'So yu know all about it?'
Tyson shook his head. 'I ain't clost enough to hear much, but my eyesight is fair an' I'm a good guesser,' he said. 'When I see Monte Jack in the company I knowed dirty work was afoot.'
'Monte Jack?' both his hearers repeated.
'Yeah, fella sittin' next the gal.'
'He calls hisself `Baudry' now.'
'Like enough, but he was knowed as Monte Jack in Kansas City less'n two year ago, an' bad medicine. Catched cheatin' at poker an' shot the fella under the table--gun on his knees, yu know. It warn't the first time an' he had to flit plenty rapid. A close call for Monte, that was.'
'An' Eden believes in him,' Sandy said.
'Well, yu don't have to worry,' Tyson laughed. 'He fired yu, didn't he?'.
'yeah, he fired us, shore enough,' the boy agreed. 'But there's Miss Carol, that toad's got his poisonous eye on her, an' the outfit--decent fellas--are dependin' on puttin' that drive through. They're our friends--still.'
'An' not likin' Mister Monte Jack nothin' to notice we're kind o' hankerin' to pile him up,' Sudden added. He went on to tell of the decision he and Sandy had come to, and the 'still-hunter' listened, his bright little eyes darting from one to the other, his jaw working on a plug of tobacco, alert as, and very like, a squirrel.
'Well, I took a fancy to yu boys,' he said, when their plans had been made plain. 'If yo're willin', me an' Betsy'--he patted the rifle beside him--'will take a hand. Three pairs o' peepers is better nor two, an' I savvy Injuns.'
The cowboys were glad to have him, and said so. Apart from his bloodthirsty occupation, there was a great deal that was attractive in this odd little man. Moreover, they were already deeply in his debt, and neither of them was of the type to forget that.
Chapter XXII
EARLY on the following morning Tyson left them. 'Hang on to the herd an' I'll be with yu come dark, or sooner,' he said. Then he plunged into the thicket and was lost to sight and sound in a few seconds.
They spent a lazy day, their only concern being to keep under cover. Several times, lying flat on a ridge, they got a sight of the herd, a long, twisted string of dots, dipping into hollows, plodding up slopes, inexorably pushing northwards. And though the distance was too great for him to recognize the rider, Sandy cursed when he saw that Carol had a companion.
The shadows were gathering when Tyson joined them in the dry arroyo where they had decided to spend the night. He had the hump ribs of a buffalo calf, wrapped in part of the skin, and a bow and arrows, for which, he grimly explained, the late owner had no further use.
'I can use her pretty good--lived with 'Paches onct. She'll fill the pot an' save powder.'
But this was not what the cowboys were thinking of. A brave with a bullet in his brain might well bring his tribesmen on the trail. The little man divined their thoughts and grinned as he pushed a gory hank of black hair into his pack.
'Nothin' to go grey over, boys,' he said lightly. 'I used steel an' blinded my tracks. 'Sides, I'm wearin' 'Pache moccasins, so them devils will git the blame. Allasame, I could 'a' shot him, so Betsy gits her tally.'
Calmly he cut a nick in the stock of the gun, one more in that terrible register, using the knife which had let the life out of the red man, and, as they knew, must later have skinned and cut up the flesh they were about to eat. Life in the wilds, however, knocked the fastidiousness out of one, and the broiled ribs tasted none the worse.
Tyson had, they learned, located the outlaw band a few miles east, creeping along on the heels of the herd like a mountain cat, ready to pounce on its prey at the propitious moment. He had counted a dozen men, and gathered that others were away hunting.
'They ain't too well fixed for grub an' is grumblin',' he said. ' A mighty hard lot. Eden will need all the help he can git, an' then some.'
A week passed and save that all parties were nearer their destination, the position remained unchanged. Then, with the suddenness of a summer storm, danger loomed up, dire and overwhelming.
Tyson' had, as usual, after the morning meal, gone to discover possible signs of activity in the outlaw's camp, and his companions were riding leisurely in the wake of the herd. It was Sandy who saw the 'still-hunter' first.
'Tyson is a-comin' an' ain't losin' no time neither,' he said.
In fact, the little man--abandoning his customary Indian-like stride--was running, and when, spurring their mounts, they met him, he dropped, gasping, on a nearby mound. His usually mild features were hard and fierce.
'Trouble ahead, boys,' he panted.
'Rogue goin' to strike?' Sudden asked.
'Naw, Injuns,' the other replied. 'Two score, mebbe even more--they was hidden--waitin' to jump the herd.'
'No chance o' dodgin' 'em?'
'Not a hope--the cattle has to go that way. Them war-whoops has picked the right place. For miles now the plain is narrow, with rough country both sides. There's one spot where they might hold the herd an' make a fight of it.'
He described it, and Sudden listened carefully. Sandy's face was haggard with anxiety.
'My God! Jim, what can we do?' he asked.
Sudden turned to Tyson. 'Climb Sandy's bronc an' fetch Rogue,' he said. 'Don't let on about us ; yu just happened on the redskins, saw the herd, an' figured that, as a white man, he'd help his own kind.'
'Shore, but I'll git there quicker afoot--it's rough goin',' Tyson replied, and was gone.
Sandy stared at his companion in amazement. 'yu sendin' for Rogue?' he gasped. Then comprehension came to him and he chortled with delight. 'yu wily devil,' he complimented. 'That shore is great medicine. Do we warn the S E?'
'I do ; yu cross the trail an' follow on the other side, keepin' outa sight. I'll join yu later an' mebbe the war- whoops'll get a surprise.'
Sandy was disappointed--he might have seen Carol--but he did not demur ; the situation was desperate, but he trusted this hard-faced friend of his and was prepared to obey blindly. So he too went on his appointed errand, while Sudden spurred after the herd. The latter passed the remuda in a cloud of dust and heard Rollitt's curse of astonishment. Sam Eden, sitting at the back-end of the wagon, greeted the visitor with a glare as he reached for his gun. The young man's cold voice interrupted :
'Don't be a fool, Eden. If I'd come for that yu'd be halfway to hell by now. I'm here to tell yu that a big bunch o' redskins is layin' for yu.'
The rancher laughed jeeringly. 'Yu don't expect me to believe that yarn, do yu?' he asked.
'No, but I had to warn yu,' Sudden retorted.'Walk into the trap if yu must ; I'll do what I can to get yu out. I've sent for aid.'
The cattleman's frowning brows went up at this. 'Now I know yo're lyin'--I'd say there ain't a settlement within a hundred mile. Where'd yu send--San Antonio?' he sneered. 'I passed word to Rogue,' was the calm reply.
With the force of a blow, the statement took the rancher's breath away. For a moment he was speechless, and then, with a furious oath, he cried, 'So that's yore scheme, huh? Rogue's to come an help himself an' I'm to let him. Now listen, I ain't swallerin' yore Injuns, but I'd sooner they had the cows than that bastard road-agent leader o' yores. Get that.'
'Yu seem damned anxious to make yore daughter a squaw.' The biting reminder only whipped the rancher's rage to a white heat. 'Curse yu, I can fight my own battles,' he roared. 'I don't want yore help nor his.'
'Allasame, yu gotta have 'em. I ain't goin' to see men I have worked with an' liked sacrificed to yore bull- headed obstinacy. Can't yu savvy that just because Rogue aims to steal yore herd later, he's gotta protect it now? Hell, I must put Jeff wise.'
The black horse shot ahead of the wagon and with its disappearance the old man's fury evaporated, and the ability to reason returned. Scowling darkly he went over the conversation again.
'Damnation, he's right,' he muttered aloud.
'O' course he's right, an' allus has been,' said a sharp voice. Aunt Judy, from the driving-seat of the vehicle
