DAVE RIDES ON HIS SPURS
Hart came up to his friend grinning. "Well, you old horn-toad, we got no
kick comin'. Chiquito run a mighty pretty race. Only trouble was his
laigs wasn't long enough."
The owner of the pony nodded, a lump in his throat. He was not thinking
about his thirty-five dollars, but about the futile race into which he
had allowed his little beauty to be trapped. Dave would not be twenty-one
till coming grass, and it still hurt his boyish pride to think that his
favorite had been beaten.
Another lank range-rider drifted up. "Same here, Dave. I'll kiss my
twenty bucks good-bye cheerful. You 'n' the li'l hoss run the best race,
at that. Chiquito started like a bullet out of a gun, and say, boys! how
he did swing round on the turn."
"Much obliged, Steve. I reckon he sure done his best," said Sanders
gratefully.
The voice of George Doble cut in, openly and offensively jubilant. "Me,
I'd ruther show the way at the finish than at the start. You're more
liable to collect the mazuma. I'll tell you now that broomtail never
had a chance to beat Whiskey Bill."
"Yore hoss can run, seh," admitted Dave.
"I _know_ it, but you don't. He didn't have to take the kinks out of his
legs to beat that plug."
"You get our money," said Hart quietly. "Ain't that enough without
rubbin' it in?"
"Sure I get yore money--easy money, at that," boasted Doble. "Got any
more you want to put up on the circus bronc?"
Steve Russell voiced his sentiments curtly. "You make me good and tired,
Doble. There's only one thing I hate more'n a poor loser--and that's a
poor winner. As for putting my money on the pinto, I'll just say this:
I'll bet my li'l' pile he can beat yore bay twenty miles, a hundred
miles, or five hundred."
"Not any, thanks. Whiskey Bill is a racer, not a mule team," Miller said,
laughing.
Steve loosened the center-fire cinch of his pony's saddle. He noted that
there was no real geniality in the fat man's mirth. It was a surface
thing designed to convey an effect of good-fellowship. Back of it lay
the chill implacability of the professional gambler.
The usual give-and-take of gay repartee was missing at supper that night.
Since they were of the happy-go-lucky, outdoor West it did not greatly
distress the D Bar Lazy R riders to lose part of their pay checks. Even
if it had, their spirits would have been unimpaired, for it is written in
their code that a man must take his punishment without whining. What hurt
was that they had been tricked, led like lambs to the killing. None of
them doubted now that the pack-horse of the gamblers was a "ringer."
These men had deliberately crossed the path of the trail outfit in order
to take from the vaqueros their money.
The punchers were sulky. Instead of a fair race they had been up against
an open-and-shut proposition, as Russell phrased it. The jeers of Doble
did not improve their tempers. The man was temperamentally mean-hearted.
He could not let his victims alone.
"They say one's born every minute, Ad. Dawged if I don't believe it," he
sneered.
Miller was not saying much himself, but his fat stomach shook at this
sally. If his partner could goad the boys into more betting he was quite
willing to divide the profits.
Audibly Hart yawned and murmured his sentiments aloud. "I'm liable to
tell these birds what I think of 'em, Steve, if they don't spend quite
some time layin' off'n us."
"Don't tell us out loud. We might hear you," advised Doble insolently.
"In regards to that, I'd sure worry if you did."
Dave was at that moment returning to his place with a cup of hot coffee.
By some perverse trick of fate his glance fell on Doble's sinister face
of malignant triumph. His self-control snapped, and in an instant the
whole course of his life was deflected from the path it would otherwise
have taken. With a flip he tossed up the tin cup so that the hot coffee
soused the crook.
"Goddlemighty!" screamed Doble, leaping to his feet. He reached for his
forty-five, just as Sanders closed with him. The range-rider's revolver,
like that of most of his fellows, was in a blanket roll in the wagon.
Miller, with surprising agility for a fat man, got to his feet and
launched himself at the puncher. Dave flung the smaller of his opponents
back against Steve, who was sitting tailor fashion beside him. The gunman
tottered and fell over Russell, who lost no time in pinning his hands to
the ground while Hart deftly removed the revolver from his pocket.
Swinging round to face Miller, Dave saw at once that the big man had
chosen not to draw his gun. In spite of his fat the gambler was a
rough-and-tumble fighter of parts. The extra weight had come in recent
years, but underneath it lay roped muscles and heavy bones. Men often
remarked that they had never seen a fat man who could handle himself like
Ad Miller. The two clinched. Dave had the under hold and tried to trip
his bulkier foe. The other side-stepped, circling round. He got one hand
under the boy's chin and drove it up and back, flinging the range-rider
a dozen yards.
Instantly Dave plunged at him. He had to get at close quarters, for he
could not tell when Miller would change his mind and elect to fight with
a gun. The man had chosen a hand-to-hand tussle, Dave knew, because he
was sure he could beat so stringy an opponent as himself. Once he got the
grip on him that he wanted the big gambler would crush him by sheer
strength. So, though the youngster had to get close, he dared not clinch.
His judgment was that his best bet was his fists.
He jabbed at the big white face, ducked, and jabbed again. Now he was in
the shine of the moon; now he was in darkness. A red streak came out on
the white face opposite, and he knew he had drawn blood. Miller roared
like a bull and flailed away at him. More than one heavy blow jarred him,
sent a bolt of pain shooting through him. The only thing he saw was that
shining face. He pecked away at it with swift jabs, taking what
punishment he must and dodging the rest.
Miller was furious. He had intended to clean up this bantam in about a
minute. He rushed again, broke through Dave's defense, and closed with
him. His great arms crushed into the ribs of his lean opponent. As they
swung round and round, Dave gasped for breath. He twisted and squirmed,
trying to escape that deadly hug. Somehow he succeeded in tripping his
huge foe.
They went down locked together, Dave underneath. The puncher knew that if
he had room Miller would hammer his face to a pulp. He drew himself close
to the barrel body, arms and legs wound tight like hoops.
Miller gave a yell of pain. Instinctively Dave moved his legs higher and
clamped them tighter. The yell rose again, became a scream of agony.
"Lemme loose!" shrieked the man on top. "My Gawd, you're killin' me!"
Dave had not the least idea what was disturbing Miller's peace of mind,
but whatever it was moved to his advantage. He clamped tighter, working
his heels into another secure position. The big man bellowed with pain.
"Take him off! Take him off!" he implored in shrill crescendo.
"What's all this?" demanded an imperious voice.
Miller was torn howling from the arms and legs that bound him and Dave
found himself jerked roughly to his feet. The big raw-boned foreman was
glaring at him above his large hook nose. The trail boss had been out
at the remuda with the jingler when the trouble began. He had arrived
in time to rescue his fat friend.
"What's eatin' you, Sanders?" he demanded curtly.
"He jumped George!" yelped Miller.
Breathing hard, Dave faced his foe warily. He was in a better strategic
position than he had been, for he had pulled the revolver of the fat man
from its holster just as they were dragged apart. It was in his right
hand now, pressed close to his hip, ready for instant use if need be. He
could see without looking that Doble was still struggling ineffectively
in the grip of Russell.
"Dave stumbled and spilt some coffee on George; then George he tried to
gun him. Miller mixed in then," explained Hart.
The foreman glared. "None of this stuff while you're on the trail with my
outfit. Get that, Sanders? I won't have it."
"Dave he couldn't hardly he'p hisse'f," Buck Byington broke in. "They was
runnin' on him considerable, Dug."
"I ain't askin' for excuses. I'm tellin' you boys what's what," retorted
the road boss. "Sanders, give him his gun."
The cowpuncher took a step backward. He had no intention of handing a
loaded gun to Miller while the gambler was in his present frame of mind.
That might be equivalent to suicide. He broke the revolver, turned the
cylinder, and shook out the cartridges. The empty weapon he tossed on the
ground.
"He ripped me with his spurs," Miller said sullenly. "That's howcome I
had to turn him loose."
Dave looked down at the man's legs. His trousers were torn to shreds.
Blood trickled down the lacerated calves where the spurs had roweled the
flesh cruelly. No wonder Miller had suddenly lost interest in the fight.
The vaquero thanked his lucky stars that he had not taken off his spurs
and left them with the saddle.
The first thing that Dave did was to strike straight for the wagon where
his roll of bedding was. He untied the rope, flung open the blankets, and
took from inside the forty-five he carried to shoot rattlesnakes. This he
shoved down between his shirt and trousers where it would be handy for
use in case of need. His roll he brought back with him as a justification
for the trip to the wagon. He had no intention of starting anything.
All he wanted was not to be caught at a disadvantage a second time.
Miller and the two Dobles were standing a little way apart talking
together in low tones. The fat man, his foot on the spoke of a wagon
wheel, was tying up one of his bleeding calves with a bandanna
handkerchief. Dave gathered that his contribution to the conversation
consisted mainly of fervent and almost tearful profanity.
The brothers appeared to be debating some point with heat. George
insisted, and the foreman gave up with a lift of his big shoulders.
"Have it yore own way. I hate to have you leave us after I tell you
there'll be no more trouble, but if that's how you feel about it I got
nothin' to say. What I want understood is this"--Dug Doble raised his
voice for all to hear--"that I'm boss of this outfit and won't stand for
any rough stuff. If the boys, or any one of 'em, can't lose their money
without bellyachin', they can get their time pronto."
The two gamblers packed their race-horse, saddled, and rode away without
a word to any of the range-riders. The men round the fire gave no sign
that they knew the confidence men were on the map until after they had
gone. Then tongues began to wag, the foreman having gone to the edge of
the camp with them.
"Well, my feelin's ain't hurt one li'l' bit because they won't play with
us no more," Steve Russell said, smiling broadly.
"Can you blame that fat guy for not wantin' to play with Dave here?"
asked Hart, and he beamed at the memory of what he had seen. "Son, you
ce'tainly gave him one surprise party when yore rowels dug in."
"Wonder to me he didn't stampede the cows, way he hollered," grinned a
third. "I don't grudge him my ten plunks. Not none. Dave he give me my
money's worth that last round."
"I had a little luck," admitted Dave modestly.
"Betcha," agreed Steve. "I was just startin' over to haul the fat guy off
Dave when he began bleatin' for us to come help him turn loose the bear.
I kinda took my time then."
"Onct I went to a play called 'All's Well That Ends Well,'" said Byington
reminiscently. "At the Tabor Grand the-á-ter, in Denver."
"Did it tell how a freckled cow-punch rode a fat tinhorn on his spurs?"
asked Hart.
"Bet he wears stovepipes on his laigs next time he mixes it with Dave,"
suggested one coffee-brown youth. "Well, looks like the show's over for
to-night. I'm gonna roll in." Motion carried unanimously.