Show I T 1 r i r rt i I t s. s By ERNEST HAYCOX MAYCOX I 1 From the high edge of Mogul to the floor Of Powder Desert was a sheer cheer drop of 01 fourteen hundred and sixty feet and even on the quietest day a stream of warm air from the desert boiled up the face of the rim so that if 11 a man stood at the break oft off and tossed his hat outward it Invariably sailed back to him Cla Clay Morgan had shown shawn this to his daughter Janet long ago ngo It was a apart apart apart part of their ritual on the trip to town and as soon as they reached the rim this afternoon she reminded remind 1 ed him of it again whereupon he heI I sailed saUld his hat across the rim caught I it on the rebound and witnessed her delighted smile Afterwards they turned downgrade on a road steeply and narrowly cut against the face of the mountain As they descended she began to recite lines of 01 Hiawatha in preparation preparation prep prep- oration for a school pla play Hiding slightly back of her Clay Morgan watched her small arms gesture and her naturally sober face lighten and grow faintly dramatic To him it was a matter of never-ending never astonishment astonishment astonishment as as- that one year old girls girl's head could hold so much The silence and the slow way she had of judging people came from him The vivid imagination and the growing beauty came from her mother It was something Clay Morgan Morgan Morgan Mor Mor- gan had watched for through the years years and and yet much as he had expected expected expected ex ex- it it still was strange to see in this girl the image of a woman nine years dead to know that the tempestuous Lila who had been his wife now reached out of the grave to remind him of 01 the one brief briel and violent and miserable and beautiful year of their marriage In the beginning beginning be ginning she had said she loved him she had died hating him Powder Desert began at the bottom bottom bot bot- tom of the grade Sand and sagebrush sagebrush sagebrush sage sage- brush hummocks built bunt by the east eastwind eastwind I wind lay before them around these lumpy barriers high as a mans man's shoulders meandered the deep twin ruts of the road This September I days day's sun was half down in the west and heat lay heavy on the flat fiat and in fn the near distance on the benchland at the head of the desert the houses of War Pass made an irregular outline Toward this cattle cattle cat cat- tle tIe town they traveled Janet dreaming her nine ye year old old lr-old dreams in sober stillness Clay Morgan holding holding hold hold- ing his clear intimations of trouble ahead Turning at the corner of Gentrys Gentry's corral Clay Morgan faced the length of Main Street with its double dou- dou ble row of angular wooden buildings and its deep golden dust Under the courthouse locusts at the corner of Main and Stage a large group of men idly waited and he knew then that the trial of the rustler Ollie Jacks was still unfinished He dismounted by the stable and permitted both horses to nose into the water trough before tying them to the rack Janet said I am going going going go go- ing to Ann McGarrah's Daddy She always had a quick smile for him when she mentioned Ann McGarrah's McGarrah's Mc Mc- Garrah's name as though there might be some secret involved I 1 think she added we will eat supper supper sup sup- per there and there and watched him a moment moment moment mo mo- ment with her observant e eyes es You seem pretty sure of that Morgan remained near the stables stable's stables stable's stables stable's sta sta- bles ble's rack hitching-rack to roll up a quick smoke But Dut he was never a man manto manto manto to let his eyes be idle thus now while his fingers tapered off the cigarette cigarette cigarette cig cig- arette his glance ran down the street past the courthouse and post postoffice postoffice postoffice office and the Long Grade saloon past the Mountain House hotel and beyond that to the little cluster of brick and dobe buildings of Old Town Two streets cross-streets dropped from a higher level of at the hillside Up there sat the high square iron- iron ornamented houses owned by the wealthier merchants and the big cattlemen who liked to winter their families in bt town This was four lour o'clock and already the street was In shadow though the far desert burned up its gray brown-gray glitter Jesse Rusey the towns town's marshal cruised the walk walk short short broad body swinging a little He had the shoulders shoulders shaul ders of a wrestler above the sweep of his mustaches was a glance as cool as flint This man had a kind of rocky solidness a kind of at formidable formidable formidable I able courtesy He said How are you Clay and passed by Charley Hillhouse and Hack Breathitt broke from the courthouse group and walked toward him their boots puffing putting up the streets street's dust but for a moment he remained slackly lackly by the rack hitching his mind picking away at the mystery of Jesse Rusey This town marshal had bad been in War Pass for twenty years yet nobody knew him or knew what he thought or knew where his bis sympathies actually lay Hillhouse and Breathitt came cheerfully forward and for a moment moment mo mo- ment these three fast friends stood by the rack hitching and swapped gossip pleased to be together a again All of them had grown up in the country they had bad gone to school together and had worked and hunt- hunt id d and sad had bad their fun together and a s t p 1 I l t i J t 1 If they dont don't throw Ollie Jacks in the cooler there aint no use for juries in trouble had stood inseparably side sideby sideby sideby by side Clay Morgan said NothIng Nothing Noth ing lag new on Ollie Jacks yet Hillhouse shrugged his shoulders They been arguing about it since noon I dont don't see to argue about We caught Ollie dead in his tracks bend bendin In over a Three Pines calf with his iron But theres there's a couple townsmen on the jury They're the ones han hanging ing this thing u up Hack Breathitt grinned Ben Herendeen's sore enough h to shoot the jury He lie gave Charley Hillhouse Hillhouse Hill Hill- house a slanting skeptic glance Your boss is get gettin Un pretty large for his pants Charley But then he always was that way Ben Herendeen owned Three Pines and Charley Hillhouse was Herendeen's foreman loyal to the core Hillhouse said in a mild voice If they dont don't throw Ollie Jacks Jacksin in the cooler there aint no use for any juries in this country After Arter an all all Hack it was Bens Ben's beef They moved toward the Long Grade saloon three abreast Directly Direct Direct- ly opposite under the locust trees Clay noticed the crowd grouped around Ben Herendeen Herendeen-Gurd Herendeen Gurd Grant and Lige White both big cattlemen and Sheriff Ed and a few smaller ranchers like Hamp Kamp Brigham Brigham Brigham Brig- Brig ham and Vance Ketchell Herendeen's Herendeen's Herendeen's Heren Heren- deens deen's riders with a few townsmen made up the rest of the thc crowd Hack Breathitt got a bottle two glasses and a bunch of cigars They went to a corner table and sat down Hack Breathitt passed the cigars to Morgan poured a drink for Hillhouse Hillhouse Hillhouse Hill- Hill house and for himself and settled deep in the chair For that little interval he was as relaxed as he could ever be still smiling a little still with the sparkle of 01 secret amusement in his eyes He lie said To la law w and ami order and downed the drink You said Hillhouse tolerantly are an ornery son of The rhe country aint the same murmured Hack flack Theres one hell of a beautiful ruckus comin The sheep and the goats That's it The sheep and the goats to toBen toBen toBen Ben Herendeen Im I'm one of the goats Bens Ben's about ready to work on the goa goats ts Charley Hillhouse who was a quiet workhorse of a man slowly nodded Breathitt started to speak but was stopped by rising quick-rising talk on the street A man struck the swinging doors of the saloon with both fists and rushed in He tie said in a half shout They let Ollie Jacks free and ran out The conversation in inthe inthe inthe the saloon rose at once to a noisy pitch Hack Breathitt grinned Id like to see Ben Herendeen's face right now Charley Hillhouse answered ably l It U it was your beef Hack you wouldn't make a joke of it Hack Breathitt had his moments of wisdom he had his far thoughts Theres two kinds of people in this world Charley Those that have got beef beef and and those that have got none People that stick and people that drift The Lord made you and me different It aint my fault and it aint your fault But I like my way way and and no man can make me change Bens Dens got nothing against you said sald Charley Hillhouse Hack Breathitt showed Hillhouse a smart dark expression When folks get heated up Charley there aint no halfway Its It's one thing or orthe orthe orthe the other The sheep heep or the goats He lie poured himself a second drink You know what Im I'm boys Im I'm that this is probably I Ithe the last time us three will sit at atthe atthe atthe the same table Dont talk like that said Charley Charley Charley Char Char- ley Hillhouse But both of them were watching Clay Morgan 1 who sat silent all the I while buried in his own thinking I Ithe He had always been the silent one the last one to speak lIe He said very quiet with his words I 1 want you to know this Hack If It you ever get in trouble come to me Ill I'll stand behind you Charley Hillhouse shook his head bothered by Morgans Morgan's words I 1 knew you'd say that Clay but I 1 wish you hadn't Makes it tough on me Long as I 1 work for Three Pines Ill I'll let nothing get between betwee n me and the ranch Nothing at all He met Hack Breathitt's glance and quietly added Dont come to me Ha Hack ck That was all These three rose roseand roseand roseand and crossed the room pushing through the doors Ben Den Herendeen remained under the locust trees with wilh Lige White and Gurd Grant and anda a group of 01 Three Pines riders Sherif Sheriff Sheriff Sher Sher- if iff was also there coat hung loosely to his gaunt frame Jesse Rusey Husey farther down the street watched this crowd and on him Clay Morgan put his glance for a moment Charley Hillhouse went across the dust to join Heren Heren- deen Janet turned out of 01 McGarrah's McGarrah's McGarrah's McGar McGar- rah's store advancing toward Mor Mor- gan Her lIer little shoulders showed straight in the sunless light her small feet made a quick tapping on the sidewalk boards She said We are having supper with Ann McGarrah Daddy Her soft smile held its secret again her eyes showed it I 1 tell you Hack Breathitt removed his hat hal with a flourish How honey How Hack Hack said Come along with a gentleman Janet put her hand in Hack Breathitt's fist and walked awa away with him Morgan laid his shoulders against the wall of 01 the saloon and freshened his cigar with a match The group remained beneath the locust trees Herendeen and Lige White now talking talk ing together while the rest remained silent A good many people had come to the street scattered under the board awnings All of them he noticed were watching the court court- house Tension crawled up the street strong enough to touch Morgans Morgan's Morgan's Morgans Morgans Morgan's Mor Mor- gans gan's nerves Jesse Rusey never nevel moved from his position as he too watched the courthouse se door A II stage stood by the Mountain House hotel ready to go At the stable Parr Gentry sat on a capsized bar rel lumped over earl anti apparently disinterested but Morgan saw the way the mans man's eyes traveled around Hack Breathitt and Janet were crossing the dust to Tanners Tanner drugstore and at this moment Ollie Jacks freed reed by the jurys jury's verdict step stes d from tram the courthouse looked to either end of the street and halted He lie was a wiry man with the drawn blank face of 01 a gambler he was a man who had been caught stealing beef beet and now by the act of ot the jury was free tree to ride out ills Hii horse hone was in Gentrys Gentry's stable fifty feet from where he stood yet this thil was as far as he got this rooted position before the courthouse with Jesse Rusey on one side of ot him and Herendeen's group watching him from the other and with all alt the town looking on At that moment mo ma- ment meet he knew what Clay Morgan and every soul in town knew bf be knew h he hp was a dead man manITO manTO manTO I ITO TO OK Dr CO JJ |