the High Graders (1965) (8 page)

The trouble was that Ray Hollister, driven by a blind fury to realize his ambition, would ge t somebody killed. All the way along the lin e Ray had missed the boat, and to a man of his eg o that was intolerable. He was striking out franticall y now in desperation and bitterness. If he had eve r thought of anyone but himself, except those successfu l people he had formerly idolized, he certainly wa s thinking of no one else now. Not even of Eve.

As Shevlin worked at the muck pile in the ho t end of the drift, sweat pouring from him, it cam e to him suddenly that there was a way to stop all this.

If the richness of the mines could be brought into the open , suddenly exposed, then Ben Stowe and his crowd woul d have nothing to fight for, and it would stop Ra y Hollister too.

The news that the mines were rich would immediatel y destroy any chance of Stowe or any of his crow d buying the mines. It would bring in a rush o f outsiders, and further buying of high-grade would hav e to be curbed. And the ranchers would realize, n o matter what Hollister might say, that the mine s were not about to be abandoned.

But how could he, Mike Shevlin, bring that about?

Nobody would accept the word of a drifting cowhan d with a bad reputation. He must have evidence , concrete evidence in the shape of high-grad e ore. Moreover, he must locate the cache wher e the high-grade was hidden. If he did not do this , the thieves would certainly take the gold an d escape when their thefts were disclosed. And in suc h case, Laine Tennison would be defrauded.

By the time Mike had mucked out the drift it wa s mid-afternoon. Right at the face it was easier, becaus e Burt Parry had gotten a sheet of boile r plate from someone and had placed it on the floo r of the drift before firing his shots and bringing down th e muck on top of the sheet. This was old practic e in the larger mines, but you found little of that sort o f thing in such prospect holes as Parry's.

Mike lined up various lengths o f drill steel near the face; then he came out of th e drift and carried water up from the spring for a bath.

While he washed he had water getting hot o n the stove, and when he had finished he made coffe e and a sandwich. He would have a good meal in town, bu t he knew from long experience that a man was foolis h to start out for anywhere without eating something ... to o many things could happen.

And when he got to town he was going to se e Wilson Hoyt first thing.

Chapter
5

Wilson Hoyt sat behind his battere d roll-top desk, his feet propped up, readin g a newspaper. He looked up as Mik e Shevlin walked in, and acknowledged his presenc e with a brief nod and no show of pleasure.

"You've got something on your mind," he sai d bluntly. "What is it?"

"I'm going to blow the lid off, and I want yo u on my side."

Hoyt picked up the stub of his cigar an d carefully ground it out before throwing it into th e cuspidor. He should have known this job was too goo d to last.

Slowly and in detail, Mike Shevlin lai d out the situation as he saw it. Ray Hollister wa s in that part of the country, and he had the cattleme n solidly behind him. The water of the creeks was bein g polluted, and the cattle needed that water. They woul d attack, the cattlemen would, and that meant killin g and burning.

Ben Stowe would fight back, but regardless o f who won, the town would lose. And, he added, Be n Stowe was robbing the mine owners.

"They don't live in Rafter," Hoyt sai d cynically, "so it doesn't matter." He bi t the end from a fresh cigar. "How do you think it can b e stopped?"

"Arrest Stowe. Arrest Mason and Gentry.

Slap every man of them in jail, then go into the mine s and get enough high-grade for evidence."

"What about Hollister?"

"Forget him. Bring in the five top rancher s and put them under bond to keep the peace. Then le t Hollister stew in his own juice."

"They're outside my jurisdiction."

"Not if you want to act. Nobody reall y wants this trouble but Hollister. He's a sorehead."

Hoyt chewed the cigar thoughtfully, then took hi s feet down from the desk. "Now you listen to me.

Nobody asked me to stop high-grading. I wa s brought in to keep the peace, and I've kept it.

Now you come in here and try to tell me m y business.

"If Ray Hollister starts anything, I'l l kill him, and that goes for you as well. Ben Stow e won't start anything, because he needs peace an d quiet. If you try to blow the lid off this tow n you're likely to get killed. And even if yo u started something, you couldn't prove a thing.

"Let me tell you something," Hoyt went on.

"All the high-grade ore comes out of one are a between the two mines. At the first sign of trouble, th e drifts leading to the stopes where that high-grad e ore has been found will be blown up and sealed off.

You couldn't prove a thing, and you'd just make a fool of yourself."

Wilson Hoyt stood up. "Now you quit tha t two-bit job and get out of town. If you're stil l in town forty-eight hours from now, or if you so muc h as raise your voice, I'll come for you."

Shevlin felt angry with frustration an d helplessness. This was the one man he needed, but i f Hoyt persisted in his stand nothing could preven t killing. How could he reach him?

"You've heard my ultimatum," Hoyt said.

"Get up in the saddle and start looking fo r distance."

"If you remembered me, Hoyt, you wouldn't b e talking that way."

Hoyt brushed the remark off with a gesture.

"Oh, I know all about you! You fought in th e Nueces cattle war, you were a Texas Range r for two years and made quite a name for yourself. You ha d a name around Cimarron and Durango. I kno w all that, and I'm not impressed."

Mike Shevlin tucked his thumbs behind his bel t and said quietly, "I was remembering one night i n Tascosa."

Wilson Hoyt's hands became very still. Th e leonine head was bowed slightly, the muscles i n the powerful neck were rigid.

"It was bright moonlight," Mike said, "and yo u were under the cottonwoods waiting for a man, so whe n a rider came in from the Canadian Rive r bottoms you were sure it was your man."

Hoyt's face was bleak.

"You stepped into the open, called out a name, an d reached for your gun. Do you remember that?"

"I remember it."

"You were slow, Wilson. We'll say it wa s an off night. Anyway, this rider had the dro p before your gun cleared leather, and when he spoke yo u knew you had braced the wrong man. Right so far?"

"Yes."

"There you stood looking into the muzzle of a gu n in the hands of an unknown man, a man with every chanc e and every right to shoot you where you stood. Then the ma n walked his horse away and left you standing there, an d you never knew who it was who beat you to the draw."

"You could have heard the story."

"I never told it."

"Well, you beat me once. That doesn'
t say you can do it again."

For years that faceless man had haunte d Wilson Hoyt--that man whose features had bee n hidden by the shadows of his hat as well as by th e trees. Now he knew.

"What's your stake in this? I'll not deny I o we you something. You could have shot me, yet you hel d your fire."

"Eli Patterson was my friend ... that starte d it. Since then, something else has happened.

I've been hired to stop the high-grading an d recover the gold."

Hoyt swore. "Hired? Why'd they pic k an outside man?"

Shevlin smiled. "You were keeping the peace , remember? You were letting things be, as long a s everything was quiet."

Hoyt thrust the cigar back between his teeth.

"I don't know about this. I got to think about it.

You keep your shirt on, d'you hear?"

"Think fast then," Shevlin said. "I'm no t smart, Hoyt. I only know one way--I w alk right in swinging. By noon tomorrow I'm cuttin g my wolf loose, and if you're not with me you'
d better hunt a hole."

In the neat red brick house with the whit e shutters that was the home of Dr. Ruper t Clagg, late of Boston, they were havin g supper. The house itself, the neat green lawn, and th e white picket fence were all indications of Dr.

Clagg's quality of mind. He was himself neat , orderly, efficient.

Graduating at the top of his class fro m medical school, he could have stepped into a fin e practice in any city in the East, but the Wa r Between the States changed all that. After only a year in practice in Philadelphia, in th e office of the city's most reputable physician , he had gone into the Army. The rough and read y life, the men he met, conspired to remove an y latent desire to return to Philadelphia.

Instead, he elected to go west.

Dottie Clagg was one of three daughters i n one of Philadelphia's oldest and wealthies t families, but she possessed an adventurou s spirit, and despite all the protests their tw o families could offer, they went west.

For a while Dr. Clagg had remained a n Army surgeon, attached to various posts i n New Mexico and Arizona. When he left th e service a distant cousin, Clagg Merriam , who was in business in Rafter, suggested that they com e there, and almost two years ago they had done so , prepared to settle down.

At thirty-four Dr. Rupert Clagg wa s erect, tall, and handsome, bronzed as an y cowhand, and bearing an arrow scar on his cheekbone.

His office was filled with frontier atmosphere , but his home remained a corner of the New Englan d where he had been born.

He liked having people around, and had been please d when Laine Tennison arrived to be their hous e guest. Laine and Dottie had attended schoo l together in Philadelphia, and Dottie had bee n thrilled when Laine had written, mentioning comin g west for her health.

"Although I don't know why," Dottie ha d confided to her husband. "She was always the pictur e of health."

"Maybe she just wants to get away."

"A love affair!" Dottie was at onc e delighted and positive. "She's had a n unhappy love affair!"

"Laine?" Clagg was skeptical.

"Even a girl as beautiful as she is can b e disappointed," Dottie protested.

Recognizing the fact that his wife could be a s excited over an unhappy love affair as a happy one, he did not argue the point.

"I'm going to invite her for a visit,"

Dottie had said. "You don't mind, do you?"

"Mind? Laine? By all means invite her."

She had arrived a few weeks late r and had proved an attentive listene r to Dottie's endless chatter about people and happening s around Rafter. Laine, it seemed, was interested i n all the trivia of life in a western mining town , and not the least bit bored.

Dr. Clagg offered few comments unti l Laine suggested that riding in the open air might b e good for her health. Then he said, "By all means,"
a nd added, a shade wryly, "Just don't overd o it."

On this evening, when Clagg Merriam was als o there for supper, Dr. Rupert glanced at Lain e across the table. "Your color is better," h e said. "You were riding today?"

"Driving. I rented a buckboard from that nic e old man at the livery stable and drove out past th e Glory Hole."

"That nice old man," the doctor sai d ironically, "is a disreputable old outlaw."

"Really? He seems so sweet."

"I saw a new man in town today," Dotti e said, "and a handsome devil, too. One of the big , rugged outdoor types. He was coming from th e sheriff's office."

"Speaking of men," Dr. Clagg commente d casually, "Ben Stowe was asking about you. H
e noticed you driving around alone and wondered who yo u were. He was most interested."

"You can't blame Ben," Clagg Merria m said. "After all, Miss Tennison is a ver y beautiful girl."

"Why, thank you, Mr. Merriam." Lain e flashed him a quick smile. "But I am sure tha t wasn't the reason."

"He asked if you were from San Francisco,"

Dr. Rupert said. "but when I told him you were fro m Philadelphia he lost interest."

"Oh? So he doesn't like Philadelphi a girls!" Dottie exclaimed. "You should hav e told him that Laine has an uncle in Sa n Francisco ... and a rich uncle, at that!"

Clagg Merriam glanced thoughtfully a t Laine, but made no comment. Dr. Rupert, alway s an observant man, caught the expression o n Laine's face. It had stiffened at Dottie'
s comment, and in the instant that Merriam looked a t her, Laine shot Dottie a quick, protestin g look.

Later, when the two men sat alone over brand y and cigars, Merriam commented, "Mis s Tennison seems the picture of health. I t hink," he added judiciously, "that they caugh t hers in time."

"I wouldn't think it too safe for a girl to g o riding around alone in a place like this. After all , the mines brought in all sorts of riffraff."

"She can look after herself, Clagg. And I b elieve the people here are quite stable. Remarkabl y stable, in fact. I also think most of them know sh e is my guest."

Walking away from the house an hour or s o later, Clagg Merriam wondered whether Dr.