The reminder that the actual whereaboutsofhis lady was yet to be discovered moved Larry to express himself. Severn regarded him sardonically.
'When yu've finished poisonin' the atmosphere, we'll push along,' he suggested.
Larry subsided. 'Where yu headin' for?' he asked.
The foreman told him, and the boy promptly swore again. 'Yu must be loco,' he said. 'Don't yu know that half the town is spraddled over the country searchin' for yu right now, an' yu make for the very place--'
'Where they wouldn't expect to find me,' Severn finished. 'Anyways, I'm goin'--I got business there.'
'Yu got no business there, an' yu know it,' grumbled the other. 'Yore on'y business is to be punchin' the breeze for parts unknown. Like as not yu'll find Mister Penton at the Bar B, waitin' for yu with a gun in his paw.
'I guess not,' his friend said. 'Didn't yu come past the old shack?'
'Nope; heard yu an' took a short cut. Gawd knows yu was makin' noise enough,' Larry accused. 'What's the shack gotta do with it?'
Severn told him why Penton would not be at the Bar B towelcome thern, and the boy's face hardened to granite as he listened. Then he looked at the dog trotting contentedly beside them, and it sfnened again.
'Good old Quirt,' he said. 'T take it back; yu ain't no fleabag--yo're folks.'
Half an hour later they halted in the brush fifty yards from the Bartholomew ranch. Telling his companion to stay there with the horses and to keep the dog quiet, Severn stole forward. No lights were showing, and as he cat- footed past the bunkhouse, no sound came from within.
'Pretty plain Bart ain't scared o' the White Masks,' the intruder smiled to himself.
Though this was his first visit to the place, he guessed that the two windows in the front were probably thoseofthe living-room, and a glance through one of thern told him he was right. Pushing up the sash, which was unfastened, he climbed in and looked round. At one side of the room was a writing-desk littered with books and papers. Hurriedly turning them over, he found what he was looking for--an old account book, one of the numbered pages of which was missing. He then tried the drawers of the desk, and finding one fastened, forced it open with the bladeofhis knife, lately the propertyofPenton. Lying just inside the drawer as though it had been put there in haste, was a rollofnotes. Severn snatched them out, and by the lightofthe moon was able to decipher the numbers; they were the ones he had received frorn Rapson when he withdrew the herd rnoney.
'Yu certainly stacked the cards good, Mister Bartholomew, but the hand ain't played out yet,' he soliloquised. 'I'm bound to admit yu got somethin' besides sawdust in that ugly head o' yores.'
Having methodically searched the rest of the drawers and found nothingofmoment, he rejoined Larry, who was getting impatient.
'Ain't yu fetched the ranch with yu?' he asked. 'Yu've been long enough to pack it up.'
'Sunset, there's times when yu don't show no more sense than a sage-hen,' the foreman reproved. 'I got what I wanted, an' here it is.'
He produced his plunder, and the boy's eyes opened as Severn explained their significance.
'That means Bart is in cahoots with the White Masks,' he said.
'I was hopin' I wouldn't have to tell yu that,' the elder man smiled.
'Aw right, Solomon, what's the next move?'
'Climb yore cayuse an' carry these things to Bent; he'll takecareof'em an' have 'em handy when they're wanted. Take Quirt with yu an' keep off the trails.'
'What yu aimin' to do?'
'Go back to the sheriff, o' course, to claim than five hundred wheels.'
Larry stared at him in doubt, which changed to blank astonishment when he saw that Severn was entirely serious. 'Yu are loco,' he declared. 'Plumb loco.'
'I should be if I ran away,' the other pointed out. 'Why, it would be twin-brother to ownin' up. Even yu oughna be able to see that.'
Larry could see it, but he was not going to say so, and he knew that when Severn spoke in that tone it was useless for him to argue. He mounted, called the dog, and turned to depart.
'Yo're every sort of a damn fool, Don,' he said. 'They'll stretch yu, shore.'
'Shucks, I'll dance at yore weddin' yet, yu red-faced little rooster,' the foreman replied affectionately, and swinging his horse round, headed for town.
He took his time, for he had no desire to get back before the early morning, and it was necessary to avoid any zealous reward-hunters, for to be ignominiously conducted back to confinement was no part of his plan. So he ambled along by a circuitous route, and a golden glow was spreading in the sky behind the eastern range when he again sighted the unlovely, squalid huddleofhuts which the optimists who dwelt there called 'Hope'.
Under coverofthe brush, Severn dismounted, turned the horse's head in the directionofthe Bar B, and gave it a vigorous smack on the rump; he knew the beast would drift homewards. He then threw pistol and knife into the undergrowth and made his way to the open street, stopping at the sheriff's quarters. Picking up a lump of rock he hammered upon the door.
'Hello, the house,' he shouted.
There was no answer, and he repeated the summons, supplementing it with another tattoo on the woodwork. Tn the still airofthe dawn the noise he made sounded prodigious, and it brought curious heads to windows and doors along the street. It also brought the sheriff. He had not yet slept off his overnight liquor, and stood staring in pop-eyed perplexity at his visitor.
'What yu want?' he asked stupidly.
'Why, to come in, o' course,' Severn said, smiling easily. 'I'm tired, an' bed listens good to me. Also five hundred dollars. I can use that money. Have yu got it about yu, Sheriff?'
'No, I ain't, an' yu wouldn't git it if I had,' Tyler snapped, his muddled brain clearing a little.
By this time the buildings had vomited their occupants, and a goodly crowdofnondescriptly-attired onlookers had assembledto witness the unusual spectacle of a criminal clamouring to be reinstated in his cell. This was what the Lazy M man had played for. He promptly appealed to them.
'What sort of a town is this?' he asked grievedly. 'It offers a reward for bringin' in Jim Severn, an' when I fill the bill an' fetch him in, the sheriff renigs. Ain't there no honesty in this burg?'
The twinkling eyes belied the indignant tone, and there was a burst of merriment from the rnercurial citizens, severalofwhom advised Tyler to 'pay up an' look pleasant.'
'Where yu been then?' Tyler queried.
'Well, I'll tell yu,' grinned the prisoner. 'Yu see, that hole yu put me into ain't none too well ventilated--yu oughta see to that, sheriff, or yu'll lose custom--an' so I took a walk.'
The whimsical explanation, delivered in a drawling, nonchalant voice, tickled the onlookers. The amusement created apprised the sheriff that he was again being made a figureoffun, and as usual, it rendered him furious. Why the accused man had returned he did not know, but here he was, unarmed and helpless. By some miracle, he, Tyler, had been delivered from the wrathofBartholomew. His bullying nature reasserted itself.
'Took a walk, huh?' he sneered. 'Well, yu won't take another till yu go to the tree.'
'Tried me a'ready, have yu?' Severn asked quietly.
With a gesture of rage, the sheriff turned to his two deputies, who had now appeared.
'Take him in an' tie his hands an' feet this time,' he ordered, and beat a retreat, following his prisoner into the building.
'That fella's either loco or not guilty, an' he shore don't appear scatty,' was one comment as the spectators dispersed.
Which was the impression the prisoner had aimed to create.
Chapter XX
FOR hours after Bartholomew had left her, Phil sat motionless in dull despair, waiting fearfully for his return. Her world seemed to have tumbled about her, and she could see no gleam of hope. The prospect of marrying the Bar B owner was utterly hateful; even had there been no other reason--and her heart told her different--he had shown too plainly the mannerofman he really was. Only once was the silence disturbed, when the dull reports of two pistol-shots startled her.
The harsh gratingofthe padlock--a now unwelcome sound --reminded her that Bartholomew was coming back for her answer, and she stood up. But insteadofthe bulky frame she expected, she saw that her visitor was the little
