W. C. Tuttle

“ Everybody was against Joe. Why did you think he was innocent? What made you think it was a plot against him?”
“I looked at you,” said Hashknife simply. “And I figured that a man you’d love—well, I figured right, Peggy.”
They went down the stairs. A crowd had gathered in front of the sheriff’s office, and Joe was talking to them, backed against the door. He was flanked on one side by Slim Coleman, and on the other by Honey Bee. And then the crowd began to disperse. Aunt Emma and Peggy met them at the bottom of the stairs, and Laura kissed Hashknife before he was aware of her intentions. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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.” ”

“ 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 cigaret. “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. ”

“ 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 favor.
Peggy took little interest in anything. The shock had taken the spirit all out of her, and she realized 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. ”

“ 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.” ”

“ Siebert and Jack Ralston made up the personnel of the Circle M, since Len Kelsey had left them to take up his duties as deputy sheriff under Joe Rich.
It was the morning following the wedding which had not taken place that Joe Rich rode up to the Flying H. All night long he had ridden across the hills, fighting out with himself to decide what to do, and he was a sorry-looking young man when he drew rein near the veranda of the Flying H ranch-house. He had ridden away without coat, hat or chaps. His trouser-legs were torn from riding past brush, his face scratched, his hair disheveled. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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.” ”

“ 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 ⸺, yuh 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.” ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 ax-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 honor,” said Sleepy. “There’s that bridge we was huntin’ for, Hashknife. ”

“ One whole span on fire and this wind is like a blow-torch. Looks like a complete tie-up for this division. There’s a section crew at Pinnacle City, but this will be a job for bridge builders.”
Hashknife went back in the caboose where Sleepy was lying on a seat, still caressing a sore jaw.
“Stuck completely,” said Hashknife. “No dentist for you tonight, cowboy.”
The brakeman came in to light a cigaret, and Hashknife questioned him about Pinnacle City.
“South of here is the wagon-bridge,” said the brakeman. ”

“ Sleepy and Honey were more than willing. They told the girls they would be back for supper. Peggy drew Hashknife aside and wanted to know what the sheriff had in mind. Hashknife told her frankly that Cates was a detective, and wanted him to help find Joe Rich.
“Just why did he want you to help?” she asked.
“Well, yuh see, it’s like this,” lied Hashknife. “Kelsey’s got the idea that folks around here are too friendly with Joe to hunt him. Me and Sleepy, bein’ strangers to Joe, might not be so particular.” ”

“ 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?” ”

“ Mebbe it was my feet. A feller with an eight foot can’t think of no lies in a six shoe.”
Peggy’s eyes swept the assemblage of old friends, and their faces seemed blurred. No one spoke. Her father stood beside her, grim-faced, stunned.
“I’m sorry,” said Peggy simply, and went back toward the stairs.
Slowly the crowd gathered up their belongings and went away. Even Uncle Hozie was shocked to sobriety. Finally there was no one left in the big living-room except Honey Bee. He took off his shoes and coat and was going toward the front door when Laura Hatton came down the stairs. ”

“ 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, and 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. ”

“ 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.” ”

“ Today I drew five thousand from the Pinnacle bank and loaned it to Jim Wheeler on his note. He had that money on him when he left town. There is no money in his pockets now, and no one has found any money on him since he came back, or during the time of the first examination. The money is gone, Mac.”
“And Joe was the first man to find him,” muttered McLaren. “Five thousand dollars! 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.” ”

“ That would be worse, eh?”
“Do you always look at things that way?” asked Peggy.
“Mostly,” said Hashknife seriously. “Why not, Miss Wheeler? Sunlight is brighter than shadows; and it’s a lot easier to find, if yuh look for it. Bright things are easier to see than dark ones.”
“You listen to him a while and he’ll prove to yuh that a leaky roof is a godsend,” laughed Sleepy.
“Well, ain’t it?” asked Hashknife. “If this roof hadn’t leaked, you folks would probably have been in bed—and we wouldn’t have seen their light, Sleepy.”
“That is true,” said Laura. ”