“Was you counting?” he asked of Tex in anxious inquiry. “And for God’s sake, who stepped on your face?”
Tex made no reply, for his astonishment at the interruption had given way to the iron hand of fear which gripped him almost to suffocation. In the space of one breath he had been hurled from the mastery to defeat; from a good fighting chance, with all the odds on his side, to what he believed to be certain death, for to move was to die. Had it been anyone but The Orphan who had turned the scale he would have hazarded a shot and trusted to luck, for his gun was in his hand; but The Orphan’s gunplay was as swift as light and never missed at that distance, and The Orphan’s reputation was a host in itself. He had threatened the sheriff with death, he had used Bill worse than he would have used a dog, and now his cup of bitterness was full to overflowing. Above him a pair of cruel gray eyes looked over a sight into his very soul and a malevolent grin played about the thin, straight lips of the man who had killed Jimmy, who had led his five friends to an awful death, and who had instilled terror night after night into the hearts of seven good men. His mind leaped back to a day ten years before, and what he saw caused his face to blanch. Ten years of immunity, but at last he was to pay for his crime. Before him stood the son of the man he had been foremost in hanging, before him stood the man he had cruelly wronged. His nerve left him and he stood a broken, trembling coward, a living lie to the occupation he had made his own, an insult to his dress and his companions. Had he by some miracle been given the drop he could not have pulled the trigger. He now had no hope for mercy where he had denied it. He had played a good hand, but he had made no allowance for the joker, and no blame to him.
No sooner had The Orphan spoken and the sheriff discovered that he had things safely in his hands, than Shields had leaped to the ground and quickly disarmed his opponents, tossing the captured weapons to the top of the bank near the outlaw. Then he folded his arms and waited, laughing silently all the while.
As soon as Shields had disposed of the last gun, The Orphan gave his whole attention to the man who was guarding Bill, and that person changed the course of his hand just in time.
“No, I wouldn’t try to use that gun, neither, if I was you,” The Orphan said, still smiling. “You can just toss it up on the bank over your head–that’s right. Now drop that rope–I’m surprised that you didn’t do it before. When you get Bill all untangled from those fixings come right around here, where I can see how nice you all look in a bunch. It’ll take you one whole minute to get out of sight around that turn, so I wouldn’t try any running.”
The Orphan was ignorant of the condition of Bill’s face, since he had only seen the driver’s back as he had crawled to the edge of the bank, and now the bend in the opposite wall just hid Bill from his sight. So he gave no great attention to the driver, but turned to the sheriff and laughed.
“I knew that you would pull through, Sheriff,” he said, “but I couldn’t help having a surprise party; I’m a whole lot fond of surprise parties, you know. And it’s shore been a howling success, all right.”
“You have a very pleasant way of making yourself useful,” Shields replied. “From the holes you’ve pulled me out of within the past six weeks you must have a poor impression of me. But seeing that you have reason to laugh at me, I accept your apology and bid you welcome. It’s all yours.” Then he glanced quickly up the trail and his face went red with anger. “Hell!” he cried in amazement.
The Orphan looked in the direction indicated and he leaped to his feet in sudden anger at what he saw. A man, followed by a cowboy, staggered and stumbled drunkenly along the trail toward them, his face a mass of cuts and bruises and blood. His hair was matted with blood and dirt, and a red ring showed around his neck. His hands opened and shut convulsively and he made straight as he could for Tex, who shrank back involuntarily.
“My God! It’s Bill!” cried The Orphan, hardly able to believe his eyes.