The Long Shadow, page 17
CHAPTER XVII.
_The Shadow Darkens_.
The inquest resulted to the satisfaction of those who wished well tothe Pilgrim, for it cleared him of all responsibility for the killing.Gus Svenstrom had been drunk; he had been heard to make threats; hehad been the aggressor in the trouble at the dance; and the Pilgrim,in the search men had made immediately after the shooting, had beenfound unarmed. The case was very plainly one of self-defense.
Billy, when questioned, repeated the Pilgrim's first words tohim--that the Swede had pulled a knife; and told the jury, on furtherquestioning, that he had not seen any gun on the ground until after hehad gone for help.
Walland explained satisfactorily to the jury. He may have said knifeinstead of gun. He had heard some one say that the Swede carried aknife, and he had been expecting him to draw one. He was rattled atfirst and hardly knew what he did say. He did not remember saying itwas a knife, but it was possible that he had done so. As to Billy'snot seeing any gun at first--they did not question the Pilgrim aboutthat, because Billy in his haste and excitement could so easilyoverlook an object on the ground. They gave a verdict of self-defensewithout any discussion, and the Pilgrim continued to be something of ahero among his fellows.
Billy, as soon as the thing was over, mounted in not quite the besthumor and rode away to join his wagons. He had not ridden to theDouble-Crank to hear Flora talk incessantly of Mr. Walland, andrepeat many times the assertion that she did not see how, under thecircumstances, he could avoid killing the man. Nor had he gone towatch Mama Joy dimple and frown by turns and give him sidelong glanceswhich made him turn his head quickly away. He hated to admit tohimself how well he understood her. He did not want to be rude, buthe had no desire to flirt with her, and it made him rage inwardly torealize how young and pretty she really was, and how, if it were notfor Flora, he might so easily be tempted to meet her at least halfway.She could not be more than four or five years older than Flora, andin her large, blonde way she was quite as alluring. Billy wishedprofanely that she had gone to Klondyke with her husband, or thatBridger had known enough about women to stay at home with a wife asyoung as she.
He was glad in his heart when came the time to go. Maybe she would getover her foolishness by the time he came in with the round-up. At anyrate, the combination at the ranch did not tempt him to neglect hisbusiness, and he galloped down the trail without so much as lookingback to see if Flora would wave--possibly because he was afraid hemight catch the flutter of a handkerchief in fingers other than hers.
It was when the round-up was on its way in that Billy, stopping for anhour in Hardup, met Dill in the post office.
"Why, hello, Dilly!" he cried, really glad to see the tall, lank formcome shambling in at the door. "I didn't expect to see yuh off yourown ranch. Anybody dead?" It struck him that Dill looked a shade moremelancholy than was usual, even for him.
"Why, no, William. Every one is well--very well indeed. I only rodein after the mail and a few other things. I'm always anxious for mypapers and magazines, you know. If you will wait for half an hour--youare going home, I take it?"
"That's where I'm sure headed, and we can ride out together, easy asnot. We're through for a couple uh weeks or so, and I'm hazing theboys home to bust a few hosses before we strike out again. I guessI'll just keep the camp running down by the creek. Going to be in townlong enough for me to play a game uh pool?"
"I was going right out again, but there's no particular hurry," saidDill, looking over his letters. "Were you going to play with some onein particular?"
"No--just the first gazabo I could rope and lead up to the table,"Billy told him, sliding off the counter where he had been perched.
"I wouldn't mind a game myself," Dill observed, in his hesitating way.
In the end, however, they gave up the idea and started for home;because two men were already playing at the only table in Hardup, andthey were in no mind to wait indefinitely.
Outside the town, Dill turned gravely to the other, "Did you say youwere intending to camp down by the creek, William?" he asked slowly.
"Why, yes. Anything against it?" Billy's eyes opened a bit wider thatDill should question so trivial a thing.
"Oh, no--nothing at all." Dill cleared his throat raspingly. "Nothingat all--so long as there is any creek to camp beside."
"I reckon you've got something to back that remark. Has the creek wentand run off somewhere?" Billy said, after a minute of staring.
"William, I have been feeling extremely ill at ease for the past week,and I have been very anxious for a talk with you. Eight days ago thecreek suddenly ran dry--so dry that one could not fill a tin dipperexcept in the holes. I observed it about noon, when I led my horsedown to water. I immediately saddled him and rode up the creek todiscover the cause." He stopped and looked at Billy steadily.
"Well, I reckon yuh found it," Billy prompted impatiently.
"I did. I followed the creek until I came to the ditch Mr. Brown hasbeen digging. I found that he had it finished and was filling it fromthe creek in order to test it. I believe," he added dryly, "he foundthe result very satisfying--to himself. The ditch carried the wholecreek without any trouble, and there was plenty of room at the top formore!"
"Hell!" said Billy, just as Dill knew he would say. "But he can't takeout any more than his water-right calls for," he added. "Yuh got awater right along with the ranch, didn't yuh say?"
"I got three--the third, fourth, and fifth. I have looked into thematter very closely in the last week. I find that we can have all thewater there is--after Brown gets through. His rights are the firstand second, and will cover all the water the creek will carry, if hechooses to use them to the limit. I suspect he was looking for somesort of protest from me, for he had the papers in his pocket andshowed them to me. I afterward investigated, as I said, and found thecase to be exactly as I have stated."
Billy stared long at his horse's ears. "Well, he can't use the wholecreek," he said at last, "not unless he just turned it loose to bemean, and I don't believe he can waste water even if he does hold therights. We can mighty quick put a stop to that. Do yuh know anythingabout injunctions? If yuh don't, yuh better investigate 'em alot--because I don't know a damn' thing about the breed, and we'reliable to need 'em bad."
"I believe I may truthfully say that I understand the uses--andmisuses--of injunctions, William. In the East they largely take theplace of guns as fighting weapons, and I think I may say withoutboasting that I can hit the bull's-eye with them as well as most men.But suppose Mr. Brown _uses_ the water? Suppose there is none left toturn back into the creek channel when he is through? He has a largeforce of men at work running laterals from the main ditch, whichcarries the water up and over the high land, and I took the liberty offollowing his lines of stakes. As you would put it, William, he seemsabout to irrigate the whole of northern Montana; certainly his stakescover the whole creek bottom, both above and below the main ditch, andalso the bench land above."
"Hell! Anything else?"
"I believe not--except that he has completed his fencing and hasturned in a large number of cattle. I say completed, though strictlyspeaking he has not. He has completed the great field south of thecreek and east of us. But Mr. Walland was saying that Brown intendsto fence a tract to the north of us, either this fall or early in thespring. I know to a certainty that he has a good many sections leasedthere. I tried to obtain some of it last spring and could not." Intothe voice of Dill had crept a note of discouragement.
"Well, don't yuh worry none, Dilly. I'm here to see yuh pull out ontop, and you'll do it, too. You're a crackerjack when it comes to thefine points uh business, and I sure savvy the range end uh the game,so between us we ought to make good, don't yuh think? You justkeep your eye on Brown, and if yuh can slap him in the face with aninjunction or anything, don't yuh get a sudden attack uh politenessand let him slide. I'll look after the cow brutes myself--and if Iain't good for it, after all these years, I ought to be kicked plumboff the earth. The time has gone by when we could ride over there andhaze his bunch clear out uh the country on a high lope, with our sixguns backing our argument. I kinda wish," he added pensively, "we_hadn't_ got so damn' decent and law-abiding. We could get action aheap more speedy and thorough with a dozen or fifteen buckaroos thatliked to fight and had lots uh shells and good hosses. Why, I couldhave the old man's bunch shoveling dirt into that ditch to beat fouraces, in about fifteen minutes, if--"
"But, as you say," Dill cut in anxiously, "we are decent andlaw-abiding, and such a procedure is quite out of the question."
"Aw, I ain't meditating no moonlight attack, Dilly--but the boys wouldsure love to do it if I told 'em to get busy, and I reckon we couldmake a better job of it than forty-nine injunctions and all kinds uhlaw sharps."
"Careful, William. I used to be a 'law sharp' myself," protested Dill,pulling his face into a smile. "And I must own I feel anxious overthis irrigation project of Brown's. He is going to work upon a largescale--a _very_ large scale--for a private ranch. You have made itplain to me, William, how vitally important a wide, unsettled countryis to successful cattle raising; and since then I have thought deeplyupon the subject. I feel sure that Mr. Brown is _not_ going to start acattle ranch."
"If he ain't, then what--"
"I am not prepared at present to make a statement, even to you,William. I never enjoyed recanting. But one thing I may say. Mr. Brownhas so far kept well within his legal rights, and we have no possibleground for protest. So you see, perhaps we would better turn ourentire attention to our own affairs."
"Sure. I got plenty uh troubles uh my own," Billy agreed, moreemphatically than he intended.
Dill looked at him hesitatingly. "Mrs. Bridger," he observed slowly,"has received news that her husband is seriously ill. There willnot be another boat going north until spring, so that it will beimpossible for her to go to him. I am extremely sorry." Then, as ifthat statement seemed to him too bald, in view of the fact that theyhad never discussed Mama Joy, he added, "It is very hard for Flora.The letter held out little hope of recovery."
Billy, though he turned a deep red and acquired three distinct creasesbetween his eyebrows, did not even make use of his favorite expletive.After a while he said irritably that a man was a damn fool to go offlike that and leave a wife--and family--behind him. He ought either tostay at home or take them with him.
He did not mean that he wished her father had taken Flora to Klondyke,though he openly implied that he wished Mama Joy had gone. He knew hewas inconsistent, but he also knew--and there was comfort as well asdiscomfort in the knowledge--that Dill understood him very well.
It seemed to Billy, in the short time that the round-up crew wascamped by the creek, that no situation could be more intolerable thanthe one he must endure. He could not see Flora without having MamaJoy present also--or if he did find Flora alone, Mama Joy was sure toappear very shortly. If he went near the house there was no escapingher. And when he once asked Flora to ride with him he straightwaydiscovered that Mama Joy had developed a passion for riding and wentalong. Flora had only time to murmur a rapid sentence or two whileMama Joy was hunting her gloves.
"Mama Joy has been taking the _Ladies' Home Journal_" she saidironically, "and she has been converted to the idea that a girl mustnever be trusted alone with a man. I've acquired a chaperon now! Haveyou begun to study diplomacy yet, Billy Boy?"
"Does she chapyron yuh this fervent when the Pilgrim's the man?"countered Billy resentfully.
He did not get an answer, because Mama Joy found her gloves too soon,but he learned his lesson and did not ask Flora to ride with himagain. Nevertheless, he tried surreptitiously to let her know thereason and so prevent any misunderstanding.
He knew that Flora was worrying over her father, and he would like tohave cheered her all he could; but he had no desire to cheer Mama Joyas well--he would not even give her credit for needing cheer. Sohe stayed away from them both and gave his time wholly to thehorse-breaking and to affairs in general, and ate and slept in camp tomake his avoidance of the house complete.
Sometimes, of a night when he could not sleep, he wondered why itis that one never day-dreams unpleasant obstacles and dishearteningfailures into one's air castles. Why was it that, just when it hadseemed to him that his dream was miraculously come true; when he foundhimself complete master of the Double-Crank where for years hehad been merely one of the men; when the One Girl was also settledindefinitely in the household he called his home; when he knew sheliked him, and had faith to believe he could win her to somethingbetter than friendship--all these good things should be enmeshed in atangle of untoward circumstances?
Why must he be compelled to worry over the Double-Crank, that hadalways seemed to him a synonym for success? Why must his first andonly love affair be hampered by an element so disturbing as MamaJoy? Why, when he had hazed the Pilgrim out of his sight--and as hesupposed, out of his life--must the man hover always in the immediatebackground, threating the peace of mind of Billy, who only wanted tobe left alone that he and his friends might live unmolested in the aircastle of his building?
One night, just before they were to start out again gathering beeffor the shipping season, Billy thought he had solved theproblem--philosophically, if not satisfactorily. "I guess maybe it'sjust one uh the laws uh nature that you're always bumping into," hedecided. "It's a lot like draw-poker. Yah can't get dealt out to yuhthe cards yuh want, without getting some along with 'em that yuh don'twant. What gets me is, I don't see how in thunder I'm going to ditchm' discard. If I could just turn 'em face down on the table and count'em out uh the game--old Brown and his fences and his darn ditch, andthat dimply blonde person and the Pilgrim--oh, hell! Wouldn't we rakein the stakes if I could?"
Straightway Billy found another element added to the list ofdisagreeables--or, to follow his simile, another card was dealt himwhich he would like to have discarded, but which he must keep inhis hand and play with what skill he might. He was not the care-freeCharming Billy Boyle who had made prune pie for Flora Bridger in theline-camp. He looked older, and there were chronic creases between hiseyebrows, and it was seldom that he asked tunefully
"Can she make a punkin pie, Billy boy, Billy Boy?"
He had too much on his mind for singing anything.
It was when he had gathered the first train load of big, rollickysteers for market and was watching Jim Bleeker close the stockyardgate on the tail of the herd at Tower, the nearest shipping point,that the disagreeable element came in the person of Dill and the newshe bore.
He rode up to where Billy, just inside the wing of the stockyards,was sitting slouched over with one foot out of the stirrup, making acigarette. Dill did not look so much the tenderfoot, these days. Hesat his horse with more assurance, and his face was brown and had thatfirm, hard look which outdoor living brings.
"I looked for you in yesterday or the day before, William," he said,when Billy had greeted him with a friendly, "Hello, Dilly!" and one ofhis illuminating smiles.
"I'm ready to gamble old Brown has been and gone and run the creek dryon yuh again," bantered Billy, determined at that moment to turn hisback on trouble.
"No, William, you would lose. The creek is running almost its normalvolume of water. I dislike very much to interfere with your part ofthe business, William, but under present conditions I feel justifiedin telling you that you must not ship these cattle just now. I havebeen watching the market with some uneasiness for a month. Beefhas been declining steadily until now it ranges from two-ninety tothree-sixty, and you will readily see, William, that we cannot affordto ship at that figure. For various reasons I have not obtrudedbusiness matters upon you, but I will now state that it is vitallyimportant that we realize enough from the beef shipments to make ourfall payment on the mortgage and pay the interest on the remainder. Itwould be a great advantage if we could also clear enough for the nextyear's running expenses. Have you any idea how much beef there will beto ship this fall?"
"I figured on sixty or seventy cars," said Billy. Instinctively he hadpulled himself straight in the saddle to meet this fresh emergency.
Dill, with a pencil and an old letter from his pocket, was doing somerapid figuring. "With beef so low, I fear I shall be obliged to askyou to hold this herd for two or three weeks. The price is sure torise later. It is merely a juggling operation among the speculatorsand is not justified by the condition of the stock, or of the market.In a couple of weeks the price should be normal again."
"And in a couple uh weeks this bunch would bring the lowest figurethey name," Billy asserted firmly. "Beef shrinks on the hoof likethunder when it's held up and close-herded on poor range. Whatyuh better do, Dilly, is let me work this herd and ship just thetop-notchers--they're _all_ prime beef," he added regretfully,glancing through the fence at the milling herd. "I can cut out ten oftwelve cars that'll bring top price, and throw the rest back on therange till we gather again. Yuh won't lose as much that way as yuhwould by holding up the whole works."
"Well," Dill hesitated, "perhaps you are right. I don't pretend toknow anything about this side of the business. To put the case to youplainly, we must clear forty thousand dollars on our beef this fall,for the mortgage alone--putting it in round numbers. We should alsohave ten thousand dollars for expenses, in order to run clear withoutadding to our liabilities. I rely upon you to help manage it. If youwould postpone any more gathering of beef until--"
"It's just about a case uh now or never," Billy cut in. "There's onlyabout so long to gather beef before they begin to fall off in weight.Then we've got to round up the calves and wean 'em, before coldweather sets in. We can't work much after snow falls. We can pullthrough the first storm, all right, but when winter sets in we'redone. We've got to wean and feed all the calves you've got hay for,and I can save some loss by going careful and taking 'em away from thepoorest cows and leaving the fat ones to winter their calves. How muchhay yuh got put up?"
"A little over five hundred tons on our place," said Dill. "And I senta small crew over to the Bridger place; they have nearly a hundredtons there. You said for me to gather every spear I could," hereminded humorously, "and I obeyed to the best of my ability."
"Good shot, Dilly. I'll round up eight or nine hundred calves, then;that'll help some. Well, shall I cut the top off this bunch uh beef,or throw the whole business back on the range? You're the doctor."
Dill rode close to the high fence, stood in his stirrups and lookeddown upon the mass of broad, sleek backs moving restlessly in and outand around, with no aim but to seek some way of escape. The bawlingmade speech difficult at any distance, and the dust sent him coughingaway.
"I think, William," he said, when he was again beside Billy, "I shallleave this matter to your own judgment. What I want is to get everycent possible out of the beef we ship; the details I am content toleave with you, for in my ignorance I should probably botch the job. Isuppose we can arrange it so that, in case the market rises suddenly,you can rush in a trainload at short notice?"
"Give me two weeks to get action on the range stuff, and I can have atrainload on the way to Chicago so quick it'll make your head whirl.I'll make it a point to be ready on short notice. And before we pullout I'll give yuh a kinda programme uh the next three or four weeks,so yuh can send a man out and he'll have some show uh finding us. AndI won't bring in another herd till you send word--only yuh want tobear in mind that I can't set out there on a pinnacle till snow flies,waiting for prices to raise in Chicago. Yuh don't want to lose sightuh them nine hundred calves we've got to gather yet."
It was all well enough for Billy to promise largely and confidently,but he failed to take into account one small detail over which hehad no control. So perfect was his system of gathering beef--and hegathered only the best, so as to catch the top price--that when Dill'smessage came, short and hurried but punctiliously worded and perfectlypunctuated, that beef had raised to four-thirty and "Please rushshipment as per agreement," Billy had his trainload of beef inTower, ready to load just three days after receiving notice. Buthere interfered the detail over which he had no control. Dill hadremembered to order the cars, but shipping was heavy and cars were notto be had.
Two long, heartrending weeks they waited just outside Tower, heldthere within easy reach--and upon mighty short feed for the herd--bythe promises of the railroad management and the daily assurance of theagent that the cars might be along at any time within four hours. (Healways said four hours, which was the schedule time for fast freightbetween Tower and the division point.) Two long weeks, while from thesurrounding hills they watched long stock trains winding snakily overthe prairie toward Chicago. During those maddening days and nightsBilly added a fresh crease to the group between his eyebrows anddeepened the old ones, and Dill rode three horses thin galloping backand forth between the ranch and the herd, in helpless anxiety.
At last the cars came and the beef, a good deal thinner than it hadbeen, was loaded and gone, and the two relaxed somewhat from thestrain. The market was lower when that beef reached its destination,and they did not bring the "top" price which Billy had promised Dill.
So the shipping season passed and Dill made his payment on themortgage by borrowing twelve thousand dollars, using a little over twothousand to make up the deficit in shipping returns and holding theremainder for current expenses. Truly, the disagreeable element whichwould creep in where Billy had least expected scored a point there,and once more the castle he had builded for himself and Dill and oneother lay in shadow.
