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Updated: May 25, 2025
I reckon the killin' of Daggs an' then the awful way Greaves was cut up by Jean Isbel took all the fight out of your dad. He said to me, 'Colter, we'll take Ellen an' leave this heah country an' begin life all over again where no one knows us." "Oh, did he really say that? ... Did he really mean it?" murmured Ellen, with a sob. "I'll swear it by the memory of my daid mother," protested Colter.
A silence fell on the room when the three soldiers were observed. Jeremy crossed toward the dark corner. The table was empty. He looked quickly about at the faces of the drinkers, but Daggs was not there. "He's gone," he said in a disappointed voice. The innkeeper came forward, wiping his hands on his apron. "That fellow with the scar?" he said. "He went out of here some five minutes ago."
Hoarse shouts rose. A cloud of yellow dust drifted away from the spot. "Daggs!" burst out Gaston Isbel. "Jean, you knocked off the top of his haid. I seen that when I was pullin' trigger. Shore we over heah wasted our shots." "God! he must have been crazy or drunk to pop up there an' brace us that way," said Blaisdell, breathing hard. "Arizona is bad for Texans," replied Isbel, sardonically.
"That boy," went on the clear voice, "had no hand in the business, and well you know it. It is for me to give out punishments while I am Captain of this sloop, and by God I shall be Captain during my life. Pharaoh Daggs, step forward and unloose the rope!" The man with the broken nose fixed his light eyes on the Captain's for a full five seconds. Bonnet's pistol muzzle was as steady as a rock.
Then a look of comprehending wonder came into his eyes. "Yes," he cried. "It was on that old chart in Pharaoh Daggs' chest!" "Right," said Jeremy. "And now that I think about it, I believe this is the very island! Let's see the bay was shaped this way " He had seized a charred stick from the hearth and was drawing on the floor.
With sharp eyes fixed upon the horsemen, he tried to grasp at their intention. Daggs pointed to the horses in the pasture lot that lay between him and the house. These animals were the best on the range and belonged mostly to Guy Isbel, who was the horse fancier and trader of the family. His horses were his passion. "Looks like they'd do some horse stealin'," said Jean.
Only a bare three men stayed sober enough to sail the ship. Jeremy thanked his stars for fair weather when he thought of the case they might have been in had the orgy occurred in a night of storm. Next day a few of the crew woke at breakfast time. The rest snored out their drunken sleep below. Daggs came on deck as usual, to the outward eye quite his careless, ugly self.
From this point on the two lads told the story together, eagerly interrupting each other to put in some incident forgotten for the moment. When they came to the discovery of Pharaoh Daggs' chart, Job sat up with a jerk. "I always thought he knew!" he exclaimed. "Jeremy, lad, could ye draw me a picture of what 'twas like?"
He stretched a big shaking hand toward Jorth. "Thet Nez Perce Isbel beat me half to death," he bellowed. Jorth stared hard at the tragic, almost grotesque figure, at the battered face. But speech failed him. It was Daggs who answered Bruce. "Wal, Simm, I'll be damned if you don't look it." "Beat you! What with?" burst out Jorth, explosively.
Then Blaisdell asked for the telescope and, when he got through looking and cursing, he passed it on to others, who, one by one, took a long look, until finally it came back to the old rancher. "Wal, Daggs is wavin' his hand heah an' there, like a general aboot to send out scouts. Haw-haw! ... An' 'pears to me he's not overlookin' our hosses. Wal, that's natural for a rustler.
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