CHAPTER XX
APPEAL TO THE LAW
For some moments Sautee stood in the darkened doorway staring up themoonlit street. The echoes of Rathburn's flight had died away. Thetown was still. Sautee did not cry out, although he had recovered aconsiderable measure of his composure. He listened intently andfinally grunted with satisfaction.
"Up the road," he muttered. "That means he is making for the pass overthe mountains."
He walked hurriedly through his office into the living room. There hestood for a spell beside the table on which burned the lamp. His browswere knit into a heavy frown. He seemed debating a question in hismind. 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 walkedquickly out of the place, locking the door after him.
He hurried up the street to the jail. He found the jailer dozing inthe little front office and did not attempt to disturb him. From thejail he hurried another short distance up the street and turned in ata little house located some distance back from the sidewalk. Heknocked loudly on the door, and after a brief wait repeated theperformance.
A light showed, and the front door opened. Mannix, the deputy, lookedout.
"Let me in," said Sautee briefly. "There's been another robbery."
Mannix swung the door wide and stepped aside. He wore an ulster overhis night clothes, and his bare feet were thrust into slippers. Hescowled at the mines manager as he shut the door.
"More of the company's money gone?" he asked with a touch of sarcasmin his voice.
Sautee nodded. "Some twenty-odd thousand," he said soberly; "and Ibelieve the man that got it is responsible for the holdups that havebeen pulled off around here."
"Who got it?" Mannix asked quickly.
"Rathburn," Sautee announced.
Mannix smiled in undisgusted contempt. "Your own fault," he pointedout. "Wouldn't give me a chance to investigate. Said you had a schemethat 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 believeI could have held him anyhow."
"Just it," said Sautee. "Wouldn't have done any good to keep him injail, and I thought I had a two-way scheme that would either show himup, as you say, or get me an excellent messenger. I intrusted Rathburnwith a package to carry to the mines office. He's a gunman, adesperado, probably a killer, and I thought it would appeal to him tobe put in a place of trust. If he fell down--then I figured you'd beable to get him like you said you could."
Mannix snorted. "After tryin' a fool scheme you want to shift thebusiness on _my_ shoulders, eh? Well, Sautee, you've never shown muchconfidence in my ability, an' you don't have to show any now. It looksto me as if the finishing of this play is all up to you."
"Oh, no, it isn't," said Sautee confidently. "You'll be most mightyglad 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 yougave him a bundle of money to make off with. Sautee, I believe you'rea fool!"
The mines manager winced and then frowned. "I gave him the money tocarry to the mine," he confessed without flinching. "He came back witha story about being held up, and when he saw that I didn't believe himand intended to turn him back to you, he pulled a gun on me and madehis get-away. He lit out through town for the road to the hogback andthe pass over the mountains."
Mannix laughed harshly. "You're clever, Sautee; there's no gettingaway from how clever you are. Now you want me to go chasing up to thehogback to head him off. Well, I'm tellin' you that I don't know wherehe's gone, an' I ain't starting out after him at any two o'clock inthe morning. If you'd have kept your nose out of this he'd still beall safe an' quiet in jail. That's final, so you might as well clearout an' give me a chance to get some sleep."
Sautee merely smiled after this speech from the disgusted deputy.
"Since I intrusted Rathburn with that job I've found out somethingabout him which takes the case out of my hands entirely," he said witha smirk. "I don't care if you don't start after him till day afterto-morrow. But if your chief--the sheriff--finds out that you didn'thit the trail to-night he'll likely ask you for your badge!"
"Are you threatening me?" Mannix demanded loudly.
"No, I'm only stating facts," Sautee replied stoutly. "That man whocalls himself Rathburn is The Coyote!"
Mannix didn't start. He appeared hardly interested. Only the keen,penetrating quality of the steady gaze he directed at the minesmanager betrayed the fact that his faculties were aroused.
"The Coyote hit back for Arizona after that deal he was mixed up inover in Dry Lake, across the range," he said with conviction.
"Oh, he did?" Sautee sneered openly. "Well, you had him in jail lastnight, and you can probably get him again, if you start right outafter him."
"What makes you think this fellow Rathburn is The Coyote?" demandedMannix.
"Carlisle knows him by sight, and he told me."
"Then why didn't you tell me?" the deputy asked sternly.
"Because Carlisle didn't tell me until after I told him what I'ddone," Sautee evaded. "Then I didn't have the--ah--nerve, under thecircumstances, to come to you with the news. At that, I thought hemight go through with it."
Mannix swore softly. "Giving a pay-roll messenger's job to a man who'sgot a price on his head a mile long!" he exclaimed savagely. "Whydidn't Carlisle come to me?"
Sautee shrugged. "I'm not responsible for Carlisle. Maybe he didn'tfeel sure of it, and maybe he's just naturally jealous of The Coyoteand wants to bring him in himself. Carlisle is a gunman, as you know,and a good one."
"I know it," snapped out Mannix; "and I know both Carlisle an' you area pair of bunglers. I guess you wanted to show me up, but you've goneabout it in a way that won't get you anything nor hurt me, I'll see tothat."
Sautee smiled as the deputy hurried out of the room.
In a few minutes Mannix returned fully dressed and carrying a rifle.The deputy's face was severe, and his eyes burned with the fire of theman hunt. He signaled impatiently to the mine manager to follow him.As they walked across the little porch and around to the rear of thehouse where Mannix kept his car the deputy talked fast.
"I'm goin' up to the hogback. He ain't had start enough to get upthere yet on a horse, an' I'll beat him to it. It'll be daylight inabout two hours, an' I'll be there till daylight. If you think you cando it, get out some of the men an' cover the trails to the mine onhorses. He might try to get over that way. Then you better take yourcar and go up to the mine by the road as fast as you can to tell 'emto be on the lookout. Watch out on the hogback, for I'll be up there,parked with my lights out."
He had reached his small garage when he finished giving hisinstructions, and Sautee, with a promise to do as he had been told asquickly as possible, ran down the street toward the Red Feather, wherea light still shone.
The news that The Coyote and Rathburn were one and the same, and thathe had robbed the mining company that night and was probablyresponsible for the other holdups, created an immediate sensationamong the few gamblers in the resort. Sautee added to the excitementby quoting rewards at random, and the forming of two posses to combthe trails to the mine and beyond was under way at once.
Sautee ran to his office and got out his small car. He stopped at theRed Feather and took one of the men from the mine with him. Hestopped again when he reached the Carlisle cabin, pounded on thedoors, and looked in the windows. But the place was deserted, andSautee's features were wreathed in perplexity as he went back to hiscar.
"That's queer," he said as he climbed into his seat.
"What's that?" asked the man beside him.
But Sautee's answer was drowned in the roar of the motor as he sped upthe road toward the hogback and the mine.