The Man of the Forest by Zane Grey (fastest ebook reader .TXT) 📖

into Turner’s. So I followed. It was ‘most

dark. Beasley an’ Riggs an’ Mulvey an’ some more were

drinkin’ an’ powwowin’. So I just braced him right then.”

 

“Roy! Oh, the way you boys court danger!”

 

“But, Miss Helen, thet’s the only way. To be afraid MAKES

more danger. Beasley ‘peared civil enough first off. Him an’

me kept edgin’ off, an’ his pards kept edgin’ after us, till

we got over in a corner of the saloon. I don’t know all I

said to him. Shore I talked a heap. I told him what my old

man thought. An’ Beasley knowed as well as I thet my old

man’s not only the oldest inhabitant hereabouts, but he’s

the wisest, too. An’ he wouldn’t tell a lie. Wal, I used all

his sayin’s in my argument to show Beasley thet if he didn’t

haul up short he’d end almost as short. Beasley’s

thick-headed, an’ powerful conceited. Vain as a peacock! He

couldn’t see, an’ he got mad. I told him he was rich enough

without robbin’ you of your ranch, an’ — wal, I shore put

up a big talk for your side. By this time he an’ his gang

had me crowded in a corner, an’ from their looks I begun to

get cold feet. But I was in it an’ had to make the best of

it. The argument worked down to his pinnin’ me to my word

that I’d fight for you when thet fight come off. An’ I shore

told him for my own sake I wished it ‘d come off quick… .

Then — wal — then somethin’ did come off quick!”

 

“Roy, then he shot you!” exclaimed Helen, passionately.

 

“Now, Miss Helen, I didn’t say who done it,” replied Roy,

with his engaging smile.

 

“Tell me, then — who did?”

 

“Wal, I reckon I sha’n’t tell you unless you promise not to

tell Las Vegas. Thet cowboy is plumb off his head. He thinks

he knows who shot me an’ I’ve been lyin’ somethin’

scandalous. You see, if he learns — then he’ll go gunnin’.

An’, Miss Helen, thet Texan is bad. He might get plugged as

I did — an’ there would be another man put off your side

when the big trouble comes.”

 

“Roy, I promise you I will not tell Las Vegas,” replied

Helen, earnestly.

 

“Wal, then — it was Riggs!” Roy grew still paler as he

confessed this and his voice, almost a whisper, expressed

shame and hate. “Thet four-flush did it. Shot me from behind

Beasley! I had no chance. I couldn’t even see him draw. But

when I fell an’ lay there an’ the others dropped back, then

I seen the smokin’ gun in his hand. He looked powerful

important. An’ Beasley began to cuss him an’ was cussin’ him

as they all run out.”

 

“Oh, coward! the despicable coward!” cried Helen.

 

“No wonder Tom wants to find out!” exclaimed Bo, low and

deep. “I’ll bet he suspects Riggs.”

 

“Shore he does, but I wouldn’t give him no satisfaction.”

 

“Roy, you know that Riggs can’t last out here.”

 

“Wal, I hope he lasts till I get on my feet again.”

 

“There you go! Hopeless, all you boys! You must spill

blood!” murmured Helen, shudderingly.

 

“Dear Miss Helen, don’t take on so. I’m like Dale — no man

to hunt up trouble. But out here there’s a sort of unwritten

law — an eye for an eye — a tooth for a tooth. I believe

in God Almighty, an’ killin’ is against my religion, but

Riggs shot me — the same as shootin’ me in the back.”

 

“Roy, I’m only a woman — I fear, faint-hearted and unequal

to this West.”

 

“Wait till somethin’ happens to you. ‘Supposin’ Beasley

comes an’ grabs you with his own dirty big paws an’, after

maulin’ you some, throws you out of your home! Or supposin’

Riggs chases you into a corner!”

 

Helen felt the start of all her physical being — a violent

leap of blood. But she could only judge of her looks from

the grim smile of the wounded man as he watched her with his

keen, intent eyes.

 

“My friend, anythin’ can happen,” he said. “But let’s hope

it won’t be the worst.”

 

He had begun to show signs of weakness, and Helen, rising at

once, said that she and Bo had better leave him then, but

would come to see him the next day. At her call Carmichael

entered again with Mrs. Cass, and after a few remarks the

visit was terminated. Carmichael lingered in the doorway.

 

“Wal, Cheer up, you old Mormon!” he called.

 

“Cheer up yourself, you cross old bachelor!” retorted Roy,

quite unnecessarily loud. “Can’t you raise enough nerve to

make up with Bo?”

 

Carmichael evacuated the doorway as if he had been spurred.

He was quite red in the face while he unhitched the team,

and silent during the ride up to the ranch-house. There he

got down and followed the girls into the sitting room. He

appeared still somber, though not sullen, and had fully

regained his composure.

 

“Did you find out who shot Roy?” he asked, abruptly, of

Helen.

 

“Yes. But I promised Roy I would not tell,” replied Helen,

nervously. She averted her eyes from his searching gaze,

intuitively fearing his next query.

 

“Was it thet — Riggs?”

 

“Las Vegas, don’t ask me. I will not break my promise.”

 

He strode to the window and looked out a moment, and

presently, when he turned toward Bo, he seemed a stronger,

loftier, more impelling man, with all his emotions under

control.

 

“Bo, will you listen to me — if I swear to speak the truth

— as I know it?”

 

“Why, certainly,” replied Bo, with the color coming swiftly

to her face.

 

“Roy doesn’t want me to know because he wants to meet thet

fellar himself. An’ I want to know because I want to stop

him before he can do more dirt to us or our friends. Thet’s

Roy’s reason an’ mine. An’ I’m askin’ YOU to tell me.”

 

“But, Tom — I oughtn’t,” replied Bo, haltingly.

 

“Did you promise Roy not to tell?”

 

“No.”

 

“Or your sister?”

 

“No. I didn’t promise either.”

 

“Wal, then you tell me. I want you to trust me in this here

matter. But not because I love you an’ once had a wild dream

you might care a little for me —”

 

“Oh — Tom!” faltered Bo.

 

“Listen. I want you to trust me because I’m the one who

knows what’s best. I wouldn’t lie an’ I wouldn’t say so if I

didn’t know shore. I swear Dale will back me up. But he

can’t be here for some days. An’ thet gang has got to be

bluffed. You ought to see this. I reckon you’ve been quick

in savvyin’ Western ways. I couldn’t pay you no higher

compliment, Bo Rayner… . Now will you tell me?”

 

“Yes, I will,” replied Bo, with the blaze leaping to her

eyes.

 

“Oh, Bo — please don’t — please don’t. Wait!” implored

Helen.

 

“Bo — it’s between you an’ me,” said Carmichael.

 

“Tom, I’ll tell you,” whispered Bo. “It was a lowdown,

cowardly trick… . Roy was surrounded — and shot from

behind Beasley — by that four-flush Riggs!”