CHAPTER XL
BIG-GAME HUNTERS AT WORK
Bob and his partner did not rush out of the hotel instantly to get intothe fray. They did what a score of other able-bodied men of Bear Cat weredoing--went in search of adequate weapons with which to oppose the bankrobbers. Bear Cat was probably the best-equipped town in the country tomeet a sudden emergency of this kind. In every house, behind the door orhanging on the wall, was a rifle used to kill big game. In every housewas at least one man who knew how to handle that rifle. All he had to dowas to pick up the weapon, load it, and step into the street.
June was in the kitchen with Chung Lung. The Reverend Melancthon Browninghad just collected two dollars from Chung for the foreign missionaryfund. Usually the cook was a cheerful giver, but this morning he wasgrumbling a little. He had been a loser at hop toy the night before.
"Mister Blowning he keep busy asking for dollars. He tell me givee to theLord. Gleat smoke, Lord allee timee bloke?"
The girl laughed. The Oriental's quaint irreverence was of the letter andnot of the spirit.
Through the swing door burst Bob Dillon. "Know where there's a rifle,June?"
She looked at him, big-eyed. "Not the Utes again?" she gasped.
"Bank robbers. I want a gun."
Without a word she turned and led him swiftly down the passage to abedroom. In one corner of it was a belt. Bob loaded the gun.
June's heart beat fast. "You'll--be careful?" she cautioned.
He nodded as he ran out of the door and into the alley behind.
Platt & Fortner's was erecting a brick store building, the first of itskind in Bear Cat. The walls were up to the second story and the windowframes were in. Through the litter of rubbish left by the workmen Bobpicked a hurried way to one of the window spaces. Two men were crouchedin another of these openings not fifteen feet from him.
"How many of 'em?" he asked in a loud whisper.
Blister answered from the embrasure opposite. "D-don't know."
"Still in the bank, are they?"
"Yes."
Some one peered out of Dolan's through the crack of a partly opened door.Bob caught the gleam of the sun upon the barrel of a gun. A hat with apair of eyes beneath the rim of it showed above the sill of a window inthe blacksmith shop opposite. Bear Cat was all set for action.
A man was standing beside some horses near the back door of Platt &Fortner's. He was partially screened from Bob's view by one of thebroncos and by a freight wagon, but the young cattleman had a fleetingimpression that he was Bandy Walker. Was he, too, waiting to get a shotat the bandits? Probably so. He had a rifle in his hands. But it struckDillon he was taking chances. When the robbers came out of the bank theywould be within thirty feet of him.
Out of the front door of the bank a little group of men filed. Two ofthem were armed. The others flanked them on every side. Ferril thecashier carried a gunnysack heavily loaded.
A man stepped out upon the platform in front of Platt & Fortner's. Fromhis position he looked down on the little bunch of men moving toward thehorses. Bandy Walker, beside the horses, called on Houck to hurry, thatthey were being surrounded.
"I've got you covered. Throw down yore guns," the man on the platformshouted to the outlaws, rifle at shoulder.
Houck's revolver flashed into the air. He fired across the shoulder ofthe man whom he was using as a screen. The rifleman on the store porchsat down suddenly, his weapon clattering to the ground.
"Another of 'em," Houck said aloud with a savage oath. "Any one elselookin' for it?"
Walker moved forward with the horses. Afraid that general firing wouldbegin at any moment, Ferril dropped the sack and ran for the shelter ofthe wagons. His flight was a signal for the others who had been marshaledout of the bank. They scattered in a rush for cover.
Instantly Houck guessed what would follow. From every side a volley ofbullets would be concentrated on him and his men. He too ran, dodgingback into the bank.
He was not a tenth part of a second too soon. A fusillade of shots poureddown. It seemed that men were firing from every door, window, and streetcorner. Bandy Walker fell as he started to run. Two bullets tore throughhis heart, one from each side. The big cowpuncher never stirred from histracks. He went down at the first volley. Five wounds, any one of whichwould have been mortal, were later found in his body and head.
All told, the firing had not lasted as long as it would take a man to runacross a street. Bear Cat had functioned. The bank robbers were out ofbusiness.
The news spread quicker than the tongue could tell it. From alldirections men, women, and children converged toward the bank. In theexcitement the leader of the bandits was forgotten for a minute or two.
"What about the third fellow?" a voice asked.
The question came from Dud Hollister. He had reached the scene too lateto take any part in the battle, much to his chagrin.
"Went into the bank," Blister said. "I s-saw him duck in just before theshooting began."
The building was surrounded and rushed. Houck was not inside. Evidentlyhe had run out of the back door and made for the willows by the river. Aboy claimed that he had seen a man running in that direction.
A crowd of armed men beat the willows on both banks for a distance of amile both up and down the stream wherever there was cover. No trace ofthe outlaw could be found. Posses on horseback took up the search. Theseposses not only rode up and down the river. They scoured the mesa on theother bank all day. When night fell Houck was still at large.
The Fighting Edge Page 40
