SURPRISES COME FAST
The cause of Tad's alarm had been a slight trembling of the soft
ground underfoot, followed by a crunching sound as if something or
someone had trod on a rotting stick. The lad knew that either man or
beast was near at hand, but he did not have time to satisfy himself
which of the two it was. He acted quickly, and, regardless of snakes,
wriggled away to a place of greater safety. He reasoned, of course,
that if it were the owner of the shack returning, he would ride his
horse to its stable first of all.
Crouching down in the bushes the boy waited and listened. By this
time he could tell that it was a horse approaching. Taking a long
chance the boy half rose from his hiding place and peered out. Not
more than six rods from him he saw the fellow who had stolen his doe
riding straight towards him.
The Pony Rider Boy quickly drew back and none too soon, for the
fellow's eyes caught the faint movement of the bushes at that point.
He probably thought this movement had been caused by some lurking
animal, for he made no attempt to investigate. He tethered his horse
silently, then to Tad's alarm either his own horse or Lilly's uttered
a loud whinny.
The boy in the bushes groaned inwardly.
"That gives the whole game away," he muttered. "I am lucky if he
doesn't send a shot this way just for luck."
The stranger did nothing of the sort. Instead, he stood stock still.
Tad could fairly feel the eyes of the man burn into his hiding place,
though he could not see the man at all. There was a slight movement
where the stranger's horse was tethered, a scarcely perceptible
vibration of the earth under Tad's feet. He listened and learned that
the man was walking away.
Butler again took a chance and peered over the tops of the bushes.
The fellow was walking toward his shack, and what was more, his
revolver was in his hand ready for instant use. The boy hoped that
Lilly had been warned by the whinny of the horse and made his escape
from the shack. But Lilly had not heard. He was fussing about in
the shack, as Tad quickly deduced from the actions of the newcomer.
The boy began crawling towards the shack, making a detour so as not
to expose himself to view, and for a moment he lost sight of his man.
When he next caught sight of him, the fellow was standing close to
the entrance of his shack with revolver leveled at it, or rather at
the opening.
In a twinkling Tad Butler's pistol was in his hand, trained on the
back of the newcomer. Still, the boy was not excited; he was
watching for the move that would indicate the other man's intention
to shoot. Butler did not believe he was going to do so. In this he
was right.
For fully three minutes the man stood still gazing into the shack.
Tad did not know what was going on in there, for he was unable to see
into the place from his position, nor did he dare move on until the
fellow made his next move. This he did very shortly.
"Hold up your hands!"
The fellow's voice rang out with startling distinctness. It made Tad
start. He still had the man covered with his own weapon. The boy
saw Bill Lilly appear at the door, but there was neither surprise nor
fear on the face of the guide as he faced the revolver in the hands
of the newcomer.
"So, it's you, is it, Alligator Pete? I reckoned you'd be along here
pretty soon."
"What are you doing in my shack?"
"I reckoned I'd cage a few more moccasins for your menagerie. Put
down that gun and I'll talk to you."
Pete laughed. He observed that Lilly's revolver was not in its
holster. As a matter of fact, the guide had removed it, keeping it
in his hand in case of a surprise, and in looking into Pete's
belongings he had had occasion to lay the weapon down. The later
interruption came so quickly and unexpectedly that Billy did not
think of his revolver until too late to recover it. He knew the man
before him. It was Alligator Pete in reality, and Pete was in a
white rage.
"I reckon I'll put down the gun when I get ready and not before,"
answered the "Alligator." "What are you doing in my shack?"
"I'll answer that question by asking you one. What do you mean by
interfering with my party?"
"I haven't."
"You have. You stole a doe that one of them shot."
"Oh, I did, eh?" sneered Pete.
"You know you did, but that wasn't all. You laid a false trail over
the bear sign hoping to call the wolves. You knew they would attack
my dogs. You planned it all, you miserable whelp! You see I know
all about it. It's lucky for you that I haven't got my pistol. I'd
shoot you where you stand!" Lilly's voice was calm but incisive.
"I reckon I'd have something to say about that; I reckon this gun
might go off before yours did. I reckon it may go off as it is."
"No. You are too big a coward to shoot a man face to face. I could
jump you now before you could shoot."
"You'd better not try it," warned Pete angrily. "You lie when you
say I did those things. You want to get me in a box. You've been
trying to get me in a box for the last year."
"You have got yourself in a box, Pete. This time it's a box that you
won't get out of so easily as you think. I have the dead wood on
you."
"This is the only dead wood that talks here," answered Pete, tapping
his revolver significantly. "And it talks loud, too. Now what do
you reckon you are doing in my shack?"
"Just what you did in one of mine once, tried to find out something.
The difference is that I have found something and you didn't, because
there wasn't anything to find."
"And what do you reckon to do now?"
"To make you answer for what you have done," replied Lilly evenly.
"How?"
"That is my business so far. Remember I have some boys in camp who
can identify you. Remember you tried to shoot one of them."
"I didn't. I didn't intend to hit him. Don't you think I could hit
a man at twenty paces without--"
A broad grin was spreading over the face of Bill Lilly.
"I'm mighty glad you admit it," he said in a sarcastic tone. "It
saves a lot of trouble."
Pete's face flushed.
"It don't save you any. Now look here, Bill Lilly, I've got
something to say to you. On one condition I'll let you go and say
nothing about your going through my shack."
"What's the condition?"
"That you step aside and give me a show at some of those fellows who
think they are mighty hunters, but have more money than brains.
Another one is that you don't say anything against me when you get
back home, and--"
"Those are two conditions. You said you would make only one," jeered
Lilly.
"I'll make as many as I want to. Another one is that you get sick
and have to go home, leaving the party to me for the rest of the
time."
Billy laughed outright.
"You must be crazy, or else you take me for a fool. You ought to
know that I'm not quite so daffy as to agree to a thing like that."
"You'll agree or it will be the worse for you. Remember I've got the
best of you."
Billy opened his mouth to speak, then discreetly closed it again. He
was about to say that Pete was reckoning without a knowledge of the
situation, when suddenly the thought of Tad Butler entered the
guide's mind. Tad was nowhere in sight. The boy, he believed, was
out on the trail, and he did not know how far the boy might have
wandered. Lilly did not know what was best to be done in the
circumstances. He was unarmed. It was true he might leap on his
assailant, but the chances were that Pete would shoot him before he
could disarm the man.
"I don't agree to any of your conditions. Now what are you going to
do about it?" demanded Lilly, his lips closing into a firm, straight
line.
"I am going to--"
Pete did not finish what he was about to say. A sudden and
unlooked-for interruption changed the current of his thoughts in a
startling manner. With a yell he leaped back, his revolver going off
into the air.
In a second Alligator Pete lay rolling and writhing on the ground.