"yu ain't hurt much an' yu got another gun. If yo're wishful to try the left hand ..."
The Double O man looked at him, stark hatred in every line of his face. He was nearly mad with pain and humiliation, and for an instant, it seemed he might take up this second challenge. The cowboy had an idea.
"I'm advisin' yu not to," he said quietly. "Further south, they call me `Sudden.' "
The fellow's eyes widened and something very like fear took the place of the ferocity in them. He picked up his pistol, and grabbing the horn of his saddle with his left hand, hauled himself up.
"We'll be meetin' again an' mebbe I'll be lucky," he growled. "yu've been lucky this time," Sudden replied. "Keep on thinkin' that. Now, roll yore tail, an' take that bunch o' trail-robbers with yu."
Watching them ride away, he became aware of Jeff at his elbow asking what it was all about. The foreman's face when he heard the particulars was a picture of puzzlement.
"Mebbe we have got some o' their cows," he suggested. "Shucks, then we can turn over what they fetch," Sudden argued. "Any o' yu boys seen the Double O brand?"
Not one of them had. "Me neither, an' I've been lookin' pretty constant for strays," Sudden went on. "I'd risk a little that there ain't such an iron hereabouts--his hoss warn't wearin' it. No, sir, it was a plain hold-up."
"If they'd combed the herd an' hadn't found any ..." the foreman speculated. "Why should they want to hang up our drive?""I ain't a wizard, Jeff," Sudden told him.
"I'm not so shore, seein' the way yu got that gun goin'," was the smiling reply.
The shrill voice of Aunt Judy came from the wagon. "Hi, Jeff, yo're wanted."
They found the invalid anxious and irritable. "What's the shootin'?" he barked.
Sudden explained, and Sam Eden's frown deepened. "yu done right, Jim," he commended. He was silent for a while, thinking deeply. "I was warned o' this," he went on. "There'll be other damn thieves further along the trail, waitin' to try the same game. We've got precious little coin, an' I won't hand over a cow, so that means fightin' our way through."
His fierce eyes carried a question and the little foreman answered it without hesitation :
"We're all willin' to do that, Sam, but there ain't too many of us to handle the herd as it is. What yu think, Jim?"
"Well, these hold-up gents will be watchin' the used trail," the cowboy pointed out. "S'pose we was to bear away to the west for a spell an' then strike north again, nosin' out a road for ourselves ; wouldn't that razzle-dazzle 'em?"
"By the Devil's teeth, he's hit it, Jeff," the cattleman swore. "It'll mean a longer an' harder drive, but that'll be better than losin' men scrappin', an' it's possible Chisholm didn't pick the best path after all. Now, go an' get them steers started. Jim, I'm obliged to yu."
Notwithstanding his employer's approval, Sudden did not feel too comfortable. The step he had suggested was dangerous and might well plunge the expedition into all kinds of difficulty. On the other hand, there was the chance that it would dislocate Rogue's designs on the drive, and this had been his main reason. That Dale was one of the outlaw's men he felt sure, and he was relieved by the thought that he had now declared himself.
Chapter X
THE new plan was not to be put into operation immediately, and dusk found them camped again on the trail they had been following. Straight across the dreary, brown expanse it ran. a road some hundreds of yards in width, carved out of the plain by the sharp hooves of hordes of cattle. Throughout the day no tree broke the monotony of the sky-line.
They had another visitor that evening. The herd had been bedded down, four men left in charge, and the others were grouped around the fire awaiting Peg-leg's intimation that supper was ready, when a figure materialized out of the gloom and came towards them, right hand raised, palm foremost.
"Evenin', folks," greeted a high, reedy voice. "Saw yer fire an' it made me feel kind o' lonesome."
"Step right up, friend," the foreman called out.
The man came on, moving with the easy, tireless stride of a redskin. The firelight showed him to be an oldish fellow, thin but wiry, with long grey hair and beard and bright eyes which seemed never to be still. His tattered doeskin garments, raccoon-skin cap, and moccasins proclaimed that he was a trapper.
"Sit an' eat," the foreman invited.
"Thankee," the stranger replied. "But I pay my footin'."
He lifted the long gun from his shoulder and proffered the carcass of a small deer slung upon it. Jeff protested, but the visitor would not listen.
"Sho, I'm tired o' totin' it," he said. "Mebbe a change for yu fellas, but a hunk o' good beef to me is wuth all the game that ever ran or flew."
"I'm obliged," the cowman said. "We've got a invalid who won't subscribe to them sentiments."
"Sick folk is finicky," the other agreed.
He dumped his pack--the crackling of which suggested dried skins--on the ground, placed his gun upon it, and sat down. When the food arrived, he ate so wolfishly that even in a land of large appetites he knew it must be remarked.
"yu gotta excuse me, friends," he said, "but yu have one damn fine cook, an' I've bin livin' on straight meat an' water for most a week ; run right outa meal, salt, an' coffee."
"I guess we can fix yu up," the foreman said. "Goin' fur?"
"Makin' for the nearest settlement to trade my pelts for supplies," the stranger explained. He sighed contentedly as he finished his fifth mug of coffee. "That's the best feed I've put under my belt for many a day." He produced a battered pipe and regarded it ruefully. "I went shy o' smokin' too."
Several hands shot out, and when he had filled, lighted, and taken a long draw, he smiled whimsically at the company. "I figure yu boys'll be wondering' over me."
They were, but not one of them would have admitted it. He nodded understandingly and went on--as he put it--to explain himself. His name, it appeared, was Tyson, and his story a common one enough in those days. Just a tale of a ravaged cabin, a murdered wife and children, and another blood-debt to the shrieking painted devils who had wrecked his llfe. He told it quite simply in his high-pitched voice, without passion, but in his eyes smouldered a hatred which only death would quench.
"Since then I've bin a sort o' missionary," he concluded grimly. "yes, sirs, me an' `Betsy' "--he patted the stock of the rifle at his back--"has converted quite a few war-whoops."
The cowboys smiled at this. They too held the cynical view that the only "good" Indian was a dead one. Therefore the knowledge that their guest was a "still-hunter"--one who tracked down and slew the redskin on foot--aroused no feeling of repulsion. The foreman questioned him regarding the country for which they were heading, and the chances of getting the herd through.
"Middlin' slim," he said bluntly. "yu'll have a man-size job to make it. Steers is bringin' real money at the rail-head, an' it's knowed that herds is comin' up from Texas. The Nations is lousy with bad men, hide-hunters, rustlers, outlaws of every sort, an' they ain't likely to overlook a bet o' that kind. Then there's the Kiowas an' Commanches from the headwaters o' the Red River ; they're watchin' the trail mighty close."
"S'pose we turned west for a piece an' then cut our own road north?" Sudden queried.
Tyson grinned. "She ain't a bad idea--might diddle 'em," he admitted. "But yu gotta mind yu don't hit the Staked Plain --no water an' as hot as Hell's gridiron--an' if yore cows git tangled up with a herd o' buff'ler yu can wish 'em good-bye. Allasame, I'd say it's yore best bet."
Soon after midnight, Sudden, having done his turn of night-herding, returned to camp and sought his blankets. He had not fallen asleep when he heard the low, musical but melancholy hoot of a dwarf-owl. Since there were no trees or bushes in the vicinity, the presence of the bird was sufficiently remarkable to call for investigation. Slipping from beneath his covering he crawled cautiously in the direction from which the sound had seemed to come. At the side of a small hummock he stood up, drew his gun, coughed slightly, and instantly moved.