Show V A ALAN LE MAY A W N U F 1 CE bw CHAPTER I 1 kentucky jones independent live stock trader plunger in cattle whirled his light roadster into the main street of the little cow town of waterman and picked himself a parking parkin place waterman was very full of nf people for a tuesday afternoon generally at aj this time of year the wolf bench cowmen were only to be found scattered among the whiteface white face faces that perpetually lost themselves in the overpowering raggedness of the rin rl or haying habin winter weakened cows in the long iong pol pole corrals today though either side of the street was lined nith cars for three blocks and between the automobiles stood saddled horses dejected in the wet down press of the snow wolf bench was not dot home range to kentucky jones but six months in the rimrock had acquainted him with most of its people ue ne stepped out into the snow a tall leanly lazy figure his ordinarily din dina rily arlly humorous face relaxed in an unaccustomed gravity it was a rocky lace face made irregular by the uneven line ot of a nose that had been broken but no one in ID the rimrock had ever seen it so eo austerely somber as it was now as he be turned into the restaurant known to all cowboys as the greasy spoon As he entered however his face lightened somewhat ile he kissed the girl at the counter absentmindedly and helped himself to a wedge of pie wheres the inquest going to be he asked having it in the hall over jerrys store it started nearly half ao an hour tt ago 0 they goo good d lord I 1 ile he hurriedly pushed the pie wedge into the girls hands save this lie ile took to the street again at the trot jerrys store itself was appropriately closed but the hall above was full to overflowing here inquest was being held over the body of john mason it was hard to believe that john alason was dead his name tind bid so long represented unassailable strength in the wolf bench rimrock that lie he was head of the waterman bank had been an index but not the key to his il significance g ance ile he had bad been a cowman once and up to the very end he had thought as a cowman never losing touch with the farthest corners of the wolf bench range ile he had been to in the saddle on one of his long circuits of the range to in the hour that he died ills his common understanding of both cows and money had made him more than the kingpin of wolf bench finance almost he was the economic structure itself through the hard times which low beef prices had brought to wolf bench mason had managed to carry along many a weakened outfit where a nervous banker or one obe less a cattleman would have abandoned all hope but with mason dead the bank swayed precariously cariou carlou sly teetering on the edge of a smash that might carry down with it half the outfits of the bench to many it seemed that only another mason could avert disaster and there was no other tills this was the man whose inquest jammed the little hall above jerrys k tl jean ragland testified yet store until tile the overflow tilled filled the stairway and left a milling mallin ml llin bunch of the less aggressive in the street some of those at the foot of the stair spoke to kentucky jones as lie fie came up inquest got av A v place he asked been runal about twenty min dies some one told him batup ling lands been on already lie he know anything new jean hagland testified d let uli uh huh site she just said salil that hint ier and her fattier father was away thanks kentucky amov d ullard limn rd exchanging hete biml there its as lie le ills av lowerd tile the room e iari iiii s hall was nus packed bulaong kiili ith iii at it a plain table sut sat sheriff floyd hopper looking bedeviled at the end of the table sat the coroner who was also the sheriffs brother there was clive Pl pierson erson the banker who must step into masons shoes ills face was an unwholesome gray and a muscle ir in the side of his face kept twitching for in the last three days he fie had hardly hard slept near him was bob elliot who had rambled gambled the future of his cow out tit ct upon the backing babkin which mason would have given him film but which he could no longer expect lee bishop the blocky block almost burly foreman of the par bar look was in the witness wi chair very red to in the face from public speaking and the heat 1 I was going out to the pump house carra carrying ing a couple of palls of hot water from the kitchen lie he was saying 1 I aimed to thaw out the pump then I 1 seen this hump in the snow thought maybe a calf had drifted in and fell down I 1 went over and looked and it was old ironsides I 1 mean john mason ilow how long did you think he be had been dead ne he lying there theme around one when hen we ne left the home ranch and there any snow under him it begun snowing around two out there then you fl figure ure mason had this tulsi accident between one and two that aint what I 1 said I 1 only said there no snow under him sheriff floyd hopper exhibited annoyance onno no lets not quibble over words what we want is to get done here well lee bishop went on with an unnecessary air of stubbornness 1 I turned him over and I 1 saw that hed been shot ills his gun was in his hand that long iong aa 15 lie he always carried to take a pop at a coyote with if he should see a coyote Is this the gun buol said the sheriffs brother turning toward a cluttered window ledge at one ne side A deputy handed the coroner the required weapon bishop Iden identified tilled it L well he fie went on 1 I sent up a long yell but nobody answered and I 1 took out and run for the house kentucky jones had been searching all the room for a sight of jean ragland and now lie he was surprised to discover tier her so near the focus of interest that he had missed her by searching too far away she was sitting beside her rather father the big stoop sho shouldered eldered owner of the bar hook the two sat almost under the window ledge where a deputy kept ills his eye upon a muddled collection of exhibits lie he noticed instantly how pale she seemed so that her hair looked darker than usual against tier her face had find she been a stranger ills his glance might have passed her tin noticing so little of her usual vividness wis was apparent then a deputy shifted its his position blocking tier her profile from Kentuck ys view the sheriff was bombarding let ler bishop with questions of little point ls Is that cutoff cut of off trail between the 83 88 and the bar hook often used almighty little it was the first emphasis bishop had used Kentuck ys eyes sought jean rag isag land again suddenly he perceived that slie she had leaned back so that ti at she could peer between the standing stan dlug deputies and was looking directly at him lie he smiled at her but tier her face did not change then suddenly lie he was aware that she had signaled to him film beck boned him to draw nearer it had find been the faintest narrowing of an eye the slightest inclination of her head yet lie he knew absolutely as slie site again aart ed her face that a sl signal nal had bad been convel convened ed deeply puzzled he began to work his way along the side of the hall the sheriff he noticed was pushing ahead with his quest Vins evidently very conscious of his far fai gath ered cred audience the sheriffs brother the coroner was nudging him but he fie was barging ahead as kentucky jones presently reached a point not more than three yards from jean eagland lie he was still separated from her by the thicker press of men which had find been forced back from around the coroners table but here he stuck ile he was trying to catch joan jean rag hag lands eye as a sound of scuffling and contention broke forth in the back of the room the sheriff glared faltered and stopped A tall deputy loft left jean rag naK lands side to go pushing back through the crowd watching the disturbance at the back kentucky lid did not see that jean ragland lind had left tier her chair until slip she stumbled almost against him ter lor handkerchief was ans fit at her mouth and she seemed even paler than before us as it if turned suddenly faint by tit stifle of the close ier campo ragland kagland her anther sprang up and was beside tier her in fit it stride iiii borthig tier lier in its his arros for or a moment the 1 he pi ess of the arod was too ion much will anil they con coil not get her fler bli milder presed hard igaina is ilist kentucky hill although te lie to lo tier her by thi naime lill site ald did not at ap war to hear I 1 then unexpectedly in the smother or of the lie crowd tier her fingers sneers closed upon his in a quick hard h a rd slip had pressed pres sei 11 small heavy object into hi its hand turning ll it over in the pocket of its ills colit coat kentucky jones discovered with will it queer slow stir of tile blood lint flint the thing site she had loft left in his hand could lie be nothing eche but a used but bill let ile he knew nt once that this was the slug which aich had killed a man campo ragland hagland said through his teeth will you let us out or not and the standing cattlemen flattened against the wall to let campo find and his daughter by kentucky tones jones lost sight of joan jean is as the crowd closed behind them but for kentucky jones the atmosphere of alint packed room had changed ile ie was no longer simply a cattleman interested in a benth alc ith which threatened to shift the economics of a range the tiling filing that hall had pullet pulled him film over four hundred miles of snow clogged ruts in the list last eighteen hours suddenly tools took on a new aspect as acutely personal and definitely sinister as ir lie fie had himself been accused of murdering the man who was dead anti and now the inevitable sequel broke A deputy who had synod by the cluttered ledge where the exhibits were ere sung sting out sharply interrupting the sheriff walt a minute I 1 hold everything 1 I theres something missing here beret I 1 in the momentary moment nry silence a lower boier vo voice fee said maybe its fell on the floor what Is it the coroner whits gone this here bullets gone that we gehad had on the window sill with the other things bullet what lint bullet you mean tile slug that killed masona there nas as a sudden moment of struck silence all over the crowded room this was followed immediately by a rising buzz as almost every man of all the great number in that room turned to speak low toned to his neigh bor watching the stir bout about the boners table kentucky saw that bob elliot owner of the a SS was looking at ai him curiously kentucky grinned faint ly at elliot as lie he worked a hole in the seam of his pocket with a thumb nail and pressed the bullet through so that it fell deep into the lining of his bis coat coal over the buzz of confusion he heard the coroner almost shouting you sure I 1 it t w was 1 s I 1 there he r e T its been here all the time but just now I 1 reached back and the sheriff jumped to ills his feet and his chair clattered over backward ills voice rose in an angry bellow lock that door he ordered by G d im not going to have it an abrupt silence fell at tile lie impact of ills his voice some of you fellows are no bettor better than children I 1 suppose steal the shirt 01 ot at your own baik bach if you yoli figured it was a souvenir I 1 walt wait a minute floyd tle tie cor con oner caught the sheriffs arm and pulled him film down to ro whisper in tit his inaudible ear and there followed an inaudible but apparently a heated discussion it seemed med to take effect upon the sheriffs plans for lie sat down abrupt ly his square face flushed with exa 1 pe aeration per atlon ration all right let it go for now but somebody heard the last of tills this go ahead and give em cm cause of deah kentucky jones drew a deep breath lie had come up into this crowded room to attend it a routine hearing calca to confirm the death of a man who however important ro these peu lieu pie had only died foolishly accidentally by his own gun but now the in quest as such had lost all meaning turning into a sham an apparently un UD conscious fraud A sudden incomprehensible finger anger overshadowed reason as lie wondered if campo ragland knew that thai the bullet which killed mason wits not it seemed and had prompted his daugh ter to get it out of the sheriffs pos session if her theft of tills scrap of evidence was not in behalf of her fa ther then will who if jean laa angland land was being used by her father faglier or anyone alses else as a cats paw in a dangerous situation lie meant to find it out once more lie he his way sideways eways through the crowd alop alo P tile the side 0 the lie room this time toward inward the exit campo ragland had taken his dau dangl ter to rambling one ones roii hotel hold and hod had returned to tile street again by the time kentucky conri lifter after a filloon search through Water nian again located the boss 0 the par car look kentucky strolled up greeting ra has land with tit tile the slow infer linus grin that served him a as a pass port through hard times and slack J I 1 J y V v t I 1 im on then said kentucky wherever he went campo ragland grim as was liis his mood halt half smiled in return as they shook hands seems like people hardly real ize how important mason was around here until now hes dead kentuck began of course he naturally hirl enemies you cant run a bank right salil said ragland lifelessly without riling rols ang up an enemy here and there the bans of the car bar hook was not quite ns as tall tah as kentucky jones but buc his leall stooped shoulders were very broad ills eyes were blue like his daugh claugh and though the general aspect of his face was benign it was a raci face which could set grimly and stubbornly turning into a fighting face Cu curious kous said kentucky jones watching ragland IIa gland closely that cery berv body was so ready to accept that lie went to work and shot himself acal dentally what else could it have boon been hut but accidentally ragland kagland said I 1 inisi inipi ni pa tient ly Not nothing liln I 1 guess said kentucky but on pretty near any other oilier range somebody would most likely have tried io to prove there was a shenanigan for a moment campo glands Ila Ra oyes lyes turned upon kentucky watching him intently kentucky jones could not however see that the die mans face changed 1 I suppose so said rag land without expression and lie he half turned as if lie he would walk on kentucky jones wavered an instant ills cautious prodding had failed but its failure was more challenging than a revealing answer ile he plunged mr ragland na gland lie he said can you uso use a man danl Ra glands eyes quickened 1 I dont want no more of these hivner tourists we get for cow hands today cut but if you got tit in mind some good steady 1 I was speaking ang for myself said kentucky jones cume come olt off youre a cattle trader times are bad mr ragland na gland the more so with mason dead I 1 was a brush popper before I 1 was a trader and im in a good one yet and id sure like to fill ell in at it for a while plain cow walloping Is all I 1 want I 1 well said ragland lla gland doubtfully if you want a plain dilding job for the rest of the winter at fifty rive live and found I 1 sure cant refuse you though I 1 must say it comes as a kind of surprise im on then said kentucky you 11 ll have to take a horse the ay the hie roads Is ill leave an order at the lie livery barn youre to have a par car hook hoase hoi so TO CE BE CONTINUED |