I just couldn't help it, but I reckon he's a good kid all the same. He'll stand the iron.'
'What for sort of a bunch is they?' asked the new man.
'That's what I want yu to find out,' said the foreman. 'See, here's the how of it.'
He proceeded to recount his experiences since he had arrived in Hope, his companion listening with a widening smile.
'Huh ! Ain't missed any opportunities, have yu?' he commented. 'A coupla weeks an' yu'll be as popular as a fella with small-pox.' He dropped his bantering tone. 'Did yu ever wonder why I was so set on comin' here winh yu?'
'I put it down to yore natural desire to dodge regular work,' the other grinned, and then, when the answering smile and usual retort did not come, he added soberly, 'Tell me, Larry.'
With a face of stone, from which all the youthfulness had gone, the other told the story of the hanging of the nester, Forby. Save for a huskiness, there was no emotion in his voice, but the deadliness of purpose in the concluding words could not be mistaken. 'I was that boy; it was my dad they did to death, an' I've come back to make them pay.'
Tight-lipped and with an out-thrust jaw the foreman stood up and dropped a hand on his friend's shoulder.
'Yu know these fellas, Larry?' he inquired.
'I remember every one o' their damn faces, but I ain't got all their names,' the boy replied. 'Darby is in yore outfit now, but he done what he could an' that squares him. There was a Greaser, Ignacio, an' two o' the others were called Penton an' Fallan.'
'Yu don't have to worry 'bout him: he pulled a gun on me in Desert Edge,' Severn said grimly. 'Ignacio was here but drifted when I come; we'll find him again, an' the rest o' the murderin' houn's. Bartholomew's got a bigger bill to pay than I reckoned, but we'll collect it--together--in full.'
'I'm thankin' yu,' was all Larry could find to say, and, after an awkward pause, 'What kinda hold has Bartholomew got on Masters?'
'He didn't tell me, but I'm guessin' it's a strangle-hold,' Severn said. 'Masters don't strike me as bein' anyways soft.'
'What's the girl like?' was the next question.
'Well, she's amazin' like--a girl,' smiled Severn.
'Huh!' grunted Larry. 'Don't tell me yu've fell in love with her.'
'Bein' a truthful an' a married man, I won't,' his foreman said. 'An' yu bein' a sorta friend I'll let yu into a secret--she ain't fell in love with me neither; in fact, she regards my presence on the earth as an unwarrantable intrusion.'
Larry spat disgustedly. 'Seems to me the on'y friend yu've made is thisyer pup.'
'A pup is a good pal,' Severn rejoined. 'An' now I've got two of 'em--'
'Here, cowboy, who're yu callin' a --' began the other, but his host ushered him to the door.
'Don't yu worry, old-timer, Quirt ain't carin',' he said. 'Beat it to the bunkhouse, an' remember that the foreman ain't goin' to be too pleased with yu, an' yu don't like him none too much, 'less yu know yore man awful well, savvy?'
'Playin' I don't like yu'll be the easiest job I ever tackled,' Larry said, but there was a warmth in his tone which told a different story. 'Say, Don, but it's good to be on the warpath again with yu.'
'Who do yu think yo're talkin' to, yu idjut?' Severn asked quickly. 'I'm Jim Severn, yore foreman, an' don't yu forget it. Now, go pound yore ear, little fat fella.'
Barton beat a hasty retreat, and Severn grinned as he closed the door. They understood each other very well, these two.
Chapter IV
THE dismissal of two of the men he had sent to the Lazy M was regarded by Bartholomew as an act of open defiance, and he lost no time in taking up the challenge. The following afternoon found him reining in his mount by the veranda of the Masters' ranch-house. His hail brought out the owner.
'Hello, Masters,' he greeted. 'Come to take Phil ridin', but first I want a word with yu.'
He dismounted with an ease one would not have expected in so bulky a man and followed his host into the room.
'What's the idea in firin' Devint an' Ignacio?' he asked abruptly.
'Devint was offered the job o' straw-boss, went on the prod, an' tried to pull a gun on my foreman,' Masters explained. 'The Greaser fired himself.'
'Well, if yu didn't like Devint, I could 'a' got yu someone else,' said the Bar B owner. 'Where'd yu come across this chap Severn?'
'Heard of him in Desert Edge,' Masters replied. ''Pears to be capable.'
'Mebbe,' returned Bartholomew coolly. 'But I don't like him, Masters, an' he's gotta go.'
The cattleman's eyes flashed defiance for an instant, and then fell before the implacable gaze of the man who was giving him orders.
me goes to-morrow,' Bartholomew interjected. 'An' by the way, I'm shy seventy-five three-year-olds for a trail herd; I'll send over for 'em in a coupla days' time.'
The cattleman raged inwardly; he would have given almost anything he possessed for the power to pull his gun and shoot down the man who so ruthlessly rode him, but that would not save him. More than once the tyrant had said, 'As long as I live yo're safe, Masters.'
He was saved the trouble of replying by the scurry of hoofs outside and the appearance of Phil, mounted on a mettlesome cow-pony. The girl rode cowboy style, almost standing in the stirrups, and her laughing face was flushed with the effort to restrain the bunch of nerves and steel wire she bestrode. At her gay call, Bartholomew mounted, wheeled his horse beside her, and they loped away. Severn entered the bunkhouse as they passed.
'That was yore new foreman, wasn't it?' Bartholomew asked. 'What do yu think of him, Phil?'
'I don't think of him,' the young lady replied playfully, but not altogether truthfully.
'Shucks, then I needn't 'a' worried,' said her escort. 'Yu see, I've been advisin' yore father to get rid of him, an' if yu'd lost yore heart--'
'My affections are not so easily captured, Mr. Bartholomew,' she bantered back. 'T hope Daddy will take your advice.'
But even as she said the words a doubt crossed her mind, for short as the time had been, she fancied that her father had been more his old self since the arrival of the new foreman.
Bartholomew, satisfied that she was not interested in the newcomer, made no further reference to him. From time to time his gaze rested possessively on the fresh young beauty who rode beside him. He wanted her and was determined that she should be his. Without openly making love, he had given more than a hint of his hopes. There was a considerable difference in their ages, but, as he told himself, he was still young, and had the additional antractions of wealth and influence.
The girl's thoughts were on the same subject. She knew perfectly well that the owner of the Bar B admired her, and, liking him, the facn gave her pleasure. Though he dressed in the garb of the range, his clothes were of good quality, and he was careful of his appearance. A fine figure of a man, most women would have voted him, virile, self-assured, and, when he chose, entertaining. Though she had never given the subject serious consideration, Phil supposed that they would be married--it seemed the natural outcome--but to-day she found herself criticising her escort, and to her annoyance comparing him with theLate that evening the foreman heard a subdued rap at his door, and opened it to admit his employer. The cattleman's face was grim, and when he spoke his voice had a ring of determination.
'Bartholomew was here to-day, an' things has come to a showdown,' he began. 'I've got orders to hand over seventy-five head an' fire yu to-morrow. I'll see him in hell first.' He waited a moment, but Severn had nothing to say, and the ranch-owner continued. 'It's come a bit sooner than I figured, but that can't be helped. Now, get this, Bart's hold is on me--personal, but if I ain't here--'
Severn grinned and nodded comprehendingly. With the owner absent, the blackmailer's power over the ranch vanished too.
'This is how I've planned it,' Masters went on. 'I just fade out, leavin' no word, an' yu take hold an' run the ranch. Tf I don't show up again in reasonable time I s'pose it will be assumed that I've cashed, an' Judge Embley,
