CHAPTER VIII
ONE WAY OUT
As the horses traversed the two miles of winding trail, Alice Marcumglanced from time to time at the Texan who rode silently at her side.The man's face was grave and he seemed entirely oblivious to herpresence. Only once did she venture to speak to him.
"I suppose I ought to thank you, Mr.----"
"Tex'll do," supplied the man, without even the courtesy of a glance.
"--for the very changed attitude of the sheriff, and for the fact thatI am to be lodged in the hotel instead of the jail."
The girl thought the Texan's lips drew into their peculiar smile, buthe gave no further evidence of having heard and rode on in silence,with his attention apparently fixed upon the tips of his horse's ears.At the edge of town the crowd, with Endicott in its midst, swervedtoward the railroad and the girl found herself alone with her jailer.She drew up her horse sharply and glanced back toward the prisoner.
"This way," said a voice close beside her; "we'll go to the hotel, Iguess there's enough of 'em to see that the pilgrim gets locked upsafe."
"But I--I want to speak to him. To tell him----"
"Never mind what you want to tell him. It'll keep, I reckon."
At the door of the wooden hotel the cowpuncher swung from his horse."You wait here a minute; I'll go fetch Jennie. She's prob'ly over tothe dance. She'll fix you up with a room an' see that you get what youwant."
"But my bag?"
"Yer what?"
"My bag--with all my things in it. I left it in the car."
"Oh, yer war-bag! All right, I'll get that after I've got Jennie cutout an' headed this way."
He stepped into the dance-hall next door and motioned to a plump,round-faced girl who was dancing with a young cowboy. At theconclusion of the dance the girl laughingly refused to accompany herpartner to the bar, and made her way toward the Texan.
"Say, Jennie," the man said, after drawing her aside; "there's a girlover to the hotel and I want you to go over an' fix her up with a room.Give her Number 11. It's handy to the side door."
The girl's nose went up and the laughing eyes flashed scornfully. "No,you don't, Tex Benton! What do you think I am? An' what's more, youdon't pull nothin' like that around there. That hotel's run decent,an' it's goin' to stay decent or Hank can get someone else fer help.They's some several of the boys has tried it sence I be'n there butthey never tried it but onct. _An' that goes_!" The girl turned awaywith a contemptuous sniff.
"Jennie!" The Texan was smiling. "This is a little different case, Ireckon."
"They're all different cases," she retorted. "But everything's be'ntried from a sister come on a unexpected visit, to slippin' mefive--Cinnabar Joe tended to that one's case hisself, an' he done agood job, too. So you might's well save yer wind 'cause there ain'tnothin' you can think up to say that'll fool me a little bit. I ain'tworked around hotels fer it's goin' on six years fer nothin', an' Iwouldn't trust no man--cowboys an' drummers least of all."
"Listen, Jennie, I ain't tryin' to tell you I wouldn't. Only thistime, I ain't. If I was, don't you suppose I've got sense enough notto go to you to help me with it?" The girl waited with all outwardappearance of skepticism for him to proceed. "This girl went ridin'with Jack Purdy--he borrowed the side-saddle from Cinnabar----"
"Did Cinnabar loan him that saddle fer any such----?"
"Hold on, now, Cinnabar don't know nothin' about it. Purdy wants toborrow his side-saddle an' Joe says sure."
"He might of know'd if Purdy wanted it, it wasn't fer no good. You'reall bad enough, goodness knows, but he was the worst of the lot. Ihate Purdy an' you bet he cuts a big circle when he sees me comin'."
"Well, he won't no more," answered the Texan dryly. "Purdy's dead."
"Dead!"
"Yes. He took a pilgrim's girl out on the bench an' the pilgrim gotwise to it an' dug out after 'em. Got there just in time an' took ashot at Purdy an' got him."
"Land sakes! I'm glad he did! If they was a few more pilgrims likehim that would get about half the rest of you, maybe the others wouldturn decent, or take to the brush."
The Texan laughed. "Anyway Purdy's dead, an' they've got the pilgrimlocked up, an' the girl's held fer a witness, an' I told Sam Moore I'dtake a shot at him if he locked her up wherever he's goin' to lock upthe pilgrim--in the wool-warehouse I reckon. Anyhow, he told her to goto the hotel an' specified me fer a guard."
"Oh, he did, did he? Well jest you wait 'til I get my hat. I guessmaybe she'll be safer with _two_ guards." With a meaning look the girlhurried away and a moment later returned and followed the Texan fromthe room.
"Why was you so anxious she was to have Number 11, if what you've toldme is on the level?" she asked, as they approached the hotel.
"I don't know, yet, exactly. But I've got a hunch they'll be somethin'doin' a little later."
"Uh-huh, an' I'll be right there when it's doin', too. An' you can betyour last blue one on that!"
Alice Marcum swung unassisted to the ground as the two approached. Andas she glanced into the wide, friendly eyes of the girl she felt deeplygrateful to the Texan for bringing a woman. Then the woman wasspeaking: "Come right along in the house. I'm Jennie Dodds, an' I'llsee't you get settled comfortable. Tex, he told me all about it. Landsakes! I bet you feel proud! Who'd a thought any pilgrim could a gotJack Purdy! Where's your grip?"
"Gosh! I plumb forgot!" exclaimed the cowboy, and started for hishorse. "I'll be back with yer war-bag in a minute." A few momentslater, he returned to the hotel carrying a leather bag.
"I'm goin' to kind of slip around among the boys a bit. I've be'ndoin' some thinkin' an maybe we can figger a way out. I don't quitelike the way things is shapin' up. I'll be wantin' most likely to seeyou in a while----"
"We'll both be here," interrupted Jennie. "_Both_ of us. We'll be inNumber 11."
Outside the hotel the Texan paused to roll and light a cigarette, andas he blew the smoke from his lungs, he smiled cynically.
"Purdy's work was so damn coarse he got just what was comin' to him.There's only me an' the pilgrim, now--an' it's me an' him for it. Iain't plumb got the girl sized up yet. If she's straight--all right.She'll stay straight. If she ain't---- They say everything's fair inlove an' war, an' bein' as it's my deal the pilgrim's got to go upagainst a stacked deck. An' if things works out right, believe me,he's a-goin' to know he's be'n somewhere by the time he gets back--ifhe ever does get back."
For the third time that evening he entered the dance-hall and avoidingthe dancers made his way leisurely toward the bar that ran along oneside of the room.
"Hello, Tex, ain't dancin'? Say, they're tellin' how a pilgrim killedJack Purdy. Yes, an' they got him locked up down in thewool-warehouse. What's yourn?" The cowboy ranged himself beside theTexan.
"A little red liquor, I reckon." The men poured their drinks and theTexan glanced toward the other: "You ain't mournin' none over Purdy,Curly?"
"Who, me?" the man laughed. "Not what you c'd notice, I ain't. An'they's plenty others ain't, too. I don't hear no lamentations wailin'a-bustin' in on the festchivities. It was over the pilgrim's girl.They say how Purdy tried to----"
"Yes, he did. But the pilgrim got there first. I been thinkin',Curly. It's plumb shameful for to hold the pilgrim for doin' what oneof us would of had to do sooner or later. Choteau County has stood forhim about as long as it could, an' a damn sight longer than it oughtto. His work was gettin' so rotten it stunk, I could tell you about asage-brush corral an' some runnin'-iron work over on the southslope----"
"Yes," broke in the other, "an' there's a hell of a lot of I X an' BearPaw Pool cows that show'd up, brandin' time, 'thout no calves."
The Texan nodded: "Exactly. Now, what I was goin' on to say: The grandjury don't set for a couple or three months yet. An' when they do,they'll turn the pilgrim loose so quick it'll make yer head swim.Then, there's the girl. They'll hold her for a witness--not thatthey'd have to,
'cause she'll stay on her own hook. Now what's the useof them bein' took down to Benton an' stuck in jail? Drink up, an'have another."
"Not none," agreed Curly, as he measured out his liquor to an imaginaryline half-way up the glass. "But how'd you figger to fix it?"
"Well," answered the Texan, as his lips twisted into their peculiarsmile; "we might get the right bunch together an' go down to thewool-warehouse an' save the grand jury the trouble."
The other stared at him in amazement: "You mean bust him out?"
Tex laughed: "Sure. Lord! Won't it be fun seein' Sam Moore puttin' upa scrap to save his prisoner?"
"But, how'd we git away with him? All Sam w'd do is git a posse an'take out after him an' they'd round him up 'fore he got to Three-mile.Or if we went along we'd git further but they'd git us in the end an'then we'd be in a hell of a fix!"
"Your head don't hurt you none, workin' it that way, does it?" grinnedTex. "I done thought it all out. We'll get the boys an' slip down tothe warehouse an' take the pilgrim out an' slip a noose around his neckan' set him on a horse an' ride out of town a-cussin' him an'a-swearin' to lynch him. He won't know but what we aim to hang him tothe first likely cottonwood, an' we'll have a lot of fun with him. An'no one else won't know it, neither. Then you-all ride back an' pertendto keep mum, but leak it out that we done hung him. They won't be noposse hunt for him then an' I'll take him an' slip him acrost to the N.P. or the C. P. R. an' let him go. It's too good a chanct to miss.Lordy! Won't the pilgrim beg! An' Sam Moore--he'll be scairt out of ayear's growth!"
"But, the girl," objected Curly.
"Oh, the girl--well, they'll turn her loose, of course. They ain'tnothin' on her except for a witness. An' if they ain't no prisonerthey won't need no witness, will they?"
"That's right," assented the other. "By gosh, Tex, what you can'tthink up, the devil wouldn't bother with. That's sure some stunt.Let's get the boys an' go to it!"
"You get the boys together. Get about twenty of the live ones an' head'em over to the Headquarters. I'll go hunt up a horse for the pilgriman' be over there in half an hour."
Curly passed from man to man, whom he singled out from among thedancers and onlookers, and the Texan slipped unobserved through thedoor and proceeded directly to the hotel. On the street he met Bat.
"De pilgrim, she lock up in de woolhouse an' Sam Moore she stan' 'longde door wit two revolver an' wan big rifle."
"All right, Bat. You look alive now, an' catch up Purdy's horse an'see that you get a good set of bridle reins on him, an' find the girl'shorse an' get holt of a pack-horse somewheres an' get your war-bag an'mine an' our blankets onto him, an' go down to the store an' get acouple more pairs of blankets, an' grub enough fer a week for four, an'get that onto him, an' have all them horses around to the side door ofthe hotel in twenty minutes, or I'll bust you wide open an' fill yourhide with prickly pears."
The half-breed nodded his understanding and slipped onto his horse asthe Texan entered the hotel. Passing through the office where acoal-oil lamp burned dimly in a wall-bracket, he stepped into thenarrow hallway and paused with his eyes on the bar of yellow light thatshowed at the bottom of the door of Number 11.
"Most any fool thing would do to tell the girl. But I've got to makeit some plausible to put it acrost on Jennie. I'm afraid I kind ofover-played my hand a little when I let her in on this, but--damn it!I felt kind of sorry for the girl even if it was her own fool faultgettin' into this jack-pot. I thought maybe a woman could kind ofknock off the rough edges a little. Well, here goes!" He knockedsharply, and it was a very grave-faced cowboy who stepped into the roomand closed the door behind him. "I've be'n doin' quite some feelin'out of the public pulse, as the feller says, an' the way things looksfrom here, the pilgrim is sure in bad. You see, the jury is bound tobe made up of cow-men an' ranchers with a sheep-man or two mixed in.An' they're all denizens that Choteau County is infested with. Now astranger comin' in that way an' kind of pickin' one of us off, casual,like a tick off'n a dog's ear, it won't be looked on with favour----"
Jennie interrupted, with a belligerent forefinger wagging almostagainst the Texan's nose: "But that Jack Purdy needed killin' if everany one did. He was loose an'----"
"Yes," broke in Tex, "he was. I ain't here to pronounce no benedictionof blessedness on Purdy's remains. But, you got to recollect that mostof the jury, picked out at random, is in the same boat--loose, an'needin' killin', which they know as well as you an' me do, an'consequent ain't a-goin' to establish no oncomfortable precedent.Suppose any pilgrim was allowed to step off'n a train any time hehappened to be comin' through, an' pick off a loose one? What wouldChoteau County's or any other county's he-population look like in ayear's time, eh? It would look like the hair-brush out here in thewash-room, an' you could send in the votin' list on a cigarette paper.No, sir, the pilgrim ain't got a show if he's got to face a jury.There's only one way out, an' there's about fifteen or twenty of theboys that's willin' to give him a chance. We're a-goin' to bust himout of jail an' put him on a horse an' run him up some cottonwoodcoulee with a rope around his neck."
Alice Marcum, who had followed every word, turned chalk-white in thelamplight as she stared wide-eyed at the Texan, with fingers pressedtight against her lips, while Jennie placed herself protectinglybetween them and launched into a perfect tirade.
"Hold on, now." Both girls saw that the man was smiling and Jennierelapsed into a warlike silence. "A rope necktie ain't a-goin' to hurtno one as long as he keeps his heft off'n it. As I was goin' on tosay, we'll run him up this coulee an' a while later the boys'll rideback to town in the same semmey-serious mood that accompanies suchsimilar enterprises. They won't do no talkin' an' they won't need to.Folks will naturally know that justice has be'n properly dispensedwith, an' that their taxes won't raise none owin' to county funds bein'misdirected in prosecutin' a public benefactor--an' they'll besatisfied. The preacher'll preach a long sermon condemnin' the takin'of human life without due process of law, an' the next Sunday he'llpreach another one about the onchristian shootin' of folks withoutgivin' 'em a chanct to repent--after they'd drawed--an' he'll use thelynchin' as a specimen of the workin's of the hand of the Lord inbringin' speedy justice onto the murderer.
"But they ain't be'n no lynchin' done. 'Cause the boys will turn theprisoner over to me an' I'll hustle him acrost to the N. P. an' let himget out of the country."
Alice Marcum leaped to her feet: "Oh, are you telling me the truth?How do I know you're not going to lynch him? I told him I'd stay withhim and see him through!"
The Texan regarded her gravely: "You can," he said after a moment ofsilence. "I'll have Bat take you to Snake Creek crossing an' you canwait there 'til I come along with the pilgrim. Then we'll cut throughthe mountains an' hit down through the bad lands an'----"
"No you don't, Tex Benton!" Jennie was facing him again. "You're asmooth one all right. How long would it take you to lose the pilgrimthere in the bad lands, even if you don't lynch him, which it ain't nocinch you ain't a-goin' to--then where would _she_ be? No, sir, youdon't pull nothin' like that off on me!"
"But I want to go!" cried Alice. "I want to be near him, and I'm notafraid."
The girl regarded her for a moment in silence. "I should think you'dhad enough of cowpunchers for one night. But if you're bound to go Iain't got no right to hold you. I'd go along with you if I could, butI can't."
"I'm not afraid," she answered as her eyes sought the Texan's. "I'velearned a lot in the past few hours."
"I guess you ain't learnt enough to hurt you none," retorted Jennie,with a trace of acid in her tone. "An' you'll learn a lot more 'foreyou hit the N. P., or my name ain't Jennie Dodds. If you're bound togo you can take my outfit. I guess Tex'll see that my horse comesback, anyhow."
The cowpuncher grinned: "Thanks, Jennie, I'm right proud to know youthink I wouldn't steal your horse." Once more he turned to the girl."When the half-breed comes for you, you go with him. I've got
to go onwith the boys, now." Abruptly he left the room, and once more pausedin the hall before passing through the office. "She's game, all right.An' the way she can look at a fellow out of those eyes of hers---- ByGod! Purdy _ought_ to be'n killed!"