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Show r" ' . I Yl LW m0 w.N.u. ILWi. H W . SE.rt.vice. CHAPTER XI Continued 15 Campo Ragland whirled. "I'll never nev-er what?" he demanded In a strange tant voice, like the ring of overdrawn over-drawn steel. "You you'll never deliver op Kentucky Jones!" Campo's voice rose to a thunder. "And why will I not?" "Because when you do I'll tell them all the the truth!" Her father's face went empty as lie stared at his daughter, as If faced by an ?normity too great for him to comprehend. For a moment he wavered as If his mind refused comprehension, like a horse refusing a jump. "What truth?" he managed to get out at last. "What are you talking" Jean's voice broke, all but hysterical, hyster-ical, cut him down. "You you know what truth ! If I tell what I know, It's you that'll be hooked for the murder of Mason !" Watching Campo, Kentucky saw the boss of the Bar Hook fold up. All the strength and aggression went out of his wide lean shoulders, and a ragged palsy came Into his hands. "Why, Jean" he faltered; "why Jean Jean " y His daughter stood rigid, shoulders shoul-ders up, and arms stiff at her sides. - her eyes wide with the glazed brilliance bril-liance of frozen waterholes as she fwatched her father. Then her breath caught In her throat, and she began to sob brokenly ; and her face 6treamed with the tears that had been held back for so long. "Child, child," said Kentucky softly, soft-ly, "you didn't need to do that!" Jean cried out, "Don't talk to me I Don't" The telephone ripped the quiet apart with a whirring clamor. Kentucky stepped to the phone and took the receiver down. "Well?" "Who's that?" came the small voice over the wire. "Kentucky Jones, at the Bar " "Hook." "This Is Floyd Hopper. Kentucky, you sure got me up in the air. There ain't any question about It Sanders was killed with the gun that was found In his hand!" "Well?" "It's your move, Kentucky. By G d, it sure is time this thing was .cleared up ! What goes on here, man? Put a name to It!" Jean said In a strangled sort of voice, "Is that the sheriff?" "Just a minute. Hopper," Kentucky Ken-tucky said, and turned to Jean. "What what are yoa going to :do?" "What can I do? Your father has stampeded us ail. If I'd had another week 1 could have gentled this thing, but now the whole works has blown up under us. All we can do Is try to ride It through to a finish, now I" He turned back to the phone. "Are you there. Hopper?" "Yes, I'm here." "Go get Ted Baylor. Arrest him If you have to, but get hlni. Give mi m m " "I'll Never What?" a deputy the Job of keeping hold of him. and don't let him out of your sight until this thing is cleared up!" "I've already got Ted Baylor," came the sheriff's voice from Waterman. Water-man. "I had that from Campo before you called. What's the matter with you fellers out there?" For a moment Kentucky Jones faltered, fal-tered, and his face went blank, but he spoke to the phone again. "All right Then go out to the SS and get Bill McCord. When you've got both Ted Baylor and Bill McCord, bring them out here." "What if Bob Elliot wants to come along with Hill McCord?" the sheriff sher-iff asked. "McCord is Elliot's foreman. fore-man. Elllot'll probably want to ome along and stand by." i i "If Elliot wants to come, let him. I don't care what Elliot does. You bring Baylor and McCord. When you've done that, I'll give you the man that killed Mason." "Which of 'em is it?" the sheriff demanded. "Hold the rope a minute." Kentucky Ken-tucky turned to where Campo Rag-land Rag-land sat. "Campo," he demanded, "why did you send for Ted Baylor?" Campo Ragland, returning slowly from the distances, stared at Kentucky Ken-tucky a moment.almost as if without recognition. Then he got up and walked toward the door, slowly and unsteadily, like an aged man. His voice was hardly more than a whisper. whis-per. "To h 1 with you," he said ; "To h 1 with you all." Kentucky turned back to the phone. "I said," came Sheriff Hopper's Hop-per's voice, "which one of 'em is it?" "Neither one," said Kentucky. He hung up the receiver. CHAPTER XII THE long dusk of the winter rim had given way to night, star bright and 'frostily clear, before a car was heard upon the Waterman road. Kentucky Jones walked out alone In shirt sleeves. "Where's Campo?" Sheriff Hopper Hop-per demanded, climbing out from behind the wheel. "He's here. Come In." Into the light of the kitchen Sheriff Sher-iff Floyd Hopper now herded the four other men who were with him. They were Ted Baylor, whose eyes were alert and watchful, and perhaps per-haps slightly puzzled In a poker face; Bill McCord, grimly expressionless; expres-sionless; Bob Elliot, looking sardonic sar-donic and self-sufficient; and a blond Norwegian-faced young deputy dep-uty named Willie Helmar. "You'all just have a cup of coffee , and make yourselves at home," Kentucky Ken-tucky said. "Sheriff, Campo and I would like to talk to you a minute, here in the other room." "All right," Hopper said. "You fellers sure are a secretive bunch," Bob Elliot grumbled, warming warm-ing his hands over the stove. - "Come on In, if you want to, Bob," Kentucky said. "You might just as well sit in on this." Elliot accepted, following as Kentucky Ken-tucky led the way through the main living room to a little room at one side. Campo sat In a corner. His heavy desk was pulled diagonally across in front of him, as If he were at bay there, futilely barricaded. From beneath the sweeping dome of his forehead his eyes regarded them as redly as the eyes of a dog In firelight Suddenly Kentucky wondered if Campo's evident sense of standing stubbornly at bay had been caused more by himself and Sheriff Hopper than by the now far-off woman who had made him fear a showdown upon Mason's death so fear it that he was held In a paralysis of Indecision while Jim Humphreys was killed, and Lee Bishop, and the 88 herds poured over his range. In the shadows of a recessed window-seat Jean Ragland sat. Sheriff Hopper said, "Howdy, Campo; howdy, Miss Ragland." Campo flicked him a glance, then dropped surly red eyes to his thick freckle-blotched hands. Kentucky Jones began the making mak-ing of a cigarette. "Seems like we been a little bit disorganized out here, Hopper," he said. "The fact Is Campo and I haven't seen eye to eye on this. In all things." Sheriff Floyd Hopper waited ; and Bob Elliot crossed his legs and laced his fingers together. "It seems," said Kentucky, "that Campo became convinced that I did away with Old Ironsides myself." my-self." There was a sharp silence here during which Kentucky Jones finished fin-ished and lighted his cigarette. Hopper Hop-per turned a questioning glance on Campo. "Yes?" Ragland glanced at Kentucky Jones, but did not speak. "Everybody's known all along," Kentucky said, "that 1 was out here at the Bar Hook just before snow flew on the day Mason was killed ; and I've admitted It Assuming for a minute that I could easily have got hold of the weapon that killed Mason, the next thing needed against me was my reason for this act of unseemly violence. Campo found out where I did have a good reason and naturally figured that he'd come to the end of the trail." "You admit yon had a reason for killing Mason?" Hopper said: "I'm not denying that I had," said Kentucky. "Come to find out that was one of the reasons that Campo i Ragland wanted Ted Baylor brought out here. Ted la one of the very few that know that .Mason .Ma-son turned me down on a renewal that I'd counted on and like to broke me." "You sure are free-handed about making a case against yourself!" "Campo was overlooking a couple of things," said Kentucky. "It's true that you can show I was broke by Mason. But what ahout all those other cowmen that Mason had to close down on? To those men Mason's Ma-son's decisions meant salvation or ruin exactly as to me. He could not carry us all. In digging up a reason for me to kill Mason, Campo only dug up a motive that forty or fifty rimrock cowmen would own to." "I see what you're driving at," said Hopper. "Maybe Mason did have such an enemy, or six of them, or fifty; the fifty of them weren't having no barbecue at the Bar Hook the day Mason was killed." "So I gathered," Kentucky admitted. admit-ted. "But bear in mind this if any one of the fifty had been there, he might have gun-whipped Mason. There's been an awful lot of wearing wear-ing of guns in the rimrock the past ten, twelve months, what with riders hoping for a chance to shoot a coyote, or a rabbit with a .45 slug! Cowmen's minds can work that way only about so long before something boils over and busts." "Yes," Hopper admitted. "I was looking for it all right; but when It come to killing Mason " "He was a right ambitious victim," vic-tim," Kentucky agreed ; "but there were big reasons for killing him, too. When you build up pressure like that you can figure on an explosion. ex-plosion. But It was the gun smoke In the history, and the pressure of the bad times, that wiped out John Mason and Incidentally Zack Sanders." Sand-ers." "And Jim Humphreys and Lee Bishop," the sheriff put In. "That's partly true," Kentucky allowed; al-lowed; "the killing of Humphreys and Bishop sure do make up an angle of this thing. It took two things to kill off Humphreys and Bishop the smoky feeling between the brands before Mason's death, and Mason's death Itself. Humphreys Humph-reys and Bishop were killed In the weirdest d n one-sided range struggle strug-gle that has ever been seen on this or any other range." The sheriff said slowly, "Mason's death comes first But don't you ever think, Elliot, that I've forgotten forgot-ten the funny look of this so-called so-called range war that's rubbed out Humphreys and Bishop. Everybody knows you've swamped Campo's range; and Campo's hardly raised his hand against it. I'll tell you plain, Elliot, if it turns out that Bishop and Humphreys were killed in the kind of shenanigan It looks like, I'll" Bob Elliot reddened. "I didn't come here to talk about range rights," he said, "but If you want a showdown on that, I'm ready any time. As long as there's been cattle cat-tle on the rim, or on the Bake Pan either, no brand has ever leaned any harder against another brand than the Bar Hook has borne down on the SS. If Campo's pulled in his horns, maybe it's because he knows that the rights of the SS are going to be backed up for a change." Campo Ragland spoke for the first time. "Rights I" he said bitterly. "Rights !" Sheriff Floyd Hopper said angrily, "You're a funny one, Elliot, to bring in talk about rights!" "You said yourself," Elliot answered, an-swered, "the Bar Hook has folded up." They all turned their eyes to Campo Ragland; but the boss of the Bar Hook was rolling a cigarette with slow meticulous care, and he did not contribute any observations. observa-tions. Sheriff Floyd Hopper swung restively res-tively In his seat "I can't understand under-stand It," he said. "I can't understand under-stand It" . "You'll understand it now," said Kentucky Jones, "I can tell you exactly ex-actly why Elliot has thought he could shove his beef all over Bar Hook range In full peace and comfort" com-fort" Bob Elliot said, "If the Idea Is to sit here half the " "Let him alone, Bob," Hopper Bnapped. Kentucky Jones looked Elliot over with a coo unfriendly eye. "I'll tell you another little thing that happened hap-pened th3 day Mason was killed." he said. "Bob Elliot and Campo Ragland were riding the Bake Pan range; and it happened that they met on that ride." "Where did you get this?" Hop per put In. "Partly," Kentucky said, "from Elliot El-liot himself." Elliot said. "I'll be d d If" "Will you be still?" said Sheriff nopper. "What then. Jones?" "Elliot was armed; Campo Ragland Rag-land was not. It worn! to be a kind of custom with the SS to take advantage ad-vantage of a situation like that as Lee Bishop and I found out one day In a little conversation we had with Bill McCord. Naturally. I wasn't there when Ragland and Elliot El-liot met; but I can tell yon that what happened was this Elliot gave Ragland such a ensuing out as yon couldn't expect any man to stand for. or put up with." "Is that right. Campo?" the sheriff demanded. Campo Railand gave a grunt which mlirht have been an affirmative; affirma-tive; it did not appear to be a denial. de-nial. "Campo Ragltnd," said Kentucky Jones, "tola Bob Elliot that ht would kill him before the day was-out." was-out." "lie's guessing now," said Boh Elliot "Yes, guessing," conceded Ken tucky Jones. Campo Ragland said unexpected ly, "Yes, by G d but he's guessing right !" Kentucky Jones nodded. "Sure I'm guessing right! Up here In the Frying Pan country there's an old lion hunter called Old Man Coffee: and he says " "To h 1 with Old Man Coffee.'' said the sheriff. "What happened then?" "Just at the moment," said Ken tucky Jones. "I can't tell yon exactly ex-actly what happened then; hut I can tell you something different, of a very curious Interest On the wall of this house used to be a chromo an enlarged snapshot of a man sitting on a horse. You'd look across the room at that little lit-tle picture, and you'd say to your self, 'Why, Campo has hung up a lens study of Bob Elliot' Then maybe may-be you'd look closer; and you'd see that It wasn't Bob Elliot at all but a representation of John Mason." Sheriff Hopper said, "You mean you're saying " "Bob Elliot knew that sometimes, sitting his horse In a certain way and at a certain distance, he and There Was a Ringing Crack. John Mason looked strangely alike; and Campo had promised to kill Elliot that day. Elliot knew that Campo did not dare to take a chance on what a jury might make out of that." "You're suggesting that Campo Ragland killed Mason by mistake, taking him for Elliot?" "I'm suggesting that It could be made to look that way; and that Elliot was able to hold that over Campo and that was why Elliot dared swamp Bar Hook range." "You mean that he ran a bluff that he could bring Ragland to trial for the murder of Mason?" "You can call It a bluff," said Kentucky Jones, looking at Bob Elliot, El-liot, "or you could call it a kind of silent blackmail, if you want." Bob Elliot jerked forward in his chair as if he would come to his feet. "Why, d n your eyes," he said, "if you think I'm going to sit here and take " "You'll sit there," Kentucky Jones said coolly, "and you'll take it, and you'll like it. You'll take it because you're yellow, clear down to the roots. And you haven't forgotten the night I knocked you kicking and squalling, in the sheriff's office at Waterman." Bob Elliot's face went white, and his eyes took on a squinting slant His lower lip dropped loose away from his teeth. "Why, you " "Yellow," Kentucky repeated, "clear down to the roots." An Inarticulate blasphemy strangled stran-gled In Elliot's throat SherilT Floyd Hopper made a clutch at Elliot's El-liot's belt, but missed his hold, as Elliot sprang at Kentucky Jones like a quirted horse. Kentucky hunched low, then straightened out the whole length of his body behind his left hand. There was a ringing crack, as If a bone had broken, and an Instant's confused tangle. Then Bob Elliot was lying on his back, breathing hoarsely, staring at the ceiling with blank eyes; and Kentucky Jones stood over him, nursing his left hand In his right Hopper said in a low exasperated voice, "You baited him Into that Jones." "I was counting on his temper," Kentucky said. "Lord, I thought It would never break!" Hopper's voice rose angrily, "If you got me out here to make fools of us all" "Shut up," Kentucky snapped at him, "we've got work to do. I " "You've talked all around and ahout. and over the bush." Hopper said bitterly. "And you end up with nothing more to the point than a cheap brawl You've wasted enough words to " "Not one single word." Kentucky contradicted him. "I had to go all over that so that you would understand under-stand what Is going to happen what I hope Is going to happen now. Campo! Hold this range hog here when he comes to put a gun on him If you need to." "All right." Jones caught flopper'a arm and dragged the sheriff after him to the door. (TO BE CO.STISUEDJ |