Bad news travels swiftly in the range country, and the following morning there was quite a gathering of the clan at the Flying H. People came to extend their sympathy to Peggy Wheeler and to the rest of the Wheeler family. Even the Reverend Henry Lake and his slow-moving old buggy horse showed up at the ranch, the minister dressed in his ancient best.
Aunt Emma Wheeler, Aunt Annie Bellew, Grandma Owens and Mrs. Buck West gathered together and talked in whispers of the white-faced girl upstairs who did not want to talk with anybody, while the men stood around at the rear of the house in the shade of the big cottonwood and drank up the rest of Uncle Hozie’s wedding liquor.
Honey Bee was there, longing for a chance to talk with Laura Hatton. A little later on Len Kelsey, his arm in a sling, rode out. The Heavenly Triplets were sober, but that did not prevent them from making a few caustic remarks about the sheriff when they saw him coming.
“You let him alone,” ordered Uncle Hozie. “My ——, ain’t there trouble enough, without you startin’ a debate with the law? Lonnie, you haul in yore horns; sabe?”
“Aw, he gives me a itch,” growled Lonnie.
“Go scratch yourself,” advised Uncle Hozie.
Kelsey brought no news of Joe Rich. He said that Ralston and Merrick had ridden through to Kelo, but found no trace of the fugitive. Ralston had come back to Pinnacle City at midnight.
“Yuh didn’t expect to catch him, didja?” asked Nebrasky.
“Sure we’ll get him,” confidently. “May take a little while.”
“Aw, ——!” snorted Lonnie. “You and Jack Ralston couldn’t foller a load of hay through a fresh snow.”
“Lonnie, I told yuh—” began Uncle Hozie.
“Yeah, I heard yuh,” interrupted Lonnie. “I’m not ridin’ him.”
Len smiled thinly.
“Thasall right, Hozie. You folks have kinda got the wrong idea of all this. I’m not an enemy of Joe Rich. My ——, I worked with him, didn’t I? In my business yuh don’t have to hate a man to arrest him. There ain’t nothin’ personal about me huntin’ for Joe. If he’s innocent, he ought to stay and prove it. Yuh can’t jist sneeze a couple of times and forget that five thousand dollars are missin’, can yuh?”
“No, yuh shore can’t, Len,” agreed Uncle Hozie.
Len didn’t stay long. His speech impressed all, except the three Flying H cowpunchers. They had no real reason for disliking Len Kelsey, except that he represented the law, and that he had succeeded Joe Rich. And they were loyal to Joe, even if he was guilty as charged. Theirs was not a fickle friendship; not something that merely endured in fair weather.
Uncle Hozie talked long and earnestly with the minister over the funeral arrangements, and together they went up the stairs to talk with Peggy. Laura left them and came down to the veranda, where Honey Bee beamed with delight.
“I was scared I wasn’t goin’ to see yuh,” he said softly. “How’s Peggy standin’ it?”
Laura sighed and shook her pretty head. “Peggy would be all right, if all those women wouldn’t sit around and talk about corpses they have seen. They all talk about successful funerals! As though any funeral could be a success! And they all gabble about Joe Rich. Honey, I actually think that some of them believe Joe Rich killed Uncle Jim.”
“Eh?” Honey jerked back, staring at her.
“Ex-cuse my language, but that’s a —— of an idea! Who started that?”
“Oh, I don’t know. They talked about Uncle Jim being a good rider and a sober man and that the saddle did not turn. And he had all that money with him.”
“Well, I’ll be darned!” snorted Honey. “Did Peggy know Jim Wheeler was borrowin’ that money from Merrick?”
“Yes. She didn’t know how much. Now she says she can’t go. They talk about Uncle Jim having a big mortgage at the bank, and with this five thousand from Merrick—”
“Lotta money,” mused Honey Bee. “Huh-how soon do yuh aim to leave, Laura?”
“I don’t know. Not until after things are straightened up for Peggy. I sent Dad a wire, telling him that our plans had been changed.”
“Then yuh won’t be goin’ for a while, eh?” Honey sighed with relief. “That’s shore fine. Yuh won’t go back to the HJ, will yuh?”
“I think so. Wong Lee is still there and Uncle Hozie said one of his boys could go down there and help run the place.”
“Yea-a-a-ah? Uh-huh. Which one, I wonder?”
“I don’t know. Uncle Hozie spoke about Lonnie Myers.”
“Oh, yeah—Lonnie. Ain’t settled yet, eh?”
“No; he just spoke about it a while ago.”
Uncle Hozie and the minister came out, talking softly; so Laura hurried back upstairs to Peggy. Honey rubbed his chin thoughtfully and waited for Uncle Hozie and the minister to end their conversation.
And then Honey lost no time in backing Uncle Hozie against the wall.
“Laura tells me that Peggy is goin’ back to the HJ, after the funeral, Hozie.”
Uncle Hozie nodded slowly.
“She says she is, Honey.”
“Yo’re a pretty good friend of mine, aint’cha, Hozie?”
“Well—” Hozie pursed his lips and blinked at Honey—“I never throwed any rocks at yuh when yuh wasn’t lookin’.”
Honey leaned forward and whispered rapidly in Hozie’s ear.
“Huh? O-o-oh!” Hozie understood.
A few minutes later Hozie met Curt Bellew near the kitchen door.
“I jist wanted to ask yuh somethin’, Curt,” said Uncle Hozie. “I—uh—I been talkin’ to Peggy. Yuh see, Curt, she’s goin’ to stay at the HJ, at least a while. Won’t be nobody there but her and Laura and Wong Lee.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Well, I been talkin’ to her, yuh understand, Curt. She’s goin’ to need one man to help run things. I—uh—she said she’d like to have Honey Bee to run the place.”
“Oh, yea-a-a-ah!”
Curt lifted his eyebrows thoughtfully and hooked his thumbs over his cartridge-belt. He nodded slowly.
“Well, mebbe I can git along without that boy for a while, Hozie. He prob’ly won’t want to do it. Honey’s funny thataway. But you tell him I said he had to do it. If he kicks about makin’ the change—you tell him to come to me.”
“Yeah, I’ll do that, Curt,” solemnly.
They looked at each other seriously for several moments.
“And that ain’t the funniest part of it,” said Uncle Hozie. “Laura told Honey that I was goin’ to loan ’em Lonnie Myers to run the HJ—and there ain’t never been any mention of me loanin’ anybody.”
“She made it all up, Hozie?”
“’Course she did. Her father’s a broker in Philadelphia, and I s’pose Laura inherited her ability to tell p’lite lies from him. But it’s all right, ain’t it, Curt?”
“Fine! Ma will be glad. She has to watch Honey like a hawk to keep him from cuttin’ L.H. on all the furniture.”
They chuckled together for several moments. Then—
“Hozie, what’s this talk about mebbe Jim’s death wasn’t an accident?”
“Wimmin,” said Hozie quickly. “Old wimmin talkin’.”
“Uh-huh. Yeah, I s’pose it is. I don’t like it, Hozie. But a while ago I got to thinkin’ about Jim. Where’s that note? Ed Merrick must ’a’ signed a copy for Jim. Merrick’s got his copy, signed by Jim.”
“Whoever got the money must ’a’ took the note, Curt.”
“I s’pose. The money was all in big bills. By golly, I hope they find Joe Rich.”
Uncle Hozie sighed deeply. He loved Joe Rich like a son, and it was difficult for him to believe Joe guilty.
“It hurts Peggy,” he said slowly. “It hurts her as much as the death of her father. Yuh see, she loved Joe a lot.”
“I reckon we all did, Hozie—up to the day he was to be married.”
“Joe Rich of yesterday,” muttered Uncle Hozie.
“Whatcha say, Hozie?”
“Jist thinkin’ out loud, Curt. I’ll find Honey, and break the bad news to him.”
“Yeah; he’ll prob’ly be sore as ——.”