Show ai MOUNTAIN al MAN 7 lawmen serial by HAROLD CHANNING WIRE IX Continued 17 thumb jerked backward 1 I ats to know who is that girl I 1 and e married to that jasper allowing ing the thumb breck ed A through the open doorway a section of tourist pasture irene and toby stood there horses w with ith bunches of jog BK the animals held off er 11 2 name is miss sutherland then added with dellb PUT purpose tose they arent married I 1 yet phout a word art turned and cred back to his camp he d there a moment then throw threw his bis hat and continued on un halted next to irene breck her smile and saw art hold thing over tho the bars at once came to his hand nod their heads comically as they lumps of sugar no ie shrieked thrle ked and clutched the art laughed with her wiping ands ads on his trouser legs ck left the door open when he ned ed work and between pages a diary watched the progress rents en t 3 ou outside t s ide ile he saw toby s ack ck to the Senat senators orts camp bly upon irenes order she ed over to young TiU Till sons s where he whirled a rope for displayed his horsehair horse hair bri his saddle with silver trims his bis white silk square which allowed him to knot about her en the brown salt bags interest r at that breck slammed the and finished his writing in grim slon gave the tourists until one ck k to be sufficiently aroused walked up to their camp irene some come in and was lying on one e pine needle beds from her ion flat on her back she called lo 10 0 gordon where have you all morning glorious day it I 1 should think a ranger d 1 be riding the trails ick ck went over to her he will iding ding them this afternoon 1 you and the senator to come dearl irene propped herself one elbow 1 I would adore it arthur promised to take me fish arthur did breck mimicked nice ne smiled dreamily hes hea so ne me A perfect specimen of a he can braid the cutest ropes I 1 leather nd of 0 course you need a leather V ow gordji gerdl in I 1 do believe you youre re sar sarcastic castil li 11 irene lay back on an ed loosli ig up at him hats ats that about riding the tor lor ambi amblad id from his tent and n a near them gordon ou say ide fide boy what do you im in ide of oft I 1 give me time I 1 a if you get in the saddle day dar breck advised him ness wears of oft quicker ive om omo trail signs to put up west re Us this after afternoon noon well get a a at kern river gorge 11 II right but I 1 need a derrick me on that anim animally allt if an hour later when breck and benator rode west toward kern r irene was still in camp li wondered it if her talk had purely to annoy him had bad planned this trip tor for the ie e purpose of putting dirac signs igns along the trail and doing je e in missionary I 1 work on St suther ither they rode into a beautiful ol of the me country rugged thick slant giant fir often coming over 3 that raised unlimited vistas e sierra roof I 1 it was wab a trail that had bad not worked for or three years fallen 3 and slides of earth repeated aked it forcing thorn them to dis II 11 t ind and lead their horses along buntain lount aln slope covertly breck y ed the senator he had tour knees aea that once bent refused lighten the continued climb and on become became exasperate hat the devils wrong herel he out t at last this is worse 0 trail at all liann t it ever cleared ck halted hooking one knee his Is saddle horn not tor for urne me senator A shamo shame ion t hey y teu tell me this used to be ers sr paradise but thunder J e can an get into it now berlad land gl glowered cowered along ula the cula ar r trunk that sprawled its ed ea toot foot length leneth in front of him not put a gang of men to they could open IV it ho would pay them hy the 9 government overn ment of seventy eight dollars iddo at do you rs mean seventy eight ats e the cantly amount my ails was allowed for trail work this e deuce it wasl ck 1113 laughed and hiding deciding to let 00 r point thorn sink 1 in 1 wheeled his tOI Aard home I 1 lt I 1 stia shadows dowa were lengthening before them they came into rock house brocks brecks thoughts returned to irene and a little later were materialized by two figures sitting on a boulder where the meadow creek began its descent the trail led close to them irene looked up waving one hand as her father passed art tillson kept his eyes on the stream who Is that fellow the senator asked riding on to the corrals A cowboy breck answered owns a herd north of here safe enough I 1 suppose suPPO SLI ile he looks uke like a pretty determined customer breck considered sate safe enough tor for irene he said then 1 I only hope the boy take it too seriously ile he might have told sutherland more but felt the time had como come for him to explain things to irene herself that night he went to their camp with a dutch oven supper of roast meat potatoes and carrots that ho he had left burled buried in the coals all day and after tho the meal passed time with IN V 1 P ai V if J illow long have you been abere he asked stories of his work waiting until he was alone with irene now she said facing him from her sent seat across the fire cre when all others had finally gone to their tents 1 I know what youre going to do youre going to lecture roe me save it why should I 1 lecture you breck asked irene gave a little shrug halt half impatience hau half the manner of a naughty child oh I 1 suppose its your job the ranger keeping tab on his people and all that all right he agreed it Is part of my job but not the way you put it ILI he knew he could talk to her openly her instincts were well bred she would not betray his confidences fi s things have happened up here irene serious things im not trying to frighten you and this matter concern you at all only dont play up to that boy any more irenes eyes opened wide in the fires crete glow play up to him oh come now we understand each otherl hes nothing to you he interests me F oso so does a queer bug 10 ordona Gor donl sorry im not trying to be rude will you drop him the bug breck stared at h her er exa exasperated exasperate ed she had never so put all her effo effort rt into being antagonistic have to mind me irene he vowed that boy is not friendly to the forest service hes dangerous I 1 cant let you bring on any more trouble things are close to an edge already for an instant she seemed to comprehend but her sardonic smile banished that thal it makes a man inan awfully dangerous ij if a girl cuts him gordon you understand how that Is you mean you have a date with tillson tomorrow he promised to teach me how to lope I 1 certainly cannot refuse have to oh you cant prevent us from riding on your meadow irene paused frowned am smiled ailed brightly really she finished if you can invite your are so worried you cowgirl friend and go with us concealing his brock breck stood up he knew with irene hare flare of anger further argame argument nt in this mood any was futile he could only appeal to ter her reason he asked i n think it over not tooling feeling any thought she dhe may have given to lo it during the night did not change her action the next morning about nine breck saw her come down to the tourist pasture dressed in fresh riding habit with ith little snub nosed spurs jingling ang ling at her heels ho did not go out and she abe went directly to the corral where art had brought up her horse hone brock breck understood the game perhaps irene could not lope cowboy fashion though she knew how to canter well enough having been taught that by various young men on the social paths of FlInt flintridge ridge now she was sweetly helpless art saddled for her readjusted her stirrups let her put one dainty boot on his knee in assisting her to mount then he handed up a leather quirt the braiding of which must have taken hall the night side by side they moved out across the meadow heading toward a level spot beyond the stream a m breck left his cabin the senator came down from h his 13 camp to meet him well my boy he chuckled your treatment worked im not nearly as stiff this morning where do we go today breck had intended a trip into country where sutherland could find golden trout but now canceled it im sorry ill have to put off our ride my horse has cast a shoe and I 1 might as well go over the whole bunch at once lie he felt it unwise to leave the station as long as irene was nearby courting trouble his 1113 fear was not for her she could freeze a man when the time came yet it if tillson realized she had deliberately made a fool of him there was no telling what way his vengeance would turn anything suits me the senator answered genially ill take mary for a walk up the canyon the fish can wait tomorrow maybe breck suggested but gave even that with mental reservation when sutherland had gone tack back to camp breck tied his stock under a pine an and d went to work he had attempted the job only once before and that was at headquarters with sierra sums help now he be had no envy for the village blacksmith at times dirries when he ha straightened from bending over a hoot hoof he glanced off across the meadow irenes lesson was progressing he saw her lope short distances with art close at her side breck finished with kit then began on custers and as the big gray objected his whole attention was given to the job when he did look up again ire irene no and tillson kluson were not lu in sight he stepped out from the tree and surveyed the meadow following with his eyes up a narrow arm that disappeared behind a ridge of rock for a moment he tood stood doubtful perhaps ho he was making too much of the whole affair ile ho strode back to work it was halt half an hour later when two figures came from the gap and turned toward his station immediately breck saw the unusual dis tance between them irene rode in the lead art held back they kept that position across the meadow and at the stream irene swung up to the camp alone art loped into the tourist pasture brought out his mules and saddled them then he lashed on the salt bags drawing cinches savagely and cursing any animal that moved with packs secured he flung himself into the saddle and pushed his train in a fast walk north toward sulphur creek and that breck wondered means what it could mean much and he knew the waste of time in trying to guess one tiling thing he felt would follow now irene would come back to him she ally did give her time ile he cooked his noon meal loitered in sight about the cabin then went back to finish his shoeing goof was the last breck had three shoes on the mule and the fourth fitted when a small voice behind him said you dont know how poetic you look the village smithy sm ithyll ile he dropped the hoof ond and turned irene was perched on a log how long have you been there he asked hours I 1 thought you would never look around breck picked up the hoof again and tacked on the shoe wheres arthur that cowhand irene corrected oh he stay any longer had some important business tonight she drew her shoulders together in a little disdainful shrug 1 I cant stand a brag breck bent the nails and clinched them then finished off of with the rasp lie he wanted to let irene continue of her own accord she did presently moving nearer and sitting on the anvil he was an interesting fellow but ut he misunderstood my motives of course breck agreed how could he know that you were doing it mostly for me to watch why how can you say tharl before answering breck released goof picked up his tools and put them in the box then he sat down beside her irene were not children suddenly she put both hands on his arm laughing you ore are gor donl just a big boy youre not really disturbed are you 71 breck frowned you helped matters by sending tillson off like that im not afraid of him that what I 1 mean youre afraid of him irene smiled breck ignored it 1 I dont like to have things more complicated all hes just a big brag gordon I 1 found that out and my womans comans instinct tells me a brag is usually harmless not this one breck asserted he paused midway in rolling a cigarette then crushed the paper in his bis hand what did tillson brag about oh what a man he is in these mountains how many cows he owns and how he be is the big boi boss here except for a brother who is boss too he can even forecast events like oh I 1 cant remember I 1 was tired of it by that time TO HE BE CONTINUED |