Show 0 KY yo W an 9 iii J W by ALAN LAN LE MAY release installment 12 THE STORY SO FAR dusty king and lew gordon had bad built up a vast string ol of ranches in the west king was killed by his powerful and unscrupulous Us competitor ben thorpe bill BIB roper kings adopted son con was determined to avenge his death in spite of the opposition of his sweetheart jody gordon and her father alter after wiping thorpe out ol of texas roper conducted a great raid upon the vast herds on an montana ranches told that jody had bad disappeared he left his men and set out lor for the home ol of lew gordon cordon a man who was once his partner but was now his enemy jody gordon had tried to reconcile her father with roper he refused to compromise with roper she then set out with shoshone wilce one of ropers men to find him CHAPTER shoshone wilce riding with jody gordon cordon through the same hundred mile snow which screened bill roper reper and tex long in their raid on the little dry found himself the most bewildered and the most unhappy of men he could have refused to guide jody gordon to bill ropers rendezvous he thought it improbable that jody gordon would have been able to locate the rendezvous alone but whether she found it or merely got herself lost shoshone wilce would have been answerable to bill roper tor for leaving her to attempt the ride alone the alternative he had chosen of offered no greater prospect for a long and helpful life lew gordon would go wild as a wounded silvertip at the disappearance of his daughter and every king gordon cowboy in in the country would be scouring the brakes after shoshones Sho scalp jody believed now that the split between lew gordon and bill roper was the basis of inconceivable disaster not only immediate and personal but far reaching in its import to the cow country together those two very different cattlemen could have beaten thorpe and consolidated the king gordon empire separated lew gordon and bill roper were mutually destructive lew gordon was probably right that bill ropers savage attacks upon the thorpe interests were the cause of ben heavy reprisals upon king gordon and even though roper might bring down ben thorpe in the end which still seemed incredible he could never profit b by Y his victory even if he lived unless gordon and roper could be reconciled roper would in the end become just one more outlawed cowboy whose trails could have no meaning and only one end jody gordon had one other motive in attempting the all but hopeless reconciliation she believed her fathers life to be in the sharpest danger bill roper an even harder fighter than the old trail breaker who had trained him would automatically mati cally take those precautions that would safeguard her fathers father s life if once they could be brought to work together again but the first move toward reconciliation must come from bill roper himself if she could persuade roper to this there was a bare possibility that she could also manage her father it was a forlorn hope but as she saw it of such vital importance that it could no longer be ignored it was ps as if events that would alter the whole history of the cow country lay in her persuasion of these two stubborn men she rode doggedly now with set face trusting shoshone to find the way they rode until after midnight blind as far as jody could see in in the wet fall of the snow they threw down their bedrolls bed rolls then in the shelter of stunted snow laden trees and shoshone wilce measured grain for the horses onto his own poncho they pushed on again early the next morning miserable in the raw dawn after coffee which shoshone made in a frying pan all day long they rode steadily stopping only once for bread and bacon and to bolster their horses with more grain just before dusk they climbed a long rocky ridge which commanded the length of a shallow valley set brokenly with juniper and ragged cedar shoshone motioned her to stop her horse wait a minute far down the valley jody gordon could see a faint haze that blurred the brush and runty timber smoke shoshone wilce said at last this ought to be the place so we really got here at last two hours more athe the smoke that means hes there shoshone wilce suspicious and doubtful by temperament was less sure dont know it if its him some blodys there or anyway some blodys been there A swift panic chilled jody at the thought of at meeting bill roper lace face to face again after so long a time she tried to imagine what she was going to say to him and was completely unable she wondered how he would look and whether he would be glad to see her now shoshone wilce reached out to catch her bridle reins and they stopped she started to ask what was the matter but checked herself wilce had become tensely watchful and she saw that he was listening after a moment or two of utter stillness wilce whispered wait a minute and pushed his horse slowly forward into the dark for a little while as he moved away from her she could see the tall black silhouette of his horse against the pale snow but soon this blurred with the darkness and was lost growing impatient at last and a little uneasy jody moved her pony ahead after shoshone there was a moment or two of panic in which it seemed that she had lost him altogether in the dark but her pony V h ak I 1 N wilce whispered wait a minute knew where the other was if she did not and presently brought her alongside shoshone wilce was sitting perfectly motionless on his horse staring ahead into a darkness to which the snow gave a curiously deceptive luminosity that did not aid the eye 1 I dont like this so good shoshone said the matter no lights they moved ahead a little now jody holding her pony beside that of shoshone wilce shoshone moved his horse forward twenty paces and stopped again for a full minute then ten paces more jody said what in the world wilce seized her arm and silenced her with a quick shake then suddenly an inarticulate oath snarled in shoshones Sho throat he snatched at dodys rein whirling her pony his own horse came straight up on its hind legs as he spun it at close quarters get going he said between his teeth and brought his romal down across her donys flank in a snapping cut that made it plunge ahead she heard the rip of steel on leather as shoshones Sho gun came out then the silence of the night exploded into happenings that were incredible two guns smashed out in a swift flurry of detonation A queer whistling grunt was knocked out of jo dys horse it dropped from under her and the ground struck upward with stunning violence for a moment jody gordon lay motionless her cheek buried in the cool snow she was aware of further firing and more than one running horse and she tasted blood from a cut lip but at first she was unable to think someone said well we got one of tern cm anyway haul him inside look out now bud no funny business the voice was unknown to her as was the figure that now bent over her suddenly the man jerked forward to peer at her more closely what the heyl hey 1 its calamity jane or some bodyl jody gordon struggled to her feet shock giving way to anger you tools fools are you crazy bill roper will kill you for there was a moments silence and she sensed rather than saw that they were looking at each other bill roper one of them repeated she says ashes looking for bill roberl lady you better come in inside sidel I 1 dazed and shaky as the fall of her killed horse had left her jody gordon still appeared the most self possessed of them all as she allowed herself to be led into the little cabin at which she had hoped to find bill roper the shack in which she now found herself was a cramped makeshift intended only as a shelter for cowboys storm caught while riding the northern limits of the fork creek range A single lantern hung from a roof pole and now by its yellow light the two men studied her with an unconcealed amazement by god said the older of the two its a girl all right the other man tall enough so that the door at his back looked small was much the younger of the two his face was prematurely hard cut the face of a man who even in youth had learned an effectiveness in action upon which he could well rely he spoke sharply jim you know who this is lew gordons girl good lord almighty I 1 believe youre right its her sure en ought so you know me jody said 1 I seen you once in ogallala and an another other time in bandera the older man shifted his eyes to his partner queerest turn of the cards he be said 1 I ever seen in all my born days the younger mans voice was sharp and strained jim we got to get her out of here and get her out quick the man called jim appeared to consider intently his eyes still on the others face 1 I aint so sure he said after a moment you talk like a fool the younger man snapped at his superior look what we got we got the law back of us we got the most powerful cowman in the west back of us we got one of the biggest rewards ever been hung up right ready to drop into our hands weve located ropers main shebang after working on it for months we got all the odds in the world in our favor and here comes this girl and bogs the whole works just how do you figure she bogs it we got every chance of nailing our man right here any hour now but dont ever think well nail him without a hell of a sharp fight suppose this girl gets hurt in this fight or gets loose and loses herself or runs out of luck some other way the quicker we get her out of here ican cant t 11 the reason we cant we got the bear by the tail ashes dynamite so long as ashes here I 1 grant you that but what if we leave her go she warns roper off then where are we the younger mans eyes were keen with a repressed excitement jim you figure she come to meet bill roper here she come here by accident leathers said with conviction it any more than you or me and she sure come here to throw in with us A swift panic struck jody with the shock of a blow in the face if jim leathers wished he could hold her here literally as bait with which to draw the man whom it was his mission to kill if shoshone wilce had got clear and could reach roper roper would certainly attack as soon as the best ponies of the raiders could bring him im getting sick of this jody told jim leathers you owe me a horse there cant possibly be any argument about that ill have to ask you to rope a pony and bring him to my saddle and ill be on my way slowly leathers shook his head you wont give me a pony im afraid have to wait until your friends come lady for jody gordons white flash of anger there was no outlet whatever she turned away td to hide bide from them the furious tears that sprang into her eyes she took off her sheepskin coat and flung it on the table for the room was very hot but because her fingers were still chilled to the bone she pulled off her gloves tucked them in her belt and went to the shallow fireplace to hold out her hands to the flames they went on talking now in the drawling well considered speech of the trail long pauses marking every interchange whatever else they might think of her they evidently did not consider that she implied any necessity to secrecy if roper is on his way the younger rider said thoughtfully and this side rider of hers has got loose and meets him so that roper knows what hes up against that might be kind of bad medicine jim if hes got his war riders with with him ive missed hooking up with roper twenty times when I 1 thought I 1 had him leathers said id sooner meet up with him on any terms than carry back the word that I 1 fell down TO BE CONTINUED |