by Grey, Zane
"Yes, an' what else, cowboy?"
"It shore never was used on a calf or a cow or a steer."
"Hell, no, Brazos, it ain't new. It's been tied on a saddle fer a long time. A cowboy riata never used by a cowboy! Does thet say anythin' to you?"
"Ump-umm. Don't talk so much, Hank. Let's go all over the ground."
It appeared to be a scraggy bit of dead and dying limber, extending back a considerable distance. Brazos directed Hank to search there, while he began at the farther end. At the farthest point, under the largest and thickest-foliaged of the trees, he found a bare spot of ground. At sight of hoof tracks and tiny boot tracks his blood leaped. Down he knelt.
"There! My hunch was true."
Bilyen made a careful inspection of the spot, and then faced Brazos with a curious fire in his eyes. "Cowboy, there's a girl mixed in this deal."
"Shore."
"She come way back heah to be far from thet cabin. An' she set her hawss for a while. An' she got off heah--an' heah she walked to and fro. Nervous! An' heah she stood still, her heels diggin' in. Rooted to the spot, heh? An' there she got on again, light-footed an' quick--Well, Brazos, I'll be damned!"
"So will I, Hank," rejoined Brazos ponderingly. "Get' me some little sticks so I can measure this track."
"How you figure her part in this?"
"Plain as print. She an' her two pards air from oot of town--she's a good-looker an' likely enticin' to cowboys. Allen Neece was easy took in by girls. He liked a drink, too. Wal, this gang of three was after him for reasons that bear strong in this deal. She got to Allen--an' the rest was easy."
"I figure aboot like thet, Hank," added Brazos thoughtfully. "Beside, I know more'n yu. The night Allen was killed he walked down to the barns to get his hawss. Pedro said there was a boy with him--a boy on a black hawse--an' they hung ootside. They rode away. Now what happened is this: If I remember correct, thet night was nice an' warm, with a moon an' the frogs peepin'--just the night for a rendezvous oot heah. But they never got heah. Thet Brad an' his other pard roped Allen an' dragged him off his hawse, The fall killed Allen, but they didn't know it. They packed him up heah, shot him--an' left him in the cabin."
"While the girl waited heah under this tree, nervous an' sick."
"Nervous, anyhow. Wal, she had--good reason to be nervous," declared Brazos darkly. "Just about then I rode into the deal."
"Brazos, who's behind all this?"
"Hank, yu're a curious cuss," drawled Brazos, carefully depositing in his pocket the little sticks with which he had measured the foot track. "Let's go back to town an' have breakfast."
That night Brazos had his supper at Mexican Joe's. Afterwards he began the gamut of the saloons, where he pretended to drink. And at nine o'clock, when he mounted the steps to the Odd Fellows Hall, he pounded on the door with the butt of his gun.
"Open up heah!" he shouted.
The door was promptly unlocked, allowing Brazos to enter, a little unsteady on his feet. But seldom had Brazos Keene been any more sober and cool than at this moment.
"Excuse me, gennelmen, for intrudin' heah. I'll leave it to yu whether what I say is important or not."
A dozen or perhaps fifteen men sat around a long table, upon which stood bottles and glasses and a box of cigars. Brazos recognised Henderson and Surface. He had never seen Sprague, but identified him from Bilyen's description. And lastly, to his surprise, he saw Inskip.
"It's that cowboy, Brazos Keene," spoke up one of the men.
"Drunk! Put him out," called. Surface, rising from his seat.
"Let him have his say, Surface," advised Henderson, intensely interested.
"Go ahaid, Brazos," interposed Inskip dryly..
"But the intrusion of a drunken cowboy!" protested Surface.
"Speak up, Keene," ordered Henderson. "Be brief and to the point."
Brazos sheathed his gun, though he left his hand on the butt.
"Gentlemen, I picked oot this meetin' as the proper place an' time to make a statement shore to be interestin' to all Colorado cattlemen," he began Swiftly. "It so happens thet events kinda gravitate to me. An honour I never cared for but was thrust on me! The cattle situation heah on this range is nothin' new to me. I recall five situations like it. Yu all know what caused the Lincoln County War in New Mexico. Yu-all shore have heahed of the Sewall McCoy combine with Russ Slaughter. On the one hand there was the educated, rich, smooth, cunnin' gentleman-rancher, an' on the other the dyed-in-the-wool rustler, hard as flint, an' leader of as bloody an ootfit of cattle thieves as ever forked hawsses. Yu-all may have heahed, too, what I had to do with trailin' an' breakin' thet double ootfit. I mention it hear, not to brag but to give some importance to what I'm aboot to tell yu."
Brazos let that sink in.
"Yu cattlemen face the same situation heah on' this range," he went on impressively. "An' if yu don't break it up there's no tellin' how powerful an' all-embracin' it'll grow.. Short an' sweet, then, gentlemen, there's a cattleman on this range who's workin' like Sewall McCoy. He's yore friend an' maybe pardner, I'm not insultin' any of yu heah or any citizen of Las Animas. 'Cause what I know cain't be proved at this tellin'. But it's the truth yu can gamble on. Thet's all, gentlemen. Take it for what it's worth."
Slowly Brazos backed to the door, limning on his mind's eye, the strangely contrasting visages there. Then with a leap he was out the door, to bound down the stairs.
Chapter 6
As the train whistled for Las Animas the conductor observed Brazos Keene buckling a heavy gun belt around his slim 'waist.
He picked up his bag and made for the platform. As the train slowed to a halt he espied Bilyen foremost of the waiting bystanders. Before Brazos stepped down he swept the platform with searching gaze.
"Howdy, Hank," drawled Brazos. "Kinda like old times to see yu packin' thet gun."
"Wal, you dressed-up son of a gun," ejaculated Hank, delighted. "Brazos, you shore look fine."
"How about things heah?"
"Not so good. I hope you had better luck than me."
"Hank, I shore learned a heap. But what good it'd do cain't say. Come with me. I've got somethin' to tell Neece."
Brazos had no more to say until he and Hank met Neece at the cabin. It pleased Brazos to see that Neece was a changed man. He had pulled out hopelessness. He had gained.
"Wal, Neece, I've news thet I shore hope yu'll find somethin' in," began Brazos. "My job at Kansas City, yu know, was to get track of the cattle people Surface ships to. I couldn't find oot. This may have been regular an' then again it may have been queer. Their interest is in buyin' an' sellin' beef an' not in where it comes from. A big per cent of cattle herds shipped there is shore rustled, An' nobody's tellin'.
"But I spent three days loafin' aboot the stockyards, an' I found oot from the yardmen aboot two big trainloads of longhorns thet was shipped in early spring. Longhorns an' mixed brands, from New Mexico. One trainload went into the stockyards an' was drove oot of there in small bunches. The other trainload went east. Yu cain't track unbranded cattle any more'n yu can cattle wearin' brands yu don't know. Shore them big trains carried yore herd. An' thet herd just faded.
"Wal, on the way back I stopped over at Abilene. I mixed with cowboys, cattlemen, gamblers, an' town folks. Naturally, yu know, yu never get anywhere askin' one Westerner aboot another. But I finally met a cowboy who once rode for Surface. He was mum as an oyster.
"Then I met a cattleman who spit fire when I asked aboot Surface. It 'peared this cattleman was kin to one who had been a pardner of Surface. Stokes, the pardner was. Wal, Stokes an' Surface operated in cattle. Surface bought an' Stokes sold. One day they quarrelled an' Surface shot Stokes. Nobody saw the fight. Surface claimed Stokes drew first. Some people said the trouble was over money, an' some said Stokes had been heahed to question Surface aboot where he got his cattle. Anyway, Surface left Abilene. Thet was over a year ago. An' thet's aboot all."
"I reckon it's significant," declared Neece sob
erly.
"Luca Surface has left Twin Sombreros, so I heah," put in Hank. "She's stayin' with, a friend, Delia Ross. An' lettin' that gambler Howard run around with her."
"Yu don't say? Wal!"
"Brazos, did Hank tell you Henderson called on me?" queried Neece. "Though he didn't mention Surface I took it as an expression of regret an' sympathy. Henderson is head of the bank that wouldn't lend me the money to save my ranch."
"Ahuh. Wal, thet is a hunch. Rustle my hawss, Hank. I'm ridin' to town."
Henderson received Brazos with veiled surprise.
"I called to ask a couple of questions, Mr. Henderson, an' maybe one is in the nature of a favour," said Brazos.
"Well, shoot, cowboy," replied the banker with an encouraging smile.
"Do yu know Jack Sain?"
"By sight only."
"Could yu give him a job ridin'? From all I heah yu need some riders. I'll stand for Jack."
"Very well. That is recommendation enough. Send him in."
"Thet's fine of yu, Mr. Henderson. My other question is kinda personal an' I hope yu excuse it. Air you for or against Raine Surface?"
"Is that any business of yours?"
"Not onless yu make it mine. But I'm against him. I'm on Abe Neece's side in this deal."
"So that is what Inskip meant?"
"Will yu respect my confidence?"
"Absolutely."
"Wal, I reckon Raine Surface is another Sewall McCoy."
"Aha! That was behind your little address to the Cattlemen's Association? Inskip told me that very thing."
"Yes, it was an' is."
"Ticklish business, even for a Brazos Keene. Surface has many interests, riders galore, and, according to range gossip, a tough outfit up in the hills."
"All powerful interestin' to me. If Surface didn't have them he wouldn't class with Sewall McCoy. At that I reckon McCoy had what Surface doesn't show to me: brains. McCoy lasted for years in New Mexico. An' if It hadn't been for my suspicion aboot a cowboy rider in my ootfit why, McCoy might be playin' a high hand yet. But Surface won't last the month oot. He just doesn't savvy us."
"Us? And who are us?"
"Wal, Kiskadden an' Inskip an' Neece an' Bilyen an' me an' yu, Mr. Henderson," drawled Brazos. "I'm obliged to yu for seein' me an' more especial for yore bolsterin' up of my hunch aboot Surface."
"See here, Keene, I didn't say--I didn't intimate--"
"All I needed was to talk to yu a little. I know what yu think. But yu didn't tell me an' yu can rest safe in thet assurance. Keep oot of Surface's way. He might try to bore yu to strengthen his stand."
That night after supper Brazos began his stalk, as stealthily as if he were deer hunting, though with the wary intensity which accompanied the blood pursuit of man.
Very late, Brazos presented himself at the door of the Neeces' apartment over the restaurant and knocked solidly. The door opened quickly, to disclose one of the twins in a dressing-gown, most bewitching in the dim lamplight.
"Sorry--but I gotta see June," announced Brazos with a deep breath.
"Come in. I've been waiting. I 'mew you'd come. Janis and Auntie have gone to bed," she replied.
June stood before him, turning up the lamp ever so little. She looked at him with dark, wide eyes.
"Brazos!" She came close to catch the lapels of his coat and look up anxiously. "What has happened? I never saw you look like this."
"Nothin' happened yet, June. But it's gonna happen--an' pronto. There air men in town--I don't know how many--come to kill me. An' I just been goin' the rounds to let them see I won't be so easy to kill."
"Oh, mercy! I feared--this," whispered June unsteadily, and leaned shaking against him.
"June, I reckoned yu'd better heah it from me," he said earnestly. "'Cause, no matter if I am Brazos Keene--somethin' might happen. But I've been in a heap tighter place--to come oot safe. An' so it'll be this time."
"And it's all because you want to help us," she said eloquently.
"Never mind thet," he rejoined hastily. "June, it's shore hard to say the rest. My chest's cavin' in. Yu remember the night I left for Kansas City--how I was mad enough to take them--them two kisses yu was mad enough to say yu owed me?"
She lifted her face, flushed and radiant. "Brazos," she whispered shyly, "I loved you from the very first minute you looked at me."
"Darlin' June, I'm turrible unworthy of yu. But, I love yu. An' I ask yu to--to be my wife."
"You have my promise," she said simply, and lifted her face from his shoulder, and then, blushing scarlet--her lips to his.
"There! Ah, no more! Brazos!" she whispered, and slipped shyly from his arms, to close the opened dressing-gown around her neck. "Go now. It's late. And here I am--forgetting my modesty! But you've made me happy. I'm not afraid NOW, Brazos. Adios, my cowboy!"
Next morning Brazos began patrolling Las Animas. It was Saturday, and the influx of cowboys and other ranch folk had noticeably begun. The railroad station platform showed the usual crowd and bustle incident to the arrival of a train.
Inside the station Brazos encountered Lura Surface just turning away from the ticket window. She carried a satchel and evidently the larger bag at her feet belonged to her.
"Mawnin', Lura Surface. Air yu runnin' away on me?" drawled Brazos, doffing his sombrero.
"Brazos Keene!" She gave him a glance from superb green eyes that was not particularly flattering. "Yes, I am running away, and for good--if it's anything to you."
"Yu don't say. Aw, I'm sorry. I been wantin' to see yu powerful bad."
"Yes, you have," she rejoined with scorn. "Why didn't you, then? I wrote you. I wanted to ask you to--to help me. But you never wrote."
"Lura, thet's too bad. I never got yore letter. Fact is, I haven't been to the post office. An' I've been away for weeks."
"It's too late, Brazos," she said, a little bitterly. "I'm going to Denver to marry Hal Howard."
"Aw! Yu 'don't say? Wal, I'm shore congratulatin' thet hombre."
"But you don't congratulate me?"
"Hardly. I just cain't see yu throwin' yoreself away on a caird-sharp. Why, Lura, yu got all the girls oot heah skinned to a frazzle."
"If you thought so--so much of me why did you--" she asked, softening under his warm praise. Her hard green eyes misted over. Then she went on: "Was it because you'd heard things about my love affairs?"
"No, it shore wasn't," he replied bluntly, realising that he had met her at a singularly opportune moment.
"Brazos! You were afraid of Dad?"
"No. Not thet, Lura. I'm not afraid of any man. But it was because he was yore father." She met his piercing gaze with understanding, and a visible shudder.
The train whistled for the stop. Lura designated her bag, which Brazos took up. They went out on the platform. The train halted with squeak and jar. Brazos helped Lura on, found a seat for her, and, depositing her bag, he held out his hand.
"Good-bye an' good luck," he said. "Yu're game, Lura. I'm gonna risk a word of advice. Stop Howard's caird playin'."
"He will not need to gamble," she flashed, with a smile. "One last word, Brazos Keene." She put her cool lips to his ear, in what certainly was a caress as well as an act of secrecy. "For my sake, spare Dad the rope!"
Brazos could find no answer. He clasped her hand hard. The train was moving. One last glance he took at her eyes, brimming with tears, and dark with pain. Then he wheeled to run back to the platform and jump off. He stood till the train passed by, and then wended a pondering, watchful way down the street.
At the corner where the bank stood an idea struck him. He went in to see Henderson. Without any greeting, Brazos flung a query at the banker.
"Did this heah bank get held up yesterday or maybe day before?"
"By a bandit?" replied Henderson.
"I reckon one man might think thet. A bandit with green eyes an' red hair."
"Keene, you beat me all hollow."
"Wal, come oot with it, then. Didn'
t Raine Surface draw a big sum of money?"
"All he had in cash. Close to forty thousand dollars."
"Doggone! An' wasn't Howard with him?"
"Yes. Surface claimed it was a gambling debt."
"Gamblin' debt yore eye!" retorted Brazos scornfully. "Henderson, thet was the price of Howard's silence. The gambler sold oot cheap. But still he got the girl."
"Lura! Good heavens!" ejaculated the banker. "I begin to see light."
"Yu been wearin' blinkers long enough, Henderson."
"Wait, Keene," said the other, as Brazos turned to go. "That little matter of putting Bodkin in as sheriff has come up. What'll I do about it?"
"Air yu still in Surface's Cattle Association, Henderson?"
"I resigned."
"Wal, if I was yu, I'd say, pretty pert, thet I was for savin' the town Bodkin's burial expenses by not electin' him sheriff."
"That's certainly pert. I'll do it, Brazos. But let me give you a hunch. They'll make Bodkin sheriff."
"Shore they will--if he's crazy enough to accept it. I guess I better throw a scare into him."
Passing the open door of the largest store Las Animas could boast of, Brazos had a glimpse of Bodkin holding forth to a group of men. Brazos passed on and halted. What could he make out of an encounter with Bodkin? The man would not draw. But he could be made a target for speech that would sweep over town like fire in prairie grass.
Brazos turned back to enter the store. He assumed a swinging forward crouch and the sullen mien of a cowboy who had been tilting the bottle. The little group spread, leaving Bodkin in the centre and apart. The action was like clockwork.
Bodkin showed no marked effect. As the cowboy had let him off before, he would again. This time, however, the ex-deputy packed a gun at his hip.
"Bodkin, I been lookin' all over this heah town for yu," declared Brazos in a surly voice.
"Keene, I haven't been hidin'," complained Bodkin. "Wal, yu're damn hard to find, an yu shore got thet Barsh hombre hid somewhere."
"He's out of town."
"Can yu get word to him?"
"I could if I wanted to."
"Ahuh. Wal, yu better want to. Yu tell yore ropin' hombre thet he'd be wise to stay away from heah or else do some tall figgerin' how he's gonna keep me from borin' him."
