"Don't yu take no notice, Miss Carol ; I reckon he's loco."
The irate cowboy whirled round, only to find he had been caught. The relief of the discovery restored his good-humour. Somewhat ashamed of himself, he explained the reason for the outburst.
* "Tough luck," the boy commiserated. "What yu goin' to do?"
"Search out that pond," Sudden replied. "I got half the Staked Plains in my eyes an' the other half down my neck."
"Hi, yu wait till we've fed," Sandy cried in affected alarm. "We gotta drink that water." He paused. "Not that I wanta stop yu from washin', Gawd knows."
Sudden chuckled. "Talkin' o' washin', I wonder how yu'd look with half yore head scrubbed?" he queried.
"Yu go to blazes," Sandy retorted. "Poison the whole damn herd if yu gotta."
The foreman arrived, bringing the news that save for sundry slight wounds and bruises, the outfit had come out of the ordeal unscathed. "I reckon we've discouraged them cattle-thieves a whole lot," he concluded grimly.
They had ; the struggling light of the dawn revealed the twisted, contorted bodies of seven men between the brush and the barricade. Two prisoners had been taken and now sat, withbound limbs, in a far corner of the camp. Rugged, ill-favoured rogues, both of them, stolidly refusing to answer questions. yet not without a certain courage. They knew what was to come and could joke about it. One of them had awakened the other.
"Take a look at yore last sunrise, Hank," he said. "yu don't wanta oversleep--it's goin' to be a mighty short day for us."
"Shucks!" the other replied. "We'll have a long night to make up for it, hombre."
They fed and smoked, interestedly watching the preparations for breaking camp. When the wagon rolled ponderously away, the foreman and three of the outfit remained behind with two unsaddled horses. Sudden, the last to leave, saw that the prisoners were lighting fresh cigarettes. He felt no pity for them ; they had gambled, lost, and must pay, but he had a swift vision of two limp forms dangling in the sunlight-shafted shade of the trees, and was aware of a chilly sensation in the region of his spine. He had come near to meeting the same fate, and would yet if the sheriff of San Antonio or of Fourways laid hands on him.
Chapter XXV
HE was a long, scraggy fellow of middle-age, with a thin humorous face, and his rig-out proclaimed that he had recently visited a settlement, clothes, saddle and weapons being patently new. He came into view as they were about to bed-down the herd, and Eden rode to meet him.
"Howdy, friend," the stranger opened, and then, as his gaze ranged over the milling horde of lean-limbed, fierce-eyed beasts, with their wide-branching horns, he added, "Where in hell have yu fetched 'em from?"
Eden laughed. "On'y from Texas," he said. "We passed through the place yu mentioned."
Karson--so the stranger named himself--told the rancher that Abilene was less than a dozen miles distant.
"Mebbe we can do business. I'm in these parts to buy cattle."
"I'm here to sell 'em," Eden replied, not too eagerly. The experiences of the past few months had made him distrustful The cattle-buyer slept in camp, having decided to accompany them on the final day's march. He advised that the herd be halted a couple of miles short of Abilene, where there was good grazing.
"She's the toughest burg I ever see--an' I've been in a few," he said. "yu wanta warn yore boys to stick together an' step light. Crooked men, women, an' games are as plenty as ticks on a cow."
Darkness was still distant when they sighted a haze of smoke on the horizon and realized that the end of the long trail was within reach. But no more than that, for until the herd was sold, the cowboys would lack money, and to visit town without anything to spend would be worse than not going at all. So. when the cattle were bunched and bedded on a raised stretch covered with short curly grass, it was but a small party which headed for Abilene ; Karson, Eden, and the women would stay the night there, and the foreman had urged that Sudden should go also.
"Like enough Baudry an' that Navajo fella is infestin' the place," he said. "'Sides, yu may need to send me a word."
They reached the town as dusk was falling. After months in the silent wilderness the noise and bustle amazed them. The principal street, a dusty strip between two rows of flimsy buildings, was ant-like in its activity, thronged with a hustling horde. Loaded freight wagons, driven by bull-voiced, blasphemous men churned up the surface, filling the air with a grey powdery deposit which covered everyone and everything ; reckless riders flickered to and fro, swinging their mounts dexterously around pedestrians ; at the hitch-rails stood rows of patient ponies, heads down, tails swishing in an endless battle against a myriad flies. From the windows of saloons. dance-halls, and gambling "joints" came a warm glow as the lamps within were lighted.
Karson conducted them to his hotel, where they secured rooms and dined. Then he carried the cattleman off to "take in the town." Eden, having warned his daughter to remain indoors, told Sudden he was at liberty to amuse himself. The cowboy did not like this arrangement, but could hardly protest.
Leaving the hotel, he mingled with the motley mob streaming along the street.
At the door of the Palace Saloon he hesitated a momentand then went in. Ordering a modest drink he leant against the bar, studying the ebb and flow of mixed humanity, drinking, gambling, and exulting or complaining as fortune favoured or flouted them. A bleary-eyed individual sidled up to him.
"yo're a stranger," he accused, shooting out a grimy finger. "Yu must be a magician," the cowboy quizzed.
"I ain't, but I savvy all the fellas in thisyer burg," the other replied. He pointed to a big, red-faced, flashily dressed man near the bar. "Know who that is? Mick Donagh, owner o' this joint. They say he's good for a hundred thousand dollars."
The corner of the cowboy's eyes crinkled up. "What of it?" he asked lazily. "I'd be good my own self for a lot less'n that."
The bleary citizen decided to take this in a friendly spirit ; the nonchalant young stranger did not look too easy.
"I'm bettin' yu would," he agreed. "Me too, don't yu reckon?"
This time he got it straight from the shoulder. "yu?" the cowboy drawled. "I'd figure yu good--for--nothin'."
The level look which accompanied the contemptuous speech apprised the bleary one that he had selected the wrong victim, and muttering something about "fresh fellas," he drifted away. His place was soon taken by a short, pot-bellied man with mean little eyes and a ludicrous air of importance.
"I'm the town marshal o' thisyer city," he began pompously.
Sudden regarded him gravely. "That so? What am I s'posed to do--throw a fit--or somethin'?" he inquired.
The marshal's bloated face got redder. "I can tell yu what yu ain't s'posed to do an' that's wear them guns," he snapped. "It's agin the law. I'll trouble yu to hand 'em to me."
Sudden's eyes narrowed. "I hate trouble," he said. His gaze swept over the room, noting that nearly every man in it wore a weapon. "Why start on me? Clean up on them others an'--I'll think about it."
"yo're a new-comer ; I know them fellas," was the lame reply. "yeah, that's where the rope rubs--I don't know 'em," the cowboy said quietly. "See here, marshal, I'm attached to my guns an' they're attached to me"--he smiled--"partin' would be--difficult. Don't yu reckon yu'd better take a drink instead?"
Looking into those frosty grey-blue eyes and observing the lean, out-thrust jaw, the officer discovered that he was thirsty