Several men stamped across the porch to the jingle of spur chains. Others broke in through the back door and entered the kitchen. Sheriff Bob Long appeared at the door, with two guns leveled. "You're covered from both doors and all the windows, Rathburn!" he said sharply. "That's almost just what I thought, sheriff," Rathburn drawled. Long stepped into the room, shoving his guns into their holsters. Many other guns were covering Rathburn. "What's the meaning of all this, anyway?" demanded Long with a puzzled expression on his face. His eyes widened, as he saw the bag of money on the table. "Is that the money that was taken from your bank this morning Mr. Doane?" he asked sharply. Doane nodded weakly. The sheriff looked at Rathburn curiously. "You brought it back? You was up to Joe Price's place." "Yes, I brought it back, sheriff," said Rathburn cheerfully. "Well, I'll be frank and tell you, Rathburn, that if you expect leniency after what happened this morning you might just as well give up that idea. Any man can change his mind when he sees he can't get away." "That's up to you, sheriff," replied Rathburn, taking tobacco and papers from his shirt pocket. "As I was just tellin' our friend, Mr. Eagen, I brought it back on purpose, an' I expected to see you when I got here. I came near not gettin' here at that." "You took a long chance," scowled Long. "But it won't get you much now at this stage of the game--especially after the way you led me to believe this morning that you were thinking of giving yourself up." Eagen's laugh startled them. "He brought it back to give it up an' himself, too?" he jeered. "He brought it back, sheriff, because he an' that rat of a Doane planned this thing. Coyote got away with the money an' came back here to divvy up with Doane. Didn't Doane make the same kind of a proposition to me? Didn't he tell me he was short in his accounts, an' it could be covered up if the bank was robbed, for then he could say more money was took than really was? I'll say he did. An' I was goin' to see if he'd go through with it, an' then I was going to wise you up so we could get him cold." With knitted brows the sheriff stared at Eagen, then looked at the white-faced Doane. "Tell him I'm tellin' the truth!" shouted Eagen at the shaking bank cashier. "You can't get out of it." There was a tense moment. Doane shook his head weakly; he was a picture of guilt. "He got scared I wouldn't go through with the play, sheriff," Eagen continued. "Thought maybe I'd make off with all the kale. So he framed it with Rathburn, an' I caught 'em about to divide it here." "He lies!" screamed Doane. "I didn't frame it with Rathburn. I can prove it. That man"--he pointed a shaking finger at Eagen--"has come to me with threats and made me take securities I knew were stolen. There's some of them in the bank now. Some of the stuff he took from the stage driver yesterday is there! He's pulled job after job----"