There was little trouble ; the leading steers, when they felt the cold water sweeping beneath their bellies, tried to retreat, but the watchful riders, with quirts and the ends of their ropes kept them from turning and soon they took the plunge and swam steadily for the opposite bank.
The crossing took time but went without a hitch, and Jeff breathed a sigh of relief when the last steers climbed the far bank, shook themselves, and went to peacefully grazing. The remuda followed, and then the wagon came lumbering up, a sizable, trimmed tree-trunk lashed along each side. Drawn by its full team of six mules, it rocked and slithered down the slope to the stream. The leaders baulked at the water but the biting lash of the long whip stung their flanks and threw them into the collars again.
With a couple of riders on either side steadying it with their ropes, the wagon proceeded slowly but majestically across, to be greeted with a cheer when the dripping team hauled it safely up the bank.
The foreman, who had followed the vehicle over, poked his head through the flaps at the back. "How d she go, Sam?" he asked anxiously.
"Fine--never jarred me none," the invalid lied stoutly. "Get agoin' soon as yu like ; it does me good to feel we're movin'." Jeff was not deceived ; he knew quite well that the orossing must have caused intense pain to the wounded man, but he also knew Sam Eden. As he turned away, Carol jumped down lightly from the wagon.
"Jeff, you're a dear," she said impulsively. "Of course it hurt him terribly although we did all we could to spare him the jolts, but he bore it without a murmur. We must push on ; he'll fret himself into a fever if we delay."
The foreman made unintelligible noises in his throat and was obviously glad when Sandy rode up leading Carol's pony. "Thought yu'd mebbe like a ride after the boat-trip, ma'am," he grinned.
She thanked him, swung into the saddle, and loped along the trail. The cowboy's eyes followed her, until a slight cough from his companion recalled his wandering thoughts.
"She shore can ride," he remarked hastily, and then, "How's the 01' Man makin' it?"
"Pretty good, considerin'," the foreman told him, "an' liable to raise Cain if that wagon ain't on the move pronto." Sandy took the hint and found himself a job.
Chapter IX
THE long straggling line of men and beasts moved like a sluggish stream over the apparently unending area of brown, sun-dried earth, cracked and fissured by the fierce heat, and covered, for the most part, by short curly grass which, the colour of hay, needed only rain to transform it into a carpet of brilliant green. No tree, save an occasional thicket of stunted mesquite or live-oak, was to be seen.
Uneventful days had slid by since they crossed the Colorado, and the outfit was making the most of an easy time. Lolling in their saddles, the riders had little to do save check the ambition of any steer who seemed disposed to stray too far. Even the foreman's lined, leathery countenance wore an un wonted smile as he rode to Sudden's side and nodded at the surrounding scene.
"All like this an' it'd be easy, but it ain't goin' to be," he remarked. "We got most of our troubles ahead of us."
"Yu can say that any time, any place," the cowboy grinned. "How's the 01' Man?"
"He's a flamin' merricle," the foreman replied. "It's a wonder that bullet didn't bounce off'n him." Then his voice sobered. "I'd like to know who done it. Got any ideas?"
Sudden told of the moccasin marks and mentioned the Indian who had escaped when he rescued Carol. Jeff shook his head.
"Might be, o' course, redskins is vindictive devils, but I don't think it an' neither do yu," he said shrewdly.
To this the other made no reply. He was studying the broad, trampled track they were following.
"Yu figure this is Chisholm's trail?" he asked.
"I'm hopin' so. Anyways, she's good goin' an' pointin' north, which is all we want," Jeff told him. His gaze travelled forward along the line of cattle to where Sandy and Carol were riding together, and his eyes twinkled. "Yore friend is cuttin' yu out."
Sudden looked at him amusedly. "That was a mighty poor throw, ol'-timer," he said. "I've got somethin' to do before I think o' wedded bliss. Ever hear o' fellas called Webb an' Peterson?"
"No, but names ain't nothin' in these parts," Jeff replied. "yu wantin" 'em special, Jim?"
"I'm hopin' to run across 'em," Sudden said, and though there was no threat in the words, the cold, passionless tone sent a chill down even the hardened spine of the foreman.
That evening, before supper, Sudden drew Sandy apart.
"If yu can get yore mind off that lean, hatchet-faced female yu been ridin' with all day" he commenced.
"Jim, she's an--angel," Sandy interrupted.
"Shore she is," his friend agreed dryly. "Likewise, she's the daughter of a big rancher, an' yo're just an--outlaw."
"D'yu think I need remindin' o' that?" the boy asked, so bitterly that Sudden's heart smote him.
"After all, what's the odds?" he consoled. "I'll bet her dad blotted a few brands in the early days--most o' the old settlerswas afflicted with defective eyesight when they happened onon a cow what looked lonely."
This did not have the effect he intended ; Sandy flared up instantly. "Don't yu dare say it," he cried. "Sam Eden never stole a cent's worth in his life."
Sudden saw that he was really angry, his face flushed, and fists clenched. "Shucks," he said placatingly. "I ain't sayin' he did ; they usen't to call it stealin'. Besides"--he smiled disarmingly--"she ain't really his daughter, yu know."
The boy's belligerent attitude vanished. "Sorry, Jim. I'm a plain fool to lose my wool like this," he apologized. "yu wanted to ask me somethin'?"
"yeah, what did Rogue tell yu of his plans?"
"Nothin' definite, but I gathered that he aimed to hold up the herd, get what coin he could outa Eden, bust up the drive later on, an' collar the cows. It's a-plenty."
"Shore is," Sudden said soberly, and then his eyes twinkled. "I'm takin' it yu still don't propose to help him in them projects?"
"yo're damn right," the boy returned hotly, "an' the sooner he knows it the better."
"That's somethin' we'll let him find out," Sudden decided. "Our hand'll be hard enough to play without showin' it."
Cheerfulness was in evidence at supper that evening ; the easy going and the improving health of the wounded man had put everyone in a good humour. The men chaffed one another, told tall stories, and kept Peg-leg busy.
Early on the following morning the camp had visitors, six mounted men, well-armed, and range-riders by their rig. One, who appeared to be the leader, signed to the others to halt, and rode forward. Peg-leg was busy loading his vehicle for the day's march. Carol, who had just mounted her pony to join the herd, halted at a word from Sudden, the only other man in camp.
"Tell Jeff to fetch in some o' the boys," he told her. "I ain't likin' the look o' these hombres."
The girl nodded and rode away. Sudden waited, his fingers concerned with a cigarette, but his eyes taking in the new-comer. A dark, evil-faced fellow this, with lank black hair and a straggly, ill-kept beard which only accentuated a cruel mouth. His narrowed eyes were arrogant, provocative.
"Mornin'," Sudden said laconically.
at his gun. He got it clear of the holster, but before he could press the trigger there came a flash and a roar from Sudden's side. Dale dropped his weapon and clutched a ripped forearm.
Thrusting his smoking gun into its sheath Sudden stepped forward, and before the ice-cold fury in his face the other man fell back. For the lust to take his life was there and Dale knew that only by a miracle had he escaped the fate for which he had asked. Sudden knew this too. For a few terrible seconds he had been possessed by that cruel craving to slay for the sake of slaying ; he had wanted to shoot this man ; to see him writhing in the agonies of death at his feet. Then the evil moment passed and though his face was granite-hard, the old satirical note was in his voice.