"I ain"t got time, now."
"Please come. The coffee is all ready and it won"t take but a minute to fry some bacon."
The Texan smiled up at her. "If you insist," he said. The girl started in surprise at the words, and the man plunged immediately into the vernacular of the cow-country as he followed her into the timber.
"Yes. A cup of Java wouldn"t go bad, but I won"t stop long. I want to kind of circulate along the back-trail a ways to see if we"re bein"
followed." He took the cup of coffee from her hand and watched as she sliced the bacon and threw it into the frying pan. "Did you ever figure on turnin" nester?" he asked abruptly.
The girl looked at him inquiringly: "Nester?" she asked. "What"s a nester?"
Tex smiled: "Nesters is folks that takes up a claim an" fences off a creek somewheres, an" then stays with it "til, by the grace of G.o.d, they either starve to death, or get rich."
Alice laughed: "No, I never thought of being a nester. But it would be loads of fun. That is, if----"
The Texan interrupted her almost rudely: "Yes, an" if they didn"t, it would just naturally be h.e.l.l, wouldn"t it?" He gulped down the last of his coffee, and, without waiting for the bacon, strode out of the timber, mounted his horse, and rode away.
At the reservoir site he drew rein and inspected the ruined dirt-and-rock dam. Fresh dirt, brush, and rock had already been dumped into the aperture, and over on the hillside a group of men was busy loading wagons. He let himself into the ranch enclosure, rode past the bunk-house and on toward the big house that sat well back from the other buildings in the centre of a grove of trees. A horse stood saddled beside the porch, and through the open door Tex could hear a man"s voice raised in anger: "Why in h.e.l.l ain"t it ready? You might of knowed I"d want it early today, havin" to git out at daylight! You wouldn"t give a d.a.m.n if I never got nothin" to eat!" The door banged viciously cutting off a reply in a woman"s voice, and a man strode across the porch, and s.n.a.t.c.hed up the reins of the waiting horse.
"What"s the matter, Johnson, your suspenders galdin" you this mornin"?"
The man scowled into the face of the cow-puncher who sat regarding him with an irritating grin.
"What do you want around here? If you want a job go turn your horse into the corral an" git out there an" git to work on that resevoy."
"No, Johnson, I don"t want a job. I done had one experience with this outfit, an" I fired you for a boss for keeps."
"Get offen this ranch!" roared the man, shaking a fist, and advancing one threatening step, "or I"ll have you throw"d off!"
Tex laughed: "I don"t aim to stick around no great while. Fact is, I"m in somethin" of a hurry myself. I just stopped in to give you a chanct to do me a good turn. I happened to be down this way an": "there"s Johnson," I says to myself, "he"s so free an" open-handed, a man"s welcome to anything he"s got," so I stopped in."
The ranchman regarded him with an intent scowl: ""Sth" matter with you, you drunk?"
"Not yet. But I got a friend out here in the hills which he"s lost his slippers, an" tore his pants, an" got his shirt all dirty, an" mislaid his hat; an" knowin" you"d be glad to stake him to an outfit I come over, him bein" about your size an" build."
The ranchman"s face flushed with anger: "What the h.e.l.l do I care about you an" your friends. Git offen this ranch, I tell you!"
"Oh, yes, an" while you"re gettin" the outfit together just you slip in a cinch, an" a quart or two of _hooch_, case we might get snake-bit."
Beside himself with rage, the man raised his foot to the stirrup. As if suddenly remembering something he paused, lowered his foot, and regarded the cowboy with an evil leer: "Ah-ha, I"ve got it now!" he moved a step nearer. "I was at the dance night before last to Wolf River." He waited to note the effect of the words on his hearer.
"Did you have a good time? Or did the dollar you had to sh.e.l.l out for the ticket spoil all the fun?"
"Never mind what kind of a _time_ I had. But they"s plenty of us knows you was the head leader of the gang that took an" lynched that pilgrim."
"That"s right," smiled the man coolly. "Beats the devil, how things gets spread around, don"t it? An" speakin" of news spreading that way--I just came up the creek from down below the canyon. You must have had quite a bit of water in your reservoir when she let go, Johnson, judgin" by results."
"What do you mean?"
"You ain"t be"n down the creek, then?"
"No, I ain"t. I"m goin" now. I had to git the men to work fixin" the dam."
"What I mean is this! There"s about fifty head of cattle, more or less, that"s layin" sprinkled around on top of the mud. Amongst which I seen T U brands, and I X, an" D bar C, an" quite a few nester brands.
When your reservoir let go she sure raised h.e.l.l with other folks"
property. Of course, bein" away down there where there ain"t any folks, if I hadn"t happened along it might have been two or three weeks before any one would have rode through, an" you could have run a bunch of ranch hands down an" buried "em an" no one would have be"n any wiser----"
"You"re lyin"!" There was a look of fear in the man"s eyes,
Tex shrugged: "You"ll only waste a half a day ridin" down to see for yourself," he replied indifferently.
Johnson appeared to consider, then stepped close to the Texan"s side: "They say one good turn deserves another. Meanin" that you shet up about them cattle an" I"ll shet up about seein" you."
"That way, it wouldn"t cost you nothin" would it, Johnson? Well, it"s a trade, if you throw in the aforementioned articles of outfit I specified, to boot."
"Not by a d.a.m.n sight! You got the best end of it the way it is.
Lynchin" is murder!"
"So it is," agreed the Texan. "An" likewise, maintainin" weak reservoirs that lets go an" drowns other folks" cattle is a public nuisance, an" a jury"s liable to figger up them damages kind of high--"specially again" you, Johnson, bein" ornery an" rotten-hearted, an" tight-fisted, that way, folks don"t like you."
"It means hangin" fer you!"
"Yes. But it means catchin" first. I can be a thousan" miles away from here, in a week, but you"re different. All they got to do is grab the ranch, it"s good for five or six thousan" in damages, all right.
Still if you don"t want to trade, I"ll be goin"." He gathered up his reins.
"Hold on! It"s a d.a.m.ned hold-up, but what was it you wanted?"
The Texan checked off the items on his gloved fingers: "One pair of pants, one shirt, one hat, one pair of boots, same size as yourn, one pair of spurs, one silk m.u.f.fler, that one you"ve got on"ll do, one cinch, half a dozen packages of tobacco, an" one bottle of whiskey.
All to be in good order an" delivered right here within ten minutes.
An" you might fetch a war-bag to pack "em in. Hurry up now! "Cause if you ain"t back in ten minutes, I"ll be movin" along, an" when I pa.s.s the word to the owners of them cattle it"s goin" to raise their asperity some obnoxious."
With a growl the man disappeared into the house to return a few minutes later with a sack whose sides bulged.
"Dump "em out an" we"ll look "em over!" ordered the Texan and the man complied.
"All right. Throw "em in again an" hand "em up."
When he had secured the load by means of his pack strings he turned to the rancher.
"So long, Johnson, an" if I was you I wouldn"t lose no time in attendin" to the last solemn obsequies of them defunk dogies. I"ll never squeal, but you can"t tell how soon someone else might come a-ridin" along through the foot-hills."
CHAPTER XIII
A BOTTLE OF "HOOCH"
It was well past the middle of the afternoon when the Texan rode up the steep incline and unsaddled his horse. The occupants of the camp were all asleep, the girl in her little shelter tent, and Bat and Endicott with their blankets spread at some little distance away. Tex carried the outfit he had procured from Johnson into the timber, then crawled cautiously to the pilgrim"s side, and awoke him without arousing the others.
"Hey, Win, wake up," he whispered as the man regarded him through a pair of sleepy eyes. "Come on with me. I got somethin" to show you."