Show SMI LAN LE MAY release installment 3 THE STORY SO FAR dusty king and lew gordon were joint owners owner of the vast king gordon range which stretched from texas to montana when building up this string of ranches they continually had to fight the unscrupulous ben thorpe thorpe rivaled king gordon in power and wealth bu but t he had gained his position through wholesale cattle rustling and gunplay their opposing interests came to a showdown when the government announced the auctioning of the valuable crying wolf land in montana bidding went high at the auction but king bid high to beat out thorpe bill roper kings adopted son raced home to tell pretty jody gordon the good news the two happy lovers were in each others arms when a rider soon brought the news that dusty king had been killed CHAPTER IV they buried dusty kin king 0 five miles south of ogallala beside the great trail which he himself had pioneered one ered they thought he would want to rest out there in the open plain near enough to the cattle trail so that the rumble of hoofs would sometimes come to him through the ground over his grave they piled boulders after the fashion of the prairie men bill roper himself fitted a cross of railroad ties the most durable and massive timber available at ogallala after that was all done and night had come on and everybody had gone back to town bill roper went back to that lonely cross and squatted on his heels against the pile of stone after a while a ridden horse came toward the cross at a walk and bill roper remained motionless unseen against the stones as the horseman came up the rider stepped to the ground and walked slowly toward the cross the reins of his pony on his arm quien es roper said oh hello dry camp dry camp pierce came and sat d down own beside bill at the foot of the S tones stones find out anything in the town hell no no dry camp repeated after him no and they wont you talk mighty sure dry camp 1 I talk mighty sure because I 1 am mighty sure nobody saw dusty killed except the three men that done it and one other man bill ropers hand shot out and caught dry camps lean arm in a grip that bit like a trap who was that 44 me there was a silence sharp and hard before bill said how is it you told anybody this had any chance to talk to you dry camp said im telling you now aint I 1 I 1 who was it cleve tanner and walk lasham and ben thorpe dry camp took a match out of the pocket of his cowhide gestand vest and chewed the end you see he searched tor for his words painfully after the manner of men who are much alone dusty he tied his horse out back of the lone star bar in the angle of the wagon shed theres a kind of a corner there like you cant see into it from any place hardly and what with it getting dark P where were you 1 I was in baileys harness shop next door I 1 saw dusty turn off oe the walk and walk back between the buildings id been watching for him because I 1 wanted to speak to him a minute I 1 went back through the harness shop and I 1 was just going out the back door and then hell bell bust in the wagon shed angle 11 the time it happened bill roper said there must have still been a little light enough to see by all right these three varmints var mints steps out of the shed quick and quiet dusty knew what he was up against all right his gun come out but walk lasham grabs his gun arm with his left hand and bears down like he was wras aling him then the whole works seems to blow up as all three of em let loose they just stood and thrower it into him and it seemed like he was never going to fall ben thorpe pumped two more shots after dusty was down and dead that was all the story both of them seemed to recognize that there were no questions to ask nothing to add bill roper said there anything you can do I 1 dont suppose oh yes there is theres one thing I 1 can do ill have to kind of bide my time and make it sure but im going to get me these three men no you aint bill roper said 4 were going to go at this thing a different way trouble with you youre figuring these three men as just three men they aint they got the biggest string of tough outfits in the country and they spread all the way from the rio grande to the rosebud and beyond we got to bust up the whole works if we want to get any place dry camp was silent for several minutes minute s what you aim to do 1 I aim to start in texas where cleve tanner runs breeding outfits in the big bend I 1 aim to tie into him piece by piece till ben thorpe is smashed out of the west lew gordon will never stand for then by god king gordon has come to its split up silence again before dry camp said and I 1 suppose im expected to just kind of stand aside and stay out of it and see how you work it out huh well I 1 wont do it bill youre in this dry camp how am I 1 in it ive got to have me an outfit its got to be made up of boys boys that arent afraid of ben thorpe or all hell boys that got an anything y more to lose ill need near fifty men but to start off with I 1 want lee harnish hamish and tex daniels and tex long nate liggett dave shannon wow I 1 said dry camp you g get et those four or five in the same bunch eat each other alive the kind I 1 want bill roper said 1 I want a wild bunch such as the west has never seen before and me what am I 1 supposed to do you youre heading south youre going back to texas and 41 youre in this dry camp youre going to start rounding em in what you offering these boys it horses and grub and what other stuff well need not another thing they sat silent for a long time more all right dry camp said ill go 91 in the starlight bill roper swung down in front of the little shack which served king gordon as a load ing foremans office at their ogallala pens within bill roper found lew gordon sitting alone 1 I just talked to a man roper said that saw the killing gordon was instantly alert who was it hes a man that cant come forward because hes already an outlaw in his own right but dusty was killed by ben thorpe and walk lasham and cleve alner tanner the three working together walk lasham bore down dustus gun I 1 they looked at each other for a long moment this man that told you this weve got to get hold of him his story has to go to the authorities bill roper shook his head hell hang if they lay hands bands on him anyway nobody would believe him against these three lew gordon made a gesture at once impatient and weary wherever we turn we hit some sri snag ag of lawlessness he said theres too many men afraid to stand forward and face out the law seems like nothing is done open and aboveboard any more never was since I 1 remember to roper said ive got a couple of ways in mind right now im going on the warpath karpath war path lew gordon had been fiddling with a pencil and now he threw it on the table in front of him were figuring you to take over the crying wolf bill dustus half of king gordon naturally will stand in your name now dusty never paid any attention to any other kin but the crying wolf was where he figured tor for you to go and work and there any call to change that now I 1 you can count me out of the crying wolf lew 1 I dont get you were going to carry the war into the other camp lew for every outfit that ben thorpe has grabbed by force of arms hes going to lose two for every head that has come into his herds by rustle and raid two head of his are going to be missing when he makes his roundup count first thing im going to break cleve tanner down in texas after that lew gordon looked bill roper koper hard in the eye smiled a little and shook his head his voice was slow and deep stubbornly emphatic as a granite cliff is emphatic no weve never gone outside the law yet and while I 1 live we never will we play the straight banle game always and if we lose in the hands of things beyond us bill roper angered 1 I know how you feel about it he said keeping his voice down you swayed dusty that way always it if looked at it different the guns would have hava been out years ago and it would have been ben thorpe that went down As it is dusty king is dead now you want me to drift on as we always drifted on and im supposed to forget that dustus out ther under a pile of stones well im not going to play it that way gordon while youre with king gordon lew said slowly play it as I 1 say play it if you want to buy me out roper said you can do it at you own price because im g going 0 ing to do exactly what I 1 tell you im going to do I 1 run a sneak on boit lew you figure lew gordon said iii credulously that you one youngster on horseback can smash up ben thorpe you last forty seconds longer than a celluloid collar on a dead gambler therell be a few go with me roper said who dry camp pierce for one lee harnish tex daniels tex long in al all maybe fifty men that I 1 think I 1 know where to get lew gordon looked as if he would explode youre naming the most vicious outlaws on the plains he said it if you ever get those men together it will be the most infernal wild bunch that ever by god said bill roper ill show you how to clean a range or break a range im telling you I 1 dont care which lew gordon slapped his hand on the table it fell with a dull and heavy wallop but so hard it seemed the top of the table would split no no by god not under my brand not in a hundred years 11 then draw up the terms of the sale gordon was silent again for a long time he seemed very old very tired reckon youre man enough tomake your own decisions thanks lew but do me one last favor will you dont decide here and now take a couple of days to think it over its for your own good but im asking it as a favor to me 11 bill roper dropped his eyes and for a moment or two he hesitated ill take an hour he decided in compromise chai CHAPTER chaiter TER V bill roper walked slowly to the Gor gordons donst tall house on its rise at the edge of the town and let himself in softly he wanted desperately to talk to jody ady gordon but it was nearly midnight and he make up his mind to wake her As it happened decision was unnecessary in the fireplace some lengths of cottonwood log still burned and before the fire jody lounged upon a buffalo robe wide awake youve been a long time 1 I know he stopped beside her half raised her in his arms and kissed her lingeringly her arms and her lips clung making it difficult for him to think of the road he had chosen but presently he sat beside her on the buffalo robe and turned his eyes to the coals theres some stuff we have to talk about jody 1 I can think of better things to do with firelight than just talk jody king gordon is splitting up jody brought herself up on one elbow why bill what do you mean dustus Du share comes to me as you know I 1 im taking it out youre bill you must be loco maybe im going against ben thorpe but but jody was at a loss for words since the trail began hes stood for everything were against four of the biggest rustling gangs in the country are directly hooked up with him if it could be proved hes stopped at nothing and where he force his way hes bought his way but now hes gone too far TO BE CONTINUED |