interest. Amos must have had friends and probably enemies, there.
He had compassed about half the journey when, having crossed an arid area and entered the welcome shade of a small forest, he turned in his saddle just as a rider appeared on the other verge of the plain.
Concealed in the undergrowth, he waited, but when the rider at length arrived, jogging steadily along, it was Sudden who got the surprise, for the traveller proved to be Jesse Sark.
'What's his errand in Drywash?' he asked himself. 'Mebbe I can find out.' The leisurely pace enabled him to keep his quarry in sight without discovery, for the rancher rode with hunched shoulders, apparently deep in thought, and devoid of interest for what might be behind him. When they entered the town, it became more difficult, for though--as Nippert had said--it was a big place, it consisted of the inevitable one long street. Keeping in the rear of a loaded freight-wagon, Sudden contrived to trail his man to the Drywash Hotel. Here Sark dismounted and went in.
The marshal waited a while, and then--having ascertained that the bar was empty--followed. He ordered a drink and invited the shirt-sleeved dispenser of liquor to join him. Almost immediately a short, wizened, grey-haired man with a beak of a nose and lips so thin that they made a mere line on his face, bustled in and said sharply :
'Is Sark here?'
'Shore, Mister Lyman, in No. 7.'
'Now, ain't that too bad?' Sudden drawled, when the other had vanished up a stairway. 'I reckon I'll need a room to-night, an' seven is my lucky number.'
'He don't off'n stay--just uses it for a business powwow, I guess,' the bar-tender said. 'I'll keep it for you.'
'But I'm wantin' that apartment straight away--I've been ridin' since dawn, an' I'm aimin' to snatch a snooze afore I start in to set this burg alight,' was the peevish reply.
'No. 6 is next door, an' just as good a room. If I'm gamblin' I like to begin with a loss.'
'Somethin' in that too,' Sudden allowed. 'I'll go up pronto. Shore I'll take my spurs off--I ain't no wild man from the woods.' With a broad grin, he went up the staircase and reached a corridor with numbered doors along one side. Stepping lightly as a cat, he located the one he was looking for and slipped noiselessly in. As he had hoped, the partition wall was of board, and with his ear pressed against it, much of the conversation in the next room was audible. Lyman was speaking, and his reedy voice was strident.
'So you've got the Bar O suspecting you, eh? That's not very clever.'
'They can't prove or do anythin',' Sark replied. 'I'm too strong for 'em.'
'Jake seems to have muddled matters,' the lawyer remarked. 'A pity--it was a neat way of bleeding Owen.'
'He was unlucky,' Sark excused. 'That cursed marshal...' Lyman cut short the string of oaths. 'Blame yourself. Why the devil didn't you make a friend of the fellow instead of letting the Bar O get hold of him? These men all have their price. Now, I'll have to find a way to deal with him. Your head is just an ornament, and poor at that.' To the surprise of the listener, Sark took the rating meekly. 'I ain't got yore brains, Seth, but he queered our plan to make Mullins marshal, an' so '
'you have to show your hand by making an enemy of him?' the lawyer said testily. 'One marshal is as good as another, if he's taking your pay. How are you getting on with the girl?'
'Oh, we're good friends,' was the careless reply. 'I don't want to rush things.'
'No, you tried that and failed, didn't you? Don't lie to me, Jesse; I know what happens in Welcome.'
'I was lit up, but she'll listen to reason.'
'She'll have to, but it was another stupid blunder. Let it be the last, or . . .' Silence ensued, and then Sark said, 'By the way, Seth, I've bin thinkin' that if yore office got burned out, or if anythin' happened to you, them papers '
'Are in a safer place than my office,' Lyman interrupted.
1 1 A
'And if I met with misfortune, my friend, it would be awkward--for one Jesse Sark.'
'But, hell, you might drop dead in the street, an' then '
'My troubles would be over and yours would begin,' was the grim retort. 'Brought the cash?'
'Yeah, an' it takes a lot o' findin',' Sark grumbled. 'With Jake an' his men in the discard it'll be harder.'
'Don't talk like a fool. They must go on worrying the Bar O, whittling down their herds, until Owen is willing to sell--at our price. I hear Mary Gray is doing well out of her eating-house; no chance of cutting in on her trade, I suppose?'
'Not any, the marshal an' his side-kick have made the town solid for her.'
'She's got courage, ability, and looks,' the lawyer said. 'You're going to be a lucky fellow, if you play your cards properly. If I were twenty years younger ...'
'Well?' The other laughed wheezily. 'I'm not, so it doesn't matter. Now, no hanging about here; get back to the Dumbbell.' This was evidently not in accordance with the rancher's intentions. 'Damn it, Seth, a chap must have some fun,' he protested. 'Yo're askin' too much.'
'I'm not asking anything,' Lyman rasped. 'I'm giving orders.' Sudden heard the door slam, the sound of one pair of feet on the stairway, and then Sark's hoarse, angry voice:
'you blood-suckin' leech. One o' these days I'm goin' to squeeze that shrivelled wind-pipe till the breath leaves yore rotten carcase.' Having hurled this valediction at a man who could not hear it, he too departed. The eavesdropper waited until he consisted the coast would be clear. He found the barman in conversation with a stocky, abnormally broad individual, whose sheriff's star occupied a prominent position on his vest. His pig-like eyes, deep-sunk in a fat, pimply face, surveyed the stranger truculently. The latter's badge was not in evidence.
'Visitor, I guess,' he opened.
'The same,' Sudden returned easily. 'Sheriff. I see.'
'Correct, an' the name is Blick--mebbe you've heard o' me?' the officer said pompously.
'I'm new to these parts--just ridin' through,' the marshal replied, and when the barman reminded him that he had booked a bed, added, 'I like to play safe; sleepin' on my saddle ain't no treat for me.'
'Cowpunch, huh?'
'yeah, but just now I'm takin' a li'l va-cation. Which is the best place in this township for a fella to amuse his-self?'
'The Square Deal,' the sheriff replied. 'Good liquor, pretty gals, an' straight games--you'll find 'em all there.'
'Your joint?'
'Shore, but I ain't boostin' it on that account, eh, Tom?' This to the bar-tender, who shook his head and winked slyly to his other customer. 'I'm a square man, an' a square deal has allus bin my motto, which explains the name. Come an' see for yoreself.' He emptied his glass, and without waiting for an answer, strutted out. Sudden's sardonic eyes followed the stubby figure until it vanished behind the swinging door, and then turned to encounter the grinning face of the barman.
'He's certainly square--to look at,' he commented.
'An' that's as far as it goes,' the other said viciously. 'Him an' Slimy run this burg to suit theirselves an' both of 'em is bad right through. If you win at Blick's, some yaller-haired hussy'll take it from you, an' if she don't, there'll be strong-arm gents waitin' outside.' The marshal opened his wide shoulders. 'Them last will have an interestin' time.'
'Forget it,' Tom told him. 'Hocussed liquor makes their job easy.' 114
'That's different. I'm obliged to yu, friend.' Having put his horse in the hotel stable, and carried his saddle and rifle up to his room, he went in search of a meal. He found one, plentiful enough but poor as regards quality and cooking.
'Mrs. Gray is spoilin' me,' he reflected as he came out. 'She'd make a fortune here.' Drywash was a busy place, for despite the heat, there was a certain amount of bustle and activity. Pedestrians of both sexes hurried or sauntered along the sidewalks, and outside the drinking dives men lounged, chatting and smoking. One of these spoke as the marshal swung past.
'Another sucker for Blick an' his like to trim,' he laughed.
Further along the street, the object of their interest abruptly slid behind the projecting corner of a store as a familiar form stepped out; it was Galt. With his hat pulled well over his eyes, Sudden followed until the rustler
