Sudden laughed too, and dropped the subject. He noticed they were travelling north, and asked a question. `We'll get rid o' these broncs first off,' Drait told him. `The hombre yo're goin' to see to is the foreman, an' he's runnin' the ranch till the owner can be found. 01' Sam Pavitt passed in his checks 'bout a year ago, leavin' all his property to his on'y child--a daughter, or her issue. She ran away near twenty-five years back--he was a hard man to live with, by all accounts-an' never returned. His lawyer is tryin' to trace her.'
`Shouldn't be difficult unless she's left the state, or is dead,' Sudden remarked. `I understand they got mighty little to go on. One letter from her was found among Sam's papers; it told that her husband--the cause o' the trouble atween 'em--had passed on, but called him by his front name only, an' mentioned a kid named 'Frankie.' The address had been torn off, so I guess she never had a reply. It's a fine ranch, an' I guess Gilman is featherin' his nest a-plenty.'
`Crooked, huh?'
`A corkscrew would look straight by the side of him.'
The first few miles took them over scrub-dotted plain, and no trail being visible, Sudden guessed they were making a short cut. Then they emerged upon a rough wagon-road, pitted with innumerable hoofprints. Drait jerked a thumb to the right.
`Leads to Midway,' he said. `We'll be samplin' it later.'
They turned left, and after a while--to Sudden's surprise--the road began to improve; trees and brush had been cut down or uprooted to make it wide enough for two vehicles to pass, and attempts made, in bad spots, to level the surface, but there were signs that the wilderness was encroaching again.
`Ol' Sam had nhis done an' damn near lost most of his riders over it--cowboys don't cotnon to road-makin',' Drait informed. `Gilman ain't takin' risks, seemin'ly.'
A gradual rise of another mile brought them to the end of the road and a wide strip of open country covered with crisp, brown grass. In the midst of it, a group of buildings, and behind, a background of low, tree-swathed hills.
`Nice location,' Sudden commented.
`You said it,' his companion agreed. `Good ranch-house, lashin's o' the best feed, an' plenty water,' he grinned. `If I owned this place, damn me if I wouldn't turn honest.'
`It would certainly be a temptation,' Sudden smiled.
As they neared the ranch-house, a stocky, powerful man came out, and, leaning against one of the supports of the veranda roof, watched them ride up. There was no welcome in the bunton-like eyes, set too closely no a beak of a nose, and the thin lips, clamped to the butt of a black cigar, did not suggest amiability.
`What's yore errand?' he asked brusquely, as they drew rein. `Fetched back four broncs wearin' the S P iron, an' I want a receipt for 'em,' Drait replied. `How come they're in yore hands?' `Four o' Bardoe's toughs were ridin' 'em, an' not bein' satisfied with their explanation, an' for another reason, I set 'em afoot.'
`What was the other reason?'
`They tried to hang me.'
The man on the veranda scowled. `Didn't it occur to you I might 'a' loaned them hosses?'
`That didn't occur to them till it was too late to put it over,' the nester retorted. `Besides, I figured you wouldn't be quite so all-fired friendly with the 8 B outfit.'
He got an oblique glance from the shifty eyes. `An' that's correct,' Gilman growled. `Back in a minute.' He went through a door, and presently returned with a slip of paper. `I'm obliged,' he said. 'Anythin' Bardoe gits his claws on is apt to be a total loss. I'll give you a word of advice, Drait; if you've fallen foul o' Bull, hit the trail; you've no chance here, anyways. Don't forget what happened to Rawlin.'
`I ain't likely to,' Nick replied. Was Bardoe in that?'
`If I knew, d'you think I'd tell you--'specially in front of a witness?' Gilman asked ironically, with a measuring look at the other visitor.
`Jim Green--he's ridin' for me,' Drait introduced. `Jim, this is Jack Gilman, foreman here.' The two men nodded `Any news o' the missin' heir?'
`No, damn it, I wish they'd git the business settled,' was the reply. `Got any cattle in Shadow Valley yet?'
Drait shook his head. `What I bought from Rawlin were stolen.'
The foreman's expression of concern seemed genuine. `Too bad,' he said. `Come an' see me before you buy any more; mebbe I can save you some coin.'
`I'll remember that,' Drait replied. `An' in case there's any doubts floatin' around, you can pass the word that the Valley belongs to me, an' I'm stayin' in it.'
Gilman sent an ugly look after them as they rode away. `Stayin' in it?' he repeated. `Mebbe yo're right; young Rawlin is doin' the same. Wonder where he picked up that two-gun hombre? He ain't no pilgrim, an' his hoss warn't born this side o' the Border. Needs keepin' an eye on, that fella.'
Which thought, curiously enough, was in the minds of both his visitors.
`Well, what d'you think of him?' Nick asked.
Sudden's grimace was expressive. `I wouldn't, 'less I had to,' he answered.
`Same here, but I'll be interested to know how he's goin' to save me money, an' I'm willin' to bet I'll save more if I don't let him.'
`I ain't takin' yu,' Sudden laughed. `Where we goin' now?'
`The licentious an' thoroughly disreputable settlement of Midway,' Drait replied. `An' it ain't called that because it's halfway between Heaven an' the other place, for Midway is next door to Hell.'
`Sounds fierce.'
`That's how it is. Coupla years back, when the Judge was appointed, the decent citizens looked for better things, an' they built him a fine new court-house an' calaboose--hopin'. But the cattlemen got hold of him an' like the sheriff, he wants to keep his job.'
`But that depends on the Governor,' Sudden objected.
`Who wouldn't have any use for a dead judge,' was the grim retort.
`The ranchers must be pretty strong.'
`Their custom means a lot, an' they have the lawless element with 'em. How many? Well, there's the S P, north; the Big C--Cullin's, south-east; the Double V--Vic Vasco's, southwest; the 8 B--Bardoe's, due west; so I've got em all round me. It's a swell nest o' yeller-jackets you've stepped into.'
`My hide is thick,' the puncher smiled.
To the unaccustomed eye, Midway could only appear as a blot on the landscape. A few of the buildings boasted a second storey, some were false-fronted to convey that impression, and others were just cabins with sodded roofs. As they entered the town, Drait pulled up, and pointed.
`There she is,' he said. `Midway's pride.'
It was a big building, standing back from the others. Substantially constructed of squared logs, it had a second floor, and three doors, the boards above which told that here was congregated, in the court-house, gaol, and sheriff's office, the whole machinery of the Law.
`Looks fine from here,' Sudden said. `Seen the inside?' `Not yet,' the nester grinned. `There's Judge Towler.'
Sudden saw an oldish man passing on the other side of the street. Even without his battered high hat he would have been tall but for a pronounced stoop. A full-skirted shabby black coat flapped about his thighs, his boiled shirt was wrinkled and soiled, and his grey beard unkempt. Nevertheless, he still presented a kind of decayed distinction. Eyes bent, he seemed to be choosing his steps carefully, and twice they saw him stumble.
`I'm told he's hittin' the bottle pretty constant,' Drait remarked. Pity--he's got brains; if he on'y had courage too....' They went on to dismount at a saloon which announced itself as `Merker's.' Underneath was the statement, `No Fancy Names and No Funny Business.'
`An' that's no brag,' Drait said. `If you lose here, you have lost, an' if you win, yo're paid.'
The company within was small--less than a dozen men were seated at the tables in front of the bar, and the various games of chance were idle. Behind a barrier of polished mahogany stood a dark-haired, smooth-chinned man whose face would not have appeared out of place above a clerical collar.
`Glad to see you, Nick,' he greeted, and when the nester presented his companion, added, `You too, Mister Green.' He set out the inevitable bottle and glasses, and in a lowered tone, said, `The sheriff is makin' a big talk an'
