As they returned to snatch a meal at the fire, a dark, huddled form, lying where the grass was longer, attracted their attention. A dead man, and beside him, a lightish slicker. Sudden remembered his chance shot. He turned the body over; the features were familiar. He visioned again the saloon at Hell City, into which this same Mexican had limped, footsore and weary, come to report failure and risk death at the hands of Satan, the master brigand. He had saved the fellow's life then, and now blind Fate had ordained that he should take it.'
'Couple o' twenty dollar bills with the Rainbow bank's stamp on 'em,' Tiny announced. He had been searching the corpse.
'Better take those, Dan; we might be able to trace 'em,' Sudden advised. 'An' we'll bury this hombre if yu got no objection; I once saw him act mighty like a man--for a Greaser.'
The drive was resumed, and as Dover had predicted, they came across several of the runaways, and so could deem themselves well out of what might easily have been a disaster. They saw nothing of their unknown assailants, and as the latter part of the journey was over a regular cattle-track, they reached their destination in good time.
The business of handing over the herd did not take long, and after a satisfying meal they drifted into the Paradise Saloon.
'Remember this joint, Jim?' Dan asked.
Sudden grinned; it was there he and the rancher had adjourned after the shooting test; somehow it seemed a good time ago. Grouped at the bar, they discussed the question of the return trip, whether to start at once, or wait for daybreak. All of them were tired, but as Tiny finally expressed it:
'A bed listens fine to me, Dan, but you on'y gotta say the word an' I'm ready.'
'What do you think, Jim?'
Sudden did not reply for a moment; his gaze was on a short, shabby, bearded fellow sitting a few feet away. Then he asked, 'Yu acquainted with the landlord o' this shebang, Dan?' And when the young man nodded, 'Find out if he knows the whiskery gent just behind yu.'
The rancher ordered another round of drinks and, after a whispered colloquy with the proprietor, turned to his friends. 'Never set eyes on him afore, but that don't mean much--strangers ain't no novelty in the Bend.'
'Mebbe not,' Sudden replied, and raising his voice a little, 'We'd better be on our way.'
The last to leave, he saw--by the aid of a mirror--that the bearded man was also making for the door. Leading his party along the street, he swung round a corner and halted. Almost immediately the object of his suspicion appeared, and seeing the group of cowboys, hesitated and then slunk past.
'He was interested in our conversation, an' now he follows us. What d'yu make o' that, Dan?'
'I'm no good at riddles, Jim. You tell me.'
'Those coyotes back on the trail missed the beef, but if they knowed when to expect us, they might try for the dollars.'
'Likely enough, an' that hombre would have plenty time to get here ahead o' us,' Dover admitted. 'What's our best plan?'
'With that fella trailin' us we got no hope o' trickin' 'em. I vote we catch some sleep an' start in the mornin',' was Sudden's suggestion. 'If they waylay us, we'll stand a better chance in the daylight.'
The others agreed that this was the wisest course, and being already short of one night's rest, they gave the attractions of the town the go-by, and turned in early.
There was no sign of the bearded man when they set off soon after daybreak, but none of them doubted his being in the vicinity. Sudden only grinned when Tiny mentioned it. One precaution was taken: Dover called Sudden aside and slipped a packet into his hand; it was the money received for the cattle.
'You got the fastest hoss in the bunch,' he said. 'If things get tight, make a dash for it.'
'Unless they're watchin' the trail, we'll have no trouble.'
'They may be, or it's possible that jasper has gone on a'ready to tell 'em we're comin'.'
'He ain't,' Sudden chuckled. 'Over-keen, Mister Whiskers. He took the room next to mine, an' when I found my key would open his door, I slipped in, hawg-tied an' gagged him, in' told the landlord my neighbour wanted to sleep late.'
Dover laughed. 'Gosh, Jim, you don't miss any bets,' he complimented. 'I'm damn glad you didn't go over to Trenton.'
'Well, that settles Whiskers, but we still gotta remember that the others may be the patient kind.'
The three cowboys had to be told, and they looked at Sudden with added respect. Blister's tribute amused them all.
'Jim,' he said gravely. 'One o' these days you an me won't have a game o' poker.'
'Blister,' was the solemn reply. 'When it comes to cards. yu wouldn't believe how dumb I am.'
'Yo're dead right, I wouldn't,' Blister agreed.
Having no herd to hamper them, a good pace could be maintained. Sudden led the party, and Dan brought up the rear, each man riding a little behind the next so that all of them could not be covered at once. The first score of miles were negotiated without incident, and then they drew near to where the stampede had happened. The sun was climbing the sky, and in the growing heat they did not hasten; it was necessary to spare the horses in case speed should be urgently needed.
East of the plateau, as Sudden remembered, the trail traversed a shallow gully, both walls of which were hedged by thick brush. Immediately on entering this, he slackened pace still more, eyes alert. Half-way through the sun glinted on something in the depths of a bush; it was the barrel of a rifle, and directly opposite was another.
'Shove 'em up,' barked a voice. 'We got you set--both sides.'
Sudden's reins were already twisted round the saddle-hornhis knees told the horse what to do. When, in apparent obedience to the order, his hands rose, a gun was in each, spouting flame and lead. Left and right, the shots crashed, the rifle-barrels disappeared--one exploding harmlessly--and there was a sound of breaking twigs and violent movement in the veil of vegetation. At the same instant, the black sprang onward, a few mighty bounds carrying it clear of the gully. The rest of the party followed, bending low and raking the brush with their revolvers. Scattered, ill-aimed replies came from the ambushers. When he had ridden about a mile, Sudden waited for his companions.
'Anybody hurt?' he wanted to know. 'What's the matter with yu, Noisy?'
'Ain't nothin',' the silent one replied. 'Just a graze.'
'We'll tie it up,' the puncher said. 'I figure them fellas have had a full meal.'
The 'graze' proved to be a nasty flesh-wound in the forearm, and when this had been attended to they went on their way. Blister and Tiny, riding together, discussed the occurrence.
'I never see his han's move, but both guns was out an' workin'. I'll bet he got both them smarties,' the big cowboy remarked.
'Smart nothin'--a pair o' bunglers,' said a quiet voice behind. 'Lemme give yu a tip, Tiny; next time yu go bushwhackin', don't show yore gun; the slant o' the barrel tells the other fella where to aim.'
'Speakin' from experience, Jim?' Tiny came back. 'Shore,' Sudden grinned. 'I was a road-agent afore I came down in the world an' had to take to punchin'.'
In due course they reached the Circle Dot, and once more the bunkhouse had a story to hear. Blister told it, finishing in characteristic fashion:
'An' after the ruckus, the on'y trouble we had was listenin' to Noisy yowlin' like a sick cat over that triflin' scratch he got.'
'Turn anythin' Blister sez the other way round an' yo're liable to git the truth,' the wounded man replied, a statement which evoked a general chorus of 'Yo're tellin' us.'
Chapter XIV
Miss Maitland and Malachi had walked as far as the cemetery. It was, as he had told Miss Trenton, a pretty place, though the oblong mounds of stones--several with staggering, homemade wooden crosses--did not add to its beauty. The customary bitter expression was absent from the man's clever face.
'They all seem to be nameless,' the girl commented.
'Rainbow has no monumental mason yet,' he told her, and pointed to the most recent heap. 'That is the resting-place of Dave Dover, who was kind to every living thing--except an enemy.' A touch of his old sarcastic
