Show w DESERT ROSE i r q POLLIN BROWN R f r t FEATURES TU Deputy sheriff Jim DOlDe Doane sets out to track down a gang gans of robbers who hadt had earlier He lIe t held up a train two days follows their trail In the desert dust of ofSan ofSan ofSan San Loreto county until hIs Ills horse dies from a rattlesnake bite Then he travels on toot foot seeking water until he be col lapses Three days later he awakens In a bed having ins been picked up by tout loor horsemen led by a D. girl When he c calls out for a drink of water a D. tall taU man Monte Garcia enters Later Jim meets Dolores Alvaro lIe He Is charmed churned by her bet beauty Garcia tells teUs him that the house Is close to Sand Wells and that Jim was near the town when he be fell feU In a ai i coma Jim thanks him but points out that there Is a warrant out for Dolores t C CHAPTER APTER IV IVYes IVi i i Yes asked Doane Well i i that's beside the point But my story story sto sto- f ry You expect me to deny it S your our story 1 i I expected you to to yes I see the first lie you dont Then why For an Instant something sinister sinister sin sin- ister later flashed in the strange Spanish smiled then Monte Garcia eyes suavely It will be best if it you do not call me liar he said Not many L men do 1 t- t Maybe few have caught you ly lyIng lyIng ly- ly ing Ha Hal That is true Then the came to the eyes again S Lisen my Idea irien We have had si your story now we will have one of f. f mine Both true You are ready fi to listen Eh Ehl Ehi i Shoot Monte Garcia s My story began with a a wisp of a smile is mos' mos J r twenty years old The first part of off off f it It makes me a young man younger than you But already I have skill with my hands Always J my hands are my fortune They shuffle the cards they deal JusE Jus' Jus E nineteen years old I am but I manage manage manage man man- age a table in the Star La Rue Silver Silver Silver Sil Sil- ver Palace up In lla City In those days many men come to the Silver Palace It is legal in inV ins int s V t those days You wish to hear this story senor j I Alvaro Family Was Evicted From Froll Ranch RanchI z J Jt I t Shoot I said mumbled Doane Monte smiled slightly and con con- l I It is legal yes yet this Star La LaRue LaRue Rue is not the man to care for i things legal after all Even In those days the other way pays better La Rue has two one-two ranches of his own own an an on the side as you say he bu buys s cattle Where do the cattle come from That Is not the ques- ques f f tion Uon La Rue asks You see If cheap he buys Then one day he buys something more than thaT cattle i i but without greater price You shall x hear i Senor don Pio Miguel Alvaro has one splendid rancho far down here which La Rue see and which La LaRue 4 Rue want Don Plo PIa must sell cattle I d every year to make profit So Star StarLa La Rue comes to him t Don Pio Pia Pio he says I hear you i 1 have five hundred head of cattle to sell this spring That true All right I will give you ou twenty dollars dollars dol dol- lars a head jus jus' as they come come big big medium or small What do you say Done I says Don Pio Plo swiftly The price Is high for those days Ver high So Star La Rue with his men all around him WIn draws par pas pas' pa pa- s' s pers pens for the deal an an tells Don Pio r I to sign The papers are wrote in inv v j English which Don Pio Plo does docs not t read ver well But then he Is only selling cattle an the money has come to his han nan already A bill- bill sale of-sale Is customary In an honest deaL So Don Pio Flo puts his name j there an other men with La Rue they sign This rancho says La LaRue Rue after a while is a good rancho Don Pio I think I will like it an ant t f the price was cheap considering that I also get all the stock Don I Pio Plo I will not hurry you to move from my rancho but be gone in ten ten days In ten days continued Monte Monter r r Garcia the sheriff comes down V from San Loreto an forces Don Pio his wife an his baby da daughter from I the house Because he does not nott read read- well you yo see Don t Plo Pio has signed one deed decd for his whole property not a sale bill sale of-sale for some f. f five live hundred head of cattle Star StarLa I La Rues Rue's men are witnesses an an ank k each states It Is certain Don Plo Pio Plot y t I understood when he took the money i Now it would only seem he wanted tJ j to back out of the deal by lies ices which Is not allowable Do you uni un un- r i i my frien All this happened hapl hap- hap l i long ago r f I understand Doane nodded t. t stiffly paused I can tell you other other other oth- oth er stories of the same kind Twenty years ago this was a pretty lawless strip of ot country But the past is la past Today Is today and things have changed Im I'm one of the men that's helped to make that change So said Monte with a faint i t i smile You are giving me a peek v q at your own hand now senor You know who I am said Doane al Monte smiled Of course All AIl along deputy sheriff sheria Doane Telegrams through the railroad rail rail- road l If for no other reason Bui But Bu Buti t i my story is s not finish You wish wis h to hear what follow also Eh Ehl Yes Les Go ahead i li Bien Blen then An the scene Is still the same continued Monte Still City Still I shuffle the cards play the game for I have a living to make an cards are the things I know best Yet the time now is not long ago maybe two- two three years past not longer But Dut there is change as you ou know Now gambling with the cards is no longer long long- er legal in this state A new law lawlas has las been passed This makes difference dif dif- ference in Star La Rues Rue's Silver Palace Pal Pal- ace La Rue himself has changed changed- In n the daytimes he Is respectable vice president of a certain City bank Only on occasional nights or or when something happens does happens does he come to the Silver Palace which operates now behind guarded doors without music or many lights None the less all kinds of men come thereto there to o gamble There Is one old man with a ver vcr bitter face who comes He does not have lave much money but he plays regularly reg reg- He lie likes lilies my table some- some times I think he is waiting for something An perhaps I have one J J t Was this old man very slight of figure asked Doane softly better etter memory for the Spanish faces aces than another man Anyhow I know this ol of he fellow fellow he is Don Plo PIo Miguel Alvaro once owner of the Rancho de los Tres Hermanos down in this country Usually he loses oses at the cards But always he comes back waiting for that some some- thing Then one night it happens Itis Itis It Its is s luck Senor Alvaro wins one dollars Half Hall he puts back wins again Twice more Loses For Tor an hour the play goes But when the ol of man finally stands at athis athis his ils chair he has broke the bank of Star La Rues Rue's illegal gambling pal pal- ace It is twenty five dollars dollars dol dol- lars he has won Star La Rue is called He comes like ike one animal He gets the ol of olman man aside Play once more he says Play your luck once more more against against mel met metAt At another table I For one thing says the ol of olman man firmly Down in San Loreto County you have a rancho Senor La Rue It is called Rancho de los Tres Hermanos I would like to wager against that rancho There Is much debate For one thing the rancho Is worth more than twenty five five dollars On theother the theother other hand the old man is about to walk away with all the money he has won or so Star La Rue thinks So they compromise Theof The Theol ol of man gives back to La Rue his winnings to be kept no matter how the cards fall That evens matters The Rancho de los Tres Hermanos is put at stake on one matched draw of the cards I have worked for Star La Rue Ruea a long while I am the most skillful dealer he employs So they come cometo cometo to my table Star La Rue looks at atme atme atme me a long while an gives a certain signal I shuffle the cards as I know how Three times tunes through the deck There is a double cut But my frIen I already begin to plan where I will look tomorrow for a new job Something hones' hones now maybe a school for telegraph operators I think think an an so it has turned out Monte Garcia smiled thoughtfully thoughtful thoughtful- ly to himself He lighted a fresh cigarette with an unconsciously sw swift t gesture Deep in his eyes was the trace of a keen hidden satisfaction and also a deadly an an- ger gerAnd And Senor Plo Pio Miguel Alvaro drew what card asked Doane The ace of course said Monte But to make my little last gesture gesture gesture ture the more perfect Star La Rue gets the two the two Lower than that thai thata thaia a gambler cannot draw Uh Uh huh And the after result after result Yes the after result after result consid consid- considered considered ered cred Monte It would have been better had I given the two spot to toDon toDon toDon Don Pio Plo Sometimes fate and justice justice justice jus jus- tice are like that Meaning Star La Rues Rue's gambling palace was illegal We have mentioned that change State laws have now been passed against gambling Such Sucha a thing as a gambling debt no longer long long- er exists In the eyes of the law Do you see There Is nothing to force a man to pay a debt of the cards So Star La Rue didn't fIVer Ver much he didn't senor You should know that Does Star StarLa StarLa StarLa La Rue still not own Rancho de los Tres Hermanos But less than a n week following La Rues Rue's debt another another another an an- other thing happens An aged Spanish gentleman is shot an killed in the Ule yards of Tres Hermanos His body is left unidentified It Is claimed this old man has been caught attempting to steal horses from rom the corrals Nothing at all is said about his coming to claim the rancho he thinks he has won Seconds of silence followed Montes Monte's words Was this old man very slight of figure asked Doane softly Did he tie have a white silvery-white mustache and a slight scar car over one eyebrow eyebrow eyebrow eye eye- brow Was the forefinger of his right hand slightly crippled caught sometime in the dallies of a reata You describe senor Don Pio Miguel Alvaro to me said Monte Garcia It is a ver exact tion Again long silence Dios whispered Doane It uIt was my first Job fob under Sam Flick That's why I remember so well I came down to Rancho Hermanos with the coroner They told us the theold theold theold old man was some cholo No name for him I even congratulated congratulated congratulated La Rue on his Ws marksmanship Monte shrugged So It would have been better you see for me meto meto meto to have given the ol of man the two- two spot No Nol snapped Doane Donne Monte studied him for a long while behind the wisps of blue cigarette cigarette cigarette cig cig- cig- cig arette smoke The green gray-green eyes showed no emotion Finally Monte smiled slightly My frien he said I I thought that I would come to like you inthe Inthe in inthe the end Sheriff Sam Flick of San Loreto was in a funk Railroad officials were pressing him on one hand Star La Rue on the other There were fifty fUty rumors and one single fact The fact was that five horsemen horsemen horsemen horse horse- men had turned north from the point of ot the train robbery at Sand Wells and hit for the desert recesses of San Loreto county Flick knew that they might have ridden five or fifty fUty miles north and also that they then had the quarters of the compass to choose from Eight days had passed since the night of ot the hold up at Sand Wells and the ninth dawned with equal lack of promise The sheriff had been back from his own trip to Sand Wells for some forty eight hours returning by way of City If he now took a posse Into the desert desert desert des des- ert he knew It faced failure l if he didn't he failed before he began began began be be- gan with corresponding criticism Flicks Flick's one hope was Doane Better ter than eight days now since Doane had left for the scene Nothing Nothing Nothing Noth Noth- ing had been heard from him Nothing Nothing Nothing Noth Noth- ing was known except that he had ridden promptly north on the supposed supposed supposed sup sup- posed trail of the fugitives Doane was the very backbone of Flicks Flick's law enforcement and nd in his secret heart Flick recognized the fact It added to his helplessness Day by day he had confidently expected Doanes Doane's return In Sand Wells he had confidently expected to see his deputy ride into the horizon at every turn Such delay had meant just one thing to the sheriff sherif at first Doane had hit a hot trail too hot hotto hotto hotto to drop hanging on alone Doane might do a thing like that Knowing his Ws deputy the only thing Flick didn't expect was utter failure The sheriff sat over his office desk brooding sweating Irritable The hour was morning mid the ninth day Deputy Jim Doane Turns in His Badge How are you Sam Flick spun around like a top Stared a moment and relaxed in his chair with an audible sigh Well Well Doane I Here you are at last They shook hands and Flick puffed Lets get to business Things sure In a mess What happened happened hap hap- Where are they Who pulled the job Was it that Alvaro girl Say you haven't got an arrest arrest arrest ar ar- ar- ar rest up your sleeve have you No said Doane His hand reached out and something hard dropped from the palm onto the smooth surface of ot Flicks Flick's desk No Flick No arrests Just nothing except Well except Well theres there's my badge Flick stared at Doane for a long long time An unbelieving stunned expression came over his red face Your badge My badge repeated Doane My resignation Im I'm no longer a deputy sheriff in San Loreto county I resign the position Flicks Flick's eyes grew His face took tooka a purplish cast But but but OJ buthe he stuttered You you you cant can't do that I already have said Doane Flicks Flick's hands were grasping the edge of the desk so hard that the knuckles were white I I 1 I never thought Id I'd see you fall fail Doane Break Quit Quits And you haven't yet haven't-yet yet said aid Doane leaving TO BE CONTINUED |