“It carries the con-conno—what's that word, Pierre?”
“I'm going to get some books for you, Jack, and we'll do a bit of reading on the side, shall we?”
“I'd love that!”
He turned and looked up to her sharply.
He said: “Sometimes, Jack, you talk just like a girl.”
“Do I? That's queer, isn't it? But go on with the story.”
“He changed the brands very skillfully, and no one got the dope on him except this one man I mentioned; and that man kept his face shut. He waited.
“So it went on for a good many years. The herd of our friend grew very rapidly. He sold just enough cattle to keep himself and his wife alive; he was bent on making one big haul, you see. So when his doggies got to the right age and condition for the market, he'd trade them off, one fat doggie for two or three skinny yearlings. But finally he had a really big herd together, and shipped it off to the market on a year when the price was sky-high.”
“Like this year?”
“Don't interrupt me, Jack!”
From the shadow behind him she smiled again.
“They went at a corking price, and our friend cleared up a good many thousand—I won't say just how much. He sank part of it in a ruby brooch for his wife, and shoved the rest into a satchel.
“You see how careful he'd been all those years while he was piling up his fortune? Well, he began to get careless the moment he cashed in, which was rather odd. He depended on his fighting power to keep that money safe, but he forgot that while he'd been making a business of rustling doggies and watching cattle markets, other men had been making a business of shooting fast and straight.
“Among others there was the silent man who'd watched and waited for so long. But this silent man hove alongside while our rich friend was bound home in a buckboard.
“'Good evening!' he called.
“The rich chap turned and heard; it all seemed all right, but he'd done a good deal of shady business in his day, and that made him suspicious of the silent man now. So he reached for his gun and got it out just in time to be shot cleanly through the hand.
“The silent man tied up that hand and sympathized with the rich chap; then he took that satchel and divided the paper money into two bundles. One was twice the size of the other, and the silent man took the smaller one. There was only twelve thousand dollars in it. Also, he took the ruby brooch for a friend—and as a sort of keepsake, you know. And he delivered a short lecture to the rich man on the subject of carelessness and rode away. The rich man picked up his gun with his left hand and opened fire, but he'd never learned to shoot very well with that hand, so the silent man came through safe.”
“That's a bully story,” said Jack. “Who was the silent man?”
“I think you've seen him a few times, at that.”
She concealed another smile, and said in the most businesslike manner: “Chow-time, Pierre,” and set out the pans on the table. “By the way,” he said easily, “I've got a little present for you, Jack.”
And he took out a gold pin flaming with three great rubies.
CHAPTER 32
She merely stared, like a child which may either burst into tears or laughter, no one can prophesy which.
He explained, rather worried: “You see, youare a girl, Jack, and I remembered that you were pleased about those clothes that you wore to the dance in the Crittenden schoolhouse, and so when I saw that pin I—well—”
“Oh, Pierre!” said a stifled voice. “Oh, Pierre!”
“Jack, you aren't angry, are you? See, when you put it at the throat it doesn't look half bad!”
And to try it, he pinned it on her shirt. She caught both his hands, kissed them again and again, and then buried her face against them as she sobbed. If the heavens had opened and a cloudburst crashed on the roof of the house, he would have been less astounded.
“What is it?” he cried. “Damn it all—Jack—you see—I meant—”
But she tore herself away and flung herself face down on the bunk, sobbing more bitterly than ever. He followed, awestricken—terrified.
He touched her shoulder, but she shrank away and seemed more distressed than ever. It was not the crying of a weak woman: these were heartrending sounds, like the sobbing of a man who has never before known tears.
“Jack—perhaps I've done something wrong—”
He stammered again: “I didn't dream I was hurting you—”
Then light broke upon him.
He said: “It's because you don't want to be treated like a silly girl; eh, Jack?”
But to complete his astonishment she moaned: “N-n-no! It's b-b-because you—you n-n-neverdo t-treat me like a g-g-girl, P-P-Pierre!”
He groaned heartily: “Well, I'll be damned!”
And because he was thoughtful he strode away, staring at the floor. It was then that he saw it, small and crumpled on the floor. He picked it up—a glove of the softest leather. He carried it back to Jacqueline.
“What's this?”
“Wh-wh-what?”
“This glove I found on the floor?”
The sobs decreased at once—broke out more violently—and then she sprang up from the bunk.
“Pierre, I've acted a regular chump. Are you out with me?”
“Not a bit, old-timer. But about this glove?”
“Oh, that's one of mine.”
She took it and slipped it into the bosom of her shirt—the calm blue eye of Pierre noted.
He said: “We'll eat and forget the rest of this, if you want, Jack.”
“And you ain't mad at me, Pierre?”
“Not a bit.”
There was just a trace of coldness in his tone, and she knew perfectly why it was there, but she chose to ascribe it to another cause.
She explained: “You see, a woman is just about nine tenths fool, Pierre, and has to bust out like that once in a while.”
“Oh!” said Pierre, and his eyes wandered past her as though he found food for thought on the wall.
She ventured cautiously, after seeing that he was eating with appetite: “How does the pin look?”
“Why, fine.”
And the silence began again.
She dared not question him in that mood, so she ventured again: “The old boy shooting left-handed—didn't he even fan the wind near you?”
“That was another bit of carelessness,” said Pierre, but his smile held little of life. “He might have known that if hehad shot close—by accident—I might have turned around and shot him dead—on purpose. But when a man stops thinking for a minute, he's apt to go on for a long time making a fool of himself.”
“Right,” she said, brightening as she felt the crisis pass away, “and that reminds me of a story about—”
“By the way, Jack, I'll wager there's a more interesting story than that you could tell me.”