face of the man sitting on the side of the bed.
'Reckon that'll hold 'em for the night,' he murmured.
Stepping lightly on the balls of his feet, he jammed the one chair under the handle so that the door could not be easily forced, crossed the window, and raised the sash. With his coiled lariat round his neck, he slipped over the sill and, hanging by his hands, let go, landing as softly as a cat. Hat pulled down over his eyes, he slunk through the murky gloom of the town until he reached the secret exit. Here, as he knew, there was always a guard.
Noiselessly he felt his way through the cavern entrance and smothered a whoop when he saw that he had only one man to deal with. The fellow was squatting on a stool in front of a fire, his back to the intruder, a rifle propped against the wall. Clearly he was not expecting to be disturbed. Treading with the stealth of a stalking savage, the cowboy crept nearer. He was within a couple of yards when fortune failed him; a dry stick--invisible in the darkness--cracked beneath his step, bringing the guard instantly to his feet.
'Who th' hell--?'
He got no farther: Sudden's fist, propelled with all the power of his advancing body behind it, flashed upwards to his chin and hurled him, a senseless mass, to the ground. Remembering that he must return that way, Sudden tied and gagged his victim before proceeding. Then he climbed the ladder to the cave overhead, and repeating the process twice more, found himself in the open air, and looking into the muzzle of a pistol.
'Li'l boys shouldn't play with firearms,' he said.
'Couldn't afford to take chances,' Frosty explained. '' Sides, I was lookin' for a fella disguised in drink.'
'Yu see him,' Sudden grinned. 'An hour back I had to be carried to bed. Got them horses?'
'Shore,' Frosty replied, adding thoughtlessly, 'Why didn't yu bring yore own?'
'Nigger is an intelligent animal but I never could learn him to climb ladders; dunno why, no ambition thatway, mebbe. Also--'
'Yu can go plumb to perdition.'
'While he's in Hell City they'll figure I am, too,' Sudden continued. 'Fetch them ropes along?'
Being assured on this point, he mounted one of the Twin Diamond ponies and led the way eastwards. After several miles, they crossed the trail to Dugout, and turned again in the direction of the bandit town, traversing the valley which it overlooked. The night was dark and chilly, and the task of forcing a path through the undergrowth proved both laborious and painful.
'Every damn bush seems to 'a' got its claws out,' Frosty complained. 'C'mon, yu chunk o' crowbait, yore hide is thicker'n mine.' He tugged at the lead-rope of the third horse. 'Wish we had some o' that whisky yu wasted.'
Sudden chuckled; he had told of the ruse employed to cover his absence. 'Yo're readin' my thoughts,' he said. 'We oughts be gettin' near now.'
They were: presently the black bulk of the cliff which was Hell City loomed up on their left. They went slowly on, the horses stumbling over the stony debris from the weather-worn height above. Sudden's eyes were busy, soon they caught a gleaming white mark on a tree-trunk where a sliver of bark had been sliced away. He pointed to it.
'There's my blaze; this must be the place.'
They got down, secured the animals, and Frosty's gaze travelled over the apparently perpendicular wall; about half-way up he could discern a spot of diffused light. He turned to his companion, who was winding the extra ropes round his body.
'If yo're expectin' to climb up there yu'll need four hands, the same number o' feet, an' hooks on yore eyebrows,' he said. 'Give it up, Jim; it ain't possible, an' mebbe the hombre would ruther stay where he is anyways.'
'Likely, but I'm goin' up an' he's comin' down,' Sudden said, and with a grim smile, 'If yu hear a yelp, stand from under--I shall be movin' fast.'
With the jest on his lips, he began the ascent. The stars were brighter and afforded a little more light, enabling him to find hand and toe-holds marked down on his previous inspection. Flattened against the rock he worked his way upward almost inch by inch, while his companion watched and muttered things which might have passed for prayers to a careless listener. At the end of ten minutes, the climber had accomplished as many feet, and paused to rest. It was going to be even more difficult than he had looked for. An idea came.
'Frosty, I'm a bone-head,' he said in a low tone. 'Yo're tellin' me,' was the sarcastic reply.
'There's a knob, 'bout twelve feet above me. Think yu could rope her?'
The first throw proved abortive, the falling noose slapping Sudden sharply across the face, nearly causing him to lose hold.
'I'll bet the Double K cows get a lot o' fun outa yu,' was his chaffing comment.
The second attempt was successful, the loop settling over the protuberance. Frosty threw his weight upon it, to make sure. Hand over hand, Sudden hauled himself up to the knob, and let the rope fall; it could be of no further use tohim. A brief rest and he continued the climo. As he had hoped, the worst was over, but the task was still superhuman. Already his arms were aching under the terrific strain of supporting almost the whole weight of his body. Once or twice a foot slipped and only a desperate and lucky clutch at some slight inequality saved him from dropping to death on the boulders below.
Foot by foot he struggled up, digging his fingers into crevices, trusting his life to clinging roots which, only too frequently, came away in his grasp. More than once he fell foul of clumps of choya cactus and cursed as the vicious spines tore his flesh. But he set his teeth and battled on, fighting the inanimate rock as though it were a sentient being. To the watcher below, straining his sight to follow the dark patch spread-eagled against the cliff-face, time seemed endless, but at length he saw the faint glow blotted out and realized that Sudden had succeeded. A fervent oath testified his relief.
'He's made it,' he muttered. 'Sufferin' snakes, he'll go to Paradise all right, when his time comes--they'll never be able to keep him out.'
Frosty's sense of satisfaction was but a shadow to that of the climber as he gripped the lower edge of the hole whence the light came and lifted himself to a tiny ledge beneath it. Here, panting for breath and with pain in every protesting muscle, he rested. The view was wonderful. He seemed to be sitting on the rim of a gigantic bowl of blackness, canopied by a velvet dome sprinkled with twinkling pin-pricks of light. But he had not come there to admire scenery, and after a few moments, he raised himself and peered through the opening. It was the outlet of a short tunnel, sufficiently large for a man to crawl along, and widening out into a sort of window-seat when it reached the room within.
For an instant he feared he had made the mistake of climbing to the Chief's own abode, for this place too was comfortably furnished; a carpet, a bed in one corner, chairs and a table. Then he saw that it was smaller, and had a flight of rude steps cut out of the wall on one side. Seated at the table, smoking, and reading by the light of a kerosene lamp, was the man he had risked so much to reach. Apart from the pallor of his skin, due to confinement, he had not the appearance of a prisoner. To the puncher he seemed oddly familiar; height and build were those of the bandit leader, and the dandified cowboy clothes increased the resemblance, but he was some years younger, and wore no mask. Presently he turned his head and Sudden stifled a cry of satisfaction; he had guessed right.
'Howdy, stranger.'
The man at the table sprang to his feet, whirled, and stared in blank amazement at the intruder leaning carelessly with his back to the window opening.
'Who are you, and how on earth did you get here?' he gasped.
'A friend, an' I just dumb up,' the visitor explained. 'you--climbed--up?' the other repeated, and there was fear in his pale blue eyes. 'Impossible.'
Sudden smiled. 'Yu see me, an' I ain't wearin' wings,' he pointed out.
'Why have you come?'
'I'm takin' yu outa this.'
'I've no desire to leave; in fact, I refuse.' The metallic clang of a bolt being withdrawn over their heads made him start. 'Someone is coming; get away while you can.'
Sudden drew a gun. 'I'm stayin',' he said. 'I shall be at the window, hehind the blanket. If I'm discovered,, yu an' the other fella will take the last leap together.'
He disappeared just as a trap-door in the roof opened and a man came down the steps. Sudden had expected to see Silver, but it was the Chief himself, and he was alone.
