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Chapter VIII
THE Colorado River had been reached without any untoward incident, and the S E drive was camped on the south bank waiting for daylight to make the crossing. So far, everything had gone well, and, with perfect weather, the herd had made good time. Supper was over, and 'the foreman, Sudden, and several others were smoking beside the fire, for, though the days were hot, the evenings were chill. There was a thicket to the right of the camp--the first timber they had seen for days--and the cook was busy chopping wood and loading it into the rawhide slung beneath the wagon, for his store of buffalo 'chips'--the only fuel to be found on the plains--was getting low.
'Well, trail-drivin' suits me. Why, it won't be no trick a-tall to push the bunch into Kansas.'
This from the gangling youth known as 'Infant.' The foreman surveyed him sardonically.
'Bein' a kid I s'pose yu gotta talk like one,' he said. 'If yu think it's all goin' to be like this yu got another guess comin'. An' that kind o' yap is shore unlucky. 01' Man Trouble allus camps on the tail of a trail-herd, an' we'll hear from him soon enough without askin' for it.'
'That's so,' agreed another, who, being reputed to be the biggest liar in Texas, was called 'Truthful.'
'I remember once--'
'Forget it twice,' Jeff snapped. 'What's come o' Sands? He ain't with the herd.'
No one seemed to know. He had eaten with the rest of them and then slipped away. Sudden had seen him go and smothered an impulse to follow because he had a feeling that the boy had avoided him of late. He glanced round the camp, but there was no sign of the missing man. Against the dark background of the trees the little tent used by the women gleamed whitely. A few yards away from it, Sam Eden leaned on the wagon-tongue and chatted with the cook. Then, out of a thick tangle of bushes some forty paces from the wagon came a spurt of flame, followed by the vicious crack of a gun, and the sturdy figure of the rancher staggered and fell.
'Hell's bells!' Jeff cried, and ran to the stricken man.
The others followed, ail save Sudden, who raced tor the spot whence the shot had come. Noiselessly he searched, peering into the gloomy depths of the brush, listening for the snap of a breaking twig which would tell of a stealthy retreat, but he saw and heard nothing. Then came a careless footstep, a slouching figure swung into view and halted at Sudden's curt command.
''Lo, Jim. What's the bright idea, stickin' up yore friends?' asked a familiar voice.
It was Sandy, and despite himself, a note of suspicion crept into Sudden's question, 'What are yu doin' here?'
'Goin' back to camp ; what yu reckon?'
'Where yu been?'
'Pickin' flowers,' came the ironic reply.
'Quit foolin',' Sudden said sternly. 'Sam Eden was shot from 'bout here less'n a quarter of an hour back.'
'Sam--Eden--shot?' Sandy repeated. 'God! An' yo're guessin' I did it?'
'I ain't doin' any guessin',' Sudden told him. 'I came to catch the skunk an' bump into yu. Come clean:'
'Is he hurt bad?'
'I didn't wait to see ; Jeff an' some o' the boys is there. yu ain't answered my question.'
'I had nothin' to do with it, Jim,' the boy said hoarsely, 'but it's likely I saw the fella. Mebbe ten minutes or so ago, a mere shadow, slippin' through the bush. I didn't give it much attention--reckoned it was Lasker, goin' after his hosses--but it may not have been him a-tall. Hell! it'll break his gal's heart.' Sudden's silence told him there was more to say. 'yu hear an owl hootin' while we fed?' he asked.
'yeah, an' judged he was a pretty early bird,' Sudden said.
The other nodded. 'Overlookin' details like that'll land Rogue's neck in a noose some day,' he remarked. 'yeah, I ,;aw him.'
Sudden's eyes narrowed. 'When did he leave yu?'
'Pretty near half an hour back--I didn't hurry.'
'Then he mighta done the shootin'?'
'Could have--he had time, but it don't fit with his plans.'
'We better get back--it won't look too good for us to be absent, an' together,' Sudden suggested. 'We'll have a powwow later.'
They had almost reached the camp when Lasker pounded en up wail a strung of night-horses. He stopped on seeing then 'Heard about the 01' Man bein' bushwhacked, Lasker?' Sudden asked.
The man's surprise seemed genuine. 'Hell, no ; who done it?'
'Yore guess is as good as mine,' was the reply.
'With him cashed the drive ends, I s'pose,' the wrangler offered.
'Who told yu he's dead?' Sudden asked quietly, and then, 'Well, mebbe he is ; we'll soon know.'
The camp was very still. The other men had sought their blankets but the foreman sat near the fire, rifle beside him, and his face a mask of worry. He looked up as the two friends approached ; the horse-wrangler was seeing to his charges.
'This is a turr'ble business, Jim,' he said, and sensing the question uppermost in their minds, 'No, Eden ain't cashed--yet. We got him bedded down in the wagon, an' I've tended the wound--it ain't the first time I've played doctor by a-many. The slug went clean through an' 'pears to have missed the vital parts. Plenty desperate, but it might be wuss ; he's got a fightin' chance.'
'Then he'll make it,' Sudden said confidently. 'He's the fightin' sort.'
'Beats me who the murderin' houn' could be?' Jeff pondered.
'I went to see if I could catch him but didn't have no luck.' Sudden explained. 'Sandy saw someone hot- footin' through the brush an' figured it was Lasker.'
'Lasker, huh?' the foreman muttered. 'Well, he's a new hand, but there ain't no reason. yu boys better turn in--l'll be needin' yu presently ; gotta have four men watchin' the herd to-night.'
It was two hours later when Jeff's low voice awakened them --in those dangerous days it was unwise to arouse a sleeper by touching him. They approached the slumbering herd slowly, exchanged a few words with the men they had come to relieve, and separated.
Sudden was riding Nigger, for the night-horse has to be the surest-footed, clearest-sighted, most intelligent of the cowboy's string of mounts. Knowing that the black would give instant warning of anything wrong, the rider allowed himself to think. The cold-blooded attempt to remove Lden had brought him definitely to the parting of the ways. He had little doubt but that the outlaw chief had been concerned in it, and the thought of working with men capable of such a deed sickened him. The world had given him the name, but not the stomach, of a desperado.
Another point which worried him was the attitude of Sandy. 'The girl has him spell-bound, an' yet he's runnin' with Rogue,' he mused.
The two things did not seem to jibe and he resolved to clear the situation at the earliest opportunity. This came when, relieved in their turn, they were riding slowly back to camp.
'I'm puttin' a plain question,' Sudden said. 'Are yu workin' for Rogue, or ain't yu?'
'I'm given' yu a plain answer,' Sandy replied. 'To hell with Rogue, an' yu can tell him I said so. yu may be in his debt but I ain't. Sabe?'
Sudden's laugh was bitter. 'I'll tell yu what I owe him,' he said slowly.
Pacing side by side in the 'starlight, he could not see the listener's face, but the muttered exclamations the story evoked showed his interest. When it was ended, Sandy drew a deep breath.
'My Gawd, yu have shorely had a tough break, Jim,' he said. 'I reckon all that's due Rogue from yu is a slug o' lead.'
'Well, he got me in a jam unmeanin' an' he certainly took a risk to get me out again--which some wouldn't,' Sudden replied. 'Anyways, it's past mendin' ; even if I could prove I didn't kill Judson, the San Antonio affair an' this other, would hang me. yo're ridin' with a shore-enough outlaw, Sandy.'
'An' damn glad to be,' the boy said impulsively, thrusting out a fist. 'I'm with yu to the finish, Jim, whatever it may be.' Sudden gripped the hand ; it did him good to feel that he had a friend who, knowing all, trusted him.
