Classic Audiobook Collection - The Rangeland Avenger by Max Brand ~ Full Audiobook [adventure]

Starting point is 00:00:00 the rangeland avenger by max brand of the four men how sinclair was the vital spirit in the actual labor of mining the mighty arms and tireless back of quade had been a treasure for knowledge of camping hunting cooking and all the lure of the trail lowry stood as a valuable resource and sanderson was a dreamy resolute spirit who had hoped for gold in those mountains until he came to believe his hope he had gathered these three stalwarts to help him to his purpose and if he lived he would lead yet others to failure hope never died in this taunt gaunt man with a pale blue eye the color of the horizon dusted with the first morning mist he was the very spirit of lost causes full of apprehensions forebodings and superstitions a hunch might make him journey five hundred miles a snort of his horse could make him give up the trail and turn back but halse inclair was the antidote for sanderson he was still a boy at thirty big handsome thoughtless with a heart as clean as new snow his throat was so parched by that day's ride that he dared not open his lips to sing as he usually did he compromised by humming songs new and old and when his companions cursed his noise he contented himself with talking softly to his horse amply rewarded when the pony occasionally lifted a tired ear to the familiar voice Failure and fear were the blight on the spirit of the rest.

Starting point is 00:01:50 They had found no gold worth looking at twice, and lingering too long in the search, they had rashly turned back on a shortcut across the desert. Two days before, the blow had fallen. They found Sawyer's waterhole nearly dry, just a little pool in the center, with caked dead mud all around it. They drained that water dry,

Starting point is 00:02:13 and struck on. Since then, the water famine had gained a hold on them. Another waterhole had not a drop in it. Now they could only aim at the cool blue mockery of the mountains before them, praying that the ponies would last to the foothills.

Starting point is 00:02:32 Still, House and Claire could sing softly to his horse and to himself, and though his companions cursed his singing, they blessed him for it in their hearts. otherwise the white listening silence of the desert would have crushed them otherwise the lure of the mountains would have maddened them and made them push on until the horses would have died within five miles of the labor otherwise the pain in their slowly swelling throats would have taken their reason for thirst in the desert carries the pangs of several deaths deaths from fire suffocation and insanity no wonder these three scowled at hal san clare when he drew his revolver my horse's gun-shahee said but i'll bet the rest of you i can drill a horn off that skull before you do of course it was a foolish challenge lowry was the gun expert of the party indeed he had reached that dangerous

Starting point is 00:03:33 point of efficiency with firearms, where a man is apt to reach for his gun, to decide an argument. Now Lowry followed the direction of Sinclair's gesture. It was the skull of a steer with enormous branching horns. The rest of the skeleton was sinking into the sands. Don't talk full talk, said Lowry. Save your wind and your ammunition. You may need them for yourself, son. That grim suggestion made Sanderson and Quaid shudder. But a grin spread on the broad, ugly face of Lowry, and Sinclair merely shrugged his shoulders. I'll try you for a dollar. Nope. Five dollars. Nope. You're afraid to try, Lowry? It was a smiling challenge, but Lowry flushed. He had a childish pride in his skill with weapons. All right, kid, get ready.

Starting point is 00:04:29 He brought a colt smoothly into his hand and balanced it dexterously, swinging it back and forth between his eyes and the target to make ready for a snapshot. Ready, cried how Sinclair excitedly. Lowry's gun spoke first, and it was the only one that was fired, for Sinclair's horse was gun-shy indeed. At the explosion, he pitched straight into the air with a squeal of Mustang fright and came down bucking. The others forgot to look for the results of Lowry's shot.

Starting point is 00:05:04 They rained their horses away from the pitching bronco disgustedly. Sinclair was a fool to use up the last of his Mustang strength in this manner. But how Sinclair had forgotten the journey ahead, he was rioting in the new excitement cheering the Bronco to new exertions. And it was, in the midst of that flurry of action, that the great blow fell. The horse stuck his right foreleg into a hole. To the eyes of the others, it seemed to happen slowly.

Starting point is 00:05:37 The Mustang was halted in the midst of a leap. Tugged at a leg seemed glued to the ground, and then buckled suddenly and collapsed on one side. They heard that awful muffled sound of splintering bone, and then the scream of the tortured horse. But they gave no heat. to that how St. Clair in the fall had been pinned beneath his mount. The huge strength of quade sufficed to budge the writhing Mustang. Lowry and Sanderson drew Sinclair's pinion right leg,

Starting point is 00:06:09 clear, and stretched him on the sand. It was Lowry who shopped a horse. Yudonna Brown turned, said Sanderson fiercely, to the prostrate figure of St. Clair. Four men and three horses, a fine partner you are, St. Clair. shut up said how do something for that foot of mine larry cut the boot away dexterously and turned out the foot it was painfully twisted to one side and lay limp on the sand do something said sinclair groaning the three looked at him at the dead horse at the white-hot desert at the distant blue mountains what the devil can we do you've spoiled all our chances ride on then and forget me but tie up that foot before you go i can't stand it silently with ugly looks they obeyed secretly every one of the three was saying to himself that this folly of sinclair's had ruined all their chances of getting free from the sands alive they looked across at the skull of the steer it was still there very close it seemed to have grown larger with a horrible significance and each instinctively put a man's skull beside it bleached and white with shadow eyes quade did the actual bandaging of sinclair's foot drawing tight above the ankle so that some of the circulation was shut off but it eased the pain and now sinclair sat up

Starting point is 00:07:43 i'm sorry he said mighty sorry boys there was no answer he saw by their lowered eyes that they were hating him he felt that in the savage grip of their hands as they lifted him and put him in the Quaid saddle. Quaid was the largest, and it was mutely accepted that he should be the first to walk, while Sinclair rode. It was accepted by all except Quaid, that is to say. The big man strode beside his horse, lifting his eyes now and then, to glare remorselessly at Sinclair. It was bitter work walking through that sand, the heel crunched into it, throwing a strain heavily on the back of the thigh. And then the ball of the foot slipped back into the midst of a stride. Also, the labor raised the temperature of the body incredibly. With no wind-stirring, it was suffocating, and the day was barely beginning.

Starting point is 00:08:42 Barely two hours before the sun had been merely a red ball on the edge of the desert. Now it was low in the sky, but bitterly hot, and their mournful glances presaged the horror that was coming in the middle of the day. Deadly silence fell on that group. They took their turns by the watch, half an hour at a time, walking, and then changing horses, and, as each man took his turn on foot, he cast one long glance of hatred at Sinclair. He was beginning to know them for the first time.

Starting point is 00:09:18 There were chance acquaintances. The whole trip had been undertaken by him on the spur of the moment, and as far, as lay in his cheery, thoughtless nature, he had come to regret it. The work of the trail had taught him that he was mismated in this company, and the first stern test was stripping the masks from them. He saw three ugly natures, three small, cruel souls. It came Sanderson's turn to walk. maybe i could take a turn walking suggested sinclair it was the first time in his life that it had to shift any burden onto the shoulders of another except his brother and that was different ah how different

Starting point is 00:10:02 he sent up one brief prayer for riley sinclair there was a man who would have walked all day that his brother might ride and at the end of the day the man of iron would be as fresh as those who had ridden moreover there would have been no question no spite but a free giving mutely he swore that he would thereafter judge all men by the stern and honorable spirit of riley and then that sad offer maybe i could take a turn walking sanderson i could hold on to a stirrup and hop along some way lowry and quade sneered and sanderson retorted fiercely shut up you know it ain't possible but i ought to call it a stirrup and hop along some way lowry and quade sneered and sanderson retorted fiercely shut up you know it ain't possible but i ought to call it your bluff. He had no answer, for it was not possible. The twisted foot was a steady torture. In another half-hour he asked for water, as they paused for Sanderson to mount, and Lowry to take his turn on foot. Sanderson snatched the canteen which Quaid reluctantly passed to the injured man. Look here, said Sanderson, we've got to split up on this. You sit there and ride and take it easy. me and the rest has to go through hell you take some of the hell yourself you ride but we'll have the water and there ain't much of it left at that

Starting point is 00:11:28 sinclair glanced helplessly at the others their faces were set in stern agreement slowly the sun crawled up to the center of the sky and stuck there for endless hours it seemed pouring down a fierce heat and the foothills still wavered in blue outlines that meant distance, terrible distance. Out of the east came a cloud of dust. The restless eyes of Sanderson saw it first, and a harsh shout of joy came from the others. Quaid was walking. He lifted his arms to the cloud of dust as if it were a vision of mercy.

Starting point is 00:12:09 To howl Sinclair, it seemed that cold water was already running over his tongue and over the hot torment of his foot. But after that first quirk, cry of horse joy, a silence was on the others, and gradually he saw a shadow gather. "'It ain't wagon,' said Lowry, bitterly at length, and it ain't riders. It comes too fast for that, and it ain't the wind. It comes too slow, but it ain't men. You can lay to that. Still they hoped against hope, until the growing cloud parted and lifted enough for them

Starting point is 00:12:44 to see a band of wild horses, sweeping a little. long at a steady lope. They sighted the men, and veered swiftly to the left. A moment later, there was only a thin trail of flying dust before the four. Three pairs of eyes turned on Sinclair, and silently cursed him, as if this were his fault. Those horses are aiming at water, he said, can't we follow them? They're aiming for a whole fifty miles away. No, we can't follow him.

Starting point is 00:13:16 They started on again, and now. Now, after that cruel moment of hope, it was redoubled labor. Paid was cursing thickly with every other step. When it came his turn to ride, he drew Lowry to one side, and they conversed long together with side glances at Sinclair. Vaguely he guessed the trend of their conversation, and vaguely he suspected their treacherous meanness. Yet he dared not speak, even had his pride permitted.

Starting point is 00:13:48 It was the same story over again when Lowry walked. Quaid rode aside with Sanderson and again, with the wolfish side glances, they eyed the injured man while they talked. At the next halt, they faced him. Sanderson was the spokesman. We've about made up our minds, Hal, he said deliberately, that you got to be dropped behind for a time.

Starting point is 00:14:13 We're going on to find water. When we find it, we'll come back and get you, understand? Sinclair moistened his lips, but said nothing. Then Sanderson's voice grew screechy with sudden passion. Sadie went three men to die for one. Besides, what good could we do? You don't mean it, declared Sinclair. Sanderson, you don't mean it. Not alone out here. You boys can't leave me out here stranded. Might as well shoot me. All were silent. Sanderson looked the Lowry,

Starting point is 00:14:46 and the latter stared at the sand. It was Quaid who acted. Stepping to the side of Sinclair, he lifted him easily in his powerful arms and lowered him to the sands. Now keep your nerve, he advised, we're coming back. He stumbled a little over the words. It's all of us or none of us, he said.

Starting point is 00:15:09 Come on, boys, my conscience is clear. They turned their horses hastily to the hills, and when the voice of Sinclair rang after them, not one dared turn his head. Partners, for the sake of all the work we've done together, don't do this. In a shuddering unison, they spurred their horses

Starting point is 00:15:30 and raised the weary brutes into a gallop. The voice faded into a whale behind them, and still they did not look back. For that matter, they dared not look at one another, but pressed on. their eyes riveted to the hills. Once Lough returned his head to mark the position of the sun, once Sanderson, in the grip of some passion of remorse

Starting point is 00:15:55 or of fear of death, bowed his head with a strange moan. But aside from that, there was no sound or sign between them, until hardly an hour and a half after leaving Sinclair, they found water. At first they thought it was a mirage. They turned away from it by mutual assent, but the horses had scented drink, and they became unmanageable.

Starting point is 00:16:21 Five minutes later, the animals were up to their knees in the muddy water, and the men were floundering, breast-deep, drinking, drinking, drinking. After that they sat about the brink, staring at one another in a stunned fashion. There seemed no joy in that delivery for some reason. I guess Sinclair,

Starting point is 00:16:42 will be a pretty happy gent when he sees us coming back, said Sanderson, smiling faintly. There was no response from the others for a moment. Then they began to justify themselves hotly. It was your idea, Quaid. Why curse your soul, weren't you glad to take the idea? Are you going to blame it on me? What's to blame, asked Lowry. Ain't we going to bring him water?

Starting point is 00:17:09 Suppose he ever tells we left him. we'd have to leave these parts Pronto. He'll never tell, we'll swear him. If he does talk, I'll stop him pretty sudden, said Lowry, tapping his holster significantly. Will you? What if he puts

Starting point is 00:17:25 that brother of his on your trail? Lowry swallowed hard. Well, he began, but he said no more. They mounted in a new silence and took the back trail slowly, not until the evening began the fall, did they hurry, for fear the darkness would make them lose the position of their comrade. When they were quite near the place the semi-darkness had come,

Starting point is 00:17:50 and Quaid began to shout in his tremendous voice, then they would listen, and sometimes they heard an echo, or a voice like an echo, always at a great distance. Maybe he started crawling and gone the wrong way. He should have sat still, said Lowry, because— oh lord broke in sanderson i knew it i've been seeing it all the way he pointed to a figure of a man lying on his back in the sand with his arms thrown out crosswise they dismounted and found how sunclared dead and cold perhaps the insanity of thirst had taken him perhaps he had figured it out methodically that it was better to end things before the madness came There was a certain stern repose about his face that favored this supposition. He seemed much older, but whatever the reason, Halcanclair had shot himself cleanly through the head.

Starting point is 00:18:52 You see that face? asked Lowry, with curious quiet. Take a good look. You'll see it again. A superstitious horror seized on Sanderson. What do you mean, Lowry? What do you mean? I mean this. The way he looks now, he's a ringer for Riley Sinclair. And you mark me, we're all going to see Riley Sinclair face to face before we die. He'll never know, said Quaid the Stalin. Who knows except us? And will one of us ever talk?

Starting point is 00:19:27 He laughed at the idea. I don't know, whispered Sanderson. I don't know, gents. But we've done an awful thing, and we're going to pay. were going to pay. End of Chapter 1. Chapter 2 of the Rangeland Adventure by Max Brand. This Libravox recording is in the public domain.

Starting point is 00:19:57 Their trails divided after that. Sanderson and Quaid started back for Sour Creek. At the parting of the ways, Lowry's last word was for Sanderson. You start at this party, Sanderson. If there's any hell coming out of it, it'll fall chiefly on you, remember, because I got one of your own hunches. After that, Lowry headed straight across the mountains, traveling as much by instinct as by landmarks. He was one of those men who were born to the trail. He stopped in at Four Pines,

Starting point is 00:20:33 and there he told the story on which he and Sanderson and Quaid had agreed. Four Pines would spread that tale by telegraph, and Riley Sinclair would be advised beforehand. Lowry had no desire to tell the gunfighter in person of the passing of Hal Sinclair. Certainly he would not be the first man to tell the story. He reached Colma late in the afternoon, and a group instantly formed around him on the veranda of the old hotel. Four pines had, indeed, spread the story, and the crowd of the crowd wanted verification. He replied as smoothly as he could. Halcanclair had broken his leg in a fall from his horse, and they had bounded up as well as they could. They had tied him on his horse,

Starting point is 00:21:26 but he could not endure the pain of travel. They stopped, nearly dying from thirst. Mortification set in. Halcanclair died in forty-eight hours after the halt. Four pines had accepted the tail. There had been more deadly stories than this connected with the desert, but Pop Hanson, the proprietor, drew Lowry to one side. Keep out of Riley's way for a while. He's all head up. He was fond of Howl, you know, and he takes this bad, got an ugly way of asking questions, and...

Starting point is 00:22:02 The truth is a truth, protested Lowry, besides. I know, I know, but just make yourself scarce for a couple of days. I'll keep on going, Pop, thanks. Never mind, ain't no hurry. Riley's out of town and won't be back for a day or so. But, speaking personal, I'd rather step into a nest of rattlers, than talk to Riley, the way he's feeling now. Lowry climbed slowly up the stairs to his room, thinking very hard.

Starting point is 00:22:34 He knew the repute of Riley Sinclair, and he knew the man to be even worse than reputation. one of those stern souls who exact an eye for an eye and even a little more. Once in his room he threw himself on his bed. After all, there was no need for a panic. No one would ever learn the truth. To make surety double sure, he would start early in the dawn and strike out for far trails. The thought had hardly come to him when he dismissed it.

Starting point is 00:23:08 A flight would call down to him. suspicion on him, and Riley Sinclair would be the first to suspect. In that case, distance would not save him, not from that hard and tireless rider. To help compose his thoughts, he went to the washstand and bathed his hot face. He was drying himself when there was a tap on the door. Can I come in? asked a shrill voice. He answered in the affirmative, and a youngster stepped into the room. You're Lowry?

Starting point is 00:23:42 Yep. There's a gent downstairs, once you'd come down and see him. Who is it? I don't know. We just moved in from Conway. I can point him out to you on the street. Lowry followed the boy to the window,

Starting point is 00:23:57 and there, surrounded by half a dozen, serious-faced men, stood Riley Sinclair, tall, easy, formidable. The sight of Sinclair filled Lowry with dismay. pushing a silver coin into the hand of the boy he said tell him tell him i'm coming right down as soon as the boy disappeared lowry ran to the window which opened on the side of the house when he looked down his hope fled at one time there had been a lean-to shed running along that side of the building by the roof of it he could have got to the ground unseen now he remembered that it had been torn down the year before there was a straight and perilous drop beneath the window as for the stairs they led almost to the front door of the building sinclair would be sure to see him if he went down there of the purpose of the big man he had no doubt his black guilt was so apparent to his own mind that it seemed impossible that the keen eyes of sinclair had not looked into the story of hal's broken leg and seen a lie

Starting point is 00:25:12 besides the invitation through a messenger seemed a hollow lure sinclair wished to fight him and kill him before witnesses who would attest that lowry had been the first to go for his gun fight lowry looked down at his hand and found the very wrist was quivering even at his best he felt he would have no chance once he had seen sinclair in action in lou murphy's old Saloon, had seen Red Jordan get the drop, and had watched Sinclair shoot his man deliberately through the shoulder. Red Jordan was a cripple for life. Suppose he walked boldly down, told his story, and trusted to the skill of his lie. No, he knew his color would pale if he faced Sinclair. Suppose he refused to fight. Better to die than be shamed in the mountain country. He hurried to the window for another look into the street, and he found that Sinclair had disappeared.

Starting point is 00:26:21 Lowry's knees buckled under his weight. He went over to the bed with short steps like a drunken man and lowered himself down on it. Sinclair had gone into the hotel and doubtless that meant that he had grown impatient. The fever to kill was burning in the big man. Then Lowry heard a steady step come round. regularly up the stairs. They creaked under a heavy weight. Lowry drew his gun.

Starting point is 00:26:49 It caught twice. Finally he jerked it out in a frenzy. He would shoot when the door opened without waiting and then trust to luck to fight his way through the men below. In the meantime, the muzzle of the revolver wobbled crazily from side to side up and down. He clutched the barrel with the other hand. and still the weapon shook.

Starting point is 00:27:15 Curling up his knees before his breast, he ground down with both hands. That gave him more steadiness, but would not this contorted position destroy all chances of shooting accurately. His own prophecy made over the dead body of Hal Sinclair that all three of them would see that face again, came back to him with a sense of fatality.

Starting point is 00:27:39 Some forward-looking instinct he assured himself had given him that knowledge. The step upon the stairs came up steadily, but the mind of Lowry, between the steps, leaped hither and yawn, a thousand miles and back. What if his nerve failed him at the last moment? What if he buckled and showed yellow, and the shame of it followed him?

Starting point is 00:28:06 Better a hundred times to die by his own hand. excitement foreboding the weariness of the long trail all were working upon lowry nearer drew the step it seemed an hour since he had first heard it begin to climb the stairs it sounded heavily on the floor outside his door there was a heavy tapping on the door itself for an instant the clutch of lowry froze around his gun then he twitched the muzzle back against his own breast and fired There was no pain, only a sense of numbness, and a vague feeling of torn muscles, as if they were extraneous matter. He dropped the revolver on the bed and pressed both hands against his wound. Then the door opened, and there appeared, not Riley Sinclair, but Pop Hanson. What in thunder he began? Get Riley Sinclair, there's been an accident, said Lowry Fankler.

Starting point is 00:29:09 faintly and huskily. Get Riley Sinclair quick. I've got something to say to him. End of Chapter 2. Chapter 3 of the Rangeland Avenger by Max Brand. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Riley Sinclair rode over the mountain. An hour of stern climbing lay behind him,

Starting point is 00:29:40 but it was not sympathy for his tired horse that made him draw rain. sympathy was not readily on tap in Riley's nature. Hoss flesh to Riley was purely and simply a means to an end. Neither had he paused to enjoy that mystery of change, which comes over mountains between late afternoon and early evening. His keen eyes answered all his purposes, and that they had never learned to see blue in shadows, meant nothing to Riley Sinclair.

Starting point is 00:30:12 If he looked kindly upon the foothills, which stepped down from the peaks to the valley lands, it was because they meant an easy descent. Riley took thorough stock of his surroundings, for it was new country. Yonder where the slant sun glanced and blinked on windows must be Sour Creek. And there was the road to town,

Starting point is 00:30:33 jagging across the hills. Riley sighed. In his heart he despised that valley. There were black patches of plowed land. A scattering of how, Houses began in the foothills and thickened toward Sour Creek. How could men remain there where there was so little elbow room? He scowled down into the shadow of the valley, small country, small men.

Starting point is 00:30:59 Pictures failed to hold Riley, but as he sat the saddle, hand on thigh, and looked scornfully toward Sour Creek, he was himself a picture to make one's head lift. As a rule, the horse comes in for as much attention as the rider. But when Riley Sinclair came near, people saw the man and nothing else, not because he was good-looking, but because one became suddenly aware of some 180 pounds of life, tough muscle, and a domineering face. Somewhere behind his eyes there was a faint glint of humor. That was the only soft touch about him. He was in that hard age between 30 and 35, when people are still young.

Starting point is 00:31:44 but have lost the illusions of youth. And indeed, that was exactly the word which people in haste used to describe Riley Sinclair, hard. Having once resigned himself to the descent into that cramped country beneath, he had once banished all regret. First he picked out his objective, a house some distance away, near the road, and then he brought his Mustang up on the bit with a touch of the spurs. Then having established the taunt rain which he preferred, he sent the cowpony down the slope.

Starting point is 00:32:20 It was plain that the Mustang hated its rider. It was equally plain that Sinclair was in perfect touch with his horse, what with the stern wrist pulling against a bit and the spurs keeping the pony up on it? In spite of his bulk, he was not heavy in the saddle, for he kept in tune with the gait of the horse, with the sway of the body which lightens burdens. A capable rider, he was so judicious that he seemed reckless.

Starting point is 00:32:50 Leaving the mountainside, he struck at a trot across a table land. Some mysterious instinct enabled him to guide the pony without glancing once at the ground. For Sinclair, with his head high, was now carefully examining the house before him. Twice the cluster of trees obscured it, and each time as it came again more closely in view, the eye of Riley Sinclair brightened with certainty. At length, nodding slightly to express his conviction, he sent the pony into the shelter of Little Grove overlooking the house. From this shelter, giving half his attention to his objective, he ran swiftly over his weapons. The pair of long pistols came smoothly into his hands.

Starting point is 00:33:37 to be weighed nicely and have their cylinders spun. Then the rifle came out of its case, and its magazine was looked too thoroughly before it was returned. This done, the rider seemed a no peculiar haste to go on. He merely pushed the horse into a position from which he commanded all the environs of the house. Then he sat still as a hawk hovering in a windless sky. Presently, the door of the door of the house.

Starting point is 00:34:07 little shack opened and two men came out and walked down the path toward the road talking earnestly. One was as tall as Riley Sinclair, but heavier. The other was a little slight man. He went to a sleepy pony at the end of the path and slowly gathered the reins. Plainly he was troubled, and apparently it was the big man who had troubled him, for now he turned and cast out his hand toward the other, speaking rapidly in the manner of one making a last appeal. Only the murmur of that voice drifted up to Riley Sinclair, but the loud laughter of the big man drove clearly to him. The smaller of the two mounted and rode away with dejected head, while the other remained with arms folded looking after him. He seemed to be chuckling

Starting point is 00:34:58 at the little man, and indeed there was cause, for Riley had never seen him. He seemed to be chuckling at the little man, and indeed, there was cause, for Riley had never seen a rider so completely out of place in a saddle. When the pony presently broke into a soft lope, it caused the elbows of the little man to flop like wings. Like a great clumsy bird he winged his way out of view beyond the edge of the hilltop. The big man continued to stand with his arms folded, looking in the direction in which the other had disappeared. He was still shaking with mirth. When he eventually turned, Riley Sinclair was riding down on him at a sharp gallop. Strangers do not pass ungreded in the mountain desert.

Starting point is 00:35:41 There was a wave of the arm to Riley, and he responded by bringing his horse to a trot, then reining in close to the big man. At close hand, he seemed even larger than from a distance, a burly figure with ludicrously inadequate support from the narrow-heeled riding-boot. He looked sharply at Riley Sinclair, but his first speech was for the hard-ridden pony. "'You've been putting your hoss through a grind, I see, stranger.' The Mustang had slumped into a position of rest, his sides heaving. Most generally, said Riley Sinclair, when I climb into a saddle, it ain't for pleasure,

Starting point is 00:36:22 it's to get somewhere. His voice was surprisingly pleasant. He spoke very deliberately, so that one, felt occasionally that he was pausing to find the right words, and in addition to the quality of that deep voice, he had an impersonal way of looking his interlocutor squarely in the eye, a habit that pleased the men of the mountain desert. On this occasion his companion responded at once with a grin. He was a younger man than Riley Sinclair, but he gave an impression of as much hardness as Riley himself.

Starting point is 00:36:58 Maybe you'll be sliding out of the saddle for a minute, he asked. Got some pretty fair hooch in the house. Thanks, partner, but I'm due over to Sour Creek by night. I guess that's Sour Creek over the hill. Yep, new to these parts? Sort of new. Riley's non-committal attitude was by no means displeasing to the larger man. His rather brutally handsome face continued delight

Starting point is 00:37:26 as if he were recognizing in Riley Sinclair a man of his own caliber. You from yonder, across the mountains, you travel light. His eyes were running over Riley's bigger equipment. Sinclair had been known to strike across the desert, loaded with nothing more than a rifle, ammunition, and water. Other things were non-essential to him, and it was hardly likely that he would put much extra weight on a horse. The only concession to animal comfort, in fact, was the slicker rolled snugly behind the saddle. He was one of those rare westerners, to whom coffee on the trail is not the staff of life.

Starting point is 00:38:09 As long as he had a gun, he could get meat, and as long as he could get meat, he cared little about other niceties of diet. On a long trip, his extras were usually confined to a couple bags of strength-giving grain for his horse. Maybe you'd know the gent I'm down here looking for, asked Riley. Happened to know Ollie Quaid, Oliver Quaid? Sort of know him, yep. Riley went on explaining, blandly. You see, I'm carrying him a sort of death message.

Starting point is 00:38:42 Hmm, said the big man. And he watched Riley. His eyes groaned suddenly alert, his glance shifting from hand to face with cat-like uncertainty. Yep, resumed Sinclair in a rambling vein. I come from a gent that used to be a pal of his. Name is Sam Lowry. Sam Lowry, exclaimed the other,

Starting point is 00:39:04 you're a friend of Sam's. I was the only gent with him when he died, said Sinclair simply. Dead, said the other heavily, Sam dead. You must have been pretty thick with him, declared Riley. Man, I'm quayed. Lowry was my bunkey. He came close to Sinclair, raising an eager face.

Starting point is 00:39:25 How'd Lowry go out. out. Pretty peaceful, boots off, everything comfortable. He give you a message for me? Yep, about a gent called Sinclair. How Sinclair, I think it was. Immediately he turned his eyes away, as if he were striving to recollect accurately. Covertly, he sent a side-glance at Quaid and found him scowling suspiciously. When he turned his head again, his eye was as clear as the eye of a child. Yup, he said, that was the name, Hal Sinclair. What about how Sinclair?

Starting point is 00:40:04 asked Quaid roughly. Seems like Sinclair was on Lowry's conscience, said Riley, in the same unperturbed voice. You don't say so. I'll tell you what he told me. Maybe he was just raven, for he had a sort of fever before he went out. He said that you and him and how Sinclair

Starting point is 00:40:24 and Bill Sanderson all went out. out prospecting. You got stuck clean out in the desert, Lowry said, and you hit for water. Then Sinclair's horse busted his leg in a hole. The fall smashed up Sinclair's foot. The four of you went on, Sinclair riding one horse,

Starting point is 00:40:43 and the rest of you taking turns with a third one. Without water the hosses got weak, and you gents got pretty badly scared. Lowry said, Finally, you and Sanderson figured that Sinclair's Sinclair had got to get off, but Sinclair couldn't walk. So the three of you made up your minds to leave him and make a dash for water. You got to water all right, and in three hours you went back for Sinclair.

Starting point is 00:41:10 But he had given up hope and shot himself sooner than die of thirst. Lowry said. A horrible story came slowly from the lips of Riley Sinclair. There was not the slightest emotion in his face until Quay, rubbed his knuckles across his wet forehead. Then there was the faintest jutting out of Riley's jaw. Lowry was sure raving, said Quaid.

Starting point is 00:41:37 Sinclair looked carelessly down at the gray face of Quaid. I guess maybe he was, but what he asked me to say was, Hell is sure coming to what you boys done. He thought about that might late, replied Quaid. Waited till he could shift the blame on me and Sanderson, huh? the hell with Lowry. Maybe he's there all right, said Sinclair, shrugging, but I've got rid of the yard anyway.

Starting point is 00:42:04 Are you going to spread that story around in Sour Creek? Asked Quaid softly. Me? Why? The story was told to me confidential by a gent that was about to go out. Riley's Frank Manor disarmed Quaid in a measure. Kind of queer. Me running onto you like this, ain't it, he went on. Well, you're fixed up, sort of comfortable up here.

Starting point is 00:42:29 Nice little shack, partner. And I suppose you got a wife and kids and everything. Pretty lucky I'd call you. Quaid was glad of an opportunity to change the subject. No wife yet, he said. Living up here all alone? Sure, why? Nothing.

Starting point is 00:42:46 Thought maybe you'd find it sort of lonesome. Back to the dismissed subject, Quaid returned, with the persistence of a guilty conscience. "'Say he said, "'Well, we're talking about it, "'you don't happen to believe what Lowry said. "'Lowry was pretty sick. "'Maybe he was raving.

Starting point is 00:43:04 "'So you're all alone up here. "'Nobody near?' "'His restless, impatient eye ran over the surroundings. "'There was not a soul in sight. "'The mountains were growing stark and black "'against the flush of the western sky. "'His glance fell back on Quaid. "'But how did Lowry happen to die?

Starting point is 00:43:25 He got shot. Did a gang drop him? Nope, just one gent. You don't say, but Lowry was a pretty slick hand with a gun. Next to Bill Sanderson, the best I ever seen, almost. Somebody got the drop on him, huh?

Starting point is 00:43:42 Nope, he killed himself. Quaid gasped. Suicide? Sure. How come? I'll tell you how it was. He's seen a gent coming. In fact, he looked out of the,

Starting point is 00:43:55 the window of his hotel and seen Riley Sinclair, and he figured that Riley had come to get him for what happened to his brother, Hal. Lowry got sort of excited, lost his nerve, and when the hotel keeper come upstairs, Lowry thought it was Sinclair, and he didn't wait. He shot himself. You seem to know a pile, said Quaid thoughtfully. Well, you see, I'm Riley Sinclair. Still he smiled, but Quaid was as one who had seen.

Starting point is 00:44:25 seen a ghost. I had to make sure that you was alone. I had to make sure that you was guilty. And you are, Quaid. Don't do that. The hand of Quaid slipped around the butt of his gun and clung there. You ain't fit for a gunfight right now,

Starting point is 00:44:41 went on Riley Sinclair slowly. You're all shaken, Quaid, and you couldn't hit the side of a mountain, let alone me. Wait a minute. Take your time. Get all settled down, and wait till your hand stopped shaking. Quaid moistened his white lips and waited.

Starting point is 00:44:58 You give Hal plenty of time, resumed Riley Sinclair. Since Lowry told me that yarn, I've been wondering how, Hal felt when you and the other two left them alone. You know a gent can do some pretty stiff thinking before he makes up his mind to blow his head off. His tone was quite conversational. Queer thing, how I come to blunder into all this information, partner. I come into a room where Lowry was. The minute he heard my name, he figured I was after him on account of howl. Up he comes with his gun like a flash.

Starting point is 00:45:35 Afterward, he told me all about it, and I give him a pretty fine funeral. I'll do the same by you, Quaid. How you feeling now? Curse you exclaimed Quaid. Maybe I'm cursed right enough, but Quaid, I'll let him burn me, inch by inch in a fire, before I'd quit a partner, a bunkey, in the desert, you hear? It's a queer thing that a gent could have much pleasure out of plugging another gent full of lead. I've had that pleasure once, and I'm going to have it again.

Starting point is 00:46:06 I'm going to kill you, Quaid, but I wish there was a slower way. Pull your gun. The last came out with a snap, and the revolver of Quaid flicked out of its holster with a convulsive jerk of the big man's wrist. Yet the spit of fire. came from Riley Sinclair's weapon, slipping smoothly into his hand. Quaid did not fall, he stood, with a bewildered expression, as a man trying to remember something hidden far in the past,

Starting point is 00:46:36 and Sinclair fingered the butt of his gun lightly and weighted. It was rather a crumbling than a fall. The big body literally slumped down into a heap. Sinclair reached down without dismounting and pulled the body over on its back. because he exclaimed to what had been a strong man the moment before when the devil comes to you i want the old boy to see your face quade get on old boss as he rode down the trail towards sour creek he carefully and deftly cleaned his revolver and reloaded the empty chamber end of chapter three chapter four of the rangeland by max brand this librivox recording is in the public domain perhaps in the final analysis riley sinclair would not be condemned for the death of lowry or the killing of quade

Starting point is 00:47:40 but for singing on the trail to sour creek and singy did his voice ringing from hill to hill and the echoes barking back to him now and again he was not silent until he came to sour creek at the head of the long winding single single single street, he drew the Mustang to a tired walk. It was a very peaceful moment, in the little town, yonder a dog barked and a coyote howled, then answer, far away. But aside from these, all other sounds were the happy noises of families at the end of a day. From every house they floated out to him, the clamor of children, the deep laughter of a man, the loud rattle of pans in the kitchen. This ain't so bad, Riley Sinclair said aloud, and roused the Mustang cruelly to a gallop, the hoofs of his mount splashing through inches of pungent dust.

Starting point is 00:48:39 The heaviness of the gallop told him that his horse was plainly spent and would not be capable of a long run before the morning. Riley Sinclair accepted the inevitable with a sigh. All his strong instincts cried out to find Sanderson. and having found him to shoot him and flee. Yet he had a sense of fatality connected with Sanderson. Lowry's own conscience had betrayed him, and his craven fear had been his executioner.

Starting point is 00:49:10 Quaid had been shot in a fair fight with not a soul nearby. But at the third time, Sinclair felt reasonably sure that his luck would fail him. The third time the world would be very apt to brand him, with murder. It was a bad affair, and he wanted to get it done. This stay in Sour Creek was entirely against his will. Accordingly, he put the Mustang in the stable behind the hotel,

Starting point is 00:49:39 looked to his feed, and then went slowly back to get a room. He registered and went in silence up to his room. If there had been the need, he could have kept on riding for a 24-hour stretch, But the moment he found his journey interrupted, he flung himself on the bed, his arms thrown out crosswise, crucified with weariness. In the meantime, the proprietor returned to his desk to find a long, gaunt man leaning above the register, one brown finger tracing a name.

Starting point is 00:50:15 Looking for somebody, Sanderson, he asked, know this gent, Sinclair? Face looked kind of familiar to me, said the other, who had jerked his head up from the study of the register. Somehow, I don't tie that name up with a face. Maybe not, said the proprietor. Maybe he ain't Riley Sinclair of Colma. Maybe he's somebody else.

Starting point is 00:50:40 Traveling strange, you mean, asked Sanderson. I don't know, Bill, but he looks like a hard one. He's got one of them nervous right hands. Gunfighter? I don't know. I'm not saying anything about what he is or what he ain't. But if a gent was to come in here and tell me a pretty strong yarn about Riley Sinclair or whatever his name might be, I wouldn't incline to doubt it.

Starting point is 00:51:05 Would you, Bill? Maybe I would and maybe I wouldn't, answered Bill Sanderson gloomily. He went out onto the veranda and squinted thoughtfully into the darkness. Bill Sanderson was worried, very worried. The moment he saw Sinclair enter the hotel, there had been a ghostly familiarity about the man, and he understood the reason for it as soon as he saw the name on the register, Sinclair.

Starting point is 00:51:33 The name carried him back to the picture of the man who lay on his back, with the soft sands already, half-bary in his body, and the round-purple blur in the center of his forehead. In a way, it was as if house-and-house and Claire had come back to me in a new and more terrible form, come back as an avenger. Bill Sanderson was not an evil man, and his sin against House and Claire had its qualifying circumstances. At least he had been only one of three, all of whom had concurred in the

Starting point is 00:52:07 thing. He devoutly wished that the thing were to be done over again. He swore to himself that in such a case he would stick with his companion. No matter who deserted. But what had brought this Riley Sinclair all the way from Colma to Sour Creek, if it were not an errand of vengeance? A sense of guilt trouble the mind of Bill Sanderson. But the obvious thing was to find out the reason for Sinclair's presence in Sour Creek. Sanderson crossed the street to the newly installed telegraph office.

Starting point is 00:52:43 He had one intimate friend in the far-off town of Colma, and to that friend he now addressed the telegram. Rush back all news you have about man, calling self Riley Sinclair of Colma, over six feet tall, weight, 180, complexion dark, hard look. There was enough meat in that telegram to make the operator raise his head and glance with sharpened eyes at the patron.

Starting point is 00:53:13 Bill Sanderson returned that glance with so much interest that the operator lowered his head again and made a mental oath that he would let the westerners run the west. With that telegram working for him in far-off coma, Bill Sanderson started out to gather what information he could in Sour Creek. He drifted from the blacksmith's shop to the kitchen of Mrs. Mary Collison. Both of these brimming reservoirs of news that had this day run dry. Mrs. Collison vaguely remembered a Riley Sinclair,

Starting point is 00:53:52 a man who had fought for the sheer love of fighting, a grim fellow. Peter Hanley, the blacksmith, had even less to say. He also, he a veered, had heard of Riley Sinclair, a man of action, but could not remember in what sense. vaguely he seemed to recall that there had been something about guns connected with the name of Riley Sinclair meager information on which to build

Starting point is 00:54:19 but having seen this man Bill Sanderson said the less and thought the more in a couple of hours he went back through the night to the telegraph office and found that his Colma friend had been unbelievably prompt the telegram had been sent Collect

Starting point is 00:54:36 and Bill Sanderson groaned as he paid the bill, but when he opened the telegram, he did not begrudged the money. Riley Sinclair is harder than he looks, but absolutely honest, and will pay fairer than anybody. Avoid all trouble. Trust his word, but not his temper. Gunfighter, but not a bully. By the way, your pal Lowry shot himself last week. The long fingers of Bill Sanderson slowly gathered the telegram into a ball. and crushed it against the palm of his hand. That ball, he presently unraveled to reread the telegram.

Starting point is 00:55:17 He studied it word by word. Absolutely honest. It made Sanderson wish to go straight to the gunfighter, put his cards on the table, confess what he had done to Sinclair's brother, and then express his sorrow. Then he remembered the cruel, lean face of Sinclair and the impatient eye.

Starting point is 00:55:38 He would probably be shot before he had half finished his story of the gruesome trip through the desert. Already Lowry was dead. Even a child could have put two and two together and seen that Sinclair had come to Sour Creek on a mission of vengeance.

Starting point is 00:55:57 Sanderson was himself a fighter, and being a fighter, he knew that in Riley Sinclair he would meet the better man. But two good men were better than one, even if the one were an expert. Sanderson went straight to the barn behind his shack, saddled his horse, and spurred out along the north road to Quade's house.

Starting point is 00:56:20 Once warned, they would be doubly armed, and standing back to back, they could safely defy the marauder from the north. There was no light in Quade's house, but there was just a chance that the owner had gone to bed early. Bill Sanderson dismounted to find out, and dismounting, he stumbled across a soft inner mass in the path. A moment later he was on his knees, and the flame of the sulfur match sputtered a blue light into the dead face of Quaid, staring up to the stars. Bill Sanderson remained there until the match singed his fingertips. All doubt was gone now.

Starting point is 00:57:03 Lowry and Quaid were both gone, and he Sanderson alone remained, the third and last of the guilty. His first strong impulse, after his agitation had diminished to such a point that he was able to think clearly again, was to flee headlong into the night and keep on changing horses at every town he reached until he was over the mountains and buried into shifting masses of life in some great city. and then he recalled riley sinclair lean and long as a hound such a man would be terrible on the trail tireless certainly besides there was a horror of flight almost more awful than the immediate fear of death once he turned his back to flee from riley sinclair the gun-fighter would become a nightmare that would haunt him the rest of his life no matter where he fled every footstep behind him would be the footfall of riley and behind every closed door would stand the same ominous figure on the other hand if he went back and faced sinclair he might reduce the nightmare to a mere creature of flesh and blood sanderson resolved to take the second step in one way his hands were tied he could not accuse sinclair of this killing without in the first place exposing the tale of how riley's brother was abandoned in the desert

Starting point is 00:58:35 by three strong men who had been his bunkeys and that story sanderson knew would condemn him to worse than death in the mountain desert he would be loathed and scorned from one end of the cattle country to the other all these things went through his head as he jogged his mustang back down the hill he turned in at mason's place all at once he recalled that he was not acting normally he had just come from seeing the dead body of his best friend and yet so mortal was his concern for his own safety that he felt not the slightest touch of grief or horror for dead quay He had literally to grip his hands and rouse himself to a pitch of semi-hysteria. Then he spurred his horse down the path, flung himself with a shout out of the saddle, cast open the door of the house, without a preliminary knock, and rushed into the room. Murder, shouted Bill Sanderson. Quaid is killed.

Starting point is 00:59:42 End of Chapter 4. Chapter 5 of the Rangeland Avenger by Max Brand. This Liebervox recording is in the public domain. Who killed Quaid? That was the question asked with a quiet deadliness by six men in Sour Creek. It had been Buck Mason's idea to keep the whole affair still. It was very possible that the slayer was still in the environs of Sour Creek, and in that case much noise would simply serve to frighten him away.

Starting point is 01:00:23 It was also Buck's idea that they should gather a few known men to weigh the situation. Every one of the six men who answered the summons was an adept with fists or guns, as the need might be. Every one of them had proved that he had a level head. Every one of them was a respected citizen. Sanderson was one. Stocky Buck Mason, carrying two hundred pounds close to the ground, massive of hand and jaw was a second. After that, their choice had fallen on Judge Lodge.

Starting point is 01:01:00 The judge wore spectacles and had a judicial air. He had a keen eye for cows, and was rather a sharper in horse trades. He gave his costume a semi-official air by wearing a necktie instead of a bandana, even at a round-up. The glasses, the necktie, and his little solemn pauses before he delivered an opinion, had given his nickname. Then came Denver Jim, a very little man with nervous hands and remarkable steady eyes. He had punched cows over those ranges for ten years, and his experience had made him a wildcat in a fight. Oscar Larson was a huge swede with a perpetual and foolish grin. Sour Creek had laughed at Oscar for five years, considered him dubious, for five years more, and then suddenly admitted him as a man among men.

Starting point is 01:01:59 He was stronger than Buck Mason, quicker than Denver Jim, and truder than the judge. Last of all came Montana. He had a long, sad face, prodigious ability to stow away red-eye, and a nature as simple and kind and honest as a child's. These were the six men who gathered about and stared at the center of the floor. Something they agreed had to be done. First it was old man Collins. That was two years back, said Judge Lodge.

Starting point is 01:02:33 You boys remember how Collins went. Then there was a drifter that was plugged eight months ago. And now it's Ollie Quaid, gents. Three murders in two years is too much. Sour Creek will get a name. the bad ones will begin to drop in on us and use us for headquarters. We've got to make an example. We never got the ones that shot Collins or the drifter.

Starting point is 01:02:58 And since Quaid has been plugged, we've got to hang somebody. Ain't that straight? We got to hang somebody, said Denver, Jim. The point is who? His keen eyes went slowly, hungrily, from face to face, as if he would not have greatly objected to picking one of the his companions in that very room. Is there any strangers in town? asked Larson, with his peculiar, foolish grin.

Starting point is 01:03:27 Sanderson stirred in his chair. His heart leaped. There's a gent named Riley Sinclair. Nobody ain't never seen before. When did he come in? Along about dark? That's the right time for us. You found Quaid a long time dead, Bill. Sanderson swallowed. In his joy, he could have embraced Larson. What will we do? Go talk to Sinclair, said Larson and Rose. I got a rope. He's a dangerous-looking gent, declared Sanderson. Larson replied mildly. Mostly, they're a pile more interesting when they're dangerous. Come on, boys.

Starting point is 01:04:09 It had been well after midnight when Mason and Sanderson got back to Sour Creek. the gathering of the posse had required much time now as they filed out to the hotel to the east the mountains were beginning to roll up out of the night and one cloud far away and high in the sky was turning pink they found the hotel wakening even at this early hour at least the chinese cook was rattling in the kitchen as he built the fire when the six reached the door of sinclair's room stepping lightly they heard the occupant singing softly to himself early riser whispered denver jim too early to be honest replied judge larsen raised one of his great hands and imposed in absolute silence then stepping with astonishing softness considering his bulk he approached the door of sinclair's room into his left hand slid his forty-five and instantly five guns glinted in the hands of the others with equal caution they ranged themselves behind the big swede the latter glanced over his shoulder made sure that everything was in readiness and then kicked the door violently open Riley Sinclair was sitting on the side of his bed, tugging on a pair of riding boots, and singing a hush song. He interrupted himself long enough to look up into the muzzle of Larson's gun.

Starting point is 01:05:42 Then deliberately, he finished drawing on the boot, singing while he did so, and still deliberately rose and stamped his feet home in the leather. Next he dropped his hands on his hips and considered the posse gravely. always heard tell how Sour Creek was a fine town, but I didn't know they turned out reception committees before sunup. How are you, boys, want my role? Larson has one who scorn, to take a flying start on any man, dropped his weapon back in its holster.

Starting point is 01:06:19 Sinclair's own gun and cartridge belt hang on the wall at the foot of the bed. That sounds too cool to be straight, said the judge soberly. Sinclair, I figure you know why we want you." "'I don't know, Jens,' said Sinclair, who grew more and more cheerful in the face of these six pairs of grim eyes. But I'm sure obliged to the gent that give me the send-off. What do you want?' Drawing into the background, Larson said,

Starting point is 01:06:49 "'Open up on him, Judge. Start the questions.' But Sanderson was of no mind to let the slow-moving mind to the judge handled this affair which was so vital to him. If Riley Sinclair did not hang, Sanderson himself was instantly placed in peril of his life. He stepped in front of Sinclair and thrust out his long arm. You killed Quaid. Riley Sinclair rubbed his chin thoughtfully,

Starting point is 01:07:20 looking past his accuser. I don't think so, he said at length. You don't think so, don't you know? They was two Mexicans jumped me once. One of them was called Pedro. Maybe the other was Quaid. That who you're talking about? You can't talk yourself out of it, Sinclair, said Denver, Jim.

Starting point is 01:07:39 We mean business, real business, you'll find out. This here is a necktie party, maybe, asked Riley Sinclair. It is partner, said Big Larson, with his continual smile. Sinclair, you come over the mountains, went on Sanctuary. Anderson, you come to find Quaid. You ride down off in the hills, and you come up to Quaid's house. You call him out to talk to you. You're sitting on your horse. All at once, you snatch out a gun and shoot Quade down, we know. That bullet ranged down. It was shot from above him, plain murder. Didn't have a chance. Throwing out his facts, he saw them one by

Starting point is 01:08:22 There was a ring of conviction in his voice. The six accusing faces grew hard and set. Then, to their astonishment, they saw that Sinclair was smiling. He don't know ways take a serious, gents, declared the judge. Let's take him out and see if a rope means anything to him. Sinclair, do you figure this is a game with us? Riley Sinclair chuckled. Gens, he said easily,

Starting point is 01:08:50 you'll come here all head up. You want a pile of action. But you ain't going to get it off of me, not a bit. I'll tell you why. You gents are straight, and you know straight talk when you hear it. This dead man, what's his name, Quaid, was killed by a gent that had a reason for killing him. Wanted to get Quaid's money, where there was an old grudge. But what could my reason be for wanting to bump off Quade? Can any of you figure that out? There's my things. Look through him and see if I got Quaid's money. Maybe you think it's a grudge, chants.

Starting point is 01:09:29 I give you my word. That I've never been in this country before this trip. How could there be any grudge between me and Quaid? Is that sense? Then talk sense back to me. His mirth had disappeared halfway through his speech, and in the latter part of it, his voice rang sternly, Moreover, he looked them in the eye one by one.

Starting point is 01:09:52 All of this was noted by Sanderson. He saw suddenly and clearly that he had lost. They would not hang this man by hearsay evidence or by chance presumption. Sinclair would go free, and if Sinclair went free, there would be short shrift for Bill Sanderson. For a moment he felt his destiny wavering back and forth on a needle point. Then he flung himself into a new course, diametrically opposed to the other. Boys, it was me that started this, and I want to be the first to admit, it's a cold trail. Men have been hung with less again them than we got again Sinclair.

Starting point is 01:10:36 We know when Quaid must have been killed. We know it tallies pretty close with the time when Sinclair rode down the same trail, because that was the way he rode into Sour Creek. but no matter how facts look nobody's seen that shooting and i say this gent st clair ain't any murderer look em over boys he's clean and i register a vote for him what do you say no matter what the rest of you figure i'm going to shake hands with him i like his style he had turned his back on riley while he spoke but now he whirled and thrust out his hand the fingers of sinclair closed slowly over the proffered hand when it comes to the names partner seems like you've got an edge over me have i i'm sanderson glad to know you sinclair sanderson repeated the stranger slowly sanderson letting his fingers fall away nervously from the hand of the other he sighed deeply sanderson with a side glance followed every chance of his fingers fall away nervously from the hand of the other he sighed deeply sanderson with a side glance followed every change of expression in that hard face how could sinclair attack a man who had just defended him from a terrible charge it could not be for the moment at least

Starting point is 01:11:58 sanderson felt he was safe in the future many things might happen at the very least he had gained the priceless postponement of the catastrophe them that do me a good turn is writ down in red sinclair was saying and then that step on my toes is writ down the same way sanderson i got an idea for one reason or another i ain't goin to forget you in a hurry there was a grim double meaning in that speech which sanderson alone could understand the others of this self-appointed posse had apparently made up their minds that sanderson was right and that this was a cold trail it's like sinclair says admitted the judge we got to find a gent that had a reason for wishing to have quade die where's the man hunt for the reason first and find the man afterward said big larsson still smiling. All right. Did anybody owe Quaid money? Anybody Quaid was pressing for it?

Starting point is 01:13:04 It was the judge who advanced the argument in this solemn and dry form. Denver Jim declared that, to his personal knowledge, Quaid had neither borrowed nor loan. Well, then, had Quaid ever made many enemies, we know Quaid was a fighter, recollect any gents that might hold grudges, young penny hated the ground he walked on quade beat penny to a pulp down by the perkin water hold penny wouldn't do a murder maybe it was a fair fight broke in larsen

Starting point is 01:13:39 fair nothing said buck mason don't we all know that quade was fast with a gun he barely had it out of his hand when the other gent drilled him and he was shot from above no sir the way it happened was something like this the murdering skunk sat on his horse saying good-bye to quade and while they were shaking hands or something like that he goes for his gun and plugs quade maybe it was a gent that knew he didn't have a chance he'd against Quaid, maybe. He broke off short in his deductions and smote his hands together with a tremendous oath. Boys, I got it. It's Cold Feet that done the job.

Starting point is 01:14:22 It's Gasper that's done it. They stared at Buck vaguely. Mason, cold feet ain't got the nerve to shoot a rabbit. Not in a fight. This was murder. What's the schoolteacher's reason? Don't he love Sally Bent?

Starting point is 01:14:39 didn't quade lover he raised his voice i'm a big fool for forgetting didn't i see him ride over the hill to quade's place and come back in the evening didn't i see it why else would he have called on quade there was a round chorus of oaths and exclamations the poisonous little skunk it's him we'll string him up with a rush they started for the door wait called riley sinclair Bill Sanderson watched him with a keen eye. He had studied the face of the big man from up north all during the scene, and he found the stern features unreadable. For one instant now, he guessed that Sinclair was about to confess. If you don't mind seven in one party, said Riley Sinclair. I think I'll go along to see Justice Dunn, you see,

Starting point is 01:15:33 I got a sort of second-hand interest in this necktie party. mason clapped him on the shoulder you're just a sort of gent we need he declared end of chapter five chapter six of the rangeland avenger by max brand this librivox recording is in the public domain down in the kitchen they demanded a loaf of bread and some coffee from the chinese cook and then the seven dealers of justice took horse and turned into the silence of the long mountain Trail. The sunrise had picked those mountains out of the night directly above Sour Creek. Riley Sinclair regarded them with a longing eye. That was his country. A man could see up there. He could see the truth. Down here in the valley, everything was askew. Men lived blindly and did blind things, like this justice which the six riders were bringing on an innocent man. Not by any means had Riley decided what he would do.

Starting point is 01:16:48 If he confessed the truth, he would not only have a man-sized job of trying to escape from the posse, but he would have to flee before he had a chance to deal finally with Sanderson. Chiefly he wanted time. He wanted a chance to study Sanderson. The fellow had spoken for him like a man, but Sinclair was suspicious. In his quandary, he turned to sad feelings. faced Montana and asked, Who's this gent you call cold feet?

Starting point is 01:17:18 He's a tenderfoot, declared Montana, and he's queer. He's yellow, they say, and that's why they call him cold feet. Besides, he teaches the school. Where's there a real man that would do a school marm's work? Living or dying, he ain't much good. You can lay to that. Sinclair was comforted by this speech. Perhaps the schoolteacher was, as Montana stated,

Starting point is 01:17:43 not much good dead or alive sinclair had known many men whose lives were not worth an ounce of powder in this case he would let cold feet be hanged it was a conclusion sufficiently grim but riley sinclair was admittedly a grim man he had lived for himself he had worked for himself on his younger brother hal he had wasted all the better and tender side of his nature for hal's education and advantage he had sweated and saved for a long time with the death of hal the better side of riley sinclair died the horses sweated up a rise of ground for a school teacher he lives sort of far out of town a figure said riley sinclair that's on account of sally bent answered denver jim sally and her brother got a shack out this way and cold feet boards with him sally bent that's an old maidish sounding name denver gin grin broadly tolerable he said just tolerable old maidish sounding when they reached the top of the knoll the horse's paws as if by common assent now they stood with their heads bowed sullen tired or ready steam going up from them in the cool of the morning there it is it was as comfortably placed a house as riley sinclair had ever seen the mountain came down out of the sky in ragged uneven steps here it dipped away into a lap of quite level ground a stream of spring water flashed across that little table land dark in the shadow of the big trees silver in the sunlight at the back of the natural clearing was the cabin built solidly of logs

Starting point is 01:19:38 wood water and a commanding position for defense riley sinclair ran his eye appreciatively over these advantages my guns i forgot sally exclaimed the massive buck mason is that her asked riley sinclair a woman had come out of the shadow of a tree and stood over the edge of the stream a bucket in her hand at that distance it was quite impossible to make out her features although Riley Sinclair found himself squinting and peering to make them out. She had on something white over her head and neck, and her dress was the faded blue of old gingham. Then the wind struck her dress, and it seemed to lift the girl in its current. I forgot Sally Bent. What difference does she make? asked Riley.

Starting point is 01:20:30 You don't know her, stranger. And she won't know us. Got anything for masks? I'm sure Roman-nose-fool, declared Mason. Of course we got to wear masks. The girl's pale flashed as she raised it up from the stream and dissolved into the shadow of a big tree. She don't seem no ways interested in this here party, remarked Riley.

Starting point is 01:20:55 That's her way, said Denver Jim, arranging his bandana to mask the lower part of his face from the bridge of his nose down. She'll show plenty of interest when it comes to. to a pinch. Riley adjusted his own mask, and he did it thoroughly. Out of his vest, he ripped

Starting point is 01:21:13 a section of black lining, and having cut eye-holes, he fastened the upper edge of the cloth under the brim of his hat and tied the loose ends behind his head. Red, white, blue, black, and polka dot was that quaint array of masks. Having completed his arrangements,

Starting point is 01:21:33 Larson started on at a lope, and the rest of the party followed in a lurching, loose-formed wedge. At the edge of the little table-land, Larson drew down his mount to a walk and turned in the saddle. Quick work, no talk in a getaway, he said, as he swung down to the ground. In the crisis of action, the big swede seemed to be accorded at the place of leader by natural right.

Starting point is 01:22:00 The others imitated his example silently. Before they reached the door, Larson, turned again. Watched Jerry Bent, he said softly. You watch him, Denver, and you, Sanderson. Me and Buck will take care of cold feet. He may fight like a rat. That's the way with a coward when he gets cornered.

Starting point is 01:22:19 Then he strode toward the door. How thick is Sally bent, with his schoolteach and gent? asked Riley's Sinclair of Mason. I don't know. Nobody knows. Sally keeps her thinking to herself. Larson kicked open the door and at the same moment drew his six-shooter. The example was also imitated by the rest, with the exception of Riley Sinclair.

Starting point is 01:22:45 He hung in the background, watching. Gaspar called Larson. There was a voice of answer, a man's thin voice, then the sharp cry of a girl from the interior of the house. Sinclair heard a flurry of skirts. hysterics now he said into his mask she sprang into the doorway her hands holding the jam on either side in her haste the big white handkerchief around her throat had been twisted awry sinclair looked over the heads of mason and denver jim into the sun-tanned face that had now paled into a delicate olive color her very lips were pale and her great black eyes were flashing at them She seemed more a picture of rage than hysterical fear. Why for, she asked.

Starting point is 01:23:38 Why are you all here for in masks, boys? What do you mean calling for Gaspar? What's he done? In a moment of waiting, Larson cleared his throat solemnly. It'd be best we tell Gaspar direct what we're here for. This seemed to tell her everything. Oh, she gasped, you're not really after him. Lady, we sure be.

Starting point is 01:24:03 But, Jig, he wouldn't hurt him else. He couldn't. Sally, he's done a murder. No, no, no. Sally, will you stand out of the door? It ain't... It ain't a lynching party, boys. Oh, you fools, you'll hang for it, every one of you. Sinclair confided the Buck Mason beside him. Larson is letting her talk down to him. She'll spoil this here party.

Starting point is 01:24:30 Were the voice of justice, said Judge Lodge, pompulously. We ain't got any other names. They wouldn't be nothing to hang. Don't you suppose I know you asked the girl, stiffening to her full height? Do you think those full masks mean anything? I can tell you, by your little eyes, Denver, Jim. Denver cringed suddenly behind the man before him.

Starting point is 01:24:55 I know you by that roan horse of yours, Oscar Larson, Judge Lodge, there ain't nobody, but you that talks about justice and voices. Buck Mason, I could tell you by your bill to mile off. Montana, you ought to have masked your neck and your Adam's apple sooner in your face. And you're Bill Sanderson. There ain't any other man in these parts that stands on one heel and points his off-toe like a horse with a sore leg. I know you all, and if you touch a hair on Jake's head,

Starting point is 01:25:28 head, I'll have you in court for murder. You hear murder. I'll have you hung every man jack. She had lowered her voice for the last part of this speech. Now she made a sweeping gesture, closing her hands as if she clutched their destinies in the palm of her hand and could throw it into their faces. You all climb right back on your horses and feed them the spur. They stood amazed, shifting from foot to foot, exchanging miserable glass. She began the laugh. Mysterious lights danced and twinkled in her eyes. The laughter chimed away into words,

Starting point is 01:26:07 groaned suddenly gentle, suddenly friendly. Such a voice Riley Sinclair had never heard. It walked into a man's heart, breaking the lock. Why, Buck Mason, you of all men to be mixed up in a deal like this. And you, Oscar Larson, after you and me had talked like partners, so many a time. Denver, Jim, we'll have a good laugh about this necktie party later on.

Starting point is 01:26:34 Why, boys, you all know that Jig ain't guilty of no harm. Sally said the wretched Denver, Jim, things seem to be sort of pointing to a. There was a growl from the rear of the party, and Riley Sinclair strode to the front and faced the girl. There's a gent, charged with murder inside, he said, Stand off, girl, you're in the way. before she answered him her teeth glinted if she had been a man she would have struck him in the face he saw that and it pleased him stranger she said deliberately making sure that every one in the party should hear her words

Starting point is 01:27:13 What you need is to stay around Sour Creek long enough for the boys to teach you how to talk to a lady. Honey replied Riley Sinclair with provoking calm. You sure put up a tidy bluff. Maybe you'd tell a judge that you'd note all these gents behind their masks, but they wouldn't be no way you could prove it. A stir behind him was ample assurance that this simple point had escaped the cow-punchers. All the soul of the girl stood up in her eyes and hated Riley Sinclair,

Starting point is 01:27:47 and again he was pleased. It was not that he wished to bring the school teacher to trouble, but it had angered him to see one girl balked seven grown men. Stand aside, said Riley Sinclair. Not an inch. Lady, I'll move you. Stranger, if you touch me, you'll be taught better. The Jensen Sour Creek don't stand for such-like ways.

Starting point is 01:28:11 Before the appeal to chivalry of Sour Creek was out of her lips, smoothly and swiftly, the hands of Sinclair settled around her elbows. She was lifted lightly into the air and deposited to one side of the doorway. Her cry rang in the ears of Riley Sinclair, then her hand flashed up and the mask was torn from his face. I'll remember. Oh, if I have to wait twenty years, I'll remember. Look me over careful, lady, today is most likely the last time you'll see me, declared Riley,

Starting point is 01:28:46 gazing straight into her eyes. A hand touched his arm, stranger, no rough play. Riley Sinclair whirled with whiplash suddenness, and chopping the edge of his hand downward, struck away the arm of Larson, paralyzing the nerves with the same blow. Hands off, said Sinclair. The girl's clear voice rang again in his ear. thank you oscar larsen i sure know my friends and the gentlemen she was pouring oil on the fire she would have a feud blazing in a moment with all his heart riley sinclair admired her dexterity he drew the posse back to the work in hand by stepping into the doorway and calling hey gaspar end of chapter six chapter seven of the rangeland avenger by max brand this lebravox recording is in the public domain he's right larsson and you're wrong buck mason said she had us buffaloed and he pulled us clear steady boys there ain't no harm done to sally

Starting point is 01:30:04 oh buck is that the sort of friend of mine you are i'm sorry sally sinclair gave this argument only a small part of his attention he found himself looking over a large room which was he thought one of the most comfortable he had ever seen outside of pictures at the farther end a great fireplace filled the width of the room the inside of the log walls had been carefully and smoothly finished by some master axeman there were plenty of chairs home-made and very comfortable with cushions the little organ stood against the wall to one side no wonder the school-teacher had chosen this for his boarding-place riley made his voice larger gaspar then a door opened slowly while sinclair dropped his hand on the butt of his gun and waited the door moved again a head appeared and observed him pronto declared riley sinclair and a little man slipped in the full view he was a full span shorter riley felt than a man had any right to be moreover he was too delicately made he had a head of bright blond hair thick and rather on end the face was thin and handsome and the eyes impressed riley as being at once both bright and weary he was wearing a dressing-gown and a dressing-gown and he was wearing a dressing-gown the first Riley had ever seen. Get your hands out of those pockets, he emphasized the command,

Starting point is 01:31:42 with a jerk of his gun hand, and the arms of the schoolteacher flew up over his head. Lean fragile hands, Riley saw them to be, although it was the most disgustingly inefficient piece of manhood he had ever seen. Slide out here, Gaspar. There's some gents here that wants to look you over. The voice that answered him was pitched so low

Starting point is 01:32:07 as to be almost unintelligible. What do they want? Step lively, friend. They want to see a gent that lets a woman do his fighting for him. He had dropped his gun contemptuously back into its holster. Now he waved the school teacher to the door with his bare hands. Gasper sidled past as if a loaded gun were about to explode in his direction. He reached the door.

Starting point is 01:32:34 His arm still held stiffly above his head, but at the sight of the masked faces, one arm dropped to his side and the other fell across his face. He slumped against the side of the door with a moan. It was Judge Lodge who broke the silence. Guilty boys, ain't one look at the skunk enough to prove it? Make it all fair and legal, gents, broke in Larson. Buck Mason strode straight up to the prisoner.

Starting point is 01:33:02 Was you over at Quaid's house yesterday evening? The other shrank away from the extended, pointing arm. Yes, he stammered. I—I—what does this all mean? Mason whirled on his companions, still pointing to the schoolmaster. Take a slant at him, boys. Can't you read it in his face? There was a deep humming murmur of approval. Then, without a word, Mason took one of Gaspar's arms,

Starting point is 01:33:31 and Montana took the other. Sally bent, ran toward them with a cry, but the long arm of Riley Sinclair barred her way. Man's work, he said coldly, you go inside and cover your head. She turned to them with extended hands.

Starting point is 01:33:49 Buck, Montana, Larson, boys, You all ain't going to let it happen. He couldn't have done it. They lowered their heads and returned no answer. At that she whirled, with a sob, and ran back into the house. The procession moved on, Buck and Montana in the lead,

Starting point is 01:34:09 with a prisoner between them. The others followed, Judge Lodge, uncoiling, a horribly significant rope. Last of all came Bill Sanderson, never taken his eyes from the face of Riley Sinclair. The latter was thoughtful, very thoughtful. He seemed to feel the eyes of Sanderson upon him, for presently, He turned to the other. What good's a coward to the world, Sanderson? None that I could see.

Starting point is 01:34:39 Well, look at that. Ever seen anything more yellow? Gaspar walked between his two guards. Rather, he was dragged between them, his feet trailing weakly and aimlessly behind him. His whole body, sinking with flabby terror. The stern lip of Riley Sinclair curled. He's going to let it go through, said Sam.

Starting point is 01:35:01 Sanderson to himself. After all, nobody can blame him. He couldn't put his own neck in the noose. Over the lowest limb of a great cottonwood, Judge Lodge accurately flung the rope, so that the news dangled a significant distance from the ground. There was a business-like stir among the others. Denver Larson, the judge, and Sanderson held the free end of the rope. Buck Mason tied the hands of the prisoner behind him. Montana spoke calmly through his mask. Jig, you're sure done a rotten bad thing. You oughtn't have killed him, jig.

Starting point is 01:35:39 These here killings has got to stop. We ain't hanging you for spite, but to make an example. Then, with dexterous hand, he fitted the noose around the neck of the schoolteacher. As a rough rope grated against Gaspar's throat, he shrieked and jerked against the rope in that bound his hands. then, as if he realized that struggling would not help him, and that only speech could give him a chance for life, he checked the cry of horror and looked around him. His glances fell on the grim masks, and it was only natural that he should address himself to the only uncovered

Starting point is 01:36:16 face he saw. Sir, he said to Riley, in a rapid, trembling voice, you look to me like an honest man. Give me, give me time to speak. Make it pronto, said Riley Sinclair coldly. The four waited, with her hand settled high up on the rope, ready for the tug which would swing Gaspar, halfway to his maker. We're kind of pushed for time ourselves, said Riley, so hurry it on, Gaspar. Bill Sanderson was a cold man, but such unbelievable heartlessness chilled him. Into his mind rushed the temptation, suddenly to denounce the real slayer

Starting point is 01:36:58 before them all. He checked that temptation. In the first place, it would be impossible to convince five men who had already made up their minds, who had already acquitted Sinclair of the guilt. In the second place, if he succeeded in convincing them, there would be an instant gunplay, and the first man, to come under Sinclair's fire he knew well enough, would be himself. He drew a long breath and waited. Good friends did. gentlemen, Gaspar was saying, I don't even know what you accuse me of. Killer man?

Starting point is 01:37:34 Why should I wish to kill a man? You know I'm not a fighter. Gentlemen. Jig, cut in, Buck Mason. He was as good as seen to murder. You're going to hang. If you got anything to say, make a confession.

Starting point is 01:37:51 Gaspar attempted to throw himself on his knees, but his weight struck against the rope. He staggered back to his feet. struggling for breath. For mercy's sake, began Gaspar. Cut a short boy's, cried Buck Mason, up with him. The four men at the rope reached a little higher and settled their grips.

Starting point is 01:38:12 In another moment, Gaspar would dangle in the air. Now Riley Sinclair made his decision. The agonized eyes of the condemned man, wide with animal of terror, were fixed on his face. Sinclair raised his hand. wait. The arms, growing tense for the jerk, relaxed. How long is this going to be dragged out, asked the judge had discussed?

Starting point is 01:38:37 The worst lynching I've ever seen, that's what I call it. There ain't no justice in it, it's just plain torture. Partner declared Riley Sinclair, I'm sure glad to see that you got a good appetite for a killing. But it's just come home to me that in spite of everything, this here gent might be innocent, and if he is, heaven help our souls we're done for. Bless you for that, exclaimed Gaspar. Shut up, said Sinclair. No matter what you'd done, you deserve hanging for being yellow.

Starting point is 01:39:12 But concerning this here matter, gents, it looks to me like it'd be a pretty good idea to have a fair and square trial for Gaspar. Trial, asked Buck Mason, don't we all know what trial? end up with, law ain't no good except to give lawyers a living. Never was a truer thing said, declared Sinclair. All I mean is that you and me and the rest of us run a trial for ourselves. Let's get in the evidence and hear the witness and make out the case. If we decide there ain't enough again Gaspar to hang them, then let them go. If we decide to stretch him up, we'll feel a pile better about it and nearer to the

Starting point is 01:39:55 truth. He went on steadily in spite of the groans of disapproval on every side. Why, this is all laid out natural for a courtroom. That their stump is for the judge, and the black rock yonder is where the prisoner sits. That their natural bench of grass is where the jury sits, gents, could anything be handier for a trial than this layout, to the theory of the thing they had been entirely unresponsive, but to the chance to play a game and a new game, they responded instantly. Besides, the Judge Lodge, I'll act as a judge. I know something about the law.

Starting point is 01:40:37 No, you won't, declared Riley. I thought up this little party, and I'm going to run it. Then he stepped to the stump and sat down on it. End of Chapter 7. Chapter 8 of the Rangeland Avenger by Max Brand. This Libravox recording is in the place. public domain. Denver Jim was already heartily in the spirit of the thing. Sit down on that black rock jig, he said, taking Gasper to the designated stone as he spoke,

Starting point is 01:41:17 and removing the noose from the ladder's neck. Black is a sign, you're going to swing in the end. Just a trifling postponement, that's all. Riley placated the judge with his first appointment. Judge Lodge, he said. You know a pile about it. these here things, I appoint you clerk. It's your duty to take out that little notebook you got in your vest pocket and write down a note for the important things that said, savvy." Right, replied Lodge, entirely won over, and he settled himself on the grass with a notebook on his knee and a stub of pencil poised over it. Larson, your sergeant at arms. How do you mean that, Sinclair?

Starting point is 01:42:02 That's what they call them that keep order. I disremember, where I heard it. Larson, if anybody starts raising a rumpus, it's up to you to shut him up. I'll sure do it, declared Larson. You can sure leave that to me, Judge. He hoisted his gun belt around so that the gun butt hung more forward

Starting point is 01:42:23 and readier to his hand. Denver, you're the jailer. You see that the prisoner don't get away. Keep an eye on him. You see? Easy, Judge, replied Denver. I can do it with one hand. Montana, you keep the door.

Starting point is 01:42:40 What do you mean door, Judge? Ain't you got no imagination whatever? Demanded Sinclair. You keep the door. When I holler for a witness, you go and get them. And Sanderson, you're the hangman. Take charge of that rope. That ain't such an agreeable job, Your Honor.

Starting point is 01:43:00 Neither is mine. Go ahead. sanderson glowering gathered up the rope and draped it over his arm buck mason you're the jury sit down there over on your bench will you this here court being kind of short-handed you've got to do twelve men's work if it's too much for you the rest of us will help out your honor declared buck much impressed i'll sure do my best the jury's job explained sanderson is to listen to every thing and not say nothing, but think all the time. You'll do your talking in one little bunch when you say guilty or not guilty. Now we're ready to start. Gaspar stand up. Denver Jim officially dragged the school teacher to his feet. What's your name? Name, asked to bewildered Gaspar. Why, everybody knows my name. Don't make any difference, announced

Starting point is 01:43:58 Sinclair, this is going to be a strictly regular hanging, with no frills left moreabouts your name. John Irving Gasper Called Jig for short, and sometimes cold feet, put in the clerk. Sinclair cleared his throat. John Irving Gaspar, alias Jig, alias cold feet. Do you know what we got against you? You know what you're charged with?

Starting point is 01:44:25 With, with an absurd thing, sir. "'Murder,' said Sinclair solemnly. "' Murder, Jig. "'What do you say? Guilty or not guilty? "'Most generally, you'd say not guilty.' "'Not guilty, absolutely not guilty. "'As a matter of fact, Mr. Sinclair. "'Denver shut him up and make him sit down.'

Starting point is 01:44:46 "'One hard brown hand was clamped over Jiggs' mouth. "'The other thrust him back on the black rock. "'Gentlemen of the jury,' said his honor, You've heard the prisoners say he didn't do it. Now we'll get down to the truth of it. What's the witnesses for the prosecution got to say? There was a pause for consideration. Speak up pronto, said Zinclair.

Starting point is 01:45:12 Anybody know anything again the prisoner? Larson stepped forward. Your Honor. It's pretty generally known. I don't give a dog gone for what's generally known. What do you know? The Swede smile. did not alter in the slightest, but his voice became blunter, more acrid.

Starting point is 01:45:33 From that moment he made up his mind firmly that he wanted to see John Irving Gasper, otherwise jig, hanged from the cottonwood tree above them. I was over to Shorty Lander's store the other day. His honor raised his hand in weary protest, as he smiled apologetically at the court. Darned, if I didn't plumb forget one thing, he said. We've got to swear at these witnesses before they can chatter. Is there anybody got a Bible around them? Nope.

Starting point is 01:46:05 Montana, I wish you'd lope over to that house and see what they got in the line of Bibles. Montana strode away in the direction of the house, and quiet fell over the unique courtroom. Larson, so pleasant the face and so unbending of heart, was the first to speak. Looks to me, gents, like we're wasted a lot of time. time on a rat. The blonde head of cold feet turned, and his large dark eyes rested without expression upon the face of the swede. He seemed almost literally to fold his hands and await the result of his trial. The illusion was so complete that even Riley Sinclair began to feel that the prisoner might be guilty of an act which he himself had done. The opportunity was indeed too perfect

Starting point is 01:46:57 to be dismissed without consideration. It was in his power, definitely, to put the blame on another man. Then he could remain in this community as long as he wished to work his will upon Sanderson. Sanderson himself was a great problem. If Bill had spoken up in good faith

Starting point is 01:47:17 to save Sinclair from the posse that morning, then Riley felt he was disarmed. But profound suspicion remained with him that Sanderson guessed his mission and was purposely trying to brush away the wrath of the Avenger. It would take time to discover the truth, but to secure that time it was necessary

Starting point is 01:47:38 to settle the blame for the killing. Cold feet was a futile, weak-handed little coward. In the stern scheme of Sinclair's life, the death of such a man was almost less than nothing. Wasted a lot of time on a rat, the voice of larsen fell agreeably on the ear of his honor behind that voice came a far-away murmur the scream of a hawk he bent his head back and looked up through the limbs of the cottonwood into the pale blue white haze of the morning sky a speck drifted across it the hawk sailing in search of prey under the noble arch of heaven floated that fierce malignant creature

Starting point is 01:48:25 riley sinclair lowered his head with a sigh was not he himself playing the part of the hawk he looked straight into the eyes of the prisoner and jigg met the gaze without flinching he merely smiled in an apologetic manner and he made a little gesture with his right hand as if to admit that he was helpless and that he cast himself upon the good-will of riley sinclair riley jerked his head to one side and scowled he hated that appeal he wanted this hanging to be the work of seven men not of one montana returned bringing with him a yellow-covered red-backed book there wasn't a sign of a bible in the house he stated but i found this here history of the united states with a declaration of independence pasted into the back of it i figured that ought to do about as well as a bible you've got a good head montana said his honor open up to that their declaration here larsen put your hand on this and swear you're telling the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth they ain't going to be any bum testimony taken in this court we ain't goin to railroad this lynching through. He caught a glistening light of gratitude in the eyes of the school teacher. Riley's own breast swelled with a sense of virtue. He had never before taken the life of a helpless man, and now that it was necessary, he would do it almost legally. Larson,

Starting point is 01:50:01 willingly took the oath. I'm going to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, damn me, if I don't. I was over at Shorty Landers store the other. other day? What day? Hmm. Last Tuesday, I reckon. Go on, Larson, but give me nothing but the facts. I see Jig come into the store. I want to look at a revolver, he said. The deuce you do? What might you want to do with a revolver, Jig? Says Shorty. You mean you want a toy gun? I remember them words particular clear. Because I didn't see how even a spineless gent like Jig could stand for such a pile of insult. But he just sort of smiled with his lips and got steady with his eyes,

Starting point is 01:50:49 like he was sort of grieved. I want a gun that'll kill a man, he says to Shorty. Shorty and me both laughed, but when Shorty brung out a forty-five, doggone me, if Jig didn't buy the gun. Look here, says he, is this the way it works? And he raised it up in his skinny hand. I had to laugh. hold it in both hands says i oh says he and darned if you didn't take it in both hands it seems much easier to handle in this way says he but that's what i seen i seen him buy a gun to kill a man them was his words and i figure they're a mouthful larsen retired damaging evidence there ain't no question said mr clerk severely but i can lay over it your honor

Starting point is 01:51:40 "'Blaze away, Judge. Larson took the oath. I'm going to show you there was bad feelings between the prisoner and the dead man, Your Honor. I was over to the dance at the Woodville Schoolhouse a couple of weeks ago. Jig was there, not dancing or nothing, but sitting in a corner with all the girls, mostly hanging around him. They kept hanging around, looking real foolish at him, and Jig looks back at him, as if they wasn't there. Well, it riles the boys around these parts. Quaid comes up to him, and takes him aside. Look here, he says, why don't you dance with one girl, instead of hogging them all? I don't dance, says Jig.

Starting point is 01:52:27 Why do you stay if you won't dance? asked Quaid. It's my privilege, says Jig, smiling in that honorary way of his. Like his thoughts was too big for an ordinary gent to understand him. You stay and dance and welcome, said Quaid. But if you won't dance, get out of here and go home where you belong. You're spoiling the party for us, keeping all the girls over here. Is that a threat, says Jiggs, smiling in that way of his? It sure is, and most particular, I want you to keep away from Sally Bent, you hear?

Starting point is 01:53:04 You take advantage of your size, says Jig. Guns even upsizes, says Quaid. Thank you, says Jig. I'll remember. Right after that he went home, because he was afraid that Quaid would give him a dressing. But there was bad feelings between him and Quaid. There was a devil in them eyes of Jigs when he looked at Big Quaid. I seen it, and I know there be trouble. Lodge then retouched.

Starting point is 01:53:34 tired. Jentz, said his honor, it looks kind of black for the prisoner. We know that Gaspar had a grudge again Quaid, and that he bought a gun big enough to kill a man. It sure looks black for you, Gaspar. The prisoner looked steadily at Sinclair. There was something unsettling in that gaze. All we got to make sure of, said the judge, is that the quarrel between Gaspar and Wade, was strong enough to make Gaspar want to kill him, and— Your Honor, broke in Gaspar. Don't you see that I could never kill a man? The prisoner stretched out his hands in a gesture of appeal to Sinclair.

Starting point is 01:54:15 Riley gritted his teeth. Suddenly a chill had passed through him at the thought of the hanging noose, biting into that frail, thawthroat. You shut up till your ass to talk, he said, frowning savagely. I think we got a witness here that'll prove that you did have sufficient cause to make you want to get rid of Quaid. And if we have that proof,

Starting point is 01:54:39 Heaven help you. Montana, go get Sally Bent. Gaspar started up with a ring in his voice. No, no. In response to a gesture from Sinclair, Denver Jim jerked the prisoner back onto the black rock. With blazing blue eyes, Gasper glared at the...

Starting point is 01:54:59 the judge, his delicate lips trembling with unspoken words. Sinclair knew, with another strange feeling of the heart, that the prisoner was perfectly aware that his judge had not the slightest suspicion of his guilt. An entente was established between them, an entente which distressed Sinclair and which he strove to destroy. But despite himself, he could not get rid of the knowledge that the great blue eyes were fixed deadly upon him, as if begging him to see that justice was done. Consequently, the judge made himself as impersonal as possible.

Starting point is 01:55:42 End of Chapter 8. Chapter 9 of the Rangeland Avenger by Max Brand. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. Sally Bent came willingly, even eagerly. It was the eagerness of an angry woman who wanted to talk. talk. What is your name? A name you'll come to wish you never heard of, said the girl, if any harm comes to John Gaspar. Poor Jig, they won't dare to touch a hair on your head. With a gentle voice she had turned to Gaspar to speak these last words. A faint smile came on the

Starting point is 01:56:27 lips of Gaspar, and his gaze was far away, as if he were in the midst of an unimportant dream, with Sally bent the last significant part of it all. The girl flushed and turned back to Riley. I asked your name, said his honor gravely. What right of you to ask my name or any other question? Mr. Lodge, said his honor, will you loosen up and tell this lady where we come in? Sure, said the judge, clearing his throat.

Starting point is 01:57:00 Sally, here's the point. There ain't been much justice around here. we're simply giving the law a helping hand and we start in to-day on the skunk that shot quade quade may have had faults but he was a man And look what done the killin, Sally. I ask you to look. That bum excuse for a man. That Gaspar. Following the command, Sally looked at Gaspar.

Starting point is 01:57:29 The smile of pity and sympathy, trembling on her lips again. But Gaspar took no notice. How dare you talk like that? asked Sally. Gaspar, is worth all seven of you put together. Order, said Riley Sinclair, order in this here. Court. Mr. Sergeant at arms, keep the witness in order. Larson strode near, authoritatively. You got to stop that fresh talk, Sally. Sinclair won't stand for it. Oscar Larson, she cried, whirling on him, I always thought you were a man. Now I see that you're

Starting point is 01:58:07 only big enough to bully a woman. I never want to speak to you again. Silence, thundered Riley Sinclair. Smiting his hard. brown hands together. Take that witness away, and we'll hang Gaspar without her testimony. We don't really need it, anyways. There was a shrill cry from Sally. Let me talk, she pleaded. Let me stay. I won't make no more trouble, Mr. Sinclair. All right, he decided without enthusiasm. Now, what's your name? Sally Bent. She smiled a little as she spoke. That name usually brought an answering smile, particularly from the men of Sour Creek, but Sinclair's saturnine face show no softening. Mr. Clerk swear the witness. Judge Lodge rose and held forth the book

Starting point is 01:59:02 and prescribed the oath. During that interval, Riley Sinclair raised his head to escape from the steady, reproachful gaze of John Gaspar. Down in the valley bottom, Sour Creek flashed muddy yellow and far away. Just beyond, the sun gleamed on the chalk-faced cliff. Still higher, the mountains changed between dawn and full day. There was the country for Riley Sinclair. What he did down here in the valley did not matter. Purification waited for him among the summit snows.

Starting point is 01:59:42 He turned back to hear the last of Sally Bent's voice. whipping his eyes past Gaspar to avoid meeting again that clinging stare. Sally Bent, he said, Do you know the prisoner? You know I know him. John Gaspar boards with us. Ah, then you know him? That's a silly question.

Starting point is 02:00:06 What I want to say is... Wait to your ass, Sally Bent. She stamped her foot. Quietly, Sinclair, compared the girl and the accused man. Here's the point, he said slowly. You knew Quaid, and you knew John Gaspar. Yes. You know Quaid's dead?

Starting point is 02:00:26 I just heard it. You didn't like him much. I used to like him. Until Gaspar blew in? You've got no right to ask those questions. I sure have. All right. I gather you were pretty sweet on Quaid till Gasper come along.

Starting point is 02:00:44 I never said so. Girl pronounced Riley solemnly. Ain't it a fact that you went around to a lot of parties and such like things with Quaid? Sally was silent. It's a straight thing you're giving her, broke in Larson. After Gaspar come,

Starting point is 02:01:04 she didn't have no time for none of us. Ah, said his honor significantly, scowling on Sally Bent. After you cut out Quaid, He got ugly, didn't he? He sure did, said Sally. He said things that no gentleman would have said to a lady. Such as what?

Starting point is 02:01:24 Said that I was a flirt, and he said, I swear to it, that he'd get Gaspar. She stopped panting with excitement. He wanted to murder John Gaspar. Riley Sinclair lifted his heavy brows. That's a pretty serious thing to say, Sally bent. But it's the truth, and I even heard him threaten, Gaspar. But you tried to make them friends. You tried to smooth Quaid down.

Starting point is 02:01:53 I wouldn't waste my time on a bully. I just told John to get a gun and be ready to defend himself. And he done it? He done it, but he never fired the gun. What was the last time Quaid seen you? The day before yesterday, he come up here and told me, that he knew me and John Gaspar were going to get married, and that he wouldn't stand still and see the thing go through.

Starting point is 02:02:21 But what he said was right, wasn't it? Gaspar had asked you to marry him. She dropped her head. No. What, you mean to say that Gaspar hadn't told you he loved you? Never. But now that John is in this trouble, I don't care if the whole world knows it. I love John Gaspar.

Starting point is 02:02:44 What a voice. What a lighted face has she turned to the prisoner. But instead of a flush of happiness, John Gaspar rose and shrank away from the outstretched hands of the girl. And he was pale, pale with sorrow, and even with pity, it seemed to Sinclair. No, no, said the soft voice of Gaspar.

Starting point is 02:03:07 Not that, Sally, not that. decidedly it would not do to let this scene progress. Take away the witness, Montana. Montana drew her arm into his, and she went away as one stunned, staring at John Gaspar, as if she could not yet understand the extent of the calamity which had befallen her.

Starting point is 02:03:31 She had been worse than scorned, she had been rejected with pity. As she disappeared into the door of her, her house, Sinclair looked at the bowed head of John Gaspar. Denver, he called suddenly. Yes, Your Honor. The prisoner's hands are tied. Wipe the sweat off his face, will you? Sure. With a large and brilliant bandana, Montana obeyed.

Starting point is 02:03:59 Then he paused in the midst of his operation. Your Honor? Well, it ain't sweat, it's tears. Tears? Riley Sinclair started up, then slumped back on his stump with a groan. Tears, he echoed, with a voice that was a groan.

Starting point is 02:04:19 John Gaspar, What kind of man are you? He turned back to the court with a frown. Mr. Jury, he said, Look at this prisoner we got. Look him over considerable. I say, Did you ever see a man like that?

Starting point is 02:04:35 A man that ain't A ain't able to love a girl like Sally Bent when she just about throws herself at his head. Is he worth keeping alive? Look at him and then listen to me. I see the whole of it, Mr. Jury. Buck Mason leaned forward with interest, glowering upon John Gaspar. The skunk of a John Gaspar gets Sally all tied up with his sappy talk. Gets are all excited because he's something brand new and different.

Starting point is 02:05:07 Quaid gets sore, natural-like. Then he comes to Gaspar and says, Cut out this soft talk to Sally, or I'll bust your head. Gaspar don't love Sally, but he's afraid of Quaid. He goes and gets a gun. He goes to Quaid's house and tries to be friends. Quaid kicks him out. Gaspar climbs back on his horse,

Starting point is 02:05:32 and, while he's sitting there, pulls out a gun and shoots poor Quaid dead. Don't that sound natural? He wouldn't marry Sally, but he didn't want another man to have her. And he wouldn't give up his soft berth in the house of Sally's brother. He knew Quaid would never suspect him

Starting point is 02:05:52 of having the nerve to fight. So he takes Quaid unready and plugs him, while Quaid ain't looking. Is that clear? It sure sounds straight to me, said Buck Mason. All right, stand up. mason rose take off your hat the sombrero was withdrawn with a flourish god's up yonder higher than that hawk but seeing you clear buck tell us straight is gaspar guilty or not guilty as hell your honor a sigh from the prisoner the last of life seemed to go from him and sinclair braced himself to meet a hysterical appeal but there was only that slight drooping of the shoulders and declining of the head

Starting point is 02:06:42 it was an appalling thing for sinclair to watch he was used to power in men and beasts he understood it a cunning devil of a fighting outlaw horse was his choice for a ride The meaner they are, the longer they last, he used to say. He respected men of evil as long as they were men of action. He was perfectly at home and contented among men, where one's purse in life were at constant hazard, where a turn back might mean destruction. To him this meek surrender of hope was incomprehensibly despicable. If he hesitated before, his hard soul was for a sudden.

Starting point is 02:07:25 now in the decision that John Gaspar must die, and so leave Sinclair's own road free. With all suspicion of a connection between him and Quaid's death gone, Riley could play a free hand against Sanderson. He turned a face of iron upon the prisoner. Sanderson and Denver, Jim, bring the prisoner before me. They obeyed, but when they reached down their hands to Gaspar's shoulder, To drag him to his feet, he avoided them with a shudder, and of his own free will rose and walked between them. John Irving Gaspar, said Sinclair sternly, alias Jig, alias cold feet, which is a fitting and proper name for you. Have you got anything to say that won't take too long before I pronounce sentence on you?

Starting point is 02:08:20 He had to set his teeth. The sad eyes of John Gaspar had risen. from the ground and fixed steadily, darkly, upon the eyes of his judge. There was infinite understanding, infinite patience in that look. The patience of the weak man schooled in enduring buffets. For the moment Sinclair almost felt that the man was pitying him. I have only a little to say, said John Gaspar. Speak up, then.

Starting point is 02:08:52 Who do you want to give the message to? To no living man, said John Gaspar. All right, then, Gaspar, blaze away with the talk, but make it short. John Gaspar raised his head until he was looking through the stalwart branches of the cottonwood tree into the haze of light above. Our Father in Heaven, said John Gaspar. Forgive them as I forgive them. Riley Sinclair, quivering under those words, looked around him upon the stunned faces of the rest of the court. Then back to the calm of Gaspar.

Starting point is 02:09:33 Strength seemed to have flooded the coward. At the moment, when he lost all hope, he became glorious. His voice was soft, never rising, and the great dark eyes were steadfast. A sudden consciousness came to Riley Sinclair that, God must indeed be above them, higher than the flight of the hawk, roped in the maze of that lofty cloud, seeing all, hearing all,

Starting point is 02:10:01 and every word that Gaspar spoke was damning him, dragging him to hell. But Riley Sinclair was not a religious man. Luck was his divinity. He left God in heaven and hell inside the pages of the Bible, undisturbed. The music of the schoolteacher's voice, reminded him of the purling of some tiny waterfall in the midst of a mountain wilderness.

Starting point is 02:10:29 I have no will to fight for life, for that sin forgive me, and for whatever else I have done wrong. Let no knowledge of the crime they are committing come to these men, fierce men, fighters, toilers, full of hate, full of despair, full of rage, how can they be other than blind. Forgive them, as I forgive them without malice. And most of all, Lord God, forgive this most unjust judge. Louder, whispered Sinclair, his hand cupped behind his ear. Amen, said John Gaspar, as his head bowed again. The fascinated posse seemed frozen, each man in his place, each in his attitude. John Gaspar said his honor. here's your sentence you are to be hanged by the neck till you're dead john gaspar closed his eyes and opened them again otherwise he made no move of protest but not continued sinclair from this cottonwood tree

Starting point is 02:11:38 a faint sigh indubitably of relief came from the posse riley sinclair arose gentsy said i've been thinking this over there ain't any doubt that's a little bit of relief came from the posse riley sinclair arose jency said i've been thinking this over there ain't any doubt that you're a doubt that you're a doubt that you're that the prisoner is guilty, and there ain't any doubt that John Gaspar is no good, any way you look at him. But a gent that can put the words together like he can ought to get a chance to talk in front of a regular jury. I figure we better send for the sheriff to come over from Woodville and take the prisoner back there.

Starting point is 02:12:13 One of you gents can slide over there today, and the sheriff will be here tomorrow, most like. Who'll take charge of Gaspar? Who? Why me, of course? Unless somebody else would like the job more. I'll keep him right here in the Bent cabin. Sinclair, protested Buck Mason. You're a pretty capable sort.

Starting point is 02:12:36 There ain't no doubt of that. But what if Jerry Bent comes home, which he's sure to do before night, there'd be a mess, because Jerry would fight for Gaspar. I know it. partner said riley sinclair dryly if it comes to that then i guess i'll have to fight back it was foolish to question the power in that grave sardonic face the other men gave way nodding one by one secretly each man now that the excitement was gone was glad that they had not proceeded to the last extremity in five minutes they were drifting away and all this time sinclair watched the face of john gaspar as the sorrow changed the wonder and the wonder to the vague beginnings of happiness

Starting point is 02:13:26 suddenly he felt he had the clue to the mystery of cold feet as a matter of fact john gaspar had never grown up he was still a weak dreamy boy end of chapter nine chapter ten of the rangeland of venture by max brannes This Libravox recording is in the public domain. The posse had hardly thrown its mask to the wind and galloped down the road when Sally Bent came running from the house. I knew they couldn't, she cried to John Gaspar. I knew they wouldn't dare, the cowards. I'll remember every one of them. Hush murmured Gaspar.

Starting point is 02:14:17 His faint smile was for Riley Sinclair. One of them is still here, you see. With wrath flushing her face, the girl looked at Riley. How do you dare stay here and face me, after the things you said? Lady replied Sinclair, you mean after the things I made you say? Just wait till Jerry comes, exclaimed Sally. At this Sinclair grew more sober. Honey, he said, Riley.

Starting point is 02:14:46 When your brother drops in, you just calm him down, will you? Because if him and Gaspar together was a little. to start in, raising trouble, while there'd be more action than you ever seen in that cabin before, and after it was over, they'd have a dead Gaspar to cart over to Woodville. You can lay to that.

Starting point is 02:15:06 It took Sally somewhat aback, this confident ferociousness. Them, that brag, ain't always the one to do things, she declared, but why are you staying here? To keep Gasper, to the sheriff comes after him, Sally grew white.

Starting point is 02:15:24 Don't you see that there's nothing to be afraid of? asked John Gaspar. See how close I came to death, and yet I was saved. Why God doesn't let innocent men be killed, Sally? For a moment the girl stared at the schoolteacher with tears at her eyes. Then she flashed at Riley a glance of utter scorn, as if inviting him to see what an angel upon the earth he was persecuting. but Sinclair remained unmoved. He informed them of the conditions of his stay.

Starting point is 02:15:57 He must be allowed to keep John Gaspar in sight at all times. Only suspicious moves he would resent with violence. Sally Bent heard all of this with openly expressed hatred and contempt. John Gaspar showed no emotion whatever. By heaven, declared Sinclair, when the girl had gone about, some housework, I'd actually think you believe that God was on your side. You talk about him so familiar, like you and him was partners. John Gaspar smiled one of his rare smiles. He had a way

Starting point is 02:16:34 of looking for a long moment at another before he spoke. All that he was about to say was first registered in his face. It was easy to understand how Sally Bent had been entrapped by the classic regularity of those features and the strange manner of the school teacher. She lived in a country where masculine men were a drug on the market. John Gaspar was the pleasant exception. You see, explained Gaspar, I had to cheer Sally by saying something like that. Women like to have such things said. She'll be absolutely confident now, because she thinks I'm not disturbed, very odd but very true. And it seems to me,

Starting point is 02:17:20 says in Clare frowning, that you're not much disturbed, Gaspar. How does that come? What can I do? Maybe you'd be mad enough to try and break away. From you, Tush, I know it's impossible. I'd as soon try to hide myself in an open field from that hawk.

Starting point is 02:17:40 No, no, I give you my parole, my word of honor that I'll make no escape. But Sinclair stuck in with, I don't want your parole. Hang it, man. Just do your best, and I'll do mine. You try to give it a slip, and I'll try to keep you from it.

Starting point is 02:17:57 That's square all around. Gaspar observed him with what seemed to be a characteristic air of judicious reserve, very much as if he suspected a trap. A great many words came up into the throat of Riley Sinclair, but he refrained from speech. in a way he was beginning to detest john gaspar as he had never detested any human being before or since to him no sin was so great as the sin of weakness in a man and certainly gaspar was superlatively weak he had something in place of courage but just what that thing was sinclair could not tell curiosity drew him toward the fellow and these weaknesses repulsed him

Starting point is 02:18:46 no wonder that he stared at him now in a quandary one certainty was growing upon him he wished gaspar to escape it would bring him shame in sour creek but for the opinion of these men he had not the slightest respect let them think as they pleased came home to riley that this was a man who's like he had never known before and whom he must not therefore judge as if he knew him he softened his voice gaspar he said keep your head up make up your mind that you'll fight to the last gasp why it makes me plumb sick to see a grown man give up like you do his scorn rang in his voice and gaspar looked at him in wonder You ought to be packing yourself full of courage, went on Sinclair. Here's your pal, Jerry Bent, coming back. Two against one you'll be. Ain't that a chance, I ask you? But Gaspar shook his head.

Starting point is 02:19:48 He seemed even a little amused. Not against a man like you, Sinclair. You love fighting, you see. You're made for fighting. You make me think of that hawk, all beacon talons, made the tear, remorselessly crafty. that's overrating me a pile muttered riley greatly pleased by this tribute as he felt it to be if you tried maybe you could do a lot yourself you're full of nerves and a gent that's full of nerves makes a first-class fighting man once he finds out what he can do with them fingers of yours you could learn to handle a gun like a flash start in and learn to be a man gaspar

Starting point is 02:20:32 Sinclair stretched a friendly hand toward the shoulder of the smaller man. The hand passed through thin air. Gaspar had slipped away. He stood at a greater distance. On his face there was a strong expression of displeasure. Sinclair scowled darkly. Now what do you mean by that? I mean that I don't envy you, said Gaspar steadily.

Starting point is 02:20:57 I'd rather have the other thing. What other thing, Jig? Gaspar overlooked the contemptuous nickname, doubly contemptuous, on the lips of a stranger. You go into the world and take what you want. I'm stronger than that. How are you stronger? asked Riley. Because I sit in my room, and I can make the world come to me.

Starting point is 02:21:20 Jig, I was never smart at Riddles. Go ahead and clear yourself up with a few more words. The other hesitated, not for words. but as if he wondered if it might be worthwhile for him to explain. Never in Riley's Sinclair's life had he been taken so lightly. Will you follow me into the house? asked Gaspar at length. I'll follow you right enough, said Sinclair. That's my job. Lead on.

Starting point is 02:21:50 He was brought through the living room of the cabin and into a smaller room to the side. Comfort seemed to fill this smaller room. Bookcases. Ranged along one wall were packed with books. The couch before the window was heaped with cushions. There was an easy chair with an adjustable back, so that one could either sit or lie in it. There was a lamp with a big greenish-yellow shade.

Starting point is 02:22:16 This is what I mean, murmured jig. Riley Sinclair's bold eye rove swiftly, contemptuously. Well, you got this place. Fixed up pretty stuffy, he answered. Outside of that hang me. If I see what you mean. Cold feet slipped into a chair, and interlacing those fingers,

Starting point is 02:22:37 whose delicacy baffled and disturbed Sinclair, stared over them at his companion. I really shouldn't expect you to understand, my friend. Friend Sinclair exploded. You're a queer bird, jig. What do you mean by friend? Why not? asked his amazing youth, and the quiet of his face brightened into a smile.

Starting point is 02:23:00 I'd be swinging from the end of a rope if it weren't for you, you know. Sinclair shrugged away this rejoinder. He trod heavily to the bookshelves, took up two or three random volumes, and tossed him heedlessly back into place. Well, kid, you're going to be yanked out of this little imitation world of yours pretty pronto. Ah, but perhaps not.

Starting point is 02:23:25 Ah? Something may happen. What can happen? Just something like you, my friend. The insistence on that word irritated Riley Sinclair. Don't call me that, he replied, in his most brutal manner.

Starting point is 02:23:41 Jig, do you know what a friend means? He asked. How do you figure that word out? Jig considered, The friend of somebody you know and like and are glad to have a round. Contempt spread on the face of Sinclair. That's just about what I knew you'd say.

Starting point is 02:24:00 am i wrong son there ain't anything right about you as far as i can make out wrong you're as wrong as a yearling in a blizzard wrong i should tell a man you're wrong let me tell you what a friend is he's the bunkey that guards your back in a fight he's a man that can ask for your horse or your gun or your life no matter how bad you want him he's the gent that trust you when the world calls you a liar he's the one that don't grin when you're in trouble, who gives a cheer when you're going good. With a friend, you let down the bars and turn your mind loose like wild horses. I take out my soul like a gun and show it to my friend in the palm of my hand. It's sure full of holes and stains, this life of mine, but my friend checks off the good again to bad, and when you're through, he says,

Starting point is 02:24:55 partner, now I'd like you better because I know you better. son i don't know what god means very well and i ain't any bunkey of the law but i'm tolerable well acquainted with what the word friend means when you use it you want to look sharp i really believe jigg said that you would be a friend like that i think i understand you don't though to a friend you give yourself away and you get yourself back bigger and stronger i didn't know said jig softly That friendship could mean all that. How many friends have you had? The big cow-puncher paused, then he said gently at length. One friend. In all your life?

Starting point is 02:25:42 Sure, I was lucky and had one friend. Cold feet leaned forward, eagerness in his eye. Tell me about him. I don't know you well enough, son. That jarring speech thrust Jake back into his chair, as if with a physical hand. There, as though, and covert, he continued the study, Sinclair.

Starting point is 02:26:03 Presently, he began to nod. I knew it from the first, in spite of appearances. Knew what? Knew that we'd get along? Are we getting along, jig? I think so. Glad of that, muttered the cow-puncher dryly. Ah, cried John Gasper, you're not as hard as you seem.

Starting point is 02:26:25 One of these days I'll prove it. Besides, you won't forget me. What makes you so sure of that? Jig rose from his chair and stood leaning against it. His hand dropped lightly into the pockets of his dressing-gown. He looked extraordinarily boyish at the moment, and he seemed to have the fearlessness of a child, which knows that the world has no real account against it.

Starting point is 02:26:50 Riley Sinclair set his teeth to keep back a flood of pity that rose in him. You wait and see, said Jig. He raised a finger. at Sinclair. I'll keep coming back into your mind a long time after you leave me, and you'll keep coming back into my mind. Oh, I know it. How in thunder do you?

Starting point is 02:27:11 I don't know, just because, well, how did I understand at the trial that you knew I was innocent and that you would let no harm come to me? Did you know that? asked Sinclair. Instead of answering, Jig broke into his soft, pleasant laughter. End of Chapter 10. Chapter 11 of the Rangeland Avenger by Max Brand.

Starting point is 02:27:45 This Libravox recording is in the public domain. Laughing be hanged, declared Sinclair. I'm going outside, and don't try no funny breaks while I'm gone, he said. I'll be watching and waiting when you ain't expecting. With that, he was gone. At the door of the house, a gust of hot wind struck him. for the day was verging on noon, and there seemed more heat than light in the sun. Even to that hot gust, Sinclair, jerked his bandana nod aside, and opened his throat gratefully.

Starting point is 02:28:22 He felt as if he had been under a hard nervous strain for some time passed. Cold feet the craven, the weak of hand, and the frail of spirit had tested him in a new way. He had been confronting a novel and unaccustomed. countable thing. He felt very oddly as if someone had been prodding in the corners of his nature, yet unknown even to himself. He tangled from the rapier touch of that last laughter. Now his eyes roamed with relief across the valley. Heat waves blurred the hallow and put sour creek away until it seemed the river of mist, yellow mist. He raised his attention out of that sweltering hollow to the cool, blue, mighty mountains, his country.

Starting point is 02:29:13 Presently, he had forgotten all this. He settled his hat on the back of his head and began to kick a stone before him, following it aimlessly. Someone was humming close to him, and he turned sharply to see Sally bent go by carrying a bucket. She smiled generously, and though he knew that she doubtless hated him in her heart, and smiled for a purpose, he had the reply with a perfunctory grin. He stalked after her to the little leaping creek and dipped out a full bucket. Thanks, said Sally, wantonly meeting his eye. As well to try to soften the sphinx, Sinclair carried the dripping bucket on the side nearest

Starting point is 02:29:58 the girl and thereby gained valuable distance. I'm mighty glad it's you and not one of the rest, confided Sally, still smear the smiling firmly up to him. He avoided that appeal with a grunt. Like Sanderson say, went on the girl. Why not him? He's a bad ombri, said the girl. Hate to have Jig in his hands.

Starting point is 02:30:22 With you, it's different. Sinclair waited until he put down the bucket in the kitchen. Then he faced Sally thoughtfully. Why, he asked. Because you're reasonable. Did Jig tell you that? and a pile more. Jig says you're a pretty fine sort.

Starting point is 02:30:41 That's his words. The cow-puncher caressed the butt of his gun with his fingertips. His habitual gesture went in doubt. Lady, he said at length. Suppose I cut this short. You think I ain't going to keep cold feet here till the sheriff comes for him? You see what it would mean, she asked eagerly. It wouldn't be a fair trial.

Starting point is 02:31:04 You couldn't get a fair trial for Jig around sour Creek and Woodville. They hate him. All the young men do. Do you know why? Simply because he's different. Simply because? Because all the girls are pretty fond of him, huh? Well, you can put it that way if you want, she answered steadily enough, though she flushed under his stare. Then, you keep that in mind, and you're man enough to do what you think is right, ain't you, Mr. Sinclair? He shifted away from the hand, which was moving. toward him. I'll tell you what, he answered, I'm man enough to be afraid of a girl like you, Sally Bent. Then he saw her head fall in despair as he turned away. When he reached the shimmering heat

Starting point is 02:31:51 of the outdoors again, he was feeling like a murderer. His reason told him that cold feet was yellow, not worth saving. His reason told him that he could save Jig only by a confession that would drive him, Sinclair, away from Sour Creek and his destined victim, Sanderson. Or he could save Jig by violating the law, and that would also drive him from Sour Creek and Sanderson. Suddenly, he halted in the midst of his pacing to and fro. Why was he turning these alternatives back and forth in his mind? Because he understood all at once he had subconsciously, determined that cold feet must not die.

Starting point is 02:32:39 The face of his brother rose up and looked into his eyes. That was the friend of whom he would not speak to Jig, brother and friend at once, and as surely as ever ghost called the living man. That face demanded the death of Sanderson. He blinked the vision away. I am going nutty, muttered Sinclair, whether Sanderson lives or dies,

Starting point is 02:33:06 Jake ain't going to dance at a rope's end. Presently, Sally called him into lunch, and Riley ate half-heartedly. All during the meal, neither Sally nor John Gaspar had more than a word for him, while they talked steadily together. They seemed to understand each other so well that he felt a hidden insult in it.

Starting point is 02:33:30 Once or twice, he made a heavy attempt to enter the conversation, always addressing his remarks to Sally Bent. He was received graciously, but his remarks always fell dead, and a moment later, Cold Feet had picked up the frayed ends of his own talk and won the entire attention of Sally. Riley was beginning to understand why the youth of that district detested Cold Feet. Always take some soft-handed dude to make a win'in with a fool girl. He comforted himself. He expected the arrival of Jerry Bent before nightfall,

Starting point is 02:34:10 and with that arrival, perhaps, there would be a new sort of attack on him. Sally and Coldfeet were trying persuasion, but they might encourage Jerry Bent to attempt physical force. With all his heart, Riley Sinclair hoped so. He had a peculiar desire to do something significant for the eyes of both Sally and Jig.

Starting point is 02:34:34 But nightfall came, and then supper, and still no Jerry appeared. Afterward, Sinclair made ready to sleep in Jig's room. Cold feet offered him the couch. Beds and me don't hitch, declared Riley, throwing two or three of the rugs together. I ain't particular partial to a floor neither, but these here rugs will give it a sort of ground softness. He sat cross-leg on the pile of rugs while he pulled off his boots and smoked his good-night cigarette.

Starting point is 02:35:08 Jig coiled up in the big chair while he studied his jailer. But how can you go to bed so early, he asked. Early, it ain't early? Sun's down, ain't it? Why do they bring on night except for folks to go to sleep? For my part, the best part of the day generally begins when the sun goes down. With patient contempt, Riley considered John Gaspar. You look kind of that way, he decided aloud, pale, and not much good with your shoulders.

Starting point is 02:35:42 Now, what do you do most generally with your time in the evening? Why, talk? Talk, huh? The fine way of wasting time for a grown-up man. And I read, you know. I can see by the looks of them shelves that you do. How many of them books might you have read, Jig? All of them. I ask you, man to man, ain't there mostly somebody's idea of what life is? I suppose that's a short way of putting it. And I ask you again, what's better to take a second-hand hunch out of what somebody else thinks life might be, or to go out and do some living on your own hook? Cold feet had been smiling faintly

Starting point is 02:36:26 up to this point, as though he had many things in reserve, which might be said at need. Now his smile disappeared. Perhaps you are right. Maybe I ain't. Sinclair brushed the entire argument away into a thin mist of smoke. Now look here, cold feet. I'm about to go to sleep, and when I sleep, I sure sleep sound, taking it by and large. There's times when I don't mourn close one eye all night.

Starting point is 02:36:56 and these times when you'd have to pull my eyes open one by one to wake me up. Understand? I'm going to sleep the second way tonight. About eight hours of the soundest sleep you ever heard tell of. Jiggs considered him gravely. I'm afraid he answered that I won't sleep nearly as well. Riley Sinclair smiled. Wouldn't be no ways natural for you to do much sleeping, he agreed.

Starting point is 02:37:25 take a gent that's in danger of having his neck stretched like you, and most generally he don't do much sleeping. He lies around awake, cussing his luck, I suppose. Take you now, cold feet, and I suppose you'd be figuring on how far a horse could carry you in the eight hours that I'll be sleeping, huh? There was a suggestive lift of the eyebrows as he spoke, but before Jig had a chance to study his face, he had turned and wrapped himself in one of the rugs. He lay perfectly still, stretched on one side, with his back turned to jigs. He stirred neither hand nor foot.

Starting point is 02:38:09 Outside, a door slammed heavily. Cold feet heard the heavy voice of Jerry bent and the beat of his heels across the floor. In spite of those noises, Riley Sinclair was presently sound asleep. as he had promised. Gaspar knew it by the rise and fall of the arm, which lay along Sinclair's side, also by the sound of his breathing. Cold feet went to the window and looked out on the mountains, black and huge,

Starting point is 02:38:41 with a faint shimmer of snow on the farthest summits. At the very thought of trying to escape into that wilderness and wandering alone among the peaks he shuddered, he came back and studied the sleeper something about the nonchalance with which sinclair had gone to sleep under the very eye of his prisoner affected john gaspar strangely doubtless it was sheer contempt for the man he was guarding and indeed something assured jig that no matter how well he employed the next eight hours in putting a great distance between himself and sour creek the tireless writing of sinclair would more than make up the distance. Gaspar went to the door, then turned sharply and glanced over his shoulder at the sleeper,

Starting point is 02:39:33 but the eyes of Sinclair were still closed, and his regular breathing continued. Jig turned the knob cautiously and slipped out into the living room. Jerry and Sally beckoned instantly to him from the far side of the room. The beauty of the family had descended upon Sally alone. Jerry was a swart-skinned, squat, bow-legged, efficient cow-puncher. He now ambled awkwardly to meet John Gaspar. Are you all said, he asked.

Starting point is 02:40:06 For what? To start on the trail, exclaimed Jerry, what else? Ain't Sinclair asleep? How'd you know? I listened at the door and heard his breathing a long time ago. Thought you'd never come out. Sally Bent was already on the other side of Gasper, bar drawing him towards the door.

Starting point is 02:40:26 "'You can have my horse, Jiggs,' she offered. "'Make as sure as sin in the mountains. "'You won't have nothing to fear on the worst trail there is.' "'Not a thing,' asserted Jerry. "'They half led and half drag cold feet to the door. "'I'll show you the best way. "'You see them two peaks yonder, "'like a pair of mule's ears.

Starting point is 02:40:48 "'You start?' "'I don't know,' said Jigs. "'It seems very difficult. even to think of riding alone through those mountains. Sally was white with fear. You ain't going to throw away this chance, Jig. It'll mean hanging for sure if you don't run now. Ask Jerry what they're saying in Sour Creek tonight.

Starting point is 02:41:11 Jerry volunteered the information. They're all wondering why you wasn't strung up today when they got so much evidence against you. Also, they're thinking that the boys played dumb food foolish in turning you over to this stranger, Sinclair, to guard. But they're waiting for Sheriff Kern to come over from Woodville and nab you in the morning. There's some that says that they won't wait. If it looks like the law is going to take too long to hang you.

Starting point is 02:41:40 They'll get a necktie party and break the jail and do their own hanging. I heard all of them things and more, jig. John Gaspar looked uncertainly, from one to the other of his friends. You've got to go, cried Sally. I've got to go, admitted cold feet in a whisper. I've got Meg saddled for you already. She's plumb gentle. Just a minute.

Starting point is 02:42:04 I've forgotten something. You don't mean you're going back into that room where Sinclair is. I won't wake him. He's sleeping like the dead. Jig turned away from them and hurried back to his room. Having opened and closed the door softly, he went to a chest of drawers near the window and fumbled in the half-light of the low burning lamp.

Starting point is 02:42:29 He slipped a small leather case into the breast pocket of his coat and then stole back toward the door as softly as before. With his hand on the knob he paused and looked back. For all he knew, Sinclair might really be awake now, watching his quarry from beneath those heavy lashes, waiting until his prisoner should have made a definite attempt to escape. And then the big man would rise to his feet as soon as the door was closed. The picture became startingly real to John Gaspar.

Starting point is 02:43:05 Sinclair would slip out that window, no doubt, and circle around toward the horse shed. There he would wait until his prisoner came out on Meg, and then without warning would come a shot, and there would be an end of the horse shed. of Sinclair's trouble with his prisoner. Gaspar could easily attribute such cunning cruelty to Sinclair, yet there was something untested, unproved, different about the rangy fellow.

Starting point is 02:43:32 Whatever it was, it kept Gaspar staring down into the lean face of Sinclair for a long moment. Then he went resolutely back into the living room and faced Sally bent. Jerry was already waiting outdoors. i'm not going said gaspar slowly i'll stay sally cried out oh jig have you lost your nerve again ain't you got no courage the school teacher sighed i'm afraid not sally i guess my only courage comes in waiting and seeing how things turn out he turned and went gloomily back to his room end of chapter eleven

Starting point is 02:44:18 chapter twelve of the rangeland avenger by max brand this libravox recording is in the public domain with the first brightness of dawn sinclair wakened even more suddenly than he had fallen asleep there was no slow adjusting of himself to the requirements of the day one prodigious stretching of the long arms one great yawn and he was as wide awake as he would be at noon He jerked on his boots and rose, and not until he stood up to deceive John Gaspar asleep in the big chair, his head inclining to one side, the book half fallen from his hand, and the lamp sputtering its last beside him. But instead of viewing the weary face with pity, Sinclair burst into sudden and amazed profanity. The first jarring note bought Gasper up and awake with a start.

Starting point is 02:45:23 and he stared in astonishment at the uninterrupted flood which rippled from the lips of the cow-puncher. It concluded, Still here? Of all the short-horned fatheads that I ever seen. The worst is this, Gaspar, this jig, this cold feet. Say, man, ain't you got no spirit at all? What do you mean, ask Gaspar, still here? Of course I'm still here.

Starting point is 02:45:51 Did you expect me to escape? Sinclair flung himself into a chair, speechless, with rage and disgust. Did you think I was joking when I told you I was going to sleep eight hours without waking up? It might very well have been a trap, you know. Sinclair groaned, son, there ain't any man in the world. That'll tell you that Riley Sinclair sets traps for birds. That ain't got their stiff feathers growed yet. Trap for you?

Starting point is 02:46:21 What in thunder should I want you for? huh? He strolled to the window, still groaning. That's where he ought to be, over yonder, behind them mule-ears. They'd never catch you in a thousand years with that start, eight hours start, as good as eight years, kid, just as good, and you throw that chance away. He turned and stared mournfully at the schoolteacher. It ain't no use, he said sadly. I see it all now. He was cut out to end in a rope collar. Not another word could be pried from his set lips during breakfast,

Starting point is 02:47:00 a gloomy meal, to which Sally Bent came with red eyes and Jerry Bent sullenly, with black looks at Sinclair. Jig was the cheeriest one of the party. That cheer at last brought another explosion from Sinclair. They stood in front of the house,

Starting point is 02:47:19 watching a horseman, wind his way up the road through the hills. it's sheriff kern said jerry bent i can tell by the way he rides sort of slanting it's kern right enough sally bent choked but jigg continued to hum softly singing asked riley sinclair suddenly ain't you no more worried than that the voice of the school teacher in reply was as smooth as running water i think you'll bring me out of the trouble safely enough mr sinclair mr sinclair will see you damned before he lifts a hand for you riley retorted savagely he strode to his horse and expended his wrath by viciously jerking at the cinches until the mustang groaned sheriff kern came suddenly into clear view around the last turn and rode quickly up to them a very short man muscular sweaty he always gave the impression that he had been working ceaselessly He always gave the impression that he had been working ceaselessly for a week, and certainly he found time to shave only once in ten days. Dense bristle clouded the lower features of his face.

Starting point is 02:48:32 He was a taciturned man. His greetings took the form of a single grunt. He took possession of John Gaspar with a single glance that sent the ladder nervously toward his saddled horse. I say you got this party already for me, said the sheriff, more amiably to Riley Sinclair, who was watching and disgust the clumsy method of Jigs mounting. You're Sinclair, I guess. I'm Sinclair, Sheriff. They shook hands.

Starting point is 02:49:03 Nice bit of work you done for me, Sinclair, keeping the boys from stringing up jig yonder. These here linchons don't set none too well on the reputation of a sheriff. I guess we're ready to start. So long, Sally, Jerry. Are you riding our way, Sinclair? I thought I'd happen along. Ain't never seen Woodville yet. Glad to have you, but there ain't much to see

Starting point is 02:49:29 unless you look twice at the same thing. They started down the trail, three abreast. Ride on ahead, command that Sinclair to jig. We don't want you riding in the same line with men. Get on ahead. gaspar obeyed that brutal order with bowed head he rode listlessly with loose rain letting the pony pick his own way once sinclair looked back to sally bent weeping in the arms of her brother again his face grew black and yet confided the sheriff softly i ain't never heard no trouble about this gaspar before he's poisoned declared sinclair bitterly and he raised his voice that it would unmistakably carry to the shrinking figure before them he's such a yellow-hearted skunk sheriff that it makes me ashamed of being a man there's only one thing i missed out said the sheriff

Starting point is 02:50:27 how'd that sort of a gent ever get the nerve to murder a man like quade quade wasn't no tenderfoot and he could shoot a bit besides speaking personal sheriff i don't think he'd done it now i've had a chance to go over the evidence maybe he didn't but most likely he'll hang for it the boys is dead set again him first he's a dude second he's a coward sour creek and woodville was never cut out for that sort. They ain't wanted around." That speech made Riley Sinclair profoundly thoughtful. He had known well enough before this that there were small chances of Jig escaping from the damning judgment of twelve of these cow-punchers. The statement of the sheriff made the belief of fact. The death sentence of Jig was pronounced the moment the doors of the jail at Woodville clanged upon him. They struck the trail. to Sour Creek and almost immediately swung off on a branch which led south and west in the

Starting point is 02:51:35 opposite direction from the creek. It was a day of high driving clouds, thin and fleecy, so that they merely filtered the sunlight and turned it into a haze without decreasing the heat perceptibly, and that heat grew until it became difficult to look down at the blazing sand. Now the trail climbed among broken hills until they reached the summit. From that point on, now and again, the road elbowed into view of a wide plain, and in the center of the plain there was a diminutive dump of buildings. Woodville said the sheriff, Hey, you jig, hustle that horse along.

Starting point is 02:52:18 Obediently the drooping gas bar spurred his horse. The animal broke into a gallop that set Gaspar jolting in his seat with widely flopping elbows. Look at that, said Sinclair. Would you ever think that a man could be born as awkward as that? Would you ever think that men would be born that didn't have no use in the world? He ain't altogether useless to side at the sheriff. Seems as how he's done noble in the school. Takes on with the little boys and girls most amazing.

Starting point is 02:52:52 and he knows how to keep even the eighth graders interested but what can you expect of a gent that ain't got no more pride than to be a schoolteacher huh sinclair shook his head the trail drifted downward now less brokenly and woodville came in the view it was a wretched town in a wretched landscape far different from the wild hills and the rich plowed grounds around sour creek all that came to life in the brief spring the long summer had since burned away to drab yellows and browns a horrible place to die in sinclair thought speaking of horses that's a wise lookin horse you got sheriff rode him for five years said the sheriff raised him and busted him and trained him all by myself ain't nobody but me ever rode him he can go so soft-footed he wouldn't bust eggs sir and he can turn loose and run like the wind there ain't no better horse than this that come under my eye sinclair are you much on the points of a horse i use horses i don't love em said sinclair gloomily but i can read the points tolerable the sheriff eyed sinclair coldly so you don't love horses huh he said returning distantly to the subject it was easy to see where his own heart lay by the way his rome picked up his head whenever its master spoke sheriff explained sinclair i'm a single-shot gent i don't aim to have no scatter fire and what I like.

Starting point is 02:54:32 There's only one man that I ever called friend. There's only one place that I ever called home. The mountains yonder. And there's only one horse that I ever took too much. I raised Molly up by hand, you might say. She was ugly as sin, but there wasn't nothing she couldn't do, nothing. He paused, Sheriff. I used to talk to that horse.

Starting point is 02:54:56 The sheriff was greatly moved. What became of her, he asked softly. i took after a gent once couldn't hit me but he put a slug through molly what became of the gent asked the sheriff still more softly he died just a little later just how i ain't prepared the state good said the sheriff he actually smiled in the pleasure of new-found kinship you and me would get on proper sinclair most like this horse abine now has sense enough to take me home without me touching a rain knows directions like a wolf could you guide her with your knees sure and she's plumb safe with you sure i know the gent once that said he'd trust himself tied hand and foot on his horse that goes for me and my horse too sinclair well then just shove up them hands and sheriff? The sheriff blinked as the sun flashed on the revolver

Starting point is 02:56:01 in the steady hand of Sinclair. There was a significant little jerking up of the revolver. Each time, the muzzle stirred, the hands of the sheriff jumped higher and higher, until his arms were stiffly stretched. Gaspar had halted his horse and looked back in amazement. I hate to do it, declared Sinclair. Right off, I sort of took it.

Starting point is 02:56:26 to you, Sheriff, but this has got to be done. Sinclair, have you done much thinking before you figured this all out? Enough. If I knowed you one shade better, Sheriff, I'd take your word that you ride on in the Woodville, good and slow, and not start no pursuit. But I don't know you that well. I've got to tie you on the back of that steady old horse of yours and turn you loose. We need that much start.

Starting point is 02:56:54 He dismounted. Still keeping careful aim, took the rope, coiled beside the sheriff's own saddle horn, and began a swift and sure process of tying. He worked deftly without undue fear or haste, and Gaspar came back to look on with scared eyes. "'You're a fool, Sinclair,' murmured the sheriff. "'You'll never get shut of me.

Starting point is 02:57:20 I'll follow you till I drop dead. I'll never forget you. Change your mind now, say nothing has happened, but if you keep on, you're done for, as sure as my name is Kern. Take you by yourself, and you'd be a handful to catch, but two is easier than one, and, when one of them two is a dead weight like Gaspar, there ain't nothing to it. He finished his appeal, completely trust. I ain't tied you on the horse at Sinclair, take note of that. Also, I'm leaving you your guns

Starting point is 02:57:56 Sheriff? I hope you have a chance to see him come out of the holster later on, Sinclair. The cow-puncher took no notice of this bitterness. Gaspar, who looked on, was astonished by a certain deferential politeness on the part of the big cow-puncher.

Starting point is 02:58:16 Speaking personal, I hope I don't never have no trouble with you, Sheriff. I like you, understand. Have your little jokes, Sinclair. I mean it. I know I'm using you like a skunk, but I got a special need, and I can't take no chances, Sheriff. I'll tell you out of my heart that I'm sorry. Will you believe me? The sheriff smiled, the same as you'll believe me, when we changed parts, Sinclair. The big man sighed.

Starting point is 02:58:47 I suppose it's got to be that way, he said. But if you come for me, Kern, come all prime for action. It'll be a hard trail. that's my specialty while sheriff's along and good luck the sheriff nodded thanks pressing his horse with his knees kern started down the trail at a slow canter sinclair followed the retiring figure nodding with admiration at the skill with which the sheriff kept his mount under control merely by power of voice presently the latter turned a corner of the trail and was out of sight but i knew i knew exclaimed john gaspar only why did you let him go into town the cold glance of sinclair rested on his companion what would you have done tied him up and left him here i think you would to die in the sun he swung up into his saddle now gaspar we've started on what's like to prove the last trail for both of us understand by night we'll both be outlawed they'll have a price on us and long before night kern will be after us for the first time in your soft heart at life you've got to work and you've got to fight i'll do it mr sinclair bah save your talk talk start cheap i only ask one thing why have you done it because you fool i killed quade end of chapter twelve

Starting point is 03:00:32 chapter thirteen of the rangeland avenger by max brand this librivox recording is in the public domain from the first there was no thought in the sheriff's mind of riding straight in the woodville trust in helpless as a he was. Woodville respected him, and the whole district was proud of its sheriff. He knew that five minutes of laughter can blast the finest reputation that was ever built by a lifetime of hard labor. He knew the very faces of the men who had never let the story die of how the sheriff came into town, not only without his prisoner, but tied hand and foot helpless in the saddle. without his prisoner. Never before, in his twenty years of sheriff, had a criminal escaped from his hands.

Starting point is 03:01:25 Many a time they had tried, and on those occasions he had brought back a dead body for the hand of the law. This time he had ample excuse. Any man in the world might admit that he was helpless when such a fellow as Riley Sinclair took him by surprise. He knew Sinclair well by reputation,

Starting point is 03:01:44 and he respected all that he had heard. No matter for that, the fact remained that his unbroken string of successes was interrupted. Perhaps Woodville would explain his failure away. No doubt, some of the men knew of Sinclair and would not wonder. They would stand up doubtly for the prowess of their sheriff. Yet the fact held that he had failed. It was a moral defeat more than anything else. His mind was made up to remain in the mountains until he starved,

Starting point is 03:02:20 or until he had removed those shameful ropes, his own rope. At that thought he writhed again, but here in a royal opening in the ragged wall of a cliff caught his eye. He turned his horse into it and continued on his way until he saw a projecting rock with a ragged edge, left where a great fragment had recently fallen. away. Here he found it strangely awkward and even perilous to dismount without his hands, to balance his weight as he shifted out of the stirrups. In spite of his care, he stumbled over

Starting point is 03:02:59 a loose rock as he struck the ground and rolled flat on his back. He got up, grinding his teeth. His hands were tied behind him. He turned his back on the broken rock and sawed the ropes against it. To his dismay, he felt the rock edge crumble away. It was some chalky, friable stuff, and it gave at the first friction. Beads of moisture started out on the sheriff's forehead. Hastily, he started on down the arroyo, and found another rock, with an edge not nearly so favorable in appearance, but this time it was granite. He leaned his back against it and rubbed, with a short shoulder motion until his arms ached, but it was a happy labor. He felt the rock edge taking hold of the ropes, franed the strands to weakness,

Starting point is 03:03:52 and then eating into them. It was very slow work. The sun drifted up to noon, and still he was leaning against that rock, working patiently with his head near to bursting, and perspiration, which he could not wipe away, running down to blind him. Finally, when his brain was beginning to reel with the heat and his shoulders ached to numbness, the last strand parted. The sheriff dropped down to the ground to rest.

Starting point is 03:04:25 Presently, he drew out his jackknife and methodically cut the remaining bonds. It came to him suddenly as he stood up that someone might have seen this singular performance and carried the tail away for future laughter. The thought drove the sheriff mad. He swung savagely into the saddle and drove his horse at a dead run among the perilous going of that gorge.

Starting point is 03:04:51 When he reached the plane, he paused. Hesitent, between a bulldog desire to follow the trail single-handed into the mountains and run down the pair and a knowledge that he who retreats has an added power. that would make such a pursuit rash beyond words the phrase which he had coined for the gossips of woodville came back into his mind he was no longer as young as he once was and even had his prime he shrewdly doubted his ability to cope with riley sinclair with the weight of gaspar thrown in the thing became an impossibility gaspar might be a weakling but a man who was capable of murder

Starting point is 03:05:36 was always dangerous. To have been thwarted at once was shame enough, but he dared not risk two failures with one man. He must have help in plenty from Woodville and fate willing. He would one day have the pleasure of looking down into the dead face of Sinclair. One day have the unspeakable joy of seeing the slender form of Gaspar dangling from the end of a rope.

Starting point is 03:06:04 His mind was filled with a wicked pleasure, of these pictures, until he came suddenly upon Woodville. He drew his horse back to a dog-trot to enter the town. It was a short street that led through Woodville. But short, though it was, the news that something was wrong with the sheriff reached the heart of the town before he did. Men were already pouring out on the veranda of the hotel. Where is he, Sheriff, was the greeting?

Starting point is 03:06:33 Never before had that question been asked. he switched to one side in his saddle and made the speech that startled the mind of woodville for many a day boys i've been double-crossed have any of you heard tell of riley sinclair he waited apparently calm inwardly he was breathless with excitement for according to the size of riley's reputation as a formidable man would be the size of his disgrace there was a brief pause old shaw filled the gap and he filled it to the complete satisfaction of the sheriff young hopkins was figured for the hardest man up in montana way he said that was till riley sinclair beat him what about sinclair it was him that double crossed me said the sheriff vastly relieved he come like a friend stuck me up on the trail when i wasn't looking for no trouble and he got away with gasp bar. A chorus, astonished, eager. What did he do it for? No man will ever know, said the sheriff. Why not? Because Sinclair will be dead before he has a chance to look a jury in the face. There were more questions. The little crowd had got its breath again, and the words came in

Starting point is 03:07:57 volleys. The sheriff cut sharply through the noise. Where's Bill Wood? He's in town now. Charlie, will you find Bill for me and ask him the slide over to my office? Thanks. Where's Arizona and Red Chalmers? They went back to the ranch. Be a terrible big favor

Starting point is 03:08:19 if you'd go out and try and find them for me, boys. Where's Joe Stockton? Up to the Lewis Place. Old Shaw, struck in. You ain't making no mistake in picking the best you can get. you'll need him for this Riley Sinclair. I've heard tell about him, a pile.

Starting point is 03:08:40 The very best that Woodville and its vicinity could offer was indeed what the sheriff was selecting. Another man would have looked for numbers, but the sheriff knew well enough that numbers meant little, speed, and speed was one of the main essentials for the task that lay before him. He knew each of the men he had named, and he had known them for years.

Starting point is 03:09:03 with the exception of Arizona, but the latter, coming up from the Southland, had swiftly proved his ability and many a brawl. Bill Wood was a peerless trailer. Red Chalmers would, the sheriff felt, be one day a worthy aspirant for the office which he now held. And Red was the only man the sheriff felt who could succeed to that perilous office. As for Joe Stockton, he was distinct. frankly bad medicine, but in a case like this it might very well be that poison would

Starting point is 03:09:40 be the antidote for poison. Of all the men the sheriff knew, Joe was the neatest hand with a gun. The trouble with Joe was that he appreciated his own ability and was fond of exhibiting his prowess. Having sent out for his assistance on the chase, the sheriff The sheriff retired to his office and set his affairs in order. There was not a great deal of paperwork connected with his position. In twenty minutes he had cleared his desk, and by the time he had finished this task, the first of his posse had sauntered into the doorway

Starting point is 03:10:16 and stood leaning idly there, rolling a cigarette. "'Have a chair bill, will you?' said the sheriff. He tilted back in his own and tossed his heels to the top of his desk. Getting sort of warm today, ain't it? Bill Wood had never seen the sheriff so cheerful. He sat down gingerly, knowing well, that some task of great danger lay before them. End of Chapter 13. Chapter 14 of the Rangeland Adventure by Max Brand.

Starting point is 03:11:00 This Libravox recording is in the public domain. All that Gaspar dreaded in Riley Sinclair had come true, The schoolteacher drew his horse as far away as the trail allowed and rode on in silence. Finally there was a stumble, and it seemed as if the words or jarred out from his lips, hitherto closely compressed. You killed Quaid? A scowl was his answer. But he persisted in the inquiry with a sort of trembling curiosity,

Starting point is 03:11:35 though he could see the angry emotions rise in Sinclair, The emotion of a murderer, perhaps. How? With a gun-fool, how do you think? Even that did not halt John Gaspar. Was it a fair fight? Maybe, maybe not. It won't bring him back to life.

Starting point is 03:11:55 Riley laughed with savage satisfaction. Gasper watched him as a bird might watch a snake. He had heard tales of men who could find satisfaction in a murder, but he had never believed that a human being, could actually gloat over his own savagery. He stared at Riley as if he were looking at a wild beast that must be placated. Thereafter, the talk was short. Now and again Sinclair gave some curt direction,

Starting point is 03:12:25 but they put mile after mile behind them without a single phrase interchanged. Gaspar began the slump in the saddle. It brought a fierce rebuke from Sinclair. Straighten up, put some of your weight in them stirrups. Do you think any horse can buck up when it's carrying a pile of lead? Come alive. It's the heat, it takes my strength, protested Gaspar. Curse you and your strength, I wouldn't trade all of you, for one ear of the horse

Starting point is 03:12:58 you're riding, do what I tell you. Without protest, without a flush of shame, at this brutal abuse, John Gaspar attempted to obey. Then as they topped the rise and reached the crest of a range of hills, Gaspar cried out in surprise. Sour Creek lay in the hollow beneath them. But you're running straight into the face of danger. Don't tell me what I'm doing. I know maybe all by myself.

Starting point is 03:13:28 He checked his horse and sat his saddle. I and Gaspar with such disgust, such concentrated scorn in contempt that the schoolteacher winced. I've brought you inside of the town so you can go home. And be hanged? You won't be hanged. I'll send a confession along with you. I've busted the law once thereafter me.

Starting point is 03:13:52 They might as well have some more reasons for hitting my trail. But is it fair to you? asked Aspar, intertwining his nervous fingers. Sinclair heard the words and eyed the gesture with unutterable disgust. At last he could speak. Fair, he asked in scorn. Since when have you been interested in playing fair? Takes a man with some nerve to play fair.

Starting point is 03:14:17 You've spoiled my game, Gaspar. You've blocked me every way from the start, cold feet. I killed Quaid, and there's another in Sour Creek that needs killing. That's something you can do. Go on down and tell the sheriff, when he happens along, and show him my confound. confession. Go down and tell him that I ain't running away, that I'm staying close, and then I'm going to nab my second man right under his nose. That'll give him something to think about.

Starting point is 03:14:46 He favored the schoolteacher with another black look, and then swung out of the saddle, throwing his reins. He sat down with his back to a stunted tree. Gaspar dismounted likewise, and hovered near, after the fashion of a man who was greatly worried. He watched while Sinclair deliberately took out an old stained envelope and a stub of a pencil and started to write. His brows knitted in pain with the effort. Suddenly Gaspar cried out, Don't do it, Mr. Sinclair. A slight lifting of Sinclair's heavy brows showed that he had heard,

Starting point is 03:15:25 but he did not raise his head. Don't do what? Don't try to kill that second man, don't do it. Gasper was rewarded with a little bit of his head. a sneer. Why not? The school teacher was desperately eager. His glance roved from the set face of the cow-puncher and through the scragged branches of the tree. You'll be damned for it in your own mind. At heart you're a good man, I swear you are, and now you throw yourself away. Won't you try to open your mind and see this another way? Not an inch kid. I gave my word for this to a dead man.

Starting point is 03:16:04 I told you about a friend of mine. I'll never forget. I gave him my word, though he never heard it. If I have to wait fifty years, I'll live long enough, to kill the gent that's in Sour Creek now. The other day I had him under my gun. Think of it. I let him go.

Starting point is 03:16:23 And you'll let him go again, Sinclair. Murder isn't your nature. You're better than you think. Close up, growled the calipuncher. It ain't no Saturday night party. for me to write, keep still till I finish. He resumed his labor of writing, drawing out each letter carefully. He had reached a signature when a low call from John Gaspar alarmed him.

Starting point is 03:16:48 He looked up to find the little man pointing and staring up the trail. A horseman had just dropped over the crest and was winding leisurely down toward the plane below. We can get behind that knoll, perhaps, before he sees us, suggested Jim. jig in a whisper. His suggestion met with no favor. You hear me talk, son, said Sinclair dryly. That gent ain't carrying no guns, which means that he ain't on our trail. We've been figured particularly desperate. He pointed this remark with a cold survey of the desperate jig. Best way to make danger follow you, Jig, is to run away from it. We stay put. He emphasized,

Starting point is 03:17:34 the remark by stretching luxuriously. Gaspar, however, did not seem to hear the last words. Something about the strange horseman had apparently riveted his interest. His last gesture was arrested halfway, and his color changed perceptibly. "'You stay then, Mr. Sinclair,' he said hurriedly. "'I'm going to slip down the hill and.' "'You stay where you are, cut in Sinclair. But I have a reason.

Starting point is 03:18:02 your reason ain't no good you stay put you here it seemed that a torrent of explanation was about to pour from the lips of jig but he restrained himself white of face and sank down in the shade of the tree then he stretched himself out hastily with his hands cupped behind his head and his hat tilted so far down over his face that his entire head was hidden sinclair followed these proceedings with a lack-loaf. your eye. When you do move, Jig, he said. You ain't so slow about it. That's pretty good faking. Take it all in all. But why don't you want this strange gent to see your face?

Starting point is 03:18:46 A slight shudder was the only reply. Then Jig lay deadly still. In the meantime, before Sinclair could pursue his questions, the horseman was almost upon him. The cow-puncher regarded him with distinct approval. he was a man of the country and he showed it as his pony slouched down the slope picking its way dexterously among the rocks the rider met each jolt on the way with an easy swing of his shoulders riding straight up just enough of his weight falling into the stirbs to break the jar on the back of the mustang the stranger drew up on the trail and swung the head of his horse in toward the tree raising his hand in a cavalier greeting he was a sun-brown fellow as tall as sinclair and more heavily built as for his age he seemed in that joyous prime of physical life twenty-five

Starting point is 03:19:46 sinclair nodded amiably might that be sour creek yonder asked the brown man it might be i reckon it is get down and rest your hoss thanks maybe i will he dropped to the ground and eased and stiffened his knees to get out the cramp of long riding. Off the horse he seemed even bigger and more capable than before, and now that he had come sufficiently close so that the shadow of a sombrero brim did not partially mask the upper part of his face, it seemed to Sinclair that about the eyes he was not nearly so prepossessing as around the clean-cut fighter's mouth and chin. the eyes were just a trifle too small a trifle too close together yet on the whole he was a handsome fellow as he pushed back his hat and wiped his forehead dry with a gray silk handkerchief

Starting point is 03:20:46 sinclair noted furthermore that the other had a proper cow-puncher's pride in his dress his bench-made boots molded his long and slender feet to a nicety and fit like gloves around the high in sea step. The polished spurs, with her spoon-handle curve, gleamed and flashed, as he stepped with a faint jingling. The braid of a sombrado was a thing of price. These details, Sinclair noted, the rest did not matter. The kids asleep, asked the stranger, casting a careless glance at the slim form of jig. I reckon so. He'd done it all mighty sudden. I thought I seen him up and walking around when I come over the hill. You got good eyes, said Sinclair, but he was instantly put on the defensive. He was heartily tired of Cold Feet Gaspar, his peculiarities, his whims, his weaknesses.

Starting point is 03:21:49 But Cold Feet was his riding companion, and this was a stranger. He was thrown suddenly into the position of a defender of the helpless. That's the way with these kids he confide it carelessly to the stranger. They get out and ride fast for a couple of hours, full of ambition they are. But when a grown man gets warmed up to his work, they're through. The kids tired out. Come far, asked a stranger. Tolerable long ways.

Starting point is 03:22:20 Sinclair disliked questions, and for each interrogation, his opinion of the newcomer descended lower and lower. His own father had raised him on a stern pattern. What you mean by questions, Riley, what you can't figure out with your own eyes and ears, and good common horse sense, most likely the other gent don't want you to know. Thereafter, he had schooled himself in this particular point.

Starting point is 03:22:49 He could suppress all curiosity and go six months without knowing more than the nickname of a boon companion. You come from sour. Creek maybe went on the other. Sorta, replied Sinclair dryly. His companion proceeded to dispense information on his own part

Starting point is 03:23:08 so as to break the ice. I'm Jude Cartwright. He paused significantly, but Sinclair's face was a blank. Glad to know you, Mr. Cartwright. Mostly they call me Long Riley. How are you, Riley? They shook hands heartily.

Starting point is 03:23:27 Cartwright took a place on the ground, cross-legged, and not far from Sinclair. I guess you don't know me, he asked pointedly. I guess not. I'm of the Jesse Cartwright family. Sinclair smiled blankly. Lucky Cartwright was my dad's name. That's so?

Starting point is 03:23:50 I guess you ain't ever been up Montana way, said the stranger in disgust, which he hardly veiled. Not much, said Sinclair blandly. I wish that I was back up there. This is a whole of a country down here. Horse flesh and time will take you back, I reckon. I reckon they will, when my job's done. He turned a disparaging eye upon Sour Creek and its vicinity.

Starting point is 03:24:17 Now who would want to live in a town like that, can you tell me? It occurred very strongly to Riley Sinclair, that Cartwright had not yet fully ascertained whether or not his companion came from that very town. And although the day before, he had decided that Sour Creek was most undesirable, and all that pertained to it, this unmasked confirmation of his own opinion grated on his nerves. Well, there seems to be a few that gets along tolerable well in that town, partner. "'They's ten fools for every one wise man,' declared Cartwright, sententulously.

Starting point is 03:24:58 Sinclair veiled his eyes with a downward glance. He dared not let the other see the cold gleam, which he knew was coming into them. I guess them's true words. Tolerable true, admitted Cartwright, but I've rode along ways, and this ain't much to find at the end of the trail. Maybe it'll pan out pretty well after all. If Sour Creek holds the person I'm after, I'll call it a good pay and gain.

Starting point is 03:25:28 I hope you find your friend, remarked Riley, with his deceptive softness of tone. Friend hell, and that's where this friend will wish me when I heave in sight. You can lay to that and long odds. Sinclair waited, but the other changed his tack at once. if you ain't from sour creek i guess can't tell me what i want to know maybe not the brown man looked about him for diversion presently his eyes rested on cold feet who had not stirred during all this interval son nope kid brother nope cartwright frowned not much of nothing i figure he said with marked insolence maybe not replied sinclair and again he glanced down

Starting point is 03:26:20 he slept long enough i reckon declared the brown man let's have a look at him hey kid cold feet quivered but seemed lost in a profound sleep cartwright reached for a small stone and juggled it in the palm of his hand this'll surprise him he chuckled better not murmured sinclair why not might land on his face and hurt him it won't hurt him bad besides the kid ought to learn not to sleep in the daytime ain't a good idea any way you look at it puts fog in the head he poised the stone you might hit his eye you see said sinclair Leave that to me. But as his arm twisted back for the throw, the hand of Riley Sinclair flashed out, and lean fingers crushed the wrist of Cartwright. Yet Sinclair's voice was still soft.

Starting point is 03:27:18 Better not, he said. They sat confronting each other for a moment. The stone dropped from the numbed fingers of Cartwright, and Sinclair released his wrists. Their characters were more easily read in the crisis. Cartwright's face flushed, and a purple vein ran down his forehead between the eyes. Sinclair turned pale, he seemed indeed, almost afraid, and apparently Cartwright took his cue from the pallor. I see, he said sneeringly, you got your guns on, is that it?

Starting point is 03:27:55 Sinclair slipped off the cartridge belt. Do I look better to you now? A pile better, said Cartwright. They rose, still confronting each other. It was strange how swiftly they had plunged into strife. I guess you'd better be rolling along, Cart, right? Nope. I guess I like it tolerable well under this here tree.

Starting point is 03:28:19 Except that I come here first, partner. And maybe you'll be the first to leave. I'll have to be persuaded a pile. How's this to start you along? He flipped the back of his hand. hand across the lips of Sinclair, and then sprang back as far as his long legs would carry him. So doing, the first leap of Sinclair missed him, and when the cow-puncher turned, he was met with a stunning blow on the side of the head. At once the blind anger faded from the eyes of Riley.

Starting point is 03:28:54 By the weight of that blow, he knew that he had encountered a worthy foeman, and by the position of cartwright, he could tell that he had met a confident one. The big fellow was perfectly poised, with his weight well back on his right foot, his left foot feeling his way over the rough ground as he advanced, always collected for a heavy blow

Starting point is 03:29:18 or for a leap in any direction. He carried his guard high with apparent contempt for an attack on his body, after the manner of a practiced boxer. As for Riley Sinclair, boxing was Greek to him. His battles had been those of bullets and sharp steel, or sudden brutal fracas, where the rule was to strike with the first weapon that came to hand.

Starting point is 03:29:47 The single encounter, hand to hand, was more or less a novelty to him, but instead of a bashing or cowing him, it merely brought to the surface all his coldness of mind, all of his cunning. He circled Cartwright, his long arms dangling low, his steps soft and quick,

Starting point is 03:30:08 as the stride of a great cat, and always there was thought in his face. One gained an impression that if he ever closed with his enemy, the battle would end. Apparently, even Cartwright gained that impression. His own brute confidence of skill and power was suddenly tinged with doubt.

Starting point is 03:30:32 Instead of waiting, he led suddenly with his left, a blow that tilted the head of Sinclair back, and then sprang in with a crushing right. It was poor tactics, for half of a boxer's nice skill is lost in a plunging attack. The second blow shot humming past Sinclair as the latter dodged,

Starting point is 03:30:54 and before the brown man could recover his poise, the cow-puncher, had dived in under the guarding arms a shrill cry rose from cold feet a cry so sharp and shrill that it sent a chill down the back of sinclair for a moment he whirled with the weight of a struggling cursing enemy and then his right hand shot up over the shoulder of cartwright and clutched his chin with that leverage one convulsive jerk threw cartwright heavily back he rolled on his right and he rolled on his arm side, with Sinclair following like a wildcat. Bacartwright, as he fell, had closed his finger on a jagged little stone. Sinclair saw the blow coming, swerved from it, and straightaway went mad. The brown man became a helpless bulk.

Starting point is 03:31:48 The knee of Sinclair was planted on his shoulders. The tal and fingers of Sinclair were buried in his throat. Then he saw it. only dimly threw his red anger and hardly felt it at all jigs hands were tearing at his wrists he looked up in dull surprise into the face of john gaspar for heaven's sakes jig was pleading stop but what checks and claire was not the school-teacher cartwright had been fighting with a fury of one who seized death only inches away suddenly he grew limp "'Ewey cried you.' To the astonishment of Sinclair, the gaze of the beaten man

Starting point is 03:32:32 rested directly upon the face of Jig. Yes, Gaspar admitted faintly. It is I. Sinclair released his grip and stood back, while Cartwright, stumbling to his feet, stood wavering, breathing harshly, and fingering his injured throat. "'I knew I'd find you,' he said,

Starting point is 03:32:54 but I never dreamed I'd find you like this. I know what you think, said cold feet, utterly colorless. But you think wrong, Jude. You think entirely wrong. You lie like a devil. On my honor. Honor, you ain't got none. Honor?

Starting point is 03:33:14 He flung himself into his saddle. Now that I've located you, the next time I come, it'll be with a gun. He turned a convulse face towards inclair. and that goes for you partner said riley sinclair that's the best thing i've heard you say until then so long the other wrenched this horse about and went down the trail at a reckless gallop plunging out of view around the first shoulder of a hill end of chapter fourteen chapter fifteen of the rangeland adventure by max brand this lebravox recording is in the public domain sinclair watched him out of sight he turned to find that jake had slumped against a tree and stood with his arm thrown across his face he reminded him with a curious pang of mingled pity and disgust of the way gaspar had faced the masked men of sour creek's posse the day before there was the same unmanly abnegation of the courage to meet danger and look it in the eye here again the school's

Starting point is 03:34:33 school teacher was wincing from the very memory of a crisis. Look here, exclaims, and Claire. His contempt rang in his voice. There ain't any danger now. Turn around here and buck up. Keep your chin high and look a man in the face, will you? Slowly the arm descended. He found himself looking into a white and tortured face.

Starting point is 03:34:58 His respect for the school teacher rose somewhat. The very fact that the little man could endure. as such pain in silence, no matter what that pain might be, was something to his credit. Now come out with it, Gaspar. You double-crossed this cartwright, huh? Yes, whispered Jig. Will you tell me? Not that I make a business of prying into the affairs of other gents, but I figure I might be able to help you straighten things out with this cartwright. He made a wry face, and then rubbed the side of his head, where a little bit of his head. Where a Lump was slowly growing.

Starting point is 03:35:36 Of all the gents that I ever seen, said Sinclair softly, I ain't never seen none that made me want to tangle with him so powerful bad. And all of the poisoned fatheads, all the mean sneak and advantage-taking skunks that ever I run up against, this gent cartwright is the worst. If his hide was worth a million an inch, I would have it. If he was to pay me a hundred thousand a day,

Starting point is 03:36:02 I wouldn't be his pal for a minute. He paused, then, taken him by and large, is my sentiment about this here cartwright. So open up and tell me what you done to him. To his very real surprise, the schoolteacher shook his head. I can't do it.

Starting point is 03:36:24 Hmm, said Sinclair, cut to the quick. Can't you trust me with it, huh? Ah, murmured Gaspar, of all the men in the world, you're the one, I tell it to most easily. But I can't, I can't. I don't care whether you tell me or not. Whatever you've done, it must have been from bad,

Starting point is 03:36:45 if you can't even tell it, to a gent that likes Cartwright, like he likes poison. It was bad, said Jiggs slowly. It was very bad. It was a sin. Until I die, I can never repay him for what I have done. sinclair recovered some of his good nature at this outburst of self-accusation i'll be hanged if i believe it he declared bruntly not a word of it when you come right down to the point you'll find out that you ain't been half so bad as you think the way i figure you is this jig you ain't so bad except you ain't got no nerve

Starting point is 03:37:27 was it a matter of losing your nerve that made cartwright mad at you yes it was altogether that sinclair sighed too bad i don't blame you for not wanting to talk about it there's a flaw in everything jig and this is yours if i was to be around you much you know what i'd do what i'd try to plumb forget about this flaw of yours that's a fact but as far as cartwright goes to blazes with him and that's where he's apt to wind up, Pronto, if he's as good as his word, and comes after me with a gun. In the meantime, you grab your horse-kid, and slide back into Sour Creek and show the boys this here confession I've written.

Starting point is 03:38:13 You can add one thing. I didn't put it in, because I knowed they wouldn't believe me. I killed Quaid Farad Square. I gave him the first move for his gun, and then I beat him to the draw, and killed him on an even break. That's the straight of it. I know they won't believe it.

Starting point is 03:38:32 Matter of fact. I'm saying it for you, Jig, more than I am for them. It was an amazing thing to see the sudden light that flooded the face of the schoolteacher. And I do believe you, Sinclair, said. With all my heart, I believe you, and know you couldn't have taken an unfair advantage.

Starting point is 03:38:52 Hmm, muttered Riley. It ain't bad. to hear you say that, and now trot along, son. Cold feet made no move to obey. Not that I wouldn't like to have you along, but where I got to go, you'd be a weight around my neck. Besides your game is to show the folks down yonder that you ain't a murderer,

Starting point is 03:39:15 and that paper I've given you will prove it. We'll drift together, along the trail partway, and down yonder I'll turn up for the tall timber. To all this Jig returned, I answer, but in a peculiarly lifeless manner, went to his horse, and climbed in his awkward way into the saddle. They went down the trail slowly. Because, explained the cow-puncher, if I save my horse's wind, I may be saving my own life. Where the trail bent like an elbow and shot sheer down for the plain and Sower Creek, Riley Sinclair pointed his horse's nose up to the taller mountains.

Starting point is 03:39:59 But Jake sat his horse in melancholy silence and looked mournfully up at his companion. So long, said Sinclair cheerily, and when you get down yonder, it'll happen most likely that pretty soon you'll hear a lot of hard things about Riley Sinclair. If I do, if I hear a syllable against you, cried the school teacher, with a flare of color, i'll drive the words back into their teeth he shook with his emotion riley sinclair shook with controlled laughter would you do all that partner well i believe you try what i mean to say is this no matter what they say you can lay to it that sinclair has tried to play square and clean according to his own lights which ain't always the best in the world so long there was no answer he found himself looking down into the quivering face of the school teacher why kid you look all busted up riley gasped jigg very faintly i can't go and why not because i can't meet jude cartwright huh but you gotta go sooner or later i'll die first would your nerve hold you up through that so easily said jigg

Starting point is 03:41:19 There was such a simple gravity and despair in his expression that Sinclair believed it. He grunted and stared hard. This cartwright, gent, is worse than death to you. A thousand, thousand times. How come? I can't tell you. I kind of wish, said Sinclair thoughtfully, that I'd kept my grip a mite longer. No, no.

Starting point is 03:41:46 You don't wish him dead? Jig shuddered. You plumb beat me, partner. And now you want to come along with me, Sinclair grinned. An outlaw's life ain't what it's cracked up to be, son. He'd last about a day doing what I have to do. You'll find, said the schoolteacher eagerly, that I can stand it amazingly well.

Starting point is 03:42:08 I'll be far stronger than you expect. Somehow I kind of believe it, but it's for your own fool's sake, son, that I don't want you a loss. Let me try, plead it jig eagerly. The other shook his head and seemed to change his mind in the very midst of the gesture. Why not? he asked himself, you'll get enough of it inside of a day,

Starting point is 03:42:32 and then you'll find out that there's some things as bad as death or cartwright. Come on, kid. End of Chapter 15. Chapter 16 of the Rangeland Avenger by Max Brand. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. It was a weary ride that brought them to the end of that day and to a camping place. It seemed a jig that the world was made up of nothing

Starting point is 03:43:09 but the ups and downs of that mountain trail. Now as the sun went down, they came out on a flat shoulder of the mountain. Far below them lay Sauer Creek, lost in the shadow of premature night which filled the vows. valley. Here we are, fixed up as comfortable as can be, sits in Clare cheerily. There's water and there's wood a plenty. What could a gent ask for more? And here's my country. For a moment, his expression softened as he looked over the black peaks, stepping away to the north. Now he pointed out a grove of trees, and on the other side of the little plateau was heard

Starting point is 03:43:53 the murmur of a feeble spring. Riley swung down easily from the saddle, but when Jig dismounted, his knees buckled with weariness and he slipped down on a rock. He was unheated for a moment by the cowpuncher who was removing from his saddle the quarters of a deer which he had shot at the foot of the mountain.

Starting point is 03:44:16 When this task was ended, the stern voice brought Jig to his feet. What's all this? How come, going to let that horse stand there all night with his saddle on? Hurry up. All right, replied the schoolteacher, but his voice quaked with weariness, and the cinch knot, drawn tight by the powerful hand of Jerry bent, refused to loosen. He struggled with it until his fingers ached, and his panicky breath came in gasps of nervous excitement.

Starting point is 03:44:50 Presently he was aware of the tall dark front. form of Sinclair behind him. His saddle slung across his arm. By guns, muttered Sinclair, it ain't possible, not enough muscle to untie a knot. It's a good thing that your father can't see the sort of son that he turned out. Let me at that. Under his strong fingers the knot gave by magic. Now yank that saddle off and put it yonder with mine. Jig pulled back the saddle, but when the full weight jerked down on him, he staggered, and he began to drag the heavy load. Hey, cut in the voice of the tyrant. Want to spoil that saddle kid?

Starting point is 03:45:33 Lifted, can't you? Gaspar obeyed with a start, and, having placed it in the required position, turned and waited guiltily. Time you was learning something about camping out, declared the cow-puncher, and I'll teach you. take this axe and give me some wood pronto he handed over a short axe heavy-headed and small of half that brush yonder that's dead or dead enough for us plainly jade was in awe of that axe he carried it well out from his side as if he feared the least touch against his leg might mean a cut of all this riley sinclair was aware with a gradually darkening expression He had been partly won the jig that day, but his better opinion of the schoolteacher was being fast undermined. With a gloomy eye he watched John Gaspar

Starting point is 03:46:31 drop on his knees at the base of the designated shrub and raised the axe slowly in both hands. Not only that, but the head remained poised hung over the schoolteacher's shoulder. When the blow fell, instead of striking solidly, on the trunk of the brush, it crashed futilely through a branch. Riley Sinclair drew closer to watch. It was excusable, perhaps, for a man to be unable to ride or to shoot or to face other men.

Starting point is 03:47:05 But it was inconceivable that any living creature should be so clumsy with a common axe. To his consummate disgust, the work of Jig became worse and worse. No two blows fell on the same spot. the trunk of the little tree became bruised but even when the edge of the axe did not strike on a branch at most it merely sliced into the outer surface of the wood and left the heart untouched it was a process of gnawing not of chopping to crown the terrible exhibition jigg now rested from his labors and examined the palms of his hands which had become a bright red give me the axe at sinclair shortly he dared not trust himself to more speech and snatching it from the hands of cold feet buried the blade into the very heart of the trunk another blow driven home with equal power and precision on the opposite side made the tree shudder to its top and the third blow scented swishing to the earth this brought a short cry of admiration and wonder from the school-teacher for which sinclair rewarded him with one glance of contempt with sweeping strokes he cleared away the half-dead branches presently the trunk was naked on it riley now concentrated his attack

Starting point is 03:48:34 making the short axe whistle over his shoulders. The trunk of the shrub was divided into handy portions as if by magic. Still, John Gaspar, stood by, gaping, apparently finding nothing to do, and this with the camp barely started. It was easier to do oneself, however, than to give directions to such stupidity. Sinclair swept up an armful of wood, and strode off to the spot he had selected for the campfire. Near the place where the spring water ran into a small pool.

Starting point is 03:49:13 A couple of big rocks thrown in place furnished a windbreak. Between them he heaped dead twigs, and in a moment the flame was leaping. As soon as the fire was lighted, they became aware that the night was well nigh upon them. Hitherto the day had seemed to, some distance from its final end, for there was still color in the sky, and the tops of the western mountains were still bright.

Starting point is 03:49:42 But with the presence of fire brightness, the rest of the world became dim. The western peaks were ghostly. The sky faded to the ashes of its former splendor, and Jig found himself looking down upon thick night in the lower valleys. He saw the eyes of the horses glistening as a little bit of the horses glistening as a they raised their heads to watch. The gaunt form of Sinclair seemed enormous. Stooping about the fire,

Starting point is 03:50:11 enormous shadows drifted above and behind him. Sometimes the light flushed over his lean face and glinted in his eyes. Again his head was lost in shadow, and perhaps only the active, reaching hands, were illuminated brightly. He prepared the deer meat within conventing, comprehensible swiftness, at the same time arranging the fire, so that it rapidly burned down

Starting point is 03:50:40 to a firm, strong level, bed of coals, and by the time the bed of coals were ready, the meat was prepared in thick stakes to broil over it. In a little time the rich brown of the cooking venison streaked across the jig. He had kept at a distance up to this time, realizing that he was in disgrace. Now he drifted near. He was rewarded by an amiable grin from Riley Sinclair, whose ugly humor seemed to have vanished at the odor of the broiling meat. Watch this meat cook, kid, will you? There's something you can do that don't take no muscle and don't take no knowledge. All you got to do is to keep listening with your nose. And if you smell it burning, yank her off. Understand?

Starting point is 03:51:31 and don't let the fire blaze she's apt to flare up at the corners you see and these here twigs is apt to burn through these ones that keep the meat off in the coals watch them too and that's all you got to do can you manage all them things at once jiggs nodded gravely as though he failed to see the contempt i seen a fine patch of grass down the hill a bit i'm going to take the horses down the horse down a bit i'm going to take the horses down the horses down down there and hobble him out. Whistling, Sinclair strode off down the hill, leading the horses after him. The schoolteacher watched him go, and when the forms had vanished, and only the echo of the whistling blew back he looked up. The last life was gone from the sunset. The last time he glanced up, there had been only a few dim stars. Now they had come down in multitudes, great yellow planets, and whole rifts of steel-blue stars. He took from his pocket the old envelope which Sinclair had given him, examined the scribbled

Starting point is 03:52:42 confession, chuckling of the crude labor with which the writing had been drawn out, and then deliberately stuffed the paper into a corner of the fire. It flamed up, singing the cooking meat, but John Gaspar paid no heed. He was staring off down the hill to make sure that Sinclair should not return in time to see that little act of destruction. An act of self-destruction, too, it well might turn out to be. As for Sinclair, having found his pasture land, where the grass grew thick and tall, he was in no hurry to return to his clumsy companion. He listened for a time to the sound of the horses, ripping away the grass close to the ground, and to the grating as they chewed.

Starting point is 03:53:33 Then he turned his attention to the mountains. His spirit was easier in this place. He breathed more easily. There was a sense of freedom at once and companionship. He lingered so long indeed that he suddenly became aware that time had slipped away from him and that the venison must be long since. since done. At that, he hurried back up the slope. He was hungry, ravenously hungry, but the first thing that greeted him was the scent of burning meat. It stopped him short,

Starting point is 03:54:09 and his hands gripped involuntarily. In that first burst of passion, he wanted literally to wring the neck of the schoolteacher. He strolled closer. It was as he thought. The twigs had burned away from beneath the stake and allowed it to drop into the cinders. And beside the dying fire, barely illuminated by it, sat jig, sound asleep, with his head resting on his knees.

Starting point is 03:54:38 For a moment Sinclair had to fight with himself for control. All his murderous evil temper had flared up into his brain and set his teeth gritting. At length he could trust himself enough to reach down and set his heavy grip on the shoulder of the sleeper. Even in sleep, Jig must have been pursued by a burdened consciousness of guilt. Now he jerked up his head and stammered up to the shadowy face of Sinclair.

Starting point is 03:55:10 I don't know. All at once had happened. You see the fire? But the telltale odor of a charing meat struck his nostrils and his speech died away. he was panting with fear of consequences now a new turn came to the fear of cold feet it seemed that riley sinclair's hand had frozen at the touch of the soft flesh of jig's shoulder he remained for a long moment without stirring when his hand moved it was to take jig under the chin with marvelous firmness and gentleness at once and lift the face of the school-teacher he seemed to find much to read there much to study and know whatever it was it set jigg trembling until suddenly he shrank away cowering against the rock behind you don't think but the voice of sinclair broke in with a note in it that jake had never heard before guns and glory a woman it came over him with a rush that revelation which explains so many things everything in fact all the strange cowardice and all the stranger grace the unmanly shrinking that more than manly contempt for death Now the firelight was too feeble to show more than one thing, the haunted eyes of the girl,

Starting point is 03:56:40 as she cowered away from him. He saw her hand drop from her breast to her holster and close around the butt of her revolver. Sinclair grew cold and sick. After all, what reason had she to trust him? He drew back and began to walk up and down with long, slow strides. The girl followed him And saw his gaunt figure Brush across the stars

Starting point is 03:57:07 She saw the wind furl And unfurl The wide brim of his hat And she heard the faint stir And clink Of his spurs at every step There was a tumult in the brain Of the cowpuncher

Starting point is 03:57:21 The stars and the sky And the mountains And wind went out There was nothing in the electric presence of this new jig His mind flashed back to one picture, cold feet with her hands tied behind her back, praying under the cottonwood. Shame turned the cowpuncher hot and then cold. He allowed his mind to drift back over his

Starting point is 03:57:46 thousand insults, his brutal languish, his cursing, his mockery, his open contempt. There was a tingle in his ears and a chill running up and down his spine. After all that brutality, what What mysterious sense had told her to trust to him rather than to Sour Creek and its men. Other mysteries flocked into his mind. Why had she come to the very verge of death with a rope around her neck rather than reveal her identity, knowing as she must know, that in the mountain desert men feel some touch of holiness in every woman? He remembered cartwright, tall, handsome, and narrow of eyes. and the fear of the girl.

Starting point is 03:58:34 Suddenly he wished with all his soul that he had fought with guns that day and not with fists. End of Chapter 16. Chapter 17 of the Rangeland Avenger by Max Brand. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. At length the continued silence of the girl made him turn. Perhaps she had slipped away.

Starting point is 03:59:08 His heart was. was chilled at the thought, turning, he sighed with relief to find her still there. Without a word he went back and rekindled the fire, placed new venison stakes over it, and broiled them with silent care. Not a sound from jig, not a sound from the cow-puncher, while the meat hissed blackened and at length was done to a turn. He laid portions of it on a broad, white, clean chips. she had already prepared and served her.

Starting point is 03:59:42 Still in silence she ate. Shame held Sinclair. He dared not look at her, and he was glad when the fire lost some of its brightness. Now and then he looked with wonder across the mountains. All his life they had been faces to him, and the wind had been a voice. Now all this was nothing but dead stuff.

Starting point is 04:00:05 There was no purpose in the march of the mountains, except that they led to the place where Jiggs sat. He twisted together a cup of bark and brought her water from the spring, she thanked him with words that he did not hear. He was so intent in watching her face as the firelight played on it. Now that he held the clue,

Starting point is 04:00:29 everything was as plain as day. New light played on the past. Turning away, he put new fuel on the fire and when he looked to her again she had unbelted the revolver and was putting it away, as if she realized that this would not help her if she were in danger. When at length she spoke, it was the same voice, and yet how new. The quality in it made Sinclair sit a little straighter. You have a right to know everything I can tell you.

Starting point is 04:01:03 Do you wish to hear? For another moment he smoked in solemn sense. silence. He found that he was wishing for the story, not so much because of its strangeness, but because he wanted that voice to run on indefinitely. Yet he weighed the question, pro and con. Here's the point, Jig, he said at last. I've got a good deal to make up to you. In the first place, I pretty near let you get strung up for killing I'd done myself. Then I've been treating you pretty hard. Take it all in all.

Starting point is 04:01:40 You've got a story, and I don't deny that I'd like to hear it. But it don't seem a story that you're fond of telling, and I ain't got no right to ask for it. All I asked to know is one thing. When you stood there under that cottonwood tree, with a rope around your neck, did you know that all you had to do was to tell us that you was a woman to get off free?

Starting point is 04:02:03 of course. And you'd sooner have hung than tell us? Yes. Sinclair sighed. Maybe I've said this before, but I got to say it again. Jig, you plumb beat me. He brushed his hand across his forehead. Suppose it had been done.

Starting point is 04:02:23 Suppose I'd let him go ahead and string you up. They'd have been a terrible bad time ahead for them seven men. We'd all have been grabbed and lynched. woman. He put the word off by itself. Then he was surprised to hear her laughing softly. Now that he knew, it was all woman, that voice. It wasn't really courage, Riley. After you had said half a dozen words, I knew you were square, and that you knew I was innocent, so I didn't worry very much, except just after you sentenced me to hang. Don't go back to that. I sure been a plumb fool. But why would you have gone ahead and let that hanging happen? Because I'd rather die

Starting point is 04:03:10 than be known, except to you. You leave me out. I'd trust you to the end of everything, Riley. I believe you would, Jig. I honestly believe you would. Heaven knows why. Because. That ain't a reason. A very good woman's reason, for one thing. You let me come along. You let me come along. when you know that I'm a wait and you're in danger, but you don't know what it means if I go back. You can't know. I know it's wrong and cowardly for me to stay and imperil you, but I am a coward, and I'm afraid to go back.

Starting point is 04:03:49 Hush up, murmured Sinclair. Hush up, girl. Is there anybody asking you to go back? But you don't really figure on hanging out here with me in the mountains. me having most of the gents in these parts outlooking for my scalp. If you think that I won't be such an encumbrance, that I'll greatly endanger you, Riley. Hmm, muttered Sinclair, I'll take that chance,

Starting point is 04:04:15 but there's another thing. Well, it ain't exactly natural and reasonable for a girl to go around in the mountains with a man. She fired up at that sitting straight with the fire flaring suddenly in her face through the change of position i told you that i trust you riley what do i care about the opinion of the world haven't they hounded me oh i despise them said the cowpuncher again he was indeed so abashed by this outbreak that he merely stole a glance at her face and then studied the fire again does his jank cart right tie up with your story all the fire left her yes she whispered he felt that she was searching his face as if suddenly in doubt of him will you let me tell you everything shoot ahead some parts will be hard to believe lady there won't be nothing as hard to believe as what i've seen you do with my own eyes then she began to tell her story

Starting point is 04:05:26 and she found vast comfort in seeing the ugly stern face of Sinclair lighted by the burning end of his cigarette. He never looked at her, but always fixed his stare on the sea of blackness, which was the lower valley. All the trouble began with a theory. My father felt that the thing for a girl was to be educated in the east and marry in the west. He was full of maxims, you see. They turn out knowledge in cities. They turn out men in mountains, was one of his maxims. He thought and argued and lived along those lines.

Starting point is 04:06:05 So as soon as I was half-grown, though I was a wild tomboy. Ah, cut in Sinclair? I could really do things, then, like you'd have a woman do, she said. I could ride anything, swim like a fish in snow water, climb run, and do anything a boy could do. I suppose that's a sort of a woman you admire. Me, exclaimed Riley, with violence, it ain't so, Jig.

Starting point is 04:06:33 I've been revising my ideas on women lately. Besides, I never give them much thought before. He said all this without glancing at her, so that she was able to indulge in his smile before she went on. Just at that point, when I was about to become a true daughter of the West, Dad snapped me off to school in the East, and then for years and years there was no West at all for me, except a little trip here and there in vacation time.

Starting point is 04:07:03 The rest of it was just study and play, all in the East. I still like the West, in theory, you know. Hmm, muttered Riley. And then, I think it was a year ago. I had a letter from Dad with important news in it. He had just come back from a hundred hundred hundred, a mounting trip with a young fellow, who he thought represented everything fine in the West. He was big, good-looking steady, had a large estate.

Starting point is 04:07:32 Dad set his mind on having me marry him, and he told me so in the letter. Of course I was upset at the idea of marrying a man I did not know. But Dad always had a very controlling way with him. I lost any habit of thinking for myself in important matters. Besides, there was a consolation. Dad sent the picture of this man along with his letter. The picture was in profile, and it showed me a fine-looking fellow, with a glorious carriage, a high head, and oceans of strength and manliness.

Starting point is 04:08:09 I really fell in love with that picture. To begin with, I thought that it was destiny for me, and that I had the love of that man, whether I wish to or not. I admitted that picture into my inmost life, dreamed about it, kept it near me in my room. And just about that time came news that my father was seriously ill, and then that he had died, and that his last wish was for me to come west at once and marry my chosen husband. Of course I came at once. I was too sick and sad for Dad to think much about my own future, And when I stepped off the train, I met the first shock.

Starting point is 04:08:53 My husband to be was waiting for me. He was enough like the picture for me to recognize him. And that was all. He was tall and strong enough, and manly enough. But in full face, I thought, he was narrow between the eyes and— It was Cartwright? Yes, yes, how did you guess that? I don't know, said Sinclair softly,

Starting point is 04:09:18 but when that gent rode off today, something told me that I was going to tangle with him later on. Go on. He was very kind to me. After the first moment of disappointment, you see, I had been dreaming about him for a good many weeks. I grew to like him and to accept him again. He did all that he could to make the trip home agreeable.

Starting point is 04:09:44 He didn't press himself on me. He did nothing to make me feel that he did all that he did all that he could. make me feel that he understood Dad's wishes about our marriage and expected me to live up to them. After the funeral it was the same way. He came to see me only now and then. He was courteous and attentive, and he seemed to be fond of me. A fox, snarled Sinclair, growing more and more excited, as this derative continued.

Starting point is 04:10:12 That's the way with one of them kind. They play a game, never out in the open. waiting till they win, and then acting the devil. Go on. Perhaps you're right. His visits became more and more frequent. Finally he asked me to marry him. That brought the truth of my position home to me,

Starting point is 04:10:33 and I found all at once that, though, I had rather liked him as a friend. I had to quake at the idea of him as a husband. Sinclair snapped his cigarette into the coals of the fire and set his jaw. She liked him in his anger. But what could I do? All the last part of Dad's life had been pointed toward this one thing. I felt that he would come out of his grave and haunt me. I asked for one more day to think it over. He told me to take a month or a year as I pleased, and that made me a shame. I told him on the spot that I would marry him, but that I didn't love him.

Starting point is 04:11:14 I'll tell you what he answered, curse him, exclaimed Sinclair. What? Through the years that was coming, he'd teach you to love him. That was exactly what he said in those very words. How did you guess that? I tell you, I got a sort of second sight for the ways of a snake, or an honorary horse, or a sneak of a man. Go on.

Starting point is 04:11:41 I think you have, at any rate, after I'm a little. I had told him I'd marry him. He pressed me to set the date as early as possible, and I agreed. There was only a ten-day interval. Those ten days were filled. I kept myself busy, so that I wouldn't have a chance to think about the future. Though, of course, I didn't really know how I dreaded it. I talked to the only girl who was dear enough to me to be called a friend. Find a man you can respect. That's the main thing, she always said. You'll learn to love him later on.

Starting point is 04:12:18 It was a great comfort to me. I kept thinking back to that advice all the time. There's nothing worse than a talky woman, declared Sinclair hotly. Go on. Then all at once the day came. I'll never forget how I wakened that morning and looked out at the sun. I had a queer feeling that even the sunshine would never seem the same after that day. It was like going to a death.

Starting point is 04:12:48 So you went to this gent and told him just how you felt, and he let your promise slide? No, Sinclair groaned. I couldn't go to him, I didn't dare. I don't imagine that I ever thought of such a thing. Then there were crowds of people around all day, giving me good wishes, and all the time I felt like death. Somehow I got to the church.

Starting point is 04:13:15 Everything was hazy to me, and my heart was thundering all the time. In the church there was a blur of faces. All at once the blur cleared. I saw Jude Cartwright, and I knew I couldn't marry him. Brave girl, cried Sinclair, his relief coming out almost in his shout. You stopped there at the last minute. ah if i had no i didn't stop i went on to the altar and met him there and-you weren't married to him i was go on sinclair said huskily the end of it came somehow i found a flood of people calling to me and pressing around me and all the time i was thinking of nothing but the new ring on my finger and the weight the horrible weight of it

Starting point is 04:14:07 We went back to my father's house. I managed to get away from all the merry-making and go to my room. The minute the door closed behind me and shut away their voices and singing into the distance, I felt that I had saved one last minute of freedom. I went to the window and looked out at the mountains. The stars were coming out. All at once my knees gave way, and I began to weeped. on the windowsill. I heard voices coming, and I knew that I mustn't let them see me,

Starting point is 04:14:43 with the tears running down my face, but the tears wouldn't stop coming. I ran to the door and locked it. Then someone tried to open the door, and I heard the voice in my Aunt Jane calling. I gathered all my nerve and made my voice steady. I told her that I couldn't let anyone in, that I was preparing a surprise for them. Are you having to be? Happy, dear, asked Aunt Jane. I made myself laugh. So happy, I called back to her. Then they went away, but as soon as they were gone,

Starting point is 04:15:20 I knew that I could never go out and meet them, partly because I had no surprise for them, partly because I didn't want them to see the tears, stains, and my red eyes. Somehow little silly things were as big and as important as the main thing, that I could never be the real wife of Jude Cartwright. Can you understand?

Starting point is 04:15:44 Jig once, when I had a deer under my trigger, I let him go, because he had a funny-shaped horn. Sure, it's the little things that run a gent's life. Go on. I knew that I had to escape, but how could I escape in a place where everybody knew me? First I thought of changing my clothes. Then another thing, man's clothes.

Starting point is 04:16:08 The moment the idea came, I was sure it was just a thing. I opened the door very softly. There was no one upstairs just then. I ran into my cousin's room. He's a youngster of fifteen and snatched the first boots and clothes that I could find and rushed back to my own room. I jumped into them, hardly knowing what I was doing, for they were beginning to call to me from downstairs.

Starting point is 04:16:37 I opened the door and called back to them, and I heard Jude Cartwright answer in a big voice. I turned around and saw myself in the mirror in boys' clothes, with my face as white as a sheet, my eyes staring, my hair pouring down over my shoulders. I ran to the bureau and found a scissors. Then I hesitated a moment. You don't dream how hard it was to do.

Starting point is 04:17:05 My hair was long, you see, below my waist, and I'd always been proud of it. But I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth, and cut it off with great slashes close to my head. Then I stood with all the mass of hair shining in my hand, and a queer, light feeling in my head. But I felt that I was free. I clamped on my cousin's hat, how queer it felt with all that hair cut off. I bundled the hair into my pocket because I must. mustn't dream what I had done. Then someone beat on the door. Coming, I called to them.

Starting point is 04:17:44 I ran to the window. The house was built on a slope, and it was not a very long drop to the ground, I suppose. But to me, it seemed neck-breaking, that distance. It was dark, and I climbed out and hung by my hands, but I couldn't find the courage to let go. Then I tried to climb back, but there wasn't any strength in my arms. I cried out for help, but the singing downstairs must have muffled the sound. My fingers grew numb. They slipped on the sill, and then I fell.

Starting point is 04:18:20 The falls stunned me, I guess, for a moment. When I opened my eyes, I saw the stars, and knew that I was free. I started up then, and struck straight across country. At first I didn't care, where I went, so long as it was away. But when I got over the first hill, I made up a plan. That was the go for the railroad, and take a train. I did it. There was a long walk ahead of me before I reached the station, and with my cousin's big boots wobbling on my feet, I was very

Starting point is 04:18:56 tired when I reached it. There was some freight cars on the siding, and there was hay on the floor of one of them. I crawled into the open door and went to sleep. After a while, I woke up with a great jarring and jolting and noise. I found the car pitched dark. The door was closed, and pretty soon, by the roar of the wheels under me, and the swing of the floor of the car, I knew that an engine had picked up the empty cars. It was a terrible time for me. I'd heard stories of Tramps locked in the cars and starving there before the door was opened. Before the morning shone through the cracks of the boards, I went through all the pain of a death from thirst.

Starting point is 04:19:45 But before noon the train stopped, and the car was dropped at a siding. I climbed out when they opened the door. The man who saw me only laughed. I suppose he could have arrested me. All right, kid, but you're hitting the road. Early in life, huh? Those were the first words that were spoken to me as a man.

Starting point is 04:20:09 I didn't know where I should go, but the train had taken me south, and that made me remember a town where my father had lived for a long time. Sour Creek, I started to get to this place. The hardest thing I had to do was the very first thing, and that was to take my ragged head of hair into a barber shop and get it trimmed. I was sure that the barber would know I was a girl, but he didn't suspect. Been a long time in the wilds, youngster, huh? Was all he said.

Starting point is 04:20:43 And then I knew that I was safe, because people here in the West are not suspicious. They let a stranger go with one look. By the time I reached Sour Creek, I was nearly over being ashamed of my clothes. And then I found this place and work as a schoolteacher. I think you know the rest. She leaned close to Sinclair. Was I wrong to leave him? Sinclair rubbed his chin.

Starting point is 04:21:11 You ought to have told him straight off, he said firmly. But seeing you went through with a wedding, well, take it all in all. Your leaving of him was about the rightest thing I ever heard of. Quiet fell between them. But what am I going to do? And where is it all going to end? A small voice inquired of Sinclair at. at last.

Starting point is 04:21:34 Roll up in them blankets and go to sleep, he advised her curtly, on figuring steady on this here thing, Jig. Jegg followed that advice. Sinclair left the fire and was walking up and down from one end of the little plateau to the other, with a strong, long step. As for the girl, she felt that an incalculable burden had been shifted from her shoulders

Starting point is 04:21:58 by the telling of this tale. The burden she knew must have fallen on another person, and it was not unpleasant to know that Riley Sinclair was the man. Gradually, the sense of strangeness faded. As she grew drowsy, it seemed the most natural thing in the world for her to be up here at the top of the world with a man she had known two days. And before she slept, the last thing on which she was conscious was the head of sense of her. Clare in the broad sombrero, brushing to and fro across the stars. End of Chapter 17. Chapter 18 of the Rangeland Adventure by Max Brand.

Starting point is 04:22:52 This Libravox recording is in the public domain. With a bang, the screen door of Sheriff Kern's office had creaked open and shut four times at intervals, and each man entering in turn with a howdy to the sheriff, had stamped the dust out of the wrinkles of his riding boots hitched up his trousers carefully and slumped into a chair not until the last one of his hand-picked posse had taken his place did the sheriff begin his speech gents he said how long have i been sheriff eighteen to twenty years said bill wood and it's been twenty years of bad times for safe-crackers and gunmen of these parts Thanks, said the sheriff hastily, and how many that once I've put my hands on, have got loose. Again, Bill Wood answered, being the senior member. None. Your score is exactly 100%, Sheriff.

Starting point is 04:23:54 Kern sighed, Jancy said. The average is plumb spoiled. It caused a general lifting of heads, and then a respectful silence. To have offered sympathy would have been in some. insulting, to ask questions, was beneath their dignity, but four pairs of eyes burned with curiosity. The least curious was Arizona. He was a fat, oily man from the Southland, whose past was unknown in the vicinity of Woodville, and Arizona happened to be, by no means desirous, of rescuing that pass from oblivion. He held the Southlander's contempt for the men and ways of the North. His present, in the office was explained by the fact that he had long before discovered it to be an excellent

Starting point is 04:24:44 thing to stand in with the sheriff. After this statement from Kern, therefore, he first glanced at his three companions, and observing their agitation, he became somewhat stirred himself and puckered his fat brows above his eyes as he glanced back at Kern. You have heard of the killing of Quaid, asked the sheriff. "'Yesterday,' said Red Chalmers. "'And that they got to kill her. "'Nope. It was a gent you'd never have suspected,

Starting point is 04:25:15 "'that skinny little schoolteacher, Gaspar.' "'I never liked the looks of him,' said Red Chalmers, gloomily. "'I always got to have a second thought about a gent "'that's too smooth with the ladies. "'And that was this here jig. "'So he'd done the shooting?' "'It was a fight over Sally Bent,' explained the sheriff. Sanderson and some of the rest in Sour Creek

Starting point is 04:25:39 fixed up a posse and went out and grabbed Gaspar. They gave him a lynch trial and was about to string him up when a stranger, Nimson Clare, a man who had joined up with a posse, steps out and holds for keeping Gaspar and turning him over to me to be hung all proper and legal. I heard about all this and went out to the Benthouse first thing this morning to get Gaspar,

Starting point is 04:26:06 who was left there in charge of this Sinclair. Any of you ever heard about him? A general bowing of heads followed, as the men began to consider, all save Arizona, who never thought when he could avoid it, and positively never used his memory. He habitually allowed the dead past to bury its dead.

Starting point is 04:26:30 It appears to me like I've heard of a Sinclair, up to coma, muttered Bill Wood, That was four or five years back, and I believe he was called a sure man in a fight. That's him, muttered the sheriff. He was greatly relieved to know that his antagonist had already achieved so comfortable a reputation. A big lean, hungry-eyed gent with a restless pair of hands. He'd come along with me while I was bringing Gaspar,

Starting point is 04:27:01 but I didn't think nothing about it, most natural. I leave it to you, boys. Settling themselves, they leaned forward in their chairs. We was talking about horses and such like, which Sinclair talked uncom and slick. He seemed a knowing, gent, and I opened up to him, but in the middle of things he pauses out his colt, and smooth as you ever see, he shoves it under my nose. Sheriff Kern paused. He was wearing gloves in spite of the fact that he was in his office.

Starting point is 04:27:36 These gloves seemed to have a peculiar business-like meaning for the others, and now they watched fascinated while the sheriff tugged his fingers deeper into the gloves, as if he were getting ready for action. He cleared his throat and managed to snap out the rest of the shameful statement. He stuck me up, boys, and he told Jig to beat it up the trail. Then he backed off, keeping me covered all the time, until he was around the hill. The minute he was out of sight, I followed him.

Starting point is 04:28:10 But when it came into view, him and Gaspar were high-tailing through the hills. I didn't have no rifle, and it was plumb foolish to chase two killers with nothing but a colt, which I leave it to you, gents. Would have been crazy, Sheriff, asserted Red Chalmers. I don't know, sighed Arizona, patting his fat stomach reminiscently. I don't know. I guess he was right, Kern. The others glared at him, and the sheriff became purple. So I come back and figured that I'd best get together

Starting point is 04:28:46 the handiest little bunch of fighting men I could lay hands on. That's why I sent for you for. Clumsily, they made their acknowledgments. Because, said Kern, it don't take no senator to see something has got to be done. Sour Creek is after Gaspar. and now it'll be after sinclair too but they got clear of me and i'm the sheriff of woodville it's up to woodville to get em back am i right again they nodded and the sheriff growing warmer as he talked snatched off a glove and mopped his forehead as his arm fell he noted that arizona had seen something which fascinated him his eyes followed every gesture of the sheriff's hand

Starting point is 04:29:35 is that the whole story asked arizona the whole thing declared kern stoutly and he glared at the man from the southland because if it's anything worse said arizona innocently we ought to know it the honor of woodville is at stake oh it's bad enough this way grumbled joe stockton and the sheriff hastily restoring his glove grunted assent now boys let's hear some plans First thing, said Red Chalmers rising, is for each of us to pick out the best horse in his string, and then we'll all ride over to the place where they left and pick up the trail. Not a bad idea, proved Kern. There was a general rising. Sit down, said Arizona, who alone had not budged in his chair. Without obeying, they turned to him.

Starting point is 04:30:32 Was that the Morris Trail, Kern? asked Arizona. Sure. Well, you ain't got a chance of picking up the trail of two horses out of two hundred. In silence, they received the truth of this assertion. Then Joe Stockton spoke. He was not exactly a troublemaker,

Starting point is 04:30:53 but he took advantage of every disturbance that came his way and improved it to the last scruple. Sinclair comes from Colma, according to Bill, and Colma is North, ride north kern and the north trail will keep us tolerable close to sinclair we can tend to gaspar later on unless he's a pile more dangerous than he looks yes sinclair is the main one said the sheriff he's more than a hundred gas bars boys the north trail looks good to me we can pick up gaspar later on as joe stockton says straight for coma that's where we'll strike Hold on, cut in Arizona. Patently, they regarded him with disfavor.

Starting point is 04:31:39 There was something blandly superior in Arizona's demeanor. He had a way of putting forth his opinions, as though it were not the slightest effort for him to penetrate truths which were securely veiled from the eyes of ordinary men. Now he looked calmly, almost contemptuously, upon the sheriff and the rest of the posse. "'Gents, has any of you ever seen this jig you talk about ride a horse?'

Starting point is 04:32:07 "'Me, of course,' said the sheriff. "'Anything about him strike you when he was in his saddle?' "'Sure, got a funny arm motion. "'Like he was fanning his ribs with his elbows to keep cool, "'went on Arizona grinning.' "'The sheriff chuckled. "'Would you pick him for a good hand on a long trail?' "'Never in a million years,' said the sheriff,

Starting point is 04:32:31 he? Kern seemed to admit his inferiority by asking this question. He bit his lip and was about to go on and answer himself when Arizona cut in with, never in a million years, Sheriff, he couldn't do twenty miles a day without being laid up. What's the point of all this, Arizona? I'll show you, Pronto.

Starting point is 04:32:57 Let's go back to Sinclair. The other day, he was one of a bunch that pretty near got Gaspar hung, huh? Yep, but at the last minute he saved Jig. Sure, I've just been telling you that. Their inability to follow Arizona's train of thought irritated the others. He literally held them in the palm of his hand

Starting point is 04:33:19 as he developed his argument. Why did he save Jig, he went on? Because when Gaspar was about the swing, there was something about him that struck Sinclair. What was it? I don't know, except that jig is tolerable young-looking and pretty helpless, even though you say he killed Quaid. Say he killed him, burst out the sheriff, it was plum-proved on him.

Starting point is 04:33:45 I'd sure like to see that proof, said the man from the Southland. The point is that Sinclair took pity on him and kept him from the noose. Then he stays that night guarding him and gets more and more interested. This jig has got a pile of education. I've heard him talk. Today you come over the hills. Sinclair sees Woodville. Figure that's the place where Jig will be hung,

Starting point is 04:34:11 and he loses his nerve. He sticks you up and gets Jig free. All right. Do you think he'll stop at that? Don't he know that Jig's plumb helpless on the trail? And knowing that, do you think he'd split with Jig and leave the school teacher to be picked up the first thing?

Starting point is 04:34:27 No, sir, he'll stick with Jig and see him through. Well, all the better, snapped the sheriff. That's going to make our trail shorter, if what you say turns out true. It's true, well enough. Sinclair right now is camping somewhere in the hills near Sour Creek, waiting for things to quiet down before he hits the out-trail with his gas bar. He wouldn't be fool enough for that, grumbled the sheriff. fool, as any one of you professional man-hunters,

Starting point is 04:35:01 figured yet on hunting for him near Sour Creek, ain't all you been talking long trails, coma, and whatnot? They were crushed. All you say is true, if Sinclair saddles himself with a tenderfoot, might as well tie so much lead around his neck. He'll do it, though, said Arizona carelessly. I know him. It caused a new focusing of attention.

Starting point is 04:35:25 upon him, and this time Arizona seemed to regret that he stood in the limelight. You know him? asked Joe Stockton softly. The bright black eyes of the fat man glittered and flickered from face to face. He seemed to be gauging them and deciding how much he could say or how little. Sure, I drifted up to this country, one season and rode there. I heard a pile about the Sinclair and seen him a couple of times. of times. How good a man do you figure him to be with a gun? asked the sheriff,

Starting point is 04:36:02 without apparent interest. Good enough, sighed Arizona. Good enough, partner. Presently, the sheriff showed that he was a man capable of taking good advice, even though he could not stamp it as his own original device. Boise said, I figure that what Arizona has said is tolerable sound. Arizona, what do you advise next? That we go to Sour Creek,

Starting point is 04:36:30 Pronto, and sit down and wait. A chorus of exclamations arose. Arizona grew impatient with such stupidity. Sinclair come to Sour Creek to do something. I don't know what he wants, but what he wants he ain't got yet, and he's the sort that'll stay till he does his work. I've gotten touch with the authorities,

Starting point is 04:36:53 these higher-up boys, declared Kern. Sinclair and Gaspar is both outlawed, with a price on their heads. Won't that change Sinclair's mind and make them move on? You don't know Sinclair, persisted Arizona. You don't know him at all, Sheriff.

Starting point is 04:37:11 Grab your horses, boys. I'm following Arizona's lead. Pouring out of the door in silence, the omniscence of Arizona lay heavily upon their minds. inside the sheriff lingered with a wise man from the southland. If I was to get in touch with Coma, Fatty, what do you think they'd be able to tell me about your record up there?

Starting point is 04:37:35 The olive skin of Arizona became a bleached drab. I don't know, he said rather thickly, and all the while his little black eyes were glittering and shifting. Nothing much, Kern. His glance steadied. By the way, when you had your glove off a while ago, I seen something on your wrist that looked like a rope call. Kern, if I was to tell the boys that, what he figured they'd think about their sheriff?

Starting point is 04:38:06 It was Kern's turn to change color. For a moment he hesitated, and then he dropped a hand lightly on Arizona's shoulder. Look here, Arizona, he muttered in the ear of the fat man. What you've been before you hit Woodville, I don't know, and I don't care. i figure we come to a place where we both best keep our mouths shut huh shakes said arizona and they went out the door almost arm and arm end of chapter eighteen Chapter 19 of the Rangeland Adventure by Max Brand. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. For Jude Cartwright, the world was gone mad, as he spurred down the hills away from

Starting point is 04:39:00 Sinclair and the girl. It was really only the second time in his life that he had been thwarted in an important matter. To be sure, he had been raised roughly among rough men. But among the roughest of them, the repute of his family and the all of his father's wide authority had served him as a shield in more ways than Jude himself could realize. He had grown very much accustomed to having his way. All things were made smooth for him, and when he reached the age when he began to think of marriage and was tentatively courting half a dozen girls of the district,

Starting point is 04:39:40 unhoped for great fortune, had fairly dropped. into his path. The close acquaintance with old Mervyn in that hunting trip had been entirely accidental, and he had been astounded by the marriage contract which Mervyn, shortly after, proposed between the two families. Ordinarily, even Jude Cartwright, with all his self-esteem, would never have aspired to a star

Starting point is 04:40:07 so remote as Mervin's daughter. The miracle, however, happened. He saw himself in the way to be the richest man on the range, the possessor of the most lovely wife. The dream was first pricked by the inexplicable disappearance of the girl on their marriage day. He had laid that disappearance to foul play, that she could have left him, through any personal aversion, never entered his complacent young head.

Starting point is 04:40:39 He went out on the quest after the neighboring district had been combed, for his wife, and he had spent the intervening months in a ceaseless search, which grew more and more disheartening. It was only by chance that he remembered that Mervyn had lived for some time in Sour Creek, and only with the faintest hope of finding a clue that he decided to visit that place. In his heart he was convinced that the girl was dead. But if she were really hiding, it was quite possible that she might have remembered. the town, where her father had made his first success with cattle.

Starting point is 04:41:19 Now the coincidence that had brought him face to face with her stunned him. He was still only gradually recovering from it. It was totally incredible that she should have fled at all, and it was entirely beyond the range of credence, that the modest Elizabeth Mervyn should have donned the clothes of a man and should be wandering through the hills with a male companion. But when his wonder died away, he felt little or no pity for his wife. The pang that he felt was the torture of offended pride.

Starting point is 04:41:53 Indeed, the fact that he had lost his wife meant less to him than that his wife had seen him physically beaten by another man. He writhed in his saddle at the memory. Instantly, his mind flashed back to the details of the scene. He rehearsed it with himself in a different role, beating the cow-puncher to a helpless pulp of bruised muscles, snatching away his wife. But even if he had been able to do that, what would the outcome be? He could not let the world know the truth, that his wife had fled from him in horror on their marriage day,

Starting point is 04:42:33 that she had wandered about in the close of a man, that she was the companion of another man, and if he brought her back, certainly all these facts would come to light. The close-cropped hair alone would be damning evidence. He framed the wild tale of abduction by villains, of an injury, a sickness, a fever, that forced the doctor to cut her hair short. He had no sooner framed the story, then he threw it away his useless. With all his soul, he began to wish for the only possible solution, which would save the remnants of his ruin self-respect

Starting point is 04:43:11 and keep him from the peril of discovery. The girl must indutably die. By the time he came to this conclusion, he had struck out of the hills, and as his horse hit the level going and picked up speed, the heart of Jude Cartwright became lighter. He would get weapons, and the finest horse money could buy in Sour Creek. Trail the pair,

Starting point is 04:43:38 them by surprise and kill them both. Then back to the homeland and a new life. Already he saw himself in it, his name surrounded with a glamour of pathetic romance, as the sad widower with a mystery darkening his past and future. It was an agreeable gloom into which he fell. Self-pity warmed him and loosened his fierceness. He sighed with regret for his own misfortune. In this frame of mind he reached Sour Creek and its hotel.

Starting point is 04:44:14 While he wrote his name in the yellowed register, he overheard loud conversation in the farther end of the room. Two men had been outlawed that day, John Gaspar, the schoolteacher, who killed Quaid, and Riley Sinclair, a stranger from the north. Paying no further attention to the talk, he passed on into the general merchandise store, which filled most of the lower story of the hotel. There he found the hardware department, and prominent among the hardware, were the gun racks. He went over the colts, and with an expert hand, took up the guns,

Starting point is 04:44:53 while the gray-headed storekeeper advanced a eulogium upon each weapon. His attention was distracted by the entrance of a tall, painfully thin man, who seemed in great haste. What's all this about cold feet, Whitey, he asked. Cold feet in Sinclair. I don't know, Sanderson, except the word come in from Woodville that Sinclair stuck up the sheriff on his way in with Jig, and Sinclair got clean away.

Starting point is 04:45:26 What could have been in his head to grab Jig? I don't know, said Sanderson, apparently much perturbed. They outlawed him both, Whitey. There was an eagerness in this question, so poorly concealed, that Cartwright jerked up his head and regarded Sanderson with interest. Both replied Whitey, you seem sort of pleased, Sanderson. I'd know that Sinclair would come to a bad end, said Sanderson, more soberly. Why, I thought they said you cotton to him, when the boys was figuring he might have had something to do with Quaid.

Starting point is 04:46:04 me well yes for a minute but out at the necktie party whitey i kept watching him thinks a lot more than he says and gents like that he's always dangerous always replied whitey but it's the last time sincleril shows face in sour creek alive said sanderson if he does show his face alive it'll be a dead face pronto you can lay to that sanderson seemed to turn this fact over and over in his mind with immense satisfaction and yet pursued the storekeeper think of a full-grown man breaking the law to save such a skinny little shrimp of a gent as jig more like a pretty girl than a boy jig is cartwright exclaimed and both of the others turned toward him here's the gun for me he said huskily and that gun-bells filled, and this holster they'll all do. A handy outfit, said Whitey. That gun will be a friend in need. What makes you think there'll be a need? asked Hartwright,

Starting point is 04:47:16 with such unnecessary violence that the others both stared. He went on more smoothly. What was you saying about a girl-faced gent? The schoolteacher, he plugged the fellow named Quaid. Sinclair got him clean away from Sheriff Kern. And what sort of a looking gent is Sinclair? Long brown, and pretty husky-looking, with a mean eye? You've named him. Where'd you meet up with him?

Starting point is 04:47:45 Over in the hills yonder, just where the North Trail comes over the rise. They was sitting down under a tree resting their horses when I come along. I got into an argument with the Sinclair. Long Riley, he called himself. Riley's his first name. We pass some words. Pretty soon I give him the lie. He made a reach for his gun.

Starting point is 04:48:09 I told him I wasn't armed and dared him to try his fists. He takes off his belt, and we went at it. A strong man, but he don't know nothing about hand-fighting. I had him about ready to give up and begging me to quit. When this jig, this girl-faced man you talk about, he pulls a gun and slugs me in the back of the head with it.

Starting point is 04:48:33 removing his sombrero he showed on the back of his head the great welt which had been made when he struck the ground with the weight of sinclair on top of him it was examined with intense interest by the other two dirty work said sanderson sympathetically the storekeeper said nothing at all but began to fold up a bolt of cloth which lay half unrolled on the counter It knocked me cold, continued Cartwright, and when I come too there wasn't no sign nor trace of them. Buckling on the belt, he shoved the revolver viciously home in the holster. I'll land that pair before the posse gets to him, and when I land them I won't do no arguing with fists. Say I call that nerve, put in the storekeeper, with patent admiration in his eyes, while he smoothed the fold of the cloth. Running again one gent, like Sinclair is bad enough, let alone tackling two at once.

Starting point is 04:49:39 But you ought to take out a big insurance on your life, friend, before you take that trail. It's liable to be all-out trail and no coming back. A great deal of enthusiasm faded from Cartwright's face. How come, he asked briefly. Nothing much, but they say that this Sinclair is quite a gunfighter, my friend. Up in his hometown, they scare the babies by talking about Sinclair.

Starting point is 04:50:10 Hmm, murmured Cartwright. He can't always win, and maybe I'll be the lucky man. But he went out of the store with his head thoughtfully inclined. Think of meeting up with them two all alone, and not knowing what they was, sighed Sanderson. He's lucky to be alive, I'll tell you. tell a man. Whitey grinned.

Starting point is 04:50:34 Plenty of nerve and a gent like that one on Sanderson. His pale blue eyes becoming dreamy. Get your gad out, will you, Bill? Bill Sanderson obliged. Look at the butt. Do you see any point on it? Nope. Did you look at that welt on the stranger's head? Sure. Did you see a little cut in the middle of the welt?

Starting point is 04:50:59 Come to think of it, I sure do. did. Well, Sanderson, how do you make out that a gunbutt would make a cut like that? What are you driving at, Whitey? I'm just discounting the stranger, said Whitey. I don't know what other talents he's got, but he's sure a fine, natural liar. End of Chapter 19. Chapter 20 of the Rangeland Adventure by Max Brand. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. It was some time before Riley Sinclair interrupted his pacing and turning, strode over to the dim outlines of the sleeping girl. She did not speak, and leaning close above her, he heard her regular breathing.

Starting point is 04:51:58 Waiting until he was satisfied that she slept, he began to move rapidly. First, with long, soft steps, he went to his saddle, which was perched on a ridge of rock. This he raised with infinite care, gathering up the stirrups and the cinches so that nothing might drag or strike. With this bundle secured, he once more went close to the figure of the sleeper,

Starting point is 04:52:24 and this time dropped on one knee beside her. He could see nothing distinctly by the starlight, but her forehead gleamed, with one faint highlight, and there was the pale glimmer of one hand, above the blankets. For the moment he almost abandoned the plan on which he had resolved, which was no less than to attempt to ride into Sour Creek and return to the girl before she wakened in the dawn.

Starting point is 04:52:53 But suppose that he failed and that she wakened to find herself alone in the mountain wilderness. He shuddered at the idea, yet he saw no other issue for her than to attempt the execution of his plan. He rose hastily and walked off, letting his weight fall on his toes altogether, so that the spurs might not jingle. Even that brief rest had so far refreshed his Mustang, that he was greeted with flattened ears and flying heels.

Starting point is 04:53:26 These efforts Sinclair met with a smile and terrible whispered curses, whose familiar sound seemed to soothe the horse. He saddled at once, still using care to avoid noise, and swung steeply down the side of the mountain. On the descending trail, he could cut, by one half, the miles I had traversed, winding up the slope. Recklessly he rode, giving the wise pony its head most of the time, and only seeing that it did not exceed a certain speed. For when a horse passes a certain rate of going, it becomes as reckless as a drunk, man. Once or twice they floundered on sheer gravel slides, which the Bronco took by flinging back

Starting point is 04:54:14 on its haunches and going down with stiffly braced forelegs, but on the whole the Mustang took care of itself admirably. In an amazing short time, they struck the more placid footing of the valley, and Sinclair, looking up, could not believe that he had been so short a time ago, at the top of the flat-crested mountain. He gave little time to wandering, however, but cut across the valley floor at a steady loat. From the top of the mountain, the lights of Sower Creek were a close gathered patch.

Starting point is 04:54:53 From the level, they appeared as a scattering line. Sinclair held straight toward them, keeping away to the left, so as to come in on the well-beaten trail, which he knew ran in that direction. He found it and let the Mustang drop back to a steady dog-trot, for, if the journey to Sour Creek was now a short distance, there would be a hard ride back to the flat-topped the mountain

Starting point is 04:55:19 if he wished to accomplish his business and return before the full dawn. He must be there by that time, for who could tell what the girl might do when she found herself alone. Therefore, he saved the cattle pony as much as possible. he was fairly close to sour creek the lights fanning out broader and broader as he approached suddenly two figures loomed up before him in the night he came near and made out a bare-legged boy riding without a saddle and driving a cow before him he was a very angry herdsman this boy he kept up a continual monologue directed at the cow and his horse so he did not hear the approach of riley sinclair until the outlaw was close upon him then he hitched himself around and with his hand on the hip of his old horse swaying violently with the jerk of the gate he was glad of the company it seemed evening mister you ain't high coursin are you no ain't high kinda late driving that cow ain't you the boy swore with shrill fluency

Starting point is 04:56:33 we bought old spot over at the apwell place and the darned old fool keeps breaking down fences and running back every time she gets a chance ain't nothing so foolish as a cow why don't your dad sell her for beef beef the boy laughed say, mister, I'd soon as try to chew leather. There ain't nothing but bones and skin and meanest old spot. But she's a good milker. When she comes in fresh, she gives pretty nigh onto four gallons of milking. Is that so? Sure is. Hard to milk, though.

Starting point is 04:57:11 Kick the hat right off your head, if you don't watch her. Never seen such a fool cow as old spot. Hey. Take an advantage of this diversion. in the intention of her guardian, Spotted ambled off to the side of the road. The boy darted his horse after her, and sent her trotting down the trail,

Starting point is 04:57:32 with clicking hoofs and long, sweeping steps that scuffled up a stifling dust. Ain't very good to heat her milk her up by running her, son, reproof Sinclair. I know it ain't, but it wouldn't make me sorry if Old Spot just naturally dropped down dead. She gives me that much trouble. Look at her now, doggone her.

Starting point is 04:57:56 Spot had turned broadside to them and waited for the boy to catch up before she would take another forward step. You just coming in the Sour Creek? Yep, I'm a stranger to this town. Well, you sure couldn't have picked a more fussed up time. How come?

Starting point is 04:58:15 Well, you hear about the killing of Quaid, I reckon? Not a word. You ain't? Where you been these days? Oh, yonder in the hills. Chipping rocks, huh? Well, Quaid was a gent that lived out the Norm Trail, and he had a fuss with the schoolteacher over Sally Bent,

Starting point is 04:58:35 and the schoolteacher up and murders Quaid, and they raises a posse and goes out to hang Gaspar, the teacher, and they're kept from it by a stranger called Sinclair. When the sheriff comes to get Gaspar, and hang them legal and all, that Sinclair sticks up the sheriff and takes Gaspar away, and now they're both outlawed, I hear, tell, and there's a price on their heads.

Starting point is 04:59:01 The lad brought it out in one huge sentence, sputtering over the words in his haste. How much of a price? I don't know, it keeps growing. Everybody around Woodville and Sour Creek is chipping in to raise that price. They sure went to get Gaspar and Sinclair bad, Gaspar ain't much.

Starting point is 04:59:22 He's a kind of sissy, but Sinclair is a killer, and then some. Sinclair raised his head to the black, solemn mountains. Then he looked back to his companion. Why has he killed anybody lately? He left one for dead right today. You don't mean it.

Starting point is 04:59:42 He sure must be bad. Oh, he's bad right enough. There was a gent named Cartwright coming to town today, with his head all banged up. He'd met up with Gaspar and Sinclair in the hills, not knowing nothing about them, got into an argument with Sinclair,

Starting point is 05:00:00 and not being armed, had it out with fists. He was beating up Sinclair pretty bad, him being a good deal of a man, when Gaspar sneaks up and wangs him on the back of the head with the butt of his cult. They rode off and left him for dead.

Starting point is 05:00:18 But pretty soon, he wakes up. He comes on in the Sour Creek, rarren and tern, and hunting for revenge. Sure will be a bad mess if he meets up with Sinclair again. Reckon it had ought to be, replied Sinclair. I'd like to see this gent that waited in the two outlaws with his bare fists. He's a man right enough. Got a room up in the hotel. Must have a pile of money, because he took the big room onto the north end of the hotel. The room that's big as a house. Nothing else suited him at all, Dad told me.

Starting point is 05:00:55 I ain't got nothing particular on hand, murmured Sinclair. Maybe I can get in on this man-hunt, if they ain't started already. The boy laughed. Everybody in town has been trying to get in on that man-hunt, but it ain't any use. Sheriff Kern has got a handpicked, Possey. Every one a fighting fool, Dad says. Wish you luck, though. they ain't starting till the morning well here's where i branch off so long hey spot ye old fool get along will you sinclair watched the youngster fade into the gloom behind the ambling cow then he struck on toward sour creek

Starting point is 05:01:37 but before he reached the main street he wound off to the left and let his horse drift slowly beyond the outlying houses his problem had become greatly complicated by the information from the boy. He had a double purpose, which was to see Cartwright in the first place, and then Sanderson, for these were the separate stumbling blocks for Jig and himself. For Cartwright, he saw a solution through which he could avoid a killing,

Starting point is 05:02:08 but Sanderson must die. He skirted behind the most northerly outlying shed of the hotel, dismounted there, and threw the reins. then he slipped back into the shadow of the main building directly above him he saw three dark windows bunched together this must be cartwright's room end of chapter twenty Chapter 21 of the Rangeland Avenger by Max Brand. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. It seemed patent to Bill Sanderson earlier that afternoon that fate had stacked the cards against Riley Sinclair.

Starting point is 05:03:00 Bill Sanderson indeed believed in fate. He felt that great hidden forces had always controlled his life, moving him hither and yawn according to their pleasure to the dreamy mind of the mystic men are accidents and all they perform are the dictates of the power and the brain of the other world sanderson could tell at what definite moments hunches had seized him he had looked at the side of the mountain and suddenly felt without any reason or volition on his part that he was impelled to search that mountainside for gold-bearing ore he had never fallen into the habit of using his reason he was a wonderful gambler playing with singular abandon and usually winning it mattered not what he had never fallen into the habit of using his reason he was a wonderful gambler playing with singular abandon and usually winning it mattered not what he had never had never even he held in his hand. If the urge came to him and assured he that he was

Starting point is 05:03:59 going to bet, he would wager everything in his wallet, all that he could borrow on a pair of trays, and when such a fit was on him, the overwhelming confidence that shone in his face usually overpowered the other men

Starting point is 05:04:14 sitting in at the game. More than once a full house had been laid down to his wretched payer. There were other occasions, when he had lost the very boots he wore. But the times of winning naturally overbalanced the losses in the mind of Bill. It was not he had won. It was not he who lost.

Starting point is 05:04:37 It was fate which ruled him, and that fate, he felt at present, had sided against Riley Sinclair. A sort of pity for the big cow-puncher had moved him. He knew that he and Quaid and Lowry deserved death in its most terrible form for their betrayal of how Sinclair in the desert, and nothing but fate he was sure could save him from the Avenger. Fate, however, had definitely intervened. What save-blind fate could have stepped into the mind of Sinclair and made him keep cold feet from the rope when that hanging would have removed forever all suspicion that Sinclair himself had killed Quaid. Another man

Starting point is 05:05:23 would have attributed both of those actions to common decency in Sinclair. But Sanderson always hunted out more profound reasons. In order to let the fact of his own salvation from Sinclair's gun sink more definitely into his brain, he trotted his horse into the hills that afternoon. When he came back, he heard that the posse was in town. To another, it might have seemed odd that the parson posse was there instead of on the trail of the outlaws.

Starting point is 05:05:57 But Sanderson had never thought so practical a question. To him, it was as clear as day. The posse had been brought to Sour Creek by fate in order that he, Sanderson, might enlist in its ranks and help in the great work of running down Sinclair, for, after all, it was worked primarily to his own interest. There was something ironically absurd, about it he sanderson having committed the mortal crime of abandoning house and clare in the desert was now given the support of legal society to destroy the just avenger of that original crime

Starting point is 05:06:38 it was hardly any wonder that sanderson saw in all this the hand of fate he went straight to the hotel and up to the room which the sheriff had engaged cartwright was coming out with a black face as Sanderson entered. The former turned at the door and faced Kern and the four assistants of the sheriff. "'I'll tell you what you do, you wise gents,' he growled. "'You'll miss him altogether, you hear?' And then he stamped down the hall. Sanderson carefully removed his hat as he went in.

Starting point is 05:07:15 He was quite aware that Cartwright must have just been refused to place on the posse, and he did not wish to appear too converse. He paid his compliments to the bunch, except Arizona, to whom he was introduced. The sheriff forestalled his request. You've come for a job in the posse bill? Hastily Sanderson cut in, before the others should pronounce a final judgment. I don't blame you for turning down cartwright, he said, a gent like that,

Starting point is 05:07:47 who don't know the country, ain't much use on the trail, huh? The point is, Bill, I got all the men I need. I don't want a whole gang. But I got a special reason, Sheriff. Besides a tolerable fast horse that might come in handy for a chase, I sling a tolerable fast gun, Sheriff. But beyond that all, I got a grudge.

Starting point is 05:08:11 A grudge asked the sheriff, prick in his ears. So did Cartwright have a grudge cut in Arizona dryly? perhaps after all sanderson felt fate might not be with him in this quest for sinclair he said earnestly you see boys it was me that raised a posse that run down cold feet in the first place It was me that backed up Sinclair all the way through the trial. And I feel like some sort of the blame for what happened is coming to me. I want to square things up and get a chance at Sinclair. I want it mighty bad. You know me, Kern.

Starting point is 05:08:53 Give me a chance, will you? Well, that sounds like reason, admitted the sheriff, huh, boys? The posse nodded its general head. with the usual exception of Arizona, who seemed to take a particular pleasure in diverging from the judgments of the others. Just a minute, Jens, he said, don't it strike you that there's something

Starting point is 05:09:16 the same with Cartwright and Sanderson? Both of them in particular anxious to cut in on this party. Both of them has grudges. Cartwright said, he didn't want no share of the money if he caught Gaspar and Sinclair. Is that right for you, too, Sanderson?

Starting point is 05:09:32 It sure is. I want the fun, not the coin, said Sanderson. Boys resumed Arizona. It rounds up to this. Sinclair came down here to Sour Creek for a purpose. Sanderson began to listen intently. He even dreaded this fat man from the Southland. I don't know what this purpose was when on Arizona.

Starting point is 05:09:58 But mostly when a gent like Sinclair makes a trip, there's a man at the far end of it. Because this ain't his range. Now, if it's a man, why shouldn't it be one of these two? Cartwright or Sanderson, who both packed grudges against Sinclair. Sinclair is resting somewhere up yonder in them hills,

Starting point is 05:10:20 I'm sure of that. He's waiting there to get a chance to finish his business in Sour Creek. And that business is Cartwright or Sanderson. I don't know which. but I'm again taken in Sanderson. When we're private, I'll tell you my reason why. There was something of an insult in this speech, and the tall man took instant offense.

Starting point is 05:10:44 Partner, he drawed, It looks to me like them reasons could be spoke personal to me. Suppose you step outside and we talk shop. Arizona smiled. It took a man of some courage in standing to refuse such an invitation without losing caste. But for some reason Arizona was the last man in the world, whom one could accuse of being a coward.

Starting point is 05:11:11 Sanderson, he said coldly, I don't mean to step on your toes. You may be as good a man as the next. The reasons I got against you ain't personal, whatever. Which there are things I've got a right to think, me being an officer of the law for the time being. If you hold a grudge against me for what I've said, you and me can talk it over after this here job's done.

Starting point is 05:11:36 Is that square? I suppose it's got to be, replied Sanderson. Gents, does the word of your fat friend go here? Left to themselves, the posse probably would have refused Arizona's advice on general principles. But Arizona did not lose. Leave them to themselves. Sure, my word goes, he hasten to put in,

Starting point is 05:12:00 the sheriff and all of us work like a closed hand, altogether. There was a subtle flattery about this that pleased the sheriff and the others. Reckoning it all in all, said the sheriff, I think we'd better figure you out, Sanderson. Besides, there ain't anything to keep you in cart right, and the rest from rigging up a little posse of your own.

Starting point is 05:12:25 Sinclair is up yonder in the hills waiting. Suddenly he stopped. Sanderson was shaken, as if by a violent og, and his face lost all color, becoming a sickly white. And we're going to find him by ourselves. So long, Sanderson, and thanks for dropping in. No hard feelings, mind. To this friendly dismissal, Sanderson returned no answer.

Starting point is 05:12:53 He turned away with a wide staring eye and went through the doorway like a man walking in a dream. Arizona was instantly on his feet. You see, boys, he asked exultantly, I was right. When you said Sinclair was waiting up in the hills, Sanderson was scared. I was right. He's one of them that Sinclair is after,

Starting point is 05:13:19 and that's why he wanted to throw in with us. And why the devil shouldn't he? asked the sheriff. For a good reason, Sheriff, reason, that'll save us a pile of riding. We'll sit tight here in Sour Creek for a while and catch Sinclair right here. Do you know how? By watching Cartwright and Sanderson.

Starting point is 05:13:41 As sure as there's a sky over us, Sinclair is going to make a try at one of them. They both hate him. Well, you can lay to it that he hates him back. and a man that sinclair hates he's going to get sooner or later chiefly sooner sheriff keep an eye on them two to-night and you'll have sinclair playing right into your hands looks to me muttered red chalmers like you had a grudge against cartwright and sanderson using them for live bait and us for a trap why not asked arizona sitting down and rubbing his fat hands much pleased with himself why not I'd like to know. In the meantime Bill Sanderson had gone down to the street,

Starting point is 05:14:29 still with the staring eyes of a sleepwalker. It was evening, and from the open street he looked out and up to the mountains, growing blue and purple against the sky. He had heard how Sinclair talk about Riley and Riley's love for the higher mountains. They were his country, and a great surety dropped upon him

Starting point is 05:14:51 that the fat man of the posse had been right. Somewhere in those mountains, Sinclair was lurking, ready for a descent upon Sour Creek. Now Sanderson grew cold. All that was superstitious at his nature took him by the throat. The fate, which he had felt to be fighting with him,

Starting point is 05:15:12 he now was equally sure, was aligned against him. Otherwise, why had the posse refused to accept him as a member? for only one reason he was doomed to die by the hand of riley sinclair and then no doubt riley sinclair would fall in turn by the bullets of the posse the shadows were pouring out of the gorges of the western mountains and night began to invade the hollow of sour creek every downward step of those shadows was to the feverish imagination of sanderson a forecast of the coming of sinclair Sinclair coming in spite of the posse, in spite of the price upon his head. In the few moments during which Sanderson remained in the street watching,

Starting point is 05:16:02 the tumult grew in his mind. He was afraid. He was mortally in terror of something more than physical death, and, like the cornered rat, he felt his sudden urge to go out and meet the danger halfway. A dozen pictures came to him of Sinclair slipping and, into town under cover of the night of the stealthy approach of the gunplay that would follow.

Starting point is 05:16:28 Why not take the desperate chance of going out to find the assailant and take him by surprise instead? The mountains, that was the country of Sinclair, instinctively, his eyes fell and clung to the greatest height he could see, a flat-topped mountain due west of Sour Creek.

Starting point is 05:16:48 Sanderson swung into his saddle and drove out of Sour Creek, toward the goal, and into the deepening gloom of the evening. End of Chapter 21. Chapter 22 of the Rangeland Adventure by Max Brand. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. In the darkness beneath the north windows of the hotel, Sinclair consulted his watch, holding it close, until he could make out the dim position of the hands against the white dial.

Starting point is 05:17:32 It was too early for Cartwright to be in bed, unless he were a very long sleeper, so Sinclair waited. A continual danger lay beside him. The kitchen door constantly banged open and shut, as the Chinese cook trotted out and back, carrying scraps to the waste barrel, or bringing his new Washington's to hang on a rack in the open air, a resource on which he was forced to fall back on account of his cramped quarters. But the cook never left the bright shaft of light which fell through the doorway behind and above him.

Starting point is 05:18:10 And consequently, he could not see into the thick darkness where Sinclair crouched only a few yards away, and the cow-puncher remained moveless. From time to time he looked up, and still the windows were black. After what seemed an eternity, there was a flicker as when the wick of a lamp is lighted, and then a steady glow as the chimney was put on again. The glow brightened, decreased, became an unchanging light. The wick had been trimmed, and Cartwright was in for the evening. However, the cook had not ceased his pilgrimages.

Starting point is 05:18:50 At the very moment when Sinclair had straightened, to attempt to climb up the side of the house, The cook came out and crouched on the upper step, hum in a jangling tune, and sucking audibly on a long stemmed pipe. The queer-smelling smoke drifted across the Sinclair. For a moment, he was on the verge of attempting a quick leap and a tying and gagging of the Oriental,

Starting point is 05:19:16 but he desisted. Instead, Sinclair flattened himself against the wall and waited. Providence came to his assistance at the crisis. someone called from the interior of the house there was an odd-sounding exclamation from the cook and then the latter jumped up and scurried inside slamming the screen door behind him with a great racket sinclair raised his head and surveyed the side of the wall for the last time the sill of the window of the first floor was no higher than his shoulders the eaves above that window projected well out and they would afford an excellent hold by which he could swing himself up but having swung up the great problem was to obtain sufficient purchase for his knees to keep from sliding off before he had a chance to steady himself once on the ledge of those eaves he could stand up and look through any one of the three windows into the room which according to the boy cartwright occupied he lifted himself on to the sill of the first window bumping his nose sharply against the pane of the glass then began the more difficult task he straightened and fixed his fingers firmly on the ledge above him waiting until his palm and the finger-tips

Starting point is 05:20:41 had sweated into a steady grip. Then he stepped as far as possible to one side and sprang up with a great heave of the shoulders. But the effort was too great. He not only flung himself up far enough, but too far, and his descending knee, striving for a hold, slipped off as if from an oiled surface. He came down with a jar, the full length of his arms,

Starting point is 05:21:08 a fall, that flung him down on his back, on the ground. With a stifled curse, he leaped up again. It seemed that the noise of that fall must have resounded for a great distance. But as he stood there listening, no one drew near.

Starting point is 05:21:26 Someone came out of the front door of the hotel laughing. The cow-puncher tried again. He managed the first stage of the ascent, as before, very easily. But making the second effort, he exceeded too much in caution. and fell short.

Starting point is 05:21:43 However, the fall did not include a toppling all the way to the ground. His feet landed softly on the sill, and at the same time, voices turned the corner of the building beside him. Sinclair flattened himself against the pain of the lower window and held his breath. Two men were beneath him. Their heads were level with his feet. He could have kicked the hats off their heads without the slightest trouble. It was a mystery that they did not see him, he thought, until he recalled that all men at night naturally face outward from a wall.

Starting point is 05:22:20 It is an instinct. They stood close together, talking rather low. The one was fairly tall, and the other squat. The shorter man lighted a cigarette. The matchlight glinted on an oily, olive skin, and so much of the profile as he could see was faintly familiar. he sent his memory lurching back in the far places in old times but he had no nerve for reminiscence he recalled himself to the danger of the moment and listened to them talking what's happened the taller man was saying so far nothing grunted the other and how long do you feel we ought to keep it up i don't know i'll tell you when i get tired speaking personal faddy i'm kind of tired of it it right now, I want to hit the hay.

Starting point is 05:23:15 Buck up, buck up, partner. We'll get them yet. Now it flashed into the mind of Sinclair that it must be a pair of crooked gamblers, working on some fat purse in the hotel, come out here to arrange plans because they failed to extract the bank roll as quickly as they desired. Otherwise, there could be no meeting to this talk of getting someone.

Starting point is 05:23:39 But between you and me, grumbled the big man, it looked from the first like a bum game, Fatty. That's the trouble with you, Red. You ain't got any patience. How does a cat catch a mouse? By sitting down and waiting, maybe three hours. And the hungrier she gets, the longer she'll wait, and the stiller she'll sit. A man can take a good lesson out of that. You always got a pile of fancy words, protested the big man. sinclair saw fattie put his hand on the shoulder of his companion plainly he was the dominant force of the two in spite of his lack of height red as sure as you're born there's something goin to happen this here night my scars is itching red and that means something again the mind of sinclair flashed back to something familiar a man who prophesied by the itching of his scars but once more than that was a man who prophesied by the itching of his scars But once more the danger of the moment made his mind a blank to all else.

Starting point is 05:24:46 What scars asked, Redd? Scratch as I got when I was a kid, flashed the fat man, that's all. Oh, chuckled Red, plainly unconvinced. Well, we'll play the game a little longer. That's a talk, partner. I tell you, we got this trap baited, and it's got to catch. Presently, they drifted around the corner. corner of the building and out of sight. For a moment, Sinclair wondered what the trap could

Starting point is 05:25:15 be which the fat man had baited it so carefully. His mind reverted to his original picture of a card game. Cheap tricksters, sharpers with the cards he decided, and with that decision he banished them both from his mind. There was no other sign of life around him. All of Sour Creek lived at the main street, or went to bed at this hour of of the early night. The back of the hotel was safe from observance, except for the horse shed, and the back of the shed was turned to him.

Starting point is 05:25:50 He felt safe, and now he turned, settled his fingers into a new grip on the eaves, and made his third attempt. It succeeded to a nicety, his right knee catching solidly on the ledge. He got a fingertip hold on the boards and stood up, straightening himself slowly he looked into the room through a corner of the window pane cartwright sat with his back to the window the lamp beside him on the table writing

Starting point is 05:26:22 he had thrown off his heavy outer shirt and he wore only a cotton undershirt his heavy shoulders and big muscled arms showed the great advantage with the light and sharp shadows defining each ridge Now and then he lifted his head to think. Then he bent to his writing again. It occurred to Sinclair to fling the window up boldly, and when Cartwright turned, cover him with a gun. But the chances, including his position, on the ledge, were very much against him. Cartwright would probably snatch at his own gun,

Starting point is 05:27:00 which lay before him in his holster on the table, and whirling he would try a snap shot. The only other alternative was to raise the window, and that, with Cartwright four paces away? First Sinclair took stock of the interior of the room. It was larger than most parlors he had seen. There was a big double bed on each side of it. Plainly, it was intended to accommodate a whole party, and Sinclair smiled at the vanity of the man, who had insisted on taking the best you have.

Starting point is 05:27:37 no wonder sour creek knew the room he had rented in the corner was a great fireplace capable of taking a six-foot log at least he admired the massive andirons palpably of home manufacture in sour creek's blacksmith's shop it proved the age of the building no one would waste money on such a fireplace in these days a little stove would do twice the work of that great hungry chimney there were two great chests of drawers also each looking as if it were built up from the floor and made immovable such was its weight the beds also were of an ancient and solid school of furniture making to be sure everything was sadly run down on the floor the thin old carpet was worn completely through at the sides of the beds both mirrors above the chest of drawers were sadly cracked, and the table at which Cartwright sat leaned to the right under the weight of the arm he rested on it. Having thus taken in the details of the battleground, Sinclair made ready for the attack. He made sure of his footing on the ledge, gave a last glance over his shoulder to see that no one was in sight, and then began to work at the window,

Starting point is 05:29:02 moving it fractions of an inch at a time. Chapter 22. Chapter 23 of the Rangeland Adventure by Max Brand. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. When the window was half raised, the work of a full ten minutes, Sinclair drew his revolver and rested the barrel on the sill. He continued to lift the sash, but now he used his left hand alone, and thereby the noises became louder and more frequent. Cartwright occasionally raised his head, but probably he was becoming accustomed to the sounds.

Starting point is 05:29:51 Now the window is raised to its full height, and Sinclair prepared for the command, which would jerk Cartwright's hands above his head and make him turn slowly to look into the mouth of the gun. Weight, which you could have easily handled with a lurch, became tenfold heavier with the slowness of the lift. Eventually both shoulders were in the room, and he was kneeling on the sill. Cartwright raised his hand slowly, luxuriously, and stretched. It was a movement so opportune that Sinclair almost laughed aloud. He twisted his legs over the sill and dropped lightly on the floor. No noise, he called softly.

Starting point is 05:30:35 The arms of Cartwright became frozen in their position above his head. He turned slowly, with little jerky movements, as though he had the fight to make himself look, and then he saw Sinclair. Keep him up, commanded the cow-puncher, and get out of that chair, real soft and slow. That's it. Without a word, Cartwright obeyed. There was no need of speech, indeed, for a score of expressions flashed into his face. Go over and lock the door.

Starting point is 05:31:08 He obeyed, keeping his arms above his head, all the way across the room. A Sinclair jerked the new colt out of its holster and tossed it on the farthest bed. In the meantime, Cartwright lingered at the door for a moment with his hand on the key. No doubt he fought for the split part of a second, with a wild temptation to jerk that door open and leap into the safety of the hall. Sinclair read the thought in the tremor of the big man's body, but presently discretion prevailed. Cartwright turned the key and faced about. He was deadly gray, and his lips were working.

Starting point is 05:31:51 Now he began. Wait till I start talking, urged Sinclair. Come over here and sit down. You're too close to the door to suit May just now. This is a pile better. Cartwright obeyed quietly. sitting down, he locked his hands nervously about one knee and looked up with his eyes to Sinclair. I come in for a quiet talk, said Sinclair, dropping his gun into the holster.

Starting point is 05:32:19 That movement drew a sudden brightening of the eyes of Cartwright, who now straightened in his chair as if he had regained hope. Don't make no mistakes, said Sinclair, following the meaning of that change accurately. I'm pretty handy with his old gun, partner, and on you, just now, there ain't any reason why I shouldn't take my time or any chances, when it comes to shooting. Unconsciously, Cartwright moistened his white lips, and his eyes grew big again,

Starting point is 05:32:52 except that the minute you shoot you're a dead one, Sinclair. Me? Oh, no. When a gun's heard, they'll all run to the room, where the shot's been fired. and when they get that lock open, I'll be gone the way I'd come from." Sinclair smiled genially on his enemy. Don't start raising any crop of delusions, friend. I mean business, a lot.

Starting point is 05:33:18 And talk business, I'll listen. Oh, thanks. I come here about your wife. He watched Cartwright wince. In his heart, he pitied the man. All the story of Cartwright's spoiled boyhood and viciously selfish youth were written in his face

Starting point is 05:33:35 for the reading of such a man as Sinclair. The rancher's son had begun well enough, lack of discipline had undone him. But whether his faults were fixed or changeable, Sinclair could not tell. It was largely to learn this that he took the chances for the interview. Go on, said Cartwright.

Starting point is 05:33:57 In the first place, do you know why she left you? An anguish came across Cartwright's face. It taught Sinclair at least one thing, that the man loved her. You're the reason, maybe. Me? I never seen her to two days ago. That's a tolerable, ugly thing to say, Cartwright. Well, I got a tolerable, ugly reason for saying it, answered the other.

Starting point is 05:34:22 The cow-puncher sighed. I follow the way you drift, but you're wrong, partner. Fact is, I didn't know cold for you. was a girl to this evening. Cartwright sneered, and Sinclair stiffened in his chair. Son, he said gravely, the worst enemies I got, we'll all tell you that Riley Sinclair don't handle his own words careless, and I give you my solemn word of honor,

Starting point is 05:34:49 but I didn't know she was a girl to this evening, and that, right away, after I found it out, I came down here to straighten things out with you, if I could. Will you believe it? It was a strange study to watch the workings in the face of Cartwright, of hope, passion, doubt, hatred. He leaned closer to Sinclair, his big hands clutched together. Sinclair, I wish I could believe it.

Starting point is 05:35:17 Look me in the eye, man, I can stand it. By the Lord it's true, but Sinclair, have you come down to find out if I'd take her back? Would you? The other grew instantly quick. crafty. She's done me a pile of wrong, Sinclair. She has, said the cow-puncher. He went on gently. She must have cut into your pride a lot. Oh, if it was known, said Cartwright, turning pale at the thought.

Starting point is 05:35:46 She'd make me a laughing stock. Me, old Cartwright, son. Yep, that'd be bad. He wondered at the frank egoism of the youth. I leave it to you, said Cartwright, settling back in his chair. Something ought to be done to punish her. Besides, she's a weight on your hands, and I can see you'd be anxious to get rid of her quick. How'd he aim the punisher, asked Sinclair. Me?

Starting point is 05:36:14 Sure. Kind of a hard thing to do, wouldn't it be? Cartwright's eyes grew small. Ways could be found. He swallowed hard. I'd find a heap of ways to make her wish she'd die sooner than shame me. I suppose you could, said Sinclair slowly.

Starting point is 05:36:33 He lowered his glance for a moment to keep his scorn from standing up in his eyes. But I've heard of Men, Cartwright, that love a woman so hard that they'd forgive anything. The world's full of fools, said the rich rancher. He stabbed the stern forefinger into the palm of his other hand. She's got to do a lot of explaining before I'd look at her. She's got to make me an account. of every day she spent since i last seen her at at the wedding asked sinclair cruelly cartwright writhed in the chair till it groaned beneath his uneasy weight she told you that

Starting point is 05:37:15 look here went on sinclair assuming a new tone of frank inquiry let's see if we can't find out why she left you there ain't any reason just plain fool woman that's all but maybe she didn't love you cartwright did you ever think of that the big man stared not love me who would she love then was there anybody in them parts that could bring her as much as i could was there anybody that had as good a house as mine. Where's much land? Where's much cattle? Didn't I take her over the ground and show her what it amounted to? Didn't I offer her to pick of my own string of riding horses? Did you do as much as that? Sure I did. She wouldn't have lacked for nothing. You sure must have loved her a lot, insinuated Sinclair, must have been plumb foolish about her. Oh, I don't know about that. Love is one thing, that ain't bothered me none. I got important interests in Clare.

Starting point is 05:38:19 I'm a businessman, and this here marriage was a business proposition. Her dad was a businessman, and he fixed it all up for us. It was to tie the two biggest bunches of land together that could be found in them parts. Anyway, he grinned, I got the land. And why not let the girl go, then?

Starting point is 05:38:41 Why, asked Hart right eagerly, who wants her, you? maybe if you'd let her go not in a thousand years she's mine there ain't no face but hers that i can see opposite me at the table not one besides she's mine and i'm going to keep her after i've taught her a lesson or two sinclair wiped his forehead hastily eagerness to jump at the throat of the man consumed him he forced a smile upon his thin lips and persistently looked down but think how easy it would be cartwright think how easy you could get a divorce on the grounds of desertion and drag all the shame into the courts there's ways of hushing these here things up it'd be easy she wouldn't put up no defense most like you'd win your case and if anybody asked questions they'd simply say she was crazy and that you was lucky to get rid of her they wouldn't blame you none And it wouldn't be no disgrace to be deserted by a crazy woman, would it? Cartwright drew back into a shell of opposition.

Starting point is 05:39:51 You talk pretty hot for this. Because I'm telling you the way out for both of you. I can't see it. She's coming back to me. Nobody else is going to get her. I've set my mind on it. Partner, don't you see that neither of you could ever be happy? Well, we'd be happy enough.

Starting point is 05:40:10 I'd forgive her after a while. yes but what about her about her why cursor what right has she got to be considered cartwright she doesn't love you the bull-dog came into the face of cartwright and contorted it don't she belong to me by law ain't she sworn to don't said sinclair as if the words strangled him don't say that cartwright if you please why not you put up a good slick talk sinclair but she don't win. I ain't going to give her up by no divorce. I'm going to keep her. I don't love her enough to want her back. I hate her enough.

Starting point is 05:40:52 There's only one way that I'd stop carrying about. Stop fearing that she'd shame me. And that's by having her six feet underground. But you, Sinclair, you need coin. You're foot loose. Suppose you was to take her and bring her to. Don't, cried Sinclair. Don't say it, Cartwright.

Starting point is 05:41:12 think it over again have mercy on her man she could make some home happy are you going to destroy that chance say what kind of talk is this asked the big man now said sinclair look to your own rotten soul the strength of cartwright was cut away at the root the color was struck out of his face as by a mortal blow what do you mean he whispered you don't deserve a man's chance but I'm going to give it to you. Go get your gun, Cartwright. Cartwright slunk back into his chair. Do you mean murder, Sinclair? I mean a fair fight. You're a gunman.

Starting point is 05:41:56 You've been raised and trained for gunfighting. I wouldn't have no chance. Sinclair controlled his scorn. Then I'll fight left-handed. I'm a right-handed man, Cartwright, and I'll take you with my gun in my left hand. That evens us up, I guess. No, it don't.

Starting point is 05:42:15 But with a cry on his lips, the glance of Cartwright flickered past Sinclair. He grew thoughtful, less flabby. He seemed to be calculating his chances as his glance rested on the window. All right, he whispered, a fearful eye on Sinclair, as if he feared the latter would change his mind. Give me a fair break. I'll do it. Sinclair shifted his. his gun to his left hand and turned the look at the window which Cartwright had been watching

Starting point is 05:42:48 with such intense interest. He had not half turned, however, when a gun barked at his very ear. It seemed, the tongue of flame spat in from the window. There was a crash of glass, and a lamp was snuffed. Some accurate shot had cut the burning wick out of the lamp with his bullet, so nicely placed that, though the lamp reeled, it did not fall. End of Chapter 23. Chapter 24 of the Rangeland Adventure by Max Brand. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. With a spurt of flame, Sinclair leaped back until his shoulders grazed the wall.

Starting point is 05:43:42 He crouched beside the massive chest of drawers. It might partially sheltered. him from fire from the window. There fell one of those deadly, breathing spaces of silence, silence, except for the chattering of the lamp, as it steadied on the table and finally was still. There was a light, crunching noise from the opposite side of the room. Cartwright had moved and put his foot on a fragment of the shattered chimney. Sinclair studied the window.

Starting point is 05:44:14 It was a rectangle of dim light, but nothing showed in that frame. He who had fired the shot must have crouched at once, or else have drawn the one side. He waited with his gun poised. Steps were sounding far away in the building, steps which approached rapidly. Voices were calling. Somewhere on the farther side of the room, Cartwright must have found the best shelter he could, and Sinclair shrewdly guessed that it would be on the far side of the chest of drawers which faced him. In the meantime, he studied the blank rectangle of the window.

Starting point is 05:44:53 Sooner or later, the man who stood on the ledge would risk a look into the dark interior, otherwise he would not be human. And sure enough, presently, the faintest shadow of an outline encroached on the solid rectangle of faint light. Sinclair aimed just to the right and fired. At once there was a splash of red flame and a thundering report from the other side of the room. Cartwright had fired at the flash of Sinclair's gun, and the bullet smashed into the chest beside Sinclair.

Starting point is 05:45:28 As for Sinclair's own bullet, it brought only a stifled curse from the window. Not good, Riley, sang out the voice. The wall's too thick for a cult. Sinclair had flung himself softly forward on his stomach, his gun in readiness, and leveled in the direction of Cartwright. There was the prime necessity. Now heavy footfalls rushed down the hall, and a storm of voices broke in upon him. At the same time, Cartwright's gun spat fire again. The bullet buzzed angrily above Sinclair's head. His own brought a yell of pain,

Starting point is 05:46:09 sharp as the yelp of a coyote keep quiet cartwright ordered the man at the window you'll get yourself killed if you keep risking it sheriff his voice rose and rang blow the lock off the door we got him there was an instant reply in the explosion of a gun the crash of broken metal the door swung slowly in admitting a dim twilight into the room the light The light showed Sinclair one thing, the dull outlines of Cartwright. He whipped up his gun and then hesitated. It would be murder. He had killed before, but never save in fair fight, standing in a clear light before his enemy. He knew that he could not kill this rat he detested. He thought of the wrecked life of the girl and set his teeth.

Starting point is 05:47:03 Still he could not fire. Cartwright, he said softly, I got you covered. Your right hands on the floor with your gun. Don't raise that hand. In the shadow against the wall, Cartwright moved, but he obeyed. The revolver still glimmered on the floor. A new and desperate thought came to Sinclair,

Starting point is 05:47:24 to rush straight for the window, shoot down the man on the ledge, and risk the leap to the ground. Scatter back, call the man on the ledge. That settled the last chance of Sinclair. There were guards on the ground, scattered about the house. He could never get out that way. Keep out of the light by the door, commanded the man at the window,

Starting point is 05:47:48 and start shooting for the chest of drawers on the left-hand side of the room, and aim low down. It may take time, but we'll get them. Obviously, the truth of that statement was too clear for Sinclair to deny it. He reviewed his situation with a swift calm of an old gamble. He had tried his desperate coup and had failed. There was nothing to do but except the failure, or else make a still more desperate effort to rectify his position,

Starting point is 05:48:21 risking everything on a final play. He must get out of the room. The window was hopelessly blocked. There remained the open door, but the hall beyond the door was crowded with men. Perhaps their very numbers would work against them. Even now, they could be heard cautiously maneuvering. They would shoot through the door in his general direction,

Starting point is 05:48:45 unarmed shots, with the hope of a chance hit, and eventually they would strike him down. Suppose he were to steal close to the door, leap over the bed, and plunge out among them, his colt spitting lead in fire. That unexpected attack would cleave a passage for him, the more he thought of it, the more clearly he saw that the chances of escape to the street were at least one in three.

Starting point is 05:49:14 And yet he hesitated. If he made that break, two or three innocent men would go down before his bullets, as he sprang out, shooting the kill. He shrank from the thought. He was amazed at himself. Never before had he been so tender in expedience. He had always fought to win, cleanly. but to win. Why was he suddenly remembering that to these men he was an outlaw, fit meet for the

Starting point is 05:49:43 first bullet they could send home? Had he been one of them, he would have taken up a position in that very hall just as they were doing. Slowly, reluctantly, fighting himself as he did it, he shoved his revolver back into his holster and determined to take the chance of that surprise attack with his empty hands against their guns. If they did not drop him the instant he leaped out, he would be among them, too close for gunplay, unless they took the chance of killing their own men. Keeping his gaze fixed on Cartwright across the room, for the moment he showed his intention, Cartwright would shoot. He maneuvered softly toward the bed. Cartwright turned his head, but made no move to lift his gun. There was a reason.

Starting point is 05:50:34 The light from the door fell nearer to the rancher than it did the Sinclair. To Cartwright, he must be no more than a shapeless blur. A gun exploded from the doorway, with only a glint of steel, as the muzzle was shoved around the jam. The bullet crashed harmlessly into the wall behind him. Another try, a sharp, stifling odor of burned powder began to fill the room. Stinging the nostrils of Sinclair Cartwright was coughing in his stifled fashion On the far side of the room

Starting point is 05:51:11 As if he feared a loud noise Would draw a bullet his way All at once there was no sound in the hotel And as the wave of silence spread Sinclair was aware that the whole little town was listening Waiting, watching Not a whisper in the hall Not a stir from Cartwright across the room

Starting point is 05:51:32 room. The quiet made the drama seem unreal. Then that voice outside the window, which seemed to be Sinclair's nemesis, cried, steady, boys, something's going to happen. He's getting ready. Buck up, boys. In a moment of madness, Sinclair decided to rush that window and dispose of the cool-minded speaker at all costs before he died. There, at least, was the one man he wished to kill. he followed that impulse long enough to throw himself siding along the floor so as not to betray his real strategic position to those at the door and he splashed two bullets into the wall trimming the side of the window only clear deep-throated laughter came in response i told you boys i read his mind and he's mad at me huh but riley sinclair hardly heard the mocking after he's a man He had glided back behind the bed. The instant the shots were fired.

Starting point is 05:52:39 As he moved, two guns appeared for a flickering instant around the edge of the doorway. One on each side. Their muzzles kicked up rapidly. One, two, three, four, five, six. And each, as he fired, spread the shots carefully from side to side. Sinclair heard the bullets bite and splinter, the woodwork close to the floor.

Starting point is 05:53:03 the chest of drawers staggered with the impact he raised his own gun watched one of the jumping muzzles for an instant and then tried a snap shot the report of his revolver was bitten off short by the clang of metal there was a shouted curse from the hallway he had blown the gun cleanly out of the sharpshooter's hand before the amazed rumble from the hall died away sinclair had acted He shoved his weapon back into its holster and cleared the bed with a flying leap. From the corner of his eye he saw Cartwright snatch up his gun and take a chance shot that whistled close to his head, and then Sinclair plunged into the hall. One glimmering chance of success remained. On the side of the door, toward which he drove, there were only three men in the hall. Behind him were more, far more, but their weapons were.

Starting point is 05:54:01 were neutralized. They could not fire without risking a miss that would certainly lodge a bullet into the body of one of the men before Sinclair. Those men were kneeling, for they had been reaching out and firing low around the door to rake the floor of the room. At the appearance of Sinclair they started up. He saw a gun jerk high for a snapshot, and swerving as he leaped, He drove out with all his weight behind his fist. The knuckles bit through flesh to bone. There was a jarring impact, and now only two men were before him.

Starting point is 05:54:40 One of them dropped his gun. It was he who had just emptied his weapon into the room and flung himself at Sinclair without spread arms. The cow-puncher snapped up his knee, and the blow crumpled the other back and to the side. He sprang on towards him. the last man who barred his way, and all this in the split part of a second. Chance took a hand against him.

Starting point is 05:55:07 In the very act of striking, his foot lodged on the first senseless body, and he catapulted forward on his hands. He struck the legs of the third man as he fell. Down they went together, and Sinclair lurched up from under the weight, only to be overtaken by many reaching hands from behind. That instant of delay had lost a battle for him, and as he strove to whirl and fight himself clear, an arm curled around his neck, shutting off his breath,

Starting point is 05:55:40 a great weight jarred between his shoulders, and he pitched down to the floor. He stopped fighting. He felt his gun slipped from the holster, death, strong hands, jerked his arms behind him, and tied the wrists firmly together. Then he was drawn to his feet.

Starting point is 05:56:00 All this without a word spoken, only the pant and struggle of hard-drawn breaths. Not until he stood on his feet again, with a bleeding-faced fellow, rising with dazed eyes, and another clamoring up unsteadily, with both hands pressed against his head, did the captors give voice, and their voice was a yellow triumph that was taken up in two directions outside the hotel. They became suddenly excited, riotously happy. In the overflowing of their joy, they were good-natured. Someone caught up Sinclair's hat and jammed it on his head.

Starting point is 05:56:41 Another slapped him on the shoulder. A fine-game fight, said the latter. It was the man with a smeared face. He was grinning through his wounds. Hardest punch I ever got, but I don't blame you, partner. presently he saw sheriff kern the latter was perfectly cool perfectly grave it was his arm that had coiled around the neck of sinclair and throttled him into submission he didn't come out to kill sinclair why ain't used to slaughterhouse works at sinclair with equal calm although he was panting besides it wasn't worth it murder never is kind of late to come to that idea son now just trot along with me will you he paused where's arizona cartwright lurched out of the room with his naked gun in his hand

Starting point is 05:57:37 red dripped from the shallow wound where sinclair's bullet had nicked him he plunged at the captive yelling stop that fool snapped the sheriff half a dozen men put themselves between the outlaw and the avenger Cartwright straggled vainly. Between you and me, said Sinclair coldly to the sheriff, I think that skunk would plug me while I got my hands tied. The sheriff flashed a knowing glance up at his tall prisoner's face. I don't know, Sinclair, kind of looks that way. Although Cartwright had been persuaded to restore his gun to its cover, he passed through the crowd until he confronted Sinclair.

Starting point is 05:58:23 now the tables has turned huh i'll take the high hand from now on sinclair it's no good said sinclair dryly the gent that shot out the light had a chance to see something before he done the shooting and what he's seen must have showed that your yellow cartwright yellow as a yellow dog cartwright flung his fist with a curse into the face of the cow-puncher the weight of the bow blow, jarred him back against the wall. But he met the glare of Cartwright with a steady eye, a thin trickle of crimson, running down his cut lips. The sheriff rushed in between and mastered Cartwright's arms. One more little trick like that, stranger, and I'll turn you over to the boys. They got ways of teaching Jen's manners. How was you raised anyway? Suddenly sobered, cartwright drew back from dark glances on every side fellows he said in a shaken voice i forgot his hands was tied but i'm kind of wrought up he tried to murder me it's all right partner drawed red chalmers and he laid a strong hand on the shoulder of cartwright it's all right we all allow for one break but don't do something like that twice not in these parts sinclair walked beside the sheriff while the sheriff while there

Starting point is 05:59:52 The crowd poured past him and down the hall. When they reached the head of the stairs, they found the lighted room below filled with excited, upturned faces. At the sight of the sheriff and his prisoner, they roared their applause. The faces were blotted and blurred by a veil of rapidly, widely waving sombreros. The sheriff paused halfway down the stairs and held up his hand. Sinclair halted beside him, looking at the door. looking disdainfully over the crowd.

Starting point is 06:00:25 Instantly, noise and movement ceased. It was a spectacular picture. The stubby little sheriff and the tall, lean, wolf-like man he had captured. It seemed the vivid illustration of the power of the law over the lawbreaker. Sinclair glanced down in wonder at Kern. It was in character for the sheriff to make a speech. A moment later, the sheriff's own words had explained his reason for the impromptu address.

Starting point is 06:00:56 Boys, he said, I figure some of you has got an almighty big wish to see Sinclair on the end of a rope, huh? A deep growl answered him. Speaking personal, went on the sheriff smoothly. I don't see how he's done a thing worth hanging. He took a prisoner away from me, and his resisted arrest, that's all.

Starting point is 06:01:20 Sinclair has got a name as a killer. maybe he is but i know he ain't done no killin round these parts that's come to light yet i'll tell you another thing a minute ago he could have sent three men to death and maybe come off with a free skin but he chose to take his chance without shooting the kill he tried to fight his way out with his hands sooner than blow the heads off of gents that never done him no harm except to get in his way well boys that's something you don't often see and i tell you this right now if there's any lynch talk around this here town you can lay to it that you'll have to shoot your way to sinclair through me and i'll be a dead one before you reach to him He paused. Someone hissed from the back of the crowd, but the majority murmured in appreciation. One more thing went on the sheriff.

Starting point is 06:02:18 Some of you may think it was great guns to take Sinclair. It was a pretty good job. But there ain't no credit coming to me. I'm up here saying that all the praise goes to a fat friend of mine by name Arizona. If you got any free drinks, Let him drift the way of Arizona. Hey, Arizona, step out and make a bow, will you?

Starting point is 06:02:43 But no, Arizona appeared. The crowd cheered him, and then cheered the generous sheriff. Kern, who in one more by his frankness, than he could possibly have won, in half a dozen spectacular exploits with a gun. End of Chapter 24 Chapter 25 of the Rangeland Avenger by Max Brand. This Libravox recording is in the public domain.

Starting point is 06:03:21 The crowd swirled out of the hotel before the sheriff and his prisoner and then swirled back again. No use following the sheriff, if they hoped for details. They knew a silence of old. Instead, they picked off the members who had taken part in some phase. of the fight and drew them aside. As Sinclair went on down the street, the populace of Sour Creek was left pooled behind him. Various orators were given accounts of how the whole thing had happened. Sinclair had neither eye nor ear for them, but he looked back and up to the western sky, with a flat-topped mountain clearly outlined against it. There was his country, and in his country

Starting point is 06:04:09 he had left Jig alone and helpless. The feeling of utter desolation and failure came over him. He had started with a double goal, Sanderson or Cartwright or both. He had failed lamentably of reaching either one. He looked back to the sheriff, squat, insignificant, gray-headed, what a man to have blocked him. But who's this Arizona, he asked?

Starting point is 06:04:37 I don't know. Seems to have known you somewhere. Maybe a friend of your, Sinclair. Hmm, said the cow-puncher, maybe. Tell me, was it him that was outside the window and trimmed the light on me? He got him right, Sinclair, that was the gent. Nice play he made, huh?

Starting point is 06:04:56 Very pretty, Sheriff. I thought I knowed his voice. He seemed to have made himself pretty infrequent. Didn't know Arizona was so darned modest. Maybe he's got a... reasons, said Sinclair. What's his full name? Ain't that curious? I ain't heard of anybody else that knows it. He's a cool head, this Arizona. Seems to read your mind, and know just how you jump, Sinclair. I would have been off combing the trails, but he seemed to know that you'd come

Starting point is 06:05:29 into town. I'll sure keep him in mind if I ever meet up with him, murmured Sinclair. Is this where I bunk? The sheriff had paused before a squat, dumpy building, and was working noisily at the lock with a big key. Now that his back was necessarily toward his prisoner, two of the posse stepped up close beside Sinclair. They had none of the sheriff's nonchalance. One of them was a man whose head had made the acquaintance of Sinclair's knee, and both

Starting point is 06:06:03 were ready for instant action of any description. i'm reinhart said one softly keep me in mind sinclair i'm him that you smashed with your knee dirty work i'll see you when you get out of the lock-up if that ever happens the voice of sinclair was not so soft i'll meet you in jail or out he answered on foot or on horseback with fists or knife or gun and you can lay to this reinhart i'll remember you a pile better then you'll remember me. All the repressed savagery of his nature came quivering into his voice as he spoke, and the other shrank instinctively apace. In the meantime, the sheriff had succeeded

Starting point is 06:06:51 in turning the rusted lock, which squeaked back. The door grumbled on its heavy hinges. Sinclair stepped into the musty, close atmosphere within. Don't look like you've had much use for this here outfit, he said to the sheriff. The latter lighted a lantern.

Starting point is 06:07:10 Nope, he said. It sure beats all how the luck runs, Sinclair. We had a pretty bad time with crooks around these parts, and them that was nabbed in Sour Creek got away, about two out of three, before they was brought to me at Woodville. So the boys got together and ponied up for this little jail, and it says need a pile of mud and steel,

Starting point is 06:07:33 as you ever see. Look at them bars, kind of rusty they look, but inside they're tool-proof. Oh, it's an up-to-date outfit, this jail. It's been a comfort to me, and it's a credit to Sour Creek. But the trouble is that since it was built, there ain't been no more than one or two put in it. Maybe you can make out here for the night. Have you over to Woodville in a couple of days, Sinclair? He brought his prisoner into a cage-like cell, heavily guarded, with bars,

Starting point is 06:08:05 on all sides. The adobe walls had been trusted in no direction. The steel lining was the strength of the Sour Creek Jail. The sheriff himself set about shaking out the blankets. When this was done, he bade his two companions draw their guns and stand guard at the steel door to the cell. Not that I don't trust you a good deal, Sinclair, he said, but I know that a gent sometimes takes big chances. So, saying, he cut the bonds of his prisoner. But instead of making a plunge at the door, Sinclair merely stretched his long arms luxuriously above his head.

Starting point is 06:08:48 The sheriff slipped out of the door and closed it after him. A heavy and prolonged clangor followed, as Steele jarred home against steel. Don't go, sheriff, said Sinclair. I need a chat with you. I am in no hurry. and here's the gent we was talking about. Here's Arizona. The sheriff had waved his two companions out of the jail,

Starting point is 06:09:12 as soon as the prisoner was securely lodged, and no sooner was this done, and they had departed through the doorway. Then the heavy figure of Arizona himself appeared. He came slowly into the circle of the lantern light, an oddly changed man. His squaggering gait, with heels that pounded heavily, gone. He slunk forward, soft-footed. His head, usually so buoyantly erect, was now sunk

Starting point is 06:09:42 lower and forward. His high color had faded to a drab olive, in fact, from a free-swinging jovial, somewhat overbearing demeanor, Arizona had changed to a mean of malicious and rather frightened cunning. In this wise he advanced, heedless of the curious and astonished sheriff, until his face was literally pressed against the bars. He peered steadily at Sinclair. On the face of the latter, there had been at first blank surprise, then a gradual dawning recognition. Finally, he walked slowly to the bars.

Starting point is 06:10:23 As Sinclair approached, the fat cow-puncher drew back, with lingering cat-like steps, as if he grudged every inch of his retreat, and yet dared not remain to meet Sinclair. By the Eternal, said Sinclair, it's Dago. Arizona halted, quivering with emotions, which the sheriff could not identify, save for a blind, intense malice.

Starting point is 06:10:49 The tall man turned to the sheriff, smiling. Dago Lansing, huh? Never heard that name, said the sheriff. Maybe not, replied Sinclair, but that's the man I. You lie, cried Arizona huskily, and his fat, swift hand fluttered nervously around the butt of the revolver. Sheriff, there ain't nothing but lies, stocked up in him. Don't believe nothing he says. Huh, chuckled Sinclair. Why, Kern? He's a man about eight years ago, that I.

Starting point is 06:11:26 Pausing, he looked into the convulsed face of Arizona, who was apparent. apparently tortured with apprehension. I won't go on, Dago, said Sinclair mildly. But, so you've carried this grudge all these days, huh? Arizona tossed up his head. For a moment, he was the Arizona the sheriff had known, but his laughter was too strident, and it was easy to see that he was at a point of hysterically high tension.

Starting point is 06:11:58 Well, I'd have carried it eighty years as easy as eight, declared Ariety. I've been waiting all this time, and now I got you, Sinclair. You'll rot behind the bars, the best part of the life that's left to you, and when you come out, I'll meet you again. Sinclair smiled in a singular fashion. Sorry to disappoint you, Dago, but I'm not coming out. I'm going to stay put. I'm through.

Starting point is 06:12:26 The other blinked. How come? It's something you couldn't figure, said Sinclair. calmly, and he eyed the fat man as if from a great distance. Sinclair was remembering the day eight years ago in a lumber camp to the north when a shivering, meager, shifty-eyed youngster had come among them asking for work. They had taken pity on him, those big lumberjacks, put him up, give him money, kept him at the bunkhouse.

Starting point is 06:12:58 Then articles began to disappear. Watch his money. It was Sinclair who had caught the friendless stripling in the act of slight of hand in the middle of the night. When the laborers, tired out, slept as if stunned. And when the others would have let the cringing, weeping youth go with a lecture and the return of his illicit spoils, it was the stern Sinclair who had insisted on driving home the lesson. He had forced them to strip Dago to the waist. Two stalwarts held his hands, and Sinclair laid on the whip.

Starting point is 06:13:35 And Dago, the moment the lash fell, ceased his wailing and begging, and stood quivering, with his head bent, his teeth set and gritting, until the punishment was ended. It was Sinclair also, who, when the thing was ended, and the others would have thrust the boy out penniless, who split the contents of his wallet with Dago. He remembered the word. he had spoken to the stripling that day

Starting point is 06:14:02 eight years before. You ain't had much luck out here in the West, kid, but stay around. Go south. Learn to ride a horse. There's nothing that puts heart and honesty into a man like a good horse. Don't go back to your city.

Starting point is 06:14:19 You'll turn into a snake there. Stay out here and practice being a man, will you? Get the feel of a cult. Fight your way. Keep your mouth shut. shut and work with your hands. And don't brag about what you know or what you've done.

Starting point is 06:14:36 That's the way to get on. You got the markings in you, son. You got grit, I've seen it, when you was under the whip. And I wish I had the doing of that over again. I made a mistake with you, kid, but do what I've told you to do, and one of these days you'll meet up with me and beat me to the draw,

Starting point is 06:14:56 and take everything you got as a grudge out on me. But you can't do it unless you turn into a man. Deigo had listened in the most profound silence, except that the money without thanks and disappeared, never to be heard from again. In the sleek-faced man before him, Sinclair could hardly recognize that slender fellow of the lumber camp. Only the bright and agile eyes were the same,

Starting point is 06:15:24 that and a certain tell-tale nervousness of hand. The color was coming back. back into his face. I guess I've done it, Arizona was saying. I guess we're squared up, Sinclair. Yep, and a balance on your side. Maybe, maybe not. But I followed your advice, Long, Riley.

Starting point is 06:15:45 I've never forgot a word of it. It was printed into me. He made a significant short gesture, as if he were snapping a whip, and a snarl of undying malice curled his lips. As long as you live, Sinclair," he added. As long as you live, I'll remember. Even the sheriff shuddered at that glimpse into the black soul of a man. Sinclair alone was unmoved.

Starting point is 06:16:13 I reckon you've barked enough, Arizona, he suggested. Suppose you trot along. I got to have a word with my friend the sheriff. Arizona waved his fat hand. He was recovering his ordinary poise, and with a smiling good night to the sheriff, he turned away through the door nice friendly sort huh remarked sinclair the moment he was alone with kern i still got the chills said the sheriff sure has got a wicked pair of eyes said arizona kern cast an apprehensive glance at the closed door yet in spite of the fact that it was closed he lowered his voice what in thunder have you done to him sinclair about eight years ago began sinclair and then stopped short.

Starting point is 06:17:03 Let it go, he went on. No matter what Arizona is today, he sure improved on the gent I used to know. What's done is done, besides. I made a mistake that time. I went too far with him, and a mistake is like borrowed money, Sheriff. It lays up interest and keeps compounding.

Starting point is 06:17:24 When you have to pay back what you'd done a long time ago, you find it's a terrible pile. That's all I got to say about Arizona." Sheriff Kern nodded. That straight talk, Sinclair, he said softly. But what was it you wanted to see me about? Cold feet, said Sinclair. At once the sheriff brightened.

Starting point is 06:17:47 That's right, he said hurriedly. You got the right idea now, partner. Glad to see you're using horse sense. And if you give me an idea of the trail that'll lead the cold feet, I can see to it that you get out of this mess pretty pronto. After all, you ain't done no real harm, except for Knicking Cartwright in the arm,

Starting point is 06:18:08 and I figure that he needs a little punishment. It'll cool his temper down. You think I ought to tell you where cold feet is, asked Sinclair, without emotion. Why not? Him and me sat around the same campfire, Sheriff, and ate off the same deer. At this the sheriff's, the sheriff.

Starting point is 06:18:28 I know, he murmured. It's hard, mighty hard. He continued more smoothly. But listen to me, partner. There's $2,500 on the head of cold feet. Why not come in? Why not split on it? Plenty for both of us.

Starting point is 06:18:46 And speaking personal, I could use half that money, and maybe you could use the other half just as well. I'll tell you what I'll do, said Sinclair. I'll give you the layout for finding, cold feet, ride west out of Sour Creek, and head for a flat-topped mountain. On the shoulder, just under the head of the peak, you'll find cold feet. Go get him. The sheriff caught his breath.

Starting point is 06:19:13 Then he whirled on his heel. The sharp voice of Sinclair called him back. Wait a minute. I ain't through. When you catch cold feet, you go after him without guns. How come? because he might hurt him, and he can't fight, Sheriff, even if he was to pull a gun. He couldn't hit nothing with it.

Starting point is 06:19:34 He couldn't hit the ground he's standing on with a gun. Sheriff Kern scratched his head. And when you get him, went on Sinclair. Tell him to go back and take up his life where he left off, because there's no harm coming to him. Great guns, man, no harm coming to him, with a murder to his count. and a price on his head. I mean what I say, break it to him real gentle.

Starting point is 06:20:03 And who pays for the killing of Quaid? Sinclair smiled. He was finding it far easier to do than he had ever imagined. The moment he made the resolve, his way was smooth for him. I'll pay for Quaid, he said quietly. What do you mean?

Starting point is 06:20:22 Because I killed him, Sheriff. Now go tell Coldfeet, That his score is clean. End of Chapter 25. Chapter 26 of the Rangeland Adventure by Max Brand. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. Toward the flat-topped mountain, with a feeling of his fate upon him, Bill Sanderson pushed his Mustang through the late evening,

Starting point is 06:20:56 while the darkness fell. He had long since stopped thinking, reasoning. There was only the strong, black, line feeling that he must beat Sinclair face to face and beside his destiny in one brief struggle. So he kept on until his shadow fell faintly on his path before him, long, shapeless, protested. He turned and saw the moon coming up above the eastern mountains, a wan, sickly moon, hardly out of her first quarter, and even in the pure mountain air her light was dim. but it gave thought and pause to sanderson first there was the outcropping of a singular superstition which he had heard long before and never remembered until this moment

Starting point is 06:21:46 that a moon seen over the left shoulder meant the worst of bad luck it boded very ill for the end of this adventure suppose he were able only partially to surprise the big cow-puncher from the north and that there was a call for fighting what chance would he have in the dim bewildering light of that moon against the surety of sinclair whose shot he knew as other men point the finger instinctively hitting the target it would be a mere butchery not a battle sending his mustang into a coax of young trees he dismounted his mind was made up not to attempt the blow until the first light of dawn he would try to reach the top of the flat crested mountain well before sun up when there would be a real light instead of this ghostly and partial illumination from the moon among the trees he sat down and took up the dreadful watches of the night sleep never came near him he was turning back the pages of his memory reviewing his past with the singular clearness of a man about to die for sanderson had this moral certainty resting upon his mind that he must try to strike down sinclair and that he would fail and failure meant only one alternative death he was perfectly confident that this was the truth he knew with prophetic surety that he would never again see the kind light of the sun that in half-light in the cold of the dawn a bullet would end his life What he saw in the past was not comforting.

Starting point is 06:23:31 A long train of vivid memories came up in his mind. He had accomplished nothing. In the total course of his life, he had not made a man his friend, or won the love of a woman. In all his attempts to succeed in life, there had been nothing but disastrous failures. And wherever he moved, he involved others in his fall.

Starting point is 06:23:54 Certainly, the prospecting trip with the three other men had been won. worse than all the rest, but it had been typical. It had been he who first suggested the trip, and he had rounded the party together and sustained it with enthusiasm. It had been he who led it into the mountains and across the desert, and on the terrible return trip he knew, with an abiding sense of guilt, that he alone could have checked the murderous and cowardly impulse of Quaid. He alone could have overruled Quaid and Lowry, or failing to overrule them, he should at least have stayed with a cripple and

Starting point is 06:24:34 helped him on with a chance of death for them both. When he thought of that noble opportunity lost, he writhed. It would have gained the deathless affection of Hal Sinclair and save that young strong life. It would have won him more. It would have made Riley Sinclair as ally so long as he lived, and how easy to have done it, he thought, looking back. Instead, he had given way, and already the result had been the death of three men. The tale was not yet told he was sure.

Starting point is 06:25:11 Another death was due. A curse lay upon that entire party, and it would not be ended until he, Sanderson, the soul of the enterprise, fell. The moon grew old in the west. Then he took the saddle again and rode. brooding up the trail his horse stumbling over the stones as the animal grew wearier in the climb and then keeping his gaze fastened above him he saw the outline of the crests grow more and more distinct he looked behind in the east the light was growing the whole horizon was rimmed with a pale glow now his spirits rose even this gray dawn was far better than the treacherous moonlight a daylight calm came over him he was stronger surer of himself

Starting point is 06:26:05 impatiently he drew out his colt and looked to its action the familiar weight added to his self-belief it became possible for him to fight and be impossible to fight it was also possible to conquer presently he reached the bald upland the fresh wind of the morning struck his face and he breathed deep of it why could he not return to sour creek as a hero and why could he not collect the price on the head of riley sinclair the thought made him alert savage a moment later his head pushing up to the level of the shoulder of the mountain he saw his quarry in the dimness of that early dawn He made out the form of the sleeper, huddled in blankets, but it was enough. That must be Riley Sinclair. It could not be another, and all his premonitions were correct. Suddenly he became aware that he could not fail. It was impossible.

Starting point is 06:27:09 As gloomy as he had been before, his spirits now leaped to the heights. He swung down from the saddle, softly slowly, and went up the hill without once drawing his eyes, from that motionless form in the blankets once something stirred to the right and far below him he flashed a glance in that direction and saw that it was a hobbled horse though not the horse of sinclair but that mattered nothing the second horse might be among the trees easing his step and tightening the grip on his revolver he drew closer should he shoot without warning no he would lean over the sleeper call his name and let him waken and see his death before it came to him otherwise the triumph would be robbed of half of its sweetness now he had come sufficiently near to make out distinctly that there was only one sleeper had sinclair and cold feet separated if so this must be sinclair The latter might have the boldness to linger so close to danger, but certainly never cold feet,

Starting point is 06:28:20 even if he had once worked his courage, to the point of killing a man. He stepped closer, leaned, and then, by the half-light, made out the pale, delicate features of the schoolteacher. For a moment, Sanderson was stunned with disappointment, and yet his spirits rose again almost at once. If Sinclair had fled all the better, he would not return. at least for a long time and in the meantime he sanderson would collect the money on the head of cold feet with a colt close to the breast of jig he said wake up cold feet the girl opened her eyes struggled to sit up and was thrust back by the muzzle of the gun held with rock-like firmness in the hand of sanderson riley what she muttered sleepily and then she made out the face of sanderson distinctly instantly she was wide awake whiter than ever staring better to take the desperado alive and dead far better cold feet would make a show in sour creek for the glorification of sanderson as he rode down through the main street and the men would come out to see the prize which even sheriff kern and his posse had not yet been able to take him to take him to the prize which even sheriff kern and his posse had not yet been able to take him.

Starting point is 06:29:39 take. Roll over on your face. Coldfeet obeyed without a murmur. There was a coiled rope by the cinders of the fire. Sanderson cut off a convenient length and bound the slender wrists behind the back of the schoolteacher. Then he jerked his quarry to a sitting posture. Where's Sinclair gone? To his astonishment, Coldfeet's face brightened wonderfully. Oh, then you haven't found him. You haven't found him, thank goodness. Sanderson studied the schoolteacher closely. It was impossible to mistake the frankness of the latter's face. By guns, he said at last.

Starting point is 06:30:24 I see it all now. The skunk sneaked off in the middle of the night and left you alone here to face the music. Jig flushed as she exclaimed. That's not true. He's never run away in his life. Maybe not, muttered. said Sanderson apprehensively.

Starting point is 06:30:42 Maybe he'll come back again. Maybe he's just rode off after something, and we'll be back. At once the old fear swept over him. His apprehensive glance flickered over the rocks and trees around him, a thousand secure hiding places. He faced the schoolteacher again. Look here, Jig, you're charged with murder, you see. I can take you dead or alive.

Starting point is 06:31:08 and the shot that bumped you off might bring Sinclair running to find out what happened, and he'd go the same way. But will you promise to keep your mouth shut and give no warning when Sinclair heaves in sight? Take your pick. It don't make no difference to me. One way or the other, but I can't have the two of you on my hands. To his surprise, Jig did not answer at once. Ain't I made myself clear?

Starting point is 06:31:36 Speak out. I won't promise, said Coldfeet, raising the colorless face. Then by thunder, I'll, in the sudden contorting of his face, she saw her death, but as she closed her eyes and waited for the report, and the tear of the bullet, she heard him muttering, no, there's a better way. A moment later her mouth was wrenched open, and a huge wadded bandana was stuffed into it. Sanderson pushed her back to the ground and tossed a blanket over her again. You ain't much of a man, Jig, but as a bait for my trap, you'll do tolerable well.

Starting point is 06:32:17 You're right, Sinclair's coming back, and when he comes I'll be waiting for him, out of sight behind the rock. But listen to this, Jig, if you rassel around and try to get that gag out of your mouth, I ain't going to take no chances. Whether Sinclair's inside or not, I'm going to drill you clean. Now lie still and keep thinking on what I told you. I mean it all. With a final scowl he left her and hurried to the rock.

Starting point is 06:32:48 It made an ideal shelter for his purposes. On three sides, the rock made a thick and effectual parapet. A thousand bullets might splash harmlessly against that stone. And through crevices, he commanded, the whole sweep of a mountainside beneath them. The courage, which had been growing in Sanderson, now reached the climax. Below him lay the helpless body of one prize,

Starting point is 06:33:17 from a distance apparently a sound and quiet sleeper, though Sanderson could see the terrified glint of Jiggs' eyes. But he forgot that a moment later, when he saw the form of a horseman break out of covert from the trees farther down the mountain and immediately disappear again. Sinclair, he studied the barrel of the revolver, but the horseman appeared no more in the brightening and misty dawn. It was only after a long pause that they're issued from the trees,

Starting point is 06:33:51 not Riley Sinclair, but the squat thick form of Arizona. End of Chapter 26. Chapter 27 of the Rangeland Avenger by Max Brand. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. Behind the sheriff's apprehensive glance, there had been a reason. True, the door had closed upon Arizona, and the door was thick. But the moment Arizona passed through the door, he clapped his ear to the keyhole and listened, holding his breath, for he was certain.

Starting point is 06:34:36 that the moment his back was turned the shameful story of his exploits in the lumber camp eight years before would come out for the edification of kern if so it meant ruin for him arizona was closed to him all this district would be closed by the story of his early light-fingeredness he felt as if he were being driven to the wall consequently he listened with set teeth to the story to the early light-fingeredness he felt as if he were being driven to the wall consequently he listened with set teeth to the to the early questions of the sheriff. Then he breathed easier, still incredulous, when he heard St. Clair refused to tell the tale. Still he lingered, dreading that the truth might come out. So he heard the talk turn to a new channel, Cold Feet. Cold Feet meant many things to Sour Creek.

Starting point is 06:35:28 To Arizona, the schoolteacher meant only one thing. $2,500, and Arizona was broke. to his hungry ear came the tidings i'll tell you what i'll do i'll give you the layout for finding cold feet ride west out of sour creek and head for a flat-topped mountain on the shoulder just under the head you'll find cold feet go get em to arizona it seemed as if this last injunction were personal advice he waited to hear no more if he had paused for a moment he might have learned that the first injunction were personal advice he waited to hear no more if he had paused for a moment he might have learned that the the hope of $2,500 was an illusion and a snare. He saw the bright vision of a small fortune placed in his hands as the result of a single gunplay. He had seen the schoolteacher. He knew by instinct that there was no fighting quality in jig,

Starting point is 06:36:26 and the moment he heard the location it was as good as cash in his pocket he was sure. There was only one difficulty. he must beat out the sheriff. To that end, he hurried to the stable behind the hotel, broke all records for speed, and getting the saddle on his roan mayor, and then jogged her quietly out of town, so as aroused no suspicions.

Starting point is 06:36:52 But hardly was he past the outskirts, hardly crediting his good luck, that the sheriff himself was not yet on the way, then he touched the flanks with his spurs and sent the mayor flying, west. In the west the moon was dropping behind the upper ranges as he rode through the foothills. When he began to climb the side of the mountain, the dawn began to grow. So much the better for Arizona. But knowing that he had only cold feet to deal with, he did not adopt all the caution

Starting point is 06:37:25 of Sanderson on the same trail. Instead he cut boldly straight for the shoulder of the mountain, knowing what he would find there on his arrival. In the nearest grove he left his horse and then walked swiftly up to the level. There the first thing that caught his eyes was the form wrapped in the blanket. But the next thing he saw was the pale glimmer of the dawn

Starting point is 06:37:51 on the barrel of a revolver. He reached for his own gun, only to see, over the rocks above him, the grinning face of Sanderson arise. too late arizona called the tall man too late for one job partner but just in time for the next arizona cursed softly steadily through snarling lips what job sinclair he's gone but he'll be back any minute and it'll need both of us to down him arizona we'll split on sinclair's reward disgust and wrath consumed arizona without other airs of us to down him arizona we'll split on sinclair's reward disgust and wrath consumed arizona without other answer, he strode to the prostrate form, slashed the rope, and tore the handkerchief from between the teeth of cold feet. The schoolteacher sat up, gasping for breath, purple of face.

Starting point is 06:38:45 Leave him be, cried Sanderson, his voice shrill with anger. Leave him be, he's the bait, Arizona, and wear the trap that'll catch Sinclair. But Arizona cursed again bitterly. Leave that bait, till the sun burns it up, he'll never catch Sinclair with it. How come? From around the rock, Sanderson appeared and walked down to the fat man, because Sinclair is already caught.

Starting point is 06:39:14 If he had expected the tall man to groan with disappointment, there was a surprise in store for him. Sanderson exclaimed shrilly for joy. Sinclair took. Took dead, then? Dead, why? You don't mean he was taken alive. Yes, I sure do, and I done the figuring that led up to him being caught.

Starting point is 06:39:38 The slender form of jig rose before them, trembling. It isn't true, it isn't true. There aren't enough of you in Sour Creek to take Riley Sinclair. Ain't it true? asked Arizona. All right, son. You'll meet him pronto in the Sour Creek Jail, unless the boys finished their party of the other day. and string you up before you get inside the jail this brought a peculiar low-pitched moan from cold feet cheer up said sanderson you ain't swinging yet awhile

Starting point is 06:40:13 but he's hurt if he's alive he's terribly wounded arizona beat down the appealing hand with a brutal gesture no he ain't particular hurt just his neck squashed a bit where the sheriff throttled him He didn't fight enough to get hurt. Curse him? Frowning, Sanderson shook his head. He's a fighting man, Arizona, if there ever was one. It seemed that everything infuriated the fat man.

Starting point is 06:40:43 What do you know about it, Lanky? He demanded of Sanderson. Didn't I run the affair? Wasn't it me that planted the whole trap? Wasn't it me that knowed he'd come into town for you or Cartwright? Cartwright? Gasked jig?

Starting point is 06:40:58 Sure, we nailed him in Cartwright's room, just the way I said we would, and they laughed at me, the fools. He might have gathered singular inferences from the lowered head of Jig and the soft murmur. I might have known. I might have known he'd try for me. And I might have had the pleasure of drilling him clean, said Arizona, harking back to it with savage pleasure. But I shot out the light. I wanted him to die slow. and before the end I wanted to pry his eyes open and make him see my face and know

Starting point is 06:41:35 that it was me that done for him. That was what I wanted, but he turned yellow and wouldn't fight. He wouldn't kill, said Jig coldly, but for courage I laugh at you, Arizona. Easy, scowl to cowpuncher, easy, jig. You ain't behind the bars yet. You're in reach of my fist, and I'd think nothing of busting you in the face. shut up till i talk to you the misty eyes of sanderson brightened a little and grew hard there was a great deal of fighting spirit in the man and his easy victory of that morning had roused him to a battling pitch looks to me like you ain't running this here party arizona he said dryly if there are any directions to give cold feet i'll give em it was me that took him no direct answer could arizona find arily

Starting point is 06:42:28 mind to this true statement. And as always, when a man is at loss for words, his temper rose and his fists clenched. For the first time he looked at Sanderson with an eye of savage calculation. He had come to hope for a tidy little fortune. He had found it snatched out of his hand. And as he measured Sanderson, his heart rose. Twenty-five hundred dollars would fairly well equip him for life. Anger faded out of his eyes, and in its place came the cold gleam of the man who thinks and calculates. All at once, he began to smile, a mirthless smile, that was of the lips only. Maybe you're right, Sanderson, but I'm thinking you'll have to prove that you took cold feet.

Starting point is 06:43:20 Prove it? Sure. The boys wouldn't be apt to believe that Sleepy Sanderson woke up and took cold feet alive. instantly the gorge of Sanderson rose, and he began to see red. Are you out to find trouble, fatty? The adjective found no comfortable lodging place in the mind of Arizona. Me, sure I ain't. I was just stating facts the way I know him.

Starting point is 06:43:49 Well, the facts you know ain't worth a damn. No. It was growing clearer and clearer to the fat man that between him and the $2,500, there stood only the unamiable figure of the long, lean cowpuncher. He steadied his eye till a fixed glimmer came in it. He hated lean men by instinct and distrusted them. Sure they ain't.

Starting point is 06:44:14 How are you going to get around the fact that I did take cold feet? Well, Sanderson, you see, that there's $2,500 hanging on the head of his cold feet. certainly and i see ten ways of spending just that amount so do i said arizona you do partner you've heard me talk arizona you're talking mighty queer what do you mean now suppose it was me that brought in cold feet who'd get the money why you that brought him in yup me and suppose i brought him in with two murder charges to him instead of one i don't follow you what's the second murder faddy you sanderson blinked and gave back a little plainly he was beginning to fear that the reason of arizona was unbalanced he shook his head i'll show you how it will be charged the cold feet said the fat man taking the cartridge belt of jig he shook the revolver out of the holster and pumped the shot into the ground The sharp crack of the explosion roused no echo for a perceptible space. Then it struck back at them from a solid wall of rock, almost as loud as it had been in fact.

Starting point is 06:45:38 Off among the hills the echo was repeated to a faint whisper. Arizona dropped the revolver carelessly on the ground. Fatty, you've gone nutty, said Sanderson. I'll tell you a yarn, said Arizona. Sanderson looked past him to the east. The light was growing rapidly about the mountains. In another moment or so, the sunrise, which he had been looking forward to, with such solemn dread, would occur.

Starting point is 06:46:08 He was safe, of course, and still that sense of impending danger would not leave him. He noted Jig erect very pale, watching them with intense and frightened interest. Here's the story when on the fat man. I come out of Sour Creek hunting for Cold Feet. I came straight to this here mountain. Halfway up the side, I heard a shot. I hurry along and soft foot on to this shoulder. I see Cold Feet standing over the dead body of Sanderson.

Starting point is 06:46:42 Then I stick up Cold Feet and take him back to Sour Creek and get the reward. Won't that be two murders on his head? the thin swede rubbed his chin for a grown man faddy you're doing a lot of supposing i'm goin to turn it into facts said arizona how with a chunk of lead pull your gun you lanky fool it seemed to jig watching with terrible interest that sanderson stared not at arizona as he went for his gun but beyond the stubby cowpuncher far behind and into the east where the dark dawn was growing brighter, losing its color, as sunrise is due, just before the rising of the sun. His long arm jerked back, the revolver whipped into his hand, and he stiffened his forearm for the shot. All that jigsaw, with eyes sharpened, so that each movement seemed to be taking whole seconds, was a sneering Arizona, waiting to the last second. When he moved, however, it was with

Starting point is 06:47:50 an almost leisurely flip of the wrist. The heavy colt was conjured into his hand. With graceful ease, the big weapon slipped out and exploded before Sanderson's forefinger had curled around the trigger. Out of the hand of the swede slipped the gun and clanged unheated on the ground at his feet. She saw a patch of red spring up on his breast,

Starting point is 06:48:17 while he lurched forward with long, stiff strides, threw up his hands to the east and pitched on his face she turned from the dead thing at her feet the white rim of the sun had just slid over the top of a mountain end of chapter twenty seven chapter twenty eight of the rangeland adventure by max brand this librivox recording is in the public domain she dropped to her knees and with a sudden hysterical strength she was able to turn him on his back he was dead the first glimpse of his face told her that she looked up into the eyes of the murderer arizona was methodically cleaning his gun his color had not changed there was a singular placidity about all his movements i just hurried up what was coming to him said arizona coolly as he finished reloading his cult sinclair was after him and that meant he was done for oddly enough she found that she was neither very much afraid of the fat man nor did she loathe him for his crime he seemed outside of the jurisdiction of the laws which govern most men you said sinclair's in jail sure and he is but they don't make jail strong enough in these parts to hold sinclair he'd have come out and land at sanderson just as he's going to come out and land cartwright what's he got against cartwright do you know oh it was incredible that he could talk so calmly with a dead man before him i don't know she murmured and drew back well take it all in all

Starting point is 06:50:16 pursued Arizona. This deal of mine is pretty rotten, but you'd swing just the same, for one murder as for two. They won't hang you no debtor, huh? And when they come to look at it, this is pretty neat. Sanderson wasn't no good. Everybody know that, but he had one thing I wanted, which was you and the twenty-five hundred that goes with the gent that brings you in to Sour Creek. so at the price of one bullet I get the coin. Pretty neat, I say again. Dropping the revolver back into the holster, he patted it with a caressing hand.

Starting point is 06:50:56 There's your gun, went on Arizona, chuckling. It's got a bullet fired out of it. There's Sanderson's gun with no bullet fired, showing that, while he was stalking you, you shot and drilled him. Here's my gun with no sign of a shot. shot fired, which proves that I just slid in here and stuck you up from behind, while you were looking over the gent you just killed. He rubbed his hands together, and bracing himself firmly on his stubby legs, looked almost benevolently on jig. Not only did she lose her horror

Starting point is 06:51:34 of him, but she gained an impersonal detached interest in the workings of his mind. She looked on him, not as a man, but as a monster, in the guise of a man. Two deaths, she said quietly, for your money. You work cheaply, Arizona. Jiggs' criticism seemed to pick him. How come? Sanderson's death by your bullet, and mine when I die in the law, both to your account, Arizona, because you know I'm innocent. I know it, but a hunch ain't proof in the eyes of the law. Besides, I don't work so cheap. Sanderson was no good.

Starting point is 06:52:16 He ain't worth thinking about. And as for you, Jig, though I don't like to throw it in your face, as a schoolteacher you may be all right, but as a man, you ain't worth a damn. Nope, I wouldn't give neither you a thought, except for Sinclair. Ah. Him and you have been bunkeys. If he should ever find out what I'd done, he'd go on my trail.

Starting point is 06:52:40 Maybe he will anyway, and he's a bad one to have on a gents trail. You fear him, she asked curiously, for it seemed impossible that this cold-blooded gunman feared any living thing. He rolled a cigarette meditatively before he answered. Sure he said I fear him, I ain't a fool. It was him that started me and him that gave me the first main lessons. But I ain't got the natural talent with a gun. that Sinclair has got. Notting his head in confirmation,

Starting point is 06:53:15 his expression softened, as with the admiration of one artist, for a greater kindred spirit. The proof is that there's a long list of gunfights in Sinclair's past, but not more deaths than you can count on the fingers of one hand. And then that he killed was plumbed no good. The rest he winged and let him go.

Starting point is 06:53:38 That's his way, and it takes an artist with a gun to work like that. Yep. He's a great man, curse him. Only one weak thing I ever heard of him doing. He buckled to the sheriff and told him where to find you. Scratching a match on his trousers, the cow-puncher was amazed to hear Jig cry.

Starting point is 06:54:00 You lie. He gaped at her until the match singed his fingers. That's a tolerable loud word for a kid to use. apparently he meditated punishment but then he shrugged his shoulders and lighted his cigarette wild horses couldn't have dragged it out of him jig was repeating say said the fat man grinning how'd you know i knew where you was like a blow in the face it silenced her she looked miserably down to the ground was it possible that sinclair had betrayed her not for the murder of quay he would be more apt to confess to that himself, and indeed she dreaded the confession. But if he let her be dragged back, if her identity became known, she faced what was more horrible to her than hanging, and that was life with cartwright.

Starting point is 06:54:57 Which reminds me, said Arizona, that the old sheriff may not wait for morning before he starts after you. Just slope down the hill and saddle your horse, will you? automatically she obeyed wild thoughts running through her bind to go back to sour creek menna returned the cart right and then nothing could save her from him half way to her saddle her foot struck metal her own gun which arizona had dropped after firing the bullet was there not a possibility of escape she heard arizona humming idly behind her plainly he was entirely off guard bending with the speed of a bird and picking up a seed she scooped up the gun whirling with a heavy weapon extended her forefinger curling on the trigger but as she turned the humming of arizona changed to a low snarl she saw him coming like a bolt the gun exploded of its own volition it seemed to her but arizona had swerved in his course and the shot went wild the next instant he struck her the gun was wrenched from her hand and a powerful arm caught her and whirled her up only to hurl her to the ground arizona's snarling panting face bent over her in the very midst of that fury she felt arizona stiffen and freeze the snarling stopped his nerveless arm fell away and she was allowed to stagger to her feet

Starting point is 06:56:36 She found him staring at her with a peculiar horror. Murdering guns, whispered Arizona. Now she understood that he do. She saw him changed, humbled, disarmed before her. But even then she did not understand the profound meaning of that moment in the life of Arizona. But to have understood, she would have had to know how that life began in a city slum.

Starting point is 06:57:05 She would have had to see the career of the sneak thief, which culminated in the episode of the lumber camp eight years before. She would have had to understand how the lesson from the hand of Big Sinclair had begun the change which transformed the sneak into the dangerous man of action. And now the second change had come. For Arizona had made the unique discovery that he could be ashamed. he would have laughed at another told him virtue was a name and no more to the fat man but in spite of himself those eight years under free skies had altered him he had been growing when he thought he was standing still when the eye plunges forty miles from mountain to mountain through crystal clear air the mind is enlarged he had lived exclusively among hard-handed men rejoiced

Starting point is 06:58:05 in a strength greater than their own. He suddenly found that the feeble hand, from which he had so easily torn the weapon a moment before, had, in an instant, acquired strength to make or break him. All that Jig could discern of this was that her life was no longer in danger and that her enemy had been disarmed, but she was not prepared for what followed.

Starting point is 06:58:31 dragging off his hat as if he acted reluctantly his eyes sank until they rested on the ground at her feet lady said i didn't know i didn't even dream what you was end of chapter twenty eight chapter twenty nine of the rangeland adventure by max brand this librivox recording is in the public domain gradually she found her breath and greater self-possession. You mean I'm free, she asked him. You won't make me go in the sour creek? His face twisted as if in pain. Make you, he asked violently. I blow the head off the first one that tried to make you take a step.

Starting point is 06:59:27 Suddenly it seemed to her that all this was ordered and arranged, that some mysterious providence had sent this man to save her from Sanderson, and all the horror that the future promised. Justice Sinclair had saved her once before from a danger, which he himself had half created. I got to say this one on, Arizona, struggling for words. Looks to me like you might have need of a friend to help you along. Wherever you're going, he shook his thick shoulders.

Starting point is 07:00:02 Sure gives me a jolt to think of what you must have gone through, wandering around here all by yourself, I sure don't see how you'd done it. And all this time the man whom Arizona had killed was lying face up to the morning, hardly a pace behind him. But she dared not try to analyze this man. She could only feel vaguely

Starting point is 07:00:25 that an ally had been given her, an ally of strength. He too must have sensed what was in her mind. You'll be wanting this, I reckon, returning the colt of her he slowly dragged his glance from the ground and let it cross her face for a fleeting instant she slipped the gun back into its holster and now suppose we go down the hill and get your horse evidently he was painfully eager to get the dead man out of sight yet he paused while he picked up her saddle they'll be a long pretty pronto the sheriff and his men they'll take care of him him. Leading the way down to her hobbled horse, he saddled it swiftly, while she stood aside and watched.

Starting point is 07:01:15 When he was done, he turned to her. Maybe we'd better be starting. It won't come in very handy for Kern to find us here, huh? Obediently she came. With one hand he held to stir up, while the other steadied her weight by the elbow, as she raised her foot. In spite of herself, she shivered as her. at his touch. A moment later from the saddle, she was looking down into his darkly crimsoned

Starting point is 07:01:43 face. Plainly, he had understood that impulse of aversion, but he said nothing. There was a low, nay, from the other side of the hill, in answer to his soft whistle, and then out of the trees came a beautifully formed, roan mare, with high head and pricking ears. With mincing steps, she went straight to her master. and jig saw the face of the other brighton but he was gloomy again by the time he had swung into the saddle now he said we're away "'You're coming with me,' she asked, "'with a new touch of alarm. "'She regretted her tone

Starting point is 07:02:23 "'the moment she had spoken. "'She saw Arizona wince. "'Lady,' he said, "'Suppose I come clean to you. "'I've been in my time about everything that's bad. "'I ain't done a killing except squarely. "'Sinclair taught me that, "'and you got to allow

Starting point is 07:02:41 "'that what I'd done to Sanderson "'was after I give him all the advantage in the draw. I took even chances, and I give him better than an even break. Ain't that correct? She nodded, fascinated by the struggle in his face between pride and shame and anger. Worse than that, he went on, forcing out the bitter truth. I've been everything down to his shark with the cards, which is tolerable low. But I got this to say, I'm playing clean with you.

Starting point is 07:03:14 I'll prove it before I'm done. If you want me to break loose and leave you alone, say the word, and I'm gone. If you want me to stay and help where I can, say the word, and I stay and take orders. Come out with it. Gathering his reins, he sat very straight and looked her fairly and squarely in the eye, for the first time since he had discovered the truth about cold feet. In spite of herself, Jig found that she was drawn to trust the fat man. she let a smile grow let her glance become as level and as straight as his own she reined her horse beside his and stretched out her hand

Starting point is 07:03:58 i know what you mean to say said jig and i don't care what you have been in the past i do need a friend desperately riley sinclair says that a friend is the most sacred thing in the world i don't ask that much but of all the men i know you are the only one who are the only one who is the most sacred thing in the world-i don't ask that much but of all the men i know you are the only one who are the only one who who can help me as I need to be helped. Will you shake hands for a new start between us? Ladies, said the cow-pruncher huskily, this sure means a lot to me, and the other things you'll forget. I never knew you, said the girl, smiling at him again, until this moment.

Starting point is 07:04:36 Oh, it's a go, cried Arizona. Now try me out. Jig saw his self-respect come back to him, saw his eye grow bright and clear. arizona was like a man with a new good resolution he wanted to test his strength and astonished someone with his change there's one great thing in which i need help she said good and what's that riley sinclair is in jail hum muttered arizona he ain't in on a serious charge let him stay awhile stiffening in the saddle he stared at her does sinclair know what asked the girl but she flushed in spite of herself that you ain't a man yes for a moment he considered her crimson-faced gloomily you and sinclair was sort of pals i guess he said at length faintly she replied in the affirmative and her secret was written as clearly as sunlight on her face yet she kept her eyes raised bravely

Starting point is 07:05:44 as for arizona the new-born hope died in him and then flickered back to an evil life if sinclair was in his way why give up why not remove this obstacle as he had removed others in his time the hurrying voice of the girl broke in on his sombre thoughts he went to sour creek to help me as soon as he found out that i was not a man he put himself in terrible danger there on my account did cartwright have something to do with you and him yes but arizona made no effort to read her riddle she went on now that he has been taken i know what has happened to keep me out of danger he told that you're a woman no he wouldn't do that because he knows that is the last thing in the world that i want revealed but he's told them that he killed quade and now he's in danger of his life Let's ride on, said Arizona. I got to think a pile. She did not speak while the horses wound down the steep side of the mountain. Mile after mile rose behind them.

Starting point is 07:06:57 The sun increased in power, flashing on the leaves of the trees, and beginning to burn the face with its slanting heat. Now and then, she ventured a side glance at Arizona, and always she found him in a brown study, vaguely she knew that he was fighting the old battle of good and evil in the silence of the morning. Finally he stopped this horse and turned to her again. They were in the foothills by this time, and they had drawn out from the trees to a little level space on the top of a rise. The morning mist was thinning rapidly in the heart of the hallow beneath them.

Starting point is 07:07:39 far off they heard the lowing of cows being driven into the pasture land after the morning milking, and they could make out tiny figures in the fields. Lady Arizona was saying to her, there's one gent in the world that I've got an eight-year-old grudge against. I've swore to get him sooner or later, and that gent is Riley Sinclair. Make it something else, and I'll work for you to the skins off my hands. But Sinclair, he's stopped, studying her intently. Will you tell me one thing?

Starting point is 07:08:15 How much does Sinclair mean to you? A great deal, said the girl gently. But if you hate him, I can't ask you. He's a hard man, said Arizona. And he's got a mean name, lady. You know that. But when you say that he means a lot to you, maybe it's because he's taken a big chance for you in Sour Creek,

Starting point is 07:08:36 and... She shook her head. It's more than that, much more. Well, I guess I understand, said Arizona. Barry in the last of his hopes, Arizona looked straight into the sun. Eight years ago, he was a better man than I am, he said at length, and he's a better man still. Lady, I'm going to get Riley Sinclair free.

Starting point is 07:09:03 End of Chapter 29. Chapter 30 of the Rangeland Avenger by Max Brand. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. As Arizona had predicted, Sheriff Kern was greatly tempted not to start on the hard ride for the mountains before morning, and finally he followed his impulse. With the first break of the dawn he was up, and a few minutes later he had taken the trail alone. There was no need for numbers, for that matter, to tell a single man that he no longer needed dread the law. but it was only common decency to inform him of the charge, and Kern was a decent sort.

Starting point is 07:09:54 He was thoughtful on the trail, a great many things had happened to upset the sheriff. The capture of Sinclair, taken all in all, was an important event. To be sure, the chief glory was attributable to the cunning of Arizona. Nevertheless, the community was sure to pay homage to the skill of the sheriff,

Starting point is 07:10:17 who had led the party and managed to capture but now the sheriff found himself regretting the capture in all its attendant glory not even a personal grudge against a man who had taken his first prisoner from him could give an edge to the sheriff's satisfaction for during the late hours of the preceding night he had heard from sinclair the true story of the killing of quade not a murder but a fair fight and he had heard more the whole unhappy tale which began with the death of how sinclair in the desert a story which now included so far as the sheriff knew three deaths with the promise of another in the future It was little wonder that he was disturbed. His philosophy was of the kind that is built up in a country of horses, hard riding, hard work, hard fighting. According to the precepts of that philosophy, Sinclair would have shirked the vital moral duty

Starting point is 07:11:19 had he failed to avenge the pitiful death of his brother. The sheriff put himself into the boots of the man, who was now his prisoner and facing a sentence of death. in that man's place he knew that he would have taken the same course it was a matter of necessary principle and the sheriff also knew that no jury in the country could allow sinclair to go free it might not be a death sentence but it would certainly be a prison term as bad as death these thoughts consumed the time of the sheriff until his horse had labored up the height and he came to the little plateau where so much had happened outside of his ken and there he saw bill sanderson with the all-seeing sun on his dead eyes for a moment the sheriff could not believe what he saw sanderson was in the phrase of the land sinclair's meat it suddenly seemed to him that sinclair must have broken from jail and done this killing during the night but a moment's reflection assured him that this could not be the mind of the sheriff world.

Starting point is 07:12:34 Not Sinclair, certainly. The man had been dead for some hours. In the sky far above and to the north, there were certain black specks moving in great circles that drifted gradually south. The buzzards were already coming to the dead. He watched them for a moment, with the sinking of the heart

Starting point is 07:12:54 which always comes to the man of the mountain desert when he sees those grim birds. it was not sinclair but who then he examined the body and the wound it was a center shot nicely placed certainly not the sort of shot that coldfeet according to the description which sinclair had given of the latter's marksmanship would have been apt to make but there was no other conclusion to come to cold feet had certainly been here according to sinclair's confession and it was certainly been here according to sinclair's confession and it was certainly reasonable to suppose that cold feet had committed this crime the sheriff placed the hat of sinclair over his face and swung back into his saddle he must hurry back to sour creek and send up a burial party for no one would have an interest in interring the body in the town but once in the saddle he paused again the thought of the school-teacher having killed so formidable a fighter as sanderson stuck in his mind as the thing too contrary to probability moreover the sheriff had grown extremely cautious he had made one great failure very recently the escape of this same cold feet he would have failed again had it not been for arizona he shuddered at the thought of how his reputation would have been ruined had he gone on the trail and allowed sinclair to double back to sour creek and take the town by surprise

Starting point is 07:14:29 dismounting he threw his reins and went back to review the scene of the killing there were plenty of tracks around the place the gravel obscured a great part of the marks and still other prints were blurred by the dead grass but there were pockets of rich loamy soil moist enough and firm enough to take an impression as clearly as paper takes ink the sheriff removed the right shoe from the foot of sanderson and made a series of fresh prints they were quite distinctive the heel was turned out to such an extent that the track was always a narrow indentation where the heel fell on the soft soil He identified the same tracks in many places, and dismissing the other tracks, the sheriff proceeded to make up a trail history for Sanderson. He came up the hill on foot. Here he paused beside the embers of the fire and remained standing for a long time, for the marks were worked in deeply.

Starting point is 07:15:34 After a time the trail went, he followed it with difficulty over the hard-packed gravel, up the side of the hill to a semicircular arrangement of rocks, and there, distinct in the soil, was the impression of the body where the cow-puncher had lain down. The sheriff lay down in turn, and at once he was sure why Sanderson had chosen this spot. He was defended perfectly on three sides from bullets,

Starting point is 07:16:02 and in the meantime, through crevices in the rock, he maintained a clear outlook over the whole side of the hill. obviously sanderson had lain down to keep watch for what for coldfeet of course on whose head a price rested or at least so sinclair must have believed at the time the news had not yet been published abroad that coldfeet had been exculpated by the confession of sinclair to the killing of quade so much was clear but presently sanderson had risen and gone down the hill again, leaving from the other side of the rock. Had he covered cold feet when the latter returned to his camp, having been absent when Sanderson first arrived? No, the tracks down the hill were leisurely, not the long strides which a man would make to get close to one whom he had covered with a revolver from a distance. Reaching the shoulder of the mountain, Kern puzzled anew. He began a fresh

Starting point is 07:17:08 study of the tracks. Those of cold feet were instantly known by the tiny size of the marks of the souls. The sheriff remembered that he had often wondered at the smallness of the schoolteacher's feet. Cold feet was there, and Sanderson was dead. Again it seemed certain that Coldfeet had been guilty of the crime. But the sheriff kept on systematically hunting for new evidence. He found no third set of tracks for some time. But when he did find him, they were very clear, a short, broad foot, the imprint of a heavy man. A fat man, then, no doubt. From the length of the footprint, it was very doubtful if the man were tall, and certainly, by the clearness of the indentation, the man was heavy. The sheriff could tell by making a track beside that of the quarry.

Starting point is 07:18:03 A second possibility, therefore, had entered, and the sheriff felt a reasonable conviction that this must be the guilty man. Now he combed the whole area for some means of identifying the third man who had been on the mountainside. But nothing had been dropped except the brilliant bandana, wadded compactly together, which the sheriff recognized as belonging to Sanderson.

Starting point is 07:18:31 There was only one definite means, of recognizing the third man. Very faint in the center of the impression made by a soul were two crossed arrows, the sign of the bootmaker. The sheriff shook his head. Could he examine the souls of the boots of every man in the vicinity of Sour Creek, even if he limited his inquiry

Starting point is 07:18:53 to those who were short and stocky? And might not there be many a man who wore the same type of boots? He flung himself gloomers. into his saddle again, and this time he headed straight down the trail for Sour Creek. At the hotel he was surrounded by an excited knot of people who wished to know how he had extracted the amazing confession from Riley Sinclair. The sheriff tore himself away from a dozen hands who wished the buttonhole him in close

Starting point is 07:19:27 conversation. I tell you gents this, he said, Quaid was killed because he needed killing. and Sinclair confessed because he's straight. With that, casting an ugly glance at the lot of them, he went back into the kitchen and demanded a cup of coffee. The Chinese cook obeyed the order in a hurry, highly flattered and not a little nervous at the presence of the great man in the kitchen.

Starting point is 07:19:56 While Kern was there, Arizona entered. The sheriff greeted him cheerfully, with his coffee cup balanced in one hand. Arizona, he said, or dago, or whatever you like to be called. Cut the dago part, will you? demanded Arizona. I ain't no ways wishing to be reminded of that name. Nobody calls me that. Kern grinned covertly.

Starting point is 07:20:21 I suppose, at Arizona slowly, that you and Sinclair had a long yarn about when he knew me sometime back. The sheriff shook his head. Between you and me, he said frankly, it sounded to me like Sinclair knew something. You mightn't want to have noised around. Is that straight? I'll tell you, answered the other.

Starting point is 07:20:42 When I was a kid, I was a fool kid. That's all it amounts to. Sheriff Kern grunted. All right, Arizona, I ain't asking. But you can lay to it. That Sinclair won't talk. He's as straight as I ever seen. Maybe, said Arizona, but he's slippery.

Starting point is 07:21:00 And I got this to say. let me have the watch over Sinclair while he's in Sour Creek, or are you taking him back to Woodville today? I'm held over, said the sheriff. He paused. Twice the little olive-skinned man from the south had demonstrated his superiority in working out criminal puzzles. The sheriff was prone to unravel the new mystery by himself, if he might. By what?

Starting point is 07:21:30 Oh, by something I'll tell you about later on. said the sheriff. It don't amount too much, but I want to look into it. Purposely, he had delayed sending a party to Barry Sanderson. It would be simply warning the murderer if that man were in Sour Creek. About you and Sinclair went on the sheriff. There ain't much good feeling between you, huh? I won't shoot him in the back if I guard him, declared Arizona. But if you want one of the other boys to take the jog, go ahead. Put Red on it.

Starting point is 07:22:03 He's too young. Sinclair gets him off guard by talking. Then try Wood. Wood ain't his best off the trail. Come to think about it, I'd rather trust Sinclair to you, that is, if you make up your mind to treat him square.

Starting point is 07:22:19 Sheriff, I'll give him a squarer deal than you think. Kern nodded. More coffee, Lee, he called. Lee obeyed with such haste that he overburne, brimmed the cup, and some of the liquid washed out of the saucer onto the floor. Coming back to shop talk, went on the sheriff, as Lee mopped up to spilled coffee, mumbling excuses, I ain't had a real chance to tell you, what a fine job you'd done for us last night, Arizona. Arizona, with due modesty, wave the praise away, and stepped to the container

Starting point is 07:22:55 of matches, hanging beside the stove. He came back lighting a cigarette, and contentedly puffed out a great cloud. Forget all that stuff, Sheriff, will you? Not if I live to be a hundred, answered the sheriff, with frank admiration. So saying, his eyes dropped to the floor and remained there riveted. The foot of Arizona had rested on the spot where the coffee had fallen. The print was clearly marked with dust, except that in the center where the soul had lain, there was a sharply defined pair of crossed arrows, a short, fat, heavy man.

Starting point is 07:23:36 The sheriff raised his glance and examined the bulky shoulders of the man. Then he hastily swallowed the rest of his coffee. Yet there might be a dozen other short-stocky men in town, whose boots had the same impression. He looked thoughtfully out the kitchen window, striving to remember some clue. But as far as he could make out, the only time Arizona and Sanderson had crossed had been when the latter applied for a place on the posse. Surely a small thing to make a man commit a murder? If you give me the job of Guardian Sinclair, said Arizona, I'd sure.

Starting point is 07:24:17 Wait a minute, cut in the sheriff. I'll be back right away. I think that was McKenzie who went into the stable. Don't leave until I come back, Arizona. hurriedly he went out there was no mackenzie in the stable and the sheriff did not look for one he went straight to arizona's horse the roan was perfectly dry but examining the hide the sheriff saw that the horse had been recently groomed and a thorough grooming would soon dry the hair and remove all traces of a long ride stepping back to the peg from which the saddle hung he raised a stirrup leather on the inside where the leather had shaped the side of the horse there was a dirty gray coating the accumulation of the dust and sweat of many a ride but it was soft with recent sweat and along the edges of the leather there was a barely dried line of foam that rubbed away readily under the touch of his finger-tip

Starting point is 07:25:19 next he examined the bridle there also were similar evidences of recent writing the sheriff returned calmly to the kitchen of the hotel and your mind's made up asked arizona yes said the sheriff you go in with sinclair go in with him asked arizona for murder said the sheriff stick up your hands arizona end of chapter thirty chapter thirty one of the rangeland avenger by max brand this librivox recording is in the public domain even though he was taken utterly by surprise habit made arizona go for his own gun as the sheriff whipped out his weapon but under those conditions he was beaten badly to the draw before his weapon was half out of the holster the sheriff had the drop arizona paused but for a moment his eyes fought kern figuring chances it was only the hesitation of an instant the battle was lost before it had begun and arizona was clever enough to know it swiftly he turned on a new tack he shoved his revolver back into the holster and smiled benevolently on the sheriff what's the new game kern it ain't new said the sheriff joylessly it's about the oldest game in the world arizona you sure killed sanderson sanderson arizona laughed why man i ain't hardly seen him more than once how come that i would kill him get your hands up arizona oh sure he obeyed with apparent willingness but don't let anybody see you making this fool play sheriff maybe not so foolish

Starting point is 07:27:21 I'll tell you why you killed him. You're broke, Arizona. Ten days ago, Mississippi Slim, cleaned you out at dice. Well, when Sinclair told me where Cold Feet was, you listened through the door, but you didn't stay to find out that Jig wasn't wanted no more. You beat it up to the mountain, and there you found Sanderson was ahead of your time. You drilled Sanderson, hoping to throw the blame on Cold Feet. Then you come down, but on the way Cold Feet gives you the slip and gets away,

Starting point is 07:27:56 and that's why you are here. Arizona blinked. So much of this tale was true that it shook even his iron nerve. He managed to smile. That's a wild yarn, Sheriff. Do you think it'll go down with a jury? It'll go down with any jury around these parts. What's more, Arizona?

Starting point is 07:28:17 I ain't going to rest on what I think. I'm going to find out, and if I send down to the South inquiring about you, I got an idea that I'll find out enough to hang ten like you, huh? Once more Arizona received a vital blow, and he winced under the impact. Moreover, he was bewildered. His own superior intelligence had inclined him to despise the sheriff, whom he put down as a fellow of more bulldog power than mental agility. All in a moment it was being borne in upon him

Starting point is 07:28:53 that he had underrated his man. He could not answer. His smooth tongue was chained. Not that I got any personal grudge against you when I'm the sheriff, but it's gents like you that I'm after Arizona, not ones like Sinclair. You ain't clean, Arizona, you're slick,

Starting point is 07:29:12 And there ain't elbow room enough in the West for slick gents. Besides, you've got a bad way with your gun. I can tell you this, speaking private and confidential, I'm going to hang you, Arizona, if there's any way possible. He said all this quietly, but the revolver remained poised with rock-like firmness. He drew out a pair of manacles. Stand up, Arizona. Blisslessly, the fat man got up.

Starting point is 07:29:42 He had been changing singularly during the last speech of the sheriff. Now he dropped a hand on the edge of the table, as if to support himself. The sheriff saw the hand grip the wood until the knuckles went white. Arizona moistened his colorless lips. Not the iron sheriff, he said softly, not them. If it had been any other man, Kern, would have imagined that he was losing his nerve. but he knew Arizona had seen him in action, and he was certain that his courage was above question.

Starting point is 07:30:19 Consequently, he was amazed. As certainly as he had ever seen them exposed, these were the horrible symptoms of cowardness that make a brave man shudder to sea. Can't trust you, he said, wonderingly. Wouldn't trust you a minute, Arizona, without the irons on you. You're a bad actor, son. and I've seen you acting up. Don't forget that.

Starting point is 07:30:44 Sheriff, I give you my word, that I'll go quiet as a lamb. A moment he lapsed, before Kern could answer, for the voice of Arizona had trembled as he spoke. The sheriff could not believe his ears. Well, I'm sorry, Arizona,

Starting point is 07:31:00 he said more gently, because he was striving to banish this disgusting suspicion from his own mind. I can't take no chances, just turn around, will you, and keep them hands up? He barked the last words, for the arms of Arizona had crooked suddenly. They stiffened at the sharp command of the sheriff, slowly trembling,

Starting point is 07:31:24 as if they possessed a volition of their own, hardly controlled by the fat man, those hands fought their way back to their former position, and then Arizona gradually turned his back on the sheriff. The convulsive shutter ran. through him as Kern removed his gun, and then seized one of the raised hands, drew it down, and fastened one part of the iron on it. The other hand followed, and as the sheriff snapped the lock, he saw a singular transformation in the figure of his captive. The shoulders of Arizona slouched forward. His head sank. From the erect, powerful figure

Starting point is 07:32:05 of a moment before, he became in comparison a flabby, pipe. of flesh, animated by no will. What's the matter, asked the sheriff. You ain't lost your nerve, have you, Fatty? Arizona did not answer. Kern stepped to one side and glanced at the face of his captive. It was strangely altered. The mouth had become trembling, loose uncertain.

Starting point is 07:32:31 The head had fallen, and the bright keen eyes were dull. The man looked up with darting side glances. The sheriff stood back and wiped the sudden perspiration from his forehead. Under his very eyes the spirit of this gunfighter was disintegrating. The sheriff felt a cold shame pour through him. He wanted to hide this man from the eyes of others. It was not right that he should be seen. His weakness was written too patently.

Starting point is 07:33:04 Kern was no psychologist, but he knew that some men out of their peculiar element are like fish out of water. He shook his head. Walk out that back door, will you? he asked softly. We ain't going down the street, demanded Arizona. No. Thanks, Sheriff. Again, Kern shuddered, swallowed, and then commanded,

Starting point is 07:33:29 Start along, Arizona. Slinking through the door, the fat man hesitated on the little porch and cast a quick glance up and down. no one near he said hurry up sheriff quickly they skirted down behind the houses not unseen however the small boy playing behind his father's house raised his head to watch the hurrying pair and when he saw the glitter of the irons they heard him gasp he was old enough to know the meaning of that irons on arizona who had been a town hero the night before they saw the youngster dart around the house blast him groaned arizona he'll spread it everywhere hurry he was right the sheriff hurried with a will but as they crossed the street for the door of the jail voices blew down to them looking toward the hotel they saw men pouring out into the street pointing shouting to one another they swept down on the payer but the sheriff and his prisoner gained the door of the jail first and currant the door of the jail first and currant the sheriff and the sheriff Hearn locked it behind him.

Starting point is 07:34:41 His deputy on guard rose with a start, and at the same time there was a hurried knocking on the door and a clamor of voices without. Arizona shrank away from that sound, scowling over his shoulder, but the sheriff nodded good-humoredly. Take it easy, Arizona. I ain't going to make a show of you. Sure that's like you, sheriff, said a hurried, half-wining voice, your square. i'll sure show you one of these days now i appreciate the way you treat me kern was staggered it seemed to him that a new personality had taken possession of the body of the fat man

Starting point is 07:35:23 he led the way past his gaping deputy the jail was not constructed for a crowd it was merely a temporary abiding place before prisoners were taken to the larger institution at woodville consequently there was only one big cell The sheriff unlocked the door, slipped the manacles from the wrist of Arizona, and jabbed the muzzle of a revolver into his back. The last act was decidedly necessary. For the moment his wrists were released from the grip of the steel, Arizona twitched halfway round toward the sheriff. The scrape of the gun muzzle against his ribs, however, convinced him. Over his shoulder, he cast one murderous glance at the sheriff

Starting point is 07:36:08 and then slouched forward into the cell. Company for you, Riley, said the sheriff, as the tall cowpuncher rose. The other's back was turned, and thereby the sheriff was enabled to pass a significant gesture and look to Sinclair. With that he left them. In the outer room, he found his deputy much alarmed.

Starting point is 07:36:33 You ain't turned them two in together, he asked, why Sinclair would kill that gent in about a minute. Ain't it Arizona that nailed him? Sinclair will play square, Kern insisted, and Arizona won't fight. Leaving the other to digest these mysterious tidings, the sheriff went out to disperse the crowd. In the meantime, Sinclair had received a newcomer in perfect silence.

Starting point is 07:37:00 His head raised high, his thin mouth set in an ugly line, very much as an eagle might receive an owl, which floundered by mistake, onto the same crag, far above his element. The eagle hesitated between scorn of the visitor and a faint desire to pounce on him and rend him to pieces. That glittering eye, however, was soon dull with wonder when he watched the actions of Arizona. The fat man paused in the center of the cell.

Starting point is 07:37:34 regarded Sinclair with a single flash of the eyes, and then glanced, uneasily, from side to side. That done, he slipped away to a corner and slouched down on his stool, his head bent down on his breast. Apparently, he had fallen into a profound reverie, but Sinclair found that the eyes of Arizona continually whipped up and across to him. Once the newcomer shifted his position a little, and Sinclair saw him test the weight of the stool beneath him with his hand. Even in the cell, Arizona had found a weapon.

Starting point is 07:38:14 Gradually, Sinclair understood the meaning of that glance and the gesture of the sheriff, as the latter left. He read other things in the gray pallor of Arizona and in the fallen head. The man was unnerved. Sinclair's reaction was very much what that of the sheriff had been, a sinking of the heart and a momentary doubt of himself. But he was something more of a philosopher than Kern. He had seen more of life and men and put two and two together. One thing stared him plainly in the face. The Arizona who skulked in the corner had relapsed eight years.

Starting point is 07:38:56 He was the same sneak thief whom Simpsed. clare had first met in the lumber camp and he knew instinctively that this was the first time since that unpleasant episode that arizona had been cornered the loathing left sinclair and in its place came pity he had no fondness of arizona but he had seen him in the role of a strong man which made the contrast more awful it reminded sinclair of the wild horse which loses its spirit when it is broken Such was Arizona. Free to come and go. He had been a danger. Shut up helplessly in a cell. He was as feeble as a child,

Starting point is 07:39:39 and his only strength was a sort of cunning malice. Sinclair turned quietly to the fat man. Arizona, he said. You look sort of underfed today. Bring your stool a bit nearer and let's talk. I've been hungry for a chat with someone. In reply, Arizona rolled back. back his head, and for a moment glared thoughtfully at Sinclair. He made no answer. Presently

Starting point is 07:40:05 his glance fell, like that of a dog. Sinclair shivered. He tried brutality. Looks to me, Arizona, as though you've lost your nerve. The other moistened his lips, but said nothing. But the point is, said the tall cowpuncher, that you've given up before you're beaten. Riley Sinclair's words brought a flash from Arizona, a sudden lifting up of the head, as if he had not before thought of hoping. Then he began the slump back into his former position, without a reply. Sinclair followed his opening advantage at once. What you end for?

Starting point is 07:40:48 Murder. Great guns of whom? Sanderson. It brought Sinclair stiffly to his feet. Sanderson. His trail was ended. Hal was avenged at last. And you done it, Fatty, you took that job out of my hands. I'm thanking you. Besides, it ain't nothing to be downhearted about. Sanderson was a skunk. Can they prove it on you? The need to talk overwhelmed Arizona. It burst out of him, not to Sinclair, but rather at him.

Starting point is 07:41:23 His shifting eyes made sure there was no one. one near. Kern is going to send South for the dope. I'm done for. They can hang me three times on what they'll learn, and... Shut up, Snap, Sinclair, don't talk foolish. The South is a tolerable big place to send to. They don't know where you come from.

Starting point is 07:41:44 Take them a month to find out, and by that time, he won't be at hand. Huh? Because you and me are going to bust out of this paper jail they've got. He had not the slightest hope of escape, but he tried the experiment of that suggestion merely to see what the fat man's reactions would be. The result was more than he could have dreamed. Arizona whirled on him with eyes ablaze.

Starting point is 07:42:11 What do you mean, Sinclair? Just what I say. Do you think they can keep too like us in here? No. Not if you come to your old self. The need to confide again, fella. on Arizona. He dragged a stool nearer. His voice was a whisper. Sinclair, something's busted in me. When them irons grabbed my arms,

Starting point is 07:42:35 they took everything out of me. I got no chance. They got me cornered. And you'll fight like a wildcat, to the end of things. Sure you will. Buck up, man. You think you've turned yellow, you ain't. You're just out of place. Take a gent that's used to a forty-foot rope and a pony. give him sixty feet on a sixteen-hand horse and ain't he out a place sure he looks like a clumsy fool and the other way around it works the same way a trout may be a flash of light in water but on dry land he ain't worth a damn same with you faddy while you got a free foot you're all right but when they put you behind a wall and saying they're going to keep you there you darn near brus down Why? Because it looks to you like you ain't got a chance to fight back. So you quit altogether.

Starting point is 07:43:32 But you'll come back to yourself, Arizona. You? Arizona raised his hand. He was sitting erect now, drinking in the words of Sinclair, as if they were heir to a stifling man. His face worked. Why are you doing this for me, Sinclair, after I landed you here? Because I made a man out of you once.

Starting point is 07:43:54 answered the tall man evenly, and I ain't going to see you backslide, by Arizona. You're one of the fastest thinking, quickest-handed gents that ever buckled on a gun. And here you are lying down like a kid and ain't never faced trouble before. Come alive, man, you and me are going to bust this old jail to smithereens, and when we get outside, I'll blow your head off if I can. Riley's words had carried Arizona with him. Suddenly, an olive-skinned hand shot out and clutched his own, bony, strong fingers. The hand was fat and cold, but it gripped that of Riley Sinclair with a desperate energy.

Starting point is 07:44:39 Sinclair, you mean it? You'll play in with me? I will, sure. He had to drag the words out, but after he had spoken, he was glad. New life shone in the face of Arizona. A man with you for a partner ain't done, Sinclair. Not if he had a rope around his neck. Listen, do you know why I come in town?

Starting point is 07:45:01 Well, to get you out. I believe you, Arizona, lied Sinclair. Not for your sake, but hers. Sinclair's face suddenly went white. Who? The girl, whispered Arizona. I cashed her away outside of town to wait for us. Sinclair, she loves you.

Starting point is 07:45:22 Riley Sinclair sat as one stunned and dragged the hat from his head. End of Chapter 31. Chapter 32 of the Rangeland Avenger by Max Brand. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. Through the branches of the copse in which she was hiding, the girl saw the sun descend in the west, a streak of slowly dropping fire.

Starting point is 07:45:58 and now she became excited. As soon as it's dark, Arizona had promised, I'll make my start. Have your horse ready, be in the saddle, and the minute you see us come down that trail out of Sour Creek, be ready to feed your horse to spur and join us, because when we come, we'll come fast. Don't make no mistake.

Starting point is 07:46:20 If you ride too slow, we'll have to ride slow, too. And slow riding means gunplay on both sides. and gunplay means dead men, because the evening is a pile worse, nor the dark for fooling a man's aim. You'll see me and Sinclair scoot along that there rode, with a gang yelling behind us. Having made this farewell speech,

Starting point is 07:46:47 he waved his hand, Anne, with a smile of confidence, jogged away from her. It was the beginning of a dull day of waiting for her, yet a day in which she dared not altogether relax her vigilance, because at any time the break might come, and Arizona might appear flying down the trail with a familiar tall form of Sinclair beside him. Wearily, she waited until sundown.

Starting point is 07:47:14 With a coming of dusk she wakened suddenly and became tinglingly, alert. The night spread rapidly down out of the mountains. The color faded, and the sudden chill of the high altitude settled about her. Her hands and her feet were cold with a fear of excitement. Into the gathering gloom she strained her eyes. Towards sour creek she strained her ears,

Starting point is 07:47:42 staring at every faint sound of a man's shout or the barking of a dog, as if this might be the beginning of the uproar that would announce the escape. Something swung onto the road, out of the end, of the main street. She was instantly in the saddle, but by the time she reached the edge of the copes, she found it to be only a wagon filled with singing men, going back to some nearby ranch. Then quiet dropped over the valley, and she became aware that it was the utter dark. Arizona had failed. That knowledge grew more surely upon her with every moment. His intention must have been guessed, for she could not imagine that slippery and cold-minded fellow

Starting point is 07:48:28 being thwarted, if he were left free to work as he pleased toward an object he desired. She could not stay in the grove all night. Besides, this was the critical time for Riley Sinclair. Tomorrow he would be taken to the security of the Woodville jail, and the end would be close. If anything were done for him, it must be done before more. morning. With a thought in mind she rolled boldly out of the trees and took the road into town, where the lights of the early evening had turned from white to yellow as the night deepened. Sour Creek was hardly a mile away when a rattling in the dark announced the approach of a buckboard. She drew rain at the side of the trail. Suddenly the wagon loomed out at her

Starting point is 07:49:21 with two down-headed horses jogging along, and the loose rain swinging above their backs. Hello, called Jig. The brakes ground against the wheels, squeaking in protest. The horses came to a halt so willingly and suddenly that the collar shoved halfway up their necks, and the tongue of the wagon lurched beyond their noses. Whoa, evening there.

Starting point is 07:49:47 You kind of give me a start, stranger. "'Pariting the dialect as well as she was able,' Jig said. "'Sorry, stranger. Might that be Sour Creek?' "'It sure might be,' said the driver, "'leaning through the dark to make out Jig. "'Knewing these parts?' "'Yep. I'm over from White-acre Way, "'and I'm aiming for Woodville.'

Starting point is 07:50:10 "'White-acre? Dog-on me, "'if it ain't good to meet a White-acre boy. "'I was raised there, son. Joe Lunids is my name. I'm Texas Lou, said the girl. There was a subdued chuckle from the darkness. You sound kind of young for a name like that, kid. Least wise, your voice is tolerable young.

Starting point is 07:50:34 I'm old enough, said Jig aggressively. Sure, sure, placated the other. Sure you are. Besides, she went on, I wanted a name that I could grow up to. It brought a hearty burst of laughter. her from the wagon. That's a good one, Texas. Have a drink. She set her teeth over the refusal that had come to her lips, and, raining near, reached out for the flask. The driver passed over the bottle, and at the same time lighted a match for the apparent purpose of starting a cigarette. But Jiggs nodded her head in time to obscure her face with the flopping brim of her sombrero. The other

Starting point is 07:51:17 coughed in his disappointment. She raised a bottle after uncorking it, firmly securing the neck with her thumb. After a moment she lowered it and sighed with satisfaction as she had heard men do. Thanks, said Jiggs, handing back the flask. Hot stuff, partner.

Starting point is 07:51:36 You got a tough throat, observed the rancher. First I ever see that didn't choke on a swig of that. But you youngsters has the advantage of a sound linings for your innards. He helped himself from the flask, coughed heavily, and then pounded home the cork. Howse things up Whiteacre Way. Fair to Midland, said Jig.

Starting point is 07:52:00 They ain't hollering for rain so much as they was. I reckon not, agreed the rancher. And how things down Sour Creek way, asked Jig. Trouble bust in every minute, said the other. Murder, gun scrapes, brawls in the hotel. to beat anything i ever see the town is sure going plumb to the dogs at this rate you don't say well i heard something about a gent named quade being plugged him he was just a beginning just a start since then we had a man took away from old kern which don't happen once in a coon age then we had a fine fresh of murders right this morning and the present minute there's two in jail on murder charges and both are sure to swing.

Starting point is 07:52:49 Jig gasped. Too, she exclaimed. Yep. They was a skinny schoolteacher named, I forgot what. Most generally was called Coldfeet, which fit it. They thought he killed Quaid on account of a girl,

Starting point is 07:53:04 but a gent named Sinclair up and confessed, and he is waiting for the rope. And then a sheriff, all by himself, grabbed Arizona for the murder of Sanderson. O. Times is picking up considerable in Sour Creek, reminds me of twenty years back before Kern come on the job and cleaned up the gunfighters.

Starting point is 07:53:26 Two murders repeated the girl faintly, and as Arizona confessed too, not him, but the sheriff has enough to give him a hard run. I've got to be drifting on, son, take my advice, and head straight for Woodville. You lack five years of being old enough for Sour Creek these days, He called his farewell, threw off the brake, and cursed the span of horses into their former trot.

Starting point is 07:53:53 As for Jig, she waited until the scent of alkali dust died away, and the rattle of the buckboard was faint in the distance. Then she turned her horse back towards Howard Creek and urged it to a steady gallop, bouncing in the saddle. There seemed the fatality about her. On her account Sinclair had thrown his life in peril, and now Arizona was caught and held in the same danger. Enough of sacrifices for her. Her mind was firm to repay some of these services at any cost, and she had thought of a way. With that gloomy purpose before her,

Starting point is 07:54:33 her ordinary timidity disappeared. It was strange to ride in the Sour Creek, and she passed in review among the rough men of the town, constantly fearful that they might pierce her disguise. She had trained herself to a long stride and a swaggering demeanor, and by constant practice she had been able to lower the pitch of her voice and roughen its quality. Yet in spite of the constant practice, she never had been able to gain absolute self-confidence. Tonight, however, there was no fear in her.

Starting point is 07:55:09 She went straight to the hotel through the reins and walked boldly through the door into a cluster. of men. They yelled at the sight of her. Jiggs's by guns. He's come in. Say, kid, the sheriff's been looking for you. They swerved around her, grinning good-naturedly. When a person has been almost lynched for a crime another is committed, he gains a certain standing, no matter what may be the public opinion of his courage. The schoolteacher had become a personage, but Jig met their smiles with a level eye. If the sheriff's looking for me, she said,

Starting point is 07:55:49 tell him I have a room in the hotel. He can find me here. Pop shook hands before he shoved the register toward her. My kids will sure be glad to see you safe back, he said, and I'm glad too, Jig. Notting, she turned to sign her name in the bold free hand, which she had cultivated. She could feel the crowd staring behind her,

Starting point is 07:56:13 and she could hear their murmurs, but she was not nervous. It seemed that all apprehension had left her. Where's Cartwright, she asked, sitting in a game of poker. Hello, buddy, she called to a red-headed youngster, going and tell Cartwright that I'm waiting for him in my room, will you? Ain't no use, said Pop, staring at this new and more masculine jig.

Starting point is 07:56:39 Cartwright is all heated up about the game, and he's lost enough to get anybody excited. He won't come. Better go in there if you want to see him. I'll try my luck this way, said Jig coldly. Run along, buddy. Buddy obeyed, and Jig went up the stairs to her room. What's come over him? asked the crowd.

Starting point is 07:57:02 The moment cold feet was out of sight. Looks like he growed up in a day. He's gone through enough to make a man out of him, answered Pop. never can tell how a kid will turn out. But in her room, Jig had sunk into a chair, dropped her elbows on the table, and buried her face in her hands,

Starting point is 07:57:22 trying to steady her thoughts. She heard the heavy pounding of feet on the stairs, a strong tread in the hall that made the flooring of the old building quiver. And then the door was flung open, slammed shut, and the key turned in the lock. Cartwright set his shoulders against the door,

Starting point is 07:57:40 as though he feared she would try to rush past him. He stared at her with a queer mixture of fear, rage, and astonishment. So I've got you at last, huh? I got you, after all this. Curiously, she stared at him. She had read at the interview, but now that he was before her, she was surprised to find that she felt no fear. She examined him as if from a distance.

Starting point is 07:58:09 Yes, she admitted you have me. Will you sit down? I need room to talk, he said, swaggering to the table. He struck his fist on it. Now to start with, what in thunder did you mean by running away? We're leaving the past to bury the past, she said.

Starting point is 07:58:28 That's the first concession you have to make. He laughed. His laughter ending with a choke sound. And why should I make concessions? Jiggs watched the veins of fury swell in his forehead, watched calmly, and then threw her sombrero on the bed and smoothed back her hair, still watching, without a change of expression. It seemed as if her calm acted to sober him, and the passing of her hand across the bright silken hair all at once softened him. He sank into the opposite chair, leaning far across

Starting point is 07:59:05 the table toward her. Honey, take you all in all. you're prettier right here in this man's outfit that i ever see you a pile prettier for a moment she closed her eyes the sacrifice which she intended was becoming harder desperately hard to make i'm going to take you back and forgive you said cartwright apparently blind to what was going on in her mind i ain't one to carry malice you keep the line from now on and we'll get along fine, but you stepped crooked just once more, and I'll learn you a pile of things you never even dreamed could happen. To her, it seemed that he stood in a shaft of consuming light that exposed every shadowy nook and cranny of his nature, and the narrow-minded meanness that she saw startled her. What you do afterward with me is your own affair, she said. It's about the present that I've come to bargain. Bargain? Bargain?

Starting point is 08:00:09 Exactly, do what I ask, and I go back and act as your wife. If you refuse, I walk out of your life forever. He could not speak for a moment. Then he exploded. It's funny. I could almost laugh hearing you chatter crazy like this. Don't you think I've got a right to make my own wife come home with me? Now that I found her, wouldn't the law stand behind me?

Starting point is 08:00:35 You can force me to come, she admitted quietly, but if you do, i'll let the whole truth be known that i ran away from you can your pride stand that jude he writhed and how you'll get around that even if i don't make you and you come back of your own free will somehow i'll manage i'll find a story of how i was carried away by half a dozen men who had come to loot the upper rooms of the house while the wedding party was downstairs i'll find a story that will wash "'Yes, I think you will,' said Cartwright, breathing heavily. "'I sure think you will. "'You was always a clever little devil. "'I know. But a bargain. "'I ought to.'

Starting point is 08:01:20 "'He checked himself. "'But I'm through with the black talk. "'When I get you back on the ranch, "'I'll show you that you can be happy up there. "'And now when you get over your full notions, "'you'll be a wife to be proud of. "'Now, honey, tell me what you want. I want you to save the lives of two men.

Starting point is 08:01:41 They're both in jail on my account, and they're both charged with murder. You know who I mean? Cartwright rose out of his chair. Sinclair he groaned. Curse him? Sinclair again, huh? What's they between you, too?

Starting point is 08:01:57 Her answer smothered his fury again. It was pain that was giving her strength. Jude, if you really want me to go back with you, don't ask that question. He has treated me as an honorable man, always treats a woman. He tried to serve me. Serve you?

Starting point is 08:02:16 By coming here trying to kill me? He may have thought I wished to be free. He didn't tell me what he was going to do. That's a lie. He stopped, watching her white face. I don't mean that, you know. But you ain't actually asking me to get Sinclair out of jail. Besides, I couldn't do it.

Starting point is 08:02:36 you could easily moreover it is to your interest it will take a strong jail to hold him and if he breaks away you know that he's a dangerous man he hates you jude and he might try to find you if he did she waved her hand and cartwright followed the gesture with great fascinated eyes as if he saw himself dissolving in the thin air i know he's a desperado right enough enough to be a desperado right enough for a very fascinated eyes as if he saw himself dissolving in the thin air I know he's a desperado right enough, the Sinclair. Ain't I seen him work? He shuddered at the memory. But get him out of jail, Jude, and that will be ended. He'll be your friend. Could I trust him?

Starting point is 08:03:20 Don't you think Riley Sinclair is a man to be trusted? I don't know. He lowered his eyes. Maybe he is. As for Arizona, she went on. The same thing holds for him. Yes, if I could get one out, I could get two. But how can I do it?

Starting point is 08:03:38 The Sheriff Kern is a fighting idiot, and loves a gunplay. Ain't no man-killer, honey. But you're rich, Jude. Tolerable. There may be one or two has more than me around these parts. And money buys men. Don't it, though, said Jude, expanding.

Starting point is 08:03:57 Why, when they found out that I was a spender, they started in hounding me. One gent. wanted me to help him on a mortgage, only fifty bucks to meet a payment. And these half a dozen would mortgage their souls if I'd stake them to enough downstairs to get them into a crap game or something. Then let them have the money they need, why it wouldn't be more than a hundred dollars altogether. A hundred is a hundred. Why should I throw it away on them bums?

Starting point is 08:04:28 Because after you've done it, you'll have a dozen men who'll follow you. you'll have a mob. Sure, but what of that? Expect me to lead an attack on a jail, huh? Throw my life away. By guns? I think you'd like that. You don't have to lead.

Starting point is 08:04:47 Just give them the money they need, and then spread the word around that Riley Sinclair is really an honorable man who killed Quaid in a fair fight. I know what they thought of Quaid. He was a bully. No one liked him. Tell them it's a shame

Starting point is 08:05:02 that a man like Sinclair should die because he killed a big, hulking, Kerr, such as Quaid. They'll listen, particularly, if they have your money. I know these men, Jude, if they think an injustice is being done, they'll risk their necks to right it. And if you work on them in the right way, you can have twenty men who'll risk everything to get Riley out. But there won't be a risk.

Starting point is 08:05:29 If twenty men rush to jail, the guards will simply throw down their guns and give up. Well, I wonder, muttered Cartwright. I'm sure of it, Jude. Do you think a deputy will let himself be killed simply to keep a prisoner safely? They won't do it. You don't know this Kern. I do know him, and I know that he's human.

Starting point is 08:05:52 I've seen him beaten once already. By Sinclair, you keep coming back to him. Jude, if you do this thing for me, she said steadily, I'll go back with you. I don't love you, but if I go back, I'll keep you from a great deal of shameful talk. I'm sorry, truly, that I left. I couldn't help it. It was an impulse that took me by the throat. And if I go back, I'll honestly try to make you a good wife.

Starting point is 08:06:22 She faltered a little before that last word, and her voice fell. but Jude Cartwright was wholly fascinated by the color in her face and the softness of her voice he mistook for a sudden rise of tenderness. There's only one thing I got to ask, you and Sinclair, have you ever, I mean, have you ever told him you're pretty fond of him, that you love him? He blurted it out, stammering. Certainly she knew that her answer was a lie, though it was true in the letter.

Starting point is 08:06:57 I never told him so, she said firmly, but I owe him a great debt. He must not die because he's a gentleman, Jude. All the time she was speaking, he watched her with ferret sharpness, thinking busily. Before she ended, he had reached his decision. I'm going to raise that mob. Jude?

Starting point is 08:07:20 What a ring in her voice. If he had been in doubt, he would have known then. No matter what she said, she loved Riley Sinclair. He smiled sourly down on her. Keep your thanks. You'll hear news of Sinclair before morning, and he stalked out of the room.

Starting point is 08:07:41 End of Chapter 32. Chapter 33 of the Rangeland Adventure by Max Brand. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. Cartwright went down to stay. theirs in the highest good humor. He had been convinced of two things in the interview with his wife. The first was that she could be induced to return to him. The second was that she loved Riley Sinclair. He did not hate her for such fickleness. He merely despised her for her lack of brains. No thinking woman could hesitate a moment between the ranches and the lumber tracks of Cartwright

Starting point is 08:08:29 and the empty purse of Riley Sinclair. As for hatred, that he concentrated on the head of Sinclair himself. He had already excellent reasons for hating the rangy cowpuncher. Those reasons were now intensified and given weight by what he had recently learned. He determined to raise a mob, but not to accomplish his wife's desires. What she had said about the weakness of jails, the strength of the reason. the Sinclair and the probability that once out he would take the trail of the rancher appealed vigorously to his imagination. He did not dream that such a man as Sinclair would hesitate

Starting point is 08:09:13 at a killing, and loving the girl the first thing Sinclair would do would be to remove the obstacle through the simple expedient of a well-placed bullet. But the girl had not only convinced him in this direction, she had taught him where his strength lay, and she had pointed a novel use for that strength. He went to work instantly when he entered the big back room of the hotel which was used for cards and surreptitious drinking. A little patient-faced man in a corner who had been sucking a pipe all evening and watching the crap game hungrily was the first object of his charity. Ten dollars slipped in the into the pocket of the little cow-puncher, brought him out of his chair with a grin of gratitude

Starting point is 08:10:02 and bewilderment. A moment later, he was on his knees calling to the dice in a crackling voice. Crossing the room, Cartwright picked out two more obviously-stalled gamblers and gave them a new start. Returning to the table, he found that the game was lagging. In the first place, he had from the start supplied most of the sinews of war to that game. Also, two disgruntled members had gone broke in his absence, through trying to plunge for the spoils of the evening. They sat back with black faces and watched him come. We're getting down to a small game, said the gray-headed man, who was dealing.

Starting point is 08:10:50 But Cartwright had other ideas. A friend's a friend, he said, jovily, and a gent that's been playing beside me all evening, I figure for a friend. Sit in, boys, I'll stake you to a couple of rounds, huh? Gladly they came, astonished, and exchanging glances. Cartwright had made a sour loser all the game. This sudden generosity took them off balance. It led in a merciful light upon the cruel criticism

Starting point is 08:11:22 which they had been leveling at him in private. The pale man with blonde eyelashes and the faded blue eyes, who had been dexterously stacking the cards all through the game, decided at that moment that he would not only stop cheating, but he would even lose some of his ill-gotten gains back into the game. Only a sudden rush of unbelievable luck kept him from executing his generous and silent promise. This pale-faced man was named Whitey, from the excessive blondness of his hair and his pallor. He was not popular in Sour Creek, but he was much respected.

Starting point is 08:12:04 A proof of his ingenuity was that he had cheated at cards in that community for five years, and still he had never been caught at his work. He was not a bold-talking man, in fact he never started arguments or trouble of any kind. but he was the most dexterous and thorough-going fighter when he was cornered. In fact, he was what is known widely as a finisher. And it was Whitey whom Cartwright had chosen as the leader of the mob which he intended raising. He waited until the first shuffle was in progress, after the hand,

Starting point is 08:12:43 then he began his theme. Understand the sheriff is pretty strong for the Sinclair that murdered Quaid, he said carelessly. Murder is a tolerable strong word, came back the unfriendly answer. Maybe it was a fair fight. Cartwright laughed. Maybe it was, he said.

Starting point is 08:13:05 Whitey interrupted himself in the act of shoving the pack across to be cut. He raised his pale eyes to the face of the rancher. What makes you laugh, Cartwright? Nothing, said Jude hastily, nothing at all. If you gents don't know Sinclair, it ain't up to me to give you light, let him go." Nothing more was said during that hand which Whitey won. Jude, apparently bluffing shamelessly, bucked him up to fifty dollars, and then he allowed himself to be called with a pair of tens against a full house.

Starting point is 08:13:42 Not only did he lose, but he started a laugh against himself, and he joined in cheerfully. He was aware of Whitey frowning curiously at him, and smiling faintly, which was the nearest that Whitey ever came to laughter. And, indeed, the laugh cost Cartwright more than money, but it was a price the price he was paying for the adherence of Whitey. "'What about the Sinclair?' asked the man, with the great red blotchy freckles across his face and the back of his neck, so that the skin between looked red and raw.

Starting point is 08:14:21 You come from up north, which is his direction, too. Know anything about him? He looks like pretty much of a man to me, and the sheriff says he's a square shooter from the word go. Maybe he is, said Cartwright, but I don't want to go around digging the ground away from nobody's reputation.

Starting point is 08:14:42 Whatever he's got, he won't last long, said Whitey, definitely. He'll swing, sure. it was cartwright's opening he took advantage of it dexterously without too much haste he even yawned to show his lack of interest well i got a hundred and says he don't hang he observed quietly and looked full at whitey across the table it was a challenge which the gambling spirit of the latter could not afford to overlook money talks began whitey then he checked himself do you know anything cartwright sure i don't said jude in the manner of one who has abundant knowledge in reserve but they say that the sheriff and sinclair have become regular bunkeys don't do nothing hardly but sit and chin with each other over in the jail ever known kern to do that before they shook their heads which is a sign that sinclair may be all right said the sober whitey which is a sign that he might have something on the sheriff said jude cartwright

Starting point is 08:15:52 i don't say that he has mind you but it looks kind of queer he yanked the prisoner away from the sheriff one day and the next day he's took for murder did the sheriff have much to do with his taking no he didn't by all accounts it was Arizona that done to taking, planning, and everything. And after Sinclair's took, what does the sheriff do? He gets on the trail of Arizona, and has him checked in for murder of another gent? Maybe Arizona is guilty, maybe he ain't. But it kind of looks if they were something between Sinclair and Kern, don't it? At this bold exposition of possibilities they paused. Kern is figured,

Starting point is 08:16:39 Tolerable straight, declared Whitey. Sure he is. That's because he don't talk none and does his work. Besides, he's a killer. That's his job. So is Sinclair a killer? Maybe he did fight Quaid Square, but Quaid ain't the only one.

Starting point is 08:16:56 Why, boys, the Sinclair, has got a record as long as my arm. In silence they sat around the table, each man thinking hard. the professional gunman gets scant sympathy from ordinary cow-punchers now i dropped in at the jail said the man of the great freckles and come to think about it i heard sinclair singing and i seen him polishing his spurs sure he's getting ready for a ride put in cartwright there was a growl from the others they were slowly turning their interest from the game to cartwright what do you mean a ride got another hundred said cartwright calmly that when the morning comes it won't find sinclair in the jail at once they were absolutely silenced for money talks in an eloquent voice deliberately cartwright counted out the two stacks of shimmering twenty-dollar gold pieces five to a stack one hundred that he don't hang and another hundred that he ain't in the jail when the morning comes

Starting point is 08:18:06 Any takers, boys? It ought to be easy money, if everything square. Whitey made a move, but finally, merely raised his hand and rubbed his chin. He was watching that gold on the table with cat-like interest. A man must know something to be so sure. I'd like to know, murmured the man of the freckles disconnectedly. Well, said Cartwright, there ain't much of a mystery about it. For one thing, if the sheriff's...

Starting point is 08:18:36 was plumset on keeping them too. Why didn't he take him over to Woodville today, where there's a jail they couldn't bust out of, huh? Again they were silenced, and, in an argument, when a man falls silent, it simply means that he is thinking hard on the other side. But as far as I'm concerned, when on Cartwright yawning again, it don't make no difference one way or another. Sour Creek ain't my town, and I don't care if it gets to ha-ha-ha. for having his jail busted open. Of course, after the birds have flown, the sheriff will ride hard after him on the wrong trail.

Starting point is 08:19:17 Whitey raised his slender, agile, efficient hand. Jens, he said, something has got to be done. This man Cartwright is giving us the truth. He's got his hunch, and hunches is mostly always right. Speak out, Whitey, said the man with the freckles encouragingly, I like your style of thinking. Notting his acknowledgments, Whitey said, the main thing seems to be that Sinclair in Arizona

Starting point is 08:19:46 is old hands at Killin. And they had ought to be hung. Well, if the sheriff ain't got the rope, maybe we could help him out, uh-huh. End of Chapter 33. Chapter 34 of the Rangeland Adventure by Max Brand. This Libravox recording. is in the public domain.

Starting point is 08:20:16 The moment her husband was gone, Jig dropped back in her chair and buried her face in her arms, weeping. But there is a sort of sad happiness in making sacrifices for those we love, and presently Jig was laughing through her tears and trembling as she wiped the tears away. After a time she was able to make herself ready

Starting point is 08:20:39 for another appearance in the street of Sour Creek. She practiced back and forth in her room that exaggerated swagger, jerked her sombrero rakeishly over one eye, cocked up her cartridge belt at one side, and swung down the stairs. She went straight to the jail and met the sheriff at the door where he sat smoking a stub of a pipe. He gaped widely at the sight of her. Smoke streaming up past his eyes. Then he rose and shook hands violently. All I got to say, Jagie remarked, is that the others was the ones that made the big mistake.

Starting point is 08:21:21 When I went and arrested you, I was just following in line, but I'm sorry, and I'm mighty glad that you've been found to be okay. Wainly, she smiled, and thanked him for his good wishes. I'd like to see Sinclair, she said. Kern's amiability increased. the best thing i know about you jig is that you ain't turning sinclair down now that he's in trouble go right back in the jail him in arizona is chinning wait a minute i guess i gotta keep an eye on you

Starting point is 08:21:54 to see you don't pass nothing through the bars keep clean back from them bars jig and then you can talk all you want i'll stay here where i can watch you but can't hear is that square nothing square in the world said jigg and went in she left the sheriff grinning vacantly into the dark there was a peculiar something in jigg's smile that softened men but when she stepped into the sphere of the lantern light that spread faintly through the cell she was astonished to see arizona and clare kneeling opposite each other shooting dice with abandon and snapping of the fingers they rose laughing at the sight of her, and came to the bars. "'But you aren't worried, asked Jig. You aren't upset by all this?' It was Arizona who answered, a strangely changed Arizona since his entrance into the jail.

Starting point is 08:22:53 "'Look here,' he said gaily. "'Why should we be worrying? Ain't we got a good sound roof over our heads with a set of blankets to sleep in?' He smiled at Tallsinclair, then changed his voice. Things fell through, he said softly, glancing at the far-off shadowy figure of the sheriff. Sorry, but we'll work this out yet. I know, she answered.

Starting point is 08:23:18 She lowered her voice to caution. I'm only going to stay a moment to keep away suspicions. Listen, something is going to happen tonight that will set you both free. Don't ask me what it is, but among those cottonwoods behind the blacksmith shop, I'm going to have two good horses saddled and ready for you. One will be your own, Arizona, and I'll have a good horse for you, Riley. And when you're free, start for those horses.

Starting point is 08:23:47 Sinclair laid hold on the bars with his big hands and pressed his face close to the iron, staring at her. You ain't coming along with us, he asked. I know. Are you going to stay here? Perhaps I don't know. I haven't made up my mum. mind. Has Cartwright? She broke away from those entangling questions. I must go. But you'll be at the

Starting point is 08:24:12 place with the horses? Yes. Then so long till the time comes, and you're a brick, jig. Once outside the jail, she set to work at once. As forgetting the Rhone, it was the simplest thing in the world. There was no one in the stable behind the hotel, and no one to ask questions. She, She calmly saddled the roan, mounted him, and rode by a wider detour to the cottonwoods behind the blacksmith's shop. Her own horse was to be for Sinclair, but before she took him she went into the hotel and the first man she found on the veranda was Cartwright. He came to her at once, shifting away from the others.

Starting point is 08:24:57 How are things? Good, said Cartwright. Ain't you heard him talking? and there about the hotel, then stood in knots of three or four, talking in low voices. Are they talking about that? Sure they are, said Cartwright relieved. You ain't heard nothing? Not a word.

Starting point is 08:25:16 Then the thing for you to do is to keep undercover. You don't want to get mixed up in this thing, huh? I suppose not. Keep out of sight, honey. The crowd will start pretty soon and tear things loose. He could not resist one savage thrust. a rope or a pair of ropes will do the work. Ropes, one to tie Kern and the other to tie his deputy, he exclaimed smoothly.

Starting point is 08:25:42 Where are you going now? Getting their retreat ready, she whispered excitedly. I've already warned them where to go to get the horses. She waved to him and stepped back into the night, convinced that all was well. As for Cartwright, he hesitated, staring after her. after all, if his plan developed, it would be wise for him to allow the others to do the work of mischief. He had no wish to be actively mixed up with a lynching party. Sometimes there were after results, and if he had done no more than talk, there would be small hold upon him by the law.

Starting point is 08:26:23 Moreover, things were going smoothly under the guidance of Whitey. The pale-faced man had thrown himself body and soul into the movement. It was a rare thing to see Whitey excited. Other men were readily impressed. After a time, when anger had reached a certain point, where men melt into hot action, these fixed figures of men would sweep into fluid action, and then the fates of Arizona and Sinclair would be determined.

Starting point is 08:26:52 It plays Cartwright, more than any action of his life, to feel that he had stirred up this movement. It pleased him still more to know that he could now step back and watch the work of ruin go on. It was like disturbing the one small stone which starts the avalanche, which eventually smashes the far-off forest.

Starting point is 08:27:15 So much was done then, and now, why not make sure that the very last means of retreat for the pair was blocked? The girl went to get the horses. and if, by the one chance in twenty, the two should actually break out of the jail, it would remain the cartwright to kill the horses or the men. He did not care which. He slipped behind the hotel and presently saw the girl come out of the stable with her horse.

Starting point is 08:27:45 He followed, skulking softly behind her, until he reached the appointed place among the cotton woods. The trees grew tall and thick of trunk, and about their bases was the growth of dense shrubbery. It was a simple thing to conceal two saddled horses in a hollow which sank into the edge of the shrubbery. Cartwright's first desire was to couch himself in shooting distance. Then he remembered that shooting with a revolver by moonlight

Starting point is 08:28:15 was uncertain work. He slipped away to the hotel and got a rifle ready enough. Men were milling through the lower rooms of the hotel. The point of discussion had long since been passed. The ringleaders had made up their minds. They went about with faces so black that those who were asked to join hardly had the courage to question. There was broad-voiced rumor growing swiftly.

Starting point is 08:28:42 Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. It was like that mysterious whisper which goes through the forest before the heavy storm strikes. Something was terribly wrong. and must be righted. How the ringleaders had reasoned, nobody paused to ask. It was sufficient that a score of men were saying,

Starting point is 08:29:04 the share figures on letting Sinclair and Arizona go. The typical scene between two men. They meet casually, one man whistling, the other thoughtful. What's the bad luck? asked the whistler. No time for whistling, says the other. Say, what do you mean? I ask you just this, said the gloomy man, with a mystery of much knowledge in his face. Are gents around here going to be murdered, and the murderers go free?

Starting point is 08:29:35 Well, Sinclair and Arizona, that's what's up. They're going to bust loose. I don't know about Arizona, but Sinclair, they say, is a square shooter. Who told you that, Sinclair himself? He's got a rep as long as my arm. he's a bad one son you don't say i do say and something has got to be done or sour creek won't be a decent man's town no more let me in off they went arm and arm cartwright saw half a dozen little interviews of this nature as he entered the hotel men were excited they hardly knew why there is no need for reason in a mob one has only to cry kill, and the mob will start of its own volition to find something that may be slain.

Starting point is 08:30:28 Also, a mob is no conscience and no remorse. It is the nearest thing to a devil that exists, and it is also the nearest thing to the divine mercy and courage. It is braver than the bravest man. It is more timorous than the most fearful. It is fiercer than a lion, gentler than a lamb. all these things by turn, and each one, to the exclusion of all the others. Now the thunder clouds were piling on the horizon, and Cartwright could feel the electricity

Starting point is 08:31:03 in the air. He went to pop. I got to have a rifle. What for? You know, said Cartwright significantly. The hotelkeeper nodded. He brought out an old Winchester, still mobile, of action and deadly. With that weapon under his arm, Cartwright started back, but then he remembered that there were excellent chances of missing even with a rifle, when he was shooting through the shadows and by the treacherous moonlight. It would be better, far better, to have his horse with him. Then if he actually succeeded in wounding one or both of them, he could run his victim down,

Starting point is 08:31:44 or perhaps keep up a steady fire of rifle shots from the rear that would bring him. half the town pouring out to join in the chase. So he swung back to the stables, saddled his horse, trotted it around in a comfortably wide detour, and coming within sound distance of the cottonwoods, behind the blacksmith's shop, he dismounted and led his horse into a dense growth of shrubbery. That close approach would have been impossible

Starting point is 08:32:14 without alarming the girl, had it not been for a stiff wind blowing, across into his face, completely muffling the noise of his coming. In the bushes he ensconced himself safely. Only a few yards away, he kept his eye on the opening among the cottonwoods, behind which the girl and the two horses moved from time to time, growing more and more visible as the moon climbed above the horizon mist. He tightened his grip on the rifle and amused himself with drawing B, on stumps and bright bits of foliage from time to time.

Starting point is 08:32:54 He must be ready for any sort of action if the two should ever appear. While he waited, sounds reached his ear from the town, sounds eloquent of purpose. He listened to them as to beautiful music. It was a low, distinct, and continuous humming sound. Voices of men went into it. Lo, as the growl of an angered dog. and there was a background of slamming doors and footsteps on verandas sower creek was mustering for the assault end of chapter thirty four

Starting point is 08:33:33 chapter thirty five of the rangeland adventure by max brand this librivox recording is in the public domain now that sound had entered the jail and it had a peculiar effect it was like that distant murmuring of the storm which walks over the tree-tops far away it made the sheriff and his two prisoners lift their heads and look at one another in silence for the sheriff was most unprofessionally tilted to the sheriff's vaulted back in a chair, with his feet braced against the bars of the cell, while he chatted with his bad men about men, women, and events. The sheriff had a distinct curiosity to learn how Arizona had recovered so suddenly from his blue funk. Unquestionably, the fat man had recovered. His voice was as steady now, as any man's, and the old insolent glitter was in his eyes. He squared his shoulders and blew his smoke straight at the face of the sheriff as he talked. What caused it, the sheriff could not tell, this rehabilitation of a fighting

Starting point is 08:34:48 man, but he connected the influence of Sinclair with a change. By this time Sinclair himself was the more restless of the two. While Arizona sat on ease on the bunk, the tall man ranged up and down the cell, with long, noiseless steps, turning quickly back and forth besides the bars. He had spent his nervous energy cheering up Arizona, until the latter was filled with a reckless, careless courage. What would happen, Arizona could not guess, but Sinclair had assured him that something would happen, and he trusted implicitly to the word of his tall companion. Sooner or later, he would learn that they were hopeless, and Sinclair dreaded the breakdown which he knew would follow that discovery.

Starting point is 08:35:41 In his heart, Sinclair knew that there would be no hope, no chance. The girl he felt had been swept off her feet with some absurd dream of freeing them. For his own part, he had implicit faith in the strength of the tool-proof steel of the bars. on the one hand, and the gun of the sheriff on the other. As long as they held, they would keep their prisoners. The key to freedom was the key to the sheriff's heart, and Sinclair was too much of a man to whine. He had come to the end of his trail,

Starting point is 08:36:18 and that was evident in the restlessness of his walking to and fro. The love of the one thing on earth that he cared for was his, according to Arizona, and there was nothing to make the fact. man lie. It seemed to Riley Sinclair that, at the very moment, he had set his hands upon priceless gold, the treasure was crumbling to dead sand. He had lost her by the very thing that won her. In the midst of his pacing he stopped and lifted his head, just as the sheriff in Arizona did the same thing. The far-off murmur hummed and moaned toward them gathering strength. Then the sheriff pushed back his chair and went to the front of the jail.

Starting point is 08:37:02 They heard him give directions to his deputy to find out what the murmuring meant. When Kern returned, he was patently worried. Gens, he said, I've heard that same sort of sound twice before, and it means business. None of the three spoke again until the door of the jail was burst open, and the deputy came on them running. Kearney gasped, as he reached the sheriff. They're coming. Who?

Starting point is 08:37:31 Every man in Sour Creek. They tried to get me with him. I told him I'd stay and then slipped off. They want both of these. They want them bad. They're going to fight to get them. Do they want to grab Arizona and Sinclair, asked the sheriff, with surprising lack of emotion?

Starting point is 08:37:49 Don't think they're guilty? You're wrong. They think they're sure guilty, and they're going to lynch him. He whispered this, but his panting made the words louder than he thought. Sinclair heard, and by the shutter of Arizona,

Starting point is 08:38:05 he knew that his companion had heard as well. Now came the low-pitched voice of the sheriff. Are you with me, Pat? The deputy receded. Why, man, you ain't going to fight the whole town. I'd fight the whole town, said the sheriff smoothly, but I don't need you with me. You're through, part,

Starting point is 08:38:24 partner, closed the door soft when you go out. Pat made no argument, offering no sentimental protest of devotion. He was glad of any excuse, and he retreated at once. After him went the sheriff, and Sinclair heard the heavy door of the jail locked. Kern came back carrying a bundle. Outside, the murmuring had increased at a single leap to a roar. The rush for the jail was beginning. Arizona shrank back against the wall,

Starting point is 08:38:56 his little eyes glaring desperately at Sinclair, his last hope in the emergency. But Sinclair looked to the sheriff. The bundle in the arms of the ladder unrolled and showed two cartridge belts with guns appended. Next, still in silence, the sheriff unlocked the door to the cell. Sinclair? The tall cowpuncher leaped beside him.

Starting point is 08:39:20 Arizona skirted away to one side stealthily. None of that, commanded Kern. No crooked work, Arizona. I'm giving you a fighting chance for your lives. He tossed a gun and a belt to Sinclair. The latter, without a word, buckled it on. Now quick work, boy, said the sheriff. It's going to be the second time in my life

Starting point is 08:39:44 that prisoners have got away and tied me up. Understand? They ain't going to be no massacre if I can help. but gents like Sinclair don't come in pairs, and he's going to have a fighting chance, boys, tie me up fast and throw me in the corner. I'll tell him that you slugged me through the bars and got the keys away, you hear?

Starting point is 08:40:06 As he spoke, he threw Arizona a gun and a belt, and the latter imitated Sinclair and buckling it on. But the fat man then made for the door of the cell. Outside the rush reached the entrance to the jail and split on it. The voices leaped into a tumult. By thunder, demanded Arizona. Are you going to wait for that?

Starting point is 08:40:29 You want Kern to get into trouble? As Sinclair, grab this end and tie his ankles while I fix his hands. Frantically, they work together. Are you comfortable, Sheriff? He lays securely trust in a corner of the passageway. Dead easy, boys. Now, what's your plan?

Starting point is 08:40:47 Is there a pack way out? No way in or out, but the front door. But you got to wait till they smash it. There, they start now. Then dive out as they rush. They won't be expecting nothing like that, but gag me first. Hastily Sinclair obeyed. The door of the jail was shaking and groaning under the attack from without,

Starting point is 08:41:11 and the shouts were a steady roar. Then he hurried to the front of the little building. Arizona was already there, gun in hand, watching the door bulge under the impact. Evidently, they had caught up a heavy timber and a dozen men were pounding it against the massive door. Sinclair caught the gun arm of his companion. Fatty, he said hastily, gunplay will spoil everything. We've got to take them by surprise.

Starting point is 08:41:40 Fast running will save us, maybe. Fast shooting ain't any good when it's one man. man against fifty, and these boys mean business. Arizona, reluctantly, let his gun drop back into its holster. He nodded to Sinclair. The latter gave his direction swiftly, speaking loudly, to make his voice carry over the roar of the crowd. When the door goes down, which it'll do, pretty pronto, I'll dive out from this side and you run from the other side, straight into the crowd. I'll turn to the right

Starting point is 08:42:16 and you turn to the left. The minute you're around the corner of the building, shoot back over your shoulder or straight into the air. It'll make them think that you've stopped and are going to fight them off from the corner. They'll take it slow, you can bet, and beat it straight on for the cottonwoods behind the blacksmith's shop. They'll drop us the minute we show.

Starting point is 08:42:39 Sure, we got the long chance and nothing more. Is that good enough for you? He was rewarded in the dimmed, this by a glint in the eyes of Arizona, and then the fat man gripped his hand. You and me against the world. In the meantime, the door was bulging in the center under the blows of increasing weight. The second battering ram was now brought in the play, and the rain of blows was unceasing. Still between the shocks, the door sprang back, but there was a tell-tale rattle at every blow.

Starting point is 08:43:13 Finally, as a yell sprang up from the crowd at the sight, the upper hinge snapped loudly, and the door sagged in. Both timbers were now apparently swung at the same moment. Under the joint impact, the door was literally lifted from its last hinge and hurled inward, and with it lunged the two battering rams and the men who had wielded them. They tumbled headlong, carried away, by the very weight of their successful blood.

Starting point is 08:43:43 Now called Sinclair, and he sprang with an Indian yell over the heads of the sprawling men in the doorway and into the thick of the crowd. Half a dozen of the drawn guns whipped up at the sight, but no one could make sure in the half-light of the identity of the man who had dashed out. Their imaginations placed the two prisoners safely behind the bars inside. Before they could think twice, the second figure leaped through the doorway and passed them in the opposite direction. Then they awakened to the fact, but they awakened in confusion.

Starting point is 08:44:22 A dozen shots blazed in either direction, but they were wild snapshots of men taken off balance. Two leaps took Sinclair through the thick of the astonished men before him. He came to the scattering edges and saw a man dive at him. The cow-puncher beat the butt of his gun into the ladder's face and sped on, whipping around the corner of the little jail, with bullets whistling after him. His own gun, as he leaped out of sight,

Starting point is 08:44:54 he fired into the ground, and he heard a similar shot from the far side of the building. Those two shots, as he had predicted, checked the pursuers one vital second, and kept them milling in front of the jail. Then they spilled out around the corners, each man running low, his gun ready. But Sinclair, deep in the darkness of the tree, shadows behind the jail, was already out of sight.

Starting point is 08:45:22 He caught a glimpse of Arizona sprinting ahead of him for dear life. They reached the cottonwoods together and were greeted by a low shout from the girl. She was running out from the shelter, dragging the horses after her. Arizona went into his saddle with a single leap. Sinclair paused to take the jump, with his hand on the pond. and as he lifted himself up with a jump, a gun blazed in point-blank range from the nearest shrubbery. There was a yell from Arizona, not of pain, but of rage. They saw his gun glisten in his hand, and swerving his horse to disturb the aim of the marksman,

Starting point is 08:46:04 his weapon's first report blended with a second shock from the bushes, a tongue of darting flame. Straight at the flash of a target, Arizona had fired, and there was an answering yell. Out of the dark of the shrubbery, a great form leaped with a grotesque shadow beneath it on the moon whitened ground. Cartwright, cried Sinclair, as the big man collapsed and became a shapeless, inanimate black heap. Straight ahead, Arizona was already spurring, and Sinclair waved once to the white face of Jig, then shot after his companion, while the trees and shrubbery to their left emitted a sudden swarm of men and barking guns.

Starting point is 08:46:49 But to strike a rapidly moving object with a revolver is never easy, and to strike by the moonlight is difficult indeed. A dangerous flight of slugs bore the air around the fugitives for the first hundred yards of their flight. But after that, the firing ceased as the men of Sour Creek ran for their horses. straight on into the night rode the pair. One year had made Arizona a little plumber,

Starting point is 08:47:18 and one year had drawn Riley Sinclair more lean and somber, when they rode out on the shoulder of a flat-topped mountain and looked down into the hollow, where the late afternoon sun was already sending broad shadows out from every rise of ground. Sour Creek was a blur, and a twinkle of glass in the distance. Come to think of it, said Arizona.

Starting point is 08:47:43 It was just one year today, Riley. Was it that that brung you back here and me unknowing? The tall man made no answer, but shaded his eyes to peer down into the valley, and Arizona made no attempt to pursue the conversation. He was long since accustomed to the silences of his traveling mate. Seeing that Sinclair showed no disposition, either to speak or move,

Starting point is 08:48:10 he left the big cow-puncher to himself and started off through the trees in search of game. The sign of a deer caught his eye and hurried him on into a futile chase from which he returned in the early dark of the evening. He was guided by the fire with Sinclair had kindled on the shoulder, but to his surprise, as he drew nearer, the fire dwindled,

Starting point is 08:48:35 very much as if Riley had entirely forgotten, to replenish it with dry wood. A year of wildlife had sharpened the caution of Arizona. That neglect of his fire was by no means in keeping with the usual methods of Sinclair. Before he came to the last spur of the hill, Arizona dismounted and stole up on foot. He listened intently.

Starting point is 08:49:01 There was not a sound of anyone moving about. There was only an occasional crackle of the dying fire. When he came to the edge of the shoulder, Arizona raised his head cautiously to peer over. He saw a faintly illumined picture of Riley Sinclair, sitting with his hat off, his face raised, and such a light in his face that there needed no play of the fire to tell its meaning. Beside him sat a girl, more distinct, for she was dressed in white, and the fire gleamed and curled and modeled her hair,

Starting point is 08:49:36 and cast a highlight on her chin, her throat. her throat and her hand in the brown hand of St. Clair. Arizona winced down out of sight and stole back under the trees. Doggone me, said to his horse, they both remembered the day. End of Chapter 35. End of The Rangeland Avenger by Max Brand.

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