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Show THE STORY SO FAR: Ellen Carey set-ins interested In two men, JrS Brani!, a dashing rustler, and Calhoun Terry, ranch manager. Four rustlert had been mysteriously killed and while suspicion (astern on Terry and the big CHAPTER XXX Terry and Richards came Into Houiid Top after dark. As they rude along the railroad tracks they bi'caine aware of unusual activity iii the town. In the shadow of a loading load-ing chute tliey drew up. A man with a ride in his hands cantered past. He shouted at them, "We aim to get a second troop of the boys ofT inside in-side of an hour." He did not wait for un answer. "This town has gone wild," Larry said. "I reckon maybe we'd better scout around here a little before we show ourselves. We're not exactly popular." Cautiously they advanced toward the town square. A light gleamed from the back window of the Gazette Ga-zette office. Calhoun Terry tapped on the win-dow win-dow and Horace Garvey slewed round his parchment-like face. "Who is it? What you want?" he snapped. The Diamond Reverse B manager tapped again. He did not want to shout his name aloud. Garvey grunted grunt-ed impatiently. Hi; peered out of the winaow. "Don't you know I keep this back door locked with piles of paper in front of it?" he called out. "Who is it anyhow? Go round to the front door." Calhoun's face came out of the darkness close to the window. "Goddlemightyl" Garvey exploded. explod-ed. "Haven't you got any sense at ell?" He began to naul bundles of paper from in front of the door. Presently he opened to let them in and led the way to a dark corner back of a press. "What's the idea of coming to Round Top after your friends have pulled such a crazy outrage as this invasion?" he demanded. Larry told the story of their adventures ad-ventures for the day. Garvey's eyes gleamed. "Good for you," he said. "Since you have broken with Ellison and his crowd it ought to fix you up with your old friends, as soon as I can get the Gazette out with the story. They will be glad to shake hands and make up. But I think you boys had better get out of town as soon as you can. Folks don't yet know your new position." "We came in to see a cattleman about buying a bull for the new firm of Richards & Terry," said Terry. "Probably he has been waiting for us all day at the Holden House. We wouldn't think of going without a confab with him." "Well, I'll bring him down here. I'll not have you crossing the courthouse court-house square. Some fool would probably prob-ably take a crack at you.", Terry discussed the matter of sending telegrams to Washington to induce the President to order troops from Fort Garfield. Garvey admitted admit-ted that he thought it would be a good idea Before morning, he told them, four or five hundred armed men would have left town to engage the invaders, and as many more would pour in from the ranch country coun-try to join them. "I'll sign with you," Garvey said. Inside of thirty minutes the appeals ap-peals for troops were on the way to Washington, and the story was spreading through the town that Calhoun Cal-houn Terry had wired the President to send government troops to fight with the big outfits and their hired Texans against the settlers. Garvey brought the cattleman to the oflice from the hotel, and inside of live minutes of his arrival Terry and his new partner were the owners own-ers of an imported pedigreed Hereford Here-ford bull. The editor hovered over them while the bargain was being struck, like an anxious hen with one chicK "All right," he sputtered. "Now you've made your deal it's time to get out pt town. Calhoun." But they had waited too long. An irruption of angry citizens poured into the oflice through the front door to ask Garvey what he meant by signing a telegram requesting that troop? be sent to help the invaders. "! had Lane Carey's name on it too. and that scoundrel Terry's," L'.-e Hart yelped. Horace Garvey felt goose pimples run down his back. The Diamond Reverse B men were in the shadowed shad-owed semi-darkness back of a press. They had slipped out of sight as the flrst of the group showed in te doorway But at any mument they might be discovered. "You're getting this all wrong. Lee." tre harassed editor insisted, his voice shrill with excitement. "Maybe you don't know that Cal saved Jeff Brand's life today when these Texans had him lying wounded wound-ed on the ground." "Who told you that fairy tale?" demanded a rough, unkempt nester who had a Winchester in his hands "Why- ask any of the boys who ?dme down from Black Butte with efT " 'Win;'.' Whicn one? Put a name hi mm." Garvey felt the sweat drops stai.d-flg stai.d-flg on his 'nrchead He did not INSTALLMENT FIFTEEN ranchers, It turns out to bays been the work ot Jack Turlcy, a spy lor tht bif ranchers about whom Terry had known nothing. Terry also protested, bringing In an army ot Texas ex-pcace officers to march upon tht rustlers and know who had brought Brand to town. "I didn't get It direct," he admitted ad-mitted weakly. "But I've heard talk, same as some of you must have done." "Sure we've heard talk. We've heard these hired killers have rubbed out eight or ten of our friends and that you are trying to get the troops in to side with Ellison's men now they are getting in a jam." "Not to side with them." Garvey explained desperately. "To stop a war where dozens of you boys will be killed. I'm not throwing you down but trying to stop a terrible slaughter. Can't you see where you are heading for if you don't keep cool? We don't want" "Cut it," interrupted Hart harshly. harsh-ly. "We don't want any more guff from you. Howcome you to sign Terry's name on that telegram? Talk, fellow." The nester with the Winchester in his hands craned a long scrawny neck forward. "Someone hiding in the back of the room," he announced. an-nounced. The rifle leaped to his "Read nothing," Hart snarled. shoulder. "Come outa there with yore hands up, whoever you are." Terry and Richards came out, not with their hands up. The Diamond Reverse B manager answered the question Hart had put. "My name was on that telegram because I'm the man who sent it," he said quietly. CHAPTER XXXI There was a shift in the half-circle of men who fixed their attention on Terry and Richards. Lee Hart had been in the foreground, crowding the editor with snarling questions. Now he was back of the big nester with the Winchester. Over the shoulder shoul-der of his shield he flung a triumphant trium-phant shout at his enemy. "Got you at last, you damn fool!'' Looking round on the grim faces of these men, all armed, most of them ready to start out on a long ride to exterminate their foes, Terry guessed that never in his turbulent life had he been in more deadly peril. "Larry and Horace are not in this," he said quietly. "Garvey has not thrown you down. He's on your side still. Larry is a hired rider. He is not responsible for what the Diamond Dia-mond Reverse B has done. I'm the manager." "If Larry Richards claims he's not on yore side he keeps mighty bad company, Jeered a red-headed rustler. "I'm not claiming it, Red," Larry cut in coolly. "My chips are on the table alongside those of Cal." Shrilly Garvey begged a chance to talk. "For God's sake, don't make a mistake, boys!" he cried. "Listen to me. Calhoun Terry is our friend. Take time to find out" "He's your friend, but not ours." Hart interrupted savagely. "We don't need any more time. I say, right now." man had walked in the front door and joined the group. He was Sheriff Hart. One sweeping glance was enough for him to size up the situation. "Don't push on the reins, Lee," he said evenly. "These two men are my prisoners." "How do you mean yore prison-; prison-; ers?" his brother blustered. "EM-j "EM-j son's warriors aren't taking any I prisoners. That goes with us too." The hard, unwinking eyes in the long-jawed, bony face of the sheriff looked almost contemptuously at his oUler brother. "Come out from back of Houck if you have anything to say, though it won't be Important anyhow. any-how. I'm the law, and I'm arresting arrest-ing these men. Don't any of you get the wrong idea about that." Terry knew that the sheriff had no friendliness for him. but he had no doubt that Nate Hart had interfered kill them without trial. Terry and his foreman, Larry, art attacked by the "army, being mistaken lor rustlers, and they rush to cover In a small cabin. There, too, Jeff goes thinking to aid fellow fel-low rustlers. Jeff Is wounded. to prevent him and Larry from being be-ing killed. "What are you arresting us for doing?" ha asked. It did not matter mat-ter what pretext was offered by the officer, but as a matter of form Calhoun made a protest "We're peaceable citizens going about our lawful business." "For conspiring to bring about an armed insurrection in the territory," the officer answered. "Hmp! We came here to buy a registered bull from Mr. Murdoch here," Larry said. "We have done bought It. Now we're ready to leave and go back to the ranch. Looks to me like these gents who were working work-ing themselves up to bump us off when you sashayed In are doing the lnsurging." "No use littering up the jail with them," Lee Hart urged. "I say hang them to a telegraph pole." The sheriff drew a revolver. "I know all of you boys," he said quietly. qui-etly. "I'd hate to have to kill any of you, and I don't want to be killed myself. But I'm going to take these men to jail. If anybody interferes there will be trouble." The cowboy Red threw In the hand for his group. "All right, Nate. If you want these fellows, take 'em. But be sure you don't let 'em go. We'll be hearing from the hills soon as to whether any of our friends have been murdered. And if they have, hell and high water can't keep us from busting into yore calaboose cala-boose and hanging these birds high as Haman." Red and his allies followed the arrested ar-rested men to the jalL to make sure the sheriff did not release them. They posted a guard at both the rear and front doors. The leaders adjourned to the Crystal Palace and the Red Triangle to drum up sentiment senti-ment in favor of a lynching. Calhoun put the matter bluntly to the sheriff. "Getting down to cases, Hart, what is your idea in locking us up?" he asked. "Are you holding us here till your friends are ready to lynch us?" "I'm holding you here for your own safety. If I turned you loose you would never get out of town alive. You wouldn't get fifty yards from the jail door." Impatiently he added, "Why in hell did you come to town now?" "Why shouldn't we come?" Terry wanted to know. "We have nothing to do with this crazy invasion. Ellison's Elli-son's men attacked us today and almost killed us. We rescued your friend Jeff Brand. The Diamond Reverse B is being cut up into small ranches, of which Larry and I are buying one. What have you against us except that we won't stand for having our stock rustled? The trouble trou-ble with this town Just now is that it is seeing red and can't think straight." "If I could get Red and some of the other hotheads to go up to the house where Jeff is and talk with him they might get some sense thumped into their heads. But no chance of that now. They figure you are one of those who paid that two thousand dollars to Turley to ambush their friends. You may have been, at that. Even if you have quarreled with Ellison since then, that doesn't prove a thing, and far as that goes they only have your own say-so that you're not hock deep in this invasion." The sheriff slanted a suspicious look at Terry. "Looks like you are, when you get off a telegram to the President asking ask-ing him to send troops to support the big ranches In this business of killing settlers." "That's not what I asked him to do," the Diamond Reverse B manager man-ager said. "Since the operator was in i sulii a nuriy 10 K'e out a private message he might at least have done so correctly." Larry tossed a question at ifart. "Let's know where we're at, sheriff. sher-iff. Is it yore intention to ask us to give up our guns and wait in a cell for these galoots outside to break in and send us west? Because we have other views." Nate Hart was a harassed man. "I didn't get you in this jam, Larry," Lar-ry," he said. "You didn't have to come here and drop a match in a barrel of powder. I'm trying to save you, but I'll tell you straight that if any bad news comes to town the boys will attack the jail. It's only a flimsy shack. You know that. I aim to protect you if I can, and if it comes to a showdown I'll give you back your guns to help me stand them off. More than that I can t promise. He added after a moment, "If I could get a chance to let you slip away I would." "Since we're not prsoners you'd better let us keep our guns," Larry suggested. "You might be where you couldn't get them back to ui when we have to have them." The sheriff recognized the force of the argument. "All right," he laid. "Keep them. I don't need to tel: you if you begin shooting you sr" sunk." nvBEcowiwtui j |