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lawless as they were four years ago when Deadwood was founded. It’s just a matter of time—”
    â€œJust a matter of time until the Devils kill us all!” another man shouted. That set the crowd off again. Davenport motioned for an end to the hubbub, but the noisy crowd ignored him.
    That lasted until a tall, hawk-faced man in a brown suit and Stetson strode up and said in a loud, clear, commanding voice, “All right, settle down, you people! There’s no need for all this commotion.”
    Despite the fact that the day was chilly, Davenport pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped it over his face as an uneasy quiet settled on the crowd. “Thank God you’re here, Sheriff,” he said to the newcomer. “The gold shipment from the Argosy Mine has been stolen.”
    Bo saw the badge on the hawk-faced man’s vest now. The lawman said to Coleman, “You look like you’ve been through the wringer, Chloride. What happened ?”
    â€œWell, we was comin’ down Deadwood Gulch,” the old-timer began. Bo and Scratch listened attentively as Coleman went through the story of the robbery, ending with, “After they rode off, I checked on the guards, hopin’ one of ’em might still be alive, but really, I knowed better. When I was sure they was all dead, I hotfooted it for town as fast as these ol’ legs of mine’ll carry me. I thought maybe I’d find that mule team, but I reckon the dang jugheads wandered off up one of the little side gulches.”
    The sheriff nodded. “I can send a search party to look for them, although the bosses out at the Argosy might want to do that since technically the mules belong to them. John Tadrack can fetch the bodies in and see to them.”
    â€œWhat about the outlaws, Sheriff ?” Davenport asked. “Are you going to put together a posse to look for them?”
    Instead of answering directly, the lawman looked at Coleman and asked, “How far out did this happen, Chloride?”
    â€œâ€™Bout four miles, give or take,” Coleman answered.
    The sheriff turned back to Davenport. “In the time it took Chloride to hoof it into town, those owlhoots are long gone, I’m afraid. I’ll ride out there and see if I can pick up their trail, of course, but I wouldn’t hold out much hope of that doing any good.”
    Davenport’s face, which seemed to be flushed normally, darkened even more as blood rushed into it angrily. “Blast it, Sheriff, the community’s in an uproar, and the very basis of the area’s economy is threatened. You have to do something about it!”
    The sheriff smiled thinly and said in a dry voice, “As I was coming up the street, didn’t I hear you assuring these good folks that the Deadwood Devils will be found and stopped? Maybe you should just be patient and let me go on about the business of doing that.”
    Davenport looked like he was going to argue some more, Bo thought, but then the banker gave a grudging nod and said, “All right. But this situation is becoming intolerable.”
    The lawman didn’t respond to that. He put a hand on Coleman’s shoulder instead. “Come on down to the office with me, Chloride. I want you to tell me everything you remember about the men who held you up and killed those guards.”
    â€œWell, I’ll try,” Coleman said. “It ain’t gonna amount to much, though. I never got a good look at anybody’s face.”
    â€œMaybe something else will help, like the clothes they wore or the horses they rode.”
    Coleman looked skeptical, but he allowed the sheriff to lead him away. With the old-timer gone, the crowd started to break into smaller groups that continued to discuss this latest outrage. Clearly, the citizens of Deadwood were upset and scared.
    Bo and Scratch crossed the street again to the café. The Red Top’s customers had gone back inside, and so