BITTER FRUIT
For all of the old man’s talk there was plenty to do on the
Diamond-Bar. The men were back from the Rock, but early the
following morning big Hobe had sent them off on various tasks so
that life on the ranch moved as usual.
Before noon Tony arrived. Molly’s eyes opened as she saw who it was
that led her pony into the yard. A dozen questions leaped to her
mind. She even looked about for Johnny. What could the Basque be
doing here?
Five minutes of heated conversation with Tony told her what she
wanted to know.
“As long as I live,” she advised him, “I shall never again trust a
Basque. That Johnny wronged you unintentionally doesn’t enter into
it. He thought so much of you. You were pals. Humph, pals! A pal
sticks right or wrong.” Molly turned back to the house. “I hope your
horse throws you and breaks your wretched neck,” she hurled at him
for a parting shot.
Tony winced. He had received more than he had bargained for, but he
was game. He clucked his tongue to show his utter contempt for
Johnny Dice.
Infuriated, Molly slammed the door behind her. The old man had seen
this pass-at-arms, and although he had heard no word of it, he could
guess what had been said. He promised himself that it was only the
beginning. Before he was through Molly would be thoroughly
disillusioned as far as Johnny Dice was concerned.
Noontime brought two visitors to the Diamond-Bar—Aaron Gallup and
his “man Friday,” Tobias Gale.
Aaron made a business of loaning money at six or seven per cent on
first mortgages. Tobias saw to the details, such little matters as
the rate, for instance. He was a Dickensian character, humble to
self-effacement, but always driving a hard bargain. More than one
rancher in Ruby Valley had cause to regret Tobias.
The man moved in an aura of gloom. His was a funereal appearance,
clothes of ancient cut, once black, but long since faded to a dull
bottle-green. His coming to a ranch-house was equivalent to the
visit of the undertaker. No one knew his age, but if it were to be
guessed from his wrinkled, mummified face one would have put him
down for eighty.
Tobias was a usurer, intended from birth for his present calling.
Old Aaron had given him his opportunity and he rewarded the coroner
with faithful service.
Gallup no longer rode in a saddle. He had a weatherbeaten old
buckboard and a pair of mean-eyed mustangs to get him about. This
turnout, when not in use by Aaron, served Tobias. So the rig and its
span of ponies came to be associated with bad luck, hard times and
overdue interest money. That is, it did when only one of the
precious pair adorned it. Whenever Aaron and Tobias appeared
together it meant more than overdue payments; it spelled
foreclosure!
Jackson Kent thought of this as he caught sight of the two men.
“Howdy!” Gallup called as he pulled up his team.
“What are you two birds of prey doin’ here today?” Kent called
jestingly as he walked out to the rig. “Ain’t come to foreclose?”
Tobias cackled at his pleasantry. Gallup chose to be more serious.
“Wouldn’t be so bold as that about it,” he said. “Just come to talk
things over a little. Saw some of your boys a ways back. I seen
Madeiras as we turned in. What’s he doin’ here?”
“Back on his job,” Kent grinned. “He had more sense than you allowed
him.”
“Glad to hear it,” Gallup answered. “Where’s that rearin’, tearin’
Dice person? Bet he ain’t back.”
“He’ll never git back! Where he is or what he’s doin’ don’t interest
me. Hey, you, Charlie Paul!” Kent called to his Piute teamster.
“Take care of this team.”
The three men entered Kent’s office as the Indian led away the
horses.
“Well, what you got on your mind, Aaron?” the cowman asked when they
were seated.
“Two or three things. Come to think of it, that remark of yours
about foreclosin’ wa’n’t so wide of the mark, only it ain’t a matter
of money—that is, not exactly—that I’m thinkin’ about. To be right
truthful, Jackson, it’s a promise of yours I came to foreclose on.”
“In regard to the notes?”
“No-o-o. In regard to the girl.”
“Molly?”
“You guessed it. Last time I was here, some four months ago, you
promised me you’d talk to her. I ain’t forgot how she treated me,
but I don’t carry no grudges. I’m here today to ask her again.”
Kent’s face fell as he heard the man declare himself.
“Ain’t been four months, has it?” he asked.
“Four months to the day,” Gallup stated. “That’s correct, ain’t it,
Toby?”
Aaron’s factotum nodded his head.
“Don’t seem so long as that to me,” Jackson said unhappily. “Maybe
we’d better talk this over just between the two of us,” he
suggested.
“No-o-o. Toby knows my dark side. I ain’t got no secrets from him.”
“Your dark side, eh?” Kent queried. “I’ve heard tell as how you were
pretty well tanned all over, Aaron.”
“No doubt. When a man owes you money, he can find a lot to tell
about you. I don’t mean that personal. You know how it is—men borrow
money and then they don’t want to pay it back. Makes a hard name for
the folks what does the lendin’. Speakin’ of money, it just reminds
me that I’ve got close to a hundred thousand dollars out on interest
now. Toby can give you the exact figgers. That ought to make a
little difference with the girl.”
“Won’t make no difference with her,” Kent declared. “She’s always
known her own mind; but even so, she’s changed since you saw her
last. She defied me yesterday for the first time in her life. The
girl’s bewitched. She thinks she’s in love with Johnny Dice.”
“You ain’t tellin’ me any news,” Gallup muttered. “I been suspectin’
that this long time—another reason why I’m here today. You better
tell her I’ve come. I want to talk to her.”
Kent got to his feet uneasily. Biting the ends of his mustache he
took a turn around his desk.
“Man, I can’t do it!” he exclaimed at last. “This, on top of what we
were through yesterday, will turn her against me for life.”
“Well, Jackson, a promise is a promise. You don’t want to forget
that in more ways than one you owe this ranch to me. It was me who
gave you a start. Whenever you needed help you’ve always come to me.
I’m old, I know. I ain’t askin’ her to love me. Love is for young
bucks.
“I’m a man of means, now. Mrs. Aaron Gallup will be a somebody in
this country long after I’ve cashed in. She’s got youth, she’s
pretty, and that’s what I want. When we run down to Frisco folk’ll
turn and look twice at her; like as not they’ll have pictures in the
papers, too, of her and me. We’ll let ’em know we’re somebody. And
that’s what I want. It’s what I’ve been wantin’ all the years I’ve
been savin’ pennies and cheatin’ myself out of things no man should
be without.”
“But it’s sellin’ her,” Kent groaned. “Sellin’ her like she was a
slave. Maybe I’ve been dreamin’ my dreams too. What’s goin’ to
happen to me, an old man, without her? I’ve slaved and cheated
myself even as you have. It was for her. Don’t smile at me like
that. You’re hearin’ the truth. Damn it, I tell you, I’ll let you
cut off my right arm before I’ll see her your wife.”
“Well, now, I don’t know about that,” Gallup drawled menacingly.
“Right arms ain’t so precious. Maybe you’re forgettin’ that I’m
holding your paper for thirty thousand dollars. It’s overdue, too.
The way the market is, don’t seem as if there’d be much chance of
your payin’ up right off.”
“The ranch is worth five times the amount I owe you.”
“Of course, of course. Tobias consented to the loans, didn’t he?
Toby don’t get over his head.”
“Are you puttin’ it flat to me, then, that you git my girl, or else
you foreclose on my paper?”
“You understand me perfectly, Jackson.”
“Well, then, foreclose, and to hell with you!” Kent roared, supreme
for the moment.
Gallup did not move, neither did his eyes leave Jackson’s face. A
minute passed before he spoke.
“Yes? You’re goin’ to make a pauper out of her, eh, so Dice can put
himself in her class and run off with her? You’d better reconsider.
Toby and me’ll go outside and look around the place while you do.”