Show acerios ACEt IN E iOS L L 01 ACKSON GREGORY GREGOV Vf GREGORY W RU RELEASE THE STORY STOB so BO PARS FAR arriving samul at the king cole batch ann lee and cole cody discovered early dm bill cole had made two identical wals leaving them hem an his money and the hanch ranc banco waldron established at the ranch since old bills death from ft A mysterious gunshot gun lun shot wound questioned the sanity of old bill and the legality legs ty c of almol the wills lite late that evening eveni nr ann aunt jenifer stole out and watched ranee rance help a strange lurching man out ol of the house she awakened cole and told him what had happened together To ether with cal the foreman he the boeing horsemen hoen t to a deserted cabin aunt arnt jenifer search tat lac rances Raj ices possessions heard beard footsteps now continue with the story CHAPTER XIII for one stricken instant the adventuresome aunt jenifer felt as though she were paralyzed the next neit second she leapt and ran like a frightened deer her racing footsteps sounded extraordinarily loud oud in her own ears as she dashed through Wal drons room toward the corr corridor idor then an even louder sound struck her ears a man in the yard running faster than she could run making for the outside door of tom coughs room she gained the door she was heading for and heard the other door snapped open and heard a mans heavy boots come pounding on she fled faster than ever carrying her lamp in one hand her letter in the other the lamp chimney was shaken off ob and crashed to the floor making a noise it seemed to her loud enough to wake the dead but the flame giving out more smoke than light still burned on and showed her dimly the way she must go to gain her own room she glanced back and saw the man speeding after her it was too dark back there for her to make him out clearly but she knew it must be ranee rance waldron and she could imagine his hard hands choking her to death by about three yards she won the race but by the time she could slip into ann lees room and get her key into the lock he was at her door by the fraction of a second s she he shot the bolt before his hand touched the knob then she sped through arn lees room and to the door that gave upon the corridor and as she heard him coming there too she got that door locked there was a heavy silence then ann lees sleepy voice asking Is that you auntie what arey ouda dp ing then ranee rance Wal drons voice spoke up lip saying curtly yet noi not over over loud miss edwards I 1 think you had j better ater e let me come in or if yau you like you might step out here and give me a word of explanation j not tonight mr waldron thank you said aunt jenifer with creditable calr calmness aness ann lee sat up in bed what is it she whispered what has happened again ranee rance waldron spoke more sternly this time i miss edwards I 1 wont stand st grill for this sort of thing you come out here and give me a good explanation or ill smash your door down and come in auni auit jenifer told her pat little lie then 1 I still have cal Round trees gun mr waldron she said quietly stick your ugly mug in here and ill shoot it oil off ill bust your door down I 1 tell you said aid waldron 1 I know you any gun cody pitched it out into the patio and I 1 saw roundtree pick it up and holster it and carry it off with him going to open up i 1 no not on your life and if you try it ill yell bell my head oft off and ive got a voice call the hogs home a mile and the cole cody you mention will be here like a shot and will work on you the way he did this morning only ill bet my bustle hell do a better and moie more lasting job this time something to think about sald said waldron and sounded i reasonable and thoughtful then he fell silent A moment later ane could hear his footsteps moving away by now ann lee was thoroughly frightened she was sitting up the bed covers her throat as though for protection he wont come bachim back bac kIm im sure of it said aunt jenifer yet she sure and he did come back 1 7 I am going to shoot the lock off your door or ill go iet get an ax you had better belter open up As for calling that cody hombre its no use ive been to his room and hes bes not there the chances are hes no nearer than bald eagle arm ann lee whispered to her aunt that truet truel but aunt jenifer nodded and drew down the corners of her mouth only it is true I 1 knew he had gone out and I 1 knew he come back its likely hes down at the mens quarters by now chinning with cal roundtree Bound tree but if we yelled our heads oft off they hear why cal left you a gun this morn ing to signal him with darn it I 1 wish we had that gun bowl now well anyhow ive got all the keys I 1 know about in this place and take a lot of ax work to batter baiter one of these doors door s down well the answer demanded waldron 1 I cant give you all night you know to make up your minds ann lee put her lips close to aunt jesifers Jeni fers ear there are wind she whispered eagerly we can slip through while hes battering at our door and scoot like anything down to where cal roundtree aunt jenifer whispered back gothke Go take a good look athe chewin windows goosey this is a regular old spanish house every one of these windows has iron bars like a jail if you noticed I 1 have ill give you about two minutes more to think it over said waldron because if I 1 go shooting your lock off im apt to wave wake that nosy roundtree ill go to the kitchen and get a hand ax theres one by the wood box I 1 can handle that so BO he wont hear a sound youve got until I 1 get back to do your thinking and ill manage to keep an eye on your door so that you dont sneak out on me they listened for his departing footsteps and hear a sound so they quite naturally decided that he was still standing before their door trying to trick them into sticking their noses out when hed hebbe be ready to pounce on them but he had tricked them in another way what he had actually done was remove his boots set them down gently and hurry in his socked feet to the kitchen get the hand ax and 0 A want awant to shoot it out in the dark or get out of here 11 return the next hext thing they heard was his voice at once angry and mocking fooled you that tha t time my pretty ladies he jeered at them 1 I pulled my boots off and made the trip and here I 1 am back with the ex ax you had your chance to run run but its gone now listen to this the hand ax crashed into the solid oak of the door open up now and all ill do Is make you give me back something you stole from my room get pigheaded about it and I 1 wont let you off so easy im willing to be reasonable about the whole thing but nobody is going to burglarize my room and get away with it the ax crashed into the wood the second time d 4 the answer he demanded A voice cool and impersonal spoke out of the darkness for it was dark where ranee rance waldron stood he had left his lamp in his room making his way by striking hn an occasional match the voice cool and deliberate as it was sounded like that of a man whom it would be just as well not to antagonize the voice of cole cody just now arrived in silence the words were merely going on cherev here the answer came quickly enough oh colel cole god sent you to that tit horrid ranee rance waldron is trying to break pur our door dawnill 1 I cant see you waldron Waldro nt said cody his tone as steady and deliberate as before from your ax work acan I 1 can guess pretty close where you YO u are though want to shoot it out in the dark or stick your tail between your legs and get out of here ranee waldron took his simein deciding how to answer shooting rg it out in the dark co dy he said after due thought is sheer luck I 1 chavent been over lucky of late if its the same with you id rather take you on by daylight suits me fine said cody rance waldron dropped his hii ex ax his gun was in his haid had as he said all right im frn taking your dour word for it and started back down the corridor to his room then bill cole cody stepped along through the darkness toward the rooms where ann lee and her aunt C were imprisoned he like waldron before him struck a match or two arrived at his destination he said will you ladies open up to me its ita in the cards I 1 think that I 1 have a word with you it was ann nn lees swift hand that unlocked the door cody his gun still in his hand since he trusted ranee rance waldron in nothing made no move to cross the threshold ills his eyes smoldering under his dark brows too lolin all the loveliness the trim little figure before him gave no hint of his admiration passed on to aunt jenifer do you care to tell me what the ruckus was all about 1 I he hb asked it might be a good idea speaking pointedly to jenifer he added you were right in what you told me a while ago cal roundtree and I 1 have found out a thing or two will you step 1 in mr cody asked aunt jenifer youre right welcome id be glad to do so maam said cod cody politely and stepped briskly into ann lees leca room aunt jenifer closed and locked the door and wasted no further time giving cole cody with ann lee all ears cars to take it in her adventure of the night she even handed the jenkins letter to cody who read it and then stood there frowning at 11 1 I dont know what to do about it all he said at last this letter f found au nd in his room and the fact of his having hid et a wounded man in his room all day comes pretty close to pinning mr ranee rance Wal drons ears back he A man hid in the house all dayt dayl gasped ann lee A wounded man tell me about itt its my notion sald said aunt jenifer tartly and I 1 reckon its cole codys clodys notion too that ranee rance waldron and the man hes been hiding are the two that held the stage up yesterday right cole cody nodded right aunt jenifer and more than that cal roundtree feels certain that tom gough cough the man waldron has been hiding out is the man who shot old early bill if all of us are right in our guesses wed better watch our steps but it if we round these two up and hand them over to the sheriff what can we actually prove against them weve got scraps of evidence but its mostly guesswork at that try a man for murder and let the jury find him innocent and you cant ever haul him into court again the law if by so some off chance he thought that under the circumstances a contrite ann lee would break down and plead to be forgiven he as yet quite know his ann lee she kept her eyes down and her hands clasped before her and said meekly perhaps mr cody that the shot you received this morning was sent by providence to remind one th that at vae the spirit of man should never be proud whereas if you stood out there in the lamp light and mr waldron popped a bullet into you it would probably only show that you are a bigger fool than he is aunt jenifer sold said crisply sit down mr cody seems as thou though gh youre always to save our bacon from falling into the fire lets have a bit of a war talk shall we Aunt auntie lel ann lee glared at miss edwards using one of the highest grade glares she kept in stock for this war talk of yours we better step into your room this suits me fine said cody and sat down there is merit in my nieces suggestion mr cody she said note it if you look about you that her room is in some disarray you see the dear child had already retired and was fast asleep when the fireworks started my room find as spick and span us as I 1 always am this way please so the three went to the adjoining room and sat down ann lee having returned to her own for the extra chair needed now for the war talk said cody he reached for tobacco and papers cal and I 1 figured fied the whole thing oui out about as you do cal thought it might be a good idea to hang the two of em right away and save bother and tooling fooling around maybe he was right yet come right down to it we dont really know a thing about either ranee rance waldron or tom gough but I 1 cant see much to be done on it tonight its kind of late and me for one im clean tuckered with the shooting up this young lady handed me and the ride tonight suppose we talk this over getting cal in on it in the morning and maybe sending for th the judge and doc joe to help give us a steer ann lee looked her relief aunt jenifer nodded and said vehemently mr cody I 1 want you to stay near to tonight night te ill sleep with ann anit lee and you take my room wont I 1 you cody rose and bowed it wa was 1 a rather graceful bow thought ann lee as she and aunt jenifer rose also they passed to their room he ha stepped after them to 6 vie the door closed it gently dently and sala said a very quiet thanks maa maam m and good night ladies TO BE CONTINUED 4 |