Show DUDI WOM fly PETER B KYNE is LAWICZ till THE STORY THUS I 1 AR bury mitry Stith erland Is lured to arizona by the advertisements ti of the wagon wheel dude ranc ranch h operated by fila ala and PL IA burdan she Is met inet at the station by len Ilen utility tey wh who 0 tells her the ranch Is out of business and who tikes takes her to phoenix hero here he rides mad latter hatter in a rodeo and wins vins three thousand dollars tor for mary from his dad ifrain henley who has bet against him I 1 ham am has bought the urdan burdan notes irom from the bank and feels the wagon wheel Is now his bis but mary has bought an equity in it she rewires rehires ma and pa burdan takes up on the ranch and tights fights rustlers aunt margaret calls alls on len and tells him mary has almost forgotten that she ever loved him CHAPTER 1 ill I ill be forking a horse by the first of april threw my cane away yesterday 1 I discarded mine yesterday too and drove in in to phoenix to celebrate and buy some things margaret told me where I 1 could communicate muni cate with you im so glad youre in your fathers house you both must feel much happier now we are how are you getting along out there darling im busier than a one armed man saddling a colt a nifty I 1 borrowed from hank wade hanks my friend and dont you call me darling because im telephoning you on business ive been wondering it if now that youve abandoned the rodeo circuit you would consider selling me mose and pablito id like them for my top horses 1 I dont wish to sell my horses but in memory of some high moments and a sentiment I 1 thoroughly realize has perished I 1 would like very much to present you with them and youre the only human being I 1 would consider presenting them to it sir who said that the gift without the giver is bare thank you don leonardo but I 1 may not accept a gift from you for foi any reason particularly a sentimental one well you win that argument he answered bitterly very shortly y I 1 will come out and remove all of my property from your r ranch inch dont bother to do that I 1 shall have pedro deliver it all to your fathers father s tomahawk ranch near prescott A silence then so she want to risk seeing him again that knowledge stabbed him and she knew it did because when he spoke again his voice trembled please tell pedro that I 1 give him the sedan and trailer house for old sakes sake ile he has for a long time been planning a visit to his cifes people in mexico and lie will save money and be comfortable if he makes the jour ricy ney in the trailer ill tell him and see to it that he gets an opportunity to make the journey jou iney well im sorry you have been a better sport about this it like you to get nasty this was a blow below the belt and she knew it and waited breathlessly for his counter punch 1 youre the nasty one I 1 mean well ell I 1 dont moan mean that youre sheet sweet and wonderful nasty nice ch well n nobody could be worse than that mr henley youre a quitter you cant take it 1 I can take anything goodby she said coldly 1 I trust soon be your old swaggering devastating self again my handsome love puite birute goodbye good byl if some helf wit had organized a skeptics society hamilton L henley 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 change his spots brother henley would have been found arguing the issue negatively even in the face of evidence that modern leopards 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 hence when joel and rube wade figuratively speaking shook the dust of arizona from their cowboy boots ilam ham henleys Hen leys interest in in them did not cease ile 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 and make a quick and very thorough roundup round up and count then and then only would he send joel a check to cover the final accounting for the lease and iron were both registered in the name of joel the oldest eldest brother and neither rube nor the estate of breezy had figured in in his deal you know hank flank he told their father on the way back to prescott Pres colt 1 I put it past them two boys to pay me a visit an steal a lot 0 them alyin W ye arlins after ive ve paid joel for em cm they got the swelled head they just know they can outsmart outs mait the world an I 1 got a notion nation have to cater to that teelin by on me just to cat catch ch even with me for makin em cm sell out to me an he made his roundup round up on the flying W early in april and the forty riders rider she he put on the job iob hati ha d it finished an in t ten en days his tomahawk ranch manager reported the tally of his colt branding and the aged is is i cows bulls earold ear old heifers heffers and yearling calves trucked his crew back to the tomahawk ranch and started his roundup round up there later in the summer when the late calves had been dropped a few men would return to the flying W and brand these so hamilton L henleys Hen leys of fice manager jess hubbell sent joel wade to a los angeles ad dross 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 the dead checks hamilton L henley examined the check he hid had issued to joel wade and discovered it had been deposited in a bank in blythe california in discussing the wades with his son at dinner that night he opined opened that customarily a man resides close to where he banks wherefore blythe just across the colorado river r from arizona was pas too close for comfort thereupon len recalled pedra ortiz had told him that the in man an pedro had killed on the wagon wheel had had a letter on his person addressed to randall 11 II wall walli earp california a tiny sett settlement lemen 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 ac across ross the river and that the connection ne c tion 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 ili of the postmaster for randall II if wall he was in a ti ter u up with them joel up with them It cuben formed that randall H wall was the younger brother of one morton morion P wall and both had a ranch about five miles upriver up river they had home steadied a quarter section each of splendid desert land fronting on an the river anvor cleared it and planted it to a alfalfa which they irrigated with water pumped from the colorado the postmaster seen randall H wall for perhaps two months the brothers sold considerable baled alfalfa 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 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 arizona fattened them at their ranch and then sold them as baby beet 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 track de dc urt rt road that paralleled the river nver until he came to the wall ranch a half section of a ala stretching from some low hills to the river lie ile turned in a road that led through the center of the ranch to the ranch house 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 over and asked len curtly what he wanted len replied that he wanted to see ran dall 11 II wall on a private matter and was informed that randall 11 wall had sold out his interest in the ranch and moved to oregon len thanked him and departed apparently giltis lied fled with this lie upon his return he armed and mounted two reliable old hands from the Torna tomahawk hawk ranch e quipped equipped them with two pack buies mules to carry their bed rolls camp equipment and rations and sent them over on the flying W range to remain there all summer and watch for rustlers rounding up cattle s i saws on august first len received a telephone message from tom lundy one of his watchdogs watch dogs on the flying W range that four men were gathering flying W cattle A week later he and his father motored up to their tomahawk ranch loaded lens two horses and his fathers 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 flank wade joined them in his official car they motored a hundred and eighty miles to wickenburg and turned west across the flat or undulating desert to hope then northwest to parker on the south bank of the colorado river and northeast over a dirt road to eagle landing about six the following evening they heard the distant protest of tired cattle and the shout of men urging them down the wash half an hour later the sherill sheriff with will his party watched from a distance of thirty yards his sons joel and rube and two strangers dismount unsaddle their horses and three pack mules hobble them and turn them loose to graze they made a fire i down in the wash and all hands helped in the preparation of supper from which task they presently were diverted by hearing the soft voice ol of sheriff wade saying up with them joell joel up with them reubell up with them str strangers angerst 1 youre all cove covered redl up hamilton henleys Hen leys voice fierce harsh and raucous supplemented the sheriffs command simultaneously he put a bullet into the heart of the campf campfire lre and scattered the coals four pairs of arms went skyward and their captors closed in from four sides while the henleys and lundy held them covered the sheriff handcuffed them and linked them together with two additional sets of cuffs paw joel wad e whimpered 11 you aint a goin to take us in are arc you you disgrace yourself by disgracing dis gracin your own sons would you paw your paws been dead for some time joel his father replied sadly youre now to the sheriff of yavapai county who took an oath of office to uphold the law you an reuben promised to stay out of arizona after mr henley saved you from that mob in prescott an bought you out an here you are back in arizona with eighty odd head of mr henleys Hen leys steers in your possession shut up or ill gag you the party was up an hour before dawn and ham henley and the sheriff prepared breakfast while len henley and tom lundy with a lantern 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 ow fifty foot while their horses were re tied head to tail with a lead rope from the number one horse to the pommel of the sheriffs saddle I 1 who was to lead the sorry groces 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 pack mules minus their cargo and help hel P the truck driver load them and the rustlers horses into the truck which would then start the long blistering journey back for the tomahawk ranch he was then to assist in loading the prisoners in the sheriffs she rius car in addition to leg irons waiting at the truck they were to to be be tied in so securely that escape or an attack on the sheriff en route would be an impossibility As soon as there was sufficient light to permit movement ham henley said well hank you better git goin you got a long hot day ahead a 0 you me an lens goin to swim across the river an interview this wall person that fellers got to be made to realize he aint acted right an that be the part 0 w wisdom if he stuck to alfalfa farmin in the future an left lot feadin to somebody else we aim to inspect his feed lots see what brands hes got there an burn all al his hay words aint never enough to impress a crook lie he and len had worked their way down the wash among the cattle now beginning to climb out to graze and had arrived on a sand bar at the junction of the williams with the colorado when a detonation sounded across the river a shower of objects rose high in the air and a billow of smoke and dust followed A few seconds later the henleys observed a similar phenomenon im inclined to think some other indignant arizonan had gotten to former wall first pappy len observed see that rosy glow against the sky haystacks burning up at the feed hotst 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 occasion ai bellowed protest of cattle being driven the sound cound approached the river steadily and above the bellowing they could hear the shrill lil ill Y yi hiyi hi yi 11 of punchers driving cattle TO BE CONTINUED |