The Boss of the Lazy Y Part 3

"An' your grandpap?"

"Malcolm Clayton."

"Who's Bob?"

"My brother."

"Any more Claytons around here?" he sneered.

"No."

"Well," he said with truculent insolence; "what in Sam Hill are you-all doin' at the Lazy Y, anyway?"

"I am coming to that presently," she returned, unruffled.

"Goin' to work your jaw again, I reckon?" he taunted.

The hard calm came again into her face as she looked at him, though behind it was that subtle quality that hinted of her possession of advantage. Her manner made plain to him that she held some mysterious power over him, a power which she valued, even enjoyed, and he was nettled, baffled, and afflicted with a deep rage against her because of it. Dealing with a man he would have known what to do, but he felt strangely impotent in the presence of this girl, for she was not disturbed over his insults, and her quiet, direct glances affected him with a queer sensation of guilt, even embarra.s.sed him.

"Well?" he prompted, after a silence.

"I am going to tell you about your father," she said.

"Make it short," he said gruffly.

"Five years ago," said the girl, ignoring the insolent suggestion; "my father and mother died. My father had been a big cattle owner," she added with a flash of pride. "He was very wealthy; he was educated, refined--a gentleman. We lived in Texas--lived well. I attended a university in the South. In my second year there I was called home suddenly. My father was ill from shock and disappointment. He had invested heavily in some northern enterprise--it will not interest you to know the nature of it--and had lost his entire fortune. His ranch property was involved and had to be sold. There was barely enough to satisfy the creditors. Father died and mother soon followed him.

Grandfather, Bob, and I were left dest.i.tute. We left the ranch and took up a quarter section of land on the Nueces. We became nesters and were continually hara.s.sed by a big cattle owner nearby who wanted our range. We had to get out. Grandfather thought there might be an opportunity to take up some land in this territory. Bob was--well, Bob took mother's death so hard that we didn't want to stay in Texas any longer. The outlook wasn't bright. Bob was too young to work--"

"Lazy, I reckon," jeered Calumet.

The girl's eyes flashed with a swift, contemptuous resentment and her voice chilled. "Bob's leg was hurt," she said. She waited for an instant, watching the sneer on Calumet's face, and then went on firmly, as though she had decided not to let anything he said disturb her. "So when Grandfather proposed coming here I agreed. We took what few personal effects that were left us. We traveled for two months--"

"I ain't carin' to hear your family history," interrupted Calumet.

"You started to tell me about my dad."

"We were following the river trail near here," the girl went on firmly, scorning to pay any attention to this insult; "when we heard shooting.

I stayed with the wagon while grandfather went to investigate. We found two men--Tom Taggart and his son Neal--concealed in the cottonwood, trying to shoot your father, who was in the house. Your father had been wounded in the shoulder and it would not have been long before--"

"Who are the Taggarts?" questioned Calumet, his lips setting strangely.

"They own a ranch near here--the Arrow. The motive behind their desire to kill your father makes another story which you shall hear some time if you have the patience," she said with jeering emphasis.

"I ain't particular."

The girl's lips straightened. "Grandfather helped your father drive the Taggarts away," she went on. "Your father was living here alone because several of his men had sought to betray him and he had discharged them all. Your father was wounded very badly and grandfather and I took care of him until he recovered. He liked us, wanted us to stay here, and we did."

"Pretty soft for a pair of poverty-stricken adventurers," commented Calumet.

The girl's voice was cold and distinct despite the insult.

"Your father liked me particularly well. A year ago he drew up a will giving me all his property and cutting you off without a cent. He gave me the will to keep for him."

"Fine!" was Calumet's dryly sarcastic comment.

"But I destroyed the will," went on the girl.

Calumet's expression changed to surprised wonder, then to mockery.

"You're locoed!" he declared. "Why didn't you take the property?"

"I didn't want it; it was yours."

Calumet forgot to sneer; his wonder and astonishment over the girl's ability to resist such a temptation were so great as to shock him to silence. She and her grandfather were dependants, abroad without means of support, and yet the girl had refused a legacy which she and her relative had undoubtedly earned. Such st.u.r.dy honesty surprised him, mystified him, and he was convinced that there must have been some other motive behind her refusal to become his father's beneficiary. He watched her closely for a moment and then, thinking he had discovered the motive, he said in a voice of dry mockery:

"I reckon you didn't take it because there was nothin' to take."

"Besides the land and the buildings, he left about twenty thousand dollars in cash," she informed him quietly.

"Where is it?" demanded Calumet quickly.

Betty smiled. "That," she said dryly, "is what I want to talk to you about." Again the consciousness of advantage shone in her eyes.

Calumet felt that it would be useless to question her and so he leaned back in his chair and regarded her saturninely.

"Soon after your father became afflicted with his last sickness,"

continued Betty; "he called me to him and took me into his confidence.

He talked to me about you--about the way he had treated you. Both he and your mother had been, he said, victims of uncontrollable tempers, and were beset with elemental pa.s.sions which he was certain had descended to you. In fact, because of the hatred your mother bore you--" She hesitated.

"Well, that too, belongs to the story which you will hear about Taggart when you have the patience," she continued. "But your father repented; he saw the injustice he had done you and wanted to repair it. He was certain, though, that this curse of temper was deep-seated in you and he wanted to drive it out. He felt that when you finally came home you would need reforming, and he did not want you to profit by his money until you forgave him. He had strange notions regarding your reformation; he declared he would not take your word for it, but would insist on a practical demonstration. When he had fully explained his ideas on the subject he made me swear that I would carry them out."

She paused and looked at Calumet and he saw that the expression of advantage that had been in her eyes all along was no longer a subtle expression, but plain and unmistakable.

Calumet watched her intently, silently, his face a battleground for the emotions that rioted within him. The girl watched him with covert vigilance and he felt that she was enjoying him. And when finally she saw the rage die out of his eyes, saw the color come slowly back into his cheeks and his face become a hard, inscrutable mask, she knew that the coming struggle between them was to be a bitter one.

"So," he said, after a while; "I don't get the coin until I become a Sunday school scholar?"

"It is specified that you give a practical demonstration of reform in character. You must show that you forgive your father."

"You're goin' to be my guardian?"

"Your judge," corrected the girl.

"He's got all this in the will?"

"Yes, the last one he made."

"You don't reckon I could break that will?" he sneered.

"Try it," she mocked. "It has been probated in Las Vegas. The judge happens to be a friend of your father's and, I understand, sympathized with him."

"Clever, eh?" said Calumet, grinning crookedly.