CHAPTER XXXIV
THE COMPASS WAVERS
Joe Price regarded Rathburn with a curious look in his eyes when hebeheld him in the doorway of his cabin. He stepped swiftly to the onewindow, which was over the table, and dropped the burlap shade. Thenhe closed the door.
"So they've been here?" asked Rathburn.
"What else could you expect?" replied Price testily. "They're combin'these hills for you." He looked at Rathburn keenly, but Rathburn onlysmiled.
"That's not news to me," he said quietly; "I've percolated throughtheir lines twice."
"Stay here," said Price, "and I'll look after your horse--or were youhidin' up all day?"
"No such luck," answered Rathburn grimly.
The old man looked at him curiously; then he went out of the door,closing it carefully after him.
Rathburn found cold food, put it on the table, and sat down to eat.When Price returned he had finished. The old miner sat down in a chairopposite Rathburn.
"Now, out with it," he said. "Something has happened. I can see it inthe way you look an' act. What's up?"
Rathburn carefully rolled a brown-paper cigarette, snapped a matchinto flame, and lit it before he replied. He was half smiling.
"I held up the State Bank of Hope this mornin' an' extracted a bag ofperfectedly good bills," he announced. "Didn't bother with the countermoney. Made 'em serve me from the vault."
Joe Price's eyelids did not even flicker.
"Any idear what you got?" he asked.
"Not whatsoever," replied Rathburn coolly; "but the smallest I saw ontop of the package was a fifty."
Price nodded. "You got plenty," he said.
Rathburn scowled. He had expected some kind of an outbreak--at least aremonstrance from his old friend. He glanced about uneasily and thenglared defiance at Price.
"It had to come, Joe," he asserted. "There wasn't any way out of it.What's more, I killed that greased pard of Eagen's, Gomez."
"How so?" queried Price.
"Well, I'll tell _you_, Joe, but I don't expect it to go any further.He said something about Laura Mallory an' a man named Doane, an' Ididn't like it. I slapped him. Then he went for a knife he had in hishat."
The old man nodded again. "I see," he said simply. "You shot him. Nota bad riddance. How did you come to rob the bank, Rathburn?"
Rathburn's gaze again shifted uneasily. Then he rose with a burninglook at Price, walked up and down the slanting length of the cabin,and halted before the old miner.
"Joe," he said in a tremulous voice, "it's the last ditch. I can't getaway from it. I thought I could tell you--an old friend--the wholestory, but I can't, Joe. That's the devil of it! There's somethingwrong with me. I reckon I'm one of those fellows who just hadeverything mapped out for him. I had some trouble, Joe, an' it'sstarted something--something I can't control. They _had_ to rememberme, an' I gave them something to remember me by!"
"Who do you mean by 'they,' Rathburn?" asked the miner.
"Sheriff Long an' the others," said Rathburn quickly. "There wasn't achance for me. Why, I was thinking of giving myself up only thismorning. Joe, it ain't in the pictures--not after I let Gomez have it.Even after I stopped Gomez I had an idea that I could face the music.Besides, Joe, there's more to this than you think. They call me TheCoyote, an', Joe, so help me, from now on I am!"
"Did you stop at the Mallory place?" asked Price quietly.
Rathburn did not reply at once. With agony in his eyes he looked athis old friend, and suddenly he bristled:
"I might as well never have gone there," he flung out. "I see now Iwasn't wanted. I found out as much from Gomez. He told me aboutLaura's affair with that fellow Doane. But what could I expect? Iwasn't entitled to no thought from her, an' I should have known asmuch. I'm just a plain fool--a worse one now than I was before."
Joe Price's faded blue eyes glowed with comprehension.
"You thought Laura had put you off, so you gave in an' robbed thebank, Rathburn, an' just naturally made a mess of things when you hada chance," said the old man stoutly. "That ain't actin' with a lick ofsense. You wasn't gettin' square with anybody, an' you wasn't doin'that girl right by takin' the word of Gomez."
"I saw the two of them, her an' Doane, in Hope this morning, walkin'down the street, arm in arm, laughing--probably over me," Rathburnreplied bitterly. "I've got eyes, and I can put two an' two together.I'm only The Coyote with her, and I'll _be_ The Coyote. She took mygun an' then gave it back when Mike Eagen showed up, thinkin' maybethere'd be gun play, an' I'd get mine."
"Now you shet up!" shrilled Price. "I reckon you've lost all thebrains you ever did have? Do you think Laura would keep your gun,knowin' there might be trouble, an' you wouldn't have any way toprotect yourself? Don't you suppose she knows you're as fast as Eagen?She's no fool, if you are. But, if you've got to stay the fool, youbetter be lightin' out with your winnings. An' you're not takin' thebank's money, either."
"What do you mean by that?" scowled Rathburn, who had been thoughtfulwhile his friend was speaking.
"I had money in that bank, Rathburn, an' so did Mallory, an' there's alot more of us----"
"I'll give you back your money," Rathburn growled. "Anyway, they'reprotected by insurance, an' the insurance people can hunt me tilldoomsday--I guess." He was cooling off rapidly.
"Maybe they are," said Price, "an' maybe they ain't. But it ain'tgoin' to help you none the way you're goin' to feel about it later, nomatter who loses it."
Rathburn was pacing the room, frowning. Twice he started to speak, butthe words failed to come. Then he put a question. "Who is this manDoane? He knew me, for I met him when I was comin' out of the bank,an' he called me by name."
"Doane is cashier of the bank down at Hope. He was likely just comin'to work when you met him."
Rathburn stared with an incredulous expression. "You're sure?" Buteven as he put the question, Rathburn placed his man.
"I'm dead certain on it," declared Price.
Rathburn sat down heavily and took his hat in his hand.
"That makes it different," he said dully, as if to himself. "Maybeshe's stuck on him for his money, an' maybe she's stuck on him becausehe's a good guy. Maybe this thing would hurt him."
"Oh, I don't think they'd blame him," said Price with a note ofconsolation in his voice; "an' he probably wouldn't lose nothin'."
"But she might think--it might be that she----" Rathburn swung his hatto his head and rose. He walked toward the door, but Joe Price got inhis way.
"Where you goin'?" he asked.
"To the Mallory ranch!"
"You can't get there!" said Price hoarsely, pushing him back.
"I've got to get there!" answered Rathburn grimly, pushing the old manaside. "I must see Laura."
"You got here just by luck," Price pointed out. "An' there's more menin by now. Maybe they know you're here. But wait till I get yourhorse--he's hid."
"Get him," Rathburn commanded.
After a moment's hesitation Price went out the door, and he returnedalmost instantly. He walked to the table and blew out the light. "Goto the door an' see," he urged in an excited voice.
Rathburn hurried out. High on the mountain above the canyon a fire wasburning.
"It's the signal," Price whispered in his ear.
"Joe, do me a last favor," said Rathburn in a queer voice. "Get me myhoss before it's too late!"
The old man obediently slipped into the shadows behind the cabin.