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"There's coffee," Val said, "but I haven't enough grub for you all."
"Never you mind," Cody said, "I'll geta bait from the wagon."
The old man turned toward the wagon and called out, "All right, Dube, you can
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come out now."
Another tall boy got down from the wagon and walked toward them, grinning.
Val was annoyed with himself. He had been a fool to gamble, and they had
acted wisely, keeping their ace in the hole hidden until sure of him. "Is that
all of you?" he asked. "Or do you still have another rifleman somewhere?"
The old man smiled, his eyes twinkling. "Matter of fact,Boston 's out yonder
checkin' your sign to see if more than one of you came in."
Then Val saw the dog, a big rough-haired one, partairedale and part mastiff,
or Great Dane perhaps. He was not unfriendly, but watchful.
Bostonwalked into the firelight then, and this was another beautiful girl,
younger than Betsy.
"You'll have to watch your step, young feller," Pa Bucklin said. "These here
girls ain't seen a likely young man since they left home. You'll be lucky if
you get away without them catchin' onto you."
"Pa!"Western said indignantly. "What will he think of us?"
"Just a-warnin' of him, same's I would if I seen a rattler. An' he'll need
it, won't he, boys?"
"Gals do beat all when it comes to takin' after a man," Cody said dryly.
"Not," he added "that they ain't good gals. I wouldn't have you get any wrong
ideas about 'em."
One of the boys took his rifle and moved out into the darkness, and the girls
began putting on some food. "You set up, son," Bucklin said. "These girls cook
up mighty able vittles, and no matter how much youet , they'll git you to have
more."
Val did sit up, and the food was all Pa Bucklin had said.
While they ate, the old man explained. "We're like the rest of 'em, son.
We're huntin' a fresh start in the western lands. We got nothin' but a little
grub, some good horses, a cow, and a lot of hands used to work, but we aim to
make good."
For the first time in many days, Val relaxed. They were pleasant, easy-going
people. They had come from the mountains inVirginia , and they were headed
west to try ranching. Pa Bucklin had been a horse trader, and occasionally had
driven stock to the eastern cities for sale. Cody and Dube had been west
before; they had hunted buffalo, and had taken part in two of the early cattle
drives.
"They tell me there's good land inColorado ," Pa Bucklin said. "Meand the
boys figured to git ourselves some while the gittin's good."
"Holding it is harder than getting it," Val said.
Tardy Bucklin smiled at him. "We get it, we hold it," he said, "don't you
worry your mind about that. We got to get cattle, too, and horses. We figured
to round up 'some wild horses to start off with. Cody says it can be done."
"Fact is," the old man said, "we got ourselves a claim staked out. We got
ourselves a place. Cody an' Dube, they scouted the country when they were
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buffalo huntin', and they found us a spring with a good flow of water. We're
a-headin' for it now."
"Mind if I ride along?" said Val. "Might lend a hand in case of Indians."
"Welcome," Pa Bucklin said, and that began it.
For three slow days they traveled down-country, three wonderful days. The
Bucklins were good-humored and hard-working. Val did his part of the work, and
tried to do a little more, and in the meanwhile he was thinking.
"This water hole now," he said. "Is it just sitting there?"
"It's Comanche country," Duhe said, "and not many will hanker for it, but we
built ourselves a soddy and Uncle Joe stayed on to sort of see after it."
They rode up to the springs on the late afternoon of an overcast day.Dust
devils were stirring among the short grass, and worrying the trees around the
spring a small but sturdy grove of cottonwoods and willows. Cody and Dube
started ahead to scout the layout. Val swung alongside them.
"Uncle Joe, now," Dube said. "He should be expectin' of us, I reckon."
There was no sign of smoke, no sound of axe. They spread out a little and,
rifles in hand, rode closer. Then they saw the body, a dark patch on the slope
of the hill, away from the trees.
Cody swung wide, circled warily, and approached the body. Then he rode back
to them quickly, his face white with anger. "It's Uncle Joe. He was shot,
drug, an' left to die."
They closed in swiftly on thesoddy . It was a low but solidly built sod house
with a pole corral next to it. As they approached the door they could see a
sign on the door.
THIS LAND CLAIMED BY DIAMOND BAR. STAY OFF!!
"Well," Dube spat. "He might have talked us out of it, but he began the
shootin'."
"Maybe your uncle shot first," Val suggested mildly.
"Uncle Joe? Not him. He was half blind. He couldn't see well enough to shoot
at anything that wasn't close up to him, and he didn't hold with shootin',
unless set upon."
"His rifle is gone," Cody said.
"We'll know the rifle," Dube said. "One time or another we'll come upon it."
The sod house was empty, but it had been rifled, the food thrown in the dirt
for the wild animals and the ants to eat.
"You tell Pa, Dube. Val an' me, we'll sort of set tight."
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When Dube had gone, Cody said, "Pa will be upset. Uncle Joe was the only kin
of my mother, an' Pa andhim thought a lot of one another. I reckon we'll have
some huntin' to do."
"You may be outnumbered."
Cody turned cold eyes on Val. "No Bucklin is ever outnumbered, young feller."
The wagon rolled in, and the girls began to make the little house
comfortable. They slept in thesoddy , the men slept outside.
The next day they began work on enlarging the house. They also dug rifle pits
on the hills close around, and a man stayed on watch all the time. At night
there was another on watch the dog, a powerful beast, friendly as a puppy
among the family, but deep-voiced and ready to be fierce to anyone who
approached from the outside.
"We got to round us up some horses," Bucklin said the first day, "and hunt us
some meat."
"You ought to run cattle," Val suggested. "You can't sell many horses, except
to the Army, and the Indians will steal them."
"A body does what he can," Bucklin said grimly. "We got nothing but our milk
cow."
Val threw his saddle into place, cinched up, and stood staring at the rolling [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]