Sudden Rides Again by Oliver Strange

Author:Oliver Strange [Strange, Oliver]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯)
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter XVII

Satisfaction at the Double K over the rebuff to the rustlers was not as great as might have been expected. There had always been a friendly rivalry between the two ranches, and the fact that the Twin Diamond had undoubtedly scored, though it was to the Double K’s advantage, rankled with both owner and outfit. Some of the latter had another reason for not exulting unduly, and of these the foreman was the most disgruntled.

“Can’t figure it nohow,” he said to Turvey. “Somebody must ‘a’ put them lunkheads wise. Jeff’ll be mad.”

“No blame to us anyway,” the little man replied. “Our boys didn’t find ‘em. If there’s bin a leak it’s from Hell City. Reckon Green could ‘a’ had anythin’ to do with it?”

“He dasn’t show his face at the Twin Diamond, an’ after helpin’ to steal the herd he wouldn’t be likely to hand ‘em back to us.”

“That’s so,” Turvey agreed. He did not know of the frame-up. “He’s in Hell City, I s’pose, an’ cherishin’ no feelin’ of affection for us. Me, I’d ruttier he was danglin’ from a tree. How in blazes he got away from three o’ yu “

“Oh, can the chatter,” Steve said angrily. “That trick o’ shootin’ out the light gave him a chance an’ he took it. He’s Jeff’s man now an’ that makes us safe from him.”

“Does it work both ways?” Turvey leered.

“I didn’t say that,” was the reply.

The subject of their conversation cropped up again at supper. With the object of stirring up Frosty, one man asked his neighbour if he had seen any more of Green?

“No, nor I don’t hanker to,” came the answer. “Last timewas the night o’ the raid an’ he was pumpin’ lead at me plenty eager.”

Frosty surveyed the rotund form of the speaker disdainfully. “Couldn’t ‘a’ bin him, he’d not miss a mark like yu with eyes shut,” he said.

“If it warn’t him why did he skip?” the stout one argued. “Would yu wait if the Ol’ Man promised to stretch yore neck?”

The other hesitated; Keith’s reputation for keeping his word was well established. “It was his hoss,” he evaded.

“Mebbe, with another fella straddling it,” Frosty retorted Lagley cut in. “Green told me hisself no one else could ride the black. He was as guilty as hell, an’ yu know it.”

The cowboy stood up, his face suddenly stern. “What yu mean, I know it?” he asked, and his voice had an edge. “If yo’re tryin’ to rope me up with the rustlin’, yu an’ me’ll have a li’l argument, foreman or no.”

Lagley’s gesture was one of impatience. “I didn’t mean nothin’ o’ the sort. Yu talk like a kid. Where’s the sense gettin’ sore over a cussed outlaw who oughta be swingin’ in a loop?”

“He’s my friend.”

“They say a fella is knowed by the company he mixes with,” Turvey sneered.

“If there was any truth in that yu’d be damned lonely,” Frosty snapped.

A black scowl was all the answer he received. Good tempered as he usually

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.