CHAPTER XVIII
IN THE NIGHT
Rathburn avoided the Red Feather resort during the morning. Instead ofwalking about the streets or sitting in the hotel lobby or his room,he cultivated the acquaintance of the barn man, and because he knewhorses--_all_ about horses--he soon had the man's attention andrespect.
Although Rathburn suspected that he already had a reputation in thetown, he did not know that Carlisle was steadily adding to thatreputation through the medium of veiled hints dropped here and thereuntil a majority of the population was convinced that a desperate manwas in their midst, and that Mannix had permitted him to go free forcertain secret reasons.
Thus a web of mystery and suspicion was cleverly woven aboutRathburn's movements.
It was not until afternoon, however, that Rathburn began to realize onhis intimacy with the barn man. Then they began to talk of trails, andfor more than an hour the barn man, caught in the spell of Rathburn'spersonality, divulged the secret of the trails leading to and from theDixie Queen.
"The best trail, an' the straightest, if you should ever want to go upthere an' look at the mine like you say," said the barn man, "hitsinto the timber behind the first cabin to the left above town."
Rathburn nodded smilingly. It was the cabin where he had first seenthe girl.
"It's 'bout twenty-nine miles to the mine by the road," the manexplained; "but that trail will take you there in less'n twenty. Well,maybe twenty or twenty-one. Or you can go up the road till you get tothe big hogback--that's where they held up the truck driveryesterday--and cut straight up the hill from the south end."
"I guess those are the best trails from what you say," was Rathburn'syawning comment.
"Them's the best," the other added. "There's another trail going outbelow town that follows southeast along a big ridge, but that trail'sas far as the road. When you goin' up?"
"I dunno," replied Rathburn noncommittally. "Say, I guess I know wherethat cabin is on the left side of the road going up. I stopped at acabin up there coming down an' asked a gal how far it was totown----"
"That's it," said the barn man. "That's the one. Trail starts rightback of that cabin."
Rathburn yawned again. "Smart-lookin' gal," he observed, digging forhis tobacco and papers. "Who is she?"
"That's Joe Carlisle's sister. Anyway, he says she is. There's beensome talk. Carlisle lives there when he ain't out in the hills or on agamblin' trip to some other town."
"I see. Well, old-timer, I ain't hung on the feed bag since morning,an' I'm going on a still hunt for some grub."
Rathburn went to the Red Feather for his dinner. He was thoughtfulthrough the meal and kept an eye out for Carlisle, but didn't see him.During the remainder of the afternoon he hung about the Red Featherand other resorts, but did not see Carlisle.
That evening, as he was returning to the hotel, he met Mannix. Thedeputy looked at him with a scowl in which there was a mixture ofcuriosity. Rathburn suddenly remembered what Sautee had said about hiscompany being on the outs with the county administration. If such wasthe case, Rathburn reflected, how did it come that Sautee had beenable to effect his release so easily?
He stopped as he drew alongside of the deputy. "This man Sautee," hedrawled, looking Mannix square in the eye; "he must have a good dragwith the county seat, eh?"
The deputy's scowl deepened. "He didn't get you out by word ofmouth alone," he said sharply. "I haven't got anything on you,Rathburn--yet."
Rathburn smiled. "I reckon you're a sheriff after my own heart," hesaid enigmatically, and moved on.
Mannix looked back after him for a moment, then continued on his way.
Rathburn had dinner that night at the hotel, and it was during thecourse of a number of pleasantries with the waitress, who thought hewas looking for work, that he ascertained that Sautee had a littletwo-room building at the lower end of the street, the front half ofwhich served as an office and the rear half as living quarters.
At nine o'clock he went to his room. He lighted the oil lamp, pulleddown the window shade, sat down in a chair to one side of the door towait. An hour passed with no sound save occasional footfalls in thehall and the drone of the wind in the trees outside.
Another hour had nearly been consumed in waiting when Rathburn heardsome one coming up the stairs. The footfalls were soft, catlike. Hecould hardly hear them, and it was this fact which made him instantlyalert. The footfalls now sounded in the hallway. They were nearer hisroom. He rose; stepped close to the side of the door. Then came asoft knock.
Rathburn suddenly opened the door, and Sautee started back, blinkinghis eyes. The mines manager peered about the room, then enteredswiftly.
"You rather startled me," he accused with a forced smile.
Rathburn closed the door softly and turned the key in the lock.
"I'm just taking natural precautions," he explained.
Sautee shook his head and put a finger to his lips. "Not so loud," hewarned. "These walls"--he waved a hand about--"are all ears."
He took a package from beneath his coat and handed it to Rathburn."Put it in your shirt," he instructed. "Deliver it to the office atthe mine and take the bookkeeper's receipt. Then report to my officehere in town. I wish you luck, and I want you to know that I have theutmost confidence in you."
"You keep such large sums on hand all the time?" Rathburn asked,putting the package in his shirt. He was mindful of the fact that asimilar sum had been stolen the day before from the truck driver.
"There's a private bank here," answered Sautee frowningly. "He let mehave it, but he's already sent to the county seat for more cash whichwill come by auto express to-morrow, probably. Anyway, the bank'll getmost of this back, so their cash won't be short long."
Rathburn nodded. "Let's see," he suggested. "There was a little itemof five hundred between us for my serving--am I right?"
"There is such an item," snapped out Sautee; "when you've delivered."
"Of course," replied Rathburn. "I couldn't expect to be paid inadvance. I'm to deliver the money at the mine and report to you forthe five hundred."
"Exactly," said Sautee. "Which way you figure on going up?" he askedcuriously.
"Don't know much about the trails," Rathburn answered. "An' itmightn't attract suspicion if I just struck right out on the road."
Sautee shrugged. "Well, that's up to you," he said. "Keep your eyepeeled. I don't think any one knows I drew that money from the bank,but I didn't think any one knew I stuck that package under the truckdriver's seat, either."
He turned toward the door.
"There's just one other little matter," said Rathburn softly. "You seenobody knows anything about this deal but you an' me. Maybe it wouldbe best for my own protection that you scribbled something on a pieceof paper to show what our arrangement is."
Sautee scowled again, hesitated, then smiled. He drew an envelope froma pocket, extracted its contents, tore it open at each end, and wroteon the blank side:
Due Rathburn five hundred dollars when he has delivered package intrusted to him by me at the Dixie Queen mine office.
GEORGE SAUTEE.
Rathburn nodded in satisfaction as he took the slip of paper andtucked it into his shirt pocket. The wording of the note was a bitcomplicated, but it bore Sautee's signature. It was at least evidencethat there _had_ been an agreement.
"Everything set?" asked Sautee.
"All cinched up an' ready to go," replied Rathburn.
"How soon you going to start?" asked Sautee as he unlocked the door.
"By midnight," Rathburn answered.
Sautee held out his hand before he slipped out of the door and wasgone.
Rathburn quickly busied himself with his slicker pack. He took out agun which he changed for the gun in his holster. Then he stuck hisregular gun into his waistband on the left. He took out the packageand examined it. It was sealed at each end. Then Rathburn did a queerthing. He cut the string and paper near the seals and removed thesmall box within. He next
emptied the box of its paper-wrappedcontents and substituted the first thing of equal weight which hecould lay his hands on--a moleskin glove which was among the things inthe slicker pack. He replaced the box in its wrappings and drew fromone of his pockets a small bottle of glue.
"First time I ever stole anything from a hotel desk," he muttered tohimself as he glued the paper back into place; "but I sure had theproper hunch when I grabbed this."
Next he retied the string, adding a piece from his slicker pack tooffset the shortness where it had been cut. When he had finished thepackage looked exactly as it had in the first place. It would take aclose inspection to learn that it had been tampered with. The originalcontents of the package he thrust into his hat and pulled the hat welldown on his head.
Then he extinguished the light and made his way downstairs and out thelobby into the street. He went quickly around to the barn where heastonished the man in charge by saddling his horse and riding outwithout a word of explanation other than to toss him a five-dollarbill from the saddle.
"See you again to-morrow--maybe," he called, grinning, as he rode intothe night.
When Rathburn had passed behind the hotel and several other buildingson the same side of the street and gained the road leading westwardtoward the hogback, a slim shadow darted out of the trees, mounted ahorse concealed some distance behind the barn, and slipped into a worntrail which nearly paralleled the road going west.