"I ain't no match for sneaks. If yuh know where to find him, go fetch Jim-twin Allen!" the sheriff cried passionately. "Yuh might tell folks I've gone north to see my mother," Toothpick warned. CHAPTER II AN UNEXPECTED GUEST In spite of the fact that Cannondale was the county seat, and that it had also the advantage of being on the transcontinental railroad, it had always remained just a cow town. Main Street, little over a block in length, was the business center. It was paralleled by Madison and North Streets. Madison was given over to one or two boarding houses, a few cottages, and many empty lots. North Street was closely lined with Mexican shacks. State and Depot Streets intersected Main. The town had three hotels, two large, combination dance-and-gambling halls, and ten smaller saloons. Of the gambling halls the Red Queen was far the most pretentious. Located in the center of the block on Main Street, it was really the hub of the whole town. On the day before the trial of Pete Cable for murder the Red Queen was doing a land-office business, for Dame Rumor had been busy, and it was freely predicted that there was bound to be trouble at the trial. Just what form this trouble would take no one seemed to know, but a murder trial, with the added attraction of a possible jail breaking or lynching, was sufficient to send every able-bodied man within riding distance scurrying into town. Thus, on this occasion, every hotel was full and the hitching racks along Main Street were lined with horses and buckboards; crowds milled about the courthouse, surged in and out of saloons, gathered in hotel lobbies and in the street, drank, sang, and excitedly discussed the coming trial. The general opinion was that Pete Cable would hang. In spite of this, however, odds were offered freely in the Red Queen that the accused man would be acquitted. In the late afternoon, "Tad" Hicks, "Windy Sam," and "Kansas" Jones, three Frying Pan punchers, rode into town. They tied their horses to the hitch rack of Moe's Emporium and went across the street to the Comfort House. They pushed through the crowd at the bar and shouted for a drink. But, having thirstily downed that, they refused a second round virtuously. They had been ordered by their boss, Sam Hogg, to remain sober until after the transcontinental train arrived. Now they swaggered down Main Street; and as they passed the Hogg Hardware Store, run by Sam's brother, its owner greeted them. "Howdy, boys. This town's so durned full of strangers, and I'm so glad to see a gent what I know, that I'll buy yuh a drink," Jim Hogg said heartily. "Yuh're durn right. She's so full of strangers I don't know her," Windy agreed. "An' they is all bad-lookin' hombres," Kansas said. Suddenly he was struck with an idea and he added hopefully: "Do yuh reckon there's anything in this talk about the Lava Gang bustin' up the trial to-morrow?"