Show SERIAL STORY LANGFORD 0 of th the 0 BAROW ii K KATE AND VIRGIL D BOY BOYLES LES J st coper gilt by A C mcc arg co aw SYNOPSIS george williston a poor ranchman h gh minded and cultured searches tor for tattle cattle missing from his ranch the I 1 azy d 49 on a wooded spot in the rivers bed hat would I 1 ave been an island had the Ilis missouri been at high water he d s covers vers a band of 0 horse thieves engaged in working over brands on cattle he ile creeps near enough to note the chang ng of the three bars brand on one steer to tie J R brand paul lang ford the rich owner of the three bars Is inborn ed of the operations of the gang of cattle thieves a band of outlaws headed by jesse black who long have defied the law and autuori ties of kemah county south dakota langford Lang tord la Is struck with the beauty of mary commonly known as will Wilis ston tons s little tittle girl louise dale an expert court stenographer wl 0 had followed her uncle judge hammond dale from the east to the Dakota hs and who is s living with him at wind city Is requested by the county attorney richard gordon to come to kemal remal and take nony in the prel ajnar hearing of jesse black jim munson n waiting at the train for louise looks at a herd of cattle be ng sh aped by bill brown and alere tl ere detects old mag a well known onery steer be longing to his employer of the T re e bars ranch munson and louise s start t ar t for or kemah crowds assemble in justice james it R s court for t e preliminary hearing jesse black springs the first of n any great surer ses a 1 g examination tl dougl jake sanderson a member of the outlaw gang he I 1 ai learned that the steer mag I 1 ad been r covered and thus saw the uselessness useless of fighting against being bound over C nty attorney gordon accod panics louise dale on her return to IN 1 ind city W lie ile williston stands in the 11 light ht in his door at night a shot Is fired at achim him tl TI e house Is attacked and a battle ensues between williston Wll liston and I 1 is dangl ter on one a de and the outlaws on the other the house is set on fire As the outlaw raises I 1 is rifle to shoot williston Wl lilston a shot from an un known source pierces his arm and the rifle falls to the ground aid I 1 as come to W but he and his dangl ter are captured and borne away by the outlaws jim munson late at night heard the shots discovered the attack onn on il liston a house hurried to tl e three bars ranch and sum langford Lang tord and his brave men to tl ti e rescue it was as langford who fired the shot which saved Willis tons s life langdor I 1 rescues mary from her captor langford Lang rford takes mary to the home of mrs white grows rows delirious an and d receives medi medical c a I 1 ft at t the party search in va vain i n f for 0 r williston louise comes to nurse at mary williston is given up tor for dead bryt but meager evidence is obtainable against jesse black and it Is concluded that the case must be fought 0 t on tie tl e s sole ole question of mag judge dale arri arches es to sit fitt at the december session of the cir cult court at which the cattle theft case cage Is to be tried gordon has hard work in securing an unprejudiced jury red sanderson takes a seat in the I 1 otel dining hall beside louise and addresses ty her er he Is unceremoniously shoved aside gordon sanderson draws bis his gun CHAPTER XV continued there were others who did not know the little mm min he hailed from the southern part of the state but gordon knew him he ile knew he was pitted against one of the sharpest shrewdest men of bis his day gentlemen I 1 think we are ready said the judge and the game was on oil again the state called paul langford Lang tord its principal witness in default of wll wil uston your name place of residence and business 7 asked the counsel for the state paul langford Lang foid I 1 beside in kemah county and I 1 own and operate a cattle ranch after langford Lang tord had clearly de scribed and identified the animal in question gordon continued mr langford Lang tord when did you first miss this steer on the day of july last how did you happen to miss this steers my attention was called to the tact fact that an animal answering this de script ton and bearing my brand had been seen under suspicious detention prior to information thus received aou ou were not aware this creature had either strayed away or been stolen I 1 was riot who gave you this information mr Langford 9 george williston Wll liston of the lazy S now you may tell the jury IE in what words williston told you about the steer he saw this of course was objected to and the objection was sustained by the court as gordon knew it would b he only wanted the jury to reme aber that williston Wll liston could have told a dam aging story had ho he been here and also to remember how mysteriously ly this same williston Wll liston had disappeared he could not have williston or williston Wll liston s story but he might keep an imbres slon sion ever before these 12 men that there was a story he knew it and they knew it lt a story of which some crotchet of the law forbade the telling what did you do after your atten tion had been called to the suspicious circumstances of the steer s aeten tlona I 1 informed my boys of what I 1 had bad heard and sent them out to look tor for the steer that same daya yes were they successful 7 no did this steer have h i cular stamping grou ild he ile did where was that he always ranged with a bunch on what we call the home borne range near the ranch housea within halt a mile did you look tor for him yourself 7 9 I 1 did he was not on this home grazing he was not did you look elsewhere tor for hima we did where 9 we rode the free ranges for sever al days wherever any of my cattle held out how many days did you say you rode IN by we continued to look sharp until my boy munson found him the day before the preliminary at the vel pen stock yards on the point of being shipped to city you went to velpen to identity identify this steer I 1 did it was your steer les es r the same for which you had been searching seir ching so longa the very same it anas as wearing your brand brandr it was not what brand was it wearing J R where was ita it on the right hip where do you usually put your brand mr Langford 7 9 on the right hip always do ou know any J R outfit I 1 do not gordon nodded to small his exam had been straightforward and to the point he ile had drawn alert and confident answers from his witness he glanced at louise who had not seemed to be working at all during this clean cut dialogue she flashed a fleeting smile at him he ile knew he was out of sympathy with the great majority of the people down are there in front he did not seem to care so much now A great medicine is a womanly and an understanding smile it flushed his face a bit too langford was most unsatisfactory wider cross examination he never contradicted himself and was a trifle contemptuous of I 1 any effort to tangle U U the game was on him up in threads of his own weaving the little man touched small on the arm and whispered to him mr langford said small in a weighty voice you travel a great deal I 1 believe I 1 do for pleasure maybe with a mys cerious inflection partly business as business as well just prior to the arrest of the de insinuatingly you were away how long prior do you meana mean say a week no two yes you had been away some time the better part of a year con fessel langford with engaging can dor yes now mr langford I 1 should III a e you to tell me about how many cattle you range in round numbers 7 9 about 5 head yes now mr langford Lang tord you who count your cattle by the thousands on your own sworn word you have been out of the country a year don t you think you are asking this jury to swallow a pretty big mouthful when you ask them to believe that you could so unmistakably distinguish this one poor ornery steer who has so little to distinguish him from thousands of others I 1 have owned that spotted steer tor for years said langford composedly I 1 have never sold him because he was rather an odd creature and so can cankerous tan kerous that we dubbed him the three bars mascot gordon called jim munson what is your gosh the question was unexpected was there any one in the county who did not know jim munson and dick gor don of all people then he kemem bared that the boss had been asked the same question so it must be all right but the ways of the court viere R ere surely mysterious and ott times foell h jim munson jim munson a my name 3 ep gordon smiled you t insist on it ml mun son he advised 1 ive know it now N acre nere do you lived at t 11 II illta damn I 1 live it me three bars ranch in kemah co inac act T it sure Is what Is your business mr mun aon sona jim s dick well I 1 tor for the boss mr paul langford la in what capacity if it you mean what do I 1 do why I 1 ride the range I 1 punch cows I 1 always go on the round up I 1 in a fair bronco breal er and I 1 make up bunks and clean lamp chim blies between times he recited glibly bound to be terse yet explicit by advice of the boss there was a gale of laughter in the bar een eien the court smiled oh jim jim you have perjured yourself already murmured the boss clean lamp chimneys e gods well grin away exploded JP alm his quick ire rising he had forgotten that judge dales court was not justice mcallister McAlli s his fingers fair ly itched to draw a pistol and make the scoffers laugh and dance to a little music of his own but something in gordon s steady though seemingly careless gaze brought him back to the seriousness of the scene they were playing without guns the examination proceeded the air was getting stifling windows were thrown open damp looking clouds had arisen from nowhere seem angly and spread over the little prairie town over the river and the hills it was vera ver warm weather seasoned inhabitants would have predicted storm had they not been otherwise en there was no breath of air stirring mrs higgins had said it was a sorry day for the cattle when the river was running in december others had said so and so believed but people were not thinking of the cattle now one big boned long horned steer held the stage alone the state proceeded to munson s identification of the steer in question after many and searching questions gordon asked the witness jim would you be willing to swear that the steer you had held over at the stock yards was the very same steer that was the mascot of the three bars ranche this was jim jims s big opportunity know mag swear to mag dick I 1 would know mag et ef I 1 met him on the golden streets of the eternal city or et ef my eyes was full 0 lit cat eat aralts yep I 1 am not asking such an impossible feat mr munson cut in gordon net tied by the digressions ol 01 one of his most important witness answer briefly please would jou ou be willing to swear sweard jim was jerked back to the beaten track by the sharp incision of gor dons don s rebuke no this was indeed not noti jimmie mac mae s court u x bep ep ne lie answered shortly short lyS 1 W billy brown drown was called A a I 1 preliminary questions gordon said to him now mr brown please tell the jury how you came into flito possession of the steer well I 1 was a couple 0 car loads to sioux city and I 1 was arlvin the bunch myself with a couple 0 hands when I 1 meets up with jesse black here he was herdin herdia a likely little bunch 0 a halt half dozen or so among em am this spotted feller faller he lie said he gasn wasn t any this fall but these were tor for sale part of a lot be he bad had bought from yellow wolf so the upshot of the matter was I 1 took em am off oft his hands I 1 was just lackin bout that many to make a good clean two cars full you took a bill of sale for them of course mr brown 7 I 1 sure did I 1 im in too old a hand to buy without a bill 0 sale the document was produced mark ed as an exhibit and offered in evi dence TO BE CONTINUED |