by Hal Dunning
CHAPTER XIV
JIM-TWIN AND JACK-TWIN
One day, two days passed, and still Jack-twin Allen made no move. Helooked over the jail and had certain repairs made on it. He walkedabout the town, and, while he did not stroll down the center of thestreet, neither did he sneak about the alleys. He had a certain coldnerve that was far superior to reckless courage. He was there to catchand punish the gold robbers, and he had no intention of making a moveuntil he was thoroughly familiar with his surroundings and thesituation in general. He would stalk into various saloons, look thepeople over, and then draw one man aside and question him. Hisquestions were direct and to the point, and usually the men wouldanswer them freely, for they felt that what they said would go nofarther. If a man lied, Allen would fix him with those hard,penetrating eyes of his and bluntly tell the man he lied. Yet,strangely enough, there were none who made an overt move to resent hisaccusations even in that town which was overrun by gunmen.
There were many who wondered why Jack Allen delayed his clean-up. Theminers became impatient, but Jack knew the gang which was stealing thequartz would be getting nervous, and there is nothing so trying to thenerves as waiting.
On the third day he borrowed a horse from the livery stable and startedto visit each mine in the neighborhood. Each one told him the sametale. The mine was robbed, the robbers' trail went up the gulch and wasfinally lost in the wooded hills. Always pack horses had been used tohaul the gold away.
The Blue Sky Mine was close to the American Beauty. When Jack Allendismounted before the shack used as an office, Baldy Kane, the owner,stepped through the door and greeted him.
He was like a death's-head, with his expressionless eyes, his hairlessface and head and tightly stretched, sallow skin. When he spoke, hislips scarcely moved. Jack Allen knew the man had no more fear in himthan a stone. There would be no taking such a man alive.
"Yeh, I've got a hard bunch workin' for me, but I figgered that untilthis quartz gang is busted up I might as well have fighters as well asworkers," he said softly in reply to a question from Allen.
The Wyoming sheriff nodded; this sounded like sense to him.
"I hear yuh struck it rich?" he asked, after a pause, in which each manfrankly studied the other.
"One of the old-timers went broke sinkin' my shaft," Baldy explained."His vein petered out, an' the fool killed himself. A greaser whoworked for him tipped me off that by putting in a side cut I couldstrike a rich vein. I bought the place for taxes an' did what thegreaser tol' me. An' I've struck it rich--plenty rich! I'm sorta hopin'that what that old fool Pop Howes believes about the El Dorado motherlode startin' again on this side of the gulch is true, 'cause, if itdoes, I've got it an' not him."
"How many men yuh got workin' for yuh?"
"Eight--an' they're all gun slingers."
Jack Allen was silent for a moment. Was this a threat, or a merestatement of fact? His eyes caught and held Baldy's.
"How did that ol'-timer kill himself?"
"Threw himself down the shaft," said the mine owner quickly.
Allen thought to himself.
"He's sure enough a cool customer, an' he'd do anything--cut a man'sthroat without a wink. Mebbe he threw that old-timer down the shaft,himself. But if the Blue Sky is as rich as he says it is, there ain'tno use tryin' to hitch him up with them quartz robbers. A man worth amillion doesn't go about stealin' thousands."
It was late noon when Jack Allen turned up the path that led to theAmerican Beauty Mine. Jim Allen, who was sitting on a bench on theshady side of the house, saw him coming and arose to his feet with theidea of vanishing, but on second thought he decided to remain and speakto his brother. Pop Howes was over visiting Hard-rock Hogan, and Mrs.Howes was asleep upstairs, so there would be no one to report that thesheriff had talked to the outlaw. But Jim was mistaken in this, forMrs. Howes peered through the window and saw the meeting between thetwo brothers.
"Hello, Jack," Jim said hesitatingly.
"Hello, yuh darned ol' hoss thief," Jack responded with a grin.
"Yuh ain't changed none sense I see yuh last up in Wyoming."
"You neither--yuh don't look a day over twenty."
There was a heavy silence. Both rolled and lit cigarettes. The womanwatched through the window, and her heart ached at their attempt toappear casual and indifferent. She knew that here were two men, twinbrothers, who had slept together, fought side by side in a feud thathad rocked the whole West, until at last they were the only ones left.They had no other kin; all had died in the feud. Yet the two had beenseparated by an impassable gulf since that day when Jim Allen had shotand killed a United States army captain. That the killing had beendeserved and had prevented an Indian uprising made no difference. Jackwas one who believed in the letter of the law.
"Yuh remember when we was kids an' pa used to hide our dinner an' makeus track it or go hungry?" Jim asked.
"Yeh. Yuh was always better'n me. Guess yuh are still," Jack answeredand stared down the gulch. He had less ability to hide his feelingsthan his twin; Jim had been forced to wear a mask so long it had becomesecond nature to him.
Jim Allen's freckled face split in a wide grin.
"Yuh try livin' in the desert where yuh got to track lizards or gohungry an' yuh'll soon learn trackin'!"
Suddenly the restraint between the two dropped away. They were oncemore boys, brothers. Jim pointed at Jack's high heels and then threwback his head and laughed aloud.
"The only lollygaholopus an' wampus on stilts out of a museum!Ha-ha-ha!"
"Yuh darn little hoss thief!" Jack retorted. "Yuh still got Honey Boy,the hoss yuh stole from me? Lissen, you! Yuh want to stop laughin' orsome day the top of your head will fall off."
The two stood there and thoroughly abused each other, mixing theirabuse with fighting words. But in each case the fighting words wereterms of endearment.
But again the twins grew silent. Jack was thinking of the day afterto-morrow when he intended to post his list of undesirables. Jim headedthe list.
"Listen, Jack," the little outlaw said earnestly. "I'm thinkin' thatquartz gang what robbed Pop last week sure dropped that Mex kid,thinkin' it was Pop. They tried to down him deliberate. I figger somegent knows Pop is due to strike it rich and figgered on buyin' theAmerican Beauty cheap from the widow. An' don't forget that gent isrunnin' with the quartz gang!"
He lowered his voice and explained his theory, but after he hadfinished, Jack shook his head.
"I don't blame yuh, but your life has made yuh too darn suspicious. Yuhsuspect everybody."
"Mebbe so, but yuh got to set a thief to ketch a thief!" There was atouch of bitterness in Jim's voice.
It was a long while before he spoke again.
"I'm tellin' yuh, Jack, there is somethin' darned funny about how an'why them gents sent for yuh. They aim to double cross yuh, or somebodyelse, or mebbe both!" Jim warned.
"Why?" Jack smiled unbelievingly.
"Mebbe they got yuh down here to do somethin' they're scared to do,"Jim suggested.
"What?"
"I dunno, but suppose some gents is plumb scared of their partner.Suppose this here Baldy Kane was a member of their gang, an' they wasscared of him. He's hell on wheels, that bald-headed ol' jasper. Theywould figger out you would learn somethin', then go try for Baldy. Heain't a gent what would ever give up, so you'd sure cash him, an' he'dprob'ly cash you. They'd have got rid of him, an' anythin' you'd learntwouldn't matter, 'cause you'd be dead!"
Later Jim-twin Allen stood there and watched his brother ride away. Andthe woman watching him saw Jim's face grow old, become covered with athousand wrinkles. It was lifeless, nearly, dead like the desert thatwas his home. The woman turned away, ashamed that she had witnessed thebaring of a man's soul.
Suddenly the outlaw's face grew young again, and he grinned.
"All right, Jack. Whether yuh like it or not, the Wolf is goin' to hornin on your play an' sorta prove to yuh that
yuh don't know nothin'a-tall!"
