He took a pace and called, 'One,'; a second, 'Two'; and then it happened: with an inarticulate curse, the other man whipped a weapon from his belt and fired. Incredibly fast as the movement was, Sudden had seen it, yellow flame jetted from his right hip, and Satan stumbled to fall headlong, his fingers clawing convulsively at the grass. Out of the swirling smoke, Sudden advanced gun in hand; Silver might still to be reckoned with. But instead of the stunted, uncouth figune, it was Belle Dalroy who appeared. Gazing dry-eyed at the body, she said: 'Crooked to the last.'
'Where is Miss Keith?' the puncher asked, and when she had told him, added, 'We owe yu somethin' for that.'
'No, I wanted her out of the way,' she said sharply. Somewhere in her warped nature was a streak of honesty. 'What are you going to do with me?'
He pointed to the plain; two riders were approaching. 'One o' those fellas is sheriff o' Red Rock. In yore place, I'd climb a hoss an' beat it.'
Her set features softened. 'You're a good sort,' she murmured. 'I wish--'
'They'll be here mighty soon,' he said meaningly. 'Take the pony with the pretty saddle.'
She understood; that had been Satan's, and he would not have left Hell City empty-handed. By the time the horsemen arrived, the trees had hidden her from view. Dealtry jumped down and turned the corpse over; the bullet had entered between the eyes.
'That's Lander, shore enough,' he remarked with grim satisfaction. 'Lucky, after all, yore bronc went lame-- he'd 'a' got away; it was one damned smart dodge. You see--'
'I had' it from Miss Dalroy,' Sudden said. 'It was her notion, not his. Dressed as he was--a woman's whim-- and with the hoss and the mask, it looked a cinch. He thought she was takin' the ride, but she swapped duds with Miss Keith.'
'Yeah, an' a nice chase she gave us. That black can run, I'm tell n' you; we'd still be admirin' his hind- quarters if Jeff hadn't fired. Shore he missed, but I s'pose it scared her, for she stopped an' faced round. You oughta seen him when we rode up, three growed men with guns drawed on that slip of a gal, but mebbe we looked as sick as he did. Frosty an' me gits the same idea--that we'd important business elsewhere. We left Jeff to do the explainin' an' I reckon he's still doin' it. What's come o' that Dalroy woman?'
'A pony is missin' but I didn't see her go,' the puncher replied, omitting to add that he was looking the other way at the time.
'How did yu know Lander was here, Jim?' Frosty enquired.
'Crossing the valley, I saw Silver enter one o' the caves an' heard a shot,' was the reply. 'I figure we shall find him.'
They did, and the sheriff pointed to the heavy Colt's revolver thrust through the waistband of the dead dwarf.
'Just--plain--murder,' he pronounced.
Sudden nodded. 'He killed the man who might have saved him; he shorely had `lost his medicine.' '
'We'll plant this one, but the other goes back with us--folk has to see him,' Dealtry decided. 'Pity we ain't got the mask.'
'We have,' Frosty told him, and produced it from a pocket. 'I scooped her up as we came away; Miss Joan must 'a' dropped it.'
So, hanging limply across the back of a pony, the Boss of Hell City returned to his shattered kingdom.
* * * Out amongst the sagebrush, two young people who had so much to say, sat tongue-tied. The girl, painfully conscious of her masculine attire, kept her head bent, or the warm admiration in the boy's eyes might have reassured her. He was the first to speak.
'Thank Heaven you are safe, Joan. But why are you here?' Falteringly she told of Belle's offer. 'I had no choice; she would have gone herself if I did not, and that would have left me alone with ... I knew I was helping him, but my one thought was to get away. I had to ride hard--Belle said they would shoot.'
'I shall never forgive myself for that. God! I might have killed you.'
'You could not know,' she reminded gently.
'Dealtry and Frosty will be too late,' he said moodily. 'That devil has slipped through our fingers, and now ...'
She read his thought. 'Your friends will believe, Jeff,' she consoled.
'There will always be some to doubt,' he replied bitterly, and then forced a smile to his lips. 'I'm an ungrateful cuss, Joan. After all, you have escaped from that dog, and I am free of one horrible suspicion; Dealtry knows now that it was Lander who shot his son.'
'Oh, Jeff, I am so glad,' she cried. 'Of course, I never believed ...' She broke off breathlessly, and then added, 'you will come back to the Double K now?'
'Yes, I must take my medicine,' he replied.
'I don't think it will be a very bad dose,' she smiled happily. 'Let's go at once.'
He was turning his horse when an exclamation of dismay arrested him.
'Not that way, Jeff; I can't be seen in these awful clothes.'
'But you make the prettiest kind of boy, Joan,' he protested. 'The outfit will be falling in love with you all over again, and I'll have to lick the lot of them.' He paused, fearing he might have offended, but her downcast eyes and flushed cheeks did not indicate anger. 'I've no right to talk like this, but while I was in that living tomb, I used to have visions of you as the wife of another man, and it was torment. Tell me, dear, is there ...?'
Joan Keith was no coquette. She shook her head, and said softly, 'It was always you, Jeff. Even when I could not but believe--the worst, I--still--cared.'
Perhaps the horses understood, or had also something to say to one another, for without either rider being conscious of movement, they were side by side. Jeff had but to stretch out his arms.
When Sudden and his companions reached Hell City again they were met by Mart Merry, who surveyed the red-masked, gruesome burden they brought with callous complacency.
'So yu got him?' he said. 'Where's Joan?' The information produced a hoarse chuckle. 'Durn that boy; we get him outa one scrape an' right off he tumbles into another,' quoth the hardened bachelor. 'It looks like Ken will have his own way after all.' He turned to the sheriff. 'Mighty near straightened up here. A few made their getaway, but we've some prisoners for yu. Come an' look 'em over.'
Apart from the shattered gate, and the fact that men were digging holes in the corral, the bandit town wore its custom ary appearance. Near the whipping-post was a group of bound men, among them Squint.
'Where's Roden?' Sudden asked.
'He stopped a slug an' it stopped him,' the ruffian replied. Dirk too was there. The puncher pointed to him. 'He warn't one o' the gang--just ran the saloon--got a wife an' kids, too,' he said.
The sheriff looked at the other prisoners. 'Did this fella fight against us?' he enquired, and when several of them growled a sullen negative, gave orders for his release.
The moment he was free the saloon-keeper looked for his benefactor, but Sudden had vanished; he did not like being thanked. Moreover he wanted Nigger, so he and Frosty used the secret exit and having regained their own steeds, set out for the Twin Diamond.
'Satan's saddle warn't on the black nor any o' the other hosses,' Frosty remarked. 'D'yu reckon the Dalroy woman hived it?'
'Likely,' his friend replied.
'Bet it was worth takin',' the Double K rider ruminated, and with a sly glance, 'Why didn't yu go with her, Jim? She's as pretty as a picture, an' she'll have a wad--now.'
'When a man marries he wants more'n a picture, even if it does have a gold frame,' Sudden told him. 'I got somethin' to do before I start fussin' around females.'
And Frosty, who knew what that 'somethin' ' was, had nothing to say.
Chapter XXVII
The day following the fall of Hell City was one of rejoicing tempered with regret, for casualties had not been confined to the conquered; there were gaps in both outfits, Dugout and Red Rock had lost citizens, and the wounded were many. But the job was done, thoroughly.
At the Double K ranch-house, the Colonel was receiving visitors. He had heard a wellnigh incredible story,
