Adventure Magazine Cover — page 64: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

62 especially when Hashknife talked over with him the evidence in the Taylor case. The subject of the AK boys’ locking the sheriff in his own cell came up, and the sheriff explained that the reason no one discovered his plight was because Al Porter, the deputy, was at Encinas, visiting a girl, and did not get back until morning. “Does that Santa Rita pay-roll come in at the same time every month?” asked Hashknife. “T dunno.” “They say that the paymaster always takes the money from here to the mine.” “T reckon he does.” “And somebody would have to know it was comin’ that day.”’ “Oh, they must ’a’ knowed about it, Hartley.” “How would Taylor have found it out?” “That’s hard to say. Chet Le Moyne, the paymaster, is kinda sweet on Miss Taylor, and—”’ “And he might have told her, eh?” “T don’t say he did, Hartley.” “But for the sake of an argument, it could ’a’ happened. She might ’a’ men- tioned the fact that Chet was comin’ in to get the pay-roll,eh? Is that what yuh was thinkin’?”’ ““Mebbe.” The sheriff did not want to commit himself. “And this Le Moyne was at the depot to get the pay-roll?”’ “Yeah. He was here earlier in the eve- nin’, and somebody said he went out to see Miss Taylor.” “But he was at the depot to get the money, was he?”’ “Yeah.” ‘And you think there was four men in on the deal?’’ “Sure. The fourth one got on at En- cinas. It was his job to put the messenger out of commission, I reckon.” “This happened out where the AK road turns off the Encinas road, near the railroad track, I understand. They cut the express car loose from the rest of the train, ran it up there, blew the safe and got the money. The engine crew say they had sort of a battle with ’em, after they left the car. Then the engine crew ran the engine and ex- press car back to where they had cut loose from the rest of the train, picked it up and came on to Blue Wells. Is that it?” “Yeah, that’s what happened.” W. C. TUTTLE “This express messenger and the man who got on the car at Encinas fought in the car, but finally fell out. Do yuh know if this was before or after the train was cut in two?” The sheriff cogitated deeply. “T never did hear, but—say, it must ’a’ been after the train was broken, because they picked up the messenger on their way to here. Yessir, it must ’a’ been after they cut off the express car, because that mes- senger sure was picked up. He never walked to the train.” ‘“‘The messenger described the man who fought him, didn’t he?” “Well, he said it was a big, husky sort of a feller. I don’t think there’s any question about him bein’ one of the gang. He used that dog as a reason for gettin’ on that car.” ‘“‘They why did he walk to the scene of the robbery, take the dog from the express car and disappear?” “Prob’ly scared that some one would recognize the dog?” “The messenger and engine crew had already seen it. If it belonged to Taylor, do yuh reckon they’d take the dog back to their ranch, where any one could find it?” The sheriff twisted his mustache thought- fully. This was something he had not thought about. “Anybody would recognize that dog,” said Hashknife. “Yore argument sounds pretty good,” admitted the sheriff. “But it don’t make much difference, because we can’t find that dog. Al Porter is glad, I suppose. The darn thing hates him. Bit him every time it had a chance. Growls every time he shows up.” “You'll have to find the dog before the - trial, won’t yuh?” “T s’pose the prosecutin’ attorney will raise if it ain’t here. Still, it’s been identified; so that prob’ly won’t make a lot of difference.” “What became of Wade, the railroad detective?” “Oh, he went back. Yuh see, he decided that Taylor was guilty; so there wasn’t anythin’ more for him to do here.” Hashknife went back to the saloon, and they made it a three-handed game of pool. It was about nine o’clock when they de- cided to go back to the ranch, as there was no excitement at all in Blue Wells. The moonlight was so bright that, following COMICOOokKS Cc (©