'Buell, the kid's fell in with old Bent, the b'ar hunter,' said Bill. 'Thet accounts fer the cub. Bent's allus got cubs, an' kittens, an' sich. An' I'll tell you, he ain't no better friend of ourn than Jim Williams.'
'I'd about as soon tackle Williams as Bent,' put in Bud.
Buell shook his fist. 'What luck the kid has! But I'll get him, take it from me! Now, what's best to do?'
'Buell, the game's going against you,' said Dick Leslie. 'The penitentiary is where you'll finish. You'd better let me loose. Old Bent will find Jim Williams, and then you fellows will be up against it. There's going to be somebody killed. The best thing for you to do is to let me go and then cut out yourself.'
Buell breathed as heavily as a porpoise, and his footsteps pounded hard.
'Leslie, I'm seein' this out–understand? When Bud rode down to the mill an' told me the kid had got away I made up my mind to ketch him an' shet his mouth–one way or another. An' I'll do it. Take thet from me!'
'Bah!' sneered Dick. 'You're sca'red into the middle of next week right now... . Besides, if you do ketch Ken it won't do you any good-now!'
'What?'
But Dick shut up like a clam, and not another word could be gotten from him. Buell fumed and stamped.
'Bud, you're the only one in this bunch of loggerheads thet has any sense. What d'you say?'
'Quiet down an' wait here,' replied Bud. 'Mebbe old Bent didn't hear them shots of Herky's. He may come back. Let's wait awhile, an', if he doesn't come, put Herky on the trail.'
'Good! Greaser, go out an' hide the hosses–drive them up the canyon.'
The Mexican shuffled out, and all the others settled down to quiet. I heard some of them light their pipes. Bud leaned against the left of the door, Buell sat on the other side, and beyond them I saw as much of Herky as his boots. I knew him by his bow-legs.
The stillness that set in began to be hard on me'. When the men were moving about and talking I had been so interested that my predicament did not occupy my mind. But now, with those ruffians waiting silently below, I was beset with a thousand fears. The very consciousness that I must be quiet made it almost impossible. Then I became aware that my one position cramped my arm and side. A million prickling needles were at my elbow. A band as of steel tightened about my breast. I grew hot and cold, and trembled. I knew the slightest move would be fatal, so I bent all my mind to lying quiet as a stone.
Greaser came limping back into the cabin, and found a seat without any one speaking. It was so still that I heard the silken rustle of paper as he rolled a cigarette. Moments that seemed long as years passed, with my muscles clamped as in a vise. If only I had lain down upon my back! But there I was, half raised on my elbow, in a most awkward and uncomfortable position. I tried not to mind the tingling in my arm, but to think of Hiram, of Jim, of my mustang. But presently I could not think of anything except the certainty that I would soon lose control of my muscles and fall over.
The tingling changed to a painful vibration, and perspiration stung my face. The strain became unbearable. All of a sudden something seemed to break within me, and my muscles began to ripple and shake. I had no power to stop it. More than that, the feeling was so terrible that I knew I would welcome discovery as a relief.
'Sh-s-s-h!' whispered some one below.
I turned my eyes down to the peep-hole. Bud had moved over squarely into the light of the door. He was bending over something. Then he extended his hand, back uppermost, toward Buell. On the back of that broad brown hand were pieces of leaf and bits of pine-needles. The trembling of my body had shaken these from the brush on the rickety loft. More than that, in the yellow bar of sunlight which streamed in at the door there floated particles of dust.
Bud silently looked upward. There was a gleam in his black eyes, and his mouth was agape. Buell's gaze followed Bud's, and his face grew curious, intent, then fixed in a cunning, bold smile of satisfaction. He rose to his feet.
'Come down out o' thet!' he ordered, harshly. 'Come down!'
The sound of his voice stilled my trembling. I did not move nor breathe. I saw Buell loom up hugely and Bud slowly rise. Herky-Jerky's boots suddenly stood on end, and I knew then he had also risen. The silence which followed Buell's order was so dense that it oppressed me.
'Come down!' repeated Buell.
There was no hint of doubt in his deep voice, but a cold certainty and a brutal note. I had feared the man before, but that gave me new terror.
'Bud, climb the ladder,' commanded Buell.
'I ain't stuck on thet job,' rejoined Bud.
As his heavy boots thumped on the ladder they jarred the whole cabin. My very desperation filled me with the fierceness of a cornered animal. I caught sight of a short branch of the thickness of a man's arm, and, grasping it, I slowly raised myself. When Bud's black, round head appeared above the loft I hit it with all my might.
Bud bawled like a wounded animal, and fell to the ground with the noise of a load of bricks. Through my peep-hole I saw him writhing, with both hands pressed to his head. Then, lying flat on his back, he whipped out his revolver. I saw the red spurt, the puff of smoke. Bang!
A bullet zipped through the brush, and tore a hole through the roof. Bang! Bang!
I felt a hot, tearing pain in my arm.
'Stop, you black idiot!' yelled Buell. He kicked the revolver out of Bud's hand. 'What d'you mean by thet?'
In the momentary silence that followed I listened intently, even while I held tightly to my arm. From its feeling my arm seemed to be shot off, but it was only a flesh-wound. After the first instant of shock I was not scared. But blood flowed fast. Warm, oily, slippery, it ran down inside my shirt sleeve and dripped off my fingers.
'Bud,' hoarsely spoke up Bill, breaking the stillness, 'mebbe you killed him!'
Buell coughed, as if choking.
'What's thet?' For once his deep voice was pitched low. 'Listen.'
Drip! drip! drip! It was like the sound of water dripping from a leak in a roof. It was directly under me, and, quick as thought, I knew the sound was made by my own dripping blood.
'Find thet, somebody,' ordered Buell.
Drip! drip! drip!
One of the men stepped noisily.
'Hyar it is–thar,' said Bill. 'Look on my hand... . Blood! I knowed it. Bud got him, all right.'
There was a sudden rustling such as might come from a quick, strained movement.
'Buell,' cried Dick Leslie. in piercing tones, 'Heaven help you murdering thieves if that boy's killed! I'll see you strung up right in this forest. Ken, speak! Speak!'
It seemed then, in my pain and bitterness, that I would rather let Buell think me dead. Dick's voice went straight to my heart, but I made no answer.
'Leslie, I didn't kill him, an' I didn't order it,' said Buell, in a voice strangely shrunk and shaken. 'I meant no harm to the lad... . Go up, Bud, an' get him.'
Bud made no move, nor did Greaser when he was ordered. 'Go up, somebody, an' see what's up there!' shouted Buell. 'Strikes me you might go yourself,' said Bill, coolly.
With a growl Buell mounted the ladder. When his great shock head hove in sight I was seized by a mad desire to give him a little of his own medicine. With both hands I lifted the piece of pine branch and brought it down with every ounce of strength in me.
Like a pistol it cracked on Buell's head and snapped into bits. The lumberman gave a smothered groan, then clattered down the ladder and rolled on the floor. There he lay quiet.
'All-fired dead–thet kid–now, ain't he?' said Bud, sarcastically. 'How'd you like thet crack on the knob? You'll need a larger size hat, mebbe. Herky-Jerky, you go up an' see what's up there.'
'I've a picture of myself goin',' replied Herky, without moving.
'Whar's the water? Get some water, Greaser,' chimed in Bill.
From the way they worked over Buell, I concluded he had been pretty badly stunned. But he came to presently.
'What struck me?' he asked.
