Oliver Strange - Sudden Westerns 01 - The Range Robbers(1930) (30 page)

 
          
“He,
he,’ cackled the aged one, “it’s mine shore enough. The feller yu fit, what
calls hisself Green, he’s Sudden.’

 
          
Tarman’s
face darkened. “I found that out for myself,’ he snarled, “an’ if yu think yu
can jape with me, yu rat

 
          
The
prospector backed away before the threatening gesture, “I ain’t japin’—I’m
tellin’ yu he’s Sudden, the outlaw,’ he cried. “I’ve seen him three-four times
in Texas an’ Noo Mexico; I’d know him anywheres.’

 
          
“By
God, he’s right,’ cried Tarman. “Didn’t I tell yu I’d met him, Seth?
It’s
years ago, an’ he was a mere pup then but it’s him
shore enough.’

 
          
He
thrust the note into the informer’s hands, motioned him away, and stood
frowning heavily in thought. Gradually his face cleared until at length he
laughed aloud and slapped Laban jovially on the shoulder.

 
          
“That’s
it,’ he said. “I’ve gon it, Seth, an’ when I come to work it out, why, it’s
like takin’ money from a blind man. No, it’s too good to tell yu; watch my
smoke. But keep this news behind yore teeth; I don’t want
no
lynchin’-bee interferin’ with my plans—yet
.’

 
          
He
strode over to the old prospector and held out another twenty dollar bill. “
Don’t tell no one
else about the damned feller,’ he said.
“An’ don’t gamble with me, savvy?’

 
          
“I’m
pullin’ my freight from town right now,’ said the gold-seeker, as he grabbed
the bill and shuffled out of the bar.

 
          
The
afternoon, Tarman, despite his damaged appearance, presented himself at the Y Z
ranch-house. Laban had been told that he was not wanted. Old Simon received the
visitor on the verandah, informing him that Noreen was out riding.

 
          
“That
feller Green gave her back the roan this mornin’ an’ he seems to have taken the
devil out o’ the hoss,’ Petter said. “Odd number that; I can’t make him out
nohow.’

 
          
“He
gave Miss Noreen that hoss?’ cried the visitor. “
Whatever
for?’

 
          
“Said
he’d got no use for it,’ replied. “What do yu think?’

 
          
“Somethin’
back o’ that, I’ll lay,’ Tarman said. “Say, I’ve got some news for yu ‘bout
that
chap
. He calls himself Green here, but he’s
betner known in a good many parts as Sudden, the outlaw.’

 
          
He
leaned back in his chair to enjoy the surprise he knew his statement would
produce and he was not disappointed. Old Simon was struck dumb, but only for a
moment. Then he
gasped :

 
          
“Yu shore o’ that?’

 
          
“Shore
as shootin’—I oughtta recognised him myself, but it’s some time since I saw
him.’

 
          
The
cattleman jumped up. “I’ll call some o’ the boys an’ we’ll get a rope on him
right away,’ he said, but Tarman did not move.

 
          
“Sit
down,’ he said. “There’s no hurry. He
don’t
know he’s
been spotted an’ I’m havin’ him watched. ‘Sides, he ain’t aimin’ to get away or
he’d have kept that fast hoss. No, sir, he’s in these parts for a purpose, an’
I’ve got an idea that I know what it is’.

 
          
“Stealin’
my cattle, blast him,’ exploded the rancher.

 
          
Tarman
regarded the angry man with a gleam of triumphant malice; things were going
entirely right for him. “That ain’t nearly all he’s after,’ he said slowly. “He
wants yore cattle—yore ranch—yore daughter—and more.’

 
          
“My
girl marry him—a murderin’ cow-thief?’ snarled Simon. “Not while I can pull a
trigger.’

 
          
“Huh!
That ain’t
no
way to talk. Yu may be fast with a gun
but yu’d last ‘bout as long as a snowflake in hell with him, an’ be playin’
into his hands at that.’

 
          
The
old man looked up. “Yu reckon he’s after me?’ he said.

 
          
Tarman
did not make a direct reply to the question. “See here,’ he began, let me tell
yu the story o’ this feller Sudden, an’ yu can judge for yoreself. Somethin’
less than twenty year ago there was two fellers livin’ down in Texas, ‘bout
half a day’s ride from the so-called town o’ Crawlin’ Creek. They were both
cattlemen, an’ their ranges ran side by side, with p’raps twenty miles between
the ranch-houses, an’ they got to be pretty close friends, havin’ a good deal
in common. Both had lost their wives early, an’ each of ‘em had one kid.
Peterson’s was a boy, an’ Evesham’s a girl several years younger, an’ to the
fathers there warn’t
no
other kids in the world.’

 
          
The
narrator paused for a
moment,
his keen, cruel eyes
dwelling on the figure slumped in the chair before him. He had not failed to
notice the start the old man had been unable to conceal at the mention of the
names. He hid his own satisfaction, and
continued :

 
          
“After
a while, however, there
come trouble
over water rights
which both claimed, an’ things got so bad a-tween ‘em that for over a year they
never spoke, an’ gripped their guns when they met. Then one day Peterson’s son
vanished, an’ he let it be known pretty plain that he thought Evesham had
stolen the kid out o’ spite! But
he couldn’t prove nothin’
an’ though he spent six months searchin’ the lad was never heard of. Then
Peterson sold out an’ took the trail, tellin’ nobody where he was bound for,
an’ a month later, Evesham’s little girl disappeared an’ was never traced. Odd,
warn’t it?’

 
          
The
drooping figure in the chair made no reply, and Tarman continued his story with
a half sneer on his lips.

 
          
“Evesham
went near mad. For months he hunted Peterson, swearing to shoot him on sight,
but his former neighbour had vanished as completely as the kids. At last he
gave up the search an’ resumed his life on the ranch. Some years later, Evesham’s
in town when along comes an old Injun, trailin’ a string o’ ponies for sale,
an’ with him there’s his squaw an’ a half-breed boy. Evesham takes a fancy to
the lad, buys him an’ takes him back to his ranch. That boy is the feller yu
know as Green, an’ I know as Sudden, the outlaw.’

 
          
The
owner of the Y Z looked up at last. “An’ Bill Evesham, what’s come of him?’ he
asked huskily, and Tarman smiled as he
replied :

 
          
“Did
I say his name was Bill? Well, it was anyways. He cashed ‘bout three years ago,
an’ when the adopted son come to clean up there was nothin’ for him, the old
man had gambled an’ drunk the ranch away. The boy, he was growed up then, o’
course, went on the cross; a wizard with hosses an’ weapons, he couldn’t hold a
steady job. Several fellers tried to beat him to the draw an’ paid the penalty.
He got a reputation but it’s one

 
          
that
keeps him movin’, an’ my idea is there’s some purpose
back o’ that; he may be lookin’ for somebody. What do yu think—Peterson?’

 
          
The
old man jumped as though he had received an electric shock, but one glance at
the inexorable, triumphant face of the man before him showed the futility of
denial, and he sank back wearily into his chair. Discovered after all these
years of security! For a vain second, he contemplated snanching out his gun and
destroying the man who had surprised his secret, and Tarman read his thought.

 
          
“
Don’t try nothin’ rash, Peterson,’
he advised. “I’m yore
friend, an’ we’ll see this out together.’

 
          
“Then
drop that Peterson racket—my name’s Petter,’ said Simon irritably. “For the
rest of it, I’ll own up that yu’ve got the story pretty straight. An’ don’t yu
get the idea that I’m sorry any; Bill Evesham double-crossed me, I reckon, an’
I’d do the same again. He warn’t the forgivin’ sort either, an’ it would be
just like him to set this murderin’ hound on my trail. Green as good as told
Norry so soon after he come, though neither of ‘em knows how close he was to
the man he was after, an’ I warn’t shore. Point is
,
what are we goin’ to do?’

 
          
He
was recovering his poise; the old pioneer spirit which had enabled him to face
danger and disaster unflinchingly defied the weakening influence of age, and
Tarman knew that he would fight like a wounded grizzly for the girl he had come
to regard as his own, and the loss of whose affection he feared more than the
threat of death.

 
          
“Yu
can leave Green to me,’ he said deliberately. “I’m figurin’ that if we let him
run on the rope for a bit he’ll hang himself. He
don’t
know yet that yo’re the man he’s lookin’ for so there’s no danger thataway. You
can tell the girl who he is, but yu ain’t aimin’ to let her know
all the
story, are yu?’

 
          
“No,’
said Simon explosively. “She’s been my daughter all these years an’…’

 
          
“I
reckon yo’re right,’ Tarman agreed. “Women are queer an’ she might take it all
wrong. What’s a name anyways; she’ll be changin’ it soon, I hope.’

 
          
The
old man looked up sharply and met the smiling expressive eyes of the other. “
Meanin
’?’ he asked.

 
          
“That
I want her, yes,’
came
the plain answer. “I ain’t a
poor man, Petter, an’ there’s no strings tied to me. Yu got any objections?’

 
          
Simon
was silent for a few moments, considering. He had, of course, expected some
such development; he knew perfectly well that the big man had not visited the
ranch so often on his account, but now the moment was come he found a
difficulty in deciding. He knew nothing against the suitor, and yet—

 
          
“Not
if Norry ain’t,’ he said presently. “She’s the doctor.’

      
 
“Then that’ll be all right,’ Tarman rejoined.
“Now don’t yu worry
none
about Green; we’ll have him
where the hair’s short before he knows it:

 
          
“What
yu aimin’ to do when yu get him? String him up?’ Tarman laughed and shook his
head. “We’ll let the Governor do that,’ he said. “There’s ten thousand dollars
in all offered for the capture of Mister Sudden. I could use that money—it
would make a decent settlement for a bride, for instance. Well, that’s all
arranged, an’ I’m agoin’ to take the trail before Noreen blows in—I ain’t very
presentable.’

 
          
Long
after his visitor had gone Old Simon sat in his chair smoking and pondering on
the past. So Bill Evesham had gone, but not without rearing someone to carry on
his vengeance; he could figure him deliberately adopting and training the
half-breed lad for that very purpose. And Norry, what would she think of it
all? She must condemn him, of course, for a cruel and animal act which had
robbed both her father and herself. Would affection for him survive such a
blow? He did not know and would not take the risk if he could avoid it.

 
          
His
thoughts turned to Tarman. Somehow, he did not like the man and yet he could
not have given a reason. But he recognised that he was in need of him and in
his power, a reflection which made him curse softly, for Old Simon was an
independent soul, and preferred, as he put it, to “cut his own trail.’ He was
still brooding in the chair when Noreen returned from her ride, and the sight
of her flushed face, and the lilt of her laugh, made him set his teeth and
swear that Fate itself should not wrest her from him.

 
          
“Had
a good ride?’ he asked, as she came swinging up from the corral.

 
          
“Ripping,’
she replied. “Blue behaved like a perfect angel. Mr. Green must be a wizard.’

 
          
“Mebbe
he is, but yu better give over callin’ him Mr. Green,’ retorted the old man
grimly. “He’s better known down South as Sudden—the outlaw.’