Part 34 (1/2)

”No! Not one d.a.m.n broomtail do you get,” returned Pan in a voice that cut. ”Look out, Hardman! I can prove you hatched up this deal to rob me.”

”How, I'd like to know?” bl.u.s.tered the rancher, relaxing again.

”Mac New can prove it.”

”Who's he?”

”Hurd here. His real name is Mac New. You hired him to get in with me--to keep you posted on my movements.”

Again Hardman showed his kind of fiber under extreme provocation:

”Yes, I hired him--an' he's double-crossed you as well as me.”

”Did he? Well, now _you_ prove that,” flashed Pan who had read the furious falseness of the man.

”Purcell here,” replied Hardman hoa.r.s.ely, ”he's been camped below.

Hurd met him at night--kept him posted on your work. Then, when all was ready for the drive Purcell sent for me. Ask him yourself.”

Pan did not answer to the suggestion. ”Mac, what do you say to that?”

he queried, sharply, but he never took his eyes off Purcell.

”_Hardman, you're a liar!_” roared Mac New, sonorously. If ever Pan heard menace in a voice, it was then.

”_Take it back!_” went on the outlaw, now with a hiss. ”Square me with Panhandle Smith!”

”Mac, he doesn't have to square you. Anyone could see he's a liar,”

called Pan derisively.

”Hurd, I--I'll have you shot--I'll shoot you myself,” burst out Hardman, wrestling his arm toward his hip.

A thundering report close beside Pan almost deafened him. Hardman uttered a loud gasp. His eyes rolled--fixed in awful stony stare.

Then like a flung sack he fell heavily.

”Thar, Jard Hardman,” declared the outlaw, ”I had one bullet left.”

And he threw his empty gun with violence at the prostrate body.

Purcell's long taut body jerked into swift action. His gun spurted red as it leaped out. Pan, quick as he drew and shot, was too late to save Mac New. Both men fell without a cry, their heads almost meeting.

”Blink, grab their guns!” yelled Pan piercingly, and leaping over the bodies he confronted the stricken group of men with leveled weapon.

”Hands up! _Quick_, d.a.m.n you!” he ordered, fiercely.

His swiftness, his tremendous pa.s.sion, following instantly upon tragedy, had shocked Hardman's men. Up went their hands.

Then Blinky ran in with a gun in each hand, and his wild aspect most powerfully supplemented Pan's furious energy and menace.

”Fork them hosses, you ---- ---- ----!” yelled Blinky. Death for more of them quivered in the balance. As one man, Hardman's riders rushed with thudding boots and tinkling spurs to mount their horses. Several did not wait for further orders, but plunged away down the lane toward the outlet.