Show by byalin LAN LE MAY release T installment 8 STORY SO 90 PAR FARI ti dusty king and ikid lew gordon had built up a 8 vast string ol of ranches which stretched from texas texa to mon montana king we was killed by his hi powerful and J lous loui competitor ben ban thorpe bill roper kings adopted bon undertook to 0 CHAPTER X continued dry camp pierce still loafed at the pot hook dejected hopeless no one knew what he was waiting for or roper never heard from the rest ol of them now in spite of everything that maxim could do the rangers were on the loose the wild bunch that had bad threatened to dominate texas was broken and split scat far and wide every man lor for himself day and night a saddle pony waited beside the door of the bunkhouse in which roper slept now unexpectedly came sho she 0 kihong hone nothing wilce could tell more of ropers present resent position than this as shoshone wiles rode up bill roper already had bad his bis gun in his bis hand and the other hand upon the bridle rein of his pony shoshone wilce almost tumbled into bill ropers arms anna he grabbed bill BIB by both lapels of the black town going coat that roper always wore when he was about to travel a long way shoshones Sho bottlenose bottle nose learned gleamed and quivered and his eyes were like shoo shoe buttons its donel hes bust hes split hes cracked what are you talking about cleve nannerl I 1 tell you hes gone to belli suddenly bill roper turned into the unaccountable kid that his years justified like a man suddenly coming alive he took shoshone by the throat shook him as if he had bad weighed no more than a cat his teeth showed bare and set he said shoshone you fool with me shoshone cried out through the I 1 p on I 1 n his throat 1 I tell you cleve fr tanner ane he say may any more bill roper was cool again now what makes you think so he tailed failed his delivery at the red where he was supposed to bring up fifteen thousand head a little handful of punchers showed up with a few hundred he cant round his cattle if hes got any cattle and he cant make delivery at the redl red we believe you shoshone sho one wilce babbled on we au all said it be done but by gosh weve done itt all ali over texas tanners diotes jiotes notes are being called as the word spreads ip reads wells ells firgo fargo refuses to honor i his signature tor for a dime they say now that ben thorpe wont won it back tanner thorpe denies him and the tanner holdings are being closed up tip and sold out closed P yo you sure re roper asked looking up from the ground again am I 1 sure you think id risk my damn throat coming h here ere t to a tell you something like this if I 1 know for sure no roper admitted 1 I guess not its all over shoshone tried to tell lell him cant you realize it man no roper said CHAPTER XI strolling easygoing easy going but somehow 1 luc tant bill roper walked the queets of tascosa Tas cosa between the false fronted wooden buildings that died the hoot hoof stirred dust sooner or later he knew cleve tanner would appear upon this one main street everybody knew that th a t tanner was on the warpath karpath war path determined to seek out BUI bill roper it was said that tanners only remaining interest was to bring down the file youngster who had cut texas from under him yet ten days passed before cleve tanner came it was eleven on a sunny saturday morning when dry camp pierce brought bill the word well kid beshere hes he shere here you were lyght again you wont have to hunt ht whim anim out hes looking for you all you have to do Is wait where Is he now in some bar a block up tip the street hes walking from bar to bar asking if youve been seen you well wait for him here no roper said ill walk out and meet him I 1 think dry camp peered up into his bis face kid you look 1 I dont feel real happy roper admitted draw deliberate and slow pierce counselled counseller coun selled take your time tune dont hurry whatever you do but dont waste any time elther either fast and smooth 1 I get you roper said with a flicker of a grin take my time but be quick about abou tIlL it move plenty try ow but fast as heu bell AU ali right lary camal he gave gavi the butt of his gun a hitch bitch to make sure it was loose in its leather then he be spun the whiskey away from him and walked out dry camp pierce looked at the full glass and exchanged a worried glance with the bartender bartend erThen then he be followed bill dry camp kept blinking his eyes to the bright light as if they were dry and there were white patches at the corners corn erit 0 of his mouth dont give him too much of a break kid hes awful bad but bieak Thor peg power HK his first tep step was to start a cattle catoe war in texas he made this decision against the opposition ol of lew gordon and the tearful pleading ot of his sweetheart twe etheart tody ody gordon the raids upon Thor pea herds were successful at get him oil all right he added hastily hall half a block ahead another man steppe dInto the street and walked toward bill BIB before his hisaye hi sace face could be seen in the black shadow under his hat bill roper knew by the set althe of the broad shoulders by thi the rolling swing of his stride that it was cleve the moments during which the two men walked toward each other drew out interminably their eyes were upon each others faces aces now bill could see that cleve tanner looked happy almos tSaY as if 11 Us this was wag the first good thing that had happened to him for a long time at twelve paces cleve tanner drew to observers the men seemed so close together that it was impossible that either of them should live tanners gun spoke five times fast taster faster than most men could slip the hammer nobody knew where the first four our shots went but the fifth shot was easy to place for IN bill roper bolstered his own smoking forty four it blew a hole in the street as tanners ner s gun stubbed into the dust bill roper bolstered his own smoking forty four he had fired twice dry camp pierce was at his elbow again heres the horses its itar time e to ride by god I 1 knew you could could take him kid roper was feeling deathly sick CHAPTER XII it was well into the summer as bill roper once more rode south out of ogallala toward the pile of stones that marked the grave of du dusty sty king jody gordon rode with him in the few days he had stopped over in ogallala he had hardly seen her at all at first she had refused to ride with him today but at the last moment as if on an impulse she had bad changed her mind roper studying her sidelong thought that jody seemed to have a ged aged several years in one impossible now to find any trace of the irrepressible up welling laughter that had been so characteristic of her a year before her eyes were unlighted and a little tired looking her in mouth 0 I 1 th was expressionless except tor for a faint droop at the corners which suggested perhaps resignation perhaps a hidden bitterness she have much to say but finally she asked him what did my father decide he says now that ill never have another penny out of dusty kings share until until hes able to dictate to me what im going to do with it or what it amounts to did you quarrel with my father no he said some kind of bitter things but I 1 say anything I 1 asked tor far certain things five camps in montana mainly of course that was a waste of bre breath atIL but go on and throw yourself against walk lasham in montana yes I 1 have to go 90 on they were silent after that and presently they sat almost stirrup to stirrup but somehow infinitely jar far apart looking down donnat at the stacked boulders from which rose the wooden cross cros a that bill roper had made nearly a year and a half ago for a little while he stood looking at the cross which he had bad made of railroad ties hi he said half aloud one down Dusty 1 I suppose jody said acile be cutting a 11 notch on the handle of your gun now first but resistance was wa toon soon put VP up which caused ropers men to leave him one by one cleve tanner manager ol of Th texas holdings a appeared ppe ared not to fabel the tha losses inflicted upon him ropers resources were dwindling low he was surprised to hear her say that he had noway no way ot of knowing how much the she had heard or wh what a t she had bad heard about his shootout shoot out with cleve tanner A notch I 1 thought anything about it all ali her bitter contempt of the lone onely riding men ot of violence came into her voice that what the gunmen and the cow th thieves I 1 eves abw always ys do he was motionless a long time then he drew the skinning knife that always swung at the back ot of his bis belt in a worn sheath its blade was lean and hollowed worn almost out of 0 existence by a thousand honings honl he stood looking at the knife he tossed it in the air and cau caught it by the handle again 1 I go cutting marks on the handle ot of a gun he said at last his voice was thick nobody cares what anybody does to the handle ot of agun 1 roper stepped forward and with the keen blade cut a notch clean and deep in the left arm of dustus cross cros wh when tri be looked at jody she was staring at him strangely almost as if 11 she were afraid all through the afternoon jody gordon had ridden the barren trails above ogallala on a pony that forever tried to turn home thaw was anthe prairie again and the south platte was brimming with melted snow in the air was something of the damp clean smell which had bad marked another spring in this same place but it was now more than six months since jody had seen bill roper and she found it no help that she was forever hearing his name it was with reluctance that she at last rode up the rise upon which it stood unlighted in the dusk she unsaddled her own pony booted it into the muddy corral and threw the forty pound kak onto the saddle pole with the easy one hand ed ad swing of the western rider As she turned toward the house she was trying not to cry then as she walked through th the a stable a figure rose up from the shadows beside the door and barred hei her way jody gordons breath caught in her throat she said evenly looking for someone bud the spare framed visitor took off his hat and held it uneasily in his two hands well I 1 tell you miss gordon could I 1 speak to you lor for just a minute ill tell you the fact of the matter im a bill roper man jody gordons heart jumped me like a struck pony billy sent you to me 1 I seen bill roper but ive seen ben thorpe miss gordon tell me one thing Is your father backing bill roper I 1 mean is he backing this plowing into ben thorpe my father jody gordon said has quit bill roper in every wa way he possibly could what I 1 thought chos shoshone hone wilce said only trouble Is people a that dont know the difference they dont none of them believe that any more jody gordon interrupted him sharply happened miss gordon your father is in a terrible bad fix im afeard im afeard hes going to die before this thing is through what do you mean most people think lew gordon Is backing bill roper maybe you know that well now theres a feller faller rode to ben thorpe from miles city a teller faller that we was a foreman with montana outfits under walk lasham maybe this feller faller had some kind of fight with lasham I 1 dont know nothing about that but this teller feher swears to thorpe that lasham is letting the montana herds drain away to the indians and to the construction camps and ben thorpe never seeing a penny of the money from beet beef or hide bide Is bill roper gutting the thorpe outfits in montana dont know myself they say hes swarming all over montana with a bunch of kid renegades rene gades behind him riding like crazy men and raiding night after night some say nobody knows how hard lasham is hurt lasham least of any and some say lasham has sold out to bill roper or your father ar or both what does thorpe himself think thorpe thinks your father has bought walk lasharr lashan a just the same as he thought your father bought cleve tanner in texas until bill roper gunned cleve down and thorpe is fit to be bet tied led A man like him hes terrible dangerous always miss gordon but now hes ten times more dangerous than h he ever was in his life you mean you think ben thorpe thorp will will hlll wiss miss gordon I 1 know kilow ben thorpe Is going to lo kill lew gordon just as s sure as TO BE CONTINUED CONTINUE DI |