CHAPTER X
CAUGHT IN THE CELLAR
Rathburn rose and crouched under the trapdoor, gun in hand. Lamywatched him, breathless, perplexed, uncertain. They heard men running;then there were no sounds from above and a deathly stillness settleddown.
Slowly and with infinite care Rathburn raised the trapdoor an inch ortwo and listened intently. Lamy scrambled to his knees on the pile ofgunny sacks; but Rathburn swung quickly upon him. They stared at eachother in the semidarkness.
"He said two," breathed Lamy, a curious look in his eyes.
"Are you afraid?" mocked Rathburn. "It's me they want--don't worry. Imay make a break for it, an' if I do there's likely to be powderburned. You can stay here an' get out when they take after me, if Igo," said Rathburn, and the sneer in his voice caused Lamy to flushuncomfortably.
Rathburn petted the gun in his hand. "But before I make a break I wantto tell you something that I should have told you before this, when Ihad more time----"
He bit off his speech as there came a sudden recurrence of the soundsin the house. The trapdoor closed down.
"Where's the cellar?" came the sheriff's authoritative voice.
Many feet tramped upon the floor above them. Then they heard the rugstripped back. There was an exclamation from the sheriff and the soundof moving feet suddenly was stilled.
"Is there any one in the cellar?" the sheriff called.
Silence--with Lamy pressing Rathburn's knee with a hand, and Rathburnsmiling that queer, grim smile which conveyed so much, yet nothingwhich was tangible.
"Get around here, you fellows," they heard the sheriff order.
The sound of boots and spurs attested to the quickness with which hisorder was obeyed.
Rathburn leaned down suddenly and with lightning swiftness jerkedLamy's gun from its holster near his side. He tossed the weapon to acorner of the dark cellar just as the sheriff's voice was heardagain.
"Coyote, if you're down there I'm not going to take a chance fumblingwith that door. If you ain't there, then there won't be any harm inwhat I'm going to do. If I don't hear anything when I finish talkingI'm going to give the signal to my men to start shooting through thefloor--and I mean it. If anybody's down there it'd be good sense toflip up that door and crawl out hands first, an' those hands empty."
"Sheriff, you're bluffing!" said Rathburn loudly.
Then the sheriff spoke again in an exultant tone. "I figured it wasthe best hidin' place you could find, Coyote. You're right; I was sortof bluffing, but I might have changed my mind an' gone on through withit. We've got you dead to rights, Coyote; you haven't got a chance.There's seven of us now an' every man is ready to open up if you comeout of there a-shooting."
Rathburn slipped his gun back into his holster. He raised the trapdoorslowly until it tipped back on the floor leaving the opening into thecellar clear.
"Two of 'em!" he heard some one exclaim.
He looked up to accustom his eyes to the light and saw a dozen gunscovering him.
"Gentlemen, the landscape fairly bristles with artillery," he saidamiably. "Who's the sheriff? And--there's Jud Brown. Who let youloose, Jud?"
"I'm Sheriff Neal," interposed that individual, a slight, dark manwith a bristly mustache. "Come out of there--hands free."
"For the time being, eh, sheriff? I expect you figure on fixing thosehands so they won't be free, eh? Well, all I've got to say is that Ihope you won't spend the money foolishly, sheriff."
Rathburn leaped lightly out of the cellar.
"Keep that other man down there covered, too," snapped out Neal. "It'sprinciple more than reward money that invites me, Coyote. Hand overyour gun belt an' be careful how you unbuckle it."
"Sheriff, it would be against my code of ethics to hand over my gun.It can't be done, sheriff; you'll have to come and get it."
Neal hesitated, notwithstanding the fact that he had Rathburn coveredand that several other guns were covering him. Then he steppedforward, never taking his eyes from Rathburn's, and secured theother's weapon.
"That's better, sheriff," said Rathburn with a queer smile. "You cansee how I have my pride an' little superstitions. No man has ever tooka gun from me but what I've got it back! Thanks, sheriff."
Lamy had come out of the cellar. Several of the men seemed torecognize him, but kept their silence with dubious looks in theireyes.
"My guide, sheriff," said Rathburn, pointing gayly at Lamy. "He wasvery kind. He showed me around the country--me not being very wellacquainted around here. I had to take his gun away from him an' sortof encourage him along with my own, but he did very nicely."
"Just what I thought, Neal," said Brown. "This fellow took after himan' he captured him and made him lead him. Isn't that so?" he asked ofLamy.
"Just a minute, Jud," Rathburn interrupted with a frown. "I can't letthe importance of this momentous occasion be transferred to asubordinate. You must ask your questions of me, as I am the centralfigure in this affair."
The cry of a girl startled them. She came running from the kitchenwhere she had fled when the sheriff announced his intention to shootthrough the floor.
"Ed!" she cried, running to Lamy and throwing her arms about him."Oh--Ed!"
"Who is he, ma'am?" asked the sheriff. "Your husband?"
"He's my brother--Ed Lamy."
"I can recommend him if you need a guide who knows the country,sheriff," said Rathburn genially. "I guess he had an idea of makingtrouble for me at first, but I had the drop on him an' he soon sawreason. I had to knock him down last night when he got fresh, but hedid very well. Of course I had an advantage on my side." He noddedtoward his gun which the official still held in his hand.
"Did he make you guide him?" Neal asked Lamy, noting his emptyholster.
Rathburn turned so that he could look at his former captive.
Lamy nodded. "Yes," he replied. "I didn't know what minute I was goin'to get shot in the back."
Rathburn's eyes glowed with an amused light. "I didn't have any ideaof shootin' him, sheriff; he was too valuable as my escort on thetour. I wonder if the lady could spare me a cup of coffee an' abiscuit?"
He glimpsed the boy in the kitchen doorway behind the sheriff. "Hello,sonny," he called cheerfully. "Did you catch those freckles from yourbrother?"
The boy gazed at him abashed. There were actually tears in theyoungster's eyes. Ed Lamy and his sister moved into the kitchen andtook the boy with them. The girl had nodded to the sheriff.
"She'll get you something to eat," said Neal. "What have you got onyou?" He stepped to Rathburn's side.
"Ah--the frisk. I see you are a regulation officer, sheriff."Rathburn's tone fairly radiated politeness and good cheer. "The silverwas rather heavy. It ain't my usual style to pack much silver,sheriff. There's more of the bills in my hip pockets. Don't supposethere's more'n a thousand in the whole bundle."
The sheriff put the bills and silver on the table. He investigated allof Rathburn's pockets, returned him his tobacco, papers, andhandkerchief, but kept a box of matches. Then he felt his prisoner'sclothing to make sure that he had no weapons concealed; he also felthis boot tops.
He looked at Rathburn with a gloating expression when he had finished;there was also a glint of admiration in the gaze he directed at him.
"You size right up to the descriptions of you, Coyote," he reflectedin a pleasant voice. "Too bad you couldn't have been in a betterbusiness. I'm glad I caught you, but I ain't any too--too--well, Imight say any too proud of it. That may be pleasant for you to hear.But I ain't discounting your well-known ability, an' I want to warnyou that I or any of my men will shoot you in your tracks if youstart anything that looks suspiciouslike."
Rathburn yawned. "Sheriff, your courtesy is very greatly appreciated.I only hope we will arrive in jail or somewhere soon where I can getsome sleep. I'm all in."