"Uh-huh, an" I"ll be right there when it"s doin", too. An" you can bet your last blue one on that!"
Alice Marc.u.m swung una.s.sisted to the ground as the two approached. And as she glanced into the wide, friendly eyes of the girl she felt deeply grateful to the Texan for bringing a woman. Then the woman was speaking: "Come right along in the house. I"m Jennie Dodds, an" I"ll see"t you get settled comfortable. Tex, he told me all about it. Land sakes! I bet you feel proud! Who"d a thought any pilgrim could a got Jack Purdy! Where"s your grip?"
"Gosh! I plumb forgot!" exclaimed the cowboy, and started for his horse. "I"ll be back with yer war-bag in a minute." A few moments later, he returned to the hotel carrying a leather bag.
"I"m goin" to kind of slip around among the boys a bit. I"ve be"n doin" some thinkin" an maybe we can figger a way out. I don"t quite like the way things is shapin" up. I"ll be wantin" most likely to see you in a while----"
"We"ll both be here," interrupted Jennie. "_Both_ of us. We"ll be in Number 11."
Outside the hotel the Texan paused to roll and light a cigarette, and as he blew the smoke from his lungs, he smiled cynically.
"Purdy"s work was so d.a.m.n coa.r.s.e he got just what was comin" to him.
There"s only me an" the pilgrim, now--an" it"s me an" him for it. I ain"t plumb got the girl sized up yet. If she"s straight--all right.
She"ll stay straight. If she ain"t---- They say everything"s fair in love an" war, an" bein" as it"s my deal the pilgrim"s got to go up against a stacked deck. An" if things works out right, believe me, he"s a-goin" to know he"s be"n somewhere by the time he gets back--if he ever does get back."
For the third time that evening he entered the dance-hall and avoiding the dancers made his way leisurely toward the bar that ran along one side of the room.
"h.e.l.lo, Tex, ain"t dancin"? Say, they"re tellin" how a pilgrim killed Jack Purdy. Yes, an" they got him locked up down in the wool-warehouse. What"s yourn?" The cowboy ranged himself beside the Texan.
"A little red liquor, I reckon." The men poured their drinks and the Texan glanced toward the other: "You ain"t mournin" none over Purdy, Curly?"
"Who, me?" the man laughed. "Not what you c"d notice, I ain"t. An"
they"s plenty others ain"t, too. I don"t hear no lamentations wailin"
a-bustin" in on the festchivities. It was over the pilgrim"s girl.
They say how Purdy tried to----"
"Yes, he did. But the pilgrim got there first. I been thinkin", Curly. It"s plumb shameful for to hold the pilgrim for doin" what one of us would of had to do sooner or later. Choteau County has stood for him about as long as it could, an" a d.a.m.n sight longer than it ought to. His work was gettin" so rotten it stunk, I could tell you about a sage-brush corral an" some runnin"-iron work over on the south slope----"
"Yes," broke in the other, "an" there"s a h.e.l.l of a lot of I X an" Bear Paw Pool cows that show"d up, brandin" time, "thout no calves."
The Texan nodded: "Exactly. Now, what I was goin" on to say: The grand jury don"t set for a couple or three months yet. An" when they do, they"ll turn the pilgrim loose so quick it"ll make yer head swim.
Then, there"s the girl. They"ll hold her for a witness--not that they"d have to, "cause she"ll stay on her own hook. Now what"s the use of them bein" took down to Benton an" stuck in jail? Drink up, an"
have another."
"Not none," agreed Curly, as he measured out his liquor to an imaginary line half-way up the gla.s.s. "But how"d you figger to fix it?"
"Well," answered the Texan, as his lips twisted into their peculiar smile; "we might get the right bunch together an" go down to the wool-warehouse an" save the grand jury the trouble."
The other stared at him in amazement: "You mean bust him out?"
Tex laughed: "Sure. Lord! Won"t it be fun seein" Sam Moore puttin" up a sc.r.a.p to save his prisoner?"
"But, how"d we git away with him? All Sam w"d do is git a posse an"
take out after him an" they"d round him up "fore he got to Three-mile.
Or if we went along we"d git further but they"d git us in the end an"
then we"d be in a h.e.l.l of a fix!"
"Your head don"t hurt you none, workin" it that way, does it?" grinned Tex. "I done thought it all out. We"ll get the boys an" slip down to the warehouse an" take the pilgrim out an" slip a noose around his neck an" set him on a horse an" ride out of town a-cussin" him an"
a-swearin" to lynch him. He won"t know but what we aim to hang him to the first likely cottonwood, an" we"ll have a lot of fun with him. An"
no one else won"t know it, neither. Then you-all ride back an" pertend to keep mum, but leak it out that we done hung him. They won"t be no posse hunt for him then an" I"ll take him an" slip him acrost to the N.
P. or the C. P. R. an" let him go. It"s too good a chanct to miss.
Lordy! Won"t the pilgrim beg! An" Sam Moore--he"ll be scairt out of a year"s growth!"
"But, the girl," objected Curly.
"Oh, the girl--well, they"ll turn her loose, of course. They ain"t nothin" on her except for a witness. An" if they ain"t no prisoner they won"t need no witness, will they?"
"That"s right," a.s.sented the other. "By gosh, Tex, what you can"t think up, the devil wouldn"t bother with. That"s sure some stunt.
Let"s get the boys an" go to it!"
"You get the boys together. Get about twenty of the live ones an" head "em over to the Headquarters. I"ll go hunt up a horse for the pilgrim an" be over there in half an hour."
Curly pa.s.sed from man to man, whom he singled out from among the dancers and onlookers, and the Texan slipped un.o.bserved through the door and proceeded directly to the hotel. On the street he met Bat.
"De pilgrim, she lock up in de woolhouse an" Sam Moore she stan" "long de door wit two revolver an" wan big rifle."
"All right, Bat. You look alive now, an" catch up Purdy"s horse an"
see that you get a good set of bridle reins on him, an" find the girl"s horse an" get holt of a pack-horse somewheres an" get your war-bag an"
mine an" our blankets onto him, an" go down to the store an" get a couple more pairs of blankets, an" grub enough fer a week for four, an"
get that onto him, an" have all them horses around to the side door of the hotel in twenty minutes, or I"ll bust you wide open an" fill your hide with p.r.i.c.kly pears."
The half-breed nodded his understanding and slipped onto his horse as the Texan entered the hotel. Pa.s.sing through the office where a coal-oil lamp burned dimly in a wall-bracket, he stepped into the narrow hallway and paused with his eyes on the bar of yellow light that showed at the bottom of the door of Number 11.
"Most any fool thing would do to tell the girl. But I"ve got to make it some plausible to put it acrost on Jennie. I"m afraid I kind of over-played my hand a little when I let her in on this, but--d.a.m.n it!
I felt kind of sorry for the girl even if it was her own fool fault gettin" into this jack-pot. I thought maybe a woman could kind of knock off the rough edges a little. Well, here goes!" He knocked sharply, and it was a very grave-faced cowboy who stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. "I"ve be"n doin" quite some feelin"
out of the public pulse, as the feller says, an" the way things looks from here, the pilgrim is sure in bad. You see, the jury is bound to be made up of cow-men an" ranchers with a sheep-man or two mixed in.
An" they"re all denizens that Choteau County is infested with. Now a stranger comin" in that way an" kind of pickin" one of us off, casual, like a tick off"n a dog"s ear, it won"t be looked on with favour----"
Jennie interrupted, with a belligerent forefinger wagging almost against the Texan"s nose: "But that Jack Purdy needed killin" if ever any one did. He was loose an"----"
"Yes," broke in Tex, "he was. I ain"t here to p.r.o.nounce no benediction of blessedness on Purdy"s remains. But, you got to recollect that most of the jury, picked out at random, is in the same boat--loose, an"
needin" killin", which they know as well as you an" me do, an"
consequent ain"t a-goin" to establish no oncomfortable precedent.
Suppose any pilgrim was allowed to step off"n a train any time he happened to be comin" through, an" pick off a loose one? What would Choteau County"s or any other county"s he-population look like in a year"s time, eh? It would look like the hair-brush out here in the wash-room, an" you could send in the votin" list on a cigarette paper.
No, sir, the pilgrim ain"t got a show if he"s got to face a jury.
There"s only one way out, an" there"s about fifteen or twenty of the boys that"s willin" to give him a chance. We"re a-goin" to bust him out of jail an" put him on a horse an" run him up some cottonwood coulee with a rope around his neck."
Alice Marc.u.m, who had followed every word, turned chalk-white in the lamplight as she stared wide-eyed at the Texan, with fingers pressed tight against her lips, while Jennie placed herself protectingly between them and launched into a perfect tirade.
"Hold on, now." Both girls saw that the man was smiling and Jennie relapsed into a warlike silence. "A rope necktie ain"t a-goin" to hurt no one as long as he keeps his heft off"n it. As I was goin" on to say, we"ll run him up this coulee an" a while later the boys"ll ride back to town in the same semmey-serious mood that accompanies such similar enterprises. They won"t do no talkin" an" they won"t need to.
Folks will naturally know that justice has be"n properly dispensed with, an" that their taxes won"t raise none owin" to county funds bein"
misdirected in prosecutin" a public benefactor--an" they"ll be satisfied. The preacher"ll preach a long sermon condemnin" the takin"
of human life without due process of law, an" the next Sunday he"ll preach another one about the onchristian shootin" of folks without givin" "em a chanct to repent--after they"d drawed--an" he"ll use the lynchin" as a specimen of the workin"s of the hand of the Lord in bringin" speedy justice onto the murderer.
"But they ain"t be"n no lynchin" done. "Cause the boys will turn the prisoner over to me an" I"ll hustle him acrost to the N. P. an" let him get out of the country."
Alice Marc.u.m leaped to her feet: "Oh, are you telling me the truth?
How do I know you"re not going to lynch him? I told him I"d stay with him and see him through!"