38
The smile of Joe Rix was the smile of a diplomat. It could be maintainedupon his face as unwaveringly as if it were wrought out of marble whileJoe heard insult and lie. As a matter of fact Joe had smiled in the faceof death more than once, and this is a school through which evendiplomats rarely pass. Yet it was with an effort that he maintained thecharacteristic good-natured expression when the door to Donnegan's shackopened and he saw big George and, beyond him, Donnegan himself.
"Booze," said Joe Rix to himself instantly.
For Donnegan was a wreck. The unshaven beard--it was the middle ofmorning--was a reddish mist over his face. His eyes were sunken inshadow. His hair was uncombed. He sat with his shoulders hunched up likeone who suffers from cold. Altogether his appearance was that of onewhose energy has been utterly sapped.
"The top of the morning, Mr. Donnegan," said Joe Rix, and put his footon the threshold.
But since big George did not move it was impossible to enter.
"Who's there?" asked Donnegan.
It was a strange question to ask, for by raising his eyes he could haveseen. But Donnegan was staring down at the floor. Even his voice was aweak murmur.
"What a party! What a party he's had!" thought Joe Rix, and after all,there was cause for a celebration. Had not the little man in almost onestroke won the heart of the prettiest girl in The Corner, and also didhe not probably have a working share in the richest of the diggings?
"I'm Joe Rix," he said.
"Joe Rix?" murmured Donnegan softly. "Then you're one of Lord Nick'smen?"
"I was," said Joe Rix, "sort of attached to him, maybe."
Perhaps this pointed remark won the interest of Donnegan. He raised hiseyes, and Joe Rix beheld the most unhappy face he had ever seen. "A badhangover," he decided, "and that makes it bad for me!"
"Come in," said Donnegan in the same monotonous, lifeless voice.
Big George reluctantly, it seemed, withdrew to one side, and Rix wasinstantly in the room and drawing out a chair so that he could faceDonnegan.
"I was," he proceeded "sort of tied up with Lord Nick. But"--and here hewinked broadly--"it ain't much of a secret that Nick ain't altogether alord any more. Nope. Seems he turned out sort of common, they say."
"What fool," murmured Donnegan, "has told you that? What ass had toldyou that Lord Nick is a common sort?"
It shocked Joe Rix, but being a diplomat he avoided friction by changinghis tactics.
"Between you and me," he said calmly enough, "I took what I heard with agrain of salt. There's something about Nick that ain't common, no matterwhat they say. Besides, they's some men that nobody but a fool wouldstand up to. It ain't hardly a shame for a man to back down from 'em."
He pointed this remark with a nod to Donnegan.
"I'll give you a bit of free information," said the little man, with hisweary eyes lighted a little. "There's no man on the face of the earthwho could make Lord Nick back down."
Once more Joe Rix was shocked to the verge of gaping, but again heexercised a power of marvelous self control "About that," he remarkedas pointedly as before, "I got my doubts. Because there's some thingsthat any gent with sense will always clear away from. Maybe not oneman--but say a bunch of all standin' together."
Donnegan leaned back in his chair and waited. Both of his hands remaineddrooping from the edge of the table, and the tired eyes drifted slowlyacross the face of Joe Rix.
It was obviously not the aftereffects of liquor. The astonishingpossibility occurred to Joe Rix that this seemed to be a man with abroken spirit and a great sorrow. He blinked that absurdity away.
"Coming to cases," he went on, "there's yourself, Mr. Donnegan. Now,you're the sort of a man that don't sidestep nobody. Too proud to do it.But even you, I guess, would step careful if there was a whole bunchagin' you."
"No doubt," remarked Donnegan.
"I don't mean any ordinary bunch," explained Joe Rix, "but a lot of hardfellows. Gents that handle their guns like they was born with a holsteron the hip."
"Fellows like Nick's crowd," suggested Donnegan quietly.
At this thrust the eyes of Joe narrowed a little.
"Yes," he admitted, "I see you get my drift."
"I think so."
"Two hard fighters would give the best man that ever pulled a gun a lotof trouble. Eh?"
"No doubt."
"And three men--they ain't any question, Mr. Donnegan--would get himready for a hole in the ground."
"I suppose so."
"And four men would make it no fight--jest a plain butchery."
"Yes?"
"Now, I don't mean that Nick's crowd has any hard feeling about you, Mr.Donnegan."
"I'm glad to hear that."
"I knew you'd be. That's why I've come, all friendly, to talk thingsover. Suppose you look at it this way--"
"Joe Rix," broke in Donnegan, sighing, "I'm very tired. Won't you cutthis short? Tell me in ten words just how you stand."
Joe Rix blinked once more, caught his breath, and fired his volley.
"Short talk is straight talk, mostly," he declared. "This is what Lesterand the rest of us want--the mines!"
"Ah?"
"Macon stole 'em. We got 'em back through Landis. Now we've got to get'em back through the colonel himself. But we can't get at the colonelwhile you're around."
"In short, you're going to start out to get me? I expected it, but it'skind of you to warn me."
"Wait, wait, wait! Don't rush along to conclusions. We ain't so much ina hurry. We don't want you out of the way. We just want you on ourside."
"Shoot me up and then bring me back to life, eh?"
"Mr. Donnegan," said the other, spreading out his hands solemnly on thetable, "you ain't doin' us justice. We don't hanker none for troublewith you. Any way it comes, a fight with you means somebody dead besidesyou. We'd get you. Four to one is too much for any man. But one or twoof us might go down. Who would it be? Maybe the Pedlar, maybe HarryMasters, maybe Lester, maybe me! Oh, we know all that. No gunplay if wecan keep away from it."
"You've left out the name of Lord Nick," said Donnegan.
Joe Rix winked.
"Seems like you tended to him once and for all when you got him alone inthis cabin. Must have thrown a mighty big scare into him. He won't lifta hand agin' you now."
"No?" murmured Donnegan hoarsely.
"Not him! But that leaves four of us, and four is plenty, eh?"
"Perhaps."
"But I'm not here to insist on that point. No, we put a value on keepin'up good feeling between us and you, Mr. Donnegan. We ain't fools. Weknow a man when we see him--and the fastest gunman that ever slid a gunout of leather ain't the sort of a man that me and the rest of the boyspass over lightly. Not us! We know you, Mr. Donnegan; we respect you; wewant you with us; we're going to have you with us."
"You flatter me and I thank you. But I'm glad to see that you are atlast coming to the point."
"I am, and the point is five thousand dollars that's tied behind thehoss that stands outside your door."
He pushed his fat hand a little way across the table, as though the goldeven then were resting in it, a yellow tide of fortune.
"For which," said Donnegan, "I'm to step aside and let you at thecolonel?"
"Right."
Donnegan smiled.
"Wait," said Joe Rix. "I was makin' a first offer to see how you stood,but you're right. Five thousand ain't enough and we ain't cheapskates.Not us. Mr. Donnegan, they's ten thousand cold iron men behind thatsaddle out there and every cent of it belongs to you when you come overon our side."
But Donnegan merely dropped his chin upon his hand and smiledmirthlessly at Joe Rix. A wild thought came to the other man. Both ofDonnegan's hands were far from his weapons. Why not a quick draw, a snapshot, and then the glory of having killed this manslayer in singlebattle for Joe Rix?
The thought rushed red across his brain and then faded slowly. Somethingkept him back. Perhaps it was the si
ngular calm of Donnegan; no matterhow quiet he sat he suggested the sleeping cat which can leap out ofdead sleep into fighting action at a touch. By the time a second thoughthad come to Joe Rix the idea of an attack was like an idea of suicide.
"Is that final?" he asked, though Donnegan had not said a word.
"It is."
Joe Rix stood up.
"You put it to us kind of hard. But we want you, Mr. Donnegan. Andhere's the whole thing in a nutshell. Come over to us. We'll standbehind you. Lord Nick is slipping. We'll put you in his place. You won'teven have to face him; we'll get rid of him."
"You'll kill him and give his place to me?" asked Donnegan.
"We will. And when you're with us, you cut in on the whole amount ofcoin that the mines turn out--and it'll be something tidy. And rightnow, to show where we stand and how high we put you, I'll let you in onthe rock-bottom truth. Mr. Donnegan. out there tied behind my saddlethere's thirty thousand dollars in pure gold. You can take it in hereand weigh it out!"
He stepped back to watch this blow take effect. To his unutterableastonishment the little man had not moved. His chin still rested uponthe back of his hand, and the smile which was on the lips and not in theeyes of Donnegan remained there, fixed.
"Donnegan," muttered Joe Rix, "if we can't get you, we'll get rid ofyou. You understand?"
But the other continued to smile.
It gave Joe Rix a shuddering feeling that someone was stealing behindhim to block his way to the door. He cast one swift glance over hisshoulder and then, seeing that the way was clear, he slunk back, alwayskeeping his face to the red-headed man. But when he came to the doorwayhis nerve collapsed. He whirled, covered the rest of the distance with aleap, and emerged from the cabin in a fashion ludicrously like one whohas been kicked through a door.
His nerve returned as soon as the sunlight fell warmly upon him again;and he looked around hastily to see if anyone had observed his flight.
There was no one on the whole hillside except Colonel Macon in theinvalid chair, and the colonel was smiling broadly, beneficently. He hadhis perfect hands folded across his breast and seemed to cast a prayerof peace and goodwill upon Joe Rix.