The Coyote Part 25

"It looks bad two ways," Rathburn went on as if he hadn't heard the other's comment. "First, if that package the holdups got had contained the money you could have swore it was a put-up job. I'd have had to beat it fast. Now, when I find that the package you gave to me was full of blank paper, you can say that I framed the holdup story and changed the money for paper in the bargain."

Sautee's eyes were glowing. "An' you'll have to beat it, after all,"

he jeered.

"So it would seem," mused Rathburn. "I fooled 'em, an' to all appearances I fooled myself, although maybe I _did_ take a peep into that package when I changed it in my room, Mr. Sautee."

The mines manager s.h.i.+fted in his chair; but he stared defiantly at Rathburn.

"You'd have a hard time proving anything," he said grimly.

"That's the trouble," Rathburn admitted. "I'd sort of have to depend on you. I was thinkin' maybe you double crossed me to make 'em think _I_ was carrying the money while you sneaked it up some other way, Mr.

Sautee."

"You can think what you want to," said Sautee. "But you better start moving. If I was you, I'd get as far away from this town and Mannix as I could by daylight."

Rathburn's manner underwent a lightning change as he threw away his partly finished cigarette.

"You're right," he said crisply. "It's time to start moving, Sautee."

He rose, and his right hand moved incredibly fast. Sautee gasped as he looked into the bore of Rathburn's gun. He could hardly realize that Rathburn had drawn.

"I fooled the night riders twice," explained Rathburn with a peculiar smile. "First, when I let 'em get the wrong package, an' again when I let 'em get the wrong gun. This gun an' I work together like clock ticks when necessary. I'll have to ask you to fork over the money that you drew from the bank an' that should have been in that package, Sautee."

Rathburn's eyes had narrowed and hardened; his words were cold and menacing--deadly in their absolute sincerity.

"What--what do you mean?" stammered the mines manager.

"I take it you're not deaf," snapped out Rathburn. "Maybe you don't know it, Sautee, but so help me, you're takin' a chance by acting like you didn't get me."

Sautee's thin face was twitching in a spasm of commingled rage and fear.

"The Coyote!" he breathed.

"Who told you that?" demanded Rathburn on the instant.

Sautee gripped the sides of his chair, and his face went a shade more pallid.

"Carlisle," he confessed in a strained voice.

Rathburn laughed, and the mines manager s.h.i.+vered as he heard.

"Now, Sautee, we'll quit beatin' around the bush," Rathburn said through his teeth. "We'll get down to business together, or I'll begin to search your place here. But if I have to search, I'll search alone.

There ain't so much chance of a shot bein' heard way up the street; an' there ain't much chance of me bein' caught on that hoss of mine if I don't want to get caught. Also, I'm beginning to feel like I was in a hurry. Fork over that money!"

Sautee looked just an instant longer into the eyes of the man towering over him. Then he rose, shaking, dry-lipped, and knelt down by the head of the bed. He lifted a piece of the carpet, opened a small trapdoor, reached inside, and brought out a bundle of bank notes.

Rathburn took the money from him.

Sautee still was kneeling as he heard Rathburn walk lightly to the front door and insert the key in the lock. He tried to cry out, but the effort resulted only in a croak in his throat. He heard the door close softly.

"The Coyote!" he mumbled, pa.s.sing a hand across his forehead.

The echoes of galloping hoofs came to him as he scrambled to his feet and staggered toward the door.

CHAPTER XX

APPEAL TO THE LAW

For some moments Sautee stood in the darkened doorway staring up the moonlit street. The echoes of Rathburn's flight had died away. The town was still. Sautee did not cry out, although he had recovered a considerable measure of his composure. He listened intently and finally grunted with satisfaction.

"Up the road," he muttered. "That means he is making for the pa.s.s over the mountains."

He walked hurriedly through his office into the living room. There he stood for a spell beside the table on which burned the lamp. His brows were knit into a heavy frown. He seemed debating a question in his mind. He tapped with nervous fingers on the table top.

"Pshaw," he said aloud, his face darkening. "He's an outlaw."

He put on his coat and dropped an automatic pistol into a side pocket.

After another moment of hesitation he blew out the light and walked quickly out of the place, locking the door after him.

He hurried up the street to the jail. He found the jailer dozing in the little front office and did not attempt to disturb him. From the jail he hurried another short distance up the street and turned in at a little house located some distance back from the sidewalk. He knocked loudly on the door, and after a brief wait repeated the performance.

A light showed, and the front door opened. Mannix, the deputy, looked out.

"Let me in," said Sautee briefly. "There's been another robbery."

Mannix swung the door wide and stepped aside. He wore an ulster over his night clothes, and his bare feet were thrust into slippers. He scowled at the mines manager as he shut the door.

"More of the company's money gone?" he asked with a touch of sarcasm in his voice.

Sautee nodded. "Some twenty-odd thousand," he said soberly; "and I believe the man that got it is responsible for the holdups that have been pulled off around here."

"Who got it?" Mannix asked quickly.

"Rathburn," Sautee announced.

Mannix smiled in undisgusted contempt. "Your own fault," he pointed out. "Wouldn't give me a chance to investigate. Said you had a scheme that would show him up one way or the other. Wouldn't let me in on it, an' I was fool enough to let you have a try, although I don't believe I could have held him anyhow."

"Just it," said Sautee. "Wouldn't have done any good to keep him in jail, and I thought I had a two-way scheme that would either show him up, as you say, or get me an excellent messenger. I intrusted Rathburn with a package to carry to the mines office. He's a gunman, a desperado, probably a killer, and I thought it would appeal to him to be put in a place of trust. If he fell down--then I figured you'd be able to get him like you said you could."

Mannix snorted. "After tryin' a fool scheme you want to s.h.i.+ft the business on _my_ shoulders, eh? Well, Sautee, you've never shown much confidence in my ability, an' you don't have to show any now. It looks to me as if the finis.h.i.+ng of this play is all up to you."

"Oh, no, it isn't," said Sautee confidently. "You'll be most mighty glad to take out after him."

"Suppose you wait an' see how quick I start," Mannix retorted angrily.

"What's the matter? Didn't he carry out your orders? I suppose you gave him a bundle of money to make off with. Sautee, I believe you're a fool!"