was pleased with himself. It had been a good day's work. He
admitted cheerfully that there was not another man in New Mexico who
could have pulled off successfully the thing he had just done. The loot
had been well hidden. It had been a stroke of genius to cache it in the
spot where the camp-fire was afterward built. But he had outguessed
Jess Tighe that time. His luck had sure stood up fine. The occasion
called for a demonstration.
He took off his broad-rimmed gray hat. "Three rousing cheers, Mr.
Dingwell," he announced ceremoniously. "Now, all together."
Rising to his toes, he waved his hat joyously, worked his shoulders like
a college cheer leader, and gave a dumb pantomime of yelling. He had
intended to finish off with a short solo dance step, for it is not every
day that a man finds twenty thousand dollars in gold bars buried in the
sand.
But he changed his mind. As he let himself slowly down to his heels
there was a sardonic grin on his brown face. In outguessing Tighe he
had slipped one little mental cog, after all, and the chances were that he
would pay high for his error. A man had been lying in the mesquite
close to the creek watching him all the time. He knew it because he had
caught the flash of light on the rifle barrel that covered him.
The gold-digger beckoned with his hat as he called out. "Come right
along to the party. You're welcome as a frost in June."
A head raised itself cautiously out of the brush. "Don't you move, or I'll
plug lead into you."
"I'm hog-tied," answered Dingwell promptly. His mind worked swiftly.
The man with the drop on him was Chet Fox, a hanger-on of the
Rutherford gang, just as he had been seventeen years before when he
betrayed John Beaudry to death. Fox was shrewd and wily, but no
gunman. If Chet was alone, his prisoner did not propose to remain one.
Dave did not intend to make any fool breaks, but it would be hard luck
if he could not contrive a chance to turn the tables.
"Reach for the roof."
Dingwell obeyed orders.
Fox came forward very cautiously. Not for an instant did his beady
eyes lift from the man he covered.
"Turn your back to me."
The other man did as he was told.
Gingerly Fox transferred the rifle to his left hand, then drew a revolver.
He placed the rifle against the fork of a young aspen and the barrel of
the six-gun against the small of Dingwell's back.
"Make just one break and you're a goner," he threatened.
With deft fingers he slid the revolver of the cattleman from its holster.
Then, having collected Dingwell's rifle, he fell back a few steps.
"Now you can go on with those health exercises I interrupted if you've
a mind to," Fox suggested with a sneer.
His prisoner turned dejected eyes upon him. "That's right. Rub it in,
Chet. Don't you reckon I know what a long-eared jackass I am?"
"There's two of us know it then," said Fox dryly. "Now, lift that
gunnysack to your saddle and tie it on behind."
This done, Fox pulled himself to the saddle, still with a wary eye on his
captive.
"Hit the trail along the creek," he ordered.
Dingwell moved forward reluctantly. It was easy to read chagrin and
depression in the sag of his shoulders and the drag of his feet.
The pig eyes of the fat little man on horseback shone with triumph. He
was enjoying himself hugely. It was worth something to have tamed so
debonair a dare-devil as Dingwell had the reputation of being. He had
the fellow so meek that he would eat out of his hand.
Chapter II
Dave Caches a Gunnysack
Fox rode about ten yards behind his prisoner, who plodded without
spirit up the creek trail that led from the basin.
"You're certainly an accommodating fellow, Dave," he jeered. "I've
seen them as would have grumbled a heap at digging up that sack, and
then loaning me their horse to carry it whilst they walked. But you're
that cheerful. My own brother wouldn't have been so kind."
Dingwell grunted sulkily. He may have felt cheerful, but he did not
look it. The pudgy round body of Fox shook with silent laughter.
"Kind is the word, Dave. Honest, I hate to put myself under obligations
to you like this. If I hadn't seen with my own eyes how you was feeling
the need of them health exercises, I couldn't let you force your bronc on
me. But this little walk will do you a lot of good. It ain't far. My horse
is up there in the pines."
"What are
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