Oliver Strange - Sudden Westerns 04 - Sudden Outlawed(1934) (26 page)

 
          
“It’s
entirely her affair, Jethro. Even if I could claim her as my own child, I
wouldn’t attempt to influence her. Whatever she
says,
goes, with me.”

 
          
The
gambler lit another cigar. “Fair enough,” he said evenly. “I’m not asking you
to do my courting, Sam. When do you expect to pull out from here?”

 
          
“Can’t
say; must give them boys a chance to come in.”

 
          
“They’ll
do it—with a fine tale of how they hoodwinked Rogue and got away,” Baudry
sneered.

 
          
Long
after, when he had been lifted back into his bed in the wagon, the words
recurred to the rancher. He fought against the fear that they might be the
truth but could not completely convince
himself
;
Baudry’s arguments had seemed all too plausible. Moreover, the outlaw’s
impudent warning that he intended to have the herd was disturbing; Eden was
well aware that his outfit was numerically weak and if two members of it could
not be depended upon …

 
          
SANDY
experienced little difficulty in finding the outlaws’ camp again. A bright moon
enabled him to recognize the landmarks —a twisted tree, a jutting spire of
rock, a wedge of chaparral, which the plainsman instinctively notes when
travelling a trail by which he must return. As he rode in, a man with a
levelled gun stepped from the shadow of a tree and ordered him to halt. A
glance satisfied him.

 
          
“So
yu come back?” Sligh said, for he it was. “Damned if I thought yu’d be such a
fool.”

 
          
“It
warn’t folly, Sligh, just pure affection—for yu,” was the flippant reply.
“What’s the next move?”

 
          
“Yu
pass yore gun to me.”

 
          
Sandy
pulled out his revolver but instead of handing it over, he pointed the muzzle
at Sligh. “Now yu can blaze away an’ we’ll go to hell together,” he said
pleasantly.

 
          
“Rogue’s
orders,” the man growled.

 
          
“Then
I’ll take ‘em from him,” Sandy retorted. “Where is he?”

 
          
The
outlaw pointed to a small fire apart from the larger one in the centre of the
glade.

 
          
Sandy
grinned.

 
          
“Go
ahead,” he said. “I might lose my way.”

 
          
“Think
yo’re smart, huh?” came the sneer.

 
          
“Smart’s
my middle name,” the young man chuckled. “Do we take root here?”

 
          
With
a curse the sentinel slouched off. Two men were sitting by the fire and when
Sandy reached it, Sligh had already voiced his complaint.

 
          
“Pulled
his gun on me,” he growled. “If it hadn’t bin for yore orders, I’d ‘a’ blowed
him apart.”

 
          
Rogue
looked up as the boy slid from his saddle. “‘Lo, Sandy, I’m
wantin’
that weapon,” he said quietly.

 
          
Sandy’s
eyes were on the other figure at the fire. “What’s the word, Jim?” he asked.

 
          
“Yu
got Miss Eden back?” Sudden queried, and when his friend nodded, he drew his
own guns, handing them, butts first, to the outlaw leader. “Ante up, Sandy,” he
went on. “Rogue has kept his part o’ the bargain an’ we gotta keep our’n.” He
smiled sardonically across the flames.

 
          
“We’re
yore prisoners, Rogue, but I’m givin’ yu warnin’ that we’ll light out if we get
a chance.”

 
          
“Then
I’ll have to tie yu,” Rogue rapped.

 
          
“I
don’t blame yu,” Sudden smiled, and at a nod from him, Sandy relinquished his
revolver.

 
          
Later,
three shapeless, blanket-covered forms lay round the smaller fire. The only
difference between them was that two of them were tied hand and foot and
appeared to be fast asleep. The third was wide awake, wrestling with the
problem of what to do with his prisoners.

 
          
The
disarming and binding had been merely a bluff, for he did not want them; they
could only be a burden. The girl had been a different proposition—a weapon —but
he could not credit the rancher with great solicitude for two of his hands.
Their detention would mean two less to defend the herd, but be dismissed this
aspect; his own force was strong enough. A gleam of steel in the flickering
firelight caught his eye; it was a knife, used in the binding and forgotten. It
helped him to a decision.

 
          
He
glanced at the sky, where clouds had now blotted out the moon, flinging a pall
of darkness over the camp. Soundlessly he edged over until he was close to
Sudden, and able to reach the knife. The cowboy was breathing stertorously.
Carefully raising the blanket, Rogue severed the bonds which confined the
sleeper’s wrists, and dropping the blade, rolled back to his former position.
For a time nothing happened and then he saw Sudden stretch and lie still again.

 
          
Rogue
knew he had discovered that his arms were free.

 
          
Presently
the dark blotch of the cowboy’s blanket stirred as he slowly sat up. He saw the
knife, reached for it, and freed his ankles. With a whispered warning, he did
the same for his fellow-prisoner. Then, on hands and knees, Sudden crept to the
outlaw, whose heavy breathing suggested deep slumber. The confiscated weapons
were beside him. Leaving their blankets rolled in some semblance of human
forms,
the captives crawled away from the fire, and reached
the edge of the glade.

 
          
“The
hosses are on the far side,” Sudden whispered. “We’ll have to pass Sligh. While
I deal with him, yu slip around an’ get the broncs.”

 
          
Skirting
the edge of the encampment, they moved swiftly and silently over the floor of
matted pine-needles and presently saw the sentinel leaning against a pine, his
rifle beside him.

 
          
Like
a shadow Sudden darted from tree to tree, and then.
dropping
on his belly, wormed his way forward. All that the unsuspecting watcher knew
was that out of the murk a figure rose at his very feet and fingers of steel
clutched his throat, prisoning any sound he might have uttered.

 
          
Savagely
he fought back, twisting, striking, kicking, but the relentless pressure of
that vice-like grip was paralysing; he could not breathe, his throat throbbed
with pain, and the world went black before his bulging eyes. A few moments and
the man was a limp and senseless weight.

 
          
Sudden
let him fall and hurried after Sandy. That young man had not been idle; he had
found the horses.
and
saddles. Soon the outlaw camp
was behind them. For a while they rode in silence and then Sandy could restrain
his curiosity no longer.

 
          
“How
in hell did yu manage it, Jim?” he asked.

 
          
“I
didn’t,” Sudden smiled. “Some kind gent cut my paws loose an’ left the knife
handy.”

 
          
“Cripes,
I’ll bet it wasn’t Sligh.”

 
          
“Yu’d
win. It was another fella, an’ when he came creepin’ up on me with that sticker
in his fist, well, I’ve knowed happier moments. I played I was asleep-snored
real hearty.”

 
          
“Yu
can too,” Sandy complimented. “Did yu recognize him?”

 
          
“It
was Rogue hisself.”

 
          
“Oh,
yeah,” came the sarcastic reply. “Havin’ tied us up he would turn us loose,
wouldn’t he?”

 
          
“
Them
bonds was just eyewash for the gang. Rogue didn’t .rant
us—we gotta be watched allatime, an’ he knows Eden tin’t goin’ to part with a
single steer on our account, so he gets rid of us—his own way. That was Sligh’s
knife—I saw him drop it; he’ll get the blame an’ we’ll get the credit. Rogue ‘s
one smart hombre.”

 
          
A
smudge of grey in the eastern sky had turned to a golden glow and the red rim
of the sun was pushing above the horizon when they rode down the valley and
sighted the S E wagon.

 
          
Peg-leg,
busy preparing the morning meal, let out a yell which brought men leaping from
their blankets and grabbing for guns. When they saw that it was not an Indian
raid they laughed and swore at the cook. The foreman, his wrinkled: ace one
smile, surveyed the pair delightedly.

 
          
“Nice
damn
couple,
ain’t yu?” he said.
“Holdin’
the drive up thisaway.
The 0I’ Man oughta give yu yore time.”

 
          
“An’
yore chin would hit yore toes if he did, yu holy fraud,” Sudden retorted. “Now,
Sandy an’ me ain’t had
no
sleep for ‘bout a year.
Who’s got spare blankets? We had to leave our’n behind.”

 
          
For
a couple of hours they slept like dead men and then Jeff aroused them. “Sam’s
askin’ for yu,” he said.

 
          
They
found the cattleman sitting at the end of the wagon. He was recovering rapidly;
the tonic air of the prairies, aided by his tough constitution, had worked
wonders. Baudry and Carol were with him, and several of the outfit lingered
near.

 
          
“Here’s
the truants, boss,” the foreman grinned. “I was tellin’ Jim yu oughta give ‘em
their time.”

 
          
Eden
had smothered his doubts and his rugged face softened as he surveyed the men to
whom he owed so much. “I reckon they oughta have anythin’ they ask for, but I’m
hopin’ it won’t be that,” he said. “Green, Sandy tells me I gotta thank yu for
gettin’ my girl back.”

 
          
“Sandy’s
modesty’ll be the ruin of him,” Sudden smiled.

 
          
“I
ain’t forgettin’ his part,” Eden replied. “I’m curious to learn how yu
persuaded that ruffian to let her go; he had me thrown an’ tied.”

 
          
“Yeah,
he knowed that,” the cowboy agreed. “I gambled on two cards—his past an’ his
pride. I figured that, sunk as he is, some respect for a good woman might
remain, an’ I was right.

 
          
For
the rest, his message to yu explains it—just the natural vanity o’ the man.
These were his weak spots, an’ I hit ‘em good an’ hard.”

 
          
“Then
we’ll hear more of him?”

 
          
“Shorely.
He’ll strike when he’s ready, but I’m guessin’ that won’t be till we’re nearer
a market. He’s got nigh a score o’ men.”

 
          
Baudry
looked at the cattleman and nodded; he had expressed the same view of the
rustler’s intentions. With a half-sneer he turned to Sudden.

 
          
“Yu
seem pretty well acquainted with this cattle-thief,” he said. “Perhaps he
turned you loose too?”

 
          
“Now
I wonder who told
yu?
” Sudden debated. “He did that
very thing.”

 
          
Sam
Eden’s keen eyes widened at this and there was suspicion in them.

 
          
“D’yu
mean
that, Green?” the rancher asked sharply, and when
the other nodded, “Why should he do that?” The cowboy related the manner of
their escape.

 
          
Sudden
sensed the hostility in the tone. “His men had none of his finer feelin’s.”

 
          
“Fine
feelings—in an outlaw?” gibed the gambler savagely. “That’s more than I can
swallow.”