Show auk U N L u ell A k K RANCH III A C H mm by FRANK H SPEARMAN AIRMAN in copyright frank H spearman service CHAPTER VII continued 11 21 where we got caught right there cried the barber we got back to the ponies an had to cut across a piece of burned timber to get out A dead limb from one of tie trees fell on me I 1 went nent down mith the pony when I 1 kiel ed loose the pony bolted an when I 1 tilt ti I 1 I 1 to get up my leg was broke there we was doc doe 1 anami t s poev couldn coulden t carry double fhe fire was creedin up on two s des of us it was terrible doc that s all a man can say just terrible we couldn coulden t I 1 ardly hear us talk canama picked me up to set me on his pony nol 0 o I 1 yells it on t do panama in an 3 ou on know it I 1 in done panama sue saw yo you ain t got is a minute to lose lase get I 1 uk ith on your horse and run for it shut up jake jahe pamma yells get op up on that porn I 1 tried to figi t it out himbur I 1 wis crazy crazy with pain n couldn coulden t ban lie ile myself neither he I 1 eted me on his pony stuck the lines in my hands beat it he yelled what it 11 you do sass s I 1 I 1 ve got ant good legs I 1 run he says A melancholy procession took the desert road that night for sleepy cat in the wagon lay panama beside him lay his injured friend spotts jake would have baie it no other way in town next day the boys tried vainly to figure out some sort of a de cent burial service for panama the best coffin to be had bad in medicine bend was ordered by telegraph to re reach aeb sleepy cat on train number one I 1 ve got it exclaimed jeff sellers sollers who was sitting near carpy he ile slapped the doctor s knee we 11 have the old doc himself make a few re marks over aji ama ams no tes yes hell nol not I 1 wont do it growled carpy they all set on him yes you will carpy was inflexible boys you might just as well shut up but why wont won it you I 1 well I 1 tell you I 1 im m just another bom bum like poor panama that a all you imeln it yell I 1 know the way I 1 look at t it Is this nothing in panamas ute life became him like the leaving of it surely no man could die a nobler death than panama panamas s now I 1 want to see a man who lives a life like panama panamas s death say a few words over panama and I 1 im in going to try to get him to do it who the old padre over on the reservation but he won wont t do it panama didn dian it belong to his church 1 that doesn doean t make a d d bit of difference boys the padre knew panama he knows me he will do it if were lucky enough to catch him at home and not away fifty miles on a sick call I 1 ve done a few things for padre cataldo I 1 know the man inside and out dr carpy called up the padre and am was lucky at least the padre was at home As to his coming comin that was something else again carpy held him long on the wire be he pleaded ear nestly at last he be agreed to come at eight 0 clock the welcome wel come ter of the dilapidated engine was heard outside the padre a gunlock Guri lock buck chauffeur and a little indian bo boy y of ten or twelve disembarked and the re caption committee welcomed the guest of honor to the hotel office long well filled and headed by the clergyman and the little fellow the growing crowd straggled down tl ti e street to harry tenison s where poor panama lay in state on the rear most of the pool tables padre cataldo laying aside his hat and hia his overcoat of many patches made the sign of the cross knelt a moment in silent prayer and standing behind the pool table on which pan ama lay in his coffin sp bp be ke clearly and simply boys said the old priest this looks like a queer place for a padre P adre perhaps a queer job but I 1 ve known bill hayes a good many years I 1 knew him la in his wildest days and f ie ve known him for the last three years since he turned over a new leaf bill used to visit me and talk with me it was something I 1 said to him once so he told me that started him thinking what s all this about this greedy rotten old world he asked him that doesn doean t make a damned bit of all to think about bill was not a follower of my faith you know that but he believed jesus christ to be the son of god and for three y years ears he has tried the best he could to keep his commandments and persuade the boys up and down the line to do the same he told me he wanted to try to do right where he had spent his life trying to do wrong naturally I 1 never heard bill preach but I 1 have been told what eloquent and sincere sermons he did preach R 11 it out there la in those forgot ten ter hills facing no not neing but embr embracing acim 1 a dreadful deigl B 11 preached a deahl less sermon tor for be he took his nest next from the lips of god himself and wherever you bury him boys let the words of that text be graven on his tomb greater love than this no man hath that a man lay down I 1 Is life for his friends the lull in the fire threat issued in fresh dangers to the hill ranches A blaze starting star fing up anew on the reser cut over lands crept north on the very night that panama was bur led with what aid she could bring jane rode next morning over to her neigh bor a only to find the situation critical by noon tie tl e fire fighters were being driven back all alo along ng the line but loath to abandon hope of saving the ranch buildings the men fought till riding among them warned them to loo first to their own safety riding then fast to the ranch house he found jane consulting with quong quon in the kitchen I 1 must think of your safety jane he slid sud jt it is getting too close to dan ger here ion ind quong must go home pill Is it that bad we might as well face tt it e truth it its S not safe here for aou ou you must go and quickly re your ponies sad died they are then take quong and mount up janes eyes softened ahey fell be fore I 1 Us Is I 1 just hate bate to go bill she 1 I tantalizingly it 1111 aiu de sorting a friend it isn t jane lou ou may imagine girl how I 1 hate to send you away but you know who I 1 in tl inking of don t you you austn t thil 1 k too much of any body but yourself just now B bill I 1 11 she murmured I 1 do some thinht thinking ng my self these days quong had been called always fore handed without any words he w was as winking and bl aking in his sa saddle addle denison handed jane I 1 er lines she leaned towar him and spoke I 1 low ow we must do some more running ourselves jane I 1 alir 11 will you promise me solemnly one thing promise you anything girl solemnly bill solemnly what Is it that you 11 II think first for your own safety now I 1 promise jane for my sake bill do you mean that I 1 do mean it god tiles bles 1 you if the buildings go ride over to report tomorrow the wind died that night with the bloodshot sun as if to leave in the hearts of its victims a faint hope of escape from the worst of its ravages jane slept ro 0 o well that she opened her ees in the file heavy air of daybre daybreak ik conscience stricken at having rested peacefully during the hours in which her nelga bor might have been burnel out she dressed ate quong q hurried breakfast saddled I 1 er pony and set out for denison s directing quong to follow as soon as he co ild 1 1 I he lie smoke grew more dense as she neared the ridge and she reluctantly turned about foi for home and told quong of her failure and that sl e would rl te ie up into the high hills to try to see what was going on she remounted and rode up the DI vide trail the smoke was ro 10 dense that it cut off hope of seeing the valley and spurred by the 1 tion to see by riding higher she rode on and on till she found herself at the foot of gunlock knob jane headed th pony up the mountain the sum mil mit had bad never seemed so hard to reach but panting and exhausted the pony carried jane to the summit and she rode out on the table to look the scene below was terrifying huge clouds of smoke billowed and spread only to boil boll up anew and race on the wind it seemed as it if the whole oun coun try were in flames here and there tongues of fire shot from the rolling smoke jane sat the pony fear stricken and immovable watching and hoping for a rift in n the angry clouds that would reveal the ranch buildings none came weary at length and depressed jane turned her pony s head to ride home gunlock itself might be in dan ger pr alven the pony took the downward trill reluctantly jane could not tell until ro a shoulder of the knob she saw below her a tire sweep tag ing across the trail she was mas following worse than that the fire was vas spurting through the brush up the mountain in front of her the pony balked thoroughly frightened jane turned him up the narrow trail and headed for the summit even the few moments st e had bad been away from the top had changed the scene overwhelmed helmed with con sterna tion she began to think anew of her own on safety she urged the pony swift ly down the trail again hoping faintly to find some hidden by pass her path hii was s blocked the hot air of the fire below was catch cat chlDe fin at her throat gusts of smoke burned into her eyes she reined about to return despairing to the summit once again the level rock afforded her temporary refuge she dismounted the pony was growing unmanageable he snorted stamped bung flung his head up and down and chewed frantically at his bit hope deserted her she sank to her knees and fell forward covering her face with her arms i or a moment her mind was a blank she heard nothing of a frantic calling of her name when a singed and black ened horseman spurred and lashed his pony toward her sprang from the sad die dle and caught her up in his arms jane I 1 lie cried as he looked into her face and shook her in his effort to restore consciousness jane open bour our eyell eyes speak to met me its bill jane bill I 1 cant can t you hear me speak I 1 her eyes opened she looked in a daze at him it its s bill jane I 1 she threw her arms convulsively convil convi around his neck oh bill bill I 1 what can we do must we die bill in this horror no he exclaimed we cin vin get through but we t lose a mio min u ute te not a second come he half carried her to an edge of the su summit amit where a rock crevice gave a sl abt footing a few feet below into this he lowered himself and raised his arms to jane but the horses bill she cried leave tl em he called back they may escape there theres s no footing for horses where were we re going quick jane jump I 1 he ile caught her in his arms steadied her showed her how to secure herself an the precarious footing and lowered himself to another slender ledge to brace himself bade her spring and caught her again in his arms her heart beat so violently he be seemed to feel it as she hugged close to him there was barely room for the two to stand beep cool too jane we can make tt it but be very very careful of your footing darling jane the fire haen t touched tl Is side of the mountain yet but if yon you fell it would be a hundred feet be ever last angly sure of every sep step wont won t you never move until I 1 tell you spurned to superhuman effort deni dent son achieved the almost impossible and by sliding clinging with fingers hands and arms and by carefully us ing his barlit he managed to bring jane down unharmed to the foot of the precipitous wall that had bad given him the bare chance to save her life he held out his arms to catch her for the final jump bill I 1 she exclaimed breathing hard bard and looking up in sheer amazement at the precipice down which be he bad brouil t her ber how did we ever get down there alive he ile was still very anxious the wrinkled veins of his smoked forehead plainly mirrored that she waited tor for orders we must run through that grove of quaking asp and try to get away from the knob this will all be burning in a few minutes are you able to run I 1 II 11 bet I 1 can run faster than you bill the laughing tone of her words thrill thrilled ed and cheered him he knew better than she what still lay between them and safety they hastened on through the light timber then running a broad shoulder they saw a vast pan orama of smoke lighted in places by flames where the fires had wrought destruct i n in the virgin virlin pint forests along the mountain slope denis n hurried on jane briskly keeping pare pace with I 1 im tin but wl en they neared the smoking pine she he felt dis bayed bill its tt s all on fire yet look at the little blazes see the ground pine and the trees are smoking and burning yet bill I 1 see the deer running over there mercy those are bear running too why every ai 81 tin il 11 you can if ink of jane was looking toward an opening in the pines half a mile away it rt was a precipitous flight of the anim il life of a whole mountainside from the anth of a forest fire they d better run said denison grimly we must do some more run ning ourselves tane there 9 very lit tie tle danger crossi crossing Dg this strip but I 1 want to get across it quick they dashed lashed into the fire area to get gether her little tongues of flame darted tl ti e still burning ground bit b it nothing to threaten janes stout laced boots or leather trousers they crossed the burned strip and broke together down a long slope that bordered another forest of pine denison paused and looked anxious ly at jane how are you standing it girl she was panting but game her high colored cheeks the flashing brightness of her eyes her parted aag er lips made her a picture fine bill are we out of danger they were standing together in the wind and smoke that swirled and ed died lip tip the mountain his hand was at her back as she leaned on his arm perhaps overwhelmed by the thought of what he must say he hugged bugged her close and drawing her unresisting III II 11 to his own held them in a long I 1 I 1 I 1 wish we were jane we were re p g only now into danger I 1 wll it t so jane TO BE CONTINUED |