The Night Horseman

by Max Brand

  CHAPTER XXXV

  PALE ANNIE

  Even in Elkhead there were fires this day. In the Gilead saloon onemight have thought that the liquid heat which the men imbibed wouldserve in place of stoves, but the proprietor, "Pale Annie," had an eyeto form, and when the sky was grey he always lighted the stove.

  "Pale Annie" he was called because his real name was Anderson HawberrySandringham. That name had been a great aid to him when he was anundertaker in Kansas City; but Anderson Hawberry Sandringham had fallenfrom the straight and narrow path of good undertakers some years beforeand he had sought refuge in the mountain-desert, where most thingsprosper except sheriffs and grass. He was fully six inches more than sixfeet in height and his face was so long and pale that even Haw-HawLangley seemed cheerful beside the ex-undertaker. In Kansas City thishad been much prized, for that single face could lend solemnity to anyfuneral. In Elkhead it was hardly less of an asset.

  People came out of curiosity to see Pale Annie behind the bar with histall silk hat--which he could never bring himself to lay aside--amongthe cobwebs of the rafters. They came out of curiosity and they remainedto drink--which is a habit in the mountain-desert. A travelling drummeror a patent medicine man had offered Pale Annie a handsome stake tosimply go about with him and lend the sanction of his face to the talkof the drummer, but Pale Annie had discovered a veritable philosopher'sstone in Elkhead and he was literally turning whiskey into gold.

  This day was even more prosperous than usual for Pale Annie, for thegrey weather and the chilly air made men glad of the warmth, bothexternal and internal, which Pale Annie possessed in his barroom. Hisdextrous hands were never for a moment still at the bar, either settingout drinks or making change, except when he walked out and threw a freshfeed into the fire, and stirred up the ruddy depths of the stove with atall poker. It was so long, indeed, that it might have served even PaleAnnie for a cane and it was a plain untapered bar of iron which theblacksmith had given him as the price of a drink, on a day. He needed alarge poker, however, for there was only the one stove in the entire bigroom, and it was a giant of its kind, as capacious as a hogshead. Thisday Pale Annie kept it red hot, so that the warmth might penetrate tothe door on the one hand and to the rear of the room where the tablesand chairs were, on the other.

  Since Pale Annie's crowd took little exercise except for bending theirelbows now and again, and since the majority of them had been in theplace fully half the day, by ten in the evening sounds of hilarity beganto rise from the saloon. Solemn-faced men who had remained in theirplaces for hour after hour, industriously putting away the red-eye, nowshowed symptoms of life. Some of them discovered hitherto hidden talentsas singers, and they would rise from their places, remove their hats,open their bearded mouths, and burst into song. An antiquarian who hadwashed gold in '49 and done nothing the rest of his life save grow aprodigious set of pure white whiskers, sprang from his place and did ahoe-down that ravished the beholders. Thrice he was compelled to returnto the floor; and in the end his performance was only stopped by anattack of sciatica. Two strong men carried him back to his chair andwept over him, and there was another drink all around.

  In this scene of universal joy there were two places of shadow. For atthe rear end of the room, almost out of reach of the lantern-light, satHaw-Haw Langley and Mac Strann. The more Haw-Haw Langley drank the morecadaverous grew his face, until in the end it was almost as solemn asthat of Pale Annie himself; as for Mac Strann, he seldom drank at all.

  A full hour had just elapsed since either of them spoke, yet Haw-HawLangley said, as if in answer to a remark: "He's heard too much aboutyou, Mac. He ain't no such fool as to come to Elkhead."

  "He ain't had time," answered the giant.

  "Ain't had time? All these days?"

  "Wait till the dog gets well. He'll follow the dog to Elkhead."

  "Why, Mac, the trail's been washed out long ago. That wind the other daywould of knocked out any trail less'n a big waggon."

  "It won't wash out the trail for _that_ dog," said Mac Strann calmly.

  "Well," snarled Haw-Haw, "I got to be gettin' back home pretty soon. Iain't rollin' in coin the way you are, Mac."

  The other returned no answer, but let his eyes rove vacantly over theroom, and since his head was turned the other way, Haw-Haw Langleyallowed a sneer to twist at his lips for a moment.

  "If I had the price," he said, "we'd have another drink."

  "I ain't drinkin'," answered the giant monotonously.

  "Then I'll go up and bum one off'n Pale Annie. About time he comethrough with a little charity."

  So he unfurled his length and stalked through the crowd up to the bar.Here he leaned and confidentially whispered in the ear of Pale Annie.

  "Partner, I been sprinklin' dust for a long time in here, and thereain't been any reward. I'm dry, Annie."

  Pale Annie regarded him with grave disapproval.

  "My friend," he said solemnly, "liquor is the real root of all evil. Formy part, I quench my thirst with water. They's a tub over there in thecorner with a dipper handy. Don't mention it."

  "I didn't thank you," said Haw-Haw Langley furiously. "Damn a tight-wad,say I!"

  The long hand of Pale Annie curled affectionately around the neck of anempty bottle.

  "I didn't quite gather what you said?" he remarked courteously, andleaned across the bar--within striking distance.

  "I'll tell you later," remarked Haw-Haw sullenly, and turned hisshoulder to the bar.

  As he did so two comparatively recent arrivals came up beside him. Theywere fresh from a couple of months of range-finding, and they had beenquenching a concentrated thirst by concentrated effort. Haw-Haw Langleylooked them over, sighed with relief, and then instantly produced Durhamand the brown papers. He paused in the midst of rolling his cigaretteand offered them to the nearest fellow.

  "Smoke?" he asked.

  Now a man of the mountain-desert knows a great many things, but he doesnot know how to refuse. The proffer of a gift embarrasses him, but heknows no way of avoiding it; also he never rests easy until he has madesome return.

  "Sure," said the man, and gathered in the tobacco and papers. "Thanks!"

  He covertly dropped the cigarette which he had just lighted, and steppedon it, then he rolled another from Haw-Haw's materials. The while, hekept an uneasy eye on his new companion.

  "Drinkin'?" he asked at length.

  "Not jest now," said Haw-Haw carelessly.

  "Always got room for another," protested the other, still more inearnest as he saw his chance of a return disappearing.

  "All right, then," said Haw-Haw. "Jest one more."

  And he poured a glass to the brim, waved it gracefully towards theothers without spilling a drop, and downed it at a gulp.

  "Ben in town long?" he asked.

  "Not long enough to find any action," answered the other.

  The eye of Haw-Haw Langley brightened. He looked over the two carefully.The one had black hair and the other red, but they were obviouslybrothers, both tall, thick-shouldered, square-jawed, and pug-nosed.There was Irish blood in that twain; the fire in their eyes could havecome from only one place on earth. And Haw-Haw grinned and looked downthe length of the room to where Mac Strann sat, a heavy, inert mass, hisfleshy forehead puckered into a half-frown of animal wistfulness.

  "You ain't the only ones," he said to his companion at the bar. "They'sa man in town who says they don't turn out any two men in this rangethat could give him action."

  "The hell!" grunted he of the red hair. And he looked down to hisblunt-knuckled hands.

  "'S matter of fact," continued Haw-Haw easily, "he's right here now!"

  He looked again towards Mac Strann and remembered once more the drinkwhich Mac might so easily have purchased for him.

  "It ain't Pale Annie, is it?" asked the black haired man, casting adubious glance up and down the vast frame of the undertaker.

  "Him? Not half!" grinned Haw-Haw. "It's a fet feller down to the end ofthe b
ar. I guess he's been drinkin' some. Kind of off his nut."

  He indicated Mac Strann.

  "He looks to me," said the red-haired man, setting his jaw, "like afeller that ain't any too old to learn one more thing about the range inthese parts."

  "He looks to me," chimed in the black haired brother, "like a fellerthat might be taught something right here in Pale Annie's barroom.Anyway, he's got room at his table for two more."

  So saying the two swallowed their drinks and rumbled casually down thelength of the room until they came to the table where Mac Strann sat.Haw-Haw Langley followed at a discreet distance and came within earshotto hear the deep voice of Mac Strann rumbling: "Sorry, gents, but thatchair is took."

  The black-haired man sank into the indicated chair.

  "You're right," he announced calmly. "Anybody could see with half aneye that you ain't a fool. It's took by me!"

  And he grinned impudently in the face of Mac Strann. The latter, who hadbeen sitting with slightly bent head, now raised it and looked the pairover carelessly; there was in his eye the same dumb curiosity whichHaw-Haw Langley had seen many a time in the eye of a bull, leader of theherd.

  The giant explained carefully: "I mean, they's a friend of mine that'sbeen sittin' in that chair."

  "If I ain't your friend," answered the black-haired brother instantly,"it ain't any fault of mine. Lay it up to yourself, partner!"

  Mac Strann stretched out his hand on the surface of the table.

  He said: "I got an idea you better get out of that chair."

  The other turned his head slowly on all sides and then looked Mac Strannfull in the face.

  "Maybe they's something wrong with my eyes," he said, "but I don't seeno reason."

  The little dialogue had lasted long enough to focus all eyes on thetable at the end of the room, and therefore there were many witnesses towhat followed. The arm of Mac Strann shot out; his hand fastened in thecollar of the black-haired man's shirt, and the latter was raised fromhis seat and propelled to one side by a convulsive jerk. He probablywould have been sent crashing into the bar had not his shirt failedunder the strain. It ripped in two at the shoulders, and the seekerafter action, naked to the waist, went reeling back to the middle of theroom, before he gained his balance. After him went Mac Strann with anagility astonishing in that squat, formless bulk. His long arms wereoutstretched and his fingers tensed, and in his face there was anuncanny joy; his lip had lifted in that peculiarly disheartening sneer.

  He was not a pace from him of the black hair when a yell of rage behindhim and the other brother leaped through the air and landed on MacStrann's back. He doubled up, slipped his arms behind him, and the nextinstant, without visible reason, the red-headed man hurtled through theair and smashed against the bar with a jolt that set the glasswareshivering and singing. Then he relaxed on the floor, a twisted andfoolish looking mass.

  As for the seeker after action, he had at first reached after hisrevolver, but he changed his mind at the last instant and instead pickedup the great poker which leaned against the stove. It was a ponderousweapon and he had to wield it in both hands. As he swung it around hishead there was a yell from men ducking out of the way, and Pale Anniecurled his hand again around his favorite empty bottle. He had no goodopportunity to demonstrate its efficiency, however. Mac Strann,crouching in the position from which he had catapulted the red-hairedman, cast upwards a single glance at the other brother, and then hesprang in. The poker hissed through the air with the vigour of a strongman's arms behind it and it would have cracked the head of Mac Strannlike an empty egg-shell if it had hit its mark. But it was heaved toohigh, and Mac Strann went in like a football player rushing the line,almost doubled up against the floor as he ran. His shoulders struck theother hardly higher than the knees, and they went down together, but sodoing the head of Mac Strann's victim cracked against the floor, and healso was still.

  The exploit was greeted by a yell of applause and then someone proposeda cheer, and it was given. It died off short on the lips of theapplauders, however, for it was seen that Mac Strann was not yet donewith his work, and he went about it in a manner which made men sobersuddenly and exchange glances.

  First the stranger dragged the two brothers together, laying one of themface down on the floor. The second he placed over the first, back toback. Next he picked up the long poker from the floor and slipped itunder the head and down to the neck of the first man. The bystanderswatched in utter silence, with a touch of horror coming now in theireyes.

  Now Mac Strann caught the ends of the iron and began to twist up onthem. There was no result at first. He refreshed his hold and triedagain. The sleeves of his shirt were seen to swell and then grow hardand taut with vast play of muscle beneath. His head bowed lower betweenhis shoulders, and those shoulders trembled, and the muscles over themquivered like heat-waves rising of a spring morning. There was acreaking, now, and then the iron was seen to shiver and then bend,slowly, and once it was wrenched out of the horizontal, the motion wasmore and more rapid. Until, when the giant was done with his labor, theends of the iron over-lapped around the necks of the two lucklessbrothers. Mac Strann stepped back and surveyed his work; the rest of theroom was in silence, saving that the red-headed man was coming back toconsciousness and now writhed and groaned feebly. He could not rise;that was manifest, for the thick band of iron tied his neck to the neckof his brother.

  Upon this scene Mac Strann gazed with a thoughtful air and then steppedto the side of the room where stood a bucket of dirty water, recentlyused for mopping behind the bar. This he caught up, returned, and dashedthe black, greasy water over the pair.

  If it had been electricity it could not have operated more effectively.The two awoke with one mind, and with a tremendous spluttering andcursing struggled to regain their feet. It was no easy thing, however,for when one stood up the other slipped and in his fall involved thebrother. In the meantime it made a jest exactly suited to the mind ofElkhead, and shrieks of hysterical laughter rewarded their struggles.Until at length they sat solemnly, back to back, easing the pressure ofthe iron as best they might with their hands. Assembled Elkhead reeledabout the room, drunken with laughter. But Mac Strann went quietly backto his table and paid no attention to the scene.

  There is an end to all good things, however, and finally the twobrothers concerted action together, rose, and then side-stepped towardsthe door, dripping the mop-water at every step. Obviously they werebound for the blacksmith's to lose their collar; and everyone in thesaloon knew that the blacksmith was not in town.

  The old man who had done the hoe-down hobbled to the end of the barroomand before the table of Mac Strann made a speech to the effect thatElkhead had everything it needed except laughter, that Mac Strann hadcome to their assistance in that respect, and that if he, the old man,had the power, he would pension such an efficient jester and keep himpermanently in the town. To all of this Mac Strann paid not theslightest heed, but with his fleshy brow puckered considered theinfinite distance. Even the drink which Pale Annie, grateful for theaverted riot, placed on the table before him, Mac Strann allowed tostand untasted. And it was private stock!

  It was at this time that Haw-Haw Langley made his way back to the tableand occupied the contested seat.

  "That was a bum play," he said solemnly to Mac Strann. "When Barry hearsabout what you done here to two men, d'you think that he'll ever hityour trail?"

  The other started.

  "I never thought about it," he murmured, his thick lips, as always,framing speech with difficulty. "D'you s'pose I'd ought to go back tothe Cumberland place for him?"

  A yell rose at the farther end of the room.

  "A wolf! Hey! Shoot the damn wolf!"

  "You fool!" cried another. "He ain't skinny enough to be a wolf.Besides, whoever heard of a tame wolf comin' into a barroom?"

  Nevertheless many a gun was held in readiness, and the men, even themost drunken, fell back to one side and allowed a free passage for theanimal. It seemed, indee
d, to be a wolf, and a giant of its kind, and itslunk now with soundless step through the silence of the barroom,glancing neither to right nor to left, until it came before the table ofMac Strann. There it halted and slunk back a little, the upper liplifted away from the long fangs, its eyes glittered upon the face of thegiant, and then it swung about and slipped out of the barroom as it hadcome, in utter silence.

  In the utter silence Mac Strann leaned across the table to Haw-HawLangley.

  "He's come alone this time," he said, "but the next time he'll bring hismaster with him. We'll wait!"

  The Adam's-apple rose and fell in the throat of Haw-Haw.

  "We'll wait," he nodded, and he burst into the harsh, unhuman laughterwhich had given him his name.