Bud heard him coming and turned from his work. Cash was not trundling
the empty barrow, which in itself was proof enough that something had
happened, even if Cash had not been running. Bud dropped his pick and
started on a run to meet him.
"What's wrong? Is the kid--?"
"Kid's all right" Cash stopped abruptly, blocking Bud's way. "It's
something else. Bud, his mother's come after him. She's out there
now--laid out in a faint."
"Lemme go." Bud's voice had a grimness in it that spelled trouble for
the lady laid out in a faint "She can be his mother a thousand times--"
"Yeah. Hold on a minute, Bud. You ain't going out there and raise no
hell with that poor girl. Lovins belongs to her, and she's going to have
him.... Now, just keep your shirt on a second. I've got something more
to say. He's her kid, and she wants him back, and she's going to have
him back. If you git him away from her, it'll be over my carcass. Now,
now, hold on! H-o-l-d on! You're goin' up against Cash Markham now,
remember! That girl is my girl! My girl that I ain't seen since she was
a kid in short dresses. It's her father you've got to deal with now--her
father and the kid's grandfather. You get that? You be reasonable, Bud,
and there won't be no trouble at all. But my girl ain't goin' to be
robbed of her baby--not whilst I'm around. You get that settled in your
mind before you go out there, or--you don't go out whilst I'm here to
stop you."
"You go to hell," Bud stated evenly, and thrust Cash aside with one
sweep of his arm, and went down the tunnel. Cash, his eyebrows lifted
with worry and alarm, was at his heels all the way.
"Now, Bud, be calm!" he adjured as he ran. "Don't go and make a dang
fool of yourself! She's my girl, remember. You want to hold on to
yourself, Bud, and be reasonable. Don't go and let your temper--"
"Shut your damn mouth!" Bud commanded him savagely, and went on running.
At the tunnel mouth he stopped and blinked, blinded for a moment by the
strong sunlight in his face. Cash stumbled and lost ten seconds or so,
picking himself up. Behind him Bud heard Cash panting, "Now, Bud, don't
go and make--a dang fool--" Bud snorted contemptuously and leaped the
dirt pile, landing close to Marie, who was just then raising herself
dizzily to an elbow.
"Now, Bud," Cash called tardily when he had caught up with him, "you
leave that girl alone! Don't you lay a finger on her! That's my--"
Bud lifted his lips away from Marie's and spoke over his shoulder, his
arms tightening in their hold upon Marie's trembling, yielding body.