Oliver Strange - Sudden Westerns 10 - Sudden Plays a Hand(1950) (35 page)

 
          
Cries of “Good for you, Bull,’ followed the rustler’s denunciation,
and the prisoner’s last shred of hope vanished.
In the moment of deadly
peril, he was without a friend. Even the quaking tool he had used and abused
was solely concerned with his own danger. In every grim face he read the fate
awaiting him. The twisted, tortured features of Eddie dangled before his eyes,
mocking him. An icy hand seemed to clutch his heart as he looked at Drait and
the girl who had cheated him. Frenziedly he strove to think, and then, in a
flash, hope was reborn, mad, fantastic, but possible. Towler was turning to the
jury; he must act now.

 
          
“Judge,
I would like a private word with Drait an’ his wife,’ he said, all arrogance
gone from his voice. “It’s vital—to them.’

 
          
The
Judge nodded, and head bowed in an attitude of dejection, Cullin watched the
approach of the woman he hungered for and the man he hated. Not until they were
quite close did he look up.

 
          
“Well,
Cullin
, what is it?’ Nick asked.

 
          
“This,’
the rancher hissed. His right hand flashed to his shoulder, the gun cracked,
and even as Drait was falling, the assassin’s left hand swung the girl round,
and the still-smoking muzzle of his weapon was pressed against her head.

 
          
“Freeze,
all o’ you,’ he shouted. “A hurt to me, kills her.’

 
          
It
was true; the hammer of his gun was held back only by a thumb, and her life
depended on it remaining so. Many present could have shot him down, but it
meant two lives. So they sat in their seats, petrified, helpless, while he
strode from the dock, thrusting his captive before him.

 
          
Dazed
by the swiftness of the tragedy, and kept conscious only by the biting grip of
steel talons which seemed to penetrate to the bone, the girl moved forward.
Cullin did not hurry—he knew he was safe, and a fiendish snarl of triumph
distorted his lips. Savage, impotent men watched his progress to the door,
which he forced the girl to open, and heard the gibing “Adios’ as it slammed
behind him, and the key turn.

 
          
For
a moment they stared at one another, and then Sudden acted. Picking up a heavy
chair, he hurled it at the nearest window; glass and framework vanished
together. He leapt through, dashed to his horse, and flung himself into the
saddle. Which way?

 
          
“He’ll
make for the Big C to get cash an’ fresh horses,’ he told himself.

 
          
He
found the trail, a mere wagon-way, which after crossing a brush-dotted mile or
so of plain, zigzagged through a procession of shallow wooded ravines and low
ridges. It was from one of the latter that he got a glimpse of the killer. He
had not waited to take a second
horse,
and the
girl—who appeared to be unconscious—was slung across the saddlebow. Only for a
moment they were visible before entering a timbered tract, but the puncher’s
knowledge of horseflesh told him something. “He’s got a good start, Nig, but
that hoss is weakenin’.’ He stroked the curving silken neck, and the black
quickened its pace, eager to show this master who never ill-treated, what it
could do. When next they sighted the fugitive he was appreciably nearer, and
commencing a long, gradual incline. Sudden smiled mirthlessly.

 
          
“We’ve
got him, of fella,’ he said. “That rise’ll bust his bronc wide open.’

 
          
He
was right. The double burden and killing speed had already taken toll, and only
incessant spurring kept the exhausted beast going. The climb proved the last
straw, and the black began to gain rapidly. Cullin glanced back, and his right
arm rose and fell furiously as the brute above flogged the nobler brute
beneath. Somehow the gallant animal, dying on its feet, reached the crest and
was lost to sight. Sudden was a scant fifty yards behind.

 
          
This
distance covered, the ground dropped a little and then rose sharply, and here
the trail swung off along a rather narrow shelf, with vertical cliff on one
side, and a precipice on the other. An outflung natural buttress engaged
Sudden’s attention.
His dismounted.

 
          
“He’s
got a gun,’ he said. “
Better “look afore we leap”—into
sight.’

 
          
There
was no trap. Cullin’s horse had foundered, and lay on its side, breathing, but
useless. The rancher was standing near the brink of the abyss, holding the
drooping girl to his side. Sudden walked towards them stopping a dozen paces
away.

 
          
“Well,
Green, I still hold the high card,’ he taunted. “Listen: I wanted this woman,
so bad I was willin’ to kill to get her. That dream’s gone. I’m just usin’ her.
An’ see, my gun’s empty.’ He pulled out the weapon, snapped the hammer six
times, and thrust it behind his waist-belt, not without some difficulty.

 
          
“What’s
yore proposition?’

 
          
‘I’ll
trade her life for mine. Give yore word to let me go unhurt an’ I’ll place her
in safety.’

 
          
Sudden
reflected a moment. He suspected a ruse, but could not divine it. In any case,
if he got the girl away from that horrible chasm, he could take care of
himself.

 
          
“It’s
a deal,’ he said.

 
          
With
every sense alert, he watched the rancher convoy his prisoner to the cliff
wall, where she subsided listlessly. Then Cullin turned and walked away, his
right arm swinging by his side. Sudden’s eyes narrowed; the swing was
lengthening, the hand going nearly waist-high, where the empty weapon hadbeen
stowed. Tensed and ready, he stood, watching and waiting. Then it happened.
Cullin had gone but a few steps when he whirled and fired, doubtless counting
on a surprise. But Sudden had caught the beginning of the movement and his own
gun was spouting flame at the same instant. He felt the scorch of the lead on
his cheek, and saw the traitor stagger back under the impact of the heavy slug.
His face drawn with pain and fraught with fear, the murderer tottered, fighting
to regain his balance, only to lurch sideways, step on nothing, and with a
strangling cry, vanish into the void.

 
          
The
puncher pushed his hat back and wiped the clammy moisture from his brow. Not
till then did he become aware of voices. Yorky, Pilch, and half a dozen others
were beside him. “You ain’t hurt, Jim?’ the boy asked fearfully. “Gawd, you
were quick.’

 
          
“Shore
had to be,’ Sudden replied. “It was a close call.’ He explained the desperate
trick Cullin had tried.

 
          
“Well,
saves soilin’ a rope,’ Pilch said callously. “Though I wouldn’t ‘a’ grudged
it.’

 
          
The
girl, ashen-faced and moving shakily, joined them, anxious for news of her
husband. Only Yorky, who had started behind the others and caught them up,
could tell her anything:

 
          
“He’s
hard hit, an’ they’re takin’ him to Merker’s, an’ sendin’ to Rideout for a
doctor; Midway don’t have none.’

 
          
With
this she had to be content.

 
          
Doctor
Bolus - so he called himself—was middle-aged, and slight of frame, with a
kindly face in which the eyes smiled. Why he chose to reside in this wild
region nobody knew or cared; he was skilled, liked, and respected. The citizens
gathered in Merker’s bar to await his first report fell silent when they noted
the gravity of his expression.

 
          
“It’s
a bad business, but he has a chance—a very slim one,’ he announced. “
Cannot be moved, so you can say farewell to your bedroom for some
weeks, Merker.’

 
          
After
a moment’s thought, Merker said, “
Not
reflectin’ nohow
on yore ability, doc, I’m layin’ you twenty dollars to one you don’t save
Nick.’

 
          
His
eyes twinkling, Bolus accepted the
wager,
and the
others on the same terms which followed. Merker, ousy making out a list, said:

 
          
“How
far you prepared to go, doc? More o’ the boys’ll want in on this.’

 
          
The
sky’s the limit,’ the little man smiled. “And I’m staying in Midway to win the
money.’

 
          
“That’s
good to hear, sir,’ the Judge said. “You’ll be the town’s guest, and anything
your patient needs will be got.’

 
          
So
it came to pass that Midway went about both business and pleasure on tiptoe, as
it were. Every day men stepped softly into the saloon to read the latest
bulletin, and for the first two weeks went away with disconsolate faces. To
their queries the doctor had but one reply:

 
          
“I
am doing all that is possible, and he has the most devoted nurse I ever met;
she’s just killing herself, and I’ll have to speak to her.’

 
          
He
did so, to be met with a stubborn refusal to leave the sickroom. He had his
argument ready: “
What’s
going to happen if your health
breaks down?’

 
          
The
possibility appalled her, and she capitulated on the condition that the doctor
took her place, to which he readily agreed. Her first excursion brought
astonishment. Every few yards men she had never seen stopped and shyly asked
for news of the nester. This universal anxiety delighted her until an enquirer
provided an apparent explanation.

 
          
“You
just gotta pull him through, ma’am,’ he said. “There’s a lot o’ dollars
dependin’ on it.’

 
          
She
returned to the saloon seething with anger. Her crimson face told the doctor
something had gone wrong.

 
          
The
callous
brutes !
’ she cried. “They are actually
gambling on my husband’s life.’

 
          
“You
misjudge them,’ Bolus returned quietly, and gave the facts. “So you see,’ he
concluded, “
it
is their way of offering me a fantastic
fee to insure I will do my best. Do you know what happened this morning when I
gave Merker a favourable report? Most of the wagers were doubled. You see, they
want to lose.’

 
          
“I
shall never understand the Westerner,’ she said ruefully.

 
          
A
day or so later Mary met Sudden, whom she had not seen since the tragedy, and
asked a question: “Jim, how did you know we were married?’

 
          
“I
didn’t; it was just a hunch,’ he replied.

 
          
“Was
that the card they might not know of?’

 
          
“Yeah,
but I wanted yu to play it,’ he grinned.

 
          
She
did not quite believe his ignorance—he had most discerning eyes, this Mister
Green, and the twinkle in them wrought confusion in her cheeks. Perhaps this
was why he changed the subject.”When am I goin’ to see Nick?’

 
          
“Soon,’
she promised.

 
          
But
a week passed before the meeting came about, and Sudden received a shock. The
nester, propped up by pillows, was a mere shadow of his former self. However,
there was a smile on the gaunt, pale face.

 
          
“My,
Jim, it’s good to see you,’ he said. “Me?
I’m doin’ fine.
Tell me the news.’

 
          
“Ain’t much.
Quilt an’ the rest of us are lookin’ after the
S P an’ the Valley, Sturm an’ his
riders
bein’ plenty
absent. Seale took a notion to travel. The Judge gave Camort ten years in the
pen, but we had to sneak him out after dark to save his neck. Cullin? Oh, he
fell over the cliff.’

 
          
“Yeah,
that’s what Mary told me, but she used more words,’ Drait said drily. “Jim,
I’ve been tryin’ to figure out my debt to you.’ Sudden started to rise. “Awright,
cuss you, I’ll be dumb. Who’s takin’ Stinker’s place?’