“See here, Snap, what in hell’s got into yu?’ he asked. “This feller’s a rustler, playin’ Injun to steal our cattle and caught with the goods. ‘Sides which, he’s a damn sneakin’ spy. What yu takin’ his end for?’
Snap grinned. He knew perfectly well that this appeal was made, not to him, but to any other of the men who might take his side.
He replied promptly: “Mebbe he’s all yu say, an’ mebbe he ain’t, but he’s agoin’ back to the ranch for the Old Man to decide. It ain’t yore cattle that’s missin’ anyways. There’s four of us thinks like this, an’ if yu others wants argue about it yu can turn yore wolf loose as soon as yo’re ready.’
The foreman stood irresolute; the odds were heavily in his favour so far as numbers were concerned, but a fight would mean wiping out some of the outfit, and he knew he would be the first to die; Snap would take care of that. Moreover, he had the same orders as Gorilla, though he had been prepared no chance that to compass his revenge. He glanced at Durran and the scowling face gave him no encouragement. He must give in.
“I don’t want no gun-play ‘mong ourselves, but I’m not forgettin’ it,’ he said. “We’ll let him live long enough to get to the Y Z, where I reckon the Old Man’ll string him up slick enough. Durran, yu an’ Nigger take him in.’
Snap climbed his horse. “I’ll go along,’ he said sardonically. “He’s a desperate feller. Yu better get a move on, Rattler, if yu don’t want them rustlers to git away with the plunder.’
Blaynes ground his teeth with rage at the position the gunman had forced him into. His apparent duty to his employer would send him on a will-o’-the-wisp chase of cattle he had no wish to recapture, while his one desire was to go back to the ranch to make sure the prisoner did not escape or receive mercy. The very thought of the latter possibility decided the issue.
“Aw right, we’ll all go back,’ he said. “If Simon wants his cattle again he’ll have to get me some fellers as will obey orders.’
The prisoner, his hands still bound, was hoisted upon a horse, and his feet secured beneath the animal’s belly. Then with Durran and Bent on either side, and Blaynes immediately behind, they set out for the ranch. Thus Green was given no chance of converse with his friends, but the thought that they had not yet condemned him in spite of his apparent guilt was a cheering one. He smiled reassuringly at Larry, whose face showed most concern, and who appeared to be holding himself in with difficulty. He felt that the boy was loyal and would stand by him to the end.
It was growing dark when they reached the ranch-house, and the early stars were winking in the sky. Blaynes gave a hail as the riders pulled their mounts down in front of the verandah, and Simon promptly appeared, followed by Noreen. The cattle-owner had already been told of the raid, but Blaynes had not mentioned that one of the thieves had been taken, and for a moment he did not notice the bound man.
“Yore soon back, Blaynes,’ he said. “How’s that?’
The foreman told his story, truthfully enough, but saddling the whole blame for not following the stolen herd upon the rebellious members of the outfit. Old Simon’s face grew stormy as he listened, and when the tale was done he turned to Lunt, who with the other three was standing apart.
“An’ what’s yore idea, Lunt, takin’ sides with a cow-thief against me?’ he asked.
“That ain’t so, Simon,’ replied the gunman. “If it had been, we’d ‘a’ turned Green loose, an’ we could have.’ His voice had an edge to it. “Rattler an’ the prisoner ain’t never been the best o’ friends, an’ hangin’ him right away looked too much like settlin’ a private quarrel in a mean way to me. Any feller is entitled to a hearin’ an’ by God, Green is goin’ no have one.’
“Yu threatenin’ me?’ snarled Simon.
“Nary a threat, but I’m tellin’ yu,’ replied the little man. His voice was low, passionless, but there was an earnestness which could not be mistaken. Little as he liked being dictated to the ranch-owner realised that he must give in or blood would be shed. He looked at the prisoner.
“Well, Green, yore friends are doin’ all the talkin’; ain’t yu got nothin’ to say?’ he sneered.
“What I have to say is for yore ear only,’ Green said. “When yu have heard it yu can go ahead with the hangin’—if yu want to.’ Blaynes laughed, and the puncher went on, “Yore dirty dog of a foreman don’t want that; he didn’t follow yore stolen cows because he was scared I’d get a chance to speak with yu—least-ways, that was one o’ the reasons. Now, yu can please yoreself; I’m through.’
“He’s a rank liar,’ Blaynes cried.
“It’s easy to call a tied man that,’ Green gibed. “Turn me loose an’ yu’ll see that coyote hunt his hole.’
“Huh, damn lot o’ fuss about stringin’ up a thief,’ interjected Durran. “Anybody’d think there warn’t no trees handy.’
“Keep yore mouth shut, or I’ll close it for yu—permanent,’ snapped Larry.
“Stop yore gassin’—all o’ yu darn fools,’ yelled the exasperated cattleman, and then, as he felt a touch on his arm, “Well, girl, what do yu want? No good yu mixin’ up in this.’
“I’m only saying this, Dad. Why not listen to Green; that can’t do any harm.’
The old man pondered for a moment. “Mebbe yo’re right,’ he said at last. “Green, yu come into the office. The rest o’ yu can clear out.’ Blaynes started to dismount, but Simon saw the movement. “I don’t want yu, Rattler,’ he added.
“But see here, Simon, if this feller is goin’ to make charges against me, I oughtta be presenn,’ protested the foreman. “Who told yu he’s agoin’ to?’
“Well, it seems the likely move, don’t it?’ said Blaynes, rather taken aback by his employer’s manner.
“Awright, if he does, I won’t hang yu without givin’ yu a chance to speak for yoreself,’ snapped Simon. “Now git.’
He followed the captive into the office, and found his daughter already there. He looked at her doubnfully and then said, “I don’t remember askin’ yu to be present, Norry.’
“You didn’t, Dad, but I’m going to be,’ she replied, and there was a quiet determination in her voice which made both men look at her. The laughing merry girl had gone and a grown serious woman had taken her place. The old man made a gesture of impanience.
“It ain’t no business for a girl,’ he protested.
“It’s your business and therefore mine,’ came the reply. ‘Besides, I am in this man’s debt and I’m not forgetting it.’
“Huh,’ grunted the ranch-owner. “Reckon he’s paid himself for that out o’ my cattle, but have it yore own way. Now, Green, yu got that hearin’, make the most of it.’
The prisoner did not at once avail himself of the invitation. Standing there with bound hands, unshaven, and with a bloodstained, dirty bandage on his head, he was painfully conscious that he looked a ruffian. Although the fact that she took even the slightest interest in him, due only to a sense of gratitude, stirred him, he would have preferred to speak no her father alone. Though his investigations were by no means complete he felt that he had discovered enough to convince the ranchman. “When I left the Y Z I told yu I wasn’t ready to put my cards on the table,’ he began. “Well, I ain’t ready now, but the prospect of havin’ his neck stretched forces a man’s hand some…’ he smiled grimly, “an’ I’m agoin’ to do it.’
“Go ahead,’ said Simon, shortly.
“I told yu the rustlin’ was the work of whites playin’ Injun an’ I was right,’ proceeded Green.
“That warn’t difficult,’ sneered the old man, with a glance at the head-dress found on the prisoner, which Blaynes had handed to him.
“No, the signs were plain enough,’ returned the puncher, ignoring the sneer. “What wasn’t so plain was that yu were bein’ robbed by a big gang, and that yore foreman an’ more than half yore outfit are in it.’
“That ain’t plain now,’ commented the cattleman, drily.
“I’ve already said that I’m speakin’ b
efore I’m ready,’ the prisoner pointed out. “I ain’t got all the proof I want, but I know what I’m tellin’ yu. The Double X an’ the Crossed Dumbell are workin’ with some o’ yore men, liftin’ cattle from yu an’ the Frying Pan, an’ the whole bunch is bossed by a feller they call the Spider. It was the 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 storeroom. 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 “necktie 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 wardance 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 bonehead, 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 mot
ion. “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 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?’
Oliver Strange - Sudden Westerns 01 - The Range Robbers(1930) Page 20