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Show , Tlie Settling of tlie: Sage m CHAPTER VII Continued V J. ' ; 15r- '.' ' " t. ".You can't rrinke a contract tlwt 111 I) old a man to turn over his homestead after it's , proved up' he . said. "Half. of them would keep their land." ;. ."Of course," she agreed. "Iiut then you'd have half Insieud ol nothing at all. : Do you want the world?" "1 'want you!"-he said, "throw in with me, girl. I'm going to tight these nesters off the Three Bur auioug the rest if you don't quit.- I'll smash the Three liar Into mincemeat uuless you ' run this d d Harris off.und quit this game." . it was the first time Slade had ever threatened. ller spirits had yoared ovei the prospects of the Three Bar and she was suddenly afraid fur her brand If Slade, who had whittled down a dozen outiits at once, should suddenly turn his whole attention to the Three Bar. T've got It to do," Slade stated. 'Since you've started this deal there's been nesters filed papers on every good site In my range, waiting to rush In as soon as I lose my grip. Do you think I'll let them crowd me out? Not In a thousand years I I'm telling you I II break the Three Bar If you keep It up." "All right I" she said. -And what about the homestead laws?" "I'm the. law out here," he asserted. It came to her that Slade was fighting fight-ing on the defensive, that he fe.ired to let the Three Bai succeed and set up a precedent In defiance of the signs that dotted the range. "Then It's warl" she said. "And you'll go under yourself, from yout own size, If you haven't the judgment to hedge yourself now like the rest. Tho: Three Bar Is going ahead and we're going to win." She turned her horse but Slade caught her arm and whirled her around. He Jerked a thumb at the two men down the ridge, "What can Deane, a hall-baked boy give you?" he demanded. "You want an outfit ol your own. Ill give you that the biggest In the state." She shook her head without - an swering. "Then I'll break you," he predicted a second time. He drew u folded t of paper from his pocket and held It out to her. "That's the exchange slip be said "it calls for three: hundred odd head of mixed stuff. Vou can 6eud yours over any time." Ue turned his horse and followed after the ranger while the glr! joined Harris and Deane. Harris had slipped the strap ol his glasses and handed them to Deane who had dismounted and wus peering off at the spot Harris had pointed out A few scattered shacks, showing as toy houses from the distance, stood in the center of a broad open basin, sheltered on all sides by the choppy mass oi the Breaks. A solid corral, almost a stockade, stood near the buildings. "That's Arnolds stockade," Harris expjained to Dane. "Arnold was an old-time' rustler that finished, ar. the end of a rupe fifteen years ago. Now all the drifters In the country stop over here If they waut a place to hole up." . "Can't the sheilff clean them out ol there?" Deane asked. "He could," Harris said. ' "But no man . will make a" complain!. . . Thej. can rustle every steer In" the country and the losers are afraid to m'uke a report. Every outilt Is supposed 'to protect Its own. If Alden should ride up to almost any ranch within u tiun died miles and ask them It they'd missed ariy srock In the last three years they'd shake their heads and swear that they hadn'i lost a hoot. But the Three Bar has a clean ptge; we re not afraid he'll gel a line on us while we're having him round up some one else. The first time we gei a scrap ol real evidence on any man we'll call Alden In." "You told me the Three Bar herds uave- been cut In half," Deane said. "How much evidence do you ueed'f- "It's like tills: Harris explained Hustling Is about the hurdesl thing In the world to prove. There's a dozen ways rhej can work iL 1 could catch-some catch-some ol them diivlng a bunch ol Three Bnr cows toward the Iduho 'line They'd look up and see. me and calm! ly ride on past the cows. Thej could Bay Ihe bunch was Just drifting ahead of their horses (hat they weren't driving them at all. Who can t prove a case ol 'rustling even If you see It unless you actually catch one alter lug. Ihe brand. The only,. way u eon vlct a rustler right now is to kill dim and sweal (hut you run up on him changing a .brand. 1 expect that's what we'll have to do." Deane looked at (he girl to dHer mine how she met this suggestion, in stead of the shiver of distaste which be rnlhet expected her lips were pressed tight. . "A Utile ol that would help Slade. too," she said "lie told me Just now that he'd smash the Three Bar." The ninn reflected that this sort oi a life could not help but wear off some of her natural fineness and harden her. They followed the rims till thei had cleared the Breaks, then angled do'vn to the foothills and headed fot the Three Bar, Tney held a steadj gait until' a half hour afler sunset and ramped In the open near a tiny spring. Again Deane was Impressed with the Impropriety of the girl's being be-ing out with two men who loved her . By HAL G. EVARTS ' Copyright by Hat O. . Evarte WNU Service ' ' and the.-thought was an ache thai remained.' re-mained.' with hhn., , ' As they .sat round the little fire the girl handed .'Harris, the paper Slade had given her. It was a scrawled bill of sale calling for thrpe hundred odd head of Circle V cows, .listed In the exact numbers ol all ages and sexes. In return she would send him an exchange ex-change slip for the saine number ol Three Bar stock. This exchange pys tern was one of Slade's own devising. Intended to eliminate the time and expense ex-pense of sending riders to scour ad Jacent ranges In search of drifted stock. - Kach outfit' exchanged slips based on the round-up tally with eery other brand and so could show bill of sale for off-brand sluff In. their beef shipments or for any rebrands on the range. Deane was regarding the penciled memorandum signed. by Slade. "Xof a very impressive document,' he observed. . , Harris laughed at the other's evi dent disapproval of such a slipshod method of property transfer. "Not very," he ugreed, "But It s absolutely good. You could borrow money against that' at the bank. Slade doesn't get us that way but here's how he does: He's mapped out a rebrand system. His rebrand Is Triangle on the hip. When he gets our exchunge slip all be has to do 19 go on his range and- run the Triangle on ihe hip oi the number ol Three Bar stock It calls for. There are Three Bar cows ranging a hundred miles from here, Just as there's brands a bun. died miles off whose stock turns up here with a triangle on Ihe hip: Who's going to check Slade up? It would tuke three crews to cover his range and tally the fresh Three Bar rebrands of this one season a few here and a tew there. He ships train loads of cows In a year. There's somt old rebrands In each lot, say; majbe more than last year's exchange. Well he simply has been holding them over. He can easy explain that II would break a small outfit to hire enough hands to cover his range and check hlin up and he'd buy part of those, 'Ihe albino's men are petty-lurceuy bandits compared with Slnde," Deane turned to tfie girl. "Blllie, wiiy don't you get out of a game where everything Is crooked a game of who can steal the most and every man for himself?" he asked. "Why don't you fold your bands and give up your business the first tllng that goes wrong?" 6he countered- "In stead of trying to remedy It?" "But you dOD't have to do It," he urged. "XSelther do you," she said. "I've the same pride In the Three Bar M.at you have In anything you've helped build up. You'd fight all the harder for one of your schemes that was hard pressed and so would I." She turned to her teepee and ended the discussion, her pride a little hurt that Deane should so little appreciate her work and the spirit that made her hold on Insieud'' of giving up. That evening they rode up to the Three Bar Just as Waddles announced the evening meaL "She's hot l" the big voice walled 'She's re-e-ed hotl" The hands were gathering at the ranch, coming In 'from ' tile, range foi a frolic before the beef round:up should keep out for another month Dea ne's time wus up and' he had planned to leave on the. following day "You can't do thr.t." Harris said Two more days for you. I've given orders not to let yuu ' on the place fill after the dance at Brill's. I his Is Tuesday and the big frolic will br staged Thursday night Then you're free to go." Deane shook Ids head arid prepared to offer un excuse but Harris smiling ly refused to consider It, "No use lo try," he said. "The boys won f let you go. We've had you out lu Ihe rain and now well try to make amends for It. Billie, don't let. film leave the place. I'll detail you as guard," "You. hear the. orders," .she. 6a!d "You're stink for two mote days'-ai the Three Bar whether you like It or not." "That settles It." Deane said.. -I do want to see that dance." Home strolled up to them as they reached the corral. "Another of the wild, bunch down. ; ' he said. "Ma gill thin time. Got It . Just the same us Barton- did last week t Shot from Jii frout; one .empty shell In his gun. The Break's Is get. ting to- be a hard place to reside In." ,.AgalD the girl felt that queer son' satloh of having expected this to transpire, as If possibly ' she ' hart - helped plan the deed herself and had forgotten It That night as she lay Iri her bed her mind was concerned with It and at times the solution seemed almost to reach the surface of her consciousness. Two belated riders came up the lane. As they rode past her open windows she heard the name of Maglll. "That's two for Bangs," Bald a voice she knew for Moore's. The evasive sense of familiarity, of being In some way Identified with the killings, was suddenly clear to her so clear that she marveled al not having hav-ing known at once. Old Bile Foster was haunting tho Breaks near Arnold's, Imposing grhn and merciless justice on all those whom lie suspected ol having had a hand In the finish of Bangs. CHAPTER VIII nan-is had left the ranch an hour before daylight, his ride occasioned by the reports ol several of the men. In the last three days each couple that worked the range hod found one or more of the new white-face bulls shot down in their territory. The evidence, us Harris pieced the scraps together, Indicated that a lone rider had made u swift raid, riding for forty miles along the fool of the hills fn a single day, shooting down every Three Bar bull that crossed his trail A dozen dead animals marked his course. A few more such raids and the Three Bar coif, crop would be extremely ex-tremely short tne following spring He rode back to thu corrals In the early afternoon and joined Blllie and Deane. - "Sot a track," he said. "We must expect more or less of that. They'll eul In on us wherever there's a chance." As Harris left them the girl pointed out a horsemun riding up the lane. "The sheriff," she volunteered, and Deane noted an odd tightening of her Hps. The sheriff came over t6 Deane and the girl. "Blllie, I expect you can tell me who's doing tills killing over In the Breaks," he said. Her eyes fell uuder the- sheriff's steady gaze. Deane was looking Into her face and with a shock he realizes thut she could pronounce the name of the ussussin but wus deliberately withholding It She raised her head with a trace ol defiance "So. 1 can't tell you." she said. Deane expected to hear the sheriff's curt demand that she divulge tin uame of Uie man he sought It must be tasily apparent to him, as It was to Deane, that she knew. But Alden only dropped a hand on her shoulder and stood looking dowu at her. "All right, girl," he suld mildly. "1 reckon you can't tell. Ue cun't be such a rotten sort If you refuse to turn him up." Ue pushed back his hat uno smiled al Deane. "We have to hu uior the womenfolks out here," he ex plained, as he turned toward the bunk house. Dearie, already at a loss to grasp the- mental attitude of the rurige dwellers, wus further mystified by sheriff Who spoke o humoring the la dies in a matter pertaining to a dou hie killing. "BIUlc you know;" ne accused; why wouldn't you fell?" "Because there'B. a good chance thai he's a nieud ol mine," she staled simply. "Those men had It coming to them and some way I can't feel any regret." "Billie. let me take you away from all this." Deane urged ugain. "Let uit-give uit-give you the fhlngs every girl should have shut all the rough spots out ol our puilu I want to give you tbe" filings every girl needs to round out her life a home and love and shelter This is uol the life for a girl." he In sisled. "You've told mea hundred time Ihut 1 was different from other girls But now you're wanting me to be like all the rest. Where would the dlf ference be then?" she uskert u little wistfully. "Why can't you go on Ilk ing me the way I am. Instead of mak Ing me over?" . , , 'TO liiS CONTINUED.) CHHH3frfraocHq&oaKBK |