W. C. Tuttle

“ He’s a single-handed secret society, he is, Slim.”
Hashknife merely laughed and swung in beside them.
“Are yuh pretty good with a six-gun, Slim?”
“Pretty good? Meanin’ what, Hartley?”
“Did yuh ever kill a man?”
“Nope,” Slim shook his head violently. “Never had to.”
“Would, if yuh had to, wouldn’t yuh?”
“Sure—why not?”
“Yuh may have to.”
Sleepy straightened up in his saddle. Slim looked quickly at Sleepy who was grinning widely. Sleepy always grinned when there was action in the wind.
“I don’t quite sabe the drift of this, Hartley,” said Slim. “Why should I have to kill a man?” ”

“ They rode back to the ranch and were just debating what to do, when Ben Collins came along on his way to town from the Circle M. Honey called to him and he stopped at the HJ gate.
“You’ll probably see Kelsey in town,” said Honey. “Tell him we found the brakeman of that cattle-train. He’s in the ditch on the west side of the railroad track, about three hundred yards south of the bridge. We heaped up a pile of rocks along the track, and the body is straight down from that. Tell Kelsey he’ll need help to get the body.” ”

“ Feel of that bump.”
“Honey,” said Hashknife, “you better go up to the house and tell the girls what that shootin’ was all about. Some of them bullets hit the house. And bring back a pan of hot water, so we can fix Slim’s head.”
Honey raced for the house and Slim sat down on a bunk. He was still a little dazed.
“Yore bronc is still there by the corral fence,” said Sleepy.
“Uh-huh. I still had the lead-rope when I fell. Gee, I shore don’t sabe it, boys. I dunno anybody that hates me enough to pop me in the dark. It’s lucky he didn’t hit any of yuh.” ”

“ Slim reached across the table, removed an egg from Honey’s plate and placed it on his own.
“I can allus git extra food thataway,” he grinned. “Honey ain’t very strong. Too —— much ’magination, I’d say.”
They finished their supper and went down to the bunk-house. Slim wanted to play pitch. Hashknife declined to be a party to any card arguments; so he stayed out of the game and went back to the ranch-house, where he found Wong Lee serving supper to Peggy and Laura. ”

“ Hashknife left the sheriff and found Sleepy and Honey. He told them what the depot agent had said. A few minutes later they were heading for the railroad bridge, going through the country where Hashknife and Sleepy had walked the night of the bridge-fire. They tied their horses to the right-of-way fence, crawled through and climbed up to the track level. ”

“ Hashknife nodded over this. He had heard it before.
“But she still loves Joe Rich.”
“I honestly think she does,” agreed Laura.
“Did yuh hear about them findin’ Joe’s pocket-knife in the express car?”
Laura hadn’t heard about it.
“The knife that Peggy gave him for his birthday? Oh, what an awful thing to do! Criminals always make mistakes, don’t they?”
“Yeah, they shore do, Laura—bad ones, too.” ”

“ Anyway, it never traveled far after the shoes was taken off.”
“Somebody needed horse-hide,” observed Honey, helping himself to more food.
“Yeah, I s’pose they did,” agreed Slim, resuming his meal. “It ain’t a common thing for to skin a dead horse. It ain’t been dead a —— of a long time. I didn’t smell—”
“Hey!” snorted Honey. “What the —— do yuh think this is? We’re eatin’ a meal, Slim.”
“Oh, I beg yore pardon.”
“Could yuh find it again?” asked Hashknife grinning.
“Shore. If the wind’s blowin’ jist—”
“Wait a minute!” snorted Honey. ”

“ Friendship is a great thing, and it’s har-rd to overcome with silver. As much of a law-abidin’ citizen as I am, I’d vote to hang the man that would even betray Joe Rich for money.”
“You wouldn’t stretch friendship to cover a man who was wanted for murder, would yuh, Mac?” asked Kelsey. ”

“ He laid the facts of the case before Coburn, who listened to Kelsey’s story of finding the body of the brakeman.
“All right,” said Coburn briskly. “Make out a new reward notice, Len. Offer the reward, dead or alive. I’ll file a charge of first degree murder against Rich. Personally, I think he killed Jim Wheeler, although that would be hard to make stick. This is a cinch. Better see if the commissioners don’t want to boost that reward. When Ludlow comes, I’m sure the bank will boost it. Rich is going to make one break too many—and we’ll get him.”
“That’s a cinch, Coburn. See yuh later.” ”

“ He heard the bunk-house door slam open. Sleepy was running toward him, calling his name. The last flash came from the further corner of the stable front as the shooter darted behind cover. Honey was behind Sleepy, yelling for somebody to tell him what it was all about.
“Stop yellin’!” snapped Hashknife. “One of yuh circle this side of the corral. He’s behind the stable. C’mon!” ”

“ In the accumulated litter of old playing-cards, miscellaneous pieces of paper and the general débris, his eyes caught sight of a certain piece of paper.
“Can’tcha git out?” asked the boy who had the ball.
Hashknife backed out. He had forgotten the boys. In his hand was a folded piece of paper, which he unfolded and read carefully. It was Jim Wheeler’s copy of the note on which he had borrowed the money from Ed Merrick.
“Now, how in —— did that get under there?” wondered Hashknife. He studied the situation. Close to this spot was the hitch-rack. ”

“ We will probably hold an inquest tomorrow, and perhaps the sheriff will ask you to attend as a witness.”
“All right, Doc.”
Hashknife led his horse up to the main street and over to the Pinnacle hitch-rack. Just beyond the hitch-rack was the end of the board sidewalk which led down past the saloon. This end of the sidewalk was about two feet higher than the ground level. ”

“ Chapter VIII
CLUES NOTHING had ever happened in Pinnacle City that caused as much excitement as the robbery of the bank. It was something that affected nearly everybody in the Tumbling River country. ”