CHAPTER V
"CAN HE RIDE?"
The tramp glanced up, addressing the deputy. "Yes, even now there issomething to hinder, if I was to get busy." Then he coolly dropped hisarms and leaned against the rock with one leg crossed before the otherin a manner sometimes supposed to reflect social ease and elegance. "ButI'm game to take what's comin'. If you'll just stick me up and extractthe .38 automatic I'm packin' on my hip,--and, believe me, she's a badGat. when she's in action,--why, I'll feel lots better. The little gunmight get to shootin' by herself, and then somebody would get hurt sure.You see, I'm givin' you all the chance you want to take me withoutgettin' mussed up. I'm nervous about firearms, anyhow."
Deputy Dick Tenlow advanced and secured the gun.
"Now," said Overland Red, heaving a sigh; "now, I ain't ashamed to looka gun in the face. You see, Miss," he added, turning to address thegirl, "I was sheriff of Abilene once, in the ole red-eye, rumpus days. Ihave planted some citizens in my time. You see, I kind of owe the onesI did plant a silent apology for lettin' this here chicken-rancher getme so easy."
"You talk big," said Tenlow, laughing. "Who was you when you was sheriffof Abilene, eh?"
"Jack Summers, sometimes called Red Jack Summers," replied Overlandquietly, and he looked the deputy in the eye.
"Jack Summers!"
Overland nodded. "Take it or leave it. You'll find out some day. And nowyou got some excuse for packin' a gun round these here peaceful hillsand valleys the rest of your life. You took Jack Summers, and thereain't goin' to be a funeral."
Something about the tramp's manner inclined the deputy to believe thathe had spoken truth. "All right," said Tenlow; "just step ahead. Don'ttry the brush or I'll drop you."
"'Course you would," said Overland, stepping ahead of the deputy's pony."But the bunch you're takin' orders from don't want me dead; they wantme alive. I ain't no good all shot up. You ought to know that."
"I know there's a thousand dollars reward for you. I need the money."
Overland Red grinned. "It's against me morals to bet--with kids. ButI'll put up that little automatic you frisked off me, against thethousand you expect to get, that you don't even get a long-range smellof that money. Are you on?"
Tenlow motioned the other to step ahead.
"I'm bettin' my little gun to a thousand dollars less than nothin'.Ain't you game? I'm givin' you the long end."
"Never mind," growled Tenlow. "You can talk later."
The boy Collie, recovering from his surprise at the arrest, stepped upto the sheriff. "Where do I come in?" he asked. "You can't pinch Redwithout me. I was with him that time the guy croaked out on the Mojave.Red didn't kill him. They let us go once. What you doin' pinchin' usagain? How do _you_ know--"
"Hold on, Collie; don't get careless," said Overland. "He don't knownothin'. He's followin' orders. The game's up."
Louise whistled Boyar to her and bridled him. The little group aheadseemed to be waiting for her. She led the pony toward the trail. "Did hedo it?" she asked as she caught up with Collie.
"No," he muttered. "Red's the squarest pal on earth. Red tried to savethe guy--out there on the desert. Gave him all the water we had, prettynear. He dassent to give him all, for because he was afraid it wouldkill him. The guy fell and hit his head on the rail. Red said he wasdyin' on his feet, anyway. Then Red lugged me clean to that tank whereyou seen us from the train. I was all in. I guess Red saved my life. Hedidn't tell you that."
"Is he--was he really a cowboy? Can he ride?" asked Louise.
"Can he ride? Say, I seen him ride Cyclone once and get first money forridin' the worst buckin' bronc' at the rodeo, over to Tucson. Well, Iguess!"
"Boyar, my pony, is the fastest pony in the hills," said Louisepensively.
"What you givin' us?" said the boy, glancing at her sharply.
"Nothing. I was merely imagining something."
"Red's square," asserted the boy.
"Sheriff Tenlow is a splendid shot," murmured Louise, with apparentirrelevance.
They had crossed the meadow. Ahead of the sheriff walked Overland, hisslouch gone, his head carried high. Collie noted this unusual alertnessof poise and wondered.
"Don't try the brush," cautioned Tenlow, also aware of Overland'salertness.
"When I leave here, I'll ride. Sabe?" And Overland stepped briskly tothe trail, turning his back squarely on the alert and puzzled sheriff.
"He's been raised in these hills," muttered the tramp. "He knows thetrails. I don't. But--I'd like to show that little Rose-Lady Girl somereal ridin' once. She's a sport. I'd ride into hell and rake out thefire for her.... I hate to--to do it--but I guess I got to."
"Step up there," said Tenlow. "What you talkin' about, anyhow?"
"Angels," replied Overland. "I see 'em once in a while." And he glancedback. He saw Collie talking to the girl, who stood by her pony, thereins dangling lightly from her outstretched hand.
"Snake!" screamed Overland Red, leaping backward and flinging up hisarms, directly in the face of the deputy's pony. The horse reared.Overland, crouching, sprang under its belly, striking it as he went.Again the pony reared, nearly throwing the deputy.
"Overland Limited!" shouted the tramp, dashing toward Boyar. With aspring he was in the saddle and had slipped the quirt from thesaddle-horn to his wrist. He would need that quirt, as he had no spurs.
Round swung Tenlow, cursing. Black Boyar shot across the meadow, thequirt falling at each jump. The tramp glanced back. Tenlow's right handwent up and his gun roared once, twice....
The boy Collie, white and gasping, threw himself in front of Tenlow'shorse. The deputy spurred the pony over him and swept down the meadow.
Louise, angered in that the boy had snatched Boyar's reins from her asOverland shouted, relented as she saw the instant bravery in the lad'sendeavor to stop Tenlow's horse. She stooped over him. He rose stiffly.
"Oh! I thought you were hurt!" she exclaimed.
"Nope! I guess not. I was scared, I guess. Let's watch 'em, Miss!" Andforgetful of his bruised and shaken body, he limped to the edge of themeadow, followed by Louise. "There they go!" he cried. "Red's 'wayahead. The sheriff gent can't shoot again--he's too busy ridin'."
"Boyar! Boyar! Good horse! Good horse!" cried the girl as the black ponyflashed across the steep slope of the ragged mountain side like a wingedthing. "Boyar! Boy!"
She shivered as the loose shale, ploughed by the pony's flying hoofs,slithered down the slope at every plunge.
"Can he ride?" shouted Collie, wild tears of joy in his eyes.
Suddenly Overland, glancing back, saw Tenlow stop and raise his arm. Thetramp cowboy swung Black Boyar half-round, and driving his unspurredheels into the pony's ribs, put him straight down the terrific slope ofthe mountain at a run.
Tenlow's gun cracked. A spray of dust rose instantly ahead of Boyar.
"Look! Look!" cried Louise. The deputy, angered out of his usualjudgment, spurred his horse directly down the footless shale that thetramp had ridden across diagonally. "Look! He can't--The horse--! Oh!"she groaned as Tenlow's pony stumbled and all but pitched headlong. "Theother man--knew better than that--" she gasped, turning to the boy. "Hewaited--till he struck rock and brush before he turned Boyar."
"Can he ride?" shouted Collie, grinning. But the grin died to a gasp. Aburst of shale and dust shot up from the hillside. They saw the flash ofthe cinchas on the belly of Tenlow's horse as the dauntless ponystumbled and dove headlong down the slope, rolling over and over, tostop finally--a patch of brown, shapeless, quivering.
Below, Overland Red had curbed Boyar and was gazing up at a spot ofblack on the hillside--Dick Tenlow, motionless, silent. His sombrero layseveral yards down the slope.
"Oh! The horse!" cried Louise, chokingly, with her hand to her breast.
As for Dick Tenlow, lying halfway down the hillside, stunned andshattered, she had but a secondary sympathy. He had sacrificed a gallantand willing beast to his anger. The tramp, riding a strange pony overdesp
erately perilous and unfamiliar ground, had used judgment. "Yourfriend is a man!" she said, turning to the boy. "But Dick Tenlow ishurt--perhaps killed. He went under the horse when it fell."
"I guess it's up to us to see if the sheriff gent is done for, at that,"said the boy. "Mebby we can do something."
"You'll get arrested, now," said the girl. "If Dick Tenlow is alive,you'll have to go for help. If he isn't...."
"I'll go, all right. I ain't afraid. I didn't do anything. I guess I'llstick around till Red shows up again, anyhow."
"You're a stranger here. I should go as soon as you have sent help,"said the girl.
"Mebby I better. I'll help get him up the hill and in the shade. ThenI'll beat it for the doc. If I don't come back after that," he saidslowly, flushing, "it ain't because I'm scared of anything I done."
* * * * *
Far down in the valley Boyar's sweating sides glistened in the sun. Anarm was raised in a gesture of farewell as the tramp swung the ponytoward the town. Much to her surprise, Louise found herself waving avigorous adieu to the distant figure.
The tramp Overland, realizing that the deputy was badly injured, toldthe first person he met about the accident, advising him to get help atonce for the deputy. Then he turned the pony toward the foothills. In aclump of greasewood he dismounted, and, leaving the reins hanging to thesaddle-horn, struck Black Boyar on the flank. The horse leaped towardthe Moonstone Trail. The tramp disappeared in the brush.