Sudden--Strikes Back (A Sudden Western #1) (26 page)

Some
days later a small gathering of the Slash 8 crew took place in the
large, sunny bedroom of the ranch house. Green had come to say his
goodbyes to his friend Dave, who was being nursed by Grace;
Miller’s shot had been only a flesh wound, but the jagged shoulder
wound that Curt Parr had given the young cowboy had, so Grace Tate
insisted, needed rest and attention.

The
knowing looks Cookie and Gimpy gave Sudden as they told him this
brought deep blushes to the face of that young woman and
considerable discomfort to the ‘invalid’.

‘
Shucks, Jim,’ expostulated that worthy, ‘yu don’t need to go
so soon. In fact yu don’t need to leave at all.’

‘
Yes, Jim. why don’t you stay on?’ Grace Tate asked. ‘We’d —I’d
be glad to have you here.’

‘
No, I ain’t needed here no more. This is goin’ to be a rich
valley in a couple o’ years, an’ now that de Witt—I still can’t
help callin’ him that—now that Miller’s hold on the valley is
broken, I ain’t needed here.’

‘
How did yu ever get on to Miller, Jim?’ asked
Dobbs.

‘
Somethin’ he said one time about the Shadows havin’ raided the
Slash 8. I knew he couldn’t have found out about it from anyone
here.’

‘
Shore was funny about Patches, though,’ mused
Gimpy.

‘
Yeah, he musta gone through hell,’ agreed Shorty.

After
the death of the villainous Miller, Patches had told them his
story. His son, Jasper de Witt, had been sent from the East to take
over a new branch of his bank in Hanging Rock. Somehow Miller, who
had been hanging around in Santa Fe, making a living by gambling
and as an actor, had met the young man, who had confided in him.
Miller had then murdered de Witt, stolen his papers and
identification, and come to Hanging Rock where he had assumed the
dead man’s place. Through the Bank, he had learned of the plans to
build a railroad through the valley, and so made his
plans.

‘
Jonathan de Witt—that’s the feller we knowed as Patches,’
explained Sudden, ‘came West to find out what had happened to his
son when he didn’t hear from him. He discovered that the man at the
Bank was not his son, backtracked to Santa Fe, found out that his
son had been seen around with a man named Miller, whose description
was that of the man now posing as Jasper de Witt.

‘
But then he went to pieces. Shock, grief, perhaps fear, worked
upon him. He started drinking; he was robbed. He could not return
East for help, knowing that he had no proof against Miller. So he
started to play his part as the town drunk, waiting and watching
for the one slip that Miller might make which would enable him to
take his revenge.’

‘
So when judge Pringle revealed Miller’s name on those
registration certificates, Patches knew Miller’s time had come,’
Dave put in. ‘I had seen him in the saloon. He must’ve dodged out
to get a gun. When he walked through that door, Miller musta
thought he was seein’ a ghost.’

‘
Him and his son looked very much alike,’ Sudden
said.

‘
That’s why Patches was allus so dirty an’ unshaven; he
couldn’t risk Miller recognizin’ him.’

‘
I shore never expected Miller to have two shoulder guns,
though,’ breathed Shorty, reliving the suspenseful moments in
Burkhart’s saloon. ‘By the way, Jim, where’d yu ever learn to use a
gun like that?’

Sudden
shook his head and said nothing.

‘
I reckon,’ continued Shorty enthusiastically, ‘yu could give
that Sudden feller I’ve heard about a run for his
money.’

Grace,
who had left the room for a moment, returned in time to overheat
Shorty’s remark.

‘
Shorty, really!’ she exclaimed, ‘there’s a considerable
difference between a man like Jim and that dreadful
outlaw.’

Sudden’s
smile was merry as he rose.

‘
Miss Grace, the next time yu see judge Pringle, maybe yu’d
tell him just that. I reckon he’d be interested to hear it in just
them words.’

Grace
Tate looked at her foreman in puzzlement. ‘What do you mean,
Jim?’

Sudden
smiled down at her from his great height.

‘
It’s a long story,’ he told her. ‘Yu save it for a rainy
day.’

‘
Oh, fiddle!’ she snapped. ‘You men and your mysteries. All
right, now; time to go, everyone. The patient has to have some
rest, and he can’t rest with all this chatter and smoking. Out,
out, out! You too, Jim .’

‘
Just give me five more minnits, ma’m. I’ll be on my way
then.’

‘
Oh—you’re not leaving so soon?’ Grace looked to Dave for
support, and the young cowboy added his pleas to hers. Green shook
his head.

‘
I got to move on,’ he said. ‘I got a job to do.’

Finally,
after giving him a resounding kiss that brought a mock protest from
the bedridden Dave, Grace bustled out, shaking an admonitory finger
around the door. ‘Five minutes, mind you. Not a second
more.’

After
she had gone, Dave turned to his friend.

‘
Jim, I got the feelin’ there was more to that mention o’
Sudden than yu let on. Yu want to tell me about it?’

Sudden
surveyed him gravely for a moment, then a smile spread across his
face. ‘Shucks, yu wouldn’t believe it if I told yu,’ he
grinned.

He
thrust out his hand, and the two friends shook hands
firmly.

‘
Take care o’ her,’ Sudden said. ‘She’s a fine
girl.’

‘
I know it. Yu take care o’ yourself, hear?’ Dave told him, a
catch in his throat.

‘
Been tryin’ to all these years,’ Sudden answered drily. ‘I’ll
keep at it.’

He
wheeled quickly, stopping at the door. ‘Name the first one after
me, huh?’

His friend lay in silence for a long moment; he heard Green’s
goodbyes, then his feet on the porch, and finally, the sound of his
horse’s hoofs pounding across the yard and down the trail and out
of the valley forever. ‘So long, Jim,’ he muttered. ‘I shore
will.’

Sudden Will Return in

SUDDEN—TROUBLESHOOTER,

Coming Soon!