“What the devil will become o’ the kid?” he queried. “Come on, Shea, let’s get the poor woman buried. That baby, now—d’you suppose you could wait here until I send back for her? I can’t handle the greaser and the baby, too.”
Thady Shea did not respond at once. He seemed oblivious of the question; but as a matter of fact, he was deep in thought.
The two men together dug a grave and decently interred the poor murdered woman. Over the mound Thady Shea intoned a fragmentary burial service. What he lacked in words he made up in rolling phrases culled from other sources than the prayer book, and in a deeply sincere manner which sat upon him with stately dignity.
They returned to the front of the shack, where the ranger rolled a cigarette with studied care, and returned to his perplexity.
“What about this here kid, now? These folks haven’t any kin this side the border, and these greasers don’t give a whoop for babies anyhow; too common. This Garcia is the one that deserves my close and personal attention until he gets shoved into the kind o’ hell he’s bound for—which won’t be very long. Of course, the kid can go to some orphanage or the State will take care of her. She’s a smilin’ little cuss!”
Thady Shea fingered his shaggy, gray-black beard.
“If there’s a razor around the place, I think I’ll shave,” he uttered, thoughtfully. His words drew a look of frowning surprise from the ranger, so utterly at variance with the subject did they seem. “Yes, I think I’ll shave.”
“Why, friend, I’ve been thinking about that infant,” pursued Shea. “You know Mrs. Crump, I gather? I think she would care for the little one. I’ll take care of the child on the journey there; I imagine we can get along. I—er—I don’t mind saying that—er—there is a whimsey born of infancy’s fond smiles which warms the kindlier soul within a man.”
He broke off, quite at a loss for further words. But the ranger understood, and smiled to himself.
“That suits me, Shea. You’ll be at the mine, eh? May call on you later in regard to the evidence here. Yes, that’s a good plan. Let’s see if we can chase up a razor, now.”