Crossed Dumb-bell outfit that raided yu last night an' I was one of 'em, an' let me tell yu, it wasn't Bent who kicked me cold but one o' the gang I'd ridden there with.'
`Why should they do that?' demanded Simon.
`Mebbe they suspected me or mebbe it was a bit o' private spite,' replied Green. `Anyways, it wasn't either o' yore men--they never showed themselves.'
`Yu seen this boss, the Spider?' asked Simon.
`Yes, he calls himself Tarman in Hatchett's,' replied Green.
The announcement hardly produced the effect he had looked for. Noreen's eyes certainly met his in startled surprise, but her father flung himself back in his chair with a shout of laughter, while Green and the girl watched him in amazemenn.
`Well, well, if that don't beat the hand,' he gasped, as he struggled to control his mirth. `That was a poor shot o' yores, my lad. O' course, yu don't know that Tarman has offered to put fifty thousand dollars into this ranch on the day he marries my daughter. Now, what yu gotta say about that?'
Green's eyes narrowed. `That he'll find it easier to put the money in if he takes it out first,' he retorted. `Tarman's out to get this ranch an' the Frying Pan by hook or by crook.'
`An' he's robbin' the ranch he's willin' to buy into, an' the father of the girl he's hopin' to marry, eh?' sneered Simon. `Sounds likely, don't it?'
`I gotta damit that it don't,' the cowpuncher agreed. `There is ends to this tangle I ain't picked up yet, an' yu mustn't forget that there's others in the game who want a pickin'. Poker Pete, Dexter, an' yore foreman ain't the sort to work for nothin'.'
The ranch-owner smiled sardonically. `An' yu are, I s'pose? When yu come siftin' round these parts all yu wanted was a job at forty a month, warn't it? A job that would leave yu free to work with yore friends at stealin' my cows. An' I fell for it with my eyes shut, but they're open now, Mister Rustler, an' I don't swallow no more o' yore lies.'
His voice rose as he delivered this tirade, and his eyes glared malignantly at the bound man before him, who listened unmoved. It was Noreen who spoke :
`Daddy,' she murmured, reprovingly.
`Yu keep quiet, girl,' replied her father. `This feller may have pulled the wool over yore eyes too, but this is where he gets trimmed.' Turning to Green, he continued. `Yu have had the laugh over me so far; we'll see whether yu find it so damn funny to-morrow mornin' when I turn yu over to the marshal, an' tell him that yo're Sudden, the outlaw. Ha! that touches yu, don't it?'
For with all his self-control, the prisoner had not been able to suppress a start of surprise at this unexpected accusation, a movement which, slight as it was, did not escape the eyes of the man who had been looking for it.
`P'raps yu would like to deny that too?' sneered the cattleman. `Feller with yore gifts oughtta be able to think up a good explanation.'
The prisoner forced a grin to his lips and shrugged his shoulders. `Shucks,' he said. `I reckon yu take the pot this time, but yo're playin' in a deeper game than yu guess, an' I'm warnin' yu that the cards is stacked.'
`Well, yu don't need to worry--yore hand is played,' was the ironical retort. `Now yu come with me an' I'll put yu in a safe place for the night.'
Noreen sat with bowed head and as he passed the puncher caught a whispered, `I'm sorry,' which braced him up like a tonic. Silently he followed his late employer to the back of the ranch-house, where there was an empty hut which had once been a store-room. It was strongly built of adobe, with heavy wooden doors fastened by a padlock and staple.
`There's a box to sit on, an' I'll fetch yu some blankets an' grub,' said his gaoler, and left him to his reflections.
Half an hour passed and then Simon returned with a lantern, blankets, and a tray of food. He untied the captive's hands that he might eat but stood in the doorway the while with his pistol drawn. As soon as the meal was done, he replaced the rope on his wrists and locked the door.
Chapter XVII
For a long time the prisoner sat motionless, pondering on his position; it appeared hopeless enough. The unexpected discovery of his identity was a crushing blow for it meant short shrift at the hands of his enemies, and the probable loss of all his friends. More than one county was offering a big reward for the capture of Sudden the outlaw, and once it became known that he was taken, there was likely to be a `neck-tie party' in Hatchett's Folly.
The puncher, however, was not the type to give in; even while he thought, he had been busy trying to loosen the bonds on his wrists. He met with no success, for your cattleman understands knots almost as well as a sailor, and Simon had done his work well. By the dim light of the lantern Green examined his prison, and saw little hope of leaving it even with his hands free, nevertheless, he persevered with his bonds; it was, at least, something to do. Looking through the foot-square aperture which served as a window, he could see that it was very dark outside, and he judged the time to be near midnight. Suddenly he was conscious of movement, the sound of a stealthy footfall outside the hut, then the grate of a key in the padlock, and the door opened to admit Noreen. She had a knife in one hand.
`Quick, your bonds,' she whispered, and when she had slashed the rope apart, she added, `Larry is waiting at the big cedar with a horse. Go at once.'
`But yu will get in wrong with yore Dad over this,' protested the prisoner.
`Well, he will be furious, of course, but I can manage him,' she replied.
`Yu are savin' my life,' he said slowly. `I don't know how to thank yu.'
`Make better use of it,' she flashed back, and was gone.
The released man saw her melt into the shadow, and then, with the caution of an Indian trailer, made his way to the spot the girl had mentioned, the big cedar at the point where the trail from Hatchett's entered the ranch. Here, deep in the gloom of the foliage, he found Larry and two horses. The boy executed a silent war-dance when he saw his friend.
`No time for gassin' now,' he whispered. `Fork yore cayuse an' we'll punch the breeze.'
He himself set the example, and when Green did the like he found he was astride his own pony, Bullet.
`He was outside the corral this mornin'--musta headed for here when yu was downed,' explained Larry. `Here's yore guns; Rattler had 'em, an' thinks he has still.'
Green buckled the belt around him and tried to express his thanks, but the other cut them short. `Shucks,' he said. `I ain't done nothin'; yu gotna thank the Pretty Lady--she thought of it all. Which way we goin'?'
`We?' echoed the fugitive.
`Shore,' came the confident reply. `I'm goin' with yu. I talked it over with the Pretty Lady, an' we agreed that yu ain't to be trusted alone. No, it ain't a bit o' good yore cussin' me out thataway.'
`But, yu blazin' jackass, can't yu see what yo're doin'?' expostulated Green. `I'm a rustler, an' if yo're caught with me, yo're one an'
`It'll be neckties for two, eh? Well, we won't be catched then. Now that's settled, s'pose we decide where to head for.'
`The nearest lunatic asylum for yu, but as I reckon that's a piece away, why, we'll make for the Frying Pan.'
`That bughouse idea is a right good one for yu too. Why, yu bone-head, don't yu guess that yore pestiferous past will be known there? Ain't yu aware that Old Impatience is a friend o' Simon, an' that yu will be steppin' out o' one trap into another?'
Green's reply was no set his mouth in motion. `We gotta take chances,' he said.
Larry ranged alongside. `Chances?' he snorted disgustedly. `Yu remind me of a chap called Lukins I met up with in Dodge one time, he was dead set on 'em. Somebody roped a mountain lion an' fetched it into town in a cage, an' this fool Lukins puts up a bet he'll scratch the back of its head with his empty hand. 'Cats like that,' he says, 'an' as this animile ain't nothin' but a big cat he'll like it too.' Well, the brute didn't seem none in love with it, for Lukins lost an arm, an' the doc what attended to him reckoned he was clever to save the rest of him.'
Green laughed. `Leeming ain't no wild animal,' he said. `The fact is, he's got a leveller head than some o' yu
