Mason of Bar X Ranch

“Claims he knows Jean Barry and wants to see him,” Tug answered tersely.

Ricker scowled darkly.

“Jean is down to the corral. Go get him and see if he knows this fellow,” he ordered Tug, while watching MacNutt sharply.

Tug soon returned in company with a cowboy.

“Jean, do you know this man?” Ricker question with a wave of his hand toward MacNutt.

“Shore, I know him, he’s all right,” the man Jean answered without an instant’s hesitation.

Ricker looked immensely relieved.

“All right, take him to the ranch and make him acquainted with the boys. I’ll hold you responsible for him. We are going to have rifle and revolver practice in a few minutes, maybe your friend would like to join us,” he said, addressing Jean and giving MacNutt another sharp look.

Just a fleeting gleam came into MacNutt’s eyes as he readily consented to join them. He was conducted to the ranch by Jean, Tug having gone back to his post. At the ranch he was presented to Waneda the Spanish girl and to the cook, an old Negress. It was his first opportunity to see Waneda at close range, and he studied her face intently although seemingly interested in what Jean was telling him about the target practice.

Finally Jean left him alone with the two women after saying he was going to help set up targets, and would let him know when they were ready.

MacNutt immediately drew the girl into a conversation after making sure he had nothing to fear from the old Negress, she being quite deaf. MacNutt had again thrown off his assumed role of a half-wit and was alert and thinking rapidly. The girl had noticed the change, and shrank back against the wall staring at him dumbly.

“I know you are a good girl, Waneda,” he was saying rapidly and in a low voice, “I can generally size a person up at first glance, and you have a good face. Now, I wish to clear my mind on one point: did you know the contents of the note you delivered to the Bar X ranch that sent the cowboys into the mountains after Powers and the half-breed?”

“No,” she answered guardedly, her eyes searching his face, eager to read his thoughts.

His face grew stern.

“I was almost sure of it, but your answer proves that point,” he said kindly, “still, that very note came near getting some good men killed. You like young Mason, don’t you?”

A startled cry escaped her lips. With a quick move she seized him by the arm.

“I love him! Is he in danger? Speak quick!”

MacNutt gently released her hold and placed a chair for her.

“Steady, girl,” he warned her; “no, he’s not in danger just now, but you are. This is no place for you, and I am going to get you out of here, but before that time comes you must help also, and in doing that you will be helping Mason, too.

“There’s going to be hell brewing around here before long. What do you suppose Ricker has that guard out there for? And this target shoot is for a purpose, too. I think I can trust you not to betray me, and you also will be able to prove your loyalty to Mason and wipe out the damage you caused by carrying that note.”

The girl was thoroughly aroused now.

“Who are you?” she demanded, her breath coming in quick gasps. “If Ricker finds out that you are against him, your life wouldn’t be worth a plugged nickel!”

Jean Barry hurriedly entered the room at this moment and interrupted his talk with the girl. A lightning glance of understanding passed between the two men.

“I’ll be with you in a few minutes and join the men at the shoot,” MacNutt said rapidly in answer to an inquiring look from his friend.

Jean nodded, and was gone in the same hurried manner that he had entered the room.

MacNutt turned and looked gravely at the girl.

“Who are you?” she repeated impatiently.

“Your friend,” he answered earnestly; “that is all I can tell you at present, but you must trust me implicitly. Just go on here as before, and if Jean Barry tells you to leave this place at a certain time you must obey him, for he is working with me. If Jean comes to you for any information, give it to him if you can without causing suspicion. You will be helping me and Mason. I can trust you in this, can’t I?”

“You are a strange man,” she answered slowly, “but somehow I have confidence in you. I feel that this ranch is uncanny, and things are not as they should be. At night I hear strange sounds and men come and go at all hours. I am afraid of the men and especially of Ricker; he wants me to marry him and I hate him. The old Negress here has protected me from him many a time when he had been drinking. I wanted to leave here long ago, but I am afraid to leave for Ricker would find me again, and then even the Negress couldn’t save me. He is terrible when he is in a rage and the cowboys fear him too, for he is a dead shot and none of them would have a chance with him. I’ll trust you and do as you say.”

She had crept close to him while talking and her face was deathly pale.

Something like an oath escaped from MacNutt’s lips.

“Be brave,” he said, speaking earnestly. “It won’t be but a few weeks now before I will have you out of here, and maybe in a few days. Ricker is engaged in some lawless business besides mere cattle raising. He has a collection of the worst crooks in the country about him, and I mean to get to the bottom of his game.”

After saying a few more words of comfort to the girl, MacNutt strolled leisurely out and joined the party near the targets.

He had again assumed his slouching gait and halfwit smile. He was greeted indifferently by the cowboys, save by Ricker, who was again regarding him sharply. MacNutt returned the stare with his usual good-natured grin, while engaging Jean Barry in conversation.

“Watch sharp!” Jean Barry cautioned him.

“Ricker seems to suspect you for some reason and may put you to a severe test.”

MacNutt nodded and inclined his head slightly, as he noticed Ricker call one of his cowboys over to him. The man called by Ricker was his foreman, Jim Haley, the most expert shot on the ranch with the exception of Ricker himself. A low conversation took place between the two men.

“Jim, how long has Jean Barry been with us?” Ricker demanded of his foreman.

Tall and muscular, with deep cruel lines written on his face, Jim Haley the foreman turned and looked at the man in question.

“Oh, about a month, I reckon,” he replied, glancing quizzically at his chief.

The answer set Ricker’s brows to knitting.

“Jim, I want you to watch Jean Barry,” he said sharply, as though coming to a sudden decision. “He’s the last man we took on and hasn’t been with us long enough to be trusted too far. As for this man MacNutt, keep your eye on him also. He claimed to the guard that he isn’t friendly with the Bar X outfit and has a grievance against them. I can’t just make him out, and I want you to trail him after he leaves here and find out just what his standing is at Bar X. Jean took up with him mighty sudden, and I don’t like the looks of it. Look sharp now, and make your report to me in the morning.”

At the curt dismissal Jim Haley moved off while his chief mingled with the men and directed the rules of the target practice. MacNutt was ignorant of what had taken place and was calmly looking his guns over.

Jean Barry pressed close to him at this moment.

“Watch out for Jim Haley, the man that Ricker was just talking to,” he hissed in his ear.

MacNutt made no answer to his friend’s warning as the shoot had now commenced. The first contestants were leading off with revolver practice. The targets were set at seventy-five yards and each man was to fire six shots apiece. The men fired in turn, each scoring fair hits, until Ricker and Jim Haley’s turn came. When they had fired six shots apiece it was seen that they had each scored bull’s-eyes, and both had one shot on the extreme edge of the bull’s-eye. Ricker looked at his foreman.

“Guess we’ve got to shoot this one over, Jim,” he called, a trifle nettled.

He was conceded the best shot on the ranch, and it bothered his vanity to have his mark equalled. The marker was closely examining the targets.

“A tie,” he finally announced.

“Put up fresh targets, Jim, and I will shoot off the tie,” Ricker ordered briskly, “and put up another one; we’ll have our friend MacNutt here try his skill with us.”