Part 42 (1/2)

”It ain't the risk I'm fussin' about,” sez The. ”Ty was square to me in his own way. The Friar has been square to me also, and I know 'at his way is the best; but at the same time-don't you think it would be downright snakish for me to go back to Ty, tell him some excuse for my stayin' away, and then plot again' him while I'm eatin' his vittles?”

It didn't sound good to us when Promotheus came out with it so everlastin' unpolluted; but he had worked up a sense of honesty since bein' with Horace, which wouldn't let him do any pertendin'. Horace didn't answer, and he went on after waitin' a minute: ”I haven't any prejudices again' fightin' him in the open; but it does go again' my grain to wear a dog hide when I'm playin' wolf, and Ty Jones was square to me.”

”Well,” sez Horace, ”I haven't the heart to advise you to do this, Promotheus. We'll sure be able to find some other way, and as long as it goes again' your grain the way it does, I don't want you to do it.”

”Would you think any the less of me if I did?” asked The, his eyes takin' on a sad, hungry look, like a dog's eyes get when he's worried over what his master'll say about some trick he's been up to.

”Course I wouldn't think any less of ya,” sez Horace without hesitatin'; ”but hang it, I'm afraid somethin' 'll happen to ya.”

”Would the Friar think any the less of me?” sez The.

”If the Friar heard about it, he wouldn't let ya go,” sez Horace.

”I've puzzled more about the Friar 'n about airy other man I ever saw,” sez The, thoughtful. ”I wanted to lynch Olaf that time, guilty or not guilty; but the Friar straightened things out by riskin' his own soul. He hates lynchin', it goes square again' his grain; but he made a bet with us to help stretch Olaf if we could prove him guilty; and this has stuck with me. This was a big thing to do, and I'd like to do somethin' big for the Friar-But I swear it would hurt me to spy on Ty Jones!”

We didn't have anything to say on the subject; so we just sat and chewed gra.s.s.

”I've been thinkin' about that old Greek feller, 'at you named me after,” sez Promotheus at last. ”He didn't ask no one else to take the responsibility of tellin' him what to do. He just decided what was right, and then did it. If I go to Ty Jones, and he treats me right, my own thoughts'll tear at me like vultures; but this here other Promotheus, he stood it, 'cause it was for man's good; and I'm game to do the same.

”I don't intend to be any more sneakier 'n I have to be. All I intend to do is to find out what I can about the woman, and, if Ty ain't treatin' her right, to help get her away from him; but I want it understood right now that I'm not goin' to work any tricks on Ty to get him into the law for what he's done in bygone days. Now then, I take all the blame on my own shoulders; but we'll have to fix up a tale to fool a wise one, 'cause Ty won't be took in by chaff.”

We talked things over a long time; but it seemed mighty unreasonable for Promotheus to have pulled out without sayin' a word, and then to come back without writin' in the meantime; and we couldn't quite hit on it. Finally the idee came to me.

”They're goin' to graze the gra.s.s down to the roots, this summer,” sez I; ”but still, the' won't be enough to go around. A lot o' cattle will have to be sold off early, and some will be trailed up into Montana, and cow-punchers are goin' to be in demand. Ty is long on cattle and short on gra.s.s, and he'll be glad to have extra help he can trust; so he won't question ya too close. You tell him 'at Horace here was a government agent, and that he arrested you as a deserter, and took you to prison where you was given a life sentence; that you broke out a couple o' months ago, and have been workin' your way back as cautious as you could.”

”My Lord, I hate to tell him that!” sez The. ”It's too infernal much like what I told him the first time.”

”You got to make up a good story, or else give up your plan,” sez I.

”Yes, that's so,” he agreed. ”Ty'd believe that, too. What prison had I better say I've been in?”

”Which one was you in?” sez I.

”I never was in any government prison,” sez he. ”I was in a state prison.”

”Have ya ever seen a government prison?” sez I.

”Yes, I've seen two, one in Kansas, and one in Frisco,” sez he.

”Which would be the hardest to get out of?” sez I.

”The one in Frisco; it's on an island,” sez he.

”Choose that one,” sez I; ”and make up your escape just as it might have happened.”

”Ty won't haggle me with questions,” sez The sadly. ”He'll just believe me, an' this'll make it ten times as hard.”

”You ought to be paler an' more haggard,” sez I; ”but I doubt if the's a way to do it.”

”Keep soakin' his face in hot towels for a few days,” sez Horace.