Show R HAROLD CHAN CHANGING N I 1 NG WI war RE ak X LEW T Is trail hosi boss ot of the cross T lierd herd which Is being driven front from texas to the indian agent at ogallala Oga llila the year Is 1811 1875 TONI TOM ARNOLD owner has been killed I 1 in a stampede I 1 ills will names am lew bo boss sit and owner until the cattle are sold fold when STEVE and JOY are to receive their shares after many difficulties and hardships they arrive in dodge city CLAY MANNING joys fiance dance disappears in the town and lew accompanied by joy and most 0 of his tit s men inen toes goes after him lew hires a dozen new lands hands as he fears ears trouble with the rival riva I 1 open A men clay Is seriously wounded la in a gunfight and joy fair stays behind to nu nurse r se him while the rest reit move on an with the herd CHAPTER there were nine men in the party OH off at a distance their leader raised his hand united states marshal boys hold back your dogs ile he came on in through the gray I 1 light ight smiling a stocky man in a black town suit im acting for the commonwealth mon wealth of keith county ile he said your boss here lew paced out toward him saying nothing ile he make this 5 aut lit for a moment back there h he had thought the same thing that thai was in steves head the law was oming to make an arrest the marshal leaned across oss his saddle horn horh my friend he said 11 youve come a long way up from fexas I 1 know how long it is and hate to hold your herd up now but weve got a dead line lie ire waved toward the ridge keith county weve got men camped for fifty miles along there with a quarantine order against all herds coming out of your state texas fever has been bad this year nave to hold up sixty days or until the first frost ile he answer his breath had stopped he felt like a ann hearing the judge pronounce a sentence and beside him Quarter night rumbled good godl sixty daysi that was it sixty days with the contract for these longhorns ending in less than a week he knew the dread of texas fever A southern herd that seemed immune could spread it like wild ire among cattle in the north killing them off by thousands the only thing these northern men could do was stop the trail drives then he taw saw one hope youve got me in a jack pot sure he said 1 I wont try to buck pour ou F dead line but since this is adian indian beet beef under government contract to reach ogallala by the first af f september I 1 feel im only bound oy orders of the army commandant and the indian agent up there they might waive the quarantine line in this aso ase that might be the marshal marsh a granted you lose any time finding anding out the army is helping us enforce this dead line A captain wing of the commandants staff is straight north of here on the ridge lie he led his little party off to the east cast well boys lew said you might as well got get out your cards there wont be any work for a while keep the herd from drifting too far all until I 1 get back I 1 he le picked up his saddle starting toward the picketed horses and then behind the cooks wagon he came apon steve ile he had forgotten about steve they looking for you he said then his words struck sut dut with no softness so youre a gunman now it going to be an the jump for the rest of your life whenever a badge shows apt ho he wheeled on without waiting for any answer saddled and tiding riding north he thought back over what lie he had seen tt it v was as clear enough ever since they had left tho the little comanche steve had been hounded by something behind him on tile the trail this morning showed it was the law he leared and that must go back to sheriff rayburn killed in ox bow the night the bank was robbed if stove steve li had nd done that he know nothing could save him for there was a 1 certain dumb conceit in in every bad nian man he had known they sense ense enough to see how much the game was stacked against thorn them and go on to a fighting end steve was not that dumb lie he was already scared and when a man is is he whips himself on top of tile the ridge the little military camp made a straight neat lane of pup tents with a hag flag planted ed in front of a larger tent at the md A bunch of yellowlegs yellow legs lets currying down their horses stared staled at him and a sentry challenged him as he rode into the street ile he said im looking for captain wing ving the sentry led him on like lieutenant eaton at doans crossing jos sing captain wing coming irom from his tent a moment later was re acry young ile he wore a saber and a pair of gauntlets gauntlett gaunt lets and his brown air nair was down long beneath his campaign sampa ign hat in the way the old indian fighters had made popular for or these boys looking stern and military he showed his disapproval if f ell texas trail tr allmen men which had teason reason enough and lew thought not much chance liere hire but gave his name and placed himself with the cross T herd of indian beef then asked thirty miles captain more or less since weve come twelve hundred to make this delivery seems like your commandant might stretch a point and accept it right here why not its going to be scattered anyway you wont hold it in ogallala 11 wing whig thought about it frowning your contract I 1 know he said calls for delivery across the river As far as the army is concerned I 1 cant see that thirty miles mean anything all we do is act as escort for the indian agent but I 1 think theres where run into trouble he shrugged not telling tales out of school you know how it is the agent deals with the indian supply company and two partners of that company are arc in ogallala now waiting for a herd of their own sure lew said the open A fought me all the way up why ive got to beat this quarantine it if im held after september first my subcontract with them is broken they can deliver their own herd any time he looked at the officer and thought the army was a decent outfit after all but he knew how it was with some indian agents they were in a place where money could turn the game it if this jone cne in ogallala had been reached that way be no favors tor for the cross T you think he asked it would do any good it if I 1 rode in to see your commandant no Wing said you do that im sending a courier in this 51 g 14 0 a lie ile speak and he kept I 1 ills 1 is eyes on the campfire as it he were still alone morning ill write a note and have an answer back sometime in the afternoon all right thanks lie he moved his horse and stopped and sat gripped between a thing lie he wanted to know and want to know either she had said she would write and tell him how clay was in the end he said if it too much trouble your man might bring out the cross T mail riding along the ridge afterward before turning south he could see the wide twisting line of the south platte river bottom and almost make out the town far across the gently sloping plain for a man to be this close hardly a frogs jump away compared to the trail ile he shook his head and put that sight behind his back ills his hope was small enough but it carried him through that afternoon riding guard on the loosely grazing herd until he thought it was time to get his mail then lie he saw a yel low legged trooper loping out of the north ile he waved the rider over thanked him and said there was a good poker game going in camp and was alone then with two envelopes in hia hand ile ho opened the brown official one of the war department first and was not surprised ollya little heavier inside to read that it had been determined there could be no waiver of the quarantine the cross T herd would have to bo be delivered one niile mile north of the south platte as per contract the other was a gray paper of the telegraph office she never was much on letter writing never a girl to waste a lot of words it was like that in this message when he opened it clay recovering will be able to come by train soon lie he counted them ten exactly to tell him all he needed lie he even have to guess be married he knew before they started that journey of a week together lie he looked at the date it had been sent august fifteenth maybe they were now tile the night when he crossed august twenty ninth from the cooks almanac was like every other ile he watched steve play at one of the games for a little while saw him stand up and look around for something then come on past thu the fire light baht afterward he was able to know I 1 baat 1 1 1 t brought steve to him but hlll that t took time his first thought now as steve came on and sat down at his side without a word was that the kid was moved by a sort of pity and that turned him bluntly silent but it pity for him altogether that had brought steve here now perhaps that was part of it a little steve knew he was almost licked down under it put them on some common ground but what he saw in the hollowed staring eyes was a loneliness that he understood let times get ge t black enough and that was the last thing left there comes a time when you cant go it any longer alone steve he s said aid and laid III his S a arm rm across the drooping shou shoulders id ers buck up what is is it kid lie he closed his hand in a strong grip pet get it off your mind there was a little wait A whoop burst from the circle down cross legged at the card game from the darkness d off toward the bed ground he heard charley storms one guard song for all occasions A faint smile turned the straight set of his mouth and something in in the clowning fools fool s song lifted the weight in in him then steve said lew what are yo you going to do anle me ile he t meant to talk about himself 1 I dont know exactly we can salvage something out of this thi it wont all be loss the markets gone for beef but five dollars a head for hides and tallow maybe ile he figured it up that makes fifteen thousand you can bank the money then theres there s this bunch of a thousand ashes and young stuff less two hundred the chey annes ahnes got start your new n ew ranch in wyoming beef is bound to pick up again it always does after a drop out loud the future di nt sound so bad but he saw steve move his head slowly back and forth not looking at him not for me lew I 1 told you once I 1 cant go on he paused staring down ive got to go back back where texas its like you said im going to to be on the jump for the rest of my life whenever a badge shows up once I 1 thought I 1 could face it like that but I 1 cant I 1 found that out the other day id rather hang than be on the dodge it was wa bitter talk and a little young in its remorse he felt swinging too tar far from one side clear to the other want to let me ma in he asked where did it start the bank steve nodded that s it earlier in the evening I 1 was with the bunch who did it and rode with them up crazy woman afterward that night no one would believe this I 1 go got t drunk and any idea whit wha happened in between but they said I 1 held the horses and killed sheriff rayburn when he found me its the word of four of them against mine now wait lew said he pulled his arm from the bent shoulders who vvo were the four do I 1 know them one ed I 1 dont think you ever saw the other three but riding with the open A this tell much that he had not already guessed he let steve wait and when no more seemed coming he asked where does clay come in and then to keep it straight he added ill tell you what I 1 know clay let some of that bunch run off your fathers horses at the start that put the traitors brand on him right there steves head turned beside him sharply lew it that clay tried jostand to stand in front of me and got caught himself I 1 know how you feel eel about him youve had plenty of reason to hate him on the trail but after the robbery I 1 let clay know the fix I 1 was ws in in ed and the other three joined the open A they were only drift ing friends id picked up clay made a deal with them to get c clean I 1 ea n out of the country with what they know knew id done their price was twenty head of saddle stock I 1 know now it was a blunder they leave and came back for more and then riding north with the open A they could hold over both of us all they knew you thought ot of that no he not clays part trying to help steve and it held him silently thinking you could never wholly judge any man clay he had thought before had his tail in some kind of a crack tracing it through those unexplainable times of letting run him and seeming only trying to block the cross T herd he could see now how clay was acting under the open As threat of knowing that steve arnold had killed a man it was like clay though to make one blunder and then horn in deeper in his bullish v way ay lew steve was saying you dve let me go into dodge when clay did that was my fight wed talked d about it it if we got sp I 1 ann and the other three in a corner wed wipe them out if clay thought that he said something broke loose in his braidt but hes getting along all right ile he t told about the telegram 1 I got word from joy today be up here pretty soon H he thought about it be married steve I 1 figure TO ITO BE CONTINUED |