that’s what I came out for. She’s looking’ to buy a boss, and I was wishful yotf d not sell her one of yours. I see you’ve got an extra.” “I’m keeping my horses.” I tied them and as an afterthought, considering what he’d said, I tied them double tight. When somebody wants a horse real bad there’s no use putting temptation in their way.
He went ahead of me, and when he stepped through the door he said, “Ruby, there’ll be another mouth for supper.
It was Ruby Shaw.
She saw me at the same minute I saw her, and her face went cold and hard. She began to swear, and she could swear better than any mule-skinner I ever did hear. I stood quiet a minute, and then I said, “Mister, I’ll not stay for supper, and if I was you I’d not eat her cooking either. The last man she cooked for is dying of arsenic poisoning.” “Damn you!” She spat the words at me.
‘Damn you to hell! You turned a good man into a yellow dog!” “Not me,” I said; “you.” I turned around and went back to my horses, and the man followed me.
“What was all that about? Do you know her?” ‘Her name is Ruby Shaw. She must have come in here with a man.
What happened to him?” “He left, right after she fell asleep. He was not a well man, if you ask me. He stopped out there, right where you stand, all knotted up with pain and holden” his belly.
When I asked him about the woman, he said I was to keep her or get rid of her, and then he lit out.
He took her horse, too.untying my horses, I thought bitterly of a cold camp somewhere in the mountains or desert ahead, then I swung my leg over the saddle and was off.
She came to the door and called after me, but I did not look back.
If Bob Heseltine figured on hiding out in the mountains near Telluride he had better hurry. The season was getting on and that was country where the drifts piled deep. Once back in those mountains, he would be there for the winter, unless he was a good man on skis or snowshoes, and had them with him.
Skis were something I’d never attempted, but men who carried the mail through The mountains had been usmlg them for years; and out California way, Snowshoe Thompson had made himself a reputation carrying the mail on them.
There’d been a growing chill in the air that made me think of hunting a hole. If I was going to see Vashti before snow flew I was going to have to forget about Heseltine and make time.
Frost had turned the leaves, and the mountainsides were splashed with golden clouds of aspen. Great banks of them poured down the steep slopes as though the earth had suddenly decided to give up and pour all her gold out to the waiting hands of men, only this gold was there for everyone to have-they had only to look.
It was the kind of wealth that stayed with a man down the years, the kind you could never spend, but the memory of it waited in your mind to be refreshed when another autumn came.
I was going home, I was thinking now. Home?
WelLike for me home was where Vashti was, and it had taken me a while to know it. The only trouble was, would she still be there? Would she think of me as I did of her?
All the time I’d been covering country I’d seen a lot of men who had settled down to building businesses for themselves. Here I was, wasting time chasing after a couple of thieves when I should have been building something for myself.
Men were ranching, farming, mining. They were making names for themselves like those Yankees who came first to California, men who were going to be respected when most of the gun-packing lot were only remembered … remembered, but ignored.
Well, it was all right to sing in the sunshine, but I’d seen too many old men sitting on porches in their shabby clothes to want to be one of them.
Respect those men who were doing things to make a future? You bet I did. Most of them were busy building, opening new country, and making it better for those who would come after. They’d done the hard work, built the roads, opened the mines, dug the wells, guarded the cattle, and built the railroads. I was willing to do my share, but I wanted to be there when the payoff came.
The trail made a turn and there ahead of me was a crossroads settlement, half a dozen buildings, and a stage coming my way that had just stopped.
The dust hadn’t even settled, nor the dogs stopped barking.
Folks were starting to get down from the stage when the dun ambled up to the hitchrail and I stepped down from the saddle.
It wasn’t much of a place. The stage stop was also a saloon and a restaurant. There was a corral, a couple of shacks and a second saloon. There was also a place with a sign over the door that said BEDS in big letters.
A square-built man with a square, hard-jawed face was standing on the porch watching the passengers step down. He turned to me as I walked up, brushing the dust from my coat. He was wearing a badge.
“Shell Tucker?” “Yes.” ‘Come inside.” He went behind the counter, opened the door of a big old iron safe and took out a sack. He put it on the counter in front of me.
“A man came in here, sold his horse, and bought a ticket on the stage.
Then he came over to me, bought me a drink, and put this sack on the table.
‘He said, ‘In a few hours, or maybe in a couple of days, there’ll be a man named Shell Tucker come riding in here.”…He described you mighty well. ‘When he comes in you tell him to take this and lay off…. just tell him to lay off.” “I asked him if he was Bob Heseltine, and he said he was, and then he said, ‘i can’t keep running all my life, A man’s got to be able to sleep, he’s got to be able to rest.
I’ve tried outrunnin” him, and it didn’t work out. We tried at him, and he won’t be killed.
I got to have some sleep, sometime. You just give him this and tell him to lay off “Thanks,” I said. ‘I wish he’d done this months ago .
a long time ago.” ‘Well, he’s-done it now.
You going to lay off?” “Why not? I never wanted him- I have to pay this money-or most of it-to some folks down in Texas.” The man with the badge nodded. “Can I buy you a drink?” “LO-OKS as if I’m the one should do the buying.
The bartender brought a bottle to the table. “I want coffee, too,” I said, ‘and whatever is left to eat.” “There’s a-plenty,- he said. ‘The stage wasn’t many folks. just an old man and a girl.” The door opened for the last of the passengers, and I looked up. And there in the door was Vashti.
Vashti and her pa.
‘Shell! Oh, Shell!” she said, and she came right into my arms, and it seemed the natural thing to do.
Lander Owen seemed older, more tired. But he looked at me, grinning.
“Looks as if you stepped into a loop, boy.” ‘What are you doing here?” ‘I was hurt in a rock fall, and the doctor told me I should go to a warmer climate. I told him I thought I was heading there, and he said I shouldn’t wait until I died, but to go now. So we’re on our way.” “Con told us you were in Los Angeles,” Vashti said.
‘I’ll turn right around and go back,” I said.
The man with the badge had gone out, and only the stage driver was left. He had walked to the bar for a drink and was talking to the bartender.
“I was coming to look you up,” I said to Vashti and her pa.
“I’ve got my money back and I’m through with all that.” “You’re damned right you are!” Bob Heseltine was standing just inside the doorway, and he was all squared away to kill me.
“Get out of the way, Vash,” I said quietly.
‘I thought you’d gone, Bob,” I said. “I thought you’d quit.” ‘Like hell! I figured to, and then I got mad all over again and said I’ll be damned if I do!” ‘allyou’ve still got a chance, Bob.” I said.
The road is out there and you can ride. I don’t want anything from you.”…ally’ve played hell with me,” he said. The! Bob Heseltine! I should have killed you the first time I saw you!” “Your horse is out there, Bob. There’s no need for this now.” He was staring at me. “Why, damn I could pull my gun faster than you when I was six!” “Reese is going to make it, I think, Bob,” I said, still speaking quietly. “He had a good doctor and he was drinking lots of milk and taking it easy. And I saw Ruby back where you left her. She was cooking for the stage tender.” “Cooking? Her?” “That’s right. He went for his gun and I beat him My gun slid into my hand with an easy motion. I had no sense of hurry, no fear. This was the moment for which I had been preparing myself for a long time.