"He's sayin' grace," Frosty explained aloud. "Well brought up, Lanky was. Fact is, they brought him up so far he never had a chance to fill out."
"An' he still ain't, sittin' next yu at meals," the long one complained. "See here, stranger, lemme tell yu a true tale. Frosty here once went to a barbecue an' the rancher who was givin' the party took him to where they was roasting the ox--whole. `There,' he sez proudly, `how'll that do yu?' `It'll dome fine,' Frosty replies. `But what are the other folks goin' to have?' "
The story produced a burst of laughter in which the hero of it joined. "Lanky, if yu on'y worked as well as yu lie, there'd be nothin' for the rest of us to do," he complimented. "Fortunately, it ain't possible."
A harsh voice from the top of the table suddenly stilled the hum of conversation.
"What's this I'm told o' Black Sam committin' sooicide?"
The men looked up in surprise and shook their heads; save Frosty, not one of them had heard of the happenings in Dugout the previous afternoon. An oldish, grey-bearded puncher was the first to speak.
"That's bad news. I don't cotton much to niggers, but Sam was a good sort, an' I'm sorry he's passed out."
"I didn't say he had--yet," Lagley said.
"When a fella has committed sooicide, he's dead," the other replied. "Never knowed a case otherwise."
"It amounts to the same thing, Goudie," the foreman retorted. "Sam flung four o' the Imps out'n his saloon yestiddy. How long d'yu figure they'll let him live?"
"Good for Sam," one of the younger men shouted.
But the majority of the faces showed only concern. "No, bad for Sam," Goudie corrected. "Yo're right, Steve; they'll kill him--shore."
"Yore facts is wrong, Steve," Frosty interjected, and gasped as Sudden's elbow administered a warning. "It was a stranger what throwed them bums out." He went on to tell the story, without, however, divulging that the chief actor was present. The recital elicited both amusement and jubila- , tion.
"Beat up four of 'em with his bare fists an' made 'em hock their guns?" laughed one. "I'd 'a' give a blue stack to 'a' seen it."
"I'd shore like to meet that stranger--in friendship," Lazy contributed, blissfully unconscious that he was sitting next to him. "He must be a born fighter."
"A born fool, yu mean," Lagley sneered. Suspicion suddenly came to him, and without another word, he got up and went out. Scowling heavily, he strode to the ranch-house, to find the owner sitting on the verandah.
"Well, Lagley, what is troubling you?" Keith asked. "That new hand yu took on. What d'yu know about him?"
"Do I have to tell you?"
"I'm foreman, an' responsible to yu for the men."
"You relieve me, I was beginning to think I was responsible to you," came the caustic response. "My knowledge of him is limited to the fact that he has done what the rest of you cannot--administered a rebuff to some of those gaol-birds from Hell City."
"An' sneaks off here hopin' the Double K will protect him," the foreman gibed.
"Nothing of the kind, he came at my invitation. Have you anything against him?"
"Don't like his looks," was the sullen answer.
"A pity," the Colonel said. "What are you going to do about it--throw up your job?"
This astounding suggestion, made in acid tones, completed the man's discomfiture. Inwardly seething with a rage he dared not show, he was quick to recognize his danger; there were others in the outfit who could take his place, and this cynical old tyrant might even ... He writhed at the thought of being "given his time" by the saturnine stranger.
"Yu know I warn't thinkin' no such thing, boss," he protested. "I was on'y figurin' that when Satan learns we've hired that fella, he'll take action, that's all."
"Which is another reason for hiring him," Keith returned."Do I need to ask that scoundrel's permission before I engage a hand?"
"I guess not," Lagley agreed. "It's yore ranch, but don't say I didn't warn yu. Why, this hombre might be one o' Satan's gang for all yu know."
A deep crease furrowed the rancher's brow. "And so might you--for all I know," he said curtly. "I'm backing my judgment."
He turned to go into the house and so missed the malignant glare of resentment which followed him.
The foreman's abrupt departure from the table spoiled no one's appetite, and the plump, red-faced cook was kept busy. Sudden paid him a compliment.
"Don't flatter him, Jim," Frosty begged. "He's improvin', but he's a long ways behind Black Sam yet."
"Which yu can't wonder, seem' I never had his experience," the cook said plaintively.
"What experience?" Frosty incautiously asked.
"Sam used to feed hawgs afore he come here," the man of pots and pans chuckled, and beat a hurried retreat into his own domain amid a storm of merriment and abuse.
The meal over, Frosty led the way outside, declining Lazy's invitation to play cards.
"Yo're ail broke an' two-cent poker ain't no game for a man," was how he put it.
"Which was why I asked yu," the other shot back.
Seated on the long bench in front of the bunkhouse the two cowboys smoked in silence for a while. Frosty commenced the conversation.
"What yu think o' the outfit?"
"Good bunch to get along with, I'd say."
"Shore, but--as I told yu--there's one or two--drawbacks."
"Bound to be," Sudden agreed, and his eyes crinkled a little at the corners. "The foreman's anxiety 'bout yu to-day warn't entirely due to affection."
"No, he don't like me--which is certainly amazin'," the young man grinned. "The amount o' sleep I've lost over that yu wouldn't believe."
"Yo're right, I wouldn't," Sudden said. "He concealed his joy at the sight o' me pretty well, too."
"Yeah, didn't like the 01' Man not consultin' him, I guess."
"Mebbe, but it's odd, seem' he promised me a job."
Frosty's look of blank astonishment cried out for an explanation. When it had been given, the Double K man whistled, and remarked:
"Well, if yu ain't a tight-mouth. So yu got the drop, set him afoot, an' yo're surprised he ain't glad to see yu. What did yu expect--thanks?" His expression sobered. "Jokin' on one side, Jim, it was a bad break; he ain't the forgivin' sort."
"Yo're ruinin' my night's rest," was the facetious rejoinder. "What we doin' to-morrow?"
"Dunno, but I'll lay we have the rottenest an' riskiest work he can find."
Chapter VI
Breakfast at the Double K was a serious business, and there was little of the gaiety which enlivened the evening meal. Its place was taken by the rattle of knives and forks and picturesque appeals to the badgered cook for the replenishment of quickly-emptied platters. A long day in the saddle had to be prepared for, and--as one jocularly expressed it, "Starvation is a horrible death, Cookie darlin'."
The perspiring purveyor promptly countered with, "How many weeks d'yu expect to be away?"
Going to the corral for his horse, Sudden encountered Lagley.
"I wanted a word with yu," the foreman said. "So far, the cyards have come yore way; don't overplay 'em. I ain't the fella to nurse a grudge; an' if yu do yore work an' don't chatter, yu an' me'll git along fine."
"Suits me," the new hand replied.
Frosty, red-faced and profane, emerged from the corral leading a wiry, wicked-eyed dun pony. "C'mon, Cactus, ain't yu ever goin' to git any sense?" he panted. "One o' these bright mornin's I'll take an' bust yore slats in." He looked at Lagley. "What yu want me to do?"
"Yu an' Green ride the northern line. I was along there yestiddy an' it struck me cows was missin'."
"Right, git yore bronc, Jim," Frosty said, and as Sudden stepped forward, added, "Don't yu want yore rope?"
The reply was a low whistle, and instantly the big black separated itself from the milling band of horses. Sudden lifted down the top bar of the entrance, Nigger leapt lightly over the others and stood, thrusting a velvety muzzle forward for the customary biscuit.