Though the cowboy sensed the threat his expression was blank. 'Shore I'll be back,' he said, and added a clumsy compliment, 'Hell City ain't so much, but if it's good enough for Miss Dalroy ...'
He bowed to the lady, nodded to the man, and swaggered out. For a space there was silence, and then Satan remarked, 'That fellow has much to learn.'
The woman shivered; the words were commonplace, but the tone in which they were spoken made them sound like a death sentence. With what seemed uncanny power, he read her thought.
'Feeling sorry for him, Belle?'
The start of surprise told him he had guessed correctly, but her reply was contradictory. With a disdainful shrug she said: 'Not very, but naturally, I'm grateful.'
Dusk was falling when Sudden set out for the Double K. As he neared the gate of the town, a hooded figure stopped him; it was Belle Dalroy.
'I've been waiting to tell you just one thing,' she whispered hurriedly. 'Don't come back--ever.'
'Why, ma'am, it's right kind o' yu, but I'm afraid that ain't possible,' Sudden told her. 'Yu see--'
'That you are one of those self-satisfied folk on whom a warning is wasted, yes,' she finished cuttingly. 'Very well, I can do no more.'
She turned swiftly and was lost in the growing darkness. The puncher rode slowly on, wondering.
Chapter XIV
When he reached the Double K, Sudden rode straight to the ranch-house. Through the french windows of the living-room he could see that Keith had visitors--Martin Merry and Lagley. The girl was not present. The eyes of the men opened wide when the cowboy tapped on the window and walked in. Instantly three guns covered him.
'What the devil are you doing here?' his employer rapped out. 'Talk fast, and keep your hands still.'
It was Sudden's turn to look astonished. 'I'm here to report, seh,' he said simply.
'And you brought your nerve with you,' the Colonel retorted. 'Having got the herd hidden I suppose you could be spared?'
'I'm in the dark, seh,' the puncher said patiently.
'Really? So it will be news that our northern range was raided last night and over one hundred head driven off, together with as many Twin Diamond steers?'
'It certainly is.'
'Yu an' Frosty have bin roustin' out an' bunchin' cattle on that boundary,' Lagley remarked.
'At yore orders.'
'So yu knowed where to find 'em.'
Sudden's eyes narrowed. 'Yu tryin' to tell me I stole the stock?' he asked.
'Just that,' the foreman replied. 'Lyin' about it won't buy yu nothin'. Yu were seen--that white blaze on yore black is plenty unusual.'
'Who saw me?'
'Several o' the boys--yore side-kick, Frosty, among 'em.'
'Their sight must be good, me bein' in--'
'Red Rock, was yu about to say?' Lagley sneered. 'We happen to know yu never went near there.'
'That was a stall,' Sudden explained. 'I told the Colonel I was goin' to Hell City.'
'On my business, but it seems to have been on his own,' Keith said acridly. 'He deceived me.'
'I'll say he did,' the foreman cried exultantly. 'Gives him a chance to pull off the rustlin' an' if he's seen there, yu can't chirp--he's workin' for yu. Damned smart, I gotta hand it to yu, Sudden; the on'y mistake yu made was usin' yore own hoss. I guess that fixes yu, good an' proper.'
He looked expectantly at his companions. Merry slowly shook his head. 'It looks like yu might be right, Lagley, but I hate to find myself mistaken in a man,' he said. 'What yu goin' to do, Ken?'
'Hang him at sunrise,' was the stern reply. 'A rope's the only remedy for rustling. Take his guns, Steve, and shoot if he makes a move.'
Sudden's brain was busy. The rancher's threat was no empty one, and to allow himself to be taken meant a shameful death; there would be no mercy for a man who had helped to rob his own range. Only a single chance remained, desperate, but he must take it. Three of them would be firing at him, but...
Silent, with arms hanging loosely from drooping shoulders as though overwhelmed by the catastrophe which had overtaken him, he waited until the foreman moved to do his master's hidding. Then his left hand flashed to his belt and a bullet shattered the hanging light, plunging the room into darkness. Three spits of flame followed, but the fugitive had instantly dropped to hands and knees, dived for the window, and disappeared amid a shower of broken glass. When the three reached the verandah, the diminishing drum of pounding hooves apprised them that they were too late. An excited group of half-clad men came surging from the bunkhouse, and Lagley was yelling to them to get their guns and horses when Keith stopped him.
'Don't be seven sorts of a damned fool,' he said savagely. 'you had him covered, in the light, and he got away. Fine chance you'd have in the dark. Tell the men to turn in, and do the same.'
When the foreman had gone, Merry turned to his host. 'I'm just as pleased he made it. It's true things looked bad, but I can size up a fella with most, an' I'm bettin' there's an explanation.'
'There is always that for the lunatic willing to believe it. Better put him on your pay-roll.'
'I will, if he shows up,' Martin grinned. 'He's worth three o' yore foreman.'
'Steve's stupid, but he's honest,' Keith replied.
'Mebbe, but he ain't the man he used to be, an' I'd have no opening for him at the Twin Diamond,' Martin said. 'Hullo, here's Miss Joan come to see which of us she's gotta weep over.'
The girl, wrapped in a great-coat, and carrying a candle, was standing in the wrecked window. Keith explained what had happened.
'I don't believe that Green would steal cattle,' she said. Merry burst out laughing and slapped his friend on the shoulder. 'Two to one against yu, ol'-timer; yo're outvoted,' he cried.
'Which ought to convince me, I suppose?' Keith replied stiffly. 'Well, it doesn't. If I lay hands on the scoundrel again, he swings, even if he's riding for you, Martin.'
'Satisfied that he would not be pursued ln the dark, Sudden eased his mount after covering a few miles. He saw clearly enough what had occurred: Satan and Lagley had 'framed' him, and his absence from the Double K had provided the opportunity. A daub of white paint and the bandit's black would convincingly resemble Nigger in the starlight. Satan's reference to his early return to Hell City recurred to him and he now understood the sly smile which had then puzzled him. The reason for the plot was not so obvious. Either the bandit wished to force the cowboy to join him openly, or to get rid of him altogether. Sudden did not think the latter likely, though it might well have suited Lagley.
Dismissing the matter from his mind, he began to seek a place to spend the night, for he had no intention of returning to Hell City until daylight. It did not take him long; at a spot where the trail to Dugout dipped between brush-covered slopes, he found a grassy hollow from which he could see without being seen. He picketed his horse, but did not remove the saddle, rolled himself in his blanket, and, back against a sapling, was soon asleep.
The sun was climbing the eastern sky when a merry but unmelodious voice awoke him; it seemed familiar. Creeping forward, he parted the bushes; Frosty was riding leisurely towards him. Sudden grinned, thrust out a gun, and called hoarsely: 'Push 'em up, yu yowlin' he-cat.'
The rider's start of surprise nearly threw him out of the saddle, but the protruding weapon admitted no argument; he raised his hands. The hidden voice went on grumblingly: 'Oughta blow yore light out, spoilin' my sleep an' pizenin' the atmosphere thataway. Explain yoreself.'
Try as he might, he could not keep the mirth out of his tone. Frosty detected it; he lowered his hands.
'Shoot an' be damned,' he said.
Instead of a bullet, came an order. 'The sheriff o' Dugout will get off that bone-bag he calls a hoss an' step up here, fetchin' said bone-bag along.'
The cowboy did as directed and found himself facing the smiling owner of the voice. 'Knowed it was yu allatime,' he said hastily. 'Just had to let yu play yore kid game. No, there ain't nobody followin' me; I slipped off.'
'To find me?'
'I was hopin'--figured yu might go to town. Jim, I don't savvy--thought mebbe yu could wise me up.'
