W. C. Tuttle

“ 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 traveling 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. ”

“ What’sa idea, Hashknife?”
“Just curiosity. Everybody knows that Joe Rich stole that five thousand from Jim Wheeler, and the sheriff thinks somebody is hidin’ Joe.”
“I see yore idea. He thinks Joe is bein’ taken care of by somebody, eh?”
“That’s the only solution, Honey. He’s got to eat and have a place to hide out. It must be somebody that likes Joe too well to turn him in for the reward—somebody that don’t care about the loss of the HJ.”
“By golly, that’s right! But who could it be?”
“That’s it,” grumbled Sleepy. ”

“ Hashknife shook his head slowly.
“No-o-o, I’m not interested, Cates. As I said before, it’s just a case of goin’ out and gettin’ a man who knows every blade of grass in this country by its first name. What the sheriff ought to do is to make up a posse and comb this whole country. He must be hidin’ in the valley.”
“Fine chance!” snorted Kelsey. “In the first place I’d have a hard time gettin’ any men. Joe is too popular. And in the second place, with all the friends Joe’s got—well, figure it out for yourself.” ”

“ Made good wages out of it, even if yuh couldn’t find Joe Rich.”
“No-o-o-o, I didn’t want the job. Joe’s got too many good friends around here, Kelsey; and I might stop a bullet, if I knew too much.”
“There’s a —— of 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. ”

“ I don’t believe you told me your name.”
“Hartley. I’m out at the HJ ranch—Jim Wheeler’s place.”
“Oh, yes. No, I don’t think there is any doubt of Wheeler’s head having been crushed by the rocks. You know how a body would bound, fastened by one foot to a stirrup.” ”

“ Kelsey laughed shortly.
“You must be pretty —— rich to turn down good money. Cates has told me that you and yore pardner have cleaned up a lot of bad-man outfits, and there’s usually a reward for a bad man.”
“Unless he hides his light under a bushel, Kelsey.”
“Uh-huh. Well, Joe Rich don’t hide his, that’s a cinch.”
Hashknife grinned widely.
“You’ve got to admire him, just the same. He’s operatin’ in his own country, and he ain’t tryin’ to disguise himself a whole lot. And it looks to me as though he’s makin’ a monkey out of yore office.”
“What do yuh mean, Hartley?” ”

“ The bank has been cleaned out.”
“Cleaned out, Warner?” asked Kelsey.
“Look at the vault door.”
It was wide open. The sheriff did not investigate. Sleepy stepped over and peered inside. It was an old-fashioned vault with the ordinary combination. Time locks had not come to Pinnacle City yet.
“How many in the gang?” asked Kelsey.
“One,” Warner spat painfully and rubbed his lips. “One man, Sheriff. I was working tonight. I used the back door. When I unlocked it and stepped outside, this man confronted me with a gun and forced me back inside. ”

“ Sleepy went over to him.
“That —— thing headed into the bank,” he told Lonnie.
“My ——! It did? Whatcha know about that? Where’s the rest of the gang?”
“Let’s go over and have a look.”
No one in the crowd seemed to know who had done it. Kelsey was there, as was Jack Ralston.
“Somebody got pretty —— smart, it seems to me,” growled Kelsey.
“Hey, Kelsey!” yelled a voice, “there’s a body inside the hearse.”
“My ——, it’s Cates!” whispered Lonnie. “Let’s get away from here before we all get arrested.”
They hurried back to the Pinnacle bar where they found Dan Leach and Nebrasky. ”

“ If the law gets him—”
“Mebbe—-and mebbe not.”
“What do you mean, Hashknife?”
“I was just thinkin’ out loud, Peggy. Yuh quit worryin’ about things.” He patted her on the arm. “We’ll be back for supper, and I’ll want to see yuh grinnin’.”
Hashknife went out to his horse, which was the one Jim Wheeler had ridden the day he was killed. Hashknife noticed that the animal was a trifle sore-footed; so he examined its hoofs and found that it wore no shoes. ”

“ The robber told him he’d either open the safe or get a front seat at the explosion. And he held a match while the cashier worked the combination. By golly, it’s so easy to do a thing like that, that I wonder why men work for a dollar a day! It’s shore easy money.”
“Easy to get, uneasy to keep, Sleepy.” ”

“ It may not be the same man, but we can soon find that out, too.”
Kelsey obtained a buggy at the livery-stable, in which he and Cates rode out to the HJ, while Ralston followed them on horseback. But they did not find Hashknife and Sleepy at the ranch. Kelsey introduced Cates to the two girls, and Cates found out that Hartley’s name was Hashknife. ”

“ I was on my hands and knees, kinda crawlin’ and feelin’ along, when I got hold of somethin’ that feels a lot like a man’s legs. I keeps on feelin’, and I keeps on a-risin’, until my hands touch his face, and then I hightailed it outside. ”