Nevada reacted to that confession in a manner totally unfamiliar to Ben. After all, Ben did not know this cowboy so very well. Nevada seemed to be accepting a responsibility that entailed grave things only he could vision.
“Get up, you big baby,” he said, coolly, with a light in his eyes not meant for Ben. “You’ve got a fight on our hands. Cut this misery stuff! You can love your girl as she deserves an’ break your heart over her. But that’ll only make you more of a man. The hunch I had grows stronger every day. We’re goin’ to gamble, Ben Ide, with all we’ve got—with love an’ life itself. I know this man Setter. He’s got some deep game, an’ blackin’ your name is part of it. Reckon I’ve a hunch why, too. Setter wouldn’t let anythin’ stand in his way, Ben.”
“Come to remember, Nevada, I’ve worse than that against him,” asserted Ben, darkly.
Nevada leaned over with quick tense action that thrilled Ben.
“Ahuh! An’ what is it?”
“I’m half afraid to tell you.”
“But you can’t hold it back now.”
“Nevada, my sister Hettie confessed that Setter had tried to get too—too familiar with her,” rejoined Ben, gravely.
Instantly Ben felt himself clutched by an iron hand and jerked upright off the bed. Nevada glared at him with eyes of black fire.
“Say, have you got that straight?” he queried, in a voice which cut.
“Sure. Hettie can be depended upon, Nevada. She’s not given to exaggeration. I didn’t ask for any details. She just said he’d tried to get too familiar with her.”
“I’ll kill him!” rasped out Nevada, letting go of Ben so suddenly that he sat back upon the bed.
“I’m pretty sore myself, Nevada, but it doesn’t call for killing. You just cool off. I don’t want you going to jail, even for my sister.”
“Wal, you’ll sing another tune when you know Less Setter as well as I do,” returned Nevada, grimly. “Let’s eat. Then we’ve got lots to figger on, pard, an’ you shore can bet on that.”
* * * * *
Ben found that despite the poignancy of his emotional state he was drawn into the current of Nevada’s keen energy and spirit. Always Ben had been the dominating factor in this partnership; nevertheless, at this turn of their fortunes Nevada took the upper hand.
“All this talk about buying out Sims and his neighbors, catching another string of wild horses, and Lord knows what else, yet you haven’t said a word about what you and Modoc found out,” protested Ben.
“Wal, pard, fact is I don’t want you to fork your fastest hoss an’ leave us heah with all the work,” drawled Nevada.
“You don’t trust me?”
“When a fellar’s in love he ain’t reliable.”
“See here, Nevada, I believe you’re in love, too. With my sister! That’s what has changed you from a lazy, good–humored, don’t–care cowboy to a regular devil with highfaluting hunches.”