Shoot-out at Split Rock (12 page)

He saw the other's jaw tighten and his own face re-

mained wooden under the sharp scrutiny it received. Rogue pondered heavily for a while, his brows knitted, and then stood up, motioning the cowboy to follow. The men were gathered in a group listening to the half-breed. They opened out when their leader approached.

"Well, Navajo, you got it figured out to yore satisfaction?" Rogue asked.

The man shrugged his shoulders. "Don't need any figurin'," he rephed. "Eden hands over the herd an' gits his gal back; that's aU there is to it."

The outlaw leader folded his arms, his eyes flinty. "The girl goes back to her father, now, an' without conditions," he said deliberately. "I don't war with women,"

The decision stunned them to silence for a moment and then babel broke out. Above the protesting voices that of Navajo made itself heard:

"See here, Rogue, we all got a say in this," he cried. "You ain't the on'y one."

"I've said it," the outlaw told him. "As long as I'm boss o' this band I run things my own way."

"Sangre de Diosf" one of the gang hissed. "Then it is better we have a new boss, I think."

His arm flashed up, the blue glint of steel along the palm; an instant, and the blade would have been buried in the outlaw chief's breast. But Sudden had been watching; a dart of flame from his hip and the knife dropped from shattered fingers. A second later. Rogue's arms feU apart, and with the gun he had drawn from his shoulder-holster, he sent two bullets into the would-be assassin's chest. Staggering, fighting to keep his footing, and mouthing curses, the man went down.

Ignoring the limp figure, Rogue's raging gaze swept the others. He was mad with passion, his whole body—save only the hand that gripped the smoking revolver—^trembled with it.

"Who's next?" he barked harshly. "Which o' you wants to give me orders? Navajo, you set that coyote on. You got ambitions to fiU my shoes. Step out an' pull yore gun; we'll settle it here an' now."

The other men watched the half-breed curiously. Any one of them might have shot down the challenger but it would have meant a batde, for not all of them were dis-

loyal to Rogue. Also, there was that lean-limbed cowboy, of whose ability to use his gun there was no doubt. Navajo was not the stufiE to stand an acid test.

"You got me all wrong, Rogue," he protested. "I ain't makin' trouble, an' I reckon the boys don't want none neither. Gittin' the herd is aU that matters. It seemed an easy way, but if you got it fixed different, we ain't carin'."

Having gained his end, Rogue was too astute to overplay his hand. He knew the men, understood that self-interest was the only factor which governed their crude natures. Once satisfied that they would not lose, they would be tractable enough.

"I want them cattle as bad as you do—got to have 'em, in fact," he said quickly. "So you needn't worry 'bout that."

Boldly turning his back on them, he walked to the tree trunk. Sudden stepped after him. The tempest of emotion which had raged through him seemed to have weakened the outlaw physically; he looked tired and his face' was drawn. He was silent awhile, pondering. "How in hell am I to get that gal back to her ol' man? It's most of ten mUes. Can't use any o' the boys, an' I dursn't leave 'em just now."

"Send Sandy, an' you can have my word, an' his, that he'll come back—alone," Sudden suggested. "You can tell him that my life depends on his doin' that, though there's no need."

"You trust him that much?" the outlaw asked, almost a wistful note in his voice, and when Sudden nodded, "Well, it 'pears to be the on'y trail out."

He walked over to where the girl and her companion were waiting, anxiously, for though they had heard the shooting, only Sandy guessed that a man had died. Carol, bom of fighting stock, faced the famous desperado fearlessly. With scarcely a glance at her, Rogue said roughly:

"I don't want you here. This feUa"—he gestured to Sandy—"wiU take you back to yore camp; it ain't so far."

"Thank you," the girl said. "I am sure my father—"

"Don't get any fool notions," he interrupted harshly. "Tell Eden I can win without usin' women." He beckoned Sandy aside. "The herd lies due west—you can't miss it. Now, I want yore word that you'll come back—alone.

If you don't show up, or bring company; it will go hard with Jim. You sabe?"

"I'll be back—^if the war whoops don't get me," the young man promised. "An' Rogue, I wanta say this is a mighty han'some act—"

"Aw, go to heU," the outlaw retorted. "She interferes, an' that's aU there is to it. Get agoin'."

When they had gone. Rogue came to Sudden.

"What about them guns o' yores, Jim?"

"I've pledged myself to stay^ here till Sandy returns. Don't you reckon it would be wiser to let me wear 'em tiU then?"

The other considered the proposition; in the event of more trouble with the men, the prisoner would necessarily be on his side.

"Mebbe yo're right," he decided.

Meanwhile the girl and her escort were slowly making their way in the direction they beUeved the S-E camp to he. Her first words, after they had ridden a rmle in silence, took him by surprise:

"Some of those men seemed to know you.**

"We'd met 'em," Sandy admitted. "You run up against all sorts when you're driftin' round."

She did not speak again.

In the S-E camp, anxiety at the absence of their young mistress deepened when neither Sandy nor Sudden put in an appearance. A search party was sent out but owing to the redskins' ruse of dividing their forces, was led astray and lost the trail completely on a wide strip of stony ground. Its return without Carol reduced the invahd to a state of blasphemous despair: he cursed everything and everybody, including himself for exposing her to such a peril.

Morning broke upon a helpless, and well-nigh hopeless community. The cattleman, propped up by the fire, looked at his foreman in sullen misery.

"Never oughta let her come," he burst out. "Jeff, you gotta find that damn trail. Take all the boys—"

"The herd—" the foreman began, and stopped when the Hghtning conmienced to flicker in his employer's eyes.

**Hey, Jeff, there's a coupla riders a-comin'," Pebbles yelled.

The foreman ran to the speaker's side. Two horsemen were entering the vaUey at the far end. Jeff studied them for a moment and shook his head in disappointment

"That ain't Jun's black," he said.

"They might 'a' swapped hosses," Pebbles said hopefully.

"It ain't neither of 'em," Jeff replied, and, as the visitors drew nearer, added, "Why, if it ain't Mister Baudry."

The gambler it was, and with him was a middle-aged, bent-shouldered fellow, with a long horse-face and deep-set sly eyes. With a word of greeting to the cowboys, the pair rode to where Eden was sitting, and dismounted.

Baudry shook hands with Eden and presented his companion: "Meet Davy Dutt; he's in a deal with me."

The cattleman received the stranger without undue enthusiasm—^Mister Dutt's exterior was not impressive. Then, in reply to an enquiry for Carol, he told die story of their predicament, and was surprised at the effect it produced; the gambler's full, faintiy tanned face took on a yellowish tinge and his voice betrayed real concern.

"My God!" he cried. "Miss Carol in the hands of savages? That's terrible, Sam. What are you doing about it?"

Eden told him and Baudry swore in perplexity. "You can't do a thin g tiU you locate those damned heathens. Got any ideas, Davy?"

"Nope," the stranger confessed. "You seen the kind o* country we come through."

The gambler explained that they had been traveling northwest from Fort Worth, and finding a cattle trail some way back, had followed it on the chance of it proving to be the S-E.

The day passed monotonously enough for the little group left in the camp, and when, as the sun sank in the west, the searchers again reported failure to discover the trail of the red raiders, a blanket of gloom descended upon the whole company.

But as the dusk was deepening into dark, Sandy and his charge rode wearily into camp and were instantly surrounded by whooping cowboys. The rancher's eyes bulged when he found the girl he feared was lost forever,

kneeling beside him. One arm hugging close, the other hand went to Sandy.

"By heavens, boy, you've put me deeper in yore debt than I can say," he cried.

Naturally Carol was the center of attraction; everyone was avid to hear what had happened to her. The story of Sudden's slaying of Red Fox brought ejaculations of "Bravo, Jim," and "Good old Texas" from the cowboys, but when she related how they had been rescued from the redskins by some of Rogue's riders, it was Baudry who spoke:

"What's brought that road agent to these parts?" he asked. "Think he's been trailing you, Sam?"

"It would be a safe bet he stampeded our cows," the foreman volunteered.

"But if he's after my herd, why did he let you an* Sandy go?" Eden asked the girl. "He must 'a' knowed he had me cinched."

"I was to tell you that he could win without women," she replied.

"Huh! there's two words to that," her father said grimly. With the girl safe by his side he was becoming his own dour self again. He looked at Sandy. "Can you explain it?"

"No, but I'm guessin' Jim fixed somethin', an' that's why he stayed an' I've to go back."

"Like hell you have," the cattleman exploded.

"I've promised."

"A promise to a prowlin' thief don't hold."

Sandy looked at the girl; in the firelight her cheeks appeared pale; her lips were sUent, but her eyes spoke.

"Rogue's word to me was that if I didn't show up it would go hard with Jim," Sandy added.

"Did he call him by his name?" Baudry put in.

"No, he said 'yore friend,'" was the quick reply. "An* because he's that, I'm goin' back—alone."

The rancher was about to make another angry protest but Carol anticipated him: "Daddy, he has to go," she said, and the young man's heart leapt at the regret in her voice. "You would do the same yourself."

The old man snorted, but his hard face softened as he looked at Sandy. "She's right, boy, o' course," he ad-

mitted. "You have to do it, but you can tell Rogue that if he harms you or Jim I'll hound him down an' hang him, if it takes the rest o' my days."

Sandy grinned. "I'll pass on the message, but he don't strike me as a man to scare easy."

An hour later, having fed, Sandy transferred his saddle to a fresh horse and started for the outlaws' camp. He had seen Carol for one moment before he left, had graSped a slim brown hand, had heard a whispered, "Good luck, Sandy." The kindness in her eyes went with him as he rode silently into the gloom.

Eden and the gambler were alone at the fire. The women had retired to their tent and Dutt had expressed a desire to view the sleeping herd. Baudry, biting on a black cigar, was the first to speak.

"Damned if I can fathom Rogue's game, Sam," he-said reflectively. "He has you cold and Sirows the hand in. Why?"

"You can search me," the rancher replied. "Carol figures he has a soft spot, but gals get romantic notions *bout fellas like him. He's reckoned the most ruthless ru£aan in Texas, an' that's sayin' a lot."

"Those two men joined you for the drive, dropping in from nowhere," Jethro proceeded. "And one of tiiem— Green—answers pretty well to the printed description of Sudden."

"Whose last job was pulled off while Green was at the S-E."

"True, but it would be a safe play for one of Rogue's men to put the blame on a fellow he knew co«ld prove an alibi."

"You suggestin' that Green an' Sandy are in cahoots with Rogue?" Eden asked, and there was a rasp in his voice.

"I'm saying it's possible, that's all," was the reply. "Your daughter said some of the outiaws knew them."

"Then why did them two boys fetch back near a thousand head after the stampede?"

Baudry chuckled. "You have to admit they knew where to find them," he pointed out. "See here, Sam. Mightn't it be that Rogue realized that the stampede was a mistake, that it would pay him better to let you drive the cattle north for him to steal within reach of a

market where they'd fetch four or five times as much? Why, that's maybe the reason he ain't forcing your hand now."

The rancher's brows drew together. Put hke this the plan seemed all too probable, and the idea that he was being played with was far from pleasant.

"Tryin' to bump me off don't seem to fit in."

"Why not, if his first scheme was to grab the herd as soon as he could? I'm supposing it was later he got the notion of aiming for the bigger prize, an' I'd wager something it was Green gave it him; he ain't a fool, that fellow, beheve me."

"I don't think yo're right, Jethro," Eden said stubbornly.

Baudry smiled. "Well, perhaps not," he said easily. "But I'm telling you, those two men will be back before long;-they're more use to Rogue here."

,"ru be glad to see 'em," the catdeman said stoutiy, but the seeds of suspicion had been sown. "Aimin' to travel with us, Jethro?"

"Maybe we can be of some use," was the reply.

"Pleased to have you," the rancher said heartily. • The visitor was sUent for a time, and then, with the air of one who has come to a decision, he flung the butt of his cigar into the glowing ashes, and looked across at his host.

"Sam, you know what I do for a Uving," he began, "Well, I'm planning to give myself a fresh deal and drop the cards. With the coin I get when you cash in on your herd I'm starting a ranch—I've got options on land not far from ihe S-E; with the railways coming west and the northern ranches needing stock, there's going to be money in cattie. But more than that, I want to settie down, with a home of my own—and a wife."

"Why, that's good hearin', Jethro," the rancher said. "Mebbe yo're on the way to fetch the lady, huh?"

The gambler's teeth gleamed as his thick lips parted in a half-smile. "Not exactly," he said. "The lady is traveling north too; in fact, she's less than fifty yards away at this moment."

Eden straightened up, his eyes wide. "You—mean— Carol?" he cried incredulously.

"And why not?"