Elk Creek ranchers met. They knew now what was taking
place. Ferril was cashier of the Bear Cat bank.

CHAPTER XXXIX

BEAR CAT AWAKE

At exactly eleven o'clock Houck, Bandy Walker, and the big young
cowpuncher who had ridden into town with them met at the corner of one of
the freight wagons. Houck talked, the others listened, except for a
comment or two. A cattleman passing them on his way to the bank recalled
afterward 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. In
the building, not counting the cashier and his assistant, were two or
three patrons of the institution. One was Sturgis, a round little man who
had recently started a drug-store in Bear Cat. He was talking to the
assistant 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 some
of 'em can't get it out of their heads that they look big when they're
gun-toters. Kind of a kid business, looks to me."

The eyes of the cattleman rested on Houck. "I wouldn't call that big
black fellow a kid. Who is he?"

"Don't know. Reckon we're due to find out. He's breakin' away from the
other fellow and movin' this way."

Houck observed that the big cowpuncher was nervous. The hand hitched in
the sagging belt was trembling.

"Don't weaken, Dave," he said in a whisper out of the corner of his
mouth. "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 bank
quite a metropolitan air.

He stood behind the cattleman, the wall at his back so that his broad
shoulders brushed it. Jake had no intention of letting any one get in his
rear.

"Stick yore hands up!" he ordered roughly.

The cattleman did not turn. His hands went up instantly. A half a second
later those of the startled cashier lifted toward the ceiling.

The assistant made a bad mistake. He dived for the revolver in the desk
close at hand.

Houck fired. The bank clerk dropped.

That shot sent panic through the heart of Sturgis. He bolted for the side
door. A second shot from Houck's weapon did not stop him. A moment more,
and he was on the street