curse the hour you quarrelled with me. I'll break you and grind your face in the dust. When Rogue has done with you'
'Rogue can speak for himself, Mister,' came a quiet voice. The outlaw was standing there. So absorbed had everyone been in what was taking place that they had not seen him ride in and dismount. He addressed the cattleman:
'Far as I'm concerned, Eden, yore herd is safe,' he began. 'I can't speak for my men ; that toad there has poisoned 'em an' they've named a new leader.'
'So you sneaked off here to save your hide?' Baudry sneered.
The outlaw's eyes flashed. 'Best take care o' yore own,' he said. 'I don't owe yu money.' He looked at Eden. 'Jim has given yu the straight of it,' he went on. 'What yu aimin' to do with these rats?'
The cattleman gestured angrily to his foreman. 'Clear 'em out,' he ordered, and to Sudden, 'Green, I'm takin' yore word, but yu ain't told who drilled me.'
Sudden looked at Rogue, who' shook his head. 'I don't know, seh,' he replied. 'But it warn't Sandy.'
The rancher turned his hard eyes on that young man. 'I ain't convinced,' he said stubbornly, 'but I'm willin' to be.'
And with this grudging admission Sandy had to be content, but there was a welcome elsewhere which more than compensated ; Carol's eyes were friendly.
A word from the foreman sent the other men about their tasks, leaving the boss and the outlaw alone. An awkward silence ensued, broken at length by the visitor:
'Studying why I'm here, Eden?' he asked. 'If yu think it's because o' that scum over there yu got another guess comin'. I'd 'a' stayed an' shot it out with 'em, but I thought I could undo some o' the harm I done yu.'
The rancher's expression was frankly sceptical.
'Don't believe me?' the outlaw went on. 'Dunno as I blame yu, but it's a fact. Ain't yu wondered why I let yu get so far after that fandango with the 'Paches? Well, I've been tryin' to persuade the boys that it would be a better play to let yu sell the cows an' then lift the dollars, trustin' yu could find a safe place for 'em. That card-sharp put a crimp in that an' here I am. What yu gotta say?' A The rancher hesitated ; he was not in the frame of mind to trust anyone, and this man had threatened to steal his cattle.
'yu can stay, but my men'll have orders to shoot yu at the first sign o' crooked work,' he decided.
'That's on'y fair,' Rogue said, and walked away.
Chapter XXIV
THE country stretched before them, flat, brown, uninteresting, but the trail-drivers found it satisfactory, since no danger could approach unseen. The herd, spread out fan-wise, moved slowly forward and Sam Eden--able to sit in a saddle again --pulling up his pony to watch the beasts pass, exulted as he noted their fine condition. Then he frowned as he remembered that catastrophe might yet overtake them. Behind the drag, Rogue was riding alone. The rancher joined him.
'What d'yu figure them coyotes will do?' he asked bluntly.
'We talked it over,' the outlaw replied. 'To attack on the march would shorely mean stampeding the steers ; we'd have to gather 'em again an' might lose quite a number--not all my men knows cattle. The other way was to wait till the herd was bedded down an' rush yore camp after dark ; the nightriders could be easy dealt with later. I'd say that's what they'll try, an' it'll be soon, mebbe to-night.'
The rancher was silent for a while, furtively studying the hard face of this desperado who had striven for his ruin and was now, apparently, eager to help him. He could not understand it, and still suspected double- dealing.
'What yu know o' that fella Sands?' he asked.
'Mighty little,' was the reply. 'He drifted in one day, a piece before I met up with Green, and hung around. Didn't mix well with the rest--too clean, I reckon.' He smiled and shook his head. 'No harm to him ; just a boy gone a bit wild.'
The cattleman grunted, his eyes travelling ahead to where the subject of their conversation was riding gaily by the side of the girl. Whatever his thoughts were he did not express them.
Hour after hour under the scorching sun the herd drifted on but evening brought them good fortune in the shape of a disrupted strip of plain, with a camp site which could be defended. The bare wall of a small bluff protected the rear, thick scrub shadowed by pines and cottonwoods, the two sides, leaving only the front open. Across this, after the wagon had been driven in, they dragged a couple of tall trees, felled for the purpose, the branches of which formed a leafy screen. Just past the bluff was a pool of water, residue of the last rain, and when the herd had satisfied its thirst, it was driven to a plateau nearby and bedded down, two men only being left in charge. A few horses, ready for instant use, were in a rope corral by the pond ; the others were turned loose.
Supper was eaten almost in silence, and hurriedly, each man with his rifle beside him ; at any moment he might have to jump up and fight for his life. Then the women were sent to lie down in the wagon and Eden posted his men, with a grim word of warning:
'Don't shoot till yo're shore,' he said. 'Then--get 'em.'
Sandy, squatting beside his friend, voiced a complaint: 'Hell! Don't yu want a smoke, Jim?' he asked.
'Didn't till yu mentioned it, damn yu,' was the disgusted reply.
'I hope they show up--we won't find such a good place in a hundred miles.'
'I'm bettin' they do--it's pretty near their last chance, an' with no moon, they'll figure on a surprise.'
'They'll get it too,' Sandy chuckled. 'Where's Tyson?'
'Saw him siftin' into the brush,' Sudden replied. 'Gone to smell 'em out for us ; he's a four-eyed wonder in the woods.'
The cowboy's guess was a good one. As soon as he had eaten, the forest-runner, with a word to Eden, had faded into the shadows, leaving his beloved Betsy behind. Now, prostrate on his belly, he wriggled a way through the brush, ears attentive to the slightest sound. For an hour or more he heard nothing but the scuttling of some disturbed denizen of the undergrowth, the hoot of an owl, and an occasional faint bellow from the herd.
Then came a new noise, one he had been expecting--the crack of a snapped dry twig, directly in front. Rising to his knees he drew the long, keen blade from his belt and waited. The bush beside him shook and a man on all fours appeared, pushing his rifle ahead of him. Swiftly, silently as a striking snake, the knife flashed and the victim, without even a groan, flattened out like a pricked bladder. Rollitt would rob no more.
The slayer callously jerked his weapon from the throat, wiped it on the dead man's shirt-sleeve, and thrust it into his belt. A muffled curse away to his left and another cracking of dried wood on his right told him that the marauders were getting close ; he must warn the camp. With infinite caution he retraced his path ; no one of the watching outfit saw him return, but the word was passed along.
Tense moments ticked by and from behind a cactus a shadowy, indistinct form appeared to gradually grow out of the ground. It saw what it expected--the glow of a fire, and round it, dark shapes of sleeping men. A low whistle brought other shadows, and then a dozen guns shattered the silence of the night, driving bullets into the artfully arranged blankets. To the attackers' surprise, no reply came.
'We must 'a' got most of 'em--there'd be several with th' herd,' Navajo reasoned. 'Come on, fellas.'
Confident of success the outlaws emerged from concealment and dashed forward. This was the moment for which Eden had been waiting.
'Now,' he called sharply.
From behind the barricade guns spat in a spiteful chorus and in the advancing line men dropped silently, or stumbled and cursed as they fell. Their leader, realizing that they had walked into a trap, turned and raced for cover again, calling to his men to do the same. A number succeeded, but motionless black blotches on the ground told that the attacking force had suffered. Silence again ensued, broken only by an occasional shot when a cowboy fancied he detected a movement in the scrub. Navajo was cursing.
'They was waitin' for us, burn their souls,' he grated. 'Somebody musta tipped 'em off--them fallen trees wasn't no accident. I'm bettin' it was Rogue, the....' A stream of obscenities followed, cut short by a glance at the sky. 'Hell! th' moon'll be up in less'n half an hour an' they'll be able to pick us off like cottontails. We gotta rush 'em before then--it's our on'y chanct.'
The charge was made, and met--as before--with a leaden shower, but this time the attackers were desperate. Though several dropped, the rest came on, climbed the barricade, and leapt down upon its defenders.
