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Show II GUNSp-PASS RATNE WK'N I (Continued from nnr last Issue) The crook broke down. "I'll tell von rlRht whcr tli jrold's at In "the lean-to of the shark. Purled in a gunnysack." They rorto bnek ficr tho vnlly to the cabin. Miller points! out th spot whore the stolen treasure WM cached With an old Mt as a spado Dave dug away the dirt till he tW) to tho sack. CHAPTER XVIII. Reluctantly. Miller repeated his iory to Sheriff Applotrn.tr ITnd-r tho rlr. umstancea he WU not norry that lie was to he returned to fh penitentiary, pen-itentiary, for ho recognised that bta life at Uirge would not bo safe so lon as Shortv and Doble were ranging the hills. Tho sheriff gave Crawford a receipt re-ceipt for the gold after they h 1 1 Counted it ;ml found none missing. The old cattleman roue from the table and reached for his hat. "Come on. son." he said to Daw. "I'll say we've done a good da ' work. Both of us were under a cloud. Now we're clear. Applegate. you'll get both of tho confessions of Miller fixed up. won't you? I'll want the on about George Doble's death to tak with me to the governor of Colorado. Colo-rado. I'm takin' the train tomor row." "I'll havo the district attorney fix up the papers." tho sheriff promised. Emerson Crawford hooked .in nrm tinder tho elbow of Sanders and left the office. 'I'm wondcrln' about one thine hoy." he amid. "Did Hitler kill Georgo Doble accidentally or on purpose?" "That Denver bartender said they had been quarreling a good deal. They were having :i row at tho very time when I met them at the pate f the corral. It's a ten-to-one shot that Miller took the chance to plug Doble and make me pay for It." "Looks likely, but we'll DOi Know. Ron. voil'va hnil n rotten ri,-.il: I1 handed you." "Nobody can give you back the years of your life you've lost." tne I cattleman went on. "Rut we'll : t I your record straightened out. am - I how, so that won't stand against . I I know one liT girl will be it. ki. ; I i to hear the new s. Joy always hu ! .'.tuck out that you wore tn Lted shameful." "There's somethin" else I'm goin' ' to have put into the minutes of the next mectin", Dave" Crawford went on. "And that's yore election as treasurer of the company. I want officers around me that J can truM. son." "I don't know anything about finance fi-nance or bookkeeping " Dave said. "You'll learn. 1 want some one r j treasurer that's 1" e!-headed and knows how to make a quick turn i I when he has to, some one that us -s U the gray stuff In his cocoanut. We'll fix a salary when we get ;:oin". You ) and Bob arc goin' to have the active management of this concern. Cattle's v I my line, an" I aim to stick to it. Him and you can talk It over and fix yore duties so they won't conflict IJurns. of course, will run the actual drilltn". ! He's an Al man. Don't let him p.i." 1 1 Dave was profoundly touched. :,r. I ! man could be kinder to his own son, ' ij oonld shoW more confidence In him, I i than Emerson Crawford was to one j who had no rlntms upon him. J . He murmured a dry "Thank you ": then, feeling this to be Inadequate. added. "I'll try to sec yon don't re pivt thK" Tho r attlemnn was a shrewd judg of men His net Ion now wm no bued Boldly upon humanltn rln n mo tlves. It was good business to mo.fc it worth his while to stick to Craw ford's enterprises. CHAPTER XIX Emerson Crawford helped hlmsnl to another fried cks from tho plat tf-r wnd shook his knife at tho bright eyed pin opposite "I tell you, honey, the boy's a won der." ho Insisted. "Knows whut h wants and boos right after It Don' waste any words. Don't beat aroun the buflh." Joyce Jumped up nnd ran aroum tho table to him. She sa.t on the arr. of till hair, ji straight, slim creatun very much alive, and pressed hei face of flushed loveliness against hli head. "It won't be your fault, olt duck, if things don't go well will him. But he',s so so Oh.. T don' know -stiff as a poker. Acts ns I he doesn't want to be friends, as I; we're all ready to turn against him He makes me good md tire.i, in, Why can't he be human." "Now, Joy, you got to remem ber " S. ino one's got to blow up tha young man like a Putrh uncle, anr I think I'm elected. It'll be fun tc see how he takes If." Joyce found her chance next day H would have passed with a bow 11 she had let him. Sim hesitated. Uncertain of hei nl" niriK. Then. "You're disappointing disappoint-ing your friend. Mr. Sanders" she Wld lightly. ' Let's walk," she continued. nnl he notlred that the eyes and mouth had softened to u tender smile. "1 can't talk here. D&V&" They walked out of the towr. Into the golden autumn sunlight of the foothills. Neither of them .spoke. ... uuru uerscu nuoyimtiv. chin up, her face a flushed cameo of loveliness. love-liness. As i be took (he uphill trail a small breath of wind wrapped the white skirt nhout her lender llmhs Ho found In her a new note, one of unaceus..,nn'd sliyncss. The siic.ice grew at lost too . i cant. ; he was driven to brea. .. "I suppose I'm foolish." she began haltingly. "Bui I had been expecting expect-ing all of us had that when you Mine home from from Denver the time, 1 mean you would be -the old Dave Sanders wo all knew and liked We nted uur friendship to -to help make up to you for what you must heye suffered. ve didn't i think you'd hold us off like thto." I 'HI could tell you!" H? s.ild it in a wh.sper, to lifthiself. but sno Jut cans hi the words. "toni you try ' she said, ever so gently. He o.ii, not puny her Innocenco by tciling of the furtive whisperings that had fouled the prison life, made of H an esperlen degradlttg and corrosive corro-sive He told her. instead, of the externals ex-ternals of that existence, of "how ho had risen, dressed, eaten, worked, exorcised, ex-orcised, and slept unuer orders He described to her the colls, four bv seven sev-en by seven, barren, built in tier., faded by narrow Iron balconies, eacli containing a stool, a chair, a shelf a bunk. When he had flni ! ed ho knew that he had failed. She ,.ept for pity and murmured, "You poor boy l ou poor hoy ! " j He tried again, and this time he drew thv moral. "Don't you see. I'm Ja marked man marked for life." He , hesitated, then pushed on. "You're fine and clean and generous If I come too near you, don't you see I I taint you ?" "Fiddlesticks: You're a man who has been done a" wron-. After all. you've been found innocent." "That Isn't what counts. I've been in the penitentiary. Nothing can wipe r . " j film ; PJBl ; jj "You're Disappointing Your Priendj Mi Bandera," sh- said Lightly. that out Tho stain of it's on me a-nd I can't be washed away." She turned on him with a little burnt of feminine fernelty. "How daru you talk that way. Dave Sanders' r want to be proud of you. Wo all ri.. But how can we bo if you give up like a quitter?" The color crept Into his face. 'I'm not quitting. The point la whether I m to ask my friends to carry my load fur me." "What are your friends for" 1 eh demanded, and her eyes were like stars In a field of enow. "Don't you see it s an insult to assume they don't want to stand with you in your tron-blo? tron-blo? You've been warped. You're eaten up with vain prUle." Jove bit her lip to rhokc back a swelling In her throat." "But you've got to look at this mv way, too. he urged ' I can't ropav I your father s kindness yes and too by letting folke couple ir mine, even in friendship, with a man who " She lurndd on him. glowing with COloc "Now that s absurd. Dac Sanders. San-ders. rm not a a nlco little china doll. I'm a flesh-and-blood girl. And I'm not a statue on a pedesu.1. Ijet's stop this foolishness wid bo sure-enough sure-enough friends Dave." Ho took her outstretched hand In his brown palm, smiling down at her All right. I know when I'm beaten ,: And now I don't know wheth.-r ve done right." she said ruefully "Dnd warned me I'd better be careful." care-ful." ' 'You've done me a million dollars-worth dollars-worth of good. Plcaa don't regret it." "Well, I won't " She added, in a hesitant murmur. "You won't mlo-undfrstand mlo-undfrstand His look turned aside the long-' long-' . :: 'I - and m-ougni fu, , ,, . j ; ..f pink in her eheeks 1 "No. I'll not do that," ho aald. , j CHAPTER XX, Up in the hills back of Hear Canon two men wero camping. "Might's well bo hltfln" tho trail," one growled. The other nodded without speaking, speak-ing, rose lazily, and began to pack the camp outfit. He was n squat, heavy-let heavy-let man with a Chihuahua hat. Also he was i two-gun man. The man who had spoken rose with one lithe twlnt of hie big body. His eyes, hard and narrow, watched the shorter man disappear In the brush. Then he turned swiftly and strode toward the shoulder of the ridge. In the heavy uhdergrowtli of dry weeds and grass ho stopped and tested test-ed the wind with a bnndanna hand-I hand-I kerchief. The breeze was steady and fairly strong. If bl'.v.- down the canon I toward tho foothills beyond. The man stripped from a scrub oak 'n handful of leaves. They were very brittle and crumbled in his hand. A match flared out. His palm cupped It fur a moment to steady the blaze before be-fore ho touched It to the crisp follagt . Into a nest of twigs ho thrust the Nimill flame. The twigs, dry as powder, pow-der, from a four-months' drought . i ruckled like miniature fireworks. The grass caught, and a small line of fire ran quickly out. (Continued In Our Next IMU i nrt |