Project Gutenberg's The Rider of Golden Bar, by William Patterson White This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: The Rider of Golden Bar Author: William Patterson White Illustrator: Remington Schuyler Release Date: January 2, 2011 [EBook #34826] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RIDER OF GOLDEN BAR *** Produced by Al Haines The girl seized his stirrup to save herself from falling. FRONTISPIECE. See page 55. THE RIDER OF GOLDEN BAR BY WILLIAM PATTERSON WHITE WITH FRONTISPIECE BY REMINGTON SCHUYLER TORONTO THE RYERSON PRESS 1922 Copyright, 1922, BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. All rights reserved Published January, 1922 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO MY POINT O' WOODS COUSINS LAURA, CHARLOTTE, JULIA, AND DOROTHY By William Patterson White THE OWNER OF THE LAZY D LYNCH LAWYERS HIDDEN TRAILS PARADISE BEND THE HEART OF THE RANGE THE RIDER OF GOLDEN BAR CONTENTS CHAPTER I BILLY WINGO II A SAFE MAN III WHAT SALLY JANE THOUGHT IV HAZEL WALTON V JACK MURRAY OBJECTS VI CROSS-PURPOSES VII RAFE'S IDEA VIII THE NEW BROOM IX THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY X A SHORT HORSE XI THE TRAPPERS XII THE TRAP XIII OPEN AND SHUT XIV WHEN THIEVES FALL OUT XV THE BEST-LAID PLANS XVI OBSCURING THE ISSUE XVII WHAT HAZEL THOUGHT XVIII THE BARE-HEADED MAN XIX THE PERSISTENT SUITOR XX A DISCOVERY XXI THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S NIGHTMARE XXII THE HUNCH XXIII THE GUNFIGHTERS XXIV CONTRARIETIES XXV JONESY'S ULTIMATUM XXVI THE FOOL-KILLER XXVII THE LONG DAY CLOSES THE RIDER OF GOLDEN BAR CHAPTER ONE BILLY WINGO "But why don't you do something, Bill?" demanded Sam Prescott's pretty daughter. Bill Wingo looked at Miss Prescott in injured astonishment. "Do something?" he repeated. "What do you want me to do?" "I don't want you to do anything," she denied with unnecessary emphasis. "Haven't you any ambition?" "Plenty." "Then use it, for Heaven's sake!" "I do. Don't I ask you to marry me every time I get a chance?" "That's not using your ambition. That's playing the fool." "Nice opinion of yourself you've got," he grinned. "Never mind. You make me tired, Bill. Here you've got a little claim and a little bunch of cows—the makings of a ranch if you'd only work. But instead of working like a man you loaf like a—like a——" "Like a loafer," he prompted. "Exactly. You'd rather hunt and fish and ride the range for monthly wages when you're broke than scratch gravel and make something of yourself. You let your cows run with the T-Up-And-Down, and I'll bet when Tuckleton had his spring round-up you weren't even on the job. Were you?" "Well, I—uh—I was busy," shamefacedly. "Fishing over on Jack's Creek. That's how busy you were, when you should have been looking after your property." "Oh, Tuckleton's boys are square. Any calves they found running with my brand, they'd run the iron on 'em all right." "They'd run the iron on 'em all right," she repeated. "But what iron?" "Why—mine. Whose do you suppose?" "I don't know," she said candidly. "I'm asking you." "Shucks, Sally Jane, those boys wouldn't do anything crooked. Tuckleton wouldn't allow it." "Bill, don't you ever distrust anybody?" "Not until I'm certain they're crooked." "I see," said the lady disgustedly. "After you wake up and find your hide, together with the rest of your worldly possessions, hanging on the fence, then and not till then do you come alive to the fact that perhaps all was not right." "Well——" began Bill. "Don't you see by that time it's too late?" interrupted the lady. "Aw, I dunno. I—I suppose so." "You suppose so, do you? You suppose so. Don't you know, my innocent William, that there are a sight more criminals outside of jail than there are in?" "Why, Sally Jane!" said the innocent William, scraping a fie-fie forefinger at her. "Shame on you, shame on you, you wicked girl. I am surprised. Such thoughts in a young maid's mind. No, I ain't either. I always said if your pa sent you away to school you'd lose your faith in human nature. He did; and you did. And now look at you, talking just like a district attorney. And suspicious—I'd tell a man!" "Oh, darn!" wailed Sally Jane. "I hate a fool!" "So do I," concurred Bill warmly. "Tell a feller who's the fool you hate and I'll hate him, too. One pair of haters working together might do said fool a lot of good." "Sometimes, Bill, my fingers simply ache to smack your long and silly ears." He nodded soberly. "I know. I often have the same feeling about people. But don't let it worry you. It don't mean anything." "Bill, can't you understand that I like you, and——" "Easily," he grinned. "Of course you like me. So do lots of other people. It comes natural. And that is another thing you mustn't let worry you, Sally Jane. Just you take that liking for me and tend it real careful. Put it on the window-sill between the pink geraniums and water it morning, noon and night, and by and by that li'l liking will wax strong and great and all that sort of thing, and you won't be able to do without me. You'll have to marry me, I'm afraid, Sally Jane." "I will, will I? And you're afraid, are you? You big, overgrown, lazy lummox! I wouldn't marry you ever." "I'm not so sure, but you needn't stamp your foot at me anyway. It ain't being done this season. People slam doors instead. I'm sorry there isn't a door near at hand. It must have been overlooked when Linny's Hill was made." "Bill, don't fool. This is not any joking matter. This come-day-go-day attitude of yours is bad business. It's ruining you, really it is." "Drink and the devil, huh?" "Oh, you're decent enough far as that goes. You never have been beastly." "I thank you, madam, for this good opinion of your humble servant." "Shut up! I mean to say— What I'm trying to beat into your thick head, you simple thing, is that in this world you don't stand still. You can't. You either go ahead or you slip back. And—you aren't going ahead." "If not, why not, huh? I know you mean well, Sally Jane, and——" "And it's none of my business? Oh, I know you weren't going to say that but you think it. You're quite right, Bill— but can't you see I'm talking for your own good?" "Sure, yes. My pa used to talk just like that before he'd go out behind the corral with a breeching-strap in one hand and my ear in the other. I've heard him many's the time. I used to hurt most unpleasant for two-three days after, special if he'd forget which end of the strap carried the buckle. Old times, old times. Now, I take it you were never licked, Sally Jane. That was a mistake. You should have been— What? You don't mean to say you're going home? And we were getting along so nicely too. Well, if willful must, she must. I'll hold your horse for you. Again let me offer my apologies for the lack of a door." He sagged down on his heel and watched her ride away along the side of Linny's Hill. "I've often heard a woman's 'no' doesn't mean what it says," he muttered, fishing out the makings from a vest pocket. "But Sally Jane is so persistent with it, I dunno. I wonder if I really love her, or do I only think I do because I can't have her? I suppose I'd feel worse'n I do every time she turns me down if I did. Lord! she said, I said, he said, and may Gawd have mercy on your soul!" When his cigarette was going well he lazed over on his side, supporting his head on a crooked arm, and gazed abroad between half-shut lids. The view from Linny's Hill was all that could be desired. At the base of the hill the Golden Bar-Hillsville trail, a yellow-gray ribbon across the green, led the eye across flats and gentle rises through shady groves of pine and cedar westward to where Golden Bar, a collection of toy houses, each one startlingly clear and distinct in that rarefied atmosphere, sprawled along the farther bank of Wagonjack River. The stream itself, a roaring river in the spring of the year, was now but a poor thing. Shrunk to quarter-size, and fordable almost anywhere, it flowed in sedate and midsummer fashion between its cut-banks and miniature bluffs. Bordered throughout its length by willows and cottonwoods, Wagonjack River meandered and wound its way southward from the blue and hazy tumble of peaks that was the main range of the Medicine Mountains to where the wide and pleasant reaches of the Peace Pipe watered the southern section of the territory. From Golden Bar to the Medicine Mountains was a long two hundred miles. From Golden Bar to the Peace Pipe was twice that distance. Crocker County, four hundred miles long by three hundred miles wide, bounded on the east by the Wagonjack, ran well up into the Medicine Mountains before giving way to Storey County. Across the river from Crocker were two counties, of which Tom Read County was the northern and Piegan County the southern. Shaler County ran the whole length of the southern side of Crocker, whose western line was the boundary of the neighboring territory. There you have Crocker, a county three hundred miles wide by four hundred miles long, and Golden Bar was its county seat. Political pickings in Crocker, which pickings the neighbors called by a much worse name, were consistently good. A small Indian reservation lay partly in Crocker and partly in Shaler, but somehow the Crocker citizens always secured the beef contracts. Crocker laws, provided the suspected person or persons were friendly with the county officials, were not administered with undue severity. Coarse work was never tolerated, naturally; but if one were judicious and a good picker, one could travel far and profitably. Thus it may be seen that Crocker was, as counties go, fertile ground for easy consciences. But, like Gallio, Bill Wingo cared for none of these things. He watched the moving pencil-end that was Miss Prescott and her mount descend to the trail and ride along it in the direction of Golden Bar. Another pencil-end was riding the same trail,—away from Golden Bar. Traveling at their present rate of speed, the riders would meet not far from the scattering grove of cedars marking the entrance to the low-walled draw that led to the Prescott ranch house. Bill Wingo intently scrutinized the way-farer from Golden Bar side. "Looks like Jack Murray's sorrel," he mused, holding the cigarette in the corner of his mouth and rocking it up and down. "If they stop, it's Jack." The pencil-ends drew together at the lower end of the grove. They stopped. "Shucks," Mr. Wingo muttered mildly. "I never did like that man." Said the first pencil-end to the second pencil-end, "Hello, Sally Jane." "Morning, Jack." "I was just a-riding to your place." "Don't let me stop you." "I'll ride along with you." "It's a free country." She lifted her reins and "kissed" to her horse. "And at times I've known you to be amusing, Jack. It's four miles to our ranch and you'll help to brighten the weary way." He spurred alongside and turned in his saddle to stare at her. "Is that all I'm good for—to help pass the time?" "What else is a man good for?" "Don't be so flip, Sally Jane. You know——" He stopped short. She waited a moment. Then, "I know what?" "You know I've been loving you a long, long time," he said abruptly. "I didn't want to tell you till I had something to offer you besides myself. And now I've got something—Rafe Tuckleton has promised to make me sheriff." "I thought the voters usually decided such things," said she. He laughed cynically. "Not in Crocker. We know the better way. Well, I've told you, Sally Jane. What do you say?" She looked at him coolly. "What is this—a proposal?" "Sure, I want you to marry me." "No, you don't." There was no hint of coquetry in either her tone or the direct gaze of her violet eyes. He crowded his horse almost against hers and dropped a hand on top of her hand where it lay on the saddle horn. She did not withdraw her hand at his touch. She simply suffered it impassively. "Don't you understand?" he said earnestly. "Don't you understand that I love you, Sally Jane? And I want you." Sally Jane continued to look at him. "I understand that you want me," she told him calmly. "Why not? You're dark and tall and thick-lipped and headstrong. I'm slim and red-haired and my mouth is full, too—but I'm headstrong, thank Heaven. My type appeals to your type, that's all. Appeals physically, I mean. You'd like to possess me, but you don't love me, Jack Murray." "I tell you——" he began passionately. "You don't have to tell me," she said calmly. "I know." "How do you know?" "By your eyes." "My eyes!" "Your eyes. Love is something besides desire, Jack. I know that lots of men don't think so; but women know. You bet women know. And I, for one, don't intend to risk my happiness on a twenty-to-one-shot." "What you talking about?" he demanded, scowling and withdrawing his hand. "You—and me—us. If I married you, it's twenty to one our marriage would be unhappy. There's too much of the animal in you, Jack." "You listen to me, Sally. I tell you I love you and I'm going to have you." "I said you only wanted to possess me," she observed placidly. "Dammit, I tell you——" "That's right, swear," she interrupted. "A man always does that when he can't think of anything else to say." "I'm gonna marry you," he persisted sullenly. "If it does you any good, keep right on thinking so. It can't hurt me." "Has Bill Wingo——" he began, but sensed his mistake and stopped—too late. "You mean am I in love with Billy Wingo?" she put in helpfully. "My answer is, not at present." "Meaning that you may be later on, I suppose." "I didn't say so. Lord, man, haven't I a right to bestow my heart anywhere I like? I intend to, old-timer." "You ain't gonna marry anybody but me," he insisted stubbornly. "There you go again. Leave the melodrama alone, can't you? This isn't a play. It's real life." "I said I was gonna have you and I am," he said slowly. "Neither Bill Wingo nor anybody else is gonna get you. You were always intended for me. You're mine, understand, mine!" Jamming his horse against hers he pinioned both her hands with his right, swung his left arm round her waist and crushed her gasping against his chest. Be sure she struggled; but he was a man, and strong. Forcing the back of the hand that confined her two hands under her chin, he tilted her head up and backwards. Tightly she screwed up her mouth so that her lips were invisible. Once, twice and again he kissed her compressed mouth. "There," he muttered, releasing her so abruptly that she almost fell out of the saddle and only saved herself by catching the saddle horn with both hands. "There. I've heard you boasted that no man had ever kissed you. Well, you're kissed now and you won't forget it in a hurry." She settled her toes in the stirrups and faced him, her body shaking. Her hat had fallen off, her copper-colored hair hung tousled about her ears. Violet eyes sparkling under the black eyebrows, lips drawn back revealing the white, even teeth—her features were a mask of rage—a rage that seethed and boiled in her passionate heart. Never in her life had she been so despitefully used. Had she had a gun, she would have shot the man. But she did not have a gun—nor any other weapon. She had even dropped her quirt somewhere. "Oh!" she cried, striking her fists together. "Oh! I could kill you! You dog! You beast! Faugh!" Here she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and wiped her hand on her horse's mane. "When I get home," she raved on, "I'll try to wash the touch of your mouth off with soap, but I don't believe even ammonia will ever make my lips feel clean again!" He laughed. She began to cry as her rage overflowed her heart. "When I tell my father," she sobbed, "he will kill you!" "Here, stop crying," he directed, stretching forth an arm and leaning toward her. At that she came alive with startling suddenness and with a full-armed sweep scored his cheek with her finger nails from temple to jaw. "Don't touch me!" she squalled. "Don't touch me! When my father gets through with you——" She left the sentence unfinished and wheeled her horse. But he was too quick for her and seized the bridle rein and swung her mount back. "Listen," he said, his voice quiet but his eyes ablaze, "don't say anything to your father." "Afraid now, are you?" she taunted sneeringly. "Not for me, for him. I don't want any trouble with your pa, not any. But if he jumps me, I'll have to defend myself. And you know your pa was never very quick on the draw, Sally Jane. So long." He let her bridle go and moved aside. She snatched her horse around with a jerk and flew homeward at a gallop. CHAPTER TWO A SAFE MAN "We gotta be careful," cautioned Tom Driver, the local justice of the peace. "Careful is our middle name," Rafe Tuckleton said reassuringly. "I know, I know," persisted Driver. "But you can't fool all the people all——" "Abe Lincoln said it first," Felix Craft interrupted impatiently. "But he didn't live in Crocker County." "Or he wouldn't have said it, huh?" flung in Tip O'Gorman. "Don't you fool yourself, Crafty. Tom's right. Human nature don't change any." "I s'pose you mean give the people a square deal then," sneered Felix. "If he does, he's crazy," said a lanky citizen named Shindle. O'Gorman grinned a wide Irish smile. "No, I ain't crazy, but we'll give 'em a square deal alla same." "He is crazy," declared lank Shindle. "A square deal," repeated O'Gorman. "A square deal—for us." "I thought so," nodded plump Sam Larder, speaking for the first time since the beginning of the discussion. "A square deal—for us. Let's hear it, Tip." O'Gorman sat back in his chair and crossed his legs. "When a dog is hungry it ain't sensible to feed him a whole juicy steak. He'll gobble it down an' come pesterin' round for more in five minutes. But give him a bone and he'll gnaw and gnaw and be a satisfied dog for quite a long while." "What kind of a bone were you figuring on giving our dog?" inquired Tom Driver. "Sheriff." Thus Tip O'Gorman with finality. Felix Craft shook a decided head. "Guess again. Too much meat on that bone." "Not if it's the right kind of meat," said O'Gorman blandly. "Stop walking in the water," grunted the impatient Felix. "Say it right out." "A sheriff with a ring in his nose," explained O'Gorman. "A weak sister, huh?" put in Tom Driver. "Or words to that effect," smiled O'Gorman. "Can't you see how it is, gents? To shove our ticket through we gotta give 'em one good man. If we don't, the four legislators are a stand-off. We may elect them. We may elect our three justices, county clerk and coroner. You can't tell what will happen to them. Folks will scratch their heads this election and they'll vote their own way. Take my word for it. And when it comes to sheriff, folks are gonna do more than scratch their heads. They're gonna think—hard. That's why we gotta give 'em a good man." "One of themselves, for instance?" said plump Sam Larder, locking his hands over his paunch. "Sure," O'Gorman drawled. "Do that. Give 'em somebody they trust and like for sheriff an' they'll be so busy thinkin' about electin' him that the rest of the ticket will slide in like a greased pig through a busted fence." "To tell the truth. I'd more than half-promised the job to Jack Murray," remarked Rafe Tuckleton, incidentally wondering why Jack had not yet turned up at the meeting. "He should have been here an hour ago." "You half-promised it to Jack Murray, huh?" exclaimed the lank citizen Shindle. "Lemme tell you that I was a damsight more than half-counting on that job myself." "Neither of your totals is the right answer, Skinny," explained O'Gorman pleasantly. "Nominatin' either you or Jack would gorm up the whole ticket." "Aw, the party is strong enough to elect anybody!" protested Felix Craft. "Not this year," contradicted O'Gorman. "You ain't been round like I have, Felix. I tell you I know. Gents, if we go ahead and nominate either Skinny Shindle or Jack Murray, we'll all have to go to work." "Who you got in mind?" queried Rafe Tuckleton. "Bill Wingo." Dead silence for a space. Then Rafe Tuckleton looked at Sam Larder and whistled lowly. Sam's eyes switched to Tip. "I don't see the connection," said Sam Larder. "Me either," concurred Rafe. "I should say not," Shindle declared loudly. "I'll tell you," said Tip O'Gorman, beaming impartially upon the assemblage. "Take Skinny Shindle. He——" "Aw right, take me!" burst out the gentleman in question. "What about me! What——" "Easy, easy," cautioned Tip O'Gorman, his smile a trifle fixed. "I ain't deaf in either ear, and besides ain't we all li'l friends together?" "But you said——" Skinny tried again. "I ain't said it yet," interrupted Tip, "but I'm going to—gimme a chance. It won't hurt. It's only the truth. Take Skinny and look at him. He buys scrip at three times the discount anybody else does, and there was a lot of talk about that beef contract the agent gave him." "What of it? Folks don't have to bring scrip to me if they don't wanna, and suppose there was chatter about the contract. It's the government's funeral." "It came near being the agent's," slipped in Sam Larder, with a reminiscent grin. "Some of them feather dusters like to chased him off the reservation when they saw the kind of cattle he gave 'em. I saw 'em. They were thinner than Skinny. No exaggeration. Absolutely." "Well, that's all right, too," said Skinny. "A feller's got to make money somehow. Who ever heard of giving a Injun the best of it? Not in Crocker County, anyway." "That's all right again, too," declared Tip. "But that last deal with the agent was a li'l too raw. Taking that with your prices for scrip, Skinny, has made a heap of talk. You ain't a popular idol, Skinny, not by any means." "Damn my popularity!" snarled the excellent Skinny. "I wanna be sheriff." "Like the baby wants the soap," said Tip. "Well, you'll never be happy then, because you'll never get it." "Lookit here, Tip——" "You lookit here, Skinny," swiftly interjected Rafe Tuckleton. "Is this campaign your own private affair, or is it the party's?" "The party's, I guess," Skinny reluctantly admitted. "But I want my share of it." "You can have your share without being sheriff," Rafe told him. "You'll be taken care of, don't fret. This here's a case of united we stand, divided we tumble. Suppose any li'l thing upsets our plans, and our ticket don't go through? What then? What happens? For one thing you won't get the contract for furnishing the lumber for the new jail and town hall that's gonna be built next year. And for another, that land deal you and I put through last month will be investigated. How'd we like that, huh?" "Rafe's right," said Tom Driver. "This is no time for taking any chances. It ain't a presidential year, and you can gamble there ain't gonna be a thing to take folks' eyes off the county politics. We've all gotta give up something for the sake of the party." "I don't notice you givin' up anything," snapped the disgruntled Skinny. "I seem to be the only one that loses." "And Jack Murray," supplemented Rafe Tuckleton. "Hell's bells, Skinny, why didn't you say something sooner? To-night's the first I ever heard you even wanted an office. That's why I told Jack he could have it. He's a good man, but if I'd known——" "What difference does that make?" interrupted Skinny, bitterly. "You couldn't give me the nomination anyway." "You could have had another office—say county clerk." "Wouldn't take it on a bet—not enough opportunity. Aw hell, it's a dead horse! Let it go, Rafe. Tip, you've had a lot to say about me, now let's hear what you got against Jack Murray." "Yep," said Rafe Tuckleton, "let's have it. I'll have to give Jack some reason for going back on him, and I don't see exactly——" He did not complete the sentence. "Speaking personal," observed Tip, again on the broad grin, "I ain't got a thing against Jack. Him and me get along fine. But when Jack was first deputy two years ago he managed to kill four men one time and another." "That was in the line of duty," said Rafe. "They all resisted arrest." Tip O'Gorman nodded. "I ain't denying it. And we've got Jack's word for it besides; but the four men all had friends, and when, as you know, each and every one of 'em turned out to be more or less innocent, why the friends got to talking round and saying Jack was too previous. Ain't you heard anything a-tall?" "I've heard it said he was a leetle quicker than he maybe needed to be," conceded Rafe. "But folks always talk more or less about a killing. It didn't strike me there was enough in it to actually keep Jack from being elected." "There is. They're only talking now, but nominate Jack and they'll begin to yell." "You must have been mighty busy these last few weeks, Tip," sneered Skinny. "I have," declared Tip. "Seems like I've talked with every voter in the county. I've gone over the whole field with a finetooth comb, and I tell you, gents, the bone for our dog is Bill Wingo. Most everybody likes Bill. He's a damsight more popular than the opposition candidate. Bill will get a lot of the other feller's votes, but if we put up anybody else the other feller will get a lot of ours—and so will the rest of his ticket." Tip O'Gorman sat back in his chair and eyed his friends. It was obvious that the friends were of two minds. Rafe Tuckleton, his fingers drumming on the table, stared soberly at the floor. "Are you sure, Tip," inquired Larder suddenly, "that Bill Wingo is the breed of horse that will always drink when you lead him to water?" Tip O'Gorman nodded his guarantee of Mr. Wingo's pliability of character. "Bill is too easy-going and good- natured to do anything else." "I'd always had an idea he was a good deal of a man," said Sam Larder. "Oh, he'll stand the acid," Tip said. "He'll go after anybody he thinks he oughta go after; but if we can't manage to give him the right kind of thoughts we're no good." "You needn't start losing flesh, Sam," slipped in Tom Driver. "Bill would never go back on his friends. H's just a big overgrown kid, that's all." Rafe Tuckleton leaned back in his chair and stared dubiously at Tip O'Gorman. "All right for Bill, but how about Tom Walton?" "I'll bite," Tip averred blandly. "How about him?" "Nothing, oh, nothing a-tall. Only Tom Walton has been one too many round here for a long time." "He does talk too much," admitted Tom Driver, his bright little eyes, like those of an alert bird, fixed on Rafe Tuckleton. "He's a very suspicious man," said the latter. "He like to broke Simon Reelfoot's neck last week over a horse of his he said Simon rustled." "Serve Simon right," said Tip promptly. "Simon's a polecat. Always was. Felt like breaking his neck more than once myself. Good for Walton." "But Simon's one of our crowd," Rafe reminded him, "and he's been mighty useful. We gotta consider his feelings." "Oh, damn his feelings. The old screw ain't got any right to feelings." "Yes, but there wasn't any real actual proof about the horse—only some tracks in Simon's corral that Walton thought he recognized." Tip quirked a quizzical mouth. "Between us, Rafe, what did Simon do with the horse?" "Sold him to a prospector who was leaving the country. So it couldn't be traced." "Good horse was it?" "It was that chestnut young Hazel rides." "Hazel's own pony? Lord! Man alive, Simon is worse'n a polecat. He's a whole family of them. Why couldn't he have rustled some other horse?" "I ain't Simon, so I can't tell you," said Rafe dryly. "But if you don't want anything done on Simon's account, how about this: yesterday one of my boys was shot at while he happened to be doing a li'l business on the Walton range." "What did your boy happen to be doing?" smiled Tip. Rafe attempted to excuse himself and his cowboy. "It was a long-ear." "Branding it on the Walton range?" "Yes." "With its mammy?" "Yes." "Serve the boy right." Tip gave judgment. "You and your outfit are getting too reckless for any use, Rafe. The territory is not a Sunday-school. You can't pick a man's pocket openly any more. It isn't safe. And you know it isn't safe. Who was the boy and what time of day was it?" "Ben Shanklin; and it was round noon." "Worse and more of it. My Gawd, Rafe, you gimme a pain!" Sam Larder shook a fat-cheeked head. "Dangerous, Rafe; dangerous. You've got to consider a man's feelings now more than you used to. Haven't you told your man to always work round sunrise and sunset, and never to shoot a calf's mammy on her owner's territory?" "Others do, and get away with it. Besides, he didn't shoot the cow." "He might as well have shot her," declared Tom Driver. "He got caught, didn't he?" "Ben didn't get caught. He made the riffle all right with two holes in his saddle-horn and one in his cantle that tore his pants." "What range? Did he say?" "About fourteen hundred." "Fourteen hundred, huh? Then he couldn't have been recognized." "Luckily not." "Luck is the word—for you—for us." "Wonder who did the shooting?" "I don't know. Ben dug out one of the bullets from his horn. It was fifty caliber—a Sharps." "That was Tom Walton himself," declared Tom Driver. "He's the only one in his outfit owning a Sharps, and he won't let any one else shoot it. 'Twas Tom Walton. And don't be so positive Ben wasn't recognized, Rafe. I hear Walton carries field glasses now." "He is getting suspicious," smiled Tip O'Gorman. The smile stung the amiable Rafe. "He's gotta be stopped." "How?" Thus Tip. "There are ways," snarled Rafe. "Of course, but it doesn't pay to be too rough. Tom has a great many friends. We can't afford to stir up a whole kettleful of discontent. A little care, Rafe, is all that's necessary. I think I'd impress my men, if I were you, with the absolute necessity of being careful." "I did tell 'em," said Rafe sullenly. "Your telling seems to have left them cold. At least it left Ben Shanklin. Damn his soul! I almost wish Tom Walton had got him, the coyote! He deserves to be got, gorming up our plans thisaway." "Well, everything turned out all right," Felix Craft tucked in hastily. "So why worry? I'm sure Rafe's men will be more careful after this." "I wish I was sure," grunted Tip O'Gorman. "They're a wild bunch, every last one of 'em. I believe they just try to stir up trouble. They're eternally getting drunk and shooting up saloons and other places of business. People don't like it." "Oh, boys will be boys," deprecated Rafe. "Your boys will be dead boys if they don't watch out. Anyway, you put the hobbles on that Ben boy, Rafe. We can't afford to have him spoil things." "How about having him spoil Walton?" "And antagonize all of Walton's friends, huh? Bright, oh, very!" "If the feller who spoiled Walton was a stranger, it would be all right. You couldn't connect an absolute stranger with us, could you?" "Let's hear your li'l plan," said Tip O'Gorman. Every man of them listened intently to the Tuckletonian plan. As plans go it was a good plan. Procuring an assassin to do the dirty work is always a good plan. Rafe knew a gunman, named Slike, in a neighboring territory. For two hundred and fifty dollars, according to Rafe, Dan Slike would murder almost any one. For five hundred it was any one, without the almost. "Can he do it?" doubted Tom Driver. "We all know how slow Tom Walton is on the draw," sneered Rafe. "Which he's slower than Sam Prescott. If Slike don't plug Walton three times before he can draw, I'll eat my shirt." "That sounds well," said Tip O'Gorman, eyeing Rafe with frank disgust. "But, somehow, I don't like the idea of having Walton killed." "Whatsa matter with you?" demanded the originator of the idea. "Losing your nerve?" Tip O'Gorman's expression did not alter in the slightest. He gazed upon his questioner as if the latter were a new and interesting specimen of insect life. "No," he said, "I don't think I'm losing my nerve. Do you think I'm losing my nerve, Rafe?" Rafe looked upon Tip. Tip looked upon Rafe. The others held their respective breaths. In the room was dead silence. "Do you, Rafe?" persisted Tip, his voice velvety smooth. Rafe found his tongue. "No, I don't," he declared frankly. "But, I don't see why you don't like my scheme." "Don't you? I'll explain. Tom Walton's niece, Hazel, is the drawback. Rubbin' out Tom would most likely put a crimp in her, sort of. She lost her ma and pa only five years ago." "Aw, the devil!" exclaimed Rafe Tuckleton. "We can't stop to think of all those li'l things. We're here to make money, no matter how. Good Gawd, Tip! We ain't——" "Good Gawd, Rafe!" interrupted Tip. "We ain't hiring any gunman to wipe out Tom Walton. I'm no he-angel— none of us are, I guess; but I've known Hazel since she was a li'l squaller, and I won't sit still and see her hurt. And that goes!" Tip nodded with finality at Rafe Tuckleton. Rafe sat back on the middle of his spine and gnawed his lower lip. His eyes were sulky. "I don't want to see Hazel hurt either," said Skinny Shindle with an indescribable leer, "but when it comes to a question of li'l Hazel or us, I'm for us every time." "You look here, Skinny," said Tip O'Gorman in a low dispassionate voice, "what I said to Rafe, I say to you: Hands off Tom Walton." "Oh, all right," said Skinny Shindle, "but if anything happens out of this, don't say I didn't tell you." "I won't say so, Skinny," Tip said good-naturedly. "I won't say a word." "Gentlemen," Felix Craft put in hurriedly, "let's go slow about now. No use saying anything hasty, not a bit of use. Tip's right. None of us want to hurt Hazel, and——" "And we want to be damn sure we don't want to hurt Hazel," interrupted Tip O'Gorman, his eyes fixed on Rafe Tuckleton's sullen face. "'T'sall right, 't'sall right," said Rafe, forcing a smile. "Have it your own way, Tip. Tom Walton's safe for all of me." "Good enough," Tip said heartily, shooting at Rafe a glance that was not completely trustful. Entered then Jack Murray, wearing a set smile across his scratched face. He nodded to the assemblage, sat down jauntily on the edge of the table and brought out the makings. "Well!" he said, his eyes on Rafe Tuckleton, rolling the while a meticulous cigarette. "Well, I suppose you've got the ticket all made up." "Just about," nodded Rafe. "What prize did I draw?" "A large, round goose-egg," Skinny Shindle answered for Rafe with malice. "Huh!" Thus Mr. Murray, the hand he had reached upward to his hatband coming down without the match. "You serious, Skinny?" "I wish I thought I wasn't," was the reply. Jack Murray turned a slow head back toward Rafe Tuckleton. "You told me the sheriff's job was mine," he said bluntly. "I thought it was," admitted Rafe, looking straight into his eyes. "But we've heard some bad news, unexpected news. It seems you ain't as popular with our citizens as you might be. We understand that you're so little liked you wouldn't be elected in a million years." "Who told you that?" Jack's tone was sharp. "I did." Thus Tip O'Gorman in a tone no less sharp. "And I know what I'm talking about, you can gamble on that." "Tip's had his ear to the ground pretty steady," said Rafe Tuckleton. "He knows what's on every voter's mind, and if we nominate you for sheriff it means the defeat of the party. Listen, and I'll explain the whole thing." Jack Murray listened in silence. When Rafe said his last word, Jack Murray laid his unlighted cigarette across the end of his left index finger and teetered it slowly. "Who you figurin' on running in my place," he drawled, his dark gaze on the cigarette. "Bill Wingo." The teetering stopped. The cigarette slipped into the fork of two fingers. The man slid to his feet. "Bill Wingo," he repeated. "Bill Wingo, huh? Well, this is a surprise." Without another word he left the room, closing the door behind him very gently. When he had gone Tip O'Gorman threw a whimsical glance at Rafe Tuckleton. "I'd feel better if he'd slammed that door," said Tip O'Gorman. CHAPTER THREE WHAT SALLY JANE THOUGHT "Careless child," observed Bill Wingo, coming up on the porch where Sally Jane lay in the hammock. "You dropped your hat in the draw. I found it this morning. Here it is. Don't move, sweet one. Of course, if you asked me to sit down or didn't ask me I would, and if you felt like rustling some coffee and cake, or lemonade and doughnuts, or even just a piece of pie with a bite of cheese on the side—just a bite, not over half a pound, I don't like cheese much—I wouldn't stop you." "Stop calling me 'sweet one,'" Miss Prescott said crossly. "I'm not your sweet one, or anybody else's sweet one, and I'll get you something to fill your fat stomach, you lazy loafer, when I get good and ready. Not before." "Well, all right," he murmured resignedly, settling down on the stout pine rail of the porch and fanning himself with his hat. "But I love you just the same. What's that? Did I hear you curse or something?" "Something. I only said damn because you make me sick. Love, love, love, morning, noon and night! Don't men ever think of anything else?" "Not when you're around," he told her. "Oh, it's the very devil," admitted Sally Jane, rubbing her red mouth with a reflective forefinger. "Am I so alluring?" "Who has been kissing you now?" he asked idly and wondered why her face should flame at the word. Wondered —because everybody knew Sally Jane. On her part she wondered if he had seen what had passed in the draw the day before, then decided instantly that he had not, else his manner toward her would have been decidedly different. "You haven't answered my question?" he persisted, still idly. "Does it need one?" "Well, no, not yet, anyway. When you're engaged to me, I'll know who's kissing you." "Don't be disgusting." "No disgusting about it. I'll probably hug you, too." "What dismal beasts men are," she said, with a mock shiver, having regained control of her jumpy nerves. "I suppose you'd enjoy having me sit on your knee." "I would indeed," he told her warmly. "I think that chair there would hold the two of us if we sat quiet—fairly quiet." It was at this juncture that her father, Sam Prescott, came out on the porch. "Howdy, young Bill," said Sam. He invariably prefixed the adjective to Bill's name. Why, no one knew. It was doubtful if he knew himself. "'Lo, Sam," said young Bill. "Sam," said Sally Jane from the hammock, "s'pose now a man tried to hug you, and kiss you and make you sit on his knee, what would you do?" "If I was you, you mean?" inquired Sam judicially. Middle-aged though he was, he never ceased to experience a pleasurable thrill when his daughter called him "Sam." It reminded him so much of her mother. "If I was you," he went on, without waiting for an answer, "and the feller which tried to make me do all those things was young Bill here, I'd do 'em. I really believe he likes you, Sally Jane." "You think so, do you?" sighed Sally Jane, smoothing her frock down over her ankles. "You too, Samuel? What chance has a poor girl got—without a club?" "I told her if she married me," spoke up Bill, "she could have jam on Sundays and butter the rest of the week." "There, you see, Sally Jane!" said Sam Prescott. "He'll be good and generous. And if you asked him for a new dress now and then, or a pair of shoes, I'll bet he wouldn't say no." Sally Jane stubbornly shook her copper-colored head of hair. "Samuel," said she, "you're the only man I ever loved. Bill's all right in his futile, thumb-handed way, but he's not my Sam. Now don't forget that one drink is enough for a plumpish man with a beautiful daughter, and that I want you to bring back a dozen cans of baking-powder, a dozen bars of May Rose soap, three dozen boxes of matches, four sacks of flour, sack of salt, sixty pounds of sugar, two papers of pins, four spools of number forty cotton and a pail of chocolate creams. Be sure and take the cover off and see it's a full pail, and if Nate tries to palm off any stale stuff or hard candy on you, why just throw it in his face and tell him I'll come in and complain in person my next trip." "My Lord, Sally Jane," Sam exclaimed helplessly, "I can't remember all that!" "I know you can't," said Sally Jane calmly. "I've merely been impressing it on you that there's a lot of errands for you to do. You'll find a carefully written list of everything I want stuck in the coil of the tie-rope under the seat of the buck-board. You can't miss it when you go to tie the team." "And Sam," she added, raising her voice to a shout, for her father had already departed corralward, "be back by seven. I'm gonna make a lemon pie." Her father waved a comprehending hand and disappeared behind the blacksmith shop. "You see," said Billy Wingo, with a smirk of self-satisfaction, "the male parent approves. The last obstacle is removed. Be a sport. Take a chance. You might go farther and fare worse." "I doubt it, William. Not that you aren't a nice boy and all that sort of thing. However, tell sister why you seek her company this morning?" "Oh, yes, of course, sister not being a good excuse for coming, I did another reason. I have a fresh bale of news for her li'l pink ear. Last night I was approached—" He paused dramatically. "How much did he try to borrow?" Sally Jane inquired indifferently. "Nothing like that, sweet one. The political steersmen of our fair county rode out to my place last night and——" "What did the old thief want?" Sally Jane brutally wished to know. "Steersmen, beloved. There were two of him, and you do both old gentlemen an injustice. They——" "So Tip came with Rafe, did he? And you mean to tell me you didn't even miss your watch after they'd gone? You didn't? They must be sick, the pair of them. What did they do?" "Offered me the nomination for sheriff!" Sally Jane sat up abruptly, stuck her finger in her mouth, then held it up to catch the vagrant breeze. "The wind's still in the west," she said, making her eyes round as saucers. "And you are still sitting there as large as life, and I'm here alive and in my right mind!" Here she pinched her forearm. "That hurt," she added. "I really am not dreaming. They want you for sheriff, huh?" "Don't 'huh' at me, Sally Jane. It ain't being done by the best people no more. And they want me for sheriff, really." "I wonder just how much of that really is real?" He wrinkled his forehead at her. "Sometimes, Sally Jane, you talk most awful puzzling." "Those two old rascals!" she cried. "Don't you think their intentions are honorable?" Sally Jane's laughter was sardonic. "Are they trying to fool me, or what?" he persisted. "I don't know whether they're trying to fool you or not," was the reply, "but they're trying to fool somebody, that's a cinch." "Do you know now, Sally Jane, I was thinking something like that myself." She looked at him with a gleam of respect in her eyes. "I wonder if you really have a brain after all, William. Occasionally you give out a spark that leads one to believe that there may be a trace of reasoning power underneath your waving hair. What makes you think they have an ulterior motive?" "Humanly speaking, I dunno why; but I do." "Instinct is the white woman's burden, boy. You'd better leave it alone. But it doesn't take any instinct to tell me that there's a man and brother hiding in the cord-wood. To find the dark-hued gentleman—that is the question." "Why take the trouble?" "Why? Listen to the man! Why? So you'll know what you're up against, that's why." "But I'm not up against anything," he objected mildly. "I told 'em I didn't want the job." "What?" He rubbed an outraged ear. "No need to deafen me," said he. "Deafen you?" she cried. "I could take a club to you, you fat-head! The opportunity of a lifetime and you turn it down! Oh! I could shriek my head off with rage! I never was so hopping in my life! The first time an honest man is offered a political job in this county, for the honest man to turn up his nose, is——" Words failed her. She almost choked. "So-o, so-o," he soothed. "Don't get so excited. Remember we are young but once, and every outburst brings us nearer the grave. I hadn't reached the end of my tale when you blew up and hit the ceiling. Lemme finish, that's a good child. I told 'em I didn't want the job, but they wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. They said for me to think it over, and they'd be back in a couple of days and take it up with me again." "Bill," said Sally Jane, leaning forward, her violet eyes shining, "I'm serious." "I'll try to believe it," he said, regarding her with admiration. "But just this minute you look like the most unserious thing I ever saw—and the most beautiful. Listen, Sally Jane, I wish you'd do as I ask you. Close your eyes and plunge right in. We'd be as happy as two pups in a basket. Sign on the dotted line and leave the rest to me." Which nonsense she quite properly disregarded utterly. "Bill, I want you to take that nomination."