MADEIRAS APPEARS AT LAST
Johnny got to his feet in a daze, leaving it to Kelsey to close the
dead man’s eyes. The boy had easily grasped Gale’s dramatic story,
but his brain was so busily engaged in separating the many details
into their proper sequence that it was impossible for him to think
clearly.
Out of the jumble of confused facts one thing came to overwhelm him.
Molly was not Kent’s daughter! That was his big surprise.
In a way, Gale’s story explained things about as Johnny had fancied
them. Beyond question Gallup had been the actual murderer. Kent was
almost equally guilty, though. Johnny realized how impossible it was
going to be to keep the cattleman from spending the rest of his days
in jail.
“Thank God, he ain’t her father!” he said to himself. “He’s guilty,
and he’ll have to pay for it.”
The other men were bunched about Kelsey, and Johnny heard him say:
“Gallup shot him. Gale had so much on the man that Gallup had to
kill him. Johnny had enough on Aaron to satisfy me; Tobias clinched
it. He swore that Jackson Kent and the coroner of this county killed
Crosbie Traynor—it was to hide a crime committed twenty years ago.
It’s a strange story, boys; but the thing to do now is to get going.
We want Kent and Gallup alive—remember that.”
“Best thing to do, I guess, is to unhitch the team, and put Gale
back in the rig and leave him here,” Doc suggested. “Did you notice
this, Jim? Gale’s gun? It’s been shot twice. He must have tried to
get in a lick.”
“No,” Johnny cut in. “They fired it after they’d got him; threw it
in the wagon and gave the horses hell. If it hadn’t been for us
Gale’s body wouldn’t have been found until the team got to town.
That would have looked like suicide to a lot of people.”
“That’s about the way I figure it,” Kelsey agreed. “If you boys are
ready we’ll go.”
Johnny and the district attorney rode abreast as the party started
on.
“Glad you didn’t say anythin’ about the girl,” the boy remarked. “I
want to save her all the misery I can.”
“I know, Johnny; but it’s not going to be possible to keep Kent out
of this. Most of the money he has belongs to her. She will get her
share of Gallup’s pile, too. The best thing to do is to come clean
with the whole story.”
“I don’t want you to do that, Jim—not until you have to. Only for me
there wouldn’t have been a murmur. I nailed Gallup and Kent. Molly’s
happiness is all the reward I want. I’ve got a right to ask for
that, and I’m doin’ it now. I don’t know where she is, but I’ll find
her. In some way I’m goin’ to try and break this thing to her a
little at a time. She’s suffered enough these past weeks.”
“Don’t fret, Johnny. And I want to give you a bit of advice. You can
take it or not. It’s well meant. You’ll find the girl. Kent wouldn’t
harm her. I think I know how things are between you; marry her—_at
once_. Get her down to San Francisco or Santa Cruz. After you’re
there, begin to tell her the truth. And remember this—when you come
back _don’t_ go to the ranch. Get a house down in Winnemucca. Buy a
car, and you’ll be able to get back and forth from the ranch in no
time.”
“That’s sure a gay future you’re paintin’ for me,” Johnny smiled
lugubriously. “All I got to do is to make her see it—takin’ me and
all the rest of it.”
“Well, I’m going to pay you a sincere compliment, Johnny—she
couldn’t pick a better man.”
“Oh, pie!” Johnny exclaimed, ridiculing Kelsey’s words.
“Pie or cream puffs,” the attorney remonstrated, “it’s all the same
with me. I know what I know. When a man will play as hard as you
play, I know he’ll work when the playing days are over. The
Diamond-Bar is a big property. No matter what happens to Kent he’ll
have to give the girl her share. That’ll be a job for you. Preach it
into Miss Molly that she must start a clean slate. Old scenes bring
back old memories, and old memories haunt us. The past is past.”
Kelsey laughed to himself. “That’s the most talking I’ve done in a
right smart bit of time. No charges, either.”
Johnny smiled, too. “Well, at least I’m obliged to you, Jim,” he
drawled. “You’ve got _my_ vote, anyhow.”
Scanlon, who had been riding ahead, drew up his horse and waited for
the others to come abreast him. “We’d better spread out,” he
suggested. “If they see us riding together it’s going to look
suspicious. They don’t know we’re after them. If each man goes it
alone one of us is sure to pick them up. Let the one that does
string along until he meets another man. Between the two of them
they ought to get the drop.”
“You always did know how to draw to a hand, Scanlon,” Johnny
answered approvingly. “I say, break up right here.”
“All right,” Kelsey agreed. “Each of us understands what to do. I’ll
take the eastern cañon; Scanlon, you go straight ahead; Doc and
Johnny and Charlie Paul can spread out to the west and work north.
We’ll meet at the Agency by evening.”
In pursuance of this plan they separated. In half an hour Johnny
found himself alone, crossing a narrowing plain between two broken
ranges. The Indian was on his left, Doc Ritter on his right. By noon
time they were miles apart.
The plain which Johnny had traversed came to an end. Before him
arose giant mountains. It was his intention to scale them and later
on to cross a high plateau to his north, eventually coming to the
trail which led to the post trader’s store.
The boy’s horse made slow progress during the next hour. Every foot
of the way was an uphill climb. On reaching a fairly level basin in
the mountainside Johnny stopped to let his pony get his wind.
Reaching for his tobacco and papers, Johnny began rolling a
cigarette.
The _zing-g-g-g_ of a bullet terminated the operation very abruptly.
With a backward lunge the boy threw himself out of his saddle, and,
hugging the ground, wriggled to the cover of a giant bowlder. Ten
yards away he could see his hat, a neat little hole showing where
the bullet had passed through.
Not more than a second later, it seemed, another shot sounded.
Johnny’s head swung around to find the source of it. As he stared
above him he saw a man rise to his feet, sway for an instant as his
gun dropped from his hands, and sink back out of sight.
“It’s Kent!” Johnny gasped.
A voice called then:
“Hullo—Johnny! Hees all right for stand up. It’s me—Madeiras!”