'I'm outa practice--ain't throwed a knife for quite a spell,' he said. 'Allasame, if it had been a fella's throat ...' He went on conversationally. 'An old Piute chief taught me the trick--claimed he'd let the life outa ten men thataway. Dessay he was boastin' some--Injuns mostly do--but he certainly knew about knives.' He turned to the Mexicans. 'Yore friend is mebbe waitin' for yu,' he suggested meaningly.
They slunk out like dogs who feared the whip, casting curious glances at the weapon in the wall, which they knew was there as a warning to themselves. With their disappearance the tension relaxed and interrupted games were resumed. Luce Burdette came over to the puncher.
'I'm obliged, but I dunno why yu interfered,' he said. 'If yo're ridin' for Purdie, as I hear, he won't thank yu.'
'I ain't sold him my soul, an' if I had, Purdie would understand--he's a white man,' the C P foreman said quietly. 'Yu must be tired o' life to turn yore back on a snake like that; don't yu know his sort allus carries a sticker? 'Sides, if he'd pulled his gun he'd 'a' got yu, shore thing.'
'Lot o' grief that would 'a' caused, wouldn't it?' the boy asked bitterly.
'I dunno,' Sudden told him; 'but I reckon that with skunks like that around Miss Purdie needs all her friends.'
His chance shot hit the mark; this aspect of the matter brought a quick flush to Burdette's cheeks. 'I hadn't looked at it thataway,' he admitted, and pointing to an unoccupied table in a far corner of the room, added, 'Can I have a word with yu?'
For some moments after they were seated the boy was silent, his moody eyes staring into vacancy. Then, in a low, strained voice, he began to talk:
'Just now yu saved my life, an' I expect I didn't seem none too grateful. Well, I wasn't, an' I'm goin' to tell yu why. Pretty near everybody in town figures I killed Kit Purdie; some are sayin' it openly, others think it but dasn't say so till they know how my brothers are goin' to take it. My refusin' to draw on Chris has got around, an' is regarded as a confession o' guilt. I wish I'd pulled an' let him get me.'
'That ain't no way to talk. What do yore brothers think?'
The boy flushed angrily. 'They allow I did it,' he blurted out.
Sudden nodded comprehendingly. 'It suits them,' he pointed out. 'I understand they've been tryin' to get Purdie to r'ar up for some time.'
'I'm done with 'em--when King told me this mornin' to pull my freight from the Circle B he said somethin' he can't ever take back,' Luce said passionately. 'Ramon musta knowed 'bout that, or he'd never 'a' had the nerve to frame me. Yu shore yu didn't get a blink at the fella who fired the shot?'
'If I had I'd 'a' put a crimp in his getaway.'
'Yu don't think it was me?'
'No, an' I told Purdie so.'
Burdette's face cleared a little. 'Thank yu,' he said gratefully. 'That's two friends I got.'
Sudden fancied he could have named the other, but what he said was, 'What yu aimin' to do?'
'Stick around an' clear myself,' Luce said. 'I'll be at the hotel if yu want me any time. I--I'd like to see yu,' he finished with boyish eagerness.
'I'll be along,' the puncher promised. 'Mebbe we can help one another.'
'Shore, but get me right,' Luce insisted. 'Though the Burdettes have shook me I'm not roundin' on 'em nohow, but'--he grinned mirthlessly--'I ain't related to their outfit. yu'll have to watch out for those hombres, an' that half-breed, Ramon, is pure pizen. 'Fraid I've fetched yu right up against Ol' Man Trouble.'
'Him an' me have met afore, an' yu'll notice I'm still here,' the puncher smiled.
When the boy had gone, Sudden drifted over to the bar, and Magee pushed forward a bottle, a look of perplexity on his face.
'Shure I can't foller your play, sorr,' he said. 'ye're a C P man, an' ye save the loife of a Burdette; that'll puzzle Purdie, I'm thinkin'.'
Sudden looked at him quizzically. 'I start with the C P to-morrow mornin',' he pointed out, 'an' Luce finished with the Circle B to-day. Yes, sir, his family has turned him down cold.'
The landlord whistled. 'Odd that,' he commented. 'The Greaser knew av it too, or he'd niver 'a' dared raise a hand to a Burdette.' He sipped his drink contemplatively. 'So Luce is at outs wid his brothers, eh? Well, he was allus different to the rest av thim, an' I've seen the Old Man look queerly at him, as if wonderin' how he come to be in the nest. There'll be somethin' back o' his leavin' the Circle B, shure enough.'
The puncher nodded, but did not pursue the topic. He liked Magee, and felt that he was straight, but he knew that he must walk warily in Windy for a while.
WHEN the new foreman arrived at the C P ranch on the following morning, he found that the story of his little difficulty with the half-breed had preceded him, two of the outfit having been in town, and heard of, though they had not seen, the incident. Chris Purdie's face was not quite so genial when he greeted him.
'I didn't know the Burdettes was friends o' yores,' was the oblique way he approached the subject.
Sudden's look was sardonic. 'Did yu get all the story?' he asked.
'I heard yu saved young Luce's life, an' that was aplenty,' retorted the ranch-owner.
'Mebbe I did, an' I'm bettin' yu'd 'a' done the same,' was the reply, and the foreman went on to give the details.
When he heard of the vile insult offered to his daughter, Purdie's face flamed with fury.
'The dirty scum,' he began.
'It was a plain frame-up,' Sudden interrupted. 'I'd say he was actin' on orders, an' whoever gave 'em knew Luce had left the Circle B.'
'Left the Circle B?' the rancher repeated in surprise. 'How come?'
'After the fracas I had a talk with young Burdette, an' he told me he was through with his brothers; they won't believe that he didn't kill yore son.'
'An' they're dead right, too, though it's the first time I ever agreed with a Burdette,' the old man said caustically.
'Yo're wrong, Purdie,' the puncher urged. 'I ain't no Methuselah, but I've met a mort o' men, an' I'll gamble that boy is clean strain. Why should he risk his life for yore girl's good name?'
'Dunno, 'less it was to avert suspicion.'
Sudden shook his head. 'He'd have to be a mighty quick thinker, the way it happened. No, sir, I'm so shore he's straight that in yore place I'd offer him a job to ride for the C P.'
The cattleman laughed aloud at this amazing suggestion. 'Yu bein' a stranger hereabouts, there's some excuse for yu,' he said. 'If I did that, folks would think I'd gone plumb loco, an' they'd be right. A Burdette workin' for the C P, huh? He'd be damn useful to them, wouldn't he? Why, it's more'n likely that's what they're playin' for. I ain't fallin' for that foolishness. Now, come along an' meet the men.'
Sudden followed him to the bunkhouse; he was not convinced, but he recognized the futility of further argument. The morning meal was over, and the riders were awaiting orders. There were eight of them present, all young, and they looked a capable crew. Their employer's speech was brief and to the point:
'This is Jim Green, boys. Yu'll take orders from him in future, all same it was me.'
Some of them nodded, others said 'Howdy,' and all of them studied the new foreman with narrowed, appraising glances. His eyes too were busy, and he early decided that none of the looks directed towards him was hostile.
'Where's Bill?' asked the rancher.
'He went down to the corral,' said one. 'I'll go fetch him.'
'He's the daddy o' the outfit, an' the on'y one yu may have trouble with,' Purdie said, for the foreman's ear only. 'Been actin' sorta segundo to Kit, an' he's mebbe got ambitions. I'm leavin' yu to deal with him, yore own way; when I put a fella in charge I don't interfere.'
He went out, nodding to an embarrassed outfit, and a foreman who, nonchalantly rolling a smoke, awaited the coming 'trouble.' For he felt pretty sure that the absence of the oldest hand was a premeditated gesture, the first move in a plan of protest against his appointment. There was an air of expectancy about the waiting men. From outside came a hail :
