Show smokey y LAN LE MAY W N U release installment 6 THE STORY SO FAR dusty king and lew gordon had built up a vast string of ranches which stretched from texas to montana king was killed by his powerful and unscrupulous competitor ben thorpe bill roper kings adopted son undertook to break power his first step was to start a cattle war in texas he made this decision against the opposition of lew gordon and the tearful pleading of his sweetheart zody jody gordon with the aid of dry camp pierce and other outlaw gunmen roper conducted raid after raid upon herds cleve tanner manager of texas holdings seemed helpless to stop him gunmen seized control of isolated ranches and cattle were driven oil off by the thousands as entire herds are driven across the rio grande into mexico CHAPTER VIII continued presently it began to appear that the tough notoriously trouble mak ing outfits under cleve tanner were not holding together as they always had before here and there men were beginning to desert the tanner outfits sometimes fired because they had failed sometimes voluntarily deserting to the ranks of the raiders who were now almost openly punishing the thorpe tanner holdings mid I 1 august in the season of driest heat into the potreros ros by a little used trail a black horseman rode he was a tested gunman a proved man whose name was known kno wn and feared half the length of the great trail troubleshooting trouble shooting for cleve tanner now he was moving into the potreros ros to find out what had gone wrong with some of tanners choicest herds he had come fast changing horses frequently loping down the almost invisible trail through the dark his horse suddenly dropped from under him head long into nothingness the pony might have stepped into a prairie dog hole or it could have been the loop of a rope but as the dazed rider struggled up his mouth full of dirt a rifle was prodding his belly and a voice was saying dont you think you might have took the wrong way west texas far up the lonely pecos one of cleve tanners outfit bosses was talking to the ranger stationed at mustang point such a damn outburst of lawlessness has cut loose here as I 1 never seen before he said the ranger ranger here was val mcdonald he had gone out nineteen times time in battle sometimes against mexicans sometimes against the coman ches and he had hunted white ren egares galore AA awfully ully tough he said in his own sympathetic way the foreman of the outfit that was busted up was fit to be tied 1 41 I 1 tell you were being stolen blind he raved not just a calf here and there either they take item em in in swoops and bunches its the boldest thing ive ever seen even when theres no chance of getting clear with any cattle game to stampede a cut herd that its took weeks to round up and scatter it from hell to this is one of ben outfits no does that mean well how many times has cleve tanner passed out the word the rangers be damned hes put more obstructions in the way of things we was trying to do than any other one man who was it had the legislature cut down our pay until we practically ride for nothing and furnish all our own stuff the question here is whether were going to have any law or are we going to have from what I 1 heard mcdonald said cleve tanner has left it be known that hes the biggest end of the law himself go talk to cleve tanner if you want law my understanding is the foreman argued that the rangers are supposed to ill move out and straighten up your little old range mcdonald said ill be glad to just as soon as I 1 get orders from headquarters im waiting for them right orders now I 1 but the weeks rolled by and headquarters was curiously still end of summer a welcome end cleve tanner himself the cleve tanner who represented ben thorpe in the south master of breeding grounds the man who controlled the roots of all ben plains organization was talking to the united states marshal at san antonio there been such a wave oi of outlawry since the horse indians was put down damnation danl man its set us back ten years I 1 know what your policy has been your idea is to let us fight it out for ourselves against mexico against the indians against all hell but I 1 tell you this thing comes from in side this thing might be something that I 1 beat without help the united states marshal at san antonio smiled to himself a little smile and he said seems like this must be a terrible bad thing for you cleve im telling you go ahead and tell me youre a ben thorpe man aint you A right leading ben thorpe man well maybe ill tell you a couple of things some day there was law in texas even in those days but there was no such law as could stand against the combined renegades rene gades of the long trail with behind them a lawyer who could delay forever in the courts and a reckless expenditure of money the sour source ce of which some suspected but which was not definitely known CHAPTER IX with the fall lew gordon now in sole charge of the far scattered cattle holdings he had shared with dusty king came to texas to inspect the southern holdings of king gordon the breeding ranges from which all the king gordon holdings drew their essential sustenance reports kept coming to bill roper at his constantly shifting bases by way of the many riders who kept him in touch with his far spread 0 he pulled up his horse a few yards from the kitchen gallery wild bunch inevitably he knew that jody was at the headquarters of the old two circle not far from uvalde roper knew that she was there yet the fall dragged on and november passed into december before he went vent to see her he had told himself that there was no use in his going to see jody gordon but in the end of course he went he rode up to the two circle ranch house in late afternoon of a cold december day the sky was low and heavy and the bitter norther had brought a scud of hard snow a long way to throw it sharply in his face he pulled up his horse a few yards from the kitchen gallery then sat there looking at the house his sheepskin hunched about his throat even now having pome come this far he be almost made up his mind to go away then jody gordon stepped out on the gallery in a whippy woolen dress and stood estimating the uninvited horseman through the dusk A split pole fence separated them and after a moment she came across the few yards of space leaning sideways against the bitter wind and stood gripping a bar of the fence as she peered up into his face 1 I knew it was you she said child said bill roper you get back in that house freeze then you put up your horse and c ome come in Is your father here hes in san antonio 1 I dont think hed want me here jody lew gordon has never turned away any rider without a cup of coffee not yet he gave in then and stepped down he tied his horse to the fence and followed her into the house the fire in the big wood range made the room a dazing contrast to the cold sweep of the prairie he threw his coat open but did not take it off of course jody said we keep hearing about you too bad I 1 expect you be hearing anything good no silence again he know why he had comei come there any thing he could say he stood by the stove his eyes brooding on the iron deep in the pockets of his coat there was a trembling in his slack fingers not caused by cold it was a strange and uncomfortable thing to be so near this girl again and yet to be so far away still jody said you seem to be getting done what you set out to do sometimes it looks like im not even doing that if you accomplished anything else youve astonished my father hes said himself over and over he have supposed it could be done no question but what cleve tanner is shaken hes shaken clear down to his roots nobody bod y knows what any more or what will happen people who thought a year ago that cleve tanner was invincible s saying now that hes coming to the end of his string that if this thing goes on tanner wilt will be through what else do they say saying that the worst renegades rene gades of the trail are working together for the first time the killers the men who dont care if they live or die they say they have money back of them now and that even cleve tanner with all his string of outfits cant stand up against the everlasting raiding and stampeding and mysterious loss of cattle they say hes lost twenty outfits just because he spared spare the gunmen to hold the range eleven outfits roper said then it wag was really you those eleven outfits they speak of those were outfits roughed away from little lonely men on pretenses that any justice or any true law those outfits are back with their owners now but you admit your wild bunch is behind all this call it that if you want to I 1 guess there anybody knows as well as you do what im trying to do she said in a dead voice 1 I never believed it I 1 believe it until now I 1 tell you about it I 1 told you about it before I 1 began I 1 set out to break cleve tanner and by god hell be broken if I 1 live you know cleve tanner has put up five thou dollars for your arrest bill roper chuckled crazily anZOr all right ill put up ten thousand for his arrest there going to be any arrest and he knows that too 1 I cant believe it she kept saying over and over 1 I cant believe it even yet you cant believe what i oh billy its unbearable arab le that you youve turned yourself into the festering point of all that struggle and hate and lawless gunning he had to grin at that unhappy as he was realize I 1 was festering he said you had everything she said and you threw it away he had only heard her say that once before but in memory he had heard it so often since that her words had the ring of a familiar song im sorry that we cant ever see things the same bill said 1 I started out to get cleve tanner and ill get him after tanner walk lasham and after walk lasham ben thorpe but when it comes to saying I 1 had everything before 1 I started in I 1 guess maybe that 11 so jody said hotly there one thing in all the world you have or have had before you chose this crazy way 1 I have you he told her if I 1 had had you I 1 guess I 1 would have you yet things dont shift and change so easy as that not in the part of the world I 1 know he was pulling on his gloves now buttoning his sheepskin coat in what was left of the light the shadows lay heavy upon his face As he stood there he could have been dusty king himself the man who had broken a hundred long and weary trails except that dusty king had perhaps never looked so ol 01 old d her voice came to him as if from a distance and when youre through she said what ar are e yo you u going to have left far as I 1 know bill roper said im not going to have anything left god knows ive got very lit little left now he was glad she did it know how his resources had dwindled how close to the end he r really eally stood her voice rose sharply cant you see theres no hope in this ghastly thing grip is is unbreakable she came close to him and her words came through her teeth its your very life youre throwing awall away perhaps he misunderstood her then for he grinned maybe he said that would be the least 1 I could lose the very least of all TO BE CONTINUED |