Show vita V AC ent en TM T w m MOLL JACKSOM ACKSON GREGORY fa ba y GREGORY WU 0 THE STORY SO FAR old early bill cole hid known for ox months that his days were numbered of 01 late he hid been up and about each mor morning ning earlier than usual telling some part 0 of I 1 hit his wide spread acres the king alne cole R ranch a last adelos it was still half dark one morning as he was walking through his beloved pines when a rifle shot tang rang clear through the stillness and early bill felt a stab of 0 pain leaping against an old plus pine he blazed away at a man crashing through the bushes then he be laughed for or he be had shot the mans hat ofil staggering home borne early nil BIB sent gaucho ortega one of his bis mexican hands lor for doe doc joel joe and the judge 11 now continue with the story CHAPTER 11 II doc joe and the judge were at the king cole ranch francl almost as soon as the young mexican they found four of the ranch hands hanging around the house scraping dirt with the toes of their lopsided lop sided boots looking as though they mean to look worried at the sound of speeding hoofs and 1 wheels they jerked up their heads a and n d one man came out of the house a small mahogany brown man who looked lodged as hard as nails and was harder than he looked early bills foreman cal roundtree howdy gents he said and sounded surly as though he resented their coming come on in they went in and found old early bill sitting in his big chair he looked more dead than alive apu you darned old fool snorted doc joe he put his bag down took off his coat and rolled up his sleeves what did you shoot yourself for 0 far as that goes why the hell you do it long ago think I 1 like to go hooting all over the c country for the likes of you 1 howdy judge said the old man by way of most mast beautifully ignoring doc joe and all his words ive got to get you onto a bed bill said doc joe 1 I cant get fit at you right this way sitting on a chair 1 I aint going to bed most likely working me over youre going to kill me anyhow and if ive got to get murdered id like it better sitting up it if the old buzzard buzz ard wont go to bed judge being that superstitious and scared of dying because of the devil waiting to grab him said doc joe lend me a hand to heave his old carcass up on this here table now bill you come off your high horse and do as I 1 say or ill bat your brains out if I 1 had any brains you pill roller grumbled early bill do you think id let you put your murdering hands on me the two helped him to stand and with what small aid he could give them got him stretched out on top of the table doc joes skilful hands whether or or not murderous swiftly denuded him from neck to bellyband and removed the makeshift make shift bandage then for a time the physician and there was not a more S skilled killed within riding range rana of bald eagle kept his tongue in his mouth and gave himself shrewdly to his wor work k the judge stood by watching in a detached sort of way as though willing enough to stick around in case a hand were needed but mildly bored the pien men outside stood looking in atthe at the open ope h door only cal roundtree Bound tree rb came ca mein in he know walking antip on lip toes sometime later when early bill cole returned to a misty sort of consciousness ness he made out oui that he was in hobed his bed undressed bound about with what he judged to be a couple of miles of bandage and stuffed into one of his long tailed night gowns at the moment somehow he care he had stirred ver very Y slightly and on the instant the two old cronies cronie of his popped into his room well he demanded as sharply as he could manage you yoli sure bled like a stuck dawg 11 doc joe told him wild who shot you bill 1 I know doe doc the hell bell of it say if you boys happen to see a feller wearing a light col ored stetson with a hole in it or wearing no hat atall a tall or one brand new out of the store but lets take up business before pleasure as the feller says got my comeuppance come for certain this trip huh doc 1 I sort of reckon bill he said pulling at his lower lip that it wont be all fired long now before thesis a better cleaner world 7 and me and the judge willbe winning a couple of bets hafl said early bill then that crooked crooke dand and somehow endearing old grin of his came back just a ghost of what it used to be but still there like a flicker of winter sunlight might alight bayou be you lose out yet you two of creation might be your horses runs away and breaks your damn necks before I 1 check cutill out nobody said anything for a little while early bill was resting doc joe stepped out to bring him something to swallow mostly hot whisky and the judge appeared to be taking matters judicially under advisement they lifted early bill and gathis got his drink down him then they had one apiece the draft brought the sick and wounded man a lush flush of strength H he spoke more clearly squat you boys and listen me ale ill do the talking they dragged up chairs first do doc c lets know where we stand I 1 beeh need a little time and a mite of im not going to pop oft off in a hurry like a candle aown blown out am I 1 I 1 feel pretty good after that drink youre a tough old bird bill said doc joe thoughtfully if you been on the skids anyhow this thing have done you in its just hurrying things along s some 0 me no theres no rush say the word and I 1 can keep boosting you along oh how do I 1 know anyhow shoot the works and take your time fair enough and gra gracias clas amigo said early bill here we go it was a fairly long one sided talk with bill cole now and then forced to silence and rest and before the conference was over every man of them had taken several drinks and pretty nearly every time that doc joe went for the drinks the judge got up and went outside and nearly every time the judge played hebe doc joe stepped out into the patio fortunately both doc joe and the judge knew pretty well what early bill cole had in mind though the definite thing the old fellow was going to do had yetto yet to be told merely taking into consideration the facts of the case the whole thing should be simple enough since it was merely the making of a will but they saw the old familiar gleam in early bills eyes and were dead sure that right up to the last he was plotting some sort of devilment he said to them on one occa ik A 1 I A you sure bled like eke a stuck dawg haw 10 doc told him sion im having me a barrelful of fun aen when im dead both his listeners ers remembered that remark and were to recall it more than once in days to come they figured that they kne bill cole pretty well though they had to admit had the pleasure of his friendship for something like twenty or twenty five years only and that much longer ago than that he had had two friends who had meant much very much to him forty years before and more there ha had rioted through the mountains a small company known far and wide assells as hells triplets early bill cole busty lee buck cody busty lee and buck cody were haply ly dead these many years having been swept away together in a night of violence ind and about all that they had left behind them was their v va a rious offspring busty lee had left a daughter with little dower save her loveliness and buck cody had bequeathed to the world a son ind find not much to go along with him they knew that little ann lee was teaching school somewhere or another and living with her aunt jenifer her aunt living with tier her rather and that young cody was try trying ing to make a mining engineer out of himself all this they knew because old bill had told them and that with the first creeping of the shadow over him some months ago he had piled into the stage and had been away for a couple of weeks and had come back with that devil saint santa claus gleam in his eye 1 I looked em cm both over he announced triumphantly and they know me from adams off ox either because I 1 happen to speak up aces bastys and bucks pups and me im going to have me some fun with therril them after youre deady they grunted at him cepl and now lie he was getting ready for his fun 1 in a minute judge youre your e going 21 ig to make me a couple of wills L hold on an there will bill just because there are two legatees lega tees you dont need two willai he looked at early bill narrowly maybe the old devil was too far gone already to know enough to make any sort of willi then in that case everything lock stock and bariel band would go to ranee rance waldron as nearest of kin the only kin so far as early bill knew 1 though luckily distant chos doing this early bill grunted im leaving everything I 1 jot got to young cody and the lee girl hes an upstanding young he wildcat and ashes the cutest trick and the nicest and well the sweetest you ever laid eyes on so they get the works the whole of t the he ranch and the whole of the cash the moneys in your bank judge if you stole it yet anyhow a couple of hundred thousand dollars about two five now I 1 reckon in case the interest casnet et up all the pilm principal doal or you been losing heavy at drawl the judge eyeing him thought he knows what hes talking about now went ori on early bill I 1 iye ve got a job for each one of you horn toads and im paying each one of you a dollar a day and found high wages for you two judge you go in there and hunker down at the table and write me those two wills make lem em just the same giving granting and disposing and so forth all I 1 got in one will vill give everything to her in the other give everything ery thing to him and you date lein ehi both the same as of today you doc you move that old trunk of m mine 1 ne to one side and yank up a couple coupie of loose boards and hand me what you find lets got gol wages start when you start getting basyl doc joe shoved aside a battered old leather trunk scrabbled in the corner got a couple of loose boards up and after some further scrabbling came up red faced with a small iron lock lockbox box in his dusty hands the box was eighteen inches long about six inches in the other dimensions and was provided with two locks each set about six inches from the end 1 I think it was that box of mine put the whole idea into my head early bill said having two locks like notice look at lern cm good doc what about em d demanded doc joe just two locks by the way said early bill bib 1 when you boys go out send cal roundtree Bound tree to me tell him to bring brinig gaucho ive got me a great hunch I 1 its my ace in the hole I 1 youre crazy like a hoot owl 11 snorted the judge doc just asked you a question this about two locks look at em 1 I am looking different that what you mean takes two differ different eni t keys to open emi said a triumphant bill C cole ol 01 1 e I 1 to two old porch sitters in front of the bald eagle 4 r hotel came a young man on horseback the two watching everything that went on smoking their after supper st ogies took stock of him when he first rode into town down at the far end of the street he rode straight to the hotel dismounted and approached he wits was young and lean and brown and tall in the saddle he had been loosely graceful one felt that for all that seeming carelessness in his way of riding that if his horse had 0 of f a sudden sought to leap out from under him he be would still have been sitting there in the saddle conil confident dent and vaguely arrogant here where men dressed as they leased lf ased this young man 6 ante from flashy high heeled to the silk bandana bright red around his brown throat and on up to his forty idillar hat he displayed a touch of elegance A handsome young dark devil too when they saw his face howdy gents he gre greeted eted them and sat on the porch holding his horses reins lie he removed his hat and ran his fingers through his hair that was inclined toward length rich darkness and curliness civilly they returned his greeting howdy they said im a si stranger ranger here he told them you look like you belonged here maybe you can sellme tell me the way to bill co coles I 1 es ranch 6 they directed him telling him it was a couple of hours ride indicating the short cuts to take on horseback he said thanks rolled a cigarette smoked half of it tossed the butt into the dust and stood up only said doc joe 1 I dont know as wide open for con corn any right now bill Co coles lessick sick sick say wrong iloth nothing bad is it he aint feeling any too good said doc joe the young man eyed him in a penetrating et sort of way you might be the doctor he judged and doc joe nodded well all the more reason I 1 should ride along you see im his nephew my bly names rance waldron waldron tarried a mor moment rient as though thinking some word might be added when none was forthcoming he swung up into the saddle again lifting easily and somehow gracefully a man full of strength and youth and vitality and rode away they watched him out of sight 1111 haf said the judge then he had a hat mused doc joe yep any hole in it though rance waldron huh brooded blooded doc joe do you know judge ahat old fool bill cole has sometimes struck me as a pretty fall fair judge of folks this young waldron I 1 dont cotton to him much I 1 dont like the cut of his eye me neither agreed the judge 1 I noticed we were both sorry he have a hole in his hat lets le tm go get a drink 1 TO BE CONTINUED |