When the night was far gone and the slant of the Great Dipper told him that day-dawn was near, he heard a horse nicker wistfully, away to the right. Wheeling sharply, his spurs raking the roughened sides of Glory, he rode recklessly toward the sound, not daring to hope that it might be the pinto and yet holding his mind back from despair.
When he was near the place--so near that he could see a dim, formless shape outlined against the sky-line,--Glory stumbled over a sunken rock and fell heavily upon his knees. When he picked himself up he hobbled and Weary cursed him unpityingly.
When, limping painfully, Glory came up with the object, the heart of Weary rose up and stuck in his throat; for the object was a pinto horse and above it bulked the squat figure of an irate old man.
"h.e.l.lo, Dock," greeted Weary. "How do yuh stack up?"
"_Mon Dieu_, Weary Davitson, I feex yous plandy. What for do you dees t"ing? I not do de harrm wis you. I not got de mooney wort" all dees troubles what you makes. Dees horse, she lak for keel me also. She buck, en keeck, en roon--_mon Dieu_, I not like dees t"ing."
"Sober, by thunder!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Weary in an ecstatic half-whisper.
"Dock, you"ve got a chance to make a record for yourself to-night--if we ain"t too late," he added bodefully. "Do yuh know where we"re headed for?"
"I t"ink for de devil," retorted Old Dock peevishly.
"No sir, we aren"t. We"re going straight to camp, and you"re going to save old Patsy--you like Patsy, you know; many"s the time you"ve tanked up together and then fell on each other"s necks and wept because the good old times won"t come again. He got poisoned on canned corn; the Lord send he ain"t too dead for you to cure him. Come on--we better hit the breeze. We"ve lost a heap uh time."
"I not like dees rope; she not comforte. I have ride de bad horse when you wa.s.s in cradle."
Weary got down and went over to him. "All right, I"ll unwind yuh.
When we started, yuh know, yuh couldn"t uh rode a rocking chair. I was plumb obliged to tie yuh on. Think we"ll be in time to help Patsy? He was taken sick about four o"clock."
Old Dock waited till he was untied and the remnant of bridle-rein was placed in his hand, before he answered ironically: "I not do de mageec, _mon cher_ Weary. I mos" have de medicine or I can do nottings, I not wave de fingaire an" say de vord."
"That"s all right--I"ve got the whole works. I broke into your shack and made a clean haul uh dope. And I want to tell yuh that for a doctor you"ve got blame poor ventilation to your house. But I found the medicine."
"Mon Dieu!" was the astonished comment, and after that they rode in silence and such haste as Glory"s lameness would permit.
The first beams of the sun were touching redly the hilltops and the birds were singing from swaying weeds when they rode down the last slope into the valley where camped the Flying-U.
The night-hawk had driven the horses into the rope-corral and men were inside watching, with spread loop, for a chance to throw. Happy Jack, with the cook"s ap.r.o.n tied tightly around his lank middle, stood despondently in the doorway of the mess-tent and said no word as they approached. In his silence--in his very presence there--Weary read disaster.
"I guess we"re too late," he told Dock, in hushed tones; for the minute he hated the white-bearded old man whose drunkenness had cost the Flying-U so dear. He slipped wearily from the saddle and let the reins drop to the ground. Happy Jack still eyed them silently.
"Well?" asked Weary, when his nerves would bear no more.
"When I git sick," said Happy Jack, his voice heavy with reproach, "I"ll send you for help--if I want to die."
"Is he dead?" questioned Weary, in hopeless fashion.
"Well," said Happy Jack deliberately, "no, he ain"t dead yet--but it"s no thanks to you. Was it poker, or billiards? and who won?"
Weary looked at him dully a moment before he comprehended. He had not had any supper or any deep, and he had ridden many miles in the long hours he had been away. He walked, with a p.r.o.nounced limp on the leg which had been next the medicine-case, to where Dock stood leaning shakily against the pinto.
"Maybe we"re in time, after all," he said slowly. "Here"s some kind uh dried stuff I got off the ceiling; I thought maybe yuh might need it--you"re great on Indian weeds." He pulled a crumpled, faintly aromatic bundle of herbs from his pocket.
Dock took it and sniffed disgustedly, and dropped the herbs contemptuously to the ground. "Dat not wort" notting--she what you call--de--cat_neep_." He smiled sourly.
Weary cast a furtive glance at Happy Jack, and hoped he had not overheard. Catnip! Still, how could he be expected to know what the blamed stuff was? He untied the black medicine-case and brought it and put it at the feet of Old Dock. "Well, here"s the joker, anyhow," he said. "It like to wore a hole clear through my leg, but I was careful and I don"t believe any uh the bottles are busted."
Dock looked at it and sat heavily down upon a box. He looked at the case queerly, then lifted his s.h.a.ggy head to gaze up at Weary. And behind the bleared gravity of his eyes was something very like a twinkle. "Dis, she not cure seek mans, neider. She--" He pressed a tiny spring which Weary had not discovered and laid the case open upon the ground. "You see?" he said plaintively. "She not good for Patsy--she tree-dossen can-openaire."
Weary stared blankly. Happy Jack came up, looked and doubled convulsively. Can-openers! Three dozen of them. Old Dock was explaining in his best English, and he was courteously refraining from the faintest smile.
"Dey de new, bettaire kind. I send for dem, I t"ink maybe I sell. I put her in de grip--so--I carry dem all togedder. My mediceen, she in de beeg ches"."
Weary had sat down and his head was dropped dejectedly into his hands.
He had bungled the whole thing, after all. "Well," he said apathetically. "The chest was locked; I never opened it."
Old Dock nodded his head gravely. "She lock," he a.s.sented, gently.
"She mooch mediceen--she wort" mooch mooney. De key, she in mine pocket--" "Oh, I don"t give a d.a.m.n where the key is--now," flared Weary. "I guess Patsy"ll have to cash in; that"s all."
"Aw, gwan!" cried Happy Jack. "A sheepman come along just after you left, and he had a quart uh whisky. We begged it off him and give Patsy a good bit jolt. That eased him up some, and we give him another--and he got to hollerin" so loud for more uh the same, so we just set the bottle in easy reach and let him alone. He"s in there now, drunk as a biled owl--the lazy old devil. I had to get supper and breakfast too--and looks like I"d have to cook dinner. Poison--h.e.l.l!
I betche he never had nothing but a plain old belly-ache!"
Weary got up and went to the mess-tent, lifted the flap and looked in upon Patsy lying on the flat of his back, snoring comfortably. He regarded him silently a moment, then looked over his shoulder to where Old Dock huddled over the three dozen can-openers.
"Oh, mamma!" he whispered, and poured himself a cup of coffee.
THE LAMB
When came the famine in stock-cars on the Montana Central, and the Flying U herd had grazed for two days within five miles of Dry Lake, waiting for the promised train of empties, Chip Bennett, lately promoted foreman, felt that he had trouble a-plenty. When, short-handed as he was, two of his cowboys went a-spreeing and a-leisuring in town, with their faces turned from honest toil and their hands manipulating pairs and flushes and face-cards, rather than good "gra.s.s" ropes, he was positive that his cup was dripping trouble all round the rim.
The delinquents were not "top hands," it is true. They--the Happy Family, of which Jim Whitmore was inordinately proud--would sooner forswear their country than the Flying U. But even two transients of very ordinary ability are missed when they suddenly vanish in shipping time, and Chip, feeling keenly his responsibilities, rode disgustedly into town to reclaim the recreants or pay them off and hire others in their places.
With his temper somewhat roughened by the agent"s report that no cars were yet on the way, he clanked into Rusty Brown"s place after his deserters. One was laid blissfully out in the little back room, breathing loudly, dead to the world and the exigencies of life; him Chip pa.s.sed up with a snort of disgust. The other was sitting in a corner, with his hat balanced precariously over his left ear, gazing superciliously upon his fellows and, incidentally, winning everything in sight. He leered up at Chip and fingered ostentatiously his three stacks of blues.
"What"n thunder do I want to go t" camp for?" he demanded, in answer to Chip"s suggestion. "Forty dollars a month following your trail don"t look good t" me no more. I"m four hundred dollars t" the good sence last night, and takin" all comers. Good money"s just fallin" my way.
I don"t guess I hanker after any more night guardin", thank ye."
"Suit yourself," said Chip coldly, and turned away.
Argument was useless and never to his liking. The problem now was to find two men who could take their places, and that was not so easily solved. A golden-haired, pink-cheeked, blue-eyed young fellow in dainty silk negligee, gray trousers, and russet leather belt, with a panama hat and absurdly small tan shoes, followed him outside.
"If you"re looking for men," he announced musically, "I"m open for engagements."
Chip looked down at him tolerantly. "Much obliged, but I"m not getting up a garden-party," he informed him politely, and took a step. He was not in the mood to find amus.e.m.e.nt in the situation.
The immaculate one showed some dimples that would have been distracting in the face of a woman. "And I ain"t looking for a job leading cows to water," he retorted. "Yuh shouldn"t judge a man by his clothes, old-timer."
"I don"t--a man!" said Chip pointedly. "Run away and play. I"ll tell you what, sonny, I"m not running a kindergarten. Every man I hire has got man"s work to do. Wait till you"re grown up; as it is, you"d last quick on round-up, and that"s a fact."
"Oh! it is, eh? Say, did yuh ever hear uh old Eagle Creek Smith, of the Cross L, or Rowdy Vaughan, or a fellow up on Milk River they call Pink?"
"I"d tell a man!" Chip turned toward him again. "At least I"ve heard of Eagle Creek Smith, and of Pink--bronco-fighter, they say, and a little devil. Why?"