The ruffian knew his man, and was not to be bluffed.
'Yo're damn right, I don't; a thousand's the lowest--take it or leave it.'
Cullin hesitated, but only as a matter of form; he was prepared to pay double the amount, for success.
`I'm takin' it, Lukor,' he said. `You come to Midway an' hang about, givin' any excuse you like, waitin' yore chance. Don't use yore own name--it might be known.'
The other revealed his tobacco-stained teeth in a wolfish grin. `I reckon. Figure I'm a greenhorn, huh?'
`The cleverest can make mistakes,' Cullin replied. 'Fella's name is Nicholas Drait, an' he's about my size, mebbe a shadebigger; a nester an' a cattle-thief. You don't like nesters, do you?'
`They ain't fit to live,' Lukor said, and spat in disgust. `Leave it to me. I'll want fifty for expenses, an' it ain't an advance, mind.'
The rancher peeled off some bills from his roll. `Needn't to rush things. It's gotta look natural, an' don't let him get his hands on you--he'd smear you on the wall.'
`If he got past a dozen slugs, mebbe,' the gunmen said scornfully. `Hell, it's good as done; you can wipe him off'n yore worry list right now.'
Cullin left Rideout immediately, unaware of a pair of youthful but sharp eyes watching from the angle of a building across the street. Yorky, having by chance seen Cullin pass through Midway heading east, conceived a desire to discover his destination. When he vanished into the hotel, Yorky followed, got into conversation with the clerk, a youth of his own age, and learned that business was bad--they had only one guest.
`Calls hisself 'Fish,' drinks like one, an' has all the earmarks of a gunslinger,' the clerk said.
Yorky returned to his hiding-place, saw Cullin come out, but still waited. Presently his patience was rewarded; Lukor emerged and slouched towards the nearest saloon. The watcher noted the pair of revolvers, the deeply-bronzed right hand, the ever-alert glances.
Satisfied he could glean no more he started for home, arriving there as dusk was falling. Outside the house, he met Mary.
`Why, Yorky, we were becoming anxious,' she cried. `Where on earth have you been?'
Naturally he did not want to tell, and the only plausible pretext he could think of would put the laugh on himself, but it had to be.
`All over it--the earth, I mean, ma'am,' he replied dolefully. `Guessed I could find a shorter way back an' got proper lost. Wandered about for hours--got mighty near Noo York, I reckon--an' there I was in Midway again. So I come th' old road.'
At the bunkhouse Sturm gave him a sour look. `Where the blazes you bin all day?' he enquired. `The Boss'll want an explanation.'
`She's had one,' Yorky said, and closed up like a clam.
His problem now was to get his news to Sudden; he could not ask for time to ride to the Valley. His luck was in--the puncher arrived during the next afternoon.
`Nick's so full o' the change yu've made that I just had to
come,' was his excuse to the lady of the house, whereupon she smiled delightedly and invited him in.
His eyes travelled about the room. `Shore is great,' was his verdict. `Thought Nick might be romancin' but that ain't so, an' with some flower-beds in front o' the veranda....'
`But what a splendid idea,' she cried. `Thank you.'
He shook his head. `It was Nick's notion; I'm on'y passin' it on.'
`Then you must pass on my gratitude,' she replied warmly.
He enquired aoout Yorky, and listened to the tale of his misadventure with a gravity he was far from feeling.
`He's new to these parts; might happen to anybody,' he said. As he rode away in search of the boy he spoke to the black : `Nig, a fella who can't lie for a friend, ain't much; I must remember to wise up Nick 'bout them flower-beds. Wonder what that li'l devil was doin'?'
He found the `li'l devil' forcing steers from a thorny thicket, and exuding moisture and expletives with equal frequency. He was nearing the end of his vocabulary when a low, amused voice remarked : `Mind yu don't get lost in there.'
Yorky smote an obstreperous steer on the flank with the end of his rope, and came piling out of the bush.
'Yo're th' very fella I wanted to see,' he cried, and then, as the significance of his friend's words dawned, `You didn't think I lost myself, did you, Jim?'
`Well, no, I figured mebbe there was a reason,' Sudden admitted.
`Shore is,' the boy said, and told his discovery.
`Yu done fine,' Sudden complimented. `I'm glad I fetched yu along.'
Praise from this quarter was priceless to Yorky, and having watched the black race out of sight, he murmured, `You ol pirut,' and returned to his labours quite happily.
On reaching the Valley, Sudden sought out the nester and warned him about the flower-beds. Drait regarded him curiously.
`I'm obliged, Jim; oughta thought o' that myself.'
It was not until several days later that Nick announced his intention of going to Midway; stores had to be purchased. `I was aimin' to visit town my own self,' Sudden said.
`Mebbe I can do yore errand?'
`I guess not; some things a fella's gotta do for hisself an' gettin' a hair-cut is one. But gimme a list an' I'll order yore goods.'
`Why o' course. Where's my head?'
So Sudden solved a problem which had been worrying him.For the trip he selected a mount from the corral, leaving Nigger behind. Exactly why, he could not have explained; the thought came and he acted upon it. Pilch, the storekeeper, welcomed him joyfully, and business being soon concluded, Sudden perched himself on the counter, swiped a handful of raisins from a nearby tub, and prepared to chat.
`Nick all right?' Pilch began, and when the customer nodded, 'Bout time he got his rope on that gal at the S P an' won hisself a fine ranch.'
Sudden took some more fruit. `Good, these. Add a dozen pounds to our list, ol'-timer, Nick must 'a' forgot 'em; the boys like plum duff.'
`You seem partial to the plum part yoreself,' Pilch retorted, with a meaning glance at the puncher's not too small paws. `Now stop side-steppin'--you heard what I said.'
`I don't know a thing 'cept Nick ain't lost his appetite, which I'm told is a sign. Anythin' new in town?'
`A hard-lookin' stranger, mean-mouthed, carries a couple o' sixes, an' claims to be waitin' for someone.'
`An' he doesn't deal with yu.'
`How d'you--? Well, yo're right. I don't sell liquor, an' that's all he buys. Been around 'bout three-four days, an' the quicker he leaves the sooner we shan't miss him.'
Sudden laughed, purchased some tobacco, and went in search of a barber and a meal. These matters attended to, he proceeded to Merker's, failing to notice that a pedestrian had stopped as he passed, turned, and followed him. Lukor had seen the N D brand, and the somewhat sketchy description he had received seemed to fit the rider. But he had to be sure. He entered, and saw his quarry at the bar, talking to the proprietor. Strolling to an adjacent table he sat down. Merker was speaking.
`I'm tellin' you, Nick'--he dropped his voice to little more than a whisper--'is in danger; somebody's out to get him.' `Sound reasonin', but where's the proof?'
`We'll get it, but in the meantime, don't run risks.'
`Shore, they cool the blood an' hamper digestion,' Sudden smiled. `Know the genial-lookin' gent at the table?' He had noted the man's entrance in the mirror behind the bar, and recognised him from Yorky's description.
`A newcomer--been hangin' about recent.'
Lukor who had heard--as he believed--the saloon-keeper address the puncher as `Nick,' was satisfied that he had found his man. An evil grin twisted his lips as he reflected that soon he would shake the dust of this `prairie- dog settlement' from his feet, easy in mind and rich in pocket. The victim was a big fellow, but he expected that; Cullin had warned him. The two
