We all felt purty down-hearted after Promotheus had rode away, and we
sat before the fire in Olaf’s settin’ room a good deal the same as if
we were holdin’ a wake.
“Olaf,” I sez, “you can’t have any finicky notions about treatin’ Ty
Jones square, after all the persecutin’ he’s handed you. Do you know
anything on him you could have him sent to prison for?”
Olaf shook his head. “He’s too clever to get caught in a trap,” sez
he. “He scarcely ever gave any orders to have things done. He’d just
say aloud as though talkin’ to himself, that some one or other was in
his way; and then his men would begin to take spite on that feller. If
the calf tally showed a hundred percent increase, he would think that
about right, and no questions; but if ever it fell short o’ what he
expected, we had it to make up some way. He’d send us out until we had
brought in enough to satisfy; but he’d never give us straight orders
to rustle. He is a smart man. When one of his men got into trouble, he
got him out, no matter what cost; but he expected his men to do what
he wanted, without askin’ questions. He has no fear, none at all. I
know, I have seen. He has no fear, and he is very strong. It is bad to
be at war with him; but I should like to have my hands at his throat
once, and none to interfere.”
“Maybe you will, Olaf,” sez I, “maybe you will; and I don’t mind
sayin’ that I hope to be on hand to see it.”
We kept two men allus at the look-out with Horace’s field glasses. It
was a queer sort o’ summer, the air wasn’t clear like it usually is,
but hazy, as though full o’ dust; and in lots of places they were
turnin’ stock on the grass they generally aimed to save for winter.
There were only a few punchers around the Cross brand ranch houses;
but we saw Promotheus every day. He hobbled about with a stick part o’
the time, holdin’ his hand on his back as though he had the rheumatiz,
which was natural enough from bein’ shut up in an island prison. Some
days we saw the woman; but she never came up the ravine path any more.
Promotheus didn’t make a report to us for about a week. Then he came
out one night about eleven. He said ’at Ty hadn’t doubted a word he’d
said; but had done everything possible to make him comfortable,
tellin’ him to just loaf until he got in good order. He said ’at Ty
and the woman didn’t have much to do with each other and hadn’t had
since she’d come out. He said ’at the woman was kind to all the
animals, in spite of everything ’at Ty could do, and the dogs was
gettin’ to act like regular, ordinary dogs. He said all but a few new
pups had remembered him, and one had even wagged his tail, though he
couldn’t see any sense in this, he never havin’ as much as spoke a
kind word to the dog, so far as he could recollect.
He said he had held several talks with Ty, and Ty had asked him if he
thought ’at Olaf was in league with any big outfits. He said ’at he
had told Ty that he was sure Olaf had been in league with ’em several
years before, but o’ course, he couldn’t know anything o’ what had
happened since. Ty said he had come to the conclusion that Olaf was
set out for a kind of bait to draw him into trouble, which was why he
had let him alone; but that he was short o’ grass this season, and
wanted Pearl Crick Spread bad. He also told The about the two Greasers
disappearin’, though he wasn’t sure what had happened to ’em. He knew
about us bein’ over at Olaf’s off and on, and The warned us to be
careful, as Ty expected to have Olaf’s place watched as soon as he got
through movin’ several bands o’ cattle.
The said ’at the woman had a soft spot for any dumb brute, or even a
human in distress, and that he had touched her by hobblin’ around with
the stick. He said she had cooked him some flabby invalid-food with
her own hands, and that it was mighty captivatin’. He said she didn’t
speak much; but he was tryin’ his best to get on the good side of her.
He said ’at all the boys claimed ’at Ty treated her well; but didn’t
seem to care much for her. Horace didn’t happen to be with us when The
came; but we said we’d move our camp higher up on the slope, to be on
the safe side when Olaf’s was watched, and would have Horace on deck
sure the next time The came out; and we did this the next day.
The land was all slashed an’ twisted around and broken, up west o’ the
Cross brand ranch houses. The ravine leadin’ down to ’em ran east and
west, the path leadin’ up out of it to the trees where we had first
seen the woman wasn’t near so steep as the one comin’ out of it on the
north side toward the clump o’ rocks. After the north path came out,
the ravine narrowed down until it wasn’t more than a crack, the south
side not risin’ so high as on the north; so that soon the north side
stood up like a cliff above the land leadin’ down to the clump of
trees, and the only way we could get over to it was to go down the
ravine and up again on the other side.
We made our camp consid’able higher than our look-out had been, and it
was a well sheltered spot. An easy slopin’ stretch led up to it from
the north, and a ledge skirted the face o’ the cliff up back of it, to
the south. We examined this some distance; but it didn’t seem to lead
anywhere. We found several dips back in the hills where the snow water
made grazin’ for our ponies, and we were as comfortable as it’s ever
possible to be while waitin’.
I know what my plan would be for makin’ a hell which would be
punishment for any mortal sin, and yet not severe enough to make me
hate all the peace out o’ my own existence. I’d make the wicked sit in
the dark for a hundred years, waitin’ to hear what their sentence was.
Then, I’d let ’em into heaven, and I bet they would be in a fair way
to appreciate it. I never met up with any one able to out-wait me
without showin’ it more ’n I did; but I’ll wager what I got, that the
suspense was gorin’ into me worse ’n into them, all the time.
One evenin’, me an’ Tank went up to camp after doin’ our stunt at the
look-out, and as we went, we caught sight o’ two riders headin’ our
way. We hastened along so as to be ready to move in case this was a
pair we didn’t care to draw to; but by the time we reached camp, they
were close enough to recognize as the Friar and Olaf. The plan was to
keep the Friar in the dark as long as possible, and we waited their
comin’ with consid’able interest.
The Friar had squeezed the whole thing out of Olaf, as we might have
known he would. You couldn’t trust Olaf with a secret where the Friar
was concerned. Tank, now, would have sent the Friar off to Bosco or
Laramie as contented as a bug; but just as soon as Olaf was backed
into a corner, he told the truth, and spoiled all our arrangements.
The Friar rode into our camp, dismounted, threw his reins to the
ground, and sez: “Where is Promotheus?”
We looked at Olaf, and he nodded his head as sheepish as the under dog
at a bee-swarmin’. “He’s down at the ranch,” sez Horace.
“Has he brought any news?” asked the Friar. So we told him all ’at The
had reported. He took a few steps up and down, ponderin’.
“I can’t permit this,” he said after a minute. “He is riskin’ his life
down there, and I can’t allow him to continue.”
The rest all joined in and argued with him; but he was as obstinate as
a burro, once he got his back up; so I didn’t say anything. I went off
and started to eat my supper. When I was about half through, Horace
came over and said the Friar was bent on goin’ down to Ty’s himself.
“Well, let him go,” sez I as cool as a snow-slide.
“Yes, but if he goes, Ty will kill both him and Promotheus!” sez
Horace raisin’ his voice. I noticed the others headin’ toward us so I
only flung my hands into the air, meanin’ that it was none o’ my
business.
“Do you mean to say ’at you back the Friar up in this?” demanded
Horace.
“Do I look like a fool?” sez I. The Friar’s eyes were on me, and I
knew they were cold; but I pertended not to notice him.
“You don’t look like a fool; but you act like one,” sez Horace,
gettin’ riled.
“You can’t blame me, Horace,” I sez in my most drawly voice, “because
the Friar cares more for havin’ his own way than he does for human
life.”
“What do you mean by that?” demanded the Friar.
“Oh, nothin’,” sez I, “except that if you go down there, it shows
Prometheus up at once, we’d all have to go along to save Promotheus,
and this would start a fight, with us to blame; and no one knowin’
what the woman is, or how she stands in the matter. She seems
perfectly satisfied with Ty Jones; and no matter how it turned out,
all of us who survived would have to leave the country. I don’t intend
to argue with you, or to cross you in any way; but I do intend to
stand by Promotheus, as it was me who first put the idee into his
head.”
I sympathized with the Friar, I knew that he wasn’t himself. To find
the woman he loved in the hands of the man who hated him, after all
the years he had been in suspense about her was enough to tip any one
off his balance; and I also knew the Friar. He had trained himself for
eternity so long that some of his earthly idees weren’t sound, and the
surest way to bring him to himself was to let him bark his knees a
time or two. Some imported hosses carry their gaze so high they can’t
see their footin’ but after they’ve stepped into a few prairie-dog
holes, they learn to take a little more interest in what they’re
treadin’ on.
The Friar came over and looked down at me. “I shall wait until
Promotheus comes up here, and then he can stay; and I shall go down,”
said the Friar in the voice a man uses when he thinks it’s wrong to
show the sarcasm he can’t help but feel. “Have you any objection to
this?”
“I have no objection to anything you choose to do, Friar,” I said,
finishin’ my supper.
“Do I understand that you approve?” sez he.
“Certainlee not,” sez I. “Ty would see the connection between you and
Promotheus at once. He knows ’at The was a deserter, and he would set
the law on him in one direction, and try to run him down on his own
hook in the other. If you had been on hand while we were discussin’
the plan, you would have had the right to veto it; but now, it looks
to me as though Prometheus was the one to consider.”
The Friar sat down and ran his hands through his hair. “I can’t see
any way out!” he sez at last; “but I’m forced to admit that since
Promotheus has gone down there, it would put him in danger for me to
interfere.”
“Well,” sez ol’ Tank, “here is The himself. Now, we’ll know better
what to do.”
We looked up, and there was Promotheus with a bruise over his eye,
comin’ into our little nook.