HAUNTING MEMORIES
It was many days before Lawler was strong enough to ride Red King to the
Circle L; and many more days joined the regiments that have marched into
the ages, before he forgot what he saw in Blackburn's eyes when one day,
soon after his return to the Circle L, he listened to the range boss
relate the story of the fight on the plains. Blackburn's cynical eyes
had changed expression. They had become tragic, strained, as though the
man was striving to blot out mental pictures that were detailed
there--pictures that memory persisted in drawing.
He rode with Lawler to the scene of the fight, and showed him where the
Circle L outfit had brought the rustlers to bay.
"After Shorty left," said Blackburn; "me insistin' on him goin', an' him
blackguardin' me for sendin' him, there was a little time when nothin'
happened. Then the day broke, an' everything seemed to happen at once.
"They rushed us, Lawler. There was more of 'em than there was of us, an'
they circled around us, howlin' an' shootin' like Indians. They got us
between 'em. But we fought 'em--Lawler, we fought 'em till there wasn't
a man left standing. But there was too many of 'em. We planted
twenty--afterward. But about that number got away. I was hit sort of
hard, but I watched 'em scutterin' towards Kinney's cañon. They'd been
gone some time when Caldwell's outfit--an' Shorty--come up. Caldwell's
outfit lit out after 'em; but Caldwell's men had rode pretty hard
gettin' to us, an' it wasn't no go. Sigmund's men, though; an' Lester's
an' the rest of 'em, had took a gorge trail that cuts into the big basin
from the south, away the other side of Kinney's cañon; an' they run
plumb into the rustlers over at the edge of the basin on Sigmund's side.
"An' they brought back your cattle; though Slade an' twenty or thirty of
his men got away, clean. I reckon you've heard about enough, an'--Well,
Lawler, that's about all--exceptin' to tell you how the boys--an' I
don't seem to want to go over that when I'm awake; I keep seein' it
enough of nights."
But something of the deep emotion Blackburn felt was reflected in
Lawler's eyes from the time he heard the story.
During the many days he had spent in the little hotel room recovering
from his wound--and in the long interval of convalescence that
followed--a small army of workmen had been engaged in rebuilding the
Circle L ranchhouse, the bunkhouses, and the other structures. On the
second day following his return to consciousness Lawler had called in a
contractor and had made arrangements for reconstruction.
A temporary cabin--to be used afterward by Blackburn--had been erected
near the site of the bunkhouses, and into this Lawler and his mother
moved while the ranchhouse and the other buildings were being rebuilt.
Blackburn was slowly engaging men to fill the depleted complement, and
the work went on some way, though in it was none of that spirit which
had marked the activities of the Circle L men in the old days.
In fact, the atmosphere that surrounded the Circle L seemed to be filled
with a strange depression. There had come a cold grimness into
Blackburn's face, a sullenness had appeared in the eyes of the three men
who had survived the fight on the plains; they were moody, irritable,
impatient. One of them, a slender, lithe man named Sloan, voiced to
Blackburn one day a prediction.
"Antrim's dead, all O.K.," he said. "But Slade--who was always a damned
sight worse than Antrim--is still a-kickin'. An' Slade ain't the man to
let things go halfway. Them boys from the other outfits bested him, all
right. But Slade will be back--you'll see. An' when he comes we'll be
squarin' things with him--an' don't you forget it!"
* * * * *
It was after Lawler had been occupying the cabin for a month that
Metcalf made his second visit. He rode down the slope of the valley on a
horse he had hired at Willets, and came upon Lawler, who was standing at
the corral gates, looking across the enclosure at the workmen who were
bustling about the ranchhouse.
Metcalf regarded Lawler critically before he dismounted; and then he
came forward, shook Lawler's hand and again looked him over.
"A little thin and peaked; but otherwise all right, eh?" he smiled.
"It's hard to kill you denizens of the sagebrush."
He followed Lawler into the shade of the cabin, remarked to Mrs. Lawler
that her son would need someone to guard him--if he persisted in meeting
outlaws of the Antrim type single-handed; and then turned to
Lawler--after Mrs. Lawler had gone inside--and said lowly:
"Lord, man! you've got this state raving over you! Your fight against
the ring is talked about in every corner of the country. And that scrap
with Antrim, Selden, and Krell in the old Dickman cabin will go down in
history--it will be a classic! What made you rush in on Antrim that
way--giving him the first shot?"
Lawler smiled faintly. "Shucks, Metcalf, there was nothing to that.
Shorty told me what had happened, and as I recollect, now, I was pretty
much excited."
"Excited, eh?" said Metcalf, incredulously; "I don't believe it. What
about your going in to Warden's office, offering to give him the first
shot? Were you excited then?"
Lawler reddened, and Metcalf laughed triumphantly.
"Lawler," he said; "you're too damned modest--but modesty becomes you. I
believe you know it. Anyway, this state is raving over you. You're going
to be the next governor. You've got to run! This state needs a man like
you--it _needs_ you! You know it. Everybody knows it--and everybody
wants you. That is, everybody except Haughton, Hatfield, Warden--and
that bunch--including the railroad company. Why, look here, Lawler!" he
went on, when Lawler did not answer; "the fight you made last fall
against the railroad company was made, with variations, by all the
courageous cattlemen in the state. If a strong man isn't elected this
fall the same fight will have to be made again. Haughton is so rotten
that people are beginning to hold their noses!
"The people of this state trust you, Lawler--they swear by you. You've
got to run--there's no way out of it!" He looked keenly at Lawler. "Man,
do you know what McGregor told me the day before he left the capital to
come down here and look you over, to see how badly you were hurt? He
said: 'Metcalf, if Lawler dies we lose the governorship next fall. He is
the only man who can beat Haughton!'"
"Metcalf," smiled Lawler; "I'll tell you a secret--your argument has had
no effect upon me. I decided this thing as far back as the day following
the last election. I am going to run."
"Then we've got Haughton licked!" declared Metcalf, enthusiastically.
Metcalf stayed at the Circle L throughout the day, and in the evening
Lawler rode with him to Willets, where he saw him aboard the west-bound
train.
"I'm telling you something, Lawler," grinned the newspaperman as he
gripped Lawler's hand just before the train started. "McGregor came to
me yesterday. He told me he intended to come to see you, but he was
afraid you'd refuse to run. He asked me if I had any influence with you,
and I told him you'd do anything I suggested. Now, don't get excited,
Lawler," he laughed as Lawler looked sharply at him. "I've proved it,
haven't I? You've agreed to run! Lord, man, I'd hate to be an evil-doer
and have you look at me like that!" He laughed again, exultantly. "What
was it you said to Warden one day, when Warden refused to keep that
agreement you made with Lefingwell? Oh, don't look at me that way--that
conversation has been printed all over the state. I saw to that. How did
I hear of it? Somebody must have talked, Lawler. It wasn't you. You
remember what you told Warden? It was this:
"'I'm telling you this, though: A man's word in this country has got to
be backed by his performances--and he's got to have memory enough to
know when he gives his word!'
"You've given yours, Lawler; and you can't back out. McGregor will be
waiting for me in the capital. And when I tell him that I have persuaded
you to run, he'll fall on my neck and weep tears of joy. Then he'll hire
a special train and run down here to fall on _your_ neck!"
McGregor came the next day. And he took Lawler back to the capital with
him. Lawler stayed in the capital for a week, and when he returned he
went directly to the Circle L.
No word came from him, to Willets, during the summer. He did not appear
in town; though Willets heard that the new Circle L ranchhouse had at
last been completed, and that Lawler was living in it. Also, the Circle
L outfit had been recruited to full strength; Blackburn was occupying
the new cabin.
When Corwin--who was chairman of the county committee--sent out calls
for the county primary election--which convention was also to choose
delegates to the state convention, to be held later--Lawler did not
appear. He sent a note to Corwin, asking to be excused.
"I reckon he ain't entirely over that wound," Corwin told an intimate
friend. "We'll have to get along without him, this time." But there was
a light in Corwin's eyes which told that he was not unaware of the
significance of Lawler's trip to the capital with McGregor.
There came a day when Corwin and his brother-delegates got on a train at
Willets and were taken to the capital. And there came another day when
they returned. They brought a brass band with them; and Willets closed
its doors and went out into the street--and crowded the station
platform, where the band was playing, and where the returned delegates,
frenzied with joy, were shrieking above the din: "Hurrah for Kane
Lawler! Lawler--our next governor! Hip, hip--HOORRAY!"
"We swamped 'em!" howled a crimson-faced enthusiast; "there was nothin'
to it! Unanimous after the first vote! HOORRAY!"
In his office, Gary Warden heard the shouting; saw the crowd, and
listened to the cheers. He stood at one of the windows, balefully
watching; sneering at the delegates who had returned, flushed with
victory. Singleton, scowling, stood beside Warden.
They saw half a dozen men draw apart from the others. Later the
men--delegates, from the gay badges appended to them--rode out of town,
southward.
"Reception committee," sneered Warden. "They're going to escort Lawler
to town. Let's go to the Two Diamond. I'll be damned if I want to be in
town to watch Lawler grin when he sees that crowd! There's a dozen big
guns in that bunch, who have come down from the capital to watch the
fun. Well, it's no fun for me!"
However, it was "fun" for the delighted citizens of Willets, who, some
hours later, saw the reception committee returning with Lawler. They
escorted him to a platform which had been erected in the middle of the
street in the absence of the reception committee, where, after the crowd
had cheered him many times, Lawler made his first speech as the
candidate of his party.
Energetic citizens had gayly decorated the street with flags and
bunting--taking Corwin's entire stock--and the varicolored decorations
swathed the town from end to end.
Warden and Singleton had scurried out of town long before the coming of
Lawler. But Jimmy Singleton, with a number of other children who had
mercifully been dismissed by the school teacher, were close to the
platform during the celebration.
"He's gonna be governor, Jimmy," whispered one of Jimmy's companions,
awe in his voice as he indicated Lawler, who was just concluding his
speech.
"I've knowed him a long time," went on Jimmy's friend, proudly.
"Huh!" said Jimmy; "I've knowed him longer than you. An' besides, he
walloped me. An' he walloped my paw, too!"
Shorty had ridden to town with Lawler; and Shorty rode home with the
candidate for governor--after the citizens of Willets had shouted
themselves hoarse and the prominent men who had come down from the
capital had taken the evening train home.
And Shorty said nothing when Lawler veered from the Circle L trail and
headed eastward, toward Hamlin's cabin. And he waited with much patience
outside the cabin while Lawler went in, to stay an unconscionably long
time.
Ruth was alone. And her eyes were glowing with happiness when she saw
Lawler.
"Oh, I know!" she said when Lawler essayed to break the news to her. "On
his way to town, Blackburn rode over and told me. All of your men were
in town--didn't you know that?"
"Ruth," said Lawler; "I will be elected. Won't you come to the capital
with me--to be the first lady of the state?"
She looked straight at him, her face paling.
"Wait, Kane," she said, gently. "I--I can't, just now. Oh, Kane, don't
you see that the higher you go the harder it is for me. I can't have
people say--what they might say--what your enemies would be sure to say!
Father is all right now. But I can't depend upon him. We will wait,
Kane--until we are sure."
Shorty rode with Lawler after they left the Hamlin cabin. And the
gravity of Lawler's expression was noted by the giant, and duly
commented upon the following morning, in Blackburn's presence.
"The boss's trail is sure hard to anticipate," said Shorty. "There's the
state goin' loco over him--nominatin' him for governor, an' folks in
Willets makin' more fuss over him than they did over the President--the
time he stopped for two minutes in town. Well, you'd think a man would
be sort of fussed up himself, over that kind of a deal. But what does
the boss do? He rides home with me, sayin' nothin' pretty regular--with
a face on him as long as the moral law--an' then some. I ain't got no
rope on him--an' that's a fact. But he's all wool an' a yard wide--ain't
he, Blackburn?"