by Hal Dunning
CHAPTER V
THE WOLF SHOWS HIMSELF
On the following day, about eleven o'clock, a great shout went up fromthe crowd before the courthouse. The jury had brought in a verdict offirst-degree murder against Pete Cable.
On Thursday night, after dinner, Tim Lynch, the Hogg brothers, and thesheriff met in the judge's house. They had been there but a short timewhen Ace Cutts, followed by Anderson, strolled into the room. Thesheriff frowned when he saw them, but he realized that it would bebetter to keep them here now than to allow them to go away. They mustsuspect something about the gathering.
"Dad told me that little fake, Jim Allen, was coming here to-night, soI thought I'd drop in and look him over," Ace said sneeringly.
Sam Hogg bounced to his feet. "You promised to tell no one!"
"Ace is really my son, and it just slipped out," the judge apologized.He looked sternly at Ace. "You kept your word?"
"Sure thing. Bill, here, never heard a word about the Wolf until wecame in here," Ace replied.
"That's true, gentlemen," Anderson corroborated him.
The sheriff doubted both of them. He considered swiftly. He could notreach Allen now and warn him not to come. Dutchy had gone downtown. Ifhe himself left to find Allen he might miss him. Better to remain hereand help the Wolf when he came.
Bill Anderson regarded the waiting circle sardonically. "I've alwaysbeen curious to see Jim-twin Allen," he said. "You'll forgive me if Imention that an alliance between a judge, a sheriff, and an outlaw hasits humorous side."
"You're quite right," said the judge thoughtfully. "But if he can helpus we are justified in allying ourselves with him."
"If he was the devil and could lead us into the lava fields I'd follow,hanging onto his tail," said the sheriff.
"If what I hears is true, that he can follow trail like an Apache or abloodhound, I'm bettin' he can lead us through them lava fields," SamHogg cried warmly.
"You fellows are wastin' your time," Ace Cutts put in. "He ain't gotnerve enough to come here."
"Yuh mean he ain't big enough fool to come into a town filled withgents what is longin' to plug him," Jim Hogg corrected.
"Call it that if yuh like."
"I am afraid I agree with Ace; whether it is fear or caution whichkeeps him away, he won't come to-night," the judge said heavily.
"He will come, because he said he would," affirmed a girl's voice.Snippets had entered the room in time to hear the last remarks.
Anderson laughed tolerantly. "That sounds like a schoolgirl'sadmiration for Robin Hood."
"Robin Hood--huh! Allen's rep is made by fools, girls, and old men,"Ace snapped. "I'm tellin' yuh he ain't no good and he won't come. Andwe're wasting our time not havin' a rider beatin' it to Texas to getCupid Dart, the gent I was tellin' you of."
His words held a word of hate. The other men looked at him curiously.Jim Hogg scratched his head. The judge looked questioningly at theothers.
"I think Ace is right," Bill Anderson said judiciously. "We have allheard of Cupid Dart. Why not send for him? Even if Allen does come, itis a question if we can trust him."
"Trust him? Of course you can't trust him! He's a bushwhackin' killer,who kills men by shootin' them in the back. I know men who have seenhim do it." Ace's face was pale with rage.
"Why do you hate him?" the girl asked quietly.
"Because you are a sorta cousin of mine, and I hate to think of youhaving truck with a man like him," Ace replied bitterly.
"I have no truck with him; I have never heard one word from him sincethe day he rode away after saving my father. He told me then thatfriendship between a girl like myself and a man like him wasimpossible."
The girl's face was flushed. In spite of herself her voice trembled.But her eyes were steady as she looked into Ace's angry brown ones.
"Darn it, the girl's in love with the little runt," Sam Hogg whisperedto his brother. He went over and placed an arm about the girl'sshoulder.
"Ace, yuh got Allen wrong," he said defensively. "When I was in theRangers and he hung out in Texas, I chased him plenty. And he had therep then, among bad hombres, of bein' square. An' I don't believe hekilled any gent what didn't need killin' bad."
"Only men who fear him hate him," the girl said softly.
Ace Cutts took a step toward her, but Anderson grasped his arm.
"You fool!" he exclaimed in a whisper.
His back was toward the others. His lips formed a sentence that couldbe read only by Ace. The young man nodded sullenly and made an effortto recover his composure.
"When he comes," Snippets said anxiously to Tom Powers, "remember youpromised there will be no shooting."
"Are you scared I'll drop your hero?" Ace jeeringly asked.
"There's going to be no gun play," Tom Powers cut in sharply.
"Make him give you his word," she insisted.
The worry in her voice was apparent to all. Ace was triumphant.
"I promise you I won't----" he began.
Sam Hogg read the reason correctly for the girl's anxiety and heinterrupted sharply.
"Yuh idiot! She ain't scared for the Wolf. But she's worried thatyuh'll make a fool play so's the Wolf will have to drop yuh before thejudge."
Ace Cutts jeered and slapped his holstered gun. The little cattlemanlooked meaningly toward Tom Powers, who nodded, crossed to Ace Cutts,and slipped the gun from its holster. Snippets smiled gratefully at thegrizzled ex-Ranger. Ace Cutts lapsed into sulky silence.
Then a noise at the rear of the room made them turn. The door that ledto the kitchen swung open. Just outside the doorway stood a shadowyfigure. It moved forward into the lamplight.
"You bum, what you doing here?" Jim Hogg rasped.
The newcomer was the hobo they knew as Jim Anson.
"Howdy, gents," he said. "Yuh sent for me?"
He removed the blue glasses and tilted back his battered hat. As headvanced farther into the room they saw the two big Colts strapped athis thighs. His loose mouth split in a broad grin, and his big, uneventeeth flashed white.
The clock on the wall ticked loudly in the silence. The assembled menstared wonderingly at the undersized boy. It was Snippets who broke thesilence.
"Uncle, this is Jim-twin Allen."
The judge coughed and said foolishly: "I thought you were Jim Anson."
Jim Allen grinned again. That contagious grin made the two Hoggbrothers chuckle aloud, and even the judge and the sheriff smiled inreturn.
"No, I ain't Jim Anson. I knows there was gents in this town longin'for my scalp, so I sorta disguises myself. And as there was gentssneakin' around in the bushes out there, I had to pretend to still beJim Anson. I reckon some one of yuh gents talked, 'cause the Toad's gotall of his killers out there waitin' for me. I told the Yuma Kid I hada message for the judge, so he let me pass," Allen explained.
The men were amazed. It seemed unbelievable. Jim Anson, the cowardly,whining little bum! Jim-twin Allen! Their glances traveled from hisshapeless moccasins to his boyish, freckled face. But from his strange,animallike eyes, there could be no doubt he was the man for whom theywere waiting. They also understood how he had come by the name of theWolf.
Ace Cutts' face was ghastly white. With an effort he switched his eyesfrom Allen to Bill Anderson. The latter was licking his dry lips andstaring at the famous outlaw, hypnotized. The realization that JimAnson was Jim Allen had stunned the politician. Desperately he tried tofigure what this would mean. At all costs Allen must not leave thatroom. He shot a glance to Ace Cutts. The latter began to slideunobtrusively toward the front door.
"I'm right glad to meet yuh, Jim Allen," Sam Hogg cried heartily.
His brother, Jim, chuckled. "An' you tole me yuh chased this fellerragged when yuh was in the Texas Rangers."
"I sure did," the cattleman said ruefully. "I bet the Rangers winded ahundred horses chasin' yuh when yuh was hangin' around lower Texas. An'we never got close enough to thr
ow lead at yuh. Yuh still got themgrays yuh had then?"
Allen's face clouded as he glanced quickly at Snippets.
"I got one of 'em--but Queen is dead. I got her son, though."
The ex-Ranger had heard that story. Snippets had told him how Allen hadridden his favorite horse to death in order to save her father. Heunderstood what a sacrifice that had been--for to men who ride the longtrail, horses become more than horses. They are friends, companions,and the only living things to be trusted. Sam Hogg cleared his throat.
"Heard about that," he murmured. "It was sure a fittin' end for a grandol' hoss. When my time comes I hopes I go out like that. I hears thewhole town turned out unanimous and planted Queen in style."
"Yeah," Allen murmured dully. The others watched the little rancher andthe even smaller outlaw in wonder. Bill Anderson glanced at Ace Cutts,who was close to the door now. Then his eyes once more sought Allen,and he sneered. A man who could sentimentalize over the death of ahorse could hardly be as redoubtable an antagonist as rumor painted him.
Allen stepped away from the girl, who had laid her hand on his arm. Helooked at Anderson and grinned once more.
"Let's get down to business," Tom Powers spoke.
"Sure, we're wasting time," Anderson snapped. "Allen, we think, becauseyou are an outlaw, you may know the whereabouts of the Lava Gang. Ifyou will lead us to them we will pay you well."
There was something intolerably offensive in the way Bill Andersonspoke. Jim Hogg opened his lips to protest--but the expression onAllen's face did not change. There was nothing there to indicate he hadnoticed the veiled insult in Anderson's words; if anything, his gringrew broader.
"Yuh mean, I, bein' on the dodge, maybe knows some of the Lava Gang andwill give up my friends if yuh pays me enough?" he asked gently.
"No, we don't mean that," the judge cried.
"Not at all," Tim Lynch added.
Allen ignored the judge, glanced meaningly at Tom Powers, then facedBill Anderson, who was lounging against the fireplace. This maneuverplaced Ace Cutts behind the little outlaw. Anderson had expected Allento grow angry, to bluster, and this calmness disconcerted him. However,he had gained his objective, which was to concentrate Allen's attentionon himself; and Allen's back was now toward the door.
"We are not asking you to betray your friends, but if you will lead usto them, we will pay you well." The explanation was even more offensivethan the original statement.
"Yuh aimin' to get me mad?" Allen asked. He grinned at Bill Andersonand shook his head.
"Mister, I never get mad, 'cause things might happen if I did, and menot notice 'em. I let yuh talk 'cause I wasn't sure--now I'm certain."
Only one of the bystanders, Powers, understood the significance ofAllen's words. The others glanced curiously from Allen to Anderson. Thepolitician's face flushed, and he shot a quick glance at Ace Cutts, whohad reached the door, then he glanced over his shoulder into the mirrorbehind him. At once he understood that Allen had been watching AceCutts reflected there, and was fully aware of the foreman's attempt togain the outside, where he could give the alarm to the Yuma Kid and theothers waiting there.
"Yuh gents gave me yuhr promise no one was to leave the room while Iwas here," Allen reminded.
"We sure did," Jim Hogg cried.
"Get away from that door, Ace," Tim Lynch snapped.
"Ace, don't leave this room," the judge commanded.
Ace Cutts had his hand on the doorknob. Now he paused.
"If he turns that knob I'll drop him," Allen said.
All expression had left the little gunman's voice. It was flat,toneless. But its very flatness made Ace hesitate. He glanced atAnderson, who nodded to him to go. Then realization came to him thatAllen had been watching him in the mirror and that Anderson knew it.Even if he failed to get clear of the door before Allen fired, Andersonwould have gained his objective, for a shot in that room would bringthe Toad's killers on the run. Anderson was deliberately trying tosacrifice Ace. He dropped the doorknob as if it had suddenly grownred-hot, threw himself into a chair, and stared fixedly at his neatboots.
"I am given to understand that you know the members of the Lava Gang,"the judge said.
"Yeah, I knows them," Allen replied softly.
"You can trust every one here. Will you give me their names?"
"I came here to tell yuh, but I've changed my mind."
"But why?" the judge insisted.
"Judge, if yuh'll have the sheriff leave town after dinner to-morrownight and ride straight toward Jaw Tooth Mountain, I'll pick yuh up andshow yuh where yuhr cattle is," Allen said.
Argument was vain. Allen refused to mention even one member of the LavaGang.
Slowly the little outlaw backed toward the door by which he had entered.
"Good night, gents," he called. Then his eyes caught and held those ofSnippets for a moment. "So long, kid," he said softly. The door wasempty and he was gone.
Allen had said that his enemies had learned he was to come there thatnight and were waiting for him outside. For a long moment those in theroom waited, waited for the shot that would announce he had beendiscovered. Bill Anderson was the first to move. He picked up his hatand walked toward the front door, but Tom Powers reached it ahead ofhim. The sheriff shook his head.
"We promised before he came, that no one was to leave until he had beengone for ten minutes," the sheriff explained.
For the fraction of a second Anderson held his ground before thesheriff. The impulse came to him to shout, then discretion gained theupper hand; he shrugged and returned to his place by the fireplace.
"He's certainly a careful little cuss and doesn't trust people," hesaid with a laugh.
"Maybe if yuhr carcass was worth ten thousand you wouldn't neither,"Sam Hogg snorted.
Slowly the minutes ticked away. When the time was up Anderson was thefirst to leave. The moment the door had closed behind him, Tom Powersseized Sam Hogg by the shoulder and whispered:
"Follow him and see where he goes."
To Sam Hogg it seemed impossible that the good-natured, affablepolitician could be mixed up with the Lava Gang, but his training inthe Rangers had taught him that all things were possible, so he noddedand slipped out after Anderson.