“Then listen to me. I’ll go back to the nearest town with a telegraph and get in touch with the governor at once. I can have your pardon wired all over the State by to-morrow morning, and you can take Mary Hood into Moosehorn before to-morrow night. You understand?”
“It’s like a dream,” muttered Bull Hunter.
“Here’s the part of it that will wake you up again,” said Hal Dunbar with his evil smile. “In Moosehorn you leave Mary Hood and come straight back toward Five Roads.”
“Why?”
“Because, on the road, you’ll meet me. It’ll be after dark, but that doesn’t make any difference. If it’s dark we’ll fight without guns, for a fight it’s going to be, Hunter, without the girl standing by to pity you and weep over you and never forget that I killed you - you understand?”
“Yes, I begin to,” said Bull Hunter. “You get me a pardon from the governor. I take Mary to safety. I come back to meet you, and one of us dies. If it is me, nothing could be better for you. You will be able to pose before Mary as having secured my pardon. It will be proof to her that you had no hand in my killing, and if I kill you, you have lost everything, indeed, and I’ve the guilt of killing my benefactor. Is that it?”
“Is it worth the risk?” asked the other, husky with excitement. “Think of it, Hunter! It means your chance for happiness with the girl. Do you fear me too much to meet me? I’ll give you every advantage. I’ll come out without a gun on me. We’ll fight bare hand to bare hand. I’ve some skill with a gun as you know. But I’ll throw that away. Do you agree?”
Bull Hunter sighed. He looked across the chasm at Mary Hood, where she stood watching him anxiously. Never had she seemed so beautiful. Yes, for the sake of her happiness it was worth risking everything. She could not lead that wandering life through the mountains.
“I’ll meet you to-morrow night,” said Bull Hunter. “On the way from Moosehorn to Five Roads. You have my word that I’ll be there.”
“Then shake hands.”
“Shake hands?” said Bull huskily. “What sort of a devil are you, Dunbar? Shake hands when we intend to try to kill each other?”
“It’s for the sake of the girl. It’ll make her easier if she thinks that we’re friends.”
Bull Hunter reluctantly took the hand of the other, and then went back across the chasm to join his two companions.
Chapter XXXIII
Setting the Stage
All was done punctually as the ranch owner had promised. Until late that night he kept a telegraph wire to the capitol of the State busy, and at midnight the pardons of Pete Reeve and Bull Hunter were signed, and the news was being flashed across the mountain desert.
Only one person had been with Hal Dunbar while he was doing his telegraphing, and that person was the invaluable lieutenant, Riley. The fox-faced little man blinked when he saw the contents of the first wire sent, but after that he showed no emotion whatever, for his was not an emotional temperament. He stayed quietly with the big boss until the job was finished.
Then they went to bed and Riley slept late; but he was wakened before noon by the heavy tread of Hal Dunbar pacing in the next room of the hotel. Presently the big man came to him and talked while Riley dressed.
After breakfast, he took Riley for a short stroll outside the village.
“How’s your eyes these days, Riley?” he asked. “You used to be a pretty fair sort of shot.”
“Never a hand like you with a gun,” said Riley modestly, “but I’m as good as I ever was.”
“You shoot well enough,” Dunbar declared, “quite well enough for my purpose, Riley. Long shooting isn’t your specialty, and at a short distance I think you might do very well.”
He paused, and Riley waited patiently for the tale to be unfolded.
“You know,” began Hal Dunbar at length, “that I’ve always loved a fight?”
“I know.”
“And to-night I am about to fight, Riley.”
“Yes?”
“But for a great prize. For the woman I love!”
“So you’re going to fight Bull Hunter?”
“Yes.”
Riley breathed deeply. “It will be the greatest fight that ever was fought in the mountains. But I hope not with guns!”
“It’s to be with bare hands, Riley; and with so much at stake, I must not lose the fight. You understand?”
“You’ll trick Bull Hunter?” asked Riley, and he looked down at the ground.
There was one article in Riley’s creed, and that was fairness in fighting.
“I’ll fight him fairly and squarely,” said Dunbar, “and I ought to beat him with fists and hands. He’s strong, but I’m still stronger, I think. Besides, I know boxing and wrestling, and he doesn’t. It’s a finish fight. If I down him I’ll kill him with my hands. If he downs me he’ll finish me the same way. But even if he leaves me dead on the ground, he must not win the fight!”
He turned and clutched the arms of his companion as he spoke.
“But how the devil” began Riley.
“Listen to me,” said Hal Dunbar. “I love that girl in a way you can’t understand. I’ve loved her so long that the thought of her is in my brain and my bloodpart of me. No matter to whom she goes, she must not go to Hunter. He ruined everything for me. If I thought that after my death he was to have her, I tell you my ghost would come up and haunt them. Whatever happens, no matter if he kills me, Hunter must not win. You understand?”
Riley shook his head, bewildered.
“You fool!” gasped out Dunbar, maddened because he had to bring out the brutal truth in so many words. “You’re to be hidden near the place where we meet, and if Hunter wins - you shoot him down. You shoot him like a dog!”
Riley blinked. “Where do you meet?” he asked after a pause.
Hal Dunbar sighed with relief. “You’ll do it? I thought for a minute that I was mistaken in you - that you were weak. But you’re still my right-hand man, Riley. I’ll tell you where. There’s a wood between Five Roads and Moosehorn. We’re to meet somewhere between those two towns after dark. I’ll leave early and wait for him near the trees. That will give you a chance to stay close to the fight, and there’ll be a full moon to help you - if you have to shoot. You understand, Riley?”
“I’ll leave this afternoon and get posted?”
“Leave now. I’ll follow along after a while. Go around through Five Roads. We mustn’t be seen to ride in the same direction.”
Chapter XXXIV
The Battle
It was thick twilight when Bull Hunter stood up from his chair in the room at Moosehorn where he and Pete Reeve had celebrated their return from outlawry to peaceful citizenship. Now the big man went to Mary Hood and took her hands.
“When a man’s heart gets too full,” he said quietly, “he has to get off by himself. I’m too happy, Mary, and I’m going off for a ride on Diablo all alone. I’m not even going to take The Ghost with me. Pete will take care of you.”
She smiled faintly and anxiously at him as he turned to the big dog, pointed out a rug in the corner of the room, and commanded him to stay there until he was called away. The Ghost obeyed sulkily, dropping his huge scarred head upon his paws, and watching the master with an upward glance. Then Hunter turned at the door, gave himself a last look at Mary Hood, waved to Pete Reeve, and was gone.
The door had hardly closed when Mary Hood was beside the little gun fighter.
“Pete,” she said, “there’s something about to happen - something about to happen to Charlie. I feel it. I sensed it in his voice when he said he was going. It was queer, too, the way he watched the coming of the night. Pete, you must go out and follow him and see that he comes to no harm. Will you?”