Rim o' the World

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  THE NAME

  Tom Lorrigan may have seen bigger fusses made over smaller mattersthan the hide of a spotty yearlin', but his boys never had.

  No country is so isolated that gossip cannot find it out. The story ofthe spotted yearling went speeding through the country. Men made thinexcuses to ride miles out of their way that they might air theiropinions and hear some fresh bit of news, some conjecture that grew toa rumor and was finally repeated broadcast as truth. Children cringedand wept while necks were scrubbed relentlessly, for a fever of"visiting" attacked the women of the range. Miles they would travel tovisit a neighbor. And there they talked and talked and talked, whilethe guest in neighborly fashion dried the dinner dishes for thehostess in hot, fly-infested kitchens.

  Aleck Douglas, infuriated by the contemptuous attitude which Tom hadtaken toward him and his spotty yearling, and by his failure to findany incriminating evidence on the Devil's Tooth ranch, swore to agood many suspicions which he called facts, and had Tom arrested. Thesheriff had taken two deputies along with him, because he fullyexpected that the Lorrigans would "go on the warpath" as Belle haddone. He was vastly astonished and somewhat chagrined when Tom gave asnort, handed over his gun, and turned to one of his boys.

  "Al," said Tom, "you go ahead with the round-up while I go in and fixthis up. May take a few days--depends on the gait I can get 'em totravel. I'll have to rustle me a lawyer, too. But you know what to do;keep 'er moving till I get back."

  Black Rim country talked and chortled and surmised, and wondered whatmade Tom so darned meek about it. They did not accuse him of any lackof nerve; being a Lorrigan, his nerve could scarcely be questioned.Opinion was about evenly divided. A few declared that Tom hadsomething up his sleeve, and there would be a killing yet. Othersinsisted that Tom knew when he was backed into a corner. Old ScottyDouglas had him dead to rights, they said, and Tom knew better than torun on the rope. Men and women assumed the gift of prophecy, and allprophesied alike. Tom Lorrigan would go "over the road"; for how longthey could only guess according to their secret hopes. Some predicteda fifteen-year term for Tom. Others thought that he might get offlightly--say with five or six years. They based their opinion on thefact that men have been sent to the penitentiary for fifteen years,there to repent of stealing a calf not yet past the age of prime veal.And it is not so long since men were hanged for stealing a horse;witness Tom's brother, who would surely have been lynched had he notbeen shot. Witness also divers other Lorrigans whose careers had beenshortened by their misdeeds.

  Much of the talk was peddled to Tom and the boys under the guise offriendship. Having lived all of his life in the Black Rim country, Tomknew how much the friendship was worth, knew that the Black Rim folkhad drawn together like a wolf pack, and were waiting only until hewas down before they rushed in to rend him and his family. Old grudgeswere brought out and aired secretly. It would go hard with theLorrigan family if Tom were found guilty. Although he sensed thecovert malice behind the smiles men gave him, he would not yield oneinch from his mocking disparagement of the whole affair. He laid downa law or two to his boys, and bade them hold their tongues and gotheir way and give no heed to the clacking.

  "The show ain't over till the curtain's down for good," he said,borrowing a phrase from Belle. "We got a long time yet to live in theBlack Rim. We'll be right here when the smoke lifts. Hang and rattlenow, and keep your mouths shut. This here's the law-sharp's job. I'mpayin' him darn good money for it, too. When he's through, then we'llplay. But mark this down in yore little red book, boys: The less yuhsay right now, the stronger we can play the game when we're ready."

  "If they do railroad yuh, dad, leave it to us. They'll be a sorrylooking bunch when we're through," said Lance, and meant every word ofit.

  "They won't railroad me." Tom snorted and laughed his contempt of thewhole affair. "I ain't ever used the law to fight with before--butshucks! When a scrap gets outside of gun range, one club's about thesame as another to me."

  Optimism is a good thing, but it does not altogether serve, as Tomdiscovered at the trial.

  Evidence was produced which astonished him. For instance, an AJ manhad seen him riding over by Squaw Butte, on the night after Douglashad accused him of stealing the spotted yearling. The AJ man seemedembarrassed at his sudden prominence in the case, and kept turning hisbig range hat round and round on one knee as he sat in the chairsacred to those who bore witness to the guilt or innocence of theirfellow men in Black Rim country. He did not often look up, and when hedid he swallowed convulsively, as though something stuck in histhroat. But his story sounded matter-of-fact and honest.

  He had ridden past Squaw Butte the night after Tom Lorrigan wasaccused by Douglas. Yes, he knew it was that night, because next dayhe heard about the fuss over at Devil's Tooth. He had been on his wayfrom Jumpoff and had cut across country because he was late. There wasa moon, and he had seen a man riding across an open space between thecreek and the willows. The man had gone in among the willows. The AJman had not thought much about it, though he did wonder a little, too.It was late for a man to be riding around on the range.

  When he reached the place, he saw a man ride out of the brush fartheralong, into clear moonlight. It was Tom Lorrigan; yes, he was sure ofthat. He knew the horse that Tom was riding. It was a big, shiny blackthat always carried its head up; a high-stepping horse that a mancould recognize anywhere. No, he didn't know of any other horse in thecountry just like it. He admitted that if he hadn't been sure of thehorse he would not have been sure it was Tom. He did not think Tom sawhim at all. He was riding along next the bank, in the shadow. He hadgone on home, and the next day he heard that Scotty Douglas claimedthe Lorrigans had rustled a yearling from him.

  Later, Tom's lawyer asked him why he had not spoken to Tom. The AJ manreplied that he didn't know--he wasn't very close; not close enoughfor talking unless he hollered.

  That was all very well, and Black Rim perked its ears, thinking thatthe case looked bad for Tom. Very bad indeed.

  But Tom's lawyer proved very adroitly that the AJ man had not been inJumpoff at the time he claimed. He had been with his own outfit, andif he had ridden past Squaw Butte that night he must have gone outfrom the ranch and come back again. Which led very naturally to thequestion, Why?

  On the other hand, why had Tom Lorrigan ridden to Squaw Butte thatnight? He himself explained that later on. He said that he had goneover to see if there was any hide in the willows as Douglas hadclaimed. He had not found any.

  Thus two men admitted having been in the neighborhood of the stolenhide on that night. Tom's lawyer was quick to seize the coincidence,and make the most of it. Why, he asked mildly, might not the AJ outfithave stolen the yearling? What was the AJ man doing there? Why notsuspect him of having placed the hide in the crevice where it hadlater been found? That night the hide had been removed from thewillows where Douglas had first discovered it. Douglas had gone backthe next day after it, and it had been missing. It was not untilseveral days later that he had found it in the crevice. Why assumethat Tom Lorrigan had removed it?

  "If I'd set out to cache that hide," Tom here interposed, "I'd haveburied it. Only a darn fool would leave evidence like that layingaround in sight."

  For this the court reprimanded him, but he had seen several of thejury nod their heads, unconsciously agreeing with him. And althoughhis remark was never put on record, it stuck deep in the minds of thejury and had its influence later on. They remembered that theLorrigans were no fools, and they considered the attempt at concealingthe hide a foolish one--not to say childish.

  Tom's lawyer did not argue openly that a conspiracy had been hatchedagainst Tom Lorrigan, but he so presented the case in his closingargument to the jury that each man believed he saw an angle to theaffair which the defense had overlooked. It appeared to the jury to bea "frame-up." For instance, why had Cheyenne, a Lorrigan man, riddenover to the Douglas ranch and remained outside by the corral for along time, talking with Aleck Douglas
, before he went inside to callon the Douglas girl? Sam Pretty Cow impassively testified to that. Hehad been riding over to see a halfbreed girl that worked for theBlacks, and he had cut through the Douglas ranch to save time. He sawCheyenne's horse at the corral.

  "Me, I dunno what she's doin' on that place. Cheyenne, he's in campwhen I'm go. I'm stop by the haystack. I'm see Cheyenne talk toScotty. That don't look good, you bet."

  A full week the trial lasted, while the lawyers wrangled over evidenceand technicalities, and the judge ruled out evidence and later ruledit in again. A full week Tom slept in the county jail,--and for alltheir bad reputation, it was the first time a Lorrigan had lain downbehind a bolted door to sleep, had opened his eyes to see the dawnlight painting the wall with the shadow of bars.

  There were nights when his optimism failed him, when Tom lay awaketrying to adjust himself to the harrying thought that long, cagedyears might be his portion. Nights when he doubted the skill of his"law-sharp" to free him from the deadweight of the Lorrigan reputationand the malice of his neighbors. Of course, he would fight--to thelast dollar; but there were nights when he doubted the power of hisdollars to save him.

  It was during those nights that the lawless blood of the Lorrigans ranswiftly through the veins of Tom, who had set himself to win a millionhonestly. It was then that he remembered his quiet, law-abiding yearsregretfully, as time wasted; a thankless struggle toward the regard ofhis fellow men. Of what avail to plod along the path of uprightnesswhen no man would point to him and say, "There is an honest man."

  "They've give me the name, and I ain't got the game," cried Tombitterly, in the quiet of his cell. "Whether I go to the pen orwhether I don't, they better stand from under. They'll sure know aLorrigan's livin' in the Black Rim before I'm done."