章节正文
different from that he had always felt when pursued. It had no
bitterness, no pain, no dread. There was as much danger here,
perhaps more, yet it was not the same. Then he looked.
He saw a bright fire, a red-faced man bending over it,
whistling, while he handled a steaming pot. Over him was a
roofed shed built against the wall, with two open sides and two
supporting posts. Duane's second glance, not so blinded by the
sudden bright light, made out other men, three in the shadow,
two in the flare, but with backs to him.
"It's a smoother trail by long odds, but ain't so short as this
one right over the mountain," one outlaw was saying.
"What's eatin' you, Panhandle?" ejaculated another. "Blossom
an' me rode from Faraway Springs, where Poggin is with some of
the gang."
"Excuse me, Phil. Shore I didn't see you come in, an' Boldt
never said nothin'."
"It took you a long time to get here, but I guess that's just
as well," spoke up a smooth, suave voice with a ring in it.
Longstreth's voice--Cheseldine's voice!
Here they were--Cheseldine, Phil Knell, Blossom Kane, Panhandle
Smith, Boldt--how well Duane remembered the names!--all here,
the big men of Cheseldine's gang, except the biggest--Poggin.
Duane had holed them, and his sensations of the moment deadened
sight and sound of what was before him. He sank down,
controlled himself, silenced a mounting exultation, then from a
less-strained position he peered forth again.
The outlaws were waiting for supper. Their conversation might
have been that of cowboys in camp, ranchers at a roundup. Duane
listened with eager ears, waiting for the business talk that he
felt would come. All the time he watched with the eyes of a
wolf upon its quarry. Blossom Kane was the lean-limbed
messenger who had so angered Fletcher. Boldt was a giant in
stature, dark, bearded, silent. Panhandle Smith was the
red-faced cook, merry, profane, a short, bow-legged man
resembling many rustlers Duane had known, particularly Luke
Stevens. And Knell, who sat there, tall, slim, like a boy in
build, like a boy in years, with his pale, smooth,
expressionless face and his cold, gray eyes. And Longstreth,
who leaned against the wall, handsome, with his dark face and
beard like an aristocrat, resembled many a rich Louisiana
planter Duane had met. The sixth man sat so much in the shadow
that he could not be plainly discerned, and, though addressed,
his name was not mentioned.
Panhandle Smith carried pots and pans into the cabin, and
cheerfully called out: "If you gents air hungry fer grub, don't
look fer me to feed you with a spoon."
The outlaws piled inside, made a great bustle and clatter as
they sat to their meal. Like hungry men, they talked little.
Duane waited there awhile, then guardedly got up and crept
round to the other side of the cabin. After he became used to
the dark again he ventured to steal along the wall to the
window and peeped in. The outlaws were in the first room and
could not be seen.
Duane waited. The moments dragged endlessly. His heart pounded.
Longstreth entered, turned up the light, and, taking a box of
cigars from the table, he carried it out.
"Here, you fellows, go outside and smoke," he said. "Knell,
come on in now. Let's get it over."
He returned, sat down, and lighted a cigar for himself. He put
his booted feet on the table.
Duane saw that the room was comfortably, even luxuriously
furnished. There must have been a good trail, he thought, else
how could all that stuff have been packed in there. Most
assuredly it could not have come over the trail he had
traveled. Presently he heard the men go outside, and their
voices became indistinct. Then Knell came in and seated himself
without any of his chief's ease. He seemed preoccupied and, as
always, cold.
"What's wrong, Knell? Why didn't you get here sooner?" queried
Longstreth.
"Poggin, damn him! We're on the outs again."
"What for?"
"Aw, he needn't have got sore. He's breakin' a new hoss over at
Faraway, an you know him where a hoss 's concerned. That kept
him, I reckon, more than anythin'."
"What else? Get it out of your system so we can go on to the
new job."
"Well, it begins back a ways. I don't know how long ago--
weeks--a stranger rode into Ord an' got down easy-like as if he
owned the place. He seemed familiar to me. But I wasn't sure.
We looked him over, an' I left, tryin' to place him in my
mind."
"What'd he look like?"
"Rangy, powerful man, white hair over his temples, still, hard
face, eyes like knives. The way he packed his guns, the way he
walked an' stood an' swung his right hand showed me what he
was. You can't fool me on the gun-sharp. An' he had a grand
horse, a big black."
"I've met your man," said Longstreth.
"No!" exclaimed Knell. It was wonderful to hear surprise
expressed by this man that did not in the least show it in his
strange physiognomy. Knell laughed a short, grim, hollow laugh.
"Boss, this here big gent drifts into Ord again an' makes up to
Jim Fletcher. Jim, you know, is easy led. He likes men. An'
when a posse come along trailin' a blind lead, huntin' the
wrong way for the man who held up No. 6, why, Jim--he up an'
takes this stranger to be the fly road-agent an' cottons to
him. Got money out of him sure. An' that's what stumps me more.
What's this man's game? I happen to know, boss, that he
couldn't have held up No. 6."
"How do you know?" demanded Longstreth.
"Because I did the job myself."
A dark and stormy passion clouded the chief's face.
"Damn you, Knell! You're incorrigible. You're unreliable.
Another break like that queers you with me. Did you tell
Poggin?"
"Yes. That's one reason we fell out. He raved. I thought he was
goin' to kill me."
"Why did you tackle such a risky job without help or plan?"
"It offered, that's all. An' it was easy. But it was a mistake.
I got the country an' the railroad hollerin' for nothin'. I
just couldn't help it. You know what idleness means to one of
us. You know also that this very life breeds fatality. It's
wrong--that's why. I was born of good parents, an' I know
what's right. We're wrong, an' we can't beat the end, that's
all. An' for my part I don't care a damn when that comes."
"Fine wise talk from you, Knell," said Longstreth, scornfully.
"Go on with your story."
"As I said, Jim cottons to the pretender, an' they get chummy.
They're together all the time. You can gamble Jim told all he
knew an' then some. A little liquor loosens his tongue. Several
of the boys rode over from Ord, an' one of them went to Poggin
an' says Jim Fletcher has a new man for the gang. Poggin, you
know, is always ready for any new man. He says if one doesn't
turn out good he can be shut off easy. He rather liked the way
this new part of Jim's was boosted. Jim an' Poggin always hit
it up together. So until I got on the deal Jim's pard was
already in the gang, without Poggin or you ever seein' him.
Then I got to figurin' hard. Just where had I ever seen that
chap? As it turned out, I never had seen him, which accounts
for my bein' doubtful. I'd never forget any man I'd seen. I dug
up a lot of old papers from my kit an' went over them. Letters,
pictures, clippin's, an' all that. I guess I had a pretty good
notion what I was lookin' for an' who I wanted to make sure of.
At last I found it. An' I knew my man. But I didn't spring it
on Poggin. Oh no! I want to have some fun with him when the
time comes. He'll be wilder than a trapped wolf. I sent Blossom
over to Ord to get word from Jim, an' when he verified all this
talk I sent Blossom again with a message calculated to make Jim
hump. Poggin got sore, said he'd wait for Jim, an' I could come
over here to see you about the new job. He'd meet me in Ord."
Knell had spokenhurriedly and low, now and then with passion.
His pale eyes glinted like fire in ice, and now his voice fell
to a whisper.
"Who do you think Fletcher's new man is?"
"Who?" demanded Longstreth.
"BUCK DUANE!"
Down came Longstreth's boots with a crash, then his body grew
rigid.
"That Nueces outlaw? That two-shot ace-of-spades gun-thrower
who killed Bland, Alloway--?"
"An' Hardin." Knell whispered this last name with more feeling
than the apparent circumstance demanded.
"Yes; and Hardin, the best one of the Rim Rock fellows--Buck
Duane!"
Longstreth was so ghastly white now that his black mustache
seemed outlined against chalk. He eyed his grim lieutenant.
They understood each other without more words. It was enough
that Buck Duane was there in the Big Bend. Longstreth rose
presently and reached for a flask, from which he drank, then
offered it to Knell. He waved it aside.
"Knell," began the chief, slowly, as he wiped his lips, "I
gathered you have some grudge against this Buck Duane."
"Yes."
"Well, don't be a fool now and do what Poggin or almost any of
you men would--don't meet this Buck Duane. I've reason to
believe he's a Texas Ranger now."
"The hell you say!" exclaimed Knell.
"Yes. Go to Ord and give Jim Fletcher a hunch. He'll get
Poggin, and they'll fix even Buck Duane."
"All right. I'll do my best. But if I run into Duane--"
"Don't run into him!" Longstreth's voice fairly rang with the
force of its passion and command. He wiped his face, drank
again from the flask, sat down, resumed his smoking, and,
drawing a paper from his vest pocket he began to study it.
"Well, I'm glad that's settled," he said, evidently referring
to the Duane matter. "Now for the new job. This is October the
eighteenth. On or before the twenty-fifth there will be a
shipment of gold reach the Rancher's Bank of Val Verde. After
you return to Ord give Poggin these orders. Keep the gang
quiet. You, Poggin, Kane, Fletcher, Panhandle Smith, and Boldt
to be in on the secret and the job. Nobody else. You'll leave
Ord on the twenty-third, ride across country by the trail till
you get within sight of Mercer. It's a hundred miles from
Bradford to Val Verde--about the same from Ord. Time your
travel to get you near Val Verde on the morning of the
twenty-sixth. You won't have to more than trot your horses. At
two o'clock in the afternoon, sharp, ride into town and up to
the Rancher's Bank. Val Verde's a pretty big town. Never been
any holdups there. Town feels safe. Make it a clean, fast,
daylight job. That's all. Have you got the details?"
Knell did not even ask for the dates again.
"Suppose Poggin or me might be detained?" he asked.
Longstreth bent a dark glance upon his lieutenant.
"You never can tell what'll come off," continued Knell. "I'll
do my best."
"The minute you see Poggin tell him. A job on hand steadies
him. And I say again--look to it that nothing happens. Either
you or Poggin carry the job through. But I want both of you in
it. Break for the hills, and when you get up in the rocks where
you can hide your tracks head for Mount Ord. When all's quiet
bitterness, no pain, no dread. There was as much danger here,
perhaps more, yet it was not the same. Then he looked.
He saw a bright fire, a red-faced man bending over it,
whistling, while he handled a steaming pot. Over him was a
roofed shed built against the wall, with two open sides and two
supporting posts. Duane's second glance, not so blinded by the
sudden bright light, made out other men, three in the shadow,
two in the flare, but with backs to him.
"It's a smoother trail by long odds, but ain't so short as this
one right over the mountain," one outlaw was saying.
"What's eatin' you, Panhandle?" ejaculated another. "Blossom
an' me rode from Faraway Springs, where Poggin is with some of
the gang."
"Excuse me, Phil. Shore I didn't see you come in, an' Boldt
never said nothin'."
"It took you a long time to get here, but I guess that's just
as well," spoke up a smooth, suave voice with a ring in it.
Longstreth's voice--Cheseldine's voice!
Here they were--Cheseldine, Phil Knell, Blossom Kane, Panhandle
Smith, Boldt--how well Duane remembered the names!--all here,
the big men of Cheseldine's gang, except the biggest--Poggin.
Duane had holed them, and his sensations of the moment deadened
sight and sound of what was before him. He sank down,
controlled himself, silenced a mounting exultation, then from a
less-strained position he peered forth again.
The outlaws were waiting for supper. Their conversation might
have been that of cowboys in camp, ranchers at a roundup. Duane
listened with eager ears, waiting for the business talk that he
felt would come. All the time he watched with the eyes of a
wolf upon its quarry. Blossom Kane was the lean-limbed
messenger who had so angered Fletcher. Boldt was a giant in
stature, dark, bearded, silent. Panhandle Smith was the
red-faced cook, merry, profane, a short, bow-legged man
resembling many rustlers Duane had known, particularly Luke
Stevens. And Knell, who sat there, tall, slim, like a boy in
build, like a boy in years, with his pale, smooth,
expressionless face and his cold, gray eyes. And Longstreth,
who leaned against the wall, handsome, with his dark face and
beard like an aristocrat, resembled many a rich Louisiana
planter Duane had met. The sixth man sat so much in the shadow
that he could not be plainly discerned, and, though addressed,
his name was not mentioned.
Panhandle Smith carried pots and pans into the cabin, and
cheerfully called out: "If you gents air hungry fer grub, don't
look fer me to feed you with a spoon."
The outlaws piled inside, made a great bustle and clatter as
they sat to their meal. Like hungry men, they talked little.
Duane waited there awhile, then guardedly got up and crept
round to the other side of the cabin. After he became used to
the dark again he ventured to steal along the wall to the
window and peeped in. The outlaws were in the first room and
could not be seen.
Duane waited. The moments dragged endlessly. His heart pounded.
Longstreth entered, turned up the light, and, taking a box of
cigars from the table, he carried it out.
"Here, you fellows, go outside and smoke," he said. "Knell,
come on in now. Let's get it over."
He returned, sat down, and lighted a cigar for himself. He put
his booted feet on the table.
Duane saw that the room was comfortably, even luxuriously
furnished. There must have been a good trail, he thought, else
how could all that stuff have been packed in there. Most
assuredly it could not have come over the trail he had
traveled. Presently he heard the men go outside, and their
voices became indistinct. Then Knell came in and seated himself
without any of his chief's ease. He seemed preoccupied and, as
always, cold.
"What's wrong, Knell? Why didn't you get here sooner?" queried
Longstreth.
"Poggin, damn him! We're on the outs again."
"What for?"
"Aw, he needn't have got sore. He's breakin' a new hoss over at
Faraway, an you know him where a hoss 's concerned. That kept
him, I reckon, more than anythin'."
"What else? Get it out of your system so we can go on to the
new job."
"Well, it begins back a ways. I don't know how long ago--
weeks--a stranger rode into Ord an' got down easy-like as if he
owned the place. He seemed familiar to me. But I wasn't sure.
We looked him over, an' I left, tryin' to place him in my
mind."
"What'd he look like?"
"Rangy, powerful man, white hair over his temples, still, hard
face, eyes like knives. The way he packed his guns, the way he
walked an' stood an' swung his right hand showed me what he
was. You can't fool me on the gun-sharp. An' he had a grand
horse, a big black."
"I've met your man," said Longstreth.
"No!" exclaimed Knell. It was wonderful to hear surprise
expressed by this man that did not in the least show it in his
strange physiognomy. Knell laughed a short, grim, hollow laugh.
"Boss, this here big gent drifts into Ord again an' makes up to
Jim Fletcher. Jim, you know, is easy led. He likes men. An'
when a posse come along trailin' a blind lead, huntin' the
wrong way for the man who held up No. 6, why, Jim--he up an'
takes this stranger to be the fly road-agent an' cottons to
him. Got money out of him sure. An' that's what stumps me more.
What's this man's game? I happen to know, boss, that he
couldn't have held up No. 6."
"How do you know?" demanded Longstreth.
"Because I did the job myself."
A dark and stormy passion clouded the chief's face.
"Damn you, Knell! You're incorrigible. You're unreliable.
Another break like that queers you with me. Did you tell
Poggin?"
"Yes. That's one reason we fell out. He raved. I thought he was
goin' to kill me."
"Why did you tackle such a risky job without help or plan?"
"It offered, that's all. An' it was easy. But it was a mistake.
I got the country an' the railroad hollerin' for nothin'. I
just couldn't help it. You know what idleness means to one of
us. You know also that this very life breeds fatality. It's
wrong--that's why. I was born of good parents, an' I know
what's right. We're wrong, an' we can't beat the end, that's
all. An' for my part I don't care a damn when that comes."
"Fine wise talk from you, Knell," said Longstreth, scornfully.
"Go on with your story."
"As I said, Jim cottons to the pretender, an' they get chummy.
They're together all the time. You can gamble Jim told all he
knew an' then some. A little liquor loosens his tongue. Several
of the boys rode over from Ord, an' one of them went to Poggin
an' says Jim Fletcher has a new man for the gang. Poggin, you
know, is always ready for any new man. He says if one doesn't
turn out good he can be shut off easy. He rather liked the way
this new part of Jim's was boosted. Jim an' Poggin always hit
it up together. So until I got on the deal Jim's pard was
already in the gang, without Poggin or you ever seein' him.
Then I got to figurin' hard. Just where had I ever seen that
chap? As it turned out, I never had seen him, which accounts
for my bein' doubtful. I'd never forget any man I'd seen. I dug
up a lot of old papers from my kit an' went over them. Letters,
pictures, clippin's, an' all that. I guess I had a pretty good
notion what I was lookin' for an' who I wanted to make sure of.
At last I found it. An' I knew my man. But I didn't spring it
on Poggin. Oh no! I want to have some fun with him when the
time comes. He'll be wilder than a trapped wolf. I sent Blossom
over to Ord to get word from Jim, an' when he verified all this
talk I sent Blossom again with a message calculated to make Jim
hump. Poggin got sore, said he'd wait for Jim, an' I could come
over here to see you about the new job. He'd meet me in Ord."
Knell had spokenhurriedly and low, now and then with passion.
His pale eyes glinted like fire in ice, and now his voice fell
to a whisper.
"Who do you think Fletcher's new man is?"
"Who?" demanded Longstreth.
"BUCK DUANE!"
Down came Longstreth's boots with a crash, then his body grew
rigid.
"That Nueces outlaw? That two-shot ace-of-spades gun-thrower
who killed Bland, Alloway--?"
"An' Hardin." Knell whispered this last name with more feeling
than the apparent circumstance demanded.
"Yes; and Hardin, the best one of the Rim Rock fellows--Buck
Duane!"
Longstreth was so ghastly white now that his black mustache
seemed outlined against chalk. He eyed his grim lieutenant.
They understood each other without more words. It was enough
that Buck Duane was there in the Big Bend. Longstreth rose
presently and reached for a flask, from which he drank, then
offered it to Knell. He waved it aside.
"Knell," began the chief, slowly, as he wiped his lips, "I
gathered you have some grudge against this Buck Duane."
"Yes."
"Well, don't be a fool now and do what Poggin or almost any of
you men would--don't meet this Buck Duane. I've reason to
believe he's a Texas Ranger now."
"The hell you say!" exclaimed Knell.
"Yes. Go to Ord and give Jim Fletcher a hunch. He'll get
Poggin, and they'll fix even Buck Duane."
"All right. I'll do my best. But if I run into Duane--"
"Don't run into him!" Longstreth's voice fairly rang with the
force of its passion and command. He wiped his face, drank
again from the flask, sat down, resumed his smoking, and,
drawing a paper from his vest pocket he began to study it.
"Well, I'm glad that's settled," he said, evidently referring
to the Duane matter. "Now for the new job. This is October the
eighteenth. On or before the twenty-fifth there will be a
shipment of gold reach the Rancher's Bank of Val Verde. After
you return to Ord give Poggin these orders. Keep the gang
quiet. You, Poggin, Kane, Fletcher, Panhandle Smith, and Boldt
to be in on the secret and the job. Nobody else. You'll leave
Ord on the twenty-third, ride across country by the trail till
you get within sight of Mercer. It's a hundred miles from
Bradford to Val Verde--about the same from Ord. Time your
travel to get you near Val Verde on the morning of the
twenty-sixth. You won't have to more than trot your horses. At
two o'clock in the afternoon, sharp, ride into town and up to
the Rancher's Bank. Val Verde's a pretty big town. Never been
any holdups there. Town feels safe. Make it a clean, fast,
daylight job. That's all. Have you got the details?"
Knell did not even ask for the dates again.
"Suppose Poggin or me might be detained?" he asked.
Longstreth bent a dark glance upon his lieutenant.
"You never can tell what'll come off," continued Knell. "I'll
do my best."
"The minute you see Poggin tell him. A job on hand steadies
him. And I say again--look to it that nothing happens. Either
you or Poggin carry the job through. But I want both of you in
it. Break for the hills, and when you get up in the rocks where
you can hide your tracks head for Mount Ord. When all's quiet
- blossom [´blɔsəm]
n.花；开花期 vi.开花 (初中英语单词) - waiting [´weitiŋ] n.等候；伺候 (初中英语单词)
- plainly [´pleinli] ad.平坦地；简单地 (初中英语单词)
- awhile [ə´wail] ad.少顷；片刻 (初中英语单词)
- presently [´prezəntli] ad.不久；目前 (初中英语单词)
- reckon [´rekən] v.计算；认为；估计 (初中英语单词)
- system [´sistəm] n.系统，体系，制度 (初中英语单词)
- passion [´pæʃən] n.激情；激怒；恋爱 (初中英语单词)
- liquor [´likə] n.酒类；(溶)液 (初中英语单词)
- spoken [´spəukən] speak的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
- apparent [ə´pærənt] a.显然的；表面上的 (初中英语单词)
- evidently [´evidəntli] ad.明显地 (初中英语单词)
- quarry [´kwɔri] n.(采)石场；猎物 (高中英语单词)
- bustle [´bʌsəl] v.(使)匆忙 n.匆忙 (高中英语单词)
- clatter [´klætə] n.&v.喧嚷；骚动 (高中英语单词)
- comfortably [´kʌmfətəbli] ad.舒适地 (高中英语单词)
- concerned [kən´sə:nd] a.有关的；担心的 (高中英语单词)
- tackle [´tækəl] n.用具；装置 vt.处理 (高中英语单词)
- gamble [´gæmbəl] v.&n.赌博；投机；冒险 (高中英语单词)
- doubtful [´dautful] a.怀疑的，可疑的 (高中英语单词)
- ghastly [´gɑ:stli] a.苍白的；可怕的 (高中英语单词)
- grudge [grʌdʒ] vt.&n.吝啬；怨恨 (高中英语单词)
- outlaw [´autlɔ:] n.歹徒 vt.将...放逐 (英语四级单词)
- profane [prə´fein] a.亵渎的 vt.玷污 (英语四级单词)
- aristocrat [´æristəkræt] n.贵族 (英语四级单词)
- knives [naivz] knife的复数 (英语四级单词)
- idleness [´aidlnis] n.懒；闲着不干事 (英语四级单词)
- hurriedly [´hʌridli] ad.仓促地，忙乱地 (英语四级单词)
- exultation [egzʌl´teiʃən] n.欢腾，狂欢 (英语六级单词)
- taking [´teikiŋ] a.迷人的 n.捕获物 (英语六级单词)
- preoccupied [pri´ɔkjupaid] a.被先占的；出神的 (英语六级单词)
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