Show MARKED EL ML M A aw am EL MAN lk A N by H C WIRE hervle 0 D appleton century inc CHAPTER XIV continued 9 fisher and paul champion were in the middle of the bunk room near an iron barrel stove that had no fire A single oil lamp gave dim yellow light so savagely was he gripped in the urge to smash through any more barriers and evasions that candys stride carried him on close to horse thief fisher and before the bronc rider had gathered what was happening an elbow was hooked around his neck and a hard fist was pushing against his nose if you dont open up and talk to me said gandy im going to crack your skull and see in iti it then he grinned dropping his arms horsechief Horse thief for lords sake lets go at this thing fifty fifty 1 1 I think youre the only man on the CC C C that has nothing to hide ive listened to a lot of talk that tells hear some some nothing nathine nn thine now I 1 want to without a joker in it what do you say horsechief Horse thief fisher stared blinking sun squinted eyes then the round face wrinkled with good humor it lasted but a moment sobering he be said youre right gandy plenty of side mouth bothin straight out he wiped an open hand downward over his face as if to iron os off the wrinkles a slow movement considering walt gandy during the process ive been on you he admitted maybe youre the man I 1 been lookin for hollister well some things happened to bill lately cash hes kept away from gun fightlin too long and miss helen heien shucks I 1 dont know ashes all balled up somehow gandy propped himself against a post supporting double bunks and took papers and tobacco from the side pocket of his coat paul he asked turning to the boy whose ears were visibly sticking out rustle some wood and build us a fire will you sure As young champion went out he took his belt and big forty five from a nail next the door now then horsechief Horse thief said gandy tell me who rode off when you came back to the place tonight I 1 know its true because somebody was at the house before I 1 got there who was it man fisher declared 1 I dont know but I 1 sure wish I 1 didi did his squinted blue eyes shone with honest eagerness 1 I do he explained pla ined because I 1 been figurin myself that it was time to quit this game of guesswork and see just who had stacked the cards I 1 owe cash cameron a debt that id like to pay back by fightlin figh tin for the C C but where do a fellow begin when the cook was found dead I 1 had my hunch but now with ranger powell he raised hard hands and let them fall make a guess gandy urged about tonight I 1 mean who could have been there in the house while the rest of us were away and who might have been taking off across the bench when you came in horsechief Horse thief shook his bald head 1 I see it was paul who caught sight of someone on a smoky blue thought he did anyway but the only man that rides a smoky blue in these parts have been on the C C leastwise hed be a fool if he did come sn eakin around now that be fisher gandy asked jeff stoddard in the act ot of rolling a cigarette walt candys fingers stopped movement and his brown ey eyes es lifted for a long studying look at the man before him stoddard owner of the 17 77 florse thief fisher nodded only one I 1 know of ridin such an animal but stoddard aint set toot foot on the place since bent lavic began pot shots at him two year ago leastwise I 1 always fig figured ared it was lavic and now with cameron and stoddard on the peck over winter range in the sink it dont seem no way sensible that jeff should show up here he looked along the bunk at fisher who had backed aga against dinst the edge and sat down what was bent lavic shooting at stoddard for judas I 1 dont knowl except that the old fellow is nuts hol hoi lister told you about him some lavic aimed to be king cowman here and and seems to hold it against cameron that it 1 hates cameron said fisher flatly hates hollister too ive seen it the last couple of months man 1 I trust that old rooster the other side of a fence lest I 1 could watch himl but then theres helen bet he burns candles to that girl like a fellow does in church to one of his he sure worships the kid so when jeff stoddard took it into his noodle to come courtin a couple of year ago I 1 figure it was lavic who used to singe his ears with a rifle bullet quite too frequent when nighttime came and stoddard started home silent for a moment walt gandy rolled the paper ball in tightening fingers then he looked down and met fishers gaze helen in love with stoddard was she naw school kid stuff the man declared she was nineteen stoddard must have been thirty five cash he like it so much and the thing was ended walt gandy said nothing he stood motionless leaning with a shoulder braced against the bunk support but with a body gone all at once cold from more than the chilled air of the room for it was plain to hi him m now who had been in the house w with ith helen helan this afternoon CHAPTER XV THE T HE immediate and too obvious conclusion brought by this knowledge held him in its tight muscled silence for perhaps five minutes vaguely he knew that horsechief hors Horse thief fisher had gone to the door and looked out and that paul champion had not returned with the wood the room grew chillier fisher came back and stood near the cold barrel stove walt gandy continued to study the brown cigarette paper crushed in his fingers helen and stoddard A man thirty five owner of the largest outfit next to the CC and camerons enemy only yesterday pete kelso of the 77 in offering a short but well paid job had said theres going to be one smashing scramble for public range that the C CC C controls the man I 1 boss for is getting the jump the man was stoddard and stoddard had been here today secretly with a girl who had fought to keep him from being discovered school kid stuff horsechief Horse thief fisher had declared A the thing was ended was it through those five minutes walt gandy stood in a mood both bitter and hard piling one grim thought upon another in what seemed for a little while an absolute case against the girl but in the end he knew he was overlooking one fact helen cameron was no cheat gandy twisted his cigarette and bent over the lamp chimney for a light horsechief Horse thief fisher had once more crossed to the door opened it and was looking into the dark his bow legs had carried him on a step outside when from somewhere on the slope above the bunk house a guns sudden crash jarred the deep silence at the first impact gandy puffed out the lamp he straightened up in darkness one hand slipping out the thirty eight he heard fisher leap into the room the door remained open and outside after the rolling echo of that first explosion had faded from the timbered slope all sounds of every sort were hushed gandy over here fisher hunched out of the dark come on you heard where that tha t was from not exactly the garden patch I 1 said fish fishers er s husky voice where the cook got his but gandy thought otherwise that the he shot had come from higher up in in timber where powells body lay moving outside and sliding on rapidly across open ground beyond the bunk house he saw that fisher close on his left had strapped a belt holster over blue jeans A dull glint of gunmetal gun metal showed in the bronc bron c riders hand fishers left hand came out suddenly they stopped 1 I dunno he whispered answering ng a questioning turn of gandys candys head thought I 1 saw something walt was a little in advance over his shoulder he said guess not ive been watching lets go on again horsechief Horse thief fishers hand groped out of the dark and touched shook his head they stood facing up the slope minutes P passed assed he could feel horsechief Horse thief begin to shift restlessly to the right of them the barbed wire creaked in a fence post staple the sound was as abruptly startling as a shot someone was crawling through the fence gandy turned his head whispering fisher you wait less noise one at a time ill go As he crept on beside the barbed wires his eyes began to pick objects out of what had seemed solid blackness when a gray blot moved across his vision soundless as his own forward advance it took shape at once in human form softly gun leveled gandy said hold your hands up I 1 keep quiet q U iet I 1 11 As if jerked by springs two arms shot up and stayed rigid in the air come here he ordered paul champion chamion came to him out of the dark eidl you in a hot flare as tension left him walt gandy snapped are you crazy then he saw that the boy was shaking walt paul began 1 I his mouth continued to work but no words word came he still gripped the big forty five in his right hand and the sharp odor of burned powder drifted from it gandy took han by the arm and moved back along the fence picked up fisher saying nothing until they were again in the tall corn rows there in a low voice he asked now toy boy what happened why did you come up here and what did you shoot at young champion seemed to have got hold of himself A man he said he was right there right beside that that you know ranger powell I 1 saw him and he saw me and raised a rifle I 1 had to shoot first then he just faded walt I 1 hit him but he just there any more the boy finished in high pitch V easy paul N walt said take another breath kid and start again what were you doing up here any way he bent forward to see the me young face but could make out only the vague hollows of eyes and next minute they were turned from him young champion answer gandy gripped his arm look here paul better talk if you I 1 k theres going to be one smashing scramble for public range that the C C controls followed anyone or know who it was you shot at you tell us 1 I see anyone honest until I 1 got here the boy answered head down well what were you looking for the head lifted 1 I dont want to tell you walt let me got go horsechief Horse thiet thief fisher spoke angrily from gandys candys side you young jackass by thunder never mind horsechief Horse thief said gandy kid you travel on back quick get to the bunk house and dont you move from there again tonight 1 he watched the vanishing form then to fisher what do you make of that beyond me I 1 dont figure tie lie trailed anyone no business up here except maybe he was curious paul pokes that nose of his into places where he sometimes you mean curious to have a look at powell the old bronc rider nodded he stood silent for a moment staring then in a low voice with a sudden angry growl in it he said im tired of this ive had enough of baitin around to see chos goin to be next I 1 dont aim to put up with it much more neither sure gandy agreed but what are you going to do about it 1 I know what id do all right ts well what go get me seven eight men I 1 know of boy give me shirtless bailey and hack bowers and them fellows and id make one outfit hereabouts go on home hoine and spend a you mean the 77 1 I sure do me and paul found some 77 cows shoved into the sink today they had been moving slowly along the corn rows now at the edge of clear ground gandy stopped you go on in he said ill cut a circle back up to the house I 1 want to locate lavic whenever bent lavic could not be found at his chores or anywhere among the sheds and corrals on the lower ranch lot look for him in the swing that peculiarity walt had already noted he was trying to locate the swin swing 9 trea tree now wind that had made a pressure e against his face eased 0 off ff somewhere not far ahead the building was sheltering him he moved on and in another stop j jerked e aked back to a standstill white horizontal lines were before his eyes the plaster chinking between logs of the house with this discovery gandy stood waiting v until he could place the windows by their dark square patches cutting the white lines he was most beside helen camerons end room and then he made out someone standing close to the chinked wall within a dozen paces ahead of 0 him while in that side window appeared a vague gray figure immediately there came hoarse tight throated tones of bent lavic talking the low rasp of his words did not carry enough to be distinguished they stopped in a moment gandy strained to hear an answer then realized that the man was deaf and there would be no audible reply to what he had said next in his jerking motion bent lavic was the house logs The figure in the window had vanished walt gandy remained fixed in the utter blackness of the night stopped completely by what he had just witnessed and the number of things that it seemed to reveal it came to him that the deformed old man was not so simple after all in this swing business the swing was near helen also gandy realized from this slope behind the house lavic would have a wide view of the basin in which the C C was located he could watch the sheds and corra corrals 1 S the mountainside north and south and the bench for miles to the west the swing undoubtedly was a lookout look out old bent lavic knew what was happening on this ranch 1 knew what had happened tonight helen had known that ranger powell was dead it lavic who had passed that information to her less than half an hour ago there had been a gunshot and this minute she must know who had been shot at but as gandy stood there in the dark puzzled blocked this discovery of lavic and helen raised a sinister sini question did the twisted devil have his hands on that girl I 1 in n some way holding something over her or was he in fact as hollister had said her watchdog watch dog if bent lavic did have knowledge of what had happened on the C C lately no telling how hed use it here was one question that could not go unanswered hollister came back shortly after eleven lying dressed on his blankets gandy heard him enter the kitchen got up and went out pouring coffee from a pot on the stove hollister turned a set mask of a face he nodded its all right you put him out of reach safe hollister answered cash is with a friend of mine battle showed up yet not yet without asking gandy knew that hollister would not want to tell where he had taken cash cameron it was more than the secrecy brought by these troubled days A certain tone of voice in which every man says a friend of mine was a dead giveaway give away hollisters Hol listers friend was a woman then sheriff battle shouted his arrival CHAPTER XVI WITHOUT ghearing Wh cash cameron the hearing earing in emigrant next day was not pushed far in fact ed battle had surprisingly few questions to ask he held a short meeting between the C C people and coroner daggett in his own office and conducted it with a dispatch unusual in him for once the sheriff of emigrant county appeared to know exactly what he was doing confidence made him almost genial as if there was no need to hound the unlucky outfit any more As walt gandy alone for t the he moment after the hearing untied his palomino horsechief Horse thief fisher came bw bow legging along and halted at the hitch rack end beside horsechief Horse thief towered a man six feet and some inches but droop shouldered and slouched with a long melancholy face and deceivingly mild blue eyes texas was written on him as plain elal n as a brand and taking one look gandy was not misled by the slouch nor the melancholy face nor the mildness of this bartys gaze the man was perhaps forty five or fifty walt said horsechief Horse thief grinning this here is shirtless bailey homely cuss aint he ive seen babies bust right out bawlin looking at him but that dont need to bother us none the man waited solemnly until fisher had finished in a slow rough voice then he said how are you gandy he took out a pocket knife opened it cut a sliver of wood from the hitch post and began to chew on an the end gandy continued to untie his palomino saying howdy bailey S shirtless hirt less bailey chewed up the splinter of hitch post and put away his pocket knife horsechief Horse thief fisher stood absorbed in look looking ing at the mountains |