CHAPTER XVI.
A THREATENING STORM.
The fierce looking small man with the shock of white hair, and the airof a Buffalo Bill, stood there as though riveted to the spot, and staredat the smiling face of Adrian.
As a result of figuring things out the boy had come to the conclusionthat his relative must be a victim of circumstances, and too much wife;therefore he was in a frame of mind not to judge him too harshly untilhe could get a grasp on the real situation.
And that was one reason why he smiled, and extended his hand. Besides,he had not forgotten that in times past he had been very fond of hismother's only brother; and that indeed once the other had actually savedhis life, when a crazed broncho had attacked the small lad in thecorral, and would likely have trampled him underfoot only for the comingof Uncle Fred, who had seized upon the beast with his bare hands, andwrestled with him, until a puncher arrived and shot the animal dead.
"Hello! Uncle Fred! How are you?" called out Adrian, cheerily. "I justhappened along in time to take back some of your stock that the rustlershad stampeded. You're glad to see me, of course you are, even if thesurprise is so great that you haven't found a chance to say so yet."
Then Uncle Fred beamed upon him, and rushing forward seized theoutstretched hand eagerly. For the moment all else was forgotten savethat he saw his nephew in the flesh before him, and the old affectionagain assumed sway.
"Adrian, my dear boy, is it really you?" he exclaimed, quivering allover with pleasure, as he wrung the hand of the boy; then like a flashsome terrible thought seemed to fly through his mind, for he lost hiscolor, and there came into his eyes a troubled look.
"Well, what I've been dreading for months has come on me at last," hewent on to say, with a gasp. "But all the same I'm glad to see you, gladthat this agony of mind will now be over. But you will despise me, myboy, when you learn how I've lost all my independence. How has themighty fallen, to be tied to the apron strings of a woman! Just thisvery day I had resolved after this last blow to end it all by flight. Ibelieved I could not stand it any longer, and keep my mind. But yourunexpected coming has changed all that; and now I'll stick it out; yes,I'll stay to give you an account of my unjust stewardship; and thengladly take the consequences, whatever they may be."
He poured this out swiftly, in a low tone meant only for the ear of theboy who had by now jumped from his saddle, and was standing close besidehis uncle.
Adrian was not in the least surprised. He had expected just this verything, and the facts simply corroborated his suspicions.
How his old bachelor uncle had been coaxed into marrying, he could notunderstand, but it had happened; and evidently he had yoked up with amind that was even stronger than his own. As constant dripping waterwill wear away a stone in time, so by degrees had Mr. Comstock comeunder the subjection of his wife. Doubtless he had rebelled fiercely atfirst, but slowly he had found himself compelled to give in, sometimesonly after a pitched battle, until now much of his once vaunted braverywas gone, and in her presence he trembled.
It was almost pitiable, and Adrian felt very sorry for Uncle Fred. Atthe same time he was determined that he would not fall under the samesway; and that if it was at all possible he would oust this woman fromthe position she had assumed as boss of the manager of Bar-S Ranch.
"I think I understand it all, Uncle," he said, hastily, yet with such avein of sympathy in his voice that the man started, and seemed to catcha little new courage. "And while I'm here I mean to see if somethingcan't be done to remedy matters. By the greatest good luck in the worldwe managed to get back this bunch of cattle that was stolen last night.There were four of the rustlers in camp at Bittersweet Coulie; and onlythree of us boys, but we took them by surprise, made them prisoners, andhere you see the missing herd, with only one steer lacking."
Mr. Comstock's eyes showed the astonishment he felt.
"You did all that, my dear Adrian, and you only three boys?" heejaculated. "Well, the Sherwood blood will tell every time. I'm gladyou've come, no matter what happens to me. It had got to the breakingpoint anyway, and tonight I meant to run away. Oh! what I have gonethrough with, nobody can ever know; but this marks the beginning of theend, I seem to feel it, and welcome it. When you kick us off the placeperhaps she won't want to cling to me any longer, and I will be free togo, and start afresh some place where they don't know me. But introduceme to your friends, Adrian. I hope I haven't sunk so low but that I'd beproud to shake the hands of such brave fellows."
Poor old Uncle Fred was trying his best to appear something likehimself; but it is very hard for a man who has been made the cringingslave of a virago to seem at all dignified; he was so in the habit oflooking quickly around as though expecting a blow that it would havebeen comical had it not at the same time seemed quite sad, especially toAdrian, who had known how proud and consequential a strut Uncle Fredused to have in other days.
"This is my chum, Donald Mackay, about whom I've written you often," theboy went on to say; "and this other is his cousin, Billie Winkle."
Mr. Comstock gravely shook hands with each of them. He was not awarethat from behind a bunch of the punchers his wife was watching them likea hawk, for she managed to keep herself concealed from view, while shelistened and looked, evidently sizing the situation up, and decidingwhat all this row meant, with the missing herd back under the charge ofa pack of strange punchers, too.
"I chanced to run across three cowboys who were out of employment, sincethe man they had worked for sold his ranch; and taking a fancy to thelot I engaged them to work for me. They are reliable, honest fellows,who will stand back of me; for I reckoned, you see, Uncle, that theremight be a few punchers here that wouldn't care to stay--after I came!"
He lowered his voice when saying this. Perhaps, after all, Adrian mayhave known of the presence of his uncle's wife back of the group; orelse he did not mean to let his plans be known to every Tom, Dick andHarry.
Apparently Mr. Comstock grasped the situation, reading between thelines. He must have known that there were employees on the ranch devotedmore to the service of his wife, and her relatives, the Walkers, thanthey were to the interests of the owner of Bar-S; and that if Adrianmeant to stay and assume charge of his own property he would have tofire these unworthy punchers the first thing.
How wise he had been then to make sure of having reliable fellows tostep into the places that would thus be made vacant. Uncle Fred saw thatthe boy was surely able to plan, and also carry out his arrangements. Itmight be different when he found himself up against a woman's wits; buthe began to have hopes that the reign of petticoats was nearly at an endin connection with Bar-S Ranch.
The more the boy saw of his uncle the greater became his conviction thathe had allowed these things to go on not because he was dishonest in theleast; but that he had been brought in deadly fear of the woman who hadbecome his wife.
Adrian was more bent than ever on changing all these things. He hopedthat there would appear a way whereby he might buy the woman off; but ifshe refused to treat with him on these terms, then Uncle Fred too wouldalso have to shake the dust of Bar-S Ranch off his boots, because thelast bunch of cattle had been rustled from that place, Adrian felt sure.
"Later we'll talk these matters all over, Uncle," he went on to say;"and I'm hoping to see a way where everything can be arranged to bringback the old times again. Take courage, and perhaps everything will bewell."
The little man who had been such an aggressive character in his day,heaved a tremendous sigh.
"Oh! happy days they were; and do you know, Adrian, sometimes it seemsto me a million years must have dragged by since then, I have sufferedsuch torments, such shame. I was the greatest fool that ever walked ontwo legs. But she caught me by a smart trick, and almost before I knewit I was promising to love and cherish her for life, before a preacher.But oh! what a time I've had! It would have been bad enough with hervixenish temper; but when I learned that she was a sister to thatrustler, Hatch Walker, it nearly finished me
. Things have gone from badto worse. She's nearly killed me several times; and as I was justtelling you, when I learned that a third bunch of cattle had disappearedlast night; and she refused to let me go out in search of them with someof the boys, saying it was useless, I just made up my mind it was goingto be three times and out for me. Then you came, and now the sky beginsto lighten. Perhaps things _will_ take a change. Perhaps even I may feelmore like my old self again, and find it in me to defy her. Thank youover and over, my boy, for what you have said. Oh! I only hope you don'tfall under her influence the same way I did."
"Don't fear for me, Uncle Fred," said the boy, in the same low tone theother had been using; "but we'll soon see how things are going to turnout, for there she comes this way right now!"
"Oh! is that so?" said the manager of the ranch, with a sudden vibrationin his voice; then, realizing that he had just been saying how brave hefelt again, he seemed to pull himself together, drew his small butsoldierly figure up straight in a sort of Napoleon-like attitude, Adrianthought, and with a white yet determined face awaited the breaking ofthe storm.
There were others among the cow-punchers who shrank back, ratherappalled by the angry look on the strong features of the large woman whoadvanced straight toward the spot where her husband and the three boysstood. Donald found his attention attracted toward the corner of thenear-by bunk house, and around which the man they had picked up on thetrail was staring. And Donald must have concluded that Mr. Thomas waspretty much of a craven, despite all those stories he had told inconnection with his past adventures "further south;" for there wascertainly a look of extreme fear written large upon his wrinkled faceright then and there, as though he might have known himself what it wasto be domineered over by a husky female, and the sight of Mrs. Fred'sflushed face and sparkling eyes brought up very unpleasant memories inthe old chap's mind.