"Two." This was a guarded admission; I caught his side glance.
"Which ones?" I asked it cordially; and Pete smiled as one who detects a brother liberal in theology.
"Injin G.o.d; Christian G.o.d. Injin G.o.d go like this--" He brushed out his latest figure and drew a straight line a foot long. And Christian G.o.d go so--he drew a second straight line perpendicular to the first. I was made to see the line of his own G.o.d extending over the earth some fifty feet above its surface, while the line of the Christian G.o.d went straight and endlessly into the heavens. "Injin G.o.d stay close--Christian G.o.d go straight up. Whoosh!" He looked toward the zenith to indicate the vanishing line. "I think mebbe both O.K. You think both O.K.?"
"Mebbe," I said.
Pete retraced the horizontal line of his own G.o.d and the perpendicular line of the other.
"Funny business," said he tolerantly.
"Funny business," I echoed. And then--the moment seeming ripe for intimate personal research: "Pete, how about that brother-in-law of yours? Is he a one-G.o.d Christian or a two-G.o.d, like you?"
He hurriedly brushed out his lines, flashed me one of his uneasy side glances, and seemed not to have heard my question. He sprang lightly from his heels, affected to scan a murky cloud-bank to the south, ignited his second cigarette from the first, and seemed relieved by the actual diversion of Laura, his present lawful consort, now plodding along the road just outside the fence.
Laura is ponderous and billowy, and her moonlike face of rusty bronze is lined to show that she, too, has gone down a little into the vale of years. She was swathed in many skirts, her shoulders enveloped by a neutral-tinted shawl, and upon her head was a modist toque of light straw, garlanded with pink roses. This may have been her hunt constume, for the carca.s.ses of two slain rabbits swung jauntily from her girdle.
She undulated by us with no sign. Pete"s glistening little eyes lingered in appraisal upon her n.o.ble rotundities and her dangling quarry. Then, with a graceful flourish of the new cigarette, he paid tribute to the ancient fair.
"That old mahala of mine, she not able to chew much now; but she"s some swell chicken--b"lieve me!"
I persisted in the impertinence he had sought to turn.
"How about this brother-in-law of yours, Pete?"
Again he was deaf. He picked up his axe, appearing to weigh the resumption of his task against a reply to this straight question. He must have found the alternative too dreadful; he leaned upon the axe, thus winning something of the dignity of labour, with none of its pains, and grudgingly asked:
"Mebbe some liars tell you in conversation about that old b"other-in-law?"
"Of course! Many nice people tell me every day. They tell me all about him. I rather hear you tell me. Is he a Christian?"
"He"s one son-of-gun, pure and simple--that old feller. He caps the climax."
"Yes; I know all about that. He"s a bad man. I hear everything about him. Now you tell me again. You can tell better than liars."
"One genuine son-of-gun!" persisted Pete, shrewdly keeping to general terms.
"Oh, very well!" I rose from the log I was sitting on, yawning my indifference. "I know everything he ever did. Other people tell me all the time."
I moved off a few steps under the watchful side glance. It worked. One of Pete"s slim, womanish hands fluttered up in a movement of arrest.
"Those liars tell you about one time he shoot white man off horse going by?"
"Certainly!"
"That white man still have smallpox to give all Injins he travel to; so they go "n" vote who kill him off quick, and my b"other-in-law he win it."
I tried to look as if this were a bit of stale gossip.
"Then whites raise h.e.l.l to say Pete he do same. What you know about that? My old b"other-in-law send word he do same--twenty, fifty Injin witness tell he said so--and now he gon" hide far off. Dep"ty sheriff can"t find him. That son-of-gun come back next year, raise big fight over one span mules with Injin named Walter that steal my mules out of pasture; and Walter not get well from it--so whites say yes, old Pete done that same killing sc.r.a.pe to have his mules again; plain as the nose on the face old Pete do same. But I catch plenty Injin witness see my b"other-in-law do same, and I think they can"t catch him another time once more, because they look in all places he ain"t. I think plenty too much trouble he make all time for me--perform something not nice and get found out about it; and all people say, Oh, yes--that old Pete he"s at tricks again; he better get sent to Walla Walla, learn some good trade in prison for eighteen years. That b"other-in-law cap the climax! He know all good place to hide from dep"ty sheriff, so not be found when badly wanted--the son-of-gun!"
Pete"s face now told that, despite the proper loathing inspired by his misdeeds, this brother-in-law compelled a certain horrid admiration for his gift of elusiveness.
"What"s your brother-in-law"s name?"
Pete deliberated gravely.
"In my opinion his name Edward; mebbe Sam, mebbe Charlie; I think more it"s Albert."
"Well, what about that next time he broke out?"
"Whoosh! d.a.m.n no-good squaw man get all Injins drunk on whiskey; then play poker with four aces. "What you got? No good--four aces--hard luck--deal "em up!"" Pete"s flexible wrists here flashed in pantomime.
"Pretty soon Injin got no mules, no blanket, no spring wagon, no gun, no new boots, no nine dollars my old mahala gets paid for three bushel wild plums from Old Lady Pettengill to make canned goods of--only got one big sick head from all night; see four aces, four kings, four jacks. "What you got, Pete? No good. Full house here. Hard luck--my deal. Have another drink, old top!""
"Well, what did your brother-in-law do when he heard about this?"
"Something!"
"Shoot?"
"Naw; got no gun left. Choke him on the neck--I think this way."
The supple hands of Pete here clutched his corded throat, fingertips meeting at the back, and two potent thumbs uniting in a sinister pressure upon his Adam"s apple. To further enlarge my understanding he contorted his face unprettily. From rolling eyes and outthrust tongue it was apparent that the squaw man had survived long enough to regret the inveteracy of his good luck at cards.
"Then what?"
"Man tell you before?" He eyed me with frank suspicion.
"Certainly; you tell, too!"
"That b"other-in-law he win everything back this poor squaw man don"t need no more, and son-of-gun beat it quick; so all liars say Old Pete turn that trick, but can"t prove same, because my b"other-in-law do same in solitude. And old judge say: "Oh, well, can"t prove same in courthouse, and only good squaw man is dead squaw man; so what-the-bad-place!" I think mebbe."
"Go on; what about that next time?"
"You know already," said Pete firmly.
"You tell, too."
He pondered this, his keen little eyes searching my face as he pensively fondled the axe.
"You know about this time that son-of-gun go "n" kill a bright lawyer in Red Gap? I think that cap the climax!"
"Certainly, I know!" This with bored impatience.
"I think, then, you tell me." His seamed face was radiant with cunning.
"What"s the use? You know it already."
He countered swiftly: