When I goes to fetch him this mornin' the door is still fastened, but the place is empty.'
'Who kept the key?'
'There ain't but one an' the 01' Man had it,' Reddy replied. 'An' is he wild?'
'Can't see there's anythin' to be done, but we'll come along with yu,' the marshal decided.
They found the Bar O in an unwonted state of inactivity; the men were grouped round the bunkhouse discussing the mystery, and the owner was impatiently striding to and fro, awaiting Reddy's return. He welcomed the visitors with an explosive oath :
'Shinin' hell, here's a fine kettle o' fish. After all the trouble you an' Dave went to, we go an' lose the skunk, though how he got out beats me.'
'Where'd yu put him?' Sudden asked.
The foreman led the way to a stout little log structure, the door of which was secured by a padlock and staple. Sudden looked closely at the latter, slipped a finger through it, pulled, and the staple came away in his hand.
'There's the key that was used,' he said, pointing to a rusty iron bar lying a few yards away. 'That means he had outside help. S'pose none o' yu heard anythin' in the night?' A negative came from all save one, a man nearing forty, whose dark hair and beard were patched with grey.
'Now you mention it, mister, I did hear the whicker of a hoss, but I reckoned it come from the corral,' he said. 'If I'd thought it was this sneakin' houn' escapin' ...'
'Shorely,' Sudden agreed, and to the rancher, 'No sense in keepin' yore fellas here--the bird has flown.' Having despatched the men to their various duties, Reddy joined the other three indoors.
'Well, you've showed us how he got loose, but we don't know who made it possible,' Owen said. 'Any ideas 'bout that, Jim?'
'There's on'y two answers : either his buddy trailed us an' waited for dark, or--it was one o' yore outfit.'
'You can wipe out that last; my boys are loyal--every damn' one o' them,' the rancher asserted.
'I ain't sayin' otherwise--just statin' facts. That hombre who heard the hoss now, has he been with yu long?'
'Pinto?--they call him that 'count of his piebald hair--why, no, a matter o' three-four months, but he was the sickest of any over this getaway.'
'Yeah, I noticed that,' Sudden asked.
'What do you think, Reddy?' Owen asked.
'I got nothin' agin Pinto,' the foreman admitted. 'He don't quite mix in, but I put that down to his bein' older'n most of us. He's no shirker on his job.'
'Dessay I'm wrong,' the marshal said. 'But a stranger couldn't 'a' knowed he would have a staple to deal with an' fetched along just the thing to beat it.' Meanwhile, a conversation was taking place not many miles distant. On the other side of The Step, south of the fall, the plateau--by some fantastic freak of Nature--was broken by a great fissure, narrow and steep-sided, the bottom hidden by a seemingly impenetrable jumble of boulders, trees, and dense brush. This was Dark Canyon, the overhangingwalls fully justifying the name. It was never used, being difficult to enter, and without an exit. At the nearer end to The Step, Mullins, Javert, and five others were sitting round the embers of a fire. The man with the pitted face was finishing his story :
'An' if it hadn't bin for Pinto, I'd likely be dancin' on nothin' right now.'
'Bah ! O' course you'd 'a' squealed.' This from Javert. Pocky glared at him. 'Yo're a dirty liar,' he rasped. 'I never sold a pal yet.'
'Have it yore way,' the gambler returned carelessly. 'I'll bet Owen was bluffin', anyway.'
'You'd lose--he ain't that sort. If he promises to stretch a fella's neck he'll do it, regardless. It's a good thing I planted a friend at the Bar O.' Javert sneered. 'You foresaw this happenin', huh?'
'No, I put Pinto there to keep me posted on the movements o' the cowboys an' cattle,' Jake replied. 'I've had this game in mind for months; it's easy money.'
'Yeah, an' damn' little of it. A few cows, which we gotta sell for half their value.'
'If it ain't worth yore while you got a simple remedy,' Jake reminded. 'This is on'y a beginnin'--there's other ranges in reach.'
'A lot o' hard work for two-three hundred bucks, an' risk our necks at that. We couldn't lose more if we made it thousands.'
'What you drivin' at?'
'This cattle rustlin' is chicken-feed, just keeps us in grub an' smokin'. Why not try where there's real money, scads of it. A bank, say?' He saw at once that he had regained the ground he had lost in the recent quarrel, for the eyes of his companions gleamed avariciously at his audacious proposal. Even their leader could put forward no objection.
'I think you got somethin' there,' he said. '0I' Morley must carry a lot o' coin at times, an' there's on'y him an' his missis on the premises. It would square my little account with him.'
'An' give some o' them Welcome hucksters a pain in the breakfast,' Javert added viciously.
'We'll do it,' Mullins decided. 'But we gotta pick the right night. Dutch, ain't I seen young Evans, Morley's clerk, in Dirty Dick's?'
'Shore, he dasn't go to the Red Light; Bob has threatened to fire him if he does.'
'That's fine. You slide in this evenin', git hold o' that boy, an' pump him dry, casual-like, o' course. Then we can make our plans. Now, them steers we lifted last night need attention, an', Pocky, don't forget to blot the brand o' that hoss you took in exchange for yore own; she's a dead giveaway.' On that same afternoon, Mary Gray had a surprise when Jesse Sark dismounted outside her establishment, hitched his horse, and entered. She was alone, clearing up after the last of her midday customers. Sark cast an appraising eye round the rehabilitated eating- house, and a remembrance of what it had been forced a compliment even from his reluctant lips.
'My word, Mary, but you've certainly worked wonders,' he said. 'I must see if yore cookin' grades up to the layout --if you'll serve me.'
'That's what I'm here for,' she replied coldly.
He had been drinking, and his eyes watching her vanish into the kitchen, were covetous. Happiness and motherhood had made her more physically attractive, accentuating the curves of her youthful body, which her simple black dress set off perfectly. He devoured the food she set before him with greedy appreciation, and then, calling her over, said, with a leer :
'That was fine. If, as they say, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, all the fellas in this burg oughta be sweet on you.''I like to please my customers.'
'Mebbe, but it's no work for a woman such as youservin' grub to tradesmen an' cow-wrastlers, spoilin' them pretty han's.'
'I am happy here,' she replied steadily. 'I don't mind earning my living.'
'There's an easier way. The of man treated you mean; get the laugh on him by comin' back to the Dumb-bell. I'll give you everythin' you want.' It was some seconds before the utter infamy of the suggestion come home, draining the blood from her cheeks, and turning her to ice.
'How dare you?' she cried.
'Don't be a fool, m'dear,' he said. 'I've took a fancy to you an' am willin' to pay a high price--even marriage--if that's what you're bogglin' over, in spite o' the tale I heard at Dirty' Dick's.'
'What do you mean?'
'That the marshal set you up here.'
'Dirty Dick's is well named,' she retorted bitterly. 'This place belongs to Mister Morley, and I rent it from him. There are those in town who would kill you for repeating that lie.'
'Which would shorely clinch it,' he sneered. 'Whereas, if you came to the Dumb-bell ... See here, I'm ready to take a chance on you. Figure it out: mistress of a big ranch, plenty o' money, fine clothes, servants to wait on you, an'--a good home for yore kid.'
'I wouldn't wed you to save him from starvation,' she replied fiercely.
The contempt in her voice stung him like a whip, lashing him to a fury of anger and desire. Snatching at her wrist, he held her captive. A savage jerk which nearly flung her off her feet enabled him to sweep his other arm around the slender waist and force the struggling body close to his. Held in that iron clutch, she could do nothing save make desperate efforts to evade the lips which were seeking her own.
