CHAPTER XVII.

ADRIAN TAKES THE REINS.

"Who might these boys be, Fred?"

The woman asked this question with a lofty air, as she arrived close to where the three chums now stood, holding the bridles of their horses.

"This is my nephew, Adrian Sherwood, who as you know, Josie, is the owner of Bar-S Ranch; and these are his friends, Donald Mackay, about whom he has often written to me, and Billie Winkle," Mr. Comstock hastened to say, though it could be seen that he had to summon all his resolution to the fore in order to keep his voice firm.

She looked the three over from head to foot, and in particular Adrian. Evidently Mrs. Fred scented trouble, since the young owner of the ranch that was being systematically robbed by her blood relatives had come on the ground. But she was game, and scorned to show the white feather, though she may have suspected that this marked the beginning of the end of the reign of Hatch Walker and his crowd in that favored section.

"I happened to hear something that was said as I came up," she went on to remark, caustically; "it was about their recovering the cattle that wandered away last night. So you see your fears were useless after all. You always worry over things without any reason, just like an old fool would."

"But it happened, my dear," Uncle Fred spoke up, "that in this case the rustlers _did_ carry off the herd; for Adrian and his chums made four of them prisoners, and recovered the cattle at Bittersweet Coulie."

"What's that you're telling me?" she demanded, scornfully; "three half-grown boys capture four husky rustlers. More than likely they found the cattle astray, and are playing a joke on you by telling such a story as this," and the laugh that accompanied these words made Billie shiver as though a sudden draught from the Artic regions had struck him in the back.

"Perhaps we did dream it," chuckled Adrian; "but if so, it's queer how we came to get it in our heads that one of the stampeders was named Tad Whiffles, another Corney, and still a third Bemis. But no matter, madam, we did bring the cattle back, and here they are, safe and sound. Uncle Fred is delighted with such good luck; and of course you must be the same."

The woman was looking at him keenly. Perhaps she realized that this was no ordinary boy, whom she could badger in the same way she had his uncle. The mentioning of those three names, which of course she recognized as belonging to punchers in her brother's employ, told her that they must indeed have done all they claimed; and such boys who did things were certainly to be looked on with respect. Still she was not ready to abdicate the position she had held so long.

She turned on Uncle Fred, as though pretty sure of a cringing victim there.

"Who are these three strange riders I see? Did they help drive the lost herd home? When have you taken to hiring new hands without consulting me? Didn't we settle that matter once for all months ago?"

The manager of Bar-S Ranch stood his ground. He had summoned the last vestige of his former resolution to the front, and seemed ready to try conclusions with the wife of his bosom again, perhaps for the last time.

"I have had nothing to do with hiring them, my dear," he said, firmly. "Adrian made all arrangements himself, and you know, as he is the sole owner of the ranch, what he says goes. He thought there would be several of our boys who might not wish to remain, and work under him; and so he brought these new hands along to take their places when they were paid off."

She looked as black as midnight at that. Donald, watching closely, realized that Mrs. Fred must guess that they understood how matters were, and had come prepared to oust her crowd, even if they had to include Uncle Fred and herself.

"Oh! that's how the land lies, is it?" she went on to say, bitterly. "Well, apparently your fine nephew must have forgotten that your contract reads you are to have three months' notice before you can be displaced. And as we hold the reins for that length of time, you'll continue to do the engaging and discharging. Those new hands will have to clear out, for not a dollar of pay will they get here, or a single meal, if I can help it."

Mr. Comstock's lower jaw fell. He stared helplessly first at the aggressive woman and then toward his nephew. Evidently she had "taken the wind from his sails" completely by this sudden assertion, and he did not know what to say.

But Adrian was equal to the emergency. He never lost his temper in the least degree as he waited until he caught the angry eye of Mrs. Fred.

"What you say about the contract is very true, so far as it goes, Aunt Josie," he observed, steadily; "but you forget evidently that it also reads that in case I wish to change managers I am to give three months' notice, or else pay Uncle Fred that much salary in lieu of said notice. Here is the amount in this roll of bills, which, when he accepts, will constitute the change, so that he will no longer hold the position of manager of the Bar-S Ranch."

He held out the money toward the little man. As he did so the woman gave a loud and ominous cry.

"Refuse to take it, Fred; don't you dare touch his money!" she demanded, furiously. "If you decline to take it he'll have to let you stay the three months out, don't you see, you idiot?"

Perhaps that last part of her speech brought the man to a realization of the humiliating fact that there were numerous spectators to his being henpecked. At any rate Uncle Fred gritted his teeth, and stretching out his hand, took the money deliberately from Adrian. With a flash of his old independence he immediately held it up and said in a loud voice:

"Everybody take notice that I've accepted the pay for three months in advance from my nephew, and in so doing I sever all my connection with the Bar-S Ranch as manager."

With that he contemptuously threw the roll of money at the feet of his wife. She looked at first as though she could tear him to pieces. Then, unable to resist the lure of the ready cash she stooped down and picked the three months' salary up.

"Perhaps you think that this closes the house to Fred and me!" she snapped, turning on Adrian furiously; "but you have another guess coming, boy! You're pretty young to meddle with the business of grown men; and there may be snarls about our affairs that'll be harder to unravel than just tying up four drunken cattle rustlers, and bringing back the stock they'd run off. If you came here to make war on a woman, you're bound to get your fill before it's all over. And you'll find that I'm not without friends who'll see me get my rights. That's all I've got to say to you; but there'll be another chapter to this story, don't forget that!"

She flung these bitter words at Adrian as though each one had a poisonous sting with which she meant to inflict pain upon him. Undoubtedly Aunt Josie did not intend to welcome her husband's nephew in any hearty fashion to his ranch which he had not seen for some years, and which she had of late come to look upon as more or less her individual property, to be looted at will by her rapacious relatives.

She started to walk away, her head held high in the air, and as Adrian thought with the bearing of an angry empress. Her high and lofty manner must have struck some of the cowboys as ludicrous. She had rubbed it into them on numerous occasions, and naturally they glorified in her apparent downfall. One of them gave a low mocking laugh. Instantly the woman whirled around, and her eyes seemed to fairly blaze as she surveyed the group.

"Who laughed then?" she demanded; but no one answered, though several shrank back appalled; and Donald saw the man in hiding behind the bunk house, Mr. Thomas, draw his head in much after the manner of a tortoise when danger approaches.

"Cowards, all of you!" she went on to say, in a harsh tone; "you can insult a woman behind her back, but not one of you is man enough to acknowledge a little thing like that. Never mind, it won't be long before I'll be in a position to hold the whip hand, and then we'll see who stays and who goes. As for you, Fred Comstock, just _wait_, that's all!"

This time when she walked toward the ranch house not a sound broke out. Uncle Fred turned a troubled face toward his nephew.

"I wouldn't dare be left alone with her again after this for a king's ransom, and that's the truth, Adrian," he said, slowly. "Perhaps, since I'm discharged from my position here, I ought to clear out right away before night. It looks cowardly, but there's no other safety for me, I candidly admit."

"No, don't hurry about going, Uncle," remonstrated Adrian, taking him aside so he could speak without others hearing, for he knew that some of the punchers had not been looking on him with friendly eyes; and these must be the men who were hand in glove with Hatch Walker and his sister, the wife of Uncle Fred.

"But my usefulness here has all departed, and why should I linger?" urged the despondent ex-manager.

"You don't know what may happen yet, and if we have trouble with those Walkers you may get a chance to retrieve some of the blunders of the past year," the boy went on to say, laying a hand affectionately on his uncle's sleeve, for the other was shaking his head sadly in the negative as though he could not see a gleam of light in the overcast sky. "I didn't get a chance to tell you that we met up with Frank Bowker, the puncher you sent to town on an errand; and I entrusted him with a note to the new sheriff, demanding that he gather a reliable posse at once and ride out to the Bar-S Ranch, because a fight was on with the rustler gang of Walkers, and we meant to settle this thing once and for all. That blot has been on this county far too long, and he must know it. So you see, Uncle Fred, after all this storm may clear the air; and when it passes by perhaps you may be glad to take up the reins here again as manager for me!"

The man looked at him with tears in his eyes, so greatly was he affected by this show of confidence in him. He seized hold of Adrian's hand, and squeezed it in an almost frenzied fashion, while he went on to say in a tone husky with emotion:

"What you say sounds too good to ever come true, son; because, you see, I'm her husband through thick and thin, because the law made me so; and where I am she has a right to be also. No, I must go away and try to start fresh somewhere else. But," he added, while the old fighting spirit flashed into his blue eyes once more; "if you think there's going to be war with the Walker tribe before this thing's threshed out, why, I might defer my going till it's all over, and the returns in. If so be I got a chance to settle my differences with that lawless brother of hers, Hatch Walker, I'd feel easier in my mind, anyhow, so I'll try and hang out yet awhile, Adrian, my boy!"