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Show THE PROGRESSIVE OPINION INSTALLMENT EIGHTEEN THE STORY SO FAR: Ellen Carey seems interested In two men, Jeff Brand, rusUer, and Calhoun Terry, ranch man-ager. Four rustlers had been mysteri-ously killed. The big ranchers, though much over Terry's protest, hired an CHAPTER XXXVI The raiders under Ellison reached Packer's Fork safely and tound the wagons waiting for them. After a hot meal they bedded down for the night. Guards were set round the encampment, to be relieved every few hours. Morning found them unmolested. A No, By Joe rider came across the hills with the news that a large body of men was following them about three miles in the rear. A few minutes later one of Sunday Brown's men who had been scout-ing in advance of the others came back at a gallop to report that he had been fired on by men hiding behind large piles of baled hay on a hilltop which commanded the road. After a short consultation McFaddin took a dozen men with him to feel out the strength of the party. They exchanged shots for a few minutes without damage to either party, after which McFaddin brought his men back to the main krmy. There were, he guessed, for-ty or fifty men behind the rampart of bales. The leaders quickly decid-ed to leave the road and took to the foothills in a detour to a ranch known as the Wagonwheel Gap. Collins swung from his horse and stepped to the porch. ' Bluntly he stated the situation. "Hell has broke loose in Georgia, boys. The whole damn country is headed this way for the war. That means we're in for a fight. We don't want to be caught in the open, and this- spot is made to order for us. McFaddin and Elli-son agree with me. What do you think, Sunday?" The big Texan marshal nodded his head. "I would say we are in luck to find such a place. We have all army of Texas officers to In-vade the countryside and kill without trial ail suspected rustlers. By mistake, Terry and his foreman, Larry, are at-tacked by the invaders. Jeff, thinking them rusUers, comes to help them. Is can pick up a horse somewhere," McFaddin said. "Take care of your-self, boy. Until you are through their lines you'll have to lie low when the moon comes out from behind the clouds." Yancey followed the stream, mov-ing through the water carefully in order not to make a misstep on a slippery rock that would cause him to stumble and make a splash. The creek was lined with willows after he had passed out of the cotton-woo-d grove in which the ranch build-ings were situated. The Texan left the creek and crept toward the log fence which separated him from the enemy. He waited until a dark cloud swept In front of the moon, then clam-bered over the fence and moved for-ward through the brush. A voice hailed him. "Hello, fel-low! Where you been?" ' The messenger knew he had been mistaken by one of the other party for a friend. "I slipped down to that log fence to have a look at it," Yancey an-swered. "Nothing doing there. The logs are too close to crawl through." "Hmp! I could of told you that. Got the makings?" The Texan handed the man a sack of tobacco and his little book of paper wrappings. He had to Wait while the homesteader shook out the tobacco and rolled the cigarette. The hillman had not taken a second look at the donor, but Yancey felt very nervous. He heard somebody else moving toward them through the brush. "Say, I gotta be beatin' it,"he mentioned. "I'm supposed to be with the remuda:" "Hell! This ain't no regular army. We don't have to take orders." The advancing man loomed out of the darkness. Yancey recognized him. He had known Lee Hart when he had worked on the Two Star Ranch three or four years earlier. Hart spent a good deal of time loaf- - wounded. A rescue party takes Jeff to town for medical treatment, and Terry and Larry are arrested by sheriff for safekeeping. Jeff explains to the mob. Cal, free, doesn't know Ellen loves him, not Jeff. but just as uncompromising. "They can hang out a white flag if they want to surrender," he said. "Until then we haven't any terms to offer." "What terms will you give if they do decide to surrender?" Carey asked. ' Herriott's bleak gaze rested on the face of the Box 55 owner. "I wouldn't know. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. The fellows who hired Turley to kill our friends will have to pay the price. So will those who murdered Dave Morgan and Sib Lee. There won't be any compromise about that." Argument was of no use. The bit-terness of the feeling was too great. When they went to get their horses they were met by the announcement that they were to stay here for the present. They had not been asked to come, but since they had done so they were not to leave. "Who says so?", asked Terry. "Doesn't matter about that. You stick around." Terry strolled down toward the firing-lin- from which occasional flashes came. He was not apparent-ly under surveillance, but the horses were being watched. A draw brought him to an aspen grove. Calhoun hesitated, uncertain whether to go round it or go back to the summit of the hill from which he had just come. He passed into the aspens. Guns sounded, close to him. What surprised him was that they were revolver shots. The distance was too great to reach the ranch house except with rifles. He heard excited voices, and presently the sound of a runner coming into the aspens. The escaping man collapsed and sank to the ground. Almost in a murmur, Terry said, "What seems to be the trouble?" The man on the ground turned a startled face toward him and reached for a gun. , "Not necessary," the Diamond Re-verse B man said. "I won't hurt you or call anybody." Yancey recognized him. What are you doing here with these fellows, Mr. Terry?" he asked, surprised "I came to try to fix up a truce, but the settlers wouldn't have it." Calhoun asked a question. "Was it you they were shooting at?" v"They hit me in the leg. I'm one of Sunday Brown's Texans. They sent me from the ranch to get a telegram through to Washington asking for troops." "Hit bad?" "Not so bad. I can't travel, that's sure. Not on that game leg." "You have a written message?" "Yes." He added, worried, "They're depending on me at the ranch." "I might get it through for you. But I can't leave you here." Terry gave instructions. "Stay here. I'll have a try for the horse. When you hear me coming move to the edge of the aspens." Terry walked up the incline to-ward the draw and met Lane Carey. "I heard some revolver shots," Lane said. "Hope they weren't fir-ing at you." x "No. At a fellow named Yancey who was trying to get through a telegram from the beleaguered men to send to the Governor. They hit him, but he got away and is hiding in the aspens. I'm trying to get a horse for him that one in the draw there." "How badly is he hurt? Can he ride?" "He says so. If I could get two horses I'd try to go with him." "You'd be shot down before you got twenty yards." "I'm not so sure. It's dark when the moon is under a cloud. More men keep riding in to join the at-tackers. Nobody is paying any at-tention to us." v "Not as long as we don't try to get away. But they have sen-tries out. I ran into one and he warned me back." , They were moving in the direc-tion of the saddled horse. It was a rather heavily built sorrel gelding "I'm going to try it," Terry said.' "They will find Yancey soon if 1 don't get him away, and if they do he's a goner." He untied the horse, and the two men walked baclt with it toward the aspens. They met a man whom they recognized as the owner of a wagon yard at Round Top. He said. the food we need and the creek runs right past the house. It would take an army to dig us out." The rubicund little ranchman wast-ed no more time in talk. "Then get busy, boys. We'll occupy the ranch house, the stable, and the bunkhouse. Get out your picks and shovels from the wagon. We'll run a triangle of trenches connecting the buildings so that we can't get cut off from each other." A sleepy-eye- d little man came out from the house. "Say, what's go-ing on here?" he wanted to know. He was the ranch cook. The boss and his family had gone to Larkspur for the day and left him to take care of the place. Collins 'grinned at him. "You haven't lost your job, Doc. Here are sixty or seventy hungry men. You can flunky for our cook. You'll like that." The Wagonwheel Gap cook did not like it, but there was nothing to do about it. He was in the army by draft and accepted his position philosophically. Inside of ten min-utes he was busy making a great batch of bread. The ranch was" excellently situat-ed for defense. On all sides of it were low, rolling hills with little large brush except in a few gullies. Plenty of water for the horses could be got from Bear Creek, which ran close to both the stable and the house. An adjoining corral had a large haystack near the barn, in case the supply in the loft gave out. The arrival of a large body of set-tlers interrupted these preparations. Bill Herriott was in command. He stationed his men along a ridge to the north jai the house, and they be-gan to pour down a scattering fire that drove the ditch-digge- and the timber workers to cover. As word spread that the cattle barons and their Texans had been trapped, re-inforcements poured in to join the attackers. Clouds scudded across the sky and obscured the moon so that nightfall brought darkness. The ditch-digger- s went to work again, protected by ramparts of logs built between them and their enemies along the bluff. The firing did not die down entirely, but it became intermittent and spo-radic. The leaders of the party held a conference in the living-roo- of the ranch house. They did not deceive themselves about the ultimate out-come of the battle. In time the set-tlers would overpower them by sheer numbers, unless help came to them from outside. That help could come only from government troops. Pnllinc lit. a rifnr as he Innnppri Yancey followed the stream. ing at Round Top and everybody in the county knew the man. "Just had word there's a big bunch of boys coming down from Larkspur to join .us," he said. His gaze rested on the Texan. It was a moment be-fore his memory placed the young fellow. "Why, it's Hal Yancey! What you doing here? Thought you went back to Texas." "I did. Got into Larkspur only three days ago. I'm on the bread line. How's everything, Lee?" "Fine. We've got. these where we want them at last." Hart pulled his talk up abruptly. He stared at Yancey blankly. A sud-den suspicion had disturbed him. "Say, We'll go talk with Bill Her-riott. A lot of Texans have come in mighty recently. Maybe " The barrel of Yancey's revolver pointed at Hart. "Let's not talk with anyone, Lee. Let's all three move deeper into the brush. I'm on an errand, and I don't want to talk with Bill. Drift along to the right, boys. I'm not allowing to harm ei-ther of you if you behave." They drifted, but unfortunately di- - in an easy chair. He laughed sar-donically. "We fixed it all up so nice to have the soldiers looking another way when we pulled off our raid that I don't reckon it will be easy to attract their attention now. Like as not the Great White Father ican't hear us when we holler." Ellison paced the floor anxiously. He more than anybody else had got them into this trap, and he was wor-ried about the outcome. To the oth-ers he read a telegram he had writ-ten. It was directed to the Gover-nor, and it asked him to urge the President to order troops from Fort Garfield to the Wagonwheel Gap Ranch at once. A volunteer called for to get it to Cheyenne. It was decided that the safest place from which to send the wire was Jim Creek. The station agent there was friendly to the big cattle interests and would not hold up the message. A dozen men volunteered to try to run the enemy lines and get the telegram through. A young Texan named Hal Yancey was chosen. He was not married, and he had once worked on the Two Star Ranch and knew the country fairly well. More-over, he was a seasoned man, game and determined. "I'll get the message through if I can," he promised. "You'll have to hoof it unless you rectly toward another group of three or four men. Yancey bolted into the brush as Hart yelled out a warning. Bullets whistled in the darkness. The Texan knew he had been hit. but kept going. He dodged into a draw and ran limping down it. When he reached a clump of aspens he buried himself in them and sank to the ground. He believed he had evaded the pursuit. A low voice, not six feet from him, asked, "What seems to be the trouble?" CHAPTER XXXVII When Terry and Carey offered their services as mediators to the little group who seemed to be lead-ing the attackers the proposal was rejected at once. The Diamond Re-verse B superintendent was noV in favor with the people's party, even though he had escaped lynching by a narrow squeak. Lane Carey had always been liked by the settlers, but he too had signed the telegram asking for the soldiers and was tem-porarily uncer suspicion. "We don't aim to do any mediat-ing," Lee Hart sneered. "We're fig-uring on wiping out this bunch of killers the cattle barons have brought in, and with them some of the high moguls, themselves." Bill Herriott was less ferocious "Hello!" and passed without ques-tion. Yancey was waiting at the edge of the aspens. "How is your U'3?" Terry asked. "Fine." the m;:n answered in a thin voice. "Let me look ai It." Carey said. While he exanvned and dressed it as best he could. Terry tooU the horse deeper in!n the aspens where it would not be seen. Carey called him when he ready. The Box 55 n ;n said in a low voice. "This rmin can't make it alone to the railroad. " Terry frowned "I've been think-ing that. I'll go with him. Later on we'll pick up another horse some-where." "You mean, both go on this horse?" "Yes. He isn't going to make it without help " Yancey spoke up stoutly, but in a weak voice. "1 am too. Boost me into the saddle and I'll burn the wind out of here " They helped h:m to his feet. He leaned heavily against Terry. The eyes of the ranchmen met. Eafb was telling the other that the Texan would not get far alone. Out of the darkness a man walked. He asked peremptorily, "What you fellows doing here?" (TO HE CONTINUED) colored wools, suede or felt. You can have loads of fun making these accessories, too, so much that you'll enjoy making them again and again as gifts for your admiring friends. Pattern No. 8044 is for sizes 11 to 19. Size 13 weskit takes l's yards material, cap and gloves. yard. 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Follow label directions SS8$SSSS$$SS$S$T Actual sales records in post exchanges and '' J-- canteens show that with men in the Army, ' Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard, the 'C . favorite citesa DEALER'S VrdiyOiJaLs) We Can All Be EXPERT BUYERS In bringing us buying Information, as to prices that aro being asksd for what w Intend to buy, and as to tha quality ws.can expect, the advertising columns of this newspaper perform a worth while service which saves us many dollars a year. It Is a good habit to form, the habit of consulting the advertisements every time we make a purchase, though we have already decided just what we want and where we are going to buy It. It gives us the most priceless feeling In the world: the feeling of being adequately prepared. j When we go Into a store, prepared beforehand with knowledge of what is offered and at what price, ve go as I an expert buyer, filled wiih It Is a pleasant feeling to have, the feeling of adequacy. Most of the unhappiness in the world can be traced to a lack of this feeling. Thus adver-tisin- g shows another of Its manifold facets shows itself as an aid toward making all our business relationships more secure and pleasant. lss$$s$st$$$$ss$Tl WMmMmft Trimmed 'Em! "I just heard him say he was in close touch with the heads of several big organizations!" "Yes, he's a barber I" Never mind if old forgotten more than you'll ever know. It doesn't do him any good either. Entreating Now Diner J would like to change my or der. Waitress Yes, sir, what would you like to make it? "I think I'd better make it a petition? The Truth First Actor I played Hamlet once, in the West. Second Actor Did you have a long run? First Actor Seven miles. LaGuardia, Penniless, Came to the Right Place A few years back, Fiorello LaGuardia, New York's peppery mayor, was addressing a group of Salvation Army workers before a large audience. The mayor gave a long and fiery speech in praise of the organization. At the finish, the plate was passed. When it came to LaGuardia, he reached into his pocket for money. A blank look came into his face when he could not find any. He fumbled desperately in all pockets. Sensing his predicament, the commissioner of the Army said in a loud voice: "That's all right, the Salvation Army is the right place to come to when a man hasn't a nickel!" A man is valued according to his own estimate of himself. Turkish Proverb. Lingering Shadows When a person casts a shadow on a pool of crude oil on a sunny day in a tropical country, the shadow appears to remain for as long as 10 seconds after he has moved away. The explanation is that the shadow causes the oil to cool slightly, thereby decreasing the number of rising bubbles and darkening the surface. rt. o- - r--c r-- pe coct-c- c PtflZ w A quiz with answers offering ? ? $J&Tf51l B informationonvarioussubiects I 6. Birmingham, Ala. 7. The record is 117.2 miles per hour, set by Floyd Roberts in 1938. 8. Thirteen pigs were brought to Tampa by DeSoto 400 years ago, when he with 600 soldiers planned to establish a colony in Florida. 9. The Statute of Liberty which ' stands on Bedloe's island at the entrance to New York harbor, was presented to the American people by France in 1886, to com-memorate the centenary of the American Declaration of Inde-pendence. 10. No importance is attached to individual birthdays in Japan. Ages in that country are comput-ed from the first day of the year, rather than the day of birth. Thus two Japanese children, although born 364 days apart, are legally the same age. The Questions 1. In what sport do three kinds of animals take part? 2. What is, the diameter of the moon? 3. What was Ty Cobb's lifetime major league batting average? 4. The stamp act of 1765 im-posed a duty on what items used in the American colonies? 5. What animal has a bull for a father, a cow for a mother, and is known as a pup? 6. What city is' known as the Pittsburgh of the South? 7. What is the record average speed in the Indianapolis 500-mi-auto race? 8. When were pigs first brought to America? 9. Who presented the Statue of Liberty to America? 10. Do they celebrate individual birthdays in Japan? . The Answers 1. Fox hunting (the fox, horses and hounds). 2. The diameter of the moon is 2,160 miles. 3. Ty Cobb's average is .367. 4. Paper, vellum and parch-ment. 5. A fur seal. Harm in Excess The desire of power in excess caused the angels to fall; the de-sire of knowledge in excess caused man to fall; bu in charity there is no excess, neither can angel or man come in danger by it. Bacon. Need of Kindness Kindness is wisdom. There is none in life but needs it and may learn. Bailey. For Independence Economizing for the purpose of being independent is one of the . soundest indications of manly character. Samuel Smiles. Costly Guard The war department has spent large sums of money to maintain guards at the graves of Presidents and until their mau-soleums were completed and civil-ian watchmen provided by a me-morial association, says Collier's. The military guard, consisting of one officer and twenty-fiv- e enlist-ed men, that watched over the temporary tomb of the late Presi-dent Harding for almost five years, cost the government near-ly $135,000. Higher Vision Happy those who here on earth have dreamt of a higher vision! They will the sooner be able to endure the glories of the world to come. Novalis. fj |