Hopalong Cassidy Sees Red

were passing a quiet evening in Quayle's barroom, but the quiet was not to endure.

With lagging interest in the game Idaho picked up his cards, ruffled them and listened. 'Reckon that's singin',' he said in response to the noise floating down from the gambling-hall. 'Sounds more like a bunch of cows bawlin' for their calves. Kane's comin' to life later'n usual. Wonder if Thorpe's joinin' in?' he asked, and burst out laughing. 'Next to our hard-workin' sheriff there ain't nobody in town that I'd rather see eat dirt than him. Wish I could 'a' seen him a-climbin' that wall!'

'Annybody that works for Kane eats dirt,' commented Quayle. 'They has to. He'll learn how to eat it, too, th' blackguard.'

'There goes somethin',' said Ed Doane as the distant roaring ceased abruptly. 'Reckon Thorpe's makin' another try at th' wall.' He laughed softly. 'They're startin' a fandango, by th' sound of it.'

'Tis nothin' to th' noise av a good Irish reel,' deprecated the proprietor.

'I'm claimin' low this hand,' grunted Idaho. 'Look out for yore jack.'

Johnny smiled, played and soon a new deal was begun.

'Th' dance is over, too,' said Doane, mopping off the bar for the third time in ten minutes. 'Must 'a' been a short one.'

'Some of them hombres will dance shorter than that, an' harder,' grunted Idaho, 'th' next time they pay us a visit. They didn't get many head th' last time, an' I'm sayin' they'll get none at all th' next time. Where they take 'em to is more'n we can guess: th' tracks just die. Not bein' able to track 'em, we're aimin' to stop it at th' beginnin'. You fellers wait, an' you'll see.'

Quayle grunted expressively. 'I been waitin' too long now. Wonder why nobody ever set fire to Kane's. 'Twould be a fine sight.'

'You'll mebby see that, too, one of these nights,' growled the puncher.

'Then pick out wan when th' wind is blowin' up th' street,' chuckled Quayle. 'This buildin' is so dry it itches to burn. I'm surprised it ain't happened long ago, with that Mick in th' kitchen raisin' th' divvil with th' stove. If I didn't have a place av me own I'd be tempted to do it meself.'

The bartender laughed shortly. 'If McCullough happens to think of it I reckon it'll be done.' He shook out the bar cloth and bunched it again. 'Funny he ain't cut loose yet. That ain't like him, at all.'

'Waitin' for th' rewards to start workin', I reckon,' said Johnny.

Idaho scraped up the cards, shaped them into a sheer-sided deck and pushed it aside. 'I'm tired of this game; it's too even. Reckon I'll go up an' take a look at Kane's.' He arose and sauntered out, paused, and looked up the street. 'Cussed if they ain't havin' a pe-rade,' he called. 'This ain't th' Fourth of July, is it? I'm goin' up an' sidle around for a closer look. Be back soon.'

Johnny was vaguely perturbed. The sudden cessation of the song bothered him, and the uproar which instantly followed it only served to increase his uneasiness. Ordinarily he would not have been affected, but the day's events might have led to almost anything. Had a shot been fired he swiftly would have investigated, but the lack of all shooting quieted his unfounded suspicions. Idaho's remark about the parade renewed them and after a short, silent argument with himself he arose, went to the door and looked up the street, seeing the faint, yellow patch on the sand where Kane's lamps shown through the open door and struggled against the surrounding darkness, and hearing the faint rumble of voices above which rang out frequent laughter. He grimly told himself that there would be no laughter in Kane's if his two friends had come to any harm, and there would have been plenty of shooting.

'Annythin' to see?' asked Quayle, poking his head out of the door.

'No,' answered Johnny, turning to reenter the building. 'Just feelin' their oats, I reckon.'

''Tis feelin' their ropes they should be doin',' replied Quayle, stepping back to let his guest pass through. 'An' 'twould be fine humor to swing 'em from their own. Hist!' he warned, listening to the immoderate laughter which came rapidly nearer. 'Here's Idaho; he'll know it all.'

Idaho popped in and in joyous abandon threw his sombrero against the ceiling. 'Funniest thing you ever heard!' he panted. 'Corwin's arrested that Bill Long an' Red Thompson. Took a full dozen to do it, an' half of 'em are cripples now. Th' pe-rade I saw was Corwin an' a bunch escortin' 'em over to th' jail. Ain't we got a rip-snortin' fool for a sheriff?' His levity died swiftly, to give way to slowly rising anger. 'With this country fair crowded with crooks he can't find nobody to throw in jail except two friendless strangers! Blast his hide, I got a notion to pry 'em out and turn 'em loose before mornin', just to make things right, an' take some of th' swellin' out of his flat head. It's a cussed shame.'

The low-pulled brim of Johnny's sombrero hid the glint in his eyes and the narrowed lids. He relaxed and sat carelessly on the edge of a table, one leg swinging easily to and fro as conjecture after conjecture rioted through his mind.

'They must 'a' stepped on Kane's toes,' said Ed, vigorously wiping off the backbar.

Idaho scooped up his hat and flung it on the table at Johnny's side. 'You'd never guess it, Ed. Even th' rest of th' gang was laughin' about it, all but th' cripples. I been waitin' for them rewards to start workin,' but I never reckoned they'd work out like this. Long an' Thompson are holdin' th' sack. They're scapegoats for th' whole cussed gang. Corwin took 'em in for robbin' th' bank, an' gettin' Ridley!'

Ed Doane dropped the bar cloth and stared at the speaker and a red tide crept slowly up his throat and spread across his face. Johnny slid from the table and disappeared in the direction of his room. He came down again with the two extra Colts in his hands, slipped through the kitchen and ran toward the jail. Quayle's mouth slowly closed and then let out an explosive curse. The bartender brought his fist down on the bar with a smash.

'Scapegoats? Yo're right! It's a cold deck—an' you bet Kane never would 'a' dealt from it if he wasn't dead shore he could make th' play stick. Every man in th' pack will swear accordin' to orders, an' who can swear th' other way? It'll be a strange jury, down in Sandy Bend, every man jack of it a friend of Ridley an' th' T & C. Well, I'm a peaceable man, but this is too much. I never saw them fellers before in my life; but on th' day when Corwin starts south with 'em I'll be peaceable no longer—an' I've got friends! There's no tellin' who'll be next if he makes this stick. Who's with me?'

'I am,' said Quayle; 'an' I got friends.'

'Me, too,' cried Idaho. 'There's a dozen hickory knots out on th' ranch that hate Corwin near as much as I do. They'll be with us, mebby even Lukins, hisself. Hey! Where'd Nelson go?' he excitedly demanded. 'Mebby he's out playin' a lone hand!' and he darted for the kitchen.

Johnny, hidden in the darkness not far from the jail, was waiting. The escort, judging from the talk and the glowing ends of cigarettes, was bunched near the front of the building, little dreaming how close they stood to a man who held four Colts and was fighting down a rage which urged their use. At last, thoroughly master of itself, Johnny's mind turned to craftiness rather than to blind action and formulated a sketchy plan. But while the plan was being carried through he would not allow his two old friends to be entirely helpless. Slipping off his boots he crept up behind the jail and with his kerchief lowered the two extra guns through the window, softly calling attention to them, which redoubled the prisoners' efforts to untie each other. Satisfied now that they were in no immediate danger he slipped back to his boots, put them on and waited to see what would happen, and to listen further.

'There ain't no use watchin' th' jail,' said a voice, louder than the rest. 'They're tied up proper, an' nobody ever got out of it before.'

'Just th' same, you an' Harry will watch it,' said Corwin. 'Winder an' door. I ain't takin' no chances with this pair.'

A thickening on the dark ground moved forward slowly and a low voice called Johnny's name. He replied cautiously and soon Idaho crawled to his side, whispering questions.

'Go back where there ain't no chance of anybody hearin' us, or stumblin' over us,' said Johnny. 'When that gang leaves there won't be so much noise, an' then they may hear us.'

At last reaching an old wagon they stood up and leaned against it, and Johnny unburdened his heart to a man he knew he could trust.

'Idaho,' he said, quietly, 'them fellers are th' best friends I ever had. They cussed near raised me, an' they risked their lives more'n once to save mine. 'Most everythin' I know I got from them, an' they ain't goin' to stay in that mud hut till mornin', not if I die for it. They come down here to help me, an' I'm goin' to get 'em out. Did you ever hear of th' old Bar-20, over in th' Pecos Valley?'

'I shore did,' answered Idaho. 'Why?'