Show SA DD I 1 fol ERIDE ra DE ERNEST HAYCOX K W N U L THE SO 80 FAR clay morgan has bits dee decided aided to play a lone hand against ben a rancher bent OB an running tho the cetus cattle country his own way the two wo men have hava been enemies for or years year a ba having ving first brit I 1 fought over clays wife 1111 llla who died hating bating him a and 11 d believing she should have married 1 keren feren deen morgan Is a solitary figure lie de voted to his bis nine year old daughter janet although two women catherine grant and ann Me mcgarrah Garrah are in love w with ith him they know he cannot forget llla of his former friends only lack hack breathitt has not gone over to keren heren do deeni side gurd grant catherines catherine brother hesitated about joining boren deen but became morgans sworn enemy when he discovered that catherine hal had been to bis ranch hack breathitt sien seen camping w with th veto pete borders a rustler Is being watched by Heren deens men now clay has just learned that bat government valley Is to be auctioned at sage city miles away morgan knows herendeen will be bidding for the land and he Is determined to get it meanwhile back encountered some of men now continue with the story CHAPTER VII hack breathitt held himself in the thick shadows by the courthouse corner and saw mcgeen and liard connor leave the long grade saloon the two of them immediately separated mcgeen turning toward old town while connor traveled to gen arys stable more three pines riders drifted from the saloon moving toward the dance hall instead ot of going up the stairs they turned d down own the black alley between the odd F fellows e I 1 hall and the adjoining saddle shop meanwhile clay morgan wa walked aked down dowa stage street with harley stewart these two going into the bank A light flashed on jesse rusey appeared from the darkness at once crossing to the bank and looking through the window lige and mrs white left the dance h hall all and passed hack on the way to the hotel hack heard lige say in hi his s light courteous voice ill have a drink or two with the boys then well go home presently lidd returned from the hotel passed the saloon and followed the burnt ranch road disappearing toward mrs bensons house hack clucked his bis tongue in disapproval saw morgan come out of the bank and went at onci once toward his partner Stay ln around clay no said morgan im riding out he saw the glitter of hacks sunbelt buckle up No Noth thin ln bothin at all morgan morga said dont let anybody push you into the wrong stall hack and turned across the street to his horse morgan stepped into the saddle he kicked his feet into the stirrups sat there a moment looking ahead of him bun and went out of war pass at a long reaching gallop hack thought 1 I ought to be with him liard connor appeared at the bank corner exactly opposite the point he had disappeared from a few minutes before whereupon hack breathitt crossed sta stage ge street passed the hotel and ducked down an alley he threshed around the broken boxes and tin cans and bottles behind lins pool hall made a wide sweep of this completely black area and came into the street again near old town at this same moment mcgeen stepped from the shadows of the blacksmith shop he had his head turned watching the up street direction but whipped around when he heard the strike of Breath itts boots the two stood here face to face with halt half the street between them hack didat say anything he held his ground showing mcgeen his swift malicious grin mcgeen pulled up both hands and caught the lapel of his coat which was his way of showing hack he want to draw and afterwards he rolled up the street toward the saloon connor was near the door ol of the long grade he saw me mc geen and started down to join him Breath itts laughter was a soft bubble in his throat he crossed the treet street and circled the blacksmith shop hop at a short choit jumpy run he trotted on around the odd fellows building into a small vacant lot adjoining gentrys Gent rys saloon the dance hall lights tell fell on the street and hugging the side of the wall hack 6 saw aw liard connor step from gen try arys 9 hack was softly laughing again at connors back he said wrong way mardi liard and watched connor jerk around connor said all right all r right ight but he talking to breathitt bones mcgeen broke out of the shadows near the bank somebody b 0 dy kicked out a window in the dance hall the glass splattering ering round around breathitt mcgeen had q quit u it advancing aird connor no lon longer 1 in motion said eaid again all ali right and dropped his hands they had him hipped drawing he had bad his one single moments choice mcgeen on his left or connor in front of him knowing connor to be the tougher man he threw hla his shot that way Coa connors nors head lew flew up and the sound of hack back Breath itts gun un pounded between tho the walls of tile he street and was drowned out by bones Mc Geens quick following fire connor fell on the walk and pulled himself to his knees nil his gun had bad dropped on the walk and now he crawled forward trying to reach it and tell fell gain with his bis arm stretched 4 4 3 14 the sound of hack Breath itts gull pounded between the walls of the street out full fail length fingers touching the guns butt hack breathitt felt Mc Geens shots breathe by he snapped an answer across the street meanwhile plunging past the open mouth of gentrys Gent rys toward his horse the shadows sheltered him and Mc Geens shots crushed through the soft wood of the stable wall wide ot of their mark mens boots pounded down the odd fellows stairway somewhere a woman screamed breathitt was on his horse racing along the burnt ranch road when looking back he saw four herendeen men rush froni from the side of the courthouse mcgeen was in front of him but fading back from Breath itts fire into the shallow alleyway beside the bank low bent breathitt went by him pounding the pony with his spurs there was a short following fire and afterwards in the safe darkness beyond town Breathitt li indian yell sailed up he was a fugitive then and knew it and this was his way of belll telling them so morgan took the desert road as soon as he left war pass heading northeast into the open flats at t midnight from a summit point he looked down upon the breaks of the crooked river whose rounded peaks and shale pinnacles and bare ravines lay tangled and disheveled in the moonlight from this elevation on he e saw one lone one light g burled ur e to a fa far r pocket which was the location of vane Wal ranch and went downgrade into the river canyon beyond one in the morning he sighted a close row of poplar trees beyond the stream he passed over a swaying cable bridge the geldings feet booming up enormous echoes from the planking before he saw the house definitely he began calling hello there hello wal radl there was a yard behind the poplars and the blurred skeletal outline of corrals and wagons and hayracks harracks hay racks and a house almost hidden by the trees A door slammed he passed through the poplars to reach a front porch and held his seat here herd until Wal voice came at him sleepy and uncharitable well who is it clay morgan im riding straight through to sage city vane my horse is going bad morgan said the man and was still morgan heard a pair of horses stirring in the adjoining corral one of them softly whinnied and then the rancher said with a reviving cordiality sure clay ill be back to pick up my horse in two days moonlight put a sliver silver phosphorescent glow to the roads dust P pulling 9 in tor for a walk morgan morga n looked at t his watch and found it to be half past two one hour later with the moonlight changing and day not far away he knew his horse was done nor could he see the shadow of ranch or house ahead he let the pony drop to a walk and in this time eating way covered the next halt half hour the road climbed to a long roll of land tipped over the crest ind and point into a shallow meadow through which a creek ran with a pale glowing there was a box elder grove here coming to the water he let his horse drink and heard beard a rustling in the low tree branches A tall white horse followed by three others came out of the covert and stopped he roped the white horse saddled it and left his worn out pony to graze graz ten hours out of war pass found him threading the pine timber here and there a woodcutters road led away and occasionally he saw cattle grazing at noon the country changed again the pines dropping behind and a canyon taking him down a rocky draw shortly thereafter a desert ot of scab rock and sage smoky with falls fails heat beat and talis fails distant brush firis fires unrolled before him nowhere did he see a break either the shape of a ranch or a town or a moving object he had his moment io of tremendous digi disappointment appoint and then completely clearing the canyon he be discovered on his right a chuck wagon and a half dozen riders seated around it he pulled over at once but remained in the saddle until the wagon boss said get off and pitch in he stepped stiffly from the saddle found a tin plate and cup at the tall gate of the chuck wagon and helped himself to the pan of short ribs and dutch oven bread by the fire he crouched here drinking down two hot strong cups of coffee without delay before touching the solid food the mark of the long ride was on him and on the big jaded horse and morgan knew that the crew sprawled idly under the sun saw all this and were making their guesses A man on the run they would be thinking he finished his meal and tapered a cigarette and lay back on the ground propped up by an elbow this food hit him like a shot of whisky it took the heaviness out of his muscles it made him cheerful but he was increasingly pushed by th the a sense of wasting time he said which way to sage city the wagon boss drawled theres a tr trail ail about five miles over yonder keep on it I 1 hear old man lowry aint in good health morgan thought about that the brand on the big white horse was running L maybe that was what the puncher was talking about he said never met him ive been on the trail since last night at nine from war pass I 1 swapped horses at crooked river and roped this one off the grasslands what I 1 need Is a fresh horse tor for the ride into sage city ill be back this way day after tomor tomorrow not a bad ride said the wagon boss idly and let the silence come on the wagon boss had made up his mind he said no not a bad ride at all take that strawberry morgan rose at once his upper legs had gone stiff he stamped his feet on the ground and limped over to the white horse he put his gear on the strawberry and hit the saddle at three thirty with eighteen hours of steady riding behind him he came spona main break in the road one fork led into the southeast the other swung toward the north it was now within a half hour of the land office deadline paused at this junction scanning the forward haze with an anxious eye he made out no kind of a blur on the horizon this land ran straight into the cloudy mists flat as a board A few fresh prints showed either road they were alike these roads as to the wear and tear of usage and nothing gave him a hunch except that the northern fork seemed to head more nearly toward the spot he thought sage city ought to be and so he took it but two miles later this road brought up before the burnt ruin of a ranch house bouse he wheeled around backtracked to the junction function and followed the other route wagon tracks came from the desert and dropped into the road a wavering wheel and hoof pattern coming out of nowhere and leading apparently nowhere it was then tour four and he thought he had lost his race twenty minutes later the desert marched to a rim that tell fell downward three hundred feet into a valley the road descended a sharp grade at the bottom of the grade straddling the suver silver streak of a shallow river lay sage city its gray housetops and dusty streets making a toy towns pattern from this elevation he set the tiring pony into its last run came down the grade and crossed a wooden bridge he saw the half empty street the false fronted build ings inga and the once white spire of a cour courthouse e sitting athwart the tar far end of the street when he reached the courthouse and stepped down a pall pair of men came out of the door morgan said land office in there they nodded he passed into a shadowed hall heard voices through a half closed doorway and pushed that door before him there was a man standing by a desk this man was saying seventy eight hundred the bid another bid gentlemen another bid there were only tour four other men in the room one of them standing by the rooms room sidewall side wall with his face turned from morgan at the moment was charley hillhouse Hlll house charley hillhouse said eight thousand and came about and discovered morgan TO 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