risk youhaven't indulged in. Does the ceremony take place at the Bar B?'
'No, here,' the rancher replied.
'Well, why not,' Embley said lightly. 'A wedding and honeymoon in the mountains; most romantic. I must, however, know the lady's name and if she is willing.'
'The girl is Phil Masters, an' she is willin',' Bartholomew bluntly told him.
The Judge sat down again. 'Miss Masters here?' he said sternly. 'What does this mean?'
'It means I'm wise to yore game, Embley, an' I'm goin' to beat it,' the Bar B man replied. 'Yu got hold o' Masters, framed-up his will, with yoreself as executor, an' put yore man Severn in as foreman. Then Masters disappears an' yu got a free hand. The girl marries the fella you provide an' mebbe she disappears too, an' yu grab the Lazy M. Pretty sound scheme, I gotta hand it yu.'
Embley stared at him in blank astonishment. 'You have more imagination than I ever gave you credit for, Bartholomew,' he said.
The big man took no notice. 'The on'y mistake yu made, Judge, was not countin' me in,' he continued. 'Phil Masters has been promised to me for quite a piece, an' I'm goin' to have her. Yore consent 'pears to be necessary an' we figured the best way to get it was to have yu do the deed.'
'So you sent your cut-throats to fetch me, huh?' Embley said.
'I don't own 'em--they was hired for the job,' Bart explained, adding darkly : 'But I reckon they'll do as I tell 'em.' The Judge replied that he hadn't a doubt of it, a remark which deepened the frown on the other's face.
'See here, Judge, there's no sense in travellin' six miles to cover one,' he said. 'I ain't unreasonable an' I'm makin' yu an offer. Marry me an' Phil, turn Severn down, an' I'll split the Lazy M three ways. What yu say?'
'That you are a precious rascal,' Embley answered.
'Yu refusin'?' snarled Bartholomew.
'Did my reply sound like an acceptance?' smiled the old man.
The rancher stood up, his face poisonous with passion, his hand gripping his gun.
'Yo're a damn fool,' he cried. 'What's to prevent me from blowin' yu apart right now?'
'Several things,' laughed the lawyer. 'In the first place, you wouldn't get that consent.'
'Bah ! Your successor--'
'Would be Governor Bleke, an old friendofmine, who would certainly carry out the instructions I have left,' Embley stated coolly. 'And he would ask questions, Bartholomew, questions you might find difficult to answer. In the second place, by killing me you put yourself in the powerofthese bandits--a very unwise thing to do; and, in the third place, Severn would shoot you down for the dog you are.'
This time it was the Bar B man who laughed.
'He'll have to come back from over the Divide to do it,' he jeered. 'If the sheriffofHope ain't lost his nerve, Mister Severn is sittin' in a cell about now.'
The Judge stood up, the eyes beneath the bushy brows like chilled steel.
'On what charge?' he thundered.
'Just robbin' the bank an' shootin' Rapson, to say nothin' o' murderin' Masters,' sneered Bartholomew. 'He'll be needin' yore prfessional services, if they ain't tried him 'a' ready.'
'Utterly absurd,' was the lawyer's comment.
'The evidence don't say so. It'll take a clever fella to get him clear; Tyler's got the deadwood on him, shore thing.'
Embley looked at his informant and decided that, for once, the man was not lying. The news had perturbed him and he realised that he was powerless. Bartholomew, guessing what was passing in his mind, tried again.
'Better reconsider that offer o' mine, Embley,' he suggested. 'It's yore on'y bet.'
The Judge looked at him steadily. 'Bartholomew, some day I shall sentence you to be hanged,' he said.
The quiet conviction in the speaker's voice robbed the wordsofany semblanceofthreat, and, despite his hardihood, the rancher was consciousofa momentary chill; the only effect on his calloused nature was to make him more angry.
'I hold the cards, yu old mule,' he said harshly. 'I can keep yu here till yu rot.' A sudden thought came to him. 'Do yu realise what it will mean to the girl if yu don't marry us?'
'Yes,' said Embley scornfully. 'She will escape a lifeofmisery and degradation.'
Bartholomew laughed. 'Wrong--that's just what she'll get, for I'll let the White Masks have her,' he jeered.
The Judge looked at him with loathing.
'If anything were needed to clinch my decision, you've said it,' he replied slowly. 'Such a thing as you is complete justification for men like Sudden; they do for the cornmunity what the surgeon does for the human body-- cut away poisonous growths.'
Hardened as he was, the bitter contempt in the old man's voice seared the rancher like one of his own branding irons. Purple with passion, he struck savagely, hurling his victim against the wall of the cabin, limp, his knees sagging, and the blood trickling down from his cut cheek.
'That's on'y a sample o' what yo're askin' for,' he sneered. 'Toe the line, Embley, or I'll fix things so that hell will be a welcome change to yu.'
He went out, slamming and locking the door, leaving, though he did not know it, a well-nigh despairing prisoner. Embley had kept up a bold front and had no intentionofgiving in, but he could see no gleam of hope. Bartholomew was playing for a big stake, and he well knew the desperate characterofthe man. With Masters dead, Severn in custody, and the girl also in the handsofthe bandits, the Bar B owner did indeed, as he had boasted, hold all the cards.
Chapter XVIII
THE Lazy M outfit was not in its customary happy frameofmind, for it was suffering from a senseoffailure. A crushing blow had been administered to the bandits, but the chief object of the expedition had not been accomplished. The most disgruntled member was the man who had not been able to go. Larry, on his feet again but with one arm in a sling, had made the foreman's life a burden for the first twenty-four hours after the men returned.
'I tell yu we done all we could,' Severn told him for about the fiftieth time. 'No, I ain't goin' there; I gotta ride to Hope, though I'm admittin' there ain't much difference, an' I don't want no lovesick cripples with me neither.'
With which frank expressionofhis sentiments the foreman escaped, got his horse, and rode into town. It was early afternoon when he arrived and the street was empty. The sun was blazing overhead, and he was indulging in pleasant anticipation of a cooling drink at Bent's when he noticed that the bank was open again. Jumping down, he trailed the reinsofhis pony and walked in. The banker was there, looking weak and ill. He greeted Severn with a dubious sortofsmile.
'Glad to see yu back, Mr. Rapson,' said the foreman. 'Set-tin' up yore game again, eh?'
'Yes, I am having another try,' the banker said. 'Folks here have been kind--they ain't blaming me. Mr. Bartholomew, for example, he paid in five thousand the day before the robbery and, rightly speaking, I owe him the money, but he won't claim --says he'll take his chanceofthe cash oeing recovered; others have followed his lead.'
'Why, that's mighty generous,' Severn allowed. 'An' mighty clever,' he added under his breath. They talked on different topics for a moment or two, and then Severn said, 'I was wonderin' if yu'd mind breakin' these up for me. I got some small payments to make.'
He produced four one-hundred-dollar bills and pushed them across the counter. Rapson glanced at them and shot a suspicious look at the unconscious cowman. His fingers were trembling as he picked up the notes.
'Certainly, Mr. Severn,' he said huskily. 'You don't mind if I send my clerk out on an errand first, do you?'
'No hurry,' the foreman assured him and rolled a cigarette while the banker consulted a ledger and gave his assistant whispered instructions. When the youth had departed Rapson began to slowly count out smaller notes.
'Nervous as a cat,' the customer reflected as he noted the way the man watched the door, and his shaking hands checking and re-checking the little pile of paper. 'Well, yu can't wonder.' Aloud he said : 'Yu got any hope o'
