"I ain"t goin" to be awful anxious to start shootin"," said Phil. "They done some pretty shootin" at the bridge that time. Sandy Bourke"s a two-handed lead flinger an" Soda-Water Sam"s no slouch. Neither"s Mormon. Me, I"ll be peaceable "less it"s forced on me otherwise."
They entered the split in the mesa. The cliffs shimmered in the heat, their outlines fuzzy. Branched and pillared cactus showed in gray-green reptilian growths. The soft earth, through which here and there the volcanic cores of the range were thrust, seemed as if it could supply the paint shops of a nation with almost any hue desired, ready for mixing with oil or water. Waves of heat beat between the walls of the cleft. The floor was fairly smooth, swept clean by occasional cloud-bursts, save for the skeleton of a tree and another of a too-far wandering steer, both blanched white as the alkali-crusted boulders. It was nearly level going and the car pounded along, all the occupants looking for trail sign. The mesa corridor, nowhere more than thirty feet wide, twisted and snaked, three hundred feet of sheer wall on either side topped by sloping cliffs mounting far higher toward the actual top of the mesa.
"Keep an eye peeled for rain, Phil," said Jordan, "I"d sure hate to get caught in here with a cloud-burst."
"Right," answered Phil. "I c"ud see better if I had a drink. Plimsoll, you got somethin" on the hip, ain"t you?"
Plimsoll produced a bottle and the four of them drank the fiery unrectified, unstamped liquor. Ahead was an abrupt turn. Jordan slowed.
Making the curve, a fence stretched across the gorge, reaching from wall to wall, a four-strand barrier of barbed-wire, strung on patent steel posts. Jordan braked with emergency. The sight of such a fence in such a place was as unexpected as the sun-dried carca.s.s of a steer would be on Broadway. Plimsoll and Jordan cursed, the former in pure anger, the latter with some appreciation of the stratagem for delay.
"We can tear it down quicker"n they fixed it," he said. "I"ve got a pair of nippers in the tool kit. They can"t have driven in those posts deep.
Come on."
A voice floated down to them.
"You leave that fence alone, gents. _If_ you please. I went to a heap of trouble puttin" up that fence. It"s _my_ fence."
They looked up, to see Mormon seated on the top of a great boulder that had land-slipped from the cliff into the gorge. From thirty feet above them he looked down, amiably enough, though there was a glint of blued metal in his right hand.
"h.e.l.lo, Jim Plimsoll," he went on. "I ain"t seen you-all fo" quite a while. You fellers out fo" a picnic?"
Jordan advanced to the foot of the rock, producing his papers.
"I have a bench warrant here to bring into court for the appointment of a proper guardian, the child Molly Casey, she being a minor and without natural or legal protectors. I"ve got yore name on these papers, Mormon Peters, as one of the three parties with whom the girl is now domiciled.
I warn you that you are obstructing the process of the law by yore actions. You put up that gun an" come down here an" help to pull down this fence, illegally erected on property not yore own. Otherwise you"re subject to arrest."
"That is sure an awful long speech fo" a hot day," said Mormon equably.
"But I don"t sabe that talk at all. Molly Casey ain"t here, to begin with. Nor she ain"t been here. An" I don"t sabe no obstruction of the law by settin" up a fence in a mesa canon to round up broom-tails."
One of the deputies snickered.
"Broom-tails?" cried Jordan. "That"s too thin. There"s no mustangs hangin" round a mesa like this, "thout feed or water." He flushed angrily. He was short-tempered and he was certain the fence was a ruse to gain time, with Mormon left behind to parley. It all seemed to point to Sandy Bourke making for the railroad.
"You never kin tell about wild hawsses, or even branded ones," said Mormon pleasantly. "Ask Plimsoll. He picks "em up in all sorts of places."
Plimsoll cursed. Mormon still held his gun conspicuously, and he restrained his own impulse to draw. Jordan wheeled on the gambler.
"You keep out o" this, Jim Plimsoll," he said. "I"m runnin" this end of it. He"s talkin" against time. You come down an" help remove this fence," he shouted up at the smiling Mormon, "or I"ll start something.
It ain"t on yore property and it"s hindering the carrying out of my warrant."
"It ain"t on a public highway neither," retorted Mormon. "But I"ll come down. Don"t you go to clippin" those wires an" destroyin" what _is_ my property." He slid down the rock and commenced to unbend the metal straps that held the wire in place. Jordan and one of his men followed suit with pliers from the motor kit. The job took several minutes.
"You"ll come along with us," said Jordan. "You lied about the girl comin" this way. I"ve a notion to take you in for that. But I reckon you can go back in the buckboard with yore partners."
"Reckon I"ll travel in the buckboard, when you catch up with it," said Mormon. "But I"ll come erlong with you fo" a spell--of my own free will.
I don"t see no harm in takin" the gel visitin" anyway," he concluded as he took an extra seat in the tonneau.
Jordan made no answer but started the engine. The gorge began to narrow perceptibly, its floor slanted upward and the machine labored with a mixture that constantly needed more air. The way zigzagged for half a mile and then they came to a second fence. No buckboard was in sight.
Beyond the wire the pitch of the ravine showed steeper yet, as it mounted to a sharp turn. Leaning against a post stood Soda-Water Sam, smoking a cigarette, his gun holster hitched forward, the b.u.t.t of the weapon close to one hand. Jordan and his men leaped out as the car stopped, Mormon following more slowly.
"Afternoon, hombres all," said Sam. "Joy-ridin"?"
Jordan wasted no more explanations.
"You take down this fence," he fairly shouted.
"What fo"?"
"Ask yore partner."
"Sheriff claims we"re c.u.mberin" the landscape with our li"l" corral, Sam," said Mormon. "He"s got a paper that gives him right of way, he says. Seen anything of Molly Casey?"
"Not for quite a spell. Go easy with them wires, Sheriff. Price of wire"s riz considerable."
The second barrier down and the car through, Jordan ordered Sam to get in the car.
"Jump, or I"ll put the cuffs on you," he said.
"Not this trip," replied Sam coolly. "No sense in my climbin" in there.
Me an" Mormon"s through with our li"l" job. We"ll go back in the buckboard. It"s round the bend. I was jest goin" to hitch up."
Jordan glared unbelievingly, yet Sam"s words carried conviction.
"Yo"re sure goin" to have trouble turnin" yore car right here," Sam went on imperturbably. "Kind of mean to back down, too. It"s worse higher up.
Matter of fac" the gap peters out jest round the turn. This is Bolsa Boquete. Bolsa means purse, Sheriff, one of them knitted purse nets.
Good name for it. Look for yo"self, if you don"t believe me."
Jordan and Plimsoll strode on up the pitch. Mormon followed, Sam stayed with the two deputies. Around the bend stood the buckboard with the buckskins in a patch of shadow under a scoop in the ending wall that turned the so-called pa.s.s to a box canon.
"I told you the gel warn"t erlong," said Mormon. "She and Sandy was with us fo" a spell. But they"re goin" visitin" an" they shifted to saddle way back, out there by the spring beside the lava strip."
Mormon"s bland smile masked a sterner intent than showed in his eyes.
Jordan, furious at being outwitted, dared not provoke open combat. He had nothing on which to make arrest of the two Three Star partners and he was far from sure of his ability to do so under any circ.u.mstances.
Mormon hitched up the buckskins, but followed the sheriff and the scowling, silent Plimsoll back to the car.
"See that notch, way over to the no"th?" said Mormon, bent on exploiting the situation to the full. "I reckon Sandy and the gel"s shackin"
through there about now. Hawss trail only. "Fraid you won"t catch him, Sheriff. They aim to ketch the seven o"clock train at Caroca. It"s the on"y pa.s.s over the mesa. If Sandy had knowed you wanted him he might have waited. Why didn"t you phone? Ninety mile" around the mesa, nearest way, an" it must be all of five o"clock now, by the sun."
He stopped, puzzled by the change in the sheriff"s face. Chagrin had given place to exultation.
"Catch the seven o"clock train at Caroca?" said Jordan. "Thanks for the information, Mormon. That schedule was changed last week when they pulled off two trains on the main line. The train leaves at nine-thirty an", if I can"t make ninety miles in four hours an" a half, I"ll make you a present of my car. Stand back, both of you. No monkey business with my tires. Cover "em, boys. The law"s on my side, you two gabbing word-shooters."
He handled the car wonderfully, backing and turning her, and, while Mormon and Sam stood powerless, the former crestfallen, the latter sardonically gazing at his partner, the machine went tilting, snorting down the gorge.
"You sure spilled the beans, Mormon," said Sam finally. "I"d have thought them three wives of yores "ud have taught you the vally of silence."
"I ain"t got a d.a.m.ned word to say, Sam. But I"d be obliged if you"d kick me--good. Use yore heels, I see you got yore spurs on."