Gunman's Reckoning

by Max Brand

  34

  It was a long time before Donnegan left the hut, and when he came outthe crowd which had gathered to watch the fight, or at least to mark thereports of the guns when those two terrible warriors met, was scattered.There remained before Donnegan only the colonel in his invalid's chair.Even from the distance one could see that his expression was changed,and when the little red-headed man came near the colonel looked up tohim with something akin to humility.

  "Donnegan," he said, stopping the other as Donnegan headed for the doorof the hut, "Donnegan, don't go in there just now."

  Donnegan turned and came slowly toward him.

  "The reason," said the colonel, "is that you probably won't receive avery cheery reception. Unfortunate--very unfortunate. Lou has turnedwrong-headed for the first time in her life and she won't listen toreason."

  He chuckled softly.

  "I never dreamed there was so much of my metal in her. Blood will tell,my boy; blood will tell. And when you finally get her you'll find thatshe's worth waiting for."

  "Let me tell you a secret," said Donnegan dryly. "I am no longer waitingfor her!"

  "Ah?" smiled the colonel. "Of course not. This bringing of Landis toher--it was all pure self-sacrifice. It was not an attempt to soften herheart. It was not a cunning maneuver. Tush! Of course not!"

  "I am about to make a profound remark," said Donnegan carelessly.

  "By all means."

  "You read the minds of other people through a colored glass, colonel.You see yourself everywhere."

  "In other words I put my own motives into the actions and behind theactions of people? Perhaps. I am full of weaknesses. Very full. In themeantime let me tell you one important thing--if you have not made theheart of Lou tender toward you, you have at least frightened her."

  The jaw on Donnegan set.

  "Excellent!" he said huskily.

  "Perhaps better than you think; and to keep you abreast with the times,you must know another thing. Lou has a silly idea that you are a lostsoul, Donnegan, but she attributes your fall entirely to my weakness.Nothing can convince her that you did not intend to kill Landis; nothingcan convince her that you did not act on my inspiration. I have triedarguing. Bah! she overwhelmed me with her scorn. You are a villain, saysLou, and I have made you one. And for the first time in my memory ofher, her eyes fill with tears."

  "Tears?"

  "Upon my honor, and when a girl begins to weep about a man I don't needto say he is close to her heart."

  "You are full of maxims, Colonel Macon."

  "As a nut is full of meat. Old experience, you know. In the meantime Louis perfectly certain that I intend to make away with Landis. Ha, ha,ha!" The laughter of the colonel was a cheery thunder, and soft as withdistance. "Landis is equally convinced. He begs Lou not to fall asleeplest I should steal in on him. She hardly dares leave him to cook hisfood. I actually think she would have been glad to see that fiend, LordNick, take Landis away!"

  Donnegan smiled wanly. But could he tell her, poor girl, the story ofNelly Lebrun? Landis, in fear of his life, was no doubt at this momentpouring out protestations of deathless affection.

  "And they both consider you an archdemon for keeping Lord Nick away!"

  Again Donnegan winced, and coughed behind his hand to cover it.

  "However," went on the colonel, "when it comes to matters with thehearts of women, I trust to time. Time alone will show her that Landisis a puppy."

  "In the meantime, colonel, she keeps you from coming near Landis?"

  "Not at all! You fail to understand me and my methods, dear boy. I haveonly to roll my chair into the room and sit and smile at Jack in orderto send him into an hysteria of terror. It is amusing to watch. And Ican be there while Lou is in the room and through a few carefulinnuendoes convey to Landis my undying determination to either removehim from my path and automatically become his heir, or else secure fromhim a legal transfer of his rights to the mines."

  "I have learned," said Donnegan, "that Landis has not the slightestclaim to them himself. And that you set him on the trail of the claimsby trickery."

  The colonel did not wince.

  "Of course not," said the fat trickster. "Not the slightest right. Myclaim is a claim of superior wits, you see. And in the end all yourlabor shall be rewarded, for my share will go to Lou and through her itshall come to you. No?"

  "Quite logical."

  The colonel disregarded the other's smile.

  "But I have a painful confession to make."

  "Well?"

  "I misjudged you, Donnegan. A moment since, when I was nearly distraughtwith disappointment, I said some most unpleasant things to you."

  "I have forgotten them."

  But the colonel raised his strong forefinger and shook his head,smiling.

  "No, no, Donnegan. If you deny it, I shall know that you are harboringthe most undying grudge against me. As a matter of fact, I have justhad an interview with Lord Nick, and the cursed fellow put my nerves onedge."

  The colonel made a wry face.

  "And when you came, I saw no manner in which you could possibly thwarthim."

  His eyes grew wistful.

  "Between friends--as a son to his future father," he said softly, "can'tyou tell me what the charm was that you used on. Nick to send him away?I watched him come out of the shack. He was in a fury. I could see thatby the way his head thrust out between his big shoulders. And when hewent down the hill he was striding like a giant, but every now and thenhe would stop short, and his head would go up as if he were tempted toturn around and go back, but didn't quite have the nerve. Donnegan, tellme the trick of it?"

  "Willingly. I appealed to his gambling instinct."

  "Which leaves me as much in the dark as ever."

  But Donnegan smiled in his own peculiar and mirthless manner and he wenton to the hut. Not that he expected a cheery greeting from Lou Macon,but he was drawn by the same perverse instinct which tempts a man tothrow himself from a great height. At the door he paused a moment. Hecould distinguish no words, but he caught the murmur of Lou's voice asshe talked to Jack Landis, and it had that infinitely gentle qualitywhich only a woman's voice can have, and only when she nurses the sick.It was a pleasant torture to Donnegan to hear it. At length he summonedhis resolution and tapped at the door.

  The voice of Lou Macon stopped. He heard a hurried and whisperedconsultation. What did they expect? Then swift foot-falls on the floor,and she opened the door. There was a smile of expectancy on her lips;her eyes were bright; but when she saw Donnegan her lips pinched in. Shestared at him as if he were a ghost.

  "I knew; I knew!" she said piteously, falling back a step but stillkeeping her hand upon the knob of the door as if to block the way toDonnegan. "Oh, Jack, he has killed Lord Nick and now he is here--"

  To do what? To kill Landis in turn? Her horrified eyes implied as much.He saw Landis in the distance raise himself upon one elbow and his facewas gray, not with pain but with dread.

  "It can't be!" groaned Landis.

  "Lord Nick is alive," said Donnegan. "And I have not come here totorment you; I have only come to ask that you let me speak with youalone for a moment, Lou!"

  He watched her face intently. All the cabin was in deep shadow, but thegolden hair of the girl glowed as if with an inherent light of its own,and the same light touched her face. Jack Landis was stricken withpanic: he stammered in a dreadful eagerness of fear.

  "Don't leave me, Lou. You know what it means. He wants to get you out ofthe way so that the colonel can be alone with me. Don't go, Lou! Don'tgo!"

  As though she saw how hopeless it was to try to bar Donnegan by closingthe door against him, she fell back to the bed. She kept her eye on thelittle man, as if to watch against a surprise attack, and, fumblingbehind her, her hand found the hand of Landis and closed over it withthe reassurance of a mother.

  "Don't be afraid, Jack. I won't leave you. Not unless they carry me awayby force."

  "I give you my solemn word." sai
d Donnegan in torment, "that the colonelshall not come near Landis while you're away with me."

  "Your word!" murmured the girl with a sort of horrified wonder. "Yourword!"

  And Donnegan bowed his head.

  But all at once she cast out her free hand toward him, while the otherstill cherished the weakness of Jack Landis.

  "Oh, give them up!" she cried. "Give up my father and all his wickedplans. There is something good in you. Give him up; come with us;stand for us: and we shall be grateful all our lives!"

  The little man had removed his hat, so that the sunshine burned brightlyon his red hair. Indeed, there was always a flamelike quality about him.In inaction he seemed femininely frail and pale; but when his spirit wasroused his eyes blazed as his hair burned in the sunlight.

  "You shall learn in the end," he said to the girl, "that everything Ido, I do for you."

  She cried out as if he had struck her.

  "It's not worthy of you," she said bitterly. "You are keeping Jackhere--in peril--for my sake?"

  "For your sake," said Donnegan.

  She looked at him with a queer pain in her eyes.

  "To keep you from needless lying," she said, "let me tell you that Jackhas told me everything. I am not angry because you come and pretend thatyou do all these horrible things for my sake. I know my father hastempted you with a promise of a great deal of money. But in the end youwill get nothing. No, he will twist everything away from you and leaveyou nothing! But as for me--I know everything; Jack told me."

  "He has told you what? What?"

  "About the woman you love."

  "The woman I love?" echoed Donnegan, stupefied.

  It seemed that Lou Macon could only name her with an effort that lefther trembling.

  "The Lebrun woman," she said. "Jack has told me."

  "Did you tell her that?" he asked Landis.

  "The whole town knows it," stammered the wounded man.

  The cunning hypocrisy spurred Donnegan. He put his foot on the thresholdof the shack, and at this the girl cried out and shrank from him; butLandis was too paralyzed to stir or speak. For a moment Donnegan waswildly tempted to pour his torrent of contempt and accusation uponLandis. To what end? To prove to the girl that the big fellow had coollytricked her? That it was to be near Nelly Lebrun as much as to be awayfrom the colonel that he wished so ardently to leave the shack? Afterall, Lou Macon was made happy by an illusion; let her keep it.

  He looked at her sadly again. She stood defiant over Landis; ready toprotect the helpless bulk of the man.

  So Donnegan closed the door softly and turned away with ashes in hisheart.