"They's shore cuttin' her loose," remarked Hopalong.
"First two pairs forward an' back!--they shore is," responded theprompter.
"Who's th' gent playin' lady to Buck?" Queried Hopalong.
"Forward again an' ladies change!--Billy Jordan."
Hopalong watched the couple until they swung around and then he laughedsilently. "Buck's got too many feet," he seriously remarked to hisfriend.
"Swing th' girl yu loves th' best!--he ain't lonesome, look at that--"
Two shots rang out in quick succession and Harris stumbled, wheeled andpitched forward on his face as Hopalong's sombrero spun across hisbody. For a second there was an intense silence, heavy, strainedand sickening. Then a roar broke forth and the crowd of frenziedmerry-makers, headed by Hopalong, poured out into the street and spreadout to search the town. As daylight dawned the searchers began tostraggle back with the same report of failure. Buck and Red met on thestreet near the door and each looked questioningly at the other. Eachshook his head and looked around, their fingers toying absentmindedly attheir belts. Finally Buck cleared his throat and remarked casually,
"Mebby he's following 'em."
Red nodded and they went over toward their horses. As they werehesitating which route to take, Billy Jordan came up.
"Mebby yu'd like to see yore pardner--he's out by Buzzard's Spring. We'lltake care of him," jerking his thumb over his shoulder toward the saloonwhere Harris's body lay. "And we'll all git th' others later. Theycain't git away for long."
Buck and Red nodded and headed for Buzzard's Spring. As they neared thewater hole they saw Hopalong sitting on a rock, his head resting in onehand while the other hung loosely from his knee. He did not noticethem when they arrived, and with a ready tact they sat quietly on theirhorses and looked in every direction except toward him. The sun becamea ball of molten fire and the sand flies annoyed them incessantly, butstill they sat and waited, silent and apologetic.
Hopalong finally arose, reached for his sombrero, and, finding it gone,swore long and earnestly at the scene its loss brought before him. Hewalked over to his horse and, leaping into the saddle, turned and facedhis friends. "Yu old sons-of-guns," he said. They looked sheepish andnodded negatively in answer to the look of inquiry in his eyes. "Theyain't got 'em yet," remarked Red slowly. Hopalong straightened up, hiseyes narrowed and his face became hard and resolute as he led the wayback toward the town.
Buck rode up beside him and, wiping his face with his shirt sleeve,began to speak to Red. "We might look up th' Joneses, Red. They had beendodgin' th' sheriff purty lively lately, an' they was huntin' Hopalong.Ever since we had to kill their brother in Buckskin they has beenyappin' as how they was goin' to wipe us out. Hopalong an' Harris wasstandin' clost together an' they tried for both. They shot twice, onefor Harris an' one for Hopalong, an' what more do yu want?"
"It shore looks thataway, Buck," replied Red, biting into a huge plug oftobacco which he produced from his chaps. "Anyhow, they wouldn't be noloss if they didn't. Member what Pie said?"
Hopalong looked straight ahead, and when he spoke the words sounded asthough he had bitten them off: "Yore right, Buck, but I gits first tryat Thirsty. He's my meat an' I'll plug th' fellow what says he ain't.Damn him!"
The others replied by applying their spurs, and in a short time theydismounted before the Nugget and Rope. Thirsty wouldn't have a chance tonot care how he dealt the cards.
Buck and Red moved quickly through the crowd, speaking fast andearnestly. When they returned to where they had left their friend theysaw him half a block away and they followed slowly, one on either sideof the street. There would be no bullets in his back if they knew whatthey were about, and they usually did.
As Hopalong neared the corner, Thirsty and his two brothers turned itand saw him. Thirsty said something in a low voice, and the other twowalked across the street and disappeared behind the store. When assuredthat they were secure, Thirsty walked up to a huge boulder on the sideof the street farthest from the store and turned and faced his enemy,who approached rapidly until about five paces away, when he slowed upand finally stopped.
For a number of seconds they sized each other up, Hopalong quietand deliberate with a deadly hatred; Thirsty pale and furtive with asensation hitherto unknown to him. It was Right meeting Wrong, and Wronglost confidence. Often had Thirsty Jones looked death in the face andlaughed, but there was something in Hopalong's eyes that made his fleshcreep.
He glanced quickly past his foe and took in the scene with one flash ofhis eyes. There was the crowd, eager, expectant, scowling. There wereBuck and Red, each lounging against a boulder, Buck on his right, Redon his left. Before him stood the only man he had ever feared. Hopalongshifted his feet and Thirsty, coming to himself with a start, smiled.His nerve had been shaken, but he was master of himself once more.
"Well!" he snarled, scowling.
Hopalong made no response, but stared him in the eyes.
Thirsty expected action, and the deadly quiet of his enemy oppressedhim. He stared in turn, but the insistent searching of his opponent'seyes scorched him and he shifted his gaze to Hopalong's neck.
"Well!" he repeated uneasily.
"Did yu have a nice time at th' dance last night?" Asked Hopalong, stillsearching the face before him.
"Was there a dance? I was over in Alameda," replied Thirsty shortly.
"Ya-as, there was a dance, an' yu can shoot purty durn far if yu was inAlameda," responded Hopalong, his voice low and monotonous.
Thirsty shifted his feet and glanced around. Buck and Red were stilllounging against their bowlders and apparently were not paying anyattention to the proceedings. His fickle nerve came back again, forhe knew he would receive fair play. So he faced Hopalong once more andregarded him with a cynical smile.
"Yu seems to worry a whole lot about me. Is it because yu has atender feelin', or because it's none of yore blame business?" He askedaggressively.
Hopalong paled with sudden anger, but controlled himself.
"It's because yu murdered Harris," he replied.
"Shoo! An' how does yu figger it out?" Asked Thirsty, jauntily.
"He was huntin' yu hard an' yu thought yu'd stop it, so yu came in tolay for him. When yu saw me an' him together yu saw di' chance towipe out another score. That's how I figger it out," replied Hopalongquietly.
"Yore a reg'lar 'tective, ain't yu?" Thirsty asked ironically.
"I've got common sense," responded Hopalong.
"Yu has? Yu better tell th' rest that, too," replied Thirsty.
"I know yu shot Harris, an' yu can't get out of it by makin' funnyremarks. Anyhow, yu won't be much loss, an' th' stage company'll feelbetter, too."
"Shoo! An' suppose I did shoot him, I done a good job, didn't I?"
"Yu did the worst job yu could do, yu highway robber," softly saidHopalong, at the same time moving nearer. "Harris knew yu stopped th'stage last month, an' that's why yu've been dodgin' him."
"Yore a liar!" shouted Thirsty, reaching for his gun.
The movement was fatal, for before he could draw, the Colt in Hopalong'sholster leaped out and flashed from its owner's hip and Thirsty fellsideways, face down in the dust of the street.
Hopalong started toward the fallen man, but as he did so a shot rang outfrom behind the store and he pitched forward, stumbled and rolled behindthe bowlder. As he stumbled his left hand streaked to his hip, and whenhe fell he had a gun in each hand.
As he disappeared from sight Goodeye and Bill Jones stepped from behindthe store and started to run away. Not able to resist the temptation tolook again, they stopped and turned and Bill laughed.
"Easy as sin," he said.
"Run, yu fool--Red an' Buck'll be here. Want to git plugged?" shoutedGoodeye angrily.
They turned and started for a group of ponies twenty yards away, and asthey leaped into the saddles two shots were fired from the street. Asthe reports died away Buck and Red turned the corner of the store, Coltsin hand, and, checking th
eir rush as they saw the saddles emptied, theyturned toward the street and saw Hopalong, with blood oozing from anabrasion on his cheek, sitting up cross-legged, with each hand holding agun, from which came thin wisps of smoke.
"Th' son-of-a-gun!" cried Buck, proud and delighted.
"Th' son-of-a-gun!" echoed Red, grinning.