Part 26 (2/2)
”Is not this man one of your band, Jake?” asked the officer quietly.
”Yes, he is,” replied the man with a malevolent grin. ”He's not long joined. This is his first scrimmage with us.”
Charlie was so thunderstruck at this speech that he was led back to the ranch in a sort of dazed condition. As for d.i.c.k Darvall, he was rendered speechless, and felt disposed to regard the whole thing as a sort of dream, for his attempted explanations were totally disregarded.
Arrived at the house, Charlie and Jake were locked up in separate rooms, and sentries placed beneath their windows--this in addition to the security of hand-cuffs and roped arms. Then breakfast was prepared for the entire company, and those who had been wounded in the fight were attended to by Hunky Ben--a self-taught surgeon--with Mary and b.u.t.tercup to act as dressers.
”I say, Jackson,” observed Darvall, when the worthy ranch-man found leisure to attend to him, ”of course _you_ know that this is all nonsense--an abominable lie about my friend Brooke being an outlaw?”
”Of course I do, d.i.c.k,” said Jackson, in a tone of sympathy; ”an' you may be c.o.c.k-sure I'll do what I can to help 'im. But he'll have to prove himself a true man, an' there _are_ some mysteries about him that it puzzles me to think how he'll clear 'em up.”
”Mysteries?” echoed d.i.c.k.
”Ay, mysteries. I've had some talk wi' Hunky Ben, an' he's as much puzzled as myself, if not more.”
”Well, then, I'm puzzled more than either of ye,” returned d.i.c.k, ”for my friend and mate is as true a man--all straight an' aboveboard--as ever I met with on sea or land.”
”That may be, boy, but there's some mystery about him, somehow.”
”Can ye explain what the mystery is, Jackson?”
”Well, this is what Hunky Ben says. He saw your friend go off the other night alone to Traitor's Trap, following in the footsteps o' that notorious outlaw Buck Tom. Feelin' sure that Buck meant to waylay your friend, Hunky followed him up and overshot him to a place where he thought it likely the outlaw would lay in wait. Sure enough, when he got there he found Buck squattin' behind a big rock. So he waited to see what would turn up and be ready to rescue your friend. An' what d'ye think did turn up?”
”Don' know,” said d.i.c.k, with a look of solemn wonder.
”Why, when Buck stepped out an' bid him throw up his hands, your friend merely looked at Buck and said somethin' that Hunky couldn't hear, an then Buck dropped his pistol, and your friend got off his horse, and they shook hands and went off as thick as thieves together. An' now, as you've seen an' heard, your friend turns up headin' a charge of the outlaws--an' a most notable charge it was--alongside o' Buck Tom. Jake the Flint too claims him for a comrade. Pretty mysterious all that, ain't it?”
”May I ask,” said d.i.c.k, with some scorn in his tone, ”who is this Hunky Ben, that his word should be considered as good as a bank-note?”
”He's the greatest scout an' the best an' truest man on the frontier,”
replied Jackson.
”H'm! so Miss Mary seems to think too.”
”An' Mary thinks right.”
”An' who may this Jake the Flint be?” asked the sailor.
”The greatest scoundrel, cattle and horse stealer, and cut-throat on the frontier.”
”So then,” rejoined d.i.c.k, with some bitterness, ”it would seem that my friend and mate is taken up for an outlaw on the word o' the two greatest men on the frontier!”
”It looks like it, d.i.c.k, coupled, of course, wi' your friend's own actions. But never you fear, man. There must be a mistake o' some sort, somewhere, an' it's sure to come out, for I'd as soon believe my Mary to be an outlaw as your friend--though I never set eyes on him before the other day. The fact is, d.i.c.k, that I've learned physiognomy since--”
”Fizzi-what-umy?” interrupted d.i.c.k.
”Physiognomy--the study o' faces--since I came to live on the frontier, an' I'm pretty sure to know an honest man from a rogue as soon as I see him an' hear him speak--though I can't always prove myself right.”
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