Bucky O'Connor

“ If he took up that devil-may-care challenge he must fight it out alone. Moreover, as his furtive glance went round the ring of faces, he doubted whether a rope and the nearest telegraph pole might not be his fate if he went the limit. Sourly he accepted defeat, raging in his craven spirit at the necessity.
“Hell! I don’t fight with boys,” he snarled,
“So?”
Bucky moved forward with the curious lightness of a man spring-footed. His gaze held the other’s shifting eyes as he plucked the knife from his opponent’s hand. ”

“ Bucky laughed. “You’re ce’tainly the queerest kid I’ve run up against. I guess you didn’t scramble up in this rough-and-tumble West like I did. You’re too soft for this country.” He let his firm brown fingers travel over the lad’s curly hair and down the smooth cheek. “There it is again. Shrinking away as if I was going to hurt you. I’ll bet a biscuit you never licked the stuffing out of another fellow in your life.” ”

“ Bucky waved a hand easily into space. “That’s all right, too, son. There’s a heap of directions you can hit from here. Take any one you like. But if I was as beat as you are, I think I’d keep on the Epitaph road.” He laughed his warm, friendly laugh, before the geniality of which discord seemed to melt, and again his arm went round the other’s weary shoulders with a caressing gesture that was infinitely protecting.
The boy laughed tremulously. “You’re awfully good to me. I know I’m a cry-baby, sissy boy, but if you’ll be patient with me I’ll try to be gamer.” ”

“ Bucky thought he could trust O’Halloran to see that he did not stay long behind bars and bolts, unless indeed the game went against that sanguine and most cheerful plotter. In which event—well, that was a contingency that would certainly prove embarrassing to the ranger. It might indeed turn out to be a good deal more than embarrassing in the end. The thing that he had done would bear a plain name if the Megales faction won the day—and the punishment for it would be easy to guess. But it was not of himself that O’Connor was thinking. ”

“ As the champion knife thrower in the universe I claim—”
What he claimed his audience had to guess, for at this instant another person took a part in the act. Bucky had stepped lightly across the intervening space on the shoulders of the tightly packed crowd and had dropped as lightly to the ground in front of the astonished champion of the universe.
“I reckon you’ve about wore out that target. What’s the matter with trying a brand new one,” drawled the ranger, his quiet, unwavering eye fixed on the bloated, mottled face of the imitation “bad man.” ”

“ Came at that instant O’Halloran’s ungentle knock, on the heels of which his red head came through the open door.
“You’re the very lad I’m wanting to see, Bucky,” he announced, and followed this declaration by locking all the doors and beckoning him to the center of the room.
“Is that tough neck of yours aching again, Reddy?” inquired his friend whimsically.
“It is that, me bye. There’s the very divil to pay,” he whispered.
“Cough it out, Mike.”
“That tyrant Megales is onto our game. Somebody’s leaked, or else he has a spy in our councils—as we have in his, the ould scoundrel.” ”

“ The rutted money-grabber may deny till he is a nerve-racked counting-machine, but youth, even to the end of time, will laugh to scorn his pessimism and venture with elastic heel where danger and mystery offer their dubious hazards.
So it was that Bucky and his little comrade found nothing of dulness in the mission to which they had devoted themselves. In their task of winning freedom for the American immured in the Chihuahua dungeon they already found themselves in the heart of a web of intrigue, the stakes of which were so high as to carry life and death with them in the balance. ”

“ I’m your uncle. I’ve raised you from a kid, and, by the great mogul! you can’t sneak off with the first good-for nothing scoundrel that makes eyes at you. Thought you had slipped away from me, you white-faced, sniveling little idiot, but I’ll show you who is master.”
The lash of a whip rose and fell twice on quivering flesh before Bucky leaped into the fireglow and wrested the riding-whip from the hands of the angry man who was plying it.
“Dare to touch a woman, would you?” cried the ranger, swinging the whip vigorously across the broad shoulders of the man. ”

“ Bucky was registered and receipted for at the prison office, after which he was conducted to his cell. The corridors dripped as he followed under ground the guide who led the way with a flickering lantern. It was a gruesome place to contemplate as a permanent abode. But the young American knew that his stay here would be short, whether the termination of it were liberty or the gallows.
Reaching the end of a narrow, crooked corridor that sloped downward, the turnkey unlocked a ponderous iron door with a huge key, and one of the guards following at Bucky’s heels, pushed him forward. ”

“ But Bucky’s contempt was tolerant, after all. He could not deny his sympathy to a youngster in trouble. Again he touched gently the lad’s crisp curls of burnished gold.
“Brace up, bub. The worst is yet to come,” he laughed awkwardly. “I reckon there’s no use spillin’ any more emotion over it. He ain’t your dad, is he?”
The lad’s big brown eyes looked up into the serene blue ones and found comfort in their strength. “No, he’s my uncle—and my master.”
“This is a free country, son. We don’t have masters if we’re good Americans, though we all have to take orders from our superior officers. ”

“ Frances blushed, but answered bravely: “Yes, sir. He makes everything right when he takes hold of it.”
“Good. We’re not going to let him get away from us after making us so happy, are we, mother? This young man is going to stay right here. We never had but one son, and we are going to treat him as much like one as we can. Eh, mother?”
“If he will consent, Webb.” She went up to the ranger and kissed his tanned cheek. “You must pardon an old woman whom you’ve made very happy.”
Again Bucky’s laughing blue eyes met the brown ones of his sweetheart. ”

“ Now, what would you do with her in a jail, Bucky?” he asked himself, in humorous dismay; but even as he reflected on it his roving eye fell on his friend. “The very thing. I’ll take Curly Haid in to her and let them fall in love with each other. You’re liable to be some busy, Bucky, and shy on leisure to entertain a lady, let alone two.”
And so he arranged it. Leaving the former governor and General Carlo in the cell just vacated by them, Frances and he accompanied Gabilonda to the secret room behind the corridor wall. ”

“ But I have never yit been assassinated, and, on principle, I object to being trated so. It’s very destructive to a man’s future usefulness.”
“And so?” laughed the ranger.
“And so we’ve arranged to take a few lads up the line and have a train hold-up. I’m the robber-in-chief. Would ye like to be second in command of the lawless ruffians, me son?”
Bucky met his twinkling eye gaily. “Mr. O’Connor is debarred from taking part in such an outrageous affair by international etiquette, but he knows a gypsy lad would be right glad to join, I reckon.” ”

“ Given that, it is up to every man to find his own niche.
But though he had no sense of deference to what is known as good blood, Bucky had too much horse sense to resent the careless, half-indifferent greeting which these two young sprouts of aristocracy bestowed on the rest of the party. He understood that it was the natural product of their education and of that of the others.
“Are we all here?” asked Garcia.
“All here,” returned O’Halloran briskly. “Rodrigo will guide the party. I ride next with Señor Garcia. Perdoza and Señor Valdez will bring up the rear. ”

“ But if the young Spanish girl found a little current of pleasure in her surprise, Bucky and his friend were aware of the same sensation. All the charm of her race seemed summed up in Carmencita Megales. She was of blue blood, every feature and motion told that. The fine, easy set of her head, the fire in the dark, heavy-lashed eyes, the sweep of dusky chin and cheek and throat certified the same story. She had, too, that coquettish hint of uncertainty, that charm of mystery so fatal in its lure to questing man. Even physically the contradiction of sex attracted. ”

“ Send a dispatch to Bucky O’Connor. You’d ought to get him at Douglas. If not, some of his rangers will know where to reach him. Keep the wires hot till you’re in touch with him. Better sign my name. I’ve been writing him about this outfit. This job is cut out for Bucky, and we’ve got to get him on it.”
“And what are you going to do?”
“I can’t do much—I’m not armed. First time I’ve been caught that way since I’ve been sheriff. Came out to-day for a picnic and left my gun at home. But if they’re the Roaring Fork outfit, they’ll pass through the Elkhorn Cañon, heading for Dead Man’s Cache. ”

“ The first thing Bucky did after leaving the two young women was to go down in person with one of the guards to the cell of David Henderson. The occupant of the cell was asleep, but he woke up when the two men entered.
“Who is it?” he demanded.
“Webb Mackenzie’s man come to release you,” answered Bucky.
The prisoner fell to trembling like an aspen. “God, man, do you mean it?” he begged. “You wouldn’t deceive an old man who has lived fifteen years in hell?”
“It’s true, friend, every word of it. You’ll live to ride the range again and count your cattle on the free hillside. ”

“ If you have any doubts about this lad—” He stopped, keen eyes fixed on Frank.
“He’s as safe as I am, Mike. Is it likely I would take any risks about a thing of that sort with my old bunkie’s tough neck inviting the hangman?” asked O’Connor quietly.
“Good enough. The kid looks stanch, and, anyhow, if you guarantee him that’s enough for me.” He accepted another of the ranger’s cigars, puffed it to a red glow, and leaned back to smile at his friend. “Glory, but it’s good to see ye, Bucky, me bye. You’ll never know how a man’s eyes ache to see a straight-up white man in this land of greasers. ”

“ Haven’t you promised to make a man of me?” And again Bucky caught that note of stifled laughter in the voice, though the big brown eyes met his quite seriously.
They took the train that night for El Paso, Bucky in the lower berth and his friend in the upper of section six of one of the Limited’s Pullman cars. The ranger was awake and up with the day. For a couple of hours he sat in the smoking section and discussed politics with a Chicago drummer. He knew that Frank was very tired, and he let him sleep till the diner was taken on at Lordsburg. Then he excused himself to the traveling man. ”

“ When come back from old Mexico I’m going to teach you how to put up your dukes. You’re going to ride the range with me, son, and learn to stick to your saddle when the bronc and you disagrees. Oh, I’ll bet all you need is training. I’ll make a man out of you yet,” the ranger assured his charge cheerfully. “Will you?” came the innocent reply, but Bucky for a moment had the sense of being laughed at. ”

“ General Carlo turned to the prisoner. “Have you anything to say before I pronounce sentence of death upon you?”
“I have,” answered Bucky, looking him straight in the eyes. “I am an American, and I demand the rights of a citizen of the United States.”
“An American?” Incredulously Megales lifted his eyebrows. “You are a Spanish gypsy, my friend.”
The ranger was fairly caught in his own trap. He had donned the gypsy masquerade because he did not want to be taken for what he was, and he had succeeded only too well. He had played into their hands. ”

“ If there’s no hope for me, don’t say there is.” The prisoner’s voice shook and his hands trembled. He was only the husk of the man he had been, but it did Bucky’s heart good to see that the germ of life was still in him. Back in Arizona, on the Rocking Chair Ranch, with the free winds of the plains beating on his face, he would pick up again the old strands of his broken life, would again learn to love the lowing of cattle and the early morning call of the hooter to his mate. ”

“ Tune up, tune up!”
“What do you mean about one not singing after daybreak?” asked the girl, with eyes dilating.
“What! Hasn’t he told you? Señor the ranger is to be hanged at the dawn unless he finds his tongue for Governor Megales. Ho, ho! Our birdie must speak even if he doesn’t sing.” And with that as a parting shot the man clanged the door to after him and locked it.
“You never told me, Bucky. You have been trying to deceive me,” she groaned. ”

“ When the news reached O’Halloran that Megales had scored on the opposition by arresting Bucky O’Connor, the Irishman swore fluently at himself for his oversight in forgetting the Northern Chihuahua. So far as the success of the insurgents went, the loss of the ranger was a matter of no importance, since O’Halloran knew well that nothing in the way of useful information could be cajoled or threatened out of him. ”

“ And with that he lightly tore up the yellow sheets and tossed them away.
“The conductor will wire when he reaches Apache,” the operator suggested, not very boldly.
The outlaw rolled a cigarette deftly and borrowed a match. “He most surely will. But Apache is seventy miles from here. That gives us an extra hour and a half, and with us right now time is a heap more valuable than money. You may tell Bucky O’Connor when you see him that that extra hour and a half cinches our escape, and we weren’t on the anxious seat any without it.” ”