Sun-Dog trails

By W. C. Tuttle

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Title: Sun-dog trails

Author: W. C. Tuttle


        
Release date: May 26, 2026 [eBook #78756]

Language: English

Original publication: New York, NY: The Ridgway Company, 1921

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/78756

Credits: Prepared by volunteers at BookCove (bookcove.net)


*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUN-DOG TRAILS ***

                             SUN-DOG TRAILS

                              W. C. Tuttle

                 Author of “Hashknife--Philanthropist,”
                      “The Devil’s Dooryard,” etc.


An observer might have said that it was cruelty to animals to drive a
team at high speed over such roads. Perhaps the two men, sitting on
the seat of the swaying lumber-wagon, might have replied that it was
cruelty to human beings for a team to act in that hurried manner.
There was no question but what the team of pinto horses had taken the
matter into their own hands--or rather feet--and the two men had
nothing to say about it.

The equipage swept around the curving grade, skidding and bouncing,
while the two men clung to the sides of the seat, staring straight
ahead.

Suddenly they whirled around another curve, the wheels of the
lumber-wagon spinning dangerously near to the outer end of the grade,
and just ahead of them, blocking the road, stood a stage-coach and
four horses, headed in the same direction as the runaway. The
sharpness of the curve and a strong wind blowing down the cañon had
effectively masked the approach of the runaway, and there was no time
for either man to jump nor for any of the people at the stage to get
out of the road.

At the side of the coach stood a woman. Just beyond her stood a
masked man, rifle in hand. The driver was humped on his seat, lines
held between his knees, while another masked man stood on the hub of
a front wheel tugging at a heavy iron box which was partly wedged
under the seat. The two men saw all this in a flash, and then the
runaway team crashed into the rear of the stage.

The force of the impact drove the tongue of the wagon into the flimsy
body of the stage, whirling it half-around and turning it off the grade;
the four horses rearing and plunging as they whirled off the road and
went down the sharp embankment.

The pinto team was flung sidewise, jackknifing with the stage; the
wagon, going sidewise, caught in the deep rut and turned completely
over, following the wrecked stage off the grade.

The two men were thrown from the wagon-seat; one of them turning a
complete somersault and landing on his hands and knees against the
upper bank, while the other sprawled in the road, turned over several
times and finally stopped in a sitting position with his legs dangling
over the edge of the grade.

The one at the side of the bank blinked his eyes several times and then
ran his hand through his mop of brick-red hair. Then he got painfully to
his feet, walked to the edge of the grade and looked around.

The other, a giant of a man at least six feet six inches tall, with a
long, crooked nose and a wide, humorous mouth, retained his position,
except that he took a red-silk handkerchief from his hip pocket and
blew his nose violently. Then he said--

“Brick, old Lafe is goin’ to be real put out about them there pintos and
that wagon, y’betcha.”

The red-head nodded sadly. Then he turned and spat out some sand.

There was nothing heroic-looking about “Brick” Davidson. His hair was
the color of new-baked bricks, and his thin, sensitive nose was
plentifully besprinkled with freckles. His eyes were very blue and very
ready to search out the humorous things in life. He looked below medium
size, comparing him to the bulk of “Silent” Slade, but Brick was not a
small man.

He spat out some more sand and looked at Silent.

“Whatcha drop them lines for?”

“You argued with me, didn’t yuh?”

The big man’s tone was querulous.

“Yuh always argue with me, Brick Davidson, and you know danged well I’ve
gotta gesture.”

“Gesture!”

Brick Davidson spat again contemptuously.

“Gotta, eh? Why didn’t yuh go to a school where they teaches yuh to talk
with your mouth? Write me a note next time, Silent. Floppin’ your arms
like a he-buzzard gittin’ ready to fly don’t convey no thoughts to my
mind.”

Silent Slade got slowly to his feet and peered down the hill. The stage
had stopped in a clump of jack-pines, and the four stage horses, almost
stripped of harness, had tangled with the limbs of a fallen pine.

One of the pintos stood near the wrecked wagon, front feet tangled in
lines and neckyoke, kicking viciously at a dangling tug. The other
pinto was unfortunately past kicking at tugs, unless ghost horses wear
harness.

“Brick!” exclaimed Silent. “Brick, I didn’t see much before the
ca-tas-trophy, but somehow I gets the fool idea that there was a woman
beside the stage.”

“Whatcha tryin’ to do-o-o! Whatcha tryin’ to do-o-o!”

A long, lean face--a face that was scratched and dirty, with a long
lock of grizzled hair sticking straight up like an interrogation point,
suddenly appeared from behind a mesquite-bush at the edge of the grade
as its owner scrambled slowly back to the road level.

He stared at Brick and Silent, and his jaws worked spasmodically as if
trying to loosen something distasteful to his palate.

“It was thisaway, Limpy,” began Silent.

“I’d rather hear Davidson tell it,” interrupted Limpy Squires, the
stage-driver. “You kinda alibi yourself before yuh tell anythin’.”

“There was a woman--” began Silent.

Limpy turned and looked down toward the wrecked stage; then back at
Silent and Brick, masticating furiously. Brick’s toe described a circle
in the dust as he averted his glance from the old stage-driver.

Limpy looked back down the hill and Brick stooped swiftly and picked
something off the ground. His sudden motion caused the others to turn,
but they only saw Brick’s hand coming away from his hip pocket, dangling
a package of smoking-tobacco.

“Yuh ain’t mentioned the hold-up,” remarked Brick. “Have yuh forgot it,
Limpy?”

Limpy scratched his tousled head, while his tongue explored the interior
of his mouth. Then he nodded.

“You fellers sure busted up a regular party. I wonder----”

Limpy slid down the bank toward the stage, and Brick and Silent followed
him.

Limpy led the way into the thicket and climbed up on one of the front
wheels. He peered under the seat, then got down and limped around to
the other side, where an iron box was lying upside down.

“They never got it,” grinned Limpy, patting the box with his toe.

“What’s in it?”

Brick knelt down and looked at it closely.

“I dunno. Sent out by the Whippoorwill mine. Danged thing must weigh
about a hundred pounds.”

“Who was the woman?” asked Brick.

Limpy rubbed his hands on his hips and squinted at Brick.

“I ain’t in the habit of asking passengers for their names. She didn’t
do no talkin’, and she wore a veil.”

“Reckon them there robbers kidnaped her?”

This from Silent.

“Kidnaped, ----!” grunted Limpy. “She wasn’t no kid. We’ll have to take
this here box----”

“Yuh needn’t worry about the box,” said a voice behind them; and they
turned to look into the muzzle of a rifle, backed up by a masked man.

                   *       *       *       *       *

The mask was of black material with two eyeholes, and it covered him
from the crown of his hat to below his shoulders.

The three instinctively put up their hands, and just then the bushes
parted and out stepped another masked man and a masked woman. The
woman’s dress was badly torn, and there was a smear of blood across
her wrist. In her right hand she carried a heavy pistol, while the
man carried a rifle. At a nod from the first man the woman took the
rifle and leveled it at the group, while one of the men appropriated
the pistols from Brick, Silent and Limpy.

Then the two men picked up the iron box and carried it down the hill
out of sight, while the woman still covered the three men. She made no
motion to follow her companions. Brick shifted his weight to his right
leg and grinned at her.

“Yuh don’t need to point that at me, sister. It wasn’t my little iron
box.”

“Nor mine,” added Limpy. “Under the circumstances, I don’t even know
what box yuh refers to.”

But the woman refused to speak.

“Never knowed it could be possible,” drawled Silent. “It ain’t noways
reasonable to suppose that a woman can keep from talkin’ thataway. No
offense, ma’am; but are yuh married?”

The woman seemed to be laughing under her mask, but did not reply.

“’Cause,” Silent pointed out, “’cause if yuh ain’t---- No, I want to
see your face before I goes further in these here ne-go-ti-a-tions.
Your disposition suits me to a gnat’s eyelash, but I’m kinda finicky
about faces.”

From down in the timber came a shrill whistle, and the woman turned
and started away, turning her back on the three men. She disappeared
into the brush.

“Well,” said Brick, “you fellers might as well take your hands down.”

Silent grinned and lowered his hands. Limpy rubbed his hands together
and masticated viciously, staring at the others. Silent started for
the spot where the woman had entered the brush, but a bullet flupped
past his head and thudded into the body of the coach. From down in the
ravine came the _whang_ of a rifle.

“No.” Silent shook his head. “No, I reckon I won’t try to make a mash on
her while she’s got a chapey-rone like that.”

“Held up by a woman,” chuckled Brick. “Sufferin’ sunfish! Next thing yuh
know they’ll be drivin’ stages and----”

“Go ahead and laugh!” rasped Limpy. “Your hands went as high as mine
did.”

“Higher,” admitted Brick. “I’m taller than you, Limpy. Let’s each take a
horse and go to Marlin City. Mebbe the sheriff would like to hear about
it.”

“Whatsa use?” argued Silent. “‘Bunty’ Blair’d never catch any
road-agents.”

“He’s a elegant sheriff,” nodded Limpy. “Swell-elegant.”

“You helped elect him,” accused Silent.

“I didn’t!” snapped Limpy. “I voted for Brick.”

Brick stopped half-way up the sloping side of the grade and laughed.

“If yuh did, Limpy, there was crooked work at the polls. I only got
seven votes. Silent, ‘Baldy’ McPherson, Sam Clayton, Bill See, Lafe
Freeman, ‘Happy’ Sinclair and me. Them six was campaignin’ for me,
and I know I voted for myself.”

Limpy masticated violently. The evidence seemed against him.

“I kinda thought yuh had a good chance, Brick,” he stated, ignoring
Brick’s implication. “Happy told me that yuh had three hundred votes
pledged.”

“I did. Election showed me one thing, Limpy.”

“What?”

“That there’s three hundred ---- liars in Sun-Dog County.”

Limpy scratched his nose reflectively and nodded.

“More’n that, Brick--seven more; only you wasn’t in no position to
discover the other seven.”

Brick laughed. Brick was always ready to laugh, even if the joke was on
him, and the recent election had surely been a joke--as far as Brick was
concerned.

It was the first time that there had been a split in the Democrat and
Republican vote in Sun-Dog. Bunty Blair, the fortunate candidate, had
won over Zell Mohr by six votes.

There was no question but that the Nine Bar Nine outfit and supporters
could have swung the election to Mohr, but there was little choice
between Blair and Mohr. Bunty owned a small horse outfit a few miles
from Marlin City, while Mohr owned a big saloon in Silverton, sixteen
miles west.

Mohr was a burly, silent man, swarthy as a Mexican, but his nerve had
never been questioned. Bunty, on the other hand, was slight of
physique, prone to alibi himself out of all trouble--and to keep out.
Limpy’s expression, “swell-elegant,” covered Bunty better than any
description.

Men agreed that Brick Davidson might make a good sheriff--but Lafe
Freeman, owner of the Nine Bar Nine, announced openly in the Dollar
Down Saloon the night before election:

“No, Brick won’t git elected, and I’ll tell yuh why. He knows too
much for the size of the jail. He’d have to build a bull-pen to hold
the overflow. With Bunty Blair or Zell Mohr on the job we could tear
down the jail and they wouldn’t miss it durin’ their term.”

Zell Mohr heard this statement but made no reply. Lafe Freeman knew
that Mohr was there, and Mohr knew that Lafe said it for his benefit.
Lafe had notches in his old single-action Colt, and Marlin City knew
how he got them. Therefore, Zell Mohr feigned not to have heard the
statement.

                   *       *       *       *       *

The sheriff’s office interior proved that Bunty Blair was
“swell-elegant.” The ages-old reward posters had been torn from the
walls and in their place hung works of art. The subjects of these
framed ornaments were not at all decorous, but they pleased the eyes
of Bunty and his deputy, “Three Star” Hennessey, who affected red
vests and perfume.

Three Star was ornamental, but very unpractical. His classic features
were marred by an old knife-scar which circled one of his cheeks, and
his nose had come in contact with a heavy object at some past date which
had moved it out of a straight line; but Three Star had decorative ideas
as to raiment, which seemed to satisfy Bunty Blair’s conception of what
a deputy sheriff should wear.

Easy-chairs had replaced the old whittled relics, and there was little
left to suggest a sheriff’s office except the weather-beaten sign over
the door. The county paid the sheriff the munificent sum of a hundred
dollars per month, which was far too small a sum considering the danger
connected with wearing a star in Sun-Dog County. Sun-Dog was fortunate
in being able to dispose of the office.

The voters seemed willing to follow the lines of least resistance, and
to elect a sheriff that would do likewise.

Just now Bunty and Three Star were sitting in the office. Bunty lolled
back in a chair, his feet on the table, half-asleep, while Three Star’s
long nose delved deep into the pages of an ancient magazine.

Sitting in the doorway, back against one side and feet braced
against the other, was “Harp” Harris, one of Bunty’s hired men. Harp
was of peculiar physique. His shoulders were narrow--so narrow, in
fact, that when he stood upright one noticed that it was a straight
line from the point of his shoulder to hip, and thence down his long
leg to a pair of big feet. A pair of bat-ears extended well out from
his head, completing the straight line from head to heels. His face
was habitually sad; caused, no doubt, by the mental effort of trying
to remember certain tunes. Just now Harp’s two big hands were cupped
around his mouth, from which came the doleful twanging of a
jew’s-harp. While other cowpunchers soothed their nerves with
cigarets, Harp relaxed over the vibrating little instrument.

Suddenly he wiped his lips with the back of his hand and stared up the
street.

“Somethin’,” stated Harp, turning to Three Star, “somethin’ has come to
pass.”

Up to the hitch-rack came Brick, Silent and Limpy, all mounted on
harnessed horses and leading two more. They tied the horses to the rack
and then came over to the office door. Bunty and Three Star came to the
door. Limpy masticated violently, scratched his nose and looked up at
Bunty.

“Held up.”

Bunty craned his neck for a look at the horses.

“Did they steal your stage?” asked Harp.

Limpy ignored this pleasantry.

“Get anything?” asked Bunty.

“Somethin’,” nodded Limpy.

“One man?” inquired Three Star.

“Two men.”

“Oh!” grunted Bunty.

“Was yuh expectin’ more?” asked Brick.

“Where?” Bunty ignored Brick.

“Whisperin’ Crick grade. Know where them two curves is? It was the one
this side. There’s a lot of brush----”

“I know the place. Where’s the stage?”

“Ditched.”

“Anybody hurt?”

“There was a female--” began Limpy, but caught a look from Brick and
stopped.

“Was she hurt?”

“Not so awful danged bad,” said Brick.

“I’ll ask Limpy to do the talking,” stated Bunty. “Where is the woman?”

“I dunno,” grunted Limpy.

Bunty stared at Limpy and then at Silent and Brick, who were grinning.

“This is the ----est conversation I ever heard!” snapped Bunty, and then
turned to Harp. “Go hitch up my horse.”

“Ain’tcha goin’ to take a posse?” asked Silent. “Yuh sure ain’t goin’
huntin’ road-agents with a top-buggy.”

“Since when did you start running my office, Slade?”

Harp went around behind the building, and Bunty and Three Star went back
into the office, leaving Silent, Brick and Limpy looking at one another.

“This country is goin’ to the dogs,” declared Limpy.

“Mark an X in front of their name instead of tyin’ a can on their
tail--what do yuh expect?” demanded Brick.

Limpy turned back to the horses, unhooked the mail-sack from over a
hame and limped up the street toward the post-office. Brick and Silent
grinned and crossed the street.

“What did yuh find down there in the road, Brick?”

Brick looked sharply at Silent, but Silent’s expression showed that
he was not merely guessing that Brick had picked up something at the
scene of the hold-up. They were at the door of the Dollar Down, and
Brick shook his head warningly and they went inside.

It was too early in the day for much animation in King Cleeve’s place.
Several men were lolling around the place. A gambler sat at a table,
idly turning cards from a dealing-box. Over at the piano a dance-hall
girl was trying to pick out a tune with one finger, and grimacing with
the effort of picking out the right key.

The bartender slid a bottle down the bar and reached for glasses.

“Where’s Cleeve?” asked Brick.

“Huntin’.”

The bartender grinned as if it were a joke.

“Huntin’ what?”

“Coyotes. Zell Mohr brought his three greyhounds from Silverton, and him
and King went huntin’. Reckon they’re goin’ to run ’em down. They’ve
been talking about it for quite a while.”

“Sun-Dog County sure is gittin’ civilized,” nodded Brick. “Women holdin’
up stages, sheriff huntin’ outlaws in a top-buggy and gamblers ridin’ to
hounds.”

“Which all happens when?”

The bartender was interested.

“Today. The stage was held up a while ago.”

“Women do it?”

“Woman,” corrected Brick.

The bartender turned away to serve a customer.

“’S ---- funny that nobody gits excited,” complained Silent, and then
whispered, “What did yuh find, Brick?”

Brick drank and turned away from the bar. Silent shook his head and
followed Brick outside. Harp Harris was leaning against a post in front
of the Boston Café, twanging dolefully on his jew’s-harp, while from Le
Blanc’s blacksmith shop came the not unmusical clanging of steel against
steel.

“This here place,” declared Silent; “this here place needs a
Sunday-school to wake her up. Let’s go and eat.”

They crossed the street and stopped at the edge of the sidewalk, where
Brick pointed his nose toward the sky and gave a soft imitation of a
coyote howl. Harp grinned and wiped the back of his long hand across
his lips.

“Bunty and Three Star went buggy-ridin’,” he stated.

“Gosh!”

Silent appeared shocked.

“Did they go armed?”

Harp grinned and shrugged his narrow shoulders.

“I’d hate to tell for fear it might leak out.”

“Sure,” grinned Brick. “Bein’ as you’re Bunty’s hired----”

“Period,” grunted Harp. “I ain’t with him no more.”

“When did yuh quit?”

“Thank yuh, Brick, but I didn’t quit.”

“What did he fire yuh for, Harp?”

“Well--” Harp licked his lips thoughtfully--“well, I told him to be sure
and lock up the jail ’cause somebody might steal the hinges off the cell
doors.”

Brick grinned.

“Want to work for the Nine Bar Nine?”

“Gotta work,” observed Harp.

“You’re hired. Come and eat with us, hired man.”

Harp asked nothing about the robbery, and they ate silently.

Their meal over, they sauntered outside just as a roan team, hauling a
buckboard, was driven up in front of the restaurant by Lafe Freeman.

“Brick, what happened to the team and wagon?” he rasped.

“Ran away. Silent accident’ly dropped the lines.”

“Did, eh?”

Freeman glared at Silent.

“Accidental, eh? Pinto dead and that Schuttler wagon all busted
to ----!”

Lafe shifted his eyes to Brick.

“You’re fired. Do yuh hear that? Both of yuh fired.”

Brick nodded sadly and turned to Harp, who was starting to put the
jew’s-harp between his lips.

“I’ve gotta cancel that job, Harp.”

“Thanks,” grunted Harp, “I’d hate to work for a man who was that mean.”

Lafe Freeman started to kick off the brake, but changed his mind.

“Met the sheriff and his ornyment down there,” motioning down the road.
“Said there was a hold-up.”

“Yeah,” nodded Brick. “Yeah, there was, Lafe.”

Freeman held the lines between his knees while he filled his old pipe.
He smiled down at the pipe and turned to Brick.

“Whatcha say, Brick?”

“I didn’t say,” drawled Brick, “but I was jist thinkin’ about hittin’
yuh for a job.”

“Say yuh was?”

Lafe’s tone was indignantly sarcastic.

“Huh! Yuh was, was yuh?”

He shifted his eyes to Silent and Harp and back to Brick.

“S’pose yuh want a job as foreman, eh? Yuh do? Then you’ll go and
hire Silent Slade and that danged harp-twanger over there. My gosh,
don’tcha know wagons cost money? Don’tcha know that there pinto horse
was worth----”

“Sure, sure,” nodded Brick, “I knowed we’d git fired. Silent says to
me--‘Brick, my heart bleeds for Lafe, but----’”

“Don’t lie!” snapped Lafe. “You’ve done enough without that. C’mere and
tell me about that hold-up, will yuh?”

“A female!” gasped Lafe, as Brick described the hold-up. “Female? I tell
yuh it’s gittin’ so we can’t trust our weak sex.

“Held a Winchester right on the three of yuh. Whatcha know about that?
Petticoats and perfumed sheriffs. Next thing yuh know we’ll have to do
the crowshayin’.”

“Here comes Limpy,” stated Silent. “Been down to the telegraph office.”

Limpy was hurrying as fast as his game leg would permit and working
his jaws overtime. He shuffled to a stop beside the buckboard and spat
copiously.

“Sent a message to Teton,” he volunteered. “They’ll send it to the
Whippoorwill.”

“What do yuh reckon was in that box, Limpy?” asked Brick.

“We-e-ell--” Limpy squinted up the street--“well, the Whippoorwill’s
a free-gold producer, and they ain’t shipped in a long time. That box
weighed about a hundred pounds, and folks don’t generally ship junk,
do they?”

“Hundred pounds of gold!” gasped Lafe. “Thirty thousand dollars or
thereabouts! ---- fools ought to lose it when they send it without
protection. Thought they was smart, didn’t they? Nobody expects a
unguarded stage to haul money. Don’t believe in it myself, y’betcha.
Goin’ to the ranch, Brick?”

“Not now. Me and Silent can borry a couple of broncs from Wesson. You’ve
got a outfit, ain’t yuh, Harp? Harp’s workin’ for us now, Lafe.”

“Work ----!” Lafe exploded. “Never had a puncher yet that would work.
All right, all right. Come out and visit us, Harp. Forty a month for
visitin’ punchers. I’m goin’ to fasten that heatin’-stove on the back
of this buckboard. Ought to ’a’ done that instead of sendin’ a couple
of danged fools and a pinto team after it. Giddap.”

Limpy turned and went down the street. Harp yawned and opined that he
would buck the wheel for a while, being as he had a new job and didn’t
have any use for the last money that Bunty would ever pay him.

Brick and Silent sat down in the shade of a building. Silent watched
Brick roll and shape a cigaret, and then he said:

“Yuh might tell me what it was. I say, yuh might, but the ---- only
knows if yuh will or not.”

Brick lighted his cigaret and pinched out the lighted match before
grinding it under his heel. Then he reached into his hip pocket and
took out a soiled envelope, which he held in his cupped hands. There
was just a name on it:

                             SCOTT MARTIN.

It had been opened. Brick slowly drew out the slip of paper, and he and
Silent read the penciled note.

    Tuesday, I think. J will be on stage and will signal at first
    curve. If no signal, let go. If there, J will go to Marlin,
    unless trouble. Can take care of self. This is big. Meet you
    in same place.
                                                    (Signed) O.

Brick and Silent looked at each other for a moment and then down at the
note. Brick folded it up and replaced it in his pocket.

“Know who Scott Martin is?” asked Silent.

Brick nodded and puffed on his cigaret.

“Bought out the old Weepin’ Tree ranch. Tall, freckled _hombre_, about
fifty years old. Ties his gun down.”

“Rides a blaze-faced bay,” added Silent. “I’ve seen him. Kinda puts the
deadwood on him, Brick. Gee cripes, a man’s a sucker to take chances on
losin’ that kind of a note.”

“Fools ain’t all dead,” grinned Brick. “In fact, I reckon, they’re right
in their prime.”

“Whatcha goin’ to do about it?”

Silent was getting anxious.

“Wait for the reward.”

“Here comes Sun-Dog’s swell-elegant sheriff, Brick.”

Brick and Silent strolled down and watched Bunty and his deputy get out
of their buggy.

“Well, I see yuh got back safe,” observed Brick.

Three Star grunted, but Bunty ignored them.

“Did yuh find any tracks in the dust?” inquired Brick, insinuating that
the officers did not get far from their buggy.

“I’d hate to have ’em follerin’ me in the snow,” stated Silent. “Betcha
they’d make me go some. Did yuh find the woman?”

“You’re loco,” declared Three Star. “Women don’t hold up stages.”

“Silent, me and you can’t lie a-tall--not and get away with it.”

Brick grew very despondent.

“Other fellers can lie and make anybody believe----”

“Wait a minute!” snapped the exasperated sheriff. “You two talk too much
and say nothin’.”

“What can yuh expect?” wailed Silent. “They took our guns and we’ve got
all excited. Nobody can talk sense when they’re excited.”

“Can you describe the robbers?” asked Bunty.

“Sure.”

Brick stepped in close to Bunty and grew very accurate in his
description.

“Medium size; mebbe a little taller. Both wore overalls, shirts and
boots and had masks on.”

“One chawed spittin’-weed,” added Silent. “Yuh ought to be able to find
him easy. Yeah, he sure did. And another thing--they all had guns.”

“You think you’re ---- smart!” snapped Bunty. “What about the woman?
You’ve told several different stories.”

“That’s right.”

Brick grew serious.

“Silent, we’ve made a awful mistake thataway. Anyway--” Brick grinned at
Bunty--“anyway, I can’t remember just what he did tell; so we’ll stick
to all of ’em.”

Bunty grunted with disgust over this ridiculous statement and went into
the office, followed by Three Star, equally disgusted, while Brick and
Silent grinned joyfully and went back up the street to the Dollar Down,
where they found Harp leaning against the bar, twanging dolefully.

“Git him away,” wailed a half-drunk cowboy from the Bar S, pointing at
Harp. “His kinda music makes me cry, and when I cry I get mean,” and
then he added meaningly, “I’ve been cryin’ quite a while now.”

Harp grinned. Just then came an interruption in the shape of three
rangy-looking greyhounds, which came frisking into the front door. They
trotted a circle around the room and then headed for Brick. Dogs always
came to Brick.

He leaned down and was immediately the center of three plunging beasts,
all seeking to get the bulk of caresses.

Brick managed to back away from them, and just then King Cleeve and Zell
Mohr came in. Mohr was carrying several fresh coyote pelts, which were
tied together. The inhabitants of the place surrounded them and Cleeve
set up the drinks.

King Cleeve was of the cool, calculating type of gambler. There was
nothing flashy about him, except that he wore an enormous yellow
sapphire ring on his left hand, and the mate to it flashed from his
necktie. He was of medium height, graceful in his movements, with the
long, tapering hands of a man who drew a living without hard labor.
His face was not unpleasant, although his eyes were shallow and his
teeth too short and even to make his smile friendly.

Just now he was wearing a flannel shirt and a pair of well-worn chaps.

“It’s the real sport,” stated Cleeve; but there was little exultation in
his voice. “Think I’ll get me some dogs.”

“Dogs run ’em down, eh?” wondered Brick. “That’s goin’ some.”

“Run ’em down all right,” assured Mohr. “Them dogs are runners.”

“Caught four of ’em, eh?” asked Brick, examining the bundle of pelts.
“Betcha them dogs had to go some. Had to shoot ’em, didn’t yuh?”

“After the dogs caught ’em,” nodded Mohr. “No use letting the dogs get
chawed up.”

“That’s right,” grinned Brick, fondling the lean head of a fawn-colored
hound, and immediately becoming the center of the three dogs again.

Just then Lafe Freeman drove up in front of the saloon. Tied to the
back of the buckboard was a heating-stove, which threatened to cave in
the rear of the flimsy vehicle. Lafe came in. He nodded to several of
the men.

“Hear about the robbery, Cleeve?”

Cleeve nodded.

“Yes. We met the sheriff down the street. He didn’t seem to know much
about it.”

“He wouldn’t,” said Lafe. “Yuh can’t expect him to. I think Limpy is
goin’ after ’em himself. As I came past his shack he was packin’ a
horse and he had a riding-horse saddled.”

Mohr turned from the bar and spoke to his dogs.

“Yuh got some nice dogs there,” remarked Brick.

Mohr nodded and turned to King Cleeve.

“Reckon I’ll be goin’, Cleeve. You keep them hides. As soon as I can get
them pups I’ll let yuh know.”

The crowd at the bar broke up. Brick and Silent watched Lafe swing out
of town, team on the run as usual.

“We’ll borrow a couple of horses from Wesson,” said Brick as the three
of them crossed the street.

“I’d kinda like to chase coyotes,” observed Silent.

“Go ahead,” said Brick. “Don’t let me stop yuh. At that you’d likely
catch as many as them hounds did.”

“Whatcha mean?” asked Silent quickly, but Brick did not say.

Cale Wesson let them have the pick of his stable, and as they started
down the street Limpy rode from behind the blacksmith shop, leading a
packed horse.

“Goin’ huntin’ outlaws, Limpy?” asked Brick.

Limpy squinted at Brick, glanced back up the street, where a number of
men were standing in front of the Dollar Down, and then back at Brick.

“I dunno--yet. If this danged pack-animal will git animated a little
I’ll ride as far as the forks with yuh.”

Brick swung in behind the pack-horse, and that worthy animal, knowing
the meaning of such actions, broke into a lope.

Three miles from town, at the forks of Whisperin’ Creek, Brick, Silent
and Harp waved good-by to Limpy Squires, and then swung into the low
hills of the Nine Bar Nine range.

    “She-e-e was a shrinkin’ vi’let
    And I loved her ten-n-n-der-lee-e-e.
    I called her-r-r mine, my I-i-iodine,
    But she nev-v-v-er came back to me-e-e.”

Silent’s face gradually came back to normal as he wailed the last line.
Harp Harris gave an extra doleful twang to his jew’s-harp and nodded in
appreciation.

“Yuh might like to know that Iodine ain’t a girl’s name,” remarked Brick
from where he sat on the edge of a bunk, massaging his toes, which were
encased in an all-too-tight boot.

“This one was named that,” retorted Silent.

“Iodine is a medicine.”

“So was she--good medicine, Brick.”

Silent watched Brick rubbing his toes.

“What yuh ought to do is this, Brick; massage your feet with a
meat-grinder and then pour the results into a sausage-skin. What
in ---- a feller wants to pinch----”

“Them is my feet,” stated the ungrammatical Brick.

“That there was my song,” reminded Silent, “but you took exceptions to
it.”

“Some folks takes exceptions to my music,” observed Harp.

“Not me.”

Brick shook his head seriously.

“I like it, Harp. Sounds like a dyin’ Injun with his head in a
barrel--and I hate Injuns.”

“A feller can wear a hat that’s too small, and all she does is fall
off,” stated Silent, “but when he bunches his toes inside a boot what
is three sizes too small---- Of course, if I was a tin-horn gambler or
was in love----”

Brick glared at Silent for a moment, but the pain in his foot drew his
attention away. He hooked the heel of the offending boot over the end
of the bunk and pulled his foot out, with a sigh of relief. He picked
up the boot and looked it over.

“Takes a lot of argument, but sometimes yuh show sense,” remarked
Silent. “I knowed a feller down in Wyoming who was a heap like you,
Brick. He was herdin’ sheep for a while, but he didn’t have sense
enough to herd sheep, so he----”

Silent ducked just in time to escape the thrown boot, but as he
ducked his head hit the table-top a resounding whack. He staggered
back, clutching at his forehead, dazed. He started for Brick, who was
convulsed with laughter and unable to defend himself.

“If yuh kill him I’ll never play for yuh again,” declared Harp, stepping
in front of Silent.

“O-o-o-oh, mama mine!” choked Brick. “If it hadn’t been for that table
he’d ’a’ dropped his head on the floor!”

“By cripes, yuh must think that’s funny!” howled Silent. “If yuh do
you’ve got another think comin’.”

“Nobody told yuh to hammer the table with your head.”

Silent groaned and massaged his forehead. Finally he grinned and said:

“Well, are we goin’ to town, Brick? Thousand dollars ain’t much, but it
helps a lot in these stingy times.”

“Funny that the Whippoorwill don’t raise that ante,” remarked Brick,
pulling on his old boots. “The county never lost nothin’, but still
they offers a thousand.”

                   *       *       *       *       *

It was three days after the robbery, but no one had found the slightest
trace of the bandits. Conjectures were rife as to the contents of the
iron box. The superintendent of the Whippoorwill mine refused to issue
any statement of the amount, and beyond the probable value, based on
Limpy’s estimate of the weight, there was nothing to show the extent of
the haul.

And Limpy had disappeared. Whether on the track of the bandits or on
personal business, no one knew. Limpy had been very brief in his
statements, and outside of his first words to the sheriff, had not
mentioned the woman. No one except Silent, Lafe, Brick and Limpy
actually knew what happened at the hold-up.

Brick and Silent had not been to Marlin since the day of the robbery,
but Harp had made the trip each day, gathering the latest gossip. Harp
had no idea of why they wanted first news of the reward, but it was
easier to ride to Marlin and loaf around than it was to work on the
ranch. If the Nine Bar Nine wanted to pay him for loafing in town,
fine. And besides it gave him a chance to learn a lot of new tunes on
his harp.

Brick and Silent had deliberated on letting Harp in on the proposition.
Harp was a square-shooter. He was fast with a gun and a top rider. They
finally decided to let Harp in on their secret.

As they rode away from the ranch Brick told Harp and let him read the
note.

“Well, ----!” drawled Harp delightedly. “She’s a dead open and shut.
Let’s go and arrest him.”

“Him!” snorted Brick. “We seen three, and from this note it looks like
four. One of them initials, I reckon it’s J, stands for the female.
We’ll kinda investigate this here Martin, but for gosh sake use a little
sense, will yuh? We ain’t got a danged thing except this letter.”

At the scene of the hold-up they swung off the grade and rode down to
the pine thicket. The stage was still there, but Freeman had hired Joe
Le Blanc to haul the wagon to his shop at Marlin City.

Brick dismounted and walked down from the stage until he reached a
point where the top of the stage was barely visible. Then he searched
the ground. Suddenly he grunted and picked up an empty .45-70 cartridge
shell. Silent and Harp looked at it.

“World is full of .45-70’s,” stated Silent.

Brick nodded and examined the cartridge. To all appearances it was an
ordinary cartridge shell. No one except a gun crank would give it a
second glance. Brick turned it around in his fingers, feeling of it
carefully.

To all appearances the cartridge was old. It was spotted with verdigris
and scratched as if it had been handled considerably.

Brick noted this. In a country where there was much use for
rifle-shooting it seemed strange that any man would have an old
cartridge in his possession. A hold-up man would rarely take a chance
of using an old cartridge in a repeating rifle--or in any gun for that
matter.

Brick examined the butt of this shell, and noted that it was slightly
swollen. The firing-pin of the rifle had dented the primer near the top,
fairly cutting into the brass rim of the cartridge. Brick glanced at the
others.

“Likely the one they shot past my head,” grinned Silent. “Reckon I’m
lucky to be able to look calmly upon that ca’tridge-shell.”

Brick dropped the shell into his pocket and got back on his horse.

“He’s thinkin’,” observed Silent. “That shell means a lot to him, Harp.
Shouldn’t be afraid to bet that he knows them bandits’ ancestors by
their first name by now.”

“Sure,” nodded Harp. “Betcha he even knows it was fired in a .45-70.”

Brick turned in his saddle and grinned at Harp.

“I might fool yuh on the way I’d bet.”

“And,” observed Silent, “they send ’em to the loco lodge for thinkin’
they’re somethin’ that they ain’t.”

Brick led them straight through the main street of Marlin City. Bunty
Blair was standing in front of the Dollar Down, and when he saw them
he sauntered over toward the hitch-rack as if to meet them when they
rode up; but they never even looked at him as they rode past.

“That’s high-tonin’ the law,” grinned Silent, watching Bunty from the
corner of his eye. “Mister Blair likely was wishful to ask questions.
Believe me, cowboys, we’ll hookum cow on this deal. When we turn our
prisoners over to the law we’ll take receipt.”

“Yuh can’t figure on chicken stew by lookin’ at a nest full of aigs,”
reminded Brick. “We’re goin’ to be danged lucky to find out who done
it, and then we’ll likely earn a lot more than a thousand dollars
landin’ ’em. We know there was two men and a woman, which makes it
equal to about five men.”

“How do yuh figure thataway?” asked Harp.

“That’s right, Harp--you never seen that woman.”

                   *       *       *       *       *

The Weeping Tree ranch was what might be termed a derelict. The ranch
had changed hands numberless times, and it appeared that each new owner
had added a room or two to the rambling ranch-house until it had grown
to be almost a complete rectangle, in the center of which grew a gnarled
weeping-willow tree.

The old tumble-down barn also had many angles, and from the number of
pole corrals it appeared that each owner had had a pet idea of corral
construction. The ranch-house had no protection from the elements,
and it appeared that each addition had shrunk away from its neighbor
until it was almost possible to look between all the additions to the
original ranch-house.

Smoke was drifting from the stove-pipe, or rather one of the
stove-pipes, when the three cowboys rode into the rectangle and
dismounted.

“Whatcha goin’ to say to him?” asked Silent.

“Party call,” grinned Brick.

“Independent party,” chuckled Harp, remembering the recent election.

They started away from their horses, but stopped. A woman was singing:

    “Oh! Ye’ll tak’ the high-road and I’ll tak’ the low-road,
    And I’ll be in Scotland a-fore ye,
    But me and my true love will never meet again
    On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.”

The words ceased, but the rich throaty contralto hummed the chorus of
the old Scotch song once more. Brick Davidson’s mother had been
Scotch--and she had sung this same song to him. It had been years since
Brick had heard it, and it brought back a rush of memories--memories of
a sweet-faced woman who used to cuddle him in her arms and call him
“laddie o’ mine.”

Brick was not sentimental, but just now he found himself, hat in hand,
staring down at the ground. He glanced at his companions. Harp was
staring at the open door, mouth open. Silent had stepped back against
his horse and was standing with his arms folded and eyes closed.

Brick’s eyes switched back to the door just as the owner of the voice
appeared. For a moment she did not see them--her eyes seemingly looking
far away. Then she gave a start of surprize.

She was not beautiful. Her face was tanned, her hair a tumbled brown
mass, and a smudge of black discolored one of her cheeks. The faded
blue-calico dress, the dejected attitude, might have made her a
pathetic figure; but she was too tall, too visibly healthy to be
pathetic.

“Ma’am,” said Brick softly, “yuh got a beauty-spot.”

Her hand went slowly to her cheek and a smile flashed across her face.

“I’ve been trying to fix that darned stove-pipe. When I get it level the
stove won’t stand up, and when I get the stove level the pipe won’t fit.
Know anything about stoves?”

“I’m a expert on ’em,” stated Silent.

“Not saggin’ ones,” corrected Brick. “I’m the sag expert.”

There was a three-cornered rush for the doorway, but Brick was the first
one inside.

Some time, in the dim and distant past, this stove might have had four
legs; but now it rested its four corners on a stone, two bricks, an old
kettle and a block of wood. The rusty pipe, of odd lengths, made several
angles before entering the tin-protected hole in the roof.

The three cowboys surrounded the stove and examined it carefully. The
section of pipe which connected to the top of the stove had been freshly
cut, but Silent did not note this trifling detail.

“The ---- fool that cut this must ’a’ been cross-eyed,” he declared. “No
wonder it won’t fit when the stove’s level.”

“I’m not much of a mechanic,” admitted the girl soberly.

“Aw-w-w,” choked Silent, coloring to the roots of his hair. “Aw, I can
see where yuh made the mistake, ma’am; one of the corners was saggin’.
Anybody’d make the same mistake.”

Brick removed the offending section of pipe and proceeded to ruin his
pet pocketknife in cutting the pipe square across, while Silent and
Harp shifted nervously from one foot to the other.

“She’s a small world, ma’am,” declared Silent, “but I ain’t never met
yuh before. I’m Melville Slade. Folks calls me Silent ’cause I never
have much to say. This one here is Harp Harris. The pipe-cutter over
there is named Brick Davidson.”

“Harp ain’t my right name, ma’am.”

Harp said that much and then took a deep breath, like a man who had
been under water a long time--or was getting ready to go under. Then
he finished breathlessly--

“I was christened Cadwallader Jones Harris, ma’am.”

Harp beamed with joy over his disclosure.

“I’d stick to Harp if I was you,” grunted Brick. “Sayin’ your full name
sounds like fallin’ over a door-step and hitting your head on a chair.”

“Were you christened Brick?” asked the girl.

“His name’s Donald Campbell Davidson,” chanted Harp. “I know, ’cause I
seen it on a letter.”

Brick grinned at her.

“I am Jean Martin,” said the girl simply.

“Jean Martin?”

Brick almost dropped the pipe.

“How do yuh spell it--with a G?”

“No, with a J. J-e-a-n.”

Brick came back to the stove and fitted the pipe, while Silent and Harp
watched him. It fitted. Brick wiped his hands on his chaps and smiled at
her.

“I reckon she’ll work now, ma’am.”

“Thank you so very much. I never could have fixed it, because I am such
a poor mechanic.”

She looked at Silent as she finished; but Silent was looking at a
Winchester hanging on a pair of deer-horns on the wall.

“You and your dad goin’ to run the ranch?” asked Brick.

“We--we hope to, Mr. Davidson.”

“Kinda hard for one man to run a place,” observed Harp.

“There will be three of us. Jack Oliver has been with us a long time,
but he isn’t here yet because he stopped to pick up some stock.”

“Well,” said Brick slowly, “I reckon we’ll drift along, ma’am. Just
stopped to say howdy.”

Jean shook hands with them and stood in the doorway, waving a farewell
as they rode away.

                   *       *       *       *       *

None of the three men spoke for a while, and then Harp remarked--“She
ought to have a new stove.”

Neither of the others disputed his assertion. Silent spurred up beside
Brick.

“Lemme look at that letter again, Brick.”

He read it through and handed it back to Brick.

“Kinda fits,” he muttered. “J and O. Watcha know about that, Brick?”

“All we’ve gotta do--” began Harp, but Brick whirled in his saddle.

“Do what?” he snapped.

“We-e-ll, whatcha think, Brick?”

“Lemme think, will yuh?”

“Let me think,” grinned Silent. “Betcha forty dollars, Harp, that he’s
thinkin’ right around one thing--she sure can sing.”

“Like an angel,” said Harp seriously. “Honest to grandma, I ain’t never
heard no song like that in my life. Wonder if she’d sing if a feller
asked her?”

“What caliber was that Winchester carbine hangin’ on the wall?” asked
Brick.

“Forty-five-seventy,” said Harp. “I gotta good look at it. Model 1886,
open sights.”

“Sure?”

“You’re danged right I’m sure, but that don’t spell nothin’, Brick. This
here country is full of .45-70’s.”

“I’m glad it was a .45-70.”

Silent turned in his saddle and stared at Brick.

“Yuh are, are yuh?” he exploded. “Well, now lemme tell yuh somethin’,
cowboy; don’t yuh try to hang deadwood on that lady.”

“A thousand dollars is a lot of money,” mused Brick.

“I ain’t so danged miserly as all that,” grunted Harp. “Forty a month
and feed ain’t so much, but yuh can live on it.”

“That would mean three hundred and thirty-three dollars apiece,” stated
Brick seriously. “Take a long time to save up that much, if yuh don’t
drink much and don’t gamble.”

“What’s time?” snorted Silent. “That ain’t nothin’; is it, Harp?”

“Not in my life, Silent. Whatcha laughin’ at, Brick?”

“Thinkin’ what a lot of danged fools the lady has made of us three.”

They rode into Marlin and left their horses at the tie-rack near the
sheriff’s office. A group of men were standing in front of the general
store--a group that seemed strangely interested in the three cowboys.

Bunty Blair was one of the group, and now he left it and came down
toward his office to meet the three.

Bunty stopped as if undecided. Then he pointed toward the door of his
office and said--

“Let’s go inside and have a little talk.”

“What’s the main idea?” asked Brick wonderingly, glancing from Bunty to
the crowd in front of the store.

“Come inside and I’ll tell yuh--all three of yuh.”

The three cowboys glanced at each other and then followed Bunty into the
office. He shut the door and faced them.

“Limpy Squires was murdered.”

Brick squinted at Bunty.

“When?”

“The day of the hold-up. Shot in the back.”

The cowboys exchanged glances. Limpy had never been popular with them,
but who would shoot the inoffensive old crippled stage-driver? Limpy had
an acrid tongue, but no one ever took exceptions to his talk--rather
they were amused at his flow of profanity. Bunty straightened some
papers on his desk and continued:

“He left here with you fellers. ‘Topaz’ Tyler was coming here from
Silverton when he found him. Limpy had been dead all this time, lyin’
just off the road near the forks. Topaz brought the word back, and we
went out after him. We found both horses, but the pack had come
loose.”

Brick listened grimly to Bunty’s statement; and then--

“Who do yuh reckon shot him, Bunty?”

The sheriff did not reply--did not meet Brick’s intense gaze, but
fumbled with the papers on his desk.

“Bringin’ us in here thisaway,” muttered Silent, “’pears like yuh was
tryin’ to keep it a secret.”

“You fellers rode out of town with Limpy,” stated Bunty slowly. “I’d
kinda like to know where you left him.”

“At the forks,” replied Harp.

Bunty’s grin was crooked and his voice was mildly sarcastic.

“Looks kinda queer.”

“Wait a minute,” snapped Brick. “You insinuating that we had anything to
do with shootin’ Limpy Squires?”

“No, I ain’t, Davidson; but there’s a few things that----”

“Why should we harm Limpy?” demanded Silent.

“There’s a lot of things that need explaining. That hold-up, for
instance. You two and Limpy come here with a cock-and-bull story about
female road-agents, and then you admit you’re lyin’ about the woman.
You laugh like it was a good joke.

“Davidson, you and Slade stay out at the ranch and send Harp in to town
to see what he can find out. Looks kinda queer to me, if anybody asks
yuh.”

“Yeah?” drawled Brick innocently.

“It does,” stated Bunty, who seemed to grow bolder when he found that
the fiery Brick remained indifferent to the half-accusation.

“I’m waiting for you to talk.”

“Oh!” grunted Brick, recovering from his abstraction.

“Whatcha say, Bunty?”

“I said I was waiting for an explanation.”

“Well, now that’s sure thoughtful of yuh,” nodded Brick. “If yuh only
wait long enough, Sun-Dog County will grow to be a State and you might
be elected governor. Ever’thin’ comes to them who waits, Bunty.”

“I want that explanation right now! _Sabe?_”

“Who’s Topaz Tyler?” asked Brick suddenly. “He’s a new one on me.”

“I know’m,” grunted Harp. “He punched cows for the Diamond H outfit
in Idaho till they caught him cheatin’ in a poker game. Tall, skinny
tin-horn with educated fingers. Wears a six and three-quarter hat and
a number five boot.”

“You used to be in Idaho too, didn’t yuh, Bunty?” asked Brick.

“That ain’t answering my questions!” snapped the sheriff.

“I want you to explain about that hold-up--the truth of it; _sabe?_”

“Yo’re takin’ a lot upon yourself,” smiled Brick. “When in ---- did you
get the right to ask questions, Bunty? ’Pears to me like you’re gettin’
personal.”

“I’m the sheriff, ain’t I?”

“Well,” drawled Brick, “you keep right on bein’ the sheriff and nobody’s
goin’ to molest yuh, Bunty. Speakin’ of Idaho, ’pears like that State’s
well represented around here. Bunty comes from there, and Silent used to
live in that country, and now comes Topaz Tyler. Mebbe we can have a
reunion.”

“Feller what bought the Weepin’ Tree outfit is from Idaho,” volunteered
Harp. “Leastwise I seen a box out there with his name on it and it also
had the words ‘Cottonwood, Ida.’ I-d-a means Idaho, don’t it?”

“And,” added Silent, “if I ain’t so danged badly mistaken, King Cleeve’s
from Idaho. Mebbe not lately, yuh understand, but----”

Silent broke off and stared at the opposite wall.

Then his face broke into a smile of wonderment.

“What’s a joke?” asked Brick, grinning an accompaniment.

“Nothin’, Brick; I was just thinkin’.”

“What’s all this about?” demanded the sheriff testily. “I asks for
an explanation and I gets a lot of fool talk. I want that
explanation--now!”

“And if we refuse to talk--what then?” asked Brick.

“Well, I’ll have to present such facts as I have to the county
attorney.”

Brick grinned at Bunty and shook his head.

“You ain’t got no facts, Bunty, but do the best with what yuh have. A
top-buggy ain’t nothin’ to hunt outlaws in, and if the county attorney
ain’t got no more sense than you have, the two of yuh ought to be able
to hang some half-witted sheepherder for killin’ Limpy. Do yuh want to
arrest any of us?”

“No--not now--not yet.”

“Stutterin’ loosens your teeth,” stated Brick. “Come on.”

The three of them filed out, leaving Bunty Blair glaring down at the top
of his desk, his nerve almost gone. He reflected that it was a good
thing that Brick Davidson had taken it as a joke. Bunty had been forced,
against his will, to demand an explanation from the three cowboys. They
had refused.

The bunch of men were no longer in front of the store. As Brick and his
two companions went up the narrow sidewalk a tall cowboy came across
from the Dollar Down, heading for the store.

“That’s Topaz Tyler,” said Harp.

“Walks like he had club feet.”

“That’s how Brick’s goin’ to walk if he don’t wear proper boots,”
declared Silent seriously; but Brick was studying Topaz Tyler and did
not resent Silent’s implication.

There was no question but what Topaz was wearing tight boots--not only
tight, but also expensive. In fact, his whole make-up bespoke the dandy.
Light-blue silk shirt, lavender muffler, trousers with a diagonal stripe
and the finest of black calfskin boots, with the softest of tops. His
hat was of the “five-gallon” Southwest type, surmounted with a snakeskin
band. In his hand he carried a pair of gray gauntlet gloves, beaded and
fringed. He merely glanced at the three cowboys as he passed and went
into the store.

“Smokin’ one of them Turk cigarets!” grunted Silent, wrinkling his long
nose. “Jockey Club perfume and burnin’ camel-hair. Waugh! I’d kiss him
if he didn’t smoke.”

“Where’d he get the nickname, Harp?” asked Brick.

“Wears ’em,” grinned Harp. “Look at his vest-buttons, Brick. All
topazes. Wears a big one on a rosette to hold his muffler, and he’s got
two or three on his fingers. Kinda nutty, I reckon. Feller told me that
Tyler found a smoky topaz as big as a goose-egg and had a jeweler cut
it up for him.”

Brick nodded and turned into the store. Silent and Harp followed on his
heels. There were several men in the store. Le Blanc the blacksmith,
Cale Wesson the storekeeper, King Cleeve, Lynn Barnhardt of the Lazy H,
Lowdermilk, who bought stock for the Eastern markets, and Topaz Tyler.

Topaz turned from purchasing a package of tobacco and glanced at Brick
and his companions. He glanced at Harp Harris, but turned and began to
roll a cigaret. None of the men said a word, although it was evident
that there had been earnest conversation prior to the coming of the
three cowboys.

“Gimme a pack of smokin’, Cale,” said Brick, moving up to the counter.

“When did yuh leave Smoky Creek, Topaz?” asked Harp.

Topaz turned and stared at Harp, the tobacco trickling from the crimped
paper in his hand.

“Smoky Creek?” he parroted. “I reckon yuh got the best of me, pardner.”

“If I did it’s the first time anybody has--when yuh was lookin’,”
returned Harp seriously.

Topaz let the paper slip out of his hand, but kept his hands above his
waist-line. It looked too much like a challenge for him to drop his
hands.

“Just what do yuh mean?” he asked.

“I used to work for the Diamond H.”

“Oh, yeah.”

Topaz relaxed.

“Sa-a-ay, you’re the feller who used to play the jew’s-harp. Still
twangin’ along?”

“Yeah,” grinned Harp. “Kinda.”

“Smoky Creek,” said Brick thoughtfully, turning. “Name’s familiar
somehow. Didn’t a feller by name of Martin used to live around there?”

Topaz shifted his eyes to Brick’s face and their eyes met. Topaz turned
back to Harp, but neither of them answered Brick’s question.

“Snubbed!” grunted Brick, licking the edge of a cigaret paper. “A fool
and his questions never gits answered,” and then added reflectively:
“She’s kinda funny about so many Idaho folks movin’ over here, ain’t
it? Anybody’d think they quit runnin’ cows over there.”

King Cleeve gave Brick a searching glance, but Brick’s face told him
nothing. Silent was laughing silently, his homely face wreathed in
deep lines. He looked at King Cleeve, and it seemed to convulse him,
but no sound came from his wide mouth.

King Cleeve’s eyes narrowed. Silent’s laugh was almost an insult--that
kind of laugh; and he was looking directly at King Cleeve.

Suddenly the door opened and a man came in. He was about fifty years
of age, sandy-haired, his thin face plentifully sprinkled with
freckles. His arms were long, his shoulders sloping; but he carried
himself with a wiry ease, and the sleeves of his faded shirt seemed
to stretch under the relaxed arm muscles. His gun was tied down to a
rosette on his chaps, the butt swung out at an angle which hinted at
fast work.

His glance quickly took in the inhabitants of the store. For a moment
his eyes shifted from one to another, and then he moved in close to
the counter. Wesson walked up and leaned across the counter. Without
taking his eyes off the group, the newcomer gave his order and leaned
easily against the counter while Wesson tied up the purchases. Then he
paid, half-turned, opened the door and stepped out, still half-facing
the interior. He carried his purchases in his left hand.

No one spoke for several moments after the door closed, and then Le
Blanc said:

“She’s got wan strong look, dees Martin, eh? Bah gosh, she’s tip ovair
cow with hands, I’m bet.”

“Where’d he come from, Cale?” asked Barnhardt.

Wesson shook his head.

“I dunno, Lynn. You know, Cleeve?” King Cleeve shook his head.

“Idaho, I think,” said Brick. “Near Cottonwood or Smoky Creek.”

Silent laughed again, but this time it was not silently. Every man
in the place looked at him, but Silent gave them no heed. Finally he
turned on his heel and walked outside.

“Slade acts like he was loco,” observed King Cleeve.

“Acts like a ---- fool, if you ask me,” stated Topaz.

“If anybody asks yuh,” agreed Brick, and added, “but nobody asked yuh.”

“What do you mean?”

Topaz glared at Brick angrily.

“Want a diagram?” grinned Brick. “If yuh don’t, I’ll just say yo’re
pretty new to be passin’ opinions.”

“Now, now, quit jawin’,” interrupted Wesson, who knew Brick very,
very well indeed. “Sayin’ this ’n’ that back and forth is apt to make
enemies; don’t yuh know it?” and then added meaningly, “There’s been
one killin’ this week and gosh knows that’s a plenty in these quiet
times.”

Topaz, without a reply, walked outside and crossed to the Dollar Down.
Brick grinned.

“Friend of yours; ain’t he, Cleeve?”

“Mine?”

King Cleeve was astonished.

“Not that anybody knows of.”

“Oh! Not that anybody--knows--of.”

King Cleeve slid from his seat on the counter and straightened the
creases in his trousers. He feigned not to have noticed Brick’s tone
of voice, and when he straightened up his face was blandly innocent.

“Me, I’m thinkin’ she’s goin’ to rain.”

Le Blanc stood up and yawned widely.

“Where?” asked Harp. “It ain’t goin’ to rain here, Frenchy.”

“She’s goin’ t’ be long dry spell if she don’,” grinned Le Blanc, and
headed for the door.

“That cinches the drink on you, Harp,” grinned Brick. “C’mon.”

                   *       *       *       *       *

Outside they found Silent sitting on the sidewalk, contemplating a
faded and torn two-year-old circus poster which adorned the building
just across the street. He looked soberly up at Brick and moved aside
to let him sit down.

“What did yuh laugh for, Brick?”

Silent’s tone was mildly reproving.

“I had to,” grinned Brick. “Lemme tell yuh something, which yuh likely
won’t believe; I was in jail once.”

“I don’t believe it,” declared Silent. “You was in jail more’n once.”

“I can remember this one. It was a little town in Idaho where I got
into a argument with a feller. I reckon I was drinkin’ a little too
much. Anyway I licked him. Then two fellers hopped on me and helped
him put me in jail. He was the sheriff. There was only one cell--a
big one. I didn’t mind, ’cause there was a good bed in there.

“I don’t know what time it was--night, I reckon--when I hears two men
come inside. They unlocks the door, and one of ’em shoves the other
feller inside and locks up again. After he’s gone I lights a match and
looks at this feller. He’s been handled considerable and ain’t payin’
much attention to things. I went back to sleep, and pretty soon I’m
woke up.

“The place is full of men. They smashes in the cell door, falls upon me
in a mess and yanks me plumb outside with a rope around my neck. I can’t
holler nor nothin’. I gets yanked and hauled for quite some ways, and
then they stops. I hear somebody sayin’, ‘----, that ain’t no way to tie
a proper knot,’ and then somebody else says, ‘Ain’t yuh goin’ to let him
say anythin’?’

“Then somebody lights a match and takes a look at my face. I seen his
face in the light of that match. It was all bloody and white. Then he
said:

“‘----! This ain’t him, boys!’

“They crowds around me and gets a look.

“‘Git back to the jail!’ orders the feller who looked at me first, and
they left me on my back out there under a tree.

“I found my bronc and I sure rattled his hocks out of there.”

Silent rubbed his neck thoughtfully and grinned widely.

“Yeah,” admitted Brick; “it sure was funny, Silent. What else?”

“Yuh can laugh now,” replied Silent. “The man they throwed into my own
little cell was--King Cleeve.”

“Aw-w-w-w!”

Brick grunted his unbelief.

“I’m sure as ----!” declared Silent. “Always I’ve wondered where I seen
his face, and when he was talkin’ about Idaho----”

“When do we laugh?” asked Harp.

“When I tell yuh that this here jigger that bought the Weepin’ Tree
outfit was the person who lit that match and saved my neck.”

“Martin!” exclaimed Brick.

“Uh-huh.”

“Silent, is this straight goods, or are yuh romancin’?” asked Brick
seriously.

“----’s truth! I carries them faces photygraphed on my brain, y’betcha.
’Course Martin was all bloody-like, but I know that face. I was kinda
bothered about Cleeve, bein’ as he was beat up a lot, and not of much
consequence to me--not like Martin was.”

“Which makes a different color horse,” sighed Brick. “Things are almost
as clear as mud.”

“Cleeve must ’a’ been gone when they went back to the jail,” observed
Harp. “They busted the door and he just walked out; don’t yuh see? After
they takes you away he jist naturally went----”

“As a detective you plays real sweetly on the jew’s-harp,” remarked
Brick. “Let’s go home before Harp explains the whole mystery.”

“Well--” Harp was very serious--“well, of course there’s a chance
that----”

“Chances are you’re right, Harp,” admitted Brick. “I hope the stove-pipe
draws well. Must take a _pasear_ out there again real soon.”

“We must,” agreed Silent; and Harp nodded, but added:

“After observin’ her paw, I’d say we better go one at a time--we’ll last
longer. Let’s have another li’l shot before we go.”

                   *       *       *       *       *

The Whippoorwill men seemed to make little effort to apprehend the
robbers. Limpy was dead; therefore unable to tell of the actual
occurrence. Silent and Brick refused to talk about it.

Bunty Blair hinted at evidence--nothing absolute, but something that
might incriminate a couple of unintelligent cowboys. He did not
designate them by name, but every one knew whom he meant.

Brick, Silent and Harp were stumped. Silent and Harp were sure that
Scott Martin, Jean and Jack Oliver were the guilty parties, but they
were equally sure that they--Silent and Harp--did not want the reward,
and they were also sure that they were going to act as a stumbling-block
to any one else that tried to collect.

Brick spent a lot of time alone, thinking, and his actions were looked
upon darkly by Silent and Harp. None of them had been out to the Weeping
Tree ranch since that one day.

Just now Silent and Harp had come in from repairing a corral at Silver
Spring. Brick was not at the ranch. Sing Moy, the god of the kitchen,
was the only inhabitant. They asked him where Brick was.

“You go--he go,” stated Sing. “Mebby-so go town.”

“Jist like that!” exploded Silent. “Send us out to fix a darned old
corral that nobody ever uses, and then he goes to town. Let’s me and
you go to town. He-e-e-y, Harp! Quit mournin’ on that groan-organ.
Let’s go to town.”

Harp shoved himself away from the side of the house and wiped the back
of his hand across his lips, after which he carefully wrapped the
offending instrument before putting it in his pocket.

The fact that he had sent Silent and Harp to repair a perfectly good
corral, giving him a chance to go alone to Marlin City, was not
stinging Brick Davidson’s conscience. In fact, Brick was very, very
busy, trying to capture a glass of liquor which seemed to elude his
every effort. Brick stepped back from the bar, looking cross-eyed at
the glass, and then cautiously stalked it with his hands.

There is no denying the fact that Brick was beautifully drunk--if such
an adjective may be used to describe his present condition. He was also
very joyful. He loved all the world, and made it publicly known that his
soul was fairly reeking with milk and honey.

He insisted that Topaz Tyler was as near perfect as any human being
could be--and still live. He dilated on the virtues of Topaz. Then he
eulogized King Cleeve, whom he pronounced a “pup-pup-prince.” Brick
did not stammer over any other words but King Cleeve didn’t mind.

Brick was staggering drunk when he entered the Dollar Down and cast his
bleared eyes around the place. Bunty Blair was there, but Bunty did not
linger. Brick was not yet drunk enough to disturb the peace, and Bunty
knew that when Brick got drunk enough to be safely handled he would be
too drunk to disturb any one.

But Brick was not mean. Oh, far from it. He even said, “Thank you,” when
King Cleeve said, “Well, here’s regards.”

Brick grew confidential with King Cleeve. Did Cleeve have any idea who
held up the stage? King Cleeve did not. Brick hinted darkly that he did.
In fact, he had a document that would clear up the mystery.

“What do you mean?” asked Cleeve.

“I never shed,” grinned Brick drunkenly, patting a pocket of his vest,
“I got shome evidence; y’ understand?”

King Cleeve patted Brick on the back and wished him luck. He told Brick
that there was nobody he would sooner see win the thousand dollars.

Then came Topaz Tyler, and King invited him to join them. For a man who
was already drunk Brick stood an amazing lot of liquor. Topaz and Cleeve
mourned over the fact that they could not drink liquor as Brick could.
It was a gift. They boasted over his ability, and Brick’s chest swelled.
Brick admitted that he was a wonder.

But finally a glass of liquor eluded him. Then he stalked it,
cautiously. King Cleeve’s foot was elevated on the bar-rail, his leg
encased in a very expensive, pearl-colored trouser. Brick threw
caution to the winds and scooped the glass off the bar, and its
contents splashed on Cleeve’s immaculate knee.

Brick chuckled with glee and sat down heavily on the floor, while King
Cleeve swore at the ruination of his new trousers. A swamper volunteered
to remove Brick, but Cleeve and Topaz declined his assistance. Wasn’t
Brick their friend?

They lifted him to his unstable feet and piloted him out of the back
door, where they propped him up on some empty kegs, afterward removing
the folded note from his inside vest pocket. Then they staggered up to
Cleeve’s room over the saloon and sat down on the bed. It had been a
mighty job to anesthetize Brick Davidson with whisky, but they were
sure, judging from their own condition, that the job had been
thoroughly done.

King Cleeve read the note with both eyes, and then read it with one
eye shut. Topaz nodded over it and stared at King Cleeve. Then they
both went to sleep.

                   *       *       *       *       *

Silent and Harp tied their horses to the saloon rack and came inside.
Silent approached the bar and asked the bartender if he had seen Brick
Davidson lately. The bartender grinned.

“Went out the back door a while ago, but I don’t reckon he went far.”

“Drunk?” asked Silent.

“Well--” the bartender did not want to reflect any discredit on Brick’s
ability--“well, I--I hope so.”

“Why hope so?” inquired Harp.

“I’ll tell yuh; Davidson was seven-eighths drunk when he came here, and
he drank enough here to float a canoe.”

“Son of a gun!” breathed Silent, and headed for the back door with Harp
on his heels.

Yes, Brick was there. His head jerked sidewise as they came out of the
door, and he looked up at them with streaming, agonized eyes. Tears
coursed down his cheeks and dripped off his chin.

“May I herd sheep if he ain’t bawlin’!” gasped Silent. “What’s the
matter, cowboy?”

Brick shook his head and handed the little bottle which he held in his
hand to Silent.

“Sm-smell it,” he choked.

Silent put the bottle to his nose and sniffed. Like a flash his head
jerked back and he dropped the bottle.

“Uh-h-h-h--woosh!”

Silent’s choking wheeze was very emphatic. Brick sobbed with joy.

“What in ---- is that?”

Silent’s eyes were full of tears and his nose twitched violently.

“Oil of mustard,” grinned Brick. “Ain’t she a humdinger? Doc Lindsay
gave it to me.”

“What’s it for?” asked Harp.

“Soberin’ up. Kicks the booze out of your head, _muy pronto_.”

“Spend your good money for liquor and then blow your head off to get rid
of it!”

Silent wiped the tears off his cheeks and glared down at Brick.

“You’re a disgrace to Sun-Dog County, Brick Davidson.”

Brick got up and yawned. His legs wobbled a little as he walked around
the rear of the saloon and over to the hitch-rack, where he stopped and
apologized to Silent and Harp for acting so disgracefully. Silent and
Harp looked with distrust upon this apology. Brick was very meek.

“Yessir,” nodded Silent as if to an invisible person. “Yessir, when I
come to think about it, I do. Crazy, yuh say? Well, yuh know how it
is--a feller kinda hates to say, but now that yuh mentioned it--yeah,
I reckon you’re right. No, I won’t mention any certain thing,
y’understand, but jist take mostly anythin’ he’s ever done--you’re
welcome, I’m sure.”

Silent nodded and turned back to Brick and Harp. Brick laughed, but it
was not a drunken laugh. Heroic measures had driven the alcohol from
his head, leaving him a trifle unsteady on his feet, but otherwise cold
sober.

Brick’s laugh nettled Silent.

“You hoodoed us away so yuh could come to town alone and git drunk,
didn’t yuh? Yes, yuh did, Brick. Ain’tcha got no feelin’s?”

Brick was busy searching his pockets and ignored Silent’s question.
Brick swore softly.

“Gone,” he muttered.

“What--your feelin’s?” grunted Silent.

“I had a note in my pocket--” began Brick.

“Aw-w-w-w, gosh!” groaned Silent. “You went and lost that note? Yuh
didn’t, did yuh, Brick?”

Brick nodded and searched his pockets again.

“Where did yuh lose it?” inquired Harp.

“Where did he?”

Silent glared at Harp, and then hammered on the hitch-rack.

“Where did he lose it? Harp, some day you’re goin’ to ask a question and
I’m goin’ to kill yuh dead--right when yuh finish askin’. If he knowed
where he lost it he’d know where he was when he lost it, wouldn’t he?”

Silent snorted his disgust.

“He’d know,” nodded Harp. “He’d know where he was when he lost it if he
was sober enough to know where he was when he lost it; but if he----”

Silent clenched his hands and rubbed his shoulder into Harp’s chest,
shoving him slowly backward.

“Please don’t speak, Harp,” he begged. “Don’t speak.”

“Don’t speak to him, Harp,” grinned Brick.

“I won’t,” promised Harp. “I ain’t got nothin’ to say to the ---- fool.
Where do yuh think yuh lost it, Brick?”

“Think!” Silent snorted. “What would he think with?”

Harp looked mildly at the exasperated Silent and then turned his
back. Silent snorted again and went across toward the store, walking
stiff-legged like an angry bear.

“He’s angry with me and you,” grinned Brick. “Mebbe he’ll be mad quite a
while.”

“Let’s me and you go into the saloon,” suggested Harp. “Betcha forty
dollars he brings a peace-pipe, ’cause he’s thirsty.”

The bartender was idly wiping a glass as they came in, and the glass
fell from his fingers, making a dull _plop!_ in the rinsing-tub under
the bar. He stared at Brick, who walked up to the bar, talking to Harp.
There was nothing about Brick’s actions that would indicate he had ever
had a drink.

“Hooch,” said Harp.

“The best yuh got,” added Brick. “I’m dry.”

The bartender’s hand shook as he placed the required articles before
them. He wondered if Brick was one of twins, or if any man could handle
that much---- Well, if he wasn’t one of twins, it was a sinful waste of
liquor.

Bunty Blair came in and sat down at an unused card-table before he saw
that Brick was still there. Bunty had expected that Brick had been laid
away long before this; and Bunty watched, fascinated, as Brick rolled a
cigaret with one hand and never spilled the tobacco. Then Bunty stared
at the table-top. It was beyond him.

Silent came in and leaned against the bar.

“Normal again?” asked Brick.

Silent cleared his throat dryly, and Brick nodded to the bartender. Then
Brick looked at Bunty, who turned away.

Brick nudged Harp, who grinned at Bunty. Then Brick turned to Silent.

“How long since you was in Idaho, Silent?”

“Nine or ten years, I reckon.”

“Did sheriffs use top-buggies to chase outlaws with?”

A man at a poker-table laughed, and several men turned and looked at
Bunty. Brick had plenty of respect for the law, and in spite of his
wild escapades stayed within it, but he detested Bunty Blair.

Bunty got up from the table and faced Brick. Bunty hated ridicule
worse than anything else, and his soul seethed with a desire to
obliterate this red-headed nuisance. He did not speak for a moment,
evidently trying to control his voice, but there was a decided catch
in it when he said--

“There are times when a sheriff can’t even use a top-buggy to follow
outlaws.”

“Yeah?”

Brick leaned back, elbows on top of the bar, and grinned widely.

“When is them times, Bunty?”

“They don’t make saloon doors wide enough.”

Brick laughed, loudly, joyously. Bunty’s hand was at the butt of his
holstered Colt and he had stepped away from the table far enough to
give him room to draw. Brick knew that Bunty was fast enough with a
gun; knew that Bunty would likely take a chance when he had all the
advantage.

                   *       *       *       *       *

Brick was in no position to reach for his gun. In fact, he gave no sign
that he might reach for a gun. He laughed.

Every eye in the place was on Brick. Then Brick’s eyes shifted from
Bunty’s face to a point behind Bunty. Like a flash the laugh died from
Brick’s lips and a look of horror came. He started to speak.

Bunty whirled, falling for an old trick; and before he could recover
Brick had flung himself away from the bar, wrapping his arms around
Bunty, and the two of them went over a chair and crashed to the floor.
Brick staggered to his feet, still holding his grip. He removed Bunty’s
pistol and tossed it away.

Bunty cursed wildly and kicked Brick on the leg; whereupon Brick
whirled Bunty to the doorway and flung him bodily into the street.
Bunty staggered to his feet and limped straight toward his office
without a backward glance. Silent and Harp were backed against the
bar, guns in their hands, watching the crowd for a hostile move.

Brick looked at the crowd.

“I reckon you gents will pardon the confusion, won’t yuh?”

No one objected. Silent and Harp walked over to Brick, and the three of
them went outside and headed for the hitch-rack.

“Now yuh went and done it,” complained Silent, looking back as they rode
out of town. “Yuh antagonized the sheriff a lot, Brick. He won’t forget
that, y’betcha. Yuh went and got drunk and lost that letter and----”

“But with all my faults yuh love me still,” added Brick.

“Well--” Silent shook his head slowly--“well, yuh do the dangedest
things, Brick. I ain’t kickin’ about yuh huggin’ Bunty Blair. She
makes me no never mind how he feels, but that note was important.
Suppose somebody finds it? Tell yuh one thing, though, Brick; I’m
goin’ to----”

“Where did yuh leave that letter?” interrupted Harp.

Brick turned in his saddle and stared at Harp.

“Leave it?”

“We’re all in on this, ain’t we?”

Harp was very serious.

“All right. Yuh can go ahead and tell us why yuh went and got drunk,
Brick. Yuh didn’t get drunk for fun, that’s a cinch. Now, where is
that letter?”

Brick grinned in appreciation of Harp’s deductions.

“What makes yuh think I didn’t lose it, Harp?”

“’Cause yuh never worried about it. I know danged well you’d be r’arin’
around to beat ---- if yuh lost it.”

“It’s hid in the bunk-house.”

“Aw-w-w, ----!”

Silent’s disgust was very pronounced.

“Yuh never lost no note, yuh danged red-headed----”

“Yeah, I lost a note, Silent.”

“Whatcha mean, Brick?”

Brick laughed and looked back down the dusty road.

“I went into the Dollar Down, actin’ as drunk as a shepherd on a
vacation. Mamma mine, I sure was drunk as a boiled owl. I invited
Cleeve to participate, and then Topaz Tyler joined us.

“I drank all I could handle and then I sets down on the floor, after
I dumped a glass of hooch over Cleeve’s ice-cream pants. Cleeve and
Topaz led me out behind the place and swiped the note. They sure was
lit up plentiful.”

“But about this here note,” said Silent.

“I hinted that I had a note; _sabe?_ I said I had evidence in my pocket.
They picked it out of my inside pocket and all it said was--

           “Since when did Nature start muzzlin’ coyotes?”

Silent and Harp stared at Brick.

“You’re awful crazy,” declared Silent. “Awful crazy. What good did it do
to let ’em steal that from you?”

“I dunno,” admitted Brick, “but I’m just kinda peckin’ around, like a
woodpecker on a tree. There’s a worm-hole some’ers, and I’m goin’ to
be the early bird.”

“I think you’re crazy,” said Silent, and then to Harp, “You agree with
me, don’t yuh?”

“Think ----! I know he is, Silent.”

“I’m just as happy as though I had good sense,” grinned Brick.

                   *       *       *       *       *

“You fellers just about raised ---- and put a chunk under it.”

Lafe Freeman leaned against the bunk-house door and contemplated the
three bunks, wherein three blanketed figures reposed in deep slumber. A
protruding leg, bare to the knee, was all that would absolutely identify
any of the three humps as being human.

One of the humps choked over a healthy snore and sat up, blinking at
Lafe.

“Whatcha say?”

Lafe Freeman squinted at Silent’s yawning face and repeated his
statement. Silent reached down, picked up a boot and hit the nearest
figure a resounding whack.

“Daylight in the swamp!” he yelled. “Up and at ’em, Brick!”

Brick uncoiled from his blanket, swung his feet around and sprang for
Silent, but Silent was looking for just such a move. His legs shot
out, catching Brick in the chest, and the luckless Brick sprawled to
the floor.

“Take him off!” yelled Silent, as if Brick were beating him. “Take him
off!”

Then he threw the other boot, which hit Harp as he lifted up to see what
the commotion was all about.

“Aw-w-w-w!” wailed Silent. “Brick’s to blame, Harp. Honest to grandma,
he is. I meant to hit him and he ducked.”

Harp rubbed his shoulder and stared at Lafe. Brick got to his feet and
sat down on his bunk.

“The sheriff,” stated Lafe ominously, “the sheriff says that Marlin City
ain’t big enough to hold you fellers.”

“Oh!”

Brick seemed surprized. Then he grinned.

“Goin’ to build her bigger, eh?”

“Says he’s got enough evidence to hold yuh all in jail.”

“He needs stren’th more than evidence,” yawned Harp.

“Well, he can make a lot of trouble for yuh, that’s one cinch. He’s got
warrants all made out, so Le Blanc told me, and he’s goin’ to serve ’em
the first time yuh show up down there.”

“Warrants!”

Brick was properly indignant.

“I suppose we staged that runaway and grabbed the strong-box! Rats! The
fellers that done it are the same ones that killed poor old Limpy.”

“That’s what they’re talkin’ about,” nodded Lafe. “They say he rode
away with you fellers, and that’s the last time anybody seen him
alive. There’s talk that this robbery was all framed, and that Limpy
was killed for his share because they was afraid he might get caught
and squeal.”

Brick stared at the floor, deep in thought.

“Mebbe they’re right at that, Lafe.”

“Betcha forty dollars they are,” agreed Silent.

“Know anythin’ about that new feller that bought the old Weepin’ Tree
ranch?”

The three cowboys looked at Lafe, but none of them admitted that they
did, so Lafe continued:

“His daughter--I reckon it’s his daughter--was in Marlin last night.
Came in after grub, I reckon. After she went away I heard Cleeve talkin’
to Bunty about her. Cleeve opines that they’re kinda mysterious, and
then he asks Bunty what he thinks about your story about the female
bandit. Bunty said it was a ---- of a thing for a feller to imagine, and
wondered if you fellers lied.

“Cale Wesson said it was a shame for a nice-lookin’ girl to not have any
females to wau-wau with, and he said he was goin’ to have Mrs. Wesson go
out and visit her.”

“My ----!” gasped Brick. “Mrs. Wesson would talk the ear off a mule.
What else did they say--Bunty and Cleeve?”

“Nothin’ much. I hears Cleeve asked Bunty why he didn’t go out to the
Nine Bar Nine and serve them warrants instead of waitin’ for you to
come to town, and Bunty said there wasn’t no ---- of a big hurry about
it.”

“Bunty ain’t goin’ to strain himself and get his muscles all sore,”
observed Silent. “I ain’t huntin’ for trouble, but Marlin City is big
enough to suit me.”

“All right, all right!”

Lafe Freeman shook his head violently.

“Go ahead! Git in jail and see if I care; but before yuh get shot or
hung I want you and Harp to go over to the Triangle Dot and bring back
them twelve white-faced yearlin’s. Sam Clayton said he’d have ’em in
the corral;” and then added as an afterthought, “They’re wilder than
white-tail deer, but that ain’t no reason for runnin’ ’em all the way
home.”

Silent and Harp grumbled, which is a usual thing in a case of this kind,
especially as they were afraid that Brick wouldn’t sit down and wait for
them to return. After breakfast they rode away, still grumbling.

Brick watched them disappear over the hills and then threw the saddle
on his top horse, Glory, a hammer-headed gray. He filled half of his
pistol-belt with rifle cartridges and shoved a Winchester carbine into
a saddle scabbard.

Lafe Freeman watched Brick’s preparations, but made no comment. If Brick
wanted to go to Marlin City and call the sheriff’s bluff it was Brick’s
own business. Lafe knew that Brick could take care of himself, in spite
of the fact that he was prone to get reckless. Lafe’s soul yearned to
follow Brick, but he put away his desires.

But Brick was not thinking about going to Marlin City to call Bunty
Blair’s bluff. Brick had an idea; an idea that was not at all clear
just yet. Something seemed to tell him that the answer was written
in the cañon where the hold-up had been pulled off. He was piecing
together some of the things that had happened; but there were many,
many things that he needed to make it complete.

As he swung away from the ranch, with the Winchester under his right
knee, he wondered where the trail would end, and why he was so
interested. It was not because Bunty Blair had hinted that
he--Brick--was mixed up in it.

Brick’s thoughts went to the Weeping Tree ranch. Was the answer there?
He knew that Jean was not guilty. What did Scott Martin know? Would any
man carry a note like that to the scene of the hold-up and take a chance
on losing it? Brick shook his head.

Why was Limpy killed? Did Limpy know who held him up? Where was Limpy
going when he was killed? Was he afraid that his knowledge of the
bandits---- Again Brick shook his head, but would not admit to himself
that he was baffled. He would work on the theory that Limpy knew who
held him up.

King Cleeve had incurred the displeasure of a mob, according to Silent’s
story. Martin led that mob. Why hadn’t Martin recognized Cleeve? Did
Cleeve know Martin? Brick scowled over these perplexing questions.

He went slowly down to the county road, and drifted along until he came
to the second curve of the Whisperin’ Creek grade, where he stopped. The
wrecked stage had been taken away, and there was nothing left to mark
the spot except the deep ruts where the wheels had cut into the soft
hillside.

Brick visualized as much as he could of the robbery, but there was
nothing to give him any clue. He decided that the woman, and possibly
one of the men, had jumped or been knocked off the grade into the brush
out of sight. The other had stayed with the stage until it reached the
pine thicket. But their manner of escape from the crash had nothing to
do with their apprehension.

Brick swung his horse off the edge of the grade and rode down to where
the bank broke sharp to Whisperin’ Creek, where he dismounted.

Brick felt sure that the bandits would not carry that heavy box very
far. The reasonable thing, he thought, would be to open it, divide the
contents and then go on. There was little water in the creek-bed, which
was piled high with boulders.

Brick slid down to the creek-bed and began casting around. About fifty
feet from where he struck the creek he found footprints of three
people--two men and a woman. The half-wet sand had caught and held the
prints perfectly.

“Men wearin’ about number nines,” muttered Brick.

Half the men in the country wore about that size boot. The woman wore
what Brick would designate as a fair average size.

The tracks led across a sandy spot, all three prints well defined,
especially those of the woman, whose heels made small circles. The
tracks all led to a rock, which jutted up in the center of the
sand-plot. The marks showed that the three had stopped for consultation
or to wait for some one.

Brick studied the jumble of prints as he started to light a cigaret.
Suddenly he stared at the tracks, while the match burned up and scorched
his thumb. He dropped the match, circled the tracks and sprang to the
top of the rock, where he perched like a buzzard, staring down at the
sand.

The woman had walked to the rock, but had never walked away! Her
footprints came up to the rock, but none went away. A jumble of men’s
tracks led to the opposite side of the ravine, but there was no sign
of a woman’s tracks.

Brick lighted his cigaret and pondered over this.

“My ----!” he exclaimed to himself. “She must ’a’ just e-vaporated.”

He studied it from every angle, but shook his head. Then he walked over
to a big boulder, which he climbed, and looked around. He happened to
glance down the far side of the big boulder, and there he saw the iron
treasure-box, half-covered with brush.

Brick lost no time in getting down to it. The padlocks had been forced;
one of them still dangled from the staple. Brick lifted the lid and
stared down at a jumble of black cloth, which resolved itself into three
black masks. Brick shook them out and then looked down at the untouched
contents of the box--untouched except for examination.

Brick dropped on his knees beside it and lifted one of the heavy bars,
weighing it in his hands. Then Brick closed the box carefully and
examined the masks.

They were made of cheap material--sacklike affairs, with rough circles
cut for eyeholes. An examination proved to Brick that they were not all
made by the same person, as the sewing was crude, each one a different
stitch and with different-colored thread.

He started to put them back into the box, but changed his mind and
placed them, folded, inside his shirt. Then he piled more brush on the
box, climbed back across the ravine and went back to his horse.

“Glory,” he confided to the gray, “I’ve found out more in ten minutes
than all the rest have since the hold-up, and--and I don’t know a danged
thing, yet. That’s the ---- of bein’ a detective.”

Brick did not stop in Marlin City; neither did he hurry through. The
main street was not over three blocks long, and Brick walked his
horse the full length of town, looking neither to the right nor left
but seeing everything. Several cowboys in front of the Dollar Down
looked expectantly at Brick, and voiced their disappointment when he
passed the hitch-rack.

Three Star Hennessey saw Brick ride through town. Three Star was strong
for self-preservation, so kept right on reading a year-old magazine.
Bunty had boasted that he was going to arrest Brick as soon as he came
into town, but that was all right with Three Star. He had made no
boasts.

Le Blanc was fitting a hot shoe on a mule when Brick rode past, but the
Frenchman forgot business long enough to go outside. The shoe was cold
when Le Blanc came back in, and he swore fluently at the mule.

“Ba gar--” Le Blanc got confidential with the mule as soon as his
disappointment was past--“ba gar, dis Breek she’s ain’t afraid for
scare, an’ I’m wonder why she don’t stop. I’m mak’ you little bet
dat pretty soon dere be gut for de bear to chew. She’s ride wit’
Winchester under her leg. Somet’ing be do pretty soon, you bet me.”

Topaz Tyler saw Brick, too. Bunty Blair was sleeping after a hard night
at poker, but it did not take him long to wake up when Topaz sent a
swamper from the saloon to tell him about Brick Davidson.

Bunty conferred with Three Star. They went over to the saloon, where
Brick Davidson was the topic of conversation. King Cleeve grinned at
Bunty, and Bunty grew explosive.

“He walked his horse through town,” King informed Topaz.

Bunty wondered aloud where Brick could have been going alone. King
Cleeve settled that wonder by saying--

“Isn’t there a lady out at the Weeping Tree ranch?”

Bunty nodded, and exulted to himself. If there was a woman mixed up in
this hold-up, why couldn’t it be--? Bunty smiled. At least it meant that
Brick was alone.

Of course, Brick alone was enough to make trouble, but Brick alone was
not as formidable as Brick and Silent and Harp. Bunty announced that he
would attend to Mr. Davidson at once.

Three Star was inclined to be pessimistic.

“Packin’ a Winchester. I seen him shoot the tin can off a dog’s tail
oncet, and that dog was fannin’ the breeze.”

“Accident,” said Topaz.

“Mebby-so.”

Three Star was unconvinced.

“Mebbe she was a accident, but that didn’t save the can, and yuh can’t
never make me believe that accidents are all through happenin’.”

“This time,” stated Bunty, “there won’t be no accidents.”

“Gee cripes!” grunted Three Star. “I didn’t say it was a accident, did
I? I hope there won’t be no intentionals either.”

                   *       *       *       *       *

Brick knew that his ride through Marlin City had caused comment, but
nothing more. Bunty and Three Star were the least of his troubles, and
the fact of the warrants did not disturb him, as he felt that he could
clear himself before any jury in Sun-Dog County.

He rode straight to the Weeping Tree ranch-house and swung off his
horse near the doorway. As he started for the open door Scott Martin
confronted him, and Brick stopped.

Martin had stopped with his weight resting on his right leg, his body
swung a trifle forward and his right hand hanging loosely at his side.
Brick recognized the pose; knew that Scott Martin was one of the old
school of gun-fighters, and that right now he was in position for fast
work.

There was nothing friendly-looking about Scott Martin. His face was
set in stern lines, his eyes coldly blue, and his lower jaw seemed
molded to a fighting angle. Brick wondered if this man ever smiled.
Scott Martin gave one the impression of implacable power--power of
purpose and physique. He did not speak, but his eyes seemed to
challenge Brick.

“You’re wrong, pardner. You don’t know me, but I bring a pipe.”

“Injun talk?”

Martin’s tone was colorless.

“Y’betcha. White belts, pardner.”

Martin relaxed easily, but before he could reply Jean came to the door
and saw Brick.

“Hello there!” she called, and her voice was friendly.

“Howdy, ma’am,” grinned Brick. “Nice day.”

Martin glanced from Brick to Jean.

“Dad, shake hands with Mr. Davidson. He’s the man who fixed that pipe
for me.”

“Oh!”

Martin smiled and shook hands with Brick, who withdrew his hand as
quickly as possible. Brick’s hands were muscular and tough, but Martin’s
grip was like that of a steel vise.

“Pardner, I hope yuh never take hold of me for anythin’ but a
handshake.”

Brick flexed his fingers painfully as they went into the house.

Jean had done wonders with the living-room of the old ranch-house.
Dainty curtains hung at the windows, a canary sang from a home-made
cage against the wall, and the whole room glowed with cleanliness and
cheer. An oblong piece of bright-colored rag carpet covered the center
of the floor. On a little table was a jumble of colored cloth, on top
of which was a fancy sewing-basket.

Brick examined the curtains, paying close attention to the sewing.

“Did yuh make all these things?” he asked.

“Yes. Are you interested in sewing?”

Jean’s eyes danced.

“Kinda,” admitted Brick, smiling at her. “I--I kinda wanted to see how
yuh sewed.”

“Going to turn seamstress?”

Brick colored and shook his head.

“No, ma’am.”

“What’s the idea?”

There was a trace of suspicion in Martin’s voice.

Brick walked over to Martin.

“Pardner, I don’t exactly _sabe_ the idea myself. Yuh don’t have to
answer no questions, y’ understand, and I don’t want yuh to get sore
at my conversation. I want yuh both to look at this thing like I do.
Spread your cards if yuh want to, or keep ’em face down. I’m spreadin’
mine.

“There’s a warrant out for me and Silent Slade for robbin’ the stage of
a box of gold on July 15th. There was a woman mixed up in it.”

Brick had watched Martin’s face, but it never changed a line. Jean
looked only mildly curious. Brick continued:

“They’re talkin’ about you folks down in Marlin. I found this in the
dust where the stage was robbed.”

Brick handed the note to Scott Martin. Martin glanced at his own name
on the dirty envelope and looked searchingly at Brick’s face. He slowly
took out the note and looked down at it.

Brick could see Martin’s face lose its ruddy hue and grow blue--like
taking hot steel from a forge and plunging it into cold water. Martin
handed the note to Jean and the two men watched her read.

“What--where did you----”

Martin put his hand on her arm.

“Let him do the talkin’, girl.”

“There’s three of us that have seen the note--me and Silent and Harp,
ma’am. It looked kinda bad. Of course we didn’t know your initial was
J, and we didn’t know yuh had a man by the name of Oliver workin’ for
yuh.”

“Jack isn’t here yet,” said Jean. “He stopped----”

“What do you think?”

Martin’s tone was very cool.

“I’ve been doin’ a lot of thinkin’,” grinned Brick, “but it ain’t got
me much. There’s somethin’ crooked, pardner. The evidence against yuh
is--too--danged--good. If yuh know anythin’----”

Brick reached inside his bosom and drew out the three masks.

“I found these today. They---- Look at the sewin’, will yuh, ma’am? It
sure don’t resemble your work a-tall.”

Jean picked up one of the masks, while Martin held the other two in his
hands, watching her.

Came a sound at the door, and they turned to look into muzzles of two
rifles, held in the hands of Bunty Blair and Three Star Hennessey. For
a moment there was silence, and then Bunty Blair laughed aloud.

“Don’t move your hands,” he cautioned; and then his eyes caught the
significance of the black cloths.

                   *       *       *       *       *

It was a very inopportune time for the three people, each holding an
incriminating mask. Circumstantial evidence, it is true, but evidence
that no jury would overlook. Brick realized their danger, and his mind
worked fast.

Bunty chuckled and Three Star grinned.

“Caught with the goods,” said Bunty, relishing his own words. “Gettin’
all ready for another job, eh? Kinda lucky, I am.”

There was not a ghost of a chance for anything except surrender. Scott
Martin looked at Brick, and the friendliness had all left his eyes. His
look was an accusation. Brick glanced at Jean, but she was looking down
at the table-top, looking at one of the masks. Her face was white and
her lips tightly compressed. None of them had put up their hands.

Bunty gloated. It was his moment and he was going to enjoy it.

“Unbuckle your belts,” he ordered. “Careful with your hands. Now, hand
’em to me.”

Bunty stepped inside, holding his cocked rifle at his hip, while Three
Star covered them from just outside the door. Brick slowly unbuckled his
belt.

Scott Martin was holding out his belt, but Bunty was watching Brick, and
did not take it. Bunty was afraid of a trick.

Brick held out his belt and gun, but before Bunty could take it he let
it fall to the rag carpet. Bunty stepped forward as if to pick it up,
but changed his mind.

“No, yuh don’t, Davidson.”

Bunty was determined to take no chances.

“Pick it up yourself. You can’t fox me this time.”

Brick grinned at Bunty as if in appreciation of Bunty’s caution; but he
was in reality grinning at his own cleverness. Bunty had been foxed,
but did not know it. It was a desperate chance, but Brick delighted in
taking chances.

He half-knelt to pick up the belt and gun, but his hands grasped the
rag carpet instead; and with a sudden backward heave he yanked the
carpet from under Bunty’s feet, throwing him upside down.

As Bunty fell Brick threw himself forward and into Bunty, and they
rolled almost into the startled Three Star, who was unable to shoot
for fear of hitting Bunty.

With a twist of his body Brick crashed Bunty against the side of the
door, where he plucked Bunty’s pistol from its holster and sent a bullet
so close to Three Star’s ear that Three Star lowered his rifle and felt
to see whether he had lost an ear or not.

Scott Martin had snatched his own pistol from its holster and was
covering Three Star, who capitulated audibly. Bunty’s head had hit the
wall so hard that he had little interest in present conditions.

“I told him,” wailed Three Star. “I told him.”

“What did yuh tell him?” asked Brick.

“I told him to wire the governor to send out a troop of cavalry. I ain’t
got a danged thing against yuh, Davidson.”

“Workin’ under protest?”

“Yeah. Soon as he wakes up I’m goin’ to resign. I’ll take my forty a
month and punch cows.”

Bunty took plenty of time to wake up, but awoke audibly. His feelings
were hurt, and he felt it entirely within his rights to give vent to
his feelings in profanity; but Brick promptly gagged him with a
handkerchief, much to Bunty’s indignation and disgust. The handkerchief
was none too clean.

It had all happened in less time than it takes to tell about it. Martin
had buckled his belt on again, and now he handed Brick’s gun and belt to
him.

“That was what a Frenchman would call a ‘fox pass,’” grinned Brick.
“Them darned masks made things look kinda bad for us; eh?”

Bunty gargled something, but Brick gave him a withering look and his
eyes dropped to sullen contemplation of his toes. Three Star shifted
his feet nervously.

“I--I don’t understand.”

Jean shook her head.

“Neither do I,” admitted Brick, “but I’m havin’ a lot of fun in my
ignorance.”

“You knowed Bunty had a warrant for yuh, didn’t yuh?” asked Three Star.

Brick nodded. He turned to Martin.

“Do yuh know King Cleeve?”

Martin shook his head.

“No, only by sight.”

Brick wrinkled his brow and wondered if Silent had been mistaken.

“You used to live in Idaho?”

“Yes; we came here from Idaho.”

Brick stepped against the building, where he could keep an eye on Three
Star and Bunty. Then he said to Martin:

“About eight or ten years ago you almost lynched the wrong man. Do yuh
remember it, Martin?”

Martin’s eyes grew wider and wider until they were almost complete
circles; then they snapped back to mere slits, venomous as the eyes of
a rattlesnake. The lines of his face stiffened into a mask and his body
seemed to lengthen until the shoulder seams of his shirt threatened to
snap under the strain. His lips did not seem to move as he breathed:

“Davidson, who are you? For ----’s sake, say something!”

Brick glanced at Jean. She was leaning forward, looking at Martin, her
hand raised as if to reach for his arm. Brick snapped a glance at Three
Star and Bunty.

“Can’t yuh talk?” gritted Martin.

Brick stooped and picked up a coiled rope beside the door-step, and
turned to Martin.

“We’ll tie up our visitors, pardner; then talk.”

Martin relaxed and stepped forward.

“You’ll pay for this!” snarled Bunty as the gag slipped from his mouth.
“You can’t tie up the sheriff----”

“Mebbe not,” replied Brick, “but we’ll do our little best. There’s worse
places for a rope than around your hands and feet. You don’t mind, do
yuh, Three Star?”

“Nawsir. Help yourself, Brick.”

Martin opened the door and they put the trussed officers into the next
room, which was unused. Bunty made many rash promises, but no one seemed
interested.

Back in the living-room Martin faced Brick, and Brick noticed that
Martin had aged years in the last few minutes. His eyes had lost their
glare, and his hand trembled as he drew it across his eyes.

“Davidson, if you know--anything--let me--give me a chance, will yuh?”

Martin’s voice was pleading, and Brick wondered at the change.

“Pardner, I ain’t goin’ to cheat yuh out of anythin’. I don’t know
much--yet. Will yuh tell me a few things? Mebbe what I know will fit
in with yours.”

Martin nodded.

“I’ll tell all I can, Davidson.”

“Who did yuh buy this ranch from?”

“A man by the name of Mohr.”

“Zell Mohr?”

“Yes.”

“Whatcha know about that?”

Brick frowned down at the floor.

He had not known that Zell Mohr had owned the Weeping Tree.

“Suppose yuh tell me about that night in Idaho,” Brick suggested.

Martin looked at Jean and then walked over by the open door, where he
leaned against the side and looked off across the hills. Jean stepped
in closer to Brick, but neither of them spoke. Finally Martin turned
and came back.

“Davidson, I reckon you’re a square-shooter. I thought--when the sheriff
showed up--us havin’ those masks----”

“Did look bad,” smiled Brick; “but mebbe we can spoil the looks of it.
Go ahead.”

“Davidson, I used to be an outlaw.”

If Martin expected Brick to show surprize he was disappointed.

“Did yuh ever hear of the Sandy Creek gang?”

                   *       *       *       *       *

Brick nodded. The fame, or rather infamy, of the Sandy Creek gang had
never died out, although they had seemingly disbanded eight or ten years
before. None of them had ever been brought to justice.

“I was the leader of that gang,” said Martin slowly. “For two years
I rode at the head of that outlaw clan, and then I met the woman I
married.

“Jean is not my daughter. Her mother was a widow, and Jean was ten years
old when I met her. Men said that Mary Magone was beautiful. Women were
scarce in that country--good women; and God never made a better one,
Davidson.

“I rode into Cottonwood one day and met her. Two weeks later we were
married and I left the old gang. Mary never knew I was an outlaw. She
wasn’t the kind you could tell things like that to--and the Sandy Creek
gang had been accused of a lot of devilish things they never did. I knew
she could never understand, so I did not tell.

“Our game was to take the clean-ups of the mines. We had information on
every ounce of gold, and very little of it ever got past us.

“I had a little saved up. I told Mary I had sold my cattle. We moved
away from there. I was a gambler, Davidson, and my money did not last. I
had to get a job, and of all the jobs on earth for me to take--I went to
drivin’ the stage between Sweetgrass and the Ophir mines.

“Davidson, I was happy. I had a little home, the sweetest wife on
earth, and little Jean. The past kinda faded out, and it seemed like I
had always been straight. There was a reward of five thousand dollars
for the leader of the Sandy Creek gang.

“I heard a feller say once that there’s only the thickness of a cigaret
paper between heaven and hell. He was right. I walked out of heaven one
day when I met ‘Black’ Ames and Pete Rawls, members of the old gang.

“They laughed at me when I told ’em I was livin’ straight. Rawls said
they were going to get their share of the gold from the Ophir mines and
were willin’ to split it three ways with me.

“I refused to listen to them. They laughed and went away.

“Two days later they came to me again. I refused to help them. They
laughed at me. Wasn’t there a fat reward for the leader of the old
gang? Wouldn’t folks like to know who was driving the Ophir stage?

“Then Ames sprung his hole-card by telling me that my wife would be glad
to find me out.

“Davidson, I should have killed them both right there. It would have
caused trouble, but would have been better. That night I heard two
men, standing in the dark, talking. One of them was Ames, and he was
saying:

“‘That’s the idea. We’ll put a note in his pocket to show who he is. Did
yuh ever see his wife?’

“The other one said--

“‘You’re danged right I have, and I’m thinkin’ I’ll see a lot more of
her pretty soon.’

“I knew they were talking about me. After they were gone I had figured
out what they meant. They were going to kill me at the hold-up. Somebody
was going to find my body with the note on it and claim the reward.
Somebody else was going to try to get my wife, Davidson.

“I think that Rawls and Ames were the ones who pulled off the dirty
deals that were credited to the Sandy Creek gang. It was impossible to
prove it at the time. They demanded that I tip ’em off to the next big
shipment of gold.

“I didn’t know what to do, Davidson. I finally decided to lie about a
shipment and fight it out with them at the hold-up. I thought there
might be a third man in the deal, on account of the conversation I had
overheard, but I took a chance. I knew they were going to try and kill
me, but they didn’t know that I knew this, which made it safer for me.

“I expected to have three men hold me up, but there were five of ’em.
Ames and Rawls were not masked, but the other three were. They did not
look for trouble from me, but when my hands came up I gave Ames and
Rawls each a dozen buckshot from my shotgun. They never moved. They were
going to double-cross me, but I beat ’em to it. Then a bullet struck me
in the head, and when I fell I must ’a’ kicked loose the brake and the
team ran away.

“When I woke up I was in a saloon at Sweetgrass and the doctor was
sewing up the gash in my head. A man had come to the door of the
saloon and yelled that the stage had been smashed up and the driver
killed. Then he rode away. They had brought me to town. It was dark.
I went home. Yes, it was only a scalp wound, but I was bruised up
pretty bad.

“I found the note in my pocket--the note that would tell folks who I
had been. I destroyed it and went in the house. No one had told Mary,
but she was worried because I was so late. I was tryin’ to explain
that I was all right, when the door opened and a masked man came in.
Mary and I stood there together and looked at him. He said:

“‘We thought you was dead, Martin, but it don’t matter. You
double-crossed us today and you’re goin’ to pay.’

“All this time he’s got a gun pointed at us. He whistled, and two more
men came in.

“‘What do you want?’ asked Mary, and the first man laughed.

“‘You,’ he said. ‘Pretty women are too scarce to waste on a dog like
you’ve got.’

“I did not have a gun--nothing but my bare hands, but I sprang for him.
I felt his bullet burn my cheek, and then there came a scream.”

Martin’s face was agonized and his hands clutched at the table-cover.
Then he looked up at Brick, and his face was bloodless.

“Yes, that bullet killed her, Davidson--the bullet that was meant for
me. Another shot at me as I caught my foot in the rug and fell. I
guess they thought I was done for, so they left. The shots were heard
and people came.

“Little Jean had come out from her bed and saw it all. I guess that
saved me, because folks thought I had done it. I think I went crazy
then.

“I got a gun and went hunting for the man who shot my wife. I think
I just wanted to kill somebody. I had lost all that made life worth
while, and I wanted to find something or somebody that would fight
me.

“I knew that Ames and Rawls were dead, and I had no idea of who these
three men could be. I didn’t know but what it was my neighbor--anybody.
I don’t know how I expected to find ’em, but I went into the main
street, looking.

“A horse had fallen in the street and hurt the rider. I met the sheriff,
who was taking the injured man away. The sheriff looked like he had been
fighting.

“I went to the saloon, where men shrank away from me. I don’t blame
them. I--I wanted to kill somebody.

“A man was telling about the horse falling. He said that there were two
men. They raced into the street and one of the horses fell. I asked him
who they were. He did not know.

“Then I knew it was one of the men who killed my wife. I told them. We
went to the jail and took him out. I wanted them to let me have him,
but they wanted to hang him. I think I tied the knot. For some reason
or other I lit a match and looked at him.

“It was the wrong man. This man was over six feet tall and had no marks
of injury. I think he was half-drunk. We left him and went back, but our
man was gone. We found the sheriff at his shack, but he knew nothing.

“Since then we’ve kinda moved around, Jean and I. Something seems to
tell me that some day I’ll find that man. Something will tell me who
he is when we meet.”

Martin finished his tale and put his arms around Jean.

“What was the sheriff’s name, Martin?”

“Zell Mohr. He always was sorry for me, and tried to make me give up the
idea of hunting for that man. I reckon he felt sorry for Jean, ’cause I
kinda was unsatisfied in any one place, and when he got this old ranch
he wrote me to come out here.”

Brick stared at the floor. If Zell Mohr had been the sheriff, why hadn’t
Silent recognized him?

“Does Zell Mohr look the same as he did then?”

“Well, mebbe a little older, but----”

“He doesn’t wear a beard any more, daddy,” said Jean.

“That’s right, girl. He did used to wear whiskers.”

Brick rolled a cigaret slowly, and then looked up with a smile.

“Martin, did yuh ever see a hound catch a coyote?”

Martin frowned over the seemingly irrelevant question.

“Why, I--uh--yes, I have.”

“Could three greyhounds catch a coyote and not get cut up a bit?”

Martin smiled and shook his head.

“No, I don’t reckon they could, but they might.”

“Could three greyhounds catch four coyotes on the same day and not show
a mark?”

“No!”

Martin’s reply was very decisive.

“The coyote would cut some of them, that’s a cinch.”

“What have hounds and coyotes to do with it?” asked Jean.

“I dunno,” admitted Brick; “but somethin’, I think. Did yuh ever know a
crippled feller by the name of Limpy Squires?”

Martin stared at Brick.

“Limpy Squires? Where is he?”

“He’s dead. He was drivin’ the stage that got held up, and later on he
starts out with a ridin’-horse and pack-animal, and somebody plugged him
in the back.”

Martin stared down at the floor and his lips twitched.

“The fellers that robbed that stage likely killed him,” said Brick.

Martin looked up.

“Limpy Squires was my best friend, Davidson, but I did not know he
was in this country. He was one of the old gang, and got his limp
when he stepped between me and a bullet from one of our own gang. He
had to quit the gang on account of that injury. But why did anybody
kill him?”

“Mebbe,” suggested Brick, “mebbe somebody was afraid you two might
meet.”

Martin leaned closer to Brick and his voice was tense.

“Do you think that some of the gang--somebody wanted to get me? Did they
plant that note--and they killed Limpy?”

“Looks kinda like it,” nodded Brick; and then he told Martin of what
happened at the hold-up, the finding of the note, and of the baffling
footprints.

“What I want to know is this; where did that woman go? She didn’t jist
evaporate.”

Martin shook his head and glanced at the connecting door between the
living-room and the empty room where the prisoners had been placed.

“Can they hear, do yuh think?” asked Brick.

Jean walked across the room and opened the door. She glanced inside and
turned quickly.

“They’re gone!” she exclaimed.

Brick sprang across to the door and looked inside. On the floor were
Three Star’s hat and several pieces of cut rope.

“Kinda complicates things, pardner,” observed Brick soberly. “Wonder how
much they heard?”

“Too much, if anything,” replied Martin. “What will we do now?”

“Meet ’em half-way,” grinned Brick, going to the door.

At the corner was Bunty’s horse and buggy, and coming around that was
another horse and buggy. On the seat was a tall, raw-boned woman,
handling the lines like a veteran. She jumped out and tied her horse
and came toward the door.

“Howdy, Mrs. Wesson,” greeted Brick.

“Well, well, if it ain’t ol’ man Davidson’s prodigal son!”

Mrs. Wesson threw back her head and laughed.

“Well, Brickie, ain’t yuh goin’ to introduce me? Where’s your manners?”

Brick managed to introduce her to Jean and Martin. Mrs. Wesson beamed
upon Jean and patted her shoulder.

“Honey, I jist found out that there was a girl at the old Weepin’ Tree.
Cale Wesson has knowed it several days, but he ain’t never told me. I
gave him ---- for it, too, and you know what he said? He said I’d talk
the limb off a yucca-tree, and he was sparin’ yuh. Ha, ha, ha! I told
him I had the closest tongue in the world, and he said, ‘Yes--closes’
to words.’

“Ain’t men the dangdest things? Look at Brick Davidson, will yuh?
Wild-ridin’, good-for-nothin’ cowpuncher, but some day some girl will
up and marry him. Fact. Oh, I’ve seen girls make some awful mistakes.

“Brick’s handsome--I’ll say that much for him; but, honey, them handsome
men don’t always provide hot cakes for your breakfast. But Brick won’t
cuss a woman. I hate a man who cusses at women. I’m goin’ to bend a gun
over Bunty Blair’s head some of these bright afternoons, y’betcha.

“Met him and Three Star Hennessey about half-way between here and town.
Walkin’. Fact. I stops and says--

“‘If you’re just exercisin’ I’ll give yuh a lift up the road a piece and
let yuh get a fresh start.’

“Know what Bunty said? He told me to go somewhere. I told him that the
chairs was all reserved for sheriffs, and I’ll be danged if I’d stand
up. Ha, ha, ha! Three Star ain’t so bad, but he’s in bad company.
Talkin’ about standin’ up reminds me of---- Honey, let’s go in out of
the sun.”

Jean led Mrs. Wesson inside, where she immediately began another
discourse, breaking off to eulogize Jean’s taste in room decoration.

“Get your bronc,” said Brick. “Let her entertain Jean. I think that me
and you have got a job ahead of us.”

Martin nodded and listened to Mrs. Wesson talking.

“She’s the goods, Davidson. Rough as a file, but I’ll bet she’s got a
solid-gold heart. Put overalls and boots on her and she’d look just
like a man.”

Brick looked at Martin and then stared at his horse. He visualized Mrs.
Wesson in male garb, and a smile crossed his face. He started to put
his foot in the stirrup, but stopped. Then he turned to Martin, who was
putting a saddle on a tall star-faced bay.

“Say, pardner, that woman didn’t neither fly nor evaporate.”

Martin turned.

“Where did she go, Davidson?”

“Walked away with the men.”

“I thought yuh said she never left the rock.”

“I was loco.”

“How did she leave?”

Brick swung into his saddle and adjusted himself before replying--

“Walked away on her two feet.”

Martin tied off his cinch and swung into his saddle.

“Reckon we ought to take the sheriff’s rig back to town with us?”

Brick shook his head, and they circled the ranch-house, headed for
Marlin City.

                   *       *       *       *       *

It was a long, hot walk for Bunty and Three Star. Bunty had managed to
work one hand loose and secure his knife, and the rest had been easy.

They would have had to pass the open door of the living-room to reach
their rig, and if they circled the house to reach the other side they
might be seen or heard. Three Star advised extreme caution, and Bunty
was willing to accept the advice.

Bunty was sore, but Three Star was indifferent. Bunty swore he was
going to get a posse and go right back. Three Star wished him the best
of luck, and his well wishes nettled Bunty.

“Quittin’, are yuh?” snarled Bunty.

“Not quittin’--quit,” corrected Three Star.

“You ain’t got no guts,” declared Bunty. “Let ’em treat yuh thataway and
then quit.”

“I didn’t ‘let’ ’em,” said Three Star, “and yuh can take it from me,
they ain’t going to get another chance. Next time they’ll likely take
your little knife and make yuh swaller it. As far as Brick Davidson is
concerned--I pass.”

The spectacle of the sheriff and deputy walking into town excited
amusement and interest. Several cowboys were in front of the Dollar
Down, and they lost no time in making an audible demonstration.

Sitting in front of Wesson’s store were Silent and Harp, the latter
dealing out mournful music, while Silent sang softly and very much off
the key.

“Looky!” grunted Harp, pointing up the street. “Bunty and Three Star
hammerin’ their own hocks.”

“Whatcha know?” wondered Silent.

“Mebbe they know where Brick is--the danged red-headed son of a gun.”

Bunty and Three Star went straight for the saloon. Silent and Harp went
across the street, arriving there just in time to hear Bunty say--

“How many of you fellers want to get in on a reward?”

Cowboys as a rule are skeptical of such an invitation.

Zell Mohr came out of the saloon and walked up to the crowd. Bunty
glanced around expectantly, but none of the cowboys seemed to consider
his invitation.

“I reckon I’ve got to deputize some of yuh,” stated Bunty.

“Did yuh lose your horse and buggy?” asked Silent.

“How much reward for gettin’ it back?” asked Bill See, a Triangle Dot
puncher.

Bunty glared at Silent, but did not speak.

“What’s the trouble, Bunty?” asked Mohr.

King Cleeve, attracted by the crowd outside, had left his game and come
out. Bunty saw Cleeve and turned to him.

“I’ve found the road-agents,” stated Bunty. “Discovered ’em with the
masks in their possession.”

“Discovered is right,” grinned Three Star. “Bunty talked so much that
they had to muzzle him.”

Three Star laughed and looked at Zell Mohr.

“Friends of yours, Mohr. At least, they spoke about you.”

“Who yuh talkin’ about?” growled Mohr.

“Brick Davidson and that Martin person,” replied Bunty. “Them two and
the woman are the ones what robbed the stage.”

Silent elbowed his way to Bunty’s side.

“Don’t let your cinch slip too much, Bunty.”

Bunty looked around at the circle of faces, but there was only
curiosity.

“I’ve got a dead immortal cinch on them,” stated Bunty. “They got the
drop on me and Three Star, but we got away. Now I want help to go and
get ’em.”

“Me and Harp will help yuh,” said Silent.

Topaz Tyler added his gaudy presence to the assemblage, stepping easily
that he might not soil his polished boots.

“Take Topaz,” grinned Silent. “He’ll dazzle ’em and then yuh can hit ’em
from behind.”

Bunty glared at Silent.

“Kinda lookin’ for trouble, ain’t yuh, Slade?”

“Well,” grinned Silent, “I ain’t packin’ no extra spokes for fear I
might get a wheel smashed.”

Bunty whirled as the crowd laughed, and went straight for his office.
The sheriff of Sun-Dog was disgusted and tired. Three Star started to
follow him, but stopped.

“Forgot I resigned.”

Three Star removed the badge of office from the lapel of his vest and
sent it spinning across the street.

King Cleeve watched Three Star shed his authority, and as the crowd
drifted back into the saloon he stepped in close to Three Star and
said--

“What happened out there?”

“Just what I expected,” said Three Star. “Brick Davidson made a pair of
monkeys out of me and Bunty. They tied us up, but Bunty got his knife
and cut us loose.”

“What did they talk about?”

“I dunno--much.”

Three Star shook his head seriously.

“I didn’t _sabe_ much they said, but I’m bettin’ that between them
two--Brick and Martin--there’s goin’ to be ---- turned loose in
somebody’s wickiup.”

“Threats?”

“Nawsir. I heard yours and Mohr’s name mentioned.”

Three Star started to go inside, but Cleeve took hold of his sleeve.

“I’ll make it worth your while to remember what they said.”

Three Star scratched his chin and then shook his head.

“Nope. I’m all through buttin’ into Brick Davidson’s business; and
besides I’m gettin’ so I like the ---- fool.”

Mohr was standing beside the door, and he gave Three Star a searching
glance as he passed. Cleeve went slowly in behind Three Star, and he and
Mohr exchanged glances, but neither of them spoke. Mohr started as if to
go to the hitch-rack, but changed his mind and went inside the saloon.

Bunty Blair was mad at the world in general and Brick Davidson and Scott
Martin in particular. Here was a chance for him to land two men, whom he
believed guilty of robbery, and to satisfy his revengeful nature at the
same time.

Bunty was merely incapable as a peace officer. Bunty knew this--knew it
too well for his own conscience. He knew that Brick Davidson thought him
a joke, and it cut deep into Bunty’s tender feelings. Perhaps other men
thought the same as Brick, but they concealed their feelings.

Bunty slapped his hat on the table. He lifted it up and slapped it
down again. At least neither the table nor the hat would fight back,
and Bunty needed a safety-valve.

He glowered down at the hat as if it were an inanimate mass of battered
felt, and then walked over to the door. To go after Brick and Martin
single-handed was suicide; to ignore their actions meant ridicule from
the whole county.

Bunty glanced up the street, and his body stiffened. Coming into the
upper end of town was Brick Davidson on his hammer-headed gray, and
beside him was Scott Martin, on a tall bay.

Bunty gasped. Of all the unadulterated nerve! Coming right into Marlin
City! Suddenly Bunty laughed aloud; but his laugh contained little
mirth. Brick and Martin must have thought that he and Three Star were
still safely roped in that room.

Bunty watched them ride up to the hitch-rack, and then he sat down in a
chair to think. His first thought was a glad one--glad that he was not
in the saloon.

                   *       *       *       *       *

Brick and Scott Martin had ridden the whole distance from the
ranch-house in silence. Martin did not know what Brick was going to
do in Marlin City, and Brick did not enlighten him.

Martin studied Brick’s set features and wondered what was to come next.

“Ridin’ into a noose?” he mused to himself. “If the officers reached
town and told their story, why hasn’t a posse been organized? What has
this red-headed spit-fire in his mind?”

But the red-head was silent until Marlin City was before them, and then
he said:

“Pardner, there’s goin’ to be trouble, I reckon; but you let me start
it, will yuh? Mebbe yuh won’t _sabe_ my talk, but don’t let that worry
yuh none. I’m goin’ to force a showdown, and some folks are goin’ to
have some bad cards.”

Martin nodded. He was pinning his faith to Brick Davidson.

They entered the saloon and walked up to the bar. Topaz Tyler was
standing at the bar, talking with another man. King Cleeve, in shirt
sleeves and eye-shade, was sitting in a lookout chair at the stud
game, facing the bar. Beside him sat Zell Mohr, hat pulled low over
his eyes, a substantial pile of blue chips in front of him.

Over at the roulette layout a half-drunken cowboy was trying to shake
the attentions of a dance-hall girl long enough to see if his number
won, while a couple of other cowboys urged the girl to get a rope and
hogtie the spendthrift.

The room hummed with voices, the rattle of chips, the clink of
glassware, and above it all sounded the tin-panny rattle of a piano.

Brick and Scott Martin stopped mid-way of the bar and turned facing the
center of the room. Their entrance had attracted no attention, and for a
space of twenty seconds nobody noticed them.

Suddenly Zell Mohr glanced from under the low-pulled brim of his hat,
straight at the two men. Mohr’s eyes were shaded so it was impossible
to see any change of expression, but his lips never moved.

“First king bets,” intoned the dealer; but Zell Mohr made no move to
bet.

“Passin’, Zell?” asked one of the players; but still Mohr made no move
to play.

King Cleeve looked down at Mohr, and then glanced over at the bar. Brick
Davidson was looking straight at him. King Cleeve blinked perceptibly.

The dealer sensed the tension of Mohr and Cleeve, and looked over at the
bar. For perhaps ten seconds there was no change in the hum and rattle
of the room, and then the noise died down--down--down, like the slowing
of a big piece of machinery.

The bulk of the noise stopped; but here and there an extra word, the
rattle of a dropped poker-chip, the last few notes from the piano, as
if played with nervous fingers.

Then silence.

Topaz Tyler had half-lifted a glass of liquor to his lips, but his
eyes shifted suddenly and the glass slipped from his fingers, rolled
in a noisy circle on the bar and then fell to the floor.

Every eye in the place focused on Brick and Scott Martin.

Brick’s eyes shifted to Topaz, who was half-turned away from the bar,
and his voice was mildly humorous.

“Losin’ your grip already, Topaz?”

Topaz did not reply. His hand started toward his face as if to wipe his
lips, but halted short of his chin. He stopped in the attitude of either
deep thought or total abstraction.

Brick’s eyes flashed back to King Cleeve, but the humor had all gone
from his eyes. Brick was deadly cool. His hands hung loosely at his
sides, but his elbows were half-bent, and his feet were planted far
apart as if to withstand a shock.

The bartender pussyfooted the length of the bar, getting out of line
with Brick and the crowd. Brick’s eyes flashed sidewise, and then a
grin overspread his face. He appreciated the bartender’s views on the
matter.

The half-drunken cowboy started to say something, but another cowboy
jerked his sleeve and clapped a hand over the inebriated one’s mouth.
Brick’s eyes flashed from face to face, and then he looked directly at
Zell Mohr, while his hand brushed easily back and forth past the butt
of his holstered gun.

“What kind of a rifle do you use, Mohr?”

Mohr stared at Brick for a moment.

“I shoot a .45-90, it’s any of your business, Davidson.”

“Did yuh run out of shells the day of the hold-up?”

Mohr continued to gaze at Brick. Then he looked up at King Cleeve as if
seeking an answer to a foolish question. Then he shook his head slowly.

“Then why did yuh use a .45-70 ca’tridge when yuh shot at Silent Slade,
down there at the wrecked stage?”

Mohr leaned forward; a natural enough movement, but it gave him a chance
to move his hands.

“Keep your elbows on the table!” snapped Brick.

Silent and Harp moved slowly away from the crowd, and were now standing
nearer the door. Brick’s eyes flashed toward them and then back at Mohr.
Topaz Tyler still stood in the same position, but now his eyes were upon
Cleeve and Mohr as if waiting their next move. Scott Martin was standing
half-facing Topaz, wondering what was to come next.

“Yuh might answer my last question,” said Brick easily.

“Who in ---- do you think you are--the judge?” growled Mohr.

“Mebbe.”

Brick leaned forward and snapped his next words:

“I ain’t no lawyer, Zell Mohr, but I’m goin’ to pass on your case right
here and now! Set still!”

Brick’s eyes shifted to Cleeve’s set features, and then seemed to
consider his next question.

“Cleeve, you’re a man of intelligence, ain’t yuh? No, yuh don’t need to
answer that. You and Zell Mohr was huntin’ coyotes on the day the stage
was robbed, wasn’t yuh?”

Cleeve nodded and started to speak, but Brick continued:

“Zell Mohr’s three greyhounds caught four coyotes for yuh that day.
After the hounds caught them coyotes yuh had to shoot the coyotes,
didn’t yuh?”

Cleeve nodded.

“Yuh shot them coyotes with a .45-90, didn’t yuh? Uh-huh. After them
nice slick greyhounds caught the coyotes--you shot ’em.”

“What are you--” began Cleeve; but Brick continued--

“As I said before, you’re a man of intelligence, Cleeve; so I don’t see
why in ---- yuh wanted to lie about them coyotes.”

Cleeve leaned forward, and his long, tapering fingers seemed to clutch
at the knees of his trousers.

Mohr leaned back and shifted his feet.

“Set still!” snapped Brick. “You ain’t started to get tired yet.”

“What’s all this coyote talk about?” snarled Cleeve. “Nobody lied. The
hounds caught the coyotes----”

“Yeah?”

Brick’s tone was very sarcastic.

“Yuh say they did? Well, now, I’m wonderin’, Cleeve. Them hounds were
as fresh as the mornin’ dew, and not one of ’em had a single scratch.
Did yuh pull the coyotes’ teeth before yuh sent the dogs after ’em?”

“What are you drivin’ at?” asked Mohr.

“Drivin’ at the fact that them coyotes was never caught by hounds.”

“Suppose you want us to prove it to you,” sneered Cleeve, relaxing and
trying to force a smile.

Brick smiled back at him, but only with his lips. The crowd shifted
uneasily. Topaz Tyler glanced at Brick and then back at Mohr and Cleeve.

“Cleeve,” observed Brick, “yuh might like to know that I was cold
sober to begin with on the day that you and Topaz Tyler got me drunk
and stole that note out of my pocket. You thought I had the note you
planted at the robbery, and I wanted to be sure that you wanted it
bad enough to steal.”

King Cleeve’s eyes flashed to Topaz and then back at Brick. Scott Martin
seemed to slide one foot forward as if getting set for a quick move.

“I don’t know what you mean,” breathed Cleeve.

“It’s all rot!” snarled Mohr; but his face was green.

“Y’betcha it’s rot!” exploded Brick. “As rotten a thing as I ever heard.
Set still, Mohr!”

Silent and Harp had slowly moved closer. Three Star was standing at the
edge of the crowd, but nearer the door, resting both hands on the back
of an empty chair.

“I’m goin’ back quite a ways,” began Brick as if telling a
matter-of-fact story--“back to the time when Zell Mohr was a sheriff
in Idaho. Remember it, don’t yuh, Mohr? You ought to.

“Durin’ that time an ex-outlaw was drivin’ a stage. He had reformed
and was goin’ straight. Two of his old pals got in with three other
men, and they framed this stage-driver. The scheme was to force him
to tell them when a big shipment of gold was to be made. This was
all they asked of him; but he overheard their plan to kill him. One
of these polecats wanted this stage-driver’s wife.

“The stage-driver didn’t know there was more than these two men goin’ to
hold him up, y’understand. He was livin’ straight, and he wanted to keep
on livin’ straight, but they wouldn’t let him. He told ’em of a shipment
comin’ through--a shipment that existed only in his own mind. They held
him up. He was lookin’ for ’em, and he killed the two men who framed
him. Remember it, Mohr?”

Mohr’s lips did not move. Cleeve’s hands had moved off his knees and
were slightly twitching back along his thighs.

“Hands nervous, Cleeve?” asked Brick. “Have a little patience. These
other three men shot this stage-driver and thought he was dead. There
was no gold on the stage. But the driver wasn’t dead, Mohr. Some folks
went out and got him. He was hurt kinda bad, but managed to get home
to his wife and little girl.

“These three men went to his house at night to take this man’s wife,
and they found him there--the man they thought they had killed. They
told him they were going to take his wife, Mohr. Yes, they were goin’
to take her, but he put up a fight. He didn’t have no gun. One of ’em
shot at him, and the bullet killed the woman.”

Brick stopped talking. Scott Martin was leaning forward, his eyes
searching the faces before him, while his powerful hands opened and
shut as if hungering for something to crush. Cleeve’s face had gone a
shade paler, and his head seemed to droop lower between his hunched
shoulders.

“I’m goin’ to tell more,” said Brick softly. “They shot at the
stage-driver again and thought they had killed him, but were mistaken
again.

“Then they pulled out--fast; that is, two of ’em did. A horse fell with
one of ’em--fell in the street.

“Remember that, Mohr? You was the sheriff at that time. Do yuh remember
takin’ this man whose horse fell and puttin’ him in jail? He was hurt,
but you didn’t take him to a doctor. No; you was afraid a doctor might
ask questions, or somebody might.”

Mohr licked his lips.

“I--I don’t see----”

“Remember havin’ a fight with a big, tall cowboy that day, Mohr? He
licked yuh, but yuh got help and put him in jail. You only had one
cell in that jail, and yuh had to put this injured man in with the
big feller. You thought that the big feller was too drunk to pay any
attention, didn’t yuh?

“Remember the mob that went down there to lynch this feller whose horse
fell with him? They knew he was one of the men who killed the woman.
They got the wrong man, but they found it out before they lynched him,
and when they came back the--murderer--was--gone. He never was tried,
because you went there after the mob left--and--took--him--away.”

                   *       *       *       *       *

The crowd had hung upon every word, and now all eyes were turned toward
Zell Mohr to see how he was going to take Brick’s accusation. They knew
that Zell Mohr was a gun-fighter.

Mohr licked his lips and tried to smile at Scott Martin. Then he looked
at Brick.

“Why--uh--you’re wrong, Davidson. Martin knows--why, I--I’ve been his
friend----”

Mohr’s voice was pitched very low, and men leaned forward to hear his
words.

“I--I felt sorry for him.”

“Did yuh?” grated Brick. “Yuh did--felt sorry for him, like a buzzard
feels sorry for a sick calf.”

“What does all this talk mean?” asked Topaz Tyler slowly.

Brick’s eyes shifted, and Topaz glanced down at his feet, seemingly
sorry that he spoke. Brick glanced down at Topaz’ feet.

“Yuh got small feet, Topaz,” he observed, keeping his eyes on Mohr and
Cleeve but watching Topaz out of the corner of one eye. “Small feet
and small hands. A skirt and a veil is about all yuh need to make you
a perfect lady.”

Topaz lifted his head and looked directly at Cleeve; but Cleeve seemed
to evade his eyes.

“Speakin’ of shoes,” said Brick, “you changed yours in a bad place,
Topaz. Why didn’t yuh keep on them high-heels until yuh got out of the
sand?”

Topaz seemed to stiffen at the question.

“That cut yuh got on your forearm when the stage was upset never did
heal good; did it, Topaz?”

Like a flash Topaz lifted his arm and glanced down at it.

Brick’s sudden question had taken Topaz off his guard, and he had
trapped himself. Topaz realized it, and his eyes shifted like the
eyes of a trapped animal, but he was afraid of the consequences of
any sudden break.

Brick smiled and began:

“Cleeve, you and Mohr and Tyler waited a long time to get even with
Scott Martin for that day he busted up your party and didn’t have that
big shipment of gold. You framed that note to implicate Scott Martin,
Jack Oliver and Martin’s daughter. Yes, yuh did.”

“Now, looky here,” growled Cleeve, sliding off his chair, “you’ve
accused----”

“Stand still!” snapped Brick. “Hands where they are, Cleeve! I’ll tell
yuh when to move. The prosecution ain’t through yet. You three framed
that robbery with Limpy Squires, and yuh killed him for double-crossin’
yuh. You wanted to kill him just like yuh wanted to kill Scott Martin
that time. I’m bettin’ that Limpy knew you was the ones what pulled off
that Idaho job, and he was Scott Martin’s friend, and when yuh opened
that treasure-box----”

Brick stopped. Not a man moved. It might have been a painting or a
group of lay figures for all the movement. Every man in the room was
tensed--nerves taut as fiddle-strings; waiting for the inevitable
crash.

Then Silent Slade’s voice snapped like a whip--

“King Cleeve was the man they wanted to lynch!”

King Cleeve threw himself sidewise, clawing at his gun; but he never
reached it. Scott Martin had sprung--sprung like a panther, clear of
the floor, circling King Cleeve with those long, muscular arms, and
they crashed out of sight behind the roulette outfit.

The crowd broke for the front and rear door--anywhere to get out of
line. Mohr’s gun came out like a flash; but Brick’s gun spouted lead
before Mohr’s gun left its holster, and Mohr fell sidewise out of his
chair, shot through the shoulder.

As Brick whirled around, the powder from Topaz Tyler’s gun burned his
cheek, but the bullet went into the bar-mirror. Silent and Harp fired
at the same time that Brick did, and Topaz Tyler spun on his heel and
went down.

From the doorway came the _whang_ of a shot, and Brick felt the sharp
sting of a bullet as it burned across his shoulder. Brick whirled to
meet this new menace just in time to see Three Star Hennessey hurl a
heavy chair through the doorway, crashing it into Bunty Blair’s head
and shoulders.

Bunty went backward off the sidewalk, and Three Star, following the
thrown chair, landed all in a heap on the stunned sheriff. Zell Mohr,
recovering from the shock of Brick’s bullet, managed to get his pistol
into his left hand.

_Bang!_

From under the card-table came the report of a pistol, and the bullet
passed through the high crown of Brick’s hat, lifting it off his head.
Harp Harris sprang across the room, jumped high and came down upon the
card-table, crashing it down upon Zell Mohr, pinning him to the floor.

Brick glanced out of the door, where Three Star was shaking Bunty back
to life and talking fast. Three Star was telling Bunty in a few words
what a foolish sheriff he was.

Out from the tangle of broken furniture came Scott Martin. His gun still
hung in its holster. He looked very tired as he passed his hand wearily
across his forehead and looked at Brick.

An outflung hand and a protruding foot were all that showed from the
wreckage, but the incoming crowd did not seem to think it worth while
to inquire about King Cleeve.

Scott Martin held out his hand to Brick and their hands met.

“Thank yuh, Davidson,” said Martin softly. “I’ve waited a long time for
this.”

“You’re plumb welcome,” smiled Brick. “Had quite a party while it
lasted; didn’t we?”

The crowd stood around Brick and Martin, but no one seemed to have
anything to say. Silent and Harp lifted the table off Zell Mohr. The
former Idaho sheriff would need considerable patching up before he
could face a judge and jury, but he was still able to curse.

Then came Bunty Blair, elbowing his way through the crowd. The chair
had spoiled his physical beauty, but reverses seemed to have brought
out a latent quality heretofore unknown to Marlin City.

He reached down and snapped a pair of handcuffs on Zell Mohr. He glanced
in the direction of King Cleeve and then over at Topaz Tyler. His head
turned and he looked at Brick.

“Davidson,” he said, “I begs your pardon. I--I almost made a big
mistake.”

Bunty held out his hand.

“I’m asking yuh to shake hands with me, Davidson; but I won’t blame yuh
if yuh don’t.”

Brick grasped his hand.

“I--I need a good deputy,” said Bunty. “If I could get a good one I--I’d
resign and let him have my job.”

Brick grinned, but shook his head.

“I ain’t worth a ---- as a sheriff,” said Bunty bitterly.

                   *       *       *       *       *

Brick put his hand on Bunty’s shoulder and looked at Bunty’s face. Brick
swallowed hard. He had antagonized Bunty--detested him--and now he had
suddenly discovered that Bunty was rather human after all.

“Think it over, will yuh, Brick?” begged Bunty.

“I know where I throwed my star,” said Three Star. “I can get it--easy.”

Brick slapped Bunty on the back and walked out of the saloon, with
Scott Martin beside him and Silent and Harp trailing. They walked to
the hitch-rack.

“Jean will be anxious to know,” said Martin. “Mebbe she’d like to have
you----”

Brick smiled and shook his head.

“No, pardner; I reckon it’s your place to tell her about it.”

“Well--” Scott Martin turned to his horse and then looked at
Brick--“you’re comin’ out soon, ain’t yuh?”

“Uh-huh.”

Brick felt tenderly of his sore shoulder.

“Yeah, I’m comin’ out--soon, but you better tell her all about it. You
know it as well as I do, pardner. You tell her all there is to tell and
get it over with, ’cause--”

Brick stepped in close and lowered his voice--“’cause when I come out
there I’m goin’ to talk about somethin’ besides fightin’.”

Martin vaulted to his saddle and rode away with a smile on his face.
The three cowboys mounted their horses and rode the other way toward
the Nine Bar Nine.

“He ain’t,” stated Silent to no one in particular, “he ain’t goin’ to
talk about fightin’ nor nothin’.”

“He don’t know for sure,” said Harp, “’cause he ain’t never been married
nor nothin’.”

Brick grinned back at them.

“Yeah, he kinda made a clean-up,” said Silent; “but he sure did overlook
one big thing, Harp. He landed the road-agents, but he never got that
box of gold back.”

“There wasn’t any money stolen,” said Brick.

“There wasn’t any---- Aw-w-w, whatcha talkin’ about?”

Harp spurred in close to Brick.

“Brickie, did you get hit hard enough to make yuh talk thataway?”

“I think that Limpy knew they was framin’ Scott Martin,” said Brick. “I
ain’t sure of this, but I’m danged sure that they had the goods on Limpy
and threatened to expose him as a member of that old Sandy Creek gang if
he didn’t tip ’em off to a big shipment of gold from the Whippoorwill
mine.

“Topaz Tyler watched things from the mine end. Limpy was afraid to
jump out of the country, or was hard-boiled enough to take a chance.
He double-crossed ’em, and when they finds it out they killed him
when he was leavin’ the country.

“When Scott Martin told me his story it looked so much like this same
layout that I figured thisaway; Cleeve was the man Martin wanted to
lynch. Mohr was the sheriff that saved him. It was a cinch that they
worked together.

“That note implicated a woman. If Bunty had found that note it would ’a’
been hard to save Scott Martin and Jean. I sure needed a woman.

“Them tracks in the sand bothered me a lot. Scott Martin remarks that
Mrs. Wesson only needs overalls and boots to look like a man, and right
there it strikes me that Topaz Tyler is my woman. He sets on that rock
and changes back to his own boots; that’s why them female tracks never
left the rock.

“Them greyhounds not bein’ scratched after catchin’ four coyotes showed
that all was not right. Mohr had a 45-90 Winchester, if yuh remember.
That bullet which barely missed Silent was fired from a 45-70 shell,
which was a good alibi for that 45-90 rifle, but the shell was swollen
at the butt, which showed it wasn’t chambered right in the rifle, and
the firin’-pin hit the primer too high.”

Silent and Harp grinned at Brick’s snappy explanation.

“I had ’em cinched,” smiled Brick. “They didn’t have a single chance in
the world except to shoot themselves clear.”

“But what about that box of gold?” asked Silent.

“Full of bars of lead. Nothin’ but ordinary lead, Silent.”

“Well, for gosh sake!” grunted Silent. “Whatcha know about that? Lead
bars!”

“Two L’s,” said Harp musingly. “Two things that has caused a lot of joy
and a lot of trouble in this old West. One L started it and another L
finished it.”

“Lead?” asked Silent.

“Uh-huh,” nodded Harp. “Lead and love.”

“Some combination.”

Silent grinned and slapped Brick on the shoulder.

“I’ll back Brick in either one. The old boy sure does _sabe_ things;
don’t he, Harp?”

Brick smiled straight ahead; smiled at a day’s work well done; while
from behind them came the thrumming of a jew’s-harp; a jew’s-harp
doing its little best to play a wedding march as the three broncos
shuffled across the hills and the setting sun cast long shadows
across the Sun-Dog trails.


[Transcriber’s Note: This story appeared in the July 3, 1921 issue of
Adventure magazine. This story is believed to be in the public domain
in the United States. Please note that copyright status may differ in
other countries.]



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