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Show The Settling of the Sage By Hal g. Evarts Copyright by Hal O. Evarts WNU Service CHAPTER XI Continued 22 The girl had a sickening realization realiza-tion that the work of a year would be blotted out In a space of seconds under those churning hoofs. It seemed that she must tile of sheer grief as she witnessed the complete devastation devasta-tion of the fields she hnd watched day by day with such loving care. The stampede swept the full length of the meadow and held on for the house. The foremost cows struck the corrals cor-rals and they went down with a splintering splin-tering crash under the pressure from behind. S'ie looked out on a sea of tossing horns and heaving backs as the herd rushed through, the heavy log buildings shaking from the mass of animals jammed against them and squeezing past. The force of the run was spent on the steep slope back of the house and the herd split Into detachments and moved off through the hills. The west side of the house was wlndowless, a blank wall built against the standing winds. Waddles was busily engaged In knocking out a patch of chlnfcirg and endeavoring to work a loophole between the logs. Harris was similarly engaged. lie pointed down the valley to the south and she turned mechanically and crossed to that window. A few riders showed ou the. ridges on either flank of the valley. "They were cached up there to pick os off If we rode down to try anj turn the run," he said. She nodded without apparent Interest. Inter-est. What might transpire now seemed a matter to be viewed with Indifference. "It's lime for me to go," Harris said. 'Til hold the bunk house. Good luck. Billie we'll hold 'em off." lie turned to Waddles who still worked to make a loophole through the blank wall. . "If It gets too hot put her outside nnd tell her to give herself up. Even Lang would know that the whole country would be hunting them tomorrow tomor-row If they touched her. They won't If they can help it. But this is their last hope to trust In one final raid. They'll go through with It. Make her go outside If It comes to that." lie opened the door and leaped across the twenty yards ol open space which separated the maln building from the bunk house, barred the door nnd looked from the south window. The riders along the valley rims had descended to the bottoms. Smoke was already rising from one homestead cabin and they were riding toward the rest. Two men had dismounted by the head gate. Ilarrls cursed himself for not having hav-ing anticipated this very thing. The whole plan was clear to him. Slade would hav known that when the cowhands cow-hands came In from the round-up there would follow the Inevitable night at Brill's. Morrow had mapped out the raid long in advance, engaging Lang to gather the cows throughout the first night the round-up crew was in from the ranse nnd hold them a few miles fro-n the ranch. Lang could not know that Slade was locked up and that Morrow was dead so the raid had gone through as planned. Smoke was rlslLf from two .jore cabins In the flats and Harris re-proache re-proache himself for another oversight over-sight In allowing the wagons to pull out' Kefore the others arrived. The . crop would have been ruined In any event but with the hands at home they could hav prevented the destruction of the cnblns. LI traLsf erred his attention to the long line of 'op buildings a hundred yards to the east The row afforded perfect cover for any who ehosr that route of approach. They could walk up to them In absolute safety, screeued both from himself and those In the main house. As he watched the doors and windows win-dows for slfeti of movement within a voice hailed the from the shop. "ou might us well comj out," It called. "We're going to fire the i lanL" Harris stretched prone on the tloor and resied the muzzle of his 1 1 fie on a crack between the logs. It was hard shooting. H was forced to shift the butt end if the gun. moving with It himself to line the sights Instead of twinging the free end of the barrel. He trained It on a crack some two feet from the door of the shop. Behind Be-hind the aperture the light of a win dow on the far side showed faintly. "Come out I" the voice ordered. "Or we'll cook you Inside, We've no time to lose. Itusl- ft I" The light disappeared from the crack nd Harris pressed the trigger. With the roar of his gun a shape pitched do -n across the dvor of the shop. Some unseen hands caught the man by the fet and as he was dragg ' back from sight Harris saw the red handkerchief which had seized as u mask. From all along the row of buildings a lire was opened ou the bunk house. Harris threw himself Hat against the lower log which barely shielded him. Shreds of 'dobe chinking Uttered tue room. The balls which found an entrance en-trance splintered through the bunks and burled themselves In the logs of the far will. One marksman worked on the lower crnck. Puffs of 'dobe pulverized pul-verized oefore Harris' eyes as the systematic sys-tematic fire crept toward him down the crack In six-Inch steps. The shooting suddenly ceased. Billie Bil-lie Warren, dazedly Indifferent 113 to what should happen to the Three Bar since the wreck of the lower field, had f roused to action the Instant she saw the spurts of chinking fly from the cracks of the bunk house before the fusillade sent after narrls. She threw open the door and stepped out, holding hold-ing up one hand. "Don't Mil him!" she commanded. "If you fire another shot at him I'll put up -very dollar I own to hang every man that ever rode a foot with Lang I Do you hear that, Lang?" "Lqng's In Idaho." a voice growled surlily from the shop. "None of 113 ever rod' with Lang. We're from every band on the ronge and we're going to burn you squatters out." "Draw off and let us ride away," she said. "You can have the Three Bar." "All but narrls," the voice called back, "lie stays!" Harris knew that the men would not be deterred In their purpose would sacrifice her along with the rest If necessary to accomplish their end. "Gel back, Billie," he called from the bunk house. "You can'l do us any Waddles Pumped a nifle and Covered Cov-ered Harris1 Retreat as Best He Could. good out there. Take the little cabin and sit tight. We'll beat them off." She walked to the little cabin that stood Isolated and alone, the first building ever erected on the Three Bar and which had sheltered the Harrises Har-rises before her father had taken over the brand. From her point of vantage she saw two masked men rise from the brush and run swiftly down toward the main house, each carrying a can. She divined their purpose Instantly. "Watch the west sldel" she called. "The west side quick." The muffled crash of a rifle rolled steadily from the house as Waddles fired at the chinking In an effort to reach the two men outside. But they had accomplished their purpose and retreated. The row of buildings was a seething Uioss of flames rolling up Into the black smoke. Flames hissed and licked up the blank wall of the main house, trave ng along the logs on which the two. masked raiders had thrown their cans of oil. The men outside had only to wait until the occupants oc-cupants were roasted out She knew Waddles would corn? out when It g;-ew too hot. The raiders might let him go. It was Uarrls they waited for. The girl ran across and pounded on the bunk-house door. "Run for It," she begged. "Make a run for the brush I I'll keep between you and them. They won't shoot me. You can get to the brush. There's a chance that way." "All right, old girl," Harris said. "In a minute now. But you go back, Billie. Bil-lie. Get back to the little house. As soon as It gets hot I'll run for iL I've got len minutes yet before I'm roasted out. I'll start a3 soon as you're Inside the house." "No. Start now!" she Implored. "IUiu, Cal. Run while you've got a chance." She leaned upon the door nnd beat on It with her fists. "All right, Billie," he said, "I'll go. You stay right where you are as If you're talking to me." She hea,rd him cross the floor. He dropped from th window on th far side from the men. When he came la sight of them he was running to It ig leaps for the brush, zigzagging la bis flight Half a dozen rifles spurted from two hundred ynrds np the slope, the balls passing him with nasty snaps. He reached the edge of the sage and plunged headlong between two rocks. Waddles pumped a rifle and covered Harris' flight as best he could, drilling the center of every sage that shook or qulverrl back of the house. Two men turned their attention to the one who handicapped their chances of locating the crawling man and poured their fire through the window. He dropped to the floor and peered from a crack. The firing had sudden-ly sudden-ly ceased. He saw a hat moving np a coulee, a mere flash here and there above the sage as the owner of It ran. The smoke hurt his eyes and the heat seemed to crack his skin. He crossed over to ;ee If Harris was down; that would account for the sudden sud-den cessation of shooting from the hills back of the house. The raiders In the lower field were riding oWlftly for the far side of the valley. One man knelt near the head gate, then mounted and Jumped his horse off after the rest Waddles put the whole force of his lungs behind one mighty cheer. Far down along the rim of the valley, val-ley, out'tned against the sky, frtur mules were running as so many startled deer under the bite of the lash and six men swayed and clung to the wagon that lurched behind. Three men unloaded from the wagon as It came opposite the cluster of men riding far out across the flats. They opened a long-range fire at a thousand ynrds while the others stayed with the wagon as It rocked on toward the burning ranch. Billie was running to the brush at the spot where Harris had disappeared. disap-peared. He rose to meet her. "Cal, you're not hurt?" she asked. "Not a scratch," he said. "Thanks to you." In her relief she grnsped his arm and gave It a fierce little squeeze, "Then It's all right." she said. WaddlPS burst from the door of the burning house, his arms piled high with salvage. "We'll save what we can," Harris said and started for the house. As he ran the valley rocked with a concussion con-cussion which nearly threw him flat and a column of fragments and trash rose a hundred feet above the spot where the head gate had been but a second past. A dozen running horses flipped over the edge of the hill and plunged down toward the ranch. The men were back from Brill's. Harris held up his hand to halt the riders as they would have kept on past the house, ne knew that the raiders stationed behind the ranch had long since reached their horses and were lost In the choppy hills. He waved all nands toward the bulldlng9 and they swarmed Inside, carrying out lond after load of such articles as could he moved and piling them out of reach of the flames. The gin sat apart and watched tbem work. Her lethargy had returned. It seemed a small matter to rescue these trinkets when the Three Bar was a total wr'ck. narrls caught two of the saddled horses that had carried the men from Brill's and crossed over to where the girl sat. "Let's ride down to the field." he said. "An-: see what's got to be done. I expect 1 week's work will repair that part of It all right." She ga-ed at him In amazement He spoke of repairing the damage while the Three Bar burned before his eyes. But she rose and mounted the horse and they rode off down what had once been the lane, the fence flattened by the rushing horde of cattle cat-tle that had swept through. The homestead cabins smoked but stir, stood Intact "Look!" he urged cheerfully. "Those logs were too green to burn. We won't even have to rebuild They'll look a little charred round the edges maybe, but otherwise as good as new. We're not bad hurt They can't hurt our land. I'd rather have this flat right now the way It stands than three thousand head of cows on the range nnd no land at all. We can rebuild re-build the plate this winter while work is slack. Build better than before." Ills enthusiasm failed to touch her. For her the Three Bar was wrecked, the old home gone, nnd her gaze kept straying back to the eddying black smoke-cloud at the foot of the hills. MO BE CONTINUED.) |