Part 37 (1/2)
Webb sat forward, elbows on knees, chin in his hands and grumbled:
”I have to stand a lot, I do. Both of you eggin' me on all the time, all the time! I do th' best I can, but nothin's ever satisfactory.
n.o.body ever does anything for me!”
”Sho, Webb, that ain't so. Didn't Mr. Hilton give you a brand new automatic? Ain't I been reasonable in turnin' a chance to make good your way?”
The other fidgeted, then looked up at Hilton.
”I don't see why _you've_ got such an interest in this for, anyhow. Course, it's none of my business, but I don't see why you should always egg me on about Beck.”
”I am concerned to see the THO prosper,” said Hilton mockingly. ”That is why I bought fence; that is why I want your friend, the HC foreman, out of the way.”
He rose, placed the bottle on the table and stepped out of the house.
They heard him walk across the dooryard and into the stable.
”You s'pose he's goin' to meet her again tonight?” Webb growled.
”Likely.... It's likely.”
”I wish th' h.e.l.l he'd clear out. I don't see what you wanted to take him in for!”
Hepburn chuckled.
”How could you keep him out? The girl, she knows everything, an' what she knows he knows. His money's valuable to us an' besides ... it'll keep her quiet if we ever do get out on a limb.”
Webb looked up in query.
”You're right when you say there's too many in it, Webb, but there's just _one_ too many. That's the girl! I can't figure her out; I can't trust her. If we was to try to pa.s.s the buck to Cole, in a pinch, she'd raise the deuce.... That is, she would if it wasn't for Hilton.”
”How's that?”
”If she turned on the rest of us, it'd catch Hilton an' she's gone on him. Never saw a girl who was so loyal to her father but when you bring in another man that loyalty won't stand up in a pinch; not if it's a choice between a father and a lover.”
”But he ain't on the level with her!”
”Makes no difference. She's took to him like girls of her sort do. He can handle her an' she's the only one that knows our side who'll ever need any handlin'. He was right when he said the rest of us'd have to hang together, or separately.”
Outside a horseman rode quietly to the gate and sat looking through the open doorway and the one window of the room. He counted the men carefully; counted again, then rode back the way he had come and stopped and waited.
”But what about the other girl ... Hunter?” Webb asked after a silent interval. ”Hilton was sweet on her.”
Hepburn's eyes kindled.
”His jealousy is another a.s.set. Hilton wanted her an' couldn't get her, an' he knows the reason now: It's Beck. You think he's been practicin'
with a rifle and pistol for the fun of it? Not on your life!” Leaning closer: ”The time may come, Webb, when Hilton'll clear Beck out of our way.... That'd be easier. I don't want to try it in the open; I don't guess you do. He's got a crimp in all the boys. Look at Sam, for instance. He's itchin' to kill Beck but he ain't got the sand!”
”If she ever found out he wasn't on the level with her,”--Webb's mind going back to Bobby Cole--”she'd claw him up fearful.”
”Yup. But she's in love an' love plays h.e.l.l with men and women, Webb.”
The other started to reply, then sat rigid, listening.