37
If the meeting between Lord Nick and Donnegan earlier that day hadwrought up the nerves of The Corner to the point of hysteria; if thesingular end of that meeting had piled mystery upon excitement; if theappearance of Donnegan, sitting calmly at the table of the girl who wasknown to be engaged to Nick, had further stimulated public curiosity,the appearance of Lord Nick was now a crowning burden under which TheCorner staggered.
Yet not a man or a woman stirred from his chair, for everyone knew thatif the long-delayed battle between these two gunfighters was at lengthto take place, neither bullet was apt to fly astray.
But what happened completed the wreck of The Corner's nerves, for LordNick walked quietly across the floor and sat down with Nelly Lebrun andhis somber rival.
Oddly enough, he looked at Donnegan, not at the girl, and this token ofthe beaten man decided her.
"Well?" said Lord Nick.
"I have decided," said the girl. "Landis should stay where he is."
Neither of the two men stirred hand or eye. But Lord Nick turned gray.At length he rose and asked Donnegan, quietly, to step aside with him.Seeing them together, the difference between their sizes was moreapparent: Donnegan seemed hardly larger than a child beside the splendidbulk of Lord Nick. But she could not overhear their talk.
"You've won," said Lord Nick, "both Landis and Nelly. And--"
"Wait," broke in Donnegan eagerly. "Henry, I've persuaded Nelly to seemy side of the case, but that doesn't mean that she has turned from youto--"
"Stop!" put in Lord Nick, between his teeth. "I've not come to arguewith you or ask advice or opinions. I've come to state facts. You'vecrawled in between me and Nelly like a snake in the grass. Very well.You're my brother. That keeps me from handling you. You've broken myreputation just as I said you would do. The bouncer at the door lookedme in the eye and smiled when I came in."
He had to pause a little, breathing heavily, and avoiding Donnegan'seyes. Finally he was able to continue.
"I'm going to roll my blankets and leave The Corner and everything Ihave in it. You'll get my share of most things, it seems." He smiledafter a ghastly, mirthless fashion. "I give you a free road. I surrendereverything to you, Donnegan. But there are two things I want to warn youabout. It may be that my men will not agree with me. It may be thatthey'll want to put up a fight for the mine. They can't get at itwithout getting at Macon. They can't get at him without removing you.And they'll probably try it. I warn you now.
"Another thing: from this moment there's no blood tie between us. I'vefound a brother and lost him in the same day. And if I ever cross youagain, Donnegan, I'll shoot you on sight. Remember, I'm not threatening.I simply warn you in advance. If I were you, I'd get out of the country.Avoid me, Donnegan, as you'd avoid the devil."
And he turned on his heel. He felt the eyes of the people in the roomfollow him by jerks, dwelling on every one of his steps. Near the door,stepping aside to avoid a group of people coming in, he half turned andhe could not avoid the sight of Donnegan and Nelly Lebrun at the otherend of the room. He was leaning across the table, talking with a smileon his lips--at that distance he could not mark the pallor of the littleman's face--and Nelly Lebrun was laughing. Laughing already, andoblivious of the rest of the world.
Lord Nick turned, a blur coming before his eyes, and made blindly forthe door. A body collided with him; without a word he drew back hismassive right fist and knocked the man down. The stunned body struckagainst the wall and collapsed along the floor. Lord Nick felt a greatmadness swell in his heart. Yet he set his teeth, controlled himself,and went on toward the house of Lebrun. He had come within an eyelash ofrunning amuck, and the quivering hunger for action was still swellingand ebbing in him when he reached the gambler's house.
Lebrun was not in the gaming house, no doubt, at this time of night--butthe rest of Nick's chosen men were there. They stood up as he enteredthe room--Harry Masters, newly arrived--the Pedlar--Joe Rix--three namesfamous in the mountain desert for deeds which were not altogether apleasant aroma in the nostrils of the law-abiding, but whose sins hadbeen deftly covered from legal proof by the cunning of Nick, and whosebravery itself had half redeemed them. They rose now as three wolvesrise at the coming of the leader. But this time there was a questionbehind their eyes, and he read it in gloomy silence.
"Well?" asked Harry Masters.
In the old days not one of them would have dared to voice the question,but now things were changing, and well Lord Nick could read the changeand its causes.
"Are you talking to me?" asked Nick, and he looked straight between theeyes of Masters.
The glance of the other did not falter, and it maddened Nick.
"I'm talking to you," said Masters coolly enough. "What happened betweenyou and Donnegan?"
"What should happen?" asked Lord Nick.
"Maybe all this is a joke," said Masters bitterly. He was a square-builtman, with a square face and a wrinkled, fleshy forehead. Inintelligence, Nick ranked him first among the men. And if a new leaderwere to be chosen there was no doubt as to where the choice of the menwould fall. No doubt that was why Masters put himself forward now, readyto brave the wrath of the chief. "Maybe we're fooled," went on Masters."Maybe they ain't any call for you to fall out with Donnegan?"
"Maybe there's a call to find out this," answered Lord Nick. "Why didyou leave the mines? What are you doing up here?"
The other swallowed so hard that he blinked.
"I left the mines," he declared through his set teeth, "because I wasrun off 'em."
"Ah," said Lord Nick, for the devil was rising in him, "I always had anidea that you might be yellow, Masters."
The right hand of Masters swayed toward his gun, hesitated, and thenpoised idly.
"You heard me talk?" persisted Lord Nick brutally. "I call you yellow.Why don't you draw on me? I called you yellow, you swine, and I call therest of you yellow. You think you have me down? Why, curse you, if therewere thirty of your cut, I'd say the same to you!"
There was a quick shift, the three men faced Lord Nick, but each from adifferent angle. And opposing them, he stood superbly indifferent, hisarms folded, his feet braced. His arms were folded, but each hand, forall they knew, might be grasping the butt of a gun hidden away in hisclothes. Once they flashed a glance from face to face; but there was noaction. They were remembering only too well some of the wild deeds ofthis giant.
"You think I'm through," went on Lord Nick. "Maybe I am--through withyou. You hear me talk?"
One by one, his eyes dared them, and one by one they took up thechallenge, struggled, and lowered their glances. He was still theirmaster and in that mute moment the three admitted it, the Pedlar last ofall.
Masters saw fit to fall back on the last remark.
"I've swallowed a lot from you, Nick," he said gravely.
"Maybe there'll be an end to what we take one of these days. But nowI'll tell you how yellow I was. A couple of gents come to me and tell meI'm through at the mine. I told them they were crazy. They said oldColonel Macon had sent them down to take charge. I laughed at 'em. Theywent away and came back. Who with? With the sheriff. And he flashed apaper on me. It was all drawn up clean as a whistle. Trimmed up with alot of 'whereases' and 'as hereinbefore mentioned' and such like things.But the sheriff just gimme a look and then he tells me what it's about.Jack Landis has signed over all the mines to the colonel and thecolonel has taken possession."
As he stopped, a growl came from the others.
"Lester is the man that has the complaint," said Lord Nick. "Where dothe rest of you figure in it? Lester had the mines; he lost 'em becausehe couldn't drop Landis with his gun. He'd never have had a smell of thegold if I hadn't come in. Who made Landis see light? I did! Who workedit so that every nickel that came out of the mines went through thefingers of Landis and came back to us? I did! But I'm through with you.You can hunt for yourselves now. I've kept you together to guard oneanother's backs. I've kept the law off your trail. You, Masters,
you'dhave swung for killing the McKay brothers. Who saved you? Who was itbribed the jury that tried you for the shooting up of Derbyville,Pedlar? Who took the marshal off your trail after you'd knifed LeftyWaller, Joe Rix? I've saved you all a dozen times. Now you whine at me.I'm through with you forever!"
Stopping, he glared about him. His knuckles stung from the impact of theblow he had delivered in Milligan's place. He hungered to have one ofthese three stir a hand and get into action.
And they knew it. All at once they crumbled and became clay in hishands.
"Chief," said Joe Rix, the smoothest spoken of the lot, and one who wassupposed to stand specially well with Lord Nick on account of hisability to bake beans, Spanish. "Chief, you've said a whole pile. You'reworth more'n the rest of us all rolled together. Sure. We know that.There ain't any argument. But here's just one little point that I wantto make.
"We was doing fine. The gold was running fine and free. Along comes thisDonnegan. He busts up our good time. He forks in on your girl--"
A convulsion of the chief's face made Rix waver in his speech and thenhe went on: "He shoots Landis, and when he misses killing him--by someaccident, he comes down here and grabs him out of Lebrun's own house.Smooth, eh? Then he makes Landis sign that deed to the mines. Oh, verynice work, I say. Too nice.
"'Now, speakin' man to man, they ain't any doubt that you'd like to getrid of Donnegan. Why don't you? Because everybody has a jinx, and he'syours. I ain't easy scared, maybe, but I knew an albino with white eyesonce, and just to look at him made me some sick. Well, chief, they ain'tnobody can say that you ever took water or ever will. But maybe the factthat this Donnegan has hair just as plumb red as yours may sort of getyou off your feed. I'm just suggesting. Now, what I say is, let the restof us take a crack at Donnegan, and you sit back and come in on theresults when we've cleaned up. D'you give us a free road?"
How much went through the brain of Lord Nick? But in the end he gave hisbrother up to death. For he remembered how Nelly Lebrun had sat inMilligan's laughing.
"Do what you want," he said suddenly. "But I want to know none of yourplans--and the man that tells me Donnegan is dead gets paid--in lead!"