Show ERT RO ROLLIN BROWN V Y featon creatures rEA TURES E deputy sheriff jim doino doane li Is called la in by sheriff sam flick to track down don a gang ang of train robbers the sheriff tells jim that he believes the gang cane Is led by a girl the daughter ol of plo no alvaro a tor for mer er rancher star la hue a cattleman nho he hn boucht alvaros AI varos ranch reports report to the riff that rustlers have stolen snore more than halt half his herd he accuses the alvaro altaro girl sheriff flick arranged for a special train to take jim to the point in the desert in san loreto county where the holdup took place jim knows alvaro and doubts that she Is the leader or even a member ot of the gang ne he trails the robbers by the hoof prints until his horse dies then he begins walking beat and thirst plague him CHAPTER 11 II uh huh agreed flick it sort 0 my genri idea anyhow just keep it in mind but one thing im my hat on doane this train job was hatched from inside the sand wells country not outside im bettin be able to pick up a nice fresh trail of shod hoots hoofs within halt half a mile of where them four tellers fellers left the train that trail will ill then hit for or the nastiest toughest ridin spots which Is to be found in that end 0 the county an sayin so methin see it if im right and sheriff sam flick was indis mutably right but doanes trouble had not come from rough country or a hard ride he went through that like a bullet goes through paper As the sheriff had prophesied there was a fresh hoof boot trail within a few hundred yards of where the train had stopped one of the band had evidently managed the horses the trail turned straight north into the desert country avoiding what scant habitation existed in the neighborhood of sand wells junction doane followed fast and light with the quart canteen of water and a pocketful of dried jerky tor for food he intended to hit the fresh trail tor for perhaps a day to make certain of its general description unless there was a luckier break if the trail continued northward or turned into the foothills of the sierra nueva as he be suspected a man hunt bunt might be outfitted with greater swiftness and ease from the sheriffs sherif Ts office in san loreto with riders coming down on the scene rather than working up from sand wells hours later he noticed that the animal had begun to limp glancing down he saw that the right foreleg was badly swollen he slid out of his saddle and looked at the leg snake bitel bite why the horse had flinched a rattler had truck struck him and doane even jonm known it maybe the rattler had lost his rattles anyway there it was he cut the swelling and applied a tourniquet hed made a bad mistake in riding the animal so long hed given the poison a good start but he told himself it serious rattlers bite often kill stock but the animals foreleg continued to swell with a rapidity that hurled burled doane into a momentary panic an hour later he took mercy on the beast and shot it he looked to his canteen less than a pint of water lefel he made some calculations he would go on to the waterhole rest there through part of the night drink until his system was saturated with moisture then head back tor for sand wells with a brimming canteen to see him through it was the only sensible thing to do the riders he followed had also been making track tor for the waterhole and that lured him on to see what general course they would take in leaving the waterhole proved to be farther than five miles twice that but the outlaw trail trouble to turn into it the waterhole was dry A big shot of dynamite had been exploded in it cracking the lower structure and in doanes canteen were just two man sized drinks his bis throat was already parched dryl dry ill was a cry from froin cracked levered fevered lips the hour was sunset twenty tour four hours after he had discovered a waterhole that was only so 10 much hard bard baked mud doane dropped to his knee in the sunset light and held his bis tongue against the canteen cover of burlap there was no saliva on his tongue but on the covering of that canteen was a circle of moisture three or tour four inches wide the circle was a deep caved dent in the tide side of the canteen doane had fallen when he pulled the canteen from under him the damage was done the fall had dented the metal side of the canteen and a soldered seam had cracked not a drop left inside he sobbed thickly for hours his throat had bad cried just to taste the stuff just for him to let a drop or two between thick swollen ups lips just for or a drop ol of water in that burning choking throat of his for seeming hours hour 3 he had been able to think only of 0 that to imagine only the utter ecstasy of the touch of moisture he had goaded himself on with the thought he had lured himself on step by step with the promise at sunset that iron will of his had promised the weakened tortured bd that there would be rest and ane swallow of water countless times over and over he had imagined it he would take the water drop by drop hold it on his tongue feel it on his palate d drop rop by drop it would drip down tile the leather cracked throat or would he take the swallow with one lustful trembling satisfying gulp A thousand times he had imagined it while the force of an iran will drove his unsteady body on the tall fail had come within five yards of the mark he had set for himself the spot where he would finally sink down rest and drink driven muscles had weakened the joy of anticipation and the eagerness he was cheated now beyond any human measure he knew only despair but his warped mind was no longer concerned with the despair of 0 death only with the measure of his loss that pitiful quantity of stale water that was gonel he cracked he would gladly have traded his life tor for just one drink of water he sobbed futilely hoarsely gaspingly Z r he fie would have gladly traded his life for lust just one drink of 0 water the vivid desert sunset faded night spread shadow over a of barren grotesque forms weird buttes and rock heaps fantastic ridges and gullies and it spread darkness over a man who lay in the dust where he had fallen his lips pressed against the dry covering of a canteen the heat of the day was suddenly gone and it was chill chili A shivering body brought doane tt it consciousness for a time his brain was clear again he coolly measured his chances fifteen or eighteen miles now would s see ee him to sand wells he told himself that he could make it it was possible he had to make it steeled in mind he got to his feet he carefully fixed his direction from the stars step by step he began to move on he walked a long way now before he tripped and tell fell lie he pushed up and went on this was repeated countless times his hands and knees were bloody his clothing was ripped to shreds on the knees and legs finally an unknown faraway far away voice seemingly began to call to him you cant do III it no man could do it give up once you give up death comes more ea easily doane fought that voice he cursed and screamed at it but no articulate sound actually came from those hard swollen lips of his there were long periods of time when he did forget there were times when visions gave him water a world filled with water cool and sweet and he bathed lustfully in it drank to his fill of it other times when he nakedly fought the fires of hell and died a hundred deaths by torture there were long periods of time when he lay quietly where he tell fell times when he be slept but always he staggered on shortly after dawn his delirium fevered mind cleared again tor for a few seconds and this disclosed the grimmest grimmeit grim loke joke of all the coming sun rose in the wrong quarter of the compass he was moving in the wrong direction he had turned wandering backtracked back tracked himself sunrise threw those curiously floating tar far peaks of the sierra nueva into view they had not changed no farther away no closer cool distant magical A grotesque caricature of a man threw up one hand toward the mountains which a crazed mind still somehow knew to be real A smile that move the stiff swollen lips lighted in the bloodshot eyes he could hear again the laugh and gurgle of water in the granite creek beds the music of it H he e could see the sparkling clear sweet swee t streams of water in the canyons and ravines on his hands bands and knees doane crept forward toward the ranges that lay distant two days march tor for a strong man with food and water aqui stal sta por dios some man is lost afoot there is hl his c canteen a ns five hard ridden mounts and a pack animal that carried water tins came to rein in a compact group the canteen lay on the ground be fore ore them half tilted against a rock it had a dented caved side there were other things to be seen in the dust A mans body bad laid there struggled the marks where the man had tried to get to his feet and again lay still there were the marks of his raw knees and to the south went the wavering track where he had disappeared what do you think 1 I 1 think a lean straight old vaquero smiled that a certain man who never falls fails has failed according to what I 1 heard he left sand wells three mornings ago alone here Is the way he now how old Is the track ten hours twelve but it Is still a long way from here to sand wells this man was already weak he had no water so I 1 think he must have discovered how the senor la rue put dynamite in the north waterhole to check cattle from disappearing in that direction A single rider reined his mount away moving slowly along the trail of uneven footprints he rode a hundred yards halted and returned to the group he nodded his head in agreement with the spokesman the sad lemen dIemen had dark vigilant eyes even now one scanned the horizons ori zons straight in the saddle with a certain tenseness la in the poise the man who read the scant sign of the footprints so intuitively was known as pedro salvador but his stolid appearing features showed a heritage that was more indian than mexican his age was indeterminable except that there was gray in the coarse straight hair that showed under the dusty brim of his sombrero two others were middle aged men the fourth a youth the fifth rider at a distance of fifty yards would have been taken tor for a man her sex unrecognizable under the garb she wore she was young youn 9 and clothed like the men in worn chaps boots a mans faded shirt and a wide brimmed stetson her fine black hair was cut in a bob that was shorter than pedro salvadora Salv adors grayed locks but at closer distance the delicate mold ol of her profile or the curve of her lips the throat the fine dark eyes spoke for themselves nearby the working clothes of the hard bard bitten cowman served only to accentuate the feminine daintiness by harsh contrast pedrol she called the cool of the night will have kept this man alive his track will wander but he be wont be dead this morning but sooil corrected pedro aa la rue would be equally behind his coming here let them look after themselves bury their own deada the girl seemed to consider this tor for a long while 1 I suppose she admitted but well have to find him the tall fail vaquero expressed his amazement with a railroad posse now riding out of sand wells with every sheriff and deputy and down country settler sitting on the ridges watching with glasses we do this for the enemy so he be wont fall fail next time yes said the girl weve got to spread the track will circle after a while experienced in desert ways the riders separated at the end ot of an hour they trailed down a man who looked scarcely human his mad burning eyes were fixed on the far peaks he crawled inch by inch forward across the vast floor of the morning hot desert on bare hands and knees he babbled to himself in swollen lipped words there was nothing sane in his eyes or in his mind but within him there was still that mighty fundamental spirit of the man and this it was that had kept him fighting on jim doane deputy sheriff opened sane eyes tor for the first time some three days later he looked with amazement at the room in which he lay at the ceiling over his head in his mind roared the fragments of a thousand fantastic dreams water water water each of those dreams devolved upon water in one form or another there were deep pools fringed with lush meadow grass and tules tales there were broad brimming rivers there were mountains like the high country of the sierra nueva where little creeks laughed and brawled down countless walled canyons and ravines there were cold blue lakes walled in with snow and ice fee there were also gigantic ghastly red infernos and landscapes of smoking hot rock but even in these there had bad been water only doane could never quite reach it he was a man who had fought a all 11 the tortures of hell and lived through by a miracle lie he lay back on his bed for a long while naw now looking at the ceiling and t the walls valls then terror caught at him again this was another false fal se dreamt dream I 1 he raised himself on his elbow on the point of screaming walterl walterl for gods sake walterl he trembled in every muscle cold fear ear sweat broke out on him curiously he felt of the sheet spread over his body felt of the bed frame the fear ear hung on then a door opened TO BE CONTINUED |