Sudden Outlawed (1934)

by Oliver Strange

  "yo're right, Jim," the foreman agreed. "She's our best bet."

  Having driven the beasts they had brought through the narrow entrance to the gully, they again rode east, taking Dumpy with them. As they approached the spot where the stampede had taken place the sight of cattle and encircling riders brought a lighter look to Jeff's face."We'll make a herd yet, boy," he said.

  "Shore we will," Sudden rejoined.

  All the rest of the outfit were there with the exception of Truthful, of whom no one had any tidings save that he had been with the herd when it began to run. The other men, unable to stay the tide of terrified brutes, contented themselves with following bunches of them and, when the scare died out, driving them back. In this way they had salvaged over four hundred and a dozen horses.

  At the camp itself they found Sandy and Peg-leg sitting by the wagon with rifles. The women were inside with the invalid, who listened silently to his foreman's report.

  "We've got around eight hundred an' I guess we can search out enough others to go on," Jeff concluded.

  The old man glared at him. "yo're damn right we'll go on," he rasped. "Get this, an' get it straight: I said I'd make this drive an' I'll do it, if there's on'y one blasted cow to take into Kansas."

  "That goes with me, an' with all of us, I reckon," the foreman said quietly, and went on to tell of Sudden's suggestion to move camp.

  "Sounds a good idea," the cattleman agreed. He looked at the cowboy. "Young fella, I figure yu saved my life-though I shore thought yu'd gone loco. That lead pill went in just where my head had been, an' I'm thankin' yu. What had Lasker against me, Jeff?"

  "We've bin framed, Sam ; they just waited their chance. Jim got one of 'em."

  He related the passing of the unknown rustler and the old man's eyes glowed with savage approval.

  "One skulking thief less, anyways," he grated. "I'm thankin' yu again, Jim."

  As they left the wagon, Peg-leg handed each of them a steaming mug and hurried away in search of his beloved mules. Jeff took a big gulp of the liquid and nodded at the retreating figure.

  "Peg used to ride hisself an' he knows that `coffee at any time' makes a cook the boys will swear by instead of at," he remarked.

  The foreman went to give some instructions to the men and Sandy strolled up.

  "I'm owin' yu somethin', Jim," he began, and noting his friend's look of surprise, added, "For downin' that rat, Lasker."

  I'm beginnin' to suspect that fella warn't popular," Sudden said. "Why gratitude from yu?"

  "Hell's bells, didn't he try to bump off the 01' Man?" Sandy demanded.

  "0' course, daddy-in-law to be, huh?" Sudden nodded comprehendingly. "But why ain't yu in the hospital, swappin' pains with him?"

  "For the same reason yu ain't in a home for the half-witted --neither of us could qualify," came the swift retort. "yo're sufferin' from the wrong nurse," Sudden said shrewdly. "C'mon. What yu want is work, an' it's shorely waitin' for yu."

  They reached the herd=whither Jeff had preceded them--just after the missing rider, Truthful, had arrived, proudly escorting a score of steers. Ringed in by the rest, he was telling his story :

  "When the mix-up started, my hors went loco ; he's as strong as Satan's breath, that roan is, an' I couldn't hold him. Where he took me I dunno but we rode around for"

  "Days," Silent suggested.

  "Weeks," corrected the Infant.

  "Hours, I was gain' to say, though it seemed like days," the narrator said. "When dawn arrove I found I was in the middle o' the plain--"

  "Oh, bury me out on the lone pra-i-rie," chanted the Infant, and was promptly promised that fate if he opened his face again.

  "There warn't nothin' in sight but a clump o' scrub, mostly mesquite, an' while I'm lookin' at this out steps one solitary steer, an' who'd yu think it was?"

  "The Bull o' Bashan," Sandy offered.

  "Never heard o' the brand," the tale-teller retorted. "No, gents, it was ol' Show-'em-how, shore as I'm standin' here."

  "yu ain't standin'--yo're lyin', Truthful," sniggered Dumpy. Even Jeff laughed at this, and then commanded silence."Go ahead, boy," he said. "I wanta hear how yu rounded up them cows."

  "I didn't," Truthful replied. "When of Show-'em pops out I remarks aloud, `What's th' use o' one damn cow anyways?' Well, that moss-head looks at me solemn for 'bout a minitan' then stalks back into the brush. I figure 1 shorely hurt his feelin's, but presently, out he comes again with eleven more along, sorta lines 'em up, an' cocks an eye at me. I points to the scrub.

  " degGood for yu, ol-timer,' I sez. `Fly at it--fetch 'em all out. Sic 'em.'

  "Shore enough he heads in again ; the steers start to foller but he lets out one beller an' they stops, mighty abrupt. It's mebbe half an hour before he shows up again with eight cows.

  " `Ain't there no more?' I asks, an' I wish I may die if he didn't shake his head. Then he trots off across the plain, the rest tailin' after, an' here we are."

  One by one the audience stepped forward, grasped the narrator's right hand, shook it vigorously and retreated without a word. Truthful endured it with widening eyes until all but the foreman had taken part, and then: '

  "Jeff, they think I'm stringin' 'em," he cried.

  "Don't yu care, son," was the reply. "I'm believin' yu, but" --there was a grin on the leathery face--"not until frawgs grows feathers."

  Chapter XIII

  WITH the cattle and camp safely hidden in the arroyo, which two men could guard, the remainder of the outfit were free to scour the surrounding country in search of the scattered long-horns. This meant a repetition of the work done when the herd was got together, many hours of hard riding, the routing of beasts out of brush-choked gullies and thorny chaparral. Despite the difficulties, additions to the herd dribbled in and with each one the foreman's face grew less sombre. On the fifth day, however, some of the searchers returned empty-handed, though still nearly half the oattle were missing.

  "They musta got away with over a thousand head, reckonin' they'd lose some we ain't found," Jeff said. "We might as well push on ; we won't find many more."

  "Hold on for another day," Sudden advised, "an' let me an' Sandy have Jed an' Dumpy to-morrow."

  The foreman agreed without question ; he was beginning to realize that this cool, capable young cowboy usually had a reason for anything he said or did.

  On the following morning the four men set out. Jed, as ever, had his grumble: "Waste o' time. Betcha we don't git a cow a-piece."

  Sandy grinned at his friend. "Don't tell 'em," he whispered. "Shore not," Sudden said. "Besides, the nest may be empty ; the joke would be on us then."

  It had been on the first day that the pair of them, returning after a fruitless foray through a broken patch of country some twelve miles from camp, halted abruptly on the edge of a wide swathe of cattle-tracks. The fact that the beasts had been bunched together, and the prints of shod horses alongside, told that they had been driven. The S E men followed the trail to a small, hidden valley, rock-rimmed the narrow entrance to which was masked by a great boulder and further defended by a rude fence of poles lashed together with rawhide, two of which could be moved to permit passage. Riding through, they found a grass-covered basin in which some hundreds of cows were feeding. There appeared to be no one in charge, and they had no difficulty in getting near enough to read the brand on the nearest beast.

  "S E," Sandy cried exultantly. "Jim, our luck has shorely changed ; here's a sight that'll make Jeff's eyes stick out like they was on stalks. Do we round 'em up?"

  Sudden shook his head. "Here's how I figure it," he explained. "Rogue's men couldn't hold the herd no more'n we could. They're combin' the country too an' bringin' 'em here as they gather 'em. I'm bettin' that if we call again in a few days' time we'll find twice as many."

  Sandy let out a whoop. "Jim, yo're a great man," he said. "The notion o' lettin' them skunks collect cows for us hits me where I live."

  So they had left the valley undisturbed
and for the ensuing days had ridden in other directions. It had been a gamble, and they were now on their way to learn if they had lost or won. If the rustlers had removed their plunder... .

  They reached the spot, and leaving Sandy on guard outside, the others rode into the valley. One glance told Sudden that he had guessed correctly ; the herd had more than doubled ; roughly he estimated it at nearly a thousand head, with a sprinkling of horses. His companions yelped gleefully.

  "Seems we might git a cow a-piece arter all, Jed," the fatman remarked. "Wish I'd took that bet. Why didn't yu take him up, Jim?"

  "They might not 'a' been here," Sudden smiled. "We'll have one fine job handlin' 'em ; I didn't expect so many."

  "What about sendin' to Jeff for help?" Jed asked.

  "Too risky--the rustlers may be showin' up any moment. We'll go while the goin's good."

  For the next few hours all four riders were far too busy to think of anything but the work in hand. It was a big bunch for so small a crew, and the cattle--loth to leave the peaceful, sheltered valley, made frequent efforts to break back. By the time the arroyo was reached the men were limp, drenched with perspiration, and utterly profane.

  They found the foreman and Carol at the entrance to the arroyo, and the little man's slitted eyes widened when he saw the cattle pouring through.

  "Christ-opher Columbus!" he ejaculated, remembering just in time that his employer's daughter was present. "Whose ranch yu bin raidin', Jim?"

  But the girl had seen the brand. "They are our own cows, Jeff," she cried. "Won't Dad be pleased!"

  "I'll say he will," the foreman grinned. "This'll do him more good than all the nussin'. How come, Jim?"

  Sudden told the tale, while Jeff swore delightedly to himself as he listened.

  "Yu shore got nerve, boy," he commented. "Lettin' them thieves collect our cows for us was one great scheme."

  "Seemed fair to me," Sudden smiled. "They scattered 'em."

  Jeff's eyes had been busy and as the last of the herd trotted by he slapped his thigh joyously. "Damn near a thousand head," he said. "Why, we won't be more'n three-four hundred shy after all, an' we owe it to yu, Jim."

  "Shucks," Sudden said lightly, and jerked a thumb at his friend. "There's the fella yu gotta thank."

  "I was meanin' both," the foreman replied. "It was shorely a good day for the S E that brought yu boys along." Sandy cared nothing for the little man's praise ; the look of gratitude the girl gave him as she rode away to tell her father the news was all the reward he wanted.

  "We'll be all fixed to take the trail in the mornin'," Jeff went on. Sudden's eyebrows rose and he shot a whimsical glance at the sun overhead. The foreman read it. "yo're figurin' we oughta start now?" he asked.-

  "Think it over," the cowboy replied. "We don't know how soon them hombres will discover their loss, but yu can bet they won't waste no time high-tailin' it after us--follerin' the cattle won't be no trick a-tall, we couldn't blind our tracks. Any lead we can get will be all to the good."

  "yo're damn right," Jeff agreed. "We want to be plenty absent when they arrive. Sandy, go tell the boys we'll be settin' out pronto."

  In less than an hour the herd was again on the move, heading away from where they conjectured the rustlers to be encamped. Despite the disaster, cheerfulness reigned. The loss had proved far less than had seemed likely, and the riders, with the optimism born of their hardy natures, had already transformed the incident into a victory ; they had "put one over" the cattle-thieves. Pebbles expressed his satisfaction in song:

  "Roll yore tails an' roll 'em high, We'll all be angels by an' by."

  The foreman's face creased in a smile. "Hark to him," he said. "He's wore to a frazzle--as we all are---his clothes is sca'cely decent, an' he ain't got a dollar to his name, but he's happy. Yu can't heat them fellas."

  Chapter XIV

  SUDDEN reined in his horse on the top of a broken-backed ridge and surveyed the surrounding scenery ; the indentation between his level brows denoted that he was not entirely pleased with what he saw. Since the stampede and the events which followed it, day after day had passed in wearying but satisfactory monotony.

  For the last day or so Sudden had been wondering whether, in their search for easy going, they had veered too much to the west. Now, it was clear that the surface of the prairie was changing, the grass was becoming sparse and sand was taking its place. Ahead of him, a giant cactus, its candelabra-like armscurving upwards, stood like a warning sentinel. Far away, almost on the horizon, a swarm of black dots moved slowly nearer. He rode back to the herd.

  "Desert ahead," he said briefly. "Ain't drifted on to the Staked Plain, have we?"

  The question put a perturbed expression on the foreman's lined features.

  "Hell, Jim, I can't say," Jeff confessed. "That cussed stampede throwed us right out, an' I dunno nothin' about this blame' country. Mebbe we're on'y on the fringe of it."

  "Better swing to the east anyways," Sudden advised.

  Jeff gave the necessary instruction to the point men and then rode ahead with Sudden after the herd. When they sighted it, Jeff bit on an oath ; the cattle were floundering through a sea of sand, hummocks, ridges, and long rolling swells stretched out unendingly until they merged with the pale blue of the cloudless sky. As they were about to pass the wagon, Peg-leg jerked a thumb backwards.

  "The 01' Man has been askin' for yu, Jeff," he grunted. "Wanted to know what we was doin' in this fry-pan? I done told him it was better'n bein' in the fire, but he on'y cussed me."

  Sam Eden, propped up inside the conveyance, greeted them peevishly ; with returning strength, he was beginning to chafe at inaction, as a sick man will. The foreman set out the situation.

  "At least we've dodged the redskins an' mebbe this sand ain't but a strip," he finished. "yu got the best of it in here, Sam ; the air outside would choke a wooden image." The cattleman's reply was a wholesale condemnation of the Indians, the desert, the wagon, and the man who was responsible for his being confined to it. Though he spoke in a low voice, one of the women sitting beside the driver heard and promptly parted the curtains which screened the front of the vehicle.

  "Make tracks," Judy ordered. "How'n hell am I to git that fella fit if yu come around upsettin' him? Take yore damn troubles somewhere else."

  "He's here 'cause I wanted to see him," the invalid said. "Then yu got no more sense than he has," the lady retorted. "Did I hear yu cough?"

  "No," Eden replied quickly, and clutched his cherished pipe.

  He knew the threat behind the question. With a feeble grin at his foreman, he added, "Better fade, Jeff ; she's the doc, yu know, bl--ess her."

  Mile upon mile under the pitiless sun they crawled, both men and beasts choking in the clouds of dust churned up by thousands of tramping feet. On all sides lay the arid waste of bleached sand, the powdery particles of which covered them with a coating of dirty white, invaded eyes, mouth, and nostrils, and getting between the skin and clothing, caused intolerable discomfort. Progress was painfully slow, for the cattle sank knee-deep in the soft surface and riders had to tie their ropes to the wagon in order to pull it up the slopes. Here and there a bare shoulder of rock, a stunted mesquite, or a cactus, its spines gleaming frostily, broke the soul-sickening sameness of the scene. The sand flung the sun's rays back in their faces and they seemed to be wading through a lake of shimmering heat.

  The cool night air brought some slight mitigation of their sufferings but instead of being baked they were nearly frozen. Some of the cook's cherished fuel and a few dead mesquite branches supplied a poor fire, round which those not watching the herd huddled in humorous discontent. The two barrels of water slung to the wagon were all of the precious liquid they possessed ; the horses were given a bare swallow apiece but the cattle had to go thirsty. One mug of coffee was the allowance for each man.

  "D'j'ever see such a durned country?" Jed complained, as he ruefully finished his drink. "Fella told me once that more'n two-thirds o' the eart
h is covered with water an' we gotta come to a bit where there ain't enough to rust a nail."

  At the first glimmer of grey in the east they arose, shivering, swallowed a scanty breakfast, and set out ; the foreman was anxious to get as far as possible ere the sun's rays attained their full force. The day proved to be a repetition of the preceding, the discomfort intensified by the fact that even the miserable ration of water they had then enjoyed was no longer available ; a quart or so, reserved for the invalid and the women, was all that remained.

  By mid-day it was evident the cows could not go much farther. Already a few had fallen and had, perforce, to be abandoned ; the rest still staggered weakly on, tongues protruding, sullenly lowing, and many of them nearly blind. Theforeman ranged up beside Sudden, who was leading the herd. His voice was little more than a whisper:

  "Jim, if we don't git outa this Devil's oven mighty soon it's our finish. That black o' yores 'pears to be in better shape than any o' the hosses ; ride on an' take a look-see."

  Sudden nodded and forged ahead, quickly leaving the labouring herd behind, though his own pace was no more than a walk. He had covered about a mile when a flat hummock of rock attracted his attention and he rode to the top of it. From there he had a more extended view. Wiping the bitter alkali dust from his smarting eyes he stared unbelievingly. Was it a mirage, that maddening mockery of the desert, or did he really see a dark, irregular line between the sky and the sand? He gazed again, intently, but the vision persisted. He tried to utter a whoop but his swollen tongue and parched throat produced only a hoarse cackle. When the herd came in sight, a straggling string of grey ghosts he waved an arm and Jeff joined him. The foreman's squinting eyes followed the pointing finger, and he managed to articulate:

  "If them's trees, it means runnin' water. Ride on, Jim, there may be Injuns about."

  Sudden departed, taking his own and Jeff's empty canteens. Gradually, as he approached it, the dark line thickened and presently took the form of foliage. The trees were but half a mile distant now, a long wall of them, pine, oak, cottonwood, with a close undergrowth of thorny bushes. The nearness of them put new life into both horse and rider. In a few moments they saw the river, a sluggish stream less than a hundred yards across, passing between wide sloping banks. Sudden drank sparingly, dipped his head in the water, and then dragged his unwilling mount away from it.