Free Oliver Strange - Sudden Westerns 05 - Law O' The Lariat(1935) by Oliver Strange Page B

revolver.
Not finding the plunder, he turned his attention to the horse, with a like
result.
                 “It
ain’t here,” he said disgustedly.
                 “I
done told yu that already, Mister Afterthought,” Severn said. “I reckon yu
can’t be in the habit of associatin’ with truthful men.”
                 The
goaded searcher snatched out his gun and thrust it into his captive’s face.
“One more yap outa yu an’ I’ll blow yu four ways to once,” he threatened.
                 But
this was where he made a slip. Severn’s elbows had been dropping imperceptibly
during the search and now, with an upward and outward fling of his left hand,
he was able to knock the gun muzzle wide, and at the same moment his right
fist, with a stiff, short-arm jolt, thudded into that centre of nerves and tissue
known to scientists as the solar plexus. Under that paralysing blow the
recipient doubled up like a hinge and went down gasping in agony. His companion
fired but missed, and Severn, grabbing his own gun, drove a bullet into him
before he could pull trigger again. One leap landed him in the saddle, and he
was pounding through the canyon before the bandits realised what had happened
to them.
                 “Yu
see,” he explained to Larry that evening, when the latter came to hand over the
money, “Geevor’s anxiety that we should go through Skull Canyon made me suspect
him. When his gun went off twice by accident, I felt pretty shore it was a
signal, an’ when his hoss goes lame so’s he can have an excuse to fall behind,
I knew. I figured he’d slip away early an’ tell his friends I was goin’ back
alone, an’ havin’ missed the herd, they’d lay for me to get the dollars. They’d
never suspicion I’d trust one o’ the men with the roll, so they’d let the
outfit go by. It worked just like I played it would.”
                 The
foreman told no one else of his adventure, but somebody must have talked, for
the outfit got to know of it, and the foreman’s reputation did not suffer in
consequence. On the following morning, Severn found Geevor talking with Miss
Masters.
                 “What
became o’ yu last night, Geevor?” he asked.
                 “I
started afore the rest, thinkin’ my hoss might go lame agin, an’ it did, so I
couldn’t make the ranch,” the man said.
                 “Come
down to my place an’ get yore time,” Severn said, in a tone which conveyed his
disbelief.
                 “Why
are you dismissing Geevor?” the girl asked sharply. “He couldn’t help his horse
failing.”
                 “He’s
goin’ because there’s times when he’s ashamed to show his face, ain’t that so,
Geevor?” the foreman returned.
                 The
man flushed and scowled. “I’m not stayin’ where I ain’t wanted,” he said
truculently.
                 “That’s
whatever,” the foreman agreed. “An’ keep clear o’ the Lazy M or yu’ll likely be
stayin’—permanent.”
                 The
girl, with one withering glance at Severn, stalked into the house. She did not
see the look which followed her, and in a state of anger would not have read it
aright if she had. She sought comfort where she had always found it as a
child—on the broad bosom of Dinah.
                 “Don’
yu worry, honeybird,” the old negress soothed. “Sump’n tell me Massah Philip he come back, an’ dat no-‘count
husban’ o’ mine say Mistah Severn good fella—he know his job.”
                 This
was the last straw. Phil flew to her room feeling that she hadn’t a friend in
the world.

  Chapter
VII
                 THE
boss of the Bar B dropped into a chair, lit up a cigar, and surveyed his
surroundings with savage disgust. Tt was essentially a man’s room, and the bare
floor, clumsy furniture and litter