Friar Tuck Part 42

"It ain't the risk I'm fussin' about," sez The. "Ty was square to me in his own way. The Friar has been square to me also, and I know 'at his way is the best; but at the same time-don't you think it would be downright snakish for me to go back to Ty, tell him some excuse for my stayin' away, and then plot again' him while I'm eatin' his vittles?"

It didn't sound good to us when Promotheus came out with it so everlastin' unpolluted; but he had worked up a sense of honesty since bein' with Horace, which wouldn't let him do any pertendin'. Horace didn't answer, and he went on after waitin' a minute: "I haven't any prejudices again' fightin' him in the open; but it does go again' my grain to wear a dog hide when I'm playin' wolf, and Ty Jones was square to me."

"Well," sez Horace, "I haven't the heart to advise you to do this, Promotheus. We'll sure be able to find some other way, and as long as it goes again' your grain the way it does, I don't want you to do it."

"Would you think any the less of me if I did?" asked The, his eyes takin' on a sad, hungry look, like a dog's eyes get when he's worried over what his master'll say about some trick he's been up to.

"Course I wouldn't think any less of ya," sez Horace without hesitatin'; "but hang it, I'm afraid somethin' 'll happen to ya."

"Would the Friar think any the less of me?" sez The.

"If the Friar heard about it, he wouldn't let ya go," sez Horace.

"I've puzzled more about the Friar 'n about airy other man I ever saw," sez The, thoughtful. "I wanted to lynch Olaf that time, guilty or not guilty; but the Friar straightened things out by riskin' his own soul. He hates lynchin', it goes square again' his grain; but he made a bet with us to help stretch Olaf if we could prove him guilty; and this has stuck with me. This was a big thing to do, and I'd like to do somethin' big for the Friar-But I swear it would hurt me to spy on Ty Jones!"

We didn't have anything to say on the subject; so we just sat and chewed gra.s.s.

"I've been thinkin' about that old Greek feller, 'at you named me after," sez Promotheus at last. "He didn't ask no one else to take the responsibility of tellin' him what to do. He just decided what was right, and then did it. If I go to Ty Jones, and he treats me right, my own thoughts'll tear at me like vultures; but this here other Promotheus, he stood it, 'cause it was for man's good; and I'm game to do the same.

"I don't intend to be any more sneakier 'n I have to be. All I intend to do is to find out what I can about the woman, and, if Ty ain't treatin' her right, to help get her away from him; but I want it understood right now that I'm not goin' to work any tricks on Ty to get him into the law for what he's done in bygone days. Now then, I take all the blame on my own shoulders; but we'll have to fix up a tale to fool a wise one, 'cause Ty won't be took in by chaff."

We talked things over a long time; but it seemed mighty unreasonable for Promotheus to have pulled out without sayin' a word, and then to come back without writin' in the meantime; and we couldn't quite hit on it. Finally the idee came to me.

"They're goin' to graze the gra.s.s down to the roots, this summer," sez I; "but still, the' won't be enough to go around. A lot o' cattle will have to be sold off early, and some will be trailed up into Montana, and cow-punchers are goin' to be in demand. Ty is long on cattle and short on gra.s.s, and he'll be glad to have extra help he can trust; so he won't question ya too close. You tell him 'at Horace here was a government agent, and that he arrested you as a deserter, and took you to prison where you was given a life sentence; that you broke out a couple o' months ago, and have been workin' your way back as cautious as you could."

"My Lord, I hate to tell him that!" sez The. "It's too infernal much like what I told him the first time."

"You got to make up a good story, or else give up your plan," sez I.

"Yes, that's so," he agreed. "Ty'd believe that, too. What prison had I better say I've been in?"

"Which one was you in?" sez I.

"I never was in any government prison," sez he. "I was in a state prison."

"Have ya ever seen a government prison?" sez I.

"Yes, I've seen two, one in Kansas, and one in Frisco," sez he.

"Which would be the hardest to get out of?" sez I.

"The one in Frisco; it's on an island," sez he.

"Choose that one," sez I; "and make up your escape just as it might have happened."

"Ty won't haggle me with questions," sez The sadly. "He'll just believe me, an' this'll make it ten times as hard."

"You ought to be paler an' more haggard," sez I; "but I doubt if the's a way to do it."

"Keep soakin' his face in hot towels for a few days," sez Horace.

"That'll bleach him out."

"Are ya goin' foot or hossback?" sez I.

"I stole a hoss down in Texas the last time I came," sez he, "and traded him off when he got footsore."

"We got some hosses with a Nevada brand, over at the Dot," sez I.

"I'll slip over an' get one while you're havin' your complexion bleached off. They broke out an' got with the herd before we finished brandin' 'em, and we just let it go. The chances are they haven't been rebranded yet."

"All right," sez The. "If I'm to do it at all, I want it to go through; but I have an idee 'at those vultures pickin' at my liver are goin' to be mighty unpleasant company."

Me an' Spider Kelley, Tillte Dutch an' Mexican Slim rode over to the Dot and found two o' those Nevada hosses, still rangin' with their old brands untouched; so we roped one, and came back with it, without havin' word with any of the outfit. The Diamond Dot range was the best of any we rode over, and they had put up a lot o' hay that summer; but still I felt sure 'at they would have to cut down purty close, though I knew 'at Jabez would hold as many as he could for a high price the followin' year.

We found The's complexion purty well stewed out and haggard, Kit havin' put soda in the hot water; so I told him to play sick, and loaf around the house as long as possible. He agreed to it; but the' was a settled look o' regret in his face which was a heap different from the one he had wore when he dismounted from the stage at Bosco.

"Night and day," sez I, "the'll be at least two of us at the look-out, and you come up with any news you have. Get into the habit of whistlin' Horace's tune; so that if ever you'd want to warn us to vamose rapid, you can whistle it. You might ride that way with some o'

Ty's outfit, or somethin'."

"It's not likely," sez he. "The's no range up that way, and no trail leadin' near it; but you fellers want to scatter your tracks all you can, so as not to make a path."

We made plans for all the unexpected details we could think up; and then he started forth one night, meanin' to circle to the southwest, and come in from that direction. He wore a red handkerchief under his nose as if to shut out the dust; but shaved clean, and pale as he was, mighty few would have recognized him either as Badger-face, or as the feller what had come in with us a few weeks before. We all shook hands solemn when he left, and promised to be at the look-out the followin'

night, and to be there steady from that on.

"What makes you fellers trust me?" sez he just as he started. "I came down here to put Olaf out o' business, and then I turned over to your side. Now I'm goin' back to Ty's. What makes you think I won't turn again' ya, if I get into a tight place?"

Horace went over and took his hand. "Promotheus," sez he, "I've been with you through hot days and cold nights, I've been with you through hunger and thirst and danger; and I'd trust you as long as I'd trust myself. You're not goin' to Ty's because you're a traitor. You're goin' because you're a changed man, and the new man you've become is willin' to risk his life for what he thinks is right. No matter what happens, I'll trust ya; so take that along to think over."

Promotheus winked his eyes purty fast, then he gave a sigh and rode off into the night. The' wasn't the hint of a smile about his lips, nor a glint o' gladness in his eyes; but somethin' in the straight way 'at he held his back let ya know 'at the inside man of him was finally at peace with what the outside man was doin'-and if ya don't know what that means, the's no way to tell ya.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

THE FRIAR A COMPLICATION

We all felt purty down-hearted after Promotheus had rode away, and we sat before the fire in Olaf's settin' room a good deal the same as if we were holdin' a wake.

"Olaf," I sez, "you can't have any finicky notions about treatin' Ty Jones square, after all the persecutin' he's handed you. Do you know anything on him you could have him sent to prison for?"

Olaf shook his head. "He's too clever to get caught in a trap," sez he. "He scarcely ever gave any orders to have things done. He'd just say aloud as though talkin' to himself, that some one or other was in his way; and then his men would begin to take spite on that feller. If the calf tally showed a hundred percent increase, he would think that about right, and no questions; but if ever it fell short o' what he expected, we had it to make up some way. He'd send us out until we had brought in enough to satisfy; but he'd never give us straight orders to rustle. He is a smart man. When one of his men got into trouble, he got him out, no matter what cost; but he expected his men to do what he wanted, without askin' questions. He has no fear, none at all. I know, I have seen. He has no fear, and he is very strong. It is bad to be at war with him; but I should like to have my hands at his throat once, and none to interfere."

"Maybe you will, Olaf," sez I, "maybe you will; and I don't mind sayin' that I hope to be on hand to see it."

We kept two men allus at the look-out with Horace's field gla.s.ses. It was a queer sort o' summer, the air wasn't clear like it usually is, but hazy, as though full o' dust; and in lots of places they were turnin' stock on the gra.s.s they generally aimed to save for winter.

There were only a few punchers around the Cross brand ranch houses; but we saw Promotheus every day. He hobbled about with a stick part o'

the time, holdin' his hand on his back as though he had the rheumatiz, which was natural enough from bein' shut up in an island prison. Some days we saw the woman; but she never came up the ravine path any more.