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Show The Settling of the Sage By HAL G. EVARTS . TOKUServtM - CopyrUM by Hal O. Bvarta WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE At the Warren ranch, tLe Three Bar," a -at ranger at plied for work aa a rider W'l i liamette Ann Warren known to all as "Bllllc la the owner of :ha rnnoh. The tjlrl'a fnlh-i, Cal Warren, had been the orlnl-nal orlnl-nal owner. The question whether wheth-er the territory Is to remain "cow country" or be opened ic settlement Is a troublesome one The newcomer Is put to woi lc Cittle "rustlers" have. ben troubling the ranch owners The new hand grivee his name as Cm Harris. By his announcement In favor of "squatters" he Incurs the enmity of a rider known as Morrow. The will made bv Cal Warren stipulated that half the property should go to the son of his old friend. William Harri. under certain conditions The new arrival Is the man, and he discloses the fact to mille. Slade. a ranchman with an unsavory reputation, visits lilllie Slade. endeavoring en-deavoring to embrace Billle Is interrupted in-terrupted bv Harris The reR-ular reR-ular calf round -up la begun While .he riders, are at thelt evening meal, far out on the range, six outsiders loin them Billie I nows them to be "rust-lerH." "rust-lerH." who, under the leadership of Slade and a man named Harper, Harp-er, have In. the past stolen Three Par cattle. To test Harris rmir- ' age the girl appoints , him temporary tem-porary foreman, suoresting thai . he. .order,, the . visitors . to leave Somewhat to her surprise he doee '. so. The mon depart, - makln . threats. Billie makes Harris -.permanent - foreman.' Catch InR Morrow . lravlnir cattle were they can' he stolen. Harris dls-' .charges him. . ' CHAPTER. V: . ' 9 Cillle Warren rode" with ilarris on the Inst lap of ihe circle There wore but two mpri 'retnatiilt'iy 'wilh' tliem. "Aloorer. Unrrla culled,- and the man turned' his horse down the he:id Df a draw t hut would lend him out Into the bottoms a. I rifle, less than a mile above the wngon. Ujinls henrd o shrill whistle behind him mid turned sidewise in the saddle to look back, sauthaf Moore had regained the rldye nn(J was signaling. Tliej ruined and rode back to him. "There's another," Moore said, pointing down the gulch "It's Kef-ling Kef-ling fo be a habit." A dead cow la.v on a lillle flat a bundred yards below For three rnn seeutlve days some rldei had found a Lii'SMi-bujiMj in rue i;ar cow.- Kvery enlinal had been shot. " "I'll look thlf one over mse!f. Harris decided. "There's only two more gulches' to work. Each one of rou boys take one." The girl followed him ns he turned flown the Hist steep ditch. Thej pulled up their horses and sal look Ing at the cow., a trickle of blood oozed out of n hole between her eyes Ilarris rode In a circle round th-epoL th-epoL . . "He downed, her from some point nbove," he said "Not a sign uny ivticre- close at hand." Ue surveyed the 'ridges that Hanked either side df the draw and Ihe Utile saddle-like de proRsIon at the head'of it from whi. h they had Just -descended. From he yond this gap came the shrill nkktM of a horse, Ihe sound chopped short as if a man had clatnpi-d his hand ! the animal's nosirils to silence It Harris turned swiftly to the girl "It's a plant." he said. haid!" . He sailed his action to the w .rd:-and .rd:-and 'Jumped 'his horse oft down th bottoms. He waved her over to w side. "Keep well away from me I" he or dered. "They don't wiini you." They bung their spurs Into n,-t mounts and the horses plunged i wn the sieeply-pit hing bottoms vaiiltim-sage vaiiltim-sage clumps and bouudiuu alonu 'he cow trails that threaded the hnilt Two hundred yards helow the . row the draw made an elbow bend. The Kill rounded It and as Harris fol lowed a Jump behind, he felt n j Jarring tug aj the cnml i saddle and the Ihln. sharp cra.l t! j rifle reached him. The guh h maoe h j reverse bend and- as tiny swp I around ll Harris swung sidew ise ir , the saddle 'und looked hark. '. "Tln- were entirely sheltered from nu I point im Ihe divide six hundred yard behind them He pulled his hor. t, a swinging trot and (hey rode d-wr the sloping meadow thai led stralyh' fo the main valley. ! "We didn't get started any rot j soon," Man is said. "His horse wa.-m t I more thun a hundred feel beyond the i notch when he blev off aim wnr.-.ed j hh not time for me to gel cachet1 and drop him as he topped the rld-i; " j The girl's eyes suddenly riveted"" on a small round hole In the ramie of hi I saddle where the ball had entered j On the Inside and far to the left ex i fremity mt the cantle a ragged B;isi, ! showed where It had passed out Th-ball Th-ball hud not missed his left hip to ex ceed an Inch. Sht started her horse so suddenly rhat before he realized her purpose she whs well In the lead und going at a dead run toward the mouth of the guhh where It opened out fnto the nifiiu bottoms two' hundred yurdi-beyond. yurdi-beyond. From the opposite slope riders were hazing cows out of their respective draws. The running horse caught tv- er man's eyes as the girl careened out Into the center of the valley, rose In her stirrups and waved an arm In a circle above her head. In five seconds riders were whirling In behind her from all directions as she headed for the wagon. ' She waved those already on the 'po' toward the rope corral. "Change horses 1" she called, and as each man rode Id he caught up a fresh horse. "Scatter out: some of you below where we- carne down,. some above," she said. "Five hundred to the man that brings Morrow In," "It's no use, Billie," Hurris coun seied mildly. "He's plum out of the country by now. It'll be dark in three hours and It's right choppy country over there." Waddles Interposed nnd seconded tier move. "Lei 'em rip,'- he said. "There's lust a chance." Hangs was the first to change mounts. The boys physical qualiflm 1 lions were as sound as his mental ability was limited and It was his pride to have a string of mounts that .included the worst horses In the lot. Me rode from the corral on Rlne, hold ing fhe b'g roan sfeady, and headed til) the ridge a mile below where Harris Har-ris and the girl had come down Kile "It's a Plant," He Said. "Ride hard " Foster chose tlu next;' 'five riders were but a few' Jumps behind. Harris did not change horses hut searched hastily In his war bag and slipped the strap of a biuoculai case across his shoulders and rode oiT wilh. the girl as she finished cinching her sad die on a fresh horse. ' In less than five minutes from the lime she had reached the wagon, the. last Three liar man had .mounted and gone, Harris rode wilh tier up a long ridge thai led up to the divide ; .rhe followed another Into the la-xt hot torus and ascended the second divide This w is sharp and rocky. Its crest h maze of rugged pinnacles He ch"Se the highest of those and dismounted to sweep the range wilh his ulasses The high point afforded n view ol. every ridge for miles Alter per imps half an hour Harris caught five horse men in llie Held of his glasses. They were riding in a knot. "They've picked mi his trail." he said "Hut he'll have too lung a lead We might as well he going." They mounted and he.tded' to the rigln along the divide. "If Uile Is in sight we cjin wall fot him." he said . "And see It he's picked up any trarks." A half-mile aloiiy the ridge the) saw- Foster off through ihe breaks and he was working hack 1 1 1 i r way ."Thanks. Millie." Ilarris said 'For losing a ' cln le try'ng to run him dow n " "I'd-nave done us mm h for nn. Three liar man." she returned "Of course,' he said Ti have es peeled that hut all the -same ll shows that I'm progres.Nlng. Maybe my good (itiallries will jrrw j,,,, until yOI, j,,., f0 thinking right well ot me." They walled till Foster Joined them on the ridge. "Bangs crossed over a mile below, Rile said. "We might pick him up." "Any sign?" Uurrls asked as they moved down the divide. "A hunch of shod horses went down through there a few days back," Rile said. "Three or four men likely, with a few pack horses along. He's pulled i out." 1 "I saw him." Harris said. "He's gone," They stopped In the saddle of the ridge where a fresh track s! owed the spot Hangs had crossed. . The girl was looking at Harris and saw a sudden pallor travel up under his fan and as she turned to see whnf had occasioned It he crowded hi? horse against her own. "Don't look !" he ordered, and forced her horse over the far side of the ridge. "You'd hotter ride on back to the wagon." he urged. "There's been some sort of doings over across. Rile ami I will ride down and look Into It." Witnout a word she turned her horse rowal the wagon. ... "It's God's mercy- she didn't see. Harris said, as the two crossed back over the ridge "Isn't that a h I of a way for a man to die?" Rul Ihe girl had seen. Her one nrlef- look had revealed a horse com ing round a bend In a little box can yon below A shapeless thing dragged from one stirrup and Jt every third or fourth Jump the. big blue .horse side slushed the limp bundle with his l.f els. ... As the two men reached the bottoms the frenzied horse had stopped and w:; fighting to free hljisplf of the tiring that followed him He- moved away from ll In.;a circle but It was. always with him. He squealed and kicked 'It. then dashed off-in a fresh .panic, slde swlping his pursuer. Harris' rope tightened on his neck and threw him. As he rolled over Foster's noose snared both hind feet and' he was held stretched and. help less between two trained cow horses while the men disengaged the bundle tJiat had once been Hangs. One boot heel was missing and his foot was jammed ihrough the stirrup, evidence that the horse had pitched wilh hlrn ja.nd the loosened heel had come off. allowing his foot to slip through as he was thrown. . Harris pointed to a burnt red streak -cross the right sid.- iA Hangs' neck. He unbuttoned his shirt and revealed a similar snreaii miner ms len -armpii Old Rile cursed horribly and his fare seemed lo have aged ten years. "They learned that from the albl no," he said. "It's an old trick that always works. They dropped a rope . on him and Jerked him. pried off his heel, shoved his hoot through nnd laid ihe quirt on his horse Hlue did the rest." . . . Roth men- knew well how it hap pened Hangs had run across the camp .of some of the wild hunch men he had known for long, and the slow I bin king youth had suspected no more danger from "riding on -up to them nt this time than nt any other Hp had told hern of the shot II red nt Harris and rhey had known tlrif some other Three Rnr man would fliid the trail leading from the direction of thelt camp And Hangs would mention having found ' them there, linking them with tlie bushwhacker. When Hangs hail . ft . n pair of them had ridden a distance with him and accomplished' their aim. "Its coming dark.:' Harris said ' "And by morning they'll tie thirty miles aw.ay. That, sort of a killing was never fastened on to anv man vet." . The old man raised a doubled list and his ace was lined with sorrow "HariL's was almost a sod to me." ti- said "I taught lihn to ride and we've rode togeihri on every Job since then. You hear me' Some one is io ing to die for Mils!" lulling the 'next neel' the .girl in vardly accused .1 he men of heartless ness 'I hey ' lesie'd as careli is f nothing urniMial had occurred mid she heard no menlh n of Jiangs It seeint-d that it limk hut . u day tor i heir to forget a former comrade who.' had roMie fo an untimely end Rile Ko.-.-i had disappeared 1)01 on rlu tifih day he turner! up at the Tin Rnr wagon and resumed his w.ri wlihotii the least ' explanation of his absence. fTU BK CONTINUED ) |