"I'll say he did," the foreman cried exultantly. "Gives him a chance to pull off the rustlin' an' if he's seen there, yu can't chirp--he's workin' for yu. Damned smart, I gotta hand it to yu, Sudden; the on'y mistake yu made was usin' yore own hoss. I guess that fixes yu, good an' proper."
He looked expectantly at his companions. Merry slowly shook his head. "It looks like yu might be right, Lagley, but I hate to find myself mistaken in a man," he said. "What yu goin' to do, Ken?"
"Hang him at sunrise," was the stern reply. "A rope's the only remedy for rustling. Take his guns, Steve, and shoot if he makes a move."
Sudden's brain was busy. The rancher's threat was no empty one, and to allow himself to be taken meant a shameful death; there would be no mercy for a man who had helped to rob his own range. Only a single chance remained, desperate, but he must take it. Three of them would be firing at him, but...
Silent, with arms hanging loosely from drooping shoulders as though overwhelmed by the catastrophe which had overtaken him, he waited until the foreman moved to do his master's hidding. Then his left hand flashed to his belt and a bullet shattered the hanging light, plunging the room into darkness. Three spits of flame followed, but the fugitive had instantly dropped to hands and knees, dived for the window, and disappeared amid a shower of broken glass. When the three reached the verandah, the diminishing drum of pounding hooves apprised them that they were too late. An excited group of half-clad men came surging from the bunkhouse, and Lagley was yelling to them to get their guns and horses when Keith stopped him.
"Don't be seven sorts of a damned fool," he said savagely. "you had him covered, in the light, and he got away. Fine chance you'd have in the dark. Tell the men to turn in, and do the same."
When the foreman had gone, Merry turned to his host. "I'm just as pleased he made it. It's true things looked bad, but I can size up a fella with most, an' I'm bettin' there's an explanation."
"There is always that for the lunatic willing to believe it. Better put him on your pay-roll."
"I will, if he shows up," Martin grinned. "He's worth three o' yore foreman."
"Steve's stupid, but he's honest," Keith replied.
"Mebbe, but he ain't the man he used to be, an' I'd have no opening for him at the Twin Diamond," Martin said. "Hullo, here's Miss Joan come to see which of us she's gotta weep over."
The girl, wrapped in a great-coat, and carrying a candle, was standing in the wrecked window. Keith explained what had happened.
"I don't believe that Green would steal cattle," she said. Merry burst out laughing and slapped his friend on the shoulder. "Two to one against yu, ol'-timer; yo're outvoted," he cried.
"Which ought to convince me, I suppose?" Keith replied stiffly. "Well, it doesn't. If I lay hands on the scoundrel again, he swings, even if he's riding for you, Martin."
'Satisfied that he would not be pursued ln the dark, Sudden eased his mount after covering a few miles. He saw clearly enough what had occurred: Satan and Lagley had "framed" him, and his absence from the Double K had provided the opportunity. A daub of white paint and the bandit's black would convincingly resemble Nigger in the starlight. Satan's reference to his early return to Hell City recurred to him and he now understood the sly smile which had then puzzled him. The reason for the plot was not so obvious. Either the bandit wished to force the cowboy to join him openly, or to get rid of him altogether. Sudden did not think the latter likely, though it might well have suited Lagley.
Dismissing the matter from his mind, he began to seek a place to spend the night, for he had no intention of returning to Hell City until daylight. It did not take him long; at a spot where the trail to Dugout dipped between brush-covered slopes, he found a grassy hollow from which he could see without being seen. He picketed his horse, but did not remove the saddle, rolled himself in his blanket, and, back against a sapling, was soon asleep.
The sun was climbing the eastern sky when a merry but unmelodious voice awoke him; it seemed familiar. Creeping forward, he parted the bushes; Frosty was riding leisurely towards him. Sudden grinned, thrust out a gun, and called hoarsely: "Push 'em up, yu yowlin' he-cat."
The rider's start of surprise nearly threw him out of the saddle, but the protruding weapon admitted no argument; he raised his hands. The hidden voice went on grumblingly: "Oughta blow yore light out, spoilin' my sleep an' pizenin' the atmosphere thataway. Explain yoreself."
Try as he might, he could not keep the mirth out of his tone. Frosty detected it; he lowered his hands.
"Shoot an' be damned," he said.
Instead of a bullet, came an order. "The sheriff o' Dugout will get off that bone-bag he calls a hoss an' step up here, fetchin' said bone-bag along."
The cowboy did as directed and found himself facing the smiling owner of the voice. "Knowed it was yu allatime," he said hastily. "Just had to let yu play yore kid game. No, there ain't nobody followin' me; I slipped off."
"To find me?"
"I was hopin'--figured yu might go to town. Jim, I don't savvy--thought mebbe yu could wise me up."
"I ain't very clear my own self," Sudden admitted. "Yu were there when the herd was run off?"
"Yeah, four of us was watchin' them steers yu an' me bin collectin'--Steve had a hunch somethin' was goin' to happen," Frosty said.
Sudden's grin was ironical. "He would have," he commented. "An' he wanted plenty witnesses."
"Over a dozen of 'ern closed in onus from all sides, firin'," Frosty continued. "They got Denver in the leg, crippled two hosses, an' swept the cows off before we'd got our breath; it was the neatest gather. The leader's mount was the spit o' Nigger."
"Was he masked?"
"I didn't get that close an' the light was poor, but I'd say he had a bandanna round his chops. He shorely looked liked yu, Jim."
"It warn't me nor Nigger--both of us was in Hell City."
"Yu didn't go to Red Rock?"
"Never meant to, an' Keith knowed it," Sudden said. "I've been framed, cowboy. Mister Satan wants me to throw in with him."
"I'll bet yu'd not do that, Jim."
"Then yu'd lose, for that is pre-cisely what I'm goin' to do," was the sardonic answer. "Are yu suggestin' I should let the Double K string me up?""There's other places," Frosty pointed out.
"I know it," Sudden retorted harshly. "I'm to go on the dodge for somethin' I didn't do, huh? That's happened before, an' I'm through. This time I'll hit back, an' hit hard."
The bitter vehemence of this declaration told that further argument would be useless. Frosty was silent for a while, and then : "If yu need help, Jim, yu on'y gotta mention it--that's what I really came to say, an' I reckon it goes for some o' the others, too."
"I'm obliged, but there's no call for my friends to put their necks in a noose because I do," Sudden replied.
"Pickles !" Frosty laughed. "Friends oughta hang together, anyways. We're backin' yu--the limit."
"Which is mighty good hearin'," Sudden said soberly. "I got a sorta ambition to abolish Hell City, but yu needn't mention it yet awhile."
Frosty stared at him incredulously. "Is that all?" he asked. "What yu goin' to do in yore spare time?"
"I'll have to think up somethin'," Sudden grinned. "Listen: I happened on a private way o' gettin' into the place." He described the spot. "Find, but don't use it till yu have a word from me. Still got that badge? Good, yu may need it."
"Jim, d'yu reckon Steve is Toxin'?"
"He was powerful eager to see me dance on nothin'."
"No foreman likes to have his cattle stole."
"That's true; but I wouldn't trust him. Now, I gotta be on the move. So long."
"When yu want us we'll come a-runnin'," were Frosty's parting words. "Yu goin' to town?"
"Yeah, I couldn't stay for supper las' night an' my insides is remindin' me; fresh air's good, but it ain't fillin'."