'An' what happens?' the marshal asked, and proceeded to answer his own question: ' 'Stead o' shootin' it out man to man as any fair-minded gent would, Green knocks him off his busted bronc an' lets that black brute o' his tromp King to death.'
All of which, when backed up by liberal doses of free liquor, sounded plausible enough, especially to the turbulent faction of the community, to whom the spectacular lawlessness of the Black Burdettes had appealed. There was further talk of strangers who drifted in and tried to 'run the town.' By midnight, such is the mercurial quality of public opinion, the late owner of the Circle B was being almost regretted and the man who had beaten him correspondingly condemned.
The result of the marshal's activities was evidenced early next morning when a freckled-faced lad rode up to the C P and in a shrill treble yelled, 'Hello, the house.'
Sudden, on his way to his employer, stopped short and surveyed the young visitor and his aged mount with a good-natured grin.
'We ain't takin' on hands for the round-up yet, son,' he remarked.
The boy squirmed in his saddle. 'I warn't ...' And then, with a rush, 'Slippery sent me up to git yu.'
The foreman flung up his hands in mock alarm. 'Don't shoot; I'll come quiet,' he promised. 'Middlin' young for a deppity, ain't yu, Timmie?'
'Aw, quit yore joshin',' the boy expostulated, and pulled the brim of his battered hat as Purdie stepped from the house. 'They's holdin' a inquiry on King an' Mrs. Lavigne this mornin'; I ain't grievin' none 'bout him, but' --there was a little break in the childish voice--'she was mighty kind to me.'
'That's all right, sonny, we'll be along,' the rancher told him. 'Fed yet?'
'Shore seems a while ago, seh,' Timmie confessed.
'Cut along an' see the cook,' Purdie smiled. 'Two breakfasts never did hurt a boy yet.' He turned to his foreman. 'What's back o' this caper?'
Sudden's face was set. 'I sort of expected it,' he said. 'Slippery is puttin' up his last bluff, an' I aim to call it.'
'Get Bill an' half a dozen o' the boys,' the cattleman said. 'Where's Luce?'
'Gone ridin' with Miss Nan,' Sudden replied, and waited for the explosion.
It did not come. Purdie just nodded, and said, 'Reckon we can manage without him. I had that boy figured up all wrong, Jim; there's times he reminds me powerful o' Kit.'
Whereat the foreman smiled covertly and was wisely dumb.
Windy had not attained the dignity of a court-house, and meetings of any public importance took place in a large room adjoining 'The Lucky Chance' which had been originally created for a dance-hall. Here, lolling on forms or leaning against the walls, the C P contingent found most of the citizens. Seated behind a table borrowed from the bar was the marshal, with his deputy near at hand. His face darkened when he saw that Sudden had not come unsupported.
'Mornin', Purdie,' he greeted. 'Was there any need to fetch along a young army?'
The rancher looked around. 'Where is it?' he asked. 'My boys got as much right to be here as yu have. What's the fuss about?'
'No fuss a-tall,' Slype returned. 'Just a friendly meetin' to investigate the passin' o' two prominent citizens.'
'One bein' a common thief an' hold-up,' Purdie said caustically.
'That ain't no way to speak o' the dead,' the marshal reproved. 'Fact is, the evidence 'pears to show Burdette warn't as bad as his reputation.'
'Huh! He musta had a hell of a reputation, then,' the rancher retorted. 'All right; get on with the whitewashin'.'
'This meetin' would like to hear yore foreman's account o' what happened yestiddy,' Slype began.
Sudden told the story, plainly and briefly. The marshal's cunning eyes glinted with satisfaction when it was finished.
'Yo're admittin' that the killin' o' the woman warn't intentional?'
'Shore--the shot was meant for me. She ran into it.'
The marshal nodded sagely. 'I knowed it,' he said. 'So did everyone else, yu damn fool,' Purdie told him, and several of those present smiled audibly.
'Why should she protect yu, Green?' was the next question.
'She cared for King, an' I figure she didn't want to see him commit murder. His guns were out when he came into the saloon, so he had the drop on me from the start.'
'Yu had threatened to shoot him on sight.'
'That's not true.'
The questioner shrugged his shoulders. 'Yu claim King's hoss throwed him--one o' the best riders hereabouts,' he went on, incredulity patent in his tone.
'He was twisted in his saddle to fire at me when his bronc went down.'
'An' instead o' givin' him a chance, yu rode over him?'
'What chance was he givin' me in `The Plaza'?' the puncher retorted. 'An' he buzzed four bullets at me when I overtook him, without waitin' to warn me too. Allasame, I tried to avoid the tramplin'; I wanted to shoot him.'
'Yu meant to kill King although yu knowed what he had just done was an accident?' Slype said quickly.
'I certainly did,' Sudden said, and there was a flicker of a smile on his grim lips. 'Did yu suppose I wanted to congratulate him?' The faint amusement faded from his face. 'Listen to me, Slype; this was Burdette's fourth try at puttin' me outa business. First, King sends his gunman, Whitey, an' when he fails to turn the trick, Mart bushwhacks me at Dark Canyon, an' yu nearly hang Luce for it. Then another of his men, Riley there, pushes me in the Sluice an' sends a couple o' slugs after me for company.'
The deputy sprang to his feet. 'That's...'
'The truth--an' yu know it,' Sudden said sternly. 'On the top o' that, King carries off Miss Purdie.'
'Bah! She warn't in no danger,' the marshal sneered. 'He was just usin' her to collect his debt from her father.'
Purdie stepped forward, his face flaming. 'There yu lie in yore throat, Slippery,' he cried. 'All I owed the Circle B could be paid with a bullet. Burdette's word to me was that unless I made over my ranch an' cattle to him he'd throw my daughter to his men.'
The statement brought forth oaths of surprise and indignation from the audience. Rough, uncultured, hard- shelled as these men were, they possessed the instinctive respect of their type for the weaker sex, be she never such a poor example of it. The marshal saw the effect created and hastened to destroy it.
'Sheer bluff,' he asserted. 'Burdette wanted to git yu on yore knees without a battle. But we're driftin' from the point, which is this; ever since this fella Green appeared this town's had trouble, an' he's bin the hub of it. I reckon yu gotta git a new foreman, Purdie.'
'Meanin' yu aim to run him out?' the rancher asked. 'I'll see yu in hell first.'
The marshal stood up, his thin, rodent-like jaws working. 'I'm lettin' yu down easy,' he rasped. 'This yer town stood for Burdette's bullying, but it ain't goin' to stand for yores. Sabe?'
A confirming growl told him he had struck the right note. Sudden, sardonically scanning the coarse, savage faces around the room, saw that, for the moment, the marshal was on top. He knew the shallow minds of these men, easily stirred to passion, and jealous of their rights as free and independent citizens. He knew too the swift certainty with which they would strike when once they had come to a decision. He glanced at Purdie and guessed his thought; the C P owner was wishing he had brought more of his outfit. Ere the stinging retort which might have precipitated a fracas could leave the rancher's lips, the foreman interposed.
'How long yu givin' me to leave, marshal?' he quietly asked.
The puncher's friends could scarcely believe their ears. Slype's expression was one of mingled triumph and amazement; he had not looked for so easy a victory. The fellow was a four-flusher after all. He laughed evilly.
`Yu got till sundown; after that, yore stay is liable to be plenty permanent,' he answered.
Someone sniggered at the. gibe. Bill Yago opened his mouth and closed it again without speaking when he caught his foreman's eye. Weldon, the blacksmith, moved as though about to say something, but changed his mind when Sudden shook his head. Leaning indolently against the wall, his thumbs tucked in his belt, the man who had
