The Man From Bar-20, Clarence E. Mulford [distant reading TXT] 📗

night Nelson will get caught or followed. Bein’ a stranger, an’ once workin’ for th’ CL, Logan will think he’s got th’ rustlers. He’ll find signs that’ll make him look in Nelson’s pasture if they ain’t there naturally we’ll put ‘em there. They’ll find his cabin an’ his rebranded herd. When they go back again they’ll reckon that th’ rustlin’ is all over; an’ we’ll still be in th’ game, lettin’ up a little for a while, an’ be better off than ever. Savvy my drift?”

Ackerman shook his head savagely. “With them six cows, an’ Logan missin’ hundreds?” he sarcastically demanded.

Quigley smiled patronizingly. “Findin’ only a few won’t mean nothin’, except that he’s driven off th’ rest every time he has got a few together, an’ sold ‘em. Now if you was to take that notebook that’s stickto’ out of yore pocket, an’ write in it some words an’ figgers showin’ that he’s sold so many cows, an’ what he got for ‘em each time, it might help. We’ll know when Logan’s due, an’ we can drop that book where he’ll find it. You never want to kill anythin’ till yo’re shore it ain’t goin’ to be useful. There’s one thing I’m set on: there ain’t going to be no unnecessary killin’.”

Ackerman laughed grimly. “Well, anyhow; I’ve started things. I left a note on his door tellin’ him what to do.”

“What did you write?” demanded Quigley.

Ackerman told him defiantly. “An’ what’s more,” he added, “I’m goin’ to do some pot-shootin’ before long.”

“Well,” replied Quigley, “I’d rather drive him out, an’ then watch him for a while. I ain’t shore he can’t be scared. Do you think he suspects he’s bein’ watched?”

“I don’t think so,” answered Fleming.

“I know he does!” snapped Ackerman. “Why does he paw around that gravel bed an’ pertend that he’s found gold in it? There ain’t no gold there!”

Quigley laughed. “He found gold, all right. Charley James saw it: an’ he got it right there. He wanted Charley to take it in pay. I don’t doubt that you know somethin’ about prospectin’ but ‘gold is where it’s found.’”

Ackerman thrust his head forward. “Gold in that gravel! H—l!”

“Charley saw it,” grunted Quigley.

“Charley be d dl” snorted Ackerman. He looked closely at Quigley and suddenly demanded: “What makes you so set ag’in us shootin’ him?”

Quigley regarded him evenly. “There was a lot of talk, when Porter was found dead. I told you all at th’ time. Four men have got curious, come up in these hills an’ never went out again. Twin Buttes has a bad name; an’ th’ next dead man that’s blamed on us is goin’ to make a lot more talk an’ may stir up trouble.

“Now then: Pop knows that Nelson’s up here, an’ that means that everybody knows it. He saw me reach for my gun, an’ heard me tell him to keep out of here. An’ let me tell you Pop knows more about us than he lets on; an’ he’s as venomous as a snake when he gets riled. An’ he ain’t th’ only one that knows things.

“Now we’ll add it up: If we can scare Nelson away, or discourage him, he’ll quit of his own accord; an’ he won’t talk because he knows that somebody knows he’s been rustlin’.” He turned on his heel. “Am I plain enough?”

“Wait a minute,” called Ackerman. “That feller has got me worried. Mebby it would be reckless to let him disappear up here; but suppose I go on a spree in town when he’s there? It’s easy to start a fight with a gun-man, because he’s got to toe th’ mark. I can do th’ job open an’ above board, an’ make it natural; an’ that will keep us clear.”

“Jim,” smiled Quigley, “I don’t want to lose you; an’ if you pick a square fight with that man, th’ eve? break that you demand in yore personal quarrels, wfc will lose you. I looked down his gun, an’ I tell you that I didn’t ‘ee him move. He’s a gun man! “

Ackerman laughed. “We won’t say anythin’ about that. But if he did get th’ worst of it in an even break an’ a personal quarrel, would it hurt us up here? That’s all I want to know.”

Quigley thought deeply and made a slow and careful reply. “If it wasn’t bungled I don’t see how it could. You’d have to rile him subtle, make him declare war an’ be th’ injured party yoreself; an’ you’d want witnesses. But don’t you do it, Jim; not nohow. I got a feelin’ that he’s th’ best man with a Colt in this section. Yo’re a wizard with a six-gun; but you ain’t good enough for him. When he’s around yo’re in th’ little boy’s class; an’ I ain’t meanin’ no offense to you, neither.”

Ackerman, hands on hips, stared at Quigley’s back as he walked away. “Th’ h—l you say!” he snorted wrathfully. ”’ Little boy’s class,’ huh?” He wheeled and turned a scowling face to his friend Fleming. “Did you hear that? I calls that rubbin’ it in! I got a notion to take that feller’s two guns away fronf him an’ make Tom eat ‘em! D d if I don’t, too; You ride to town with me an’ I’ll show you somethirf you won’t never forget!”

It may not be out of place here to say that the time soon came when he did show Fleming something; and that Fleming never did forget it.

Mr. Quigley smiled grimly as he entered the house, for it was his opinion that Mr. Ackerman had no peer in his use and abuse of Mr. Colt’s most famous invention. He hardly could ask Mr. Ackerman to sally forth and engage in a personal duel with a common enemy, for it would smack too much of asking a friend to do his fighting for him. He believed that leadership is best based when it rests upon the respect of those led. He had no doubt about the outcome of such a duel, for he implicitly believed that the stranger, despite his vaunting two guns, had as much chance against Mr. Ackerman’s sleight-of-hand as an enraged rattler had against a cool and businesslike king snake. The appropriateness of the simile made him smile, because the rattler is heavily armed and calls attention to the fact, while the king snake is modest, unassuming, and sounds no war-cry. Two guns meant nothing to Mr. Quigley, because he knew that one was entirely sufficient in the hand of the right man.

He had carefully pointed out the way for Mr. Ackerman to proceed in such a situation, and then warned him in an irritating way not to go ahead. So now he sighed with relief at a problem solved, for his knowledge of Mr. Ackerman’s character was based upon accurate observations extending over a long period of time.