Show pi I 1 I 1 L M MACLEOD arvice THE STORY SO 80 FAM buck hart bart reputed rustler brother of 0 sheriff hart b tai man been killed she la in the buck back then recently F ellen carey home from rom school lears a ab hot t while out for or a ride and calhoun meets calhoun terry who teu tells her jim the men who met you on the mesa say y you ou had a rifle with you 1 I always carry a rifle sheriff since my iny life was attempted at round bound top the other day terry added with soft voiced sarcasm A precaution that seems necessary like to look at your rifle it if you dont mind help yourself the sheriff broke the gun took out cut a shell and looked at it he put the cartridge in his pocket same size shell he commented and a 43 45 70 winchester like this maybe the killer borrowed my gun terry drawled bullets from the same rifle killed my brother buck and tetlow both bodies had notes pinned on them in the same handwriting a warning that this was what happened to cattle thieves want a sample of my writing terry asked contemptuously 1 I have plenty of them 11 the sherin sheriff fired a swift question where were you when my brother was killed when was he killed it must have been about five in the morning of the same day you were at round top in the afternoon right early I 1 reckon I 1 was in bed its the slack season I 1 dont have breakfast till about seven can you prove you were in bed no I 1 expect jim wong would testify I 1 ate bacon and eggs and a plate of hot cakes at breakfast two hours later two hours later wont help buck was killed as you know on the grange where your cattle run you B orange might have ridden out and back r your brother must have had early eary y business terry said significantly leave him out of it hart cut tack back harshly im talking of you the diamond reverse B man flung back the challenge instantly 1 I dont like the implication based on no evidence that I 1 shoot down 1 men inen from ambush the sheriff had not come tor for a tight fight he said grudgingly im not claiming you shot my brother and tetlow I 1 think you know more about athan it than you have told 1 I know nothing whatever about IV it all ali right wy why you say so all I 1 want to know for the present ft hart turned to walk out of the room dinner in about half an hour if you care to stay mr sheriff he said with no warmth it was a custom of the country that any stranger who dropped into a ranch near mealtime stayed to share it the officer declined thanks no I 1 brought a snack along with me ill be hitting the trail CHAPTER VIII owing to a broken axle caused by on an upset the stage was nearly two hours late at black butte sheriff hart arrived about the same time end and after he had eaten joined the usual forum on the porch of the post office roan alford albord spoke cal used to be a tool not when I 1 knew him how does he explain the double tracks nate suggests the killer may have come up box canyon either before or alter after him and that the hoof prints just happen to run a parallel course on en johnsons prong too thin it was turleys curleys Tur leys harsh vol voice ce again the tracks rat ran side aide by side quite a ways out of sight but amt close to the win abdow dow ellen listened intently this was not a private conversation but talk in an open forum tor for all to hear turleys curleys Tur leys bullying voice took up the thread you fellows are too sott soft he was on the ground right after the killing and found the body later he be rode up the canyon with another guy probably the fellow who fired athe ithe shot and claims he was alone because he dassett give his bis side kicks name when seen on the mesa he was carrying a rifle put those facts together and it spells guilt the whittling cowboy closed his jack knife and threw away the piece of pine he rose and stretched himself ill say this boys mr terry cant get away from that double set et of footprints hoot hoof prints they tie a rope his neck or leastways they ground had ought to I 1 never did like him hes too high and mighty tor for me he walked toward the hitch rack to get his horse but pulled up in his stride to listen to a new voice which had cut into hito the talk a clear contralto throbbing with indignant scorn beorn ellen had come out to the porch and was standing in the doorway since you dont like him ot of course he ought to be hanged he must be the assassin because he want diamond reverse B stock stolen and was the man who discovered jim Tet lows body and it 11 somebody rode up the canyon installment FOUR tellow bai bag also alia been 11 terry li Is manager of the diamond reverse reverie 8 ranch to whom he had sold old his hi small mall ranch and has hai been la in ill lavor favor with the small email cattlemen and rustlers since ince terry has in fact act been accused with him that Is sure proof he shot jim what more do you need their astonished eyes fixed on her 1 I know you liked him cousin ellen the sheriff said fact Is I 1 heard you had met him since you came back she turned on the sheriff eyes bright with resentment 1 11 I dont like him that got to do with it there suc such h a thing as fair air play must he be g guilty of murder just because you want to think he Is roan alford defended himself a propitiatory smile on his wrinkled weather beaten face 1 I dont want to think any such i a thing miss ellen id hate to believe it of him now take those tracks sharply ellen cut in on him AU all right take them he teu tell who he was with because he thought it might embarrass a girl to be dragged into a killing like this he thought hart interrupted her A girl he repeated what girl you about her eyes did not falter though the color had flooded into her cheeks tm im talking about myse myself if I 1 was going to round top and I 1 thought id take the box canyon way to see the flowers we met below the lower entrance just after the shot was fired just long enough for him to have made sure he had done a good job m pt since you dont like him of course he ought to be hanged bange d and then got to the canyon tor for his getaway rasped turley mr terry act like a guilty man he wanted me to examine the rifle to make sure it just been fired hart jumped at that like a terrier at a rat why did he do that unless he was covering up building evidence tor for himself because of something I 1 said and the rifle could you tell if it had just been fired 1 I look you see anybody else there at any time all of the men were watching ellen closely she he could see that their interest was keen edged this would be talked over at every ranch in the county people would wonder what she was doing alone with cal noun houn terry in a canyon so little frequented quen ted nobody else she said before I 1 came out of the canyon the killer had bad slipped away in the brush mr terry the canyon with me because he thought the killer might have slipped into the gorge and he was afraid to have me go alone he felt I 1 might be in danger since the a assassin in know I 1 had not been a witness it knocks out the theory of his having an accomplice there with him the sheriff said im much c obliged to you cousin ellen tor for saving me a lot of work I 1 wont have to try to run down a fellow that exist theres a point there that tells against terry though hart added when he reported finding jim Tet lows body that looked like the action of an innocent man now we know he was discovered close to the s spot pot and had to frame a story to protect himself we dont know any such thing ellen differed if he is innocent he have to frame a story all he had to do was to tell the truth which is what he did she turned and walked swiftly into the post office CHAPTER IX halt half an hour after sheriff hart had declined to stay at the diamond reverse B for or dinner another visitor arrived in a buckboard hello said terry just in time tor for dinner if you had been a little earlier you might have met the law here of cl knowing who rho killed hart A shot hot presumably by lee hart bart another brother was wai token taken at him while ho he was wai at round top lop outspoken against terry li it jett jeff brand the th arteria has hai a talk with terry 1 I met it down the road a bit said bald the superintendent of the no by joe what did hart want wanted to arrest me tor I 1 or killing jim tetlow but he was wa afraid hi his evidence was a little too thin even tor for a rustlers court ellison was busy getting his cigar started he said between puffs tell him to look nearer home tell him to check up on which of the thieves have quarreled with his brother and tetlow 1 I wish this could b be cleared up clint his companion replied W we cant afford to have people think w we are shooting down men on suspicion I 1 grant you both of these men were dyed in the wool thieves we were sure of it I 1 have objected eted to stringing them to a tree openly but I 1 dont want wyoming to think we approve of men we dont like ellison walked to the door looked around to make sure nobody was near and decided not to risk speaking of what was on his mind lust just now after dinner well stroll out into the open where there cant be any eavesdroppers and do our talking there he said the midday dinner finished terry and his guest strolled out to a corral cc aral and leaned against the fence cal unless we take the law in our own hands the big ranches are through ellison began abruptly weve all lost money this year and well lose more next you know the reasons well as a I 1 do short feed hard winter and too many rustlers who call themselves ranch men preying on our stock yes agreed terry and you named the worst last 1 I did were through unless we can wipe them out how asked the diamond reverse B foreman we range over so big a territory and the thieves are so slick wi we hardly ever catch them we know pretty well who they are dont we A good many of them that Is were pretty sure even when we proof what I 1 propose is to bring in a little army of warriors round up the known rustlers and hang them as we sweep through the country those ose we are not sure of we could give orders to leave calhoun terry drummed with his fingertips on the top rail of the fence there must be several thousand san d a settlers in this district where we operate he mentioned the big majority of them on the side of the little fellow ellow how big an army are you thinking ot of bringing in maybe a hundred men we would have to keep our plans ab sol secret my idea is to drop off the train at jim creek where we would arrange to have horses to meet us then come up through box canyon if we were seen and eventually somebody would be bound to meet us word would be rushed to round roun d top and to every nester within sev enty five miles they would be down d own on us like swarms ot of bees 1 I would hold prisoner every traveler we met no matter who he might be until we had done the lob job the friends of the rustlers would woul not know until too late by that time the tear fear of our vengeance would be in all their hearts they would accept the situation as a tact fact accomplished we ask our own riders to go with us they would be marked men the rest of their lives besides they would not join us to I 1 destroy men with whom they have ridden the range and gone to dances fact is as you know though we no longer employ riders who have stock of their own a good many of out our boys are related to the small ranchers or are friends ot of some of them we would leave them out of it my idea is to bring in men who have been united states deputy marshals in texas and oklahoma they are tough fighting men crack shots and used to running down outlaws laws a ellison flung bung out an impatient gesture of protest 1 I dont like this any better than you do cal but its neck meat or nothing things have come to such a pass that we have to make our own law its forced on us unless we want to move out and let the thieves control the country the plan proposed by the manager of the no ko by joe meant war the nesters desters and the small cattlemen would throw in with the thieves not because they liked them but as a choice of evils they felt that the big outfits were their chief enemy A great many men would lose their lives and he was not sure a cleanup clean up would solve the range troubles cal doubted whether the large cattle companies with absentee own erstin were any longer feasible he shook his head slowly 1 I don dont t believe it can be done clint clant you cant keep a secret with that many men in on it before we had traveled forty miles there would be hell bell to pay besides were not ready read yet for anything as drastic as that thai we may win the elections this tall fail TO ITO BE CONTINUED |