Realizing that the trail of Bordene's murderer was now hopelessly lost, the marshal headed for home. They reached Lawless after dark, so that the citizens missed the rather amazing sight of their newly-appointed law- officer holding a drooping Indian in a silver-mounted saddle, on the back of a fine, Spanish-bred horse. When the pair arrived at the marshal's quarters, the sick man slumped to the ground in a dead faint. Pete, who was standing at the door, hurried forward.
'Yu ain't goin' to tell me this fella bumped off Bordene?' he said incredulously.
'I am not,' the marshal said. 'Push them broncs in the corral an' come help fix him up. He's all in.'
He hoisted the slack form to his shoulder and went inside. When Pete returned he found the patient stretched on his bed and the marshal bandaging his hurts.
'This fella's pretty sick. See here, he's bin shot in the leg as well, an' never let out a chirp about that,' Green said admiringly. 'An' here's vu--a white man--yowlin' like a lost soul over a mangy bed.'
'It ain't a mangy bed--or it wasn't till yu put that doggone aborigine in it,' Pete retorted. He looked at the still senseless form. 'Reckon he'll make it?'
'Shore thing. Injuns is hard to kill--as Uncle Sam knows,' the marshal replied. 'I've a hunch he'll pay for savin', an' anyways, I couldn't do nothin' else.'
He went on to tell the story of his trailing, and Pete whistled when he heard of the guerrilla leader.
'El Diablo, huh?' he said. 'Yu've stirred up a lively nest o' hornets there; he's rank pizen an' as vain as a peacock, they say. It's a safe bet he's got friends in Lawless too.'
'Yu'll have me scared to death in a minit,' his chief smiled.
Pete looked at him. 'Fella can crowd his luck too close,' he replied. 'Wonder where that bushwhackin' coyote hid up?'
'Doubled back, likely as hot,' the marshal opined. 'Wouldn't astonish me none if he's right in Lawless now. Rustle some chuck; I've an idea our guest has missed meals lately.'
CHAPTER VII
On the following morning the enquiry into the taking off of Andrew Bordene was held in the dance-hall attached to the Red Ace, where all public meetings of importance were convened. Nothing new transpired. Potter, the banker, deposed to the dead man having drawn out five thousand dollars, stating that he had a debt to pay. Andy related his story and the marshal told of his investigation, but he did not produce the empty shells he had picked up, nor make any reference to what had happened over the Border. The jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against the outlaw known as 'Sudden,' and the whole assembly adjourned to discuss the affair at the bar. Here the marshal found Raven, with two men he did not know. The saloon-keeper beckoned.
'Marshal,' he said, 'meet Reuben Sarel of the Double S, and Saul Jevons, foreman o' my ranch, the 88.'
The fat man extended a moist, flabby hand, but Jevons merely nodded. He was about the same height as the marshal but older by ten years. He possessed a powerful but angular frame, a lean, hatchet face, and his dark, straggling moustache failed to hide a slit of a mouth. From ear to chin on his left cheek was a puckered white scar, relic of an old wound, which gave the impression of a perpetual sneer. The marshal disliked the fellow at sight.
'Bad business this, marshal,' Sarel remarked. 'Bordene was a white man an' a valued citizen. We're lookin' to yu to put a crimp in this fella Sudden.'
'He's gotta be found first, Reub,' Jevons said, and there was a suspicion of a jeer in his tone. 'Yu ain't suspectin' that Injun yu toted in, are yu?' This to the marshal.
'Not any,' that officer replied. 'I picked him up on the trail; he'd bin shot, stripped, an' set afoot.'
'What nation?' asked Raven.
'Claims to be Mohave, but I figure he's a stray,' the marshal told him. 'He ain't talked much yet.'
'Bah! Better 'a' left him; I'd as soon fetch home a hurt rattler,' Jevons said savagely. 'Redskins is all liars an' thieves.'
'Saul is a bit sore on war-paints just now,' Raven explained. 'He's bin losin' a few steers an' he's blamin' them for it.'
'Well, I got no use for Injuns, but I reckon it's more likely them toughs in Tepee Mountain is liftin' yore beef, Raven,' the Double S man offered.
After a while the other two sat down to play cards, and Raven led the marshal into his office.
'Yu got any private opinion 'bout this killin'?' he asked.
'I said all I had to say at the enquiry,' was the reply.
'Young Andy could 'a' done it,' the saloon-keeper suggested. Green shook his head. 'Pete an' me checked up the times; we know when the old man left Lawless an' when Andy started from the Box B; he'd have had to ride mighty good to reach the Old Mine before his dad,' he pointed out. ' 'Nother thing, Andy carries a .44, which takes the same fodder as his Winchester.'
Seth could not gainsay this. 'O' course, I was on'y givin' yu a possible line. Andy is in pretty deep with me, an' the old man didn't know it.'
'Anyways, he couldn't 'a' held up the stage, being at the Box B all that day.'
'Huh! Bound to be the same fella, yu think?' 'Shore as shootin'.'
Raven picked up a large sheet of coarse paper. 'What yu think o' this?' he queried.
It was a notice, printed in large capitals, offering a reward of one thousand dollars for the capture of the man known as 'Sudden,' or information leading thereto. No particulars of the outlaw were given, but the horse was described. The document was signed by the saloon-keeper.
'Might produce somethin',' the marshal agreed. 'We gotta do somethin'. This is the fourth play he has put across in a short while. It's up to yu an' Barsay, marshal,' Raven said.
'We'll get him,' Green said confidently, and picking up the notice, went to nail it outside the saloon door.
Seth Raven puzzled him. Apparently a public-spirited citizen, anxious for the welfare of the community, there was an elusive something which evaded the marshal. With an innate feeling that the man was crooked, he had to admit that so far he was not justified in that belief. A little later, when he entered his quarters, and went in to see the sufferer he found him still occupying Barsay's bed, and awake. The black eyes, no longer fierce, looked up at him gratefully, reminding him of a devoted dog: and as any sort of sentiment rendered him uncomfortable, his tone was almost abrupt as he asked, 'Feelin' better?' 'Me well now,' the patient replied, and made to rise. The Indian is both proud and punctilious; he would crawl outside to die rather than remain an unwelcome guest. The marshal motioned him to lie down again.
'Make a job of it, amigo,' he said, and his smile meant more than the words.
The sick man sank back with a grunt of relief; even that slight exertion had been too much for his exhausted frame. 'Black Feather no forget,' he whispered.
Pete looked up as the marshal re-entered the office. 'When do we start?' he asked hopefully.
'We don't,' Green said. 'I'm agoin' to see Sheriff Strade over to Sweetwater, an' I'm leavin' yu in charge--o' the patient.'
'Well, of all the hawgs,' ejaculated Barsay. 'Why can't yu nurse the nigger an' let me see Strade?'
'He might recognize yu,' Green replied, his eyes twinkling. The appalling impudence of this remark struck the deputy dumb, and before he could recover, the marshal was on his way to the corral. Pete watched him saddle the big black, swing lightly to the saddle, and lope away. He grinned ruefully.
'Ain't he the aggravatin' cuss?' he asked himself. 'An' I can't get mad at him neither--not real mad. I hope to Gawd the sheriff don't recognize him--for the sheriff's sake.'
* * *
Pete's fear was due to be realized, though the consequences were not serious. To Strade, the tall man who walked into his office and, giving his name, announced himself as the new marshal of Lawless, seemed faintly familiar.
'Ain't I seen yu afore some place?' he asked.
'Yeah, lying outside the Red Ace,' Green smiled. 'Mebbe I wasn't as bad as yu figured. Yu savvy, sheriff, a drunken man'll get more information in two days than a sober one in that number o' weeks; folks take it he's too 'blind' to see or hear anythin'.'
'Yu was layin' for the marshal's job then?' Strade queried.
Green grinned at him. 'Yeah, I went to Lawless to get it; I'm after the fella who calls hisself Sudden.'
There was emphasis on the concluding words and Strade straightened up with a jerk, 'Yu tellin' me that it
