`Evesham went near mad. For months he hunted Peterson, swearing to shoot him on sight, but his former neighbour had vanished as completely as the kids. At last he gave up the search an' resumed his life on the ranch. Some years later, Evesham's in town when along comes an old Injun, trailin' a string o' ponies for sale, an' with him there's his squaw an' a half-breed boy. Evesham takes a fancy to the lad, buys him an' takes him back to his ranch. That boy is the feller yu know as Green, an' I know as Sudden, the outlaw.'
The owner of the Y Z looked up at last. `An' Bill Evesham, what's come of him?' he asked huskily, and Tarman smiled as he replied :
`Did I say his name was Bill? Well, it was anyways. He cashed 'bout three years ago, an' when the adopted son come to clean up there was nothin' for him, the old man had gambled an' drunk the ranch away. The boy, he was growed up then, o' course, went on the cross; a wizard with hosses an' weapons, he couldn't hold a steady job. Several fellers tried to beat him to the draw an' paid the penalty. He got a reputation but it's one
that keeps him movin', an' my idea is there's some purpose back o' that; he may be lookin' for somebody. What do yu think--Peterson?'
The old man jumped as though he had received an electric shock, but one glance at the inexorable, triumphant face of the man before him showed the futility of denial, and he sank back wearily into his chair. Discovered after all these years of security! For a vain second, he contemplated snanching out his gun and destroying nhe man who had surprised his secret, and Tarman read his thought.
`Don't try nothin' rash, Peterson,' he advised. `I'm yore friend, an' we'll see this out together.'
`Then drop that Peterson racket--my name's Petter,' said Simon irritably. `For the rest of it, I'll own up that yu've got the story pretty straight. An' don't yu get the idea that I'm sorry any; Bill Evesham double-crossed me, I reckon, an' I'd do the same again. He warn't the forgivin' sort either, an' it would be just like him to set this murderin' hound on my trail. Green as good as told Norry so soon after he come, though neither of 'em knows how close he was to the man he was after, an' I warn't shore. Point is, what are we goin' to do?'
He was recovering his poise; the old pioneer spirit which had enabled him to face danger and disaster unflinchingly defied the weakening influence of age, and Tarman knew that he would fight like a wounded grizzly for the girl he had come to regard as his own, and the loss of whose affection he feared more than the threat of death.
`Yu can leave Green to me,' he said deliberately. `I'm figurin' that if we let him run on the rope for a bit he'll hang himself. He don't know yet that yo're the man he's lookin' for so there's no danger thataway. You can tell the girl who he is, but yu ain't aimin' to let her know all the story, are yu?'
`No,' said Simon explosively. `She's been my daughter all these years an'...'
`I reckon yo're right,' Tarman agreed. `Women are queer an' she might take it all wrong. What's a name anyways; she'll be changin' it soon, I hope.'
The old man looked up sharply and met the smiling expressive eyes of the other. `Meanin'?' he asked.
`That I want her, yes,' came the plain answer. `I ain't a poor man, Petter, an' there's no strings tied to me. Yu got any objections?'
Simon was silent for a few moments, considering. He had, of course, expected some such development; he knew perfectly well that the big man had not visited the ranch so often on his account, but now the moment was come he found a difficulty in deciding. He knew nothing against the suitor, and yet--
`Not if Norry ain't,' he said presently. `She's the doctor.' `Then that'll be all right,' Tarman rejoined. `Now don't yu worry none about Green; we'll have him where the hair's short before he knows it:
`What yu aimin' to do when yu get him? String him up?' Tarman laughed and shook his head. `We'll let the Governor do that,' he said. `There's ten thousand dollars in all offered for the capture of Mister Sudden. I could use that money--it would make a decent settlement for a bride, for instance. Well, that's all arranged, an' I'm agoin' to take the trail before Noreen blows in--I ain't very presentable.'
Long after his visitor had gone Old Simon sat in his chair smoking and pondering on the past. So Bill Evesham had gone, but not without rearing someone to carry on his vengeance; he could figure him deliberately adopting and training the half-breed lad for that very purpose. And Norry, what would she think of it all? She must condemn him, of course, for a cruel and animal act which had robbed both her father and herself. Would affection for him survive such a blow? He did not know and would not take the risk if he could avoid it.
His thoughts turned to Tarman. Somehow, he did not like the man and yet he could not have given a reason. But he recognised that he was in need of him and in his power, a reflection which made him curse softly, for Old Simon was an independent soul, and preferred, as he put it, to `cut his own trail.' He was still brooding in the chair when Noreen returned from her ride, and the sight of her flushed face, and the lilt of her laugh, made him set his teeth and swear that Fate itself should not wrest her from him.
`Had a good ride?' he asked, as she came swinging up from the corral.
`Ripping,' she replied. `Blue behaved like a perfect angel. Mr. Green must be a wizard.'
`Mebbe he is, but yu better give over callin' him Mr. Green,' retorted the old man grimly. `He's better known down South as Sudden--the outlaw.'
The information wiped the colour from the girl's face, and her voice shook as she asked, `Is that true, or just town talk?'
`True enough, I reckon, but it ain't generally known, an' I don't want it should be,' replied the cattleman meaningly. `I ain't made up my mind what to do yet.'
`But what is he doing here, and why did he give me the roan?' asked the girl.
`Well, he's rustlin' cattle for one thing, an' as for the hoss, he can get him back next time he raids the ranch,' the told man said bitterly.
`I suppose Mr. Tarman brought the news,' Noreen guessed, and when her father nodded, she went on, `I don't believe he's an ounlaw, and if he is, I don't think he would raid the Y Z, so there. One thing I'm quite sure of, if Mr. Green had been beaten last night he wouldn't be going around spreading scandal about his opponent.'
`But, Norry,' protested Petter, `this ain't scandal. Green was recognised by a feller who knew him in Texas. Tarman was on'y warnin' me, an' come up a-purpose to do it. Yu gotta be fair.'
`I'm going to be--to both sides,' the girl retorted. `I want more proof than mere hearsay, Daddy; he didn't seem that kind of man.'
She turned and went into the house. Old Simon, staring after her in perplexity, shook his head. `Women has me beat every way from the jack,' he muttered. `Tell 'em a man's a wrong 'un an' they either won't believe it, or they get more interested. Yu can't out-guess 'em nohow.'
Chapter XVI
THE battered condition of the new hand on his return to the Crossed Dumb-bell aroused a curiosity which he left to West to satisfy, merely stipulating that the identity of his opponent be concealed. California agreed that this was sound policy, and excelled himself in a vivid, denailed description of the battle, but giving no particulars which might point to the personality of the beaten man. But old Jeffs, sitting at the head of the table, smiled cunningly once or twice, and Green divined that he had guessed.
The other men had apparently no suspicion, their attitude seemed to be simply one of brutish approval for the victor. Among the most interested of the listeners was one Green had not seen before, a dwarf in height, with a huge barrel of a body and absurd little bowed legs which seemed utterly inadequate for its support. A great shaggy head with coarse features, and arms which could reach almost to the tiny knees, completed an appearance which justified the freak's nickname of `Gorilla.'