"Carry on as usual till Jim gives the word--it won't be long a-comin'--after this." He tapped the paper, and turned to go.
"He shook han's with me when he went," Steve said.
Frosty understood. In silence their hands met in a grip which wiped out past misunderstandings. Neither of them saw a furtive shadow, which had been crouching at the rear of the shack, slink swiftly in the direction of the bunkhouse.
Almost before the sun had made its appearance, Frosty was pounding on the Twin Diamond ranch-house door. The owner opened it himself.
"Yu again?" he greeted. "Why'n hell don't yu come an' live here? Yu wouldn't have to knock the house down to get in.""I'm allus forgettin' yore scrap-heap's feeble constitution," Frosty grinned. "I got news."
"If yu hadn't I'd do somethin' to yu," was the dry reply. "I shore thought them rapscallions from Hell City was makin' a massed attack. Awright, fellas, it's on'y that quiet, well-behaved young gent frdm the Double K." This as Sudden and Jeff hurried in.
"What's the, trouble?" the puncher asked.
"Yu were right, Jim, he's got her," the cowboy replied. One by one, they read the missive, Keith last, with shaking fingers and face the colour of chalk.
"The swine can even imitate my writing," he cried. "By Christmas, if he makes her shed only one tear I'll have his heart's blood. What can we do, Jim?"
Sudden shook his head. "We can't move--yet; we're not strong enough."
But to leave her in the power of that--devil ! if no one else will go--"
"Listen," Sudden said sternly. "Here's how I figure it. The shootin' at Dugout was done to pull yu in. The Colonel's care for his name trumped that trick, so now he's baitin' the trap with the girl. An' yu want to rush into it. She'll be safe. Remember, he believes that, to her, he is still Jeff Keith, an' I'll bet she won't let him know different."
"That's the straight of it, boy," the rancher agreed. "Yo're the king-pin; if he gets yu again, we're done."
Keith threw up his hands, a gesture of despair. "It's plain hell, but you're right. I'll stay put," he promised. "Sorry I flew off the handle, Jim."
"I ain't blamin' yu--felt like it myself. Tough on yu to be tied here, but it's gotta be. Mart, can yu keep yore outfit within easy reach o' the ranch-house to-day?"
"Yu bet I will."
"Good. We have to move fast now. I'm ridin' to Red Rock this mornin' to see Dealtry, an' I'll come back by Dugout. If they'll both chip in, we'll tackle Hell City--tomorrow."
"That's the talk, Jim," Merry approved.
"What yu want I should do?" Frosty enquired.
The puncher's grim face relaxed. "Keep that big mouth o' yourn shut--all of it," he replied, and was gone before the insulted one could think of a fitting retort.
Chapter XXIV
The sheriff of Red Rock smiled as he recognized the young man he had catalogued in his memory as "Mart Merry's visitor."
"Takin' the back trail a'ready?" he asked. "Ain't tired of us, I hope."
"Neither one nor the other," Sudden replied. "Yu remember the day I met yu?"
"Shore thing--I saved the bank forty thousand bucks."
"Yeah, havin' had word o' the hold-up from a boy name o' Holt. Did he tell yu how he knowed?"
"He was some reticent 'bout that--said a fella called `Sudden' sent him. I took a chance, though I'd never heard o' the jigger."
"Yo're meetin' him now," the puncher announced "Yu see, I was one o' the road-agents, but for reasons yu'll understand later, I didn't want the trick turned." He grinned at the amazed officer. "Why, if yu'd accepted my invite an' searched me, yu'd 'a' found another o' them red badges."
Dealtry leaned back ink his chair. "Damn me if I know whether I oughta thank or throw yu in the calaboose."
"Play safe an' make it the first," Sudden advised. "I'm here on serious business."
"Spill it," was the reply. "You can't surprise me no more."
"Don't bet too high on that," Sudden warned. "Yu re collect we talked o' young Keith an' yu told me he was reputed to be bossin' an outlaw band--the same what tried to rob yore coach. Well, that ain't so; their leader is a man yu used to know as Lafe Lander."
"Jeff's friend?"
"Yeah," Sudden said drily, "but lemme show yu how much of a friend he is." In a few sentences, he told of the impudent impersonation, the shooting of the Colonel, and abduction of his daughter. The sheriff's eyebrows nearly joined his hair as he listened to the extraordinary story. The teller of it concluded with, "Lander is a good shot an' carries a couple o' thirty-eights. Does that mean anything to yu?"
"Hell's blight," the sheriff swore. "It was a thirty-eight let the life out'n my boy. That clears Keith."
"Shorely, an' yu can add that Lander admitted to me he shot yore son."
Dealtry rose, his face rigid. "Mister," he said, "I don't care if yo're forty outlaws riled into one, I'm deep in yore debt for this, an' if there's any way I can square it you on'y gotta say. But first, I'm goin' to scare up a few o' the boys, gather in an' hang this felon."
Sudden smiled; he liked the courage of this forthright, burly fellow. But this would not do. "Wait a minute, sheriff; if it was that easy, I'd 'a' fetched him in for yu," he said, and went on to explain that Hell City was a natural fortress, garrisoned by at least two-score desperate men who would fight to the last because life or liberty was already forfeit to the law.
"It'll mean a battle," Dealtry commented, his sombre eyes alight. "Good. I'll be at the Twin Diamond to-morrow, early, an' I won't be alone."
Leaving Red Rock, Sudden took an easterly trail to Dugout. His journey had, so far, been successful; not only had he secured the needed assistance, but removed the shadow overhanging Jeff Keith. The end of the long and perilous path he had been pursuing was almost in sight, and in a little morethan twenty-four hours--if all went well, the most colossal criminal he had ever encountered would reap the reward of his misdeeds. At this point his cogitations concluded with a self-deprecatory laugh.
"Countin' chickens, Nig," he said. "I'm shore old enough to know better'n that."
His entry into Dugout caused a flutter; heads were poked out of doorways as the news travelled from house to house. He turned into the store, which was empty, except for the proprietor.
"Jansen, yu are a liar," he remarked, and smiled.
The store-keeper was glad to see that smile; the words were fighting talk, and though he was no coward, he knew it was death for him to draw on this man. He said nothing. "Yu pretend that Colonel Keith injured himself though yu saw another shoot him," the puncher continued. "There is no longer any need for that lie. Bite on this : Jeff Keith ain't the man yu know as Satan."
Incredulous as Jansen undoubtedly was, he did not dare dispute the assertion.
"How--how d'you know?" he stammered.
"I went to Hell City to find out," Sudden replied. "Heard 'bout Miss Keith?"
"Ain't nothin' happened to her, has there?"
"Some o' Satan's Imps carried her off last night."
The store-keeper stamped with rage. "Curse it! You gave them whelps a lesson once. Don't you reckon they need another?"
"They're gettin' it--to-morrow, an it's goin' to be the last one. I'm here to ask if Dugout will stand in?"
"you bet she will," Jansen replied. "What you want me to do?"
"Report with yore men to Steve Lagley in the mornin', and tell 'em not to chatter; we aim to make it a surprise party."
"Here's one who'll go, mister," a hoarse voice broke in. "I got Pop's rifle an' can use her, too."
A gawky youth emerged from the shadowy back of the store. There was an eager fire in his dark eyes.
"Awright, Bud, talk to me later," Jansen said, and in a whisper to the puncher, "Satan had his father hanged. Is Merry in this?"
"Yeah, an' the Red Rock sheriff is fetchin' a posse; we're goin' to do this thing right. So long,"