they were busy days in orrville. but business rarely yielded outward display in its citizens. men talked more. they perhaps moved about more--in their customary leisurely fashion. but any approach to bustle was as foreign to the rule of the township as it would be to a colony of aged snails in a cyclone.
it was the custom of orrville to rise early and go to bed late. but this by no means implies any excessive activity. on the contrary. these spells of activity lasted just as long as their accomplishment required. in the interim its citizens returned to a slumber little less profound than that which supervened at night after the last roysterer had been ejected, by force, or persuasion, from the salubrious precincts of ju penrose's saloon.
orrville was a ranching township in the northwestern corner of montana lying roughly some twenty miles west of the foothills of the cathill mountains, which, in turn, formed a projecting spur of the main range of the rockies.
orrville was the township and ju penrose was the pioneer of its commerce. he was a man of keen instincts for commerce of his own especial brand, and rejoiced in a disreputable past. he possessed a thin, hooked nose of some dimensions, which never failed to cut a way for its owner into the shady secrets of his neighbors. he possessed a temper as amiable and mild as a spring lamb when the stream of prosperity and profit flowed his way, and as vitriolic as a she-wolf in winter, when that stream chanced to become diverted into a neighbor's direction.
he was considered a man of some importance in the place. but this was probably the result of the nature of his trade, which, in the eyes of the denizens of the neighborhood, certainly possessed an advantage over such stodgy callings as "dry goods." but besides the all-important thirst-quenching purpose of his establishment, it had become a sort of bureau for large and small transactions of a ranching nature, and a resort where every sort of card game could be freely indulged in, without regard for the limit of the stakes, and had thus gained for itself the subsidiary title amongst its clientele of "ju's poker joint."
at the moment ju's usually busy tongue was taking a well-earned rest, and his hawk-like visage was shrouded in a deep, contemplative repose. his always bloodshot eyes were speculative as he surveyed the smoke-laden scene from behind his shabby bar. the place was full of drinkers and gamblers. the hour was past midnight. and he was estimating silently the further spending possibilities of his customers, and consequently considering the advisability of closing down.
a group of three ranch hands leaned against the centre of the bar. their glasses were empty and none of them seemed anxious to command their refilling. they were talking earnestly. and their voices were unusually modulated. just beyond these a slight, good-looking man in chapps, with a face of particularly refined but somewhat debauched appearance, was obviously interested in their talk, although he took no part in it. on the other side of them, away at the far end of the bar, leaned a solitary, tough-looking drinker, who seemed to take no interest whatever in his surroundings. every man in the place, the dozen or so occupying the card tables included, was fully armed in the customary fashion prevailing in this distant corner of the ranching world, and it would have needed no second thought to realize that these heavy, loaded weapons were not by any means intended for decorative purposes.
"wal, anyways they're a long time fixin' things," observed one of the three at the centre of the bar, with a yawn that displayed a double row of gleaming white teeth. "the boss guessed i'd best wait around, so it ain't a heap o' use kickin'. i'll hev to wait till the durned committee's through, if it takes 'em sittin' as long us a hide-bound hen."
"it's allus that-a-way when folks gets on a committee racket, curly," replied one of his friends with a sympathetic grin.
"that's just how, dan," agreed the third. "hot air. that's what it is. this tarnation vigilance stunt sets folk whisperin' among 'emselves 'bout the hell goin' to be ladled out to all cattle thieves in general. gives 'em visions of hangin'-bees, an' a sort o' firework display with guns an' things, an' when they hatched out, what's the result? why, a waste o' hot air, an'--no checkens."
"'t'so, dan," agreed curly, with easy decision. "the boss is too near relative of a fancy gentleman for to hand out the sort o' dope rustlers need. if us boys had the job we'd fix things quick. you'd see this bum gang kicking air at the end of a rope 'fore ju, here, had time to dope out four fingers of rotgut at the expense of the house."
he leered across at the unsmiling face of the saloon-keeper. ju permitted himself to be drawn.
"nothin' doin', curly." a solemn shake of the head set his walrus moustache flapping. then he drew a cigar from a top vest pocket and bit the end through, brushing his moustache aside to discover a place in which to deposit it in his mouth. "i'd sure hate to dope out any rotgut on you boys. y'see, i sure got your health at heart. i kind o' love you fellers to death. i'd hate to see you sufferin' at my hands. guess i was raised christian."
"was you?"
curly's sarcasm achieved the laugh intended, and, as a result of his satisfaction, he flung his last half-dollar on the dingy bar.
"make that into three drops of liver souse, an' hand us a smile, ju. your face is sure killin' trade."
ju rolled his cigar across his mouth under the curtain of moustache, lit it, and proceeded to push an uncorked bottle across to his customers.
"guess it ain't a bad proposition handin' you boys a smile. smiles allus happen easy on foolish faces. seein' i ain't deaf i been listenin' to your talk, an' i ain't made up my mind if you're as bright as you're guessin', or if you're the suckers your talk makes you out. seein' i don't usual take chances, i'll put my dollars on the sucker business. i've stood behind this darned old bar fer ten years, an' i guess for five of 'em i've listened to talk like yours--from fellers like you." he removed the bottle from which the three men had helped themselves to liberal "four fingers," and eyed their glasses askance. "now, you're worritin' over this lousy lightfoot gang. so was the others. so's everybody bin fer five years. an' fer five years this same lousy lightfoot gang has just been helpin' 'emselves to the cattle on the ranches around here--liberal. same as youse fellers have helped yourselves out o' this bottle. an', durin' that time, i ain't heard tell of one o' them boys who's been spoilin' to hang 'em all doin' a thing. not a thing, 'cep' it's lap up whisky to keep up a supply o' hot air.
"wal," he proceeded, in his biting fashion, as he thrust the bottle on the shelf and began wiping glasses with a towel that looked to be decomposing for want of soap, "them lousy rustlers is still running their play in the district jest wher', when, an' how they darn please. see? you, curly, are kickin' because your boss dug mcfarlane is too much of a gentleman. wal, if i know a man from a seam-squirrel, i'd sure say dug's got more savee in his whiskers than you got dirt--which is some. if i got things right, this night's sittin's goin' to put paid to the lightfoot gang's account. i'd be glad to say the same of one or two scores three bums have lately run up right here."
the offensiveness of his manner left the men quite undisturbed. the place would have been strange to them without it. they accepted it as part of the evening's entertainment. but the allusion to the vigilance committee's efforts brought them into attitudes of close attention. it drew the attention, too, of the cattleman with the refined features, and, equally, that of the tough-looking individual at the far end of the bar.
"what are they goin' to do?" demanded dan urgently.
ju puffed aggravatingly at his cigar.
"do?" he echoed at last, gazing distantly at the card players across the room. "why, what any bunch of savee should ha' done five years ago. put out a great reward."
curly snorted in disdain.
"see, i tho't it was to be a big play."
"you allus was bright," sneered dan. "how's that goin' to fix the lightfoot crowd?"
"how?" ju's contempt always found an outlet in the echo of an opponent's interrogation. "say, dan, how old are you? twenty?"
"that ain't nuthin' to you," the cowpuncher retorted, with a gesture of hot impatience.
"ain't it? wal, mebbe it ain't," ju agreed imperturbably. "but y'see it takes years an' years gettin' the value o' dollars right. i allow ther's folks guesses dollars talks. wal, i'm guessin' they just holler. make the wad big enough and ther' ain't nuthin' you can't buy from a wheat binder to a royal princess with a crown o' jools. the only thing you're li'ble to have trouble over is the things natur' fancies handin' you fer--nix. that an' hoss sense. that's pretty well the world to-day, no matter what the sky-pilots an' sunday-school ma'ams dope out in their fancy literature. i know. you offer ten thousand dollars for the hangin' of lightfoot's gang, an', i say right here, there ain't a feller in it from lightfoot--if there is sech a feller--down, who wouldn't make a grab at that wad by givin' the rest of the crowd away. makes you think, don't it? sort o' worries them empty think tanks o' yours."
but ju's satisfaction received an unexpected shaking.
"some wind," observed the slim, lonely drinker, in the blandest fashion.
ju was round on him in a flash, his walrus moustache bristling.
"i'm listening," he said, with a calmness which belied his attitude.
the other set his glass down on the counter with a bump.
"if you're listening," he said, "you have probably understood what i said. you're talking through a fog of cynicism which seems to obscure an otherwise fairly competent intellect. you've plundered so many innocents in your time by purveying an excessive quantity of bluestone disguised under the name of alcohol that your overweening conceit has entirely distorted your perspective till you fancy that your own dregs of human nature constitute the human nature of all the rest of the world, who would entirely resent being classed as your fellows. in a word you need physic, ju."
the speaker laughed amiably, and his smile revealed the weakness which was pointed by the signs of debauchery in his good-looking face. ju eyed him steadily. the offense of his words was mitigated by his manner, but ju resented the laugh which went round the entire room at his expense.
"see here, bob whitstone," he began, abandoning his glass wiping and supporting himself on his counter, with his face offensively thrust in his opponent's direction, "i ain't got the langwidge you seem to have lapped up with your mother's milk. i don't guess any sucker paid a thousand dollars a year for my college eddication so i could come out here and grow a couple of old beeves and spend my leisure picklin' my food depot in a low down prairie saloon. therefor' i'll ask you to excuse me if i talk in a kind o' langwidge the folks about here most gener'ly understan'. guess you think you know some. maybe you figger to know it all. wal, get this. when you get back home jest stand in front of a fi' cent mirror, if you got one in your bum shanty, an' get a peek at your map, an' ask yourself--when you studied it well--if i couldn't buy you, body an' soul, fer two thousand dollars--cash. i'd sure hate slingin' mud at any feller's features, much less yours, who're a good customer to me, but you're comin' the highbrow, an' you got notions of honor still floatin' around in your flabby thinkin' department sech as was handed you by the guys who ran that thousand dollar college. wal, ef you'll look at yourself honest, an' argue with yourself honest, you'll find them things is sure a shadder of the past which happened somew'eres before you tasted that first dose o' prairie poison which has since become a kind o' habit. it ain't no use in getting riled, bob, it ain't no use in workin' overtime on that college dictionary o' yours to set me crawlin' around among the spit boxes. fac's is fac's. ken you hand me a list o' the things you--you who ain't got two spare cents to push into the mission box, an' who'd willingly sleep in a hog pen if it weren't for a dandy wife who'd got no more sense than to marry you--wouldn't do if i was to hand you out a roll of ten thousand dollars right now--cash? tcha! you think. i know."
he turned away in a wave of contemptuous disgust. and as he did so a harsh voice from the other end of the bar held him up.
"what about me, ju?"
the tough-looking prairie man made his demand with a laugh only a shade less harsh than his speaking voice.
ju stood. his desperate, keen face was coldly still as he regarded the powerful frame of his challenger. then his retort came swift and poignant.
"you, sikkem? you'd allus give yourself away. get me?"
the frigidity of the saloon-keeper's manner was over-powering. the man called sikkem was unequal in words to such a challenge. a flush slowly dyed his lean cheeks, and an angry depression of the brows suggested something passionate and forceful. just for a moment many eyes glanced in his direction. the saloon-keeper was steadily regarding him. there was no suggestion of anger in his attitude, merely cat-like watchfulness. their eyes met. then the cloud abruptly lifted from sikkem's brow, and he laughed with unsmiling, black eyes. the saloon-keeper rinsed a glass and unconcernedly began to wipe it.
the incident was allowed to pass. but it was the termination of the discussion, a termination which left ju victor, not because of the rightness of his views, but because there was no man in orrville capable of joining issue with him in debate with any hope of success. action rather than words was the prevailing feature with these people, and, in his way, ju penrose was equal, if not superior, not only in debate, but in the very method these people best understood.
a moment later sikkem took his departure.
* * * * * *
it was well past midnight when the last man turned out of ju's bar. but the crowd had not yet scattered to their various homes. they were gathered in a small, excited cluster gaping up at a big notice pasted on the weather-boarding of the saloon-keeper's shack. ju himself was standing in their midst, right in front of the notice, which had been indited in ink, evidently executed with a piece of flat wood. he was holding up a lantern, and every eye was carefully, and in many instances laboriously, studying the text inscribed.
it was a notice of reward. a reward of ten thousand dollars for information leading to the capture of the gang of cattle thieves known as the "lightfoot gang." and it was signed by dug mcfarlane on behalf of the orrville rancher's vigilance committee.
"guess ju knowed after all," somebody observed, in a confidential tone to his neighbor.
but ju's ears were as long and sharp as his tongue. he flashed round on the instant, his lantern lowered from the level of the notice board. there was a sort of cold triumph in his manner as his eyes fell upon the speaker.
"know'd?" he cried sharply. "ain't 'knowin'' my business? psha!" his contempt was withering. then his manner changed back to the triumph which the notice had inspired. "say, it's a great piece of money. it surely is some bunch. ten thousand dollars! gee! his game's up. lightfoot's as good as kickin' his heels agin the breezes. he's played his hand, an'--lost."
and somehow no one seemed inclined to add to his statement. nor, which was much more remarkable, contradict it. now that these men had seen the notice with their own eyes the force of all ju had so recently contended came home to them. there was not one amongst that little gathering who did not realize the extent of the odds militating against the rustlers. ten thousand dollars! there was not a man present who did not feel the tremendous power of such a reward.
the gathering melted away slowly, and finally bob whitstone was left alone before the gleaming sheet of paper, with ju standing in his doorway. the lantern was at his feet upon the sill. his hands were thrust in the tops of his shabby trousers. he was regarding the "gentleman" rancher meditatively, and his half burnt cigar glowed under the deep intake of his powerful lungs.
"it's a dandy bunch, bob, eh?" he demanded presently, in an ironical tone. "guess i'd come nigh sellin' my own father fer--ten thousand dollars. an' i don't calc'late i'd get nightmare neither." then he drew a deep breath which suggested regret. "but--it ain't comin' my way. no. not by a sight." then, after a watchful pause, he continued: "i'm kind o' figgerin' whose way. not mine, or--yours. eh, bob? we could do with it. pity, ain't it?"
bob turned. his eyes sought the face in the shadow of the doorway.
"i'm no descendant of judas," he said coldly.
"no. but--judas didn't sell a gang of murdering cattle rustlers. that ain't judas money."
"maybe. but it's blood money all the same."
"mighty bad blood that oughter be spilt."
bob turned away. his gaze wandered out westward. then his eyes came slowly back to the man in the door-way.
"you thought i was talking hot air just now--about a man's price. you didn't like it. well, when i find myself with a price i hope i shan't live to be paid it. that's all."
the man in the doorway shook his head. then he spoke slowly, deliberately. and somehow much of the sharpness had gone out of his tone, and the hard glitter of his steely eyes had somehow become less pronounced.
"oh, i guess i got your meanin' right, fer all yer thousand dollar langwidge. sure, i took you right away. but--it don't signify a cuss anyways. guess you was born a gentleman, bob, which i wa'an't. an' because you was born an' raised that-a-way you'd surely like to kep right hold o' the notion that folks ken still act as though they'd been weaned on talk of honor an' sichlike. i sez kep a holt on that notion. grip it tight, an' don't never let go on it. grab it same as you would the feller that's yearnin' fer your scalp. if you lose your grip that tow-colored scalp of yours'll be raised sure, an' every penicious breeze that blows 'll get into your think depot and hand you every sort of mental disease ther' ain't physic enough in the world to cure. guess that's plumb right. it don't cut no ice what i think. a feller like me jest thinks the way life happens to boost him. y'see, i ain't had no thousand dollar eddication to make me see things any other ways. life's a mighty tough proposition an' it can't be run on no schedule, an' each feller's got to travel the way he sees with his own two eyes. if he's got the spectacles of a thousand dollar eddication he's an a'mighty lucky feller, an' i'm guessin' they'll help him dodge a whole heap o' muck holes he'd otherwise bury his silly head in. so hang on, boy. grip them darn fool notions so they ain't got a chance. if you let go--wal, you'll get a full-sized peek into a pretty fancy sort o' hell wher' ther' ain't any sort o' chance o' dopin' your visions out o' sight with ju penrose's belly wash. so long."
ju picked up his lantern and turned back into his bar, closing and securing his door behind him. then, with keen anticipation and enjoyment, he approached his till and proceeded to count his day's takings.
* * * * * *
bob whitstone unhitched his horse from ju's tying post. he swung himself into the saddle and rode away,--away toward his outland home under the starlit roof of the plains. it was an almost nightly journey with him now, for the saloon habit had caught him in its toils, and was already holding him firmly.
his mood was not easy. he resented ju penrose. he resented all men of his type. he knew him for a crook. he believed he possessed no more conscience than any other habitual criminal. but his resentment was the weak echo of an upbringing which had never intended him for such association, and, in spite of it, the man's personality held him, and its strength dominated him.
his way took him out across an almost trackless waste of rich grass-land. somewhere out there, hidden away at the foot of the cathills, lay his homestead, and the wife for whom he had abandoned all that his birth had entitled him to. during the past two years he had learned truly all that he had sacrificed for the greatest of all dreams of youth.
but these things, for the moment, were not in his mind. only penrose. ju penrose, whom he had learned to detest and despise out of the educated mind that was his. the man's final homily was entirely lost upon bob. such was his temper that only the gross outrages against the precepts of his youth remained. he only heard the hateful, detestable cynicism, brutally expressed. it was something curious how he only took note of these things, and missed the rough solicitude of ju's final admonishment. but he was young and weak, and a shadow of bitterness had entered his life, which, at his age, should have found no place in it.
the miles swept away under his horse's hoofs. already the township, that sparse little oasis of shelter in a desert of grass-land, lay lost behind him in the depths of some hidden trough in the waves of the prairie ocean, the great yellow disc of the moon had cut the horizon and lit his tracks, but its light was still unrevealing and only added charm to the blaze of summer jewels which adorned the soft velvet of the heavens.
he glanced back. but almost instantly his eyes were turned again ahead. the night scene of these plains was too familiar to him to excite interest. to him there were simply miles intervening between him and the slumbers he was seeking. the prairie, for all its beauties, spelt toilful days and bitter disappointment for him. wherein then should be discovered its charms?
again his mind settled itself upon the events of the evening. price? price? every man, he had been told, had his price. every man and woman. he uttered a sound. it might have been a laugh, but it lacked mirth. it startled his alert horse. it almost seemed to startle the quiet night itself. what was his price? all he knew about price was its payment. he had only been called upon to pay. and he had paid! my god, he had paid! all that had been his. all the wealth, the comfort, the luxury and prospects which had been his in his wealthy father's home, had been the price he had paid for the right, which was the right of every man, to choose for himself, and to take to himself and to wife, the woman who seemed to him to be the one creature in the world who could yield him the happiness which alone was worth while.
this talk of a man's price only enraged him the more. he viciously detested ju penrose, and all such creatures who walked the world.
well, the reward was out. time would show. if it failed to find the judas he would remind ju. oh, yes, he would remind him. he would wait his time for the reminder. he would wait till the saloon was full, and then--then he would open out his batteries. men were of----
what was that?
he had pulled his horse up with a swift tightening of his hand. now the beast stood with head erect, and pricked ears firmly thrust forward. its head was turned southward, and the gush of its distended nostrils warned its rider that his question was shared by a creature whose instincts were even more acute, here, on the prairie, than those of its human master.
bob bent down in the saddle the better to obtain the silhouette of the sky-line. the sound which had held him came up on the southern night breeze. it was a low murmur, or rumble, and, to his accustomed ears, it suggested the speeding of hoofs over the green clad earth. he waited for many moments, but the sound only increased. there was no doubt left in his mind now. none at all.
he sat up again and glanced swiftly about him. the moonlight had increased, and a silver sheen threw up the surrounding scene into indistinct relief. beyond, to his right, he detected a small patch of scrub and spruce, and, without a second thought, he made for it.
a minute later he was out of the saddle beside his horse, screened from view of the plains by a belt of bush. he secured his horse and moved to the fringe of his shelter. here he took up a position facing south, and his view of the plains beyond became uninterrupted.
he knew what was coming. instinct warned him. perhaps even it was the wish fathering his belief. he felt it was a certainty that the rustlers were out pursuing their depredations with their customary unchallenged daring. who, he wondered, was the present victim, and what was the extent of the raid?
he had not long to wait. the sound grew. it lost its distant continuity and became broken into the distinct hoof beats of large numbers. furthermore, by the sound of it, they would pass right across his front. he had been wise in seeking cover. had he remained----
but speculation gave way before the interest of movement. now the silhouette of the sky-line was dancing before his eyes. in the moonlight he could clearly make out the passing of a driven herd. it came on, losing itself in the shadows of a distant trough. again it appeared. more distinct now. he whistled under his breath. they were coming from the direction of dug mcfarlane's and it was a large herd. they were traveling northwest, which would cut into the hills away to the north of his homestead. they----
but they were almost abreast of him now, and he heard the voices of men urging and cursing. lower he dropped toward the earth the better to ascertain the numbers. but his estimate was uncertain. there were moments when the herd looked very large. there were moments when it looked less. he felt that a conservative estimate would be one hundred perhaps, and some eight or ten men driving them.
they were gone as they had come, lumbering rapidly, and as they passed northward the southern breeze carried the sound away. it died out quickly, and for minutes longer than was needed he stood listening, listening. then, at last, he turned back to his horse.
in the two years of his sojourn on the land it was the first time he had witnessed the operation of the lightfoot gang, and it left a deep impression upon his mind. a great resentment rose up in him. it was the natural temper of a man who is concerned, in however small a degree, in the cattle industry. and his anger urged him to a greater speed for home, and a greater sympathy for the man who was prepared to accept the judas money offered for the lives of this gang of criminals.
