Chapter XIX
A Two-Gun Man
Webb delivered his beeves at the Fort and endured with what fortitude hecould the heavy cut which the inspector chose to inflict on him. He paidoff his men and let them shift for themselves. Billie secured a woodcontract at the reservation, employed half a dozen men and teams, cleanedup a thousand dollars in a couple of months, and rode back to LosPortales in the late fall.
He had money in his pocket and youth in his heart. The day was waning ashe rode up the street and in the sunlight the shadows of himself and hishorse were attenuated to farcical lengths. Little dust whirls rose in theroad, spun round in inverted cones like huge tops, and scurried out ofsight across the prairie. Horses drowsed lazily in front of Tolleson's,anchored to the spot by the simple process of throwing the bridle to theground. It all looked good to Billie. He had been hard at work for manymonths and he wanted to play.
A voice hailed him from across the street. "Hello, you Billie!"
Jim Clanton and Pauline Roubideau were coming out of a store. Hedescended from his horse and they fell upon him gayly.
"'Jour, monsieur," the girl cried, and she gave him warmly both herhands.
The honest eyes of Billie devoured her. "Didn't know you were within ahundred miles of here. This is great."
"We've moved. We live about twenty miles from town now. But I'm in a gooddeal because Jean has bought the livery stable," she explained.
"I'm sure glad to hear that."
"You're to come and see us to-night. Supper will be ready in an hour. Youbring him, Jim," ordered the girl. "I'll leave you boys alone now. Youmust have heaps to talk about."
The gaze of the cowpuncher followed her as she went down the street lightand graceful as a fawn. Not since spring had he seen her, though in thenight watches he had often heard the sound of her gay voice, seen theflash of her bright eyes, and recalled the sweet and gallant buoyancythat was the dear note of her comradeship.
Billie looked after his horse and walked with Jim to the Proctor House.His mind was already busy appraising the changes in his friend. Clantonwas now a "two-gun" man. From each hip hung a heavy revolver, the lowerends of the holsters tied down in order not to interfere with lightningrapidity of action. The young man showed no signs of nervousness, but hischill eyes watched without ceasing the street, doors and windows ofbuildings, the faces of passers-by and corner loafers. What Prince hadforeseen was coming to pass. He was paying the penalty of his reputationas a bad man. Already incessant wariness was the price of life for him.
A second surprise awaited Billie at the Roubideau house. Polly was in thekitchen and looked out of the door only to wave a big spoon at them asthey approached. Another young woman welcomed them. At sight of Billie adeep flush burned under her dark skin. It was, perhaps, because of thissign of emotion that her greeting was very cavalier.
"You're back, I see!"
Prince ignored the hint of hostility in her manner. His big hand grippedher little one firmly.
"Yes, I'm back, Miss Lee, and right glad to see you lookin' so well. I'llnever forget the last time we met."
Neither would she, but she did not care to tell him so. The memory of theadventure by the river-bank recurred persistently. This lean, sunbakedcowpuncher with the kind eyes and quiet efficiency of bearing hadimpressed himself upon her as no other man had. There was a touch ofscorn in her feeling for herself, because she knew she wanted him for hermate more than anything else on earth. In the night, alone in thefriendly darkness, her hot face pressed into the cool pillows, sheconfessed to herself that she loved him and longed for the sight of hisstrong, good-looking face with its smile of whimsical humor. But that waswhen she was safe from the eyes of the world. Now, to punish herself andto prevent him from suspecting the truth, she devoted her attentionmainly to Clanton.
Jim was openly her admirer. He wanted Lee to know it and did not care whoelse observed his devotion. Pauline for one guessed the boy's state ofmind and smiled at it, but Billie wondered whether the smile hid anaching heart. He knew that little Polly had a very tender feeling for theboy who had saved her life. More than once during supper it seemed to himthat her soft eyes yearned for the reckless young fellow talking so gaylyto Miss Snaith. The conviction grew in Prince--it found lodgment in hismind with a pang of despair--that the girl he cared for had given herlove to his friend. He fought against the thought, tried resolutely topush it from him, but again and again it returned.
Not until supper was well under way did Jean Roubideau come in from thecorral. He shook hands with Billie and at the same time explained toPolly his tardiness.
"Billie is not the only stranger in town to-night. Two or three blew injust before I left and kept me a few minutes. That Mysterious Pete Champawas one. You know him, don't you, Jim?"
The question was asked carelessly, casually, but Prince read in it awarning to his friend. It meant that he was to be ready for any emergencywhich might arise.
After they had eaten Billie went out to the porch to smoke with Jean.
"Is there goin' to be trouble between Mysterious Pete an' Jim?" he asked.
"Don't know. Wouldn't wonder if that was why Champa came to town. If Iwas Jim I'd keep an eye in the back of my head when I walked. It's acinch Pete will try to get him--if he tries it at all--with all thebreaks in his favor."
"Is it generally known that Jim was the man who killed Warren?"
"Yes." Jean stuffed and lit his pipe before he, said anything more. "Thekid can't get away from it now. Folks think of him as a killer. Theywatch him when he comes into a bar-room an' they're careful not to crosshim. He's a bad man whether he wants to be or not."
Billie nodded. "I was afraid it would be that way, but I'm more afraid ofsomethin' else. The worst thing that can happen to any man, except toget killed himself, is to shoot another in cold blood. 'Most always itgives the fellow a cravin' to kill again. Haven't you noticed it? A kindof madness gets into the veins of a killer."
"Sure I've noticed it. He has to be watchin'--watchin'--watchin' all thetime to make sure nobody gits him. His mind is on that one idea everyminute. Consequence is, he's always ready to shoot. So as not to take anychances, he makes it a habit to be sudden death with a six-gun."
"That's it. Most of 'em are sure-thing killers. Jim's not like that. He'sgame as they make 'em. But I'd give every cent I'm worth if he hadn'tgone out an' got Peg-Leg,"
"He never had any bringin' up, or at least he had the wrong kind." Helistened a moment with a little smile. From the kitchen, where Jim washelping the young women wash the dishes, came a murmur of voices andoccasionally a laugh. "Funny how all good women are mothers in theirhearts. Polly's tryin' to save that boy from himself, an' I reckon maybeMiss Lee is too. In a way they got no business to have him here at all. Ilike him. That ain't the point. But he's got off wrong foot first. He'sdeclared himself out of their class."
"And yore sister won't see it that way?"
"Not a bit of it. She's goin' to fight for his soul, as you might say,an' bring him back if she can do it. Polly's a mighty loyal littlefriend, if I am her brother that tells it."
"She's right," decided Prince. "It can't hurt her any. Nothin' that'swrong can do her any harm, because she's so fine she sees only the good.An' it's certainly goin' to do the kid good to know her."
"If he'd git out of here he might have a chance yet. But he won't. An'when he meets up with Champa or Dave Roush he's got to forget mightyprompt everything that Polly has told him."
"I heard Roush was on the mend. Is he up again?"
"Yes. He had a narrow squeak, but pulled through. Roush rode into townwith Mysterious Pete to-night."
"Then they've probably come to gun Jim. I'll stay right with him for aday or two if I can."
"What for?" demanded Roubideau bluntly. "You're not in this thing. You'vegot no call to mix up in it. The boy saved Polly, an' I'll go this far.If I'm on the spot when he meets Champa or Roush--an' I'll try to bethere--I won't let'em both come at him without tak
in' a hand. But hehas got to choose his own way in life. I can't stand between him an' theconsequences of his acts. He's got to play his own hand."
"Did Dave Roush an' Mysterious Pete seem pretty friendly?"
"Thicker than three in a bed."
"Looks bad." Billie came to another phase of the situation. "How does ithappen that Snaith's outfit have let Jim stay here without gettin' afterhim? Nothin' but a necktie party would suit 'em when we left in thespring."
"Times have changed," explained Roubideau. "This is quite a trail townnow. The big outfits are bringin' in a good deal of money. Snaith can'trun things with so high a hand as he did. Besides, there are a good manyof the trail punchers in town now. I reckon Wally Snaith has given ordersnot to start anything."
"Maybe Roush an' Champa have been given orders to take care of Jim."
Jean doubted this and said so. "Snaith doesn't play his hand under thetable. But, of course, Sanders may have tipped 'em off to do it."
Clanton joined them presently and the three men walked downtown. The gaysmile dropped from Jim's face the moment he stepped down from the porch.Already his eyes had narrowed and over them had come a kind of film. Theysearched every dark spot on the road.
"Let's go to Tolleson's," he proposed abruptly.
There was a moment of silence before Billie made a counter-proposition."No, let's go back to the hotel."
"All right. You fellows go to the hotel. Meet you there later."
The eyes of Prince and Roubideau met. Not another word was spoken. Bothof them knew that Clanton intended to show himself in public where anyone that wanted him might find him. They turned toward Tolleson's, buttook the precaution to enter by the back door.
The sound of shuffling feet, of tinkling piano and whining fiddle, gavenotice in advance that the dancers were on the floor. Clanton took theprecaution to ease the guns in their holsters in order to make sure of aswift draw.
His forethought was unnecessary. Neither Roush nor Mysterious Pete wasamong the dancers, the gamblers, or at the bar. The three friends passedout of the front door and walked to the Proctor House. Clanton had doneall that he felt was required of him and was willing to drop the matterfor the night.