Oliver Strange - Sudden Westerns 01 - The Range Robbers(1930) (11 page)

 
          
“Glad
they wasted a new rope on me,’ he panted, as he jerked and swayed dizily over the
chasm. “An old one, an’
them
birds would’ve got their
meal shore enough.’

 
          
Inch
by inch he worked his way up, little roughnesses in the face of the cliff
affording a slight hold for his toes and thus enabling him to rest
occasionally, but his strength was fully spent when as last he dragged his
weary body over the brink and lay gasping on the grass above. For ten minutes
or more he remained prone on the ground, taking in great gulps of air, and
oblivious to everything save the fact that the necessity for violent, incessant
effort had ceased. Presently he stood up.

 
          
“Gosh,
out it’s grand to stand on a solid bit o’ earth again!’ he said. “Never did
like the notion o’ dancin’ on nothin’. Wonder how far that blamed boss o’ mine
went?’

 
          
He
put his fingers to his mouth and gave a shrill whistle. Getting no result, he
coiled the rope and made his way down the trail which had led to his undoing.
When he reached the spot where he had been roped, he whistled again, and
waited. Presently came the sound of something forcing its way through the brush
and his pony appeared.

 
          
“Yu
son of a gun,’ said the cowpuncher, and his tone betrayed a whimsical
affection, “I shore didn’t waste my time trainin’ yu.’

 
          
A
drink from his canteen refreshed him, and, mounting the horse, he climbed the
cliff again to see if he could pick up the trail of his assailants. In this he
was successful, and followed it for some miles, until it became lost in a wide
cattle-trail which he took to be the one leading to the Double X, but whether
the horsemen had gone to that ranch, or turned the other way, he could not
discover.

 
          
“Reckon
I’ll call it a day,’ he concluded, and turned his horse in the direction of the
Y Z.

 
          
At
the corral he encountered Larry, and soon learned that the outfit had been no
more successful than he himself. They had followed him to the blind canyon,
crossed the stream and the stretch of shale to the big trail, and then the
foreman had decided that the quest was hopeless, and ordered them all back to
the ranch.

 
          
“We
was shore worried about yu—
‘specially
Rattler,’ the
boy concluded. “Where in ‘ell did yu get to?’

 
          
“Oh,
I was around,’ replied Green. “
Any feller answerin’ to the
name of “Snub” in these parts?’

 
          
“Shore
is.
One of the Double X lot.
Don’t know anythin’ of
him. Yu don’t think—’

 
          
“Yes,
I do, sometimes,’ smiled Green. “It don’t hurt, when yu get used to it. Yu
oughtta try it.’

 
          
“If
I didn’t feel scared it would make me look like yu, I might,’ countered Larry.
“Say, I near forgot it—the Old Man wants to see yu. I met Miss Norry just now
an’ she told me.’

 
          
“An’
yu near forgot her message,’ reproved Green, with twinkling eyes. “Larry, I’m
plumb ashamed of yu.’

 
          
“Aw,
yu go to—’ But Green was already on his way to the ranch-house.

 
          
He
found Simon, with his daughter and Blaynes, sitting on the verandah, and, at
the request of his employer, gave a bald account of what had happened to him.
When he had finished, the foreman burst into a loud laugh, which was cut short
when Noreen said
indignantly :

 
          
“I
don’t see anything amusing about a cold-blooded attempt at murder.’

 
          
“Aw,
Miss Noreen, yu got it wrong,’ protested the offender. “
Them
Double X boys—if it was them—was just playing a joke. They meant to leave him
there to cook in the sun for an hour or two, until they come back to pull him
up again. They certainly seem to have got yu scared, Green.’

 
          
“Scared?
Why, I’m near grey-headed now,’ returned Green, and grinned. “Yu think it was
just a joke, eh?’

 
          
“Shore
of it,’ replied the foreman.

 
          
“Well,
yu know ‘em better than I do,’ was the meaning retort. “Next time yu see yore
friend Snub, tell him from me that practical jokin’ is a game two can play at.’

 
          
‘Yo’re
callin’ the wrong card,’ snapped the foreman. “I ain’t got
no
friends at the Double X, but if ever I meet this feller Snub I’ll shore deliver
yore message.’

 
          
“A
pretty sort of practical joke,’ the girl said contemptuously. “It mades me
shudder to think of those horrible birds.’

 
          
“They
musta forgot to tell the vultures it was only a game,’ Green said gravely, and
had the satisfaction of seeing the foreman squirm when Noreen laughed at him.
“I understand yu lost the trail again?’

 
          
“We
follered it as far as it went,’ snorted the other. “I’m as good as the next at
teadin’ sign, but I don’t claim to be able to see it when it ain’t there.’

 
          
“Well,
we don’t appear to be gettin’ any forrader,’ interposed Old Simon. ‘Yu’d better
turn in, Blaynes; yu’ve had a long day.’

 
          
This
was a dismissal, and the foreman, very unwillingly, had to take his departure.
When he had gone, the ranch-owner turned to the cowpuncher.

 
          
“The
joke idea don’t appeal to yu
none?’

 
          
Green
smiled. “I reckon my sense o’ humour must be some shy,’ he said.

 
          
“Think
the Double X is mixed up in the rustlin’?’

 
          
“I
dunno, I got nothin’ on them—yet; but have yu ever thought what a nice
convenient brand the Double X might be? See here.’

 
          
He
took pencil and paper from his pocket, drew something, and handed the result to
Old Simon. “There’s yore brand,’ he said, “an’ by the side of it is what a
smart feller with a runnin’ iron an’ a wet blanket might do to it.’

 
          
The
ranch-owner gave one glance at the paper and swore softly. “By heaven, it’s as
easy as takin’ a
drink !
I’ve a mind to call Dexter’s
hand to-morrow.’

 
          
“That
won’t get yu nowhere,’ Green pointed out. “If they’re doin’ it, yu can bet
they’re coverin’ their tracks, an’ my hunch is that they ain’t in it alone. We
gotta get more evidence; yu couldn’t hang a dog on this.’

 
          
“Mebbe
yo’re right,’ Simon admitted. “So yu guess
it’s
whites
passin’ as Injuns? Blaynes warn’t so wide o’ the mark then.’

       
“It is only a guess, an’ we’d better
keep it under our hats for the present,’ Green replied. “Any other ranch round
here been losin’ cattle?’

 
          
“There’s
only the Frying Pan, thirty mile to the west of us. I saw Leeming, the boss, in
Hatchett’s a week or so back, an’ he didn’t have any complaints.’

 
          
Several
times during the conversation Green’s glance had unconsciously rested on
Noreen, and he had been disconcerted to find that on each occasion she had been
regarding him steadily. Sitting there in the fading light, she made a picture
to content any man. The recent tragedy had left its mark upon her, and instead
of a merry, laughing girl, he now saw a serious, sweet-faced woman. “Larry will
be a very lucky chap,’ he thought, and was instantly conscious that he did not
believe it.

 
          
“Well,
I’ll be driftin’ along,’ he said, rising. “Let yu know if there’s anythin’
fresh.’

 
          
“Don’t
you think,
Daddy, that
Mr. Green ought to have help?’
Noreen asked quietly.

 
          
“Why,
that’s a good notion, girl,’ her father said instantly. “What about takin’ one
o’ the boys with yu, Green?’

 
          
“It’s
shore kind o’ Miss Noreen to suggest it, an’ I hope the time’s comin’ when I’ll
need assistance, but till it does come I’d rather go it single-handed,’ the
cowpuncher replied. “I guess Barton would jump at the invite. Mebbe yu were
thinkin’ of him?’ he added with a smile.

 
          
“I
hadn’t anyone in particular in mind,’ Noreen returned. “I should have thought
Larry had not sufficient experience; he is only a boy.’

 
          
“He’s
a mighty good one—I wouldn’t ask for a better,’ said Green, and the girl
wondered at the sudden warmth in his tone.

 
          
“Oh,
I’m sure of that; but he’s so—young,’ she explained lamely.

 
          
“Well,
I guess he’ll grow out o’ that soon enough,’ chuckled Simon. “Anyways, yu can
have
him,
or any o’ the others when yu say, Green.’

 
          
Walking
back to the bunkhouse, the puncher turned the conversation over in his mind,
and came to the conclusion that Larry would not be lucky. “Only a
boy !
An’ he’s a coupla years older than she is,’ he
murmured. “Women shore age quicker’n we do.’

 
          
His
entrance into the bunkhouse was the signal for a burst of merriment from the
older men, and he immediately divined that the foreman had been relating the
story of his discomfiture. Durran was the first to fire a shot.

 
          
“I
hear as how yu bin havin’ a look at the country, Green,’ he said, with a wide
grin.

 
          
“An’
that yu found the rustlers’ hang-out,’ added Nigger, with a marked emphasis on
the last word.

 
          
Will
yu walk into my parlour, said the spider to the fly,’ hummed another. “An’ the
fly wasn’t
fly
enough to.’

 
          
A
shout of laughter greeted this effort, and Durran slapped the singer
enthusiastically on the back. ““That’s damned
good
,
Bent,’ he cried. “The spider—haw, haw! Damned good, that is. An’ do yu reckon
the parlour mighta bin a sandy one?’

 
          
“I
guess likely it was,’ grinned Bent. “An’ the unsuspicious insect musta belonged
to the specie the gardener sharps call greenfly.’

 
          
This
sally produced a positive howl of mirth, and Durran rocked to and fro, slapping
the humorist’s back, and murmuring, “Yu shore will be the death o’ me, Bent.’

 
          
The
man at whom these gibes were directed looked around with a sardonic smile. He
saw Larry and his little following were taking no part in the merriment, and
that Snap Lunt was watching him curiously. The little gunman did not appear to
be amused, but he was clearly interested. Dropping easily into a seat, Green
waited until all the would-be wits had had their say and then fired a return
shot.

 
          
“This
is shore the best-tempered outfit I ever met up with,’ and there was an edge on
his voice which cut like a razor. “Why, if any gang had run a blazer like this
“joke” on the old K T in Texas, the boys would’ve painted for war immediate.
But I reckon yu ain’t called “Wise-heads” for nothin’, and the Double X has got
yu right buffaloed.’

 
          
This
was another aspect of the affair, and even the loudest laughers looked a bit
uncomfortable, while on the younger men the effect was electrical. Ginger
sprang to his feet instantly.

 
          
“Buffaloed
nothin’,’ he cried. “Why, if anybody’s goin’ to think that, me an’ two-three of
us’ll go an’ corral the Double X gang an’ hang ‘em over the cliff in
their own
ropes.’

 
          
Green
laughed. “Sho, that wouldn’t be the act of a “Wise-head,” Ginger,’ he reproved.
“Yu needn’t to worry none about them jokers, either—they’ll get theirs. I don’t
need help to curry a little hoss like that. An’ yore foreman’ll tell yu that yu
got a bigger job. Yu gotta find the Injuns who are rustlin’ steers an’ killin’
yore friends.’