for the invalid, Ginger, the rest of the outfit being abroad on various duties. Blaynes, according to the sick man, had eventually been restored to consciousness, and had departed, vowing all kinds of reprisals.
`Looks like yu was preparin' for a long trip,' was the nearest approach to the question that Ginger would venture on. `Only to town, but I may be there quite a spell,' said Green. `I'll be at the hotel if I'm wanted,' he added meaningly. `So long, Ginger, an' good luck.'
The wounded man asked no more, but through the open door he presently saw his friend ride away on Blue, leading his other pony, and drew his own conclusions. When, later in the day, Larry, with Dirty and Simple, rode in, he told them the news and a small indignation meeting was immediately held, which resulted in the three striding determinedly to the ranch-house. That they walked speaks eloquently for the state of their minds, for your cowboy normally will fork his pony to cross a street. Old Simon met them at the door.
`Well, boys, what's eatin' yu,' he asked, scenting trouble from their perturbed appearance.
`We understan' yu fired Green,' Larry blurted out.
`Well, what of it?' asked the boss acidly.
`We don't reckon he's had a square deal, an...' Larry bogged down.
`We want our time,' Dirty came to the rescue.
`We're speakin' for Ginger too,' added Simple, not to be left out.
For about ten seconds the old man glared at them in speechless amazement, and then the storm broke :
`Damnation!' he roared. `What the devil's it gotta do with yu if I fire a hand? Have I gotta ask a passel o' bone-headed cowwrastlers how I'm to run my own ranch? If yu want yore time yu can have it, every mother's son o' ye, but if yu got any sense at all yu'll get to hell out o' this an' mind yore own business, an' I reckon Green'll tell yu the same if yu ask him. Now, get out, 'fore I lose my wool over yu.'
As Dirty put it afterwards, `The depitation then withdrew,' and the Old Man, with a final snort of disgust, vanished into the office.
`An' now where are we?' disconsolately queried Larry, when they foregathered again at Ginger's bedside, and informed him of the result of their protest. `Did we resign, were we fired, or are we still 'Wise-heads'?'
` 'Bone-heads' the Old Man called us,' Dirty reminded. `But he didn't pay us off, so I reckon we still belong.'
`One o' yu ride in tonight an' see Green,' suggested Ginger. This seemed a good idea and they cut the cards to decide who should make the trip. The choice fell to Larry, much to the disgust of the other two, which was not decreased when he added cheerfully, `Now yu gotta cut to see which o' yu takes my place line-ridin' to-night--I shan't be back in time likely.'
`By Gosh, yu got nerve,' snorted Dirty.
Nevertheless, being good fellows and good friends, they submitted, and in due course Larry set out in search of the man for whom they had gone on strike. He found him in the bar of the Folly, and far less grateful than the circumstances might seem to warrant. After listening to the emissary's account of the bearding of their employer and the reception they met with, he remarked :
`Huh! 'Bone-heads' he called yu, did he? Well, he got yu dead right. D'yu reckon any self-respectin' feller is goin' to let his men dictate to him? I wonder he didn't fire you straight away.'
`We did it to help yu,' Larry reminded him.
`Shore, I know,' smiled Green, `but yu get this into yore brainbox--yu can help me the best way by holdin' down yore jobs at the Y Z. There's dirty work goin' on, an' I'm aimin' to clean up before I leave the district, for my own satisfaction, yu understand. What yu gotta remember is that I'm an outawork puncher, layin' off for a spell, an' not too well disposed to the ranch that give me the bounce. When I want any o' yu I'll let yu know. Seen anythin' o' Job?'
`Nope,' said Larry, `but I hear he's the maddest man this side o' the Rockies. Simple ran across Woods an' he said Leeming damn near blew up when they got back an' found another lot lifted. These fellers ain't sleepin' on their job for shore.'
`All the same, they'll be caught nappin' one o' these days,' Green retorted, with a grin.
`See here, Don,' wheedled Larry. `What about me cuttin' loose an' throwin' in with yu? The others can look after the ranch end of it, an' two of us can keep cases on these cutthroats better than one.'
`Nothin' doin',' was the reply. `I'm playin' a lone hand for the present. Yu gotta toddle back to the Y Z like a good little boy, be very polite to the foreman, an' not too kind to me.'
`That last bit'll be easy enough, yu hog,' returned his friend, and with a casual salutation, took his departure just as Tarman, his henchman, Pete, and the marshal came in together. Green had stepped over to the bar and was talking to Silas, to whom he had already confided his rupture with the Y Z, knowing that this would be the speediest way of spreading the version he wished to be known.
`So yu ain't quittin' us for a while,' the bartender remarked. `Goin' to tie up with Leeming?'
The puncher shook his head. `Guess I'll take a holiday,' he said. `Might do a bit o' prospectin' too; there oughta be gold in some o' them creeks towards Big Chief.'
Tarman and his party were beginning a game of cards at a near-by table, and the puncher had spoken loudly enough for the words to reach them. He caught a quick look from the gambler.
`Old Nugget don't seem to find much dust; if he does he spends it somewhere else,' Silas rejoined.
`I've a hunch it's there anyways, an' I might as well give her a trial; I've got all the time there is,' Green said carelessly. He stood watching the play for a while and then went out.
`Huh! Prospectin', eh?' said the marshal, as the door closed behind him. `Reckon he won't get very fat on that. Funny how a busted puncher's thoughts allus turn to gold-diggin'.' `Yu think he meant it then?' asked Poker Pete.
`He said it loud enough.'
`He said it too loud--he meant us to hear. I'll want to see him at work afore I swaller that.'
`Bah! He won't trouble about us, Pete,' Tonk said. `He's through with the Y Z.'
`No doubt o' that,' corroborated Tarman. `I was there this afternoon. He damn near killed Blaynes, an' Petter is mighty sore over it. He'd be a useful man.'
The gambler swore luridly. `I'm agoin' to feed Mister Green to the buzzards,' he said savagely.
`I ain't objectin', Pete,' Tarman observed. `But why not use him first? Think it over.'
The man's voice was quiet, silken almost, but it carried a note of authority to which the gambler offered no further resistance. Tarman smiled. `Get him to the Fort an' put it to him--one o' the boys there can do it, a stranger, o' course. If he throws in, well an' good; if he don't keep him there.'
The emphasis on the last three words brought a meaning smile to the faces of his listeners, and Pete was quick to agree: `Yo're right, Joe, as usual; that's the play to make. I'll put California on the job--he's done some prospectin' in his time, an' he ain't known here.' Tarman nodded his approval, and the game proceeded.
On leaving the Folly, Green went to the store, where he purchased a small hatchet, a miner's pick, a shovel, and a shallow pan for washing dirt. He also replenished his stock of ammunition and tobacco, and laid in a varied assortment of provisions.
'Goin a-travellin'?' asked the storekeeper.
`Takin' a lintle holiday--got sick o' poundin' beasts,' explained the customer. `Got any fish-hooks?'
`Shore I have--if I can find 'em. Yu aimin' to combine business an' pleasure?'
`Yu called it--that's just my idea. When I get tired o' diggin' up nuggets I'll catch me a trout or two for supper.'
`Reckon yu will get more fish than gold,' laughed the old man, `though I dunno why there shouldn't be some good pickin's; it was there once.'
Having arranged for his purchases to be sent to the hotel, the puncher returned there himself, satisfied with the evening's work. He had recognised that some good excuse for his remaining in Hatchett's was essential, and that it must be one that would explain solitary excursions into the surrounding country. So he had made his bluff and with customary thoroughness intended to carry it through. That Tarman was in some way mixed up with the rustling he now felt convinced, and also that it was Laban who had so neatly circumvented the attempt to recover the stolen Frying Pan herd.
Broad smiles broke out on the faces of early risers in Hatchett's next morning when they saw a cowboy riding slowly along the street upon a pony whose air was clearly one of chastened disgust at being festooned with the
