“Oh, is that Judson Eells?” broke in Billy quickly and Wunpost nodded his head.
“That’s the hombre,” he said his voice waxing louder, “he’s one of these grubstake sharks. He came to Nevada after the Tonopah excitement with a flunkey they call Flip Flappum. That’s another dirty dog that I’m going to put my mark on when I get him in the door–one of the most low-down, contemptible curs that I know of–he makes his living by selling bum life insurance. Phillip F. Lapham is his name but we all call him Flip Flappum–he’s the black-leg lawyer that drew up that contract that made me lose my mine. Did Dusty tell you about it–then he told you a lie–I never even read the cussed contract! I was broke, to tell you the truth, and I’d have signed my own death warrant to get the price of a plate of beans; and so I put my name in the place where he told me and never thought nothing about it.
“It was a grubstake, that’s all I knew, giving him half of what I staked in exchange for what I could eat; but it turned out afterwards it was like these fire insurance policies, where a man never reads the fine print. There was more jokers in that contract than in a tinhorn gambler’s deck of cards–he had me peoned for life–and after I’d given him half my strike he came out and claimed it all. Well, no man would stand for that but when I went to make a kick there was a rat-faced guard there waiting for me. Pisen-face Lynch they call him, and if he was half as bad as he looks he’d be the wild wolf of the world; but he ain’t, not by a long shot, he just had the drop on me, and he run me off my own claim! I came back and they ganged me and when I woke up I looked like I’d been through a barbed-wire fence.
“Well, after that, as the nigger says, I began to think they didn’t want me around there, and so I pulled my freight; and it wasn’t a month afterwards that the ore all pinched out and left Judson Eells belly up. If he lost one dollar I’ll bet he lost fifty thousand, besides tipping his hand on that contract; and I walked clean back from the lower end of Death Valley just to see how his lip was hung. He’s a big, fat slob, and when times are good he goes around with his lip pulled up, so! But this time he looked like an old muley cow that’s come through a long, late spring–his lip was plumb down on his brisket. So I gave him the horse-laugh, paid my regards to Flip and Lynch, and came away feeling fine. Because I’ll tell you Billy, sure as God made little fishes, there’s a hereafter coming to them three men; and I’m the boy that’s going to deal ’em the misery–you wait, and watch my smoke!”
He smiled benevolently into Billy’s startled eyes, and as the subject seemed to interest her he settled himself more comfortably and proceeded with his views on life.
“Yes sir,” he said, “I’ll put a torch under them, that’ll burn ’em off the face of the earth. Did you ever see a banker that wasn’t a regular robber–with special attention to widows and orphans? Well, take it from me, Billy, they’re a bunch of crooks–I guess I ought to know. I was just eleven years old when they foreclosed the mortgage and turned my mother and us kids into the street; and since then I’ve done everything from punching cows to highway robbery but I’ve never forgot those bankers. That’s how come I signed up with Judson Eells, I thought I was sticking him good; but he was playing a system and they didn’t anybody tumble to it until I discovered the Wunpost.
“W’y, there wasn’t a prospector in the state of Nevada that hadn’t worked old Eells for a grubstake. We thought he was easy, kind of bugs on mining like all the rest of these nuts, but the minute I struck the Wunpost–bing, he’s there with his contract and we find where we’ve all been stung. We’re tied up, by grab, with more whereases and wherefores, and the parties of the first part, and so on, than you’d find in a book of law; and the boys all found out from what he did to me that he had us euchered at every turn. I thought I could fool him by covering up the hole─”
“Oh, did you do that!” burst out Billy reproachfully, “and I made Dusty Rhodes apologize!”
“Never mind,” said Wunpost, “that was nothing but jaw-bone. He just said it to get a share in our mine.”
“No, but listen,” protested Billy, “that isn’t what I mean. Do you think it was right to deceive Eells?”
“Was it right, kid!” laughed Wunpost. “That ain’t nothing to what I’m going to do if I ever get the chance. Didn’t he hire that black-leg lawyer to draw up a cinch contract with the purpose of grabbing all I found? Well then, that shows how honest he was–and now I’m out after his scalp. I’ve got to raise a stake, so I can fight him dollar for dollar; and then, sure as shooting, I’m going to bust his bank and make him walk out of camp. Was it right–say, that’s a good one–you ain’t been around much, have you? Well, that’s all right, Billy; I like you, all the same.”
He nodded approvingly and Billy sat staring, for her world had gone topsy-turvy again. She had wanted to leave Jail Canyon and go out into the world, but was it possible that there existed a state of society where there was no right and wrong? She sat thinking a minute, her head in a whirl, and then she came back again.
“But when you covered up this mine and tried to keep it for yourself, he–had Mr. Eells ever done you any harm?”
“Well, not yet, kid–that is, I didn’t know it–but believe me, his intentions were good. The time hadn’t come, that’s all.”
“He was your friend, then,” contended Billy, “because Dusty Rhodes said─”
“Dusty Rhodes!” bellowed Wunpost and then he paused. “Go on, let’s get this off your chest.”
“Well, he said,” continued Billy, “that Mr. Eells gave you everything and that you lived off his grubstake for two years; so I don’t think it was right, when you finally found a mine─”
“Say, listen,” broke in Wunpost leaning over and tapping her on the knee while he fixed her with intolerant eyes, “who’s your friend, now–Dusty Rhodes or me?”
“Why–you are,” faltered Billy, “but I don’t see─”
“All right then,” pronounced Wunpost, “if I’m your friend, stay with me. Don’t tell me what Dusty Rhodes said!”
“That’s all right,” she defended, “didn’t I make him apologize? But I’m your friend, too, and I don’t think it was right─”
“Right!” thundered Wunpost, “where do you get this ‘right’ stuff? Have you lived up this canyon all your life? Well, you wait until tomorrow, when the rush is on, and I’ll show you how much right there is in mining! You come down to the mine and I’ll show you a bunch of mugs that would rob you of your claim like that! I’m going to be there, myself, and I’m going to borrow that pistol that you stuck in my ribs the other night; and the first yap that touches a corner or crosses my line I’ll make him hard to catch. And then will come the promoters, with their diamonds and certified checks, and they’ll offer you millions and millions; but you stay with me, kid, if they offer you the sub-treasury, because they’ll clean you if you ever sign up. Don’t sign nothing, see–and don’t promise anything, either; and I’ll tell you about me, I’ll do anything for a friend–but that’s as far as I go. They ain’t no right and wrong, as far as I’m concerned. I’m like a danged Injun, I’ll keep my word to a friend no matter how the cards fall; but if that friend turns against me I’ll scalp him like that, and hang his hide on the fence! So now you know right where you’ll find me!”
“Well, all right,” retorted Billy, whose Scotch blood was up, “and I’ll tell you right where you’ll find me. I’ll stay with my friends whether they’re right or wrong, but I’ll never do anything dishonest. And if you don’t like that you can take back your claim because─”
“Sure I like it!” cried Wunpost, laughing and patting her hand, “that’s just the kind of a friend I want. But all the same, Billy, this is no Sunday School picnic–it’s more like a dog fight we’re going to–and the only way to stand off that bunch of burglars is to hit ’em with anything you’ve got. You’ve got to grab with both