Show 1 L V T I 1 N tl oi M T f by ALAN LE MAY 0 alan service le may IX continued it 11 not very much arent you going to help me find some breakfast you bet I 1 am they went into the cook shack and he lighted the tha lamp again moving slowly he quietly shoved wood into the banked fire and got bacon into a skillet im sure torry sorry I 1 cant stay atay while this cooks he said bald but ive got to make a ride maybe ill go with you im afraid he said gently you want to do that you mean you dont want me it that but it if you had any imagination know I 1 got up at this unearthly hour because I 1 want to talk to you ile he waited disturbed she stood close to him talking almost in whispers ahls lie ile knew he must get going but he could not bring himself to move away you see I 1 heard part of what you and uncle john said last night you heard what uncle john has a voice like old rock in full cry she explained my room next to his but it far away and when hes antry angry ill bet he can be heard ten miles back into tho the I 1 help hearing what you said about bob flags flagg being dead and it if truo true 11 wheeler was startled marlon marion he looked at her square what else dla did you hear her eyes did not waver that was mas OIL all ile he thought he dete detected eted a faint wicked gleam in n her eyes but he liepa hept his faco face expressionless and stood pat weve got to find and old man coffee she said seems like his hes left marian youve got to take me to him the girl said you can find him 1 I know you can find him what makes you think so cant you wheeler hesitated what old man coffee had told him had been told jin I 1 in confidence yet invariably ho he aund found it almost impossible to speak vi to tc this girl 1 i I 1 briw J Uhe hesitation Itu wai J focal YOU know enow aber ho he Is jishe she said su suddenly 4 ile he picked up his bridle ive got to io got get out of here billy youre riding out to meet old man coffeen Cof feel tell your uncle ill be back tonight ho he said abruptly and moved toward the door irn im going with you im sorry he said but youre not youre a pest what you arel go on and eat your breakfast I 1 yet he knew that he could not bluff ahls girl nor control anything that inai she ane did end and what was worse the she knew it too As he left her she was writing a note to her uncle telling him where she had gone and the she was with him mounted on her own pony as he left the layout wheeler pressed his pony along steadily eyes to the front and he was combating his keen awareness that the girl was at his side lie ile had loved this gaunt clear colored country of blasting sun and sharp shadows differently than he had I 1 1 oved loved the girl but as a man loves his home but now he knew he would mould need another different country a new type of grazing land it he ha was was ever going to forget this girl who rode beside him whom he could never possess they were almost in the shadow of lost butte bulte when she broke the silence between them thell billhi Bill yI 1 told you something that so ile he waited it il was when we were talking about bob flagg and how I 1 heard what you and uncle john said about that and I 1 said that was all I 1 heard well that OIL nil what else did you hear 1 I heard lt it OIL all unexpectedly he found it difficult to tell himself that it matter but bt now he realized that she was waiting forham for him to answer and he managed to say rh ats all right it bettor better sherald she said sald that we both know now how things really stand aland between us I 1 mean ile he made himself say 1 I guess so marian it Is better she said and he wondered why her voice seemed so sad because dont you see theres nothing to keep us from bling being friends now really friends and each of us all of asare going to need what friendliness there Is left la in tho the world I 1 think CHAPTER X ras As coffee with his dogs about him rode out to meet wheeler and marian dunn from lost whiskey dutte butte the girl pushed her horse ahead she stopped clow close to tho the old man facing him squarely ile he tried to keep me from coming 11 she told coffee but there wa snit he could really do now linw 11 you jou want irne to go back I 1 will old ma man n coffee grin grinned neu ile he I 1 1 1 1 I 1 moved hla his mule nearer marlana marians pony and leaned forward to peer into her eyes then he laid a bony old hand on her shoulder child what happened to you nothing So something meUng did though wheeler contradicted ile he told coffee of the shot from the brush the old hunter scowled ho he looked as nearly startled as they had bad ever seen him look this changes the whole setup set up he complained 1 I thought I 1 had it licked I 1 thought I 1 could pretty near give names and cases but this smears it ILI 1 I dont follow that marian said neither do 1 I 11 coffee said dismissing discussion ile he turned to wheeler you told her what we aimed to try no well you should have this Is a kind of a sad ond dark job were on today girl were going to try to find the tho the man that was killed at short crick 11 1 I guessed that marian said old man coffee led off to the northeast his sleepy eared mule in in an ambling shuffle and they rode in li silence for a little way coffee sig Is baled to them to come abreast maybe youve wondered some ome lie said ald why ive iv been kind 0 of prowling rowline rowl lne around of nights as your you 1 marian this Is as fir far as you go wagon boss was at pains to make mak known well I 1 guess it wont hui hurt lio nothing thing to tell how a thing like this th 13 1 done did you ever listen to coyote voices of a night marian 1 I well it could I 1 theres a anny funny thing about them more things interest coyotes than expect and it something kind of strange and interesting happens on the range all of em cm know it it all over the desert wed learn queer things from em cm it if we could understand unde estand their talk a little better coyotes wont touch a dead man neither will a loafer wolf but circle around and kind of wall and sing bing once before this I 1 found out where a corpse was hid by listening to the coyote voices at night this ume time we got a break theres a loafer wolf on the tha range hell only talk about certain things and maybe speak only two three times a week so when he lets out the same kind of 0 queer cry in the ibe same place three or four nights in a row a mon man begins to wonder wander 11 that was a long day and a strange day baythe the strangest iri in marian dunns life their work carried them a great distance much of which was wasted in quartering and the long following of false trails some queer geometry of land marks marin was working in coffees Cof head but what it was like they could not guess and ne he did not explain repeatedly old man coffee pulled the dogs of off invisible trails which he declared were those of coyotes it was after noon before a new note came into the howling ot of the hounds signaling the trail of the loafer wolf this loafer trail sold said old man alan coffee Is three days old I 1 dont dohi reckon serve it did not serve though coffee let lei it lend end them seven miles in no par tic direction before he pulled oil the the sun aun had gone down behind the and the long gra dusk was on oil the range as they conic canu on to lo the broken wilderness of up thrust red rock that was known a the red lied sleep the dogs were vole ing uncertainty certainty un here obviously run ning no trail though old man alan cot cof fee ee seemed to know where he was going and now old rock made a curious play the old dog had been in a sulk nil all day long unwilling to quitter quarter the trail of f the loafer loaf er wolf but now ho he sent up along full throated cry and drifted swiftly nose down 1 a hundred yards along the red rock old man alan collee coffee said under his breath ill be eternally dam damned abruptly the old dog turned to look at old man coffee let hla his tall drop again and quit the trail the matter everything coffee said 1 I never done to co much false figuring in my eifel ile he pushed ahead quickly now shouting to his bli hounds bounds jerking now new life into them with lutteral gut teral in than dlan words that the others did not understand now suddenly gud denly the big spotted leader hound sprang ahead bawl ing and in another moment the rest of the hounds were with him running full cry outdistancing the horses the wolf again said bald coffee a new keen edge on his voice children were neat near the end of the traill yet because the trail of the wolf was indirect and circling they spent another hour in following the dogs the ponies were scrambling over broken rock now keeping up as best they could the dusk was very deep when old man coffee pulled up at last and sat waiting they did not see what had stopped him at first but after a few moments ments they saw that tho the hounds had made a circle and were coming back coffee got down off his mule called in his dogs and tied up each of them separately to rock or oak but he had to crack the long dog whip over them more than once before they would ue lie down sulking and moaning in their throats old rock the only one untied lay down under the feet of the mule raised his nose to heaven and let out a long deep cheated wall old man coffee tightened his sad die marian he said this Is as far as you go you stay with her hilly billy I 1 dont know how lony long this will take he said something unintelligible to the dogs and then moved away from them the dainty feet of his mule picking its way and old rock slinking close behind they sat there for what seemed like an endless time billy wheeler tiled to talk to break the sad ter stillness but this place smothered the words in his throat ij first stars were showing ng when old man coffee came back to them at lost last his black mule moving like a lean tall shadow among shadows ile he came close to them then for a moment sat silent looking back over ore his bis shoulder the way he had come and wheeler knew that he was futilely seeking words for what he had bad to say long before the old man spoke they knew he had found what he had sought its bibri bob flagg lagg old man coffee said I 1 horse dunn accepted the news that flagg was dead more more steadily than wheeler had ex pecked how was he killed dunn asked by a shotgun the same ss as cayuse cayetano 11 wheres coffee coffee wheeler had found could not be persuaded to return with them to the 94 04 it was coffees be ilef that dunn had made a serious mistake when he be had chosen to hold magoonis Mag saddle instead of turning it in to the sheriff ift the sheriff will be out here in the morning sure wheeler said 1 I think walt amos means to be fair but theres better than a hundred men in inspiration all out oui of outfits that hate the 04 amos is sitting on a stove and its getting hotter every minute let him come any more dope oft the cayetano killing 1 I sent oil gil baker to ace springs but he come back val douglas went to did he he left this morning I 1 suppose be late tomorrow night before ho he gets back maybe longer steve steva and tulare and me we spent pent the day prospecting around in the tuscarora foothills here and find and anything wheeler supposed billy said aid horse dunn theres the somebody been slinking around over there we found the ashes of two different fires and im not a damn bit sure there some body prowling around there yet now who the devil would that be just it we dont know who that would be I 1 guess it matter now they had expected sheriff walt amos to appear in the course of the night or at least no later than the first light but it was noon be for tore amos appeared he again came alone as he had come after billy wheeler at the 04 he found only horse dunn and billy wheeler for steve hurley and tulare callahan were in the in search of the unknown prowler now believed to be hiding there val douglas and gil baker had not yet jet returned and marian was out with her pony walt amos climbed out of his car and walked slowly to the gallery of the cook shack where the 94 people happened to be they awaited him in silence horse said walt amos the time has come when I 1 c cant ant put off acting no more what have you done with gil baker horse dunn demanded hes hea in inspiration we had to to take him in is ho he hurt not bad he came prowling around aroun dAce ace springs where cayetano was killed arid one of the deputies hollered to him to halt but he made a run for it they had to throw ow down on him before hed give himself up turned out ho he was shot in the leg youre getting almighty highhanded around here amoel sorry but I 1 reckon its going to seem still a little more so dunn I 1 got go t to take you in Orf what charge held for questioning concerning concern ing murder horse dunn stood up his thumbs hooked in his belt and his eyes rolled slowly over the foothills of the it seemed to wheeler that he was looking for a sign now dunn answered him at last and wheeler saw that somehow in the course of the night the old man had been able to prepare himself for this thing when you want to move out he asked id like to get on back as soon as youre ready dunn and now out of a trail that wound through the tall honl rf the layout a rider came his horse was at a quiet running walk but the animal shone wet with sweat and from under the edges of the saddle blanket the lather rolled it was tulare callahan he rode directly to the cook shack gallery and swung down horse ive seen lon Magoon ill he announced tulare are you sure we only sighted him far off on a high ridge at battern bet tern a mile B but ut horse I 1 knew him as sure as I 1 know my name ills his horse horsa looked like that good sorrel of ours we call brandy we signed him to come and talk but he sloped we took out after him hell for leather steve curleys Hur leys trying to trail him yet but he got loose about four miles up the tamale vine I 1 knew you was looking for the sheriff and I 1 thought you might want to know this if you was still here amos said horse dunn im going to have to ask for a little more time TO HE BE CONTINUED |