Chapter X
Dave Takes a Ride
Dave Dingwell had sauntered carelessly out of the Legal Tender on thenight of his disappearance. He was apparently at perfect ease with afriendly world. But if any one had happened to follow him out of thesaloon, he would have seen an odd change in the ranchman. He slidswiftly along the wall of the building until he had melted into theshadows of darkness. His eyes searched the neighborhood for lurkingfigures while he crouched behind the trunk of a cottonwood. Everynerve of the man was alert, every muscle ready for action. One brownhand lingered affectionately close to the butt of his revolver.
He had come out of the front door of the gambling-house because he knewthe Rutherfords would expect him, in the exercise of ordinary commonsense, to leave by the rear exit. That he would be watched wascertain. Therefore, he had done the unexpected and walked boldly outthrough the swinging doors.
As his eyes became accustomed to the darkness, he made out a horse inthe clump of trees about twenty yards to the left. Whether it wasTeddy he could not be sure, but there was no time to lose. Already asignal whistle had shrilled out from the other side of the street.Dave knew this was to warn the guards at the rear of the Legal Tenderthat their prey was in the open.
He made a dash for the tree clump, but almost as he reached it, heswung to the left and circled the small grove so as to enter it fromthe other side. As he expected, a man whirled to meet him. Theunforeseen tactics of Dingwell had interfered with the ambush.
Dave catapulted into him head first and the two went down together.Before Dingwell could grip the throat of the man beneath him, a secondbody hurled itself through space at the cattleman. The attacked manflattened under the weight crushing him, but his right arm swept aroundand embraced the neck of his second assailant. He flexed his powerfulforearm so as to crush as in a vice the throat of his foe between itand the hard biceps. The breath of the first man had for the momentbeen knocked out of him and he was temporarily not in the fight. Theranchman gave his full attention to the other.
The fellow struggled savagely. He had a gun in his right hand, but thefingers of Dave's left had closed upon the wrist above. Stertorousbreathing gave testimony that the gunman was in trouble. In spite ofhis efforts to break the hold that kept his head in chancery, themuscles of the arm tightened round his neck like steel ropes drawntaut. He groaned, sighed in a ragged expulsion of breath, and suddenlycollapsed.
Before he relaxed his muscles, Dingwell made sure that the surrenderwas a genuine one. His left hand slid down and removed the revolverfrom the nerveless fingers. The barrel of it was jammed against thehead of the man above him while the rancher freed himself from theweight of the body. Slowly the cattleman got to his feet.
Vaguely he had been aware already that men were running toward the treeclump. Now he heard the padding of their feet close at hand. He ranto the horse and flung himself into the saddle, but before the animalhad moved two steps some one had it by the bridle. Another man caughtDingwell by the arm and dragged him from the saddle. Before Dave couldscramble to his feet again, something heavy fell upon his head andshook him to the heels. A thousand lights flashed in zigzags beforehis eyes. He sank back into unconsciousness.
The cowman returned to a world of darkness out of which voices came asfrom a distance hazily. A groan prefaced his arrival.
"Dave's waking up," one of the far voices said.
"Sure. When you tap his haid with a six-gun, you're liable to needrepairs on the gun," a second answered.
The next words came to Dingwell more distinctly. He recognized thespeaker as Hal Rutherford of the horse ranch.
"Too bad the boy had to hand you that crack, Dave. You're such a bearfor fighting a man can't take any chances. Glad he didn't bust yourhaid wide open."
"Sure he didn't?" asked the injured man. "I feel like I got to hold iton tight so as to keep the blamed thing from flying into fifty pieces."
"Sorry. We'll take you to a doc and have it fixed up. Then we'll allgo have a drunk. That'll fix you."
"Business first," cut in Buck Rutherford.
"That's right, Dave," agreed the owner of the horse ranch. "How aboutthat gunnysack? Where did you hide it?"
Dingwell played for time. He had not the least intention of telling,but if he held the enemy in parley some of his friends might pass thatway.
"What gunnysack, Hal? Jee-rusalem, how my head aches!" He held hishands to his temples and groaned again.
"Your head will mend--if we don't have to give it another crack," Bucktold him grimly. "Get busy, Dave. We want that gold--_pronto_. Wheredid you put it?"
"Where _did_ I put it? That willing lad of yours has plumb knocked theanswer out of my noodle. Maybe you're thinking of some one else,Buck." Dingwell looked up at him with an innocent, bland smile.
"Come through," ordered Buck with an oath.
The cattleman treated them to another dismal groan. "Gee! I feel likethe day after Christmas. Was it a cannon the kid hit me with?"
Meldrum pushed his ugly phiz to the front. "Don't monkey away anytime, boys. String him to one of these cottonwoods till he spits outwhat we want."
"Was it while you was visiting up at Santa Fe you learnt that habit ofseeing yore neighbors hanged, Dan?" drawled Dingwell in a voice ofgentle irony.
Furious at this cool reference to his penitentiary days, Meldrum kickedtheir captive in the ribs. Hal Rutherford, his eyes blazing, caughtthe former convict by the throat.
"Do that again and I'll hang yore hide up to dry." He shook Meldrum asif he were a child, then flung the gasping man away. "I'll show youwho's boss of this _rodeo_, by gum!"
Meldrum had several notches on his gun. He was, too, arough-and-tumble fighter with his hands. But Hal Rutherford was oneman he knew better than to tackle. He fell back, growling threats inhis throat.
Meanwhile Dave was making discoveries. One was that the first two menwho had attacked him were the gamblers he had driven from the LegalTender earlier in the evening. The next was that Buck Rutherford wassending the professional tinhorns about their business.
"Git!" ordered the big rancher. "And keep gitting till you've crossedthe border. Don't look back any. Jest burn the wind. _Adios_."
"They meant to gun you, Dave," guessed the owner of the horse ranch."I reckon they daren't shoot with me loafing there across the road.You kinder disarranged their plans some more by dropping in at theirback door. Looks like you'd 'a' rumpled up their hair a few if youhadn't been in such a hurry to make a get-away. Which brings us backto the previous question. The unanimous sense of the meeting is thatyou come through with some information, Dave. Where is that gunnysack?"
Dave, still sitting on the ground, leaned his back against a tree andgrinned amiably at his questioner. "Sounds like you-all been to schoolto a parrot. You must 'a' quituated after you learned one sentence."
"We're waiting for an answer, Dave."
The cool, steady eyes of Dingwell met the imperious ones of the otherman in a long even gaze. "Nothing doing, Hal."
"Even split, Dave. Fifty-fifty."
The sitting man shook his head. "I'll split the reward with you when Iget it. The sack goes back to the express company."
"We'll see about that." Rutherford turned to his son and gave briskorders. "Bring up the horses. We'll get out of here. You ride withme, Jeff. We'll take care of Dingwell. The rest of you scatter.We're going back to the park."
The Rutherfords and their captive followed no main road, but cut acrosscountry in a direction where they would be less likely to meettravelers. It was a land of mesquite and prickly pear. The sting ofthe cactus bit home in the darkness as its claws clutched at the riderswinding their slow way through the chaparral.
Gray day was dawning when they crossed the Creosote Flats and were seenby a sheep-herder at a distance. The sun was high in the heavensbefore they reached the defile which served as a gateway between thefoothills and the range bey
ond. It had passed the meridian by the timethey were among the summits where they could look back upon roundedhills numberless as the billows of a sea. Deeper and always deeperthey plunged into the maze of canons which gashed into the saddlesbetween the peaks. Blue-tinted dusk was enveloping the hills as theydropped down through a wooded ravine into Huerfano Park.
"Home soon," Dave suggested cheerfully to his captors. "I sure amhungry enough to eat a government mailsack. A flank steak would make abig hit with me."
Jeff looked at him in the dour, black Rutherford way. "This is nopicnic, you'll find."
"Not to you, but it's a great vacation for me. I feel a hundred percent better since I got up into all this ozone and scenery." Dingwellassured him hardily. "A man ought to take a trip like this every oncein a while. It's great for what ails him."
Young Rutherford grunted sulkily. Their prisoner was the coolestcustomer he had ever met. The man was no fool. He must know he was inperil, but his debonair, smiling _insouciance_ never left him for amoment. He was grit clear through.