Part 55 (1/2)

The pinto took Jane down the trail in great lunges, for she had no thought for dangers of the descent. At the foot was one of her men, Baldy Bowen, sitting ominously on his horse with a rifle across the horn. He watched her come and before she could speak jerked his head and said:

”They're waitin' for you, straight across there, ma'am.”

She glanced in his direction and set off with renewed speed, winding through the cedars.

Against the far wall of the Hole was formed a curious group before a fence of brush and wire that blocked the entrance to a box gulch. HC riders were there, dismounted, in a silent, unsmiling cl.u.s.ter. Under a cedar tree sat Cole, the nester, knees drawn up, arms falling limply over them; more than ever he seemed to be drooping, in spirit as well as body. He did not glance up; just sat, staring from beneath drooping lids at the ground. Nearby lounged one of Jane's cowboys, his holster hitched significantly forward.

Apart from these others stood Hepburn, Webb and Bobby Cole and one other, curiously out of place in his smart clothes: d.i.c.k Hilton. Now and then one of the four spoke and the others would eye the speaker closely; then look away, absorbed in a situation that was evidently beyond words. Sitting grouped on the ground were Webb's riders and Cole's Mexicans. They talked and laughed lowly among themselves and from time to time turned rather taunting grins at Jane Hunter's men.

At a short distance stood horses, grazing or dozing; listless, all. But there was no listlessness among the men. The atmosphere was tense ...

to the breaking point.

A rider came through the brush and stopped his horse. It was Sam McKee.

He looked with widening eyes at the gathering, hesitated, as though to turn and leave, then approached.

”I seen two men in th' Gap,” he said to Webb. ”They said....”

He looked about again.

”Well, get down an' set,” Webb said cynically.

McKee stared from face to face.

”I guess I'll go on.”

”I guess you'll stay here,” said Jimmy Oliver firmly. ”We've got a little matter to talk over an' n.o.body leaves. I guess the boys in th'

Gap probably thought you'd like to hear what was goin' on.”

Hilton stepped toward Oliver.

”Look here,” he said, ”I'm a disinterested party to all this. There's no use in my staying here.”

”What I said to Sam goes for everybody else, Mister. When we put riders in the Gap an' at the trails we intended for everybody to hang around.

That goes. Everybody!”

Then he added: ”If anybody wants to get out it'll be pretty good evidence that he's got somethin' to hide. This 's a matter that the whole country's interested in. You ain't got nothin' to hide, have you?”

The Easterner did not reply; turned back to Bobby with a grimace.

Sound of running hoofs and a quick silence shut down upon the gathering. The clouds were coming up more rapidly from the west; day was drawing down into them; the wind on the heights soughed restlessly.

Jane Hunter brought her pinto to an abrupt stop and sat, flushed and wind-blown, looking about.

”Well?” she said to Jimmy Oliver as he stepped forward.

”We sent for you, ma'am, because we stumbled onto somethin' that looks bad ... for somebody.”

Her eyes ran from face to face. In the expression of her men she read a curious loyalty, mingled with speculation. They watched her closely as Oliver spoke, as men look upon a leader, as though waiting for her to speak that they might act. Still, about them was a reservation, as though their acceptance of her was conditional, as though they wondered what she would say or do.