CHAPTER XI

THE FIGHT

The first day on the range drew to a close with every man too tired to do much talking. A meal from the chuck wagon restored their spirits somewhat, but blankets were spread early and the full moon arose and shone on the still forms of sleeping cow punchers.

Teddy did not resume his argument with Silent. When it was necessary for him to speak to the wrangler he did so tersely and received nods in answer. By noon of the second day the cattle were well bunched and on the way to the cars, just above Eagles.

Wednesday morning, the third day out, their job was nearly completed. There remained simply the loading.

Silent, dismounted, was waiting beside the runway to prevent the cattle from swerving as they were driven up and into the cars. Roy had told him that it would be safer mounted, but Silent grunted and Roy shrugged his shoulders and walked away.

The puncher carried a double-thonged whip in his hand, a short, wicked looking instrument. Suddenly Teddy, who was standing near, saw him slash down with it and catch a cow full across the back. A red weal sprang up and blood dripped from where he had struck.

Teddy, his cheeks burning, leaped from his horse and seized the puncher’s arm.

“Let’s see that whip!” he cried, and yanked it toward him. Silent stood quietly, a sardonic look on his face.

In the ends of the whip-thongs were set jagged pieces of tin, and to give them weight just behind them were sewed lead “sinkers.”

Teddy, as he saw them, clenched his fists, and tossed the whip from him.

“So that’s it!” he exclaimed, and leaped. His first blow caught Silent on the side of the face.

The puncher drew a sudden breath and shook his head to clear it. Then he went into the fight.

The punchers of the neighborhood still talk about that scrap. Teddy, ten pounds lighter than his antagonist, danced about, now getting in a blow and stepping out, then in again. Silent fought with short, vicious swings. One of these caught the boy fairly on the jaw, and he went down.

Roy rushed toward him, as did Nick and Bug Eye.

“Keep back!” Teddy yelled. “This is mine!”

He scrambled up and returned to the attack. The tide of battle now had taken the fighters some distance from the cattle, which was fortunate, otherwise one of them might have been stepped on or gored.

The other punchers stopped their work to watch. The cattle were quiet, and there was no danger of a break. From all directions the railroad men came running, quick to sense excitement. There was soon a circle of yelling men about the two battlers.

“Sock him, Teddy, sock him!” Bug Eye shouted. “Atta baby!”

“Stick in there, Silent!” Jack Conroy implored. “I’m with you, anyhow! Let him have it!”

Roy said nothing. He was watching the fight intently.

Teddy got in a straight right to the stomach, then a left to the face. But as he did so Silent crossed him and sent Teddy staggering with a left that cut the boy’s cheek. Both were breathing hard.

“Back at him, Teddy!” Nick yelled hoarsely. “Another to the bread-basket!”

This was what Teddy did. He set himself, and drove his right fist into Silent’s “bread-basket,” otherwise his stomach. Silent gave ground and the circle opened. Teddy, seeing his chance, rushed in and planted a right to the jaw.

But Silent did not fall. He gave more ground, and then, so suddenly that no one was aware of it, he was in front of the cattle, between them and the runway which led into the car that was being loaded.

There was a shout of warning. The cows, frightened at the strange figure that was catapulted before them, moved restlessly, and one of them started forward.

Silent saw the beast coming, but could not avoid those menacing horns. Those near him heard a groan, and the puncher thrust out his hands, as though to ward off the impending danger.

But it was Teddy, who was closest to him, Teddy, whose face was dripping blood, that saved Silent’s life. There was but one thing to do, and Teddy did it.

He left his feet and made a football dive toward Silent. His outstretched arms swept the puncher from under the hoofs of that cow--from under the sharp hoofs that would have trampled the puncher in another moment. The cow went on up the runway and into the car. Teddy and Silent hit the ground together, and were pulled from further danger by ready hands. The fight was over.

The contestants were led into the shade of the station, and Roy put his hands on Teddy’s shoulders.

“Let’s see,” he said.

The cut on Teddy’s cheek was red and angry looking, but not deep. Silent was a bit worse, as one of his eyes was closed and he seemed unable to walk straight. But he staggered over to Teddy.

“Buddy,” he said breathlessly, “thanks!”

Teddy nodded. “All right! Say--” he hesitated. “What was the idea of hitting the cow with that thing?”

Silent touched his chin tenderly.

“Baby, you sure can sock! Oh, that cow? I saw her duck her head. She’d have started a break in another second. I had to take her mind off it quick. Sometimes cows are like that. Hey, I ain’t apologizin’!” This last rather frantically. “What I done, I done! Only, I never hit a cow with that thing unless there’s danger. I reckon--” he drew a deep breath--“I’ll sit down.”

Teddy stared at the man a moment. Somehow he seemed different, as though there was something in him that had not been apparent before.

“You didn’t do it just out of meanness, then?”

Jack Conroy stepped forward.

“Mean?” he shouted. “Silent, mean? Say, buddy, he’s the kindest--”

“Buckle it up!” Silent tersely ordered from his place on the ground. “This ain’t no debatin’ society.”

The men wandered away. Nick and Bug Eye returned to the cows. Teddy bent down and thrust out his hand.

“Want to shake?” he asked quietly.

Silent got to his feet and eyed the boy in amazement.

“You mean I ain’t fired?”

“Not any! I didn’t get the idea, that was all. I thought you did it for fun.”

Silent grasped Teddy’s hand.

“Buddy,” he said feelingly, “you’re O. K. with me. I owe you plenty.” He grinned. “Besides this here eye an’ jaw, I mean. Reckon I had ’em comin’ to me.”

The hands gripped and parted. There was that pause that so often comes when two people suddenly meet as friends. It was Roy who broke the silence.

“Personally, I’d recommend a visit to the old pump for both of you,” he said dryly. “You’re enough to scare any cows.”

“Let’s go,” Teddy suggested quickly. “There’s some water behind the station. I have a clean handkerchief that’ll do for a towel.”

“An’ with that he walks off,” Conroy snickered. “Baby, wasn’t that a scrap? Never saw the like. Fightin’ fools, them two. Silent, he ain’t no slouch, let me tell you. Yet your brother certainly laid him out pretty. Laid him out, an’ saved his life. Say, listen, Manley.” His tone grew more serious. “Some people get a wrong slant on Silent. They think he’s ornery. He ain’t, nothin’ like it. He’s just naturally quiet. Most people think his breakfast soured on him. But if you’d had your brother shot down before your eyes, an’ seen your old man try to get the killers an’ stop a bullet hisself, I reckon--” he stopped in confusion. “An’ I promised Silent I wouldn’t say nothin’ about it!” he declared regretfully.

“Did that happen to Neville?” Roy demanded.

“It sure did. They had a cabin about three hundred miles from here--him, his dad, an’ brother. Then--well, here he is.”

“Who shot them?”

“Oh, a couple of waddies. Silent saw ’em, him lyin’ on a cot burnin’ up with fever. He tried to get ’em, but, shucks, what could he do? They robbed the shack of a thousand dollars in gold that old man Neville had just bought from a miner and vamoosed. So here I am, an’ here Silent is.” He turned away.

“I see,” Roy mused. “So that’s it? How long ago did this happen?”

“Three months.”

“Man, that’s tough lines!” Roy breathed. “Poor fellow! He’s alone now, is he?”

“I’m with him,” Conroy flung back. “An’ I aims to stay with him, too! Well, I reckon I’d better help with them cows.”