CHAPTER VIII
RUTHERFORD MAKES A MISTAKE
Rutherford Wadley struck across country toward the rim-rock. Angerburned high in him, and like the bully he was he took it out of his goodhorse by roweling its sides savagely. He plunged into the curlymesquite, driving forward straight as an arrow. Behind him in thedarkness followed a shadow, sinister and silent, out of sight, butwithin sound of the horse's footfall. It stopped when Wadley stopped;when he moved, it moved.
Midnight found young Wadley still moving straight forward, the moon onhis left. Painted Rock was ten miles to the west. Except for the stagestation there, and the settlement he had left, there was no otherhabitation for fifty miles. It was a wilderness of silence.
Yet in that waste of empty space Rutherford "jumped up" a camper. Theman was a trader, carrying honey and pecans to Fort Worth. He wasawakened by the sound of a raucous curse, he testified later, and in thebright moonlight saw the young cattleman beating his horse. Evidentlythe young animal had been startled at sight of his white-topped wagon.
An angry sentence or two passed between the men before the cattlemanmoved over the hill-brow. As the trader rolled up again in his _sugun_,there came to him faintly the sound of another horse. He was not able toexplain later why this struck him as ominous, beyond the strangeness ofthe fact that two men, not in each other's company, should be travelingso close together in the desert. At any rate, he rose, crept forward toa clump of Spanish bayonet, and from behind it saw a young Mexican passalong the swale. He was close enough almost to have touched him, and inthe rich moonlight saw the boyish face clearly.
By the time Wadley reached the rough country of the cap-rock, the youngday was beginning to awaken. A quail piped its morning greeting from thebrush. A gleam of blue in the dun sky flashed warning of a sun soon torise. He had struck the rim-rock a little too far to the right, anddeflected from his course to find the pocket he was seeking. For half amile he traveled parallel to the ridge, then turned into a break in thewall. At the summit of a little rise he gave a whistle.
Presently, from above a big boulder, a head appeared cautiously.
"Hello, out there! Who is it?"
"Ford."
The rider swung to the ground stiffly and led his horse forward down asharply descending path to a little draw. A lank, sallow man with arifle joined him. With his back to a flat rock, a heavy-set,broad-shouldered fellow was lounging.
"'Lo, Ford. Didn't expect you to-night," he grumbled.
"Drifted over from the dance at Tomichi Creek. Beat up a young Mexicanand had to get out."
"You're such a sullen brute! Why can't you let folks alone?" PeteDinsmore wanted to know.
He was annoyed. Rutherford Wadley was not a partner in the business onhand to-night, and he would rather the man had been a hundred milesaway.
"He got jealous and tried to knife me," explained the heir of the A T Osulkily.
"You durn fool! Won't you ever learn sense? Who was it this time?"
"Tony Alviro. His girl's crazy about me."
The keen, hard eyes of Dinsmore took in the smug complacency of thehandsome young cad. He knew that this particular brand of fool would goits own way, but he wasted a word of advice.
"I don't guess you want any pearls o' wisdom from me, but I'll onloadsome gratis. You let Bonita Menendez alone or Tony will camp on yoretrail till he gits you."
"Sure will," agreed Gurley, setting down his rifle. "Them Mexicans hangtogether, too. We need their friendship in our business. Better lay offthem."
"I don't remember askin' your advice, Gurley."
"Well, I'm givin' it. See?"
Another sharp whistle cut the air. Gurley picked up the rifle again andclimbed the lookout rock. Presently he returned with a dismountedhorseman. The man was the one who had introduced himself to ArthurRipley a few hours earlier as Bill Moore.
"Howdy, boys. Got the stuff all safe?" he asked cheerfully.
From behind Wadley Pete Dinsmore was making a series of facialcontortions. Unfortunately the new arrival did not happen to be lookingat him, and so missed the warning.
"Never saw anything work prettier," Moore said with a grin as he putdown his saddle on a boulder. "Ridley hadn't ought to be let out withouta nurse. He swallowed my whole yarn--gobbled down bait, sinker an' line.Where's the gold, Pete?"
"In a sack back of the big rock." Pete was disgusted with his brotherHomer, _alias_ Bill Moore. They would probably have to divide with youngWadley now, to keep his mouth shut.
Rutherford jumped at the truth. His father had told him that he wasgoing to give Art Ridley a try-out by sending him to the fort for apayment of gold. Probably he, Rutherford, had mentioned this to one ofthe gang when he was drunk. They had held up the messenger, intending tofreeze him out of any share of the profits. All right--he would showthem whether he was a two-spot.
"Bring out the sack. Let's have a look at it," he ordered.
Gurley handed the sack to Pete Dinsmore, and the men squatted in acircle tailor-fashion.
"Smooth work, I call it," said Homer Dinsmore. He explained to Wadleywhy he was of this opinion. "Steve heard tell of a wagon-train goin' toTascosa to-day. If Ridley slept overnight at the fort he would hear ofit an' stay with the freight outfit till he had delivered the gold toyore dad. We had to get him started right away. So I pulled on him astory about hearin' the boys intended to hold him up. He hired me as aguard to help him stand off the bad men. Whilst I was keepin' watch Ifixed up his six-shooter so's it wouldn't do any damage if it went off.Best blamed piece of work I ever did pull off. I'd ought to get a halfof what we took off'n him instead of a third."
"A third! Who says you get a third?" asked Wadley.
"Three of us did this job, didn't we?" cut in Gurley.
"Sure. You took what belongs to me--or at least to my dad," protestedyoung Wadley. "Tried to slip one over on me. Guess again, boys. I won'tstand for it."
The jade eyes of the older brother narrowed. "Meanin' just what, Ford?"
"What do you take me for, Pete? Think I'm goin' to let you rob me of myown money an' never cheep? I'll see you all in blazes first," criedWadley wildly.
"Yes, but--just what would you do about it?"
"Do? I'll ride to town an' tell Cap Ellison. I'll bust you up inbusiness, sure as hell's hot."
There was a moment of chill silence. Three of the four men present knewthat Rutherford Wadley had just passed sentence of death upon himself.They had doubted him before, vaguely, and without any definite reason.But after this open threat the fear that he would betray them wouldnever lift until he was where he could no longer tell tales.
"How much of this money do you think is comin' to you, Ford?" asked Petequietly.
"It's all mine, anyhow. You boys know that." Rutherford hesitated; thenhis greed dominated. He had them where they had to eat out of his hand."Give me two thirds, an' you fellows divide the other third for yourtrouble. That's fair."
"Goddlemighty, what's eatin' you?" Gurley exploded. "Think we're plumbidjits? You 'n' me will mix bullets first, you traitor!"
The Dinsmores exchanged one long, significant look. Then Pete spokesoftly.
"Don't get on the prod, Steve. Ford sure has got us where the wool'sshort, but I reckon he aims to be reasonable. Let's say half for you,Ford, an' the other half divided among the rest of us."
Wadley had refreshed himself out of a bottle several times during thenight. Ordinarily he would have accepted the proposed compromise, butthe sullen and obstinate side of him was uppermost.
"You've heard my terms, Pete. I stand pat."
Again a significant look passed, this time between Pete Dinsmore andGurley.
"All right," said Homer Dinsmore shortly. "It's a raw deal you're givin'us, but I reckon you know yore own business, Wadley."
The money was emptied from the pigskin belt and divided. Rutherfordrepacked his two thirds in the belt and put it on next his shirt.
"I don't know what you fellows are goin' to do, but I'm goin
' to strikefor town," he said. "I aim to get back in time to join one of the possesin their hunt for the outlaws."
His jest did not win any smiles. The men grimly watched him saddle andride away. A quarter of an hour later they too were in the saddle.