`Hell's gates!' Yorky swore, apologised, and added bitterly. `I savvied we was wrong to turn him loose.'
`That was my doing,' she said.
The reappearance of the man was a shock, and his parting threat told her that she had not seen the last of him. The remembrance of the unconcealed lust in his gaze made her shiver. Odd that she might yet come to regard Drait as ... She drove away the thought impatiently; at the best, he could be no more than the lesser of two evils.
*
The foreman of the S P watched the approaching horseman and grinned crookedly when he recognised him. `Boy, you got a nibble, but you need to play him afore you strike,' he told himself. `He ain't no sucker.' And when the visitor reached the ranch-house, 'Lo, Drait, take the weight off'n yore saddle.'
The nester complied, and sat rolling a cigarette, waiting for the other to open the ball.
`How's thing's at Shadow Valley?' Gilman began.
`Fine as silk,' Nick replied easily.
`Been to town lately?'
`Any good reason why I should?'
`No, but there may be one for keepin' away.'
`You ain't referrin' to that bum sheriff, are you?' Drait asked scornfully.
`Not as a good reason,' Gilman laughed. `Allasame, if you do have to go, take yore friend along, an' tell him to be more careful where he plants the pills; shootin' the buttons off'n a rattler may be fine marksmanship but it's pore judgment. Still figure on stayin' in our midst?'
`Shore do--there's plenty room for another range without crowdin' anybody,' Drait replied.
`Well, it ain't worryin' me none,' the foreman said carelessly.
`Mebbe if I owned the S P I'd talk different, but ...' He finished with a shrug.
`You should have a good job here.'
`Don't think it; that law-sharp at Rideout keeps me mighty close-hauled--you'd fancy the damn place belonged to him. I'm runnin' the whole shootin' match an' drawin' a foreman's pay. Is that fair?'
`I'll say it ain't,' the other agreed. `Mebbe the new owner'll make it up to you, when they find him.'
`More likely to turf me out, figurin' to do it better hisself,' Gilman said gloomily. `Started yore herd yet?'
`You said you might do somethin' about that.'
`How about sixty yearlin's an' forty calves at eight bucks per head all round?'
`Sounds cheap.'
`It is, but the ranch is short o' ready coin. It'll be unbranded stock, mostly our'n--my fellas ain't too careful--with mebbe a sprinklin' o' strays, but when yore iron's on 'em it'll be nobody's business.'
His slitted eyes watched the nester closely as he made this proposition, but he saw only what seemed to be appreciation of a real bargain.
`I'm obliged,' Draft said. 'I'll certainly chew on that.'
`Let me know, an' the beasts'll be ready. You can collect at daylight--I don't want it knowed that the S P is pushed for money.'
Drait came away in a thoughtful frame of mind. Either Gilman was deliberately robbing his employers, or he was setting a trap, and it was more than possible he was doing both. Dealing with a lawyer who knew nothing of the cattle business the former would be easy, but the alternative required serious consideration. Probably the foreman was working with the other ranchers, and Drait had no desire to hand them a weapon against himself.
When he arrived at Shadow Valley he found the wall completed, and he had to wait while a grinning Smoky unfastened and flung open a half of the massive gates.
`Well, Boss, here she is,' he said. `Strong enough to stop a stampede, an' six fellas what can shoot'll hold her agin a regiment.'
Drait nodded. `Shouldn't have no more surprises.'
But there was one waiting for him at the house. Mary was at the door, and he almost fancied she was relieved to see him. `There is something you have to know,' she began. `Bardoe is alive.'
With a frown which grew heavier he Iistened to her story.
Only when she had finished did he make the comment. `You let him go?'
`I was to blame,' she replied. `Yorky wanted to hold him.' `Yorky was right.' He looked at her ironically. `You tried to shoot the man, an' then .. .
`I can't explain,' she interrupted passionately.
`I s'pose you thought I'd finish what I'd bungled,' he said, and when she did not deny, `I don't shoot unarmed men--he'd have had an even break, which is more than he gave me. Well, that job's still to do, but there's another I must be seem' to.'
He strode to the bunkhouse, where he found the outfit, all save Smoky. The foreman asked a question.
`Good work,' Drait replied. `But there's a rat-hole at the other end that's gotta be stopped complete an' pronto. Yorky, I'm right obliged to you.'
The boy squirmed uneasily. `Ain't worth mentionin',' he said. `If I'd knowed who he was ...'
`Shore, I understand,' the nester smiled. `Jim, there's somethin' I wanna ask you.'
When they were outside the bunkhouse, Drait told of the offer he had received. `O' course, he'll put the dollars in his own pocket--after squarin' his men,' he concluded. `I don't care none about that; what I'm wonderin', is he diggin' a hole for me?'
`If the critters ain't marked, I don't see how he could do anythin',' Sudden said. `There's one precaution yu might take; where does he bank?'
`With the Western Union; it's the on'y one in Midway; we all use it.'
`Good. Draw the money out in big bills, have the manager make a note o' the date an' numbers, an' tell him you might need to know who pays 'em in again. If Gilman tries any tricks, he may get tangled in his own rope.'
`I want those beasts, an' I figure he'll play straight, anyway till he's got some more o' my dollars. But I'll do as you say--fix it in town tomorrow. Oh, there won't be no trouble, but come if you like an' fench Yorky along; I owe him a break.'
So the morning found the three of them outside the bank premises in Midway. The nester went in to transact his business, and his companions waited, looking at an all too familiar scene. Heavy freight wagons, drawn by plodding mules, churned up the dust, distributing it impartially on passing pedestrians. In front of the saloons stood lines of patient ponies, their flicking tails waging the unending war against the flies. The passers-by afforded a wide choice in race and colour; roughly-dressed, craggy-faced whites, yellow-skinned Mexicans,slit-eyed, smiling Chinamen, and Negroes. Sudden, sitting carelessly in his saddle, appeared indifferent, but his keen eyes missed nothing, and he at once noticed that the nester's arrival had aroused interest.
`Somethin' in the wind,' he said to Yorky. `Where's that lousy sheriff off to, an' what's he so pleased about?'
Camort had passed on the other side of the street, his arm still in a sling, and his face alive with malignant satisfaction. Yorky studied the stumpy figure.
`If he smells as bad as he looks they've christened him correct,' he decided. `How do things like that git their jobs?'
`Just because they are things like that,' Sudden said caustically. 'Comin' from where yu do, yu oughta know. The big men have the whip-hand. The election is a farce; the outfits have to vote as they're told, an' the tradesmen daren't offend large customers. The ballot ain't secret, an' Heaven help the fella who supports the wrong side.'
Drait rejoined them. `All fixed,' he said. `Williams, the manager, is a good chap; he don't admire the way the town is run, but like plenty others, he has no play his cards close. I hear the sheriff is on the warpath again; seen anythin' of him?'
`He watched yu go inno the bank, an' it shore looked like the answer to a prayer. Then he seemed to remember somethin' important.'
`You don't say,' Nick grinned. `What we goin' to do?'
A man slouching slowly by answered the question: `Scatter dust if yo're wise. Camort reckons he's got you cinched.' `Thanks, friend, but he's a pore reckoner--lack of schoolin' I expect. We'll go find him.'
The unknown shrugged. `It's yore funeral,' he said.
