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Page 27
With the velvety cruelty of a flirt she held out her hand,
saying: "Hello, Slim."
The Sheriff flushed under his tan. The red crept up the back of
his neck to his ears. He awkwardly took off his hat. With a bow
and a scrape he greeted her: "Howdy, Miss Polly, howdy." Meantime
he shook her hand until she winced from the heartiness of the
grip.
"What's the news?" she asked, as she slowly straightened out her
fingers one by one.
"There's been a killin' over Florence way," announced the
Sheriff, putting on his hat and becoming an officer of the law
with duty to perform.
"Who is the misfortunate?" asked Sage-brush, as they gathered
about Hoover and listened intently.
Murder in Arizona was a serious matter, and punishment was meted
out to the slayer or he was freed by his fellow citizens. Far
from courts of justice and surrounded by men to whom death was
often merely an incident in a career of crime, the settlers were
forced to depend upon themselves to keep peace on the border.
They acted quickly, but never hastily. Judgment followed quickly
on conviction. Their views were broad, and rarely were their
decisions wrong.
"'Ole Man' Terrill," replied the Sheriff. "Happened about ten
this mornin'. Some man caught him alone in the railroad-station
and blowed his head half-off."
"Do tell!" was Allen's exclamation.
"Yep," continued the Sheriff. "He must have pulled a gun on the
fellow. He put up some sort of a fight, as the room is some
mussed up."
"Robbery?" queried Polly, with wide-open eyes.
"That's what!" answered Slim, turning to her. "He had three
thousan' dollars pinned in his vest--county money for salaries.
You know how he toted his wad around with him, defyin' man or the
devil to get it 'way from him? Well, some one who was both man
an' devil was too much for him."
"Who found him?"
"I did myself. Went over around noon after the money. Didn't
stop to go back to town fer a posse. Trail was already too cold.
Could tell it was a man that rode a pacin' horse."
His auditors looked at each other, striving to remember who of
their acquaintance rode a pacing horse. Sage-brush Charley shook
his head. "Nobody down this way, 'ceptin', of course, the boss,
rides a pacer. Must be one of the Lazy K outfit, I reckon."
"Most likely," said the Sheriff; "he struck out south, probably
to throw me off scent. Then he fell in with two other men, and
this balled me up. I lost one of the tracks, but follered the
other two round Sweetwater Mesa, till I came where they rode into
the river. Of course I couldn't follow the trail any farther at
that p'int, so, bein' as I was near Uncle Jim's, I rode over fer
help to look along both banks an' pick up the trail wherever it
comes out of the river. Sorry I must break up yer fun, boys, but
some o' yuh must come along with me. Duty's duty. I want
Sage-brush, anyhow, as I s'pose I can't ask fer Jack Payson."
Sage-brush pulled a long face. At any other time he would have
jumped at the chance of running to earth the dastardly murderers
of his old friend Terrill. But in the matter of this, his first
experience a wedding, he had tickled his palate so long with the
sweets of anticipation that he could not bear to forgo the
culminating swallow of realization.
"I don't see why I shouldn't be let off as well as Jack," he
grumbled; "our cases are similar. You see it's my first
weddin'," explained the foreman to the sheriff.
The other cowboys howled with delight. The humor of the
situation caught their fancy, and they yelled a chorus of
protestation in Hoover's ears. In this Colonel Allen joined.
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