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Show rHILLS CkESTINY L something else which Slanty had stolen from Matt Blairs desk the night he killed him." "He told me of his own accord," said Stanley, angrily, "that you were Blair's son and that he could prove it." "If you showed him your money first, he'd tell you anthing you wanted to hear. I'm not Matt Blair's son. I'm not Virginia's brother, and Slanty knew it. I happen to be yours. And I'm not proud of it.'.). A chair rasped. BVadish leaped forward, staring at Lee. "My mother," said Lee steadily, looking straight' at Bradish this time, "was Anita Ceballos, Don Luis' daughter, the girl you married mar-ried secretly when you were down and out and deserted when you saw better fortune within your reach." "I didn't know," Bradish said CHAPTER XIV "Lee! Lee! It's Virginia! I'm coming! Her piercing call beat at the solid sol-id barrier as she began to dig frantically, but a few seconds showed her helplessness. She jumped to her feet and ran fleetly back to the entrance, remember-: remember-: ing those riding men. "Ssst!" j The warning sibilance brought S her up sharply, almost at the tun- j nePs mouth. There was a rustle in the scrub out there, and Slanty j Gano lurched through. j "Shut up! he said savagely. ( She backed hastily away, sick 1 with a new terror. Slanty Gano ! knew that Lee was back there, a"nd he meant to kill her if she gave an i alarm. Huge paws caught and dragged her, hot breath was on i her neck as she twisted' her head away for the one sure thing that would bring those riding men at top speed, a woman's frantic 1 screams. They ripped through the air like 1 knives, keen with mortal terror, choking out as brutal hands grip- 1 ped her throat. But she had done it- "Help! Lee! Lee!" i From the far side of the ridge answering yells came. Slanty stopped only long enough to fling her from him as he leaped leap-ed for the shelter of the crub. A little later men were digging and scooping with anything they could find. 1 That night a group of men rode I isto Turky Gulch toward the light of a campfire, carrying a prisoner I wih them. On the other side of the j fire a man was being lifted to his I feet. A ghostly figure, swattched j in bandages, gaunt and hollow-I hollow-I eyed. A dead man risen. "That's the man," said Lee Hol- i lister. "Lawler didn't have any- thing to do with it." i There was a stir toward Slanty, i but Lee had not finished. His 1 voice was low, but they heard it. . i "First I'll take that knife you 1 were using, back there in the Bon- anza tunnel." The knife had been taken away from Slanty, but someone produced pro-duced it and handed it over. "Open it." Curley complied, showing two wicked looking blades. One was broken at the tip. Francisco was helping Lee take a bit of folded fold-ed paper from his pocket and opening it to show a triangular bit of metal. Curley laid the scrap against the broken blade. It fitted. Slanty moistened his lips. "Slanty Gano, I accuse you of the murder of Matt Blair." A murmer ran through the group like a low growl, but Lee went on. "I never believed that Matt committed suicide. When I came back I found' that knife point, nearly hidden in a crack in he drawer of the desk where Matt worked. Lee swayed, fighting weakness, but his tired voice went on. "You shot Matt Blair as he lay asleep in his chair,, with everybody every-body gone to the barbecue, and then you fired a shot from his own gun and dropped it beside him. "Now, Slanty, we'll hear your confession." "Confess nothin'! What about the fella that's been payin' me? Ye don't dare go after him, Lee Hollistar!" "I'm going after him now," said Lee, and sagged suddenly between be-tween the men who held him. A little later two processions left. One, silent and unsmiling, went toward the county seat. The other, with strong and gentle hands, carried Lee to the ranch house and Virginia, who waited for him. Through the rest of the night Lee lay in the heavy sleep of weakness, weak-ness, barely rousing when the doctor came or when cups of strong hot broth were fed to him. Others tiptoed in and out. A little after midnight Curley and Francisco came in. Curley bent down and cautiously cautious-ly slid a flat packet under the pillow. "It's Lee's. Better tell him about it, Miss Virginia, as soon as he wakes up." Toward morning news came. Slanty Gano, desperate, had taken the desperate way out. "Pretended he was dozin' off," the messenger said, "and then busted out like a crazy man. Grab- bed a deppity's gun, handcuffs and all,, and went down shootin,." Dawn found Lee awake, insisting insist-ing that he was strong enough to get up. They let him sit up in bed first, and there he read the closely written sheets of the packet that Curley had brought the night before. be-fore. They had been taken from Slanty Gano For some minutes after he had finished, he sat there looking bitter bit-ter and tired, then he roused himself him-self and called Curley, hovering just outside the door. "I'm ready. Get my clothes on me. I've got work to do." They awaited him in Matt's office, of-fice, summoned by Curly, one by one. Milton Bradish was there, vigilant and squared for any emergency; em-ergency; Stanley, alertly nervous but noting with relief that his car, commandered the night before to get the doctor, was in front of the door; T. Ellison Archer, looking look-ing flabby and scared, his vast dignity gone; Virginia was there as a matter of course, and also Joey. Lee came in, hollow-eyed and bandaged, moving slowly. "I've asked you all to come here because there's something that I want to say to you." "That's all right, young man, but your in no shape to do it yet." Bradish was briskly solicitous. "Give yourself a day or two to recover." re-cover." "I'm obliged for your consideration, consider-ation, but it comes a little late." Bradish reddened. Steady eyes held him as Lee began. "Three days ago a man who has been acting as your agent shot me, rifled my pockets of the deed to this ranch and carried me into Number One tunnel of the Bonanza Bonan-za mine, where he had set a blast to bury me safely until he could levy blackmail on you for a big sum and make his escape. He had you where he wanted you. . . . No, you wait until I'm through.. "I came to before he left and heard the last things he said, giving giv-ing away some matters that you already know and that I needed to. One of them was that he had dropped me down beside Matt Blair's real samples, the stolen ones that never got to the Assay Office. When he had gone I had just sense enough and time enough en-ough to crawl away from the blast, taking a chunk of that ore with me." He held out a rough, pale yellowish yel-lowish lump. "Carnotite," he said briefly. "I don't need to tell you that." "Yes," Bradish admitted calmly, calm-ly, "I was after the Bonanza, but you're wrong about my knowledge of the methods that Lawler and Gano used. It was purely a business busi-ness matter. The gold pocket that started the rush years ago was found on Matt's claim, and we divided according to agreement. agree-ment. All that I struck on my claim was a lot of rubble and then a vein of stuff that cropped up all over. But we were looking for gold and it didn't mean anything any-thing to us. Years later, looking over some samples of radio-active ores, I remembered those deposits and suspected their value." Bradish talked crisply and directly dir-ectly now, a man. sure of himself and his methods. "And it never occured to you to go to Matt Blair and offer to finance fin-ance him on a partnership basis?" "Certainly not!" Bradish snapped snap-ped it back impatiently. "Matt had lived with the thing under his nose for twenty-eight years without with-out waking up to it. It was his property, but my find. I made him an offer for the whole ranch through an agent of course and got the answer that it wasn't for sale. At his death I repeated my offer to his daughter. In the meantime, by way of being on the ground, and because it runs right up to the Circle V line along Turkey Tur-key Gulch, I bouht in the Rancho Ceballos when the old man died and installed an agent there." "Why," Lee's voice demanded, "When you put in your manager, did you pick out a crook like Slanty Slan-ty Gano?" "We took Gano on," said Bradish Brad-ish crisply, "because he knew too much. He found us in Number three tunnel, using picks and putting put-ting samples in our grub sacks. It couldn't be helped, but it was a bad move, Gano was a quarrelsome quarrel-some loafer who turned out to b a scoundrel and a murderer. Nobody No-body regrets that more than I do but I'm not responsible for his actions." Lee was looking at Stanley and slowly opening a little sheaf ol papers. "There is one thing more. A few days ago you made accusations accusat-ions which no man can overlook you got your information iron Slanty Gano. There was a thous and dollar bill in his pocket whei he was caught and we know when I it came from. But there was als heavily. 'She never told me that there was a child. I give you my word of honor -" "I'd rather you didn't. Honor didn't count when you deserted my mother. You don't have to explain any circumstances. They're They'-re all there." He pointed to the papers under his hand. They lay in a time-yellowed drift on the desk. Bradish arose. It was the slow, heavy move of a beaten man. "All right," he said, his voice expressionless. , "I suppose I had it coming to me." Joey's voice cut in: "An' now ye kin go, Milt Bradish, because Lee lets ye go. There's yore car. Get in it quick, for if ye stay here another five minutes I'll throw a gun on ye myself." It was a silent going. Stanley reached the car first and slipped hurriedly into the drivers seat. Bradish followed his son the only son he dared own. The engine throbbed, the car shot forward'. Silence came, and then the stir of relaxed tension. Lee raised his head, bent moodily as he had watched the fleeting car. Ling stood before him, looking like a benevolent old idol in weathered ivory. "Bleakfas', Lee?" "That sounds good to me, Ling. Breakfast for everybody, the best you ever got. Maria will help you." He waved a friendly hand to the men outside and walked slowly back. Virginia was beside him, wanting him to lean on her shoulder. should-er. Joey lingered a moment, with a gulp of emotion, and then he went out on tiptoe. "It's over," Lee said in a tired voice. "Thank God. We're start-in start-in again with a clean slate . . . Honey come here!" She came blindly, shaking under the release from days of intolerable intoler-able strain. . . . "Oh my dear, my dear!" The last whisper of the closing door left them alone. THE END |
