The man"s words seemed to bite right into the heart of his hearer.
Nothing could have been better calculated to goad him to extremity. In one short, harsh sentence he had dashed every hope that the other possessed. And with a rush the stricken man leapt at denial, which was heartrending in its impotence.
"You lie!" he shouted. The old revolver was dragged from his pocket and pointed shakingly at his tormentor"s head. "Give her back to me!
Give her back, or--"
James" desperate courage never deserted him for an instant. And Scipio was never allowed to complete his sentence. The other"s hand suddenly reached out, and the pistol was twisted from his shaking grasp with as little apparent effort as though he had been a small child.
Scipio stared helpless and confused while James eyed the pattern of the gun. Then he heard the man"s contemptuous laugh and saw him pull the trigger. The hammer refused to move. It was so rusted that the weapon was quite useless. For a moment the desperado"s eyes sought the pale face of his would-be slayer. A devilish smile lurked in their depths. Then he held out the pistol for the other to take, while his whole manner underwent a hideous change.
"Here, take it, you wretched worm," he cried, with sudden savagery.
"Take it, you miserable fool," he added, as Scipio remained unheeding.
"It wouldn"t blow even your fool brains out. Take it!" he reiterated, with a command the other could no longer resist. "And now get out of here," he went on mercilessly, as Scipio"s hand closed over the wretched weapon, "or I"ll hand you over to the boys. They"ll show you less mercy than I do. They"re waiting out there," he cried, pointing at the door, "for my orders. One word from me and they"ll cut the liver out of you with rawhides, and Abe Conroy"ll see it"s done right.
Get you right out of here, and if ever you come squealing around my quarters again I"ll have you strung up by your wretched neck till you"re dead--dead as a crushed worm--dead as is your wife, Jessie, to you from now out. Get out of here, you straw-headed sucker, get right out, quick!"
But the tide of the man"s fury seemed to utterly pa.s.s the little man by. He made no attempt to obey. The pistol hung in his tightly gripping hand, and his underlip protruded obstinately.
"She"s mine, you thief!" he cried. "Give her back to me."
It was the cry of a beaten man whose spirit is unquenchable.
But James had finished. All that was worst in him was uppermost now.
With eyes blazing he stepped to the door and whistled. He might have been whistling up his dogs. Perhaps those who responded were his dogs.
Three men came in, and the foremost of them was Abe Conroy.
"Here," cried James, his cruel eyes snapping, "take him out and set him on his horse, and send him racing to h.e.l.l after m"squitoes. And don"t handle him too easy."
What happened to him after that Scipio never fully understood. He had a vague memory of being seized and buffeted and kicked into a state of semi-unconsciousness. Nor did he rouse out of his stupor, until, sick and sore in every limb, his poor yellow head aching and confused, he found himself swaying dangerously about in the saddle, with Gipsy, racing like a mad thing, under his helpless legs.
CHAPTER VI
SUNNY OAK PROTESTS
Wild Bill was gazing out across the camp dumps. His expression suggested the contemplation of a problem of life and death, and a personal one at that. Sandy Joyce, too, bore traces suggestive of the weightiest moments of his life. Toby Jenks stood chewing the dirty flesh of a stubby forefinger, while the inevitable smile on Sunny Oak"s face made one think of a bright spring morning under cover of a yellow fog.
"How am I to see to them pore kiddies?" the latter was complaining.
"I"ve had to do with cattle, an" mules, an" even hogs in my time, but I sure don"t guess you ken set them bits o" mites in a brandin"
corral, nor feed "em oats an" hay, nor even ladle "em swill for supper, like hogs. Fer other things, I don"t guess I could bile a bean right without a lib"ry o" cook-books, so how I"m to make "em elegant pap for their suppers "ud beat the Noo York p"lice force. An" as fer fixin" their clothes, an" bathing "em, why, it "ud set me feelin" that fulish you wouldn"t know me from a patient in a bug-house. It makes me real mad, folks is allus astin" me to get busy doin" things. I"m that sick, the sight of a ha"f-washened kid "ud turn my stummick to bile, an" set me cacklin" like a hen with a brood o" ducklings she can"t no ways account fer. You"se fellers are a happy lot o" Jonahs to a man as needs rest."
"You"re sure doing the cacklin" now," observed Bill contemptuously.
"Maybe he"s layin" eggs," murmured Toby vaguely.
The men were standing on the veranda, gathered round the bench on which Sunny Oak was still resting his indolent body. And the subject of their discourse was Scipio"s two children. The father had ridden off on his search for James, and the responsibility of his twins was weighing heavily on those left behind.
"Kind o" handy ladlin" it out to folks," said Sunny, grinning lazily.
"But, with all your brightness, I don"t guess any o" you could mother them kiddies. No, it"s jest "send Sunny along to see to "em." That bein" said, you"ll git right back to your poker with a righteous feelin" which makes it come good to rob each other all you know. Psha!
You ain"t no better"n them lousy birds as lays eggs sizes too big, an"
blames "em on to some moultin" sparrer that ain"t got feathers "nuff to make it welcome at a scratchin" bee."
Sunny"s flow was a little overwhelming, and perhaps there was just enough truth in his remarks to make it unadvisable for the others to measure wits with him. Anyway, he received no reply. Bill continued to gaze out at Scipio"s hut in a way that suggested great absorption, while Toby had not yet lunched sufficiently off his tattered forefinger. Sandy was the only one of the three apparently alive to the true exigencies of the case, and Sunny addressed himself more exclusively to him.
"Say," he went on, his good-humored eyes smiling cunningly up into the widower"s face, "I"ve heerd tell that you once did some pore unsuspicious female the dirty trick of marryin" her. Mebbe you"ll sure hev" notions "bout kiddies an" such things. Now, if Wild Bill had come along an" pushed a shootin"-iron into your map, an" said you"ll handle Zip"s kiddies--wal, I ask you, wot "ud you ha" done?"
"Told him to git his head cooled some," retorted Sandy promptly.
"Ah, guess you bin saved a heap o" trouble," murmured Sunny. "But if you hadn"t said that--which you said you would ha" said--an" you"d got busy as he suggested--wal, what then?"
Sandy cleared his throat, and, in his sudden interest, Toby deferred the rest of his meal.
"Wal, I"d ha" gone right up to the shack an" looked into things."
Sandy"s first effort seemed to please him, and, hitching his moleskin trousers up deliberately, he proceeded with some unction--
"Y"see, ther" ain"t nothin" like gettin" a look around. Then you kind o" know wher" you are. You sure need to know wher" you are "fore you get busy proper. It"s most like everything else. If you get on the wrong trail at the start, it"s li"ble to lead you wher" you don"t want to go. What I says is, hit the right trail at the start, then you got a chance o" gettin" thro" right, which, I take it, is an elegant way o" doin" most things. Wal, havin" located the right trail--"
"We"re talkin" o" Zip"s twins," murmured Sunny gently.
"Sure, that"s where I"m gettin" to--"
"By trail?" inquired Toby seriously.
"Say, you make me tired," retorted Sandy angrily.
"Best quit the trail, then," said Sunny.
"Go to blazes!" cried Sandy, and promptly relapsed into moody silence.
At that moment Bill turned from his contemplation of the house beyond the dumps and fixed his fierce eyes on Sunny"s grinning face.
"Here, you miser"ble hoboe," he cried, "get right up out of that, and hump across to Zip"s shack. You"re doin" enough ga.s.sin" fer a female tattin" bee. Your hot air makes me want to sweat. Now, them kiddies"ll need supper. You"ll jest ast Minky fer all you need, an" I pay. An"
you"ll see things is fixed right for "em."
Sunny lurched reluctantly to his feet. He knew the gambler far too well to debate the point further. He had made his protest, which had been utterly ineffective, so there was nothing left him but to obey the fiercely uttered mandate.
But Sandy Joyce felt that somehow his first effort on behalf of the children had missed fire, and it was his duty not to allow himself to be ousted from the council. So he stayed the loafer with a word.
"Say, you"ll be knowin" how to feed "em?" he inquired gravely.
Sunny"s eyes twinkled.
"Wal, mebbe you ken give me pointers," he retorted, with apparent sincerity.
"That"s how I was figgerin"," said Sandy cordially. He felt better now about his first effort. "Y"see, Minky"s stock is limited some; ther"
ain"t a heap o" variety, like. An" kiddies do need variety. Y"see, they"re kind o" delicate feeders, same as high-bred hosses, an" dogs an" things. Now, dogs need diff"rent meat every day, if you"re goin"