The Ranchman Part 2

"Ya.s.sir, boss-ya.s.sir! I shuah won't mention it till you does, boss!"

When the porter had gone, Taylor grinned into the gla.s.s.

"I sure have felt just what I looked," he said.

Then he got into his berth and dreamed all night of a girl whose mocking eyes seemed to say:

"Well, do you think you have profited by listening?"

"Why, sure," he retorted, in his dreams; "I've seen you, ain't I?"

CHAPTER III-THE SERPENT TRAIL

Marion Harlan did not dream of Quinton Taylor, though her last waking thought was of him, and when she opened her eyes in the morning it was to see him as he had sat in the seat behind Carrington and her uncle, his eyes wide with interest, or astonishment-or some emotion that she could not define-looking directly at her.

She had been certain then, and still was certain that he had been feigning sleep, that he had been listening to the talk carried on between her uncle and Carrington.

Why had he listened?

That interrogation absorbed her thoughts as she dressed.

She had not meant to be interested in him, for she had, in her first glance at him, mentally decided that he was no more interesting than many another ill-dressed and uncouth westerner whom she had seen on the journey toward Dawes.

To be sure, she had seen signs of strength in him, mental and physical, but that had been when she looked at him coming toward her down the aisle. But even then he had not interested her; her interest began when she noted his interest in the conversation of her traveling companions.

And then she had noticed several things about him that had escaped her in other glances at him.

For one thing, despite the astonishment in his eyes, she had observed the cold keenness of them, the odd squint at the corners, where little wrinkles, splaying outward, indicated either deliberate impudence or concealed mirth. She was rather inclined to believe it the latter, though she would not have been surprised to discover the wrinkles to mean the former.

And then she had noted his mouth; his lips had been straight and firm; she had been sure they were set resolutely when she had surprised him looking at her. That had seemed to indicate that he had taken more than a pa.s.sing interest in what he had overheard.

She speculated long over the incident, finally deciding that much would depend upon what he had overheard. There was only one way to determine that, and at breakfast in the dining-car she interrogated Carrington.

"Of course, you and uncle are going to Dawes on business, and I am merely tagging along to see if I can find any trace of my father. But have you any business secrets that might interest an eavesdropper? On a train, for instance-a train going toward Dawes?"

"What do you mean?" Carrington's eyes flashed as he leaned toward her.

"Have you and uncle talked business within hearing distance of a stranger?"

Carrington's face flushed; he exchanged a swift glance with the other man.

"You mean that clodhopper with the tight-fitting hand-me-down in the seat behind us-yesterday? He was asleep!"

"Then you did talk business-business secrets," smiled the girl. "I thought really big men commonly concealed their business secrets from the eager ears of outsiders."

She laughed aloud at Carrington's scowl, and then went on:

"I don't think the clodhopper was asleep. In fact, I rather think he was very wide awake. I wouldn't say for certain, but I _think_ he was awake.

You see, when I came back to talk with you he was sitting very straight, and his eyes were wide open.

"And I shall tell you something else," she went on. "During all the time he sat behind you, when you were talking, I watched him, he was pretending to sleep, for at times he opened his eyes and looked at you, and I am sure he was not thinking pleasant thoughts. And I don't believe he is a clodhopper. I think he amounts to something; and if you will look well at him you will see, too. When he was listening to you there was a look in his eyes that made me think of fighting." And then, after a momentary pause, she added slowly, "there isn't anything wrong about the business you are going to transact out here-is there?"

"Wrong?" he laughed. "Oh, no! Business is business." He leaned forward and gazed deliberately into her eyes, his own glowing significantly.

"You don't think, with me holding your good opinion-and always hoping to better it-that I would do anything to destroy it, Marion?"

The girl's cheeks were suffused with faint color.

"You are a.s.suming again, Mr. James J. Carrington. I don't care for your subtle speeches. I like you best when you talk frankly; but I am not sure that I shall ever like you enough to marry you."

She smiled at the scowl in his eyes, then looked speculatively at him.

It should have been apparent to him that she had spoken the truth regarding her feeling for him.

The uncle knew she had spoken the truth, for she left them presently, and the car door had hardly closed behind her when Carrington said, smiling grimly:

"She's a thoroughbred, Parsons. That's why I like her. I'll have her, too!"

"Careful," grinned the other, smoothly. "If she ever discovers what a brute you are-" He made a gesture of finality.

"Brute! Bah! Parsons, you make me sick! I'll take her when I want her!

Why do you suppose I told her that fairy tale about her father having been seen in this locality? To get her out here with me, of course-where there isn't a h.e.l.l of a lot of law, and a man's will is the only thing that governs him. She won't have me, eh? Well, we'll see!"

Parsons smirked at the other. "Then you lied about Lawrence Harlan having been seen in this country?"

"Sure," admitted Carrington. "Why not?"

Parsons looked leeringly at Carrington. "Suppose I should tell her?"

Carrington glared at the older man. "You won't," he declared. "In the first place, you don't love her as an uncle should because she looks like Larry Harlan-and you hated Larry. Suppose I should tell her that you were the cause of the trouble between her parents; that you framed up on her mother, to get her to leave Larry? Why, you d.a.m.ned, two-faced gopher, she'd wither you!"

He grinned at the other and got up, turning, when he reached his feet, to see Quinton Taylor, standing beside a chair at the next table, just ready to sit down, but delaying to hear the remainder of the extraordinary conversation carried on between the two men.

Taylor had donned the garments he had discarded in Kansas City. A blue woolen shirt, open at the throat; corduroy trousers, the bottoms stuffed into the soft tops of high-heeled boots; a well-filled cartridge-belt, sagging at the right hip with the weight of a heavy pistol-and a broad-brimmed felt hat, which a smiling waiter held for him-completed his attire.

Freshly shaved, his face glowed with the color that betokens perfect health; and just now his eyes were also glowing-but with frank disgust and dislike.

Carrington flushed darkly and stepped close to Taylor. Carrington's chin was thrust out belligerently; his eyes fairly danced with a rage that he could hardly restrain.

"Listening again, eh?" he said hoa.r.s.ely. "You had your ears trained on us yesterday, in the Pullman, and now you are at it again. I've a notion to knock your d.a.m.ned head off!"

Taylor's eyelids flickered once, the little wrinkles at the corners of his eyes deepening a trifle. But his gaze was steady, and the blue of his eyes grew a trifle more steely.

"You've got a bigger notion not to, Mr. Man," he grinned. "You run a whole lot to talk."

He sat down, twisted around in the chair and faced the table, casting a humorous eye at the black waiter, and ignoring Carrington.

"I'll want a pa.s.sable breakfast this morning, George," he said; "I'm powerful hungry."