THE DEATH DICE
He was shaking as with a chill, although the perspiration stood out on
chin and forehead. On hearing this Lafe glanced in his direction and
asked, good-naturedly enough, what was the matter.
"Nothing," said the half-breed quickly, "only you haven't sung anything
else in two days but that song, and my nerves ain't good after the time
we had at the ranch."
Several times in the course of the evening, as the outfit loafed in camp
after supper, the boss had occasion to pass Baptismo where he lay by the
fire. Each time he either hummed or whistled a line of "The Dying
Cowboy."
Johnson had spread his tarp about thirty yards removed from his men. He
was a very light sleeper, accustomed to wake at least once in the course
of the night to look all around the camp and make sure that everything
was well. Therefore he heard Baptismo when the latter stood over him,
and he knew almost what each second of hesitation meant. Had the
half-breed moved, the boss would have shot him dead. After an interval,
Baptismo turned away and went softly to his own bed.
In the gray of dawn, as the Anvil men were roping their mounts from the
remuda and the horses were plunging wildly into the press of their
brethren, Lafe called his strawboss and told him to take charge of the
work for the day. To Baptismo he said, placing a hand carelessly on the
half-breed's six-shooter: "I reckon you'd better come along with me,
Baptismo." With that he took possession of the gun.
The man's nostrils flared quickly and he grew pallid about the lips, but
he neither inquired why Lafe wanted him nor offered any objection.
Instead, he glanced in apprehension toward the group of riders now ready
and waiting for the chief's orders to be off. The horses were restless
to the tang in the air.
It was not until the two were a mile from camp and well on their way to
the county town that Baptismo broke silence. Then it was to protest
vehemently against suspicions which Johnson had not voiced. The boss
made no answer, but kept a vigilant watch over his movements.
There was a crowd gathered in the town. They had a man in their midst
and were dragging him at the end of a rope. As Johnson and his prisoner
came down the single street, they encountered this mob. A cloud of dust
enveloped the wretch they were dragging and Lafe had to check the rush
before it cleared sufficiently for him to discover the victim's
identity. It was Bass. He was unconscious and was bleeding from wounds
inflicted by his captors' boots and ropes. A goodly portion of the crowd
was composed of the Tilsons, relatives of Sellers, and the remainder
were members of the outfit for which Jerry had worked. Johnson held up
his hand, palm outward, and called for order.
"What the hell do you want?" they inquired.
"I used to be sheriff of Badger," cried Lafe, "and I'm boss now of the
Anvil range. I arrested that man you've got there. This looks like a
lynching. What's the idea?"
Gustfully they explained that the idea was to hang Mr. Bass to a tree
adjacent. Lafe heard them in seeming patience, piecing together from the
confusion of cries just how strong their passions ran. He inquired in a
civil tone as to their reasons for hanging Mordecai.
"What for?" they echoed. "Why, damn it all, he done killed Jerry
Sellers. Stabbed him in the back. Do you hear that? Stabbed him in the
back!"
Lafe touched his horse with his heel and advanced on them a few steps.
"Men," said he, "Bass never killed Jerry Sellers. I done arrested him
for it, but I made a mistake. The man who knifed him--"
The mob interrupted with hoots and a roar of abuse. Some of them pushed
past Lafe and began to drag Bass forward once more. Others demanded to
know what warrant the sheriff had for this extraordinary statement. They
still called him "sheriff."
"Let's give him a trial," Lafe plead loudly; "let's try each of these
men in turn. This man I've got here--"
He broke off, afraid to proceed further lest the swift rage of the mob
include Baptismo also, and neither man secure justice. Once started, and
two might swing as lightly as one.
"Why," bawled a man close to Johnson, "Bass, he done confessed. We done
made him."
"You've made a mistake--" said Lafe, but they swept by him.
In the turmoil Baptismo edged off. Perceiving it, Johnson stuck a gun to
his head and ordered him to ride in front or there would be no trial nor
any chance for justice--simply a speedy arraignment before the Judgment
Seat for Baptismo. Then he urged his horse into the thickest of the mob
and, despite some rough handling, cut the rope by which the prisoner was
being dragged.
"Men," he cried, "if you hang him, you've got to put me out of the way
first. This man never killed Jerry Sellers."
Not one man in a hundred but would have been taken at his word. They
hesitated, but the sheriff sat his horse coolly in the midst of it all,
and the half-breed clung at his knee. It was impossible to argue against
the outcry, or to obtain anything coherent from the medley of shouts.
In his agony of suspense Baptismo drew a pair of dice from the pocket
of his chaps and began to click them in his hand. It was characteristic
of the half-breed that he should be able to smile brilliantly upon the
crowd even when most fearful. The sheriff saw the dice. His face lighted
and he thrust forward again, shouting for quiet.
"You say that Bass is guilty. You say he's confessed. I say that I've
got the murderer here. You want to hang Mordecai without a trial. I want
a trial--a trial for both--and that's all we'll need. Let's throw dice."
It is probable that not more than four or five of the mob caught
Johnson's words, but they happened to be in the forefront, and when they
halted, progress was immediately arrested.
"Throw dice?" one asked eagerly. "Thunderation, what for?"
"You think this man killed Jerry Sellers. I know that Baptismo killed
him. I've got Baptismo here. Let the two of 'em throw dice to see which
is innocent. If Baptismo didn't kill him--why, he just couldn't throw
lowest."
The leaders looked at one another. It was just such a suggestion as
appealed to their heated minds. They began to argue and Lafe breathed in
relief. When men start argument, action need not be feared immediately.
Gradually order was restored. Everybody waited on the man who held the
rope, who was spokesman.
"I ain't so sure," said he, "that this'll prove anything. But we aim to
hang this feller Bass. You aim to hang that yellow-belly. If it's
agreeable to them, I reckon we cain't raise any objections. We'll have a
hanging anyhow, and Jerry'll rest easier."
Baptismo still clicked the dice automatically. He wetted his lips and
assured them in a dry voice that this would be satisfactory to him and
eminently fair. Perhaps Baptismo was not unbiased. The dice were his,
and he knew that if held in a certain position in the palm of the hand,
they could be thrown to suit the needs of the player.
Their minds diverted by the possibilities of this trial by luck, the
crowd fell in quickly with the suggestion. It savored of the rough
justice to which they were accustomed, and if the parties principally
concerned were willing, why should they withhold sanction to the ordeal?
Moreover, it gave an opportunity for divine intervention.
Johnson got down from his horse and removed the rope from Mordecai's
neck.
"Here, you! Wake up!" cried several, shaking him by the shoulders.
Somebody shoved a bottle to his lips and he groaned and speedily
revived. Then they explained to him as clearly as several tongues
talking at once could do, what the nature of the test was.
"I reckon you'll hang me anyhow, if I don't?" he asked.
They signified that such was their intent.
"Then, of course, I'll throw," said he. "It ain't fair, but it's my only
chance."
Bass was still too weak to realize fully what was transpiring. The mob
took no account of this, but surged forward to the spot originally
selected for the hanging. It was a tree, which grew back of a flat rock.
The advantage of this site was that the two could roll the dice on the
rock, and then the one who was guilty could be hanged from the tree
without further inconvenience.
Lafe went ahead, piloting the two principals by the arms, one on each
side of him. He placed them side by side in front of the rock. The
half-breed picked up the dice.
"One throw, or best out of three?" he inquired.
There was a pause, while the crowd looked to Bass.
"One will do as well as a hundred, I reckon," said he.
Baptismo gave a grunt of satisfaction and shook the dice in his hand.
With a twist along his two first fingers he spun them on the rock. A
double six! Twelve! A long sigh came from the crowd, and then they all
began to talk. Somebody cheered. Assuredly this proved everything. A
double six was the highest that could be thrown. Baptismo could not be
beaten. True, his throw might be tied--so, too, an elephant might fly.
The odds against Bass seemed utterly hopeless. He looked at the dice
dully for a minute and then turned to Lafe.
"I reckon I'm done for," said he, "but God knows I didn't do it."
"If you did," Johnson said, his eyes troubled, "you fight mighty well
for a feller who'd stab in the back."
And then, before them all, Bass fell on his knees beside the rock and
sank his face in his arms. None but Lafe knew that he was praying. The
crowd thought that he had fainted from weakness and sought to rouse him,
urging him to go on with the test. At last he rose.
"It ain't fair," he said in a loud voice, "it isn't fair. And the dice
are loaded. But--well, I'll try. I'm innocent, and I reckon He'll see me
through, somehow."
Saying this, Bass rattled the dice in his hand and clapped them down
with all his strength. So violent was his passion that they rolled off
the rock upon the ground.
"The throw counts!" the crowd yelled--"the throw's got to count. He's
trying to gain time."
Lafe bent to examine the dice. As he did so he began to shout
frantically, and he waved the crowd back.
"Look there!" he yelled, and pointed to three pieces of ivory on the
ground.
The force of Bass's throw had broken a dice. One of them registered a
six. The half of the other showed a six. And the broken half showed one.
The total was thirteen. He had done the impossible; he had beaten the
half-breed by a point.
Baptismo gazed down at the fragments in stupefaction. His mouth was
open, but for a minute at least no sound came from it. Then he
whispered: "It's the judgment of God."
He collapsed and huddled in an abject heap, clasping Lafe's knees. And
in that position he sobbed out his confession. Yes, he had killed
Sellers--killed him there by the spring. They had long been enemies, and
Sellers had insulted him in front of Florence Steel. He had followed
when Jerry went to the spring. Sellers was singing. Sellers had angered
the girl and she urged him to pick a quarrel. When he struck, Florence
was coming down the path close behind. She saw it all, for she was quite
close. He threw away the knife--he had found it--and ran to the barn.
There he saw Bass coming from the bushes beside the spring. He knew of
Mordecai's quarrel with Sellers, and when he perceived that Bass was
about to ride off, he resolved to stay at the ranch.
"I reckon," said Lafe, as he and Bass moved along the homeward trail
that night, "I reckon you'd best leave Florence be, Mordecai. What do
you think? Seems to me she set more store by that feller swinging back
there."
"Don't," Bass entreated. "Yes, I reckon she did, Lafe. She must have
loved him a heap."
"Women are queer," said Lafe.
"Say," he said suddenly again, "if you were in the bushes there, you
must have seen the killing. Why didn't you speak out?"
His companion flushed and looked uncomfortable. Luckily it was dark.
"No, I didn't see who stabbed him, at all. I didn't see Baptismo there.
I only saw Florence coming along the path. And I'd lent her my knife,
and--"
Both were silent a long time. Their ponies went steadily forward, their
riders' legs occasionally touching. Finally Bass roused.
"What beats me," he said, "is how you happened to pick on Baptismo."
"Why," said Lafe, in a satisfied voice, "that was simple. I happened to
sing that song. You know--'Oh, bury me not'--the one poor ol' Jerry was
singing when Baptismo sneaked up behind. I was shuffling the cards and
happened to look up sudden. And when I saw his face, I knew right
away."