Part 24 (1/2)
You spoke a mouthful when you said we'd be'n friends--we're friends yet.
It's a friend that's talkin' to you now--an' one that knows what he's talkin' about. You're a d.a.m.n fool! A young buck like you, which if you'd stay straight could be foreman of any outfit on the range--an' mebbe git one of his own started after while--goin' an' gittin' hisself outlawed!
Fer G.o.d's sake, man--you don't know what you've gone up against--but--me--I know! How bad be you in?” The Texan started to speak, but the other interrupted. ”If it ain't bad--if a matter of a thousan' or so will square it--you go an' fix it up. I've got the money--an' it ain't doin' me no good--nor no one else, cached out in an old iron kettle. You take it an' git straight--an' then you stay straight!”
The Texan laughed: ”There ain't nothin' against me--that is nothin' that amounts to anything. I got a few drinks in me, an' cleaned out the Red Front saloon over in Timber City an' because I wouldn't let Hod Blake arrest me an' shove me in his d.a.m.ned little jail, he stuck up the reward. I'll just ride over when I get time, an' claim the reward myself--an' use the money to pay my fine with--that part's a joke.”
As Grimshaw joined in the laugh, the Texan leaned over and laid his hand on the man's shoulder: ”But, I won't forget--Ca.s.s.”
The man brushed away the hand: ”Aw, h.e.l.l! That's all right. You'd of made a h.e.l.l-winder of an outlaw, but the best of 'em an' the worst of 'em--there's nothin' ahead of us--but that.” He jerked his thumb in the direction of the body of Long Bill that lay sprawled where it had fallen and changed the subject abruptly. ”The woman's safe, all right--she's over to Cinnabar Joe's.”
”Cinnabar Joe's!”
”Yes, Cinnabar an' that there Jennie that used to work in the Wolf River Hotel, they married up an' started 'em a little outfit over on Red Sand--couple hundred head of dogies. Purdy's got somethin' on Cinnabar, an'----”
”Somethin' on him!” exclaimed Tex, ”Cinnabar's white clean through! What could Purdy have on him?”
Grimshaw rolled another cigarette: ”Cinnabar's be'n in this country around six years. Him bein' more'n six year old, it stands to reason he done quite a bit of livin' 'fore he come here. Where'd he come from?
Where'd you come from? Where'd I come from? Where'd anyone you know come from? You might of be'n ornery as h.e.l.l in Texas, or New Mexico, or Colorado--an' I might of be'n a preacher in California, or Nevada. All we know is that 'long as we've know'd him Cinnabar's be'n on the level--an' that's all we're ent.i.tled to know--an' all we want to know.
Whatever Cinnabar was somewhere's else, ain't n.o.body's business.
n.o.body's, that is, but Purdy's. He made his brag in the hang-out one night that when the time come, he'd tap Cinnabar fer his pile----”
”The d.a.m.ned dirty hound!”
”That's sayin' it ladylike,” grinned the outlaw, ”I told him Cinnabar was a friend of mine an' he was to keep off him, but Purdy, he's plumb disregardful of advice. Anyways, the woman's safe. Purdy's figurin' on leavin' her there while he d.i.c.kers fer the reward.”
The Texan rose to his feet: ”Where did you say I'd find Purdy?” he asked. The other consulted his watch. ”It's nine-thirty. At noon he'll be at the water hole, four mile north of the hang-out. Up till then they ain't no hurry. We'll plant _him_ first, an' then I'll go along--me an' Bill Harlow----”
The Texan shook his head: ”No Ca.s.s, this is my job. It's a long score I've got to settle with Purdy--startin' back a year. It leads off with a cut cinch. Then, there was the booze that Cinnabar Joe doped----”
”Cinnabar?”
”Yeh, when he was tendin' bar. I can see through it, now--since you told about Purdy havin' somethin' on him. Purdy got him to do it----”
”I don't believe Cinnabar'd of done that no matter what Purdy had on him.”
”But he did, though. Then he switched the gla.s.ses, an' drunk it himself----”
”Some man!”
”I'll tell a hand! An' that same night Purdy took the pilgrim's girl out on the bench, an' dragged her off her horse----”
”I heard about it.”
”An' then, yesterday, he found her unconscious there by the river.” The Texan paused and when he continued his voice was low. ”An' you know, an'
I know what would have happened, if Long Bill hadn't showed up with those bills--an' then signin' my name to that letter to the pilgrim demandin' five thousan' dollars--an' last of all I owe him one for ridin' Cinnabar the way he's doin--I ain't forgot those switched drinks.”
Ca.s.s Grimshaw nodded: ”Quite a score to settle, take it first an' last,”