And then, when she had given up hope, he flung her violently from him. A horse had whickered outside.
Chapter XXVII
DAZED and weak, Carol saw her assailant fall into a half-crouch his gun drawn, death in his eyes. She tried to shout a warning but no sound issued from her dry, throbbing throat. The door was flung open, Baudry fired, and the new-comer stumbled, coughed, and slithered to the floor, a pistol dropping from nerveless fingers. After a moment's pause, the killer bent over him.
'Rogue?' he muttered. 'Wonder how he got wise? Well, that's a debt I was afraid I'd have to leave unpaid. Where the hell is Navajo?'
'Right here,' the half-breed replied from the doorway, and stepped noiselessly into the cabin. His mean eyes rested callously on the supine form of his late leader. 'That saves me a job but I ain't thankin' yu.'
'Did you get Eden?'
'I reckon---'less his head's made o' rock,' the ruffian replied. 'The crack I gave him would 'a' split the skull of an ox.'
'Hope you haven't overdone it,' Baudry said viciously. 'It will hurt him more to live.'
'Mebbe, but that fella Sandy came out o' the saloon with him an' fought like a wildcat. With townsfolk joinin' in we had to do the best we could,' the half-breed explained, and tapped his pocket. 'We corralled the cash.'
Dull despair took possession of the prisoner. Her father injured, probably dying, and Sandy.... For since the woman Gold had brought that lying message, Carol had comprehended what the cheerful young cowboy had come to mean to her, and the thought that she might never see him again turned her heart to lead.
'you did well, Navajo,' the gambler said. 'If we'd got that devil, Sudden, it would be a clean-up.'
'I'll tend to him,' the other said darkly. He threw a roll of bills on the table. 'We split that two ways an' then settle about the gal.'
Baudry jerked round as though he had been spurred. 'She goes with me,' he answered harshly.
'Mebbe, after we've cut the cards for her,' Navajo replied.
In the flickering light of the candle he could not see the murderous gleam in the other's eyes, but he knew it was there. At the moment he saw Rogue's body he divined that the outlaw had saved his--Navajo's--life, and that Baudry would kill him if he could. So, when his proposal was agreed to, he watched yet more warily.
'Have it your way,' the gambler said quietly. He produced a pack of cards and squared them up on the table. 'Help yourself. Highest wins. Sudden death.'
'yu said it,' the half-breed assented.
The fingers of his left hand closed over the cards, gripping them gently. A touch told him they had been prepared--the ends and sides of some of them treated with a file, so that the man who knew what had been done could cut high or low as he desired. He knew now why Baudry had given in, but it made no difference to his plan. He hesitated only for an instant and then lifted the whole pack and hurled it in the other man's face.
'Cold-deck me, would yu?' he cried, and snatching out his gun sent two bullets into the gambler's breast.
Grimacing horribly, hands reaching blindly for support, the stricken man collapsed like a house of cards, shuddered convulsively once, and was still. Navajo's smile was that of a demon.
'Sudden death it was,' he said hoarsely, and turned to the girl, only to find her unconscious upon the floor. The tragedies she had witnessed, added to the mental torture of the past few hours, had proved too much for even her Western nerves.
Stuffing the roll of money into a pocket, the half-breed stood gloating over his captive for a moment or two, his lewd eyes dwelling on the graceful curve of her neck and the rounded white shoulder which Baudry's brutality had left exposed.
'A pretty piece--an' mine--now,' he exulted evilly. 'Well, beautiful, we'll be on our way.'
Lifting the limp form, he carried it to where the gambler's horse was hitched outside the hut, and roped it to the saddle. He was about to mount his own beast when he remembered something ; both the dead men would have money. He went back and was kneeling by the side of Baudry when a word rang out like a pistol-shot:
'Navajo!'
Sudden was standing in the doorway, a gun levelled from the hip. The icy passionless voice fell on the outlaw's ears like a death-knell. Though he had bragged to Baudry, he feared this cold-eyed young cowboy who had so quickly gained a reputation as a gunman. 'Sudden death!' The phrase recurred to him with a new and ominous significance. Bitterly he cursed himself for his delayed departure ; but for his greed .. .
'yu can stand up.'
Navajo rose slowly to his feet, his devious mind searching for a way out.
'These hombres 'pear to have bumped each other off,' he said. 'I was just seein' if they was cashed.'
Still keeping the man covered, Sudden picked up Rogue's gun ; it was fully loaded ; the butt of Baudry's weapon could be seen protruding from its shoulder-holster. He looked at the half -breed.
'Rogue reloaded an' Baudry put his gun back after they were killed,' he said sarcastically.
'I was guessin'--on'y bin here a few minutes an' found 'em like this,' the man replied sullenly.
'So it wasn't yu who carried Miss Eden out?'
'Yeah, I was meanin' to take her back.'
'Tied to the saddle?'
'Couldn't do no other way--she'd fainted.'
'An' the herd-money. Takin' that back too?'
'Dunno nothin' about it '
Sudden laughed scornfully. 'yo're a pore liar, Navajo,' he said. 'Hand over yore gun.'
The ruffian stiffened. He remembered now that he had fired twice and had not replaced the charges. An examination of the weapon would produce apparently conclusive evidence and ... During the conversation he had been edging backwards an inch at a time. Now, with a quick sweep of one arm, he knocked the candle from the table and dropped prone to escape the expected bullet. None came, only a taunting voice:
'Fine! Figured yu'd play it that way when I saw yu sneakin' back. Don't waste no shots, Navajo ; yu on'y got four.'
Sudden was surmising, but correctly, and the outlaw gritted his teeth at the reminder. He must be sure, and how could he be in that blinding blackness? For there was no light ; even the tiny unglazed window could hardly be located, so dark was the night outside. Flat on his belly the half-breed lay motionless, waiting for some movement which might betray his enemy's whereabouts.
An idea came to him--Baudry's gun. If he could obtain that and fire four shots, Sudden would deem him defenceless, and ... He knew the direction in which the body lay and began to make his way towards it. Hardly daring to breathe, he crawled on inch by inch, feeling cautiously for obstacles. It was a blood-chilling task, for the slightest sound might bring first the agony of tearing hot lead, and then--death. At length his groping fingers touched a still face, travelled downwards and found a shoulder-holster--empty. He stifled the curse which rose to his lips, and edged away.
'yu ain't a quick thinker, Navajo,' the taunting voice said 'I've got Baudry's gun.'
In his rage and disappointment the half-breed fired at the spot where he judged the speaker to be. An answering spit of flame stabbed the gloom and a bullet nicked his neck. The voice spoke again :
'Near thing, Navajo. A mite to the right an' yu'd be travellin' the one-way trail.' The incident shook the outlaw's confidence. Hell! if the fellow could see in the dark ... And he had wasted a shot, for though the silence was profound again he knew that he had missed. The thought of what his cupidity had cost carne back to torment him: wealth, possession of the girl, for whom he had hungered since first he laid his leering eyes upon her, freedom. He visioned the pair of them riding into the trackless wilderness and his lips went wide in a lecherous grin. Then he came to earth again and blasphemed at the reality ; he was trapped, likely to lose all, even life itself.
Lying there in the stillness so pregnant with danger he flogged his faculties to find a device to extricate himself and, at length, hit on a plan. It would be a desperate risk but heresolved to take it. And he must act at once, for he knew that his courage was ebbing ; the jeering devil waiting so patiently to kill him was his master. Rising swiftly to his knees, he fired and swayed away instantly. Sudden aimed at the flash, heard the thud of a falling body, and a deep groan. Five--ten minutes passed and no sound came. The cowboy moved a foot noisily but nothing happened.
