Oliver Strange - Sudden Westerns 04 - Sudden Outlawed(1934) by Oliver Strange Read Free Book Online

Sandy
did not pursue the subject. He sensed the bitterness n the tone, guessed what
the speaker might be thinking, but knew he must not ask. Though they felt a
mutual attraction, these two, they had exchanged no confidences.

  Chapter
IV
                 ROGUE
was absent from the breakfast table on the following morning, but there was a
new arrival in the person of the man Sudden had seen in San Antonio. He grinned
cheerfully at the cowboy and, when the meal was over, beckoned him outside.
                 “So
yu changed yore mind?” was how he opened the conversation.
                 “Yu
might call it that,” was the sardonic reply.
                 “Aimin’
to throw in with Rogue?”
                 Sudden
did not reply at once. Despite the man’s apparent friendliness, he did not like
him; there was a lurking malignancy which suggested that he enjoyed the
misfortunes of others.
                 “I
ain’t decided,” he said, adding savagely, “What else
is there for me to do?”
                 “Come
a-swimmin’—that’s what.”
                 It
was Sandy who had answered the question, and he smiled ‘as he waved a hand to
the pool, glittering in the bright sunshine like a jewel in a green setting.
Sligh—so the outlaw was called—shrugged disdainful shoulders.
                 “Yu
did oughta remember them critters has to drink that water,” he said.
                 “Which
is why yu don’t go in, huh?” Sandy retorted.
                 The
water looked cool and inviting and Sandy hurriedly divested himself of his
clothing.
                 Sudden
followed his example but more leisurely. He watched the boy step lightly
towards a jutting bit of bank which afforded a good place for a plunge and then
snatched a gun from the belt he had just discarded and fired. Sandy whirled
instantly.
                 “What
the hell … ?” he cried, and then, as he saw the bullet-shattered fiat venomous
head and greenish-grey body thrashing about in the long grass only a yard from
where he stood, his face paled. “A cotton-mouth!” he gasped. (The moccasin
snake, when angry, appears to have its jaws stuffed with cotton-wool.) “Jim,
I’m not forgettin’ this—ever.”
                 “Shucks,”
was the reply. “Saw him just in time.”
                 “Yu
shore did—‘nother step an’ I’d ‘a’ trod on him,” Sandy agreed, with a shiver.
                 A
careful search of the bank revealed no more reptiles and they had their swim,
but much of the enjoyment had gone. As they lay on the warm turf drying themselves in the sun, Sudden asked a question.
                 “There’s
a way out at the other end o’ the valley,” Sandy said. “Goin’ ridin’?”
                 “Thought
I’d look around; don’t seem to be much to do.”
                 “We’ll
be busy tomorrow—the boys’ll fetch in a bunch o’ cattle—there’s plenty
mavericks in the brush. I’d go with yu but I gotta relieve Ropey, durn it.”
                 Dried
and dressed again they made their way to the bunkhouse, which they found empty,
save for the cook.
                 Having
fed, they got their horses and separated, Sandy turning east to set free a man
who was eagerly awaiting him, and Sudden heading in
the opposite direction.
                 The
exit was easily found, a tunnel-like crack in the rim-rock just wide enough to
permit the passage of a mounted man. There was little light, for the cliff
overhead appeared to be unbroken and the far end of the opening was masked by a
mass of dense scrub. The few tracks showed that this means of entering or leaving
the valley was seldom used.
                 “Takin’
a herd o’ cattle through would be apt to keep a fella’s tongue busy,” the
cowboy