Sudden's eyes narrowed. "When did he leave yu?"
"Pretty near half an hour back--I didn't hurry."
"Then he mighta done the shootin'?"
"Could have--he had time, but it don't fit with his plans."
"We better get back--it won't look too good for us to be absent, an' together," Sudden suggested. "We'll have a powwow later."
They had almost reached the camp when Lasker pounded en up wail a strung of night-horses. He stopped on seeing then "Heard about the 01' Man bein' bushwhacked, Lasker?" Sudden asked.
The man's surprise seemed genuine. "Hell, no ; who done it?"
"Yore guess is as good as mine," was the reply.
"With him cashed the drive ends, I s'pose," the wrangler offered.
"Who told yu he's dead?" Sudden asked quietly, and then, "Well, mebbe he is ; we'll soon know."
The camp was very still. The other men had sought their blankets but the foreman sat near the fire, rifle beside him, and his face a mask of worry. He looked up as the two friends approached ; the horse-wrangler was seeing to his charges.
"This is a turr'ble business, Jim," he said, and sensing the question uppermost in their minds, "No, Eden ain't cashed--yet. We got him bedded down in the wagon, an' I've tended the wound--it ain't the first time I've played doctor by a-many. The slug went clean through an' 'pears to have missed the vital parts. Plenty desperate, but it might be wuss ; he's got a fightin' chance."
"Then he'll make it," Sudden said confidently. "He's the fightin' sort."
"Beats me who the murderin' houn' could be?" Jeff pondered.
"I went to see if I could catch him but didn't have no luck." Sudden explained. "Sandy saw someone hot-footin' through the brush an' figured it was Lasker."
"Lasker, huh?" the foreman muttered. "Well, he's a new hand, but there ain't no reason. yu boys better turn in--l'll be needin' yu presently ; gotta have four men watchin' the herd to-night."
It was two hours later when Jeff's low voice awakened them --in those dangerous days it was unwise to arouse a sleeper by touching him. They approached the slumbering herd slowly, exchanged a few words with the men they had come to relieve, and separated.
Sudden was riding Nigger, for the night-horse has to be the surest-footed, clearest-sighted, most intelligent of the cowboy's string of mounts. Knowing that the black would give instant warning of anything wrong, the rider allowed himself to think. The cold-blooded attempt to remove Lden had brought him definitely to the parting of the ways. He had little doubt but that the outlaw chief had been concerned in it, and the thought of working with men capable of such a deed sickened him. The world had given him the name, but not the stomach, of a desperado.
Another point which worried him was the attitude of Sandy. "The girl has him spell-bound, an' yet he's runnin' with Rogue," he mused.
The two things did not seem to jibe and he resolved to clear the situation at the earliest opportunity. This came when, relieved in their turn, they were riding slowly back to camp.
"I'm puttin' a plain question," Sudden said. "Are yu workin' for Rogue, or ain't yu?"
"I'm given' yu a plain answer," Sandy replied. "To hell with Rogue, an' yu can tell him I said so. yu may be in his debt but I ain't. Sabe?"
Sudden's laugh was bitter. "I'll tell yu what I owe him," he said slowly.
Pacing side by side in the 'starlight, he could not see the listener's face, but the muttered exclamations the story evoked showed his interest. When it was ended, Sandy drew a deep breath.
"My Gawd, yu have shorely had a tough break, Jim," he said. "I reckon all that's due Rogue from yu is a slug o' lead."
"Well, he got me in a jam unmeanin' an' he certainly took a risk to get me out again--which some wouldn't," Sudden replied. "Anyways, it's past mendin' ; even if I could prove I didn't kill Judson, the San Antonio affair an' this other, would hang me. yo're ridin' with a shore-enough outlaw, Sandy."
"An' damn glad to be," the boy said impulsively, thrusting out a fist. "I'm with yu to the finish, Jim, whatever it may be." Sudden gripped the hand ; it did him good to feel that he had a friend who, knowing all, trusted him.
"I'm obliged," he said simply. "When I joined this outfit my mind was all twisty-ways an' I didn't know what I was goin' to do. Now, I've got things straightened out ; I'm on Sam Eden's pay-roll."
"That goes for me too," Sandy rejoined. "We'll beat that gang o' chaparral thieves yet."
Immediately after breakfast, the foreman called a meeting of all the men in camp to discuss what should be done. Lasker was the first to speak :
"Nothin' for it but to turn back, fur as I c'n see."
"Then yore eyesight ain't what it oughta be," Sudden put in. "I'm for goin' on ; the 01' Man'll want. that, I'm bettin'." Other opinions, for and against, were expressed and in the middle of the argument a hail from the cook apprised Jeff that his employer wanted him. From his bed in the wagon the rancher glared at his foreman.
"What's all the chatter about?" he asked in a weak but angry voice. "Why ain't yu startin' the herd?"
"We was sorta settlin' which way to go," the foreman excused.
"There's on'y one, yu ol' fool--north'ards," Eden snapped, and then, as comprehension came to him, "Yu wasn't thinkin' o' goin' back?"
Jeff looked uneasy. "Well, yu see, Sam, we figured yu oughta have proper medical attention," he explained.
The patient's pale face grew red with rage. "Medical attention, huh?" he sneered. "yu talk like a perfessor, an' a damn silly one at that. D'yu reckon I've never been shot afore? Pretty fine outfit I got if yo're goin' to turn tail an' run at the first bit o' trouble."
"That's not fair, Dad," Carol reproved. "They are thinking of you."
"yo're right, honey," Eden said. "I didn't mean that, Jeff, but yu can cut out the doctor-talk--I don't need no help to die. An' let me hear no more o' goin' back ; we'll take this herd through come hell or high water. Now, git them cows movin', or I'll be up an' see to it my own self."
"An', by Christmas, he'd 'a' tried it," Jeff said, when he reported the conversation to the others. "Stubborn as two mules, ol' Sam is, an' tough as rawhide. They say he once rode fifty miles with a busted leg--tied hisself to the saddle, knowin' if he fell off he'd never git on again."
The only man who did not seem pleased was Lasker. "It's a fool play," he said sullenly. "He'll never make the trip--we'll have to plant him."
"Awright, we won't ask yu to dig the hole," Jeff retorted. "Take care o' yor hosses--we're shorely goin' to need 'em." Sudden had a small investigation to make. In a patch of bare earth in the brush from whence the shot had come he found clear prints of a pair of moccasins, and scorched shrivelled leaves showed where the weapon had been fired through the foliage. With a strip of rawhide he measured the marks, making knots to indicate the width and length. His search for further footprints proved fruitless.
"Either made his getaway over grass or wanted them tracks to be seen," was his muttered conclusion.
Dismissing the matter for the moment he rode to the river, where preparations for crossing were in full swing. Conditions were favourable, shelving banks, and not much current. Already the cattle, grazed and watered, were being strung out and headed for the stream. Jeff, bawling orders right and left, was watching the operation.
The riders who had to guide the herd across the stream had stripped to the middle, also removing boots and saddles, and were shivering in the keen morning air. One of them had already made the trip, returning with the tidings that the bed of the river seemed fairly firm and the deep water not too extensive.
"Don't rush 'em, boys," the foreman instructed. "Haze 'em along gradual-like but keep 'em movin'. We want to be over before the sun gits too high, an' these damn streams is liable to rise mighty sudden."