Chapter XXX
Polly has a Plan
Pauline moved across the room and sat down beside Jim. An eager lightshone in her soft, brown eyes.
"Listen!" she ordered in a low voice. "I've got a plan. There's a chancethat it will work, I think. But tell me first about your sleepingarrangements. Does Jack or the other guard sit up and watch you all thetime?"
"No. The champion roper of New Mexico, Arizona, an' Texas throws thediamond hitch on yours truly. He does an expert job, tucks me up, an'says good-night. He knows I'm perfectly safe till mornin', especiallysince both he an' Brad sleep in the same room with me."
"Well, I'm going to give you dad's room." She leaned forward andwhispered to him steadily for five minutes.
The sardonic mockery had vanished from the face of the prisoner. Helistened, every nerve and fiber of him at alert attention. Occasionallyhe asked a question. Carefully she explained the plan, going over eachdetail of it again and again.
Jim Clanton was efficient. In those days it was a necessary quality for abad man if he wished to continue to function. He offered a suggestion ortwo which Pauline incorporated in her proposed campaign of action. Atbest her scheme was hazardous. It depended upon all things dovetailingproperly. But he was in no place to pick and choose. All he asked was achance and an even break of luck.
"You dandy girl!" he cried softly, and took her two hands between thepalms of his fettered ones. "I'm a scalawag, Polly. But if you pull thisoff for me, I'll right-about-face. That's a promise. Somehow I've neveracted like I wanted to. I've done a heap of wild an' foolish things, an'I've killed whenever it was put up to me. I don't reckon any woman thatmarried me would be real happy. But if you'll take a chance 111 go awayfrom here an' well Make a fresh start. You're the only girl there is forme."
A faint smile lay in her eyes. "You used to think Lee was the only girl,didn't you?"
"Well, I don't now. I like Polly Roubideau better."
Abruptly she flung at him a statement that was a question. "You didn'tkill Mr. Webb."
"No. I never killed but one man without givin' him an even break. Thatwas Peg-Leg Warren, an' he was a cold-blooded murderer."
A troubled little frown creased her forehead. "I've thought for more thana year now that you--liked me that way. And I've had it in my minda great deal as to what I ought to do if you spoke to me about it. I wishyou had a good wife, Jim. Maybe she could save you from yourself."
"Mebbe she could, Polly."
The lashes of her eyelids fell. She looked down at the bands of ironaround his small wrists. "I--I've prayed over it, Jim. But I'm not clearthat I've found an answer." Her low voice broke a little. "I don't knowwhat to say."
"Is it that you are afraid of what I'm goin' to be? Can't you trust yorelife with me? I shouldn't think you could."
Her eyes lifted and met his bravely. "I think that wouldn't stop meif--if I cared for you that way."
"It's Billie Prince, then, is it?"
"No, it isn't Billie Prince. Never mind who it is. What I must decide iswhether I can make you the kind of wife you need without being exactly--"
"In love with me," he finished for her.
"Yes. I've always liked you very much. You've been good to me. I love youlike a brother, I think. Oh, I don't know how to say it."
"Let's get this straight, Polly. Is there some one else you love?"
A tide of color flooded her face to the roots of the hair. She met hissteady look reluctantly.
"We needn't discuss that, Jim."
"Needn't we?" He laughed a little, but his voice was rough with feeling."You're the blamedest little pilgrim ever I did see. What kind of afellow do you think I am? I ain't good enough for you--not by a thousandmiles. Even if you felt about me the way I do about you, it would be abig risk for you to marry me. But now--Sho, little missionary, I ain't soselfish as to let you sacrifice yore life for me."
"If I marry you it will be because I want to, Jim."
"You'll want to because you're such a good little Christian you thinkit's up to you to save a brand from the burning. But I won't let you doany such foolishness. You go marry that other man. If he's a good,square, decent fellow, you'll be a whole lot better off than if you tiedup with a ne'er-do-well like me."
They heard a step on the porch.
"Don't forget. Three taps if you're alone in the room," she said in awhisper.
Goodheart came into the parlor with Pierre Roubideau. "Expect we'd betterturn in, Clanton. We've got to make an early start to-morrow."
The prisoner rose at once. Pauline had drawn her father aside and wasgiving him some instructions. The old Frenchman nodded, smiling. Heunderstood her little feminine devices and was a cheerful victim of them.
The young woman found a chance for a word alone with the deputy.
"I want to see you to-night, Jack, about--something." Her eyes were verybright and the color in the soft cheeks high. She spoke almost in awhisper.
The lank young sheriff had the soul of an inarticulate poet. Beneath thetan of his leathery face the blood burned. This was the first really kindword he had had from her since their arrival. All her solicitation hadbeen for the condemned youth in his care. Perhaps all she wanted now wasto ask some favor for Clanton, but hope leaped in his heart.
He made arrangements for the night in his usual careful way. It was notpleasant to have to watch the prisoner as a cat does a mouse, butGoodheart was thorough in whatever he undertook. Skillfully he tiedClanton in such a way as to allow him enough freedom of motion to changeposition without giving him enough to make it possible for him to untiehimself.
"Back after a while" he told Jim.
The young man on the bed grunted sleepily and the deputy returned to theparlor.
Pauline, still in her kitchen apron, smiled in at the door upon him andher father.
"You two go out on the porch and smoke your pipes," she said. "I have tofinish my work in the kitchen, then I have to go down to the cellar andtake care of the milk. Ill not be long."
Pierre, an obedient parent, rose and moved toward the porch. Beforehe left the room Goodheart took the precaution to lock the bedroomdoor and pocket the key. He was a little ashamed of this, but he knewthat Go-Get-'Em Jim was a very competent and energetic person. Convictedand sentenced though he was, Clanton still boasted with cool aplomb thatthere would be no hanging on the sixth. The deputy strolled round to theback of the house to make sure his assistant was still on the job. Aftera few words with the man he returned to the porch. He was satisfied therewas no possible chance of an escape. The prisoner lay handcuffed and tiedto a bed by the champion roper of the Southwest. The door of the room waslocked Both exits from the house were guarded. Jack felt that he couldsafely enjoy a smoke.