The Coyote

by James Roberts

  CHAPTER V

  A CAPTURE

  Three hours after the posses scattered on their search for The Coyote,spurred by thoughts of the reward of a thousand dollars offered by SanJacinto county, and Judson Brown's declaration that the reward wouldbe increased by the thousands more which Arizona had laid upon thefugitive's head, Rathburn smiled at the rosy dawn in supremesatisfaction.

  He had not lost his man's trail during the early morning hours. Timeand again he had outwitted the man ahead when the latter had waited toscan the back trail for signs of pursuit; more than once he had gainedground when screened by timber growth close to the trail; everystretch of dust-filled trail had been taken advantage of, while thesoft going underfoot had deadened the sound of his horse's flyinghoofs.

  The bandit had traveled fast and he had kept steadily to the eastward.This last was what caused Rathburn to smile with satisfaction. The manfor whose crime Rathburn was suspected was heading straight forRathburn's own stamping ground--the far-distant desert range, which heknew from the low horizon in the south to the white-capped peaks inthe north. To catch up with him would be but a matter of a few hours,Rathburn reflected contentedly.

  Nor had the posse gained upon the two men ahead. Brown's men, perhaps,did not have as excellent specimens of horseflesh as Rathburn and hisquarry rode. Nor did they possess the trail knowledge, the trickswhich Rathburn knew, and which the latter, more or less to hissurprise, found that the man ahead knew. Whatever it was that causedthat curling, sneering smile of contempt to play upon Rathburn's lipsat intervals, it was not scorn of the riding ability of the man he waspursuing.

  Moreover, both men ahead were saving their horses' strength against aprobable spurt by the posse at daylight. It would not be a hard matterto follow their trail by the bright light of broad day. So far as hecould determine, Rathburn did not believe the man ahead knew he wasfollowed by a solitary rider who was between him and the hounds of thelaw.

  Under the circumstances, the bandit would expect to be pursued by anumber, Rathburn reasoned. He was ordering his pursuit on this theory,and he did not intend to take any more time than was absolutelynecessary in catching up with the man ahead.

  Rathburn's horse had not been hard ridden the day preceding, nor forseveral days before that. He had journeyed westward by easy stages,taking his time, favoring his mount in anticipation of some unforeseenemergency which might require hard riding. And he well knew theextraordinary powers of speed and endurance which the animalpossessed.

  He frowned as he thought of the brand. He had not been under theimpression that the iron his horse wore was generally known to theauthorities. He would have to hole-up somewhere in the hills beforelong and attend to that brand. As it was, it was a dead give-away asto his identity. He could thank Brown for this bit of information,anyway.

  With the dawn, Rathburn found it easier to keep on his man's trailwithout being seen himself. He gained considerable until he estimatedthat he was not more than a mile and a half, or two miles at most,behind.

  The sun was up when he reached the crest of the high ridge where wasthe tall pine and the sign which he had first seen the afternoonbefore.

  He hesitated, debating whether to let the printed notice remain withhis penciled inscription about the Arizona reward on it, or to tear itdown. Then he saw the man he was pursuing below on the trail. He movedswiftly out of sight down the eastern side of the ridge. But when hecame to the next vantage point he discovered that his man hadapparently seen him; for he was riding at a mad gallop on the trailwhich wound eastward along the edge of the hills.

  "Now's as good a time as any, hoss!" he cried to his mount as he drovein his spurs and dashed in swift pursuit.

  Down the winding trail plunged horse and rider. The dun slipped andslid on the hard surface of the steep declivities and finally emergedupon the more open path which the man ahead was following.

  Rathburn no longer made any attempt at concealment. He was after theman ahead, and, somewhere behind, a posse was in mad pursuit. If hewere captured before he could overtake the bandit who was responsiblefor the robbery, the latter would very likely escape--was certain tomake his get-away, in fact.

  Rathburn called upon his horse by voice and spur for all the speedthere was in him. He could see the fugitive ahead urging his horse toits utmost. The race was on in earnest. Thus they came to a longstretch of open, level trail. Here Rathburn's horse began slowly togain.

  The man ahead turned in his saddle, and Rathburn saw the glint ofsunlight on dull metal. He brought out his own gun. But the other didnot fire. He kept on, half-turned in the saddle, watching his pursuerkeenly. Rathburn continued to gain upon him.

  They now were less than half a mile apart, and the fugitive suddenlyturned his horse due north, straight toward the hills, and sent avolley of shots whistling in his pursuer's direction.

  Rathburn held his fire. The bullets flew wide of their mark, and hecould see his man reloading as he rode. Rathburn now cut across,racing for the point where he thought the other would reach the hills.His horse rose to the emergency with a tremendous burst of speed. Hewas close enough now to shoot with a reasonable certainty of scoring ahit on his flying target. But he had no desire to kill, and he couldnot be certain, at that distance, of merely wounding his quarry. Healso recoiled from the thought that he might accidently hit theother's splendid horse.

  Just ahead a thin line of straggling pines ranged down the gradualslope from the first low ridge of the hills for which they wereheading. Rathburn swung north and gained the shelter of this screenjust as the other rider again began firing. The trees now were betweenthem, and each was an equal distance from the gentle slope of theridge.

  Rathburn called upon his horse for a last, heartbreaking burst ofspeed and the dun made good. At the beginning of the slope to theridge, Rathburn veered sharply to the right and burst through thetrees a scant rod or two from his man. His gun was leveled straight atthe other, who had been caught momentarily off his guard.

  "Drop it!" shouted Rathburn, racing toward him.

  The man's right hand fell to his side while he checked his horse withhis left. Rathburn rode in close to him and they came to a halt.Rathburn's lips were curled in a smile of contempt. The other staredat him, white-faced, his eyes wide and inquiring. The fingers of hisright hand relaxed, and the gun fell to the ground. Rathburn swung lowin the saddle and scooped it up, thrusting it into a pocket of hiscoat.

  "Now beat it up over that ridge ahead," Rathburn ordered. "And bequick about it. That posse may be close behind us."

  The other's eyes lit up with surprise. "You--you're not an officer?"he stammered.

  "Shut up, you fool!" cried Rathburn. "You want to stay here an' talkwhen there's a score or two of men after us? I'm worse than anofficer. Slope for that ridge now. Hurry!"

  The man put the steel to his horse, and they dashed up the slope,crossed the ridge, and found themselves in a thick growth of timberwhich covered a large area.

  "Pick your way into the middle of that patch of timber," snapped outRathburn. "An' don't forget I'll be right close behind you. Getgoing--don't gape!"

  The captive's face flushed at the other's manner and the indubitablenote of contempt in his voice. But he obeyed the instructions andpushed into the timber.

  When they had proceeded some distance Rathburn called a halt. "Everbeen in this country before?" he demanded with a sneer.

  "Yes." The other was more composed now. He studied his captorcuriously and seemed more at ease. Evidently he was heartened by thefact that Rathburn had said he was not an officer and he believedhim.

  "I suppose you're after what I'm carrying on me," he said with a touchof bitterness. "I guess I'd have had as much chance as I've got nowif I'd started shootin' even after you got the drop on me!"

  Rathburn laughed harshly. "You never had a chance from the start, ifyou only knew it," he jeered. "Why, you upstart, you're not entitledto any chance!"

  The other man's face darkened in swift anger. "Brav
e talk," he saidsneeringly. "You've got me where you want me, so you can sayanything."

  "I've got a pile to say," replied Rathburn shortly. "But this isn'tthe time or place to say it. We want to be good an' away out of thatposse's path--an' quick."

  "You might as well take what you're after an' then each of us can lookout for himself," was the hot retort.

  Rathburn looked at the man quizzically. "You've got more spunk than Ithought," he mused.

  He stared at the other man closely. The bandit could not have beenmore than twenty-five or twenty-six. He was tall, well-built, blond.His hair and eyes were about the color of Rathburn's. But Rathburnparticularly noted the man's face, and whatever it was he saw therecaused him to shrug and frown deeply.

  "What's your name?" he demanded coldly.

  "Percy," sneeringly replied the other.

  "That's good enough for me," said Rathburn cheerfully. "All I need isa name to call you by. Now, Percy, if you're acquainted with thiscountry in here an' can steer the way to where the posse'll be liableto overlook us you better be leading on. I see you've ditched yourother gun somewhere--you had two."

  "So you want me to take you where you'll be safe so you can rob me,maybe shoot me down, an' then make your get-away," the otheraccused.

  Rathburn looked him straight in the eyes. "If you think I'm the kindof a man who'd shoot another down in cold blood when he was helplessyou don't know much about human beings," he said slowly. "I have nointention of murdering you or harming you a-tall, if you're halfwaycareful. If you feel that it's against your principles to lead thisexpedition to temporary safety, we can turn back toward Dry Lake.We're going to do one thing or the other within one minute!"

  "Oh, come on," muttered the captive. He led the way through the timberto its western edge, then turned north in the shelter of the treestraversing a long, high, rocky ridge.

  "Our horses won't leave any tracks here," he called back. "Or maybeyou don't care whether we leave any tracks or not," he addedsarcastically.

  Rathburn spurred his horse alongside of him. "It doesn't make a bit ofdifference to me," he said. "You're the one that's got to be scared ofthat posse, Percy, not me. If it wasn't for one thing I'd take youright down there to meet 'em!"

  The other looked at him both in anger and perplexity. "Suppose you'dobject to tellin' what that one thing is," he said savagely.

  "Well, it may be that I feel sorry for you," said Rathburn as if tohimself. "An' it may be that I want credit for bringing you in withoutthe help of any posse an' without them knowing it!"