CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
NIGHT-PROWLERS
Whenever the's anything on my mind I sleep purty light; an' the wholeCross brand outfit was on my mind that night; so it's not surprisin'that I woke up after a bit. The moon had climbed consid'able, an' thestars told me it was about two. I had been sleepin' alone; Horacehavin' decided to crawl in with the Friar so they could quarrel atshort range.
The Friar's tarp was next to mine, an' I raised myself on my elbow an'looked at it. I could hear him breathin' natural, an' the bulk of himwas so large that Horace wouldn't have made much of a mound anyway; soat first I couldn't tell whether he was there or not. I crept out tillI could sit up an' get a clear view; but Horace wasn't there, so I puton my boots as quick as ever.
I sneaked over to the Friar's tarp; but Horace's hat was gone, so Iknew he was up to some mischief, an' started for the corral to see ifhe had taken a hoss. What I feared was, that he had got to thinkin'about what a super-wonderful flame he had, and had decided to give ita fair work-out by sneakin' down to Ty Jones's on his own hook. I wasworried about this because I knew they'd do for him in a minute, ifthey'd catch him where they could hide all traces.
Olaf had built a large square corral an' a smaller round one, to dohis ropin' in; and when I reached the near side o' the square one, Iheard a slight noise near the gate of the round one. I peered throughthe poles of the corral, but the dividin' fence got in the road so 'atI couldn't see, an' I started to prowl around. All of a sudden,Horace's squeaky tenor piped out: "Halt"; an' I flattened out on theground, thinkin' he had spotted me; but just then the' was a smotheredcurse from the round corral, an' when I started to get up I sawBadger-face vault over the fence in the direction of Horace's voice.
Then I saw Horace standin' behind a clump with his gun on Badger-face."Put up your hands," sez Horace.
Badger was runnin' straight for him; but he put up his hands at thisorder, and came to a slow stop about five feet from Horace. The squarecorral was still between me an' them, an' I drew my right gun an'started around, keepin' my eye on 'em as much as I could through thepoles.
"I reckon I got ya this time," sez Horace, just as I reached thecorner.
"I reckon you have," sez Badger in a give-up voice; but at the samemoment he took a step forward, threw his body back, an' kicked the gunout of Horace's hand. Then he lunged forward an' got Horace by thethroat, flung him on his back an' straddled him--an' I broke for 'emon the run. Just before I reached 'em, the' came a heavy, muffledreport, an' Badger-face fell on his side an' rolled over on his back,clutchin' at his breast.
Horace rose to his feet, holdin' a toy pistol, put his hands on hiships, looked down at Badger-face, an' sez: "If you'd 'a' just askedOlaf what kind of a light I give out, you'd 'a' stayed at home an'saved your life." That's how nervous Horace was.
"Don't stand an' talk to a shot man," I sez. "Allus get his gunfirst."
Horace gave a jump at the sound o' my voice, an' covered me with hispop-gun. "Oh, it's you, is it?" he sez. "Well, then, you get his gun;but I don't much think he can use it."
By the time I had lifted Badger's gun, the other boys were arrivin',an' when they found that Horace had gone out alone an' shot a holethrough Badger-face, they certainly was some surprised. Purty soon KitMurray came out with Olaf, an' then Horace told about not feelin'sleepy an' bein' so disgusted at the way we were snorin' that he hadgot up to take a little stroll. He said he just went toward the corral'cause that was the least uninterestin' place he could think of, andthat Badger had sneaked down an' started to cut the stirrups off thesaddles right before his eyes.
"I gave him all the time he wanted," sez Horace, "so 'at therewouldn't be any doubt as to his intentions. I reckon 'at cuttin' upsaddles in another man's corral is goin' about far enough, ain't it?"
Just then the Friar finished his examination of Badger, an' went afterhis saddle bags for a bandage. "Went clear through his lung," was allhe said as he passed us on the run.
It was purty chilly at that time o' night; and as the cold began toeat in, it suddenly came over Horace that no matter how much justifiedhe was, he had shot an' most likely killed a feller human, an' hebegan to shake. He went over to Badger-face an' put his coat over him,an' sez: "Great heavens! are ya goin' to let this man lie out here inthe cold till he dies? Ain't the' some place we can put him? This ishorrible."
"Bring him in the house," sez Kit. "He don't deserve it; but we can'tlet him lie out here--can we, Olaf?"
"No," sez Olaf. "If you say bring him in, in he comes."
"That's right, that's fine. I don't bear him any malice," sez Horace."I hope he gets over it an' lives to repent."
We packed him into the house an' Kit made a fire an' heated somewater. As soon as the water was hot, the Friar cleaned out the woundwith it an' some foamy stuff out of a bottle. Then he dissolved a drabtablet in some water an' tied up both openings. Horace sat in a cornerdurin' this operation, with his head in his hands, shiverin'. Thereaction had set in; an' all of us knew what it was, though I don'tsuppose any of us had had the chance to give way to it as free asHorace did.
Badger-face was all cut an' scarred when we stripped him; but helooked as tough an' gnarly as an oak tree, an' the Friar said he hadone chance in a hundred to pull through. He didn't speak to us untilafter the Friar had finished with him. Then he said in a low, snarlyvoice: "I don't much expect to get over this; but before I slip off, Iwish you'd tell me who the little cuss who got me really is, an'what's his game."
We didn't hardly know what to say; but finally Tank sez: "We don'tfeel free to tell you who he is, Badger-face; but I'll say this much,he ain't no officer of the law."
I thought it would be the quickest way to straighten Horace up, so Itold him 'at Badger-face wanted to talk to him. Sure enough, Horacetook a deep breath an' stiffened his upper lip. Then he walked over tothe bed. "How do ya feel, Badger-face?" sez he.
"Oh, I been shot before," sez Badger; "but it burns worse 'n usualthis time, an' I reckon you've got me. It grinds me all up to think'at a little runt like you did it, an' it would soothe me to know 'atyou had some sort of a record."
Horace looked thoughtful: he wanted to comfort the man he wasresponsible for havin' put out o' the game; but he could see that thewhole truth wouldn't in no wise do, so he put on a foxy look an' sez:"I never worked around these parts none; but if you've ever heard o'Dinky Bradford, why, that's me. I know just how you feel. You feel asmuch put out at bein' bested by a small-like man, as I would at havin'a big feller get ahead o' me; but you needn't fret yourself. There'sfellers right in this room who have seen me go four days without foodan' then do a stunt which beat anything they'd ever seen. Don't youworry none. Now that you're down an' out, we all wish ya the best o'luck."
Me an' Spider an' Tank had to grin at this; but it was just whatBadger needed to quiet him, an' his face lit up when he asked Horacehow he had managed to shoot him.
"I used my auxilary armyment," sez Horace, but that's all theexplanation he'd make. I found out afterward that he had a thingcalled a derringer, a two-barreled pistol, forty-one caliber, which hecarried in his vest pocket. I told him 'at this sneaky sort of aweapon would give him a bad name if it was found out on him; but hesaid 'at he shot from necessity, not choice, and that when it came togettin' shot, he couldn't see why the victim should be so blameparticular what was used--which is sensible enough when you come tothink it over, though I wouldn't pack one o' those guns, myself.
Badger-face was out of his head next day, and for two weeks followin'.The Friar an' Kit an' Horace took turns nursin' him, an' they did anable job of it. Water, plain water an' wind, was about all the Friarused in treatin' him. Kit wanted to give him soup an' other sorts o'funnel food; but the Friar said 'at a man could live for weeks on whatwas stored up in him; an' Horace backed him up. Kit used to shake herhead at this, an' I know mighty well that down deep in her heart, shethought they would starve him to death before her very eyes.
We tore up the old shack on the hill
, snaked the poles down withOlaf's work team, an' set it up in the Spread; so 'at we'd be handy incase we was needed. A couple o' the Cross-branders drifted by, an' wegave 'em the news about Badger-face an' Dinky Bradford havin' cometogether an' Badger havin' got some the worst of it; but they wouldn'tgo in to see him, an' they quit wanderin' by; so 'at we didn't hardlyknow what to expect.
We had hard work thawin' out the clay for chinkin', an' we didn't getthe cabin as tight as we'd 'a' liked; but we had plenty o' wood, so itdidn't much matter as far as warmth was concerned; but we had theblamedest time with a pack-rat I ever did have.
I don't know whether pack-rats an' trade-rats is the same varmints ornot; but neither one of 'em has a grain o' sense, though some tries tostick up for the trade-rats on account o' their tryin' to be honest. Apack-rat is about three times as big as a barn rat, an' fifteen timesas energetic. His main delight is to move things. Horace said 'at hewas convinced they were the souls o' furniture-movers who had diedwithout repentin' of all the piano-lamps an' chiny-ware they hadbroke. A pack-rat don't care a peg whether he can use an article ornot; all he asks is the privilege of totin' it about somewhere.
We weren't at all sure 'at we wouldn't be routed out in the night; sowhen we went to sleep, we'd stack our boots an' hats where we couldfind 'em easy. Sometimes the pack-rat would toil so industrious 'athe'd wake us up an' we'd try to hive him; but most o' the time he'dwork sly, an' then next mornin' we'd find our boots all in a heap onthe table, or in the corner under the bunk or somewhere clear outsidethe shack; until we was tempted to move the shack back where it was,there not bein' any pack-rats up there.
Then either the pack-rat reformed into a trade-rat, or else he soldout his claim to a trade-rat. Anyway, four nights after we'd beensettled, we began to get trades for our stuff.
Horace was sleepin' this whole night with us, an' next mornin' hewakened before light an' started to dress so as to relieve the Friar.He had put his boots on the floor under the head o' his bunk, an' whenhe reached down for 'em he found one potato an' the hide of a rabbit.The rabbit hide had been tossed out two days before, an' it had frozestiff an' had a most ungainly feel at that hour o' the mornin'. Horacescrooged back into bed an' pulled all the covers off Tank whom he wassleepin' with. When Tank awoke, he found Horace sittin' up in the bunkwith the covers wound around him, yellin' for some one to strike alight.
We all struck matches an' finally got a candle lit. When Horace sawwhat it was, he was hos-tile for true, thinkin' it was a joke one o'the boys had put up. We had had a hard time convincin' him o' the wayso' pack-rats, an' now when we sprung trade-rats on him, he thought wewere liars without mercy; but when the Friar came out to learn whatthe riot was, an' told Horace it was all so about trade-rats, he hadto give in.
"Well, they've got a heap o' nerve," sez he, from the center o' thebeddin' which was still wound around him, "to lug off a good pair o'high-heeled ridin' boots, an' leave an old potato an' the shuck of arabbit in place of 'em!"
After this Horace took a tarp into Badger's room an' bedded himselfdown in a corner, which was all around the most handy thing he coulddo; but the rest of us had a regular pest of a time with that rat. Wecouldn't find out where the deuce he got in; but he distributed ourbelongin's constant, an' generally brought us some of Olaf'sgrub-stuff in exchange. We couldn't trap him nor bluff him, an' itgenerally took a good hour mornin's, to round up our wearin' apparel.
One night we kept the fire goin' an' changed watchers every two hours.Ol' Tank was on guard from two to four, an' he woke us up by takin' ashot. We found him on his back in the middle o' the floor, an' heclaimed he had been settin' in a chair an' had seen the rat walkin'along the lower side o' the ridgepole with one o' Tillte Dutch's bootsin his mouth. Dutch had the spreadin'est feet in the outfit, an' wecouldn't believe 'at a trade-rat could possibly tote it, hangin' downfrom the ridgepole; but Tank showed us a lot o' scratches along theridgepole, an' a bruise on his chin where the boot had hit him whenthe rat dropped it. The' was also a hole in the boot where his bullethad gone, but this didn't prove anything. Still, Tank stuck to hisstory, so we had to apologize for accusin' him of lettin' his good eyesleep while he kept watch with his free one.
We stuffed burlap into the hole about the ridgepole, an' that nightbein' Christmas eve, we all gathered in and held festivities. Wedanced an' told tales an' sang until a late hour. None of us wereinstrument musicians; but we clapped our hands an' patted with ourfeet, an' Kit took turns dancin' with us, till it was most like aregular party. Mexican Slim bet that he could do a Spanish dance aslong as Horace could sing different verses of his song; but wesuppressed it at the ninety-first verse. Tank wanted to let himfinish, in the hope it might kill the trade-rat; but we couldn't standany more, ourselves.
Then the Friar taught us a song called, "We three Kings of Orientare"; an' we disbursed for the night. It was a gorgeous night, an' mean' the Friar took a little walk under the stars. One of 'em restedjust above the glisteny peak up back o' the rim, an' he sang soft an'low, the "Star of beauty, star of night" part o' this song. He alluslifted me off the earth when he sang this way. Then he sez to me:"After all, Happy, life pays big dividends, if we just live it hardenough"; an' he gave a little sigh an' went in to tend to Badger-face.