Emersons Wife and Other Western Stories | Page 3

ain't a
drop of blood in Emerson's veins that would n't be ready for a fight any
minute, if 't was his judgment that there ought to be a fight, even if he
has got married. But we-all must remember that he 's got a wife now,
and can't cut out from his family and go rushin' round the country like a
steer on the prod every time you get drunk and raise hell, or every time
I need help. We 'll have to pull together after this, Tom, and leave
Emerson out. It would be too much like stackin' the cards against Mrs.
Emerson if we didn't."
As Tuttle ended he saw a gleam in the other's eyes that caused him to
add with emphasis, "And I 'm not goin' to call him up here, and don't
you do it, either!"
Nick got up, shook himself, and winked at the hole in the wall where
had been the electric button. He was a handsome man, as tall as Tuttle,

but more slenderly built, with clean-cut features, dancing black eyes,
and a black mustache that swept in an upward curve over his tanned
cheek. His friend scrutinized him anxiously as he slid cartridges into
the empty chambers of his revolver.
"Sure you 're sober, Nick?"
Ellhorn laughed. "How the devil can I tell? I can walk straight and see
straight and shoot straight; and if that ain't sober enough to tackle any
four-spot Greaser, I might just as well get drunk again!"
"Well, I reckon you 're sober enough to jump into this job with me now;
and if you stay sober, it's all right. But if I catch you drinkin' another
drop till we get through with this business, I 'll run you back into this
room and sit on your belly till you 're ready to holler quits!"
It was a dangerous solidarity of crime and mutual protection against
which the two deputy marshals started out alone. The Dysert gang had
been organized originally as a secret society to further the political
ambitions of men who were not overscrupulous as to instruments or
methods. But gradually it had drifted into a means of wreaking private
revenge and compelling money tribute. Those of its early members
who were of the law abiding sort had left it long before, and its
membership had dwindled to a handful of Mexicans of the recklessly
criminal sort. They were credited, in the general belief, with thefts,
assaults, and murders; but so closely had they held together, so potent
was their influence with men in public station, and so general was the
fear of the bloody revenges they did not hesitate to take, that not one of
them had yet been convicted of crime.
Faustin Dysert, who had organized the society and was still its head,
combined in himself the worst tendencies of both Mexicans and
Americans, his mother having been of one race and his father of the
other, and both of the sort that reflect no credit upon their offspring.
But he owned the house in which he lived and two or three other
adobes which he rented, and was therefore lifted above the necessity of
labor and held in much regard by his fellow Mexicans. The
combination of that influence and the favor of the political boss of his

party, to whom he had been of use, had made him chief of police of
Santa Fé and had kept him in that office for several years. And he had
been careful to recruit his force from the membership of his society.
Tuttle knew that he could not count on any open help or sympathy from
the public, for no one would dare to invite thus frankly the disfavor of
the gang. And he knew, too, that he could expect to get no more
information from leaky members of the society or their friends, since
that swift punishment had been meted out to the wagging tongue of
Felipe Vigil. He was well aware also that his chief, the United States
Marshal, had not been zealous in the pursuit of Dysert's criminals, and
that Black's friend, Congressman Dellmey Baxter, was known to have
under his protection several members of the society. Therefore, if he
bungled the job, he was likely to lose his official head; and if he were
not swift and sure in his movements against the gang, his physical head
would not be worth the lead that would undoubtedly come crashing
into it from behind, before the end of the week.
"The thing for us to do, Tommy," advised Ellhorn, "is to take in all the
gang we can get hold of. We 'll herd 'em all into jail first, and get the
evidence afterwards. There 'll be some show to get it