Sudden The Range Robbers (1930) s-9

by Oliver Strange

  `Lock yore hands round my neck an' hold on tight,' he said, brusquely. `The hoss'll pull us up.'

  He gave a familiar call and braced himself for the strain. The rope tightened with a jerk, they swung loose from the ledge, and were being gradually raised as the knowing little pony paced slowly back. With his left arm and his legs the puncher did his best to avoid the inequalities and projections of the earth wall up which they were being drawn, but both of them were bruised and breathless when at length they were dragged over the rim of the plateau. The girl, indeed, was still well-nigh unconscious. Flinging off the rope, Green staggered to his feet and fetched his canteen. The waner soon revived her.

  `Where am I?' she asked weakly, and then, with a shiver, `Oh, I remember! I sat down and the ground gave way under me. I seemed to fall miles. How did you find me?'

  `I met up with yore pony. Plumb lucky yu forgot to trail the reins, or he wouldn't 'a' drifted,' Green replied. `Do yu reckon yu can stand up?'

  The girl flushed at the realisation that she was reclining against his knee, and that he had been the first to think of it. `I am all right now,' she said hastily, and stood up. `How did you get me up the cliff?'

  `The little hors just naturally hauled the pair of us up; nothin' to that,' the puncher said nonchalantly. `We seem to have collected some real estate on the trip, though.'

  He helped her brush the dust from her clothes and brought her pony. His matter-of-fact treatment of the incident and evident desire not to prolong it were in keeping with his invariable attitude towards her, and aroused an indefinite feeling of resentment; it savoured of indifference, and she was not accustomed to that form of treatment from the opposite sex. Any of the other boys... She put the ungrateful thought from her and turned to him impulsively.

  `I have to thank you again for coming to my rescue,' she said. `You will begin to look upon me as a nuisance.'

  His right spur went home, and the pony promptly resented it by standing on its hind legs. By the time the rider had subdued this ebullition, he had his reply ready.

  `Why, I reckon I'm plain lucky, that's all,' he said gravely.

  `I should have it that the luck is on my side,' she replied. `But for you I should now be--' She shook her head no banish the ugly picture, and added, `Yes I am going to ask you to do something more.'

  `I'll be pleased,' he said simply.

  `It is only that I want you to say nothing of this--this accident--to my father. My motive is not entirely selfish, though I am afraid he would stop my rides, and I love them, but he worries about me quite enough as it is, and just now he has much to trouble him.'

  `I wasn't intendin'' He stopped suddenly. Confound it, did she think he would go glory-hunting to his employer? This aspect of her request had just occurred to the girl.

  `You see, he has only me,' she said lamely.

  `Yu won't remember yore mother, I expect,' Green said, deliberately changing the subject.

  `No, I might almost say I never had one,' she replied. `I think even the memory of a monher must be much for a girl.'

  The puncher nodded his head. `But yu got yore dad,' he resumed. `Parents shore mean a lot, an' I guess a kid that starts life without any is some handicapped.'

  Something in his voice told her he was speaking of himself. `It must make a difference,' she agreed. `I'm sorry if you--' `Yes,' he said reminiscently. `All the parents I can remember was an old Piute squaw an' her man, who used to travel the country sellin' hosses. I was raised among Injuns. The old woman told me I was white, but she never explained how I come to be with 'em. They stole me, likely. Then a cattleman they sold some ponies to saw me an' made a dicker with 'em; took me to his ranch and treated me like a son. He was shore a regular man. Yu see, he was all alone too.'

  `And he is--dead?'

  `Yes. He passed out 'bout three years back, an' I lost my only friend.'

  She was silent for a few moments, and he guessed what was in her mind. `Yu are wonderin' why I'm workin' as a cowhand when I oughtta be ownin' a ranch. It's easy explained. When my friend died he was a broken-hearted an' ruined man: his wife had a fatal illness a few years after they married, their onlychild was kidnapped by an enemy before he met up with me, an' another scoundrel robbed him of well-nigh everythin'. All he had to leave me was his debt to these two men, an' I'm meanin' to pay it--when I find 'em; not for anythin' I lost, but for what they made him suffer.'

  The girl shivered. The threat to the unknown offenders had been quietly spoken, but she sensed the implacable resolve underlying the words. This grim-faced man meant what he said; he would show the patience and tenaciny of a vengeful Indian on the trail of a foe, and little, if any, more mercy.

  `They may be dead by now,' she ventured.

  `So much the better--for them,' Green replied; `but I'm bettin' they're still above ground. This is a big country, an' I've only been searchin' three years.'

  Silence again fell on them, for the girl was awed by the intensity of a hatred which could keep a man on such a quest for so long a time. Then the puncher spoke again and his tone was apologetic.

  `I'm shore sorry, Miss Noreen. I don't know what come over me pesterin' yu with my dreadful past in this fashion. Yu must think I'm loco.'

  `No, I've been very interested--and sorry,' the girl protested. `I hope you won't find those men.'

  `Yo're condemnin' me to a solitary life,' returned he, with a smile, and again she realised the granite hardness beneath the smooth voice. `We are near the ranch now; yu had better go ahead.'

  She put out her hand, thanked him again, and rode on. Neither of them noticed a dark face, with sneering, vengeful eyes, watching them from a near-by thicket. Green waited a while and then rode slowly to the ranch.

  When Simon came in shortly after his daughter's return she saw at once that something was wrong. The old man's face wore a look of annoyance, and his voice was almost harsh when he said :

  `Hear yu been ridin' with Green.'

  `Who told you that?' asked the girl.

  `That ain't nothin' to do with it,' replied her father. `I'm askin' yu.'

  `I went out for a ride, and on my way home I met Green, and he accompanied me part of the way,' said Noreen. `Do you object to me speaking to our boys if I meet them?'

  `No o' course not; yo're getnin' me all wrong,' said Simon uncomfortably. `But this feller is new, an', as Blaynes sez to me just now, he ain't told us nothin' about himeslf.'

  `So in was Blaynes who gave you this interesting information, was it?' she asked indignantly.

  `Now don't yu go sourin' on him. He's foreman, an' it's his duty to report to me anythin' he thinks I oughta know.'

  `He's not foreman over me, and I won't have him spying on my actions, the miserable sneak!' retorted the girl spiritedly. `Green at least behaves like a gentleman, and as for knowing nothing about him, he told me quite a lot.'

  She proceeded to repeat what she knew of the new man's past, and was astonished to see her father's face darken and to hear a muttered oath.

  `Why, Daddy, what's the matter?' she asked.

  He dropped into a chair before replying. `Twinge o' rheumatism--gets me every now an' then. Reckon I'm growin' old, girl. Now about this chap, Green. Dessay he's all right, an' there's no harm in passin' the time o' day if yu meet, but I don't want yu to be too familiar with any o' the boys, see? Sooner or later yu will own this ranch an' have to boss 'em.'

  `I do that now,' she retorted saucily.

  `Well, I guess yu do, an' the old man as well,' he agreed. `Sorry if I seemed riled, girlie, but things is worryin' just now. Yu won't hold it agin me, will yu?'

  Noreen kissed him tenderly. `Of course I won't, you dear old silly,' she said, and in her mind she added, `But that doesn't apply to your case, Mr. Rattler Blaynes.'

  Chapter VIII

  Old Nugget was receiving company. Seated round the rude table in his shack were half a dozen men, in addition to himself, smoking, drinking, and conversing in lowered voices. Poker Pete, his s
mall porcine eyes covertly watching everyone, dominated the talk. He and Dexter, from the Double X, appeared to have some authority over the rest.

  `We gotta ease up on yore ranch, Rattler, till this damned feller Green is put out o' business,' Pete stated. `We can't afford to take no more risks. Better give the Frying Pan a whirl; they got some good stock there.'

  `They shore has--I was lookin' some of it over the other day,' laughed Dexter, and then, as he caught a sharp look from the gambler, he added, `No, they didn't see me--don't yu worry, old-timer.'

  `We can fetch 'em across the "Wise-head" range--streuth! Old Simon struck a bum brand when he hit on that--an' through the Parlour as usual,' remarked a tall abnormally thin puncher, who was known at the Double X as `Post' Adams. `Leeming will think Simon's bin helpin' hisself,' said one of the others.

  There was a general laugh at this, and in the midst of it the door opened and another man stepped in. It was Snap Lunt. "Lo Snap. Find yoreself a seat,' greeted Pete.

  `I ain't stayin' long,' replied the gunman, and for a moment there was a tense silence; all present realised that this latest arrival had not come in friendship. `I'm here just to serve notice that I'm through with this game,' Snap finished.

  Standing there, his hands hanging down, he watched the effect of his announcement. He knew perfectly well that his life hung on a thread, and that only his known reputation kept him from being instantly shot to pieces. Also, he had planned well in coming late, for with his back to the half-open door he had a line of retreat, and all of the others were in front of him.

  `Bit of a tardy repentance, Snap, ain't it?' Poker Pete said coldly.

  `Mebbe,' said the other. `I ain't claimin' to be any better'n the rest, but when it comes to knifin' fellers in my own outfit, or hangin' 'em alive over the rocks for buzzards to feed on, I'm done.'

  `Aw, Bud was an accident, an' that other play warn't nothin' but a joke, Snap,' Dexner protested, though there was a grin on his face as he spoke.

  The little gunman's lips stiffened into a sneer. `Keep that hogwash for them as is likely to swaller it, Dex,' he said. `Understand, I'm through. Any o' yu got notions?'

  It was a direct challenge, and the maker awaited the outcome with narrowed eyes and ready fingers, while the men he faced reckoned up the chances. They could kill him, beyond doubt, but they knew it could not be done before the claw-like hands hovering over the gun-butts got to work. Some of them would never see another sunrise. For a moment Death hesitated over the spot--and passed on. The gambler shook his head slightly, as though answering his own thought, and then said :

  `We're shore sorry to lose yu, Snap, but she's a free country. I take it yu won't snitch?'

  `Yu take it correct, an' I'm plumb glad yu put it the way yu did,' retorted Snap meaningly. `That's one o' the things I never done, an' I ain't aimin' to start now. What I know I'll keep under my hat.'

  `An' I s'pose we'll have to reckon yu against us?' put in Blaynes.

  `I'm doin' my duty to the man that pays me; take that how yu like,' came the answer.

  'Ain't got religion, have yu, Snap?' sneered Post Adams. `Shore, an' here are my prayer-books. Yu want to be converted?'

  His fingers swept the walnut handles protruding from the low-hung holsters, his body crouched as though about to spring, and his face was a mask of ferocity as he glared at the last speaker. It was Pete who averted the catastrophe. He had seen many shootings, and he knew that one type of killer always works himself into a fury before getting his man, with the object, perhaps, of justifying the deed to himself.

  `We don't want no gun-play here,' he said, `an' I'll drill the first man that pulls. Yu shut yore face, Post. It's a free country, like I said afore, an' if Snap don't want to sit in the game no longer, he's got a right to throw his hand in. Anythin' more to say, Lunt? 'Cause we got business to talk over what won't interest yu now.'

  `On'y this,' Snap said. `If there's a feller here who wants to argue with me at any time 'bout what I choose to do, he knows where to find me.'

  His narrowed eyes watched Adams as he spoke, and there was no doubt as to whom the invitation was meant for, but the Double X puncher made no reply; he had courage, but the little gunman was a chilly proposition. Snap waited for a few moments and then, with a sneering laugh, backed slowly to the door, slid through and closed it behind him. Not until they heard the splashing of his horse fording the creek did anyone speak, and then Dexter said :

  `We lose a useful man. Is it safe to trust him?'

  `I'm sayin' it ain't--he'll snitch as shore as hell,' Adams put in. `Yu oughtta let us get him, Pete.'

  `Think so, do yu?' sneered the gambler. `If I'd been fool enough to do that we'd have lost three or four useful men. Snap's quicker than any of us, an' he came loaded for trouble. O' course, if yu reckon he ain't to be relied on, there's time aplenty to make it safe. He's headed for the Y Z, an' I don't suppose he'll hurry. The side trail'd put yu ahead o' him an' he'll be in plain sight where the trail skirts The Gut. Me, I ain't worryin'. I dunno why he's throwed us down, but I think he's square.'

  Thus he cunningly dissociated himself from the murder of the renegade, while giving it his sanction and even egging the others on to the deed. As he had expected, Post Adams got up at once; the gunman's challenge, which he had not dared to take up, rankled deeply.

  `Better be shore than sorry, I guess,' he said. `Who's a-comin'?'

  `I'm with yu, Post. Never did like that little runt anyway,'said another of the Double X men, a heavy, stolid fellow of Teutonic extraction, who answered to the name of `Dutch.' `Any more?' asked Post, looking round.

  `Ain't two o' you enough to bush-whack one man?' gibed Rattler. `What yu skeered of?'

  `Not o' yu, anyway,' snapped Adams, as he stamped out of the room, followed by Dutch.

  The flat report of a rifle-shot, followed in a moment by a second and then a third, made Green pull in his horse, and then force the animal down the slope of the ridge along which he had been riding; a man on the skyline makes too good a target. Again the three shots rang out, the second instantly followed by the third.

  `Two to one,' decided the puncher. `Mr. First Man fires, an' when Mr. Single replies, Mr. Second pumps one into his smoke. I reckon it may be worth lookin' into.'

  Dismounting and tying his horse, he took his rifle from the saddle and stole cautiously down a steepish declivity in the direction he believed the man he called Mr. Single to be. Soon he came upon a horse tied in a ounch of cottonwoods, and bearing the Y Z brand. A little further on, stretched full length behind a small boulder and cuddling the stock of his Winchester repeater, was a man he instantly recognised as Snap Lunt. He had no hat, and was cursing painstakingly.

  "Lo, Snap. What's the trouble?' Green asked.

  Like a flash the head of the prostrate man came round, and his left hand went to his hip, only to fall away again when he saw who the newcomer was. He grinned.

  `Two jaspers over there cut down on me as I came along the trail,' he explained. `One of 'em lifted my hat, an' if I'd bin four inches taller'n I am, I'd be choosin' my harp right now.' `Know 'em?' asked Green.

  `I ain't dead shore, but I got notions,' replied the gunman. `There's another chunk o' rock over there, an' if yo're goin' to stay yu'd better freeze to it, though there ain't no call for yu to take a hand.'

  `I'm aimin' to,' Green returned, sliding down behind the cover indicated. `Two to one ain't fair, an' I always did hate a bush-whacker anyways.'

  `Good for yu,' assented Snap. `We'll give them coyotes a little surprise. They're shootin' at my smoke; when the second feller fires, give him hell.'

  They were lying on the slope of a saucer-like depression, and about twenty yards lower down lay the trail to the ranch. Beyond this was a level stretch of open grass from four to five

  hundred yards in width. On the far side the ground rose again, and was covered with rock debris and brush. It was an ideal spot for an ambush-party, for if they missed their aim they could not be appr
oached without deadly peril, and they could withdraw at any time unobserved.

  Presently a puff of smoke bellied out from a clump of brush opposite Green, and Snap fired. Instantly another shot came from ten yards to the right, and a bullet splintered the rock in front of the gunman. Green sent two shots in quick succession to the address of the second marksman, and through the clear air came a stifled curse.

  `Did he get yu?' asked a high pitched voice.

  `Burned my ear, blast him!' came the reply. `How'd he get over there? Must be a blamed grasshopper.'

  `That sounds like Dutch, an' the other feller is Post Adams. I'd know that squeak of his anywheres,' commented Snap. `Watch out--I'm agoin' to loose off.'

  Two shots came in rapid response, and Green promptly drove a bullet into the smoke of the left-hand sniper, drawing forth further curses, and an anxious query from the other man. `Yu ain't let him get yu again, have yu?'

  `Him?' snorted the wounded man. `Him? There's two of him --them shots come from twenty yards apart. Come over an' tie up my arm, an' don't talk like a damned idjut.'

  "Pears like I'm makin' Mr. Dutch uncomfortable,' Green grinned. `He's a complainin' feller, ain't he?'

  `He'll be quiet enough if I get a fair squint at him,' was the grim reply. 'Betcha they fade.'

  Fifteen minutes passed, and nothing happened. Then Snap fired, out no shot came in return. They waited awhile, lying motionless in their places, and then Snap shot again.

  `They've flitted,' he said, and stood up, his rifle ready, and his eyes watching for a movement across nhe valley. But he saw nothing and, satisfied that the enemy had retreated, he walked coolly down to the trail below and retrieved his hat, in the crown of which were a couple of bullet-holes.

  `Plenty ventilation in that lid now,' he remarked, as he donned the damaged article. `But that's all to the good for a hotheaded guy like me.' He achieved the nearest thing he could to a smile and turned to his companion. `I'm thankin' yu,' he said quietly.