Show ali MIL I 1 N E lik C EA fc JACKSON ACKSON GREGORY W RU RELEASE THE SO PAR FAR ann lee and cole cola cody beneficiaries under two identical will of 0 kimbill old bill cole fought to dis all cover who had bad fired bred the be fatal bullet billet at old bill suspicion centered around rance nance waldron Wall ron who posed as ai old bills bill nephew and was wa living at use the ranch when ann ana and cody arrived doc at joe jo and the judge were returning to town from the ranch each with a will in his pocket for safekeeping when they were waylaid and shot hot by a masked bandit whom they recognized as a nanc banco wal dron to divert suspicion rance kance killed his accomplice tom gough mean while cal Roun roundtree diree had bad discovered old doe joe still lived now continue with the story tor CHAPTER those thos were the days when ann lee remained in the big still old house she moved softly through the dim rooms the shades drawn against the glowing outside heat she trailed her fingertips along table tops along the backs ol of chairs she smoothed the time darkened walls with a palm of her hand 1 I love you old house she sometimes whispered when quite alone youve got your secrets you old house all sorts of memories heaps of lem em good ones and bad ones too I 1 betl dear old early bill was young once here he what was he like then old house why cant you tell me and who was sylvia did something happen to her did she die long and long ago when she was just a young girl lik li keme elme and did young billy cole before he got to be old early bill love her terribly did she love him too and was she oh so faithful and true to him dear dead laded faded rose leaves of romance these were what she was finding everywhere folks thought that they knew old early bill from the crown of his ragged old stetson to his spurred boot heels but they know him the way she did the way sylvia had known him when both were young 1 I love you early youre an old darling what you adelf are I 1 and sometimes alone in an early aly morning hour or in a hushed twilight she would stand or sit very verb still and louki whisper 1 I know khow you are what folks call dead early bill but I 1 dont believe youve really gone away not for one minute I 1 I 1 can feel you right here somewhere why youre even near enough for me to reach out and touch if only I 1 could see youl and is sylvia with you too youre laughing early bill you old scampi I 1 know you arel are I 1 oh why I 1 have come sooner why I 1 have known you and it was in the patio pailo of early mornings and in the bummer summer magic of the long lingering twilights that ann lee and bill cole cody grew into the pleasant habit of meeting to speak little to dwell in a at warm awareness of each other that was a glow like that lying about them over the hills and valleys sometimes they looked at each other each seeking what lay deep down in ia the others eyes a little searching their own hearts aunt jenifer spied on them at times from a safe secret distance then went her quiet way smiling thus they had been sitting on a particular particular evening with even fewer words and with longer glances between them Ahern than ever before when three occurrences es burst upon them with the effect of sudden unrelated and unexpected explosions they had heard no sound of footsteps so eha en wrapped were were they inthe inace concerns of their world which at the moment was far away from their immediate surroundings as was the star from which the girls eyes came now so swiftly to try to read through the shadowy half light what wai was written on his face when of a sudden por for firlo stood before them don Co ditol he burst an some tremendous excitement come quick lEor eor the afie love of god senor come as fast as lightning no no nol no I 1 not the senor ital you areto are to come alone you wont believe it 11 I 1 cannot tell you ou it is a miracle don cocito codito Co ditol it 1 are you drunk Porn rio snapped cody porfirio caught him by the sleeve ind and fairly heaved him up from his place at the girls side arid and willy nilly short ofa of a fight cody had to accompany him some few steps then porfirio began whispering in hiscar hi his sear ear and then cody understood and went willingly enough hurrying long eager and glad that one sequence of a tragicomedy comedy a farcical one at that was at atan an end at the darkest corner of the house where a great live oak almost swept the ground with its lower branches porferio brought him to doc joe when almost immediately cole cody came rushing back to ann lee all but breathless he found her standing in the patio her slight body rigidly held her hands at her sides her chin lifted her eyes on the stars she known that he was really coming back at all por cirlos abrupt appearance had startled her she was vaguely frightened and for some reason her heart WEIS was pounding annl anni something wonder wonderful full listen ann dont let it bowl bow you over come into the house quick and get aunt jenifer theres something I 1 want to tell both of you its just about the most wonderful news you wont be able to believe it aunt jesifers Jeni fers appearance must have smacked of magic there she was vas as they came hand in hand into the lamp lighted living room he released one of anns hands then and took one of aunt jeni fers she saw how earnest and eager he was she said quietly of all right cole its something to surprise us but we wont be silly about it especially since its good news we can take heaps of that ann and L I 1 when he told them aunt jenifer sat down right in the middle of the floor ann reached out and clung tight to him and seem to note that he had an arm about her then doc joe ca came meIn in jenifer scrambled to her feet and kissed him ann lee deserted cole cody and put both arms about doc joe and gave him a mighty hug oh doe doc joel Do doc cloel joel she kept saying over and over doe doc joe beamed all over he made them each a bow he kissed first jenifer Jeni fers s hand then ann lees leea La ladies diesl 1 he c exclaimed theoa it ay iy y his hid face red 1 I never tho thought light anything could make a man so happy I 1 it would have been worth it to be dead for sure just to you cared like yu you dol do im amr P powerful b happy and proud proud 0 d I 1 ladles ladies i shucks no name for it p aunt jennal cried ann lee Liste listell nl cut in cody doe doc joe wants us to hide him a little longer for only a few minutes or a few hours I 1 dont know he knows a lot about ranee rance waldron hell tell you what it is and while we cody struck the way lightning strikes know where waldron had gone he knew and was having him watched all the time and he knows that waldron on is ii on his way right now to thera the ranch fich and ought tobe to be here any minute so its up to us to get doe doc joe oe under bover cover in then be reid ready for waldro Wal drons ns coniing coming it my boy said doe doc joe hurriedly 1 I dont want any beins beans spilled until I 1 do the spilling get me out of sight can you ladies ill try to do a mite of explaining to you while we wait and that waldron dog will be showing up in a jiffy besnot He hes snot not t to know jm jim alive until I 1 can up and tell him he hes S as good as dead Wh erell we jo go into our rooms room sIl 1 said aunt jenifer and started leading the way the safest I 1 place then she said Shu and all stood at attention straining their ehrs ears through the sal silence ence which shut down about them they heard distinctly the thud of hoof beats beati not too far away hurry along sald said cole cody 1111 ill be in the main room it if its ranee rance IV waldron oldron ill find out what he wants ranee liance waldron want wanted edthe the ranch and meant to have it andal and already reidy counted it as good as lits his to have and to hold or to coin into good hard mone money and alid toss where he liked the way the wind tosses dead leaves he knock why should he coming home returning to his own place he shoved the door open and strode in his thumbs were cocked into his belt his hat was far back on his thatch of hair his eyes were bright und and arrogant as they con descended to traffic with bill big cole codys clodys he was wearing riding gauntlets gauntlett gaunt lets new ornate and expensive ones his hands looked white and well cared for the hands of a gambler fingers knew each card in the deck he drew his gauntlets gauntlett gaunt lets off whipped them against his leg tossed them along with his hat to the big table aaboe and sat down in the old comfortable for table chair before the fireplace still hanging around eh ch cody the sight of a reptile of a tarantula say of a rattlesnake of any spider or snake with some men L its a naked knife can move a man tremendously shooting into his blood a turbulence which may be compounded of abhorrence of fear of hate of sheer animalism of a tangle of complex instincts right now looking at ranee rance Wal drons not un handsome face bill cole codys clodys bloodstream was ruffled all but be yond endurance it ran cold and it ran hot and queer blazing streaks of fire like miniature stabs of lightning shot through him so youre still here cody are you he said curtly you know youre a tool fool cody for sticking around in any hope of catching any few drops that might spill out over tile the top of the bucket because it if you listen to me there wont be j any drops spilled over it might be a good time it if you tucked your tall tail between your legs and got out of here you any claim here its common knowledge told in every saloon that you had some sort of a trumped up will a faked thing and that you even got that now so eo you can get out in a hurry mr cody am I 1 right cody swallowed he answer answered eO very quietly very slowly waldron it if im taking a big dose of you now know why later on suppose until time comes that you kepp keep your mouth shut im not asking a lot the breath of the thoughts you think stinks I 1 shut UPI cupl 0 waldron chose to laugh and never was there a man who cou could id put a nastier sneer into laughter which should be a pleasant thing and which can be detestable beyond most sounds its hard to swallow huh cody 0 he jeered thought you had an edge on the situation you thought id take it the way you dished it Tho thought tight that it if you take it any other way he said and jeered gobble it along with that nifty piece of girl meat that little cuddly pink and white female thing ann lee that a man can buy a dozen of in town for cody struck the way lightning strikes leaping yards across the floor bill cole cody swung with his left hand and struck a blow for any hard striking man to be proud of only rance Ranee waldron there at the end of that perfect short are arc ile he was three or four quick leaps behind it jerking out his guns and he was in high heaven with full provocation to burn his man down attacked without warning he had every right to go for his guns to kill his man and it would be so easy I 1 if there were only a witness to his predicament that of a man defending himself against a murderous attack that witness he had but he knew that only later it was ann lee who had stolen a tip toe from the room in which doe doc joe and aunt jenifer two sentimental old fools were explaining pla ining and talking cwg twp at a time and blinking against fat tear drops a tremulous ann lee who was wondering where a certain william cole cody william willfam she thought that must be his real name the name his mama and papa gave him had betoken betaken himself she heard and she saw and she nearly dropped dead hearing and seeing now as bill cole cody had leaped forward and the watchful ranee rance waldron had leaped back to be out of his reach waldron fired and cody struck again and little ann tried to scream and tried to shut her eyes and could do neither in a sort of trance she saw saw how it was that bill cody struck not with his fist this time since that would have been too late but as a bullet clipped through a loose fold of his sleeve he struck with his whole body launching himself like a long loan lean catapult with bullets ripping the air where he had been a split second before and as aa his feet left the floor andee and he became a sort of giants arrow in horizontal flight and his head struck ranee rance waldron in the middle hi his long arms with those tremendously gripping hands of his grappled with the man ile he sent toppling and crashing to 0 the floor now bill cole cody miss all the bullets which swarmed about him like angry bees two of then them scraped him barely laid the skin back and their effect was to cause causa him to lose all temper which he had time to lose already there was a scratch along the top of his head and blood ran down into his left eye there was a twin scratch six or eight inches long down the back of his left shoulder ann lee saw the blood and thought he was surely dead and came running shed grab ranee rance Wal drons guns and shoot him all to pieces 1 but no intercession was needed As waldron spilled back on the floor one of his guns flew out of his hands bill cody though with one eye dimmed could see that the 0 ther other gun swung in its brief arc to blow his brains out but codys clodys hand swung quicker he caught Wal drons wrist he ha oil all but broke it in the power of his grip slowly he twisted it so th thata atthe the muzzle of Wal drons g gun un was against Wal drons temple and then bill cody spoke his little speech pull the trigger now waldron if you like or drop the gun and drop it f TO BE CONTINUED |