"A mouthful o' fresh air won't do yu no harm," he said, and led the way to the door.
Outside the corral the puncher paused, ostensibly to make a cigarette, but actually to give his companion time to shake off the fumes of the spirit he had imbibed. The cool cleanness of the night appeared to bring him out of the semi-dazed state. Sudden surveyed him sardonically.
"I'm guessin' yu an liquor ain't very well acquainted," he remarked. "Drownin' yore sorrows is a poor way--the blame things can anus swim."
The boy made a desperate attempt to smile. "I expect yo're right," he said. "But you were drinkin' too."
"I was takin' a drink. To sit there lappin' 'em up one after the other is somethin' different. What brought yu here?"
It was a common enough tale. A gambling debt he could not pay, an attempt to get the money dishonestly which failed, and he was outside the law.
"The sheriff an' his men was hot on our trail an' we lined out for here. They got the other two, but I made it. I most wish I hadn't," he finished miserably.
"That's no way to talk," Sudden told him. "Keep yore chin up an' stay away from liquor an' cards. When did yu lose that posse?"
"Two days back, 'bout forty mile off," was the reply. "I rode in the water some."
"Good for yu. I'm bettin' they've turned tail."
Holt remembered something. "I'm thankin' you," he said shyly.
"Don't yu. That windbag was aimin' at me. So long."
Purely as a matter of policy, the puncher returned to the saloon, the owner of which greeted him with a grin.
"He's went," he said. "Got the face-ache, I figure; that was a daddy of a wallop you give him." He lowered his voice. "Don't forget that anythin' goes in this man's town."
Sudden realized that the warning was well-meant. "I'm obliged, friend," he smiled. "Right now, bed goes for me."
Lying on his blankets in the darkness he turned over the day's doings. He had put two people under an obligation, and had made another enemy; the latter troubled him not at all. His examination of the place had only convinced him of its strength. As for its ruler ... It seemed incredible that Kenneth Keith could be father to such a son.
"He's a throw-back," Sudden mused. "The 01' Man musta had a pirut ancestor, one o' the bloodthirsty kind that made prisoners walk the plank just to amuse hisself, though that would be too tame for this fella."
Satisfied with this solution, he went to sleep. In the morning he idled about, studying the life in this human warren. Itwas a peaceful enough scene. Men, and a few women, sunning themselves in the open, or chatting in groups outside the store or the saloon; it might have been any one of a hundred frontier settlements he had seen. Once, a hard-eyed rider galloped in, scattering dust and dogs in all directions, to disappear into the Chief's abode. He encountered the woman, Anita, but she went by without a glance. Then he ran into Holt, and saw that something was troubling him.
"Head bad?" he asked.
"Feels like it had been split open with an axe an' joined wrong," the boy said ruefully. "But that ain't anythin'." He hesitated a moment and then blurted out, "I tried to git away this mornin', but the fella at the gate said I had to have a permit."
The puncher shook his head. "It ain't that easy. Better stay an' lay for a chance. Mebbe I'll be able to help yu."
In the afternoon he went to see the Chief. He found Miss Dalroy there, and would have retired, but the masked man stayed him.
"Come in," he said. "You know Belle, I believe."
"We met at a very fortunate moment--for me," the girl smiled, her fine eyes dwelling on the lithe, athletic form of the visitor. "I owe you a great deal, Mister Sudden."
"My name is Green, ma'am," he corrected stiffly, "an' yu don't owe me nothin'."
"Well, I give in about the name," she replied. "For the rest, I shall--"
"I take the debt upon myself, Belle," Satan interrupted, and to the cowboy, "So you didn't avail yourself of Silver's hospital?"
"I like to sleep near my hoss," Sudden replied curtly. "And you occupied your time antagonizing another of your comrades," the cold voice continued. "Was that wise?"
"He was tryin' to run a blazer on me, an' I don't stand for that--from anyone."
The belligerent tone and very obvious challenge brought the merest ghost of a smile to the straight lips beneath the mask, an effect the speaker did not expect.
"I'm goin' back to the Double K to-night," he announced.
Sudden saw the man's fists tighten, but, furious as the bandit was at this slighting of his authority, he showed no other sign.
"The great gunman is already weary of us," he said mockingly to the girl. "We can only hope that he will return soon--and stay longer."
Though the cowboy sensed the threat his expression was blank. "Shore I'll be back," he said, and added a clumsy compliment, "Hell City ain't so much, but if it's good enough for Miss Dalroy ..."
He bowed to the lady, nodded to the man, and swaggered out. For a space there was silence, and then Satan remarked, "That fellow has much to learn."
The woman shivered; the words were commonplace, but the tone in which they were spoken made them sound like a death sentence. With what seemed uncanny power, he read her thought.
"Feeling sorry for him, Belle?"
The start of surprise told him he had guessed correctly, but her reply was contradictory. With a disdainful shrug she said: "Not very, but naturally, I'm grateful."
Dusk was falling when Sudden set out for the Double K. As he neared the gate of the town, a hooded figure stopped him; it was Belle Dalroy.
"I've been waiting to tell you just one thing," she whispered hurriedly. "Don't come back--ever."
"Why, ma'am, it's right kind o' yu, but I'm afraid that ain't possible," Sudden told her. "Yu see--"
"That you are one of those self-satisfied folk on whom a warning is wasted, yes," she finished cuttingly. "Very well, I can do no more."
She turned swiftly and was lost in the growing darkness. The puncher rode slowly on, wondering.
Chapter XIV
When he reached the Double K, Sudden rode straight to the ranch-house. Through the french windows of the living-room he could see that Keith had visitors--Martin Merry and Lagley. The girl was not present. The eyes of the men opened wide when the cowboy tapped on the window and walked in. Instantly three guns covered him.
"What the devil are you doing here?" his employer rapped out. "Talk fast, and keep your hands still."
It was Sudden's turn to look astonished. "I'm here to report, seh," he said simply.
"And you brought your nerve with you," the Colonel retorted. "Having got the herd hidden I suppose you could be spared?"
"I'm in the dark, seh," the puncher said patiently.
"Really? So it will be news that our northern range was raided last night and over one hundred head driven off, together with as many Twin Diamond steers?"
"It certainly is."
"Yu an' Frosty have bin roustin' out an' bunchin' cattle on that boundary," Lagley remarked.
"At yore orders."
"So yu knowed where to find 'em."
Sudden's eyes narrowed. "Yu tryin' to tell me I stole the stock?" he asked.
"Just that," the foreman replied. "Lyin' about it won't buy yu nothin'. Yu were seen--that white blaze on yore black is plenty unusual."
"Who saw me?"
"Several o' the boys--yore side-kick, Frosty, among 'em."
"Their sight must be good, me bein' in--"
"Red Rock, was yu about to say?" Lagley sneered. "We happen to know yu never went near there."
"That was a stall," Sudden explained. "I told the Colonel I was goin' to Hell City."
"On my business, but it seems to have been on his own," Keith said acridly. "He deceived me."