Part 10 (1/2)

This set Mr. Masterson on edge.

”We'll start by sun-up,” quoth Mr. Masterson. ”Ed and Billy can pick up the camp.”

When Mr. Masterson discovered how he had been defrauded into Dodge, and learned of those honours designed for him, his modesty took alarm.

”I didn't think, Cimarron,” said Mr. Masterson, in tones of reproach, ”that you'd cap me up against a game like this!” Then he refused squarely to consider himself a candidate.

”But it's too late, Bat,” explained Mr. Short. ”You've already been in the field two days, with Updegraffe in opposition. If you refuse to run they'll say you crawfished.”

Mr. Short spoke with sly triumph, for it was his chicane which had announced Mr. Masterson as a candidate. He had foreseen its value as an argument.

The sagacity of Mr. Short was justified; Mr. Masterson was plainly staggered. His name had been used; his opponent was in the field; Mr.

Masterson could find no avenue of retreat. It was settled; Mr. Masterson must be a candidate for sheriff of Ford.

The great contest of Masterson against Updegraffe had occupied the public four days when Mr. Peac.o.c.k, Mr. Webster and Mr. Walker, acting for Mr. Updegraffe, waited upon Mr. Wright, Mr. Kelly and Mr. Short, who received them on behalf of Mr. Masterson. Mr. Peac.o.c.k, for the Updegraffe three, made primary explanation. He and his fellow commissioners had observed a falling off in trade. The Alamo was not taking in one-half its normal profits; the same was true of the Dance Hall. The Updegraffe committee asked Mr. Short if an abatement of prosperity had not occurred at the Long Branch, and put the same question concerning the Alhambra to Mr. Kelly. Mr. Kelly and Mr. Short, being appealed to, confessed a business slackness.

”But you know,” observed Mr. Kelly, philosophically, ”how it is in business; it's a case of come-an'-go, like the old woman's soap.”

Mr. Webster believed the falling off due to an election interest which engulfed the souls of folk.

”It takes their minds off such amus.e.m.e.nts as roulette an' farobank an'

rum,” explained Mr. Webster. ”Besides, the people of Dodge are a mighty cautious outfit. Dodge won't take chances; an' at a ticklish time like this Dodge sobers up.”

”There may be something in that,” mused Mr. Short. ”But, coming down to the turn, what was it you jack-rabbits wanted to say?”

”This is the proposition,” said Mr. Webster, ”an' we make it for the purpose of gettin' the racket over without delay. Our idea is to set the time for a week from now, round up the votin' population in the Plaza, say at eight o'clock in the evenin', an' count noses, Masterson ag'in Updegraffe, high man win. That's the offer we make. You gents will need an hour to look it over, an' we'll return at the end of that time an'

get your answer.”

”How do you figure this?” asked Mr. Wright of his fellow committeemen when the Updegraffe delegation had departed. ”Is it a deadfall?”

”Strange as it may sound,” responded Mr. Short, ”considerin' what liars that outfit is, I'm obliged to admit that for once they're on the squar'.”

Mr. Kelly coincided with Mr. Short, and it was finally agreed that the proffer of the Updegraffe contingent should be accepted.

”We're with you,” said Mr. Short when Mr. Webster and the others returned, ”but not on selfish grounds. We base our action on the bluff that the peace of Dodge requires protection, an' that the office of sheriff, now vacant, should be promptly filled.”

”Then the election is settled,” said Mr. Webster, who was a practical man, ”for eight o'clock in the evenin', one week from to-day, to be pulled off in the Plaza?”

”That's the caper,” retorted Mr. Short, and the commissions adjourned.

The canva.s.s went forward in lively vein, albeit, as Mr. Webster had complained, there was a notable falling away in the local appet.i.te for rum. Plainly, Dodge had turned wary in a day that wore a six-shooter, and under circ.u.mstances which tested the tempers of men. Evidently, it had determined that while this election crisis lasted, its hand should remain steady and its head cool.

It was five days before the one appointed for, as Mr. Webster called it, ”a count of noses” in the Plaza. The friends of Mr. Masterson developed an irritating fact. There were, man added to man, four hundred and twelve votes in Dodge; of these a careful canva.s.s betrayed two hundred and twelve as being for Mr. Updegraffe-a round majority of twelve.

This disquieting popular condition was chiefly the work of Bear Creek Johnson. The malign influence of that disreputable person controlled full forty votes, being the baser spirits; and these now threatened the defeat of Mr. Masterson.

Cimarron Bill, when he grasped the truth, was for cleansing Dodge of Bear Creek with a Colt's-45. These sanitary steps, however, were forbidden by Mr. Masterson; at that the worthy Cimarron tendered a compromise. He would agree to do no more than mildly wing the offensive Bear Creek.

”No,” said Mr. Masterson, ”don't lay hand to gun. I'm not going to have Abilene and Hays pointing fingers of scorn at Dodge as being unable to elect a peace officer of the county without somebody getting shot.

Besides, it isn't necessary; I'll beat 'em by strategy.”

Cimarron Bill, withheld from that direct aid to Mr. Masterson which his simple nature suggested, groaned in his soul. Observing his grief, Mr.