'I ain't very clear my own self,' Sudden admitted. 'Yu were there when the herd was run off?'
'Yeah, four of us was watchin' them steers yu an' me bin collectin'--Steve had a hunch somethin' was goin' to happen,' Frosty said.
Sudden's grin was ironical. 'He would have,' he commented. 'An' he wanted plenty witnesses.'
'Over a dozen of 'ern closed in onus from all sides, firin',' Frosty continued. 'They got Denver in the leg, crippled two hosses, an' swept the cows off before we'd got our breath; it was the neatest gather. The leader's mount was the spit o' Nigger.'
'Was he masked?'
'I didn't get that close an' the light was poor, but I'd say he had a bandanna round his chops. He shorely looked liked yu, Jim.'
'It warn't me nor Nigger--both of us was in Hell City.'
'Yu didn't go to Red Rock?'
'Never meant to, an' Keith knowed it,' Sudden said. 'I've been framed, cowboy. Mister Satan wants me to throw in with him.'
'I'll bet yu'd not do that, Jim.'
'Then yu'd lose, for that is pre-cisely what I'm goin' to do,' was the sardonic answer. 'Are yu suggestin' I should let the Double K string me up?''There's other places,' Frosty pointed out.
'I know it,' Sudden retorted harshly. 'I'm to go on the dodge for somethin' I didn't do, huh? That's happened before, an' I'm through. This time I'll hit back, an' hit hard.'
The bitter vehemence of this declaration told that further argument would be useless. Frosty was silent for a while, and then : 'If yu need help, Jim, yu on'y gotta mention it--that's what I really came to say, an' I reckon it goes for some o' the others, too.'
'I'm obliged, but there's no call for my friends to put their necks in a noose because I do,' Sudden replied.
'Pickles !' Frosty laughed. 'Friends oughta hang together, anyways. We're backin' yu--the limit.'
'Which is mighty good hearin',' Sudden said soberly. 'I got a sorta ambition to abolish Hell City, but yu needn't mention it yet awhile.'
Frosty stared at him incredulously. 'Is that all?' he asked. 'What yu goin' to do in yore spare time?'
'I'll have to think up somethin',' Sudden grinned. 'Listen: I happened on a private way o' gettin' into the place.' He described the spot. 'Find, but don't use it till yu have a word from me. Still got that badge? Good, yu may need it.'
'Jim, d'yu reckon Steve is Toxin'?'
'He was powerful eager to see me dance on nothin'.'
'No foreman likes to have his cattle stole.'
'That's true; but I wouldn't trust him. Now, I gotta be on the move. So long.'
'When yu want us we'll come a-runnin',' were Frosty's parting words. 'Yu goin' to town?'
'Yeah, I couldn't stay for supper las' night an' my insides is remindin' me; fresh air's good, but it ain't fillin'.'
Frosty watched the black till it disappeared round a curve and then climbed his own mount. 'Just can't figure him, Cactus,' he mused, 'but I'm bettin' high he's--straight.'
Sudden's demeanour when he reached Dugout was anything but that of a fugitive. He procured the needed meal at Black Sam's, and learned that though the raid on the ranches was the one subject of conversation, his own supposed share in it was not known. This was fortunate, the town being indignant at the spoliation of its two best customers.
'Couple o' hundred head at one lick,' Jansen said. 'Real money, that is. I'll wager Keith is some difficult to live with.'
'He's takin' it hard,' the puncher admitted.
'Beats me why him an' Merry don't team up an' drive them rats out'n their hole,' Naylor remarked. 'Some of us would give a hand.'
'Ever bin in Hell City?' Birt asked. 'I have---on business,' he added hastily. ' 'Less yo're a bird, there's but two ways in, an' four men with rifles would hold the pair of 'em agin ten times their number.'
Sudden left them arguing, and rode in the direction of the place he had been warned to avoid. He was less than half-way when he met Miss Dalroy, riding a horse he recognized. At the sight of him she pulled up, anger and scorn in her eyes.
'You are going back?' she cried.
'Shore looks thataway,' he replied, and then, 'So he lets yu ride his hoss? He's a beauty--the hoss, I mean.'
He leant over and stroked the shiny muzzle, his hand straying upwards, pushing the short hair aside to find traces of white paint at the roots.
'I tried to see the Chief night afore last,' he said casually. 'Silver said he warn't there.'
She looked sharply at him. 'What are you trying to find out?'
He shrugged. 'Just whether it was an excuse or not. There can't be any mystery 'bout his movements, anyway, an'yo're forgettin'--this.' He pointed to the badge he had donned after leaving Dugout.
'He was abroad,' she admitted. 'If you had any sense at all you'd throw that thing away and--ride.'
'Why not take yore own advice?' he smiled. 'What keeps yu in Hell City?'
'The reason we all have--necessity,' she replied, and in a burst of bitterness, 'I killed a brute, and because I was a woman, they called it murder and would have hanged me; at the best, it meant a life sentence. Jeff contrived my escape, and brought me here.'
'One good deed to his credit.'
'Don't think it. Many of his men owe him the same debt, and that gives him absolute power over them.'
'Ever seen him without the mask?' Sudden asked casually.
'No, but once he showed me a photograph; it was signed `Jefferson Keith.' '
'Odd that a fella should hide his face from the woman he cares for,' the puncher murmured. 'Shucks, I shouldn't 'a' said that; musta been thinkin' aloud.'
Her laugh did not ring true. 'If you're meaning me, you'd better think again,' she said scornfully. 'I'm just his property, to pet or punish at his pleasure. He is incapable of any passion, save hate, and to satisfy that will stoop to the vilest deeds, and yet ...' she broke off with an impatient gesture, and then, 'In some way you have offended him.' She saw his little smile of tolerance, and touched her horse with the spur. 'Oh, well, a wilful man must learn his lesson.'
'I'm shore grateful, ma'am,' he said gravely, and resumed his journey.
Apart from proof that Satan was in the plot to discredit him at the Double K he had discovened nothing. Belle Dalroy he had already classed as a fugitive from the law. Wayward, im petuous, and quick-tempered, she was not to be trusted. He smiled thinly at the thought that in this place to which he was going there was not one person on whom he could rely. The woman, Anita, perhaps, but promises made in the stress of emotion were not wont to be lasting. He consoled himself with a philosophical reflection:
'Playin' a lone hand has one good point--yu on'y got yoreself to worry about.'
Chapter XV
Satan welcomed the puncher with a satirical smile. 'Back so soon?' he cried.
'Yeah. Don't tell me yo're surprised.'
'I said yesterday that you would be. I take it they were not pleased to see you at the Double K?'
'Pleased don't express it; I was a dream come true. I had to tear myself away,' Sudden told him. 'Why, Steve wanted to waste a new rope on me.'
He gave an account of his escape, and the change in the masked man's expression was amazing.
'I told him you were not to be harmed,' he rapped out. 'Damn his soul, he's getting ' He stopped, conscious of betraying himself, and then, 'Well, it doesn't matter, no hurt was done. Still, it's a pity you stole those cows.'
'So I did take 'em?'
'Certainly, so far as the country round is concerned, and my men believe the same,' came the cool reply.
