Oliver Strange - Sudden Westerns 01 - The Range Robbers(1930) (29 page)

 
          
“They’re
hatchin’ somethin’; make the back door.’

 
          
Almost
unnoticed by the clamorous, wrangling crowd, Green, with Larry and Dirty, slid
through the back entrance of the saloon and gained the hotel. Here, a little
later, Snap and West joined them. The gunman was grinning.

 
          
“Blaynes
was tryin’ to get the marshal to arrest yu for disturbin’ the peace, but he
sorta re-considered the notion when I pointed out that he’d have to jail Tarman
to, an’ that same feller come alive again just in time to take in the argument,
an’ well, yu oughta heard him; I reckon Tonk knows all about hisself now.’

 
          
“Point
is, what’re yu goin’ to do, Don?’ asked Larry.

 
          
Green
smiled rather lopsidedly at his friend. “I gotta bed here, an’ I’m aimin’ to
occupy it a whole lot tonight,’ he said. From this resolve all their arguments
and entreaties failed to move him. Nor would he tell them anything regarding
his future movements.

 
          
“It’s
mighty good o’ yu boys to back me up, but I’m a lone wolf an’ about as popular
as a drink o’ whisky at a temperance meeting; I ain’t allowin’ yu to get in
worse than yu are. I’ll be around, an’ that’s all I’m tellin’ yu.’

 
          
With
that they had to be content. But to
Snap
, when the
other men had gone for the horses, he said, “Snap, how long have yu known
Tarman?’

 
          
Despite
his habitual command of self, the gunman gave a slight start of surprise, for
such a question had been totally unexpected. He was silent for a moment and
then he said, “
That’s
one o’ the things I can’t tell
yu, Green.’

 
          
It
was the answer the puncher had looked for and he accepned it without further
argument; right or wrong, the little man had his own code of honour, and Green
was not the kind to ask him no go back on it.

 
          
As
they rode home to the ranch the two younger cowboys were full of the fight, and
the bulge they would have on those of the outfit who had not seen it. Snap was
thoughtful, pondering on the last question.

 
          
“He’s
a noticin’ cuss, for shore,’ he unconsciously said aloud. “He’s a human clam,
but Gosh!
he
can fight,’ cried Dirty. “All the same, I
dunno as we oughtta left him.’

 
          
“Reckon
he can take care of himself,’ reassured Lunt, and smiled at a thought he did
not impart to his companions.

 
          
GREEN
was down early next morning and having dealt with a satisfying breakfast, was
watching the trail which led to the Y Z and wondering if Larry had managed to
deliver the message he had charged him with. Presently his doubts were ended as
he saw a familiar figure loping into the town. Noreen pulled up as the lounging
puncher’s hat swept from his head. The marks of the battle were plain to see,
but there was a sardonic grin on his face as he looked up at
her,
and amusement in his tone as he said:

 
          
“I
shore am a regular trouble-hunter, eh?’

 
          
“Larry
said you wanted to see me,’ she evaded.

 
          
“He
can say that any time an’ be tellin’ the truth,’ smiled the man. Then, dropping
into gravity, he added, “
I’m wantin’
yu to do me a
kindness. It’s about Blue—I dunno what to do with him; he’s too good a hoss for
the job I got in hand, I figured if yu would accept him’ he paused awkwardly,
and then, “Yu see, I’d know he was in good hands.’

 
          
The
girl’s face paled a little as she realised his meaning, and at the same time it
thrilled her to think that he wished her to have the animal he loved.

 
          
“You
think you are in great danger?’ she asked.

 
          
“Shucks,
there I go a-scarin’ yu most to death,’ he said smilingly. “A puncher’s always
in danger, more or less. The trouble is I can’t leave the hoss here, an’ I got
nowhere to take him.’

 
          
“I’ll
keep him for you at the ranch,’ she said. “But you will have to get him there.’

 
          
He
shook his head. “Yu don’t know Blue,’ he said. “Come along an’ I’ll introduce
yu.’

 
          
At
the hotel corral she dismounted and hitched her horse, while her companion
undid the gate. The roan, with the several other occupants, promptly retreated
to the far side of the enclosure. Green whistled and the roan pointed its ears
but took no further notice. He whistled again, sharply, and the horse turned
its head and then paced slowly towards him.

 
          
“Come
here, yu old pirut; tryin’ to play yu are a wild hoss again, eh?’ admonished
his master.

 
          
Reluctantly
the animal came to his side, rolling a wicked eye on the girl. Green patted the
sleek neck, pulled the quivering ears and then said: “Stroke his muzzle; he
won’t hurt yu.’

 
          
Little
as she fancied the task, Noreen did as she was bid, and to her surprise the
animal made no attempt to bite her, though its lip lifted to show the powerful
teeth which could have crushed her slender wrist in an instant.

 
          
“Now
feed him this,’ the puncher said, slipping some pieces of sugar into her hand.

 
          
Noreen
did so, and the horse took it daintily and appeared to lose its nervousness.
The girl laughed as she said, “
So
horses are like
their masters—it’s a case of “Feed the brute.”’

 
          
The
cowboy laughed too. “That ain’t quite so. I reckon they are more like ladies;
yu gotta be properly introduced. Now he knows yu, yu can ride him.’

 
          
“Really?’
cried Noreen.

 
          
“Shore
thing,’ replied Green confidently. “But yu will have to saddle him yoreself.’

 
          
He
fetched her saddle and bridle, and the girl, wondering greatly, put them on the
roan. Then she put her foot in the stirrup and swung up, fully expecting to be
pitched headlong. But the roan, after the mildest attempt at a buck, settled
down and trotted sedately round the corral. The girl cried out with delight;
always she had wanted to ride this beautiful creature.

 
          
“It’s
just wonderful, but perhaps when you are not present—’

 
          
“No,
he’ll stay put, but don’t let anybody else gamble with him. Yu can ride him
back to the Y Z now, an’ one o’ the boys can fetch in yore pony. I’m shore
obliged to yu for takin’ him.’

 
          
“He’ll
be waiting for you when you come for him,’ she said. “What are you going to do?
Why do you have to stay here and run such risks?’

 
          
The
thought that she cared what became of him sent a spasm of joy through his
being, but he had his poker face on and with the gravity of an Indian he
replied:

 
          
“I
gotta job, an’ I ain’t the on’y one that’s takin’ risks. S’long, Blue, be a
good little hoss, an’ mebbe I’ll come an’ see yu again.’

 
          
He
rubbed the twitching nostrils and the horse nuzzled his hand, snapping at it
playfully. The girl, herself a horse-lover, divined what the parting meant.

 
          
“Of
course you will come and see us both again,’ she said. “And remember, he’s
still your horse.’

 
          
With
a wave of her hand she rode out of the corral, and the man’s eyes followed her.
The approach of West cut short his meditations, and he looked up to find the
one-time miner regarding him with patent disgust.

 
          
“Don’t
tell me yu’ve give that hoss away,’ he said. “The owner o’ this travellers’
palace said he was yourn.’

 
          
“I’ve
done that very thing,’ smiled Green. “Had yore breakfast?’

 
          
“Breakfast
don’t look good to me this mornin’,’ was the rueful reply. “I reckon I must be
sufferin’ from what the educated sharps call the “aftermouth” o’ the night
before. If yo’re sot on comin’ back with me, I’m ready to make a start.’

 
          
The
puncher had nothing to wait for, and having paid their bills, they saddled up
and departed. For the first hour California rode in silence, apparently deep in
thought, stealing a covert glance at his companion from time to time. Presently
he burst out.

 
          
“Hell,
I can’t do it. See here, Green, will yu take a pal’s advice “in the dark,” an’
clear out o’ this neck o’ the woods?’

 
          
“There,
Bullet, listen to that,’ Green said whimsically to his pony. “
Ain’t it astonishin’
how unpopular we are? Everybody wants
to see the last of us.’

 
          
“They’ll
see the last o’ yu a damn sight sooner if yu stay around here,’ retorted
West
. “Well, I s’pose I gotta tell yu, but for the love o’
Mike don’t let on who put yu wise. Do yu know who that feller is that yu licked
last night?’

 
          
“Calls
himself Tarman,’ Green said.

 
          
“Which
may be his name for all I know, but I’ve generally heard him called “The
Spider.”
Yu still aimin’ to go back to his ranch?’

 
          
“I
shore am,’ was the quiet reply, and the other man swore disgustedly.

 
          
“Well,
I had to warn yu, but
it’s
yore funeral.’

 
          
“I’ll
try an’ see than it ain’t
no
such thing. Anyway the
cards fall, I’m obliged to yu, an’ yu can bet I’ll be mighty silent.’

 
          
”S’allright,’ grunted West. “Couldn’t watch yu ridin’ into a trap
blindfold.’

 
          
No
more was said. The cowpuncher well understood that the warning was all the
information he would get. It had not much surprised him; he had already formed
the opinion that Tarman had some sinister motive for visiting Hatchett’s, and
his speedy friendship with Poker Pete and his crowd was suggestive of a
previous acquaintance. But what was Tarman’s game? The running off of a few
hundred head of cattle would not satisfy a man like him. The puncher worried
over the problem, searching this and that way for a solution, while he rode
steadily to put himself in the power of the man he had so thoroughly thrashed
and humiliated.

 
          
To
Joe Tarman, as to West, breakfast on the morning after his defeat made no
appeal. He and Laban were almost the first customers at the Folly, the man who
beat them to it being a little dried-up chap who had drifted into town the
previous evening, driving an old burro packing a prospecting outfit. He watched
the pair for a moment or two, noting the disgusted scowl on Tarman’s swollen
features, and then sidled along the bar until he was at Laban’s elbow.

 
          
“Say,
boss,’ he whispered, “
does
yore big friend know who he
was up agin las’ night? I gotta reason for askin’.’

 
          
“Cowpunch
around here, named Green,’ Seth replied.

 
          
“He
he,’ sniggered the old sinner. “Dog my cats if it ain’t just him to choose a
name like that. Say, if I can tell yore friend how to a bit more than even the
score, would it be worth a twenty,
d’ye reckon
?’

 
          
He
had designedly raised his voice, and Tarman, who had been listening, pulled out
his roll, peeled off a note and laid it on the bar.

 
          
“Spill
the beans, an’ if they’re worth it, that’s yores,’ he growled.