CHAPTER XXII
CASS GRIMSHAW--HORSE-THIEF
Lowering himself over the edge, Cass Grimshaw dropped to the floor ofthe coulee, where he squatted with his back to the cutbank, and rolled acigarette. "Seen the smoke, an' come over to see who was campin' here,"he imparted, "then I run onto McWhorter's roan, an' I knowed it wasyou--seen you ridin' him yesterday. So I slipped over an' tuk a frontrow seat--you sure worked him over thorough, Tex--an' if anyone neededit, he did. Set down an' tell me what's on yer mind. I heard you'dpulled yer freight after that there fake lynchin' last year."
The Texan squatted beside the horse-thief. "Be'n over on the otherside--Y Bar," he imparted briefly. "Cass, I need your help."
The other nodded: "I mistrusted you would. Name it."
"In the first place, is Purdy one of your gang? Long Bill said so--but Ididn't believe him."
"Why?"
"Well--he ain't the stripe I thought you'd pick."
The outlaw grinned: "Make a mistake sometimes, same as other folks--yupI picked him."
The Texan frowned: "I'm sorry, Cass. You an' I've be'n friends for along while. But--Cass, I'm goin' to get Purdy. If I've got to go to yourhang-out an' fight your whole gang--_I'm goin' to get him!_"
"Help yerself," Grimshaw grinned, "an' just to show you there's no hardfeelin's, I'll let the tail go with the hide--there's three others youc'n have along with him."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean if you don't get him before supper, I'll have to. The four of'em's got tired of the horse game. Banks an' railroad trains looksbetter to them. I'm too slow fer 'em. They're tired of me, an' tonightthey aim to kill me an' Bill Harlow--which they're welcome to if theycan git away with it."
An answering grin twisted the lips of the Texan: "Keep pretty wellposted--don't you, Cass?"
"Where'd I be now, if I didn't? But about this woman business--I toldPurdy to let the women alone--but you can't tell that bird nothin'. Heknows it all--an' then some. Is she your woman, an' how come Purdy tohave her?"
"No, she ain't mine--she's the wife of the pilgrim--the one we didn'tlynch, that night----"
Grimshaw shook his head: "Bad business, Tex--mixin' up with other men'swives. Leads to trouble every time--there's enough single ones--an' eventhen----"
Tex interrupted him: "It ain't that kind of a mixup. This is on thelevel. She an' I was on Long Bill's ferry, an' the drift piled upagainst us so bad I had to cut the cable. We drifted ashore this side ofRed Sand, an' while I was gone to get some horses, Purdy come along an'made off with her. I followed an' lost Purdy's trail here in the badlands--I was half crazy yesterday, thinkin' of her bein' in Purdy'sclutches--but, today, it ain't so bad. If I find her quick there's achance she's safe." He paused and drew from his pocket the foldedhand-bill. "The pilgrim offered a reward, an' Purdy aims to get it."
The other glanced at the bill: "I seen one," he said, gruffly. For amoment he puffed rapidly upon his cigarette, threw away the butt, andlooked the Texan squarely in the eye: "There's a couple of things aboutthat bill I've wanted to know. You've told me about the woman part. Butthe rest of it? What in hell you be'n doin' to have a reward up fer you?You spoke a mouthful when you said we'd be'n friends--we're friends yet.It's a friend that's talkin' to you now--an' one that knows what he'stalkin' about. You're a damn fool! A young buck like you, which if you'dstay straight could be foreman of any outfit on the range--an' mebbe gitone of his own started after while--goin' an' gittin' hisself outlawed!Fer God's sake, man--you don't know what you've gone upagainst--but--me--I know! How bad be you in?" The Texan started tospeak, but the other interrupted. "If it ain't bad--if a matter of athousan' or so will square it--you go an' fix it up. I've got themoney--an' it ain't doin' me no good--nor no one else, cached out in anold iron kettle. You take it an' git straight--an' then you staystraight!"
The Texan laughed: "There ain't nothin' against me--that is nothin' thatamounts to anything. I got a few drinks in me, an' cleaned out the RedFront saloon over in Timber City an' because I wouldn't let Hod Blakearrest me an' shove me in his damned little jail, he stuck up thereward. I'll just ride over when I get time, an' claim the rewardmyself--an' use the money to pay my fine with--that part's a joke."
As Grimshaw joined in the laugh, the Texan leaned over and laid his handon the man's shoulder: "But, I won't forget--Cass."
The man brushed away the hand: "Aw, hell! That's all right. You'd ofmade a hell-winder of an outlaw, but the best of 'em an' the worst of'em--there's nothin' ahead of us--but that." He jerked his thumb in thedirection of the body of Long Bill that lay sprawled where it had fallenand changed the subject abruptly. "The woman's safe, all right--she'sover to Cinnabar Joe's."
"Cinnabar Joe's!"
"Yes, Cinnabar an' that there Jennie that used to work in the Wolf RiverHotel, they married up an' started 'em a little outfit over on RedSand--couple hundred head of dogies. Purdy's got somethin' on Cinnabar,an'----"
"Somethin' on him!" exclaimed Tex, "Cinnabar's white clean through! Whatcould Purdy have on him?"
Grimshaw rolled another cigarette: "Cinnabar's be'n in this countryaround six years. Him bein' more'n six year old, it stands to reason hedone quite a bit of livin' 'fore he come here. Where'd he come from?Where'd you come from? Where'd I come from? Where'd anyone you know comefrom? You might of be'n ornery as hell in Texas, or New Mexico, orColorado--an' I might of be'n a preacher in California, or Nevada. Allwe know is that 'long as we've know'd him Cinnabar's be'n on thelevel--an' that's all we're entitled to know--an' all we want to know.Whatever Cinnabar was somewhere's else, ain't nobody's business.Nobody's, that is, but Purdy's. He made his brag in the hang-out onenight that when the time come, he'd tap Cinnabar fer his pile----"
"The damned dirty hound!"
"That's sayin' it ladylike," grinned the outlaw, "I told him Cinnabarwas a friend of mine an' he was to keep off him, but Purdy, he's plumbdisregardful of advice. Anyways, the woman's safe. Purdy's figurin' onleavin' her there while he dickers fer the reward."
The Texan rose to his feet: "Where did you say I'd find Purdy?" heasked. The other consulted his watch. "It's nine-thirty. At noon he'llbe at the water hole, four mile north of the hang-out. Up till thenthey ain't no hurry. We'll plant _him_ first, an' then I'll go along--mean' Bill Harlow----"
The Texan shook his head: "No Cass, this is my job. It's a long scoreI've got to settle with Purdy--startin' back a year. It leads off with acut cinch. Then, there was the booze that Cinnabar Joe doped----"
"Cinnabar?"
"Yeh, when he was tendin' bar. I can see through it, now--since you toldabout Purdy havin' somethin' on him. Purdy got him to do it----"
"I don't believe Cinnabar'd of done that no matter what Purdy had onhim."
"But he did, though. Then he switched the glasses, an' drunk ithimself----"
"Some man!"
"I'll tell a hand! An' that same night Purdy took the pilgrim's girl outon the bench, an' dragged her off her horse----"
"I heard about it."
"An' then, yesterday, he found her unconscious there by the river." TheTexan paused and when he continued his voice was low. "An' you know, an'I know what would have happened, if Long Bill hadn't showed up withthose bills--an' then signin' my name to that letter to the pilgrimdemandin' five thousan' dollars--an' last of all I owe him one forridin' Cinnabar the way he's doin--I ain't forgot those switcheddrinks."
Cass Grimshaw nodded: "Quite a score to settle, take it first an' last,"he paused, and the Texan noticed a peculiar twinkle in his eye.
"What's the joke?" he asked.
"There ain't no joke about it--only I was thinkin', mebbe you'd left outsomethin'."
"Left out somethin'?"
"Yeh. What you think would of happened, an' what would of happened outhere in the bad lands, if Long Bill hadn't come along is two differentthings. I was trailin' Purdy from the time he hit the bad lands with thegirl. I wanted to find out what his game was an' when he run onto LongBill I snuck up an' l
istened to their powwow. When I found out he aimedto take her to Cinnabar's, I figured, like you did, that she'd be safe,so I kind of loafed around to see if you wouldn't be along."
"You keep awful close cases on Purdy."
"Yeh--couple of pretty good reasons. I knew he was plottin' to bump meoff, an' I kind of had some curiosity to find out when they figured onpullin' the job. But, mostly, it was on account of McWhorter's gal----"
"McWhorter's girl!" cried Tex, "what's McWhorter's girl got to do withit?"
"Nothin'--except that Purdy's be'n buzzin' around tryin' to get her--an'I don't mean marry her, neither--an' when he found out they wasn'tnothin' doin'--that he didn't stand snake-high with her, he figured ongittin' her, anyway----"
"_God!_" The single spoken word ground between the Texan's tight-drawnlips, and as Grimshaw looked he noted that the gloved fists wereclenched hard.
The outlaw nodded: "That's what I meant about leavin' out an' item--mainitem, too--I hope. You see, I seen you two ridin' togetheryesterday--when you sent her back home at the edge of the bad lands. An'that's what made me so damn mad when I thought you'd gone an' gotoutlawed, an' was mixin' it up with this here other woman. The man thatgits McWhorter's gal don't want his trail tangled up with other men'swives. Marry her, Tex--an' take her out of this damn neck of the woods!Take her across to the other side."
The Texan met the man's eyes squarely: "I'm goin' to," he answered,--"ifshe'll have me."
"Have you, man! Make her have you!"
"I aim to," smiled the Texan, and Grimshaw noted that behind the smilewas a ring of determination. "So you've be'n kind of--of lookin' out ferher, Cass?"
"Who the hell was they to do it, but me?" answered the man, roughly,"McWhorter's busy up to the lambin'-camp, miles away--an' she's therealone." The man paused, his face working strangely, "By God! If Purdy'dlaid a finger on her I'd of--of _tore him to pieces_!" The Texanstared--surprised at the terrible savagery of the tone. The mancontinued, his voice dropped low: "It was that that outlawed me, yearsago--killin' the damn reptile that ruined my little girl. I stood by thelaw, them days. He was arrested an' had his trial--an' they give him ayear! _One year for that!_ She died before he was out--her, an' the babyboth. An' he died _the day he got out_--an' I was outlawed--an' I'm damnproud of it!"
The Texan reached out and gripped the man's hand: "I'm goin' after Purdynow," he said quietly. "But first, I'll help you with him."
It was but the work of a few moments to raise the body of Long Bill tothe bench by means of a rope, carry it to a nearby mud crack, drop it inand cave a ton of mud onto it. As they raised him from the couleeGrimshaw had removed his guns: "Better take one of these along," hecautioned, "Purdy packs two--one inside his shirt--an' the dirty houndcarries a squeezer in his pocket--don't play him fer dead till he's damngood an' dead, or he'll git you. Better let me an' Bill goalong--there's four of 'em--we'll leave Purdy fer you--he's the only onethat kin shoot right good--but the others might edge in on you, atthat." The Texan shook his head as he examined the guns, carefullytesting them as to action and balance. He selected one, and handed theother to Grimshaw.
"No, Cass, this is my job an' I'm goin' through with it."
The outlaw gave minute directions concerning the lay of the land, and afew words of excellent advice. "I've got a little scoutin' around to dofirst," he concluded, "but sometime along in the afternoon me an' Billwill drift around that way to see how you're gittin' along. If theyshould happen to git you don't worry--me an' Bill, we'll take care ofwhat's left of 'em."
The Texan swung into the saddle: "So long, Cass."
"So long, boy. Good luck to you--an' remember to watch Purdy's otherhand."