The Heritage of the Hills. Hankins Arthur Preston
over the fallen man. The others crowded about her now, all talking at once. She lifted a white, tragic face to them, a face so wildly beautiful that, even under the stress of the moment, Oliver Drew felt that sudden fierce pang of desire which the first startled sight of "the one woman" brings to a healthy, manly man.
"He's dead! I've killed him!" she cried.
"No, no, no, Miss Jessamy," protested a hoarse voice quickly. "You wasn't to blame."
"O' course not!" chorused a dozen.
"He'd 'a' lowered that gun," went on her first consoler. "He was backin' out when you come, Miss Jessamy. An' as sure as he'd took his gun off Digger Foss, Digger'd 'a' killed 'im. It was a fool business from the start, Miss Jessamy."
"Then why didn't some of you warn this man?" she flamed. "You cowards! Are you afraid of Digger Foss? Oh, I – "
"Now, looky-here, Miss Jessamy," soothed the spokesman, "bein' afraid o' Digger Foss ain't got anything to do with it. It wasn't our fight. We had no call to butt in. Men don't do that in a gun country, Miss Jessamy – you know that. This fella pulled on Digger, then lost his nerve. What you told 'im to do, Miss Jessamy, was right. Man ain't got no call to throw down on another one unless he intends to shoot. You know that, Miss Jessamy – you as much as said so."
For answer the girl burst into tears. She rose, and the silent men stood back for her. She mounted and rode away without another word, wiping fiercely at her eyes with a handkerchief.
Four men carried the dead man away. The rest, obviously in need of a stimulant, crowded in and up to the black bar. Oliver joined them. The weird sight that he had witnessed had left him weak and sick at the stomach.
Silently the fat, blond bartender set out whisky glasses, then looked hesitatingly at the stranger.
"Go ahead, Swede," encouraged a big fellow at Oliver's left. "He needs one, too. He saw it."
The bartender shrugged, thumped a glass toward Oliver, and broke the laws of the land.
"What was it all about?" Oliver, encouraged by this confidence, asked of the big, goodnatured man who had vouched for him on sight.
The other looked him over. "This fella Dodd," he said, "started something he couldn't finish – that's all. Dodd's had it in for Digger Foss and the Selden boys and some more of 'em for a year. Selden was runnin' cattle on Dodd's land, and Dodd claimed they cut fences to get 'em on. I don't know what all was between 'em. There's always bad blood between Old Man Selden and his boys and the rest o' the Poison Oakers, and somebody.
"Anyway," he went on, "this mornin' Henry Dodd comes in and gets the drop on Digger Foss, who's thick with the Seldens, and is one o' the Poison Oakers; and then Dodd ain't got the nerve to shoot. You saw what it cost him. Fill 'em up again, boys."
"I can't understand that girl," Oliver remarked. "Why, she rode in and told the man to shoot – to kill."
"And wasn't she right?"
"None of the rest of you did it, as she pointed out to you."
"No – men wouldn't do that, I reckon. But a woman's different. They butt in for what they think's right, regardless. But I look at it like this, pardner: Dodd's a grown man and is packin' a hip gun. Why's he packin' it if he don't mean to use it? Only a kid ought to be excused from flourishin' iron like he did. He was just lettin' off steam. But he picked the wrong man to relieve himself on. If he'd 'a' killed Digger, as Miss Jessamy told him to, maybe he'd a hung for it. But he'd a had a chance with a jury. Where if he took his gat offen Digger Foss, it was sure death. I knew it; all of us knew it. And I knew he was goin' to lower it after he'd painted pictures in the air with it and thought he'd convinced all of us he was a bad man, and all that. He'd never pulled the trigger, and Digger Foss knew it."
"Then if this Digger Foss knew he was only bluffing, he – why, he practically shot the man in cold blood!" cried Oliver.
"Not practically but ab-so-lutely. Digger knew he was within the law, as they say. While he knew Dodd wouldn't shoot, no prosecutin' attorney can prove that he knew it. Dodd had held a gun on him and threatened to kill 'im. When Digger gets the chance he takes it – makes his lightin' draw and kills Dodd. On the face of it it's self-defence, pure and simple, and Digger'll be acquitted. He'll be in tonight and give himself up to the constable. He knows just where he stands."
Oliver's informant tossed off his liquor.
"And Miss Jessamy knew all this – see?" he continued. "She savvies gunmen. She ought to, bein' a Selden. At least she calls herself a Selden, but her right name's Lomax. Old Man Selden married a widow, and this girl's her daughter. Well, she rides in and tells Dodd to shoot. She knew it was his life or Digger's, after he'd made that crack. But the poor fool! – Well, you saw what happened. Don't belong about here, do you, pardner?"
"I do now," Oliver returned. "I'm just moving in, as it were. I own forty acres down on Clinker Creek. I came in here to inquire the way, and stumbled onto this tragedy."
"On Clinker Creek! What forty?"
"It's called the Old Tabor Ivison Place."
"Heavens above! You own the Old Tabor Ivison Place?"
"So the recorder's office says – or ought to."
For fully ten seconds the big fellow faced Oliver, his blue eyes studying him carefully, appraisingly.
"Well, by thunder!" he muttered at last. "Tell me about it, pardner. My name's Damon Tamroy."
"Mine is Oliver Drew," said Oliver, offering his hand.
"Well, I'll be damned!" ejaculated Tamroy in a low voice, his eyes, wide with curiosity, devouring Oliver. "The Old Ivison Place!"
"You seem surprised."
"Surprised! Hump! Say – le'me tell you right here, pardner; don't you ever pull a gun on any o' the Poison Oakers and act like Henry Dodd did. Maybe it's well you saw what was pulled off today – if you'll only remember when you get down there on the Tabor Ivison Place."
CHAPTER II
PETER DREW'S LAST MESSAGE
"I'll take a seegar," Mr. Damon Tamroy replied in response to Oliver's invitation.
They lighted up and sat at a card-table against one wall of the gloomy saloon.
"You speak of this as a gun country," remarked Oliver.
"Well, it's at least got traditions," returned Mr. Tamroy, adding the unlettered man's apology for his little fanciful flight, "'as the fella says.' Like father like son, you know. The Seldens are gunmen. Old Adam Selden's dad was a 'Forty-niner; and Adam Selden – the Old Man Selden of today – was born right close to here when his dad was about twenty-five years old. Le's see – that makes Old Adam 'round about seventy. But he's spry and full o' pep, and one o' the best rifle shots in the country.
"He takes after the old man, who was a bad actor in the days o' 'Forty-nine, and his boys take after him. They're a bad outfit, takin' 'em all in all. The boys are Hurlock, Moffat, Bolar, and Winthrop – four of 'em. All gunmen. Then there's Jessamy Selden – the only girl – who ain't rightly a Selden at all. None o' the old man's blood in Jessamy, o' course. Mis' Selden – she was an Ivison before she married Lomax – Myrtle Ivison was her name – she's a fine lady. But she won't leave the old man for all his wickedness, and Miss Jessamy won't leave her mother. So there you are!"
"I see," said Oliver musingly, not at all displeased with the present subject of conversation.
"Now, here's this Digger Foss," Tamroy went on. "He's half-American, quarter-Chinaman, and quarter-Digger-Indian. The last's what gives him his name. There's a tribe o' Digger Indians close to here. He's killed two men and got away with it. Now he's added a third to his list, and likely he'll get away with that. The rest o' the Poison Oakers are Obed Pence, Ed Buchanan, Jay Muenster, and Chuck Allegan – ten in all."
"Just what are the Poison Oakers?" Oliver asked as Damon Tamroy paused reflectively.
"Well, anybody who lives in this country is called a Poison Oaker. You're one now. The woods about this country are full o' poison