Shoe-Bar Stratton Part 8

"I wish you'd let me go," said Stratton impulsively. "I've got to return the horse I borrowed and get blankets and some things I left at the store.

There's really nothing more I can do for Bemis by hanging around."

Her brows crinkled doubtfully. "Well, if you're sure--I suppose there's no reason why you shouldn't. Tell Tex I said you were to go. He'll give you the directions. Only you'll have to hurry."

With a murmured word of thanks, Buck s.n.a.t.c.hed up his hat and hastened into the living-room. As he pa.s.sed the big table he was aware of a door at the farther end opening, but he did not turn his head. An instant later, as he was in the act of springing off the porch, he heard a woman's voice behind him, soft, low, and a little shaken.

"What is it, Mary? What's happened? You don't mean to tell me that--that another man's been shot."

Buck's eyes widened, but he did not pause. "That's the aunt, I reckon," he muttered, as he sped down the slope. His lips straightened. "Another! Holy cats! What the devil am I up against, anyhow? A murder syndicate?"

CHAPTER VIII

THE HOODOO OUTFIT

Pop Daggett hesitated and glanced uneasily toward the door.

"I warned yuh, didn't I, the Shoe-Bar was a hoodoo outfit?" he evaded.

Stratton shook some tobacco into a cigarette-paper and jerked the draw-string with his teeth.

"Sure you did, but that's not the question," he persisted. "I asked you if any other punchers had met up with--accidents out there lately."

The old man continued to c.o.c.k an eye on the store entrance.

"Since yuh gotta know," he answered in a lowered tone, "there was two.

About three months ago Jed Terry was scoutin' around back in the mountains, Lord knows what fur, an' fell into a canon an' broke his skull.

Four or five weeks arter that Sam Bennett was plugged through the chest down below Las Vegas."

"Did Lynch happen to be with either of them?"

"No, sir-ee," returned Daggett hastily. "An' don't yuh go blattin' around I told yuh anythin' about it. I ain't one to gossip about my neighbors, more especially Tex Lynch. Them two deaths-- Say, Tex ain't in town with yuh, is he?"

"Not that I know of. He certainly didn't come with me."

"Huh! Wal, yuh never c'n tell with him. As I was sayin', Terry's death was pernounced a accident, an' they allowed Bennett was plugged by one of them greaser rustlers I hear tell of. I ain't sayin' nothing to the contrary.

All I'm tellin' yuh is the Shoe-Bar ain't a healthy outfit to work for, an' this business about Rick Bemis proves it. I wouldn't sign on with 'em, not for a hundred a month."

Buck thrust the cigarette between his lips and felt for a match. "Still I've got a mind to stick it out a while," he drawled. "Accidents come in threes, they say, so there won't likely be another right soon. Well, I reckon I'd better be traveling. How long will it take that doctor man to get over?"

"Not much longer than 't will yuh, if he was home when yuh telephoned,"

answered Daggett. "The railroad takes a bend, an' Harpswell ain't more than a mile or two further from the Shoe-Bar than Paloma."

Evidently Dr. Blanchard must have been at home, for Buck had just finished unsaddling and was coming away from the corral when he rode up. Stratton took his horse and answered his brief questions as to the accident, and then walked down to the bunk-house with his blankets, tarp, and other belongings. The place was empty, for it was after one o'clock and evidently the men had gone off somewhere directly after dinner. Indeed, Buck learned as much from Pedro when he went back to forage for something to eat.

"They go to move herd some place," shrugged the Mexican. "W'ere, I don'

know."

Stratton ate his meal of beef, bread, and warmed-over coffee in silence and then returned to the bunk-house, vaguely dissatisfied at the idle afternoon which stretched before him. Of course, Lynch had no way of knowing when he would get back from town, but it seemed to Buck that an up-and-doing foreman would have left word for him to join them when he did return.

"Unless, of course, he don't want me around," murmured Stratton. "Though for the life of me I can't see what he gains by keeping me idle."

Presently it occurred to him that this might be a good chance of pursuing some of the investigations he had planned. Since noticing the disreputable condition of the fence the afternoon of his arrival, he had kept his eyes open, and a number of other little signs had confirmed his suspicion that the ranch had very much gone to seed. Of course this might be merely the result of careless, slovenly methods on the part of the foreman, and possibly it did not extend to anything really radical. It would need a much wider, more general inspection to justify a definite conclusion, and Stratton decided he might as well do some of it this afternoon. On the plea of seeking Lynch and the other men, he could ride almost anywhere without exciting suspicion, and he at once left the bunk-house to carry out his plan. Just outside the door he met Dr. Blanchard.

"You made a good job of that dressing," remarked the older man briefly. He was tall with a slight stoop, bearded, a little slovenly in dress, but with clear, level eyes and a capable manner. "Where'd you learn how?"

Stratton smiled. "Overseas. I was in the Transportation, and we had to know a little of everything, including first aid."

"Hum," grunted the doctor. "Well, the kid's doing all right. I won't have to come over again unless fever develops."

As they walked back to the hitching-rack, he gave Buck a few directions about the care of the invalid. There followed a slight pause.

"You're new here," commented the doctor, untying his bridle-reins.

"Just came yesterday," answered Stratton.

"Friend of Lynch?"

Buck's lips twitched. "Not exactly," he shrugged. "Miss Thorne hired me while he was in Paloma. I got a notion he was rather peevish about it.

Reckon he prefers to pick his own hands."

As the doctor swung into the saddle, his face momentarily lightened.

"Don't let that worry you," he said, a faint little twinkle in his eyes.

"It isn't good for anybody to have their own way all the time. Well, you know what to do about Bemis. If he shows any signs of fever, get hold of me right away."

With a wave of his hand he rode off. Stratton's glance followed him curiously. Had he really been pleased to find that the new hand was not a friend of Tex Lynch, or was the idea merely a product of Buck's imagination?

Still pondering, he turned abruptly to find Pedro regarding him intently from the kitchen door. As their glances met, the Mexican's lids drooped and his face smoothed swiftly into its usual indolent indifference; but he was not quite quick enough to hide entirely that first look of searching speculation mingled with not a little venom.

Stratton's own expression was the perfection of studied self-control. He half smiled, and yawned in a realistically bored manner.

"You sure you don't know where the bunch went?" he asked. "I'm getting dead sick of hanging around doing nothing."

"They don' say," shrugged the Mexican. "I wash dishes an' don' see 'em go.

Mebbe back soon."

"Not if they're moving a herd--I don't think!" retorted Buck. "Guess I'll ask Miss Thorne," he added, struck by a sudden inspiration.

Without waiting for a reply, he walked briskly along the front of the house toward the further entrance. As he turned the corner he met the girl, booted, spurred, her face shaded becomingly by a wide-brimmed Stetson.

"I was just going to find you," she said. "Rick wants to see you a minute."

Stratton followed her into the living-room, where she paused and glanced back at him.