XVIII

In his years of residence at Trail's End, Dave Turner had acquired a

thorough knowledge of all its paths. That knowledge stood him in good

stead now. He wished to cross the ridges to Simon's house at least an

hour before Bruce could return to Linda.

He traveled hard and late, and he reached Simon's door just before

sundown of the second day. Bruce was still a full two hours distant. But

Dave did not stay to knock. It was chore-time, and he thought he would

find Simon in his barn, supervising the feeding and care of the

livestock. He had guessed right, and the two men had a moment's talk in

the dusky passage behind the stalls.

"I've brought news," Dave said.

Simon made no answer at first. The saddle pony in the stall immediately

in front of them, frightened at Dave's unfamiliar figure, had crowded,

trembling, against his manger. Simon's red eyes watched him; then he

uttered a short oath. He took two strides into the stall and seized the

halter rope in his huge, muscular hand. Three times he jerked it with a

peculiar, quartering pull, a curbing that might have been ineffective by

a man of ordinary strength, but with the incomprehensible might of the

great forearm behind it was really terrible punishment. Dave thought for

a moment his brother would break the animal's neck; the whites began to

show about the soft, dark pupils of its eyes. The strap over the head

broke with the fourth pull; then the horse recoiled, plunging and

terrified, into the opposite corner of the stall.

Simon leaped with shattering power at the creature's shoulders, his huge

arms encircled its neck, his shoulders heaved, and he half-threw it to

the floor. Then, as it staggered to rise, his heavy fist flailed against

its neck. Again and again he struck, and in the half-darkness of the

stable it was a dreadful thing to behold. The man's fury, always quickly

aroused, was upon him; his brawny form moved with the agility of a

panther. Even Dave, whose shallow eyes were usually wont to feast on

cruelty, viewed the scene with some alarm. It wasn't that he was moved

by the agony of the horse. But he did remember that horses cost money,

and Simon seemed determined to kill the animal before his passion was

spent.

The horse cowered, and in a moment more it was hard to remember he was a

member of a noble, high-spirited breed,--a swift runner, brainy as a

dog, a servant faithful and worthy. It was no longer easy to think of

him as a creature of beauty,--and there is no other word than beauty for

these long-maned, long-tailed, trim-lined animals. He stood quiet at

last, his head hanging low, knees bent, eyes curiously sorrowful and

dark. Simon fastened the broken strap about his neck, gave it one more

jerk that almost knocked the animal off his feet, then turned back to

Dave. Except for a higher color in his cheeks, darker lights in his

eyes, and an almost imperceptible quickening of his breathing, it did

not seem as if he had moved.

"You're always bringing news," he said.

Dave opened his eyes. He had forgotten his own words in the tumult of

the fight he had just watched, but plainly Simon hadn't forgotten. He

opened his mouth to speak.

"Well, what is it? Out with it," his brother urged. "If it's as

important as some of the other news you've brought don't take my time."

"All right," the other replied sullenly. "You don't have to hear it. But

I'm telling you it's of real importance this time--and sometime you'll

find out." He scowled into the dark face. "But suit yourself."

He turned as if to go. He rather thought that Simon would call him back.

It would be, in a measure, a victory. But Simon went back to his

inspection of the stalls.

Dave walked clear to the door, then turned. "Don't be a fool, Simon," he

urged. "Listen to what I have to tell you. Bruce Folger knows where that

secret agreement is."

For once in his life Dave got a response of sufficient emphasis to

satisfy him. His brother whirled, his whole expression undergoing an

immediate and startling change. If there was one emotion that Dave had

never seen on Simon's face it was fear,--and he didn't know for certain

that he saw it now. But there was alarm--unmistakable--and surprise

too.

"What do you mean?" he demanded.

Dave exulted inwardly. His brother's response had almost made up for the

evil news that he brought. For Dave's fortunes, as well as Simon's,

depended on the vast fertile tract being kept in the clan's possession.

His eyes narrowed ever so slightly. For the first time in his life, as

far as Dave could remember, Simon had encountered a situation that he

had not immediately mastered. Perhaps it was the beginning of Simon's

downfall, which meant--by no great stretch of the imagination--the

advancement of Dave. But in another second of clear thinking Dave knew

that in his brother's strength lay his own; if this mighty force at the

head of the clan was weakening, no hope remained for any of them. His

own face grew anxious.

"Out with it," Simon stormed. His tone was really urgent now, not

insolent as usual. "Good Lord, man, don't you know that if Bruce gets

that down to the settlements before the thirtieth of next month we're

lost--and nothing in this world can save us? We can't drive _him_ off,

like we drove the Rosses. There's too much law down in the valleys. If

he's got that paper, there's only one thing to do. Help me saddle a

horse."

"Wait a minute. I didn't say he had it. I only said he knew where it

was. He's still an hour or two walk from here, toward Little River, and

if we have to wait for him on the trail, we've got plenty of time. And

of course I ain't quite sure he _does_ know where it is."

Simon smiled mirthlessly. "The news is beginning to sound like the rest

of yours."

"Old Hudson is dead," Dave went on. "And don't look at me--I didn't do

it. I wish I had, though, first off. For once my judgment was better

than yours. The Killer got him."

"Yes. Go on."

"I was with him when it happened. My gun got jammed so I couldn't

shoot."

"Where is it now?"

Dave scrambled in vain for a story to explain the loss of his weapon to

Bruce, and the one that came out at last didn't do him particular

credit. "I--I threw the damn thing away. Wish I hadn't now, but it made

me so mad by jamming--it was a fool trick. Maybe I can go back after it

and find it."

Simon smiled again. "Very good so far," he commented.

Dave flushed. "Bruce was there too--fact is, creased the bear--and the

last minute before he died Hudson told him where the agreement was

hidden. I couldn't hear all he said--I was too far away--but I heard

enough to think that he told Bruce the hiding, place. It was natural

Hudson would know it, and we were fools for not asking him about it long

ago."

"And why didn't you get that information away from Bruce with your gun?"

"Didn't I tell you the thing was jammed? If it hadn't of been for that,

I'd done something more than find out where it is. I'd stopped this

nonsense once and for all, and let a hole through that tenderfoot big

enough to see through. _Then_ there'd never be any more trouble. It's

the thing to do now."

Simon looked at his brother's face with some wonder. More crafty and

cunning, Dave was like the coyote in that he didn't yield so quickly to

fury as that gray wolf, his brother. But when it did come, it seared

him. It had come now. Simon couldn't mistake the fact; he saw it plain

in the glowing eyes, the clenched hands, the drawn lips. Dave was

remembering the pain of the blow Bruce had given him, and the smart of

the words that had preceded it.

"You and he must have had a little session down there by the creek,"

Simon suggested slowly, "when your gun was jammed. Of course, he took

the gun. What's the use of trying to lie to me?"

"He did. What could I do?"

"And now you want him potted--from ambush."

"What's the use of waiting? Who'd know?" The two men stood face to face

in the quiet and deepening dusk of the barn; and there was growing

determination on each face. "Every day our chance is less and less,"

Dave went on. "We've been thinking we're safe, but if he knows where

that agreement is, we're not safe at all. How would you like to get

booted off these three thousand acres now, just after we've all got

attached to them? To start making our living as day laborers--and maybe

face a hangin' for some things of long ago? With this land behind him,

he'd be in a position to pay old debts, I'm telling you. We're not

secure, and you know it. The law doesn't forget, and it doesn't forgive.

We've been fooling away our time ever since we knew he was coming. We

should have met him on the trail and let the buzzards talk to him."

"Yes," Simon echoed in a strange half-whisper. "Let the buzzards talk to

him."

Dave took fresh heart at the sound of that voice. "No one would have

ever knowed it," he went on. "No one would ever know it now. They'd find

his bones, some time maybe, but there'd be no one to point to. They'd

never get any thing against us. Everybody except the mountain people

have forgotten about this affair. Those in the mountains are too

scattered and few to take any part in it. I tell you--it's all the way,

or no way at all. Tell me to wait for him on the trail."

"Wait. Wait a minute. How long before he will come?"

"Any time now. And don't postpone this matter any more. We're men, not

babies. He's not a fool or not a coward, either. He's got his old man's

blood in him--not his mother's to run away. As long as he ain't croaked,

all we've done so far is apt to come to nothing. And there's one thing

more. He's going to take the blood-feud up again."

"Lots of good it would do him. One against a dozen."

"But he's a shot--I saw that plain enough--and how'd you like to have

him shoot through _your_ windows some time? Old Elmira and Linda have

set him on, and he's hot for it."

"I wish you'd got that old heifer when you got her son," Simon said. He

still spoke calmly; but it was plain enough that Dave's words were

having the desired effect. Dave could discern this fact by certain

lights and expressions about the pupils of his brother's eyes, signs

learned and remembered long ago. "So he's taken up the blood-feud, has

he? I thought I gave his father some lessons in that a long time since.

Well, I suppose we must let him have his way!"

"And remember too," Dave urged, "what you told him when you met him in

the store. You said you wouldn't warn him twice."

"I remember." The two men were silent, but Dave stood no longer

motionless. The motions that he made, however, were not discernible in

the growing gloom of the barn. He was shivering all over with malice and

fury.

"Then you've given the word?" he asked.

"I've given the word, but I'll do it my own way. Listen, Dave." Simon

stood, head bent, deep in thought. "Could you arrange to have Linda and

the old hag out of the house when Bruce gets back?"

"Yes--"

"We've got to work this thing right. We can't operate in the open like

we used to. This man has taken up the blood-feud--but the thing to

do--is to let him come to us."

"But he won't do it. He'll go to the courts first."

Simon's face grew stern. "I don't want any more interruptions, Dave. I

mean we will want to give the impression that he attacked us first--on

his own free will. What if he comes into our house-a man unknown in

these parts--and something happens to him there--in the dead of night?

It wouldn't look so bad then, would it? Besides--if we got him

here--before the clan, we might be able to find out where that document

is. At least we'll have him here where everything will be in our favor.

First, how can you tell when he's going to come?"

"He ought to be here very soon. The moon's bright and I can get up on

the ridge and see his shadow through your field glasses when he crosses

the big south pasture. That will give me a full half-hour before he

comes."

"It's enough. I'm ready to give you your orders now. They are--just to

use your head, and on some pretext get those two women out of the house

so that Bruce can't find them when he returns. Don't let them come back

for an hour, if you can help it. If it works--all right. If it doesn't,

we'll use more direct measures. I'll tend to the rest."

He strode to the wall and took down a saddle from the hook. Quickly he

threw it over the back of one of the cow ponies, the animal that he had

punished. He put the bridle in Dave's hand. "Stop at the house for the

glasses, then ride to the ridge at once," he ordered. "Then keep

watch."

Without words Dave led the horse through the door and swung on to its

back. In an instant the wild folk, in the fringe of forest beyond,

paused in their night occupations to listen to the sound of hoof beats

on the turf. Then Simon slowly saddled his own horse.