CHAPTER XXXIX
BEAR CAT AWAKE
At exactly eleven o'clock Houck, Bandy Walker, and the big youngcowpuncher who had ridden into town with them met at the corner of one ofthe freight wagons. Houck talked, the others listened, except for acomment or two. A cattleman passing them on his way to the bank recalledafterward that the low voice of the Brown's Park man was deadly serious.
The two big men walked into the bank. Bandy stayed with the horses. Inthe building, not counting the cashier and his assistant, were two orthree patrons of the institution. One was Sturgis, a round little man whohad recently started a drug-store in Bear Cat. He was talking to theassistant cashier. The cattleman was arranging with Ferril for a loan.
The attention of the cattleman drifted from the business in hand."Carryin' a good deal of hardware, ain't they, Gus?"
Ferril smiled. "Most of the boys are quittin' that foolishness, but someof 'em can't get it out of their heads that they look big when they'regun-toters. Kind of a kid business, looks to me."
The eyes of the cattleman rested on Houck. "I wouldn't call that bigblack fellow a kid. Who is he?"
"Don't know. Reckon we're due to find out. He's breakin' away from theother fellow and movin' this way."
Houck observed that the big cowpuncher was nervous. The hand hitched inthe sagging belt was trembling.
"Don't weaken, Dave," he said in a whisper out of the corner of hismouth. "We'll be outa town in ten minutes."
"Sure," agreed the other in a hoarse murmur.
Houck sauntered to the cage. This was a recent importation from Denver.Bear Cat was proud of it as an evidence of progress. It gave the bankquite a metropolitan air.
He stood behind the cattleman, the wall at his back so that his broadshoulders brushed it. Jake had no intention of letting any one get in hisrear.
"Stick yore hands up!" he ordered roughly.
The cattleman did not turn. His hands went up instantly. A half a secondlater those of the startled cashier lifted toward the ceiling.
The assistant made a bad mistake. He dived for the revolver in the deskclose at hand.
Houck fired. The bank clerk dropped.
That shot sent panic through the heart of Sturgis. He bolted for the sidedoor. A second shot from Houck's weapon did not stop him. A moment more,and he was on the street racing to spread the alarm.
The leader of the bank robbers swung round on Ferril. His voice washarsh, menacing. He knew that every moment now counted. From under hiscoat he had drawn a gunnysack.
"The bank money--quick. No silver--gold an' any bills you've got."
Ferril opened the safe. He stuffed into the sack both loose and packedgold. He had a few bills, not many, for in the West paper money was thenused very little.
"No monkey business," snarled Houck after he had stood up against theopposite wall the cattleman and the depositor who chanced to be in thebank. "This all you got? Speak up, or I'll drill you."
The cashier hesitated, but the ominous hollow eye into which he lookedwas persuasive. He opened an inner compartment lined with bags of gold.These he thrust into the gunnysack.
The robber named Dave tied with shaking fingers the loose end of thesack.
"Time to go," announced Houck grimly. "You're goin' with us far as ourhorses--all of you. We ain't lookin' for to be bushwhacked."
He lined up the bodyguard in front and on each side of himself and hisaccomplice. Against the back of the cattleman he pushed the end of therevolver barrel.
"Lead the way," he ordered with an oath.
Houck had heard the sound of running feet along the street. He knew itwas more than likely that there would be a fight before he and his mengot out of town. This was not in his reckoning. The shots fired insidethe bank had been outside his calculations. They had been made necessaryonly by the action of the teller. Jake's plan had been to do the jobswiftly and silently, to get out of town before word of what had takenplace reached the citizens. He had chosen Bear Cat as the scene of therobbery because there was always plenty of money in the bank, because heowed its people a grudge, and because it was so far from a railroad.
As he had outlined the hold-up to his fellows in crime, it had lookedlike a moderately safe enterprise. But he realized now that he hadprobably led them into a trap. Nearly every man in Bear Cat was abig-game hunter. This meant that they were dead shots.
Houck knew that it would be a near thing if his party got away in time. Aless resolute man would have dropped the whole thing after the alarm hadbeen given and ridden away at once. But he was no quitter. So he wasseeing it out.
The cattleman led the procession through the side door into the street.
Sunshine warm and mellow still bathed the street, just as it had done tenminutes earlier. But there was a difference. Dave felt a shiver run downhis spine.
From the horses Bandy barked a warning. "Hurry, Jake, for God's sake.They're all round us."