The foreman's face grew darker. "He's a dirty little snitch; it was him wised you up 'bout the Bend affair, an' lost me twenty-five thousand bucks," he growled. "Ain't that enough?"
Sudden was surprised, but did not show it. Where had Bundy obtained this information? Only he, Dan, Burke, and Yorky knew the inner history of the hold-up; perhaps the boy himself had boasted. Anyway, that problem could wait; there was a more pressing one on hand. He replied to the ruffian's question.
"Dessay yu've killed for less," he said acidly, and paused, weighing up the situation. "I oughta leave yu on a tree, but mebbe yu were a man once, an' yu shall have a chance to die like one." He threw Bundy's gun on the grass. "If yu get me, yu go free. Pick her up."
"An' be downed while I'm stoopin'," the other jeered.
"I won't draw till yo're all set," Sudden said contemptuously.
The promise--which he did not doubt--made the Wagon-wheel man think. To offer such a great advantage, his opponent must be infernally fast or a fool, and Bundy had good reason to know that he was not the latter. His confidence in his own prowess was shaken. Another thought came, a desperate expedient; if he could kill Green, he did not fear his companions--they would be taken by surprise and unable to act immediately.
He bent quickly, grasped the gun and, instead of rising, tilted the muzzle upwards and pulled the trigger. Even as he did so, Sudden--watching for some such act of treachery--drew and fired. Bundy's shot missed by a bare inch, and before he could repeat the attempt his weapon was driven from his grip by the puncher's bullet. He clawed for it with his other hand, but Sudden sprang in, kicked it away, and sheathing his own gun, cried:
"Stand up, yu yella dawg, an' take what's comin' to yu."
Bundy was ready enough; he knew that ninety-nine men out of a hundred would instantly have driven a bullet through him after the failure of his dastardly trick; he had been lucky to meet the hundredth; but with the passing of the shadow of death, his hatred of the man who had spared him increased. Truly, with some natures, a favour from a foe is a bitter pill to swallow.
Bandy had one more remark to make. "Them friends o' yourn keepin' outa this?"
"They won't be my friends if they interfere," Sudden said.
"Good enough," the foreman replied. His confidence in
himself was returning. He had a well-earned reputation as an
exponent of the rough and tumble frontier method of settling quarrels. "I've bin waitin' to put my paws on you for an interferin' houn'."
"Yu couldn't find me, o' course," Sudden sneered. "I bide my time. I got the kid, an' yo're here."
"Well, what are yu waitin' for, the dark, so that yu can run away again?"
The taunt got through the foreman's hide, tough as it was. "No," he bellowed. "Here I come," and rushed in with fists flying.
"An' there yu go," Sudden retorted, as he drove a lightning left to the face which sent the man reeling.
He staggered to his feet and fought back with blind fury, reckless of the hurt he received, driven by an insensate desire to get his enemy by the throat and slowly squeeze the life out of him. But he had little chance against one who used his head as well as hands; straight jolts to the jaw and body met his wild rushes, and battered down his feeble defence. Opposed to that scientific hammering, his savage lunges were of no avail.
Once only a swinging fist got past the Circle Dot man's guard, and floored him. But he was up instantly, and when Bundy, with a shout of exultation, dashed in, he was met with a tempest of blows which drove him back, foot by foot, until, with every bone in his body aching, and both eyes nearly closed, he dropped his arms. Only for a second, but like a flash, Sudden's right came over and sent him, spent and apparently helpless, to the ground. There he lay, breathing heavily, and making no effort to rise.
"I reckon he's through," Tiny remarked. All of them had watched the combat in silence. "There ain't a kick left in him."
Tiny was wrong; no sooner had he voiced the thought than Bundy's head lifted.
"yo're a damn liar," he mumbled through puffed lips. "I'm goin' to show you."
Incredible as it seemed, after the punishment he had taken, he heaved himself upright, shook as a dog might after rolling, and stood, long arms swinging. Then he bent and plunged forward. Sudden waited, wondering; there could be no more fight in the fellow, and yet ... The menacing figure was on him, fists raised, before he realized the fell design--he had but a second to act; the ruffian's right foot was sweeping up to deliver a savage kick in the stomach which might kill, or disable a man for life. Quick as thought, Sudden jumped aside, seized the ascending limb behind the ankle and forced it upwards. The foreman, thrown completely off his balance, struck the ground violently with the back of his head; this time, there was no movement. The victor cold, inscrutable, stood over him.
"Ain't bruk his neck, have you, Jim?" Tiny asked.
"No, that still remains for a rope," Sudden replied. "Put Yorky's saddle an' bridle on this brute's hoss."
Bundy heard the order, and had sufficient life left in him to understand what it meant. "You settin' me afoot--after this?" he snarled.
"Yo're gettin' a taste o' what yu cooked up for the boy, an' lucky at that--we oughta be plantin' yu."
The foreman knew it, and said no more. Not until they had melted into the growing dusk did he struggle, with many groans and curses, to his feet, and, carrying his riding-gear, set out on the nightmare journey to the Wagon-wheel. For to one who spent nearly the whole of his waking hours in the saddle, and whose body was one big bruise, the long march over rough ground could only be unspeakable torture.
Something of this was in the puncher's mind when Tiny reproached him for not settling the affair straight-away after Bundy's cowardly attempt had failed.
"I wanted him to suffer, an' I'll bet right now he's near wishin' I'd downed him," Sudden replied harshly. "After what he fixed up for Yorky ..." He turned to the youth. "Mebbe yu oughta go away for a spell."
"I'm stayin'," Yorky said stoutly. "Me an' that foreman feller ain't finished yet."
The puncher smiled into the darkness, glad of this fresh proof that his protege was game. "Well, keep clear o' the Wagon-wheel, though it bothers me how they got hep. Anybody see yu there?"
"I met Miss Trenton on th' way back," the boy admitted.
"She may've mentioned it, an' if my hoss was spotted in the Bend, that'd be enough," Sudden decided.--- The whoop of welcome which went up when the rest of the outfit saw that the missing one was of the party, broughta warmth into the waif's heart; these were his friends. In that moment the big city lost him for ever.
Chapter XII
Trenton and Garstone stared in undisguised astonishment when, in response to a summons from the former, Bundy came to the ranch-house in the afternoon. He had reached the Wagon-wheel about sunrise, almost dead on his feet, and dropping on the pallet-bed--he had his own quarters--slept like a log from sheer exhaustion. Despite his attempt to do so, he could not remove all traces of the terrible treatment he had undergone; the blackened, swollen eyes, gashed lips, missing teeth, and battered face told an eloquent tale.
"What in hell's happened to you?" Zeb enquired. "Been trampled on by a herd?"
The foreman had his version ready. "I was ridin' back last evenin' when I run into Green an' two o' the Circle Dot fellas. They come on me unawares, roped an' threw me, an' got my gun. Then they set about me--I'd no chance agin three, an' one of 'em that big chap they call Tiny. When I was all in, they went off with my hoss. I had to hoof it home, an' I warn't in any good shape for that neither."