He finished his breakfast and stared steadily at Rathburn who didn’t look up, but leisurely drank a second cup of coffee. Sautee noted the slim, tapered right hand of the man across the table from him, the clear, gray eyes, the unmistakable poise of a man who is absolutely and utterly confident 125 and sure of himself. The mine manager’s eyes glowed eagerly.
“Yes?” asked Rathburn calmly.
“I’m going to hire, or, rather, I’m going to try to hire a man I believe is just as tough, just as clever, just as quick with his gun as the men who’ve been robbing the Dixie Queen. I’m going to hire him to carry the money to the mine!”
“So that’s why you got me out of jail,” said Rathburn, drawing the inevitable tobacco and papers from his shirt pocket.
“Yes!” whispered Sautee eagerly. “I want you for the job!”
“You ain’t forgetting that I was suspected of that last job, are you? That’s why I went to jail, I reckon.”
“You didn’t have to go to jail unless you wanted to. You didn’t have to stop in this town and invite arrest. Mannix let you go up there yesterday because he felt sure he could get you when he wanted you again, and he figured you’d make some break that would give him a clew to your pals, if you had any. You went to jail because you knew he didn’t have anything on you.”
Sautee grinned in triumph.
“How do you know I won’t beat it with the money?” asked Rathburn.
“I don’t,” said Sautee quickly. “But I’m taking a chance on it that you won’t. I don’t care who you are, what you are now, or what you’ve been; I don’t care if you’re an outlaw! I figure, Rathburn, that if I come out square and trust you with this mission and depend upon you to carry it out, that you’ll play square with me. That’s what I’m banking on––your own sense of squareness. You’ve got it, for I can see it in your eyes.”