“King Cleeve was the man they wanted to lynch!”
King Cleeve threw himself sidewise, clawing at his gun; but he never
reached it. Scott Martin had sprung--sprung like a panther, clear of
the floor, circling King Cleeve with those long, muscular arms, and
they crashed out of sight behind the roulette outfit.
The crowd broke for the front and rear door--anywhere to get out of
line. Mohr’s gun came out like a flash; but Brick’s gun spouted lead
before Mohr’s gun left its holster, and Mohr fell sidewise out of his
chair, shot through the shoulder.
As Brick whirled around, the powder from Topaz Tyler’s gun burned his
cheek, but the bullet went into the bar-mirror. Silent and Harp fired
at the same time that Brick did, and Topaz Tyler spun on his heel and
went down.
From the doorway came the _whang_ of a shot, and Brick felt the sharp
sting of a bullet as it burned across his shoulder. Brick whirled to
meet this new menace just in time to see Three Star Hennessey hurl a
heavy chair through the doorway, crashing it into Bunty Blair’s head
and shoulders.
Bunty went backward off the sidewalk, and Three Star, following the
thrown chair, landed all in a heap on the stunned sheriff. Zell Mohr,
recovering from the shock of Brick’s bullet, managed to get his pistol
into his left hand.
_Bang!_
From under the card-table came the report of a pistol, and the bullet
passed through the high crown of Brick’s hat, lifting it off his head.
Harp Harris sprang across the room, jumped high and came down upon the
card-table, crashing it down upon Zell Mohr, pinning him to the floor.
Brick glanced out of the door, where Three Star was shaking Bunty back
to life and talking fast. Three Star was telling Bunty in a few words
what a foolish sheriff he was.
Out from the tangle of broken furniture came Scott Martin. His gun still
hung in its holster. He looked very tired as he passed his hand wearily
across his forehead and looked at Brick.
An outflung hand and a protruding foot were all that showed from the
wreckage, but the incoming crowd did not seem to think it worth while
to inquire about King Cleeve.
Scott Martin held out his hand to Brick and their hands met.
“Thank yuh, Davidson,” said Martin softly. “I’ve waited a long time for
this.”
“You’re plumb welcome,” smiled Brick. “Had quite a party while it
lasted; didn’t we?”
The crowd stood around Brick and Martin, but no one seemed to have
anything to say. Silent and Harp lifted the table off Zell Mohr. The
former Idaho sheriff would need considerable patching up before he
could face a judge and jury, but he was still able to curse.
Then came Bunty Blair, elbowing his way through the crowd. The chair
had spoiled his physical beauty, but reverses seemed to have brought
out a latent quality heretofore unknown to Marlin City.
He reached down and snapped a pair of handcuffs on Zell Mohr. He glanced
in the direction of King Cleeve and then over at Topaz Tyler. His head
turned and he looked at Brick.
“Davidson,” he said, “I begs your pardon. I--I almost made a big
mistake.”
Bunty held out his hand.
“I’m asking yuh to shake hands with me, Davidson; but I won’t blame yuh
if yuh don’t.”
Brick grasped his hand.
“I--I need a good deputy,” said Bunty. “If I could get a good one I--I’d
resign and let him have my job.”
Brick grinned, but shook his head.
“I ain’t worth a ---- as a sheriff,” said Bunty bitterly.
* * * * *
Brick put his hand on Bunty’s shoulder and looked at Bunty’s face. Brick
swallowed hard. He had antagonized Bunty--detested him--and now he had
suddenly discovered that Bunty was rather human after all.
“Think it over, will yuh, Brick?” begged Bunty.
“I know where I throwed my star,” said Three Star. “I can get it--easy.”
Brick slapped Bunty on the back and walked out of the saloon, with
Scott Martin beside him and Silent and Harp trailing. They walked to
the hitch-rack.
“Jean will be anxious to know,” said Martin. “Mebbe she’d like to have
you----”
Brick smiled and shook his head.
“No, pardner; I reckon it’s your place to tell her about it.”
“Well--” Scott Martin turned to his horse and then looked at
Brick--“you’re comin’ out soon, ain’t yuh?”
“Uh-huh.”
Brick felt tenderly of his sore shoulder.
“Yeah, I’m comin’ out--soon, but you better tell her all about it. You
know it as well as I do, pardner. You tell her all there is to tell and
get it over with, ’cause--”
Brick stepped in close and lowered his voice--“’cause when I come out
there I’m goin’ to talk about somethin’ besides fightin’.”
Martin vaulted to his saddle and rode away with a smile on his face.
The three cowboys mounted their horses and rode the other way toward
the Nine Bar Nine.
“He ain’t,” stated Silent to no one in particular, “he ain’t goin’ to
talk about fightin’ nor nothin’.”
“He don’t know for sure,” said Harp, “’cause he ain’t never been married
nor nothin’.”
Brick grinned back at them.
“Yeah, he kinda made a clean-up,” said Silent; “but he sure did overlook
one big thing, Harp. He landed the road-agents, but he never got that
box of gold back.”
“There wasn’t any money stolen,” said Brick.
“There wasn’t any---- Aw-w-w, whatcha talkin’ about?”
Harp spurred in close to Brick.
“Brickie, did you get hit hard enough to make yuh talk thataway?”
“I think that Limpy knew they was framin’ Scott Martin,” said Brick. “I
ain’t sure of this, but I’m danged sure that they had the goods on Limpy
and threatened to expose him as a member of that old Sandy Creek gang if
he didn’t tip ’em off to a big shipment of gold from the Whippoorwill
mine.
“Topaz Tyler watched things from the mine end. Limpy was afraid to
jump out of the country, or was hard-boiled enough to take a chance.
He double-crossed ’em, and when they finds it out they killed him
when he was leavin’ the country.
“When Scott Martin told me his story it looked so much like this same
layout that I figured thisaway; Cleeve was the man Martin wanted to
lynch. Mohr was the sheriff that saved him. It was a cinch that they
worked together.
“That note implicated a woman. If Bunty had found that note it would ’a’
been hard to save Scott Martin and Jean. I sure needed a woman.
“Them tracks in the sand bothered me a lot. Scott Martin remarks that
Mrs. Wesson only needs overalls and boots to look like a man, and right
there it strikes me that Topaz Tyler is my woman. He sets on that rock
and changes back to his own boots; that’s why them female tracks never
left the rock.
“Them greyhounds not bein’ scratched after catchin’ four coyotes showed
that all was not right. Mohr had a 45-90 Winchester, if yuh remember.
That bullet which barely missed Silent was fired from a 45-70 shell,
which was a good alibi for that 45-90 rifle, but the shell was swollen
at the butt, which showed it wasn’t chambered right in the rifle, and
the firin’-pin hit the primer too high.”
Silent and Harp grinned at Brick’s snappy explanation.
“I had ’em cinched,” smiled Brick. “They didn’t have a single chance in
the world except to shoot themselves clear.”
“But what about that box of gold?” asked Silent.
“Full of bars of lead. Nothin’ but ordinary lead, Silent.”
“Well, for gosh sake!” grunted Silent. “Whatcha know about that? Lead
bars!”
“Two L’s,” said Harp musingly. “Two things that has caused a lot of joy
and a lot of trouble in this old West. One L started it and another L
finished it.”
“Lead?” asked Silent.
“Uh-huh,” nodded Harp. “Lead and love.”
“Some combination.”
Silent grinned and slapped Brick on the shoulder.
“I’ll back Brick in either one. The old boy sure does _sabe_ things;
don’t he, Harp?”
Brick smiled straight ahead; smiled at a day’s work well done; while
from behind them came the thrumming of a jew’s-harp; a jew’s-harp
doing its little best to play a wedding march as the three broncos
shuffled across the hills and the setting sun cast long shadows
across the Sun-Dog trails.
[Transcriber’s Note: This story appeared in the July 3, 1921 issue of
Adventure magazine. This story is believed to be in the public domain
in the United States. Please note that copyright status may differ in
other countries.]