atrock Canyon after them. He'll round
them up, quick enough, if he can catch them far enough from their
holes."

Jess returned with Mrs. Hanson, swore in a new deputy, eyed Bud
curiously, and agreed to remain hidden across the road from the bank
with a rifle. He nodded understandingly when Bud warned him that the
looting was a matter of hearsay on his part, and departed with an
awkward compliment to Mrs. Jim about hoping that the baby was going to
look like her.

Jim lived just behind the bank, and a high board fence between the two
buildings served to hide his coming and going. But Bud took off his hat
and walked stooping,--by special request of Mrs. Hanson--to make sure
that he was not observed.

"I think I'll stand out in front of the window," said Bud when they were
inside. "It will look more natural, and if any of these fellows show up
I'd just as soon not show my brand the first thing."

They showed up, all right, within two minutes of the unlocking of the
bank and the rolling up of the shades. Jeff Hall was the first man
to walk in, and he stopped short when he saw Bud lounging before the
teller's window and the cashier busy within. Other men were straggling
up on the porch, and two of them entered. Jeff walked over to Bud, who
shifted his position enough to bring him facing Jeff, whom he did not
trust at all.

"Mr. Lawton," Jeff began hurriedly, "I want to stop payment on a check
this young feller got from me by fraud. It's for five thousand eight
hundred dollars, and I notify you--"

"Too late, Mr. Hall. I have already accepted the checks. Where did the
fraud come in? You can bring suit, of course, to recover."

"I'll tell you, Jimmy. He bet that my horse couldn't beat Dave Truman's
Boise. A good many bet on the same thing. But my horse proved to have
more speed, so a lot of them are sore." Bud chuckled as other Sunday
losers came straggling in.

"Well, it's too late. I have honored the checks," Jimmy said crisply,
and turned to hand a sealed manila envelope to the bookkeeper with
whispered instructions. The bookkeeper, who had just entered from the
rear of the office, turned on his heel and left again.

Jeff muttered something to his friends and went outside as if their
business were done for the day.

"I gave you five thousand in currency and the balance in a cashier's
check," Jimmy whispered through he wicket. "Sent it to the house, We
don't keep a great deal--ten thousand's our limit in cash, a