"Mister Baudry appears to be forgetting that these two men risked their lives to save me, first from Indians, and thenfrom outlaws," she said. "To my mind, that alone matters."
Like a dash of cold water the words brought Baudry to his senses ; his ill-humour vanished and he achieved some sort of a smile.
"you're right, Miss Eden," he said heartily. "Nothing else ounts. I'm sorry, Sam, but I let my ideas run away with me. If that Rogue fellow happened to be here, I'd thank him, whatever his motive may have been."
This ended the discussion, but as Sudden and the foreman went to get their horses, the cowboy asked casually: "yu known friend Baudry long?"
"Nope, an' yu needn't name him my friend neither," Jeff said bluntly. "Don't fancy the ,fella nohow, an' I'll bet if he had a tail there'd be rattles on it."
"Sandy an' me ain't popular in that quarter," Sudden reflected aloud.
"Aw, yu should worry," Jeff told him. "So yu don't think Rogue will try again yet?"
"I ain't worryin', not that yu'd notice," was the reply, and then, "No, barrin' Injuns, flooded rivers, stampedes, storms an' dry stretches, I figure we'll have an easy trip for a while."
Jeff's expression was one of mock disgust. "Yo're a cheerful cuss, I don't believe," he said.
Later, Sudden had a word with Sandy. That young man was still puzzling over the outlaw's complicity in their escape, and said so.
"Shake yore head an' start that stuff yu think with workin'," was the smiling advice he received. "Without us, the S E would be short-handed an' Rogue wants the herd to go through yet awhile."
"Then why did he stampede it?"
"I figure his idea then was to sell the cows to the jasper who was payin' him to break the drive. Now, he's aimin' to handle 'em himself an' clean up a packet."
"Then he's double-crossin' the other man."
"It don't follow. Rogue is a pretty ornery proposition, but he's got points. He told me that this fella was willin' to take the S E cows, but he didn't say he's promised to let him have 'em."
"Glad yu put brother Baudry back a bit. What yu think of him?"
"I don't," Sudden grinned. "But--I'm goin' to."
Chapter XX
THE cattle, rested by the stay in the valley, made good progress, and the tally of the miles covered grew as the peaceful days passed. The members of the outfit, living in their saddles through the long, lazy hours, became jubilant at the thought that their tremendous task might soon be accomplished. Jed, .true to his nature, was pessimistic. /
"It's too easy," he complained. "Like slidin' down a steep hill, yu gotta watch out for the bump at the bottom."
Sandy too was not of the cheerful ones, but for a different reason. Baudry's monopoly of Carol was so complete that the young man rarely had an opportunity of riding with her. Moreover, the gambler, as a guest, ate with the women and Eden, a circumstance which did not lessen Sandy's resentment.
"Cuss it, he's got all the chances," he grumbled.
"Too bad," Sudden commiserated. "Now if yu could show her that red head o' yores ..."
The boy had to laugh. "yu misbegotten son o' misfortune. Some day I'll tell her all about yu," he threatened.
Sudden's hands went up. "Keno!" he cried. "Wait till I'm outa the country."
Sandy's soreness over the situation would have been diminished had he known that Carol was beginning to find the constant company of the visitor irksome. Hitherto it had never occurred to her to regard him as a possible suitor, but his attentions and rather fulsome compliments were forcing her to face the fact. She had never liked him ; but Baudry, with all his astuteness, had not discovered this.
Like most of his type, he held a poor opinion of the other sex ; they were all alike, save that some were more desirable than others. The budding beauty and dewy freshness of this prairie flower had aroused in him a physical intoxication which he called love, but was little more than lust. He wanted, and would have her, and if marriage was the price he would pay it, but ...
In the cowboy, Sandy, he recognized an obstacle to his hopes, just as in the fellow's friend, Green, he saw a menace to his other plans. Bitterly he cursed Rogue for releasing them. Somehow, they must be got out of the way.
Camp was pitched on the tree-fringed bank of a widish ver, but the fact that it had to be negotiated on the morrow gave them no uneasiness. They had crossed several streams of varying size during the past weeks and had come to regard the operation as of no more than ordinary moment.
The herd was bedded down and the crooning voices of the watching riders came faintly to the rest of the outfit loafing and smoking round the fire.
To Sudden, as they went to take their trick of night-riding, Jeff addressed a query : "Can yu make any sort o' guess where we're at?"
"Never been north," Sudden told him. "This river might be the Wichita, but that don't mean we're clear o' the redskins ; they hunt all over."
"I ain't worryin' much about the war-whoops--it's that lousy outlaw loses me sleep--not knowin' when he's goin' to strike."
"I'm allowin' it won't be yet," the cowboy assured him. Pacing slowly around the slumbering herd, under a star-specked sky, he found himself thinking of Rogue. An odd mixture, this miscreant who robbed and killed without compunction, yet retained a respect for women. An outcast, leader of a band recruited from the scum of the settlement, afraid to show his face in any decent community, that, for such a man as Rogue must once have been could only mean hell on earth. It was easy to understand how, whipped by his degradation, in savage disdain, he plunged more deeply into the mire. Sudden knew the feeling, had experienced and almost yielded to it. But for this drive to a new country where he might start afresh.... A wise Providence veils the future ; Sudden could not know that events were even then shaping to hurl him back into the quicksands of shame and danger. Two men, seated out of hearing of the camp, were discussing him.
"Those cowboys have to be got rid of, Davy," the gambler said. "They're liable to make things difficult. Why in hell Rogue let them go I can't guess. What's his game?"
"I'd say he's tryin' to double-cross us," was the reply.
"If he does, I'll kill him," Baudry said. "No man ever did that to me and got away with it."
There was no anger, no boastfulness in the low, even voice, and well aware that it might be a warning to himself, Dutt, toughened as he was, was conscious of a slight shiver which was not due to the night air. He had no illusions regarding J ethro Baudry, knowing that he would slay his best friend if it suited his purpose.
"I've got the glimmerings of a scheme," the gambler resumed. "Let you know when it's worked out. In the meantime, keep a close eye on those fellows."
At dawn they crossed the river without mishap and resumed the long trek northwards across a plain which spread out before them as far as the eye could reach ; there were no trees, no hills, and the foreman--fearing the next stream might be far away--took care that the beasts were well watered before a start was made. The air was cool yet, but the sun, thrusting up into a clear sky, promised plenty of heat presently.
Baudry, as usual, had loped his horse to Carol's side. The gambler's greedy eyes gloated over the girl's slim, supple form as it swayed easily to the paces of her pony. Schooled as he was by his profession to conceal all emotion, and cold-blooded as a fish, her beauty and desirableness turned the ice in his veins to fire. He bent low over his horse's neck lest his look should betray him.
"you get more charming every day," he murmured. "This nomad life seems to suit you."
"I love it," she smiled.
"The West is wonderful," he said, "but don't you ever have a hankering to see the real big cities of the world, New york, London, Paris, Rome, with their fine streets, famous picture-galleries, palaces, cathedrals, theatres, and to join in the whirl of pleasure they offer?"