Oliver Strange - Sudden Westerns 01 - The Range Robbers(1930) (25 page)

 
          
“‘Boneheads’
the Old Man called us,’
Dirty
reminded. “But he didn’t
pay us off, so I reckon we still belong.’

 
          
“One
o’ yu ride in tonight an’ see Green,’ suggested Ginger. This seemed a good idea
and they cut the cards to decide who should make the trip. The choice fell to
Larry, much to the disgust of the other two, which was not decreased when he
added cheerfully, “Now yu gotta cut to see which o’ yu takes my place
line-ridin’ tonight—I shan’t be back in time likely.’

 
          
“By
Gosh, yu got nerve,’ snorted Dirty.

 
          
Nevertheless,
being good fellows and good friends, they submitted, and in due course Larry
set out in search of the man for whom they had gone on strike. He found him in
the bar of the Folly, and far less grateful than the circumstances might seem
to warrant. After listening to the emissary’s account of the bearding of their
employer and the reception they met with, he
remarked :

 
          
“Huh!
“Boneheads” he called yu, did he? Well, he got yu dead right. D’yu
reckon
any self-respectin’ feller is goin’ to let his men
dictate to him? I wonder he didn’t fire you straight away.’

 
          
“We
did it to help yu,’ Larry reminded him.

 
          
“Shore,
I know,’ smiled Green, “but yu get this into yore brainbox—yu can help me the best
way by holdin’ down yore jobs at the Y Z. There’s dirty work goin’ on, an’ I’m
aimin’ to clean up before I leave the district, for my own satisfaction, yu
understand. What yu gotta remember is that I’m an outawork puncher, layin’ off
for a spell, an’ not too well disposed to the ranch that give me the bounce.
When I want any o’ yu I’ll let yu know. Seen anythin’ o’ Job?’

 
          
“Nope,’
said Larry, “but I hear he’s the maddest man this side o’ the Rockies. Simple
ran across Woods an’ he said Leeming damn near blew up when they got back an’
found another lot lifted. These fellers ain’t sleepin’ on their job for shore.’

 
          
“All
the same, they’ll be caught nappin’ one o’ these days,’ Green retorted, with a
grin.

 
          
“See
here, Don,’ wheedled Larry. “What about me cuttin’ loose an’ throwin’ in with
yu? The others can look after the ranch end of it, an’ two of us can keep cases
on these cutthroats better than one.’

 
          
“Nothin’
doin’,’ was the reply. “I’m playin’ a lone hand for the present. Yu gotta
toddle back to the Y Z like a good little boy, be very polite to the foreman,
an’ not too kind to me.’

 
          
“That
last bit’ll be easy enough, yu hog,’ returned his friend, and with a casual
salutation, took his departure just as Tarman, his henchman, Pete, and the
marshal came in together. Green had stepped over to the bar and was talking to
Silas, to whom he had already confided his rupture with the Y Z, knowing that
this would be the speediest way of spreading the version he wished to be known.

 
          
“So
yu ain’t quittin’ us for a while,’ the bartender remarked. “Goin’ to tie up
with Leeming?’

 
          
The
puncher shook his head. “Guess I’ll take a holiday,’ he said. “Might do a bit
o’ prospectin’ too; there oughta be gold in some o’ them creeks towards Big
Chief.’

 
          
Tarman
and his party were beginning a game of cards at a near-by table, and the
puncher had spoken loudly enough for the words to reach them. He caught a quick
look from the gambler.

 
          
“Old
Nugget don’t seem to find much dust; if he does he spends it somewhere else,’
Silas rejoined.

 
          
“I’ve
a hunch it’s there anyways, an’ I might as well give her a trial; I’ve got all
the time there is,’ Green said carelessly. He stood watching the play for a
while and then went out.

 
          
“Huh!
Prospectin’, eh?’ said the marshal, as the door closed behind him. “Reckon he
won’t get very fat on that.
Funny how a busted puncher’s
thoughts allus turn to gold-diggin’.’

       
“Yu think he meant it then?’ asked
Poker Pete.

 
          
“He
said it loud enough.’

 
          
“He
said it too loud—he meant us to hear. I’ll want to see him at work afore I
swaller that.’

 
          
“Bah!
He won’t trouble about us, Pete,’ Tonk said. “He’s through with the Y Z.’

 
          
“No
doubt o’ that,’ corroborated Tarman. “I was there this afternoon. He damn near
killed Blaynes, an’ Petter is mighty sore over it. He’d be a useful man.’

 
          
The
gambler swore luridly. “I’m agoin’ to feed Mister Green to the buzzards,’ he
said savagely.

 
          
“I
ain’t objectin’, Pete,’ Tarman observed. “But why not use him first? Think it
over.’

 
          
The
man’s voice was quiet, silken almost, but it carried a note of authority to
which the gambler offered no further resistance. Tarman smiled. “Get him to the
Fort an’ put it to him—one o’ the boys there can do it, a stranger, o’ course.
If he throws in, well an’ good; if he
don’t
keep him
there.’

 
          
The
emphasis on the last three words brought a meaning smile to the faces of his
listeners, and Pete was quick to agree: “Yo’re right, Joe, as usual; that’s the
play to make. I’ll put California on the job—he’s done some prospectin’ in his
time, an’ he ain’t known here.’ Tarman nodded his approval, and the game
proceeded.

 
          
On
leaving the Folly, Green went to the store, where he purchased a small hatchet,
a miner’s pick, a shovel, and a shallow pan for washing dirt. He also
replenished his stock of ammunition and tobacco, and laid in a varied
assortment of provisions.

 
          
‘Goin
a-travellin’?’ asked the storekeeper.

 
          
“Takin’
a lintle holiday—got sick o’ poundin’ beasts,’ explained the customer. “Got any
fishhooks?’

 
          
“Shore
I have—if I can find ‘em.
Yu aimin’ to combine business an’
pleasure?’

 
          
“Yu
called it—that’s just my idea. When I get tired o’ diggin’ up nuggets I’ll
catch me a trout or two for supper.’

 
          
“Reckon
yu will get more fish than gold,’ laughed the old man, “though I dunno why
there shouldn’t be some good pickin’s; it was there once.’

 
          
Having
arranged for his purchases to be sent to the hotel, the puncher returned there
himself
, satisfied with the evening’s work. He had
recognised that some good excuse for his remaining in Hatchett’s was essential,
and that it must be one that would explain solitary excursions into the
surrounding country. So he had made his bluff and with customary thoroughness
intended to carry it through. That Tarman was in some way mixed up with the
rustling he now felt convinced, and also that it was Laban who had so neatly
circumvented the attempt to recover the stolen Frying Pan herd.

 
          
Broad
smiles broke out on the faces of early risers in Hatchett’s next morning when
they saw a cowboy riding slowly along the street upon a pony whose air was
clearly one of chastened disgust at being festooned with the unusual implements
which constitute the impedimenta of a prospector. Green returned the smiles and
replied in kind to the various jocular greetings. He welcomed these effusions,
for they signified that he was being taken seriously. Two miles out of town he
had an encounter which pleased him still more when Noreen loped round a bend in
the trail. He snanched his hat off as she pulled up and surveyed his baggage with
patent amusement.

 
          
“I’m
glad you didn’t inflict that on Blue, it would have broken his heart,’ she
said, and then, her face sobering, “
Why
have you left
the Y Z?’

 
          
“Me
an’ the foreman had an argument,’ he replied gravely, but the little crinkles
at the corners of his eyes were much in evidence, and she knew that he was
anything but downcast. She determined to punish him.

 
          
“Dad
told me you nearly killed Blaynes,’ she said severely. “I’m afraid you’re of a
quarrelsome disposition—we seem to have had nothing but trouble since you
came.’

 
          
The
reproof did not have the effect she expected, for the recipient grinned widely,
and asked, “Yu blamin’ me for the rustlin’ too?’

 
          
“You
know I did not mean that,’ the girl replied indignantly. “Why do you always put
me in the wrong?’

 
          
“Must
be my quarrelsome disposition,’ he returned, and then, noting the expression on
her face, added, “I shore am a trouble-hunter, yu see.’

 
          
His
quizzically woebegone air dispersed her resentment and she smiled as she said,
“You have certainly made a lot of enemies. Why don’t you go away?’

 
          
“Do
yu want me to?’ he countered.

 
          
The
blunt question made her hesitate. For some reason which she did not attempt to
account for she knew that she would be sorry if he took her advice but, of course,
she could not tell him so.

 
          
“I
am still in your debt, and I naturally do not wish that harm should come to
you,’ she fenced.

 
          
“Yu
don’t owe me anythin’,’ he replied. “As for enemies, well I reckon the man who
never makes any don’t amount to much. I ain’t runnin’ away.’

 
          
“You
are risking your life just for a matter of pride?’ she queried.

 
          
“
That, an’—other
things,’ he smiled. “Yu see, I’ve a hunch
there’s a gold-mine around here, an’ I aim to locate it.’

 
          
Noreen
gathered up her reins. She did not in the least believe he was staying to hunt
gold, but she knew he would not tell her anything he did not want to—he was not
the type.

 
          
“I
sincerely hope you will be fortunate,’ she said.

 
          
“Thank
you, ma’am, if I get what I’m hopin’ for I’ll be more than that,’ the puncher
said, and again there was the look in his eyes which had stirred her pulses
once before in the street at Hatchett’s. At the touch of the spur her pony
jumped forward, and with a wave of the hand she was gone. Green watched until a
turn in the trail took her from sight, and then resumed his way.

 
          
‘
She
shore didn’t want me to clear out, but shucks, there
ain’t nothin’ to that,’ he mused. “Reckon if our ears was longer, hoss, we’d
make a fair pair o’ jackasses, so don’t yu go puttin’ on any frills either.’

 
          
It
was towards noon when he reached the blind canyon, for he had travelled by
devious ways; it was possible that his movements might be watched and he wished
his choice of a locality to commence operations to appear haphazard. Several
times during the journey he had paused and investigated certain spots as though
considering them. He now did the same as he stood on the bank of the stream,
about halfway along the canyon, and then he spoke aloud: “She’ll do. I reckon
there oughta be colour in them sands, an’ there’s shore enough trout in the
pools below. Anyway, she’s a dandy place for a camp.’

 
          
He
led his horse back to a strip of grass which stretched from the shady bank of
the stream to the overhanging cliff which formed one of the walls of the
canyon, stripped the animal and tethered it with his rope. Then winh his axe he
attacked a nearby thicket and cut a number of light poles. With these, and the
strippings from them, he soon erected a lean-to shelter, choosing a spot where
the rock-face shelved and formed a shallow cave. In this he deposited his
baggage, and having lighted a fire, began to prepare a meal. This despatched,
he pottered about the camp making his hut more weatherproof, cutting additional
fuel, and gathering spruce-tops for his bed. Presently he took the spade and
the shallow pan and went down to the stream to make his first bid for fortune.
He found it hard and disappointing work, for no sign of the precious metal
rewarded his efforts.