Show D A BON ALAN LE MV E s W N U 5 F alv I 1 C E 6 ala v V CHAPTER VII continued 1 abe ile was charging back into em cm jointed mated lee bishop alla hat t lie na its trying to do fl jpaul paul martinez Martl nez had bad come up by then ld d he was shouting at the other fel irs rs we throw a few shots back and rth but I 1 was behind the horse then his tins this leg sure feels like something opened ipp ened to it they lifted hilly billy petersen off ills his arse and curried carried him into the oue one om log bunk house kentucky hastily lilt a ire fire while lee cut off lily illy Peter petersons sens boot catch hold of ie top of the hunk bunk billy lie said at st A strangling cry broke front from persons throat as lee seized le ie injured ankle and sad suddenly denly jerked irkward with all his elz ht the or guy fainted lie told kentucky dont guess ill bandage this here bere till B e get some hot water ive got water heat heating ll on the stove stoie give me the makings say where d jean go 0 fir kentucky 1 I y told told him briefly what hat he id addone done 1 I guess you done all right bishop lid id the old man sure cant keep orn om fighting now from liere here out its jle je into them and pile into them and lie ae in ag again gaan all I 1 ask Is save me ac mccord I 1 jean ragland Is coming down here ith three more horses I 1 better go MI 02 back bach and meet her on the trail chell i hell break her neck sure founding kose lose horses down that trail in the U lurk fark get going then when you get back the house phone to waterman for ie e doc to come out and reset t this g tomorrow 0 K 11 kentucky Xen tucky met jean ragland near the p of the trail the news that he had give her burdened him heavily sow how badly are they hurt she eked him jim humphreys Is dead she put a hand to her face and he 60 aught that she swayed in the saddle e dropped from his lorse horse and went her shouldering between the driven onles leq her hand gripped his and lung on and even through their heavy oves he detected the tremor of her egers jean drew a deep shuddering breath why it y do people have to go smashing round found destroying each other its bad ll 11 he agreed nobody likes I 1 any less than I 1 do cut but well have p so go on with it a little way more the sheriff ought to be able to billy says himself that jim hum bleys fired the first shot range shoot digs always come in as self it defense aie he fl fight ht will have to go on I 1 et t anywhere with bob elliot today I 1 old did him what I 1 was going to do and fe e said come ahead with it and Q we ft it there jean treed freed her hand band her voice was readier eadler now the house was searched ain she told him nothing much gone nothing at all all that seems to be missing Is an id 45 it been out of its holster or two or three years to my positive powledge now ledge you any theory et about who keeps ransacking the bousel gilts its mighty liard he admitted not I 1 put a theory to that thal but im still aa allowing old man coffees way it if ane theory Is worse than another we its theory that covers just part of a ise ise ahe he mounted and they made their tay ay single file up the trail in silence he brought his horse abreast of he hers rs they gained the level footing of the tench and she turned to him vaguely guely a I 1 dont know if 1 I 1 can stand this ken it if it goes on much longer any bing Is better than this terrible waring ung and mystery and nobody understanding tan dIng each other jwell see the beginning of action lo morrow I 1 kentucky I 1 her voice was faint th reluctance nce pim im awfully afraid bat at we wont 4 what do you mean with those loys joy that we sent harry wilson tor for jt assured her 1 I could stampede half haf ial e cattle in the rimrock back where ey belong see us the boys you yon wanted arent coms kentucky en uc y you send narry harry wilson allson to I 1 1 I t sent him I 1 told him exactly what on told me to tell him and he went aping ieng down that crooked road fit to himself 1 then luy my father was there kentucky I 1 ant even know he was there until I 1 ad d routed harry wilson out ot of the link house hoube and started him to town ru running out when he heard larry arry drive out I 1 told him what had kapp appended town down on the bake pan ian ken kucky bicky his face lit up as it if it had been ahat hat he was waiting for it was the angest thing you could see how ter it vias to hini bet et it was as as it if he c time camo back to himself again all in a moi moment nent lie started to turn and go to ills horse that was still standing saddled near the door rut nut it if lie moans means to take up the light fight no kentucky all of a sudden he seemed to remember what nhat he had S started to risk ask in the first place where harry wilson as going in the file car then I 1 told him film what I 1 had done that told me die to do lie ile stood there and lie he seemed to think and all that hard terrible light went out of tits his face again and lit in the lie end it all simmered donn doin to just a kind of a show of mean temper I 1 never siw saw him go into moods an liing like that before mason died this terrible tiling thing lias has done something to us its all you moan mean he want ant us to send to waterman for more lie was furious kentucky in a kind of ugly discouraged way lie ile wanted anted to know who you thought you were sending for men to hire onto ills his outfit of course I 1 told him yet about selling you my share of the outfit what did you say to him kentucky I 1 kind of lost my temper for a moment jean said 1 I told h him m this was the time to fight if ever h he e meant to kentucky as I 1 sat on ti the ie rim and heard the guns and saw J jim I 1 in humphreys keel out of his saddle oh f presently she turned her face upward to him iwas I 1 was plenty sick but something ng way down inside ot of me wants to ban hang onto the range and wont let go it if they fight I 1 can see weve got to stand our ground you told him that not all that but other things it was enough I 1 guess it was too much what did he do lie he told me to get in the house and stay there ile he said it plenty forceful 11 I 1 id give anything in the world to know got into him campo convinced himself jean w went ent on that it would he be an irreparable hurt if waterman and the rimrock got the idea that we meant to make gunfight the upshot of it was that dad finally jumped into the other car and went ripping down the road to waterman after harry wilson to countermand your call for or men there was a light in the bunk house as they came into the bar hook layout and kentucky looked at jean questioningly 1 I guess joe st marie has come in jean said bald lie he here when I 1 started out with the horses lets let him stay where he Is I 1 dont understand that boy anyway very well does docs anyone 1 I doubt IV it together they rebuilt the fire in the stove and warmed up something to cat after they had eaten kentucky supposed that jean would leave him to his own devices or turn in but she lingered in the kitchen reluctant to be alone 1 I dont know but what ill sleep in the leanto lean to tonight here off the kitchen kentucky suggested yes do she said instantly 1 I dont know the matter with me the night seems so still and so erupts empty rind and so cold jean sat dow doan n upon a tow low blanketed settee that stood bet between een the stove store anil and the lie corner vall mall and kentucky came and sat beside her there were circles under jean Ka Ra glands ebes 03 es she was beginning at last to show the effects of the strain which the last ten days had placed upon her rut but as she turned to look into its his face lie he learned again that her blue ebes could be deep and unreadable uc he wondered what lay within those acs could look so silently so secretively wise jean ho he sat sail do you want me to find out who killed mason masion she shot him a curious but untranslatable glance ue ile thought that she was not gal going to answer liim film but after a moment she said yes lor for no reason that lie could name lie von wondered dered instantly it if she hall had lied the facts are beginning to add up tip a little bit now lie he said what ate aie aou ou waiting for she said keeping the andner from you lie he hesitated she looked so pitifully tired that he could hardly bring himself to bear down upon her now yet lie knew that lie ile would be unlikely to have as good a chance again to persuade her to tell him what she knew already lie knew that lee bishop was in danger that rill bill mccord had tried to draw bishop into a fight that vo would uld almost certainly have ended elsec bishops ps life and lie was nas sure that jim rill gium m had been killed because he had posed as boss and hence was vas merhi perhaps taken for bishop he had a durable hunch that others were in immediate danger as an aftermath to the killing ot of mason and lie he sincerely believed that lie he had no more right to turn away from the trail than a hound d dog og has the right to swerve or break ground once he be has put down liis ills nose what Is holding me up tip he repented repeated you jean 1 IT I she said sharply dont you think he said t that hat its about time for you to tell me what you know you take the but bullet let at the inquest without having a definite reason a definite theory ot of this crime she said almost yes true but that blew up when zack sanders was found dead I 1 swear to you kentucky my theory Is dead utterly impossible now that the point lie he insisted the point Is that you did have a theory that theory was based on something something that you saw or maybe something that you heard or knew now I 1 want you to tell me what that thing was she turned toward him but defend sorely and as she met ills his eyes her own were tormented you I 1 ills his keen gray eyes fixed her unwaveringly wave im not going to let you evade me any more he said suddenly some resistance within jean ragland seemed to break she Slie swayed against him and turning hid her face against his shoulder she was breathing in long quavering drags not sobbing but as if very close to sobs for a moment Xen kentucky tucky jones sat motionless then he took the girl into his arms gently as it if she were a weary child her hands clung to him film as he drew her into his arms she said in a small voice nold hold me tight kentucky the night Is so still so cold I 1 keep thinking of how jim humphreys Is lying tonight down rn en the pan presently she turned her face upward to him with closed eyes and he kissed her they sat there for some time there in the corner beyond the stove in silence except tor for the soft crackling of the embers of the fire As he sat with the girl in his arms the coldness and the bleak sense of disaster seemed to go out of the night and the quiet lost its hostility that brief hour in which he felt against his body the faint beating of her heart seemed inimitably illimitably precious as if he were tere here serving as a utility for a little while in a destiny immeasurably beyond and abone aboe ills his own yet lie he had no illusions concerning the part he was playing here ile he believed as definitely as be had ever believed anything in his life that she had put herself in his arms as a last resort silencing tits his questions in this way when she could not longer otherwise evade him but some grim factor w within ith him humbly bowed its head waiting for a different day jean stirred at last and treed freed herself lazily from his arms she smiled at him faintly her eyes dreamy misty with sleepiness im dead for sleep she told him 1 I think I 1 can sleep now better than I 1 have been these nights ne he let her go and when she was gone he smoked in a curiously mixed mood halt half softened halt half grimly ironic presently he went to zuck zack sanders bunk and lying down without taking off his clothes was almost immediately asleep CHAPTER VIII not more than halt half an hour could have passed when he be was jerked broad awake by a flutter fluttering frig knock upon his door before lie he could answer it tile the door opened halt half hurriedly halt half in stealth and jeans whisper came to THE STORY FROM THE OPENING CHAPTER at the inquest into the death of 0 john mason banker jean daughter of campo ragland owner of the bar hook book ranch where mason met death surreptitiously passes to kentucky jones the bullet which had killed mason kentucky goes to work on the bar hook ranch tho the mason verdict Is in accidental death bob elliot owner of the adjoining range ranee drives his cattle on the bar hook land lee bishop Rau Ra elands lands ranch boss ex postulates and bill mccord mcc rd elliote elliots Elli foreman insults him bishop and jones are astounded at Ra glands indifference to elliots elliote Elli action bishop urges kentucky to try to influence jean to arouse her father lie he does so unwillingly and her reaction mystifies him zack sanders bar hook cook Is found dead murdered sheriff hopper announces cog his bis knowledge that mason also was murdered jones seeks to trace the ownership of a gun found on zack sanders as an having a bearing on the mystery jean sells him her share in the bar hook ranch thus riving giving him a free hand w with ith elliot in a gun fight with riders of th the 88 ranch jim humphreys bar hook 11 ook cowboy Is killed and his bis partner wounded jones sends tor for fighting ficht lne cowmen him through the dark Ken kentucky nicky are you there here jean lie ile jerked a match out of lus his pocket and struck it into lame flame with nith tits his thumb nall nail As lie he stood up she came close to him her ees very big and lark dark in her pale face she was wearing moccasins and without the high heels of her riding boots she looked less tall than he was accustomed to think of her and somehow infinitely softer and more easily hurt hurl jean what chrit Is it KeD kentucky tucky somebody Is walking w alkin g all around us just as quietly ns as one of joe st marles ll aries ghosts all around us what do you mean 1 I mean around the layout liere here near the house how many of them 1 I only saw one ile he was prowling through the shadows I 1 saw him plainly not more than ten horse jumps was carrign carri ln something on ills his shoulders then I 1 thought I 1 heard a walking horse where did you see this from the window of my room 1 I stand it alone there any more sometimes I 1 think im going crazy lets have a lisuk kentucky picked up his gun belt be quiet she cautioned him who it Is want to be seen tints certain if were viere going to find out who it 1 Is he know that lies been seen 0 ka K site she groped for ills his hand and led the way through the cold dark daik of the ion long ranch house jeans room had two windows one of which was wide open at this window she knelt peering out and ho be dropped to one knee beside her 1 I first saw him from my bed she whispered ne lle went behind that dwarfed spruce for a while lie he stood there behind it as it if he was watching the house then lie he went on walking as quietly as as nothing human As he went out of sight I 1 got up and camu came to the window In dow and I 1 watched him until I 1 see him any more ue ile went toward the pump house and out of sight 1 I dont see any sign of him now jean seized his arm and he heard her breath in her teeth that there close in the shadow of the pump house kentucky looked hard where she pointed As he stared straining his eyes against the bad light he presently began to believe that he could make out the crouching figure of a man for what seemed a long iong time they knelt there their eyes fixed upon the shadow against the pump house once kentucky was certain that lie he not only perceived the whole outline of the crouched figure but had seen it move and his hand moved toward his gun but the shadow blurred and lost outline again and he waited unsure when the telephone broke into abrupt outcry in |