"A mighty sweet gal," the saloon-keeper agreed, "an' if de 01' Man hadn't showed his han' so plain ..."
Sudden nodded. "Ever been to this Heil City?" he asked.
"Lordy, no sah," Sam said. "I don' want no truck with dal outlaw trash. 'Sides, a fella snoopin' roun' dere is li'ble to catch a bullet."
The obvious warning had no effect. "I must have a look at it," Sudden smiled. "I'm curious, an' I might wanta join up with Mister Satan, after all."
He left his host scratching his woolly poll in perplexity over this last disturbing proposition.
Sudden had just finished his morning meal in the parlour when he heard a loud and cheerful voice in the bar.
"'Lo, Sam, yu got a cow-person stayin' here--tall fella with hair as black as yore hide--who looks like a rustler an' probably is one?"
"Mistah Green, sah," the saloon-keeper began.
"That's the name," chimed in the cheerful one. "Yu go tell the gent that the sheriff o' Dugout needs him right away."
"How long dis town own a sher'ff?" Sam queried. "'Bout ten minutes--I just bin app'inted a-purpose, an'see, if he tries to leave by the back window, smoke him up."
"De debbil! What he wanted foh, Frosty?"
"Just murder, arson, robbery with violence, cheatin' at cyards, desertin' his wife an' kids, an'--"
"Consortin' with a low character by the name o' Rud Homer," put in a quiet voice from the doorway leading to the rear of the premises. "Howdy."
Frosty stared at him open-mouthed. "Musta bin romancin' --yu ain't marked," he muttered, and then, "Told Naylor just now that I'd come in to git yu an' he advised me to fetch the rest o' the outfit. Said yu fought four o' Satan's toughs yestiddy an' threw 'em out on their ears."
"He was stringin' yu," Sudden said, and added, "I hope there's somethin' yu do better than lyin'."
"Shore there is," Frosty said eagerly. "Set 'em up, ol'timer." He dived into a pocket and a look of dismay followed the action. "Hell, I won't have a nickel till pay-day."
"Yu can hock yore gun," Sudden suggested, with a sly wink at the man behind the bar. "That's the rule, ain't it, Sam?"
"Suah is, gents," was the reply.
Frosty turned belligerently upon him. "An' who in blazes is goin' to fall for that in this country?" he asked.
"Scar an' three of his friends fell for it," Sudden said. "Fell considerable hard, too."
Light came to the Double K rider. 'Then Naylor told the truth--yu did mix it with them scallawags?"
"There was a li'l argument," Sudden admitted. "They left in a hunry an' forgot their shootin'-irons."
Frosty grinned and slammed his gun down. "Trot out the pain-killer, Sam," he said. "The new rule goes."
The saloon-keeper pushed the weapon back. "Not foh mah fren's, sah," he corrected. "Dey's on de house."
"Well sheriff," Sudden began.
-Aw, forget it," the other smiled. "Dugout's got no use for one anyways, she's dead, an' on'y needs an undertaker." Later, as they rode in the direction of the Double K ranch, Sudden said bluntly, "What's Keith want with me?"
"Hell, yu ain't gotta have four eyes to see that," came the reply. "Didn't yu git his gal out'n a jam? Any o' the boys would 'a' given a month's pay for the chance. Yu must be one o' those lucky guys."
"Shore, lucky don't begin to tell about me," Sudden retorted, with such emphatic bitterness that his companion stared. "Shucks, I don't need any thanks; I've a mind to go back."
"Then I'll have to bring the outfit," Frosty said."When the 01' Man wants a thing it has gotta be got, come hell or high water. Are yu goin' to make me fall down on my job?"
The puncher's respect for his new friend's shrewdness increased; this was an argument to which there was only one reply.
"Yu win," he said, and presently, "They were talkin' in the bar last night 'bout Hell City; ever seen it?"
"From the outside on'y, an' that's a-plenty."
"Is the boss of it young Keith?"
The Double K cowboy shrugged. "Common talk sez so, an' all the signs read that way," he replied. "Allasame, I dunno. Time he left here, Jeff warn't bad, just wild an' headstrong. When yu ride a colt too hard yu break its spirit or turn it into an outlaw. The Colonel didn't savvy what he was doin'. He's a good rancher, an' square, but, if he gits to Paradise--which is some doubtful--I'll bet he'll want to run it."
"Stiff-necked, huh?"
"Brother, yu said it; I don't reckon that fella ever does see his own feet. He wants Jeff an' Miss Joan to make a match,an' a blind man could tell they's headin' that way, but he gives the boy orders, puttin' him on the prod immediate. If he'd waited, but there, Ken Keith never could wait, an' I'll wager he's cussin' me out right now because I can't ride twenty mile in as many minutes."
Chapter V
The Double K range occupied an expansive tract of open country towards the end of the big basin and about ten miles south of Dugout. The ranch-house faced a long, grassy incline, and was protected from the sun by lofty pines. It was a wide, one-storied building of trimmed timber, with a roofed verandah along the whole front, and chimneys of stone. The bunkhouse, smithy, storage-barns and corrals were about a hundred yards distant. As the riders aproached, they could see a tall figure striding up and down le verandah.
"Like I said, callin' me everythin' he can think of," Frosty grinned, "an' lemme tell yu, he knows some words. Allasame, if he offers yu a job I hope yu'll take it; I'd admire to have yu here."
"I thought yu were tryin' to scare me away." Sudden smiled.
His companion shot a sly glance at him. "I'd say yu don't scare easy. Don't git any wrong ideas 'bout the 01' Man; he's all wool, an' we're proud of him; also, the pay an' the grub is good."
"The foreman--is he good, too?"
Frosty frowned a little. "Sam's mouth opens too easy."
"He never named him," Sudden said. "I like to know somethin' of the man I take orders from."
"Him an' me don't exactly hit it, but that ain't to say he an't cover his job," Frosty said bluntly.
In a few moments they reached the ranch-house and dismounted. Colonel Keith was on the far side of fifty, but his erect, spare frame showed no sign of age. He had a large, high-bridged nose, keen black eyes set beneath bushy eyebrows, thin, carefully shaven lips, and he wore his grey hair somewhat long. A suit of fine white linen gave him the appearance of a prosperous planter rather than a cattleman.
"Breedin' there, an' pride," Sudden decided. "Wouldn't lift his lid to a king--less he liked him."
"Well, boss, I got him," Frosty announced.
"My feeble intellect had already divined as much," was the unsmiling reply. "You have not, I hope, been hurrying." Without giving the abashed cowboy time to answer he turned to the visitor. "That's a fine horse you have; Homer will take care of it."
Sudden shook his head. "I'd best 'tend to that myself," he said. "Nigger is a one-man hoss."
As they unsaddled and turned the animals loose in the corral, Frosty grimaced ruefully, and remarked, "Didn't I say he had a razor-tongue?"
"yu shorely asked for it. He's got eyes, too, ain't he?"
Sudden returned to the verandah alone, his companion not being anxious for another rebuff. The rancher pointed to a chair.
"We will sit here, if you please," he said, "The view is considered a fine one."
It was indeed. The expanse of grass-land, hemmed in by a strip of broken country beyond which forested slopes climbed steeply to the craggy, battlemented hills which formed the rim-rock of the great valley, presented a picture to please the eye of any lover of Nature. Keith gave the puncher little time to admire it.
"Mister Green, I am doubly in your debt," he began. "For protecting my adopted daughter from insult, and for giving me this opportunity of thanking you." He finished with an old-fashioned bow.
"Nothin' to that, seh," Sudden protested uncomfortably. "I just happened to be there."