Part 109 (1/2)
It was not exactly this that kept him to the place; but the necessity of taking what he was in the habit of calling a ”good think.”
His thoughts were about the exchange of the horses: for he had heard the whole dialogue relating thereto, and the proposal coming from Calhoun.
It was this that puzzled, or rather gave him reason for reflection.
What could be the motive?
Zeb knew to be true what the Mexican had said: that the States horse was, in market value, worth far more than the mustang. He knew, moreover, that Ca.s.sius Calhoun was the last man to be ”coped” in a horse trade. Why, then, had he done the ”deal?”
The old hunter pulled off his felt hat; gave his hand a twist or two through his unkempt hair; transferred the caress to the grizzled beard upon his chin--all the while gazing upon the ground, as if the answer to his mental interrogatory was to spring out of the gra.s.s.
”Thur air but one explication o't,” he at length muttered: ”the grey's the faster critter o' the two--ne'er a doubt 'beout thet; an Mister Cash wants him for his fastness: else why the durnation shed he a gin a hoss thet 'ud sell for four o' his sort in any part o' Texas, an twicet thet number in Mexiko? I reck'n he's bargained for the heels. Why? Durn me, ef I don't suspect why. He wants--he--heigh--I hev it--somethin' as kin k.u.m up wi' the Headless!
”Thet's the very thing he's arter--sure as my name's Zeb'lon Stump.
He's tried the States hoss an foun' him slow. Thet much I knowd myself.
Now he thinks, wi' the mowstang, he may hev a chance to overhaul the tother, ef he kin only find him agin; an for sartin he'll go in sarch o'
him.
”He's rad on now to Ca.s.ser Corver--maybe to git a pick o' somethin' to eat. He won't stay thur long. 'Fore many hours hev pa.s.sed, somebody 'll see him out hyur on the purayra; an thet somebody air boun' to be Zeb'lon Stump.
”Come, ye critter!” he continued, turning to the mare, ”ye thort ye wur a goin' hum, did ye? Yur mistaken 'beout that. Ye've got to squat hyur for another hour or two--if not the hul o' the night. Never mind, ole gurl! The gra.s.s don't look so had; an ye sh.e.l.l hev a chance to git yur snout to it. Thur now--eet your durned gut-full!”
While p.r.o.nouncing this apostrophe, he drew the head-stall over the ears of his mare; and, chucking the bridle across the projecting tree of the saddle, permitted her to graze at will.
Having secured her in the chapparal where he had halted, he walked on-- along the track taken by Calhoun.
Two hundred yards farther on, and the jungle terminated. Beyond stretched an open plain; and on its opposite side could be seen the hacienda of Casa del Corvo.
The figure of a horseman could be distinguished against its whitewashed facade--in another moment lost within the dark outline of the entrance.
Zeb knew who went in.
”From this place,” he muttered, ”I kin see him k.u.m out; an durn me, ef I don't watch till he do k.u.m out--ef it shed be till this time o' the morrow. So hyur goes for a spell o' patience.”
He first lowered himself to his knees. Then, ”squirming” round till his back came in contact with the trunk of a honey-locust, he arranged himself into a sitting posture. This done, he drew from his capacious pocket a wallet, containing a ”pone” of corn-bread, a large ”hunk” of fried ”hog-meat,” and a flask of liquor, whose perfume proclaimed it ”Monongahela.”
Having eaten about half the bread, and a like quant.i.ty of the meat, he returned the remaining moieties to the wallet; which he suspended over head upon a branch. Then taking a satisfactory swig from the whiskey-flask, and igniting his pipe, he leant back against the locust-- with arms folded over his breast, and eyes bent upon the gateway of Casa del Corvo.
In this way he kept watch for a period of full two hours; never changing the direction of his glance; or not long enough for any one to pa.s.s out unseen by him.
Forms came out, and went in--several of them--men and women. But even in the distance their scant light-coloured garments, and dusky complexions, told them to be only the domestics of the mansion.
Besides, they were all on foot; and he, for whom Zeb was watching, should come on horseback--if at all.
His vigil was only interrupted by the going down of the sun; and then only to cause a change in his post of observation. When twilight began to fling its purple shadows over the plain, he rose to his feet; and, leisurely unfolding his tall figure, stood upright by the stem of the tree--as if this att.i.tude was more favourable for ”considering.”
”Thur's jest a posserbillity the skunk mout sneak out i' the night?” was his reflection. ”Leastways afore the light o' the mornin'; an I must make sure which way he takes purayra.
”'Taint no use my toatin' the maar after me,” he continued, glancing in the direction where the animal had been left. ”She'd only bother me.