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Show v sheriff J'm Doane sets out to Tdown fang of train robbers in J Lert ol San Loreto county. When "e dies be walks until he col- from thirst Four horsemen led Upi, rirl rescue him. He awakens In Wk(( three days later. He meets and J ' ' Wth the flrl leader, Dolores Al-V Al-V tor whom he has a warrant, 1 ""rini er wltn catue rustlinS. Jim firmed by "eauty. He talks a jionte Garcia, and learns how " Rne, a crooked gambler, tricked "- n lores' tather oot of his ranch and 3 tr jnot him. Jim comes back to the IlirUri fflce and res'fn- Sheriff ctj, ij astounded and dismayed. "I ,tttr lions" ,,d ,ee yu ,aU Dane." CHAPTER V Dry. It was seventy-five miles over to Jlaxmilla City. Doane caught the iej" eleven o'clock Ideal train. At half r.-, past two he walked down the hot En' Jjjin street of the little town. The jeputy badge of San Loreto county was no longer pinned under the flap isiS ol Ms shirt pocket, but the single-!i single-!i !C(ion revolver he had always used 'S u-ung low in the familiar holster , it Us hip. He turned in at the Cowman's 'v jjortgage and Loan bank, on the "iimain street corner. "Star La Rue," he told the cash- er, "is some kind of a bug in this , H bank. I want to see him." i' "Mr. La Rue is vice president of ft the Cowman's Mortgage and Loan," tie cashier informed him, haught- J;. "He is a busy man. Mr. La "h Be is not here at Present" , "WheE'll he be back?" uC! "perhaps at closing time. It la irould be better to have an appoint- ' itent, if you wish to see him." "I'll wait," said Doane. He waited, lounging in the cor-tiridor, cor-tiridor, amid suspicious glances. He 1 1 tad verified his own information, 'ii that La Rue's one-time Silver Palis, Pal-is, ice had been closed out of busi-"jiess busi-"jiess for some twelve or eighteen months. La Rue now confined him-Lrut him-Lrut telf to the bank and his ranching 'interests. jJim Forces La Rue Jo Sign Over Ranch n Twenty minutes later a hard-'(aced, hard-'(aced, angular man came in through the swinging doors from the street. He man wore a business suit, his tall, knotty frame tipped off at each itad by cowman's garb; respective-"ly, respective-"ly, i flat-crowned Stetson and high-iheeled high-iheeled boots that showed below the -trouser cuffs. A conspicuous, large-link large-link gold watch chain hung across the front of his vest and jingled ' faintly as he walked. The man had f i certain heavy dignity about him. f He favored Doane with a sharp glance, without recognition. "La Rue!" The man halted, looked again at - Doane. "What is it?", he wanted to know, Irritably. "A certain matter of business," -yerplained Doane. "In fact, I intend rl'lo purchase Rancho de los Her-Jnanos Her-Jnanos from you this afternoon. But X'perhaps we'd better talk in private." pri-vate." fopi I Without comment Star La Rue led OJc way through one of the office Ms. He entered, closed the door, ireidF.d turned to face Doane. "You talk big," he said. "My ihiee on Tres Hermanos is $50,000 . cash! Did you bring that much honey with you?" mm- "No," drawled Doane. "But I taught all it'll take. I drew some y ol my savings this afternoon. I eiHt(w two thousand dollars. That J?" bu? Tres Hermanos." s jiio I have no time for nonsense," Bid La Rue. He smiled thinly over TO yellow teeth. "Come back , you get the other forty-eight Alhousand." 1 c' ?oane studied La Rue's eyes. I on ' helieve you recognize he suggested. do not!" snapped La Rue. ways 5 d what of u?" A j ,Ust s. I was deputy sent ; Fn from San Loreto with the cor-,er, cor-,er, to see the body of one Senor MVl10 Miguel Mvaro, shot to on Rancho Hermanos land RON ttwo years ago. At that time you (0t(Messed to killing the supposed )Ujry: Msethief with your own gun, as j k4 cvoroner will be able to testi-' testi-' K boasted ot it. Now, a few b ;JSag0' 1 unearthed the motive for 101110 (ell 6 murdered Alvaro, as "as his identity. I believe that .tiT lWenty-four hours I could E circurnstantial witnesses into 'tord ' The chare would be "If-iitn flrSt degree- Among the fi "jj'3v!!ses ls a man yu nce em- -' i " ma" known as Mnte Gar-SkSvj., Gar-SkSvj., 1Ir' Garcla could explain j .. S transpiring some twenty bago. at the start of your ca-P"p'-can'( obearing on the subject. If 'r ot .fcceed in putting the mur-$ mur-$ r- can ro on your head, La Rue, i ,.-tar 81 least bring the thing ... and SV nilelhd!i clos. enough f'.opl h any confidence the iiS ourc 111 you' and destrov r UerinCrLneCt'0n with bank- rm "'lid I a yU two thousand, La Rue, I don't have to offer that! Take rw VC lt Take . r the mur-w mur-w i l Be-" S-Wttto'n''1 n0t move' only il:eti h ane nad 11131 the man Jkt fa8.? him was the mounting mikf e other's face and a stifl-'i'll' stifl-'i'll' corded musr.les undei bis Vn.m. coUar. There foUowed a moment of absolute silence. "This is blackmail," La Rue muttered, mut-tered, finally. "And the other," said Doane, "is murder. Don't forget that" Another moment of silence La Rue covertly studied his man. He nodded. "Very well. Due to this er special spe-cial circumstance, my price to. you is . . . two thousand dollars. What is your name, sir? I've forgotten it, if I ever knew it." "Doane. James L." "God help you if I ever get you under my hand, James L. Doane!" "There'll be this to remember," said Doane, ignoring the threat. "The deed you're going to give me this afternoon wiU be recorded in San Loreto as soon as registered mail can carry it. There will also be a will, In case of my death; and need I mention that you will not be its benefactor? Further, there will be a sealed letter of exactly the accusations I have made this afternoon after-noon against you, to be opened by "Come back when you get the other forty-eight thousand." state officials at my death. Do you think you can beat that. Star La Rue? I'm not Senor Alvaro, who read English poorly and understood nothing of the technicalities of the law." La Rue had no answer. "There's just one other point," said Doane. "That is a written statement from you, dropping all charges against Miss Alvaro, the senor's living daughter. This wiU be by way of a little spice, to sweeten sweet-en our deal! After all, I'm giving you two thousand dollars; you don't deserve a penny of it. Well, I guess that's all. I bid you a very good afternoon, Mr. Star La Rue." That night the new owner of Rancho de los Hermanos sent a special telegram to Sand Wells. It was addressed to Monte Garcia, operator op-erator who would take it from the wire, giving him the owner's authority au-thority to discharge every man then working at Tres Hermanos, if Monte Mon-te would be so kind as to ride out there and do so. Monte obliged at dawn, with a strange underglow in those odd gray-green eyes. But the new owner, arriving in person two days later, did not find Tres Hermanos deserted. Not that he had particularly hoped he would. He didn't care. Four hard-eyed riders rid-ers awaited his coming. The four had taken his order seriously enough so that none had stirred to the saddle and customary work, but not to the point of departure. For two days they had loafed, talked excitedly, ex-citedly, and brooded over the matter. mat-ter. The foreman, a black-eyed breed of thirty-five or so, named Tony Suarez, began to argue with Doane immediately. "Look here! You may be the new boss an' all that, but" "I am the new boss," said Doane. "No maybe's about it." "I said get out! Pack your war-bags war-bags And collect your back wages from La Rue. I sent you notice the moment I became owner." The four packed their war-bags. Two men rounded up the horse herd in an adjacent strip of meadow and drove it to the corrals. There was roping and four mounts were drawn aside At this point Doane, watching watch-ing left the shady veranda of the old' house for the corral gate. "Before any one of you starts ridin' away." he called, "each man had better make sure he s strad-dlin' strad-dlin' his own private nag. The Tres Hermanos brand belongs to me. I'd look on anything else as a case of horse theft." Doane stood by. the six-gun in the low holster at his hip. Out of the corral cor-ral dust this time came two pomes and a l.me old gelding, of vented brands One man. evidently, d.dn t even own a horse. With the extra saddle and war-bags war-bags packed on one pony, the nders finally mounted double. So they rode out the corral gates and down U f IATURES iiSiW' the road for Sand Wells. Doane waited an hour; then he followed. The property he had purchased comprised close to five thousand acres. The old adobe ranch house, surrounded by great, gnarled yard cottonwoods and a sprinkling of tall, graceful poplars, stood roughly in the center of the tract. Behind the ranch house a long, flat-bottomed valley opened. Springs flowed from under the valley walls, spread into little cieniga meadows and formed a small creek, which ran through the ranch yards before it sank Into the earth- 1 The actual value of Rancho de los Tres Hermanos, In fact, lay in the waterholes, springs, and desert seepages it controlled. These were scattered, between the lines of drift fence, over an area almost ten miles in length and half that in width; or, roughly, better than six times the actual area of its patented lands was controlled by the rancho, useless use-less to any other stock owner. To the north broke the arid miles of true desert, but in the good years stock could work out a long way to the north and west. Rancho de los Tres Hermanos had been, and could be made again, a big proposition. proposi-tion. The distance to Sand Wells was six or seven miles, angling southwest. south-west. Doane had already traversed this road once, since dawn this morning. His return mission now, however, was not at the little town with its few stores and shacks adjoining ad-joining the railroad yards. He cut past the town, and half a mile beyond be-yond drew rein in the yard of a shaded little clapboard house. The old Mexican woman came to the door, smiling. "Aqui tiene Ud. su casa the house is yours, senor. Pase." "Monte home?" "Si, senor. Si." In a moment the tall, slim Monte, plainly just awakened from his daytime day-time slumbers, came to the door. His poise was none the less languid and cool for his awakening; he moved easily, smoothly, and he made a Garcia gesture with his supple sup-ple white hands. "A haciendado," he said gaily, smiling at Doane. "A ranchero, my frien', a land-owner I greet you, senor." "A ranchero without a single cowhand working for him," said Doane heavily. "They left promptly prompt-ly this morning. Thanks. I want you to do me another favor, Monte. Deliver another message." "If possible," agreed Monte. "My last had little success. But we shall see." "The cold facts of the case are these," said Doane. "In the past twelve months Miss Alvaro has managed to run away with about a third of the stock La Rue had on the ranch. La Rue's riders had orders or-ders to shoot on sight. Dangerous. Two months ago La Rue secretly dynamited a certain waterhole, in the hope of trapping the girl. He moved men out and started a drive. That failed. At the same time La Rue took his troubles to Sam FHck. This was again dangerous. The Sand Wells train robbery was more dangerous still. . . . Monte, I won't fail. -That's the message I want you to give to Miss Alvarol" New Owner Takes Over At Tres Hermanos Monte pondered the glowing end of his cigarette. "You are riding soon yourself, senor?" "I am." "An' if I should well, happen to see Miss Alvaro somewhere in the meantime, I am going to tell her you do not think you will fail? That is it. eh?" "That I do not fail," corrected Doane. "Jus' so," said Monte, with a bow. "And Monte, I have here a sealed envelope. If anything should happen hap-pen to me at any time, I want you to deliver it to its addressee. Understand?" Un-derstand?" "Si, senor!" "Bien!" said Doane. "Uh there's just one thing more. Can you find me three good men, three cowhands I can trust, to look after the ranch?" "That I can, senor. Three good, loyal ones. They will be in my office, of-fice, tonight." "Good boy, Monte. See you tonight, to-night, then. Nine-thirty." Sharp at nine-thirty that evening, three leathery cowpunchers loitered on the station platform outside Monte Garcia's office, each with his duflle-bag and saddle-gear. Doane crossed the platform, saw through the window that Monte was busy at his key, approached the men. "You are the men for Tres Hermanos?" Her-manos?" "Reckon we are." "Good." replied Doane. "I'm the owner." They shook hands. " 'Spose we go over to the bar, where we can talk things over, and where I can buy a drink for those dry throats of yours. That is, if you feel the throats need a little irrigation." "O. K.," shouted the three, as one. An hour later found them riding for Vres Hermanos, properly irrigated irri-gated and in high spirits. Doane had explained their job; they were to act as watchmc-. look after the stock. (TO BE CONTINUED) |