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Show 3ETTLBWG-- - OF THE SACsE. By Hal G.Evarts copyright , W.H.U, SERVICE HAL G EVAR.TS CHAPTER IX 17 The two loggers hnri finished cutting cut-ting their quota of timber tor tlie lomestend cabins and I he white peeled cgs lay piled and ready to be snaked Jown to the Three Bar on the Brst aeavy snows of fall. The acreage of plowed ground in :reaied day by day and would con tfnue till frost claimed the ground. As soon as the brush was burnt the mule teams pulled heavy log drags acros3 the field, pulverizing the lumps and eveling Inequalities ot the surface. Evans had 'ieen sent out as fore man of th. beef ornd up while Harris remained behind to direct the operations opera-tions at the ranch. A few days before Evans V7as due witb the beef herd Billie rode Papoose away from the ranch, intending to make a long-de-'erred visl to the Brandons. After covering two-thirds ot the distance dis-tance along the foot of the hills to the V L she saw rider dip "ver a ridge two miles away She unslung Harris' glasses and dismounted to ivatch for his reappearance. When he mine again Into jei Bold of view an jther mjn was with him and. they were driving a few head ol cows before be-fore then. She mounted Papoose artd angled icro3S to intersect their course. As Papoose topped a low hogback Ihat flanged the valley she saw the men -iding toward her duwD the but toms, driving twenty or more head of cows. 0"ip of the horses threw Up his bead, his eirs pricked sharply toward her, and the swift upward tilt ot the riders ha', as swiftly lowered, Informed In-formed her that she had been sighted. The other man did not look up. They lifted the., horses from a walk to a stiff trot and eered past the cows, then looked up as if just aware of her approach, and waited for her. The men were bentley and Carp. Bentley greeted ner cheerily. Carp nodded without a word. "What are you two doing up tiere?' she demanded without parley. "1 repped with the Thre Bat wagon wag-on and Carp worked with you for a spell, so we sort of know the range," Bentley explained. "Slade sent us to drift any strays back south." "Those yju were driving are Three Bar stulT every hoof," she said. "All two year-old rhe-stock." Bentley turned and regarded the little lit-tle herd they had just passed. "Then? Sho we wasn't driving them," Bentley denied easily. "They lust drlted ahead of us as we rode down tin bottoms. A cow critter will always move on at-ead ot a man. We rode on past em as soon as we de cided to am'ile along." She knev. (bat they were on safe ground Any cow would drift on be tore a horseman. "The only way to convict a iau on a case like this Is to shoot h I in out ol the saddle before he has a chance to pass the cows," she said. "That's what will happen to the next Slade" rider that gets noticed with any Three Bar cows moving out In Trout ot him and headed south. You can carry thai word to Slade." She whirled Papoose and headed back for the ranch, the Intended visit to the Brandons postponed Harris was piling brush in the lower Held when she arrived and she Informed him of the act of the two men "1 wouldn't put It past Carp." he said. "But I hadn't sized Bentley up lust that way. It's hard to tell If Carp shows up here again we'll make him a visit In the middle ot the night and he won't trouble us much aflei that" "We'd better pay Slade a uight visit too," she said. Hei feelings toward Slade had undergone a complete re vulslon She knew beyond a dniihi that he had been responsible foi the raid on Three Bar bulls The nllri bunch would have ld no object In lucb a foray. Figuring It from an. ngle Slade was the only one man who could poss hly derive any benelit imm that She had come to see thai Slade was righting with his hack to the wall that he had run his c-ourse anil come to the end of It If sou. liters se cured a start In his range, and he con sldered the net of the Three Hsir t lir-npenlng lir-npenlng wedge' which would Ih row open tli wr foi the uesters to crowd him out The evening of he following day the beet herd trailed Into i lie lower end of tile Three Bar valley and hed ded fin the night. In the morning the trail herd was headed for the rail road nnder a full crew, for ll.irrls had kept all limds on the Job. The rtrc vp was a nrndescrlpl toi. in nddilion to the steers and older cows that comprised every trail herd the oIT-coIot sue stock had been carefully culled froi'i the -tinge. Harris pointed to the bunch. "Look Ihat assortment over well Rtllle," advised. "A tew seasons msre, wtn, tai luck, and ,t"i won't see one ol these rainbow droves with every olor from Lrindle to jtrawberry roan ; none of these humpbacked runts; they'll all be gone. That's almost al-most the last mongrel herd that will ever wear your brand They'll run better every year until we have all big flat-backed bee stock a straight white-face run.' The third morning out from the home ranch broke stormy. A nasty drizzle dampened the face of the world and laid Its clammy touch on all living things. This condition prevailed pre-vailed all through the day and shortly after the cows had been milled and bedded for the night the drizzle turned to rain, now falling straight and soft, agaiu in fierce squalls whipped by varying shifts of wind. A saddled night horse was picketed for every man. The wagon stood close under a hill while the herd was bedded on a broad flat at the mouth of a valley. The soggy palter if the rain on bet teepee lulled (he girl to sleep but she was frequently roused. A dull muttering mut-tering nr'erl.nllzed suddenly Inl' a She Whirled Papoose and Headed -Back for the Ranch. sharp thunderstorm and the canvas walls of her teepee were almost con tinuously Illuminated by successive flashes. The picketed horses fretted and stamped. She dropped to sleep again but was roused by voices outside as the guards changed shifts and she estimated that it must be neai morning, the f lurth change ot guards. The sounds ceased as the men who had just neen relieved turned In foi their sleep. A horse neighed shrilly within a few yards of her reepee An other took It up am an nswer sound ed from the fiats. There was a crash of pistol shots, a rumble ot hoofs and the Instant command of Harris. "Boll out! Hull out I" he called Saddles I On your horses!" Even as he shouted there came the swlsb ot wet canvas as the men turn bled from theii hed rolls, the Inipre cations ol the suddenly awakened Billie thrust her head from the tee pee flap, the water cascading down her neck She saw Harris, buckling his belt as he run, and the next Hash showed him vaulting to (.'alien's back The thundet ot tioofs drew tier eyes to Hie bed ground where a black mass surged, then bore olT up the valley A scatlere.! line ot riders bin down on Ihe lnd two ghostly ipi:iriii.ns among them throwing the cows into a panic ot tear She knew these for riders Happing yellow sllikers In the wind As Ihe Mghi failed she saw three horizontal red streaks cut the obscurity and knew ihat one of hei guards wa in the midst ot the rus Hers, doing his single-han4Hd best. The red splashes of answering ghoti showed on all sides of him. 81ie tugged on her chaps and boots, slipped Papoose's Pa-poose's picket rope and raul'ed t his back. The scene wag once more Illuminated Illumi-nated as she rode from the wagon. A riderless horse circled In the fiat, a dark shape sprawled near him, and she wondered which one of her men hud gone down. A knot of horsemen were turning np an opening gulch on the far side of the vallev. A ho dozen Three Bar riders veered their horses for the spot. Harris turned In his saddle and his voice reached her above (he tumult. "Let 'em go I" he shouted. "Let 'em go ! Hold the herd 1" Far off on the opposite side she made out i loni horseman riding at a full run al ng thi sldehlll above the cows as be made a supreme effort to reach th- head of the run. The Three Bar men split and streamed ill both sides of the bottoms. The Hashes had ceased except for brief quivering plays of less than a second's duration She hung her spurs into Papoose and trusted to his footwork. A halt-Hare showed the pinto bare twenty yards ahead, with Harris putting him at the slope to pass the cows. She swung her own ho ?e after him and she felt the frequent skid o. his feet on the treacherous .sldelui. From th" sounds below she knew they were well up on the flanks of the run and Dearing the peak. The stampede seemed slowing. A long, wavering flash revealed Harris a dozen lumps ahead. Papoose followed the paint-horse as Harris put Calico down the slippeiy sidehill and lifted him round the point of the herd. In the same flash Billie had seen two slickers slick-ers out before the peaks of Ihe run. Happing weirdly In the faces of the foremost cows. This accounted for the shnving-up she had sensed. Two of her men were before them and she wondered how this had come to pass. The lightulng-plny broke forth once more. She iaw two riders swinging round the opposite point. The two slickers were working In the center. Harris' gun Hashed six times. She jerked her own and rolled it The two riders wIk had Just rounded the far point joined it. Cows In the front ranks held hack from this fearsome commotion out in front. The stor i ceased as suddenly as it had begun and for two miles she rod in inky darkness. The run had spent It- force. The herd stopped and the cows gazed stupidly about, standing with drooping heads and heaving sides. Three Bar men showed on both Hanks are in Hie rear. They had held the drove intact and prevented Its splitting up in detachments and scat rering through the night Horns ..n 1 Sloore rode over to them and for the first time the girl noticed that the two men who had w -dded slickers out In front of the run were owhere to he seen "Who was the pair out ahead?" Moore asked "And what swallowed em up?" Harris s look his head. "Billie and I were the fir-t to make the front he said. iol any, Moore stiuea positively "I saw 'em nve minutes hefore you two swung found, the point. 1 w on guard nd halfway up the far side. Split oar took a header witb me and delayed me some." He pointed to the mud crusted on his clothes. Billie knew that be w..s the lone rider she lad seen on the Hanks ol tin herd as she . ule away from the wagon. The fall accounted tor their rounding the point ahead ot lii ra. Moore was looking off across the country. "Do you lean to tell me you didn'l see those two slickers flapping oui in front?" he demanded. "1 confess 1 didn't observe any," Harris said. "Your're gelling spooky. Moore. A couple ol while cows, like ly, out ahea'' of t lie rest." Moore regarded him curiously. "Maybe that's so." he said "Waving their tails in the air. Sort of." He grinned and turned his horse to head back a hu.icl that had drifted out of the herd. "The boys made a nice ride," Harris Har-ris said ro Home. "You float round from one to the next ar.d tell em we'll soon have a feed. I'll ride back and send the wagon up." Billie rode with him as he skirted the herd and started on the return trip Hei Mill . was occupied with the two riders who hao slowed the run and dsappeared. There had been something Familial about them As she had viewed them in the light mug s flash they had closely resembled Bentley and Carp But she derided that this resemblance had been but a fancied m" , suggested by the fad that the two men had been much on her mind u late. (TO RK C 'NTINI.'ED I |