Shoot-out at Split Rock (17 page)

Rollitt looked at the leveled gun. "Mebbe it's a year," he said huskily. "I broke away—"

The gun roared and a line of red on the man's cheekbone showed where the buUet had grazed him.

"The next lie will be yore last," the marksman warned. "You've been watched, you fool. What was the word you took from that man"—he pointed to Dutt—"to Navajo?" The nearness of death had shattered the ruffian's nerves. With trembling lips he mumbled the message: "Rogue is sellin' you; get busy with the boys an' strike quickly."

"That's a—" Dutt began, and promptly subsided when he saw Sudden's eyes upon him.

"Well, Sam, are you taking the word of this gunman with a price on his head against me, Jethro Baudry, a respected citizen, and your friend?" the gambler asked coolly.

Before the rancher could reply, another voice chimed in, and the little Indian hunter thrust himself forward.

"Jethro Baudry, huh?" he piped. "When I see you in Kansas City not so far back you was Monte Jack, a card cheat who skipped outa town two-three jumps ahead o' the Vigilantes, wanted for killin' a sucker you'd trimmed —shot him under the table, didn't yuh?"

120

Save that it was a shade more pallid, the gambler's face did not alter. "You are mistaken, my friend," he said.

"Monte had a scar runnin' up his right arm from wrist to elbow, where a Mexican had tried to slip a knife into him. All red an' puckered it was, like the edges had been sewed up clumsy."

"Roll up yore right sleeve."

It was Sudden who gave the order, and his gun was again out. Baudry's face was livid; he knew the game was up—for the moment.

"No need—the scar's there," he admitted, and turned to Eden. "You win—for now, but don't forget I hold your paper."

The rancher, whose rage had been steadily rising as the revelation of how he had been duped, boiled over at this.

"You dirty thief," he cried, and gripped his gun.

The threatened man jeered. "It would be a good way of paying your debt, wouldn't it?"

Eden's fingers released the weapon as though it had been red hot. He glared at the scoundrel who had gauged him so correcdy. "You'U get yore money—every cent of it —when I sell the herd," he promised.

Baudry's hps curled in a wolfish snarl. "I don't propose to," he rephed. "I'U have the money, the S-E, and—anything else I want of yours." His eyes went to Carol as he made the insolent boast. "You damned old fool," he gritted, "I'll make you curse the hour you quarreled with me. I'll break you and grind your face in the dusL When Rogue has done with you—"

"Rogue can speak for hiinself. Mister," came a quiet voice.

The outlaw was standing there. So absorbed had everyone been in what was taking place that they had not seen him ride in and dismount.

"Far as I'm concerned, Eden, yore herd is safe," he began. "I can't speak for my men; that toad there has poisoned 'em an' they've named a new leader."

"So you sneak off here to save your hide?" Baudry sneered.

The outlaw's eyes flashed. "Best take care o' yore own," he said. "I don't owe you money." He looked at Eden.

"Jim has given you the straight of it," he went on. "What you aimin' to do with these rats?"

The cattleman gestured angrily to his foreman. "Clear 'em out," he ordered, and to Sudden, "Green, I'm takin' yore word, but you ain't told who drilled me."

Sudden looked at Rogue, who shook his head. "I don't know, seh," he replied. "But it wam't Sandy."

The rancher turned his hard eyes on that young man. "I ain't convinced," he said stubbornly, "but I'm wiUin' to be."

A word from the foreman sent the other men about their tasks, leaving the boss and the outlaw alone. An awkward silence ensued, broken at length by the visitor:

"Studying why I'm here, Eden?" he asked. "If you think it's because o' that scum over there you got another guess comin'. I'd 'a' shot it out with 'em, but I thought I could undo some o' the harm I done you."

The rancher's expression was frankly sceptical.

"Don't believe me?" the outlaw went on. "Dimno as I blame you, but it's a fact. Ain't you wondered why I let you get so far after than fandango with the 'Paches? WeU, I've been tryin' to persuade the boys that it would be a better play to let you sell the cows an' then lift the dollars, tnistin' you could find a safe place for 'em. That card sharp put a crimp in that an' here I am. What you gotta say?"

"You can stay, but my menll have orders to shoot you at the first sign o' funny business," he decided.

"That's on'y fair," Rogue said, and walked away.

Thirteen

The country stretched before them, flat, brown, uninteresting, but the trail drivers found it satisfactory, since no danger could approach unseen. The herd, spread out fan-wise, moved slowly forward and Sam Eden—able to sit in a saddle again—puUing up his pony to watch the beasts pass, exulted as he noted their fine condition. Then he frowned as he remembered that catastrophe might yet overtake them. Behind the drag, Rogue was riding alone. The rancher joined him.

122

••What d'you figure them coyotes will do?'* he asked bluntly.

"We talked it over," the oudaw replied. 'To attack on the march would shorely mean stampeding the steers; we'd have to gather 'em again an' might lose quite a mmiber—not all my men knows cattle. The other way was to wait till the herd was bedded down an' rush yore camp after dark; the night riders could be easy dealt with later. I'd say that's what they'll try, an' it'll be soon, meb-be tonight,"

The rancher was silent for a while, furtively studying the hard face of this desperado who had striven for his ruin and was now, apparently, eager to help him. He could not understand it, and still suspected double-dealing.

"What you know o' that fellow Sands?" he asked.

"Mighty little," was the reply. "He drifted in one day, a piece before I met up with Green, and hung around. Didn't mix well with the rest—too clean, I reckon." He smiled and shook his head. "No harm to him: just a boy gone a bit wild."

Evening brought them good fortune in the shape of a disrupted strip of plain, with a camp site which could be defended.

Supper was eaten almost in silence, and hurriedly, each man with his rifle beside him; at any moment he might have to jump up and fight for his life. Then the women were sent to lie down in the wagon and Eden posted his men, with a grim word of warning:

"Don't shoot till yo're shore," he said. "Then—get 'em." It was nervous work kneeling there behind the barricade, waiting. Sandy, squatting beside his friend, voiced fhis thoughts. "I hope they show up—we won't find such a good place in a hundred miles."

"I'm bettin' they do—it's pretty near their last chance, an' with no moon, they'll figure on a surprise."

"They'll get it too," Sandy chuckled. "Where's Tyson?"

"Saw him siftin' into the brush," Sudden rephed. "Gone to smell 'em out for us; he's a four-eyed wonder in the woods."

The cowboy's guess was a good one. As soon as he had

I

eaten, the forest runner, with a word to Eden, had faded into the. shadows, leaving his beloved Betsy behind. Now, prostrate on his belly, he wriggled a way through the brush, ears attentive to the slightest sound. For an hour or more he heard nothing.

Then came a noise, one he had been expecting—^the crack of a snapped dry twig, directly in front. Rising to his knees he drew the long, keen blade from his belt and waited. The bush beside him shook and a man on all fours appeared, pushing his rifle ahead of him. Swiftiy, silently as a striking snake, the knife flashed and the victim, without even a groan, flattened out like a prickled bladder. RoUitt would rob no more.

A muflBied curse away to his left and another cracking of dried wood on his right told him that the marauders were getting close; he must warn the camp. With infinite caution he retraced his path; no one of the watching outfit saw him return, but the word was passed along.

Tense moments ticked by and from behind a cactus a shadowy, indistinct form appeared gradually to grow out of the ground. It saw what it expected—the glow of a fire, and round it, dark shapes of sleeping men. A low whistle brought other shadows, and then a dozen guns shattered the silence of the night, driving bullets into the artfully arranged blankets. To the attackers' surprise, no reply came.

"We must 'a' got most of 'em—there'd be several with th' herd," Navajo reasoned. "Come on, fellas,"

Confident of success, the outlaws emerged from concealment and dashed forward. This was the moment for which Eden had been waiting.

"Now," he called sharply.

From behind the barricade, guns spat in a spiteful chorus and in the advancing line men dropped silently, or stumbled and cursed as they fell. Their leader, realizing that they had walked into a trap, turned and raced for cover again, calling to his men to do the same. A number succeeded, but motionless black blotches on the ground told that the attacking force had suffered. Silence again ensued, broken only by an occasional shot when a cowboy fancied he detected a movement in the scrub. Navajo was cursing.

"TTiey was waitin' for us, bum their souls," he grated. "Somebody musta tipped 'em off—them fallen trees wasn't no accident. I'm bettin' it was Rogue, the ... Hell! th' moon'll be up in less'n half an hour an' they'U be able to pick us off Uke cottontails. We gotta rush 'em before then—it's our on'y chanct."

The charge was made, and met—as before—^with a leaden shower, but this time the attackers were desperate. Though several dropped, the rest came on, climbed the barricade, and leaped down upon its defenders.

Sudden, having fired his last shot bringing a man down, sUpped aside just in time to get his head out of the path of a swinging rifle butt. Before the wielder of the weapon could recover his balance, the cowboy stepped in and drove a venomous fist to his jaw. The fellow collapsed limply, dropping like a sack of meal, and at the same instant, clawhke talons encircled Sudden's neck from behind, sinking into the flesh and shutting off his breath.

"Got you, you damned spy," came a hiss.

It was Navajo. With aU his weight on the cowboy's back he was striving to fling him to the groimd. With groping fingers he tried to loosen the half-breed's hold but it was of no use. Then, in despair, he savagely jabbed an elbow backward into the body behind him. The result was magical; caught fairly in the solar plexus, Navajo's hands fell away, and he tottered back gasping, helpless.

For some seconds the cowboy could do no more than suck air into his starved lungs, and then, seeiag that his enemy was recovering, he ripped across a blow which sent the outlaw reeling to earth. Snarling curses, he sprang up, and as Sudden ran in, flung a handful of sand in his face, and bolted. For the moon was up and a quick glance ifJv-. had shown him that his men were scuttling like rabbits. Completely blinded by the stinging particles of grit. Sudden could do no more than express himself, stamping about, dabbing his smarting eyes with his neckerchief.

The foreman arrived, bringing the news that save for sundry sUght wounds and bruises, the outfit had come out of the ordeal unscathed. "I reckon we've discouraged them cattle thieves a whole lot," he concluded grimly.

He was a long, scraggy feUow of middle-age, with a thin humorous face, and his rigout proclaimed that he

125

had recently visited a settlement, clothes, saddle, and weapons being patently new. He came mto view as they were about to bed down the herd, and Eden rode to meet him.

Karson—so the stranger named himself—told the rancher that Abilene was less than a dozen mUes distant. He himself had ridden out to the herd, having been advised that it was on the way.

"I'm in these parts to buy cattle," he said.

"I'm here to sell 'em," Eden replied, not too eagerly. To have reached the goal first strengthened his position and he meant to take advantage of his luck. Moreover, the experience of the past few months had made him distrustful.

The cattle buyer slept in camp, having decided to accompany them on the final day's march. He advised that the herd be halted a couple of miles short of Abilene, where there was good grazing.

Darkness was still distant when they sighted a haze of smoke on the horizon and realized that the end of the long trail was within reach. When the cattle were bunched and bedded a small party was headed for Abilene; Karson, Eden, the women and Sudden.

They reached the town as dusk was falling. Karson conducted them to his hotel, where they secured rooms and dined. Then he carried the cattleman off to "take in the town." Eden, having warned his daughter to remain indoors, told Sudden he was at liberty to amuse himself. The cowboy did not like this arrangement, but could hardly protest.

Leaving the hotel, he mingled with the motley mob streaming along the street. At the door of the Palace Saloon he hesitated a moment and then went in, A bleary-eyed individual sidled up to him.

"Yo're a stranger," he accused, shooting out a grimy finger.

"You must be a magician," the cowboy quizzed.

"I ain't, but I savvy all the fellas in thisyer burg," the other replied.

"I'm the town marshal o' thisyer city," he began pompously.