Oliver Strange - Sudden Westerns 04 - Sudden Outlawed(1934) (37 page)

 
          
“There’s
an old shack out on the plain, about two miles due north,” she gasped. “I heard
them mention it. That’s all I know. Get out, damn you. Get out!

 
          
Aunt
Judy looked at her. “If yu’ve lied, or they’ve harmed Carol, I’ll find yu an’
cut yore rotten heart out if I swing for it,” she promised.

 
          
When
they had gone, the woman staggered to her feet, flung open a cupboard, and
pouring out a stiff dose of spirit, gulped it eagerly.

 
          
“Christ!
I wanted that,” she muttered. “What a
devil,
and she
meant it! I’ll have to get away, pronto. If they’ve hurt that kid”

 
          
Hurriedly
she began to throw her few possessions into a bag. Miss Gold was taking no more
chances; she was attached to her nose and wished to remain so.

 
          
When
Sudden and Aunt Judy reached the hotel the cowboy turned to her and said
meaningly:

 
          
“I’m
gettin’ my hoss an’ follerin’. This is a man’s job.”

 
          
To
his great relief, she uttered no protest. Her violence seemed to have
evaporated; she had resumed her sex. “
yu’ll
bring her,
Jim, won’t yu?” she pleaded. “An’ yu won’t say nothin’ to nobody ‘bout me
gittin’ peeved back there?”

 
          
“Why,
yu done noble,” Sudden replied. “I’d never ‘a’ got the truth outa that dame.”

 
          
“Mebbe,
but I misdoubt I behaved like a lady oughta.”

 
          
Sudden,
saddling his horse a few moments
later,
was moved to
express his thought:

 
          
“Nig,
I reckon in choosing a hoss, a friend, or a wife, looks oughta come way down in
the list, ol’-timer.”

 
          
In
a lonely, tumble-down cabin to the north, lit by a guttering candle stuck with
its own grease to the rickety table, two people were facing one another. Carol
Eden, her hands bound, leaned against the wall, contemptuous, defiant.

 
          
Baudry,
seated upon an up-ended box, regarded her with a fiendish smile of exultation.

 
          
As
the fitful light set the shadows dancing about the room, now revealing and then
half concealing her disdainful form, his sense of satisfaction grew. He had
sworn to have her and here she was. Soon they would be away—headed for
civilization, and by the time they reached it …

 
          
Affairs
had not gone quite as he had planned, but with the girl, the herd-money, and
the mortgage on the S E in his possession, he would take most of the tricks.
But first he must deal with the half-breed, the man who had jeered at and
taunted him.

 
          
“Sit
down,” he ordered, pointing to a second box on the other side of the table.

 
          
“I
prefer to stand,” Carol replied. “I can keep farther away from you.”

 
          
The
man smiled tolerantly. “When you’re my wife, you’ll know me better,” he said.

 
          
“Impossible!”
she cried. “What else are you besides liar, cheat, and coward?”

 
          
This
time the scorn in her low vibrant voice seared him. He stood up and stepped
towards her, slowly, like some wild beast about to pounce on its helpless prey.
Staring at him with fear-wide eyes, she backed away until she could retreat no
more. The gambler’s gaze dwelt gloatingly on the lissome, rounded form.

 
          
“I’m
a man who can tame women and make them do as I wish,” he said softly. “In a
little while you’ll come creeping to me for a kind word and be happy if you get
it, though now you dislike me.”

 
          
“Dislike?”
the girl echoed passionately. “I hate and despise you.”

 
          
The
nearness of her intoxicated him and he laughed evilly as his hands darted out,
prisoning her arms. The feel of the firm flesh beneath his fingers fired his
blood and sent his hot lips questing for hers. Mad with terror and loathing,
she fought to avoid them, but bound, and held in that grip of steel, could do
little. Drunk with desire, he tore open her shirt-waist and rained kisses on
her bared neck.

 
          
“I’ll
teach you, my beauty,” he panted thickly.

 
          
And
then, when she had given up hope, he flung her violently from him. A horse had
whickered outside.

 
          
DAZED
and weak, Carol saw her assailant fall into a half-crouch his gun drawn, death
in his eyes. She tried to shout a warning but no sound issued from her dry,
throbbing throat. The door was flung open, Baudry fired, and the newcomer
stumbled, coughed, and slithered to the floor, a pistol dropping from nerveless
fingers. After a moment’s pause, the killer bent over him.

 
          
“Rogue?”
he muttered. “Wonder how he got wise? Well, that’s a debt I was afraid I’d have
to leave unpaid. Where the hell is Navajo?”

 
          
“Right
here,” the half-breed replied from the doorway, and stepped noiselessly into
the cabin. His mean eyes rested callously on the supine form of his late
leader. “That saves me a job but I ain’t thankin’ yu.”

 
          
“Did
you get Eden?”

 
          
“I
reckon–‘less his head’s made o’ rock,” the ruffian replied. “The crack I gave
him would ‘a’ split the skull of an ox.”

 
          
“Hope
you haven’t overdone it,” Baudry said viciously. “It will hurt him more to
live.”

 
          
“Mebbe,
but that fella Sandy came out o’ the saloon with him an’ fought like a wildcat.

 
          
With
townsfolk joinin’ in we had to do the best we could,” the half-breed explained,
and tapped his pocket. “We corralled the cash.”

 
          
Dull
despair took possession of the prisoner. Her father injured, probably dying,
and Sandy…. For since the woman Gold had brought that lying message, Carol had
comprehended what the cheerful young cowboy had come to mean to her, and the
thought that she might never see him again turned her heart to lead.

 
          
“You
did well, Navajo,” the gambler said. “If we’d got that devil, Sudden, it would
be a clean-up.”

 
          
“I’ll
tend to him,” the other said darkly. He threw a roll of bills on the table. “We
split that two ways an’ then settle about the gal.”

 
          
Baudry
jerked round as though he had been spurred. “She goes with me,” he answered
harshly.

 
          
“Mebbe,
after we’ve cut the cards for her,” Navajo replied.

 
          
In
the flickering light of the candle he could not see the murderous gleam in the
other’s eyes, but he knew it was there. At the moment he saw Rogue’s body he
divined that the outlaw had saved his—Navajo’s—life, and that Baudry would kill
him if he could. So, when his proposal was agreed to, he watched yet more
warily.

 
          
“Have
it your way,” the gambler said quietly. He produced a pack of cards and squared
them up on the table. “Help yourself.
Highest wins.
Sudden death.”

 
          
“Yu
said it,” the half-breed assented.

 
          
The
fingers of his left hand closed over the cards, gripping them gently. A touch
told him they had been prepared—the ends and sides of some of them treated with
a file, so that the man who knew what had been done could cut high or low as he
desired. He knew now why Baudry had given in, but it made no difference to his
plan. He hesitated only for an instant and then lifted the whole pack and
hurled it in the other man’s face.

 
          
“Cold-deck
me, would yu?” he cried, and snatching out his gun sent two bullets into the
gambler’s breast.

 
          
Grimacing
horribly,
hands reaching blindly for support, the stricken
man collapsed like a house of cards, shuddered convulsively once, and was
still. Navajo’s smile was that of a demon.

 
          
“Sudden
death it was,” he said hoarsely, and turned to the girl, only to find her
unconscious upon the floor. The tragedies she had witnessed, added to the
mental torture of the past few hours, had proved too much for even her Western
nerves.

 
          
Stuffing
the roll of money into a pocket, the half-breed stood gloating over his captive
for a moment or two, his lewd eyes dwelling on the graceful curve of her neck
and the rounded white shoulder which Baudry’s brutality had left exposed.

 
          
“A
pretty piece—an’ mine—now,” he exulted evilly. “Well, beautiful, we’ll be on
our way.”

 
          
Lifting
the limp form, he carried it to where the gambler’s horse was hitched outside
the hut, and roped it to the saddle. He was about to mount his own beast when
he remembered something; both the dead men would have money. He went back and
was kneeling by the side of Baudry when a word rang out like a pistol-shot:

 
          
“Navajo!”

 
          
Sudden
was standing in the doorway, a gun levelled from the hip. The icy passionless
voice fell on the outlaw’s ears like a death-knell. Though he had bragged to
Baudry, he feared this cold-eyed young cowboy who had so quickly gained a
reputation as a gunman.
“Sudden death!”
The phrase
recurred to him with a new and ominous significance. Bitterly he cursed himself
for his delayed departure; but for his greed…

 
          
“Yu
can stand up.”

 
          
Navajo
rose slowly to his feet, his devious mind searching for a way out.

 
          
“These
hombres ‘pear to have bumped each other off,” he said. “I was just seein’ if
they
was
cashed.”

 
          
Still
keeping the man covered, Sudden picked up Rogue’s gun; it was fully loaded; the
butt of Baudry’s weapon could be seen protruding from its shoulder-holster. He
looked at the half-breed.

 
          
“Rogue
reloaded an’ Baudry put his gun back after they were killed,” he said
sarcastically.

 
          
“I
was guessin’—on’y bin here a few minutes an’ found ‘em like this,” the man
replied sullenly.

 
          
“So
it wasn’t yu who carried Miss Eden out?”

 
          
“Yeah,
I was meanin’ to take her back.”

 
          
“Tied
to the saddle?”

 
          
“Couldn’t
do
no other way—she’d
fainted.”

 
          
“An’ the herd-money.
Takin’ that back too?”

 
          
“Dunno nothin’ about it.”

 
          
Sudden
laughed scornfully. “Yo’re a pore liar, Navajo,” he said. “Hand over yore gun.”

 
          
The
ruffian stiffened. He remembered now that he had fired twice and had not
replaced the charges. An examination of the weapon would produce apparently
conclusive evidence and

 
          
…
During the conversation he had been edging backwards an inch at a time. Now,
with a quick sweep of one arm, he knocked the candle from the table and dropped
prone to escape the expected bullet. None came, only a taunting voice:

 
          
“Fine!
Figured yu’d play it that way when I saw yu sneakin’
back.
Don’t waste no
shots, Navajo; yu on’y got four.”