The Third Western Megapack. Johnston McCulley

rode up in a choking cloud of dust. One of them pulled his horse up right beside the driver’s seat and, with drawn gun, forced Andy and Jake to drop their guns. The other masked rider was coming straight to the rear of the coach. Steve swung her gun into position and fired. The man yelped and grabbed for his right shoulder, dropping his gun as he did so.

      “It’s the sheriff,” he shouted to his companion, and before Steve could fire again she heard the man up front yeli, “Hold your fire or your pals up front here will get a bullet through their brains.”

      It was no use. She didn’t dare fire another shot. The tone of the bandit’s voice made it plain he meant every word he said. Biting back tears of anger and frustration, Steve held her fire as she heard Andy comply with the gunman’s orders to hand over the strong box full of gold. Then the team of horses leapt forward in response to a shot in the air from the man’s gun. Steve fired her own gun in a last attempt, but the coach was swaying so violently her bullet, went wild.

      Unable to choke back her disappointment any longer, Steve gave vent to bitter tears. She had failed again. What was she going to do? Maybe, the job was too much for her; maybe she should resign and let them put a man in her place. She could marry Ben then and settle down to a nice quiet life. Surely she could make a better wife than a sheriff.

      This was the pattern of her thoughts for the next few miles until she’ felt the stage drawing, to a stop. Pine Junction already? She wiped her eyes on a sleeve and leaned out the window. What she saw left her spluttering with rage. They weren’t in Pine Junction! The red-headed snake who had held them up last trip had appeared again. Only this time, it was he who was out of luck. Wild, hysterical laughter burst from Steve’s lips and it wasn’t until she felt a stinging slap on her face that she regained her senses. Both Andy and Jake were bending over her and the red-head was looking on, his gun „ barrel poked inside the window.

      “Stand back. Let her have some air,” the gunman ordered. Above his mask his blue eye» were concerned.

      “You all right now?” he asked gruffly as she leaned back against the seat.

      She attempted a sharp retort but could only nod weakly.

      “Get back up front,” he told the other two men. “And no funny business unless you want the lady to get hurt.”

      After shooting a couple of helpless looks at her, Andy and Jake made their way back to the front of the stage. The masked rider dismounted and pulled open the coach door. For one wild moment as he leaned over her, his face only inches away from her own, Steve thought he was going to kiss her and she felt a warm weakness invade her body. She hadn’t the strength to fight him off. What’s more, she didn’t want to.

      But he didn’t kiss her. Instead he said savagely, “You little fool! Don’t you know you can get hurt playing this game? This is a man’s job. You’ve got no business playing sheriff.” And with one swift movement, he was mounted and gone.

      His words had given Steve new life. How dare he call her a fool! She’d show him; she’d show them all. Next time the gold was due for shipment, she’d take it herself on horseback. She’d take the short cut to Pine Junction alone. She’d get that gold through to the railroad office if it was the last thing she did.

      “Well, what are you waiting for?” she shouted to Andy. “Let’s make tracks.”

      She heard the whip crack, felt the horses spring into action and the next instant the coach was off in a cloud of dust.

      She didn’t go to Ben this time and admit her failure. Rather he came to her. And it might have been her imagination but she thought she saw triumph written in bis handsome face.

      “Look, Steve. For the last time, won’t you give up this nonsense? Marry me and forget about being a sheriff and concentrate on being a wife.” She felt the hard muscles of his body under his impeccably tailored’broadcloth jacket as he pulled her close.

      “Give up?” she asked in astonishment. “Never; I’ll die first,” and frightened by her own remark, she pulled away from him and ran upstairs to her room.

      * * * *

      A few weeks later when the gold was due to be shipped once more, the stage left for Pine junction on schedule and beneath old Andy’s feet was an iron box. But there was no gold in it, only sand, and this amazing secret was known only to Steye.

      An hour after the stage left, Steve mounted Star, her palimino, and sneaked out of town. Across her saddle was the iron chest containing the railroad’s’ gold. This time there would be no slip ups., She’d take a short cut to Pine Junction and with the iron box on the stage as decoy, she could carry the real chest to its destination without trouble.

      But she was rnistaken! She hadn’t covered half the distance when a rider suddenly appeared from out of a tiny grove of trees and cut her off.

      Oh, no! It couldn’t be I But it was. It was the red-headed bandit. This time he was without his mask but not without his gun. It remained pointed squarely at her until she obeyed his barked order to;drop her gun;

      “Now get down off that horse,” he said sharply.

      Steve started to protest but knowing it was useless, she shrugged and dismounted, dropping the chest to the ground before she did so.

      WHEN SHE stood before him, defenseless and dismounted, the gunman replaced his gun in its holster and dropped down beside her. His freckled, pleasantly homely face was grim, and his blue eyes hard as he said, “I thought you’d pull something like this. You haven’t a grain of horse sense in that purty head of yours, have you?”

      “Why, you— I don’t have to stand here and let you insult me,” Steve said, spluttering with rage.

      “Well, you’re going to.” The man smiled, but it was a tight angry smile. “Do you know what you’ve been risking your neck for? Here, I’ll show you.” With one movement he shot the lock frcrin the iron chest and lifted the lid with the tip of his boot.:

      Steve gazed down in stunned amazement. There was no gold in that box. Just a lot of old Iron.

      “But, I don’t understand,” she gasped.

      “Then I’ll explain it.” His voice softened a little. “Your boyfriend, Ben, has been shipping a box full of iron to the railroad instead of the gold he was supposed to ship. He had a couple of his boys hold up the stage each time the box was shipped so no one would find out about his crooked little game. That gold never left the bank; he kept it all nice and safe for himself.”

      “But how do you fit in the picture?” Steve asked, ’her confusion growing by the minute.

      “I’m an agent for the railroad,” he announced and seeing relief mingle with the’ surprise on her face, he grinned for the first time.

      It was an engaging grin and Steve wasn’t sure whether the warmth that spread through her was relief at finding herself in the hands of a railroad agent instead of a bandit or something else.

      “The railroad suspected there was dirty work afoot and sent me to find, out. I held up the stage and found iron in that box instead of gold. That gave: us all the evidence we needed. We’ve been waiting for the Federal authorities to come out to Red Rock and make the arrest. We got word they were arriving today. They’re probably making the arrests this very minute.”

      “Bien—a crook?” Steve asked incredulously. She shook her head dazedly. “But why did you hold us up last time if you already had the evidence? And what are you doing here now?” This time the red-head’s grin threatened to split his face. “As for holding up the stage again, a little more evidence wouldn’t have hurt anything. Besides I wanted to keep an eye on you. That’s why I’m here now. You made it pretty plain you didn’t have sense enough to take care of yourself, so I decided to do it for you.” He reached out and pulled her into his arms. The next instant his mouth closed over hers and a wild searing flame which started at her mouth swept through her body. Her hands flattened against his back and pressed him even closer until she felt his heart beating