Sudden--At Bay (A Sudden Western #2) (7 page)

‘
Easy, Night,’ he scolded.
‘They’ll know soon enough that we’re here. Now where did the kid
say that doctor lived?’ Scanning the scene before him, his keen
eyes presently espied a small frame house on the southern side of
the town. Its general air of neatness, and the white picket fence
set it apart from most of the other dwellings. A horse stood
hipshot at the hitching rail, beneath the shadow of a young
cottonwood planted in the front garden of the house.

‘
That’ll be her,’ Green told
himself.

Tying Midnight firmly to one of the
stanchions of the bridge, he waded up the bank of the river, and
moved down a gully which looked as if it might at one time have
been a small tributary of the Bonito. It led northward towards the
doctor’s house, and within a few minutes, Green found himself
within four or five yards from it. A quick sprint across the open
ground brought him noiselessly to the rear door. He knocked
quietly, breathing a prayer that Hight would be alone. His hand
hovered close to the gun at his side.

After a moment he heard a movement
within, and the door opened. Green found himself face to face with
a youngish man of medium height, about thirty years of age. The
dark hair was already touched with gray, and the eyes behind the
steel-rimmed spectacles were older and wiser than their owner’s age
might have indicated.

‘
Yes?’ There was no more than mild
curiosity in the doctor’s voice.

‘
Can I come in?’

‘
What do you want?’

‘
Doc, my name’s Green. Does that
mean anything to yu?’

Hight’s face was puzzled for a
moment, then light suddenly came into his eyes and he threw the
door open wide. ‘The one who helped Billy! My God, you’d better
come in —-and quick,’ he gasped. He scanned the area behind the
house as he closed the door, and then moved to a window to survey
the deserted street.

‘
Did anyone see you coming here?’
he asked, then without waiting for an answer, ‘Are you out of your
mind, coming back? What are you doing here?’

‘
No to the first, no to the
second,’ was the smiling reply. ‘As to the third, I’ve come to get
the boy.’

‘
My God, Green, are you mad? The
town is full of Cotton’s men. How do you know I don’t belong to
them as well?’

‘
I’m bettin’ my life on it was the
quiet answer.’ And Hight was silent for a moment.

‘
The boy told you about me, did
he?’ At Green’s nod, Hight went on, ‘It’s true I’ve got my reasons
for hating their guts, Mr Green, but—’

‘
My friends call me Jim,
Doc.’

‘
Alright, Gr … Jim.’ He smiled
briefly, then put another question.

‘
How did you get away from those
two thugs of deputies?’

‘
They was unavoidably detained,’
was the terse reply. Hight’s face took on a new, almost hopeful
look.

‘
That … Dan Rodgers. Is
he?’

‘
Dead, Doc. He’s beaten up his
last medico.’

Hight started visibly at these
words. ‘How did you know that?’ he asked nervously. ‘I’ve never
told a soul about…’

‘
Dan mentioned it … afore he was
took bad,’ Green told him, then changed the subject. ‘Is Billy
still in the jail?’

‘
Yes, as far as I
know.’

‘
How many men guardin’
him?’

Hight shook his head. ‘I’ve got no
idea, Jim.’

‘
Don’t want to go in blind,’
muttered Green. ‘Might be worse’n useless.’ He sat silently for a
moment, pondering his next move, while Hight looked at him as if he
had announced his decision to fly to Santa Fe.

‘
Jim —-you’re not serious! You
don’t think one man alone could go into that jail and get out of
Cottontown alive, do you?’

Green didn’t answer, but shrugged.
‘I can’t leave the kid in there,’ was his only comment.

‘
It’s madness!’ snapped Hight.
‘You can’t do it!’

‘
Who’d yu reckon can, then?’ asked
the puncher flatly, and Hight fell silent. ‘I’m sorry, Doc,’
apologized Green. ‘That wasn’t intended personal.’

‘
Hell, I know that, Jim,’ Hight
told him. ‘But one man, even if he was backed up by six others,
wouldn’t have much chance against Cotton’s gunfighters.’

‘
He hires guns, then?’ Green was
interested in this news.

‘
Yes,’ answered the Doctor. ‘Three
or four of his riders are paid killers, like the two who —-what
happened out there, Jim?’

‘
They aimed to cut me down an’
bury me. I changed their plans a mite,’ was all Green would tell
him. ‘That tall jasper I seen at the trial. What’s his name
again?’

‘
Helm, you mean? Big man, wearing
two guns?’

Green nodded. ‘That’s the
one.’

‘
Name’s Chris Helm. He’s foreman
of the Cottonwood ranch.’

‘
He’s wanted in El Paso for
murder,’ Green informed the Doctor.

‘
I’m not surprised,’ replied Hight
flatly.

Green took another tack. ‘Billy
told me somethin’ about the way things are here. How long has this
town been under Cotton’s heel?’

‘
It must be ten years altogether,
if you count Zeke Cotton’s days as well. They own everything.
Nobody can come into this valley to trade. Nobody can take anything
out to sell —-it all has to go through the Cottons or one of their
tools. The bank, the saloon, the general store —-they’re all owned
by the Cottons. They rent the saloon to Blass. He has to pay them a
percentage of what he takes over the counter. It’s their money in
the bank, and they set the interest on loans.’

‘
An’ if anyone kicks, the muscle
moves in, is that it?’

‘
That’s it. I’ve had experience of
it, in fact, you might say I was a walking example to the rest of
the town. If you call the way I get around walking.’ His voice was
harsh and bitter, and the memory of old pain was in the doctor’s
eyes.

‘
There are settlers to the south
who have been hoping for years to come and farm in this valley. The
one or two who’ve ventured north of the Bonito have been bullied
and harassed to such an extent that they’ve pulled out. There used
to be a sign at the fork of the road, about ten miles south of
town: “This is Zeke Cotton’s road — take the other one.” They
aren’t quite that obvious now, but the result’s the same. Newcomers
aren’t encouraged to stay.’

‘
I know that,’ murmured Green, a
frosty smile playing around his lips.

‘
Why are you involving yourself in
all this?’ asked Hight suddenly. ‘What does it matter to you what
happens to Billy Hornby, or me, or Cottontown?’

‘
It’s a long story. Doc. I doubt
we’ve got time for it.’

Hight sat himself down in a chair facing Green. His
face was earnest and something deeper than curiosity was in his
eyes.

‘
Make it short, then,’ he bid the
puncher. ‘Tell me what your interest is, and maybe I’ll help you.
If they’re the right reasons, that is.’

‘
Help me? How can yu help me?’
Green looked puzzled.

Hight leaned forward eagerly.

‘
I’ll go over to the jail on some
excuse, and find out how many men are in there.’

Green looked at him in amazement,
then shook his head, smiling. An’ I thought this town was spineless
he murmured. ‘Yu’d do it?’

‘
If you tell me what I want to
know.’

Green hesitated for a moment, then came to a
decision.

‘
I’m lookin’ for two men. Mebbe
yu’ve heard o’ them. Their names are Webb an’ Peterson.’

Hight pondered for a moment. ‘Can’t
say the names are familiar, but names don’t mean much in these
parts. What do you want them for?’

‘
I want to settle a
debt.’

Somehow, the way in which these
words were spoken put a chill in the medical man’s veins. Green’s
eyes were cold and ruthless, and Hight did not envy the two men,
whoever they were.

‘
Who are you, Green?’ he asked
bluntly.

‘
My name’s shore ’nough Jim
Green,’ the puncher told him. ‘But in Texas, they’ve given me
another: there, men call me “Sudden”.

Sudden!
Remote though this corner of the West was, it was not so cut
off from the world outside that Hight had not heard of the outlaw
and gunfighter who bore the name of Sudden. So this quiet-spoken
man with the level gaze, watching him now unperturbed, was the
fantastic wizard whose genius with the six-gun had already earned
him a place among the famous —-or the infamous —-of the frontier!
Sudden, the man who had cleaned out Lawless, the man
who…

Green had been watching his host
carefully and saw the dawning hesitation in the Doctor’s
eyes.

‘
Yo’re wonderin’ if mebbe I ain’t
tarred with the same brush as them jaspers Cotton hires, ain’t yu?’
he said harshly. ‘Yu reckon anyone with a reputation like Sudden’s
couldn’t possibly be anythin’ but what they say about him. Well,
yo’re goin’ to hear the whole story. Doc. After that, I’m in yore
han’s.’ Without ado, Green proceeded to recount the circumstances
which had led to his infamous notoriety. The medico listened in
amazement to the story of a promise made to a man on his death-bed,
of the blind search for two murderers that the promise bound him
to, and the false accusation of murder that had sent a boy alone
into the wild frontier country with a price on his head, a target
for every bounty hunter and reputation-builder who crossed his
track.’

‘
Most o’ what yu’ll have heard
about me is lies,’ Sudden told the doctor. ‘But some of it ain’t.
Yu’ll jest have to make yore own mind up which is
which.’

Hight did not hesitate. He thrust
out his hand and grasped the other’s. ‘Jim, if you’re Sudden, then
I’m guessing most of what’s said about you is lies. And —–’ he
grinned, ‘since half the world are liars, anyway, it isn’t really
surprising.’ He limped into his study and returned with a stout
walking stick. ‘I think I’ll just go over and see that the boy is
in good health. Tell him his sister is doing fine.’ He turned at
the door to face Sudden. ‘Stay here, Don’t show yourself. I’ll be
back as soon as I can.’

Sudden nodded, saying nothing, and
Hight limped out into the street. So that was Sudden! The quiet,
drawling voice and the casual air hardly jibed with the lurid tales
he had heard about the famous outlaw. He tried to recall some of
them in detail, but found he could not. Something about the Hell
City business down in Arizona. ‘But on which side: right or wrong?
Good or evil? Hight squared his shoulders.

‘
I know where my bet’s going,’ he
announced to nobody in particular. The gray dog in the shadow of
the livery stable looked up at the sound of Hight’s voice, and
watched disinterestedly as the Doctor limped across the street and
knocked on the door of the jailhouse.

Hight was gone about fifteen
minutes. Watching through the window of the medico’s house, Green
saw him emerge from the jail and limp across the street. Hight’s
progress was maddeningly casual and Green, on tenterhooks, swore
and then laughed at himself.

‘
Gettin’ all steamed up ain’t
goin’ to help,’ he muttered, and moved to meet Hight as he came in.
There was a smile on the doctor’s face, for his tidings were
good.

‘
The boy’s in his cell, Jim,’ he
announced. ‘It looks as if there’s only one guard.’

‘
Which one? Helm?’

‘
No, one of the others,’ Hight
replied. ‘I think he’s called Jackson. The Sheriff must be having
his usual siesta.’

‘
Let’s hope we don’t disturb him,
then,’ smiled Sudden. They shook hands warmly again. ‘Thanks, Doc,’
the puncher said. ‘I’m hopin’ there won’t be no gunplay, but if yu
hear shootin’
keep yore head down. Act
surprised if anyone asks yu about me. Yu ain’t never seen me
afore:
sabe
?’

Hight nodded. ‘How about a horse
for the boy?’

Green’s smile was impish. ‘I was
plannin’ on stealin’ yores, Doc,’ he said mischievously. ‘I
figgered yu’d trade for one o’ Billy’s. I’m shore his sister’d take
yore word on it.’

He feigned not to notice the color
which rose in Hight’s cheeks, but told himself that Billy’s
observations about the medico’s feelings towards Jenny Hornby were
accurate enough.

Just as well
, he thought. ‘She’ll have someone to look after her if Billy
has to lie low an’ can’t take care o’ things.’

‘
Take the horse and welcome,’
Hight was saying. ‘And —-good luck, Jim.’

Sudden nodded. ‘I’ll be needin’
some,’ he remarked. Without further talk he edged out of the back
door of the house and moved cautiously around the side of the house
into the deep shadow which lay between it and the livery stable
next door. He sidled up to the corner of the stable and peered
around it, keen eyes raking every inch of the curving street and
its buildings. No movement caught his attention: even the gray dog
had gone. The street yawned wide and empty before him.

‘
Hell, the longer I look at her,
the wider she’ll seem,’ he muttered. Tipping his Stetson forward
over his eyes, and sticking his hands casually into his hip
pockets, Sudden sauntered into the street. Every nerve was tense,
keyed for instant action at the first sight of danger, but
outwardly his air was one of complete unconcern. He looked like a
man who had every right to be where he was, doing what he was
doing. They’d spot a fella runnin’ in a couple o’ seconds was his
reasoning. ‘But someone walkin’ natural attracts no attention — I
hope!’ A few more moments and he was across. With something like a
sigh of relief he stepped up on to the porch of the jailhouse and
knocked on the door.