remarked.
'yu gotta excuse me, friends,' he said, 'but yu have one damn fine cook, an' I've bin livin' on straight meat an' water for most a week ; run right outa meal, salt, an' coffee.'
'I guess we can fix yu up,' the foreman said. 'Goin' fur?'
'Makin' for the nearest settlement to trade my pelts for supplies,' the stranger explained. He sighed contentedly as he finished his fifth mug of coffee. 'That's the best feed I've put under my belt for many a day.' He produced a battered pipe and regarded it ruefully. 'I went shy o' smokin' too.'
Several hands shot out, and when he had filled, lighted, and taken a long draw, he smiled whimsically at the company. 'I figure yu boys'll be wondering' over me.'
They were, but not one of them would have admitted it. He nodded understandingly and went on--as he put it--to explain himself. His name, it appeared, was Tyson, and his story a common one enough in those days. Just a tale of a ravaged cabin, a murdered wife and children, and another blood-debt to the shrieking painted devils who had wrecked his llfe. He told it quite simply in his high-pitched voice, without passion, but in his eyes smouldered a hatred which only death would quench.
'Since then I've bin a sort o' missionary,' he concluded grimly. 'yes, sirs, me an' `Betsy' '--he patted the stock of the rifle at his back--'has converted quite a few war-whoops.'
The cowboys smiled at this. They too held the cynical view that the only 'good' Indian was a dead one. Therefore the knowledge that their guest was a 'still-hunter'--one who tracked down and slew the redskin on foot--aroused no feeling of repulsion. The foreman questioned him regarding the country for which they were heading, and the chances of getting the herd through.
'Middlin' slim,' he said bluntly. 'yu'll have a man-size job to make it. Steers is bringin' real money at the rail- head, an' it's knowed that herds is comin' up from Texas. The Nations is lousy with bad men, hide-hunters, rustlers, outlaws of every sort, an' they ain't likely to overlook a bet o' that kind. Then there's the Kiowas an' Commanches from the headwaters o' the Red River ; they're watchin' the trail mighty close.'
'S'pose we turned west for a piece an' then cut our own road north?' Sudden queried.
Tyson grinned. 'She ain't a bad idea--might diddle 'em,' he admitted. 'But yu gotta mind yu don't hit the Staked Plain --no water an' as hot as Hell's gridiron--an' if yore cows git tangled up with a herd o' buff'ler yu can wish 'em good-bye. Allasame, I'd say it's yore best bet.'
Soon after midnight, Sudden, having done his turn of night-herding, returned to camp and sought his blankets. He had not fallen asleep when he heard the low, musical but melancholy hoot of a dwarf-owl. Since there were no trees or bushes in the vicinity, the presence of the bird was sufficiently remarkable to call for investigation. Slipping from beneath his covering he crawled cautiously in the direction from which the sound had seemed to come. At the side of a small hummock he stood up, drew his gun, coughed slightly, and instantly moved.
'That yu, Sandy?'
'No, it's Green.'
A shadow detached itself from the side of the hummock.
' 'Lo, Jim, I was wantin' a word with one o' yu,' Rogue said, and then, abruptly, 'Why for did yu* shoot up my man, . Dale?'
'How in hell was Ito know yu owned the Double O brand?' Sudden retorted.
'I don't,' the outlaw chuckled, 'but yu mighta guessed how it was. Bad luck he had to bump into yu.'
'I'd say he was plumb fortunate,' Sudden retorted. 'Next time he starts to pull a gun on me he won't get off with just a busted arm.'
'It looks like yu mean to double-cross me, Jim,' Rogue said harshly.
'Double-cross nothin',' was the reply. 'I never joined yu, an' I don't owe yu anythin' but a bad name an' a prospect o' swingin' for a crime yu committed.'
The savage intensity of his tone seemed to impress the other and when he spoke again the rasp had gone from his voice:
'That's so. I got yu in bad, but short o' givin' myself up, I did what I could to get yu clear. I liked yu, Jim, an' when yu consented to join the S E I reckoned it meant ...'
'That I was ready to be what yu had made me--an outlaw,' Sudden finished bitterly. 'Well, it mighta been--I was undecided--but when it came to shootin' old men from cover ...'
'I had nothin' to do with that, Jim.'
'yu were around when it happened.'
'I'd gone. I knew afterwards, but it was no part of my plan.'
'Then who did it?'
'I don't know who fired the shot, but Navajo fixed it. I had trouble with him over that--an' other things. He's gettin' uppity.'
The cowboy was silent, considering. Somehow he believed Rogue was telling him the truth. Ruthless ruffian he undoubtedly was, yet he possessed a streak of something--bravado, it might be--which made him scorn a lie as the resort of a coward. He had been frank over the killing of Judson, when he need not have been. The husky voice broke in on his thoughts:
'Must be gettin' tired holdin' that gun, Jim ; there ain't no manner o' need.'
Shame swept over Sudden as he slipped the revolver back into its holster. 'Sorry, Rogue,' he said. 'I warn't noticin'.'
'Shucks,' the outlaw said, and there was a weariness in his tone. 'I don't blame yu for playin' safe, boy. I'm takin' it I can't count on yu an' Sandy?'
'That's correct,' Sudden told him. 'We ain't neither of us bitin' the hand that feeds us.' An impulse stirred him. 'Why don't yu cut away from that gang, Rogue? yo're too good a man...'
The outlaw laughed. 'Sorry for me, Jim?' he gibed. 'Well, yu needn't to be. I went wrong with my eyes open because the world treated me mean an''
'It's done that to me, but I'm goin' to forget it,' Sudden cut in.
He could not see the pitying smile on the older man's face. 'yu never will, boy ; the faculty o' forgettin' what yu don't want to remember is one o' God's greatest gifts an' few has it,' Rogue said bitterly, and then his voice grew harsh again. 'I'm gettin' mushy. Bite on this, boy: I've passed my word to bust Eden's drive an' I'm goin' to do it.'
'An' I'll fight yu till hell freezes,' Sudden smiled, and shoved out a fist. 'No hard feelin's, Rogue, but that don't go for yore followin'. Sabe?'
The bandit gripped the hand heartily. So this strange compact between men who were to war, one against the other, was sealed. The intruder melted into the shadowed plain and Sudden crept back to the camp, his mind full of the man he had just left. For the interview had surprised him. He had gone to it expecting reproaches, threats, even attempted violence, and found none of them. He had given his promise to his employer and would do his best to fulfil it. As to whom this might be, Sudden could make no guess Sam Eden's bluff, outspoken nature and quick temper would earn him enemies enough.
His thoughts veered to the dark, sinister face of Navajo, the man who--according to Rogue--had 'fixed' the attempted murder of the cattleman. Was it a misguided effort to help his leader, or was the fellow playing a hand for him self? The stars, paling in the sky, warned him that the night was passing, and he turned over to snatch an hour's sleep before sunrise.
In the morning, the guest, after packing his spare frame with bacon, beans, and coffee, went on his way, rejoicing that --thanks to the generosity of his hosts--he would again be able to 'feed like a Christian.'
'I figure yu'll be all right till yo're over the Red River,' he added. 'Then make yore pass west. Adios.'
Gun on shoulder and pack on back, he swung off southwards along the trail, moving swiftly but unhurriedly. Several of the men stood watching the gradually diminishing form.
'A queer little cuss,' Jeff commented. 'One time them devils will catch him an' then--he'll want death a hell of a while before it comes.'
'Well, he's sent some to wait for him,' Jed remarked. 'Did yu notice the nicks on the stock o' that gun? I didn't count 'em, but I'll bet there was mighty near two score.'
During the morning, Sudden made an opportunity to tell Sandy of his meeting with Rogue.
'I'm relieved he took it that way,' the boy said. 'An odd mixture, Rogue. At times, a fiend from the Pit itself, an' yet, he can be real folks. Navajo now, he's bad all through, an' he hates Rogue. I'm glad to be clear o' that
