it was just such a night as you would take if you wanted to go a-fishing. the moon shone down on us through a thick haze, such as we had seen many a night since our arrival on the prairie, and every little sound that broke the stillness could be heard a long way off. we could distinctly hear the rangers talking, and their camp was on the other side of trinity. everything that approached us on the plains—even the cattle, which, having had a rest after their drink, were beginning to crop the grass—loomed up on us to twice its natural size, and everything betokened rain; but we had seen so many such nights as that in texas that we never gave it a moment’s thought. we walked our horses until we could no longer hear the rangers talking, and then put them to a little faster gait.
[140]
“i can’t get over the way that man henderson has acted,” said tom. “it seems to me that you ought to have told somebody of it.”
“how many men did you ever see killed in a fair, stand-up fight?” i asked.
“none, i am glad to say.”
“i have, and that’s the reason i didn’t tell anybody what i saw. henderson wouldn’t have been alive now.”
“i guess, after all, you did for the best,” added tom; “but i would have been too mad to take a second thought. how do you suppose henderson knew that his brother was with this outfit?”
i replied that he didn’t know it at all. he was only a speculator, and when the rangers were ordered out to preserve the peace he came out with them, to see if he could find something that was worth buying.
“and if we don’t find the will he’s got a fine lot now,” i said. “just think of the eight or nine thousand head of cattle he got from mr. davenport. now that he has got them here he can sell them for five dollars a[141] head, easy enough. that will be more than enough to put him on his feet.”
“but i tell you that will is going to spoil his kettle of fish!” answered tom, as confidently as though he had the document in his pocket. “you will see that we will have it in our hands when we come back this way.”
i wished then that i felt as confident of it as tom did, but somehow i saw too many difficulties in the way. in the first place, there was henderson, who wouldn’t believe that that pocket-book was the only one mr. davenport had, and would be equally certain to send someone to the ranch to look for it. and if he found it, i wasn’t sure that we could get it away from him. when a man pulls a loaded gun on you and tells you to stand where you are, you had better stand. then, again, there was the invalid, with all his eccentricities of hiding things where no one would ever think of looking for them; in fact, i didn’t believe he could have found it himself if he had been going to the ranch with us. taking these two things into consideration, i thought we had undertaken[142] something of a scheme. but i said nothing about it, for i did not want to discourage tom. everything depended on him.
for hours we rode along, talking over matters and things that had fallen to our lot in texas, and were beginning to look around for a belt of post oaks, in which we could camp for the day, when tom, who was going on ahead, suddenly stopped and held up his finger. i had heard the same sound, but didn’t think it best to speak of it. presently it came again, faint and far off, but there was no mistaking it.
“it is thunder, as sure as i am a foot high,” said tom, his face brightening as if he had just discovered something.
“it is, for a fact! i heard it long ago, but you were so busy talking that you didn’t notice it,” i replied. “i really believe it is going to rain.”
“grant that it may be a deluge. i will gladly swim from here to the ranch if they will only send water enough. there is some timber straight ahead, and the sooner we reach it the sooner we will be safe.”
[143]
it did look like rain, sure enough, and even our horses felt the coming breeze and were not disposed to wait for the spur. one would have thought there was a regiment of cavalry camped in the woods toward which we were hastening, for the animals neighed to each other as fast as they could take breath. the sky became overcast, after a while the moon was completely shut out from our view, and then everything was as dark as one could wish; but we were already headed for the timber and did not care for that. at last we were fairly inside the protecting branches, and then the storm came. what a deluge it was! it wasn’t a “norther,” such as we would have expected a month or two later, but a regular downpour of rain, and the lightning flashed incessantly. whatever it may have been for us—and we were as wet as drowned rats before we had staked out our horses—we knew it was the life of half our cattle in the drive. we whistled and sang as we took our saddles off our horses and put them on the leeward side of the trees so that we could keep out of the storm, and all the while it was[144] so dark that we couldn’t see each other. let some of you who haven’t seen a drop of rain for sixteen months, and the streams were all dry, and you had to carry your water from a distance, imagine how good it seemed to us. every time the lightning flashed with unwonted fury, and it seemed to us that one or the other of us had been struck, i would call out as soon as i could make myself heard: “tom, are you there yet?” and the answer that came back was always a cheering one: “yes, i’m here yet. a man who was born to be hanged can’t be struck by lightning.”
to make a long story short the storm continued all that day and never let up a bit; and tom and i slept through it all. we picked out a comfortable position on the side of the trees opposite the storm, and wrapping up head and ears in blankets, went off into the land of dreams. when we awoke the storm had passed and the moon was just coming up, and our first thought was to get something to eat; for it had rained so hard all day that any attempt to start a fire would have been useless. overjoyed as we were to see the[145] rain, we still had sense enough to take care of our provisions. tom had the salt stowed away inside of his coat so that the water could not get at it, and the meal i had provided for. i had taken the bag that contained it in between my knees and covered it over with my blanket, and although the outside of the meal was wet, the inside of it was perfectly dry.
“remember, now, that you are to get three meals in one,” said tom, handing out the salt and going out to attend to the horses which, having eaten all the boughs within reach, now showed a disposition to get at the grass. “i am as hungry as a wolf.”
it took an hour to get supper, and we did full justice to it. by that time the horses had got their fill of the grass, and i never saw them act so much like themselves as they did when we brought them in to put the saddles on them. they acted as though they were impatient to be off.
“now we are fairly afloat again,” said tom, after we had ridden out on the prairie and put our horses into a gentle lope. “i[146] wonder if that man henderson has missed us yet?”
“you may be sure he has,” i replied. “and if he doesn’t send somebody to head us off or come himself, i shall miss my guess. we mustn’t think we are going to have this all our own way.”
“oh, i don’t!” said tom hastily. “but let me get the first pull at it and i’ll find that pocket-book. my luck never went back on me yet.”
i had not been long on the plains before i became really amazed at the sight that was presented to me. one, to have been with us, would have thought that we had purposely left a good portion of our herd behind, a prey for the wolves, for as far as our eyes could reach we saw cattle that had been abandoned by us as unfit to go farther, deliberately engaged in cropping the grass. the rain had revived them and they were doing what they could to save themselves. there must have been a thousand head within the range of our vision, and i knew that the cattlemen would soon be out after them. i[147] expressed this hope to tom and was surprised to find that he did not agree with me.
“you hope the cattlemen will come out after them?” said he, looking amazed. “well, i don’t! the men will be certain to see us——”
“they won’t be out for a day or two, and consequently we’ll be beyond their reach,” i answered. “i am not afraid of the cattlemen. it is that henderson that i am afraid of.”
we were eight days on the road, and all the time our horses showed signs of increased vigor, and at last we came across some things which tom remembered; and finally the whitewashed walls of the ranch came into view. then tom began to look sober. it was easy enough to talk about finding the pocket-book, but to find it was a different thing. we approached the ranch with fear and trembling because we didn’t know who had been there since we left, but we found everything just as it ought to be. we thought it necessary to stake out our horses because the rain had started the grass so[148] much that they would have strayed off before we had left them an hour.
“now, tom,” said i, as i drove the picket-pin into the ground and picked up my rifle and put it on the porch, so as to have it handy, “come on and show us your luck. your luck never went back on you yet, and this is the time to prove it. yes, sir; everything is just as we left it,” i added, as i pushed open the door. “there has nobody been here.”
tom placed his rifle in one corner of the cabin and walked over to mr. davenport’s bed as confidently as though he already felt the pocket-book in his grasp, picked up the clothing one by one and shook them out, placing the articles carefully on the floor, so that he wouldn’t have to look at them again, and i sat down in the invalid’s rocking chair and watched his movements. but not a thing happened to come out. at last he came to the mattress, but here, too, his luck was at fault. slowly and by handfuls he took out the hay with which the mattress had been stuffed, but not a thing in the shape of a[149] pocket-book did he find. then he removed the wooden slats that held the bed up and cautiously scrutinized every opening, and even looked under the bed itself, but it was all in vain. whatever else the invalid did with his property, he certainly hadn’t hid it about where he lay.
the search for the missing pocket-book.
“i declare, my luck has played me false for once in my life,” said tom, seating himself on the bed and giving up with blank despair. “i was sure that pocket-book was hidden somewhere about his bed.”
“well, then, i must take a hand,” said i, pulling over one of the other beds. “here are plenty of others to be examined. let’s pull them all to pieces.”
tom went to work once more, but i knew we were on the wrong scent. we pulled all the beds to pieces, and then i got a chair and devoted myself to the rafters, especially all around the house where they came down to the wall, and tom got a sharp stick somewhere and pried up the stones there were in the fireplace, but not a thing did we find. we spent at least an hour on the inside of the[150] ranch, and then, utterly discouraged, we went out on the porch and i pulled out my pipe.
“my luck has gone back on me, too,” said i. “where do you suppose mr. davenport hid that thing?”
“i don’t believe he could tell himself if he were alive,” answered tom. “he must have felt very bad when he hid it, for he took the wrong pocket-book. do you imagine he hid it under the house?”
“i don’t know. we might as well look everywhere, now that we are here. there is one thing about it,” i added, “he didn’t know but he had the right one at the time he fell from his horse. when he fell he put his hands on his pocket-book. who are those coming there?”
i did not need to point out the direction of the three men who were approaching, because they were in plain sight, and tom saw them readily enough. they were coming fast, too, as if they feared they might be too late. tom never changed his position, nor did he make an effort to pick up his rifle.
“it is somebody coming to look for the[151] pocket-book,” said he. “let them go on and see what sort of luck they will have. it wouldn’t surprise me if they went straight to it.”
“no, sir; they can’t do that!” said i hastily. “we have been to every spot in the ranch,—in the cupboard, the fireplace, the beds,—and i would like to see them haul out a thing the size of that pocket-book that we have missed. i declare, it is henderson and coyote bill. they’re there as big as life. now, where did henderson find coyote bill so quickly? that is what i should like to know.”
i was in something of a trap; i could see that plainly enough. if coyote bill should accuse me of treachery, there was only one thing he could do with me. they came up as swiftly as their horses could foot it, and i saw that one of them carried his revolver in his hand. we sat there on the porch and looked at them. coyote bill was the first one who spoke.
“morning,” said he cheerfully. “did you boys find it?”
[152]
“we found never the thing,” answered tom. “we stayed here in hopes that you would go straight to it. we have been in every place and it isn’t there.”
“well, you two can stand up and put your hands above your heads,” said the stranger. “we’ll begin the search by going through you first.”
“say, pete, you won’t find anything there,” interposed bill.
“i’m going through them to find out,” answered pete. “i am going to look in every nook and corner of the place before i go away. that pocket-book is here and we are going to have it.”
with one accord tom and i arose to our feet, extended our hands above our heads, and pete put up his revolver and proceeded to “sound” us very thoroughly. he felt in all our pockets, and run his hand over the seams of our clothing, to see if there was anything there to remind him of papers that had been stowed away.
“you needn’t be so particular,” said i. “we have been here about an hour before[153] you came, and we haven’t had time to stow away any papers. we wouldn’t be foolish enough to do that, anyway.”
“never you mind,” said pete. “i am going through you. some of you boys know where that pocket-book is, and i’m going to know too, before i get through with you.”
“holy moses! just look a-here!” said coyote bill, who just then entered the house. “if the pocket-book was in here those boys have got it, sure.”
“but i tell you we haven’t got it,” said i. “we are just as anxious to find it as you are.”
“are you going to give it up?” said pete, once more drawing out his revolver. “where is it?”
“you can shoot if you please, but i tell you that you won’t make anything by it,” i replied, looking him squarely in the eye. “that pocket-book is hidden where no one will ever find it.”
“do you know where it is?”
“no, i don’t! and that is the honest truth.”
“aw! pete, let him alone,” said bill.[154] he stood just on the threshold with his hands against his hips, but making no effort to continue the search we had begun. “he hasn’t got it. it isn’t here, and we might as well go under the house. have you boys looked up among the rafters?”
“yes; we have looked everywhere.”
i wasn’t as thoroughly cowed as some boys might have been, for i saw that coyote bill was disposed to be friendly toward me; so i had plenty of time to study the expression on henderson’s face. when he first rode up to the ranch it wore a determined look which said that he knew we had the object of which we were in search, and that he was bound to have it; but when he watched the results of pete’s examination, and stood in the door and witnessed the confusion that tom and i had made in the cabin, the expression of serious resolve he had on his countenance gave way to a look of intense and bitter rage. the ranch looked as bad as the wagon did when he got through with it. if he had been alone and held the power in his hands i wouldn’t have felt so much at my ease.
[155]
“well, you see it isn’t here, don’t you?” said coyote bill soothingly. “i don’t believe the old man had any other pocket-book, anyway.”
“that’s my opinion,” said pete. “if he had, where is it?”
this was enough to set henderson fairly to boiling, but he dared not show it.
“i say he did!” said he, striving hard to keep down his rising anger. “what made bob look so blue when the contents of this pocket-book were read? i tell you that the old man had another, and it is somewhere in this house.”
“i think he had another one, too,” i answered, wishing to keep on good terms with bill. although he didn’t say much, i could see that he was on the very point of using his revolver; and as i had seen something of that kind once or twice before, i did not care to see another. “he has got another pocket-book somewhere, but whether he took it in the wagon with him or left it here in the house, i don’t know.”
“where is it, then?” asked bill.
[156]
“that’s more’n i know.”
“i don’t like to take such a ride as this for nothing, and i am going under the house,” said bill. “come on, pete.”
“but aint you afraid to trust these boys here alone?” asked pete.
“no. i trusted one of them before i made any move; didn’t i, carlos?”
“yes, and he went back on you,” said henderson. “if he didn’t you would have got the pocket-book.”
“did you go back on me, carlos?”
“that’s a pretty question for a man to ask,” i answered, scowling savagely at henderson. “i knew you could shoot as well as anybody.”
“that’s what i knew, too. come on, pete! if henderson is afraid to trust them, he can stay here with them.”
but that was something henderson was not prepared to do. he wanted to be close to the men when they found that pocket-book, for there was so much in it that he was afraid to trust them alone with it; so when they moved off and crawled under the ranch, he[157] went with them. tom and i returned to our seats on the porch, saying never a word to each other, and for an hour listened to the movements of the men that were under the house. sometimes i was almost certain they had found it, but when they came out after their search was over, i told myself that the invalid had never hidden anything under there, for they were as dirty as they could well be. they were all mad, but coyote bill brightened up when he saw me.
“well, carlos, you think you won’t go with me?” said he.
“and steal cattle?” i exclaimed.
“well, that’s what some folks call it,” said bill, with a laugh.
“no, i think i will stay here and be honest. i find i can make a living better that way than i can by stealing. are you going to give up the search?”
“we might as well. there is no pocket-book here, or if there is it is hidden where no one will ever find it. so we may as well give it up and go down there to trinity.”
henderson was not yet satisfied. he had[158] given the under part of the house a good overhauling, had prodded every little mound of earth that looked as though it might recently have been thrown up, and now he was going to try the upper part. he had brought a stick with him, and with it he dug down in the fireplace until he went so far that the solid earth resisted his efforts, and all the while the men stood by watching him. after that he devoted his attention to the things we had taken off the beds, throwing them into one corner, and when the last handful of hay had been tossed aside he was obliged to confess that there was nothing there.
“are you satisfied now?” asked bill. “if you are, we are going.”
“that pocket-book is somewhere about this ranch, and i know it,” said henderson. “i don’t like to give it up.”
but all the same, when he saw his companions mounting their horses, in readiness to go away, he followed their example. they went away without saying a good word to us. tom settled back in his chair and crossed his legs, while i filled my pipe and looked at him.
