"Afternoon, gents," said a pleasant voice up above them, and all jumped and looked up. As they did so Shields jerked his guns loose and laughed softly: "That itch has plumb gone away," he said. "It's a new deal," he exulted, his face wreathed in grins.

CHAPTER XII

A NEW DEAL ALL AROUND

On the edge of the bank, thirty feet above them, a man squatted on his heels, his forearms resting easily on his knees. In each hand was a long-barreled Colt, held in a manner oppressively businesslike. One of the guns was leveled at the stomach of the man who guarded Bill, and who still held the rope; the other covered the man who had baited the sheriff. Shields took care of the remaining two. One of the newcomer's eyes was half closed, squinting to keep out the smoke which curled up from the cigarette which protruded jauntily from a corner of his mouth.

If anything was needed to strengthen the air of pertness of the man above it was supplied by his sombrero, which sat rakishly over one ear. A quizzical grin flickered across his face and the cigarette bobbed recklessly when he laughed.

"Was you counting?" he asked of Tex in anxious inquiry. "And for G.o.d's sake, who stepped on your face?"

Tex made no reply, for his astonishment at the interruption had given way to the iron hand of fear which gripped him almost to suffocation. In the s.p.a.ce of one breath he had been hurled from the mastery to defeat; from a good fighting chance, with all the odds on his side, to what he believed to be certain death, for to move was to die. Had it been anyone but The Orphan who had turned the scale he would have hazarded a shot and trusted to luck, for his gun was in his hand; but The Orphan's gunplay was as swift as light and never missed at that distance, and The Orphan's reputation was a host in itself. He had threatened the sheriff with death, he had used Bill worse than he would have used a dog, and now his cup of bitterness was full to overflowing. Above him a pair of cruel gray eyes looked over a sight into his very soul and a malevolent grin played about the thin, straight lips of the man who had killed Jimmy, who had led his five friends to an awful death, and who had instilled terror night after night into the hearts of seven good men. His mind leaped back to a day ten years before, and what he saw caused his face to blanch. Ten years of immunity, but at last he was to pay for his crime. Before him stood the son of the man he had been foremost in hanging, before him stood the man he had cruelly wronged.

His nerve left him and he stood a broken, trembling coward, a living lie to the occupation he had made his own, an insult to his dress and his companions. Had he by some miracle been given the drop he could not have pulled the trigger. He now had no hope for mercy where he had denied it. He had played a good hand, but he had made no allowance for the joker, and no blame to him.

No sooner had The Orphan spoken and the sheriff discovered that he had things safely in his hands, than Shields had leaped to the ground and quickly disarmed his opponents, tossing the captured weapons to the top of the bank near the outlaw. Then he folded his arms and waited, laughing silently all the while.

As soon as Shields had disposed of the last gun, The Orphan gave his whole attention to the man who was guarding Bill, and that person changed the course of his hand just in time.

"No, I wouldn't try to use that gun, neither, if I was you," The Orphan said, still smiling. "You can just toss it up on the bank over your head--that's right. Now drop that rope--I'm surprised that you didn't do it before. When you get Bill all untangled from those fixings come right around here, where I can see how nice you all look in a bunch.

It'll take you one whole minute to get out of sight around that turn, so I wouldn't try any running."

The Orphan was ignorant of the condition of Bill's face, since he had only seen the driver's back as he had crawled to the edge of the bank, and now the bend in the opposite wall just hid Bill from his sight. So he gave no great attention to the driver, but turned to the sheriff and laughed.

"I knew that you would pull through, Sheriff," he said, "but I couldn't help having a surprise party; I'm a whole lot fond of surprise parties, you know. And it's sh.o.r.e been a howling success, all right."

"You have a very pleasant way of making yourself useful," Shields replied. "From the holes you've pulled me out of within the past six weeks you must have a poor impression of me. But seeing that you have reason to laugh at me, I accept your apology and bid you welcome. It's all yours." Then he glanced quickly up the trail and his face went red with anger. "h.e.l.l!" he cried in amazement.

The Orphan looked in the direction indicated and he leaped to his feet in sudden anger at what he saw. A man, followed by a cowboy, staggered and stumbled drunkenly along the trail toward them, his face a ma.s.s of cuts and bruises and blood. His hair was matted with blood and dirt, and a red ring showed around his neck. His hands opened and shut convulsively and he made straight as he could for Tex, who shrank back involuntarily.

"My G.o.d! It's Bill!" cried The Orphan, hardly able to believe his eyes.

"You're the cur _I_ want!" Bill muttered brokenly to Tex, straightening up and becoming rapidly steadier under the stimulus of his rage. "You're the ---- _I_ want, d----n you!" he repeated as he slowly advanced. "It's my turn now, you cur! Lynch me, would you? Lynch me, eh? Tried to hit me when I was tied, eh? Sicked your dogs on me, eh? Keep still, d----n you--you can't get away!" he cried as Tex moved backward.

"Stand to it like a man, or I'll blow your head off!" cried The Orphan from his perch. "Go on, Bill!"

"You said you wanted me, didn't you? Do you still want me?" he asked, not hearing The Orphan's words. "Are you still curious?" he asked, backing Tex into a corner.

"Hash him up, Bill!" cried the man above, and then, "Hey, wait a minute--I want to see this," he added as he slid down the bank. "Go ahead with the slaughter--push his head off!"

Bill's one hundred and eighty pounds of muscle and rage suddenly hurled itself forward behind a huge fist and Tex hit the bank and careened into the dust of the trail, unconscious before he had moved.

"I told you you wasn't man enough to play a lone hand!" yelled the driver as he leaped after his victim. But he was stopped by the sheriff, who sprang forward and deflected him from his course.

"That's enough--no killing!" Shields cried, regaining his balance and swiftly interposing himself between the driver and Tex.

Bill didn't hear him, for he had just caught sight of the man who had told him to warble, and he lost no time in getting to him. A few quick blows and the enraged driver left his second victim face down in the dirt and pa.s.sed on to the man who had held the rope.

"Hurrah for Bill!" yelled The Orphan, hopping first on one foot and then on the other in his joy. "Set 'em up in the other alley! I didn't know you had it in you, Bill! Good boy!" he shouted as Bill clinched with the third cowboy. "Oh, that was a beauty! Right on the nose--oh, what a whopper to get on the jaw! Whoop her up! Fine, fine!" he laughed as Bill dropped his man. "'And subsequent proceedings interested _him_ no more!' Next!" he cried as Bill wheeled on the last of the group. "Eat him up, Bill!--that's the way! Just above the belt for his--Good! All down!" he yelled madly as Bill, drawing his arm back from the stomach of the falling puncher, sent a swift uppercut hissing to the jaw. "You lifted him five feet, Bill," The Orphan exulted as Bill wheeled for more worlds to conquer.

"Where's the rest of the gang?" savagely yelled the driver, looking twice at The Orphan before he was sure of his ident.i.ty. "Where's the rest of 'em?" he shouted again, running around the bend in hot search. "Come out and fight, you cowards!" they heard him cry, and straightway the outlaw and the guardian of the law clung to each other for support as they cried with joy.

As Bill hurried back to the field of carnage one of his victims was mechanically striving to gain his hands and knees, to go down in a quivering heap by a blow from the insane victor. As Bill drew back his foot to finish his work, Shields broke from his companion and leaped forward just in time to hurl Bill back several steps. "D----n you!"

he cried, standing over the prostrate figure, "If you hit another man while he's down I'll trim you right! Cool down and get some sense before I punch it into you!"

The Orphan, leaning limply against the bank of the defile, was making foolish motions with his hands, which still held the Colts, and was babbling idiotically, tears of laughter streaming down his face and dripping from his chin. His eyes were closed and he was bent over, rocking to and fro against the wall.

"Oh, Lord!" he sobbed senselessly. "Oh, Lord, oh, Lord! Let me die in peace! Take him away, take him away! Let me die in peace!"

"I'm a fine sight to hit Sagetown, ain't I?" yelled Bill, keeping keen watch on the four prostrate punchers. "They'll think I was licked!

They'll point to my face and head and swear that some papoose kicked the stuffing outen me! That's what they'll do! But I'll show them, all right! I'll just take my game with me and prove that I am the best man, that's what I'll do! I'll pile 'em in the coach and lug 'em with me!"

grabbing, as he finished, one of the men by the foot and dragging him toward the stage. It took The Orphan and Shields several strenuous minutes to dissuade him from his purpose. Shields placed his fingers on the bones of Bill's hand in a peculiar grip, and the driver loosened his hold without loss of time.

"You go back to town and get fixed up," ordered the sheriff. "I'll take your team out of this and turn them around, and then come back for you.

Charley can make the trip if you can't. I would do it myself, only I've got to tell Sneed that he's shy four more men."

"I'll turn 'em around myself--I ain't hurt," a.s.serted Bill with decision.

"And when I get patched up I'll make the trip, Pop Westley or no Pop Westley. And I'll lick the whole blamed town, too, if they get fresh about my face! I'm a fighter from Fightersville, I am! I'm a man-eating bad-man, I am! I can lick anything that ever walked on hind legs, I can!"

and he glared as if anxious to prove his words.

After the cowboys regained consciousness and got so they could stand, the sheriff lined them up with their backs to the wall and gave them the guns which The Orphan had obtained for him. The outlaw held them covered while the sheriff told them what they were, and he wound up his lecture with instructions and a warning.

"Get out of this country and don't never come back!" he told them. "I don't care where you go, so long as you go right now. If you even show your faces in these parts again I'll shoot first and talk after."

"Same here!" endorsed The Orphan, frowning down his desire to laugh at the wrecks in front of him.

"I'll kill you next time!" shouted Bill, prancing uneasily.

"The cayuses are yours," continued the sheriff. "I'll settle with Sneed if he has the gall to ask about them. Now git!"

Tex stared first at the sheriff and then at The Orphan and Bill as if doubting his ears. He was ten years nearer the grave than he had been before The Orphan had interrupted his counting. In less than half an hour he had gone through h.e.l.l, and now he suddenly burst into tears from the reaction and staggered to his horse, which he finally managed to mount, a nervous wreck. "Oh, G.o.d!" he moaned, "Oh, G.o.d!"

The others stared at him in amazement until he had turned the bend, and then his companions slowly followed him and were lost to sight.

"D----n near dead from fright!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the sheriff. "I never saw anybody go to pieces so bad!"

"He sh.o.r.e lost his nerve all right, all right," responded The Orphan.

Then he turned to where Bill stood looking after them: "Bill, you're all right--you can fight like h--l!"

Bill slowly turned and grinned through the blood: "Oh, that wasn't nothing--you should oughter see me when I get real mad!"

Two men rode side by side after a lurching coach on their way toward the Limping Water, both buried in thought at what the driver had told them.

As they emerged from the defile and left the Backbone behind, the elder looked keenly, almost affectionately, at his companion and placed a kindly hand on the shoulder of the man who had turned the balance, breaking the long silence.

"Son, why don't you get a job punching cows, or something, and quit your d----d foolishness?" he bluntly asked.