as his mexican friend tripped blithely away, bill turned with a thoughtful face to his frying-pan and his fire. after dinner he drew his revolver from its scarred old holster, and examined every part of it. it was the revolver that had dealt death to the foreman, and it had also been in free fights in which it had dealt death to several or none. bill loved it because its allegiance was more than that of man, horse, or dog. it questioned neither social nor moral position; it obeyed alike the saint and the assassin. it was the claw of the eagle, the tooth of the lion, the poison of the snake; and when he swept it from its holster, this minion smote where he listed, even to the battering of a far penny. wherefore it was his dearest possession, and was not to be exchanged in south-western texas for a handful of rubies, nor even the shame and homage of the conductor of no. 419.
during the afternoon he moved through his monotony of work and leisure with the same air of deep meditation. the smoke of his supper-time fire was curling across the shadowy sea of mesquit when the instinct of the plainsman warned him that the stillness, the desolation, was again invaded. he saw a motionless horseman in black outline against the pallid sky. the silhouette displayed serape and sombrero, and even the mexican spurs as large as pies. when this black figure began to move toward the camp, bill's hand dropped to his revolver.
the horseman approached until bill was enabled to see pronounced american features, and a skin too red to grow on a mexican face. bill released his grip on his revolver.
"hello!" called the horseman.
"hello!" answered bill.
the horseman cantered forward. "good evening," he said, as he again drew rein.
"good evenin'," answered bill, without committing himself by too much courtesy.
for a moment the two men scanned each other in a way that is not ill-mannered on the plains, where one is in danger of meeting horse-thieves or tourists.
bill saw a type which did not belong in the mesquit. the young fellow had invested in some mexican trappings of an expensive kind. bill's eyes searched the outfit for some sign of craft, but there was none. even with his local regalia, it was clear that the young man was of a far, black northern city. he had discarded the enormous stirrups of his mexican saddle; he used the small english stirrup, and his feet were thrust forward until the steel tightly gripped his ankles. as bill's eyes travelled over the stranger, they lighted suddenly upon the stirrups and the thrust feet, and immediately he smiled in a friendly way. no dark purpose could dwell in the innocent heart of a man who rode thus on the plains.
as for the stranger, he saw a tattered individual with a tangle of hair and beard, and with a complexion turned brick-colour from the sun and whisky. he saw a pair of eyes that at first looked at him as the wolf looks at the wolf, and then became childlike, almost timid, in their glance. here was evidently a man who had often stormed the iron walls of the city of success, and who now sometimes valued himself as the rabbit values his prowess.
the stranger smiled genially, and sprang from his horse. "well, sir, i suppose you will let me camp here with you to-night?"
"eh?" said bill.
"i suppose you will let me camp here with you to-night?"
bill for a time seemed too astonished for words. "well,"—he answered, scowling in inhospitable annoyance—"well, i don't believe this here is a good place to camp to-night, mister."
the stranger turned quickly from his saddle-girth.
"what?" he said in surprise. "you don't want me here? you don't want me to camp here?"
bill's feet scuffled awkwardly, and he looked steadily at a cactus plant. "well, you see, mister," he said, "i'd like your company well enough, but—you see, some of these here greasers are goin' to chase me off the range to-night; and while i might like a man's company all right, i couldn't let him in for no such game when he ain't got nothin' to do with the trouble."
"going to chase you off the range?" cried the stranger.
"well, they said they were goin' to do it," said bill.
"and—great heavens! will they kill you, do you think?"
"don't know. can't tell till afterwards. you see, they take some feller that's alone like me, and then they rush his camp when he ain't quite ready for 'em, and ginerally plug 'im with a sawed-off shot-gun load before he has a chance to git at 'em. they lay around and wait for their chance, and it comes soon enough. of course a feller alone like me has got to let up watching some time. maybe they ketch 'im asleep. maybe the feller gits tired waiting, and goes out in broad day, and kills two or three just to make the whole crowd pile on him and settle the thing. i heard of a case like that once. it's awful hard on a man's mind—to git a gang after him."
"and so they're going to rush your camp to-night?" cried the stranger. "how do you know? who told you?"
"feller come and told me."
"and what are you going to do? fight?"
"don't see nothin' else to do," answered bill gloomily, still staring at the cactus plant.
there was a silence. finally the stranger burst out in an amazed cry. "well, i never heard of such a thing in my life! how many of them are there?"
"eight," answered bill. "and now look-a-here; you ain't got no manner of business foolin' around here just now, and you might better lope off before dark. i don't ask no help in this here row. i know your happening along here just now don't give me no call on you, and you better hit the trail."
"well, why in the name of wonder don't you go get the sheriff?" cried the stranger.
"oh, h——!" said bill.
