They had left the open range and were traversing a sandy waste broken only by patches of scrub and bunchgrass. In front of them the ground rose gradually towards a range of barren hills, the slopes of which were gashed by steep-sided gorges. Sagebrush, mesquite, and an occasional juniper were the only trees; here and there a giant cactus flung wide its arms as though to bar their progress. Frosty pointed to the grey, forbidding heights ahead of them.
'Somewheres in there is Hell City,' he informed.
'Too far for a visit?'
'No, too dangerous,' was the reply. 'Also, we got work to d Hullo, what's that mean?'
Sudden followed the levelled finger; less than a mile away a tiny column of smoke was spiralling into the clear air, and then came a faint bellow.
'Damnation!' Frosty swore. 'They're swappin' brands right under our noses. C'mon.'
He dragged his Winchester from the sheath under the fender of his saddle, and was about to spur his pony when Sudden interposed:
'Wait, we'll take a peek at these hombres first; that smoke might be there for us to see.'
Crouching in their saddles and keeping, when possible, under cover of the scrub, they rode to within a couple of hundred yards of the tell-tale fire. Here they left the horses and stole forward on foot until they reached the mouth of a shallow gully, the wall on one side of which afforded an excellent view. One glance told the story. Two riders were holding a bunch of twenty steers, from' which a third was clumsily roping and dragging one at a time to the fire, where another pair awaited it. One of these, when the animal had been thrown, tied it, and his companion, drawing a glowing iron from the embers, bent over the prostrate beast. The pungent smell of burning hair assailed the nostrils of the watchers.
'This is a trap we mighty near ran our fool heads right into,' Sudden said. 'On'y them two at the fire know anythin' 'bout cattle. They were waitin' for us, an' where's the other jasper?'
He pointed to three saddled ponies standing apart. The spiteful crack of a rifle, the bullet from which perforated the crown of his hat, provided the answer. A spreading puff of smoke from the higher ground on the other side of the gullycompleted their information. Sudden flattened himself behind a slight upward slope and swore when a second shot hummed past his ears.
'Hell's bells, he's above us an' we can't see him,' he said. 'But we can stop the brand-blottin'.'
He pressed the trigger as he spoke and the man with the iron spun round and dropped. His companion was already running when Frosty fired and whooped when the target stumbled and pitched headlong, to move no more. At the first shot, the three with the herd abandoned their charge and spurred their mounts up the gully, leaving their look-out to fend for himself. A steady stream of lead showed that he was still attending to business.
'He's behind that big stone on the point,' Sudden decided. 'First, we'll set him afoot.' A thought came. 'Any chance o' them others circlin' round an' takin' a hand in the game?'
'Not one,' Frosty assured. 'Thisyer gorge is 'bout three mile long an' the sides is straight up.'
A couple of bullets into the ground beneath their feet sent the ponies careering wildly out across the plain, and the hidden rustler expressed his opinion of the proceeding with a miniature hurricane of lead which tore up the ground all round the cowboys.
'I'm suspectin' he ain't fond o' walkin'.' Sudden remarked, adding grimly, 'Well, mebbe he won't have any to do. See that rock to the right o' the one he's usin'? The face slopes back towards him an' there's just a chance a slug might angle off in his direction. Let's try her out.'
They made the experiment, painstakingly bespattering the stone Sudden had pointed out. The unknown replied vigorously, but the two men had dug themselves in and he did no damage. From time to time, a jeering shout commented upon what the utterer evidently regarded as poor marksmanship. Then one of these was cut short by an oath and the bombardment from the boulder ceased. For a while they waited, suspecting a ruse, and then Sudden cautiously pushed his empty hat into sight; no shot came.
'We might 'a' got him, or mebbe he's slipped away,' he said. He rose to his feet and nothing happened. 'We'll take a look.'
They descended to the floor of the gully, where the body of the brand-blotter sprawled unnaturally by the fire, the running-iron still clutched in his hand. A few yards away was his assistant, and both had ceased to breathe. They were Mexicans of the peon class, and on the breast of each was Satan's sign, the little red imp. Sudden drew his knife and cut the stitches which secured the symbol.
'Get the other,' he told Frosty. 'Might come in useful one time.'
They climbed laboriously to the top of the bluff, only to find the boulder which had sheltered the enemy deserted. The ground behind it was littered with cigarette stubs and empty shells, while the other stone was splashed with the marks of their bullets.
'We scared him out, anyways,' Frosty decided.
Sudden was staring at a red stain some paces away; there were others further on, with zigzagging footprints and an uneven furrow which might well have been made by a trailed rifle-butt. He did not follow them.
They went down, fetched their horses, and rounded up the steers, on four of which the brand had already been changed.
Frosty surveyed them with lifted eyebrows. Diamond,' he said. 'That's odd.'
'Shore is,' Sudden agreed gravely. 'But why?'
His friend laughed. 'We fit so well together that I keep forgettin' yo're a stranger,' he explained. 'Yu see, there is a Twin Diamond range, an' part of it runs cheek by jowl with our'n south-west o' here. The odd thing is that the owner, Martin Merry, is mighty fond o' Keith, an' the least likely to rustle his cattle.'
'It could be an attempt to make trouble atween 'em,' Sudden surmised, and pointed to one of the altered brands. 'Pretty raw work; even when it's healed up, a kid could see it had been tampered with.'
'I reckon yu got it,' Frosty assented. 'Merry's cows never stray this far--the feed is poor--an' his men would have to do some explainin'. What's our move?'
'Drive these four to the Twin Diamond an' let 'em see we ain't romancin'. That'll put a crimp in the game.'
The idea seemed sound, and having bunched the four animals which had been operated upon, and sent the others scampering into the open, they set out. To a question about burying the dead rustlers, Sudden replied harshly, 'D'yu reckon they'd 'a' done that for us? Besides, buzzards has to live.'
One look at the stern face and Frosty said no more. Brief as was their acquaintance, he had already divined that here was a man who, though not much older than himself in years, was immeasurably so in experience. Hazing their little herd ahead of them they rode in silence for a while. Then Sudden spoke:
'Them three skunks who skedaddled were Scar an' two o' the fellas I flung outa Black Sam's. How did they know I was comin' here?'
'They couldn't have--it just happened so,' the other replied. 'Though it is claimed that Satan hombre is a wizard.'
Sudden grinned in derision. 'Yu ain't believin' it, are yu?'
'Mebbe not, but it's amazin' the things he finds out,' was the dubious answer, and then, 'Why, damn it, nobody 'mowed till we started out this mornin'.'
'On'y the man who sent us,' came the sardonic reminder. Frosty's eyes widened. 'Oh, hell, Jim. I don't like Steve, but he wouldn't ...'
'Mebbe not, an' then again, lie might. Worth rememberin', anyways. What's Merry like?'
'Short, fat, an' got the easiest laugh I ever heard--might 'a' been made to fit his name. He's 'bout the on'y fella around here who can talk back to the Colonel, but when he scores yu he does it with a smile that takes the sting out. His outfit swears by him.'
'That tells me plenty,' Sudden said.
Two hours later they halted their charges in front of a long, squat timber edifice which was sadly in need of repair. Cracked, even broken, curtainless windows gaped at them, and in several places the roof quite evidently was a poor protection from the elements. The bunk-house, barns, and corrals were in little better shape. Frosty noted his companion's surprise.
'One o' these days the scrap-heap will tumble in an' Merry will crawl out'n the ruins an' just tell the boys to build another,' he said. 'No, there ain't a female on the premises, as yu might guess; he's got a Chink cook.' He
