W. C. Tuttle

“ McLaren considered Joe gravely.
“Joe, I’d have banked on ye. There’s a lot more folks in this country that would have bet a million to one that ye wouldn’t do a thing like ye done. Why did ye do it?”
Joe shook his head slowly.
“Mac, there’s things that I don’t even know; so I can’t tell yuh anythin’.”
“Well, ye were drunk, weren’t ye?”
“Ask Honey Bee, Ed Merrick, Ben Collins or Limpy Nelson. They all saw me, Mac. That should be evidence enough.”
“Ay,” McLaren sighed. “There seems to be plenty of evidence that you played the fool. I dunno.” McLaren took a deep breath and expelled it forcibly. ”

“ Even the Reverend Henry Lake and his slow-moving old buggy horse showed up at the ranch, the minister dressed in his ancient best.
Aunt Emma Wheeler, Aunt Annie Bellew, Grandma Owens and Mrs. Buck West gathered together and talked in whispers of the white-faced girl upstairs who did not want to talk with anybody, while the men stood around at the rear of the house in the shade of the big cottonwood and drank up the rest of Uncle Hozie’s wedding liquor.
Honey Bee was there, longing for a chance to talk with Laura Hatton. A little later on Len Kelsey, his arm in a sling, rode out. ”

“ Honey stared at her, his hands clutching the coat, shoes and waistline.
“Yes—lie!” said Laura fiercely. “You could have told that Joe had to chase horse-thieves, or something like that.”
“Uh-huh,” grunted Honey. “Well, yeah, I could.”
“Well, why didn’t you?”
“Them’s why!” Honey flung down the offending shoes. “By Gee, you can’t be pretty and smart at the same time! Folks say that brains are in yore head, but they’re not. They’re in yore feet, I tell yuh! Pinch yore feet and yuh can’t think. That’s why I had to tell the truth.” ”

“ Around they went into the main street, gaining momentum each moment; so much momentum, in fact, that the horses took notice of things and seemed to desire more distance between themselves and this creaking equipage with the yelping cowboys and flowing plumes.
Lonnie’s mount was travelling one side of the street, while Dan’s mount seemed to prefer the opposite sidewalk, while the hearse took a fairly straight route up the middle of the street, until almost opposite the Pinnacle City bank. Then Lonnie’s horse got tangled up in a hitch-rack and Dan’s whirled and started the opposite direction. ”

“ Kelsey nodded glumly, remembering how the cowboys had avoided riding after Joe.
“Yeah, yuh can’t expect much help, Cates. They’ll all spot yuh—and these cowpunchers can shore be clams.”
“Oh, I’m not going out to hunt him,” smiled Cates. “I’d be a fool to do that. When you boys can’t find him—what could I do? I don’t know this country. Why, I haven’t been on a horse for fifteen years!
“Nope,” Cates sighed deeply. “This is no job for a man like me. What this needs is a man like Hashknife Hartley.” ”

“ Aunt Emma was one of those who believed that Jim Wheeler had not died from an accident. She talked with the old doctor about the bruises on Wheeler’s skull, and he told her that they were caused by Jim Wheeler’s head striking the rocks.
“But how did he fall off?” queried the old lady. “Jim was a good rider, Doc. The saddle never turned with him.”
The doctor shook his head.
“I’m sure I don’t know, Mrs. Wheeler. I am not a detective. His leg was broken from being hung in the stirrup, I suppose.”
“He wasn’t hung to the stirrup when Joe found him.” ”

“ Still the crowd did not move. They seemed content to sit still and gaze at the man. Then a man strangled, a chair rattled. It was Ed Merrick the owner of the Circle M. He had whirled in his chair and started for the door, running like a drunken man, but his way was blocked by Sleepy, Slim Coleman and Lonnie Myers and three guns were shoved in his face.
He stopped, staggered sidewise and whirled around, his gun in his hand. But before he could use it, Sleepy and Lonnie landed on him with a rush and he went down, struggling wildly. ”

“ Dusty, wild-eyed animals peered out through the barred sides of the cars, bawling their displeasure.
The wind was blowing a gale, and to the north an electric storm was coming down the valley. But there was no rain; only wind and a depressed atmosphere which presaged the coming storm. The engine clanked in past the depot and stopped with a jerk that shortened every draw-bar in the long line of cars.
In the caboose of the cattle-train sat a cowboy, humped over on a bench, holding his face in his hands. ”

“ Honey turned to Hashknife, a grin on his lips.
“I ain’t no gentleman,” he said.
“Ain’t yuh?” asked Hashknife.
“Nossir,” Honey shook his head violently. “Can’t lie good enough. Laura said I ought to be crowned with an axe-handle for comin’ in and tellin’ Peggy that Joe Rich robbed the train. She said I should have lied about it.”
“Mebbe yuh should.”
“Cinch! Giddap! I always think of a lie too late. Some day I’m goin’ to be hung for tellin’ the truth.”
“You’ll be the first puncher that ever had that honour,” said Sleepy. “There’s that bridge we was huntin’ for, Hashknife. ”

“ Uncle Hozie had never told him that Laura had fibbed about Lonnie Myers’ going to run the ranch; so Honey believed Hozie had done him a great favour.
Peggy took little interest in anything. The shock had taken the spirit all out of her, and she realised that it would only be a question of time until the Pinnacle bank and Ed Merrick would own the HJ. Twelve thousand is a lot of money.
Aunt Emma did not like the arrangement at the HJ.
“Them two girls livin’ alone with one man.”
“Nothin’ of the kind,” denied Uncle Hozie. “Honey’s in love, and a man in love ain’t more’n half a man. ”

“ Hashknife grinned at him, but did not reply. A smile slowly stole across the Chinaman’s face and he bobbed his head.
“Yessa, velly good,” he said. “No tlouble.”
“You kinda got the Injun sign on Wong Lee,” grunted Honey. “Darned old rascal almost laughed. I tell yuh, he ain’t even smiled since Jim Wheeler was killed.”
“Thasso?” Hashknife borrowed Sleepy’s tobacco and rolled a cigarette. “What happened to Jim Wheeler?”
“Horse dragged him to death the other day.”
Hashknife shuddered. The thought of a man’s hanging by one foot to a stirrup never failed to rasp his nerves. ”

“ Oh, they’ve got Joe cinched!”
“But he overlooked one bet,” said Hashknife thoughtfully.
“What was that?” asked Merrick.
“He forgot to carve his name on the safe.”
“Is that meant to be serious?” asked Merrick.
“No-o-o-o,” drawled Hashknife. “I suppose I’m jokin’.”
“Aw, he wouldn’t write his name on the safe,” said Honey.
“Might as well,” grinned Hashknife. “It sure shows that Joe is a beginner at the game. A regular hold-up man don’t tag his work thataway.”
Merrick looked seriously at Hashknife. “You talk as though you were familiar with hold-up men, Hartley.” ”

“ The crowd moved silently away. Jim Wheeler was one of the old-timers, and his death, as Nebrasky Jones said, was “a ter’ble jolt to mankind of Tumblin’ River.”
Uncle Hozie took Peggy and Laura out to the Flying H, and Lonnie Myers proceeded to drink more whisky than was good for him, in order to forget.
“I was in there when the doctor told ’em,” said Lonnie. “Leave-that-bottle-where-it-is! I’m the only person that knows when I’ve got enough. Jist like a marble statue, that girl was. Didn’t say nothin’, didn’t do nothin’. Say! Why don’tcha git some liquor that’s got stren’th?” ”

“ Aunt Emma laughed softly. “Henry Lake may be pious, but he ain’t puritanical. If he hears ’em, he’ll probably come in through the kitchen. Henry Lake has been givin’ us the gospel for twenty-five years, and no man can do that in this country if he goes too strong against liquor.”
“Honey and Joe ought to be showin’ up,” said Mrs. Bellew.
“Oh, they’ll be here in time,” laughed Aunt Emma. “This is the first time Joe ever got married, and don’t you ever think Honey Bee is goin’ to be absent when there’s a chance to stand up at a weddin’ with Laura Hatton.” ”

“ Joe’s got too many good friends around here, Kelsey; and I might stop a bullet, if I knew too much.”
“There’s a lot of truth in that, Hartley.”
“Sure,” grinned Hashknife. “I’m no fool.”
“Playin’ safe, eh?” said Ralston. “Well, I don’t blame yuh. When a feller’s a stranger, he can’t be too careful.”
“I’ll watch my own hide,” declared Hashknife. “I dunno where that feller, Cates, heard all that stuff about me. He must ’a’ got me mixed with somebody else. Anyway, he’s all wrong if he thinks I’m huntin’ rewards.” ”

“ Hashknife laughed. Honey Bee was so sincere in his statements.
“Was Rich a good sheriff?” asked Hashknife.
“Y’betcha. Joe was a man that wouldn’t stop at anythin’ to enforce the law. Some men kinda play fav’rites, yuh know. But Joe wasn’t that kind. At least I don’t reckon he was, and I knew him awful well.”
“How did it happen that you wasn’t his deputy?”
“Politics,” explained Honey. “Merrick controls a lot of votes in this county, and he told Joe he’d support him if he’d appoint Len Kelsey deputy. Joe agreed, and it was the Merrick vote that won for Joe.” ”

“ Peggy, you dry them tears. Joe’s all right. Yuh can’t tell what’s happened. Bein’ the sheriff, he might have been called at the last minute. The law don’t wait on marriages. You just wait and see, Peggy.”
“Oh, I hope everything is all right,” sighed Peggy. “He’s twenty minutes late right now, Aunt Emma.”
Still they did not come. Some of the cowboys volunteered to ride back to Pinnacle City to see what the trouble might be, when the long-looked for buggy hove in sight. They could see it far down the road in the moonlight. Laura had seen it from the bedroom window and came running back to Peggy. ”

“ Life’s like that, Peggy. The old sky gets pretty black and all clouded up, but the old sun is always on the job, and it breaks through eventually.”
“It is wonderful to look at things in that way, Hashknife.”
“I think so, Peggy. My old man was that way. He preached the gospel in bunk-houses and out on the range. But he didn’t wear a long face and say long prayers. He said he wasn’t trying to make folks fit to die—he was makin’ ’em fit to live. And after all, that’s the gospel. If yo’re fit to live, yuh’ll be fit to die. And when yo’re fit to live yuh’ll always see the sun behind the clouds.” ”

“ That’s a job for a sheriff or a policeman.”
“Well, maybe that’s true, Hartley. There’s a nice reward for Joe Rich. Means about thirty-five hundred dollars.”
“I don’t want it,” said Hashknife flatly.
“Don’t want it?” Cates laughed huskily. “You’re a queer bird, Hartley. Ain’t you interested in putting criminals behind the bars?”
“Not a damned bit. Don’t believe in the ‘eye for an eye’ theory. Never put a man behind the bars that I didn’t wish it hadn’t happened.”
“Do yuh mean to say that you never collected a reward?” asked Kelsey. ”

“ Good gosh, things look worse for Joe Rich every day! I suppose he ran into the brakeman, eh?”
“Probably,” nodded Hashknife. “Of course he might have fell off the track that night. The wind was awful. If he struck his head on the rocks and slid into the water he’d die pretty quick. We’ll have to wait until they take him out.”
But they didn’t have to wait long. Inside an hour Kelsey, Ralston, Ben Collins and Abe Liston of the 3W3, rode in at the HJ. No one had told Peggy and Laura about the dead man, and their curiosity was aroused by the advent of the sheriff and his men. ”

“ Hashknife settled back and rolled a cigarette. Sleepy woke up, swore a few lines, shifted to more shade and went back to sleep. But Hashknife did not become impatient. He knew what he was going to do, and it was something that required fairly accurate timing. He knew that Merrick and Collins would ride fairly fast and would cover that eight miles in less than an hour.
It was thirty minutes past the noon hour when Hashknife woke Sleepy and Slim. Both required some stretching to get the kinks out of their muscles. ”

“ You’ve got plenty men with yuh.”
“Uh-huh.” Kelsey did not press the invitation, but rode away, followed by his three men.
Honey Bee grinned widely and did a shuffle in the dirt.
“That’s tellin’ ’em, cowboy. You’ve got Kelsey’s goat. I could see it in his face.”
“Let’s go down to the bunk-house,” suggested Hashknife. “Them darned girls ask too many questions. I reckon they suspect that this man was killed at that hold-up, and I don’t want to worry Peggy any more. She takes it too serious. By golly, she acts as though folks blamed her for what Joe Rich has done.” ”

“ The gentle art of flipping a man consisted of two men getting one on each side of the one to be flipped, grasping him by arms and legs, and turning him completely over. It is a queer sensation, but harmless, if done right. Kelsey was inches taller than either Nebrasky or Lonnie.
The boys goggled wisely at each other and waited. Kelsey finished his conversation with Clark and came back past the bar.
“That shore was awful bad about Jim Wheeler, wasn’t it?” said Dan Leach.
The sheriff stopped beside the bar. ”

“ Uncle Hozie cocked one eye and looked at Joe.
“There’s, by actual count, seventeen blasted fools in this Tumblin’ River range—and yo’re all of ’em, Joe.”
“I admit it, Hozie.”
“You do? My God, you didn’t think for a minute yuh could deny it, didja? Huh! Why don’tcha git down? My God, I hate to talk to a man on a horse! Especially the mornin’ after. Kinda hurts my eyes to look up.”
Joe shook his head.
“No, I can’t stay, Hozie.”
“Nobody asked yuh to, did they?”
“No. Is Peggy here yet?”
“No, she ain’t, Joe,” softly. “They went home last night—her and Jim and Laura Hatton. Jim thought it was best. ”