`This is certainly my lucky day,' he smiled. `Didn't dream I'd have the pleasure o' seein' you again so soon. Do you often ride this way?'
She shook her head. `I am venturing outside the valley for the first time.'
`I hope it won't be the last.'
For some moments they paced in silence. Thrilled by the nearness of her, the man was content to look, noting the easy grace with which she rode, the delicate colour under the faint tan of her cheeks, the curling tendrils of hair straying from beneath her hat-brim. Mary's eyes, though less searching, had not been entirely idle. Though he wore the garb of the country, she had seen that it was of superior quality, the shirt and neckerchief of silk, and his face newly-shaven. She would have described him as well-dressed, without the flashiness of Beau Lamond. Presently he laughed.
`Why, I have forgotten to congratulate you.' He saw she did not comprehend. `Upon yore inheritance.' `Oh, that,' she replied, with a tiny frown. `Nothing is settled yet, and I'm sorry it is being talked about.'
`It isn't. Seale--who is also my lawyer--visited me last evening on business. He seemed very pleased about somethin' an' eventually admitted, in confidence, that it was because he is now in a position to clear up the Pavitt estate, havin' discovered the owner.'
`I would be much more grateful if he had found me three months ago,' the girl said, and there was an undercurrent in her tone which he could not guess at.
`I think you will have no more reason to complain on that score,' he assured her. `Seale is under obligation to me, an' I've made it plain that any unnecessary delay in your case will be an unfriendly act to myself.'
`That was very kind of you, Mister Cullin,' she said warmly. `Not a-tall, just fairness,' he replied, and then smiled. `What does Drait think about yore good fortune?'
`We haven't discussed it yet,' she answered. `I imagine that, like myself, he prefers to deal with facts.'
`You have known him long?'
'No,' she replied shortly, and he did not pursue the subject.
He offered no protest when she wished to return, but insisted on escorting her.
They parted at the spot where they had met, and the clasp of her hand made his blood burn. Holding it, he said: `I want you to nhink of me as a friend, one who will always be ready to help you in case of need.'
Without waiting for any response, he turned abruptly and rode away. For a moment she sat gazing after him, astonished and rather impressed--as he had meant her to be. He did not look back.
Riding slowly back to Shadow Valley, she vainly endeavoured to arrange her ideas about her late companion. Though he had clearly shown that he admired her, it had not been done with the crude and offensive familiarity of Lamond. She liked him, and yet....
The Big C man was in no doubt about his feelings--he wanted this woman and would have her, by fair means or foul. What she was to the nester he did not know, but should it prove an obstacle that was just too bad--for Drait. He rode on towards his destination, smiling grimly.
He was welcomed with some surprise and no great show of amiability, but was invited in and the customary bottle was produced.
`Well, Greg, you wouldn't come all this way 'less you wanted somethin',' Bardoe began. `Let's have it.'
`My dear Bull,' the visitor protested mildly, and Bardoe stiffened; Cullin, in a polite mood, was to be suspected. `The pleasure of seein' you ...'
`Take a good long look an' then gimme the real reason,' the other said sourly.
`What a doubtin' Thomas you are, Bull,' Cullin smiled. `But there was an item of news I fancied might interest you; the S P is changin' hands.'
The other's eyes narrowed. Was it a guess, or had something leaked out? `No,' he replied evenly. `The missin' heir has been discovered--Pavitt's grand-daughter.'
`A gal, after all, huh. How should that interest me?'
`Jack Gilman'll have to go.'
`Can't see why--she'll need a foreman.'
Will she? Nicholas Drait is at present takin' care of her,' Cullen said carelessly.
Bardoe's eyebrows climbed, his mouth opened ludicrously as this statement sank in. `Are you mad, or am I?' he asked.
`Probably both of us, but what I've told you is a cold fact.'
Bull digested this in frowning silence. The girl he had lost was actually the possessor of the S P ranch, and the man who had stolen her--as he put it--was holding her. The shock was a staggering one. If only he--but that would not bear thinking of. Cullin was astonished at the effect of his news; Bull could not be so concerned about the foreman's future.
`It's tough luck on Gilman,' he remarked.
`To hell with Gilman,' Bardoe retorted. `It's tough on me.' `Afraid I don't get you.'
`Listen,' Bull growled. `When Drait tried to bump me off that time up on Table Mesa, I had a gal ridin' behind me. I'd picked her up less'n an hour earlier, fair lost an' pretty well all in. Said she'd stampeded from the place she was workin' an' that she'd no folks an' nowhere to go. I offered her a job as housekeeper at the 8 B, an' she agreed. It warn't no hardship to look at her--young an' fresh, which is how I like 'em.' He leered at his listener. `You know what happened, Drait did a pore job but knocked me out. He took the gal--they were together when my fellas catched him, an' if it hadn't bin for them two strangers--helI burn their bones--she'd 'a' bin fetched back to me. I want her, which is somethin' you wouldn't understand, an' I mean to have her, 'specially now; the S P would suit me fine.'
It was a tribute to Cullin's faculty of self-control that he was able to present a blank face during this brutal admission. But he had come to find a tool, and if it was keener and more dangerous than he had looked for, so much the better. When the work was done...
`You'll find Drait a hard nut,' he remarked. I'll expect he'll marry her--now.'
`All one to me,' Bardoe chuckled. `I don't mind a widow if she's a good-looker.'
The Big C man emptied his glass. `I wish you luck, Bull,' he said. `Don't try anythin' too raw an' rely on gettin' away with it; Midway is more than a mite doubtful o' Camort, an' the Judge is jumpy. Losin' Gilman an' Vasco, we won't be too strong.'
`You needn't to worry,' Bardoe grinned. `With that cursed nester attended to an' me in the saddle at the S P, we'll have 'em where's the hair's short.'
He accompanied his visitor to the door, and sent a satirical grimace after him. `Eggs me on, an' then fobs me off,' he mused. `Well, Mister Cullin, I dunno what yore game is but I'm playin' my own an' may the Devil take you.'
Cullin, riding with bent head, had plenty to occupy his mind. A bringer of news, he had also learned some. Presently he laughed.
`He downs Drait, an' we hang him for it,' he said, and this entirely satisfactory solution restored his temper to almost normal. At the Big C he found Lamond awaiting him.
`Want yore job back? So Drait fired you. Why?'
`Double-crossin' him, he said, but the real reason was he catched me sparkin' the gal an', believe me, she's worth a risk.'
`You were lucky; me, I'd a' beefed you,' the rancher said.
`So would he, but she begged him not to,' Lamond grinned. `Said for me to leave the country, but I'm stayin'; I mean to git him--an' her.'
Again Cullin schooled his features to impassivity. Here was a third string to his bow, and he did not hesitate. `Awright, when you've settled with the nester I'll put you on the pay-roll.'
`That's a bet,' the cowboy said jauntily, and went out.
The rancher smiled contentedly. The wise man gets others to run the risks, an' then, helps hisself to the stakes.'
Chapter X
NEARLY two weeks passed and nothing occurred to disturb the serenity of Shadow Valley. But the nester indulged in no false sense of security, and he was right--his enemies were not idle. The first evidence of this was provided by the arrival, in the early morning, of the sheriff, supported by a couple of deputies. Hammering on the gate, he demanded admittance `in the name of the Law.'