CHAPTER XXIII
Duane returned to Fairdale and camped in the mesquite till thetwenty-third of the month. The few days seemed endless. All he couldthink of was that the hour in which he must disgrace Ray Longstreth wasslowly but inexorably coming. In that waiting time he learned whatlove was and also duty. When the day at last dawned he rode like onepossessed down the rough slope, hurdling the stones and crashing throughthe brush, with a sound in his ears that was not all the rush of thewind. Something dragged at him.
Apparently one side of his mind was unalterably fixed, while the otherwas a hurrying conglomeration of flashes of thought, reception ofsensations. He could not get calmness. By and by, almost involuntarily,he hurried faster on. Action seemed to make his state less oppressive;it eased the weight. But the farther he went on the harder it was tocontinue. Had he turned his back upon love, happiness, perhaps on lifeitself?
There seemed no use to go on farther until he was absolutely sure ofhimself. Duane received a clear warning thought that such work as seemedhaunting and driving him could never be carried out in the mood underwhich he labored. He hung on to that thought. Several times he slowedup, then stopped, only to go on again. At length, as he mounted a lowridge, Fairdale lay bright and green before him not far away, and thesight was a conclusive check. There were mesquites on the ridge, andDuane sought the shade beneath them. It was the noon-hour, with hot,glary sun and no wind. Here Duane had to have out his fight. Duane wasutterly unlike himself; he could not bring the old self back; he wasnot the same man he once had been. But he could understand why. It wasbecause of Ray Longstreth. Temptation assailed him. To have her hiswife! It was impossible. The thought was insidiously alluring. Duanepictured a home. He saw himself riding through the cotton and rice andcane, home to a stately old mansion, where long-eared hounds bayed himwelcome, and a woman looked for him and met him with happy and beautifulsmile. There might--there would be children. And something new, strange,confounding with its emotion, came to life deep in Duane's heart. Therewould be children! Ray their mother! The kind of life a lonely outcastalways yearned for and never had! He saw it all, felt it all.
But beyond and above all other claims came Captain MacNelly's. It wasthen there was something cold and death-like in Duane's soul. For heknew, whatever happened, of one thing he was sure--he would have to killeither Longstreth or Lawson. Longstreth might be trapped into arrest;but Lawson had no sense, no control, no fear. He would snarl like apanther and go for his gun, and he would have to be killed. This, of allconsummations, was the one to be calculated upon.
Duane came out of it all bitter and callous and sore--in the mostfitting of moods to undertake a difficult and deadly enterprise. He hadfallen upon his old strange, futile dreams, now rendered poignant byreason of love. He drove away those dreams. In their places came theimages of the olive-skinned Longstreth with his sharp eyes, and thedark, evil-faced Lawson, and then returned tenfold more thrilling andsinister the old strange passion to meet Poggin.
It was about one o'clock when Duane rode into Fairdale. The streets forthe most part were deserted. He went directly to find Morton and Zimmer.He found them at length, restless, somber, anxious, but unaware of thepart he had played at Ord. They said Longstreth was home, too. It waspossible that Longstreth had arrived home in ignorance.
Duane told them to be on hand in town with their men in case he mightneed them, and then with teeth locked he set off for Longstreth's ranch.
Duane stole through the bushes and trees, and when nearing the porchhe heard loud, angry, familiar voices. Longstreth and Lawson werequarreling again. How Duane's lucky star guided him! He had no plan ofaction, but his brain was equal to a hundred lightning-swift evolutions.He meant to take any risk rather than kill Longstreth. Both of the menwere out on the porch. Duane wormed his way to the edge of the shrubberyand crouched low to watch for his opportunity.
Longstreth looked haggard and thin. He was in his shirt-sleeves, and hehad come out with a gun in his hand. This he laid on a table near thewall. He wore no belt.
Lawson was red, bloated, thick-lipped, all fiery and sweaty from drink,though sober on the moment, and he had the expression of a desperateman in his last stand. It was his last stand, though he was ignorant ofthat.
"What's your news? You needn't be afraid of my feelings," said Lawson.
"Ray confessed to an interest in this ranger," replied Longstreth.
Duane thought Lawson would choke. He was thick-necked anyway, and therush of blood made him tear at the soft collar of his shirt. Duaneawaited his chance, patient, cold, all his feelings shut in a vise.
"But why should your daughter meet this ranger?" demanded Lawson,harshly.
"She's in love with him, and he's in love with her."
Duane reveled in Lawson's condition. The statement might have had theforce of a juggernaut. Was Longstreth sincere? What was his game?
Lawson, finding his voice, cursed Ray, cursed the ranger, thenLongstreth.
"You damned selfish fool!" cried Longstreth, in deep bitter scorn. "Allyou think of is yourself--your loss of the girl. Think once of ME--myhome--my life!"
Then the connection subtly put out by Longstreth apparently dawned uponthe other. Somehow through this girl her father and cousin were to bebetrayed. Duane got that impression, though he could not tell how trueit was. Certainly Lawson's jealousy was his paramount emotion.
"To hell with you!" burst out Lawson, incoherently. He was frenzied."I'll have her, or nobody else will!"
"You never will," returned Longstreth, stridently. "So help me God I'drather see her the ranger's wife than yours!"
While Lawson absorbed that shock Longstreth leaned toward him, all ofhate and menace in his mien.
"Lawson, you made me what I am," continued Longstreth. "I backedyou--shielded you. YOU'RE Cheseldine--if the truth is told! Now it'sended. I quit you. I'm done!"
Their gray passion-corded faces were still as stones.
"GENTLEMEN!" Duane called in far-reaching voice as he stepped out."YOU'RE BOTH DONE!"
They wheeled to confront Duane.
"Don't move! Not a muscle! Not a finger!" he warned.
Longstreth read what Lawson had not the mind to read. His face turnedfrom gray to ashen.
"What d'ye mean?" yelled Lawson, fiercely, shrilly. It was not in him toobey a command, to see impending death.
All quivering and strung, yet with perfect control, Duane raised hisleft hand to turn back a lapel of his open vest. The silver star flashedbrightly.
Lawson howled like a dog. With barbarous and insane fury, with sheerimpotent folly, he swept a clawing hand for his gun. Duane's shot brokehis action.
Before Lawson ever tottered, before he loosed the gun, Longstreth leapedbehind him, clasped him with left arm, quick as lightning jerked thegun from both clutching fingers and sheath. Longstreth protected himselfwith the body of the dead man. Duane saw red flashes, puffs of smoke;he heard quick reports. Something stung his left arm. Then a blow likewind, light of sound yet shocking in impact, struck him, staggered him.The hot rend of lead followed the blow. Duane's heart seemed to explode,yet his mind kept extraordinarily clear and rapid.
Duane heard Longstreth work the action of Lawson's gun. He heard thehammer click, fall upon empty shells. Longstreth had used up all theloads in Lawson's gun. He cursed as a man cursed at defeat. Duanewaited, cool and sure now. Longstreth tried to lift the dead man, toedge him closer toward the table where his own gun lay. But, consideringthe peril of exposing himself, he found the task beyond him. He bentpeering at Duane under Lawson's arm, which flopped out from his side.Longstreth's eyes were the eyes of a man who meant to kill. There wasnever any mistaking the strange and terrible light of eyes likethose. More than once Duane had a chance to aim at them, at the top ofLongstreth's head, at a strip of his side.
Longstreth flung Lawson's body off. But even as it dropped, beforeLongstreth could leap, as he surely intended, for the gun, Duane coveredhim, called piercingly to him:
> "Don't jump for the gun! Don't! I'll kill you! Sure as God I'll killyou!"
Longstreth stood perhaps ten feet from the table where his gun lay Duanesaw him calculating chances. He was game. He had the courage that forcedDuane to respect him. Duane just saw him measure the distance to thatgun. He was magnificent. He meant to do it. Duane would have to killhim.
"Longstreth, listen," cried Duane, swiftly. "The game's up. You're done.But think of your daughter! I'll spare your life--I'll try to get youfreedom on one condition. For her sake! I've got you nailed--all theproofs. There lies Lawson. You're alone. I've Morton and men to my aid.Give up. Surrender. Consent to demands, and I'll spare you. Maybe I canpersuade MacNelly to let you go free back to your old country. It's forRay's sake! Her life, perhaps her happiness, can be saved! Hurry, man!Your answer!"
"Suppose I refuse?" he queried, with a dark and terrible earnestness.
"Then I'll kill you in your tracks! You can't move a hand! Your word ordeath! Hurry, Longstreth! Be a man! For her sake! Quick! Another secondnow--I'll kill you!"
"All right, Buck Duane, I give my word," he said, and deliberatelywalked to the chair and fell into it.
Longstreth looked strangely at the bloody blot on Duane's shoulder.
"There come the girls!" he suddenly exclaimed. "Can you help me dragLawson inside? They mustn't see him."
Duane was facing down the porch toward the court and corrals. MissLongstreth and Ruth had come in sight, were swiftly approaching,evidently alarmed. The two men succeeded in drawing Lawson into thehouse before the girls saw him.
"Duane, you're not hard hit?" said Longstreth.
"Reckon not," replied Duane.
"I'm sorry. If only you could have told me sooner! Lawson, damn him!Always I've split over him!"
"But the last time, Longstreth."
"Yes, and I came near driving you to kill me, too. Duane, you talkedme out of it. For Ray's sake! She'll be in here in a minute. This'll beharder than facing a gun."
"Hard now. But I hope it'll turn out all right."
"Duane, will you do me a favor?" he asked, and he seemed shamefaced.
"Sure."
"Let Ray and Ruth think Lawson shot you. He's dead. It can't matter.Duane, the old side of my life is coming back. It's been coming. It'llbe here just about when she enters this room. And, by God, I'd changeplaces with Lawson if I could!"
"Glad you--said that, Longstreth," replied Duane. "And sure--Lawsonplugged me. It's our secret."
Just then Ray and Ruth entered the room. Duane heard two low cries, sodifferent in tone, and he saw two white faces. Ray came to his side, Shelifted a shaking hand to point at the blood upon his breast. White andmute, she gazed from that to her father.
"Papa!" cried Ray, wringing her hands.
"Don't give way," he replied, huskily. "Both you girls will need yournerve. Duane isn't badly hurt. But Floyd is--is dead. Listen. Let metell it quick. There's been a fight. It--it was Lawson--it was Lawson'sgun that shot Duane. Duane let me off. In fact, Ray, he saved me. I'mto divide my property--return so far as possible what I've stolen--leaveTexas at once with Duane, under arrest. He says maybe he can getMacNelly, the ranger captain, to let me go. For your sake!"
She stood there, realizing her deliverance, with the dark and tragicglory of her eyes passing from her father to Duane.
"You must rise above this," said Duane to her. "I expected this to ruinyou. But your father is alive. He will live it down. I'm sure I canpromise you he'll be free. Perhaps back there in Louisiana the dishonorwill never be known. This country is far from your old home. And even inSan Antonio and Austin a man's evil repute means little. Then the linebetween a rustler and a rancher is hard to draw in these wild borderdays. Rustling is stealing cattle, and I once heard a well-known ranchersay that all rich cattlemen had done a little stealing Your fatherdrifted out here, and, like a good many others, he succeeded. It'sperhaps just as well not to split hairs, to judge him by the law andmorality of a civilized country. Some way or other he drifted in withbad men. Maybe a deal that was honest somehow tied his hands. Thismatter of land, water, a few stray head of stock had to be decided outof court. I'm sure in his case he never realized where he was drifting.Then one thing led to another, until he was face to face with dealingthat took on crooked form. To protect himself he bound men to him. Andso the gang developed. Many powerful gangs have developed that wayout here. He could not control them. He became involved with them. Andeventually their dealings became deliberately and boldly dishonest. Thatmeant the inevitable spilling of blood sooner or later, and so he grewinto the leader because he was the strongest. Whatever he is to bejudged for, I think he could have been infinitely worse."