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Show RlF By EUGENE CUNNINGHAM jr l (g EUGENE CUNNINGHAM W.N U. RELEASE " THE STORY SO FAR: Forced to run from the law to save his life. Con Cameron Cam-eron Is anxious to prove his honesty. Arrested as a murder and robbery suspect sus-pect because of his association with the notorious Raniers, be was In danger of being hanged as "Comanche Linn," In spite of the fact that he had recently saved the life of the marshal, Nevil Lowe. He escaped from Jail with Jeff Allmon and joined Dud Paramore's gang, but broke with Paramore when Dud attempted at-tempted to kidnap Lowe's sister, Janet. He saved Janet and later foiled Dud's attempt to rob the bank at Tivan. When he found Jeff shot by Dud, he left a note telling the story. Still a fugitive, he has been joined by his pal, Caramba Vear, who has persuaded him to stay In the neighborhood. They have been offered a job as detectives by a rancher named Wiley who Is a member of an associa j tion organized to break up a band of cat tie rustlers. Nevil Lowe ts also a member mem-ber of the association. They are to work for Topeka Tenison of the Broken Wheel ranch, one of the biggest and most powerful pow-erful outfits, and meanwhile keep their eyes and ears open. Now they are on their way to ask Tenison for a job. Now continue with the story. CHAPTER XII A wide veranda shaded the front of the rooming house. Topeka Tenison Teni-son sat with the stillness of a gray hawk halfway along it. Con slowed his pace a trifle, so that Caramba preceded him. "Mr. Tenison?" Caramba asked respectfully. "My name's Vear and this is Twenty Johnson. We make out to be hands and if you got jobs we'd like to have 'em." Irby came down loosely, like a dropped jumping jack. Tenison drew a foot up into the seat of the barrel chair and locked his arms around his knee. "Any warrants close behind you?" he inquired drawlingly. He had a low voice: very even. "Gets tiresome, tire-some, having the sheriff jerk my busters right out of the saddle." "Nary warrant any place! We drifted into the Territory to kind of limber up our g'ography. Rode a spell for the 20 Bar on the Pecos. Twenty, he took on with Los Alamos Ala-mos long enough to bust a few for Taylor. I was too rich to work then." Con had sat down upon the edge of the veranda so that only his side face was presented to Tenison. Head down, he began to roll a cigarette. When footsteps sounded inside the house, he did not look up. "Uncle Peek!" Janet Lowe called from the door. "Did you hear about that man Oxweld being killed? The Fronteras killer?" Con stared incredulously at tobacco tobac-co and paper and drew a long, slow breath. Then he went on making the cigarette, but shifted position a little so that be could turn his back upon the girl. "Yeh. I heard about it. Slash never was the wolf he let on to be. Gale Goree told me. "that Slash was swelling around yesterday and be kind of stuck a pin in Slash's blister. Gale didn't take Slash serious, so he never killed him. But a couple fool cowboys misread him and one killed him. Good riddance! How-you fixed with the store? Got everything?" "I I think so," she said. But there was a tone which turned Con carefully about, to meet her wide-eyed wide-eyed itare. "Oh, yes! I think I have just about the list." "So you don't think Slash was a real wolf, huh?" a grim voice demanded. de-manded. "And you think Gale Goree Go-ree is?" It was the tall, slim "Gloomy" Megeath, as neat as when Con had seen him at the bar in Fronteras. It was plain that Tenison knew Megeath. Me-geath. He did not alter position, nor did his expression change. But there was a tension .about :him that Con could see. "Yeh to both," he . said flatly. "Anyway, Slash is dead." heavy, but we might kind of back you up " "When I need help or advice I'll ask for it!" Tenison snapped. "All right! All right! But I hope you don't live to see the day you need it and don't have time to come asking!" They got their horses from the livery liv-ery corral, had a final drink at a little lit-tle cantina where Mexican proprietor proprie-tor and Mexican customers watched so steadily that Con knew he was recognized. When they rode past the rooming house, Tenison and Janet were not on the veranda. But, somehow, some-how, Con felt more cheerful than before. ., He stared ahead blankly and whistled Buffalo Gals. "She is pretty!" Caramba said thoughtfully. "Say! I thought you said she keeps house for her brother. broth-er. How-come she's down here?" "I don't know. Surprised me to see her step out there and call Tenison Teni-son 'Uncle Peek' and talk about buying buy-ing for him at the store. Well, Mrs. Tenison may be a friend of hers. Or she may be a niece. Probably she came visiting I wonder! Maybe Nevil's not so easy in mind about her being on the NL while he sheriffs sher-iffs around. After Dud's crack at the place probably he wouldn't." They turned at the heap of boulders boul-ders and rode along the ranch road. Ahead, the hills rose, low and smoky. The sunlight of late afternoon after-noon was pale upon flat and height. Caramba shifted in the saddle to look all around him. "Ought to be ten-twelve miles to the house. Be dark by the time we hit there good and dark. Say! how-come how-come the girl never let on she knew you?" "Because I was with you. You wouldn't expect a nice girl to speak to anybody siding a wild-eyed Texi-can Texi-can of your build. When she gets me off to myself, she'll read me a sermon about associating with bad companions." He swung off on the little hilltop and stretched himself. Caramba dismounted dis-mounted and reached into his al forja for the quart brought from On-opa. On-opa. He sprawled comfortably to make a cigarette and smoke. Con sat beside him and played mumble- ment, Irby seemed not so belligerent. belliger-ent. "I got a couple pups to kill," he said raspingly. "You fellows been in town today? Slash Oxweld was murdered plumb murdered! by two tramp cowboys. If you was in town talk up!" "Goodness me! We got nothing to hide!" Caramba cried. "We watched the whole business and we're willing to talk. Not because you say to, sabe? You want to watch that habit of yours, Mis-ter Irby, being be-ing so crowdsome and handing out powders so gay! But it did happen that we saw our wagon boss. Gale Goree, push Slash around allasame li' 1 boy steering a pig with a switch." He shook his head in the way of one meditating. "I bet you that made Slash mad at Goree. Goree wanted him to pull his big pistol, you see. But Slash set out to fool him: he wouldn't do it!" "So" Con picked up the tale drawlingly "Slash had to try something some-thing to blow up his balloon again. As soon as he was certain that Goree Go-ree and the other Wheelers had got a long way out of Onopa, he hunted a safe man to kill any old way. He picked the youngest, tenderest cowboy cow-boy he could find. He thought it was a good pick, a safe pick. But it turned out that it was a sharp pick. Another false alarm was with Slash and he got out with his hide . but that hide had a hole in it." His hand twitched smoothly and Irby stiffened before the cocked pistol. pis-tol. "1 wouldn't try slapping leather, Irby!" Con said evenly. "Reach up and take hold of your big, ugly ears!" Con lifted his Colt and aimed at Irby's belt. Irby's hands went up as if jerked by a string. He blinked incredulously, incredu-lously, swallowed, began to stammer stam-mer thickly. Caramba went humming hum-ming to jerk the gun from Irby's holster. There was a shorter pistol in a shoulder holster under the prisoner's pris-oner's coat, a long bowie knife sheathed between his shoulder blades, a derringer in the watch pocket of his pants. Con watched the disarming with brooding calm. Then he handed Caramba his pistol and went three steps to stand before be-fore Irby. "The more I look at you," he said between his teeth, "the more I don't like a thing about you! So " His hand shot out to rake down Irby's face from forehead to chin. Irby swore furiously and struck at him. Con swayed to the side and twisted. He drove his left to Irby's belly and jerked the taller man down, hooked righl and left dashingly dashing-ly to Irby's neck under the ears, then stepped back. Irby slipped to his knees, but scrambled up and came in a clumsy rush at him. Irby was staggering, mouth open, too winded even to curse. As coldly as an executioner. Con moved to the precise position he wanted, then smashed him exactly on the boxer's box-er's button." Irby came down loosely, like a dropped jumping jack. Con turned to find Caramba staring at him with an odd. narrow-eyed in-tentness. in-tentness. "Por dios!" the red-headed puncher punch-er said explosively. "I do' believe Topeka Tenison stumbled onto somebody some-body ex-act-ly the kind they been saying the Busted Wheelers run to! You never looked so so damn' deadly, Con, even when you bucked Slash Oxweld!" "They get under my skin!'- Con snarled furiously. "Dud Paramore! Gloomy Megeath! Slash Oxweld! This! And the like of that thieving outfit at Wild Horse Nobby, for one! They swagger it and you'd think nobody around amounted to a hoot but their kind. And most of 'em are cowards of one kind or another, an-other, if they're pushed. Buzz Up-perman, Up-perman, or Nevil Lowe, or a lot of other men who don't blow and strut plenty of plain cowboys have got more guts than a pastureful of these two-by-four thieves Now, I reckon we might's well pull out for the house. We'll be late No! Let's give people a chance to see him the right way. Here!" (TO BE CONTINUED) "Slash was plenty fast! Dangerous Danger-ous as a rattler!" Megeath said to Con. "So, when 1 heard about you killing faim, I come to take a look at you. I wondered if you was faster, fast-er, or just luckier. There'll be some that want to know. Slash left friends!" Tenison's eyes shifted quickly to Con. From the girl came a gasping sound. Deliberately, Con got to his feet and stepped up on the veranda. Megeath Me-geath watched him, then turned to look directly at Janet Lowe. "Why, I do believe it's the sheriff's sister!" he cried. "First chance I ever had, young lady, to take a real mira at you. But if I had guessed what a pretty" "That'll do!" Tenison cut in. "Whoever and whatever this young lady is, it's not a thing in the world to you. Now, or any other time. You hear me? You better remember remem-ber it!" Megeath's thin mouth stretched. He nodded slightly. "Now, ain't that just too bad!" he whispered then laughed. "Well, I'll be seeing you-all. Specially, you, Johnson." He turned away and seemed to forget them. At the edge of the veranda he looked up and down, then stepped off and loafed toward the center of Onopa. "That's a plumb bad actor!" Tenison Ten-ison admitted. "Goes by Gloomy Megeath. I do'no' as I would put much past Megeath. But you won't likely see him again, honey. Don't you worry." Then he turned to Con and Caramba. Ca-ramba. "You boys might as well start on out. Yonder's the road. Just keep to it for ten mile, then you'll hit a right-hand trail with a pile of rocks to make the sign. Take that trail and go straight on toward the hills." "You don't think you might have trouble with Megeath?" Caramba asked hesitantly. "Of course, me and Twenty don't weigh awful peg witn nis neavy kniie. "You know, I told you about that 6ang at Fronteras." -he said presently. pres-ently. "Well, this Gloomy Megeath was drinking at the bar within a yard of me. I don't think he recognized recog-nized me today and made out that he didn't. But I made enough noise around Fronteras for him to notice me and remember me." "Does look funny. Looky" But Con had already seen the rider rid-er topping over a ridge a quarter-mile quarter-mile or so away, coming toward them. Caramba stared calculatingly at the man and shook his head. The rider came on toward the hill and when he was within fifty yards they saw that he rode with hand on his pistol. He pulled in, a thick, dark man with wide, flat face, to look sullenly and arrogantly at them. "Wheelers?" he grunted. "Hell! dun't gawp so. I ain't aiming to eat you maybe." "That'll please your teeth." Caramba Ca-ramba said dryly. "Yeh. We're Wheelers. So that makes it polite for us, being on Wheel range, to ask where you're from. Even, which way you're heading . . ." "I'm Monk Irby! Reckon you heard that name. And I'm from Helligo Canyon. And I'm heading for Onopa to kill me a couple pups!" "Well. I've heard of Onopa. anyway." any-way." Con drawled solemnly. Irby's smoky eyes shuttled suspiciously suspi-ciously from one to the other. Out of a pocket of his old coat he drew a flat flask, held it up to the low sun, uncorked it and drank gulping-ly gulping-ly until the half-pint of liquor had disappeared. Then he tossed the empty flask away and got heavily out of the saddle. "Gi' me a cigarette," he ordered them generally. "I run out of tobacco to-bacco awhile ago." "Le" me!" Caramba begged Con plaintively. "You know I'm tenderer tender-er in the gizzard than you are." He held out tobacco and papers and when he had smoked for a mo- |