Free Silvertip (1942) by Max Brand Page A

said Monterey, "and there is such a well of goodness in you that you could forgive the devil himself for his craft and his fiendishness. You would pity him for the pain that he lies in. But let me tell you that I shall never again believe well of a gringo until his virtue is established more plainly than the mountains that stand by the Haverhill Valley!"
    She looked steadily at the old man for a moment. Then she sighed.
    "It's time to go in," said Julia. "Onate and Alvare z have been quarreling again, and you'll have to see them."
    "I can see them out here," said Arturo Monterey.
    "It's not safe," she answered. She leaned a little acros s the table. "The men of Drummon are bolder every day; h ow can you tell how bold they'll be at night? They ma y slip up here. They have a moon to show them their way.
    They may be here now. What I heard there among th e flowers may be one of them lying still and watching, an d listening."
    "Let them watch, and let them listen," said Monterey.
    "I have a feeling, Julia, that I've come to the end of my day. Let it close as soon as it will. I'm ready for it."
    The girl waited an instant. Then she said: "You're tired to-day, Uncle Arturo. And when a person is tired, the gloomy thoughts are the ones that come up in the mind."
    He answered: "I've been marked by my shame long enough, and if I am to die, I am ready for it."
    He touched his forehead significantly as he spoke, on the band of dark cloth that crossed his forehead.
    The girl would have spoken again, but he stopped her with a raised hand, saying:
    "There is nothing but cold and emptiness in my heart. And I should die even gladly, except that there is the one great purpose of all these years unaccomplished."
    "But if you stay out here," said the girl, "if you throw yourself away into the hands of Drummon's brutes-is there any chance, then, of doing what you promised yourself?"
    He answered: "If the hand of God is against me, why should I attempt to defend myself?"

    Chapter XI
    Brand of Sham e OLD Monterey was asking to have Onate and Alvarez brought before him. They must have been attending close at hand, for now they came in, together, escorted by two vaqueros who had bound the hands of the pair. And they stood with bowed heads before the master. One was young, one a grizzled veteran. They were peons of the field, not cattle herders; they wore huarachos on their bare feet, and they were dressed in white cotton that shimmered in the moonlight.
    "Now, Tonio?" said Arturo Monterey.
    One of the vaqueros made half a step forward. He was a solid fellow with a grave, steady look.
    "Their houses are side by side, as you know, senior," said Tonio. "They have always been friends. Onate is a good man, and he has helped Alvarez. He's older, this Onate, and he has a head on his shoulders. But now, all at once, they are enemies. They run at each other with knives. We ask them why they quarrel. They give us no answer. They will not speak to each other. They will not speak to us. So we have brought them to you, senior."
    "Who began this quarrel?" asked Monterey.
    The two peons looked at one another, and were silent, staring again at the ground.
    "Answer!" cried Monterey, lifting his voice suddenly to thunder.
    They both started violently, and with one voice, both exclaimed: "I started the trouble, senor."
    Then they were mute, and again gaped on one another.
    "You both began the fight?" said Monterey, amused and interested. "How could you both begin it?"
    "It was I, senior," said Onate. "I am sorry, and I repent."
    "I am sorry, and I repent, also," said Alvarez. Then, losing his control for an instant, he exclaimed: "But this Onate is a liar and a fool!"
    Onate, grinding his teeth, said nothing. He continued to look merely at the ground.
    "You both began the fight; you both repent; and one of you is a liar and a fool. How, Onate? Are you the liar and the fool?"
    Onate jerked up his head savagely. Then something from within gave him pause. He drew a breath