The Coyote Part 41

When Price returned he had finished. The old miner sat down in a chair opposite Rathburn.

"Now, out with it," he said. "Something has happened. I can see it in the way you look an' act. What's up?"

Rathburn carefully rolled a brown-paper cigarette, snapped a match into flame, and lit it before he replied. He was half smiling.

"I held up the State Bank of Hope this mornin' an' extracted a bag of perfectedly good bills," he announced. "Didn't bother with the counter money. Made 'em serve me from the vault."

Joe Price's eyelids did not even flicker.

"Any idear what you got?" he asked.

"Not whatsoever," replied Rathburn coolly; "but the smallest I saw on top of the package was a fifty."

Price nodded. "You got plenty," he said.

Rathburn scowled. He had expected some kind of an outbreak--at least a remonstrance from his old friend. He glanced about uneasily and then glared defiance at Price.

"It had to come, Joe," he a.s.serted. "There wasn't any way out of it.

What's more, I killed that greased pard of Eagen's, Gomez."

"How so?" queried Price.

"Well, I'll tell _you_, Joe, but I don't expect it to go any further.

He said something about Laura Mallory an' a man named Doane, an' I didn't like it. I slapped him. Then he went for a knife he had in his hat."

The old man nodded again. "I see," he said simply. "You shot him. Not a bad riddance. How did you come to rob the bank, Rathburn?"

Rathburn's gaze again s.h.i.+fted uneasily. Then he rose with a burning look at Price, walked up and down the slanting length of the cabin, and halted before the old miner.

"Joe," he said in a tremulous voice, "it's the last ditch. I can't get away from it. I thought I could tell you--an old friend--the whole story, but I can't, Joe. That's the devil of it! There's something wrong with me. I reckon I'm one of those fellows who just had everything mapped out for him. I had some trouble, Joe, an' it's started something--something I can't control. They _had_ to remember me, an' I gave them something to remember me by!"

"Who do you mean by 'they,' Rathburn?" asked the miner.

"Sheriff Long an' the others," said Rathburn quickly. "There wasn't a chance for me. Why, I was thinking of giving myself up only this morning. Joe, it ain't in the pictures--not after I let Gomez have it.

Even after I stopped Gomez I had an idea that I could face the music.

Besides, Joe, there's more to this than you think. They call me The Coyote, an', Joe, so help me, from now on I am!"

"Did you stop at the Mallory place?" asked Price quietly.

Rathburn did not reply at once. With agony in his eyes he looked at his old friend, and suddenly he bristled:

"I might as well never have gone there," he flung out. "I see now I wasn't wanted. I found out as much from Gomez. He told me about Laura's affair with that fellow Doane. But what could I expect? I wasn't ent.i.tled to no thought from her, an' I should have known as much. I'm just a plain fool--a worse one now than I was before."

Joe Price's faded blue eyes glowed with comprehension.

"You thought Laura had put you off, so you gave in an' robbed the bank, Rathburn, an' just naturally made a mess of things when you had a chance," said the old man stoutly. "That ain't actin' with a lick of sense. You wasn't gettin' square with anybody, an' you wasn't doin'

that girl right by takin' the word of Gomez."

"I saw the two of them, her an' Doane, in Hope this morning, walkin'

down the street, arm in arm, laughing--probably over me," Rathburn replied bitterly. "I've got eyes, and I can put two an' two together.

I'm only The Coyote with her, and I'll _be_ The Coyote. She took my gun an' then gave it back when Mike Eagen showed up, thinkin' maybe there'd be gun play, an' I'd get mine."

"Now you shet up!" shrilled Price. "I reckon you've lost all the brains you ever did have? Do you think Laura would keep your gun, knowin' there might be trouble, an' you wouldn't have any way to protect yourself? Don't you suppose she knows you're as fast as Eagen?

She's no fool, if you are. But, if you've got to stay the fool, you better be lightin' out with your winnings. An' you're not takin' the bank's money, either."

"What do you mean by that?" scowled Rathburn, who had been thoughtful while his friend was speaking.

"I had money in that bank, Rathburn, an' so did Mallory, an' there's a lot more of us----"

"I'll give you back your money," Rathburn growled. "Anyway, they're protected by insurance, an' the insurance people can hunt me till doomsday--I guess." He was cooling off rapidly.

"Maybe they are," said Price, "an' maybe they ain't. But it ain't goin' to help you none the way you're goin' to feel about it later, no matter who loses it."

Rathburn was pacing the room, frowning. Twice he started to speak, but the words failed to come. Then he put a question. "Who is this man Doane? He knew me, for I met him when I was comin' out of the bank, an' he called me by name."

"Doane is cas.h.i.+er of the bank down at Hope. He was likely just comin'

to work when you met him."

Rathburn stared with an incredulous expression. "You're sure?" But even as he put the question, Rathburn placed his man.

"I'm dead certain on it," declared Price.

Rathburn sat down heavily and took his hat in his hand.

"That makes it different," he said dully, as if to himself. "Maybe she's stuck on him for his money, an' maybe she's stuck on him because he's a good guy. Maybe this thing would hurt him."

"Oh, I don't think they'd blame him," said Price with a note of consolation in his voice; "an' he probably wouldn't lose nothin'."

"But she might think--it might be that she----" Rathburn swung his hat to his head and rose. He walked toward the door, but Joe Price got in his way.

"Where you goin'?" he asked.

"To the Mallory ranch!"

"You can't get there!" said Price hoa.r.s.ely, pus.h.i.+ng him back.

"I've got to get there!" answered Rathburn grimly, pus.h.i.+ng the old man aside. "I must see Laura."

"You got here just by luck," Price pointed out. "An' there's more men in by now. Maybe they know you're here. But wait till I get your horse--he's hid."

"Get him," Rathburn commanded.

After a moment's hesitation Price went out the door, and he returned almost instantly. He walked to the table and blew out the light. "Go to the door an' see," he urged in an excited voice.

Rathburn hurried out. High on the mountain above the canon a fire was burning.

"It's the signal," Price whispered in his ear.

"Joe, do me a last favor," said Rathburn in a queer voice. "Get me my hoss before it's too late!"