The Story of the Foss River Ranch by Ridgwell Cullum

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Both men picked up their cards. The old instincts of poker were not so
pronounced in the rancher as they used to be. Doubtless the game he was
now playing did not need such mask-like impassivity of expression as an
ordinary game would. After all, the pot opened, it merely became a
question of who held the best hand. There would be no betting. John's
eyes lighted up as he glanced at the index numerals. He held two
"Jacks."

"Can you?" Lablache's husky voice rasped in the stillness.

"Yes."

The dealer eyed his opponent for a second. His face was that of a graven
image.

"How many?"

"Three."

The money-lender passed three cards across the table. Then he discarded
two cards from his own hand and drew two more.

"What have you got?" he asked, with a grim pursing of his sagging lips.

"Two pairs. Jacks up."

Lablache laid his own cards on the table, spreading them out face
upwards for the rancher to see. He held three "twos."

"One to you," said John Allandale; and he went and chalked the score
upon the wall.

There was something very business-like about these two men when they
played cards. And possibly it was only natural. The quiet way in which
they played implied the deadly earnestness of their game. Their
surroundings, too, were impressive when associated with the secrecy of
their doings.

Each man meant to win, and in both were all the baser passions fully
aroused. Neither would spare the other, each would do his utmost.
Lablache was sure. John was consumed with a deadly nervousness. But John
Allandale at cards was the soul of honor. Lablache was confident in his
superior manipulation--not play--of cards. He knew that, bar accidents,
he must win. The mystery of being able to deal himself "three of a kind"
and even better was no mystery to him. He preferred his usual
method--the method of "reflection," as he called it; but in the game he
was now playing such a method would be useless for obvious reasons.
First of all, knowing his opponent's cards would only be of advantage
where betting was to ensue. Now he needed the clumsier, if more sure,
method of dealing himself a hand. And he did not hesitate to adopt it.

"Poker" John dealt The pot was not opened. Lablache again dealt. Still
the hand passed without the pot being opened. The next time John dealt
Lablache opened the pot and was promptly beaten. He drew to two queens
and missed. John drew to a pair of sevens and got a third. The game was
one all. After this Lablache won three pots in succession and the game
stood four--one, in favor of the money-lender.

The old rancher's face more than indicated the state of the game. His
features were gray and drawn. Already he saw his girl married to the man
opposite to him. For an instant his weakness led him to think of
refusing to play further--to defy Lablache and bid him do his worst.
Then he remembered that the girl herself had insisted that he must see
the game through--besides, he might yet win. He forced his thoughts to
the coming hand. He was to deal.

The deal, as far as he was concerned, was successful, His spirits rose.

Four--two.

Lablache took up the cards to deal. John was watching as though his life
depended upon what he saw. Lablache's clumsy shuffle annoyed him. The
lashless eyes of the money-lender were bent upon the cards, but he had
no difficulty in observing the old man's attention. This unusual
attention he set down to a natural excitement. He had not the smallest
idea that the old man suspected him. He passed the cards to be cut. The
rancher cut them carelessly. He had a natural cut. The pack was nearly
halved. Lablache had prepared for this.

The hand was dealt, and the money-lender won with three aces, all of
which he had drawn in a five-card draw. He had discarded a pair of nines
to make the heavy draw. It was clumsy, but he had been forced to it. The
position of the aces in the pack he had known, and--well, he meant to
win.

Five--two.

The clumsiness of that deal was too palpable. Old John suspected, but
held his tongue. His anger rose, and the drawn face flushed with the
suddenness of lightning. He was in a dangerous mood. Lablache saw the
flush, and a sudden fear gripped his heart. He passed the cards to the
other, and then, involuntarily, his hand dropped into the right-hand
pocket of his coat. It came in contact with his revolver--and stayed
there.

The next hand passed without the pot being opened--and the next.
Lablache was a little cautious. The next deal resulted in favor of the
rancher.

Five--three.

Lablache again took the cards. This time he meant to get his hand in the
deal. At that moment the money-lender would have given a cool thousand
had a bottle of whisky been on the table. He had not calculated on John
being sober. He shuffled deliberately and offered the pack to be cut.
John cut in the same careless manner, but this time he did it purposely.
Lablache picked up the bottom half of the cut. There was a terrible
silence in the room, and a deadly purpose was expressed in "Poker"
John's eyes.

The money-lender began to deal. In an instant John was on his feet and
lurched across the table. His hand fell upon the first card which
Lablache had dealt to himself.

"The ace of clubs," shouted the rancher, his eyes blazing and his body
fairly shaking with fury. He turned the card over. It was the ace of
clubs.

"Cheat!" he shouted.

He had seen the card at the bottom of the pack as the other had ceased
to shuffle.

There was an instant's thrilling pause. Then Lablache's hand flew to
his pocket. He had heard the click of a cocking revolver.

For the moment the rancher's old spirit rose superior to his senile
debility.

"God in heaven! And this is how you've robbed me, you--you bastard!"

"Poker" John's seared face was at that moment the face of a maniac. He
literally hurled his fury at the money-lender, who was now standing
confronting him.

"It is the last time, if--if I swing for it. Prairie law you need, and,
Hell take you, you shall have it!"

He swung himself half round. Simultaneously two reports rang out. They
seemed to meet in one deafening peal, which was exaggerated by the
smallness of the room. Then all was silence.

Lablache stood unmoved, his yellow eyeballs gleaming wickedly. For a
second John Allandale swayed while his face assumed a ghastly hue. Then
in deathly silence he slowly crumpled up, as it were. No sound passed
his lips and he sank in a heap upon the floor. His still smoking pistol
dropped beside him from his nerveless fingers.

The rancher had intended to kill Lablache, but the subtle money-lender
had been too quick. The lashless eyes watched the deathly fall of the
old man. There was no expression in them but that of vengeful coldness.
He was accustomed to the unwritten laws of the prairie. He knew that he
had saved his life by a hair's-breadth. His right hand was still in his
coat pocket. He had fired through the cloth of the coat.

Some seconds passed. Still Lablache did not move. There was no remorse
in his heart--only annoyance. He was thinking with the coolness of a
callous nerve. He was swiftly calculating the effect of the catastrophe
as regarded himself. It was the worst thing that could have happened to
him. Shooting was held lightly on the prairie, he knew, but--Then he
slowly drew his pistol from his pocket and looked thoughtfully at it.
His caution warned him of something. He withdrew the empty cartridge
case and cleaned out the barrel. Then he put a fresh cartridge in the
chamber and returned the pistol to his pocket. He was very deliberate,
and displayed no emotion. His asthmatical breathing, perhaps, might have
been more pronounced than usual. Then he gathered up the cards from
floor and table, and wiped out the score upon the wall. He put the cards
in his pocket. After that he stirred the body of his old companion with
his foot. There was no sound from the prostrate rancher. Then the
money-lender gently lowered himself to his knees and placed his hand
over his victim's heart. It was still. John Allandale was dead.

It was now for the first time that Lablache gave any sign of emotion. It
was not the emotion of sorrow--merely fear--susperstitious fear. As he
realized that the other was dead his head suddenly turned. It was an
involuntary movement. And his fishy eyes gazed fearfully behind him. It
was his first realization of guilt. The brand of Cain must inevitably
carry with it a sense of horror to him who falls beneath its ban. He was
a murderer--and he knew it.

Now his-movements became less deliberate. He felt that he must get away
from that horrid sight. He rose swiftly, with a display of that agility
which the unfortunate Horrocks had seen. He glanced about the room and
took his bearings. He strode to the lamp and put it out. Then he groped
his way to the window and took down his bandanna; stealthily, and with a
certain horror, he felt his way in the darkness to the door. He opened
it and passed out.

CHAPTER XXVIII

SETTLING THE RECKONING

Jacky stood at the gate of the fifty-acre pasture. She had been standing
there for some minutes. The night was quite dark; there was no moon. Her
horse, Nigger, was standing hitched to one of the fence posts a few
yards away from her and inside the pasture. The girl was waiting for
"Lord" Bill.

Not a sound broke the stillness of the night as she stood listening. A
wonderful calmness was over all. From her position Jacky had seen the
light shining through the window of the implement shed. Now the shed was
quite dark--the window had been covered. She knew that her uncle and
Lablache were there. She was growing impatient.

Every now and then she would turn her face from the contemplation of the
blackness of the distant end of the field to the direction of the
settlement, her ears straining to catch the sound of her dilatory
lover's coming. The minutes passed all too swiftly. And her impatience
grew and found vent in irritable movements and sighs of vexation.

Suddenly her ears caught the sound of distant cries coming from the
settlement. She turned in the direction. A lurid gleam was in the sky.
Then, as she watched, the glare grew brighter, and sparks shot up in a
great wreathing cloud of smoke. The direction was unmistakable. She knew
that Lablache's store had been fired.

"Good," she murmured, with a sigh of relief. "I guess Bill'll come right
along now. I wish he'd come. They've been in that shack ten minutes or
more. Why don't he come?"

The glare of the fire fascinated her, and her eyes remained glued in the
direction of it. The reflection in the sky was widespread and she knew
that the great building must be gutted, for there was no means of
putting the fire out. Then her thoughts turned to Lablache, and she
smiled as she thought of the surprise awaiting him. The sky in the
distance grew brighter. She could only see the lurid reflection; a
rising ground intervened between her and the settlement.

Suddenly against the very heart of the glare the figure of a horseman
coming towards her was silhouetted as he rode over the rising ground.
One glance sufficed the girl. That tall, thin figure was
unmistakable--her lover was hastening towards her. She turned to her
horse and unhitched the reins from the fence post.

Presently Bill came up and dismounted. He led Golden Eagle through the
gate. The greeting was an almost silent one between these two. Doubtless
their thoughts carried them beyond mere greetings. They stood for a
second.

"Shall we ride?" said Jacky, inclining her head in the direction of the
shed.

"No, we will walk. How long have they been there?"

"A quarter of an hour, I guess."

"Come along, then."

They walked down the pasture leading their two horses.

"I see no light," said Bill, looking straight ahead of him.

"It is covered--the window, I mean. What are you going to do, Bill?"

The man laughed.

"Lots--but I shall be guided by circumstances. You must remain outside,
Jacky; you can see to the horses."

"P'r'aps."

The man turned sharply.

"P'r'aps?"

"Yes, one never knows. I guess it's no use fixing things when--guided by
circumstances."

They relapsed into silence and walked steadily on. Half the distance was
covered when Jacky halted.

"Will Golden Eagle stand 'knee-haltering,' Bill?"

"Yes, why?"

"We'll 'knee-halter' 'em."

Bill stood irresolute.

"It'll be better, I guess," the girl pursued. "We'll be freer."

"All right," replied Bill. "But," after a pause, "I'd rather you didn't
come further, little woman--there may be shooting--"

"That's so. I like shootin'. What's that?"

The girl had secured her horse, Bill was in the act of securing his.
Jacky raised her hand in an attitude of attention and turned her face to
windward. Bill stood erect and listened.

"Ah!--it's the boys. Baptiste said they would come."

There was a faint rustling of grass near by. Jacky's keen ears had
detected the stealing sound at once. To others it might have passed for
the effect of the night breeze.

They listened for a few seconds longer, then Bill turned to the girl.

"Come--the horses are safe. The boys will not show themselves. I fancy
they are here to watch only--me."

They continued on towards the shed. They were both wrapt in silent
thought. Neither was prepared for what was to come. They were still
nearly a quarter of a mile from the building. Its outline was dimly
discernible in the darkness. And, too, now the light from the oil lamp
could be seen dimly shining through the red bandanna which was stretched
over the window.

Now the sound of "Poker" John's voice raised in anger reached them. They
stood still with one accord. It was astonishing how the voice traveled
all that distance. He must be shouting. A sudden fear gripped their
hearts. Bill was the first to move. With a whispered "Wait here," he ran
forward. For an instant Jacky waited, then, on a sudden impulse, she
followed her lover.

The girl had just started. Suddenly the sharp report of firearms split
the air. She came up with Bill, who had paused at the sound.

"Hustle, Bill. It's murder," the girl panted.

"Yes," and he ran forward with set face and gleaming eyes.

Murder--and who was the victim? Bill wondered, and his heart misgave
him. There was no longer any sound of voices. The rancher had been
silenced. He thought of the girl behind him. Then his whole mind
suddenly centered itself upon Lablache. If he had killed the rancher no
mercy should be shown to him.

Bill was rapidly nearing the building, and it was wrapped in an ominous
silence.

For a second he again came to a stand. He wanted to make sure. He could
hear Jacky's speeding footfalls from behind. And he could hear the
stealthy movements of those others. These were the only sounds that
reached him. He-went on again. He came to the building. The window was
directly in front of him. He tried to look into the room but the
handkerchief effectually hid the interior. Suddenly the light went out.
He knew what this meant. Turning away from the window he crept towards
the door. Jacky had come up. He motioned her into the shadow. Then he
waited.

The door opened and a great figure came out. It was Lablache. Even in
the darkness Bill recognized him. His heavy, asthmatical breathing must
have betrayed the money-lender if there had been no other means of
identification.

Lablache stepped out on to the prairie utterly unconscious of the
figures crouching in the darkness. He stepped heavily forward. Four
steps--that was all. A silent spring--an iron grip round the
money-lender's throat, from behind. A short, sharp struggle--a great
gasping for breath. Then Lablache reeled backwards and fell to the
ground with Bill hanging to his throat like some tiger. In the fall the
money-lender's pistol went off. There was a sharp report, and the bullet
tore up the ground. But no harm was done. Bill held on. Then came the
swish of a skirt. Jacky was at her lover's side. She dragged the
money-lender's pistol from his pocket. Then Bill let go his hold and
stood panting over the prostrate man. The whole thing was done in
silence. No word was spoken.

Lablache sucked in a deep whistling breath. His eyes rolled and he
struggled into a sitting posture. He was gazing into the muzzle of
Bill's pistol.

"Get up!" The stern voice was unlike Bill's, but there was nothing of
the twang of Retief about it.

The money-lender stared, but did not move--neither did he speak. Jacky
had darted into the hut. She had gone to light the lamp and learn the
truth.

"Get up!" The chilling command forced the money-lender to rise. He saw
before him the tall, thin figure of his assailant.

"Retief!" he gasped, and then stood speechless.

Now the re-lighted lamp glowed through the doorway. Bill pointed towards
the door.

"Go inside!" The relentless pistol was at Lablache's head.

"No--no! Not inside." The words whistled on a gasping breath.

"Go inside!"

Cowed and fearful, Lablache obeyed the mandate.

Bill followed the money-lender into the miserable room. His keen eyes
took in the scene in one swift glance. He saw Jacky kneeling beside the
prostrate form of her uncle. She was not weeping. Her beautiful face was
stonily calm. She was just looking down at that still form, that drawn
gray face, the staring eyes and dropped jaw. Bill saw and understood.
Lablache might expect no mercy.

The murderer himself was now looking in the direction of--but not
at--the body of his victim. He was gazing with eyes which expressed
horrified amazement at the sight of the crouching figure of Jacky
Allandale. He was trying to fathom the meaning of her association with
Retief.

Bill closed the door. Now he came forward towards the table, always
keeping Lablache in front of him.

"Is he dead?" Bill's voice was solemn.

Jacky looked up. There was a look as of stone in her somber eyes.

"He is dead--dead."

"Ah! For the moment we will leave the dead. Come, let us deal with the
living. It is time for a final reckoning."

There was a deadly chill in the tone of Bill's voice--a chill which was
infinitely more dreadful to Lablache's ears than could any passionate
outburst have been.

The door opened gently. No one noticed it, so absorbed were they in the
ghastly matter before them. Wider the door swung and several dusky faces
appeared in the opening.

The money-lender stood motionless. His gaze ignored the dead. He watched
the living. He wondered what "Lord" Bill's preamble portended. He shook
himself like one rousing from some dreadful nightmare. He summoned his
courage and tried to face the consequences of his act with an outward
calm. Struggle as he might a deadly fear was ever present.

It was not the actual fear of death--it was the moral dread of something
intangible. He feared at that moment not that which was to come. It was
the presence of the dusky-visaged raider and--the girl. He feared mostly
the icy look on Jacky's face. However, his mind was quite clear. He was
watching for a loophole of escape. And he lost no detail of the scene
before him.

A matter which puzzled him greatly was the familiar voice of the raider.
Retief, as he knew him, spoke with a pronounced accent, but now he only
heard the ordinary tones of an Englishman.

Bill had purposely abandoned his exaggerated Western drawl. Now he
removed the scarf from his neck and proceeded to wipe the yellow grease
from his face and neck. Lablache, with dismay in his heart, saw the
white skin which had been concealed beneath the paint. The truth
flashed upon him instantly. And before Bill had had time to remove his
wig his name had passed the money-lender's lips.

"Bunning-Ford?" he gasped. And in that expression was a world of moral
fear.

"Yes, Bunning-Ford, come to settle his last reckoning with you."

Bill eyed the murderer steadily and Lablache felt his last grip on his
courage relax. A terrible fear crept upon him as his courage ebbed.
Slowly Bill turned his eyes in the direction of the still kneeling
Jacky. The girl's eyes met his, and, in response to some mute
understanding which passed between them, she rose to her feet.

Bill did not speak. He merely looked at his pistol. Jacky spoke as if
answering some remark of his.

"Yes, this is my affair."

Then she turned upon the money-lender. There was no wrath in her face,
no anger in her tones; only that horrid, stony purpose which Lablache
dreaded. He wished she would hurl invective at him. He felt that it
would have been better so.

"The death which you have dealt to that poor old man is too good for
you--murderer," she said, her deep, somber eyes seeming to pass through
and through the mountain of flesh she was addressing. "I take small
comfort in the thought that he had no time to suffer bodily pain. You
will suffer--later." Bill gazed at her wonderingly. "Liar!--cheat!--you
pollute the earth. You thought to cozen that poor, harmless old man out
of his property--out of me. You thought to ruin him as you have ruined
others. Your efforts will avail you nothing. From the moment Bill
discovered the use of your memorandum pad"--Lablache started--"your fate
was sealed. We swore to confiscate your property. For every dollar you
took from us you should pay ten. But now the matter is different. There
is a justice on the prairie--a rough, honest, uncorruptible justice. And
that justice demands your life. You shall scourge Foss River no longer.
You have murdered. You shall die!--"

Jacky was about to go further with her inexorable denunciation when the
door of the shed was flung wide, and eight Breeds, headed by Gautier and
Baptiste, came in. They came in almost noiselessly, their moccasined
feet giving out scarcely any sound upon the floor of the room.

"Lord" Bill turned, startled at the sudden apparition. Jacky hesitated.
Here was a contingency which none had reckoned upon. One glance at those
dark, cruel faces warned all three that these prairie outcasts had been
silent witnesses of everything that had taken place. It was a supreme
moment, and the deadly pallor which had assumed a leadenish hue on
Lablache's face told of one who appreciated the horror of that silent
coming.

Baptiste stepped over to where Jacky stood. He looked at her, and then
his gaze passed to the dead man upon the floor. His beady, black eyes
turned fiercely upon the cowering money-lender.

"Ow!" he grunted. And his tone was the fierce expression of an Indian
roused to homicidal purpose.

Then he turned back to Jacky, and the look on his face changed to one of
sympathy and even love.

"Not you, missie--and the white man--no. The prairie is the land of the
Breed and his forefathers--the Red Man. Guess the law of the prairie'll
come best from such as he. You are one of us," he went on, surveying the
girl's beautiful face in open admiration. "You've allus been mostly one
of us--but I take it y'are too white. No, guess you ain't goin' ter muck
yer pretty hands wi' the filthy blood of yonder," pointing to Lablache.
"These things is fur the likes o' us. Jest leave this skunk to us. Death
is the sentence, and death he's goin' ter git--an' it'll be somethin'
ter remember by all who behold. An' the story shall go down to our
children. This poor dead thing was our best frien'--an' he's
dead--murdered. So, this is a matter for the Breed."

Then the half-breed turned away. Seeing the chalk upon the floor he
stooped and picked it up.

"Let's have the formalities. It is but just--"

Bill suddenly interrupted. He was angry at the interference of Baptiste.

"Hold on!"

Baptiste swung round. The white man got no further. The Breed broke in
upon him with animal ferocity.

"Who says hold on? Peace, white man, peace! This is for us. Dare to stop
us, an'--"

Jacky sprang between her lover and the ferocious half-breed.

"Bill, leave well alone," she said. And she held up a warning finger.

She knew these men, of a race to which she, in part, belonged. As well
baulk a tiger of its prey. She knew that if Bill interfered his life
would pay the forfeit. The sanguinary lust of these human devils once
aroused, they cared little how it be satisfied.

Bill turned away with a shrug, and he was startled to see that he had
been noiselessly surrounded by the rest of the half-breeds. Had Jacky's
command needed support, it would have found it in this ominous movement.

Fate had decreed that the final act in the Foss River drama should come
from another source than the avenging hands of those who had sealed
their compact in Bad Man's Hollow.

Baptiste turned away from "Lord" Bill, and, at a sign from him, Lablache
was brought round to the other side of the table--to where the dead
rancher was lying. Baptiste handed him the chalk and then pointed to the
wall, on which had been written the score of old John's last gamble.

"Write!" he said, turning back to his prisoner.

Lablache gazed fearfully around. He essayed to speak, but his tongue
clove to the roof of his mouth.

"Write--while I tell you." The Breed still pointed to the wall.

Lablache held out the chalk.

"I kill John Allandale," dictated Baptiste.

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