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tramped in, an I was some put to keep alongside him. There was a hard,
scrapin sound of feet, a loud cry, an then some whisperin , an after that
stillness you could cut with a knife. Tull was there, an that fat party who
once tried to throw a gun on me, an other important-lookin men, an that
little frog-legged feller who was with Tull the day I rode in here. I wish you
could have seen their faces,  specially Tull s an the fat party s. But there
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ain t no use of me tryin to tell you how they looked.
 Well, Venters an I stood there in the middle of the room with that batch of
men all in front of us, an not a blamed one of them winked an eyelash or
moved a finger. It was natural, of course, for me to notice many of them
packed guns. That s a way of mine, first noticin them things. Venters spoke
up, an his voice sort of chilled an cut, an he told Tull he had a few
things to say.
Here Lassiter paused while he turned his sombrero round and round, in his
familiar habit, and his eyes had the look of a man seeing over again some
thrilling spectacle, and under his red bronze there was strange animation.
 Like a shot, then, Venters told Tull that the friendship between you an him
was all over, an he was leaving your place. He said you d both of you broken
off in the hope of propitiatin your people, but you hadn t changed your mind
otherwise, an never would.
 Next he spoke up for you. I ain t goin to tell you what he said. Only  no
other woman who ever lived ever had such tribute! You had a champion, Jane,
an never fear that those thick-skulled men don t know you now. It couldn t be
otherwise. He spoke the ringin , lightnin truth& Then he accused Tull of the
underhand, miserable robbery of a helpless woman. He told Tull where the red
herd was, of a deal made with Oldrin , that Jerry Card had made the deal. I
thought Tull was goin to drop, an that little frog-legged cuss, he looked
some limp an white. But Venters s voice would have kept anybody s legs from
bucklin . I was stiff myself. He went on an called Tull  called him every
bad name ever known to a rider, an then some. He cursed Tull. I never hear a
man get such a cursin . He laughed in scorn at the idea of Tull bein a
minister. He said Tull an a few more dogs of hell builded their empire out of
the hearts of such innocent an God-fearin women as Jane Withersteen. He
called Tull a binder of women, a callous beast who hid behind a mock mantle of
righteousness  an the last an lowest coward on the face of the earth. To
prey on weak women through their religion  that was the last unspeakable
crime!
 Then he finished, an by this time he d almost lost his voice. But his
whisper was enough.  Tull, he said,  she begged me not to draw on you today.
She would pray for you if you burned her at the stake& But listen! & I swear
if you and I ever come face to face again, I ll kill you!
 We backed out of the door then, an up the road. But nobody follered us.
Jane found herself weeping passionately. She had not been conscious of it
till Lassiter ended his story, and she experienced exquisite pain and relief
in shedding tears. Long had her eyes been dry, her grief deep; long had her
emotions been dumb. Lassiter s story put her on the rack; the appalling nature
of Venters s act and speech had no parallel as an outrage; it was worse than
bloodshed. Men like Tull had been shot, but had one ever been so terribly
denounced in public? Over-mounting her horror, an uncontrollable, quivering
passion shook her very soul. It was sheer human glory in the deed of a
fearless man. It was hot, primitive instinct to live  to fight. It was a kind
of mad joy in Venters s chivalry. It was close to the wrath that had first
shaken her in the beginning of this war waged upon her.
 Well, well, Jane, don t take it that way, said Lassiter, in evident
distress.  I had to tell you. There s some things a feller jest can t keep.
It s strange you give up on hearin that, when all this long time you ve been
the gamest woman I ever seen. But I don t know women. Mebbe there s reason for
you to cry. I know this  nothin ever rang in my soul an so filled it as
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what Venters did. I d like to have done it, but  I m only good for throwin a
gun, an it seems you hate that& Well, I ll be goin now.
 Where?
 Venters took Wrangle to the stable. The sorrel s shy a shoe, an I ve got to
help hold the big devil an put on another.
 Tell Bern to come for the pack I want to give him  and  and to say
good-by, called Jane, as Lassiter went out.
Jane passed the rest of that day in a vain endeavor to decide what and what
not to put in the pack for Venters. This task was the last she would ever
perform for him, and the gifts were the last she would ever make him. So she
picked and chose and rejected, and chose again, and often paused in sad
revery, and began again, till at length she filled the pack.
It was about sunset, and she and Fay had finished supper and were sitting in
the court, when Venters s quick steps rang on the stones. She scarcely knew
him, for he had changed the tattered garments, and she missed the dark beard
and long hair. Still he was not the Venters of old. As he came up the steps
she felt herself pointing to the pack, and heard herself speaking words that
were meaningless to her. He said good-by; he kissed her, released her, and
turned away. His tall figure blurred in her sight, grew dim through dark,
streaked vision, and then he vanished.
Twilight fell around Withersteen House, and dusk and night. Little Fay slept;
but Jane lay with strained, aching eyes. She heard the wind moaning in the
cottonwoods and mice squeaking in the walls. The night was interminably long,
yet she prayed to hold back the dawn. What would another day bring forth? The
blackness of her room seemed blacker for the sad, entering gray of morning
light. She heard the chirp of awakening birds, and fancied she caught a faint
clatter of hoofs. Then low, dull distant, throbbed a heavy gunshot. She had
expected it, was waiting for it; nevertheless, an electric shock checked her
heart, froze the very living fiber of her bones. That vise-like hold on her
faculties apparently did not relax for a long time, and it was a voice under
her window that released her.
 Jane! & Jane! softly called Lassiter.
She answered somehow.
 It s all right. Venters got away. I thought mebbe you d heard that shot, an
I was worried some.
 What was it  who fired?
 Well  some fool feller tried to stop Venters out there in the sage  an he
only stopped lead! & I think it ll be all right. I haven t seen or heard of
any other fellers round. Venters ll go through safe. An , Jane, I ve got Bells
saddled, an I m going to trail Venters. Mind, I won t show myself unless he
falls foul of somebody an needs me. I want to see if this place where he s
goin is safe for him. He says nobody can track him there. I never seen the
place yet I couldn t track a man to. Now, Jane, you stay indoors while I m [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]