The girl flashed a tremulous little smile at him. 'You could have had that job then, Andy--for the asking,' she whispered.
They were still missing when the rescue party rode up to the ranch-house of the Box B, where, as it was late, they had decided to spend the night. To their surprise, they were greeted by Reuben Sarel, who had ridden over in search of news. He had a jaded, worried expression, which increased when he saw that his niece was not with them.
'Ain't yu got her?' he asked.
'Well, we took her away from Moraga all right, but on the trip back somebody else done stole her again,' Green said solemnly.
The fat man's face flushed with anger. 'Pretty fine lot o' fellas yu must be--' he began, and then the errant pair, trotting leisurely, came in sight, and he understood. 'Well, I'm damned! All right, marshal, that's a score to yu,' he grinned.
At the sight of the waiting group, the young couple raced for the ranch-house. Tonia won, and jumping from her saddle, flung her arms impulsively round her uncle's neck.
'Well, well, burn me if bein' stole don't seem to suit yu,' he said shyly. 'I never seen yu look so bonny.'
'Guess it depends on who does the Stealm',' Green put in, whereupon the girl got rosier than ever and retreated precipitately to 'clean-up.'
'Come an' eat, folks,' Sarel suggested. 'I wanta hear all about it.'
In the big living-room the story was told, and Reuben's eyes lighted when he learned how the guerrilla chief had died.
'Served the skunk right,' he commented. 'I've allus regarded Injuns as pizen, but I'm a-goin' to make an exception; thisyer Black Feather can have my shirt if he wants it.'
'Which would make two for him and then leave plenty for patching,' Tonia said merrily. Her glance rested affectionately on her bulky relation, and she suddenly sobered. 'Uncle, you're not looking well; what's troubling you?'
Reuben lifted his hands in surrender and turned to the marshal. 'Fact is, I am bothered,' he admitted. 'We're losin' a lot o' cows; somebody's took advantage of our bein' short-handed to steal us blind, an' we can't figure it. Mebbe yu can help us?'
'If Andy'll lend me a hoss I'll look into it to-night,' Green said; and when they protested, he explained: 'Waitin' means losin' a chance; soon as they know we're all back, the rustlers will lay over for a spell.' He shook his head at his deputy. 'I'm on'y goin' to snoop around; it's a one-man job, ol'-timer.'
* * *
The following morning found Andy, Pete, and the Indian--the latter with Nigger on a lead-rope--covering the trail to Lawless, the rancher's presence being due to an eagerness to conclude his business with the banker. The journey did not add to Pete's entertainment, for Andy was riding in a world of his own, and Black Feather--for conversational purposes--was a hopeless dawn.
'I'll have to get me a parrot,' the deputy said, and then raised a whoop when he saw the marshal waiting for them.
The new-comer did nothing to add to the gaiety of the party. He looked tired, and having greeted them and transferred his saddle to Nigger, he relapsed into a moody silence, from which he emerged only once, when he noticed Pete peering anxiously around and asked him what he was looking for.
'The body,' the deputy told him. 'Thisyer's a funeral procession, ain't it?'
Their arrival in town brought Seth Raven quick-foot to the marshal's office. He halted at the door for an instant when he saw Andy, and then came in. His face apeared strained, and there was an eagerness in his tone.
'Yu got the girl--an' Moraga?' he blurted out.
'Miss Sarel is on her way to the Double S an' the Mexican won't trouble us again,' the marshal replied, and gave a bald recital of the rescue.
'Yu done a good job; but why waste a cartridge on that coyote? I'd 'a' left him there for the buzzards to finish,' Seth said savagely. 'What I promised holds good, marshal.'
'Forget it,' Green replied. 'All in the day's work, Raven. Town behaved itself while we been away?'
'Middlin', till last night, an' then'--he looked at Andy--'the bank was robbed. First we know of it the clerk can't get in this mornin'. We busts the door an' find Potter on the floor of his office an' the place cleaned to a fare- yu-well. Potter has been shot in the head, an' is as near dead as don't matter. Looks like Mister Sudden has turned another trick.'
'Anythin' to show that?' Green asked.
'No, 'cept that I saw a fella on a black hoss tricklin' outa town mighty early this mornin',' the saloon-keeper said. 'There wasn't much light, an' I took it yu were back again, marshal. It's shore tough luck for yu, Andy.'
The young rancher, rudely awakened from his dream of happiness, shook himself like a dog. Fate had dealt him another bitter blow, but he was not yet beaten. Nevertheless, there was a tremor in his voice as he said:
'It's tougher still on Potter. S'pose the thief didn't take my mortgage, huh?'
'It warn't there, Andy,' Raven said slowly. 'As a matter o' fact, Potter came to me for money an' made over yore mortgage as security, askin' me not to say anythin' till he'd explained to yu. O' course, I ain't pressin' yu, though the bank robbery has hit me considerable.'
The words did not ring true; try as he might, he could not keep the note of exultation out of his voice. The marshal sensed it, and a bitter smile on the rancher's lips showed that he too was not deceived. The half-breed turned to Green:
'Yu bein' away, I sent to Strade, an' I hear he's just come. Reckon you'll find him at the bank. 'Pills' is lookin' after Potter.'
'Pills'--known by no other name--was the local medico. A small grey-haired man of perhaps twoscore, with a deeply lined face, he possessed a sharp tongue, which he did not scruple to use. When the saloon-keeper had gone, the marshal turned to Bordene.
'Keep a stiff upper-lip, Andy,' he said. 'Hills ain't never so steep as they look when you come to climb 'em. I'm a-goin' down to see Strade.'
The Sweetwater sheriff opened the bank door himself. 'Come right in, marshal,' he invited. 'I hear yu got that Greaser.'
'Yeah. What do yu make o' this?'
'Just nothin'. It's like when the Sweetwater bank was looted four-five months ago, on'y no one was hurt then, the premises bein' unoccupied. Yu heard of it?'
'It fetched me here, bein' put to my account, though I dunno why.'
'Stranger on a black hoss with a white face was seen sneakin' outa town, that's why.'
'Huh! Raven says he saw the same thing this mornin'--heard the hoof-beats an' got up to look: he figured it was me.'
'Sorta suggests our friend is still busy, don't it?' Strade mused. ' 'Lo, doc, how's yore patient?'
'Couldn't be worse, and live,' said the doctor, who had just come from the bedroom at the back to which the injured man had been removed.
'No chance o' gettin' a word out of him, I s'pose?'
'Don't talk like a fool, Strade,' Pills snapped. 'The shot fractured the back of the skull and it will be a miracle if he opens his eyes again, much less his mouth. If you are looking to him for help, you'd better forget it.'
He bustled away, and the sheriff's eyes followed him. 'Peppery little beggar, but he knows what he's talkin' about,' he said, and added what few facts he had gleaned: Potter had been seen entering the bank soon after ten o'clock; the safe had been opened with the banker's own keys; a few strangers had visited the town, but their movements were known; no one had noticed the shot, which was not unlikely in Lawless. 'In fact, there ain't a smidgin' o' evidence to go on,' Strade concluded.
The marshal nodded; but his eyes were busy. Slowly they travelled from the ominous stain on the board floor to the books flung hastily from the rifled safe, and back to the desk in the centre of the room. Stooping, he raked beneath this with a ruler, bringing to light a little brass cylinder; it was a used shell, a Colt's .45, and along one side ran a horizontal scratch.
'On'y this,' Green said.
