my orders?' Takin' them questions as they come, I've been in charge ever since I joined the outfit,' sneered Lunt. `An' as for authority, well, what's the matter with these?' and he swept the tips of his fingers over the black butts of his guns.
Blaynes would have given ten years of his life for the power no snatch out his weapon, but he knew he could not do it. Had it been any other man in the outfit he would not have hesitated, but this grim bow-legged little puncher was a chilly proposinion; the squinting, mocking eyes told that he would shoot to kill, and was hungering for the opportunity. Rattler preferred to temporise.
`See here, Snap, what in hell's got into yu?' he asked. `This feller's a rustler, playin' Injun to steal our cattle and caught with the goods. 'Sides which, he's a damn sneakin' spy. What yu takin' his end for?'
Snap grinned. He knew perfectly well that this appeal was made, not to him, but to any other of the men who might take his side.
He replied promptly: `Mebbe he's all yu say, an' mebbe he ain't, but he's agoin' back to the ranch for the Old Man to decide. It ain't yore cattle that's missin' anyways. There's four of us thinks like this, an' if yu others wants argue about it yu can turn yore wolf loose as soon as yo're ready.'
The foreman stood irresolute; the odds were heavily in his favour so far as numbers were concerned, but a fight would mean wiping out some of the outfit, and he knew he would be the first to die; Snap would take care of that. Moreover, he had the same orders as Gorilla, though he had been prepared no chance that to compass his revenge. He glanced at Durran and the scowling face gave him no encouragement. He must give in.
`I don't want no gun-play 'mong ourselves, but I'm not forgettin' it,' he said. `We'll let him live long enough to get to the Y Z, where I reckon the Old Man'll string him up slick enough. Durran, yu an' Nigger take him in.'
Snap climbed his horse. `I'll go along,' he said sardonically. `He's a desperate feller. Yu better get a move on, Rattler, if yu don't want them rustlers to git away with the plunder.'
Blaynes ground his teeth with rage at the position the gunman had forced him into. His apparent duty to his employer would send him on a will-o'-the-wisp chase of cattle he had no wish to recapture, while his one desire was to go back to the ranch to make sure the prisoner did not escape or receive mercy. The very thought of the latter possibility decided the issue.
`Aw right, we'll all go back,' he said. `If Simon wants his cattle again he'll have to get me some fellers as will obey orders.'
The prisoner, his hands still bound, was hoisted upon a horse, and his feet secured beneath the animal's belly. Then with Durran and Bent on either side, and Blaynes immediately behind, they set out for the ranch. Thus Green was given no chance of converse with his friends, but the thought that they had not yet condemned him in spite of his apparent guilt was a cheering one. He smiled reassuringly at Larry, whose face showed most concern, and who appeared to be holding himself in with difficulty. He felt that the boy was loyal and would stand by him to the end.
It was growing dark when they reached the ranch-house, and the early stars were winking in the sky. Blaynes gave a hail as nhe riders pulled their mounts down in front of the verandah, and Simon promptly appeared, followed by Noreen. The cattle-owner had already been told of the raid, but Blaynes had not mentioned that one of the thieves had been taken, and for a moment he did not notice the bound man.
`Yore soon back, Blaynes,' he said. `How's that?'
The foreman told his story, truthfully enough, but saddling the whole blame for not following the stolen herd upon the rebellious members of the outfit. Old Simon's face grew stormy as he listened, and when the tale was done he turned to Lunt, who with the other three was standing apart.
`An' what's yore idea, Lunt, takin' sides with a cow-thief against me?' he asked.
`That ain't so, Simon,' replied the gunman. `If it had been, we'd 'a' turned Green loose, an' we could have.' His voice had an edge to it. `Rattler an' the prisoner ain't never been the best o' friends, an' hangin' him right away looked too much like settlin' a private quarrel in a mean way to me. Any feller is entitled to a hearin' an' by God, Green is goin' no have one.'
`Yu threatenin' me?' snarled Simon.
`Nary a threat, but I'm tellin' yu,' replied the little man. His voice was low, passionless, but there was an earnestness which could not be mistaken. Little as he liked being dictated to the ranch-owner realised that he must give in or blood would be shed. He looked at the prisoner.
`Well, Green, yore friends are doin' all the talkin'; ain't yu got nothin' to say?' he sneered.
`What I have to say is for yore ear only,' Green said. `When yu have heard it yu can go ahead with the hangin'--if yu want to.' Blaynes laughed, and the puncher went on, `Yore dirty dog of a foreman don't want that; he didn't follow yore stolen cows because he was scared I'd get a chance to speak with yu--least-ways, that was one o' the reasons. Now, yu can please yoreself; I'm through.'
`He's a rank liar,' Blaynes cried.
`It's easy to call a tied man that,' Green gibed. `Turn me loose an' yu'll see that coyote hunt his hole.'
`Huh, damn lot o' fuss about stringin' up a thief,' interjected Durran. `Anybody'd think there warn't no trees handy.'
`Keep yore mouth shut, or I'll close it for yu--permanent,' snapped Larry.
`Stop yore gassin'--all o' yu darn fools,' yelled the exasperated cattleman, and then, as he felt a touch on his arm, `Well, girl, what do yu want? No good yu mixin' up in this.'
`I'm only saying this, Dad. Why not listen to Green; that can't do any harm.'
The old man pondered for a moment. `Mebbe yo're right,' he said at last. `Green, yu come into the office. The rest o' yu can clear out.' Blaynes started to dismount, but Simon saw the movement. `I don't want yu, Rattler,' he added.
`But see here, Simon, if this feller is goin' to make charges against me, I oughtta be presenn,' protested the foreman. `Who told yu he's agoin' to?'
`Well, it seems the likely move, don't it?' said Blaynes, rather taken aback by his employer's manner.
`Awright, if he does, I won't hang yu without givin' yu a chance to speak for yoreself,' snapped Simon. `Now git.'
He followed the captive into the office, and found his daughter already there. He looked at her doubnfully and then said, `I don't remember askin' yu to be present, Norry.'
`You didn't, Dad, but I'm going to be,' she replied, and there was a quiet determination in her voice which made both men look at her. The laughing merry girl had gone and a grown serious woman had taken her place. The old man made a gesture of impanience.
`It ain't no business for a girl,' he protested.
`It's your business and therefore mine,' came the reply. 'Besides, I am in this man's debt and I'm not forgetting it.'
`Huh,' grunted the ranch-owner. `Reckon he's paid himself for that out o' my cattle, but have it yore own way. Now, Green, yu got that hearin', make the most of it.'
The prisoner did not at once avail himself of the invitation. Standing there with bound hands, unshaven, and with a bloodstained, dirty bandage on his head, he was painfully conscious that he looked a ruffian. Although the fact that she took even the slightest interest in him, due only to a sense of gratitude, stirred him, he would have preferred to speak no her father alone. Though his investigations were by no means complete he felt that he had discovered enough to convince the ranchman. `When I left the Y Z I told yu I wasn't ready to put my cards on the table,' he began. `Well, I ain't ready now, but the prospect of havin' his neck stretched forces a man's hand some...' he smiled grimly, `an' I'm agoin' to do it.'
`Go ahead,' said Simon, shortly.
`I told yu the rustlin' was the work of whites playin' Injun an' I was right,' proceeded Green.
`That warn't difficult,' sneered the old man, with a glance at the head-dress found on the prisoner, which Blaynes had handed to him.
`No, the signs were plain enough,' returned the puncher, ignoring the sneer. `What wasn't so plain was that yu were bein' robbed by a big gang, and that yore foreman an' more than half yore outfit are in it.'
`That ain't plain now,' commented the cattleman, drily.
`I've already said that I'm speakin' before I'm ready,' the prisoner pointed out. `I ain't got all the proof I want, but I know what I'm tellin' yu. The Double X an' the Crossed Dumbell are workin' with some o' yore men, liftin' cattle from yu an' the Frying Pan, an' the whole bunch is bossed by a feller they call the Spider. It was the
