to recognize, tough-looking fellows whose presence he did not understand until he saw the leering countenance of Leeson; no doubt the rustler had recruited and brought them in, probably from Tepee Mountain. On the little platform facing the door, with its worn-out piano and chairs for any other musicians who might be available, Raven was sitting. By his side was Pardoe, his head bandaged, and grouped near were half a dozen of the 88 riders. To the left of the door was an unoccupied space which the new-comers promptly took possession of. The marshal nodded nonchalantly to the gathering.
'Sorry I'm late, gents,' he said. 'On'y just heard o' the meetin'. Hope I ain't missed much?'
'Not a thing, 'cept the election of an honest man to take yore place,' Raven told him.
Green looked round the room. 'An honest man,' he said wonderingly. 'Leeson, I'm congratulatin' vu on--yore reformation.'
This produced a laugh from some and a scowl from the saloon-keeper. 'I'm meanin' Mister Pardoe,' he said.
'What, The Parson?' Green smiled. 'Converted hisself, has he? Yu'll shorely have to watch out, Raven, or he'll have yu at the mourners' bench afore you know it.'
Durley and several of the tradesmen came in at that moment and joined heartily in the mirth the remark evoked. Raven's contribution was a savage snarl: 'He'll have yu at the Seat o' Judgment afore then, an' you'll go there through the loop of a rope.' He looked at the cowpuncher curiously. 'Why didn't vu keep a-travellin'?'
'Never was scared of a dawg yet--specially a yellow one--so I came back,' the marshal drawled, and then the humour died out of his face and he said sternly, 'Put yore cards on the table, Raven; I'm seem' yu.'
The half-breed grew livid at the taunt, but he did not reply at once; he was watching the door. Soon came a scurry of hoofs outside, and a moment later Strade walked in. As though he had waited for this, Raven rose.
'Glad to see yu, sheriff; come right up,' he called, and pointed to a seat on the platform.
Strade cast an appraising look at the audience and dropped on a bench beside Andy. 'I'll do very well here,' he said.
'Please yoreself,' the saloon-keeper replied. 'I got news for yu.' He turned to Green. 'Where was yu the day the stage was held up?'
'In yore bar, drinkin' the rotgut yu call whisky.'
'An' where was yore side-kicker, Barsay?'
'Can't tell yu. I met him for the first time the day after.'
Pete spoke for himself. 'I was in Lawless too, swallerin' hocussed hooch at Miguel's,' he explained.
Raven's face took on a heavy sneer. 'Miguel says he never seen yu till the time yu demanded money an' Green blew in with a gun an' forced him to pay it.'
'Then Miguel's as big a liar as he looks,' Pete retorted. 'If yo're aimin' to pin that hold-up on to me, I gotta remind yu that I ain't a bit like the fella the driver described.'
'Huh! A mask an' hoss make a lot o' difference, an' I reckon Eames was some flustered. Pardoe here was one o' the passengers an' he says it might 'a' bin yu--in fact, he thinks it was.'
'An' Pardoe might be a truthful man, but in fact I don't think he is,' Pete parodied.
'Well, we'll let that ride for a spell,' the half-breed resumed. 'Where was yu when Bordene was shot, Green?'
'Ridin' in from the direction o' yore ranch.'
'What were yu doin' out there?'
'Lookin' for steers I suspected yu o' stealin',' came the instant retort.
Someone laughed; all the men present had not benefited by the saloon-keeper's generosity over the bank's debts. Raven's face was wooden.
'An' yu knew Bordene was carryin' cash--yu saw him come outa the bank.'
'He mighta been payin' in,' Andy pointed out.
'Yu shut yore yap,' the saloon-keeper snapped. 'Yu can talk later. I'm doin' this.'
'I'll speak when I please. I ain't takin' orders from yu, Raven, an' that's whatever,' the rancher replied.
'Yu'll take 'em when yu step off the Box B,' the half-breed reminded him, and then, to Green, 'Leeson saw a rider on a black horse near the Old Mine 'bout the hour the killin' musta took place.'
'Useful fella, Leeson,' the marshal said. 'Has he just remembered it?'
'He told me at the time. I kept it quiet--for reasons o' my own.'
'I can guess 'em. Well, there's the hold-up an' the bumpin' off o' Bordene all nicely doped out. Yu goin' to saddle me with the bank robbery too?'
The saloon-keeper laughed hoarsely as he replied, 'Yu've said it. What was yu doin' that night?'
'Watchin' yore men steal Double S steers,' came the cool response.
The smiles the answer brought deepened the scowl on the questioner's face. 'Likely story that, when I saw you sneakin' outa Lawless after midnight,' he sneered. 'That black o' yores is plenty outstanding.'
It was Green's turn to laugh. 'Shore is, if yu saw him that night,' he said. 'Nigger was in the Box B corral; I rode a paint hoss I borrowed from Andy.'
If Raven was disconcerted he did not show it. 'Mebbe I was mistook about the hoss--there warn't much light--but it was yu right enough, I'll swear to that,' he said.
'Which, of course, convinces everybody,' Green said satirically, but conscious that he spoke little more than the truth. For he knew that, up to now, Raven was winning. He was well aware of his danger. The flimsiest evidence could be made damning to unagile minds, and the resultant action would be swift and terrible.
Raven, studying his audience with cunning eyes, decided that the moment had come for his final blow. He saw Strade stand up, and raised a warning hand.
'Hold on, sheriff, in case yu say somethin' yu might be sorry for,' he called out. 'I got one more card to play.' He bent forward, one finger of his yellow, claw-like hand stabbing the air in the direction of the marshal. 'This fella calls hisself Green, but in Texas he's better known as Sudden, an' he can't deny it.'
Oaths and gasps of astonishment greeted the announcement, and all eyes were turned on the man whose reckless courage and deadly gun-play had already made his name known throughout the South-west. Necks were craned to see one who had been a familiar figure to most of them for many weeks. Somehow this long-limbed, lean-faced, confident young man did not suggest a noted desperado, and they waited breathlessly for his reply.
'I ain't denyin' it,' he said quietly.
Raven looked round triumphantly. 'I reckon that settles it,' he said. 'Yo're a cool cuss, Sudden; most fellas, after wipin' out Tony Sarel, lootin' the Sweetwater bank, an' holdin' up Sands would 'a' scratched gravel, but yo're a hawg. A right smart play gettin' yoreself made marshal--I gotta hand it to yu; it was a good joke on the town an''--his voice was acrid--'we're all laughin' at it.'
'Like hell we are,' came a surly growl from one of the listeners.
'Well, if Lawless don't feel amused, Sweetwater will,' the half-breed went on. 'Specially when it learns that its respected sheriff has been hobnobbin' with the very man he's been scourin' the country for.'
Strade sprang to his feet. 'Hold yore hosses, Raven,' he cried. 'Yo're travellin' wide o' the trail.' He waved a hand towards Green. 'I've knowed who this man is pretty nigh since yu appointed him as marshal.'
This admission provided almost as big a sensation as the announcement of Green's identity. Strade waited calmly until the incredulous chorus of curses and ejaculations had died down. Raven was the first to speak.
'Yu knew?' he shouted. 'Why in hell didn't yu arrest him?'
'When I want yu to tell me my business I'll shore ask yu, Raven,' the sheriff replied tersely. 'Green come to me an' explained who he was an' why he happened to be in these parts. Afterwards I checked up on what he told me an' found it was correct. I'm admittin' he has a hard reputation, but he got some of it as a deputy-sheriff in the service o' Governor Bleke, an' more was plastered on him like it has been here, which is what. brought him. He warn't around when the Sweetwater plays was pulled off.'
'Yu mean he didn't show up till after,' Raven sneered. 'What about his pardner, Barsay? Yu checked up on him too?'
'No, I ain't,' Strade had to confess. 'Green told me he only met him the day he was made marshal.'
Ironic cheers greeted the remark, and it was easy to see that the sheriff's defence had produced little effect. Green realized that his reputation was likely to cost him his life. Some of the better type of citizen were now regarding him dubiously, and a whispered argument was going on among the cowboys from the two ranches. Then
