Show i t lt l t 1 By ALAN LE MAY Release r INSTALLMENT 14 TilE THE STORY SO SOR FAR R Dusty King and Lew Gordon Cordon bad built r up a vast string of ranches King was Will killed by his hut powerful and unscrupulous competitor lien Den Thorpe flu Bill Roper r Kings King's adopted son Ion was determined to F avenge aven e his death In spite of the CHAPTER C APTER Continued I ITo To Ropers Roper's right surprisingly i close a rifle spoke once only Roper could neither see the man who had fired nor guess his his' target He waited five minutes gun ready then stood up and moved his pony slope down into a 8 shallow draw in hi which it was hidden by the brush Moving cau cau- cautiously cautiously cautiously he proceeded north along the Ule cut seeking the position of the theman theman theman man who had fired Through the hillside brush a 8 figure moved crouching so low that his dark shape resembled a 0 bear Aft Alt Alter After er a 8 moment Bill Roper was able to tomake tomake tomake make out that the approaching man carried a light carbine The man with the Uie carbine moved swiftly down the hillside sliding on the hard crust of the snow but surprisingly sur sur- surprisingly surprisingly silent in the brush The watched man dropped into the ravine angling toward the bend where Roper stood Bill Roper pulled himself out of the gully He was crouched In dense brush gun In to hand as the scout appeared below him Roper stood up up- Steady he be said The man in the draw Jumped as asIf asIf asif If he had been struck but as as he raised his hands he straightened so that Roper saw his face His captive was Shoshone Wilce By God said Shoshone I was never so glad to see anybody In my lifer lifer- Ropers Roper's voice bit like frosty Ice You know where she is Yeah said Shoshone Yeah I know where she Is is Roper dropped Into the gully to snarl close Into Shoshones Shoshone's face Is she alive Is she all right Oh yeah sure Wilce assured him alive all right Dont Don't seem like she's hurt any I I- I I Dont seem like Roper repeat repeat- I ed Damn your hide where Is she Bill seems like them buzzards I have her down there at that cabin and ond wont won't leave her loose Who wont won't Bill I dont don't know who Well how the devil did she get there Me Shoshone said He met Rop Rop- Ropers Roper's Ropers Ropers Roper's ers er's eye bleakly Obviously he knew that he was in n trouble here I I brought her Why In all all all- She would have come anyway Bill Bi 7 She Shew w was S dead e ds set tO tOl on l locating c ti r g you She didn't have nobody else to ride with her I figured you'd soon soon- sooner sooner er Id I'd tty try to bring her direct to I you so somebody would be with her than have her wandering loose around the country by herself A A I bartender in Miles told me you I were here and we rode here And then then and and then then then- Well then what then what As I come into the valley Sho Shoo Shoshone shone said seemed to 19 me like something was wrong But I couldn't make out what We come up to the cabin careful and slow in the dark But they seen us coming and they I laid lad for us I guess Before we knew what had busted they gunned her pony down and they drilled mine twice so bad that I had to turn him loose Most likely hes he's dead by now I I- I Shoshone hesitated And you run out and left her Bill Bm filled in for him Bill I swear I wouldn't have done nothing like that not for no amount Thing was they was all allaround allaround allaround around me I couldn't see where to shoot or who they was I figured first It was your own boys mak make making ing tog a mistake and after I seen it wasn't I just figured to keep In a fighting position you might say and close in first chance Only Only Only- I Only you never saw any chance I Roper said with contempt Well no theres there's seven of em down there Bill and ond they keep an on awful steady watch And I been scouting em cm steady ever since Sometimes I get in a long shot at atone atone atone one or anther an her of em cm Tills This car car- carbine carbine bine dont don't larry arty so very good but butI I plugged two of em cm dont don't know how hw h w bad How do you know she wasn't I shot or hurt when her horse went down do Roper demanded By God Shoshone if you let anything hap hap- happen happen pen to that girl girl girl- They let her walk outside some sometimes sometimes times during the day Shoshone said how I seen she's all tight Can Cm you make out who the bunch down there Is I figure they're some Thorpe gun squad out after your scalp I figure they was laying to gun you And now that they got the girl I figure that they aim to hold her for bait kind of Shoshone fell silent and Roper fc c p In thought let him rest V Youre ure most likely right Roper I id morosely at last Theres four r IT w five fi ve of these Thorpe war parties rout out utter me and this could easy be beon one on But Bit I all the infernal luck I It II I JJ t cr t-aw t What dw What did Jody want with me Did she tell you has made his mind Thorpe up to o kill her old man mon Shoshone said saidI saidI I 1 went aid told her because 1 thought you'd want her to know so soshe soshe she c ulc maybe look out for him ome Lome Rut But the old man wouldn't lion Uon of his bis sweetheart Jody Gordon and her father After wiping Thorpe out of Texas Roper conducted a great raid upon Thorpe's vast herds In Mon lana tana Unable to reconcile her father with Roper Jody set out with Shoshone I I listen to her and they had a row I So then the only thing she could think of was to come to you She's got some notion of trying to get you and her old man together again A fine chancel what I told her But she she she- Why In Gods God's name Roper flared at him again you go after help I figured Id I'd get strung up for If it I sure Shoshone said flatly went and told Gordon what Id I'd Gone acne I wanted to come for you but nat nat- naturally naturally naturally I didn't know where you'd went The only thing I could figure out I better try to ghost around these hills hUls and ond maybe whittle cm em down to my size sze You say there are seven men In Inthe inthe Inthe the cabin Roper asked at ot last two wounded Shoshone nodded They aint all allIn allIn allin In the cabin all of the time Seems like they must have had the girl tell I em that she come here to meet you Naturally they'd think you knew she was coming Most likely they figure that if il I aint dead Im I'm carrying you word that will bring you here a So they're hold hold- holdIng Ing tog her there now until they see If il they cant can't get you I aint watched rI A J 4 taking an awful chance Roper said those fellers for fifteen years with without out knowing how they work taking an awful chance Roper said iron death in his eye If H I rode in here warned with my wild bunch bunch- It aint such a bad chance they're taking aking Shoshone contradicted Night and day their outposts are arc out Two men can check the whole country daytimes so they can see you coming twenty miles You only got jot here because you come up I through the timber to the south on the he trail from Miles the Miles the last way they'd figure you'd come Nights there are more men on lookout than that near as I can mal make out and their lookout is strongest just before be before fore dawn dawn I I suppose Iron Dog taught em cm that trick in the old days always striking just before daylight and now they cant can't get It out of their heads Night and day they got ponies saddled If ever they spot spot- spotted spotted spotted ted your wild bunch riding In they'd be almighty hard to catch If only Roper said the wild bunch was going to ride In But It Maybe theres there's some way we coul fake it it so they'd give up and clear out I figure they'd leave the girl behind if ever they set out to run Im going down and smoke em cm out Roper said through his bis teeth Im going to smoke em out before the sun ever comes up again and youre you're going to help belp me Shoshone nodded If we tackled I em cm just before daylight when the outpost is strong and the cabin is s I weak weak- I They talked it over for a long time In the hidden gulch where Shoshone bad had been holing up they made coffee and cooked meat and completed their plans We can get in in was Shoshones Shoshone's verdict at last We can get in and we can take the th cabin But God knows how bow were we're ever going to get out out Ive got a plan for that Roper said I He wouldn't tell Shoshone what It was CHAPTER PTER There were no stars when Roper roused himself in his blankets and he had no mechanical means of tell tell- IS A Al l sup supA A MARK LARK or OF ONE FINE Wilce to find him Mm They were attacked by some of Thorpe's men hiding In Ropers Roper's Rop Rop- Ropers Roper's Ropers Roper's ers er's shack Wilce escaped but Jody was captured Roper was approaching one of his own shacks when he no noticed aced outposts keeping a careful watch e eing Ing the time Yet he be knew very definitely that dawn was just two hours away He shook Shoshone Wilce WAce The Thc lit Ut- little UttIe tIe tle man groaned once then came full awake with the sudden response of an animal Without the snow the rock rocklike rock Im Im- Impenetrability Impenetrability Impenetrability penetrability of the overcast sky would have made the night utterly black but the ghostly pallor of the snow had the effect of faintly modi modi- modifying tying Lying the darkness The eye might possibly have made out a moving dark shape at ten yards beyond that there was nothing but a muffling muffling fling blackness You lead le d out Roper said His Hs voice was Instinctively hushed even at this distance from the enemy Youve had more chance to study the lay than me Shoshone Wilce delayed Bill he said I lay thinking about this time for a long time after you was asleep A dogged stubbornness came Into his tone I figure we can probably take the cabin And If we take the cabin without fighting weve we've got a chance to get away But If so much as one shot is fired fired BIll Bill the outposts will close like a bar trap I dont don't see no way we can canever canever canever ever get clear By the sudden frozen silence Sho Sho- Shoshone Shoshone Shoshone shone Wilce Wilee was able to sense Bill Ropers Roper's anger I wish to God Bill Roper said at last I had Hat Crick Tommy here or Tex Long or even the very greenest kid cowboy that's riding the range with them somewhere to to- night I need one other man for this job It wouldn't take an especially brave man or smart man nor a areal areal areal real good gunfighter I just need one fairly good man But I haven't even got that thaU Bill I only look claim-look Bill I aint afraid of em I only only only- You aint afraid Bill Roper re re- repeated repeated re- re repeated no not no not much But when the guns spoke you left a girl down under her horse In the snow snow maybe maybe hurt maybe dead and dead and you ran for your life lile When Bill Roper had said that both were utterly still while a 0 man might have counted a hundred Shoshones Shoshone's voice was fiat Oat and dead Is that the way It looks to you Look at It t yourself Then Then shoshone one Buess sald sald l ess' ess there aint t anything more to say say He stood up Theres this to say Bill Roper said Youre going to work with I Ime me tonight because I haven't got anybody else Youre You're going to do exactly what I say and when I say I without any back talk or question You make one slip sUp tonight and the West wont won't hold you nor the world wont won't hold you and you'll answer to tome tome tome me in the end You hear me Okay Shoshone said In the same flat Oat dead voice One thing more Roper said If we make a quiet job well we'll try to go out slow and quiet the three of us together Otherwise you take Jody's lead rope and ride like hell hell- Six miles below here near the creek theres there's a kind of a brush corral You and the girl will wait for me there Wait for me until daylight begins to come then go on They moved down into the valley of the Fork walking fast When they had dropped Into the bed of Fork I Creek itself they moved northward following its windings for what seemed a long way but no sign o of approaching dawn yet showed and Roper felt that they had plenty of time As they at last passed the point where the cabin stood Invisible invisible ble In the dark Shoshone Indicated its location with raised arm orm but they moved on fifty yards farther so that they might approach the cabin from the north Cautiously now Shoshone climbed the bank silent as the Indians with whom he had spent his youth Turn- Turn TurnIng TurnIng Turning Ing he gripped Bill Ropers Roper's arm His words were whispered close to Ropers Roper's ear car II One of the night guards Is out way that thata way about five hundred yards he whispered about in line with where you see that big dead pine Roper could see no dead pine It annoyed him that Shoshones Shoshone's eyes were better than his bs own own own-as as good goodas as the eyes of an Indian or a lynx Ill leave my carbine standing just outside the door Shoshone said I only want It for later after weve we've took to the horses all right Roper said But you remember this If It theres there's any trouble In the cabin you stand and fight Because If you dont don't Ill I'll turn and plug you myself If it takes my last shot to do it it Okay Roper went ahead now walking boldly across the snow Better he thought to simulate the casual approach op up of ot friends to depend dep ild upon a hope of complete surprise As he raised his hand to the door a strange thrill o dread ad momen momen- momentarily momentarily momentarily stirred aim nim at the thought tha Jody Gordon was inside with will whom TO BE DE |