'Drag' Harlan Read online

  CHAPTER VII

  SINGLE-HANDED

  Noting the concerted movement toward him, Harlan grinned at Barbara,gently disengaged himself from her grasp, and urged her toward the doorof the sheriff's office. She made no objection, for she felt that furthertrouble impended, and she knew she must not impede any action her rescuerplanned.

  Reaching the street a few minutes before, she had noted the preparationsfor the swift tragedy that had followed; and despite her wild desire toescape Deveny's man, she had halted, fascinated by the spectaclepresented by the two men, gambling with death.

  She had halted at a little distance, crouching against the front of abuilding. And while she had been crouching there, trembling with a newapprehension, her pursuer had caught her.

  She had hardly been aware of him, and his grasp on her arm she had notresisted, so intense was her interest in what was transpiring. But thesudden ending of the affair brought again into her consciousness therecollection of her own peril, and when she saw Deveny cross the streetshe broke from the man's restraining grasp and ran to Harlan, convincedthat he--because he seemed to be antagonistic toward the forces arrayedagainst her--would protect her.

  And now, shrinking into the open doorway of the sheriff's office, shewatched breathlessly, with straining senses, the moving figures in thedrama.

  Harlan had backed a little way toward the doorway in which Barbara stood.The movement was strategic, and had been accomplished with deliberation.He was facing Lamo's population--at least that proportion of it which wasat home--with the comforting assurance that no part of it could getbehind him.

  The gun he had drawn upon the approach of Barbara's pursuer was still inhis right hand. It menaced no one, and yet it seemed to menace everyonewithin range of it.

  For though the gun was held loosely in Harlan's hand, the muzzledownward, there was a glow in the man's eyes that conveyed a warning.

  The smile on his face, too, was pregnant with the promise of violence. Itwas a surface smile, penetrating no deeper than his lips, and behind it,partially masked by the smile, the men in the group in the street coulddetect the destroying passion that ruled the man at this instant.

  Deveny, who had approached to a point within a dozen feet of Harlan, cameto a slow, reluctant halt when he caught a glimpse of the strange glow inHarlan's eyes. All the others, Sheriff Gage included, likewisehalted--most of them at a considerable distance, as their conceptions ofprudence suggested.

  Harlan's grin grew ironic as he noted the pause--the concerted rigidityof Lamo's population.

  "Seems there's a heap of folks wantin' to palaver," he said lowly. "An'no one is crowdin' me. That's polite an' proper. Seems you all sort ofguessed there's plenty of room, an' crowdin' ain't necessary. I'd thankevery specimen to hook his thumbs in the armholes of his vest--same asthough he's a member of the pussy-cafe outfit which I've seen inChicago, makin' moon-eyes at girls. If there's any of you ain't got onvests, why, you can fasten your sky-hooks on your shoulders any way tosuit your idee of safety. Get them up!"

  It seemed ludicrous to Barbara, despite the shadow of tragedy that lurkedover it all--the embarrassed manner in which Lamo's citizens compliedwith the command, and the spectacle they presented afterward.

  Deveny's hands were the last to go up. There was a coldly malignant glarein his eyes as under Harlan's unwavering gaze he finally raised his handsand held them, palms outward, as for inspection.

  Rogers had complied instantly. There was a smile on his face, faint andsuggestive of grim amusement, for he had been mentally tortured over thecontemplation of Barbara's predicament, and had been unable to think ofany plan by which he might assist her.

  Meeder Lawson's face was sullen and full of impotent rage, and he watchedDeveny with a gaze of bitter accusation when he saw that the big manintended to obey Harlan's order. Barbara's pursuer, having felt Deveny'sangry gaze upon him, and being uncomfortably conscious that Harlan hadnot forgotten him, was red of face and self-conscious. He started, andthe red in his face deepened, when Harlan, in the silence which followedthe concerted raising of hands, spoke sharply to him:

  "What was you tryin' to corral that girl for? Talk fast or I'll bust youwide open!"

  The man grinned foolishly, shooting a furtive glance at Deveny.

  "Why," he said, noting Deveny's scowl, "I reckon it was because I'd tooka shine to her. I was tryin' to cotton up to her on the landin' about theEatin'-House, an' she----"

  "You lie!"

  This was Barbara. Pale, her eyes flashing with indignation, she steppeddown into the street, standing near Harlan.

  "That man," Barbara went on, pointing to the red-faced pursuer, "told meearly this morning that Luke Deveny had told him to watch me, that I wasnot to leave my room until Deveny came for me. I was a prisoner. Hedidn't try to make love to me. I should have killed him."

  Speech had broken the tension under which Barbara had been laboring; theflow of words through her lips stimulated her thoughts and sent themskittering back to the salient incidents of her enforced confinement;they brought into her consciousness a recollection of the conversationshe had heard between Meeder Lawson and Strom Rogers, regarding herfather. She forgot Harlan, Deveny, and the others, and ran to SheriffGage.

  Gage, a tall, slender man of forty, was pale and uncomfortable as helooked down at the girl's white, upturned face. He shrank from thefrenzied appeal of her eyes, and he endured the pain of her tightlygripping fingers on the flesh of his arms without flinching.

  "Did--is father _dead_!"

  She waited, frantically shaking Gage. And Gage did not answer until hisgaze had roamed the crowd.

  Then he said slowly and reluctantly:

  "I reckon he's dead. Deveny was tellin' me--he was chargin' this man,Harlan, with killin' your father."

  Barbara wheeled and faced Deveny. Rage, furious and passionate, hadoverwhelmed the grief she felt over the death of her father. The shockhad been tremendous, but it had come while she had been leaning out ofthe window listening to Rogers and Lawson--when she had lain for manyminutes unconscious on the floor of the room. Therefore the emotion sheexperienced now was not entirely grief, it was rather a frantic yearningto punish the men who had killed her father.

  "You charged this man with murdering my father?" she demanded of Devenyas she walked to him and stood, her hands clenched, her face dead whiteand her eyes blazing hate. "You know better. I heard Strom Rogers tellMeeder Lawson that it was Dolver and Laskar and somebody he called the'Chief,' who did it. I want to know who those men are; I want to knowwhere I can find them! I want you to tell me!"

  "You're unstrung, Barbara," said Deveny slowly, coolly, a faint smile onhis face. "I know nothing about it. I merely repeated to Gage the wordLaskar brought. Laskar said this man Harlan shot your father. It happenedabout a day's ride out--near Sentinel Rock. If Laskar lied, he was paidfor his lying. For Harlan has----"

  Deveny paused, the sentence unfinished, for the girl turned abruptly fromhim and walked to Harlan.

  "That was Laskar--the man you killed just now?"

  "Laskar an' Dolver," relied Harlan. "There was three of them your fathersaid. One got away in the night, leavin' Dolver an' Laskar to finish thejob. I run plumb into them, crossin' here from Pardo. I bored Dolver, butI let Laskar off, not havin' the heart to muss up the desert with scumlike him."

  The girl's eyes gleamed for an instant with venomous satisfaction. Thenshe said, tremulously:

  "And father?"

  "I buried him near the rock," returned Harlan, lowly.

  Soundlessly, closing her eyes, Barbara sank into the dust of the street.

  Harlan broke the force of her fall with his left hand, supporting herpartially until she collapsed; then, his eyes alight with a cold flame,he called, sharply, his gaze still on the group of men:

  "Get her, Gage! Take her into your place!"

  He waited until Gage carried the slack form inside. Then, his shoulderssagging, the heavy pistol in his right hand coming to a poise, thef
ingers of the left hand brushing the butt of the weapon in the holsterat his left hip, the vacuous gleam in his eyes telling them all that hissenses were alert to catch the slightest movement, he spoke, to Deveny:

  "I seen that desert deal. It wasn't on the level. I ain't no angel, butwhen I down a man I do it fair an' square--givin' him his chance. I sentthat sneak Dolver out--an' that coyote Laskar. It was a dirty, rottendeal, the way they framed up on Morgan. It's irritated me--I reckon youcan hear my rattles right now. I'm stayin' in Lamo, an' I'm stickin' bythis Barbara girl until you guys learn to walk straight up, like men!"

  He paused, and a heavy silence descended. No man moved. A sneer began towreathe Harlan's lips--a twisting, mocking, sardonic sneer that expressedhis contempt for the men who faced him.

  "Not havin' any thoughts, eh?" he jeered. "There's some guys that wouldrather do their fightin' with women, an' their thoughts wouldn't soundright if they put words around them. I ain't detainin' you no longer. Anyman who thinks it's time to call for a show-down can do his yappin' rightnow. Them that's dead certain they're through can mosey along, takin'care not to try any monkey business!"

  He stood, watching, his wide gaze including them all, until, one afteranother the men in the group silently moved away. They did not go far.Some of them merely stepped into near-by doorways, others saunteredslowly down the street and halted at a little distance to look back.

  But no man made a hostile move, for they had seen the tragedy in whichLaskar had figured, and they had no desire to provoke Harlan to expressagain the cold wrath that slumbered in his eyes.

  Meeder Lawson was the first of Deveny's intimates to leave the group. Hisface sullen, his eyes venomous, he walked across the street to the FirstChance, and stood in the doorway, beside Balleau, who had been aninterested onlooker.

  Then Strom Rogers moved. He wheeled slowly, flashing an inquiring glanceat Deveny--who still stood motionless. Deveny had lowered his hands--theywere hanging at his sides, the right hand having the palm toward Harlan,giving eloquent testimony of its owner's peaceable intentions.

  Rogers' glance included the out-turned palm, and his lips curved in afaint smile. The smile held as his glance went to Harlan's face, and foran instant as the eyes of the two men met, appraisal was the emotion thatruled in them. Harlan detected in Rogers' eyes a grim scorn of Deveny,and a malignant satisfaction; Rogers saw in Harlan's eyes a thing thatnot one of the men who had faced the man had seen--cold humor.

  Then Rogers was walking away, leaving Deveny to face the man who haddisrupted his plans.

  Deveny had not changed his position, and for an instant following thedeparture of Rogers, there was no word spoken. Then for the first timesince he had dismounted from Purgatory, Harlan's eyes lost their wide,inclusive vacuity. They met Deveny's fairly, with a steady, direct,boring intensity; a light in them that resembled the yellow flame thatDeveny had once seen in the eyes of a Mexican jaguar some year before ata camp on the Neuces.

  Deveny knew what the light in Harlan's eyes meant. It meant the presenceof a wild, rending passion, of elemental impulses; it meant that the manwho faced him was eager to kill him, was awaiting his slightest hostilemovement. It meant more. The gleam in Harlan's eyes indicated that theman possessed that strange and almost uncanny instinct of thoughtreading, that he could detect in another's eyes a mental impulse beforethe other's muscles could answer it. Also, it meant certain death toDeveny should he obey the half-formed determination to draw and shoot,that was in his mind at this instant.

  He dropped his lids, attempting to veil the thought from Harlan. But whenhe again looked up it was to see Harlan's lips twisting into a coldsmile--to see Harlan slowly sheathing the gun he had held in his righthand.

  And now Harlan was standing before him, both weapons in their holsters.He and Deveny were facing each other upon a basis of equality. Harlan haddisdained taking advantage.

  Apparently, if Deveny now elected to draw and shoot, his chances were asgood as Harlan's.

  And yet Deveny knew they were not as good. For Harlan's action insheathing his gun convinced Deveny that the man had divined his thoughtsfrom the expression of his eyes before he had veiled them with the lids,and he was convinced that Harlan had sensed the chill of dread that hadswept over him at that instant. He was sure of it when he heard Harlan'svoice, low and taunting:

  "You waitin' for a show-down?"

  Deveny smiled, pallidly. "I don't mind telling you that I _did_ have anotion that way a moment ago. But I was afraid I might be a little slow.When you downed Laskar I watched you, trying to learn the secret of yourdraw. I didn't learn it, because there is no secret--you're just anatural gunslinger without a flaw. You're the fastest man with a gun Iever saw--and I'm taking my hat off to you."

  Harlan smiled faintly, but his eyes did not lose their alertness, nor didthe flame in them cool visibly. Only his lips betrayed whatever emotionhe felt. He distrusted Deveny, for he had seen the half-formeddetermination in the man's eyes, and his muscles were tensed inanticipation of a trick.

  "You didn't stay here to tell me that. Get goin' with the real talk."

  "That's right--I didn't," said Deveny. He was cool, now, and bland,having recovered his poise.

  "Higgins _was_ watching Barbara Morgan at my orders. But I meant no harmto the girl. I knew she was in town, and I heard there were a few of theboys that were making plans about her. So I set Higgins to guard her.Naturally, she thought I meant harm to her."

  "Naturally," said Harlan.

  Deveny said coolly: "I'll admit I have a bad reputation. But it doesn'trun to women. It's more in your line." He looked significantly at theother.

  "Meanin'?"

  "Oh, hell--you know well enough what I mean. You're not such alaw-abiding citizen, yourself. I've heard of you--often. And I've admiredyou. To get right down to the point--I could find a place where you'd fitin just right. We're needing another man--a man of your general size andcharacter."

  Harlan grinned. "I'm thankin' you. An' I sure appreciate what you'vesaid. You've been likin' me so much that you tried to frame up on meabout sendin' Lane Morgan out."

  "That's business," laughed Deveny. "You were an unknown quantity, then."

  "But not now--eh?" returned Harlan, his eyes gleaming with a cold humor."You've got me sized up right. The yappin' I done about stickin' toBarbara Morgan wasn't the real goods, eh?"

  "Certainly not!" laughed Deveny, "there must be some selfish motivebehind that."

  "An' you sure didn't believe me?"

  "Of course not," chuckled Deveny, for he thought he saw a gleam ofinsincerity in Harlan's eyes.

  "Then I've got to do my yappin' all over again," said Harlan. "Now getthis straight. I'm stickin' to Barbara Morgan. I'm runnin' the RanchoSeco from now on. I'm runnin' it _my_ way. Nobody is botherin' BarbaraMorgan except them guys she wants to have bother her. That lets you out.You're a rank coyote, an' I don't have no truck with you except at thebusiness end of a gun. Now take your damned, sneakin' grin over an' wetit down, or I'll blow you apart!"

  Deveny's face changed color. It became bloated with a poisonous wrath,his eyes gleamed evilly and his muscles tensed. He stood, strainingagainst the murder lust that had seized him, almost persuaded to take theslender chance of beating Harlan to his weapon.

  "You got notions, eh?" he heard Harlan say, jeeringly. "Well, don't spoil'em. I'd admire to make you feel like you'd ought to have got started aweek ago."

  Deveny smiled with hideous mirthlessness. But he again caught the flamein Harlan's eyes. He wheeled, saying nothing more, and walked across thestreet without looking back.

  Smiles followed him; several men commented humorously, and almostimmediately, knowing that this last crisis had passed, Lamo's citizensresumed their interrupted pleasures.

  Harlan stood motionless until Deveny vanished into the First Chance, thenhe turned quickly and entered the sheriff's office.