put in an appearance. A search-party was sent out but owing to the redskins' use of dividing their forces, was led astray and lost the trail completely on a wide strip of stony ground. Its return with-Jut Carol reduced the invalid to a state of blasphemous despair ; he cursed everything and everybody, including himself for exposing her to such a peril. Aunt Judy, who had spent all her life among rough-tongued men, fled before the torrent of vituperation, and her husband, nursing a sore head, listened with awe. As he afterwards confessed to the outfit:
'For comprehensive cussin' I never heard the beat of it ; the 0I' Man shorely covered the ground. I reckon he musta bin a mule-skinner one time.'
But bad language, however 'good' it may be, gets one nowhere and morning broke upon a helpless, and wellnigh hopeless community. The cattleman, propped up by the fire, looked at his foreman in sullen misery.
'Never oughta let her come,' he burst out presently. 'Jeff, yu gotta find that damn trail. Take all the boys
'The herd' the foreman began, and stopped when the lightning commenced to flicker in his employer's eyes. 'Hey, Jeff, there's a coupla riders a-comin',' Pebbles yelled. The foreman ran to the speaker's side. Two horsemen were entering the valley at the far end. Jeff studied them for a moment and shook his head in disappointment.
'That ain't Jim's black,' he said.
'They might 'a' swapped hosses,' Pebbles said hopefully. 'It ain't neither of 'em,' Jeff replied, and, as the visitors drew nearer, added, 'Why, if it ain't Mister Baudry.' The gambler it was, and with him was a middle-aged, bent-shouldered fellow, with a long horse-face and deep-set sly eyes. With a word of greeting to the cowboys, the pair rode to where Eden was sitting, and dismounted.
Baudry shook hands with Eden and presented his companion : 'Meet Davy Dutt ; he's in a deal with me.'
The cattleman received the stranger without undue enthusiasm--Mister Dutt's exterior was not impressive. Then, in reply to an inquiry for Carol, he told the story of their predicament, and was surprised at the effect it produced ; the gambler's full, faintly-tanned face took on a yellowish tinge and his voice betrayed real concern.
'My God!' he cried. 'Miss Carol in the hands of savages? That's terrible, Sam. What are you doing about it?'
Eden told him and Baudry swore in perplexity. 'you can't do a thing till you locate those damned heathens. Got any ideas, Davy?'
'Nope,' the stranger confessed. 'yu seen the kind o' country we come through ; yu could hide Noo york in it.'
The gambler explained that they had been travelling northwest from Fort Worth, and finding a cattle-trail some way back, had followed it on the chance of it proving to be the S E.
The day passed monotonously enough for the little group left in the camp, and when, as the sun sank in the west, the searchers again reported failure to discover the trail of the red raiders, a blanket of gloom descended upon the whole company. For the cattleman, weakened by illness, the blow was a crushing one, and, strange to say, Baudry was little less affected. Of them all, Judy was obstinately optimistic.
'That Green fella's got savvy,' she announced. 'He'll fetch her back.'
The prophecy proved nearly correct, for as the dusk was deepening into dark, Sandy and his charge rode wearily into camp and were instantly surrounded by whooping cowboys. The rancher's eyes bulged when he found the girl he feared was lost for ever, kneeling beside him. One arm hugging her close, the other hand went to Sandy.
'By heavens, boy, yu've put me deeper in yore debt than I can say,' he cried.
Sandy fidgeted. 'I ain't done nothin',' he said. 'yu gotta thank Jim.'
Naturally Carol was the centre of attraction ; everyone was avid to hear what had happened to her. The story of Sudden's slaying of Red Fox brought ejaculations of 'Bravo Jim' and 'Good old Texas' from the cowboys, but when she related how they had been rescued from the redskins by some of Rogue's riders, it was Baudry who spoke:
'What's brought that road-agent to these parts?' he asked. 'Think he's been trailing you, Sam?'
'It would be a safe bet he stampeded our cows,' the tore-man volunteered.
'But if he's after my herd why did he let yu an' Sandy go?' Eden asked the girl. 'He must 'a' knowed he had me cinched.'
'I was to tell you that he could win without women,' she replied.
'Huh! there's two words to that,' her father said grimly. With the girl safe by his side he was becoming his own dour self again. He looked at Sandy. 'Can yu explain it?'
'No, but I'm guessin' Jim fixed somethin', an' that's why he stayed an' I've to go back.'
'Like hell yu have,' the cattleman exploded.
'I've promised.'
'A promise to a prowlin' thief don't hold.'
Sandy looked at the girl; in the firelight her cheeks appeared - pale ; her lips were silent, but her eyes spoke.
'Rogue's word to me was that if I didn't show up' it would go hard with Jim,' Sandy added.
'Did he call him by his name?' Baudry put in.
'No, he said 'yore friend,' ' was the quick reply. 'An' because he's that, I'm goin' back--alone.'
The rancher was about to make another angry protest, but Carol anticipated him: 'Daddy, he has to go,' she said, and the young man's heart leapt at the regret in her voice. 'Yu would do the same yourself.'
The old man snorted, but his hard face softened as he looked at Sandy. 'She's right, boy, o' course,' he admitted. 'Yu have it to do, but yu can tell Rogue that if he harms either yu or Jim I'll hound him down an' hang him, if it takes the rest o' my days.'
Sandy grinned. 'I'll pass on the message, but he don't strike me as a man to scare easy.'
An hour later, having fed, Sandy transferred his saddle to a fresh horse and started for the outlaws' camp. He had seen Carol for one moment before he left, had grasped a slim brown hand, had heard a whispered, 'Good luck, Sandy.' The kindness in her eyes went with him as he rode into the gloom.
Eden and the gambler were alone at the fire. The women had retired to their tent and Dutt had expressed a desire to view the sleeping herd. Baudry, biting on a black cigar, was the first to speak.
'Damned if I can fathom Rogue's game, Sam,' he said reflectively. 'He has you cold and throws the hand in. Why?''
'Yu can search me,' the rancher replied. 'Carol figures he has a soft spot, but gals get romantic notions 'bout fellas like him. He's reckoned the most ruthless ruffian in Texas, an' that's sayin' a lot.'
'Those two men joined you for the drive, dropping in from nowhere,' Jethro proceeded. 'And one of them-- Greenanswers pretty well to the printed description of Sudden.'
'Whose last job was pulled off while Green was at the S E.'
'True, but it would be a safe play for one of Rogue's men to put the blame on a fellow he knew could prove an alibi.'
'yu suggestin' that Green an' Sandy are in cahoots with Rogue?' Eden asked, and there was a rasp in his voice.
'I'm saying it's possible, that's all,' was the reply. 'your daughter said some of the outlaws knew them.'
'Then why did them two boys fetch back near a thousand head after the stampede?'
Baudry chuckled. 'you have to admit they knew where to find them,' he pointed out. 'See here, Sam. Mightn't it be that Rogue realized that the stampede was a mistake, that it would pay him better to let you drive the cattle north for him to steal within reach of a market where they'd fetch four or five times as much. Why, that may be the reason he ain't forcing your hand now.'
The rancher's brows drew together. Put like this the plan seemed all too probable, and the idea that he was being played with was far from pleasant. Little devils of doubt began to trouble him, but his obstinate disposition drove him to argue. 'Tryin' to bump me off don't seem to fit in.'
'Why not, if his first scheme was to grab the herd as soon as he could? I'm supposing it was later he got the notion of aiming for the bigger prize, an' I'd wager something it was Green gave it him ; he ain't a fool, that fellow, believe me.'
'I don't think yo're right, Jethro,' Eden said stubbornly. Baudry smiled. 'Well, perhaps not,' he said easily.
