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

“Goin’ to black yore lace an’ play nigger?”
                 Sandy’s
retort was neither polite nor printable.
                 Sunrise
found a grumbling cook giving them an early breakfast; but his curiosity
regarding Sandy’s black hair, eyebrows, and moustache remained unsatisfied.
                 “Ask
Rogue about it,” the boy told him with a grin, knowing perfectly weil that he would do no such thing.
                 For
the first few miles the pair rode in silence. Sudden was trying to convince
himself that the affairs of the S E owner were no concern of his, and not
succeeding very Well. His companion was also deep in thought, riding head down.
                 The
morning air had an invigorating keenness which would presently change to a
blistering heat. Around them, Nature was awaking; birds whistled, rabbits
scuttled across their path, and once they saw the long grey form of a big wolf
slink into the brush at their approach. It was Sandy who made the first remark:
                 “Odd
I ain’t heard o’ this gal at the S E.”
                 “She’s
recently arrived from the East—educated there, I gathered,” Sudden explained.
                 Sandy
snorted. “I get yu,” he said. “One o’ them high-toned dames, with a forehead
bulging out like a cliff, who thinks o pore ignorant cowboys is doormats to
wipe their number eights n.” Sudden chuckled silently. “Now I know yu’ve met
her,” he said.
                 “Yo’re
wrong, but I savvy the breed,” the boy went on. “Thin-lipped, an’ that sot in
their ideas they’d argue with a charge o’ giant-powder.”
                 “She
looked liable to get her own way most times,” Sudden admitted. “She had the of man roped.”
                 “There
yu are,” Sandy cried triumphantly. “An’ let me tell yu, a mule is an easy-goin’
critter alongside Sam Eden. Why, it’s told of him that once, when he was
gettin’ the worst of an argument, he finished it by sayin’, `Well, I wouldn’t
believe it if I knowed it was true.’ What can yu do with a fella like that,
huh?”
                 Sudden
laughed, partly at the story, but more at the reflection that his friend was
due to receive a severe shock when he met the girl he had condemned unseen.
Sandy’s next remark changed the subject.
                 “I
wouldn’t be so terrible distressed if Rogue fell down on this drive-bustin’,”
he mused.
                 “I
don’t owe him nothin’ an’ I shore would like to see them northern cowtowns.”
                 Sudden
did not reply at once; he was wondering if the words had any hidden
significance.
                 “I’ve
a hankerin’ thataway my own self,” lie confessed.
                 They
reached the S E ranchhouse to find it apparently deserted; the morning meal was
over and the men had gone to their work. A hail brought Eden himself to the
porch. At the sight of Sudden he called a hearty greeting:
                 “Hello,
young fella, I’m main pleased to see yu. Hope yu aim to stay this time.”
                 “Shore do , Mister Eden, if yu’ll have me,” Sudden replied. He
pointed to his companion.
                 “This
is Dick Sands—he’s huntin’ a job too.”
                 The
rancher studied the second of the visitors closely for a moment. “Any friend o’
yores is welcome, Green, an’ I can certainly use another man,” he said, but the
warmth had gone out of his voice.
                 Before
another word could be said, Carol emerged from the house, her face lighting up
when she recognized the rider who had come to her rescue. Sudden stole a look
at his chum and had hard work to restrain his merriment. Sandy had snatched his
hat off and was staring goggle-eyed at the girl who had, so