Show wpm M L A M MACLEOD raine erv ce installment SIX mie STORY SO barf duck buck hart the sheriffs brother alm tetlow and pete tollman Toliman alleged rustlers had bad been I 1 d ry gul c b all shot in the i back lee hart li Is believed to have tried a shot hot from the back at cal terry in the te big ranches claim they cant keep going goin g unless tha abe stealing of stock Is stop stopped ped there is a lotof rustling there k ellen tasked asked yes he added cynically why make ake any bones about it so that the diamond reverse B and the other big outfits really are fighting for their lives in a way of speaking they are fighting for dividends 1 to pay to absentee owners most of them who ought to own this country rich men in edinburgh and new york or settlers right here herb on re he ground looked ither at her eyes hard and leak eak we have cave guns too I 1 reckon this war wont be all one sided well find out who this guy Is with the winchester one thing to li 1 ure sure iles hes mighty familiar with the habits of the men he killed how did he be know where pete would be staying last night ellen and her father left while the dance was still in full swing CHAPTER XII ellen was finding it difficult to draw sharp lines between good and bad jeff brand was an example her interest in him was growing and with it a reluctance to condemn him utterly no doubt he was a thief but she guessed he stole not tor for profit so much as for the thrill and there was calhoun terry most of those living near black butte autte would call him traitor because he had changed sides aides but was that judgment final right bight and wrong existed of c ourse course yet et there was a borderland ftc f conflict where the differences ran phan ellen brought the more impersonal aspect of the difficulty to her father the time was after supper when he was reading one of horace garvels Gar veys editorials in the gazette garvey gamy takes a strong line about these assassinations he be said he ure sure enough hits out right from the shoulder just what he should do too tells the big ranches they cant sow BOW the wind without reaping the whirlwind ellen was silent for a minute A frown puckered her forehead there any way to stop this dreadful bitterness lane carey shook his bis grizzled head not so easy honey the big cattle outfits want a wide open tree free range for their tock stock they dont I 1 want ant the land plowed up or the coun ry long along the creeks fenced they khz reave grabbed what they can one way and another by using their riders as dummies for homestead and preemption pre emption rights but that enough if they are going to run herds as bigas big as they have been doing gothere so there you are if the little fellows fence and plow the land the big ranches cant have it tor range cattle came here first the large concerns feel the nesters desters and homesteaders ste aders are Interlope rs and they have gone some farther than the law allows to co lit let them know it you think the diamond reverse B and the no by joe with the other big outfits are to blame then they made it mighty hard tor for the small try fry to earn a living in these lean years when they quit employing men who had bad places and stock ot of their own but there is another side to it rustlers have been very active and im afraid a good many of the nesters desters have helped themselves to calves to build up their herds and to steers tor for food when they got hard bard up so everybody Is wrong and nobody Is right she salo said he drew on the pipe tor for a few moments ts to make sure it would not go out 1 I say that you kg light ight put it that there are conflict g rights hard to reconcile ellen brushed tobacco from his bis coat you dont see aej any hope of peace then 1 I wish I 1 did he said at last but all the talk Is the other way I 1 heard that fellow jack turley say at the dance he wit was s going to c carry arr y a rifle with him w when h en he rode rod e after this the men he was talking with teemed seemed to agree 1 I dont doat like the man ellen cut in deflected from the main ill thought ou he has been hanging around me a little ellen kissed her father good night lit a lamp and went upstairs to her room it was some time before the could get to sleep into her mind trooped thoughts connected witham laith am bushings and sudden dea death th ker nd and even after she slipped into sleep her dreams we were re wild and turbulent she taw saw jeff brand and calhoun terry stalking each othir other in the sage cage A gun would crash but before her flying feet could take her to the scene the ahe protagonists bad changed it was was her father lying wounded and jack turley was straddling maddlin g his body rifle in hand band strangely enough ellen saw next day at black ablack butte all the tour four men of whom she bud bad dreamed terry came up on the stags stage on his way back to the diamond rive reverse rs e 13 from denver i brand and turley dropped into omee shortly after the ilage tage had bad arrived the tion try lerry li is manager nager bt 61 the diamond reverse ever 13 ranch rustlers and small cattlemen resent regent his having sold lold till his own 8 small ill ranch to get to the big fellows in denver the big ranchers do de tide elde to bring la in texas ex peace officers ranch foreman was eating dinner anner at the restaurant but after he had finished he strolled jed across to the post office to wait while the tresh fresh horses were being hitched he asked for or his mall mail ellen made a pretense of looking though both of them knew this was not the office to which his letters letteri came she came back to the window no mall mail tor for you mr air terry may I 1 see you a minute alone he was surprised at her er request but scarcely more than she was for it had been born of a sudden urgent impulse ot of course hp he replied here her father came into the building at the house if you dont mind I 1 to lane carey she said will you take care of the mail a little while please carey glanced at her at t terry and back at his daughter why yes he agreed he did not know what was baskot this and he did not quite like it ellen spoke to brand including turley in a general bow to a couple of others present ellen stopped with terry in front of the porch coming swiftly to what was in her mind there anyway mr terry of stopping all this killing that is being done she asked does it have to go on building up hate there any way to stop this dreadful bittern bitterness esq ma making king this country an awful place to live in if he was moved by her indignant appeal his immobile face gave no evidence of it 1 I think the trouble will go on in one way or another until stealing cattle is stopped he said you favor murder she cried did I 1 say so he countered you said she cut off her own sentence it mitter matter what you said your friends are tilling hiring murder done can you deny it terry beriy had not at first believed this but doubts of his associates had seeped into his thinking the diamond reverse B manager replied to her question with another can you prove it of ca course urse I 1 cant stormy eyed she pressed the attack but you know its true I 1 dont know what part you have irl in it but your friends are trying to stop theft by murder 1 I dont know any more about it than you do he answered anger and obstinacy to in his steel blue eyes if you want this trouble stopped go 90 to your father and his friends get them to persuade the rustlers to move out what do you expect do you think well let these scoundrels steal wholesale from us and laugh in our faces when we take them to court we are going to protect our property by killing men from ambush no A dull flush of rage beat into his face beneath the tan by hanging known thieves by the neck to trees when we have enough evidence dence Is there anything else you would like to know miss carey she stood very erect and proud no mr terry I 1 know a all 11 1 I want wan to know about you turning she walked into the house calhoun terry walked back toward the stage iveas it was in fronton front of the post office the horses were being brought out to hitch he aa saw w jeff brand move forward to mee meet t him eike like a word with you mr terry 11 he said terry said nothing there Is sometimes a force in silence more potent than any speech but jeff brand had no jumpy nerves you yot and yore crowd have been cutting a lotof mustard rubbing out aur our friends fiends without giving them a chance for their white alley not like rattlesnakes they j lve warn tog ing I 1 always did claim there yas was vermin lower thai i a nowise No now ive found them la in large num aers to invade the he rustlers lint ler areas and kill them terry objects object to the plan ellen cirey carey daughter ot of the he postmaster Is intrigued by jeff jeb brand who with jack turley another rustler are most outspoken against terry are you quite through the ranch manager asked coldly not yit yet im mentioning now that well take achand in this thili game two can play it as well as one from now oil on theres an open season on diamond reverse B men and on those of the other big outfits well be trying for the bosses but when we dont find them handy bandy a plain waddy will do the brakes done bust were off and hell bell and high water cant stop us 1 I 1 talk that way it if I 1 were you brand 11 terry advised quietly im talking youre listening this isa is a message to you and to all the other damned rascals youre sleeping in a bed with im making war talk understand calhoun terry understood perfectly the rustler was offering him a chance to draw if he wished terry shook his head no dice brand I 1 dont know who killed these men and im not going to th make myself cespon responsible sible tor for it I 1 wont let you hang it on me by forcing it as an issue you cant put me in iii the wrong that way the cowboy leered at him what do you wear that gun beside you for terry or dont you draw it unless a man has his back to you they were close to the porch terry knew eai the other two men could hear every word brand had said he felt a tumultuous boiling up of the blood the recklessness ready to break out in him explosively lane carey came out on the porch a big weather beaten westerner who had fought his bis way through the rough and tumble of frontier life dont be a tool fool jeff he said no excitement in his even voice cant you see that mr terry want to fight unless you goad h him im to a showdown 1 I see he want to fight whether I 1 goad him or not brand answered terry said coldly 1 I choose my own causes tor for a fight and I 1 wont be maneuvered into defending assassins sas oas sins but im not overly patient when bullies try to run over me jeff a bully mr terry the postmaster explained placidly hes some excited and kinda went off half cocked we cant rightly blame him for that after his friends have been but since coalie youre no party to these killings nothing he has said applies to you you make it quite clear mr carey that he possibly have meant me t terry said with a thin ironic smile right it jeff car ey persisted his quiet urgency crowding the cowboy toward some withdrawal of his attack since mr terry the guilty party you could not have meant him jeff grudgingly gave ground what I 1 said goes for the murderers whoever they are terry followed the other passengers into the stage turley laughed unpleasantly mr terry certainly took meek the worst cussin out I 1 ever heard headed for the post office carey stop stopped ped to in his stride dont make i mistake about calhoun terry boys hes game as they come he was giving jeff straight goods unless cal terry has changed a lot from the young fellow I 1 used to know he hiring anybody to rub out his enemies if its to be done hell do it in the open CHAPTER XIII for hours calhoun terry had been riding across territory ranged by stock of we the bartlett land cattle company ellison was at home his host got out a bottle and pushed it toward calhoun who wha waved it aside with a gestured gesture almost mos t impatient ive brought a message for you fro from m jeff brand calhoun said from jeff brand what is that r scoundrel co undrel sending me a message about he is serving notice that he and his friends are going to make reprisals tor for the rustlers who have been murdered terrys gaze rested ed steadily on the no by joe man ager they are going after the bosses but it if they cant get them riders for the big outfits will have to do the nerve of himl him I 1 Ellis Zill sox cried it shows what this country has come to when a known outlaw can send such an impudent message to honest men we d I 1 ant need that to show us terry answered bluntly to have three men shot down from ambush in two weeks is evidence enough 11 terry stopped searching the others gray countenance when outfits throw in together to play the camil same hand clint it ought to be played aboveboard above board for all of them to a see ee the other man said bald after ter a m ments hesitation 11 some 0 things tr arp better not talked about cal TO HE BE CONTINUED |