Show C cattle im IL W it my IL if in ALV kingdom d 9 0 alan service le L may CHAPTER R XII continued 14 lie he was trying to guess who the second man could be vaguely he was thinking of the green eyes of rute rufe deane watching marian as she testified stifled te against the bender fac action at the inspiration hearing Us ile knew that there was nothing behind the embittered man which would prevent his firing upon the girl if a reason for such an act could bo be conceived but still he could think of no explanation for the firing bring of that other distant gun abruptly be returned turned and went back to the atre marian was sitting up trying to press the redness from her eyes she seemed steady again sorry she said ive got to togo go on up the canyon he be told her 1 I thought you said magoon stop there now he told her shortly of the distant report of the gun but who could it be 1 I don dont t know but ive got to go up and see im ready to start marian said ready tm im going to go where you go lie he considered a moment she looked tired and there was a long hour of rough travel between them and the hidden cabin but he supposed she would not want to try to wander back through the dark alone nor could he against tier her will leave her to imagine horrors in ilithe the dark the hard twist ot of his mouth turned a shade more grim very well he said but youre going to be a little tired before the nights over im afraid 1 I dont care anything about that to a tired rider a trail can unroll interminably ahead much worse Is a trail on toot foot forever upward into I 1 increasing dark to a walker accustomed cus tomed to the saddle one mile seems ten it could not have been more than three miles to the ancient shack at the head of the gulch but they climbed continually and the twist of the dry stream lengthened the miles he be knew that often marian marfan was trying to conce conceal alfrom from him the laboring of her breath in the high air it must have seemed to the girl that she plodded and stumbled all night nightlong long through that uphill sand while wheelers long stride led out relentlessly she could not know how much he slowed his pace for her the broad canyon narrowed and until it was a twisting gorge between vast black walls the going became steeper stee pei and tho sand shelves helves ended the dead stream was an interminable staircase of ledges and tumbles of rock they had traveled an interminable time I 1 before wheeler whispered to her weve got to be quieter now and still they went on climbing a long way helas he was moving slowly and very cautiously when at last he turned off and worked his way up a gravelly slide of stone then forward through twisting juniper that clung to the steep land he stopped gripped her shoulder thrust her downward to her knees what I 1 he stopped her whisper with a quick hand over her mouth but directs directly ahead not a dozen paces away she was answered by the sudden long snort of a pony he was peering through the juniper her eyes followed his straining in the canyons coh black shadows what he was looking at took form in the darkness and without m moving 0 v I 1 n g seemed to appear suddenly all at once with a shock she saw that they were not fifteen steps away from a small ruined shanty set hard against an overhanging wall of stone the shack at the head of the gulch was wa s windowless and its door was 0 open into blackness beside it tied some yards apart were the horse which had snorted and a second animal that might ight have been either a horse or a mule intile wheeler backed away drawing her after him foot by foot fifty yards away in the shelter of the rocks he made her sit down no sound came from above except the uneasy shifting of the ponies feet and wheeler permitted himself a deep breath of relief she could hardly hear his whisper in the dark 1 I remember it was so close aishe Is he there So there or the horses would be gone walt wait here slowly wheeler made his way upward again over the rocks through the juniper scrub walking upright but very quietly he circled and approached pro ached along the rock wall until his hands found the side of the cabin itself lie he pressed an ear against the rough timber and listened for long minutes but he could hear nothing not even the drawing of a breath he took out his fills knife and cut a plume of brush standing close against the corner of the cabin he truck struck a match and set the brush ahama he swung on an arm around the corner of the cabin and throw threw the lighted brush through the open door crouching low he moved ten paces from the cabin and circled slowly watching the lighted doorway he could see the blazing brush on the cabins floor of hard packed earth and no hand moved to put it out behind the fl flame amethe athe cabins interior was barren he rade made out an ancient brush jacket hung against the wall the three legged ruin of a crude table the black shadow of a bunk someone was here should be here but if the fugitive had been in the cabin he would have thrown a blanket over that torch by now wheeler Wheel erwon wondered it if the man was behind him or drawing a bead on him from above I 1 As he circled a high heeled boot came into view upon the cabin floor that boot was unnatural it was lying on its si side deyet yet not on its side tilted up a little upon its too toe when he saw that something turned over inside wheeler tor for he be knew what was in the cabin ile he straightened up tip and walked to the door stepped inside quickly and flattened himself against a wall the flickering flame of the brush was lower now but by what was left of its light he was looking for the first time in his life at the face of lon magoon magoon had fallen forward there was a rifle under him and it was at the cock but 1110 r well you ton must have 5 mistaken your man it was not in his hands bands lor for his arms were folded tight against his body wheeler stepped forward to see how this man had died but even before he turned the cow thief over he knew that lon magoon had died by shotgun his had cayuse cayetano and bob flagg the 94 lightless and silent under the low swinging moon appeared deserted as marian dunn and billy wheeler trotted in riding the horse and the mule they had found at magoonis Mag cabin you go on in marian ill take care of your horse marlan marian said tria a small voice la Is everyone gone from herel here no nd need to remind her that the sheriff must certainly have come and gone and taken horse dunn with him by now it must be after midnight he said whoever Is here must have turned in she walked off toward the silent house it would not have surprised him it i they had found themselves entirely alone but by the time he had finished tossing hay bay to their animals he heard the murmur 0 of voices and following marlan marian he found her talking to old mon man C cof of fee the old lion hunter sat barly on a low step the coal of 0 his pipe glowing and dying out again at slow intervals I 1 marian tells me you caught up with lon magoon we found him all right how was he killed with a shotgun same as the rest 1 I was wasi kind of looking fo for r that coffee sald said lucky though that you stumbled onto it so quick marian sat down on the step beside old maxi man coffee why were you looking for it she demanded well coffee paused a and n d seemed to consider kind of hard to say one thing ive been to naga t since I 1 seen you I 1 tell you I 1 was going there but I 1 had p kind of hunch and so I 1 went and I 1 got trace of bob flagg there at seems like he was coming to the 84 94 by kind of 0 a back way and at he run into lon magoon lie he bought or berried a cheap horse and a worn out saddle from magoon and they rode out of together begins molook to look like lon magoon was a witness ess to the killing of bob flagg I 1 but how do you know marian said that thai magoon himself kill Flag ff well these killings being done with a shotgun Is kind of unusual it makes you think the same killer attended to all three and its easy to see too how magoon might have been a kind of a distant witness suppose magoon was riding along with flags flagg who know him very well pretty soon magoon sees some local cowman coming toward them magoon want to fall in with any local cowman on account of the business hes in he splits oft off and kind of hov hovers hoverson ersin jn the distance in a case like that him not getting out of sight soon enough would lust just ie be suicide for or him whoever killed flagg would figure he had to kill magoon before he talked did you see val douglas at pah ra nagat no he there when I 1 was but hes been back here tonight sincee been here he said gahran agat agac was where he was well I 1 dont know I 1 see him there thera and according to him he get any trace of bob flagg Is he hero now he pulled right out again no blodys here but me and that old woman that cooks she claims the sheriff come in and took horse dunn to inspiration about an hour before beford I 1 got here tulare callahan come in with horse they was pretty much worried over where was marian tulare saddled up again and rode out to see if i he could find out where you had went later steve hurley come in and hes gone looking tor for you too so naturally val douglas he figured hed have to make as good a showing as anybody did and he be high hightailed tailed so now the wh whole ole 04 94 Is out hunting tor for you what of em in jall jail men make me so madl madill marian declared 1 I have a good notion to go riding out looking tor for them now just to make the picture of idiocy completed comple tel coffee looked as it he be put it past her oh now I 1 go and do that child coffee billy said one other kind of tunny funny thing happened d while we were out that hombre that shot at marian the other night he took another try damn I 1 said coffee 1 he come close killed her horse 1 I got nervous and ietek let my own pony get loose and he stampeded later we had bad to come bick back on a mule magoon had tied up and a horse he stole from the 94 11 old man coffee turned slowly and for i a few moments studied marians face uh huh 11 he said at last there was a silence what do you think of 0 it marian said 1 I think said coffee you better turn in marian rose slowly 1 I suppose youre right ive made enough trouble far or one day IV I 1 when she was gone billy wheeler took her place on the step beside old man coffee well were slowly looming learning a thing or tw two 0 1 I he said god knows where this thing leads to but it ought to lead some place pretty soon old man coffee knocked out his pipe refilled it again and struck a new light in the flare of the match his bony old face ace looked more grim and more sardonic than ever it aint going to lead me no pa place ace its led me far enough im through wheeler did not argue this twice before coffee had made such hollow threats he did not believe the old lion hunter would actually withdraw now one thing I 1 tell you about bo bob flagg coffee said 1 I suppose you got a right to what I 1 know well here he a a little item that a peach flaggie Flag ghe bummed his way into in an empty cow car wheeler was astounded you sure must be wrong he declared why that sounds crazym he and dunn had just sold out the arizona ranch at dunns order dunns share was the biggest and of courso course they get but part cash but there was fifty thousand ready money mixed into the deal flagg have any reason for coming in any such way as he done it though it was right hard for me to find anybody that knew held hed been thero there at all sure seems like flagg fiang was taking every fayhe way he could think of to get to the 94 without being anotle noticed ed I 1 thought it was kind of lie peculiar cullar that flagg should come by way of which Is kind of like slid ingIn the back door still that mean anything by itself some of us old guys get used to thinking hi in terms of saddle work but Us this other thing its queer well you must have mistaken your man danl no I 1 wheeler turned thoughtful they were silent for some minutes A dark and ugly reason tor for flaggs peculiar behavior was taking shape do you suppose lon M magoon could have been a spy sent to pah to watch for bob flagg A spy tor for who A spy for the men that set out to kill flagg we know wa who 0 the enemies of the 94 are link bender bendeb pinto halliday Halll day rufo rufe dean even sam caldwell there a one of them that would have hesitated to shoot a man down it if it meant wiping out the 94 04 we know that those people or some of them got access to horse dunns mall mail at inspiration we we can figure they knew that the arizona outfit was sold and that flagg was on the way here with the money money that the 04 had to h have a ve to pull through 1 I had that figured out long ago coffee said 1 I figured cayuse cayetano was i the cats caas paw for link bender even alter after cayetano was killed I 1 thought maybe they lust just killed him so he turn states evidence but you dont think that now now said coffee 1 I dont th thank T throw out the death of cayuse wheeler suggested say that he be avas was killed simply because he was too hot on the trail throw out the d eath death of magoon say that he was feared as a distant witness it turns back to the enemies of the tha 04 94 11 which includes everybody coffee snorted coffee have you found out something youre holding back wheeler asked coffee shook his head you know everything I 1 know so far as acau I 1 cau think then you hime have some way of reading the tha facts acts some way different from what ive got maybe ive quit bothering my head about it allt belll never make me think that youre going to pull out orthis of this case and leave it unsolved theres just one thing about this case cae coffee admitted that I 1 sure hate to leave mixed up how come old rock and me to get mixed up about the trail of the killer horse I 1 a spose all the rest of my life ilfe old man coffees voice was wag bitter ill never get away from wondering how come I 1 lost that trail of course III if I 1 remember rightly wheeler reminded him you figured out from the way the shot went into the saddle that the man on the so called killer horse was not the killer that aint important the man on the killer horse took and hid the body anyway two in men inen en or one comes to the same thing catch one and you catch both 1 TO BE CONTINUED |