This started another stampede--in the direction of the saloon --and in a few moments, only a small group remained; they had remained aloof while the demonstration was on.
`I'm mighty obliged to you all,' Nick said quietly.
`Glad to see you clear of a nasty mess,' the banker said. `If you hadn't thought of keeping those numbers....'
`I didn't,' came the candid reply. `That was Jim's idea.'
`A very good one,' Seale complimented. `It wrecked the prosecution, and exposed a very shabby rogue.'
`Yeah, but what we didn't learn was the name o' the bigger rogue who put him up to it,' Pilch said meaningly.
`That may come out at the trial,' Cullin replied carelessly. `He's the sort to squeal.'
`There'll be no trial,' Nick asserted. `He'll get away.' `They dasn't let him,' Pilch cried.
`They dasn't keep him,' Drait contradicted.
The Big C man laughed. `You may be right. Anyway, he'll be no loss, an' we are to have a charmin' substitute. Any harm in sayin' that now, Seale?'
`No, everything is virtually settled,' the lawyer said. He looked at Drait. `I shall be at the S P in the morning. Perhaps Miss Darrell would like to come over and inspect her property?'
The nester agreed that it was likely, and the matter having been explained to the other men, further congratulanions were forthcoming, to be carried to the lady. Nick cut them short by suggesting an adjournment to the saloon :
`I wanta find out what I owe, an' add to it,' he said.
On the way, Cullin fell in beside him. `If yo're gettin' rid o' Shadow Valley, gimme first offer, an' make yore own price,' he murmured.
`I'm not sellin'--at any figure, an' I'm not leavin' it,' Drait replied shortly.
Which was precisely the answer hoped for.
Chapter XI
THAT same evening the nester and his wife discussed, for the first time, the impending change. He had given her a brief account of the proceedings at Midway, but without revealing the gravity of the peril to which he had been exposed. Drait did not conceal that Cullin had taken his part.
`So you were wrong about him?' she said.
Not any,' Nick replied. `He was grand-snandin'. Towler was givin' the game away, an' the boys were getting wise. It was a smart move, but it don't razzle-dazzle me. I'd bet a blue stack he's behind the whole dirty business.'
His apparent ingratitude appeared unnatural, but she said no more. The news that he would remain in the valley, Ieaving her free to go to the S P, came as a relief, and produced no protest. If her evident eagerness to get away from him hurt, he did not show it.
`You'll need a woman in the place,' he remarked. `Better take Lindy.'
`Isn't there a cook at the ranch?'
`Yeah, one o' Sam's riders who got too old for the saddle, but he'll be no good alone.'
She gave in. Truth to tell, she did want the Negress, but would have died rather than ask for her; the prospect of going to the S P lacking a friendly face had been more than daunting.
`Then there's a foreman,' Nick went on. `I can spare Quilt--for a time, anyway.'
`No,' she said sharply, and when his eyebrows went up, `I prefer to give orders, not take them. I can find someone; if he knows his work, that's ail I require.'
`Gilman knew that much,' he reminded. `Trouble was, he didn't do it.'
`There was no-one in charge,' she argued. `Men are all alike--they only need the opportunity to go off the rails.'
This bit of wisdom--a blow at himself--brought a smile.
`Shore, it's a wicked world,' he said. The men are devils an' the women saints--mebbe. I'll trail along with you to the S P.'
`There is no necessity,' she replied coldly. `Mister Seale will be able to explain everything.'
`Seale knows little about the cattle business; don't trust him too much; yore appearance was a disappointment, remember.'
Instead, she recalled what Cullin had told her, and shrugged impatiently. `Is there anyone you do not suspect?'
`Mighty few,' he agreed. `We'll take Lindy with us--one o' the boys can drive her over; she'll see what is wanted to make the place comfortable.'
Mary knew she was being unreasonable, that the arrangements were sensible and for her welfare, but they chafed. Unconsciously, she thought aloud :
`Thank Heaven, I shall soon be able to do as I please.'
The stark exultation in her voice, coupled with an utter absence of gratitude, roused within him a fierce impatience. `No matter where you are, you'll still be my wife,' he said sternly. `If ever you forget that
`You will shoot me, of course,' she retorted hardily.
The spirit of anger had passed, leaving a cold grimness infinitely more sinister. `You wouldn't be worth the cost of a cartridge,' he said deliberately. `But I should shorely kill the man.'
He went out. For long she sat staring into the blazing logs, and, despite the heat, she was cold--inwardly. He would keep his word, for if she allowed him only one virtue, it was that. She was alone, save for Lindy, who almost worshipped her master, she had no friend. Her thoughts veered to Cullin, so different from her husband, kind, considerate, and more polished. No doubt he could be forceful, even ruthless--men had to be in that only semi-civilised land--but she did not believe he was responsible for the outrages in Shadow Valley. He had promised to help her. Comforted by the remembrance, she crept away to bed.
In the morning they set out for the S P, Yorky driving Lindy in the buckboard, escorted by the girl, Nick, and Sudden, on horseback. They found the lawyer awaiting them on the veranda, in conversation with a little, old, grey-bearded man. He greeted them cordially, and when they had dismounted, swept an arm around.
`Well, Miss Darrell, there's your domain,' he said.
She gazed at him, big-eyed. `Do you mean that I possess all this land?' she cried.
Seale smiled, and shook his head. `No, you actually own not much more than the buildings occupy, but you have priority grazing rights for many miles about, which is all you need.' He beckoned to the bearded man. `This is Rod Milton, the cook, one of your grandfather's old servants.'
`Pleased to meetcha, ma'am,' Milton said, and then, as he saw her clearly, `Gosh! I could a'most believe it was Miss Mary back agin.'
`You knew my mother?' the girl cried.
`I gentled her first pony,' he replied. `But that was afore we come to these parts. Yo're as like her as one dollar is to another.'
`Rod was anxious about his job, but I told him you'd probably keep him on,' Seale said.
`But, of course. Lindy is coming as housekeeper, she'll need help in the kitchen.'
The little man grinned shyly as he regarded the Negress. `I don' reckon my cookin' will grade up to your'n, by all accounts, but I'm ready to larn.'
Lindy's smile threatened to absorb her ears; praise for her cooking was a short cut to her good graces. Rod had made a friend.
At the lawyer's suggestion, they went into the house. It was of fair size, consisting of the usual parlour, three other rooms, kitchen, and an adjoining shack where the cook slept. It was substantially furnished but everything showed signs of neglect. Milton read the faces of the women.
`Gilman didn't care none, an' I had plenty to do,' was his excuse.
At one room he hesitated before he opened the door. `This was Miss Mary's,' he said. `Till he passed out, the Ol' Man had it tended, but nobody never used it.'
`I can see that later,' the girl said hurriedly. The cook nodded understandingly, turned the key, and gave it to her.
When they emerged into the open again, Lindy chuckled. `We sho' got a passel o' work ahaid, honey,' she said. `An' yoh gotta spen' consid'able.'
Mary's startled gaze went to the lawyer; she had not thought of the financial side of the matter. He smiled reassuringly.
`No need to worry. The exposure of that rascal foreman saved us over a thousand dollars, and there is another thousand owed by Bardoe which we could not have had if Misner Drait had not collected it for us. It results that the ranch has now a balance of three thousand, one hundred and fifty dollars at your disposal.'