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13 - Bransford Of Rainbow Range by Eugene Manlove Rhodes · Bransford Of Rainbow Range

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The Siege of Double Mountain, Tomao Dinatos et Dona Ferantes,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: the Dictionary. Oo Ee Hello. As the curtain rose to
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: the flying echoes, Long stepped to the edge of the dump,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: frying pan in hand, and sent back an answering shout
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: in the startled high notes of a lonely man taken unawares. Hello.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: He brandished his hospitable pan. Then he put it down,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: cut his hands to mouth, and trumpeted a hearty welcome. Chalk.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Come up, supper's ready. Can't see any one go by?
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: About two hours ago? Eh, louder see a man on
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: a sorrow horse. No, I've been in the tunnel. Come up,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: can't We're after an outlaw? What after a murderer? Wait
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: a minute, I'll go down too hard to yell afar.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Mister Long started precipitately down the zigzag, but the riders
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: had got all the infant of interest that mister Long
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: could furnish, and they were eager to be in at
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: the death. Can't wait, he's inside the mountain somewheres. Some
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: of the boys are waiting for him. At the other end.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: They rode on. Mister Long posed for a statue of disappointment,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: hung on the steep trail, rather as if he might
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: conclude to coil himself into a ball and roll down
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: the hill to overtake them. Stop as you come back,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: he bellowed, And want to hear about it, did Jeff,
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: mister Long, did mister Long, and now attempt to escape.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Not so gifted with pre vision beyond most, mister Long's
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: mind misgave him that these young men would be baffled
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: in their pleasing expectations. They would be back before sundown.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: Very cross and a miner's brogan leaves a track not
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: to be missed. That mister Long was unfeignedly fatigued from
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: the varied efforts of the day need not be mentioned,
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: for that alone would have stayed his flight. But the
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: nearest water save Escondido was thirty five miles, and at
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Escondido he would be watched for. Not to say that,
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: when he was missed, some of the searching party would
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: straightway go to Escondido to frustrate him. Present escape was
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: not to be thought of. Instead, mister Long made a
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: hearty meal from the simple viands that had been in
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: course of preparation. When he was surprised, heaked out by
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: canned corn fried in bacon grease to a crisp golden brown. Then,
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: after a cigarette, he betook himself to sharpening tools with
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: laudable industry. The tools were already sharp, but that did
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: not stop mister Long. He built a fire in the forge,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: set up a step ladder of matched drills. In the
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: blackened water of the tempering tub, he thrust a gad
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: and one short drill into the fire. When the gad
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: was at a good cherry heat, he thrust it hissing
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: into the tub to bring the water to a convincing temperature,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: And when he reheated, he did it again. From time
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: to time he held the one drill to the anvil
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: and shaped it, drawing it alternately to a chisel bit
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: or a bowl bit. Mister Long could sharpen a drill
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: with any having been, in very truth a miner of sorts.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: He could toy thus with one drill without giving it
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: any very careful attention, And his thoughts were now busy
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: on how best to be mister Long Accordingly. From time
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: to time he added an artistic touch to mister Long.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: Grime under his finger nails, a smudge of smut on
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: an eyebrow his hands displeased him. After some experimenting to
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: get the proper heat of it, he grasped the partially
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: cooled gad with the drill pincers and held it very
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: lightly to a favored Few of those portions of the hand,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: known too chiromaniacs as the amounts of Jupiter, Saturn and
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: other extinct immortals. Satisfactory blisters while you wait were thus obtained.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: These were pricked with a pin. Some were torn to tatters,
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: with dust and coal rubbed in to give them a
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: venerable appearance. The pain was no light matter, but mister
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: Long had a real affection for mister Bransford's neck, and
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: it is trifles like these that make perfection. The next
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: expedient was even more heroic. Mister Long assiduously put stone
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: dust in one eye, leaving it tearful, bloodshot, and violently inflamed,
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: and the other one was sympathetically read pedat steel am
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: I eye, explained mister Long, unselfish devotion such as this
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: is all too rare. All this time, at proper intervals,
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: mister Long sharpened and re sharpened that one long suffering
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: drill he tripped into the tongue and smote a mighty
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: blow upon the country rock with a pick, therefore qualifying
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: that pick for re pointing, and laid it on the
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: forge as next on the list. What further outrage he
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: meditated is not known, For he now heard a horse
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: coming up the trail. He was beating out a merry
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: tattoo when a white headed head rose through a trap
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: door rose above the level of the dump. Rather hammer
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: in hand, Long straightened up joyfully as best he could,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: but could not straighten up the tell tale droop of
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: his shoulders. It was not altogether assumed either this hump.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: Jeff Mister Long had not done so much work of
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: this sort for years, and there was a very real
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: pain between his shoulder blades. Still. But for the exigencies
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: of art, he might have borne his neck less turtle
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: wise than he did. Hello got him. Whereship partner watching
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: the gap. The young man, rather breathless from the climb,
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: answered the last question first, as he led his horse
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: on the dump. No, we didn't get him, but he
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: can't get away. Hiding somewhere in the basin a foot
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: found his horse pretty well done up. The insolence of
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: the outlaw's letter smote him afresh. He reddened, no tracks
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: going out of the basin. Two of our friends guarding
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: the other end. They say he can't get out over
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: the cliffs anywhere. That's so, The speech came jerkily. He
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: was still shorter breath from his scramble, not without a
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: flying machine, said Long, No way out that I know
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: of except where the wagon road goes. What's he done? Robbery? Murder?
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: We'll see that he don't get out by the wagon road,
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: asserted the youth, confidently watched the gaps and starve him out. Oh,
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: speaking of starving, said Toby, go into the tent and
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: I'll bring some supper while you tell me about it.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: Baked up another batch of bread on the chance you
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: come back. Why, thank you very much, mister Long. To
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: be long, mister Long, my name is Gerden Steel, glad
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: to meet you. Why if you will be so kind,
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: That is what I came up to see you about.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: If you can let us have what we need, of
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: course we will pay you for it. Of course you
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: won't it had not needed the offer to place mister
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: Gurden Steel quite accurately. He was a handsome lad, fresh complexion,
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: dressed in the western manner, as practiced on the boardwalk.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: You're welcome to what I got, sure, but I ain't
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: got much variety. When the old liar said he was
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: coming out the twentieth dure enough, he didn't so the
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: grubs running low table in a tent. Come on, Oh no,
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: I couldn't you know, Wrex, that's my partner is quite
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: as hungry as I am. You see, but if you
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: could give me something, anything you have to take down there,
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: I really couldn't you know. The admirable doctrine of a
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: noblesse oblige, in its delicate application by this politeness, was
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: easier for its practitioner than to put it into words
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: suited to the comprehension of his hearers. He concluded lamely,
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: a I'll take it down there, and we will eat
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: it together. See here, said Toby, I'm as hungry to
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: hear about your outlow as you are to eat. I'll
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: just throw my bedding and a lot of chuck on
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: your saddle. We'll carry the coffee pot and frying pan
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: in our hands, and the sugar can and things like that.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: You can tank up and give me the news in
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: small chunks at the same time, afterward, two of us
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: can sleep while one stands card. This was done. It
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: was growing dark when they reached the bottom of the hill.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: The third guardsman had built a fire Wrex. This is
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: mister Long, who had been kind enough to grubstake us
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: and share our watch with us. Mister Steele, you have observed,
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: had accepted mister Long without question. But his first impression
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: of mister Long had been gained under circumstances highly favorable
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: to the designs of the latter gentleman. Mister Steele had
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: come upon him unexpectedly, finding him, as it were, in
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: media's race, with all his skillfully arranged scenery to aid
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: the illusion. The case was now otherwise. The thousand tongued
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: vouching of his background lacked to him. Mister Long had
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: not save his own unthinkable audacity to belie his face withal.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: From the first instant, mister Rex Griffith was the prey
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: of suspicion, acute, bigoted, churlish, deep, dark, distrustful, damnable, and
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: so on down to zealous. He had a sharp eye,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: he wore no pattise, and mister Long had a vaguely
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: uncomfortable memory, holding over from some previous incarnation of having
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: seen that long shrewd face in a court room. The
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: hosts on hospitable Right's intent. Likewise, all ears and eager
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: questionings was all unconscious of hostile surveillance. Nothing could be
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: more carefree, more at ease than his bearing. His pleasant
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: anticipatory excitement was the natural outlook for a lonely and
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: newsless man. As the heart panteth for the water, so
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: he thirsted for the story. But his impatient, hasty questions
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: following false sense delayed the telling of the Arcadian tale.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: So innocent was he, so open and above board, that Griffith,
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: watching alert, felt thoroughly ashamed of himself. Yet he watched
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: doubting still, though his reason rebelled at the monstrous imaginings
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: of his art. That the outlaw, unarmed and unasked, should
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: venture Shah such effrontery was inconceivable. He allowed Steele to
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: tell the story himself, contributed only an occasional grafty question
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: designed to enable his host to betray himself. Bransford interrupted,
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: mister Long, not Jeff Bransford, Up South Rainbow Way. That's
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: the man, said Steele. I don't believe it, said Long, flatly,
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: he was sipping coffee with his guests. He put his
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: cup down. I know him a little, He don't. Oh,
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: there's no doubt of it, interrupted Steele. In his turn,
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: he detailed the circumstances with skillful care. Besides, why did
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: he run away? Gee, you ought to have seen that escape?
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: It was splendid. Well, now, who'da thought that? Demanded long,
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: still only half convinced. He didn't strike me like that
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: kind of a man. Well, you never can tell. How
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: came you fellows to be chasing him, you see, said Steele.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: Every one was sure he'd gone up to Rainbow. The
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: sheriff and posse is up there now looking for him.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: But we for Stone and Harlow, the chaps at the
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: other end were with us. You know, we were up
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: at the foothills on a deer hunt. We were out
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: early sun up is the best time for deer, they
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: tell me, and we had a spyglass. Well, we just
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: happened to see a man ride out from between two
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: hills quite away. Off Stone noticed right away that he
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: was riding a sorrel horse. It was a sorrel horse
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: that Bransford stole. You know, we didn't suspect though who
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: it was till a bit later then Rex tried to
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: pick him up again and saw that he was going
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: out of his way to avoid the ridges, keeping cover,
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: you know. Then we caught on and took after him.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: Pell Mell had a big start, but he was riding
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: slowly so as not to make a dust, that is
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: till he saw our dust. Then he let out, you're
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: not deputies, then said long, Oh, no, not at all,
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: said Steele, secretly flattered. So Harlow and Stone galloped off
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: to town. The program was that they'd wired down to
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: Escondido to have horses ready for them, come down on
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: number six and head him off. They were not to
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: tell anyone in Arcadia there's five thousand dollars reward out
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: for him. But it isn't that exactly. It was a cowardly,
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: beastly murder, don't you know. And we thought it would
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: be rather a big thing if we could take him alone.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: You got him penned, all right, said Toby. He can't
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: get out so far as I know, unless he runs
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: over us or the men at the other end. By George,
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: we must get away from this fire too. He set
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: the example, dragging the bedding with him to the shelter
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: of a big rock. He could pick us off too
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: slick here in the light. How are you going to
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: get him? There's a heap of country in that basin,
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: all rough and broken, full of boulders. Mighty good cover.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: Starve him out, said Griffith. This was base deceit. Deep
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: in his heart he believed that the quarry sat aside him,
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: well fed and contented. Yet the unthinkable insolence of it.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: If this were indeed, Bransford dulled his belief long laughed
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: as he spread down the bed. He'll shoot a deer. Maybe,
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: if he had it all planned out, he may have
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: grub cashed in there somewhere. There's water tanks in the rocks. Hey,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: what are your partners at the other side going to
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: do for grub? Oh? They brought out cheese and crackers
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: and stuff, said Gerd. I'll tell you what, boys, you've
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: bet off morn you can jaw, said Jeff Toby. That is,
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: he can't get out without a fight. But then you
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: can't go in there to hunt for him without weakening
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: your guard. And he'd be under shelter and have all
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: the best of it. He'd shoot you so dead you'd
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: never know what happened. I don't want none of it.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: I'd as leef put on boxing gloves and crawl into
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: a hool after a bear. Look here, now, this is
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: your show, but I'm a heap older new boys know
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: what I think, certainly, said Rex, Gone the talk turkey
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: to me. An avaricious light came into Long's eyes. Of
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: course you're in on the reward, said rexgn diffidently and
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: rather stiffly. We're not in this for the money. I
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: can use the money, whatever share you want to give me,
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: said Long dryly. But if you take my advice, my
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: shares won't be but a little. I think you ought
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: to keep under shelter at the mouth of this canyon
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: one of you, and let the other one go to
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: Escondido and send for help. Quit and a lot of it.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: What's the matter with you going, asked Griffith, disingenuously. He
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: wanted Long to showe his hand. It would never do
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: to abandon the siege of Double Mountain to arrest this
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: suave des Saint Long on mere suspicion. On the other hand,
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: mister Rex Griffith had no idea of letting Long escape
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: his clutches until his identity was established one way or
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: the other beyond all question. That was why Long declined
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: the offer. His honest gaze shifted. Ain't much of a rider,
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: he said, evasively. Young Griffith read correctly the thought which
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: the excuse concealed. Evidently, Long considered himself an elder soldier,
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: if not a better than either of his two young guests,
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: but wished to spare their feelings by not letting them
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: find it out. Griffith found this plain solution inconsistent with
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: his homicidal theory. A murderer fleeing for his life would
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: have jumped at the chance. There are two sides to
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: every question. Let us this once prove both sides wholly.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: Oblivious to Griffith's link side watchfulness and his leading questions,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: mister Long yet recognized the futility of an attempt to
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: ride away on mister Griffith's horse. With mister Griffiths venison,
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: there we have the other point of view. We'll have
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: to send for Grubb anyway, pursued the sagacious mister Long.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: I've only got a little left, and that old liar
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: Gwen won't be out for four days. If he comes
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: then and er Look now, if I was you, boys,
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: I'd let the sheriff and his posse smoke your badge
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: or out they get paid to tend to that. That
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: looks to me like someone was going to get hurt.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: You've done enough. All this advice was so palpably sound
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: that the doubter was for the second staggered for a second.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: Only this was the man he had seen in the
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: prisoner stock. He was morally sure of it. For all
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: the difference of appearance, this was the man. Yet those blasts,
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: the far seen fire, the hearty welcome this delivery of
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: himself into their hands. Griffith scarcely knew what he did think.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: He blamed himself for his unworthy suspicions. He blamed Gerdi
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: more for having no suspicions at all. Anything else, he said,
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: that sounds good. Toby studied for some time. Well, he said,
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: at last, there may be some way he can get out.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: I don't think he can, but he might find a way.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: He knows he's trapped, but likely he has no idea
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: yet how many of us there are. So we know
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: he'll try, and he won't be just climbing for fun.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: He'll take a chance Steele broke in. He didn't leave
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: any rope on his saddle. Toby nodded, So he means
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: to try it. Now here's five of us. Here. Seems
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: to me that someone ought to ride round the mountain
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: the first thing in the morning and every day afterward.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: Only here's open. There won't be many of them to
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: look for tracks. There isn't one chance in a hundred
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: he can climb out. But if he goes out of
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: here of foot, we've got him. Sure. The man on
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: guard wants to keep in shelter. It's light tonight. There's
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: no chance for him too without being seen. You say,
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: the old watchman ain't dead yet, mister Griffith. No. The
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: latest bulletin was that he was almost holding his own
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: hope he gets well, said long, good old geezer. Now, cap,
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: I've worked hard, and you've ridden hard. Better set your
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: guards and let the other two take the little snooze.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: Griffith was not proof against the insidious flattery of this
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: unhesitant preference. He flushed with embarrassment and pleasure. Well, if
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: I'm to be captain, Gerd will take the first guard
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: till eleven, then you come in till two mister Long,
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: I'll stand from then on till daylight in five minutes.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: Mister Long was enjoying the calm and RESTful sleep of
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: fatigued innocence. But his poor captain was doomed to have
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: a bad night of it. With two Bransfords on his hands,
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: one in the basin and one in the bed beside him,
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: his head was dizzy with a vicious circle. Like the
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: gentlewoman of the nurse rhyme. He was tempted to cry
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: rock on mercy on me, this nune of eye. If
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: he hailed his bed mate to justice and the real
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: Bransford got away, that would be a nice predicament for
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: an ambitious young man. He was sensitive to ridicule, and
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: he saw here such an opportunity to earn it as
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: knocks but once at any man's door. If, on the
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: other hand, while he held Bransford cooped tightly in the basin,
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: this thrice accursed Long should escape him, and there should
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: be no Bransford in the basin. What nonsense, What utter twaddle.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: Bransford was in the basin. He had found his horse
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: and saddle, his tracks. No tracks had come out of
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: the basin immediately on the discovery of the outlaw's horse,
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: Gerd had ridden back posthaste and held the pass while he,
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: the captain, had gone on to the mouth of the
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: southern canyon and posted his friends. He had watched for
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: tracks of the footman every step of the way, going
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: and coming. There had been no tracks. Bransford was in
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: the basin. He watched the face of the sleeping man.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: But by Heaven, this was Branford. Was ever a poor
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: captain in such a predicament. A moment before he had
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: fully and definitely decided once for all that this man
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: was not Bransford, could not be Bransford, that it was
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: not possible. His reason unwaveringly told him one thing, his
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: eyesight the other. Yet Bransford, or an unfortunate twin of
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: his lay now beside him, and for further mockery slept peacefully, serene, untroubled.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: He looked upon the elusive mister Long with a species
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: of horror. The face was drawn and lined. Yet, but
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: forty eight hours of tention would have left Bransford's face
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: not Otherwise. He had noticed Bransford's hands in the court room,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: noticed their well kept whiteness. Do as he had decided
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: to the perennial cowboy glove. This man's hands, as he
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: had seen by the camp fire, were blistered and calloused.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: Callouses were not made in the day. He took another
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: look at Long Oh Thunder. He crept from bed. He
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: whispered a word to Sentry Steel, not to outline the
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: distressing state of his own mind, but merely to request
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: Steel not to shoot him. As he was going up
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: to the mine. He climbed up the trail, chewing the
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: unpalatable thought that Gerdon had seen nothing amiss. Yet Gerd
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: had been at the trial. The captain began to wish
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: he had never gone on that deer hunt. He went
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: into the tent, struck a match, lit a candle, and
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: examined everything closely. There was no gun in the camp
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: and no cartridges. He found the spill of twisted paper
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: under the table, smothered his qualms, and read it the
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: open book for future examination in English. And now Toby's
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: labor had their late reward. For Rex missed nothing. Every
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: effort brought fresh disappointment, and every disappointment spurred him to
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: fresh effort. He went into the tunnel. He scrutinized everything,
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: even to the drills in the tub. The food supply
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: tallied with Long's account. No detail escaped him, and every
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: detail confirmed the growing belief that he, Captain Griffith, was
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: a doddering imbecile. He returned to the outpost, convinced at last, nevertheless,
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: merely to quiet the ravings of his insubordinate instincts. Now
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: in open revolt, he restaked the horses nearer to camp
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: and cautiously carried both saddles to the head of the bed.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: Concession merely encouraged the rebels to further and successful outrages.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: The government was overthrown, he drew Sentry steel aside and
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: imparted his doubts. That faithful follower. Heaped scorn, mockery, laughter
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: and abuse upon his shrinking superior. Recounted all the points
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: from the first blasts of dynamite to the present moment
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: which favored the charitable belief above mentioned as newly entertained
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: by Captain Griffith concerning himself. This belief of Captain Griffith
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: was amply endorsed by his subordinate in terms of point
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: and versatility. Of course, they look alike. I noticed that
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: the minute I saw him, the same amount of legs
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: and arms, features all in the forepart of his head,
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: hair on top, one body wonderful. Why you pitiful ass
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: That Bransford person was a mighty king looking man in
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: any company. This fellow's a local, an old rusty cap
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: and ball single shot muzzle loader. That Bransford was an
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: automatic steel frame eye belove. The better head he has,
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: the more apt he is to do the unexpected. Ash.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: Shut up, you've got incipient paresis, Stuff your ears in
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: your mouth, and go to sleep. The captain sawt his couch, convinced,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: but holding his first opinion, savagely minded to arrest mister
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: Long rather than let him have a gun to stand
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: guard with. He was spared the decision. Mister Long declined
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: Gurdon's proffered gun, saying that he would be right there,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: and he was a poor shot anyway. Gordon slept Long
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: I took his place, and Captain Rex from the bed
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: watched the watcher. Never was there a more faithful sentinel
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: than mister Long. Without relaxing his vigilance, even the smoke,
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: he strained every faculty lest the wily Bransford should creep
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: out through the shadows. The Captain saw him, a stooped
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: figure sitting motionless by his rock, always alert, peering this
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: way and that, turning his head to listen. Once Toby
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: saw something, he crept noiselessly to the bed and shook
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: his chief. Griffith came with his gun. Something was stirring
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: in the bushes. After a little that moved out of
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: the shadows. It was a prowling coyote. The captain went
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: back to bed, once more convinced of Long's fidelity, but
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: resolved to keep a relentless eye on him just the same,
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: and all unawares. As he revolved the day's events in
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: his mind. The captain dropped off to troubled sleep. Mister
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: Long awoke him at three. There had been a temptation
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: to ride away, but the saddles were at the head
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: of the bed, the ground was stony. He would be heard.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: He might have made an attempt to get both guns
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: from under the pillow, but detection that meant ruin for him,
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: Since to shoot these boys or to hurt them was
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: out of the question. Escape by violence been easy and assured.
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: Jeff preferred to trust his wits. He was enjoying himself
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: very much when the captain got his relentless eyes open
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: and realized what had chanced. He saw that further doubt
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: was unworthy. Half an hour later, the unworthy captain stole
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: noiselessly to Long's bedside and saw, to his utter rage
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: and distraction that mister Bransford was there again. It was
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: almost too much to bear. He felt that he should
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: always hate Long, even after Bransford was safely hanged, Bransford's
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: head had slipped from long'spillow. Hating himself, Griffiths subtly withdrew
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: the miner's folded overalls and went through the pockets. He
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: found there a knife smelling of dynamite, matches at turquoise
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: carved to what was plainly meant to be the form
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: of a bad tempered horse, and two small specimens of ore. Altogether,
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: the captain passed a wild and whirling night. End of
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: Chapter twelve.