Sudden--At Bay (A Sudden Western #2) by Frederick H. Christian Page B

house, Green
saw him emerge from the jail and limp across the street. Hight’s
progress was maddeningly casual and Green, on tenterhooks, swore
and then laughed at himself.
    ‘ Gettin’ all steamed up ain’t
goin’ to help,’ he muttered, and moved to meet Hight as he came in.
There was a smile on the doctor’s face, for his tidings were
good.
    ‘ The boy’s in his cell, Jim,’ he
announced. ‘It looks as if there’s only one guard.’
    ‘ Which one? Helm?’
    ‘ No, one of the others,’ Hight
replied. ‘I think he’s called Jackson. The Sheriff must be having
his usual siesta.’
    ‘ Let’s hope we don’t disturb him,
then,’ smiled Sudden. They shook hands warmly again. ‘Thanks, Doc,’
the puncher said. ‘I’m hopin’ there won’t be no gunplay, but if yu
hear shootin’ keep yore head down. Act
surprised if anyone asks yu about me. Yu ain’t never seen me
afore: sabe ?’
    Hight nodded. ‘How about a horse
for the boy?’
    Green’s smile was impish. ‘I was
plannin’ on stealin’ yores, Doc,’ he said mischievously. ‘I
figgered yu’d trade for one o’ Billy’s. I’m shore his sister’d take
yore word on it.’
    He feigned not to notice the color
which rose in Hight’s cheeks, but told himself that Billy’s
observations about the medico’s feelings towards Jenny Hornby were
accurate enough.
    Just as well , he thought. ‘She’ll have someone to look after her if Billy
has to lie low an’ can’t take care o’ things.’
    ‘ Take the horse and welcome,’
Hight was saying. ‘And —-good luck, Jim.’
    Sudden nodded. ‘I’ll be needin’
some,’ he remarked. Without further talk he edged out of the back
door of the house and moved cautiously around the side of the house
into the deep shadow which lay between it and the livery stable
next door. He sidled up to the corner of the stable and peered
around it, keen eyes raking every inch of the curving street and
its buildings. No movement caught his attention: even the gray dog
had gone. The street yawned wide and empty before him.
    ‘ Hell, the longer I look at her,
the wider she’ll seem,’ he muttered. Tipping his Stetson forward
over his eyes, and sticking his hands casually into his hip
pockets, Sudden sauntered into the street. Every nerve was tense,
keyed for instant action at the first sight of danger, but
outwardly his air was one of complete unconcern. He looked like a
man who had every right to be where he was, doing what he was
doing. They’d spot a fella runnin’ in a couple o’ seconds was his
reasoning. ‘But someone walkin’ natural attracts no attention — I
hope!’ A few more moments and he was across. With something like a
sigh of relief he stepped up on to the porch of the jailhouse and
knocked on the door.
    A chair shifted inside the jail, and footsteps
approached the door, stopping behind it.
    ‘ Who’s there?’ called a man’s
voice.
    ‘ Helm, Jackson Sudden said
gruffly. ‘Open up!’
    He heard the bolts being withdrawn
behind the door, which opened about three inches to reveal a
whiskery face peering around the edge. The bulging eyes crossed
along the barrel of Green’s .45, cocked and deadly, which he had
whipped upwards to almost touch the man’s nose.
    ‘ One sound an’ yo’re the late Mr. Jackson,’ Sudden
grated. ‘Open up an’ back in!’
    Jackson complied, his eyes still bugging at the
appearance of this man he thought long since murdered.
    ‘ Yo’re thinkin’ I’m mebbe a
ghost?’ jibed Sudden. Indeed, Jackson’s hands were trembling as if
Green were a real apparition.
    ‘ Turn around!’ snapped Sudden, and
the man complied hastily. A merciless blow with the barrel of the
.45 dropped Jackson like a sack of flour on the floor. Rummaging
around, Sudden found some rawhide thongs in a drawer of the
Sheriff’s desk, and efficiently bound Jackson’s hands and feet. A
tight gag completed the work, leaving Sudden free to spend another
two or three minutes finding his