The rancher's gloomy gaze followed her. What had possessed him to speak that way? He recalled how his heart had seemed to stop beating when he saw her in the path of the cattle. Perhaps it was the reaction at finding her unharmed when he had feared . Or maybe it was the encounter with the sheriff, which still rankled? Well, what did it matter--she was a Trenton anyway. He went to the bar, and Bowdyr's first remark might have been an answer to his last thought.
'She's a fine gal--even if she is kin to Zeb,' he said.
'Looks ain't much to go on,' the young man observed cynically. 'The meanest hoss I ever owned was a picture.'
The saloon-keeper, being a wise man, kept his smile and his thoughts to himself. Malachi, returning presently, found them drinking together, and to the surprise of both, declined their invitation.
'How's the arm?' he enquired.
'Fine, it was just a touch.'
'Yes, touch and go; if you'd been two seconds later the horn would have pierced your heart,' the doctor said. 'I didn't tell Miss Trenton that.'
'I'm obliged--she's over-grateful a'ready. You ain't here to ask after my health, are you, Phil?'
'No, my errand concerns my own. When are you going away?'
'So you've heard that damn silly rumour too?'
'I pay no attention to idle chatter, and get it into your head that I'm on your side,' Malachi said seriously. 'Listen: I happen to know--never mind how--that you have to raise a large sum of money in a short time.'
Dan swore. 'So my financial position is common property?' he said bitterly.
'Whose isn't, in this place?' was the rejoinder. 'Where are you going for it? With the cattle business as it is, your chance with the Eastern capitalist is nil; north and south are only ranches in the same predicament as yourself; in the west, there is Rufe's Cache--if you can find it.'
'What do you know about that?' Dan demanded.
'The story is common property also,' the doctor reminded. 'Your father himself gave me the facts, and asserted that if necessity arose, he could go to the spot. Probably that is why he did not worry about his debt to the bank.'
Dan was silent; it was disturbing to think his affairs and plans were known. Then he said, 'Who told you I was leavin' Rainbow?'
'No one. Aware of the difficulty you are in, I tried to reason out a line of action, that's all. The Cache would appear to be your best bet.'
'What's yore interest?'
'The purely selfish one of wanting to go with you.'
Bowdyr had been called away, so Dover got the full shock of the surprise, and it certainly was one. That this man, whom he liked, but had always regarded as an effeminate, should desire to undergo the danger and discomfort of a journey into the mountains seemed quite incredible.
'It'll be damned hard goin', we'll have to break trail a lot, live rough an' sleep in the open, an' it's cold too, nights,' he warned. 'Also, there's a risk o' fightin' if--
'Trenton gets the idea. Yes, he needs cash as much, and perhaps more, than you do. Well, I can ride and shoot, I'm fitter than I look, and I'll obey orders. Also, if anyone gets hurt ...' The rancher voiced his last and chief objection. 'You'll be a devil of a long way from a saloon,' he said pointedly.
'Which is exactly why I want to come,' Malachi smiled. 'It is an experiment, Dan, and I'm asking you to help me.' They shook hands on the bargain.
Chapter XIII
Beth Trenton returned to the Wagon-wheel sound in body but perturbed in mind. Naturally generous by nature, the attitude her rescuer had adopted distressed and saddened her. Coming from the East, she could not comprehend the stark animosity which could keep two families at war for years. And rude, primitive as he seemed, there was much that was likeable in Dan Dover. If only she could bring about a peace.
Her uncle was alone in the living-room. As she related her adventure, she saw concern, relief, and then both were swept away in a gust of anger at the mention of her preserver's name.
'That fella again?' he stormed. 'What cursed ill-luck arranges for him to be handy every time you get into trouble?'
'I am afraid I cannot regard it as ill-luck,' she replied. 'He saved me, and might have died himself.'
'Bah! Only one thing kills that breed--a bullet,' was the brutal rejoinder. 'I'm not ungrateful, girl; any other man could ask what he liked of me, but Dover ...'
'He does not want even thanks,' she said. 'He threw my own back in my face.'
'The insolent young hound,' Trenton growled. 'He needs a lesson, an' by Christopher, I'll see that he gets one.'
'Uncle, what was the beginning of the trouble?' she asked.
'Oh, it's a long story; I'll spin it for you one day, but you can take this to go on with--a Dover murdered my father,' the rancher said, and stood up. 'Yo're a Trenton, Beth, an' our enemies must be yores too; we don't forget or forgive.'
He had meant to tell her of the coming trip into the hills, but judged this was not the time; better to let the memory of this latest obligation to Dover fade a little. Women were kittle cattle, and he wanted her wholly on his side. He struck another blow.
'Have you noticed Bundy's face?'
'Why, yes, he seems to have met with an accident.'
'Yeah, the accident of runnin' into three o' the Circle Dot riders out on the range,' Trenton said. 'They threw an' savaged him, stole his horse, an' he had to foot it home, over ten miles, in the dark.'
'Three to one?' she cried. 'The cowards! Was Mister Dover there?'
'No, but his new man, Green, was, so you can be certain his boss approved; probably it was a put-up job, an' they were waitin' for the chance.'
'But why?'
'Simply because he's foreman here; it's a blow at me.' She could not doubt, although she found it hard to credit that Green, of whom the doctor had spoken highly, could take part in such a sordid enterprise. But she was learning that the Westerner was a creature of fine impulses, strong in his likes and dislikes.
'Isn't there any law?' she ventured.
'No, only a sheriff,' was the satirical answer. 'Now, don't you worry yourself about these things, my dear. Bundy can take care of himself, an' so can the Wagon-wheel.'
Dover also journeyed home in a worried state of mind. He had called on Maitland before leaving town, and the interview had been anything but helpful. It was, the rancher moodily reflected, a fitting climax to a thoroughly imperfect day. So Yorky, to whom it had proved exactly the opposite, found him a morose and pre-occupied companion. Jocular references to his encounter with young Evans met with no encouragement. In the bunkhouse, it was much the same;the boys listened to his story, but it failed to arouse the amusement he had looked for.
'Got back on him for the lickin' he gave you, huh?' Blister commented.
'Never did lick me,' Yorky retorted heatedly. 'He took as much as I did.'
'Then you had nothin' to square up for,' the cowboy replied.
Even Yorky's quick wits could find no answer to this, and he subsided into silence. It began to dawn upon him that he had not been so clever after all. This suspicion was strengthened when he showed his new acquisition to Sudden, with an account of how he had got it.
'She's good value,' the puncher said. 'Told the boys?'
'yep, they didn't seem to think it funny,' Yorky admitted, and repeated Blister's remarks.
'They were right--it ain't a bit funny,' Sudden said gravely. 'Yu fought Evans, an' come out even. Well, nothin' to that, but now yu've put yoreself in his debt by shamin' him, probably made him hate his job. That's bad.'
'Never thought of it that way, Jim,' the boy said contritely. 'What c'n I do?'
'Next time yo're in town, go to Evans an' eat dirt,' the puncher said. 'That's a meal we all gotta be ready to take, an' if it gets yu a friend, it's worth while.'
