CHAPTER XXIII
_An Unexpected Recruit_
Like the majority of men in the West, Jake Studley took the view thatall men are equal, and that the interests of one are the concerns ofall. A civil answer to what in other climes would be consideredimpertinent curiosity was the unmistakable shibboleth of the coequalfraternity. Hartwell's manner had been interpreted by Jakey as adeclaration of heresy to his orthodox code and the invitation to mindhis own business as a breach of etiquette which the code entailed. Jakeythereupon assumed the duties of a defender of the faith, and, beingprepared for action, moved immediately upon the enemy. The attackdeveloped the unexpected. Hartwell's bill, tendered in desperation, wasaccepted in error, not as a bribe, but as an apology. Jakey sounded"cease firing" to his embattled lines, and called in his attackingforces. He had taken salt, henceforth he was Hartwell's friend and thefriend of his friends.
Jakey took neither himself nor his life seriously. He was station agent,freight agent, express agent, and telegraph operator at Rainbow Station,R. G. S., and he performed his various duties with laudable promptness,when nothing more promising attracted his attention. Just now the "morepromising" was in sight. The company had no scruples in dismissingemployees without warning, and Jakey had no quixotic principles whichrestrained him for a moment from doing to others what they would do tohim if occasion arose.
Jakey did not hold that the world owed him a living, but he consideredthat it possessed a goodly store of desirable things and that these wereheld in trust for those who chose to take them. Being "broke" did notappal him, nor the loss of a job fill him with quaking. The railroad wasnot the whole push, and if he could not pump electric juice he couldwield a pick or rope a steer with equal zeal. Just now the mostdesirable thing that the world held in trust was the coming fight at theRainbow. Accordingly he wired the R. G. S. officials that there was avacancy at Rainbow Station. The said officials, being long accustomed tomen of Jakey's stamp, merely remarked, "Damn!" and immediately wired tothe nearest junction point to send another man to take the vacantposition.
Jakey admired Firmstone, and this admiration prepossessed him inFirmstone's favour. The prepossession was by no means fixed andinvulnerable, and had not Hartwell cleared himself of suspected heresy,he would have lent the same zeal, now kindling within him, to the BlueGoose rather than the Rainbow.
In what he recognised as the first round of the opening fight Jakeyrealised that the Blue Goose had scored. But, before the special pulledin, he was ready, and this time he was sure of his move.
"By the Great Spirit of the noble Red Man," Jakey was apostrophising thedistant mountains in ornate language; "what kind of a low-down bird areyou, to be gathered in by a goose, and a blue one at that?" Jakeypaused, gazing earnestly at the retreating figure of the miner. Then,shaking his fist at the man's back, "Look here, you down-trodden serf ofcapitalistic oppression, I'll show you! Don't you fool yourself! Tippedme the grand ha-ha; did you? Well, you just listen to me! 'Stead ofmilking the old cow, you've just rubbed off a few drops from her calf'snose. That's what, as I'll proceed to demonstrate."
Jakey's loyalty had been wavering, passive, and impersonal. Now hispersonal sympathies were enlisted, for the path of self-vindication laythrough the triumph of the Rainbow.
Before the special had come to a standstill its animated cargo began todisembark. Coatless men with woollen shirts belted to trousers, thebelts sagging with their heavy loads of guns and cartridges, every manwith a roll of blankets and many with carbines as well, testified to therecognition of the fact that the path of the miner's pick must becleared by burning powder.
Jakey, thrusting his way through the boisterous crowd, forced upon theresentful conductor his surrendered insignia of office, then mingledwith his future associates. He met a hilarious welcome, as the knowledgespread from man to man that he was with them. Its practical expressionwas accompanied by the thrusting of uncorked bottles at his face anddemands that he should "drink hearty" as a pledge of fellowship. Jakeywaved them aside.
"Put them up, boys, put them up. Them weapons ain't no use, not here.They're too short range, and they shoot the wrong way."
The leader pushed his way through the crowd around Jakey.
"That's right, boys. It's close to tally now. Where's the Rainbowtrail?"
With elaborate figures, punctuated by irreverent adjectives, Jakeypointed out the trail and his reasons against taking it.
"It's good medicine to fight a skunk head on," he concluded; "but whenyou go up against a skunk, a coyote, and a grizzly wrapped up in oneskin, you want to be circumspect. Morrison's a skunk, Pierre's a coyote,and the rest are grizzlies, and you don't want to fool yourselves justbecause the skin of the beast grows feathers instead of fur."
The leader listened attentively and, from the thick husk of Jakey'sfigures, he stripped the hard grains of well-ripened truth. Jakey laidsmall emphasis on the manner in which the envoy of the Blue Goose hadgained his information. He had personal reasons for that, but the factthat the information was gained sufficed.
The men grew silent as they realised that the battle was on and thatthey were in the enemy's country. Under the guidance of Jakey theytramped up the track, turned toward what appeared as a vertical cliff,and clambered slowly and painfully over loose rocks, through stuntedevergreens, and at last stood upon the rolling surface of the mesaabove. From here on, the path was less obstructed. It was near midnightwhen the dull roar of the mill announced the proximity of their goal. Assilently as they had followed the tortuous trail, so silently eachwrapped himself in his blankets and lay down to sleep.
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