A VIGIL REWARDED
The days passed quietly for the two watchers after Johnny had gone back
to the Question-Mark, the hours dragging in monotonous succession.
In the Sand Creek camp time passed pleasantly enough, but out on
the great, upslanting billow of sand north of Sweet Spring, devoid
of shelter from the blazing sun and from the reflected glare of the
gray-white desert around it, was another matter. Prone on his stomach
lay Hopalong on the northward slope, his face barely level with the
crest of the ridge. Down in the hollow behind him was his horse,
picketed and hobbled as well, and at his side on his blanket to keep
the cutting sand and clogging dust from barrels and actions lay his
rifle and his six-guns, so hot that their metal parts could not be
touched without a grimace of discomfort coming to his face. The
telescope at intervals swung around the shimmering horizon, magnifying
the dancing heat waves until the distortion of their wavering,
streaming currents at times rendered the view chaotic and baffling.
Strange sights were to be seen in the air and knowing what they were
he watched them as his only source of amusement. A tree-bordered lake
appeared, its waters sparkling, arose into the air, became vague and
slowly dissolved from view, calling from him caustic comment. Inverted
mountains reached down from the heavens, standing on snow-covered tops,
writhed more and more from their outer edges and melted down from
the up-flung bases, slowly fading from view. They were followed by a
silvery, winding river, certain features which caused him to think
that he recognized it and while he studied it a herd of cattle upside
down, and greatly magnified, pushed through into sight as the river
scene faded away. Another hour passed and then a steep-walled, green
valley inverted itself before his gaze. He could make out a hut and a
few trees and then as mounted men began to ride up its slanting bluff
trail his attention became riveted on it and he reached for the hot
telescope. One look through the instrument made him grunt with disgust,
for the figures danced and shrunk and expanded, weaved and became like
shadows, through which he looked as though through a rare, discolored
vapor. He was mildly excited and tried in vain to search his visual
image of the sight for the faces of the men; but it was in vain, and
he opened his eyes as the image faded and then closed them again to
better search the memory picture. This, too, availed him nothing and he
realized that he had not really seen the faces. He was perplexed and
vexed, for there was something familiar about some of those riders.
About to move for a look around through the telescope, he yielded to
a humorous warning and lay quiet for awhile. Was it possible that the
mirage had been double-acting, and had revealed each to the other?
"Mebby they won't put as much stock in theirs as I did in mine," he
said, and slowly picked up the telescope for a final look all around
the horizon before Red should relieve him. East, south, west he looked
and saw nothing. Swinging it toward the Sand Creek camp he grunted
in satisfaction as a figure very much like Red wavered and danced
as it emerged over a ridge of sand. Further north he swung it and
slowly swept the northern horizon. Swearing suddenly he stopped its
slow progress and brought it back searchingly over ground it had just
covered. Rigid he held it and looked with unbelieving eyes.
"Mirage?" he growled, questioningly: "It's too solid for that--I'm
goin' up to see."
Getting his horse he gingerly slipped the hot rifle into its scabbard,
hastily dropped the six-guns into their holsters and, mounting, rode to
meet his nearing friend.
"Cooked?" queried Red, grinning. "You shore didn't lose no time gettin'
started after you saw me! Ain't it h--l out here?"
"H--l is right," answered Hopalong, handing over the telescope. "But
we got cayuses, full canteens, an' know where we are. Swing that
blisterin' tube over yonder," pointing, "an' tell me what you see?"
Red obeyed and the moving glass suddenly stopped and swung back a
little. After long scrutiny he raised his head and gazed steadily over
the rigid tube as though along a rifle barrel. "I see him, now, without
it," he said. "A-foot, he is, staggerin' every-which way. Comin'?"
His companion replied by pushing into the lead and setting a stiff pace
through the soft sand and alkali dust. As they drew near they both
shivered at the sight which steadily was being better revealed.
The figure of a man, and scarcely more than figure, stumbled crazily
across the sand, hatless, his bare feet covered with dust which had
become pasty with the blood exuding through the deepening clefts in the
skin and flesh. Progress on such feet would have made him mad from pain
if he had not already become so from other causes. His trousers were
ripped and frayed to the swollen, dust-plastered knees, the crimson
fissures running up and down his swollen legs. Shirt he had none, save
the strip which hung stiff and crimson from his belt. His upper body
was a thing of horror, swollen, matted with crusts of dried blood, from
beneath which more oozed out to in turn coagulate. His burning eyes
peered through slits in the puffed face and his tongue, blackened and
purplish, stuck out of his mouth.
"G--d!" muttered Red, glancing awesomely at the tense face of his
companion.
"He's gone," said Hopalong, softly. "Nothing can save him. It would be
a mercy--" but he checked the words, searching Red's acquiescent eyes.
"Can't do it," said Red. "Can you?"
Hopalong drew in a deep breath and shook his head. "We got to try th'
other first," he said. "It's wrong--but there's nothin' else. We ain't
doctors, an' there may be a fightin' chance. Hobble th' cayuses. We'll
both tackle him--one alone might have to be too rough, for he'll mebby
fight."
"He's down," said Red as he swung from his saddle. "Lookin' right at
us, too, an' don't see us."
The figure groveled in the sand, digging with blundering fingers worn
to the bone by previous digging, and choked sounds came from the
swollen throat. Red talked to himself as he hobbled his horse and
pushed down the picket pin.
"Lost his cayuse, somehow, or went crazy an' chased it away. Used
up his last water an' then threw away everythin' he had. Tore off
his shirt because th' neckband got too tight, an' th' cloth stuck to
th' blood clots an' pulled at 'em. I've seen others, but they warn't
none of 'em as bad as him," growled Red more to himself than to his
companion.
Hopalong pushed home his own picket pin and stood up. "Comin'?" he
asked, starting slowly for the groveling, digging thing on the sand.
They stepped up to him and lifted the unfortunate from the ground.
Dazed and without understanding, the pitiful object of their assistance
suddenly snarled and reached its bleeding fingers for Red's throat, and
for the next few minutes two rational, strong men had as hard a fight
on their hands as they ever had experienced; and when it was over and
the enraged unfortunate became docile from exhaustion they were covered
with blood. Letting a few drops of water trickle down the side of the
protruding tongue, which they forced to one side when the drops were
stopped by it, they worked over the dying man as long as they dared
in the sun and then, carrying him to Hopalong's horse they put him
across the saddle, lashing him securely, and covered him with a doubled
blanket to cheat the leering sun.
"Go ahead to th' water-hole," said Hopalong, straightening up from
tying the last knot. "I'll take him to camp an' do what I can. There
won't be no trouble handlin' him, tied like he is. Got to try to save
him--'though I hope somebody puts a bullet through my head if I ever
get like him."
"Bein' crazy, he mebby ain't feelin' it as much as he might," replied
Red. "Seems to me he's the one they called Sandy Woods; but he's so
plumb changed I ain't shore."
Hopalong thought of the last mirage he had seen, was about to speak of
it, but abruptly changed his mind. He conveyed his warning in another
way. "Keep a-lookin' sharp, Red," he said. "Th' poor devil shore was
one of them rustlers; an' they mebby ain't far behind him. It's gettin'
nearer an' nearer th' time they ought to come back. I'll stay with him
in camp an' let th' Kid's signal go, if he makes one. This feller ain't
got long to live, I'm figgerin'."
"It's a wonder he lived this long," said Red, riding off to take up the
vigil.
Hopalong swung his belts and guns over the pommel of the saddle to
lighten him, drank sparingly from a canteen and started on foot for
the camp, leading his dispirited horse. After a walk through the hot,
yielding sand which became a punishment during the last mile he sighed
with relief as he stopped the horse on the bank of Sand Creek and
tenderly placed its burden on the ground in the shade of a tree. More
water, in judicious quantities, and at increasingly frequent intervals
brought no apparent relief to the sufferer, and in mid-afternoon Sandy
Woods lost all need of earthly care. Kane's thieving trail-boss had won
his bet.
Hopalong looked down at the body freed of its suffering and slowly
shook his head. "Th' other way would 'a' been th' best," he said. "_I_
knowed it; _Red_ knowed it--yet, both plumb shore, an' _knowin'_ it was
better, we just couldn't do it. A man's trainin' is a funny thing."
He looked around the little depression and walked toward a patch of
sand lying near a mass of stones which had rolled down the slope;
and before the evening shadows had reached across the little creek,
a heaped-up pile of rocks marked the place of rest of one more weary
traveler. At the head, lying on the ground, was a cross made of stones.
Why he had placed it there Hopalong could hardly have told, but
something within him had stirred through the sleep of busy and heedless
years, and he had unthinkingly obeyed it.
He looked up at the sun and found it was time to go on watch again.
He had been given no opportunity to sleep, but did not complain,
carelessly accepting it as one of the breaks in the game. When he
reached his friend, ready to go on duty again, Red looked up at him and
scrutinized his face.
"Lots of sleep you must 'a' got," said Red. "How's our patient?"
"Gettin' all th' sleep there is," came the reply. "We was right--both
ways."
"Spread yore blanket here," said Red. "I'm stickin' to th' job till you
have a snooze. Anyhow, somethin' tells me that two won't be more'n we
need out here at night, from now on."
"It's my trick," replied Hopalong, decisively. "Spread yore own
blanket."
"Him turnin' up like he did was an accident," retorted Red, "an'
accidents are shared between us both. Anyhow, I ain't sleepy--an' th'
next few hours are pleasant. Get some sleep, you chump!"
"Well, as long as we're both handy, it don't make much difference,"
replied Hopalong, spreading the blanket. "We can spell each other any
time we need to. Hope th' Kid ain't tryin' to signal nothin'."
"We got more to signal than he has," growled Red. "Shut up, now; an' go
to sleep," and his companion, blessed by one of the prized acquirements
of the plainsman, promptly obeyed; but it seemed to him that he
scarcely had dozed off when he felt his friend's thrusting hand, and he
opened his eyes in the darkness, staring up at the blazing stars, in
surprise.
"Yes?" whispered Hopalong, without moving or making any other sound,
again true to his training.
His companion's whisper, a whisper by force of habit rather than for
any good reason, reached him: "Turn over, an' look over th' ridge."
Hopalong obeyed, threw off the blanket which Red had spread over him
when the chill of the desert night descended, and became all eyes as
he saw the faint glow of a distant fire, which rapidly grew and became
brighter. "It's them, down at th' other water-hole," he said, arising
and feeling to see if his Colts had slid out of their holsters while
he slept. "I'm goin' down for a better look," and he glanced at the
northern sky just above the horizon, memorized a group of stars and
disappeared noiselessly into the night.
Nearing the larger water-hole he went more slowly and finished by
wriggling up to the crest of a sand billow, his head behind a lone sage
bush, and his eyelids closed to a thin crack, lest the light of the
fire should reflect from his eyes and reveal him to some keen, roving
glance.
The greasewood fire blazed under a pair of skillets, while a coffeepot
imitated the Tower of Pisa on the glowing coals at one edge. Around it,
reclining on the powdery clay, or squatting in the more characteristic
attitude of men of the saddle, were a half-dozen of Kane's pets, Miguel
and his cronies well to one side. The hidden watcher knew them all by
sight and saw several men who had helped the sheriff trick him and Red.
In the darkness behind the group he heard their horses moving about as
they grazed.
"Do you reckon he made it, Miguel?" asked the trail-boss, apropos of
the conversation around the fire.
Miguel turned his face to the light, the scar over his eye glistening
against the duller skin around it. "I say no," he drawled. "He change
hees horrse at the corrals, no? The-e horrse he took was born at the-e
Cimarron corral an' foaled eet's firrst colt there. I would not lak'
sooch a horrse eef I did not know my way. But, _quien sabe_?"
The trail-boss looked at him searchingly, wondering how much the
half-breed knew about Sandy's reasons for making the change. Kane would
not allow fighting in the ranks, and grudges live long in some men.
Besides, to lose the bet was to lose his share of the drive profits to
a man he secretly hated, and this did not suit the trail-boss.
Miguel smiled grimly into the cold, searching eyes and shrugged his
shoulders, his soft laugh turning the cold stare into something warmer.
"Eef he deed, then eet ees ver' good," he said; "eef he deed not, then
eet hees own fault. But he should not change hees horrse."
"We'll know tomorrow night, anyhow," said a voice well back from the
fire. "Get a rustle on you, Thorpe," it growled. "You move around like
an old woman."
"Ain't no walls to climb," said another, laughing.
The red-faced cook did not raise his head or retort, but in his memory
another name was deeply carved, to replace the one he was certain would
be erased when they reached Mesquite. Sandy Woods' dislike for the
horse given to him at the corrals had been overcome by the smooth words
of the unforgiving cook, who also had a score to pay.
"When do we rustle next?" asked a squatting figure. "We been layin' low
too long, an' my pile has done faded; I wasn't lucky, like you, Trask,
an' the sheriff," he said, looking at the trail-boss. "Next time a bank
is busted _I_ aim to be in on it. You fellers can't hog _all_ th' good
things."
"Don't do no good to talk about it," snapped the trail-boss. "Kane
names them he wants. Trask an' me was robbed of half of our share--I
ain't forgettin' it, neither. An' as for th' next raid, that's settled.
As long as all of us are in it, you might as well know. We're cleanin'
up on McCullough's west range, an' there won't be much of a wait."
Neither the speaker, his companions, nor the man behind the sage brush
knew that Kane already had changed his mind, and because of Lukins'
activity had decided to raid McCullough's east range.
"_How_ soon?" demanded the questioner.
"Some night this week, I reckon," came the answer. "If we get a good
bunch we'll sit back an' take things easy for awhile. Too many drives
may cut a trail that'll show, an' we can't risk _that_."
"Too bad we have to drive west an' north before we hit for the plain,"
said Jud Hill. "Takes two days more, that way."
The trail-boss smiled. "I know a way that would suit you, Jud," he
said. "So does Miguel--but we've been savin' it till th' old route gets
too risky. It joins th' regular trail right here. Well, at last th'
cook has really cooked--pass it this way, Thorpe. I'm eatin' fast an'
I'm turnin' in faster. Th' more we beat th' sun gettin' away from here,
th' less it'll beat on us. We're leavin' an hour ahead of it."
Not waiting until the camp should become silent, when any noise he
might make would be more likely to be heard, Hopalong crept away while
the rustlers ate and returned to his friend, who waited under a certain
group of stars.
Red cocked his head at the soft sound, his Colt swinging to cover it,
when he heard his name called in his friend's voice, and he replied.
Hopalong sat down on the blanket and related what he had seen and heard
without comment from his listener until the end of the narrative.
"Huh!" said Red. "You learned a-plenty. An' I'm glad they reached that
water-hole after dark, an' are goin' to go on again before it gets
light. They missed our tracks. I call that luck," he said in great
satisfaction. "We wasn't doin' much guessin'. That's shore their drive
trail, an' th' best thing about it is that it's th' bottom of th' Y.
They've got two ways of leavin' th' ranges without showin' tracks, but
they both come together down yonder. I reckon mebby we'll have a piece
to speak when they come this way again. Goin' to tell McCullough what's
bein' hatched?"
"We ought to," answered his companion, slowly. "We'll tell th' Kid
an' leave it to him. They must be purty shore of themselves to rustle
Question-Mark cattle at _this_ time. If th' Kid tells Mac, an' they try
it, Mesquite shore is goin' to be a busy little town. I think I know
his breed."
"They ain't takin' much of a chance, at that, if they try it,"
said Red. "They don't know that we know anythin' about it an' that
McCullough will know it, if th' Kid tells him. Mebby they figger that
by springin' it right now when th' feelin' is so strong agin' 'em, that
it would make folks think they didn't do it, because they oughten't
to--oh, pshaw! _You_ know what I'm gettin' at!"
"Shore," grunted Hopalong. He was silent a moment and then stirred. "We
ain't got no reason to stay out here for a day or two. Let's pull out
an' go down where we can signal th' Kid after sun-up. We'll ride well
to th' east past their camp. What wind is stirrin' is comin' from th'
other way, an' there's no use makin' any fresh tracks in front of 'em."
An hour or so after daylight a small fire sent a column of smoke
straight up, the explanation of its smoking qualities suggested by
the canteen lying near it. Hopalong and Red slid a blanket over the
fire and drew it suddenly aside, performing this operation three
times in succession before letting the column mount unmolested for
brief intervals. In the west, above and behind a bare spot on a ridge
of hills an answering column climbed upward, and then a series of
triple puffs took its place. Scattering the fire over the ground the
two friends absent-mindedly kicked sand over the embers, and suddenly
grinned at each other at the foolishness of their precautions.
When they reached the little grove they found Johnny waiting for them,
his horse well loaded with more provisions. As they transferred the
supplies to their own mounts they told him what had occurred and he
decided that McCullough should be informed of the forthcoming raid,
whether or not it would in any way jeopardize the winning of the
rewards.
"It's a toss-up whether Mac will wait for them to run it off," he said,
"when I tell him. He's gettin' more riled every minute, but he seemed
to calm down a little after Corwin visited him. Somethin' sort of pulls
him back when he gets to climbin' onto his hind legs, an' he ends up by
leanin' agin' th' wall an' swearin'. I'm not tellin' him nothin' about
anythin' but th' raid. You aimin' to go back to that water-hole?"
Hopalong shook his head. "No, sir," he answered. "There ain't no reason
to till th' raid happens. We're campin' on Sand Creek till you signal
that it's been run off. Time enough then for us to watch on that cussed
griddle."
"Have special signal for that?" suggested Red. "Say two, two an' three,
repeated. Mebby won't have time to hear what th' news is. When you get
our answer don't bother ridin' down here to tell us anythin'--we'll be
makin' tracks _pronto_."
Johnny nodded. "Two, two an' three is O. K. I'll be ridin' back to
tell Mac there's goin' to be a party on his west range some night soon.
I'm bettin' it'll be a bloody party, too. Say," he exclaimed, pulling
up, "Lukins an' Idaho was down last night. They're mad as h--l, an'
they're throwin' a cordon of riders plumb across th' hard stretch every
night. Lukins an' Mac are joinin' forces, an' from now on th' two
ranches are workin' together as one. With us scoutin' around east of
town somethin' shore ought to drop." He pressed Pepper's sleek sides
and started back to the sheltering hills.
"Somethin's _goin'_ to drop," growled Red, the memory of the jailing
burning strongly within him. "Don't forget, Kid--two, two an' three."
Johnny turned in his saddle, waved a hand and kept on going. Rounding
the westernmost hill he rode steadily until opposite the white patch of
sand on the northern slope and then, dismounting, collected firewood,
and built it up on the dead ashes of his signal fire, ready for the
match. Going on again he rode steadily until he reached the place in
the arroyo which lay directly behind the ranchhouse.
McCullough returned from a ride over the range to find his cheerful
friend smoking some of his tobacco.
"Want a job, Nelson?" asked the trail-boss, swinging from the saddle
with an easy agility belying his age and weight.
Johnny smiled at him. "Anythin', that don't take me away from th' ranch
too far or too long. Call it."
"One of th' boys, ridin' south of th' hills on a fool's errand, this
mornin', thought he saw smoke signals back of White Face," said
McCullough. "He says he reckons he's loco. I ain't goin' that far.
Think you could find out anythin' about 'em?"
Johnny considered, and chuckled. "Huh!" he snorted. "He's plumb late.
_I_ saw them before he did, an' know all about 'em. You stuck a couple
of jabs into me about bein' lazy, an' likin' to set around all day
doin' nothin'. Any chump can wear out cayuses ridin' around discoverin'
things, but th' wise man is th' feller that can set around all day,
lazy an' no-account, an' figger things out. I don't have to go prowlin'
around to find out things. I just set in th' shade of th' house, roll
cigarettes an' hold pow-wows with my medicine bag. You'd be surprised
if you knowed what I got in that bag, an' what I can get _out_ of it.
You shore would."
McCullough looked at him with an expression which tried to express
so many uncomplimentary things at once that the composite was almost
neutral; at least, it was somewhat blank.
"Ye-ah?" he drawled, his inflection in no way suggesting anything to
Johnny's credit.
"Ye-ah," repeated the medicine man somewhat belligerently.
"Oh," said the trail-boss, eyeing his victim speculatively. "You know
all about 'em, huh?"
"Everythin'," placidly replied Johnny, rolling another cigarette.
"I wish to heaven you'd quit smokin' them cussed things around here,"
said McCullough plaintively. "Yo're growed up now, purty near; an' you
_ain't_ no Greaser. I'll buy you a pipe if you'll promise to smoke it."
"Pipes, judgin' from yourn," sweetly replied Johnny, calmly lighting
the cigarette, "are dangerous, unless a man hangs around th' house
_all_ th' time. When I used to go off scoutin', I allus wished th'
other fellers smoked pipes, corncob pipes, like Mister McCullough
carries around. Why, cuss it, I could smell 'em out, _up_-wind, if they
did. It would 'a' saved me a lot of crawlin' an' worryin'. I knowed you
was comin' back ten minutes before I saw you. Now, you can't blame a
skunk--he was born that way, an' he's got good reasons for keepin' on
th' way he was born. But a human, goin' out of his way, to smell like
_some_ I knows of," he broke off, shrugging his shoulders expressively.
McCullough slowly produced the corncob, blew through the stem with
unnecessary violence, gravely filled and lit it, his eyes twinkling.
"Takes a _man_, I reckon, to enjoy it's aromer," he observed. "Goin'
back to yore medicine bag, let's see what you can get out of it," he
challenged.
Johnny drew out his buckskin tobacco pouch, placed it on the floor,
covered it with his sombrero and chanted softly, his eyes fixed on the
hat. "I smell a trail-boss an' his pipe. They went to th' bend of th'
crick, an' they says to Pete Holbrook, who rides that section, that
he ought to ride on th' other side of th' crick after dark." He was
repeating information which he had chanced to overhear near the small
corral the night before; when he had passed unobserved in the darkness.
McCullough favored the hat with a glance of surprise and Johnny with a
keen, prolonged stare.
"Pete, he said that wouldn't do no good unless he went far enough north
to leave his section unprotected. He borrowed a chew of tobacco before
th' man an' th' pipe went away an' let th' air get pure again." The
medicine man knew Pete's thrifty nature by experience.
"Yo're shore a good guesser," grunted McCullough. "What about them
smoke signals, that you know all about?"
Johnny readjusted the hat a hair's breadth, passed his hands over
it and closed his eyes. "I see smoke signals," he chanted. "There's
palefaces in 'em, ridin' cautious at night over a hard plain. They're
driftin' cows into a herd. Th' herd is growin' fast, an' it drifts
toward th' hard ground. Now it's goin' faster. Th' brands are Diamond
L. I see more smoke signals an' more ridin' in th' dark. Another herd,
bigger this time, is runnin' hard over that same plain. Th' brands are
SV, vented; an' plain Question-Mark. It seems near--within a week--an'
it's on yore west range." He opened his eyes, kicked the hat across the
room and pocketed the tobacco pouch.
"Mac," he said, gravely. "That's a shore-enough prophecy. Leavin' out
all jokin', it's true. Hoppy an' Red told me, a little while ago, that
they overheard some of Kane's gang talkin'. They're goin' to raid you
like I said. Th' smoke signals was me answerin' theirs. They say Sandy
Woods is dead. They ought to know because they buried him. They know
three of th' men that robbed th' bank an' they've knowed ever since
Ridley was shot, who killed him. They've seen Kane's drive trail crew
an' they know a whole lot that I ain't goin' to tell you now; mebby
I'll not tell you till we get th' rewards; but if it'll make you feel
any better, I'm saying' that we're goin' to get them rewards right
soon. When Kane raids you he springs th' trap that'll clear a lot of
vermin off this range."
"How much of all that do you mean?" demanded the trail-boss, his
odorous pipe out and reeking more than ever. He was looking into his
companion's eyes with a searching, appraising directness which many men
would have found uncomfortable.
"All of it," complacently answered the medicine man, rolling a new
cigarette. "There's only one thing I'm doubtful about, 'though it was
what Hoppy overheard, so I gave it to you that way. They said yore west
range. If Kane learns how th' Diamond L riders are spread out, an' I'm
bettin' he knew it near as soon as Lukins did, he'll be a fool to drive
that way. If it was me, I'd split my outfit an' put half of 'em on th'
east end! but I'm a gambler."
McCullough considered the matter. "They'll leave a plain trail if they
raid th' east section," he muttered; "an' th' desert'll hold 'em to
a narrow strip north _or_ south. There's water up th' north way, but
there's people scattered all around, an' they're nat'rally near th'
water. South, there's less water, an' more people th' further they go.
They might tackle th' desert, but Lukins an' me figger they go west
from th' hard ground. I ain't agin' gamblin', but I don't gamble with
anythin' _I_ don't own. If yore friends heard them coyotes say 'west,'
I'm playin' my cards accordin' to their case-rack. I may call it wrong,
I may get a split, or I may win--but I'm backin' the' case-keepers,
'specially when they're keepin' th' rack for _me_. West it is--an' west
is where h--l will pop when they pay their visit. An' lemme tell you
this, Nelson: Win, lose, or split on th' raid, if it comes off within
a week, I'll be dead shore who's behind it, an' there's a cyclone due
in Mesquite right soon after. Twitchell had his chance. His game's no
good--I'm playin' th' cards I've drawn in my own way when they show
their hand in this raid. I'm bein' cold-decked by Corwin--but I'll warm
it a-plenty. You hang around an' see th' fireworks!"
Johnny stretched, relaxed, and grinned. "I'm aimin' to touch some
off, myself," he replied, "an' I reckon Hoppy an' Red will send up a
couple of rockets on their own account. Rockets?" He grinned. "No;
not rockets--there's allus burned sticks comin' down from rockets.
Besides, they're too smooth an' easy. Reckon they'll touch off some
pinwheels. Whizzin', tail-chasin' pinwheels; or mebby nigger-chasers.
Most likely they'll be nigger-chasers, th' way some folks'll be
steppin' lively to get out of th' way. Don't you bank on this bein'
_yore_ celebration--you'll only own th' lot an' make th' noise. Th'
grand display, th' glorious finish is Bar-20. Just plain, old-fashioned
Bar-20. Gee, Mac, it makes me a kid again!"
"It's got an easy job, then!" snorted the trail-boss.