OCR Text |
Show ' - .irOBI THUS FAR: Mary Suth-b Suth-b Easterner, Is lured to Arizona Us of 0 Wagon Wheel dude Crated by Ma and Pa Bnrdan. at the itatlon by Len Henley, Ler, Ham, baj purchased the lote 'rom the bank and leelj 'ranch U now his. Len takes phocnlit, enters the rodeo there I rides Mad Hatter to a finish, tree thousand dollars lor Mary, et bis dad Len could ride Mad Mary now buys the equity In Vheel, and Ham, learning she nough money, threatens lore-,Iary lore-,Iary rehires Ma and Pa Bur-lrlvei Bur-lrlvei to the ranch, where she j the son of Sheriff Wade. "My fault, entirely, Mr. Burdan. She was miscast in this drama. Goodby and good luck to you, and I think you're mighty sweet." When the door closed behind Pa the sheriff said, "Who said the meek shall inherit the earth?" Mary laughed and that moment she was cured. "Whoever he was, sheriff, he was closely related to the person who said: 'II thine enemy smite thee on the right cheek turn unto him the left.' Would you mind doing me a little favor?" He smiled wanly at that. "The man that wouldn't do you a favor, Miss, had ought to be shot at sunrise. sun-rise. Name it an' consider it done if I can do it." "A big private plane is going to drop in on the local airport in a day or two and disgorge something that thinks it's a man but isn't. The name is Joseph Alcott Blanding. Joseph's Jo-seph's father left him twenty million mil-lion dollars and from infancy Joseph Jo-seph has been accustomed to having hav-ing his slightest wish granted. Can you imagine the result?" "He probably ain't worth helj-room, helj-room, Miss Sutherland." And the following morning the sheriff's little drama was staged without a rehearsal. The next day Hank Wade dropped in again to report re-port that he had . handcuffed Joe period It seemed they could work without interruption or fear of discovery. dis-covery. Breezy had been killed about nine o'clock in the morning and at this season of., the year daylight day-light arrived about seven o'clock. It seemed reasonable, therefore, to assume as-sume that Breezy Wade had left camp then and, in searching the thickets along the river wash, he had proceeded slowly and methodically, methodi-cally, hazing all cows and calves he saw out into the open to see whether the calves were branded or not. A search for mavericks is always slow, so Pedro concluded Breezy had not traveled more than two miles from camp a mile an hour would be almost fast. His brothers had probably prob-ably ridden down the river through country that gradually flattened out and would provide wider territory on each bank to be ridden and searched. The river valley was nar-1 row at the spot where Breezy had gone to his accounting, and the cattle cat-tle were down along the river now, because there was more grass is that area than on the rocky rolling hills and water was easier of access. Well, at two miles the sound ol Breezy's pistol shots or Dona Maria's Ma-ria's shotgun shots would not have been heard, so the surviving brothers, broth-ers, Joel and Rube, would not begin to worry until Breezy failed to reappear re-appear at their camp that night. $ CHAPTER XIV 1 j - et understood why, of jid because she was aware ible people do not attempt nature's outlet for the dis-woe, dis-woe, she sat silently until :ked herself together and h a defiant shake of her r' head: "Well, somebody fje beans and it can't be 'f3w. I'll nave to grin and - have too many troubles own to remember yours h" at poor Sheriff Wade! Mar's Mar-'s so nice. He visited me d for luncheon and we had peasant visit. And within I killed his son." t Maxwell had known j Henley and other cow per-5 per-5 enough and Intimately y have absorbed some of "iabulary as well as their 'd ready philosophy. Said j: young skunk wanted kill's kill-'s he? He asked for It, didn't your silly talk before I lose with you." das a knock at the door and 1 opened It to see who was ?ie visitor was Hank Wade, j tell, I didn't tell," Mary 'light of him. "Oh, Sheriff Jn heart-broken." edn't be, Miss Sutherland. "Sprmed a splendid civic 1r Yavapai County. I seen Irter this mornin' an' he ow he got the story. Seems town to the Wagon Wheel, there during Pedro's ab- Mrs. Burdan told him all f Old Bill tried to stop her n't She allowed as how Sas goin' to make her proserin" pro-serin" that'd picked a venal Ife when his sons was tried i'. Bill Burdan prosecuted 8hat time, Miss Sutherland, ''a couple o' thousand dol-IK.o dol-IK.o lose twice an' have the ltWed out of court. So his t see no reason why she e me from bein' scandal- more an' I'm here to ''Miss, I been scandalized They would of course expect him at sunset for the range was not one to be ridden in darkness. Conversely, Converse-ly, they could not institute a search for him until sun-up and then, knowing know-ing the territory which he had been allotted they would ride up the river, pick up his trail in the wash and follow fol-low it to his body. They must know they would not have a long search . . . He had his plan fully matured by the time he drove( in to the Wagon Wheel yard and went at once to his cottage, where Carlotta cooked him a late luncheon; while engaged in eating it the reporter from the Pres-cott Pres-cott Register drove in and went at once to the dude house. Pedro was lingering over his second sec-ond cup of coffee and a cigarette, perfecting the details of his deadly plan, when there was a knock . at his door and Carlotta opened it to reveal the reporter standing in the little veranda. "Pedro," he said, "I wish you'd lead me down to Breezy Wade's body. I want to photograph it as it lies. And don't try to fool me, Pedro, I know you speak English. Eng-lish. I heard you speak it, without an accent, to Sheriff Wade." "Yes, I speak English without an accent," Pedro admitted, and went out and closed the door behind him. "And I am Mister Ortiz to you, young fallow, and not Pedro. I am the manager here and I do not like your familiarity; you have pried into my employer's private affair and have trespassed on her property to do it." When the man had gone Pedro strode into the kitchen of the dude house and confronted the Burdans. His brown eyes, usually so soft and kindly, were the eyes of a demon now; he stared at the Burdans in silence until they began to cringe. Then he spoke: "Well, who talked to the reporter?" re-porter?" "Ain't no call for me to keep a secret to save that crooked Hank Wade from sorrow," Ma defended. defend-ed. "Only the day before yestiddy her ladyship gives me orders to cook a special luncheon for him, an' when I give her the hint that ain't agreeable agree-able to me she repeats the order." "As manager for Dona Maria, I forbade the discussion of this matter mat-ter with outsiders and I have not been obeyed." "I ain't in your department," Ma defied him. "True, Senora Burdan, but your husband is, and now, poor fellow, he is fired because of you, who have been disloyal to your salt. You will depart early tomorrow morning and if you will leave me your address ad-dress I will secure your check from Dona Maria and mail it to you. I regret this action, for in the past we have been good friends, but as manager I may not forgive those who betray my employer, nor will I have Dona Maria embarrassed by your presence here, Senora Burdan, when she returns." "The news was bound to leak out anyhow," Ma complained, but Pedro was walking away. That afternoon he cleaned and oiled Breezy Wade's armament and polished both rifle and pistol cartridges. car-tridges. The rifle was an old model and inaccurate at ranges beyond three hundred yards, but it would have to serve his purpose, for he had no rifle or pistol of his own. He was up at six o'clock next morning and had breakfasted and saddled Breezy Wade's horse and strapped the rifle scabbard on the saddle by seven o'clock. He noted with satisfaction that Pa Burdan was loading things in the station wagon, so he bade Pa farewell, again expressed his profound pro-found regret at the necessity for the parting, mounted Breezy Wade's horse and jogged off down the dry river bed to the scene of Breezy Wade's demise. He tied the horse behind a screen of mesquite, crawled into the thicket and lay hidden hid-den just inside its outer fringe from which he could see the dead man and have a clear field of fire downriver. down-river. ITO BE CONTINUED! edro warned her and Pa nd Carlotta, Pedro's wife, (i iis news secret because of rrassment that would be S in if it became known." Am the lady forgot to pro-in pro-in her anxiety to smear - right sorry, Miss. I can 3 but it's hard on you." , i the second brickbat I've this morning from those .ty it would seem to be to e. Poor old Pa! He's the goat because now I'll ismiss them both from my And I do so loathe being .elpless people." vas another knock at the again Margaret opened it : ' saw Pa Burdan, arrayed nday suit, standing in the ,;and looking as if his feet I- "Miss Sutherland," he e called to say I couldn't ?! in time. I'm sorry an' n' we've left the Wagon ithout givin' you notice be-Jain't be-Jain't expert at bitin' the I feeds me." And Pa com-io com-io sniffle. ;in here, Pa Burdan," Mary (led. "I want to shake your farewell and tell you I'm fppened, too. Perhaps this a lesson to Ma." He took ( and Mary went on. "Pa, ply, friendly, decent person-ild person-ild serve you rather well in "etail business." thinkin' of a flllin' station nation with a quick order restaurant," poor Pa mum- Hased your equity in the 'heel at a ridiculous price Vou were unable to protect Pa Burdan. I can afford fiore and I'd like to, so I would be a grand idea for i;vote a couple of months to ground for a site for your t in Ufe. When you have come out and see me after ' and I'll give you twenty-Ired twenty-Ired dollars additional for (ch equity. Meanwhile, I'll 1 a check for a full month's j lieu of notice of dismissal." much moved, turned to go de's hand fell on the de-i de-i man's shoulder. "Thanks, said. "U you-d took a icr maybe she'd have kept r long. Hank. Seems like . ' none too anxious to please icrland anyhow, on account lorland prefers to eat alone, avin' been a servant Ma isn not bein' treated like r family. Miss Sutherland." "I didn't tell," Mary cried at sight of him. Blanding and led him through the streets to the county jail, where he had confined him incommunicado. That morning Joe Blanding had been tried on a charge of disturbing Mary's Ma-ry's peace and on the sheriff's testimony testi-mony the local police magistrate had found him guilty and given him the maximum sentence six months in the county jail but had agreed to suspend the sentence provided Mr. Blanding climbed into his plane within the hour and flew far away from Prescott, Arizona, never to return. re-turn. Mr. Blanding had agreed to that and the sheriff had seen him off at the local airport. While driving back to the ranch after delivering Mary at the hospital, hospi-tal, Pedro Ortiz devoted some vry earnest thought to the situation that confronted him in his new employment. employ-ment. He was very proud to be a ranch manager, a position he had never hoped to achieve, and he was profoundly grateful to his Dona Maria Ma-ria for having given it to him. And Carlotta was very happy, too; both had resolved to render such faultless fault-less service that their employer would never consider replacing them. This service, in their case, would entail no extra effort, for already al-ready their affections had been engaged en-gaged and already the loyalty that is born of affection had indicated to Pedro that his position as manager automatically made Dona Maria's enemies his and that it was his duty to relieve her 'of them at whatever cost. He did not know, of course, that Sheriff Wade had seen to it that his sons had been made aware several days previous that a dude girl was now the owner of the Wagon Wheel, i He did not realize the Wade boys had read two weeks before that Pa Burdan's caballado had been attached at-tached and believed, in consequence, that since there would be no horses to ride on the ranch no rider would be kpt to surprise them at work. He did not know the brothers had acted with speed worthy of an honest effort ef-fort and had descended promptly upon the Wagon Wheel to comb the range for late calves which had j been overlooked for branding by Pa Burdan on his last round-up. i AU Pedro knew he suspected and he suspected very strongly that : if one Wade brother had invaded ', J the Wagon Wheel range the other ! two could not be far away! They ' j must have packed a couple of mules ; with camping equipment and food and arrived with the intention of doing a thorough job durine this |