The Bandit of Hell's Bend by Edgar Rice Burroughs (ebook reader web .txt) 📕

“Yo-all’s undeh arrest, jes the same, right now,” cried Gum Smith, “an Ah warns yo to come along peacable-like with me.”

“Now I’m comin’ to you, Gum,” said Bull. “You better beat it, Gum. You ain’t wuth shootin’, with cartridges the price they be,” he continued. “Gregorio had told me the whole story. He’s goin’ straight now an’ wants to square himself. He’s writ out an’ signed a confession thet’s goin’ to make this climate bad fer your rheumatism.”

“Gregorio’s a dirty, lyin’ greaser,” screamed

Gum. “They won’t no one bulieve him neither. They ain’t no one got. the goods on me.”

“No,” said Bull, “but you have. Nearly every ounce of thet gold-except what you an’ Colby spent an’ what little you giv Gregorio’s buried underneath the floor of the back room o’ your saloon, an’ me an’ Pete an’ Shorty’s right here to see thet no hombre don’t git it what don’t belong to it.”

Gum Smith paled. “‘Tain’t so! It’s a damn lie”’

“Thet’s the second time I ben called a liar in five minutes,” said Bull. “I ain’t did nothin’ ‘cause they’s ladies present, but I’m goin’ to send ‘em outen the room in a minute an’ then we’ll talk about thet-ef you’re still here. I’d advise you not to be, though. Wainright, I seen your buckboard tied out in front here. By crowdin’ it’ll hold five—meanin’ you, thet ornery lookin’ dude son o’ yourn, Corson, Miss Manill an’ Gum. You all be in it an’ hittin’ the trail north fer tother side o’ the hill inside o’ five minutes or me an’ the boys is goin’ to start shootin’, On the way, Wainright, you an’ Corson kin settle thet little matter o’ the hundred an’ twentyfive thousand. Ef you kin git it back from him ‘tain’t nothin’ to me, but ef you don’t you deserve to lose it, fer you’re jest as big a thief as he is, only not quite so bright in the head. Now git, an’ git damn pronto!” His voice had suddenly changed from mocking irony to grim earnestness. It was a savage voice that uttered the final command. Gum Smith was the first out of the room. He was followed by the others. “See ‘em to the edge of town, boys, an’ see that they don’t linger,” said Bull to Shorty an’ Texas Pete.

“Oh, mamma!” exclaimed Shorty. “Lead me to them funny pants!”

Bull turned to the attorney from Aldea. “I ain’t got no proof thet you were in on this deal,” he said; “so you kin wait an’ go in on the stage tomorrer.”

“Thanks,” said the attorney. “No, I thought it a perfectly legitimate transaction; but I am glad they called me down, for now perhaps I can transact some real business for some other clients of mine. I had not been aware that the Bar Y was for sale, or I had been over here before. I represent a large syndicate of eastern packers whom I know would be interested in this property, and if Miss Henders will make me a proposition I shall be glad to transmit it to them-you will find them very different people to deal with than these others seem to have been.”

“I thank you,” said Diana, “but the Bar Y is not for sale. We are going to run the ranch together, aren’t we, Bull?”

“You bet we are,” he replied.

Mary Donovan burst from an inner room at the moment. “Bliss me heart!” she exclaimed. “An’ I niver knew you was here ‘til this very minute, an’ I heard what yese jest said, Diana Henders, an’ I’m not after bein’ such a fool that I don’t know what yese means. It makes me happy, God bless ye! I must be after runnin’ in an’ tellin’ me ould man-he’ll be that glad, he will.”

“Your old man!” exclaimed Diana.

“Sure now,” said Mary Donovan, blushing, “didn’t yese know ‘at me and Bob was married the day before yesterday? Shure they had to shoot him before I c’d git him. He niver was much, an’ havin’ a bullet hole clean through him don’t make him no better, but thin he’s a man, an’ a poor one’s better than none at all.”