In those days the cattlemen were the anointed. They were the grandees1 of the grass, kings of the kine, lords of the lea, barons2 of beef and bone. They might have ridden in golden chariots had their tastes so inclined. The cattleman was caught in a stampede of dollars. It seemed to him that he had more money than was decent. But when he had bought a watch with precious stones set in the case so large that they hurt his ribs3, and a California saddle with silver nails and Angora skin suaderos, and ordered everybody up to the bar for whisky--what else was there for him to spend money for?
Not so circumscribed4 in expedient5 for the reduction of surplus wealth were those lairds of the lariat6 who had womenfolk to their name. In the breast of the rib-sprung sex the genius of purse lightening may slumber7 through years of inopportunity, but never, my brothers, does it become extinct.
So, out of the chaparral came Long Bill Longley from the Bar Circle Branch on the Frio--a wife-driven man--to taste the urban joys of success. Something like half a million dollars he had, with an income steadily9 increasing.
Long Bill was a graduate of the camp and trail. Luck and thrift10, a cool head, and a telescopic eye for mavericks11 had raised him from cowboy to be a cowman. Then came the boom in cattle, and Fortune, stepping gingerly among the cactus13 thorns, came and emptied her cornucopia14 at the doorstep of the ranch8.
In the little frontier city of Chaparosa, Longley built a costly15 residence. Here he became a captive, bound to the chariot of social existence. He was doomed16 to become a leading citizen. He struggled for a time like a mustang in his first corral, and then he hung up his quirt and spurs. Time hung heavily on his hands. He organised the First National Bank of Chaparosa, and was elected its president.
One day a dyspeptic man, wearing double-magnifying glasses, inserted an official-looking card between the bars of the cashier's window of the First National Bank. Five minutes later the bank force was dancing at the beck and call of a national bank examiner.
This examiner, Mr. J. Edgar Todd, proved to be a thorough one.
At the end of it all the examiner put on his hat, and called the president, Mr. William R. Longley, into the private office.
"Well, how do you find things?" asked Longley, in his slow, deep tones. "Any brands in the round-up you didn't like the looks of?"
"The bank checks up all right, Mr. Longley," said Todd; "and I find your loans in very good shape--with one exception. You are carrying one very bad bit of paper--one that is so bad that I have been thinking that you surely do not realise the serious position it places you in. I refer to a call loan of $10,000 made to Thomas Merwin.
Not only is the amount in excess of the maximum sum the bank can loan any individual legally, but it is absolutely without endorsement17 or security. Thus you have doubly violated the national banking18 laws, and have laid yourself open to criminal prosecution19 by the Government. A report of the matter to the Comptroller of the Currency--which I am bound to make--would, I am sure, result in the matter being turned over to the Department of Justice for action. You see what a serious thing it is."
Bill Longley was leaning his lengthy20, slowly moving frame back in his swivel chair. His hands were clasped behind his head, and he turned a little to look the examiner in the face. The examiner was surprised to see a smile creep about the rugged21 mouth of the banker, and a kindly22 twinkle in his light-blue eyes. If he saw the seriousness of the affair, it did not show in his countenance23.
"Of course, you don't know Tom Merwin," said Longley, almost genially24. "Yes, I know about that loan. It hasn't any security except Tom Merwin's word. Somehow, I've always found that when a man's word is good it's the best security there is. Oh, yes, I know the Government doesn't think so. I guess I'll see Tom about that note."
Mr. Todd's dyspepsia seemed to grow suddenly worse. He looked at the chaparral banker through his double-magnifying glasses in amazement25.
"You see," said Longley, easily explaining the thing away, "Tom heard of 2000 head of two-year-olds down near Rocky Ford26 on the Rio Grande that could be had for $8 a head. I reckon 'twas one of old Leandro Garcia's outfits27 that he had smuggled28 over, and he wanted to make a quick turn on 'em. Those cattle are worth $15 on the hoof29 in Kansas City. Tom knew it and I knew it. He had $6,000, and I let him have the $10,000 to make the deal with. His brother Ed took 'em on to market three weeks ago. He ought to be back 'most any day now with the money. When he comes Tom'll pay that note."
The bank examiner was shocked. It was, perhaps, his duty to step out to the telegraph office and wire the situation to the Comptroller. But he did not. He talked pointedly30 and effectively to Longley for three minutes. He succeeded in making the banker understand that he stood upon the border of a catastrophe31. And then he offered a tiny loophole of escape.
"I am going to Hilldale's to-night," he told Longley, "to examine a bank there. I will pass through Chaparosa on my way back. At twelve o'clock to-morrow I shall call at this bank. If this loan has been cleared out of the way by that time it will not be mentioned in my report. If not--I will have to do my duty."
With that the examiner bowed and departed.
The President of the First National lounged in his chair half an hour longer, and then he lit a mild cigar, and went over to Tom Merwin's house. Merwin, a ranchman in brown duck, with a contemplative eye, sat with his feet upon a table, plaiting a rawhide32 quirt.
"Tom," said Longley, leaning against the table, "you heard anything from Ed yet?"
"Not yet," said Merwin, continuing his plaiting. "I guess Ed'll be along back now in a few days."
"There was a bank examiner," said Longley, "nosing around our place to-day, and he bucked33 a sight about that note of yours. You know I know it's all right, but the thing is against the banking laws. I was pretty sure you'd have paid it off before the bank was examined again, but the son-of-a-gun slipped in on us, Tom. Now, I'm short of cash myself just now, or I'd let you have the money to take it up with. I've got till twelve o'clock to-morrow, and then I've got to show the cash in place of that note or--"
"Or what, Bill?" asked Merwin, as Longley hesitated.
"Well, I suppose it means be jumped on with both of Uncle Sam's feet."
"I'll try to raise the money for you on time," said Merwin, interested in his plaiting.
"All right, Tom," concluded Longley, as he turned toward the door; "I knew you would if you could."
Merwin threw down his whip and went to the only other bank in town, a private one, run by Cooper & Craig.
"Cooper," he said, to the partner by that name, "I've got to have $10,000 to-day or to-morrow. I've got a house and lot there that's worth about $6,000 and that's all the actual collateral34. But I've got a cattle deal on that's sure to bring me in more than that much profit within a few days."
Cooper began to cough.
"Now, for God's sake don't say no," said Merwin. "I owe that much money on a call loan. It's been called, and the man that called it is a man I've laid on the same blanket with in cow-camps and ranger-camps for ten years. He can call anything I've got. He can call the blood out of my veins35 and it'll come. He's got to have the money. He's in a devil of a--Well, he needs the money, and I've got to get it for him. You know my word's good, Cooper."
"No doubt of it," assented36 Cooper, urbanely37, "but I've a partner, you know. I'm not free in making loans. And even if you had the best security in your hands, Merwin, we couldn't accommodate you in less than a week. We're just making a shipment of $15,000 to Myer Brothers in Rockdell, to buy cotton with. It goes down on the narrow-gauge to-night. That leaves our cash quite short at present. Sorry we can't arrange it for you."
Merwin went back to his little bare office and plaited at his quirt again. About four o'clock in the afternoon he went to the First National Bank and leaned over the railing of Longley's desk.
"I'll try to get that money for you to-night--I mean to-morrow, Bill."
"All right, Tom," said Longley quietly.
At nine o'clock that night Tom Merwin stepped cautiously out of the small frame house in which he lived. It was near the edge of the little town, and few citizens were in the neighbourhood at that hour. Merwin wore two six-shooters in a belt, and a slouch hat. He moved swiftly down a lonely street, and then followed the sandy road that ran parallel to the narrow-gauge track until he reached the water- tank, two miles below the town. There Tom Merwin stopped, tied a black silk handkerchief about the lower part of his face, and pulled his hat down low.
In ten minutes the night train for Rockdell pulled up at the tank, having come from Chaparosa.
With a gun in each hand Merwin raised himself from behind a clump38 of chaparral and started for the engine. But before he had taken three steps, two long, strong arms clasped him from behind, and he was lifted from his feet and thrown, face downward upon the grass. There was a heavy knee pressing against his back, and an iron hand grasping each of his wrists. He was held thus, like a child, until the engine had taken water, and until the train had moved, with accelerating speed, out of sight.
Then he was released, and rose to his feet to face Bill Longley.
"The case never needed to be fixed39 up this way, Tom," said Longley. "I saw Cooper this evening, and he told me what you and him talked about. Then I went down to your house to-night and saw you come out with your guns on, and I followed you. Let's go back, Tom."
They walked away together, side by side.
"'Twas the only chance I saw," said Merwin presently. "You called your loan, and I tried to answer you. Now, what'll you do, Bill, if they sock it to you?"
"What would you have done if they'd socked it to you?" was the answer Longley made.
"I never thought I'd lay in a bush to stick up a train," remarked Merwin; "but a call loan's different. A call's a call with me. We've got twelve hours yet, Bill, before this spy jumps onto you. We've got to raise them spondulicks somehow. Maybe we can--Great Sam Houston! do you hear that?"
Merwin broke into a run, and Longley kept with him, hearing only a rather pleasing whistle somewhere in the night rendering40 the lugubrious41 air of "The Cowboy's Lament42."
"It's the only tune12 he knows," shouted Merwin, as he ran. "I'll bet--"
They were at the door of Merwin's house. He kicked it open and fell over an old valise lying in the middle of the floor. A sunburned, firm-jawed youth, stained by travel, lay upon the bed puffing43 at a brown cigarette.
"What's the word, Ed?" gasped44 Merwin.
"So, so," drawled that capable youngster. "Just got in on the 9:30. Sold the bunch for fifteen, straight. Now, buddy45, you want to quit kickin' a valise around that's got $29,000 in greenbacks in its in'ards."
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1
grandees
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| n.贵族，大公，显贵者( grandee的名词复数 ) | |
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barons
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| 男爵( baron的名词复数 )； 巨头； 大王； 大亨 | |
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ribs
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| n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹 | |
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circumscribed
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| adj.[医]局限的：受限制或限于有限空间的v.在…周围划线( circumscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；划定…范围；限制；限定 | |
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expedient
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| adj.有用的，有利的；n.紧急的办法，权宜之计 | |
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lariat
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| n.系绳，套索；v.用套索套捕 | |
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slumber
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| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
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ranch
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| n.大牧场，大农场 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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thrift
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| adj.节约，节俭；n.节俭，节约 | |
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mavericks
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| 未烙印的牲畜( maverick的名词复数 )； 标新立异的人，不合常规的人 | |
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tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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cactus
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| n.仙人掌 | |
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cornucopia
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| n.象征丰收的羊角 | |
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costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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endorsement
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| n.背书；赞成，认可，担保；签(注)，批注 | |
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banking
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| n.银行业，银行学，金融业 | |
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prosecution
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| n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营 | |
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lengthy
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| adj.漫长的，冗长的 | |
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rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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genially
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| adv.亲切地，和蔼地；快活地 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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Ford
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| n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过 | |
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outfits
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| n.全套装备( outfit的名词复数 )；一套服装；集体；组织v.装备，配置设备，供给服装( outfit的第三人称单数 ) | |
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smuggled
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| 水货 | |
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hoof
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| n.(马，牛等的)蹄 | |
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pointedly
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| adv.尖地，明显地 | |
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catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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rawhide
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| n.生牛皮 | |
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bucked
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| adj.快v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的过去式和过去分词 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃 | |
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collateral
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| adj.平行的；旁系的；n.担保品 | |
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veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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urbanely
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| adv.都市化地，彬彬有礼地，温文尔雅地 | |
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clump
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| n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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lugubrious
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| adj.悲哀的，忧郁的 | |
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lament
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| n.悲叹，悔恨，恸哭；v.哀悼，悔恨，悲叹 | |
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puffing
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| v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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buddy
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| n.（美口）密友，伙伴 | |
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