Lahoma | Page 5

her wits all day, and I've ridden with her
all night. Don't kill her, men--" He turned impassioned eyes on the
leader. "Look at her--so young--so unsuspecting-- you can't have the
heart to murder a child like that in cold blood."
"Right you are!" exclaimed the man with the ferocious whiskers--he
who had been spoken of as Brick Willock. "You'll have to go, pard, but
I'm against killing infants."
The leader darted an angry glance at the man who, but for the untoward
arrival of Gledware, would have won from him his share of the booty.
But his voice was smooth and pleasant as he resumed: "Yes, pard, the
kid must die. We couldn't do nothing with her, and if we left her on
some door-step, she's sure old enough, and she looks full sharp enough,
to tell sufficient to trammel us good and plenty. If we sets her loose in
the prairie, she'd starve to death if not found--and if found, it would
settle our case. And as Kansas says, this debate must close, or daylight
will catch us."
Brick Willock, with terrible oaths, again expressed himself as strongly
opposed to this decision.
"Well, Brick," said Red, with a sneer, "do YOU want to take the kid
and raise her, yourself? We've either got to do away with her, or keep
her hid. Do YOU want to be her nurse, and keep with her in some cave
or other while we go foraging?"
Willock muttered deep in his throat, while his companions laughed
disdainfully.
"We've had enough of this!" Red declared, his voice suddenly grown
hard and cold. "Kansas, take the prisoner; Brick Willock, as you're so
fond of the kid, you can carry HER." He opened the door and a rush of
wind extinguished the candle. There was silence while it was being
relighted. The flickering light, reddening to a steady glow, revealed no
mercy on the scowling countenances about the table, and no shadow of
presentiment on that of the still unconscious child.
Red went outside and waited till his brother had drawn forth the
quivering man, and Brick Willock had carried out the girl. Then he
looked back into the room. "You fellows can stay in here," he said

authoritatively. "What we've got to do ain't any easier with a lot of men
standing about, looking on."
The man who had relighted the candle, and who crouched to shield it
with a hairy hand from the gust, nodded approval. His friends were
already gathering together the cards to lose in the excitement of
gambling consciousness of what was about to be done. Red closed the
door on the scene, and turned to face the light.
The wind came in furious gusts, with brief intervals of calm. There
were no clouds, however, and the moon, which had risen not long
before, made the prairie almost as light as if morning had dawned. As
far as the eye could reach in any direction, nothing was to be seen but
the level ground, the unflecked sky, the cabin and the little group near
the tethered ponies.
Gledware had already been stationed with his face toward the moon,
and Kansas Kimball was calmly examining his pistol. Between them
and the horses, Brick Willock had come to a halt, the little girl still
sleeping in his powerful arms. Red's eagle eye noted that she had
unconsciously slipped an arm about the highwayman's neck, as if by
some instinct she would cling the closer to the only one in the band of
ten who had spoken for her life.
Red scowled heavily. He had not forgiven Willock for beating him at
cards, still less for his persistent opposition to his wishes; and he now
resolved that it should be Willock's hand to deal the fatal blow. He had
been troubled before tonight by insubordination on the part of this man
of bristling whiskers, this knave whose voice was ever for mercy, if
mercy were possible. Why should Willock have joined men who were
without scruple and without shame? As the leader stared at him
sullenly, he reflected that it was just such natures that fail at the last
extremity of hardihood, that desert comrades in crime, that turn state's
evidence. Yes--Willock would deal the blow, even if Red found it
necessary to call all his men from the cabin to enforce the order.
The captain's fears were not groundless. He would have been much
more alarmed, could he have known the wonderful thoughts that surged
through Willock's brain, and the wonderful emotions that thrilled his
heart, at the warm confiding pressure of the arm about his neck.

CHAPTER II

BRICK MAKES A MOVE
As Kansas Kimball raised his weapon to fire, the man before him
uttered a cry of terror and began to