by Max Brand
CHAPTER XXXIII
A COUNT TO TEN
She merely stared, like a child which may either burst into tears orlaughter, no one can prophesy which.
He explained, rather worried: "You see, you are a girl, Jack, and Iremembered that you were pleased about those clothes that you wore tothe dance in Crittenden Schoolhouse, and so when I saw that pinI--well--"
"Oh, Pierre!" said a stifled voice, "Oh, Pierre!"
"By Jove, Jack, aren't angry, are you? See, when you put it at thethroat it doesn't look half bad!"
And to try it, he pinned it on her shirt. She caught both his hands,kissed them again and again, and then buried her face against them asshe sobbed. If the heavens had opened and a cloudburst crashed on theroof of the house, he would have been less astounded.
"What is it?" he cried. "Damn it all--Jack--you see--I meant--"
But she tore herself away and flung herself face down on the bunk,sobbing more bitterly than ever. He followed, awestricken--terrified.
He touched her shoulder, but she shrank away and seemed more distressedthan ever. It was not the crying of a weak woman: these wereheart-rending sounds, like the sobbing of a man who has never beforeknown tears.
"Jack--perhaps I've done something wrong--"
He stammered again: "I didn't dream I was hurting you--"
Then light broke upon him.
He said: "It's because you don't want to be treated like a silly girl;eh, Jack?"
But to complete his astonishment she moaned: "N-n-no! It's b-b-becauseyou--you n-n-never _do_ t-treat me like a g-g-girl, P-P-Pierre!"
He groaned heartily: "Well, I'll be damned!"
And because he was thoughtful he strode away, staring at the floor. Itwas then that he saw it, small and crumpled on the floor. He picked itup--a glove of the softest leather. He carried it back to Jacqueline.
"What's this?"
"Wh-wh-what?"
"This glove I found on the floor?"
The sobs decreased at once--broke out more violently--and then shesprang up from the bunk, face suffused, and eyes timidly seeking hiswith upward glances.
"Pierre, I've acted a regular chump. Are you out with me?"
"Not a bit, old-timer. But about this glove?"
"Oh, that's one of mine."
She took it and slipped it into the bosom of her shirt--the calm blueeye of Pierre noted.
He said: "We'll eat and forget the rest of this, if you want, Jack."
"And you ain't mad at me, Pierre?"
"Not a bit."
There was just a trace of coldness in his tone, and she knew perfectlywhy it was there, but she chose to ascribe it to another cause.
She explained: "You see, a woman is just about nine-tenths fool,Pierre, and has to bust out like that once in a while."
"Oh!" said Pierre, and his eyes wandered past her as though he foundfood for thought on the wall.
She ventured cautiously, after seeing that he was eating with appetite:"How does the pin look?"
"Why, fine."
And the silence began again.
She dared not question him in that mood, so she ventured again: "Theold boy shooting left-handed--didn't he even fan the wind near you?"
"That was another bit of carelessness," said Pierre, but his smile heldlittle of life. "He might have known that if he _had_ shot close--byaccident--I might have turned around and shot him dead--on purpose.But when a man stops thinking for a minute, he's apt to go on for along time making a fool of himself."
"Right," she said, brightening as she felt the crisis pass away, "andthat reminds me of a story about--"
"By the way, Jack, I'll wager there's a more interesting story thanthat you could tell me."
"What?"
"About how that glove happened to be on the floor."
"Why, partner, it's just a glove of my own."
"Didn't know you wore gloves with a leather as soft as that."
"No? Well, that story I was speaking about runs something like this--"
And she told him a gay narrative, throwing all her spirit into it, forshe was an admirable mimic. He met her spirit more than half-way,laughing gaily; and so they reached the end of the story and the end ofthe meal at the same time. She cleared away the pans with a fewmotions and tossed them clattering into a corner. Neat housekeepingwas not numbered among the many virtues of Jacqueline.
"Now," said Pierre, leaning back against the wall, "we'll hear aboutthat glove."
"Damn the glove!" broke from her.
"Steady, pal!"
"Pierre, are you going to nag me about a little thing like that?"
"Why, Jack, you're red and white in patches. I'm interested."
He sat up.
"I'm more than interested. The story, Jack."
"Well, I suppose I have to tell you. I did a fool thing to-day. Tooka little gallop down the trail, and on my way back I met a girl sittingin her saddle with her face in her hands, crying her heart out. Poorkid! She'd come up in a hunting party and got separated from the rest.
"So I got sympathetic--"
"About the first time on record that you've been sympathetic withanother girl, eh?"
"Shut up, Pierre! And I brought her in here--right into your cabin,without thinking what I was doing, and gave her a cup of coffee. Ofcourse it was a pretty greenhorn trick, but I guess no harm will comeof it. The girl thinks it's a prospector's cabin--which it was once.She went on her way, happy, because I told her of the right trail toget back with her gang. That's all there is to it. Are you mad at mefor letting any one come into this place?"
"Mad?" he smiled. "No, I think that's one of the best lies you evertold me, Jack."
Their eyes met, hers very wide, and his keen and steady. The shegripped at the butt of her gun, an habitual trick when she was veryangry, and cried:
"Do I have to sit here and let you call me--that? Pierre, pull a fewmore tricks like that and I'll call for a new deal. Get me?"
She rose, whirled, and threw herself sullenly on her bunk.
"Come back," said Pierre. "You're more scared than angry. Why are youafraid, Jack?"
"It's a lie--I'm not afraid!"
"Let me see that glove again."
"You've seen it once--that's enough."
He whistled carelessly, rolling a cigarette. After he lighted it hesaid: "Ready to talk yet, partner?"
She maintained an obstinate silence, but that sharp eye saw that shewas trembling. He set his teeth and then drew several long puffs onhis cigarette.
"I'm going to count to ten, pal, and when I finish you're going to tellme everything straight. In the mean time don't stay there thinking upa new lie. I know you too well, and if you try the same thing on meagain--"
"Well?" she snarled, all the tiger coming back in her voice.
"You'll talk, all right. Here goes the count: One--two--three--four--"
As he counted, leaving a long drag of two or three seconds betweennumbers, there was not a change in the figure of the girl. She stilllay with her back turned on him, and the only expressive part thatshowed was her hand. First it lay limp against her hip, but as themonotonous count proceeded it gathered to a fist.
"Five--six--seven--"
It seemed that he had been counting for hours, his will against herwill, the man in him against the woman in her, and during the pausesbetween the sound of his voice the very air grew charged with waiting.To the girl the wait for every count was like the wait of the doomedtraitor when he stands facing the firing-squad, watching the glimmer oflight go down the aimed rifles.
For she knew the face of the man who sat there counting; she knew howthe firelight flared in the dark-red of his hair and made it seem likeanother fire beneath which the blue of the eyes was strangely cold andkeen. Her hand had gathered to a hard-balled fist.
"Eight--nine--"
She sprang up, screaming: "No, no, Pierre!"
And threw out her arms to him.
"Ten."
She whispered: "It was the girl with yellow hair--Mary Brown."
