It was bad enough to have the town declared open when fifteen of them in a body had proclaimed it closed, but in addition to this to be called "greasers" was an insult not to be borne. A cowboy despises a Mexican almost as much as he does an Indian. With a soul-terrifying yell the fifteen were out of the saloon and on their horses like a cyclone. They went down the street with tornado speed, wheeling about, some distance below the temporarily closed bank, and, charging up again at full gallop, fired repeatedly in the direction of Hickory Sam, who was crouching behind an empty whiskey barrel in front of the saloon with a "gun" in either hand.
Sam made good his contention by nipping the heart of the champion when opposite the bank, who plunged forward on his face and threw the cavalcade into confusion. Then Sam stood up, and regardless of the scattering shots, fired with both revolvers, killing the foremost man of the troop and slaughtering three horses, which instantly changed the charge into a rout. He then retired to Hades and barricaded the door.
Mike was nowhere to be seen.
But the boys knew when they had enough. They made no attack on the saloon, but picked up their dead, and, thoroughly sobered, made their way, much more slowly than they came, back to Buller"s ranch.
When it was evident that they had gone, Mike cautiously emerged from his place of retirement, as Sam was vigorously pounding on the bar, threatening that if a drink were not forthcoming he would go round behind the bar and help himself.
"I"m a law and order man," he explained to Davlin, "and I won"t have no toughs from Buller"s ranch close up this town and interfere with commerce. Every man has got to respect the Const.i.tution of the United States as long as my gun can bark, you bet your life!"
Mike hurriedly admitted that he was perfectly right, and asked him what he would have, forgetting in his agitation that Sam took one thing only, and that one thing straight.
Next day old Buller himself came in from his ranch to see if anything could be done about this latest affray. It was bad enough to lose two of his best herdsmen in a foolish contest of this kind, but to have three trained horses killed as well, was disgusting. Buller had been one of the boys himself in his young days, but now, having grown wealthy in the cattle business, he was anxious to see civilisation move westward with strides a little more rapid than it was taking. He made the mistake of appealing to the Sheriff, as if that worthy man could be expected, for the small salary he received, to attempt the arrest of so dead a shot as Hickory Sam.
Besides, as the Sheriff quite correctly pointed out, the boys themselves had been the aggressors in the first place, and if fifteen of them could not take care of one man behind an empty whiskey barrel, they had better remain peaceably at home in the future, and do their pistol practice in the quiet, innocuous retirement of a shooting gallery. They surely could not expect the strong arm of the law, in the person of a peaceably-minded Sheriff, to reach out and pull their chestnuts from the fire when several of them had already burned their fingers, and when the chestnuts shot and drank as straight as Hickory Sam.
Buller, finding the executive portion of the law slow and reluctant to move, sought advice from his own lawyer, the one disciple of c.o.ke-upon- Littleton in the place. The lawyer doubted if there was any legal remedy in the then condition of society around Salt Lick. The safest plan perhaps would be--mind, he did not advise, but merely suggested-- to surround Hickory Sam and wipe him off the face of the earth. This might not be strictly according to law, but it would be effective, if carried out without an error.
The particulars of Buller"s interview with the Sheriff spread rapidly in Salt Lick, and caused great indignation among the residents thereof, especially those who frequented Hades. It was a reproach to the place that the law should be invoked, all on account of a trivial incident like that of the day before. Sam, who had been celebrating his victory at Mike"s, heard the news with bitter, if somewhat silent resentment, for he had advanced so far in his cups that he was all but speechless.
Being a magnanimous man, he would have been quite content to let bygones be bygones, but this unjustifiable action of Buller"s required prompt and effectual chastis.e.m.e.nt. He would send the wealthy ranchman to keep company with his slaughtered herdsmen.
Thus it was that when Buller mounted his horse after his futile visit to the lawyer, he found Hickory Sam holding the street with his guns.
The fusillade that followed was without result, which disappointing termination is accounted for by the fact that Sam was exceedingly drunk at the time, and the ranchman was out of practice. Seldom had Salt Lick seen so much powder burnt with no damage except to the window-gla.s.s in the vicinity. Buller went back to the lawyer"s office, and afterwards had an interview with the bank manager. Then he got quietly out of town unmolested, for Sam, weeping on Mike"s shoulder over the inaccuracy of his aim, gradually sank to sleep in a corner of the saloon.
Next morning, when Sam woke to temporary sobriety, he sent word to the ranch that he would shoot old Buller on sight, and, at the same time, he apologised for the previous eccentricities of his fire, promising that such an annoying exhibition should not occur again. He signed himself "The Terror of Salt Lick, and the Champion of Law and Order."
It was rumoured that old Buller, when he returned to the lawyer"s office, had made his will, and that the bank manager had witnessed it.
This supposed action of Buller was taken as a most delicate compliment to Hickory Sam"s determination and marksmanship, and he was justly proud of the work he had thrown into the lawyer"s hands.
A week pa.s.sed before old Buller came to Salt Lick, but when he came, Hickory Sam was waiting for him, and this time the desperado was not drunk, that is to say, he had not had more than half a dozen gla.s.ses of forty rod that morning.
When the rumour came to Hades that old Buller was approaching the town on horseback and alone, Sam at once bet the drinks that he would fire but one shot, and so, in a measure, atone for the ineffectual racket he had made on the occasion of the previous encounter. The crowd stood by, in safe places, to see the result of the duel.
Sam, a c.o.c.ked revolver in his right hand, stood squarely in the centre of the street, with the st.u.r.dy bearing of one who has his quarrel just, and who besides can pierce the ace spot on a card ten yards further away than any other man in the county.
[Ill.u.s.tration: SAM LOOKED SAVAGELY AROUND HIM]
Old Buller came riding up the street as calmly as if he were on his own ranch. When almost within range of Sam"s pistol, the old man raised both hands above his head, letting the reins fall on the horse"s neck.
In this extraordinary att.i.tude he rode forward, to the amazement of the crowd and the evident embarra.s.sment of Sam.
"I am not armed," the old man shouted. "I have come to talk this thing over and settle it."
"It"s too late for talk," yelled Sam, infuriated at the prospect of missing his victim after all; "pull your gun, old man, and shoot."
"I haven"t got a gun on me," said Buller, still advancing, and still holding up his hands.
"That trick"s played out," shouted Sam, flinging up his right hand and firing.
The old man, with hands above his head, leant slowly forward like a falling tower, then pitched head foremost from his horse to the ground, where he lay without a struggle, face down and arms spread out.
Great as was the fear of the desperado, an involuntary cry of horror went up from the crowd. Killing is all right and proper in its way, but the shooting of an unarmed man who voluntarily held up his hands and kept them up, was murder, even on the plains.
Sam looked savagely round him, glaring at the crowd that shrank away from him, the smoking pistol hanging muzzle downward from his hand.
"It"s all a trick. He had a shooting-iron in his boot. I see the b.u.t.t of it sticking out. That"s why I fired."
"I"m not saying nothing," said Mike, as the fierce glance of Hickory rested on him, ""tain"t any affair of mine."
"Yes, it is," cried Hickory.
"Why, I didn"t have nothin" to do with it," protested the saloon keeper.
"No. But you"ve got somethin" to do with it now. What did we elect you coroner fur, I"d like to know? You"ve got to hustle around and panel your jury an" bring in a verdict of accidental death or something of that sort. Bring any sort or kind of verdict that"ll save trouble in future. I believe in law and order, I do, an" I like to see things done regular."
"But we didn"t have no jury for them cowboys," said Mike.
"Well, cowboys is different. It didn"t so much matter about them.
Still, it oughter been done, even with cowboys, if we were more"n half civilised. Nothin" like havin" things down on the record straight and shipshape. Now some o" you fellows help me in with the body, and Mike"ll panel his jury in three shakes."
There is nothing like an energetic public-spirited man for reducing chaos to order. Things began to a.s.sume their normal att.i.tude, and the crowd began to look to Sam for instruction. He seemed to understand the etiquette of these occasions, and those present felt that they were ignorant and inexperienced compared with him.
The body was laid out on a bench in the room at the back of the saloon, while the jury and the spectators were accommodated with such seats as the place afforded, Hickory Sam himself taking an elevated position on the top of a barrel, where he could, as it were, preside over the arrangements. It was vaguely felt by those present that Sam bore no malice towards the deceased, and this was put down rather to his credit.
"I think," said the coroner, looking hesitatingly up at Sam, with an expression which showed he was quite prepared to withdraw his proposal if it should prove inappropriate, "I think we might have the lawyer over here. He knows how these things should be done, and he"s the only man in Salt Lick that"s got a Bible to swear the jury on. I think they ought to be sworn."
"That"s a good idea," concurred Sam. "One of you run across for him, and tell him to bring the book. Nothing like havin" these things regular and proper and accordin" to law."
The lawyer had heard of the catastrophe, and he came promptly over to the saloon, bringing the book with him and some papers in his hand.
There was now no doubt about Sam"s knowledge of the proper thing to do, when it was found that the lawyer quite agreed with him that an inquest, under the circ.u.mstances, was justifiable and according to precedent. The jury found that the late Mr. Buller had "died through misadventure," which phrase, sarcastically suggested by the lawyer when he found that the verdict was going to be "accidental death," pleased the jury, who at once adopted it.
When the proceedings were so pleasantly terminated by a verdict acceptable to all parties, the lawyer cleared his throat and said that his late client, having perhaps a premonition of his fate, had recently made his will, and he had desired the lawyer to make the will public as soon as possible after his death. As the occasion seemed in every way suitable, the lawyer proposed, with the permission of the coroner, to read that portion which Mr. Buller hoped would receive the widest possible publicity.
Mike glanced with indecision at the lawyer and at Sam sitting high above the crowd on the barrel.
"Certainly," said Hickory. "We"d all like to hear the will, although I suppose it"s none of our business."
The lawyer made no comment on this remark, but bowing to the a.s.semblage, unfolded a paper and read it.
Mr. Buller left all his property to his nephew in the East with the exception of fifty thousand dollars in greenbacks, then deposited in the Coyote County Bank at Salt Lick. The testator had reason to suspect that a desperado named Hickory Sam (real name or designation unknown) had designs on the testator"s life. In case these designs were successful, the whole of this money was to go to the person or persons who succeeded in removing this scoundrel from the face of the earth. In case the Sheriff arrested the said Hickory Sam and he was tried and executed, the money was to be divided between the Sheriff and those who a.s.sisted in the capture. If any man on his own responsibility shot and killed the said Hickory Sam, the fifty thousand dollars became his sole property, and would be handed over to him by the bank manager, in whom Mr. Buller expressed every confidence, as soon as the slayer of Hickory Sam proved the deed to the satisfaction of the manager. In every case the bank manager had full control of the disposal of the fund, and could pay it in bulk, or divide it among those who had succeeded in eliminating from a contentious world one of its most contentious members.
The amazed silence which followed the reading of this doc.u.ment was broken by a loud jeering and defiant laugh from the man on the barrel.
He laughed long, but no one joined him, and, as he noticed this, his hilarity died down, being in a measure forced and mechanical. The lawyer methodically folded up his papers. As some of the jury glanced down at the face of the dead man who had originated this financial scheme of _post mortem_ vengeance, they almost fancied they saw a malicious leer about the half-open eyes and lips. An awed whisper ran round the a.s.semblage. Each man said to the other under his breath: "Fif--ty--thous--and--dollars," as if the dwelling on each syllable made the total seem larger. The same thought was in every man"s mind; a clean, cool little fortune merely for the crooking of a forefinger and the correct levelling of a pistol barrel.
The lawyer had silently taken his departure. Sam, soberer than he had been for many days, slid down from the barrel, and, with his hand on the b.u.t.t of his gun, sidled, his back against the wall, towards the door. No one raised a finger to stop him; all sat there watching him as if they were hypnotised. He was no longer a man in their eyes, but the embodiment of a sum to be earned in a moment, for which thousands worked hard all their lives, often in vain, to acc.u.mulate.
Sam"s brain on a problem was not so quick as his finger on a trigger, but it began to filter slowly into his mind that he was now face to face with a danger against which his pistol was powerless. Heretofore, roughly speaking, nearly everybody had been his friend; now the hand of the world was against him, with a most powerful motive for being against him; a motive which he himself could understand. For a mere fraction of fifty thousand dollars he would kill anybody, so long as the deed could be done with reasonable safety to himself. Why then should any man stay his hand against him with such a reward hanging over his head? As Sam retreated backwards from among his former friends they saw in his eyes what they had never seen there before, something that was not exactly fear, but a look of furtive suspicion against the whole human race.
Out in the open air once again Sam breathed more freely. He must get away from Salt Lick, and that quickly. Once on the prairie he could make up his mind what the next move was to be. He kept his revolver in his hand, not daring to put it into its holster. Every sound made him jump, and he was afraid to stand in the open, yet he could not remain constantly with his back to the wall. Poor Buller"s horse, fully accoutred, cropped the gra.s.s by the side of the road. To be a horse- thief was, of course, worse than to be a murderer, but there was no help for it; without the horse escape was impossible. He secured the animal with but little trouble and sprang upon its back.