Show ROBBERS ROOST by zane grey copyrighted fe feature a ture L THE STORY CHAPTERS I 1 AND ir II while at green river utah jim wall a young cowpuncher from wyoming saves the life of hank hays a rustler by bluffing a gambler out of shooting him hays who is plotting to steal from his employer herrick harrick asks jim to join him and with hays happy jack and lincoln jim starts for herricks ranch but soon regrets the step he bo has taken CHAPTER in the four arrive at the ranch herrick announces that his sister helen Is coming hays and his lieutenants ride away to drive off the first bunch of cattle and leave jim tp to shoot it out if necessary with heeseman hays rival heeseman tells wall that hays once his bis partner double crossed him heeseman leaves CHAPTER IV heeseman tells wall that hays once his partner double crossed him herrick sends jim to grand junction to meet his bis sister CHAPTER V jim tells hays I 1 who displays unusual interest in miss herrick that she brought a package probably of money CHAPTER VL continued she rode on slowly down ridge without looking to right left her gaze appeared to be lowered the ranch house bouse came in sight miss herrick saw it and halted a moment to let jim c catch atch up with her can you be gentleman enough to tell me the truth she asked 1 I have not lied to you replied jim that that first time you kissed hissed me was it honestly unpremeditated mi miss herrick I 1 dont know what to swear by but yes I 1 have my mother I 1 swear by memory of her that I 1 never dreamed of insulting you yoa I 1 looked up there your face was close your ups lips red and I 1 kissed them they went on for perhaps ten paces as far as the road before she spoke again 1 I believe you she said without a tremor of the rich low voice though it was evident ev her emotion was deeply stirred your action was inexcusable unforgivable but I 1 should not have struck you with the whip that and your passion to frighten me perhaps justifies your yo ur brutality I 1 shall not tell dont leave star ranch for an instant jim felt as if he were upon the verge of a krecl precipice pice but her change from revulsion to inscrutable generosity called to all that was good within him miss herrick I 1 am sorry but I 1 must leave he replied sadly im only a wandering rider a gunslinger 91 and a member of a gang of robbers and I 1 was mad enough to fall fail in love with you forget it go home to england but if you wont do that never ride out alone again he spurred his horse and galloped down the road by the barns and across the court into the lane that led along the brook suddenly denly he espied a compact group of mounted riders coming down the road beyond I lays hays cabin they bestrode bays and blacks and there was that about them which drew jim sharply up with a fiery thrill smokes outfit hays stood out in front of the cabin bareheaded his legs spread apart as if to anchor himself sol idly icily his hands at his hips his sandy hair standing up ruffled like a mane huh hub the boss mad oh ob no soliloquized jim small smal wonder smokes outfit has busted loose or is going to now ive a hunch bunch theres luck in this for me jim made for the bridge and crossing looked up to see the horses of smokes outfit standing bridles down and the riders up on the porch jim mounted the steps hank hays haya sat upon the bench his hia shaggy head against the wall his hia pale eyes blazing at the row of men leaning on the porch rail smoky was lighting a cigarette not in the least perturbed but his e y had bad a hard steely gleam brad lincoln sat back on the rail eyeing the chief with a sardonic grin grill mac appeared more than unusually ghoulish bridges and latimer betrayed extreme nervousness hello men the mix am I 1 in or out returned jim sharply 1 I reckon your in replied slocum hank is the only one theta out ayar jim ketch this he drew a dark green bundle from a bulging pocket and tossed it to jim a large heavy roll of green backs tied with a buckskin thong yours on the divvy jim went on smoky dont count it now theres a heap of small bills inside an if you untie them ayar therell be a mess meas but its a square dewy to the last dollar a man to get for nothing observe a man to gelfor nothing observed jim dubiously he then noticed that a roll bills identical with the one he just received lay on the floor you double crossed me out hays at length wal ac cordin to how you look at it retorted slocum things came up at grand junction we seen some of heesemann Hee semans outfit onto us ua or will be pronto so we jest took a vo vote an every one of us stood for one big biff drive instead of small drives an we made it your buyers swore they was short of money an would pay twelve dollars a head talk about robbers wal I 1 took thet an said I 1 liked it il 11 you disobeyed orders put it up to jim byar what do you say jim thus appealed to jim addressed hays point blank smokes ys right jf if you meant to clean out herrick that was the way to do it aw shore side with them 1 I do anything of the kind if I 1 thought they were wrong 11 retorted jim angrily angi ily here was a chance to inflame hays that he jumped at if the robber could be drawn into a fight when his own men were against him the situation for the herricks could be made easler easier for the arsent better shet up 11 1 I wont shet up hays someone has baa to tell you and im that fellow theres no hand out against you in this outfit never heard of a bunch of riders work like dogs while the boss was twiddling his thumbs and talking mysterious 1 I aint ready to leave star ranch an now ill have to why aint you ready queried smoky curiously our works all alone weve cleaned out the two story ranch except for a few thousand head weve got the long green you ought to be tickled to death im not through here replied the robber smoky why dont you ask hays what this mysterious deal is queried jim sarcastically from a cornered lion hays degenerated into a cornered rat jim sank a little into his boots while his upper muscles corded hank got into you queried smoky smoky the boss is up a tree said jim caustically he means to r rob ob herrick all right but only a blind its the girl thet gold headed girl we seen you darivin ayar yes herricks sister haw I 1 hawl haw so taets catin you hank hays had reached his limit and probably but for smokes mirth would have started hostilities he hesitated but there was a deadly flare in the eyes he had fixed on wall smoky got between them see byar hank so the deal an do fer pore jim ayar jest because hes onto you wal if youre so keen as thet to draw on somebody why make it me I 1 started this I 1 dragged jim into it and I 1 aint goin to let you take it out on him jims right smoky youre right he declared hoarsely im bullheaded an ive lost my bull head over Her herricks sister there spoke up like a man declared smoky heartily relieved T why you come thet clean long ago neither jim nor me nor any of us blame you fer ad mirin thet gurl and if gone c razy crazy an dragged her away into the brakes with us wed quit you cold hays bent to pick up the roll of bills fall to men ive got to do some tall th inkin he ha said and left lef t them before they were half finished with their supper hays entered were the dust of star ranch tonight he said deliberately pack up an leave at once ill come later if I 1 dont meet you at smokes camp ill meet you shore at midday in thet cedar grove above the head bead of red canyon no one asked any more questions or made any comments whatever they thought about hays peculiar way of leading his band they kept to themselves jim wall was not greatly relieved still he concluded that hays must abandon any plot he might have concocted toward Her herricks sister at any rate whatever was in hays mind jim could not further risk alienating him or his men jim would have to ride out with them if he stayed behind to spy upon hays or frustrate any attempt he be might make to call upon the herricks he would have to kill hays to be continued |