Shoot-out at Split Rock Page 6

  "You look as happy as a wet hen," Sandy said to Sudden. "What's bitin' you?"

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

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

  "They're missin' the water," Sandy said. He glanced at the sky, in which only a few faint stars were showing. "She's a gaudy night for a stampede."

  "Qose yore trap, you red-headed misery," Sudden grinned.

  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 ^e 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 youm. You'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 braia 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. "You didn't oughta be here, seh," he went on. "You ..."

  An outburst of gun fire and wild yells from over the plain, with the dr ummin g thunder of thudding hoofs 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 invaUd had been leaning. Sudden's gun barked viciously, twice, and the reports were followed by the breaking of dead wood, as a body falling among the bushes and then— silence.

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

  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.

  Sending the others on, Jeff and Sudden turned toward 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."

  Both bullets had penetrated his chest and the fellow must have died instantly. Sudden was conscious of no regret; he had exterminated a cowardly assassin who was willing to kill for gold; it was a scoundrel less in a land where there were all too many. 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 bin follered right along." He looked curiously at the man beside him. "How did you 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.

  "You hurt?" Sudden asked, observing that the boy staggered.

  "Bullet burned my ribs—nothin' broke," was the reply.

  "What happened?" This from the foreman.

  "You can search me. First we knowed was the fireworks an' the shoutin'—they musta crept up on us. An' beheve 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 boss too, blast his soul."

  "Which way was the herd traveMn'?" 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 assured them he could make the camp unaided and the other two rode on. Mile after mile was covered without a trace of the missing herd save the hoofprints which showed they were following at last a portion of it. At length, in the dim, grey light of the dawn, they saw two riders driviog 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 his companion.

  "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 rec-kemize. 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 pUed the quirt. Sudden's face was grim as he leveled his weapon.

  "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.

  "Broke his neck," Jeff said. "You 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, "TTiis ain't my day for buryin' cattle thieves."

  The stolen steers had not run far and the S-E men soon had them rounded up and pointed east again. So they rode in silence for an hour, and then, from the mouth of

  a shallow arroyo, a horseman emerged and hailed them joyfully:

  " 'Lo Jeff. So you 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. "You alone?" he asked.

  "Jed's in there—'* Dimipy pointed to the arroyo— "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 countr
y."

  "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 Dimapy 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 head 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 invaUd, 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 ioto Kansas."

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

  "Sounds like a good idea," the cattleman agreed. He looked at the cowboy. "Young feUa, I figured you saved my life—though I shore thought you'd gone loco. That lead pill went in just where my head had been, an' I'm thanlin' you. 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

  Six

  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 Icmghoms. Frequently a steer, having regained its freedom, would fight to retain it, and had to be roped and thrown before it would bow to the inevitable. Despite the difficulties, additions to the herd dribbled in and with each one the foreman's face grew less somber. On the fifth day, however, some of the searchers returned empty-handed, though still nearly half the cattle 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 any more."

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

  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 teU '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 fruitiess 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 had cried exultantly. "Jim, our luck has shorely changed; here's a gather that'll make Jeffs 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'U 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 after all, Jed," the fat man remarked. "Wish I'd took that bet. Why didn't you 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 mo-

  ment. Well go while the goin's good. Hell! What's that mean?"

  Two reports in quick succession shattered the still air and aU three men raced for the exit. Fifty yards from the entrance to the valley a man lay spawling in the sand and Sudden's heart skipped a beat. Then he saw that the pony sniffin g curiously at the body was not the one Sandy was riding. The man, an evil-faced ruflBan whom Sudden did not recognize, had been shot through the throat; his right hand still gripped a heavy revolver, one chamber of which was empty.

  "He tried to git Sandy an' was got hisself," Jed remarked. "But where in blazes is Sandy?"

  Sudden had been studying the ground. "Gone after the other," he explained. "Yeah, there was a couple of *em, an' il the second gets clear it's goin' to make things plenty awkward for us." He looked at the brand on the dead man's pony. "That's one of our bosses, an' they've fetched us a few more cows."

  He pointed to half a dozen longhoms, contentedly grazing a short distance away. A little later, a rider leading a saddle horse topped a nearby ridge of rock and came toward them; it was Sandy. There was no need to ask a question, his pale face and the grim set of his lips told the story. He had slain two men, outlaws, it is true, found with stolen stock in their possession, which in those days meant death; moreover, both had tried to kiU him, but nevertheless ... Sudden knew how he was feeling and sent the other men to begin gathering the herd. Sandy supphed the information he would not ask for.

  "I had to do it, Jim," he said harshly. "They rode up outa that draw an' the feUa lyin' there pulled on me without any palaver, an' missed. When I downed him, the other bolted. I knowed he'd gotta be stopped. My bronc was better'n his, I could 'a' shot him down from behind but I gave him his chance." He showed the buUet holes in the crown of his hat. "He near got me," he added.

  "You done a good job," Sudden said sternly. "Know eitiier of 'em?"

  "Never seen him afore," Sandy replied, pointing to the man on the ground. "The other was—Ropey."

  Sudden's mind went back to the outlaw retreat, saw

  again the dark, sneering face of Navajo when his cats-paw had been so completely humiliated. He shrugged his shoulders.

  "Well, I ain't mournin'," he said. "C'mon. We've shore got a job o' work ahead. We played in luck, Sandy; that herd's doubled since we first saw it." He thought a moment, and added, "What you do with Ropey?"

  Sandy looked imcomfortable. "Well, there was a handy hole in the rocks an' I—buried him, Jim," he admitted. "You see, I had knowed him—one time."

  To his surprise, Sudden agreed. "Good idea," he said. "We'll find another niche for this hombre."

  Across the back of his own pony, they carried the dead man into a gully, the h
ard floor of which would leave no tell-tale hoof marks. Here they found a crevice between two rocks, shd the body in, and piled stones upon it.

  "Tough on the buzzards but it can't be helped," Sudden said sardonically when they had completed the job. "This'll get Rogue guessin'. When he discovers the herd is gone an' these jaspers don't show up he'll think his own men is doublecrossin' him. Savvy?"

  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 catde—loath 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 you bin raidin', Jim?"

  But the girl had seen the brand. "They are our own cows, Jeff," she cried.

  Sudden told the tale, omitting, however, the removal of the two rusUers. Jeff swore dehghtedly to himself as he listened.

  "You 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."

  Jeffs 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!

  "Well be all fixed to take the trail in the momin'," Jeff went on. Sudden's eyebrows rose and he shot a whimsical glance at the sun overhead. The foreman read it. "Yo're thinkin' we oughta start now?" he asked.