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22 - Hopalong Cassidy's Rustler Round-Up by Clarence Edward Mulford · Hopalong Cassidy's Rustler Round-Up

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  Speaker 1: Lee Smalley, Apelong Cassidy's Rustler round Up by Clarence Edward Malford,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty two, The Showdown. A fire burned briskly in
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  Speaker 1: front of mister Trendley's cabin that night, and several punchers
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  Speaker 1: sat around it, occupied in various ways. Two men leaned
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  Speaker 1: against the wall and sang softly of the joys of
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  Speaker 1: the trail and the range. One of them, Lefty Allen
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  Speaker 1: of the O bar O, sang in his sweet tenor,
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  Speaker 1: and other men gradually strolled up and seated themselves on
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  Speaker 1: the ground, where the fitful gleam of responsive pipes and
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  Speaker 1: cigarettes showed like fireflies. The songs followed one after another,
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  Speaker 1: first a lover's plea in soft Spanish, and then a
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  Speaker 1: rollicking tale of the cowtowns and men. Supper had long
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  Speaker 1: since been enjoyed, and all felt that life was indeed
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  Speaker 1: well worth living. A shadow loomed against the cabin wall,
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  Speaker 1: and a procession slowly made its way toward the open door.
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  Speaker 1: The leader hop Along disappeared within, and was followed by
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  Speaker 1: mister Trendley, bound and hobbled and tied to red the
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  Speaker 1: rear being brought up by Frenchie whose rifle lolled easily
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  Speaker 1: in the crotch of his elbow. The singing went on uninterrupted,
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  Speaker 1: and the hum of voices between the selections remained unchanged.
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  Speaker 1: Buck left the crowd around the fire and went into
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  Speaker 1: the cabin, where his voice was heard assenting to something.
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  Speaker 1: Hop Along emerged and took a seat at the fire,
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  Speaker 1: sending two punchers to take his place. He was joined
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  Speaker 1: by Frenchy and Red, the former very quiet in the
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  Speaker 1: center of a distant group were seven men who were
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  Speaker 1: not armed, their belts half full of cartridges supported empty holsters.
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  Speaker 1: They sat and talked to the men around them, swapping
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  Speaker 1: notes and experiences, and in several instances found former friends
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  Speaker 1: and acquaintances. These men were not bound and were apparently
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  Speaker 1: members of Buck's force. Then one of them broke down,
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  Speaker 1: but quickly regained his nerve and proposed a game of cards.
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  Speaker 1: A fire was started, and several games were immediately in progress.
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  Speaker 1: These seven men were to die at daybreak. As the
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  Speaker 1: night grew older, man after man rolled himself in his
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  Speaker 1: blanket and lay down where he sat, sinking off to
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  Speaker 1: sleep with a swiftness that bespoke tired muscles and weariness
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  Speaker 1: all through the night, however, there were twelve men on guard,
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  Speaker 1: of whom three were in the cabin. At daybreak, a
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  Speaker 1: shot from one of the guards awakened every man within hearing,
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  Speaker 1: and soon they romped and scampered down to the river's
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  Speaker 1: edge to indulge in the luxury of a morning plunge.
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  Speaker 1: After an hour's horse play, they trooped back to the
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  Speaker 1: cabin and soon had breakfast out of the way. Waffles,
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  Speaker 1: foreman of the o barrow, and u Bet Solmes strolled
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  Speaker 1: over to the seven unfortunates, who had just completed a
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  Speaker 1: choking breakfast, and nodded a hearty good morning. Then others
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  Speaker 1: came up and finally all moved off toward the river,
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  Speaker 1: crossing it, they disappeared into the grove, and all sounds
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  Speaker 1: of their advance grew into silence. Mister Trendley, escorted outside
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  Speaker 1: for the air, saw the procession as it became lost
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  Speaker 1: to sight in the brush. He sneered and asked for
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  Speaker 1: a smoke, which was granted. Then his guards were changed
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  Speaker 1: and the men began to straggle back from the grove.
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  Speaker 1: Mister Trendley, with his back to the cabin, scowled defiantly
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  Speaker 1: at the crowd that hemmed him in. The coolest, most
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  Speaker 1: damnable murderer in the West was not now going to
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  Speaker 1: beg for mercy. When he had taken up crime as
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  Speaker 1: a means of livelihood, he had decided added that if
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  Speaker 1: the price to be paid for his course was death,
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  Speaker 1: he would pay like a man. He glanced at the
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  Speaker 1: cottonwood grove, wherein were many ghastly secrets, and smiled. His
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  Speaker 1: hairless eyebrows looked like livid scars, and his lips quivered
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  Speaker 1: in scorn and anger. As he sneered at Buck. There
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  Speaker 1: was a movement in the crowd before him, and a
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  Speaker 1: pathway opened for Frenchy, who stepped forward, slowly and deliberately,
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  Speaker 1: as if on his way to some bar for a drink.
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  Speaker 1: There was something different about the man who had searched
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  Speaker 1: the staked plain with hop, long and red. He was
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  Speaker 1: not the same puncher who had arrived from Montana three
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  Speaker 1: weeks before. There was lacking a certain air of carelessness,
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  Speaker 1: and he chilled his friends, who looked upon him as
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  Speaker 1: if they had never really known him. He walked up
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  Speaker 1: to mister Trendley and gazed deeply into the evil eyes
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  Speaker 1: twenty years before frenchie McCallister had changed his identity from
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  Speaker 1: a happy, go lucky, devil may care cowpuncher and became
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  Speaker 1: a machine. The grief that had torn his soul was
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  Speaker 1: not of the kind which seeks its outlet in tears
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  Speaker 1: and wailing. It had turned and struck inward. And now
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  Speaker 1: his deliberate ferocity was icy and devilish. Only a glint
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  Speaker 1: in his eyes told of exultation, and his words were
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  Speaker 1: sharp and incisive. One could well imagine one heard the
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  Speaker 1: click of his teeth as they bit off the consonants.
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  Speaker 1: Every letter was clear cut, every syllable startling in its clearness.
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  Speaker 1: Twenty years and two months ago to day he began.
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  Speaker 1: You arrived at the ranch house of the double y
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  Speaker 1: up near the Montana, Wyoming line. Everything was quiet, except
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  Speaker 1: perhaps a woman's voice singing. You entered, and before you left,
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  Speaker 1: you pinned a note to that woman's dress. I found it,
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  Speaker 1: and it is jew The air of carelessness disappeared from
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  Speaker 1: the members of the crowd, and the silence became oppressive.
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  Speaker 1: Most of those present new parts of Frenchy's story, and
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  Speaker 1: all were in hearty accord with anything he might do.
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  Speaker 1: He reached within his vest and brought forth a deer
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  Speaker 1: skin bag. Opening it, he drew out a package of
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  Speaker 1: oiled silk, and from that he took a paper. Carefully
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  Speaker 1: replacing the silk and the bag, he slowly unfolded the
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  Speaker 1: sheet in his hand and handed it to Buck, whose
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  Speaker 1: face hardened. Two decades had passed since the foreman of
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  Speaker 1: the bar twenty had seen that precious sheet, but the
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  Speaker 1: scene of its finding would never fade from his memory.
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  Speaker 1: He stood as if carved from stone, with a look
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  Speaker 1: on his face that made the crowd shift uneasily and
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  Speaker 1: glance at Treendly French. He turned to the rustler and
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  Speaker 1: regarded him evily, you are the ellish brute that wrote
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  Speaker 1: that note, pointing to the paper in the hand of
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  Speaker 1: his friend. Then turning again, he spoke Buck read that paper.
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  Speaker 1: The foreman cleared his throat and read distinctly, mc allister,
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  Speaker 1: your wife is too blame good to live trendly. There
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  Speaker 1: was a shuffling sound, but Buck and Frenchy silently backed
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  Speaker 1: up by hop Long and Red intervened, and the crowd
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  Speaker 1: fell back where it surged in indecision. Gentlemen said Frenchy,
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  Speaker 1: I want you to vote on whether any man here
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  Speaker 1: has more right to do with slippery treendly as he
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  Speaker 1: sees fit than myself. Any One who thinks so, or
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  Speaker 1: that he should be treated like the others stepped forward.
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  Speaker 1: Majority rules, There was no advance, and he spoke again,
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  Speaker 1: is there any one here who objects to this man?
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  Speaker 1: Dying hop along in red? Awkwardly bumped their knuckles against
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  Speaker 1: their guns, and there was no response. The prisoner was
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  Speaker 1: bound with cowhide to the wall of the cabin, and
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  Speaker 1: four men sat near and facing him. The noonday meal
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  Speaker 1: was eaten in silence, and the punchers rode off to
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  Speaker 1: see about rounding up the cattle that grazed over the
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  Speaker 1: plain as far as any eye could see. Supper time
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  Speaker 1: came and passed, and busy men rode away in all directions.
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  Speaker 1: Others came and relieved the guards, and at midnight another
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  Speaker 1: squad took up the vigil. Day broke, and the thunder
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  Speaker 1: of hoofs as the punchers rounded up the cattle became
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  Speaker 1: very noticeable. One herd swept past toward the south, guarded
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  Speaker 1: and guided by fifteen men, two hours later, and another followed,
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  Speaker 1: taking a slightly different trail so as to avoid the
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  Speaker 1: close cropped grass left by the first irregular intervals during
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  Speaker 1: the day, other herds swept by until six had passed
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  Speaker 1: and denuded the plane of cattle. Buck, perspiring and Dusty,
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  Speaker 1: accompanied by hop Along and Red, rode up to where
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  Speaker 1: the guards smoked and joked. Frenchy came out of the
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  Speaker 1: cabin and smiled at his friends. Swinging in his left
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  Speaker 1: hand was a newly filled Colt forty five, which was
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  Speaker 1: recognized by his friends as the one found in the cabin,
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  Speaker 1: and it bore a rough tea gouged in the butt.
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  Speaker 1: Buck looked around and cleared his throat. We've got the
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  Speaker 1: cows on the home trail, Frenchy, he suggested, Yes, inquired Frenchie.
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  Speaker 1: Are there many? Yes, replied Buck, waving his hand at
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  Speaker 1: the guards, ordering them to follow their friends. It's a
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  Speaker 1: good deal for us. We've done right smart this hand,
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  Speaker 1: and it's a good thing. We've got so many punchers.
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  Speaker 1: We got a lot of cattle to draw, about five
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  Speaker 1: times the size of the herd. That blame near made
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  Speaker 1: angels out in me. And you, responded Frenchie with a smile.
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  Speaker 1: I hope, almighty hard that we don't have no stampedes
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  Speaker 1: on this here drive. If the last herds go wild,
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  Speaker 1: they'll pick up the others. Then then there'll be the
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  Speaker 1: devil to pay. Frenchie smiled again and shot a glance
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  Speaker 1: at where mister Trendley was bound to the cabin wall.
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  Speaker 1: Buck looked steadily southward for some time, and then flecked
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  Speaker 1: the foam sud from the flank of his horse. We
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  Speaker 1: are going south along the creek until we gets to
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  Speaker 1: Big Spring, where we'll turn right smart to the west.
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  Speaker 1: We won't be able to average more'n twelve miles a day,
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  Speaker 1: though I'm going to drive them hard. How's your grub
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  Speaker 1: grub to burn? Got your rope? Asked the foreman of
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  Speaker 1: the bar twenty, speaking as if the question had no
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  Speaker 1: special meaning. Frenchie smiled yes, hop along absent mindedly jabbed
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  Speaker 1: his spurs into his mount, with the result that when
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  Speaker 1: the storm had subsided, the spell was broken. And he
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  Speaker 1: said so long and rode south, followed by Buck and Red.
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  Speaker 1: As they swept out of sight behind a grove, Red
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  Speaker 1: turned in his saddle and waved his hat. Buck discussed
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  Speaker 1: with assiduity the prospects of a rainfall, and was very
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  Speaker 1: cheerful about the recovery of the stolen cattle red could
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  Speaker 1: see a tall, broad shouldered man standing with his feet
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  Speaker 1: spread far apart, swinging a colt forty five, and hop
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  Speaker 1: along swore at everything under the sun. Dust arose in
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  Speaker 1: steaming clouds far to the south, and they spurred forward
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  Speaker 1: to overtake the outfits. Buck Peters, riding over the Starlit Plain,
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  Speaker 1: in his desire to reach the first herd, which slept
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  Speaker 1: somewhere to the west of him, under the care of Waffles,
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  Speaker 1: thought of the events of the past few weeks, and
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  Speaker 1: gradually became lost in the memories of twenty years before,
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  Speaker 1: which crowded up before his mind like the notes of
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  Speaker 1: a half forgotten song. His nature, tempered by two decades
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  Speaker 1: of a harsh existence, softened as he lived again the
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  Speaker 1: years that had passed, and as he thought of the
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  Speaker 1: things which had been. He was so completely lost in
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  Speaker 1: his reverie that he failed to hear the muffled hoof
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  Speaker 1: beats of a horse that steadily gained upon him, And
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  Speaker 1: when Frenchie mc allister placed a friendly hand on his shoulder,
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  Speaker 1: he started, as if from a deep sleep. The two
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  Speaker 1: looked at each other, and their hands met the question
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  Speaker 1: which sprang into Buck's eyes found a silent answer in
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  Speaker 1: those of his friend. They rode on side by side
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  Speaker 1: through the clear night, and together drifted back to the
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  Speaker 1: days of the double Why after an hour had passed
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  Speaker 1: the foreman of the bar twenty he turned to his
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  Speaker 1: companion and then hesitated, Did did was he? A cur
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  Speaker 1: Frenchie looked off toward the south, and, after an interval,
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  Speaker 1: replied he asked. Then, as an afterthought, he added, you see,
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  Speaker 1: he never reckoned it would be that way. Buck nodded,
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  Speaker 1: although he did not fully understand, and the subject was
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  Speaker 1: forever closed. End of chapter twenty two.