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I seen by the papers that Jim Waring was your father. I wanted to tell you that it was High-Chin Bob what killed Pat. I was in the buckboard with Pat when he done it. The horses went crazy at the shootin' and ditched me. When I come to I was in Grant." "Why didn't you stay and tell what you knew? Nobody would 'a' hurt you." "I was takin' no chance of the third, and twenty years."
Word went forth that High-Chin Bob, of the Starr, and Bud Shoop were to shoot a match for a thousand dollars a side, and some of the more enthusiastic believed it. In a few minutes the street was empty of all save the ponies at the hitching-rails. In a shallow arroyo back of town the excited throng made wagers and talked of wonderful shots made by the principals.
In the fluttering silken bandanna and the twinkle of silver-studded trappings Lorry recognized the foreman of the Starr Rancho; Bob Brewster, known for his arrogance as "High-Chin Bob." "Guess we'll wait a minute," said Lorry. Waco saw the rider, and asked who he was. "It's High Chin, the foreman. You been ridin' one of his string of horses the black there." "He's your boss?" "Yes.
Are you willin' to put in writin' that you seen High-Chin Bob kill Pat? I got a pencil and a envelope on me. Will you put it down right here, and me to call my friend and witness your name?" "You tryin' to pinch me?" "That ain't my style." "All right. I'll put it down." And in the flickering rays of the arc light Waco scribbled on the back of the envelope and signed his name.
"Then I'll run him in. He's some enterprising, if I do say it. He put High-Chin Bob out of business over by the water-hole yesterday." "High Chin! The hell you say!" "That's what I thought when I heard it. High was beating up the hobo, and Lorry claimed him as his prisoner. Jim Waring says the kid walloped High on the head and knocked him stiff." "Whew! Bob will get his hide for that."
Lorry accepted Bud's advice, and made himself popular with the various outfits by maintaining a silence when questioned as to how he "put High-Chin Bob out of business." The story of that affair had had a wide circulation, and gained interest when it became known that High Chin and his men were present.
And suppose, now Buck's deputy is here to listen to it, suppose I was to say that Buck is scared to death of High-Chin Bob. Everybody knows it." The deputy flushed. He knew that Lorry spoke the truth. Torrance turned to Shoop. "What do you think, Bud?" Bud coughed and shrugged his heavy shoulders.
"And that High-Chin Bob says he aims to hang young Adams's scalp on his belt afore he gits through," asserted a townsman. "I'll set in the game," said Bud. And he waddled across the street to his office. In a few minutes he came back and mingled with the crowd. The Starr boys were pitching dollars at a mark when Bud and a companion strolled past. High Chin invited Shoop to join in the game.
In the arroyo the wind seemed to have died away, leaving a startled quietness. It still hung above them, and an occasional gust filled their eyes with grit. Waco drew a deep breath. The ponies tugged through the heavy sand. Without a sound to warn them a rider appeared close to the front wheel of the buckboard. Waco shrank down in sodden terror. It was the Starr foreman, High-Chin Bob.
I'm the Ridin' Kid from Powder River, and I ride 'em straight up an' comin'." So he romanced, his feet on the ground, but his heart with the bawling herd and the charging ponies. "Like to rope a lion," he told himself as he swung his rope again. "Same as High-Chin Bob." Just then one of the dogs, attracted by Pete's unusual behavior, trotted up. Pete's rope shot out and dropped.
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