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to sympathize with him. She went to her room shortly afterward.

The sun was swimming in a sea of saffron above the mountains in the western distance when Ruth again came downstairs. Hearing voices in the kitchen she went to the door and looked. Aunt Martha was standing near the kitchen table. Randerson was standing close to her, facing her, dwarfing her, his face white beneath the deep tan upon it, his lips straight and hard, his eyes narrowed, his teeth clenched; she could see the corded muscles of his lean under-jaw, set and stiff. Aunt Marthaā€™s hands were on his sleeves; her eyes were big and bright, and glowing with a strange light.

They did not see Ruth, and something in their attitudes kept her from revealing herself; she stood silent, listening, fascinated.

ā€œSo he done that!ā€ It was Randersonā€™s voice, and it made Ruthā€™s heart feel heavy and cold within her, for in it was contempt, intolerance, rage suppressedā€”she felt that the words had come through clenched teeth. ā€œI reckon Iā€™ll be seeinā€™ Pickett, aunty.ā€

And then he patted Aunt Marthaā€™s shoulders and started for the back door. Ruth heard him open it; he must have been standing on the threshold when he spoke again. And this time he spoke in a drawlā€”slow, gentle:

ā€œI reckon Iā€™ll go wash. It was mighty dusty ridinā€™ today. I passed Calamity, aunty. There ainā€™t no mud there any more; Willard wouldnā€™t get mussed up, now. The suck-hole ainā€™t a foot deep any more.ā€

ā€œYouā€™re a scapegrace,ā€ said Aunt Martha severely. Ruth felt that she was shaking a deprecatory finger at him. ā€œYour manners have been neglected.ā€ But Aunt Marthaā€™s voice gave the words an exactly opposite meaning, and Ruth blushed.

There had been a dread fear in Ruthā€™s heart. For she had seen warning of impending tragedy in Randersonā€™s face when she had looked at him. It seemed to have passed. His, ā€œI reckon Iā€™ll be seeinā€™ Pickett,ā€ meant, perhaps, that he would discharge the man. Relieved, she went upstairs again and sat in a chair, looking out of a window.

A little later she saw several of the cowboys come in. She saw Pickett standing near a corner of the bunkhouse. She watched him closely, for there was something strange in his actions. He seemed to be waiting for something, or somebody. Occasionally he leaned against the corner of the bunkhouse, but she noted that he kept turning his head, keeping a lookout in all directions. Again a premonition of imminent trouble oppressed her.

And then she saw Randerson going from the ranchhouse toward the men who were congregated in front of the bunkhouse; saw Pickettā€™s right hand fall to his side as though it rested on a holster, and she started out of her chair, for illumination now came to her.

Half way to the bunkhouse, Randerson was met by Uncle Jepson. She saw Randerson stop, observed that Uncle Jepson seemed to say something to him. She could not, of course, hear the words, ā€œLook out, Randerson; Pickettā€™s layinā€™ for you,ā€ but she saw Randerson lay a hand on Uncle Jepsonā€™s shoulder.

And then he continued on his way.

She saw Randerson go close to Pickett, noted that the other men had all turned and were watching the two. Randerson seemed to be speaking, to Pickett; the latter had faced him. Then, as she breathlessly watched, she saw Pickett reach for his gun. Randerson leaped. Pickettā€™s gun did not come out, Randersonā€™s hand had closed on Pickettā€™s wrist.

There was a brief, fierce struggle, blows were struck, and then the men sprang apart. Ruth saw Randersonā€™s right arm describe a rapid half-circle; she seemed to hear a thud as his fist landed, and Pickett reeled and fell sideways to the ground, close to the wall of the bunkhouse. She heard him curse; saw him reach again for the gun at his hip. The toe of Randersonā€™s right boot struck Pickettā€™s hand, driving it away from the holster; the hand was ground into the dust by Randersonā€™s boot. And then, so quickly that she could not follow the movement, Randersonā€™s gun was out, and Pickett lay still where he had fallen.

Presently Ruth saw Pickett get up, still menaced by Randersonā€™s gun. Cursing, crouching, evidently still awaiting an opportunity to draw his gun, Pickett began to walk toward the ranchhouse, Randerson close behind him. At a safe distance, the other men followedā€”Ruth saw Masten and Chavis come out of the bunkhouse door and follow also. The thought struck her that they must have witnessed the incident from a window. She saw them all, the cowboys at a respectable distance, Pickett and Randerson in front, with Masten and Chavis far behind, come to a halt. She divinedā€”she believed she had suspected all alongā€”what the march to the ranchhouse meant, but still she did not move, for she feared she could not stand.

Ruth was roused, however, by Randersonā€™s voice. It reached her, sharp, cold, commanding. Evidently he was speaking to Aunt Martha, or to Uncle Jepson, who had gone into the house:

ā€œTell Miss Ruth to come here!ā€

Ruth obeyed. A moment later she stood on the front porch, looking at them all. This scene seemed unreal to herā€”the cowboys at a distance, Masten and Chavis in the rear, looking on, Pickett near the edge of the porch, his face bloated with impotent rage, his eyes glaring; the grim figure that Randerson made as he stood near Pickett, gun in hand, his eyes narrowed, alert. It seemed to her to be a dream from which she would presently awaken, trembling from the horror of it.

And then again she heard Randersonā€™s voice. It was low, but so burdened with passion that it seemed to vibrate in the perfect silence. There was a threat of death in it:

ā€œYou can tell Miss Ruth that youā€™re never goinā€™ to play the skunk with a woman agā€™in!ā€

Pickett writhed. But it seemed to Ruth, as her gaze shifted from Randerson to him, that Pickettā€™s manner was not what it should be. He was not embarrassed enough, did not seem to feel his disgrace keenly enough. For though he twisted and squirmed under the threat in Randersonā€™s voice, there was an odd smirk on his face that impressed her as nearly concealing a malignant cunning. And his voice sounded insincere to herā€”there was even no flavor of shame in them:

ā€œIā€™m sorry I done what I did, maā€™am.ā€

ā€œI reckon thatā€™s all, Pickett. You draw your time right now.ā€

Randerson sheathed his pistol and turned slightly sidewise to Pickett, evidently intending to come up on the porch.

Ruth gasped. For she saw Pickett reach for his gun. It was drawn half out of its holster. As though he had divined what was in Pickettā€™s mind, Randerson had turned slightly at Pickettā€™s movement. There was a single rapid movement to his right hip, the twilight was split by a red streak, by another that followed it so closely as to seem to make the two continuous. Pickettā€™s hand dropped oddly from the half-drawn weapon, his knees sagged, he sighed and pitched heavily forward, face down, at Randersonā€™s feet.

Dimly, as through a haze, Ruth saw a number of the cowboys coming toward her, saw them approach and look curiously down at the thing that lay almost at her feet. And then someone took her by the armā€”she thought it was Uncle Jepsonā€”and she was led toward the door. At the threshold she paused, for Randersonā€™s voice, cold and filled with deadly definiteness, reached her:

ā€œDo you want to take his end of this?ā€ Ruth turned. Randerson was pointing to Pickettā€™s body, ghastly in its prone slackness. He was looking at Chavis.

Evidently Chavis elected not to avenge his friend at that moment. For there was a dead silence while one might have counted fifty. Then Ruth was drawn into the house.


The twilight was split by a red streak
CHAPTER VIII WHAT UNCLE JEPSON HEARD

Every detail of the killing of Jim Pickett remained vivid in Ruthā€™s recollection. She felt that she would never forget it. But her horror gradually abated, and at the end of a week she was able to look at Randerson without shuddering. During the week she had evaded him. And he, divining the state of her feelings, kept away from the house as much as possible.

Mastenā€™s demeanor on hearing of the insult that had been offered her by Pickett had seemed that of a man who was lacking in courage: at the time she had not been able to make it conform to her ideas of a manā€™s duty to the woman he had promised to marryā€”or to any woman. She had heard him speak of reason in connection with the affair, as though there were no such thing in the world as rage so justifiable as to make a man yearn to inflict punishment upon another man who had attacked his woman. He had looked upon the matter cold-bloodedly, and she had resented that. But now that she had been avenged, she felt that she had been wrong. It had been such a trivial thing, after all; the punishment seemed monstrous in comparison with it. She had seen Pickettā€™s movement when Randerson had momentarily turned his back to him, but she had also seen Randersonā€™s retaliatory movement. She had known then, that Randerson had expected Pickettā€™s action, and that he had been prepared for it, and therefore it seemed to her that in forcing the trouble Randerson had not only foreseen the ending but had even courted it.

Remorse over her momentary doubt of Mastenā€™s motive in refusing to call Pickett to account, afflicted her. He had been wiser than she; he had traced the line that divided reason from the primitive passionsā€”man from beast. His only reference to the incidentā€”a wordless one, which she felt was sufficiently eloquentā€”came when one day, while they were standing beside the corral fence, looking at the horses, they saw Randerson riding in. Masten nodded toward him and shook his head slowly from side to side, compressing his lips as he did so. And then, seeing her looking at him, he smiled compassionately, as though to say that he regretted the killing of Pickett as well as she.

She seized his arm impulsively.

ā€œI was wrong, Willard,ā€ she said.

ā€œWrong, dear?ā€ he said. ā€œIt wasnā€™t your fault.ā€

ā€œBut I thoughtā€”things about you that I shouldnā€™t have thought. I felt that you ought to have punished Pickett. I am glad, now, that you didnā€™t.ā€ She shuddered, and looked again at Randerson, just dismounting at the bunkhouse, paying no attention to them.

ā€œThen you wouldnā€™t have me like him?ā€ He indicated Randerson.

ā€œNo,ā€ she said.

He gave her shoulder a slight pressure, and turning his head, smiled triumphantly.

Later, when they had walked to a far corner of the pasture, talking confidentially and laughing a little, he halted and drew her close to him.

ā€œRuth,ā€ he said, gently, ā€œthe world is going very well for you now. You are settled here, you like it, and things are running smoothly. Why not take a ride over to Lazette one of these days. There is a justice of the peace over there. It wonā€™t need to be a formal affair, you know. Just on the quietā€”a sort of a lark. I have waited a long time,ā€ he coaxed.

She smiled at his earnestness. But that spark which he had tried in vain to fan into flame still smoldered. She felt no responsive impulse; a strange reluctance dragged at her.

ā€œWait, Willard,ā€ she said, ā€œuntil after the fall round-up. There is no hurry. We are sure of each other.ā€

They went on toward the ranchhouse. When they passed the bunkhouse, and through the open door saw Randerson and Uncle Jepson sitting on a bench smoking, Ruth quickened her step, and Masten made a grimace

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