“I get yu,” Merry replied, after a moment’s pause. “Ken is a square man but he can’t help rememberin’ he was once a little Gawd A’mighty on his plantation. Where are the cattle?”
Sudden described the spot and his journey to the Twin Diamond in detail. The fat man nodded understandingly.
“That’s clear; they’re usin’ the Devil’s Bowl, an’ it’s one damned good place for the purpose, too. Five hundred head, yu say, an’ all wearin’ Ken’s brand or mine, I’ll bet a stack.”
“I couldn’t get near enough to see.”
“On’y two Greasers in charge, huh? Why, it’ll be easy as takin’ a drink, which reminds me …” He shouted an order, and at once the pigtailed cook appeared with bottle and glasses. “Here’s how,” he toasted, adding, “This’ll put yu right with Ken.”
“I’ll he obliged if yu don’t mention me,” Sudden said. “He needn’t to know how yu got wind o’ the herd.”
“But, damn it all, man, he thinks “
The puncher smiled coldly. “What he thinks ain’t lost me any sleep so far, an’ I’d ruther he warn’t told.”
“Well, have it yore way.”
“Yu’ll need to strike quick,” Sudden warned. “Roden’s visit may mean the herd is to be moved.”
“We’ll start in less’n an hour—with on’y two to handle there’ll be no need to trouble Ken.” He pushed out a paw. “I’m obliged to yu—Jim. If yu get in a tight place, an’ can send word, we’ll be along.”
Sudden thanked him, and set out on his return to Hell City with a feeling of grim satisfaction; he had prepared a blow for the bandit chief and found another friend. From the first he had liked this tubby little man, with the twinkling, genial eyes, and his support meant a great deal.
Soon after sunrise on the following morning, a ragged, hatless Mexican limped wearily through the western entrance to Hell City, staggered into the saloon, and demanded drink. He gulped a stiff dose of the fiery spirit, poured another, his hand shaking with fatigue, and sat down with a sigh of relief. Sudden, who had been chatting with the proprietor, surveyed him with interest.
“Yu ‘pear to be all in, amigo,” he remarked. “Come far?” The traveller shook his head. “A short way is a long way sometime, senor,” he replied. “My hoss, she break de leg.”
“Tough luck,” the puncher commiserated.
At that moment Roden entered, and his eyes went wide when he saw the stranger. “Hello, Benito, what you doin’ here?” he asked.
The Mexican drew him aside and spoke in a sibilant whisper. Sudden heard the muttered “Damnation!” and read the look of dismay and disappointment Benito’s news evoked. He needed no second guess; the Twin Diamond had hit back, and, anxious to see how Satan would receive the reverse, he went out.
“Mebbe that fairy godmother o’ his has told him all about it,” was his whimsical reflection.
Evidently this was not the case, for he found the bandit leader in a good humour. He was reading a newspaper—one of those crude journalistic products of the pioneer days of which a settlement of any size boasted at least one example. The perusal seemed to afford him satisfaction.
“Hark to this, Sudden,” he greeted. ” `Another of those infamous outrages which blot the fair page of Western history.’ That is how the Bosville Bugle refers to the looting of the local bank. It appears to have been very simple. Four strangers rode in and two of them entered the building. A shot was heard, the men emerged carrying a leathern satchel, mounted, and the whole party galloped away before the good citizens began to think. The cashier dead, with an undischarged pistol in his hand—he was clearly a fool—a rifled safe, and thirty thousand in cash and bills missing. As easy as that.”
There was a pronounced sneer on his lips. He tapped the paper on his knee. “The nit-wit who conducts this mangy sheet adds, `This is an addition to the many similar daylight robberies which have disturbed the country during the past twelve months. What is the Governor going to do about it?’ I can tell him: the Governor will do just—nothing. The sheriff and his blundering posse will lose the trail, as usual, and we shall turn the trick again elsewhere. My plans are well laid; I never fail.”
The last three words moved the puncher to inward mirth; a contradiction was coming.
“Thirty thousand is a sizeable stake,” he remarked. “S’pose them fellas decide to glom on to it?”
The stony eyes gleamed. “No man ever doublecrossed me an got away with it,” Satan said. “One who tried reached Montana; another, Kansas City; a third, Tucson—under the Governor’s nose, but they all died—swiftly. These men know that I possess the power to find them, and fear will make them honest—to me.”
“They’re takin’ their time; Bosville ain’t so far, is it?”
“About fifty miles, but certain enquiries would necessitate a roundabout route, and possibly, delay.”
Sudden would have liked more definite information, but his hope of obtaining it vanished when Silver ushered in Benito.
“Said he’d gotta see you right away,” the dwarf rumbled.
The Mexican did not wait to be questioned, blurting out his news in short, spasmodic sentences, as though anxious to get the ordeal over. The herd had gone—a dozen Twin Diamond riders had raided the valley, and, after shooting his companion, had rounded up and driven away the cattle. He was distant from the camp, had seen them arrive, and escaped by hiding in the rocks. Trembling with fright, the man ceased his mumble and waited for the storm to break.
He was not kept long. 1 he Chief’s face, schooled so carefully to stoic indifference, became insensate with fury. Snatching out a gun, he levelled it at the shivering wretch.
“You have lost my cows and made me a figure of fun,” he hissed. “Well, for that you—die.”
He was on the point of pulling the trigger when Sudden spoke.
“That’s a mighty poor remedy. What d’yu expect a couple o’ men to do against the Twin Diamond outfit? This fella had the guts to come an’ tell yu; he could ‘a’ travelled the other way just as easy.”
The sarcastic tone brought the bandit to his senses; he realized that he had betrayed himself. Replacing his weapon he said sternly, “This time I spare you, but speak so much as one word …” He tapped the butt of his gun suggestively, and added, “Get out.”
With a furtive glance of gratitude to the man who had saved him, Benito departed hurriedly. Satan turned to his companion.
“I should not have killed the cur, but I had to frighten him,” he lied. “It is maddening to have been outplayed by that overfed hog, Merry. Someone must have betrayed me.”
“Then yu oughta know—bein’ a kind o’ medicine man,” was the ironical reply.
“True,” Satan said, and putting one hand to his brow, sat in silence. Then he looked up. “Why did you do it, Sudden?”
The puncher grinned. “That’s a bad miss,” he replied. “Keith havin’ tried to string me up, I’d naturally be eager to give him back his property, wouldn’t I? An’ yu can add to that I didn’t know where to look for it. No, sir, I’d say one o’ Merry’s men happened on the tracks by accident; cows ain’t got wings, yu savvy.”
“You may be right, but I shall know,” Satan said. “Well, the fat fool wins—this time, but he’ll live to be sorry.”
Sudden came away with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. Ile had a plan, but to put it into operation he must have help, and promptly went in search of it. This took him to the northern extremity of the Double K range.
Frosty, perspiring and lurid-tongued, was engaged in an endeavour to drive a steer out of a patch of cactus scrub which it seemed loth to leave when a derisive voice from behind advised him to pick up the beast and carry it out. He whirled his pony to find Sudden enjoying his efforts.
“Any idjut can look on an’ laff,” he greeted. “Why don’t yu do somethin’, yu perishin’—ornament?”
“The Double K has dispensed with my services,” Sudden reminded. “Anybody out here with yu?”
“Nope. Steve don’t think it matters if I’m bumped off. Did yu hear we got our cows back?”
His friend’s eyes twinkled. “I was told the Twin Diamond made yu a present of’em.”
“Well, it amounted to that, an’ the 01’ Man is hoppin’ mad —didn’t like Merry’s outfit gettin’ ahead of us. I heard him give Steve his opinion, an’ he made hisself plain.”
“He’s hard to please. yu got the natural increase, too.”
“Yu bet. Why, in that short while the herd had more’n doubled, an’ the curious thing was, the calves had all been born branded an’ grooved to full size. Ain’t Nature wonderful?”
“Shore is,” Sudden agreed gravely. “How would the Double K like to give Mister Satan a jolt?”
“Try us,” Frosty urged, adding slyly, “Anyways, it’s our turn, ain’t it?”
“Smart lad, huh?” the other grinned.
“Pickles! I know that Twin Diamond bunch—blind as bats. S’pose yu had to use ‘ein, but don’t tell me—”
“I won’t, yore mouth opens easy as a saloon door. Now listen.” He told what he had learned of the bank robbery.
“It will have to be a private play, just yu an’ Lazy—they won’t know there’s on’y two o’ yu. Say yo’re goin’ to Dugout. I’d take a hand but I gotta be where I can be seen. I’m guessin’ them jaspers will arrive this evenin’ an’ use the west gate. If I’m wrong, yu’ll be outa luck.”
“Shore will, with the nights cold as they is,” his friend said feelingly. “But if they do show up?”
“Short o’ Hell City there’s a split in the trail, with plenty cover; yu can stand ‘em up there. One o’ yu can heave their hardware into the brush, collect the cash—it’ll be in a leather bag—an’ stampede the hosses, while the other keeps ‘em covered. By the time they’ve hoofed it into town, yu’ll be past pursuit. Take the plunder to Merry an’ tell him to send it by a shore hand to the Bosville sheriff. Yu sabe?”
“Sounds simple,” Frosty lied cheerfully, and then, “Thirty thousand is a wad o’ money. Yu could swipe it yoreself, head for California, an’—”
“Be the skunk the world tried to make me,” Sudden finished. “No, yu snow-topped calamity, I’m workin’ for somethin’ more than easy money.”
“It’s devilish risky,” Frosty offered. “If Satan learns he’s been sold out by a man in his pay
“Back up,” Sudden broke in. “Get this into the knob yu put yore hat on: I’ve never had a nickel from him an’ ain’t goin’ to. Now, so long, an’ good luck for tonight.”
With puzzled eyes the Double K rider watched him disappear into a near-by ravine. “He shore has got me guessin’,” he ruminated. “Passes up a chance to hive thirty thousand bucks, won’t take no pay, an’—hell, it gives me a headache. I hope them bank-busters drift in.” He smote his pony a flat-handed smack on the rump and sat easily rocking in the saddle while the outraged animal expressed disapproval in a mild bout of bucking. “G’wan, yu son of a wall-eyed mule, we got a li’l jape to put over an’ it’s goin’ to be fun.”
That the “li’l jape” had been duly “put over” Sudden got news in the morning, when Silver arrived at the saloon with an urgent summons from the Chief.
“He’s wantin’ you immediate,” he objected, when the puncher casually promised to come along. “I gotta take you back, or he’ll skin me. All het up, he is—never seed him so rathy.”
“What’s the trouble?” Sudden enquired.
“Guess he’ll tell you hisself,” was the cautious reply. “Best watch yore step, an’ keep yore han’s still.”
Sudden thought little of the warning, but later he was to remember it. The bandit chief was pacing savagely up and down. At the sight of the puncher he stopped and snapped:
“Where did you spend last night?”
Sudden looked surprised. “In Dirk’s,” he said. “Takin’ the wool off some o’ yore lambs who fancied they could play poker; it cost them near a hundred good dollars to learn different. Easy pickin’s, I’m tellin’ yu.”
“How long were you there?”
“All the evenin’. Cashed in after midnight—got tired o’ slaughterin’ the innocents—an’ hit the hay. What’s bitin’ yu?”
Through the slits in the mask, the fierce eyes bored into the puncher’s impassive face.
“I’ve been robbed,” Satan said vehemently. “You alone knew those men were due from Bosville.”
“Yu didn’t tell me when or which way they’d come. Ain’t they arrived?”
“Yes, on foot, with a tale of being held up, money and weapons taken, and horses driven off.”
Sudden whistled. “Sounds a bit lame, but mebbe they’re feelin’ thataway, having walked,” he grinned, and got a glare which did not disturb him. “S’pose they’ve cached the stuff—”
“Then why come back at all?” Satan interjected.
“If they can make their story stick, they’d have nothin’ to fear from yu.”
The masked man shook his head; conceit would not permit the thought that any of his underlings would dare so far.
“Another thing, I reckon yu ain’t the on’y subscriber to that Bosville paper. Some fellas may’ve seen it, an’ guessed right.”
“I doubt if there is another copy within twenty miles. You seem very anxlous to pin the blame on someone.”
Sudden’s reply was a question, “Did the hold-up happen before midnight?” and when the other nodded, he went on, “What more do yu want? There’s on’y one o’ me, an’ twenty of yore own men can tell yu where I was. Have some sense.”
With an air of disgust, he reached for his “makings” and stepped back just as a gun roared and a bullet chipped the stone wall behind the spot where he had been standing. In a flash his own weapons were out, one covering the bandit, the other the picture, wreathing smoke from which showed whence the shot had come.
“What the hell’s the meanin’ o’ that?” he grated.
The masked man stood motionless. “I don’t know,” he said calmly. “Silver!”
The uncouth attendant slid into view, a smoking pistol in one shaking hand. “I was just cleanin’ her an’ she done went off,” he stammered. “I warn’t meanin’ no harm.”
“You might have killed one of us; I’ll deal with you later,” his master said threateningly. “Quite an accident, you see, Sudden. The lout knows nothing of firearms, but will carry one.”
“Yeah,” Sudden replied, and stepped nearer the painting. “Why, if yu ain’t lucky; the bullet came right through the muzzle o’ the gun so the picture ain’t hurt none; can’t see the hole less yu look close.”
Satan could detect no raillery in the voice and again found himself debating whether he was dealing with a clever man or a fool. He expressed his surprise at the remarkable coincidence.
“Comin’ back to cases, I’m reckoned pretty useful at readin’ sign,” Sudden said. “The scene o’ the holdup might tell me somethin’—if I can find it.”
“The men said it took place where the road from the west gate divides,” Satan replied.
“Ain’t been so far in that direction,” the puncher said easily. “I’ll let yu know if I hit on anythin’.” On his way out, he slapped Silver on the shoulder and cried, “Cheer up, Beautiful, a miss is as good as a mile, yu know.”
Which boisterous exit left the bandit deeper in doubt than ever, and did not improve his temper. With a bitter oath, he vented his spleen on the one object available.
“Come here, you clumsy clown,” he called. “What possessed you to fire without the signal?”
Silver lumbered forward, his ungainly form trembling. “Guessed he was goin’ for his gun,” he quavered. “Was scared he’d git you.”
“Get me?” was the retort. “Did you think I was asleep? He’s fast, but I could beat him. You have made me ridiculous —he was laughing at me, damn him. Another break like that and Muley shall take the flesh from your ugly, misshapen carcass and feed what is left to the
coyotes. Get out of my sight, you freak.”
Long ago he had learned that reference to his deformities cut the poor brute to the heart, and he delighted in the use of the knowledge. Turning his back contemptuously, he failed to see a look which would have made him thoughtful.
Chapter XVII
Satisfaction at the Double K over the rebuff to the rustlers was not as great as might have been expected. There had always been a friendly rivalry between the two ranches, and the fact that the Twin Diamond had undoubtedly scored, though it was to the Double K’s advantage, rankled with both owner and outfit. Some of the latter had another reason for not exulting unduly, and of these the foreman was the most disgruntled.
“Can’t figure it nohow,” he said to Turvey. “Somebody must ‘a’ put them lunkheads wise. Jeff’ll be mad.”
“No blame to us anyway,” the little man replied. “Our boys didn’t find ‘em. If there’s bin a leak it’s from Hell City. Reckon Green could ‘a’ had anythin’ to do with it?”
“He dasn’t show his face at the Twin Diamond, an’ after helpin’ to steal the herd he wouldn’t be likely to hand ‘em back to us.”
“That’s so,” Turvey agreed. He did not know of the frame-up. “He’s in Hell City, I s’pose, an’ cherishin’ no feelin’ of affection for us. Me, I’d ruttier he was danglin’ from a tree. How in blazes he got away from three o’ yu “
“Oh, can the chatter,” Steve said angrily. “That trick o’ shootin’ out the light gave him a chance an’ he took it. He’s Jeff’s man now an’ that makes us safe from him.”
“Does it work both ways?” Turvey leered.
“I didn’t say that,” was the reply.
The subject of their conversation cropped up again at supper. With the object of stirring up Frosty, one man asked his neighbour if he had seen any more of Green?
“No, nor I don’t hanker to,” came the answer. “Last timewas the night o’ the raid an’ he was pumpin’ lead at me plenty eager.”
Oliver Strange - Sudden Westerns 07 - Sudden Rides Again(1938) Page 14