Part 28 (1/2)
The steep yellow slope opposite them, very close at the point where the bluff curved in, stretched away almost to the other side of the valley.
Indeed it const.i.tuted the southern wall of the valley, and was broken only by the narrow pa.s.s below where the cowboys stood, and another wider break at the far end. From this point the wash that had puzzled Pan proved to be almost a canyon in dimensions. It kept to the lowest part of the valley floor and turned to run parallel with the slope.
”Blink, suppose we run a fence of cedars from the slope straight out to the wash. Reckon that's two miles and more. Then close up any gaps along this side of the valley. What would happen?” suggested Pan, with bright eyes on his comrade.
Blinky spat out his cigarette, a sign of unusual emotion for him.
”You doggone wild-hoss wrangler!” he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, with starting eyes and healthy grin. ”Sh.o.r.e I begin to get your hunch. Honest, I never till this heah minnit thought so d.a.m.n much of your idee. You sh.o.r.e gotta excuse me. A blind man could figger this deal heah.... Big corrals hid behind the gate under us--long fence out there to the wash--close up any holes on this side of valley--then make a humdinger of a drive.... Cowboy, sh.o.r.e's you're born I'm seein' my Arizona ranch right this minnit!”
”Reckon I'm seeing things too,” agreed Pan in suppressed excitement.
”I said once before it's too good to be true. Dad wasn't loco. No wonder he raved.... Blink, is there _any_ mistake?”
”What about?”
”The market for wild horses.”
”Absolutely, no,” declared Blinky vehemently. ”It's new. Only started last summer. Wiggate made money. He said so. Thet's what fetched the Hardmans nosin' into the game. Mebbe this summer will kill the bizness, but right now we're safe. We can sell all the hosses we can ketch, right heah on the hoof, without breakin' or drivin'. It's only a day's ride from Marco, less than thet over the hills the way we come.
We can sell at Marco or we can drive to the railroad. I'd say sell at ten dollars a haid right heah an' whoop.”
”I should smile,” replied Pan. ”It'll take us ten days or more, working like beavers to cut and drag the cedars to build that fence.
More time if there are gaps to close along this side. Then all we've got to do is drive the valley. One day will do it. Why, I never saw or heard of such a trap. You can bet it will be driven only once. The wild horses we don't catch will steer clear of this valley. But breaking a big drove, or driving them to Marco--that'd be a job I'd rather dodge. It'd take a month, even with a small herd.”
”Hardman an' Wiggate have several outfits working, mebbe fifty riders all told. They've been handlin' hosses. Reckon Wiggate would jump at buyin' up a thousand haid, all he could get. He's from St. Louis an'
what he knows aboot wild hosses ain't a h.e.l.l of a lot. I've talked with him.”
”Blinky, old-timer, we've got the broomies sold. Now let's figure on catching them,” replied Pan joyfully. ”And we'll cut out a few of the best for ourselves.”
”An' a couple fer our lady friends, hey, pard!” added Blinky, with violence of gesture and speech.
Down the steep slope, through brush and thickets, they slid like a couple of youngsters on a lark. Pan found the gateway between bluff and slope even more adaptable to his purposes than it had appeared from a distance. The whole lay of the land was miraculously advantageous to the drive and the proposed trap.
”Oh, it's too darn good,” cried Pan, incredulously. ”It'll be too easy. It makes me afraid.”
”Thet somethin' unforeseen will happen, huh?” queried Blink, shrewdly.
”I had the same idee.”
”But what could happen?” asked Pan, darkly speculative.
”Wal, to figger the way things run fer me an' Gus out heah I'd say this,” replied Blinky, with profound seriousness. ”We'll do all the cuttin' an' draggin' an' buildin'. We close up any gaps. We'll work our selves till we're daid in our boots. Then we'll drive--drive them wild hosses as hosses was never drove before.”
”Well, what then?” queried Pan sharply.
”Drive 'em right in heah where Hardman's outfit will be waitin'!”
”My G.o.d, man,” flashed Pan hotly. ”Such a thing couldn't happen.”
”Wal, it just could,” drawled Blinky, ”an' we couldn't do a d.a.m.n thing but fight.”
”Fight?” repeated Pan pa.s.sionately. The very thought of a contingency such as Blinky had suggested made the hot red blood film his eyes.