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Lem likewise grappled with the struggling Belllounds. "Hyar, you Jack Belllounds," said Lem, "couldn't you see Wils wasn't packin' no gun? A-r'arin' like thet!... Stop your rantin' or we'll sure handle you rough." "The old man's comin'," called Jim, warningly. The rancher appeared. He strode swiftly, ponderously. His gray hair waved. His look was as stern as that of an eagle.
But not men like me.... I tell you, straight to your face, it's a fool deal you're workin' a damn selfish one a dirty job, to put on an innocent, sweet girl an' as sure as you stand there, if you do it, you'll ruin four lives!" "Four!" exclaimed Belllounds. But any word would have expressed his humiliation. "I should have said three, leavin' Jack out. I meant Collie's an' yours an' Wils Moore's."
"Ain't you tired, Wils?" queried Bludsoe, a squat, bow-legged cowpuncher who appeared to be crippled or very lame. "Me? Naw!" grunted Moore, derisively. "Blud, you sure ask fool questions.... Why, you mahogany-colored, stump-legged, biped of a cowpuncher, I've had three hours' sleep in four nights!" "What's a biped?" asked Bludsoe, dubiously. Nobody enlightened him.
"Belllounds, has anybody told you about Wils Moore bein' bad hurt?" abruptly asked the hunter. "He is, is he?" replied Jack, and to his voice and face came sudden change. "How bad?" "I reckon he'll be a cripple for life," answered Wade, seriously, and now he stopped in his work to peer at Belllounds. The next moment might be critical for that young man.
His sharp gesture made the coiled lasso loosen. "Ever since I licked him good don't forget that," interrupted Wilson. The red had faded from the bronze. "Yes, you licked him," mused Columbine. "I remember that. And Jack's hated you ever since." "There's been no love lost." "But, Wils, you never before talked this way spoke out so against Jack," she protested.
At this Wade laughed, and Columbine followed suit. "Well, you look a little sassy to-day, which I take is a good sign," said Wade. "I've got some news that will come near to makin' you well." "Oh, tell it quick!" she cried. "Wils won't lose his leg. It's gettin' well. An' there was a letter from his father, forgivin' him for somethin' he never told me."
Burley's back was toward Belllounds and his son, so it was impossible for them to see the sudden little curious light that gleamed in his eyes as he looked hard at Wade, and then at Moore. "Wils Moore. How d'ye do? I reckon I remember you, though I don't ride up this way much of late years." The cowboy returned the greeting civilly enough, but with brevity.
Columbine confided to Wade, with mournful whisper, that Jack paid no attention to her whatever, and that the old rancher attributed this coldness, and Jack's backsliding, to her irresponsiveness and her tardiness in setting the wedding-day that must be set. To this Wade had whispered in reply, "Don't ever forget what I said to you an' Wils that day!"
He's a pretty keen boy an' his father has big ranchin' interests. I've saved a little money an' I'm no spring chicken any more. Wils has begun to buy an' sell stock, so I reckon I'll go in with him." "Ahuh!" Belllounds gave a grunt of comprehension. He frowned, and his big eyes set seriously upon the blazing fire. He grasped complications in this information.
An' he was as big in his hope fer the good as he was terrible in his dealin' with the bad. I never saw his like.... He loved you, Collie, better than you ever knew. Better than Jack, or Wils, or me! You know what the Bible says about him who gives his life fer his friend. Wal, Wade was my friend, an' Jack's, only we never could see!... An' he was Wils's friend.
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