A NEW DEAL
The rush of burro-men to Hungry Bill's ranch followed close in Dusty
Rhodes' wake, and some there were who came on foot; but they soon came
stringing back, for it was a fine, large country and Hungry Bill was
about as communicative as a rattlesnake. All he knew, or cared to know,
was the price of corn and fruit, which he sold at Blackwater prices; and
the search for Wunpost had only served to show to what lengths a man
will go for revenge. In some mysterious way Wunpost had acquired a horse
and mule, both sharp-shod for climbing over rocks, and he had dallied at
Hungry Bill's until the first of the stampeders had come in sight on the
Panamint trail. Then he had set out up the ridge, riding the horse and
packing the mule, and even an Indian trailer had given out and quit
without ever bringing them in sight of him again. He had led them such a
chase that the hardiest came back satisfied, and they agreed that he
could keep his old mine.
The excitement died away or was diverted to other channels, for
Blackwater was having a boom; and, just as Wilhelmina had given up hope
of seeing him, John C. Calhoun came riding down the ridge. Not down the
canyon, where the trail made riding easy, but down the steep ridge
trail, where a band of mountain sheep was accustomed to come for water.
Wilhelmina was in her tunnel, looking down with envious eyes at the
traffic in the valley below; and he came upon her suddenly, so suddenly
it made her jump, for no one ever rode up there.
"Hello!" he hailed, spurring his horse up to the portal and letting out
his rope as he entered. "Kinder hot, out there in the sun. Well, how's
tricks?" he inquired, sitting down in the shade and wiping the streaming
sweat from his eyes. "Hungry Bill says you s-spurned my gold!"
"What did you tell that old Indian?" burst out Wilhelmina wrathfully,
and Wunpost looked up in surprise.
"Why, nothing," he said, "only to get me some grub and give you that
piece of polished rock. How was that for the real old high grade? From
my new mine, up in the high country. What's the matter--did Hungry get
gay?"
"Well--not that," hesitated Wilhelmina, "but he looked at me so funny
that I told him to give it to Mother. What was it you told him about
me?"
"Not a thing," protested Wunpost, "just to give you the rock. Oh, I
know!" He laughed and slapped his leg. "He's scared some prospector will
steal one of them gals, and I told him not to worry about me. Guess that
gave him a tip, because he looked wise as a prairie dog when I told him
to give that specimen to you." He paused and knocked the dust out of his
battered old hat, then glanced up from under his eyebrows.
"Ain't mad, are you?" he asked, "because if you are I'm on my way----"
"Oh, no!" she answered quickly. "Where have you been all the time? Dusty
Rhodes came through here, looking for you."
"Yes, they all came," he grinned, "but I showed 'em some sheep-trails
before they got tired of chasing me. I knew for a certainty that those
mugs would follow Hungry--they did the same thing over in Nevada. I sent
in an Indian to buy me a little grub and they trailed me clean across
Death Valley. Guess that ore must have looked pretty good."
"Where'd you get it?" she asked, and he rolled his eyes roguishly while
a crafty smile lit up his face.
"That's a question," he said. "If I'd tell you, you'd have the answer.
But I'm not going to show it to _nobody_!"
"Well, you don't need to think that _I_ care!" she spoke up
resentfully, "nobody asked you to show them your gold. And after what
happened with the Willie Meena I wouldn't take your old mine for a
gift."
"You won't have to," he replied. "I've quit taking in pardners--it's a
lone hand for me, after this. I'm sure slow in the head, but I reckon
I've learned my lesson--never go up against the other man's game. Old
Eells is a lawyer and I tried to beat him at law. We've switched the
deal now and he can play _my_ game a while--hide-and-seek, up in
them high peaks."
He waved his hand in the direction of the Panamints and winked at her
exultantly.
"Look at _that_!" he said, and drew a rock from his shirt pocket
which was caked and studded with gold. It was more like a chunk of gold
with a little quartz attached to it, and as she exclaimed he leaned back
and gloated. "I've got worlds of it!" he declared. "Let 'em get out and
rustle for it--that's the way I made my start. By the time they've rode
as far as I have they'll know she's a mountain sheep country. I located
two mines right smack beside the trail and these jaspers came along and
stole them both. All right! Fine! Fine! Let 'em look for the old
Sockdolager where I got this gold, and the first man that finds it can
have it! I'm a sport--I haven't even staked it!"
"And can _I_ have it?" asked Billy, her eyes beginning to glow,
"because, oh, we need money so bad!"
"What for, kid?" inquired Wunpost with a fatherly smile. "Ain't you got
a good home, and everything?"
"Yes, but the road--Father's road. If I just had the money we'd start
right in on it tomorrow."
"Hoo! I'll build you the road!" declared Wunpost munificently. "And it
won't cost either one of us a cent. Don't believe it, eh? You think this
is bunk? Then I'll tell you, kid, what I'll do. I'll make you a bet
we'll have a wagon-road up that canyon before three months are up. And
all by head-work, mind ye--not a dollar of our own money--might even get
old Eells to build it. Yes, I'm serious; I've got a new system--been
thinking it out, up in the hills--and just to show you how brainy I am
I'll make this demonstration for nothing. You don't need to bet me
anything, just acknowledge that I'm the king when it comes to the real
inside work; and before I get through I'll have Judson Eells belly up
and gasping for air like a fish. I'm going to trim him, the big fat
slob; I'm going to give him a lesson that'll learn him to lay off of me
for life; I'm going to make him so scared he'll step down into the
gutter when he meets me coming down the sidewalk. Well, laugh, doggone
it, but you watch my dust--I'm going to hang his hide on the fence!"
"That's what you told me before," she reminded him mischievously, "but
somehow it didn't work out."
"It'll work out this time," he retorted grimly. "A man has got to learn.
I'm just a kid, I know that, and I'm not much on book learning, but
don't you never say I can't _think_! Maybe I can't beat them crooks
when I play their own game, but this time _I deal the hand_! Do you
git me? We've switched the deal! And if I don't ring in a cold deck and
deal from the bottom it won't be because it's _wrong_. I'm out to
scalp 'em, see, and just to convince you we'll begin by building that
road. Your old man is wrong, he don't need no road and it won't do him
any good when he gets it; but just to make you happy and show you how
much I think of you, I'll do it--only you've got to stand pat! No Sunday
school stuff, see? We're going to fight this out with hay hooks, and
when I come back with his hair don't blame me if old Eells makes a roar.
I'm going to stick him, see; and I'm not going to stick him once--I'm
going to stick him three times, till he squeals like a pig, because
that's what he did to me! He cleaned me once on the Wunpost, and twice
on the Willie Meena, but before I get through with him he'll knock a
corner off the mountain every time he sees my dust. He'll be
_gone_, you understand--it'll be moving day for him--but I'll chase
him to the hottest stope in hell. I'm going to bust him, savvy, just to
learn these other dastards not to start any rough stuff with me. And now
the road, the road! We'll just get him to build it--I've got it all
framed up!"
He made a bluff to kiss her, then ran out and mounted his horse and went
rollicking off towards Blackwater. Wilhelmina brushed her cheek and
gazed angrily after him, then smiled and turned away with a sigh.