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Show 4 ISYliT- """" " """" iiMt.WawgaTV,jg,rr.,---, -wii.il hi i ,,,,ii,.,,.,v,,,,,;,,r tfw Tl Ff5 W R3 Pi; Ilir fill fill ir1 N. D. APPLETON -CENTURY CO. By H. C. WIRE WNU SERVICE le - THE STORY THUS FAR Cs? mmoned to the C C ranch in central 19 ". . !, descrt-wise Wnlt Gancly Is on I. .,'v to help his old ranee partner, n 'n'n ll'oilMer. Riding through unfamiliar mtrv Walt is stopped short by a girl , hnl'ris a rille in lirins position. She 7 Ills him. tells him how to get to the id sSi and tells him that they will meet wait is allowed to ride on. Within mia'rtcr of a mile from his destination, ;Rx fvilt is stopped aRain. This time by a S' I, ,rntoaue. mis-shapen man who tells him . :! ct out and then tells him the CC 'Z is in Emigrant, the closest town, "s Kt an inquest. Someone has been mur-:e mur-:e find Riding to the inquest in Emt-" Emt-" 'Irani' Walt leaves his horse at the livery .' ble Before attending the inquest he ,., 'L a few questions. Cash Cameron, " vvner of the C C ranch, is in trouble. A Wi but honest man. Cash has many .nemles. Candy's eye is caught by a "Titian horse tied near the doorway. It ('ketones to the girl who stopped him 1 Wlier in the day. Chino Drake, former jlnnk at the C C ranch, has been mur-fed mur-fed and Sheriff Ed Battle is trying to kin the blame on Cash Cameron. The -Air, is called to the stand. She is Helen ::ameron, Cash's daughter. CHAPTER VI THE inquest was over, and Walt Gancly put his Sunspot palomino into a thinning crowd along the street. Already knots of men had formed to rehash again this thing that had descended upon the Emigrant Emi-grant Bench, and it seemed to Walt as he passed among them, that each group represented an individual individu-al war-camp. Helen Cameron's roan horse was not where Walt had seen it at a post near Gospel Hall. He passed the windowed store building, now empty. emp-ty. A man stepped suddenly from a street corner and stopped him with an upraised left hand. Walt Gandy looked down from his saddle. The man flipped back the lapel of his coat to let the silvered surface of a deputy's badge gleam momentarily. "Sheriff wants to see you," he said. "Office is down there." The deputy pointed into a cross-street. He followed afoot as Gandy turned his palomino in that direction. Sheriff Battle sat behind an ancient, an-cient, flat-topped desk, slouched in a swivpl chair with a back high was a kind he ought to remember. "Let's have the makings, brother." broth-er." The ramrod figure had come beside him. Their eyes met "Brush-popper, are you?" the dark one asked. ''So, so," said Gandy. "Down my way we work cattle in cover that rattlesnakes crawl into and get broken bro-ken backs trying to crawl out of. Yeah, I guess I'm a brush-popper all right." He took a drag on his cigarette. The other grinned faintly. The unceasing study of his gaze shifted downward. No gun belt nor holster sagged at Walt Gandy's right thigh, but a worn and faded patch along the seam of his blue jeans was a plain mark to any interested observer. A revolver carried on border duty had rubbed that spot. Some men might guess at another purpose. Abruptly this one said, "I'd like to talk to you." "Sure," said Gandy. "Fire away." "Not here. Over there." The black head nodded across the street. Walt tossed away his cigarette, saying nothing; they moved togeth- parently he qualified for what this stranger wanted, and he did not know whether that fact was a compliment com-pliment or discredit. "Cash Cameron," the man answered. an-swered. "But the C C is done for, everyone knows that. Cameron's tangled up with the law right now, over a killing on his ranch. That's what this inquest is about. He's in a hole and before he gets himself out of it, those money bags of his will be too flat to carry much stock on this range." And then as a conclusive conclu-sive amendment: "If he gets out at all." "Cameron caught that bad?" "Will be. Sunk, sure as taxes! That's what, and the Emigrant ranchmen know it. There's going to be one smashing scramble for public range that the CC controls. But the man I'm boss for is getting the jump. Satisfied now?" Gandy's brown gaze hardened. "Friend," he said, "that kind of rubs me the wrong way, heaving rocks in on a man when he's at the bottom of a hole." The focus of his eyes sharpened. "Any chance that someone reached out and shoved him in?" llfri CHAPTER IV Continued rfti Facing the girl from his station id'- arther along the table, Battle said: e'cl;'This inquest meeting was called 'or one o'clock today. Seems fun-,y fun-,y that all the C C people got here Win time, and you didn't show up II w the or more than an hour, and then ,ea.ilone. Mind explaining why, and auphere you were?" The handkerchief came away rom the girl's lips. Distinctly she ,. aid, "I was not feeling well. I ,s-.tayed home until the last minute." v "On the CC ranch?" Battle per-7 per-7 be:. iw-lsted- jr.' "I was home. I can prove that." ' !he coughed. Her head turned. With an effort . Walt Gandy re-.0Mjjiained re-.0Mjjiained motionless, as for the sec-Clj0.nd sec-Clj0.nd time that pulling look of Helen e spameron's dark eyes reached out to carJidm. She was asking him to stand j, . '.iy her! Perhaps he alone knew the e jj ruth of where she was today. Was he going to call on him to . . . : His leap was automatic. It had vr flarted in the split second that he Jnf law the handkerchief, drop from her JaXngers. Helen was going limp, fall-HTig. fall-HTig. She caught herself on the ta-jfjnvle ta-jfjnvle momentarily, and with the re-2j re-2j 2:ase of spring steel that had hurled jfll jim forward, Walt Gandy was the rst to grab her as she collapsed. Instantly other arms reached for er. He saw the stern face of Cash nbelitliameron, and behind Cash, Bill Hol- enough to support his large head. A second man, seated on a wall bench running from the desk end, was Hollister. The C C foreman uncrossed long legs and stood up, his weathered, studious face lighting with a grin. "This the man you mean, Battle? I know this fellow. You don't need to search him." He turned to Walt and held out his hand. "How are you?" Bill Hollister knew nothing about the stolen bullet. . Walt Gandy was certain of that as he gave back the handclasp and the grin. He looked into the face of this partner who had urged him up from the border, across two weeks of hard desert travel, and in that silent second he was aware of something. Bill Hollister Hol-lister had changed. How, he could not say, had no time to consider, for even as the thought flashed to him, he heard Battle snap: . "You don't need to tell me what I need to' do, Hollister! Al?" "Yeah," said the deputy at Gandy's Gan-dy's back. "Go through him!" Walt jerked around. "Not so fast, you!" He looked into the bore of the deputy's gun. "Aw, put that bean shooter away.. What's the What do you care! the easy voice turned suddenly surly. "How about the job?" Walt measured the distance between be-tween himself and the ramrod body. He looked into the black eyes. "I wouldn't handle it," he said, "with a pitchfork and rubber gloves!" It took a second for that to penetrate. pene-trate. "Why you skunk! You draw me out, then turn me down?" A hammerhead fist lashed upward. Walt Gandy had measured the distance well. He drew his chin back only a little. The fist shaved past. At waist level his own hooked in a short left jab and a longer drive with the right. The ramrod figure doubled. Walt slammed it upward again with an open-handed shove in the face. And then he cut loose savagely from sheer reaction after the inquest's in-quest's high pressure and from the treacherous talk he had listened to just now. His hard body leaned in behind two punches that sent the other man teetering backward. These first exchanges had come in a moment's rush. The black one had had no time to gather himself. But now, even as Gandy followed his advantage, the man dug to a stop in the dirt floor of the runway, L till "I was home, I can prove that." er across to the wide maw of the livery barn. They had reached long covered grain bins beside the runway. He backed against one and propped himself, half sitting. The ramrod figure faced him, "I've been ordered to hire some help," the man said openly. "That's what I'm in town for. With everyone every-one drifting in to the hearing, it looked like a good chance to take my pick. You want work?" "Cows?" Gandy asked. "Moving about two thousand head," said the man. Walt glanced past him. "Short-time "Short-time job, huh?" "Pay'll make up for it." "I don't know," said Walt slowly, shaking his head. "I don't like this country so much. Was traveling for Utah, maybe to quit this cow business busi-ness and do me some prospecting. I don't know," he mused. "More money in that." "See here," said the stranger, short tempered, "you don't need to stall me up for higher pay! It'll be enough." "Oh, sure," Gandy. agreed. "But I don't know your country. Why don't you pick yourself some men that already have the lay of things here?" "Good men," came the prompt answer, "are hard to find, even these days. You wouldn't think it, but they are." Lazily Walt Gandy leaned upon the grain bin, indifferent. "How many men you looking for?" His brown eyes poked into various corners cor-ners about the barn. "Ten, twelve. We won't be short-handed." short-handed." "Huh?" Abruptly Gandy's non- acce..ster. souj.'. It was Hollister who shoved ,mer'rirough savagely, brushing aside all "tliers as he swept the small limp iody close to him. He looked into i,iu iii - Valt Gandy's eyes, flickered recognition, recog-nition, yet gave no sign of that Inowledge audibly . . . and Walt t . inew then that he and the CC tvj.rerr.an must not be connected fWre' A-s He started to back away. One ""m rm still touched the girl, and it fas then that he felt her fingers lip swiftly to his hand, grip it, ress something wadded into his saam. He closed upon it and con- -r"" to back away. Walt Gandy worked his way from le filled aisle. He stepped across noccupied benches and had Bached the jam at the entrance, 'hen behind him he heard the bull oice of Sheriff Battle: i"Close those doors! Lock 'em!" Deputies struggled to obey, but le double doors, hinged to swing y"vard could not be readily closed ainst the thrust of men. Angrily iltle's two guards flailed into the ck. In time enough of the curi-y curi-y s crowd was beaten backward to I p )ylow the doors to be swung and jjfecked. pSolWalt Gandy had taken a blow on e head, one on the side of his 5ck, another in the ribs . . . but hen the entrance to Gospel Hall RAlW been blocked at last, he was nong the overflow shoved outside. r ccs ,iie put nis hand jjjjg his blue jeans jxr jacket and felt the wadded thing. 'i ithout looking, he knew it was jfl$Sm Cameron's handkerchief, 'opped upon the table, recovered, future. toe wad was a lump; and then ndsl,:alt Gandy needed to feel no fur- . . :,-er t0 know that he was carrying whici My Uie jnquest,s key piece Qf .tisfac ' 'idence a bullet from the body of ict ably p murdered man. stiffened, and his frame seemed all spring steel. He launched from boot toes sunk into the earth. His arm had a yard-long reach and came with the explosive drive of a piston. Gandy was rocked to the roots. He spun half around and the next blow slid from his turning body. Footwork Foot-work carried him aside, gave a second's sec-ond's recuperation. Experience told him not to take his eyes from the other's quickly shifting fists." But with hat knocked off, the long sharp features of this man's face were fully exposed for the first time. Walt Gandy looked, and in a glimpse of twitching jaw muscles, and of cold slitted eyes he read more than a passing flare of anger. This was going to reach far. He had no doubt that he faced an opponent oppo-nent who would kill. In the second that his eyes shifted from the fists to the man's face, a treacherous move was begun. A right jab to his heart was in the open. He saw that It was only from his eye corners that he caught sight of a boot toe kicked out to trip him. He half blocked the heart blow. Then all of his strength went into a sudden hooking of his leg around the other's shin. What happened next was short. They tripped, stumbled, legs locked. Walt Gandy felt an arm around him like a steel band. The steel crushed inward. Wind went out of him. It was no longer a fight but a savage brush for survival. With abrupt relaxation re-laxation of every muscle he let himself him-self fall backward. As the man came over, off-balance, Walt stiffened stiff-ened again and rolled in the air. His one - hundred - and - seventy-pound seventy-pound weight was on top when they hit the earth. Breath gushed from the form beneath him. He leaped up. The other lay still, his black hair stringing on the ground. The blood was hot in Gandy's veins, boiling. He reached down and twisted hard fingers in the shirt collar, dragged the man to the nearest near-est grain bin, raised the cover, lifted lift-ed him in both arms and rolled him onto a bed of oats. The cover had a padlock. Walt snapped it Then he turned. The gaunt attendant at-tendant stood gaping in the runway. run-way. His bony jaw worked up and down, wordless. Gandy leaned winded and dizzy against a post He said, "I'll take my horse now." When the attendant attend-ant only stared, he rocked along closer. "What's the matter?" "He'll kill you!" the old fellow gasped. "Maybe," Walt said. He took his chaps from the side bench and struggled into them, fumbling the buckles. The gaunt man stood rooted. "But that was Pete Kelso! Of the 77!" Straightening. Walt Gandy felt in his pockets for money. "Here." He tossed a silver dollar. "Can you forget for-get Pete for a little while? He likes it there in the box." "But that was Kelso!" "Sure. Will you get my bronc?" "Sheriff wants to see you," he said. charge, Sheriff? Got a search warrant, war-rant, have you?" Battle had risen, drawing his huge weight upward and propping it stiff-armed stiff-armed on the desk top. "You, Al! What's the matter with you? I said go through him!" " Walt laughed. He raised his arms and felt the hands move thoroughly through his pockets. Matches, money, mon-ey, tobacco, his watch, his knife, a horseshoe nail and his handkerchief; handker-chief; nothing more. He saw Ed Battle sink down like the gas going out of a big balloon. The sheriff glared at his deputy. He seemed to feel it was the man's fault that nothing had been found. He hesitated, cigar in his teeth, frowning with mental effort. Here away from the eyes of his voters. Sheriff Battle became less a thunderous thun-derous bull, roaring for results, and seemed a human being of not too much will, easily swayed, and at this moment, baffled. "Hollister," he launched out bluntly, blunt-ly, "I'm giving you a chance. I want you to come in with the law!" Hollister grinned. "You," he emphasized, em-phasized, "want me to come in with the law. Where do you figure I am, Ed?" "Up a flagpole and no ladders," said Battle promptly. "It'll be for the good of the C C and the whole Emigrant Bench," he went on, solemn-faced, "if you and me can get down on the same footing. Look out there on the street Look at those women. They and the kids are the ones who are going to sitf-fer sitf-fer if our ranchmen get to gun-fighting gun-fighting with each other. I'm older than you I've seen bloody times, and they didn't start from no more than what has happened here right now!" (TO BE COTIMED) committal gaze returned irom d.i inspection of the stables and narrowed nar-rowed into the black face before him. "Ten, twelve men to shift a herd of two thousand cows? Where I come from we'd do that with a couple of boys and a dog!" Hands on the grain bin cover, he pushed himself upright onto his feet. The other man moved back a step. "No one's prodding you into the job," he said. "Guess you haven't got what I thought you had, brother." Walt smiled dryly. "Suppose," he suggested, "we quit boosting each other and see what's in the pot. I've got plenty of what you thought I had, and I'm looking for work. But I don't figure to make this my last job." "Meaning?" "That you are going to move two thousand head of cattle ... and what else? Somebody's boundary line?" "Boundary line's already moved. Only we aim to keep it so. All this is going to take place on public domain do-main where we want to winter m a certain low sink." "Good place to winter, too," Walt nodded. "If someone else isn't already al-ready located there. Who is?" Again through a minute of silence he felt himself being measured. Ap- jn ptec With a queer cold sensation the ulh "me to him short-cutting ;ross all other theories and puz-d puz-d engi" ements of this day. Bill Hollis-Borg-":H They were in love. And Hollis-i Hollis-i five had murdered a man. .,Suai gained the Pen street and . that ;oked around. Men had been shot ghtsol'T knowing less than he knew this ut ,he;wute! ire ex" jovenie"; CHAPTER V helves.f - ie siinP1' V moved in a moment, go- !ch N"? "lg back along the street un- times"' 'ound the Emigrant post of-:I of-:I e- He went in and asked for a integ''1?' e sub1 'F,rly cents," said the clerk, and -.1, in N't a numuer and a key. h Leaning upon a desk that sloped r ,Ju the end Partion, left arm JjUj1 ;dln his weight, he addressed an himself, then bought -STfips and mailed it. When he Tld from the mail slot, a man eyeing him from the post office Jr. 1'Parently the man had stopped rl m passing and stood now but ov d' balanced in a pivoting A'-ii Th n cow-untry boots. V ramrcd form and hard black 'jmHWfre vaSuely familiar. Walt i wdy knew he had looked into that P and swarthy face before. It |
