Picture Play Magazine (Mar-Aug 1920)

A Broadway Cowboy 83 "Hands up !" Randolph exclaimed, and the sheriff, before he knew what was taking place, found himself bound, gagged, and a prisoner, with Randolph grinning at him from the outside of the cell. "I'll leave a call for you, sheriff," he laughed, and with that he was gone. Outside, Steve and Tommy Lathrop were waiting for him. "We saw you get arrested," Steve explained. "And we let the train go without us. Come on, we'll hide until the midnight train goes through." Randolph's eye scanned the unprepossessing street of Moose Run, and he shook his head. "Nothing stirring!" he exclaimed. "I'm going to take one of those horses and leave this part of the world behind me. You fellows wait and catch the train, they haven't got anything on you. I've got to get out of town !" It was a mangy-looking little roan he picked, dejected and sad, but the pony's attitude underwent a change with Randolph in the saddle ; it came to life, and with a dozen jumps started like a shot for — somewhere. A lot Randolph cared. He was headed in the same direction the train had taken, and Winslow was somewhere ahead, which was sufficient. Dawn found him still in the saddle, wiser by much knowledge of the ways of Western ponies. It was all very well to ride a horse in the third act from the tree to the wings, which was never more than forty feet ; now he was confident that he had traveled something like four hundred miles. He stopped for a rest and dismounted. "Enough!" he said feelingly, and looked up to find himself staring into the muzzle of a gun, over which he could see a man's face, and beside this man were other men, all on horseback. "Good morning," Randolph began pleasantly. "It's a little " "Hands up !" the man said, and he cocked the gun. One of the other men unfastened a rope from his saddle and slipped the noose over Randolph's head. They were all sinister, quiet, and purposeful. "Look here !" Randolph exclaimed, as they forced him to mount the horse, which they led away in the direction of a big tree that clung to an overhanging bank. "What's the meaning of all this?" "You took that horse, didn't you?" the one with the rope asked. "Yes," Randolph admitted. "But I " Continued from page 63 "They ain't no buts," was the ungracious answer, and he threw the free end of the rope over a bough of the tree. "Any last word you'd like to say ?" another of the men asked, as he fastened the rope to the horn of his saddle. "Yes !" Randolph exclaimed in sudden anger. "I want you to wire the manager of 'A Western Knight' Company, at Winslow, and tell him to put more pep into the last act, it isn't realistic enough as it stands. I don't suppose you will believe me, but I'm an actor in that company, so I know. Now go ahead with what "Gidap !" one of the men said, and with a smack he whanged the roan across the rump. Gathering itself together, the pony leaped ahead. Randolph braced himself for the jerk of the rope, half wondering if he would live long enough to feel it, and he found himself still riding, ten yards from the tree, twenty yards, the pony jumping under him like a shot from a gun, while Randolph, breathless and unbelieving, finally began to realize that the last act of his show had turned into a glorious reality. "Hands up !" It was a girl's voice that shouted it, somewhere behind him, but as this was perfectly absurd, he laughed grimly and ducked as he slewed the pony off the trail and started madly down a longslope. An instant later he found himself out of the trees, and, before he could check his mount, he was thrown, head over heels, down a steep sandy hill, the horse tumbling after him. His reception at the bottom was, to say the least, unexpected, for he brought up, filled with sand, almost in the arms of two men who were standing in front of an automobile, arguing and cursing at the top of their voices. With one accord they turned upon Randolph, and before he could catch his wind he was in the biggest fight of his life. Afterward — this was a secret that he told only to one person — he said that he hadn't the slightest idea how he accomplished what he did, or even escaped alive ; all he knew was that he came out of the windmill of legs and arms to find that he had knocked the two men out, cold. Then another horse came tearing down the slope, and Betty fell out of the saddle and into his arms. "I was up in the tree and cut the rope!" she gasped. "Just like in your play !" She glanced at the men on the ground, and her eyes opened wide with astonishment. "Why — why — how did you catch them ?" "I didn't," Randolph laughed as he held her hand. "They caught me!" "They are the men who robbed Dad's bank ! The whole country is looking for them. I heard you had been arrested, and started for Moose Run, and on the way I saw those men catch you." "Robbed the bank ?" Randolph repeated. "Then " He shot a glance at -the machine, and, walking to it, peered into the tonneau. He was rewarded by a sight of two fat suit cases, and with a grin slowly spreading over his face, he turned to the men and bound them hand and foot. The posse, with Sheriff Pat McGann at its head, straggled back to Winslow. . A dozen voices hailed them, but received only discouraged grunts in answer. From the other direction an automobile appeared and slowly drew up in front of the bank. Pat looked once, recognized the driver and passenger, and felt the urgent call of other business. The posse, however, rode on, and with a whoop of delight saw that the , girl beside the man at the wheel was Betty. "Here's your money !" she gasped. "Mr. Randolph found it for you !" And she pointed into the tonneau, where the suit cases reposed on top of the bandits, almost like a weight to keep them down. They didn't believe her until they had looked for themselves, then they opened their mouths to yell, but Sheriff Sims came between them and the car, and the yell died into a gasp of surprise as Sims rested his hand threateningly on Randolph's shoulder. "Look here !" Randolph demanded. "What makes you think I killed a man?" Sims extracted the photograph and shoved it under Randolph's nose. "Does that look like it?" he asked, pointing out the writing on the back. "Sheriff Pat McGann !" Betty read aloud. "Well, of all——" She turned to the posse and shouted. "Boys — Pat's been trying to get an innocent man hung! What are you going to do about it ?" What they did about it was to catch Pat and line him up in front of the machine, but instead of running him down, as they wanted him to do, Randolph leaned out and shook him by the hand. From that moment Randolph beContinued on vage. 94