OCR Text |
Show 0CA By EUGENE CUNNINGHAM S Tl.lt STOKt 80 FAR: con vameron, an honost cowboy with no desire to shoot, la forced by circumstance! lo turn out' law and Join the I-aramore sana;, bended bend-ed by one -Dud" I'aramore. He had come Into Wild Horse with the 20 Bar outfit and had immediately gotten Into trouble with the town boss, Asa llrock, and his friends by defending another cattle man, Nevll I,ov.e, asalnst Brock, Dynamite llownes and "Kl Muchacho." On the trail again he had met Lee Welsh and the Ranlers. Welsh was killed by the Ranters, and when Con rode Into Tivan, where Lowe Is the new marshal, be was taken into custody as a murder and robbery suspect because of his association as-sociation with the Ranlers. He had thousht Lowe was his friend, but public sentiment was against him, and Lowe had apparently forgotten about the Wild Horse incident. Con persuaded Lowe to wire Buia llpperman, his old trail boss, and Caramba Year at Wild Horse, but neither man could be located. Knowing that he hadn't a chance of escaping any other way. Con broke Jail with Jeff All-mon All-mon and has now gone with him to Join the raramores. Now continue with the story. CHAPTER VII Nearly a quarter-mile from San Marcos, Dud Paramore called a halt. He sent Gonzales ahead to scout the village and, while they waited, he talked to Con about the Raniers as he had been talking at the cabin. Apparently, his Informers Inform-ers In Tivan knew all about official suspicion that Con Cameron and Comanche Co-manche Linn were the same. "Got no idee, huh, about what was on them Raniers' mind?" he asked for the tenth time. "Can't figure which way they'd head after they downed Welsh?" "Nary Idea." Con answered, a little lit-tle wearily. "To hear 'em talk, you'd think nobody in the Territory stacked up ankle-high to a short snake. They are the hefty busca-deros, busca-deros, to hear 'em tell it You and Ellis just country boys." The last he put In artfully, but maliciously. Dud's vanity was plain to be seen and it amused Con to prod him. Gonzales came back at the gallop, gal-lop, a half-hour later. No officers were known to be around San Marcos, Mar-cos, but Quill Hogan lay in one of the houses, terribly beaten by a stranger. "Huh?" Dud cried incredulously. "Quill was whipped? Who's this done it?" Gonzales shrugged and shook his head. He had seen the man, a big swaggerer, cock of the walk in the saloon. Turk was the name he went by. He had been in San Marcos when Quill Hogan rode in. Quill had picked a row and Turk had drawn his gun. But instead of killing kill-ing Quill, Turk had merely pistol-whipped pistol-whipped him up and down the pla-zita, pla-zita, then knocked him senseless. "Come on!" Dud yelled to his followers. fol-lowers. He hooked his horse into a rocketing rocket-ing gallop and the others jumped their mounts after him. Into San Marcos they charged, to slide to a dust-wreathed halt before a long adobe. Dud was out of the saddle before his horse came down upon four feet, and darted through the door. Big Yager lumbered after him with Gonzales catlike v at his heels. Catfish Coyle and Kinky Od-om Od-om swung down more deliberately and Jeff and Con were last. So when they stepped into the long, dusky room, the others were already al-ready at the bar. Dud stood beside a dark, beard-stubbled beard-stubbled man who reminded Con of a gorilla, for thickness of body and length of arms. The Mexicans drinking drink-ing at the pine counter gave Dud and this one room, and watched narrowly. nar-rowly. But Dud only pushed a bottle bot-tle to Turk. Within twenty minutes the two had five drinks. Then Dud moved the bottle hospitably and when Turk's eyes went to it. Dud's right hand flashed to the white bone handle of Turk's Colt. He whipped it out, .tonned auickly back and tossed it from right hand to left in legerdemain legerde-main almost too fast for the eye to follow. Then, with high, shrill laugh, he stepped in again and replaced it in Turk's holster. "Take your drink, fellow, ' he drawled. "You-need it!" He spat deliberately upon Turks boots and turned his back. Turk's arm jerked. He drew fast and Dud turned back deliberately. Con scowled. Then instead of the roar he waited wait-ed stiffly for, there was only a hollow hol-low click! and another as Turk re-cocked re-cocked the Colt. It was Dud s pistol pis-tol that bellowed as it snapped from the holster and flipped up. Three bullets, in all. Dud drove into the other's body. He leaned to knock the Colt from Turk's hand and slid back, head on one side, watching Turk leaned heavily upon the bar left hand upon the bloody ront of his shirt. Then he crumpled and began to sag to the floor. Dud laughed shrilly. "That's what always happens to folks that come a-hunting Dud Paramore! Par-amore! Hey. Nicolas! Take care of Mb beef. We have got some dancing danc-ing to do, us Paramores! In another big house the dance was going when the Paramores was Sln& re more women ?hTnemenaned eightor nine heavily oowded, overdressed girls looked Expectantly at the newcomers and giDuddyelled shrilly. Big Yager and "He Is outside in the darkness; he will kill you." Catfish and Kinky and Jeff joined the wolfish chorus. They swept down, Con trailing, upon the girls. Automatically, Con selected one who seemed a little younger, less perfumed per-fumed and powdered. He put out his hands to her and she smiled sidelong up at him. Then Gonzales snarled in his ear and caught the girl's sleeve. "Es mio! She is mine! You take another " "You are his girl?" Con asked in halting Spanish, holding her wrist. "I am yours, if you want me and you can keep me!" she said. Con whirled her deftly away from Gonzales and out among the danc- .4. U1IC t'lCOOU ViWJSi agu,,,... ...... and looked wisely into his face. Dance after dance Con kept her. Then Gonzales disappeared. He sat with her after the eighth or ninth dance, beyond the little bar. Jeff and his girl joined them for a drink and cigarette. The two girls chattered chat-tered chiefly about Gonzales' fury. Then a shabby Mexican appeared at Con's side out of the crowd. Con found his face vaguely familiar and tried to place him. "I am your friend," the man whispered. whis-pered. "You gave back my money. Now, I pay: Gonzales will kill you! He is outside in the darkness. He will kill you, he has said to men at the door. So I slipped away to give you this word." "I'll fix him!" he grunted. "I'll give him all the trouble he can pack!" He shook his head at Jeff, who was getting up from between the two girls. ' "Stay out of it," he said grimly. "This is my war." He went with Jeff trailing across the end of the big room and to the side door. Someone muttered out there a nervous sound. Then, from r-iaM nwav from the lounging Ulb J group, there was the roar of a shot and a blast of flame. A bullet twitched Con's hair like a finger. Automatically he drew his Colt, just as he had done a thousand times in practice. As It came level, pointing point-ing at the spot where that flame had blossomed, he let down the hammer, thumbed it back and loosed a second sec-ond shot. Then he twisted inside the room. The music stopped. The dancers cried out excitedly. Then someone outside yelled that Gonzales was dead. Con watched them carry Gonzales in There was something about the sagging figure that reminded him of a dead rattler. A hand tugged at his sleeve. He turned to face Jeff -and take the tin cup Jeff held out. He lifted it and gulped down the drink, coughed and wiped his eyes. "Thanks!" he gasped. "Well-Well, "Well-Well, I feel better!" You hit him both times," Jeff said admiringly. Dud shrugged; shook his head. "Nothing to stop our dancing I ne cried and Con could not tell, from his high singsong, what he really felt. "Let's go!" ! Amelia took his arm and looked UD at him with a kind of savage adoration. He shook his head No more for tonight, querida. I will sit by the bar for a time. You eo with Jeff or another. She nodded and left him. He found himself a place in a dusky corner H atched almost without seeing while the dance continued as if Gonzales Gon-zales bad not died. Then, about mid-ntffht mid-ntffht a boy came yelling for Dud and the music and stamping stopped ShTt'is Nevil Lowe and a posse!" the boy reported shrilly. "They come Q Corf followed Dud outside. The .ntprmittent moonlight presently rlTe!rneTbytalk.wasthebat. feTed QuiU Hogan. Dud yeUed for omTon. you nitwits! First thing Lnw that shooting posse 11 be akiedllragsoutofyou-all!" rntfish Coyle reappeared and med BufBig Yager and K.nky 0H"ghtean-"iSSDud commanded f "Hear them horses? That's "We can't buck that many!" Con whirled Pancho with a furious furi-ous snarl, snatching at his carbine. car-bine. He hooked the sorrel into a gallop and went racing to a house on the edge of San Marcos. In the pale moonlight he saw a dark mass of horsemen, not fifty yards away. "Get back!" he yelled at them, sliding the Winchester out. "We've got you surrounded! Back, you nitwits! nit-wits! Back!" As he began to shoot, holding low at the horses' legs, Jeff's voice lifted lift-ed in a bellow, picking up the phrase Con had used. The mass ot riders seemed fairly to blow apart as the carbine rattled. .But a horse went aown, ana anotner. scattered reiuru shots came from the sides of the road. i "Come on," Jeff called to him. "Big and Kinky's gone!" He spun Pancho, and together they thundered away, with other horses pounding ahead of them. Out of San Marcos they galloped, with lead whining waspishly about them but not too close. They overhauled Big Yager and Kinky Odom; passed them with an encouraging yell. But a mile of alternate darkness and moonlight had been covered before Con saw Dud, Quill Hogan, and Catfish Cat-fish skylined. Jeff and Con overtook them. Dud and Catfish seemed to have better horses than any of the others including in-cluding Hogan. Or, Con thought, perhaps the beaten man was not in condition to get the most out ol his mount. He lagged farther behind be-hind and made some indistinct answer an-swer when Dud yelled at him to keep up. The four spurred away from him, then became three when Catfish's horse slowed. As a trio, they slackened pace to a walk in the foothills of the Lobos and listened and let the blown animals gel breath. "Well, sir!" Dud drawled cheerfully. cheerful-ly. "Nevil Lowe, he will be a disappointed dis-appointed young- sheriff, tonight Who was that shooting, after we left town? Big and Kinky?" "Like hell!" Jeff answered before Con could speak. "That was Con, stopping the posse." "Listen!" Con grunted suddenly. "They're not so far behind right now. What do we do?" "Why, I reckon the smart thing is to set right here and see about things," Dud answered. They sat minute after minute, smoking, listening to the flat rattle of shots until the sound died and only the small night-noises of the hills could be heard. Dud grunted impatiently and moved his horse. Con checked him with a word. "Wait! Somebody's coming. It might be our bunch." "Just one horse," Jeff announced. It was Catfish and he was panting as if he, not the horse, had been running, when he came up to them. Dud called a sharp question. "Rubbed out! Whole bunch!" Catfish Cat-fish answered. "That damn' Nevil Lowe! Knocked Quill out of the hull right at my elbow. Swear I heard four slugs hit Quill's back. Then it was Big. Me and Kinky kept ahead awhile. Lowe stopped again. Opened up. Got Kinky through the head." "We'll make that son pay for It boyl" Dud assured him fiercely. "Don't you never think we won't make Nevil Lowe remember tonight Come on, now! No use crying about It." They rode in silence by twisting trails to the cabin. Nobody was in talking mood when they reached the place. They rolled into their blankets, blan-kets, but Catfish took his to the point used as lookout. He said that he was not sleepy; he would stand guard. They were up early, with the grim events of the night very heavy upon them all. Dud alone was cheerful cheer-ful or pretended to be. He looked at them and swore that they were the sourest set of cowboys he had ever put eyes upon. From some hiding place he produced a jug of whisky and uncorked it. The liquor brought no lightening of Con's disgust with this company. Instead, he thought of the misfortune misfor-tune which had put him here, as il In trap. (TO BE CONTINUED) |