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A game to be won more often than not through the sheer force of massed money that squeezes the life out of the under dog but to be lost when the moneyed fool, curse him, runs up against a team like Blenham and me!" "Blenham and you?" she repeated. "You and Blenham? You mean to tell me that you are chipping in with him?" Blenham turned his whiskey-glass slowly in his great thick fingers.
In the second place, she is the next Mrs. Packard and I won't have Blenham pawing over her!" His grandfather stared at him, long and keenly. Then he turned away and called out commandingly "Blenham, come out of that!" Blenham jeered at him. "And be shot down like a dog? There's a girl in here, Packard. Young Packard is gone on her; he wants to marry her.
For an instant Blenham thought that tears were actually gathering in the weary old eyes. But the emotion which came first was gone in a scurry before a sudden windy rage. The face which had been graven with humiliation and chagrin went fiery red; the big hands clenched and were uplifted; the great booming voice trembled to the shouted words: "Let him; burn him, let him!
When Blenham went out and to his own room again the sullen fire in his good eye burned more brightly, as though with fresh fuel. A little later Guy Little returned, lighted the lamps, made a small fire in the big fireplace, and ignoring the presence of his master, went to stand in front of the high book-shelves.
Loving a good horse as he did, he felt a sudden and utterly new sort of hatred of Blenham go rushing along his blood. It was with a deep sigh of relief that he straightened up when he saw that either chance or a remarkable skill with a rifle had saved Brocky Lane's roan from any protracted pain.
They had bound his head up in a strip torn from an old sheet; the last they saw of him in the uncertain light was this bandage, rising and falling slowly as his horse bore him away. Blenham gone, Barbee and Bill Royce went down to the bunk-house again, slipping in quietly. Steve Packard, alone in the ranch-house, sat smoking his pipe for half an hour.
He swung on his heel and started to the door. Steve called him back. "What are you going to do, Barbee?" "I'm goin' an' get Blenham," said Barbee between his teeth. "I been wantin' him a long time. Now this is his work an' he makes it look like it's mine. I'm goin' an' get him."
To be sure, while there were men who spoke well of him there were others, perhaps as many, who spoke ill. There were the barkeeper of the Ace of Diamonds, Joe Woods, Blenham; they had their friends and hangers-on. On the other hand, offsetting these, there were old friends whom Steve had not seen for twelve or more years.
"Why, damn it, man, haven't I told you that Blenham has just put a raw deal across on me, that he's coming close to getting away with it, that all I ask is a horse to run him down? Who's going to let me have one? I'm in a hurry!" Never until now did he realize how strong a factor in the life of the community was the prejudice against his blood. On every hand he saw doubt, clouded eyes, distrust.
There's one open here for you; first to teach me all you know about the insides of my car; second What's the matter? Gone to sleep?" He started. He had been thinking about Blenham and Bill Royce. As Terry continued to stare wonderingly at him he smiled. "If you don't mind," he said non-committally, "we'll forget about the job for a spell.
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