Collected Works of Zane Grey, page 1115
Stone kicked a box nearer the fire and sat down upon it. Then from a shadowed corner limped a stalwart man, scarred of face and evil of eye, with a sheriff’s badge glittering like a star on the front of his vest. Some of the others edged closer. All except Croak Malloy evinced keen eagerness. Nothing mattered to this little outlaw.
“Maddy, did you fetch all the supplies?” asked Stone.
“Yep. An’ kept them dry, too. There’s four more packs out in the shed. The tobacco, whisky, shells — all that particular stuffs is in the pack Sonora fetched in. An’ I’m here to state I don’t want to pack down Cottonwood any more in the snow an’ rain. We couldn’t see a hand before our eyes. An’ just follered the horses.”
“Any trouble at Flag?” went on Stone.
“Nary trouble,” answered Madden, brightly. “All our worryin’ was for nothin’.”
“Ahuh. Then neither of those drift-fence cowboys we shot up died?”
“Nope. Frost was around with a crutch. An’ Hump Stevens will live, so they told me.”
“How did Jim Traft take the layin’ down of nine miles of his drift fence?”
“Which Jim Traft do you mean?”
“The old man, you fool. Who’d ever count that tenderfoot of a nephew?”
“Wal, boss, I reckon you’ll have to count him. For he’s shore countin’ in Flag...Of course I could only get round-about gossip in the saloons an’ stores, you know. But we can gamble on it. That nine-mile drop of Traft’s drift fence didn’t make him bat an eye, though they told me it riled young Jim somethin’ fierce. Jed, the old cattle king is goin’ through with that drift fence, an’ with more’n that, which I’ll tell you presently. As I got it the drift fence is comin’ more to favour with cattlemen as time goes on. Bambridge is the only big rancher against it, an’ shore you know why he is. But the fence ain’t the only thing talked about...Boss, the Cibeque outfit is busted.”
“No! — You don’t say?” ejaculated Stone.
“Shore is. Most owin’ to that cowpuncher Hack Jocelyn who left the Diamond outfit an’ throwed in with the Cibeque. That split the Cibeque. It seems Jocelyn lost his head over that little Dunn girl, Molly, sister to Slinger Dunn. You’ve seen her, Jed, at West Fork.”
“Yes. Prettiest kid in the country.”
“Wal, Jocelyn was after her hard, an’ he double-crossed the Haverlys an’ Slinger Dunn by tryin’ to play both ends against the middle. He hatched a low-down deal, if I ever knowed one. But it fell through. He got away with the girl Molly, however, an’ thet precipitated hell. Slinger quit the Cibeque, trailed them to a cabin in the woods. Back of Tobe’s Well somewhere. Must have been the very cabin Anderson put up there years ago. Wal, Jocelyn an’ the rest of the Cibeque had kidnapped young Jim Traft for ransom. But Jocelyn meant to collect the ransom an’ then murder the boy. The Haverlys wasn’t in on this, so the story goes. Anyway, things worked to a hot pitch at this cabin. Jocelyn had a drink too many, they say, an’ wanted to drag the little girl Molly off ‘n the woods. An’ she, like what you’d expect of Slinger Dunn’s sister, raised hell. Jocelyn tried to shoot young Jim. An’ she fought him — bit him like a wildcat. Wal, Slinger bobbed up, Injun as he is, an’ killed Jocelyn. Then he had it out with the Haverlys, killin’ both of them. He was terrible shot up himself. They fetched him to Flag. But he’ll live.”
“I’m dod-blasted glad, though there ain’t any love lost between me an’ Slinger,” said Stone, forcibly. “No wonder Flag wasn’t excited over our little brush with Stevens an’ Frost.”
“Wal, thet’s all of thet news,” went on Madden, importantly. “Some more will interest you-all. Bambridge lost his case against Traft. He had no case at all, accordin’ to the court. It seems Traft got this Yellow Jacket Ranch an’ range from Blodgett, years ago. Bambridge didn’t even know the deeds were on record in Flag. He was hoppin’ mad, they said, an’ he an’ Traft had it hot an’ heavy after the court proceedin’s. Traft jest about accused Bambridge of shady cattle deals down here. Bambridge threw a gun, but somebody knocked it out of his hand. Wal, thet riled the old cattle king. What do you think he said, boss? I got it from a feller I know, who was in the courtroom.”
“Maddy, I’ll bet it was a heap,” replied Stone, wagging his head.
“Heap! Reckon you hit it. Traft swore he’d run Bambridge off the Arizona ranges. What’s more, he made a present of this Yellow Jacket Ranch, which Bambridge an’ you reckoned you owned yourselves, to his nephew, young Jim, an’ — but guess who?”
“I’m not guessin’. Out with it,” rejoined Stone, hardily.
“No one less than Slinger Dunn,” announced Madden, with the triumphant tone of the sensation-lover.
“What?” bellowed Stone.
“I told you, boss. Old Traft gave this ranch an’ range to young Jim an’ Slinger — half an’ half. Providin’ thet Slinger throwed in with the Diamond outfit an’ helped them clean up Yellow Jacket.”
“Haw! Haw!” croaked Malloy, with vicious humour.
“Slinger Dunn an’ the Diamond!” exclaimed Stone, incredulously. Evidently it was a most astounding circumstance, and one fraught with bewildering possibilities.
“Thet’s it, boss, an’ they’re ridin’ down here after Thanksgivin’,” ended Madden, and took a long pull on his cigar.
Stone once more leaned in the shadow, his dim profile bent toward the fire. Madden stretched himself, boots to the heat, and gave himself over to the enjoyment of his cigar. All except the leader puffed white clouds of smoke which rose to catch the draught and waft through the chinks between the logs.
“What do you make of it, boss?” finally queried Anderson.
Jed Stone vouchsafed no reply.
“Humph!” grunted the hunter. “Wal, Frank, you’re the green hand in this outfit. What you make of Maddy’s news?”
The cowboy stirred and sat up. “I reckon it can’t be done,” he replied.
“What can’t?”
“Cleanin’ up Yellow Jacket.”
The hunter took a long draw at his cigar and expelled a volume of smoke, while he thoughtfully stroked his black beard.
“Whar you from, Frank?”
“Born in Arizonie.”
“An’ you say thet? Wal...Reckon it ain’t no wonder you ended up with the Hash-Knife outfit,” said Anderson, reflectively. Then he turned his attention to the Mexican, who sat nearest. “Sonora, you been herdin’ sheep for years on this range?”
“Si, señor.”
“You’ve seen a heap of men shot?”
“Many men, señor.”
“Did you talk to sheep-herders in Flag?”
“Si. All say mucho malo. Old Traft bad medicine. If he start job he do job.”
Whereupon Tracks Anderson, warming as to a trail, set upon the long-limbed, sandy-moustached Texan. “Pecos, what was you when you rode thet river you’re named fer?”
“Me? Much the same as I am now,” drawled the rustler, with an easy laugh. “Only I wasn’t ridin’ in such good safe company.”
“Safe, huh? Wal, thet’s a compliment to Jed an’ the Hash-Knife. But is it sense? ...To my way of thinkin’ this — drift fence has spelled a change fer Arizona ranges. There’s a mind behind that idee. It’s big. It throws the sunlight on trails thet have been dim.”
Croak Malloy did not wait to be interrogated. He spat as he emitted a cloud of smoke, which hid his strange visage.
“If you ask me I’ll tell you Maddy’s talk is jest town talk,” he croaked. “I’ve heard the same fer ten years. An’ Yellow Jacket is wilder today than it ever was. There’s more cattle runnin’ than then. More rustlers in the woods. More crooked ranchers. An’ one like Bambridge wasn’t ever heard when I first rode into the Tonto...An’ what’s a bunch of slick-ridin’ cowboys to us? I’ll kill this young Traft, an’ Sonora can do fer Slinger Dunn. Thet’ll be the last of the Diamond.”
“Very pretty, Croak. It might be done, easy enough, if we take the first step. I ain’t aimin’ to class thet wild Diamond outfit with the Hash-Knife. It ain’t no fair fight. Boys ag’in’ men. An’ this is shore allowin’ fer Slinger Dunn an’ thet Prentiss fellar.”
“Tracks,” spoke up Pecos, dryly, “you’re plumb fergettin’ there’s a Texan in the Diamond. Lonestar Holliday. An’ you can bet the Texas I come from wouldn’t be ashamed of him.”
“Humph! — Lang, you swear you come honest by thet sheriff badge,” went on the hunter, in a grim humour. “Let’s hear from you.”
“There ain’t no law but might in the Mogollans an’ never will be in our day,” replied the ex-sheriff.
“Kirreck,” snapped Anderson. “Thet’s what I’m drivin’ at. Our day may be damn good an’ short.”
“Aw, hell! Tracks, you need some licker,” croaked Malloy. “Let’s open the pack an’ have some.”
“No,” came from Stone with sharp suddenness, showing how intent he was on the colloquy.
“Wal, it narrows down to Stoneface,” continued Anderson, imperturbably. “But seein’ he’s a gambler, you can’t ever get straight from him.”
“Tracks, I’ll bet you them gold wheels you’ll be hibernatin’ fer keeps when spring comes,” said Carr, clinking gold coins in his palms.
“Quién sabe? But I won’t bet you, Stoneface. You get hunches from the air, an’ Gawd only knows you might be communicatin’ with the dead.”
A silence ensued, during which the hunter gazed with questioning eyes at the shadowed leader, but he did not voice his thought. He returned diligently to the cigar that appeared to be hard to smoke. The rain pattered on the roof; the wind moaned under the eaves; beyond the log wall horses munched their feed; the fire sputtered. And presently Jed Stone broke the silence.
“Men, I rode on the first Hash-Knife outfit, twenty years ago,” he began. “An’ Arizona never had a finer bunch of riders. Since then I’ve rode in all the outfits. Some had good men an’ bad men at the same time. Thet Texas outfit in the early eighties gave the Hash-Knife its bad name. Daggs, Colter, an’ the rest didn’t live long, but their fame did. Yet they wasn’t any worse than the cattlemen and sheepmen who fought thet war. I’ve never had a real honest job since.”
Stone paused to take a long pull on his cigar.
“An’ thet fetches me down to this day an’ the Hash-Knife outfit here,” he went on. “There’s a heap of difference between fact and rumour. Old Jim Traft knows we’re rustlin’ his stock, but he can’t prove it — yet. Bambridge knows we are stealin’ cattle, but he can’t prove it because he’s crooked himself. An’ same with lesser cattlemen hereabouts. If I do say it myself, I’ve run this outfit pretty slick. We’ve got a few thousand head of cattle wearin’ our brand. Most of which we jest roped out on the range an’ branded. We knowed the mothers of these calves had Traft’s brand or some other than ours. But no posse or court can ever prove thet onless they ketch us in the act. We’re shore too old hands now to be ketched, at least at the brandin’ game. But ...an’, men, here’s the hell of it, we can’t go on in the old comfortable way if Traft sends thet Diamond outfit down here. Yellow Jacket belongs to him. An’ don’t you overlook this Diamond bunch if Slinger Dunn is on it. Reckon thet’ll have to be proved to me. Slinger is even more of an Indian than a backwoodsman. I know him well. We used to hunt together. He’s run a lot in the woods with Apaches. An’ no outfit would be safe while he prowled around with a rifle. I’m tellin’ you if Slinger would ambush us — shoot us from cover like an Indian, he’d kill every damn one of us. But I’ll gamble Slinger wouldn’t never do thet kind of fightin’. An’ we want to bear thet in mind if it comes to a clash between the Diamond an’ the Hash-Knife.”
“If,” exploded Anderson, as the leader paused. “There ain’t no ifs. Any kind of reasonin’ would show you thet Traft has long had in mind workin’ up this Yellow Jacket. It’ll run ten thousand head, easy, an’ shore will be a fine ranch.”
“Wal, then, we got to figger close. Let me make a few more points an’ then I’ll put it to a vote. I wish I hadn’t always done thet. For I reckon I see clear here...We’ve had more’n one string to our bow these five years. An’ if we wasn’t a wasteful outfit we’d all be heeled right now. Bambridge has been playin’ a high hand lately. How many thousand unbranded calves an’ yearlin’s we’ve drove over to him I can’t guess. But shore a lot. Anyway, he’s figgerin’ to leave Arizona. Thet’s my hunch. An’ he’ll likely try to drive some big deals before he goes. If he does you can bet he’ll leave the Hash-Knife to bear the brunt. Traft has come out in the open. He’s on to Bambridge. There’s no slicker cowman on the range than Traft’s man, Ring Locke. They’ll put the Diamond down here, not only to watch us, but Bambridge too. An’ while we’re at it let’s give this young Jim Traft the benefit of a doubt. They say he’s a chip off the old block. Wal, it’d jest be a hell of a mistake for Croak to kill thet young feller. Old Traft would rake Arizona from the Little Colorado to the Superstitions. It jest won’t do. Slinger Dunn, yes, an’ any of the rest of the outfit. But not young Jim...Wal, I reckon it’d be wise fer us to make one more drive, sell to Bambridge an’ clear out pronto.”
“My Gawd!” croaked Malloy, in utter amaze.
“Boss, do I understand you to hint you’d leave the range your Hash-Knife has run fer twenty years?” demanded Stoneface Carr.
“Men, I read the signs of the times,” replied the leader, briefly and not without heat. “I’ll put it up to you one by one...Anderson, shall we pull up stakes fer a new range?”
“I reckon so. It ain’t the way of a Hash-Knife outfit. But I advise it fer thet very reason.”
Sonora, the sheep-herder, leaned significantly and briefly to Stone’s side. But the gambler was stone cold to the plan. Malloy only croaked a profane and scornful refusal. The others came out flat with derisive or affronted objections.
“Wal, you needn’t blow my head off,” declared Stone, in like tone. “If you do there shore won’t be a hell of a lot of brains left in this outfit...It’s settled. The Hash-Knife stays until we are run out or wiped out.”
CHAPTER TWO
THAT SAME STORMY night in early November, when the members of the Hash-Knife gang had their fateful colloquy in the old log cabin on the Yellow Jacket range, Jim Traft sat with his nephew in the spacious living-room of the big ranch-house on the edge of Flagerstown.
It was a bright warm room, doubly cosy owing to the whine of wind outside and the patter of sleet on the window panes. Old Traft had a fondness for lamps with rosy globes, and the roaring fire in the great stone fireplace attested to his years on the open range. A sleek wolf-hound lay on the rug. Traft occupied an armchair that looked as ancient as the hills, and he sat back with a contented smile on his fine weather-beaten face, occasionally to puff his pipe.
“Dog-gone-it, Jim, this is somethin’ like home,” he said. “You look so good to me these days. An’ you’ve come through a Westerner...An’ the old house isn’t lonesome any more.”
He nodded his grey head toward the far end of the room, where Molly Dunn curled in a big chair, her pretty golden-brown head bent over a book. Opposite Molly on the other side of the table sat Mrs. Dunn, with eager expectant look of enchantment, as one who wanted to keep on dreaming.
Young Jim laughed. It looked more than something like home to him, and seldom was there a moment his eyes did not return to that brown head of Molly Dunn.
“Shore is, Uncle,” he drawled, in the lazy voice he affected on occasions. “You wouldn’t think we’re only a few weeks past that bloody fight...Gosh! when I think! ...Uncle, I’ve told you a hundred times how Molly saved my life. It seems like a dream...Well, I’m back home — for this is home, Uncle. No work for weeks! No bossing that terrible bunch of cowboys! You so pleased with me — though for the life of me I can’t see why. Molly here for the winter to go to school — and then to be my wife next spring...And Slinger Dunn getting well of those awful bullet wounds so fast...It’s just too good to be true.”
“Ahuh. I savvy how you feel, son,” replied the old rancher. “It does seem that out here in the West the hard knocks and trials make the softer side of life — home an’ folks — an’ the girl of your heart — so much dearer an’ sweeter. It ought to make you keen as a whip to beat the West — to stack cunnin’ an’ nerve against the wild life of the range, an’ come through alive. I did. An’, Jim, if I’d been a drinkin’, roarin’ cowpuncher I’d never have lasted, an’ you wouldn’t be here tonight, stealin’ looks at your little Western girl.”
“Oh, Uncle, that’s the — the hell of it!” exclaimed Jim. “I’m crucified when I realise. Those weeks building the drift fence were great. Such fun — such misery! Then that fight at the cabin! Oh, Lord! I could have torn Hack Jocelyn to pieces with my hands. Then when Molly was fighting him for possession of his gun — hanging to him like grim death — with her teeth, mind you — when he lifted and swung her and beat her — I was an abject grovelling wretch, paralysed with horror...Then when Slinger leaped past me round the cabin, as I sat there tied and helpless, and he yelled like an Indian at Jocelyn...I thrill and shiver now, and my heart stops...Only since I’ve been home do I realise what you mean about the West. It’s wonderful, it’s glorious, but terrible, too.”
“You’ve had your eye teeth cut, son,” said Traft, grimly. “Now you must face the thing — you must fight. I’ve fought for forty years. An’ it will still be years more before the range is free of the outlaw, the rustler, the crooked cattleman, the thieving cowboy.”
“Uncle Jim,” called Molly, plaintively, “please hush up aboot the bad West. I want to study an’ I cain’t help heahin’.”
“Wal, wal, Molly,” laughed Traft, in mild surprise, “reckon I thought you was wrapped up in that school book.”
“An’, Jim — shore the West’s not as wicked as Uncle makes out,” went on Molly. “He wants you to be another Curly Prentiss — or even like Slinger.”
