JOHNSON IS ELECTED SHERIFF OF BADGER
For you or for me a certain embarrassment would attach to a return to
work at a place we had sworn to avoid forever. Nothing of the sort
appeared to trouble Buffalo Jim. A month previous he had left the Lazy
L, scornful of cow work, vowing that he would live like a gentleman all
his days. Now, penniless and unrepentant, he came back as a matter of
course.
Indeed, Shortredge put his horses into the corral at headquarters as a
man might who had reached home from a long trip. And there was not a
vestige of surprise on Floyd's face when he greeted Jim. He did it
casually, and shook hands with Lafe and said that he was glad to see
him. Then he gave Buffalo certain orders for the morrow, touching the
matter of salt for the cattle, just as though Jim had never been off the
ranch. The cowboy merely said: "You stayed a week longer'n we figured
on, Buf'lo."
So Buffalo Jim went to work at daybreak and Johnson loitered at
headquarters. Mrs. Floyd was unaffectedly glad to see him and was not
too inquisitive as to why he happened to be there. Indeed, she appeared
to take his arrival as quite natural, which spared Lafe much confusion.
He played with Tommy most of the time, and on the third day of his stay
he sounded Floyd on the subject of a job. The boss had expected it, and
surmising that Lafe was hard up, attempted to drive a hard bargain. A
prudent man, such was his practice. It may be, too, that the boss did
not especially relish the notion of Johnson being permanently on the
place.
"Oh, no," said Lafe, "I couldn't take that."
He was never one to accept anything handed him merely because his
situation looked desperate. That policy of compromise might befit the
weak, but Johnson was made of sterner stuff. No matter in what straits
his mistakes landed him, he forever kept his own valuation at a certain
figure. And usually other men accepted his estimate.
"That's the best I can do," Floyd ended. "I've got a range boss already,
and a top hand ain't worth over fifty a month, Lafe."
"All right. I'll be drifting."
"Stick around a bit, anyhow. We might strike a trade later. Say, come up
to the house. The missus wants you to stay with us instead of down here
at the bunkhouse."
"Thanks," said Lafe, "but your cook's been sick since that weddin'. No,
I reckon I'd best hang round with the boys down here."
He remained at the Lazy L a week, half expecting that Horne would send
a message to bespeak his services again. In paying him off, the cowman
had intimated that he would shortly have other deals to be put through.
A message arrived, but not from the cattle buyer. The bearer came, he
said, from Turner, the storekeeper and justice of the peace of Badger.
After listening for a moment, Lafe led him behind the barn for further
converse.
"They want me to run for Sheriff of Badger," he told Buffalo Jim that
night.
"Go to it," said Jim. "It'll make the town a heap pleasanter for us.
We'll feel safer. The boys'll sure be pleased."
It would appear that Johnson's bloodless defeat of Moffatt had made a
deep appeal to the citizens of Badger. They reasoned that a man who
dared make a fool of a notorious character should be able to make short
work of lesser fry. Accordingly, their message was that the law-abiding
residents of the town were desirous of securing Mr. Johnson's services;
and would he come forthwith? To this Lafe answered that he would return
to Badger in a day or two, and the messenger departed. And for two solid
days Johnson dawdled about headquarters, absolutely idle. He had an idea
that to show eagerness would be to weaken his position. This surmise
proved correct.
Badger leaped at once to the conclusion that they could not get him.
Yes, he had seemed reluctant, said the messenger. Now, the average man
does not want a thing badly until he is persuaded he can obtain it only
by strenuous effort. And masses are like individuals, in this respect.
That was why, as Lafe approached the town, he met a small party of
horsemen headed for the Lazy L. It was a deputation of citizens, set out
to cajole him into accepting the office. Briefly and earnestly they
explained how things stood in Badger.
"All right," said Lafe, "I'll run. But remember this--when I'm elected,
you-all look alike to me. I won't play favorites. There'll be law and
order in Badger."
"Sure," the committee agreed. "That's the ticket, Lafe. Well, let's have
a li'l' touch, just for luck."
Johnson's opponent in the election was simply nowhere. The tale of
Lafe's prowess grew with every telling. Tim Haverty asserted on his
hopes of heaven that Lafe could take a six-shooter and drive the nails
into the shoes of a running horse. Personally, I suspect Mr. Haverty to
have been guilty of some slight exaggeration. Still, there was ample
evidence that Johnson could handle a gun, and nobody on the Border
doubted his courage. Led by Turner, the respectable element voted for
him as a unit. The others--the hard drinkers, and the gamblers, and men
of no steady means of support--ranged with Lafe, too. They had known him
as a "good fellow," a man liberal with his money and equally liberal in
his views. Therefore they anticipated no trouble to themselves from his
election.
In this manner was Lafe Johnson elected sheriff of Badger. When made
acquainted with the result, he took a long breath and grew very solemn.
"Gentlemen," he said, "I thank you for your support. And I'll sure do my
duty."
The opportunity was afforded him that same night. Some of them who had
worked most ardently for Lafe were gathered in the Cowboys' Rest, and
there was considerable drinking. A dispute arose, and in the course of
it the landlord laid out one of the disputants with a chair. A panicky
person fired a gun. That brought Lafe into the Rest at a quick run.
"Stop it," he shouted. "The very first man who pulls a gun goes against
me. Tommy, give me that six-shooter. Now, you get out and wait for me."
He broke Tommy's gun and motioned him outside. Then Johnson examined the
injured man on the floor. He was badly hurt.
"You'll have to come along with me," he told the landlord.
"Go along with you? Go along--why, Lafe, I just had to hit him." The
landlord could hardly believe his ears. Had he not repeated three times
for Lafe in the election?
"You can explain that to the judge. Come on, now. Get moving."
The landlord gaped a moment and then announced that he hoped to be
damned if he went. If Lafe thought he could double-cross him in that
manner, he had a few things to learn. The sheriff made a step forward
and the landlord reached under the bar for his .45. Before he could
raise it, Johnson gripped his wrist and with his free hand struck him
over the head with the butt of Tommy's gun. The landlord gave a grunt
and dropped into the sheriff's arms like a sack of meal. Five minutes
later he went before the justice of the peace very quietly, along with
Tommy.
"Understand me"--the new sheriff faced the crowd that followed, some of
them murmuring--"I'd arrest my best friend if he broke the law. Remember
that."
"Hell, Lafe," they protested, "this is running it over us."
"We're going to have order here in Badger. Come on, you two," said
Johnson.
Then he went bail for his prisoners.