The Spoilers of the Valley Part 59

"And you did it just out of the goodness of your kind, unselfish, little, palpitating heart, Dalton?"

"I ain't throwin' any bouquets at myself," remarked Dalton.

"And where are the horses you were so kind as to look after for me?"

"I made a better sale of them hat-racks than you ever could 'a' done.

I got eight hundred bucks for the bunch. And I'm ready to give you a cheque for that amount, less ten percent for puttin' the deal through;--seven hundred and twenty bucks, the minute you hand over the phoney agreement which I was dam-fool enough to give you at the time to satisfy your would-be lawyer's intooition and to keep you from yappin' all over the country."

Jim went up to the desk and leaned over toward Dalton.

Dalton leaned back in his chair, so far back that he nearly tip-tilted over it.

"Rattler," said Jim, "come off your perch. It isn't any good. ''Tain't the knowing kind of cattle that is ketched with mouldy corn,'" he quoted roughly.

"I ain't professin' to be up to your high-falutin' talk, Langford, but I get the drift; and I guess you think I'd be batty enough to give you a ranch worth seven thousand bucks on an Agreement for Sale in exchange for a bunch of old spavined mules and three thousand bucks on time."

Jim pulled the Agreement out of his pocket and threw it on the desk, thumping his fist down hard on top of it right under Rattlesnake's sharp nose, causing Dalton to jump again.

"See that?"

"Yep,--guess I do!"

"Well,--you're going to abide by it."

"I am?--like h.e.l.l!" said Dalton.

Phil took a gun from his pocket and handed it to Jim.

Jim toyed with it. "See that?"

"Can it, Langford! Gun stuff don't go down with me. It is ancient history. You'll get pinched again if you try that on."

"But you see it--don't you?"

"Sure thing! I ain't got 'stigmatism that bad yet."

"Well, Rattler,--it isn't loaded, but I am going to rap you over the koko with it if you don't be a good boy and do as you are told."

"Now,--repeat after me!"

Dalton laughed and rolled his eyes upward to the ceiling.

Jim's arm darted out and the b.u.t.t-end of the revolver caught Dalton such a sharp rap over the head that that individual was some seconds before he recovered.

"Now," said Jim, "are you ready?"

Dalton sat tight.

"Hi, boys!" shouted Langford sharply, a sudden inspiration seizing him. "I've got a dirty horse-thief, red-handed and self-confessed.

Bring in a rope. We can start him with a dip in the horse-trough."

Three husky individuals strode inside.

Dalton gasped. He knew just what the men in the Valley thought of horse-stealing, in general, and he was all unprepared for this sudden move of Jim's.

"Steady a minute, boys!" exclaimed Jim. "It seems that Dalton has not quite made up his mind as to whether he stole those horses of mine that he sold afterwards, or simply took them from me in part-payment of the Brantlock Ranch.

"Now, Rattler, come on, repeat your little spiel after me, or go with the boys and get what's coming to you."

Dalton saw the game was up.

"This Agreement," said Jim.

"This Agreement," repeated Dalton sheepishly.

"Is a real, genuine Agreement."

"Is a real, genuine Agreement," continued the other.

"Between Jim Langford and me, and stands good."

"Between Jim Langford and me, and stands good."

"Sorry to disappoint you, boys!--but Dalton remembers now that he didn't steal my horses,--he bought them.

"Now Rattler, darling!--Phil Ralston and I are taking up that Agreement and want possession of the ranch right away."

Dalton licked his lips.

"There's two thousand plunks due me to-day on that there agreement."

"And there's the money, my bonnie boy!"

Jim threw Hannington's marked cheque on the table. Phil followed with ten one-hundred-dollar bills.

"Make out your receipt, son,--quick!"

Rattlesnake Jim turned a sickly white and looked at the two before him in a blank kind of way, then his eyes travelled to the three men by the window and over to the crowd at the door, none of whom had any sympathy for him, but, on the contrary were all aching for the pleasure of dipping him--or anyone else for that matter--into the nearby horse-trough.

Slowly Dalton opened his drawer, took out his receipt book, made out the necessary doc.u.ment and handed it over.

"Guess you've won!" he said, picking up the cheque and money.

"Call off your dogs now, and get to h.e.l.l out of this!"

"Gee, Rattler, but you're polite with your customers," remarked Phil with a smile.

"Ta-ta, son!" cried Jim, "another thousand little bucklets in six months and you are fully paid up. Dirty, rotten fraud,--eh, my wee mannie!"