'Well, if yu ain't the lucky one!' the young man ejaculated. 'Here's me been ridin' round for weeks an' never had no chance to deliver a distressed damsel. Bet she's hatchet-faced, squint-eyed, an' bellers like a sick cow.'
'yu musta seen the lady,' Sudden smiled.
'I ain't--never knowed there was any female women in this neck o' the woods,' was the reply. 'Who is she?' For Sudden had not told all the story.
'Sam Eden's daughter.'
'She was stringin' yu--he ain't got any.'
'Adopted daughter, I oughta said--orphaned kid of an old friend,' Sudden explained, adding inconsequently, 'Eden offered me a job.'
'coin to take it?'
'We are,' replied the other, and went on to tell of the outlaw leader's designs, and the part they were to play. Sandy listened with wooden features.
'Sounds good,' he commented. 'I'd shore like to be in on that drive ; but Rogue's wrong in one thing--I ain't such a stranger around here.' He thought awhile and then slapped his knee. 'Got it!' he exclaimed.
'What, a mosquito?' Sudden asked.
'No, an idea--don't yu never have none?'
'yeah. Why, both my knees are sore right now.'
The youth ignored the gentle raillery. 'Where's that stuff yu used on yore hoss?' he inquired.
'On the shelf inside,' Sudden replied. 'Goin' to black yore lace an' play nigger?'
Sandy's retort was neither polite nor printable.
Sunrise found a grumbling cook giving them an early breakfast ; but his curiosity regarding Sandy's black hair, eyebrows, and moustache remained unsatisfied.
'Ask Rogue about it,' the boy told him with a grin, knowing perfectly weil that he would do no such thing.
For the first few miles the pair rode in silence. Sudden was trying to convince himself that the affairs of the S E owner were no concern of his, and not succeeding very Well. His companion was also deep in thought, riding head down.
The morning air had an invigorating keenness which would presently change to a blistering heat. Around them, Nature was awaking ; birds whistled, rabbits scuttled across their path, and once they saw the long grey form of a big wolf slink into the brush at their approach. It was Sandy who made the first remark:
'Odd I ain't heard o' this gal at the S E.'
'She's recently arrived from the East--educated there, I gathered,' Sudden explained.
Sandy snorted. 'I get yu,' he said. 'One o' them high-toned dames, with a forehead bulging out like a cliff, who thinks o pore ignorant cowboys is doormats to wipe their number eights n.' Sudden chuckled silently. 'Now I know yu've met her,' he said.
'Yo're wrong, but I savvy the breed,' the boy went on. 'Thin-lipped, an' that sot in their ideas they'd argue with a charge o' giant-powder.'
'She looked liable to get her own way most times,' Sudden admitted. 'She had the of man roped.'
'There yu are,' Sandy cried triumphantly. 'An' let me tell yu, a mule is an easy-goin' critter alongside Sam Eden. Why, it's told of him that once, when he was gettin' the worst of an argument, he finished it by sayin', `Well, I wouldn't believeit if I knowed it was true.' What can yu do with a fella like that, huh?'
Sudden laughed, partly at the story, but more at the reflection that his friend was due to receive a severe shock when he met the girl he had condemned unseen. Sandy's next remark changed the subject.
'I wouldn't be so terrible distressed if Rogue fell down on this drive-bustin',' he mused. 'I don't owe him nothin' an' I shore would like to see them northern cowtowns.'
Sudden did not reply at once ; he was wondering if the words had any hidden significance.
'I've a hankerin' thataway my own self,' lie confessed.
They reached the S E ranch-house to find it apparently deserted ; the morning meal was over and the men had gone to their work. A hail brought Eden himself to the porch. At the sight of Sudden he called a hearty greeting :
'Hello, young fella, I'm main pleased to see yu. Hope yu aim to stay this time.'
'Shore do, Mister Eden, if yu'll have me,' Sudden replied. He pointed to his companion. 'This is Dick Sands-- he's huntin' a job too.'
The rancher studied the second of the visitors closely for a moment. 'Any friend o' yores is welcome, Green, an' I can certainly use another man,' he said, but the warmth had gone out of his voice.
Before another word could be said, Carol emerged from the house, her face lighting up when she recognized the rider who had come to her rescue. Sudden stole a look at his chum and had hard work to restrain his merriment. Sandy had snatched his hat off and was staring goggle-eyed at the girl who had, so far, hardly looked at him. Sudden mentioned his name again and Carol gave the young man a smile of welcome which completed his discomfiture.
'Well, boys, what's the word?' Eden asked.
'We'll go yu,' Sandy blurted out eagerly.
'Good,' the rancher replied. 'Leave yore war-bags in the bunkhouse. There's plenty hosses in the corral--that mount o' yores, Green, is too good for hazin' longhorns out'n the brush.' He pointed to a cloud of dust some miles away on the plain. 'The herd is there.'
He climbed briskly into his saddle, the girl followed, and they galloped away, Sandy watched till they vanished over a swell in the ground, and then turned to lind his companion doubled up over his saddle-horn. He looked at him suspiciously.
'Got a misery in yore stumick?' he asked.
'yeah, these hatchet-faced, squint-eyed dames alms give me a pain,' Sudden chortled, ashake with mirth.
Sandy swore. 'Damn funny, ain't it? Look here, yu misfit, ireathe a word o' that to her an' I'll trample the gut's out'n u.
'
'Get her to do it with them number eights,' Sudden advised, and then his hand went up. 'Awright, I'll be good. Come an' grab them hosses ; I'll bet there's some work a-waitin'.'
They soon reached the spot the rancher had indicated. Already about a thousand head had been assembled, and, kept bunched by a couple of riders, were grazing contentedly on the short grama grass which covered the plain. The herd was a mixed one ; evidently everything in the shape of a cow was being rounded up, and the bellowing of the bulls mingled with the bleating of the calves as they staggered weakly after their mothers. At the moment Sudden and his partner approached, an addition of thirty animals arrived, convoyed by two riders who presented a striking contrast, one of them being tall and abnormally thin while the other was short and fat. As Sudden learned later, the pair were great friends, and quarrelled perpetually.
'Well, boys, yu shore have been busy,' Eden greeted them. 'Ain't all our'n,' the tall man explained. 'Met Pebbles an' the Infant, an' took over their gather.'
'Here's a couple o' fresh helpers, Jed. yu better take Green, an' Dumpy can put Sandy wise.'
As the four men rode away, Jed cast a quizzical glance at his late partner and remarked audibly, 'Now I got me a real side-kick 'stead o' that dollop o' drippin' we'll git some cows.'
The fat man rose to the bait instantly. 'G'wan, yu graveyard relic,' he retorted. 'yu watch out, stranger ; he'll let yu do all the work ; that fella wouldn't breathe if he could git anybody to do it for him.'
Jed replied with an impolite gesture, and wheeling his horse to the left, motioned Sudden to follow.
'We've pretty well cleaned up around * here--have to go further afield,' he said.
A short ride brought them to where the plain slid off into a spread or country which looked as though it had been the scene of an earthquake. Out of this the long-horns, wild, fierce-eyed, had to be driven, and the task proved to be a trying one to both man and horse. Crashing into the underbrush the riders unearthed a couple of steers and drove them into the open. Then, in turn, each guarded the 'catch' while the other searched for additions. Both jobs demanded alertness and patience, for the cattle made repeated efforts to break away. The approach of evening found them with a collection of near two score.
