He looked up. Ten feet distant, Captain Burr, on the seat of his peddler"s wagon, regarded him with kindly eyes.
"Wool-gatherin", Tom?" said the lean little man, waggling his white beard. "I"m surprised."
"I was just a-wonderin"," Loudon said, forcing a smile, "whether we was goin" to have rain or not."
"I shouldn"t wondeh," Captain Burr remarked, gravely staring up into the cloudless blue. "I"ve just come in from the Bah S," he continued, abruptly. "Miss Kate has two right soah hands. Right soah, they ah.
I sold the young lady some salve."
"Sore hands," repeated Loudon, stupidly. "Why, I--I heard her thumb was tore pretty bad, but--but I didn"t know both of "em was hurt."
"Yes, the young lady"s right thumb has quite a gash, and the palm of her left hand is cut all the way across. She cut it on a rock!"
"Cut it on a rock?"
"On a rock! She was comin" out o" the house, she said, an" she tripped on the doorsill an" fell. Fell pretty heavy, Her hand was sho" cut quite a lot."
"Lemme get this straight. Yuh say she cut her left hand, an" on a rock?"
"Yes, Tom," said Captain Burr, gently, "that"s the how of it."
Without a word Loudon turned and fled. Five minutes later, mounted on Bill Lainey"s toughest horse, he was galloping out of Farewell. Two miles out he pa.s.sed Mr. Saltoun. The latter called to him but received no response save a hand-wave.
"Well," observed Mr. Saltoun, "if he"s changed his mind about that job, he"s sh.o.r.e actin" mighty odd."
Within two hours after leaving Farewell Loudon halted his staggering pony in front of the Bar S ranch house. In the hammock on the porch sat Kate Saltoun. Her face was rather white, and there were dark shadows beneath her black eyes.
Loudon sucked in his breath sharply at the sight of the poor, bandaged hands. Kate sat motionless, her gaze level, her face without expression. Loudon felt like a stranger.
"Kate," he began, "Kate----" and stopped.
"Well," said Kate at last, dropping her eyes.
Released from the spell of that chill stare, Loudon found his tongue.
"I come to have a little talk with yuh," he said. "Yuh see, I"ve been findin" out things lately. You drove over to Marysville an" talked to Judge Allison on my account, didn"t yuh?"
"Who told you?" Kate did not raise her head.
"n.o.body told me. But I ain"t a fool. I seen the Bar S buckboard in Marysville, an" a woman was drivin", an" the judge said, "_Shershay la fam_," meanin" "Find the woman." Well, yo"re the woman all right. I know yuh are. An" that cut left hand yuh didn"t get by trippin" over the doorsill like yuh told Cap"n Burr. Yuh got it by fallin" on a rock back o" the Cross-in-a-box ranch house after yuh"d tied Ranger to the post. Yuh can"t tell me different.
"Yore cut hand, an" yore knowin" that I"d be at the Cross-in-a-box, an"
the way it was done an" all, makes it certain. Yuh gave me my hoss back. An" yuh paid Rudd to get him for yuh. Ranger was at the 88 all right. An" yuh couldn"t "a" got hold o" him "cept through somebody like Rudd. No wonder yuh stuck by Rudd! It was the only thing yuh could do, "specially when he"d saved yore life, too."
"He didn"t save my life. I thought if I told you that he had, you might let him go. I lied. I"d have told any number of lies to save him. He was a horse thief, and he and Marvin tried to prove you a rustler, but he trusted me. You wouldn"t take my word when I asked you to, but Rudd did when he brought me Ranger and I didn"t have the full amount I"d promised him. I told him that I"d bring the money three days later in the draw where the sumac bushes grow, and he believed me and he led Ranger all the way to that lonesome spruce grove on Cow Creek where I wanted to keep the horse till I could return him to you.
After that I couldn"t desert Rudd. I couldn"t have lived with myself if I had."
"I know. I should "a" took yore word, but--well, anyhow, I should "a"
took it an" let it go at that. I owe everythin" to yuh. Yuh took care o" me in Paradise Bend. Yuh worked for me, an" it was yore doin" that, that made findin" Scotty"s hosses almost a cinch. Yuh went an" got Hockling an" Red when the deputies jumped us over near Pack-saddle.
"Yuh done it all, you did, an" I"m here to tell yuh I"m a dog, an" I ain"t fit to saddle yore hoss. I can"t thank yuh. Thanks don"t mean nothin" "side o" what yuh done for me. But--but how much besides the sixty did yuh pay Rudd? I can settle that, anyhow."
"It doesn"t matter in the least," said Kate, her eyes still on the floor.
"It does matter. It matters a lot. I"ve got to know. I can"t----"
"Listen," interrupted Kate, flinging up her head and meeting his gaze squarely, "I"m going to tell you something. Once upon a time you told me you loved me. I treated you very badly. Later I was sorry, and I did everything in my power to make amends. I even told you I loved you. I loved you with all my heart and soul and body. I could have made you happy as no other woman on earth could have made you happy.
Well, that"s over. I"ve learned my lesson."
"Kate! Kate! I do love yuh--I do! I do!"
Loudon"s hat was under his feet. His long body was trembling.
"You do, do you?" said Kate, her voice icy. "Then perhaps I can make you suffer as you made me suffer. I don"t believe I can, but I"ll try.
I don"t love you! Do you understand? I don"t love you!"
"Then--then why did yuh go to the Judge? Why did yuh get my hoss?
Why----"
"Why? Because I wanted you, if such a thing were possible, to go through life in my debt. You won"t forget me now. And I"m glad--glad!"
"Then why did yuh walk in the water if yuh wanted me to know I owed yuh so much? Why did yuh wear boots too big for yuh to make me think it was a man brought Ranger to the Cross-in-a-box? Why did yuh go to Marysville all wrapped up, so n.o.body"d know yuh? What yuh say don"t hang together."
"Doesn"t it? I"m sorry. You"d have found out about the Judge and Ranger before a great while. I"d have seen to it that you did. I merely didn"t care to have you know about these things at the time."
"I guess I understand," Loudon muttered. "I"ll--I"ll send yuh Ranger.
Yuh"ve done bought him. He"s yores. I"ll go now."
"Oh, don"t bother about Ranger---- Look out!"
So engrossed had been the two that neither had heard the gallop of an approaching horse till it shot around the corner of the house and was almost upon them. As Kate shrieked her warning she sprang from the hammock and flung herself in front of Loudon. For the man on the horse was Pete O"Leary, and he was apparently aiming a six-shooter at Loudon.
"You ---- spy!" yelled O"Leary.
Even as O"Leary"s six-shooter cracked, Loudon swept Kate to one side and fired from the hip. O"Leary swayed, dropped his gun, then pitched forward over his saddle-horn. Loudon ran to him. As he reached O"Leary the latter rolled over on his back.
"Teach her to spy on my letters!" he gasped. "If it hadn"t been for her I----"
He choked and died.
Loudon thrust his sixshooter into its holster and turned. Kate, her lips colourless, her eyes dilated, was clinging to one of the porch uprights. Loudon crossed the intervening s.p.a.ce in two leaps.
"Where yuh hit?" he cried.
"I"m not hit," she replied, shakily. "But--but did he--did you--are you hurt?"
"I ain"t even creased. Now you go in the house an" stay. Here come Jimmie an" Rainey. We"ll take care o" what"s out here."
Obediently Kate went into the house.