Tresler walked briskly across to the hut. He never in his life felt more ready to meet Jake than he did at this moment. He depended on the outcome of this interview for the whole of his future course. He did not attempt to calculate the possible result. He felt that to do so would be to cramp his procedure. He meant to work on his knowledge of his rival’s character. Herein lay his hopes of success. It was Joe who had given him his cue. “It’s the most dangerousest thing to hit a ‘rattler’ till you’ve got him good an’ riled,” the little man had once said. “Then he lifts an’ it’s dead easy, I guess. Hit him lyin’, an’ ef you don’t kill him, ther’s goin’ to be trouble. Them critters has a way of thinkin’ hard an’ quick or’nary.” And Tresler meant to deal with Jake in a similar manner. The rest must be left to the circumstances they had discussed.
It so happened that Jake, too, was late abed that morning. Tresler found him just finishing the breakfast Jinks had brought him. Jake’s surly “Come in,” in response to his knock, brought him face to face with the last man he desired to see in his hut at that moment. And Tresler almost laughed aloud as the great man sprang from the table, nearly overturning it in his angry haste.
“It’s all right, Jake,” he said with a smile, “I come in peace.”
And the other stood for a moment eyeing him fiercely, yet not knowing quite how to take him. Without waiting for an invitation his visitor seated himself on the end of the bunk and stared back squarely into the angry face. It did him good, as he remembered the events of the night before, to thus beard this man who hated him to the point of murder.
He waited for Jake to reply; and while his gaze wandered over the cruel, intolerant, overbearing face he found himself speculating as to the caste of that which lay hidden beneath the black, coarse mat of beard.
At last the reply came, and he had expected no better.
“What in h—— are you doin’ here?” Jake asked brutally. Then, as an afterthought, “Why ain’t you out on the range?”
Tresler permitted himself to lounge over on his elbow and cross his legs with an aggravating air of ease.
“For much the same reason that you are only just finishing your grub. I overslept myself.”
And he watched Jake choke back the furious retort that suddenly leapt to his lips. It was evident, even to the intolerant disposition of the foreman, that it was no time for abuse and anger. This man had come to him for some particular purpose, and it behooved him to keep guard on himself. The doings of the night before were in his mind, and he realized that it would be well to meet him coolly. Therefore, instead of the outburst so natural to him, he contented himself with a cool survey of his antagonist, while he put a non-committing inquiry.