Part 33 (2/2)
”Gos.h.!.+ Looked for a minute like you and him was to have it out proper,”
Jenks commented, matter of fact, when I came in. ”Hazin' you a bit, was he? What'd he say?”
”He warned me to keep away from Mrs. Montoyo. Went so far as to lay claim to her himself, the whelp. Boasted of it.”
”Throwed it in your face, did he? Wall, you goin' to let him cache her away?”
”Look here,” I said desperately, still a-tremble: ”Why do you men put that up to me? Why do you egg me on to interfere? She's no more to me than she is to you. d.a.m.n it, I'll take care of myself but I don't see why I should shoulder her, except that she's a woman and I won't see any woman mistreated.”
He pulled his whiskers, and grinned.
”Dunno jest how fur you're elected. Looks like there was something between you and her--though I don't say for sh.o.r.e. But she's your kind; she may be a leetle devil, but she's your kind--been eddicated and acts the lady. She ain't our kind. Thunderation! What'd we do with her? She'd be better off marryin' Dan'l. He'd give her a home. If you hadn't been with this train I don't believe she'd have follered in. That's the proposition. You got to fight him anyway; he's set out to back you down. It's your fracas, isn't it?”
”I know it,” I admitted. ”He's been ugly toward me from the first, without reason.”
”Reckoned to amuse himself. He's one o' them fellers that think to show off by ridin' somebody they think they can ride. The boys hate to see you lay down to that; for you'd better call him and eat lead or else quit the country. So you might as well give him a full dose and take the pot.”
”What pot?”
”The woman, o' course.”
”I tell you, Mrs. Montoyo has nothing to do with it, any more than any woman. It's a matter between him and me--he began it by jeering at me before she appeared. I want her left out of it.”
”Oh, pshaw!” Jenks scoffed. ”That can't be did. He's fetched her into it.
What do you aim to do, then? Dodge her? When you're dodgin' her you're dodgin' him, or so he'll take it.”
”I'll not dodge him, you can bet on that,” I vowed. ”I don't seek her, nor him; but I shall not go out of my way to avoid either of them.”
”And when you give him his dose, what'll you do?”
”If that is forced upon me, nothing. It will be in defense of my rights, won't it? But I don't want any further trouble with him. I hope to G.o.d I won't have.”
”Sh.o.r.e,” Jenks soothed. ”You're not a killer. All the same, you're elected; he began it and you'll have to finish it. Then you'll needs look out for yourself and her too, for he's made her the stakes.”
”Why will I?”
”Got to. The hull train thinks so, one way or t'other, and you're white.”
”She can stay with the Mormons, if she wants to.”
”Oh, yes; if she wants to. But do you reckon she does? Not much! She's lookin' to you--she's lookin' to you. She's a smart leetle piece--knows how to play her cards, and she's got you and Dan'l goin'.”
”But she's married. You can't expect----”
”Oh, yes,” he wagged again, interrupting. ”Sh.o.r.e. There's Montoyo. I don't envy you your job, but d.a.m.n' if you mightn't work harder and do wuss.
She's a clipper, and I never did hear anything 'specially bad of her, beyond cappin'. Whoa, Jinny!”
I wrathfully cogitated. Now I began to hate her. I was a tool to her hand, once more, was I? And how had it come about? She had not directly besought me to it--not by word. Daniel had decreed, and already our antagonism had been on. And I had defied him--naturally. He should not bilk me of free movement. But the issue might, on the face of it, appear to be she. As I tugged at the harness, under breath I cursed the scurvy turn of events; and in seeking to place the blame found amazing cleverness in her. Just the same, I was not going to kill him for her account; never, never! And I wished to the deuce that she'd kept clear of me.
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