Show ud 0 af lee CY kol CL by FRANK he SPEARMAN servia copyright Copy richt by charles scribners sons STORY FROM THE START at sleepy cat doctor carpy tells wentworth freighting boss bosn of 0 a shooting scraps scrape in bartoes Barto ea gh den in which john selwood Sel woodi gambler Cam bler in defense defend or of h hla Is wounded ded bartner fart pit r t n ner e r dave tracy shows show skill and nerve A year desir atte iward sri wood now Went sen tentative senta dative tive at sleepy cat cornes comes upon ft settler whose wagon has hired in a creek lie he help ret get the outfit clear after picking up a girl a shoe and seeing anil and being attracted by the supposed owner thereof in the settlers wagon alases en a youth Is robbed of in a sleepy cat gambling den selwood forces the swindlers lers bartoe and atkins to retarn the th a money CHAPTER IV continued that demanded selwood fth alth a shade more of life tin and cure foulness in his tone it if tracy sald said that s not doubting your word at all selwood not at nil all hut but somebody some hody in n town like this always has to met ct as peacemaker you know that abe boys seemed to t pick on me for tile the job it aint much of a job nor one I 1 was looking for but I 1 was footloose foot loose and took it 1 to oblige I 1 found I 1 was getting all the lie kirks kicks ond and tle itys boys getting all tile alie money so an I 1 asked them to chip in n down own alon along the line most of em am did tracy and a tew few others tracy the only one that aked sel selwood impassively that may be I 1 dont re remember r rut put I 1 never had bod any hard feeling against triley tracy on n that lint ne account count I 1 want you to know that SOW selwood nd you iou seem continued Star blick with tome imitation Ini tation to want to stick slid to lo that subject I 1 come hero pro to olgat to over old scores I 1 came herein try to patch up new ones selwood w 0 0 d ik Be forc frore we set get out lie sticking plaster selwood wont went on evenly lets rot get daved position clear and mine dine dae felt bat a place run like his place where a straight game ic I 1 dealt need eny protection ti neither elther the lie place nor the tor it may be lie made a mistake but the alie way nive dave n ive felt the flip way may I 1 I 1 feet feel now about ibis fills I bartoe antoc business lie ile robbed today ernon others a boy hero here with his widowed mother of alk hundred dollars I 1 told barene to the boy oy back ills money lie ire refu refused Qed I 1 told lint id clenn clean him out in ili the morning or lie could clean me out theres no use up of 0 more words word about it nil all there Is to it well I 1 say fill all selwood Sel observed starbuck Star huck asserting ln himself im here to keep law ina and order and I 1 cant have tiny any places burned in the busine cc quarter of sleepy cat lies iles in flip gambling bull business ness same ame as you rr are S selwood wood jumped as it if stung and strong strone word same as I 1 gim am hp he echoed aner lly do I 1 send out jailbirds Jail Jall birds like atkins to dral men in here to rob rall them what whar do you mean it needed nil all of diplomacy to quiet things down domi lie ite rehearsed Bar bartoes tops defense HP IT urged good feeling till ill lo in no purpose ile he found lie could make no impre impression sinn whatever on Sc Se lwoods firmness lie rose sit at length indignant int 1 I see fee I 1 cant reason with you if ant on thing liln unpleasant happens dont hold bold me ri rr not of if you keep out of it observed unperturbed im here to keep the peace not to keep kf ep out retorted stat hock rising to ills ilia full height ills il trouble troublesome tome customer selwood rose in turn 1 I believe you left thief ither just before I 1 wont went there lie said eald calmly you vou hild had some solle trouble regarding 1 Still bilk what do you wein mean lie demanded iners will ill travel oll all night to round up it a calalin juniper rut but I 1 feel exactly as you do da starbuck uck why ral eup up old scores As far as im concerned exclaimed Star starbuck buk advancing hotly holly as selwood retreated if you mean the ibe bulich that tried to jump lly claims down there bring on your miners tin im not much on old scores starbuck buckso sald said selwood soberly 1 I dont donl think were going to have any trouble here not you all and 1 I anyway our teamsters can itile care of buntos outfit tomorrow im riding down to thief nit or iny elf tonight on bust bus ness find and e told mcalpin to keep keel a horse saddled for me dut but I 1 shant start till eleven I 1 expect before that bartoe will have that six hundred here drop in any time starbuck always glad to see yon ou with this judicious nod even hand ed cd mixture ol of threats hints blots fine small talk selwood let starbuck si s 9 i alth feathers on onca more unruffled iut but nelt nel ller ler tin had fooled lit alner in tile the slightest degree roth both understood of t mas aa only a ie preliminary f to ro situations that might curry far loto aitto the future at one minute past eleven selwood left the an gambling nibling hall for the barn ills pony was waiting climbing into the saddle lie he headed south iti tor tile the thief river road trying out the nev donys steps ile he had croc crossed ed the riter bridge and was si swinging n ing out on the spanish sinks when lie ile heard flatter clatter of liners hoofs behind him A horm unan riding fast cover battled him and nn ili 11 looked around armind to greet roh bob scott scott reined in beside tile the garn gambler bler with tits his pony on oil its houn haunches clies the nio moneys UP lie he grinned you ton wont need to bother the miners I 1 TI tiey ey ioda bad back at a leli leisurely irely pace put up their horses and walked together up the hill getwood got the money cot counted life it handed it to beott told him where here to find the owner and deliver it tell tier her to tf get her hoy boy out of tom town n before somebody timp londy else gets it away from him was lit his only injunction if theres any human scum in the w whole hole blamed united sta spates t e that lint aint landed in sleepy cat ca to grum hied bled carpy it roust must he because they aint heard of it yet doctor corpy carpy was an educated ivan iran nho knew quite well liow h ow to speak good english hut but like many another frontiersman of his kind he had caught ahm slovenly english of tile the men with whom lie he was thrown in contact now look at that coat he continued calmly aggrieved 1 I bought it new at nn nil auction yester yesterday dayl 1 last night I 1 rode flown down tc to see a sick team ster at tile the bunkhouse one 0 your men while I 1 was fixing him up it ft began to rain when I 1 started for home I 1 put on tile the coat ny by diat bat time it was raining till all fired hard I 1 lifted my lily I 1 whip hip to ouch up the horses horse and the lie whole sleeve parted tit at the lie shoulder joint when I 1 reached around to see what the motter matter was the other sleeve fell clear clean oft off when I 1 step stepped out of the hie huggy buggy the coat come in two right across the hack look tit nt itt it with some violent of tits his complaint the doctor who in sleepy cut cat ne any chance received more llian ilion the first sil sellable billable il lable of ills professional title and rarely III tic surname was telling john selwood elwood of how lie he lind had been cheated where did buy bay the coat asked selwood lwood Sc though less move moved As as a I 1 listener than the lie doctor was it as an orator down at that new place opposite the warehouse in the old blockhouse A man named fyler Is running a dry goods gond store there arid and D rig I 1 blaines Is running a mock auction anone on one side of the store come on n down you lick claynes and ill UPI fyler the tun to men were talking in the one stoy building adjoining find and enill with willi the lintel hotel that bore the lie small mail wood sig sign n known as the shingle of tile the sole doctor if in sleepy cat or within a hund hundred red mis of sleepy cat au open pro fane and not dot always COO coolheaded cool headed hendell surgeon but one oile whose fallings failings were lit in tough lough redeemed by a pen gen erous heart bear trod did the hie bene benefits rits of a skill free without question to nil all comers selwood Sc lwood grael and dressed in the rough gear of lie fie rail had evidently just come in from a trip oer ahr he division arid and sat listening to ills his friend with the air of a mail who has more serious platters on its ills mind illow how is date corning coining oil nn lie aked without to chirpy pys s flippo nj to lo help clean up tile lie new dow frabor alor fr Iral Pr the il octor one elow on the alie table scratched his head hunt dave ile he S said 1111 perplex elt lie he flent I 1 I 1 no t comine comina on I 1 brnt get illy any tiro life into him its close to ft a icar ear now slice lit got hurt but youa gut got to john lnig hes on nn old man dina and put in three tears cars tit in the hie army rif of flip alip antoniac now look at ou tin thi first nr l time little date came to ree ee nip nie rt aar ligo to net get sonic lielie li elii ino tor for ou u lip lie sall ou were in the hie last fact binges singes of on fin 11 wu slit sol so but 3 wore were headed that lint w way i all acht right look 1001 of af you now itow spry a as nn nil antelope you look ionic good care of me carpy bood corot nothing it was eld dry mountain air not too lo 10 high nii and thin nather nullon r that took eare carp of you and youre now dave Is 19 just wound all healed up hut but just kind of slow paralysis nothing 1 I con can lout in him seems to pull him film sip ip it sure cure wits hord hard to get what lie ho yot of here in sleepy Cof Ca tafter after three years vears in the hit firmy army this town Js is certainly tough and getting tougher it was tough before you yon ond and I 1 saw it doctor and it 1 vill be tough after were mere laid 61 up on the be hill replied indifferently if you can pull dave through save one good man for it if he Is a gambler where you guing down to the tent carpy understood what aliat he be meant that lie he was wag going to 0 o see his wounded partner tracy had been moved from the gain can boling hall to quieter quarters on oil tile the 1 edse edge of the tent colony of the town flown As the two men parted ard selwood walked down the hotel steps a toll odd looking ann ne accosted costel liln him stranger sarn tiger lie he sald said with n suspicious air im loolen for jolin john seltzer promptly if not definitely what do ou wont want with john seltzer selaw ini im a russell rushell and wentworth mule boss stronger from hend bend this man seltzer la Is our dent here tore youre william rard aloe just plain hill stranger ger hill par ilar daloe do they call cali you it depends somewhat 1111 on nn who does tile lie illig calling nip ni call me john selwood 1 then lints what I 1 want to call you stranger I 1 dont give a hall hang s who you are or what your name ii 13 were friends selwood Sel wooi looked nill over over with scinie some cur curiosity losty lie ile ans an unusual man even amo among ng unusual men in ili lilg its left hand IN with itil the stock resting on the ground he held its as he talked a double bar meled shotgun of a size find and calibre unique in it the mountain country it was in fact an old eight gauge english gun ft fill barrels thirty six indies inches long its normal dormal charge as selwood 4 v 6 le in I 1 4 I 1 ig it 11 4 I 1 6 0 11 t what do you want with john seltzer afterward learned was ten azam di ams of powder er and a handful of buck buckshot biot in n each barrel tills this extraordinary capon vas nas ostensibly as a protection against hostile hostie indians though indians had for years eased cased to molest freight wagons on lint trail in size rard aloe matched up with its ils gun lie ile stood well above six feet it tits his inocco moccasins sins which lie he worp won lien hen lie become became confused ns as to he be lind had left its his boots and lie ills arms nod and legs pretty nuch akimbo lie was long limbed ind gaunt of figure with a brou browned 11 pd kill ikin drawn drain like parchment over it ace as lean as a hounds A sharp nose aase shot out like tin an later interrogation roga oil lunt upside down between beetling cheel cheekbones bones nod and tits his upper up lip tin and lover oner face eru ere covered with a craggily gsmith of heard beard a growth crowth hot hat in a I beauty contest con lost would have laninea adonis adonia lilno himself elf ben Went orth 0 to o roe me about ou rill bill retained So Sel lwood Nood said sahl ie e was going to send you up here berl that what I 1 looked nou 1011 ip ap for now john mcalpin told me id find you at the hotel I 1 w mt to ay stranger the encouraging ly im a birther bi other of mrs mose Is my iny nep fiew she wrote mr me liow low iou on got her money back f oni om hem river rats that was rin nothing thing well I 1 want to saim sa im with willi ou iringer Irn tron nger geri and ill pet act our fur name set after a while vaille ventu wentworth orth told roe he was franq you to this dit olsion what wort they paying you on the plains job thirty five borly ill up here bill Pard doe gradually gro duall the im port of the words much obliged tolan he said gravely everything costs a quarter here 11 1 I gee sac ll 11 said selwood youve found folind that out walt for we me 1 at t the he birn ill be there in a few minutes pe picking up hii gunin gun pun in it hl I 1 s left liand and resting lila right hand on the ann of 21 huge bowle knife fashioned from a blacksmiths file and lung lit ills his lift hip wondered wandered on his lil way directed hla his stops steps to ward tracys tent to this tent quarter had also come christie fyler and her father for foi temporary lodgings selwood pali paid little attention to lie fie dott firo of the lit tent colony lie ile had bud only been careful to pitch on ana equip a tent for tits hi friend a hundred mirds from an y other tent but dave had lingered refusing to die aud and not quite equal cau to getting well in consequence tile the newcomers enc broached accod on his privacy until the fler I 1 er tent wits was pitched tit nl nioca back bach to to back with his own oun slid abil ill all that christie had eer heard of tier her neighbors tent a larger and bet ter tent than lie hie others if alint bat it sheltered a sick sic ga christie carl itle ww saw at times limes tin indian indan looking man comins coming nod and going hom the tent ind ut tit times a women who came dally daily from som somewhere embere to bi bilna ing broth broil flin iiii to ta up tile quarters of the wounded miln man once Chrls christie tle tit nt tier ovin on work lad had caught ri a glimpse of this comans womans face she aus not old in w fam hut hot tier her complexion completion ruined by the alie sun kim and tile he winds of fie mountains maila tier lier look old tier her features showed traces of tin nn earlier curlier beauty and tier her clastic step slop proved her health and strength it wit ans care find and unhappy ness that aged lt her r expression iler her eyes fixed themselves in ch memory they were Nere dark rather deep ees with a hard look ns as it if of horig hope like tier lier youth faded meeting her again in the street As the lie tm two 7 passed on their ways christie hod had paused to ask a question the response it had been cold not calculated to invite aln rgaret icycle indeed courted no acquaintance acquaint ancer many women passed through sleepy cat but among the few that called sleepy cat their abiding place she walked alone she was housekeeper at doctor carlys hotel a hord boiking housekeeper under the hardest possible conditions but she stuck to tier her job and walked her way alone and cold and hard though she was site she |