Miss Mayfield did not leave her room that afternoon.The wind was getting up,and it was growing dark when Jeff,idly sitting on his porch,hoping for her appearance,was quite astounded at the apparition of Yuba Bill as a pedestrian,dusty and thirsty,making for his usual refreshment.Jeff brought out the bottle,but could not refrain from mixing his verbal astonishment with the conventional cocktail.Bill,partaking of his liquor and becoming once more a speaking animal,slowly drew off his heavy,baggy driving gloves.No one had ever seen Bill without them--he was currently believed to sleep in them--and when he laid them on the counter they still retained the grip of his hand,which gave them an entertaining likeness to two plethoric and overfed spiders.
"Ef I concluded to pass over my lines to a friend and take a pasear up yer this evening,"said Bill,eying Jeff sharply,"I don't know ez thar's any law agin it!Onless yer keepin'a private branch o'the Occidental Ho-tel,and on'y take in fash'n'ble fammerlies!"Jeff,with a rising color,protested against such a supposition.
"Because ef ye ARE,"said Bill,lifting his voice,and crushing one of the overgrown spiders with his fist,"I've got a word or two to say to the son of Joe Briggs of Tuolumne.Yes,sir!Joe Briggs--yer father--ez blew his brains out for want of a man ez could stand up and say a word to him at the right time.""Bill,"said Jeff,in a low,resolute tone--that tone yielded up only from the smitten chords of despair and desperation--"thar's a sick woman in the house.I'll listen to anything you've got to say if you'll say it quietly.But you must and SHALL speak low."Real men quickly recognize real men the world over;it is only your shams who fence and spar.Bill,taking in the voice of the speaker more than his words,dropped his own.
"I said I had a kepple of words to say to ye.Thar isn't any time in the last fower months--ever since ye took stock in this old shanty,for the matter o'that--that I couldn't hev said them to ye.I've knowed all your doin's.I've knowed all your debts,'spesh'ly that ye owe that sneakin'hound Parker;and thar isn't a time that I couldn't and wouldn't hev chipped in and paid 'em for ye--for your father's sake--ef I'd allowed it to be the square thing for ye.But I know ye,Jeff.I know what's in your BLOOD.
I knew your father--allus dreamin',hopin,'waitin';I know YOU,Jeff,dreamin',hopin',waitin'till the end.And I stood by,givin'you a free rein,and let it come!"Jeff buried his face in his hands.
"It ain't your blame--it's blood!It ain't a week ago ez the kimpany passes me over a hoss.'Three-quarters Morgan,'sez they.
Sez I:'Wot's the other quarter?'Sez they:'A Mexican half-breed.'Well,she was a fair sort of hoss.Comin'down Heavytree Hill last trip,we meets a drove o'Spanish steers.In course she goes wild directly.Blood!"Bill raised his glass,softly swirled its contents round and round,tasted it,and set it down.
"The kepple o'words I had to say to ye was this:Git up and git!"Something like this had passed through Jeff's mind the day before the Mayfields came.Something like it had haunted him once or twice since.He turned quickly upon the speaker.
"Ez how?you sez,"said Bill,catching at the hook."I drives up yer some night,and you sez to me,'Bill,hev you got two seats over to the Divide for me and aunty--out on a pasear.'And I sez,'I happen to hev one inside and one on the box with me.'And you hands out yer traps and any vallybles ye don't want ter leave,and you puts your aunt inside,and gets up on the box with me.And you sez to me,ez man to man,'Bill,'sez you,'might you hev a kepple o'hundred dollars about ye that ye could lend a man ez was leaving the county,dead broke?'and I sez,'I've got it,and I know of an op'nin'for such a man in the next county.'And you steps into THAT op'nin',and your creditors--'spesh'ly Parker--slips into THIS,and in a week they offers to settle with ye ten cents on the dollar."Jeff started,flushed,trembled,recovered himself,and after a moment said,doggedly:"I can't do it,Bill;I couldn't.""In course,"said Bill,putting his hands slowly into his pockets,and stretching his legs out--"in course ye can't because of a woman!"Jeff turned upon him like a hunted bear.Both men rose,but Bill already had his hand on Jeff's shoulder.
"I reckoned a minute ago there was a sick gal in the house!Who's going to make a row now!Who's going to stamp and tear round,eh?"Jeff sank back on his chair.