PURDY MAKES A RIDE
Purdy's altercation with Grimshaw occurred on the night Alice Endicott
and the Texan spent on the river. A raid on a bunch of Flying A mares
had been planned for the following night, and early in the morning
Grimshaw and the man called Bill, pulled out to the northward to locate
the mares, while the other outlaws separated to skirmish the surrounding
country and make sure that the coast was clear. Purdy's patrol took him
into the vicinity of Red Sand Creek, and as he rode the outlaw smiled
grimly: "Grimshaw's busted," he muttered, "this one job an' he's
through. It'll be the Purdy gang, then--an', believe me, we ain't goin'
to stop at runnin' off a few head of horses. This country's lousy with
money, just layin' around for someone to reach out an' take it--an' I'm
the bird c'n do it! They'll be four of us, an' that's a-plenty. We'll
clean up the Wolf River bank, an' the Zortman gold stage, an' the
Lewiston bank, an' a train or two--then it's me for South America--an'
to hell with 'em all!" He pulled up abruptly and sat gazing down upon
the buildings of McWhorter's ranch. The cabin door opened, a woman
stepped out, emptied a pan of dishwater, and entered the cabin again.
"So, my pretty," sneered the man, "you carry yer nose high. Yer too good
for a horse-thief, eh? If you had your way McWhorter would have a posse
camped on the ranch till they'd wiped us out. Guess I'll just slip down
an' give you one more chanct. When Purdy's boss of the gang you won't be
so damn _safe_! I ain't afraid of losin' no friends. Friends never got
me nothin'. Damn the nesters! There won't be no deals when I'm runnin'
the gang. It'll be every man for himself an' the devil take the
hindmost. If a nester's got anything I want I'll reach out an' take
it--nesters, or banks, or railroads--they all look alike to me. An' if
McWhorter's huzzy don't throw in with me willin', she'll come along
unwillin'. I'll break her. I'll take the snap out of them eyes, an' the
sneer offen them red lips--she's the purtiest thing I've laid eyes on
sence--sence Wolf River--an' I'm goin' to have her!" He swung down into
the creek bed, spurred his horse into a run, and pulled up before the
door with a flourish, heedless of the fact that one of his horse's hoofs
ground a tiny lamb into the dirt. The door flew open and Janet McWhorter
appeared. Her eyes rested for a moment on the little dead lamb, deep red
mounted to her cheeks, and when she met Purdy's glance, her eyes blazed.
The man laughed, and reaching into his pocket, tossing her a gold piece:
"What's lambs worth?" he asked, "that had ought to pay for two or three
of 'em. Why didn't the fool thing git out of the way?"
"You brute!" The girl's voice trembled with passion, and snatching the
coin from the ground she hurled it into his face.
Purdy caught it in a gloved hand, and again he laughed: "Plenty more of
these yeller boys where this come from," he announced flipping the
shining disk into the air and catching it, "I'm goin' away fer a few
days, jest you say the word, an' when I come back I'll bring you a--a
diamon' ring--diamon' as big as yer thumb nail--I'll treat you swell if
you'll let me."
The girl cuddled the dead lamb in her arms: "I despise you! I utterly
loathe you!"
"Purtier'n ever when yer mad," he opined. "I'll make you mad sometimes
jest for fun----"
"Some day I think I'll kill you," she spoke in a low, level tone and her
eyes stared directly into his.
Purdy laughed loudly: "That's a good one. Here, do it now." He drew a
gun from its holster and grasping it by the barrel, extended the butt
toward the girl. She shrank into the doorway still clutching the lamb.
The man returned the gun to its place and leaned forward in the saddle,
"If you'll be reasonable--listen: You throw in with me, an' I'll quit
the horse game. I've got a-plenty, an' we'll go somewhere's an' buy us
an outfit--bigger outfit than this, too--an' we'll settle down. I never
liked the business, nohow. I was forced into it when I was young, an'
I've always wanted to get out--with a good woman to--to kind of help a
feller along----"
The girl laughed harshly. "Don't try that on me--you can't get away with
it. I'll tell you once and for all, I despise you. I wouldn't trust you
as far as I would a rattlesnake. You are the most loathesome creature in
the world. You're nothing but a low-down horse-thief, and you never will
be anything but a horse-thief, till somebody shoots you--then you'll be
a carrion." Her eyes were blazing again, and Purdy actually winced at
her words. "If you were dying of thirst I'd pour alkali dust down your
throat. Do I make myself plain? Do you understand now thoroughly just
what I think of you? Because if you don't I'll go on and explain----"
"Oh, I guess I git you, all right," sneered Purdy, "from what you
mentioned I gather you ain't seriously considerin' me for a husban'.
Well, you've had yer say--next time it'll be my turn. Them was hard
words, but some day you'll eat 'em--an' when you've got 'em et, you'll
sing a different tune. Where's McWhorter?"
"Lambing camp," she answered shortly, and disappeared into the cabin
slamming the door behind her.
Purdy sat for a moment staring at the door, then whirled his horse, and
rode away. The girl's words had thrown him into a terrible rage: "This
time a week from now, you'll wish to God you hadn't spoke 'em," he
muttered, and, avoiding the lambing camp, swung toward the river. "Kill
me some day, will she? She meant it, too. She's a hell-cat!"
He headed up stream, following the shore of the swollen river,
muttering, cursing, plotting as he rode. And so he came to the high
bluff that overlooked the mouth of a broad coulee. He paused on the rim
of the bluff and stared out over the raging flood. Something directly
below him caught his eye, and he glanced downward. A water-logged craft,
which he recognized as Long Bill Kearney's ferry boat, lay grounded
against the narrow strip of sloping beach that lay between the foot of
the bluff and the river. At the same instant an object lying part way up
the slope caught his eye and instinctively he jerked his horse back,
swung to the ground and, crawling to the rim of the bluff looked
cautiously over the edge. For a long time he stared downward at the
motionless form of a woman. Her face was not visible but he could see
that she wore a riding costume, and a hat of approved cowboy pattern. In
vain his eyes searched the beach, and the bluff, and even the river.
"Crossin' on Long Bill's ferry an' the cable busted," he muttered, "but,
it's a cinch she wasn't crossin' alone--an' it's a cinch they ain't no
one else around--onless they're up the coulee. Maybe whoever was along
got drownded--anyhow, I'm goin' to find out--an' if she's all alone--"
the man grinned--"maybe she won't be so damned uppity as McWhorter's
gal." He sprang into the saddle, and, after a careful survey of the
bluff and the surrounding bench, headed away from the river and came to
the coulee a half-mile back from its mouth at a point where the sides
allowed easy descent.
Once in the coulee Purdy again headed for the river, riding slowly, with
a hand on the butt of his gun. Rounding an abrupt bend, he drew up
sharply. Not fifty yards from him, a blaze-faced buckskin, saddled and
bridled, with a lariat rope trailing from the saddle horn, was cropping
grass. His eyes surveyed every nook and cranny of the coulee for signs
of the rider, but seeing none he approached the horse which raised its
head and nickered friendly greeting. He loosened his rope, but the horse
made no effort to escape, and riding close the man reached down and
secured the reins which he made fast to the horn of his own saddle and
dismounted. "Yer a plumb gentle brute," he muttered as he coiled the
trailing rope and secured it in place, "Y Bar brand--that's over
somewhere acrost the river." Again he grinned, evilly: "Looks like they
come from the other side, in which case, providin' they don't no
men-folks show up in the next few minutes er so, things looks purty
favourable for yours truly. With the river like it is, an' the ferry
gone, they can't no one bother from the other side, an' by the time they
find out she's missin', they'll think she got drownded along with the
rest. Things is sure framin' my way, now," he grinned, as he swung into
the saddle and, leading the buckskin, headed down the coulee with his
thoughts centred on the woman who lay on the little grassed slope at its
mouth. "Be hell if she was dead," he growled, "be just my luck--but if
she is, I'll cache her in a mud crack somewheres an' maybe her friends
from acrost will stick up a reward, an' I'll make Cinnabar Joe or Long
Bill go an' collect it an' fork it over."
Proceeding cautiously, Purdy rode down the coulee, and at its mouth,
dismounted and proceeded directly to the motionless form. Swiftly he
stooped and lifted the hat-brim that had pushed forward over her face,
then with an oath he leaped erect and jerking his gun from its holster,
glared wildly about him. But save for the two horses, and a buzzard that
wheeled high in the blue above, there was no living, moving thing within
his range of vision, and the only sounds were the soft rattle of
bit-chains as the horses thrashed lazily at pestering flies, and the
sullen gurgle of the swollen river. Again he swore. His lips drew into a
snarl of hate as his glance once more sought the face of the woman. In
his eyes the gleam of hot desire commingled with a glitter of revenge as
his thoughts flew swiftly to Wolf River--the Texan's open insult and the
pilgrim's swift shot in the dark. Here, helpless, completely in his
power to do with as he pleased, lay the woman who had been the unwitting
cause of his undoing! Vengeance was his at last, and he licked his lips
in wolfish anticipation of the wrecking of that vengeance. The thought
of revenge was more sweet in that he never anticipated it. The Texan had
disappeared altogether, and he had heard from Long Bill that the girl
had married the pilgrim in Timber City, and that they had gone back
East. But if so, what was she doing here--alone?
Swiftly the man scanned the ground for tracks, but found none. The
bootless feet of the Texan had left no mark on the buffalo grass. Only
one horse had gone up the coulee--and he had that horse. Whoever had
been with her when the ferry cable broke, had certainly not landed with
her at the mouth of the coulee. "Pilgrim's prob'ly fell out an'
drownded--an' a damned good job--him an' his horse, too--prob'ly the
horse got to raisin' hell an' jerked him into the river--Long Bill, too,
most likely--I'll swing around by his shack an' see if they's anything
there I want. But, first off, I got to take care of this here lady--silk
stockin's an' all an' the quicker I git to the bad lands with her the
better--it ain't no cinch that the pilgrim, or Long Bill didn't make
shore somewheres else, an' if they did they'll be huntin' her." After a
vain attempt to rouse the girl Purdy led the buckskin close and throwing
her over the saddle bound her firmly in place with the rope. Then,
leading the buckskin, he rode rapidly up the coulee and coming out on
the bench headed up the river for the bad lands only a few short miles
away.