| Show r III p K U fly 13 DUDE v PETER B. B KYNE HYNE O THE TilE STORY T THUS US FAR Mary Sutherland Sutherland erland Is lured to Arizona by the advertisements advertisements adver adver- of ot the Wagon Walon Wheel dude ranch operated by Ma and Pa Burdan She Is Ismet Ismet Ismet met at the station by Len Henley Denley who tells her the ranch is out of ot business and who takes her to Phoenix Here Dere he be rides Mad Hatter Batter In n a rodeo and wins three thousand dollars for tor Mary from rom his dad lIam Ham Henley who has bet against him lIam Ham has bas bought the Burdan Durdan notes from the bank and feels eels the Wagon Wheel isnow Is Isnow Isnow now his but Mary has bought an equity In It She rehires Ma MOl and Pa Burdan takes up on the ranch and fights rustlers Aunt Margaret 1 calls on Len and tells him Mary has almost forgotten that she ever loved him r CHAPTER the first Ill be forking a horse by of April Threw my cane away yesterday yes yes- I discarded mine yesterday too and drove irk to Phoenix to celebrate celebrate celebrate cele cele- brate and buy some things Margaret Margaret Margaret Mar Mar- garet told me where I could communicate communicate communicate com com- with you Im I'm so glad youre you're in your father s house You both must feel much happier now We are arc How are you getting along out there darling Im busier than a one-armed one man saddling a colt That's a nifty I borrowed from Hank Wade Hanks Hank's my friend And dont don't you call me darling because Im I'm telephoning you on business Ive I've been wondering if now that youve you've abandoned the rodeo rodeo rodeo ro ro- ro- ro deo circuit you would consider selling selling selling sell sell- ing me Mose and Pablito Id I'd like them for my top horses I dont don't wish to sell my horses but in memory of some high moments moments moments mo mo- ments and a sentiment I thoroughly realize has perished I would like very much to present you with them And youre you're the only human being I would consider presenting them to it Sir who said that the gift without the giver is bare Thank you jOU Don Leonardo but butI I 1 may not accept a gift from you for any reason particularly a sentimental sentimental sentimental senti senti- mental one Well eWell you win that argument shortly shortly shortly short short- he be answered bitterly Very ly I w will ll come out and remove all of my property from your ranch Dont bother to do that I shall have Pedro deliver it all to your fathers father's fathers father's fathers father's fa fa- fa- fa ther's Tomahawk ranch near Pres- Pres cott A silence then So she didn't want to risk seeing Him lUm again That knowledge stabbed him and she knew it did because when he spoke again his voice trembled Please tell j Pedro edro that I give him the sedan and trailer iler house hOuS for old sak sakes sake's sa sake ke He has for a long time been planning planning planning plan plan- ning a visit to his wife's people in Mexico and he will save money and be comfortable if he makes the journey journey journey jour jour- ney in the trailer Ill tell him and see to it that he gets an opportunity to make the journey Well VeIl Im I'm sorry you couldn't have been a better sport about this It H isn't like you to get nasty This was a blow below the belt and she knew it and waited breathlessly for his counter punch Youre the nasty one one one-I I mean- mean well I dont don't mean that Youre You're sweet and wonderful wonderful-It nice Nasty eh Well VeIl nobody could be worse than that Mr Henley Henley Henley Hen Hen- ley youre you're a quitter You cant can't take it I can take anything Goodby she said coldly I trust you'll soon be your old swaggering swaggering swaggering swag swag- gering devastating self again my handsome love pirate pirate pirate-goodby goodby If some wit half-wit had organized a Skeptics' Skeptics Society Hamilton L. L Henley Henley Henley Hen Hen- ley would undoubtedly have been a charter member And if the society had at one of its meetings decided to investigate the true inwardness of the old adage that the leopard cannot cannot cannot can can- not change his spots Brother Henley Henley Henley Hen Hen- ley would have been found arguing the issue negatively even in the face of evidence that modern leopards leopards leopards leop leop- ards were achieving considerable success in spot elimination by the use of dyes bleaches and selective breeding His experience of life had demonstrated to him that fright and condign punishment do not operate to reform a thief thief hence hence when Joel and Rube Wade figuratively speaking speaking speaking speak speak- ing shook the dust of Arizona from their cowboy cO boots boot s Ham Henleys Henley's interest in them did not cease He had bought their Flying W outfit and in April he would throw a large crew of riders from his Tomahawk ranch in on the neighboring Flying W Wand and make a quick and very thorough thorough thorough thor thor- ough up round-up and count Then and then only would he send Joel a check to cover the final accounting for forthe forthe forthe the lease and iron were both registered registered registered regis regis- in the name of Joel the eldest brother and neither Rube nor the estate of Breezy had figured in his deal You know Hank he told their father on the way back to Prescott I wouldn't put it past them two boys to pay me a visit an steal a lot o 0 them W after Ive I've paid Joel for em They got the swelled head They just know they can outsmart the world an an I got a notion they'll have to cater to that by on me just to catch even with me for makin em sell out to me an He made his up round-up on the Flying Fly Fly- ing W early in April and the forty riders he put on the job had it finished finished fin fin- in ten days his Tomahawk ranch manager reported the tall tally of his calf branding and the aged cows bulls year two-year-old heifers and yearling calves trucked his crew back to the Tomahawk ranch and started his up round-up there Later inthe in inthe inthe the summer when the late calves had been dropped a few men would return to the Flying W Wand and brand these So Hamilton L. L Henleys Henley's of of- manager fice-manager Jess Hubbell sent Joel Wade Vade to a Los Angeles address address address ad ad- dress a check based on this count and the price agreed upon for the various classes of cattle When his May bank statement came in with I Ithe the dead checks Hamilton L. L Henley I examined the check he had issued to Joel Wade Vade and discovered it had been deposited in a bank in Blythe California In discussing the Wades with hisson hisson his hisson son at dinner that night he opined that customarily a man resides close to where he banks wherefore Blythe just dust across the Colorado River Riv Riv- er from Arizona was too close for comfort Thereupon Len recalled Pedro Ortiz had told him that the theman theman theman man Pedro had killed on the Wagon Wheel had had a letter on his person person person per per- son addressed to Randall H. H Wall Earp California a tiny settlement about thirty miles up river from Blythe and that judging by their outfits which Pedro had captured Wall and his two companions that day were from California This seemed to argue that the Wade brothers must have had a connection across the river and that the connection connection connection con con- had not been broken when they sold out and ostensibly left Arizona A few days later Len motored over to Earp California and made discreet inquiry of the postmaster for Randall H. H Wall He was in- in I C r i it t i a t p 0 1 rr i 1 Up with them Joel Up with them Reuben formed that Randall H. H Wall was the younger brother of one Morton P. P Wall Vall and both had a ranch about five miles up They had homesteaded homesteaded homesteaded home- home a quarter section each of splendid desert land fronting on the river cleared it and planted it to al alfalfa alfalfa alfalfa al- al falfa which they irrigated with water water water wa wa- wa- wa ter pumped from the Colorado The postmaster hadn't seen Randall HVall H. H Wall Vall for perhaps perhaps' two months The brothers sold considerable baled al alfalfa alfalfa alfalfa al- al falfa which they trucked into the Los Angeles market but they also fed a great deal of it to cattle augmenting the alfalfa with cotton seed cake and sugar beet pulp which their trucks hauled in from Los Angeles on their return trips after delivering baled hay The postmaster had seen truck loads of feeder steers passing through town on the Wall trucks he knew they bought feeders over in hi Arizona fattened them at their ranch and then sold them as baby beef at the Los Angeles stock yards Randall Wall had once told him they figured on feeding a critter ninety days and putting two hundred pounds on him Len drove up a rough single single single sin sin- gle track desert road that paralleled the river until he came to the Wall Vall ranch a half section of alfalfa stretching from some low hills to the river He turned in a road that led through the center of the ranch to the ranch-house ranch and noticed that this road was about forty feet wide and fenced on both sides In the yard of the ranch a man tinkering at the motor of a huge cattle truck came cam over and asked Len curtly what he wanted Len replied that he wanted to see Randall Randall Randall Ran Ran- dall H. H Wall on a private matter and was informed that Randall H. H Wall had sold out his interest in the ranch and moved to Oregon Len thanked him and departed apparently satisfied satisfied satisfied satis satis- fied with this lie Upon his return he armed and mounted two reliable old hands from the Tomahawk ranch equipped them with two pack mules to carry their bed rolls camp equipment and rations and sent them over on the Flying W V range to remain there all summer and watch for rustlers rounding up cattle On August first Len received U ti from Tom telephone message Lundy one one of his watchdogs on the Flying Flying Flying Fly Fly- ing W range that range that four men were gathering Flying W cattle A week later he and his father motored up to their Tomahawk ranch loaded Lens Len's two horses and his fathers father's top horse saddled into a huge truck together with three pack mules with their pack outfits bedding rolls food and cooking utensils and returned to Prescott where Hank Wade joined them in his official car They motored a hundred and eighty miles to Wickenburg and turned west across the flat fiat or undulating undulating undu undu- lating desert to Hope then northwest northwest northwest north north- west to Parker on the south bank of the Colorado River and northeast over a dirt road to Eagle Landing About six o'clock the following evening they heard the distant protest protest protest pro pro- test of tired cattle and the shout of men urging them down the wash Half an hour later the sheriff with his party watched from a distance of thirty yards his sons Joel and Rube and two strangers dismount unsaddle their horses and three pack- pack mules hobble them and turn them loose to graze They made a fire down in the wash and all hands helped in the preparation of supper from which task they presently were div diverted by hearing the soft voice of I She Sheriff tiff Wade saying Up with them Joel Up with them Reuben Up with them strangers Youre You're all covered Up Hamilton Henleys Henley's voice fierce harsh and raucous supplemented supplemented supplemented supple supple- the sheriffs sheriff's command si simultaneously simultaneously simultaneously si- si he put a bullet into the heart of the campfire and scattered scattered scattered scat scat- the coals Four pairs of arms went skyward and their captors closed in from four sides while the Henleys and Lundy held them covered covered covered cov cov- ered the sheriff handcuffed them and linked them together with two additional sets of cuffs cutIs H u Paw Pace Joel Wade Vade whimpered you aint a go goin in to take us in are you You wouldn't disgrace yourself yourself yourself your your- self by your own sons would you paw Your paws paw's been dead for some sometime time Joel his father replied sad sad- ly lYe Youre now to the sheriff sheriff sheriff sher sher- iff of Yavapai County who took an oath of office office to uphold the law You an Reuben promised to stay out of Arizona after Mr Henley saved you from that mob in Prescott Prescott Prescott Pres Pres- cott an bought you out out an an here you are back in Arizona with e eighty odd head of Mr Henleys Henley's steers in your possession Shut up or Ill I'll gag you The party was up an hour before dawn and Ham Henley and the sheriff sheriff sheriff sher sher- iff prepared breakfast while Len Henley and Tom Lundy with a lantern lantern lantern lan lan- tern sought out the hobbled horses and mules brought them in to camp and saddled them After breakfast the prisoners were mounted on their own horses and connected with a foot fifty while their horses were tied head to tail with a lead rope from the one number-one horse to the pommel of the sheriffs sheriff's saddle who was to lead the sorry procession procession procession sion back to the Tomahawk truck parked with its driver at Eagle Landing Lundy mounted on his own horse was to follow with the rustlers' rustlers pack mules minus their cargo and help the truck driver load them and the rustlers' rustlers horses into the truck which would then start the long blistering journey back for the Tomahawk ranch He was then to assist in inlo lo loading ding the prisoners in the sheriffs sheriff's car In addition to leg irons waiting waiting wait wait- ing lag at the truck they were to be tied in so securely that escape or oran oran oran an attack on the sheriff en route would be an impossibility As soon as there was sufficient light to permit movement Ham Henley Henley Hen Hen- ley said Well Vell Hank you better git goin You got a long hot day ahead o 0 you jou Me an Lens Len's goin to swim across the river an interview interview interview inter inter- view this Wall person That fellers feller's got to be made to realize he aint acted right an that it'd be the part o 0 wisdom if he stuck to alfalfa farmin in the future an left lot to somebody else We aim to inspect his feed lots see what brands hes he's got there an burn all al' his hay Words aint never to impress a crook He and Len had worked their way down the wash among the cattle cattle cattle cat cat- tle now beginning to climb out to graze and had arrived on a sandbar sandbar sandbar sand sand- bar at the junction of the Williams with the Colorado when a detonation detonation detonation detona detona- tion sounded across the river a shower of objects rose high in the theair theair theair air and a billow of smoke and dust followed A few seconds later the Henleys observed a n similar ph en om- om enon Im inclined to think some other indignant Arizonan had gotten to Farmer Wall first pappy Len ob ob- ob- ob served See that rosy glow against the sky That's haystacks burning up at the feed lots I They sat their horses watching the rising glow reluctant to cross the river now but curious to observe what developments might eventuate Presently they heard the occasional bellowed protest of cattle being driven en the sound approached the river steadily and above the bellowing they could hear the shrill yi hi yi hi-yi of punchers driving cattle TO BE DE CONTINUED |
