‘Jonathan de Witt—that’s the feller we knowed as Patches,’ explained Sudden, ‘came West to find out what had happened to his son when he didn’t hear from him. He discovered that the man at the Bank was not his son, backtracked to Santa Fe, found out that his son had been seen around with a man named Miller, whose description was that of the man now posing as Jasper de Witt.
‘But then he went to pieces. Shock, grief, perhaps fear, worked upon him. He started drinking; he was robbed. He could not return East for help, knowing that he had no proof against Miller. So he started to play his part as the town drunk, waiting and watching for the one slip that Miller might make which would enable him to take his revenge.’
‘So when judge Pringle revealed Miller’s name on those registration certificates, Patches knew Miller’s time had come,’ Dave put in. ‘I had seen him in the saloon. He must’ve dodged out to get a gun. When he walked through that door, Miller musta thought he was seein’ a ghost.’
‘Him and his son looked very much alike,’ Sudden said.
‘That’s why Patches was allus so dirty an’ unshaven; he couldn’t risk Miller recognizin’ him.’
‘I shore never expected Miller to have two shoulder guns, though,’ breathed Shorty, reliving the suspenseful moments in Burkhart’s saloon. ‘By the way, Jim, where’d yu ever learn to use a gun like that?’
Sudden shook his head and said nothing.
‘I reckon,’ continued Shorty enthusiastically, ‘yu could give that Sudden feller I’ve heard about a run for his money.’
Grace, who had left the room for a moment, returned in time to overheat Shorty’s remark.
‘Shorty, really!’ she exclaimed, ‘there’s a considerable difference between a man like Jim and that dreadful outlaw.’
Sudden’s smile was merry as he rose.
‘Miss Grace, the next time yu see judge Pringle, maybe yu’d tell him just that. I reckon he’d be interested to hear it in just them words.’
Grace Tate looked at her foreman in puzzlement. ‘What do you mean, Jim?’
Sudden smiled down at her from his great height.
‘It’s a long story,’ he told her. ‘Yu save it for a rainy day.’
‘Oh, fiddle!’ she snapped. ‘You men and your mysteries. All right, now; time to go, everyone. The patient has to have some rest, and he can’t rest with all this chatter and smoking. Out, out, out! You too, Jim .’
‘Just give me five more minnits, ma’m. I’ll be on my way then.’
‘Oh—you’re not leaving so soon?’ Grace looked to Dave for support, and the young cowboy added his pleas to hers. Green shook his head.
‘I got to move on,’ he said. ‘I got a job to do.’
Finally, after giving him a resounding kiss that brought a mock protest from the bedridden Dave, Grace bustled out, shaking an admonitory finger around the door. ‘Five minutes, mind you. Not a second more.’
After she had gone, Dave turned to his friend.
‘Jim, I got the feelin’ there was more to that mention o’ Sudden than yu let on. Yu want to tell me about it?’
Sudden surveyed him gravely for a moment, then a smile spread across his face. ‘Shucks, yu wouldn’t believe it if I told yu,’ he grinned.
He thrust out his hand, and the two friends shook hands firmly.
‘Take care o’ her,’ Sudden said. ‘She’s a fine girl.’
‘I know it. Yu take care o’ yourself, hear?’ Dave told him, a catch in his throat.
‘Been tryin’ to all these years,’ Sudden answered drily. ‘I’ll keep at it.’
He wheeled quickly, stopping at the door. ‘Name the first one after me, huh?’
His friend lay in silence for a long moment; he heard Green’s goodbyes, then his feet on the porch, and finally, the sound of his horse’s hoofs pounding across the yard and down the trail and out of the valley forever. ‘So long, Jim,’ he muttered. ‘I shore will.’
Sudden Will Return in
SUDDEN—TROUBLESHOOTER,
Coming Soon!
Piccadilly Publishing Blog
Piccadilly Publishing website
Sudden--Strikes Back (A Sudden Western #1) Page 20
