Oliver Strange - Sudden Westerns 07 - Sudden Rides Again(1938) (31 page)

 
          
“Hello,
boys,” he said. “Come right in.”

 
          
They
filed into the house, Sudden bringing up the rear, and for a moment there was
an awkward silence, the rancher studying the third man curiously. Then he said:
“Why this visit?”

 
          
“We’ve
brung back the hosses,” Frosty informed. “What hosses?”

 
          
“Them
I borried—yu warn’t around, so I couldn’t ask. There was a couple o’ ropes,
too.”

 
          
“How
come yu overlooked the ranch-house?” Merry enquired ironically.”We
wasn’t
needin’ firewood,” Frosty grinned.

 
          
The
fat man laughed, too. “That’ll be enough from yu, Mister Impudence. What’s it
all mean, Jim?”

 
          
Sudden
told him, his recital being punctuated by profane expressions of amazement from
the rancher. When it was finished, he
said :
“An’ who
is this fella yu risked breakin’ yore neck for?”

 
          
“One
who only desired to be left alone,” the unknown replied gruffly.

 
          
Sudden
deftly twitched the pulled-down hat from the speaker’s head. “I guess yu know
him,” he said. Open-mouthed, Merry stared at the man disclosed, who glared back
defiantly.

 
          
“Jeff
Keith!” he cried. “Then who the blisterin’ hell is the Red Mask?”

 
          
Frosty,
upon whom the revelation had produced a petrifying effect, now came to life
again. “Mebbe Jeff can tell us?” he suggested.

 
          
The
young man looked at Sudden. “You’re the clever guy,” he jeered. “Suppose you
tell me.”

 
          
“Right,”
the puncher said. “He is Lafe Lander, better knowed around here as Satan, boss
of a band of outlaw thieves an’ murderers, an’ masqueradin’ as—yu.”

 
          
Keith’s
expression was one of plain derision. “Are you expecting me to swallow such a
tale?” he asked.

 
          
“It
is true, boy,” Merry said sternly. “Dressed like yu, speakin’ in yore voice,
and masked, he has deceived all who have seen him, even those who knew yu well,
like Frosty here.”

 
          
“That’s
so, Jeff,” the Double K rider supplemented. “An’ he trots out yore favourite
cuss-word, too.”

 
          
“But
there’s a good reason why he shouldn’t want to be taken for me. It doesn’t make
sense.”

 
          
“Look
at it this way,” Sudden said quietly. “Him an’ his gang are plunderin’ the
country,
killin’ ,
stealin’ cast, n’ cattle, an’ yo’re
gettin’ the blame. If things get too hot, all he has to do is peel off that
mask an’ slide out, leavin’ yu to face the music. Until now, yu alone have
knowed who he is, an’ yore dead body, with that strip o’ velvet on it, would
wipe the slate clean for him. He called yu his `ace in the hole’; it was a true
word.”

 
          
The
boy breathed hard and looked round helplessly. “It sounds incredible but the
facts fit,” he admitted. “Lafe would never let me leave that cursed vault—said
it was too dangerous, one of his people might give me away.”

 
          
Another
thought came. “Why didn’t you take me to Red Rock? It would have been worth
your while.”

 
          
“The
sheriff would like to see yu, shore enough, but he ain’t offerin’ to pay a thousand
for the privilege,” Sudden said drily. “That was just another lie.”

 
          
“Then
why did you come?”

 
          
“Yore
father hired me to make war on Hell City. He changed his mind, but I didn’t.”

 
          
“He
paid a gunman to get his own son,” the boy said bitterly.

 
          
“No
to prevent him getting deeper in the mire,” was the sharp reply. “Yu were not
to be harmed.”

 
          
The
sneer was too much for Merry; he jumped up. “Get his straight, Jeff,” he cried.
“Yu’ve been a damned young fool, but I’ve allus stood by yu, an’ I’m thunderin’
glad matters ain’t as bad as we feared, but yore father is a fine man, my
friend, an’ I won’t hear a word against him.” His anger went as quickly as it
had come, and his customary smile was back as he finished, “Except from
myself
.”

 
          
“I’m
sorry, Mart,” Keith replied. “My mind’s in such a muddle … Hell! I know you’re
all trying to help me, and I’ll do anything you say, on one condition, that no
news of this reaches the Double K. Possibly my father was justified, but until
this tango: is straight out and I can go to him with clean hands …”

 
          
“I
guess that’s the right play,” the rancher agreed. “Ken is a proud man, sorely
hurt, an’ we gotta have absolute proof. Point is; what are we to do with yu?”

 
          
“He
can stay here, but he’ll have to lie close,” Sudden said. “If that devil gets
hold of him again, we’re sunk. Now, I must be on my way.”

 
          
Keith
held out a hand. “I’d like to thank you,” he said. “Do you have to go back?”

 
          
“Nothin’
else for it,” Sudden replied. “If they haven’t busted in that bedroom door,
I’ll be sittin’ pretty. Frosty will look after yore bronc, Mart.”

 
          
As
they raced through the night the Double K rider put a question.

 
          
“Did
yu know it was Jeff yu were goin’ after, Jim?”

 
          
“No,
but I suspected Satan might not be the fella he was pretendin’ to be; clever as
he is, he slipped up once or twice. It ain’t goin’ to be easy to prove.”

 
          
“But
if Jeff shows hisself …”

 
          
“Dealtry
will gather him in, an’ the other man will vanish. No, ol’-timer, that wouldn’t
work nohow; we gotta wait.” Streaks of light were showing in the eastern sky
when they reached the secret entrance, and Sudden wasted no time in making the
descent. He found the tied sentry and released him.

 
          
“If
the Chief finds out ‘bout this he’ll crucify yu,” he warned. “I’m sayin’
nothin’, an’ recommendin’ yu to do the same.”

 
          
Confident
that the advice would be taken, he made his way to the saloon, climbed to his
room, and was asleep in five minutes.

 
          
Sudden
was aroused by a loud, insistent hammering. He had lain down fully clothed,
even to his spurs, and when he stumbled across the room to fling wide the door,
his tousled appearance and sleep-laden eyes were what might have been expected
after the night before. The saloon-keeper was outside.

 
          
“What
th’ hell?” the puncher said in a surly tone. “Can’t a fella have any rest in
this shebang?”

 
          
The
man chuckled. “Which I’m right distressed to cut short yore slumbers thisaway,”
he said. “
‘Specially
as you ain’t had but a measly
fourteen hours, but the Chief wants you—urgent.”

 
          
“Say
I’ll come when I’m good an’ ready,” was the truculent answer.

 
          
Dirk
looked concerned. “Best mosey along, friend,” he advised. “Dunno what’s amiss,
but Scar brought the message, an’ he sez the Chief is murder-mad.”

 
          
Sudden
slapped on his hat, jerked his gun-belt into position, and grumbling,
followed
his host to the bar. Roden was waiting for them,
and his beady eyes gleamed maliciously as they took in the cowboy’s slovenly
attire and disgruntled demeanour.

 
          
“Ain’t
feelin’ so good, huh?” he said. “
you
certainly did git
a skillful.”

 
          
Sudden
blinked at him. “With that load yu’d be dead to the world for another
twenty-four hours,” he retorted. “Where’s Silver?”

 
          
l
left him with the Chief, an’ he’s the scaredest man in the
south-west—if he’s still alive,” Scar replied.

 
          
“Bah!
Silver is the on’y man he trusts,” Dirk stated.

 
          
“You
don’t know him; he wouldn’t trust his own mother,’” Roden scoffed. “Let’s be
movin’.”

 
          
Outside
the entrance to the Chief’s quarters several of the band were loafing, among
them
Squint
.

 
          
“No
an’ take yore medicine, Sudden,” he gibed.

 
          
The
puncher paused. “Come an’ get yores—now,” he offered, and when the invitation
was not accepted, laughed and went in.

 
          
Somewhat
of a shock awaited him; erect before the masked man, her face deathly pale,
stood Anita. A few feet away, eyes fearful, and his great body shaking on his
short legs, was Silver. The presence of the woman warned Sudden that matters
had gone amiss; he would need all his wits. Satan turned his basilisk gaze on
the newcomers.

 
          
“Well?”
he barked at Roden.

 
          
“He
was carried to bed ‘bout eight las’ night, blind, an’ I had to wait while Dirk
waked him just’ now,” that worthy replied. “His hoss was in the corral at
daybreak—it ain’t bin rode recent.”

 
          
Satan
nodded. “That appears to absolve you, Sudden.”

 
          
“If
I knowed what
th
’ hell yo’re talkin’ about, mebbe I’d
thank yu,” was the dry answer.

 
          
The
bandit’s cold eyes drilled into him. “A guest of importance to me has been
kidnapped,” he said. “That he was here was known only to myself and that
half-wit”—he pointed to the dwarf—”until he has to get drunk and babble to this
slut.”

 
          
“Might
‘a’
walked
out on yu.”

 
          
“Impossible;
he was lodged in a room some thirty feet below this, and would have had to come
through here, or use the opening for air and light.”

 
          
Sudden
moved to the window and looked out. “Yu ain’t accusin’ a gal o’ climbin’ this
cliff, are yu?”

 
          
“No,
but none the less, that’s how it was done; there are tracks of three horses
beneath. Silver was here with me all the time.”

 
          
“That
lets him out,” the puncher agreed.

 
          
Inwardly,
he was cursing the cowardly brute who, in the hope of saving his own skin, had
betrayed the girl. That he himself would be at once suspected he had foreseen,
hence the elaborate alibi. Covertly studying the masked man anew, he was amazed
at his resemblance in build, manner, and voice to young Keith. Satan put
another question.

 
          
“I
have told you all,” Anita protested. “This—ape”—her contempt was real
enough—”threatened to make trouble for me unless I gave him whisky; he took too
much, and mumbled something about a solitary prisoner; it did not interest me.”

 
          
The
bandit bent forward, his gaze intent. “That is a lie,” he hissed.
“Fool, to try to trick one who can read your brain.
It was
an opportunity to avenge the loss of your lover. Tell me the name of your
accomplice, or …”

 
          
Though
the accuracy of his deduction must have startled her, the woman’s eyes, calm,
unwavering, met his. “I know nothing of it,” she said.

 
          
With
the snarl of a beast, the bandit stepped forward as though about to strike, but
instead, twisted her round, ripped open the flimsy shirt-waist she was wearing,
and called, “Muley.”