Oliver Strange - Sudden Westerns 04 - Sudden Outlawed(1934) (25 page)

 
          
“Never
oughta let her come,” he burst out presently. “Jeff, yu gotta find that damn
trail.

 
          
Take
all the boys

 
          
“The
herd” the foreman began, and stopped when the lightning commenced to flicker in
his employer’s eyes. “Hey, Jeff, there’s a coupla riders a-comin’,” Pebbles
yelled. The foreman ran to the speaker’s side. Two horsemen were entering the
valley at the far end. Jeff studied them for a moment and shook his head in
disappointment.

 
          
“That
ain’t Jim’s black,” he said.

 
          
“They
might ‘a’ swapped hosses,” Pebbles said hopefully. “It ain’t neither of ‘em,”
Jeff replied, and, as the visitors drew nearer, added, “Why, if it ain’t Mister
Baudry.” The gambler it was, and with him was a middle-aged, bent-shouldered
fellow, with a long horse-face and deep-set sly
eyes
.
With a word of greeting to the cowboys, the pair rode to where Eden was
sitting, and dismounted.

 
          
Baudry
shook hands with Eden and presented his companion: “Meet Davy Dutt; he’s in a
deal with me.”

 
          
The
cattleman received the stranger without undue enthusiasm—Mister Dutt’s exterior
was not impressive. Then, in reply to an inquiry for Carol, he told the story
of their predicament, and was surprised at the effect it produced; the
gambler’s full, faintly-tanned face took on a yellowish tinge and his voice
betrayed real concern.

 
          
“My
God!” he cried.
“Miss Carol in the hands of savages?
That’s terrible, Sam. What are you doing about it?”

 
          
Eden
told him and Baudry swore in perplexity. “
you
can’t do
a thing till you locate those damned heathens. Got any ideas, Davy?”

 
          
“Nope,”
the stranger confessed. “
yu
seen the kind o’ country
we come through; yu could hide Noo york in it.”

 
          
The
gambler explained that they had been travelling northwest from Fort Worth, and
finding a cattle-trail some way back, had followed it on the chance of it
proving to be the S E.

 
          
The
day passed monotonously enough for the little group left in the camp, and when,
as the sun sank in the west, the searchers again reported failure to discover
the trail of the red raiders, a blanket of gloom descended upon the whole
company. For the cattleman, weakened by illness, the blow was a crushing one,
and, strange to say, Baudry was little less affected. Of them all, Judy was
obstinately optimistic.

 
          
“That
Green fella’s got savvy,” she announced. “He’ll fetch her back.”

 
          
The
prophecy proved nearly correct, for as the dusk was deepening
into dark, Sandy and his charge rode wearily into camp and were
instantly surrounded by whooping cowboys. The rancher’s eyes bulged when he
found the girl he feared was lost forever, kneeling beside him.

 
          
One
arm hugging her close, the other hand went to Sandy.

 
          
“By
heavens, boy, yu’ve put me deeper in yore debt than I can say,” he cried.

 
          
Sandy
fidgeted.
“I ain’t done nothin’,”
he said. “
yu
gotta thank Jim.”

 
          
Naturally
Carol was the centre of attraction; everyone was avid to hear what had happened
to her. The story of Sudden’s slaying of Red Fox brought ejaculations of “Bravo
Jim” and “Good old Texas” from the cowboys, but when she related how they had
been rescued from the redskins by some of Rogue’s riders, it was Baudry who
spoke:

 
          
“What’s
brought that road-agent to these parts?” he asked. “Think he’s been trailing
you, Sam?”

 
          
“It
would be a safe bet he stampeded our cows,” the tore-man volunteered.

 
          
“But
if he’s after my herd why did he let yu an’ Sandy go?” Eden asked the girl. “He
must ‘a’ knowed he had me cinched.”

 
          
“I
was to tell you that he could win without women,” she replied.

 
          
“Huh!
There’s
two words to that,” her father said grimly.
With the girl safe by his side he was becoming his own dour self again. He
looked at Sandy. “Can yu explain it?”

 
          
“No,
but I’m guessin’ Jim fixed somethin’, an’ that’s why he stayed an’ I’ve to go
back.”

 
          
“Like
hell yu have,” the cattleman exploded.

 
          
“I’ve
promised.”

 
          
“
A promise to a prowlin’ thief don’t
hold.”

 
          
Sandy
looked at the girl; in the firelight her cheeks appeared - pale; her lips were
silent, but her eyes spoke.

 
          
“Rogue’s
word to me was that if I didn’t show up’ it would go hard with Jim,” Sandy
added.

 
          
“Did
he call him by his name?” Baudry put in.

 
          
“No,
he said ‘yore friend,’ ” was the quick reply. “An’ because he’s that, I’m goin’
back—alone.”

 
          
The
rancher was about to make another angry protest, but Carol anticipated him:
“Daddy, he has to go,” she said, and the young man’s heart leapt at the regret
in her voice. “Yu would do the same yourself.”

 
          
The
old man snorted, but his hard face softened as he looked at Sandy. “She’s
right, boy, o’ course,” he admitted. “Yu have it to do, but yu can tell Rogue
that if he harms either yu or Jim I’ll hound him down an’ hang him, if it takes
the rest o’ my days.”

 
          
Sandy
grinned. “I’ll pass on the message, but he
don’t
strike me as a man to scare easy.”

 
          
An
hour later, having fed, Sandy transferred his saddle to a fresh horse and
started for the outlaws’ camp. He had seen Carol for one moment before he left,
had grasped a slim brown hand, had heard a whispered, “Good luck, Sandy.” The
kindness in her eyes went with him as he rode into the gloom.

 
          
Eden
and the gambler were alone at the fire. The women had retired to their tent and
Dutt had expressed a desire to view the sleeping herd. Baudry, biting on a
black cigar, was the first to speak.

 
          
“Damned
if I can fathom Rogue’s game, Sam,” he said reflectively. “He has you cold and
throws the hand in. Why?’

 
          
“Yu
can search me,” the rancher replied. “Carol figures he has a soft spot, but
gals get romantic notions ‘bout fellas like him. He’s reckoned the most
ruthless ruffian in Texas, an’ that’s sayin’ a lot.”

 
          
“Those
two men joined you for the drive, dropping in from nowhere,” Jethro proceeded.

 
          
“And
one of them—Green answers pretty well to the printed description of Sudden.”

 
          
“Whose
last job was pulled off while Green was at the S
E.
”

 
          
“True,
but it would be a safe play for one of Rogue’s men to put the blame on a fellow
he knew could prove an alibi.”

 
          
“Yu suggestin’ that Green an’ Sandy are in cahoots with Rogue?”
Eden asked, and there was a rasp in his voice.

 
          
“I’m
saying it’s possible, that’s all,” was the reply. “
your
daughter said some of the outlaws knew them.”

 
          
“Then
why did them two boys fetch back near a thousand head after the stampede?”

 
          
Baudry
chuckled. “You have to admit they knew where to find them,” he pointed out.

 
          
“See
here, Sam. Mightn’t it be that Rogue realized that the stampede was a mistake,
that it would pay him better to let you drive the cattle north for him to steal
within reach of a market where they’d fetch four or five times as much. Why,
that may be the reason he ain’t forcing your hand now.”

 
          
The
rancher’s brows drew together. Put like this the plan seemed all too probable,
and the idea that he was being played with was far from pleasant. Little devils
of doubt began to trouble him, but his obstinate disposition drove him to
argue. “Tryin’ to bump me off
don’t
seem to fit in.”

 
          
“Why not, if his first scheme was to grab the herd as soon as he
could?
I’m supposing it was later he got the notion of aiming for the
bigger prize, an’ I’d wager something it was Green gave it him; he ain’t a
fool, that fellow, believe me.”

 
          
“I
don’t think yo’re right, Jethro,” Eden said stubbornly. Baudry smiled. “Well,
perhaps not,” he said easily. “But I’m telling you, those two men will be back
before long; they’re more use to Rogue here.”

 
          
“I’ll
be glad to see ‘em,” the cattleman said stoutly, but the seeds of suspicion had
been sown. “Aimin’ to travel with us, Jethro?”

 
          
“Maybe
we can be of some use,” was the reply.

 
          
“Pleased
to have yu,” the rancher said heartily.

 
          
The
visitor was silent for a time, and then, with the air of one who has come to a
decision, he flung the butt of his cigar into the glowing ashes, and looked
across at his host.

 
          
“Sam,
you know what I do for a living,” he began. “Well, I’m planning to give myself
a fresh deal and drop the cards. With the coin I get when you cash in on your
herd I’m starting a ranch—I’ve got options on land not far from the S E; with
the railways coming west and the northern ranches needing stock, there’s going
to be money in cattle. But more than that, I want to settle down, with a home
of my own—and a wife.”

 
          
“Why,
that’s good hearin’, Jethro,” the rancher said. “Mebbe yo’re on the way to
fetch the lady, huh?”

 
          
The
gambler’s teeth gleamed as his thick lips parted in a half-smile. “Not
exactly,” he said. “The lady is travelling north too; in fact, she’s less than
fifty yards away at this moment.”

 
          
Eden
straightened up, his eyes wide. “Yu—mean—Carol?” he cried incredulously.

 
          
“Sickness
hasn’t dulled your wits, Sam,” the other replied with a heavy attempt at
jocularity.
“And why not?”

 
          
“I
never dreamt of it,” the old man evaded.

 
          
This
was true; though Baudry had been a frequent visitor at the S E, the possibility
that the girl was the attraction had not once occurred to its owner. Now, faced
with the fact, he suddenly realized that he knew very little about the man,
save his profession. A chance meeting over a card game in San Antonio had been
the beginning of their friendship, and later, Baudry helped him in his plan of
purchasing land. Still on the right side of forty, suave, well-dressed and
apparently wealthy, the gambler did not lack attraction for the other sex, but…
Sam Eden shook his head, as though in answer to his own query, and Baudry’s
narrowed, watching eyes grew cold.

 
          
“Any objections, Sam?”

 
          
“Have
yu spoken to her?”

 
          
“No,
I reckoned the square thing was to ask you first.”

 
          
Eden
breathed his relief; it gave him a way out. Sandy’s devotion to the girl was
patent, and once or twice he had seen her looking at the boy; women were queer,
but he could not conceive that she would prefer the older, sophisticated man
for her mate. So he replied with more confidence: