"You are _Don_ Cazar"s good friend, _Don_ Reese, his _compadre_ of many years. Can you not do something?"
"_Don_ Lorenzo, all men have blind spots. And Johnny Shannon is Rennie"s.
Bob Shannon helped free Hunt out of Mex prison in the war and was killed doing it. Soon as Hunt set up here he sent for the boy and tried to give him a father."
"It is a great pity he has no child of his own blood. I have seen him stand here in Tubacca giving toys and candy to the little ones. Yet he has only this wild one under his roof, and perhaps that Juanito will break his heart in the end...."
Drew put down his cup. It was very hard not to turn and ask questions.
Dropping some coins on the table, he rose and started back to the stable, to the world of Shiloh and Shadow where he was unable to betray Drew Rennie. But there was so much Drew Kirby must learn-and soon!
2
Two lighted lanterns hung from pegs along the center of the stable, and Callie had mounted a barrel to put up a third as Drew entered. There were the soft peaceful sounds of horses crunching fodder, hoofs rustling in straw. Shadow turned her head and nickered as Drew came up to her box stall. She was answered by a blowing from Shiloh, a bray out of Croaker.
"It"s all right, girl-pretty lady-" Drew fondled her mane, stroked the satin-smooth arch of neck. Callie dropped from his barrel perch.
"She sure is right purty, Mister Kirby. Mister Kells said as to tell you he"s sleepin" on a cot in th" tack room over there, should you be needin"
him." Callie pointed. "Me, I"m beddin" down in the last stall. I put your gear up right over here, so"s you can hear if she gits to movin"-"
"Thanks." Drew felt in a pocket, tossed Callie the coin his fingers found.
The boy caught the piece, his eyes round as he looked at it. "Lordy!
Thanks, Mister Kirby! You must be near as shiny as _Don_ Cazar-or Mister Topham!"
"Shiny?"
Callie laughed. "Silver-shiny! Ain"t too many men as goes round Tubacca throwin" out good money thataway. "Less it"s ringin" down on th" bar, or slidin" "cross some table "cause they found out as how they was holdin"
Jacks against some other fella"s Kings. You want anything-you jus" holler, Mister Kirby!"
"Mister?" Drew thought he did not have the advantage of Callie by more than four or five years.
"Oh-Captain Kirby, maybe? Or Lieutenant? Johnny Shannon-now he was a lieutenant with Howard"s Rangers." Callie gave Drew a shrewd measuring look.
"Sergeant." Drew corrected automatically and then asked: "How did you know I"d been in the army?"
"Well, you wear them two shootin" irons army style, belted high an" b.u.t.t to front. Must use a flip-hand draw as do all th" hoss soldiers. Listen, Mister Kirby, iffen you rode with th" Rebs, you better keep your lip b.u.t.toned up when th" Blue Bellies. .h.i.t town. There"s been a pile of fightin" an" folks is gittin" mad "bout it-"
"Blue Bellies?" Drew was wrenched back months, a year, by that old army slang. "Union troops stationed here?" He had unconsciously tensed, his body responding nerve and muscle to past training and alarms. But there were no Yanks or Rebs any more, no riders or marchers in blue and gray-just United States troops.
"There"s a garrison out to the Mesa camp. An" Cap"n Bayliss, he don"t take kindly to Rebs. You see, it"s this way.... Out in th" breaks there"s a bunch of Rebs-leastways they claim as how they"s Rebs-still holdin" out.
They hit an" run, raidin" ranches an" mines; they held up a coach a while back. An" so far they"ve ridden rings round th" cap"n. Now he thinks as how any Reb blowin" in town could be one of "em, comin" to sniff out some good pickin"s. So anyone as can"t explain hisself proper to th" cap"n gits locked up out at camp till he can-"
"Trifle highhanded, ain"t he?"
"Well, th" cap"n"s for law an" order, an" he"s army. But folks ain"t likin" it too much. So far he"s been doin" it though."
Drew frowned. So even this far away from the scene of old battles the war still smoldered; the black bitterness of defeat was made harder by the victor. Drew"s hand rubbed across the bulge beneath his shirt. In one pocket of the money belt were his papers, among them the parole written out in Gainesville which could prove he had ridden with General Forrest"s command, far removed from any Arizona guerrilla force. But to produce that would change Drew Kirby to Drew Rennie, and that he did not want to do.
"I rode with General Forrest, attached to General Buford"s Scouts," he said absently.
"General Forrest!" Callie glowed. "Lordy, Mister Kirby, that"s sure somethin", it sure is! Only don"t be sayin" that round Cap"n Bayliss neither. He has him a big hate for General Forrest-seems like Bayliss was a colonel once till th" General outsmarted him back east. An" there was a big smoke-up "bout it. They cut th" cap"n"s spurs for him, an" he ended th" war out here. Now he ain"t no patient man; he"s th" kind as uses his hooks hard when he"s ridin".
"You know, you sure can tell a lot "bout a man when you give a look at his hoss after he"s come off th" trail. That there Shiloh colt o" yours, an"
this here lady hoss, an" that old mule ... anyone can see as how they"s always been handled nice an" easy. They ain"t got no spite "gainst n.o.body as wants to rub "em down an" give "em a feed. But some hosses what git brung in here-they"s white-eyed an" randy, does you give "em a straight stare. For that there"s always a reason. Mostly you can see what it is when you look good an" steady at th" men who was ridin" "em!"
Drew laughed. "Glad I pa.s.sed your test, Callie. Guess I"ll turn in now.
Been a long day travelin"-"
"Sure thing. An" from up there you can hear this little old mare, does she need you."
The Kentuckian"s pack had been hoisted into the mow, and Callie had even humped up the fragrant hay to mattress his bedroll. A window was open to the night, and as Drew stretched out wearily, he could hear the distant tinkle of a guitar, perhaps from the Four Jacks. Somewhere a woman began to sing, and the liquid Spanish words lulled him asleep.
He roused suddenly, his hand flashing under his head before he returned to full consciousness, fingers tightening on the Colt he had placed there.
Not the mare-no-rather the pound of running feet and then a cry....
"No, _senor_, no! _No es verdad_-it is not true! Teodoro, he meant no harm-!"
Drew scrambled to the window. Out in the alley below, three figures reeled in the circle of light afforded by the door lantern. The Kentuckian marked the upward swing of a quirt lash, saw a smaller shape fling up an arm in a vain attempt to ward off the blow. Another, the one who cried out, was belaboring the flogger with empty fists, and the voice was that of a girl!
To slide down the loft ladder was again nearer instinct than planned action. Shiloh snorted as Drew"s boots rapped on the stable floor. The Kentuckian had no idea of the reason for that fight, but he ran out with the vague notion that an impartial referee was needed.
"You there-what"s goin" on!" Sergeant Rennie came to life again in the snapped demand.
The one who fled the quirt came up against the side of the building almost shoulder to shoulder with Drew. And he was only a boy, about Callie"s age, his black hair flopping over eyes wide with shock and fright. Drew"s hand moved, and the lantern light glinted plainly on the barrel of the Colt.
For a moment they were all still as if sight of the weapon had frozen them.
The attacker faced Drew directly. He was young and handsome, if you discounted a darkening bruise already puffing under one eye, a lip cut and swelling, a scowl twisting rather heavy brows and making an ugly square of his mistreated mouth.
"An" who th" devil are you?"
His voice was thick and slurred. Drew guessed that he had not only been in a fight but that he was partly drunk. Yet, as he faced the stranger eye to eye, the Kentuckian was as wary as he had been when bellying down a Tennessee ridge crest to scout a Yankee railroad blockhouse. He knew what he fronted; this was more than a drunken bully-a really dangerous man.
That queer little moment of silence lengthened, shutting the two of them up-alone. Drew could not really name the emotion he felt. Deliberately he tried to subdue the sensation as he turned to the girl.
"What"s the matter?"
At first glance he might have thought her a boy, for she wore hide breeches and boots, a man"s shirt now hanging loosely about her hips. She jerked her head, and a thick braid flopped from under her wide-brimmed hat.
"_Senor, por favor_-please-we have done no wrong. We are the Trinfans-Teodoro and me. Teodoro, he finds _Senor_ Juanito"s purse in the road, he follows to give it back. He is not a _bandido_-he is not _espia_, a spy one. We are mustangers. Ask of _Don_ Reese, of _Senor_ Kells. Why, _Senor_ Juanito, do you say Teodoro spy on you, why you hit him with the whip?"
"Not thief, not spy!" The boy beside Drew dropped a wealed hand from his face. "The man who says Teodoro Trinfan is _ladron_-bad one-him I kill!"
Drew"s left arm swept out across the boy"s chest, pinning him back against the stable.