Part 45 (1/2)

”Yes,” sez Dixon with an evil chuckle, ”he's come back, and I doubt if he'd feel any sorrow at meetin' up with some o' you boys.”

”As far as I remember,” sez ol' Tank, bulkin' up as ponderous as a justice o' the peace, ”I don't recall havin' asked Badger's permission to do anything in the past, and I don't intend to begin now.”

”Well,” sez Dixon, ”I don't mind tellin' ya that Ty Jones ain't so sure o' Badger as he used to be; and nothin' would suit him so well as to see Badger cut loose and get some o' you fellers for helpin' to have him railroaded.”

This surprised me. Dixon didn't seem a shade worse 'n he'd been when Spider arrived, but he'd sure enough leaked out the news I was after.

Ty was suspicious o' Promotheus, and we'd have to finish our job as soon as possible. I didn't want to start anything at Skelty's so I proposed a little friendly poker. The Kid was asleep in the corner; so the seven of us played stud for an hour or so until Tank fell out of his chair, and then we broke up for the night.

Tank was all in; so we had to put him to bed, and the Kid had to be put to bed, also; but Dixon and the other three took a final drink and started back to Ty's.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

PROMOTHEUS IN THE TOILS

Tank weighed like a beef when he got liquor-loose, and it was all me and Spider could do to get him to bed. His legs were like rubber; but he insisted on tellin' us what he thought about things. He begged us to start back and let him ride, sayin' that it was only the heat o'

the room, not the drink, which had upset him; but he was in no shape to ride a hay wagon, so we put him to bed.

”I think more o' the Friar than of airy other man I know,” he sez to us at the head o' the stairs; ”but I own up 'at I don't take kindly to religion; and I'll tell ya why. The's hundreds an' dozens of hymns to the doggone sheep-herders; but the' ain't one single one to the cow-punchers. Now, what I sez is this, if ya want to round me up in a religion, you got to find one 'at has hymns to cattle men.”

We didn't bother to explain it to him, 'cause he wasn't in condition to know a parable from a pair o' boots. We dragged him along the hall and flung him on his bed. By chance we put him on the bed with his boots on the piller; but he went sound asleep the moment he stretched out; so we just hung his hat on his toe, folded the blanket over him, locked the door, put the key in my pocket, and went across the hall to our own room.

I didn't want to harbor that liquor any longer 'n I had to, so me an'

Spider slipped down, got some salt an' mustard, soaked it in water, drenched ourselves-and repented of havin' been such fools. Then we went up to bed. It had been some time since we had stretched out on springs, and we were cordial for sleep; so we mingled with it in short order.

Still, I wasn't easy in my mind, and twice I woke up and went into the hall; but I couldn't hear anything, though I had a feelin' that the'd been some good cause for my wakin' up. I lay on the bed the last time with my mind made up to watch. Skelty's had allus had the name o'

bein' a tough joint, and this red-eyed Maxwell with his Injun hair wasn't of the kind to purify it to such an extent that the old customers wouldn't feel at home.

As I lay there, I saw the window rise, slow and careful. The' wasn't any moon; but I could see a hand in the starlight. I made up my mind to sneak out o' bed, grab the hand, pull it in to the shoulder, and then throw all my weight on it, and yell for Spider. I got up as noiseless as cider turnin' into vinegar-and then upset a confounded chair, which sounded like two houses runnin' together.

The window dropped with a bang; and at the same moment the' came a shriek from across the hall, followed by some scufflin' and the sound o' broken gla.s.s. After this all we heard was Tank's voice tryin' to explain his opinion o' that part o' the country and all its inhabitants. I had thought that Tank had discarded most of his profanity; but by the time we had got our guns and crossed the hall to him, I changed my mind. When I put the key in the lock, he suggested to us what was likely to happen to any unfriendly individuals who attempted to enter that particular room.

I told him gently to stuff the piller into his mouth, if he couldn't find any other way to stop his yappin'; and then I unlocked the door, just as Maxwell and his bartender came into the hall. The bartender had one gun and one candle, and Maxwell had two guns.

When we opened the door, there was Tank with the blood runnin' down his leg, while he stood in a corner of the room holdin' his weapon up above his shoulder. ”What's the matter with you?” I sez, a little cross.

”I'm homesick, you blame ijiot!” sez Tank. ”What else would likely be the matter with me?” Tank was about as far out o' humor as I ever saw him get.

Maxwell came in and looked at the pool of blood. ”Don't stand there and bleed on the floor,” sez he.

Tank looked at him baleful. ”What do ya wish me to do-upset your rotten dive and bleed on the ceilin'?” sez he. ”I didn't come here determined to smear up your place with my life blood; and I want ya to understand that I didn't punch this hole in myself simply to cool off.

I know what you're afraid of-You're scared that some o' your liquor has got into my blood, an' that it'll leak out and set your floor on fire.”

”You run get a bucket for him to bleed into,” sez Maxwell to the bartender.

”Yes,” sez Tank, sarcastic; ”and be sure to get a big one, as I am minded to draw off all o' my blood, just to see how much I have in me at this time o' the year.”

Sayin' which, Tank walked over an' sittin' on the bed, held out his boot for me to pull off. He had been stabbed through the leg, through the thick part o' the calf, and a jet was spoutin' out of the top cut, and a steady stream oozin' from the bottom one. I put my finger knuckle above the top jet, and the palm of my other hand over the lower one, and then sent Maxwell after a small rope and some bandages.

While he was gone, a couple o' the girls strolled down the hall to see what the excitement was; but Tank began to lecture about morals and manners, and they didn't bother us long. We patched Tank up in good order, and made him lie down again. He said that he had been woke up when his leg got stabbed, and had grappled with a man; but the man had got out the window again.