A voice said grimly, “Just hold it right there, pilgrim . . . Why, it’s Mr. McKay!”
He turned slowly around to face Julie Maragon, who was standing by the corner of the house with a gun in her hands. She was wearing a brown riding skirt of durable material, not new, and a crisp white waist similar to the one she had worn the previous day. Her head was bare, and her dark hair was as uncompromisingly arranged as before; he noted, however, that the sunlight seemed to draw reddish glints from it. The sunlight also made her freckles more prominent.
“What in heaven’s name,” she asked, lowering her weapon, “are you doing here?”
“I apologize for trespassing,” he said. “I wanted a look at this place, after all I’d heard about it; besides, it seemed likely there’d be a well. I’m afraid I’m not man enough to drink your river water unless I have to.”
She studied him briefly and looked in the direction he had come, puzzled. “Where’s Pat? You’re surely not riding around all alone.”
He grinned. “Miss Maragon, if you tell me this is a big country, I’m going to be disappointed in you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t think I’ve talked to a person yet who hasn’t told me what a big country it is.”
She laughed. “I guess we do use the phrase pretty often. But it is a big country; and I don’t know what in the world Pat’s thinking of, letting you wander around by yourself. People have got lost out here, you know.”
“Barring accident, I don’t quite see how,” McKay said. “You’re either east or west of the river and north or south of the road. I figured with a compass I was safe enough.”
Julie laughed again. “Well, at least you seem to have a logical approach to the problem. You found your way here all by yourself, then?” She looked down, and busied herself briefly with lowering the hammer of her weapon to half-cock. “Is—anything wrong, Mr. McKay? Not that it’s any of my business. But I was afraid when I heard—” She hesitated.
“Heard what?”
“Buck Hannesey paid me a visit in town last night. He told me about—about your meeting.”
McKay laughed and rubbed the diminishing lump at the back of his head. “Your Mr. Hannesey doesn’t seem to take to strangers.”
She glanced at him curiously. “You don’t seem very angry about it.”
McKay said, “He didn’t mean it personally; why should I take it personally? People like Hannesey are merely one of the hazards of being a greenhorn anywhere. I’ve seen them on shipboard, too, making life miserable for the landlubbers. Of course, if I’d known everybody was going to take the matter so damn seriously, I might have—” He checked himself. “Excuse me. I didn’t mean to swear.”
Julie smiled. “Well, you’ve answered my question. I thought, when I heard about your experience, that you might find Pat and the major a little critical of your peaceful role. I’d say you had a fight with Pat and are riding around by yourself to cool off. Am I right?”
“Largely,” McKay said. “Although there are a few other factors involved.”
“Such as Steve Leech?”
McKay said mildly, “Did anybody ever tell you that you’re a very inquisitive young lady, Miss Maragon?”
Her head came up sharply and color flooded her face. She stared at him angrily for a long moment. Abruptly she laughed. “I deserved that. I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to pry, but your being here by yourself did arouse my curiosity. Have you had anything to eat? I seem to be forever offering you food, Mr. McKay.”
He said, “I had breakfast and I’ve got some grub left that I was saving in case I shouldn’t make it back to the ranch tonight, but a little lunch would taste very good.”
The kitchen of the house was a low, dark room. When he came in, the girl turned from the stove and came over to fill the cups with coffee.
“You may be able to find your way around without getting lost, Mr. McKay,” she said, “but you don’t keep your eyes open very well. You should have known I was here. My horse had left fresh tracks in the road and there was even smoke coming from the chimney. It doesn’t pay to overlook signs like that, in this part of the world.”
He assisted her with her chair and sat down facing her. “I’d be the last to deny that I have a lot to learn,” he said.
She had been watching him curiously as he eased himself into his chair. Now she said, “You move as if you’d taken a real beating. I didn’t realize Buck was quite that rough on you.” She laughed quickly. “I’m getting personal again, am I not?”
McKay said, “Well, in addition to Mr. Hannesey, I had a little trouble with a horse.”
Julie said dryly, “From the looks of you, the horse didn’t have much trouble with you . . . They didn’t put you on Old Thunder!”
“I think that was the brute’s name.”
“That sounds like Steve Leech’s idea of a joke.”
“Mr. Leech contributed to the incident,” McKay admitted.
“If I were you,” she said, “I’d keep a real sharp eye on that man. Most cowboys would figure that being foreman of a big spread like Ladder put them just about as high as they could go in their profession, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Steve had set his sights even higher. And he is a rather impressive figure of a man, if you like that arrogant type. He’s also, I understand, a strong fighter and very fast with a gun. The whole country is laying bets on what will happen when he and Buck Hannesey meet, as seems bound to happen. Buck’s supposed to be pretty good himself.” Julie drew a long breath. “I suppose that proves how uncivilized we are—people betting which one of two men will kill the other.”
She watched him rise, having finished, and rose to join him. They walked to the door together.
“I’m glad you came by,” she said. “It’s lonely here without Gramps. I—I just don’t like to let the place go completely to pieces, and there’s no school to keep me busy this time of year, so I come out and do a little work on it every so often.”
He stood in the doorway, looking at the great cottonwoods that bordered the stream. “It’s a pleasant place,” he said.
After a moment, he said in a casual voice, “I wonder if you’d mind showing me around a little.”
She glanced at him quickly. “Why, I wouldn’t mind at all; I’d like it. But it’s well past noon; you’ll be late getting back to Ladder.”
“I’ll take the chance,” he said. “Do we walk or ride?”
She laughed at this. “Mr. McKay, any Texas ranch you can see on foot just isn’t worth looking at.”
Half an hour later, they had climbed the trail behind the ranch house and stopped on a promontory from which the whole valley could be seen below.
“Of course, Gramps controlled the range for miles around,” Julie said. “It would take two days for me to show you the boundaries.”
McKay nodded. He urged his horse forward and rode to the edge of the bluff and sat looking down thoughtfully. At last he turned back. “Well, I’ll see you back to the house, Miss Maragon; then I’d better be oil my way.”
He did not speak on the way down. In the yard, he dismounted and helped the girl from her side saddle, becoming, as he did so, suddenly conscious of the strength and warmth of her small, compact figure.
He stepped back, and they stood facing each other a little awkwardly; and she said, too quickly, “That’s a good little horse, you’re riding, Mr. McKay.”
“Yes, an old fellow named Gutierrez picked him out for me; left to myself, I wouldn’t have done nearly so well.”
She was stripping off her buckskin gauntlets. “Ramon Gutierrez? Why, he used to be one of Gramps’ best men. I didn’t know he was working for Ladder now; I’ll have to ride up and see him.”
McKay said, “This is a lovely place, Miss Maragon. Would you sell it to me?”
It was well past six o’clock, and McKay judged that he had a little less than five miles left to go, when he smelled the smoke. He turned the horse and rode slowly into the wind to invest
igate. This was the direction of the river. Presently he heard the sound of men’s voices from around a bend ahead. It seemed inadvisable to ride up on them without first learning their identity. He dismounted, therefore, and made his way forward on foot, leading the horse; at the bend he stopped, finding himself almost on top of the fire. It was in a little bushy hollow; a coffeepot was set on the coals, and five men squatted or lay around it. One rose as McKay watched. He recognized the tall, lean figure of Steve Leech.
Leech reset his big hat more firmly on his head. “Well, we can’t sit here all day,” he said. “We’ve got time to take one more crack at it before dark; we’ll make a swing to the east this time. The damn dude ain’t down along the river, that’s for sure. Not on this side. We’ve seen every cow, calf and jack rabbit . . . What’s that?”
Behind McKay, the brown horse had tossed its head at an annoying fly. Steve Leech whirled catlike and his hand moved in what seemed like a conjuring trick; suddenly there was a revolver in it.
“Take it easy,” McKay said, stepping forward. “Don’t shoot. I’ll come peacefully.” He walked down to them, leading the horse. “I guess I wouldn’t make a very good scout,” he said. “If that’s coffee, I wouldn’t mind having a little.”
The men made varying sounds of recognition, none very friendly. Leech stared at McKay for a moment, then rammed his gun back into the holster, turned on his heel, walked to the fire and poured a tin cup full of coffee.
“Here you are, Mr. McKay. It’s hot; careful you don’t burn yourself.”
“Thank you,” McKay said.
The tall man looked down at him. “We’ve been looking for you all day, Mr. McKay. The major’s across the river trying to follow your tracks, but it’s tough trailing with the ground this hard. Miss Terrill sent us down this side on the chance you might have crossed back over; she’s mighty upset. It’s a damn big country to lose a man in.” Before McKay could respond, he had turned away to snap orders. “Shorty, ride over and see if you can catch the major and tell him we’ve got him. The rest of you light out for the ranch and let Miss Terrill know. I’ll bring him along easy, as soon as he’s rested up a bit.”
McKay grimaced into his coffee cup, but the whole crew was already in motion, and it seemed unnecessary to call them back just to explain that he had not been lost and was not seriously in need of rest.
Steve Leech was rolling a cigarette with deft fingers.
“I hope you don’t mind my saying this was a damn-fool stunt you pulled, Mr. McKay,” the foreman said presently.
McKay said, “I don’t mind in the least, Mr. Leech. I’m fully recovered now, I think. We might as well get under way.”
When they reached the ranch, the windows were already yellow with lamplight, although the sky was still bright in the west. There were many people in the yard. McKay recognized Patricia’s slender figure and the major’s narrow military shape; apparently the other search party had already come in. Steve Leech kicked his mount into a run. It seemed a poor reward for a horse that had worked well all day; McKay followed at an easy trot.
He saw Leech pull up in front of Patricia, saying, “Well, I found him for you, ma’am.”
He heard her voice. “Thanks, Steve. I knew you would.”
Then she was running forward. McKay checked the brown horse and climbed stiffly to the ground to take her into his arms.
“Oh, darling,” she cried, “we’ve been so worried!”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I had no intention of worrying you, my dear. I specifically told Ramon that I might be gone overnight. Didn’t he tell you?”
“Yes, of course, but—” She stepped back and looked at him, startled at the thought that had come to her. “James McKay, are you trying to tell me we’ve been driving ourselves crazy all day for nothing; that you weren’t really——”
The voice of Steve Leech, speaking to the major, reached them suddenly, “. . . found him wandering around on the other side of the ridge, sir. He came stumbling up to our fire on foot, leading the horse. Seemed in pretty poor shape; I let him rest awhile before I brought him in.”
McKay had glanced toward the two men; when he looked back at Patricia, he found that she had taken another step back to scrutinize him carefully; and he realized that, dusty and unshaved, with his face reddened and his lips cracked from the unaccustomed exposure to the sun, he probably did look like a man who had been rescued from a grim death on the desert. Their eyes met, and he saw the tormented uncertainty in hers as she tried to decide what to believe. Then she turned and walked quickly away from him.
After a moment, he climbed into the saddle again and rode around the house to the corrals. A figure in a big straw hat came from the barn as he dismounted.
“I will take care of him, señor.”
“Thanks, Ramon. That’s a good horse.”
The old man slapped the animal’s flank. “You have not worked him hard.”
“I wasn’t in any condition for hard riding.”
“You had no trouble, señor?”
McKay shrugged. “Not until I was rescued by the White Knight of Texas. Couldn’t you keep them from going after me?”
“I tried, señor. I told them how I had given you much food; how you had said you might not be back yesterday; but Señor Leech——”
“Uh-huh,” McKay said.
“I’m very sorry. Señor McKay.”
“My fault,” McKay said. “Don’t worry about it. How’s my friend Thunder?”
“As good as new. Do you wish me to put a saddle on him?” The old Mexican grinned.
McKay shuddered. “Once is enough, Ramon. But take care of this one; he’s a good one.”
Ramon said, “I know, señor. He is mine.” McKay glanced at him sharply, and the old man laughed. “You would not permit me to accompany you, so I send my pony to take care of you. Now you had better turn around. You have big trouble coming this way. Remember, señor, a man who is good with a gun never really likes to fight with his hands because it might spoil them for the fast draw.” His voice was low and gentle. “Turn around now, señor.”
TO BE CONTINUED
“I hope you don’t mind my saying this was a damn-fool stunt you pulled, Mr. McKay,” remarked Steve Leech, the Ladder Ranch foreman, scornfully.
James McKay, an Easterner, had come to Texas to marry Pat Terrill, whose father owned the Ladder Ranch. The Terrills and the Hanneseys were feuding over possession of the range that lay between their properties. Title to the land belonged to Pat’s friend, Julie Maragon, who inherited it from her grandfather.
Buck Hannesey hoped to get the land by marrying Julie. So far, she had put him off. She was unaware Buck’s father, Rufus, was scheming to assure the son’s success. Julie also refused Major Terrill’s offer to buy the range, for she knew that if she made the sale the Hanneseys would stop at nothing to take it from him.
On his way to the ranch, Jim had been waylaid and brutally assaulted by Buck. Major Terrill demanded revenge, but McKay declined to take part in any bloody reprisal. To Pat and her father, Jim’s reluctance to fight branded him a coward.
After the Terrills rode off, Jim borrowed a horse and provisions from Ramon Gutierrez, an old Mexican ranch hand. Jim made his way without difficulty to the Maragon property, where he encountered Julie. Before heading back, Jim himself made Julie an offer for the ranch.
As he neared the Ladder Ranch on his return, Jim met Leech and a search party that the Terrills had organized. Leech later reported to the major that he had found McKay wandering, hopelessly lost. However, Jim assured Pat that he hadn’t been lost.
III
McKay turned, to see Steve Leech striding toward him. Beyond the advancing foreman, he saw Patricia come running around the corner of the house, to check herself abruptly as she saw the two men already face to face.
“What is it, Mr. Leech?” McKay asked, “You have a purposeful look about you.”
The tall man looked down at him coldly. “You’re a s
tranger, Mr. McKay,” he said. “Out here, calling a man a liar is the same as asking him for a fight. Since you’re a stranger, I’ll give you a chance to take it back.”
“Am I supposed to have questioned your truthfulness?”
“Miss Terrill says you claim you weren’t lost. I say you were the lostest-looking thing I’ve seen in ten years when you came crawling into camp, and where the hell have you been all day, and all night before that—just riding around for the exercise?”
McKay said gently, “If I’m in as bad shape as you claim, it’s a good time for you to pick a fight with me, isn’t it?” He changed the tone of his voice. “You’re gambling, Leech. You’re gambling twice. You’re gambling that if we fight you can beat me”—he saw the tall man smile at this—“and you’re gambling that if you beat me, Miss Terrill will admire you for it.”
“If you were a gentleman, sir, you’d keep the lady’s name out of this!” Leech took a step forward. “But since you’ve brought it up, I’ll tell you this; I think you took advantage of her when she was far from home. You looked like a big man back there, no doubt. Well, you don’t look very big out here. You’re not good enough for her, sir, and I aim to prove it right now, once and for all.”
There were men all around them now, but McKay noted that they carefully left a clear lane of vision toward the house where Patricia stood, now joined by her father, McKay looked at the man before him. The temptation was considerable; after two days of anger and frustration, it would be pleasant to strike out at something solid. He hesitated, and shook his head.
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