Two weeks went by, and Welcome--the principal disturber of its calm having departed--had returned to everyday routine-existence.
The first whisper of unrest came when Reddy rode in one morning. He was the only Bar O man to visit town since the dash to the marshal's rescue, and was therefore ignorant of subsequent events.
"Yu'll feed with us at Jake's," Sudden invited.
"I eat at the Widow's," Reddy replied.
"That's what I said," was the enigmatical retort.
He got the story as they walked up the street. Arrived at the restaurant, he surveyed approvingly the newly-painted sign, clean curtains, and absence of rusty airtights littering the ground. The interior with its scrubbed floor, neatly-laid tables, and sound chairs, opened his eyes wider, but he said nothing until the proprietress came to take the order.
"There ain't such a swell joint inside a day's ride," he told her. "Reckon Jake would bite hisself if he could see it."
"I had some kind helpers," she said, her eyes on Dave.
"They did the work; I'm afraid I was only in the way."
"That's somethin' yu couldn't be, ma'am," was the gallant reply.
The meal duty despatched, they lit up. Reddy's gaze roved round the room.
"Amazin' what a difference a woman can make," he remarked. "She owes a lot to yu, Jim."
"She owes me just--nothin'; Sloppy's been her good fairy."
"An' yu've bin his, which proves my point," Reddy retorted triumphantly.
Sudden shook his head and got up. Back in his own quarters, he put a question :
"What's yore trouble, cowboy?"
"yu've certainly got the seem' eye, Jim; I didn't guess it showed that plain. Just--want o' sleep." It seemed an absurd statement from one who was the picture of health, but the marshal understood. "Nightridin', huh?"
"yu said it, an' day as well; the boys is all wore out. Yu see, we're losin' cattle, an' it's gettin' serious."
"Been goin' on long?"
"Couple o' weeks, so far as we know. A steady leak, six or seven a day, picked beasts, an' there ain't a sign to show who's takin' 'em or where. It's got me dizzy."
"Well, there's nothin' doin' here---- "
"Yo're forgettin' that hold-up we promised to look into," Dave interrupted.
The marshal grinned. "Don't pay any attention to him," he went on. "We ain't a thing to do--the town's peaceful as a prayer-meetin'. We'll go for a li'l ride to-morrow; mebbe we can light on somethin'." When the foreman had departed, Dave looked at his chief. "Jake went about two weeks ago," he said.
"Yo're readin' my thoughts," Sudden accused. "If it's Jake, he must have a hide-out. We gotta find it."
"We might be away all day. What 'bout gettin' Mrs. Gray to put us up a bite to take along?"
"Just now my mind ain't on food."
"Then it must be drink. C'mon." When they got outside, Masters naturally turned in the direction of the Red Light, but his companion shook his head. "We'll pay a visit to Dirty Dick," he said.
"Enemy country," Dave laughed, and loosened his gun in the holster.
"Shucks ! At this' time o' the day there won't be a soul in the place--mebbe." He was almost right, for as they pushed back the door of the dive, they saw that it was empty save for the owner and a man who, at the instant of their entry, slid round the bar and disappeared into the rear part of the premises.
"Whisky--yore best," the marshal said. "Wasn't that Dutch who went out?" For a moment Dirty Dick hesitated, his furtive eyes scanning the questioner's face. Then he nodded.
"What's he back for--to stay?"
"Nope, just a visit, to pay some coin he owed me."
"Why didn't he do that before he left?"
"He forgot," came the reply, after a pause.
"Yo're lucky to get it."
"Oh, Dutch is square," the man said easily.
"Possibly, but he keeps bad company," the marshal replied. "What's he doin', anyway?"
"I dunno, but he ain't got a woman workin' for him," was the insolent answer.
A subdued chuckle came from somewhere; the deputy stiffened, put his glass on the bar, and said truculently, "The company he keeps ain't near as bad as the liquor yu sell; if this is yore best, the worst must be rank pizen."
"You ain't forced to drink it." Sudden interposed. "Easy, boy," he soothed, and to the dive-owner, "Watch that lyin' tongue o' yores, an' run this place decent or I'll run yu--outa town." Dirty Dick gazed into the hard, slitted eyes of the speaker and decided that silence was the safe card to play, but his expression, as they went out, was not pretty.
As they stalked down the street, Sudden regarded his fuming companion quizzically. "Marshals are appointed to keep the peace," he remarked casually. "An' the same applies t `Didn't yu hear what he said, an' the laugh?" Dave broke in.
"Shore, but why lose yore wool because a cur yaps? Besides, he was tellin' us things. We know now that Dutch was broke when he left an' has made money since; also that Jake ain't far away, an' is keepin' touch with friends here, which needs rememberin'. Good value for the price of a couple o' drinks." The sun was no more than faintly gilding the eastern sky when they set out the next morning. The Bar O trail lay towards it, but the marshal headed his horse in the opposite direction.
"Where are we turnin' off?" Dave asked presently. "Yu, ain't expectin' to find them stolen steers at the Dumb-bell, are yu?"
"It wouldn't surprise me--much, but we gotta know more before we snoop aroun' there; welcomes can be too warm." Another half-mile and they swung south, leaving the rutted wagon-track and picking a way through brush big enough to hide them. Two hours passed before they reached a wooded slope which afforded a view of the country, an undulating, scrub-dotted expanse which they knew must be part of the Bar O range, though no cattle were visible.
Westward, were ridges and gullies, and as these offered excellent cover, they decided to make for them. Skirting the plain, they were proceeding along the far slope of a brush-clad rib of rock when a rifle cracked and a bullet zipped through the crown of Dave's Stetson. Out of their saddles instantly, they trailed the reins, and crawled to the top of the rib. Thinning smoke from a clump of brush some threehundred yards distant told them whence the shot had come, but there was no sign of the man who fired it.
"Lie low," Sudden advised. "He may think he got yu an' show hisself. Might be one o' the Bar O--I'll bet their system just now is shoot first an' investigate after." Hats discarded, prone on their bellies, cheeks cuddling rifle-stocks, they waited. Ten, twenty, thirty minutes ticked slowly by and nothing happened. Dave got restive.
"This hlame' sun is just naturally scorchin' my scalp," he grumbled. "I reckon he's went." He reached for the hat lying behind him and immediately two reports came from the clump, the leaden messengers humming past their ears. They returned the fire, aiming at the smoke-jets.
"A pair of 'em," the marshal commented. "Guess they ain't Owen's men." Another period of quiet ensued, and the marshal used it to take a furtive scrutiny of their surroundings. This gave him an idea.
"Stay an' keep 'em interested. I'm goin' to try an' get another angle on 'em. If yu fire, make it two quick shots so's they'll figure we're both here."
"Right, but don't take chances; these hombres ain't usin' guns for the first time," Dave warned.
Sudden slid backwards down the slope and, leading his horse, followed the bend of it. He had not gone far when four shots rang out, the last two in rapid succession. Dave was right. Presently he paused, crept up the incline on hands and knees, and took a peep between two large stones. As he had suspected, the brush rampart behind which the unknown marksmen were concealed was much thinner on this side, and he could see the gleam of a levelled gun-barrel. He fired, aiming where he judged the holder should be, and a dark form showed itself and vanished before he could press the trigger again. A moment later, two horsemen burst into the open, and, flattened over the necks of their mounts, raced for the nearest gully. Sudden's rifle spoke again and one of the animals went down, throwing its rider heavily. The other man, without even a backward glance, gained cover. By the time Sudden reached the fellow who had fallen, Dave joined him.