Thus he cunningly dissociated himself from the murder of the renegade, while giving it his sanction and even egging the others on to the deed. As he had expected, Post Adams got up at once; the gunman's challenge, which he had not dared to take up, rankled deeply.
`Better be shore than sorry, I guess,' he said. `Who's a-comin'?'
`I'm with yu, Post. Never did like that little runt anyway,'said another of the Double X men, a heavy, stolid fellow of Teutonic extraction, who answered to the name of `Dutch.' `Any more?' asked Post, looking round.
`Ain't two o' you enough to bush-whack one man?' gibed Rattler. `What yu skeered of?'
`Not o' yu, anyway,' snapped Adams, as he stamped out of the room, followed by Dutch.
The flat report of a rifle-shot, followed in a moment by a second and then a third, made Green pull in his horse, and then force the animal down the slope of the ridge along which he had been riding; a man on the skyline makes too good a target. Again the three shots rang out, the second instantly followed by the third.
`Two to one,' decided the puncher. `Mr. First Man fires, an' when Mr. Single replies, Mr. Second pumps one into his smoke. I reckon it may be worth lookin' into.'
Dismounting and tying his horse, he took his rifle from the saddle and stole cautiously down a steepish declivity in the direction he believed the man he called Mr. Single to be. Soon he came upon a horse tied in a ounch of cottonwoods, and bearing the Y Z brand. A little further on, stretched full length behind a small boulder and cuddling the stock of his Winchester repeater, was a man he instantly recognised as Snap Lunt. He had no hat, and was cursing painstakingly.
"Lo, Snap. What's the trouble?' Green asked.
Like a flash the head of the prostrate man came round, and his left hand went to his hip, only to fall away again when he saw who the newcomer was. He grinned.
`Two jaspers over there cut down on me as I came along the trail,' he explained. `One of 'em lifted my hat, an' if I'd bin four inches taller'n I am, I'd be choosin' my harp right now.' `Know 'em?' asked Green.
`I ain't dead shore, but I got notions,' replied the gunman. `There's another chunk o' rock over there, an' if yo're goin' to stay yu'd better freeze to it, though there ain't no call for yu to take a hand.'
`I'm aimin' to,' Green returned, sliding down behind the cover indicated. `Two to one ain't fair, an' I always did hate a bush-whacker anyways.'
`Good for yu,' assented Snap. `We'll give them coyotes a little surprise. They're shootin' at my smoke; when the second feller fires, give him hell.'
They were lying on the slope of a saucer-like depression, and about twenty yards lower down lay the trail to the ranch. Beyond this was a level stretch of open grass from four to five
hundred yards in width. On the far side the ground rose again, and was covered with rock debris and brush. It was an ideal spot for an ambush-party, for if they missed their aim they could not be approached without deadly peril, and they could withdraw at any time unobserved.
Presently a puff of smoke bellied out from a clump of brush opposite Green, and Snap fired. Instantly another shot came from ten yards to the right, and a bullet splintered the rock in front of the gunman. Green sent two shots in quick succession to the address of the second marksman, and through the clear air came a stifled curse.
`Did he get yu?' asked a high pitched voice.
`Burned my ear, blast him!' came the reply. `How'd he get over there? Must be a blamed grasshopper.'
`That sounds like Dutch, an' the other feller is Post Adams. I'd know that squeak of his anywheres,' commented Snap. `Watch out--I'm agoin' to loose off.'
Two shots came in rapid response, and Green promptly drove a bullet into the smoke of the left-hand sniper, drawing forth further curses, and an anxious query from the other man. `Yu ain't let him get yu again, have yu?'
`Him?' snorted the wounded man. `Him? There's two of him --them shots come from twenty yards apart. Come over an' tie up my arm, an' don't talk like a damned idjut.'
"Pears like I'm makin' Mr. Dutch uncomfortable,' Green grinned. `He's a complainin' feller, ain't he?'
`He'll be quiet enough if I get a fair squint at him,' was the grim reply. 'Betcha they fade.'
Fifteen minutes passed, and nothing happened. Then Snap fired, out no shot came in return. They waited awhile, lying motionless in their places, and then Snap shot again.
`They've flitted,' he said, and stood up, his rifle ready, and his eyes watching for a movement across nhe valley. But he saw nothing and, satisfied that the enemy had retreated, he walked coolly down to the trail below and retrieved his hat, in the crown of which were a couple of bullet-holes.
`Plenty ventilation in that lid now,' he remarked, as he donned the damaged article. `But that's all to the good for a hotheaded guy like me.' He achieved the nearest thing he could to a smile and turned to his companion. `I'm thankin' yu,' he said quietly.
`Shucks! No need for that, Snap,' returned Green. `What have them fellers got against yu?'
The gunman shook his head. `I ain't sayin' a word but this : yu can count on me to the limit,' he said, and held out his hand. Green realised that he had made a useful friend.
`Thank yu,' he said simply.
They mounted and rode back to the ranch in silence. From time to time Green looked at the little man beside him. What a lot he could clear up if he would only speak. But the puncher knew that he would not speak--even after the cowardly attempt on his life--and respected him for his loyalty to his late confederates. For, of course, Green surmised that Snap had been one of the gang operating against the ranch, and that he had, for some reason, quarrelled with the others and quitted.
Supper was in progress when they reached the bunkhouse, and Green, entering behind his companion, watched the foreman's face, and saw first the slight start of surprise, and then the contemptuous smile. Snap evidently also observed them.
`Things is shore livenin' up in this neck o' the woods,' he remarked casually to the room in general as he took his seat. `A pair o' them Double X fellers tried to bush-whack me in The Gut this afternoon.'
`Yu don't say! Who was they?' asked Simple.
`Post Adams an' Dutch,' replied Lunt.
`How'd yu know? Did yu see 'em?' queried Rattler.
`Heard 'em,' said Lunt laconically. `Ventilated Dutch some, I reckon. One of 'em spoilt my lid, damn him!'
`Good for yu,' commented Dirty. `What they pickin' on yu for, Snap?'
The gunman looked the foreman full in the face. `Orders, I reckon,' he said coolly. `They ain't neither of 'em got guts enough to put up a play like that on their own.'
`The Double X is gettin' too brash,' growled Dirty. `A lesson is about due.'
`None o' that talk here, Dirty,' cut in the foreman. `We got enough on our hands without a range war. Snap can fight his own battles.'
`Shore, an' he can have my help any time he wants it against ambushin' coyotes,' retorted the belligerent one.
The meal over, Green drifted out to the corral, climbed the rail and sat there smoking. There was no moon, but the sky was like a dome of velvet strewn with diamonds. A light wind was blowing from the mountains, bringing a tang of the pine forests. From the bunkhouse came the murmur of voices, soft and blurred, broken by an occasional laugh. Behind him the horses moved slowly as they cropped the grass. It all seemed peaceful, and yet, in the midst of it, robbery and murder were being planned and carried out. He looked towards the lighted windows of the ranch, and found himself wondering what Noreen was doing. He did not see a shadow slide along the corral fence.