W. C. Tuttle

“ I just asked Joe to wait, and when he insisted on goin’ I didn’t know just what to do. If I’d had any sense, I’d have poked a gun in his ribs and made him wait. Live and learn, I reckon.”
“I suppose they’ll get him.”
“Mebbe. Joe knows this country and he must ’a’ been set for a getaway. Yuh can’t tell which way he’ll go. Headed out south, but he’s just as liable to be ridin’ north now. He’s no fool. And two men might not be able to find him. We can’t expect much help from the punchers.”
“No, it seems that you can’t, Len. Being a sheriff in Tumbling River has its drawbacks.” ”

“ Is Jack at the office?”
“Here,” said Ralston, shoving his way through.
“Better get on Joe’s trail, Jack,” said Merrick quickly. “He—you don’t need a warrant. Bring him back!”
Ralston ran down the street, while the crowd demanded that Merrick tell them what it was all about. But Merrick merely shut his lips and went to the court-house, followed by Angus McLaren, who was as much at sea as any of the crowd.
Once inside their office McLaren asked Merrick what the trouble was all about.
“I’m not accusin’ Joe Rich,” said Merrick. “But he was the one who found Jim Wheeler. ”

“ He saw Merrick and Kelsey leaving the sheriff’s office.
“Here comes Misser Kelsey,” grinned Lonnie. “’F he gits close enough we’ll complete the swing on him, Nebrasky.”
“He won’t never git close enough,” chuckled Dan. “That bird ain’t never goin’t’ light close to any of us.”
Joe held out his hand to Lonnie, who gripped it quickly.
“So-long, Lonnie,” said Joe. “Be good to yourself.”
“Aw-right, Joe.”
Joe shook hands with Dan and Nebrasky, who did it in a dumb sort of a way. Perhaps they did not understand that Joe was leaving Tumbling River. Joe turned to his horse and started to mount. ”

“ And when the report did come, it shocked every one. Jim Wheeler had died from concussion of the brain. 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. ”

“ It means that you wouldn’t be worth a lot to anybody. It means that nobody wants to hook a sucker when the bass are bitin’.”
“Oh, yeah. Joe Rich was e-legible, wasn’t he, Hozie?”
“He was—” said Hozie dryly. “He was a big bass when he was hooked, but a sucker when he was landed.”
“Uh-huh. Say, that Hatton girl is shore a dinger. I never did see hair and skin like she’s got. I’d be scared to touch her.”
“So would I—if Honey Bee was lookin’, Lonnie.”
“Aw, he jist thinks she’s his girl.”
“Mebbe. Huh!”
Uncle Hozie lifted in his stirrups and looked down the road. ”

“ Merrick, that’s enough to tempt a man.”
“Yo’re —— right it is! And Joe shot Kelsey in the arm.”
“Kelsey was drawin’,” reminded McLaren. “The boys say that Kelsey reached for his gun first. Joe wasn’t under arrest.”
“No, that’s true, Mac. But if Joe wasn’t guilty, why didn’t he stay until it could be cleared up? Ah! there’s Ralston!”
Through the window they saw the deputy ride up in front of the court-house, where he talked with several men. Merrick and McLaren went out to him. It seemed as if all the cowboys had disappeared. ”

“ He met Handsome Clark at the door of a Chinese restaurant, and Clark told him that the cowboys had all disappeared when Jack Ralston showed up, and that Merrick had been the only one to ride with him.
Clark did not know about the missing money until Kelsey told him about it.
“No wonder he plugged you,” said Clark. “He probably had all that money on him.”
“Probably. It was all in currency—big bills, mostly.”
“How’s the arm?”
“Don’t hurt much. Won’t be usin’ it for a while. I never looked for Joe to shoot. He’s awful fast with a gun.” ”

“ Head battered up. Lucky to be alive. Be lucky to live. Don’t ask questions until I know something.”
“Hadn’t we better take him home?” asked Kelsey.
“Take him to my place,” said the doctor.
Joe mounted his horse and rode up beside Hozie.
“Somebody ought to tell Peggy,” he said.
Hozie nodded.
“You want to go, Joe?”
“You know I couldn’t, Hozie.”
“Sure. Lonnie, you go and tell her. Jist tell her—”
“A-a-a-aw, my ——!” snorted Lonnie. “Me? Aw, I’d make a mess of it, Hozie.”
“Thasall right, Lonnie; it’s a mess already. Go ahead.”
Lonnie went, but Lonnie didn’t want to ”

“ I’ll betcha Ralston is mad enough to gnaw a nail.”
“Well, he can go plumb to ——, as far as we’re concerned,” declared Nebrasky. “Any old time we go huntin’ criminals, it’ll be when there ain’t nothin’ else to do. Anyway, I don’t look upon the shootin’ of Kelsey as a crime.” ”

“ 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?”
“I betcha she feels bad, jist the same,” said “Slim” Coleman, of the Lazy B. Slim wasn’t very bright. ”