"I can go to Diane--tell her that--make her believe I"d tell it broadcast, tell this Ranger Steele, unless she"d marry me!" Wright spoke breathlessly, with haggard face and shadowed eyes. He had no shame. He was simply in the grip of pa.s.sion. Sampson gazed with dark, controlled fury at his relative. In that look I saw a strong, unscrupulous man fallen into evil ways, but still a man. It betrayed Wright to be the wild and pa.s.sionate weakling.
I seemed to see also how, during all the years of a.s.sociation, this strong man had upheld the weak one. But that time had gone forever, both in intent on Sampson"s part and in possibility. Wright, like the great majority of evil and unrestrained men on the border, had reached a point where influence was futile. Reason had degenerated. He saw only himself.
"But, George, Diane"s the one person on earth who must never know I"m a rustler, a thief, a red-handed ruler of the worst gang on the border,"
replied Sampson impressively.
George bowed his head at that, as if the significance had just occurred to him. But he was not long at a loss. "She"s going to find it out sooner or later. I tell you she knows now there"s something wrong out here. She"s got eyes. And that meddling cowboy of hers is smarter than you give him credit for. They"re always together. You"ll regret the day Russ ever straddled a horse on this ranch. Mark what I say."
"Diane"s changed, I know; but she hasn"t any idea yet that her daddy"s a boss rustler. Diane"s concerned about what she calls my duty as mayor.
Also I think she"s not satisfied with my explanations in regard to certain property."
Wright halted in his restless walk and leaned against the stone mantelpiece. He squared himself as if this was his last stand. He looked desperate, but on the moment showed an absence of his usual nervous excitement. "Sampson, that may well be true," he said. "No doubt all you say is true. But it doesn"t help me. I want the girl. If I don"t get her I reckon we"ll all go to h.e.l.l!" He might have meant anything, probably meant the worst. He certainly had something more in mind.
Sampson gave a slight start, barely perceptible like the twitch of an awakening tiger. He sat there, head down, stroking his mustache. Almost I saw his thought. I had long experience in reading men under stress of such emotion. I had no means to vindicate my judgment, but my conviction was that Sampson right then and there decided that the thing to do was to kill Wright. For my part, I wondered that he had not come to such a conclusion before. Not improbably the advent of his daughter had put Sampson in conflict with himself.
Suddenly he threw off a somber cast of countenance and began to talk. He talked swiftly, persuasively, yet I imagined he was talking to smooth Wright"s pa.s.sion for the moment. Wright no more caught the fateful significance of a line crossed, a limit reached, a decree decided, than if he had not been present. He was obsessed with himself.
How, I wondered, had a man of his mind ever lived so long and gone so far among the exacting conditions of Pecos County? The answer was perhaps, that Sampson had guided him, upheld him, protected him. The coming of Diane Sampson had been the entering wedge of dissension.
"You"re too impatient," concluded Sampson. "You"ll ruin any chance of happiness if you rush Diane. She might be won. If you told her who I am she"d hate you forever. She might marry you to save me, but she"d hate you.
"That isn"t the way. Wait. Play for time. Be different with her. Cut out your drinking. She despises that. Let"s plan to sell out here, stock, ranch, property, and leave the country. Then you"d have a show with her."
"I told you we"ve got to stick," growled Wright. "The gang won"t stand for our going. It can"t be done unless you want to sacrifice everything."
"You mean double-cross the men? Go without their knowing? Leave them here to face whatever comes?"
"I mean just that."
"I"m bad enough, but not that bad," returned Sampson. "If I can"t get the gang to let me off I"ll stay and face the music. All the same, Wright, did it ever strike you that most of our deals the last few years have been yours?"
"Yes. If I hadn"t rung them in, there wouldn"t have been any. You"ve had cold feet, Owens says, especially since this Ranger Steele has been here."
"Well, call it cold feet if you like. But I call it sense. We reached our limit long ago. We began by rustling a few cattle at a time when rustling was laughed at. But as our greed grew so did our boldness. Then came the gang, the regular trips, and one thing and another till, before we knew it--before _I_ knew it, we had shady deals, hold-ups, and murders on our record. Then we had to go on. Too late to turn back!"
"I reckon we"ve all said that. None of the gang wants to quit. They all think, and I think, we can"t be touched. We may be blamed, but nothing can be proved. We"re too strong."
"There"s where you"re dead wrong," rejoined Sampson, emphatically. "I imagined that once, not long ago. I was bull-headed. Who would ever connect Roger Sampson with a rustler gang? I"ve changed my mind. I"ve begun to think. I"ve reasoned out things. We"re crooked and we can"t last. It"s the nature of life, even in wild Pecos, for conditions to grow better. The wise deal for us would be to divide equally and leave the country, all of us."
"But you and I have all the stock--all the gain," protested Wright.
"I"ll split mine."
"I won"t--that settles that," added Wright instantly.
Sampson spread wide his hands as if it was useless to try to convince this man. Talking had not increased his calmness, and he now showed more than impatience. A dull glint gleamed deep in his eyes. "Your stock and property will last a long time--do you lots of good when Steele--"
"Bah!" hoa.r.s.ely croaked Wright. The Ranger"s name was a match applied to powder. "Haven"t I told you he"d be dead soon same as Hoden is?"
"Yes, you mentioned the supposition," replied Sampson sarcastically. "I inquired, too just how that very desired event was to be brought about."
"Blome"s here to kill Steele."
"Bah!" retorted Sampson in turn. "Blome can"t kill this Ranger. He can"t face him with a ghost of a show--he"ll never get a chance at Steele"s back. The man don"t live on this border who"s quick and smart enough to kill Steele."
"I"d like to know why?" demanded Wright sullenly.
"You ought to know. You"ve seen the Ranger pull a gun."
"Who told you?" queried Wright, his face working.
"Oh, I guessed it, if that"ll do you."
"If Jack doesn"t kill this d.a.m.ned Ranger I will," replied Wright, pounding the table.
Sampson laughed contemptuously. "George, don"t make so much noise. And don"t be a fool. You"ve been on the border for ten years. You"ve packed a gun and you"ve used it. You"ve been with Blome and Snecker when they killed their men. You"ve been present at many fights. But you never saw a man like Steele. You haven"t got sense enough to see him right if you had a chance. Neither has Blome. The only way to get rid of Steele is for the gang to draw on him, all at once. And even then he"s going to drop some of them."
"Sampson, you say that like a man who wouldn"t care much if Steele did drop some of them," declared Wright, and now he was sarcastic.
"To tell you the truth I wouldn"t," returned the other bluntly. "I"m pretty sick of this mess."
Wright cursed in amaze. His emotions were out of all proportion to his intelligence. He was not at all quick-witted. I had never seen a vainer or more arrogant man. "Sampson, I don"t like your talk," he said.
"If you don"t like the way I talk you know what you can do," replied Sampson quickly. He stood up then, cool and quiet, with flash of eyes and set of lips that told me he was dangerous.
"Well, after all, that"s neither here nor there," went on Wright, unconsciously cowed by the other. "The thing is, do I get the girl?"
"Not by any means, except her consent."
"You"ll not make her marry me?"
"No. No," replied Sampson, his voice still cold, low-pitched.
"All right. Then I"ll make her."
Evidently Sampson understood the man before him so well that he wasted no more words. I knew what Wright never dreamed of, and that was that Sampson had a gun somewhere within reach and meant to use it.
Then heavy footsteps sounded outside, tramping upon the porch. I might have been mistaken, but I believed those footsteps saved Wright"s life.
"There they are," said Wright, and he opened the door. Five masked men entered. About two of them I could not recognize anything familiar. I thought one had old Snecker"s burly shoulders and another Bo Snecker"s stripling shape. I did recognize Blome in spite of his mask, because his fair skin and hair, his garb and air of distinction made plain his ident.i.ty. They all wore coats, hiding any weapons. The big man with burly shoulders shook hands with Sampson and the others stood back.
The atmosphere of that room had changed. Wright might have been a nonent.i.ty for all he counted. Sampson was another man--a stranger to me.
If he had entertained a hope of freeing himself from his band, of getting away to a safer country, he abandoned it at the very sight of these men. There was power here and he was bound.
The big man spoke in low, hoa.r.s.e whispers, and at this all the others gathered round him, close to the table. There were evidently some signs of membership not plain to me. Then all the heads were bent over the table. Low voices spoke, queried, answered, argued. By straining my ears I caught a word here and there. They were planning. I did not attempt to get at the meaning of the few words and phrases I distinguished, but held them in mind so to piece all together afterward. Before the plotters finished conferring I had an involuntary flashed knowledge of much and my whirling, excited mind made reception difficult.
When these rustlers finished whispering I was in a cold sweat. Steele was to be killed as soon as possible by Blome, or by the gang going to Steele"s house at night. Morton had been seen with the Ranger. He was to meet the same fate as Hoden, dealt by Bo Snecker, who evidently worked in the dark like a ferret. Any other person known to be communing with Steele, or interested in him, or suspected of either, was to be silenced. Then the town was to suffer a short deadly spell of violence, directed anywhere, for the purpose of intimidating those people who had begun to be restless under the influence of the Ranger. After that, big herds of stock were to be rustled off the ranches to the north and driven to El Paso.