Show F SADDLED jad I 1 UE k liy ERNEST HAYCOX K pei w U TUB THE STORY SO 50 PAR FAR clay morgan has has decided to play a lone hand band against fien ben A rancher bent on running ning the cattle country nil his own way the two men have been enemies tor f or years having first ought over cia clay wife ile ufa llla who died hating bating him and be lieving she should have married heren deen morgan Is is a solitary figure devoted to his anine year old daughter janst janet although two women catherine cather IDS grant and nd ann ana mcgarrah McG arrab are in love with him they know he cannot connot forget llla lila of nil his former friends lendi tr only hack breathitt had bad not gone over to keren eferen deens side now hack Is field shot by Heren deens loreman foreman charley hillhouse gurd grant arant catherines brother joined herendeen when he h discovered that catherine had been to morgan r racca III but the cold blood bloodedness blooded edness nei of murder has bai made him break with warned by fox will ing a nester be once befriended clay discovers that tbt herendeen li Is stealing his cattle tie it e goes to Heren deens ranch for or a showdown but herendeen Is ready ile he a chance ol of getting out cut alive when lige white one of friends rides up uke like gurd grant he Is led fed up with Heren deens high handed banded methods risking his bis lle life to save clay he persuades persua dei him to take a athance on riding off lie ile think taink herendeen will dare to toot stoat the bluff works and they escape now clay and his men are drying doing the cattle back into gover government u valley halicy his range ba has followed and there Is certain to be a fight now continue ath the story CHAPTER lige white considerably disturbed by his interview with morgan and pretty much at sea in his own mind traveled over the lower spur of the Hay creek hills and came down on the grant house at a fast clip the sound of his arrival bringing catherine to the door he said theres heu hell to pay around here heie wheres gurd upstairs the trouble lige white called hey gurd come down right now ile he rolled himself a cigarette while he waited and made a sketchy explanation to catherine nervousness catching at his words catherine said at once it if theres any help needed from crowfoot clay will get it not ben herendeen 11 gurd grant looked sick and desperate he put his shoulder against the doorway ile he said lige how did we got get into this mess id give a thousand dollars 11 catherine turned on her brother bothering you gurd gurd dropped his eyes his face orm ally so bight and cheerful held a sallow it was hard for him to talk and he pulled himself together with an effort his hands shook he noticed that and shoved them into his pockets 1 I was over with charley hillhouse on breath itts trail we trailed breathitt Brea all morning and found him asleep in tho the potholed potholes Pot holes s of course I 1 thought charley meant to take him into town to jail whit what else would a man think thin kHow how was it possible impossible for me to figure that hillhouse wro who had been hacks friend for fifteen years would catherine breathed out burdt gerdl sure said gurd grant sullen and full of self hatred hillhouse simply limply lifted his gun and killed breathitt I 1 tried to stop it it do any good lige white threw away his cigarette finding the flavor gone out of it he looked away from gurd suddenly unable to meet the ahe expression in the others eyes what could I 1 do lige catherine said you never should have gone with charley hillhouse there was your mistake lige said stay out of coming tha t s the best you can do for clay now we all got caught in bens net I 1 was a fool not to have known what wha thed hed try to do now we wiggle out im going to town catherine watched him go when he passed the far rim of the meadow she dropped her arni arm for foi gurd and faced him her tone was soft and cool you went after hack because you wanted to hurt clay I 1 know that thai you thought clay andi and 1 I he showed a reviving flash of anger the night ben and lige and I 1 went up to clays place you were there I 1 walked to the end of the porch and saw your horse around the house you were hiding inside if you had nothing to ashamed be of wh why hide she said because I 1 had gone up there to tell clay what you oaf and lige and herendeen had said that night you W were ere leaving clay out of it an and d I 1 stand that ben had both at f you convinced but want ben to know I 1 was i taking clay the information gurd stung by his mistakes still remembered he fie had given his word to herendeen it was the one thing to which he could cling so he said we cant go against him ill do nothing one way or the other 4 she went on oil as though not hearing him they have quarreled too often meet she stared at her brother cold as ice if clay should die I 1 think id kill ben Is it so horrible to say perhaps it is but I 1 cant help it she walked from the porch to her horse pt standing anding by y gurd said walt wait t minute where you going she ilant answer swinging ging up a hand she lift the yard bound toward mo 4 auls als rim ar rt r ri xa 0 41 1 t W 1 1 A 1 ar f lo 10 JI asp I 1 YI 4 q M LI I 1 i I 1 0 I 1 I 1 1 I V L J A 1 r ft R ili ir A A 17 bullets squashed into the dobe wall beside morgan causing him to shift slowly charley hillhouse brought up Breath itts horse and lashed the dead man tu the saddle caddle and took him back to three pines when he came to describe the affair to herendeen the words seemed to stick in his dry throat it puzzled him that it should be so hard to make a simple story of it too there was an odd look in Heren deens eyes and something queer in his voice herendeen said slowly all right charley nothing more hillhouse said im him into war pass ats where his people are ard buried 11 ile he drove through war pass when he backed against the office door ot of D doctor octor padden who was also coroner jesse rusey came by hillhouse h ouse said give me a hand jesse and the two of them carried breathitt into maddens Pad dens office padden around but there was a side room with a long table in it they left breathitt here rusey said A little trouble yeah rusey said ilpo bad and went out the marshals province was was war pass not anything beyond and he had seen too much death to show much curiosity about abou tone one more dead affia man n hillhouse Hill houie delayed dead his departure tu re both i hands lying on the table beside breathitt Breath itts face was gray and dirty but etwas still 1 the fa face ce of a man ghobad who had looked on life as a game to be taken as lightly as possible hillhouse suddenly removed his own hat placed it over hacks face and turned from the room he drove the wagon as far as the long grade here stopping for a drink the barkeep made some casual remark about the weather which hillhouse accepted in dour silence thereafter the barkeep held his own council Hillhouse paid for the drink went outland out and climbed into the wagon there was no travel on the road it wound wath the foothills it looped loope d beside a creek passed over a small divide and entered a scattered belt of timber by the dell lake trail he observed that three or four horsemen had recently come off mogul far up near moguls rim he caught the transitory motion of a rider all these things he automatically rioted noted missing nothing of the signs or shapes or color of theland the land four miles from town he broke the neck of the bottle of rye over the brake handle and took a long drink A mile beyond this point cache river cut nearer the road and a small grove ot cottonwood lay hard by the stream charley turned through the grove and let his horses water at the margin of the river he wrapped the reins around the brake handle and got down holding the whisky bottle charley hillhouse spoke aloud 1 I wish seen seen it my way hack I 1 wish you had he walked steadily forward until he faced a cottonwood he drew his gun holding it only a foot from the tree and fired at it afterwards stooping a littlehoe litt lehe stud ie dahe hole made by the bullet with a strange care he held the bottle of rye in his left hand and ROW now 1 knowing it would do him no good ever he gave it a long overhand heave into the river adlong as he wis was ilive alive nothing would cover up his thinking excitement whetted morgans nerves to a sharp edge as he stood there and heard ben herendeen say come on boys I 1 A man inan i 3 ed to helwith heU hell with this morgan waiting wailing a more definite target saw one rider swing wide and rush in suddenly all of Heren deens men were wheeling around ta the e leaf beef running for the dobe build building g near ear by as though to circle it vance ketchell called to announce himself its me ketchell and lige white they raced down on morgan he had to step aside barely avoiding a collision vance was out of the saddle tv beside him and grumbling damned near too late W I 1 lige white still mounted turned away he called Herendeen cut this one of Heren deens riders plunged straight on and fired once at lige whites high placed shape morgan and Ketchel 1 laid their shots on this man they caught his horse and watched it sink they saw the rider free himself and seem to flatten against the earth jump murmured going to try something powder smell settled around mor gan gaii A small definitely cold thread of wind hit his face and the there re was a tertale telltale smearing of the shadows in the open area by the for far building the they were running wide heren deen deens s men and now they were on foot firing as they moved away from the dobe jump said im join g oin after those horses and scurried forward f 10 bullets squashed into the dobe r wall beside morgan causing him to shift slowly horses plunged around him knocking him backward some blodys shoulder hit him and then he saw Heren deens men rise out of the earths massed darkness into their saddles the ruffle of Heren deens horses diminished on the desert and stand ing slack and tired in the open morgan knew this nights fight was done he knew something else as well it was Heren deens crew which had given way not cleren herendeen vance ketchel called alges been hit morgan went over at once ketchell knelt on the ground his knee propping lige alge at the shoulders morgan drew back from the party quietly calling fox willing ix hebald he said sald 1 I wish ride over and bring mrs white to the ranch fox cut away at once the rest turned north reaching long seven an hour later coming into the yard morgan saw catherine in the doorway when he got down to help lige white from the saddle he turned to lookyat look at her again framed as she was in the light tall and still and straight shouldered and he felt the tug of strange ow excitement lige could coul dUse use one leg only and had lobrace to brace himself between ketchell and morgan catherine stepped aside to let them pass saying put him on a bed clay and followed the men upstairs into an extra bedroom the room was dark and they had a moments moment trouble getting lige on the bed morgan heard lige grit his teeth together ns as they laid him down catherine Catherin 6 found a lamp and lighted it and by this yellow glow all of them saw the whiteness whiteners of aiges face his hair came down on his forehead and sweat oiled his skin his lips crawled back forming a sr smile alle 1 I sure as h hell ell broke something you know clay it if it too much trouble I 1 wish send for grace already have im going into town for padden vance you better get his clothes oft off lige white saidi said 1 I guess you dont know the whole story yet clay hillhouse Hlll house cornered hack arid and killed him the mans a fanatic im warning you about that if you should see him in town morgans eyes dropped he stood like this quiet and cold and too weary to feel the full shock of the news he said after a while ill meet him sooner or later ater and left the room he turned to janeas room when he came beside the bed and looked down through the shadows he found she asleep shi she reached for his hand saying chos hurt daddy we had a fight with Heren deena deens ranch janey lige white was hurt im going after a doctor she murmured it is too bad but im glad it you the pressure of her hand was warm and confident cen she was pleased to have him sit here and talk with her it made her expand and grow confidential 1 I wish I 1 had been here daddy when n you were young and danced with catherine I 1 bet you were the best dancer of all she Is pretty wait till you get old enough to dance ill stand by and remember when you were so small you walked under the table she was silent seeing the picture of herself dancing dancin gand and pleased by it her lips softened and there was a glow in her eyes afterwards in a faintly reserved tone she said she like I 1 thought she was daddy what did you think she likes me daddy I 1 think she would TO BE 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