The Last Straw

by Harold Titus

  CHAPTER XXII

  THE REVEREND'S STRATEGY

  Throughout the day the sun beat into the canyon, its heat relieved byrare breezes of brief duration. What wind did come raised swirls ofdust and rustled wilted foliage, for the country had become ash dry.

  The cattle, most of them on their fourth waterless day, bawleddismally, a thirsty chorus rising as the day aged. They did not eat;they wandered rapidly about seeking moisture. Those spots of the creekbed which showed damp above and below Cole's fence were tramped topowder by uneasy hoofs and a narrow area outside the fence was cut tofluff by the restless wanderings of the suffering steers.

  As afternoon came on they abandoned their futile search for unguardeddrink and clung closer to the wire barrier, snuffing loudly as theirnostrils drank in the smell of water as greedily as their throats wouldhave swallowed the fluid itself. Their eyes became wider, wilder, andthe bawling was without cessation. Flanks pumped the hot air into theirbodies in rapid tempo and slaver hung from loose chops. The herd was indesperate condition.

  Now and then a big beefer would rush the fence as if to tear his waythrough but the new wire and solid posts always flung them back. Again,another would push his head tentatively between the strands and attemptentrance by gentler methods, but always they were driven back either byone of the HC riders or by Cole himself.

  By the time the sun was half way to the horizon the steers were movingin a compact mass back and forth along the fence, snuffing, crying,sobbing in dry throats, bodies growing more gaunt hourly as frenzyadded its toll to physical suffering.

  The bawling became a din. Big steers shook their heads and hooked atone another groggily. The first one went down and could not rise alone;the men "tailed" him up and worked him to shade, where he sank to hisside again, panting, drooling and silent.

  "Damn an outfit like that!" growled Curtis, looking across the bunch toCole, who stood staring back.

  "There's goin' to be hell a-poppin' here," commented one of the men."They're waitin' for trouble an' you can't prevent 'em havin' it--"

  "Look at that!"

  A half dozen steers, surging against the fence, put their combinedweight on a panel and the post gave with a snap.

  Bobby ran forward, brandishing a club, and drove them back as theyfloundered in the sagging wire, heedless of barbs, eyes protruding withwant of the drink that dilated nostrils told them was near.

  After he had propped the post up again the nester shook his fist atCurtis and shouted:

  "I'll protect my property! You can protect yourn if you will. Th' nextcritter that breaks my fence gits lead in his carcass!"

  He slouched back to the cabin and came out a moment later with a rifle.Seating himself on a stump he crossed his knees and with the weaponacross his lap sat waiting.

  "We'll bunch 'em so we can make a show at holdin' 'em tonight," Curtissaid. "That'll save time in th' mornin' ... an' we'll need all ourtime."

  Forthwith he and the others began gathering the suffering stragglers ina loose bunch.

  The Reverend came riding across the flat before this was completed. Hisface was serious and as he came close to the herd and saw the conditionof the cattle he shook his head apprehensively.

  "I fear, brother, that by another day there'll be little strength inthose bodies to get 'em up to open water," he said to Curtis.

  "It'll be the devil's own job for sure! It'll take twenty men to move'em and if we don't lose half we'll be lucky.

  "If that old cuss 'uld let 'em water once it'd be a cinch, but he's abad _hombre_; he won't. There's something back of this, Reverend."

  Beal scratched his chin and blinked and looked across to where Colesat. One of his Mexicans also was armed and had taken up his positionfurther down the fence.

  "So it would appear," he replied. "As Joshua said to Moses, 'There's anoise of war in the camp.'

  "I see a relationship between the smiting of my beloved brother and therefusal of this outfit to grant water.

  "Oh, another watcher!"

  He indicated Pat Webb who evidently had gained the Cole ranch by acircuitous route and had taken up his position within the fence, armedwith a rifle.

  Night came on with a dry wind in the trees on the heights. Its draftdid not reach the Hole but the sound did and that uneasy, distant roarserved to intensify the distress of the cattle.

  Beds were made on a knoll not far from the bunched steers and theReverend was the first to rest, while the others, singing, whistling,slapping chaps with quirts rode round and round the herd keeping themaway from the fence to give the riflemen no opportunity to shoot.Azariah did not sleep but rolled uneasily on his tarp watching thebright, dry stars, muttering to himself now and then.

  Once he got up and fussed about his blankets and Curtis, riding by,stopped.

  "No, I can't rest," the Reverend replied to his query. "I believe Ihave lost one pen....

  "By the way, brother, if these were your cattle how many head would yougive just to get them to water tonight?"

  "I'd give several," Curtis answered bitterly. "Yes, I'd give a goodmany and look at it as a good investment. Without water we're goin' tomake lots of feed for buzzards an' coyotes, tryin' to make up thattrail tomorrow!"

  "A good many.... A good many," the clergyman muttered as Curtis rodeon. "She is for peace, but when she speaks, they are for war," heparaphrased the Psalm.

  "'They that war against thee shall be as nothing.'... An investment ...a good investment...."

  He sat hunched on his bed for some time, whispering over and over...."A good investment ... investment...."

  Then suddenly he rose and pawed about him for a dried bough of cedarwhich he had cast aside to make his bed. With trembling fingers hesought a match, struck and applied it.

  The flame licked up the tinder and burst into a brilliant torch. Thebawling of the cattle cut off sharply. Whites of terrified eyes showedfor an instant and then vanished as heads were quickly turned away.

  The herd stirred, like a concentrated mass, body crowding body; itswayed forward, a rumbling of hoofs arose. And from the far side camethe shrill yipping of horsemen as they broke into a gallop and soughtto set the cattle milling.

  Futile effort! Driven mad by thirst it would have required a much lessconspicuous disturbance than that flare of fire to start the wild rush.With a roll of hoofs, a sickening, overwhelming sound, heads down,crowded together into a knitted body of frightened strength the bunchwas in full stampede!

  Down the far side rode Curtis, high in his stirrups, his revolverspitting fire into the air. A big white steer charged straight at hishorse like a blinded thing and the animal carried his rider tomomentary safety with a hand's breath to spare.

  On another flank of the herd another rider charged in and shouted andshot and swung off. There was no time; there was no room! It was lessthan a hundred yards to the fence and to be caught between its stoutstrands and those charging heads meant terrible death. Curtis' warningcry cut in above the fury of the flight as he doubled back towardsafety.

  Within the fence were shouts. Figures sprang to outline in thedarkness. The first steer's shoulders struck the wire, the fence held,threw him back and then, driven forward again by oncoming numbers thecreature went through, torn and raw, through a torn and tangledbarrier. There was a creaking strain of wire for rods, a snapping ofstout posts and then orange stabs out of the night.... Two ... four ...five, and the sound of rifle shots pricked through the background ofheavier sounds.

  A steer bawled once, its voice pitched high, and went down. Anotherdropped beneath mincing hoofs without a sound. From their path ran theriflemen, desperate in their fright, heedless of damage done propertyor rights. Over, under and through the fence went the cattle, pouringacross the cleared land, crowding, snorting, gaining momentum with eachstride. On across the flat, on down the steep bank of the creek, oninto the water that sloshed about their knees....

  And there, as quickly as it had come, their panic departed, for theneed of that water dissip
ated their fright. Noise of the flightsubsided and into the night rose the greedy sound of their guzzling asthe water which Cole had fenced and sought to hold was gulped down theparched throats of HC cattle.

  Curtis rode up at a gallop, drawing his horse to such a quick stop thathis hoofs scattered dirt over Azariah.

  "What th' hell?" he began.

  "I found it!" cried the Reverend in exultation, holding up a fountainpen. "Must have dropped out when I took off my coat--"

  "But look what you've done!" cried the other. "They knocked four steersdead as the Populist party!"

  Azariah looked up at him, the shrewdness in his face covered bydarkness, but his voice was guile itself.

  "A small investment, brother, a good investment. Perhaps a parable iswrit this night.... A pillar of fire, a smiting of the rock?"

  Curtis whistled lowly.

  "Reverend, you planned it all out?"

  "It is not given to me to plan; I am guided by the spirit ofrighteousness! Besides, those who lack wisdom are the only ones whodivulge their innermost thoughts, brother. I found a way out of Egyptfor the cattle, as 't were. Remember, brother, the way of the Lord isstrength!"

  They had not heard Bobby Cole running through the brush toward them butas the Reverend stopped she stepped between him and Oliver's horse.

  "So that's it!" she hissed. "So you're th' one to blame! I'll tell youwhat I told your boss this mornin', that I'll run you out of thecountry if it's th' last thing I do, you Bible talkin' rat!

  "This ain't th' first thing I've got against you,"--darkly. "I might've forgot th' other because she was to blame for it, but I've heardwhat you just said an' I won't forget this! And don't think I'm th'only one who'll keep it in mind!

  "Why, you'll be run out of this country like a snake 'uld be chased outof a cabin! Remember that!"

  For a moment she stood confronting him in the darkness and thoughfeatures were not clearly distinguishable they could see by the poiseof her figure that those were no idle threats. Then she went as quicklyas she had come, leaving the Reverend scratching his chin and Curtiswhistling softly to himself.

  "A woman possessed of the devil!" said Beal softly.

  "Yeah. Or three or four," commented the other.

  "Yesterday I sought to save her soul and tomorrow I must seek to savemy own skin!"

  There was no more shooting because HC cattle were mingled with Cole's.Curtis parlayed with the nester who made whining threats of a suit fordamages. When Curtis returned to the beds for the remainder of thenight the Reverend was not there.

  "Dragged it for the ranch!" he chuckled.

  So he thought. The Reverend had dragged it, but not for the HC or anyother nearby stopping place. Though Beal did not know all thattranspired to bring about the ruin of Jane Hunter he knew enough torealize that he had made one determined enemy that night, that to makeone was to make many and that Bobby Cole's inference that he hadplunged himself into disfavor with others was no empty warning. AzariahBeal was not a coward but he was discreet. The risk of remaining wasnot justified by the end he might serve and now he sought sanctuary indistance.

  * * * * *

  Tom Beck led the riders from the wagon into the Hole at dawn. Gatheringand moving the refreshed cattle up the trail was a difficult task butit was accomplished without further loss, a fact which satisfied themen. They reached the ranch on their way back to the round-up camp inlate afternoon.

  News of the saving stampede had been carried ahead and Jane realizedthat one difficulty had been surmounted and that the financial ruinwhich confronted her yesterday was no more. However, removal of thatdistraction allowed her mind to concentrate on the greater difficulty:the breach which separated her from Tom Beck. Only one way seemed open:to prevail upon the Reverend to explain matters, and that way wasclosed when a passing cow-boy delivered her a note, written hastily onrough paper. She read:

  "The call has come and my feet are turned toward a far country.

  "My arm has been lifted for you; though I am no longer in your presencemy prayers will continue to be lifted in your behalf.

  "Respy., "A. BEAL."

  Azariah had served the HC well. But for his strategy she might eventhen be suffering from a loss which would doom the ranch. And yet hecould have served her infinitely better by staying on, by untanglingthe snarl which circumstances had made in her affairs.

  There was just one remaining course to follow, she told herself. Thiswas to go to Tom and explain everything. Then up rose her pride andmade denial. She could not do that! If his love would not bear up underdoubt, then she must keep her pride intact, for that was all shepossessed. Torn between desire to fling herself upon him and sob outthe whole story and to maintain her stand until he should be provenwrong and come to her contrite, she dallied with the decision until theriders had come and gone.

  She watched Beck, riding at a trot down the road, looking neither tothe right nor left. She could not know that a similar struggle torturedhim. "Turn back!" one voice in his heart commanded. "Seek her out andquestion and question until you know why; if it is the worst, if shehas been hiding a secret affection from you, beg her to turn from it,to come to you; offer her your all, your pride, your life if need be.She is all that living holds for you!"

  And then that other, sterner self, which said over and over: "Thatcannot be! If there is that in her heart which must be hidden from you,draw back now and save all that is left to you: your pride!"

  So pride held the one in her house and it led the other down CoyoteCreek, and each mile, each hour put between them multiplied thedifficulties, wore down the chance of reconciliation. For by suchsimple, basic conflicts are loves ruined!