The cowboy nodded. He liked the rancher, recognized him as a good specimen of the bluff, straightforward frontiersmen *ho, penetrating and settling in the wildest parts of the country, were preparing the way for the civilization which would inevitably follow. Baudry he did not take to, instinct telling him that under the smooth exterior lurked passions by no means in keeping with it. Once or twice he caught him looking at the girl, plain desire in his eyes.
"Miss Carol, of course, will remain here," the gambler said.
"Miss Carol, of course, will--not," the lady promptly stated.
Her father looked at her in astonishment. "Don't talk foolish, girl," he said. "There's no place for a lone woman on a trail drive."
Carol's reply appeared to be irrelevant. "Aren't you taking Peg-leg?"
"Shore I am ; we'd do fine without a cook, wouldn't we?"
"Then you'll have to take his wife--Judy won't let him go without her--so I shan't be `a lone woman,' you see." The rancher's face was clouding up, but she did not wait for the storm to burst. "Can't I ride, rope, and drive cattle as well as the boys?" she asked, and when he nodded a grudging assent, she added triumphantly, "Well then, you get a top-hand for nothing, and you grumble. But of course, you were only teasing ; you meant I should go all the time. I must tell Judy."
She jumped up, blew him a kiss, and danced away. Her parent opened his lips to call her back, but was too late. He turned to his guests with a droll expression of hopelessness.
"I can handle the savagest steer or woolliest cowboy that ever forked a pony, but when it comes to what some funny fella called the `weaker sex,' I'm beat," he confessed. "That bit o' impudence does what she likes with me."
Sudden left soon after the meal, returning the way he had come. The body of the dead Indian had vanished ; his companion must have returned. The circumstance was to bear a significance later, but now he gave it no thought. His brain was busy with the offer he had jus received. It seemed to present a means of getting out of the mire into which chance had so unceremoniously thrown him ; and moreover, the very enterprise itself appealed to his adventurous nature. The task of shepherding three thousand wild cattle through eight or nine hundred miles of fierce, untamed country seemed worthy of a man, and there was the added incentive that, in the lawless cow-towns of the north, he might find the fellows he was seeking. But he would not decide yet, for though, when necessity demanded, he could think and act with lightning speed, he was a deliberate person. And because of that, he would not mention his afternoon's experience--even to Sandy.
"I'm bettin' he's straight," he told himself. "But our friendship is some recent."
When he reached the valley hg found the men loafing outside the large cabin, smoking and yarning. Having disposed of his horse, he joined them. Rogue had apparently not yet returned. They watched him curiously as he seated himself on a bench next to Sandy, who was looking uneasy.
"Supper's through," that young man remarked, and then, in a whisper, "Suthin's up, dunno what, but watch out."
"I've fed," Sudden replied.
He had already sensed the air of expectancy with which his arrival had been greeted, and guessed that some attempt to "try him out" might be made.
Navajo and Ropey, standing six or seven yards away, were engaged in an argument, their voices rising. Sudden noticed that the other men were watching them. Presently Ropey, who was rolling a cigarette, snapped out an oath, and cried:
"Texas? I can tell yu what I think of it right now. When a Texan dies an' goes to hell--as they all do--he shore figures he's in heaven."
He had turned as he spoke and his narrowed eyes were glaring at the visitor. It was a direct challenge, as all knew, and the chatter ceased. Sudden, lounging on the bench, took no notice, and Ropey, with a grin of contempt, struck a match. Ere he could apply it to the cigarette between his lips, a gun flamed from the lounger's hip and the light was extinguished.
"What th' hell! " the man gasped. "I'm from Texas," Sudden quietly stated, and waited.
But Ropey had nothing to say ; the fragment of wood remaining in his fingers appeared to hypnotize him. Sudden addressed himself to the others generally:
"Any fella is free to damn Texas," he said, "but if he looks at me while he's doin' it, I take it as personal."
Ropey made a desperate attempt to save his face. "I was on'y joshin'," he expostulated.
"Same here," Sudden told him, with a cold smile. "If I hadn't been, I could 'a' put yore light out pretty permanent."
This raised a laugh, in which, however, neither Navajo nor the victim of the "joke" joined. Later on, when the visitor and Sandy had retired, the incident was again discussed. It was Navajo who brought it up.
"Didn't think yu'd be scared by a bit o' trick-shootin', Ropey," he sneered. "Anybody knows it's the wind o' the ullet puts the flame out."
"Trick-shootin' my eye," Ropey retorted. "That match-tick was cut clean in half, a left-hand shot, an' him sittin' down. He's a born gunfighter, that fella ; he'd have to try--to miss."
And because the speaker was deemed only second to Navajo in that gang of expert gunmen his word carried weight. One only still expressed scornful doubt, and Ropey did not let it pass.
"Take him on yoreself, Navajo," he challenged. "He's all yores--hide, horns, an' taller--an' I'm bettin' two to one agin yu."
The half-breed shrugged impatiently. "Kid's talk," he said. "C'mon, boys ; time to hit the hay ; we got a stiff job in the morning'."
Meanwhile, in the little cabin they were to share, Sudden and Sandy also referred to the incident ; the latter was full of admiration for his new friend's marksmanship.
"My Gawd, I never seen anythin' like it," he remarked. "I ain't a mite surprised they named yu `Sudden."
"My friends call me `Jim,' " came the meaning reminder. "Shore, whatever yu say goes with me-- Jim," was the ready reply. "Ropey didn't think o' that play--though he might be feelin' sore over yore bluffin' him when yu came in. Navajo put him up to it--he don't like yu--much."
"I got the edge on him there--I don't like him a-tall."
"See many folks on yore ride?" Sandy asked presently.
"Well, I wouldn't say the country was thickly-populated," was the smiling reply. "What's doin' to-morrow?"
"Like I told yu, brandin', damn it. They fetched in 'bout three score mavericks this afternoon an' we gotta put the 8 B iron on 'em."
"Who owns that brand?"
"Couldn't say. There ain't no 8 B ranch around here that I know of, but Rogue gets four dollars a head for all he can turn over."
Sudden was surprised ; this was legitimate enterprise, for in those days of free range, unbranded cattle were the property of the finder unless the real owner could prove a claim.
The explanation was to come in the morning, when the valley presented a scene of animation. A few hundred yards from the pool, a fire had been lighted, and to this each steer had to be dragged or driven, thrown and tied, while the hot iron was applied. This was no easy task, for the cattle were scattered and full of fight. Sudden found that he had been assigned the ticklish job of hog-tying the victims. As he had not yet joined the band, he might have declined to share the work, but the idea never occurred to him ; he was there, and it was the natural thing to help. He had tied the first brute before he noticed the branded letters, S E.
"Hey, this critter's got a label a'ready," he said to Ropey, who came up swinging a long iron with a curved, red-hot end.
That individual grinned maliciously. "Well, well, fancy that," he said. "Say, Navajo, the boys brought in one o' Sam Eden's cows yestiddy ; what we goin' to do about it?"
The half-breed slouched over. "S'pose we oughta take her back an' 'pologize, but I guess we won't," he replied, and grabbing the iron he added a few deft touches to the old brand, joining the ends of the S and the horizontal strokes of the E. "There, she's an honest-to-Gawd 8 B now, an' as cows can't talk, nobody'll know any different." He gave Sudden an ugly grin. "Mistakes will happen, an' I wouldn't be s'prised if there's a few more."