poverty. It was my fault, let me take the punishment. I do not fear the whip, but Pedro is ill--it will kill him.'
The impassioned appeal might have been made to a statue. One piteous glance at those implacable eyes told her that she had failed.
'Take her away,' Satan ordered.
The woman stood up. Despair had transformed her from a broken suppliant into a raging fury. She raised a hand heavenwards.
'You devil!' she raved. 'May God's fire strike you--'
Ere she could finish, the words were stifled in her throat. The men who had seized her were about to drag her from the scene when the Chief stayed them.
'Let her remain,' he said harshly. 'She shall see her lover suffer, and if she utters but one word, I will double the sentence.'
But the spirit of passion was spent; with a low moan, the woman sank to the ground and buried her face in her hands. The man with the whip, whose advances she had rejected, gazed at the bowed form with brutal satisfaction; every blow he dealt would lacerate her also; his vengeance would be complete.
A curt command and the lash whistled through the air, sweeping across the bared back and cutting a livid weal from shoulder to hip. The half-breed's whole frame quivered and from his ashen lips sprang a shriek of agony.
'I figured Muley would draw blood at the first lick,' one of the wagerers commented.
'Bah! He ain't started yet--that was just a taster,' the other replied. 'He don't want Pedro to pass out too soon.'
The cruel work went on, blow succeeding blow, and with fiendish accuracy the wielder of the weapon contrived that each should fall on a new spot, so that by the time a dozen had been delivered, the victim's back became a red, raw mass. The pain must have been atrocious but after the first cry there was no further sound save the hiss of the lash. Dangling limply from his bound wrists, head bowed between hisbiceps, the sufferer was spared the sight of the brute beasts gathered there to witness his torment.
'Gittin' tired Muley?' one asked jeeringly. 'Somebody did oughta spell you.'
The flogger, already exasperated by the silence of his subject, spat an oath at the speaker and, measuring his distance, rained stroke after stroke, slashing the pulped flesh to ribbons and sending the blood flying. Then he paused, panting, his eyes glaring murder. But his work was done; the drooping head of the half-breed sagged sideways. Muley darted forward and grasped it by the hair.
'Cashed!' he cried disgustedly. 'He's cheated me, damn him.'
With a gesture, the Chief stilled the babel which broke out. 'Justice is done,' he said grandiloquently.
As they walked away, the puncher was aware that his companion was eyeing him closely.
'Well, what do you think of my method of treating traitors?'
''Pears to make yu popular with yore people,' was Sudden's non-committal answer.
Satan laughed mockingly. 'They hate, but are afraid of me,' he boasted, 'and that is how I would have it. Poets prate of love, but fear is the strongest of the passions; it is the great governing factor of life; fear of pain, punishment, death and damnation turns us all into cowards and makes so-called civilization possible. Have you ever thought of that?'
'Too high-falutin' for me,' Sudden said. 'What I'm worryin' about right now is where I'll sleep an' put my hoss; I ain't due back at the Double K till to-morrow evenin'.'
'Silver will see to it, and there is a corral at the other end of the place.'
'I'll take Nigger along, an' have a look round.'
'Better wear this,' Satan replied, producing one of the red badges. 'It will tell the men that you are now one of us, and may save you trouble.'
Sudden's truculent tone was back. 'If anybody starts somethin' I hope yu got a good big graveyard.'
The cold eyes glinted. 'There's room in it,' was the answer.
Chapter XIII
It did not take the cowboy long to find the corral, formed by fencing an indentation in the cliff on the left of the street. There was a trough of water, and scanty tussocks of coarse grass afforded some sort of feed. Sudden surveyed it whimsically.
'Short commons, of friend,' he said, as he turned the black loose, 'but yu ain't gotta live here--yet. Don't yu go to learnin' bad habits from them other rough-necks.'
By the side of the corral was a largish timber building, a weather-worn sign on which announced it as 'Dirk's Saloon.' Carrying his saddle and rifle, Sudden went in. A middle-aged, pock-marked man behind the bar was the sole occupant; he promptly produced a bottle.
'Drinkin' alone is a poor kind o' pastime,' the customer said genially, and when the other had helped himself, added, 'Got a bed for me to-night?'
'Guess I can fix it,' was the reply. 'Seen you with the Chief. New chum, huh?'
'Yu might call it that,' the cowboy agreed. 'So yu were there? It warn't a pretty sight, but a fella who double-crosses his pals don't deserve pity.'
'You said it. Pedro got what he shorely asked for.'
They drank again, and Sudden, having dumped his belongings in his bedroom, went out. Turning westwards, he discovered that the street narrowed again to a mere defile closed by a gate similar to that by which he had entered. He stopped short of it, and retraced his steps. A little beyond the saloon, on the opposite side, the sound of sobs arrested him. Acting upon an impulse, he stole along a burrow-like assage outside which he had halted. It led to one of the rimitive caves, and there he found the woman, Anita, on her i ees by some scattered blankets. Two stools, and a few attered cooking utensils comprised all the furniture. She looked up as he entered, and said dully: 'What now? Haven't you done enough?'
'Somebody seemed to be in trouble,' Sudden replied. 'I thought mebbe I could help.'
'Help?' she repeated harshly. 'From one who wears the Devil's trade-mark? Can you bring the dead back to life, you who stood by and laughed as he died?'
'Yu got me wrong, ma'am,' he said gently. 'I ain't much iven to laughin' an' doin's like that shore don't amuse me. I ouldn't stop it--they'd got the goods on him.'
She hesitated, her tear-drenched eyes still suspicious. 'It s true,' she murmured at length. 'That hell-dog knows everything--he has a spirit. Even at this moment maybe--'
'Shucks ! he's no more'n an ornery human bein'--a mighty ornery one at that. He's got spies an' I'm bettin' he pays 'em well. Go an' tell him what I've said an' make yore peace.'
Her eyes flashed. 'After what he did? I would die first,' she cried passionately. 'Wasn't it enough to take life without ...?'
She broke down, but he gradually learned the story. They had brought the dead man to his wretched abode, and when she had begged them to let her bury the body, had hurled it headlong through the opening which provided light and entilation, with the cruel gibe that the coyotes would save her the trouble. Sudden looked out; more than a hundred feet below he could see the tossing tops of trees above theundergrowth. Satan had spoken truly; there was indeed room in the grave-yard.
'Mebbe I can find an' bury him for yu,' he said.
She stared at him, wonderingly. 'Stranger, if you'll do that, I--'
'Shucks,' he interrupted hastily, and beat a retreat. Getting his horse, he rode to the western gate, which the man in charge opened without demur. For a mile the wagon-track rose and fell, swinging round then where it dipped down into the valley which the bandit town overlooked. Thrusting through the thick brush along the foot of the cliff he arrived near the place where he judged the body must fall. Presently he found it--a shapeless heap in a patch of tall grass. He had no implement to dig a hole but there was a convenient crevice and in this he laid the poor broken frame, piling heavy stones to defend it from desecration. Then, with his knife, he carved a rude cross to mark the spot.
Night was nigh when he again entered the town, and in the shadows opposite the saloon, saw the woman waiting. He told her what he had done and the drooping figure straightened.
'So, I have only to avenge him,' she said, and her low voice was venomous. It softened again as-she continued, 'Stranger, in this den of wild beasts it is good to have a friend; remember you can count on one who will
