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Show The Settling of the Sage ffi, CHAPTER X Continued 20 "I'm sort of expecting mnybe the Three Bar will mnke up the deficit," Allien sulii. "It's cheaper than paying rewards. That's another reason I don't think Cal had a hand In this blacklist report." The storekeeper grinned. "Surely not. Surely not. Td never suspect him of that." he said. "But nil the same It's working just as well as If he really had." The first warm days of spring had drawn the frost from the ground. Dll-lle Dll-lle rode beside Harris down the lane to the lower field. A tiny cabin stood completed on every filing. Two men were digging post holes across the valley val-ley below the edge of the Inst fall's plowing and the mule teams were steadily breaking out another strip. "Almost a year." she said, referring to the commencement of the new work. "Just a year today," Harris corrected, correct-ed, and he was thinking of the day he bad first met the Three Bar girl. "This i our anniversary, sort of." She nodded as she caught his meaning. mean-ing. "The anniversary of our partnership," partner-ship," she said. "You told me there were millions oi miles of sage just outside. And millions of cows and girls." "Later 1 told you something else," he said. "And I've been meaning it ever since. The road to the outside Is closed. If I was to start now I'd lose the way." She pointed dowi the valley as a drove of horses noved toward them under the guidance of a dozen men. The hands would start breaking out the remuda the following day. The spring work was on. "Off to a running' start on another year," he said. "And sure to hold our lead. From today on out, you and I'll be a busy pair," he prophesied. His prediction proved true. The Three Bar was a beehive of activity and it seemed that the hours ber een dawn and dark were all too short for the amoun nj wo-k Harris wished to crowd Into them. The cowhands were breaking out the horses in the corrals while the acreage of plowed land in the lower fields steadily increased. The day that Evans led the men out on the calf round-up, the mule teams made their first trip across the plowed land with the drill. The fields were being seeded to alfalfa al-falfa and oats so that the fastei growing grow-ing grain might shade and protect the tender shoots of hay. Before the g ain ripened it would be cut green for hay, cured and stf'ked. Early rains had moistened the Belds and they were faintly green with liny shoots of oats. These thickened Into a rank velvety carpet while the homesteaders were hauling a hundred loads of recks to form a crude dam across the stream below the take-out The water was gradually raised till it ran almost flush with the top of the head gate. The gates were tinted and the diverted waters sped smoothly down the nev channel to carry life to q portion of the sapebrush desert As the tangible results of the work heenme more apparent Harris' vig llance increased. There was now more th in plowed ground to work on ; crops to be trampled at a time when they would not lift again to permit of mowing; fences to be wrecked so that range stock might have free access ac-cess to the fields. A single night could apset the work of many months. But as he stood with Billie at the mouth of the lani ' he allowed none of his thoughts to be reflected in his speech Billie Warren haif-closed her eyes and viewe the broad expanse of rip pling gree" in the bottoms, tlow rmm.v times she had stoou here In the past with old Cal Warren while. he visioned this very picture which now un rolled before her eyes In reality; the transformation ot the Three Bar flat ! from a desert waste to a scene of I abundant fertility nder the reclaim ' Ing touch of water, j It was a quiet picture ot farm life I It one looked only upon the blooming ; fielus end took no account of the raw, barren foothills that flanked them the gfunt., towering range behind She found It difficult to link the scene he-fore he-fore her with the deviltry of a few months past. The killing of Bungs and Rile Foster's consequent grim retaliation; re-taliation; the raid cm Three Bar bulls and the tampede of her trail herd; all those eemed part of some life so lone In the past as to form no part of her present No man In the field ever strayed far from the rifle whicl was part of his equipment. But even tills was an evi dence of vigilance vhlch had met her : eye every day for months and had ' ceased to Impress. They walked to the neai edge ot the field and Harris dropptd a hand on her shoulder and stood looking ; down at her. "Billie, don't you think ft's about ' time you were finding out what Judge Colton wauts?" he asked. "He's been right insistent on your going back to confei with him." The girl shook her head pisitivel ' Two munt'.iF before Judge Colton had written that he must advise wlir hei on matters of importance and suggest ; ei tha sh coma on at once. Harris ; had urged her to go and almost daih referred t. It. "I can't go now." she said "N"i .:; till I've seen one whole senson I lircnigh j.; When i ne first Three Bat crop Is c-ui ;j and Id stack I'll go All olhci uusi By HAL G. EVARTS Copyright by Hal O. Evarte WNIJ Service ness must wait till then. You two can't drive me away till after I see that first crop In the stack." "If you'd go now you'd likely get back before we're through cutting," he urged. "And the Judge has written twice In the last two weeks. Before she could answer this a horseman appeared on the valley' road. The furthest Irrigator, merely a speck In the distance, exchanged shovel for rifle and crossed to the fence. The rider, a ; If expecting some such move, pulled up his horse and approached at a walk. Harris saw the two confer. The horseman handed some object to the It's, Cheaper Than Paying Rewards. other and urged his horse on toward the house. He was one of the sheriff's deputies. He grinned as he tapped his empty holster. "One of your watchdogs lifted my gun," he said. He handed Harris a note. After reading it Harris looked at his watch and snapped It shut, glanced at the sinking sun and turned to the girl. "1 have to make a little jaunt," he explained. "Aldrn wants to see me. I'll take Waddles along. As we go down I'll send Russ or Tiny up to cook for the rest." The deputy turned bis horse Into the corral and five minutes later Harris Har-ris and Waddles rode away. Waddles was mounted on Creamer, the big buckskin. "We'll have to step right along," Harris said. "It's forty miles." They held the horses to a stiff swinging trot th ,t devoured the miles without seeming to tire their mounts. For four hours they headed south and a little east, never slackening their pace except to breathe the horses on some sleep ascent. Thj buckskin and the paint-horse had lost the first snap of their trot and it was evident that they would soon begin to lag. anom er hour and they had slowed down perceptiihly. The two men dismounted and tied the horses to the brush In a sheltered shel-tered coulee, then started across a broad Hut on foot. Out in the center a spot showed darker than the rest the old cabin where Carpenter had elected to start up for himself after being discharged from the Three Bar When within a hundred yards of the cabin - horse, tied to a hltci post In front, neighed shrilly and Harris laid a restraining hand on Waddles' arm. They knelt in the brush hs the door opened and a man stood silhouetted sil-houetted against the light. Afier a space of two minutes Carp's voice reached them. "Not a sound anywheres," he said. 'Likely "ome horses drifting past." He went Inside and closed the door. The two men circled the :abln and came up from the rear. A window stood opened some eight Inches from the bottom. Through the holes in the ragged (lour sack that served as a cur tain Harris secured a view of the In side Carp and Slade sat facing across a little table in the center of the room. "1 want to clenn up and go," Carp was saying. "This d n Harris put me on the black list." "You've been on It for three morths," Slade said. "Nothing - has happened yet. But don't let me keep you from pulling out any time you like." "But I've got a settlement to make," Carp Insisted. "Let's get that fixed up." "Settlement?" Slade asked. "Settlement "Settle-ment with who?" Carpenter leaned across the table and tapped It to erapulslze his remarks. re-marks. "Listen. Morrow gnve me a bill of sale from you calling for a hundred head of Three Bar she-stock, rebrund-ed rebrund-ed Triangle on the hip." Slade nodded shortly. "1 gave Morrow that for two years' back pay when he quit. He could sell out to you If he liked." "And now 1 want to sell out," Carp said. "And be gone from here." "How many head have you got?" Slade asked. "Three hundred head," Carp stated. "You've increased right fast," Slade remarked. "I'd think you'd. want to stay where you was doing so well. How much do you want?" "Five dollars straight through," Carp said. "Cheap enough," Slade answered. "If only a man was in the market." He looked straight at Carp and the man's eyes slipped away from Slade's steady gaze. "But I'm not buying Likely Morrow will buy you out." "Morrow ought to be here now," Carp stated. "He's coming tonight." "Then I d better go." Slade said. "1 don't like Morrow's ways." The thud of horse's hoofs sounded from close at hand. The two men outside out-side lay flat In the shadow of the house. A shrill whistle, twice repeated, re-peated, called Carp to his feet and be crossed to the door to answer It Morrow Mor-row dismounted and came to the door. He nodr.ed briefly to Slade, hesitating on the sill as if surprised to find him there. Carp lost no time in stating his proposition. He spoke jerkily. "I want to get out," he said. "I'll sell for five dollars a head." Morrow held up a hand to silence him "I'll likely buy but 1 never talk business Ir a crowd." He crossed the room and sat with his back to the window. win-dow. "There's plenty of time." "I take it I'm tha crowd," Slade remarked. re-marked. "So I'll step out." Morrow stiffened suddenly in his chair as cold ring was pressed against the back of his neck through the crack of the window. At the same Instant Carp had tilted back and raised one knee. The gun that rested on his leg was peeping over the table at Slade. "Steady!" he ordered. "Sit tight I" The window was thrown up to .ts full heigh: by Waddles and the curtain cur-tain snatched awai from the gun which Harris held against Morrow's neck. Carp flipped back his vest and revealed a marshal's badge. "I'd as aoon take you along feet first as any way," he said. "So if you feel like acting up you caD start any time now." Slade's eyes came back frou the two men at the window and rested on the badge. "So that's It," he said with evident relief. "A real arrest when I figured It was an old-fashioned murder you had planned. What do you rant with me?" Waddles had reached down and removed re-moved Morrow's gun. "A number of things," Carpenter said. "Obstructing the homestead laws for one." Slade shook his head and smiled. "You've got the wrong party," he said. "Yoo can't prove anything on me." "1 don't count on that," Carp said "You've covered up right veil. We know you work through Morrow but can't pruve a word. We've got enough to hang him; but I expect maybe you'll get off." There was a scrape of feet outside the door and the sheriff entered and took possession of Slade's gun as Har ris and Waddles moved round from the window and went Inside. "I'm a few minutes late," Alden said "1 wasn't right sure how close I was to the house so I left my horse too far back." "Here's your prisoners," Carp said "Captured and delivered as agreed. I haven't anything on Slade myself but if you want him he's yours." "What do you want with me?" Slade demanded a second time. "I'm picking you up on complain! made by the Three Bar," Alden said "I'll have to take you along." Slade turned on Harris. "What charge?" he asked. (TO BE CONTINUED.) |