ery. Blackwell resolved to have a try for it. He hung
around the office until the manager and the guard arrived from the train,
made his raid upon them, locked the door, and threw away his mask. He
dived with the satchel into the nearest alley, and came face to face with
the stranger whom he later learned to be Fendrick. The whole story of the
horse had been a myth later invented by the sheepman to scatter the
pursuit by making it appear that the robber had come from a distance. As
the street had been quite deserted at the time this detail could be
plausibly introduced with no chance of a denial.

Fendrick, who had heard the shouting of the men locked in the express
office, stopped the robber, but Blackwell broke away and ran down the
alley. The sheepman followed and caught him. After another scuffle the
convict again hammered himself free, but left behind the hand satchel
containing the spoils. Fendrick (so he later explained to Blackwell) tied
a cord to the handle of the bag and dropped it down the chute of a laundry
in such a way that it could later be drawn up. Then he hurried back to the
express office and released the prisoners. After the excitement had
subsided, he had returned for the money and hid it. The original robber
did not know where.

Blackwell's second meeting with the sheepman had been almost as startling
as the first. Cass had run into the Jack of Hearts in time to save the
life of his enemy. The two men recognized each other and entered into a
compact to abduct Cullison, for his share in which the older man was paid
one thousand dollars. The Mexican Dominguez had later appeared on the
scene, had helped guard the owner of the Circle C, and had assisted in
taking him to the hut in the Rincons where he had been secreted.

Both men asked the same question as soon as he had finished.

"Where is the money you got from the raid on the W. & S. office?"

"Don't know. I've been at Fendrick ever since to tell me. He's got it
salted somewhere. You're fixing to put me behind the bars, and he's the
man that really stole it."

From this they could not shake him. He stuck to it vindictively, for
plainly his malice against the sheepman was great. The latter had spoiled
his coup, robbed him of its fruits, and now was letting him go to prison.

"I reckon we'd better have a talk with Cass," Bucky suggested in a low
voice to the former sheriff.

Luck laughed significantly. "When we find him."

For the sheepman h