CHAPTER XVII
POT SHOTS
There was an old mission at the outskirts of the town of Skull,established many years before there were any other buildings in thevicinity. The Spanish fathers had built it for the Indians, and itremained a sanctuary, in spite of the roughness and badness of the newcow town.
Early on the morning after Kid Wolf's arrival in the town, the oldpadre was astonished to find a package of money inside his door. Itwas addressed simply: "For the poor." It was a windfall and amuch-needed addition to the mission's meager finances.
The padre considered it a gift from Heaven, and where it had come fromremained a mystery. The package contained two thousand dollars.Needless to say, it was Kid Wolf's gift, and the money had been takenfrom the town's dishonest gamblers.
The Texan remained several days in Skull. He was in no hurry, and thetown interested him. Although he heard threats, he was left alone. Hesaw no more of Gentleman John, nor did he see Blacksnake McCoy. Theyhad disappeared from town, probably on evil business of their own.
A note thrust under The Kid's door at the hotel two mornings laterthreatened him and advised him to leave the country. The Texan,however, paid no attention to the warning.
The next day, he scouted about the country, sizing up the cattlesituation. The honest cattlemen, he found, were very much in theminority. By force, murder, and illegal methods, Gentleman John hadobtained most of the land and practically all of the vast cattle herdsthat roamed the rich rangelands surrounding the town on all sides. Yetto most of the honest element, Gentleman John's true colors were notknown. He shielded himself, hiring others to do his unclean work.There was no law as yet in the county. Gentleman John had managed tokeep it out. And even if there had been, it was doubtful if his crimescould be pinned to him, for he had covered his tracks well. Manythought him honest. Only The Kid's keen mind could sense almostimmediately what was going on.
The country stretching out from Skull was wild and beautiful. It wasan unsettled land, and the trails that led into it were faint anddifficult to follow.
One morning, Kid Wolf saddled Blizzard and rode into the southwesttoward the purple mountains tipped with snow. It was a beautiful day,cool and crisp. The tang of the air in that high altitude was sharpand invigorating. The big white horse swung into a joyous lope, andthe Texan hummed a Southern melody.
Crossing a wide stretch of plain, they mounted a rise, and thecharacter of the country changed. The smell of sage gave way to thepenetrating odor of small pine, as they climbed into the brokenfoothills that led, in a series of steps, toward the jagged peaks.Splashing through a little creek of pure, cold water, The Kid turnedBlizzard's head up a pass between two ridges of pinon-covered buttes.
"A big herd's passed this way," The Kid muttered, "and lately, too."
They climbed steadily onward, while the Texan searched the trail withkeen eyes that missed nothing. Suddenly he drew up his horse.Blizzard had shied at something lying prone ahead of them, and TheKid's eyes had seen it at the same instant.
Stretched out on the sandy ground, The Kid saw, when he urged his horsecloser, was the body of a man, face down and arms flung out. A blotchof red on the blue of the shirt told the significant story--a bullethad got in its deadly work. Dismounting, the Texan found that the manwas dead and had met with his wound probably twenty-four hours before.There was nothing with which to identify the body.
"Seems to me, Blizzahd," Kid Wolf mused, "that Gentleman John is adeepah-dyed villain than we even thought."
He continued on up the pass, eyes and ears open. The white horse tookthe climb as if it had been level ground, his hoofs ringing a brisktattoo against the stones.
Nobody was in sight. The land stretched out on all sides--a vastlonesomeness of rolling green and red, broken here and there bytowering rocks, grotesque in shape and twisted by erosion into athousand fanciful sculptures. But at the bottom of a dry wash, KidWolf received a surprise.
_Br-r-reee! Ping!_ A bullet breezed by his head, droning like ahornet, and glanced sullenly against a flat rock. Immediatelyafterward, The Kid heard the sharp bark of a .45. He knew by the soundof the bullet and by the elapsed time between it and the sound of thegun that he was within dangerous range. Crouching low in his saddle,he wheeled Blizzard--already turned half around in mid-air--and cut upthe arroyo at a hot gallop.
Flinging himself from his horse when he reached shelter, he touchedBlizzard lightly on the neck. The wise animal knew what that meant.Without slackening its pace, it continued onward, its hoofs drumming arapid _clip-clop_, while its master was running in another directionwith his head low.
Breaking up the ambush was easy. The Kid took advantage of every bitof cover and went directly toward the sounds of the shots, for gunswere still barking. The men, whoever they were, were shooting in thedirection of the riderless horse. Squirming through a little pinonthicket, Kid Wolf saw three men stationed behind a low ledge of redsandstone. The guns of the trio were still curling blue smoke.
"Will yo' kindly stick up yo' hands, gentlemen," the Texan drawled,"while yo're explainin'?"
The three whirled about--to find themselves staring into the two deadlyblack muzzles of The Kid's twin six-shooters. Automatically theythrust their arms aloft.
"Well, I guess yuh got us! Go ahead and shoot, yuh killer!"
Kid Wolf looked at the speaker in surprise. He was a little younger,perhaps, than the Texan himself--a slim, red-headed youth with a wide,determined mouth. The blue eyes, snapping angrily now, seemed frankand open. Then the Texan's eyes traveled to the youth's twocompanions. Both were older men, typical cow-punchers, rough andready, and yet hardly of the same type of the men The Kid had noticedin the Longhorn Saloon in Skull.
"I'm not sure that I even want to shoot." The Kid smiled slowly."Maybe yo'd like to explain why yo' were tryin' to shoot me."
"I guess we won't need to explain that," snapped the redhead. "Yuhknow as well as we do that yo're one o' Blacksnake's thievin' gunmen!"
"What makes yo' think so?" the Texan laughed.
The other opened his mouth to speak, then stopped. He was looking TheKid up and down.
"Come to think about it," he muttered, "we've never seen you before.And yuh don't look like one o' that rustler gang."
"Take my word fo' it," said the Texan earnestly, "I'm not. I thoughtyo' were Blacksnake and his gang myself." He reholstered his guns."Put yo' hands down," he said, as he came toward them, "and we'll talkthis thing ovah."
Reassured, the trio did so with sighs of relief. A few questions byeach helped to clear things up. The Kid told them who he was, and inreturn he was told that the three were members of the Diamond D outfit.
"It's just half an outfit now," said the red-haired youth bitterly."They've run off our north herd. Yuh see, Mr. Wolf----"
"Just call me 'Kid,'" smiled the Texan, "fo' I think we'll be friends."
"I hope so," said the other, flashing him a grateful look. "Well, I'm'Red' Morton. My brother and me own the Diamond D, and we've shorebeen havin' one hot time. Guess we're plumb beat."
"Wheah's yo' brother now?"
"He's at the sod house with our south herd. These two men are the onlypunchers left me--'Lefty' Warren and Mike Train. There was one more.The rustlers shot him." Red Morton's eyes gleamed fiercely.
"Yo' know who the rustlers were?"
"Blacksnake McCoy's gang. He's been causin' us a lot o' trouble.Until now, that bunch have just been runnin' a smooth iron and swingin'their loops wide. But yesterday they drove off every steer. Half ofall the longhorns on the Diamond D!" Red's lips tightened grimly.
"Excuse us," spoke up one of the cowboys, Lefty Warren, "for takin' yuhfer one o' them cutthroats, but we was b'ilin' mad. It's a good thingfer us yuh wasn't. Yuh shore slipped in on us slick as a whistle."
"I'm hopin' my bud, Joe, don't think it was my fault that Blacksnakegot away with the herd," groaned the red-haired youth. "Reckon we'llhave t
o sell out now."
"That's it," agreed the eldest of the trio--the man called Mike Train."The Diamond D would be on Easy Street now, if we had the cattle back.The mortgage----"
"Who would yo' sell to?" asked The Kid quietly.
"Gentleman John, the cattle king," explained Red Morton. "He told mybrother some time ago that he'd like to buy it, if the price was low.Joe refused then, but reckon it'll be different now."
Kid Wolf raised his brows slightly.
"Is this--ah--Gentleman John the right sort of hombre?" he drawled.
"Why, I guess so," said Red in surprise. "He's one o' the biggestcattlemen in three States."
The Texan was silent for a moment, then he smiled.
"Wheah are yo' headed fo' now?" he asked.
"Why, we're on the trail of the stolen herd," Red replied, "and weintend to stop at the sod house and tell my brother, Joe, what'shappened--that is, if he don't already know. Maybe he's had trouble,himself."
"If we find any of that Blacksnake gang, we'll fight," Lefty Warrenspoke up. "The odds are mighty bad against us, but they got one o' thebest punchers in the valley when they drilled Sam Whiteman."
"I'm interested," Kid Wolf told them. "Do yo' mind if I throw in withyo'?"
"Do we mind?" repeated Red joyously. "Say, it would shore be great!And--well, Joe and I will try and make it right with yuh."
"Nevah mind that," the Texan murmured. "Just considah yo' troublesmine, too. And I'm downright curious to know what's happened to yo'steers. Let's go!" He whistled for Blizzard.
For several hours the quartet of horsemen pressed southward, followingthe trail left by the stolen beef herd. The four quickly becamefriends. Kid Wolf liked them all from the first, and the Diamond D menwere overjoyed to have him enlisted in their cause. He learned thatRed Morton and his older brother, Joe, had worked hard to make theDiamond D a success. The ranch had been left them by their father afew years before, heavily burdened with debt. Now, until thecatastrophe of the day before, they were at the point of clearing it.Evidently the brothers did not know of Gentleman John's criminalmethods, and the Texan said nothing. He was waiting for better proof.
"The ranch is in Joe's name," said Red proudly, "but we're partners.He could sell it to Gentleman John, all right, without my consent, buthe wouldn't. I'm not quite twenty-one, but I'm a man, and Joe knowsit."
"Will yo' have to sell the Diamond D now?" the Texan asked.
"I hope not. Joe and two riders still have the south herd--at least,they have if nothin's happened. It might pull us through. Eighthundred head."
After a time, they swung off the trail they had been following, inorder to reach the sod house. Here Red expected to find his brotherand the other two Diamond D riders.
"With them, that'll make seven of us," young Morton said. "Then we canshow that Blacksnake gang a fight that is a fight! There's over adozen of 'em, though I think Lefty here wounded one, just afterWhiteman was killed. We saw red stains on the sagebrush for a hundredyards along the cattle trail."
Mounting a long rise, they began to descend again. A fertile valleystretched out beneath them, green with grass and watered by the bluestlittle stream that Kid Wolf had ever seen. It was a lovely spot; itwas small wonder that Gentleman John wished to add the Diamond D to hisholdings.
"That's Blue-bottle Creek," announced Red Morton. "Queer that we don'tsee any cattle. There's not a steer in sight. They ought to befeedin' through here."
There was no sign of anything moving throughout all the basin, eitherhuman or cattle. The silence was unbroken, save for the steadydrumming of the little party's pony hoofs.
"There's the sod house--over there in those trees," said Red, afteranother mile.
He was worried. The two other Diamond D men, too, were showing signsof nervousness. Had the south herd gone the way of the other?
They neared the sod house--a structure crudely built of layers ofearth. It had one door and one window, and near it was acorral--empty. There was no sign of any one about, and there was noreply to Red's eager shout.
"Oh, Joe!" he hailed.
His face was a shade paler, as he quickly swung himself out of hissaddle. He entered the sod house at a half run.
"Is anything wrong?" Train shouted.
Then they heard Red Morton cry out in grief and horror. Withoutwaiting for anything more, The Kid and the two Diamond D ridersdismounted and raced toward the sod hut. None of them was prepared forthe terrible thing they found there.