Part 62 (2/2)

It was the first day that Tom Beck could lie on his back. For weeks he had lain on his face there in the living room of the ranch house, nursed back to health by Jane Hunter's gentle hands. Now the doctor had turned him over, with the promise that he would not only be sitting up but walking before long, and the Veterans' Society had been in session.

That was what Two-Bits called it: The Veterans' Society. Every afternoon they had gathered there, Two-Bits with his slowly healing back, Jimmy Oliver, after his leg had mended and he could hobble with a cane, Joe Black, whose arm was just out of its sling and, occasionally, Riley, who rode up the creek holding gingerly his one shoulder, to fight the battle over again.

Summer was ripening and the golden sunlight spilled down onto peaceful mountains from a mighty sweep of sky. A gentle breeze bent the tall cottonwoods, making them whisper, making the birds in their branches sing in lazy contentment. Unmolested cattle ranged in prospering hundreds. The work was up, fall and beef ride were coming ... and other years to bring their toll of happiness and well being, for after its one paroxysm of strife the country had settled back to easier ways, to a better, more wholesome manner of living.

There were memories, true, kept fresh by such things as this Veterans'

Society, and the three graves in Devil's Hole where rested the bodies of Sam McKee, Dad Hepburn and d.i.c.k Hilton, for there was none to claim what remained of them. Under the cottonwoods slept Baldy Bowen, his grave surrounded by white pickets and his head marked by a stone.

But even now those memories were less poignant than they had been weeks before. Interest in the range war was waning and though it would be talked about across bar and bunk house stove for many winters the thrill of it was gone ... as the horror of it was largely gone for those who had suffered most.

Two-Bits had lingered after the departure of the rest and sat in a chair beside Tom's cot. Beck's face was pale, but his eyes were alive and as of old, evidence of satisfactory convalescence.

”So you think there _is_ a h.e.l.l, Tommy?” he asked.

Beck grunted a.s.sent.

”Yeah. I know there's a h.e.l.l, Two-Bits.”

”My brother always said there was. He said it was an awful place, Tommy. I'll bet two bits th' old Devil was sorry to see Hepburn an'

Hilton an' Sam McKee comin' in that mornin'! I'll bet he says to hisself: 'Here's some right smart compet.i.tion for me!'”

Beck laughed silently.

”Sometimes I get feelin' mighty sorry for 'em,” the lanky cow-boy continued. ”I use to hate Webb somethin' awful an' I sure did think Hepburn was about th' lowest critter that walked.... G.o.d ought to 've made him crawl! Sam McKee never was no good. He was th' meanest man I ever saw....

”But, shucks, Tommy, I hate to think of 'em bein' blistered all th'

time!”

”That ain't the kind of h.e.l.l I referred to, Two-Bits. I don't know much about that kind, with brimstone and fire and all the rest....

”There's a h.e.l.l, though, Tommy. It's when a man lets the weakness in him run off with what strength he has, when he don't trust those who deserve to be trusted, when he's suspicious of those his heart tells him are above suspicion.”

Two-Bits swallowed, setting his Adam's apple leaping. His eyes widened.

”Gosh, you talk just like th' Reverend!” he said, and Beck laughed until his wound hurt him.

”Well, if they ain't in h.e.l.l, they're under an awful lot of rocks,” he added. ”That's all I care, to have 'em out of her way.”

”Yes, it makes it smoother. Real folks, men who deserve the name, won't do anything but trust her and help her.”

”Not after the way she made 'em come out of their holes! That trial must've been grand, Tommy! I'd 've give two bits to seen it an' heard it!

”She won't have no trouble no more. Everybody knows she's got more head than most men on this here creek. But she's got somethin' else! She's got a ... a gentle way with her that makes everybody want to do things for her.

<script>