CHAPTER XVII
THE RUSTLER
The following day Hollis rode to town over the Dry Bottom trail. Had hefollowed a perfectly natural inclination he would have taken the Coyote,for it would have brought him to the Hazelton cabin. But he succeeded inforcing himself to go the other way, arguing that Nellie and her brothermight wish to be alone to consider the great good fortune that had comeupon them.
And so they did, though had Hollis appeared to them this morning as theysat upon the porch he would have been assured of a royal welcome.Indeed, during the early morning hours Nellie had cast many furtive,expectant glances down the Coyote trail. When eight o'clock came andHollis did not appear she gave him up.
The dawn found her kneeling beside her brother's bed.
"Ed!" she said, leaning over him, waking him, her eyes alight with joy;"Ed, he says you can be cured!"
He struggled and sat up, rubbing his eyes.
"Gosh, sis!" he said in an awed voice. "Then it's true! I was afraid I'dbeen dreaming!"
"It is no dream," she returned ecstatically; "it is reality--beautifulreality! Wasn't it simply _great_ of him to take such an interestin us?"
"Us?" grinned Ed, noting her crimson, happy face. "Well, mebbe he did itfor _us_," he added subtly, "but I take it I've got a right to haveanother opinion on that."
She fled from him without answering and a little later he heard hersinging as she prepared breakfast. After the meal Ed made a short tripout into the basin to look after his cattle and then returned to thecabin. Sitting on the porch he and Nellie devoted several hours to agrave discussion of the situation. They discovered that it had a seriousside.
In the first place there was the dangerous nature of the operation. HereEd laughed away his sister's fears by assuring her that he had anexcellent constitution and that since the fall from the pony had notkilled him he was in no danger from the knife. If Nellie entertained anydoubt of this she wisely remained silent, though Ed could see that shewas not entirely reassured. He swept away her last objection to thisforbidding feature when he told her that he preferred taking the risk toliving in constant dread of a recurrence of an acute attack of hismalady--such as he had experienced when he had attacked Hollis inDevil's Hollow.
There were many other things to be discussed--chiefly the care of thecattle and the cabin during his absence in Chicago. He would not listento her suggestion to accompany him--he would prefer to have her remainat the cabin. Or he would try to arrange with Hollis for her to stay atthe Circle Bar. There she would have Mrs. Norton for a companion, andshe might ride each day to the cabin. He was certain that Hollis wouldarrange to have his men care for the cattle. He assured her that hewould settle that question with Hollis when the latter passed the cabinthat night on his return to the Circle Bar. Of course Hollis would takethe Coyote trail to-night, he insinuated, grinning hugely at the blushesthat reached her face.
But Hollis did not pass the cabin that night. He had taken the DryBottom trail on his return to the Circle Bar.
He had accomplished very little that day on account of the heat--and acertain vision that had troubled him--taking his mind off his work andprojecting it to a little cabin in a small basin, to a porch where sat agirl--the girl of his vision. She had voluntarily kissed him. Had itbeen all on account of gratitude? Of course--though--Well, memory of thekiss still lingered and he was willing to forgive her the slight lapseof modesty because he had been the recipient.
There had been one interesting development in Dry Bottom during the day.All day the town had swarmed with ranch owners who had come in to thecourt house to list their cattle for taxation and register their brands.Shortly after noon Ben Allen had dropped into the _Kicker_ officewith the news that every owner in the county with the exception ofDunlavey had responded to the law's demands.
To Hollis's inquiry regarding the course he would pursue in forcingDunlavey to comply with the law, Allen remarked with a smile that therewas "plenty of time." He had had much experience with men of theDunlavey type.
Potter and Hollis exchanged few words during the ride to the Circle Bar.The heat--the eternal, scorching, blighting heat--still continued; thedust had become an almost unbearable irritation. During the trip to theranch the two men came upon an arroyo over which Hollis had passed manytimes. At a water hole where he had often watered his horse they cameupon several dead steers stretched prone in the green slime. The waterhad disappeared; the spring that had provided it had dried and there wasnothing to tell of it except a small stretch of damp earth, baking inthe sun. The steers were gaunt, lanky creatures, their hides stretchedtight as drum-heads over their ribs, their tongues lolling out, blackand swollen, telling mutely of their long search for water and theirsuffering. Coyotes had been at work on them; here lay a heap of barebones; there a skull glistened in the white sunlight.
A few miles farther on they came upon one of the punchers from theCircle Y with a calf thrown over the saddle in front of him. He wasdriving several gaunt, drooping cattle toward the Rabbit-Ear. The calfbellowed piteously at sight of Hollis and Potter. The puncher hailedthem.
"You're Hollis, of the Circle Bar, ain't you?" he said when the latterhad spurred his pony close to him. At Hollis's nod he grinnedironically. "Hot!" he said, coming quickly to the universal topic ofconversation; "I reckon this wouldn't be called hot in some places--inhell, for instance. Say," he said as he saw Hollis's lips straighten,"to-morrow the ten days is up. Mebbe it'll be hotter then. The damnedskunk!"
Of course he referred to Dunlavey--the latter's threat to drive allforeign cattle from the Rabbit-Ear had been carried far and wide byriders--the whole country knew of it. There had been much condemnationand some speculation, but there was nothing to be done until after thetenth day. Even then much depended upon Hollis's attitude. Would he makewar upon Dunlavey in defense of the men who had refused aid to hisfather in time of need?
Hollis was still of the opinion that Dunlavey would not attempt to carryout his threat. He smiled at the malevolent expression in the puncher'seyes.
"Somehow," he said quietly, "I have always been able to distinguishbetween empty boast and determination. Dunlavey has done some foolishthings, no doubt, and is doing a foolish thing in defying the law, but Idon't anticipate that he will do anything quite so rash as to furtherantagonize the small owners."
The puncher sat erect and laughed harshly. "You don't?" he inquired inan over-gentle, polite voice. "Mister Hollis," he added, as the latterlooked quickly at him, "you ain't heard nothin' from the Circle Barto-day, I reckon?"
Hollis's answer was negative. The Circle Y man's face grew suddenlyserious. "You ain't! Well, then, that's the reason you're talkin' so.The last I heard from the Circle Bar was that Norton an' some of yourmen had captured one of Dunlavey's men--Greasy--rebrandin' some CircleBar steers an' was gettin' ready to string him up. I reckon mebbe you'dcall that doin' somethin'!"
Hollis straightened. He had suddenly forgotten the heat, the dust, andthe problem of water.
"How long ago did you hear this?" he demanded sharply.
"'Bout an hour ago," returned the Circle Y man. "I was rustlin' up thesestrays down in the basin an' headin' them toward the crick when I runsplum into a man from the Three Bar outfit. He was plum excited over it.Said they'd ketched Greasy down by the Narrows sometime after noonan'----"
But the Circle Y man finished to the empty air for Hollis's pony hadleaped forward into a cloud of dust, running desperately.
The Circle Y man sat erect, startled. "Well, I'll be----" he began,speaking to Potter. But the printer was following his chief and wasalready out of hearing. "Now what do you suppose----" again began theCircle Y man, and then fell silent, suddenly smitten with theuselessness of speech. He yelled at his gaunt steers and shifted thecalf in front of him to a more comfortable position. Then he proceededon his way. But as he rode his lips curled, his eyes narrowed, andspeech again returned to him. "Now why in hell would a man get so damnedexcited over hearin' that someone was goin' to string
up a measlyrustler?"
The interrogation remained unanswered. The Circle Y man continued on hisway, watching the fast disappearing dust clouds on the Circle Bar trail.
When Hollis reached the Circle Bar ranchhouse there was no one about. Herode up to the front gallery and dismounted, thinking that perhapsNorton would be in the house. But before he had crossed the gallery Mrs.Norton came to the door. She was pale and laboring under greatexcitement, but instantly divined Hollis's errand.
"They've taken him down to the cottonwood" she told Hollis, pointingtoward the grove in which Hollis had tried the six-shooter that Nortonhad given him the first day after his arrival at the ranch. "They aregoing to hang him! Hurry!"
Hollis was back in the saddle in an instant and racing his pony downpast the bunk house at break-neck speed. He urged the little animalacross an intervening stretch of plain, up a slight rise, down into ashallow valley, and into the cottonwood, riding recklessly through thetrees and urging the pony at a headlong pace through theunderbrush--crashing it down, scaring the rattlers from theirconcealment, and startling the birds from their lofty retreats.
For ten minutes he rode as he had never ridden before. And then he cameupon them. They stood at the base of a fir-balsam, whose gnarled limbsspread flatly outward--three Circle Bar men, a half dozen from thevarious outfits whose herds grazed his range, and the rustler--Greasy--arope knotted about his neck, standing directly under one of theout-spreading limbs of the tree, his head bowed, but his face wearing amocking, defiant grin. The rope had been thrown over the limb andseveral men were holding it, preparatory to drawing it taut. Norton wasstanding near, his face pale, his lips straight and grim withdetermination. Apparently Hollis had arrived just in time.
None of the men moved from their places when Hollis dismounted, but alllooked at him as though expecting him to express approval of what theywere about to do. Several lowered their gaze with embarrassment whenthey saw that he did not approve.
"What is all this about, Norton?" he asked, speaking to the latter, whohad stepped forward and now stood beside Greasy. Whatever excitement hadresulted from the sudden discovery that his men had captured a rustlerand were about to hang him, together with the strain of his hard ride tothe cottonwood, had disappeared, and Hollis's voice was quiet as headdressed his range boss.
Norton smiled grimly. "We were roundin' up a few strays just the otherside of the Narrows this morning, and Ace and Weary were workin' downthe river. In that little stretch of gully just the other side of theNarrows they came upon this sneak brandin' two of our beeves through apiece of wet blanket. He'd already done it an' so we ketched him withthe goods. It's the first time we've ever been able to lay a hand on oneof Dunlavey's pluguglies, an' we was figgerin' on makin' an example ofhim."
Hollis met Norton's grim gaze and smiled. "I want to thank you--all ofyou, for guarding my interests so zealously," he said. "There is nodoubt that this man richly deserves hanging--that is, of course,according to your code of ethics. I understand that is the way thingshave been done heretofore. But I take it none of you want to make meappear ridiculous?"
"Sure not," came several voices in chorus.
Hollis laughed. "But you took the surest way of making me appear so," hereturned.
He saw Norton's face flush and he knew that the latter had alreadygrasped the significance of his words. But the others, simpler of mind,reasoning by no involved process, looked at him, plainly puzzled. Hewould have to explain more fully to them. He did so. When he had shownthem that in hanging the rustler he would be violating the principlethat he had elected to defend, they stood before him abashed, thoroughlydisarmed. All except Ace. The poet's mind was still active.
"I reckon you might say you didn't know nothin' about us hangin' him?"he suggested.
"So I might," returned Hollis. "But people would not think so. And thereis my conscience. It wouldn't be such a weight upon it--the hanging ofthis man; I believe I would enjoy standing here and watching him stretchyour rope. But I would not be able to reconcile the action with theprinciple for which I am fighting. I believe none of you men would trustme very much if I advocated the law one day and broke it the next. Theapplication of this principle would be much the same as if I stole ahorse to-day and to-morrow had you arrested for stealing one."
"That's so," they chorused, and fell silent, regarding him with a newinterest.
"But what are you goin' to do with the cuss?" queried one man.
"We have a sheriff in Dry Bottom, I expect?" questioned Hollis.
Grins appeared on the faces of several of the men; the prisoner's facelighted.
"Oh, yes," said one; "I reckon Bill Watkins is the sheriff all right."
"Then we'll take him to Bill Watkins," decided Hollis.
The grins on the faces of several of the men grew. Norton laughed.
"I reckon you ain't got acquainted with Bill yet, Hollis," he said."Bill owes his place to Dunlavey. There has never been a rustlerconvicted by Watkins yet. I reckon there won't ever be anyconvicted--unless he's been caught stealin' Dunlavey's cattle. Bill'sjustice is a joke."
Hollis smiled grimly. He had learned that much from Judge Graney. He didnot expect to secure justice, but he wished to have something tangibleupon which to work to force the law into the country. His duty in thematter consisted only in delivering the prisoner into the custody of theauthorities, which in this case was the sheriff. The sheriff would beheld responsible for him. He said this much to the men. There was noother lawful way.
He was not surprised that they agreed with him. They had had muchexperience in dealing with Dunlavey; they had never been successful withthe old methods of warfare and they were quite willing to trust toHollis's judgment.
"I reckon you're just about right," said one who had spoken before."Stringin' this guy up would finish him all right. But that wouldn'tsettle the thing. What's needed is to get it fixed up for good an' all."
"Correct!" agreed Hollis; "you've got it exactly. We might hang a dozenmen for stealing cattle and we could go on hanging them. We've got noright to hang anyone--we've got a law for that purpose. Then let us makethe law act!"
The prisoner had stood in his place, watching the men around him, hisface betraying varying emotions. When it had been finally agreed to takehim to Dry Bottom and deliver him over to the sheriff he grinnedbroadly. But he said nothing as they took the rope from around his neck,forced him to mount a horse and surrounding him, rode out of thecottonwood toward the Circle Bar ranchhouse.