The Rustlers of Pecos County Page 2

  "Sally, I do love you. I don't know how you took my actions. Anyway, now I'll make them plain. I was beside myself with love and jealousy. Will you marry me?"

  She did not answer. But the old willful Sally was not in evidence. Watching her face I gave her a slow and gentle pull, one she could easily resist if she cared to, and she slipped from her saddle into my arms.

  Then there was one wildly sweet moment in which I had the blissful certainty that she kissed me of her own accord. She was abashed, yet yielding; she let herself go, yet seemed not utterly unstrung. Perhaps I was rough, held her too hard, for she cried out a little.

  "Russ! Let me go. Help me-back."

  I righted her in the saddle, although not entirely releasing her.

  "But, Sally, you haven't told me anything," I remonstrated tenderly. "Do you love me?"

  "I think so," she whispered.

  "Sally, will you marry me?"

  She disengaged herself then, sat erect and faced away from me, with her breast heaving.

  "No, Russ," she presently said, once more calm.

  "But Sally-if you love me-" I burst out, and then stopped, stilled by something in her face.

  "I can't help-loving you, Russ," she said. "But to promise to marry you, that's different. Why, Russ, I know nothing about you, not even your last name. You're not a-a steady fellow. You drink, gamble, fight. You'll kill somebody yet. Then I'llnot love you. Besides, I've always felt you're not just what you seemed. I can't trust you. There's something wrong about you."

  I knew my face darkened, and perhaps hope and happiness died in it. Swiftly she placed a kind hand on my shoulder.

  "Now, I've hurt you. Oh, I'm sorry. Your asking me makes such a difference.They are not in earnest. But, Russ, I had to tell you why I couldn't be engaged to you."

  "I'm not good enough for you. I'd no right to ask you to marry me," I replied abjectly.

  "Russ, don't think me proud," she faltered. "I wouldn't care who you were if I could only-only respect you. Some things about you are splendid, you're such a man, that's why I cared. But you gamble. You drink-and Ihate that. You're dangerous they say, and I'd be, I am in constant dread you'll kill somebody. Remember, Russ, I'm no Texan."

  This regret of Sally's, this faltering distress at giving me pain, was such sweet assurance that she did love me, better than she knew, that I was divided between extremes of emotion.

  "Will you wait? Will you trust me a little? Will you give me a chance? After all, maybe I'm not so bad as I seem."

  "Oh, if you weren't! Russ, are you asking me to trust you?"

  "I beg you to-dearest. Trust me and wait."

  "Wait? What for? Are you really on the square, Russ? Or are you what George calls you-a drunken cowboy, a gambler, sharp with the cards, a gun-fighter?"

  My face grew cold as I felt the blood leave it. At that moment mention of George Wright fixed once for all my hate of him.

  Bitter indeed was it that I dared not give him the lie. But what could I do? The character Wright gave me was scarcely worse than what I had chosen to represent. I had to acknowledge the justice of his claim, but nevertheless I hated him.

  "Sally, I ask you to trust me in spite of my reputation."

  "You ask me a great deal," she replied.

  "Yes, it's too much. Let it be then only this-you'll wait. And while you wait, promise not to flirt with Wright and Waters."

  "Russ, I'll not let George or any of them so much as dare touch me," she declared in girlish earnestness, her voice rising. "I'll promise if you'll promise me not to go into those saloons any more."

  One word would have brought her into my arms for good and all. The better side of Sally Langdon showed then in her appeal. That appeal was as strong as the drawing power of her little face, all eloquent with its light, and eyes dark with tears, and lips wanting to smile.

  My response should have been instant. How I yearned to give it and win the reward I imagined I saw on her tremulous lips! But I was bound. The grim, dark nature of my enterprise there in Linrock returned to stultify my eagerness, dispel my illusion, shatter my dream.

  For one instant it flashed through my mind to tell Sally who I was, what my errand was, after the truth. But the secret was not mine to tell. And I kept my pledges.

  The hopeful glow left Sally's face. Her disappointment seemed keen. Then a little scorn of certainty was the bitterest of all for me to bear.

  "That's too much to promise all at once," I protested lamely, and I knew I would have done better to keep silence.

  "Russ, a promise like that is nothing-if a man loves a girl," she retorted. "Don't make any more love to me, please, unless you want me to laugh at you. And don't feel such terrible trouble if you happen to see me flirting occasionally."

  She ended with a little mocking laugh. That was the perverse side of her, the cat using her claws. I tried not to be angry, but failed.

  "All right. I'll take my medicine," I replied bitterly. "I'll certainly never make love to you again. And I'll stand it if I happen to see Waters kiss you, or any other decent fellow. But look out how you let that damned backbiter Wright fool around you!"

  I spoke to her as I had never spoken before, in quick, fierce meaning, with eyes holding hers.

  She paled. But even my scarce-veiled hint did not chill her anger. Tossing her head she wheeled and rode away.

  I followed at a little distance, and thus we traveled the ten miles back to the ranch. When we reached the corrals she dismounted and, turning her horse over to Dick, she went off toward the house without so much as a nod or good-by to me.

  I went down to town for once in a mood to live up to what had been heretofore only a sham character.

  But turning a corner into the main street I instantly forgot myself at the sight of a crowd congregated before the town hall. There was a babel of voices and an air of excitement that I immediately associated with Sampson, who as mayor of Linrock, once in a month of moons held court in this hall.

  It took slipping and elbowing to get through the crowd. Once inside the door I saw that the crowd was mostly outside, and evidently not so desirous as I was to enter.

  The first man I saw was Steele looming up; the next was Sampson chewing his mustache-the third, Wright, whose dark and sinister face told much. Something was up in Linrock. Steele had opened the hall.

  There were other men in the hall, a dozen or more, and all seemed shouting excitedly in unison with the crowd outside. I did not try to hear what was said. I edged closer in, among the men to the front.

  Sampson sat at a table up on a platform. Near him sat a thick-set grizzled man, with deep eyes; and this was Hanford Owens, county judge.

  To the right stood a tall, angular, yellow-faced fellow with a drooping, sandy mustache. Conspicuous on his vest was a huge silver shield. This was Gorsech, one of Sampson's sheriffs.

  There were four other men whom I knew, several whose faces were familiar, and half a dozen strangers, all dusty horsemen.

  Steele stood apart from them, a little to one side, so that he faced them all. His hair was disheveled, and his shirt open at the neck. He looked cool and hard.

  When I caught his eye I realized in an instant that the long deferred action, the beginning of our real fight was at hand.

  Sampson pounded hard on the table to be heard. Mayor or not, he was unable at once to quell the excitement.

  Gradually, however, it subsided and from the last few utterances before quiet was restored I gathered that Steele had intruded upon some kind of a meeting in the hall.

  "Steele, what'd you break in here for?" demanded Sampson.

  "Isn't this court? Aren't you the mayor of Linrock?" interrogated Steele. His voice was so clear and loud, almost piercing, that I saw at once that he wanted all those outside to hear.

  "Yes," replied Sampson. Like flint he seemed, yet I felt his intense interest.

  I had no doubt then that Steele intended to make him stand out before this crowd as the real mayor of Linrock or
as a man whose office was a sham.

  "I've arrested a criminal," said Steele. "Bud Snell. I charge him with assault on Jim Hoden and attempted robbery-if not murder. Snell had a shady past here, as the court will know if it keeps a record."

  Then I saw Snell hunching down on a bench, a nerveless and shaken man if there ever was one. He had been a hanger-on round the gambling dens, the kind of sneak I never turned my back to.

  Jim Hoden, the restaurant keeper, was present also, and on second glance I saw that he was pale. There was blood on his face. I knew Jim, liked him, had tried to make a friend of him.

  I was not dead to the stinging interrogation in the concluding sentence of Steele's speech. Then I felt sure I had correctly judged Steele's motive. I began to warm to the situation.

  "What's this I hear about you, Bud? Get up and speak for yourself," said Sampson, gruffly.

  Snell got up, not without a furtive glance at Steele, and he had shuffled forward a few steps toward the mayor. He had an evil front, but not the boldness even of a rustler.

  "It ain't so, Sampson," he began loudly. "I went in Hoden's place fer grub. Some feller I never seen before come in from the hall an' hit him an' wrastled him on the floor. Then this big Ranger grabbed me an' fetched me here. I didn't do nothin'. This Ranger's hankerin' to arrest somebody. Thet's my hunch, Sampson."

  "What have you to say about this, Hoden?" sharply queried Sampson. "I call to your mind the fact that you once testified falsely in court, and got punished for it."

  Why did my sharpened and experienced wits interpret a hint of threat or menace in Sampson's reminder? Hoden rose from the bench and with an unsteady hand reached down to support himself.

  He was no longer young, and he seemed broken in health and spirit. He had been hurt somewhat about the head.

  "I haven't much to say," he replied. "The Ranger dragged me here. I told him I didn't take my troubles to court. Besides, I can't swear it was Snell who hit me."

  Sampson said something in an undertone to Judge Owens, and that worthy nodded his great, bushy head.

  "Bud, you're discharged," said Sampson bluntly. "Now, the rest of you clear out of here."

  He absolutely ignored the Ranger. That was his rebuff to Steele's advances, his slap in the face to an interfering Ranger Service.

  If Sampson was crooked he certainly had magnificent nerve. I almost decided he was above suspicion. But his nonchalance, his air of finality, his authoritative assurance-these to my keen and practiced eyes were in significant contrast to a certain tenseness of line about his mouth and a slow paling of his olive skin.

  He had crossed the path of Vaughn Steele; he had blocked the way of this Texas Ranger. If he had intelligence and remembered Steele's fame, which surely he had, then he had some appreciation of what he had undertaken.

  In that momentary lull my scrutiny of Sampson gathered an impression of the man's intense curiosity.

  Then Bud Snell, with a cough that broke the silence, shuffled a couple of steps toward the door.

  "Hold on!" called Steele.

  It was a bugle-call. It halted Snell as if it had been a bullet. He seemed to shrink.

  "Sampson, Isaw Snell attack Hoden," said Steele, his voice still ringing. "What has the court to say to that?"

  The moment for open rupture between Ranger Service and Sampson's idea of law was at hand. Sampson showed not the slightest hesitation.

  "The court has to say this: West of the Pecos we'll not aid or abet or accept any Ranger Service. Steele, we don't want you out here. Linrock doesn't need you."

  "That's a lie, Sampson," retorted Steele. "I've a pocket full of letters from Linrock citizens, all begging for Ranger Service."

  Sampson turned white. The veins corded at his temples. He appeared about to burst into rage. He was at a loss for a quick reply.

  Steele shook a long arm at the mayor.

  "I need your help. You refuse. Now, I'll work alone. This man Snell goes to Del Rio in irons."

  George Wright rushed up to the table. The blood showed black and thick in his face; his utterance was incoherent, his uncontrollable outbreak of temper seemed out of all proportion to any cause he should reasonably have had for anger.

  Sampson shoved him back with a curse and warning glare.

  "Where's your warrant to arrest Snell?" shouted Sampson. "I won't give you one. You can't take him without a warrant."

  "I don't need warrants to make arrests. Sampson, you're ignorant of the power of Texas Rangers."

  "You'll take Snell without papers?" bellowed Sampson.

  "He goes to Del Rio to jail," answered Steele.

  "He won't. You'll pull none of your damned Ranger stunts out here. I'll block you, Steele."

  That passionate reply of Sampson's appeared to be the signal Steele had been waiting for.

  He had helped on the crisis. I believed I saw how he wanted to force Sampson's hand and show the town his stand.

  Steele backed clear of everybody and like two swift flashes of light his guns leaped forth. He was transformed. My wish was fulfilled.

  Here was Steele, the Ranger, in one of his lone lion stands. Not exactly alone either, for my hands itched for my guns!

  "Men! I call on you all!" cried Steele, piercingly. "I call on you to witness the arrest of a criminal opposed by Sampson, mayor of Linrock. It will be recorded in the report sent to the Adjutant General at Austin. Sampson, I warn you-don't follow up your threat."

  Sampson sat white with working jaw.

  "Snell, come here," ordered Steele.

  The man went as if drawn and appeared to slink out of line with the guns. Steele's cold gray glance held every eye in the hall.

  "Take the handcuffs out of my pocket. This side. Go over to Gorsech with them. Gorsech, snap those irons on Snell's wrists. Now, Snell, back here to the right of me."

  It was no wonder to me to see how instantly Steele was obeyed. He might have seen more danger in that moment than was manifest to me; on the other hand he might have wanted to drive home hard what he meant.

  It was a critical moment for those who opposed him. There was death in the balance.

  This Ranger, whose last resort was gun-play, had instantly taken the initiative, and his nerve chilled even me. Perhaps though, he read this crowd differently from me and saw that intimidation was his cue. I forgot I was not a spectator, but an ally.

  "Sampson, you've shown your hand," said Steele, in the deep voice that carried so far and held those who heard. "Any honest citizen of Linrock can now see what's plain-yours is a damn poor hand!

  "You're going to hear me call a spade a spade. Your office is a farce. In the two years you've been mayor you've never arrested one rustler. Strange, when Linrock's a nest for rustlers! You've never sent a prisoner to Del Rio, let alone to Austin. You have no jail.

  "There have been nine murders since you took office, innumerable street fights and hold-ups.Not one arrest! But you have ordered arrests for trivial offenses, and have punished these out of all proportion.

  "There have been law-suits in your court-suits over water rights, cattle deals, property lines. Strange how in these law-suits, you or Wright or other men close to you were always involved! Stranger how it seems the law was stretched to favor your interests!"

  Steele paused in his cold, ringing speech. In the silence, both outside and inside the hall, could be heard the deep breathing of agitated men.

  I would have liked to search for possible satisfaction on the faces of any present, but I was concerned only with Sampson. I did not need to fear that any man might draw on Steele.

  Never had I seen a crowd so sold, so stiff, so held! Sampson was indeed a study. Yet did he betray anything but rage at this interloper?

  "Sampson, here's plain talk for you and Linrock to digest," went on Steele. "I don't accuse you and your court of dishonesty. I say-strange ! Law here has been a farce. The motive behind all this laxity isn't plain to me-yet. But I call your hand!"

  * * *

&
nbsp; That night, I saw Steele at our meeting place, and we compared notes and pondered details of our problem.

  Steele had rented the stone house to be used as a jail. While the blacksmith was putting up a door and window calculated to withstand many onslaughts, all the idlers and strangers in town went to see the sight. Manifestly it was an occasion for Linrock. When Steele let it be known that he wanted to hire a jailer and a guard this caustically humorous element offered itselfen masse . The men made a joke out of it.

  When Steele and I were about to separate I remembered a party that was to be given by Miss Sampson, and I told him about it. He shook his head sadly, almost doubtfully.

  Was it possible that Sampson could be a deep eyed, cunning scoundrel, the true leader of the cattle rustlers, yet keep that beautiful and innocent girl out on the frontier and let her give parties to sons and daughters of a community he had robbed? To any but remorseless Rangers the idea was incredible.

  Thursday evening came in spite of what the girls must have regarded as an interminably dragging day.

  It was easy to differentiate their attitudes toward this party. Sally wanted to look beautiful, to excell all the young ladies who were to attend, to attach to her train all the young men, and have them fighting to dance with her. Miss Sampson had an earnest desire to open her father's house to the people of Linrock, to show that a daughter had come into his long cheerless home, to make the evening one of pleasure and entertainment.

  I happened to be present in the parlor, was carrying in some flowers for final decoration, when Miss Sampson learned that her father had just ridden off with three horsemen whom Dick, who brought the news, had not recognized.

  In her keen disappointment she scarcely heard Dick's concluding remark about the hurry of the colonel. My sharp ears, however, took this in and it was thought-provoking. Sampson was known to ride off at all hours, yet this incident seemed unusual.

  At eight o'clock the house and porch and patio were ablaze with lights. Every lantern and lamp on the place, together with all that could be bought and borrowed, had been brought into requisition.