by Fran Striker
Chapter XXVI
DISASTER GETS ORGANIZED
As Wallie descended the stairs after this talk with the masked man, hisnonchalance crystallized into a grim resolve that transformed hispersonality. He paused at the bottom of the flight and glanced up. Theenigmatic man with the mask apparently had returned to Bryant's bedroom.Then Wallie opened the front door and stepped to the verandah. Half adozen of the ranch hands were there with ill-concealed curiosity.
Wallie spoke softly but without a trace of the careless ease that markedhis style at other times. "Go back to whatever you were doin'," heordered. "If you're needed, we'll send for you."
"But who was that masked man with Bryant?" asked one of the men.
"None of your damn business," retorted Wallie in a surly voice. "Get towork an' you'll be sent for later." He turned to another man. "HasGimlet been buried yet?"
The lanky individual addressed shook his head slowly. "We jest tossed ablanket over him," he said. "We warn't shore what yore plans was. He'sstill in the bunkhouse."
Wallie nodded. "Leave him there for the time being." He swung throughthe door and headed for the upset living room. Had Penelope seen Walliein his present mood, she would have revised her opinion of him in ahundred ways. He walked with a purposeful air instead of the familiarsauntering gait; his eyes, generally half-closed in boredom, were wideand divided by a perpendicular frown-crease on his forehead. And thoseeyes were hard. His hands were clenched with such intensity that thewell-cared-for fingernails bit into the palms ... hard fists in place ofhands that strummed soft tunes of romance on a guitar. The soft,full-lipped mouth was gone, and in its place there was the same hardline that Bryant Cavendish showed when angry.
Wallie was indeed a different person. A fop no longer; instead, a man ofpurpose with cruel ruthlessness in every feature. He went through theliving room without a pause and halted only when he reached the kitchen.He closed the door without a slam.
Jeb sat with a woebegone expression on a heavy chair. Sawtell, as blandas ever, stood beside him, holding a heavy gun in one hand. At the sightof Wallie, Sawtell spoke. "He started to make some complaints a littlewhile ago, an' I tapped him on the head. I don't think we'll hear anymore from him."
Wallie glanced at his lean brother. There was a cut somewhere beneaththe stringy hair on the left side of Jeb's skull. Blood, seeping fromit, had dribbled down his cheek and stained his collar. Jeb's eyes heldan unvoiced but pathetic plea. They resembled those of a hog-tied calfsuffering the torment of a branding iron.
Wallie said, "Better gag an' tie him. I'll decide later what's to bedone."
Sawtell nodded, dropped his pistol in a holster, and proceeded with thetying, while Jeb, who knew that a voiced complaint would simply meananother crack on the head, made no resistance.
Lonergan sat on the edge of the kitchen table, casually working on hisfingernails with a carving knife. He glanced up, a question mark in hisexpression.
There had been two others locked in the vault beneath the living room.They, too, were present in the kitchen. Lombard and Vince, sullen, anddripping muttered curses as well as sweat, stood side by side, leaningagainst the wall with half-filled whisky glasses in their hands.
"Are you sure," began Wallie, "none of you knows who that masked manis?" He glanced from one to another, receiving negative headshakes.
"All I know about him," grumbled Lombard, "is that I spent a hell of anight in that damned wet cellar, an' I'm goin' to square it with him."
"What about me?" snapped Vince. "My joints'll ache fer a week after las'night."
"You," said Wallie, looking at Lombard, "stand at the foot of thestairs, an' make sure he don't come out of Bryant's room. Vince, you getclose to the window an' keep watch on the Gap. Yuma will be here sometime today with a warrant for Bryant's arrest, an' law men to act on thewarrant."
"Why me? What's the matter with Sawtell or Lonergan?"
Wallie didn't reply, but his cold-eyed gaze was quite enough. Vincegrumbled his way to the window, as if he resented being ordered about byhis own brother in the same fashion that ordinary outlaws werecommanded. He dragged a chair to the window and sat down.
"This'll do for the time," Sawtell suggested, as he tied the last knotin the ropes about Jeb's arms. "Now what'll we do with him?"
"Leave him where he is until I finish speaking, and then we'll decidelater what we'll do with him. I told you that already."
"He knows too damn much," said Vince, "an' he's too dumb to be any goodto us. Why worry about him?"
"Who," said Wallie, "is worrying?"
"What about that masked man? What was it you said about Yuma comin' withthe law?" It was Lonergan, the lawyer-gambler, speaking.
Wallie explained briefly how Yuma's hat had been shot at by Bryant; howboth Yuma and the man with the mask were convinced that Bryant Cavendishwas the leader of all that went on in the Basin.
"That works out fine for us," he said. "We may have to lay low for alittle while, but we've been needin' a rest anyhow. We'll sell off someof the cattle we've got here now, but wait till things cool off beforewe bring in any more." He went into detail, explaining how the maskedman's plan was to persuade Bryant to confess before he went to jail."And he figures," he continued, "on lettin' the law take you men back."
Sawtell shifted his weight uneasily, and Lonergan laid down the carvingknife. "There's a rope just a little too tight for my neck waitin' forme if I go back to Red Oak," Sawtell said.
"None of you are goin' back," snapped Wallie. "Didn't I tell you, when Isuggested that you come here and help me out, that I'd see you wellprotected?"
"Maybe," suggested Lonergan, "you've got some new scheme."
"I have."
"It better be good. Your idea was working out swell until Rebecca sentfor the law. Then, instead of entertaining those Texas Rangers andconvincing them that everything was all right here, you had to ambushthem. As a lawyer, I advised against that massacre."
"I didn't ask for your advice, Lonergan."
"Well, it was a mistake to dry-gulch them anyway. That won't stop otherRangers from coming here to see what happened to them. I tell you,Wallie, there's a great big rope, speaking in the picturesque way of thestory-writers, around all of us, an' that rope is bein' hauled intight."
"Like hell it is," barked Wallie in a sharp reply. "If you'll buttonyour lip for a few minutes I'll tell you how everything has worked outto put us in the clear."
"You weren't satisfied with that massacre," the lawyer went onaccusingly. "You had to kill Rangoon, then Gimlet, and last night,Mort."
"My policy," replied Wallie, his voice cold with suppressed anger, "isto leave no loose ends. Rangoon couldn't be relied on. Gimlet alreadyknew a few things, an' thought a lot more. Mort would have squealed hisyellow head off to avoid bein' hanged. As for Yuma, it's a damned shamehe didn't get a couple of slugs where they'd do the most good for us."
"I don't know why he was hired to work here anyway," said Lonergan. "Hewasn't like the rest of the men."
"Bryant himself hired Yuma, an' God knows why. Anyway, it's the factthat Yuma is bringin' the law that'll put us in the clear."
"In the clear on what?" asked Lonergan.
"I don't know why in hell I take so much back talk from you, Lonergan,"said Wallie.
"I do. It's because you wouldn't have a ghost of a show in handlingthings after Bryant dies, without my legal talents." The lawyer studiedhis fingernails with exaggerated concern, and again picked up thecarving knife. "Now what is this big scheme of yours that's to put us inthe clear? My own suggestion would be to go to Bryant's room and get thedrop on this masked man, then--"
"I'll do the talking from now on," Wallie interrupted. "In the firstplace, there's the murder of Rangoon to be accounted for. Well, thatmasked man and the Indian friend that went to town with Penny were bothin the clearing. All right, we blame Rangoon's death on them. As forGimlet, Yuma had a lot better chance to kill him than I did. It's knownthat Yuma was on the ranch at the ti
me. But no one knows that I cameback from Red Oak by the Thunder Mountain route, knifed Gimlet, an' wentback to town. We tell the law men it's Yuma who killed Gimlet. I'llaccuse him of it when he gets here, and let him try to deny it. Pennyherself, if need be, will have to say that Yuma was here at the time."
Lonergan nodded. "So far," he said, "you're doin' good--go on."
"As for Mort's death--hell, that's easy to blame on the masked man.Everyone in Red Oak has already accused him of murderin' Mort. Everyonein town heard him yell to that white horse of his when he carried Bryantaway. Why, public sentiment is with us! There ain't anyone in town thatwouldn't blame the masked man for killing, not only Mort, but Bryant aswell!"
"It sounds swell to me," admired Sawtell, "all but for the fact thatthis masked man an' Bryant are both upstairs and livin'."
"That's a detail that's goin' to be taken care of pronto," statedWallie. "My story, which Vince will back up, being that none of youothers dare show yourselves, is that the masked man brought Bryant here,dead. I shot him for it after a hell of a fight." Wallie looked proudlyat Lonergan. "Now what's the matter with that?"
Lonergan pondered and then said, "Those two are still alive. That's theonly trouble."
"It won't take long to remedy that. We go up to Bryant's room, burstin, and start shootin'. Get Bryant and get the masked man. I took thetrouble to bring the key with me, so the door won't be locked. Bylookin' through the keyhole I'll make sure where the two of them are,an' then when we go into the room we won't be shootin' blind. We can'tmiss."
"The more I hear about it," said Sawtell, "the better it sounds. It'llbe a big relief to have Bryant out of our way for keeps. He's been anuisance around here."
"We had to let him live until we had things arranged," explained Wallie,"but now there's no more need of him."
"It'll not only get rid of Bryant," added Sawtell, "it'll clear up themurders around here. I suppose you've got some way all worked out toblame the killin' of those Texas Rangers on him?"
"The masked man will be blamed for those. It's well known that he an'that Indian are pards. Their footprints are both up there on ThunderMountain where the buzzards are cleanin' off Rangoon's bones. TheIndian's footprints are near the graves of the Rangers. Any law mancould put an' two together an' get the answer that the masked man an'Indian killed 'em. If the Redskin tries to deny it, who'll listen to himagainst the evidence?"
Lonergan laid down the knife methodically and slid from the edge of thetable to his feet. Wallie looked at him defiantly, as if daring thelawyer to find a flaw in the plans.
There was a mixture of surprise and admiration in the way Lonerganlooked at Wallie. "I didn't think," he said, "you had it in you. I'mdamned if it won't work."
Wallie's deep-rooted respect for the adroit brain of the lawyer made himglow with pleasure at a compliment from that man.
"As I see it," said Lonergan, "there's just one little flaw in theplans."
"What's that?" demanded Wallie.
"The story you figure on telling won't account for a lot of bullet holesaround that bedroom of your uncle. Have you got a way around that workedout?"
"Of course. We tell the law that Bryant was shot in front of the houseand that I shot the masked man for it in the same place. Both corpseswill be on the porch, an' there won't be any reason to go into thebedroom until after we have the chance to clean it up."
"That," said Lonergan, "will do it."
"I've had a hunch," contributed Vince from his post at the window, "thatBryant's been suspectin' things for some time. I'll be damned glad tosee him done away with. With him an' Penny out of here, we won't have tobe so damned careful about every move we make."
Wallie nodded. "After the law is satisfied," he said, "we'll go on justas we have been. Vince will take charge of things while I'm tomcattin'around Red Oak an' playin' the part of a girl-crazy Romeo while I listenfor news about cattle ranches that are just invitin' visitors like us."
The leader of the group sketched a few details of his plan, then said,"I want all of you to go upstairs with me. Keep your guns drawn an' keepstill. We'll take Lombard as we go by him. When the fireworks are overwith, me an' Vince will wait for Yuma to fetch the law men, an' therest of you can hide. Now put Jeb down in the vault, then fix the roomup as it should be. While you're doin' that I'll tell Lombard the plans,an' then we'll all go up to Bryant's room."
Jeb was still dazed from the ugly blow Sawtell had given him. He waslimp and unresisting as the men picked him up bodily, hands and feettied tightly, and carried him to the living room. They dropped him onthe floor and replaced things where they belonged. Sawtell tossed thehunk of firewood to one side, then handed down the chair from its placeon the table top. Lonergan kicked the chair toward a wall, while Sawtellstepped to the floor and hauled away the table. It was Vince who openedthe trapdoor, then rolled his brother Jeb into the opening. He laughedas he heard Jeb's body strike the hard-dirt floor below. "Don't getintuh no mischief down there," he called; then he closed the door andpulled the rug in place to conceal it.
Meanwhile Wallie was with Lombard at the foot of the stairs. Lombard wasgrinning and nodded as the others joined the couple. He drew his gun andspun the cylinder to check it. A moment later, after a few last,whispered instructions from Wallie, the five were ready to go upstairswith disaster for the Lone Ranger.
