The Sheriff of Badger: A Tale of the Southwest Borderland
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CHAPTER XI
A WAITRESS TO THE RESCUE
"Order in the court!" shouted the coroner.
"That man there--him, Slim Terry--he's lying to you, judge. Yes. He is.He's lying. He didn't kill Bud. He's lying, judge. He is; honest."
"Who killed him then?" said the coroner. The sheriff walked over andstood beside the girl.
"I did. I shot him. I--"
"Tilly, you're crazy. Stop her, sheriff. She ain't telling the truth.She's--" The prisoner made to shove her back.
"Order in the court!" Turner roared.
"Listen to me. I'm going to tell you. Yes, I am. I'm going to tell."
"Silence, gentlemen. Let's hear what she's got to say," the sheriffordered.
"I knew Bud Walton was coming to the Fashion that night to look for JeffThomas." Tilly told her story gustfully, her voice shrill. "Yes, I knewit. I told Jeff so. Why shouldn't I? Bud told me. He'd been drinking thenight before. That man sitting there was my fellow. He came to see methat afternoon, and I had to hide him in ol' Raphael's house like anydog. All because of Bud Walton. Yes."
"Go on. Quiet, please."
"Slim, he wanted to shoot Bud himself. So would you, judge, if you knew.But I said no. Do you know why he wanted to shoot? I'll tell you. BudWalton was bad. Yes. He was. He was a bad man. He asked me to marry him,and when I laughed, he said he'd take me anyhow. Yes. That is what hesaid. He was bad. And I got afraid. He done run Slim out of town lastyear and there was nobody--oh, don't let 'em all stare at me that way,judge. I'm telling the truth. Before God, I am."
"Go on," said Turner huskily.
"I was in the hall with Slim. I let him in at the door. Yes, I did. Itwas locked. We had a rifle and we stood there. I had often shot atprairie-dogs with the rifle when me and Slim would go riding together.Slim, he couldn't never hit a barn door. No wonder he was scared of Bud.It's true--true as gospel, judge. He couldn't have killed him. No. Imade him put both hands against the wall and then I rested the gun onhis shoulder. Yes. I did. Bud Walton was bad. He was a bad man. When Isaw him, I pulled quick. And then I shut my eyes. And then--I don'trightly remember after that. That's the truth. It's all true, everyword. Yes. It is. Slim, he went away--and now--oh, oh, oh."
She rocked on her feet, her hands over her eyes.
"Order in the court! Order in the court!" the coroner bawled, though youcould have heard a man gulp.
The sheriff took Tilly by the arm and led her away. He permitted Slim tocome with them.
"Gen'l'men," said Turner, clearing his throat as he rose from his chair,"this court stands adjourned. Bud, he just died. That's good enough forhim."
The next morning the sheriff called on Tilly at the Fashion and told herto don her best bib and tucker with all speed.
"I'd a heap rather go to this here Slim party's funeral, Tilly," hesaid, "but I suppose you've got to have him. So get a move on. I reckonBadger can stake you to a wedding."
Naught cared Tilly for this genial slight on her lover. She hadhim--that was sufficient for her. A woman does not need to respect a manin order to love him devotedly. Moist of face, but radiant, shepresented herself before Lafe within an hour.
And to what a wedding did Badger stake the waitress! The entire townseemed to regard it as a public event in which every citizen had apersonal interest and a duty to perform; and they did it nobly. Tillywas deluged with gifts, ranging from a Book of Common Prayer to a heifercalf, which the donor assured her would one day develop into a finemilch cow and feed all the little Terrys.
Lafe took upon himself the conduct of the proceedings. And in the courseof them he became so wrought up that he made a speech, a faculty forwhich had hitherto been unsuspected in the sheriff. He started off bysaying it would not be much of a speech, and he was correct. Yet suchwas his fervor that Tilly cried for the fifth time that day, and herhusband gulped until his Adam's apple threatened to jump out of histhroat, as he gripped Johnson's hand.
A strict adherence to facts compels the admission that there was a veryconsiderable consumption of liquor on this day. You see, nothing is everconsummated in Badger, from a sale of steers or a horse trade, to awedding in the season, without a certain indulgence of this nature.
For, in the course of human events and in pursuit of that liberty andhappiness which constitute the inalienable right of every citizen, a manis apt, from time to time, to get drunk. Nobody in Badger ever held itagainst him--far from it. Let that then be the excuse for sundryestimable gentlemen who felt badly the morning after Tilly's marriage.Let that explain the presence of the justice of the peace and thesheriff of Badger and Dr. Armstrong, when they foregathered in theFashion before breakfast, to compare symptoms and to contrive means bywhich they might last through another sun. Indeed, convivial relaxationwas regarded in Badger as incidental to male existence, however rarelythese "benders," as they were termed in local parlance, might betempered by discretion.
Yet there have always been certain unwritten rules governing bouts withCare, and if a man broke them in Badger, he became either a socialoutcast or an inmate of the calaboose, which was worse. The calaboosewas once a livery stable and has never entirely got over it.
This qualifying statement is by way of leading up to happenings thatwrought a regeneration in Lafe Johnson and changed the whole course ofhis life.