Oliver Strange - Sudden Westerns 07 - Sudden Rides Again(1938) (13 page)

 
          
“Why,
that’s mighty good o’ yu, Steve. Who put him wise?”

 
          
“I
dunno; all he said was that one o’ the boys reckernized yu, an’ that don’t tell
much—we git ‘em from all over.”

 
          
Sudden
nodded. “I’m obliged to yu. I warn’t honin’ to travel; this is a good ranch.”

 
          
“It
would be a better one if young Jeff was in charge,” the foreman said meaningly.
“Some of us would like to see it. Keith has changed a lot of late; goin’ loco,
I’d say. If anythin’ happened to him, well, I don’t fancy bein’ bossed by a
gal.”

 
          
“Wouldn’t suit me neither,”
Sudden replied. “Yu figure the
boy ain’t such a hard case, huh?”

 
          
“Oh,
he’s tough all right, an’ yu can’t wonder. But he’s a swell leader
an’—generous. I ain’t askin’ yu to take my word; go see for yoreself.”

 
          
The
puncher laughed grimly. “I guess I wouldn’t be very popular in Hell City.”

 
          
“
That needn’t
to worry yu. If yo’re there to see him, nobody
will dare cock an eye at yu; he’s got the whole b’ilin’ waitin’ on his word.”

 
          
“Yu
seem to know him.”

 
          
“Know
him?” Lagley repeated. “Shore I do, since he was a pup; worked with him on the
range, an’ hope to again. Now, see here, Green, I didn’t cotton to yu right
off—mebbe it was that trick yu played when we first met, but a fella’s a fool
if he can’t change his mind for good reason. I guess we understand one another
better now. Think over what I’ve said, an’ if yu wanta see Satan, I can fix it.
Yu sabe?”

 
          
Sudden
did. He had learned what he wanted—that the foreman was a traitor, willing to
doublecross his employer, and that he and others of the outfit were already
planning to put the son in the father’s place. The idea of Lagley interceding
with Keith on his behalf amused him; either he was making the best of what he
regarded as a bad job, or setting a trap for a man he did not like.

 
          
“An’
that man is goin’ to walk right into it,” he told himself. “But not with his
eyes shut, Mister Steve.”

 
          
When
he returned to the bunkhouse, he found the atmosphere
altered,
evidently the foreman had been talking. Genial looks greeted him from all save
one—Turvey’s warped, malignant mind retained its rancour despite the
instructions he had received.

 
          
“I’m
told yu come from Texas, Green,” he said, in his high-pitched, reedy voice.
“A fine country.”

 
          
“Shore
is,” Sudden replied, and waited.

 
          
“Over-run
with sheriffs, though—fair lousy with ‘em,” the other went on.

 
          
Sudden
smiled sweetly. “Well now, I was wonderin’ why yu didn’t stay.”

 
          
A
ripple of laughter proclaimed that he had scored and Turvey’s expression was
not pretty.

 
          
“Who
told yu I ever was there?” he grated.

 
          
“Why,
yu seemed to know the place,” Sudden retorted, and shot a shaft at a venture,
“Didn’t meet up with Rogue’s Riders, I s’pose?”

 
          
He
saw the man’s eyes flicker, but the denial came promptly.
“Never
heard of ‘em,” and the sneer, “Friends o’ yourn?”

 
          
“I
knew Rogue,” was the quiet reply. “He was as crooked as they make ‘em, but he
played straight with those who trusted him. I’ve met worse men, an’ how that
fella could use a six-gun!”

 
          
Turvey
laughed scornfully. “Rogue shoot?” he jeered. “Why, he couldn’t hit a barn
‘less he was inside it.”

 
          
He
saw the snare into which he had stumbled when Sudden said, “I expect
yu !
mowed him better than I did.”

 
          
“I
was told that—I never seen the man,” he protested.

 
          
“Yu
said yu hadn’t heard of him,” Lazy pointed out. Turvey scowled, but showed no
desire to continue an argument in which he had very obviously been worsted.

 
          
For
some time that night Sudden lay awake, trying to place this man who had
apparently played a part in a page of his own past, but without success; after
all, he had not seen all the members of Rogue’s gang of bandits.

 
          
In
the morning, on the pretence that he needed another shirt, Sudden again
searched his belongings, but the telltale notice was not there. Either the
thief had destroyed, or could find another use for it. The circumstance did not
worry him; he had a shrewd suspicion it would be put to the purpose he had
intended. On his way to the corral, the rancher stopped him.

 
          
“You
and Homer get along all right?” he asked. “Good, I’ve told Steve you are to
work together.”

 
          
“I’m
thankin’ yu,” the puncher replied.

 
          
As
he threw the saddle on Nigger, and tightened the cinches, he was puzzling over
Keith’s attitude, unburdening himself to his four-footed friend.

 
          
“Either
Steve was lyin’ complete, or the 01 Man is playin’ ignorant, Nig,” he muttered.
“The on’y certain thing is they ain’t
trustin’
me;
Frosty is to keep cases. Wonder where the chucklehead has got to?”

 
          
“Stick
‘em
up !
” hissed a low voice, and something hard was
jammed in the small of his back.

 
          
Sudden
froze for an instant, and then, with lightning speed, whirled on the balls of
his feet and flung himself on the man who had cat-footed up behind him. They
went to the ground together, Sudden on top, but at once he was erect again,
brushing the dust from his clothes.

 
          
“Yu
perishin’ idjut,” he said. “I might ‘a’ broke yore fool neck.”

 
          
Frosty
rose also, filled his depleted lungs, and spoke feelingly. “Namin’ yu `Sudden’
was shorely an inspiration.”

 
          
“So
yu know?”

 
          
“All
of us
knows—
Turvey, for once, was plenty
chatter-some.”

 
          
“Was
it him put Keith wise?”

 
          
“Dunno,
but if he did, why ain’t yu been sent packin’?”

 
          
“Mebbe
they’d rather have me here than in Hell City.”

 
          
“
Which would be sound reasonin’.
Let’s go.”

 
          
For
several miles nothing was said, but Sudden was conscious that his companion was
covertly observing him. Presently the boy blurted out: “Jim, I just can’t
believe it; vu don’t seem that sort o’ man.”

 
          
Sudden
divined his thoughts. To be a famous gunman was one thing, and murder for money
was another.
Moved by an impulse he did not attempt to
analyse he told the story of his notorious nickname.’
Charged with a
crime of which
he :new
nothing, forced to fight to
free his neck from the noose, hunted like a beast of prey and driven to take
refuge with the type of outcast the world had made him. Baldly, briefly, the f
acts were stated.

 
          
“I
ain’t squealin’—a man has to play the cyards he gets,” he said in conclusion,
“but I reckoned yu’d a right to be told, case yu—”

 
          
“Forget
it,” Frosty said gruffly. “I’m proud to know yu. I figure yu can’t choose yore
friends—either yu like a fella or vu don’t, that’s all there is to it. Luck has
played yu some scurvy tricks, Jim. Can I tell the boys?”

 
          
“No,
keep it behind yore teeth—I ain’t carin’ what the others think—an’ there’s
another reason to that. I’m told that some o’ the outfit would like to see Jeff
ownin’ the ranch.
Yu one of’em?”

 
          
Frosty
shook his head. “Ken Keith hired me, an’ that goes for most of us,” he said.
“Mebbe the 01’ Man’s rasp of
a
ongue has roughed up a
few o’ the older men.”

 
          
Soon
afterwards they separated, riding in opposite directions. Sudden had said
nothing of the foreman’s proposal. He believed that Homer could be trusted, but
he was playing in a desperate game and dared not add to the risks. Also, he
wanted to learn if he was watched. So he kept under cover, weaving his way
through thickets of tall grass, thorn and mesquite.

 
          
Presently
the clink of iron against stone sounded faintly. Forcing his mount further into
the undergrowth, he
waited,
a bitter sneer on his
lips; his “friend” was spying upon him. To his amazement, however, the rider
who came into view was Lagley, sitting slackly in his saddle, and with no
attempt at concealment. He was apparently heading for Coyote Canyon, and, after
a mental apology to Frosty, Sudden decided to follow.

 
          
“Fly
at it, Steve,” he grinned. “I never did like advertisin’ myself”

 
          
As
he had surmised, the foreman turned into the canyon and proceeded along it at a
leisurely pace. Sudden, at a safe distance in the rear, kept him in sight. At
the end of the gully the ground sloped up to a little forest of dwarf pines and
continued to rise until a scrub-covered level was reached. Here the cowboy lost
his quarry but the whinny of a horse from a black blob of brush told him that
Lagley could not be far away Leaving
Nigger,
he
circled the spot and found a faint trail.

 
          
Stepping
lightly as an Indian, he moved slowly forward until he reached a small cleared
space at one side of which the foreman’s pony was tied to a shrub. The dim
light which filtered through the foliage overhead enabled him to see that
Lagley was not there, and an opening in the ground suggested the reason.
Knotted round a near-by tree was a lariat, the end of which vanished in the
hole. Sudden peered down but could see nothing but a kind of cave, only barely
visible. It was but a drop of a dozen feet, and the rope made descent simple.

 
          
He
now found himself in a large, irregularly shaped room, - !lowed out of the
living rock. The uneven floor was littered rubble and at one side the wall was
pierced by a tunnel orifice through which
came
a
diffused daylight. Searching around, he discovered another opening, with a rude
ladder leading to a lower chamber. He went
down,
to
find it similar in every respect to the one he had left, even to a second
ladder. He was about to descend this when an indistinct mutter of voices warned
him that it might not be wise. Instead, he crawled along the tunnel-like
opening and peeped out. Below was a kind of street, with rock walls on both
sides pitted with holes identical with the one he was using. On the ground
level these were larger, and in some cases, had rough doors fitted to them.
Even as he watched, the foreman emerged, crossed the street, and disappeared
through one on the far side; he had the familiar red badge pinned on his
breast.

 
          
Having
seen enough, Sudden returned to where he had left his horse. This must be Hell
City, and he had guessed Lagley’s errand correctly; the stolen placard would
shortly be in the possession of the chief of this outlaw community. Since he
had brought it with that object, he was well content. The more so as he had
lighted upon what seemed to be a private means of entering or leaving the
place; no
doubt :here
was a man on guard below, but …
The puncher was not one to ford a river before he came to it.

 
          
The
Double K foreman found the man he had come to see alone, save for the loutish
attendant hovering in the background. The red mask made the stony eyes paler
than ever; they always gave Lagley an uncomfortable feeling. The boy he used to
know had eyes of the same colour, but they were alive, mirthful, unless he was
angered. Lae bandit nodded negligently to a seat.