Later, Sudden encountered Lazy and enquired about* Anita.
"She's here, goin' to be Miss Joan's maid--for a spell," the cowboy told him, and reddened at the other's, "Good luck to yuStaring after the tall, loose-limbed figure as it swung towards the corral, he muttered, "How'n th' devil did he guess? Hope he ain't interested--I wouldn't have a chance."
The sheriff of Red Rock shouted a welcome as "Mart Merry's visitor" stepped into his office some weeks after the effacement of Hell City. Then he looked out of the window and saw that the black had a blanket roll strapped to the saddle.
"Ain't leavin' us, are you, Jim?" he asked.
"Shore am, an' sorry to be," the puncher told him. "They let you go?"
"It warn't easy; the Colonel an' Mart made me han'some offers, Jeff an' Frosty damn near pulled guns on me, an' Miss Joan cried, which was wuss'n all."
"Then why in the nation ...?"
"Somebody's waitin' for me in Tucson."
Dealtry thought he understood. "An' she'll be anxious, huh?"
Sudden grinned. "Yo're way off the trail, sheriff. The person waitin' for me is a shortish, middle-aged fella, with grey hair an' a persuasive manner. They call him `Bloke,' an' he can be--times."
"The Governor?"
"Yeah, an' he'll be wonderin' if he oughta send a wreath."
"So you're from him? You kept it mighty close."
"I'm the third." He told the fate of his predecessors. "I expect they talked too much."
The sheriff breathed hard. "An' we thought he was doin ' nothin'," he said. "I'll bet he'll be pleased with you."
"Just a shake an' a `Well done, Jim,' but I reckon them's the best words a man can hear in this li'l of world."
Dealtry reached into a drawer, produced and passed over a familiar folded paper."Found it on Lander. Mean anythin' to you?"
Sudden laughed. "Shore, it's my letter of introduction to Hell City. A long story, sheriff."
"I never was curious," the officer replied.
He got out a bottle and they drank together, solemnly, as men do when they have to part, and regret it. Their farewell was a mere hand-clasp and a "So long"--it was an undemonstrative land.
Standing in his doorway, Dealtry watched the black horse pace slowly along the street. When, at length, it disappeared in the distance, he said softly:
"Well done, Jim."