Show PM mif yv 7 j f i I 1 SADDLE SA RIDE 41 1 4 by ERNEST NEST MAYCOX HAYCOX release wa CHAPTER I 1 ass S s s from the high edge of mogul to the floor of powder desert was a theer beer drop ot of fourteen hundred and ixta feet and even on the quie quietest tet day a stream of warr warm air from the desert boiled up the face of the rim so 0 o that if U a man stood atthe at the and tossed his hat outward it invariably sailed back to him clay morgan had shown this to his daughter janet long ago it was a part of their ritual on the trip to town and as soon as they reached the rim this afternoon she reminded d him of it again whereupon he sailed ailed his hat across the rim caught it on the rebound and witnessed her Je lighted smile afterwards afterward they turned do downgrade wn grade on a road steeply te aply and narrowly ay cut against the face of the mountain 0 As the they y descended she began to recite lines of f hiawatha in preparation for 0 a school play riding slightly back of her clay morgan watched her small arms gesture and her naturally sober face lighten and grow faintly dramatic to him it was a matter of never ending astonishment toni ment that one nine year old girls head c could hold so much the silence ce and the slow way she had of judging people came from him the vivid imagination and the growing beauty came from her mother it was something clay morgan had watched tor for through the years and yet much as he had expected it it still was strange to see in this girl the image of a woman nine years dead to know that the tempestuous llla lila who had been his wife now reached out of the grave to remind him of the one brief and violent and miserable and beautiful year of the their r marriage in the beginning she had said she loved him she he had died hating him powder desert began at the bottom of the grade sand and sagebrush bru s h hummocks built by the east wind lay before them around these lumpy barriers high as a mans shoulders meandered the deep twin ruts of the road this september day days S sun was half down in the west and heat lay heavy on the flat and in the near distance on the ben benchland bland at the head of the desert 1 alf houses of war pass made an irregular outline toward this cattle town they traveled trivel ed janet dreaming her nine year yea ro old dreams in sober stillness clay morg morgan an holding his clear intimations of trouble ahead turning at the corner of gentrys Gent rys corral clay morgan faced the length of main street with its double row of angular wolden buildings and its deep golden dust under the courthouse se locusts at the corner of main and stage a large group of men idly waited and he knew then that thi the trial of the rustler ouie ollie jacks was still unfinished he dismo dismounted by the stable and permitted both horses to nose into the water trough before tying them to the rack janet said 1 I am going to ann McGar daddy she always had a quick smile for him when she mentioned ann garraha name as though there might be some secret involved 1 I think she added we will eat supper there and watched him a moment with her observant eyes you seem pretty sure of tha that morgan remained near the stables hitching rack to roll up a quick smoke but he was never a man to let his eyes be idle thus now while his fingers tapered off the cigarette his glance ran down the street past the courthouse and post office and the long grade saloon past the mountain house hotel and beyond that to the little cluster of brick and dobe buildings of old town two cross streets dropped from a higher level of the hillside up there sat the high square iron ornamented houses owned by the wealthier merchants and the big cattlemen who liked to winter their families ip in town this was tour four and already the street was in shadow though the tar far desert burned up I 1 its is brown gray glitter jesse rusey busey the town towns p marshal cruised the walk short broad body swinging a little he had the shoulders of a wrestler above the sweep of his mustaches was a glance as cool as flint this man had a kind ct rocky solidness a kind of formidable courtesy he said how are you clay and passed by charley hillhouse and hack breathitt broke from the courthouse group and walked toward him their boots puffing up the streets dust but tor for a moment he remained slackly by the ditching rack his bis mind picking away at the mystery of jesse rusey busey this town marshal had bad been in war pass tor for twenty years yet nobody knew him or knew what be thought or knew where his sympathies actually lay hillhouse and breathitt came theer cheerfully fully forward and for or a moment these three fast friends stood by the hitching rack and swapped gossip pleas pleased ed to be together again all of them had grown up to in the country they had gone to school together and had bad worked and hunt bunt ad d and had bad their tun fun together and I 1 A I 1 I 1 r r id if they dont throw ollie jacks in the cooler there aint no use for juries in trouble had stood inseparably side by side clay morgan said noth I 1 an ing g new on ollie jacks yet hillhouse HUl house shrugged his shoulders they deen been arguing about it since noon I 1 dont see kotbin to argue about we caught ollie dead in his tracks bendin over a three pines cau calf with his iron but theres a couple townsmen on the jury the ones hanging this thing up hack breathitt grinned ben Heren deens sore enough to shoot the jury he gave charley hillhouse a slanting skeptic glance your boss is gettin geltin pretty large for or his pants charley but then he always was that way ben herendeen owned three pines and charley hillhouse Hlll house was Heren deens foreman loyal to the core hillhouse said in a mild voice if they dont throw ollie jacks la in the cooler there aint no use for or any juries in this country after all hack it was bens beet beef they moved toward the long grade saloon three abreast directly opposite under the locust trees clay noticed the crowd grouped around ben herendeen gurd grant and lige white both big cattlemen and sheriff ed and a few smaller ranchers like hamp brigham and vance ketchell heren deens riders with a few townsmen made up the rest of 0 the crowd hack breathitt got a bottle two glasses and a bunch of cigars they went to a corner table and sat down hack breathitt passed the cigars to morgan poured a drink tor for hillhouse and tor for himself and settled deep in the chair for that little interval he was as relaxed as he could ever be still smiling a little still with the sparkle of secret amusement in his eyes he said to law and order and downed the drink you said hillhouse Hlll house tolerantly are an ornery son ot of a gun the country aint the same murmured hack theres one hell of a beautiful ruckus comin the sheep and the goats it the sheep and the goats accordia Ac cordin ta ben herendeen im one ol of the goats bens about ready to work on the goats charley hillhouse who was a quiet workhorse of a man slowly nodded breathitt started to speak but was stopped by quick rising talk on the street A man struck the swinging doors of the saloon with both fists and rushed in he said in a hall half shout they let ollie jacks free and ran out the conversation in the saloon rose at once to a no noisy I 1 sy pitch hack breathitt grinned id like to see ben Heren deens face right now charley hillhouse answered irritably it if it was your beef hack you make a joke of it hack breathitt had his moments of wisdom he had his tar far thoughts theres two kinds of people in this world charley those that have got ot beet beef and those that have got none people that stick and people that hat drift the lord m made ade you and me diff different erent it aint my fault and it aint your fault but I 1 like my way and no man can make me change bens got nothing against you said charley hillhouse hack breathitt showed hillhouse a smarts smart dark expression when get heated up charley there aint no halfway its one thing or the other the sheep or the goats he poured himself a second drink you know what im th chinkin inkin t boys im th thinkie Inkin that this is probably the last time us three will sit at a the same table dont talk like that said charley hillhouse but both ot of them were watching clay morgan who sat silent all the while buried in his own thinking he had always been the silent one the last one to speak he said very quiet with his words 1 I want you to know this hack if you ever get in trouble come to me ill stand behind you charley hillhouse shook his head bothered by morgans words 1 I knew say that clay but I 1 wish jou you makes it tough on me long as I 1 work for three pines ill let nothing get between me and the ranch nothing at all he met hack Breath itts glance and quietly added dont come to in me e hack that was all these three rose and crossed the room pushing through the doors ben herendeen remained under the locust trees with lige white and gurd grant and am a group of three pines riders sheriff was also there coat hung loosely to his gaunt frame jesse rusey busey farther down the street watched this crowd and on him clay morgan put his glance tor for a moment charley hillhouse went across the dust to join heren deen janet turned out of mcgar store advancing toward morgan her little shoulders showed straight in the sunless light her small feet made a quick tapping on the sidewalk boards she said we are having supper with ann mcgarrah McG arrab daddy her soft smile held its secret again her eyes showed it I 1 tell you hack breathitt removed his hat with a flourish how honey how hack hack said come along with a gentleman janet put her hand in hack Breath itts fist and walked away with him morgan laid his shoulders against the wall of the saloon and freshened his cigar with witch a match the group remained beneath the locust trees herendeen and lige white now talking together while the rest remained silent A good many people had come to the street scattered under the board awnings all of them he noticed were watching the courthouse tension crawled up the street strong enough to touch morgans nerves jesse rusey never moved from his position as he too watched the courthouse door A stage stood by the mountain house hotel ready to go at the stable parr gentry sat on a capsized barrel lumped over and apparently disinterested but morgan saw the way the mans eyes traveled around hack breathitt and janet jane were crossing the dust to tanners drugstore and at this moment ollie jacks treed freed by the jurys verdict stepped from the courthouse looked to either end of the street and halted he was a wiry man with the dr drawn awn blank face of a gambler ht he was a man who had been caught stealing beet beef and now by the act of the jury was tree free to ride out H his is horse was in gentrys Gent rys stable fifty teet fee t from where he stood yet ahli was as far as he got this rooted P position bajore the courthouse with jesse rusey on one side of him and Heren deens group watching him from the other and with al a the town looking on at that moment he knew what clay morgan and every soul in town knew hp knew ho h was a dead man TO BK BE CONTINUE nj |