Turvey laughed scornfully. 'Rogue shoot?' he jeered. 'Why, he couldn't hit a barn 'less he was inside it.'
He saw the snare into which he had stumbled when Sudden said, 'I expect yu !mowed him better than I did.'
'I was told that--I never seen the man,' he protested.
'Yu said yu hadn't heard of him,' Lazy pointed out. Turvey scowled, but showed no desire to continue an argument in which he had very obviously been worsted.
For some time that night Sudden lay awake, trying to place this man who had apparently played a part in a page of his own past, but without success; after all, he had not seen all the members of Rogue's gang of bandits.
Chapter X
In the morning, on the pretence that he needed another shirt, Sudden again searched his belongings, but the telltale notice was not there. Either the thief had destroyed, or could find another use for it. The circumstance did not worry him; he had a shrewd suspicion it would be put to the purpose he had intended. On his way to the corral, the rancher stopped him.
'You and Homer get along all right?' he asked. 'Good, I've told Steve you are to work together.'
'I'm thankin' yu,' the puncher replied.
As he threw the saddle on Nigger, and tightened the cinches, he was puzzling over Keith's attitude, unburdening himself to his four-footed friend.
'Either Steve was lyin' complete, or the 01 Man is playin' ignorant, Nig,' he muttered. 'The on'y certain thing is they ain't trustin' me; Frosty is to keep cases. Wonder where the chucklehead has got to?'
'Stick 'em up !' hissed a low voice, and something hard was jammed in the small of his back.
Sudden froze for an instant, and then, with lightning speed, whirled on the balls of his feet and flung himself on the man who had cat-footed up behind him. They went to the ground together, Sudden on top, but at once he was erect again, brushing the dust from his clothes.
'yu perishin' idjut,' he said. 'I might 'a' broke yore fool neck.'
Frosty rose also, filled his depleted lungs, and spoke feelingly. 'Namin' yu `Sudden' was shorely an inspiration.'
'So yu know?'
'All of us knows--Turvey, for once, was plenty chatter-some.'
'Was it him put Keith wise?'
'Dunno, but if he did, why ain't yu been sent packin'?'
'Mebbe they'd rather have me here than in Hell City.'
'Which would be sound reasonin'. Let's go.'
For several miles nothing was said, but Sudden was conscious that his companion was covertly observing him. Presently the boy blurted out: 'Jim, I just can't believe it; vu don't seem that sort o' man.'
Sudden divined his thoughts. To be a famous gunman was one thing, and murder for money was another. Moved by an impulse he did not attempt to analyse he told the story of his notorious nickname.' Charged with a crime of which he :new nothing, forced to fight to free his neck from the noose, hunted like a beast of prey and driven to take refuge with the type of outcast the world had made him. Baldly, briefly, the f acts were stated.
'I ain't squealin'--a man has to play the cyards he gets,' he said in conclusion, 'but I reckoned yu'd a right to be told, case yu--'
'Forget it,' Frosty said gruffly. 'I'm proud to know yu. I figure yu can't choose yore friends--either yu like a fella or vu don't, that's all there is to it. Luck has played yu some scurvy tricks, Jim. Can I tell the boys?'
'No, keep it behind yore teeth--I ain't carin' what the others think--an' there's another reason to that. I'm told that some o' the outfit would like to see Jeff ownin' the ranch. Yu one of'em?'
Frosty shook his head. 'Ken Keith hired me, an' that goes for most of us,' he said. 'Mebbe the 01' Man's rasp of a ongue has roughed up a few o' the older men.'
Soon afterwards they separated, riding in opposite directions. Sudden had said nothing of the foreman's proposal. He believed that Homer could be trusted, but he was playing in a desperate game and dared not add to the risks. Also, he wanted to learn if he was watched. So he kept under cover, weaving his way through thickets of tall grass, thorn and mesquite.
Presently the clink of iron against stone sounded faintly. Forcing his mount further into the undergrowth, he waited, a bitter sneer on his lips; his 'friend' was spying upon him. To his amazement, however, the rider who came into view was Lagley, sitting slackly in his saddle, and with no attempt at concealment. He was apparently heading for Coyote Canyon, and, after a mental apology to Frosty, Sudden decided to follow.
'Fly at it, Steve,' he grinned. 'I never did like advertisin' myself'
As he had surmised, the foreman turned into the canyon and proceeded along it at a leisurely pace. Sudden, at a safe distance in the rear, kept him in sight. At the end of the gully the ground sloped up to a little forest of dwarf pines and continued to rise until a scrub-covered level was reached. Here the cowboy lost his quarry but the whinny of a horse from a black blob of brush told him that Lagley could not be far away Leaving Nigger, he circled the spot and found a faint trail.
Stepping lightly as an Indian, he moved slowly forward until he reached a small cleared space at one side of which the foreman's pony was tied to a shrub. The dim light which filtered through the foliage overhead enabled him to see that Lagley was not there, and an opening in the ground suggested the reason. Knotted round a near-by tree was a lariat, the end of which vanished in the hole. Sudden peered down but could see nothing but a kind of cave, only barely visible. It was but a drop of a dozen feet, and the rope made descent simple.
He now found himself in a large, irregularly shaped room, - !lowed out of the living rock. The uneven floor was littered rubble and at one side the wall was pierced by a tunnel orifice through which came a diffused daylight. Searching around, he discovered another opening, with a rude ladder leading to a lower chamber. He went down, to find it similar in every respect to the one he had left, even to a second ladder. He was about to descend this when an indistinct mutter of voices warned him that it might not be wise. Instead, he crawled along the tunnel-like opening and peeped out. Below was a kind of street, with rock walls on both sides pitted with holes identical with the one he was using. On the ground level these were larger, and in some cases, had rough doors fitted to them. Even as he watched, the foreman emerged, crossed the street, and disappeared through one on the far side; he had the familiar red badge pinned on his breast.
Having seen enough, Sudden returned to where he had left his horse. This must be Hell City, and he had guessed Lagley's errand correctly; the stolen placard would shortly be in the possession of the chief of this outlaw community. Since he had brought it with that object, he was well content. The more so as he had lighted upon what seemed to be a private means of entering or leaving the place; no doubt :here was a man on guard below, but ... The puncher was not one to ford a river before he came to it.
The Double K foreman found the man he had come to see alone, save for the loutish attendant hovering in the background. The red mask made the stony eyes paler than ever; they always gave Lagley an uncomfortable feeling. The boy he used to know had eyes of the same colour, but they werealive, mirthful, unless he was angered. Lae bandit nodded negligently to a seat.
'What brings you?' he enquired.
'Yore business, o' course,' the visitor replied. 'Have a good look at that.'
Satan unfolded the stolen placard and read it. 'Well, are you suggesting I should send to Texas for him? Too much trouble, my friend, Besides, he'll drift in, sooner or later.'
'Make it sooner,' Lagley said. 'He's here a'ready.'
The other straightened in his seat. 'And I was not told?' he cried. 'By Christmas, I'll--'
'Hold yore hosses, Jeff; nobody knows but me. He calls hisself Green, an' he's ridin' for--us.'
'That fellow?' Satan said coolly. 'Well?'
'He's useful--look how he handled Scar's crew, an' it was him an' Homer busted up that brandin' play. The 01' Man is stuck on him, which is another reason for ropin' him in.'
'Have you sounded him?'
'Kind of,' Lagley replied. 'He didn't jump at it--ain't the sort--but I figure yu could fix him.'
'What's he done to you?'
