CHAPTER V
THEIR OWN DECEIVINGS
Johnny Ramsay was put to bed in the Bar S ranch house. Kate Saltounpromptly installed herself as nurse. Loudon, paid off by the nowregretful Mr. Saltoun, took six hours' sleep and then rode away onRanger to notify the Cross-in-a-box of Ramsay's wounding.
An angry man was Richie, manager of the Cross-in-a-box, when he heardwhat Loudon had to say.
The following day Loudon and Richie rode to the Bar S. On Loudon'smentioning that he was riding no longer for the Bar S, Richieimmediately hired him. He knew a good man, did Jack Richie of theCross-in-a-box.
When they arrived at the Bar S they found Johnny Ramsay conscious, butvery weak. His weakness was not surprising. He had lost a great dealof blood. He grinned wanly at Loudon and Richie.
"You mustn't stay long," announced Miss Saltoun, firmly, smoothing thebed-covering.
"We won't, ma'am," said Richie. "Who shot yuh, Johnny?"
"I dunno," replied the patient. "I was just a-climbin' aboard my hosswhen I heard a shot behind me an' I felt a pain in my neck. I pulledmy six-shooter an' whirled, an' I got in one shot at a gent on a hoss.He fired before I did, an' it seems to me there was another shot off tothe left. Anyway, the lead got me on the side of the head an' that'sall I know."
"Who was the gent on the hoss?" Loudon asked.
"I dunno, Tom. I hadn't more'n whirled when he fired, an' the smokehid his face. It all come so quick. I fired blind. Yuh see the chunkin my neck kind o' dizzied me, an' that rap on the head comin' on topof it, why, I wouldn't 'a' knowed my own brother ten feet away. I'mall right now. In a couple o' weeks I'll be ridin' the range again."
"Shore yuh will," said Loudon. "An' the sooner the quicker. You'vegot a good nurse."
"I shore have," smiled Johnny, gazing with adoring eyes at Kate Saltoun.
"That will be about all," remarked Miss Saltoun. "He's talked enoughfor one day. Get out now, the both of you, and don't fall overanything and make a noise. I'm not going to have my patient disturbed."
Loudon went down to the bunkhouse for his dinner. After the meal,while waiting for Richie, who was lingering with Mr. Saltoun, he stroveto obtain a word with Kate. But she informed him that she could notleave her patient.
"See you later," said Miss Saltoun. "You mustn't bother me now."
And she shooed him out and closed the door. Loudon returned to thebunkhouse and sat down on the bench near the kitchen. Soon Jimmyappeared with a pan of potatoes and waxed loquacious as was his habit.
"Who plugged Johnny? That's what I'd like to know," wondered Jimmy."Here! leave them Hogans be! They're to eat, not to jerk at thewindmill. I never seen such a kid as you. Yo're worse than ChuckMorgan, an' he's just a natural-born fool. Oh, all right. I ain'ta-goin' to talk to yuh if yuh can't act decent."
Jimmy picked up his pan of potatoes and withdrew with dignity. Thegrin faded from Loudon's mouth, and he gazed worriedly at the groundbetween his feet.
What would Kate say to him? Would she be willing to wait? She hadcertainly encouraged him, but---- Premonitory and unpleasant shiverscrawled up and down Loudon's spinal column. Proposing was a strangeand novel business with him. He had never done such a thing before.He felt as one feels who is about to step forth into the unknown. Forhe was earnestly and honestly very much in love. It is only yourphilanderer who enters upon a proposal with cold judgment and a calmheart.
Half an hour later Loudon saw Kate at the kitchen window. He was up inan instant and hurrying toward the kitchen door. Kate was busy at thestove when he entered. Over her shoulder she flung him a charmingsmile, stirred the contents of a saucepan a moment longer, then clickedon the cover and faced him.
"Kate," said Loudon, "I'm quittin' the Bar S."
"Quitting? Oh, why?" Miss Saltoun's tone was sweetly regretful.
"Lot o' reasons. I'm ridin' for the Cross-in-a-box now."
He took a step forward and seized her hand. It lay in his, limp,unresponsive. Of which lack of sympathetic warmth he was too absorbedto be conscious.
"Kate," he pursued, "I ain't got nothin' now but my forty a month. ButI shore love yuh a lot. Will yuh wait for me till I make enough forthe two of us? Look at me, Kate. I won't always be a punch. I'llmake money, an' if I know yo're a-waitin' for me, I'll make it all thefaster."
According to recognized precedent Kate should have fallen into hisarms. But she did nothing of the kind. She disengaged her fingers anddrew back a step, ingenuous surprise written large on her countenance.Pure art, of course, and she did it remarkably well.
"Why, Tom," she breathed, "I wasn't expecting this. I didn't dream,I----"
"That's all right," Loudon broke in. "I'm tellin' yuh I love yuh,honey. Will yuh wait for me? Yuh don't have to say yuh love me. I'lltake a chance on yore lovin' me later. Just say yuh'll wait, will yuh,honey?"
"Oh, Tom, I can't!"
"Yuh can't! Why not? Don't love anybody else, do yuh?"
"Oh, I can't, Tom," evaded Kate. "I don't think I could ever love you.I like you--oh, a great deal. You're a dear boy, Tommy, but--you can'tmake yourself love any one."
"Yuh won't have to make yoreself. I'll make yuh love me. Just give mea chance, honey. That's all I want. I'd be good to yuh, Kate, an' I'dspend my time tryin' to make yuh happy. We'd get along. I know wewould. Say yes. Give me a chance."
Kate returned to the table and leaned against it, arms at her sides,her hands gripping the table-edge. It was a pose calculated to displayher figure to advantage. She had practised it frequently. KateSaltoun was running true to form.
"Tom," she said, her voice low and appealing, "Tom, I never had anyidea you loved me. And I'm awfully sorry I can't love you. Truly, Iam. But we can be friends, can't we?"
"Friends! Friends!" The words were like a curse.
"Why not?"
Loudon, head lowered, looked at her under his eyebrows.
"Then it all didn't mean nothin'?" He spoke with an effort.
"All? All what? What do you mean?"
"Yuh know what I mean. You've been awful nice to me. Yuh always actedlike yuh enjoyed havin' me around. An' I thought yuh liked me--alittle. An' it didn't mean nothin' 'cept we can be friends. Friends!"
Again the word sounded like a curse. Loudon turned his head and staredunseeingly out of the window. He raised his hand and pushed his hairback from his forehead. A great misery was in his heart. Kate, foronce in her life swayed by honest impulse, stepped forward and laid ahand on his arm.
"Don't take it so hard, Tom," she begged.
Loudon's eyes slid around and gazed down into her face. Kate was aremarkably handsome girl, but she had never appeared so alluring as shedid at that moment.
Loudon stared at the vivid dark eyes, the parted lips, and the tiltedchin. Her warm breath fanned his neck. The moment was tense, fraughtwith possibilities, and--Kate smiled. Even a bloodless cucumber wouldhave been provoked. And Loudon was far from being a cucumber.
His long arms swept out and about her body, and he crushed her gaspingagainst his chest. Once, twice, three times he kissed her mouth, then,his grasp relaxing, she wrenched herself free and staggered backagainst the table. Panting, hands clenched at her throat, she facedhim. Loudon stood swaying, his great frame trembling.
"Kate! Oh, Kate!" he cried, and stretched out his arms.
But Kate groped her dazed way around the table. Physically andmentally, she had been severely shocked. To meet a tornado where onehad expected a summer breeze is rather shattering to one's poise.Quite so. Kate suffered. Then, out of the chaos of her emotions,erupted wild anger.
"You! You!" she hissed. "How dare you kiss me! Ugh-h! I could killyou!"
She drew the back of her hand across her mouth and snapped her handdownward with precisely the same snap and jerk that a Mexican bartenderemploys when he flips the pulque from his fingers.
"Do you know I'm engaged to Sam Blakely? What do you
think he'll dowhen he finds this out? Do you understand? I'm going to marry SamBlakely!"
This facer cooled Loudon as nothing else could have done. Outwardly,at least, he became calm.
"I didn't understand, but I do now," he said, stooping to recover hishat. "If you'd told me that in the first place it would have savedtrouble."
"You'd have been afraid to kiss me then!" she taunted.
"Not afraid," he corrected, gently. "I wouldn't 'a' wanted to. Iain't kissin' another man's girl."
"No, I guess not! The nerve of you! Think I'd marry an ignorantpuncher!"
"Yuh shore ain't goin' to marry this one, but yuh are goin' to marry acow thief!"
"A--a what?"
"A cow thief, a rustler, a sport who ain't particular whose cows hebrands."
"You lie!"
"Yuh'll find out in time I'm tellin' the truth. I guess now I knowmore about Sam Blakely than you do, an' I tell yuh he's a rustler."
"Kate! Oh, Kate!" called a voice outside.
Kate sped through the doorway. Loudon, his lips set in a straightline, followed her quickly. There, not five yards from the kitchendoor, Sam Blakely sat his horse. The eyes of the 88 manager went fromKate to Loudon and back to Kate.
"What's the excitement?" inquired Blakely, easily.
Kate levelled her forefinger at Loudon.
"He says," she gulped, "he says you're a rustler."
Blakely's hand swept downward. His six-shooter had barely cleared theedge of the holster when Loudon's gun flashed from the hip, andBlakely's weapon spun through the air and fell ten feet distant.
With a grunt of pain, Blakely, using his left hand, whipped a derringerfrom under his vest.
Again Loudon fired.
Blakely reeled, the derringer spat harmlessly upward, and then Blakely,as his frightened horse reared and plunged, pitched backward out of thesaddle and dropped heavily to the ground. Immediately the horse ranaway.
Kate, with a sharp cry, flung herself at the prostrate Blakely.
"You've killed him!" she wailed. "Sam--Sam--speak to me!"
But Sam was past speech. He had struck head first and was consequentlysenseless.
Come running then Jimmy from the bunkhouse, Chuck Morgan from thecorrals, Mr. Saltoun and Richie from the office.
"He's dead! He's dead!" was the burden of Kate's shrill cries.
"Let's see if he is," said the practical Richie, dropping on his kneesat Blakely's side. "He didn't tumble like a dead man. Just a shake,ma'am, while I look at him. I can't see nothin' with you a-layin' allover him this-a-way. Yo're gettin' all over blood, too. There, now!She's done fainted. That's right, Salt. You take care of her."
The capable Richie made a rapid examination. He looked up, hands onknees, his white teeth gleaming under his brown moustache.
"He's all right," he said, cheerfully. "Heart's a-tickin' like aalarm-clock. Hole in his shoulder. Missed the bones. Bullet wentright on through."
At this juncture Kate recovered consciousness and struggled upright inher father's arms.
"He shot first!" she cried, pointing at Loudon. "He didn't give him achance!"
"You'll excuse me, ma'am," said Richie, his tone good-humoured, but hiseyes narrowing ever so slightly. "You'll excuse me for contradictin'yuh, but I happened to be lookin' through the office window an' I seenthe whole thing. Sam went after his gun before Tom made a move."
Blakely moved feebly, groaned, and opened his eyes. His gaze fell onLoudon, and his eyes turned venomous.
"You got me," he gritted, his lips drawn back, "but I'll get you whenMarvin and Rudd ride in. They've got the proof with 'em, you rustler!"
After which cryptic utterance Blakely closed his mouth tightly andcontented himself with glaring. Richie the unconcerned rose to hisfeet and dusted his knees.
"Take his legs, Chuck," directed Richie. "Gimme a hand, will yuh,Jimmy? Easy now. That's it. Where'll we put him, Salt?"
Mr. Saltoun and his now sobbing daughter followed them into the ranchhouse. Loudon remained where he was. When the others had disappearedLoudon clicked out the cylinder of his six-shooter, ejected the twospent shells and slipped in fresh cartridges.
"When Marvin an' Rudd ride in," he wondered. "Got the proof with 'emtoo, huh. It looks as if Blakely was goin' to a lot o' trouble on myaccount."
Loudon walked swiftly behind the bunkhouse and passed on to thecorrals. From the top of the corral fence he intended watching for thecoming of Marvin and Rudd. In this business he was somewhat delayed bythe discovery of Blakely's horse whickering at the gate of the corral.
"I ain't got nothin' against you," said Loudon, "but yuh shore havequeer taste in owners."
Forthwith he stripped off saddle and bridle and turned the animal intothe corral. As he closed the gate his glance fell on the droppedsaddle. The coiled rope had fallen away from the horn, and there wasrevealed in the swell-fork a neat round hole. He squatted down moreclosely at the neat hole.
"That happened lately," he said, fingering the edges of the hole. "Ithought so," he added, as an inserted little finger encountered asmooth, slightly concave surface.
He took out his knife and dug industriously. After three minutes' worka somewhat mushroomed forty-five-calibre bullet lay in the palm of hishand.
"O' course Johnny Ramsay ain't the only sport packin' a forty-five," hesaid, softly. "But Johnny did mention firin' one shot at a party on ahoss. It's possible he hit the swell-fork. Yep, it's a heap possible."
Then Loudon dropped the bullet into a pocket of his chaps and climbedto the top of the corral fence.
A mile distant, on the slope of a swell, two men were riding toward theranch house. The horsemen were driving before them a cow and a calf.Loudon climbed down and took position behind the mule corral. Fromthis vantage-point he could observe unseen all that might develop.
The riders, Marvin, the 88 range boss, and Rudd, a puncher, passedwithin forty feet of the mule corral. The cow and the calf walkedheavily, as if they had been driven a long distance, and Loudonperceived that they had been newly branded 8x8. The brand was not onethat he recognized.
"Crossed Dumbbell or Eight times Eight." he grinned. "Take yorechoice. I wonder if that brand's the proof Blakely was talkin' about.Marvin an' Rudd shore do look serious."
He cautiously edged round the corral and halted behind the corner ofthe bunkhouse. Marvin and Rudd were holding the cow and calf near theranch house door. The two men lounged in their saddles. Marvin rolleda cigarette. Then in the doorway appeared Mr. Saltoun.
"Howdy, Mr. Saltoun," said Marvin. "Sam got in yet?"
"He's in there," replied Mr. Saltoun, jerking a thumb over hisshoulder. "He's shot."
"Who done it?"
"Tom Loudon,"
"Where is he?"
"Throw up yore hands!" rapped out the gentleman in question.
Loudon had approached unobserved and was standing some twenty feet inthe rear of Marvin and Rudd. At Loudon's sharp command Rudd's handsshot skyward instantly.
"I'm waitin'," cautioned Loudon.
Marvin's fingers slowly uncoiled from the butt of his six-shooter anddraggingly he followed his comrade's example.
"Now we can all be happy," remarked Loudon, nodding amiably to theperturbed Mr. Saltoun. "I won't shoot unless they shove me. They cantalk just as comfortable with their hands up, an' it'll be a lot saferall round. Was the state o' Sam's health all yuh wanted to know,Marvin? No, don't either of yuh turn 'round. Just keep yore eyesclamped on the windmill. About Sam, now, Marvin. Richie says he'llpull through. Anythin' else?"
"You bet there is!" exploded the furious range-boss. "You ----rustler, you branded a cow an' a calf o' ours yest'day!"
"Shore," agreed Loudon, politely, "an' I held up the Farewell stage,stole thirty-eight horses, an' robbed the Marysville bank the daybefore. Yuh don't want to forget all them little details, Marvin.It's a shore sign yo're gettin' aged when yuh do. Well, well, a co
wan' a calf yuh say. Only the two, huh? It don't look natural somehow.I never brand less'n twenty-four at a clip."
Over the shoulders of the agitated Mr. Saltoun peered the faces ofavidly interested Richie, Chuck Morgan, and Jimmy the cook. None ofthese three allowed a sign of his true feeling to appear on his face.
The two 88 men were red with shame and anger. Their lips moved withwicked words. Arms stretched heavenward, their gaze religiously fixedon the windmill, they presented a ridiculous appearance, and they knewit. Loudon, the dominant figure in the scene, spread his legs andsmiled sardonically.
"Go on, Marvin," he said, after a moment, "yo're cussin' a lot, but yuhain't sayin' nothin'. Let's hear the rest o' that interestin' story o'the 88 cow an' her little daughter."
"You branded the both of 'em," stubbornly reiterated Marvin. "We seenyuh--Sam, Rudd here, an' me, we seen yuh."
"Yuh seen me!" exclaimed Loudon. "Yuh seen me! You was close enoughto see me, an' yuh didn't try to stop me! Well, you shore are thepoorest liar in the territory."
"If I had my hands down yuh wouldn't call me that!"
"If yuh had yore hands down yuh'd be dead. I'm tryin' to save yorelife. C'mon, speak the rest o' yore little piece. Yuh got as far asthe brandin'. When did it all happen?"
"Gents," said Marvin, "this sport is a rustler. There ain't no twoways about it. Day before yest'day, just before sundown, over near theSink, the three of us seen Loudon workin' round a hog-tied cow an'calf. We was three, maybe four miles away. We seen him through fieldglasses. We hit the ground for the Sink, but when we got there all wefound was the cow an' calf, branded as yuh see 'em now. Loudon hadsloped."
"Near the Sink," observed Loudon. "In the middle of it?"
"I've quit talkin'," replied Marvin.
Richie stepped past Mr. Saltoun and stood in front of Marvin and Rudd.
"You've done made a right serious charge agin one o' my men," remarkedRichie, addressing Marvin. "If he did brand them cattle, he'll bestretched. But it ain't all clear to me yet. This here CrossedDumbbell brand now--see it on any other cattle besides these two,Marvin?"
"No," said Marvin, shaking his head.
"Well," continued Richie, "why didn't yuh come here right off insteado' waitin' two days?"
"We was busy."
"Didn't go back to the 88 ranch house before comin' here, did yuh?"
"No."
"Or stop at any o' yore line-camps?"
"No, we didn't. We come here soon as we could make it."
"What part o' the Sink was Loudon workin' in?"
"The north side."
"Near the edge, o' course?"
"No, he was nearer the middle."
"Nearer the middle, was he? An' yuh seen him at a distance o' three orfour miles. Yuh must have good eyesight, because if you seen Loudonworkin' in the middle o' the Sink an' you was standin' where yuh sayyuh was, yuh looked through about two miles an' a half o' solid earth.The middle o' the Sink is two hundred feet below the level o' thesurrounding country, an' there ain't no high land anywhere near it.Unless yo're standin' right on the edge yuh can't see nothin' in thebottom, an' the Sink is only about a mile from rim to rim. I guess nowyo're mistaken, Marvin."
"I ain't none shore he was plumb in the middle," grudgingly admittedMarvin. "Maybe he was kind o' near the north rim. But what's thedifference?" he added, brazenly. "We seen him."
"Where are the field glasses?" astutely questioned Richie.
"Left 'em at our Lazy River line-camp," promptly replied Marvin.
"Now ain't that funny, Marvin. Yuh told me not three minutes ago yuhdidn't stop at any o' yore line-camps."
"I mean we--I gave 'em to Shorty Simms. He's at the Lazy Riverline-camp, an' he took 'em there."
"Why did yuh give 'em to Shorty?" persisted Richie.
"Look here, Richie!" blazed Marvin, "this ain't no court, an' I don'thave to answer yore questions."
"Yuh'll have to answer plenty of questions," retorted Richie, "beforeI'll see Loudon stretched."
"I tell yuh he's a rustler!" shouted the mulish Marvin. "He's startin'a herd o' his own, an' he's usin' the Dumbbell brand. We seen himbrandin' that stock! That's enough for you or any one else to know,an' I tell yuh flat the 88 is out to stretch Tom Loudon the firstchance it gets!"
"Well, o' course, you know best," said Richie, "but I wouldn't donothin' rash, Marvin. I just wouldn't go off at half-cock if I wasyou."
"No," chipped in Loudon, briskly. "I wouldn't set my heart on it,Marvin, old hoss. I ain't countin' none on dyin' yet awhile. I've gota heap o' little matters to attend to before I cash, an' yuh can seehow hangin' me would disarrange all my plans. Take yore decorated cowan' calf now an' pull yore freight, an' _don't_ look back."
When Marvin and Rudd were gone Richie hooked his thumb in his belt andlooked with twinkling eyes at Loudon and the men in the doorway.
"I guess that settles the cat-hop," said Jack Richie.
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