Show ROBBERS ROOST by zane grey copyrighted feature A THE STORY CHAPTERS I 1 AND IL II while at green river utah jim wall a young cowpuncher from wyoming saves the life of I lank hank hays a rustler by bluffing a gambler out of shooting him hays who is plotting to steal from his employer herrick asks ji jim in to join him and with hays happy jack and lincoln jim starts for herricks ranch but soon regrets the step he has taken CHAPTER III the four arrive at the ranch herrick announces that his sister helen is coming r hays and his lieutenants rido ride away to drive off the first bunch of cattle and leave jim to shoot it out if necessary with heeseman hays rival heeseman He cseman tells wall that hays once his partner double crossed him hooseman Ho Hee cseman semart leaves CHAPTER IV continued awakening early he got up and leisurely shaved and dressed paying more ilhan than usual attention to his appearance he was there to escort an english girl 50 miles to the ranch one thing he be was sure of across the wilderness to star and that was that it would be vastly better for miss herrick than if hank hays had been sent suddenly this fact struck jim as singular was he any better than hank hays after breakfast he went out and found a boy to shine his hightop high top boots and brush his dark worn suit and his black sombrero presently then he encountered barnes howdy boy did you have a nice time home gee I 1 did grinned the cowboy you sure look bright this morning wal you look kinds kinda spick an span yourself jim drawled barnes funny how the idear of a gurl gets a feller funny you mean terrible my friend A woman is as terrible as an army approaching with banners gosh ever dreamed you had seen inside a bible exclaimed the cowboy its funny though how I 1 happened to remember that now barnes listen this miss herrick might take me for an honest decent fellow like you but if I 1 let that pass id be sailing under false colors I 1 dont do that and as I 1 cant very well tell her myself you mus must f tell her what queried barnes with a puzzled grin you know the kind of a man I 1 am 1 I 1 sort of like you myself so if you want me to tell her any thin you must say what well then tell her about herrick hir hiring ingall all the desperadoes in utah and that im one of them make me out worse than hays and heeseman thrown together shore taets easy but the idear jim 1 I always an outcast and I 1 think burn bum me less if this girl was seared scared and repelled if she took me for a real westerner you know and talked and laughed well weli rd go get powerfully drunk and probably shoot up star ranch so you fix it for me will you barnes shore ill fix it replied barnes with a sly glance at jim you give me a when th the stage rolls up ashes due now ill run down an drive the buckboard up but the stage did not show up for an hour a long nervous dragging one for jim wall grand junction was no different from other western points remote from civilization everybody turned out to see the stage come in it was a gala occasion for the youngsters of whom there was a surprising pris g number the women onlookers jim observed rather hung in the background the four horse came up in a cloud of dust the driver a grizzled old frontiersman brought it to a stop with a fine flourish and bawled out grand junction function half hour fer lunch there were six passengers two of them feminine the last to leave the stage was a tall veiled young woman her lithe and erect figure encased in a long linen coat she carried a small satchel satel expectantly she looked around jim stepped before her baring his head are you miss herrick oli oh yes she exclaimed in relief r your brother sent us to meet you p went on jim indicating barnes who stood to one side he did not come the full rich voice with its foreign intonation struck pleasantly upon jims ear no theres much work at star ranch but its perfectly all r right miss herrick cewill we will drive you safely over before dark jim could not see clearly through the tan veil but he discerned well enough that big eyes studied him he send a letter or anything yan how am I 1 to know you men are employed by my brother im afraid have to take my word replied jim gravely but eames barnea here can prove his identity he lives in grand junction and of course there are responsible people who will vouch for him miss the boss did send word spoke up barnes bames touching his hat and stepping closer he added in in I 1 lower tone he told me last night you was to fetch what come by wells fargo then it is all right she replied my luggage is inside on top and tied on behind the name is on every piece helen herrick ill attend to the baggage miss herrick rejoined jim meanwhile barnes bames will show you where to eat it might rest you to walk a little we have an eight hour drive thank you ive been riding steadily for two weeks and tm rm stiff whereupon jim set about collecting the pieces of baggage marked herrick it appeared that the stage had been loaded down with them nineteen in all manifestly miss herrick had bad come to stay to find room for all of them in the buckboard was going to be a task he set about this methodically his mind at once busy and absent by packing carefully under the seats and on them too jim got the bags all in he went to the store and bought rope to tie some of them on securely wonder what she looks like he thought he had felt vaguely uncomfortable when she looked him over through that veil his task completed jim stood beside the restless horses waiting and it seemed he was waiting for lie he knew not what presently barnes bames returned wearing an excited grin his eyes were important jim I 1 fixed it I 1 shore gave her an earful he said did you much obliged cowboy she took of thet coat an veil lordy utah never seen the likes of her red lips pink cheeks hair like gold an eyes like violets jim for a linit I 1 went plumb back on my gurl but shucks taets crazy she asked me to set at table I 1 did ashes just as nice an free as herrick it was while we was batin thet I 1 had the to tell her about the notorious jim wall debbe I 1 spread it on an she looked gee such eyes she said so bernie bemie herrick sent a desperado to be my escort how perfectly rippin honest jim taets what she said so I 1 shot shet up pronto when I 1 jest come away she said shed walk a little in the orchard an after goin into the wells pargo fargo office shed be ready have you double crossed me queried jim suspicious of this boy you were to make me out lowdown low down jim honest to bawd if thet gurl aint seared scared to death of you ashes a new one on me declared barnes but there was fun and evasion in his keen hazel eyes somehow he had failed to follow instructions TU rii go in the chinks here and get a bite to eat you watch the horses upon his bis return jim espied miss herrick emerging from the yard of mrs bowes lodging house she carried the linen coat on her arm and without it did not appear so wl tall she had a wonderful step a free swinging graceful stride expressive of health and vitality she did not look slender as in the long ulster but superb broad of shoulder she wore a half length coat over her brown dress it had a collar of dark fur which presented vivid contrast to her exquisite complexion the veil was tucked back and now permitted sight of a wave of shining golden hair at a little distance her eyes looked like great dark holes set in white but as she approached jim saw that they were violet in hue warm beautiful fearless are arc we ready to go she asked gayly yes if you have seen the fargo people replied jim 1 I have it in my satchel she returned indicating the half hid den receptacle under her linen coat jim tried to interest himself in that satchel because he was in league with robbers but it did not work suddenly he had bad a murderous desire to kill hays this girl for she appeared a girl in vivid freshness of youth seemed not in the least frightened absolutely free from re revulsion sion indeed she was regarding him with undisguised interest and delight mr jim wall youre not in the least what ray my brothers letters have led me to believe she said letters why herrick has not had time to write about me exclaimed jim incredulously it takes long for a stage letter to go ive been at star ranch only a few days oh he did not write about you individually she laughed but from his jett letters ers about bandits and desperadoes I 1 had evolved a rather frightful conception thank you miss herrick he replied gravely dont trust appearances pe arances on our western border will you get up we must bo be going and he attempt attempted ted to assist her inside the back seat beat of the buckboard if you are going to drive I 1 r want to sit in front she said frankly with a bow he helped her up the high step cursing inwardly at hank hays and herrick and the inscrutable fate that had brought this about for some way or other he was lost loaf he almost forgot to wait for barnes who was saying goodby good by to a red cheeked checked wide eyed girl in the crowd eames barnes came running to leap into the buckboard and then jim got in owing to the way he had packed the baggage there was not a great deal of room in the front seat his heavy gun and sheath bumped against miss herrick rather tight quarters with that gun there he remarked and swung the sheath round in his lap do you sleep in it she asked quizzically yes and aad never am dressed in the daytime ull till its budded buckled on what startling folks you western americans some of us are indeed startling I 1 hope you wont find us unpleasantly so he replied and loosening the reins let the spirited team go in a few moments the noise dust heat and the staring populace of grand junction had been left far behind and the red and black ranges lifter above the meadows and sage oh glorious she cried and gazed raptly ahead as the curving road brought into view a wonderful sweep of utah jim was hard put to it to keep the blacks from breaking out of a brisk trot he thought grimly that he would have liked to let the team run off and kill them both far better that than what might be miss herricks Her ricka photograph on her brothers desk fell infinitely short of doing her justice it failed to give any hint of her color of the vivid lips of the glory and gleam of her hair of the dancing laughing violet eyes of her pulsing vitality jim wall felt the abundant life of this girl it flowed out of her it got into his veins it heated his blood the wind makes me cry she said merrily or maybe its because im so happy you say well get to star ranch before dark surely oh its been such a long ang slow dusty cramped journey she exclaimed but now I 1 want to see sec to smell to feel to gloat miss herrick this is a fine fined co country but tame compared to that all about the henrys you will see them when we top the next hill ive seen most of the west and the canyon desert below star ranch is the wildest and most sublime of all the west probably of the whole world indeed you speak strongly not to say surprisingly it never occurred to me that a gunman that is what you are is it not could have any appreciation odthe of the wonder and beauty of nature A common mistake miss herrick rejoined jim nature de the men who spend their lonely hard bloddy bloo dy lives with her mostly she makes them into beasts with self preservation the only instinct but it is conceivable that one now and then might develop the opposite way you interest me she replied simply tell me of this canyon desert and such men jim talked for a full hour in by her unflagging interest he described the magnificent reaches and escarpments ending ding in wild horse mesa and the unknown canyo ned abyss between it and navajo mountain and lastly the weird ghastly brakes of the dirty devil ugh how you make me shiver ZO sho ejaculated but its wonderful rm im sick of people of fog rain dirt cold noise rd id like to get lost down in those red canyons to tie be continued |