Show A al 0 M ALAN LE MAY W N U 5 F av alan CHAPTER X continued 1 13 31 3 L I 1 jean called out sharply Is that you kentucky are you hurt they hit lee bishop jean she slid out of the saddle tossing the reins over her pony a head anil and came to the edge ot of the coulee whores wheres lee drop down and ill take tahe you to him lie he held up his arms and she let herself drop into the them m but freed herself immediately Is he hit bad he Heo whispered ne ile can hear us from here I 1 think I 1 dont know but what want finished him jean iles hes shot in the side of the back and lord knows where the bullet stopped you have come here bere dont you know that somebody had bad to come campo my iny father Is back from waterman but harry barry wilson quit when campo bring out more riders you and campo and I 1 are all left and now poor lee poor lee ile he led her down the cut to where bishop lay the range boss opened bis big eyes and turned his face toward her Is that you jean she dropped on tier her knees beside him yes lee know but what I 1 night might be tearing hearing things wheres campo hes making a sweep of the upper dench bench trail lee you must be plumb frozen I 1 pretty near bishop admitted jean slipped off her coat and carefully wrapped bishops shops logs legs then she scrambled out of the cut ran to her horse and loosening the cinch jerked her blanket from under the saddle when this was placed to suit her she made ready to go its sure a shot to pieces outfit you bought into kentucky that deal Is off he told her 1 I own no share in the bar hook nor any part of a share jean looked at him but there was no expression in her toce foce nor in her voice as she answered so youre quitting too no not quite yet kentucky told her grimly im just going ahead in a little different way than we figured I 1 was going to all jean dropped beside lee bishop again and for a long time studied the mask of his face yellow in the firelight he be seemed asleep irrepressible tears appeared on jeans cheeks glinting in the light of the tha fire she bent over lee bishop and kissed him goodby lee she sald said softly ill be back pretty quick lee bishop smiled faintly take your time kid jean caught Kentuck ys wrist and led him a little way down the cut do you think theres any chance of moving him 1 I dou dout know as we better try jean when you get back to the house phone to waterman for doe doc hopper then 11 1 I 1 f i T is 1 that you kentucky pack a horse and come back get bold of a tent if 1 theres any on the place and all the bed rolls that come handy bandy and grub and bandages and exult you know what well need jean ragland scaled the side of the cut re her saddle and rode off at a sharp trot lee bishop said there goes a great girl kentucky youre toure lucky nil all right lucky me uel shed ride her horse square off the rim lee bishop said it if you told her to ne he was wag talking in a queer and somehow childish tone of voice velch kentucky KeD tucky had bad never heard him use Ll listen alsten sten Hen kentucky tucky get ger this can you hear me all right 1 I can hear you lee youre worse oil off than you think Iten kentucky tucky campo believes you killed gasun kentucky sald said slowly 1 I 1 dont know but what campo has almighty good reason to know bolter better than that lee what if lie he his has lee ice demanded what you dont know Is hes been gathering up stuff ag against you tracing guns and the like of that in a P pinch inch liell hell turn on you campo will but believe in that girl she believes in you and shell stand by you the pinch will come quick now kentucky said but shell not cot be with tile me leo lee lee bishop said in a curious hoarse whisper shed jerk abe be heart out or of tier her if you needed it ashes got a falth faith in you that you dont have for her falth faith kentucky repeated savagely if shed trusted me only half way only quarter way you and I 1 be sitting here tonight lee bishop looked at kentucky a ion long time and his mind seemed to be turning vague you aint licked kentucky lie he said at last in a weak voice you can beat this game yet sure ill beat it kentucky assured him lee ill beat it in spite of her I 1 lee bishop said in a queer voice you you go against that girl kentucky id sooner cut off my right hand lee but ive got to go square against against her now for another long moment lee bishop fixed staring vacant eyes upon ken buckys face you love her huh kentucky jones shivered lie he felt as it if the grip of the night cold was getting the better of him so that his body had a core of ice he covered his face with his hands bands 1 I think ho he said 1 I hate tier her as ive never hated any ihling thing in my life lee bishops words jerked out of him incoherently but unexpectedly sharp and strong god help you kentucky dont say that all right lee L k jean ragland made the round trip and loaded a mule at the other end in a little over four hours which was wonderful time on those night trails brulls but she might as well have saved her animals for an hour before 8 she he reached trap canyon lee bishop was dead when kentucky had packed the body to the bake pan camp of the bar hook where lie he placed it with that of jim humphreys he faced his horse into the steep switchback switch back trail up the rim and started for the main ranch kentucky had agreed with jean ragland that to take lee bishop to the cake bake pan camp was a shorter and more convenient pack and kentucky had seized upon the opportunity to release jean from the mournful procession and send her home ile he now put his horse up tip the trail stiffly climbing fast he felt no weariness but only a black temper now that he knew for the first time what set of ugly circumstances he was up against he know what he ha had to do it was not easy and lie he wanted to get it behind him the voices of the guns and the circumstances cum stances of lee bishops death had brought him an odd new alertness an almost painful consciousness of everything that moved within the limits of the rimrock horizon it was as if he had found himself returned to the days of his forefathers when an awareness of far off details had a lot to do with keeping on a mans scalp and long iong before jean ragland came in sight he knew that two horses were coming toward him along the trall trail that they had but one rider and that the second horse was not driven but led for a moment after jean came in sight he was absorbed by the sight of her she rode a little dark pony and her short white storm coit coat was in key with the snow hardly anybody ever saw jean ragland Ila gland ride without following her with his eyes as a man looks after a bird that Is a bright living decoration against the snow and now the girl and the pony she rode looked better because tile the led horse nas rawboned and mud colored with only a sharp well tracked leg action to suggest that it might be more horse than at first it seemed As they met in the trail he saw that her face was quiet with the resignation rest na which had characterized it for the last two days but her eyes were alive there was a touch of feverish light in them which told him that she vas aas still fighting though what she was lighting fighting or how bow he was no longer sure that he knew ive brought you a fresh horse she said immediately maybe it look like much horse but it Is a whole lot of horse pretty near any bar hook horse would give down under you before this plug would 1 I suppose I 1 kind of ought to appreciate that kentucky said but jean how bow come you think I 1 am going to need such a long traveling horse kentucky she said kentucky she drew her hand across her acs asif what she was trying to say was almost beyond her ability look here ive asked a lot 0 of favors 0 of kentuck a lot more than I 1 ever had any right to ask I 1 have to ask you one thing more if do tills this one thin thing more for me ill be grateful to you all my life and I 1 swear ill never ask anything of you again n aln jean girl IT kentucky KeD tUCky said happened here take tills horse and the mule and such of the stuff as you need I 1 dont need to tell you where to go or how to get there nor how to get along lint but do as I 1 say go a long ion way and go fast and lose yourself and never come back until some day this ghastly thin thing is over with and forgotten I 1 kentucky jones stared at tier her a long iong time stud studying sing tier her face but her eyes did not flinch from his at last a crooked one sided smile changed his mouth 1 I know tills this Is a terrible sacrifice tor for you jean sit said 1 I ask you tills this kentucky I 1 swear I 1 it if I 1 so positive that theres no other way believe this ill be your friend always it may be later that I 1 can help you and send your money moncy to you or something like that that will work out later all I 1 can say now Is that id rather be dead than sitting here telling you this but there any other way why do you ask tills this kentucky said curiously kentucky god forgive mel me I 1 cant answer that but I 1 tell you that there any time to lose not an hour not even I 1 cant tell you any more I 1 can only have to tell me I 1 think kentucky said ills his face was hard and the fatigue that she had been unable to detect before now had carded caned lines about his big mouth emphasizing the crooked line of his broken nose youve got to do what I 1 say she told him passionately without any question of why about it you hardly expected me to do that I 1 think he told tier her jean cried out sharply sharn ly dont 1 take the horse and go kentucky as you love me but you dont love me I 1 know that thal 1 I think he said just now it matter a whole lot who loves who or who there was a touch of hysteria in her voice as she answered him no not to you I 1 think you dont care anything about anybody in the world wor lill 1 god help the man who does he be said As for taking that horse and making a run of it im sorry not to do something that you ask cut but I 1 cant imagine anything on the face of the earth that would make me do that now then she said quickly ill tell you why you must my father my father it seemed for a moment as if she were unable to go on but she pulled herself together and spoke evenly tier her words distinct and quick you know by this time why cob bob elliot Is swamping the bar hook range you have eyes that see things 1 I dont think anyone can tilde hide from you what a thing means you cant make me think that you dont know why elliot has no tear fear of 0 campo nor the ear bar hook elook no lie he said slowly 1 I pretend that I 1 cant see that her words tumbled out of her incoherently herent ly its because bob elliot was close to the bar hook when mason was killed poor lee bishop knew that though I 1 dont think he knew that he knew it I 1 kentucky jones said bishop told we me that he knew and now said jean now ive got to tell you that ty known tills this all along almost from tile the first and I 1 youre sure you want to tell me tills this jean 1 I have to tell you you make roe me tell you that was a strange meeting there on the trail in all that dazzle of sun whipped snow while all the sharp sad hidden things that this girl bad de cr meant to tell a bining soul cams came trembling out of tier her in a panicky disorder perhaps he be should have wept or gathered her in his arms but he could not all right lie he said what exactly la is bob elliot holding over your father somehow hes guessed the truth that whoever killed mason killed him with my fathers rifle I 1 knew that when I 1 put the bullet into your hand at the inquest ive known for days that you must know that too you said nothing to me yes he admitted 1 I figured out that thal and cob bob elliot knows it im certain lie knows it though I 1 swear I 1 dont know how he Is so sure I 1 but you yourself your are sure that it Is true that the murderer used your fathers rifle ride the the yes im virtually certain ot of that and my father knows it it he have you talked this over with him no ko how could I 1 its changed him so I 1 hardly know him ile he used to have a terrible fighting temper but where Is it now lie ile dare come to a showdown with elliot lies hes afraid of 0 the effect tho mop shock would have on my mother and on you on my mother slie she repeated no lie dare face it out because of tier her but just as he be wont fight debt elliot because of 0 that something to in his makeup keeps him from protecting himself too nothing would bring him to hide evidence though that evidence might turn against him as well ns as against the true murderer ile he mut have known keown 1 then said kentucky his alibi about being somewhere gome where else at the time mason was killed Is 18 not so good as some people have been led to suppose lie any testimony in support of it but mine discount that because im his big daughter even even it if they dont break my testimony in some other way ile he did not stop to tell her that he knew by tills this that her support of poa alibi had bad boon been perjury instead lie he asked her how many people know that campo your father set out to kill bob elliot the day mason was killed she cried out with a shudder in her voice you even know that bob elliot told me that he said shortly jean ragland looked dizzy and sick then atho ito can tell how many people cob bob elliot has told kentucky jones stripped off of h hla is gloves and made himself a n cigarette and how many people kentucky said slowly do you think can tell a living man from a ghost her voice quavered irregularly no celar I 1 what do you mean longer fully under her control what do you mean there used to be a picture hanging in the bar nook hook ranch house kentucky said A picture in a dark wood frame that picture was stolen because somebody thought it had something to do with the mason case when you saw that picture was stolen you were panic stricken and hid the empty frame from your father now im going to tell you what that picture was you cant you never saw 0 it was a picture of a man on a horse when you first looked at that picture it seemed to be an enlarged snapshot of bob elliot only when you looked close it was not elliot but john mason do you deny that jean no said jean miserably you see its just as I 1 said nothing escapes you nothings able to tilde bilde itself away from you that the rest of the case against my father lee bishop know who it was he saw near the far bar hook when he be thought he saw raw mason and joe st SL marle only thought he saw masons ghost cut but when they rested sideways in their saddles with their faces hidden a long way off or in the dark anybody could could mistake bob elliot for mason or he said an angry man might just possibly m mistake Is take mason for el not hot she drew a deep breath and pressed her gloved fingers against her eyes but did not reply its my belief kentucky said that it was the sheriff who searched the house or had it searched in which case lie he must have that picture 1 I think youre alj right t about the sheriff lie he must have been looking for the gun to match the mason bullet but lie he take the picture of mason because I 1 took it myself 11 you tou did cut but you looked so BO scared 1 I hide frame aud and all at first because it left a pale spot on the wall that dad would have noticed I 1 meant to slide some other picture into the frame but I 1 forgot it and then with dad hunting all through the house to see what had been taken I 1 thought hed notice the empty frame and I 1 was ter terrified rifled t and that rifle P lie ile paused watching tier her and licked shut his cigarette tile the title rifle she burst out jerking jerkin her hand away from her eyes who knows where that Is now how do we know that bob elliot have it himself sheriff hopper has the other bullet if ever the bullet la is fitted to my fathers gun no lie said dob cob elliot hae the irtle ner her voice rose hysterically now how do you know he |