Darkness came and brought riders but no news. The last to arrive was Frosty, and they heard the drum of the pounding hooves long before he could be seen.
“Sounds like he’s got her,” the foreman said hopefully. “There’s on’y one hoss an’ it wouldn’t be carryin’ double at that pace,” Lazy objected.
He was right, for when the white-headed cowboy shot out of the gloom and reined in, sending the gravel flying, it was seen that he was alone. Leaping from the saddle, he thrust a paper at Lagley.
“Found it in Coyote Canyon,” he said. “As I read the sign, she was waitin’ there an’ five riders grabbed an’ took her north.”
They perused it in turn. Only Turvey had anything to say.
“Skittles ! we’ve had our trouble for nothin’. Her lover is gittin’ impatient, an’ when a woman has to choose between an old man an’ a young ‘un, it’s an easy guess. I’ll bet she went willin’.”
“Yo’re a dirty-minded liar,” Frosty told him. “It was plain enough she tried to git away.”
“Yu an’ yore sign—” Turvey began, but the foreman told him sharply to shut up. “We can’t do nothin’ more tonight,” he added. “Git yore grub an’ hit the hay. Frosty, I wanta speak with yu.”
The two men entered the foreman’s hut. Lagley came to the point at once. “I’ve had a pow-wow with Green, an’ he shore told me plenty. It seems I’ve bin a fool—an’ worse. Ye see, believin’ like the rest, that young Jeff was behind that red mask, I was sort o’ backin’ his game, but mebbe yu knew this?”
“No, I had my own ideas, but Jim never let on.”
“An’ he knew,” Lagley said. “He’s one white man. If yu know where to find him, take this paper along in the mornin’. What else can we do?”
“Carry on as usual till Jim gives the word—it won’t be long a-comin’—after this.” He tapped the paper, and turned to go.
“He shook han’s with me when he went,” Steve said.
Frosty understood. In silence their hands met in a grip which wiped out past misunderstandings. Neither of them saw a furtive shadow, which had been crouching at the rear of the shack, slink swiftly in the direction of the bunkhouse.
Almost before the sun had made its appearance, Frosty was pounding on the Twin Diamond ranch-house door. The owner opened it himself.
“Yu again?” he greeted. “Why’n hell don’t yu come an’ live here? Yu wouldn’t have to knock the house down to get in.”
“I’m allus forgettin’ yore scrap-heap’s feeble constitution,” Frosty grinned. “I got news.”
“If yu hadn’t I’d do somethin’ to yu,” was the dry reply. “I shore thought them rapscallions from Hell City was makin’ a massed attack. Awright, fellas, it’s on’y that quiet, well-behaved young gent frdm the Double K.” This as Sudden and Jeff hurried in.
“What’s the, trouble?” the puncher asked.
“Yu were right, Jim, he’s got her,” the cowboy replied. One by one, they read the missive, Keith last, with shaking fingers and face the colour of chalk.
“The swine can even imitate my writing,” he cried. “By Christmas, if he makes her shed only one tear I’ll have his heart’s blood. What can we do, Jim?”
Sudden shook his head. “We can’t move—yet; we’re not strong enough.”
But to leave her in the power of that—devil! if no one else will go—”
“Listen,” Sudden said sternly. “Here’s how I figure it. The shootin’ at Dugout was done to pull yu in. The Colonel’s care for his name trumped that trick, so now he’s baitin’ the trap with the girl. An’ yu want to rush into it. She’ll be safe. Remember, he believes that, to her, he is still Jeff Keith, an’ I’ll bet she won’t let him know different.”
“That’s the straight of it, boy,” the rancher agreed. “Yo’re the king-pin; if he gets yu again, we’re done.”
Keith threw up his hands, a gesture of despair. “It’s plain hell, but you’re right. I’ll stay put,” he promised. “Sorry I flew off the handle, Jim.”
“I ain’t blamin’ yu—felt like it myself. Tough on yu to be tied here, but it’s gotta be. Mart, can yu keep yore outfit within easy reach o’ the ranch-house to-day?”
“Yu bet I will.”
“Good. We have to move fast now. I’m ridin’ to Red Rock this mornin’ to see Dealtry, an’ I’ll come back by Dugout. If they’ll both chip in, we’ll tackle Hell City—tomorrow.”
“That’s the talk, Jim,” Merry approved.
“What yu want I should do?” Frosty enquired.
The puncher’s grim face relaxed. “Keep that big mouth o’ yourn shut—all of it,” he replied, and was gone before the insulted one could think of a fitting retort.
Chapter XXIV
The sheriff of Red Rock smiled as he recognized the young man he had catalogued in his memory as “Mart Merry’s visitor.”
“Takin’ the back trail a’ready?” he asked. “Ain’t tired of us, I hope.”
“Neither one nor the other,” Sudden replied. “Yu remember the day I met yu?”
“Shore thing—I saved the bank forty thousand bucks.”
“Yeah, havin’ had word o’ the hold-up from a boy name o’ Holt. Did he tell yu how he knowed?”
“He was some reticent ‘bout that—said a fella called `Sudden’ sent him. I took a chance, though I’d never heard o’ the jigger.”
“Yo’re meetin’ him now,” the puncher announced “Yu see, I was one o’ the road-agents, but for reasons yu’ll understand later, I didn’t want the trick turned.” He grinned at the amazed officer. “Why, if yu’d accepted my invite an’ searched me, yu’d ‘a’ found another o’ them red badges.”
Dealtry leaned back in his chair. “Damn me if I know whether I oughta thank or throw yu in the calaboose.”
“Play safe an’ make it the first,” Sudden advised. “I’m here on serious business.”
“Spill it,” was the reply. “You can’t surprise me no more.”
“Don’t bet too high on that,” Sudden warned. “Yu re collect we talked o’ young Keith an’ yu told me he was reputed to be bossin’ an outlaw band—the same what tried to rob yore coach. Well, that ain’t so; their leader is a man yu used to know as Lafe Lander.”
“Jeff’s friend?”
“Yeah,” Sudden said drily, “but lemme show yu how much of a friend he is.” In a few sentences, he told of the impudent impersonation, the shooting of the Colonel, and abduction of his daughter. The sheriff’s eyebrows nearly joined his hair as he listened to the extraordinary story. The teller of it concluded with, “Lander is a good shot an’ carries a couple o’ thirty-eights. Does that mean anything to yu?”
“Hell’s blight,” the sheriff swore. “It was a thirty-eight let the life out’n my boy. That clears Keith.”
“Shorely, an’ yu can add that Lander admitted to me he shot yore son.”
Dealtry rose, his face rigid. “Mister,” he said, “I don’t care if yo’re forty outlaws riled into one, I’m deep in yore debt for this, an’ if there’s any way I can square it you on’y gotta say. But first, I’m goin’ to scare up a few o’ the boys, gather in an’ hang this felon.”
Sudden smiled; he liked the courage of this forthright, burly fellow. But this would not do. “Wait a minute, sheriff; if it was that easy, I’d ‘a’ fetched him in for yu,” he said, and went on to explain that Hell City was a natural fortress, garrisoned by at least two-score desperate men who would fight to the last because life or liberty was already forfeit to the law.
“It’ll mean a battle,” Dealtry commented, his sombre eyes alight. “Good. I’ll be at the Twin Diamond tomorrow, early, an’ I won’t be alone.”
Leaving Red Rock, Sudden took an easterly trail to Dugout. His journey had, so far, been successful; not only had he secured the needed assistance, but removed the shadow overhanging Jeff Keith. The end of the long and perilous path he had been pursuing was almost in sight, and in a little more than twenty-four hours—if all went
well, the most colossal criminal he had ever encountered would reap the reward of his misdeeds. At this point his cogitations concluded with a self-deprecatory laugh.
“Countin’ chickens, Nig,” he said. “I’m shore old enough to know better’n that.”
His entry into Dugout caused a flutter; heads were poked out of doorways as the news travelled from house to house. He turned into the store, which was empty, except for the proprietor.
“Jansen, yu are a liar,” he remarked, and smiled.
The store-keeper was glad to see that smile; the words were fighting talk, and though he was no coward, he knew it was death for him to draw on this man. He said nothing. “Yu pretend that Colonel Keith injured himself though yu saw another shoot him,” the puncher continued. “There is no longer any need for that lie. Bite on this: Jeff Keith ain’t the man yu know as Satan.”
Incredulous as Jansen undoubtedly was, he did not dare dispute the assertion.
“How—how d’you know?” he stammered.
“I went to Hell City to find out,” Sudden replied. “Heard ‘bout Miss Keith?”
“Ain’t nothin’ happened to her, has there?”
“Some o’ Satan’s Imps carried her off last night.”
The store-keeper stamped with rage. “Curse it! You gave them whelps a lesson once. Don’t you reckon they need another?”
“They’re gettin’ it—tomorrow, an it’s goin’ to be the last one. I’m here to ask if Dugout will stand in?”
“you bet she will,” Jansen replied. “What you want me to do?”
“Report with yore men to Steve Lagley in the mornin’, and tell ‘em not to chatter; we aim to make it a surprise party.”
“Here’s one who’ll go, mister,” a hoarse voice broke in. “I got Pop’s rifle an’ can use her, too.”
A gawky youth emerged from the shadowy back of the store. There was an eager fire in his dark eyes.
“Awright, Bud, talk to me later,” Jansen said, and in a whisper to the puncher, “Satan had his father hanged. Is Merry in this?”
“Yeah, an’ the Red Rock sheriff is fetchin’ a posse; we’re goin’ to do this thing right. So long,”
Black Sam welcomed the gunman with the old broad grin, disclosing a white line of teeth which seemed to extend halfway round his head. He was not one to blow hot and cold; the cowboy had done him a service; he remembered that and forgot the rest.
“Sho’ am please’ to see yo, sah,” he greeted.
“Howdy, Sam,” Sudden smiled. “On’y time to have just one o’ the best liquor in pese parts.”
“Bettah dan Hell City, sah?”
“Yeah, yu black rascal. See here, Jansen has some good an’ bad news for yu; don’t open yore face ‘bout either.”
Leaving the darkie scratching his wool, he set out for the Twin Diamond, satisfied with his day’s work.
While the puncher was proceeding on his way to Red Rock, Hell City had a visitor who greeted Silver familiarly and stepped into the Chief’s presence, indifferent to the black look he received.
“What brings you, Turvey?”
,”Thought yu’d like to hear that the OP Man is liable to pull through—must ‘a’ bin a poor shot, Dessay yore hand shook; it ain’t every day a fella has to down his own dad.” He sniggered at the last word, and his rat-like eyes roamed round the room. “Yo’re well-fixed here—seems a pity to leave it.”
“I’ve no intention of doing so,” Satan snapped.
“Mebbe, but sometimes other folk do the plannin’.”
“What do you mean?”
“Takin’ the girl has tipped the balance: the Twin Diamond an’ Double K is gittin’ ready to move.”
“The Double K? Has Lagley lost his senses?”
“Steve has had a change of heart,” Turvey sneered. “Yu see, he wants the range to stay in the Keith family.”
The expressionless eyes suddenly flamed as Satan realized that this creature knew his secret; little did Turvey suspect how near he was to death at that moment. With an effort the masked man fought down the desire to close those jeering lips forever. But the damage was done, and this fellow might still be useful. So, when he spoke, his voice did not betray him.
“How did you learn this?”
“Overheard Steve an’ Frosty talkin’ las’ night; that gunfighter, Sudden, ‘pears to be runnin’ things.”
The Chief bit on an oath. Though he would not admit it, he was beginning to fear this strange cowboy who, by accident or design, was wrecking his plans. But for his craving for cruelty … He would not think of that.
“So two dozen cow-hands imagine they can take Hell City?”
“Dugout may help—we ain’t too popular there.”
“Those—tradesmen?” Satan said scornfully.
“A tradesman can pull a trigger, an’ his bullet’s just as hard,” Turvey pointed out.
“But not so likely to hit the mark,” the Chief retorted. “And when is the attempt to be made?”
“Couldn’t find that out; soon, I’d say; they want the girl back.”
“They won’t get her,” the bandit assured him. “Your news has been of use. Take this.” With a grin of greed, the informer deftly caught the bag of money. “Silence, they say, is golden, Turvey; you will find it so. When this little trouble is over …” It was well for his peace of mind that the cowboy could not read that smile. “Get back to the Double K and glean what you can.”
Turvey shook his head. “I’ve quit,” he explained. “Steve had an ugly look for me this mornin’ an’ I’d sooner take a hint than a chance.”
“A pity,” Satan said. “Still, it is one man more for us. Now leave me, I have much to do; when guests are expected, one must make arrangements.”
“Shore, we gotta give ‘em a warm welcome,” Turvey laughed, and departed.
Satan laughed, too, but directly he was alone, became thoughtful. “So the cat is out,” he mused, “and the most perfect getaway ever devised comes to grief. Keith has talked, or the gunman has guessed—correctly, but in this place no one knows save that rat and gold will keep him quiet until I substitute—lead. I still hold a trump card, Joan, but it is not safe for her to remain here—those damned cowboys may prove too strong for us. The wise general prepares for the possibility of defeat.”
He summoned Silver and sent him for Miss Dalroy. When she arrived he pointed to a seat.
“Hell City is shortly to be attacked by a considerable force,” he began bluntly. “What do you suppose will happen to you if it is taken?”
“One of the victors might succumb to my charms and make me his blushing bride,” she returned lightly, conceiving that he was trying to frighten her for some purpose.
He frowned at her flippancy. “You would be handed over to the nearest sheriff and go back to face your trial.”
The harsh statement sobered her. “What do you want?”
“I am arranging for you and Miss Keith to be taken elsewhere. You will start this afternoon, with Silver as escort.”
“Two woman, alone with that—animal?” she cried.
“He is the only man I trust, or can spare,” Satan said coldly. “You will be quite safe.”
“Why can’t you come?”
He drew himself up. “Desert my people?” he asked, and then, remembering that this woman was not one to be impressed by heroics, added, “I shall be needed here, and will join you later.”
“I won’t go,” she said stubbornly.
“Get ready. You need not tell the Keith girl why the journey is necessary,” he replied, and with a change of tone, “Belle, you know I would not send you away but for your own sake, don’t you?”
Instantly she melted. “Oh, Jeff, I’m a fool about you,” she murmured. “There are times when I could kill you, and others—”
“When you would die for me,” he smiled. “But I’m only asking you to live for me, my dear.”
The smile remained when she had gone. “Hard words for a man, and soft for a woma
n, spoken at the right time, will move mountains,” he soliloquized. “God! If that cursed cowpuncher had never been born.”
He thrust aside the ambitious hopes his abnormal vanity had bred—the present needed all his attention. To Silver he gave detailed instructions, and the dwarf’s beady eyes shone when he heard the reward he was to receive if he carried them out successfully.
“I savvy, Chief,” he grunted.
“If you fail, in any way, I’ll kill you—slowly,” Satan said. “You can’t hide from me.” He tapped his forehead. “I see with my brain.”
Having thus reminded the fellow of his supernatural powers, he went about the business of dealing with the threatened attack. The boom of the bell brought the dwellers running, all save the guardians of the gates. Excited questions flew back and fore. Who was the victim? What form would the punishment take? One said the gunman, Sudden, had been recaptured. The spectacular figure of their leader stilled the hubbub. In a melodramatic fashion he flung his right hand upwards.
“My friends,” he cried, “it has been revealed to me that the Double K and Twin Diamond ranches are combining to drive us from our retreat. What are we to do?”
The answer came in one roar, “Fight!”
“I am glad you agree with me. These cattlemen think the earth was created solely for them, and must be taught otherwise. They can get to us only through the gates, unless”—he glanced up at the cliff walls—”they drop from Heaven, and a cowboy is as little likely to come from as go there.”
“That’s one for you, Turvey,” a wit shouted, and raised a laugh.
“So we must have a strong force at each entrance, men who can use their rifles, with others in readiness to take the places of those who may—be unlucky,” Satan went on. “We have plenty of weapons and ammunition. Roden will command at the west gate and Turvey at the east. There will be twenty gold pieces for every man if we win, and remember, you will be fighting for your very existence, so—no mercy.”
Though the cheering as he turned his back on them gratified his mummer’s appetite for applause, it brought a sneer to his lips. How easy it was for a clever man to mould the common clay to his own desires! A handful of gold, a few well-chosen words, and these men were ready to lay down their lives for him. Fools … fools …
Oliver Strange - Sudden Westerns 07 - Sudden Rides Again(1938) Page 23