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Show f -? U.O FIBERS' C ROOST br.-Jt. . Ut J copyright W.N..U. service tation. When the split came sno the shooting began Jim wanted to be around. He wotdd helo it along considerably. One day. when he was returning to camp, somewhat before sunset, be beard a shot. He listened for others. None came. The moment he entered the oval, to see Hays striding for the cabin, his hair standing up, and his men grouped outside of the camp shelter, shel-ter, Jim knew that there bad been trouble. "What now, Smoky?" "Hank did for Drad." "How? Why? . . . Tou don't mean Hays beat Lincoln to a gun?" ."He did, Jim," ejaculated Slocum. "He bored Urad. I was the only feller who seen It. The rest was duckin'." "What was It about, Smoky?" "Wal, Brad has been gittin' sorer every day, an' today we cleaned him. r.rad opened up on Hank, no doubt meanln' to call him fer fair. But Brad didn't git goln' good before be-fore Hank went for his gun." "Smoky, he had his mind made up," declared Jim, tensely. "Shore. Thet's the queer part of it. Hank was not goin' to let Brad spit out much. . . . An' friend Jim, thet's a hunch fer us." "Hays can't beat me to a gun," rejoined Jim, with a cold ring In bis voice. "Nor me either. Thet's a safe bet." They readied the camp. Lincoln lay face down over the table, his Itefii Far-o paelta;;e I'd found In the guii'a trunk. . . . Thet's all, fellers. fel-lers. We rode till noun, meetiu' you a.s agreed In (be cedars." "What was In thet Wells-Furgo package?" nsked Smoky, after a long pause. 'Money. Hundred-dollar bills. 1 tore a corner of the paper off. It was a thick au' heavy package." "Almli. So Hank went south with thet an' the Jewelry?" "Yes. When he made the divvy hyar he give me his share of thet sixteen thousand. It's hyar in my coat. You an' Jim air welcome to it. 'Cause where I'm goin' I won't need any." ".Sparrow, It was a long story fer a sick man an' hard to tell," said Smoky, feelingly. "Jim an' me will respect your confidence. An' If yuu pull through as I hope you do we'll never squeal. . . . But, pard. don't be surprised at what comes off." Five clays later Sparrowhawk Latimer Lat-imer died during the night, after a short Interval of Improvement which gave bis comrades renewed hope. He passed away alone, evidently In agony, to Judge from his distorted face. "Wal, I don't know but thet Sparrow's Spar-row's better off," remarked Smoky, with pathos. They buried him In his tarpaulin on the spot, and divided his effects among them by drawing lots. "What'd you do with the money you found on him?" queried Hays. "We didn't find none. Sparrow gave It to nie an' Jim some days ago," replied Smoky. "Reckon you better divide It." "Ump-umm," rejoined Smoky, nonchalantly, his beady little eyes ou the chief. "Why not?" "Wal, Sparrow wanted us to have It, not, I reckon, because we took care of him when you forgot, but Jest because he cottoned to us." "Smoky, tell Hays the other reason," rea-son," spoke up Jim. "Thet'll wait, Jim. No hurry. An' I'm not so shore Sparrow wanted want-ed us to tell." Hank Hays turned livid. "Ahull. Mebbe you'd both be wise to stay shot up," he said and left. "Fellers," said Brad Lincoln, turning to the others, "I've had a hunch all along there was a hitch in this deal. Air you with me In demandin' a showdown from Smoky an' Jim?" "We shore air," rejoined Bridges, and Mac and Happy Jack expressed like loyalty. "Smoky, you're square. If there's anythln', we want to know." "Jlebbe we can slick It over," replied re-plied Smoky, smoothly. "If we win all the boss' money an' he'll shore be easy now with thet gurl on his mind 1 reckon there won't be any sense in tellin' at all. Eh, Jim?" "I don't make any rash promises. Smoky," returned Jim. "I admire you a lot, Slocum, but I'm thinking you run this into tiie ground. In all Justice these men ought to be told something." "I say cards. You fellers can't keep it forever," rejoined Lincoln, darkly. From that hour dated the grim and passionate gambling in which they all participated. With one man on lookout duty the others spent most of the daylight hours sitting at Happy Jack's table of Cottonwood poles. Jim had separated his money into two parts one consisting of the bills of large denomination, and the other of small. The latter he kept out for gambling, Intended to quit when It was lost. But fortune was fickle, ne did not lose it. Instead, he won stead ily. There was no hope of his getting get-ting out of the game so long as he was ahead. He wanted to watch think, plan. Luck changed eventually, even-tually, and he lost all he had won. Then he seesawed for a day, before he struck another streak of losing, los-ing, and lost everything. "I'm cleaned," he said, rising. "But, by gosh, I gave you n run." "I'm way ahead. I'll lend you some," offered Hays. "No, thanks. I'm glad to get off this well. I'll go up to the rock and send Mac down. From now on I'll do most of the lookout work. I like It." Jim was glad this phase of his connection with the outfit was past. He had played for days, won and lost, all In the Interest of the scheme fermenting in his mind. He wanted want-ed to be alone. If nothing else Intervened, In-tervened, tills gambling would lead to the Inevitable quarrel. Whether Hays won all the money or lost what he had, there would be a fight. At once a restless, baffled, harried har-ried condition of mind seemed to leave Jim. To face those men hour after hour, day after day, hiding his thoughts, had engendered Irrl-I Irrl-I . "'Keep Quiet an' Shell Out Your Money,' Hank Ordered." Cut I'll tell you. . . . Gimme some more water." After a moment Latimer drew a long breath and resumed: "Hank Picked me because he had a hold on me. . . . After you fellers left thet night Hank went out an' got another boss. He had a saddle hid somewhere. We took them hosscs up the bench back of the house an' tied them. Then we went down toward to-ward the house." "Ahuh. He'd had this deal In mind nil the t.'mc," said Smoky, nodding his head. "Yes. Before we got to the house he told me ho meant to hold Her-rick Her-rick up fer what money he had on hand then steal the gurl for ransom. ran-som. I opened my trap to kick again' the gurl part of It, anyway, but he cussed me somethin' fierce. I seen then he was blood set on It, so I shet up. . . . Herrick was In the Ilvin' room. We walked round the house, an' Hank showed me the gurl's winder, which was open. . . . Wal, we went back, an' up on the porch, an' Into the livin' room. "When Herrick looked up Hank threw a gun on him. 'Keep quiet an' shell out your money,' Hank ordered. or-dered. Thet didn't faze the Englishman. English-man. He Jumped up, thunderln' mad. Hank hit hlra over the head, cuttln' a gash. Thet didn't knock Herrick out, but It made him fight till Hank got him good an' hard. Then he opened his desk an' threw out some packages of greenbacks. After thet he slid to the floor. Next Hank ordered me to go out an' round to the gurl's winder. It was bright moonlight, but I didn't locate thet winder quick. An' at thet I was guided to it by the gurl's voice. . . . Gimme another drink." Latimer quenched his Inordinate thirst again, while Jim and Smoky exchanged thoughtful glances over him. "Wal, where was I? ... When I straddled thet winder sill I seen the gurl sittin' up in bed, wliite as ihe sheets about tier. Hank had a gun pointed at her head, an' he was sayin' If she yelled, he'd shoot. Then he told me to look around fer money an' jewels. I started thet, keepin' an eye on them. The room was as moonlight as outdoors. Hank told her to git up an' dress for ridin'. She refused, an' he yanked her clean out of bed. 'Gurl,' he said, 'yore brother Is hawg-tied down in the living' room, an' If you don't do as I tell you, I'll kill him. . . . I'm taking you away fer ransom, an' when he pays up you can come home. So long's you're quiet we won't hurt you.' ... At thet she got up an' ran Into a closet. I heard her sobbln'. He made her put on ridin' clothes an' pack what else she wanted. Meanwhile I found a heap of gold things an' diamonds, dia-monds, an' a package of money, still with the Wells-Fargo paper on It. These I stuffed In my pockets, an' I shore was a walkin' gold mine." "How much was there?" asked Smoky, curiously, when Latimer paused to catch his breath. "I'll come to thet. . . . We went out the winder, an' Hank hustled her into the woods, with me follerin'. Soon we come to the bosses, an' Hank put the gurl up on the gray. He blindfolded her an' told me to see she didn't git away. The girl talked a blue streak, but she wasn't so scared, except when we heard a shot, then someone runnln' on hard ground. Hank come back pronto, pantin' like a lassoed bull. He said he'd run plump into Progar an' another an-other of Heeseman's outfit. " 'Miss Herrick,' he says, 'them fellers fel-lers was bent on robbln' your brother broth-er mebbe killin' him. I shot Trocar, Tro-car, hut the other got away.' . . . tie tied the bundle on his boss, an' leadin' the gurl's hoss he rode up the mountain. We rode the rest of the night, stopplii' to rest at daylight. day-light. Hyar I turned the money an' trinkets over to Hank. He counted the money Herrick had turned over somethin' more'n sixteen thousand but he never opened the Wells- CIIAPTER Vlll-Conlmued 10 That iiiKi,t Jim moveJ h,a ,)p( closer to the grove, farther from the caniptlro, and it commanded a view of the rise of ground where anyone passing could be detected above the hork-.on. Kven after he had crawled under his blanket he watched. He fell asleep and dreamed that he was .lding a gigantic black horse with eyes of fire, and that Uiore was a wliite flower growing out from a precipice, and in a strange, reckless desire to pluck It he fell into the abyss. Down, down he plunged Into the blackness. black-ness. And suddenly a piercing, terrible ter-rible cry rose from the depths. Jim was sitting up In bod, his brow clammy with sweat, his heart clamped as In a cold vise. What had awakened him? The night was silent, melancholy, fateful. He swore that a soul-wracking cry had broken his slumber. Then he remembered re-membered the dream. He was not subject to dreams. The rest of the night he dozed at Intervals, haunted by he know not what. One by one the members of the gang appeared at Happy Jack's calls to breakfast. Jim was the last to arrive, except ex-cept nays, who had not yet appeared. ap-peared. After the meal Jim, as was his custom, hurried toward the shelf where Latimer lay. He had gotten half-way when Slocum caught up with him. "Jim, you look like the wrath of Gawd this mornin'." "Smoky, I didn't sleep well. I'm cross, and I reckon I need a shave." "Wal, If thet's all Say, Jim, did you hear the gurl scream last right?" "Scream. . . . did she?" "Huh. If she didn't, I've shore got the jimjams. . ; . My Gawd, 'ook at poor Latimer!" Their patient had wrestled off his bed out Into the grass. They rushed to lift him back and make him comfortable. Lie appeared to be burning up with fever and alarmingly bright-eyed, but he was conscious and asked for water. Jim hurried to fetch some. "How I rolled out there I don't know," said Latimer, after he had drunk thirstily. "Reckon you was delirious, Sparrow," Spar-row," replied Smoky. "No, sir. I was scared." "Scared! You? Thet's funny," rejoined Smoky, looking across at Jim. "What scared you, old man?" queried Jim. "It was after I got my sleep. Must have been late, fer I always am dead to the world fer five or six hours. I was wide awake. It was shore a lonesome, still night. Mebbe my sins weighed on me. . . . But all of a sudden I heard a cry. It scared me so I Jumped right off my bed. Hurt me, too, an' I didn't try to get back." "Maybe it was a coyote right by close," returned Jim. "Fellers, I'll bet you'll find thet gurl dead. . . . murdered 1" concluded con-cluded Latimer hoarsely. "Sparrow, you don't look flighty," replied Jim gravely. "But your talk Is. Else you've a reason to think it." "Shore I have," rejoined Latimer, Lati-mer, lowering his voice to a whisper. whis-per. "Hays beat an' robbed Herrick Her-rick ! . . . Thet's part I wanted to tell you, If I was goin' to croak. But I gotta tell It anyhow. An' I ask you both, as pals, to keep what I tell you secret till I'm dead." 'I swear, Sparrow," said Smoky, huskily. "You can trust me, too," added Jim. "Wal, thet's why I feel nank must have done fer the girl, too." "Robbed Herrick I" exclaimed Slocum Slo-cum incredulously. "Was there a fight?" "Yes. But Hank might have avoided avoid-ed it. He drove the man crazy. Fellers, Ilays'd steal coppers olT a dead man's eyes shore. But what he said he wanted was the gurl fer ransom. Yet he picked a fight with Herrick an' beat him with a gun." "Sparrow, how come you didn't tdi us before?" asked Smoky sternly. T "I'm beholden to Hank. But I will say thet if I'd knowed his game I'd never have gone with him. After it was too late-wal, I stuck An' I've kept it secret. But I feel in niv bones I'm done fer. So I m squealin', an' I'm doin' It because Havs double-crossed you all. "Ueckon I'd have done the same if Hank had a hold on me, conceded con-ceded Smoky generously, suppose you take a nip of whiskj and tell u st-bat happened." -I'm bot. enough without liquor. right arm hanging low, his gun lying ly-ing near his hand. "Lend a hand, some of you," ordered or-dered Slocum, peremptorily. They carried Lincoln, face down, across the oval to the lower side of the Cottonwood grove, and in half an hour he had been consigned to earth, and his possessions divided among the men who had burled him. "Grave number tw-o!" speculated Smoky. "Fellers, It runs in my mind thet Robbers' P.nost in these next twenty years will be sprinkled all over with graves." "How so, when nobody has any Idee where It Is?" "Heeseman will find It, an' Mor-ley, Mor-ley, an' after them many more," concluded Slocum, prophetically. "Let's rustle out of the hole," suggested Bridges. CHAPTER IX IT WAS dark by the time Happy Jack called them to supper. Jim carried over an armload of brush to make a bright fire. By Its flare Hays was seen approaching, and when he drew near he said : "Jim, did they tell you straight how I come to draw on Brad?" "Reckon they did," replied Jim, coldly. "Anythln' to say?' "No. I don't see how you could have acted any differently." "Wal, you've coppered It with the ace. The second Brad Jumped me I seen In his eyes he meant to egg me on to draw. So I did It quick. . . . Jack, what you got fer supper?" By tacit consent and without a single word the men avoided Happy Jack's table that night and ate around the camp fire. Hays stood up, Smoky sat on a stone. Jim knelt on one knee, and the others adopted characteristic poses reminiscent rem-iniscent of the trail. "Cool after the rain," remarked Hays, after he had finished. And he took up a blazing fagot of wood. "Reckon I'll make a little fire for my lady prisoner. He stalked away, waving the fagot to keep it ablaze. "1 seen her last night when he called me to fetch her supper," said Jack. "Fust time I'd had a peck at her face lately. Seemed a ghost of th-'t other gurl." "Yes, and you fellows saw only a ghost of the money. Hays get from the Ilerricks," retorted Jim, divining the moment for revelation had come. An angry roar arose. Smoky threw up his hand3 and left the camp tire. Then Jim, In brief, cold terms, exposed the machinations of their chief. After the first out- j burst they accepted the disclosure I in astonished and ominous silence. Jim passed off into the darkness. TO BE CONTINUFO. |