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Updated: May 19, 2025
"Carryin' a good deal of hardware, ain't they, Gus?" Ferril smiled. "Most of the boys are quittin' that foolishness, but some of 'em can't get it out of their heads that they look big when they're gun-toters. Kind of a kid business, looks to me." The eyes of the cattleman rested on Houck. "I wouldn't call that big black fellow a kid. Who is he?" "Don't know. Reckon we're due to find out.
Bandy stayed with the horses. In the building, not counting the cashier and his assistant, were two or three patrons of the institution. One was Sturgis, a round little man who had recently started a drug-store in Bear Cat. He was talking to the assistant cashier. The cattleman was arranging with Ferril for a loan. The attention of the cattleman drifted from the business in hand.
No other sound came, but the two cattlemen and the bartender were keyed to tense alertness. They had sloughed instantly the easy indolence of casual talk. There came the slap of running footsteps on the sidewalk. A voice called in excitement, "They've killed Ferril." The eyes of the Elk Creek ranchers met. They knew now what was taking place. Ferril was cashier of the Bear Cat bank.
He was bending over the wounded man on the platform, trying to stop the flow of blood from a little hole in the side. Mollie stepped toward him. "Carry Art into the hotel. I'll have a bed ready for him time you get there. Anybody else hurt?" "Some one said Ferril was shot." "No. He's all right. There he is over there by the wagons. See? Lookin' after the gold in the sack."
Was he, too, waiting to get a shot at the bandits? Probably so. He had a rifle in his hands. But it struck Dillon he was taking chances. When the robbers came out of the bank they would be within thirty feet of him. Out of the front door of the bank a little group of men filed. Two of them were armed. The others flanked them on every side. Ferril the cashier carried a gunnysack heavily loaded.
He fired across the shoulder of the man whom he was using as a screen. The rifleman on the store porch sat down suddenly, his weapon clattering to the ground. "Another of 'em," Houck said aloud with a savage oath. "Any one else lookin' for it?" Walker moved forward with the horses. Afraid that general firing would begin at any moment, Ferril dropped the sack and ran for the shelter of the wagons.
A moment more, and he was on the street racing to spread the alarm. The leader of the bank robbers swung round on Ferril. His voice was harsh, menacing. He knew that every moment now counted. From under his coat he had drawn a gunnysack. "The bank money quick. No silver gold an' any bills you've got." Ferril opened the safe. He stuffed into the sack both loose and packed gold.
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