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"Trust me fur thet," answered the villain Brower. Then Professor Ruggles passed up the stairs with Nell Darrel in his arms, just as four men halted at the side door in the alley. A hand shook the door as Professor Ruggles entered the room. He at once suspected something wrong, but cared only for his own safety, and so did not attempt to warn the inmates of Mrs. Scarlet's den of their danger.
Ken hain't plum outen danger yit. He's got an enemy over thar in Kaintuck: an' when he starts back thet enemy's right like ter be watchin' ther trail thet leads home." Dorothy held his eyes steadily when she questioned him with a name, "Bas Rowlett?"
"If you are Arnold Baxter's tools you can treat me half decently, anyway," and he leaped up and faced the crowd. "Who is Arnold Baxter?" questioned the leader of the men quickly. "I guess you know well enough." "Oh, all right if you don't want to talk. But let me say, young feller, thet you have got yerself in a fine mess. Don't yer know ez how they hang hoss thieves in these parts?"
"I didn't say we knew," was the cunning reply. "I said what's it worth if we did know." Mortlake drew out a yellow-backed bill. "Is this enough?" he asked. The tramps' eyes rounded as they gazed at the figure. "Perfec'ly satisfactory, guv'ner," said red eyes. "Well, where are those papers, then?" snapped Mortlake impatiently. "Thet thar purty gal wot jest went by in an autermobubble has 'em."
Them fellers air a-plottin' tergither right now over at old Hump Doane's house an' hell's broth air a-brewin' thar." The younger man's head came back with a snap. "Ye says they're holdin' a council over thar at Hump Doane's?" he demanded. "Yes an' hit's a war conf'rence. I've hed men find thet out they're right sim'lar ter a swarm of hornets." Parish Thornton took a step forward.
Later, he said with a show of gossipy excitement to his friend the innkeeper, "Thet fellar was Bent Wade!" "So he told me," returned the other. "But didn't you never hear of him? Bent Wade?" "Now you tax me, thet name do 'pear familiar. But dash take it, I can't remember. I knowed he was somebody, though. Hope I didn't wish a gun-fighter or outlaw on Old Bill. Who was he, anyhow?"
You an' I could swar, of course, thet the damned cusses hed changed the stakes on us more 'n onct, an' thar 's no doubt in our two minds but what they 're a-followin' out our ore-lead right now, afore we kin git down ter it. Hell! of course they are they got the fust start, an' the men, an' the money back of 'em.
Somehow, I reckoned he 'd be mighty likely ter perform the job, the way his jaw set an' his eyes flared. Leastwise, I didn't possess no rip-roarin' ambition fer ter be thet other feller. Still, I didn't suppose he was no whirlwind."
"Does they know thet ye shot them shoots at Jesse Purvy?" Tamarack turned pale. "No," he stammered, "they believe you done hit." Samson laughed. He was thinking of the rifles trained on him from a dozen invisible rests. "How long air they a-goin' ter keep ye hyar?" he demanded. "I kin git out to-morrer ef I pays the fine. Hit's ten dollars." "An' ef ye don't pay the fine?" "Hit's a dollar a day."
"When he saw thet I had spotted him he stopped, crouchin' down clost t' the ground, ready to fight or run, accordin' t' the way things looked to him. Chances are he was half minded t' run, anyway, fer all the wild critters is mighty shy of a man, an' as a rule will go the long way around to keep out o' his way.
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