CHAPTER XXI
A TRY OUT
Sleepy Cat is not so large a place that one would ordinarily have muchtrouble in finding a man in it if one searched well. But Duke Morgandrove into town next morning and had to stay for three days waitingfor a chance to meet de Spain. Duke was not a man to talk much when hehad anything of moment to put through, and he had left homedetermined, before he came back, to finish for good with his enemy.
De Spain himself had been putting off for weeks every business thatwould bear putting off, and had been forced at length to run down toMedicine Bend to buy horses. Nan, after her uncle left home--justlyapprehensive of his intentions--made frantic efforts to get word to deSpain of what was impending. She could not telegraph--a publicity thatshe dreaded would have followed at once. De Spain had expected to beback in two days. Such a letter as she could have sent would not reachhim at Medicine Bend.
As it was, a distressing amount of talk did attend Duke's efforts toget track of de Spain. Sleepy Cat had but one interpretation for hisinquiries--and a fight, if one occurred between these men, it wasconceded would be historic in the annals of the town. Its anticipationwas food for all of the rumors of three days of suspense. For the townthey were three days of thrilling expectation; for Nan, isolated,without a confidant, not knowing what to do or which way to turn, theywere the three bitterest days of anxiety she had ever known.
Desperate with suspense at the close of the second day--wild for ascrap of news, yet dreading one--she saddled her pony and rode aloneinto Sleepy Cat after nightfall to meet the train on which de Spainhad told her he would return from the east. She rode straight to thehospital, instead of going to the livery-barn, and leaving her horse,got supper and walked by way of unfrequented streets down-town to thestation to wait for the train.
Never had she felt so miserable, so helpless, so forsaken, so alone.With the thought of her nearest relative, the man who had been afather to her and provided a home for her as long as she couldremember, seeking to kill him whose devotion had given her all thehappiness she had ever known, and whose safety meant her only pledgeof happiness for the future--her heart sank.
When the big train drew slowly, almost noiselessly, in, Nan took herplace where no incoming passenger could escape her gaze and waited forde Spain. Scanning eagerly the figures of the men that walked up thelong platform and approached the station exit, the fear that sheshould not see him battled with the hope that he would still appear.But when all the arrivals had been accounted for, he had not come.
She turned, heavy-hearted, to walk back uptown, trying to thinkof whom she might seek some information concerning de Spain'swhereabouts, when her eye fell on a man standing not ten feet awayat the door of the baggage-room. He was alone and seemed to bewatching the changing of the engines, but Nan thought she knewhim by sight. The rather long, straight, black hair under thebroad-brimmed Stetson hat marked the man known and hated in the Gapas "the Indian." Here, she said to herself, was a chance. De Spain,she recalled, spoke of no one oftener than this man. He seemedwholly disengaged.
Repressing her nervous timidity, Nan walked over to him. "Aren't youMr. Scott?" she asked abruptly.
Scott, turning to her, touched his hat as if quite unaware until thatmoment of her existence. "Did Mr. de Spain get off this train?" sheasked, as Scott acknowledged his identity.
"I didn't see him. I guess he didn't come to-night." Nan noticed theimpassive manner of his speaking and the low, even tones. "I was kindof looking for him myself."
"Is there another train to-night he could come on?"
"I don't think he will be back now before to-morrow night."
Nan, much disappointed, looked up the line and down. "I rode in thisafternoon from Music Mountain especially to see him." Scott, withoutcommenting, smiled with understanding and encouragement, and Nan wasso filled with anxiety that she welcomed a chance to talk to somebody."I've often heard him speak of you," she ventured, searching the darkeyes, and watching the open, kindly smile characteristic of the man.Scott put his right hand out at his side. "I've ridden with that boysince he was so high."
"I know he thinks everything of you."
"I think a lot of him."
"You don't know me?" she said tentatively.
His answer concealed all that was necessary. "Not to speak to, no."
"I am Nan Morgan."
"I know your name pretty well," he explained; nothing seemed todisturb his smile.
"And I came in--because I was worried over something and wanted to seeMr. de Spain."
"He is buying horses north of Medicine Bend. The rain-storm yesterdaylikely kept him back some. I don't think you need worry much overanything though."
"I don't mean I am worrying about Mr. de Spain at Medicine Bend,"disclaimed Nan with a trace of embarrassment.
"I know what you mean," smiled Bob Scott. She regarded him questioningly.He returned her gaze reassuringly as if he was confident of his ground."Did your pony come along all right after you left the foot-hills thisafternoon?"
Nan opened her eyes. "How did you know I came through the foot-hills?"
"I was over that way to-day." Something in the continuous smileenlightened her more than the word. "I noticed your pony went lame.You stopped to look at his foot."
"You were behind me," exclaimed Nan.
"I didn't see you," he countered prudently.
She seemed to fathom something from the expression of his face. "Youcouldn't have known I was coming in," she said quickly.
"No." He paused. Her eyes seemed to invite a further confidence. "Butafter you started it would be a pity if any harm came to you on theroad."
"You knew Uncle Duke was in town?" Scott nodded. "Do you know why Icame?"
"I made a guess at it. I don't think you need worry over anything."
"Has Uncle Duke been talking?"
"Your Uncle Duke doesn't talk much, you know. But he had to askquestions."
"Did you follow me down from the hospital to-night?"
"I was coming from my house after supper. I only kept close enough toyou to be handy."
"Oh, I understand. And you are very kind. I don't know what to donow."
"Go back to the hospital for the night. I will send Henry de Spain upthere just as soon as he comes to town."
"Suppose Uncle Duke sees him first."
"I'll see that he doesn't see him first."
"Where is Uncle Duke to-night, do you know?"
"Lefever says he is up-street somewhere."
"That means Tenison's," said Nan. "You need not be afraid to speakplainly, as I must. Uncle Duke is very angry--I am deathly afraid oftheir meeting."
Even de Spain himself, when he came back the next night, seemedhardly able to reassure her. Nan, who had stayed at the hospital,awaited him there, whither Scott had directed him, with her burden ofanxiety still upon her. When she had told all her story, de Spainlaughed at her fears. "I'll bring that man around, Nan, don't worry.Don't believe we shall ever fight. I may not be able to bring himaround to-morrow, or next week, but I'll do it. It takes two toquarrel, you know."
"But you don't know how unreasoning Uncle Duke is when he is angry,"said Nan mournfully. "He won't listen to _any_body. He always wouldlisten to me until now. Now, he says, I have gone back on him, and hedoesn't care what happens. Think, Henry, where it would put me ifeither of you should kill the other. Henry, I've been thinking it allover for three days now. I see what must come. It will break both ourhearts, I know, but they will be broken anyway. There is no way out,Henry--none."
"Nan, what do you mean?"
"You must give me up."
They were sitting in the hospital garden, he at her side on the benchthat he called their bench. It was here he had made his unrebukedavowal--here, he had afterward told her, that he began to live. "Giveyou up," he echoed with gentleness. "How could I do that? You're likethe morning for me, Nan. Without you there's no day; you're the kissof the mountain wind and the light of the stars to me. Without thethou
ght of you I'd sicken and faint in the saddle, I'd lose my way inthe hills; without you there would be no to-morrow. No matter where Iam, no matter how I feel, if I think of you strength wells into myheart like a spring. I never could give you up."
He told her all would be well because it must be well; that she _must_trust him; that he would bring her safe through every danger and everystorm, if she would only stick to him. And Nan, sobbing her fears oneby one out on his breast, put her arms around his neck and whisperedthat for life or death, she _would_ stick.
It was not hard for de Spain next morning to find Duke Morgan. He wasanxious on Nan's account to meet him early. The difficulty was to meethim without the mob of hangers-on whose appetite had been whetted withthe prospect of a death, and perhaps more than one, in the meeting ofmen whose supremacy with the gun had never been successfully disputed.It required all the diplomacy of Lefever to "pull off" a conferencebetween the two which should not from the start be hopeless, becauseof a crowd of Duke's partisans whose presence would egg him on, inspite of everything, to a combat. But toward eleven o'clock in themorning, de Spain having been concealed like a circus performer everyminute earlier, Duke Morgan was found, alone, in a barber's hands inthe Mountain House. At the moment Duke left the revolving-chair andwalked to the cigar stand to pay his check, de Spain entered the shopthrough the rear door opening from the hotel office.
Passing with an easy step the row of barbers lined up in waitingbeside their chairs, de Spain walked straight down the open aisle,behind Morgan's back. While Duke bent over the case to select a cigar,de Spain, passing, placed himself at the mountain-man's side andbetween him and the street sunshine. It was taking an advantage, deSpain was well aware, but under the circumstances he thought himselfentitled to a good light on Duke's eye.
De Spain wore an ordinary sack street suit, with no sign of a weaponabout him; but none of those who considered themselves favoredspectators of a long-awaited encounter felt any doubt as to hisability to put his hand on one at incomparably short notice. Therewas, however, no trace of hostility or suspicion in de Spain'sgreeting.
"Hello, Duke Morgan," he said frankly. Morgan looked around. His facehardened when he saw de Spain, and he involuntarily took a short stepbackward. De Spain, with his left hand lying carelessly on the cigarcase, faced him. "I heard you wanted to see me," continued de Spain."I want to see you. How's your back since you went home?"
Morgan eyed him with a mixture of suspicion and animosity. He tookwhat was to him the most significant part of de Spain's greeting firstand threw his response into words as short as words could be chopped:"What do you want to see me about?"
"Nothing unpleasant, I hope," returned de Spain. "Let's sit down aminute."
"Say what you got to say."
"Well, don't take my head off, Duke. I was sorry to hear you werehurt. And I've been trying to figure out how to make it easier for youto get to and from town while you are getting strong. Jeffries and Iboth feel there's been a lot of unnecessary hard feeling between theMorgans and the company, and we want to ask you to accept this to showsome of it's ended." De Spain put his left hand into his side pocketand held out an unsealed envelope to Morgan. Duke, taking theenvelope, eyed it distrustfully. "What's this?" he demanded, openingit and drawing out a card.
"Something for easier riding. An annual pass for you and one over thestage line between Calabasas and Sleepy Cat--with Mr. Jeffries'scompliments."
Like a flash, Morgan tore the card pass in two and threw it angrily tothe floor. "Tell 'Mr.' Jeffries," he exclaimed violently, "to----"
The man that chanced at that moment to be lying in the nearest chairslid quietly but imperiously out from under the razor and started withthe barbers for the rear door, wiping the lather from one unshavenside of his face with a neck towel as he took his hasty way. At theback of the shop a fat man, sitting in a chair on the high,shoe-shining platform, while a negro boy polished him, rose atMorgan's imprecation and tried to step over the bootblack's head tothe floor below. The boy, trying to get out of the way, jumped back,and the fat man fell, or pretended to fall, over him--for it might beseen that the man, despite his size, had lighted like a cat on hisfeet and was instantly half-way up to the front of the shop,exclaiming profanely but collectedly at the lad's awkwardness, beforede Spain had had time to reply to the insult.
The noise and confusion of the incident were considerable. Morgan wastoo old a fighter to look behind him at a critical moment. No mancould say he had meant to draw when he stamped the card underfoot, butde Spain read it in his eye and knew that Lefever's sudden diversionat the rear had made him hesitate; the crisis passed like a flash."Sorry you feel that way, Duke," returned de Spain, undisturbed. "Itis a courtesy we were glad to extend. And I want to speak to you aboutNan, too."
Morgan's face was livid. "What about her?"
"She has given me permission to ask your consent to our marriage,"said de Spain, "sometime in the reasonable future."
It was difficult for Duke to speak at all, he was so infuriated. "Youcan get my consent in just one way," he managed to say, "that's bygetting me."
"Then I'm afraid I'll never get it, for I'll never 'get' you, Duke."
A torrent of oaths fell from Morgan's cracked lips. He tried to tellde Spain in his fury that he knew all about his underhanded work, hecalled him more than one hard name, made no secret of his deadlyenmity, and challenged him to end their differences then and there.
De Spain did not move. His left hand again lay on the cigar case."Duke," he said, when his antagonist had exhausted his vituperation,"I wouldn't fight you, anyway. You're crazy angry at me for no reasonon earth. If you'll give me just one good reason for feeling the wayyou do toward me, and the way you've always acted toward me since Icame up to this country, I'll fight you."
"Pull your gun," cried Morgan with an imprecation.
"I won't do it. You call me a coward. Ask these boys here in the shopwhether they agree with you on that. You might as well call me anisosceles triangle. You're just crazy sore at me when I want to befriends with you. Instead of pulling my gun, Duke, I'll lay it out onthe case, here, to show you that all I ask of you is to talk reason."De Spain, reaching with his left hand under the lapel of his coat,took a Colt's revolver from its breast harness and laid it, the muzzletoward himself, on the plate-glass top of the cigar stand. It reducedhim to the necessity of a spring into Morgan for the smallest chancefor his life if Morgan should draw; but de Spain was a desperategambler in such matters even at twenty-eight, and he laid his wagerson what he could read in another's eye.
"There's more reasons than one why I shouldn't fight you," he saidevenly. "Duke, you're old enough to be my father--do you realizethat? What's the good of our shooting each other up?" he asked,ignoring Morgan's furious interruptions. "Who's to look after Nan whenyou go--as you must, before very many years? Have you ever askedyourself that? Do you want to leave her to that pack of wolves in theGap? You know, just as well as I do, the Gap is no place for ahigh-bred, fine-grained girl like Nan Morgan. But the Gap is yourhome, and you've done right to keep her under your roof and under youreye. Do you think _I'd_ like to pull a trigger on a man that's been afather to Nan? Damnation, Duke, could you expect me to do it,willingly? Nan is a queen. The best in the world isn't good enough forher--I'm not good enough, I know that. She's dear to you, she is dearto me. If you really want to see me try to use a gun, send me a manthat will insult or abuse her. If you want to use your own gun, use iton me if I ever insult or abuse her--is that fair?"
"Damn your fine words," exclaimed Morgan slowly and implacably. "Theydon't pull any wool over my eyes. I know you, de Spain--I know yourbreed----"
"What's that?"
Morgan checked himself at that tone. "You can't sneak into my affairsany deeper," he cried. "Keep away from my blood! I know how to takecare of my own. I'll do it. So help me God, if you ever take any oneof my kin away from me--it'll be over my dead body!" He ended with abitter oath and a final taunt: "Is that fair?"
br /> "No," retorted de Spain good-naturedly, "it's not fair. And some day,Duke, you'll be the first to say so. You won't shake hands with menow, I know, so I'll go. But the day will come when you will."
He covered his revolver with his left hand, and replaced it under hiscoat. The fat man who had been leaning patiently against a barber'schair ten feet from the disputants, stepped forward again lightly as acat. "Henry," he exclaimed, in a low but urgent tone, his handextended, "just a minute. There's a long-distance telephone call onthe wire for you." He pointed to the office door. "Take the firstbooth, Henry. Hello, Duke," he added, greeting Morgan with an extendedhand, as de Spain walked back. "How are you making it, old man?"
Duke Morgan grunted.
"Sorry to interrupt your talk," continued Lefever. "But the barns atCalabasas are burning--telephone wires from there cut, too--they hadto pick up the Thief River trunk line to get a message through. Makesit bad, doesn't it?" Lefever pulled a wry face. "Duke, there'ssomebody yet around Calabasas that needs hanging, isn't there? Yes."