AN ACE IS TRUMPED

The Lone Ranger closed the door. Wallie looked at him and smirked. "Now yer showin' good judgment," he said. "I've got a story all fixed up. It'll put us in the clear an'—"

A shout outside the door.

"Come in alone, Yuma," the masked man replied, stepping back against the wall. There was a hurried conversation in the hall, then Yuma came in. His face was red and sweaty. His eyes went wide with surprise at the scene before him.

"Close the door," said the masked man softly.

Yuma slapped it closed and then exclaimed, "What in hell's been goin' on?" He saw Bryant, then the others with their hands still held slightly lifted.

"Yuma," the masked man said, "Jeb is about the house some place. You might have a couple of the men look beneath the living-room floor."

"But what's been goin' on here?" repeated the big cowboy. "Has that old buzzard confessed?"

"Bryant is in the clear. Get the story briefly. Wallie led the gang. Bryant's half-blind, but I know of a doctor who can help him. Bryant didn't know what went on here. Penelope is supposed to inherit everything, but I have an idea that she and Bryant will be together for a good many years before there's any inheritance to talk about."

Yuma nodded, still wide-eyed. He looked from Bryant to Wallie, then at the men on the floor. He said, "There'll be a nice hunk o' reward money comin' fer the capture o' these critters."

"I won't be here to collect any reward, Yuma. You helped capture them. Perhaps you and Bryant can split the rewards."

Yuma looked surprised. "Yuh mean tuh say yuh don't want the reward money?"

The masked man shook his head. Then Yuma saw his drawn face and the blood-soaked shirt.

"Look here, yore hurt bad. Yuh need some patchin' up." He stepped to the door. "I'll call the Rangers in here tuh take things in hand an' see about you."

"No, no," the Lone Ranger said quickly. "Tonto will be here and he'll fix the wound. It doesn't amount to much."

"The hell it don't."

"There's something more important. Wallie was just trying to buy his freedom. He had Penelope taken to Breed Martin in Red Oak."

"Breed Martin!" howled Yuma, following the name with a string of invectives. "Why that—"

"Wallie said that Breed was to take the girl to a hiding place and if he didn't hear from Wallie to go on to Mexico with her."

Yuma's face lost color. His eyes flashed angry fire in a look toward the erstwhile bandit leader. "An' so he wants tuh be let go free," said Yuma with terrible coldness in his voice. "Where is this hidin' place?"

Wallie spoke. "D'you think I'm fool enough to tell you? Not me. You let me go an' you'll see Penny back here soon."

"I think," said Yuma slowly, "yore agoin' tuh tell where at that place is." He took one step forward, swinging his right hand in a wide arc. It landed open-palmed with a resounding slap on Wallie's cheek. "That," cried Yuma, "ain't even the start!" He brought his left around to slap the other side of Wallie's face, and then began a dazzling sequence of open-handed slaps, each one delivered with a force that bounced Wallie's head from one side to the other. A blow with a closed fist would have knocked the killer out, and Yuma didn't want this. He slapped until the other's face became a livid mass of swollen flesh. He would have gone on until exhaustion made him stop, but the Lone Ranger halted him.

"That's enough, Yuma—enough," the masked man called above cries of "give 'im hell!" that came from Bryant.

Yuma, breathing hard, stepped back. "That's just the start, yuh ornery rat," he gasped. "Now you speak up or I'll wade in with more o' the same!"

Wallie was reeling, clutching at a table for support. His eyes were red, and blood drooled from a corner of his mouth.

"I didn't intend to let you go that far," the masked man said. "There is no need of trying to make him reveal this hiding place."

"No need?" demanded Yuma.

"No. Tonto didn't take Penelope to Martin's. He went to Red Oak and then followed you and the Texas Rangers back here."

"I ain't seen him or that girl," argued Wallie.

"Look out the window." The buckboard with its team still hitched was near the corral. The children were still on board.

"Where at," cried Yuma, "is my girl?"

"She and Tonto came into the house."

Wallie had slumped to the floor and sat there completely beaten and wearing a dazed, bewildered expression.

"Now listen to me carefully," the masked man told Yuma. "If the Texas Rangers see me here, with this mask on, they'll ask no end of questions. I don't want that. I want to slip out of this house by the rear stairs. You can turn these men over to the law, and Bryant will tell the entire story."

There was a hammering upon the bedroom door. "The Rangers," said the masked man softly. "Tell them to go back downstairs."

Yuma shouted through the door, "Vamoose, I'll be down tuh meet yuh in a minute!"

"Don't you tell me to vamoose in my own house," a girl's voice retorted.

"Penny!" breathed the big cowboy.

"See if she is at the door alone," the masked man said while he still held the latch of the door.

Penny's voice gave the answer. "Open up, you big galoot. Tonto is here with me! I've got to see that masked man in a hurry!"

The Lone Ranger told Yuma to stay in the room and bind the hands of the three prisoners. Then he stepped out to the hall.

Tonto said, "Me watch for Ranger. Girl want talk with you." The Indian took a place at the head of the stairs to give a sign in case the Texans came up the stairs.

Penelope clutched the masked man's arm. "Please," she said with intensity in her eyes and voice, "don't let them take Uncle Bryant away. I'm sure there must be some reason for—for everything. He's been like a father to me, he's been honest and good all his life. If he's changed it must be for some reason. You promised me—"

Penny held a silver bullet toward the Lone Ranger. "You gave me your word!"

The Lone Ranger took the girl's small hand in his and closed her fingers about the bit of precious metal. "Keep that," he said. "Your Uncle Bryant isn't going to jail. He's going to a doctor and have his eyes fixed up."

"Then—then I was right in the first place!" Penelope's face lighted up with the announcement.

"The worst crime of your uncle was his refusal to let friends help him."

A new note came into the confusion of voices on the first floor. Tonto explained that Jeb had been found and was telling everything he knew about the others. The masked man listened for a moment to the heavy voice that told how Wallie planned to place the murder guilt on the masked man and Bryant.

Then the bedroom door jerked open. Yuma came out like a charging bull and halted abruptly at the sight of Penny. Bryant, leaning against the edge of the door, stood right behind him. "Yuh can't leave here yet," Yuma told the Lone Ranger. "I got them critters roped so's they won't make no more trouble; now yuh got tuh wait an' listen tuh what Bryant's got tuh say."

Yuma looked at Penny; then his old confusion overcame him. He fumbled with the buttons of his shirt and barely raised his eyes above the floor.

Bryant Cavendish went to the point at once. "You," he said to the Lone Ranger, "have gotta stay here an' run this ranch."

The masked man shook his head slowly.

"I won't take 'no' fer an answer. I've got tuh go an' take a trip tuh git my eyes fixed up an' I cain't leave this place with no one tuh run it an' no cowhands tuh run it with. We've gotta git all new men an' weed out the cattle that's been stolen, an' see that the folks that lost their cattle are paid back in full fer it an' no end of other things. Now you stay here an' name yer own price."

"I can't do it, Bryant. Tonto and I must leave here."

Penelope clutched the masked man. "Please," she said. "Please stay." She looked into his eyes in a way that made big Yuma squirm.

"Doggone," he said softly and wistfully, "if she ever said that tuh me a span o' wild hosses couldn't drag me off this ranch. I'm damned if—"

Penny turned quickly. "You!" she said. "If you're to stay here, you've got to stop that cussing."

"Huh? M-me stay? I been fired!" Yuma looked at Bryant. "Y-yore uncle told me tuh git the hell—"

"More swearing," snapped Penelope.

Bryant broke in. "You look here, you big sidewinder, you was tryin' tuh tell me how this outfit should be run. Yuh did a heap of braggin' an' boastin' on how much yuh knowed an' now yore goin' tuh make good. I'd like tuh have that masked man stay an' do the bossin', but I'd have to have you as well. If he won't stay, then it's you that'll have to do the bossin'. I can't stop the masked man from leavin', but, by damn, if you run out on me, I'll make yuh wish yuh hadn't."

"Yuh-yuh mean that I ain't fired then?" Yuma blinked at Bryant, then looked at Penny and his face fell. "A-w-w hell, Cavendish, I cain't stay around here. That doggone purty girl jest ain't no use fer me, an' every time I speak tuh her I rile her more. I reckon I—"

"Yuma!" said Penny sharply. "It's bad enough for you to swear like a—like a mule skinner. Are you going to fib as well?"

"M-me fib?"

"Blaming me because you won't stay here! Trying to say that it is my fault, and that I have no use for you!"

"I—I—er uh ... that is...."

"That's an out 'n' out fib!"

Yuma's jaw dropped and he stared. Comprehension came to him slowly. It was incredible, unthinkable! "Y-you—you want me tuh stay?" he faltered.

Penelope looked at him and spoke softly. "Please." She took one of his big hands in both of hers. "At least stay for a little while so I can tell you what I mean."

Yuma let out a wild yell that rang throughout the house. "I'm astayin'," he roared. "She wants me tuh stay. I'm drunk—I'm adreamin', an' I'll drill the critter that wakes me up."

"Blast yuh," bellowed Bryant. "If yer goin' loco, git those men downstairs first; then I don't care what yuh do! Clear out my room an' after that yer runnin' this place on yer own!"

"I'm adoin' it!" cried Yuma, dashing through the door. In an instant he was back with Wallie under one arm, Vince beneath the other, both kicking their legs and crying at their undignified position. At the stairs, big Yuma met the Rangers coming up. "Hyar yuh are, boys," he called heartily. "Thar's a couple o' yore prisoners an' the rest are comin' pronto." He let go his grip, and the captive pair dropped to the stairs and rolled down part way, where the Texas Rangers caught them.

It was then that Penny realized it: the Lone Ranger and Tonto were not there. Sometime during the conversation with big Yuma, the two had slipped away. They hadn't gone down the front stairs; the Texas Rangers had been in that part of the house. Penny hurried down the hall to her own bedroom and looked out the window. It faced the same as Bryant's window did. There were two horses at the corner of the house: Tonto's paint horse and the big white stallion. She saw the masked man in the saddle, Tonto about to mount. The girl watched as the two rode out across the Basin toward the distant Gap. She felt that something vital left her as that masked man rode away, and yet she wouldn't have called him back. "Good-by," she breathed, "good-by, my friend."

The Gap yawned in the distance, a colorful opening under a westering sun. Penelope's eyes were bright as she finally saw the two horsemen disappear beyond the bend.