think, but before we go any further there's one thing yu gotta right to know.'
`S'pose yu mean what I'm to call yu? I shore got a choice, ain't I? Don, Green, or--Sudden.'
If Larry had wished to surprise his friend he had his desire. `Who told yu--Miss Norry?' he queried.
`Nope,' was the reply. `Snap--he's knowed it some time; recognised yore gun-action when yu trimmed Snub's whiskers for him. He allowed I oughtta know, but he threatened to blow my liver out if I breathed a word of it.'
`When was this?'
`Couple o' hours ago, when he heard I was comin' with yu. He'd 'a' been along too but he reckoned he'd be more use at the Y Z. Told me to tell yu that he's with yu to his last chip.'
`Good old Snap,' breathed Green softly, and in truth he was deeply moved. His life had been hard for the most part, and for years now he had been a wanderer drifting from place to place, with never a friendly face to greet him, and with no future to look to but one of satisfied vengeance. And here he had found comrades who were trusting him when ninety-nine out of a hundred would have turned their backs or their guns on him. He smiled in the darkness, and then said, soberly, `Yes, I'm the man they call Sudden, an' there's somethin' like ten thousand waitin' for the man who takes me in. Don't that tempt yu, Larry?'
The boy spurred his horse and shouted savagely, `C'mon. What d'yu think I am, anyway?'
'Yo're a natural-born fool,' replied Green, `an' I must be another, 'cause I like yu for it.'
`Huh! I'm still a-chasin' that foreman's job,' retorted the boy. `Lookin' after little old me is what I'm doin', that's all.' His friend laughed softly and no more was said until they drew near the Frying Pan ranch, when the older man slowed down and cautioned: `Swing round a bit so that we don't pass the bunkhouse; I want to get Leeming by himself.'
As they noiselessly approached the ranch-house they saw that there was a light in the living-room. Dismounting and trailing the reins, they crept up to the window and saw that Leeming was alone in the room. A light tap on the glass brought him to his feet instantly, and gripping his gun, he asked, `Who's there?'
`Larry Barton, from the Y Z. I want to speak to yu on the quiet,' came the reply.
Leeming disappeared and in a moment the front door opened and the visitors slid in. Their host, still carrying his gun, was just to the left of the opening, where he could get his shot in first in case of trickery. At the sight of Barton, however, he slipped the weapon back into the holster and grinned.
'Lo, Larry, gotta be careful these days,' he said, and then as Green followed his companion, his face darkened and his hand went to his six-shooter again. `I wasn't lookin' for yu, Green; yu ain't cherishin' the notion that I got any sympathy with rustlers, are yu?'
`No, seh, not any,' drawled the other. `So yu have heard all about me? Ain't it a licker how news gets around in some parts?'
`One o' the Y Z boys met one o' mine on the range an' told him yu'd been caught rustlin' their cattle,' replied Leeming grimly. `That's all I know, an' if it's true it's a-plenty.'
`Mebbe it is, but there's more to tell,' said the other. `I came here to-night to put my cards on the table if yu are willin' to listen; if you ain't, I can go.'
`Huh, there might be two words to that,' growled the catnleman, with a glance towards the bunkhouse from which one shot would bring his men on the run.
The visitor read the thought and shook his head. `Don't yu think of it, seh,' he said gently. `I ain't got no quarrel with yu or yore outfit, but--shucks--war-talk won't get us nowheres. What's the word from yu?'
Leeming dropped into the nearest chair; he realised that his guest had him hog-tied. If he called his men he would be dead before they reached him, and while they might succeed in capturing the Y Z couple, it would only be at the cost of more lives.
`Go ahead,' he said shortly.
The cowpuncher complied. Step by step he told of his discoveries and suspicions, omitting, however, his own identity and that of Tarman and the Spider. Leeming watched him closely but did not interrupt. When the story was ended he sat for some moments turning it over.
`I allus doubted Blaynes,' he said, `but I can't see why yore own gang downed yu, 'less they suspected yu were just spyin'.' `It'll perhaps be a bit clearer when I tell yu that Tarman is the Spider,' Green explained.
Leeming leapt from his seat. `What?' he exploded. `Yu shore o' that?'
`Had it from one of his own men,' was the reply. `But I got no proof, an' Simon laughed at me when I told him; said the feller is goin' to buy into the Y Z an' marry Miss Norry, an' asked me was it likely he'd rustle his own cows. Well, it don't seem so, but as I pointed out, there's others in the gang as want pickin's, an' Tarman ain't put down any cash yet.'
Job stamped up and down the room. `Bah!' he said. `Simon's an old fool. What, give his girl an' his ranch to a feller like that, a stranger? I've a notion to go an' call Mr. Tarman's bluff right now.'
Green shook his head. `That wouldn't help any; he's got most o' the fools in Hatchett's eatin'--or rather, drinkin' oun of his hand. We gotta let him run on the rope a bit longer. What I want to know is, will yu an' yore boys come a-runnin' if I send the word?'
`What yu aimin' to do?' asked Job.
`Me an' Larry'll take to the woods an' snoop around. If we can catch Tarman at the Crossed Dumb-bell I reckon that'll be proof a-plenty, but before I ask yu to tie to me there's somethin' yu oughtta know.' Green paused for a space and the musclesaround his lips grew tense. `There's a feller known as 'Sudden' who's bein' pretty eagerly looked for. Yu will oe told that I'm him, an'--it's true.'
The calm announcement jarred the ranch-owner into a state of petrification; with mouth and eyes wide open he stared at the man who had made it, wondering if his ears had deceived him. Then, as the full significance of the statement seeped into his bewildered brain, he snatched at his gun, only to find that Green's was already levelled at his heart, though he had seen no movement. The outlaw's left hand was in the air, palm outwards, the peace sign.
`Easy, Leeming, I ain't lookin' for trouble, but I'm ready for it,' Green said quietly. `As I just told yu, I am Sudden, but yu can take it from me I ain't guilty o' all the crimes that's been pinned to him. Why, 'bout three weeks ago he was reported to have robbed the bank at Lilyville, four hundred miles from here, an' I was on the Y Z ranch. But that don't matter; what I want yu to get into yore head is that I'm playin' straight with yu in this rustlin' game.'
`What brought yu into these parts?' asked Leeming.
`I didn't come to steal cows,' replied the outlaw. `I ain't a cattle-thief nor a hold-up, an' I never pull a gun until I have to. My business here was to look for two men--I've been all over the country in the last few years, hopin' to strike their trails. That's my job, findin' them two fellers, but I gotta live too, so I took on at the Y Z. Now that's the straight goods. I'd like to have yore help, but whether or no, I'm agoin' to clean up around here.'
`An' he won't have to go it alone, Leeming,' interposed Larry. `Me, Snap, Dirty, Simple, an' Ginger are back of him.'
The ranchman considered the pair in silence. He had been watching Green closely and believed that he was speaking the truth. On the other hand, the man was a self-confessed outlaw, and a notorious one at that. The support of the Y Z boys, whom he knew to be good fellows, carried a lot of weight; they were not the kind to take sides against their own ranch without good reason, and he never had liked Blaynes. As for Tarman--impulsively he stood up and held out his hand.
`I'll go yu, boys,' he said. `Now, what do yu want me to do?'
`Outfit us with grub an' ammunition an' be ready to come a-bilin' when yu get the call,' Green replied. `Meantime, o' course, yu ain't seen hide nor hair of us.'
`That's easy,' said their host, and led the way to his storeroom. Here they made up a parcel of bacon, beans, coffee, salt, and flour, borrowing also a coffee-pot, skillet, and two tin cups. A plentiful supply of cartridges completed their preparations,
and Leeming slid to the door to make sure that the coast was clear.
`One more point,' Green said. `We may be so fixed that we can't send a message. Well, we'll be over Big Chief way; look out for a smoke signal, balled three, two, three. If yu don't hear nothin' of us for a week or two it'll mean we're both rubbed out, an' yu might pay the Crossed Dumb-bell a visit; I've told yu how to find it. An' keep an eye on Tarman--he's the king-pin. So long.'
Leaving the ranch by the back door they faded into the darkness, found their horses, and departed without
