buckin’ straps an’ a Spanish bit.”
“Maybe not for one man,” said Montgomery softly, “but here’s twelve men can all shoot straight and every one knows his gun. Can Black Jim stand up against us all at one time?”
“Maybe not,” said the Doctor, “but he ain’t no gun-shy paint-pony, an’ before we’re through flashin’ guns, some of us are goin’ to start out on the long trail for the happy huntin’ grounds. You can stack your chips on that, partner!”
“Then, by God!” cried Porky, starting to his feet with such suddenness that the others shrank a little, “if you’re goin’ to quit cold, me an’ Silent Mac’ll take on the game by ourselves, and we split the loot between us. There’ll be a lot of it. He don’t never spend it any ways I can see—no liquor, no gamblin’, no nothin’. Boys, the stuff must be piled up to the roof!”
Without hardly knowing what she did Jerry drew out the revolver from her holster and drew a deadly bead on Porky’s breast. She checked herself with horror at the thought that a single pressure of her finger would bring a man to his death. Three or four other men rose around the circle.
“If it comes to a show down, Porky,” said one of them, “we’ll stack our chips with yours. I’m ag’in’ Black Jim, an’ I’d jest as soon tell him so from the talkin’ end of a gun.”
“Me, too,” said another, and a clamor of voices rose in affirmation.
Jerry began to draw back, her head whirling.
“Then there’s no time like tonight,” called Montgomery, “and I tell you how we can work best.”
He lowered his tone as he spoke, and as Jerry drew back behind the jutting angle of the rock, she heard only a confused murmur of sounds. There she crouched a long moment, thinking as she had never thought before.
The way out of the valley lay clear before her. If she rose and walked on she would be free within ten minutes and in fifteen escape beyond the reach of pursuit.
The other alternative was to turn back to the cabin of Black Jim and warn him of the danger which threatened. If she did this, it meant that she would be involved in the same ruin which was soon to involve the solitary bandit.
Thirteen men that night would attack him. When he fell, she would be the prize of the victors. Jerry moaned aloud.
Then she rose, still crouching, and hurried off among the trees towards the gap of the valley. Terror drove her faster and faster. When she reached the last rise of ground up to the gap, she broke into a stumbling run. In another moment she stood at the farther end of a narrow pass, and paused an instant to take her breath. Below her the ground pitched steeply down, down to freedom. On that outward trail she would be started again for happiness, for the applause of the gay hundreds, for the shimmer of the footlights, which had been to her like signal fires which led on finally to fame, She looked back to the valley. It was black as death. She looked up, and there were the cold, white stars very near. One of them seemed to burn in the top of a tall pine, a lordly tree.
A great weakness mastered Jerry, and she dropped to her knees, her shoulder pressing against the cliff which fenced the gap. Perhaps the thirteen were even then prowling toward the cabin of Black Jim. Perhaps Jim was stooped over the hearth, kindling the fire. Perhaps he even thought of her, at least to wonder carelessly where she had gone. Big tears formed in her eyes and ran hotly down her cheeks. She threw her arms up toward the pallid Stars, and her hands were fiercely clenched.
“O God,” she said, whispering the words, “tell me what’s the big-time thing to do! How’m I going to put over this act right? I’ve been on the small-time so long I don’t know what to do! I don’t know what to do!”
Surely there was an answer to that prayer, for her tears ceased at once. She rose and looked once more longingly down the slope that led to liberty. Then she turned and went back into the double night of the valley.
She went on at a swinging step and hope came to her as she walked. Surely the crew of Porky and Montgomery would deliberate some time longer, laying their plans for the attack. She had heard enough to know that they feared Black Jim worse than death and they would not be the men to take greater chances than necessary. If that were so she might reach the cabin in time. Once or twice she started to run, but she stopped and swung into the walk again for she must not exhaust her strength. There might be need for it all, before the night was done.
X. A STRAIGHT GAME WITH A FIXED DECK
She grew more and more cautious as she approached the farther end of the valley, and for a time she hesitated at the edge of the circle of trees around the cabin, watching and listening. She found nothing suspicious. When she moved a little to one side she saw a shaft of light fall from a window of the house. It was a golden promise to Jerry, and her heart beat strongly again with hope. Once with Black Jim she felt at that moment as if they could fight off the whole world between them.
She went tiptoeing across the open space like a child that is stealing up to catch a playmate by surprise. At the open door she stood a moment, peeking around the corner and into the interior. The shock of the discovery unnerved her, even more than the plot which she had overheard, scarcely an hour before.
By the lantern light she saw Black Jim standing with folded arms beside her bunk. He stared down at an array of woman’s clothes which was spread out on the blankets. She saw a long, rose-colored scarf, a dress of blue silk that shimmered faintly in the dim light, light shoes on the floor, a small round hat, and there were other articles at which she could only guess, for they were not all exposed.
“Jim!” she called softly, and then stepped into the door.
He whirled with a clutching hand on the butt of his revolver. He was pale but a deep color poured into his face and his eyes wavered to the floor under her shining glance.
“I thought you were gone,” he said. “I thought—”
He raised his head and went to her with outstretched hand.
“Jerry,” he said, as she met his grasp, “I was thinkin’ awhile ago that I didn’t care for anything livin’ except the roan. But I reckon I’d have missed you!”
The confession came stammeringly forth. Jerry pressed his hand in both of hers.
“You’re just—you’re just a dear,” she cried, and in a moment she was on her knees, turning over the finery, article by article. Tears brimmed her eyes again.
“I thought you never noticed me,” she said, turning to him. “I thought I was no more than the blank wall to you, Jim!”
“Which a man would be blind that didn’t see your clothes was getting some worn, Jerry,” he said, and she saw that his eyes were traveling slowly over her from head to foot, as if to make sure that she had really come back to him. It thrilled her with a happiness different from any she had ever known in her life. She forgot the danger! of the thirteen gangsters and the warning which she had come back to tell Black Jim at such a peril to herself. She leaned over the clothes to conceal the hot color in her face and to fight against a sudden sense of self-consciousness. It was more like stage fright than anything else, yet it was different. It was not the fear of many critical
