The old man snorted, but his hard face softened as he looked at Sandy. "She's right, boy, o' course," he admitted. "Yu have it to do, but yu can tell Rogue that if he harms either yu or Jim I'll hound him down an' hang him, if it takes the rest o' my days."
Sandy grinned. "I'll pass on the message, but he don't strike me as a man to scare easy."
An hour later, having fed, Sandy transferred his saddle to a fresh horse and started for the outlaws' camp. He had seen Carol for one moment before he left, had grasped a slim brown hand, had heard a whispered, "Good luck, Sandy." The kindness in her eyes went with him as he rode into the gloom.
Eden and the gambler were alone at the fire. The women had retired to their tent and Dutt had expressed a desire to view the sleeping herd. Baudry, biting on a black cigar, was the first to speak.
"Damned if I can fathom Rogue's game, Sam," he said reflectively. "He has you cold and throws the hand in. Why?''
"Yu can search me," the rancher replied. "Carol figures he has a soft spot, but gals get romantic notions 'bout fellas like him. He's reckoned the most ruthless ruffian in Texas, an' that's sayin' a lot."
"Those two men joined you for the drive, dropping in from nowhere," Jethro proceeded. "And one of them--Greenanswers pretty well to the printed description of Sudden."
"Whose last job was pulled off while Green was at the S E."
"True, but it would be a safe play for one of Rogue's men to put the blame on a fellow he knew could prove an alibi."
"yu suggestin' that Green an' Sandy are in cahoots with Rogue?" Eden asked, and there was a rasp in his voice.
"I'm saying it's possible, that's all," was the reply. "your daughter said some of the outlaws knew them."
"Then why did them two boys fetch back near a thousand head after the stampede?"
Baudry chuckled. "you have to admit they knew where to find them," he pointed out. "See here, Sam. Mightn't it be that Rogue realized that the stampede was a mistake, that it would pay him better to let you drive the cattle north for him to steal within reach of a market where they'd fetch four or five times as much. Why, that may be the reason he ain't forcing your hand now."
The rancher's brows drew together. Put like this the plan seemed all too probable, and the idea that he was being played with was far from pleasant. Little devils of doubt began to trouble him, but his obstinate disposition drove him to argue. "Tryin' to bump me off don't seem to fit in."
"Why not, if his first scheme was to grab the herd as soon as he could? I'm supposing it was later he got the notion of aiming for the bigger prize, an' I'd wager something it was Green gave it him ; he ain't a fool, that fellow, believe me."
"I don't think yo're right, Jethro," Eden said stubbornly. Baudry smiled. "Well, perhaps not," he said easily. "But I'm telling you, those two men will be back before long ; they're more use to Rogue here."
"I'll be glad to see 'em," the cattleman said stoutly, but the seeds of suspicion had been sown. "Aimin' to travel with us, Jethro?"
"Maybe we can be of some use," was the reply.
"Pleased to have yu," the rancher said heartily.
The visitor was silent for a time, and then, with the air of one who has come to a decision, he flung the butt of his cigar into the glowing ashes, and looked across at his host.
"Sam, you know what I do for a living," he began. "Well, I'm planning to give myself a fresh deal and drop the cards. With the coin I get when you cash in on your herd I'm starting a ranch--I've got options on land not far from the S E ; with the railways coming west and the northern ranches needing stock, there's going to be money in cattle. But more than that, I want to settle down, with a home of my own--and a wife."
"Why, that's good hearin', Jethro," the rancher said. "Mebbe yo're on the way to fetch the lady, huh?"
The gambler's teeth gleamed as his thick lips parted in a half-smile. "Not exactly," he said. "The lady is travelling north too ; in fact, she's less than fifty yards away at this moment."
Eden straightened up, his eyes wide. "yu--mean--Carol?" he cried incredulously.
"Sickness hasn't dulled your wits, Sam," the other replied with a heavy attempt at jocularity. "And why not?"
"I never dreamt of it," the old man evaded.
This was true ; though Baudry had been a frequent visitor at the S E, the possibility that the girl was the attraction had not once occurred to its owner. Now, faced with the fact, he suddenly realized that he knew very little about the man, save his profession. A chance meeting over a card game in San Antonio had been the beginning of their friendship, and later, Baudry helped him in his plan of purchasing land. Still on the right side of forty, suave, well-dressed and apparently wealthy, the gambler did not lack attraction for the other sex, but .. . Sam Eden shook his head, as though in answer to his own query, and Baudry's narrowed, watching eyes grew cold.
"Any objections, Sam?"
"Have yu spoken to her?"
"No, I reckoned the square thing was to ask you first."
Eden breathed his relief ; it gave him a way out. Sandy's devotion to the girl was patent, and once or twice he had seen her looking at the boy ; women were queer, but he could not conceive that she would prefer the older, sophisticated man for her mate. So he replied with more confidence :
"It's entirely her affair, Jethro. Even if I could claim her as my own child, I wouldn't attempt to influence her. Whatever she says, goes, with me."
The gambler lit another cigar. "Fair enough," he said evenly. "I'm not asking you to do my courting, Sam. When do you expect to pull out from here?"
"Can't say ; must give them boys a chance to come in."
"They'll do it--with a fine tale of how they hoodwinked Rogue and got away," Baudry sneered.
Long after, when he had been lifted back into his bed in the wagon, the words recurred to the rancher. He fought against the fear that they might be the truth but could not completely convince himself ; Baudry's arguments had seemed all too plausible. Moreover, the outlaw's impudent warning that he intended to have the herd was disturbing ; Eden was well aware that his outfit was numerically weak and if two members of it could not be depended upon ...
Chapter XIX
SANDY experienced little difficulty in finding the outlaws' camp again. A bright moon enabled him to recognize the landmarks --a twisted tree, a jutting spire of rock, a wedge of chaparral, which the plainsman instinctively notes when travelling a trail by which he must return. As he rode in, a man with a levelled gun stepped from the shadow of a tree and ordered him to halt. A glance satisfied him.
"So yu come back?" Sligh said, for he it was. "Damned if I thought yu'd be such a fool."
"It warn't folly, Sligh, just pure affection--for yu," was the flippant reply. "What's the next move?"
"yu pass yore gun to me."
Sandy pulled out his revolver but instead of handing it over, he pointed the muzzle at Sligh. "Now yu can blaze away an' we'll go to hell together," he said pleasantly.
"Rogue's orders," the man growled.
"Then I'll take 'em from him," Sandy retorted. "Where is he?"
The outlaw pointed to a small fire apart from the larger one in the centre of the glade. Sandy grinned.
"Go ahead," he said. "I might lose my way."
"Think yo're smart, huh?" came the sneer.
"Smart's my middle name," the young man chuckled. "Do we take root here?"
With a curse the sentinel slouched off. Two men were sitting by the fire and when Sandy reached it, Sligh had already voiced his complaint.
"Pulled his gun on me," he growled. "If it hadn't bin for yore orders, I'd 'a' blowed him apart."
Rogue looked up as the boy slid from his saddle. "'Lo, Sandy, I'm wantin' that weapon," he said quietly.
Sandy's eyes were on the other figure at the fire. "What's the word, Jim?" he asked.