Show h selwood f t d fl of sleepy sli tal 1 1 11 e e py cat ca t by FRANK H SPEARMAN by charlei tero soma STORY FROM THE START at sleepy cat doctor cirby tells ili wentworth hobs bo a of a shooting sho scrape in Dar dartois toes gambling den in ill which jolin john an selwood gambler imbier in 0 hie w wounded und ed vart partner nr da dave v e tracy silo howa wn remar habit sk hill 1 1 aw and nerve llerve CHAPTER 11 II continued 2 have saved time hy by 9 going aalf at a mile higher aall up commented 8 lwood titter after lie he had be ard the story all tile the frei freighting ghong outfits go there for the lie rock holtom this Is all right when its dry enough its a moan mean place dace utter after a shower and it if you I 1 lont dont get that lend lead out of that sand band pretty quick youre liable not to get them out oui lit ill nil fill what should you do stronger stranger asked the settler ill brently realizing that the die buckboard man knew more than linn he fie knew about tile the situation for answer selwood spoke sharply to the teamster fin in overgrown boy who was gebing geeing and hawing the polo pole buru bellm curu all tile the iole dole effect of setting betting tile tore fore wheels of the ilia wagon deeper lee iier into the lie sand prop drop your lines where you yell ore are cried selwood and get bet ant that load lead team ashore doin don you see nee the he near horse Is going down Perc perceiving elvIng the awkwardness and stupidity of the he young fellow get wood not waiting to see tits hla order orde r executed walked into the hie creek ond and followed by the settler splashed across to where struggling to free their feet tha ha I 1 lend head horses were floundering to their heels selwood unhooked the singletrees single trees threw them over tile the bucks backs of tile lie frightened horses and slapping leml by turns sin artly on the haunches got them hem sp lushing and struggling ashore then bidding the teni nater follow tie re crossed the creek turned up die sent ot of his fits buckboard took out hand over blind A 4 length of heavy clinen passed it to tile the team titer to curry carry ltv unhook ind ills his eap op team walked lAi laikind Ind beni dou dop in ones one eurid mid and reynoln the other across the creek it dij finst the iho work of but N row tol minutes to histen fasten one me end of the to the tongue of the stalled wagon and give directions to lo the lite two to men us its to where to mid and what to do the settler atis in put with will uio tile team lenin nelll hitched io to the clie wagon from froin tile the end of tile the wilbon gon tongue the chain drawn tuut taut rea clied ashore where on oil the sandy approach to tile the ford selwood bad hooked tits his own team into the he chain L auri pilL it between them lind had lurked the rescued team to the chains end with everything rendy ready selwood gave dingi annl now if your kimg bolt holds LZ ne said well that wagon angon lafit uti if it gives have to wait till 11 you can rig another a outfit coming coining along about two hours behind now everybody ecco body oll all log ellier 1 If Telwood loosed it a stentorian yell the six horses galvanized by the sti fl hock ock bent to tho the job tile boy blushed with tt lah his lines and the lie settler Is N this it Is all right when its it dry shouted hooted the millred wagon creaked violently groaned grou ned nod and with the wheels sloughing ploughing hing through the gripping sand moved awed uncertainty uncertainly A fresh roar goar from selwood signalizes signalized the file suc ass ss and nd spurred tile hie horses to renewed n wed efforts eferts and tile the partly released wagon plunging pi id gin g wits was jerked ond and rattled yng ungraciously through the sullen and up the lie ford 0 ordry o dry land alie emigrant turned to tits his rescuer kittil a 1 joyful breath brath of relief stra n ie a big lift I 1 IS n at pes r per chats oursa he out his hand blind ai benefactor was aa taciturn toc Kurn fie H took ok extended hand but without chats holthe hot the first ami ua ive helped pull a wagon out of that hole fie 19 said good it probably want be the lite last I 1 hadbo hod to be pulled out of there once myself ti nobody oldy uses thin ford that thal knows it where you headed beaded for sleepy clat abt where you boullt boun lT 17 LO looks 0 ks as it if tile the whole united st santes aites Is 1 heading tor for sleepy cat olve live me ino a hand with that boy and ill un afi moving the three men me n pulled the buckboard across tle tile cree creek k without difficulty helped selwood to fit hitch 1 eh his tam team and put back his chain selwood explained in answer to pointed questions that lie he was in the freighting business find looked after the russell and wentworth outfits through tle tile mountains fyler in turn said gold he be was taking some borne luer chandise out to open a store in sleepy cut cat selwood answering laconically a rapid low flow of questions was glad to he be ready to drive on oil tie lie gathered tits ills reins to step into the buckboard As ali lie he lifted his fits toot foot with one hand 00 oo oft the dash and the other on thereat the seat to do so eo his hl Beyes eyes foil fell oo on lylers arst wagon standing twenty yards away the canvas opening at tile the hind end wits was parted and to ills his great surprise lie he saw that at tile the moment it fra framed med lie he face of a girl of eighteen or twenty yeara she did not see nee selwood and he stood motionless staring of at the unexpected sight she was bareheaded with her hair parted in the middle and drawn over her temples tem plea on tier her neck a simple kerchief rested loosely above a simple dress dresa womenfolk women folk wore were not uncommon in emigrant trains indeed they were the rule yet belwood paused ns as if pet billed at ti ile ordinary sight unluckily for him his horses less lees interested in the situation champed champee at their bits and tried to start more afore even than the ilia clear brome brocile hud hod promised was revealed in tile the full face it was mero mere girlhood stin sim and frank crank innocence but it made selwood catch tits his breath when tier eyes fell on selwood she alie looked rather quickly away and flip parted canvas gnp nap softly chosed selwood stepped gingerly gerly oil un into full the I 1 buckboard and settled in teat tile the horses leaped ahead lie ile did not attempt to look boric back delwo d reached sleepy cut late that night ills rod ired team headed without guiding hand for the russell kussell oil and wentworth horse barn selwood threw his reins to a waiting hostler lie ie got stiffly down after tits his long ride tipped up tile the lazy baek sent took out und and stuffed into a side pocket of ills his coitt coal the goodluck good luck hick girls shoo and walked forward As he fie passed the open door of the lie saw the born barn boss mcalpin in id eon can tab with a little fifth woman sitting in fit the a chair atthe desk delik near auci listening sto odan overgrown boy of awen wenty tile the woman was hulking earn earnestly earnestin estil y and rapidly belwood bellwood was hung hungry Y dust covered and tired and without speaking to mcalpin ito he passed out through the gangway doors and stort start ed at for fits bis room at doctor curlys hotel mcalpin in the barn 0 mee stood profoundly pr attentive to the story of the little woman sitting bitting at the desk with a handkerchief much knotted in her hands and with great trouble expressed in tier tear stained eyes the barn boss was plainly interested la in chii title tale the strange woman was pouring ino tits his ear of the men that profess they have lave no DO unit to listen to other peoples troubles james me hie allian never was nas one lie find dad almost a morbid flair for other peoples trou brou bles and the worse they were the more he 1 1 ought not to say enjoyed them but the inore closely him lie ile had come front from fur far across acroca tho the sen sea anti and crossed forbidding deserts to reach the great american besil acs penniless but thrifty and fortified fortl forti ned fled with the ho resolve to weep with tile the weepers anti and rejoice with the glad aa A a scotsman nature had lifted fitted him far tile dilli cull role of being all thin things to all men and as he fie listened in the is ifs stuffy strong smelling cluttered up little office of tile the big division barn of the lie Il and wentworth 9 company the first barn by the iva way ever built in sleepy cat a as he fie looked from froin the little wisp of a woman weeping and pouring out tier boea before him to the husky overgrown twenty year old son at her side sheepish now and liang hang dog in looks felt that in coolness and deam in himself he was pretty nearly ru master sister of tile the situation and he be looked his part taftt mrs mra mccracken McCracke Dr he demanded suddenly eyeing the he wom anand and throwing more into the words as lie repented repeated the sharp question purely for effe cit Wl itts that you say moses wits vas gamb lingl why lie not I 1 I 1 cou laut i aly tho the boy was gambling when tie lie lost that vioney money it if its gambling two men hav got to have a chance dont you know that mrs mccrackens McCracke nl mci alp alpin spoke fast because mrs him mccracken herself find hardly ellec chec eit her own tale in fit tile the inter val vail she WAS in fact though weighing under ninety pounds lite first waman woman he bad ever met that could talk talat faster than he be could that boy ba leave v e a chance Anilli ted mcalpin be was just jurt plain robbed what I 1 call it robbed wits was the six hundred till all ill the money you hail mrs luts McCrac Mc Crackel kebl avery L very cent in he wort d wept th the woman and moses knew better thun than to go ifor near a gambling honse As ag a distributing point for a widespread mountain territory sleepy put cut even at this time boosted boasted trading and I 1 supply houses housen out of nil all proportion in ize ind and importance to its population and these stores with frontier fronti tr difre gard of ore hazard were housed mostly in one long block bedek in ill aliu fit 4 block could bo found the widely known establishment of john C I 1 v jhb tall spare brother of the town blacksmith blackmail th the long ram rambling blang stored store of alexis alexia the french trader witt nearly nil all the business of th the P fl unlock and thes the falling wall reservations I 1 dour with the squaw wife the brown toupee tie the kray gray glass eye and the dyed mustache and goatee coatee in this row too were the rick busch brothers chrle and otto big nion men with bristling mustaches and aid perspiring foreheads always hustling always sweating who controlled most of the supply business from ibe he mining camps at horse head find and thief river north and south luet last of all in that bloch was the roan man whom nobody knew not even een ills hs own clerks von van cambel the silent dutch trader tall as a pomeranian lan unga ungainly I 1 n as a hollander the man who heard all and said nothing lie ile had the lite mormon trade A riot of celebration hod had been loosed on the great day to greet the advance guard of the coming coining railroad the pioneers and adventurers within a 11 radius of two tun hundred miles had congregated in heir to do the lite occasion lionor honor paille patiently fly mcalpin waited agala again for bior moses story of liow how that morning his big mother had given lim kim six I 1 hundred dollars krs to pay for and bri bring ng hack back the t of lil mules lilea moses on oil ills his way had met un on entertaining man who had corn come front from the same town in iowa ing as tile the mccrackens Mcra chena at this point mcalpin me A iva n gr ground 0 and ha 1 the mas M had volunteered ered to s A I 1 I 1 ill him bill help bring hiams a m lie he fix him 4 onfred incidentally to show allow moses where the fie new roundhouse round house was to be built they find stopped in at an interesting place where different guinea games were being player gild moses in earnest and repell repented ted endeavor to pick tile tip right orie one of nf three cards had gradually wagered and finally lai illy lost tile the six hun hundred tired mcalpin had already heard tile be story once but it was bis big custom custo in it lie be could manage it to hear a parti cu barly ly harrowing tale twice lie he 11 cried to tile the second recital with thi the annie same sharp ejaculations the same raine i screwing and twitting twisting of his fits features and his heels and the same angry j jerking of als head with which he ba had find ulm absorbed orbed moses story the farst i time NOW ill tell you ou he said domineeringly arld and to cut off further discussion cus sion ill go with you to where they took your money and see what alin j can be done emiling it hostler front mcalpin witt with moses walked rapidly down the ragged highway that was to serve as sleepy cats principal street in flip direction of what was already known kiowa us its the river quarter which had gained un hit evil precedence in mountain mounta lw story as ilia I 1 lie resort of hard men inen anc and I 1 scenes of violence mcalpin had a avery I 1 velry definite idea of the general direction in which moses had parted with hla his bonev and took film directly down towards toward 1 tile the river talking and gesticulating as 03 fust fast as lie he walked reaching the sua pus pecked district Ni cAlpin slowed arill anil pointed from a conservative dista distance ners to one disreputable joint a after r another asking iris his companion whether this or that place looked ilkic tile the one he fie had been taken aken into muses moses confident at first found him self hazy when it camp camo to identifying the precise scene of his disaster 1 with his guide he walked clear to the th camping grounds without bucce success 9 and mcalpin on the wry wey hack back to the sta bit ble was growing very impatient when moses of a sudden stopped his com coin panton nuli and pointed to a man just going into a large and quite creten preten Pr pretend eten lions frame saloon that a the fellow he exclaimed eagerly what fellow TI 1 just going in there he be dealt the able cards and the wills vered moses mosca with excitement mcalpen h looked at the place point ed out and turned a hard stare chiq on 10 lil coln companion mon ila man n alive 1 0 tie he pried cried what kloct of a fool are you to pick out the worst place tween st joe and sacramento to leave yom money in come along to the barn aint you going to talk to im ni as you said you would asked moses bosem timidly hut ut dreading to td face ll 11 hi mother ago ngah tu tuk in fit there echoed mcalpin scornfully icorn fully do P I 1 want to lo get knifed not yet yd come along youre lucky liteky you pet of kni knocked eked on the hend head und had till t wu into the toe river th a t a bunty Dar bartoes toes place mcalpen returned to tho the barn out of humor he fie w wasted asted little time lime when he got back tp be in explaining pla ining abl q gg hut but leaving moses to take the lite brunt of thi the storm become very busy with sortie mule s just being drought brought into the burn born bt b teamsters putting them up for the he night if it wits was nearly supper allme too 10 0 and ste me alpin to avoid further discussion jn in tile the office dodged out opt 1 th ine flack w way ay for something to ehl cal A hearty meat meal restored pretty welt his placid outlook on life but when he is got back to the barri this was upset upsel i again by the spectacle of M VS sic bic Cracken sitting alone inthe twilight or the rough office client and woe begon bt eone e another long talk res rea bulted in an nn an opening of his cliart liart again and ended in ills his tellin telling gAter fier toie to go get her supper and come back ile he bould 1 1 d see aee |