| Show i I j IlnI n m mf f 1 4 lUu s sc c i iI I e I It 1 t S is isi j jt ji t i i Continued from last lut Sunday It iThe The man with th the dough is Whisper Whispering Whispering ing log Smith every time was the answer 4 3 from Smith himself You have about I seven ven years to serve you u Seven I think Now what have 1 ever done to you that you should turn turna a tL Hi trick like this on me I knew you 3 i Vitre gere here and you knew I knew you are here and I 1 call this a pretty country coun country try a little smooth right around here 1 the people but pretty Have I ever everI I bothered you Now tell me one thing T hat b did you get for covering this trail 1 to give you two dollars for every everyone everyone tl one one you got last night for the Job if put us ua right on the game Which way did they go goI J 1 I p t 1 f fl fi fj l i x t q j 1 01 I 1 j jt 1 J t I i 1 4 l lr r r 1 I I 1 I v it 1 t r I I Ii I i it d I Iii 1 ii I Now Shall I Break Your Arm ArmI V I What are you talk talking about j L fJ Y Get tiet t off oil your horse a minute BUg sug suggested i 1 fi 1 J 1 ested Smith dismounting dismounts ng and andover step tep over ocr here toward the creek The Theman Theman man wan afraid to refuse and unwilling to tog tog toV V I g walked talked haltingly after Smith Smitha a L r I 1 V hat s I it n asked ked his hist ti t l Dont ont you like this coun 1 J ij Hr tr What do you want to go 0 back to tot J t f penitentiary Tf for or Arent you rou happy 1 o j t to de rte Now tell me one thing will you i f j t us u J the Ute trail t Z I dont know the trail 1 i 1 I t you we follow tollow i fir is s i r ere you paid last night nl hl F this i tr j I I amt aint seen a man hereabouts for a ajou att ai i 0 k khen hen D jou OU o cant tell Ml me roe whether tt were five Ova or Ac aIx t t 1 oU f got sot one eye as M good BOOd as all mine one eMe o a whole hole lot tot better 1 11 i fco o it t was flied up for cash a week if J i f 1 1 R f I Is carh in title this country f t i Well Im riD sorry but well J fl I i to take you back with us j The Tha rancher r whipped out oat a revolver t I 1 9 Smith mith 8 th caught his wrist i ft i h hy struggle lasted only an instant t i ro writhed and the pistol fell r t the ground F c i N No ow shall I break b k your arm armi f i ked ted Smith as the man cursed cur ed and andr aisted r Or Ur will wUl you behave We Weno W e eIre eu no Ire u c going right tone baCk and have havey y in to I come with us nm II Well VeU send some somene somer r ne re down o n to round mund up your horses and ands s hell tell them and ani you ou ran can serve Berve out your 1 1 i time with allowance of course for forr r Rood good od conduct which will cut it down downIf If r I had ever done you a mean turn I 1 Ie e would not say a word If you could t 1 I J name a friend of yours I had ever done donea donet t a II mean turn to I would not say y a word r Can you name one I 1 guess not I 1 II I j have left you as free as the wind here 1 making only the rule I make for every everybody ever t I body to let the railroad alone This f I j Is IB my thanks Now Ill ask you just ft one awe question I killed you as asI asI 1 I had a perfect right to when you rou OU pulled I 1 broken your our arm as asI II I J would have done If there had been a doctor within e miles mUe and I 1 started you for the pen not i fret yet Now I 1 ask you one fair question only Did you need the money mODe Yes I did need it itI I Whispering Smith dropped the mans wrist Then I dont say sa a word If It you rou OU needed the money Im not going to tofi fi send nd you back not for mine minet mineI t j I How can a man make a living in inthis ini r Ii i this kite country asked the rancher with witha 0 j I a bitter oath unless he be picks up t f r everything going j t Tick Pick PI ok up your gun man Im not noti I i i saying anything am Ic I Ij c j f But Im rm damned If It I can give a ai i I to any man added Rock J t i Etro litro stooping for his revolver t I j I I should think less of ot you ou Rock t F i ii j Etro If It you did You Tou dont need money mone Y P i I t anyway now but some somo time you may I y need med a friend Im going to leave you OU OUt Ii t h here hero hear no more of this and Ii Im going to ask you OU a 8 question Why I did you go SO against this when you OU i j i I I knew have to square yourself t I with me tae They told me be taken care of or i before it was pulled off They lied to you they the No NoI I matter youve got their stuff Now I Iam Iam 1 am going to ask you one question that I 4 I 1 dont know the answer to its a fair fairi i 1 question too Was Du Sang In the 1 penitentiary with you at Fort City r F Answer fair fairl tt l r I i Yes i t 1 Thank you Behave yourself and andr andl r l I I keep your our mouth shut I 1 say 8 nothing t i this time Hereafter leave leae railroad matters metters alone and if It the woman i i j should uld fall sick or you have to have a an n little money mone come and see me Smith i I led Jed the way wa back to the horses j j Look here muttered fol following following lowing JawIng with his good eye glued on his I t companion I pulled putted on you OU too quick luick I guess Id ought to tor f f Dont mention It You You pull t 1 i quick enough It is humiliating to tot t 1 have a man mM as slow as you are aret t 1 pull on me ma People that pull on me usually pull and shoot at the same sameI j I j I time Two distinct movements Rick Ricks s tro atro should be avoided they the are fa fatal fatal 1 tal to success Come down to the J r Bend some time and ni rn get you a 2 1 decent decer give you a few tew lessons I t I Whispering Smith drew his handkerchief handkerchief f chief as the man rode away y and he rejoined his companions HP He H Het t 1 was resigned after a sickly fashion fashion E 5 11 c I like Ilka to play he said paid wiping his forehead but not so far from good water They have pune f us half halt way to the Grosse Te Terre Tee e moun meun i talus on oa a beautiful e u ul trail too beautiful i ir a r j 1 jI i I to be true Farrell too beautiful to be betrue betrue I true They have been having fun with us and doubled back through the Topah toward the Mission ton mountains and Williams Cache that thatis is my judgment And arent we five fire jays gentlemen Five Fite suckers It is an inelegant word ord it is an inelegant feeling No o matter we know a few things There are five good men and a led horse we can get out of here by Goose river find out when hen we cross the railroad how much they got and pick them up somewhere around the Saddle peaks if gone north only a guess and every mans guess is good goodnow goodnow goodnow now What do you think all aU of you If its the crowd we think it is would they go straight home That look reasonable does it IU asked Brill Young If It they could put one day between them and pursuit they be safer sater at home than anywhere else eise And they laid out one days day work for us good and plenty Farrell remember one thing There is some sometimes sometimes sometimes times a disadvantage in knowing too much about the men you are after Well try Goose river It was vas noon when they struck the railroad They halted long enough to stop a freight train send some tele telegrams telegrams telegrams grams and ask for news They got orders from Rooney Lee had an empty box car set behind the engine en lne for a special and loading their horses at atthe atthe atthe the chute made a run for Sleepy Cat At 3 S they struck north for the Mission Us lon mountains CHAPTER The Sunday Murder ur er Banks posse PONe leaving Medicine Bend before daybreak headed northwest Their Instructions were explicit To scatter after crossing the Frenchman watch the trails traUs from the Goose river country and through the Mission mountains and intercept everybody riding north until the posse from Sleepy Sleep Cat or Whispering Stith should communicate with them from the southwest Nine men rode in the party that crossed the Crawling Stone Sunday morning at sunrise with Ed Banks After leaving the river the three Saddles of the Mission range ranee afforded a landmark for more than miles mUes and toward these the party pressed pre steadily all day The southern pass of the Missions opens on the north slope of the range Into a pretty valley known as Mission MIssions Springs s rings valley and the springs are aree tile the e headwaters of Deep creek The posse did not quite obey the Instructions instructions rand nd following a natural instinct of safety five te of them after Banks and his three deputies had scattered bunched again and at dark crossed Deep creek at some distance below the springs It was afterward known that these five men had been beep seen entering the valley from the east at sundown just as four of the men they wanted rode down South Mission pass toward the he springs That they knew they would soon be cut off ott or must cut their way through the line which Ed Banks ahead of them was wall posting at every gateway to Williams Cache was probably clear to them Four men rode that evening from Tower Towel W through the south pass the fifth man had already left the party The four II men were headed for Williams Cache and had bad reason to believe until they sighted Banks men that their path was open They halted to take counsel on the posse far below them and while their cruelly ex exhausted exhausted exhausted hausted horses rested Du Sang al always always always ways in absence the brains of the gang planned the escape over Deep creek at Baggs Daggs crossing At dusk they the divided two men lurking in inthe Inthe inthe the brush along the creek rode as close as they the could unobserved to toward toward toward ward the crossing while Du Sang and the cowboy Karg known as Flat Nose rode down to Baggs Daggs ranch at the foot of the pass At that point paInt Dan Baggs Bag an old locomotive lo locomotive locomotive engineer had then token taken a home homestead homestead stead got together a little bunch of ot cattle and was living alone with his hisson hisson hisson son a boy of 10 years It was a hard country and too close to Williams Cache for comfort but Dan got on with everybody because the toughest man in the Cache country could get a ameal ameal ameal meal a feed for his horse porse and a place to sleep at Baggs Daggs without charge when he needed It Ed Banks by hard riding got to the crossing crossing at t 6 5 and told Baggs of the he holdup and the shooting of ot Oliver Sellers Boilers The news stirred the theold theold theold old engineer and his excitement threw him off oft his guard Banks rode straight on for the middle pass leav leaving leavIng leaving ing word that two of his men would be along within half an hour to watch the pass pas and the ranch crossing and asked Baggs to put up some kind of a fight for the crossing until more of the posse came up at the least to make sure that nobody got any an fresh horses The boy was nas cooking supper in the kitchen and Baggs had done his milk mUk milking milking ing and gone back to the corral when two men rode around the corner of the barn and asked if they could get something to eat Poor Baggs sold his hU life Ufe in six words Why yes be you ou Banks men Du Sang answered No were from Sheriff Coons office at Oroville look lookIng lookIng looking Ing up a bunch of ot Duck Bar steers been run ruu somewhere up Deep creek Can we stay here all night They dismounted and disarmed Baggs suspicions though the condi condition condition condition tion of their horses might have warned him had he had his senses The un unfortunate unfortunate unfortunate fortunate man had probably fixed it in his mind that a ride from Tower W to i Deep creek in sixteen hours was a physical impossibility Stay here Sure I 1 want you to stay said Baggs bluffly Looks to tome tome tome me like I seen you ou down at Crawling Stone aint I J he asked of Karg Karg wee lighting a cigarette I used to mark at the Dunning ranch he answered throwing away his match hit Good The boys cook cooking cookIng cooking ing supper Step up to the kitchen and tell teU him to cut ham for four more Four Two of Ed Banks men will be here hereby he hereby e eby by 6 8 Heard about the holdup They The stopped No 3 at Tower W last night and shot t Ollie Sollers SaBers as white a ab aboy aboy b boy n a ae orr r nr pulled a d throttle Boys a aj aman aIman j Iman man that H kit a locomotive engineer Is worSen worse wOl en n an Indian Id rd help skin him J t t j The hell you yo would cri d Du DuSang DuSang DuSang Sang Well Veil dont you want to start in on me I 1 killed Sellers Sollers Look at atme atme atme me aint I handsome What you going to do about it Before Baggs Bagge could think Du Sang Bang was wag shooting him down It was W 8 wan wanton wanton wanton ton Du Sang in no need of the butchery the escape could have been made without it His victim had pulled an engine throttle too long to show the white feather teather but he was dying by the time he had bad dragged drag ed a revolver from his pocket Du Sang did the killing alone At least Flat Nose who alone saw sawall all of the murder munier after afterward afterward ward maintained that he did not draw because he had no occasion to and I that Baggs was dead before he Karg had finished his cigarette With his right arm broken and two bullets through his chest Baggs fell fel on his face That however did not check his murderer Rising to his knees Baggs begged for tor his life For Gods sake Im helpless gentlemen Im helpless Dont kill me like a a dog But Du Sang emptying his pistol threw his rifle to his shoulder and sent bullet after bullet crashing through the shapeless shap leas form writhing and twitching before him until he had beaten it In the tte t e dust soft sort and flat fiat and still Banks men came up within an hour to find the deserted de The They saw a lantern In the yard jard ard below and near the th corral gate they found frund the little lit little little tle boy In hi the darkness screaming be beside beside beside side his hili fa fathers tiers body The sheriffs men carried the th old to tha the house hourc others of or the hc posse crossed the creek during the evening and at 11 Whispering Smith rode down from the south pass to find that four of ot the men meu they were after atter had taken fresh tresh horses after killing Baggs and passed safely through the cordon Banks had drawn around the pass and along Deep creek Bill Bm Dancing who had ridden with Banks men was at the house when Whispering Smith arrived He found some supper in the kitchen and the tired man and the giant ate together Whispering Smith was too experienced a campaigner to complain His party had struck a troll trail fifty miles north of ot Sleepy Cat and followed It to the Mis Missions MIssions Missions He knew now who he was alter after and knew that they were bottled up in inThe f 1 3 i I Ii P j 1 r Y 1 j The hell you would cried Du DuSang DuSang DuSang Sang the Cache for tor the night The sheriffs men were sleeping on the floor of the living room when Smith came In from the kitchen He sat down before the fire At Intervals sobs came from the bedroom where the body lay la and after atter listening a moment Whispering Smith got stiffly up and tiptoeing to still the jingle of his spurs took the candle from the table pushed aside the curtain and anden entered en the bedroom The little boy was lying on his face with his arm around his fathers neck talking to him Whispering Smith bent benta a moment over the bed and setting the candle on the table put his hand on the boys shoulder He disengaged the hand from the cold neck and sitting down took it in his own Talking low to the little fellow he got his attention after atter much patient effort and got him to speak He made him though struggling with terror to understand that he had come to be his friend and after the child had sobbed his grief into a strange heart he ceased to tremble and told his name and his story and |
