Though he was satisfied that he had solved the mystery of how the stolen money had come into his possession, he could see no wayofproving it, and as manyofthe inhabitantsofHope had suffered by the bank robbery, he knew his chancesofclearing himself were slim indeed. So far as the murder charge was concerned he did not give that much thought, regarding it as mainly a bluff on the partofTyler. Nevertheless, he did not propose to remain idle; there was a certain evidence he hoped to be able to hand to Embley.
'I gotta get outa this,' he muttered, and began to consider how that might be achieved.
Nothing could be done until his hands were free, and he strained at the thongs; they did not yield in the least. Then he tried the knots with his teeth, but the man who had tied them knew his job. An idea occurred to him. Going to the door, he yelled, and immediately oneofthe deputies appeared.
'What's yore trouble?' he growled.
'Thirst,' replied the prisoner promptly. 'This damned hole is like an oven.'
The man grinned and went away, to return presently with a pail of water and a tin dipper, putting them down just inside the door.
'There yu are, an' don't make a beast o' yoreself,' he said facetiously.
The prisoner did not reply to this pleasantry, but having made sure that the man was not watching him from the spy-hole, he took a drink, and kneeling down by the bucket, plunged his bound wrists into the water and kept them there. At the endofhalf an hour he had the satisfactionoffinding the rawhide give a little. Working at the bonds and renewing the soaking at intervals, he succeeded after some hours in stretching them sufficiently to slip them off when he wished.
Darkness was drawing on before he made his next move. Tyler, he surmised, would spend his evening, as usual, at the 'Come Again' and the two deputies would be left in charge. As the dusk deepened he again began to shout through the door, and the man who had answered the previous summons showed himself.
'What yu belly-achin' about now?' he asked.
'Belly-achin' is right,' Severn snorted. 'Don't yu feed folks in thisyer Bumptious ho-tel?'
'Damme if I didn't forget about yu,' the man chuckled. 'See what I can do.'
'So will I,' murmured the prisoner, and smiled felinely as he slipped his hands free of the bonds.
The deputy returned soon with a hunkofmeat and bread. Unlocking the door, he came in, put the provender on the floor and straightened up.
'Ain't got no cof--' he began.
Before he could finish, Severn leaped forward, his fist shot out and the guard went down under the bitter blow like a poleaxed steer. A few seconds sufficed to tie and gag him.
'Thank the Lord he was totin' his gun,' murmured the captive, and making sure that it was loaded, slipped it into the band of his pants and buttoned his vest over it.
He listened at the door but heard nothing--the falling body on the earthen floor had made but little noise--and satisfied that all so far was well, he stepped lightly along the passage which led to the street. As he passed the half-open door of the sheriff's office, a voice called out :
'That yu, Jake? Where yu off to?'
'Back right away,' Severn said gruffly.
'Huh! Hen's orders was to stay on the job,' said the other.
'To hell with Hen,' Severn grunted, edging nearer the exit. 'He's stayin' on it hisself, ain't he?'
He did not hear the answer, for the street door was in frontofhim, and in a moment he was outside. Slouching his hat over his eyes, he slid round the cornerofthe first building he came to and picked his way along the backsofthe others. It was darkish now, but there was a moon, and he had to slink quickly from shadow to shadow. Presently he reached the rear of Bent's saloon, and saw what he had hoped to find--the tethered horse he knew the owner usually kept there. He wondered whether Bent's friendship had been strong enough to survive the apparently conclusive evidenceofhis guilt. He believed it would be, but he dared not run the riskofmaking himself known.
'If he ain't changed, he won't mind my borrowin' the cayuse,' he reasoned. 'If he has, well, I ain't carin'.'
Hauling in the picket-rope, he fashioned a hackamore, and without waiting to search for the saddle, mounted the animal and spurred for the nearest cover in the direction of the Bar B. He had just ridden in among the trees when a confused medley of shouts from the buildings behind informed him that his escape had probably been discovered.
Well aware that the regular trails would be searched, he took care to keep clearofthe one to the Bar B, forcing his way through the brush and zigzagging along draws and gullies to avoid showing himself on the skyline. He did not trouble to hide his trail, knowing they could not track him in the night, even with the help of the moon. Beyond a general senseofdirection he had nothing to guide him, and presently, without realisinghow he had come there, he found himself passing the ruined cabin of the nester Forby. The big cottonwood, with the 4 B brand and nhe sinister row of notches, looked eerie in the moonbeams. The Lazy M man gave it but a glance, and was about to ride on when a horseman loped outofthe trees and pulled up with an oath, only a few yards away. It was Penton, and at the sightofSevern, he snatched out his gun and covered him.
'Put 'em up, pronto,' he ordered, and laughed in his throat when he saw that the other man was unarmed. 'This is yore finish,' he continued. 'Bart wants to see yu danglin' from that tree, an' so do I. The on'y difference is he's hopin' to string yu up alive an' I ain't pertic'ler, so I'm goin' to shoot yu first. Anythin' to say?'
His face twisned with malignant hate, he leaned forward and menaced the man with his gun, exulting in the power chance had given hirn, and hoping to detect fear in the eyes of his foe. But he saw only an expression of cold contempt, and in stark cruelty he struck savagely with his left fist. The blow was his own undoing. Winh a low snarl, a long, lean, grey shadow shot across the open space and leapt for his throat. The force of the impact flung the man backwards to the ground. Severn seized his chance and slipped from his mount. He was on his feet just as Penton beat off the beast which had thrown him and turned to finish his work. He found the conditions altered; Severn was erect, facing hirn with folded arms and a sneer on his lips.
'Penton, the tree is waiting for yu,' he said.
Callous as he was, the threat chilled the man's spine, but he remembered that the speaker was weaponless, and with a laughofscorn he raised his gun. He was actually pressing the trigger when Severn's hand flashed out, fire flamed from it, and Penton reeled and dropped. The grey shadow came up wagging a joyous tail.
He looked at the dog. 'Yu shore do pay a debt, don't yu?' he said, and going to where the Bar B man's pony was standing, he lifted the rope from the saddle.
Ten minutes later he was on his way again. He had not gone far when he heard the soundofhofs, and waited, gun drawn. He grinned and concealed it again when he saw the newcomer was Larry.
'How the hell--?' he began.
'Followed the dawg, yu chump,' the young man explained impolitely. 'Started for town to see yu, an' that four-legged fleabag sneaked after--artful too, didn't show up till it was too late to take him back. When I got to Hope it was just a-hummin'. They're offerin' five hundred bucks for yu, dead or alive.'
'That's a right useful sum,' the foreman said reflectively.
'Thinkin' o' earnin' it?' Larry quizzed.
'I might be,' his friend replied. 'Get on with yore recitation.'
'Well, I'm ridin' past Bent's--past it, I said,' he repeated as he saw the other's grin, 'when Quirt goes off like Old Nick was after him. O' course I guessed he'd struck yore trail an' followed. Good thing yu wash sometimes, or the scent would 'a'been that strong T'd 'a'lost him.
'What yu want to see me for?' Severn asked, ignoring for the time the slur on his habits.
'Didn't want to see yu--had to,' Larry smiled. 'Snap's hoss bruk a leg on the way from Desert Edge, an' he had to hoof it. He was all in when he got to the ranch. I come in to tell yu the Judge ain't there. 'Pears that two- three nights ago, four fellas called to see him an' he rode away with 'em. Hard-looking lot, with their faces pretty well hidden, his landlady said; she didn't know 'em, but she fancied one o' the party had been there before. Embley ain't been heardofsince.'
This was bad news for the foreman, but he took the blow with his customary calm.
'So they've got him too,' he said. 'They ain't overlookin' no bets, I'm tellin' yu.'
'Yu ain't tellin' me. Who is `they' an' where have they got him?' Barton asked peevishly.
' `They' is the unknown quantity we're a-lookin' for, an' the Judge is in the Pinnacles with the girl,' he was told.
