Part 32 (1/2)

”Me an' the kid was packin' a sack o' salt on a burro down toward the river,” Adam observed, approaching the cave, ”an' thought we'd belly up an' have a little smile. Cows need salt. h.e.l.lo there, Chuck!”--as the round, boyish face of Allegan shone like a small moon from the dark interior.

”h.e.l.lo, Old Man!” replied the youth. He was apprehensive over Pence's glowering silence, and, to hide his feelings, quickly opened the spigot over a gla.s.s and pa.s.sed the water-white drink to his chief.

Adam Selden sat down with it, and Bolar came into the cave and was also given a drink by Chuck.

”How early you gonta start the drive for the mountains this year, Old Man?” asked the self-appointed host, nervously filling gla.s.ses for himself and the glowering Pence, who stood with arms folded Napoleonlike across his breast, scowlingly regarding the newcomers.

”Well, gra.s.s's holdin' out _muy bueno_,” said Selden thoughtfully. ”Late rains done it. I don't think we'll have cause to move 'em any earlier than common. The filaree down in the river bottom is--”

But here Napoleon broke his moody silence. ”I got somethin' to talk about outside o' gra.s.s,” snapped Obed Pence.

A tense stillness ensued, during which Old

Man Selden deliberately drained his gla.s.s and pa.s.sed it back to Chuck to be refilled.

”Well, Obed,” he drawled lazily, ”got anything important to say, just say her.”

”Oh, I'll say her!” cried Pence, and tossed off his drink of burning liquor by way of fortification.

”Ain't been settin' here by that bar'l a mite too long, have ye, Obed?--if I ain't too bold in askin',” was Selden's remark, spoken in the tone which turneth away wrath.

”No, I ain't been here too long,” Pence told his captain. ”And I'm glad you've come, Old Man. I want to talk to you about this fella Drew, and the way things 'a' been a-goin'.”

”Shoot!” invited the old man's booming voice.

Obed came directly to the point. ”Well, why ain't we runnin' Drew out?”

Old Man Selden balanced his gla.s.s on one peaked knee while he reached into a pocket of his _chaparejos_ for a plug of tobacco. He was deliberate as he replied:

”Well, Obed, I was waitin' a spell 'count of a little matter that's on my mind just at present. I'd advise ye not to be worryin' about Drew.

I'll tend to him when it's the proper time.”

”Yes, you will!” sniffed Pence sarcastically. ”But, allowin' that you will, I want my booze in the meantime.”

”There's the bar'l,” said Old Man Selden.

”That ain't gonta last forever!”

”Just so! But time she gets low, we'll be makin' more ag'in. Time Drew's gone and we get water runnin' from Sulphur Spring ag'in.”

”And I'm wantin' my profit from what we could sell,” Pence added, unmollified. ”I got no money, and won't have none till killin' time, 'less the still's runnin'. 'Tain't worryin' you none. You got all you want without makin' monkey rum. But it ain't like that with me. Why, we was makin' five gallon a day--at twenty-five bucks a gallon! And now nary a drop. I need the money.”

”Well, Obed, they's money all about ye,” the old man boomed. ”And they's things that can be turned into money layin' 'round loose everywhere.”

”And there's a county jail, too!” snapped Pence.

”And also federal prisons,” Adam added, nodding toward the still and the crude fermentation vats.

”Rats! Pro'bition sneaks ain't got me scared! But bustin' into somebody's store's a different matter. And while we're talkin' about it, Old Man, I don't see as you're so keen for a little job like that as you was some months ago.”

”Gettin' old, Obed--gettin' old, as the fella says. Squirt another shot into her, Chuck.” He pa.s.sed his gla.s.s again. ”I'll leave all that to you kids in future, I'm thinkin'.”