Part 31 (1/2)
His eyes fixed wildly upon a point directly behind Purdy and he cried out in sudden alarm:
”Don't kill him, Ca.s.s! He's mine!”
Like a flash, Purdy whirled, and like a flash the Texan was out of his saddle and behind a rock. And as Jennie had predicted, he hit the ground a-shootin'. His own horse had s.h.i.+elded him from the others whose attention had been momentarily diverted to their leader. Instantly Purdy discovered the ruse--but too late. As he whirled again to face the Texan, the latter's gun roared, and one of Purdy's guns crashed against a rock-fragment, as its owner, his wrist shattered, dived behind his rock with a scream of mingled rage and pain. Three times more the Texan shot, beneath the belly of his horse, and the two outlaws to the right pitched forward in crumpled heaps and lay motionless. Frenzied by the noise, the big blue roan plunged blindly forward. The man in front made a frantic effort to get out of his way, failed, and the next moment, crashed backward against a rock-fragment from which he ricocheted from sight while the great blue roan galloped on, reins flying, and stirrups wildly las.h.i.+ng his sides.
”That leaves just the two of us, Purdy,” drawled the Texan from the shelter of his rock, as he reloaded his gun.
A vicious snarl from the hiding place of the outlaw was the only answer.
”I told you you was a fool not to shoot while you had the chance. I'm goin' to get you, now. But, seein' that you wasn't in no hurry about it, I won't be neither. There's quite a few things I want you to hear--things you ought to know for the good of your soul.”
”You don't dast to git me!” came exultingly, from behind Purdy's rock, ”if you do, what'll become of _her_--the pilgrim's woman? She's right now layin' tied an' gagged in a mud crack where you nor no one else won't never find her. What'll become of her, if you git me?”
The Texan grinned to himself, and after a moment of silence, called hesitatingly: ”Say, Purdy, you wouldn't do that! Wouldn't let a woman die like that without tellin' where she is.”
”The h.e.l.l I won't!”
”Come on, Purdy, tell me where she is? You might as well. If I get you, what's the use of leavin' her there to die? An', if you get me, why you'll have her anyway.”
A sneering laugh answered him: ”You don't dast to git me--an' leave her where she's at!”
The Texan's voice hardened: ”Oh, yes I do, Purdy. 'Cause I know, an' you know, that she's safe an' sound at Cinnabar Joe's--an' she'll stay there till Cinnabar can get word to her husband.”
A volley of oaths greeted the statement: ”Cinnabar don't dast to open his yap! He'll go up fer the rest of his life if he does. I'll fix him!”
”You won't fix no one, Purdy. You're goin' to h.e.l.l from here. An'
whatever you've got on Cinnabar you'll take with you. When I told you to tell me where the girl was I was just givin' you a chance to do one decent thing before you cashed in--but you couldn't do it, Purdy. There ain't a decent thing in you to do. Why, even Long Bill Kearney was a man fer about a second before he died.”
”What do you mean--Long Bill--died?”
”Ask him,” answered the Texan grimly, ”you an' him will be close neighbours--wherever you're goin'.” Inadvertently the Texan leaned a little to one side, as he s.h.i.+fted his position. There was a quick report, and a bullet tore through a loose fold of his s.h.i.+rt sleeve.
”Pretty fair shootin', Purdy,” he drawled, ”little bit wide--you'd have nicked me if you'd held in against the rock.”
So intently did each man watch the other that neither noted the four men who approached stealthily from rock to rock and finally crouched behind an irregular b.u.t.tress of rock only a short pistol shot away. Their vantage point did not permit any view of the man who had been knocked down by the galloping horse nor of the contestants themselves, but the exchange of shots could be followed with ease and accuracy.
Ca.s.s Grimshaw nudged Endicott and pointed to the bodies of the outlaws: ”He got two,” he whispered, with grim approval. ”An' he got 'em right out in the open. They must have seen him comin' an' laid for him before he got to their hang-out.”
”Hey, Tex,” called Purdy after a long interval, ”we ain't goin' to git one another peckin' away like this behind these rocks.”
”No--_we_ ain't goin' to git _one another_--but _I'm_ goin' to get _you_--like that!” He fired as he spoke and his bullet chipped the rock and tore through Purdy's hat brim. ”Missed, By Grab! But, that pays up for puttin' a hole in my s.h.i.+rt. You was a fool for fallin' for that old gag I put over on you!”
”An' I wouldn't of fell fer it neither, if it hadn't of be'n fer luck--you outlucked me--if you'd of said anyone else except Ca.s.s, I wouldn't of fell fer it.”
”That wasn't luck, Purdy--that was brains. If I figured on murderin' a man tonight--an' he knew it--do you suppose I wouldn't jump quick if I thought he was sneakin' up behind me with a gun? You bet I would!”
”Murderin'!” Purdy's voice sounded shrill with a quavering note of fear.
”What--what do you mean--murderin'?”
”Why, I run across Ca.s.s awhile back. I told him I was huntin' you an' he said I'd find you an' three more over here. Said you an' them had planned to b.u.mp him an' Bill Harlow off tonight, an' you was busy arrangin' the details. He wanted to come along--him an' Bill--but I told him they wasn't no use--if they was only you an' three more like you, I could handle you myself. Him an' Bill are goin' to ride over after awhile an' see if I need any help--but I don't do I, Purdy?”
The Texan's words were drowned in a perfect tirade of curses. Purdy's voice was shrill with fear. ”I've be'n double-crossed! It's a lie!
Everyone's agin me! I ain't never had no show!” The voice trailed off in a whine. A few moments of silence followed, and then above the edge of Purdy's rock appeared a white handkerchief tied to the end of a gun-barrel. Taking careful aim, the Texan fired. The white flag disappeared and the gun struck the rocks with a ring of steel.