Show By AlAti LEMAY LE MAY VI NU Release c INSTALLMENT INSTALL 2 THE TilE STORY SO 50 FAR FAits Dusty King and Lew Gordon Cordon were ere cre Joint owners of the vast King Cordon f e range which stretched from Texas to Montana When building up this string of If ranches they continually had to fight light the unscrupulous Ben Den Thorpe Thorpe CHAPTER n U nAn Ur r An hour spent In the Wells Wens Fargo office with the deputy commission commission- commissioner er er filling out forms signing papers ended as Dusty King and Bill BUI Roper stood with Lew Gordon on the board walk It was the first time the three bad had bad a word alone since the Crying Cry- Cry CryIng CryIng Ing Wolf had passed Into the bands hands of King Well said Dusty King we got gother her Maybe Gordon said this is our chance Maybe now we can get the cow business on a sound basis here bere In the north and have bave some order and decent law never get a sound basis' basis until Ben Thorpe Is bust Dusty said laid What law enforcement we 4 1 got In the West is rotten through and f through with office holders that I Thorpe owns owns' Some day Gordon said slowly t Ben Thorpe has bas got to go i Some day Lew weve we've got go him t beat beaU Kings King's exuberant mood of victory r was not to be dampened You want law and order he be chortled Well show em law and order r That puts me In mind said Gor Gor- Gorf f- f don donA A feller passed me this here hereto F to give to you He handed Dusty King a little twisted scrap of paper torn tom off ort the corner comer of something else Dusty untangled It It looked at atIt atIt atit It a moment showed it to the others i Five words were penciled on it in sprawling black letters IN GODS GOD'S GO S 'S NAME LOOK OUT t this from Lew r Gordons Gordon's lips Ups moved almost soundlessly Dry Camp Pierce Roper knew that name without knowing what lengths of outlawry had brought Dry Dr Camp Pierce to where he was today Rewards backed by Ben Thorpe were on Dry Camps Camp's scalp over half halt the West probably it was as much as his life was worth to show himself in Og- Og Ogallala allala now This note note note- Dusty King tossed it off with a shrug Oh Oh I I suppose Thorpe is t getting drunk some place and spout spout- spouting f ing off about what all hes he's going to todo todo todo do to me when w en he be catches up Dusty's teeth showed In his infectIous infectious grin I suppose Dry Camp thought tho I ought glit to know about it It it- lies Hes right Dusty Lew Gordon said We do want to look out all of us all aU the time We always had to look out Dusty scoffed be the more so now There Isn't anything in the world Ben Thorpe's people will stop at at Dusty Let em come on We want to look out Gordon said again If you feel that way about It It said Dusty what was the Idea of your working through that law we cant can't wear guns in town Bill Roper said We could have brought it to an nn open shoot out five years ago ten ago ten years ago ngo Better Detter if U Uwe we had Gordon shook his head Noth Nothing NothIng Nothing ing ever gets gels fixed Axed up with guns Dusty King pulled his hat a little littlemore littlemore littlemore more on one side so that he could wink at ot Bill Roper unobserved But Buthe Buthe Buthe he said lies Hes partly right BilL Ben Thorpe isn't just one man any more Walk Lasham Cleve Lasham-Cleve Tanner Tanner any any anyone one of a dozen others could step into his shoes Its It's a whole rotten or or- organization organization has to be busted up Ben Den Thorpe downed and ond they'll quit Bill Dill Roper thought Ben Den Thorpe down and its it's only begun Dusty countered Get it out of your head that you can fix anything up by downing Ben Thorpe Not while this organization stands in one piece Might be a good idea for you to remember that Bill in incase Incase incase case anything happens Dusty Bill said if U ever they get yo iby y God Ill I'll get Ben Den Thorpe If its it's ftc tle a last last last- No said Dusty You hear me No If U they get me you'll me-you'll you'll remember remember remember ber ber what I said You remember youre you're fighting a 0 thing and ond a big bigone bigone bigone one not Just one man Ills His face crinkled in that familiar contagious grin Forget it fU Dry Camps Camp's spooky that's all He lie hooked an arm through his partners partner's and ond went swaggering off oU Ten paces down the walk he stopped turned and came back lie He leaned close to Roper If U any any- anything anything anything thing should happen kid kid r ber what I said CHAPTER III That Lew Gordon had a daughter was not so surprising as os that he be had only one Single minded he be clung all oll his life to the memory of the wife he bad had lost when their first child was born Jody Gordon was twenty now She Shet Shei t i didn't exactly run Lew Gordon no no- nobody nobody nobody body did that But Dut it was fairly ap ap- apparent apparent ap- ap apparent parent that his bis stubborn bid for su su- su in western cattle was in in- intended intended tended in her behalf and ond without her herf f would have been meaningless to him lm Because Gordon hadn't wanted his gul filtering around through the I rivaled King Gordon In is power and wealth but be had bad gained his hU position through wholesale cattle rustling and gunplay Their opposing Interests came cameto to a showdown when the Government announced the auctioning of the Crying press of Ben Thorpe's at atthe atthe atthe the auction getting his own boys into fights Jody Gordon was wait wait- waiting waiting ing here for tor news of what had bad hap hap- happened happened happened to the Crying Wolf Bill Rop Rep Roper Reper er vaulted the foolish little picket gate scuffed the mud off ort his boots on the high front steps and let him him- himself himself self in He sent a Comanche war gobble ringing through the house but Jody was already flying into the room Did you get it Did you get it All of fU it Jody flung herself at him and kissed him so sweet so vital so completely feminine that he wanted to keep her close to him But she broke away again as he be tried to hold bold her How much did It 11 cost Seventy cents cents gold Jody's breath caught Can we come out on It Sure we can come out on it Not Nota a cent less would've turned the trick Dusty Dusty- Jody sat on a walnut table that had tad come all the way from St. St Louis and swung s her feet The story seemed to tickle her in more ways than one I can Just see you all aU C r i f Vw n r t G But BuL she broke away as he tried to bold hold her she said standing around making an impression on each other He turned from the window and she was laughing at him as he be had thought bought her mouth smothered with her fingers Come here a minute he said going toward her ber She twisted from the edge of the table able as ns if U to put it between them but ut she was too late His rope-hard rope fingers caught her wrist and held her as easily as if U he had dallied d da a calf to the horn Listen he begged her LIs Listen Listen ten ten- cn He caught her up clamped an arm behind her head and kissed her hard Hard and for or a long time So long as she was rigid in his arms fighting him he held her but ut when she stood limp Ump neither yielding nor resisting his arms re- re relaxed related axed and Jody tore herself free She lashed out at him like a little mustang striking him across the mouth Her face was white all that quick irrepressible laughter gone as for a moment she looked at him A trickle of blood ran from Bill Ropers Roper's lips Ups and made a crooked mark on his chin Then she turned and fled fied When she was gone Bill Roper stood still sucking his cut lips After a little while he be went to the win win- window window window dow instinctively turning to open space for his bIs answers He could remember Jody Gordon as a little tow headed kid before her hair lair had darkened into the elusive misty brown that it was now Or as asa aso asa a o legged colt girl with scratches on her shins from riding legged bare-legged through the sage Or as os a 0 peculiar peculiarly ly tempestuous uncertain thing nei nei- neither neither ther thor child nor woman But Dut this latest phase he couldn't understand at all He picked up his hat bat and for a lit lit- little little tle tie while stood turning It in his hands Then be he threw it In the corner comer and went searching through the house bouse Jody was In the tallest of the four foolish towers From here you could see sec the town and ond the slim sUm glitter glitter- glittering glitterIng glittering ing line of the railroad connecting these far ar plainsmen with a world hungry for beef Jody said matter of Weve got to have bave more loading pens pen Bill BIU Bills Bill's face broke Into a 0 slow grin Abruptly he laid hard hands band on dis dis- disused disused used sashes and ond broke them open Wolf land In Montana Dill Bill Roper Kings King's adopted son had Inspected this territory and found lound It to contain an almost unbelievable un un- unbelievable believable wealth of grass ass Bidding went high at the suction auction but King beat out Thorpe to gain control of the land Into their little cubicle flowed the sweet air of the open opert prairie sweep Inspiriting with the fresh smell of the new grass She said Tell me about your new Job fob It isn't new new They said that you'd be the new boss of the Crying Wolf if U we got it It Jody said For more years than he be could re re- remember re- re remember member he be had been working to to- toward toward toward ward this opportunity the opportunity the chance to take two years or three with such and cattle on such and such and and- such land and show that he could pay payout out on market deliveries In hi pounds of beef But now now now-a a mil million lion horns and hoofs didn't seem to mean so much Something was here something here something that wasn't any place else not else not on the long trail not In the wild terminal terminal terminal nal towns He knew now he be had bad to tell her that and he be dreaded It It be be- because because because cause she probably would think it was funny He wouldn't look at ather ather ather her as he spoke because he didn't want to see sec her laughing at him bim himI bimI I dont don't know as Im I'm so much in in- interested interested as I was he be said Why Billy not Billy not Interested In the Crying Wolf Wolf nearly nearly five hundred bundred square miles of feeder landl land What's come over you I guess maybe Im I'm tired of rid rId- riding rIdIng ing alone Bill said Alone With all the outfit you'll have have I I wouldn't call It alone I I would d. d Grass country is lonely country he said now as lonely as the dry plains You get to won won- wondering wonderIng wondering dering what the everlasting cattle add up to in the course of a life We Then some night you know you dont don't care what they add up to and you think Damn fat beef I Why Billy why Billy why Billy Billy- Billy None of It means a damn with wIth- without wIthout out youre you're there he told her ber Working cattle doesn't mean any any- anything anything anything thing because you'll always have all the cattle you need anyway and no long trail tran means anything with with- without without without out youre you're at the end of it Im I'm sick of long trails drive drive trails empty of you youat youat youat at the end There was a long motionless si silence at- at lence he kept his eyes on the far sand hills as presently she leaned forward to look up into his face You really mean It It dont don't you Jody said Jody's Jod sW words weeds came m very faint f and and anda a little breathless Why didn't you say so before He looked at her then and she wasn't laughing In her eyes was a anew anew anew new grave light such as he had never seen a warm light a beloved light better than sunset to a weary rider day-rider who has worked leather since before dawn Timorously but very willingly she came into his arms and he held her as if she were not only a very precious but a very I fragile thing For a little while it I seemed that one trail a trail longer than the Long Trail itself had come cometo cometo cometo to its end Cant believe he said at last his lips in her hair youre sure- sure enough mine All yours yours all all all They had one hour there In the prairie lookout tower discovering each other getting acquainted as as' as asU asfor if U for the first time The sun went down In a gorgeous welter of color Jody shivered a little I wish Dad and Dusty would woul come Espe Espe- Especially EspecIally Especially Dusty Why He has bas so many enemies Some of them are dangerous as diamond diamond- backs It worries me when hes he's due and doesn't get back Dusty take care of himself Bill BIU Roper chuckled and held beld her closer One half hour more Up from the town came a crazily ridden horse splashing mud eaves- eaves high under the urge of spur and quirt Hell nell lame his bis pony if U he be goes down in that slick sUck Bill commented Now what do you suppose suppose- The rider tried to pull up in front of the house and the frantic pony swerved and ond slid sUd mouth wide open I to the sky Its shoulder crashed the fence taking down a dozen feet I j of pickets The rider tumbled off oU I Iran Iran iran ran up the steps to hammer on the I door I Roper went clattering down the I stairs pulled open the door Now I listen Usten you youIt you you- j jI Bill Dusty Bill Dusty Mr King KIng King-be- he I Bill Roper froze and there was a along aI along long moment of paralyzed silence I Spit It out man Roper shouted I at him Bill Bill hes he's hes Who who lt who Dusty Kings King's daid dald Bill the thc gunned him they gunned him down Who Vho did Taint known Mr Gordons Gordon's there he he It Bill BiU Roper walked out past the cowboy stiffly slimy like a 8 man gone blind Without knowing what he did be he walked down to the gate and stood gripping the pickets with hi hb two hands hand TO BE CONTINUED |