On his way to return the paper to Dale, Sanderson paused to listen again to Owen, who whispered to him. Sanderson stiffened, looked hard at Owen, and then grinned with straight lips. In less than no time he was out of the house and confronting Dale.
He watched while the latter looked at the signature; he saw the expression of disappointment that swept over Dale"s face. Then Sanderson spoke coldly:
"Right and proper, eh, Dale? Now I"ll trouble you for that letter that my dad dropped about a year ago--the one you picked up. It was a letter from me, an" dad had let you read it. Fork it over, or I"ll bore you an" take it from your clothes!"
CHAPTER XI
THE ULTIMATUM
Dale"s face whitened; for a moment he sat rigid, staring, his eyes boring into Sanderson"s. Then he reached into a pocket, drew out a dirty envelope, and threw it at Sanderson"s feet.
"You"re a d.a.m.ned smart boy, ain"t you, Bransford?" he sneered. "But I"m out to get you--remember that!"
"And you remember this, Dale!"
Sanderson was at the head of the horse Dale rode. His eyes were blazing with suppressed fury, brought on by the other"s threat.
"There"s goin" to be a new deal in the basin. From now on I"m runnin"
things--an" they"re runnin" square! I ain"t got any use for any law but this!" He tapped the b.u.t.t of his six-shooter significantly. "An"
if you go to gettin" mixed up with the Double A or the Nyland ranch you"ll get it--plenty!"
Dale grinned, hideously. Then he kicked his horse in the ribs and rode away.
Mary Bransford had not moved from her position on the porch. Sanderson watched Dale ride away, then he smiled at Mary and entered the house.
Mary followed him. She saw Owen standing in the sitting-room, and her face showed her surprise.
Sanderson explained. "Owen an" me framed up on Dale," he said. "You saw it work."
"You"ll be careful, won"t you, Will?" she said.
"Deal," smilingly insisted Sanderson.
"Deal," she repeated, giving him a look that made him blush. Then she went into one of the other rooms, and Sanderson and Owen went outside.
At the corner of the stable Sanderson halted and faced Owen.
"You"ve got some explainin" to do," he said. "How did you know Dale had a letter from Will Bransford to his father; an" how did you know that Dale wanted me to write my name on that brand-registering blank so he could compare it with Will Bransford"s name on the letter?"
"Will Bransford told me he wrote such a letter; he showed me a letter from his dad which told how he had dropped Will"s letter and how Dale had picked it up. Dale thought old Bransford hadn"t seen him pick up the letter--but Bransford did see him. And last night I was snooping around over at the Bar D and I overheard Dale and Silverthorn cooking up this deal."
Sanderson grinned with relief. "Well," he said, "that name-signing deal sure had me considerable fussed up." He told Owen of his mental torture following the discovery of the letter that had disappeared from the dresser drawer. "We"ve got to run together from now on," he told Owen. "I"ll be Bransford an" you"ll be Bransford"s name. Mebbe between us we"ll make a whole man."
Over at the Bar D, Dale was scowling at Silverthorn.
"He ain"t Will Bransford," Dale declared. "He signed his name all O.K.
an" regular, just the same as it was on the letter. But just the same he ain"t a Bransford. There ain"t no Bransford ever had an eye in him like he"s got. He"s a d.a.m.ned iceberg for nerve, an" there"s more fight in him than there is in a bunch of wildcats--if you get him started!"
"Just the same," smiled Silverthorn, silkily, "we"ll get the Double A.
Look here--" And the two bent their heads together over Dale"s desk.
CHAPTER XII
DALE MOVES
A pa.s.sionate hatred of Alva Dale was slowly gripping Sanderson. It had been aroused on that first day of his meeting with the man, when he had seen Dale standing in front of the stable, bullying Mary Bransford and Peggy Nyland and her brother. At that time, however, the emotion Sanderson felt had been merely dislike--as Sanderson had always disliked men who attempted to bully others.
Sanderson"s hatred of Dale was beginning to dominate him; it was overwhelming all other emotions. It dulled his sense of guilt for the part he was playing in deceiving Mary Bransford; it made him feel in a measure justified in continuing to deceive her.
For he divined that without his help Mary would lose the Double A.
Sanderson had always loved a fight, and the prospect of bringing defeat and confusion upon Dale was one that made his pulses leap with delight.
He got up on the morning following Dale"s visit, tingling with eagerness. And yet there was no sign of emotion in his face when he sat with Mary Bransford at breakfast, and he did not even look at her when he left the house, mounted his horse, and rode up the gorge that split the b.u.t.te at the southern end of the range.
All morning he prowled over the table-land, paying a great deal of attention to the depth of the gorge, estimating its capacity for holding water, scanning the far reaches of the big basin carefully, and noting the location of the buildings dotting it.
Shortly after noon he rode back to the house and came upon Mary in the kitchen.
"I"ve put off askin" until now," he said while eating the food that Mary placed before him. "How much money did dad leave?"
"Not much," she said. "He was never very prosperous. It took a great deal to send me to school, and the thousand I sent you I saved myself out of the allowance he gave me. I think there are three thousand dollars to father"s credit at the bank in Okar."
"Where"s Okar?"
She looked quickly at him. "Don"t you remember Okar? That little town just beyond the mouth of the basin? Why, you"ve been there a good many times, Will, on errands for father. There wasn"t much to Okar when you were here--just a few shanties and a store. Surely you remember!"
Sanderson flushed. "I reckon I do remember, now that you speak of it,"
he lied. "But I don"t think Okar has grown much."
"Okar has grown to be an important town--for this locality," Mary smiled. "You see, the railroad has made it grow. It is now quite large, and has a bank and a dozen or more stores. It is a depot for supplies for a big section, and the railroad company has built large corrals there. A man named Silverthorn--and Alva Dale--are the rulers of Okar, now."
"Who is Silverthorn?"
"He is connected with the railroad company--a promoter, or something of that character. He is trying to make a boom town of Okar. He has bought a great deal of land in the basin."
"You know what he wants the land for?" Sanderson smiled at her.
"For speculation purposes, I suppose. If he could get water----"
"You"ve figured it out," said Sanderson. "But he won"t get water. The water belongs to the Double A--to me an" to you. An" we"re goin" to sell it ourselves."
"You mean--" began Mary.
"That we"re going to build an irrigation dam--with all the fixin"s.