The Long Shadow Read online

  CHAPTER VI.

  "_That's My Dill Pickle!_"

  Charming Billy Boyle was, to put it mildly, enjoying his enforcedvacation very much. To tell the plain truth and tell it without thepolish of fiction, he was hilariously moistened as to his gullet andhe was not thinking of quitting yet; he had only just begun.

  He was sitting on an end of the bar in the Hardtip Saloon, his hat asfar back on his head as it could possibly be pushed with any hope ofits staying there at all. He had a glass in one hand, a cigarette inthe other, and he was raking his rowels rhythmically up and down theerstwhile varnished bar in buzzing accompaniment, the while he chantedwith much enthusiasm:

  "How old is she, Billy boy, Billy boy? How old is she, charming Billy? Twice six, twice seven, Forty-nine and eleven--"

  The bartender, wiping the bar after an unsteady sheepherder, wascareful to leave a generous margin around the person of Charming Billywho was at that moment asserting with much emphasis:

  "She's a young thing, and cannot leave her mother."

  "Twice-six's-twelve, 'n' twice-seven's-four-r-teen, 'n' twelve 'n'fourteen's--er--twelve--'n'--fourteen--" The unsteady sheepherder waslaboring earnestly with the problem. "She ain't no spring chicken, sheain't!" He laughed tipsily, and winked up at the singer, but Billy wasnot observing him and his mathematical struggles. He refreshed himselffrom the glass, leaving the contents perceptibly lower--it was alarge, thick glass with a handle, and it had flecks of foam down theinside--took a pull at the cigarette and inquired plaintively:

  "Can she brew, can she bake, Billy boy, Billy boy? Can she brew, can she bake, charming Billy?"

  Another long pull at the cigarette, and then the triumphantdeclaration:

  "She can brew n' she can bake, She can sew n' she can make-- She's a young thing, and cannot leave her mother."

  "She ain't s' young!" bawled the sheepherder, who was taking it allvery seriously. "Say them numbers over again, onc't. Twelve-'n'-fourteen--"

  "Aw, go off and lay down!" advised Charming Billy, in a tone of deepdisgust. He was about to pursue still farther his inquiry into thehousewifely qualifications of the mysterious "young thing," and hehated interruptions.

  "Can she make a punkin pie, Billy boy, Billy boy? Can she make a punkin pie, charming Billy?"

  The door opened timidly and closed again, but he did not see whoentered. He was not looking; he was holding the empty, foam-fleckedglass behind him imperatively, and he was watching over his shoulderto see that the bartender did not skimp the filling and make ittwo-thirds foam. The bartender was punctiliously lavish, so that acrest of foam threatened to deluge the hand of Charming Billy andquite occupied him for the moment. When he squared himself again andbuzzed his spurs against the bar, his mind was wholly given to theproper execution of the musical gem.

  "She can make a punkin pie, Quick's a cat can wink her eye--"

  Something was going on, over in the dimly lighted corner near thedoor. Half a dozen men had grouped themselves there with their backsto Billy and they were talking and laughing; but the speech of themwas an unintelligible clamor and their laughter a commingling roar.Billy gravely inspected his cigarette, which had gone cold, set downthe glass and sought diligently for a match.

  "Aw, come on an' have one on me!" bawled a voice peremptorily. "Yuhcan't raise no wild cattle around _this_ joint, lessen yuh wet up goodwith whisky. Why, a feller as long as you be needs a good jolt forevery foot of yuh--and that's about fifteen when you're lengthenedout good. Come on--don't be a damn' chubber! Yuh got to sample m'hospitality. Hey, Tom! set out about a quart uh your _mildest_ forDaffy-down-Dilly. He's dry, clean down to his hand-made socks."

  Charming Billy, having found a match, held it unlighted in his fingersand watched the commotion from his perch on the bar. In the very midstof the clamor towered the melancholy Alexander P. Dill, and he wasendeavoring to explain, in his quiet, grammatical fashion. A lullthat must have been an accident carried the words clearly across toCharming Billy.

  "Thank you, gentlemen. I really don't care for anything in the wayof refreshment. I merely came in to find a friend who has promised tospend the night with me. It is getting along toward bedtime. Have yourfun, gentlemen, if you must--but I am really too tired to join you."

  "Make 'im dance!" yelled the sheepherder, giving over the attempt tofind the sum of twelve and fourteen. "By gosh, yuh made _me_ dancewhen I struck town. Make 'im dance!"

  "You go off and lay down!" commanded Billy again, and to emphasize hiswords leaned and emptied the contents of his glass neatly inside thecollar of the sheepherder. "Cool down, yuh Ba-ba-black-sheep!"

  The herder forgot everything after that--everything but the desire totear limb from limb one Charming Billy Boyle, who sat and raked hisspurs up and down the marred front of the bar and grinned maliciouslydown at him. "Go-awn off, before I take yuh all to pieces," he urgedwearily, already regretting the unjustifiable waste of good beer."Quit your buzzing; I wanta listen over there."

  "Come on 'n' have a drink!" vociferated the hospitable one. "Yuh gotto be sociable, or yuh can't stop in _this_ man's town." So insistentwas he that he laid violent hold of Mr. Dill and tried to pull himbodily to the bar.

  "Gentlemen, this passes a joke!" protested Mr. Dill, looking aroundhim in his blankly melancholy way. "I do not drink liquor. I mustinsist upon your stopping this horseplay immediately!"

  "Oh, it ain't no _play_," asserted the insistent one darkly. "I meanit, by thunder."

  It was at this point that Charming Billy decided to have a word."Here, break away, there!" he yelled, pushing the belligerentsheepherder to one side. "Hands off that long person! That there's_my_ dill pickle!"

  "HANDS OFF THAT LONG PERSON! THAT THERE'S _MY_ DILLPICKLE."]

  Mr. Dill was released, and Billy fancied hazily that it was becausehe so ordered; as a matter of fact, Mr. Dill, catching sight of himthere, had thrown the men and their importunities off as though theyhad been rough-mannered boys. He literally plowed his way through themand stopped deprecatingly before Billy.

  "It is getting late," he observed, mildly reproachful. "I thought Iwould show you the way to my room, if you don't mind."

  Billy stared down at him. "Well, I'm going to be busy for a whileyet," he demurred. "I've got to lick this misguided son-of-a-gunthat's blatting around wanting to eat me alive--and I got my eyes onyour friend in the rear, there, that's saying words about you, Dilly.Looks to me like I'm going to be some occupied for quite a spell. Yourun along to bed and don't yuh bother none about _me_."

  "The matter is not so urgent but what I can wait until you are ready,"Mr. Dill told him quietly, but with decision. He folded his long armsand ranged himself patiently alongside Billy. And Billy, regarding himuneasily, felt convinced that though he tarried until the sunreturned Mr. Dill would stand right there and wait--like a well-brokenrange-horse when the reins are dropped to the ground. Charming Billydid not know why it made him uncomfortable, but it did and he tookimmediate measures to relieve the sensation.

  He turned fretfully and cuffed the clamorous sheepherder, whoseemed to lack the heart for actual hostilities but indulged in muchrecrimination and was almost in tears. "Aw, shut up!" growled Billy."A little more uh that war-talk and I'll start in and learn yuh somemanners. I don't want any more of it. Yuh hear?"

  It is a fact that trifles sometimes breed large events. Billy, to makegood his threat, jumped off the bar. In doing so he came down uponthe toes of Jack Morgan, the hospitable soul who had insisted upontreating Mr. Dill and who had just come up to renew the argument. JackMorgan was a man of uncertain temper and he also had toes exceedinglytender. He struck out, missed Billy, who was thinking only of theherder, and it looked quite as though the blow was meant for Mr. Dill.

  After that, things happened quickly and with some confusion. Othersbecame active, one way or the other, and the clamor was great, sothat it was easily heard down the street and nearly emptied the othersaloons.


  When the worst of it was over and one could tell for a certainty whatwas taking place, Charming Billy was holding a man's face tightlyagainst the bar and was occasionally beating it with his fist none toogently. Mr. Dill, an arm's length away, had Jack Morgan and one otheroffender clutched by the neck in either hand and he was solemnly andsystematically butting their heads together until they howled. Thebartender had just succeeded in throwing the sheepherder out throughthe back door, and he was wiping his hands and feeling very wellsatisfied with himself.

  "I'd oughta fired him long ago, when he first commenced buildingtrouble," he remarked, to no one in particular. "The darnedlamb-licker--he's broke and has been all evening. I don't know whatmade me stand for 'im long as I did."

  Billy, moved perhaps by weariness rather than mercy, let go his manand straightened up, feeling mechanically for his hat. His eyes metthose of the melancholy Mr. Dill.

  "If you're quite through"--bang! went the heads--"perhaps we may aswell"--bang!--"leave this unruly crowd"--bang!!--"and go to our room.It is after eleven o'clock." Mr. Dill looked as though his presentoccupation was unpleasant but necessary and as though, to pleaseBilly, he could keep it up indefinitely.

  Charming Billy stood quite still, staring at the other and at what hewas doing; and while he stared and wondered, something came into theheart of him and quite changed his destiny. He did not know what itwas, or why it was so; at the time he realized only a deep amazementthat Mr. Dill, mild of manner, correct of speech and wistful-eyed,should be standing there banging the heads of two men who wereconsidered rather hard to handle. Certainly Jack Morgan was reputed a"bad actor" when it came to giving blows. And while Alexander P. Dillwas a big man--an enormous man, one might say--he had none of theearmarks of a fighting man. It was, perhaps, his very calmness thatwon Billy for good and all. Before, Charming Billy had felt toward hima certain amused pity; his instinct had been to protect Mr. Dill. Hewould never feel just that way again; Mr. Dill, it would seem, wasperfectly well able to protect himself.

  "Shall we go?" Mr. Dill poised the two heads for another bang and heldthem so. By this time every one in the room was watching, but he hadeyes only for Billy.

  "Just as you say," Billy assented submissively.

  Mr. Dill shook the two with their faces close together, led them to acouple of chairs and set them emphatically down. "Now, see if you canbehave yourselves," he advised, in the tone a father would haveused toward two refractory boys. "You have been acting boorishly anddisgracefully all evening. It was you who directed me wrong, to-day.You have not, at any time since I first met you, acted like gentlemen;I should be sorry to think this country held many such brainlesslouts." He turned inquiringly toward Charming Billy and nodded hishead toward the door. Billy, stooping unsteadily for his hat which hediscovered under his feet, followed him meekly out.