Why, I"ve ridden more winning races than any other man on the Pacific Coast. That"s how I got onto old H.H. I rode for him. He knows a good horse all right--the old skunk. Used to have a pretty string."
"He"s got at least one good Morgan stallion now," said I. "I"ve seen him at Hooper"s ranch."
"I know the old crock--trotter," scorned the true riding jockey.
"Probably old Tim Westmore is hanging around, too. He"s in love with that horse."
"Is he in love with Hooper, too?" I asked.
"Just like I am," said the jockey with a leer.
"So you"re going to be rich," said I. "How"s that?"
He leered at me again, going foxy.
"Don"t you wish you knew! But I"ll tell you this: old H.H. is going to give me all I want--just because I ask him to."
I took another tack, affecting incredulity.
"The h.e.l.l he is! He"ll hand you over to Ramon and that will be the last of a certain jockey."
"No, he won"t do no such trick. I"ve fixed that; and he knows it. If he kills me, he"ll lose _all_ he"s got "stead of only part."
"You"re drunk or dreaming," said I. "If you bother him, he"ll just plain have you killed. That"s a little way of his."
"And if he does a friend of mine will just go to a certain place and get certain papers and give "em to a certain lawyer--and then where"s old H.H.? And he knows it, d.a.m.n well. And he"s going to be good to Artie and give him what he wants. We"ll get along fine. Took him a long time to come to it; but I didn"t take no chances while he was making up his mind; you can bet on that."
"Blackmail, eh?" I said, with just enough of a sneer to fire him.
"Blackmail nothing!" he shouted. "It ain"t blackmail to take away what don"t belong to a man at all!"
"What don"t belong to him?"
"Nothing. Not a d.a.m.n thing except his money. This ranch. The oil wells in California. The cattle. Not a d.a.m.n thing. That was the agreement with his pardner when they split. And I"ve got the agreement! Now what you got to say?"
"Say? Why its _loco_! Why doesn"t the pardner raise a row?"
"He"s dead."
"His heirs then?"
"He hasn"t got but one heir--his daughter." My heart skipped a beat in the amazement of a half idea. "And she knew nothing about the agreement.
n.o.body knows but old H.H.--and me." He sat back, visibly gloating over me. But his mood was pa.s.sing. His earlier exhilaration had died, and with it was dying the expansiveness of his confidence. The triumph of his last speech savoured he slipped again into his normal self. He looked at me suspiciously, and raised his whiskey to cover his confusion.
"What"s it to yuh, anyway?" he muttered into his gla.s.s darkly. His eyes were again shifting here and there; and his lips were snarled back malevolently to show his teeth.
At this precise moment the lords of chance willed Windy Bill and others to intrude on our privacy by opening the door and hurling several whiskey-flavoured sarcasms at the pair of us. The jockey seemed to explode after the fashion of an over-inflated ball. He squeaked like a rat, leaped to his feet, hurled the chair on which he had been sitting crash against the door from which Windy Bill _et al_ had withdrawn hastily, and ended by producing a small wicked-looking automatic--then a new and strange weapon--and rushing out into the main saloon. There he announced that he was known to the cognoscenti as Art the Blood and was a city gunman in comparison with which these plain, so-called bad men were as sucking doves to the untamed eagle. Thence he glanced briefly at their ancestry as far as known; and ended by rushing forth in the general direction of McCloud"s hotel.
"Suffering giraffes!" gasped Windy Bill after the whirlwind had pa.s.sed.
"Was that the scared little rabbit that wept all them salt tears over at the depot? What brand of licker did you feed him, Sandy?"
I silently handed him the bottle.
"Soothing syrup--my G.o.d!" said Windy in hushed tones.
CHAPTER VIII
At that epoch I prided myself on being a man of resource; and I proceeded to prove it in a fashion that even now fills me with satisfaction. I annexed the remainder of that bottle of soothing syrup; I went to Sol Levi and easily procured delivery of the other five. Then I strolled peacefully to supper over at McCloud"s hotel. Pathological knowledge of dope fiends was outside my ken--I could not guess how soon my man would need another dose of his "hop," but I was positively sure that another would be needed. Inquiry of McCloud elicited the fact that the ex-jockey had swallowed a hasty meal and had immediately retired to Room 4. I found Room 4 unlocked, and Brower lying fully clothed sound asleep across the bed. I did not disturb him, except that I robbed him of his pistol. All looked safe for awhile; but just to be certain I took Room 6, across the narrow hall, and left both doors open. McCloud"s hotel never did much of a room business. By midnight the cowboys would be on their way for the ranches. Brower and myself were the only occupants of the second floor.
For two hours I smoked and read. The ex-jockey did not move a muscle.
Then I went to bed and to a sound sleep; but I set my mind like an alarm clock, so that the slightest move from the other room would have fetched me broad awake. City-bred people may not know that this can be done by most outdoor men. I have listened subconsciously to horsebells for so many nights, for example, that even on stormy nights the cessation of that faint twinkle will awaken me, while the crash of the elements or even the fall of a tree would not in the slightest disturb my tired slumbers. So now, although the songs and stamping and racket of the revellers below stairs in McCloud"s bar did not for one second prevent my falling into deep and dreamless sleep, Brower"s softest tread would have reached my consciousness.
However, he slept right through the night, and was still dead to the world when I slipped out at six o"clock to meet the east-bound train.
The bag--a small black Gladstone--was aboard in charge of the baggageman. I had no great difficulty in getting it from my friend, the station agent. Had he not seen me herding the locoed stranger? I secreted the black bag with the five full bottles of soothing syrup, slipped the half-emptied bottle in my pocket, and returned to the hotel.
There I ate breakfast, and sat down for a comfortable chat with McCloud while awaiting results.
Got them very promptly. About eight o"clock Brower came downstairs. He pa.s.sed through the office, nodding curtly to McCloud and me, and into the dining room where he drank several cups of coffee. Thence he pa.s.sed down the street toward Sol Levi"s. He emerged rather hurriedly and slanted across to the station.
"In about two minutes," I observed to McCloud, "you"re going to observe yon b.u.t.terfly turn into a stinging lizard. He"s going to head in this direction; and he"ll probably aim to climb my hump. Such being the case, and the affair being private, you"ll do me a favour by supervising something in some remote corner of the premises."
"Sure," said McCloud, "I"ll go twist that c.h.i.n.k washee-man. Been intending to for a week." And he stumped out on his wooden foot.
The comet hit at precisely 7:42 by McCloud"s big clock. Its head was Brower at high speed and tension; and its tail was the light alkali dust of Arizona mingled with the station agent. No irresistible force and immovable body proposition in mine; I gave to the impact.
"Why, sure, I got "em for you," I answered. "You left your dope lying around loose so I took care of it for you. As for your bag; you seemed to set such store by it that I got that for you, too."
Which deflated that particular enterprise for the moment, anyway. The station agent, too mad to spit, departed before he should be tempted beyond his strength to resist homicide.
"I suppose you"re taking care of my gun for me, too," said Brower; but his irony was weak. He was evidently off the boil.
"Your gun?" I echoed. "Have you lost your gun?"
He pa.s.sed his hand across his eyes. His super-excitement had pa.s.sed, leaving him weak and nervous. Now was the time for my counter-attack.
"Here"s your gun," said I, "didn"t want to collect any lead while you were excited, and I"ve got your dope," I repeated, "in a safe place." I added, "and you"ll not see any of it again until you answer me a few questions, and answer them straight."
"If you think you can roll me for blackmail," he came back with some decision, "you"re left a mile."
"I don"t want a cent; but I do want a talk."
"Shoot," said he.
"How often do you have to have this dope--for the best results; and how much of it at a shot?"
He stared at me for a moment, then laughed.