by Max Brand
CHAPTER 36
To Andrew the last danger of the holdup had been assigned as the rearguard, and he was the last man to pass Allister. The leader had drawnhis horse to one side a couple of miles down the valley, and, as each ofhis band passed him, he raised his hand in silent greeting. It was thelast Andrew saw of him, a ghostly figure sitting his horse with his handabove his head. After that his mind was busied by his ride, for, havingthe finest mount in the crowd, to him had been assigned the longest andthe most roundabout route to reach the Twin Eagles.
Yet he covered so much ground with Sally that, instead of needing thefull five days to make the rendezvous, he could afford to loaf the laststage of the journey. Even at that, he camped in sight of the cabin onthe fourth night, and on the morning of the fifth he was the first manat the shack.
Jeff Rankin came in next. To Jeff, on account of his unwieldy bulk, hadbeen assigned the shortest route; yet even so he dismounted, staggeringand limping from his horse, and collapsed on the pile of boughs whichAndrew had spent the morning cutting for a bed. As he dropped he tossedhis bag of coins to the floor. It fell with a melodious jingling thatwas immediately drowned by Jeff's groans; the saddle was torture to him,and now he was aching in every joint of his enormous body. "A nicehaul--nothin' to kick about," was Jeff's opinion. "But Caesar'sghost--what a ride! The chief makes this thing too hard on a gent thatlikes to go easy, Andy."
Andrew said nothing; silence had been his cue ever since he began actingas lieutenant to the chief. It had seemed to baffle the others; itbaffled the big man now. Later on Joe Clune and Scottie came intogether. That was about noon--they had met each other an hour before.But Allister had not come in, although he was usually the first at arendezvous. Neither did Larry la Roche come. The day wore on; thesilence grew on the group. When Andrew, proportioning the work forsupper, sent Joe to get wood, Jeff for water, and began himself to workwith Scottie on the cooking, he was met with ugly looks and hesitationbefore they obeyed. Something, he felt most decidedly, was in the air.And when Joe and Rankin came back slowly, walking side by side andtalking in soft voices, his suspicions were given an edge.
They wanted to eat together; but he forced Scottie to take post on thehigh hill to their right to keep lookout, and for this he receivedanother scowl. Then, when supper was half over, Larry la Roche came into camp. News came with him, an atmosphere of tidings around his gloomyfigure, but he cast himself down by the fire and ate and drank insilence, until his hunger was gone. Then he tossed his tin dishes awayand they fell clattering on the rocks.
"Pick 'em up," said Andrew quietly. "We'll have no litter around thiscamp." Larry la Roche stared at him in hushed malevolence. "Stand up andget 'em," repeated Andrew. As he saw the big hands of Larry twitching hesmiled across the fire at the tall, bony figure. "I'll give you twoseconds to get 'em," he said.
One deadly second pulsed away, then Larry crumpled. He caught up his tincup and the plate. "We'll talk later about you," he said ominously.
"We'll talk about something else first," said Andrew. "You've seenAllister?"
At first it seemed that La Roche would not speak; then his wide, thinlips writhed back from his teeth. "Yes."
"Where is he?" "Gone to the happy hunting grounds."
The silence came and the pulse in it. One by one, by a natural instinct,the men looked about them sharply into the night and made sure of theirweapons. It was the only tribute to the memory of Allister from his men,but tears and praise could not have been more eloquent. He had madethese men fearless of the whole world. Now were they ready to jump atthe passage of a shadow. They looked at each other with strange eyes.
"Who? How many?" asked Jeff Rankin.
"One man done it."
"Hal Dozier?" said Andrew.
"Him," said Larry la Roche. He went on, looking gloomily down at thefire. "He got me first. The chief must of seen him get me by surprise,while I was down off my hoss, lying flat and drinking out of a creek!"He closed his great, bony fist in unspeakable agony at the thought."Dozier come behind and took me. Frisked me. Took my guns, not the coin.We went down through the hills. Then the chief slid out of a shadow andcome at us like a tiger. I sloped."
"You left Allister to fight alone?" said Scottie Macdougal quietly, forhe had come from his lookout to listen.
"I had no gun," said Larry, without raising his eyes from the fire. "Isloped. I looked back and seen Allister sitting on his hoss, dead still.Hal Dozier was sittin' on his hoss, dead still. Five seconds, maybe.Then they went for their guns together. They was two bangs like one. ButAllister slid out of his saddle and Dozier stayed in his. I comeon here."
The quiet covered them. Joe Clune, with a shudder and another glanceover his shoulder, cast a branch on the fire, and the flames leaped.
"Dozier knows you're with us," added Larry la Roche, and he cast a longglance of hatred at Andrew. "He knows you're with us, and he knows ourluck left us when you come."
Andrew looked about the circle; not an eye met his.
The talk of Larry la Roche during the days of the ride was showing itseffect now. The gage had been thrown down to Andrew, and he dared notpick it up.
"Boys," he said, "I'll say this: Are we going to bust up and each man gohis way?"
There was no answer.
"If we do, we can split the profits over again. I'll take no money outof a thing that cost Allister's death. There's my sack on the floor ofthe shack. Divvy it up among you. You fitted me out when I was broke.That'll pay you back. Do we split up?"
"They's no reason why we should--and be run down like rabbits," said JoeClune, with another of those terrible glances over his shoulder intothe night.
The others assented with so many growls.
"All right," said Andrew, "we stick together. And, if we stick together,I run this camp."
"You?" asked Larry la Roche. "Who picked you? Who 'lected you, son? Why,you unlucky--"
"Ease up," said Andrew softly.
The eyes of La Roche flicked across the circle and picked up the glancesof the others, but they were not yet ready to tackle Andrew Lanning.
"The last thing Allister did," said Andrew, "was to make me hislieutenant. It's the last thing he did, and I'm going to push itthrough. Not because I like the job." He raised his head, but not hisvoice. "They may run down the rest of you. They won't run down me. Theycan't. They've tried, and they can't. And I might be able to keep therest of you clear. I'm going to try. But I won't follow the lead of anyof you. If there'd been one that could keep the rest of you together,d'you think Allister wouldn't have seen it? Don't you think he would ofmade that one leader? Why, look at you! Jeff, you'd follow Clune. Butwould Larry or Scottie follow Clune? Look at 'em and see!"
All eyes went to Clune, and then the glances of Scottie and La Rochedropped.
"Nobody here would follow La Roche. He's the best man we've got for someof the hardest work, but you're too flighty with your temper, Larry, andyou know it. We respect you just as much, but not to plan things for therest of us. Is that straight?
"And you, Scottie," said Andrew, "you're the only one I'd follow. I saythat freely. But who else would follow you? You're the best of us all atheadwork and planning, but you don't swing your gun as fast, and youdon't shoot as straight as Jeff or Larry or Joe. Is that straight?"
"What's leading the gang got to do with fighting?" asked Scottieharshly. "And who's got the right to the head of things but me?"
"Ask Allister what fighting had to do with the running of things," saidAndrew calmly.
The moon was sliding up out of the east; it changed the faces of the menand made them oddly animallike; they stared, fascinated, at Andrew.
"There's two reasons why I'm going to run this job, if we sticktogether. Allister named them once. I can take advice from any one ofyou; I know what each of you can do; I can plan a job for you; I canlead you clear of the law--and there's not one of you that can bully meor make me give an inch--no, nor all of you together--La Roche!Macdougal! Clune! Rank
in!"
It was like a roll call, and at each name a head was jerked up inanswer, and two glittering eyes flashed at Andrew--flashed, sparkled,and then became dull. The moonlight had made his pale skin a deadlywhite, and it was a demoniac face they saw. The silence was his answer.
"Jeff," he commanded, "take the hill. You'll stand the watch tonight.And look sharp. If Dozier got Allister he's apt to come at us. Stepon it!"
And Jeff Rankin rose without a word and lumbered to the top of the hill.Larry la Roche suddenly filled his cup with boiling hot coffee,regardless of the heat, regardless of the dirt in the cup. His handshook when he raised it to his lips.
