'You see, I wanted to make sure of you, Sudden, and as this is now the only place where you will be safe, I think I've done it. Do you follow me?'
'I'm treadin' close on yore heels.'
'I credit you with courage and intelligence. I need such a man to be my
'Pardner?'
'Right hand, I was about to say, but it may lead to the other. Those animals outside can execute but are incapable of thinking, for me or for themselves. You will take orders from me, and they from you.'
'I'm a stranger; mebbe they won't stand for that.'
'Are those guns of yours ornaments?' was the cynical query. 'There is only one man who may prove really awkward, since you will be succeeding him.'
'Ain't meanin' Steve, are yu?'
'That clod?' Satan sneered. 'No, this is a fellow called `Butch'--short for butcher, I imagine, he being a slayer of some note. Have you heard of him?'
Despite the indifferent tone, the puncher was aware of the other's scrutiny.
'Not any,' he replied nonchalantly.
'I shall leave you to deal with him, as you choose,' the bandit said meaningly. 'He is in the town now. You understand?'
'Why don't yu tell him to pull his freight?' Sudden asked bluntly.
'Knowing what he does, he would be a menace. Also, I need someone to take his place, and that someone must be the better man. Now do you see?'
Sudden did, all too clearly; he had again been jockeyed into false position. Butch, a dangerous tool who had transgressed, must be got rid of, and he--probably regarded in the same light, was to do the work. He could see no way out, save to abandon his mission.
'I get yu,' he said.
'Right. How about quarters?'
'The saloon ain't so bad. Don't cotton much to these holes in the ground; make me feel like a gopher.'
'One gets used to them.'
Sudden glanced round. 'Yu oughta be middlin' comfortable,' he said. 'That's a han'some picture.'
Standing on the floor, where the light was poorest, he hadnot noticed it on his previous visits. A large canvas, depicted the life-size figure of a gunman. The half-crouch pointing pistol, and malignant expression on the face, produced an amazing effect of reality.
'The subject should appeal to you.'
'Yeah,' Sudden agreed. 'The gun is wrong--he'd be dead afore he got it that high. Allasame, it's mighty clever---I could 'a' sworn I saw the eyes move.'
Satan laughed. 'That's a common illusion,' he returned. 'Well, I wish you luck.'
'The fella who depends on luck has a poor pardner,' the cowboy said, and went out.
A few moments passed and then the masked man said quietly, 'You can come out, Butch.'
In response to the invitation, a man emerged from behind the picture. His appearance was not formidable. Untended, greying hair showed beneath his slouched hat, a black coat hung loosely from his rounded shoulders, giving him a pronounced stoop. But his lined, dissipated face, with its bloodless lips and heavy-lidded eyes, told a different tale. Here was one to whom cruelty was a commonplace, who would slay without compunction.
'So that's the pilgrim?' he asked. 'Why didn't you let me salivate him right away; it would 'a' bin easy.'
'Yes, too easy--for him,' he Chief retorted. 'I could have done that myself, but I want him shamed before others, beaten at his own game. Let him see death coming, and wait for it, suffering those few seconds of agony which turn a man into a white-livered cur and make him sweat blood. Do you understand?'
His voice trembled with the virulence of his passion, and it made Butch think a little. 'Yeah,' he said slowly. 'You mean you don't like him--much, but has it occurred to you that he might get me?'
Satan's expression was an insult. 'You don't expect to pick up five hundred dollars without some risk, I suppose?' he said coldly. 'Of course, if he's quicker than you ...'
The gunman leered. 'I guess not, but you hadn't mentioned the dinero,' he replied. 'Well, that's fixed; I'll be on my way.' He had a word as he went, 'Hell, t'o're a good hater, ain't you?'
Had he heard the valediction which followed him he would have been less satisfied with the vile bargain he had made.
'Yes, I'm a good hater,' Satan repeated. 'Go, you dog, and kill or be killed; either way, I gain.'
* * * Sudden was glad to find himself in the sunlight; he had meant what he said--these dismal caverns in the rock, the homes of a dead and gone race, depressed him, and the interview had intensified this feeling. He smiled mirthlessly as he recalled the incident of the picture; there had been no illusion, the moving eyes were those of a hidden marksman, ready to shoot him down at a sign. He did not suspect it was the man he had to meet, and--subdue, but it warned him that the bandit was not taking risks regarding his own safety.
'An' two-three times I came near to puffin' on him,' he reflected ruefully. 'Oughta guessed that dealin' with the scum he has to he'd have a card up his sleeve. If `fools for luck' is right, I must be a prize specimen.'
He spent the rest of the day loafing about the town, watching, listening, but he learned nothing until the evening when, returning to the saloon, a whisper came to him out of the gloom.
'A bad man is here. If he falls foul of you, remember that his right hand is the dangerous one.'
The voice was Anita's, and he realized that he was passingthe place where she lived. But he could see no one, and with a word of thanks, he went on. The caution could only refer to Butch.
He entered the saloon from the rear, and in the seclusion of his room, examined his guns, reloading them with fresh cartridges from his belt, and spinning the cylinders; his life might depend on their being in perfect order. He did not want to kill this man, and if possible, he would avoid the encounter, but ..
The bar was well patronized, most of those present being men. The few exceptions were of the type common in the cattle-towns, brazen, loud-voiced, gaudlly attired creatures who had followed hunted men into hiding, or had been driven into it by their own misdeeds. The atmosphere was hazy with tobacco smoke and reeked of liquor and kerosene.
With his back against the bar, Sudden surveyed the scene with apparent indifference, but his eyes were alert. Most of the faces were unfamiliar, but in one corner, Scar and his cronies were playing poker. He could see no one likely to be the man he was expecting.
'Business 'pears to be boomin',' he remarked to the proprietor. 'Any particular reason?'
At that moment, a half-tipsy reveller raised his glass and shouted, 'Here's to the Double K.'
The toast produced a burst of raucous laughter, and a cry of 'Don't forget the Twin Diamond.'
'There's yore answer,' Dirk replied. 'The Chief pays prompt.'
Nevertheless, the cowboy had a conviction that this did not explain things; an air of expectancy, frequent furtive glances at the door and himself, suggested that the crowd had not come solely to spend ill-gotten gains. The saloon-keeper's wife called her husband from the exit leading to the rear of the premises. When he returned he said: 'There's a fella at the back askin' for you.'
Sudden went out, but not too hurriedly, for it might be a trap. He found young Holt, alone, and bursting with his news.
'Bin lookin' for you all over,' he began. 'They aim to git you to-night in there--a gunman named Butch has come a-purpose. Muley got drunk this arternoon an' he's bin tellin' everybody to come to yore funeral.'
'I'm thankin' yu,' Sudden said. 'But what can I do?'
'Keep out'n his way,' Holt said eagerly. 'you can hide--'
The grim smile stopped him. 'Never look for trouble, son,' the puncher replied, 'but when it's lookin' for yu there's on'y one thing to do--stand up an' face it.'
'But you ain't got a chance--they say he never misses,' the lad urged.
'The best of 'em is liable to slip up once, an' that's aplenty. It was right kind o' yu to come.'
'You stood up for me,' Holt muttered, and, as he turned to go, 'I hope you git him.'
'I hope I don't have to,' Sudden replied gravely. Returning to the saloon, he declined to have his glass replenished, contenting himself with a cigar. He had no more than lighted it when the buzz of conversation abruptly ceased as a black-coated, stooping figure flung back the swing-door and walked slowly to the bar. The effect of his entry upon the company told that this was the man for whom they were waiting.
