Oliver Strange - Sudden Westerns 04 - Sudden Outlawed(1934) (39 page)

 
          
Sandy
looked embarrassed. “
yu
ain’t rememberin’ how we
parted,” he said.

 
          
The
old man chuckled contentedly—his boy was trying to spare him; but he was no
shirker.

 
          
“I’ve
not forgotten,” he admitted. “Threatened to fill yu with buckshot if yu showed
up again, didn’t I? Well, that’s all past an’ done—I reckon we’ve both learned
sense since that day. ‘yu’ve made good an’ I’m proud o’ yu, son.” His eyes
twinkled as he went on, “It’s a pity Carol don’t like redheads—claims she’s had
enough trouble with me, but mebbe she” He looked round the room and seemed
surprised to find the girl had slipped away. “Now where in mischief has she
gone? Yu better go find her, boy; somebody is liable to steal her again,”

 
          
Sandy’s
old impudent smile was back. “Somebody’s goin’ to,” he promised.

 
          
From
the crest of a ridge in the plain, a man on a big black horse watched a
lumbering, canvas-topped wagon and its attendant group of riders diminish in
the distance. The S E outfit was homeward bound and Sudden had ridden with them
this far. Bitterness was again upon him; once more he was friendless. Even
Tyson—well supplied with “smokin’,” but disdaining the offer of a new rifle to
replace his cherished “Betsy”—had returned to the wilderness in search of, as
he had grimly put it, “copper-coloured marks to shoot at.”

 
          
Sudden
was sorely tempted to spur on and take his chance in Texas. Then
came
the memory of Bill Evesham, the man to whom he owed
everything, who had passed out leaving him a legacy of hate. Somewhere on the
far-flung frontiers of the west the two men who had wronged his benefactor were
to be found. He had given his word and must keep it, at any cost.

 
          
His
young face became flint.

 
          
“I
have it to do,” he muttered, and whirling his mount, rode resolutely towards
the town.

 
          
The
End