--ang on to your nerve,--grunted Reynolds.--e--l run my car into that ravine back of this hill and cover it up with brush. Take a regular bloodhound to find it. I--l stay in the house here, or in the barn, and when we see anybody comin't I--l duck out into the brush. Only way they can get here in a car is to climb that foot path like I did. Besides, they won't waste much time huntin'tthis close to Bisley. They--l take a sweep through the country, and if they don't find me right easy, they--l figger I--e made for Lost Knob. They--l question you, of course, but if you--l keep your backbone stiff and look--m in the eye when you lie about it, I don't think they--l bother to search your farm.----lright,--shivered Jackson,--ut it'sl go hard with me if they find out.--He was numbed by the thought of Reynolds--deed. It had never occurred to him that a man as--ig--as Saul Hopkins could be shot down like an ordinary human.
Little was said between the men as they drove the car down the rocky hillside and into the ravine; wedged into the dense shinnery, they skilfully masked its presence.
-- blind man could tell a car-- been driv down that hill,--complained Jackson.
--ot after tonight,--answered Reynolds, with a glance at the sky.--believe it's goin'tto rain like hell in a few hours.----t is mighty hot and still,--agreed Jackson.--hope it does rain. We--e needin'tit. We didn't get no winter seasonin't--
--hat the hell do you care for your crops?--growled Reynolds.--ou don't own--m; nobody in these hills owns anything. Everything you all got is mortgaged to the hilt--some of it more-- once. You, personally, been lucky to keep up the interest; you sag once, and see what happens to you. You--l be just like my brother-in-law John, and a lot of others. You all are a pack of fools, just like I told him. To hell with strugglin'talong and slavin'tjust to put fine clothes on somebody else-- backs, and good grub into their bellies. You ain't workin'tfor yourselves; you--e workin'tfor them you owe money to.----ell, what can we do?--protested Jackson. Reynolds grinned wolfishly.
--ou know what I done tonight. Saul Hopkins won't never throw no other man out of his house and home to starve. But there-- plenty like him. If you farmers would listen to me, you-- throw down your rakes and pick up your guns. Up here in these hills we-- make a war out of it that-- make the Bloody Lincoln County War look plumb tame.-- Jackson't teeth chattered as with an ague.--e couldn't do it, Jim. Times is changed, can't you understand? You talk just like them old-time outlaws my dad used to tell me about. We can't fight with guns like our fathers used to do. The governor-- send soldiers to hunt us down. Keepin'ta man from biddin'tat a auction is one thing; fightin'tstate soldiers is another. We--e just licked and got to know it.----ou--e talkin'tjust like John and all the others,--sneered Reynolds.--ell, John't in jail and they say he's goin'tto the pen; but I-- free and Saul Hopkins is in hell. What you say to that?------ afeared it'sl be the ruin of us all,--moaned Jackson.
--ou and your fears,--snarled Reynolds.--en ain't got the guts of lice no more. I thought, when the farmers took over that auction, they was gettin'ttheir bristles up. But they ain't. Your old man wouldn't have knuckled down like you--e doin't Well, I know what I-- goin'tto do, if I have to go it alone. I--l get plenty of them before they get me, damn--m. Come on in the house and fix me up somethin'tto eat.-- Much had been crowded into a short time. It was only eleven o--lock. Stillness held the land in its grip. The stars had been blotted out by a grey haze-like veil which, rising in the north west, had spread over the sky with surprizing speed. Far away on the horizon lightning flickered redly. There was a breathless tenseness in the air. Breezes sprang up, blew fitfully from the south east, and as quickly died down. Somewhere off in the wooded hills a night bird called uneasily. A cow bawled anxiously in the corral. The beasts sensed an impending something in the atmosphere, and the men, raised in the hills, were no less responsive to the portents of the night.
--een a kind of haze in the sky all day,--muttered Jackson, glancing out the window as he fumbled about, setting cold fried bacon, corn bread, and a pot of red beans on the rough hewn table before his guest.--een lightnin'tin the north west since sundown. Wouldn't be surprized if we had a regular storm.--out that time of the year.----ikely,--grunted Reynolds, his mouth full of pork and corn bread.--oel, dern you, ain't you got nothin'tto drink better-- buttermilk?-- Jackson reached up into the tin-doored cupboard and brought down a jug. He pulled out the corn-cob stopper and tilted the mouth into a tin cup. The reek of white corn juice filled the room, and Reynolds smacked his lips appreciatively.
--ell, Joel, you ought not to be scared of hidin'tme, long as you--e kept that still of your-- hid.----hat-- different,--muttered Jackson uneasily.--ou know, though, I--l do all I can to help you out.-- He watched his friend in morbid fascination as Reynolds wolfed down the food and gulped the fiery liquor with keen relish.
-- don't see how you can set there and eat like that. Don't it make you kind of sick--thinkin'tabout Hopkins?----hy should it?--Reynolds--eyes became grim as he set down the cup and stared at his host.--hrowed John out of his home, and him with a wife and kids, and then was goin'tto send him to the pen--how much you think a man ought to take off a skunk like that?-- Jackson avoided his gaze and looked out the window. Away off in the distance came the first low grumble of thunder. The lightning played constantly along the north western horizon, splaying out to east and west.
--omin'tup sure,--mumbled Jackson.--eckon they--l get some water in Bisley Lake. Engineers said it's take three years to fill it, at the rate of rainfall in this country. I say one big rain like some I--e seen, would do the job. An awful lot of water can come down Locust and Mesquital.-- He opened the door and went out. Reynolds followed. The breathlessness of the atmosphere was even more intense. The haze-like veil had thickened; not a star was visible. The crowding hills with their black thickets rendered the darkness even more dense; but it was cut by the incessant glare of the lightning--distant, but growing more vivid. In the flashes a long low-lying bank of inky blackness could be seen hugging the north western horizon.
--unny the laws ain't been up the road,--muttered Jackson.--been listenin'tfor cars.----eckon they--e searchin'tthe other roads,--answered Reynolds.--ake some time to get up a posse after night, anyway. They--l be burnin'tup the telephone wires. I reckon you got the only phone there is on this road, ain't you, Joel?----eah; folks couldn't keep up the rent on--m. By gosh, that cloud-- comin'tup slow, but it sure is black. I bet it's been rainin'tpitch forks on the head of Locust for hours.------ goin'tto walk down towards the road,--said Reynolds.--can see a headlight a lot quicker down there than I can up here, for all these postoaks. I--e got an idea they--l be up here askin'tquestions before mornin't But if you lie like I--e seen you, they won't suspect enough to go prowlin'taround.-- Jackson shuddered at the prospect. Reynolds walked down the winding path, and disappeared among the flanking oaks. But he did not go far. He suddenly remembered that the dishes out of which he had eaten were still on the kitchen table. That might cause suspicion if the law dropped in suddenly. He turned and headed swiftly back toward the house. And as he went, he heard a peculiar tingling noise he was at first unable to identify. Then he was electrified by sudden suspicion. It was such a sound as a telephone would make, if rung while a quilt or cloak was held over it to muzzle the sound from some one near at hand.
Crouching like a panther, he stole up, and looking through a crack in the door, saw Jackson standing at the phone. The man shook like a leaf and great beads of sweat stood out on his grey face. His voice was strangled and unnatural.