'Then they must be loco,' was the reply. 'We'll beat it; I reckon we've cleaned the place.' As they hurried to the door, the leader glanced suspiciously at the supine figures on the floor, but neither appeared to have moved.
'Who fired them shots?' he demanded of the men outside.
'You tell us,' one of the waiting group retorted. 'They 'peared to come from inside.'
'Couldn't have,' Jake snapped. 'None of us pulled trigger, Morley is as near dead as damn it, an' the of woman hawg-tied. Hell ! the town is wakin' up.' It was true; lights were gleaming in several windows, doors opening, and men's voices could be heard.
'We gotta go--pronto,' Jake decided, and turned to Dutch, who was carrying the plunder. 'You know what to do. With the stuff safely hidden they can't prove a thing, even if they overtake us. Now, ride like the devil.' Bunched together, with no further attempt at concealment, they shot into the open and, with a defiant yell, galloped away.
The two reports had found the marshal and his deputy on the alert, and they were the first to reach the street. Others soon joined them, some only half-dressed, but all carrying weapons, and asking the same question :
'What's the trouble?' Nobody knew, until the retreating raiders flashed into indistinct view for a few seconds, and then Sudden swore: 'Damnation ! I might 'a' guessed it--the bank. Take some men an' get after 'em, Ned; mebbe yu can run 'em down.'
'What are you goin' to do, Jim,' Nippen asked.
'I've another plan--it's a chance an' no more. Dave, I'll need yu, but we'll have a look at the bank first.' Leaving the saloon-keeper and his posse to take up the pursuit, the others hurried to the building, found the front door fastened and the side one open. The marshal stepped in and struck a match. At his feet was the candle the visitors had thrown down. Lighted, it revealed the prostrate body of the banker.
'Hurt had, but he'll pull round,' Sudden announced, after a brief examination. 'Lift an' carry him to the bedroom.' As two of them raised the limp form a revolver clattered to the floor. Dave picked it up.
'A couple o' empty shells,' he remarked. 'Musta fired them shots what roused us hisself. Bravo, Bob.' By this time the woman had also been found and released, but she was in a dead faint, and could give them no information. The gaping door of the safe told the rest of the story. The marshal drew his assistant aside.
'We can't do anythin' here--nothin' to go on,' he said. 'Let's take a ride.' They got their horses and Sudden led the way eastwards until the settlement was behind them and then turned sharply to the left into a wilderness of scrub and small timber. Travelling through this in the darkness was a ticklish operation, but the marshal found a way, twisting and turning but --as his companion noticed--always coming back to a fixed line. Presently they reached a tract of pines, and the guide gave a grunt of satisfaction.'There's my blaze,' he said.
On the trunk of one tree, showing clearly in the gloom, was a white mark where a strip of bark had been slashed away with a knife.
'Yu been here afore?' Dave wanted to know.
'I spent some time searchin' out this trail on my way back yestiddy.'
'For the love o' Mike, why?'
'We're goin' to find out,' Sudden told him.
'Open up, yu clam. Nippert'll never catch 'em. What are we riskin' our necks an' hosses in this blasted brush for?' The reply was a question. 'When yu rob a bank what's the first thing yu wanta do?'
'Why, yu black-haired misery,' Dave began indignantly, and then laughed. 'Me, I'm mighty eager to cache the coin, ain't yu?'
'That's the right answer, an' I'm gamblin' that these hombres will have the same notion. Now, if they come from the hills, they gotta cross The Step, an' their nearest point ain't far from where we lost that rustlin' gent. I've been lookin' the ground over.' The next few miles were covered in silence. At intervals a blazed tree was passed, telling them they were on the right path, but the journey was taking longer than the marshal had expected; darkness had doubled the difficulty and made any attempt at speed impossible. So the grey light of dawn was streaking the eastern sky when they reached their destination--the stretch of gravelly ground. On the edge of this, screened by thick bushes, they drew rein.
'If my hunch is good, they'll come this way,' the marshal said. 'An Injun would lose their tracks on that stuff, an' there's more on the other side o' the creek; the place was made for fellas on the dodge.' For a while they waited as patiently as might be, watching the stars pale and fade before the coming of the day. It was a wearisome business, for the morning air was chill, and they dared not smoke. Dave voiced the thoughts in both their minds:
'Mebbe we've missed 'em.' Sudden raised a warning hand; his sharp ears had caught the snap of a twig away to their left. Soon came the pad of a trotting horse.
'On'y one, seemin'ly,' Dave murmured perplexedly.
Both drew out their rifles. The sounds became clearer, and presently a horseman emerged from the undergrowth. In the half-light, they could see that his features were blotted out by a kerchief, and secured to the cantle of his saddle was a bulky package. Unhurriedly he began to cross the open space and was less than a hundred yards away when Sudden's voice rose above the rumble of the waterfall :
'Hold on, or we'll drop yu.' They saw the violent start, the snatched look at the two men, who had now ridden out, and heard the curse which greeted their appearance. Grabbing a gun, the unknown sent two bullets whistling past their ears, and then--apparently realizing that in another moment they would be upon him --bent low in the saddle and spurred his mount remorselessly.
'If he gets to the stream we'll lose him like we did afore,' Sudden said, and raised his rifle.
One shot, and the fugitive flung up his arms and pitched to the ground; the pony careered on. With scarce a glance at the sprawling form, the two men raced after the the runaway, and in a short space Sudden's loop settled over its head. Pulling the brute alongside, he thumped the package, and grinned with saturnine satisfaction when he heard the unmistakable clink of coin.
'That's the loot from the bank,' he said. 'Let's have a look at the fella they trusted with it.' The man was lying on his face, but one glance told that he was dead; the bullet had broken his spine. Sudden turned the body over and removed the improvised mask.
'Dutch ! ' he exclaimed. 'Well, that's somethin' else I might 'a' guessed.'
'Sorta points to Mullins, huh?'
'Yeah, but yu couldn't prove it. They left Welcome together, but it don't follow they stayed that way; Dutch may've gone to the hills on his own account. Well, gotta take him in, I s'pose.' Roped across the back of his own horse the dead robber returned to Welcome. They stopped at the bank, where they found Nippert.
'We never saw hide nor hair of 'em,' he said, in answer to the marshal's question. 'An' when we lost the trail, there was nothin' for it but to come home.'
'How's Bob?'
'He's got a busted head, but that'll mend, if he gives it a chance.'
'I got the medicine to cure him,' Sudden said. 'They say money talks. Well, it shore does. Listen ! ' He lifted the leather bag and smote it, once, twice. 'Hear it?' The saloon-keeper's eyes popped out. 'If you ain't the shinin' limit! This'll save Morley's life.'
'Take it in to him,' the marshal smiled. 'Me an' Dave ain't slept since the last time--'bout a week ago, it seems. We'll see the of boy later.' As he went out, a chalk-faced youth was climbing back on to his stool in the office. Sudden guessed he had seen the grisly sight outside, and went to him.
'Don't worry, son,' he said. 'I've fetched the stolen money back, an' yore boss will get well. Stay with yore job --there's worse ways o' earnin' a livin' than bankin'.' Dumb with amazement and relief, Evans watched the tall, lithe figure swing into the saddle and ride down the street.
'Gawd, what a man,' he murmured.
Chapter XI
JAKE and his band, having succeeded in eluding pursuit, made a wide detour to avoid the Bar O range, and reached the gully about the same time as the marshal and his deputy returned to Welcome. The absence of Dutch astonished them.
'What in hell can have delayed him?' Mullins muttered. 'He's had time to cover the ground twice.' Javert's
