CHAPTER XXXIV.--A BRIEF TRUCE AND WHAT FOLLOWED IT.
After a painful wait, Sam heard voices under the rock, and he bracedhimself for the expected assault.
The men were evidently consulting, and one was in favor of attacking atonce, while the others advised "strategy;" this was the one word thatcame distinctly to Sam's ears.
At length, Shirley, who was in favor of strategy, stepped back fromunder the rock and called up:
"Hello! hello! up there!"
"Hello, down there!" was Sam's response.
"Is that you, Sam Willett?"
"It is."
"I want to talk with you."
"Talk away, I am listening."
"Do you know me?"
"No, I don't, and what's more I don't want to," said Sam, with a ring offirmness in his voice that surprised and angered his questioner.
"I am your friend, your cousin," said Shirley.
"You are Frank Shirley?"
"Yes."
"Late of Detroit?"
"Yes, Sam, that's me."
"Well, Frank Shirley, late of Detroit, you may be my cousin, but you arenot my friend."
"But why shouldn't I be?"
"Because you are not a gentleman."
"That young feller up there," said Badger, with an oath, "ought to betarred and feathered and then set on fire and shot at. And if I ever getmy hands on him, I'll----"
"Don't," interrupted the landlord, "you'll kick all the fat into thefire. Let Mr. Shirley talk to the boy; he'll get in fine work, if youonly keep your mouth shut."
Badger gave vent to his feelings by a series of savage growls, andShirley, after much coughing to ease his nervousness, proceeded to carryout his strategy.
"See here, Sam Willett!"
"Go on, I hear," was the response.
"I don't mean you any harm."
"And you sha'n't do me any, if I can help it," said Sam.
"If you look away off to the east, you can see lights."
"I know that."
"Do you know where those lights are?"
"I think I do."
"Where?"
"At Hurley's Gulch."
"Your father is there----"
"I am glad to hear it."
"And he is very sick."
"How do you know?"
"Because I saw him in a bad fix to-day."
"See here, Shirley, tell me at once what you want," said Sam, in hisspirited way.
"I want to take you to your father; he's been heart-broken, thinking youwere dead; so come down, and I pledge you my honor as a gentleman that Iwill take you to Hurley's Gulch," said Shirley, in accents intended tobe reassuring and soothing.
"Your honor as a gentleman?" repeated Sam with a ring of sarcasm.
"Yes, that's what I said."
"And we'll let you three young fellers ride our horses," added thelandlord.
"And you will also pledge your honor, as a gentleman, to do that?" saidSam.
"Oh, I'll swear to it," said the landlord.
"Thanks, but the security being false and worthless, I must decline youroffer," said Sam, surprised at his own coolness and his ready command oflanguage.
"Then you won't come down?" from Shirley.
"Thanks, not to-night."
"Sam Willett!"
"Yes; Frank Shirley!"
"Are you crazy?"
"No, I'm mad; and you'll find I'm dangerous if you bother me further,"said Sam stoutly.
"See har, young feller," shouted Badger. "If you don't want us to saveyou, do you know what we'll do next?"
"I don't."
"Why, we'll get mad, too----"
"I don't care."
"And," continued Badger, his voice choking with anger, "we'll go up tharand fotch you down; and if so be you git hurt, it'll be yer own fault."
"Hurt?" from Sam.
"Yes, and hurted purty bad, too."
"What's your name?"
"My name's Badger. I'm a terror, I am. I was nussed on blizzards, androcked by tornadoes. I live on rattlesnakes and horned toads, and whenI'm riled its wuss nor a earthquake. Now you are gettin' my dander riz,so come down, for if I have to climb up after you, you'll git hurt."
Badger certainly thought that this fierce speech would have a mostdepressing effect upon the youth in command of the rock, great thereforewas his anger and disappointment when he received this reply.
"Before I am hurt some one else will be in the same fix, for I and mycompanions propose to defend ourselves."
"But why defend yourselves," said Shirley, "when we mean you nothing butgood."
"I do not care to give my reasons; but I'll tell you what I've beenthinking ever since I started to reach Hurley's Gulch."
"What's that?"
"That you and the one-eyed ruffian who travels with you are the cause ofall my father's troubles----"
"That's a lie!" roared Badger.
Sam continued as if he had not heard the interruption.
"And I believe it was you two who killed that wretch, Tom Edwards, inorder to get us into a scrape--yes, to get us out of the way. Now getback, or come on, just as you please."
Sam said this in a way that convinced the man below that his resolutioncould not be shaken, and that any attempt to oust him from hisstronghold by force would be met with resistance to the death.
"That young devil up thar's a chip of the old block," hissed Badger."Why, cuss him, he talks jist like his father. Do you know what myopinion of them two is, Mr. Shirley?"
"What?"
"That they're the hardest, toughest cases I've met up with in myfive-and-forty years of mixin' among all classes. Sich people hadn'tought to be let live among decent folks."
"I've seed boys in my time, hundreds and thousands of 'em," said thedisgusted landlord, "but that young feller up on top of that rock, fordownright gall and bitterness, and bull-headedness, lays over anything Iever saw, heard or red of."
"It is evident to me that Sam Willett will fight; now what are we todo?" asked Shirley in despair, for all prospect of succeeding by"strategy" was gone.
"We must carry out my plan," said Badger.
"What's that?"
"We've got to go back to first principles, jist as I supposed we wouldwhen you got talkin' 'bout mildness and strategy----"
"Explain yourself, Badger."
"You and me must face the music, Mr. Shirley."
"Face the music?" stammered Shirley.
"Yes, thar's nothin' else to be did."
"Explain yourself, Badger."
"You and me must creep up the rock on the other side, while Jake and Nedstand off to the east and keep up a fire on the top, so as to distractattention from the p'int we're after. Do you see?"
Shirley said he saw very clearly; but from his manner it was veryevident he did not look with approval on this plan of assault.
Physically and morally Frank Shirley was a coward, and though he triedto hide this fact from others, he could not hide it from himself.
But even cowards will fight desperately for their lives, and allShirley's future, if not his very existence, depended on the success ofthis monstrous undertaking.
If he failed, then he was an impoverished outcast with the stain ofmurder on his soul, though all the chances were that if Sam Willett waspermitted to reach Hurley's Gulch, the vigilantes would arrest himselfand Badger for the death of Tom Edwards.
Quickly he looked over the situation, and his cowardly heart took on ashow of courage; it was the courage of desperation, as he realized howmuch depended on his conduct this night.
"I can't say that I'm much of a fighter, having had no experience thatway," said Shirley with a tremor in his voice. "But, Badger, if you leadthe way, I'll follow to the end. We must finish this job to-night."
"If we don't it'll finish us," said Badger grimly.