undertaker.' Later, as they rode in the direction of the Double K ranch, Sudden said bluntly, 'What's Keith want with me?'
'Hell, yu ain't gotta have four eyes to see that,' came the reply. 'Didn't yu git his gal out'n a jam? Any o' the boys would 'a' given a month's pay for the chance. Yu must be one o' those lucky guys.'
'Shore, lucky don't begin to tell about me,' Sudden retorted, with such emphatic bitterness that his companion stared. 'Shucks, I don't need any thanks; I've a mind to go back.'
'Then I'll have to bring the outfit,' Frosty said.'When the 01' Man wants a thing it has gotta be got, come hell or high water. Are yu goin' to make me fall down on my job?'
The puncher's respect for his new friend's shrewdness increased; this was an argument to which there was only one reply.
'Yu win,' he said, and presently, 'They were talkin' in the bar last night 'bout Hell City; ever seen it?'
'From the outside on'y, an' that's a-plenty.'
'Is the boss of it young Keith?'
The Double K cowboy shrugged. 'Common talk sez so, an' all the signs read that way,' he replied. 'Allasame, I dunno. Time he left here, Jeff warn't bad, just wild an' headstrong. When yu ride a colt too hard yu break its spirit or turn it into an outlaw. The Colonel didn't savvy what he was doin'. He's a good rancher, an' square, but, if he gits to Paradise--which is some doubtful--I'll bet he'll want to run it.'
'Stiff-necked, huh?'
'Brother, yu said it; I don't reckon that fella ever does see his own feet. He wants Jeff an' Miss Joan to make a match,an' a blind man could tell they's headin' that way, but he gives the boy orders, puttin' him on the prod immediate. If he'd waited, but there, Ken Keith never could wait, an' I'll wager he's cussin' me out right now because I can't ride twenty mile in as many minutes.'
Chapter V
The Double K range occupied an expansive tract of open country towards the end of the big basin and about ten miles south of Dugout. The ranch-house faced a long, grassy incline, and was protected from the sun by lofty pines. It was a wide, one-storied building of trimmed timber, with a roofed verandah along the whole front, and chimneys of stone. The bunkhouse, smithy, storage-barns and corrals were about a hundred yards distant. As the riders aproached, they could see a tall figure striding up and down le verandah.
'Like I said, callin' me everythin' he can think of,' Frosty grinned, 'an' lemme tell yu, he knows some words. Allasame, if he offers yu a job I hope yu'll take it; I'd admire to have yu here.'
'I thought yu were tryin' to scare me away.' Sudden smiled.
His companion shot a sly glance at him. 'I'd say yu don't scare easy. Don't git any wrong ideas 'bout the 01' Man; he's all wool, an' we're proud of him; also, the pay an' the grub is good.'
'The foreman--is he good, too?'
Frosty frowned a little. 'Sam's mouth opens too easy.'
'He never named him,' Sudden said. 'I like to know somethin' of the man I take orders from.'
'Him an' me don't exactly hit it, but that ain't to say he an't cover his job,' Frosty said bluntly.
In a few moments they reached the ranch-house and dismounted. Colonel Keith was on the far side of fifty, but his erect, spare frame showed no sign of age. He had a large, high-bridged nose, keen black eyes set beneath bushy eyebrows, thin, carefully shaven lips, and he wore his grey hair somewhat long. A suit of fine white linen gave him the appearance of a prosperous planter rather than a cattleman.
'Breedin' there, an' pride,' Sudden decided. 'Wouldn't lift his lid to a king--less he liked him.'
'Well, boss, I got him,' Frosty announced.
'My feeble intellect had already divined as much,' was the unsmiling reply. 'You have not, I hope, been hurrying.' Without giving the abashed cowboy time to answer he turned to the visitor. 'That's a fine horse you have; Homer will take care of it.'
Sudden shook his head. 'I'd best 'tend to that myself,' he said. 'Nigger is a one-man hoss.'
As they unsaddled and turned the animals loose in the corral, Frosty grimaced ruefully, and remarked, 'Didn't I say he had a razor-tongue?'
'yu shorely asked for it. He's got eyes, too, ain't he?'
Sudden returned to the verandah alone, his companion not being anxious for another rebuff. The rancher pointed to a chair.
'We will sit here, if you please,' he said, 'The view is considered a fine one.'
It was indeed. The expanse of grass-land, hemmed in by a strip of broken country beyond which forested slopes climbed steeply to the craggy, battlemented hills which formed the rim-rock of the great valley, presented a picture to please the eye of any lover of Nature. Keith gave the puncher little time to admire it.
'Mister Green, I am doubly in your debt,' he began. 'For protecting my adopted daughter from insult, and for giving me this opportunity of thanking you.' He finished with an old-fashioned bow.
'Nothin' to that, seh,' Sudden protested uncomfortably. 'I just happened to be there.'
'Very fortunately for Joan,' the rancher said. 'Sam is an old servant and an excellent fellow, but he has the pluck of a rabbit.' His eyes flashed. 'They should have died,' he added vehemently. 'Of course, you are a stranger....'
'I learned 'em a lesson,' the puncher pointed out.
'So I heard, seh,' Keith replied, and with a wisp of a smile. 'I, too, have my magic. You see, my position renders it necessary that I should know all that ,.takes place in the valley; it is not idle curiosity. Neither is it when I ask why you have come to these parts?'
'I'm just a puncher who has pulled his picket-pin, havin' got tired o' lookin' at the same bit o' the world every mornin'. Allus had the travel itch--never could stay put for long. I've no folks an' no friends.'
The rancher nodded. He knew the type and had not expected to receive any definite information. The average cowboy was a nomad by nature, liable to wander in search of new pastures from sheer restlessness. But though he accepted the explanation, he did so with reservations, being convinced that this nonchalant but extremely competent-looking young man, who wore two guns and had proved his ability to take care of himself, was something more than he had claimed.
'Would you care to ride for me?' he asked abruptly.
Sudden hesitated; save in moments of stress, when he could emulate lightning itself, he did not make rapid decisions. Keith misunderstood his silence.
'You have heard I'm a hard man to work for?' he suggested.
'No, seh, the word I had was that yore men are proud o'yu, an' that the pay an' grub is good,' Sudden smiled. 'I'm just wonderin' why yu offer me a job?'
'you have done me a service,' the other reminded, and when the visitor made a gesture of dissent, 'and you appear to be the kind of man I need.'
'I can handle cattle.'
'I want someone who can handle men--miscreants like those you dealt with yesterday,' the rancher said harshly. 'I want that nest of thieves and cut-throats, Hell City--of which you must now have heard--wiped out. Above all, I want to see their leader, who has robbed, flouted, and jeered at me, broken, lying in the dust at my feet, begging for his life.'
The low, tense tones, flaming eyes, and clamped, set jaw testified to the passion which possessed him. In a moment it passed and Kenneth Keith was again the cold, courteous gentleman.
'The fellow is a menace to the whole community, Mister Green,' he went on. 'A cancerous growth which must be ruthlessly removed. I have written to the Governor, but apparently he can do nothing; we must take the law into our own hands. Well, what do you say?'
Though this was the offer for which he had hoped, Sudden did not wish to seem too eager, and it was only after a pause that he said:
'I'm takin' a hand, but I gotta play the cyards my own way. To begin with I'll be just one o' yore punchers--yu havin' put me on the pay-roll for helpin' Miss Keith. That'll give me time to look around.' He waited, and then, 'If I get a chance to down this leader would that be all right with yu?'
The elder man's face paled. 'I would prefer to have him brought in for me to pass judgment on,' he said slowly.
'I savvy,' Sudden replied, and was glad he had asked the question. Somewhere in this proud, hard parent
