but I won't promise to bury yu ; I don't like skunks neither.' The wrangler hesitated, and was obviously relieved when the cattleman broke in angrily: 'To hell with the hoss. Where's the need o' that when Rollitt heard yu referred to as 'Sudden' by the outlaws? yu denyin' it?'
'I'm not denyin' anythin',' Sudden said tersely. 'An' now --what?'
'I oughta tell my men to string the pair o' yu up to the nearest tree.'
The unjust threat stirred the cowboy to anger. 'Come alive, Eden,' he said roughly. 'What sort of an outfit would yu have left?'
'Showin' your true colours now--gunman stuff, eh?' Baudry said scornfully.
'Lettin' myself be hanged wouldn't prove my innocence,' the other retorted. He looked at the rancher. 'Eden, yo're followin' a false trail,' he said quietly. 'One o' these days yu'll find that out. For now--I'm goin'.'
The old man did not reply at once ; doubts were disturbing him. He could not forget that Sudden had saved Carol from the Indians, but--as Baudry had been at pains to point outthe worst outlaw in the wilds would have done no less in like circumstances. His troubled gaze travelled to Sandy. The youth forestalled him.
'Jim's my friend ; if he goes, I do,' he said.
The defiant tone roused the rancher's quick temper again. 'yo're damn right there,' he rasped. 'But first yu'll answer a question. What took yu outa camp the night I got this?' He tapped his wounded chest.
The boy's face flamed at the accusation--for it amounted to that. 'yu think I creased yu?' he cried indignantly, and then, 'Hell! what's the good ... ?'
'I don't think--I know,' came the passionate assertion. 'yore boss, Rogue, put yu up to bump me off, an' when yu failed, Lasker had to try.'
'He'd have got yu too, with a second shot, if Jim here hadn't stopped him,' Sandy savagely reminded. 'yu explainin' that?'
'Simple,' Eden sneered. 'Lasker had bungled it an' might 'a' talked. It was a safe play to silence him an' get solid with me.'
Sandy had no more to say. His world had come crashing about his ears and he could see nothing but the set, pale face of a girl, who, with downcast eyes, had been a witness of his degradation. Baudry, seated next to her, was watching him with an expression of contemptuous amusement. Little did the gambler suspect how near he was to death at that moment. Eden made a violent gesture.
'Punch the breeze, the pair o' yu,' he said hoarsely. 'Jeff, yu go along an' see they don't take nothin' but what belongs to 'em.'
At this gratuitous insult, Sudden, his thumbs hooked in his belt, shot a scornful look at the speaker. 'Don't overplay yore hand, Eden,' he warned. 'As for yore threats, there ain't a man in yore outfit would pull a gun on me, 'cept that cardsharp an' his two friends, an' they haven't the guts.' His cold, appraising gaze travelled from Baudry to Dutt and Rollitt. 'Like I said,' he added, as they made no move. 'Threeyeller--dawgs. Adios!'
As he turned away, the gambler's hand went to his pistol, but the rancher spoke sharply: 'None o' that, Jethro. Call him back if yu want, but yu should 'a' took .him up when he offered.'
The other shrugged his shoulders indifferently, but there was a frozen fury in his voice as he replied, 'you're too squeamish, Sam ; you don't give a rattler an even break--if you're wise.'
In the rope corral which held the night-horses Sudden and Sandy found their mounts. The foreman watched in silence as they rolled their blankets, and then burst out:
'Jim, I just can't believe it--the 0I' Man must be loco. It warn't no use sayin' a word--on'y 'a' made him wuss.'
'I know, ol'-timer,' Sudden said, with a hard smile. 'It's a queer yarn--too long to tell now--truth an' lies all snarled up. I ain't blamin' the boss--much ; he's sick, an' with Rogue hangin' on his heels, it ain't surprisin' he's suspicious. Things look bad, but yu can take it Sandy didn't fire that shot an' I'm not as black as Nigger here.'
'Is it true yo're the fella they call `Sudden,' Jim?'
'yeah, but there's an explanation to that too. Keep a-smilin', Jeff ; there was never a rope so badly tangled it couldn't be straightened out.'
At this moment Peg-leg stumped up, carrying a small package. 'Here's a bit o' grub an' a skillet my of gal has sent,' he began. 'Said she didn't care what yu'd done but she'd be teetotally damned if she let yu be turned loose without the means o' makin' a mouthful o' coffee. She's agoin' to give Sam hark from the tomb when she gits him alone.'
'She's a lady, Peg-leg,' Sudden replied, tying the parcel to the cantle of his saddle. 'This will shorely be welcome.'
From the back of the big black he smiled wryly down at the two men. 'We'll be seein' yu--mebbe,' he said.
For upwards of two miles neither of the outcasts spoke and then Sandy's bitterness overflowed: 'Damnation, even she believes I shot the 0I' Man.'
'yu ain't no right to say that. yu weren't lookin' but I fancy I saw a hand wave from the tent as we left camp.'
Sandy's doleful face changed magically. 'yu did, Jim?' he asked eagerly.
His companion grinned.
'He's just as happy as if she had waved,' he reflected. 'An' anyways, he'd do more'n tell a lie for me.'
'Where do we head for, Jim?' the subject of his thoughts asked. 'We got plenty choice.'
'We have to find Rogue,' was the unexpected reply.
Sandy stared at him. 'Hell, Jim, yu ain't goin' to throw down the 0I' Man, are yu?' There was real concern in hisvoice. 'I'm admittin' he's treated us pretty mean, but he's been misled, an' the boys are our friends ...'
'Findin' don't mean joinin',' Sudden pointed out. 'The S E is finished with us--or fancies so--but I ain't finished with them. I don't figure on lettin' Rogue beat me, an' I'm mighty interested in Mister Baudry.'
'Me too, in fact, I was so interested that I damn near beefed him where he sat.'
'I guessed that an' was all set to knock yore gun up.'
'Whatever for?' Sandy inquired.
'It would 'a' turned that camp into a slaughter-pen. Now, we gotta keep cases on Rogue an' the herd, an' be ready to sit in the game.'
'yo're right, Jim,' the boy agreed. 'I'm a durned fool.'
'yu said it,' his friend smiled. 'There's time when yore brain wouldn't keep a flea outa trouble.'
'Awright, Solomon the Second,' Sandy grinned. 'Mebbe yu can tell me who pulled the floor from under us.'
'Rollitt is my guess, but who put him up to it?' Sudden debated. 'Was it Rogue, tryin' to get rid of us, or that tinhorn card-cheat? An' what's he after, anyways? Hell's flames, it's one fine tangle to unravel an' we got on'y loose ends.'
'Here's another,' Sandy contributed. 'Baudry is goin' in for cattle--startin' a range somewhere near the S E.'
Sudden whistled and relapsed into a long silence. At dusk they camped in a dense thicket of scrub and dwarf-oak little more than a mile to the right of the herd, with which they had been keeping pace. They were building a small fire when a low voice called, 'Howdy, friends!' and a man slid from the shadows. The flickering flame showed that it was Tyson.
'Didn't hear me a-comin', did ye?' he asked, and chuckled at his own cleverness.
'We're glad to see yu,' Sudden said heartily.
When the business of eating was concluded, the little man filled his pipe and looked quizzically at his hosts. 'So the S E has give yu the air?' he remarked.
'They told yu?' Sandy queried.
'Ain't talked with 'em,' Tyson said. 'Here's the how of it. When yu busted away an' the Injuns took after yu, I follered. . Bein' on the hoof, I didn't arrive till the fandango was finished. I collects them scalps yu left lyin' around, for which I'm thankin' yu ; worth ten wheels apiece, them top-knots is, if yu know where to take 'em. Then I trails yu, figurin' yo're still in dutch an' that mebbe I can turn the trick, but I'm too late, yu've went. I points for the S E.'
