Sudden Outlawed (1934)

by Oliver Strange

  "Likely enough, and that's one reason I wanted to see you," Baudry said. "I've been told there's some pretty tough gangs haunting the trail, waiting for herds, and I thought I'd warn you to be on the lookout."

  "Mighty good o' yu, Jethro," the rancher said warmly. "I've had word a'ready to the same effect but"--his eyes twinkled--"if they wait for the S E they're liable to get tired o' the job." Baudry looked puzzled.

  "We're aimin' to turn west and cut our own trail," Eden explained triumphantly.

  "you're a sly old fox, Sam," the gambler said. "But isn't it risky? you may euchre the rustlers but you'll certainly run into the redskins."

  "I figure them varmints will be watchin' the trail too," the cattleman argued. "As for bein' risky, the whole damn drive is that. Seen anythin' of another herd this way?"

  "yes, they crossed some miles lower down--just beat the flood. The river's dropping--you'll get over tomorrow, I'd say."

  "Hope so. I fair hate hangin' about. Comin' with us, Jethro?" The gambler shook his head, and rose. "Have to wait for my man," he said. "I'll be seeing you later. Good luck to ye, Sam."

  He was about to mount when he saw Carol talking to one of the outfit and walked towards them, leading his horse. The cowboy turned away when he saw the newcomer. The girl asked the inevitable question and got the same explanation her father had received.

  "Of course, I had no notion of Sam being hurt," Baudry said. "He's not looking too bad."

  "His recovery is wonderful," Carol agreed.

  The man's eyes dwelt on her, absorbing the straight slimness of her figure and the healthy freshness of her young beauty. She stirred him, and there was warmth in his usually cold voice when he said :

  "He's had a wonderful nurse."

  There was a mischievous gleam in Carol's eyes. "He certainlyhas. If ever you fall sick, Mister Baudry, I can recommend Judy."

  The gambler's lips tightened. Was the girl playing with him? But a man who depends upon cards for a living must learn to mask his emotions and Jethro Baudry was no novice.

  "you have some new faces," the gambler remarked. "I don't recollect the young fellow you were talking to."

  "Oh, you mean Sandy--the boys call him that," she added rather hastily. "He's a friend of Mister Green."

  Baudry had a black moment ; the use of the cowboy's nickname did not please him, the less so since he knew it had been involuntary.

  "Looks a likely lad," he said carelessly.

  But the girl was on her guard. "We've a good outfit," was her reply.

  "Well, the hardships of the trail seem to suit you. Never seen you look so bonny." Again there was warmth in his tone and it made her flush a little.

  "I love it," she replied, and with a smile, "Dad always says I ought to have been a boy."

  "I can't agree with Sam on that, and he won't find another man that will," the gambler said gallantly. "There's plenty boys but only one Carol Eden."

  With a wide sweep of his hat, he hoisted himself into the saddle and rode away, leaving her pondering. She did not like the man, though she could have given no reason. He was a friend of her father, who was under a considerable obligation to him, and to her he had always been courteous and respectful, and yet .. .

  The river next morning showed an appreciable fall, but there still was a vast volume of reddish, sand-laden water sweeping swiftly between the bluff banks, and to the group of men studying the swirling currents it was clear that the crossing would be a difficult and perilous undertaking. Danger to themselves would not deter them ; they were thinking only of the herd.

  "I guess we gotta take a chance, boys," the foreman decided. "What's yore opinion, Jim?"

  "Me an' Sandy '1I try her out," Sudden offered.

  Stripped to the waist and riding bareback they entered the stream at a point where the bank shelved. In a few moments the horses were swimming, Nigger's black head in the lead. Progress was slow, for the current was strong and the crossing had to be made in a long slant. The soupy state of the water and floating driftwood which had to be avoided added to the task, but at length the riders emerged on the opposite bank and turned to wave to their watching comrades. A short rest and they again plunged in for the return journey.

  "She's a gamble, with the odds against us," was Sudden's verdict. "But we've played in luck, so far."

  The foreman had already made up his mind and presently the leaders of the herd appeared, trotting briskly, for in view of the crossing they had been kept thirsty. At the sight of the turgid flood, however, they baulked and would have turned but for the riders on both flanks, who drove them into the water. There they stood, knee-deep, snorting and bawling with fright, the force of the stream almost sweeping them from their feet. Beyond this they would not budge until Sudden splashed in, roped the foremost steer round the horns, and slipping the other end of his lariat across the broad breast of Nigger, headed for the far bank.

  Willy-nilly the captive was dragged headlong into the flood and struck out lustily, seeing which--after a brief hesitation --those behind followed. In a few moments, a steady string of horned heads was moving across the river. Sudden, having pulled his victim up the far shore, removed the loop, and grinned at the disgruntled-looking brute, which seemed disposed to go "on the prod."

  "G'wan," he said, and slapped it over the nose with the end of his wet rope. "What yu gotta belly-ache about? yu had the easiest trip of any, an' yu'll be Big Chief Show-'em-how to them four-footed friends o' your'n from now on."

  For a while he sat watching the curving line of black blobs in the water, shepherded by horsemen on the downstream side.

  After drying himself in the, warm sun, he recrossed the river. The foreman met him, his face beaming.

  "Jim, that was a daddy of an idea," he said. "yu shore know cows."

  "Shucks," Sudden smiled. "The critters is like humans--give 'em a lead an' they'll go most anywheres. It warn't nothin'."

  "No?" Jeff said. "Allasame, I'm damn glad we got yu in the outfit, son."

  Chapter XII

  "SAY, Jim, do yu figure we've razzle-dazzled Rogue?" Sandy asked.

  "Mebbe, but he's a foxy fella an' now he knows we ain't workin' for him he's probably trackin' us," Sudden replied. "But I expect we've put one over on other gents watchin' the trail."

  They were riding some five hundred yards ahead of the herd, for being in Indian territory, scouts were deemed necessary, and, since they were no longer following a used trail, the easiest route had to be selected. More than a week had passed since they left the Red River and during most of the time they had travelled westwards before turning north again. Not one of the outfit had more than a vague notion of their location, for save to the Indians and a few trappers and buffalo hunters, this was unknown country. Moreover, wide detours to avoid difficulties had been made, and they had only the sun and stars to guide them.

  "Plenty lonesome in these parts," Sandy remarked presently. "We ain't seen a soul since the Red."

  "Suits me," his friend replied. "Anybody we met would likely be hostile. What yu think o' Lasker?"

  "I don't," Sandy grinned. "Not never."

  "Huh! I'm forgettin' that yu got a single-track mind these days," Sudden said gravely. "Allatime it circles round a certain hatchet-faced"

  "Shurrup, yu idjut ; here's Carol a-comin'."

  Sudden's eyebrows lifted at the familiarity, but before he could offer any comment, the girl reined in beside them.

  "Jeff sent me for you, Sandy," she said. "I'm to take your place for a spell."

  The boy's face fell. "Shore it wasn't Jim he wanted?" he asked.

  Carol's eyes twinkled teasingly. "Quite sure," she told him, and when he had wheeled his mount and loped back towards the herd she murmured, "He seemed to just hate leaving you."

  "yeah," Sudden said. "Wonder if Jeff wants him bad?"

  She saw the little crinkles at the corners of his eyes and laughed herself. "I'm afraid he doesn't," she confessed. "You I te. Jeff I'd like to ride ahead fo
r a while and he said, Send Sandy back ; a fellow scouting needs his eyes in more than one place.' Now what did he mean by that?"

  "I ain't a notion," was the mendacious reply, and then, with a sly smile, "Mebbe he figures Sandy ain't very dependable." The girl bridled instantly. "Then I think it's too mean," she cried. "Dad said something of the sort last night. Just oecause Sandy is gay and light-hearted" She stopped, and her cheeks went red beneath their tan as she saw the quirk of amusement on his lips. Then she smiled also. "That was too bad of you," she accused.

  "I'm askin' yore pardon, ma'am," Sudden said. "yu see, Sandy is my friend ; he can have anythin' I got, an' there's no limit."

  "you have known him long?"

  "That don't follow. Friendship is a funny thing ; it ain't a matter o' time. yu know one fella for years an' in the end he'll disappoint yu ; yu know another for hours an' yu can gamble on him."

  So he closed the subject. In those wild days a person's past was his or her concern and it was neither polite nor prudent to probe into it.

  The foreman having agreed to call it a day, camp was made near a thicket of oak and mesquite, while the cattle were bunched on the flat top of a swell not far away. There was no water but the animals had had a sufficiency the night before, and the long-horn could travel forty-eight hours without drinking. Nevertheless, the lack of it made the herd restive and Jeff anxious. Sudden, giving the cook a hand with his team, offered a word of advice:

  "I'd hobble them critters an' keep 'em handy, Peg-leg. This is Injun territory an' them red devils would ruther eat mule-meat than prime beef."

  "All a matter o' taste, I reckon," the cook replied.

  "More a matter o' teeth, I'd say," the cowboy grinned, as he swung into his saddle and went to help with the herd. Some hours later Sandy came to relieve him and even in the darkness Sudden could see that the young man was not his usual bright self ; slouched in his saddle, head down, he appeared moody and depressed.

  "yu look as happy as a wet hen," was the greeting he received. "What's bitin' yu?"

  "I dunno, Jim, an' that's a fact, but I got a feelin' trouble is comin'."

  "Trouble allus is comin' an' worryin' won't stop it. Get such fool notions outa the thing that holds yore hat up, an' keep a close eye on them durned cows ; half of 'em ain't even dozin' yet."

  Riding back to the camp he heard the mournful, weird howl of a coyote and a moment later came an answering cry. He pulled up in doubt ; to his trained ear they did not sound just right. Smiling sardonically at the reflection that Sandy had made him nervy, he nevertheless circled to approach the rear of the timber behind the camp, whence the cries had seemed to come. This took some time, for the thicket was larger than he had thought and it was incumbent to move cautiously. Reaching the trees, he sat listening the indistinct mutter of a voice came to him. Slipping from his saddle, he crept into the undergrowth. It was nervous work ; once he put a hand on a clammy, writhing form and heard a sharp hiss as the reptile slithered away. Sudden shivered.

  "Fools for luck," he murmured. "If rattlers didn't have to coil afore they can strike...."

  He did not pursue the unpleasant reflection, but pulled a gun and felt ahead with it before making a move. The voice was nearer now, only a few yards distant, but he could see nothing of the owner.

  "Make a good job of it an' the two-fifty is yourn. yu'll have a clear field when the cows start runnin'--which'll be soon now. Them hombres will have suthin' else to occupy 'em." The eavesdropper stiffened ; he knew that voice. Navajo ! He could not hear the mumbled reply, but a cracking twig told him that the men were moving--away from him. As silently as speed would permit he retraced his steps, his brain busy with the problem so abruptly presented. Rogue's men were to stampede the herd and something was to be tried. It was not difficult to guess what this was. He hurried to his horse, leapt into the saddle, and raced for the camp.

  The sight there drew an oath from his lips. Seated round the cook's fire were Sam Eden, Jeff, and the two women ; blanketed forms at the other fire were preparing for their turn of night-riding ; they were doomed to have their rest rudely interrupted. Sudden strode up to the foreman.

  "Jeff, I've just got wind of a plot to run off the cows--right now," he cried. "Get busy--no time to talk." He turned to his employer. "Yu didn't oughta be here, seh," he went on. "Yu. .

  An outburst of gun-fire and wild yells from over the plain, with the drumming thunder of thudding hooves cut him short. "God! they've done it!" he exclaimed.

  Stooping swiftly, he seized the seated cattleman by the shoulder and thrust him sideways to the ground. Almost at the same instant, a jet of yellow flame punctured the gloom surrounding the camp and a bullet buried itself in the log against which the invalid had been leaning. Sudden's gun barked viciously, twice, and the reports were followed by the breaking of dead wood, as of a body falling among the bushes and then--silence. Half-crouched, his smoking weapon poised, the cowboy waited for one tense moment.

  "Guess I got him," he said quietly. "Saw the glint o' the fire on his gun-barrel--just in time."

  "What th' hell?" Eden began, as he struggled back to an upright position.

  "Explanations'll have to wait," Sudden told him. "yu'd be better in the wagon, seh. That whelp over there had friends." Though the foreman was at first stunned by the abruptness of the calamity his natural sturdiness soon reasserted itself. The awakened sleepers were sent to the rope corral for mounts, the cattleman, vehemently cursing his helplessness, was lifted back into the wagon, and the women ordered to stay in it also.

  "We'll have to leave yu in charge o' Peg-leg, Sam," the foreman pointed out. "Mebbe we can git back some o' the cows."

  "Damn the cows," the old man exploded. "Let daylight into the dirty thieves what rustled 'em. Now, gimme a gun an' get agoin'."

  Sending the others on, Jeff and Sudden turned towards the spot whence the bushwhacker had fired. Sprawling in the undergrowth was the body of a man. Sudden turned it over and struck a match.

  "Lasker!" the foreman breathed. "Well, I'm damned."

  Leaving the corpse in the bushes, they rode to the bedding-ground. Jeff was puzzling over this latest development.

  "Lasker, huh? Never did cotton to him, somehow," he mused. "Likely he was planted on us, an' mebbe we've binfollered right along." He looked curiously at the man beside him. "How did yu git on to it, Jim?"

  Sudden told of the coyote calls and the fragment of conversation he had overheard, but did not reveal that he recognized one of the voices. He had just finished when a limping figure, carrying a saddle, loomed up out of the gloom. It proved to be Sandy.

  "Yu hurt?" Sudden asked, observing that the boy staggered. "Bullet burned my ribs--nothin' broke," was the reply. "What happened?" This from the foreman.

  "yu can search me. First we knowed was the fireworks an' the shoutin'----they musta crept up on us. An', believe me, them steers didn't wait to ask questions none whatever. I tried to head 'em off an' some jasper started slingin' lead--got my hoss too, blast his soul."

  "Which way was the herd travellin'?" Jeff asked. "West--must be damn near the Pacific Slope by now," was the bitter retort. "Gawd, what a mess! "

  "How many of 'em?"

  "Couldn't say. It was as dark as the inside of a cow. I on'y saw the fella who creased me. Fancy I nicked him--heard him cuss."

  Sandy having assured them he could make the camp unaided the other two rode on. Mile after mile was covered without a trace of the missing herd save the hoofprints which showed that they were following at least a portion of it. At length, in the dim, grey light of the dawn, they saw two riders, driving a bunch of about a hundred steers. They were less than half a mile distant and not hurrying, apparently deeming themselves safe from pursuit. Sudden pulled his rifle from the sheath.

  "Hold on, Jim, they may be our fellas," Jeff warned. "They wouldn't be headed west," Sudden pointed out. "That's so," the foreman admitted, "but I'd ruther be shore than sorry. I'll give 'em a hail our boys would recke
rnize. They can't outrun us with the cows."

  His voice rang out in a shrill cowboy call, familiar on many ranges, but with variations Sudden had not heard before. The result dispelled their doubt effectively. The riders' heads jerked round and then their right arms rose and fell as they vigorously plied the quirt. Sudden's face was grim as he levelled his weapon.

  Of *

  "Steady, boy," he said to his horse, and pulled the trigger.

  They saw the pony on the right stumble and fall, throwing its rider headlong. The other man, with no more than a glance at his companion, spurred his mount furiously and soon left the herd behind. Sudden sent an unavailing shot which only served to hurry his movements. A few moments brought them to the fallen man and one look at the oddly-twisted, huddled form told them what had happened.

  "Kruk his neck," Jeff said. "yu got the hoss. Damn good shootin' too, at that range an' from the saddle. yu don't know the gent, I s'pose, Jim?"

  The reply in the negative was not all the truth, for Sudden had seen the fellow during his sojourn with Rogue.

  "Well, let's git after them cows," the foreman said, adding harshly, "This ain't my day for buryin' cattlethieves."

  The stolen steers had not run far and the S E men soon had them rounded up and pointed east again. The foreman's expression as he regarded the recovered remnant of his charge was savagely morose. Sudden too was feeling the same. To have the patient endeavour and strenuous labour of many weeks so wantonly wrecked was a bitter bullet to bite on. So they rode in silence for an hour, and then, from the mouth of a shallow arroyo--a mere crack in the face of the plain--a horseman emerged and hailed them joyfully :

  "'Lo, Jeff. So yu got some too?" It was Dumpy, and as he spoke, his sweaty, dirt-laden features broke into a tired grin of welcome. "Where's the rest o' the outfit?"

  The foreman raised his shoulders. "yu alone?" he asked.

  "Jed's in there"--Dumpy pointed to the arroyo--"Can't lose that fella nohow, an' say, we got near three hundred cows. She's a dandy place, plenty feed, a pond, an' the way in is the on'y way out."

  "See here, Jeff, why not fetch the wagon an' camp in the arroyo?" Sudden suggested. "Two men could hold the herd in there while the rest of us comb the country."