be out here if you want me, ma’am.”

  Patricia laughed sharply. “I declare I don’t know what I’d want with you after the way you’ve acted today!” She turned away, signaling Julie to follow her with an impatient gesture. “Men are all plumb mad,” She said over her shoulder. “There’s not a lick of sense in any of them. That big oaf swaggering and brawling as if he owned the ranch! I’m going to fire him. That’s what I’m going to do...”

  The living room was illuminated like a ballroom. Julie could see the two of them in the great mirror over the fireplace as they entered, she in her dusty riding clothes and Patricia in her shining white dress. She watched Patricia go directly to the table, pick up one of the two goblets that stood there, and splash brandy into it from a half-empty bottle.

  “We’ve been celebrating a little, Dad and I,” the taller girl said. “Poor Dad, he thinks it’s terribly unlady like when I take a little drink of brandy with him-and then it’s he who has to go to bed. Personally, I don’t feel a bit sleepy. If you want to stay overnight, you can. Just get out before Dad wakes up in the morning. I’ve got enough to worry me without you putting him in a temper.”

  “Thanks just the same,” Julie said. “I’ll head back to town. I like riding at night.”

  “You always did have romantic ideas.” Patricia raised her voice slightly. “I think I will fire Steve. What does he think I am? A cow elk to be won in combat? A prize for a boxing match?” She glanced at the open window and mimicked the foreman’s voice loudly and cruelly, “ ‘Yoah not good enough fo’ her, suh, an’ Ah aims tuh prove it!’ I declare, has everybody on this ranch gone plumb crazy? Giving our guests trick horses to ride and knocking them down in the dirt! If your foreman behaved like that, Julie, you’d get rid of him, wouldn’t you?” She turned her back on the window, a small and secret smile on her lips, and sipped her brandy cautiously. When she spoke again, her voice was almost inaudible, “But at least-at least he acted like a man!” She stared blindly into the goblet for a moment, and her mouth quivered. “Oh, I’m so m-miserable, Julie, I w-wish I’d d-die!”

  Julie felt wave of sympathy sweep over her as she looked at the other girl standing there forlornly, tall and slender and lovely and a little intoxicated, her hair not quite as smooth as it might be and her dress slightly disarranged.

  “You’re talking riddles, Patsy. What’s happened here, anyway?”

  Patricia raised, her head quickly. “You know I detest being called Patsy.”

  “Uh-huh,” Julie said, seating herself on the sofa "That's better. You probably haven’t got anything as practical as a handkerchief stashed away in all that finery-heaven only knows where you’d find room for it in that!, so use mine, Here.” She held it out, and Patricia came forward to take it. Julie said, “Fine. Now sit down beside me and blow your nose and tell Aunt Julie all about it.”

  Patricia sat down and dabbed at her eyes. “It’s been- such a nightmare, Julie!” she moaned unhappily. “He-he wasn’t at all like I remembered. I kept thinking of the first time I saw him on deck, as we were leaving harbor,” Patricia said without looking up. “There was only one man on the whole ship! Do you know what I mean? And then he comes out here and-here-and acts like a perfect mouse!”

  Julie said, “Well, what did you expect him to do, bring his ship with him?”

  “I don’t think that’s very funny, Julie!”

  “Well, it doesn’t sound to me like you’re being very fair to poor Mr. McKay. After all, just how remarkable do you think Steve Leech would look if you got him on shipboard? You seem to think Mr. McKay should have turned into a native Texan in three days. Incidentally, since we re talking about him so matter-of-factly, I assume he got home all right even though he doesn’t seem to be much in evidence.

  That’s the reason I dropped by. I was a little worried about him.”

  “Oh, yes,” Patricia said tartly. “He got home, finally. Steve found him just about dusk, wandering around east of the river somewhere. What he was doing over there when he’d started out on the other side, Heaven only knows-, She looked up abruptly. “Why, how did you know he was lost, Julie?”

  “I didn’t,” Julie said. “I just saw him this noon. He stopped by Big Muddy. I fed him lunch and-and showed him the trail north.” It seemed better to be discreet, after all, the deal they had made was McKay’s secret to divulge in his own way. “Then, when I was starting back to town, I got a little worried-after all, he is new to the country-, “so I decided I’d ride over this way and just check that he made it all right with his funny little map and compass.”

  Patricia had risen from the sofa. Her face was pale. “Julie, is that the truth?”

  “Is what the truth?”

  You’re saying that Jim was clear down to Big Muddy today?”

  “'Why, yes. I rode out there yesterday. This morning I cleaned up the house a little-I don’t like to let it just fall to pieces, even if I’m not living there. I was Just making myself something to eat afterward, when I heard a man at the pump, so I took my rifle and went out and there he was, filling his water bottle. We had lunch together. I sent him off about two o’clock.”

  “He wasn’t-he wasn’t in trouble?” Patricia asked.

  “Not so you’d notice. Oh, he was glad to get something to eat, I will say that. Said he was saving the rest of his grub in case he didn’t make it back here tonight. He seemed to know what he was doing, so I let him go off alone. Later I got to feeling uneasy about it. That’s not much of a trail. She frowned. “What’s this about Steve finding him wandering about lost, anyway? I had his tracks ahead of me on the trail until it was too dark to see, and if he got up here from Big Muddy by dusk I’d say he was making pretty good time for a man who didn’t know the country. What’s going on anyway, Pat? Where is Mr. McKay?”

  Patricia licked her lips. She said, “Well, I suppose he’s about ten miles on his way to town by now, if he didn’t decide to stop for the night. He left a couple of hours ago.”

  Julie stared at her. “You sent him away, Pat?”

  The taller girl nodded.

  “But why, for heaven’s sake?”

  “Because-" Patricia’s dress whispered as she turned away, she was silent for a long time. "He b
acked down from Steve,” she said breathlessly at last. “Oh, I’m not excusing Steve, it was unforgivable, but Steve knocked him down and Jim just looked at him and got up and walked away. And he didn’t have to let Buck Hannesey walk all over him, and when Dad wanted him to ride on Blanco Canyon he found five good excuses not to go, and maybe Steve shouldn’t have saddled Old Thunder for him to ride, but it was just a joke and he could have let the boys have their laugh instead of letting on he was afraid of the horse. And then getting lost and making a fool of himself-"

  Julie said, "We just have Steve's word that he was lost. My own impression is that Mr. McKay is a hard man to lose-he's also a man who doesn't go out of his way to explain much. What did he say when he got here?"

  "Why, he just apologized for causing everybody a lot of trouble. We’d been searching for him all day.”

  “Why? Didn’t he let you know he was going riding?”

  “Well, he left word with Ramon that he might be gone overnight, but when he wasn’t back by late morning, Steve said we’d better start hunting-”

  “It seems to me,” Julie said dryly, “there’s an awful lot of Steve in this story. What are you saying about Mr. McKay being afraid to ride Old Thunder?” ‘

  “Well he was, and you don’t have to take Steve’s word for that!” Patricia said, rather sharply. “I saw it myself. It was right afterward, While we were up at Caballo Springs, that he rode out of here and wasn’t seen again for thirty-six hours. Lost or not, he probably didn’t want to face us right after that little performance.”

  Julie said thoughtfully, “That’s funny. When he came to Big Muddy I laughed at how stiff and sore he seemed to be. He said he’d had some trouble with a horse. Old Thunder was mentioned. Are you sure-”

  “Of course I’m sure!” Patricia exclaimed. “I was standing on the porch watching.”

  Julie glanced at her oddly. “And you gave him no warning? You didn’t tell the man you are-were-going to marry that he was about to be the victim of a cruel joke ? What if he’d been hurt?”