CHAPTER III
DUSTY RHODES EATS DIRT
Billy gazed away in ecstasy at the dust cloud in the distance, and atthe white spot that was Tellurium, her mule; and when the rider camecloser she skipped back through the tunnel and danced along the trail tothe house. Dusty Rhodes was still there, describing in windy detailWunpost's encounter with one Pisen-face Lynch, but as she stood beforethem smiling he sensed the mischief in her eye and interrupted himselfwith a question.
"He's coming," announced Billy, showing the dimples in both cheeks andDusty Rhodes let his jaw drop.
"Who's coming?" he asked but she dimpled enigmatically and jerked hercurly head towards the road. They started up to look and as the whitemule rounded the point Dusty Rhodes blinked his eyes uncertainly. Afterall his talk about the faithless and cowardly Wunpost here he was,coming up the road; and the memory of a canteen which he had leftstrapped upon a pack, rose up and left him cold. Talk as much as hewould he could never escape the fact that he had gone off with Wunpost'sbig canteen, and the one subject he had avoided--why he had not stoppedto wait for him--was now likely to be thoroughly discussed. He glancedabout furtively, but there was no avenue of escape and he started offdown to the gate.
"Where you been all the time?" he shouted in accusing accents, "I'vebeen looking for you everywhere."
"Yes, you have!" thundered Wunpost dropping down off his mule andstriding swiftly towards him. "You've been lapping up the booze, over atBlackwater! I've a good mind to kill you, you old dastard!"
"Didn't I tell you not to stop?" yelled Rhodes in a feigned fury. "Youbrought it all on yourself! I thought you'd gone back----"
"You did not!" shouted Wunpost waving his fists in the air, "you saw mebehind you all the time. And if I'd ever caught up with you I'd havebashed your danged brains out, but now I'm going to let you live! I'mgoing to let you live so I can have a good laugh every time I see you goby--Old Dusty Rhodes, the Speed King, the Wild Ass of the Desert, theman that couldn't stop to get rich! I was running along behind youtrying to make you a millionaire but you wouldn't even give me a drink!Look at _that_, what I was trying to show you!"
He whipped out a rock and slapped it into Rhodes' hand but Dusty wasblind with rage.
"No good!" he said, and chucked it in the dirt at which Wunpost stoopeddown and picked it up.
"You're a peach of a prospector," he said with biting scorn and storedit away in his pocket.
"Let me look at that again," spoke up Dusty Rhodes querulously butWunpost had spied the ladies. He advanced to the porch, his big blackhat in one hand, while he smoothed his towsled hair with the other, andthe smile which he flashed Billy made her flush and then go pale, forshe had neglected to change back to skirts. Every Sunday morning, andwhen they had visitors, she was required to don the true habiliments ofher sex; but her joy at his return had left no room for thoughts ofdress and she found herself in the overalls of a boy. So she steppedbehind her mother and as Wunpost observed her blushes he addressed hisremarks to Mrs. Campbell.
"Glad to meet you," he exclaimed with a gallantry quite surprising in aman who could not even spell "one." "I hope you'll excuse my few wordswith Mr. Rhodes. It's been a long time since I've had the pleasure ofmeeting ladies and I forgot myself for the moment. I met your daughteryesterday--good morning, Miss Wilhelmina--and I formed a high opinion ofyou both; because a young lady of her breeding must have a mother to beproud of, and she certainly showed she was game. She saved my life withthat water and lunch, and then she loaned me her mule!"
He paused and Dusty Rhodes brought his bushy eyebrows down and stabbedhim to the heart with his stare.
"Lemme look at that rock!" he demanded importantly and John C. Calhounreturned his glare.
"Mr. Rhodes," he said, "after the way you have treated me I don't feelthat I owe you any courtesies. You have seen the rock once and that'senough. Please excuse me, I was talking with these ladies."
"Aw, you can't fool me," burst out Dusty Rhodes vindictively, "you ain'tsech a winner as you think. I've jest give Mrs. Campbell a bird's-eyeview of your career, so you're coppered on that bet from the start."
"What do you mean?" demanded Wunpost drawing himself up arrogantly whilehis beetle-browed eyes flashed fire; but the challenge in his voice didnot ring absolutely true and Dusty Rhodes grinned at him wickedly.
"You'd better learn to spell Wunpost," he said with a hectoring laugh,"before you put on any more dog with the ladies. But I asked you forthat rock and I intend to git a look at it--I claim an interest inanything you've found."
"Oh, you do, eh?" returned Wunpost, now suddenly calm. "Well, let metell you something, Mr. Rhodes. You wasn't in my company when I foundthis chunk of rock, so you haven't got any interest--see? But ratherthan have an argument in the presence of these ladies I'll show you thequartz again."
He drew out the piece of rock and handed it to Rhodes who stared at itwith sun-blinded eyes--then suddenly he whipped out a case and focusseda pair of magnifying glasses meanwhile mumbling to himself in brokenaccents.
"Where'd you git that rock?" he asked, looking up, and Wunpost threw outhis chest.
"Right there at Black Point," he answered carelessly, "you've beenchasing along by it for years."
"I don't believe it!" burst out Dusty gazing wildly about and mumblingstill louder in the interim. "It ain't possible--I've been right bythere!"
"But perhaps you never stopped," suggested Wunpost sarcastically andhanded the piece of rock to Mrs. Campbell.
"Look in them holes," he directed, "they're full of fine gold." And thenhe turned to Dusty.
"No, Mr. Rhodes," he said, "you ain't treated me right or I'd let you inon this strike. But you went off and left me and therefore you're out ofit, and there ain't any extensions to stake. It's just a single bigblow-out, an eroded volcanic cone, and I've covered it all with oneclaim."
"But you was _traveling_ with me!" yelled Rhodes dancing about likea jay-bird, "you gimme half or I'll have the law on ye!"
"Hop to it!" invited Wunpost, "nothing would please me better than toair this whole case in court. And I'll bet, when I've finished, they'lltake you out of court and hang you to the first tree they find. I'lljust tell them the facts, how you went off and left me and refused toeither stop or leave me water; and then I'll tell the judge how thislittle girl came down and saved my life with her mule. I'm not trying toplay the hog--all I want is half the claim--but the other half goes toBilly. Here's the paper, Wilhelmina; I may not know how to spell but youbet your life I know who's my friend!"
He handed over a piece of the paper bag which had been used to wrap uphis lunch, and as Wilhelmina looked she beheld a copy of the notice thathe had posted on his claim. No knight errant of old could have excelledhim in gallantry, for he had given her a full half of his claim; but hereyes filled with tears, for here, even as at Wunpost, he had betrayedhis ineptitude with the pen. He had named the mine after her but he hadspelled it "Willie Meena" and she knew that his detractors would laugh.Yet she folded the precious paper and thanked him shyly as he told herhow to have it recorded, and then she slipped away to gloat over italone and look through the specimen for gold.
But Dusty Rhodes, though he had been silenced for the moment, was notsatisfied with the way things had gone; and while Billy was making achange to her Sunday clothes she heard his complaining voice from thecorrals. He spoke as to the hilltops, after the manner of mountain menor those who address themselves to mules; and John Calhoun in turn had atruly mighty voice which wafted every word to her ears. But as shelistened, half in awe at their savage repartee, a third but quietervoice broke in, and she leapt into her dress and went dashing down thehill for her father had come back from the mine. He was deaf, andslightly crippled, as the result of an explosion when his drill hadstruck into a missed hole; but to lonely Wilhelmina he was the dearestof companions and she shouted into his ear by the hour. And, now that hehad come home, the rival claimants were laying their case before him.
Dusty
Rhodes was excited, for he saw the chance of a fortune slippingaway through his impotent fingers; but when Wunpost made answer he waseven more excited, for the memory of his desertion rankled deep. All theethics of the desert had been violated by Dusty Rhodes and a human lifeput in jeopardy, and as Wunpost dwelt upon his sufferings the old thirstfor revenge rose up till it quite overmastered him. He denounced Dusty'sactions in no uncertain terms, holding him up to the scorn of mankind;but Dusty was just as vehement in his impassioned defense and in hisclaim to a half of the strike. There the ethics of the desert came inagain; for it is a tradition in mining, not unsupported by sound law,that whoever is with a man at the time of a discovery is entitled tohalf the find. And the hold-over from his drinking bout of the eveningbefore made Dusty unrestrained in his protests.
The battle was at its height when Wilhelmina arrived and gave her fathera hug and as the contestants beheld her, suddenly transformed to a younglady, they ceased their accusations and stood dumb. She was a child nolonger, as she had appeared in the bib overalls, but a woman and withall a woman's charm. Her eyes were very bright, her cheeks a ruddy pink,her curls a glorious halo for her head; and, standing beside her father,she took on a naive dignity that left the two fire-eaters abashed. ColeCampbell himself was a man to be reckoned with--tall and straight as anarrow, with eyes that never wavered and decision in every line of hisface. His gray hair stood up straight above a brow furrowed with careand his mustache bristled out aggressively, but as he glanced down athis daughter his stern eyes suddenly softened and he acknowledged herpresence with a smile.
"Are they telling you about the strike?" she called into his ear and henodded and smiled again. "Let's go up there!" she proposed but he shookhis head and turned to the expectant contestants.
"Well, gentleman," he said, "as near as I can make out Mr. Rhodes_has_ a certain right in the property. Mr. Calhoun was travelingwith him and eating his grub, and I believe a court of law would decidein his favor even if he did go off and leave him in the lurch. But sincemy daughter picked him up and supplied him with a mule to go back andstake out the claim it might be that she also has an equity in theproperty, although that is for you gentlemen to decide."
"That's decided already!" shouted Wunpost angrily, "the claim has beenlocated in her name. She's entitled to one-half and no burro-chasingprospector is going to beat her out of any part of it."
"But perhaps," suggested Campbell with a quick glance at his daughter,"perhaps she would consent to take a third. And if you would do the samethat would be giving up only one sixth and yet it would obviate alawsuit."
"Yes, and I'll sue him!" yammered Rhodes. "I'll fight him to a whisper!I'll engage the best lawyers in the country! And if I can't git it noother way----"
"That'll do!" commanded Campbell raising his hand for peace, "there'snothing to be gained by threats. This can all be arranged if you'll justkeep your heads and try to consider it impartially. I'm surprised, Mr.Rhodes, that you abandoned your pardner and left him without water onthe desert. I've known you a long time and I've always respected you,but the fact would be against you in court. But on the other hand youcan prove that you rode out this morning and made a diligent search, andthat in itself would probably disprove abandonment, although I can't sayit counts for much with me. But you've asked my opinion, gentlemen, andthere it is; and my advice is to settle this matter right now withouttaking the case into court."
"Well, I'll give him half of my share," broke out Wunpost fretfully,"but I promised Billy half and she is going to get half--I gave her myword, and that goes."
"No, I'll give him half of mine," cried Billy to her father, "becauseall I did was lend him Tellurium. But before I agree to it Mr. Rhodeshas got to apologize, because he said he'd steal my mule!"
"What's that?" inquired her father holding his ear down closer, "Ididn't quite get that last."
"Why, Dusty Rhodes came up here to look for Mr. Calhoun, and when I toldhim that I had loaned him my mule he said Mr. Calhoun would _steal_him! And then he went up and told Mother all about it and said that Mr.Calhoun would do _anything_, and he said he'd probably takeTellurium to Wild Rose and trade him off to some _squaw_! And whenI defended him he just whooped and laughed at me--and now he's got to_apologise_!"
She darted a hateful glance at the perspiring Dusty Rhodes, who wasvainly trying to get Campbell's ear; and at the end of her recital therewas a look in Wunpost's eye that spoke of reprisals to come. The fat wasin the fire, as far as Rhodes was concerned, but he surprised them allby retracting. He apologized in haste, before Wunpost could make a reachfor him, and then he recanted in detail, and when the tumult was overthey had signed a joint agreement to give him one third of the mine.
"All right, boys," he yelled, thrusting his copy into his pocket andmaking a dash for his horse. "One third! It's all right with me! But ifwe'd gone to the courts I'd got half, sure as shooting! 'Sall right, butjust watch my dust!"