`You think the ranchers may interfere?'
`Interfere is good.' His grin revealed the strong white teeth and she noticed--not for the first time--the difference his infrequent smile made. `Oh, I guess they'll try again. Does that scare you?'
She shook her head. `I'm gettin' fond of this place,' she said, and there was warmth in voice and look. `That's fine; any time you feel different, just mention it.'
She was disappointed. Again the thought came that he had divined her desire to enslave and punish him. So far, his response had been entirely negative. It annoyed, but did not decrease her determination.
`What for sort of a burg is Rideout?' Sudden enquired of Drait early on the next day.
`Bigger edition o' Midway, with a branch railroad throwed in. Wanta pay her a visit?'
`If yu ain't anythin' special for me an' Yorky to do ...'
`Help yoreself, Jim; we're all likely to be lazy for a day or so now the brandin's done.'
The news of the projected trip brought a solemn warning from Smoky: `It's the gosh-dangest town in the State,' he said. `Cowboys is the natural prey o' the varmints what live there. First they take yore guns, an' then the rest.'
`When they've got my guns they'll be needin' the rest.' Sudden laughed. `An' Yorky ain't so Sunday-school as he might appear.' He looked round. `C'mon, son. Two breakfasts is aplenty; we ain't goin' to a famine-struck land.'
The first few miles were traversed in a silence which Yorky forbore to break.
`I've been holdin' out on yu,' the puncher said at length. `It ain't accident that we're in this part o' the country. Fact is, Igot somethin' to do, an' I oughta told yu itcouldn't be just holiday.'
The boy's eyes glistened. `But, Jim, that's th' best news yet,' he cried. `If you'll let me do somethin'.'
`Shucks, why d'yu s'pose I fetched yu?'
`Is Nick mixed up in it?'
`I dunno--yet. Meetin' him was just plain luck--I was needin' an excuse for stayin' in the district. Yu can add too that I like him, an' reckon he's bein' treated mighty mean.'
Yorky nodded sagely. `What we gotta do?'
`Discover the rightful owner o' the S P first off,' Sudden said. `That'll put Mister Gilman's li'l scheme in the discard, an' some other noses outa joint too, I wouldn't wonder.'
`In fact, we're goin' to make ourselves real unpop'lar, huh?' Yorky grinned. `Well, I don't give a damn.'
Rideout proved to be what they had been led to expect, a bigger and busier Midway, but equally sordid and unpleasing to the eye. They found an eating-house and devoured a meal which evoked a philosophic reflection from Yorky: `To 'preciate good cookin' you gotta get away from it.' As he paid the bill, Sudden asked a question.
`Seale, the lawyer? You'll see his shingle down to the deepo. Will you find him in? I dunno, but I'm damn shore you won't find him out--nobody's done that yet. He's cute, is the "Weasel."'
They left the fellow still chuckling over his witticism, and went in search of its subject. The lawyer's office appeared to consist of one room over an empty shop, and was reached by a stairway at the side. Sudden rapped, and a squeaky voice invited them to enter. The Westerner has a happy knack in the matter of nick-names, and one glance at the receding forehead, long nose, pinched-in mouth, and small, suspicious eyes told the visitors that the man behind the desk in the centre of the room was he they had come to see. Soiled linen, and a shiny black coat which hung sack-fashion on the narrow shoulders only added to the rodent-like impression. The office itself was equally shabby: a rag of carpet, a table upon which were law-books, a filing cabinet, an old-style safe, and two hard chairs comprised the rest of the furniture.
`Temporary premises, gentlemen, just temporary premises,' the lawyer excused, and it was evident that the words and the gesture accompanying them had become automatic. `Find seats and let me know what I can do for you.'
Sudden leaned forward; he had taken his man's measure. `To begin,' he said, `I want yu to savvy I ain't here to waste yore time, which, to a legal gent, is the same as money.'
Seale's beady eyes lighted up a little. `It is true my profession requires that certain charges be made,' he replied. `Strictly in accordance with the service I am able to render, Mister--'
`My name wouldn't mean a thing to yu,' Sudden said. `I'm from down South, near the Border, on a kind o' vacation. Yes, sir, I was shorely tired o' lookin' at cows' hind-ends. When Eli Dean--fella I was ridin' for--heard I was headin' for these parts, he sez would I do him a service? Well, I agreed, for Eli is one white man, an' here I am, yu see.'
`Quite, but you haven't told me why.'
Sudden slapped his leg. `If I ain't the chucklehead. It's this-away: Eli wanted me to search out an old friend, man he'd punched cantle with from hell to anywhere an' back again in the days when they was both a deal younger. The name was Pavitt --Sam Pavitt, an' I hear he's been under the turf for 'bout a year.'
`That is true, I am sorry to say.'
`We all gotta go, an' I reckon Eli was expectin' that--Pavitt bein' older'n him, an' he ain't no yearlin'--for he said there was a daughter he'd welcome news of; it was when I asked 'bout her, I got sent to yu.'
`Naturally, since the estate is in my hands,' the lawyer said importantly. `As regards the daughter, I am afraid I cannot help you. She ran away, more than twenty years ago, to marry a man her father disapproved of, and I am still trying to discover her whereabouts; she owns the S P ranch now. You see, I've no information; neither the name of the husband, nor that of the place where they lived. The old man never spoke of her.'
`No letters?'
`One only, with the address missing, saying that her husband had died, and mentioning a child, "Frankie". It was signed, "Mary". I have advertised, and have a man out now, making enquiries, all to no purpose. It is very discouraging and expensive. The property is a good one, but is losing value, and I've written to the Governor of the State suggesting he authorise me to sell it and hold the proceeds on trust for the missing heir.'
"Pears to be a sound idea,' Sudden said.
`I think so,' Seale said complacently. `I've had a generous offer and am only waiting for permission to close the deal. I fear that is all I can tell you, and as I have a conference ...'
This was dismissal, but Yorky had been whispering. `My friend suggests yu might let us look at that letter yu spoke of,' Sudden said. `We fellas are used to followin' trails, an' might spot a pointer.'
`Why, certainly,' the lawyer agreed. After all, he must make some sort of a show for the `easy money' these greenhorns would pay him. Taking out a bunch of keys, he opened the safe,selected a paper from several others, and, with satirical smile, watched them study it.
`Nothin' there,' Sudden declared, as he handed it back. `It was just a chance; I wouldn't like Eli to think I'd overlooked a bet.' He laid a bill on the desk, and stood up. 'Talkin' allus makes me dry; mebbe yu'll join us?'
This was an invitation Seale never refused, especially from one who had paid handsomely for nothing. He locked the safe, then the door, and preceded them down the stairway. Yorky followed, and they were nearly at the oottom when the boy slipped, clutched at the lawyer to save himself, and they finished in a heap on nhe floor. No damage resulted, and the culprit was profuse in his apologies.
`These damned high heels ain't made for steps,' he lamented, and when they reached the street, `Jim, I ain't much on liquor, an' I want smokin' an' feed for my gun. You goin' across th' road? Right, I'll be along.'
Sudden nodded, and followed the lawyer into the saloon. `A good kid, but kind o' young,' he excused.
`Plenty of us would like to suffer from his complaint,' the man of law smirked, and raised his glass. `Here's how, and I'm sorry your errand has ended in failure.'