Nick Looker, with a puzzled look on his face, obeyed slowly. Mr. Manley turned again to Jake Trummer.
“Listen, Jake. I’ve known you for some years now. We ain’t never had no argument before. I’m sorry my dogies got over on yore land. But, leapin’ turtles! that’s no reason to come an’ take my head off about it! Why’n’t you come up an’ tell me like a man, instead of raisin’ the dust like a cyclone? Hey?”
Jake Trummer’s face grew red. His neck swelled until the veins stood out like knotted cords. His hands clenched.
“’Cause I didn’t want to, that’s why!” he shouted. “Think you can run me like you run this here ranch, Bard Manley? Well, you can’t! When I says a thing I means it! You hear me! Them cattle of yours been on my grass fer a week now. Every day I figures you’ll come over an’ take ’em off, but you don’t do nothin’. So finally I has to come over to you. But it’ll be the last time! You hear me! You get them cows off Whirlpool River, or, by golly, I’ll drive ’em in the river! You hear me!”
Turning on his heel, Jake Trummer strode savagely to the corral rail where he had tied his pony. Releasing her, he vaulted into the saddle, swung the pinto’s head about, and galloped out of the yard. Slowly Mr. Manley took a corncob pipe from his pocket, stuck it in his mouth, applied a match to its already filled bowl, and then grinned.
“The old boy sure had his fur up, didn’t he?”
“I’ll tell a maverick he did,” Roy responded. Then a frown came to his face. “What’s the rights of this, dad? When did Jake come over? Had he been here long?”
“Not five minutes before you came. Teddy, you trot over and ask Nick an’ Gus Tripp to come over here. I want to ask them some questions. I didn’t see no sense in lettin’ Jake Trummer have any say in how we handle our men, so that was the reason I told Nick to go back before. But to tell the truth—” he exhaled a great cloud of smoke—“to tell the truth, I thought Jake was foolin’ at first. But I guess he was sure enough mad.”
“No doubt about that,” Teddy added grimly. “I’ll get Nick for you, Dad. I’m sorry this happened. Jake has always been a good neighbor, and I hate to have trouble with him.” Shaking his head, the boy led his horse to the hitching rail and then made for the other end of the yard.
“Takes it like a veteran,” Mr. Manley remarked to Roy, as he watched Teddy walk off. “Roy—” and he placed a hand on his son’s shoulder—“I never say much to you two, but I guess you know that I’m pretty well satisfied with who I got for youngsters. When the time comes for me to take a back seat, I expect you an’ Teddy to carry on this ranch like I did when I got it from my father—your grandfather. You never saw him, but Pop Burns did. He’ll tell you all about him. An’ I tried to do the best I could by him—just like you an’ Teddy are doin’ for me. You boys are men, now—yep, real men. It took men to locate those rustlers the time we had our broncs stole, and to round ’em up. It took men to ride at that cave in Thunder Canyon to get Belle Ada an’ the rest without knowin’ how many guns you were goin’ up against. Yep, it took men to do those jobs—an’ you did ’em. I ain’t kickin’ none. Snakes! what started me off on that trail? Son, you see any signs of Father Time around here?” and he squeezed Roy’s shoulder affectionately and laughed a little.