'I wouldn't worry too much about him, Tick,' Hal replied, eyeing his neighbor from the hills coolly. 'A fine young fellow like that wouldn't get into trouble.'
'He flies off the handle too quickly,' Black submitted. 'Like he did the other day with you and young Frank Lovell. I wouldn't blame you if you don't lie him. But I'm kinda responsible to his mother for him. His wildness worries me.'
'Boys will be boys. You must make allowances for high spirits, Tick. Maybe he is a little quick on the trigger, but it is all nice clean fun.'
The hill man slid a quick look at Hal's innocent face. 'I thought perhaps you or Wall might have seen him.'
'You're too conscientious and get disturbed when there is no need. I'll bet that right now he isn't in any mischief at all. Very likely he is studying his Sunday School lesson.' Hal sprinkled sugar on the oatmeal Manuel had just put in front of him, poured cream in the dish, and started to eat.
Black watched the breakfasters, in doubt as to the value of further conversation. 'I suppose you haven't seen Brick, Tom,' he ventured.
'I've been with Hal all night,' Wall said, wooden-faced. 'I haven't seen any more of him than Hal has.'
The oldtimer went back to his table and sat down.
'Well!' rasped Frawley. 'I'll bet you didn't find out a thing.'
The ham and eggs had arrived. Black jerked his plate toward him irritably. 'They've got something up their sleeves. They sat there laughing at me, making but they were dead serious.'
'He'll laugh on the other side of his mouth before I'm through with him,' the big ruffian growled.
'Referring to Stevens, I judge.' The old man's sneer was obvious. 'Better not fool with him, Jim. Even when you have a dead center shot on him, like you had the other morning, all you do is miss. I reckon you had buck fever.'
Frawley thumped on the table angrily. 'Don't ride me, Tick. I won't take it. Not for a minute. How come I to miss was because the sun was in my eyes.' Even in his rage he kept his voice low.
'All right. I ain't riding you. Better luck next time.'
They finished their breakfasts and left. Helen joined her friends quickly. There was nobody else in the room except Manuel, who was removing the used dishes.
'Tell me about it,' she said.
'Brick followed us down an alley,' Wall explained. 'And Hal got onto it. We trapped him back of the Tejon house. When he tried to get away over the wall, Hal was waiting there and knocked him out. We turned him over to Sheriff Elbert at Fair Play.'
'It's a pity you didn't kill him,' Helen said vindictively. 'That man oughtn't to be alive.'
'Right you are,' Wall agreed. 'But we couldn't kill a prisoner who had no gun.'
'I suppose not.' She made a gesture of protest. 'But we'll all live to be sorry for it.'
Hal and Tom both thought that might be true.
'Dale Lovell called me up at the house last night,' Helen said to Stevens. 'She knew that you were on your way to Casa Rita and wanted to make sure there had not been any trouble in town.'
'And you told her?' Hal asked.
'I told her Brick Fenwick had been here making trouble, but that as far as I knew you had not met him.'
'She worries too much about what that young ruffian and his friends will do. After all, they are only a few jumps ahead of the law. With Uncle Sam after them, they won't go far. But I'll phone her after I reach Casa Rita.'
Helen did not think she worried a bit too much and said so. There were probably a dozen outlaws implicated in these cattle raids. If they were caught, all of them would be given stiff terms in prison, except the ones who would be executed. They were desperate men, and as they saw it their safety lay in rubbing out the man who was drawing the net about them closer. If that was not reason enough to fear them, a more personal one could be added. They hated Stevens for the humiliating defeats he had put upon them, and they included his friends in this.
The red-headed girl looked pointedly at Wall as she finished her little harangue. The hot color was in her cheeks, for she did not want him to think her interest was too great.
His easy smile discounted her alarm. 'I'll treat you to a coke at the drugstore on the day these crooks are sent to Alcatraz in irons, and I'll bring Hal with me. That's a promise.' He put a rider on it. 'Unless Uncle Sam wants me before that time. I hear he is beginning to take cripples into the service.'
Tom had lost two fingers on his right hand when they got caught in a rope with a plunging four-year-old steer at the other end. But he did not regard himself as a cripple even if the draft board did. So far he did not seem to be wanted on land, sea, or in the air. But he still had hopes.
CHAPTER 23
A Gun Goes Off
DALE LOVELL had spent a restless night, filled with dreams of sudden death to the man she loved. Helen had told her that Brick Fenwick was in town and that Tom Wall had escaped being shot down only by his presence of mind. Very guardedly Hal Stevens had mentioned over the telephone that he was leaving for Casa Rita to join Arnold. Since the line was a two-party one, it was possible that somebody connected with the Black gang had been listening. That would explain Brick's presence at Big Bridge. He might be there lying in wait for Hal.
She was up early, spurred by a sudden decision to go to town and make sure there had been no trouble there. With no breakfast except a cup of coffee, she drove down to the valley road and headed for town. The highway followed the course of the river, crossing the stream three times in the first four miles.
The second bridge was a narrow one, with just room enough for two cars to pass. Another automobile was approaching from the other direction, and she waited for it to go by. The driver of it, while still on the bridge, braked swiftly and stopped in the center of the road. He sat there for a moment glaring at her, then got out of the car and lumbered heavily toward her. Early in the morning though it was, Dale could see that Frawley had been drinking. His face was flushed, his eyes glassy.
The other man in the seat called to him, 'Hold on, Jim,' and scrambled out after him. He was Tick Black. Much as Dale disliked and distrusted him, she was glad of his presence.
'Please get out of the middle of the road and let me pass,' she said, her voice a sharp imperative.
'I'll move when I get ready,' Frawley answered. 'I haven't seen my little boss alone since she fired me. It will be nice to chin over old times.'
'I have nothing to say to you, sir,' the young woman told him stiffly, a touch of arrogance in tone and manner.
In spite of her fine-lined grace and vivid good looks, this girl reminded Tick Black of her father. Her mouth and chin were firm, and from the dark lovely eyes an indomitable resolution flashed.
'Don't get hoity-toity with me, you little devil,' her former foreman cried. 'I've got plenty to say to you.'
'Now — now, Jim, go slow,' cautioned Black. 'You're talking to a young lady, not to those killers Stevens and Wall.'
'I know who I'm talking to — an obstinate bossy shrew who thinks she can run this whole valley. I aim to show her about that.'
He flung open the car door, intending to drag her from the seat. His hand stopped halfway toward her, for she was holding quite steadily, pointed at his big bulging stomach, a small but businesslike revolver. The dark blood poured into his swollen face. The thought was in his mind to brush aside the gun and drag her out, so heady was his rage.
She read his urge and forestalled it. 'Don't!' she ordered, a low and deadly warning in the word.
The anger did not drain out of his face, but there was a whisper of doubt that reached his eyes. She was just vixen enough to shoot him, he thought. He was not drunk enough to risk that. Better talk her out of it before he went any further.