Bowdyr shook his head. 'He's a cunnin' devil; knowed you'd turn his offer down, but it puts the blame for any trouble on you, an' there's those in town will see it thataway.'
'I ain't carin',' Dan replied. 'What you think of him, Jim?'
'He's dangerous,' Sudden said. 'An' I wouldn't gamble too high on his not totin' a gun.'
'I hope he does,' was the sinister answer. 'Time to be movin', Bill.' This to the foreman, who promptly collected his men.
The ride home was very different to the usual hilarious return from town. Death was no stranger to any of them, but to-day farewell had been said to one they liked and respected, who, but yesterday, had been their leader. Stern-faced, the three cowboys paced behind the buckboard, speaking only rarely and then in lowered tones.
'Young Dan shorely made hisself clear to that dude,' remarked Bob Lister, who was commonly addressed and referred to as 'Blister.'
'He did so, an' I'll bet he warn't wide o' the mark neither,' Tiny--the heftiest of the outfit--replied. 'What you think, Noisy?'
'Yeah,' the third man said.
Tiny turned to the first speaker. 'Allus the same. Ask that fella a simple question an' out comes a torrent o' talk like a river in flood-time. Honest, Noisy, if you don't hobble that tongue o' yores you'll git a bad name.'
'He has that a'ready,' Blister pointed out, and inconsequently, 'There's goin' to be bustlin' times in this neck o' the woods. I'm likin' the look o' that new hombre--if he's on our side.'
'Bill spoke well of him an' he's a good judge--he engaged me,' Tiny said modestly.
'yeah, I heard him apologizin' to the 01' Man,' Blister grinned, and Tiny--having no retort ready--the conversation languished.
The Circle Dot reached, horses unsaddled and turned into the corral, the rancher and Sudden were making for the house when a man emerged from a little shack near the wood-pile and came towards them. He was old, as his dead-white, untrimmed hair and beard bore witness, but in his prime he must have been both tall and powerful. Even yet, the broad but bowed shoulders suggested strength above the average. In one hand he was swinging a heavy axe, the blade of which shone like silver in the rays of the sinking sun. As he drew near, Sudden noted that his eyes were dull, expressionless.
''Lo, Hunch,' the young man greeted.
The man stared at him for a moment, and then, with apparent effort, stammered, 'What's--come--o'-- Dave?'
In a few sentences, and speaking very slowly, Dover told the tale. The other listened with seeming indifference, swung round without a word, and lurched away to the wood-pile. They saw the axe flash into the air and heard the thud of the blade as the keen edge bit deep into a baulk of timber; the blow was followed by others, each driven home with savage intensity; it almost seemed as though he were wreaking a vengeance on the tree- trunk.
'Another o' pore Dad's pensioners,' Dan explained. 'Drifted in 'bout two years back, sick an' starvin'. He lives in the hut, an' keeps us in fuel. 0' course, he's kinda lackin'lost his memory. For months we figured he was dumb, couldn't get a word from him; even now, it takes somethin' extra, but he 'pears to savvy what folks say.'
'There don't seem to be much wrong with his muscles.'
'He's as strong as a bullock--packs or hauls in loads you'd take a team for. He can't remember any name, but the boys called him `Hunch' on account of his stoop. Just worships that axe. I figure that he's been a lumberjack; every now and again, hell be missin' for a spell, wanderin' in the woods.'
'Ever have any trouble with him?'
'On'y once. We had a new hand--fella named `Rattray,' an' the first half o' that described him. He was the kind what would tease a kid, an' he regarded a daft old man as the answer to a bully's prayer. It didn't come out just that way. Rattray got the axe an' started breakin' stones to blunt the edge. Hunch threw him clear across the bunkhouse, snappin' a leg, an arm, an' some ribs. Doc Malachi put him together again, an' when he was able to ride, Dad told him to. Rattray rode, but on'y as far as the Wagon-wheel, so there's another who had reason to ...'
Sudden switched the subject. 'Odd number, that pill-merchant,' he remarked. 'What's he doin' here?'
'Committin' slow suicide,' Dan replied. 'It's a pity for he's a clever chap an' knows his job. Don't you pick holes in him; I've a notion he's a friend, an' we ain't overburdened with 'em.'
'Well, there's one good thing about an enemy--yu know what to expect; friends ain't allus so dependable,' was the puncher's cynical comment.
At the door of the ranch-house, Yorky was lounging. He scowled at the rancher.
'So now he's gone, yer t'rowin' me out,' he said resentfully.
'Where did you get that idea?' Dan asked curiously.
'Flint said yer wouldn't be tannin' a home for hoboes no more.''
'I don't consult Flint about my actions; you can stay as long as you want,' Dan replied shortly, and went in. Sudden hung back. 'Why don't yu fork a hoss an' get out in the open, 'stead o' stayin' cooped up in the house, smokin' them everlastin' coffin-nails?' he asked quietly.
The boy's rebellious expression softened. 'The 01' Man ureter talk that way, but it ain't no good,' he muttered. 'I told yer, I'm a weed an'--I can't ride, Mister.'
'Weeds can grow big an' strong,' Sudden smiled. 'I'll teach yu to stay in a saddle. Think it over, an'--I'm Jim--to my friends.'
He went, and Yorky slumped down on the long bench by the door. 'Hell! I b'lieve he meant it, but what's th' good?'
He reached out a screw of tobacco and papers, only to thrust them back again. 'Awright--Jim--it's a bet.'
So, on the following morning, when Sudden came to get his horse, he was accompanied by an unhappy- looking youth who stood and gazed doubtfully at the pony Burke had selected for him.
'Too old an' lazy to buck,' the foreman said. 'Been here damn near as long as I have. His name's `Shut-eye.' Story is that one o' the boys--years ago--after a long an' tirin' day, dozed off in the saddle, figurin' his hoss would fetch him home. When he woke, hours later, they were in the same place an' the hoss was asleep too.'
The average cow-horse, sensing that saddling is the prelude to hard work, resents the operation, but Shut- eye gave Tiny and Flint no trouble at all. But Sudden was not taking chances; even a mild fit of bucking might result in a fall which would send his pupil back to the ranch-house cured of any desire to ride. He meant to try the animal first.
'Shorely seems unenterprisin' but mebbe he's savin' hisself. If that's so, he's due for a surprise.'
It was Sudden who got the surprise, for no sooner was he in the saddle than the pony, with a squeal of rage and pain, dropped its head and leapt into the air, coming down with feet bunched and legs like steel rods. So unprepared was the puncher for this display of temper that he lost his seat and only saved himself from being ignominiously 'piled' by a swift grab at the saddle-horn, an act which brought a guffaw and satirical gibe from behind
'Pullin' leather. Yorky'll have a good teacher.'
Sudden did not look round--he was busy fighting the maddened beast beneath him--but he noted the voice. Back in the saddle, he gripped with his knees, dragged on the reins, and by sheer strength brought the pony's head up. Instantly the animal reared and would have fallen on him had not the rider flung himself forward and driven home the spurs. A few more ineffectual efforts, which were deftly foiled, and Shuteye appeared to realize it had met its master; trembling in every limb, the beast stood still.
Sudden got down, dropped the reins to the ground, and stroked the quivering nostrils. Then he loosened the cinches, raised the saddle, and swore as he saw the source of the trouble: a small section of cactus--the dreaded choya--had been so placed that any weight would drive the cruel, barbed, glistening spikes into the flesh. Well he knew the blinding agony they could cause, and it was not astonishing that the victim should forget its many years of training and relapse into savagery under the torment. With the point of his knife he wrenched the cactus free, and holding it on the palm of his hand, turned to the onlookers. Amid dead silence, he stepped to Flint, upon whose coarse features a half-sneer lingered.
'Why did yu put this under the saddle?' he asked sternly.
For a moment the man hesitated, and then, with an air of bravado, replied, 'Just a joke; wanted to see if
