Lost Pueblo (1992) Read online

  "I can't show any favoritism among you boys," went on Janey. "Lay down your guns. Then blindfold me. I'll pick one of them up and whoever owns that gun shall have the first pull."

  "Fine idee," declared Mohave, and then deposited his gun at Janey's feet. One by one the others gravely complied, until it came to Ray. He held the lasso in one hand and his gun in the other. Janey feared he would block her daring scheme, which was to get possession of all the guns and hold up the cowboys.

  "Bert!" gasped Mrs. Durland. "She's a barbarian! A fit consort for the likes of these!... To think I ever allowed you to anticipate marrying such an impossible creature!"

  "That'll be aboot all from you, Madam," retorted Ray, threateningly.

  "Come, Ray, your gun," called Janey, in a nervous hurry. "Who'll lend me a scarf?"

  "You're smart, but you can't fool me," rejoined Ray, darkly. "I don't lay down my gun fer no woman. I'm onto you, Miss... Now you easy-mark cowpunchers, jest step back. Stop! Never mind pickin' up them guns."

  Slowly the cowboys edged back, and Janey with them. At that moment Ray was more to be feared than Black Dick had ever been. Ray had this game beaten and knew it. He exchanged rope and gun from one hand to the other. With a quick pull he tightened the noose hard around Randolph's neck, straining his body, lifting him a little.

  "Reckon it's a doubtful honor, but I'll have it myself," he said, his cold eyes on Janey.

  "My God!--Ray! You don't mean to go on with it?" cried Janey, finding her voice.

  "I shore do. I've got the goods on Randolph. You accused him, an' he confessed. Everybody present heard you both. An' there ain't a court in Arizona that'd hold me fer a day."

  He was triumphant and malignant. Fierce jealousy had brought out the evil in him. Janey had a terrible realization of her guilt--for she had flirted with this hot-headed cowboy. She had looked upon him with caressing eyes; she had listened to his sentimental talk and led him on. What an idiot she had been! Vain, detestably bent on conquest--heartless, wrong. Ray resembled a devil and he certainly had overwhelming odds in his favor. Janey seemed to be sinking in stupefied terror. Almost blindly she stepped out.

  "Ray--for God's sake--don't--don't add murder to this--this thing," she implored.

  "So! You're intercedin' fer a man you swore treated you outrageous?" sneered Ray.

  "Yes. I beg of you. Don't let your--your--whatever actuates you--go any farther. Cool down. Think!"

  "I've been thinkin' all right," he rejoined, with brooding intimation.

  "Randolph did not kidnap me," spoke up Janey, gathering strength. "I came with him willingly."

  "What's thet?" snarled Ray, almost crouching.

  Randolph responded with his first show of perturbation. "Ray, don't you believe a word she says. She's trying to clear me by implicating herself."

  "Wal, she's a liar all right, but mebbe this is straight," said Ray, somberly. "Say, gurl, if you come willin'--what was it fer?"

  "One reason was I wanted to get a kick out of it," replied Janey, coolly. "I was sort of blasT. Tired of ordinary life. I wanted something new, different."

  "Ahuh! An' how aboot this heah outrageous treatment?" asked Ray, gruffly.

  To have saved Randolph's life Janey could not have stayed the coursing flame of red that burned from neck to face. But her spirit flamed likewise.

  "I disobeyed him," she confessed, bravely. "He--he chastised me... I deserved it."

  "Haw! Haw! Haw!" guffawed Ray, loudly, mirthlessly. That laugh contained bitter doubt, scorn, hate.

  "Ray, I'm afeared I hear hosses," interrupted Mohave, sharply.

  "So, you come willin', huh?" he questioned, with terrible eyes on Janey. "Liked to be treated out-rag-eous, huh? Wanted a new different kick, huh?... Wal, now watch your lover kick!"

  Ray was a bully and a brute. But he did not know the fiber of the girl he had so grossly insulted. That was all Janey required to find herself. As Ray bent down to stretch the lasso over his hip, dragging Randolph to the tip of his toes, she sprang forward. She grasped the tightening rope above Randolph's head and pulled it loose. Then she confronted Ray.

  "Stop, you madman!" she cried, imperiously. "Don't you dare--If you do I'll kill you!"

  "Wal, fer Gawd's sake!" ejaculated Ray, surprised into his usual expression, and he momentarily slackened the lasso.

  Quick as a flash Janey seized the noose and flipped it from Randolph's neck.

  "Listen, cowboy!" she said. "What business is it of yours? If Randolph and I wanted to come out here to Beckyshibeta and lie about it that was our business. But it's gone too far for jokes now."

  Janey backed up against Randolph and took his arm.

  "Shore it's gone too far!" furiously returned Ray, recovering from his amazement. "An' you haven't give me one reason why he shouldn't hang."

  "Very well, I'll try another," said Janey, with calm proud exterior, while inwardly she was in a state of exaltation. "I love him. Can you understand that?... I love him!"

  For a long moment all her hearers seemed petrified. Ray looked shocked into credulous defeat. Then he choked out: "You white-faced slut!"

  "Shet up!" yelled Mohave, sternly. "Heah comes Bennet an' some Indians... Mr. Endicott, too...all ridin' like hell! Cool down, Ray, or you'll get yours!"

  Chapter 11

  The instant Janey had a close scrutiny of her father's face, which was when he reined his horse before the group, she knew his gay greeting and nonchalant survey of them had no depth. He had always been a capital actor, but he could not deceive his daughter.

  "Hello, Janey," he had called out, before reaching them. "How are you? Little white, aren't you, for a modern amazon?"

  Janey's emotion, whatever its great extent, suffered a swift transition to fury. Nevertheless she had wit enough to remember that this was no time to play against her father. Her cue was to be miserable and happy at one and the same time. At that she need only be natural.

  "Howdy, Phillip," said Endicott, genially, sitting his horse at ease and gazing down upon the center of this motionless group. "Bet you're glad I arrived. Sorry we are rather late. But that darned storm turned us back."

  Janey removed herself from Randolph's proximity. What had she said and done? She did not regret it, but the lofty spirit, which had prompted it, was failing. Randolph stood there, pale, with gleaming eyes and bloody lips, his hands still bound behind him. The noose that Janey had thrown off dangled not far above his head. The cowboys stood on uneasy feet. Ray still held his gun, and it was manifest that a dim realization of his part in this farce had dawned upon him. He was sweating now. The guns of the other cowboys lay where they had deposited them.

  Mr. Endicott surveyed this scene with the air of a Westerner of long experience. He was too cool. Then he spotted the Durlands, and doffed his sombrero.

  "Good day, Mrs. Durland. Hello, Bert. I hope you have had a nice little visit with Janey and her fiancT."

  If anything could have struck fire from Mrs. Durland that speech might have done so, but she was beyond words. But Bert, now that danger had passed, showed an ugly temper.

  "We've had a rotten visit, if you want to know," he howled. "We've been deceived, insulted, beaten and robbed."

  "Robbed! Oh, not quite that, I'm sure," replied Endicott, laughing. "No doubt Randolph's a desperate character, but I can't believe he'd steal."

  "We were held up and robbed by Black Dick and his partner," continued Bert, hotly.

  "All my diamonds--and money--gone!" wailed Mrs. Durland.

  "Indeed. That's too bad. It's something of a shock," returned Endicott, solicitously. "But I'll make your losses good. You see, I didn't calculate on a real desperado." Here he laughed. "It's all a little joke of mine. I wanted Janey to have a scare. So I persuaded Randolph to run off with her. My plan was to send the cowboys the very same day. But they didn't get back, and when they did the washes were flooded by the storm."

  "Somebody untie my hands," called out Randolph, cutting and grim. "I'll
show you what kind of a joke it was."

  Mohave was the cowboy who complied with the request, and it was plain he was nervous. He whispered something to Randolph. But it did not prevent Randolph, the instant he was free, from making long strides to confront Ray.

  "You're a skunk," said Randolph, deliberately. "I always had you figured as a bully and a conceited ass of a cowboy--mushy over every girl who ever came out here. But not till today did I know you to be a dirty foul-mouthed rat. You--"

  "Hold on, Randolph," interrupted Endicott, aghast. "I told you I was to blame. Ray was only following my instructions."

  "Randolph, we'll shore make allowance for your feelin's," added Bennet, conciliatingly. "But you're usin' strong language--too strong for a little joke."

  "Joke, hell!" flashed Randolph. "This locoed cowboy meant to hang me!"

  "Good God! Why, boy, you're quite out of your head," expostulated Endicott.

  Bennet began to see something serious in the situation. And he took his hint more from Ray's face than Randolph's words. Slipping out of his saddle he strode quickly to get between the men. Randolph gave him a shove that almost upset him.

  "Don't you butt in. You're a little late to save me the rottenest deal any man ever got. And you're a lot too late to save this cowpuncher of yours from the damndest kind of a beating."

  "Man! Look out for thet gun!" warned Bennet, shrilly.

  "I don't care a damn for his gun," replied Randolph. "He wouldn't shoot a rabbit."

  "Wal, I'd shoot a coyote damn quick or a gurl-chasin' scientist," replied Ray, laughing coarsely.

  "Drop thet gun!" ordered Bennet. "Can't you see Randolph is unarmed?"

  "I'm takin' no more orders from you," said the cowboy, sullenly.

  "You bet your life you're not," shouted the trader, angrily. "But you throw thet gun on Randolph an' you'll have me to deal with."

  Suddenly Randolph, in a pantherish spring, leaped upon Ray, and caught his arm just as he was lifting it with the gun. Randolph threw all his weight upon that gun arm, forced it down. Ray struggled and cursing yelled: "Leggo, er I'll plug you!"

  Randolph bent swiftly to fasten his teeth in the dangerous hand. The cowboy let out a howl of pain and fury. Bang! Bang! Janey screamed and hid her eyes in horror. She heard the thud of feet and wrestling of bodies, then hoarse calls from the onlookers. Her heart seemed to burst. This awful farce was going to end in a tragedy. Randolph! Terror forced her to open her eyes. Ray had dropped the gun. The hand Randolph gripped was red with blood. On the instant Randolph gave the gun a kick. It flew to the feet of Mohave, who bent and snatched it up. Then Randolph, releasing Ray, struck him full in the face, with a blow that sounded like a mallet. Ray went down with a sodden thump.

  Nobody wasted any more words. The spectators were too intense for speech, and the contestants too mad with rage. Randolph seemed a man who once in his life had let go. Ray, as he bounded up like a cat, looked a demon.

  He rushed at Randolph and the fight began. Janey could not watch it, though now she had fascination added to her horror. But there was enough gentleness left in her to make her shrink instinctively. She stood there with hands pressed over her eyes. Thus blinded she could still hear. And the smash of fists, the scrape of boots, wrestling tussles of hard bodies in contact, the pants and whistles of furious breathing--these were worse to hear than to see. How must the battle go? Randolph, the gentleman, the mild-mannered archaeologist, would surely be worsted by a younger man and one inured to all the roughness of the desert. Crash! One of the fighters had been knocked into the cedar brush. He burst up again, bawling awful curses. Ray! What a hot tingling thrill Janey experienced! It seemed to change her very nature. She wanted more than anything ever before in her life for Randolph to beat down the vile-mouthed cowboy. She had known the cause of Randolph's white anger. It was because of Ray's bald insinuations. Randolph was fighting for her, to whip the cur before those onlookers who had heard. So it was impossible for Janey to keep her eyes covered any longer.

  She found she stood alone. The fighters had worked away up the bench. Even the Durlands had followed the men. Janey ran. She saw Phil first, face turned toward her. He was all bloody and dirty. Then Ray's face swept round into sight. He was horribly battered, his face resembling a bloody beefsteak. He lunged wildly. He had no science. Randolph was agile, swift, and when he struck out he landed. Ray plunged down at Randolph's legs, caught them, and dragged him down. They clinched furiously, and rolled over and over, now one on top, then the other. Ray kicked viciously. It was clear that he was trying to dig his spurs into Randolph's legs. The cowboys yelled their derision of this further evidence of Ray's cowardly tactics. He must have imagined that a rough-and-tumble fight would give him the advantage. But it soon became clear that he was as badly off as in a fair stand-up fight. Randolph was out to give the cowboy a terrific beating, and it looked as if it would end that way.

  Once, when in their rolling over Ray landed on top, he snatched up a dead branch, quite weighty, and brought it down hard upon Randolph's head, where it cracked into many bits.

  "You dirty dog!" yelled Mohave, who was now plainly Randolph's champion. "If you knock him out that way you'll have me on you."

  But if Ray heard he paid no heed. He snatched up a rock and swung that.

  "Drop it or I'll shoot your arm off," shouted Bennet, whipping out a gun.

  The maddened cowboy tried to smash Randolph's head. Missed him! Bennet meant to shoot, but obviously feared he would either kill Ray or hit Randolph. Then he grasped his gun by the barrel, meaning to hit Ray with it. The cowboy struck again with the rock. Randolph dodged, but was slightly hit.

  "For God's sake, Bennet, stop him! He means murder," called Endicott, frightened.

  "Oh, Phil--don't let him kill you!" screamed Janey, wildly.

  Mohave leaped close to do something, no one could guess what. Mrs. Durland collapsed in a faint. Randolph might not have been doing his utmost before, because his fury and strength became marvelous. With one powerful blow he knocked the stone flying out of Ray's hand. Another broke Ray's hold on his throat. Then he heaved mightily. He tossed Ray clear of him, and was on his feet as quickly as the cowboy. He rushed Ray. A blow stopped the cowboy. The next staggered him. Randolph swung his left biff Then his right--smash! Ray, who was falling at the first blow, shot down with the second as if it had been from a catapult. He fell headlong, and slid over the brink of the bench, to crash into the brush below.

  Randolph glared a moment at the puff of dust which the cowboy had raised, then striding to his pack he picked up his towel and went off down the slope toward the creek.

  Janey was so tottering and weak that she sat down on a rock. Bennet sheathed his gun.

  "Wal, that was good," he declared, in great relief. "I hope he broke his neck. Some of you boys go down and see... Endicott, Mrs. Durland has fainted. No wonder. Thet came near bein' a real scrap. Young man, fetch some water, an' we'll bring your mother to."

  Janey sat dizzily conscious of the subsiding of the terrible emotions that had swayed her. Very slowly she recovered. Mrs. Durland was revived and lifted to a seat. Bennet appeared very kindly and solicitous. Janey's father wore a haggard look of remorse displacing fear. Bert, who hovered over his mother, showed the pallor of a girl, and hands that shook. Mohave was the only cowboy left on the bench.

  "What in the hell happened?" questioned Bennet, sternly.

  "Boss, I swear it was as much of a surprise to us as to you," began Mohave, most earnestly. "The boys will back me up in that... You know Mr. Endicott was awful keen on makin' this fake hangin' look like the real thing. We had our orders to do some tall actin'--like them motion-picture fellars. You can bet we had a lot of fun plannin' this. Talkin' it over! We must look terrible mad, as if we meant bizness. Wal, Ray acted so powerful good thet we all was plumb jealous. Even when he began to say nasty things we thought he was only oversteppin' a little. When he insulted Miss Janey then I was flabbergasted. Same with the other b
oys. Once I opened my trap, but Ray shet me up pronto. Still it was all so sudden I jest couldn't see through Ray until he called Miss Janey a white-faced slut."

  "Ahuh! Aboot time you seen through him, I'll say. Wal?" grumbled the trader.

  "Then it all come in a flash," went on Mohave, breathing hard. "We was obeyin' orders--havin' an awful big kick out of it. But Ray wasn't actin'. He meant to hang Randolph. No doubt of thet, sir. He had it all figgered out an' knowed the facts would clear him in any court."

  "But the damn locoed idget!" burst out Bennet. "To hang Randolph in earnest! What on earth for?"

  "Wal, I ain't shore. But I believe Ray thought Miss Janey was his gurl," replied Mohave, manfully, though it was evident he hated to be frank. "He shore talked like it. An' when he seen--wal, that he was what you called him, boss, why he went plumb out of his haid with jealousy."

  "Ahuh! Wal, I'm damned!" ejaculated Bennet.

  Mr. Endicott had listened to all this conversation and now he turned to his daughter.

  "Janey, you let that cowboy make love to you," he said. He did not ask; he affirmed.

  "Dad, I did," replied Janey, bravely. It was confession that was accusation. "To my regret and shame--I did. I let him kiss me--talk a lot of nonsense."

  "Well, that's no crime," he said, gravely. "But in this case it nearly led to murder. I hope it will be a lesson to you."

  Janey dropped her face into her hands and hid it. Lesson! What lesson had she not had? She would be days accounting for them and their clarifying and transforming power. Now there was only one man in all the world whom she would allow to kiss her. And would he want to again?

  Zoroaster and the other cowboys came back from below.

  "Ray's not crippled, sir," reported Zoroaster. "Bad bunged up, but nothin' serious."

  "Able to ride?" asked Bennet, tersely.

  "Reckon so, if someone shows him where to go. Both eyes are swelled shet."

  "Wal, let's see. The Indians can look after us. You boys take him back to the post. Tell Mrs. Bennet to pay him off an' let him go. Clear out now... An' say, boys, if you want to stay with me, keep mum aboot this deal. Not one little word! Savvy?"