Friar Tuck Part 10

"That's right, Mr. Bradford," sez I respectful. "You'd have to ride back anyway, so you might as well come on with us an' have a pleasant outing."

"Besides," sez Tank, "up there in the Wind River country we stand a chance o' gettin' somethin' for our nerves, if the Injuns happen to be in a good humor. Those Injun doctors know all about hurbs an' which diseases they grow for, an' when they're in a good humor, they'll sell ya some."

"What'll they do if they're not in a good humor?" asked Horace.

"Well, that's the beatin'est question I've yet heard!" sez Tank. "How does any one know what an Injun'll do when he's not in a good humor? I don't reckon any one ever tried to learn the answer to that question.

When an Injun's not in a good humor, either you've got to kill him or he'll kill you. If we hear tell 'at they're out o' humor, we'll simply scurry back at the first hint, an' don't you forget it."

Horace wasn't resigned yet; so he kept sawin' away with his questions all the time we were tyin' on the beds an' grub. The gra.s.s had been purty brown down below, but it was fat an' green up above, an' the ponies felt fine. We had picked out good ones, an' it took some time to get 'em wore down to where they was willin' to pack; but by seven o'clock we were ready to start, an' then Tank lifted Horace into the saddle, while I held the pony's head. We had chose a steady old feller for Horace, because we didn't want any serious accidents. Ol' Cast Steel was dead again' sheepin' the Easteners, an' I knew they'd be doin's about what we'd done already, let alone havin' any sort of a mishap.

We told Horace just what to do to save himself, an' we fixed his stirrups to just fit him; but he took it purty hard. It takes a ridin'-man a couple o' weeks to harden up after he's laid off a spell; but when a man begins to do his first ridin' at forty, it comes ex-tremely awkward. Horace was the first feller I ever saw get sea-sick on hossback; but he certainly did have a bad attack. I suppose it was the best thing 'at could have happened to him, an'

after he was emptied out, he rode some easier. We only covered about thirty miles that day altogether, an' Tank had plenty o' time to get all the sleep he could use; but when he came to lift Horace down from the saddle, Horace couldn't make his legs stiff enough to stand on.

We let him stretch out while we were makin' camp; but he fell asleep, so we had to wake him up to help get supper. I was beginnin' to feel sorry for him, but he had pestered us regardless about his nerves, an'

I knew 'at pity for him now would be the worse for him in the long run.

After supper, Horace spent consid'able time in bewailin' his fate because he had got disgusted an' thrown his whole box o' cigars into the fire. "I've got an extra pipe, if you'd like to try that," sez Tank. "It's lots better for the nerves than cigars-though from what I can tell o' you, you ain't bothered much with nerves. I wish to glory I was in your skin."

"Oh, man," sez Horace, "you can't imagine how I suffer. I ache like a sore tooth all over, an' it gives me a cute pain just to sit here on the gra.s.s."

"Sit on the saddle-blankets," sez Tank, sympathetic. As soon as Horace had piled up the blankets an' sat down on 'em, groanin' most bitter, Tank sez with feelin': "Gee, how I envy you. You have nothin' but a few muscle-aches and chafed skin an' such, while my nerves is beginnin' to threaten me again. I'm not goin' to bother either o' you fellers, though. I'm goin' to have you tie me to a tree to-night if I can't sleep."

Horace filled the pipe, which was an ancient one, bitter as gall; but when he began to smoke, his face became almost satisfied. The pipe was purty well choked up, so that he had some bother in keepin' it goin', but after we'd run a gra.s.s stem through it, it worked purty well, an'

we was right sociable until along about nine o'clock, when I got sleepy, myself. Then Tank began to worry about his nerves. Horace had about forgot his own nerves, he was sufferin' so from Tank's.

When we see that Horace couldn't keep awake any longer without bein'

tortured, Tank began to carry on fiercer. He rumpled up his hair, gave starts an' jerks, but the thing 'at worked best, was just to sit an'

look at his fingers, an' pick at 'em. He'd form a circle with his left thumb and forefinger, then poke his right finger through this circle and try to grab it with his right hand before it could back out. It was the craziest thing I'd ever seen; but before long Horace got to tryin' it himself. While Tank was lookin' at his fingers with his good eye, the free one rambled around, an' half the time it rested on Horace, an' fair gave him the creeps; but when I couldn't stay awake myself, I gave Tank the sign, an' he got delirious.

"I can't sleep," he wailed, "I can't sleep! My nerves, oh, my nerves!

One minute they're like hot wires, an' the next they're like streaks of ice. You'll have to tie me up, boys, you certainly will have to tie me up."

I argued again' it as bein' inhuman; but Tank begged so that finally I gave in, an' we tied him to a down pine tree. Horace helped to tie him, an' he sure did his best to make a good job of it. I was a little doubtful, myself, about Tank gettin' loose; but he had blowed up his muscles, an' he coughed me the all-right signal, so me an' Horace turned in.

Horace groaned consid'able while stretchin' out; but he began to snore before I had got through findin' the soft place. When I first go to bed, I like to roll about a bit, an' stretch, an' loosen up my muscles-I like to stay awake long enough to feel the tired spots sink down again' the earth, an' sort o' ooze into it; and before I had drifted off, Horace was buzzin' away at a log in great shape.

I must 'a' slept an hour when I was wakened by a bright light, an'

lookin' out, I saw Tank Williams standin' with his back to the fire an' glowerin' down at Horace. "As soon as this log burns off, I'm goin' to get you," sez Tank between set teeth.

"What are you goin' to get me for?" asked Horace. "You asked me to tie you to it. I didn't want to tie you to it, but you insisted. I'll untie you if you want me to, and rub your brow again."

"It's too late," muttered Tank. "It's too infernal late. Nothin' could put me to sleep now. As soon as this log burns off, I'm goin' to get you. You was the one which brought back my nerve trouble, an' you are the one what has to suffer."

Tank hadn't been able to free himself from the pine tree; so he had dragged it in an' across the fire. It wasn't such a big one as trees go; but it was a mighty big one for a man, tied to it as he was, to tote along. Horace reasoned with him a while longer, an' then when he saw that the trunk was about burned through, he got purty well off to one side, an' threw a chunk at me. I popped out of bed on the instant, an' began to shoot about promiscuous; so as to live up to my reputation.

When I'd emptied my gun, I looked at Tank, as though seein' him for the first time, an' sez: "What in thunder da you mean, by raisin' all this havoc?"

"My nerves," sez Tank, "my pore nerves. I can't sleep, an' I can't keep my senses if I'm left tied to this tree any longer. It's all his fault, an' as soon as this log burns up, I'm goin' ta hunt him down."

Tank an' I argued fierce as long as we could think of anything to say; an' just as the dead pine was gettin' too hot for Tank to stand it any longer, Horace calls in from the darkness, "Don't you want me to rub your brow a while an' see if that won't put you to sleep?"

"Come in here," I sez, cross. "This man is liable to kill himself, an'

you know more about nerves 'n I do."

Horace crawled out from behind a big rock, came in, s.h.i.+verin' with the cold; an' we untied Tank from the log. He had managed to get his feet loose; but his hands had been tied behind him an' when they got cold, he couldn't make a go of it. "Well," sez I, as soon as Tank was free, "what are you goin' to do now?"

"I move we get up the hosses, an' start at once," sez Tank. "I don't trust myself any longer, an' we can ride faster at night. My one hope, is to get to an Injun doctor, or else get so tired out that I can fall into a dreamless sleep."

"Why don't you ride alone?" demanded Horace with a sudden burst of intelligence. "Why don't you ride alone; an' then you could ride as fast as you wanted to, an' if you found the Injuns out o' humor, you could come back an' let us know."

This set us back for a minute: we had been playin' Horace for bein'

utterly thought-loose; but he had figured out the best plan the' was, an' his eyes were bright an' eager.

"Take the hoss that's fastened on the rope here," Horace went on; "an'

we can take the manacled hosses in the mornin' and foller ya. Yes, that's the best plan."

You see the fact was, we were only twenty or twenty-five miles from the ranch house. We had been circlin' an' zig-zaggin' through the hills, an' at night we hung up Horace's pony on a picket an' put hobbles on the balance. Bein' fooled on direction wasn't any sign of Horace bein' a complete lunkhead; I've known a heap o' wise ones get balled up in the mountains.

Tank stood puzzlin' over it with his free eye trottin' about in a circle; but he couldn't think any way out of it. "All right," sez he, "if you two can get along without me, why, I'll risk my life by bein'

a scout."

"Nonsense," sez Horace; "the Injuns haven't riz for years, an' they're not likely to again."

Tank only winked his lookin' eye, an' proceeded to fling the saddle on the picketed hoss. Horace was smilin' purty contented with himself, until I sez: "Which hoss are you goin' to ride to-morrow, Mr.

Bradford?"

Then his face went blank as he recalled the blow-up we'd had that mornin' gettin' the pack ponies contented with their loads. "By Jove, I can't ride any of them!" he exclaims. "It would kill me to have a hoss buck with me. I'm so sore now I can hardly move."

"You don't look as nervous as you did, though," I sez to him for comfort.

He didn't pay me no heed. "Here, Williams," he calls, "you can't take that hoss. He's the only one I can ride, and you'll have to catch another."

"You ort have thought o' that before," sez Tank, goin' on with his arrangements, but movin' slow.

"Well, you two straighten it out among yourselves," sez I. "I'm goin'

back to bed. No wonder you're nervous. It would make a saw-horse nervous to jibe around the way you two do."

I went off grumblin', an' I went to sleep before they settled it; but Tank stretched it out as much as he could, an' Horace didn't oversleep any that night. Next mornin' when I looked out, I saw him tied up with his back again' a tree, an' Tank's head in his lap. He was swathed in his slicker an' saddle-blanket to keep warm, an' was sound asleep. He looked purty well hammered out, but hanged if he didn't look a lot more worth while 'n he did when he started to take my treatment.

It seemed a shame to do it, as it was just gettin' into the gray; but I woke him up, an' asked him in a whisper what he was doin'. He sat an' blinked at me for a full minute before he remembered what or where he was, an' then he told me that he finally induced Tank to try havin'

his head rubbed again, by lettin' Tank truss him up so he couldn't keel over on him. "Gee, but I'm cold an' stiff," he sez in a husky, raspin' voice. "I don't see how it can be so hot daytimes, an' so cold nights."

"This'll do you a world of good, Mr. Bradford," sez I. "You see, you swell up with the heat daytimes, an' crimp down with the cold nights; an' this will goad on your circulation, fry the lard out o' ya, an'

give your nerves a chance to get toned up." I quoted from the patent medicine almanac occasional, just so he wouldn't forget he was takin'

treatment.

"I can't possibly ride, to-day," he sez, shakin' his head. "Honest, I'm in agony."

"That's just 'cause you're stiff," sez I, kindly. "That'll all wear off when the sun softens up your joint-oil. Why, man, you'll look back on this trip as one o' the brightest spots in your whole life."