As the girl had surmised, Green had consciously chosen the western way out of the town in order to avoid her. To be seen speaking to her in Hatchett's mattered little, for she might have been delivering a message from her father for all the passers-by knew, but to ride away in her company was a different matter after the views Old Simon had already expressed, and Green had reasons for not wishing to exasperate the ranch-owner. As soon as he was clear of the buildings he swung round and headed easn, his mind busy with what had just taken place. He playfully pulled one of the roan's ears, a pleasantry to which the animal responded by trying to pitch him into a prickly thorn bush.
`Yu old pirut,' chided his master indulgently, when he had subdued the outburst. `Don't yu know who's atop of yu? The feller who christened yu shore knew his business. Shucks! But yu hadn't oughtta turned the nice gent into a dust-plough an' mussed up his whiskers thataway.' He laughed happily as he recalled the scene. `But, hush, he was some fierce when he got up. Yu come mighty near to passin' out that minute, Blue, if he could 'a' found his gun. An' yu come close another time, when the Pretty Lady stroked yu, yu lucky devil; one snap at her an' I'd have busted yu wide open, yu hear me, though I never seen a hoss I liked so much.' He pulled the ear again and this time there was no answering demonstration. `Good for yu,' he said. `We gotta stick togenher, for we ain't neither of us very popular around here, an' we gotta watch that chap Tarman an' the little runt that trails wint him.'
The rasp was back in his voice again as he spoke the last sentence. He knew nothing about the two visitors, had never seen either of them before, and yet at the moment his gaze clashed with that of the big man, he was conscious of a feeling of antagonism. Green had experienced the same sort of thing before and he had never been wrong; men he had trusted at sight had proved worthy, and others he had distrusted had, sooner or later, justified his doubt. He had come to believe in these intuitions. His face softened again as he remembered Noreen's smile of greeting, and that she had not `passed him up' despite her father's wish. `She shore has got sand to burn,' he told himself.
Chapter XI
Whatever else he might be, Mr. Joseph Tarman was a man of action, and when he told Noreen that he intended to visit her father `right soon' he meant just that. So the same afternoon found him, with his diminutive companion, Seth Laban, riding the trail to the Y Z ranch. He had entirely recovered his poise.
`Mighty good move we made, comin' to this Gawd-forgotten hole, Seth,' he remarked genially, when they were clear of the town.
`I reckon,' came the stereotyped reply. `What d'ye make o' that marshal, Tonk?'
'Oughtta be named Tank,' said Tarman, with a laugh. `Guess Pete owns him anyway.'
Seth nodded--he never wasted breath--and his friend continued `Plenty opportunity here, with no interference, an' good cattle country.'
`I reckon,' Seth agreed. `An' when the railway comes... `Shut yore damned face,' snapped the big man savagely.
`But there can't nobody hear,' expostulated the other.
`How in hell do yu know?' retorted Tarman. `What yu gotta remember all the time is that the railway ain't never comin' near here, an' then yu won't make no slips.'
They rode in silence for a while, Seth smarting under the reproof, and Tarman deep in thought, of a pleasant nature evidently, for he was smiling again. Presently he spoke: `That girl shore has got me goin'. I feel tempted to chuck my hand in, marry her an' settle down. She's the only child an' she'll have the Y Z when the old man cashes.'
The smaller man looked at him in quick alarm. `Yu don't mean that, Joe?' he queried. `Just when we've got everythin' fixed good. Why, yu'll be King o' the Ranges if things go right.'
Tarman laughed again. `Bet I scared yu, Seth. No, I ain't a quitter. King o' the Ranges, eh? Well, that shore sounds fine, an' she'll make a dandy Queen, I guess.'
`Better steer clear o' the skirts, Joe,' warned Laban. `Yu know what Lola told yu--that yu'd split on a woman someday.'
`Bah!' sneered Tarman. `A woman, an' a greaser at that, is liable to say anythin' when yu tell her yo're tired of her. I want the girl an' the roan hoss an' I'm agoin' to have 'em both.'
`The owner o' the hoss don't seem inclined to part with it,' said the little man, and there was something in his tone which brought the grin back to Tarman's face.
`There have been other people who had things I fancied an' didn't want to part with 'em,' he said. `They yielded to persuasion, didn't they?'
`I reckon,' replied Seth, and smiled his smile. `All the same, he looks a tough customer.'
`He's shore that,' admitted Tarman. `Somehow I gotta feeling I've seen him before, but I'm damned if I can figure where it was.'
They rode in silence again, the big man deep in thought, and the smaller one watching him with cunning eyes and gloating inwardly. He could sway him--he knew the note to strike. Many men were afraid of Joe Tarman, but he, Seth Laban, though he was treated like a tame dog more than anything else, was not afraid. The big man might become King of the Ranges, but he, Seth assured himself, would be the power behind the throne.
Old Simon was sitting on the verandah when they arrived at nhe Y Z. He welcomed them heartily but not effusively, calling a boy to take their horses, and inviting them to make themselves at home. There was a twinkle in his eyes as he remarked: `Heard about yu from my daughter.'
`Then I'm afraid yu didn't get a very flattering account,' laughed the big man. `She saw me at an unfortunate moment.' `Yu ain'n the first by a good many, if it's any comfort to yu,' smiled Simon.
`Only hoss that ever beat me,' rejoined Tarman. `Fine beast too; yu oughtta got a good price for him.'
`I gave him away,' the cattleman explained. `He was too expensive; it looked like I'd have to set up a regular hospital if the boys kept on tryin' to ride him, an' then my girl gets the fool notion she can do it--'
`Telling the story of the disobedient daughter, Daddy?' asked a bright voice behind him.
Tarman was instantly on his feet, his hand outstretched, and his dark eyes alight with admiration.
`Yu see I've wasted no time, Miss Noreen,' he said. `Yore father has been tellin' me that we are fellow-sufferers so far as the roan is concerned.'
`I was very fortunate,' Noreen replied, as he shook hands. `I hope you are not feeling any ill effects.'
`No damage,' smiled the other. `Hurt my pride, o' course; no man likes to be piled, especially with a pretty girl looking on.' Then turning to his host, he added, `That man o' yores seems to be able to handle him.'
`Reckon he's got the gift,' said the ranch-owner. `I've met up with Injuns who could do anythin' with horses.'
`Injun blood in him, shouldn't wonder,' said Tarman casually. He was watching Noreen closely as he spoke, having, in fact, purposely cast what he knew to be an aspersion on the cowboy to see if she would resent it. There was, however, nothing but indifference in her tone when she replied: `I don't think so, but I believe he was brought up among Indians and horses.'
Tarman was pleased--evidently the girl was not interested in that quarter. 'Talkin' of Injuns,' he said. `I hear they've been pesterin' yu some.'
`We've all been losin' cattle,' Simon replied, and let it go at that. He was not the man to tell all his business to a stranger. The conversation drifted from the Y Z to the country around it, and then further afield to other towns and territories. Tarman had travelled much, both East and West, and he spoke well. When he chose he could be very entertaining, and the girl found herself listening to him with an interest she had not expected to feel. Seth Laban, chewing on a cigar, spoke only when appealed to by the bigger man, but his cunning eyes missed nothing.