The Thunder Bird

by B. M. Bower

  CHAPTER NINE

  GIVING THE COLT HIS HEAD

  "You and Mary V are engaged to be married," Sudden began abruptly. "Haveyou any particular time set for it, or any plans made?"

  Johnny faced him steadily and explained just what his plans were. ThatMary V had undoubtedly forestalled him in the telling made no differenceto Johnny. Since Sudden had asked him, he should have it straight fromheadquarters. We all know what Johnny told him; we have heard him statehis views on the subject.

  "H-mm. And how long do you expect it will take to pay me for the horses?"

  Johnny hesitated before he plunged--but when he did he went deep enoughin all conscience. "With any kind of luck I expect to be square with youin a year at the latest."

  "A year. H-mm! Will you sign a note for that three thousand, withinterest at seven per cent., and give your flying machine as security?"

  "I will, provided I can pay it any time within the year," Johnnyanswered, trying to read the poker face and failing as many a man hadfailed.

  Sudden nodded, pulled a book of note blanks from a drawer and calmly drewup a note for three thousand dollars, payable "on or before" one yearfrom date, with interest at seven per cent. per annum, with a bill ofsale of Johnny's airplane attached and taking effect automatically upondefault of payment of the note.

  Johnny read the document slowly, pursing his lips. It was what he hadproclaimed to Mary V that he wished to do, but seeing it there in blackand white made the debt look bigger, the year shorter, the penalty offailure more severe. It seemed uncompromisingly legal, binding as thedeath seal placed upon all life. He looked at Mary V's father, and itseemed that he, too, was stern and uncompromising as the agreement he haddrawn. Johnny's shoulders went back automatically. He reached acrossthe desk for a pen.

  "There will have to be witnesses," said Sudden, and opened a door andcalled for his wife and Bedelia. Until they came Johnny sat staring atthe bill of sale as though he meant to commit it to memory. "Onemilitary type tractor biplane . . . ownership vested in me . . . withoutprocess of law . . ." He felt a weight in his chest, as though alreadythe document had gone into effect.

  When he had signed his name and watched Bedelia's moist hand, reddenedfrom dishwater, laboriously constructing her signature while she breathedhard over the task, the plane seemed irrevocably lost. Mommie, leaningclose to his shoulder so that a wisp of her hair tickled his cheek whileshe wrote, gave him a little cheer by her nearness and her unspokenfriendliness. She signed "Mary Amanda Selmer" very precisely, withold-fashioned curls at the end of each word. Then, quite unexpectedly,she slipped an arm around Johnny's neck and kissed him on his tannedcheek where a four-day's growth of beard was no more than a brown fuzzscarcely discernible to the naked eye. She gave his shoulder two littleaffectionate pats that said plainly, "There, there, don't you worry onebit," and went away without a word. Johnny gulped and winked hard, andwished that Mary V was more like her mother, and hoped that Sudden wasnot looking at him.

  Sudden was folding the paper very carefully and slipping it into anenvelope, on the face of which he wrote "John Ivan Jewel, $3000. securednote, due ----" whenever the date said. When he finally looked up atJohn Ivan Jewel, that young man was rolling a cigarette with a fineassumption of indifference, as though giving a three-thousand-dollar notepayable in one year and secured with all he owned in the world save hisclothes was a mere bagatelle; an unimportant detail of the day's business.

  Sudden smoothed his face down with the palm of his hand, as he sometimesdid when Mary V demanded that she be taken seriously, and spoke calmly,with neither pity, blame, nor approval in his voice.

  "I have held you accountable for the horses stolen through your neglectwhile you were in charge of Sinkhole range and therefore responsible fortheir safety within a reasonable limit. The expenses of your sicknessafter your fall with your flying machine, I will take care of myself.You were at that time trying to find Mary V, which naturally Iappreciated. More than that, I make it a rule to pay the expenses of anyman hurt in my employ.

  "The expense I have been under in hiring men, letting my own work go tothe devil, and so forth, while we thought you were lost, I shall notexpect you to pay. As I understand the matter, you had no intention ofcoming to the ranch and had not said that you were coming. The expenseof looking for you really ought to come out of Mary V--and serve herright for having so much faith in you. I am lucky in one sense--I shan'thave to pay the thousand-dollar reward the kid so generously offered inmy name for your recovery. The bonus she offered that sheriff's possewill mighty near eat up that new automobile she's been wanting, though.Maybe next time--"

  "I'll buy Mary V an automobile if she wants one--when I get the notepaid," Johnny stated boyishly, to show his disapproval of Sudden'shardness.

  Sudden once more passed his palm thoughtfully over the lower half of hisface. "Mary V ought to appreciate that," he said dryly, and Johnnyflushed.

  "Anyway, it ain't right to make her suffer for being worried about me.That was my fault, in a way. If you'll tell me how much you're out--?"

  "That's all right. It's on me, for falling so easy for one of Mary V'sspasms. I was led to believe you had actually started for the ranch--inwhich case I was justified in supposing you had come to grief somewhereen route. We'll let it go." He cleared his throat, glanced at Johnnyfrom under his eyebrows, took a cigar out of a drawer, and bit off theend.

  "Now under the circumstances, I think I have a right to know how youexpect to pay that note. I realize that if I leave the flying machine inyour hands it's going to depreciate in value, and the chances are it'llgo smash and I'll be out my security. Don't you think you had better runit under a shed somewhere and go to work? Of course it's nothing to me,so long as I get my money, just how you earn it. Working for me youcouldn't earn any three thousand dollars in a year--you ain't worth it toanybody. You're too much a kid. You ain't grown up yet, and I couldn'tdepend on you like I can on Bill. But I could strain a point, and payyou a thousand dollars a year, and split the debt into three or fouryearly payments. In four years," he pointed out relentlessly, "you mightcome clear--with hard work and good luck."

  "On the other hand, when Mary V marries with our consent she gets a thirdinterest in the Rolling R. Her husband will naturally fall into a prettygood layout. So you might fix it with the kid to jump down the fouryears some. That's between you and--"

  "That's an insult! I'll pay you, and it won't be any Rolling R moneythat does it, either. When I marry Mary V or any other girl it's mymoney that will support her. I may be a kid, all right--but I ain't thatkind of a hound. I don't know the law on such things, but there ain'tanything in that Bill of Sale that says I've got to stand my plane inyour cow shed till I've paid the note, and I won't do it. The planeain't yours till I don't pay. Seems to me you better wait till thenote's due before you begin to worry, Mr. Selmer. And I'll set your mindat rest on one point, anyway. The plane may go to smash, as you say, butif I don't smash with it, I'll pay you that three thousand. And youdon't have to strain any point, either, to give me a job. When I want towork for you I'll sure tell you so. In the meantime, I don't know asit's very businesslike for you to go prying into my plans. You'veaccepted my note, and you've got your security, and what the hell more doyou want?"

  Sudden was very much occupied with his cigar just then, and he did notanswer the challenge. Moreover, he was having some difficulty with hispoker face, which showed odd twitchings around his mouth. But Johnny didnot wait for a reply. He was started now, and he went on hotly,relieving his mind of a good many other little grievances.

  "You don't go around asking other men how they expect to meet theirobligations a year from now, do you? Then why should you think you'vegot a right to butt in on my private business, I'd like to know? Put myplane in your cow shed and go to work for you! Huh! I've caused youtrouble and expense enough, I should think, without saddling myself onyou like that. I appreciate all you have done-
-but I absolutely will notget under your wing and let you pet and humor me along like you do MaryV. Why, good golly! You've spoiled and humored her now until I can't doa thing with her! Why, she harps on my staying here at the ranch--underdad's wing, of course!--instead of getting out and making something ofmyself. You didn't fool around and let somebody else shoulder yourresponsibilities, did you? You didn't let somebody plan for you anddictate to you and do all your thinking--no, you bet your life youdidn't! And nobody's going to do it for me, either. If I haven't gotbrains enough and guts enough to make good for myself, I'll blow the topof my head off and be done with it."

  He rose and pushed his chair back with a kick that sent it skatingagainst the wall. His stormy blue eyes snapped at Sudden as though hewould force some display of emotion into that smooth, impassive, well-fedcountenance, the very sight of which lashed his indignation into a kindof fury.

  "If you really think I don't amount to any more than to hang around herefor you to support, why the devil don't you kick me out and tell Mary Vnot to marry me? You must think you're going to have a fine boob in thefamily! And it's to show you--it's--why the hell don't you--what I can'tstand for," he blurted desperately, "is your insinuating right to my facethat I'd want to marry Mary V to get a third interest in the Rolling R.I want to tell you right now, Mr. Selmer, you couldn't give me any thirdinterest nor any one millionth interest. If I thought Mary V had put youup to that I'd absolutely--but she didn't. She knows where I stand.I've told her straight out. Mary V's got more sense--she knows me betterthan you do. She knows--"

  "There's another thing I neglected to mention," Sudden drawled, blowingsmoke with maddening placidity under the tirade. "It's none of mybusiness how you hook up with that tramp flyer out there--but youunderstand, of course, that flying machine is tied up in a hard knot bythis note. I couldn't accept any division of interest in it, you know.You have given it as security, affirming it to be your own property. Sowhatever kind of deal you make with him or any one else, the flyingmachine must be kept clear. Selling it or borrowing money onit--anything of that kind would be a penal offence. You probablyunderstand this--but if so, telling you can do no harm; and if you didn'tknow it, it may prevent you from making a mistake."

  "I guess you needn't lay awake nights over my going to the pen," Johnnyreplied loftily. "I believe our business is finished for the present--sogood day to you, Mr. Selmer."

  "Good day, Mr. Jewel. I wish you good luck," Sudden made formal reply,and watched Johnny's stiff neck and arrogant shoulders with much secretamusement. "Oh--Mary V's out on the front porch, I believe!"

  Johnny turned and glared at him, and stalked off. He had meant to findMary V and tell her what had happened, and say good-by. But old Suddenhad spoiled all that. A donkey engine would have stalled trying to pullJohnny around to the front porch, after that bald hint.

  As it happened, Mary V was not taking any chances. She was not on thefront porch, but down at the airplane, snubbing Bland most unmercifullyand waiting for Johnny. When he appeared she was up in the front seatworking the controls and pretending that she was speeding through the airwhile thousands gaped at her from below.

  "I'm doing a make-believe nose dive, Skyrider," she chirped down at him,looking over the edge through Johnny's goggles, and hoping that he wouldaccept her play as a tacit reconciliation, so that they could start allover again without any fussing. No doubt dad had fixed things up withJohnny and everything would be perfectly all right. "Look out below."

  "You better do a nose dive outa there," Johnny told her with terrificbluntness. "I'm in a hurry. I want to make Tucson yet this afternoon."

  Mary V's mouth fell open in sheer amazement.

  "Johnny Jewel! Do you mean to tell me you're going to leave? And I wasjust waiting a chance to ask you if you won't give me a ride! I'm justdying to fly, Johnny."

  Johnny looked at her. He turned and looked back at the house. He lookedat the boys and at Bland. He took a deep breath, like a man making readyto dive from some sheer height into very deep water. "All right, staywhere you are--but leave those controls alone. Want to show the boys anew stunt, Bland? We'll take Miss Selmer up, and you ride here on thewing. You can lay down close to the fuselage and hang on to a brace.They've been doubting your nerve, I hear." He climbed in, pulling offhis cap for Mary V to wear. "Reach down there on the right-hand side,Mary V, and get me those extra goggles. All right--come on, Bland, let'sshow 'em something."

  Bland hesitated, plainly reluctant to try the stunt Johnny had suggested.But Johnny was urgent. "Aw, come on! What's the matter with you? Theydo it all the time, over in France! Turn her over. All ready?Retard--contact!"

  Bland cranked the motor, but it was plain that his mind was workingfuriously with some hard problem. Should he refuse to ride on a wing andlet Johnny fly off without him? All Bland's hatred of the wilderness,his distrust of men who wore spurs and big hats as part of their dailycostume, shrieked no. Where the plane went he should go. Should heconsent to ride flat on his stomach on a wing, with the wind sweepingexhaust fumes in his face and the earth a dwindling panorama ofmonotonous gray landscape far beneath him? His nerves twittered uneasilyat the suggestion.

  But when the motor was going and the plane quivering and kicking back atrail of dust, and Johnny had his goggles down and was looking at himexpectantly, Bland chose the lesser woe and laid himself alongside thefuselage with his head tucked under a wire brace, his hands grippingbrace and wing edge, his toes hooked, and his cheek pressed against thesleek covering. He grinned wanly at the boys who watched him, and sentone fervent request up to Johnny.

  "F'r cat's sake, bo, don't stay up long--and keep her balanced!"

  "Hang on!" Johnny shouted in reply.

  The plane veered round, ran down the smooth space alongside the corrals,lifted, and went climbing up toward the lowering sun. Then it wheeledslowly in a wide arc, still climbing steadily, swung farther around,pointed its nose toward Tucson, and went booming away, straight as aladen bee flies to its hive.