The puncher had nothing to wait for, and having paid their bills, they saddled up and departed. For the first hour California rode in silence, apparently deep in thought, stealing a covert glance at his companion from time to time. Presently he burst out.
`Hell, I can't do it. See here, Green, will yu take a pal's advice "in the dark," an' clear out o' this neck o' the woods?'
`There, Bullet, listen to that,' Green said whimsically to his pony. `Ain't it astonishin' how unpopular we are? Everybody wants to see the last of us.'
`They'll see the last o' yu a damn sight sooner if yu stay around here,' retorted West. `Well, I s'pose I gotta tell yu, but for the love o' Mike don't let on who put yu wise. Do yu know who that feller is that yu licked last night?'
`Calls himself Tarman,' Green said.
`Which may be his name for all I know, but I've generally heard him called "The Spider." Yu still aimin' to go back to his ranch?'
`I shore am,' was the quiet reply, and the other man swore disgustedly.
`Well, I had to warn yu, but it's yore funeral.'
`I'll try an' see than it ain't no such thing. Anyway the cards fall, I'm obliged to yu, an' yu can bet I'll be mighty silent.'
''S'allright,' grunted West. `Couldn't watch yu ridin' into a trap blindfold.'
No more was said. The cowpuncher well understood that the warning was all the information he would get. It had not much surprised him; he had already formed the opinion that Tarman had some sinister motive for visiting Hatchett's, and his speedy friendship with Poker Pete and his crowd was suggestive of a previous acquaintance. But what was Tarman's game? The running off of a few hundred head of cattle would not satisfy a man like him. The puncher worried over the problem, searching this and that way for a solution, while he rode steadily to put himself in the power of the man he had so thoroughly thrashed and humiliated.
To Joe Tarman, as to West, breakfast on the morning after his defeat made no appeal. He and Laban were almost the first customers at the Folly, the man who beat them to it being a little dried-up chap who had drifted into town the previous evening, driving an old burro packing a prospecting outfit. He watched the pair for a moment or two, noting the disgusted scowl on Tarman's swollen features, and then sidled along the bar until he was at Laban's elbow.
`Say, boss,' he whispered, `does yore big friend know who he was up agin las' night? I gotta reason for askin'.'
`Cowpunch around here, named Green,' Seth replied.
`He he,' sniggered the old sinner. `Dog my cats if it ain't just him to choose a name like that. Say, if I can tell yore friend how to a bit more than even the score, would it be worth a twenty, d'ye reckon?'
He had designedly raised his voice, and Tarman, who had been listening, pulled out his roll, peeled off a note and laid it on the bar.
`Spill the beans, an' if they're worth it, that's yores,' he growled.
`He, he,' cackled the aged one, `it's mine shore enough. The feller yu fit, what calls hisself Green, he's Sudden.'
Tarman's face darkened. `I found that out for myself,' he snarled, `an' if yu think yu can jape with me, yu rat
The prospector backed away before the threatening gesture, `I ain't japin'--I'm tellin' yu he's Sudden, the outlaw,' he cried. `I've seen him three-four times in Texas an' Noo Mexico; I'd know him anywheres.'
`By God, he's right,' cried Tarman. `Didn't I tell yu I'd met him, Seth? It's years ago, an' he was a mere pup then but it's him shore enough.'
He thrust the note into the informer's hands, motioned him away, and stood frowning heavily in thought. Gradually his face cleared until at length he laughed aloud and slapped Laban jovially on the shoulder.
`That's it,' he said. `I've gon it, Seth, an' when I come to work it out, why, it's like takin' money from a blind man. No, it's too good to tell yu; watch my smoke. But keep this news behind yore teeth; I don't want no lynchin'-bee interferin' with my plans--yet.'
He strode over to the old prospector and held out another twenty dollar bill. `Don't tell no one else about the damned feller,' he said. `An' don't gamble with me, savvy?'
`I'm pullin' my freight from town right now,' said the gold-seeker, as he grabbed the bill and shuffled out of the bar.
The afternoon, Tarman, despite his damaged appearance, presented himself at the Y Z ranch-house. Laban had been told that he was not wanted. Old Simon received the visitor on the verandah, informing him that Noreen was out riding.
`That feller Green gave her back the roan this mornin' an' he seems to have taken the devil out o' the hoss,' Petter said. `Odd number that; I can't make him out nohow.'
`He gave Miss Noreen that hoss?' cried the visitor. `Whatever for?'
`Said he'd got no use for it,' replied. `What do yu think?'
`Somethin' back o' that, I'll lay,' Tarman said. `Say, I've got some news for yu 'bout that chap. He calls himself Green here, but he's betner known in a good many parts as Sudden, the outlaw.'
He leaned back in his chair to enjoy the surprise he knew his statement would produce and he was not disappointed. Old Simon was struck dumb, but only for a moment. Then he gasped :
`Yu shore o' that?'
`Shore as shootin'--I oughtta recognised him myself, but it's some time since I saw him.'
The cattleman jumped up. `I'll call some o' the boys an' we'll get a rope on him right away,' he said, but Tarman did not move.
`Sit down,' he said. `There's no hurry. He don't know he's been spotted an' I'm havin' him watched. 'Sides, he ain't aimin' to get away or he'd have kept that fast hoss. No, sir, he's in these parts for a purpose, an' I've got an idea that I know what it is'.
`Stealin' my cattle, blast him,' exploded the rancher.
Tarman regarded the angry man with a gleam of triumphant malice; things were going entirely right for him. `That ain't nearly all he's after,' he said slowly. `He wants yore cattle--yore ranch--yore daughter--and more.'
`My girl marry him--a murderin' cow-thief?' snarled Simon. `Not while I can pull a trigger.'
`Huh! That ain't no way to talk. Yu may be fast with a gun but yu'd last 'bout as long as a snowflake in hell with him, an' be playin' into his hands at that.'
The old man looked up. `Yu reckon he's after me?' he said.
Tarman did not make a direct reply to the question. `See here,' he began, let me tell yu the story o' this feller Sudden, an' yu can judge for yoreself. Somethin' less than twenty year ago there was two fellers livin' down in Texas, 'bout half a day's ride from the so-called town o' Crawlin' Creek. They were both cattlemen, an' their ranges ran side by side, with p'raps twenty miles between the ranch-houses, an' they got to be pretty close friends, havin' a good deal in common. Both had lost their wives early, an' each of 'em had one kid. Peterson's was a boy, an' Evesham's a girl several years younger, an' to the fathers there warn't no other kids in the world.'
The narrator paused for a moment, his keen, cruel eyes dwelling on the figure slumped in the chair before him. He had not failed to notice the start the old man had been unable to conceal at the mention of the names. He hid his own satisfaction, and continued :
`After a while, however, there come trouble over water rights which both claimed, an' things got so bad a-tween 'em that for over a year they never spoke, an' gripped their guns when they met. Then one day Peterson's son vanished, an' he let it be known pretty plain that he thought Evesham had stolen the kid out o' spite! But he couldn't prove nothin' an' though he spent six months searchin' the lad was never heard of. Then Peterson sold out an' took the trail, tellin' nobody where he was bound for, an' a month later, Evesham's little girl disappeared an' was never traced. Odd, warn't it?'
The drooping figure in the chair made no reply, and Tarman continued his story with a half sneer on his lips.