Oliver Strange - Sudden Westerns 07 - Sudden Rides Again(1938) (30 page)

 
          
“Frosty,
I’m a bonehead,” he said in a low tone. “Yo’re tellin’ me,” was the sarcastic
reply.

 
          
“There’s
a knob, ‘bout twelve feet above me. Think yu could rope her?”

 
          
The
first throw proved abortive, the falling noose slapping Sudden sharply across
the face, nearly causing him to lose hold.

 
          
“I’ll
bet the Double K cows get a lot o’ fun outa yu,” was his chaffing comment.

 
          
The
second attempt was successful, the loop settling over the protuberance. Frosty
threw his weight upon it, to make sure. Hand over hand, Sudden hauled
himself
up to the knob, and let the rope fall; it could be
of no further use to him. A brief rest and he continued the climb. As he had
hoped, the worst was over, but the task was still superhuman. Already his arms
were aching under the terrific strain of supporting almost the whole weight of
his body. Once or twice a foot slipped and only a desperate and lucky clutch at
some slight inequality saved him from dropping to death on the boulders below.

 
          
Foot
by foot he struggled up, digging his fingers into crevices, trusting his life
to clinging roots which, only too frequently, came away in his grasp. More than
once he fell afoul of clumps of choya cactus and cursed as the vicious spines
tore his flesh. But he set his teeth and battled on, fighting the inanimate
rock as though it were a sentient being. To the watcher below, straining his
sight to follow the dark patch spread-eagled against the cliff-face, time
seemed endless, but at length he saw the faint glow blotted out and realized
that Sudden had succeeded. A fervent oath testified his relief.

 
          
“He’s
made it,” he muttered. “Sufferin’ snakes, he’ll go to Paradise all right, when
his time comes—they’ll never be able to keep him out.”

 
          
Frosty’s
sense of satisfaction was but a shadow to that of the climber as he gripped the
lower edge of the hole whence the light came and lifted himself to a tiny ledge
beneath it. Here, panting for breath and with pain in every protesting muscle,
he rested. The view was wonderful. He seemed to be sitting on the rim of a
gigantic bowl of blackness, canopied by a velvet dome sprinkled with twinkling
pin-pricks of light. But he had not come there to admire scenery, and after a
few moments, he raised himself and peered through the opening. It was the
outlet of a short tunnel, sufficiently large for a man to crawl along, and
widening out into a sort of window-seat when it reached the room within.

 
          
For
an instant he feared he had made the mistake of climbing to the Chief’s own
abode, for this place too was comfortably furnished; a carpet, a bed in one
corner, chairs and a table. Then he saw that it was smaller, and had a flight
of rude steps cut out of the wall on one side. Seated at the table, smoking,
and reading by the light of a kerosene lamp, was the man he had risked so much
to reach. Apart from the pallor of his skin, due to confinement, he had not the
appearance of a prisoner. To the puncher he seemed oddly familiar; height and
build were those of the bandit leader, and the dandified cowboy clothes
increased the resemblance, but he was some years younger, and wore no mask.
Presently he turned his head and Sudden stifled a cry of satisfaction; he had
guessed right.

 
          
“Howdy, stranger.”

 
          
The
man at the table sprang to his feet, whirled, and stared in blank amazement at
the intruder leaning carelessly with his back to the window opening.

 
          
“Who
are you, and how on earth did you get here?” he gasped.

 
          
“A
friend, an’ I just dumb up,” the visitor explained. “
you—
climbed—up?”
the other repeated, and there was fear in his pale blue eyes. “Impossible.”

 
          
Sudden
smiled. “Yu see me, an’ I ain’t wearin’ wings,” he pointed out.

 
          
“Why
have you come?”

 
          
“I’m
takin’ yu outa this.”

 
          
“I’ve
no desire to leave; in fact, I refuse.” The metallic clang of a bolt being
withdrawn over their heads made him start. “Someone is coming; get away while
you can.”

 
          
Sudden
drew a gun. “I’m stayin’,” he said. “I shall be at the window, behind the
blanket. If I’m discovered
,,
yu an’ the other fella
will take the last leap together.”

 
          
He
disappeared just as a trapdoor in the roof opened and a man came down the
steps. Sudden had expected to see Silver, but it was the Chief himself, and he
was alone.

 
          
“Well,
my friend,” he greeted. “Was I dreaming, or did I hear voices?”

 
          
“You
heard mine,” the prisoner replied. “I talk aloud sometimes, just to convince
myself that I am not dead, and buried in a tomb. I’d risk a lot to breathe
God’s good air again—one can’t here.”

 
          
“Of
course not, when you keep it out with a curtain,” the other retorted, and moved
towards the window. “It’s a lovely night.”

 
          
“Leave
the damned thing alone, I pulled it on purpose,” was the irritable response.
“It’s cold, and I hate the sight of a world in which I have no part. There are
days when I dream I am riding again, the wind slapping my face, the ground
sliding beneath my horse’s belly, birds singing, streams gurgling down the
hillsides, and I wake to find myself in this cursed stone cage. It will send me
mad.”

 
          
“I
know it’s tough, boy, but what can I do?” Satan replied. “Only this morning I
got news that Dealtry is still on the warpath, and offering a thousand dollars
for word of the slayer of his son. He has spies all over the country, and my
men—though they serve my purpose—are of the type who would sell a brother for a
couple of gold pieces. This is the only place where you are safe; anyone who
told you different would be no friend.”

 
          
“The
old, old story,” the prisoner sneered, and then, “Must you wear that mask when
you visit me?”

 
          
“As
I have many times told you, it is my unbreakable rule. I prefer to remain a man
of mystery; it gives me power over the ignorant people I have to deal with, and
not one of them, in later years, will be able to say he has known me.”

 
          
“Always
the play-actor—you should have stuck to the stage,”
came
the scornful comment. “How is the cattle business?”

 
          
“When
we are ready to clean up and leave here there should be a big bank-roll to
split,” was the reply. “Is there anything more I can get you?”

 
          
“I
have all I want, save that which means all—freedom.”

 
          
“That
may not be so long; if Dealtry should meet with an accident—”

 
          
“No,
I will not have any dirty work,”
came
the sharp
interjection.

 
          
“My
dear fellow,” Satan remonstrated, “I am not suggesting it, but Dealtry is a
good sheriff and no man can be that without making enemies. If one of these
seizes an opportunity, I decline to be held responsible, or to wear mourning.
Adios.”

 
          
With
a light laugh he went up the stairway. Sudden waited until he heard the bolts
shoot home and then stepped out, to be met with a mocking smile.

 
          
“Well,
Mister Interloper, you have wasted your time, you see.”

 
          
“If
there’s anythin’ yu wanta take along, get it.”

 
          
“But,
my good man, you heard what my friend said; I have an excellent reason for
staying here.”

 
          
“I’ve
a better for not lettin’ yu an’ I’m holdin’ it,” the puncher replied meaningly.
“If yu’d ruther be tied …”

 
          
The
unknown looked at the levelled revolver, then at the cold eyes and athletic
form of its owner, and realized that he was helpless. From a peg in the wall,
he took down a hat and clapped it on his head.

 
          
“The
gun wins,” he said.

 
          
Sudden
sheathed the weapon, and began to unwind the ropes he had brought. This done,
he joined them, and his gaze roved round the room in search of something to
serve as a cross-bar. A stout leg wrenched from the table provided this, and
with one end of the rope knotted in the middle, was placed across the window.
The slack, Sudden pitched out into the night, and turned to the prisoner, who
had watched these preparations with evident misgiving.

 
          
“Go
ahead,” he said. “Our weight will keep that bit o’ wood in place, but don’t
hurry or yu’ll be liable to bust yore brains out. I’ll be right after yu.”

 
          
“Wouldn’t
it be safer to make that rope secure at this end?”

 
          
“Shore,
but I ain’t leavin’ an easy way o’ follerin’ us; yore friend mighta forgot
somethin’.”

 
          
With
a gesture of resignation, the other crawled out. On the brink of the black
abyss which yawned at his feet, he hesitated, and then, gripping the frail
support, lowered himself, hand over hand. It was not easy; the rope was thin,
rendering a deliberate descent wellnigh impossible, and speed resulted in
burned palms and a body bruised by bumps against protruding portions of the
cliff. Lack of exercise, too, had softened his sinews, and the drag of his body
soon numbed his arms. His mind was obsessed by the thought that the table-leg
might slip, and

then
… A scrape of boots and a fragment of stone
which whizzed past his ear reminded him that his captor was running the same
risk.

 
          
Spinning
dizzily, slithering, holding the rope with hands which seemed to be on fire, he
dropped what appeared to be an interminable depth. He heard the whicker of a
horse and it gave him an idea: if he could reach the animal and ride off before
the stranger completed the descent … A moment later he staggered backwards as
his feet impacted on solid ground. Recovering his balance, he was about to run
when a voice said: “Hold on, yu. Where’s Jim?”

 
          
A
dark form a little way up the cliff, which suddenly gained momentum, curled
itself up, and sent them
both
rolling, answered the
question.

 
          
“Right
here,” it said, sitting up and stretching its limbs experimentally. “On’y
bruises,
seem’ly. Why didn’t yu stop me?”

 
          
“Well,
of all the gall,” Frosty retorted. “What was yore hurry, anyway?”

 
          
“Somethin’
fetched loose,” Sudden told him. “Reckon that cross-bar warn’t such a notion
after all.” He explained.

 
          
“I’ll
say it wasn’t—the damned thing on’y missed my head by an inch,” the Double K
man agreed feelingly. “Yu must be loco to take a chance like that for a couple
o’ ropes, an’ they
warn’t
even our’n.”

 
          
“Yore ideas o’ honesty won’t never lose yu nothin’ ‘cept yore
liberty,”
Sudden told him.

 
          
When
they were mounted, he led the way west. The rescued man appeared to be
indifferent as to his fate, and asked no questions. Sudden rode head down, deep
in thought, and Frosty’s efforts to enliven the journey met with a chilling
response.

 
          
“Yu’ll
hear all about it presently,” he was told. “What’s the use tellin’ things twice
over?”

 
          
Some
time later they pulled up outside the Twin Diamond ranch-house. Though it was
near midnight, there was a light in the living-room, and Merry himself answered
the rap on the door. He seemed surprised to see them.