Read Online Oliver Strange - Sudden Westerns 06 - Sudden Gold-Seeker(1937) by Oliver Strange - Free Book Online Page A

only just,” she smiled. “Has a squaw
wife, and, curiously enough, worships her. Hickok too is among our
distinguished citizens.”
                 “Wild Bill?” Paul cried. “What the devil is he doing here?”
                 “Where
the carcase is …’ ” the woman quoted.
                 “Hickok
is no vulture; he has the name for being square.”
                 “Possibly,
but he’s not immortal, is he?” Lesurge looked at her; callous as he was, there
were times when her cold-bloodedness amazed him.
                 “No,
but one might be excused for thinking so,” he replied. “They say he never
misses.”
                 “Someone
will get him—from behind—one of these days,” she shrugged. “In any case, square
folk are easier to fool, being straight themselves they are not so suspicious
of others.”
                 “Well,
let’s hope we don’t have to try and fool Hickok,” was Paul’s sinister reply.

  Chapter
VII
                 Two
weeks passed and the cowboys’ store of gold slowly but steadily increased; it
was by no means large, but, as Sudden had said, they were able to go on eating.
A day or two had exhausted the natural barrier in the stream and then they
worked upwards.
                 “The
dust we found has been washed down,” Sudden argued, “an’ mebbe there’s more to
come; we’ll save it the trouble.” There was more, in no great quantity, but
sufficient to be worthwhile. The task of getting it was arduous in the extreme.
                 “For
real work this job has a round-up beat to a frazzle,” Mason complained. “What’s
the good o’ cash yu got no chance to spend?” For since they usually arrived
home too tired to do more than eat and tumble into their blankets, Deadwood had
seen nothing of them. This was not the first hint Mason had offered and Sudden
knew that a desire for relaxation was not the real reason.
                 “I
guess we’ve earned a holiday,” he said. “We’ll slick up tonight an’ give the
town a treat.” Accordingly, the evening found them mixing with the stream of
humanity which thronged the sidewalks, shouting noisy greetings in a medley of
tongues, singing raucous songs, jostling one another as they entered or left
the various places of entertainment. Again Sudden experienced one of those
incidents which he was quite unable to explain. A roistering miner staggered
out of a saloon, barged into him and went down. With an oath he picked himself
up and was feeling for his gun when a shaft of light from the swinging door lit
up the cowboy’s countenance. The man stared, his hand fell to his side, and with a mumbled apology, he turned away.
                 Sudden
looked at his companion in bewilderment.
                 “What
do yu know about that?” he asked. “The fella was goin’ to perforate me an’ the
sight of my face scared him cold.” This was too good an opening. “What
surprises me is that it surprises yu,” Mason grinned. “Ain’t yu never used a
mirror? Yore face would make a grizzly turn tail.”
                 “Yu
chatterin’ chump,” Sudden said. “Let’s go in here.”
                 “Pull
yore hat well down, we don’t want to start a stampede,” Gerry retorted.
                 The
Paris Saloon was packed with people. Most of those present were men but there
was a sprinkling of the other sex, women of various ages, whose expensive
attire displayed their charms with some freedom, who drank and gambled with
their male escorts and laughed with their painted lips and never with their
eyes.
                 One
half of the floor space in front of the long bar was devoted to games of
chance, of which a roulette board attracted most attention. The other half
contained the customary tables and chairs. Threading a way through the latter,
the