ly. "You shot him. Not
a bad riddance. How did you come to rob the bank, Rathburn?"

Rathburn's gaze again shifted uneasily. Then he rose with a burning
look at Price, walked up and down the slanting length of the cabin,
and halted before the old miner.

"Joe," he said in a tremulous voice, "it's the last ditch. I can't get
away from it. I thought I could tell you--an old friend--the whole
story, but I can't, Joe. That's the devil of it! There's something
wrong with me. I reckon I'm one of those fellows who just had
everything mapped out for him. I had some trouble, Joe, an' it's
started something--something I can't control. They _had_ to remember
me, an' I gave them something to remember me by!"

"Who do you mean by 'they,' Rathburn?" asked the miner.

"Sheriff Long an' the others," said Rathburn quickly. "There wasn't a
chance for me. Why, I was thinking of giving myself up only this
morning. Joe, it ain't in the pictures--not after I let Gomez have it.
Even after I stopped Gomez I had an idea that I could face the music.
Besides, Joe, there's more to this than you think. They call me The
Coyote, an', Joe, so help me, from now on I am!"

"Did you stop at the Mallory place?" asked Price quietly.

Rathburn did not reply at once. With agony in his eyes he looked at
his old friend, and suddenly he bristled:

"I might as well never have gone there," he flung out. "I see now I
wasn't wanted. I found out as much from Gomez. He told me about
Laura's affair with that fellow Doane. But what could I expect? I
wasn't entitled to no thought from her, an' I should have known as
much. I'm just a plain fool--a worse one now than I was before."

Joe Price's faded blue eyes glowed with comprehension.

"You thought Laura had put you off, so you gave in an' robbed the
bank, Rathburn, an' just naturally made a mess of things when you had
a chance," said the old man stoutly. "That ain't actin' with a lick of
sense. You wasn't gettin' square with anybody, an' you wasn't doin'
that girl right by takin' the word of Gomez."

"I saw the two of them, her an' Doane, in Hope this morning, walkin'
down the street, arm in arm, laughing--probably over me," Rathburn
replied bitterly. "I've got eyes, and I can put two an' two together.
I'm only The Coyote with her, and I'll _be_ The Coyote. She took my
gun an' then gave it back when Mike Eagen showed up, thinkin' maybe
there'd be gun play, an' I'd get mine."

"Now you shet up!" shrilled Pr