Part 9 (1/2)
”Don't like him; he's too smooth. Looked me square in the eye, and told me to be careful with sidehill ditches, and so on, just as if it didn't affect him at all. Too innocent for me. I had a notion to tell him he wasn't fooling me a little bit.”
”H'm!” said Sleeman. ”Well, I give Casey credit for being a good man.
He has a big stake here--owns a lot of land besides his ranch. It's make or break with him.”
”Then I'm sorry for him. He had a girl with him--McCrae her name is.
Who's she?”
”Her father owns Talapus Ranch. It's the biggest and best here. Good people, the McCraes.”
”And I suppose Dunne's going to marry her? Is that it?”
”I never heard so. But if he is I don't blame him; she's all right, that girl.”
Farwell grunted. He had rather liked Sheila's looks, but, being a man of violent prejudices, and disliking Dunne instinctively, he found it easy to dislike his friends. ”I'll tell you what I'm going to do,” he announced. ”I'm going to put it up to these fellows straight the first chance I get that we don't care a hang for anything they may do. If they want trouble they can come a-running.”
”Well,” Sleeman commented, ”of course, I'm here to sell land. The company is my boss, and naturally I back its play. But my personal opinion is that it would have been better to have bought those fellows out, even at fancy prices, than to ride over them roughshod. They're sore now, and you can't wonder at it. If I were you I'd go easy--just as easy as I could.”
”Nonsense!” snorted Farwell. ”That's what that old fool of a mick down at the station told me. How the devil does the company happen to have such an old fossil on the job?”
”Quilty's a left-over from construction days. He's been here ever since steel was laid. They say he averted a bad smash once by sheer nerve or pure Irish luck. Anyway, he has a sort of guarantee of his job for life. Not a bad old boy when you get to know him.”
”He ought to be fired, and a younger man put in his place,” said Farwell. ”He talks too much. Good Lord! He's like an endless record!”
”Pshaw! What do you care?” said Sleeman. ”He's better than a talking machine in this place. Well, come over to the hotel, and afterward I'll run you out to the camp.”
CHAPTER VI
Sheila McCrae and Beaver Boy and Casey Dunne and s.h.i.+ner drifted through the golden afternoon just ahead of a dust cloud of their own making.
Sheila rode astride, in the manner of a country where side saddles are almost unknown. Her stiff-brimmed pony hat was pushed back because of the heat. Sometimes she rode with it in her hand, careless of the dust which powdered her ma.s.ses of dark, neatly coiled hair. The action revealed her keen, cleanly cut features, so strongly resembling her brother's. But the resemblance was softened by femininity; for young McCrae's visage was masculine and hawklike, and under excitement fierce, even predatory; while his sister's, apart from s.e.x, was more refined, more thoughtful, with a grave sweetness underlying the firmness.
The two were unusually silent as the horses kicked off mile after mile.
Sheila roused herself first, and looked at her companion. Because his hat was pulled low she could see but little of his face save the mouth and chin; but the former was compressed and the latter thrust out at a decidedly aggressive angle.
”A penny for them, Casey!”
”Take 'em free,” he returned. ”I was wondering whether we had any chance to beat this game, and I can't see it. The bank roll against us is too big. It will get our little pile in the end, just as sure as fate.”
”Well, you can't help that, can you?” she commented sharply. ”What do you want to do--lie down and quit? You wouldn't do that. Brace up!”
”That's the talk,” he acknowledged. ”That's what I need now and then.
Perhaps I get a pessimistic view when I'm trying for an impartial one.”
”What do you think of this Farwell person?”
”Farwell represents the railway in more ways than one. He takes what he wants--if he's strong enough. He's some bully--and so is the railway.
But he isn't a bluff--and neither is the railway. He's had experience--plenty of it--and, on a guess, I should say that he is sent down here to take care of any trouble that may start. He is hostile already. You can see it.”