“But can’t you see, I got two full quarter sections, an’ cuttin’ off that strip’ll ruin ’em?” cried Lemuel, in desperation. “An’ there’s my poor, leetle gal tryin’ to git a edjucation, an’——”
“Miss Dot’ll manage fine an’ dandy, I reckon,” asserted the bandit. “I hear she’s livin’ with Mrs. Liggs, an’ I don’t know of a better woman in the world than her. Mind what I’m a-tellin’ you, Huntington! You give ol’ Tinnemaha Pete a quit-claim title to that there hill, an’ don’t lose no time doin’ it. D’you understand? I’m goin’ to keep cases on you, an’ if I find out you ain’t done it, God help you!”
He broke off short and flapped his hat suddenly at the lamp, plunging the kitchen in darkness. His trained ear had caught a sound outside the house. The next instant he had flitted around the table and was standing over Lemuel.
“Don’t move! Don’t answer, no matter what!” he whispered into the rancher’s ear.
Approaching from the direction of Geerusalem, now came the gentle purring of an automobile. Lemuel in the grip of mixed emotions waited breathlessly. He waited for Billy Gee to speak. He was not sure where the outlaw was. He strained his ears through the darkness, listening. The machine came to a stop before the ranch. That could not be Sangerly, he knew. Who then? Ah, the doctor!
“You’d better git outside if you’re goin’ to do any shootin’,” Lemuel said in subdued tones, addressing the gloom. “That’s Doc Porter comin’ to see Lennox. Don’t go to killin’ him.”
There was no reply.
Heavy footfalls sounded on the kitchen porch. They stopped and went suddenly blundering down the back steps and on through the garden, bound for the front of the house. A revolver began roaring savagely; a strident voice boomed on the night, commanding a halt. Lemuel reached out a cautious hand for the outlaw, feeling for him, but found he was no longer standing beside him. He sprang to his feet, then caught up his rifle out of the corner, and groped his way toward the front door.
“Mr. Huntington, what was that? Is that them after me? Huntington, are you—— Give me a gun, man! Don’t let me die like a rat,” cried Lennox wildly, his voice ringing through the house.
“Rat, be damned!” called back Lemuel. “It’s the bandit friend of yourn I’m after. The skunk! Here’s where he gits what’s a-comin’ to him.”