CHAPTER XVII
IN THE SCRUB
It seemed hours she stood thus, staring into those black, leering eyes.Her damp garments struck a deadly chill to her very bones. Her kneestrembled so that she shook visibly, as her thoughts flashed back to thatnight on the rim of the bench when this man had reached suddenly out anddragged her from her horse. Her plight would have been bad enough hadshe fallen into the hands of Long Bill Kearney--but Purdy!
At length the man spoke: "What's yer hurry? You sure wouldn't pull outan' leave, after me savin' you from the river, would you?"
"The river," she repeated, dully, and her own voice soundedstrange--like a voice she had never heard. "Where--where's Tex?" Thequestion was not addressed to Purdy, it was merely the groping effort ofa numbed brain trying to piece together its sequence of events. She didnot know she had asked it. His answer brought her keenly alive to thepresent. He laughed, harshly:
"He's drownded--fell out of the ferry, back there in the river--him an'his horse both."
Alice did not know that the man was eyeing her keenly to detectrefutation by word or look. She did not know that he was lying. Theevents of the night, to the moment of her plunge with the Texan into theriver at the end of the lariat line, stood out in her brain with vividdistinctness. Purdy believed Tex to have drowned. She did not believeit, for she knew that if he had not reached shore, she could notpossibly have reached shore. Her brain functioned rapidly. If Tex hadsurvived he would surely come to her rescue. And, if Purdy believed himdead so much the better. She raised her hand and passed it across hereyes:
"I remember," she said, slowly.
Again the man laughed: "Oh, you do, eh? I was only guessin'! I know'd ifI asked you you'd lie about it--but I know now! An' it makes things adamn sight easier fer me."
"Stand aside and let me pass!" cried the girl, "I didn't say he drowned.He'll be along here any minute--and my husband will be here, too!"
"Oh-ho, my thousan' dollar beauty!" sneered the man, "yer bluff comes intoo late! If you'd of got it in first off, as soon as I said he wasdrownded, I might of b'lieved you--but there's nothin' doin' now. Youcan't scare me with a ghost--an' as fer yer husband--he'd ought to gotme when he had the chanct." He advanced toward her, and the girl shrankback against her horse's shoulder. "Surely, you ain't afraid of me," hetaunted, "why, it ain't only a year back sence you went ridin' with me.Remember--Wolf River, in the moonlight on the rim of the bench, an' thelittle lights a-twinklin' down in the valley? An' you remember how wewas interrupted then--the sound of hoofs thumpin' the trail--the pilgrimcome out of the dark an' shot 'fore I even know'd he had a gun. But it'sdifferent this time. Here in the bad lands there ain't no one to buttin. I've got you all to myself here. I love you now, same as I didthen--only a whole heap more. Women are scarce down here. You figgeredyou wanted a change of men, or you wouldn't of be'n runnin' off withTex. Well, you've got it--only you've got me instead of him. We won'thit it off so bad when you git used to my ways."
Every particle of blood receded from the girl's face and as she coweredagainst her horse, her eyes widened with horror. Her lips moved stiffly:"You--_you dog_!" she muttered hoarsely.
Purdy grinned: "Dog, eh? You ain't helpin' yer case none by callin' menames. Ain't you got no thankfulness in you? Here I pulled you out ofthe drink where you'd washed ashore--an' take you along safe an'sound--an' yer callin' me a dog!"
"I would rather be dead, a thousand times, than to be here thisminute--with you!"
"Well, you ain't dead--an' you be here. An' if you don't go the limitwith me, yer goin' to wish a thousan' times more that you was a damnsight deader than you ever will be! You know what I mean! An' you ain'ta damn bit better than what I be, either! If you was you wouldn't ofleft yer man an' pulled out with Tex. I've got yer number, so youmight's well throw in with me an' save yerself a whole lot of hell. I'vegot more'n what Tex has, anyhow--an' there's plenty more where I gitmine. You might's well know it now, as later--I'm an outlaw! I wasoutlawed on account of you--an' it ain't no more'n right you shouldshare it with me. I've worked on horses up to now, but I'm a-goin' tobranch out! Banks an' railroad trains looks better to me! The name ofPurdy's goin' to be a big name in these parts--an' then all to onct itwon't be heard no more--an' you an' me'll be down in South Americarollin' 'em high!" The man's voice had raised with his boasting, and ashe finished, he pounded his chest with his fist.
During his speech the girl's heart shrivelled within her until ittouched the lowest depths of terror and despair. She cowered against thehorse, pressing her knuckles into her lips till the blood came--and,suddenly, as he finished, she felt an insane desire to laugh. And shedid laugh, loudly and unnaturally--laughed and pointed a shakingforefinger into the man's face: "You fool!" she screamed, hysterically,"_you fool!_ I'm not afraid of you! You're not real! You can't be real!You remind me of comic opera!"
For a moment the man stared in surprise, and then, with an oath hegrasped her roughly by the arm: "What are you laughin' at? I'm a fool,be I? I ain't real? When I git through with you, you'll think I'm realenough! An' I won't put you in mind of no comical opry neither! But,first, I'm goin' to collect that reward."
"Reward?"
"Yes--reward," snarled the man, releasing her arm with a violent pushthat whirled her half way around. Fumbling in his pocket he produced oneof the hand-bills that Long Bill had given him. "There it is--the rewardyer man stuck up for you--though what in hell he wants of you now ismore'n I know. It only says a thousan' there--but I raised it to five.I'll jest hold you safe till I git my mitts on that five thousan', an'then----"
"You'll hold me safe till you get the money?" asked the girl, a gleam ofhope lighting her eyes, "and then you'll turn me over to my husband? Isthat all you want--the money--five thousand dollars?"
The man laughed and again his eyes leered evilly into hers: "You knowwhat I want," he sneered, "an' what I want, I'll git--an' I'll git themoney, too! Things has broke my way at last! Tex is dead. When Long Billcomes along to collect his share of the _dinero_ he'll foller Tex. An'when the pilgrim rides into the bad lands with the money--well, it'll bemy turn, then. You'll be a widder, an' won't have only one man afterall--an' that man'll be me! An' they won't be no one a-huntin' you,neither. They'll all think you drownded along with Tex."
"You devil! You fiend!" cried the girl, "surely if there's a God inheaven, He will not let you live to do these things!"
"If there is, or if there ain't, it'll be the same," defied the man, "Iain't afraid of Him! He won't lay no hand on _me_!" More terrible eventhan his threats against her--more terrible than the open boast that hewould murder her husband, sounded the blasphemy of the man's words. Shefelt suddenly weak and sick. Her knees swayed under her, and she sankunconscious at the feet of her horse.
Staring down at her, Purdy laughed aloud, and securing his own horse andthe rope, lifted her into her saddle and bound her as before. Leadingthe two animals, he made his way into the open where he mounted andstriking out at a right angle to his former course, headed for CinnabarJoe's.
As he disappeared around a bend in a coulee, a man who had been intentlywatching all that transpired, rose to his feet. He was a squat man, withludicrously bowed legs. A tuft of hair protruded from a hole in thecrown of his hat. "I've seen considerable fools in my life, but when aman gits to where he thinks he kin put over a whizzer on God A'mightyan' git away with it--it's pretty close to cashin' in time fer him." Hestared for a moment at his six-gun before he returned it to its holster."There's them that's got a better right to him than me," he muttered,"but at that, my finger was jest a-twitcherin' on the trigger."