'That seems possible.'
'Shore as death,' the other rejoined. 'Point is, what yu goin' to do? Me, I'd boot him off'n the ranch.'
'Having first obtained his permission, of course,' the Colonel said drily. 'No, if he's the man you claim, he's dangerous, and it would be poor policy to present him to the enemy. Here, we can keep an eye on his activities. Do the men know?'
'I ain't told nobody, but Turvey may have talked.'
'If so, it can't be helped. Give Green to understand that his past doesn't matter, and especially, that I am ignorant of it. Keep him tied to Homer--I think that lad is loyal, and we shall have news of any treachery.'
'Well, yo're the boss, but it's takin' a devil of a risk,' Lagley grimaced.
For some time after the foreman had departed, Keith sat in the gathering gloom, chewing at the butt of his cigar, thinking the situation over. He could not doubt what he had heard, for Green himself had admitted that the tale would be true. The puzzling point was the presence of a notorlous outlaw, presumably fleeing from justice, in that part of the country, if it were not to seek sanctuary in Hell City. Texas was a long way off, but other offences might have been committed since, perhaps in Arizona, necessitating a hiding-place.
'It certainly seems that Steve must be right,' he mused aloud. 'All the same, I don't believe it.'
'Don't believe what, yu ol' slave-owner?' boomed a big voice from a few yards distant. 'That the North beat the South? Well, they did; I was there, an' seen it.'
Keith stood up. 'Hello, Martin, I hear you've been rustling some of my cows,' he retaliated. 'Come right in.'
'Druv over a-purpose to pay yu for 'em.'
'Why?' the Double K man snorted. 'You and your damned Yankee Government didn't mind stealing my niggers, so--'
A slim form slipped from the lighted window which led on to the verandah. 'If you two are going to fight the Civil War all over again, supper will be ruined,' Joan said. 'Good evening, Mister Merry; I fancied I recognized your voice.'
'Yu know darned well there ain't another like it in Arizony,' the visitor responded, and shook a warning finger at her. 'Don't yu go gettin' sarcastic--one in yore family is a-plenty. An' yu needn't to `mister' me neither, just because yu got a good-lookin' new rider; he ain't half the man I am, anyways.'
'Just about, I should guess,' she dimpled, with a calculating glance at the other's squat bulk, 'but he's more--distributed.'
'Yu sassy young chipmunk--'
The voice of the host intervened. 'Stop wrangling, you--infants; I'm hungry. And Joan, you'd better hear what I have just learned before you decide to fall in love with Green.'
'I haven't the remotest intention of doing so,' she laughed. 'It would break Martin's heart.'
'Shore would,' the fat man agreed. 'I'd have to shoot him up, an' I'm admittin' that's a task I wouldn't fancy.'
'You'll fancy it less presently,' Keith said sardonically. During the meal, he told his news. The Twin Diamond owner nodded his head, as though not surprised.
'A gunman, huh?' he commented. 'Guessed he warn't just an ornery cow-punch. Sudden! Seem to have heard of him some time, but ... What arc yu goin' to do, Ken?'
'Watch him,' the rancher replied, 'an' if he's straight, use him to clean up that den of infamy in the hills.' Merry looked at the girl, whose face was now pale; he knew of what she was thinking. His own expression belied his name.
'A clean-up means on'y one thing to such a man,' he stated. 'Does he know about--Jeff?'
Keith's aristocratic features might have been carved in white marble. 'Yes,' he said, in a cold, passionless tone which effectually closed the subject.
In the bunkhouse, Sudden soon sensed an air of restraint in regard to himself. He caught some of the outfit eyeing him furtively, and, while no one deliberately avoided him, even the men he knew best appeared to be afflicted with a feeling of awkwardness utterly foreign to their care-free souls. Evidently the purloiner of the placard had lost no time in making use of it. Frosty was not there, having gone to Dugout, and Sudden speculated, rather bitterly, whether the new friendship would stand the strain. Presently the foreman threw back the door and called him outside.
'They figure I'm goin' to be fired,' he reflected.
Lagley went to the point at once. 'The 01' Man sent for me,' he began. 'Someone has told him that yo're a Texas outlaw named Quick, no, that ain't it--Sudden--knowed it was somethin' to do with speed. He's mighty sore, said for me to give yu yore time, pronto.'
The darkness hid the cowboy's smile; he knew the man was lying, and had his answer ready. In an aggrieved tone, he said: 'So that's his sort? All right, I'll take the trail straight away; Black Sam'll put me up.'
This, as he had expected, was not to Lagley's liking. 'Hold on,' he cried. 'Hell, they got yu named right. I spoke up for yu--told Ken he was doin' a damn-fool thing, seein' yo're the kind o' fella we can use. He give in-- usually does, when I stand up to him,' he concluded boastfully.
'Why, that's mighty good o' yu, Steve. Who put him wise?'
'I dunno; all he said was that one o' the boys reckernized yu, an' that don't tell much--we git 'em from all over.'
Sudden nodded. 'I'm obliged to yu. I warn't honin' to travel; this is a good ranch.'
'It would be a better one if young Jeff was in charge,' the foreman said meaningly. 'Some of us would like to see it. Keith has changed a lot of late; goin' loco, I'd say. If anythin' happened to him, well, I don't fancy bein' bossed by a gal.'
'Wouldn't suit me neither,' Sudden replied. 'Yu figure the boy ain't such a hard case, huh?'
'Oh, he's tough all right, an' yu can't wonder. But he's a swell leader an'--generous. I ain't askin' yu to take my word; go see for yoreself.'
The puncher laughed grimly. 'I guess I wouldn't be very popular in Hell City.'
'That needn't to worry yu. If yo're there to see him, nobody will dare cock an eye at yu; he's got the whole b'ilin' waitin' on his word.'
'Yu seem to know him.'
'Know him?' Lagley repeated. 'Shore I do, since he was a pup; worked with him on the range, an' hope to again. Now, see here, Green, I didn't cotton to yu right off--mebbe it was that trick yu played when we first met, but a fella's a fool if he can't change his mind for good reason. I guess we understand one another better now. Think over what I've said, an' if yu wanta see Satan, I can fix it. Yu sabe?'
Sudden did. He had learned what he wanted--that the foreman was a traitor, willing to double-cross his employer, and that he and others of the outfit were already planning to put the son in the father's place. The idea of Lagley interceding with Keith on his behalf amused him; either he was making the best of what he regarded as a bad job, or setting a trap for a man he did not like.
'An' that man is goin' to walk right into it,' he told himself. 'But not with his eyes shut, Mister Steve.'
When he returned to the bunkhouse, he found the atmosphere altered, evidently the foreman had been talking. Genial looks greeted him from all save one--Turvey's warped, malignant mind retained its rancour despite the instructions he had received.
'I'm told yu come from Texas, Green,' he said, in his high-pitched, reedy voice. 'A fine country.'
'Shore is,' Sudden replied, and waited.
'Over-run with sheriffs, though--fair lousy with 'em,' the other went on.
Sudden smiled sweetly. 'Well now, I was wonderin' why yu didn't stay.'
A ripple of laughter proclaimed that he had scored and Turvey's expression was not pretty.
'Who told yu I ever was there?' he grated.
'Why, yu seemed to know the place,' Sudden retorted, and shot a shaft at a venture, 'Didn't meet up with Rogue's Riders, I s'pose?'
He saw the man's eyes flicker, but the denial came promptly. 'Never heard of 'em,' and the sneer, 'Friends o' yourn?'
'I knew Rogue,' was the quiet reply. 'He was as crooked as they make 'em, but he played straight with those who trusted him. I've met worse men, an' how that fella could use a six-gun!'
