The Coyote

by James Roberts

  CHAPTER XXXVII

  THE TEST OF A MAN

  Several men stamped across the porch to the jingle of spur chains.Others broke in through the back door and entered the kitchen. SheriffBob Long appeared at the door, with two guns leveled.

  "You're covered from both doors and all the windows, Rathburn!" hesaid sharply.

  "That's almost just what I thought, sheriff," Rathburn drawled.

  Long stepped into the room, shoving his guns into their holsters. Manyother guns were covering Rathburn.

  "What's the meaning of all this, anyway?" demanded Long with a puzzledexpression on his face. His eyes widened, as he saw the bag of moneyon the table. "Is that the money that was taken from your bank thismorning Mr. Doane?" he asked sharply.

  Doane nodded weakly. The sheriff looked at Rathburn curiously.

  "You brought it back? You was up to Joe Price's place."

  "Yes, I brought it back, sheriff," said Rathburn cheerfully.

  "Well, I'll be frank and tell you, Rathburn, that if you expectleniency after what happened this morning you might just as well giveup that idea. Any man can change his mind when he sees he can't getaway."

  "That's up to you, sheriff," replied Rathburn, taking tobacco andpapers from his shirt pocket. "As I was just tellin' our friend, Mr.Eagen, I brought it back on purpose, an' I expected to see you when Igot here. I came near not gettin' here at that."

  "You took a long chance," scowled Long. "But it won't get you much nowat this stage of the game--especially after the way you led me tobelieve this morning that you were thinking of giving yourself up."

  Eagen's laugh startled them.

  "He brought it back to give it up an' himself, too?" he jeered. "Hebrought it back, sheriff, because he an' that rat of a Doane plannedthis thing. Coyote got away with the money an' came back here to divvyup with Doane. Didn't Doane make the same kind of a proposition to me?Didn't he tell me he was short in his accounts, an' it could becovered up if the bank was robbed, for then he could say more moneywas took than really was? I'll say he did. An' I was goin' to see ifhe'd go through with it, an' then I was going to wise you up so wecould get him cold."

  With knitted brows the sheriff stared at Eagen, then looked at thewhite-faced Doane.

  "Tell him I'm tellin' the truth!" shouted Eagen at the shaking bankcashier. "You can't get out of it."

  There was a tense moment.

  Doane shook his head weakly; he was a picture of guilt.

  "He got scared I wouldn't go through with the play, sheriff," Eagencontinued. "Thought maybe I'd make off with all the kale. So he framedit with Rathburn, an' I caught 'em about to divide it here."

  "He lies!" screamed Doane. "I didn't frame it with Rathburn. I canprove it. That man"--he pointed a shaking finger at Eagen--"has cometo me with threats and made me take securities I knew were stolen.There's some of them in the bank now. Some of the stuff he took fromthe stage driver yesterday is there! He's pulled job after job----"

  Eagen, recovering from his amazement at the man's outbreak, leaped anddrove his powerful fist against Doane's jaw, knocking him nearly thelength of the room, where he crashed with his head against the stonesof the fireplace. Eagen turned quickly. His eyes were blazing red.

  "You're the man!" he yelled wrathfully. "You're the yellow Coyote----"

  His right hand went to his gun, as there came a crashing report. Hestaggered back, trying to get out the weapon which had not left hisholster. He sank down to his knees, still glaring death at the manabove him, still fumbling at his gun. Then he lurched forward on hisface.

  Rathburn flipped his smoking pistol so that its barrel landed in hishand. Then he tendered it, butt foremost, to Sheriff Bob Long. Longtook it and threw it on the table, looking first at Rathburn, then atthe dead man on the floor. He waved toward the doors and windows.

  "You boys can draw back," he ordered.

  Mallory stepped to the fallen Doane. The man's face had set in a whitecast. He felt his heart.

  "He did for him," he said, rising.

  Laura Mallory came walking slowly up to the sheriff. Her face wasghastly after what she had witnessed.

  "Sheriff Long," she said in a voice strangely calm, "we heardEagen"--she shuddered, as she mentioned the name--"ask Roger--ask Mr.Rathburn last night to help with some job that would get them a lotof money. It may be that--that--Fred did plan such a thing. I'm sorryto say it, but Fred had seemed awfully nervous lately, and to-night hecame to me and asked me to run away with him--at once. He seemedhorribly afraid of something. Anyway, Roger refused to go in withEagen, and an examination of Fred's books will tell all."

  She hesitated. Then she spoke slowly and softly.

  "I know why Roger robbed the bank and----"

  "Stop, Laura!" cried Rathburn.

  "No," said Laura firmly; "you may be going to prison."

  He put out one hand in protest.

  Turning again to the sheriff she said:

  "Roger did go to town last night, intending to give himself up. I knewhe was going to do it by the way he looked at me. But to-day he saw mewith Mr. Doane, and maybe he's heard things for which there was nowarrant. Anyway, I know he thought I--I--was in love with Fred."

  "Laura--please!" Rathburn pleaded.

  "And to-night," said the girl in triumph, "he heard Fred was cashierof the bank he'd robbed, and he brought the money back because hethought the robbery would hurt Fred and in that way hurt me!"

  Rathburn turned appealingly to the sheriff. "Let's go," he urged.

  "He robbed that bank because he thought I had betrayed his trust,Sheriff Long!" cried Laura, her eyes shining.

  "Are we going, Long?" cried Rathburn in an agony.

  The sheriff stepped to the door and called to some of his men whoentered and bore the bodies of Doane and Eagen out of the sittingroom. Then he took the money sack from the table and indicated toRathburn to follow him, as he went out of the door. Rathburn wentafter him quickly, and the girl ran to the porch. Rathburn drew backwith a cry, as he reached the porch. Just beyond the steps a horse waslying on its side.

  "My--my hoss!" he cried wonderingly.

  He leaped down beside the dead beast. Then he saw crimson upon theanimal's shoulder, as a little gleam of light came from the door.

  "That was why he jumped on the trail. He was hit. He carried me allthis way with a bullet in him an' then dropped! One of Long's men shothim."

  Rathburn looked about vacantly. Then he sank down and buried his faceon the shoulder of the dun, as Sheriff Long turned away. Laura Mallorystepped quickly to the side of the sheriff and touched his arm.

  "Is he as bad as you think, sheriff?"

  Long scowled at her in the dim light from the door, took out a thick,black cigar, bit the end off savagely, and began to chew it. He walkedabruptly out to where some of his men were standing by their horses,and he said something in an undertone. When he returned, Rathburn hadtaken the saddle and bridle off the dead horse and was throwing theleather on the porch.

  "Yours, dad," he called to Mallory; "I wouldn't use 'em again if Icould." Then he turned to the sheriff. "All right, Bob."

  "Come inside," said Long gruffly.

  CHAPTER XXXVIII

  TEN MILES' START

  When they were in the sitting room the sheriff confronted Rathburn.

  "This has been a queer case for me," he said slowly, with an attemptat harshness. "I knew Eagen was up to a lot of dirty work, but I nevercould fasten anything on him till to-night. I'll get some of the restof the gang now. Doane showed in his face that he was guilty. Thosethings don't worry me none. But _you_ are the hardest character I everhad to handle, Rathburn!"

  "I don't figure on givin' you any more trouble, sheriff," Rathburnassured him, smiling.

  "That's the puzzle of it!" Long exploded. "That puts it up to me. Iknow you had reason for giving Gomez his, and I know this girlwouldn't lie about the other. But--well, I don't get you a-tall,Rathburn, and that's a fact. Something tells me I've got to give
you achance, and if I knew what tells me this I'd wring its neck!"

  He stepped close to Rathburn and looked him straight in the eye.

  "Take one of Mallory's horses. He's got some good ones. I give you tenmiles in any direction. If you can make it--it's your candy. Butremember, Rathburn, I'm going to try to stop you!"

  He walked swiftly out of the door, leaving Rathburn staring at thesmiling girl.

  Laura stepped close to him and nodded. Rathburn shook his head.

  "I can't see where I've got the right to give Long any moretrouble."

  "But he isn't letting you go, Roger. He's putting it up to you, and hemeans what he says when he declares he'll try to get you."

  "If he does, he'll probably get me," mused Rathburn.

  "But maybe he won't get _us_, Roger."

  "Us?"

  "You and I, Roger. Listen! There's a land 'way up north, Roger. I'veread about it. It's past the desert and the mountains and theplains--in another country! And there's a river there, Roger--a riverthey call Peace River. I've always loved the name. We'll go there,Roger, you and I--and father can come later."

  She looked up at him with shining eyes and put her arms about hisneck, and she saw the unbelievable wonder in his face. The mantrembled. Then he took her and held her and kissed her, time aftertime.

  "Joe Price said I could never be satisfied away from the desert unlessI took along something that was of it," he muttered hoarsely; "Iwonder----"

  "Yes, Roger, he meant me."

  "We can't make it," he said softly. "Not the two of us--but Laura,girlie, _this_ is worth the game!"

  "Yes we can, Roger," she said eagerly. "Think! We can be married whenwe've left the desert. It's not quite ten miles to Boxall Canon. Wecan go up Boxall over the range and cross Death Flat."

  "I was thinking of that, sweetheart," he replied. "But no horse canget up Boxall, an' if he did he couldn't get across Death Flat. Fewmen have crossed that stretch. It's well named. I might try it alone;but you--no, Laura. It just ain't in the pictures!"

  "We don't need horses, Roger. You've forgotten the burros. They'llkill any horse on the desert, won't they? We can take two or threeloaded with food and water."

  "But it's miles and miles an' then some--an' it all looks alike."

  "But when we've reached the other side, Roger?"

  He drew away from her and stepped to the door. He could not see orhear anything. When he turned and again approached her, his face waswhite. He looked at Mallory, who was standing with a look ofstupefaction on his lined face.

  "Wait!" he said and stepped into another room. In a few moments he wasback, holding a money belt in his hands. He took out gold and billsand deposited the money on the table.

  The others stared.

  "There's about six thousand there, Mallory. It's gamblin' money. Turnit in to the bank to make or help out Doane's shortage. I've got justtwenty-five hundred left which I earned in a better way."

  "Daddy, get the burros!" cried the girl. "We're going!"

  * * * * *

  Sheriff Bob Long looked down from a ledge above a narrow, deep,boulder-strewn, awe-inspiring canyon and drew in his breath sharply.Below he saw two human beings and three animals.

  "I knew he'd try it," Long said wonderingly to himself. "I thoughthe'd try it afoot. But the girl! And they're going to try to crossDeath Flat!"

  His look of wonder increased, and he made no move toward the weaponsin his holsters.

  "I wonder now," he mused. "Can they make it? I wonder----"

  He scowled and looked about with a frowning stare. His gaze againshifted downward. Suddenly he shrugged and put the wrong end of hisunlighted cigar in his mouth.

  "That's the queerest cigar I ever had," he growled, as he made his wayto his horse. "It won't stay lit because it wants to be swallowed."

  He mounted and rode slowly back toward the far-reaching stretches ofdesert. Once he halted and turned in his saddle for a backward look.

  "He had the makings of the worst bad man this country ever saw," hemuttered aloud. "Now, if that woman and another country--but firstthey've got to get across."

  * * * * *

  On the western edge of a great, ghastly plain of white, in which adeceiving, distant glow was mirrored in the desert dawn, two figures,a man and a girl, stood hand in hand. Three shaggy burros, heavilyladen, stood behind them. The burros saw not the Death Flat ahead, forthey were asleep.

  And the man and the girl saw not the frightful white, as of powderedskulls, bare, sinister, sunbaked, but a vision of a little house in afragrant green meadow, with golden fields on either side of a peacefulriver, and forests ranging up to distant hills.

  THE END

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