Sudden--Strikes Back (A Sudden Western #1) (8 page)
Read Sudden--Strikes Back (A Sudden Western #1) Online
Authors: Frederick H. Christian
Tags: #cowboys, #western fiction, #range war, #the old west, #piccadilly publishing, #frederick h christian, #oliver strange, #sudden, #the wild west
So
saying, he slid down off the bar and pushed his way out of the
saloon. The crowd watched him go in silence, and then a veritable
avalanche of voices descended into the stillness, while Dutchy and
his helpers struggled manfully to comply with orders for drinks at
the long bar.
Sudden
turned to his employer, who was in conversation with Mike Mountford
and a small, compactly—built, efficient-looking newcomer who wore a
neat grey suit and soft sombrero. Tate introduced this man as Pat
Newman, the manager of the Thunder Mesa silver mines. Newman’s face
was concerned.
‘
I’m hoping that de Witt can arrange my payroll quickly,’ he
was saying. ‘I can always bring in some money to pay off the men,
but that would mean keeping them without pay for about two weeks.
You men know what miners without money are like—quite apart from
any trouble they might get up to, work would fall off, I’d lose
productivity. I can always keep them in line, I suppose, but I’d
just as soon avoid having to.’
Looking
at this unassuming man with the deep experience wrinkles around the
eyes, Sudden was inclined to agree that this was a man who, as he
had put it himself, could ‘keep the miners in line’ if the
necessity arose.
‘
Well, it looks like my mortgage will be called for shore,’
said Tate. ‘Damnation, why’d a thing like this have to happen right
now? Couldn’t come at a worse time. There’s just no market for beef
anywhere at this time o’ year, an’ I ain’t got no other way to
raise some.’
‘
Wal, thank the Lord I ain’t in that kind o’ bind,’ Mike
Mountford said slowly, with a shrug of his huge shoulders. ‘In
fact, the bank has coin o’ mine. It ain’t much … but George, if a
couple o’ hundred dollars would help, yo’re more than
welcome.’
‘
That’s a mighty generous offer, Mike,’ Tate said humbly, ‘but
the truth is that I need much more than a couple o’ hundred to pull
me outa this hole.’
Struck
by a thought, Sudden touched the mine manager’s elbow and drew him
to one side as Tate and Mountford continued their
discussion.
‘
Just occurs to me, seh,’ Sudden told Newman. ‘Where do yu buy
yore beef ?’
Newman
looked puzzled for a moment, then said, ‘Oh, you mean for feeding
the men? I usually buy from Marty Black at South Bend. Why d’you
ask?’
‘
How many head do yu buy?’
‘
About five hundred. But look, young fellow, if you’re thinking
of selling me Slash 8 beef, forget it. I get a very keen price from
Marty Black, who’s just ten miles away from the mines. He has no
problems about delivery and the cows aren’t stringy after a tough
trail across the Badlands, or through the mountains. I get a full
herd, not what’s left of a herd when somebody tries to drive
through Thunder Ravine.’
Sudden
nodded, a slight smile on his face.
‘
Furthermore,’ continued Newman, slightly nettled by the smile,
‘Black’s price, as I told you, is very keen. It wouldn’t be
economical to drive cattle to me for the price I pay
Black.’
‘
I’m bettin’ yo’re wrong, seh,’ Sudden said
eventually.
‘
Wrong? I’m not wrong, young man. I’ve gone into this very
thoroughly, I assure you. It is not a commercial proposition to
drive cattle to the mines from anywhere this side of the Mesas at
the price I’m paying Marty Black.’
‘
Like I said, seh, I’m bettin’ yo’re wrong. But afore I tell yu
why, can I ask yu a favor?’ Newman nodded, and Sudden continued
‘I’d like yu to keep what I’m goin’ to tell yu to yoreself. Not a
word to anyone. Will yu do that?’ The mystified mine manager nodded
once more.
‘
I suggest you get to the point,’ he put in.
‘
I’m about to,’ Sudden told him. ‘Here’s my bet: I’m bettin’ yu
five hundred head o’ cattle-—or the equivalent in cash—that I can
get a herd to yu at the mines in as good a condition as Marty Black
can, at the same price yo’re payin’ Marty Black. If I can’t, or if
the cows ain’t in the condition yu require, I forfeit the herd-—or
the cash, if yu prefer it. What do yu say?’
‘
I say you’re mad,’ snapped Newman. ‘It can’t be
done.’
‘
It can,’ was the quiet reply. ‘There’s only one
condition.’
‘
Ah,’ said Newman quietly, ‘a condition. What is
it?’
‘
That you buy the herd within the next ten days.’
Newman
studied the man before him. Something about his demeanor suggested
that if this man said he was going to do a thing, it would get
done. And he knew perfectly well what Tate’s rider was up to. If he
could sell a herd, there’d be enough money to pay off Tate’s debt
to the bank. It was a calculated gamble, and one that appealed to
Newman.
‘
Mister Green,’ he said with a smile, offering his hand, ‘I’ll
take that bet.’
‘
Call me Jim,’ smiled Sudden. ‘An’ thanks. Yu just bought
yoreself some beef.’
‘
I’ll believe it when I see them in the corral,’ smiled Newman
as they shook hands.
‘
Yu’ll see ’em,’ Sudden told him. ‘If for any reason I can’t
get through, I’ll send someone across to let yu know. I’ll also
send someone in the day afore we arrive, so yu can have the pens
ready!
Tate
regarded Sudden with mock irascibility when the two rejoined the
group.
‘
Where in thunder yu been, boy?’ he growled. ‘Yu an' me’s got
a date with the banker. I guess I’m ornery enough to play the
string through to its miserable end, although I know what he’s
goin’ to say. Come on, Jim.Let’s get her done.’
Four
Jasper
de Witt was a careful man. His office was a reflection of this
fact; it gave no indication of the personality of the man who
worked in it, or, indeed, that anyone worked in it at all. There
was a huge safe in one corner, a desk, a chair for the banker and
two upright chairs for visitors, and a small filing case against
the wall. The room had two doors; one admitted visitors from the
main part of the bank, while the other led to a stairway which rose
to de Witt’s personal quarters above the bank. No every-day
customer of the bank had ever been admitted to those quarters,
although the office was open to all, especially on this
day.
Nevertheless, at the time that Sudden was finalizing his
arrangements with Newman, the mine manager, the door between de
Witt’s office and the bank was locked and the blinds were drawn,
while a sign hanging outside read ‘Back in one hour’. Inside the
office, the blinds on the single window were also drawn. Standing
facing the seated banker was a huge, hulking brute of a man with a
long, evil face scarred down one side by an old knife wound which
ran from just below the lobe of the left ear to the comer of the
mouth, giving the hatchet face an evil leer.
This was
Burley Linkham, foreman of the Barclay ranch; and it was evident
from his expression that he was not enjoying this interview. The
good citizens of Hanging Rock would have been dumbfounded had they
been able to eavesdrop upon the conversation which was taking
place.
‘
When is Barclay due back?’ the banker snapped.
‘’
Bout a week,’ replied Linkham. ‘He’s stayin’ at the
—
‘—
I know where he’s staying,’ was the acid comment, ‘and with
whom. Get word to him to stay where he is until he hears , from
me.’
Linkham
nodded sullenly. ‘Something up?’
‘
One or two things, my friend.’ The banker’s voice was full of
an evil that no one in this town would have ever dreamed existed.
De Witt made a steeple of his fingers, pursed his lips, then leaned
forward like a striking snake, hissing. ‘Give me your feeble
excuses for the fact that George Tate is still alive!’
‘
Hell, boss,’ mumbled the discomfited man before him, ‘the boys
run into some trouble .... ’
‘
Trouble? Trouble?’ screamed de Witt. ‘What do you think
they’re going to run into if they don’t do what they’re paid
for?
‘
Who did you send?’
‘
Pardoe was in charge—’ began Linkham.
‘
That bungling fool!’ snapped de Witt. ‘How many men did he
have?’
‘
Four—Morley, Callaghan, Rayton, and MacAlmon.’
‘
Five men. And they were run off by an old man and some
wet-behind-the-ears saddle tramp.’
‘
He got the drop on them,’ mumbled Linkham by way of
explanation. ·
‘
Bungling fools,’ raged the banker. ‘I’m surrounded by idiots.
As for Pardoe—’
‘
He’s itchin’ for another chance at that Green fella,’ offered
Linkham.
‘
Is—he—indeed?’ ground out de Witt. ‘Can you give me one good
reason why I shouldn’t get rid of Pardoe? I suppose it’s lucky that
you weren’t along. If you had been there, and been recognized , I
would have no further use for you? The thinly-veiled threat sank
in, and Linkham squirmed.
‘
Hell, it was just pore luck,’ he expostulated. ‘I’ll see that
it don’t happen again. Yu just tell me what yu want done. I’ll tend
to it, personal.’
De Witt
nodded, as if slightly mollified.
‘
Thanks to your bungling, I have had to arrange things
differently. You had no trouble dodging the posse?’
‘
Hell, no,’ strutted Linkham. ‘We had a clear ride to the
canyon.’
‘
And the money?’
‘
Safe—where you said.’
‘
Good. The robbery has made it unnecessary for Tate to be
visited again by the Shadows. We shall break him financially. It
will be just as effective as a bullet. But this stranger who helped
Tate is another matter. What do you know about him?’
‘
Name’s Green. Wears two guns an’ knows how to use ’em, from
what the boys said.’
‘
I want him out of the way,’ de Witt said coldly. ‘There must
be no unknown factors in this operation, Linkham. It is a very
delicate and complicated matter. I cannot and will not tolerate
another bungling such as happened at Tate’s the other night. Do you
understand me?’
‘
Don’t you worry none,’ Linkham assured him. ‘I’ll take care of
it.’
‘
It might be wiser not to come here for a while
...afterwards,’ said de Witt with an evil smile. He reached into a
drawer and brought out a thick roll of bills. Peeling off a number
he threw them across the desk.
‘
Take this for expenses. Pay your men before you do anything
else. Money makes silence.’
Linkham
nodded, picked up the money and his hat, and de Witt rose and
accompanied him to the door. As the big man surveyed the street, de
Witt had a final remark to make.
‘
Don’t bungle this, Linkham .... or I shall act. Do I make
myself clear?’
Whatever
dark threat was concealed in those words had its effect upon
Linkham, who paled visibly and nodded without speaking. He slipped
out of the bank door, mingling with the throng on the sidewalk, and
strode quickly away in the direction of Diego’s. Only when he was
inside the saloon did he turn and shake his fist towards the bank.
A string of foul oaths escaped his lips, and under his breath he
muttered, ‘Yu think yu own me body an’ soul, yu vulture, but it’s a
two—way game. One day I’m goin’ to stand an’ spit on yore
bloodsuckin’ corpse!’ His rage partially vented, Linkham jostled
his way through the saloon and continued his brooding at a table in
the rear of the building, his only company a bottle of whiskey
whose level dropped rapidly in the next hour.
Shortly
after Linkham’s departure, the Slash 8 men were ushered into the
banker’s office with every expression of good-will. When the two
visitors were seated, de Witt took his place behind the big desk,
made a steeple of his fingers, and raised his eyebrows. Tate did
not beat about the bush; old-timer that he was, he came directly to
the point.
‘
De Witt, yo’re holdin’ a mortgage on the Slash 8. How do I
stand?’ The banker shifted uncomfortably under the keen gaze of the
old rancher, but lifting his chin slightly, as if in defiance,
said, ‘I regret to say, Mr. Tate, that you don’t stand too
well.
I’m
going to have to ask you to pay off your debt, or sell your
mortgage?
Tate
nodded. ‘I figgered that. How long are yu givin’ me?’
De Witt
was a wonderful actor, and his feelings were rigidly under control,
but nevertheless the slightest hint of triumph in the reedy voice
did not escape Sudden’s sharply attuned ears, and his eyes narrowed
as the banker told his employer, ‘Not more than ten days,
Tate.’
‘
Ten days!’ exploded Tate. ‘Damnation, man, yu expect me to
raise that kind o’ money in ten days? Yu got to give me more time
than that!’
Tate was
also acting a little. On their way to the bank, Sudden had told him
about his deal with Pat Newman, and even though the old man was
dubious of Green’s assurance that he could get the cattle through
to the mines, he also knew that it would take a few days to round
up the herd and get them started towards Thunder Mesa, so he was
playing for a little extra time.
‘
Ten days is, I might say, extremely generous in the
circumstances, Tate,’ was de Witt’s chill reply. ‘I should really
press you for immediate payment.’ A sudden thought crossed the
man’s mind. ‘Are you telling me that you can raise the money? If
so, I would like to know why you have not done so before to clear
your indebtedness to the bank.’
‘
Yu got me in a tight bind, de Witt,’ expostulated Tate. ‘I got
to sell some cattle to raise yore money. If yu hadn’t called my
note, I could have waited until Spring an’ got a much higher
price.’
‘
I’m surprised to hear that you have a buyer,’ said de Witt,
artlessly. ‘Are you selling in Summerfield?’
‘
Nope, we got ourselves a buyer—’ Tate began, when his employee
cut in and finished the sentence, ‘—in South Bend. Yu probably know
him, seh. Marty Black?’
‘
No, I can’t say I do,’ was the banker’s reply. He said it
without any expression of interest whatsoever. ‘You’ll be driving
across the Badlands? Surely you’ll lose too many cattle to make the
drive pay?’
Before
his employer could open his mouth, Sudden answered again. ‘We got
no real choice, Mr. de Witt. Yu want yore money, an’ she’s the only
way we can figger to raise it.’
‘
You’ll still have to drive over some pretty dangerous
Country,’ de Witt said thoughtfully. ‘And since the bank has a
particular interest, I’m not sure that I ought to allow you to
jeopardize the possible chattels of a bank holding . . .’ De Witt
saw the thunder growing in Tate’s face and added hastily, ‘But I’m
sure that you know what you are doing. Let us hope that you do not
encounter these bandits whom Brady tells me have a hideout
somewhere in the Badlands.’
‘
Shucks,’ Sudden interposed, ‘four of us can handle anything
them false alarms care to start. We run ’em off once, an’ we can
again.’
The
unaccustomed bravado in Green’s voice made his employer look at him
sharply, and his pent-up puzzlement finally overflowed the dam of
his judgment.
‘
Jim, what in the blue blazes—’
‘
I know, I know, it was supposed to be a secret,’ interrupted
Sudden, holding up his hand. ‘But I didn’t figger you meant that
Mr. de Witt here’—he favored the banker with an ingratiating
smile—‘was included in that. Shucks, if he don’t know our plans, he
ain’t likely to extend our credit.’
George
Tate’s face set in exasperation at the way that his employee kept
forestalling his efforts to speak, but a look which crossed Green’s
face while the banker’s gaze was momentarily averted convinced him
that the younger man knew what he was about. So George Tate kept
his peace while de Witt addressed them again.
‘
I'm sorry that it has proven necessary to call your debt,
Tate,’ the banker said, ‘but I’m sorrier that I can’t give you
longer to raise the money. As it is, I’m stretching things to the
limit?
‘
One thing,’ Tate asked. ‘How many other debts are yu
callin’?’
The
banker spread his hands and lifted his shoulders slightly. ‘You
know I can’t tell you that, my friend. A banker is like a doctor—he
must respect the confidences of his customers.’
Tate
nodded shortly, and rose to leave. De Witt came around from behind
his desk to open the door for them. ‘You’ll be driving pretty soon,
then, I take it?’ he suggested.
‘
Pretty soon,’ was Sudden’s reply, and with it the banker had
to be content. He bade the Slash 8 men goodbye, and returned to his
chair with a frown twisting his features. Slowly, a satisfied smile
replaced it, and he briefly reviewed his plans out loud.
‘
You have something of a surprise coming to you, Mister Green,’
he snarled. ‘Ten days or ten minutes, it makes no difference.
There’ll be no Slash 8 cattle sold, and you won’t be around to back
that doddering old fool up. The Slash 8 is as good as mine.’ He
chuckled evilly, then his thoughts reverted again to the cowboy who
had accompanied Tate. ‘James Green. An apt enough name: the man’s
evidently a fool—I expected better from what Linkham told me. Must
have been luck—despite the hardware. He let all his plans slip like
a dolt. Bah! Linkham can attend to him!’ Whereupon Hanging Rock’s
respected banker rubbed his bony hands together in unholy
glee.