| Show so L lle UJ ar ol 01 robb ers roost vy crittenden W 0 service CHAPTER XI continued 22 fudeo passion still was high Il illora doba lobA boldus sold ua out he ha raved Bar barker keir mends ward that she eho has an green gree u has just owned up to it barker says saye weve got just juat one chance he says ho he knows that bob has told this go Ahead moat everything but hes he soot not sure ashes told film how bow to find dad uie the Roost yot yet or that lies passed it on to the sold soldiers lers ile he and she are at bridgets tonight an if we can got get there before beffre daylight we con can catch lem cm asleep anil and end things for good and nil all then tho the doughboys dough boys can go plumb to they aint never neter found the roost nn an they never will till somebody shows lem cm tile the way go with me to got get leav aiu two thirds of the men shouted acclaim the res rest on the outskirts of the crowd the walling waiting of the women sounded bounded wade guessed that some were holding back bach how flow many wont gol he yelled how many sneaks and cowards have we got here spook spank up bowl now I 1 show your colors no one to speak out alone was waa to face instant death every one knew it and to speak out with others othera would probably be to provoke a battle whose result vault no ao man could guess wades lips curled back from haj hi teeth nobody th eh he be cried all want to go all right well all go get your guns and horses and all the cartridges you youhao caa pack be back in five minutes any man chati tries to hide and sneak lout out of going will be dragged out and hanged understand that all of you now go quick I 1 like a envoy covey of quail flushed by the dogs the men scattered and in less than five minutes they were back again mounted and ready wade who was a born bom tender leader whatever else he muy may have been romped hla his orders omaha kit broncho smith two gun vent neal and toady pete wilt will stay here to man the machine puna anil and hold the entrance block black ames will come alon alongi glas as my lieutenant wheres ames ameal here all right start your men get em outside tle valley ill follow as quick valsee iff I 1 seo ln probably nobody skulked though wade madeno attempt to search the Uthe camp to see no he believed that his words would be fent warning and in ariy any oven the td spare cload lust last mita he rode out beneath beneat li the column he raced straight ahead aloes no he ottle ordered red you tou know knowl the way whang behind an see fice that no white livered pup allas away pet got to the north arroyo before dawn stop there while I 1 see eee barker go I 1 it had bad taken ova five hours for barkers messengers to reach the roost and it took all of five more for wades cavalcade cavalca deto to got get to Lo bovIlle through the long ride wade hung bung behind now on one flank and now on tho the other shepherding his men with sudden death lurking in his eyes it if any of the riders had thought to td slip they noted his vigilant figure and thought better of it probably hoping for a safer chance later the band reached the arroyo as strong as when it left the boost long before tt it arrived barker almost as mad as wade with mith anxiety and denied the relief that wade had obtained froni from vigorous exercise and imperative watchfulness had quit tits his office and hurried to the rendezvous and back not once but many times barker had in fact more to lose than wade or any other member of tile tho bandit troop few of the latter were generally geue rolly known and few of them had any important possessions to lose it if the worst came to the worst they could scatter to the tour four winds leaving little behind tile the mexican border close at hand offered easy passage to safety some of them perhaps a had become attached to their homes bome sand and women and children nt at the roost and would regret losing them but these were few and practically all of them would soon get over their regret barker on the other hand had everything to lose years of success I 1 had made him overconfident he had thought unit that he et could uld never be dis placed and he had made no for the future by biding or Invest investing this ible booty find and graft elge elsewhere where and his doom had come upon hanf so eo sud denly that lio lie had had bud no time to remove it only that morning he had been a king ruler over tilts tills domain v with noab to tw dispute tila bis power and j then in tile space of a score of hours go attend bad swept the ground from under tits hta feet and brought him face to face with utter ruin half a day longer if go ahead lived would complete his destruction band and if go attend ahead did not live the web about him film find become so close that the most lint hat lie he could hopt hope to do was to save something from the wreck backward and forward from office to arroyo he wondered wandered strains mg ing his I 1 eyes cyca and his ears for any thing that would betoken the coming of the ho bond band and wi when ion at lost last it came he be was there to meet it lie he called that you bullai tile tho be up in half balt an hour you aint got a minute to lose everything all right yes A all I 1 right rightly if lf you move quick a at t bridgets fast asleep move quiet the soldiers are at the other end of the town but you dont wont to wak ethem 1 wade shook life hla bridle relas you gogul with us he questioned no I 1 be seen ill 11 be at the office to took laok out oat for or things chingo to in case of trouble hurry I 1 five minutes later bridgets wac surrounded and wade with halt half a dozen helpers was raging through the rooms holding up tho the sleeping Ble men questing the place tot foi go ahead and stella and not finding then them at loat last he be found bridget handshe laughed at him falth faith I 1 she sh its too late entirely you are iian ill that its too late you clenys aarein are la dealan walh go ahead an ad dob bob its halt half a dozen hours since they went away bridget th rugged her abr shoulders allowance for wades condition land and mr disappointment his search scorch for yourself she invited but you wont find end thera teem it its the truth im you Where did they gol gal sure they tell roe me the words were literally true they had not told her aher she had told them wades pistol went up tell me quick I 1 he be ordered tell or they tell me met I 1 sure they be the foolish ones to tell me when they knew you were cornin comin binm to ask they know it then why rhy did they go away with the soldiers leavin two doughboys dough boys to satisfy whoever might bo be wat batchin watch chin ln about the house ohl ob Y you 2 he lookin for thara sold soldier hoys boys they went away an hour or tw two later its beaten you are a an U if take an old womans comans advice tile the quicker you get awny away from here gnout an out of the country the better be for you an the gods truth A man one of barkers men burst into tile the room barkers here looking for you captain he be cried just phou ed from the ranch that the man no an bob are there CHAPTER XII while wade vitle and his bis men were rid ald ing to Lo boville go ahead find and stella were riding eastward with caesar at their heels stella had been mad to get away from the town the terror that hud had seized poised her while site she waited with the soldiers outside barkers office had not left her barker had been beaten again beaten by herself this time and go attend ahead believed that he be was done for but stella had heard beard too many tales odthe sheriffs methods to credit this in n the old days she hud had enjoyed these stories but now the memory of them ter terrified rifled her that barker would never again attack go in ahead directly this she ebe believed but that he would try to assassinate him she did not doubt now dow lie he would set about it she could ld not guess it if she could buve cou guessed she would have been less ess troubled bd that lie he had already summoned wade to do the work for him film she of courie did not know any more than slie site knew vint hut the hotel was to be b attack attacked od before down dawn she knew only that jo abend was la in desperate danger so tong long as lie he stayed in lobo loba ville and sho wua was determined to get ge t him blui out of it and when slie bile succeeded a load was lifted off iier mind all the rest real of the night they rode unmolested lu line nth the glinting desert moon until dose on to dawn lutia luna dropped beneath tile the horizon leavin leaving 0 only tile the lochung low annig hung store stars to mitigate the darkness later came the actual dawn with the grotesque shapes of sun tortured vegetation rege tation silhouettes against tile the roy lush flush of the eastern horizon and beyond these ro rose the low building ot ol barkers ranch TO BE CONTINUED CONTIN UnD |
