"Thanks." Ruble Noon looked at the surrounding country thoughtfully. There were dozens of places where an ambush could be waiting.
He watched the old man ride after the horses. Old he might be, but he was far from feeble. His cast with the rope was deft and unerring. He caught up one horse, and then another.
When they had drunk deep from the cool water and had eaten what the old man set out for them, they went out into the air again and Ruble Noon studied the hills, seeking for some gleam of sunlight on a rifle barrel, some indication of an ambush.
"They were most inquirin' about places hereabouts," the old man said. "I told 'em nothin', but the way I figure, there was a point to their askin'. I think that woman knowed what she was lookin' for."
"Yes?"
"They asked most particular about cliff houses an' the like. Now, that was easy. This whole country around was lived in by cliff-dwellin' Injuns. The mesa south of here is split with canyons, and most of 'em has cliff houses. So I told 'em about 'em, and said nothin' at all about the tree house."
The tree house? Ruble Noon felt a little thrill of excitement; something rang a bell in his mind, but he waited. More things were coming back to him, his brain seemed to be clearing of the fog that had settled over it But the tree house? Where was it? And what about it?
"You've known the tree house for a long time, haven't you?" he said.
The old man shrugged. "I reckon. It was me that found it and showed it to Tom Davidge. We'd been huntin' elk, him an' me; an' old Tom, he put a bullet into one and I went after it, tryin' for another shot. I passed that there tree, noticed somethin' odd about it, an' later I come back for a look-see.
"It was big an' old-a sycamore, an' they ain't too many growin' right around here. Great big limbs all bent and gnarled where they run into the flat face of the cliff. That sycamore was healthy an' strong, but what taken my eye was some sort of polished places on the branches up close to the rock. It looked like somebody had been climbin' ... so I climbed.
"That was the way I found that cliff house," he went on. "Old? I'd say it was as old as any hereabouts, but this one had been patched up, an' that a mighty long time ago. Up there in that house I found me an old Spanish dagger an' an axe, the kind those Spanish men used who first come into New Mexico. The way I figure it, somebody found this place, maybe somebody who was with Rivera when he come through here 'way back in the 1700's.
"Later, that gent needed a hide-out. Maybe he killed somebody down in the Spanish settlements, maybe he just wanted to git away. Anyway, he fetched up back here, fixed that place up, an' lived there maybe for years. I figure he finally broke a leg, or maybe tangled with a grizzly, or some Utes. A lot of things can happen to a man alone."
"Did Tom Davidge go there often?" Noon asked. Then, seeing the old man glance at Fan, he added, "This is Mr. Davidge's daughter Fan."
"I reckoned it. Fact is, Davidge went there mighty few times until toward the last, when he made a few trips. He liked to set up there, he said."
Ruble Noon walked inside and poured another cup of coffee. It was reasonable to suppose that the tree house would be just the sort of place Tom Davidge might choose in which to hide whatever he had. There were a lot of things about Tom Davidge that might have been explained if one had only known his past. He had the ways and the style of an outlaw, or of a man who expected that someday he would need to make a last-ditch fight. His was obviously a devious mind, but that was not unexpected. Many men had come west to escape the consequences of some lawless act, or to find surroundings in which to begin anew. Whatever he was, after coming to this region Tom Davidge had apparently lived a good life and had built well.
Ruble Noon knew that he and Fan must get to the tree house. There was a good chance it was the place where Tom Davidge had hidden his money, and it was just possible that Peg Cullane was acting upon some clue, or some definite information that she had. On her own, she might locate the tree house and find whatever was there.
"You know," he said, "I think we may be able to end all this. We will go to the tree house."
He did not know where it was, and he said to the old man, "You can come with us. We will all go together."
The old man looked up, smiling slyly. "I cannot go. I think the lady and the man with her will come back, an' if I'm not here they'll search for me. There's no way to figure what they might do then ... or what they might find."
Then he added, "Not even you, Ruble Noon, want to tangle with the likes of German Bayles an' Finn Cagle ... not both of 'em together, you don't."
Chapter Seventeen
Finn Cagle and German Bayles ... he knew of them. They had been involved in several sheep and cattle wars, and Bayles had ridden for a time as a shotgun guard for Wells Fargo. His activities had seesawed back and forth on both sides of the law. Cagle had always been on the wrong side, and he had served a term in Yuma's Territorial Prison. Both men were professionals, and they were expensive to hire. And so was Lynch Manly, who had hunted him down on the Rio Grande.
Had Peg Cullane broken with Ben Janish? Or were these men her insurance that she would get a square deal? Or her kind of a deal, whatever it might be?
The thought that had come to him while the old man was speaking was simple enough. If they could find the money and get it into a bank in Denver, there would no longer be any reason for a fight.
Without getting the Davidge money, Peg could not afford to hire such men, nor would there be any reason to hire them. Ben Janish might just drift away. If not, he must be driven out; but the money was the thing. Get the money safely away from their grasping fingers and there was no longer a problem.
Denver ... if he and Fan could find the money, they would have to get to Denver.
But first, the money, and that meant the tree house, but he did not know where the tree house was. Moreover, he dared not ask directly. The question would arouse the suspicions of the old man, and might even create a desire to act on his own ... or to communicate with Peg Cullane.
He turned and went back inside and filled his cup with coffee ... He carried it out to the porch, and took his time over it ... The tree was a sycamore, and it grew against the face of a cliff. It was very little to start with, but it was something.
Carefully, he studied the area. There would be a trail of sorts toward the tree house, but it would not be an obvious one, for only Tom Davidge had gone there often. From where Ruble Noon stood he could see no cliffs, only trees and the mountains beyond.
"I was thinking," he commented, "that Spanish soldier, if that's what he was-the one you figure lived in the tree house-he must have had some troubling times, all alone like that, with nobody to help him watch for Indians. And if they chose to camp nearby he'd never dare leave the place."
He was fishing for a clue-any clue. But the old man merely shrugged. "Long as he had enough grub," he said, "nobody was goin' to get at him."
"I wonder how it was then," Noon said. "Could he see very far? Were there many trees then?"
The old man grunted. "He couldn't see very far at no time. Did you ever look at them trees? Some of 'em must've growed right there for years an' years. Even if he could've seen past that sycamore, he'd never see through that curtain of pines. Why, those pines must be two, three hundred years old!"
"You mentioned that woman who'd been here. Did she ride toward the tree house? I mean, she might be there now, waiting for us."
"Not unless she circled around. She went off down the trail yonder. If she circled, she'd have to come up the draw an' the lower end of that meadow." He pointed. "An' there ain't much chance of that."
"Well," Ruble Noon said, "we can ride over there without worrying too much. However," he added casually, "we'd like to have the first chance to spot them. Is there any way of getting to the tree house without going the usual way?"
"Might be," the old man said. "I reckon a body could ride down past the barn yonder, then toiler around the corral. That would keep him out of sight most of the way. La
st few times he was here, Tom Davidge went thataway."
"Thanks. We'll be back, but if anybody should ask, you haven't seen anyone."
They mounted their horses and rode past the barn. "I was fishing," Ruble commented. "I had no idea how to get there."
Beyond the corral they struck a dim trail into the bed of a stream that skirted the base of a cliff. When they had gone something less than a mile the stream curved away from the cliff; but against the cliff there was a wall of pines, and beyond the pines they could see the wide-spreading limbs of a huge old sycamore.
Ruble Noon drew rein and listened. There was no sound except the wind in the trees, a faint rustling from the stream, and somewhere the sound of a walking horse-a horse that walked, then paused, then walked on again.
On their right, under a slight overhang screened by the pines, was a place where horses had been tied, to judge by the droppings and the hoof marks. A pole had been notched into the rock wall to serve as a hitching rail.
Ruble Noon swung down, then moved forward and leaned against a tree, looking toward the direction of the approaching horse.
Fan Davidge got down quickly and moved toward the sycamore, which offered concealment enough for two people.
Suddenly the rider came into sight - it was Miguel Lebo!
Ruble Noon stepped into the open. "Miguel! What's happened?"
"They are coming, amigo. All of them. They rode out very suddenly this morning after they took much time to study a carta ... a map, you know. I looked at it after they left, and it was a map of the rancho of Senor Davidge. It showed this place, and I hear one man say, "That must be where they go.' And another say, 'Then it is there.' And then they all go to their horses to ride.
"Henneker, he knows of this place, and he told me how to get here fast by the old outlaw trail, and I came. They are close behind me."
Ruble Noon turned quickly. "Fan ... go into the tree house and search it. And see if there's a way out. Lebo, duck into the rocks near the base of the tree. If worse comes to the worst, we'll make our stand there."
Lebo was wearing two extra cartridge belts, and Ruble Noon dug into the grub sack for extra cartridges, refilling his pockets. Then he climbed the tree behind Fan and passed the grub sack to her.
The gigantic sycamore had crushed itself against the rock wall, growing into a natural espalier that offered both a ladder giving access to the ledge, as well as a screen hiding the ancient cliff house behind it.
Dropping back to the ground, he squatted on his heels beside Lebo. The Mexican tipped his hat back on his head and grinned at Noon.
"Have any trouble at the ranch?" Noon asked.
"There was nobody there, at first," Lebo said. "Then a man came, a big blonde young man. He thought the senorita was still there. Nobody had told him she was gone. He rode away then. I think," Lebo added, "he had run into trouble on the mountain."
"You didn't see Henneker or Billing?"
"Only a Chinese cook who grumbled when he fed me, but who fed me well."
"How did you come to be here?"
"I know of this place," Lebo said. "Once, long ago when I was no more than fourteen years, I come here with my father. He was looking for gold. A long time ago, he said, the Spanish came here for gold, and some had been hidden, but we did not find any. But my father hid in this place"-he gestured toward the tree house- "when the Utes were nearby."
He dropped his cigarro into the dirt and rubbed it out with his toe. "Somebody comes," he said.
There were five in the group, and Peg Cullane was one of them. Judge Niland was beside her, and Ben Janish. Lyman Manly was there, and John Lang.
Despite the miles she must have ridden, Peg Cullane looked neat, and as cool as ever. She drew up a short distance away and looked at Ruble Noon, who had gotten to his feet.
"You should have listened when you had the chance," she said. "Now you have no chance."
"That's a matter of opinion," he said coolly.
"There are five of us," she said.
"But only one that's you," he replied calmly, "and that needs only one bullet."
"You'd shoot a woman?"
He smiled. "You've chosen to play games with the boys, and when you do that, you accept the penalties. I see here only four men and one cold, treacherous wench who would betray her best friend for a dollar."
Her anger flared but he ignored her as she started to speak, and he said to the others, "I hope you've considered that. Whatever you might get out of this will be what she wants you to get, and that will be almighty little. Be sure of this: she's already planned to have it all."
As he spoke he was thinking of Cagle and Bayles ... where were they?
Were they even now getting into position somewhere to attack him? Or were they her insurance of keeping the money after she had it? Did Judge Niland know of them? Did Janish?
Another thought came to mind. Who had killed Dean Cullane? Was it Janish? He had believed so, but he was no longer sure. . . . What about Judge Niland? It could be Niland.
Miguel Lebo was out of sight, and it was doubtful if they even knew of his being in this region, for so much had happened so fast.
Ruble Noon did not want a shooting, but if it had to be, he was prepared. He faced them, thinking coolly that he would have to take Janish first, though the others were just as dangerous. Niland, who was good in the woods and good with a rifle, might not be so good with a six-gun. Strangely, it was not Ben Janish who worried him so much as Lang, a cool, quiet man seemingly without nerves.
"Give us the money," Peg Cullane said, "and you can ride out of here."
Ruble Noon laughed. He could sense a change in himself, something brought about by the tension of the moment. He was ready, he was anxious for them to begin. He wanted them to open the ball. He wanted them to make a move.
He took an easy step forward. "Well, boys, this is what you came to town for. This is what you carry your guns for. Somebody draws, somebody dies ... maybe all of us. Who wants to start the music?"
Lyman Manly edged to one side, easing his horse over, and Ruble Noon laughed at him. "Don't try to get out of it, Manly. I could have had you back on the Rio Grande. I was standing right behind you when you were questioning Senora Lebo. I could have cut you in two, but I didn't think it was worth it."
He wanted to make them uneasy, unsure. He wanted to worry them, to make them shoot too fast, be too ready to turn....
"You boy's haven't kept track of Arch Billing, have you? Or Henneker? That old coot is tougher than the lot of you, did you guess that? He'd take your hair and never give it a thought. ... Do you think we're alone here? Just you five and me?"
"He's bluffing!" Niland said impatiently. Then he said, "Don't be a fool! You're an intelligent man. You've lost nothing here. You can go back to your own life, pick up where you left off and nobody be the wiser. All you have to do is tell where the money is."
"You'd take it and run?" Ruble Noon smiled grimly. He was feeling good. He was ready for what was going to happen, and he wanted it to happen. Even as he thought that, he knew it was dangerous thinking. He was an intelligent man and, he hoped, a civilized one.
The trouble was, he was facing a group of people who cared not one whit for the rights of others. They did not want peacerbecause they could profit by violence; and violence was their way. It was not a matter of what would happen, it was only when.
They would like nothing better than for him to turn to walk away so they could shoot him in the back. But he had been pushed, hunted, driven, and now he would be driven no longer.
Suddenly, in a clear, cool voice, Fan Davidge spoke behind him and from above. She would be on the ledge, aiming through the leaves. They could not even see her.
"Ruble, you don't have to shoot Peg. I'll do it. If she makes a move toward a gun, I'll shoot her right in the face. At this range I can't miss."
He saw Peg's features go taut. He saw her frightened look to left and right. Peg wanted to kill, not to be killed ... or rath
er, she wanted the money, and she would not care at all who got killed as long as it was not herself. Now she was looking straight at the barrel of a rifle and she could not even see Fan Davidge.
Ruble Noon gave a faint smile at the shock of surprise that went through them all-Fan was here! And if she was here, who else might be?
"I'll take Manly, amigo," Lebo said then. "I want him first."
Another one! And this a voice they had never heard. A slight Spanish accent ... a Spanish word ... Judge Niland's eyes were a little wider now.
"There's going to be some empty saddles tonight," Ruble Noon said. "Everybody is spoken for but you, Ben, so that leaves you to me. And I owe you one. That bullet of yours gave me a few headaches. .. . And by the way, was it you who murdered Dean Cullane? Or was it Niland?"
Peg gave a quick, involuntary move to look at Ben Janish, and the gunman's face went white. "Damn you, Noon!" he said. "I'm going to-"
"Any time," Noon said calmly. "Just any time."
"Wait!There was sheer panic in Peg Cullane's tone. She had no doubt that Fan would shoot her, because in Fan's place she would certainly have shot, and Peg did not want to die.
"We will ride off," she said. "You win this round. But don't think this is over."
"Ride," Ruble Noon said. "You can all ride except Ben Janish."
"All right, Noon," Janish said quietly, "if you want it that way."
"I do," Noon said.
The others were turning away, slowly so as not to attract a shot. There were men in the brush and trees, men in the cliff house, and they had no idea how many. But however many there were, none but Noon presented a target for them. They might kill him, but they would be shot to pieces themselves.
"I'm on the ground, Ben," Noon said quietly. "You might as well get down. After I kill you, I don't want them saying I took advantage."
Ben Janish stared at him. Then he carefully gathered the reins in his left hand.
He will throw his leg over, hit the ground in a crouch, and shoot under the horse's belly,Ruble Noon told himself.
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