CHAPTER XII
AFTER THE STORM
Hollis's tall figure lay pitifully slack on a bed in the Hazelton cabin.Nellie Hazelton had given him what care she could out of her limitedknowledge and now nothing more could be done until the arrival of theCimarron doctor. Swathed in bandages, his clothing torn and soiled--asthough after beating him his assailants had dragged him through themud--one hand queerly twisted, his face swollen, his whole great bodylooking as though it had received the maximum of injury, Hollis movedrestlessly on the bed, his head rolling oddly from side to side,incoherent words issuing from between his bruised and swollen lips.
Norton stood beside the bed, looking down at the injured man with agrim, savage pity.
"The damned cowards!" he said, his voice quivering. "There must havebeen a dozen of them--to do him up like that!"
"Seven," returned Ed Hazelton grimly. "They left their trail there; Icounted the hoof prints, an' they led down the slope toward Big Elkcrossin'." He looked at Norton with a frown. "We can't do anythinghere," he said shortly, "until the doctor comes. I'll take you downwhere I found him."
They went out and mounted their ponies. Down the trail a mile or so theycame to a level that led away toward Rabbit-Ear Creek. From the levelthey could see the Circle Cross buildings, scattered over a smallstretch of plain on the opposite side of the river. There was no lifearound them, no movement. Norton grimaced toward them.
Hazelton halted his pony in some tall grass near a bare, sandy spot onthe plains. The grass here grew only in patches and Norton could plainlysee a number of hoof prints in the sand. One single set led away acrossthe plains toward the Dry Bottom trail. Seeing the knowing expression inNorton's eyes, Hazelton spoke quietly.
"That's Hollis's trail. He must have took the Dry Bottom trail an' lostit in the storm. Potter says he would probably take it because it'sshorter. Anyways, it's his trail; I followed it back into the hillsuntil I was sure. I saw that he had been comin' from Dry Bottom. He losthis way an' rode over here. I remember there was an awful darkness, forI was out scoutin' around to see if my stock was all right. Well, he gotthis far--rode right up to the edge of the butte over there an' thencome back this way. Then he met--well, the men that did it."
"They all stood there for a little while; you can see where their horsespawed. Then mebbe they started somethin', for you can see where Hollis'spony throwed up a lot of sand, tryin' to break out. The others were in acircle--you can see that. I've figured it out that Hollis saw therewasn't any chance for him against so many an' he tried to hit the breezeaway from here. I'll show you."
They followed the hoof prints down the slope and saw that all the ridersmust have been traveling fast at this point, for the earth was cut andthe hoof prints bunched fore and aft. They ran only a little way,however. About a hundred yards down the slope, in a stretch of bare,sandy soil, the horses had evidently come to a halt again, for they werebunched well together and there were many of them, showing that therehad been some movement after the halt.
Norton dismounted and examined the surrounding soil.
"They all got off here," he said shortly, after the examination;"there's the prints of their boots. They caught him here and handed itto him."
Hazelton silently pointed to a queer track in the sand--a shallow grooverunning about fifty feet, looking as though some heavy object had beendrawn over it. Norton's face whitened.
"Drug him!" he said grimly, his lips in two straight lines. "It's likelythey roped him!" He remounted his pony and sat in the saddle, watchingHazelton as the latter continued his examination. "They're a fine, nervybunch!" he sneered as Hazelton also climbed into his saddle. "They musthave piled onto him like a pack of wolves. If they'd have come one at atime he'd have cleaned them up proper!"
They rode away down the trail toward the cabin. Norton went in andlooked again at Hollis, and then, telling Hazelton that he would returnin the afternoon, he departed for the Circle Bar. He stopped at theranchhouse and communicated the news to his wife and Potter and thenrode on up the river to a point about ten miles from theranchhouse--where the outfit was working.
The men received his news with expressions of rage and vengeance. Theyhad come to admire Hollis for his courage in electing to continue thefight against Dunlavey; they had seen that in spite of his ignorance ofthe customs of their world he possessed a goodly store of common senseand an indomitable spirit. Yet none of them expressed sympathy, thoughtheir faces showed that they felt it. Expressions of sympathy in a casesuch as this would have been unnecessary and futile. But theirexpressions of rage showed how the news had affected them. Though theyknew that Dunlavey's forces outnumbered their own they were for strikingback immediately. But Norton discouraged this.
"We're layin' low for a while," he said. "Mebbe the boss will get well.If he does he'll make things mighty interestin' for Dunlavey--likelyhe'll remember who was in the crowd which beat him up. If he dies----"His eyes flashed savagely. "Well, if he dies you boys can go as far asyou like an' I'll go with you without doin' any kickin'."
"What's goin' to be done with that noospaper of his'n?" inquired Ace."You reckon she'll miss fire till he's well again?"
Norton's brows wrinkled; he had not thought of the newspaper. But herealized now that if the paper failed to appear on scheduled time thepeople in Union County would think that Hollis had surrendered; theywould refuse to believe that he had been so badly injured that he couldnot issue the paper, and Dunlavey would be careful to circulate somesort of a story to encourage this view. Now that Ace had brought thematter to his attention he began to suspect that this had been thereason of the attack on Hollis. That they had not killed him when theyhad the opportunity, showed that they must have had some purpose otherthan that of merely desiring to get him out of the way. That they hadmerely beaten him showed that their wish was only to incapacitate himtemporarily. Norton's eyes flashed with a sudden determination.
"I don't reckon that the _Kicker_ will miss fire," he declared;"not if I have to go to Dry Bottom an' get her out myself!"
Ace eyed him furtively and now spoke with an embarrassedself-consciousness.
"I've been considerin' this here situation ever since you told us aboutthe boss," he said diffidently, "an' if you're goin' to get that paperout, a little poem or two might help out considerable."
"Meanin'?" interrogated Norton, his eyelashes flickering.
Ace's face reddened painfully. "Meanin' that I've got several littlepieces which I've wrote when I didn't have anything else to do an' thatI'd be right willin' to have them put into the _Kicker_ to helpfill her up. Some of the boys think they're right classy."
Norton looked around at the other men for confirmation of the truth ofthis modest statement. He caught Lanky's glance.
"I reckon that's about right," said that sober-faced puncher; "Ace isthe pote lariat of this here outfit, an' he sure has got a lot of rightclever lines in his pomes. I've read them which wasn't one-two-threewith his'n."
Norton smiled, a little cynically. He wasn't quite sure about it, hesaid, but if Ace could write poetry he hadn't any doubt that during thenext few weeks there would be plenty of opportunity to print some of itin the Kicker. He smiled when he saw Ace's face brighten. But he toldhim he would have to see Hollis--if the latter got well enough to endurean interview. If the boss recovered enough to be able to look at Ace'spoetry before it was printed, why of course it would have to be shownhim. He didn't want anything to go into the _Kicker_ which the bosswouldn't like. But if he wasn't able to look at it, why he would leavethe decision to Potter, and if it suited the latter he would besatisfied. He would keep the boys posted on the boss's condition. Thenhe rode away toward the ranchhouse.
Late in the afternoon he again visited the Hazelton cabin. He found theCimarron doctor already there. Hollis was still unconscious, thoughresting easier. The doctor declared that he would remain with himthroughout the night. He followed Norton out on to the porch and toldhim that at present he could not tell just how seriou
s Hollis's injurieswere. There was a great wound in his head which he feared might turn outseriously, but if not, Hollis would recover quickly and be as good asever within a few weeks--except for his left wrist--which was broken. Hepraised Nellie Hazelton for the care she was giving the injured man.Convinced that there was nothing more to be done, Norton returned to theCircle Bar to give his attention to his work.
The Coming of the Law Page 12
