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The Night Horseman by Max Brand, CHAPTER XV. OLD GARY PETERS

CHAPTER XV. OLD GARY PETERS

For some moments after this Buck Daniels remained at the bar with his hand clenched around his glass and his eyes fixed before him in the peculiar second-sighted manner which had marked him when he sat so long on the veranda.

"Funny thing," began O'Brien, to make conversation, "how many fellers go west at sunset. Seems like they let go all holts as soon as the dark comes. Hey?" "How long before sunset now?" asked Buck Daniels sharply.

"Maybe a couple of hours." "A couple of hours," repeated Daniels, and ground his knuckles across his forehead. "A couple of hours!" He raised his glass with a jerky motion and downed the contents; the chaser stood disregarded before him and O'Brien regarded his patron with an eye of admiration. "You long for these parts?" he asked.

"No, I'm strange to this range. Riding up north pretty soon, if I can get someone to tell me the lay of the land. D'you know it?" "Never been further north than Brownsville." "Couldn't name me someone that's travelled about, I s'pose?" "Old Gary Peters knows every rock within three day's riding. He keeps the blacksmith shop across the way." "So? Thanks; I'll look him up." Buck Daniels found the blacksmith seated on a box before his place of business; it was a slack time for Gary Peters and he consoled himself for idleness by chewing the stem of an unlighted corn-cob, whose bowl was upside down. His head was pulled down and forward as if by the weight of his prodigious sandy moustache, and he regarded a vague horizon with misty eyes.

"Seen you comin' out of O'Brien's," said the blacksmith, as Buck took possession of a nearby box. "What's the news?" "Ain't any news," responded Buck dejectedly. "Too much talk; no news." "That's right," nodded Gary Peters. "O'Brien is the out-talkingest man I ever see. Ain't nobody on Brownsville can get his tongue around so many words as O'Brien." So saying, he blew through his pipe, picked up a stick of soft pine, and began to whittle it to a point.

"In my part of the country," went on Buck Daniels, "they don't lay much by a man that talks a pile." Here the blacksmith turned his head slowly, regarded his companion for an instant, and then resumed his whittling.

"But," said Daniels, with a sigh, "if I could find a man that knowed the country north of Brownsville and had a hobble on his tongue I could give him a night's work that'd be worth while." Gary Peters removed his pipe from his mouth and blew out his dropping moustaches. He turned one wistful glance upon his idle forge; he turned a sadder eye upon his companion.

"I could name you a silent man or two in Brownsville," he said, "but there ain't only one man that knows the country right." "That so? And who might he be?" "Me." "You?" echoed Daniels in surprise. He turned and considered Gary as if for the first time. "Maybe you know the lay of the land up as far as Hawkin's Arroyo?" "Me? Son, I know every cactus clear to Bald Eagle." "H-m-m!" muttered Daniels. "I s'pose maybe you could name some of the outfits from here on a line with Bald Eagle—say you put 'em ten miles apart?" "Nothin' easier. I could find 'em blindfold. First due out they's McCauley's. Then lay a bit west of north and you hit the Circle K Bar—that's about twelve mile from McCauley's. Hit 'er up dead north again, by east, and you come eight miles to Three Roads. Go on to—" "Partner," cut in Daniels, "I could do business with you." "Maybe you could." "My name's Daniels." "I'm Gary Peters. H'ware you?" They shook hands.

"Peters," said Buck Daniels, "you look square, and I need you in square game; but there ain't any questions that go with it. Twenty iron men for one day's riding and one day's silence." "M'frien'," murmured Peters. "In my day I've gone three months without speakin' to anything in boots; and I wasn't hired for it, neither." "You know them people up the line," said Daniels. "Do they know you?" "I'll tell a man they do! Know Gary Peters?" "Partner, this is what I want. I want you to leave Brownsville inside of ten minutes and start riding for Elkhead. I want you to ride, and I want you to ride like hell. Every ten miles, or so, I want you to stop at some place where you can get a fresh hoss. Get your fresh hoss and leave the one you've got off, and tell them to have the hoss you leave ready for me any time to-night. It'll take you clear till to-morrow night to reach Elkhead, even with relayin' your hosses?" "Round about that, if I ride like hell. What do I take with me?" "Nothing. Nothing but the coin I give you to hire someone at every stop to have that hoss you've left ready for me. Better still, if you can have 'em, get a fresh hoss. Would they trust you with hosses that way, Gary?" "Gimme the coin and where they won't trust me I'll pay cash." "I can do it. It'll about bust me, but I can do it." "You going to try for a record between Brownsville and Elkhead, eh? Got a bet up, eh?" "The biggest bet you ever heard of," said Daniels grimly. "You can tell the boys along the road that I'm tryin' for time. Have you got a fast hoss to start with?" "Got a red mare that ain't much for runnin' cattle, but she's greased lightnin' for a short bust." "Then get her out. Saddle her up, and be on your way. Here's my stake—I'll keep back one twenty for accidents. First gimme a list of the places you'll stop for the relays." He produced an old envelope and a stub of soft pencil with which he jotted down Gary Peters' directions. "And every second," said Buck Daniels in parting, "that you can cut off your own time will be a second cut off'n mine. Because I'm liable to be on your heels when you ride into Elkhead." Gary Peters lifted his eyebrows and then restored his pipe. He spoke through his teeth.

"You ain't got a piece of money to bet on that, partner?" he queried softly.

"Ten extra if you get to Elkhead before me." "They's limits to hoss-flesh," remarked Peters. "What time you ridin' against?" "Against a cross between a bullet and a nor'easter, Gary. I'm going back to drink to your luck." A promise which Buck Daniels fulfilled, for he had need of even borrowed strength. He drank steadily until a rattle of hoofs down the street entered the saloon, and then someone came in to say that Gary Peters had started out of town to "beat all hell, on his red mare." After that, Buck started out to find Dan Barry. His quarry was not in the barn nor in the corral behind the barn. There stood Satan and Black Bart, but their owner was not in sight. But a thought came to Buck while he looked, rather mournfully, at the stallion's promise of limitless speed. "If I can hold him up jest half a minute," murmured Buck to himself, "jest half a minute till I get a start, I've got a rabbit's chance of livin' out the night!" From the door of the first shed he took a heavy chain with the key in the padlock. This chain he looped about the post and the main timber of the gate, snapped the padlock, and threw the key into the distance. Then he stepped back and surveyed his work with satisfaction. It would be a pretty job to file through that chain, or to knock down those ponderous rails of the fence and make a gap. A smile of satisfaction came on the face of Buck Daniels, then, hitching at his belt, and pulling his sombrero lower over his eyes, he started once more to find Dan Barry.

He was more in haste now, for the sun was dipping behind the mountains of the west and the long shadows moved along the ground with a perceptible speed. When he reached the street he found a steady drift of people towards O'Brien's barroom. They came by ones and twos and idled in front of the swinging doors or slyly peeked through them and then whispered one to the other. Buck accosted one of those by the door and asked what was wrong.

"He's in there," said the other, with a broad and excited grin. "He's in there—waitin'!" And when Buck threw the doors wide he saw, at the farther end of the deserted barroom, Dan Barry, seated at a table braiding a small horsehair chain. His hat was pushed far back on his head; he had his back to the door. Certainly he must be quite unaware that all Brownsville was waiting, breathless, for his destruction. Behind the bar stood O'Brien, pale under his bristles, and his eyes never leaving the slender figure at the end of his room; but seeing Buck he called with sudden loudness: "Come in, stranger. Come in and have one on the house. There ain't nothing but silence around this place and it's getting on my nerves." Buck Daniels obeyed the invitation at once, and behind him, stepping softly, some of them entering with their hats in their hands and on tiptoe, came a score of the inhabitants of Brownsville. They lined the bar up and down its length; not a word was spoken; but every head turned as at a given signal towards the quiet man at the end of the room.


CHAPTER XV. OLD GARY PETERS KAPITEL XV. DER ALTE GARY PETERS CAPÍTULO XV. EL VIEJO GARY PETERS ROZDZIAŁ XV. STARY GARY PETERS CAPÍTULO XV. VELHO GARY PETERS РОЗДІЛ XV. СТАРИЙ ҐЕРІ ПІТЕРС

For some moments after this Buck Daniels remained at the bar with his hand clenched around his glass and his eyes fixed before him in the peculiar second-sighted manner which had marked him when he sat so long on the veranda. Por alguns momentos depois disso, Buck Daniels permaneceu no bar com a mão apertada em torno do copo e os olhos fixos diante dele da maneira peculiar míope que o havia marcado quando ele ficou tanto tempo sentado na varanda.

"Funny thing," began O'Brien, to make conversation, "how many fellers go west at sunset. "Engraçado", começou O'Brien, para puxar conversa, "quantos caras vão para o oeste ao pôr do sol. Seems like they let go all holts as soon as the dark comes. Parece que eles soltam todos os freios assim que a escuridão chega. Похоже, они отпускают всех хольтов, как только наступает темнота. Hey?" "How long before sunset now?" asked Buck Daniels sharply.

"Maybe a couple of hours." "A couple of hours," repeated Daniels, and ground his knuckles across his forehead. "Algumas horas", repetiu Daniels, e esfregou os nós dos dedos na testa. "A couple of hours!" He raised his glass with a jerky motion and downed the contents; the chaser stood disregarded before him and O'Brien regarded his patron with an eye of admiration. Ele ergueu o copo com um movimento brusco e bebeu o conteúdo; o caçador permaneceu desconsiderado diante dele e O'Brien olhou seu patrono com um olhar de admiração. Он отрывистым движением поднял бокал и выпил содержимое; чейзер стоял перед ним без внимания, а О'Брайен смотрел на своего покровителя с восхищением. "You long for these parts?" "Você anseia por essas partes?" "Вы тоскуете по этим местам?" he asked.

"No, I'm strange to this range. "Não, eu sou estranho a este intervalo. Riding up north pretty soon, if I can get someone to tell me the lay of the land. Cavalgando para o norte em breve, se eu conseguir alguém para me dizer a configuração do terreno. Скоро поеду на север, если удастся найти кого-нибудь, кто расскажет мне о местности. D'you know it?" Você conhece?" "Never been further north than Brownsville." "Couldn't name me someone that's travelled about, I s'pose?" "Não poderia me nomear alguém que viajou, eu suponho?" "Old Gary Peters knows every rock within three day's riding. "O velho Gary Peters conhece cada pedra em três dias de cavalgada. He keeps the blacksmith shop across the way." Ele mantém a ferraria do outro lado." "So? Thanks; I'll look him up." Obrigado; Vou procurá-lo." Buck Daniels found the blacksmith seated on a box before his place of business; it was a slack time for Gary Peters and he consoled himself for idleness by chewing the stem of an unlighted corn-cob, whose bowl was upside down. Buck Daniels encontrou o ferreiro sentado em uma caixa diante de seu local de trabalho; era tempo de folga para Gary Peters e ele se consolava da ociosidade mastigando o talo de uma espiga de milho apagada, cuja tigela estava de cabeça para baixo. His head was pulled down and forward as if by the weight of his prodigious sandy moustache, and he regarded a vague horizon with misty eyes. Sua cabeça estava puxada para baixo e para a frente como se pelo peso de seu prodigioso bigode cor de areia, e ele contemplava um horizonte vago com olhos enevoados.

"Seen you comin' out of O'Brien's," said the blacksmith, as Buck took possession of a nearby box. "Vi você saindo do O'Brien's", disse o ferreiro, enquanto Buck tomava posse de uma caixa próxima. "What's the news?" "Quais as novidades?" "Ain't any news," responded Buck dejectedly. "Não há nenhuma notícia", respondeu Buck desanimado. "Too much talk; no news." "Muita conversa; nenhuma notícia." "That's right," nodded Gary Peters. "Isso mesmo," assentiu Gary Peters. "O'Brien is the out-talkingest man I ever see. "O'Brien é o homem mais falante que já vi. Ain't nobody on Brownsville can get his tongue around so many words as O'Brien." Ninguém em Brownsville pode colocar a língua em torno de tantas palavras quanto O'Brien." So saying, he blew through his pipe, picked up a stick of soft pine, and began to whittle it to a point. Assim dizendo, ele soprou o cachimbo, pegou um pedaço de pinho macio e começou a talhar até ficar pontiagudo.

"In my part of the country," went on Buck Daniels, "they don't lay much by a man that talks a pile." "Na minha parte do país", continuou Buck Daniels, "eles não dão muita bola para um homem que fala muito." "В моей части страны, - продолжал Бак Дэниелс, - не очень-то жалуют человека, который болтает без умолку". Here the blacksmith turned his head slowly, regarded his companion for an instant, and then resumed his whittling. Aqui o ferreiro virou a cabeça lentamente, olhou seu companheiro por um instante, e então retomou a talha.

"But," said Daniels, with a sigh, "if I could find a man that knowed the country north of Brownsville and had a hobble on his tongue I could give him a night's work that'd be worth while." "Mas", disse Daniels, com um suspiro, "se eu pudesse encontrar um homem que conhecesse a região ao norte de Brownsville e tivesse uma manca na língua, eu poderia dar a ele uma noite de trabalho que valeria a pena." Gary Peters removed his pipe from his mouth and blew out his dropping moustaches. Gary Peters tirou o cachimbo da boca e soprou os bigodes caídos. He turned one wistful glance upon his idle forge; he turned a sadder eye upon his companion. Ele lançou um olhar melancólico para sua forja ociosa; ele voltou um olhar mais triste para seu companheiro.

"I could name you a silent man or two in Brownsville," he said, "but there ain't only one man that knows the country right." "Eu poderia nomeá-lo um ou dois homens silenciosos em Brownsville", disse ele, "mas não há apenas um homem que conhece bem o país." "That so? "Isso mesmo? And who might he be?" E quem ele pode ser?" "Me." "You?" echoed Daniels in surprise. He turned and considered Gary as if for the first time. "Maybe you know the lay of the land up as far as Hawkin's Arroyo?" "Talvez você conheça a configuração da terra até o Arroyo de Hawkin?" "Me? Son, I know every cactus clear to Bald Eagle." Filho, eu conheço todos os cactos com clareza para a Bald Eagle." "H-m-m!" muttered Daniels. murmurou Daniels. "I s'pose maybe you could name some of the outfits from here on a line with Bald Eagle—say you put 'em ten miles apart?" "Eu suponho que talvez você possa nomear algumas das roupas daqui em uma linha com Bald Eagle - digamos que você as colocou a dezesseis quilômetros de distância?" "Nothin' easier. "Nada mais fácil. I could find 'em blindfold. Eu poderia encontrá-los vendados. First due out they's McCauley's. O primeiro a sair é o de McCauley. Первыми выходят МакКоули. Then lay a bit west of north and you hit the Circle K Bar—that's about twelve mile from McCauley's. Em seguida, deite um pouco a oeste do norte e você atinge o Circle K Bar, que fica a cerca de 12 milhas do McCauley's. Hit 'er up dead north again, by east, and you come eight miles to Three Roads. Vá para o norte novamente, pelo leste, e você chegará a treze quilômetros até Three Roads. Go on to—" Vá para—" "Partner," cut in Daniels, "I could do business with you." "Maybe you could." "My name's Daniels." "I'm Gary Peters. H'ware you?" Вы?" They shook hands.

"Peters," said Buck Daniels, "you look square, and I need you in square game; but there ain't any questions that go with it. "Peters", disse Buck Daniels, "você parece justo, e eu preciso de você no jogo quadrado; mas não há nenhuma pergunta relacionada a isso. Twenty iron men for one day's riding and one day's silence." Vinte homens de ferro para um dia de cavalgada e um dia de silêncio." "M'frien'," murmured Peters. "In my day I've gone three months without speakin' to anything in boots; and I wasn't hired for it, neither." "Na minha época, passei três meses sem falar com nada de botas; e também não fui contratado para isso." "You know them people up the line," said Daniels. "Você conhece essas pessoas na linha", disse Daniels. "Do they know you?" "Eles conhecem você?" "I'll tell a man they do! "Eu vou dizer a um homem que eles fazem! Know Gary Peters?" "Partner, this is what I want. I want you to leave Brownsville inside of ten minutes and start riding for Elkhead. I want you to ride, and I want you to ride like hell. Every ten miles, or so, I want you to stop at some place where you can get a fresh hoss. A cada dezesseis quilômetros, mais ou menos, quero que você pare em algum lugar onde possa comprar um novo hoss. Get your fresh hoss and leave the one you've got off, and tell them to have the hoss you leave ready for me any time to-night. Pegue o seu novo hoss e deixe o que você pegou, e diga a eles para ter o hoss que você deixou pronto para mim a qualquer hora esta noite. It'll take you clear till to-morrow night to reach Elkhead, even with relayin' your hosses?" Você vai demorar até amanhã à noite para chegar a Elkhead, mesmo com o revezamento de seus hosses? "Round about that, if I ride like hell. "Em torno disso, se eu montar como o inferno. What do I take with me?" O que eu levo comigo?" "Nothing. Nothing but the coin I give you to hire someone at every stop to have that hoss you've left ready for me. Nada além da moeda que eu te dou para contratar alguém em cada parada para ter aquela vadia que você deixou pronta para mim. Better still, if you can have 'em, get a fresh hoss. Melhor ainda, se você pode tê-los, arranje um novo hoss. Would they trust you with hosses that way, Gary?" Eles confiariam em você com mangueiras dessa maneira, Gary?" "Gimme the coin and where they won't trust me I'll pay cash." "Me dê a moeda e onde eles não confiarem em mim eu pagarei em dinheiro." "I can do it. It'll about bust me, but I can do it." Vai acabar comigo, mas eu posso fazer isso." "You going to try for a record between Brownsville and Elkhead, eh? Got a bet up, eh?" Tem uma aposta, hein?" "The biggest bet you ever heard of," said Daniels grimly. "A maior aposta que você já ouviu falar", disse Daniels sombriamente. "You can tell the boys along the road that I'm tryin' for time. "Você pode dizer aos meninos ao longo da estrada que estou tentando ganhar tempo. Have you got a fast hoss to start with?" Você tem um hoss rápido para começar?" "Got a red mare that ain't much for runnin' cattle, but she's greased lightnin' for a short bust." "Tenho uma égua vermelha que não é muito para correr gado, mas ela é lubrificada para um busto curto." "Then get her out. "Então tire ela daqui. Saddle her up, and be on your way. Sele-a e siga seu caminho. Here's my stake—I'll keep back one twenty for accidents. Aqui está a minha aposta — vou guardar um e vinte para acidentes. First gimme a list of the places you'll stop for the relays." Primeiro me dê uma lista dos lugares onde você vai parar para os revezamentos." He produced an old envelope and a stub of soft pencil with which he jotted down Gary Peters' directions. Ele pegou um envelope velho e um toco de lápis macio com o qual anotou as instruções de Gary Peters. "And every second," said Buck Daniels in parting, "that you can cut off your own time will be a second cut off'n mine. "E cada segundo", disse Buck Daniels ao se despedir, "que você pode cortar seu próprio tempo será um segundo cortado em relação ao meu. Because I'm liable to be on your heels when you ride into Elkhead." Porque posso estar no seu encalço quando você entrar em Elkhead. Gary Peters lifted his eyebrows and then restored his pipe. Gary Peters ergueu as sobrancelhas e depois recolocou o cachimbo. He spoke through his teeth.

"You ain't got a piece of money to bet on that, partner?" "Você não tem dinheiro para apostar nisso, parceiro?" he queried softly.

"Ten extra if you get to Elkhead before me." "Dez a mais se você chegar a Elkhead antes de mim." "They's limits to hoss-flesh," remarked Peters. "Eles são limites para carne de hoss", comentou Peters. "What time you ridin' against?" "A que horas você está cavalgando?" "Against a cross between a bullet and a nor'easter, Gary. "Contra um cruzamento entre uma bala e uma nor'easter, Gary. I'm going back to drink to your luck." Vou voltar para beber à sua sorte." A promise which Buck Daniels fulfilled, for he had need of even borrowed strength. Uma promessa que Buck Daniels cumpriu, pois precisava até de força emprestada. He drank steadily until a rattle of hoofs down the street entered the saloon, and then someone came in to say that Gary Peters had started out of town to "beat all hell, on his red mare." Ele bebeu sem parar até que um barulho de cascos na rua entrou no saloon, e então alguém entrou para dizer que Gary Peters tinha saído da cidade para "dar uma surra em sua égua vermelha". After that, Buck started out to find Dan Barry. His quarry was not in the barn nor in the corral behind the barn. Sua presa não estava no celeiro nem no curral atrás do celeiro. There stood Satan and Black Bart, but their owner was not in sight. Lá estavam Satan e Black Bart, mas seu dono não estava à vista. But a thought came to Buck while he looked, rather mournfully, at the stallion's promise of limitless speed. Mas um pensamento ocorreu a Buck enquanto ele olhava, um tanto tristemente, para a promessa do garanhão de velocidade ilimitada. "If I can hold him up jest half a minute," murmured Buck to himself, "jest half a minute till I get a start, I've got a rabbit's chance of livin' out the night!" "Se eu conseguir segurá-lo meio minuto de brincadeira", murmurou Buck para si mesmo, "meio minuto até eu começar, tenho uma chance de coelho de sobreviver a noite toda!" From the door of the first shed he took a heavy chain with the key in the padlock. Da porta do primeiro galpão tirou uma pesada corrente com a chave no cadeado. This chain he looped about the post and the main timber of the gate, snapped the padlock, and threw the key into the distance. Esta corrente ele enrolou no poste e na madeira principal do portão, quebrou o cadeado e jogou a chave ao longe. Then he stepped back and surveyed his work with satisfaction. Então ele deu um passo para trás e examinou seu trabalho com satisfação. It would be a pretty job to file through that chain, or to knock down those ponderous rails of the fence and make a gap. Seria um belo trabalho passar por aquela corrente, ou derrubar aqueles pesados trilhos da cerca e abrir uma brecha. A smile of satisfaction came on the face of Buck Daniels, then, hitching at his belt, and pulling his sombrero lower over his eyes, he started once more to find Dan Barry. Um sorriso de satisfação surgiu no rosto de Buck Daniels, então, puxando o cinto e puxando o sombreiro para baixo sobre os olhos, ele começou mais uma vez a encontrar Dan Barry.

He was more in haste now, for the sun was dipping behind the mountains of the west and the long shadows moved along the ground with a perceptible speed. Ele estava com mais pressa agora, pois o sol mergulhava atrás das montanhas do oeste e as longas sombras se moviam pelo chão com uma velocidade perceptível. When he reached the street he found a steady drift of people towards O'Brien's barroom. Quando chegou à rua, encontrou um fluxo constante de pessoas em direção ao bar de O'Brien. They came by ones and twos and idled in front of the swinging doors or slyly peeked through them and then whispered one to the other. Eles vinham um e dois e ficavam ociosos na frente das portas de vaivém ou espiavam maliciosamente por elas e então sussurravam um para o outro. Buck accosted one of those by the door and asked what was wrong. Buck abordou um deles na porta e perguntou o que havia de errado.

"He's in there," said the other, with a broad and excited grin. "Ele está lá", disse o outro, com um sorriso largo e animado. "He's in there—waitin'!" And when Buck threw the doors wide he saw, at the farther end of the deserted barroom, Dan Barry, seated at a table braiding a small horsehair chain. E quando Buck escancarou as portas, ele viu, no outro extremo do bar deserto, Dan Barry, sentado a uma mesa trançando uma pequena corrente de crina de cavalo. His hat was pushed far back on his head; he had his back to the door. Certainly he must be quite unaware that all Brownsville was waiting, breathless, for his destruction. Behind the bar stood O'Brien, pale under his bristles, and his eyes never leaving the slender figure at the end of his room; but seeing Buck he called with sudden loudness: "Come in, stranger. Atrás do bar estava O'Brien, pálido sob as cerdas, e seus olhos nunca deixando a figura esguia no final de seu quarto; mas, vendo Buck, chamou com estrondo repentino: "Entre, estranho. Come in and have one on the house. Venha e tenha um por conta da casa. There ain't nothing but silence around this place and it's getting on my nerves." Não há nada além de silêncio em torno deste lugar e isso está me dando nos nervos." Buck Daniels obeyed the invitation at once, and behind him, stepping softly, some of them entering with their hats in their hands and on tiptoe, came a score of the inhabitants of Brownsville. Buck Daniels obedeceu ao convite imediatamente, e atrás dele, pisando suavemente, alguns deles entrando com seus chapéus nas mãos e na ponta dos pés, vinham uns vinte habitantes de Brownsville. They lined the bar up and down its length; not a word was spoken; but every head turned as at a given signal towards the quiet man at the end of the room. Eles alinharam a barra para cima e para baixo em seu comprimento; nenhuma palavra foi dita; mas todas as cabeças se voltaram como a um sinal dado para o homem quieto no final da sala.