He looked about the cage which was separated from the other cell by a
wall of sheet iron. It contained nothing except a bench and a stool.
He pushed the bench against the stone wall at the rear and reclined
upon it, using his coat for a pillow. Then he turned his face toward
the wall, shading his eyes from the light, which filtered through two
windows high in the wall beyond the bars on the left side by tipping
his hat over his face.
Immediately he fell asleep.
The news that The Coyote had been captured, spread rapidly through the
town and many came to the jail hoping they might be able to see the
prisoner. All of these were denied admittance, but Sheriff Neal told
the few who stated that they had been among the number the bandit had
lined up at the point of his guns, that they would be called to
identify The Coyote on the following day. He asked each if they were
sure the bandit had two guns, and the reply in each case was in the
affirmative.
"That's funny," Neal muttered. "He only had one gun on him."
"More'n likely the other's on his horse with his saddle," Brown
pointed out. "I believe he left his horse somewheres an' made that
fellow Lamy take him to the house thinking he could get something to
eat there, and that they wouldn't be so likely to be seen in the open
on foot. You got to remember that man's more or less clever."
This explanation satisfied Neal, and in the minds of the men who had
been in the resort when it was held up, there was no question as to
the identity of the robber. Even if they had suspected otherwise it is
doubtful if they would have acknowledged it because they considered it
less of an ignominy to be held up by the notorious Coyote than by a
bandit of lesser reputation.
Thus did the bonds of evidence tighten about Rathburn while he slept
through the late afternoon and the twilight.
When he awoke a faint yellow light dimly illuminated his surroundings.
He lay thinking for several minutes. He knew night had fallen and
surmised that he had slept a full eight hours. He could tell this
because he was fully awake and alert. He turned noiselessly on his
bench and saw that the light came from a lamp burning near the door to
the outer office.
Rathburn could hear the hum of voices, and by listening intently,
ascertained that two men were talking, one of whom was the sheriff. He
could not recognize the voice of the other speaker as a voice he had
ever heard before, and he could not hear what they were saying.
He listened dully to the voices until he heard a horse's hoofs in
front of the jail. He turned back with his face to the wall, and his
hat tipped over his eyes, as a man entered the jail office with a
stamp of boots and jingle of spurs.
"Hello, constable," he heard the sheriff say. "What luck?"
"Couldn't find the hoss," came a disgruntled voice. "Looked all
afternoon an' till it got dark for him."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account