`This is shore an unexpected pleasure,' he sneered. `If our welcome seems a trifle rough, yu must put it down to the boys' delight at yore return to the fold, an' their desire to keep yu with us for a little while.'
The victim's head was throbbing with pain, and he looked for nothing but death ere an hour had passed, but he forced a contemptuous smile to his lips as he replied :
`I ain't complainin','
`Spoken like a true knight-errant. The brave outlaw dashes to the rescue of the fair damsel an' runs his silly neck slap into a noose,' Tarman jeered. `Bit reckless to tackle this job single-handed, wasn't it, Sudden?'
`Mebbe it was,' Green agreed. So they knew nothing of Larry, and by this time the boy should be well on his way to the Y Z. `I reckon yu hold all the cards,' he added.
`Shore I do, an' what's more, I'm agoin' to let yu see how I intend to play 'em,' Tarman returned. `After which, we'll attend to yore case.'
`Why not hang the swab right now an' have done with it?' suggested Dexter. `He knows too much.'
Tarman whirled on the speaker with such a baleful glare that the Double X man instinctively shrank back.
`He'll know more before I've done with him,' he said. `An' so will some others if they try an' ride me.' He waited a moment but Dexter had nothing to say. `Now we'll get on with the business.'
Standing there, his thumbs hooked in his gun-belt, he dominated them all, and even Green had to admit that man possessed power, misdirected though it undoubtedly was. Tarman was in a good humour, everything was coming his way, and the capture of the outlaw seemed to remove his last difficulty. But though he smiled, he watched the men before him warily; he was not of the trusting type.
`Here's how we stand,' he began. `Old Simon is peggin' out, an' when he's gone the Y Z comes to me.'
`What about his daughter?' asked Blaynes. `Ain't it willed to her?'
`She ain't his daughter--no relation at all, an' if there ever was such a will it don't exist now,' explained Tarman, and a meaning chuckle went round the room. `The Frying Pan is wide open--Leeming an' his outfit are lookin' for what they won't find, an' to-morrow mornin' we go an' take what we want. I reckon then he'll be glad to sell on my terms, an' holdin' them two ranches'll give me the say-so in these parts. Then there's the cattle; after to-morrow's clean-up, there should be pretty nigh two thousand head, an' that'll mean a heavy wad o' money for every one o' yu. On top o' that, I'll be needin' men to run the ranches an' there'll be big pay for any or all o' yu. Don't make no mistake--I'm agoin' to swing a wide loop an' fellers who tie to me get their share.'
`King o' the Rangers, eh, Joe?' Laban said.
Tarman laughed. `Shore, an', boys, there'll be plenty pickin's, believe me.'
He paused and looked round, confident of the effect of his speech, and he was not disappointed. To Green's astonishment, the men seemed pleased; apparently they could not see that the big rogue had used them merely to grab the lion's share of the plunder himself. Tarman was clever; he knew that to these men land would have small appeal in comparison with the hard cash to be realised by the sale of the stolen cattle, and that in all probability his followers were thinking they had the better of the deal. But all of them were not so satisfied, for Blaynes had listened to his leader with a face which grew more and more discontented. Evidently things were not panning out as he expected.
`What yu aimin' to do with the girl?' he asked, and there was a hint of hostility in his tone.
Tarman looked at him. `I'm aimin' to do what--I--please,' he said coolly.
`She was to be part o' my share; yu said it,' Blaynes rasped, his voice husky with anger.
`I hadn't seen her then,' Tarman grinned, and several of the others laughed.
The Y Z foreman did not join in. Standing in the middle of the room, slightly crouching, with head thrust forward and malevolent eyes, he was indeed the human presentment of a reptile about to strike. Even his voice had a hiss in it.
`She was promised to me an' I mean to have her--an' a share in the ranch,' he said. `Double-cross me, Tarman, an' I'll put a crimp in yore schemes if I have to give myself up to the Governor o' the Territory to do it.'
Tarman regarded him curiously, alert for the slightest movement; he knew the man meant what he said and that tragedy threatened. He had expected trouble over the girl, but not that Blaynes would push it to the point of open insubordination. In a moment he had made his decision.
`Hell's bells, there's plenty o' pretty girls, Blaynes,' he laughed, `but if yo're set on this one, well, yu shall have her--when I've done with her.'
The taunt was deliberate, intentional; it was a challenge, and a deadly silence followed it. For a heart-stopping half-minute Blaynes stood as though frozen, only his eyes glaring hatred at the man who mocked him. Then the fingers of his hanging right hand slowly opened claw-like, and with an almost inarticulate oath he snatched at his gun. To the onlookers the reports seemed to be simultaneous, but then, through the swirling smoke, they saw the Y Z foreman stagger under the shock of the heavy bullet, and, as his knees gave way, pitch forward to the floor, his weapon clattering beside him. Twisting in a last agony, he shook his fist at Tarman and cried :
`Damn yu, Webb, yu got me, but yore own time ain't far off, yu treacherous hound.'
He rolled over and was silent. Tarman, his gun poised for a second shot, watched him with narrowed, relentless gaze. Then, seeing that all was ended, he thrust the weapon back into the holster.
`Well, boys, yu all heard what he threatened an' seen him go for his-gun,' he said. `Anybody want to take up his end of it?'
`Even break; he got what was comin' to him, the sneakin' cur,' said Pete, and that seemed to be the general opinion.
`Good enough,' Tarman resumed. `His share goes into the main fund--I don't want none of it.'
Two of the men carried the corpse into another room, and on their return Tarman said, `Now we gotta settle what to do with our friend here,' and he waved a hand towards the prisoner. `Hands up for stretchin' him right away.'
Every man in the room, save one, elevated a paw, several jocularly put up both. Tarman looked round with a grin.
'Hell! yu don't seem to he none popular in this community, Sudden,' he commented. `There's on'y one as ain't anxious to see you dance on nothin'. What's yore objection, West?'
`Well, boss,' replied California, who alone had kept his hands down, `here's how I look at it. This feller's worth ten thousand wheels alive, an' nothin' dead, an' it 'pears to me a waste o' good money to swing him when there's folks who'll pay that amount an' do it for us.'
`Yes, an' give him a chance to tell his little tale,' interposed Dexter. `Where'd we be then?'
`Where we are now,' retorted West. `Yore head's about as useful as it is ornamental. Who's goin' to take the word of an outlaw agin the fellers who gave him up? Why, yu couldn't find a better way o' stoppin' any gab there may be. I can see a public vote o' thanks bein' passed to our prominent citizen an' landowner, Mr. Tarman, for accomplishin' what half-a-dozen sheriffs have fallen down on.'
`By God, he's right, boys,' Tarman cried, his imagination caught by the prospect. `That's a tally for yu, West, an' when we come to cuttin' up the beef I'm not forgettin' it.' He turned and grinned at the captive. `Yu have a few more weeks to live, Mr. Sudden.'
Green did not answer; the last words of Tarman's latest victim were still ringing in his ears. He knew now that this was the man for whom he had searched so long. He was bigger, for he had filled out, and with the addition of a beard, and his dyed hair, it was not to be wondered at that Green had failed to recognise him under his assumed name, for he had seen him but a few times at Evesham's ranch. `The Spider' might have suggested something but curious nicknames were the rule rather than the exception in the West. Tarman stepped in front of him.