“You’re covered from both doors and all the windows, Rathburn!” he said sharply.
“That’s almost just what I thought, sheriff,” Rathburn drawled.
Long stepped into the room, shoving his guns into their holsters. Many other guns were covering Rathburn.
“What’s the meaning of all this, anyway?” demanded Long with a puzzled expression on his face. His eyes widened, as he saw the bag of money on the table. “Is that the money that was taken from your bank this morning Mr. Doane?” he asked sharply.
Doane nodded weakly. The sheriff looked at Rathburn curiously.
“You brought it back? You was up to Joe Price’s place.”
“Yes, I brought it back, sheriff,” said Rathburn cheerfully.
“Well, I’ll be frank and tell you, Rathburn, that if you expect leniency after what happened this morning you might just as well give up that idea. Any man can change his mind when he sees he can’t get away.”
“That’s up to you, sheriff,” replied Rathburn, taking tobacco and papers from his shirt pocket. 246 “As I was just tellin’ our friend, Mr. Eagen, I brought it back on purpose, an’ I expected to see you when I got here. I came near not gettin’ here at that.”
“You took a long chance,” scowled Long. “But it won’t get you much now at this stage of the game––especially after the way you led me to believe this morning that you were thinking of giving yourself up.”