CHAPTER XVI
BACK IN CAMP
From their place of concealment high upon the edge of Antelope Butte,Alice Marcum and Endicott watched the movements of the three horsemenwith absorbing interest. They saw the Texan circle to thesouth-eastward and swing north to intercept the trail of the unknownrider. They watched Bat, with Indian cunning, creep to his place ofconcealment at the edge of the coulee. They saw the riders disperse,the unknown to head toward the mountains at a gallop, and the Texan toturn his horse southward and ride slowly into the bad lands. And theywatched Bat recover his own horse from behind a rock pinnacle andfollow the Texan, always keeping out of sight in parallel coulees untilboth were swallowed up in the amethyst haze of the bad lands.
For an hour they remained in their lookout, pointing out to each othersome new wonder of the landscape--a wind-carved pinnacle, theheliographic flashing of the mica, or some new combination in theever-changing splendour of colours.
"Whew! But it's hot, and I'm thirsty. And besides it's lunch time."Alice rose, and with Endicott following, made her way to the camp.
"Isn't it wonderful?" she breathed, as they ate their luncheon. "Thislife in the open--the pure clean air--the magnificent world all spreadout before you, beckoning you on, and on, and on. It makes a personstrong with just the feel of living--the joy of it. Just think,Winthrop, of being able to eat left-over biscuits and cold bacon andenjoy it!"
Endicott smiled: "Haven't I improved enough, yet, for 'Win'?--Texthinks so."
The girl regarded him critically. "I have a great deal of respect forTex's judgment," she smiled.
"Then, dear, I am going to ask you again, the question I have asked youtimes out of number: Will you marry me?"
"Don't spoil it all, now, please. I am enjoying it so. Enjoying beinghere with just you and the big West. Oh, this is the real West--theWest of which I've dreamed!"
Endicott nodded: "Yes, this is the West. You were right, Alice.California is no more the West than New York is."
"Don't you love it?" The girl's eyes were shining with enthusiasm.
"Yes. I love it," he answered, and she noticed that his face was verygrave. "There must be something--some slumbering ego in every man thatawakens at the voice of the wild places. Our complex system ofcivilization seems to me, as I sit here now, a little thing--a thing,somehow, remote--unnecessary, and very undesirable."
"Brooklyn seems very far away," murmured the girl.
"And Cincinnati--but not far enough away. We know they are real--thatthey actually exist." Endicott rose and paced back and forth.Suddenly he stopped before the girl. "Marry me, Alice, and I'll buy aranch and we will live out here, and for us Brooklyn and Cincinnatineed never exist. I do love it all, but I love you a thousand timesmore."
To Endicott's surprise the girl's eyes dropped before his gaze andrested for a long time upon the grazing horses--then abruptly sheburied her face in her arms. The man had half expected a return to thelight half-mocking raillery that had been her staunchest weapon, butthere was nothing even remotely suggestive of raillery in the figurethat huddled at his feet. Suddenly, his face became very grave:"Alice," he cried, bending over her, "is it because my hands are red?Because I have taken a human life, and am flying from the hand of thelaw like a common murderer?"
"No, no, no! Not that? I----"
Swiftly he gathered her into his arms, but she freed herself and shookher head in protest. "Don't please," she pleaded softly. "Oh, I--Ican't choose."
"Choose!" cried Endicott. "Then there is--someone else? You havefound--" he stopped abruptly and drew a long breath. "I see," he said,gently, "I think I understand."
The unexpected gentleness of the voice caused the girl to raise herhead. Endicott stood as he had stood a moment before, but his gaze wasupon the far mountains. The girl's eyes were wet with tears: "Yes,I--he loves me--and he asked me to marry him. He said I would marryeither you or him, and he would wait for me to decide--until I wassure." Her voice steadied, and Endicott noticed that it held a traceof defensive. "He's a dear, and--I know--way down in his heart he'sgood--he's----"
Endicott smiled: "Yes, little girl, he is good. He's a man--every inchof him. And he's a man among men. He's honest and open hearted andhuman. There is not a mean hair in his head. And he stands a greatdeal nearer the top of his profession than I do to the top of mine. Ihave been a fool, Alice. I can see now what a complacent fool and acad I must have been--when I could look at these men and see nothingbut uncouthness. But, thank God, men can change----"
Impulsively the girl reached for his hand: "No," she murmured,remembering the words of the Texan, "no, the man was there all thetime. The real man that is _you_ was concealed by the unreal man thatis superficiality."
"Thank you, Alice," he said gravely. "And for your sake--and I say itan all sincerity--let the best man win!"
The girl smiled up into his face: "And in all sincerity I will say thatin all your life you have never seemed so--so marryable as you do rightnow."
While Endicott cut a supply of fire-wood and tinkered about the spring,the girl made a complete circuit of the little plateau, and as theshadows began to lengthen they once more climbed to their lookoutstation. For an hour the vast corrugated plane before them showed nosign of life. Suddenly the girl's fingers clutched Endicott's arm andshe pointed to a lone horseman who rode from the north.
"I wonder if he's the same one we saw before--the one who rode away sofast?"
"Not unless he has changed horses," answered Endicott. "The other rodea grey."
The man swung from his horse and seemed to be minutely studying theground. Then he mounted and headed down the coulee at a trot.
"Look! There is Tex!" cried Endicott, and he pointed farther down thesame coulee. A sharp bend prevented either rider from noticing theapproach of the other.
"Oh, I wonder who it is, and what will happen when they see eachother?" cried the girl. "Look! There is Bat. Near the top of thatridge. He's cutting across so he'll be right above them when theymeet." She was leaning forward watching: breathlessly the movements ofthe three horsemen. "It is unreal. Just like some great spectacularplay. You see the actors moving through their parts and you wonderwhat is going to happen next and how it is all going to work out."
"There! They see each other!" Endicott exclaimed. Each horsemanpulled up, hesitated a moment, and rode on. Distance veiled from theeager onlookers the significant detail of the shifted gun arms. But nosuch preclusion obstructed Bat's vision as he lay flattened upon therim of the coulee with the barrel of his six-gun resting upon the edgeof a rock, and its sights lined low upon the stranger's armpit.
"They've dismounted," observed Alice, "I believe Tex is going tounsaddle."
"Tightening his cinch," ventured Endicott, and was interrupted by a cryfrom the lips of the girl.
"Look! The other! He's going to shoot---- Why, they're fighting!"Fighting they certainly were, and Endicott stared in surprise as he sawthe Texan knocked down and then spring to his feet and attack hisassailant with a vigour that rendered impossible any further attempt tofollow the progress of the combat.
"Why doesn't Bat shoot, or go down there and help him?" cried the girl,as with clenched fists she strained her eyes in a vain effort to seewho was proving the victor.
"This does not seem to be a shooting affair," Endicott answered, "andit is my own private opinion that Tex is abundantly able to take careof himself. Ah--he got him that time! He's down for the count! Goodwork, Tex, old man! A good clean knockout!"
The two watched as the men mounted and rode their several ways--thestranger swinging northward toward the mountains, and the Texanfollowing along the south face of the butte.
"Some nice little meetings they have out here," grinned Endicott. "Iwonder if the vanquished one was a horse-thief or just an ordinaryfriend."
Alice returned the smile: "You used to rather go in for boxing incollege, didn't you?"
"Oh, y
es. I can hold my own when it comes to fists----
"And--you can shoot."
The man shook his head: "Do you know that was the first time I everfired a pistol in my life. I don't like to think about it. And yet--Iam always thinking about it! I have killed a man--have taken a humanlife. I did it without malice--without forethought. All I knew wasthat you were in danger, then I saw him fling you from him--the pistolwas in my hand, and I fired."
"You need have no regrets," answered the girl, quickly. "It was hislife or both of ours--worse than that--a thousand times worse."
Endicott was silent as the two turned toward the plateau. "Why,there's Bat's horse, trotting over to join the others, and unsaddled,too," cried Alice. "He has beaten Tex to camp. Bat is a dear, and hejust adores the ground Tex walks on, or 'rides on' would be moreappropriate, for I don't think he ever walked more than a hundred feetin his life."
Sure enough, when they reached camp there sat the half-breed placidlymending a blanket, with the bored air of one upon whom time hangsheavily. He looked up as Endicott greeted him.
"Mebbe-so dat better you don' say nuttin' 'bout A'm gon' 'way fromhere," he grinned. "Tex she com' 'long pret' queek, now. Mebbe-so het'ink dat better A'm stay roun' de camp. But _Voila_! How A'm know heain' gon for git hurt?"
"But he did--" Alice paused abruptly with the sentences unfinished,for the sound of galloping hoofs reached her ears and she looked up tosee the Texan swing from his horse, strip off the saddle and bridle andturn the animal loose.
"Oh," she cried, as the man joined them after spreading his saddleblanket to dry. "Your eyes are swollen almost shut and your lip isbleeding!"
"Yes," answered the cowboy with a contortion of the stiff, swollen lipthat passed for a smile. "I rounded the bend in a coulee down yonderan' run plumb against a hard projection."
"They certainly are hard--I have run against those projections myself,"grinned Endicott. "You see, we had what you might call ringside seats,and I noticed that it didn't take you very long to come back with somemighty stiff projecting yourself."
"Yes. Him pastin' me between the eyes that way, I took as anonfriendly act, an' one I resented."
"That wallop you landed on his chin was a beautiful piece of work."
"Yes, quite comely." The cowboy wriggled his fingers painfully. "Butthese long-horns that's raised on salt-horse an' rawhide, maintains ajaw on 'em that makes iron an' granite seem right mushy. I didn'tfigure I'd recount the disturbance, aimin' to pass it off casualregardin' the disfigurin' of my profile. But if you-all witnessed thedebate, I might as well go ahead an' oncork the details. In the firstplace, this warrior is a deputy that's out after Win."
The Texan glanced sharply at Bat who became suddenly seized with a fitof coughing, but the face of the half-breed was impassive--even sombreas he worked at the blanket. "It's all owin' to politics," continuedthe cowpuncher, rolling and lighting a cigarette. "Politics, an' thefact that the cow country is in its dotage. Choteau County is growin'effeminate, not to say right down effete when a lynchin', that byrights it would be stretching its importance even to refer to it inconversation, is raised to the dignity of a political issue. Aseveryone knows, a hangin' is always a popular play, riddin' thecommunity of an ondesirable, an' at the same time bein' a warnin' toothers to polish up their rectitude. But it seems, from what I wasable to glean, that this particular hangin' didn't win universalacclaim, owin' to the massacre of Purdy not bein' deplored none."
Once more the half-breed emitted a strangling cough, and Tex eyed himnarrowly. "Somethin' seems to ail your throat."
"_Oui_, A'm swal' de piece tabac'."
"Well just hang onto it 'til it gets a little darker an' we'll havesupper," said the Texan, dryly, and resumed.
"So there was some talk disparagin' to the lynchin', an' the partythat's in, holdin' its tenure by the skin of its teeth, an' electioncomin' on, sided in with public opinion an' frowned on the lynchin',not as a hangin', you onderstand, but because the hangin' didn'tredound none to their particular credit--it not being legal an'regular. All this is brewed while the dance is goin' on, an' bybreakfast time next mornin', there bein' a full quorum of Republicanwar chiefs on hand, they pulls a pow-wow an' instructs their deputiesto round up the lynchers. This is done, barrin' a few that's flitted,the boys bein' caught unawares. Well, things begun lookin' serious to'em, an' as a last resort they decided to fall back on the truth. Sothey admits that there ain't no lynchin'. They tells how, after they'dgot out on the bench a piece they got to thinkin' that the demise ofPurdy ain't a serious matter, nohow, so they turned him loose. 'Whereis he, then?' says a county commissioner. 'Search us,' replies theculprits. 'We just turned him loose an' told him to _vamoose_. Wedidn't stick around an' herd him!'" Again Bat coughed, and the Texanglared at him.
"Maybe a drink of water would help them lacerated pipes of yourn," hesuggested, "an' besides it's dark enough so you can start suppera-goin'."
"But," said Endicott, "won't that get the boys all into serious troublefor aiding and abetting a prisoner to escape? Accessories after thefact, is what the law calls them."
"Oh Lord," groaned the Texan inwardly. "If I can steer through allthis without ridin' into my own loop, I'll be some liar. This on topof what I told 'em in Wolf River, an' since, an' about Purdy'sfuneral--I dastn't bog down, now!"
"No," he answered, as he lighted another cigarette. "There comes inyour politics again. You see, there was twenty-some-odd of us--an'none friendless. Take twenty-odd votes an' multiply 'em by the numberof friends each has got--an' I reckon ten head of friends apiecewouldn't overshoot the figure--an' you've got between two hundred an'three hundred votes--which is a winnin' majority for any candidateamong 'em. Knowin' this, they wink at the jail delivery an' cinchthose votes. But, as I said before, hangin' is always a popularmeasure, an' as they want credit for yourn, they start all the deputiesthey got out on a still-hunt for you, judgin' it not to be hard to finda pilgrim wanderin' about at large. An' this party I met up with wasone of 'em."
"Did he suspect that we were with you?" asked Alice, her voicetrembling with anxiety.
"Such was the case--his intimation bein' audible, and venomous. Idenied it in kind, an' one word leadin' to another, he called me aliar. To which statement, although to a certain extent veracious, Itook exception, an' in the airy persiflage that ensued, he took umbrageto an extent that it made him hostile. Previous to this littlealtercation, he an' I had been good friends, and deemin', rightly, thatit wasn't a shootin' matter, he ondertook to back up his play with hisfists, and he hauled off an' smote me between the eyes before I'ddevined his intentions. Judgin' the move unfriendly, not to say rightdownright aggressive, I come back at him with results you-all noted.An' that's all there was to the incident of me showin' up with blackeyes, an' a lip that would do for a pin cushion."
All during supper and afterward while the half-breed was washing thedishes, the Texan eyed him sharply, and several times caught the flashof a furtive smile upon the habitually sombre face.
"He knows somethin' mirthful," thought the cowboy, "I noticed itparticular, when I was flounderin' up to my neck in the mire ofdeception. The old reprobate ain't easy amused, either."
Alice retired early, and before long Endicott, too, sought hisblankets. The moon rose, and the Texan strolled over to the grazinghorses. Returning, he encountered Bat seated upon a rock at somedistance from camp, watching him. The half-breed was grinning openlynow, broadly, and with evident enjoyment. Tex regarded him with afrown: "For a Siwash you're plumb mirthful an' joyous minded. In factI ain't noticed any one so wrapped up in glee for quite a spell.Suppose you just loosen up an' let me in on the frivolity, an' at thesame time kind of let it appear where you put in the day. I mistrustedmy packin' a pair of purple ones wouldn't give you the whoopin' cough,so I just sauntered over an' took a look at the cayuses. Yourn's be'nrode 'til he's sweat under the blanket--an' he ain't soft neither."
"_Oui_, A'
m fol' 'long we'n you make de ride. A'm t'ink mebbe-so twobetter'n wan."
"Well, I was weaned right young, an' I don't need no governess. Afterthis you----"
The half-breed shrugged: "A'm tink dat tam way back in Las Vegas datdam' good t'ing ol' Bat fol' 'long, or else, ba Goss, you gon' to hellfor sure."
"But that's no sign I've always got to be close-herded. Did you sneakup near enough to hear what the short-horn said?"
"_Oui_, A'm hear dat. She mak' me laugh lak' hell."
"Laugh! I didn't see nothin' so damn hilarious in it. What do youthink about Purdy?"
"A'm tink dat dam' bad luck she no git keel." The half-breed pausedand grinned: "De pilgrim she mak' de run for nuttin', an' you got toke'p on lyin' an' lyin', an bye-m-bye you got so dam' mooch lies yougit los'. So far, dat work out pret' good. De pilgrim gon' ke'p on derun, 'cause he no lak' for git stretch for politick, an' you git mor'chance for make de play for de girl."
"What do you mean?" The Texan's eyes flashed. "I just knocked thelivin' hell out of one fellow for makin' a crack about that girl."
"_Oui_, A'm know 'bout dat, too. Dat was pret' good, but nex' tam datbetter you start in fightin' fore you git knock clean across de couleefirs'. A'm lak dat girl. She dam' fine 'oman, you bet. A'm no lak'she git harm."
"See here, Bat," interrupted the Texan, "no matter what my intentionswere when I started out, they're all right now."
"_Oui_, A'm know dat, 'bout two day."
"It's this way, I be'n thinkin' quite a bit the last couple of daysthere ain't a thing in hellin' around the country punchin' other folks'cattle for wages. It's time I was settlin' down. If that girl willtake a long shot an' marry me, I'm goin' to rustle around an' start anoutfit of my own. I'll be needin' a man about your heft an' complexionto help me run it, too--savvy?"
The half-breed nodded slowly. "_Oui_, all de tam A'm say: 'Some tamTex she queet de dam' foolin', an' den she git to be de beeg man.' Iain' tink you git dis 'oman, but dat don' mak' no differ', som' tam yoube de beeg man yet. Som' nodder 'oman com' 'long----"
"To hell with some other woman!" flared the Texan. "I tell you I'llhave that girl or I'll never look at another woman. There ain'tanother woman in the world can touch her. You think you're wise ashell, but I'll show you!"
The half-breed regarded him gloomily: "A'm tink dat 'oman de pilgrim'oman."
"Oh, you do, do you? Well, just you listen to me. She ain't--not yet.It's me an' the pilgrim for her. If she ties to him instead of me,it's all right. She'll get a damn good man. Take me, an' all of asudden throw me into the middle of _his_ country, an' I doubt like hellif I'd show up as good as he did in mine. Whatever play goes onbetween me an' the pilgrim, will be on the square--with one deck, an'the cards on the table. There's only one thing I'm holdin' out on him,an' that is about Purdy. An' that ain't an onfair advantage, becauseit's his own fault he's worryin' about it. An' if it gives me a betterchance with her, I'm goin' to grab it. An' I'll win, too. But, if Idon't win, I don't reckon it'll kill me. Sometimes when I get tothinkin' about it I almost wish it would--I'm that damned close tobein' yellow."
Bat laughed. The idea of the Texan being yellow struck him ashumorous. "I'm wonder how mooch more beeg lie you got for tell, eh?"
Tex was grinning now, "Search me. I had to concoct some excuse forgetting 'em started--two or three excuses. An' it looks like I got tokeep on concoctin' 'em to keep 'em goin'. But it don't hurt noone--lyin' like that, don't. It don't hurt the girl, because she'sbound to get one of us. It don't hurt the pilgrim, because we'll seehim through to the railroad. It don't hurt you, because you don'tbelieve none of it. An' it don't hurt me, because I'm used to it--an'there you are. But that don't give you no license to set around an'snort an' gargle while I'm tellin' 'em. I got trouble enough keepin''em plausible an' entangled, without you keepin' me settin' on a cactusfor fear you'll give it away. What you got to do is to back up myplay--remember them four bits I give you way back in Los Vegas? Well,here's where I'm givin' you a chance to pay dividends on them fourbits."
Bat grinned: "You go 'head an' mak' you play. You fin' out I ain'tforgit dat four bit. She ain' mooch money--four bit ain'. But w'enshe all you got, she wan hell of a lot . . . _bien_!"