CHAPTER XXV
TRAIL'S END
"Shoot me! Hang me! I don't care. Only don't turn me over to thatdevil there. He'll torture me! For God's sake, don't do it! I'llconfess! I'll tell yuh all I ever done. I an' my outfit's beenrustling them cows from the Bar S an' the Cross-in-a-box. We've doneit for years!
"We used to hold the cows in a blind canyon south o' Smoky Peak till thebrands healed. There's more'n a hundred cows there now! They're HawgPen an' Cross-in-a-box an' Bar S cows! An' we rustled ScottyMackenzie's hosses while Skinny Maxson o' Marysville toled yuh away upto Hatchet Creek, an' 'twas me shot Scotty. I'd 'a' done for him onlyI thought he was dead. An' I sent Rufe Cutting to the Flying M so hecould help us when the time come! Pete O'Leary the same way! He waswith me to-night. Djuh get him?"
"No, we didn't," replied Loudon. "It's no use a-takin' on thisaway.We trailed the hosses to Piegan City, an' Archer an' the Maxson boysare under arrest. Yuh see how it is. We know all about you an' yoregang. We can't do nothin' for yuh."
"But yuh don't know all I done myself!" Blakely pursued, wildly. "Itell yuh, I'd ought to be hung! I'd ought to be hung ten times over.It was me shot Johnny Ramsay that time he found the dead Bar S cow an'her calf on our range. An' I tried to get you, Loudon, when yuh wassnuffin' 'round that ledge on Pack-saddle where we used to throw thecows across. An' I thought up that scheme for makin' yuh out a rustlerwith them Crossed Dumbbell cows. I done it, I tell yuh! Can't yuhunderstand? Hang me! Oh, please hang me, gents!"
Blakely, fairly gibbering with fear, crawled on his knees towardLoudon. Blakely's hands were bound behind his back. The drying bloodfrom the scalp wound, inflicted by the barrel of Loudon's six-shooter,had stiffened his black hair into upstanding matted masses. He was awretched spectacle.
"Loudon! Loudon!" shrinked Blakely. "It was me swore out that warrantfor yuh for stealin' the chestnut I sold yuh. I sent the sheriff upthe Bend after yuh, an' I'd 'a' hanged yuu sure as ---- if I'd everlaid hands on yuh. Now hang me! Hang me quick, an' get it over with!"
"Telescope!" exclaimed Loudon, "I guess we'll go down to the corrals."
When Blakely perceived that there was no hope for him, that his was tobe no easy death, he went frantic. Hysteria seized him. He sobbed,laughed, and uttered the most blood-chilling screams, his bodythrashing about like a shark in its death-throes.
Laguerre, sitting cross-legged on the floor, had been whetting hisskinning-knife on his boot-leg for the past half-hour. Now he held upthe knife and thumbed the broad blade.
Loudon and the others, their eyes lowered, passed out of the ranchhouse into the pale light of dawn. The morning star blazeddiamond-bright above the lemon-yellow splendour in the east. A littlewind blew past their faces. The air was fresh with the promise of thenew day. They drew long, grateful breaths and looked from under theireyebrows at each other.
"I feel sick," Johnny Ramsay said, frankly.
The horse which Johnny had tied to the post had been lying down. Itrose with a heave and a plunge and stood blowing and cracking itsnostrils.
"Well, if there ain't Telescope's gray," announced Loudon. "So thefellahs we chased out o' Farewell was Blakely an' O'Leary after all.They shore picked the best hosses in the corral when they took BrownJug an' the gray. No wonder we couldn't catch 'em."
"Yo're right," Johnny and Chuck chorused, loudly.
"Life's a funny thing," Loudon rambled on, speaking quite rapidly."Here we run our legs off after them two fellahs, an' they turn 'roundan' come back to us all prompt an' unexpected. I guess I'll water thathoss an' take his saddle off."
He turned back. The others crawled up on the corral fence.
"Wish I'd thought o' the hoss," grumbled Johnny. "I want somethin' todo."
With shaking fingers he rolled a cigarette and spilled most of thetobacco. The clamour within the ranch house suddenly became louder.
"He shore takes it hard," muttered Chuck Morgan, repressing a shudderwith difficulty.
Loudon slid around the corner of the ranch house and joined them on thetop rail.
"Thought yuh was goin' to water the hoss," said Chuck.
"Telescope's goin' to use him," said Loudon, and endeavoured to whistle"The Zebra Dun."
"I'm kind o' glad to know who did plug me that time," remarked Johnny.
"I've always knowed who done it," Loudon said. "I dug a forty-fivebullet out o' Blakely's swell-fork the day we had the run-in at the BarS."
"Why didn't yuh tell me?" demanded Johnny.
"The bullet wasn't proof, when yuh come right down to it. No use o'yore lockin' horns with Blakely, anyway. It wouldn't 'a' done no good."
"Well, it don't---- Hellenblazes! Hear him yell!"
Loudon began to swear under his breath. A door banged suddenly.Blakely's insane shrieking abruptly stilled. Soon the three men heardthe trample of the gray's feet. Then, beyond the ranch house, appearedLaguerre. He was mounted. Face downward across his lap lay Blakely,gagged with his own holster and silk neckerchief.
Riding at a walk, Laguerre headed toward the grove of singing pineswhere they had left their horses. When Brown Jug and his double burdendisappeared among the trees Loudon drew a long breath.
"I ain't in a bit of a hurry for my hoss," he declared.
"Which I should say not!" Johnny Ramsay exclaimed with fervour.
The sun was an hour high when Laguerre loped out of the grove. He wasleading their four horses. They watched him with morbid fascination.
Laguerre rode up to the corral and halted. The gray, hard held, shookhis head. On the right cheek-piece of the horse's bridle ablack-haired scalp flapped soggily. And Laguerre looked up at thethree men on the top rail of the corral.
"No use hangin' round here no more," said Loudon, slipping to theground. "Might as well mosey over to that blind canyon south of SmokyPeak an' see if them cattle really are there."
Three days later Loudon and his comrades, their horses drooping-headedand heavy-legged, rode into Farewell. Signs of the late skirmish wereplentiful. There was not a whole pane of glass in any of the buildingswhich had served as forts; and doors, facades, and window casings werepock-marked with bullet-holes.
Bill Lainey, consistent always, was dozing under the wooden awning ofhis hotel. Awakened, the hotelkeeper solemnly shook hands all around,and wheezed that it was a fine day.
"Yeah," said Loudon, "the air round these parts does seem clearer alot. An' there ain't so many folks on the street, either."
"There won't be for a while," declared Bill Lainey. "We buriedtwenty-three gents day before yesterday, hanged twelve up the road apiece, an' Scotty an' Jack Richie an' that crowd rubbed out nine o' theboys that slid out o' the Happy Heart over by Dead Horse Spring."
"How many got away?" inquired Johnny Ramsay.
"'Bout twenty--twenty-four maybe," replied the hotel-keeper. "I dunnofor shore. But anyhow the 88 outfit is shot full o' holes. Eleven of'em cashed here in town, an' seven was got outside o' town. The restmade it safe, I guess."
"Was they all here before the riot?" queried Loudon.
"Every last one of 'em, 'ceptin' Rudd an' Marvin. They come ina-huntin' trouble. They've been sore 'count o' Mike Flynn's sassin'the sheriff an' darin' him an' the 88 to lock horns with him. Well,there was a gent in town that day, dunno who he was, but anyhow whenRufe Cutting went into the sheriff's shack the stranger went in, too.Oh, you seen the inside o' the shack, did yuh? Well, it was what thestranger done started things a-rollin'. Two o' the deputies pluggedhim through the window, an' the rest of us wouldn't stand no suchactions as that, so we started. Good thing you gents an' Jack Richiean' the others happened along when yuh did."
"Any of our boys get it?"
"Long Riley an' Masters o' the Cross-in-a-box went out here in town,an' three fellers, Newhall an' Lane o' Paradise Bend, an' Morton o' theFlyin' M, in the battle at Dead Horse. Our tally was more. We lostseven of our best citizens. Four of 'em died right
here in myhotel--two in the dinin' room, one at the door, an' one in the kitchen.There's quite a jag o' gents nicked an' creased, but the doc saysthey'll pull through all right."
"But look here, Bill, has Rufe Cutting been holin' out over at the 88right along?"
"I dunno how long he's been there, Tom, but anyway he rid in withhalf-a-dozen o' the 88 'bout two weeks ago, an' he was with 'em whenthey all come in for their battle."
"Do yuh remember what Rufe rode for a hoss the first time he come in?"
"Bald-face pinto--both times."
"I was wonderin'," Loudon said. "Yuh see, Bill, Rufe stole my hoss,Ranger, up in Paradise Bend, an' the mornin' o' the fight here thelittle hoss turns up at the Cross-in-a-box. It ain't none likely Rufebrought him. I'm tryin' to figger out the mystery."
Bill Lainey's fat body shook with laughter. He gripped his sides andpanted for breath.
"That explains it," he wheezed, "It was yore hoss that the 88 wasfussin' round after."
"What are yuh talkin' about?" demanded Loudon.
"Why, it's thisaway, Tom. When Blakely an' his gang come in theyscampered round a-pokin' into every corral in town. Said one o' theirhosses had been stole five days before, an' they was out to find thepony an' the thief. I didn't pay no attention, 'cept to see theydidn't take one o' my hosses by mistake. Yuh see, I allowed they waslyin' all along an' just huntin' any old excuse to unhook theirartillery. Yore hoss! Well, if that ain't rich!"
"It must 'a' been my hoss," averred Loudon, solemnly. "I guess nowRufe might have been anxious to get him back--some."
"Yeah," cut in Johnny Ramsay, "but who stole him from the 88? Guessthe mystery's thicker'n ever, Tom."
"Looks like it," agreed Loudon. "Scotty or any of 'em in town now,Bill?"
"Scotty ain't. Him an' the Flyin' M bunch have rode south--Damson, Iheard Mike Flynn say. Jack Richie's around some'ers. Here he comesnow!"
"Which I'd admire to know where you fellers went," exclaimed JackRichie, his expression radiating relief. "I was bettin' yuh'd beenbushwhacked, but Scotty he said no, yuh was more likely bushwhackin'somebody else, an' yuh'd all turn up like plugged dollars bimeby. Bythe looks of that led horse Scotty had yuh sized up right. Who'd yuhgather in?"
"Blakely," Loudon replied, quietly.
At this juncture Richie perceived the scalp on the gray's bridle.
"I see," said Jack Richie. "Run across any one else?"
"Fellah named O'Leary--yuh don't know him. He got away. We was at the88 at the time. Before--before Blakely went he confessed to a wholeraft o' stuff. We followed up part o' what he said, an' over in ablind canyon south o' Smoky Peak in the Three Sisters we found a hundredan' twenty Bar S, Hawg Pen, an' Cross-in-a-box cows. Some o' thebrands was almost healed up, but there was enough that wasn't to tellwhere they come from. There wasn't nobody with 'em."
"Smoky Peak, huh? Hoofs shaved down or burnt, I s'pose?"
"Shore," replied Loudon. "They won't be able to travel under twoweeks."
"Did yuh tell Old Salt the joyful news--about the cattle?"
"I'll send him word."
"He's down at Mike Flynn's now. Go an' make him happy. But firstc'mon in an' irrigate. If we don't do it right away, Johnny'll faint.His tongue's hangin' out a foot."
"I'll see yuh later. Guess I'd better tell Old Salt first."
Loudon did not feel particularly cheerful as he walked down the street.His work was done--and well done. His enemies were either no more orjourneying swiftly elsewhere. There was peace for honest men in FortCreek County at last. But there was no peace in Loudon's soul. He waslearning for the second time that forgetfulness comes not easily.
In front of the Blue Pigeon Store a buckboard was standing. The rangyvehicle and its team of ponies struck a chord in Loudon's memory. Hehad seen them recently. Where? Idly speculating he entered the BluePigeon. Mr. Saltoun, leaning over the counter, was talking to MikeFlynn.
"Ahoy, Tom!" bawled Mike Flynn, thrusting forward his immense, freckledpaw. "'Tis a sight for sore eyes yuh are. Glory be, but I thought yuhkilt!"
Mr. Saltoun's greeting was less enthusiastic, but it was friendly.Loudon sat down on the counter and swung his spurred heels.
"About them cattle now," he said, slowly, his eyes fixed on Mr.Saltoun's face. "Yuh remember I told yuh the 88 was rustlin' 'em?"
Mr. Saltoun nodded.
"I remember," he said.
"Them cows," Loudon said, distinctly, "are in a blind canyon south o'Smoky Peak, along with Hawg Pen an' Cross-in-a-box cattle. That is,most of 'em are there. The rest yuh'll have to pick out o' the 88herds, I guess."
Mr. Saltoun's capitulation was instant and handsome.
"You was right!" he exclaimed, warmly, holding out his hand. "You wasright all along. I shore had the 88 sized up wrong, an'"--vigorouslypumping Loudon's hand--"any time yuh want a job there's one at the BarS for yuh. Er--my range-boss is quittin' next month. What do yuh sayto his job?"
"Now that's right good hearin'," replied Loudon, "but I guess I'llstick with the Flyin' M awhile. Thank yuh just as much."
"Oh, that's all right. Any time yuh feel like makin' a change, why,yuh know where to come. Well, I got to be goin'. Say, Mike, don'tforget to order them collars for my buckboard harness."
"I shore won't. So long."
Loudon followed Mr. Saltoun into the street.
"Somethin' new, ain't it?" queried Loudon, flicking a thumb at thebuckboard.
"Yep," said Mr. Saltoun, gathering up the reins. "Bought team an' alla month ago from Shaner o' the Three Bars. Got 'em cheap, too. JudgeAllison was after 'em, but I got 'em. Huh? What did yuh say?"
"I didn't say nothin'. Somethin' stuck in my throat."
"Well, so long, take care o' yoreself."
Loudon stood on the sidewalk gazing after the dwindling buckboard. Themention of Judge Allison had supplied the missing link in the chain ofmemory. He had seen that buckboard, driven by a woman, stop in frontof Judge Allison's house in Marysville, and it had been considerablyless than a month ago. Hence, at the time, the buckboard must havebeen the property of Mr. Saltoun. And Kate was the only woman at theBar S ranch. The driver must have been Kate Saltoun. Why should Katecall on Judge Allison?
"_Shershay la fam_," the Judge had remarked in explanation of hisrather bald espousal of Loudon's cause. "Find the woman." Did theJudge mean Kate, and was it because of Kate's visit that he had becomeLoudon's friend? It did not seem possible, yet, if Kate actually hadpleaded for him it was on a par with her actions in Paradise Bend.
Loudon, pondering the matter, stood quite still, utterly oblivious tohis surroundings. The sudden creak of wheels, a familiar tinnyclatter, and a cry of "Howdy, Tom!" brought him out of his reverie witha jerk.
He looked up. Ten feet distant, Captain Burr, on the seat of hispeddler's wagon, regarded him with kindly eyes.
"Wool-gatherin', Tom?" said the lean little man, waggling his whitebeard. "I'm surprised."
"I was just a-wonderin'," Loudon said, forcing a smile, "whether we wasgoin' to have rain or not."
"I shouldn't wondeh," Captain Burr remarked, gravely staring up intothe cloudless blue. "I've just come in from the Bah S," he continued,abruptly. "Miss Kate has two right soah hands. Right soah, they ah.I sold the young lady some salve."
"Sore hands," repeated Loudon, stupidly. "Why, I--I heard her thumbwas tore pretty bad, but--but I didn't know both of 'em was hurt."
"Yes, the young lady's right thumb has quite a gash, and the palm ofher left hand is cut all the way across. She cut it on a rock!"
"Cut it on a rock?"
"On a rock! She was comin' out o' the house, she said, an' she trippedon the doorsill an' fell. Fell pretty heavy, Her hand was sho' cutquite a lot."
"Lemme get this straight. Yuh say she cut her left hand, an' on arock?"
"Yes, Tom," said Captain Burr, gently, "that's the how of it."
Without a word Loudon turned and
fled. Five minutes later, mounted onBill Lainey's toughest horse, he was galloping out of Farewell. Twomiles out he passed Mr. Saltoun. The latter called to him but receivedno response save a hand-wave.
"Well," observed Mr. Saltoun, "if he's changed his mind about that job,he's shore actin' mighty odd."
Within two hours after leaving Farewell Loudon halted his staggeringpony in front of the Bar S ranch house. In the hammock on the porchsat Kate Saltoun. Her face was rather white, and there were darkshadows beneath her black eyes.
Loudon sucked in his breath sharply at the sight of the poor, bandagedhands. Kate sat motionless, her gaze level, her face withoutexpression. Loudon felt like a stranger.
"Kate," he began, "Kate----" and stopped.
"Well," said Kate at last, dropping her eyes.
Released from the spell of that chill stare, Loudon found his tongue.
"I come to have a little talk with yuh," he said. "Yuh see, I've beenfindin' out things lately. You drove over to Marysville an' talked toJudge Allison on my account, didn't yuh?"
"Who told you?" Kate did not raise her head.
"Nobody told me. But I ain't a fool. I seen the Bar S buckboard inMarysville, an' a woman was drivin', an' the judge said, '_Shershay lafam_,' meanin' 'Find the woman.' Well, yo're the woman all right. Iknow yuh are. An' that cut left hand yuh didn't get by trippin' overthe doorsill like yuh told Cap'n Burr. Yuh got it by fallin' on a rockback o' the Cross-in-a-box ranch house after yuh'd tied Ranger to thepost. Yuh can't tell me different.
"Yore cut hand, an' yore knowin' that I'd be at the Cross-in-a-box, an'the way it was done an' all, makes it certain. Yuh gave me my hossback. An' yuh paid Rudd to get him for yuh. Ranger was at the 88 allright. An' yuh couldn't 'a' got hold o' him 'cept through somebodylike Rudd. No wonder yuh stuck by Rudd! It was the only thing yuhcould do, 'specially when he'd saved yore life, too."
"He didn't save my life. I thought if I told you that he had, youmight let him go. I lied. I'd have told any number of lies to savehim. He was a horse thief, and he and Marvin tried to prove you arustler, but he trusted me. You wouldn't take my word when I asked youto, but Rudd did when he brought me Ranger and I didn't have the fullamount I'd promised him. I told him that I'd bring the money threedays later in the draw where the sumac bushes grow, and he believed meand he led Ranger all the way to that lonesome spruce grove on CowCreek where I wanted to keep the horse till I could return him to you.After that I couldn't desert Rudd. I couldn't have lived with myselfif I had."
"I know. I should 'a' took yore word, but--well, anyhow, I should 'a'took it an' let it go at that. I owe everythin' to yuh. Yuh took careo' me in Paradise Bend. Yuh worked for me, an' it was yore doin' that,that made findin' Scotty's hosses almost a cinch. Yuh went an' gotHockling an' Red when the deputies jumped us over near Pack-saddle.
"Yuh done it all, you did, an' I'm here to tell yuh I'm a dog, an' Iain't fit to saddle yore hoss. I can't thank yuh. Thanks don't meannothin' 'side o' what yuh done for me. But--but how much besides thesixty did yuh pay Rudd? I can settle that, anyhow."
"It doesn't matter in the least," said Kate, her eyes still on thefloor.
"It does matter. It matters a lot. I've got to know. I can't----"
"Listen," interrupted Kate, flinging up her head and meeting his gazesquarely, "I'm going to tell you something. Once upon a time you toldme you loved me. I treated you very badly. Later I was sorry, and Idid everything in my power to make amends. I even told you I lovedyou. I loved you with all my heart and soul and body. I could havemade you happy as no other woman on earth could have made you happy.Well, that's over. I've learned my lesson."
"Kate! Kate! I do love yuh--I do! I do!"
Loudon's hat was under his feet. His long body was trembling.
"You do, do you?" said Kate, her voice icy. "Then perhaps I can makeyou suffer as you made me suffer. I don't believe I can, but I'll try.I don't love you! Do you understand? I don't love you!"
"Then--then why did yuh go to the Judge? Why did yuh get my hoss?Why----"
"Why? Because I wanted you, if such a thing were possible, to gothrough life in my debt. You won't forget me now. And I'm glad--glad!"
"Then why did yuh walk in the water if yuh wanted me to know I owed yuhso much? Why did yuh wear boots too big for yuh to make me think itwas a man brought Ranger to the Cross-in-a-box? Why did yuh go toMarysville all wrapped up, so nobody'd know yuh? What yuh say don'thang together."
"Doesn't it? I'm sorry. You'd have found out about the Judge andRanger before a great while. I'd have seen to it that you did. Imerely didn't care to have you know about these things at the time."
"I guess I understand," Loudon muttered. "I'll--I'll send yuh Ranger.Yuh've done bought him. He's yores. I'll go now."
"Oh, don't bother about Ranger---- Look out!"
So engrossed had been the two that neither had heard the gallop of anapproaching horse till it shot around the corner of the house and wasalmost upon them. As Kate shrieked her warning she sprang from thehammock and flung herself in front of Loudon. For the man on the horsewas Pete O'Leary, and he was apparently aiming a six-shooter at Loudon.
"You ---- spy!" yelled O'Leary.
Even as O'Leary's six-shooter cracked, Loudon swept Kate to one sideand fired from the hip. O'Leary swayed, dropped his gun, then pitchedforward over his saddle-horn. Loudon ran to him. As he reachedO'Leary the latter rolled over on his back.
"Teach her to spy on my letters!" he gasped. "If it hadn't been forher I----"
He choked and died.
Loudon thrust his sixshooter into its holster and turned. Kate, herlips colourless, her eyes dilated, was clinging to one of the porchuprights. Loudon crossed the intervening space in two leaps.
"Where yuh hit?" he cried.
"I'm not hit," she replied, shakily. "But--but did he--did you--areyou hurt?"
"I ain't even creased. Now you go in the house an' stay. Here comeJimmie an' Rainey. We'll take care o' what's out here."
Obediently Kate went into the house.
Half an hour later, in the living room, Loudon found her. She rosefrom her chair at his entrance and faced him in silence. The cold,defiant expression had vanished from her face. In its stead was thelook of a frightened child. Loudon halted within a yard of her.
"Kate," said he, "yuh can say what yuh like about yore reasons forgoin' to Judge Allison an' takin' that night ride to theCross-in-a-box, an' I've got to believe yuh. But if yuh don't love mewhy did yuh jump in front o' me when O'Leary fired?"
"I thought he was going to shoot you," she replied, forcing herself tomeet his eyes. "I--I didn't know I was the one till I heard him sayso."
"Yuh thought he was goin' to drop me, an' yuh jumped in front o' me;why?"
Kate's face was upturned. Her lips parted. Her body swayed toward him.
"Take me!" she cried. "Oh, take me!"
* * * * *
"Why did yuh say what yuh did about wantin' to make me suffer when yuhloved me all the time?"
"I couldn't help it. I thought I'd lost you, and then you came,and--and then I wanted to hurt you, and I did. I don't know what I'dhave done if you'd gone away. For I do love you, boy!"
Loudon held her close as the dark head snuggled against his shoulder.
"I know," said he, soberly.
"I guess I've always loved you," murmured Kate, "I must have. I--Ihate myself when I think of--of Blakely. I found out what he was whilehe was lying here wounded. He was delirious and he spoke of a woman,another man's wife, named Marie, down on the Sweetwater. Oh, it wasawful--what he said. I can't tell you. It--it woke me up. Then Iknew what I had lost when you left the ranch. You'll never leave meagain, will you?"
"Of course I won't!"
It was a large wedding for the Lazy River country.
Scotty Mackenzie privately informed Jack Richie that he didn't know,the marriage m
ight turn out all right, but Kate was such a good-looker,and he'd always mistrusted good-lookers himself.
Scotty's pessimism was pardonable. He had lost a good employee, whileMr. Saltoun was the gainer by an excellent range-boss.
THE END
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