'In the bank at Red Rock, I reckon,' Sudden said coolly, and told what had happened.
The looked-for outburst did not come, but below the mask he could see the rigid jaw-muscles and knew that the bandit was fighting to conceal his fury.
'So you failed,' came the caustic comment, and the tone conveyed a threat.
Sudden glared at him. 'Shore we did,' he retorted harshly, 'an' whose fault was it? Yores, for givin' me muck-rakin's to work with. If they'd obeyed orders Daggs wouldn't 'a' fired, an' we'd 'a' had the posse under our guns before they knowed we was there, an' cleaned 'em up. As it was, they outnumbered us two to one; it's no use shoutin' against thunder.'
Scar's eyes were near popping out of his head--he had never seen his dreaded chief talked back to, and fully expected to see the offender shot down. But the masked man had himself in hand. He looked at Roden.
'Was that the way of it?'
'Daggs was too eager, an' spilled us,' the rogue sulkily admitted, and with a spark of spirit, added, 'You didn't tell us there would be a guard follerin' the coach.'
'You can get out,' Satan said, and when Roden had retreated, willingly enough, turned to the puncher. 'It seems you could not help it.' He was silent for a moment, and then, 'Singular how things have gone awry for me since you came here.'
'Yu have lost yore medicine.'
'What do you mean?'
'When it happens to an Injun, he has angered his gods an' nothin' goes right; a white man calls it bein' outa luck.'
Satan's lips curled disdainfully. 'The excuse of the weak,' he said. 'The strong man laughs at luck--good or ill. What did you learn at Red Rock?'
'On'y that the bank is a fine place to stay away from just now,' Sudden replied. 'The sheriff showed me one o' yore badges--got it from Daggs. He was real interested.'
'Dealtry is a duffer; if he meddles in my affairs he'll be wearing one himself, though he won't know it,' was the threatening answer. 'And don't make the mistake of thinking these trifling reverses--due to the poor tools I have to use --are important. I shall win--in the end.'
'I'll remember,' Sudden replied solemnly.
With the vainglorious words ringing in his ears, he stepped into the street, a saturnine smile on his own lips.
'If conceit counted that fella could rule the world,' he told himself. Another thought came. 'Odd that Keith's son shouldn't know about Injun medicine. Well, gotta find that Frosty-pate an' arrange another `disappointment.' '
He got his horse and rode to the west gate, where he found the same man in charge. He enquired whether Holt had returned and appeared surprised at the negative reply.
'I've just left the Chief, an' he don't know of it,' he said. 'Keep a tight mouth--things went wrong yestiddy an' the boy mighta had somethin' to do with it. Get me?'
'You bet I do,' the fellow said fervently. 'Thanks, mister.'
Circling to the south, Sudden crossed the plateau where he had first met Belle Dalroy, and descended to the edge of the Double K range. Here he built a small fire, and from the mouth of a near-by ravine which would permit an unobserved retreat, watched the smoke eddying into the still air.
'If he's around that'll fetch him,' he argued. 'If someone else shows up, I gotta be a whole lot absent.
His signal proved successful; at the end of half an hour a rider came pacing across the plain, to pull up, gun in hand, as he drew near.
'Stamp the fire out and come ahead,' Sudden called. 'It's Jim.'
Frosty obeyed, a grin on his face. 'Knowed that a'readynobody else'd be idjut enough to try that trick,' he said. 'S'pose it had been Steve who happened along?'
'He'd never have seen me,' was the reply. 'I had to take the risk; got a li'l job for yu to-night.'
'If I thank yu, don't believe me,' Frosty said. 'What is it this time--a nice easy murder?'
'Nothin' that'll soil yore lily-white reputation,' Sudden grinned. 'Slant them long listeners o' yores this way.' He told of the unknown prisoner, and then, 'Soon as it's dark yu'll ride over to play poker at the Twin Diamond.'
'I ain't got no invite,' Frosty objected.
'There's somethin' else yo're lackin', too,' Sudden said severely. 'Come alive, yu chump, this is serious. Go to Merry, borrow a couple o' saddled hosses, an' fetch 'em to that place I told yu about. We'll need two more ropes as well. I'll be waitin' for yu there.'
'Seems a lot o' trouble to turn loose a hombre yu don't know an' who may deserve to be where he is,' Frosty grumbled.
'Yo're missin' the mark by about a million miles, ills friend retorted. 'I don't care if he's committed every crime there is; Satan wants him an' that's a good argument for takin' him away. Are yu sittin' in?'
'Shore I am; what d'yu take me for?' was the indignant reply.
'I'd just hate to tell yu,' Sudden smiled, and then his expression sobered. 'We gotta keep our eyes skinned; if that devil catches us, a quick finish is the best we could hope for.'
Frosty nodded, a speculative look in his eyes. 'Just why are yu doin' this, Jim?' he asked. 'Oh, I know the fella framed yu, but ... What's back o' yore mind?'
'If I told yu, ol'-timer, yu'd think me loco,' the puncher said whimsically. 'Mebbe we'll learn somethin' to- night. Now, I gotta get busy coverin' my tracks.'
'What yu goin' to do?'
'Get drunk. Adios.'
Before the Double K man could conjure up an adequate answer to this staggering statement, the maker of it had swung into his saddle and shot off up the ravine. Frosty flung up his hands.
'Ain't he the aggravatin' cuss?' he asked the world. 'Yu never know when he's joshin', an' yet, he gets yu. Here's me, happy an' comfortable, 'cept that I'm mostly broke, an' when he sez `Come an' risk yore silly neck,' I not on'y does but I'm glad to. He's so damned--convincin'. I reckon he meant it all but that drunk notion, which was just his way o' tellin' me to shut up.'
In which conclusion Frosty was wrong, for Sudden had meant that also. He had to be absent from Hell City and yet have evidence he had not left it. So the company at Dink's that evening saw him in a different guise, that of an angry, complaining man sitting at a table alone, who swore savagelywhen invited to take part in a game, and applied himself. steadily to the bottle before him. As the liquor took effect, his maudlin voice rose and those present gathered that he was grumbling at the way he had been treated. The bottle emptied, he banged on the table with it and demanded another. In the poor light, no one noticed that most of the spirit had been spilled on the sanded floor. Dirk himself brought the further supply, and with it, a caution; his customer had been entlrely too outspoken. Sudden stood up, grabbed the bottle and drank, regarding the saloon-keeper owlishly.
'No fella in this town c'n talk down to me,' he said. 'I'll fight an'body in the bar.' He dropped into his seat. 'I'd fight the lot of 'em if I c'd stand.'
'O' course you would,' Dirk said placatingly. 'All you want is another little drink, an' a nice long sleep; then you can show 'em.'
He winked at the men standing round and held out a glass. The puncher seized and drained it. 'Thass ri',' he mumbled thickly. 'Gotta sleep.' His effort to rise was a failure. 'Losh my legs. Helluva note.' His head fell forward in a drunken stupor.
'That last shot has fixed him--he'll be out for the night,' the saloon-keeper remarked. 'I ain't sorry neither; when these quiet ones do break loose they're wuss'n the reg'lars. Help me carry him to his bed.'
Two acted as bearers and Dirk showed the way. When they arrived at the room, the apparently intoxicated man opened his eyes and demanded to be set down. Staggering in, he slammed the door and slid the bolt into its slot.
'coin' to sleep,' he called out. 'If an'body rouses me--I'll kill 'em. Goo'-night.'
The heard a tumble and a curse, followed by the creak of the pallet-bed, and silence. One of them furtively tried the door and jumped back as a bullet crashed through it above his head.
'Wake me, would yu?' the drunkard's voice snarled. Their rapidly retreating footsteps brought a smile to the
