Oliver Strange - Sudden Westerns 04 - Sudden Outlawed(1934) (36 page)

 
          
“I
offered him a price—same as yu did me,” Navajo said sullenly.

 
          
Baudry’s
brows went up. “
you
are in error, my friend,” he
pointed out. “I made a bet with you—quite a different
thing,
and you look like losing it. I shall deduct the amount from your share of the
herd-money.”

 
          
The
outlaw straightened up. “
yu
are goin’ to get it?”

 
          
“What
else did you think?” the gambler retorted. “Yes, I am going to get it—the
money, the ranch, the girl,
trample
Eden in the dirt, and
kill that damned gunman.”

 
          
The
mask was off now, showing a face white with rage, hatred in the eyes, and the
thick lips drawn back in a feral snarl.

 
          
“Why
not run the herd.
off
too, while yo’re about it?”
Navajo asked mockingly.

 
          
“Too
risky—we’d have the whole damn place on our tails,” snapped the other.
“Besides, it wouldn’t hurt Eden—he’s been paid—and it’s his scalp I’m after. If
you don’t care to come in, I can swing it alone.”

 
          
“Oh
yeah,” the half-breed gibed. “Yu’ll do some swingin’ alone if yu show yore
face
in town; that frame-up ain’t made yu one bit popular.
Well, let’s hear yore plan.”

 
          
For
some time Baudry talked earnestly, and when he had finished, sat back and
looked triumphantly at his confederate.

 
          
Navajo
nodded. “Yu can count me in,” he said shortly.

 
          
His
malignant gaze followed the gambler as he went out. “
yellow-bellied
coyote,” he muttered. “Yu’d sell yore own sister for ten cents, an’ right now
yo’re figurin’ to double-cross me.

 
          
That’s
a game more’n one can play at, an’ when I pull a gun runnin’ won’t save yu.”

 
          
Then
he too left the place, slinking along behind the buildings until he reached his
destination.

 
          
SOON
after dark that same evening, a Mexican lad slid into the Palace Saloon and
made his way to where Eden and Sandy were watching a game of poker in which
Karson was taking part. Twitching the rancher’s sleeve, the boy whispered:

 
          
“Meestair Green wantin’ yu, pronto—outside.”

 
          
Without
waiting for an answer he darted away. Telling his friend he would be back, Eden
started for the door, and Sandy stepped after.

 
          
“No
need to drag yu away, boy,” the cattleman said.

 
          
“I’m
comin’,” Sandy replied. “Jim’s word was to stick to yu like yore shadow.”

 
          
“Shucks,
I’ve had too much nussin’ lately,” Eden laughed, and as he stepped into the
street and looked round, “Where in blazes is he?”

 
          
A
blurred shape detached itself from the gloom, an arm snapped viciously down and
the rancher dropped like a poleaxed steer. Sandy grabbed at his gun, but before
he could get it out three men sprang upon him. Uttering a lusty yell for help,
he flung his fists right and left, and had the satisfaction of hearing a grunt
of pain follow each blow. His shout brought other citizens and these hurled
themselves enthusiastically into the battle. Since they knew neither the cause
nor the combatants, they were soon fighting each other and were of no use to
those they had come to assist.

 
          
Standing
astride his employer’s body, Sandy struggled on, wrenching himself free from
clutching hands and driving his fists vengefully into indistinct faces. But it
could not last. From behind came a bitter oath in a voice he remembered, and
ere he could turn, a sweeping blow with the barrel of a pistol sent him down.

 
          
It
was at this moment that Sudden, who—deeming the rancher safe with the other
two—had gone to comb the town in search of Rogue or Navajo, heard that there
was trouble at the Palace and came to investigate. He found an excited group
outside, many bearing marks of the conflict, gathered about two senseless men.

 
          
“What
happened?” he asked a bystander, who was wiping blood from his cheek.

 
          
“Durned
if I know,” was the reply. “There was a shindy, so I sat in—never could keep
out’n a scrap, nohow. Then three-four fellas ran away an’ I found I was fightin’
a friend. Do yu know them hombres?”

 
          
The
light of a match confirmed the cowboy’s fears. “Hell, yes, one of ‘em is my
boss,” he said, and made a hurried examination. “They ain’t cashed, anyways.”

 
          
Karson
was found and the injured men carried to the hotel. “This is a bad business,
Green,” the cattle-buyer said. “I s’pose they got the money?”

 
          
“Reckon
so—it’s gone.”

 
          
“He
was askin’ for it; yu can’t keep anythin’ quiet in this place. It was known
he’d sold his herd an’ these scallywags took the chance he’d have a fat wallet.
I oughta
stayed
with him, but poker’s a fair curse
with me.”

 
          
Sudden
did not undeceive him. His own mind was full of conflicting conjectures.
Baudry, Navajo, or even Rogue might have planned this latest development, and
that it was one or more of them he was convinced. Bitterly he reproached
himself for allowing the gambler to escape.

 
          
At
the hotel they found Aunt Judy in a state bordering on frenzy: Carol was
missing.

 
          
When
she saw the two unconscious men, her hands went up in the air and she called
down a curse on Abilene which should have wiped the town off the face of the
earth. Having acquitted herself like a man in this direction, she promptly
became a woman again.

 
          
“Lemme
look at him.” She scrutinized the rancher’s injury. “Huh! Must ‘a’ bin a
stranger; nobody as knowed
him
would try to kill Sam
Eden by hittin him on the head.”

 
          
She
bathed and bandaged the hurts and was just through with Sandy when he sat up
and asked weakly:

 
          
“Where’s
Jim?”

 
          
“Dunno,”
Judy snapped. “Gone to get his head busted, I reckon. ‘Pears to be the on’y use
yu men got for ‘em.”

 
          
The
sarcasm was excusable, but applied to Sudden, unjust. He unearthed a grubby
urchin who ran errands and did chores at the hotel, and learned that a lady had
called to see Miss Eden about two hours earlier and that they had gone out
together. Asked if he knew the visitor, the boy hesitated.

 
          
“
She
gimme a dollar not to say,” he admitted.

 
          
“I’ll
give yu two dollars,” Sudden offered, and reading the youthful mind, added, “Yu
can give hers back an’ say yu changed yore mind; that’ll make it right”

 
          
This
somewhat specious reasoning satisfied the boy. “They call her `Lily Gold’ an’
she rooms with Mammy Porter, opposite the drug store,” he said. “I -guess she
ain’t much class.”

 
          
Sudden
returned to the sick-room. Eden was still unconscious but breathing easily.
Sandy was in a fever to see his friend.

 
          
“Jim,”
he cried, “Navajo was there—I heard his voice. Damnation, they’ve got Carol.

 
          
What
we goin’ to do?”

 
          
“Yu’ll
stay here,” Sudden replied. “I’ve got a line on the girl an’ I’m goin’ after
her, right now.”

 
          
He
told what he had learned and Aunt Judy snatched up her bonnet. “I’m a-comin’,”
she stated. “No use yu arguin’, Jim Green; yu may be able to tackle a man but
it takes a woman to handle a woman.
I can’t do nothin’ more
for these two saps.”

 
          
With
a face which might have been carved from a block of wood she followed the
cowboy down the street. They found the house, a two-storied, ramshackle frame
building. The door was opened by a stout, middle-aged
negress
.

 
          
“Mis’
Gold is upstairs but she ain’t seein’ nobuddy,” she told them.

 
          
“She’ll
see us,” Sudden said, and slipping a coin to the woman’s hand, pushed past.

 
          
They
found Miss Gold smoking a cigarette and lolling in an arm-chair. Not yet
thirty, she still had charm of a kind, but her once pretty face had become
hard, predatory, and her yellow hair was obviously dyed. The silken frock which
revealed too much of her opulent figure was shabby and the high-heeled satin
shoes were rubbed and worn. She greeted her unannounced guests with a stare of
surprise.

 
          
“And
who the hell may you be?” she asked belligerently. “That don’t matter,” the
cowboy said. “We wanta know what yu’ve done with Miss Eden?”

 
          
“Don’t
know the lady,” the girl replied insolently, but there was a flicker of fear in
her eyes.

 
          
“Lyin’
won’t help yu,” Sudden said evenly. “We know that yu called on her an’ that she
left the hotel with yu.” Lily Gold studied him appraisingly. Usually she found
cowboys easy to handle, but this one seemed different; her wiles would have no
effect on him.

 
          
“Oh,
that kid,” she said. “I showed her round a bit and then she said she wanted to
do some shopping. I expect she had a fellow to meet.”

 
          
Her
sneering laugh was rudely cut short. Aunt Judy thrust Sudden aside. Her eyes
were blazing.

 
          
“Lemme
talk to her,” she said.
“Listen, yu dance-hall drab.
Do yu know how the Injuns serve women o’ yore sort? They slice their noses off,
an’ yu can take it from me it don’t improve their looks any—I’ve seen ‘em.” Her
left hand shot out and fastened like a claw on a bare shoulder, digging into
the soft flesh and forcing the girl back in the chair, while her right jerked
an eight-inch bowie knife from the bosom of her dress and flashed it before her
prisoner’s frightened eyes. “Come clean, yu slut,” she raged, “or by the livin’
God I’ll make yore face somethin’ for men to shudder at.”

 
          
The
harsh discordant voice, fierce angular features, and set grim lips told that it
was no mere
threat,
and the dance-girl who would have
face a furious man and told him to do his worst—shrank back in stark terror
from this fiend in female shape. Out of the raddled, bloodless mask on which
the patches of paint stood out with startling distinctness, her terrified gaze
travelled to the cowboy.

 
          
“She’ll
do it,” she whimpered. “She’s mad. Call her off.”

 
          
“I
ain’t interferin’,” Sudden said sternly. “It’s up to yu.” The girl was shaking.
“
There’s men
in town who’ll hang you for this,” she
panted.

 
          
“Mebbe,
but that won’t put yore nose back,” Judy retorted, and raised the knife.

 
          
The
story came tumbling out. She had been paid to lure the victim to a certain
Mexican dive, the bait being that a cowboy named Sandy had been badly hurt in a
brawl. Two men had met them there, seized Miss Eden and ridden away. One of the
men was Baudry; the other a stranger.

 
          
“Where
have they taken her?” Sudden barked.

 
          
“How
the hell do I know?” the woman snapped, and then shrieked as the steel gleamed
before her eyes.