Free Sudden--Strikes Back (A Sudden Western #1) by Frederick H. Christian

was the quiet reply. ‘There’s only one
condition.’
    ‘ Ah,’ said Newman quietly, ‘a condition. What is
it?’
    ‘ That you buy the herd within the next ten days.’
    Newman
studied the man before him. Something about his demeanor suggested
that if this man said he was going to do a thing, it would get
done. And he knew perfectly well what Tate’s rider was up to. If he
could sell a herd, there’d be enough money to pay off Tate’s debt
to the bank. It was a calculated gamble, and one that appealed to
Newman.
    ‘ Mister Green,’ he said with a smile, offering his hand, ‘I’ll
take that bet.’
    ‘ Call me Jim,’ smiled Sudden. ‘An’ thanks. Yu just bought
yoreself some beef.’
    ‘ I’ll believe it when I see them in the corral,’ smiled Newman
as they shook hands.
    ‘ Yu’ll see ’em,’ Sudden told him. ‘If for any reason I can’t
get through, I’ll send someone across to let yu know. I’ll also
send someone in the day afore we arrive, so yu can have the pens
ready!
    Tate
regarded Sudden with mock irascibility when the two rejoined the
group.
    ‘ Where in thunder yu been, boy?’ he growled. ‘Yu an' me’s got
a date with the banker. I guess I’m ornery enough to play the
string through to its miserable end, although I know what he’s
goin’ to say. Come on, Jim.Let’s get her done.’

Chapter
Four
     
    Jasper
de Witt was a careful man. His office was a reflection of this
fact; it gave no indication of the personality of the man who
worked in it, or, indeed, that anyone worked in it at all. There
was a huge safe in one corner, a desk, a chair for the banker and
two upright chairs for visitors, and a small filing case against
the wall. The room had two doors; one admitted visitors from the
main part of the bank, while the other led to a stairway which rose
to de Witt’s personal quarters above the bank. No every-day
customer of the bank had ever been admitted to those quarters,
although the office was open to all, especially on this
day.
    Nevertheless, at the time that Sudden was finalizing his
arrangements with Newman, the mine manager, the door between de
Witt’s office and the bank was locked and the blinds were drawn,
while a sign hanging outside read ‘Back in one hour’. Inside the
office, the blinds on the single window were also drawn. Standing
facing the seated banker was a huge, hulking brute of a man with a
long, evil face scarred down one side by an old knife wound which
ran from just below the lobe of the left ear to the comer of the
mouth, giving the hatchet face an evil leer.
    This was
Burley Linkham, foreman of the Barclay ranch; and it was evident
from his expression that he was not enjoying this interview. The
good citizens of Hanging Rock would have been dumbfounded had they
been able to eavesdrop upon the conversation which was taking
place.
    ‘ When is Barclay due back?’ the banker snapped.
    ‘’ Bout a week,’ replied Linkham. ‘He’s stayin’ at the
—
    ‘— I know where he’s staying,’ was the acid comment, ‘and with
whom. Get word to him to stay where he is until he hears , from
me.’
    Linkham
nodded sullenly. ‘Something up?’
    ‘ One or two things, my friend.’ The banker’s voice was full of
an evil that no one in this town would have ever dreamed existed.
De Witt made a steeple of his fingers, pursed his lips, then leaned
forward like a striking snake, hissing. ‘Give me your feeble
excuses for the fact that George Tate is still alive!’
    ‘ Hell, boss,’ mumbled the discomfited man before him, ‘the boys
run into some trouble .... ’
    ‘ Trouble? Trouble?’ screamed de Witt. ‘What do you think
they’re going to run into if they don’t do what they’re paid
for?
    ‘ Who did you send?’
    ‘ Pardoe was in charge—’ began Linkham.
    ‘ That bungling fool!’ snapped de Witt. ‘How many men did he
have?’
    ‘ Four—Morley, Callaghan, Rayton, and MacAlmon.’
    ‘ Five men. And they were run off by an old man