Part 29 (1/2)

”We don't want to hurt you,” said one of the a.s.sembly, ”but we're going in.”

There was a growl of approbation, and the men were closing in upon the door when a stranger pushed his way through the midst of them, and then swung round and stood facing them beside the constable. He held himself commandingly, and, though n.o.body appeared to recognize him, for darkness was closing down, the meaning of his att.i.tude was plain, and the crowd gave back a little.

”Go home, boys!” he said. ”I'll most certainly have the law of any man who puts his foot inside this door.”

There was a little ironical laughter, and the crowd once more closed in.

Half the men of the settlement were present there, and a good many of them had bought land from, or trusted their spare dollars to, Sloc.u.m.

”Who are you, anyway?” said one.

The stranger laughed. ”The man who owns the building. My name's Devine.”

It was a bold announcement, for those who heard him were not in the best of humors then, or disposed to concern themselves with the question how far the princ.i.p.al was acquainted with or responsible for the doings of his agent.

”The boss thief!” said somebody. ”Get hold of him, and bring him along to the hotel. Then, if Thorkell can't lock him up, we'll consider what we'll do with him.”

”No,” said another man. ”He'll keep for a little without going bad, and we're here to see if Sloc.u.m left anything behind him. Break that door in!”

It was a critical moment, for there was a hoa.r.s.e murmur of approbation, and the crowd surged closer about the pair. At any sign of weakness it would, perhaps, have gone hardly with them, but the elderly constable stood very still and quiet, with empty hands, while Devine fumbled inside his jacket. Then he swung one foot forward, and his right arm rose, until his hand, which was clenched on a dusky object, was level with his shoulder.

”Boys,” he said, drily, ”somebody's going to get hurt in another minute.

This is my office, and I can't do with any of you inside it to-night.”

”Then, if you hand our dollars out, it would suit us most as well,” said the spokesman.

Devine appeared to laugh softly. ”I guess there are very few of them there. Anybody who can prove a claim on me will get satisfaction, but he'll have to wait. Neither the place nor I will run away, and you'll find me right here when you come along to-morrow.”

”Are you going to give every man back the dollars Sloc.u.m got from him?”

It was evident that the question met with the approbation of the crowd, and a less resolute man might have temporized, but Devine laughed openly now.

”No,” he said, drily. ”That's just what I'm not going to do. A man takes his chances when he makes a deal in land, and can't expect to cry off his bargain when they go against him. Still, if any one will bring me proof that Sloc.u.m swindled him, I'll see what I can do, but I guess it will be very little if some of you destroy the books and papers he recorded the deals in. You'll have to wait until to-morrow, while I worry through them.”

His resolution had its due effect, and the fact that no man could reach the threshold until he and the constable had been pulled down counted for a good deal, too. The men also wanted no more than they considered themselves ent.i.tled to, and shrank from what, if it was to prove successful, must evidently be a murderous a.s.sault upon two elderly men.

”I guess there's sense in that,” said one of them. ”It's going to be quite easy to make sure he don't get out of the settlement.”

”I'm for letting him have until to-morrow, anyway,” said another.

”Still, the papers aren't there. Where's John Collier? He picked up some books and truck Sloc.u.m slung away when he met him on the trail.”

”I've got them right here,” and another man stepped forward. ”I was coming in from the ranch when I heard two horses pounding down the trail, and jumped clear into the fern. The man who went past me tried to sling a package into the gully, but I guess he got kind of rattled when I shouted, and dropped the thing. He didn't seem to want to stop, and, when he went on at a gallop, I groped round and picked the package up.”

Devine lowered the pistol, and turned quietly to the crowd. ”There are just two courses open to you, boys, and you're going to make mighty little but trouble for yourselves by taking one of them. This is my office, and so long as I can hold you off n.o.body's coming in until he's asked. I feel quite equal to stopping two or three. Now, if you'll let me have those books and go home quietly, I'll have straightened Sloc.u.m's affairs out by to-morrow, and be ready to see what can be done for you.”

The men were evidently wavering, and there was a brief consultation, after which the leader turned to Devine.

”We've no use for making any trouble that can be helped, and we'll go home,” he said. ”You can have those books, and a committee will come round to see what you've fixed up after breakfast to-morrow.”