could tell it. From all
directions men, women, and children converged toward the bank. In the
excitement the leader of the bandits was forgotten for a minute or two.

"What about the third fellow?" a voice asked.

The question came from Dud Hollister. He had reached the scene too late
to take any part in the battle, much to his chagrin.

"Went into the bank," Blister said. "I s-saw him duck in just before the
shooting began."

The building was surrounded and rushed. Houck was not inside. Evidently
he had run out of the back door and made for the willows by the river. A
boy claimed that he had seen a man running in that direction.

A crowd of armed men beat the willows on both banks for a distance of a
mile both up and down the stream wherever there was cover. No trace of
the outlaw could be found. Posses on horseback took up the search. These
posses not only rode up and down the river. They scoured the mesa on the
other bank all day. When night fell Houck was still at large.

CHAPTER XLI

IN A LADY'S CHAMBER

The drama of the hold-up and of the retribution that had fallen upon the
bandits had moved as swiftly as though it had been rehearsed. There had
been no wasted words, no delay in the action. But in life the curtain
does not always drop at the right moment. There was anticlimax in Bear
Cat after the guns had ceased to boom. In the reaction after the strain
the tongues of men and women were loosened. Relief expressed itself in
chatter. Everybody had some contributing incident to tell.

Into the clatter Dud Hollister's voice cut sharply. "Some one get Doc
Tuckerman, quick."

He was bending over the wounded man on the platform, trying to stop the
flow of blood from a little hole in the side.

Mollie stepped toward him. "Carry Art into the hotel. I'll have a bed
ready for him time you get there. Anybody else hurt?"

"Some one said Ferril was shot."

"No. He's all right. There he is over there by the wagons. See? Lookin'
after the gold in the sack."

Blister came to the door of the bank in time to hear Mollie's question.
"McCray's been s-shot--here in the bank."

"Bring him in too," ordered Mollie.

The wounded men were given first aid and carried into the hotel. There
their wounds were dressed by the doctor.

In the corridor outside Bob and his partner met June coming out of one of
the rooms where the invalids had been taken. She was carrying a towel and
some bandages.

"Got to get a move