“Who got it?” Mannix asked quickly.
“Rathburn,” Sautee announced.
Mannix smiled in undisgusted contempt. “Your own fault,” he pointed out. “Wouldn’t give me a chance to investigate. Said you had a scheme that would show him up one way or the other. Wouldn’t let me in on it, an’ I was fool enough to let you have a try, although I don’t believe I could have held him anyhow.”
“Just it,” said Sautee. “Wouldn’t have done any good to keep him in jail, and I thought I had a two-way scheme that would either show him up, as you say, or get me an excellent messenger. I intrusted Rathburn with a package to carry to the mines office. He’s a gunman, a desperado, probably a killer, and I thought it would appeal to him to be put in a place of trust. If he fell down––then I figured you’d be able to get him like you said you could.”
Mannix snorted. “After tryin’ a fool scheme you want to shift the business on my shoulders, eh? Well, Sautee, you’ve never shown much confidence in my ability, an’ you don’t have to show any now. It looks to me as if the finishing of this play is all up to you.”
“Oh, no, it isn’t,” said Sautee confidently. “You’ll be most mighty glad to take out after him.”
“Suppose you wait an’ see how quick I start,” Mannix retorted angrily. “What’s the matter? Didn’t he carry out your orders? I suppose you gave him a bundle of money to make off with. Sautee, I believe you’re a fool!”
The mines manager winced and then frowned. “I gave him the money to carry to the mine,” he confessed without flinching. “He came back with a story about being held up, and when he saw that I didn’t believe him and intended to turn him back to you, he pulled a gun on me and made his get-away. He lit out through town for the road to the hogback and the pass over the mountains.”
Mannix laughed harshly. “You’re clever, Sautee; there’s no getting away from how clever you are. Now you want me to go chasing up to the hogback to head him off. Well, I’m tellin’ you that I don’t know where he’s gone, an’ I ain’t starting out after him at any two o’clock in the morning. If you’d have kept your nose out of this he’d still be all safe an’ quiet in jail. That’s final, so you might as well clear out an’ give me a chance to get some sleep.”