outlaw.'
'D'yu think I need remindin' o' that?' the boy asked, so bitterly that Sudden's heart smote him.
'After all, what's the odds?' he consoled. 'I'll bet her dad blotted a few brands in the early days--most o' the old settlerswas afflicted with defective eyesight when they happened onon a cow what looked lonely.'
This did not have the effect he intended ; Sandy flared up instantly. 'Don't yu dare say it,' he cried. 'Sam Eden never stole a cent's worth in his life.'
Sudden saw that he was really angry, his face flushed, and fists clenched. 'Shucks,' he said placatingly. 'I ain't sayin' he did ; they usen't to call it stealin'. Besides'--he smiled disarmingly--'she ain't really his daughter, yu know.'
The boy's belligerent attitude vanished. 'Sorry, Jim. I'm a plain fool to lose my wool like this,' he apologized. 'yu wanted to ask me somethin'?'
'yeah, what did Rogue tell yu of his plans?'
'Nothin' definite, but I gathered that he aimed to hold up the herd, get what coin he could outa Eden, bust up the drive later on, an' collar the cows. It's a-plenty.'
'Shore is,' Sudden said soberly, and then his eyes twinkled. 'I'm takin' it yu still don't propose to help him in them projects?'
'yo're damn right,' the boy returned hotly, 'an' the sooner he knows it the better.'
'That's somethin' we'll let him find out,' Sudden decided. 'Our hand'll be hard enough to play without showin' it.'
Cheerfulness was in evidence at supper that evening ; the easy going and the improving health of the wounded man had put everyone in a good humour. The men chaffed one another, told tall stories, and kept Peg-leg busy.
Early on the following morning the camp had visitors, six mounted men, well-armed, and range-riders by their rig. One, who appeared to be the leader, signed to the others to halt, and rode forward. Peg-leg was busy loading his vehicle for the day's march. Carol, who had just mounted her pony to join the herd, halted at a word from Sudden, the only other man in camp.
'Tell Jeff to fetch in some o' the boys,' he told her. 'I ain't likin' the look o' these hombres.'
The girl nodded and rode away. Sudden waited, his fingers concerned with a cigarette, but his eyes taking in the new-comer. A dark, evil-faced fellow this, with lank black hair and a straggly, ill-kept beard which only accentuated a cruel mouth. His narrowed eyes were arrogant, provocative.
'Mornin',' Sudden said laconically.
at his gun. He got it clear of the holster, but before he could press the trigger there came a flash and a roar from Sudden's side. Dale dropped his weapon and clutched a ripped forearm.
Thrusting his smoking gun into its sheath Sudden stepped forward, and before the ice-cold fury in his face the other man fell back. For the lust to take his life was there and Dale knew that only by a miracle had he escaped the fate for which he had asked. Sudden knew this too. For a few terrible seconds he had been possessed by that cruel craving to slay for the sake of slaying ; he had wanted to shoot this man ; to see him writhing in the agonies of death at his feet. Then the evil moment passed and though his face was granite-hard, the old satirical note was in his voice.
'yu ain't hurt much an' yu got another gun. If yo're wishful to try the left hand ...'
The Double O man looked at him, stark hatred in every line of his face. He was nearly mad with pain and humiliation, and for an instant, it seemed he might take up this second challenge. The cowboy had an idea.
'I'm advisin' yu not to,' he said quietly. 'Further south, they call me `Sudden.' '
The fellow's eyes widened and something very like fear took the place of the ferocity in them. He picked up his pistol, and grabbing the horn of his saddle with his left hand, hauled himself up.
'We'll be meetin' again an' mebbe I'll be lucky,' he growled. 'yu've been lucky this time,' Sudden replied. 'Keep on thinkin' that. Now, roll yore tail, an' take that bunch o' trail-robbers with yu.'
Watching them ride away, he became aware of Jeff at his elbow asking what it was all about. The foreman's face when he heard the particulars was a picture of puzzlement.
'Mebbe we have got some o' their cows,' he suggested. 'Shucks, then we can turn over what they fetch,' Sudden argued. 'Any o' yu boys seen the Double O brand?'
Not one of them had. 'Me neither, an' I've been lookin' pretty constant for strays,' Sudden went on. 'I'd risk a little that there ain't such an iron hereabouts--his hoss warn't wearin' it. No, sir, it was a plain hold-up.'
'If they'd combed the herd an' hadn't found any ...' the foreman speculated. 'Why should they want to hang up our drive?''I ain't a wizard, Jeff,' Sudden told him.
'I'm not so shore, seein' the way yu got that gun goin',' was the smiling reply.
The shrill voice of Aunt Judy came from the wagon. 'Hi, Jeff, yo're wanted.'
They found the invalid anxious and irritable. 'What's the shootin'?' he barked.
Sudden explained, and Sam Eden's frown deepened. 'yu done right, Jim,' he commended. He was silent for a while, thinking deeply. 'I was warned o' this,' he went on. 'There'll be other damn thieves further along the trail, waitin' to try the same game. We've got precious little coin, an' I won't hand over a cow, so that means fightin' our way through.'
His fierce eyes carried a question and the little foreman answered it without hesitation :
'We're all willin' to do that, Sam, but there ain't too many of us to handle the herd as it is. What yu think, Jim?'
'Well, these hold-up gents will be watchin' the used trail,' the cowboy pointed out. 'S'pose we was to bear away to the west for a spell an' then strike north again, nosin' out a road for ourselves ; wouldn't that razzle-dazzle 'em?'
'By the Devil's teeth, he's hit it, Jeff,' the cattleman swore. 'It'll mean a longer an' harder drive, but that'll be better than losin' men scrappin', an' it's possible Chisholm didn't pick the best path after all. Now, go an' get them steers started. Jim, I'm obliged to yu.'
Notwithstanding his employer's approval, Sudden did not feel too comfortable. The step he had suggested was dangerous and might well plunge the expedition into all kinds of difficulty. On the other hand, there was the chance that it would dislocate Rogue's designs on the drive, and this had been his main reason. That Dale was one of the outlaw's men he felt sure, and he was relieved by the thought that he had now declared himself.
Chapter X
THE new plan was not to be put into operation immediately, and dusk found them camped again on the trail they had been following. Straight across the dreary, brown expanse it ran. a road some hundreds of yards in width, carved out of the plain by the sharp hooves of hordes of cattle. Throughout the day no tree broke the monotony of the sky-line.
They had another visitor that evening. The herd had been bedded down, four men left in charge, and the others were grouped around the fire awaiting Peg-leg's intimation that supper was ready, when a figure materialized out of the gloom and came towards them, right hand raised, palm foremost.
'Evenin', folks,' greeted a high, reedy voice. 'Saw yer fire an' it made me feel kind o' lonesome.'
'Step right up, friend,' the foreman called out.
The man came on, moving with the easy, tireless stride of a redskin. The firelight showed him to be an oldish fellow, thin but wiry, with long grey hair and beard and bright eyes which seemed never to be still. His tattered doeskin garments, raccoon-skin cap, and moccasins proclaimed that he was a trapper.
'Sit an' eat,' the foreman invited.
'Thankee,' the stranger replied. 'But I pay my footin'.'
He lifted the long gun from his shoulder and proffered the carcass of a small deer slung upon it. Jeff protested, but the visitor would not listen.
'Sho, I'm tired o' totin' it,' he said. 'Mebbe a change for yu fellas, but a hunk o' good beef to me is wuth all the game that ever ran or flew.'
'I'm obliged,' the cowman said. 'We've got a invalid who won't subscribe to them sentiments.'
'Sick folk is finicky,' the other agreed.
He dumped his pack--the crackling of which suggested dried skins--on the ground, placed his gun upon it, and sat down. When the food arrived, he ate so wolfishly that even in a land of large appetites he knew it must be
