“He’s said it,” McBane replied. “We have all we need.” The train was slowing down for its stop at the station. Shanaghy took his gun from the holster and checked the chambers once more. Then the other gun. George … George would be good with a gun, he knew that. Pin McBride would, also. McBride was the man who made him jump from the moving train. If it could be done without shooting, well and good … But Shanaghy did not believe it could.
McBane stood beside him. “It began with Greenwood and Holstrum when they went to Kansas City to arrange for the shipment of gold. The blonde woman, I do not have her name straight, was at dinner with friends, and she heard of these men who had come into the bank, and of the gold shipment they had arranged. She was a girl who had once been wealthy and wanted to be again, and the idea came to her. She had seen George a time or two, knew he was a gambler and worse, and she got the hostler in a stable to bring him to her.
“She’s a very cold, assured young woman,” McBane said. “She apparently knew exactly what she was about and believed she could take care of herself. Deliberately, she arranged to meet Holstrum and played up to him. She agreed to come to his town and see it, and when she arrived there she began at once to talk of the pleasant places in Chicago and New York, and what could be done if they only had the money.
“She kept Holstrum at arm’s length, and that made him admire her all the more. It seems to have been painfully easy to win him over. He had told her she must not come to town when the money arrived because Vince Patterson and his men might actually try to burn the town. It was she who suggested that somebody might take that chance to steal the money … and who would know the difference? She had George standing by and he had recruited McBride and the others.” “Mrs. Carpenter had heard of the shipment from her husband. Some of the money, but only a small amount, would be his, By this time she wanted no more of Carpenter or the town.
“She had seen the blonde woman in town, and she had seen George in deep conversation with Holstrum, and she was no fool. She is a woman who trusts no one, who suspects everyone. Knowing about the shipment, she became suspicious. She talked to Burt about the gold, when it would arrive and what would be done with it. How long it would be on the platform, and if it were stolen how the thieves could get away with it.
“Burt was scared. But she kept after him. She kept after him with her questions and asked, finally, why the gold had to leave the train at all? If they were going to steal it, why not just change the delivery directions and reship it? And the more he thought of it, the better it looked. “Burt swears he wouldn’t have gone into it at all but for the fact that he started thinking about the others stealing it, if that was what was planned. Unloading at the water tank at Holstrum had not occurred to him, and he got the idea that if they stole it they would have to kill him.” Tom Shanaghy walked to the door of the car. The station ahead was only a boxcar dismounted from its wheels, with a plank platform in front of it. He could see several horses with saddles and others with packsaddles. There was only one man in sight, standing alone on the platform. Beside him were several boxes, stacked neatly. Evidently they had not discovered they had been tricked. The man moved forward as the train came to a stop. “Open up!” he shouted. “We’ve got some express!”
Nothing happened. Impatiently, he stepped closer. “Hey, in there! Open up!” Tom Shanaghy glanced at the freight car. Only one man could come out of that door at once, and he saw but one window.
“Josh,” he said over his shoulder, “if shooting starts put a bullet through that window.”
He stepped down on the platform. “Something I can do for you?” he asked. Sunlight struck the badge and the man went for his gun. Instantly, another man loomed in the door. It was George Alcott.
Shanaghy drew and fired in the same instant, shooting at George, whom he suspected of being the best shot. He fired, a second time, at the man beside the boxes.
Josh dropped to the platform, shooting into the window. There was a cry from within, and as quickly as it had begun it was over. George was down in the doorway. The man beside the boxes was clutching a bloody arm, his gun on the platform at his feet.
Tom Shanaghy walked toward the door and said, “All of you inside there, step outside, hands in the air.”
There was a moment of hesitation and then Shanaghy said, just loud enough, “If you imagine those walls are shelter, let me tell you this. A forty-four or forty-five bullet will go through six inches of pine … You’ve got about an inch. Come out, hands up, or we are going to shoot that car so full of holes it will look like a sieve.”
They came out-another stranger first, then the girl, and lastly, Pin McBride.
“Where’s Holstrum?” he asked.
Nobody said anything. The blonde girl’s face was drawn and her lips were compressed. She was staring at him, frightened and angry. As she stepped around George’s body, she shrank from him, holding her skirts away. She did not look at the man seated on the boxes. He was holding his wqunded arm and cursing in a low, monotonous voice. Shanaghy walked to McBride and took a pistol from him. McBride glared at him.
“Damn you! I should have killed you!”
“You might have,” Shanaghy replied, “makin’ me jump that way. If it will give you any pleasure, you might as well know that making me jump off that train and then throwing that gear after me was what blew up your show.” “What d’you mean?”
“First, you made me mad. Second, those duds you threw after me belonged to Rig Barrett. His guns were in the bedroll. “ He smiled. “You see? It was your own pigheaded attitude that brought you to this.”
The girl’s eyes were furious. “Just what do you think you’re doing?” she demanded. “I was just waiting for the train-!”
“Good!” He smiled at her. “Because it’s right here, waiting for you. Before we put you aboard, we’d better have a look at these nice little boxes you have here.
“Now, these boxes should contain about twelve thousand twenty-dollar gold pieces, and about ten thousand dollars in silver.” From the engineer Shanaghy borrowed a hammer and knocked loose a couple of boards. He lifted the boards and tore loose the sacking inside the boxes. “All of you … have a look.”
McBride swung around, angrily. “You don’t have to show me … !” His voice broke off and he stared, his face slowly turning pale. The boxes were filled with nuts, bolts and screws.
TWENTY-ONE
At his expression the blonde girl turned her head. When she saw the boxes Shanaghy thought for a moment she was going to cry. Then her face took on a hard, ugly look.
“The trouble with being a crook,” Shanaghy said mildly, “is that you have to associate with so many dishonest people.”
“Who did that?” McBride demanded. “How the devil-?” “Looks like you boys have been played for suckers,” Shanaghy continued. He turned to Josh. “You an’ Joel hogtie this lot, including the lady. If you take my advice you’ll watch her most of all.”
She kept glancing at the train, and clutching her handbag in her left hand. He reached over and took the handbag from her. She started to pull it away but he took it with a quick jerk. When he opened it he found a .44 Derringer. He showed it to Joel Strong and Josh. “Can’t be too careful,” he added. “What happened to that gold?” McBride demanded. “If it gets into the papers, you can read about it there,” Shanaghy said. He turned to Josh. “Take ‘em aboard now.”
“Where are we going?” Judge McBane asked from the doorway.
“Back to town,” he said. “I’ll speak to the engineer.” The train started to back up the track. Shanaghy walked forward to the express car. When he opened the door the express messenger shook his head. “Man, they had me running scared there, for a minute, with that shootin’ and all.” “Don’t let it worry you. I think it’s all over.” He glanced at the shipment, then walked back to the car where the prisoners rode. Despite their mild objections, McBane had moved the other passengers into the other coach, so they had the prisoners and themselves in the car alone. Josh had taken a seat at one end of the car facing the prisoners, and Joel Strong at the other. Two of the prisoners were seated together. McBride sat alone as did the girl.