Sudden Makes War (1942) Read online

  The conductor's reply was hardly helpful. "They was cowboys seemin'ly, with their faces covered. Said they on'y did it to win a bet, an' we'd git our stuff back at the Bend."

  The stranger laughed sneeringly. "An' on the strength of a lie like that you let 'em git away with it, you lousy cowards." He backed out of the coach, with a parting threat that anyone who stirred would be shot.

  In the meantime the custodian of the baggage-car was telling the same story with less success. Bundy, who had allotted to himself the task of securing the real reason for the robbery, was not easily convinced. He, too, wanted a description of the unknown hold-ups, and got no more than his confederate. Then he searched every inch of the van, even tapping the boards with the butt of his gun.

  "What's in them?" he growled, pointing to the sacks. "Meal, I s'pose," the man replied.

  "Open an' tip it out," Bundy ordered, and when the fellow hesitated, jammed a six-shooter into his ribs.

  This produced immediate action, the sacks were untied and up-ended, but no wooden box was forthcoming.

  "Like I said, she ain't there," the train-man unwisely remarked.

  "Can't I see? you -- yella dawg's pup. Go an' look some more, blast you," Bundy snarled.

  With a savage swing he drove a fist behind the man's ear, flinging him, face downwards and well-nigh senseless, into the pile of flour, and went out. Flint was waiting for him, and a call brought Garstone. A few words revealed the position, and the big man's face--could they have seen it--might have caused trouble; it expressed only incredulity and rage.

  "Are you asking me to believe that?" he cried involuntarily.

  "Please yoreself," Bundy snapped. "Go search the train an' question those lunkheads, if you want."

  "But it's impossible--only we three knew, unless ..."

  "Unless what?"

  "That other fellow, who was to have a thousand, got a better offer and sold us."

  "Well, he didn't, an' he's losin' his too," the foreman retorted. "He dasn't play tricks on me--I know too much about him. Somebody's got in ahead of us, either by accident, or because they heard somethin'. I'm for home; no good hangin' about here."

  Three very disgruntled would-be train-robbers, each deeply suspicious of the others, climbed into their saddles and disappeared in the shadowy recesses of the pines. Once more the train went on its eventful way.

  About the same time the rider of a black horse got down outside the bank in Sandy Bend, took from behind his saddle a box which seemed to be weighty and a small bag. Stepping inside, he asked to see the manager.

  "What name shall I say?" the clerk enquired.

  "Please yoreself, he won't know it anyway," the stranger smiled. "Just say it's real important."

  After a short wait he was ushered into the private office. The manager, middle-aged, with an astute face and keen eyes, pointed to a chair.

  "Have a seat, Mister --. I failed to catch your name."

  "That ain't surprisin'--I didn't give it," Sudden smiled. "My business is on'y to hand over somethin' I reckon belongs to yu."

  He placed the box on the desk, and the banker's eyebrows rose. "It certainly does," he replied. "But you are not working for the railway?"

  "I am, an' I ain't," the puncher said. "An', anyway, the train don't 'pear to 'a' come in yet. Yu came mighty close to losin' them--ca'tridges."

  "I don't understand."

  "Well, last night, me an' a couple o' friends chanced to learn of a plan to hold up the train this mornin'--the fellas was short o' feed for their guns, I expect." The story-teller's eyes were alight with mirth. "We hadn't much time, an' the on'y wagon-trail out we could hit on was to stage a stick-up ourselves--sorta forestall 'em, as it were--an' fetch the plunder to yu."

  The manager stared. "That was a clever but very daring expedient," he said.

  "Oh, I dunno, the odds are allus in favour o' the holdups," Sudden replied. "Yu see, they have the advantage o' springin' a surprise, an' the fellas on the train are covered afore they know it."

  "you talk like an expert."

  "I've studied the subject," the puncher grinned. "Fella can't tell what he may come to."

  "Your knowledge seems to have served you well on this occasion. You had no trouble?"

  "It was like money from the of folks at home," the puncher said easily. "There's one thing, we had to make it look right an' clean the passengers too. I told 'em to call here for their property--it's all in the small sack. Mebbe yu'll 'tend to that?"

  "Most willingly," the manager replied, and laughed. "So the other gang must have held up a stripped train? The joke was certainly on them. Now, see here, my friend, you and your companions have rendered the bank and the railway a great service, and I wish--"

  "It don't need speakin' of," Sudden interrupted. "We put this over for personal reasons, an' that's all there is to it."

  The banker was studying him keenly. "I'm perfectly certain I've seen you before, and recently," he observed.

  "No, seh, yu ain't seen me afore, nor even now," the visitor replied meaningly.

  "Well, it shall be as you say, but if at any time I can help you, count on me."

  "I'm thankin' yu," Sudden said, gripping the hand extended. At the door he turned. "Mebbe I oughta tell yu that the record o' the numbers o' them ca'tridges will be found--missin'."

  He was gone before the astounded manager could say another word. An examination of the box revealed the expected gold and notes; in the bag were jewellery, bills, and small change. The banker scratched his head; in all his experience of the West, he had never heard of a prank like this.

  The last drop in Bundy's cup of bitterness was added when he met his employer in the afternoon.

  "I sent Rattray in to the Bend with the wagon to collect some flour I ordered from Washout," Trenton said. "It was to be on the ten-fifteen, and he should be back by this. Seen anythin' of it?"

  The foreman said he had not, which, as he now knew, was a lie; not only had he seen it, scattered all over the dirty floor of a baggage-car, but he had sent a man squattering into the middle of it. The reminder of the chance they had missed seared like a hot iron, and when he was alone he told the world exactly what he thought of it in a flood of abuse which only ceased when a swift suspicion came and gave the Recording Angel an opportunity of re-charging his fountain pen.

  Was it by accident that the Wagon-wheel flour was on that particular train? Had Trenton learned of their plan and made his own move to checkmate it? Bundy swore he would find out, and he finished with a blistering promise of vengeance.

  Chapter XI

  The news of the attacks on the train travelled fast, and soon reached Rainbow; the passengers had chattered freely of their unusual experience. Speculation as to the real reason for the quixotic behaviour of the first gang of bandits, and witticisms at the expense of the second, were on the lips of everyone. It therefore resulted that the Wagon-wheel foreman and his confederates had salt unwittingly rubbed into their wounds at frequent intervals. The identity of the actors in the comedy was still unsuspected, for the banker and his clerk both described the person who had returned the stolen property as just an ordinary cowboy. This did not satisfy Bundy, and two days after the event he made the journey to the Bend in the hope of discovering something.

  During a round of the saloons, he heard himself ridiculed and had to agree that he was a blundering fool so often, as to make him wish he had not come, especially as he had learned nothing. But, at last, when on the point of giving up, and in a drinking hovel of the lowest type, he was rewarded. The talk was on the one topic, and for about the tenth time in various places he had said:

  "Beats me how that fella could ride into a town like this, in broad daylight, an' git away unnoticed. Ain't all blind in the Bend, are you?"

  "Not that early in the day," laughed a bystander.

  "An' it warn't quite like that neither," chirped a dried-up old fellow. "I seen his hoss--leastways, I reckon it was his'n the time fits--standin' outsi
de the bank."

  Bundy tried to appear indifferent. "Did ye now? What kind of a hoss was it?"

  "Big rangy black, with a white blaze on the face; mustang breed, I'd say; a fine critter," the old man replied. "Worth a fortun' to a road-agent."

  The foreman needed no more; there could be only one such horse in all the district. He came out of the dive afire with a fury which increased with every mile of the long ride home. So it was Green and two of the Circle Dot outfit who had cheated him--for so he regarded it. Had they kept the money it would have hurt less, but to be outplayed and made an object of derision by men he hated, cut him to the bone. Once, dismounting, he stood for a few seconds in a half-crouch, then snatched out his gun and sent the six shots in rapid succession at a thin sapling a dozen yards distant. Stepping to the tree, he noted that every bullet had chipped the bark at the same height. Reloading the weapon, he got back into the saddle, his teeth bared in a Satanic grin of satisfaction.

  "I'm as good as I ever was," he muttered. "Look to yoreself. Mister blasted Green."

  Arrived at the ranch, he went in search of Garstone, but failed to find him. The Easterner had, in fact, ridden into Rainbow with Miss Trenton. On reaching the place, however, they had separated for the time and so she was alone when Dan almost bumped into her as he came out of the store. He raised his hat and would have gone on, but she stopped and smiled.

  "Why do you always try to avoid Me?" she asked.

  Dan had little experience of the so-called fair sex, or he would have recognized the age-old device of putting an opponent in the wrong, so the accusation staggered him. But he was a fighter, and he had already decided that this slim, prepossessing girl could only be handled with the gloves off.

  "I guess I must be hopin' you'd run after me," he smiled impudently.

  The unlooked-for reply discomposed her, and all she could say was, "Not if you were the only man in the world."

  The smile broadened into a grin. "You'd have to travel some then," he said. "Think o' the competition. Gee! I'd shore have to live in the tall timber."

  Despite her irritation, the absurd picture he conjured up made her laugh. The parcel he was carrying provided a change of subject; the shape showed that it could only be a rifle.

  "More preparations against your own kind?" she asked sarcastically.

  "Precautions is a better word," he corrected. "An' don't you call the Wagon-wheel outfit my kind--they ain't. Anyways, this happens to be a present for a good boy. I fancy you know him."

  "Yorky?"

  "The same. He did me a service an' I want to even up."

  "Wasn't there anything else you could choose? He's only a child." She herself was less than three years older.

  "I reckon he never was that, but he's due to be some sort of a man, an' we'd like it to be a real one."

  "And that will help?" she enquired, a little scornfully. "Quite a lot. We're gettin' him interested in work on the range an' this is part of it. If you'd seen Yorky two months ago you wouldn't recognize him."

  "Well, I hope he'll like his gift."

  "Like it?" Dan laughed. "He'll take it to bed with him."

  She laughed too, and then her face sobered. "I must go," she said. "Mister Garstone brought me in, and is waiting." Hat in hand, he watched the two meet, and pass up the street together. The man's face was registering disapproval when the girl reached him, but all he said was:

  "Had the cowboy anything of interest to tell you?"

  She divined that he was jealous, and the thought thrilled, though she had not yet troubled to analyse her own feeling regarding him. But she was young, and the admiration of a physically attractive man, who had at least a semblance of culture, could not be entirely unwelcome. Still, she had no intention of letting him suspect this, and it was in rather a distant tone that she replied:

  "I was under the impression that Mister Dover owned a ranch."

  "Thinks he does, but maybe he's mistaken," Garstone told her. "I wasn't asking out of curiosity, Miss Trenton. The Wagon-wheel and Circle Dot are practically at war, and that fellow might have let slip information of value to us."

  "Our conversation was confined to the youngest member of his outfit--the boy they call yorky."

  "Member of his outfit--that's a good one," Garstone sneered. "I'd call him a bit of useless lumber."

  "Hardly that, since Mister Dover has just purchased a present as a reward for good work."

  "Dover must have wanted a pocket picked."

  "You must not speak ill of my admirers," she said playfully.

  "Why, quite recently, he rode to the Wagon-wheel just to see where I lived. There's devotion."

  "The devil he did?" Garstone said. "When was that?"

  She thought for a moment. "Oh yes, I remember; it was the day before that amusing attempt to rob the train. How awfully sick the second party must have felt on finding they had been anticipated, but it was childish to vent their spite on poor uncle's flour."

  Garstone had little to say during the rest of the ride home, and seeing Bundy as they approached the ranch-house, made his excuses to his companion, and rode towards him. "Any news?" he asked.

  "Plenty," the foreman frowned. "The fella who took the stuff back to the bank was atop of a black hoss with a white blaze."

  "Green!" Garstone exploded. "I knew it."

  "Then you might 'a' opened up an' saved me a journey," the other said sourly.

  "I didn't learn of it until a little while ago," the big man replied, and repeated what the girl had told him. "We heard a movement in that tree we were talking under and put it down to birds. That young sneak must have seen us coming, and hopped up there to hide. He'd take the tale back to Green, and that damned cowboy out-planned and made monkeys of us. God! I'll bet the Circle Dot riders haven't stopped laughing yet."

  "They'll have somethin' else to grin about afore I've done with 'em," the foreman growled. "As for Green ..." He tapped the butt of his gun. "He's for hell."

  "The trouble is, they know who were in it," Garstone said, rather uneasily. "If they split to Trenton ..."

  "Can't prove a thing--it's their word agin ourn," Bundy reassured. "As for puttin' Zeb wise, Dover wouldn't do that if he knowed the of fool was to be bumped off tomorrow. No, I ain't worryin' 'bout that; it's the pot we've bin done out of. Why'n blazes didn't I send a slug into that damned tree?"

  "No use moaning over a lost opportunity; we must find another. Trenton has a scheme; perhaps that will be luckier--for us," the Easterner said meaningly. "How are you going to deal with Green?"

  "Watch my smoke," the foreman said.

  Garstone shrugged. "Watch your step; he doesn't look a simple proposition to me," was his reply. "Fie sports two guns."

  "A bluff, meanin' nothin'," Bundy sneered. "Take it from me, the fella who can really shoot on'y needs one gun an' one shot; mos'ly there ain't time for more."

  In the front room at the Circle Dot, Yorky was clutching the Winchester and scabbard Dan had brought home and presented to him. Usually loquacious enough, his gratitude and delight in this new possession nearly deprived him of speech.

  "I dunno--how ter--thank yer, Boss," he stammered. "I didn't do nuttin'--it was jus' blind luck, an' I ..." He bogged down completely.

  "Cut the cackle, Yorky," Dan said kindly. "you did a-plenty, an' I'm rememberin' it. Jim'll show you how to handle the gun, an' you got all outdoors to blaze away in. Now, I'm bettin' you wanta cut along an' show the boys."

  "You win, Boss," Yorky grinned, and made for the door. There he paused to add, "I ain't forgettin' this--ever," and was gone.

  "I'm thinkin' that li'l of Noo York has lost a citizen," Burke laughed.

  "An' Rainbow gains one, thanks to Jim," Dover said.

  "Rubbish," the puncher replied. "How long d'yu s'pose afore one o' them Wagon-wheel wastrels comes a-gunnin' for me?"

  "But why?" they both asked.

  "I rode my own hoss into the Bend; somebody must 'a' spotted it. I needed Nigger to make sh
ore o' gettin' there before the train; I did it easy--the country bein' less difficult than I figured."

  "It was certainly a risk, but you would have it thataway," Dan said, so seriously that the puncher laughed.

  "Shucks! Fella who never takes one, takes nothin'," he rejoined. "Mebbe I'm wrong."

  And when a week passed without anything occurring to disturb the serenity of the Circle Dot, it began to appear so. Every morning Yorky would depart for what the outfit called his "cure," the cherished rifle slapping against his pony's ribs. and would be absent for hours, frightening the birds, and making life a misery for any wandering jack-rabbit or coyote so unfortunate as to come within range, to return, tired but happy, and with a capacity for food which drew from the cook the ironical suggestion that he had contracted "Wur-r-ms."

  "Gwan, yer human gas-bag," Yorky retorted, when the accusation was made. "I'm a small eater."

  "Shure it's so, but ye pack away enough for wan twice the size o' ye," Paddy told him.

  When late afternoon came and brought no sign of the boy, the cook grew anxious, and went to the foreman. "Faith, he'll not be missin' a meal willin'," he said.

  Burke looked grave; it was no country for a tenderfoot to get lost in, and there was a possibility of accident. He told the cook he would send the men out again as they came in. Sudden, with Blister and Tiny were the first to arrive, and they set off at once for the pool, which yorky made the starting-point of his excursions. They found plenty of tracks, but it was impossible to tell which were the most recent.

  "Spread out fan-wise, but keep within hail," Sudden said. "If he's hurt, whoever finds him may need help."

  The ground was fairly open, with thickets of scrub here and there, most of them too dense and thorny for anything but a tough-hided animal to penetrate. Save for a brief glance, the searchers paid them no attention; neither Yorky nor his mount would fancy their exploration. The short, dried grass showed no marks, and Sudden rode straight on, trusting to luck. It came his way, for after they had left the pool several miles behind, a horseman loped from the far side of a larger patch of brush some hundreds of yards ahead, and at the sight of the newcomer spurred his pony in an evident attempt to escape.