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Show f THE PROGRESSIVE OPINION he was riding, then came two revolver shots. Black Yeager had been killed by bis own companion. The big ranch-ers plan to bring in a lot of Texas officers to Invade the rustlers' lands and kill them. Terry objects. mond Reverse B is not guilty. I wasn't consulted, because those who did it were afraid I would oppose it." "But this is terrible. A suspected man has a right to his day in court." Terry judged it was time to let the Pennsylvania man have the oth-er barrel of the gun. "The worst is ahead of us, and coming very soon. I cannot go into particulars, or 'tell you how I know it. But there are plans for action soon that will make headlines in every New York pa-per." "I don't know what you mean, Mr. Terry. Please be more explicit." The city man watched this hard, brown Westerner in fascinated alarm. "Do you mean more . . . bloodshed?" "Yes. Plans to rub out scores of men. In spite of ourselves we shall be dragged into it, unless we move fast. That's why I asked you to come at once." "How can we be dragged into it, if we refuse to be a party?" "Because this country is in two camps. Everybody in this town is for the small fry against the big ranches. The rustlers and nesters and most of the little cattlemen are pooled against us, the honest men and the thieves alike. The Diamond Reverse B is one of the large out-fits. If we say we are out of this fight nobody will believe us. We'll suffer just the same. The only way to be out of it is to let it be known we are going out of business, to nffpr the ranch for sale in small INSTALLMENT NINE dead from the back. Someone possibly Lee Hart, brother of one of the victims, took a shot at Cal from behind. A iourth rustler, Black Yeager, is killed under peculiar circumstances. Two ri-fle shots had been Bred at Terry while either to warn the rustlers or let the drive go on. There was no mid-dle ground. In any case he was now a man without a party. CHAPTER XIX John Q. Powers descended from the train at Round Top and was met by Calhoun Terry. The two men walked to the Holden House, where the ranch foreman had taken rooms. Powers was a heavy-set- , middle-age- d man of a precise habit of mind. He wore square-toe- d shoes, a double-breaste- d coat, and a silk hat. His home was in Philadelphia, and he had never before been far-ther west than Chicago. The Pow-ers family had bought for them-selves and some business associates the Diamond Reverse B ranch at a time when capital was being poured into the cattle industry. So far it had been a good investment. There had been bonanza years when the ranch had returned more than 30 per cent on the original cost. But those boom days were past. The profits had dwindled, and the books showed for two years a balance in the red. A letter from the foreman had brought him out here in person. A shrewd investor, John Q. was moving to the opinion that it might be time to sell out. As they walked to the hotel, Pow-ers noticed that Terry did not ex-change greetings with the men he met. The glances that fell on the Philadelphian were merely curious, but when they shifted to the fore-man they held unconcealed hostility. There was a tensity in the atmos-phere that John Q. did not like. His THE STORY SO FAR: Ellen Carey, iaughter of the postmaster, is interested in both Jeff Brand, a dashing rustler, and Cal Terry, manager of a big ranch who Is bated by rustlers and small cat tlcmen. Three rustlers had been shot CHAPTER XVIII Clint Ellison read the note a sec-ond time. I hope you are satisfied (so the note said). Well, you can't drag me into trouble with you. I am sticking by what I told you the other day. Count me out of the whole business. I'm through before you start on any plans you have. The name signed at the bottom was Calhoun Terry. Ellison helped himself to a drink, paced the floor, and returned to his 3esk. He picked up a pen and wrote. The burden of his message was told in two lines. Since I am going down to Jim Creek station tomorrow I will drop in at the ranch and have a taLk with you. He sealed the note and took it out to Slim, who was waiting at the bunkhouse for an answer. After the cowboy had ridden away he went back into his office and walked the floor again. Irritably he admitted to himself that he had made a mistake. His gunman had moved too fast for him. Before he could get to the fellow and call him off he had destroyed Black Yeager. Ellison cared nothing about that, except for its repercussions. The rustlers had retaliated by shooting Jim McFaddin. If Terry walked out on the invasion that would be an-other blow. But with or without Terry he meant to carry on. When he dropped in to see Terry he defended what he had done, on the ground that it was a necessity. He made the further point that in wiping out the thieves the big ranches would be doing a service to the territory. Terry shook his head. "I've been thinking this over, and I have changed my mind about some things ..." "Wait a minute," Ellison inter-rupted. "You think I haven't played fair with you. I want to say that I couldn't have prevented the killing of Black Yeager. It happened on your way home, right after our talk." "I understand that," the manager of the Diamond Reverse B agreed stiffly. "We'll leave Yeager out of this. Point is, I don't enjoy being shot at myself. If Yeager had fired a hair's breadth straighter I would be where Jim McFaddin is now. To think that you can ambush rus-tlers wholesale without having them play the same game is criminally foolish. There is no stopping that kind of business. It is like those Kentucky feuds. They go on "So will this thieving, if we don't do something about it," the Bartlett manager said curtly. "I'll do what I can about it," Terry answered. "If we catch a man stealing our stuff, or if we find it in his possession, I'll hang him to a tree. That's as far as I'll go. I won't join in an organized drive to wipe out suspicious characters." "Then the Diamond Reverse B outfit is through, unless it changes its manager." "It's through, whether it does or not. There's no other answer, Elli-son. The day of the big ranch is past. Settlers have homesteaded along the creeks and on choice bits of range. More are coming in ev-ery year. We can't buck the law. Some of the large outfits are fenc-ing land that isn't owned by them. They can't get away with it They are licked before they start., 'Like it or not, the cattle empires are going to vanish. I've tried not to believe this, but it stands out as plain as Old Baldy there." - "So you're quitting," Ellison said, scorn in his voice. "I have advised my people to sell at a profit while there is still time." "Sell to whom?" "To settlers. My idea is to break up the ranch into twenty or more small ones. It can be divided so that the land will sell like hot cakes." From Ellison's gray face the color seemed to drain. "By God, you take the cake, Terry," he said, re-strained anger riding in his voice. "First you are with the small fry. Then you throw them over and join us. Now when we have a fight on our hands you are deserting us to go back to them." Terry felt the rage boiling up in him. "You're too Elli-son, and too smooth in your work. We were supposed to be allies, and you double-crosse- d me by ordering these men drygulched. Do you think you are God Almighty, with the pow-er of life and death in your hands?" "I suppose you'll fix yourself up with your new-ol- d friends by warn-ing them," Ellison jeered, bitter-ness in his voice. The superintendent of the Dia-mond Reverse B restrained himself with difficulty. "I ought not to take that from you," he said quietly. "But I will. It's time you went, Mr. Ellison." White spots pinched into the nose of the visitor. He too was holding his temper in by sheer wiLL "It's one way or the other," he flung back contemptuously. "Either you rat on us, or you keep your mouth shut and get the benefits of our drive without taking any of the risk. You may have your choice, sir." Ellison picked up his wide Stet-son and walked out of the room. Calhoun Terry stood at his desk, salient jaw clamped tight. What El-lison bad said was true. He had blocks." "Wouldn't it put us in the clear if I went on record publicly pledging the Diamond Reverse B to join in no lawlessness whatsoever?" he asked. "No." The foreman took' out of his pocket clippings from a news-paper. "Read these, Mr. Powers. They are from the Logan County Gazette, edited by Horace Garvey. He's against us and for the small settler. But he is an honest man, a first-clas- s citizen." Though Garvey tried to be fair, he was very plainly on the side of the plain rancher and homesteader and opposed to the big outfits. His editorial on the killing of McFaddin was entitled, "They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirl-- ' wind." It did not condone the shoot-ing of the Flying V C man, but it stressed the point that the policy of the "cattle kings" had made such crimes inevitable. "He makes out a case for our op-ponents," Powers said thoughtfully after he had finished reading. "I don't think he is right, but he seems to be honest." "No doubt of that. I thought you might like to meet him and asked him to call here. Not that I agree with what he thinks." Half an hour later Garvey arrived. "I understand that your friends control the county politically," Pow-ers said. "Yes." "A combination of townsfolk, small ranchers, and rustlers," the Easterner snapped. "Is that right?" "Politics make strange bed-fellows," Garvey answered. "The rustler vote supports our candi-dates, because the outlaw is natural-ly opposed to the large outfits." "Quite so. Opposed to the men they rob. Mr. Terry tells me we can't get justice in the courts when we present a case against a rustler." "That is correct," the editor ad-mitted. "I'm sorry it is so, but there is a very strong feeling against the big cattle outfits." "The big ranches are here law-fully, aren't they?" "That is debatable. Their cow-boys homesteaded thousands of acres and turned the land over to their employers, quite contrary to the spirit of the law. All over the ter-ritory you find large tracts fenced by the cattle kings to which they haven't the slightest claim." Powers leaned forward, tugging at his grizzled imperial. "What would you think is the chance of disposing of the Diamond Reverse B at a good price, Mr. Garvey?" "I don't know. Not very good, I should think. It would take a lot of money to buy it, and I don't sup-pose large interests are looking for investments in the cattle country these days." He added as a rider: "But I am not in touch with mon-ie-people. You should know much better than I do." Powers gave the editor the sur-prise of a year. "I am not talking of large interests. We are thinking of dividing the property into small ranches and selling to individuals of moderate means. We would ac-cept down payments for part and take a mortgage for the balance." Into Horace Garvey's dried-u- p face there came a curious expres-sion of amazed delight. "If you mean that, you will be doing a fine stroke 6f business for yourself and a great service to the territory, Mr. Powers," the little man cried, his voice hopping up and down with excitement. "We can find purchasers, you think?" "No doubt of it, if your price Is reasonable." "It will be." Powers rose briskly. "I'm ready to leave for the ranch whenever you are, Terry." "May I announce in the paper that you are going to divide the ranch and sell it?" Garvey asked. "You may, sir. The sooner the better." "This is great news," Garvey beamed. "I believe it will be the beginning of better days than we have had for a long time." He left hurriedly, to write a front-page story. (TO BE CONTINUED) His home was in Philadelphia. ideas of the West were vague. He thought of it as a wild country where there were possibilities of making money in spite of Indians, rustlers, drouths, and blizzards. Bad men, cowboys, and cattle filled the fore-ground of the picture. They talked casually about the trip from Chicago until the door of the hotel room closed behind them. Then, without waste of time, Pow-ers came to the business that had brought him here. "You think we ought to close out the ranch?" "I feel sure we ought," Terry re-plied. "An outfit as large as ours can't be run profitably under present conditions." "We can get a good price?" "I think so. If the property is cut up wisely into small ranches. There would be no difficulty in disposing of the land.". "I'd like to go out and look the situation over. You have made ar-rangements, I presume, to get me out to the ranch." "Yes. We can drive out. But I ought to tell you that there will be some danger." . "Danger! What do you mean?" "I have been shot at several times in the past three weeks, once as I was riding out of Round Top. A few days ago one of the owners of the Flying V C, James McFaddin, was killed while he was roundihg up a bunch of stock." Powers stared at his foreman. "Good God! Isn't there any law in this country?" Terry smiled grimly. "Plenty of it, and all on the side of the rustlers. Our enemies elect the sheriff and the judge, who try thieves before a friendly jury which acquits them." "Then there is no way of stopping cattle-stealing- "Yes. There are ways." The steel-barre- d eyes of Terry held to those of the Easterner. "If we catch a rus-ile- r we stop him . . . permanently." The manager of the Diamond Re-verse B decided not to spare the feelings of his boss. He had to know the truth before he could make an intelligent appraisal of the situation. "It has been the law of Cattleland ever since the early Texas days that a horse or a cow thief forfeits his life if caught," Calhoun explained. "That was necessary then, because the law hadn't reached the brush country. It is necessary now, be-cause the law has been taken over by the thieves. You are shocked because I have been shot at and McFaddin killed. These attacks were reprisals. Inside of a month four men suspected of rustling have been shot down from ambush." "But but--" "I don't know who killed them, but I can guess who ordered it done. You need not let this worry your conscience, Mr. Powers. The Dia- - will welcome this clever cottage flower holder and the matching shade pulls. Jig, coping or keyhole saw may be used in cutting these articles from wood bright enamels for painting them. Pattern Z9310, 15 cents, gives outlines and complete di- - rections.'1 Send your order to: AUNT MARTHA Box 166-- Kansas City, Mo. Enclose 15 cents for each pattern desired. 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I feel like the contents of a bottle, and am curious to know what will happen when the bottle is uncorked. Wil-liam De Morgan. People of Thailand The inhabitants of Thailand (Siam) are called "Thai," which is a plural term meaning "The Free People:" Because the na-tives have always been known as Thai, and have preferred to cal their country "Maung Thai," rath-er than "Sayam" or "Siam," the terms Siam and Siamese were of-ficially changed to Thailand and Thai, respectively, on June 24, 1939, by a notification of the presi-dent of the council of ministers. Stiad and Great Small men te, while great men pity. : j J I Reflections .. The world is a looking-glas- s, and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face. Frown 1 at it, and it in turn will look sourly upon you; laugh at it and with it, and it is a jolly, kind compan-ion. Thackeray. ,s Jaded Palates i The more we desire the more we Horn require. The more we demand to whet our appetites, the more jad-ed our palate becomes. Rabbi L. I. Newman; Adaptations The whole secret of living is to make adaptations as they are nec-- , essary. Let none of us try to in-sist that nothing should ever be changed! Jane Addams. |