"Thank you!" The delegation moved away.
"What d'you think of him?" inquired Stover of the little man in glasses, when they were out of hearing.
"I think he's all right," Willie hesitated, "only kind of crazy, like all Eastern boys. It don't seem credible that no sane man would dast to bluff after what we've said. He'd be flyin' in the face of Providence."
But this comforting conclusion wavered again, when BerkeleyFresno, who had awaited their report, scoffed openly.
"He can't run! If he could run he'd be running. I tell you, he can't run as fast as a sheep can walk."
"Senor, you see those beautiful medal he have?" expostulatedCarara.
"Sure," agreed Willie. "His brisket was covered with 'em. He had one that hung down like a dewlap."
"Phony!"
"I've killed men for less," muttered the stoop-shouldered man.
"Did you see his legs?" Fresno was bent upon convincing his hearers.
"Couldn't help but see 'em in that runnin'-suit."
"Nice and soft and white, weren't they?"
"They didn't look like dark meat," Stover agreed, reluctantly."But you can't go nothin' on the looks of a feller's legs."
"Well, then, take his wind. A runner always has good lungs, but I'll bet if you snapped him on the chest with a rubber band he'd cough himself to death."
"Mebbe he ain't in good shape yet."
Fresno sneered. "No, and he'll never get into good condition with those girls hanging around him all the time. Don't you know that the worst thing in the world for an athlete is to talk to a woman?"
"That's the worst thing in the world for anybody," said Willie, with cynicism. "But how can we stop it?"
"Make him eat as well as sleep in his training-quarters; don't let him spend any time whatever in female company. Keep your eyes on him night and day."
Willie spoke his mind deliberately. "I'm in favor of that. If this is another Humpy Joe affair I'm a-goin' to put one more notch in my gun-handle, and it looks like a cub bear had chawed it already."
"There ain't but one thing to do," Stover announced, firmly."We've got to put it up to Mr. Glass and learn the truth."
"You'll find him in the bunk-house," directed Fresno. "I thinkI'll trail along and hear what he has to say."
Glass had gone to the cowboys' sleeping-quarters in search of his employer, and was upon the point of leaving when the delegation filed in. He regarded them with careless contempt, and removed his clay pipe to exclaim, cheerfully:
"B—zoo gents! Where's my protege?"
"I don't know. Where did you have it last?"
"I mean Speed, my trainin' partner. That's a French word."
"Oh! We just left him."
"Think I'll hunt him up."
"Wait a minute." Willie came forward. "Let's talk."
"All right. We'll visit. Let her go, professor."
"You've been handlin' him for quite a spell, haven't you?"
"Sure! It's my trainin' that put him where he is. Ask him if it ain't."
"Then he's a good athlete, is he?"
"Is he good? Huh!" Glass grunted, expressively.
"How fast can he do a hundred yards?"
Larry yawned as if this conversation bored him.
"Oh—about—eight—seconds."
At this amazing declaration Willie paused, as if to thoroughly digest it.
"Eight seconds!" repeated the little man at length.
"Sure! Depends on how he feels, of course."
Berkeley Fresno, in the corner, snickered audibly, at which the trainer scowled at him.
"Think he can't do it, eh? Well, he's there four ways from the ace."
Seeing no evidence that his statement failed to carry conviction in other quarters at least, Glass went further. It was so easy to string these simple-minded people that he could not resist the temptation. "Didn't you never hear about the killin' he made at Saratoga?" he queried.
Willie started, and his hand crept slowly backward along his belt. "Killin'! Is that his game?"
"Now, get me right," explained the former speaker. "He breaks trainin', and goes up to Saratoga for a little rest. While he's there he wins eight thousand dollars playin' diabolo."
"Playin' what?" queried Stover.
"Diabolo! He backs himself, of course."
Glass took an imaginary spool from his pocket, spun it by means of an imaginary string, then sent it aloft and pretended to catch it dexterously. The cowboys watched him with grave, uncomprehending eyes.
"He starts with a case five and runs it up to eight thousand dollars, that's all."
Stover uttered an exclamation of astonishment, whereupon the New-Yorker grew even bolder.
"The next week he hops over to Bar Harbor and wins the Furturity Ping-pong stakes from scratch. That's worth twenty thousand if it's worth a lead nickel. Oh, I guess he's there, all right!" He searched out a match and relighted his pipe.
"I suppose he's a great croquet-player too," observed Fresno, whose face was purple.
"Sure!" Glass winked at him, glad to see that the Californian enjoyed this kind of sport.
"We don't care nothin' about his skill at sleight-of-hand tricks," said the man in spectacles, seriously. "And we wouldn't hold his croquet habits agin him. Some men drink, some gamble, some do worse; every man has his weakness, and croquet may be his. What we want to know is this: can he win our phonograph?"
"Surest thing you know!"
"Then you vouch for him, do you?" Willie's eyes were bent upon the fat man with a look of searching gravity that warned Glass not to temporize.
"With my life!" exclaimed the trainer.
"You're on!" said the cowboy, with unexpected grimness.
"What d'you mean?"
But before the other could explain, Berkeley Fresno, who had sunk weakly into a chair at Larry's extravagant praise of his rival, afforded a diversion. The tenor had leaned back, convulsed with enjoyment when, losing his balance, he came to the floor with a crash. The sudden sound brought a terrifying result, for with a startled cry the undersized cow-man leaped as if touched by a living flame. Like a flash of light he whirled and poised on his toes, his long, evil-looking revolver drawn and cocked, his tense face vulturelike and fierce. His eyes glared through his spectacles, his livid features worked as if at the sound of his own death-call. His whole frame was tense; a galvanic current had transformed him. His weapon darted toward the spot whence the noise had come, and he would have fired blindly had not Stover yelled:
"Don't shoot!"
Willie paused, and the breath crept audibly into his lungs.
"Who done that?" he asked, harshly.
Still Bill brought his lanky frame up above the level of the table.
"God 'lmighty! don't be so sudden, Willie!" he cried. "It was a accident."
But the gun man seemed unconvinced. With cat-like tread he stole cautiously to the door, and stared out into the sunlight; then, seeing nobody in sight, he replaced his weapon in its resting- place and sighed with relief.
"I thought it was the marshal from Waco," he said. "He'll never git me alive."
Stover addressed himself to Fresno, who had gone pale, and was still prostrate where he had fallen.
"Get up, Mr. Berkeley, but don't make no more moves like that behind a man's back. He most got you."
Fresno arose in a daze and mopped his brow, murmuring, weakly,"I-I didn't mean to."
Carara and Mr. Cloudy came out from cover whither they had fled at Willie's first movement. "I dreamed about that feller agin last night," apologized the little man. "I'm sort of nervous, and any sudden noise sets me off."
As for Glass, that corpulent individual had disappeared as if into thin air; only a stir in one of the bunks betrayed his hiding-place. At the first sight of Willie's revolver he had dived for a refuge and was now flattened against the wall, a pillow pressed over his head to deaden the expected report.
"Hey!" called the foreman, but Glass did not hear him.
"Seems to be gun-shy," observed Willie, gently.
Stover crossed to the bunk and laid a hand upon the occupant, at which a convulsion ran through the trainer's soft body, and it became as rigid as if locked in death. "Come out, Mr. Glass, it's all over."
Larry muttered in a stifled voice, "Go 'way!"
"It was a mistake."
He opened his tight-shut lids, rolled over, and thrust forth a round, pallid face. He saw Stover laughing, and beheld the white teeth of Carara, the Mexican, who said:
"Perhaps the Senor is sleepy!"
Finding himself the object of what seemed to him a particularly senseless joke, the New-Yorker crept forth, his face suffused with anger. Strangely enough, he still retained the pipe in his fingers.
"Say, are youse guys tryin' to kid me?" he demanded, roughly. Now that no firearm was in sight, he was master of himself again; and seeing the cause of his undignified alarm leaning against the table, he stepped toward him threateningly. "If you try that again, young feller, I'll chip you on the jaw, and give you a long, dreamy nap." He thrust a short, square fist under Willie's nose.
That scholarly gentleman straightened up, and edged his way to one side, Glass following aggressively.
"You're a husky, ain't you?" said the little man, squinting up at the red face above him. "Am I?" Glass snorted. "Take a good look!" With deliberate menace he bumped violently into the other. It was with difficulty he could restrain himself from crushing him.
Stover gasped and retreated, while Carara crossed himself, then sidled back of a bunk. Mr. Cloudy stepped silently out through the open door and held his thumbs.
"You start to kid me and I'll wallop you—"
"One moment!" Willie was transfigured suddenly. An instant since he had been a stoop-shouldered, short-sighted, insignificant person, more gentle mannered than a child, but in a flash he became a palpitating fury: an evil atom surcharged with such terrific venom that his antagonist drew back involuntarily. "Don't you make no threat'nin' moves in my direction, or you'll go East in an ice-bath!" He was panting as if the effort to hold himself in leash was almost more than he could stand.
"G'wan!" said Glass, thickly.
"You're deluded with the idea that the Constitution made all men equal, but it didn't; it was Mr. Colt." With a movement quicker than light the speaker drew his gun for the second time, and buried half the barrel in the New-Yorker's ribs.
"Look out!" Glass barked the words, and undertook to deflect the weapon with his hand.
"Let it alone or it'll go off!"
Glass dropped his hand as if it had been burned, and stared down his bulging front with horrified, fascinated eyes.
"Now, listen. We've stood for you as long as we can. You've made your talk and got away with it, but from now on you're working for us. We've framed a foot-race, and put up ourpangabecause you said you had a champeen. Now, we ain't sayin' you lied—'cause if we thought you had, I'd gut-shoot you here, now." Willie paused, while Glass licked his lips and undertook to frame a reply. The black muzzle of the weapon hovering near his heart, however, stupefied him. Mechanically he thrust the stem of his pipe between his lips while Willie continued to glare at him balefully. "You're boss is a guest, but you ain't. We can talk plain to you."
"Y—yes, of course."
"You said just now you'd answer for him with your life. Well, we aim to make you! We ain't a-goin' to lose this foot-race under no circumstances whatever, so we give you complete authority over the body, health, and speed of Mr. Speed. It's up to you to make him beat that cook."
"S-s-suppose he gets sick or sprains his ankle?" Glass undertook to move his body from in front of the weapon, but it followed him as if magnetized.
"There ain't a-goin' to be no accidents or excuses. It's pay or play, money at the tape. You're his trainer, and it's your fault if he ain't fit when he toes the mark. Understand?"
Willie lowered the muzzle of his weapon, and fired between the legs of Glass, who leaped into the air with all the grace of a gazelle. It was due to no conscious action on his part that the trainer leaped; his muscles were stimulated spasmodically, and propelled him from the floor. At the same time his will was so utterly paralyzed that he had no control over his movements; he did not even hear the yell that burst from his throat as his lungs contracted; he merely knew that he was in the supremest peril, and that flight was futile. Therefore he undertook to steady himself. Every tissue of his body seemed to creep and crawl. The flesh inside his legs was quivering, the close-cropped hair of his thick neck rose and prickled, and his capacious abdomen throbbed and pulsated like a huge bowl of jelly. He laid his hands upon it to still the disturbance. Then he became conscious that he had bitten his pipe-stem in two and swallowed the end. He felt it sticking in his throat.
"Did you hear what I said?" demanded Willie, in a voice that sounded like the sawing of a meat bone.
Glass opened his mouth, and when no sound issued, nodded.
"And you understand?"
Again the trainer bobbed his head. The pipe-stem had cut off all power of speech, and he knew himself dumb for life.
"Then I guess that's all. It's up to you." Willie replaced his gun, and the fat man threatened to fall. "Come on, boys!" The cowboys filed out silently, but on the threshold Willie paused and darted a venomous glance at his enemy. "Don't forget what I said about Mr. Colt and the equality of man."
"Yes, sir!—yes, ma'am!" ejaculated the frightened trainer, nervously. When they were gone he collapsed.
"They are rather severe, aren't they?" ventured Fresno.
"Severe!" cried the unhappy man. "Why, Speed can't—" He was about to explain everything when the memory of Willie's words smote him like a blow. That fiend had threatened to kill him, Lawrence Glass, without preliminary if it became evident that a fraud had been practiced. Manifestly this was no place for hysterical confidences. Larry's mouth closed like a trap, while the Californian watched him intently. At length he did speak, but in a strangely softened tone, and at utter variance with his custom.
"Say, Mr. Fresno! Which direction is New York?"
"That way." Fresno pointed to the east, and the other man stared longingly out through the bunk-house window.
"It's quite a walk, ain't it?"
"Walk?" Berkeley laughed. "It's two or three thousand miles!"Glass sighed heavily. "Why do you ask?"
"Oh, nothin'. Jest gettin' homesick." He calmed himself with an effort, entered the gymnasium as if in search of something, and then set forth to find Speed.
That ecstatic young gentleman wrenched his gaze away from the blue eyes of Miss Blake to see his trainer signalling him from afar.
"What is it, Lawrence?"
"Got to see you."
"Presently."
"Nix! I got to see younow!" Glass's ruddy face was blotched, and he seemed to rest in the grip of some blighting malady. Beneath his arm he carried a tight-rolled bundle. Sensing something important back of this unusual demeanor, Speed excused himself and followed Larry, who did not trust to speech until they were alone in the gymnasium with the doors closed. Then he unrolled the bundle he carried, spread it upon the floor, and stepped into its exact centre.
"Are you standing on my prayer-rug?" demanded his companion, angrily.
"I am! And from this on I'm goin' to make it work itself to death. She said a feller couldn't get hurt if he stood on it and said 'Allah.' Well, I'm goin' to wear it out."
"What's wrong?"
"Do you know what's goin' to happen to me if Covington don't get here and beat this cook?"
"Happen to you?"
"Yes, me! These outlaws have put it up to me to win this bet for them."
"Well, Covington can beat anybody."
"But Covington isn't here yet."
"Not yet, but—" The young man smiled. "You're not frightened, are you?"
"Scared to death, that's all," acknowledged the other. Then when his employer laughed openly, he broke out at a white-heat. "Joke, eh? Well, you'd better have a good laugh while you can, because Humpy Joe's finish will be a ten-course dinner to what you'll get if Covington misses his train."
"How easily frightened you are!"
"Yes? Well, any time people start shooting shots I'm too big for this earth. The hole in a gun looks as big as a gas-tank to me."
"But nobody is going to shoot you!" exclaimed the mystified college man.
"They ain't, hey? I missed the Golden Stairs by a lip not half an hour ago. I got a pipe-stem crossways in my gullet now, and it tickles." He coughed loudly, then shook his head. "No use; it won't come up." With feverish intensity he told of his narrow escape from destruction, the memory bringing a sweat of agony to his brow. "And the worst of it is," he concluded, "I'm 'marked' with guns. I've always been that way."
"Tut! tut! Don't alarm yourself. If Covington shouldn't come, the race will be declared off."
"No chance," announced the trainer, with utter conviction. "These thugs have made it pay or play, and the bets are down."
"You know I can't run."
"If he don't come, you'llhaveto!"
"Absurd! I shall be indisposed."
"If you mean you'll get sick, or sprain an ankle, or break a leg, or kill yourself, guess again. I'm responsible for you now. Something may go wrong with me, that pipe-stem is liable to gimme a cancer, but nothin' is goin' to happen to you. My only chance to make a live of it is to cough up that clay, and get some one to outrun this cook. You're the only chance I've got, if Culver don't show, and the first law of nature ain't never been repealed."
"Self-protection, eh?"
"Exactly." Glass coughed thrice without result, stepped off the prayerrug, rolled it up tightly; then, hugging it beneath his arm, went on: "That four-eyed guy slipped me a whole lot of feed- box information. Why, he's a killer, Wally! And he's got a cash- register to tally his dead."
"Notches on his gun-handle, I suppose?"
"So many that it looks like his wife had used it to hang pictures with. I tell you, he's the most deceitful rummy I ever seen. What's more, he's got the homicide habit, and the habit has got its eye onme." Glass was in deadly earnest, and his alarm contrasted so strongly with his former contemptuous attitude toward the cowboys that Speed was constrained to laugh again.
"It's the most amusing thing I ever heard of."
"Yes," said the trainer, with elaborate sarcasm, "it would be awful funny if it wasn't on the square." He moistened his lip nervously.
"You alarm yourself unnecessarily. We'll hear from Culver soon, either by wire or in person. He's never failed me yet. But if I were you, Larry, I'd leave that Mexican girl alone."
"Mary?"
"Yes. Mariedetta. Now, there's something to be afraid of. If these cowboys are in love with her and have their eyes on you—"
"Oh, Willie ain't her steady, and he's the only one I'm leary of. Mary's beau is that Egyptian with the funny clothes, and I can lick any guy with tight pants."
A gentle knock sounded at the door, at which Speed called:
"Come in!"
Senor Aurelio Maria Carara entered. He was smoking his customary corn-husk cigarette, but his dark eyes were grave and his silken mustachios were pointed to the fineness of a bristle.
"Buenos dias, Senor." Carara bowed politely to Speed.
"Good-morning again," said Wally.
Turning to the trainer, Carara eyed him from top to toe, removed his cigarette, and flipped the ashes daintily from it; then, smiling disdainfully, said:
"Buenos dias, Senor Fat!"
Glass started. "You talkin' to me?"
"Yes." Carara leaned languidly against the wall, took a match from his pocket, and dextrously struck it between the nails of his thumb and finger. He breathed his lungs full of smoke and exhaled it through his nose. "I would have spik to you biffore, but the Senor Fat is"—he shrugged his shoulders—"frighten' so bad he will not understan'. So—I come back."
"Who's scared?" said Glass, gruffly.
Carara turned his palm outward, in gentle apology.
"You been talk' a gret deal to my Senorita—to Mariedetta, eh?"
"Oh, the Cuban Queen!" Glass winked openly at Speed. "Sure! I slip her a laugh now and then."
"She is notCubana, she isMexicana," said Carara, politely.
"Well, what d'you think of that! I thought she was a Cuban."Glass began to chuckle.
"Senor Fat," broke in the Mexican, sharply, while Larry winced at the distasteful appellation, "she ismySenorita!"
"Is she? Well, I can't help it if she falls for me." The speaker cast an appreciative glance at his employer. "And you can cut out that 'Senor Fat,' because it don't go—" Then he gasped, for Carara slowly drew from inside his shirt a long, thin-bladed knife bearing marks of recent grinding, and his black eyes snapped. His face had become suddenly convulsed, while his voice rang with the tone of chilled metal. Glass retreated a step, a shudder ran through him, and his eyes riveted themselves upon the weapon with horrified intensity.
"Listen, Pig! If you spik to her again, I will cut you." The gaze of the Mexican pierced his victim. "I will not keel you, I will just—cut you!"
Speed, who had sat in open-mouthed amazement during the scene, pinched himself. Like Larry, he could not remove his gaze from the swarthy man. He pulled himself together with an effort, however, undertaking to divert the present trend of the conversation.
"W—where will you cut him?" he asked, pleasantly, more to make conversation than from any lingering question as to the precise location.
"Here." Carara turned the blade against himself, and traced a cross upon his front, whereupon the trainer gurgled and laid protecting hands upon his protruding abdomen. "You spik Spanish?" "No." Glass shook his head.
"But you understan' w'at I try to say?"
"Yes—oh yes—I'm hep all right."
"And the Senor Fat will r-r-re-member?"
"Sure!" Glass sighed miserably, and tearing his eyes away from the glittering blade, rolled them toward his employer. "I don't want her! Mr. Speed knows I don't want her!"
Carara bowed. "And the Fat Senor will not spik wit' her again?"
"No!"
"Gracias, Senor!I thank you!"
"You're welcome!" agreed the New Yorker, with repressed feeling.
"Adios! Adios,Senor Speed!"
"Good-bye!" exclaimed the two in chorus.
Carara returned the knife to its hiding-place, swept the floor gracefully with his sombrero, then placing the spangled head- piece at an exact angle upon his raven locks, lounged out, his silver spurs tinkling in the silence.
Glass took a deep breath.
"He doesn't mean to kill you—just cut you," said Speed. "I got it," declared the other, fervently. Again he laid repressing hands upon his bulging front and looked down at it tenderly. "They've all got it in for my pad, haven't they?"
"I told you to keep away from that girl."
"Humph!" Glass spoke with soulful conviction. "Take it from me, Bo, I'll walk around her as if she was a lake. Who'd ever think that chorus-man was a killer?"
"Surely you don't care for her seriously?"
"Not now. I—I love my Cuban, but"—he quivered apprehensively—"I'll bet that rummy packs a 'shiv' in every pocket."
From outside the bunk-house came the low, musical notes of a quail, and Glass puckered his lips to answer, then grew pale. "That's her," he declared, in a panic. "I've got a date with her."
"Are you going to keep it?"
"Not for a nose-bag full of gold nuggets! Take a look, Wally, and see what she's doing."
Speed did as directed. "She's waiting."
"Let her wait," breathed the trainer.
"Here comes Stover and Willie."
"More bad news." Glass unrolled his prayer-rug, and stepped upon it hastily. "Say, what's that word? Quick! You know! The password. Quick!"
"Allah!"
"That's her!" The fat man began to mumble thickly. It was plain that his spirit was utterly broken.
But this call was prompted purely by solicitude, it seemed. Willie had little to say, and Stover, ignoring all mention of the earlier encounter he had witnessed, exclaimed:
"There's been some queer goin's-on 'round here, Mr. Speed. Have you noticed 'em?"
"No. What sort?"
"Well, the other mornin' I discovered some tracks through one ofMiss Jean's flower-beds."
"Tracks!"
"Sure! Strange tracks. Man's tracks."
"What does that signify?"
"We ain't altogether certain. Carara says he seen a stranger hangin' around night before last, and jest now we found where a hoss had been picketed out in the ravine. Looks like he'd stood there more'n once."
"Why, this is decidedly mysterious."
"We figured we'd ought to tell you."
"It has nothing to do with me."
"I ain't sure. It looks to us like it's somebody from theCentipede. They're equal to any devilment."
Speed showed an utter lack of comprehension, so Willie explained.
"Understand, we've made this race pay or play. Mebbe they aim to cripple you."
"Me!" Speed started. "Good Heavens!"
"Oh, they'd do it quick enough! I wouldn't put it past 'em to drop a .45 through your winder if it could be done safe."
"Shoot me, you mean?"
"Allah!" said Glass, devoutly from his corner.
Stover and Willie nodded. "If I was you, I'd keep the lamp between me and the winder every night."
"Why, this is abominable!" exclaimed the young college man, stiffly. "I—I can't stand for this, it's getting too serious."
"There ain't nothin' to fear," said Willie, soothingly. "Remember, I told you at the start that we'd see there wasn't no crooked work done. Well, I'm goin' to ride herd on you, constant, Mr. Speed." He smiled in a manner to reassure. "If there's any shootin' comes off, I'll be in on it."
"S—say, what's to prevent us being murdered when we're out for a run?" queried Glass.
"Me!" declared the little man. "I'll saddle my bronc' an' lope along with you. We'll keep to the open country."
Instantly Speed saw the direful consequences of such a procedure, and summoned his courage to say: "No. It's very kind of you, but I shall give up training."
"What!"
"I mean training on the road. I—I'll run indoors."
"Not a bit like it," declared Stover. "You'll get your daily run if we have to lay off all the punchers on the place and put 'em on as a body-guard."
"But I don't want a body-guard!" cried the athlete desperately.
"We can't let you get hurt. You're worth too much to us."
"Larry and I will take a chance."
"Not for mine!" firmly declared the trainer. "I don't need no mineral in my system. I'm for the house."
"Then I shall run alone."
"You're game," said Willie admiringly, and his auditor breathed easier, "but we can't allow it."
"I—I'd rather risk my life than put you to so much trouble."
"It's only a pleasure."
"Nevertheless, I can't allow it. I'll run alone, if they kill me for it."
"Oh, they won't try tokillyou. They'll probably shoot you in the legs. That's just as good, and it's a heap easier to get away with."
Speed felt his knee-caps twitching.
"I've got it!" said he at last. "I'll run at night!"
Stover hesitated thoughtfully. "I don't reckon you could do yourself justice that-away, but you might do your trainin' at daylight. The Centipede goes to work the same time we do, and the chances is your assassin won't miss his breakfast."
"Good! I—I'll do that!"
"I sure admire your courage, but if you see anything suspicious, let us know. We'll git 'em," said Willie.
"Thank you."
The two men went out, whereupon Glass chattered:
"W—what did I tell you? It's worse'n suicide to stick around this farm. I'm going to blow."
"Where are you going?"
"New York. Let's beat it!"
"Never!" exclaimed the college man, stubbornly. We'll hear from Covington before long. Besides, I can't leave until I get some money from home."
"Let's walk."
"Don't be a fool!"
"Then I've got to have a drink." Glass started for the living- quarters, but at the door ducked quickly out of sight.
"She's there!" he whispered tragically. "She seen me, too!"
Mariedetta was squatting in the shade opposite, her eyes fixed stolidly upon the training-quarters.
"Then you've got to lay low till she gives up," declared Wally."We're in trouble enough as it is."
For nearly an hour the partners discussed the situation while the Mexican maid retained her position; then, when Glass was on the verge of making a desperate sally, Cloudy entered silently. Although this had been an unhappy morning for the trainer, here at least was one person of whom he had no fear, and his natural optimism being again to the fore, he greeted the Indian lightly.
"Well, how's the weather, Cloudy?"
"Mr. Cloudy to you," said the other. Both Glass and his protege stared. It was the first word the Indian had uttered since their arrival. Lawrence winked at his companion.
"All right, if you like it better. How's the weather, Mister Cloudy?" He snickered at his own joke, whereupon the aborigine turned upon him slowly, and said, in perfect English:
"Your humor is misplaced with me. Don't forget, Mr. Glass, that the one Yale football team you trained, I dropped a goal on from the forty-five-yard line."
Glass allowed his mouth to open in amazement. The day was replete with surprises.
"'96!" he said, while the light of understanding came over him. "You're Cloudy-but-the-Sun-Shines?"
"Yes—Carlisle." Cloudy threw back his head, and pointed with dignity to the flag of his Alma Mater hanging upon the wall.
"By Jove, I remember that!" exclaimed Speed.
"So will Yale so long as she lives," predicted the Indian, grimly. "You crippled me in the second half"—he stirred his withered leg—"but I dropped it on you; and—I have not forgotten." He ground the last sentence between his teeth.
"See here, Bo—Mr. Cloudy. You don't blame us for that?" Cloudy grunted, and threw a yellow envelope on the floor at Speed's feet. "There is something for you," said he, while his lips curled. He turned, and limped silently to the door.
"And I tried to kid him!" breathed Glass with disgust, when the visitor had gone. "I ain't been in right since Garfield was shot."
"It's a telegram from Covington!" cried Speed, tearing open the message. "At last!"
"Thank the Lord!" Glass started forward eagerly. "When'll he be here? Quick!" Then he paused. J. Wallingford Speed had gone deathly pale, and was reeling slightly. "What's wrong?"
The college man made uncertainly for his bed, murmuring incoherently:
"I—I'm sick! I'm sick, Larry!" He fell limply at full length, and groaned, "Call the race off!"
Glass snatched the missive from his employer's nerveless fingers, and read, with bulging eyes, as follows:
"J. WALLINGFORD SPEED,Flying Heart Ranch, Kidder, NewMexico:
"Don't tip off. Am in jail Omaha. Looks like ten days.
The trainer uttered a cry like that of a wounded animal.
"Call it off, Larry," moaned the Hope of the Flying Heart. "I've been poisoned!"
"Poisoned, eh?" said the fat man, tremulously. "Poisoned!Nix!Not with me!" He walked firmly across the room, flung back the lid of Speed's athletic trunk, and began to paw through it feverishly. One after another he selected three heavy sweaters, then laid strong hands upon his protege and jerked him to his feet. "Sick, eh? Here, get into these!"
"What do you mean, Lawrence?" inquired his victim.
"If you get sick, I die." Glass opened the first sweater, and half-smothered his protege with it. "Hurry up! You're going into training!"
That was a terrible hour for J. Wallingford Speed. As for Larry, once he had grasped the full significance of the telegram, he became a different person. Some fierce electric charge wrought a chemical alteration in his every fibre; he became a domineering, iron-willed autocrat, obsessed by the one idea of his own preservation, and not hesitating to use physical force when force became necessary to lessen his peril.
Repeatedly Speed folded his arms over his stomach, rocked in the throes of anguish, and wailed that he was perishing of cramps; the trainer only snorted with derision. When he refused to don the clothes selected for him, Glass fell upon him like a raging grizzly.
"You won't, eh? We'll see!" Then Speed took refuge in anger, but the other cried:
"Never mind the hysterics, Bo. You're going to run off some blubber to-day."
"But I haveto go riding!"
"Not a chance!"
"I tell you I'll run when I come back," maintained the youth, almost tearfully beseeching. "They're waiting for me."
"Let 'em gallop—you can run alongside."
"With all these sweaters? I'd have a sunstroke."
"It's the best thing for you. I never thought of that."
As Glass forced his protege toward the house, the other young people appeared clad for their excursion; their horses were tethered to the porch. And it was an ideal day for a ride—warm, bright, and inviting. Over to the northward the hills, mysteriously purple, invited exploration; to the south and east the golden prairie undulated gently into a hazy realm of infinite possibilities; the animals themselves turned friendly eyes upon their riders, champing and whinnying as if eager to bear them out into the distances.
"We are ready!" called Jean gayly.
"What in the world—" Helen paused at sight of the swathed figure. "Are you cold, Mr. Speed?"
"Climb on your horses and get a start," panted the burly trainer; "he's goin' to race you ten miles."
"I'm going to do nothing of the sort. I'm going to—"
But Glass jerked him violently, crying:
"And no talkin' to gals, neither. You're trainin'. Now, get a move!"
Speed halted stubbornly.
"Hit her up, Wally! G'wan, now—faster! No loafing, Bo, or I'll wallop you!" Nor did he cease until they both paused from exhaustion. Even then he would not allow his charge to do more than regain his breath before urging him onward.
"See here," Wally stormed at last, "what's the use? I can't—"
"What's the use? That's the use!" Glass pointed to the north, where a lone horseman was watching them from a knoll. "D'you know who that is?"
The rider was small and stoop-shouldered.
"Willie!"
"That's who."
"He's following us!"
With knees trembling beneath him Speed jogged feebly on down the road, Glass puffing at his heels.
When, after covering five miles, they finally returned to the Flying Heart, it was with difficulty that they could drag one foot after another. Wally Speed was drenched with perspiration, and Glass resembled nothing so much as a steaming pudding; rivulets of sweat ran down his neck, his face was purple, his lips swollen.
"Y-you'll have—to run alone—this afternoon," panted the tormentor.
"This afternoon? Haven't I run enough for—one day?" the victim pleaded. "Glass, old man, I—I'm all in, I tell you; I'm ready to die."
"Got to—fry off some more—leaf-lard," declared the trainer with vulgarity. He lumbered into the cook-house, radiating heat waves, puffing like a traction-engine, while his companion staggered to the gymnasium, and sank into a chair. A moment later he appeared with two bottles of beer, one glued to his lips. Both were evidently ice cold, judging from the fog that covered them.
Speed rose with a cry.
"Gee! That looks good!"
But the other, thrusting him aside without removing the neck of the bottle from his lips, gurgled:
"No booze, Wally! You're trainin'!"
"But I'm thirsty!" shouted the athlete, laying hands upon the full bottle, and trying to wrench it free.
"Have a little sense. If you're thirsty, hit the sink." Glass still maintained his hold, mumbling indistinctly: "Water's the worst thing in the world. Wait! I'll get you some."
He stepped into the bunk-room, to return an instant later with a cup half full. "Rinse out your mouth, and don't swallow it all."
"All! There isn't that much. Ugh! It's lukewarm. I want a bucket of ice-water—ice-water!"
"Nothing doing! I won't stand to have your epictetus chilled."
"My what?"
"Never mind now. Off with them clothes, and get under that shower. I guess it'll feel pretty good to-day."
Speed obeyed instructions sullenly, while his trainer, reclining in the cosey-corner, uncorked the second bottle. From behind the blanket curtains where the barrel stood, the former demanded:
"What did you mean by saying I'd have to run again this afternoon?"
"Starts!" said Glass, shortly.
"Starts?"
"Fast work. We been loafing so far; you got to get some ginger."
"Rats! What's the use?"
"No use at all. You couldn't outrun a steam-roller, but if you won't duck out, I've got to do my best. I'd as lief die of a gunshot-wound as starve to death in the desert."
"Do you suppose wecouldrun away?"
"Could we!" Glass propped himself eagerly upon one elbow. "Leave it to me."
"No!" Wally resumed rubbing himself down. "I can't leave without looking like a quitter. Fresno would get her sure."
"What's the difference if you're astraddle of a cloud with a gold guitar in your lap?"
"Oh, they won'tkillus."
"I tell you these cow-persons is desp'rate. If you stay here and run that race next Saturday, she'll tiptoe up on Sunday and put a rose in your hand, sure. I can see her now, all in black. Take it from me, Wally, we ain't goin' to have no luck in this thing."
"My dear fellow, the simplest way out of the difficulty is for me to injure myself—"
"Here!" Glass hopped to his feet and dove through the blankets. "None of that! Have a little regard for me. If you go lame it's my curtain."
All that day the trainer stayed close to his charge, never allowing him out of his sight, and when, late in the afternoon, Speed rebelled at the espionage, Glass merely shrugged his fat shoulders. "But I want to be alone—withher. Can't you see?"
"I can, but I won't. Go as far as you like. I'll close my eyes."
"OrI'llclose them for you!" The lad scowled; his companion laughed mirthlessly.
"Don't start nothin' like that—I'd ruin you. Gals is bad for a man in trainin' anyhow."
"I suppose I'm not to see her—"
"You canseeher, but I want to hear what you say to her.No emotion till after this race, Wally."
"You're an idiot! This whole affair is preposterous—ridiculous."
"And yet it don't make us laugh, does it?" Glass mocked.
"If these cowboys make me run that race, they'll be sorry—mark my words, they'll be sorry."
Speed lighted a cigarette and inhaled deeply, but only once. The other lunged at him with a cry and snatched it. "Give me that cigarette!"
"I've had enough of this foolishness," Wally stormed. "You are discharged!"
"I wish I was."
"You are!"
"Not!"
"I say you are fired!" Glass stared at him. "Oh, I mean it! I won't be bullied."
"Very well." Glass rose ponderously. "I'll wise up that queen of yours, Mr. Speed."
"You aren't going to talk to Miss Blake? Wait!" Speed wilted miserably. "She mustn't know. I—I hire you over again."
"Suit yourself."
"You see, don't you? My love for Helen is the only serious thing I ever experienced," said the boy. "I—can't lose her. You've got to help me out."
And so it was agreed.
That evening, when the clock struck nine, J. Wallingford Speed was ready and willing to drag himself off to bed, in spite of the knowledge that Fresno was waiting to take his place in the hammock. He was racked by a thousand pains, his muscles were sore, his back lame. He was consumed by a thirst which Glass stoutly refused to let him quench, and possessed by a fearful longing for a smoke. When he dozed off, regardless of the snores from the bunk-house adjoining, Berkeley Fresno's musical tenor was sounding in his ears. And Helen Blake was vaguely surprised. For the first time in their acquaintance Mr. Speed had yawned openly in her presence, and she wondered if he were tiring of her.
It seemed to Speed that he had barely closed his eyes when he felt a rough hand shaking him, and heard his trainer's voice calling, in a half-whisper: "Come on, Cull! Get up!"
When he turned over it was only to be shaken into complete wakefulness.
"Hurry up, it's daylight!"
"Where?"
"Come, now, you got to run five miles before breakfast!"
Speed sat up with a groan. "If I run five miles," he said, "I won't want any breakfast," and laid himself down again gratefully—he was very sore—whereat his companion fairly dragged him out of bed. As yet the room was black, although the windows were grayed by the first faint streaks of dawn. From the adjoining room came a chorus of distress: snores of every size, volume, and degree of intensity, from the last harrowing gasp of strangulation to the bold trumpetings of a bull moose. There were long drawn sighs, groans of torture, rumbling blasts. Speed shuddered.
"They sound like a troop of trained sea-lions," said he.
"Don't wake 'em up. Here!" Glass yawned widely, and tossed a bundle of sweaters at his companion.
"Ugh! These clothes are all wet and cold, and—it feels like blood!"
"Nothin' but the mornin' dew."
"It's perspiration."
"Well, a little sweat won't hurt you."
"Nasty word." Speed yawned in turn. "Perspiration! I can't wear wet clothes," and would have crept back into his bed.
This time Glass deposited him upon a stool beside the table, and then lighted a candle, by the sickly glare of which he selected a pair of running-shoes.
"Why didn't you leave me alone?" grumbled the younger man. "The only pleasure I get is in sleep—I forget things then."
"Yes," retorted the former, sarcastically, "and you also seem to forget that these are our last days among the living. Saturday the big thing comes off."
"Forget! I dreamed about it!" The boy sighed heavily. It was the hour in which hope reaches its lowest ebb and vitality is weakest. He was very cold and very miserable.
"You ain't got no edge on me," the other acknowledged, mournfully. "I'm too young to die, and that's a bet."
Suddenly the pandemonium in the bunk-house was pierced by the brazen jangle of an alarm-clock, whereat a sleepy voice cried:
"Cloudy, kill that damn clock!"
The Indian uttered some indistinguishable epithet, and the next instant there came a crash as the offending timepiece was hurled violently against the wall. In silence Glass shoved his unsteady victim ahead of him out into the dawn. In the east the sun was rising amid a riotous splendor. At any other time, under any other conditions, Speed could not have restrained his admiration, for the whole world was a glorious sparkling panoply of color. The tumbled masses of the hills were blazing at their crests, the valleys dark and cool. In the east the limb of the sun was just rearing itself, the air was heady with the scent of growing things, and so clear that the distances were magically shortened; a certain wild, intoxicating exuberance surcharged the out-of- doors. But to the stiff and wearied Eastern lad it was all cruelly mocking. When he halted listlessly to view its beauties he was goaded forward, ever forward, faster and faster, until finally, amid protests and sighs and complaining joints, he broke into a heavy, flat-footed jog-trot that jolted the artistic sense entirely out of him.
It was usually a procedure not alone of difficulty but of diplomacy as well, to rout out the ranch-hands of the Flying Heart without engendering hostile relations that might bear fruit during the day. This morning Still Bill Stover had more than his customary share of trouble, for they seemed pessimistic.
Carara, for instance, breathed a Spanish oath as he combed his hair, and when the foreman inquired the reason, replied:
"I don' sleep good. I been t'ink mebbe I lose my saddle on this footrace."
Cloudy, whose toilet was much less intricate, grunted from the shadows:
"I thought I heard that phonograph all night."
"It was the Natif Son singin' to his gal," explained one of the hands. "He's gettin' on my nerves, too. If he wasn't a friend of the boss, I'd sure take a surcingle and abate him considerable."
"Vat you t'ank? I dream' Mr. Speed is ron avay an' broke his leg," volunteered Murphy, the Swede, whose name New Mexico had shortened from Bjorth Kjelliser.
"Run away?"
"Ya-as! I dream' he's out for little ron ven piece of noosepaper blow up in his face an' mak' him ron avay, yust same as horse. He snort an' yump, an' ron till he step in prairie-dog hole and broke his leg."
"Strange!" said Willie.
"What?"
"My rest was fitful and disturbed and peopled by strange fancies a whole lot. I dreamp' hethrowedthe race!"
A chorus of oaths from the bunks.
"What did you do?" inquired Stover.
"I woke up, all of a tremble, with a gun in each hand."
"I don't take no stock in dreams whatever," said some one.
"Well, I'm the last person in the world to be superstitious,"Still Bill observed, "but I've had sim'lar visions lately."
"Maybe it's a om-en."
"What is a om-en?" Carara inquired.
"A om-en," explained Willie, "is a kind of a nut. Salted om-ens is served at swell restaurants with the soup."
In the midst of it Joy, the cook, appeared in the doorway, and spoke in his gentle, ingratiating tones:
"Morning, gel'mum! I see 'im again."
"Who?"
"No savvy who; stlange man! I go down to spling-house for bucket water; see 'im lide 'way. Velly stlange!"
"I bet it's Gallagher."
"Vat you tank he vants?" queried Murphy.
"He's layin' to get a shot at our runner," declared Stover, while Mr. Cloudy, forgetting his Indian reserve, explained in classic English his own theory of the nocturnal visits. "Do you remember Humpy Joe? Well, they didn't cripple him, but he lost. I don't think Gallagher would injure Mr. Speed, but—he might—bribe him."
"Caramba!" exclaimed the Mexican.
"God 'lmighty!" Willie cried, in shocked accents.
"I believe you're right, but"—Stover meditated briefly before announcing with determination—"we'll do a little night-ridin' ourselves. Willie, you watch this young feller daytimes, and the rest of us'll take turns at night. An' don't lose sight of the fat man, neither—he might carry notes. If you don't like the looks of things—you know what cards to draw."
"Sixes," murmured the near-sighted cow-man. "Don't worry."
"If you see anything suspicious, burn it up. And we'll take a shot at anything we see movin' after 9 P.M."
Then Berkeley Fresno came hurriedly into the bunk-house with a very cheery "Good-morning! I'm glad I found you up and doing," he said blithely. "I thought of something in my sleep." It was evident that the speaker had been in more than ordinary haste to make his discovery known, for underneath his coat he still wore his pajama shirt, and his hair was unbrushed.
"What is it?"
"Your man Speed isn't taking care of himself."
"What did I tell you?" said Willie to his companions.
"It seems to me that in justice to you boys he shouldn't act this way," Fresno ran on. "Now, for instance, the water in his shower- bath is tepid."
There was an instant's silence before Stover inquired, with ominous restraint:
"Who's been monkeying with it?"
"It's warm!"
"Oh!" It was a sigh of relief.
"A man can't get in shape taking warm shower-baths. Warm water weakens a person."
"Mebbe you-all will listen to me next time!" again cried Willie, triumphantly. "I said at the start that a bath never helped nobody. When they're hot they saps a man's courage, and when they're cold they—"
"No, no! You don't understand! For an athlete the bath ought to be cold—the colder the better. It's the shock that hardens a fellow."
"Has he weakened himself much?" inquired the foreman.
"Undoubtedly, but—"
"What?"
"If we only had some ice—"
"We got ice; plenty of it. We got a load from the railroad yesterday."
"Then our only chance to save him is to fill the barrel quickly.We must freeze him, and freeze him well, before it is too late!By Jove! I'm glad I thought of it!"
Stover turned to his men. "Four of you-all hustle up a couple hundred pounds of that icepronto!Crack it, an' fill the bar'l." There was a scramble for the door.
"And there's something else, too," went on Berkeley. "He's being fed wrong for his last days of training. The idea of a man eating lamb-chops, fried eggs, oatmeal, and all that debilitating stuff! Those girls overload his stomach. Why, he ought to have something to make him strong—fierce!"
"Name it," said Willie, shortly.
"Something like—like—bear meat."
"We ain't got no bear." Willie looked chagrined.
"This ain't their habitat," added Stover apologetically.
"Well, he ought to have meat, and it ought to be wild—raw, if possible."
"There ain't nothin' wilder 'n a long-horn. We can git him a steer."
"You are sure the meat isn't too tender?"
"It's tougher 'n a night in jail."
"There ain't no sausage-mill that'll dent it."
"Good! The rarer it is the better. Some raw eggs and a good strong vegetable—"
"Onions?"
"Fine! We'll save him yet!"
"We'll get the grub."
"And he'll eat it!" Willie nodded firmly.
Stover issued another order, this time to Carara. "You 'n Cloudy butcher the wildest four-year-old you can find. If you can't get close enough to rope him, shoot him, and bring in a hind quarter. It's got to be here in time for breakfast."
"Si, Senor!" The Mexican picked up his lariat; the Indian took aWinchester from an upper bunk and filled it with cartridges.
"Of course, he'll have to eat out here; they spoil him up at the house."
"Sure thing!"
"I'd hate to see him lose; it would be a terrible blow to MissBlake." Fresno shook his head doubtfully.
"What about us?"
"Oh, you can stand it—but she's a girl. Ah, well," the speaker sighed, "I hope nothing occurs between now and Saturday to prevent his running."
"It won't," Stover grimly assured the Californian. "Nothin' whatever is goin' to occur."
"He was speaking yesterday about the possibility of some business engagement—"
The small man in glasses interrupted. "Nothin' but death shall take him from us, Mr. Fresno."
"If I think of anything else," offered Berkeley, kindly, "I'll tell you."
"We wish you would."
Fresno returned to the house, humming cheerily. It was still an hour until his breakfast-time, but he had accomplished much. In the midst of his meditation he came upon Miss Blake emerging upon the rear porch.
"Good-morning!" he cried. She started a trifle guiltily. "What are you doing at this hour?"
"Oh, I just love the morning air," she answered. "And you?"
"Same here! 'Honesty goes to bed early, and industry rises betimes.' That's me!"
"Then you have been working?"
Fresno nodded. He was looking at four cowboys who were entering the gymnasium, staggering beneath dripping gunny-sacks. Then he turned his gaze searchingly upon the girl.
"Were you looking for Speed?" he asked accusingly. "The idea!"Miss Blake flushed faintly.
"If you are, he has gone for a run. I dearly love to see him get up early and run, he enjoys it so. To give pleasure to others is one of my constant aims. That is why I learned to sing." "I have been baking a cake," said Helen, displaying the traces of her occupation upon hands, arms, and apron, while Fresno, at sight of the blue apron tied at her throat and waist, felt that he himself was as dough in her hands. "I had a dreadful time to make it rise."
"Early rising is always unpopular."
"How clever you are this morning."
"If I were a cake I would rise at your lightest word."
"The cook said it wouldn't be fit to eat," declared Helen.
"Jealousy! She hadn't been up long."
"And Ididleave a lot of dishes to wash after I had finished," Miss Blake admitted.
"I should love to eat your cooking."
"Once in a while, perhaps, but not every day."
"Every day—always and always. You know what I-mean, Miss Blake— Helen!" The young man bent a lover's gaze upon his companion until he detected her eyes fastened with startled inquiry upon his toilet. Remembering, he buttoned his coat, but ran on. "This is the first chance I've had to see you alone since Speed arrived. There's something I want to ask you."
"I—I know what it is," stammered Helen. "You want me to let you sing again. Please do. I love morning music—and your voice is so tender."
"Life," said Berkeley, "is one sweet—"
"What is going on here?" demanded a voice behind them, and Mrs. Keap came out upon the porch, eying the pair suspiciously. It was evident that she, like Fresno, had dressed hurriedly.
"Mr. Fresno is going to sing to us," explained the younger girl, quickly.
"Really?"
"I am like the bird that greets the morn with song," laughed the tenor, awkwardly.
"What are you going to sing?" demanded the chaperon, still suspiciously. "Dearie."
"Don't you know any other song?"
"Oh yes, but they are all sad."
"I'm getting a trifle tired ofDearie, let's have one of the others." Mrs. Keap turned her eyes anxiously toward the training-quarters, and it was patent that she had not counted upon this encounter. Noting her lack of ease, Fresno said hopefully:
"If you are going for a walk, I'll sing for you at some other time."
"Is Mr. Speed up yet?"
"Up and gone. He'll be back soon."
Then Mrs. Keap sank into the hammock, and with something like resignation, said:
"Proceed with the song."
Along the road toward the ranch buildings plodded two dusty pedestrians, one a blond youth bundled thickly in sweaters, the other a fat man who rolled heavily, and paused now and then to mop his purple face. Both were dripping as if from an immersion, while the air about the latter vibrated with heat waves. They both stumbled as they walked, and it was only by the strongest effort of will that they propelled themselves. As they neared the corner of the big, low-lying ranch-house, already reflecting the hot glare of the morning sun, a man's clear tenor voice came to them.
"The volley was fired at sunrise,Just at the break of day"—
"Did you get that?" one of the two exclaimed hoarsely. "They're practising a death-march, and it's ours."
"And as the echoes lingered,His soul had passed away."
"That's you, Wally!" wheezed the trainer.