Sudden The Range Robbers

They rode far enough along the gorge to make the task of going round to cut them off a long one, and then, turning a sudden bend, simultaneously pulled down their mounts.

`There she is--the very place,' cried Larry, pointing to a clump of boulders among which a few snunted bushes were growing, about a hundred yards away. A brief examination satisfied them, and tying the horses behind an outflung shoulder of the cliff, they squatted down to await the pursuers.

`If they come a-battin' round than bend we can get a couple of 'em 'fore they know we're here,' Larry said complacently. `It'll be like money from home.'

`Yo're a gory-minded sport, ain't yu?' Green retorted. `No, seh; they get their warnin'; I ain't no sneakin' bush-whacker.'

`Yu are thirty-two sorts of a darn fool,' Larry said heatedly. `There's five of 'em, ain't there? Fine lot o' warnin' they'd 'a' give us if we'd waited in Big Rock.'

We'll drop a couple o' hosses, though I hate doin' it, an' if they want to argue after that, we'll shore accommodate 'em.'

`An' he's got the reputation of bein' a cold-blooded killer,' was Larry's unspoken thought.

They sat there waiting, each ensconced behind a serviceable chunk of rock, with rifle ready. It was cool in the gorge now, but the sun was climbing the sky and once it became vertical, they knew they would have a grilling time. They had filled their canteens at the last stream, and had been careful to place them out of reach of questing oullets; if the fight were prolonged, thirst would become an important factor.

`They're a long time gettin' here--must be comin' dead slow,' Larry said impatiently.

Hardly had the words left his lips when there came the rapid beat of hoofs, somewhat dulled by the sand, and in a few moments the bunched riders dashed round the bend, Scaife and the Crossed Dumb-bell representative slightly ahead. The venomous crack-crack of two rifles reverberated and re-echoed along the gorge, the sound tossed from wall to wall, and the horses of the leaders dropped, sending their riders headlong. The rest of the party, whirling their startled mounts, scampered back round the protecting curve. The landlord and his fallen companion clawed their way crab-wise behind the dead bodies of their horses and began to industriously pump lead at the clump of rocks sheltering the ambushers. The other three, having recovered from their panic, also commenced to waste cartridges, but without eliciting any response.

`One of 'em'll get careless an' give us somethin' to aim at presently,' Green argued. `Betche Stiffy will try an' make that rock on his left; dead hosses is poor cover.'

Evidently the rustler was of the same opinion, for he suddenly rose into view and sprang for the boulder in question. It was less than ten yards away and he had almost reached it when Green fired; they saw him stumble and pitch forward.

`Missed him,' gibed Larry. Wish I'd pulled too.'

`Missed nothin',' said the marksman. `I got him where I aimed to--in the left laig.'

`Huh, if yo're thinkin' o' startin' a hospital round here I'd like to suggest that a cemetery is less trouble an' safer.'

`Yu been readin' too many dime novels. Wonder if friend Scaife will go to help friend Stiffy? What d'yu think?' `Betche ten level he don't,' said Larry promptly.

`Yo're a reckless feller with yore money,' reproved Green. `But I gotta take yu. Look, there he goes!' He fired as he spoke, and the landlord, with a hearty curse, crumpled up, and then rolled behind the rock which sheltered the groaning Stuffy.

`Tough luck havin' to down a feller when he's earnin' yu money, but I had to do. I got him in the right laig, so they've still got a sound pair between 'em.'

`Well, of all the' began the disgusted loser.

`Don't say it,' admonished Green. `When yu get yore growth yu will know that even things like Scaife can act pretty near human at times. What do yu reckon they'll do now?'

The answer came from the attacking force in the shape of a perfect hurricane of lead which tore up the ground and searched every nook and crevice of their hiding-place.

`What in 'ell are they tryin' to do--knock this blame rock out of the way?' asked Larry peevishly, as a fragment of snone grazed his cheek and the bullet which had detached it went whining into the distance. `If these jiggers ain't careful somebody's goin' to get hurt.'

In the face of this fusillade the two men kept close, hugging the ground behind their barrier. The hail of shots was followed by a single bullet which dropped just between the outstretched legs of the younger man, causing him to promptly double them up and snuggle closer to the sheltering stone.

`They musta got a balloon,' he gasped.

Another shot followed, cutting a neat half-circle out of the brim of Larry's hat, which was entirely too close no be pleasant. `Dann smart,' murmured Green.

`Huh! think so, do yu?' snorted Larry. `A little bit smarter an' yu'd be alone. This blame rock musta shrunk.'

`They got the edge on us,' Green explained. `While they bombarded us just now one of 'em nipped across an' climbed that big tree by the bend. He's the feller who's doin' the potshootin'. Take a peep an' draw his fire; then I'll get him.'

`Yu go to blazes; I ain't no Aunt Sally,' retorted Larry. `That jigger shoots too well an' I ain't gamblin' with him--none whatever.'

For some time silence reigned in the gorge, each side waiting for the other to make a move. Then a jet of smoke spirted from higher up the tree and the missile snatched Green's hat from his head. Instantly he fired into the midst of the thinning smoke, there was a disturbance of the foliage as a heavy body crashed downwards, until, caught by a big lower branch, it hung, limply swinging.

`Crashed,' said Larry laconically.

The dispiriting effect of this loss on the enemy was soon apparent. From behind the boulder which sheltered Scaife arose a rifle with a dirty white rag fluttering from the barrel, and a voice shouted:

`Yu fellers can go on; we won't interfere nor foller.'

`Right kind o' yu, I'm shore,' Green shouted back. `S'pose yu do the clearin' out. We're quite comfortable an we won't interfere nor foller,' he mimicked.

A hearty curse was the only response to this pleasantry and then the landlord who, whatever his other failings, was not deficient in pluck, hobbled into view, using his gun to save his damaged leg. Stiffy followed, and having removed their saddles and bridles from the dead horses they vanished round the bend in the gorge. In less than ten minutes they reappeared beneath the big tree, two of the horses carrying double burdens, the other two being required for the corpse, which was soon dislodged and tied across the saddle. The victors waited a while and then crept cautiously from the concealment. They need not have worried; rounding a far curve they could see the discomfited reward-hunters heading for Big Rock.

`An' I reckon if they ain't wiser they're a heap sadder,' commented the younger man. `They've shore got a bellyful.'

`Which reminds me we ain't eat since the last time,' Green rejoined. `Why not rustle some grub an' can the chatter for once in a while?'

`Chatter? Me?' yelled the indignant youth. `I'm numb as a clam compared to yu. Why, yu make more noise for yore size than a tin pail full o' stones rollin' down a mountain, yu--hurdy-gurdy.'

Which criticism called for and received only one answer. After the dust had settled, they arose and set about the proposed meal.

Chapter XIX

SOME days later the Crossed Dumb-bell ranch had two visitors but only the foreman was aware of it. Well after dark, Tarman and Poker Pete had ridden up and leaving their horses tied in the brush, had slipped unseen into Jeffs' quarters, where the big man related the happenings at Big Rock.

`Don't it beat all, the luck he has?' commented Pete, with an oath. `We had him at the Y Z an' that fool-girl butts in, an' now them Big Rock idjuts have made a mess of it. I shore thought Scaife had sense.'

`It ain't luck, an' it's no good reckonin' on luck when yu play against him,' Tarman said. `Yu got to outguess him. Any idea where he is, Jeffs?'

The foreman shook his head. `We ain't seen hide nor hair of him,' he said. `But I'm bettin' he's not far off.'

`He's gotta be located; turn California loose an' tell him to comb the country between here an' the Y Z. If he finds Green's camp, he's to show up casual like, an' make the play that yu were all expectin' him back here, an' that that crack on the head was a bit o' private spite on the part o' Gorilla. Then, an' this is the important bit, he's to let on that it's come out that Old Simon, owner o' the Y Z, has been usin' a fancy name ever since he hit these parts an' that his real name is Peterson. If that don't fetch Mr. Green to the Y Z pronto, I'm a bonehead, an' yu can bet yore lasn nickel he'll come painted for war. He's been lookin' for Peterson these three years.'

`Why for?' asked both the listeners at once.

`He claims that Peterson did the dirty on the feller who befriended him. Funny he should have gone to work for the very man he come here to kill.'

`But if he's sweet on the girl, an' I reckon he is, he won't wipe out her dad,' objected Poker.

`There's a reason why that sentiment won't work,' grinned Tarman, who did not believe in telling more than he must. `Anyways, if he comes to see the old man he'll shoot him, shore enough.' He smiled as he saw understanding dawn on them. `Then we nail him, some of us havin' business at the Y Z about that time, an' we're shut o' the pair of 'em.'

`An' him havin' killed her dear daddy, the girl won't be anxious to turn him loose again,' Poker Pete said. `My word, I gotta hand it to yu, Joe; when it comes to schemin' yo're there with the goods, but I figure yu may have trouble with Blaynes over the skirt.'

Tarman laughed harshly. `Yu mean he may have trouble with me, don't yu?' he said. `Blaynes will get what's comin' to him.' `What about the Frying Pan?' asked the foreman.

`Owner seems a bin obstinate at present,' replied the big man. `We'll have to lower the value of his property some yet, but there's plenty o' time for that; we'll put this other job over first. Yu prime West an' don't tell him more than enough--he may have got friendly with Green.

He added a few more general directions, and then he and the gambler slid silently out, regained their horses, and took the back trail to Hatchett's Folly.

When Jeffs had hazarded the opinion that the outlaw was not far from the Crossed Dumb-bell ranch-house, his guess was a good one, for Green and Larry were within a couple of miles of him when he spoke. Since their return from Big Rock they had haunted the locality in the hope of finding out what was being done with the stolen cattle. At last their patience was rewarded, for four of the rustlers, one of whom was Gorilla, rounded up a small herd one morning and headed for the valley where Green himself had done some rebranding.

Surmising their destination, Green and the Y Z puncher made a leisurely detour which took them to the spot by a longer route. When they arrived, the work of changing brands was almost completed. Securely hidden among the brush which clothed the sides of the valley, they waited for the next move. This was not long in coming, for as soon as the last bellowing steer had rushed from the little corral in which the branding was done, the herd was collected again and driven towards the end of the valley. Keeping well under cover the watchers followed.

Passing through a break in the wall of the valley, the herd climbed a long slope to a big, tree-covered plateau. Here the trailers, having had further to go, lost sight of it, but evidence of its passage was plain enough, and indeed, the trail was a broad, well-trodden one, and had already been used on many occasions. After winding in and out among the trees for some miles, it suddenly took a sharp dip, and save for some scattered clumps of brush the foliage ended.

`Jee-rusalem!' ejaculated Green, reigning in, a proceeding Larry promptly followed. `What a hide-out.'

The dip, which after the start, was a long and gradual one, ended at a narrow entrance to another valley, larger than any they had yet seen, for it appeared to extend for several miles, and to be, in places, nearly a mile in width. The floor was covered with rich grass and groups of willow and cottonwood indicated the presence of water. Unlike the other valley, this one had no sloping sides, being, so far as they could determine, enclosed by perpendicular walls of rock. At the foot of the slope, they now saw the rustlers and their charge pass through the great stones which formed a natural gateway, while spread about the floor of the valley were many other herds. The two friends looked at each other, the same thought in both minds. It was Larry who voiced it: `The blame country's just made for rustlin',' he said. `What are they keepin' 'em for--there must be over a thousand head there?'

`That's the gang's part o' the plunder, I reckon,' Green replied. `When Tarman has got hold o' the Y Z an' Frying Pan range he'll buy back these herds, or his men's share of 'em! It's the ranches he wants, an' he's only stealin' the cattle to get the land cheap an' pay his hands. He's playin' a big game, is Mr. Tarman, an' it's a safe bet he's double-crossin' his own friends.'

`What we goin' to do now?' asked Larry.

Put 'em up; I got yu covered,' came a hoarse command from the surrounding bushes.

A touch of the spurred heel sent Larry's horse into the air and at the same instant came a shot which scorched Green's neck. Like lightning, the puncher sent three bullets into the bush from which the smoke was spiralling, and a grunt, followed by the crash of a falling body showed they had not been fired in vain. For some moments the two men waited tensely, guns ready, for any further demonstration, but nothing happened. Dismounting, they forced their way into the bush. Sprawled before them, a neat hole between his sightless eyes and a distorted sneer on his misshappen lips, was Gorilla.

`We're gettin' careless, Larry,' Green said. `We oughtta noticed that there was only three with the herd when they struck the valley an' then we'd have known that one of 'em was watchin' the trail. We gotta get rid o' this'--he pointed to the body--'it tells too much.'

A deep crevice between two rocks, winh more stones on top to protect it from wild creatures, formed the dwarf's last resning-place. His horse they found tied to a tree not far away and turned it loose. A glance at the valley showed a thin wisp of smoke; apparently the rustlers had not heard the firing and were about to feed before making the return trip.

`Well, I owed that jigger somethin' but I didn't know I was payin' a debt,' Green mused. `Odd how things work out. I never did nothin' to him an' yet he hated me at sight. We'd better be movin'.'

`Where for?' asked Larry.

`Frying Pan. We gotta put Leeming wise to this place in case we both get rubbed out.'

`Yu allus do see the bright side, don't yu? Awright, awright, we'll go to Job; he'll give us somethin' better to eat than pig's belly, anyway.'

Green grinned. `Yu certainly do make a Gawd o' yore innards, don't yu?' he said. `We'll have a look at my claim on our way.'

`Yore what?' yelled the boy.

`I ain't deaf, an' I ain't a mile away,' exposnulated the other `Didn't yu know I gon a gold-mine? If yo're a good boy...'

But Larry consigned both him and the gold-mine to a place good boys know nothing about, and raced off. Green followed more leisurely, a demure glint in his eyes. Some hours later they halted for a meal of the despised bacon and then pushed on, reaching the spot where Green had cached his mining outfit late at night, too tired to do more than roll up in their blankets and sleep. When Larry awakened in the morning it was to see his friend squatting by a fire, tending a pan from which an odourmuch more delightful than that of bacon was coming. He sprang up and took a peep.

`Trout, by the Jumping Jiminy,' he exclaimed. Where'd yu get 'em, Don?'

'Catched 'em lookin' for worms in the long grass, yu chump,' laughed the other. `Don't yu know fish allus come ashore to feed in the early mornin'?'

`An' the wise worms take to the water 'bout the same time on that account,' added another voice, and they looked up to find West grinning at them. "Lo, Green,' he went on. `I was ridin' right by when I got a whiff o' them trout. Might there be enough for three?"

`Shore, but four would be too many,' replied the puncher, meaningly.

`I'm as lonely as the devil at the prayer-meetin', an' durned glad to see yu again,' replied California. `What's happened? We been expectin' yu back at the ranch.'

He got down as he spoke, tied his horse, and took a seat at the fire. The other two watched him closely. His pleasure at the meeting seemed genuine, and it was quite possible that he did not know of the treacherous trap which had been sprung upon the Y Z man.

`Yu ain't heard?' Green asked, as he passed over a generous portion of the food.

`There's bin tales told but I don't reckon I've heard the straight of it,' the visitor returned. `Jeffs claims that he never knowed yu was missin' till they were halfway home; then we heard one o' the Y Z boys had bumped yu off. Next comes the news that yu ain't cashed but they've got yu, an' then we hears that yu got away an' the marshal's tore hisself near baldheaded.'

`It was Gorilla who knocked me cold, West,' Green explained.

`The hell it was!' said California. `Well, he may have bin actin' on orders, or he may not--he's a bitter, mischievous devil--but yu gotta remember that yu thrashed the Spider, an' he ain't noted for a forgivin' nature. I suspicioned somethin' was up an' I warned yu to be on the lookout.'

`I ain't forgettin' that,' Green replied. `Jeffs send yu to look for me?'

`Shucks! I happened on yore camp just like I said. I warn't lookin' for yu an' I warn't lookin' for no ten thousand dollars neither; that sort o' money never appealed to me.' He rolled a cigarette, and then remarked casually, `Funny about Old Simon.'

`What was that?' asked both his listeners.

`Hatchett's is tickled to death over it,' laughed the rustler. `He's bin carryin' on like a scalded pup 'cause yu give him a name that warn't yore own, an' now it comes out that his name ain't Petter, nor even Simon.' He drew at his cigarette, exhaled the smoke slowly, and continued, `Changin' names is common enough in these parts an' ain't no crime, but the feller as does it oughtn't to complain if others do it too.'

`Seems fair,' agreed Green. `What have we gotta call Old Simon now?'

`Well, it 'pears his right name is Les Peterson--Les bein' the short for Leslie,' came the careless reply, but the speaker's eyes were watching the other closely. He saw nothing more than polite, amused interest.

`The old catawampus--he shore oughtta be ashamed of himself,' the puncher observed. `Wonder how many sheriffs is lookin' for him?'

West was nonplussed, though he guessed the other man was bluffing him. He had given the information as instructed, and although he did not know its significance to Green, he had expected it to produce an effect of some sort. Defnly he changed the subject.

`Am I to tell Jeffs yu ain't comin' back?'

`Nope, tell him I am--later,' said Green, and he smiled grimly.

West was clearly uneasy. He liked the puncher, and would have warned him had he known what to warn him against, but he was a mere unit in the gang, a tool in the hands of the rogues who did the scheming. So that all he said was, `Well, don't forget yu gotta friend there when yu do.'

`I ain't likely to--I got none too many,' smiled the outlaw.

When the visitor had mounted and gone, Green sat staring in silence at the fire, pondering on the astounding news which had come to him so strangely. Fate had presented him with a pretty problem. Here was a man for whom he had been searching for years with one object only, to fight and kill or be killed himself. Always he had held that the cruel wrong done to his benefactor could only be wiped out in blood. And now to learn that the hunted man is the father of the girl of his dreams, or at least, all the father she has ever known. `It would be the same; I just couldn't do it, old feller,' he muttered, unaware that he was speaking aloud.

Up to this point Larry had respected his friend's silence, but the spoken remark was too much.

`Say, when yu done chatterin' to yoreself yu might tell a feller what it's all about an' see if he can help yu,' he suggested.

Green roused himself. ` "Out o' the mouths o' babes" idea, eh?' he quoted, smiling.

`Awright, grandpa,' grinned Larry. `Fly at it.'

The amusement soon faded from the young man's face as he listened to the story, and consternation took its place.

`Ain't it just hell,' he said, when the tale was done. `Yu can't hurt Old Simon; he ain't a bad sort, an' it would break Miss Norry all up.'

`I know that, yu chump,' was the reply. `But I gotta see him.'

`We gotta see him, yu mean,' corrected Larry. `Wonder if West knew yu'd be interested to hear Old Simon's real name?', `Couldn't 'a' been--I never mentioned Peterson to anyone round here. What's bitin' yu, anyway?'

`Dunno, but it shore seems odd his happenin' along like that. It looks...'

`As if we're careless an' damn lucky,' interjected Green. `It might just as well have been Blaynes, or another o' that rustlin' lot, an' we'd 'a' been cold meat. C'mon, we'll shove for the Y Z an' watch our chance.'

Larry gave in, but he was not satisfied. To visit the Y Z just now appeared to be sheer madness, but when he pointed this out the only answer he got was that this very reason made it possible.

`They won't be lookin' for us,' Green argued.

`Wish I was shore o' that,' grumbled the other.

However, he offered no further opposition for he saw that it would be useless; his companion was determined to prove the trunh of the story he had heard without delay, and to settle accounts, though not in the way he had intended, with the man he had sought so long. For the boy knew that, so far as Sudden was concerned, Old Simon was safe, though he had been guilty of an offence for which death was the inevitable penalty; the abduction of a child could hardly be less heinous than the stealing of a horse or steer. He fell to studying the man riding silently beside him, grim and saturnine, and some conception of the power of human passions came to him. Here was a man who could be ruthless with his fellows, who had killed and would kill again if necessity arose, instantly abandoning a just vengeance cherished and pursued for years because it would hurt a girl.

`It's odd,' he said aloud, unthinkingly.

`What is?' asked Green.

Larry did not want to say; he hesitated and looked round for an excuse. They were crossing a wooded ridge, and between the trees over towards the place they had come from a thin pencil of smoke stabbed the sky. Even as he looked it was cut off, and then shot up again. He pointed towards it.

`Somebody signallin' back there.'

Green looked at him doubtfully; he did not believe that was what he had referred to, for Larry's back had been to the smoke when he spoke. While they watched the signal ceased and reappeared three more times, then faded out.

`Do yu reckon it might be West?' asked Larry.

`No tellin' an' it's too far away to investigate,' came the answer. `Yu seem sot on the idea that his meetin' up with us wasn't an accident.'

`I was studyin' him mighty careful. This may be all a dodge to get yu to the Y Z.'

`I'm agoin' to risk it anyway, but there's no call--' `We done settled that a'ready.'

They resumed their way, leisurely, for they had no desire to reach the ranch before dark. Slow, as they were, however, it was barely dusk when, hidden in the thick brush bordering the trail, they saw the ranch buildings a quarter of a mile distant. Larry tied his pony.

`Yu stay here,' he said. `I'll sneak up a-foot an' have a look-see.'

Green nodded, and rolling himself a cigarette, sat down to wait. Presently his quick ear caught the sound of hoof-beats and peering out he saw Noreen cantering down the trail. Evidently she had been for one of her afternoon rides and was returning home. He noted, with an ironical spasm of satisfaction, that Tarman was not with her and that she was riding Blue. After a moment of indecision, he stepped into view, removing his hat as he did so. The girl would have ridden past, but the horse, with a little whicker of pleasure, came straight to him. The cowpuncher smiled bitterly as he fondled the velvety muzzle.

`A feller was sayin' to me the other day that some hosses are pretty near human but I reckon he understand the facts,' he said.

The girl bit her lip and her face flushed, but she made no further attempt to resume her way.

`What are you doing here?' she asked angrily, and then, noting that he hesitated, she added, `Don't trouble to think up any lie; I know that you are waiting for my father, whom you believe to be one of the men you told me you were looking for, and you want to kill him for some fancied grievance. Oh, if only I had known.'

The man she lashed listened apparently unmoved, though her scorn and contempt were hard to bear.

`I reckon yu got me wrong,' he said patiently, while wondering how she knew. `I came intending to see yore--father, but I ain't goin' to hurt him.' He saw the question in her eyes. `He's got to apologise,' he finished.

`To you?' she asked stormily.

Green shook his head. `No,' he said solemnly. `To a dead man.'

`What do you mean?' the girl queried, impressed in spite of herself by his demeanour. `Is this one of your so-called jokes?' For an instant the steel-blue eyes flashed fire and muscles of his strong mouth corded in nhe effort to maintain his self-control. The girl shivered; she had had a glimpse of a strong man suddenly stirred to anger, and it frightened her. But in a moment the storm had passed and the man's face was set, passionless, immobile again.

`Won't you tell me?' she asked.

`Yore father must do the explainin',' he replied. `I'm givin' yu my word that he's safe, but I've gotta see him, an' I'm goin' to see him. I'm comin' in peace an' I'll go in peace, but if there's any trap laid, well, I guess graves'll be wanted to-morrow. Tell yore father that.'

His voice was harsh, rasping, implacable, and Noreen realised that he was not to be turned from his purpose, and that even did he walk straight into an ambush he would come to the ranch. She nodded dumbly, and the cowpuncher, having pushed the head of the unwilling roan back towards the trail, vanished into the bushes.

When the girl had gone, Green sat down, took out his guns and spun the cylinders to make sure the weapons were in perfect order. He had done his best to ensure that his meeting with Simon should be a peaceable one, but he was not going unprepared for the alternative. He had some black moments when he fell to considering what the girl must be thinking of him, and whether'it would oe better to have told her the whole story. With a shrug of his shoulders he dismissed the idea--she would not have believed him. Presently a twig crackled and Larry appeared.

`Yu make near as much noise as a herd stampeding,' was the greeting he received. `Got any news?'

`All is quiet around the old homestead--too quiet for my likin',' replied the youth, ignoring the insult to his trailing ability. `Didn't see hide nor hair of anyone 'cept the Pretty Lady. She come bustin' in on Vesuvius lookin' some flustered, pushed him in the corral an' hurried into the house. What yu been sayin' to her?'

The older man smiled at the boy's quick-wittedness and gave an account of the interview.

`Guess that makes it easier--lucky she came along,' Larry commented. `She was about our on'y chance o' seein' the Old Man without his goin' on the prod. I don't reckon there'll be any surprise party now.'

`Then yu better wait here for me--no use yu gettin' any deeper in this mess.'

'Skittles! I'm in to my ears now, an' I'm aimin' to stay in.

Yu ain't goin' alone, ol'-timer, an' yu can bet a stack on that.'

Green, having expected nothing else, raised no further objection. Leading their horses, and keeping under cover as much as possible, they started for the ranch-house.

Simon, alone and ill at ease, was sitting in his office, watching the window which opened on to the verandah. Yielding reluctantly to his daughter's plea that he should see the cowpuncher, he had stipulated that she must go to her room. This that she might be out of danger, for he did not believe that the outlaw's profession of peace was sincere. Nevertheless, being not lacking in courage, he meant to play fair. So intent was he on the window by which he expected his visitor to arrive that he did not hear the door, which was at the side of the room, open. Then a quiet voice said:

`Peterson!'

With a sudden start the rancher turned and saw that Green was in the room. Leaning nonchalantly against the wall, his thumbs hooked in his cartridge-belt, the outlaw was regarding him curiously. Here was the man whom for three long years he had wanted to kill. The grin on his face was not pleasant to see, and Simon's right hand instinctively moved nearer to the gun at his hip.

`Don't yu,' warned the visitor, and now there was a deadly chill in his tone. `I could kill yu before you got it out but I've gone back on Bill Evesham an' promised not to harm yu. What I've come for--'

The sentence was never finished, for at that moment a hand pushed open the window, and a triumphant voice cried, `He's here, boys; c'mon, we've got him this time.'

Green whirled savagely on the rancher, his gun flashing into his hand. `So yu laid a trap, did yu?' he snarled. `I oughtta to kill yu for that, yu skunk, but--'

He sent a bullet crashing into the window and a curse came out of the darkness. Almost at the same instant another shot rang out and Old Simon staggered and collapsed on the floor just as Noreen, aroused by the shooting, rushed down to find Tarman standing oy the door, a smoking revolver in his hand. `What has happened?' she cried. `Is Daddy--'

`Sudden has shot him,' Tarman said. `I heard he was comin' here but I arrived too late. I had a shot at him but missed. We'll get him; the place is surrounded.'

`Stand aside, please. I am going in to my father.'

Tarman shook his head. Too risky; there's hot lead flying in there an' some of it might get yu.'

`Which is why you are outside, I suppose,' the girl retorted, and pushing past him flung herself on her knees by her father's body.

Through the swirling smoke Green caught the one look she gave him--a look of horror and loathing. The men outside were firing at the wrecked window, and the outlaw realised that to remain longer in the room was to risk not only his life but that of the girl. To retreat by the way he had come was not possible, for he had seen Tarman at the door and guessed that he was not unaccompanied. Reloading both guns, he sent a hail of bullets ahead of him and sprang out of the window. From the darkness came spiteful flashes of flame and bullets hummed past his ears. A face, indistinguishable in the gloom, rose before him to vanish when he fired. Hands clutched at him and fell away before the hammer-like blows of his pistol-barrels for the weapons were empty now and he could not recharge them. Shrieks and oaths filled the air, and down towards the bunkhouse lights were moving and men were shouting.

Striking blindly right and left, the outlaw forced a way to the edge of the verandah, and leaping the rail, vanished into the night. He had not gone twenty yards when a guarded voice said: `This way, Don, to the right.'

Swerving, he almost staggered into Larry, waiting with the horses by the side of the trail. Gasping for breath, with every muscle in his body aching, and bleeding from several bullet grazes which now he had consciousness of, Green was but just able to reach the saddle. Consumed as he was with curiosity, Larry forbore to put questions, but led the way on the trail for Hatchett's at full speed. Only when they were clear of the ranch he spoke:

`Where do we go?'

`Leeming's first, they won't look for us there. We'll turn off through the dry gulch 'bout a couple o' miles along.'

The gulch referred to had a surface of bare rock and would show no tracks. Not until they were through this and riding rapidly across the open range did Larry break the silence. Then he said:

`I'd 'a' took a hand in the game my own self but I reckoned we'd want the hosses in a hurry mebbe. So the Old Man set a trap for yu, after all?'

`If he did he got catched in it himself,' Green told him. `I'm afraid he's cashed--no, I didn't shoot him, an' I dunno who did. I thought he'd double-crossed me but when I saw Tarman at the door...'

`Tarman there?' interrupted Larry. `Didn't I tell yu that feller West was up to some devilment, eh?'

`Well, it does look like yu mighta been right,' Green agreed, `though how Tarman could know I wanted Peterson beats me. I figure West didn't know what he was lettin' me in for.'

`O' course not, him bein' a little tin angel,' said the boy disgustedly, and there was a tinge of jealousy in his tone which made his friend smile.

`No, I guess this country ain't strong for angels,' he returned. `In fact...'

`Yu on'y know of one, an' I'll lay at the present moment she's thinkin' yu killed her daddy,' Larry finished, bitterly.

`She couldn't think nothin' else, seein' what she saw,' Green pointed out. `Yu gotta admit it was a pretty neat frame-up--disposes of me an' Simon if it comes off, an' leaves Tarman holdin' all the aces. He's got brains, that feller.'

`I'd like to make shore o' that,' was the other's grim reply. `Push along, yu blunderin' skate, yu ain't hobbled.'

The latter part of the remark was addressed to his mount, and was uncalled for, since the animal was already travelling at full stretch, and considering the mileage it had covered that day was doing remarkably well. Green slowed down a little.

`No need to bust the hosses,' he said. `They can't trail us in the dark an' they ain't a notion where we'd make for. Why do you reckon Tarman stains his hair an' beard?'

"Cause he's a double-dyed villain, like yu read of in the storybooks,' chuckled Larry.

`Yo're a double-ended jackass an' neither end's got any sense. If Leeming turns us down...'

`Shucks! I don't never ford a stream till I come to it,' said Larry confidently. `Job's got savvy, an' he ain't no more use for Tarman than we have.'

To which came no answer. Wounded and utterly played out, the outlaw remained in his saddle by a sheer effort of will. To him, in his weakened condition, the position appeared desperate. With her father dead, the girl would be absolutely in the power of Tarman and his gang, and the charge of having killed Simon, which he could see no way of disproving, would set the hand of every man in the territory against him. True, he was playing against a stacked deck, but who would believe him in the face of Tarman's statement, backed by the testimony of the bereaved girl? Leeming was his only hope; if the Frying Pan owner failed him, Tarman would win, but--and the outlaw's jaws clamped on a bitter oath--he would not enjoy his victory for long.

Daylight had not yet come when they reached their destinanion. Three owl-hoots at spaced intervals--a signal already agreed upon--aroused Leeming and brought him to the back door. Blanketing the window of the sitting-room, he lighted the lamp, and then uttered an oath of amazement when he saw Green collapse in a chair. Snatching open a cupboard he produced whisky and glasses, and then vanished into the kitchen, returning presently with food.

`Yu shore look as if yu been in a free-for-all scrap, Green,' he said. `Take a shot o' whisky an' some grub 'fore yu chatter.'

The visitors were glad enough to take the advice. The food and drink put new life into the outlaw, and when his wounds, which were but scratches, had been attended to, he was ready to tell his story. Rolling and lighting a cigarette, he looked steadily at his host.

`Might as well get the worst over at once,' he said. `Old Simon is dead, I guess, an' yu will be told I shot him. I didn't, but the evidence is good enough to hang me.'

`Simon dead?' cried Leeming, and now they saw a strange thing, for this man who over a trifle could fly into a violent passion, in a matter of deep concern now kept iron control of himself. `Tell me about it,' he said quietly.

Step by step the outlaw detailed what had happened since their last meeting, the visit to Big Rock, the fight in the gorge, the encountering of West, and its tragic outcome at the Y Z. Leeming did not interrupt, but sat with his eyes fixed on the narrator's face.

`An' Tarman's tale will be that he heard I was after Simon an' that he came along with a posse just too late to prevent me killin' him,' Green concluded.

`Yu think Tarman did it?' Job asked.

`Him or one of his men. O' course, it might have been meant for me but I wasn't nowhere near Simon. I on'y fired one shot before he went down, an' that was at the window.'

`Why did yu go to see Simon if yu'd given up the notion o' bumpin' him off?' came the next question.

The outlaw looked embarrassed. `Well, I reckon yu will think it a fool's fancy, but I wanted to hear him say he was sorry for what he done to Evesham,' he explained. `Bill was like a father to me, an' I figured there was an apology due to him an' aimed to collect it. A kind o' mad idea, but that's how I felt.'

The owner of the Frying Pan stood up. `I'm takin' yore word, Green,' he said. `It's a bad business an' we gotta think out what's best to be done. Yu boys better hole up here for a day or so--I reckon the Frying Pan won't be looked over for rustlers.' He smiled grimly, and continued. `We can hide out yore hosses, an' my boys can be trusted to keep their traps shut. We'll let Mister Tarman make the next move.'

The faith of the rancher braced the outlaw as nothing else could have done. Looking him square in the face, he said, `Yu are shore white, seh, an' I'd have to be worse than my reputation to double-cross yu. We'll get yore cattle back.'

`Damn the cattle,' exploded the other. `What I want is for that little girl at the Y Z to get her rights, an' not be made unhappy!'

He stamped off, motioning them to follow, and having shown them where they were to sleep, voiced a gruff good-night, and stamped back to his own room, heartily ashamed of himself for having betrayed emotion.

Chapter XX

THE Y Z ranch on the following afternoon presented its usual appearance save for the smashed window and bullet-scored walls of the room where the fight had taken place. Most of the outfit, with a large contingent from Hatchett's, were away with the marshal scouring the country for traces of the outlaw. In a bedroom lay Simon, grievously wounded, but likely to pull through. The bullet, entering his right side, had passed out again, miraculously missing the vital organs, and though painfully weak from the shock, there were no signs of fever. He was listening to Noreen's account of what had happened after he dropped, and his expression was troubled.

`So he got away, eh?' he asked. `Well, I'm glad o' that.'

The girl looked at him in astonishment, for as she well knew, he was not prone to forgive those who transgressed against him. For a moment she feared the fever might be commencing, but his eyes were clear and his voice steady as he proceeded: `No, I ain't out o' my head, girl, but I'm beginning to think I may have got that feller sized up wrong. He could 'a' shot me an' didn't, not even when he thought I'd stacked the cards against him. 'Nother thing, Green wasn't near the door an' that's where the bullet as downed me come from.'

A sudden suspicion clutched at the girl's heart and her voice shook as she whispered, `Tarman was at the door, and he had just fired at Green,' she said. `You think...?'

`I think I've been a damn fool, my lass,' replied the old man, `an' with me laid out like this we're in a tight place. We gotta walk in the water an' not let on that we suspect anythin' crooked. The trouble is I dunno who to trust.'

`Snap Lunt, Dirty, Ginger, and Simple are straight, I feel certain,' Norry replied.

`Yu send Snap up to me on the quiet, an' spread it around general that I'm in a bad way an' not liable to get over this.' The girl went out, and a little later Lunt slid into the room, gripping his big Stetson by the crown and obviously ill at ease in a sick-room.

"Lo, boss, how're yu makin' it?' he greeted.`Fine as silk, Snap, but there's reasons why I want it reckoned I'm liable to cash in,' replied the invalid, and proceeded to state them.

`I knowed it,' said the gunman. `Sudden don't work that way. If he wanted to put yu out he'd invite yu to pull yore gun an' get busy; he ain't no pot-shooter.'

`What do yu know about Tarman, Lunt?' asked the ranch-owner.

`I can't tell yu, boss; I've give my word,' replied the other. `Green put pretty much the same question to me an' got the same answer. All I can say is that I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw a steer. He's takin' charge an' Rattler an' most of the outfit ain't objectin'.'

`But some are, eh?' queried Simon.

`Well, me, Ginger, Dirty, an' Simple claim that Tarman don't pay our wages,' grinned Snap.

`Good. Yu tell them boys how things are, an' that I'm relyin' on them to lookout Miss Norry's game for her now I'm in the discard; there's some rough trail ahead of us, Snap, but we'll make the grade.'

`Shore we will,' replied the gunman heartily as he went out.

When Tarman returned to the ranch in the evening after a busy day spent in searching for the outlaw, he found Noreen very depressed and soon elicited the information that the wounded man seemed no better. His endeavour to hearten her appeared to be genuine, but the girl, possibly because she was looking for that very thing, found a false note in it.

`Don't yu worry, Miss Norry,' the big man said. `He'll pull through--yu can't kill these old-timers with one bullet unless it's a heart or head shot. An' if he shouldn't, well, yu got friends now.'

There was an intimacy in his tone which she hated, but she took good care not to betray her feelings. So she shared the evening meal with him and his companion, Laban, and listened with apparent interest to his account of the attempt to run down the fugitive, rejoicing inwardly at its failure; the knowledge that he had kept his word and not injured her father had made her attitude to the outlaw a very kindly one. When she returned again to the sick-room, the two men sat smoking and talking in low tones. Laban, who was now fully in the confidence of his master, did not seem to be entirely satisfied with the way things were going.

`Bah! Yo're losin' yore nerve, Seth,' Tarman said, with a sneer. `The old man's as good as done for, an' when we get that chap Sudden, we take every trick.'

`S'pose the girl won't marry yu,' suggested Laban.

`What else can she do, even is she don't want to?' asked the other. `Simon signs a paper makin' me a partner in the ranch--if he don't, I'll sign it for him; he cashes an' the place belongs to me. The girl can't claim--she ain't no relation to him. I'm her only safe bet an' if she don't see it that way, there's means to make her.'

`Sounds all right,' Laban admitted, `but that outlaw gent sticks in my gullet; I'll sleep a heap easier when he's stretched hemp.'

Tarman laughed. `He can't escape--there isn't a man in the territory that wouldn't pull a gun on him at sight now.' `Don't yu be too shore o' that, Joe,' warned Laban. `There's some in this outfit that wouldn't an' Lunt is one of 'em.' `Is that so?' frowned the big man. `Well, we owe Snap some-thin' already. Jeffs had better put Gorilla on him.'

`Gorilla's gone--vanished complete,' Seth told him. `Went with three more to the main herd, stopped behind to make shore they wasn't followed, an' disappeared. His hoss drifted in next day. Looks to me as if Sudden had found out who give him that tap on the head, an' got even.'

Tarman sat thinking, a heavy pout on his lips. Then he laughed again, and callously said, `Well, things is straightenin' out an' there's too many of us anyway.'

`I reckon,' returned Laban, with a mirthless smile, for the sentiment was one with which he entirely agreed. Gorilla was a mere tool, to be used and paid or discarded, and the fewer there were when the clean-up took place, the bigger the gains for the rest.

On the following morning Tarman insisted upon seeing the sick man despite the girl's protest that he was not well enough to receive a visitor. Pushing her aside, he entered the room and closed the door. One glance at the pallid, sunken face on the pillow confirmed what he had been told--it seemed impossible that the old man could survive.

`Well, Simon, how're yu comin' along?' he asked.

`Reckon I ain't a-comin', I'm a-goin', bun yu needn't tell Norry I said so,' replied the invalid, with a weak attempt at a smile.

`Shucks, yu mustn't talk like that,' Tarman said. `Now, see here, yu needn't worry about anythin'. I'm goin' to stay at the Y Z an' look after things, so all yu gotta do is set yore mind on gettin' well. I wouldn't 'a' troubled yu this mornin' out it'll help me considerable if the outfit knows I'm part owner o' the ranch. I ain't carryin' enough cash to settle the deal around with me but I can give yu a draft. I've written out the agreement an' all yu gotta do is sign it.'

Simon shook his head feebly. `Guess it'll have to wait, Tarman, I ain't in no condition to do business,' he said. `You spoken to Norry yet?'

`No, nothin' definite, but I reckon she knows,' replied the other, striving to keep the irritation he felt from his voice. `What's the use o' delayin'? This place needs a man to handle it just now an' yu won't be in a fit state to tackle it for some time.'

`It'll have to wait,' reiterated the sick man, and although Tarman went on to argue the question at greater length, he stuck to his decision.

`Well, it's yore say-so, o' course, but I claim yu ain't treatin' me fair? Peterson,' the big man said meaningly. The ranch-owner's face flushed at the name and the implied threat, but before he could reply the door opened and Noreen entered.

`Time's up, Mr. Tarman,' she said. `I cannot allow my patient to be bothered with business any longer.'

`I've been tryin' to fix things so that he won't be troubled with it at all,' was the reply. `So long, Simon; keep a-smilin'.'

He went out, after telling the girl that it was worth while being shot up to have such a nurse, a compliment which did not produce the effect he intended. Noreen had no illusions about him now, and when she heard of his attempt to get hold of the ranch, her temper flared up.

`The coward, to try and bully you into doing that when you are so ill,' she cried. `Don't sign anything, Daddy.'

The old man assured her that he had no intention of doing so and the girl was satisfied, but she found it difficult to appear friendly with the unwelcome guest. This difficulty increased as the days passed and Tarman acted more and more as master of the ranch and of herself. Had it not been that the invalid claimed most of her time she would have resented this, for she would have seen more of it than she did. It was Snap who opened her eyes fully.

`Blaynes has got orders to give Ginger, Dirty, an' Simple their time,' he said. `Mebbe yu ain't heard?'

The girl stared at him in astonishment. `Orders? From whom?' she asked.

`Tarman, I s'pose; I'm bettin' high the Old Man never give 'em,' said Lunt.

`I should think not,' the girl cried indignantly. `What have those boys done to be turned off?'

`They were friendly to Green, an' they ain't made any secret of it.'

`They are not to go--I will speak to Mr. Tarman. Have you any idea where Green is now, Snap?'

`I ain't, Miss Norry, I wish I had. Tonk an' his posse have

combed the country an' ain't seen a trace of him; he seems to have vanished complete, but I'm dead shore he's around.' He watched her walk back to the house, his face set grimly. `An' he'll stay around too, as long as yu need him, or I'm a gopher,' he muttered. `An' if he don't, I will.'

Noreen found Tarman in the office, which had been resnored to a state of neatness again. The sight of him sitting at her father's desk drove discretion to the wind and she plunged at once into her business.

`I understand that you are dismissing some of the men,' she began. `Is my father aware of it?'

Tarman looked at her in surprise; this was a different Noreen, and he suddenly realised that instead of a chattel to be disposed of at his will, she had become a factor to be considered, and one requiring careful handling.

`It wasn't worth while botherin' yore father,' he explained. `Blaynes complained to me that the men were insubordinate an' I told him to get rid of 'em. This isn't a time no carry men who are not loyal to the ranch.'

`These men are,' she replied shortly.

`Then you don't trust yore foreman's judgment,' he argued.

`I prefer to rely on my own, and my father would agree with me,' she retorted. `I will not have them sent away.'

There was no mistaking the note of determination in her voice and Tarman hesitated for a moment, pondering the best course to pursue. Her opposition enraged him, but he fought down his anger and smiled instead.

`Guess it ain't worth quarrellin' about--a man oughtta give into a girl, specially when it's the girl,' he said indulgently, and then, noting her look, he added, `I'm presumin' that Simon told yu what we was both hopin'--that yu an' me would tie up?'

`You certainly are presuming, Mr. Tarman,' Noreen told him. The question of "tying up"--to you or anyone else--is one I have not yet considered.'

Despite his hardihood, the man flushed. `I'm clumsy--ought not to have put it just that way,' he excused. `I ain't no ladies' man, Miss Noreen, an' I can't make pretty speeches. The straight of it is, I want yu--want yu bad. Will you have me?'

The girl was silent, studying this, her first real lover. Big, handsome, virile, many a woman would have asked no more; but Noreen, inexperienced in the world as she was, had seen beneath the surface and she profoundly distrusted Tarman. Besides--but that was a reason she would not admit, even to herself. She shook her head. `I'm sorry, Mr. Tarman,' she said.

`Think again, girl,' he urged. `I've got money an' I'll make more. We needn't stay here; after a spell we can sell out an' travel; see the world an' see it in style. I'm buildin' big an' as my wife you'll be somebody. Who else around here can offer yu as much?'

"And the Devil took Him to a high mountain and showed Him all the cities of the world and the glories thereof," ' the girl quoted softly, and again she said, `No, Mr. Tarman.'

This time there was a finality in her tone which even his egotism could not ignore; he saw that she was not to be persuaded and a black anger welled up in him. Was he, Tarman, who had broken men and brushed them out of his way like flies, to be bested by a chit of a girl? A hard look came into his eyes as they rested on her.

`Yu are takin' a high hand, girl, but there's one or two points yu are overlookin',' he sneered. `First off, I'm part owner o' the Y Z.'

The purchase price is not paid, nor the agreement signed.' `Shucks ! Mere formalities. It's all settled an' Simon ain't the man to go back on his word, even if he dared. Besides which'--and here he grinned in savage anticipation of the blow he was about to deal--'what's it gotta do with yu? Yu was talkin' about presumin' a while ago. Well, yu are presumin' yo're Simon's daughter an' all the time yu ain't no relation to him.'

For a moment she stared at him in utter amazement, and then she laughed contemptuously. `You must be mad,' she said. 'Perhaps you can tell me whose daughter I am?'

`Shore thing,' came the reply. 'Yo're Mina, short for Wilhelmina, only child of Bill Evesham, who used to have a ranch on Crawlin' Creek, Texas. A man named Peterson stole yu when yu were a kid an' brought yu here; he now calls himself Simon Petter.'

Though the girl's eyes were incredulous, her brain was telling her that the man was speaking the truth.

`Evesham was the chap who befriended Sudden, an' set him on the hunt for Peterson--an' he got him,' Tarman went on. Almost she cried out that it was a lie, that he himself had shot Simon, but with an effort she restrained herself; after all, she was not sure. Her mind in a whirl, she was conscious of one recurring thought--that for years Green had been searching for her--with a vengeful motive, doubtless, but still, searching for her. In some intangible way the knowledge gave her courage.

Tarman watched her gloatingly, well aware of the effect of the blow so ruthlessly dealt. His eyes roamed over the slim, rounded, youthful figure lustfully, and the girl's attitude of despair gave him only a sensation of savage triumph. He wanted her--he meant that she should oe his, but first he would crush her to the very earth.

`So now yu know where yu get off,' he continued harshly. `If the old fool cashes--an' by the look of him he's due to--I'm yore best bet. I can turn yu adrift without a dollar if I like, an' if yu are cherishin' any notions about that feller Sudden, yu better lose 'em; he'll be stretchin' a good rope before long.'

The girl straightened herself up and said stormily, `I'd sooner starve than be beholden to you for anything.'

`Starvin' is none so easy, 'specially for folks who have lived soft an' had all they wanted,' he sneered. `Reckon yu will change yore tune when the pinch comes. 'Nother thing yu gotta keep in mind, if Simon does get well he's liable to be sent to the pen for abduction, if the' boys at Hatchett's don't lynch him first.'

She had not thought of this and her face paled at the possibility, for what she had learned could not obliterate the affection of years and the old man was very dear to her. More than ever she realised how completely she was in the power of the leering ruffian before her. But she would not let him see it.

`Have you anything else to say?' she asked, and when he did not reply, she swept from the room.

The man watched her go with narrowed, squinting eyes and a clamped jaw.

`Guess that'll hold yu for a bit, my girl,' he grated. `Later on we'll take some o' the stiff enin' out o' yu. Dunno, though, seem' we've come to a showdown, it wouldn't be as well to--'

He paused, and after a moment's consideration, got up and went in search of Laban.

Noreen meanwhile, in the seclusion of her bedroom, was pondering on her strange position. Save for the sick man and the old Indian housekeeper she had no one to turn to, and both of these were helpless. Then she thought of Leeming and decided to go and see him. She went to make sure that Simon was comfortable, but said nothing of her purpose, nor of what she had learned, not wishing to give him more cause for worry. The ranch appeared to be deserted when she went to the corral and saddled Blue. She wondered if the three punchers had already been sent packing and peeped into the bunkhouse, only to find it empty, even the cook being absent. So she rode away, unaware that cunning eyes were watching her every movement.

She had covered a bare couple of miles and was passing along a brush-filled arroyo when a movement in a thicket made her pull in. Ere she could start again, a rope swished and settled about her shoulders, while another dropped over the head of her mount. Dragged from the saddle, she had a brief glimpse of masked faces and then a blanket was thrown over her and secured by a rope which also confined her arms to her sides. A gruff voice gave an order and she felt herself lifted and flung across a saddle.

`Best lead the roan, safer, huh?' she heard one of her captors say.

`I reckon,' came the answer, and then she knew in whose hands she was, and that Tarman had scored again.

Chapter XXI

`WHAT'S up now?' muttered the owner of the Frying Pan as he emerged from his doorway and saw three riders approaching at a leisurely pace. Evidently catching sight of him, they swung their hats and let out a cowboy yell which put instant life into. the heels of their mounts. In a few brief moments Leeming was looking into the grinning countenances of Ginger, Dirty, and Simple. His quick eye noted that each man had his warbags tied to the cantle of his saddle.

`Howdy, boys, what can I do for yu?' was his greeting.

`Give us jobs if yu can use us,' smiled Ginger. `We're shore homeless.'

`Yu left the Y Z?' queried Leeming incredulously. `How come?'

`Tarman don't like us none, that's how,' chimed in Dirty. `What's he gotta do with it?'

`He's runnin' things--claims he's part owner o' the ranch, an' Simon bein' a pretty sick man there ain't no one to call his bluff,' explained Ginger. `Blaynes shore eats out of his hand.'

`Huh! I'm agoin' over to see Simon this mornin',' said Job. `Yu boys go down to the bunkhouse an' put yoreselves outside a good breakfast. Tell Dirk that yu are all on the Frying Pan payroll till the Y Z wants yu again, an' that'll be just as soon as I've had a word with the Old Man.'

`Yu wouldn't like us to come back with yu?' suggested Simple, hopefully.

`I just would, but it won't do,' grinned the Frying Pan owner. `Simon was talkin' o' letting Tarman in on the Y Z an' its just possible he's done it; if so, we should be on the wrong side o' the fence. Wait till I've seen him. Heard anythin' o' Green?'

`Not a damn whisper,' replied Ginger. `Reckon he's jumped the reservation this time.'

`Well, it ain't no loss--we don't want no darn outlaws cavortin' round here,' returned Leeming.

`Mebbe he is an outlaw, but he's a man, an' I'd sooner have him oack o' me than most o' the fellers who're huntin' him,' retorted Ginger hotly, and wondered why his reply made the cattleman smile.

At the bunkhouse they needed no introduction and found a hearty welcome, being known as good men, but they got chaffed.

`This outfit is gettin' some brainy,' observed Lucky Lomas. `Three "Wise heads" at one gather; Old Simon is shore losin' his intellects.'

`An' the Frying Pan is shore gettin' what it needs,' grinned Ginger, as he dumped his saddle, slid into an empty seat and reached for the nearest dish, an example his friends lost no time in following.

`How's the Old Man makin' it?' asked Dirk presently, when the newcomers had taken the edge off their by no means small appetites. Ginger, remembering Snap's injunction, shook his head.

I ain't seen him myself, but Snap says he's mortal bad,' he replied. `That feller Tarman's actin' as if he owned the whole shootin' manch a'ready.'

The foreman grunted. `Mebbe Job'll have a word to say about that,' he said, `an' I reckon he can say it with a chorus, eh, boys?'

The response was unanimous and had Tarman been there to hear it he would certainly have been less self-satisfied; the Frying Pan outfit, with its whole-hearted admiration for its irascible boss, was a tough problem, and with the help of the Y Z boys was certain no give a good account of itself.

`That misfit of a marshal still outlaw-huntin'?' asked Charlie, and when Ginger nodded, he went on, `He came prancin' round here yestiddy, lookin' for Green. My ghost, yu oughtta heard the Old Man lace into him; some o' the things he said would've raised blisters on most men.'

`An' Tonk was hoppin' mad but he didn't dare pull his gun,' supplemented Woods. `He stood there with his own men grinnin' at him, babblin' about his representin' the law. "Yu?" yells Job. "The law's sunk pretty low if it's gotta be represented by an ugly, busted-down whisky-keg like yu. Hit the trail mighty brisk or the law'll be shy o' the poorest marshal that ever noted a badge." Tonk gave him a black look an' says, "I'll not forget this, Leeming." The Old Man laughed in his face, an' says, "Which you'd better not, if yu want to live," an' the marshal slunk off like a whipped dog.'

`Job shore has got a poisonous tongue bun he's white to his toenails,' commented Lucky.

With the disappearance of the last cup of coffee a move was made to the corral and Dirk began to apportion the day's work. The roping and saddling of mounts was in full swing when Dirty, with a shout and a waving arm, turned all eyes on the horizon.

'There's a visitor a-comin' an' he's shore fannin' it,' he exclaimed.

Far out on the plain they could see a horseman, bent low in the saddle, heading for the ranch at full speed. Leeming, who had also seen the approaching rider, now joined the group at the corral.

`Looks like Snap,' said Ginger. `He allus crouches in the saddle when he's goin' fast--claims it helps the hoss by decreasin' the wind resistance. Wonder what's up?'

`P'raps he's downed Tarman an' they're after him,' surmised one of the Frying Pan boys.

`Snap ain't the runnin' kind--he'd stay an' shoot it out with 'em,' Leeming said.

A few breathless minutes, and the pony, a savage-eyed bunch of nerves and steel wire slid to a stop in their midst, sending the grey dust flying. As Ginger had guessed, the newcomer was Lunt. He got down, trailed the reins and turned to Leeming.

`Howdy, Job? Miss Norry here?'

`Ain't seen her,' replied Leeming. `Why?'

`She went out ridin' yestiddy afternoon an' never come back. She didn't go to town 'cause I've been there to see, an' so I reckoned she musta come here. Look's like somethin's happened to her.'

`Hell's bells ! What's come to this damn country?' cried Leemifig, his face suddenly scarlet with passion. `What do yu reckon has happened to her?'

`How do I know?' replied Snap quietly. `She was ridin' Blue, an' the hoss may have turned ugly--yu never can tell with these outlaw hosses. Or she may have met up with 'Paches or rustlers. I'll gamble a month's pay she ain't stayin' away from the Old Man of her own free will.'

`Yo're shoutin',' said Job. `By heavens, if I find a feller that's dared to lay a finger on that girl I'll scalp him alive!' He glared at the men around him and suddenly became aware that they were doing nothing. `What are yu gapin' at me for, yu goggle-eyed misfits?' he yelled. `Get yore hosses an' some grub, an' put a jerk in it. No more work'll be done on this ranch till the girl is found. Comb every mile o' the blasted country. Yo're in charge, Dirk. I'm goin' over to the Y Z to have a chat with Mr. Tarman; report there to me.'

He turned and went back to the ranch-house, leaving his grinning outfit to prepare for the search, which it did with no further loss of time. Food, weapons, and horses were soon secured, and the men split up into parties and started in different directions.

`Ain't he a shinin' wonder?' confided Lucky to the smiling Y Z men. `There ain't another chap in the Territory we'd take nhat line o' talk from an' he knows it, cuss him.'

The object of this compliment--for such it was--did not trouble any more about them; they had their job, and he knew it would be thoroughly done. He himself went straight to the room where Green and Larry were passing the time wrangling over a game of crib. The impressions caused by his news were in odd contrast. Larry was instantly all excitement and anger, while his companion sat silent, only the tightened jaw muscles and narrowed eyes telling that he had heard.

`What we goin' to do?' asked the younger man, who was striding up and down the room.

`Yu might try settin' down an' shuttin' yore face for a start,' said his friend sardonically. `Yo're actin' like a scared hen.'

`Yu ain't actin' at all--that's why I'm askin',' retorted the other hotly, but he nevertheless took the hint.

`What d'yu make of it?' asked Job.

`I figure it's Tarman,' replied the outlaw slowly. `Mebbe he thinks he can crowd Simon into concludin' the sale, or he's forcin' the girl to marry him. There's another possibility--it may be a ruse to skin yore ranch o' folks an' pull off a big raid. Yu sent all yore boys on the hunt?'

`Every darn one barrin' the cook,' Leeming said. `That last's a chance I gonta take. I'm leaving for the Y Z now; too bad yu fellers can't take a hand.'

`We're aimin' to,' Green said. `Where'd yu cache our hosses?'

`In the old stable at the end o' this place--it ain't been used for years. There's a door into it from the house. Take anythin' yu needs.'

It was characteristic of the man that he asked no questions as to their movements and made no attempt to dissuade them; in local phraseology, it was a case of letting every man skin his own meat.

No sooner had he gone than the others followed. Packing up a supply of food, they found their mounts, and by keeping the ranch-house between themselves and the bunkhouse got away unobserved by the solitary cook, who was enjoying an unlooked-for holiday smoking and reading in his bunk. Not until they were clear away did Larry ask where they were going.

`We'll ride straight to the Crossed Dumb-bell. If we find she's there, yu can fetch Job an' his boys an' we'll clean up the bunch.'

The younger man had no objections to offer and they crossed the intervening Y Z range at a good speed, headed again for the trail which skirted the Sandy Parlour desert. They passed groups of cattle but saw no riders, and the line-house was deserned. Green smiled grimly.

`Looks like they ain't afraid o' warwhoop rustlers no more,' he commented. `All the same, Job shouldn't 'a' left the Frying Pan wide open; Tarman ain't the kind to miss a chance like that.'

`Huh! We know where to find the cows anyways,' said his companion. `We'll get 'em back when the showdown comes, yu bet, yu.'

`An' it won't be long now,' Green responded. `If Tarman has Miss Norry, he's overplayed his hand. Even Hatchett's won't stand for that, an' Job has friends there too.'

They pressed steadily on, mile after mile, keeping for the most part to the trail used by the rustlers; only now and then they saved distance by leaving it and forcing their way through a wood or brush-filled gully which was more direct and possible for horsemen not hampered with a herd of cattle. Around them the birds sang, the sunlight filtered through the foliage and tiny streams whispered merrily on their way to join larger ones. Among the patches of big timber the solitude was complete and the hoofs of the horses made no sound on the thick carpet of pine needles.

Green had no eyes for the beauty through which they passed; outwardly calm, he was inwardly consumed with rage at the thought that Noreen might be at the mercy of a man like Tarman, and his one aim was to get to her as quickly as possible. Since his companion was equally eager they wasted no more time than was necessary over their meals. So it came about that it was still light when they neared their destination and halted to settle upon a plan of procedure. Securely hidden in the thick undergrowth, they could see the ranch buildings a few hundred yards away. Two spirals of smoke showed that they were occupied, and the number of ponies in the corral suggested that most of the men were about. Slipping from his own mount, Green cautiously worked his way to a position from which he could view the animals in the enclosure. Presently he was back again, his face hard with anger.

`Her hoss is there an' it's a safe bet the girl is in the ranch-house, where the foreman lives,' he said. `I'm goin' to get her. If yu don't hear nothin' from me in an hour, fork yore cayuse an' fetch Job an' the boys.'

Larry demurred. `We'd stand a better chance if both of us tackled the job. This messenger-play don't appeal none to me.'

`Don't yu ever use that head for anythin' but keepin' yore ears apart?' asked his friend sarcastically. `No, it ain't a bit o' good yu cussin' me, yu gotta do as I say, she's the on'y trail out. So long, an' don't yu come bustin' in if yu hear guns goin'. Head for the Y Z, pronto.'

`But, see here--' began Larry, and then discovered he was talking to the empty air. `Blamed idjut,' he concluded, and sat down to wait.

Green crawled to a point where the bushes most nearly approached the buildings, and then, in the deepening dusk, darted across the open space and gained the rear of the ranch-house. The door proved to be latched only and cat-footing along a passage, he came to another door, partly open, from which a gleam of light shone. Peeping in, he saw Jeffs sitting at the table, laboriously inscribing figures on a sheet of paper before him. Apparently the task was both a pleasant and engrossing one for he was smiling, and did not notice the gradual opening of the door and the entry of a visitor.

`Stick 'em up,' came a curt command.

With a jerk the foreman's head lifted, and his hands quickly followed when he saw the weapon and realised who held it. `Sudden?' he gasped.

`All o' that,' responded Green grimly. `Now, speak low an' talk straight. Where's Miss Petter?'

`Never heard of her,' replied Jeffs sullenly.

`Don't lie,' Green told him. `Yo're about two seconds from hell right now. Come clean or

The tone betrayed no anger but there was a cold deadliness in it which told the other that he must speak or die. He was a brave man and had gambled his life on a chance many a time, but here there was no chance.

`There's a skirt upstairs in a back room,' he admitted. `Some-thin' Spider took a fancy to, I s'pose. I dunno who she is.' `Stand up an' face the wall,' Green said shortly.

Stripped of his weapons, gagged, and tied securely in his chair, Jeffs still eyed his captor's movement with a sardonic expression which, had Green noted it, might have aroused his suspicion, but his mind was too full of his purpose. Having fixed the prisoner to his satisfaction, he set out in search of the girl. The first two rooms he came to were open and empty, but the door of the third was locked.

`Yu there, Miss Norry?' he asked, in low voice.

`Yes,' came the reply. `Who is that?'

He told her, with a warning to stand clear while he burst the door open. One thrust from his powerful shoulder broke the flimsy lock, and the light of a guttering candle disclosed her sitting on a ramshackle bed, her bound hands before her.

`No time to talk,' he said, as he severed her bonds, stuffing a curse when he saw where the thong had chafed her wrists. `We gotta get outa this. Larry's waitin' with the hosses.'

Cautioning the girl to follow him as quietly as possible he stole down the stairs. All went well until he had nearly reached the bottom and then his foot caught in a rope and he pitched headlong down the last few steps. As he fell, two men sprang upon him and a jarring blow on the head knocked the senses out of him.

He returned to consciousness to find himself in the room where he had left Jeffs a prisoner, but now the position was reversed, for his own wrists and ankles were tightly bound. As the mist caused by the blow he had received cleared from his brain, he realised the extent of the disaster which had befallen him, and how it had come about. Evidently after he had gone upstairs, Taxman and his gang had come upon the scene, and finding the foreman, had laid a trap. They were all there, these men who hated him, and were now watching him with malignant amusement. The girl was not present. Tarman greeted him with a mocking bow.

`This is shore an unexpected pleasure,' he sneered. `If our welcome seems a trifle rough, yu must put it down to the boys' delight at yore return to the fold, an' their desire to keep yu with us for a little while.'

The victim's head was throbbing with pain, and he looked for nothing but death ere an hour had passed, but he forced a contemptuous smile to his lips as he replied :

`I ain't complainin','

`Spoken like a true knight-errant. The brave outlaw dashes to the rescue of the fair damsel an' runs his silly neck slap into a noose,' Tarman jeered. `Bit reckless to tackle this job single-handed, wasn't it, Sudden?'

`Mebbe it was,' Green agreed. So they knew nothing of Larry, and by this time the boy should be well on his way to the Y Z. `I reckon yu hold all the cards,' he added.

`Shore I do, an' what's more, I'm agoin' to let yu see how I intend to play 'em,' Tarman returned. `After which, we'll attend to yore case.'

`Why not hang the swab right now an' have done with it?' suggested Dexter. `He knows too much.'

Tarman whirled on the speaker with such a baleful glare that the Double X man instinctively shrank back.

`He'll know more before I've done with him,' he said. `An' so will some others if they try an' ride me.' He waited a moment but Dexter had nothing to say. `Now we'll get on with the business.'

Standing there, his thumbs hooked in his gun-belt, he dominated them all, and even Green had to admit that man possessed power, misdirected though it undoubtedly was. Tarman was in a good humour, everything was coming his way, and the capture of the outlaw seemed to remove his last difficulty. But though he smiled, he watched the men before him warily; he was not of the trusting type.

`Here's how we stand,' he began. `Old Simon is peggin' out, an' when he's gone the Y Z comes to me.'

`What about his daughter?' asked Blaynes. `Ain't it willed to her?'

`She ain't his daughter--no relation at all, an' if there ever was such a will it don't exist now,' explained Tarman, and a meaning chuckle went round the room. `The Frying Pan is wide open--Leeming an' his outfit are lookin' for what they won't find, an' to-morrow mornin' we go an' take what we want. I reckon then he'll be glad to sell on my terms, an' holdin' them two ranches'll give me the say-so in these parts. Then there's the cattle; after to-morrow's clean-up, there should be pretty nigh two thousand head, an' that'll mean a heavy wad o' money for every one o' yu. On top o' that, I'll be needin' men to run the ranches an' there'll be big pay for any or all o' yu. Don't make no mistake--I'm agoin' to swing a wide loop an' fellers who tie to me get their share.'

`King o' the Rangers, eh, Joe?' Laban said.

Tarman laughed. `Shore, an', boys, there'll be plenty pickin's, believe me.'

He paused and looked round, confident of the effect of his speech, and he was not disappointed. To Green's astonishment, the men seemed pleased; apparently they could not see that the big rogue had used them merely to grab the lion's share of the plunder himself. Tarman was clever; he knew that to these men land would have small appeal in comparison with the hard cash to be realised by the sale of the stolen cattle, and that in all probability his followers were thinking they had the better of the deal. But all of them were not so satisfied, for Blaynes had listened to his leader with a face which grew more and more discontented. Evidently things were not panning out as he expected.

`What yu aimin' to do with the girl?' he asked, and there was a hint of hostility in his tone.

Tarman looked at him. `I'm aimin' to do what--I--please,' he said coolly.

`She was to be part o' my share; yu said it,' Blaynes rasped, his voice husky with anger.

`I hadn't seen her then,' Tarman grinned, and several of the others laughed.

The Y Z foreman did not join in. Standing in the middle of the room, slightly crouching, with head thrust forward and malevolent eyes, he was indeed the human presentment of a reptile about to strike. Even his voice had a hiss in it.

`She was promised to me an' I mean to have her--an' a share in the ranch,' he said. `Double-cross me, Tarman, an' I'll put a crimp in yore schemes if I have to give myself up to the Governor o' the Territory to do it.'

Tarman regarded him curiously, alert for the slightest movement; he knew the man meant what he said and that tragedy threatened. He had expected trouble over the girl, but not that Blaynes would push it to the point of open insubordination. In a moment he had made his decision.

`Hell's bells, there's plenty o' pretty girls, Blaynes,' he laughed, `but if yo're set on this one, well, yu shall have her--when I've done with her.'

The taunt was deliberate, intentional; it was a challenge, and a deadly silence followed it. For a heart-stopping half-minute Blaynes stood as though frozen, only his eyes glaring hatred at the man who mocked him. Then the fingers of his hanging right hand slowly opened claw-like, and with an almost inarticulate oath he snatched at his gun. To the onlookers the reports seemed to be simultaneous, but then, through the swirling smoke, they saw the Y Z foreman stagger under the shock of the heavy bullet, and, as his knees gave way, pitch forward to the floor, his weapon clattering beside him. Twisting in a last agony, he shook his fist at Tarman and cried :

`Damn yu, Webb, yu got me, but yore own time ain't far off, yu treacherous hound.'

He rolled over and was silent. Tarman, his gun poised for a second shot, watched him with narrowed, relentless gaze. Then, seeing that all was ended, he thrust the weapon back into the holster.

`Well, boys, yu all heard what he threatened an' seen him go for his-gun,' he said. `Anybody want to take up his end of it?'

`Even break; he got what was comin' to him, the sneakin' cur,' said Pete, and that seemed to be the general opinion.

`Good enough,' Tarman resumed. `His share goes into the main fund--I don't want none of it.'

Two of the men carried the corpse into another room, and on their return Tarman said, `Now we gotta settle what to do with our friend here,' and he waved a hand towards the prisoner. `Hands up for stretchin' him right away.'

Every man in the room, save one, elevated a paw, several jocularly put up both. Tarman looked round with a grin.

'Hell! yu don't seem to he none popular in this community, Sudden,' he commented. `There's on'y one as ain't anxious to see you dance on nothin'. What's yore objection, West?'

`Well, boss,' replied California, who alone had kept his hands down, `here's how I look at it. This feller's worth ten thousand wheels alive, an' nothin' dead, an' it 'pears to me a waste o' good money to swing him when there's folks who'll pay that amount an' do it for us.'

`Yes, an' give him a chance to tell his little tale,' interposed Dexter. `Where'd we be then?'

`Where we are now,' retorted West. `Yore head's about as useful as it is ornamental. Who's goin' to take the word of an outlaw agin the fellers who gave him up? Why, yu couldn't find a better way o' stoppin' any gab there may be. I can see a public vote o' thanks bein' passed to our prominent citizen an' landowner, Mr. Tarman, for accomplishin' what half-a-dozen sheriffs have fallen down on.'

`By God, he's right, boys,' Tarman cried, his imagination caught by the prospect. `That's a tally for yu, West, an' when we come to cuttin' up the beef I'm not forgettin' it.' He turned and grinned at the captive. `Yu have a few more weeks to live, Mr. Sudden.'

Green did not answer; the last words of Tarman's latest victim were still ringing in his ears. He knew now that this was the man for whom he had searched so long. He was bigger, for he had filled out, and with the addition of a beard, and his dyed hair, it was not to be wondered at that Green had failed to recognise him under his assumed name, for he had seen him but a few times at Evesham's ranch. `The Spider' might have suggested something but curious nicknames were the rule rather than the exception in the West. Tarman stepped in front of him.

`I take the pot, my friend,' he jeered. `Thought yu could play a hand against me, did yu? As for the girl...'

`Keep yore foul tongue off her,' blazed the bound man. `If yu had the courage of a coyote, yu'd turn me loose an' fight it out, but yu haven't; swindlin' old men an' bullyin' unprotected girls is yore limit.'

The big man's face grew purple with rage and he ground his teeth. `For a busted nickel I'd ante up ten thousand no the boys for the pleasure o' blowin' yu apart,' he snarled.

`If I had a busted nickel I'd shore give it yu,' Green retorned, adding contempnuously, 'Yu'd only rob me of it if I didn't.'

But Tarman had got himself in hand again. `Yu don't get off that easy,' he said. `Live, damn yu, with a rope in sight, an' to comfort yu, the knowledge that the girl is in my power an' I don't intend to marry her, savvy?'

The prisoner remained unmoved. `Tarman or Webb or whatever yore name may be, I figure yo're the poorest pretence of a man I ever struck--an' I struck yu once good an' plenty, didn't I?' he jeered.

Tarman's face went livid and his fists clenched. `Here, West, yu an' Durran lock this feller up an' keep an eye on him,' he gritted, `or I'll be savin' the hangman a job yet.'

Assisted by West and followed by Durran, the outlaw shuffled up the stairs. On the way, West managed to whisper: `It was a close call, partner; I couldn't think o' no other way. I ain't forgettin' that rattler.' Then he thrust him violently through a door, slammed and locked it upon him.

Chapter XXII

EARLY the following morning, Stiffy, returning from Hatchett's, heard a drumming of hoofs behind him and being of a suspicious nature, forced his mount into the brush at the side of the trail and waited. The drumming grew louder and then a band of riders galloped past. In the half-light he recognised several of them. He saw too that the horses had been hard-ridden, and that the faces of the riders were set and determined.

`Looks like the Frying Pan outfit, fifteen of 'em, an' they ain't on no joy-ride neither,' he muttered. `Headed for the Crossed Dumb-bell shore enough. I gotta take the short trail an' warn Jeffs.'

Mounting again he rode for about half a mile and then turned off to the left at a point where there was a faint, narrow trail, little more than a run-way for wild creatures. A glance showed him that the horsemen ahead had kept straight on, and with a sigh of relief he plunged into the narrow pathway, stooping to avoid the branches which threatened to sweep him from the saddle.

The next half hour proved cruel work, and but for the fad that both knew their business, either man or beast must have come to grief. Through thickets and gullies, over rock-rimmed ridges, along a trail which wound like a ribbon amidst seemingly impassable undergrowth, slipping, staggering, the nimble little pony keeping its feet by a miracle of agility, they pressed on until at length they emerged on an open stretch and with a last burst of speed, reached their objective. All was quiet, but the man knew he could not be far ahead of the visitors and wasted no time. Limping, for the wild ride had tried his wounded leg severely, he ran to the door and hammered on it with his quirt. It was Jeffs who opened it.

"Lo, Stiffy, what's eatin' yu?' he asked. `Thirsty?'

`The Frying Pan outfit's on its way here an' liable to arrive any minit,' panted the other. `I come the short trail but--well, yu know what that is. There's fifteen of 'em, an' I reckon they're painted for war.'

`Hell,' cried the foreman, the grin fading from his face instantly. `Come an' tell the Spider.'

They went into the big room where Tarman, Pete, and most of the others were getting breakfast. The leader took the news calmly, and was clever enough to let it appear that he welcomed the change in his plans.

`Fine,' he said. `We clean up now instead o' later on, an' if they come askin' for it, we can't be blamed. Fifteen of 'em, eh? Well, there's twenty of us an' we're under cover. Rustle in plenty grub, water, an' cartridges--we'll hold this place. The Frying Pan outfit, boys, is the last ditch we gotta straddle; after that, it's easy goin' for all of us.'

Laughing and joking, the men set about the task of putting the ranch-house in a state of defence. Built of stout logs which would resist any bullet, it was admirable for the purpose. The vulnerable spots were the doors and windows, the latter, however, being protected by heavy shutters loop-holed to enable the attacked to retaliate. On all sides the ground had been cleared so as to render the storming of the building a perilous undertaking. So the garrison might well await the issue with confidence. But Tarman, though he showed a bold front to his men, was perplexed. That the ranch he was purposing to raid should suddenly turn the tables was something he could not understand. Poker Pete too was ill at ease.

`Beats me how Leeming got wise to this place,' he said.

`I figure Green warn't alone last night,' Tarman replied. `He musta left the other feller waitin' in the brush with orders to ride for help if he didn't come back with the girl in a certain time. We oughtta thought o' that. We gotna wipe 'em out, Pete, every damn one of 'em.'

The gambler nodded gloomily, not that the prospect of slaying a dozen or so of his fellow-creatures disturbed him, but because he realised that the task was not going to be an easy one. A hail from outside interrupted the conversation, and peering through the loop-hole, they saw a solitary horseman sitting easily in the open, his rifle across his knees. It was the Frying Pan owner himself. At a word from Tarman, the foreman flung open the front door and leaning carelessly against the jamb, asked: `An' what might yu be wantin'?'

`First off, none o' yore damn lip,' retorted the irascible rancher. `I'm tellin' yu we got the place surrounded, an' I'm givin' yu one chance; hand over the girl an' Green unharmed an' we'll go away--this time.'

`Yu can go plumb to hell, an' if yo're in sight in five seconds yu'll git a free pass there,' snapped Jeffs jerking up his rifle as he spoke.

The envoy whirled his mount and disappeared in the chaparral, while the foreman slammed and bolted the door; negotiations were at an end.

The attacking party, having placed their mounts in safety, had split up into couples and selected points which commanded every side of the building. The four Y Z boys had worked round to the back, from whence they could keep an eye on the corral. As Larry put it, `Some o' these birds may be wantin' no fly the coop, an' it's shore up to us to provide the wings.'

Ginger, with whom he had paired, grunted as he settled himself at full length in a slight hollow, well screened by the intervening foliage.

`Don't yu gamble too high on this brush bein' bullet-proof,' he warned. `Cuss it, they got all the best of it. Don't see how we're goin' to get 'em 'less we starve 'em out, an' they're better fixed for grub than we are, I betcha.'

`We'll get 'em all right,' responded Larry cheerfully. `Old Impatience'll find a way--can't see him a-settin' down to wait. Bet that's him, opening the ball.'

A shot rang out and they heard the thud of the striking bullet. Three of the defenders promptly replied, one of them firing from a loop-hole in the back door which immediately became a target for four of the attackers.

`Reckon we've sorter discouraged that jasper some,' remarked Ginger, the hail of bullets having evoked no response. `Wonder if he's cashed or shifted?'

He raised himself slightly to get a better view and instantly his hat was snatched from his head, and a second bullet screamed through the twigs past his cheek, both coming from the loop-hole of a window near the door. Larry sent two rapid shots at the unseen marksman and promptly rolled sideways to a position several yards away.

`Yu darn fool,' he said. `Why don't yu stand up an' tell him where we are?'

Ginger did not reply, but having found a ridge of ground which afforded a little protection, he began methodically to hurl lead in a way which aroused the curiosity of his chum.

`What yu firin' at?' Larry inquired.

`The sky, yu blamed jackass,' came the polite retort, and then, `I'm cuttin' them hinges; take the left-hand one if yu think yu can hit it.'

Larry peeped out and saw that the shutter to the window was held in place by two rawhide hinges fixed at the top, and that the one on the right already bore testimony to the accuracy of Ginger's marksmanship. With a whoop of delight Larry got to work on the other, and had already cut it through when a voice behind said :

`How yu boys makin' it?'

It was Snap Lunt, sent oy Leeming on a tour of inspection to see how his men were faring.

"Lo, Snap; yu fellers got any of 'em?'

`Dunn; that blamed house is a nut that wants crackin'. What yu shootin' at?'

In a few words Larry explained the idea and the little gunman was filled with admiration.

`She's a great scheme,' he said. `Yu hit on that all oy yoreself, Larry?'

`Nope, got Ginger to help me think of it,' replied Larry, modestly.

Snap laughed. `I'm agoin' to pass the word all around,' he promised. `That shack won't be safe for a flea if we put them shutters out of action. Got any baccy?'

`Yeah, an' papers, an' matches, an' a lip to hang the pill on; want 'em all?' asked Larry sarcastically.

`All 'cept the lip,' returned Snap, helping himself generously from the bag the other threw to him.

When he had crawled away, for the vicinity of the two Y Z punchers was no place to stand upright or linger in, Larry resumed his task of destroying his particular hinge. Though the short range rendered this a not too difficult mark, the necessity of moving after each shot complicated the business, for the besieged fired upon the slightest provocation. Twice Larry had been burned by a passing bullet and presently a hearty string of expletives from his companion indicated that he too was finding the work warm.

`Where'd he get yu?' queried Barton.

`Right through the brain, yu chump,' came the petulant reply. `Come an' tie this blasted arm up; I'm bleedin' like a stuck hog.'

`An' squealin' like one too,' retorted Larry. `Brain, huh? Why, they couldn't hit your'n with the gun close to yore head.'

He wormed his way over to where Ginger was lying and bound the ripped forearm. The firing was now increasing in intensity and there was a regularity about it which pointed at a definite plan.

`Snap's passed on our idea, shore enough,' Larry said, complacently.

`Our idea,' cried Ginger. `Well, yu shore wasn't out o' sight when the gall was distributed; yu'll be claimin' it was yores soon. I--'

`Aw right, I ain't deaf,' Larry said. `Trouble with yu is yu talk too much. That blamed shutter's nearly cashed. I'll finish her off an' yu be ready to shoot when she drops.'

Two accurately placed shots severed the right hinge and thesagging shutter, tearing away the other support, fell to the ground. Ginger fired instantly and they saw a man lurch forward and subside. Larry's shot followed and another indistinct form seemed to fade away. No return shot came from the window.

"Pears like we got 'em both,' remarked Ginger, and then, `There's another shutter goin'--see--the other side o' the door. That'll be Simple an' Dirty. Reckon we got these coyotes where the hair's short now.'

The whine of a bullet which missed him by an inch cut out his jubilation and sent him burrowing, while Larry plugged a couple of shots into the window. A reply came instantly and it was Larry's turn to curse, for the lead ploughed through his hair.

`Sufferin' snakes!' he ejaculated. `I feel like I've been scalped.' Ginger crawfished over and examined the wound. `On'y a graze,' he said. `If I had yore luck I wouldn't work for a livin'.' `Yu don't anyways,' snorted the injured one.

The discovery of the weak spot in the defence, while it proved an expensive surprise for the rustlers, by no means justified Ginger's optimistic views. The exposed windows were quickly barricaded with mattresses, planks, and other articles calculated to impede the progress of a bullet, and the fight went on as fiercely as ever. That the defenders had suffered was evident since fewer shots came from the building, but they were still strong enough to make a rush across the open too costly. So that Dirk, on his way to the horses for a further supply of cartridges, was not unduly hopeful.

`They've got two of us, an' some others is more or less chipped,' he said, in reply to Ginger's query. `I reckon we've wiped out a few o' them too but 'less we get the house afore dark they'll have a chance. Yu boys all right?'

`I'm scratched an' Larry's got a permanent part in his hair, but he- won't look any uglier,' replied the redhead. `We're claimin' to have downed a couple, anyways.'

`Good for yu,' said the foreman, and went on his way.

The situation inside the ranch-house was more critical than the attackers suspected, for the unmasking of the windows had cost seven of the rustlers their lives, and several others were wounded. Nevertheless, like cornered rats, they were prepared to fight to the bitter end--all save one, for Tarman, conscious that the game was now going against him, was already framing a scheme by which he might save his neck. This plan he proceded to put into operation with a callous disregard for the fate of the men who were fighting for him. Stealing away unnoticed by those to whom a second's inattention to the work in hand might mean death, he went up to the room where Noreen, bound and gagged, was lying on the floor.

Carrying her downstairs he placed her near the back door of the house, which, owing to the assiduous efforts of Simple and Dirty had quickly become too dangerous a spot for defence. Then he opened the door a little and instantly two bullets crashed into it.

With one quick movement, Tarman slung the almost senseless girl across his shoulder and stepped out. A cry of astonishment and rage greeted his appearance, but as he had calculated, not a shot was fired, though half a dozen guns were aimed at his heart and as many fingers were itching to pull the trigger. For a moment he stood motionless, a grin of satanic triumph on his face, and then strode steadily towards the corral.

`Any attempt to interfere with me an' the girl dies,' he called out, and they now saw that in addition to the rifle in his left hand, his right held a revolver.

Dastardly as the threat was not one of the onlookers doubted but that it would be carried out, and the Recording Angel must have a busy time during the next few minutes. Larry, who had sprung up in readiness to intercept the ruffian before he reached the corral, subsided with a curse when Ginger growled: `Don't be a damn idjut; can't yu see the hound has got us throwed an' tied? P'raps he'll leave her an' make his getaway.' But they soon saw that such was not the rustler's intention; he was taking no chances of being shot down.

Reaching the corral, he did not relinquish his helpless burden, managing to rope and saddle a horse without doing so. Secure in his immunity, he went about the difficult job quite leisurely and the limp form draped over his shoulder seemed to hamper him scarcely at all. To the impotent watching men the operation was a maddening one but they dared make no move. At length he was ready, and mounting, he swung the horse round.

`My promise still holds good; follow me and she dies, pronto,' he shouted, and with a sneering `Adios' he plunged into the chaparral.

The rustlers defending the front of the house were not aware at first of their leader's defection, and those at the back did not realise his intention until it was too late to interfere. Green, from the slit which did duty as a window to the room in which he was confined, saw the whole proceeding and wrenched at his bonds in savage desperation. Suddenly the door opened and West came in.

`Couldn't make it afore--Durran had the key,' he said. `Hold out yore paws.'

`Where's Durran now?' asked the prisoner, as the Californian cut away the lashings on wrists and ankles.

`Dead, an 'a good few with him, an' that dirty houn' Tarman has left us holdin' the bag,' replied the other, with an oath ofdisgust. `Here's yore belt an' guns; the next room to this has a window yu can drop out of. Run that skunk down--I'd 'a' beefed him myself if it hadn't been for the girl.'

`This puts me in yore debt deeper than ever, an' I'll not forget it,' Green said, as he buckled the welcome belt round his hips. `Nothin' to that,' said West. `I gotta get back or I'll be missed. Good luck.'

The moment he had gone the prisoner followed. As West had said, the adjoining room, which he recognised as the one Noreen had been locked in, contained a fair-sized window. He was about to open it when a stealthy footstep sounded outside, and he shrank back so that the newcomer must enter the room in order to see the occupant. He could hear the approaching man's muttered words: `Where in 'ell is he? Durran said the small room. Must be in here with the gal. Why ain't the door locked? Damn fools--' The door was pushed back and Poker Pete entered.

`Drop that knife,' came the curt command.

For an instant the would-be assassin hesitated, gazing spellbound at the man he had expected to find bound and at his mercy, and then, comprehending that he had no chance against the levelled gun, with the implacable eyes behind it, he opened his hand; the murderous weapon clattered and gleamed as it rolled on the floor.

`Who turned yu loose an' where's the gal?' gasped the gambler, who had been too busy at the front of the house to notice his chief's exit. He too knew that the game was up and had determined to secure his revenge on Green, whatever happened.

`Tarman used her to save his own dirty hide,' Green replied. `As for yu, this is yore last hand.' He sheathed his gun as he spoke. `I'm givin' yu an opportunity to play it like a man. Pull yore gun.'

`Fine chance I'd have again yu, wouldn't I?' said the ruffian, playing for time while his cunning brain sought a way out.

`A better one than I'd have had, tied, against yore knife,' came the stern retort. `Pull, damn yu! I've got no time to waste.'

`I ain't invitin' myself to my own funeral,' said the gambler, and coolly elevated his hands above his head. `Shoot away, an' be damned to yu.'

The cowpuncher looked at him in disgust. At the same instant Pete's right hand dropped to his neck, rose again and flashed downwards, the blade of the second knife glinting as he struck. To one unacquainted with the gambler's habits, the ruse would have been fatal, but Green had seen the trick before and was, moreover, expecting something of the kind. Quick as light, he sprang in, gripped the descending right wrist in his left hand and pulled the man towards him, at the same time driving his own right fist into the savage face. The impact, with all the impetus of his spring behind it, was terrific. The assassin, hurled back as though by a mighty mind, staggered and dropped in a huddled heap; a foot twitched and that was all. For a moment the cowboy stood, panting, waiting for the next move. Then, gun in hand, he stepped forward, but a glance told him the man was dead; evidently, in falling, his arm had twisted under him, and he had impaled himself upon his own knife.

The cowpuncher wasted no more time. Taking off his handkerchief he waved it out of the window, and when no shots came, coolly climbed out and dropped to the ground. Then, at full speed, he ran for the corral. Larry's warning shout saved him from the fire of the attackers, but those in the house did their best to bring him down. But a running man who knows the tricks of unexpected swerves is a difficult mark, and Green dived into the sheltering brush unhurt, to find Larry awaiting him with a rope, saddle, and rifle.

`Good for yu,' gasped the late prisoner, as they raced for the corral.

The horses, scared by the shooting, were bunched together at the far end of the enclosure, but a whistle from Green brought the roan straight to where the two men stood waiting. In a few moments the saddle was on and Green mounted. Larry looked wistfully at the other horses.

`I'd give a year's pay to come with yu,' he said.

`Yu gotta stay an' help to clean up the mess,' his friend told him. `Say to Leeming that Poker Pete an' about half the rest of 'em's cashed in there.'

He touched the roan with his heels and shot off in the direction Tarman had taken. Larry stood watching him until nhe angry `spat' of a bullet striking a post beside him came as a reminder that he could be seen and reached from the ranch-house. Dropping to his hands and knees, he crept back to join Ginger, whose relief at his return was successfully concealed by a string of opprobrious epithets.

Chapter XXIII

AT first Green pushed the roan along at a good pace to make up for the start the quarry had obtained. He had this advantage, Tarman could not know he was pursued, and therefore was not likely to hurry unduly, the more so as his horse was carrying a double burden. The cowpuncher argued that the fugitive would make for the Big Chief range, through one of the passes in which he would be able to reach a town. Probably he would aim for Big Rock, where he had friends and could obtain supplies. The trail, which Green soon picked up, seemed to confirm this.

The firing from the ranch-house grew fainter and presently died away as the roan and its rider penetrated further into the wild country which guarded the lower slopes of the mountains. Though apparently heading for a fixed point, Tarman was breaking a fresh trail and making frequent detours to avoid obstacles. This helped the pursuer, who mounted on a superior horse, could make better time on the stretches of easy going.

For mile after mile Green pressed on, sometimes at full speed where a bit of open country permitted, at others at a walking pace, when the horse slipped and slithered down the side of a gully, rock and sand following in a miniature avalanche. Once, on the bank of a creek, the sign showed that Tarman had dismounted to drink. The footmarks in the soft sand were still slowly filling with moisture.

`He ain't so far ahead now, Blue,' muttered the cowpuncher. `Oughtta see him soon.'

The fury that had possessed him when he saw Tarman carrying off the girl had now resolved itself into an icy determination of purpose. To an onlooker 'his actions would have seemed deliberate, even slow, but he was taking no chances. Having satisfied his own thirst and that of his mount, he rode on. Drawing his revolvers in turn, he spun the cylinders and made sure the weapons were ready for instant use. Then he examined the rifle.

`It's his own--the son of a gun,' he said. `Well, needn't to worry 'bout yu,' he added, as he slid the Winchester back under the saddle-fender, for Larry took more care of his weapons than of himself.

They were now nearing the mountains, and the scenery became still more savage and forbidding. The trail zigzagged upwards through dense forests of pine which almost shut out the daylight, along clefts strewn with boulders, and presently emerged on an open ledge which climbed round the side of a big spur and evidently formed one of the passes through the range. Less than half a mile away a horse was wearily plodding up the long slope under its double load.

Having got the girl so far, and with only one man to deal with, Green did not believe that Tarman would carry out his threat, and as concealment was no longer possible, he gave his horse the rein. As he had expected, the thudding hoofs of the roan were heard at once. Taxman gave one glance back and then spurred his mount, uselessly, as he soon realised. Another backward look told him that the pursuer was apparently alone. A savage grin distorted his face as he slipped to the ground and dragged his rifle from the scabbard.

Green saw the action and recognised that his foe had all the advantages. Tarman, with the girl behind him could not be fired at, while he himself was entirely without cover, and at a range at which a good shot could hardly miss. Nevertheless he rode steadily forward, watching and waiting; he had one chance in a thousand, and he knew it. The girl, bound and helpless, sat huddled upon the horse, watching too, with a cold terror clutching at her heart. When he was little more than a hundred yards away the cowpuncher saw Tarman raise his rifle and take steady aim. As the report rang out the roan reared, and its rider pitched sideways from the saddle, flopping awkwardly to the ground and lying motionless. Tarman stood for some moments, crouched slightly, his gun ready for a second shot. He saw the horse quieten down, pace forward, and sniff inquiringly at the prostrate form.

`Got him, by God!' he exulted.

A cry of despair from the powerless spectator brought a grin of malicious triumph to his lips. `Sudden exit of Mr. Sudden,' he sneered. `Reckon yu will have to put up with me for yore husband--or yore lover--after all. Some day yu will learn that when Joe Tarman goes after a thing, he gets it. I've got yu, the hoss is there, an' if those damn fools don't split about the cattle, I'll get them too.'

Sliding the rifle back into the sheath, he took the lariat from the saddlehorn and led the animal down the slope to where the cowpuncher was lying. He trailed the reins, and drawing a gun stood looking down upon his fallen foe. He could see but little of the face, which, turned downwards, was almost hidden in the curve of the left arm, but the outflung right arm and the sprawling legs told their tale. The rustler raised his weapon.

`Dead as mutton,' he said aloud, `but I reckon I'll waste just one cartridge on yu for luck, my friend.'

He was on the point of pulling the trigger when Noreen's horse began to pitch and he turned to curse it, and her. `Put 'em up, Tarman!'

The harsh command brought the rustler round like a flash and then--his hands shot heavenward. The cowpuncher was still lying prone but now there was a gun in his right hand.

Slowly, and with his eyes fixed on the big man, he got to his feet. Looking into that stark, grim face Tarman could not repress a shiver of fear; the man who could risk such a ruse and lie motionless with a gun trained on him, was to be dreaded. Standing there, one hand holding aloft his pistol and the other the lariat, he waited for the bullet he himself would not have hesitated to fire. But again he had misjudged his man.

Put yore gun back,' came the order, and when he had complied Green holstered his own. `Now Webb, or Tarman, whichever yore name is, I'm going to give yu what yu never gave any man yet--an even break. Pull yore gun as soon as yu want to.'

He waited, his own hands clear of his gun-bunts, but the big man seemed in no hurry to accept the invitation. Instead, his lips curled in a wolfish snarl.

`Even break, eh?' he sneered. `Knowin' damn well that yo're quicker'n I am. Makin' a grand-stand for the girl's sake, eh? Well, it don't go with me.'

`Then I'll take yu back an' hang yu with the other thieves,' retorted the puncher, drawing his gun and stepping forward to disarm his prisoner.

`If that damn hoss had kept still yu would be buzzard-meat by now,' growled Tarman, as he looked malevolently at Noreen. `If I thought--'

`Keep yore thoughts to yoreself an' turn yore back,' ordered the other sharply.

Under the menacing grin, Tarman complied, but instead of making the half-turn he whirled completely round, at the same time slinging the heavy coiled lariat full into the face of the advancing man. Completely taken by surprise and blinded for the moment, Green pulled the trigger, but the shot went wide, and the next instant the weapon was struck from his grasp and his enemy was upon him. A savage blow sent him staggering back and when sight returned to his smarting eyes, Tarman's hands were reaching for his throat. He ducked and drove a fist into the gloating, furious face, but he could not evade the arms which closed round his body like a vice. Swaying, slipping, they reeled to and fro like drunken men. The puncher knew that the other was trying to throw and throntle him and he strove desperately to keep his feet and break the hold by pounding away at Tarman's ribs. That this hammering was beginning to tell he soon learned, for the bigger man's breath was coming in gasps.

Suddenly Tarman changed his tactics. Releasing his opponent, he slung in a terrific blow with his right which, had it landed, might well have proved fatal. But the puncher got his head away just in time and as the massive fist whistled past his ear, he sent in a return which drew a bellow of rage from the big man and brought him rushing blindly forward. The next few moments were a medley of whirling fists with no attempt at defence; both men were obsessed by the brute instinct to hurt, and the fight became one of insensate fury. To the bound girl who was the sole spectator it seemed impossible that such violence could continue. The thud of bone meeting bone or flesh sent a shudder through her and yet, barbarous as the scene was, she could non take her eyes away; they were fighting for her, and the issue meant more than life.

Backwards and forwards the bruised, blood-spattered figures heaved, neither appearing to gain any supremacy. Tarman's bulk gave him an advantage, but it was offset by the puncher's wiry toughness and superior condition. Every muscle in his body pulsed with pain, yet the blows went home and if there was less power behind them he had the satisfaction of knowing that the other man was in no better case. Tarman's gashed and gaping mouth, noisily sucking air into his labouring lungs, told a plain story of distress, and Green, reading it, summoned his remaining strength and again closed. A crashing blow to the jaw which he was too weak to avoid sent the big man headlong, and as he fell, his hand encountered a hard object in the grass. Green remained standing, waiting for the fallen man to rise, glad indeed of a moment's inaction. He failed to read the devilish look of cunning which the prostrate ruffian darted at him.

`Another grand-stand play,' Tarman sneered. `Goin' to let me get up, eh?'

`I don't hit a man when he's down, even if he is a cur an' a coward,' retorted Green.

`Different here; I fight to win, an' take my chances,' the big man said, as he rose painfully to his feet, his right hand slightly behind him. `Come on, yu

He lurched as he spoke, as though from extreme weakness, and the puncher fell into the trap. Refreshed by the respite, he sprang in to finish the fighn. Tarman waited, a wicked light gleaming in his swollen eyes. Though he was still wearing his gun he had been afraid to attempt to use it, for the outlaw's second weapon still hung at his hip, and the rustler knew better than to take the chance! But now Fate had dealt him the winning card, for in falling, he had dropped upon Green's other Colt.

Taking no risk, he waited until Green was upon him before his right hand flashed into view and the gun roared. The impact of the heavy slug stopped the oncoming man like a blow and sent him reeling, but even as he fell his left hand streaked to his side, there came a flash and report from his hip and Tarman, with a choked cry, pitched forward on his face. Head to head the two men lay, while the girl stared at them in horror. Above,a mere speck in the sky, an eagle wheeled in ever-narrowing circles.

`Well, I reckon that was the prettiest scrap I ever seen, an' a right good finish.'

The harsh voice jarred the girl back to consciousness, and looking round, she saw Laban. Leisurely dismounting he walked to the body of his friend, callously turned it over, and snood contemplating it, a satirical grin on his thin lips.

`I reckon yo're good an' dead, Joe,' he said. `Plumb between the eyes, a left-hand shot, an' him plugged too. Sudden shore deserved his reputation. Well, seein' as there ain't no one else, I guess I must be the missin' heir.' He looked malevolently at the girl. `Not that I'm wantin' yu the way Joe was, but I reckon Old Simon'll pay somethin' no get yu back. As for him'--he nodded towards the cowpuncher--`by Gosh! he ain't gone yet --he's breathin'.'

Running to the girl he slashed her bonds with a knife and pulled her from the saddle.

`Help me tie him up--he's worth ten thousand alive,' he ordered. `An' don't try no tricks for I'd as soon shoot yu as not.'

The threat was not necessary, for Noreen's one anxiety was to help the wounded man. An examination of his hurt showed that the bullet had entered the right side of the chest, fairly high up, and had passed clean through. Strips from her underskirt and handkerchiefs supplied bandages, and Laban showed some skill in their adjustment. When this was done to his satisfaction he rose and grinned at her.

`He'll live to decorate a tree yet, if we can get him away from here. Fetch that hoss o' mine, he's quiet; we'll have to tie him on.'

`It will kill him,' the girl said indignantly.

`Do as you're told,' he snarled. `Or--'

His threatening hand was still in the air when a quiet but meaning voice said, `Put the other up too, Seth, an' keep 'em up.'

Laban knew that voice and his biceps were cuddling his ears when he faced round to find Snap Lunt standing, gun in hand, a bare dozen yards away. Busy with the bandaging, neinher he nor the girl had noticed his approach. The little gunman's eyes were blazing and the expression on his face was that of a devil. Laban tried to temporise.

`Hello, Snap, yo're just in time to take Miss Petter home--I was wonderin' what to do with her,' he began. `Joe an' Sudden had a mix up an'

`Step back, an' keep doin' it,' came the cold command, emphasised by the levelled gun.

Laban, thinking the other merely wanted him further from the girl, obeyed, and for each step backward that he took, Lunt took one forward. So they went for perhaps twenty paces, and then Laban said: `What's the idea, Snap? If yu got anythin' to say--' `Keep movin',' was the stern reply.

Some instinct made the rustler glance over his shoulder and he suddenly shrieked. One more pace backward would have sent him over the precipice to crash upon the rocks hundreds of feet below. Shivering with fear he tried to edge forward away from the ghastly chasm.

`Back,' came the inexorable command, and a bullet tore off the upper part of an ear.

Flinging himself on his knees the miserable creature begged for mercy, crying aloud that he had not hurt the outlaw, whose wound he had bound up, that he had always liked Snap, and that he meant no harm to Noreen. He might as well have pleaded to a stone man. Snap took another step forward.

`Seth,' he said. `Yu are agoin' over, dead or alive. Which is it to be?'

He meant it; the lust to kill was upon him, and he well knew that the grovelling wretch before him was as unfit to live as he was to die. But the sight was more than the girl could bear. She laid her hand on the gunman's arm.

`Please let him go, Snap,'-she begged. `He has not harmed me, and whatever his motive, he bound up Mr. Green's wound. Perhaps he will go straight in future.'

`Huh! 'bout as straight as a corkscrew,' Lunt growled. `He's a bad lot an' yo're doin' the world a poor service turnin' him loose on it agin, but yu don't have to ask me twice for anythin', Miss Norry, an' that goes.'

He walked no Laban took away his gun, and pointed up the pass. `Get,' he said. `An' remember this, next time we meet yu better see me first for I'll be shootin' on sight.'

`Yu ain't turnin' me loose afoot an' without grub, are yu?' quavered Laban.

`Make tracks,' ordered the gunman. `Yu got yore life an' that's all I'm givin' yu.'

Having watched the broken rustler stagger up the pass and vanish round a bend, Snap turned his attention to the problem of getting the sick man home. Green was conscious--he even essayed a grin when he saw Lunt--and he also grasped the situation.

`Tie me to the saddle,' he said. `I reckon I can make it.'

With both of them helping, and by making a supreme effort which brought the sweat in beads to his brow, he managed to climb to the back of Laban's pony, which appeared to be the most docile. Then with the girl on one side, and Snap, leading the spare horse, on the other, they began the journey. Never will Noreen forget those hours of torture. Compelled to move at a walking pace, constantly watching that the wounded man did not slip from the saddle, the ordeal seemed endless. Ere a mile had been traversed, Green's head sagged forward and he began to mutter. References to Tarman, Bill Evesham, and to Larry came indistinctly to her ears, and then she heard her own name, and blushed furiously while her heart sang.

`Don't yu heed him, Miss Norry,' said Lunt, when the delirious man ripped out an oath. `He's out of his head, that's all.'

`This ride will kill him,' the girl replied anxiously. 'Do yu think the hurt is very bad?'

`Can't say, Miss Norry, but I've seen wuss,' Snap told her. `I'm hopin' the lead has missed the lungs an' in that case he'll likely be as good as new in a month or two; he's a clean-liver an' tough as rawhide.'

Noreen rode on in silence. Only when she had seen him go down before Tarman's treacherous bullet had she realised what this nameless stranger with the terrible reputation really meant to her. She summed it up in one word--everything, and as she helped to hold the swaying, lurching form, with its death-white face, in the saddle, she prayed as she had never done before. Mile after mile they crawled and the patient drooped more and more over his saddlehorn until Noreen feared that he must collapse entirely.

She herself was little better and only the courage of despair enabled her to endure that terrible ride. At length, when it seemed that she could hold out no longer, came a cheerful word from Lunt :

`Yonder's the house,' he said. `An' I reckon the dance is over.' He was right. When they presently rode into the clearing they found the attackers busy rounding up their mounts and preparing to depart. The shout which greeted their arrival brought Leeming on the run. Green, who had been lifted down and laid on a blanket, had a spell of sanity.

`Did yu get him?' asked the Frying Pan owner.

`Yes,' replied the puncher. `Yu 'pear to have cleaned up here too.'

`All but them, an' they won't take long,' said Job grimly, pointing to a group of five men, sitting on their horses but with their hands bound behind them. One of these was West, and the rustler grinned cheerily when he saw Green looking at him.

`Good-bye, partner,' he called. `Glad yu got her--an' him.' Painfully the hurt man raised himself on an elbow. `That man goes free, Job,' he said. `He saved my life an' turned me loose to follow Tarman.'

`He was in the house with 'em,' Leeming said. `He helped steal my cattle an' mebbe shot some o' my men.'

`Aw, partner, I'll take my medicine with the rest,' the Californian said.

`He goes free,' Green repeated stubbornly. `But for him I'd be cashed, an' Miss Norry'

Leeming gave in, and when the condemned were conducted into the forest by half a dozen of the Frying Pan boys the Californian was not among them. To the surprise of his captors, however, he made no attempt to get away.

`I'm stayin' around,' he explained to Larry. `I reckon I'll be able to thank him when he's good an' well again.'

For having paid his debt to the rustler, Green had lapsed into unconsciousness, and was giving his friends a good deal of anxiety.

Chapter XXIV

SOME three weeks later it was `visiting day' at the Y Z ranch-house; for the first time since he had been carried there, a limp, unconscious form, Green was allowed to see his friends. One at a time the punchers came into the room, chatted for a few moments and then, at a nod from Noreen, who was in charge of the invalid, went out again. Stereotyped as the inquiries and wishes were, the girl sensed the genuine feeling which prompted them, and her pride in her patient grew. The pale-faced man, propped up by pillows, had a smile for all and there was a look in his eyes which told the girl that he too realised the affection beneath the awkwardness. When West came in and gripped his hand, all the usually loquacious Californian could find to say was: `I'm thankin' yu, partner.'

`S'pose we call it square,' suggested the sick man.

West shook his head. `Not yet,' he said, and then, `I'm stayin' here.'

`I'm right pleased,' Green replied. `I was hopin' yu would.'

Then came Old Simon, who had nearly recovered, and with him Job Leeming. The Frying Pan owner, having regained his cattle, and as he put it, `cleaned up the country,' was in the best of humours. He grinned at the occupant of the bed.

`Humph!' he remarked. `I shall certainly know where to come for a nurse when I get shot up.'

`Miss Noreen has been wonderful; I reckon I wouldn't 'a'made the grade but for her,' Green replied, and the girl flushed at the warmth in his tone and the look which accompanied the words. Job's eyes went from one to the other. Then, with a chuckle, he said :

`I've been havin' an argument with Simon here, an' I'd like yore opinion, Green. Three o' my best punchers, who came to me after bein' given their time at the Y Z, want to renig an' come back, an' Simon is encouragin' them revolutionary notions. I say it ain't fair.'

Green looked at the twinkling eyes and his own crinkled at the corners as he replied :

`Mebbe it ain't, but it's cold common sense all the same. We shore can't get along without Ginger, Dirty, an' Simple.' `We can't, eh?' queried the other.

`He's the new foreman o' the Y Z, on shares,' explained Old Simon. `I figure I owe him that.'

`Yu shore do an' then some,' returned his friend bluntly. `But durn me if I ever see such a feller as yu for grabbin' everythin' in sight. Here's me short-handed, an' wantin' a housekeeper--' He looked quizzically at the girl, who laughed and shook her head at him.

`As I said, grabbin' ' everythin',' he repeated, and then, more soberly, `Say, yu ain't forgettin' that our friend here is totin' a past, are yu?'

The abrupt reminder swept the merriment from their faces, but before anyone could speak, the door opened and in walked Tonk. Close on his heels came Larry.

`The marshal insisted on comin' up an' not wantin' to start a ruckus, I let him,' announced the puncher. `If yu say the word, boss, I'll be pleased to throw him out on his ear.'

`It's all right, Larry,' replied the ranch-owner quietly, and when the puncher had regretfully withdrawn, `What do you want, Tonk?'

`That,' replied the marshal, pointing to the sick man, his pig-like eyes gloating over the ravages illness had left behind. `He is still too weak to be moved,' Noreen said, her face almost as white as that of her charge.

`Oh, I reckon not; yu don't have to be fit an' well to be hanged, anyway.' The brutal retort brought Old Simon to his feet, one hand on his gun, and the marshal shrank back. `Now, see here, Simon,' he protested, `it ain't no use yu a-kickin' agin the law. That feller is wanted, an' I got a posse of a dozen outside a-waitin' to take him.'

The rancher sank back in his chair. `What yu aimin' to do with him?' he asked.

`Tote him to Big Rock, an' then by rail to the capital--they got a fine gaol there,' was the reply.

`Surely you can wait until he's fit to travel,' the girl said indignantly.

`An' give yu a chance to turn him loose agin?' sneered the officer. `No, he comes with me now.'

`He does not,' rasped Simon. `Get the boys together, Job: we'll call this feller's bluff:

The old man's eyes were blazing, and Leeming, whose touchy temper needed but a spark, was already on his feet when a calm voice from the bed interposed: `As the most interested party in this discussion, I reckon I oughtta have a say in it,' the invalid began. `There's no need to call the boys. If Miss Norry will hand me my vest...'

The marshal's hand flew to his pistol `Yu give him his gun an' he dies now,' he screamed at the girl.

`Don't be a fool, Tonk; I've had yu covered since yu came in,' retorted the puncher. `It don't need a gun to crush a toad like yu.'

Over the edge of the sheet peeped the muzzle of a Colt, and the marshal's hand came away from his gun-butt with laughable celerity. Green took the garment the girl passed to him, tore open the lining, and produced some papers and a shining metal star which he tossed on the bed cover.

`That's the badge of a deputy-sheriff, an' here's my authority to wear it, duly made out an' signed by Governor Bleke,' he said. `That gives me the power to arrest yu if I want to, marshal.'

With a shaking hand the officer picked up the document; it might be a bluff, but a glance showed him that it was genuine.

`But yo're Sudden, the outlaw,' he stammered. `I reckon the Governor don't know

`Let me tell yu a little story, marshal,' interrupted the man in the bed. `Some years ago there was a couple o' men I was anxious no meet up with.' He smiled at the rest of his audience. `Not knowin' where they'd drifted to, it meant p'raps a long search, an' I'd gotta live. Well, I heard that the Governor was lookin' for a feller to weed out certain gangs o' desperadoes who were gettin' too busy in the country, an' I reckoned the two jobs, mine an' his, would fit in, so I applied and was appointed. I didn't flash my star about as much as some folks, in fact, nobody knew I was a deputy, so I soon got a reputation as a bad man; every crime that couldn't be otherwise explained was plastered on me, though sometimes I was hundred o' miles from where it happened.

I talked it over with the Governor an' we figured it would help me in my work to let the cards go as they lay, but he gave orders that Sudden was to be taken alive an' sent to him; that was for my protection. So yu see, marshal, the Governor knows all about me, an' here's a letter from him in reply to one I sent a while ago from Big Rock, askin' me to come an' see him as soon as I've cleaned up here.'

He tossed another paper towards the pop-eyed, staggered officer, but that hitherto pompous person allowed it to flutter to the ground unheeded. His chicken-hearted body was waiting for the blow he knew was coming.

`P'raps yu don't know Governor Bleke,' resumed the puncher easily. `A mighty nice man, marshal, though lawbreakers, I've heard, find him pretty aptly named. I'm bettin' he'll want to see yu, 'specially when I show him certain papers we found on Tarman an' Poker Pete. They didn't pay yu any too well, did they, marshal, but I s'pose yu were to share in the plunder?'

At this direct charge the usually purplish face of the badgered bully turned to a bluish tinge. He tried to utter a denial but his shaking lips refused to do their office. All his bluster was gone and he resembled nothing so much as a pricked bladder. The cowpuncher surveyed him with disgust for a few moments, and then said reflectively: `Dunn as he'd thank me, after all--yu ain't a very pleasant sight. If I was yu, Tonk, I'd travel; they say it improves the mind an', Gawd knows, yores needs a lot o' that. So yu better take steps--long, quick ones--for another stamping-ground.' He suddenly dropped his sardonic, bantering tone, and pointing to the door, said harshly, `Get! an' remember this, if I find yu pollutin' the scenery when I'm around again, I'll--wipe--yuout.'

Utterly cowed and broken, the marshal lurched unsteadily from the room. As the door closed behind him the invalid said, `Well, that's the last of 'em. There's a few sots in Hatchett's that backed the marshal for the drink he bought 'em, but I'm gamblin' they'll be good now.'

`I allus reckoned Tonk wasn't straight, but I didn't guess Tarman bought him,' Simon said. `That feller was swingin' a wide loop for a rustler.'

`Tarman wasn't after cattle--he only wanted them to pay his men,' Green said. `He was aimin' for the land. His plan was to steal the Y Z an' starve the Frying Pan down to his figure, an' then pay for it with a bullet, like as not. Have yu ever thought what yore land would be worth if the railway extended the Big Rock to Hatchett's Folly?'

Leeming whistled. `So that was it, eh? But it ain't likely.'

`It's all that, an' Tarman knew,' Green assured him.

`Well, young feller, yu keep a-pilin' up the debt,' Simon said. `An' I don't see no way o' payin' it. Me an' Job was figurin' that Suddeh would want our influence with the Governor, but seems like yu got more than we have. I'm almighty glad of it too.'

Someone else was `almighty glad' and the soft eyes which rested on the sick man made no secret of it. While he smilingly protested that there was no debt, she noticed that one hand was fumbling at his throat in search of something.

`Is this what you are looking for?' she asked, holding up a narrow strip of rawhide upon which hung a flat little locket of gold, with a steer's head engraved on one side. `It was round your neck when you got hurt, the bullet had cut the thong almost through, and I feared it would get lost,' she explained.

`Where d'yu get that?'

With the words Old Simon almost snatched the trinket from the girl's grasp; his trembling fingers found a secret spring and the locket flew open, disclosing a miniature of a young and pretty woman. One glance and the old man dropped into his chair as though shot.

`My God !' he groaned, and sat gazing at the portrait in his hand. Then he looked at the puncher, and said, `I'm askin' how yu come by this?'

`I've allus had it--long as I can remember. I kept it hidden, even Bill Evesham never saw it. The Piute squaw who brought me up guessed it was a picture o' my mother.'

`An' o' my wife,' said Old Simon. `Our baby, Donald, was wearin' it the day he disappeared.' He held out his hands to the man in the bed. `Son, son, can yu ever forgive me? If it hadn't been for Norry, I'd have handed yu over to the hangman.'

The old man's voice shook with emotion and Green saw that in his weakened state he was perilously near to breaking down. Shaken to the depths himself by the revelation, he thrust aside his own feelings, and called up one of his whimsical smiles.

`Why as to that, seh,' he said softly, `I reckon we break even; I came here to shoot yu.'

Leeming saw the puncher's object and promptly backed him up. `But yu didn't, an' yu wouldn't have,' he said cheerily. `Somethin' would've stopped yu. Providence is shore mysterious. Why, Simon, don't yu recollect tellin' me yu couldn't help likin' this feller, even when yu thought he was stealin' yore cows?'

`I did, an' I couldn't understand it,' Simon admitted. `An' his face at times seemed familiar, though I couldn't place it, but he favours his mother--yu can all see it now.'

They could; looking from the portrait to the invalid it was easy to trace the likeness. The cowpuncher told the story of his youth as he knew it. His early wanderings over the country with the Indian horse-dealer and his band of ponies, of his adoption by Evesham and life on his ranch, until the treachery of Webb robbed his benefactor of everything and practically killed him. Of his vow of vengeance and the troubled trail it forced him to follow. Finally, how Governor Bleke, hearing of the rustling,had sent him to Hatchett's Folly. When the story was ended, Old Simon rose and clasped the teller by the hand.

`Son, I'm feelin' plumb ashamed,' he said. `If yu had shot me it would've been only just, but I reckon if what the preachers tell us is right, Bill Evesham knows the truth now an' understands. To think it should have been him that found yu. I can't never forgive myself.'

His voice trembled and broke, and both Noreen and Leeming saw that the events of the last hour had shaken him to the core. They exchanged a meaning glance, and then Job said : `Come along, old friend, I reckon the patient has had all the excitement he can stand for the present. Yu an' me'll go down an' tell the boys, an' we'll all drink the health of yore son, Donald.'

`An' my daughter,' Simon added, with a fond look at the girl. `It ain't goin' to make any difference, Norry, is it?'

She flung her arms round his neck. `Of course not, you dear old silly,' she replied brightly. `Now you run along or I shall have two of you on my hands again.'

She bustled them out of the room and returned to her place at the head of the bed. Her patient, leaning back against the pillows, appeared to be thinking deeply. Presently he spoke, with the slow drawl she had come to associate with his whimsical moods.

`This findin' o' parents is a right upsettin' business,' he stated. `Larry will smile--he christened me Don--claimed I was a born disturber o' yore sex; but he was wrong there, I never had any time for women.'

`Except the Pretty Lady, of course,' the girl ventured.

The puncher smiled. `Now who could have told yu about her?' he questioned.

`Yu told me yourself when you were feverish,' she replied, blushing under the scrutiny he gave her.

`I guess I talked a lot o' nonsense--a man is apt to at them times,' he reflected, and when she did not rise to the bait he went off at a tangent. `Tarman would 'a' finished me if yu hadn't made yore hoss jump; he wasn't shore.'

Before she could reply, a burst of cheering and a volley of pistol shots shattered the air. The girl started up in alarm, but the patient was smiling.

`He has told the boys, an' I reckon they're pleased,' he said. `I wish he had waited.'

`But why?' she asked, unable to follow this new line of thought.

`It'll make it harder when I go,' he replied, and when she stared at him in bewilderment, he added almost fiercely, Did yu figure I'd stay here an' rob yu o' yore inheritance--yu who have been a real daughter to him all these years? Why, I'd be near as bad as Tarman.'

`But it would break his heart to lose you again,' she cried, conscious that she was fighting too for her own happiness. `He had been the kindest of fathers to me, but always he has grieved for the boy who should have been here to follow him.'

The puncher lay silent for a while, thinking, but watching the thin, set face, the girl knew that her pleading had not succeeded; he had solved the problem according to his own idea of right and wrong. When he spoke again she knew she had read him correctly.

`It shore is tough, but I can't stay here an' take yore ranch,' he said dully. `I gotta go--it's the on'y trail out.'

Noreen had come to a decision. Smiling tremulously, she laid a hand on his, and whispered :

`Are you sure--Don? Couldn't we stop talking of my ranch, your ranch, and agree to think of it as--ours?'

For a moment he did not comprehend, and then his hand closed over hers, and before the light in his eyes she hid her rosy face in his shoulder.

`Girl,' he whispered huskily, `do yu mean it?' Then, though he got no answer, his arms stole round her, and he muttered : `This shore has got me beat.'

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About Sudden

James Green aka Sudden is a fictional character created by the author Oliver Strange and after his death carried on by Frederick H. Christian. The books are centred around a gunfighter in the American Wild West era, who is in search of two men who cheated his foster father. Jim the young man promises his dying father that he will find the two and take revenge. He gives the name James Green to himself and in time gets accused of a robbery himself and becomes an outlaw.

The books were first published around the late 1920s and the early 1930s. They featured vivid descriptions of the western American landscape, rare in an author at that time. These books have been out of print for a very long time, and are currently available for purchase only in paper format, after being owned by one of more people.

Oliver Strange wrote 10 Sudden books (in order of storyline, below)

Sudden--Outlawed (1935)

Sudden (1933)

Sudden--Gold Seeker (1937)

Sudden Rides Again (1938)

Sudden Makes War (1942)

Sudden Takes the Trail (1940)

Sudden Plays a Hand (1950)

The Marshal of Lawless (1933)

The Range Robbers (1930)

The Law o' the Lariat (1931)