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Show Settling ' ' HAL G. EVARTS f . . 1 ;"; rCopyrifht-by Hl O,- Bvarta fc . , .. WNU Sorvlos '. I::, ? CHAPTER VI Continued .14 The albino half closed bis eyes, the pnlft eyeballs glittering thrnusn tlie ellt of his lids as be reflected on this proposition,. tapping a careless. finder on bis knee. He glanced absent-mindedly toward the ' bar, his tbouqbts wholly occupied with the matter In hand, A pair of eyes thut guzed back , at. hlin . drew bis own and be found himself looking nt'Centley, the maD who.repped with the Three 'Bur for Slude. The albino's suspicions were us lluid and easily oust'd as those of a beast of prey In a dangerous neighborhood. neigh-borhood. With one of those qulclr shifts. of which bis mind was capable" he concentrated every menlai effort toward Linking Ceutley with some un pleasant episode . of .the past. Cbe tnun bad turned away and Harper could only sense a vague feeling, thar he was dangerous to him, without definite point upon which "to base hi suspicions. At the sound of Harris voice bis mind made another lightning shift back to the present . "Well?" Uarrls asked. "Why, If I bad anything to do'wltb It. like you seem to think, I'd adise against our bucking each other," Harper Har-per said. "I'd try to get along and declare hands off." He rose, nodded to the. two men . and returned to th stud game. I "He'll do It, too." Evans predicted. "There's that much fixed anyway not a bad piece of work." . The two men returned to the bar and Drill moved close to Harris For liflcen years be had stood behind that bar and observed the men of the whole countryside nt their worst and best; and be knew men. As well as if be bad heard the words of the three at the table be knew .that Harris and Harper had reached an agreement of some sort that was satisfactory to both. Ten minutes later the five men rose to go. Harris looked at his watch "I'm off," he said to Evans. "Trj and get the boys home by tomorrow morning if It's possible." ue wchi oiusiue ana mouuiea as the five rustlers swung to their sad dies. "I'm going your way as far as the forks," be said to Harper. The three Bar men were treated to the sight of their foreman riding down the road beside Harper at the heed of four of the worst ruffians Id the. state.. .... r ... And behind the - bar Brill moved softly back and forth when not serving serv-ing drinks, pausing opposite first one group and then the neit to dab at trie polished wood with his cloth, listening listen-ing carefully to the conversation and gauging It to. determine whether the uppn'reut. sentiment toward the squat ter foreman was sincere or would prove different, when the men, flushed with undiluted rye, were unrestrained by bis presence. CHAPTER VII : . ' ' ' There was a new contentment in the eyes of the Three Bar girl as she sa. her horse beside Carlos Deune und looked off down the bottoms. A haze of. smoke drifted above the Utile val-the val-the Crazy Loop. Three mule Outfits were steadily ripping up the Bage Hats,. ..The .two rode down to rhe fields with the pungent sage smoke drifting In their faces. Harris Joined them, and swept bis arm across the stretch of plowed ground, "Can you picture that covered with a stand of alfalfa bay?" he asked. The girl nodded. 'Jfes and cut and cured und In the stack yards." she said. "And a straight red run of Three Bar cows "wintering under fence.1' : Harris wondered If her new con tcijimtnt came wholly from the prog ress the Three Dar was making ot was derived partly from the presrrce of Carlos Deane. Each nmn bad recognized rec-ognized the other as a contender for the love of the Three Bar girl and during tlie two days of Ueane's stay each one had been covertly slzlijg and estimating the caliber of the other man. ' For a month prior to Deane's arrival ar-rival Uarrls bad been occupied from dawn till dark with the details of the new work, A hundred acres of plowed ground lay mellowing under the sun The cowhands were out working rhe range In -pairs, branding late-dropped culves and moving drifted stock back to the home range. Forty white-fact bulls bad been trail-herded from the railroad and thrown out along the foot of the hills to replace the othei bulls that had been rounded up and brought in. In a few more days the boys would come In from the range and gather at the borne ranch, preparatory pre-paratory to going out once more on the beef round-up. "I'm about to take a vacation," Uarrls 'said. "The ranger is coming over to mark out some .more trees for " t . .' ' '' . ' , 'fS" ' '' ob and t run the 0. S. brand on the logs we've already, cut I'm going ..hack up In tbey.WlIsi:wltb 4iIln:to' sort' out a valley or' two for summer range. We- cab get" grazing permits on the Forest now right In the best grass vjilleys. Each year-we'll' throw some cbws up there, to hold,, our rights. There'll always be' good grass on the Forest Reserves, for they won't per mlt overstocking." The day : will' come when we'll be glad to have .permits to summer-feed a thousand or ,eo head on the Forest.'" I was thlnklng'mdybe you and Deane would llka.j to"; niftke'. the Jaunt.'?, :-:.7.Y cj y'i "We'll go," the girl decided. . , . i"Welf;,8tart",-k: an hour 'of two,'0 Harris sa.lcfc. . JJvst.ias soon 'os -Wilton turns, up. ...We'll, only be. gone ,flve. days at' the' most"'" ."Then nr. stretch my stay to crver IV Deane accepted. , , 'I'd . certainly. hate fo'pass up a chance for a trip tn the hills." - ' ': v " : ; '' Calico bad . sidled . off ' the ' plowing ' arid was cropping grass at the edge ot It As Harris moved toward him Evans rode down the right-hand slope, and the three waited for him. "Moore and I were working In close' and I thought I'd ride over to tell you that the wild bunch, has lost a vet-, eran," he said. "Some one put Barton Bar-ton out over in the Breaks." Barton, whose name - was. linked with that of Harper, bad been found with a rifle ball through his chest His own gun, found by bis ' outstretched out-stretched band, had showed one blackened black-ened cylinder, the empty shell snfll clcnt proof that he bad tired a singly shot at Ids assailant. The girl could "iiiid no' sorrow in her heart over the passing :6f Barton-hut Barton-hut there was an unc-asyrfeeling deep- "This Is Everyday Business With Us," Harris Pointed Out. within her a vague suspicion that she should be able to pronounce the killer's name. This elusive thought was crowded from her mind when the ranger rode up to the Three Bar accompanied ac-companied by S'ade, each man lead Ing a pack horse. "Slade's going to look over a little territory up on the Forest," Wliion explained. "So we can get it all done oh one trip." There was no way to avoid this un expected addition to their party, und In half an hour the Utile cavalcude tiled up a gulch back of the Three Bar, the rauger In the lead with his pack horse. By noon they made the first rims and followed over Into a rolling country, heavily timbered " In the main, iu the early evening they rode out on to a low divide and Blind vulley showed below them, -a broad expanse of open grassland. . "Feed!" Harris said. "Feed. Worlds of It" They made camp at the mouth of a branching canyon. Just within the timber. tim-ber. Uarrls sensed Deane's altitude toward to-ward It all for be knew sometliina ot the other mau's way of life. Those with whom Deane was thrown most In contact were careful of appear antes. It was unlieard-ot Iu his code that a girl should Jauni for days accoiii panied by four men. Here appearances appear-ances seemed entirely disregarded and no one gave the matter a thought. The moon swung oyer the ridges and shed Its radiance over Blind val ley. Deane motioned to Billle ind the girl rose and followed him to the ede ot the timber, where Jliey sat on a blow-down. "Blllie, let me take you awuy rrora all this," he urged. "All . this hard riding and rough man's work. ; Let ! . - m'o give yon the things that will shnt out ail the hardship. What's tlie use of 'going on like this?" ' The girl was conscious of vague sense of disappointment - She reflected reflect-ed that Deane'8 attitude was that of so;,mnny other men, ' ills' Idea of love .synonymous-wttb i shelter for. the object of It,, and bis main plea ,was tliat of providing her with shelter against all the rough corners of life. Shclterl And what she wanted was t(i be part of things to have a band In; running her own' affairs, :i;"l -don't, want shelter I" she said.-'.'And said.-'.'And 1 can't think of anything else till ' after the Three Bar is a going Concern." ;; -; ' ' " ; .- ' ' ;; The two went back and sat with the others round the .dying fire, then all turned in for the night Billle in her teepee and- the men In their bed rolls wUh.-np other, . overhead . shelter than the trees. ' .Near morning Deana was once more awakened by u clammy dampness damp-ness on his face. A fine, drizzle was falling. Slade was on bis feet "shoving "shov-ing a few sticks of wood Inside the Qap of Billle's teepee, V Breakfast was cooked under the dripping trees. The outfit was packed up and the Utile procession filed away toward the ncxr valley and Carlos Deane proved his real caliber to Harris. Har-ris. Throughout the day they rode in a fine drizzle; In Ihe timber the wei branches whipped them and sprayed water down the necks of their slickers; slick-ers; In the boggy meadows of the bottoms bot-toms the mosquitoes hovered round them In humming swarms. At night they made camp and slept in damp bed rolls with Ihe clammy mist chilling chill-ing them. The nest day was the same. ' Diane's neck was raw and chafed .from the wet neckband of bis flannel siil rt and his hands and cheeks were puffed with the bites of the buzzing pests. But he had been cheerful throughout and had uttered no complaint. com-plaint. J Toward evening of .the second gloomy day Harris rode up beside him. . "You'll do," he said. . "How's that?" Deane asked. "There's maybe oue man out oJ "every two hundred that can go along like this and not get to blaming every one In sight for what's happening to him. I don't kuow as I'd have blamed you any If you'd been cussing us all out 'for the past two days." Deane laughed and shook his head "I've been rather enjoying It" be said. "You're Just a plain, old-fashioned liar. Deane," Harris returned. "You haven't been enjoying It any more than the rest of us which is mighty little; but you've got Insides enough to let on like its's considerable sporl which Is a whole lot" " "No one else has done any beefing,' Deane said. "So why should I?" "This Is everyday business wltb us," Uarrls pointed out "And rigiii unusual for you. There's likely 8 number of things you do every day back your way, but that doesn't slg nlfy that I could amble back thert and perform as well as you." "I suspect you'd make out all right,' Deane said. "Anyway I'm muct obliged for the Indorsement" They camped again in the drlzzlt but by noon of the following day the sun peeped through. The rangei pulled up his horse as they struck e game, trail in tlie saddle of a low dl vide. A bunch of shod horses had been over It a few hours past "Some of the albino's layout," WI1 ton surmised. They rode out on to a spur and looked down on the low country Slade and the ranger , were going on the others returning to the Three Bar Harris pointed to the country spread out below them. "Tbnt's the Breaks," he told Deane. "I'll point out the albino's stronghold." strong-hold." "While they're looking 1 want to talk to yon," Slade said to Billle. "Let's get together," he said, when the others bad passed on. "Why are you so dead set on making a squatter outfit of the Three Bar? Don't you know the nesters will flock In here :and cut the range all up as soon as they see a chance?" ; "Not ' my range." she said. "Outside "Out-side of the V L. and the Halfmoon D there's not another site they can get water for. except maybe a couple of 'spring gulches where fiood reservoirs will hold back enough to water a forty. So we'll still control our home range." "But there's a dozen sites down In my range," he said. "And u dozen small outfits wouldn't run any more cows than you do uow," s'.ie said. "Why don't you have men file on all those sites?" (TO BK CONTINUED.) |