Read Oliver Strange - Sudden Westerns 01 - The Range Robbers(1930) Online
Authors: Oliver Strange
The
foreman stood irresolute; the odds were heavily in his favour so far as numbers
were concerned, but a fight would mean wiping out some of the outfit, and he
knew he would be the first to die; Snap would take care of that. Moreover, he
had the same orders as
Gorilla,
though he had been
prepared no chance that to compass his revenge. He glanced at Durran and the
scowling face gave him no encouragement. He must give in.
“I
don’t want no gun-play ‘mong ourselves, but I’m not forgettin’ it,’ he said.
“We’ll let him live long enough to get to the Y Z, where I reckon the Old
Man’ll string him up slick enough. Durran, yu an’ Nigger take him in.’
Snap
climbed his horse. “I’ll go along,’ he said sardonically. “He’s a desperate
feller. Yu better get a move on, Rattler, if yu don’t want them rustlers to git
away with the plunder.’
Blaynes
ground his teeth with rage at the position the gunman had forced him into. His
apparent duty to his employer would send him on a will-o’-the-wisp chase of
cattle he had no wish to recapture, while his one desire was to go back to the
ranch to make sure the prisoner did not escape or receive mercy. The very
thought of the latter possibility decided the issue.
“Aw
right, we’ll all go back,’ he said. “If Simon wants his cattle again he’ll have
to get me some fellers as will obey orders.’
The
prisoner, his hands still bound, was hoisted upon a horse, and his feet secured
beneath the animal’s belly. Then with Durran and Bent on
either
side, and
Blaynes immediately behind, they set out for the ranch. Thus
Green was given no chance of converse with his friends, but the thought that
they had not yet condemned him in spite of his apparent guilt was a cheering
one. He smiled reassuringly at Larry, whose face showed most concern, and who
appeared to be holding himself in with difficulty. He felt that the boy was
loyal and would stand by him to the end.
It
was growing dark when they reached the ranch-house, and the early stars were
winking in the sky. Blaynes gave a hail as the riders pulled their mounts down
in front of the verandah, and Simon promptly appeared, followed by Noreen. The
cattle-owner had already been told of the raid, but Blaynes had not mentioned
that one of the thieves had been taken, and for a moment he did not notice the
bound man.
“Yore
soon back, Blaynes,’ he said. “
How’s that?’
The foreman told his story, truthfully enough, but saddling the
whole blame for not following the stolen herd upon the rebellious members of
the outfit.
Old Simon’s face grew stormy as he listened, and when the
tale was done he turned to Lunt, who with the other three was standing apart.
“An’
what’s yore idea, Lunt, takin’ sides with a cow-thief against me?’ he asked.
“That
ain’t so, Simon,’ replied the gunman. “If it had been, we’d ‘a’ turned Green
loose, an’ we could have.’ His voice had an edge to it. “Rattler an’ the
prisoner
ain’t never
been the best o’ friends, an’
hangin’ him right away looked too much like settlin’ a private quarrel in a
mean way to me. Any feller is entitled to a hearin’ an’ by
God,
Green is goin’ no have one.’
“Yu
threatenin’ me?’ snarled Simon.
“Nary
a threat, but I’m tellin’ yu,’ replied the little man. His voice was low,
passionless, but there was an earnestness which could not be mistaken. Little
as he liked being dictated to the ranch-owner realised that he must give in or
blood would be shed. He looked at the prisoner.
“Well,
Green, yore friends are doin’ all the talkin’; ain’t yu got nothin’ to say?’ he
sneered.
“What
I have to say is for yore ear only,’ Green said. “When yu have heard it yu can
go ahead with the hangin’—if yu want to.’ Blaynes laughed, and the puncher went
on, “Yore dirty dog of a foreman don’t want that; he didn’t follow yore stolen
cows because he was scared I’d get a chance to speak with yu—least-ways, that
was one o’ the reasons. Now, yu can please yoreself; I’m through.’
“He’s
a rank liar,’ Blaynes cried.
“It’s
easy to call a tied man that,’ Green gibed. “Turn me loose an’ yu’ll see that
coyote hunt his hole.’
“Huh,
damn lot o’ fuss about stringin’ up a thief,’ interjected Durran. “Anybody’d
think there warn’t
no
trees handy.’
“Keep
yore mouth shut, or I’ll close it for yu—permanent,’ snapped Larry.
“Stop
yore gassin’—all o’ yu darn fools,’ yelled the exasperated cattleman, and then,
as he felt a touch on his arm, “Well, girl, what do yu want? No good yu mixin’
up in this.’
“I’m
only saying this, Dad. Why not listen to Green; that can’t do any harm.’
The
old man pondered for a moment. “Mebbe yo’re right,’ he said at last. “Green, yu
come into the office. The rest o’ yu can clear out.’ Blaynes started to
dismount, but Simon saw the movement. “I don’t want yu, Rattler,’ he added.
“But
see here, Simon, if this feller is goin’ to make charges against me, I oughtta
be presenn,’ protested the foreman. “Who told yu he’s agoin’ to?’
“Well,
it seems the likely move, don’t it?’ said Blaynes, rather taken aback by his
employer’s manner.
“Awright,
if he does, I won’t hang yu without givin’ yu a chance to speak for yoreself,’
snapped Simon. “
Now git.’
He
followed the captive into the office, and found his daughter already there. He
looked at her doubnfully and then said, “I don’t remember askin’ yu to be
present, Norry.’
“You
didn’t, Dad, but I’m going to be,’ she replied, and there was a quiet
determination in her voice which made both men
look
at
her. The laughing merry girl had gone and a grown serious woman had taken her
place. The old man made a gesture of impanience.
“It
ain’t
no
business for a girl,’ he protested.
“It’s
your business and therefore mine,’ came the reply. ‘Besides, I am in this man’s
debt and I’m not forgetting it.’
“Huh,’
grunted the ranch-owner. “Reckon he’s paid himself for that out o’ my cattle,
but have it yore own way. Now, Green, yu got that hearin’, make the most of
it.’
The
prisoner did not at once avail himself of the invitation. Standing there with
bound hands, unshaven, and with a bloodstained, dirty bandage on his head, he
was painfully conscious that he looked a ruffian. Although the fact that she
took even the slightest interest in him, due only to a sense of gratitude,
stirred him, he would have preferred to speak no her father alone. Though his
investigations were by no means complete he felt that he had discovered enough
to convince the ranchman. “When I left the Y Z I told yu I wasn’t ready to put
my cards on the table,’ he began. “Well, I ain’t ready now, but the prospect of
havin’ his neck stretched forces a man’s hand some…’ he smiled grimly, “an’ I’m
agoin’ to do it.’
“Go
ahead,’ said Simon, shortly.
“I
told yu the rustlin’ was the work of whites playin’ Injun an’ I was right,’
proceeded
Green.
“That
warn’t difficult,’ sneered the old man, with a glance at the head-dress found
on the prisoner, which Blaynes had handed to him.
“No,
the signs were plain enough,’ returned the puncher, ignoring the sneer. “What
wasn’t so plain was that yu were bein’ robbed by a big gang, and that yore
foreman an’ more than half yore outfit are in it.’
“That
ain’t plain now,’ commented the cattleman, drily.
“I’ve
already said that I’m speakin’ before I’m ready,’ the prisoner pointed out. “I
ain’t got all the proof I want, but I know what I’m tellin’ yu. The Double X
an’ the Crossed Dumbell are workin’ with some o’ yore men, liftin’ cattle from
yu an’ the Frying Pan, an’ the whole bunch is bossed by a feller they call the
Spider. It was the Crossed Dumb-bell outfit that raided yu last night an’ I was
one of ‘em, an’ let me tell yu, it wasn’t Bent who kicked me cold but one o’
the gang I’d ridden there with.’
“Why
should they do that?’ demanded Simon.
“Mebbe
they suspected me or mebbe it was a bit o’ private spite,’ replied Green.
“Anyways, it wasn’t either o’ yore men—they never showed themselves.’
“Yu
seen this boss, the Spider?’ asked Simon.
“Yes,
he calls himself Tarman in Hatchett’s,’ replied Green.
The
announcement hardly produced the effect he had looked for. Noreen’s eyes
certainly met his in startled surprise, but her father flung himself back in
his chair with a shout of laughter, while Green and the girl watched him in
amazemenn.
“Well,
well, if
that don’t
beat the hand,’ he gasped, as he
struggled to control his mirth. “That was a poor shot o’ yores, my lad. O’
course, yu don’t know that Tarman has offered to put fifty thousand dollars
into this ranch on the day he marries my daughter. Now, what yu gotta say about
that?’
Green’s
eyes narrowed. “That he’ll find it easier to put the money in if he takes it
out first,’ he retorted. “Tarman’s out to get this ranch an’ the Frying Pan by
hook or by crook.’
“An’
he’s robbin’ the ranch he’s willin’ to buy into, an’ the father of the girl
he’s hopin’ to marry, eh?’ sneered Simon. “Sounds likely, don’t it?’
“I
gotta damit that it don’t,’ the cowpuncher agreed. “There is
ends
to this tangle I ain’t picked up yet, an’ yu mustn’t forget that there’s others
in the game who want a pickin’. Poker Pete, Dexter, an’ yore foreman ain’t the
sort to work for nothin’.’
The
ranch-owner smiled sardonically. “An’ yu are, I s’pose? When yu come siftin’
round these parts all yu wanted was a job at forty a month, warn’t it?
A job that would leave yu free to work with yore friends at
stealin’ my cows.
An’ I fell for it with my eyes shut, but they’re open
now, Mister Rustler, an’ I don’t swallow no more o’ yore lies.’
His
voice rose as he delivered this tirade, and his eyes glared malignantly at the
bound man before him, who listened unmoved. It was Noreen who
spoke :
“Daddy,’
she murmured, reprovingly.
“Yu
keep quiet, girl,’ replied her father. “This feller may have pulled the wool
over yore eyes too, but this is where he gets trimmed.’ Turning to Green, he
continued. “Yu have had the laugh over me so far; we’ll see whether yu find it
so damn funny to-morrow mornin’ when I turn yu over to the marshal, an’ tell
him that yo’re Sudden, the outlaw. Ha!
that
touches
yu, don’t it?’
For
with all his self-control, the prisoner had not been able to suppress a start
of surprise at this unexpected accusation, a movement which, slight as it was,
did not escape the eyes of the man who had been looking for it.
“P’raps
yu would like to deny that too?’ sneered the cattleman. “Feller with yore gifts
oughtta
be
able to think up a good explanation.’
The
prisoner forced a grin to his lips and shrugged his shoulders. “Shucks,’ he
said. “I reckon yu take the pot this time, but yo’re playin’ in a deeper game
than yu guess, an’ I’m warnin’ yu that the
cards is
stacked.’