The Lone Star Ranger by Zane Grey (read e book .TXT) 📕

near the hip. There was something remarkable about a gunfighter’s hand. It never seemed to be gloved, never to be injured, never out of sight or in an awkward position.

There were grizzled outlaws in that group, some of whom had many notches on their gun-handles, and they, with their comrades, accorded Duane silence that carried conviction of the regard in which he was held.

Duane could not recall any other instance where he had let fall a familiar speech to these men, and certainly he had never before hinted of his possibilities. He saw instantly that he could not have done better.

“Orful hot, ain’t it?” remarked Bill Black, presently. Bill could not keep quiet for long. He was a typical Texas desperado, had never been anything else. He was stoop-shouldered and bow-legged from much riding; a wiry little man, all muscle, with a square head, a hard face partly black from scrubby beard and red from sun, and a bright, roving, cruel eye. His shirt was open at the neck, showing a grizzled breast.

“Is there any guy in this heah outfit sport enough to go swimmin’?” he asked.

“My Gawd, Bill, you ain’t agoin’ to wash!” exclaimed a comrade.

This raised a laugh in which Black joined. But no one seemed eager to join him in a bath.

“Laziest outfit I ever rustled with,” went on Bill, discontentedly. “Nuthin’ to do! Say, if nobody wants to swim maybe some of you’ll gamble?”

He produced a dirty pack of cards and waved them at the motionless crowd.

“Bill, you’re too good at cards,” replied a lanky outlaw.

“Now, Jasper, you say thet powerful sweet, an’ you look sweet, er I might take it to heart,” replied Black, with a sudden change of tone.

Here it was again—that upflashing passion. What Jasper saw fit to reply would mollify the outlaw or it would not. There was an even balance.

“No offense, Bill,” said Jasper, placidly, without moving.

Bill grunted and forgot Jasper. But he seemed restless and dissatisfied. Duane knew him to be an inveterate gambler. And as Benson’s place was out of running-order, Black was like a fish on dry land.

“Wal, if you-all are afraid of the cairds, what will you bet on?” he asked, in disgust.

“Bill, I’ll play you a game of mumbly peg fer two bits.” replied one.

Black eagerly accepted. Betting to him was a serious matter. The game obsessed him, not the stakes. He entered into the mumbly peg contest with a thoughtful mien and a corded brow. He won. Other comrades tried their luck with him and lost. Finally, when Bill had exhausted their supply of two-bit pieces or their desire for that particular game, he offered to bet on anything.

“See thet turtle-dove there?” he said, pointing. “I’ll bet he’ll scare at one stone or he won’t. Five pesos he’ll fly or he won’t fly when some one chucks a stone. Who’ll take me up?”

That appeared to be more than the gambling spirit of several outlaws could withstand.

“Take thet. Easy money,” said one.

“Who’s goin’ to chuck the stone?” asked another.

“Anybody,” replied Bill.

“Wal, I’ll bet you I can scare him with one stone,” said the first outlaw.

“We’re in on thet, Jim to fire the darnick,” chimed in the others.

The money was put up, the stone thrown. The turtle-dove took flight, to the great joy of all the outlaws except Bill.

“I’ll bet you-all he’ll come back to thet tree inside of five minnits,” he offered, imperturbably.

Hereupon the outlaws did not show any laziness in their alacrity to cover Bill’s money as it lay on the grass. Somebody had a watch, and they all sat down, dividing attention between the timepiece and the tree. The minutes dragged by to the accompaniment of various jocular remarks anent a fool and his money. When four and three-quarter minutes had passed a turtle-dove alighted in the cottonwood. Then ensued an impressive silence while Bill calmly pocketed the fifty dollars.

“But it hadn’t the same dove!” exclaimed one outlaw, excitedly. “This ‘n’is smaller, dustier, not so purple.”

Bill eyed the speaker loftily.

“Wal, you’ll have to ketch the other one to prove thet. Sabe, pard? Now I’ll bet any gent heah the fifty I won thet I can scare thet dove with one stone.”

No one offered to take his wager.

“Wal, then, I’ll bet any of you even money thet you CAN’T scare him with one stone.”

Not proof against this chance, the outlaws made up a purse, in no wise disconcerted by Bill’s contemptuous allusions to their banding together. The stone was thrown. The dove did not fly. Thereafter, in regard to that bird, Bill was unable to coax or scorn his comrades into any kind of wager.

He tried them with a multiplicity of offers, and in vain. Then he appeared at a loss for some unusual and seductive wager. Presently a little ragged Mexican boy came along the river trail, a particularly starved and poor-looking little fellow. Bill called to him and gave him a handful of silver coins. Speechless, dazed, he went his way hugging the money.

“I’ll bet he drops some before he gits to the road,” declared Bill. “I’ll bet he runs. Hurry, you fourflush gamblers.”

Bill failed to interest any of his companions, and forthwith became sullen and silent. Strangely his good humor departed in spite of the fact that he had won considerable.

Duane, watching the disgruntled outlaw, marveled at him and wondered what was in his mind. These men were more variable than children, as unstable as water, as dangerous as dynamite.

“Bill, I’ll bet you ten you can’t spill whatever’s in the bucket thet peon’s packin’,” said the outlaw called Jim.

Black’s head came up with the action of a hawk about to swoop.

Duane glanced from Black to the road, where he saw a crippled peon carrying a tin bucket toward the river. This peon was a half-witted Indian who lived in a shack and did odd jobs for the Mexicans. Duane had met him often.

“Jim, I’ll take you up,” replied Black.

Something, perhaps a harshness in his voice, caused Duane to whirl. He caught a leaping gleam in the outlaw’s eye.

“Aw, Bill, thet’s too fur a shot,” said Jasper, as Black rested an elbow on his knee and sighted over the long, heavy Colt. The distance to the peon was about fifty paces, too far for even the most expert shot to hit a moving object so small as a bucket.

Duane, marvelously keen in the alignment of sights, was positive that Black held too high. Another look at the hard face, now tense and dark with blood, confirmed Duane’s suspicion that the outlaw was not aiming at the bucket at all. Duane leaped and struck the leveled gun out of his hand. Another outlaw picked it up.

Black fell back astounded. Deprived of his weapon, he did not seem the same man, or else he was cowed by Duane’s significant and formidable front. Sullenly he turned away without even asking for his gun.