“I told yuh I’d run yuh in if I caught yuh again,” he cried, and, to the amusement of several spectators, he dragged the cursing little hobo to the jail door. When this was closed behind them the sheriff released Allen’s arm and led the unresisting tramp into his own private office.
“I’m glad to meet yuh, Mr. Allen,” the sheriff said as he studied the tattered figure opposite him.
Allen grinned.
“We sure worked that pretty. Yuh got to keep me in jail a couple of days. I found the way through them lava fields, and I want to see where it goes to, so I’m lightin’ out for there to-night, and I don’t reckon I’ll be back until after to-morrow.”
“And the people over in the Red Queen will think yuh’re in jail,” the sheriff chuckled. “A good alibi.”
“I suppose yuh want to learn what I found out. Maybe yuh recollect a hombre what used to hang out along the Texas border about seven years ago what called himself ‘le Diable à Cheval?’”
“Yuh betcha – and he was some devil, too,” the sheriff said.
“He used to steal girls over the border and hold ’em fer ransom,” Allen went on. “I followed the gent – the Devil on Horseback – for near a month, then I ketched him and downed him.”
The sheriff stared.
“He had four sons by four wives, and all four sons is right here in town. One of ’em ain’t far from us here.”
“You mean Pete Cable?” the sheriff demanded.
“Sure. That’s why the other three are raising such hell to keep Pete from stretching hemp. I betcha yuh could guess another if yuh thinks hard enough.”
Without a moment’s hesitation the sheriff answered. “The Toad! An’ I’d say I knew the third if he weren’t white.”
“Didn’t I tell yuh they had different mothers?” Allen grinned.
“Then Anderson did fix those bandages!” the sheriff cried with an oath. “Who’s the fourth?” he asked.
“I ain’t got no idea – don’t even know what he looks like. But I did hear once that a gent in Texas who was called ‘Cupid Dart’ was a son of the Devil.”
“The two-gun sheriff and bad man?”
“The same.”
Briefly Allen told the sheriff about the death list he had heard the unknown man read out in the secret room.
“Two nights from now yuh have Tim Lynch, the Hogg brothers, Doc Robinson an’ yourself meet me at the judge’s, an’ I’ll have somethin’ to tell yuh,” he promised. “An’ yuh can warn them gents that the bunch they calls the Lava Gang is goin’ to down ’em, ’cause if they can get the judge’s crowd out of the way, they can run things as they choose. With Anderson controllin’ the white vote, and the Toad the greaser vote, they’d sure break this country wide open and plenty. Yuh and yuhr friends be careful.”
The sheriff shook his head. As yet they had no proof against their enemies. Yet there was something in the matter-of-fact way Allen spoke that made him hope their difficulties would be over soon.
“Yuh got a back door here?” Allen asked.
The sheriff led him to the small door that opened into a vacant lot behind the jail.
“Yuh tell Dutchy not to let Snippets out of his sight,” Allen gave his final warning. He vanished into the night.
Scarcely had the door closed on him when some one pounded on the front door. The sheriff opened it to an excited news bearer.
“Some one knifed Doc Robinson,” gasped the man.
The sheriff called two of his deputies and ran to the doctor’s house. The doctor had been knifed in bed. No one had seen the murderer come or go.
With a sick feeling, the sheriff remembered Allen’s story of the fatal list. He left the deputies in charge and went to warn the others of that death list. Each took it seriously and quietly, with the exception of Jim Hogg, who sputtered and insisted he had a right to know who was going to attack him and why.
“I don’t know who, but the why of it is because yuh’re an honest man,” Tom Powers told him.
The sheriff found Dutchy in his usual place before the judge’s house. When the sheriff gave him Allen’s message his only reply was a grunt of reassurance.
CHAPTER V
THE WOLF SHOWS HIMSELF
On the following day, about eleven o’clock, a great shout went up from the crowd before the courthouse. The jury had brought in a verdict of first-degree murder against Pete Cable.
On Thursday night, after dinner, Tim Lynch, the Hogg brothers, and the sheriff met in the judge’s house. They had been there but a short time when Ace Cutts, followed by Anderson, strolled into the room. The sheriff frowned when he saw them, but he realized that it would be better to keep them here now than to allow them to go away. They must suspect something about the gathering.
“Dad told me that little fake, Jim Allen, was coming here to-night, so I thought I’d drop in and look him over,” Ace said sneeringly.
Sam Hogg bounced to his feet. “You promised to tell no one!”
“Ace is really my son, and it just slipped out,” the judge apologized. He looked sternly at Ace. “You kept your word?”
“Sure thing. Bill, here, never heard a word about the Wolf until we came in here,” Ace replied.
“That’s true, gentlemen,” Anderson corroborated him.
The sheriff doubted both of them. He considered swiftly. He could not reach Allen now and warn him not to come. Dutchy had gone downtown. If he himself left to find Allen he might miss him. Better to remain here and help the Wolf when he came.
Bill Anderson regarded the waiting circle sardonically. “I’ve always been curious to see Jim-twin Allen,” he said. “You’ll forgive me if I mention that an alliance between a judge, a sheriff, and an outlaw has its humorous side.”
“You’re quite right,” said the judge thoughtfully. “But if he can help us we are justified in allying ourselves with him.”
“If he was the devil and could lead us into the lava fields I’d follow, hanging onto his tail,” said the sheriff.
“If what I hears is true, that he can follow trail like an Apache or a bloodhound, I’m bettin’ he can lead us through them lava fields,” Sam Hogg cried warmly.
“You fellows are wastin’ your time,” Ace Cutts put in. “He ain’t got nerve enough to come here.”
“Yuh mean he ain’t big enough fool to come into a town filled with gents what is longin’ to plug him,” Jim Hogg corrected.
“Call it that if yuh like.”
“I am afraid I agree with Ace; whether it is fear or caution which keeps him away, he won’t come to-night,” the judge said heavily.
“He will come, because he said he would,” affirmed a girl’s voice. Snippets had entered the room in time to hear the last remarks.
Anderson laughed tolerantly. “That sounds like a schoolgirl’s admiration for Robin Hood.”
“Robin Hood – huh! Allen’s rep is made by fools, girls, and old men,” Ace snapped. “I’m tellin’ yuh he ain’t no good and he won’t come. And we’re wasting our time not havin’ a rider beatin’ it to Texas to get Cupid Dart, the gent I was tellin’ you of.”
His words held a word of hate. The other men looked at him curiously. Jim Hogg scratched his head. The judge looked questioningly at the others.
“I think Ace is right,” Bill Anderson said judiciously. “We have all heard of Cupid Dart. Why not send for him? Even if Allen does come, it is a question