by B. M. Bower
ANDY, THE LIAR
Andy Green licked a cigarette into shape the while he watched withunfriendly eyes the shambling departure of their guest. "I believe thedarned old reprobate was lyin' to us," he remarked, when the horsemandisappeared into a coulee.
"You sure ought to be qualified to recognize the symptoms," gruntedCal Emmett, kicking his foot out of somebody's carelessly coiled ropeon the ground. "That your rope, Happy? No wonder you're always on thebum for one. If you'd try tying it on your saddle--"
"Aw, g'wan. That there's Andy's rope--"
"If you look at my saddle, you'll find my rope right where itbelongs," Andy retorted. "I ain't sheepherder enough to leave itkicking around under foot. That rope belongs to his nibs that justrode off. When he caught up his horse again after dinner, he throwedhis rope down while he saddled up, and then went off and forgot it. Hewasn't easy in his mind--that jasper wasn't. I don't go very high onthat hard-luck tale he told. I know the boy he had wolfing with himlast winter, and he wasn't the kind to pull out with all the stuff hecould get his hands on. He was an all-right fellow, and if there'sbeen any rusty work done down there in the breaks, this shifty-eyedmark done it. He was lying--"
Somebody laughed suddenly, and another chuckle helped to point thejoke, until the whole outfit was in an uproar; for of all the men whohad slept under Flying-U tents and eaten beside the mess-wagon, AndyGreen was conceded to be the greatest, the most shameless and whollyincorrigible liar of the lot.
"Aw, yuh don't want to get jealous of an old stiff like that," Pinksoothed musically. "There ain't one of us but what knows you could liefaster and farther and more of it in a minute, with your tonguehalf-hitched around your palate and the deaf-and-dumb language barred,than any three men in Chouteau County. Don't let it worry yuh, Andy."
"I ain't letting it worry me," said Andy, getting a bit red withtrying not to show that the shot hit him. "When my imagination gets tosoaring, I'm willing to bet all I got that it can fly higher than therest of you, that have got brains about on a par with a sage-hen, canfollow. When I let my fancy soar, I take notice the rest of yuh liketo set in the front row, all right--and yuh never, to my knowledge,called it a punk show when the curtain rung down; yuh always got theworth uh your money, and then some.
"But if yuh'd taken notice of the load that old freak was trying tothrow into the bunch, you'd suspicion there was something scaley aboutit; there was, all right. I'd gamble on it."
"From the symptoms," spoke Weary mildly, rising to an elbow, "Andy'sabout to erupt one of those wide, hot, rushing streams of meltedimagination that bursts forth from his think-works ever so often.Don't get us all worked up over it, Andy; what's it going to be thistime? A murder in the Bad-lands?"
Andy clicked his teeth together, thought better of his ill-humor andmade reply, though he had intended to remain dignifiedly silent.
"Yuh rung the bell, m'son--but it ain't any josh. By gracious, I meanit!" He glared at those who gurgled incredulously, and went on: "No,sir, you bet it ain't any josh with me _this_ time. That old gazabohad something heavy on his conscience--and knowing the fellow he hadreference to, I sure believe he lied a whole lot when he said Danpulled out with all the stuff they'd got together, and went downriver. Maybe he went down river, all right--but if he did, it was mostlikely to be face-down. Dan was as honest a boy as there is in thecountry, and he had money on him that he got mining down in the littleRockies last summer. I know, because he showed me the stuff last fallwhen I met him in Benton, and he was fixing to winter with this fellowthat just left.
"Dan was kinda queer about some things, and one of 'em was aboutmoney. It never made any difference how much or how little he had, healways packed it in his clothes; said a bank had busted on him onceand left him broke in the middle uh winter, and he wasn't going to letit happen again. He never gambled none, nor blowed his money anyfarther than a couple uh glasses uh beer once in a while. He was oneuh these saving cusses--but he was honest; I know that for a fact.
"So he had all this money on him, and went down there with thisjasper, that he'd got in with somehow and didn't know much about, andthey wolfed all winter, according to all accounts, and must uh madequite a stake, the way the bounty runs up, these days. And here comesthis darned Siwash, hiking out uh there fast as he can--and if hehadn't run slap onto us at this crossing, I'll gamble he'd never uhshowed up at camp at all, but kept right on going. We didn't ask himno questions, did we? But he goes to all the pains uh telling us histale uh woe, about how Dan had robbed him and pulled out down river.
"If that was the case, wouldn't he be apt to hike out after him andtry and get back his stuff? And wouldn't--"
"How much money did this friend uh yours have?" queried Jack Batesinnocently.
"Well, when I seen him in Benton, he had somewhere between six andseven hundred dollars. He got it all changed into fifty-dollarbills--"
"Oh, golly!" Jack Bates rolled over in disgust. "Andy's losing hisgrip. Why, darn yuh, if you was in a normal, lying condition, you'dmake it ten thousand, at the lowest--and I've seen the time when you'duh said fifty thousand; and you'd uh made us swallow the load, too!Buck up and do a good stunt, Andy, or else keep still. Why, Happy Jackcould tell that big a lie!"
"Aw, gwan!" Happy Jack rose up to avenge the insult. "Yuh needn'tcompare me to Andy Green. I ain't a liar, and I can lick the darnedson-of-a-gun that calls me one. I ain't, and yuh can't say I am,unless yuh lie worse'n Andy."
"Calm down," urged Weary pacifically. "Jack said yuh _could_ lie; hedidn't say--"
"By gracious, you'd think I was necked up with a whole bunch uh GeorgeWashingtons!" growled Andy, half-indignantly. "And what gets me is,that I tell the truth as often as anybody in the outfit; oftener thansome I could mention. But that ain't the point. I'm telling the truthnow, when I say somebody ought to hike down to their camp and see whatthis old skunk has done with Dan. I'd bet money you'd find him sunk inthe river, or cached under a cut-bank, or something like that. If he'dkept his face closed I wouldn't uh give it a second thought, but themore I think uh the story he put up, the more I believe there'ssomething wrong. He's made way with Dan somehow, and--"
"Yes. Sure thing," drawled Pink wickedly. "Let's organize a searchingparty and go down there and investigate. It's only about a three orfour days' trip, through the roughest country the Lord ever stood onend to cool and then forgot till it crumpled down in spots and got setthat way, so He just left it go and mixed fresh mud for the job He wasworking on. Andy'd lead us down there, and we'd find--"
"His friend Dan buried in a tomato can, maybe," supplied Jack Bates.
"By golly, I'll bet yuh _could_ put friend Dan into one," Slim burstout. "By golly, _I_ never met up with no Dan that packed fifty-dollarbills around in his gun-pocket--"
"Andy's telling the truth. He says so," reproved Weary. "And when Andysays a thing is the truth, yuh always know--"
"It ain't." Cal Emmett finished the sentence, but Weary paid noattention.
"--what to expect. Cadwolloper's right, and we ought to go down thereand make a hunt for friend Dan and his fifty-dollar bills. How manywere there, did yuh say?"
"You go to the devil," snapped Andy, getting up determinedly. "Yuhbite quick enough when anybody throws a load at yuh that would choke arhinoscerous, but plain truth seems to be too much for the weak headsof yuh. I guess I'll have to turn loose and _lie_, so yuh'll listen tome. There _is_ something crooked about this deal--"
"We all thought it sounded that way," Weary remarked mildly.
"And if yuh did go down to where them two wintered, you'd find out I'mright. But yuh won't, and that old cutthroat will get off with themurder--and the money."
"Don't he lie natural?" queried Jack Bates solemnly.
That was too much. Andy glared angrily at the group, picked up thewolfer's rope, turned on his heel and walked off to where his horsewas tied; got on him and rode away without once looking back, thoughhe knew quite well that they were watching every move he made. It didnot help to
smooth his temper that the sound of much laughing followedhim as he swung into the trail taken by the man who had left not longbefore.
Where he went, that afternoon when for some reason sufficient for theforeman--who was Chip Bennett--the Flying U roundup crew layluxuriously snoring in the shade instead of riding hurriedly and hotlythe high divides, no one but Andy himself knew. They talked about himafter he left, and told one another how great a liar he was, and howhe couldn't help it because he was born that way, and how you couldhardly help believing him. They recalled joyously certain of hisfabrications that had passed into the history of the Flying U, andwondered what josh he was trying to spring this time.
"What we ought to do," advised Cal, "is to lead him on and let him liehis darndest, and make out we believe him. And then we can give himthe laugh good and plenty--and maybe cure him."
"Cure nothing!" exclaimed Jack Bates, getting up because the sun haddiscovered him, and going over to the mess-wagon where a bit of shadehad been left unoccupied. "About the only way to cure Andy of lying,is to kill him. He was working his way up to some big josh, and if yuhlet him alone you'll find out what it is, all right. I wouldn't worrynone about it, if I was you." To prove that he did not worry, Jackimmediately went to sleep.
Such being the attitude of the Happy Family, when Andy rode hurriedlyinto camp at sundown, his horse wet to the tips of his ears withsweat, they sat up, expectancy writ large upon their faces. No onesaid anything, however, while Andy unsaddled and came over to beg abelated supper from the cook; nor yet while he squatted on his heelsbeside the cook-tent and ate hungrily. He seemed somewhat absorbed inhis thoughts, and they decided mentally that Andy was a sure-enoughgood actor, and that if they were not dead next to him and hisparticular weakness, they would swallow his yarn whole--whatever itwas. A blood-red glow was in the sky to the west, and it lightedAndy's face queerly, like a vivid blush on the face of a girl.
Andy scraped his plate thoughtfully with his knife, looked into hiscoffee-cup, stirred the dregs absently and dipped out half a spoonfulof undissolved sugar, which he swallowed meditatively. He tossedplate, cup and spoon toward the dishpan, sent knife and fork afterthem and got out his smoking material. And the Happy Family, groupedrather closely together and watching unobtrusively, stirred to thelistening point. The liar was about to lie.
"Talk about a guilty conscience giving a man dead away," Andy began,quite unconscious of the mental attitude of his fellows, andforgetting also his anger of the afternoon, "it sure does work outlike that, sometimes. I followed that old devil, just out uhcuriosity, to see if he headed for Dry Lake like he said he was going._We_ didn't have any reason for keeping cases on him, or suspicioninganything--but he acted like we was all out on his trail, the fool!
"I kinda had a hunch that if he had been up to any deviltry, it wouldshow on him when he left here, and I was plumb right about it. He wentall straight enough till he got down into Black Coulee; and rightthere it looked like he got kinda panicky and suspicious, for heturned square off the trail and headed up the coulee."
"He must uh had 'em," Weary commented, quite as if he believed.
"Yuh wait till I'm through," Andy advised, still wholly unconscious oftheir disbelief. "Yuh was all kinda skeptical when I told yuh he had aguilty conscience, but I was right about it, and come mighty nearlaying out on the range to-night with my toes pointing straight up,just because you fellows wouldn't--"
"Sun-stroke?" asked Pink, coming closer, his eyes showing purple inthe softened light.
"No--yuh wait, now, till I tell yuh." Whereupon Andy smokedrelishfully and in silence, and from the tail of his eye watched hisaudience squirm with impatience. "A man gets along a whole lot betterwithout any conscience," he began at last, irrelevantly, "'speciallyif he wants to be mean. I trailed this jasper up the coulee and out onthe bench, across that level strip between Black Coulee and Dry SpringGulch, and down the gulch a mile or so. He was fogging right along,and seemed as if he looked back every ten rods--I know he spotted mejust as I struck the level at the head uh Black Coulee, because heacted different then.
"I could see he was making across country for the trail to Chinook,but I wanted to overhaul him and have a little casual talk about Dan.I don't suppose yuh noticed I took his rope along; I wanted someexcuse for hazing after him like that, yuh see."
"Uh course, such accommodating cusses as you wouldn't be none strangeto him," fleered Cal.
"Well, he never found out what I was after," sighed Andy. "It wasn'tmy fault I didn't come up with him, and my intentions were peacefuland innocent. But do yuh know what happened? He got out uh sight downDry Spring Gulch--yuh know where that elephant-head rock sticks out,and the trail makes a short turn around it--that's where I lost sightof him. But he wasn't very far in the lead, and I was dead anxious togive him his rope, so I loped on down--"
"You were taking long chances, old-timer; that's mighty rough going,along there," hinted Chip, gravely.
"Sure, I was," Andy agreed easily. "But yuh recollect, I was in ahurry. So I'd just rounded the elephant's head, when _bing!_ somethingspats the rock, just over my right shoulder, and my horse squatteddown on his rump and said he'd gone far enough. I kinda felt the sameway about it, so when he wheeled and humped himself back up the trail,I didn't argue none with him."
There was silence so deep one could hear the saddle-bunch cropping thethick grasses along the creek. If this were true--this tale that Andywas telling--The Happy Family, half tempted to believe, glancedfurtively at one another.
"Aw, gwan!" It was the familiar, protesting croak of Happy Jack. "Whatdid yuh turn tail for? Why didn't yuh have it out with him?" The HappyFamily drew a long breath, and the temptation to believe was pushedaside.
"Because my gun was rolled up in my bed," Andy replied simply. "Iain't as brave as you are, Happy. I ain't got the nerve to ride rightup on a man that's scared plumb silly and pumping lead my way fast ashe can work the lever on his rifle, and lick him with my fists till hehowls, and then throw him and walk up and down his person and flap mywings and crow. It's awful to have to confess it, but I'm willing torun from any man that's shooting at me when I can't shoot back. I'dgive a lot to be as brave as you are, Happy."
Happy Jack growled and subsided.
"Well, by golly, there's times when _we'd_ be justified in shootingyuh, but I don't see what _he'd_ want to do it for," objected Slim.
"Guilty conscience, I told yuh," retorted Andy. "He seen I was chasinghim up, and I guess he thought it was somebody that had got next towhat happened--Lord, I wish I knew what did happen, down there in thebreaks! Boys," Andy got up and stood looking earnestly down at them inthe twilight, "you can't make me believe that there hasn't been amurder done! That fellow has been up to something, or he wouldn't beacting so damn' queer. And if it was just plain stealing, Dan wouldsure be hot on his trail--because Dan thought more of his money thanmost men do of their wives. It was about all he lived for, and hewasn't any coward. That old man never would get it off him without abig ruction, and if he did, Dan would be right after him bigger'n awolf. There's something wrong, you take my word."
"What do yuh want us to do about it?" It was Chip who asked thequestion, and his tone was quite calm and impersonal.
Andy looked at him reproachfully. "Do? What is there to do, except godown there and see? If we can find that out, we can put the sheriffwise and let him do the rest. It sure does seem kinda tough, if a mancan do a murder and robbery and get off with it, just because nobodycares enough about it to head him off."
The Happy Family stirred uneasily. Of course, it was all just a joshof Andy's--but he was such a convincing liar! Almost they felt guiltyof criminal negligence that they did not at once saddle up and givechase to the murderer, who had tried to kill Andy for following him,and who was headed for Chinook after unnecessarily proclaiming himselfbound for Dry Lake.
"Do you want the whole outfit to turn out?" asked Chip calmly at last.
"No-o--"
"Say, is it anywhe
res near that prehistoric castle you found once?"Ping asked maliciously, unbelief getting strong hold of him again.
Andy turned toward him, scowling. "No, Angel-child, it ain't," hesnapped. "And you fellows can back up and snort all yuh darn please,and make idiots of yourselves. But yuh can't do any business making meout a hot-air peddler on _this_ deal. I stand pat, just where I stoodat first, and it'll take a lot uh cackling to make me back down. Thatold devil _did_ lie about Dan, and he did take a shot at me--"
"He took yuh for a horse-thief, most likely," explained Jack Bates.
"He didn't need no field glass to see you was a suspicious character,by golly," chortled Slim.
"He thought yuh was after what little your friend Dan had overlooked,chances is," added Cal Emmett.
"Did the fog roll down and hide the horrible sight?" asked Jack Bates.
That, and much more, brought about a distinct coldness between theHappy Family and one Andy Green, so that the sun went down upon Andy'swrath, and rose to find it still bubbling hotly in the outraged heartof him.
It was Jack Bates who precipitated an open war by singing an adaptedversion of "Massa's In the Cold, Cold Ground," just when they wereeating breakfast. As an alleged musical effort it was bad enough, butas a personal insult it was worse. One hesitates to repeat thedoggerel, even in an effort to be exact. However, the chorus, bellowedshamelessly by Jack, was this:
"Down in the Bad-lands, hear that awful sound. Andy Green is there a-weeping--"
Jack Bates got no further than that, for Andy first threw his plate atJack and then landed upon him with much force and venom, so that Jackwent backwards and waved long legs convulsively in the air, and theHappy Family stood around and howled their appreciation of thespectacle.
When it dawned upon them that Andy was very much in earnest, and thathis fist was landing with unpleasant frequency just where it was mostpainful to receive it, they separated the two by main strength andargued loudly for peace. But Andy was thoroughly roused and would havenone of it, and hurled at them profanity and insulting epithets, sothat more than Jack Bates looked upon him with unfriendly eyes andsaid things which were not calculated to smooth roughened tempers.
"That's a-plenty, now," quelled Chip, laying detaining hand upon thenearest, who happened to be Andy himself. "You sound like a bunch ofold women. What do you want to do the worst and quickest, Andy?--and Idon't mean killing off any of these alleged joshers, either."
Andy clicked his teeth together, swallowed hard and slowly unclenchedhis hands and grinned; but the grin was not altogether a pleasant one,and the light of battle still shone in the big, gray eyes of him.
"You're the boss," he said, "but if yuh don't like my plans you'lljust have one less to pay wages to. What I'm going to do is throw mysaddle on my private horse and ride down into the Bad-lands and seefor myself how the cards lay. Maybe it's awful funny to the rest ofyuh, but I'm takin' it kinda serious, myself, and I'm going to findout how about it before I'm through. I can't seem to think it's a joshwhen some old mark makes a play like that fellow did, and tries to puta bullet into my carcass for riding the same trail he took. It's mefor the Bad-lands--and you can think what yuh damn' please about it."
Chip stood quite still till he was through, and eyed him sharply. "Youbetter take old Buck to pack your blankets and grub," he told him, ina matter-of-fact tone. "We'll be swinging down that way in two orthree days; by next Saturday you'll find us camped at the mouth ofJump-off Coulee, if nothing happens. That'll give you four days toprowl around. Come on, boys--we've got a big circle ahead of us thismorning, and it's going to be hot enough to singe the tails off ourcayuses by noon."
That, of course, settled the disturbance and set the official seal ofapproval upon Andy's going; for Chip was too wise to permit the affairto grow serious, and perhaps lose a man as good as Andy; familyquarrels had not been entirely unknown among the boys of the Flying U,and with tact they never had been more than a passing unpleasantness.So that, although Jack Bates swore vengeance and nursed sundry bruisedspots on his face, and though Andy saddled, packed old Buck with hisblankets and meager camp outfit and rode off sullenly with no word toanyone and only a scowling glance or two for farewell, Chip mountedand rode cheerfully away at the head of his Happy Family, worrying notat all over the outcome.
"I've got half a notion that Andy was telling the truth, after all,"he remarked to Weary when they were well away from camp. "It's worthtaking a chance on, anyhow--and when he comes back things will besmooth again."
When Saturday came and brought no Andy to camp, the Happy Family beganto speculate upon his absence. When Sunday's circle took them withintwelve or fifteen miles of the camp in the Bad-lands, Pink suddenlyproposed that they ride down there and see what was going on. "Hewon't be looking for us," he explained, to hide a secret uneasiness."And if he's there we can find out what the josh is. If he ain't,we'll have it on him good and strong."
"I betche Andy just wanted a lay-off, and took that way uh gettingit," declared Happy Jack pessimistically. "I betche he's in town rightnow, tearing things wide open and tickled to think he don't have toride in this hot sun. Yuh can't never tell what Andy's got cached uphis sleeve."
"Chip thinks he was talking on the level," Weary mused. "Maybe he was;as Happy says, yuh can't tell."
As always before, this brought the Happy Family to argument whichlasted till they neared the deep, lonely coulee where, according toAndy, "friend Dan" had wintered with the shifty-eyed old man.
"Now, how the mischief do we get down?" questioned Jack Batescomplainingly. "This is bound to be the right place--there's the cabinover there against the cottonwoods."
"Aw, come on back," urged Happy Jack, viewing the steep bluff withdisfavor. "Chances is, Andy's in town right now. He ain't down--"
"There's old Buck, over there by the creek," Pink announced. "I'd knowhim far as I could see him. Let's ride around that way. There's sureto be a trail down." He started off, and they followed himdispiritedly, for the heat was something to remember afterwards with ashudder.
"Here's the place," Pink called back to them, after some minutes ofriding. "Andy's horse is down there, too, but I don't see Andy--"
"Chances is--" began Happy Jack, but found no one listening.
It would be impossible to ride down, so they dismounted and preparedfor the scramble. They could see Buck, packed as if for the homewardtrail, and they could see Andy's horse, saddled and feeding with reinsdragging. He looked up at them and whinnied, and the sound butaccentuated the loneliness of the place. Buck, too, saw them and cametoward them, whinnying wistfully; but, though they strained eyes inevery direction, they could see nothing of the man they sought.
It was significant of their apprehension that not even Happy Jack madeopen comment upon the strangeness of it. Instead, they dug bootheelsdeep where the slope was loose gravel, and watched that their horsesdid not slide down upon them; climbed over rocks where the way wasbarred, and prayed that horse and man might not break a leg. They hadbeen over rough spots, and had climbed in and out of deep coulees, butnever had they travelled a rougher trail than that.
"My God! boys, look down there!" Pink cried, when yet fiftyperpendicular feet lay between them and the level below.
They looked, and drew breath sharply. Huddled at the very foot of thelast and worst slope lay Andy, and they needed no words to explainwhat had happened. It was evident that he had started to climb thebluff and had slipped and fallen to the bottom, And from the way hewas lying--The Happy Family shut out the horror of the thought andhurried recklessly to the place.
It was Pink who, with a last slide and a stumbling recovery at thebottom, reached him first. It was Jack Bates who came a close secondand helped to turn him--for he had fallen partly on his face. From theway one arm was crumpled back under him, they knew it to be broken.Further than that they could only guess and hope. While they werefeeling for heart-beats, the others came down and crowded close. Pinklooked up at them strainedly.
; "Oh, for God's sake, some of yuh get water," he cried sharply. "Whatgood do yuh think you're doing, just standing around?"
"We ought to be hung for letting him come down here alone," Wearyrepented. "It ain't safe for one man in this cursed country. Where'she hurt, Cadwolloper?"
"How in hell do _I_ know?" Anxiety ever sharpened the tongue of Pink."If somebody'd bring some water--"
"Happy's gone. And there ain't a drop uh whisky in the crowd! Can't weget him into the shade? This damned sun is enough to--"
"Look out how yuh lift him, man! You ain't wrassling a calf, remember!You take his shoulder, Jack--_easy_, yuh damned, awkward--"
"Here comes Happy, with his hat full. Don't slosh it all on at once! Alittle at a time's better. Get some on his head."
So with much incoherence and with everybody giving orders and eachacting independently, they bore him tenderly into the shade of a rockand worked over him feverishly, their faces paler than his. When heopened his eyes and stared at them dully, they could have shouted forvery relief. When he closed them again they bent over him solicitouslyand dripped more water from the hat of Happy Jack. And not one of thembut remembered remorsefully the things they had said of him, not anhour before; the things they had said even when he was lying therealone and hurt--hurt unto death, for all they knew.
When he was roused enough to groan when they moved him, howevergently, they began to consider the problem of getting him to camp, andthey cursed the long, hot miles that lay between. They tried toquestion him, but if he understood what they were saying he could notreply except by moaning, which was not good to hear. All that theycould gather was that when they moved his body in a certain way thepain of it was unbearable. Also, he would faint when his head waslowered, or even lifted above the level. They must guard against thatif they meant to get him to camp alive.
"We'll have to carry him up this cussed hill, and then--If he couldride at all, we might make it."
"The chances is he'll die on the road," croaked Happy Jack tactlessly,and they scowled at him for voicing the fear they were trying toignore. They had been trying not to think that he might die on theroad, and they had been careful not to mention the possibility. As itwas, no one answered.
How they ever got him to the top of that heartbreaking slope, not oneof them ever knew. Twice he fainted outright. And Happy Jack,carefully bearing his hat full of water for just that emergency,slipped and spilled the whole of it just when they needed it most. Atthe last, it was as if they carried a dead man between them--JackBates and Cal Emmett it was who bore him up the last steep climb--andPink and Weary, coming behind with all the horses, glanced fearfullyinto each other's eyes and dared not question.
At the top they laid him down in the grass and swore at Happy Jack,because they must do something, and because they dared not face whatmight be before them. They avoided looking at one another while theystood helplessly beside the still figure of the man they had maligned.If he died, they would always have that bitter spot in theirmemory--and even with the fear of his dying they stood remorseful.
Of a sudden Andy opened his eyes and looked at them with the light ofrecognition, and they bent eagerly toward him. "If--yuh could--on--myhorse--I--I--could ride--maybe." Much pain it cost him, they knew bythe look on his face. But he was game to the last--just as they knewhe would be.
"Yuh couldn't ride Twister, yuh know yuh couldn't," Pink objectedgently. "But--if yuh could ride Jack's horse--he's dead gentle, andwe'd help hold yuh on. Do you think yuh could?"
Andy moved his head uneasily. "I--I've got to," he retorted weakly,and even essayed a smile to reassure them. "I--ain't all--in yet," headded with an evident effort, and the Happy Family gulpedsympathetically, and wondered secretly if they would have such nerveunder like conditions.
"It's going to be one hell of a trip for yuh," Weary murmuredcommiseratingly, when they were lifting him into the saddle. Of atruth, it did seem absolutely foolhardy to attempt it, but there wasnothing else to do, unless they left him there. For no wagon couldpossibly be driven within miles of the place.
Andy leaned limply over the saddle-horn, his face working with theagony he suffered. Somehow they had got him upon the horse of JackBates, but they had felt like torturers while they did it, and theperspiration on their faces was not all caused by heat.
"My God, I'd rather be hung than go through this again," muttered Cal,white under the tan. "I--"
"I'll tackle--it now," gasped Andy, with a pitiful attempt to sitstraight in the saddle. "Get on--boys--"
Reluctantly they started to obey, when the horse of Jack Bates gave asudden leap ahead. Many hands reached out to grasp him by the bridle,but they were a shade too late, and he started to run, with Andyswaying in the saddle. While they gazed horrified, he straightenedconvulsively, turned his face toward them and raised a hand; caughthis hat by the brim and swung it high above his head.
"Much obliged, boys," he yelled derisively. "I sure do appreciatebeing packed up that hill; it was too blamed hot to walk. Say! ifyou'd gone around that bend, you'd uh found a good trail down. Yuhstruck about the worst place there is. So-long--I ain't all in yet!"He galloped away, while the Happy Family stared after him with bulgingeyes.
"The son-of-a-gun!" gasped Weary weakly, and started for his horse.
"Darn yuh, you'll _be_ all in when we get hold of yuh!" screamed JackBates, and gave chase.
It was when they were tearing headlong after him down the coulee's rimand into a shallow gully which seamed unexpectedly the level, thatthey saw his horse swerve suddenly and go bounding along the edge ofthe slope with Andy "sawing" energetically upon the bit.
"What trick's he up to now?" cried Cal Emmett resentfully, feelingthat, in the light of what had gone before, Andy could not possiblymake a single motion in good faith.
Andy brought his horse under control and turned back to meet them, andthe Happy Family watched him guardedly until they reached the gulleyand their own horses took fright at a dark, shambling object thatscuttled away down toward the coulee-head. Andy was almost upon thembefore they could give him any attention.
"Did you see it?" he called excitedly. "It was a bear, and he wasdigging at something under that shelving rock. Come on and let's takea look."
"Aw, gwan!" Happy Jack adjured crossly. He was thinking of all thewater he had carried painstakingly in his hat, for the relief of thisconscienceless young reprobate, and he was patently suspicious of somenew trick.
"Well, by gracious!" Andy rode quite close--dangerously close,considering the mood they were in--and eyed them queerly. "I sure musthave a horrible rep, when yuh won't believe your own eyes just becauseI happen to remark that a bear is a bear. I'll call it a pinto hog, ifit'll make yuh feel any better. And I'll say it wasn't doing anydigging; only, I'm going down there and take a look. There's anodor--"
There was, and they could not deny it, even though Andy did make theassertion. And though they had threatened much that was exceedinglyunpleasant, and what they would surely do to Andy if they ever got himwithin reach, they followed him quite peaceably.
They saw him get off his horse and stand looking down atsomething--and there was that in his attitude which made them jabspurs against their horses' flanks. A moment later they, too, werelooking down at something, and they were not saying a word.
"It's Dan, all right," said Andy at last, and his tone was hushed. "Ihunted the coulee over--every foot of it--and looked up some of thelittle draws, and went along the river; but I couldn't find any traceof him. I never thought about coming up here.
"Look there. His head was smashed in with a rock or something--ugh!Here, let me away, boys. This thing--" He walked uncertainly away andsat down upon a rock with his face in his hands, and what they couldsee of his face was as white as the tan would permit. Somehow, not aman of them doubted him then. And not a man of them but felt much thesame. They backed away and stood close to where Andy was sitting.
"You wouldn't believe me when I told yuh," he reproached, when thesickn
ess had passed and he could lift his head and look at them. "Youthought I was lying, and yuh made yourselves pretty blamed obnoxiousto me--but I got even for _that_." There was much satisfaction in histone, and the Happy Family squirmed. "Yuh see, I was telling thetruth, all right--and now I'm going to get even some more. I'm goingto take--er--Pink along for a witness, and notify the outfit that yuhwon't be back for a day or two, and send word to the sheriff. And youjaspers can have the pleasure uh standing guard over--_that_." Heshivered a little and turned his glance quickly away. "And I hope," headded maliciously, as he mounted his own horse, "you'll make JackBates stand an all-night guard by his high lonesome. He's sure got itcoming to him!"
With Pink following close at his heels he rode away up the ridge.
"Say, there's grub enough on old Buck to do yuh to-night," he calleddown to them, "in case Chip don't send yuh any till to-morrow." Hewaved a subdued farewell and turned his face again up the ridge, andbefore they had quite decided what to do about it, he was gone.
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