Square Deal Sanderson
CHAPTER XXXIV
A MAN GETS A SQUARE DEAL
Dale did not miss Ben Nyland by more than a few hundred yards as hepassed through the neck of the basin. But the men could not see eachother in the black shadows cast by the somber mountains that guardedthe entrance to the basin, and so they sped on, one headed away fromOkar and one toward it, each man nursing his bitter thoughts; oneintent on killing and the other riding to escape the death that, hefelt, was imminent.
Dale reached the Bar D and pulled the saddle and bridle from his horse.He caught up a fresh animal, threw saddle and bridle on him, and thenran into the house to get some things that he thought might be valuableto him.
He came out again, and nervously paused on the threshold of the door tolisten.
A sound reached his ears--the heavy drumming of a horse's hoofs on thehard sand in the vicinity of the ranchhouse; and Dale gulped down hisfear as he ran to his horse, threw himself into the saddle and racedaround a corner of the house.
He had hardly vanished into the gloom of the night when another riderburst into view.
The second rider was Sanderson. He did not halt Streak at the door ofthe Bar D ranchhouse, for from a distance he had seen a man throwhimself upon a horse and dash away, and he knew of no man in the basin,except Dale, who would find it necessary to run from his home in thatfashion.
So he kept Streak in the dead run he had been in when approaching thehouse, and when he reached the corner around which Dale had vanished,he saw his man, two or three hundred yards ahead, flashing across alevel toward the far side of the big basin.
He knew that Dale thought his pursuer was Nyland, and that thought gaveSanderson a grim joy. In Sanderson's mind was a picture of Dale'sface--of the stark, naked astonishment that would be on it when hediscovered that it was Sanderson and not Nyland who had caught him.
For Sanderson would catch him--he was convinced of that.
The conviction became strengthened when, after half an hour's run,Streak had pulled up on Dale. Sanderson could see that Dale's horsewas running erratically; that it faltered on the slight rises that theycame to now and then. And when Sanderson discovered that Dale's horsewas failing, he urged Streak to a faster pace. In an hour the spacebetween the two riders had become less. They were climbing the long,gradual slope that led upward out of the basin when Dale's horsestumbled and fell, throwing Dale out of the saddle.
There was something horribly final in the manner of Dale's falling, forhe tumbled heavily and lay perfectly quiet afterward. His horse, afterrising, stumbled on a few steps and fell again.
Sanderson, fully alive to the danger of haste, rode slowly toward thefallen man. He was taking no chances, for Dale might be shamming in aneffort to shoot Sanderson as he came forward.
But Dale was not shamming. Dismounting and drawing his pistol,Sanderson went forward. Dale did not move, and when at last Sandersonstood over the fallen man he saw that his eyes were closed and that agreat gash had been cut in his forehead near the right temple.
Sanderson saw that the man was badly hurt, but to make sure of him hedrew Dale's pistol from its sheath and searched his clothing for otherweapons--finding another pistol in a pocket, and a knife in a belt.These he threw into some brush near by, and then he bent over the man.
Dale was unconscious, and despite all Sanderson could do, he remainedso.
Sanderson examined the wound in his temple, and discovered that it wasdeep and ragged--such a wound as a jagged stone might make.
It was midnight when Sanderson ceased his efforts and decided that Dalewould die. He pitied the man, but he felt no pang of regret, for Dalehad brought his death upon himself. Sanderson wondered, standingthere, looking down at Dale, whether he would have killed the man. Hedecided that he would have killed him.
"But that ain't no reason why I should let him die after he's had anaccident," he told himself. "I'll get him to Okar--to the doctor.Then, after the doc patches him up--if he can--an' I still think heneeds killing I'll do it."
So he brought Dale's horse near. The animal had had a long rest, andhad regained his strength.
Sanderson bent to Dale and lifted his shoulders, so that he might getan arm under him, to carry him to his horse. But at the first movementDale groaned and opened his eyes, looking directly into Sanderson's.
"Don't!" he said, "for God's sake, don't! You'll break me apart! It'smy back--it's broke. I've felt you workin' around me for hours. Butit won't do any good--I'm done. I can feel myself goin'."
Sanderson laid him down again and knelt beside him.
"You're Sanderson," said Dale, after a time. "I thought it was Nylandchasin' me for a while. Then I heard you talkin' to your horse an' Iknew it was you. Why don't you kill me?"
"I reckon the Lord is doin' that," said Sanderson.
"Yes--He is. Well, the Lord ain't ever done anything for me."
He was silent for a moment. Then:
"I want to tell you somethin', Sanderson. I've tried to hate you, butI ain't never succeeded. I've admired you. I've cussed myself fordoin' it, but I couldn't help it. An' because I couldn't hate you, Itried my best to do things that would make you hate me.
"I've deviled Mary Bransford because I thought it would stir you up. Idon't care anything for her--it's Peggy Nyland that I like. Mebbe I'dhave done the square thing to her--if I'd been let alone--an' if she'dhave liked me. Peggy's better, ain't she? When I saw her after--afterI saw Maison layin' there, choked to----"
"So you saw Maison--dead, you say?"
"Ben Nyland guzzled him," Dale's lips wreathed in a cynical smile."Ben thought Maison had brought Peggy to his rooms. You knowed Maisonwas dead?"
Sanderson nodded.
"Then you must have been to Okar." He groaned. "Where's Ben Nyland?"
"In Okar. He's lookin' for you." Sanderson leaned closer to the manand spoke sharply to him. "Look here, Dale; you were at the Double A.What has become of Mary Bransford?"
"She went away with Barney Owen--to Okar. Nobody hurt her," he said,as he saw Sanderson's eyes glow. "She's all right--she's with herbrother."
He saw Sanderson's eyes; they were filled with an expression ofincredulity; and a late moon, just showing its rim above the edge ofthe mesa above them, flooded the slope with a brilliancy that made itpossible for Dale to see another expression in Sanderson's eyes--anexpression which told him that Sanderson thought his mind was wandering.
He laughed, weakly.
"You think I'm loco, eh? Well, I ain't. Barney Owen ain't Barney Owenat all--he's Will Bransford. I found that out yesterday," hecontinued, soberly, as Sanderson looked quickly at him. "I had somemen down to Tombstone way, lookin' him up.
"When old Bransford showed me the letter that you took away from me, Iknew Will Bransford was in Tombstone; an' when Mary sent that thousandto him I set a friend of mine--Gary Miller--onto him. Gary an' two ofhis friends salivated young Bransford, but he turned up, later, minusthe money, in Tombstone. Another friend of mine sent me word--an' adescription of him. Barney Owen is Bransford.
"Just what happened to Gary Miller an' his two friends has bothered mea heap," went on Dale.
"They was to come this way, to help me in this deal. But they nevershowed up."
Sanderson smiled, and Dale's eyes gleamed.
"You know what's become of him!" he charged. "That's where you gotthat thousand you give to Mary Bransford--an' the papers, showin' thatyoung Bransford was due here. Ain't it?"
"I ain't sayin'," said Sanderson.
"Well," declared Dale, "Barney Owen is Will Bransford. The nightMorley got him drunk we went the limit with Owen, an' he talked enoughto make me suspicious. That's why I sent to Tombstone to find out howhe looked. We had the evidence to show the court at Las Vegas. We wasgoin' to prove you wasn't young Bransford, an' then we was goin' to putOwen out of the--"
Dale gasped, caught his breath, and stiffened.
Sanderson stayed with him until the dawn, sitti
ng, quietly beside himuntil the end. Then Sanderson got up, threw the body on Dale's horse,mounted his own, and set out across the basin toward Okar.