Oh, you dont know and you do know, and maybe and perhaps, and youre not so sure, vociferated Annixter. How about ignoring the value of our improvements? Nothing hazy about THAT statement, I guess. It says in so many words that any improvements we make will not be considered when the land is appraised and thats the same thing, isnt it? The unimproved land is worth two-fifty an acre; only timber land is worth more and theres none too much timber about here.
Well, one thing at a time, said Harran. The thing for us now is to get into this primary election and the convention and see if we can push our men for Railroad Commissioners.
Right, declared Annixter. He rose, stretching his arms above his head. Ive about talked all the wind out of me, he said. Think Ill be moving along. Its pretty near midnight.
But when Magnuss guests turned their attention to the matter of returning to their different ranches, they abruptly realised that the downpour had doubled and trebled in its volume since earlier in the evening. The fields and roads were veritable seas of viscid mud, the night absolutely black-dark; assuredly not a night in which to venture out. Magnus insisted that the three ranchers should put up at Los Muertos. Osterman accepted at once, Annixter, after an interminable discussion, allowed himself to be persuaded, in the end accepting as though granting a favour. Broderson protested that his wife, who was not well, would expect him to return that night and would, no doubt, fret if he did not appear. Furthermore, he lived close by, at the junction of the County and Lower Road. He put a sack over his head and shoulders, persistently declining Magnuss offered umbrella and rubber coat, and hurried away, remarking that he had no foreman on his ranch and had to be up and about at five the next morning to put his men to work.
Fool! muttered Annixter when the old man had gone. Imagine farming a ranch the size of his without a foreman.
Harran showed Osterman and Annixter where they were to sleep, in adjoining rooms. Magnus soon afterward retired.
Osterman found an excuse for going to bed, but Annixter and Harran remained in the latters room, in a haze of blue tobacco smoke, talking, talking. But at length, at the end of all argument, Annixter got up, remarking:
Well, Im going to turn in. Its nearly two oclock.
He went to his room, closing the door, and Harran, opening his window to clear out the tobacco smoke, looked out for a moment across the country toward the south.
The darkness was profound, impenetrable; the rain fell with an uninterrupted roar. Near at hand one could hear the sound of dripping eaves and foliage and the eager, sucking sound of the drinking earth, and abruptly while Harran stood looking out, one hand upon the upraised sash, a great puff of the outside air invaded the room, odourous with the reek of the soaking earth, redolent with fertility, pungent, heavy, tepid. He closed the window again and sat for a few moments on the edge of the bed, one shoe in his hand, thoughtful and absorbed, wondering if his father would involve himself in this new scheme, wondering if, after all, he wanted him to.
But suddenly he was aware of a commotion, issuing from the direction of Annixters room, and the voice of Annixter himself upraised in expostulation and exasperation. The door of the room to which Annixter had been assigned opened with a violent wrench and an angry voice exclaimed to anybody who would listen:
Oh, yes, funny, isnt it? In a way, its funny, and then, again, in a way it isnt.
The door banged to so that all the windows of the house rattled in their frames.
Harran hurried out into the dining-room and there met Presley and his father, who had been aroused as well by Annixters clamour. Osterman was there, too, his bald head gleaming like a bulb of ivory in the light of the lamp that Magnus carried.
Whats all up? demanded Osterman. Whatever in the world is the matter with Buck?
Confused and terrible sounds came from behind the door of Annixters room. A prolonged monologue of grievance, broken by explosions of wrath and the vague noise of some one in a furious hurry. All at once and before Harran had a chance to knock on the door, Annixter flung it open. His face was blazing with anger, his outthrust lip more prominent than ever, his wiry, yellow hair in disarray, the tuft on the crown sticking straight into the air like the upraised hackles of an angry hound. Evidently he had been dressing himself with the most headlong rapidity; he had not yet put on his coat and vest, but carried them over his arm, while with his disengaged hand he kept hitching his suspenders over his shoulders with a persistent and hypnotic gesture. Without a moments pause he gave vent to his indignation in a torrent of words.
Ah, yes, in my bed, sloop, aha! I know the man who put it there, he went on, glaring at Osterman, and that man is a PIP. Sloop! Slimy, disgusting stuff; you heard me say I didnt like it when the Chink passed it to me at dinnerand just for that reason you put it in my bed, and I stick my feet into it when I turn in. Funny, isnt it? Oh, yes, too funny for any use. Id laugh a little louder if I was you.
Well, Buck, protested Harran, as he noticed the hat in Annixters hand, youre not going home just for
Annixter turned on him with a shout.
Ill get plumb out of here, he trumpeted. I wont stay here another minute.
He swung into his waistcoat and coat, scrabbling at the buttons in the violence of his emotions. And I dont know but what it will make me sick again to go out in a night like this. NO, I wont stay. Some things are funny, and then, again, there are some things that are not. Ah, yes, sloop! Well, thats all right. I can be funny, too, when you come to that. You dont get a cent of money out of me. You can do your dirty bribery in your own dirty way. I wont come into this scheme at all. I wash my hands of the whole business. Its rotten and its wild-eyed; its dirt from start to finish; and youll all land in States prison. You can count me out.
But, Buck, look here, you crazy fool, cried Harran, I dont know who put that stuff in your bed, but Im not going; to let you go back to Quien Sabe in a rain like this.
I know who put it in, clamoured the other, shaking his fists, and dont call me Buck and Ill do as I please. I WILL go back home. Ill get plumb out of here. Sorry I came. Sorry I ever lent myself to such a disgusting, dishonest, dirty bribery game as this all to-night. I wont put a dime into it, no, not a penny.
He stormed to the door leading out upon the porch, deaf to all reason. Harran and Presley followed him, trying to dissuade him from going home at that time of night and in such a storm, but Annixter was not to be placated. He stamped across to the barn where his horse and buggy had been stabled, splashing through the puddles under foot, going out of his way to drench himself, refusing even to allow Presley and Harran to help him harness the horse.
Whats the use of making a fool of yourself, Annixter? remonstrated Presley, as Annixter backed the horse from the stall. You act just like a ten-year-old boy. If Osterman wants to play the goat, why should you help him out?
Hes a PIP, vociferated Annixter. You dont understand, Presley. It runs in my family to hate anything sticky. Itsitsits heredity. How would you like to get into bed at two in the morning and jam your feet down into a slimy mess like that? Oh, no. Its not so funny then. And you mark my words, Mr. Harran Derrick, he continued, as he climbed into the buggy, shaking the whip toward Harran, this business we talked over to-nightIm OUT of it. Its yellow. Its too CURSED dishonest.