'Takin' the back trail a'ready?' he asked. 'Ain't tired of us, I hope.'
'Neither one nor the other,' Sudden replied. 'Yu remember the day I met yu?'
'Shore thing--I saved the bank forty thousand bucks.'
'Yeah, havin' had word o' the hold-up from a boy name o' Holt. Did he tell yu how he knowed?'
'He was some reticent 'bout that--said a fella called `Sudden' sent him. I took a chance, though I'd never heard o' the jigger.'
'Yo're meetin' him now,' the puncher announced 'Yu see, I was one o' the road-agents, but for reasons yu'll understand later, I didn't want the trick turned.' He grinned at the amazed officer. 'Why, if yu'd accepted my invite an' searched me, yu'd 'a' found another o' them red badges.'
Dealtry leaned back ink his chair. 'Damn me if I know whether I oughta thank or throw yu in the calaboose.'
'Play safe an' make it the first,' Sudden advised. 'I'm here on serious business.'
'Spill it,' was the reply. 'You can't surprise me no more.'
'Don't bet too high on that,' Sudden warned. 'Yu re collect we talked o' young Keith an' yu told me he was reputed to be bossin' an outlaw band--the same what tried to rob yore coach. Well, that ain't so; their leader is a man yu used to know as Lafe Lander.'
'Jeff's friend?'
'Yeah,' Sudden said drily, 'but lemme show yu how much of a friend he is.' In a few sentences, he told of the impudent impersonation, the shooting of the Colonel, and abduction of his daughter. The sheriff's eyebrows nearly joined his hair as he listened to the extraordinary story. The teller of it concluded with, 'Lander is a good shot an' carries a couple o' thirty-eights. Does that mean anything to yu?'
'Hell's blight,' the sheriff swore. 'It was a thirty-eight let the life out'n my boy. That clears Keith.'
'Shorely, an' yu can add that Lander admitted to me he shot yore son.'
Dealtry rose, his face rigid. 'Mister,' he said, 'I don't care if yo're forty outlaws riled into one, I'm deep in yore debt for this, an' if there's any way I can square it you on'y gotta say. But first, I'm goin' to scare up a few o' the boys, gather in an' hang this felon.'
Sudden smiled; he liked the courage of this forthright, burly fellow. But this would not do. 'Wait a minute, sheriff; if it was that easy, I'd 'a' fetched him in for yu,' he said, and went on to explain that Hell City was a natural fortress, garrisoned by at least two-score desperate men who would fight to the last because life or liberty was already forfeit to the law.
'It'll mean a battle,' Dealtry commented, his sombre eyes alight. 'Good. I'll be at the Twin Diamond to- morrow, early, an' I won't be alone.'
Leaving Red Rock, Sudden took an easterly trail to Dugout. His journey had, so far, been successful; not only had he secured the needed assistance, but removed the shadow overhanging Jeff Keith. The end of the long and perilous path he had been pursuing was almost in sight, and in a little morethan twenty-four hours--if all went well, the most colossal criminal he had ever encountered would reap the reward of his misdeeds. At this point his cogitations concluded with a self-deprecatory laugh.
'Countin' chickens, Nig,' he said. 'I'm shore old enough to know better'n that.'
His entry into Dugout caused a flutter; heads were poked out of doorways as the news travelled from house to house. He turned into the store, which was empty, except for the proprietor.
'Jansen, yu are a liar,' he remarked, and smiled.
The store-keeper was glad to see that smile; the words were fighting talk, and though he was no coward, he knew it was death for him to draw on this man. He said nothing. 'Yu pretend that Colonel Keith injured himself though yu saw another shoot him,' the puncher continued. 'There is no longer any need for that lie. Bite on this : Jeff Keith ain't the man yu know as Satan.'
Incredulous as Jansen undoubtedly was, he did not dare dispute the assertion.
'How--how d'you know?' he stammered.
'I went to Hell City to find out,' Sudden replied. 'Heard 'bout Miss Keith?'
'Ain't nothin' happened to her, has there?'
'Some o' Satan's Imps carried her off last night.'
The store-keeper stamped with rage. 'Curse it! You gave them whelps a lesson once. Don't you reckon they need another?'
'They're gettin' it--to-morrow, an it's goin' to be the last one. I'm here to ask if Dugout will stand in?'
'you bet she will,' Jansen replied. 'What you want me to do?'
'Report with yore men to Steve Lagley in the mornin', and tell 'em not to chatter; we aim to make it a surprise party.'
'Here's one who'll go, mister,' a hoarse voice broke in. 'I got Pop's rifle an' can use her, too.'
A gawky youth emerged from the shadowy back of the store. There was an eager fire in his dark eyes.
'Awright, Bud, talk to me later,' Jansen said, and in a whisper to the puncher, 'Satan had his father hanged. Is Merry in this?'
'Yeah, an' the Red Rock sheriff is fetchin' a posse; we're goin' to do this thing right. So long,'
Black Sam welcomed the gunman with the old broad grin, disclosing a white line of teeth which seemed to extend halfway round his head. He was not one to blow hot and cold; the cowboy had done him a service; he remembered that and forgot the rest.
'Sho' am please' to see yo, sah,' he greeted.
'Howdy, Sam,' Sudden smiled. 'On'y time to have just one o' the best liquor in pese parts.'
'Bettah dan Hell City, sah?'
'Yeah, yu black rascal. See here, Jansen has some good an' bad news for yu; don't open yore face 'bout either.'
Leaving the darkie scratching his wool, he set out for the Twin Diamond, satisfied with his day's work.
* While the puncher was proceeding on his way to Red Rock, Hell City had a visitor who greeted Silver familiarly and stepped into the Chief's presence, indifferent to the black look he received.
'What brings you, Turvey?'
,'Thought yu'd like to hear that the OP Man is liable to pull through--must 'a' bin a poor shot, Dessay yore hand shook; it ain't every day a fella has to down his own dad.' He sniggered at the last word, and his rat-like eyes roamed round the room. 'Yo're well-fixed here--seems a pity to leave it.''I've no intention of doing so,' Satan snapped.
'Mebbe, but sometimes other folk do the plannin'.'
'What do you mean?'
'Takin' the girl has tipped the balance: the Twin Diamond an' Double K is gittin' ready to move.'
'The Double K? Has Lagley lost his senses?'
'Steve has had a change of heart,' Turvey sneered. 'Yu see, he wants the range to stay in the Keith family.'
The expressionless eyes suddenly flamed as Satan realized that this creature knew his secret; little did Turvey suspect how near he was to death at that moment. With an effort the masked man fought down the desire to close those jeering lips for ever. But the damage was done, and this fellow might still be useful. So, when he spoke, his voice did not betray him.
'How did you learn this?'
'Overheard Steve an' Frosty talkin' las' night; that gunfighter, Sudden, 'pears to be runnin' things.'
The Chief bit on an oath. Though he would not admit it, he was beginning to fear this strange cowboy who, by accident or design, was wrecking his plans. But for his craving for cruelty ... He would not think of that.
'So two dozen cow-hands imagine they can take Hell City?'
'Dugout may help--we ain't too popular there.'
'Those--tradesmen?' Satan said scornfully.
'A tradesman can pull a trigger, an' his bullet's just as hard,' Turvey pointed out.
'But not so likely to hit the mark,' the Chief retorted. 'And when is the attempt to be made?'
'Couldn't find that out; soon, I'd say; they want the girl back.'
'They won't get her,' the bandit assured him. 'Your news has been of use. Take this.' With a grin of greed, the informer deftly caught the bag of money. 'Silence, they say, is golden, Turvey; you will find it so. When this little
