Part 30 (1/2)
”Just call me 'Kid,'” smiled the Texan, ”fo' I think we'll be friends.”
”I hope so,” said the other, flas.h.i.+ng him a grateful look. ”Well, I'm 'Red' Morton. My brother and me own the Diamond D, and we've sh.o.r.e been havin' one hot time. Guess we're plumb beat.”
”Wheah's yo' brother now?”
”He's at the sod house with our south herd. These two men are the only punchers left me--'Lefty' Warren and Mike Train. There was one more.
The rustlers shot him.” Red Morton's eyes gleamed fiercely.
”Yo' know who the rustlers were?”
”Blacksnake McCoy's gang. He's been causin' us a lot o' trouble.
Until now, that bunch have just been runnin' a smooth iron and swingin'
their loops wide. But yesterday they drove off every steer. Half of all the longhorns on the Diamond D!” Red's lips tightened grimly.
”Excuse us,” spoke up one of the cowboys, Lefty Warren, ”for takin' yuh fer one o' them cutthroats, but we was b'ilin' mad. It's a good thing fer us yuh wasn't. Yuh sh.o.r.e slipped in on us slick as a whistle.”
”I'm hopin' my bud, Joe, don't think it was my fault that Blacksnake got away with the herd,” groaned the red-haired youth. ”Reckon we'll have to sell out now.”
”That's it,” agreed the eldest of the trio--the man called Mike Train.
”The Diamond D would be on Easy Street now, if we had the cattle back.
The mortgage----”
”Who would yo' sell to?” asked The Kid quietly.
”Gentleman John, the cattle king,” explained Red Morton. ”He told my brother some time ago that he'd like to buy it, if the price was low.
Joe refused then, but reckon it'll be different now.”
Kid Wolf raised his brows slightly.
”Is this--ah--Gentleman John the right sort of hombre?” he drawled.
”Why, I guess so,” said Red in surprise. ”He's one o' the biggest cattlemen in three States.”
The Texan was silent for a moment, then he smiled.
”Wheah are yo' headed fo' now?” he asked.
”Why, we're on the trail of the stolen herd,” Red replied, ”and we intend to stop at the sod house and tell my brother, Joe, what's happened--that is, if he don't already know. Maybe he's had trouble, himself.”
”If we find any of that Blacksnake gang, we'll fight,” Lefty Warren spoke up. ”The odds are mighty bad against us, but they got one o' the best punchers in the valley when they drilled Sam Whiteman.”
”I'm interested,” Kid Wolf told them. ”Do yo' mind if I throw in with yo'?”
”Do we mind?” repeated Red joyously. ”Say, it would sh.o.r.e be great!
And--well, Joe and I will try and make it right with yuh.”
”Nevah mind that,” the Texan murmured. ”Just considah yo' troubles mine, too. And I'm downright curious to know what's happened to yo'