'yu got me wrong,' he explained. 'What I was referrin' to was the sight o' five hundred wheels gettin' ready to ride outa this town, to say nothin' of a fine black hoss with a white blaze, an' a saddle the present owner shouldn't have much further use for.'
Craggy Face looked up. 'Yu tellin' us that jasper Sudden is around?' he asked.
'Just that,' the other returned. 'Saw him readin' the bill outside the Buckhorn ; he was mighty interested too, an' then he streaks for Juan's livery stable. What do yu guess?'
'If yo're shore, why didn't you hold him up an'' Craggy Face began.
'Collect the mazuma, huh?' the stranger finished. 'Well, for one thing, he knows me, an' there's another reason to that why I can't take any part in the affair.'
He stressed the last six words and the listeners smirked understandingly ; he was wanted himself, this hombre, and the chance of gaining five hundred dollars would not offset the likely loss of his liberty. Craggy Face again was the spokesman:
'Amounts to this: we take all the risk, an' . '
'All the reward--I don't want none of it,' he was told. 'I disremember if that notice said `dead or alive.' '
'It did not, an' I'm bettin' that Fourways fella ain't buyin' corpses.'
Craggy Face emptied his glass and stood up, the other two following suit. Their informant added a word:
'I guess he'll take the western trail.'
The ruffians nodded and went out. The stranger waited to absorb another drink and then did likewise, keeping well behind. Presently he saw the man he had betrayed jog-trotting listlessly along the street, heading--as he had surmised--for the western exit from the town. Callous as he was, he could not but admire the young fellow's nerve.
'He's the right stuff, shore as shootin',' he soliloquized. 'Kind o' hombre Rogue can use. If them rats ain't weakened, they gotta do it here ; he'll be in the open soon.'
As the black horse approached, he slid round the corner of a shack, from whence he could watch unobserved. Save that his hat was slouched over his face, the wanted rider appeared to be indifferent to his danger. But beneath the brim, his keen eyes scanned each passer-by, alert for the least sign of undue interest in himself, every sense taut and ready for action. So that he was not taken by surprise when three men, strolling aimlessly along the board sidewalk, abruptly swerved into the road in front of him, pulled their guns, and shouted:
'Han's up, Sudden!'
Jim did not hesitate--made no attempt to parley. The revelation of his identity--an astute move on the part of his attackers--would bring them immediate aid. Dropping the reins--already knotted for just such an emergency-- over the saddle-horn, his hands went up, but with a gun in each. As they rose he fired both weapons, once, and his opponents on the right and left went down. Then, with a pressure of his knees. Jim jumped Nigger full at the man in the middle Craggy Face. With an oath of dismay, the fellow saw the black thunderbolt hurling itself upon him and tried to leap aside. He nearly succeeded, but the massive shoulder caught and drove him into the dust.
The whole affair had occupied but a few seconds, and by the time the almost petrified pedestrians had realized the facts, the fugitive was two hundred yards away. Ineffectual shots were fired and then he was no more than a diminishing dot on the trail. The man behind the shack smiled felinely and did not join the group round the discomfited reward-hunters.
For some miles Jim rode hard, without looking back. When at length he did so he saw no sign of pursuit and eased his mount. He reloaded his pistols, thrust them back into the holsters, and swore with savage anger at the thought of the price he had had to pay for his freedom. This second exploit had put him definitely outside the pale of the law. Despite the sparse population, the story of it would travel quickly in a land where topics for conversation were few and.news of any kind eagerly retailed.
Head hanging, he puzzled over the problem of what to do. Southern Texas was closed to him--entering any settlement would probably result in having to shoot his way out of it, thus only adding to his unwanted reputation. The nearest border was hundreds of miles distant and he was without supplies. The dull beat of hammering hooves apprised him that he had been careless. Turning, he. saw a compact group of about a dozen riders pounding across the plain. San Antonio was not minded to let a noted desperado escape without making an effort.
The posse was less than half a mile behind and the members of it were doubtless congratulating themselves upon an easy capture when they saw the black horse quicken its stride and begin to draw away. Spurring and quirting their mounts they decreased the gap again, several pulling out their rifles and firing in the hope of a lucky shot. The cowboy felt the wind of a bullet on his cheek, others zipped through the grass beneath the flying feet of his horse, and a cold fury flamed in him.
'That's a game two can play at,' he grated.
Dropping the reins, he drew his rifle from the sheath under the fender, twisted round in the saddle and flung four shots at the bunched-up party of pursuers. Two of the ponies wentdown, throwing their riders heavily, a man reeled, clutched at the air, and pitched sideways to the ground. The posse, disorganized by this disaster, pulled up, and the quarry, with a wave of defiance, vanished over a fold in the surface of the plain. His own kind had made him an outlaw, had hunted and fired on him as though he were a dangerous animal. Well, he would accept the verdict.
'Nothin' else for it, Nig,' he told his horse. 'We gotta find Mister Rogue ; he's our best bet.'
It was a small salve to his conscience to reflect that among the desperate class of men he was now being driven to mix with, he was more likely to find those of whom he was in search. From the top of a slight rise he looked for the posse, but it was not in sight.
'Kind o' lost their enthusiasm, mebbe,' he said grimly, and rode on.
Gradually the character of the country changed, the open plain being broken by small, flat-topped mesas, shallow gullies, and occasional miniature forests of post-oak and mesquite, the latter sometimes of tree size. He halted at last before a great chunk of rock, with a curious V-shaped crack dividing it as from a giant axe-blow. The main trail--wagon-ruttedhere turned sharply to the north, but westward there were hoofprints leading down into what appeared to be a welter of canyons.
'Split Rock,' the traveller decided. 'Well, of hoss, this is where we say good-bye to a law-abidin' life.'
With a mirthless, sardonic smile he sent his mount loping to the left, following the faint trail which plunged into the broken country, and came at length to the narrow mouth of a gorge, the rocky walls of which almost met. Half-way up, on a ledge about thirty yards distant, the rider's questing eye caught a flash of steel.
'Stick 'em up, stranger ; I got yu covered,' boomed a voice, and a man with a levelled rifle rose into view.
Jim guessed this must be one of the bandits' sentinels. He had already decided on his own line of action, and though he halted, he did not obey the command to put up his hands. Instead he laughed satirically.
'I've had yu fixed for the last two minutes,' he said. 'yu oughta get that gun-barrel dulled some--I saw it away back. Got any ideas?'
'On'y this,' the man replied, tapping his rifle.
Jim laughed unpleasantly. 'Shucks, yu'd miss an' I wouldn't. Well, if it'll relieve yore mind any, I'm lookin' for a fella called Rogue.'
'I take it yo're Sudden then.'
'An' yu might be right at that,' Jim smiled. 'What about it?'
'I've had word to pass yu along,' the guard admitted, 'but yu'll have to leave yore hardware with me--I'll fetch 'em in later.'
'Like hell yu will,' the visitor retorted. 'No, sir, me an' the li'l hoss have had a long ride, but we're plenty strong enough to tote my guns, yu betcha.'
'It's the rule,' the bandit grumbled.
'There's allus an exception--I'm it,' Jim told him lightly, and then, dropping his bantering tone. 'Cut the cackle ; either I go on or back, an' I don't give a damn which it is.'
Sullenly the fellow motioned him on. 'Go ahead,' he said. 'See yu later--mebbe.'
Jim sensed the sinister implication and laughed. 'Yu will, if nothin' don't happen to yu meantime.'
The man appeared to have an afterthought. 'Anybody follerin' yu?' he asked.
'Yo're a reg'lar question mark, ain't yu?' was the sarcastic reply. 'Did I seem to be hurryin'?'
