"It would be bad if Belknap didn"t turn out the man you think him, wouldn"t it?" I asked, innocently.
"It would," she said. And with that I came away.
XIV
BROTHER BELKNAP"S REVOLUTION
The next thing needed in my calculations was time. My three-day vacation ended Monday; I had to have an extension or a sure thing on another, shortly. I was ready to throw up my job, but I felt it wouldn"t come to that, likely, so I pulled for home and Jim.
At the store Pedro told me Jim had been there yesterday afternoon, but left at once in no pleasant frame of mind. Pedro didn"t know where he had gone. Took out toward the east, riding fast.
I didn"t know what to do. If I went after him, it was likely I"d miss him; if I waited, he mightn"t be around again for days.
"What ailed him, Pede?" I asked.
"That is that which I am not to know," says Pedro. "He cuss and swear mos" fiercily. He also es-strike one stranger _hombre_ who has been here making conversation with the workers. _Si_, he strike heem verree strong, so that the stranger does not know anything for one hour. He also say he will to shoot that stranger if he put the foot on thees groun" again. The men that are there make protestation and Senor Holton say, "You are fools." And Pepe, the large one, say, "I am not a fool,"
and Senor Holton say, "No--you are a jacka.s.s," and Pepe say, "You have abused us much." I am astonish to hear that, for of all men I have seen none is so kind to the people as Senor Holton; and I am moved to say, "Pepe, you lie!" He thereupon strike me at the nose, as you see. I say,"Pepe, you may strike my nose, but that does not make you not a liar--a liar is what you are." And Senor Holton say, "Mind them not, Pedro, you are an honest man; but now I shall to abuse them for the fair if I do hear one cheep," and he draw out his peestol and say, "Yap, you coyotes! Let me hear you!" and there is such silence that one may hear his heart. Then Senor Holton say to me, "Pedro, this is bad business.
Mind the store the best you can--I must ride. If they come at you h"run away--I do not care for these goods, and you have spoken up like a man."" Pedro smote himself upon the lung with his clenched fist. "H"run I shall not," says he. "Thees store can only be obtain by making the es-step over my corpsey."
"Corpsey" sounded kind of frivolous for the occasion. However, underneath all the rolling eye and fine large gestures, the sand of the little man lay strong. I didn"t understand the racket at all, but I knew it meant business or Jim would never have taken such a stand.
"Why didn"t you tell me this first, Pedro?" I asked. "I might have gone away and left you alone."
"That was what I try to weesh," said he. "For you are young, and there is life before you. These are b-a-a-d fallows, these; if they keel Pedro, eet ees no harm, but you have been kin" to me, and I do not weesh you hurt. So I say, I shall let him go; they mus" not harm Beel; and then I feel so verree lonesome, and I think, He shall know and for himself decide."
"Why, you darned old Guinea!" I yelled at him, "d"you suppose I"d leave you to buck this through alone? I don"t know what got into Jim not to put some men in with you."
Pedro shrugged his shoulders. "Senor Holton had no time--what it ees, ees emperative--and for those men, they are all mad, I think. They come and es-swear at me, who never have done them injury--I, never! Who can say Pedro harmed him? They only leave when you are to arrive."
I don"t know why, but suddenly it came upon me that we were stacked against a crowd of men--I mean it came right _real_ to me, and I sat down in a chair, limp. I never admired a man more than I did Pedro, at that moment. There he was, the little man I so often laughed at, quietly going about his business, waiting for a crowd to come and kill him! I didn"t mind one or two, or perhaps a few more men, so much, but the crowd threw a crimp into me. When you learn how much bigger a coward a crowd is, than any one man in it, you are not so troubled, but then!
Well, it was the first time I"d been right down terrified in my life, and it was awful. I raked the sweat off my forehead, steadied myself the best I could, and says:
"Well, Pede, we"re in for it!"
"_Tiene V. razon!_" says he; "but we will to do what we can. If I live, always shall I remember how Beel stay with me."
I"ve heard it said that a good example will steady you when you"re scart. Out of my personal experience I beg to differ. I got mad at Pedro for not being frightened; and the more I thought how well he behaved, the worse rattled I got. I sat there, in a hot chill every time I heard a noise outdoors, till at last some sense came back to me. "This won"t do!" says I. "Here, Pede, where"s the hot-water bottle?"
He handed me a bottle of brandy. I put the neck to my neck and warmed my poor soul. Lord! but it tasted good. Dutch courage ain"t on the same shelf with real courage, but it"s a durned sight better than scart-to-death in a rumpus.
I hadn"t more than time to give a "hoo" of satisfaction and put the bottle down, when there came a running and a yelling down the road. Pede and I jumped for the door together. The valley lay flat between the hills, north of us, and you could see a mile to the turn in the road.
Down the road two men were running for their lives, a screeching gang after them, peppering "em with rocks, clubs, and what not. Also there was the shine of knives--the shine that always sickens me. I waited for a gun-shot, but none came. The two had fifty yards" start, and they weren"t losing it, if they could help it. As they drew nearer I could hear remarks about Papists from the crowd. In a second I saw the play--Brother Belknap"s revolution!
That braced me. The victims ran with their arms over their heads for protection; when one dropped his arms and raised his head to cry for help, I recognized Tony Gonzales, the squarest, nicest man in the place.
That steadied me more yet. Fifty men to the two!
"Come on, Pedro!" I hollered. We each grabbed a pick-handle, and with that in one hand and a gun in the other, we went to the door.
"Beel," says Pedro, "let us to remain here. They cannot be hurt now, for they run verree fas". The es-store is a fort. If we stay, we do better."
I took in the situation. Tony and his mate were keeping distance n.o.bly.
I suppose they drew a clip or two from a stone, but they were in no deadly danger unless the crowd got hold of them. Pedro wasn"t much of a hand to sell groceries and truck, but he was a durned good general when it came to war.
"Queeck, Beel!" says he. "For to defend us make closed the windows and doors, but the one!"
We worked sharp, rolling barrels against the doors and slapping boxes of canned goods against the window-shutters. The work did me a power of good. Anger had driven out most of my fear, yet getting my muscles into use was needed to remove the rest of the poison from my system.
Next I broke open a box of cartridges and spread them on the counter, while Pedro loaded revolvers taken from the stock. By the time the feet drew near, we were in fighting trim. Another cry for help sounded almost at the door. Pede and I rushed out.
"Get in, boys," I said, "and grab a gun!" They ducked under my arm and entered the store.
The rest drew up in a huddle, a ways off, and stopped.
"Now, gentlemen," I said in the best Spanish I could muster, "what"s the matter?"
I got no answer, but bad looks. They talked and muttered among themselves, and shifted about, with ugly motions--as black and treacherous a mob as a man would like to dream of.
My temperature went right up. I naturally despise not getting an answer to a question. One lad shook his fist and growled something.
That was all. I waited. "Once more," says I, "what"s the matter?" Same performance. I shot a hole through the hat of the lad who shook his fist. "Third and last call," says I, "what"s the matter?" but they broke and ran.
My play held "em for a minute. Our best show was to take the top hand at once, so I walked down to them.
"Now I want to know what ails you people," I said, getting the meaning into Spanish, if the words were a little mixed, "and I want to know quick, or there"ll be a fuss right here."
A big feller jeered at me: "Put down the gun, and _I"ll_ show you what"s the matter," he said.
"You will?" says I, parting with what sense I had. "You yellow-bellied snake-in-the-gra.s.s! _You_ will show a white man, will you? Come on out here, you that"s so brave in a crowd!"
I chucked the gun away and waited for him. I got just what I might have expected--they all come for me! Cursing my fool soul, I jumped for the gun. I almost had my hand on it when a rock took me behind the ear and laid me on the gra.s.s. It was up to Mr. William De La Tour Saunders to put his feet under him with celerity and hike out of that. It was painful--sufferin" Moses! How I hated to run from that crowd! I snorted, but run was the word, and run I did, with them hollering and laughing at me. Inside, I grabbed two of the guns from the counter, called to Pedro and the other two, and started back. I met the gang right at the door.
It was curious how making me run had braved them; they were for tearing everything apart now. Well, our meeting was a surprise to both parties.
I"ve had to be grateful all my life that my hands think faster than my head. I put four shots into that crowd before I thought at all. The man who picked up my revolver fired and missed me from a three-foot range. I got some of the powder, also a knife in the shoulder, but four men laid out discouraged "em and they broke again. I put it to them with both hands, Pedro and the other boys cutting in before they found shelter.
By this time I was wild--wanted to go after them and hunt "em out. Pedro and the other two fastened on me and dragged me in.
"More shall come, Beel!" cried Pedro.
"We must have care--do not to go, I implore!"
He not only implored, but half-strangled me; they hauled me back and shut the door.
"Listen, all," says Pedro. "This is not the end. Others will come with guns, and then!--But now to see what is outside." He stationed us each where we could peek through cracks, and so cover the store from all sides. There was barrels of ammunition, General Pedro issued commands to blaze away at a sight.
The folks outside kept up a stream of cursing and abuse, jeers and threats, and we returned a revolver fire just as effective. It was too far for a short gun.