For a moment there was tense silence. Blaynes, challenged in his turn, was obviously undecided. His right hand moved a fraction towards his holster, and then--he rasped out a laugh.
`Yu shore are a touchy feller, Green--can't stand a bit o' joshin',' he said. `Roundin' up rustlers 'pears to have got yu all jumpy.'
Green laughed too, and it was an unpleasant one for the foreman to swallow, but the conversation became general again, and the incident ended. Later on, Blaynes had a word with Lunt.
`Never knew yu to duck before, Snap,' he said. `What got into yu?'
`Duck nothin',' came the retort. `I ain't got no quarrel with the feller. Why didn't yu pull on him?'
`I'm foreman, an' I got my reasons,' Blaynes said sulkily. `Huh! Self-preservation don't happen to be one o' them, does it?' asked the other sarcastically.
The foreman ground out an oath. `I wait my time,' he said. `Sorry to find I can't depend on yu, that's all.'
`Yu can depend on me to do my work, but dry-nursin' yu ain't part of it,' the little gunman said bluntly, and walked away.
As he approached the bunkhouse, he met Green and Larry coming away, and stopped for a moment to say, `Green, however slick a man may be with a gun, he can be got--from behind.'
`Now what the blazes does he mean by that?' asked Larry, as the gunman, without waiting for a reply, went into the bunkhouse.
`He means a whole lot, I reckon,' answered his friend. `I fancy that's not such a bad hombre, Larry.'
`Well, he told Rattler straight out in meetin', anyways,' Larry said. `It's a point to remember.'
`Shore is. Yu got anythin' to tell me?'
`Not a durn thing,' was the disgusted rejoinder. `On'y that yu can count on Dirty, Ginger, an' Simple to back my play, whatever it is.'
`Well, that's somethin', anyhow. Trouble is, we ain't got no play to make yet. How long ago was the Double X started?' `Two-three years, I guess. Dex ain't got much of a herd.' `What's the size of his outfit?'
`Seven or eight, including the cook.'
`All of them men to handle a small herd, huh?'
`Well, now yu mention it, they shore didn't oughtta be overworked--never struck me that way before. Yu got anythin' else against 'em?'
Green shook his head. `We gotta wait, boy,' he said. `How's the Pretty Lady been treatin' yu lately?'
This was his name for Noreen, and it never failed to produce an embarrassed flush on the face of her young admirer. Larry countered quickly.
`I'm beginnin' to think she's more interested in a handsome mysterious stranger,' he retorted. `She was shore askin' me a lot o' questions.'
`An' yu told her?'
`All I knew.'
His friend grinned. `That musta taken yu quite a while,' he commented, with gentle sarcasm.
`Shore did,'. said Larry. `I explained how yore wife had left yu, takin' the kids, owin' to yu treatin' her so badly, drinkin' an' hellin' round generally, an' that two sheriffs were anxious to meet yu on account of a bank robbery, to say nothin' of the feller whose brother yu shot from behind-- Hi ! leggo my ear, yu two-gun mockery : it's long enough as it is.'
`It certainly is, an' the other's a match for it,' agreed the libelled one. `Get down on yore hunkers in the long grass an' no one could tell yu from a jack-rabbit. Yu'd be a lovely liar, Larry --on'y yu ain't always lovely.'
Larry caressed the injured member, feeling to discover if it really had started to come out by the roots.
`I wish I'd told her yu were a cannibal an' a hoss-thief,' he said regretfully. 'When're yu goin' to come alive an' catch the rustlers, huh?'
`Well, I got 'em scared, ain't I?' expostulated Green. `They ain't done nothin' for a week.'
Early on the following morning the inmates of the bunkhouse were aroused by a shout, and tumbling out half-dressed, they saw Durran drop wearily from a staggering pony. He had come in from the furthermost of the cabins used by the line-riders on the frontiers of the ranch. Rattler pushed to the front.
`What's up, Durran?' he asked.
`Rustlers, an' hell to pay,' was the gasped answer. `Few hours after dark las' night, 'bout seven or eight of 'em rushed me an' Bud, firm' as they come. They got Bud, shot my hoss, an' helped theirselves. Think. I perforated one, but I was afoot. Took me near an hour to catch Bud's pony, an' I been ridin' since.'
`Couldn't see who they were, I s'pose,' said the foreman.
`Blasted war-paints, every mother's son,' replied Durran emphatically, and Blaynes turned a triumphant eye on Green. A chorus of forceful curses greeted the news.
No more time was wasted. Breakfast was despatched in gulps, and in less than half an hour a dozen men, well-mounted and armed, were galloping at breakneck speed for the scene of the outrage. Green and Larry were of the number, and remembering the conversation of the previous night, the boy could not resist the opportunity.
`Yeah, yu got 'em scared, shore enough,' he murmured.
`Shut yore face, yu--yu jackass!' admonished his friend. `I've been expectin' this. Would yu have said that Bud and the foreman was bosom pals, so to speak?'
Barton shook his head. `No, nothin' like that, though I don't know of any trouble between 'em. Ginger was Bud's bunkie; look at him.'
The red-headed puncher was riding only a few yards from them, his young tanned face like stone, his jaws clamped and his eyes blazing. Suddenly he spoke :
`By God! if they've rubbed out Bud, I'll have a scalp for every one of his fingers if I have to go to the Reservation to get 'em.'
The savage threat of vengeance was shouted, as though the speaker had to give vent to his pent-up emotion. Several of the younger men gave grunts of approval, but only the foreman spoke, after a curious look at Ginger which Green did not fail to notice.
`Aw, save yore breath, Ginger,' Blaynes said. `Yu'll want it all before we're through; mebbe he ain't plugged bad.'
The wild burst of speed with which the party had started now slackened, and the riders pulled their mounts down to a steady lope which ate up the miles without unduly tiring the animals. The trail wound about, avoiding the rough country, and keeping to the open prairie where the going was good. Now and then they passed herds of feeding cattle. This was a part of the range Green had not yet explored. It was, he noticed, much nearer to the Big Chief mountains, and the grazing land was shut in by country of the wildest nature.
`When the cattle first began to vanish, Old Simon reckoned they just naturally strayed an' lost themselves,' Larry said. `So they built the cabins, and started line-ridin', but it ain't stopped the leak.'
Green was watching Durran, who, despite his exhaustion, had insisted on accompanying the party. He was now riding beside the foreman, and the pair were deep in conversation. Green frankly confessed himself puzzled. If these men were acting a part, they were doing it well. The unexpected incident was the slaying of Bud, for he felt sure that the puncher was dead. Utterly unnecessary, he could not believe that it was originally intended. Was it an accident, or did it become necessary? For the remainder of the long ride his companion got little out of him, and after one or two attempts at conversation, the boy gave up and rode in silence until they sighted their destination.
There's the cabin!' Larry cried.
It was small, but strongly-built of untrimmed logs chinked with clay, and looked peaceful enough in the bright sunshine. But tragedy was there. It was Ginger who, spurring ahead, first saw the body of his friend. Flinging himself from his horse, he snatched off his hat and stood looking down at the form outstretched on the grass but a bare fifty yards from the hut. One glance told him the worst.