Prairie Flowers Part 24

You spoke a mouthful when you said we'd be'n friends--we're friends yet.

It's a friend that's talkin' to you now--an' one that knows what he's talkin' about. You're a d.a.m.n fool! A young buck like you, which if you'd stay straight could be foreman of any outfit on the range--an' mebbe git one of his own started after while--goin' an' gittin' hisself outlawed!

Fer G.o.d's sake, man--you don't know what you've gone up against--but--me--I know! How bad be you in?" The Texan started to speak, but the other interrupted. "If it ain't bad--if a matter of a thousan' or so will square it--you go an' fix it up. I've got the money--an' it ain't doin' me no good--nor no one else, cached out in an old iron kettle. You take it an' git straight--an' then you stay straight!"

The Texan laughed: "There ain't nothin' against me--that is nothin' that amounts to anything. I got a few drinks in me, an' cleaned out the Red Front saloon over in Timber City an' because I wouldn't let Hod Blake arrest me an' shove me in his d.a.m.ned little jail, he stuck up the reward. I'll just ride over when I get time, an' claim the reward myself--an' use the money to pay my fine with--that part's a joke."

As Grimshaw joined in the laugh, the Texan leaned over and laid his hand on the man's shoulder: "But, I won't forget--Ca.s.s."

The man brushed away the hand: "Aw, h.e.l.l! That's all right. You'd of made a h.e.l.l-winder of an outlaw, but the best of 'em an' the worst of 'em--there's nothin' ahead of us--but that." He jerked his thumb in the direction of the body of Long Bill that lay sprawled where it had fallen and changed the subject abruptly. "The woman's safe, all right--she's over to Cinnabar Joe's."

"Cinnabar Joe's!"

"Yes, Cinnabar an' that there Jennie that used to work in the Wolf River Hotel, they married up an' started 'em a little outfit over on Red Sand--couple hundred head of dogies. Purdy's got somethin' on Cinnabar, an'----"

"Somethin' on him!" exclaimed Tex, "Cinnabar's white clean through! What could Purdy have on him?"

Grimshaw rolled another cigarette: "Cinnabar's be'n in this country around six years. Him bein' more'n six year old, it stands to reason he done quite a bit of livin' 'fore he come here. Where'd he come from?

Where'd you come from? Where'd I come from? Where'd anyone you know come from? You might of be'n ornery as h.e.l.l in Texas, or New Mexico, or Colorado--an' I might of be'n a preacher in California, or Nevada. All we know is that 'long as we've know'd him Cinnabar's be'n on the level--an' that's all we're ent.i.tled to know--an' all we want to know.

Whatever Cinnabar was somewhere's else, ain't n.o.body's business.

n.o.body's, that is, but Purdy's. He made his brag in the hang-out one night that when the time come, he'd tap Cinnabar fer his pile----"

"The d.a.m.ned dirty hound!"

"That's sayin' it ladylike," grinned the outlaw, "I told him Cinnabar was a friend of mine an' he was to keep off him, but Purdy, he's plumb disregardful of advice. Anyways, the woman's safe. Purdy's figurin' on leavin' her there while he d.i.c.kers fer the reward."

The Texan rose to his feet: "Where did you say I'd find Purdy?" he asked. The other consulted his watch. "It's nine-thirty. At noon he'll be at the water hole, four mile north of the hang-out. Up till then they ain't no hurry. We'll plant _him_ first, an' then I'll go along--me an' Bill Harlow----"

The Texan shook his head: "No Ca.s.s, this is my job. It's a long score I've got to settle with Purdy--startin' back a year. It leads off with a cut cinch. Then, there was the booze that Cinnabar Joe doped----"

"Cinnabar?"

"Yeh, when he was tendin' bar. I can see through it, now--since you told about Purdy havin' somethin' on him. Purdy got him to do it----"

"I don't believe Cinnabar'd of done that no matter what Purdy had on him."

"But he did, though. Then he switched the gla.s.ses, an' drunk it himself----"

"Some man!"

"I'll tell a hand! An' that same night Purdy took the pilgrim's girl out on the bench, an' dragged her off her horse----"

"I heard about it."

"An' then, yesterday, he found her unconscious there by the river." The Texan paused and when he continued his voice was low. "An' you know, an'

I know what would have happened, if Long Bill hadn't showed up with those bills--an' then signin' my name to that letter to the pilgrim demandin' five thousan' dollars--an' last of all I owe him one for ridin' Cinnabar the way he's doin--I ain't forgot those switched drinks."

Ca.s.s Grimshaw nodded: "Quite a score to settle, take it first an' last,"

he paused, and the Texan noticed a peculiar twinkle in his eye.

"What's the joke?" he asked.

"There ain't no joke about it--only I was thinkin', mebbe you'd left out somethin'."

"Left out somethin'?"

"Yeh. What you think would of happened, an' what would of happened out here in the bad lands, if Long Bill hadn't come along is two different things. I was trailin' Purdy from the time he hit the bad lands with the girl. I wanted to find out what his game was an' when he run onto Long Bill I snuck up an' listened to their powwow. When I found out he aimed to take her to Cinnabar's, I figured, like you did, that she'd be safe, so I kind of loafed around to see if you wouldn't be along."

"You keep awful close cases on Purdy."

"Yeh--couple of pretty good reasons. I knew he was plottin' to b.u.mp me off, an' I kind of had some curiosity to find out when they figured on pullin' the job. But, mostly, it was on account of McWhorter's gal----"

"McWhorter's girl!" cried Tex, "what's McWhorter's girl got to do with it?"

"Nothin'--except that Purdy's be'n buzzin' around tryin' to get her--an'

I don't mean marry her, neither--an' when he found out they wasn't nothin' doin'--that he didn't stand snake-high with her, he figured on gittin' her, anyway----"

"_G.o.d!_" The single spoken word ground between the Texan's tight-drawn lips, and as Grimshaw looked he noted that the gloved fists were clenched hard.

The outlaw nodded: "That's what I meant about leavin' out an' item--main item, too--I hope. You see, I seen you two ridin' together yesterday--when you sent her back home at the edge of the bad lands. An'

that's what made me so d.a.m.n mad when I thought you'd gone an' got outlawed, an' was mixin' it up with this here other woman. The man that gits McWhorter's gal don't want his trail tangled up with other men's wives. Marry her, Tex--an' take her out of this d.a.m.n neck of the woods!

Take her across to the other side."

The Texan met the man's eyes squarely: "I'm goin' to," he answered,--"if she'll have me."

"Have you, man! Make her have you!"

"I aim to," smiled the Texan, and Grimshaw noted that behind the smile was a ring of determination. "So you've be'n kind of--of lookin' out fer her, Ca.s.s?"

"Who the h.e.l.l was they to do it, but me?" answered the man, roughly, "McWhorter's busy up to the lambin'-camp, miles away--an' she's there alone." The man paused, his face working strangely, "By G.o.d! If Purdy'd laid a finger on her I'd of--of _tore him to pieces_!" The Texan stared--surprised at the terrible savagery of the tone. The man continued, his voice dropped low: "It was that that outlawed me, years ago--killin' the d.a.m.n reptile that ruined my little girl. I stood by the law, them days. He was arrested an' had his trial--an' they give him a year! _One year for that!_ She died before he was out--her, an' the baby both. An' he died _the day he got out_--an' I was outlawed--an' I'm d.a.m.n proud of it!"

The Texan reached out and gripped the man's hand: "I'm goin' after Purdy now," he said quietly. "But first, I'll help you with him."

It was but the work of a few moments to raise the body of Long Bill to the bench by means of a rope, carry it to a nearby mud crack, drop it in and cave a ton of mud onto it. As they raised him from the coulee Grimshaw had removed his guns: "Better take one of these along," he cautioned, "Purdy packs two--one inside his shirt--an' the dirty hound carries a squeezer in his pocket--don't play him fer dead till he's d.a.m.n good an' dead, or he'll git you. Better let me an' Bill go along--there's four of 'em--we'll leave Purdy fer you--he's the only one that kin shoot right good--but the others might edge in on you, at that." The Texan shook his head as he examined the guns, carefully testing them as to action and balance. He selected one, and handed the other to Grimshaw.

"No, Ca.s.s, this is my job an' I'm goin' through with it."

The outlaw gave minute directions concerning the lay of the land, and a few words of excellent advice. "I've got a little scoutin' around to do first," he concluded, "but sometime along in the afternoon me an' Bill will drift around that way to see how you're gittin' along. If they should happen to git you don't worry--me an' Bill, we'll take care of what's left of 'em."

The Texan swung into the saddle: "So long, Ca.s.s."

"So long, boy. Good luck to you--an' remember to watch Purdy's other hand."

CHAPTER XXIII

CINNABAR JOE TELLS A STORY