Read Online Oliver Strange - Sudden Westerns 02 - Sudden(1933) by Oliver Strange - Free Book Online Page B

the Old Man look queerly at him,
as if wonderin’ how he come to be in the nest.
There’ll be somethin’ back o’ his leavin’ the Circle B, shure enough.”
                 The
puncher nodded, but did not pursue the topic. He liked Magee, and felt that he
was straight, but he knew that he must walk warily in Windy for a while.

  Chapter
VI
                 WHEN
the new foreman arrived at the C P ranch on the following morning, he found
that the story of his little difficulty with the half-breed had preceded him,
two of the outfit having been in town, and heard of, though they had not seen,
the incident. Chris Purdie’s face was not quite so genial when he greeted him.
                 “I
didn’t know the Burdettes was friends o’ yores,” was the oblique way he
approached the subject.
                 Sudden’s
look was sardonic. “Did yu get all the story?” he
asked.
                 “I
heard yu saved young Luce’s life, an’ that was aplenty,” retorted the
ranch-owner.
                 “Mebbe
I did, an’ I’m bettin’ yu’d ‘a’ done the same,” was the reply, and the foreman
went on to give the details.
                 When
he heard of the vile insult offered to his daughter, Purdie’s face flamed with
fury.
                 “The
dirty scum,” he began.
                 “It
was a plain frame-up,” Sudden interrupted. “I’d say he was actin’ on orders,
an’ whoever gave ‘em knew Luce had left the Circle B.”
                 “Left
the Circle B?” the rancher repeated in surprise. “How come?”
                 “After
the fracas I had a talk with young Burdette, an’ he told me he was through with
his brothers; they won’t believe that he didn’t kill yore son.”
                 “An’
they’re dead right, too, though it’s the first time I ever agreed with a
Burdette,” the old man said caustically.
                 “Yo’re
wrong, Purdie,” the puncher urged. “I ain’t no Methuselah, but I’ve met a mort o’ men, an’ I’ll gamble that boy is clean
strain. Why should he risk his life for yore girl’s good name?”
                 “Dunno,
‘less it was to avert suspicion.”
                 Sudden
shook his head. “He’d have to be a mighty quick thinker, the way it happened.
                 No,
sir, I’m so shore he’s straight that in yore place I’d offer him a job to ride
for the
    C
P.”
                 The
cattleman laughed aloud at this amazing suggestion. “Yu bein’ a stranger
hereabouts, there’s some excuse for yu,” he said. “If I did that, folks would
think I’d gone plumb loco, an’ they’d be right. A Burdette
workin’ for the C P, huh? He’d be damn useful to them, wouldn’t he?
                 Why,
it’s more’n likely that’s what they’re playin’ for. I ain’t fallin’ for that
foolishness. Now, come along an’ meet the men.”
                 Sudden
followed him to the bunkhouse; he was not convinced, but he recognized the
futility of further argument. The morning meal was over, and the riders were
awaiting orders.
                 There
were eight of them present, all young, and they looked a capable crew. Their
employer’s speech was brief and to the point:
                 “This
is Jim Green, boys. Yu’ll take orders from him in future, all same it was me.”
                 Some
of them nodded, others said “Howdy,” and all of them studied the new foreman
with narrowed, appraising glances. His eyes too were busy, and he early decided
that none of the looks directed towards him was hostile.
                 “Where’s
Bill?” asked the rancher.
                 “He
went down to the corral,” said one. “I’ll go fetch him.”
                 “He’s
the daddy o’ the