A comprehensive light gleamed in Harlan's eyes.
"They move," he said shortly. "Drive them where you've been drivin'
them."
As though he had been giving orders to the outlaws all his life, he
briskly mentioned the names of the men who were to form the trail herd.
Not a man dissented. Those whose names were called quickly detached
themselves from the group, and sought the horse corral; where they roped
their horses and began to make preparations to obey Harlan's order. And
later, when the cattle were driven out of the corral, and the trail herd
crew straggled behind them over the level that led southward, the men
were grinning.
For Harlan had told them that their share of the spoils resulting from
the sale of the cattle was to be materially increased. He had likewise
told them that they might spend an extra day in "town" before their
return.
Only one man besides Harlan remained at the Star after the herd vanished
into the southern distance. That man was the black-bearded fellow who had
escorted Harlan to the ranchhouse on the occasion of his first
visit--Lafe Woodward.
This man's admiration for Harlan had never been concealed. He had stayed
as close to Harlan as possible; and from his manner Harlan had divined
that the man was eager to ingratiate himself.
Woodward stood near Harlan as the herd and the men vanished. He had
grinned widely when, just before the outfit had departed, he had heard
Rogers whisper to Harlan:
"You've made yourself solid with the bunch, for sure, by offerin' 'em a
bigger divvy. They've been grumblin' about it for a long time. They're
all sore at Haydon an' Deveny for bein' greedy. But you're sure cookin'
up a heap of trouble with Haydon an' Deveny!"
Harlan grinned with grim mirthlessness. It had been his first opportunity
to stir up dissension and strife in the outlaw camp, and he had taken
instant advantage of it. He had created factional feeling, and he was
prepared to accept the consequences.
And, later in the day, when he saw Haydon ride in, dismount and cast a
surprised glance at the empty corral, he knew that the moment for which
he had planned, had come.
Woodward was nowhere in sight; and Harlan, who had been in the
blacksmith-shop, made himself visible to Haydon by stepping outside.
Haydon called to him, sharply; and Harlan walked slowly to where the
outlaw chief stood, a saturnine grin on his face, his eyes alight with a
cold humor that might have been illuminating to Haydon had he taken the
trouble to look into them.
Haydon was laboring under some strong passion. He was suppressing it with
an effort, but it showed in his tensed muscles and in his flushed face.
"Where are the cattle?" he demanded, his voice a trifle hoarse.
"They're headed for Willow Wells--where you've been sellin' them."
"By whose orders?" Haydon's voice was choked with passion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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