Rathburn picked his way slowly through the timber around to thesoutheast and then directly down toward the town. It was slow going,and the man seemed to relish this fact. His face was thoughtful,wistful, a bit grave. He occasionally patted his horse's neck.
"We're on our way home, old hoss," he said softly. "Seems like we just_had_ to stop off here."
He fingered two small objects in his coat pocket.
"I wonder," he murmured. "I wonder if I could be mistaken."
He turned west after a time and rode carefully until he gained a worntrail. This he followed down toward town, and in half an hour hedismounted in the timber behind a small cabin at the side of the roadto the hogback.
Rathburn went to the rear door and knocked. He received no answer, butsounds came to him through an open window. He opened the door softlyand stole inside. There was no one in the kitchen. The sounds camefrom another room. He passed on into a bedroom and turned into anotherbedroom where he saw a figure in overalls lying on the bed. A greatmass of dark hair covered the pillow. The form shook with sobs.
Rathburn laid a gentle hand upon the shoulder, and the face, which wasquickly turned to him, was the face of a girl--the girl he had firstseen when coming into the town, the girl who had been sitting thehorse listening to Carlisle's tirade, the girl the barn man had saidwas supposed to be Carlisle's sister.
"They don't know you were up there," said Rathburn softly. "Your boy'sclothes fooled them, if they saw you at all. They probably thought Iwas carrying Sautee down the trail, for they found Sautee up there inthe powder house with me."
The girl sobbed again. Her eyes were red with weeping.
"Listen, ma'am," said Rathburn gently. "I picked these up from theroad the day the truck driver was held up." He brought out twohairpins from his coat pocket.
"It set me to thinking, ma'am, an' was one reason why I stayed overhere to find out what was goin' on. Maybe I've done wrong, ma'am, butI was hoping I'd be doin' you a favor. I saw the look in your eyes theday Carlisle was talkin' to you when you was on the hoss. I know youhelped him in his holdups, dressed like a boy, but I figured youdidn't do it because you wanted to."
"No--no--no!" sobbed the girl.
"All right; fine, little girl. No one knows anything about it but me,an' I'm goin' away. But, listen, girlie, just what was Carlisle toyou?"
A spasm of weeping shook the girl. "Nothing I could help," she sobbed."He--I had to do as he said--because--oh, I hate him. I hate him!"
"There, there," soothed Rathburn. "I suspected as much, girlie."
"He made my father a bad man," sobbed the girl; "an' made me go withhim or my father would have to go--to--to go----"
"Never mind, girlie," Rathburn interrupted softly. "I don't want tohear the story. Just keep it to yourself an' start all over. It ain'ta bad world, girlie, an' there's more good men in it than there's bad.Now, you can begin to live and be happy like you ought. Carlisle won'tworry you no more."
She raised her head and looked at him out of startled eyes in whichthere was a ray of hope.
"You say--he won't--worry me----"
"Not at all, girlie. He walked into his own trap. I'm goin', girlie.So long, an' good luck."
He took her hand and pressed it, and under the spell of his smile thehope came into her welling eyes.
"Good-by," he called from the doorway.
She was smiling faintly through her tears when he slipped out.
* * * * *
Deputy Sheriff Mannix was sitting in his little office alone. It wasnearly sunset. A faint glow of crimson shot across the carpet.
Mannix was scowling thoughtfully. On the desk before him were twopieces of paper. One of them was a reward notice publishing the factthat The Coyote was wanted and that five thousand dollars would bepaid by the State of Arizona for his capture, dead or alive.
Mannix picked up the second piece of paper and again read the wordspenciled upon it:
I am taking out of this money belonging to the Dixie Queen the five hundred dollars Sautee promised me for carrying the money to the mine, and the two thousand dollars reward offered for the capture of those who had been robbing the Dixie Queen. I expect that shortly after this gets into the proper hands Sautee will be in jail, and he will be handy to tell you this is all O. K.
RATHBURN.
Mannix took up the reward notice, put it with the note, and jammed thetwo pieces of paper into an obscure pigeonhole in his desk.
"Filed!" he said aloud.
Then he rose with a peculiar smile, went out upon the little porch,and stared toward the east where the reflection of the sunset cast arosy glow over the foothills leading down to the desert.