He stole across the street. Peering in one of the windows he saw that the room was an office. Sautee was standing before a desk, talking to another man. Rathburn quickly surmised that this man had accompanied Sautee from the town. Even as he looked, Sautee finished his speech by striking a palm with his fist, and his companion strode toward the door.
Rathburn darted around the side of the building into the shadow as the man came out and hurried up a wide road toward the mine buildings above. Then Rathburn ran around to the front of the building and quietly opened the door.
Sautee had seated himself at the desk, and he swung about in his chair as he heard the door open. He looked again into the black bore of Rathburn’s gun. His eyes bulged, and this time they shone with genuine terror.
“It was sure in the pictures for us to meet again, Sautee,” said Rathburn easily. “Our business wasn’t finished. We ain’t through yet.”
“There isn’t any more money,” Sautee gasped out. “There’s no money up here at all.”
“Oh, yes, there is,” said Rathburn with a mirthless smile. “There’s twenty-odd thousand dollars in my right-hand coat pocket. Now I wonder what you’ve got in yours. It don’t stand to reason you’d start out this time without a gun. Stand up!”
Sautee rose. His face was ashen. He held his hands high as Rathburn pressed his weapon against his chest and relieved him of the automatic which he carried. Rathburn felt his other pockets and then smiled agreeably. He tossed the automatic on the desk.
“All right, we’ll get goin’,” he announced, indicating the open door. “We’ll have to hurry, for I take it you’ve sent for somebody from the mine.”
“Where are we going?” asked Sautee without moving.