Show k wl w I 1 n MM I 1 installment INSTALL BIENI THREE THE STOUT STORY SO 80 fari FAR I 1 buck hart saloon aloon terry dismounts sees enough sold old to the big outfit anil ad Is II hated by brother of sheriff hart li Is found with a to make him feel the shot was wai fired by the small men tor for it ellen carey tack back bullet la in his bis back A reputed rustler lee hart brother ol of the slain man from school sees iee some lome cattle driven his friends blame the murder to the also believed to be a rustler ruit ler terry li Is hard bard one early morning probably by dig big cattlemen someone fires a shot hot at manager of the diamond reverse B rustlers ru itlen one of the men she ahe thinks calhoun Callio im terry from the red triangle ranch formerly a small rancher ho be la is jeff brand lane guessed jeff brand yes I 1 told him I 1 was going with a handsomer man ellen smiled at her father so you let me down 1 I wont lane answered he did not smile back at her 1 I hope youre not going to be interested to in a man like jeff im afraid hes bad medicine nell tor for girls she inquired yes and for others too hes a lawless young devil heading for trouble my guess Is that he Is already a cattle thief dont be more than civil to him she smiled reminiscently ire he probably thili thinks aks I 1 even that today CHAPTER V among the rolling hills to the north of the diamond reverse B lay the empire of the bartlett land cattle company familiarly known as no by joe the manager clint ellison Ell lson rode in from watching a beef cut to hold a conference in his office with important guests I 1 ile he brought glasses and a bottle of whiskey from the cabinet a pitcher of water from a tray on a sideboard help 7 yourselves ourselves gentlemen he invited john McFadd mcfaddan ln joint owner with his brother of the flying V C a very large ranch far up on elk creek poured whiskey into a glass and drank it neat after a perfunctory heres howl perry gaines manager of the two star ranch shook his head 1 I never drink until im through my days work the third guest reached for a glass and the bottle he was a round roly poly man of middle age rubicund countenance and bright twinkling merry eyes 1 I drink before I 1 begin it during same and after I 1 have finished he announced noun ced heres to you gentlemen happy days mcfaddin McFadd ln thrust into words the thought that was in his mind that had been present with all of them for some days so an accident happened to one of the gents too free with a rope and a running iron near your range clint ellison passed a box of good cigars and took one himself referring to buck hart I 1 take it dinitto 7 toe e foreman of the no by joe looked at the flying V C man no 0 expression whatever in his stee steely ay iy eyes im told he was shot with a rifle in the early morning by a person unknown slanting a grin at ellison Ell lson the plump red faced man he was ted collins manager and part owner of the antelope creek ranch offered a chuckling suggestion have to call him mr X I 1 reckon like they do ith in these se detective stories ellison looked a long time at his cigar tip like the rest of you ive been aaen milling this over night and day daly gentlemen we represent tour four out of the he five biggest ranches in this part of the territory I 1 ask cal terry ferry to join us today bec because autie he be in quite the same position as we are A few years ago he was a little cattleman himself and though his old friends hate him like poison now he may estial have scruples against what I 1 have in mind later well eli have to take him in but we might as well make our plans first if f were going to protect our properties from wholesale thieving we must wipe the rustlers out en masse tod collins grinned the antelope lo 10 pe creek rides to war with the rest of you cut loose with on your mind clint clint leaned forward and in a low voice began to outline the plan he lad had in mind CHAPTER VI ellen drew up on the bluff at the edge of johnsons prong A windmill on sheriff nate harts place near the upper end of the valley caught the suns rays and hello graphed them to her her glance glanc e picked up a puff of smoke and a traction fraction of a second later there came the sound of a shot she dipped down in canyon following the steep trail winding among the boulders she swung around a great boulder and came face to face with a man both of them pulled up taken completely by surprise lie he was a lean bronzed man broad of shoulder strongly built A vague memory stirred in her she must ha have ve known him when she lived here before going to school good morning he said did you meet anybody as you came down th the e canyon no the told him freyou are you headed for round top he be said yes dont go he be replied curtly ellen sat a little straighter on the horse her chin set why not there has been some trouble A man has been killed ellen echoed the last jast word killed shot from ambush she stared at him her eyes on his who was killed man named tetlow lives on fisher creek who did it 1 I dont know I 1 heard someone galloping away through the brush and autele later I 1 came across the body just before I 1 started down the canyon I 1 heard a shot ellen sat said d just one do you think they had a quarrel no tetlow have his gun out A bullet from a rifle went through the back of his head murder the word tell fell from the girls lips to in a low shocked voice the second in are the big cattlemen starting in to kill all the settlers who are in their way no he spoke sharply instantly these men were both rustlers according to common report they lived violently and made enemies maybe they quarreled among themselves one of them was my cousin then as her glance fell on the rifle in its scabbard beside the saddle there jumped to her mind a horrid thought he might have done it himself why was he carrying a rifle in a country where the almost il ewt ellen echoed the last lait word killed universal custom wa was a to wear only re revolvers vol vers then you live in the hills here he said 1 my name li is ellen carey there jumped to his mind the picture of ota ofa a thin long legged harum girl fixing about the black butte country on a pinto horse it was amazing that such a child could have developed into such a beauty lane carey carels s daughter I 1 I 1 yes she frowned at him on the verge of a discovery you are calhoun terry she said 1 I knew id seen iou you before you were a friend of my father then before I 1 committed the crime of trying tonetter to better myself honestly and lawfully he explained she knew those who looked at what he had done from another in angle but she did not intend to discuss it with him what are you going to do with the body she asked lin ill notify his friends friend where to find it 1 I could tell the coroner while im in town he shook his head bead better not go to town this way miss carey the killer may still be down there in the rats flats somewhere ellen looked at him startled you dont think he would hurt me do you not unless he thought his safety required it ill ride up the canyon with you as tar far as the hartman place its not necessary I 1 seen anybody coming up the canyon except you grimly he smiled nobody except me and I 1 came direct from the he scene of the crime carrying the rifle that may have held the cartridge maybe it is not safe gate for you to ride up the gulch with me nie since youre the only eye eyewitness witness against me their eyes met and held searching for what lay beneath the surface into ellens ellen Is consciousness there beat an assurance that this man was no assassin im as safe with you as I 1 would be with my father she said quietly he was a man not easily moved but her words sent a little shock of pleasure through him he looked at her some of your friends might not say so he answered dryly when they the came out on the top of johnsons prong the man moved forward and rode beside ellen he looked across the north fork valley the creek winding through it a ribbon of silver to the forests marching up the huddled hills to the blurred horizons hor bona edge A snatch 0 ot missionary hymn jumped again to his mind ile he laughed sardonically doni cally the girl looked at him you are amu amused S ed he quoted the verse every prospect pleases and only man Is vile her eyes judging him indignantly refused to join his mockery 1 I dont find murder funny she said 1 I thinking of murder ut ot of the man who turned his back on his bis friends I 1 suppose you would call him a traitor it my business to call him anything you dont need to have anything to do with him alter after we reach the fork in the road just ahead so you can go back to your nice dice good friends who shoot at enemies as they pass through a window that not truel she cried my mistake I 1 should have said cousin not friend the name is lee hart when did he shoot at you it if he be did cud wednesday a week ago about 4 p in from the red triangle saloon she did not speak for a moment and when she did etwas it was to repudiate hart he really my cousin only a distant relative by marriage I 1 spoken to him five times in my life they had come to the trail tork fork the path to the left led to black butte the other eventually to ohp th diamond reverse B for days ellens mind was full of cj this adventure CHAPTER VII excitement ran like a prairie fire through the buck river country the heat of it converged on calhoun terry he had reported finding the body of tetlow after having been seen by two men an hour or ao so at after t er the killing not tar far from the upper end of box canyon when seen he be had a winchester rifle in a scabbard tied to the side of his saddle the sheriffs posse had followed the trail of a horse horseman maa from the body to the lower mouth of the canyon here ile he had been joined by an another other rider sheriff hart rode up to the diamond reverse B to ask ter terry ry to explain his movements his b brother lee had bad suggested a posse on which jeff brand and jack turley had offered to serve big enough to capture the foreman ot of the ranch unless his men offered organized sed resistance si but nate hart decided against this we evidence enough on which to convict him nothing like enough he said no sense in going off half cocked better let me and some of the other boys go along lee instated insisted the sheriffs eyes drifted a little scornfully over his heavyset heavy set how bowlegged brother im going tor for business not war if I 1 took you along lee it would be like waving a red rag at cal the sheriff found terry looking over the ranch accounts hart was in his early thirties iea big and rangy and an d vigorous the general opinion was that he was by all odds the best of the hart brothers ive heard a lot of talk terry he said thought id better ride up and find out what you have to tell me you mean about your brother shooting at me from the red bed triangle terry said on the theory that a swift attack may be the best defense dont believe all you hear my brother shoot at you 1 I must mast have imagined the holes in my hat calhoun said the sheriff did not pursue that line any further what I 1 want to talk about is the tetlow killing you were the farst to reach the body were you in time to see the killer noc no I 1 heard the shot he was gone when I 1 found the body what were you doing down on the north fork at that time 1 I was on my way back from jim creek where I 1 had been to see the station agent about wiring for some cars I 1 needed to make a shipment we found two sets of tracks both very recent you happen to see anybody else 1 I met two men on the mesa above but nobody in the canyon no it possible that th the e second set of tracks could have been made by the killer while he was escaping he may have passed up the canyon before or after me yes it may have been that way but the tracks show that the two rode side by side for a ways after they reached the prong not necessarily the tracks may not 01 have been made at a t the lame son time the foreman suggested TO BE CONTINUED |