THE COMPASS WAVERS
Joe Price regarded Rathburn with a curious look in his eyes when he
beheld him in the doorway of his cabin. He stepped swiftly to the one
window, which was over the table, and dropped the burlap shade. Then
he closed the door.
"So they've been here?" asked Rathburn.
"What else could you expect?" replied Price testily. "They're combin'
these hills for you." He looked at Rathburn keenly, but Rathburn only
smiled.
"That's not news to me," he said quietly; "I've percolated through
their lines twice."
"Stay here," said Price, "and I'll look after your horse--or were you
hidin' up all day?"
"No such luck," answered Rathburn grimly.
The old man looked at him curiously; then he went out of the door,
closing it carefully after him.
Rathburn found cold food, put it on the table, and sat down to eat.
When Price returned he had finished. The old miner sat down in a chair
opposite Rathburn.
"Now, out with it," he said. "Something has happened. I can see it in
the way you look an' act. What's up?"
Rathburn carefully rolled a brown-paper cigarette, snapped a match
into flame, and lit it before he replied. He was half smiling.
"I held up the State Bank of Hope this mornin' an' extracted a bag of
perfectedly good bills," he announced. "Didn't bother with the counter
money. Made 'em serve me from the vault."
Joe Price's eyelids did not even flicker.
"Any idear what you got?" he asked.
"Not whatsoever," replied Rathburn coolly; "but the smallest I saw on
top of the package was a fifty."
Price nodded. "You got plenty," he said.
Rathburn scowled. He had expected some kind of an outbreak--at least a
remonstrance from his old friend. He glanced about uneasily and then
glared defiance at Price.
"It had to come, Joe," he asserted. "There wasn't any way out of it.
What's more, I killed that greased pard of Eagen's, Gomez."
"How so?" queried Price.
"Well, I'll tell _you_, Joe, but I don't expect it to go any further.
He said something about Laura Mallory an' a man named Doane, an' I
didn't like it. I slapped him. Then he went for a knife he had in his
hat."
The old man nodded again. "I see," he said simply. "You shot him. Not
a bad riddance. How did you come to rob the bank, Rathburn?"
Rathburn's gaze again shifted uneasily. Then he rose with a burning
look at Price, walked up and down the slanting length of the cabin,
and halted before the old miner.
"Joe," he said in a tremulous voice, "it's the last ditch. I can't get
away from it. I thought I could tell you--an old friend--the whole
story, but I can't, Joe. That's the devil of it! There's something
wrong with me. I reckon I'm one of those fellows who just had
everything mapped out for him. I had some trouble, Joe, an' it's
started something--something I can't control. They _had_ to remember
me, an' I gave them something to remember me by!"
"Who do you mean by 'they,' Rathburn?" asked the miner.
"Sheriff Long an' the others," said Rathburn quickly. "There wasn't a
chance for me. Why, I was thinking of giving myself up only this
morning. Joe, it ain't in the pictures--not after I let Gomez have it.
Even after I stopped Gomez I had an idea that I could face the music.
Besides, Joe, there's more to this than you think. They call me The
Coyote, an', Joe, so help me, from now on I am!"
"Did you stop at the Mallory place?" asked Price quietly.
Rathburn did not reply at once. With agony in his eyes he looked at
his old friend, and suddenly he bristled:
"I might as well never have gone there," he flung out. "I see now I
wasn't wanted. I found out as much from Gomez. He told me about
Laura's affair with that fellow Doane. But what could I expect? I
wasn't entitled to no thought from her, an' I should have known as
much. I'm just a plain fool--a worse one now than I was before."
Joe Price's faded blue eyes glowed with comprehension.
"You thought Laura had put you off, so you gave in an' robbed the
bank, Rathburn, an' just naturally made a mess of things when you had
a chance," said the old man stoutly. "That ain't actin' with a lick of
sense. You wasn't gettin' square with anybody, an' you wasn't doin'
that girl right by takin' the word of Gomez."
"I saw the two of them, her an' Doane, in Hope this morning, walkin'
down the street, arm in arm, laughing--probably over me," Rathburn
replied bitterly. "I've got eyes, and I can put two an' two together.
I'm only The Coyote with her, and I'll _be_ The Coyote. She took my
gun an' then gave it back when Mike Eagen showed up, thinkin' maybe
there'd be gun play, an' I'd get mine."
"Now you shet up!" shrilled Price. "I reckon you've lost all the
brains you ever did have? Do you think Laura would keep your gun,
knowin' there might be trouble, an' you wouldn't have any way to
protect yourself? Don't you suppose she knows you're as fast as Eagen?
She's no fool, if you are. But, if you've got to stay the fool, you
better be lightin' out with your winnings. An' you're not takin' the
bank's money, either."
"What do you mean by that?" scowled Rathburn, who had been thoughtful
while his friend was speaking.
"I had money in that bank, Rathburn, an' so did Mallory, an' there's a
lot more of us----"
"I'll give you back your money," Rathburn growled. "Anyway, they're
protected by insurance, an' the insurance people can hunt me till
doomsday--I guess." He was cooling off rapidly.
"Maybe they are," said Price, "an' maybe they ain't. But it ain't
goin' to help you none the way you're goin' to feel about it later, no
matter who loses it."
Rathburn was pacing the room, frowning. Twice he started to speak, but
the words failed to come. Then he put a question. "Who is this man
Doane? He knew me, for I met him when I was comin' out of the bank,
an' he called me by name."
"Doane is cashier of the bank down at Hope. He was likely just comin'
to work when you met him."
Rathburn stared with an incredulous expression. "You're sure?" But
even as he put the question, Rathburn placed his man.
"I'm dead certain on it," declared Price.
Rathburn sat down heavily and took his hat in his hand.
"That makes it different," he said dully, as if to himself. "Maybe
she's stuck on him for his money, an' maybe she's stuck on him because
he's a good guy. Maybe this thing would hurt him."
"Oh, I don't think they'd blame him," said Price with a note of
consolation in his voice; "an' he probably wouldn't lose nothin'."
"But she might think--it might be that she----" Rathburn swung his hat
to his head and rose. He walked toward the door, but Joe Price got in
his way.
"Where you goin'?" he asked.
"To the Mallory ranch!"
"You can't get there!" said Price hoarsely, pushing him back.
"I've got to get there!" answered Rathburn grimly, pushing the old man
aside. "I must see Laura."
"You got here just by luck," Price pointed out. "An' there's more men
in by now. Maybe they know you're here. But wait till I get your
horse--he's hid."
"Get him," Rathburn commanded.
After a moment's hesitation Price went out the door, and he returned
almost instantly. He walked to the table and blew out the light. "Go
to the door an' see," he urged in an excited voice.
Rathburn hurried out. High on the mountain above the canyon a fire was
burning.
"It's the signal," Price whispered in his ear.
"Joe, do me a last favor," said Rathburn in a queer voice. "Get me my
hoss before it's too late!"
The old man obediently slipped into the shadows behind the cabin.