But Adrian was equal to the emergency. He never lost his temper in the least degree as he waited until he caught the angry eye of Mrs. Fred.
"What you say about the contract is very true, so far as it goes, Aunt Josie," he observed, steadily; "but you forget evidently that it also reads that in case I wish to change managers I am to give three months"
notice, or else pay Uncle Fred that much salary in lieu of said notice.
Here is the amount in this roll of bills, which, when he accepts, will const.i.tute the change, so that he will no longer hold the position of manager of the Bar-S Ranch."
He held out the money toward the little man. As he did so the woman gave a loud and ominous cry.
"Refuse to take it, Fred; don"t you dare touch his money!" she demanded, furiously. "If you decline to take it he"ll have to let you stay the three months out, don"t you see, you idiot?"
Perhaps that last part of her speech brought the man to a realization of the humiliating fact that there were numerous spectators to his being henpecked. At any rate Uncle Fred gritted his teeth, and stretching out his hand, took the money deliberately from Adrian. With a flash of his old independence he immediately held it up and said in a loud voice:
"Everybody take notice that I"ve accepted the pay for three months in advance from my nephew, and in so doing I sever all my connection with the Bar-S Ranch as manager."
With that he contemptuously threw the roll of money at the feet of his wife. She looked at first as though she could tear him to pieces. Then, unable to resist the lure of the ready cash she stooped down and picked the three months" salary up.
"Perhaps you think that this closes the house to Fred and me!" she snapped, turning on Adrian furiously; "but you have another guess coming, boy! You"re pretty young to meddle with the business of grown men; and there may be snarls about our affairs that"ll be harder to unravel than just tying up four drunken cattle rustlers, and bringing back the stock they"d run off. If you came here to make war on a woman, you"re bound to get your fill before it"s all over. And you"ll find that I"m not without friends who"ll see me get my rights. That"s all I"ve got to say to you; but there"ll be another chapter to this story, don"t forget that!"
She flung these bitter words at Adrian as though each one had a poisonous sting with which she meant to inflict pain upon him.
Undoubtedly Aunt Josie did not intend to welcome her husband"s nephew in any hearty fashion to his ranch which he had not seen for some years, and which she had of late come to look upon as more or less her individual property, to be looted at will by her rapacious relatives.
She started to walk away, her head held high in the air, and as Adrian thought with the bearing of an angry empress. Her high and lofty manner must have struck some of the cowboys as ludicrous. She had rubbed it into them on numerous occasions, and naturally they glorified in her apparent downfall. One of them gave a low mocking laugh. Instantly the woman whirled around, and her eyes seemed to fairly blaze as she surveyed the group.
"Who laughed then?" she demanded; but no one answered, though several shrank back appalled; and Donald saw the man in hiding behind the bunk house, Mr. Thomas, draw his head in much after the manner of a tortoise when danger approaches.
"Cowards, all of you!" she went on to say, in a harsh tone; "you can insult a woman behind her back, but not one of you is man enough to acknowledge a little thing like that. Never mind, it won"t be long before I"ll be in a position to hold the whip hand, and then we"ll see who stays and who goes. As for you, Fred Comstock, just _wait_, that"s all!"
This time when she walked toward the ranch house not a sound broke out.
Uncle Fred turned a troubled face toward his nephew.
"I wouldn"t dare be left alone with her again after this for a king"s ransom, and that"s the truth, Adrian," he said, slowly. "Perhaps, since I"m discharged from my position here, I ought to clear out right away before night. It looks cowardly, but there"s no other safety for me, I candidly admit."
"No, don"t hurry about going, Uncle," remonstrated Adrian, taking him aside so he could speak without others hearing, for he knew that some of the punchers had not been looking on him with friendly eyes; and these must be the men who were hand in glove with Hatch Walker and his sister, the wife of Uncle Fred.
"But my usefulness here has all departed, and why should I linger?"
urged the despondent ex-manager.
"You don"t know what may happen yet, and if we have trouble with those Walkers you may get a chance to retrieve some of the blunders of the past year," the boy went on to say, laying a hand affectionately on his uncle"s sleeve, for the other was shaking his head sadly in the negative as though he could not see a gleam of light in the overcast sky. "I didn"t get a chance to tell you that we met up with Frank Bowker, the puncher you sent to town on an errand; and I entrusted him with a note to the new sheriff, demanding that he gather a reliable posse at once and ride out to the Bar-S Ranch, because a fight was on with the rustler gang of Walkers, and we meant to settle this thing once and for all.
That blot has been on this county far too long, and he must know it. So you see, Uncle Fred, after all this storm may clear the air; and when it pa.s.ses by perhaps you may be glad to take up the reins here again as manager for me!"
The man looked at him with tears in his eyes, so greatly was he affected by this show of confidence in him. He seized hold of Adrian"s hand, and squeezed it in an almost frenzied fashion, while he went on to say in a tone husky with emotion:
"What you say sounds too good to ever come true, son; because, you see, I"m her husband through thick and thin, because the law made me so; and where I am she has a right to be also. No, I must go away and try to start fresh somewhere else. But," he added, while the old fighting spirit flashed into his blue eyes once more; "if you think there"s going to be war with the Walker tribe before this thing"s threshed out, why, I might defer my going till it"s all over, and the returns in. If so be I got a chance to settle my differences with that lawless brother of hers, Hatch Walker, I"d feel easier in my mind, anyhow, so I"ll try and hang out yet awhile, Adrian, my boy!"
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS.
"I"m glad to hear you say that, Uncle Fred," Adrian told him, realizing what a struggle must be going on inside, when the other talked in this strain. "Things can"t be any worse for you than they seem right now; and who knows what might turn up to bring about a change. Anyhow, I believe in sticking it out. If it gets to the worst, why, between you and me there might be a chance for you to run down to Arizona, and be the overseer at the Mackay place; because I happen to know that his foreman, Si Ketcham, is going to marry a girl who owns a ranch, and that he expects to throw up his job with Donald"s dad pretty soon."
"Oh! that would be just the thing, if only _she_ didn"t know where I"d gone!" exclaimed the other, eagerly; "but let"s forget my troubles for a while, Adrian, and talk of other things. You"ll want to know all about matters here, how many cattle have been carried off the last year, and what"s left. Come with me into this bunk house, where we can sit down, and have it over with."
As they turned the corner of the long, low building they came upon a crouching figure. It was Mr. Thomas, who started to limp away at their approach.
"Who"s this tramp?" asked Uncle Fred, quickly.
"He"s a poor fellow," explained Adrian, "whose horse died under him while he was on the way to see if he could get a job with you, taking care of the ranch books. All he asks is his board in payment for his services. I took him back of me on my pony, thinking we might keep him, for a while anyhow, till he felt better. He"s sick now, and badly off, you see."
"I should say I was in a tough corner all around," mumbled the man; "and p"raps it"d be better for me to go as soon as I"m able. Don"t bother about me; I c"n hang out around the bunk house here, and get a bite now and then, till there"s a wagon going off, when mebbe you"ll let me ride.
I"ve changed my mind about wantin" to take up a job here; too much excitement to suit me. I"m all of a tremble right now with hearing what I did."
"Oh! all right, Mr. Thomas, please yourself," said Adrian, with a shrug of his shoulders; "you can stay around awhile, and the first chance that comes along make a shift of quarters. The boys"ll see that you get something to eat; or else ask the c.h.i.n.k cook."
As he and the deposed manager entered the building, he went on to explain a little further, seeing that Uncle Fred looked curious.
"He"s pretty much of a harmless fellow, I take it. All the way here he kept telling of things he had done until you"d think he was a hero if ever there was one; but I reckon it"s all brag with him, and that he"s as timid as they make them. But let"s sit down here, and have a good chin, Uncle."
They were alone in the bunk house, as far as Adrian could see, so he did not hesitate to speak freely concerning his plans, especially with regard to having sent for the sheriff and his posse, with the idea of opposing any hostile move the lawless Walkers might undertake, upon finding how conditions had changed with the coming of the real owner of Bar-S Ranch.
"It may pa.s.s off without open trouble," Adrian concluded, "but if half I"ve been hearing about this Hatch Walker is true, I don"t think he"ll stand by and see his sway of power over the section knocked out, without making some sort of fight. He may not come into the open, but there are lots of ways of burning ranch buildings, or running off stock, that could be tried. One thing I"m determined on, and that is either I"m going to be boss of my own outfit, or else there won"t be any outfit left on Bar-S Ranch!"
"Good! I like to hear that sort of talk. It"s the stuff I used to put up before I was so unfortunate as to run across a woman who was bent on marrying me. There was where I made my one great mistake. The widow was too much for me, and almost before I knew it we were spliced. You can imagine how I felt later on when first I learned that Mrs. Smeed was really the sister of Hatch Walker. Oh! well, here I am talking about my personal affairs again, when I said I"d let them drop."
"First of all," said Adrian, "you must give me a list of the punchers who are employed on the range here, and put a cross in front of every name belonging to a man you have any reason to believe is connected with the Walkers."
"Oh! I can do that easy, and right now," replied the other quickly. "I know them all, for haven"t they laughed at my orders of late, after they learned how I was badgered by a woman, me who had always been a _man_ before. Shall I write them out now for you, son?"
"Yes, because I will want to weed out the goats from the sheep pretty soon, and at that time a mistake might cost us dear. Only the faithful shall be put on guard. The ones you black-ball will get their month"s pay, and be made to walk the plank by night-time, if possible; because who knows what may happen once darkness comes along; and a traitor in the camp is worse than three open foes."
"Right you are there, Adrian; and it tickles me to find you so clever at sizing things up."
He busied himself with pencil and paper for several minutes; after which he handed over the list he had made out.
"You see," Mr. Comstock presently said, as Adrian looked over the list, "we"ve got ten punchers here just now, though time was when we needed nearly twice that number; but then the herds ain"t what they used to be, what with two big hauls, and some hard luck last winter in a blizzard."
"And you seem to have put a cross in front of just five out of the ten names; so it looks as though you couldn"t trust half your force," the boy remarked.
"Just so, Adrian," came the reply. "She let some of my best men go because they wouldn"t take orders from her. In time p"raps the rest of the decent ones"d have been weeded out too; they were always in hot water with the missus, and threatening to throw up their jobs, only I begged them to stand by me, or I"d quit too. You can depend on the five through thick and thin."
"One of them is Frank Bowker, the man you sent to town, so that leaves just four on deck right now; with my three new hands that makes seven of the right sort; and then the three of us boys adds up ten, just enough to handle things if we have to."
"And count me in with you, because I"m not too old to throw a rope or ride the wickedest cayuse in the bunch; fact is, there"s only one thing on the face of this earth I seem to be afraid of. I won"t mention names, son, because you know what that is without my saying it."
"Supposing now that those four rustlers made a bee line for home as soon as the one we had with us part of the way here could get back to his mates, and set them free, what do you expect would happen?" Adrian inquired.