Oliver Strange - Sudden Westerns 01 - The Range Robbers(1930) (21 page)

 
          
For
a bare second the accused man hesitated, his face grey and sickly, and then,
“Yo’re a damn liar,’ he shouted, and reached for his gun.

 
          
Amidst
the scuffling of men anxious not to intercept a possible wild shot, the two
reports rang out almost as one. Then, as the acrid smoke dissipated, Mex, with
a choking cry, crumpled at the knees and fell across the table, his weapon
thudding on the board floor. With a set face, on which no emotion was
discernible, the cowboy gazed upon the man he had slain.

 
          
“I
reckon I got him for yu, Buddie,’ he muttered. “An’ he got me.’

 
          
He
staggered and fell into the nearest chair, sprawling across it helplessly.
Instantly the room came alive again, men surging round, talking excitedly.
Green and Snap were examining the wounded man; they found that the bullet had
ploughed between two ribs, going clean through and missing any vital spot, loss
of blood and shock being responsible for Ginger’s collapse. “Damn near
thing—little bit more to the left an’ they’d ‘a’ took the long trail togenher,’
Snap commented, as he helped Green bandage the wound.

 
          
In
the midst of this operation the door opened and the marshal came bustling in.
He was a short, beefy man, with a puffy, inflamed face, in which two small eyes
were set like currants in a dumpling. It is enough to say of him that the only
respect he received from the majority of Hatchett’s inhabitants was that
engendered by his office. He wore two guns and his badge was well in evidence.

 
          
“This
is a helluva fine thing, ain’t it?’ he began. “Why couldn’t one o’ yu fetch me
afore the trouble started?’ A dozen explained that there was no time—that it
was all over in a few minutes, and another dozen began to describe the affair
to the marshal, each giving his own version, and all speaking at once.

 
          
“Awright,
I can hear all that later,’ he said testily. “I ain’t deaf, an’ I don’t want to
be. Who’s the corpse?’

 
          
The
friends of the dead man had laid out the body on a form at the side of the
room, covering the face with his hat. Tonk strode over and looked at it.

 
          
“Mex,
eh?’ he said, and scowled. “Plumb heart shot. Now will one o’ yu—one, I
said—tell me how it
happened.
’

 
          
“It
was thisaway, marshal,’ Post Adams said. “We’re just havin’ a friendly game,
all quiet an’ peaceful, when Ginger, Lunt, an’ this other feller comes in. We
don’t take no notice of ‘em, an’ suddenly Ginger starts shootin’ off his mouth
at Mex, callin’ him a cattle-thief, an’ allowin’ that he knifed Bud, which we
all know was done by Injuns. Naturally Mex tells him he’s a liar, an’ they
pulls their guns.’

 
          
“An’
it was an even break,’ Snap contributed. “Ginger didn’t try to bushwhack him.’

 
          
The
long Double X man looked uncomfortable and felt the same; the squinting eyes of
the little gunman sent a chill feeling along his spine, and he inwardly cursed
himself and Dutch for not having done a better job. If Snap knew—and he
evidently at least suspected—life for the pair of them became a very uncertain
quantity. But nothing of this showed in his manner as he answered: “Mebbe it
was an even break, but Mex warn’t lookin’ for trouble. Ginger forced his hand.
Looks to me as if he
came
a-purpose.’

 
          
Half
a dozen voices corroborated the statement and Tonk pushed back his hat and
scratched his frowsy head, looking furtively round the room. Green saw Poker
Pete, who had kept well in the background, nod slightly when the marshal’s
travelling gaze reached him. Tonk hesitated another moment, and then
said :

 
          
“Pears
yo’re right, Post. I guess I gotta take Ginger for this.’

      
 
“Better guess again, marshal,’ said a quiet
voice from behind, and he turned to face the speaker, Green. The Y Z man was
standing easily, his hands in plain view, and a half-smile on his lips. There
was no threat in his attitude and the official began to bluster.

 
          
“Look
here, yu. I represent the law.’

 
          
“Glad
to hear it—some o’ the marshals I’ve met up with on’y succeeded in
mis-representin?
it
,’ Green said pleasantly.

 
          
“Mebbe
they did, that ain’t nothin’ to do with me,’ said Tonk aggressively. “I’ve got
the say-so in this town. Yu been runnin’ on the rope too long, an’ I tell yu,
if I’d been around the day yu come, yu’d ‘a’ gone to the “cooler” ‘stead o’ the
Y Z, an’ yu can stick a pin in that.’

 
          
“Yu
don’t say,’ remonstrated the cowboy. “
An’ what for?’

      
 
“Beatin’ up a valued citizen, that’s what
for,’ said the marshal. Green laughed outright. “The said valued citizen being
a tin horn gambler who is now present an’ keepin’ mighty quiet,’ he sneered.

 
          
“Never
yu mind,’ snapped the officer, who had entirely missed the savage look which
Pete had favoured him with. “If he’s keepin’ quiet
it’s
on’y because he knows I’m here—’

 
          
“To
do his dirty work for him,’ interjected Green. Then in an instant he changed,
the bantering in his voice vanished, his eyes narrowed to slits, and his
attitude became one of alert preparedness.

 
          
“Let
me tell yu somethin’ for yore own good, marshal,’ he said. “That star yo’re wearin’
ain’t bullet-proof, an’ it ain’t big enough to hide behind, as many a better
man than yu has found out. Everyone who saw the shootin’ knows that it was an
even break, an’ that Mex was guilty as hell, an’ showed it. I know yu got yore
orders—I saw the valued citizen give ‘em to yu.’ Tonk flashed an uneasy look at
the gambler, and Green grinned as he continued, “Yu shouldn’t ‘a’ done that,
marshal; yo’re givin’ the game away, an’ the valued citizen ain’t a bit pleased
with yu. Now gents, I’m goin’ to put a resolution to the meetin’, namely, that
Ginger goes back to the Y Z with me. Will anybody kindly second that?’

 
          
“I’m
pleased to,’ said Snap, his eyes twinkling.

 
          
“Thank
yu, seh,’ replied the proposer gravely, and then, “Gents, it has been proposed
and seconded that Ginger goes with me. I will now put it to the vote. All in
favour will raise both hands—empty.’

 
          
He
lifted his own as he spoke and there was a gun in each. Snap followed suit,
squinting hopefully at the Double X men. There was no hesitation; the marshal
was not popular, and the few who would have liked to support him realised that
one false move would turn the comedy into a tragedy. Even the marshal knew it,
and his hands were not the last to go skyward. Green’s sardonic glance swept
the room.

 
          
“Carried
unanimous,’ he said. “Ginger, I didn’t know yu was that popular.’ Then to
Snap
, he added, “Get him on his hoss, while I count the
votes again, case I’ve missed any.’

 
          
For
several minutes he stood there, guns poised ready for instant action, and a
lurking devil of mirth in his eyes. When he had given Snap sufficient time he
backed slowly towards the door.

 
          
“There,
marshal, yu see how wrong yu was,’ he smiled. “Everybody allowed it was an even
break an’ wanted Ginger let alone. Why, yu even voted for it yore own self.’

 
          
“This
ain’t finishin’ here,’ snarled the officer.

 
          
“Well,
well,’ drawled the puncher. “But don’t be in a hurry, marshal.’

 
          
He
slid quickly through the door, slammed it behind him, and found his horse.
Vaulting into the saddle, he waited. Snap and the wounded man were already on
their way. A moment or two passed and then a narrow band of light showed that
the door of the saloon was being opened. Green drove a bullet into the jamb at
about the height of a shortish man’s head and laughed at the speed with which
the bar of light vanished.

 
          
“I
told yu not to be in a hurry, marshal,’ he called out, and receiving no
response, added to himself, “I reckon that’ll keep ‘em tied for a while.’

 
          
Turning
his horse he rode slowly and noiselessly in the wake of his friends, and soon
overtook them. There was no pursuit; the opening of the saloon door had been
the marshal’s last attempt to save his face, and had resulted in his nearly losing
a part of it, for the answering bullet had been much nearer than Green had
guessed or intended. Tonk was taking no more chances.

 
          
THE
news of the avenging of Bud produced a variety of sentiment at the Y Z.
Ginger’s friends, naturally, approved wholeheartedly and regarded the wounded
man with envy and admiration. The foreman frankly stated his opinion that the
killing was a misguided piece of “damn foolishness’—that he did not believe
that Mex had anything to do with the slaying of Bud, and that the only result
would be a range war which would bring trouble and calamity to the Y Z. The
older men, though they cared nothing for the deceased, took their cue from the
foreman and were plainly pessimistic.

 
          
To
Simon Petter, when he reported the matter, Blaynes was even more outspoken. He
put the whole of the blame on Green, whom he accused of egging on Ginger, and
hinted that he must have some hidden motive for snirring up trouble.

 
          
“He’s
got the earmarks of a professional gun-slinger, an’ if he’s that, what’s he
doin’ around here?’ he asked. “I’ve a hunch we oughtta give him his time.’

 
          
But
Simon did not adopt the suggestion; he was conscious of a curious liking for
the stranger, and at the same time, in an indefinite way, he feared him. Was his
arrival at the ranch purely accidennal or was there some sinister design behind
it? That was a question Simon had wrestled with several times without coming to
a satisfactory solution.

 
          
“An’
now, I s’pose, we’ll have Dexter goin’ on the warpath, an’ Tonk a-comin’ round
here with a warrant,’ pursued Blaynes. “Huh!
that
sponge,’ sneered his employer. “If I catch him onthe Y Z I’ll bake him as hard
to find as water on the Staked Plain, marshal or not. As for Dexter, if he
wants a fight he can have it; I ain’t eatin’ no dirt at his orders.’

 
          
The
foreman looked at his boss in amazement; this was a side of him he did not
know. Old the ranch-owner might be, but the spirit of the pioneer who had
blazed his path into new counnry and fought to hold his place there remained.

 
          
“Why
do yu reckon they tried to bump off Lunt?’ asked Simon.

 
          
“No
idea—private difference, I should say,’ replied the foreman. “See here, Simon,
don’t get the notion that I got any use for the Double X. Yu say the word an’
I’ll take a dozen o’ the boys an’ wipe ‘em up.’

 
          
The
cattleman shook his head. “Let ‘em make the first move,’ he said. “Yu just
remember what I’m tellin’ yu, if they want trouble they can have it. I ain’t
none
so shore that—’

 
          
He
left the thought unspoken, gave Blaynes a nod of dismissal, and turned away.
The foreman, on his way from the house, saw Noreen talking to Green by the
corral, from which he had just led his horse, and the sight drew a snarling
oath from his lips. The girl was going to visit the hurt man when she met the
puncher, and there was reproach both in eyes and voice when she asked how he
was.

 
          
“Ginger’s
doin’ fine,’ said Green, “but I reckon he won’t never recover.’ Then noting her
look of consternation, he added, “
Not
if yo’re goin’
to nurse him.’

 
          
She
blushed a little and then retorted smilingly, “
Then
we
must find a better nurse.’

 
          
“Shucks!
I didn’t mean it that way,’ Green protested, and grinned at the neat way in
which she had turned his little joke against him.