CHAPTER XII--TOLLEY'S TALE
Hunt had a feeling that he was present at one of those tense scenes of aWestern cinema drama, where the heroic gunman holds the villain underthe muzzle of his lethal weapon.
He might have leaned from his horse again and plucked both Joe Hurley'sgun and that of the divekeeper from their holsters. But he thought twiceabout that. Neither of the men was in the mood to brook interference.Besides, the parson was keenly alive to the mystery manifested inTolley's words regarding Nell Blossom and the man called Dick the Devil.
Nobody else was near enough to have overheard what passed between Tolleyand Joe Hurley. None of the other Passonians, amused by Nell's wildescapade, drew nearer, and Betty had ridden on to the hotel, refusing tobetray the least interest in such a rude scene.
"Speak up, Tolley!" commanded Hurley again. "You've been telling us DickBeckworth went to Denver to deal faro at a gambling house there. Now youcome out with such a thing as this--mixing Nell's name up in some blamedlie about Dick's being killed."
"He was killed. It was murder--or mighty close to it. And that gal----"
He halted again. There was something in Joe Hurley's eyes that stoppedhim.
"Suppose you start this thing right," said the mine owner more quietly."I understand Dick Beckworth left town the morning old Steve and AndyMcCann broke out, the same as usual, this spring?"
"And the same morning that gal left me and the Grub Stake flat, and wentkitin' off," retorted Tolley.
"Well, let's hear the particulars."
"I didn't know Nell had gone at first." He winced, having spoken thegirl's name again, because of the darting threat from Hurley's browneyes. "When Dick told me he was off I didn't scarce believe him. Butthen I seen him and that--er--gal riding down to the ford. I thought theywas up to some game. Anyway, I thought I could talk Dick into comingback. He was the best dealer I ever had."
"Well?" snapped Hurley.
"I saddled a hoss and went after them. They'd followed the wagon trackto the top of the cliff. But I thought they'd took the river trail. WhenI got a piece along the road, I heard something go _bam_--a fall of rock,or something, down the cliff. I hurried my nag and come around a turnwhere I could see. I looked up--never thought to look ahead along theedge of Runaway River, I see her--Nell--looking over the edge of thecliff.
"I see then I was follering the wrong lead," pursued Tolley. "I didn'tthink much about the slip I'd heard--not then. I wanted to get at Dick.So I turned back, got to the foot of the wagon track up the cliffyonder," he pointed, "and hurried after them.
"When I got up there neither of 'em was in sight. I hustled along theroad and went clean past the fork of the Hoskins' trail. Never thoughtof either of 'em going to that dump," grumbled Tolley.
"Well, I give it up after a while. I thought I'd lost too much time,starting out wrong at first as I had. They was too fast for me. So Irode back. It wasn't till then, when I come to that place I'd seen Nelllooking over from, that I saw how big a lump had broke off the edge ofthe Overhang."
Hurley sucked in his breath sharply. "Go on!" was all he said.
"I looked down there. I seen how big the slide was. And I seen somethingmore. There was something sticking out of that heap of stuff on theriver bank. I couldn't be sure, but I thought it was the hind parts of ahoss, only upside down.
"I pushed my hoss along the river trail again and come to the heap ofstuff that had come down the cliff. It hadn't come down alone."
Hunt, listening as closely as Hurley, had no idea how his friend felt;but for his own part his flesh crawled at the inference he drew fromTolley's tale. The man let his last words sink into their minds forfully a minute before he went on.
"It hit me right where I lived. Something bad had happened. It hadn'thappened to the gal. So I figgered it must be Dick.
"And I wasn't mistook," continued Tolley with a certain satisfaction inhis tone. "I'd been right when I thought there was a hoss in that pileof gravel. There was--but not much of it stickin' out. However, I claweddown to the saddle, undid it, and hauled it out. It was Dick's allright. I got it now stuck into the bottom of my big safe."
"But where was Dick?" demanded Hurley.
"How should _I_ know?" retorted the other. "Maybe under the heap--but Ididn't think so. I reckon he was throwed clean into the river. And youknow what the current of Runaway River is!"
Hurley groaned.
"Wait!" said Hunt suddenly. "The man you call Dick might not have goneover the cliff with the horse. You did not see the accident."
"He didn't come back to town. And he wouldn't have gone on afoot toHoskins or any place else," Tolley said surlily. "Nobody ain't seen himaround yere from that day to this."
"And you lied about Dick and kept it under your hat all this time?" wasHurley's comment.
"Well, I had a right, didn't I?" blustered Tolley.
"Every right in the world." The mining man spoke evenly now, coldly."And you've got a better right to keep the story to yourself rightalong."
"What d'ye mean?"
"What I say. Keep your mouth shut about it. Don't let me hear of youopening your yawp the way you did just now. I don't half believe thisyarn, anyway. You couldn't tell _all_ the truth about anything, Tolley.The truth isn't in you. But sometimes a half-truth does more harm than awhole lie. You stick to your first story about Dick the Devil going toDenver. Understand?"
"I don't understand why I should do what you say, Hurley."
The latter patted the butt of his own gun. "Notice that?" he said with adeadly fierceness that shocked Hunt. "If you repeat this yarn, I'll comeafter you. And if I come after you, Tolley, I'll get you!"
He went back to the waiting Bouncer and mounted into the saddle withoutanother word or a glance at Tolley. But Hunt, his nerves strained to atension he had never before experienced, watched the owner of the GrubStake sharply. Hurley's disregard of the fellow amazed the man from theEast. He did not realize that Tolley was so unstrung that he could nothave hit the broad side of a barn if he had drawn his gun. But JoeHurley knew it.
The two young men rode on to the door of the hotel, both silent. CholoSam was watching Betty's pony. The girl had dismounted and gone up toher room.
"Joe, what is going to be the end of this?" asked Hunt in a low voice.
"I don't know, Willie."
"Will you speak----"
"To Nell? Not on your life!"
"But the truth will come out some time. Who was that Dick?"
Hurley told him. He went further and told of the interest the cabaretsinger had shown in the gambler for some time previous to Dick'sdisappearance--before Nell had gone to Hoskins to sing in the Tin CanSaloon.
"It--it looks bad," faltered Hunt.
"Bad is no name for it."
"The girl should be questioned."
"Not by me!" cried Hurley. "I don't think Tolley will run the risk ofspeaking to her about it," he added.
"He has already," said Hunt.
He explained about what he and Betty had overheard pass between NellBlossom and the owner of the Grub Stake the evening previous.
"Great saltpeter!" gasped Hurley. "Then that's why Nell cut that caperjust now. She didn't do it just for deviltry. She was warning Tolley onher own hook."
"Joe, there must be no bloodshed over this. If one man has died, that isenough," Hunt said sternly. "We must get at the truth."
"Not me!" cried Hurley again. "I wouldn't tackle Nell for a farm."
"And--and you are so close to her--know her so well?" murmured Hunt.
"That ain't no never-mind," the mining man said earnestly. "That girl'sgot teeth, I tell you."
"But she is in danger. She must be questioned."
"Great saltpeter! You wouldn't get nothing out of Nell Blossom--nothingthat she didn't want to tell."
"She should be convinced that her greater danger lies in silence."
"Convince Nell? What did I tell you, Willie? You couldn't make her do athing, or even see a thing, that she d
id not want to do or see."
"There is one thing I can do," said Hunt finally.
"What's that, Willie?" and his friend sighed.
"Find me a pickax and shovel."
"What's that?"
"A pickax and a shovel. At once."
"Great----Say, that's a new one. I never thought of getting an idea intoNell Blossom's stubborn head with those tools. But it might work atthat," and Hurley rode off to get the instruments of labor, but withouta smile.