Oliver Strange - Sudden Westerns 09 - Sudden Makes War(1942) (32 page)

 
          
“That’s
somethin’ she won’t need—don’t s’pose she ever pulled a trigger in her life.
Wonder where she got it.”

 
          
“Provided by her uncle, I imagine.”

 
          
Dan
laughed unpleasantly.
“Yeah.
Zeb would know the
company she had to ride with.”

 
          
He
slipped the weapon into his own belt. “I’d give it to you, but I don’t want to
walk backwards to my camp.”

 
          
The
obvious implication brought a venomous expression to the big man’s face.
“Scared, eh?” he sneered.

 
          
“Scared
nothin’,” the rancher said harshly. “I’m on’y rememberin’ that Trenton was shot
from behind.”

 
          
Garstone’s
start of surprise was quite well done. “Impossible!” he cried.

 
          
“Doc
Malachi knows his job.”

 
          
“And is on your side.”

 
          
“True, he ain’t a skunk neither.”

 
          
“You
keep adding to the score, Dover. Don’t forget that there’ll be a day of
reckoning.”

 
          
“My
memory’s fine,” was the nonchalant answer. “Wait here; I’ll send the girl to
you.”

 
          
Indifferently
he turned his broad back and strode away. Garstone watched him with a brooding
frown, fully aware that Sudden and Tiny, rifles across their left arms, were in
sight.

 
          
That
they knew the manner of Trenton’s hurt was disturbing. Had they informed his
niece? But when she presently came to meet him, he did not ask. His first
enquiry concerned the patient. She told him the little there was, adding that
she believed the doctor was doing everything possible.

 
          
Garstone
saw his opportunity.

 
          
“Yes,
having done their best to take his life, they are now desperately eager to save
it,” he said bitterly. “And we know why.”

 
          
“It
would seem so,” she admitted.

 
          
Her
reply was a great relief to him; evidently she had not been told. At the same
time, he sensed a change in her; she did not appear to be so pleased to see him
as he would have liked.

 
          
“Are
these fellows treating you decently?”

 
          
“Yes,
but I am virtually a prisoner.”

 
          
“It
won’t be for long,” he consoled. “Once we get the location from your uncle, you
will be released, and I will deal with these dogs as they deserve.”

 
          
She
found herself wondering what form this promised retribution would take, and how
it would conform to his views as to the use of violence in quarrels. Before she
could come to any decision, he spoke again:

 
          
“We
must be vigilant, my dear—everything depends on your being present when Zeb
regains consciousness. I don’t trust that tippling doctor; he is working for
them.”

 
          
“I
think he is honest,” she said. “There are worse things than love of
liquor—greed of gold, for example; the first may kill one man, the second,
many.”

 
          
“I
thought you were anxious to discover the treasure,” he protested.

 
          
“For
my uncle’s sake, but if it is to cost lives …”

 
          
Garstone
was a gambler; he played a desperate card, to win or lose all. “If you’ve
changed your mind, we’ll give up the affair and sneak back to Rainbow with our
tails tucked in,” he said.

 
          
“The
Circle Dot will be delighted.”

 
          
The
fire in the dark eyes told him he had won. “No,” she replied, through clenched
teeth.

 
          
“I
will do my part; they shall not profit by an attempted murder.”

 
          
“That’s
the Trenton spirit—I knew you wouldn’t back down,” he cried exultantly. “And
soon, when the old man is on his feet again, and the ranch in the clear,
we’ll—”

 
          
“I
must get back,” she interrupted hurriedly. “Even now, uncle may
be needing
me.”

 
          
He
let her go without demur—it would be a calamity if the enemy learned the secret
first—but his expression, when she had turned, was anything but that of an
adoring lover.

 
          
A
week passed, spent by the Circle Dot in a continuance of the search. The gorge
had been gone over with a fine-tooth comb, and every foot of the floor of the
cavern probed, but beneath the layer of sand only rock was encountered. The
task appeared to be hopeless, yet they persevered.

 
          
The
condition of Trenton had improved, the wound was beginning to heal, and his
pulse was stronger. Between long spells of sleep, he would
lie
like a log, gazing vacantly intc the vaulted roof. He knew no one, and uttered
no sound Beth, watching constantly by the bedside, earned the admiration of all,
save Dan, for her devotion.

 
          
“Got
the right stuff in her, that gal,” Tiny remarked. “Ii she hadn’t enough to do
a’ready, I’d fall sick my own self.”

 
          
“We’d
have ter send fer
th
’ schoolmarm then,” Yorky grinned,
and then went in pursuit of his hat, which had beer sent spinning across the
cave.

 
          
Malachi
was optimistic. “He’s better in body, but doesn’t seem to get his wits back,”
he reported to Dover.

 
          
“If
he
don’t
, it looks like a stalemate for all of us,”
the young man said despondently.

 
          
“That
damned banker will sell us out.”

 
          
“Well,
the Wagon-wheel can’t buy anyway. What has become of Garstone and company?”

 
          
“They’re
around. He sneaks up the gorge every night, an’ the girl goes to talk with him.

 
          
They
think they’re puttin’ one over on me.”

 
          
“Aren’t
you a trifle hard on her, Dan?” Malachi suggested. “She’s having a middling
rocky time and standing up to it well.”

 
          
The
rancher laughed ironically. “Do you know why she offered to nuss that of crook?
Not because he’s a relative, but to get a line either from him or us, on where
to look for the dollars.

 
          
So
far, she’s had nothin’ but failure to report to her—boss.”

 
          
“If
that’s so, Garstone has lied to, and is using her,” the doctor asserted. “The
girl is not mercenary.”

 
          
Late
that evening, with only the stars to light her path, Beth slid noiselessly out
of the cave and crept through the bushes to meet Garstone. He was there, and
greeted her with outstretched arms, but she recoiled.

 
          
“I
must hurry,” she whispered. “I believe Dover suspects we are meeting. Thank
Heaven, this may be the last time I need come here.”

 
          
In
the excitement her words caused, he forgot the rebuff. “You have news—at last?”

 
          
“Yes,
my uncle spoke, to-day, when we were alone,” she replied. “Only two sentences,
but they may supply the clue.”

 
          
“Quick,
tell me, girl; at any moment we might be disturbed.” In his anxiety, the mask
of culture he affected slid aside, and she saw the gleam of covetousness in his
eyes, heard it in his husky voice. At that moment she knew that she was nothing
to him but the bearer of tidings which might make him rich.

 
          
“His
speech was faint, and very slow, like that of one trying to remember,” she
said. ”

 
          
The—cave—of—the—bats.’
There are hundreds of them over our
heads. Then, after a long pause, he went on, `
The—
finger—of—the—ages—points—the
spot.’ ”

 
          
“And
that was all?” His disappointment was patent. “He has not said anything more.”

 
          
“The
devil, it only sets us another problem. The cave is probably the right one,
though there may be others with bats in them, but what does finger of the ages
mean? Has the place any unusual feature?”

 
          
Beth
strove to visualize her prison. She was weary of the daily and nightly vigil,
sick of the whole sordid business. “It contains many stalactites, hanging from
the roof like great fingers—”

 
          
“By
the Lord, you’ve got it, girl,” he burst in. “Fingers of the ages—the products
of millions of years. It will be under one of them, but which? Surely the
longest or largest; we’ll find it.”

 
          
“Don’t
be too sanguine,” she warned. “Dover and his men have scanned every foot—the
floor is rock.”

 
          
He
laughed confidently. “Never fear; with the tip you’ve given us, it’ll be easy.
Now, cut along back, in case of accidents. By the way, what sort of guard do
they keep?”

 
          
“They
take turn, in pairs, through the night. What do you intend to do?”

 
          
“No
plans yet, but be prepared for quick action,” he said briskly. “We’ll have you
free, pronto, as these barbarians put it.”

 
          
With
scant ceremony, he left her, and as she returned to the cave her thoughts were
not of the pleasantest. Without being yet in love with the man, his bigness,
good looks, and evident knowledge of the world had made that an undoubted
possibility. He had put the money first, and herself second in the night’s enterprise,
and she knew that was how they ranked in his mind. The fact disturbed her.
Creeping along under the cliff, she reached the entrance to the camp, and stole
through. Her patient was asleep, and four recumbent forms round the fire showed
that all save the sentries had turned in. With a sigh of relief, she followed
their example, and, despite her anxiety, slept soundly.

 
          
Garstone
drove his horse hard in his haste to deliver the good news to his companions.
They had been difficult to control for the past week, though he had made it
clear that, in consequence of Bundy’s blunder, patience was their only policy.
Lake had been the principal objector.

 
          
“Drive
‘em out’n their camp an’ we got as good a chance as they have,” he argued.
“While we’re messin’ about here, they may find the stuff an’ light out.”

 
          
“My
information is that they’re no nearer success than when they started,” Garstone
had retorted, and as the other three supported this view, he won his way. And
now he could enjoy his triumph.

 
          
He
must tell them, for he needed their assistance, but when it came to a division
of the spoils, he saw breakers ahead. His brow became furrowed as he dwelt on
the problem. Their idea was equal shares—as much had been said—and the very
thought of it filled him with rage. He found himself regretting his cavalier
treatment of the foreman, but the fellow was an ignorant boor, anyway, and could
no doubt be talked over.

 
          
They
were sitting round the fire, smoking and chatting, when he arrived. Their
changed attitude towards him was clearly shown by Lake’s greeting: