Show smoky w x by A ALAN LAN LE MAY releases Re leass installment 13 THE STORY SO PAR FAR dusty king and lew gordon had built up a vast string ot of ranches king was killed by his powerful and unscrupulous competitor ben thorpe bill roper kings adopted son was determined to avenge his death in spite of the opposition of his sweetheart jody gordon and her father after wiping thorpe out ol of texas roper conducted a great raid upon vast herds in montana roper left tor for lew gordons home told that jody had disappeared unable to reconcile her father with roper jody had set out with shoshone wile ivic to find him they were attacked by some I 1 0 of f men hiding in ropers shack wilce escaped but jody was captured the men decided to hold her as bait to bring roper to them CHAPTER continued 4 A shiver ran the length of jody gordons body casually as if they were talking about getting breakfast these quiet faced men were speaking of a proposed death the death of a boy who had once been very close to her and very dear suddenly she was able to glimpse the power and the depth of the animosity behind the mission of these men no effort and no cost would seem to ben thorpe too great if in the and end bill roper was struck out of existence jim the younger rider said soberly if ropers got his wild bunch with him jim its such a fight as none of us have ever gone into yet when you stop to think that any time any minute a bunch of em may land in here charleys on lookout jim leathers shrugged well know in plenty time A silence fell a long silence heavy upon jody gordon was the panic of an open space creature held helpless within close walls her voice was low and bitter youre set on holding me here no call to put it that way jim leathers said mildly almost gently but his eyes denied that mildness so that behind him jody sensed again the vast animosity built by the texas rustlers war 1 I want a flat answer jody said bravely are you going to give me a horse or not once more jim leathers canine teeth showed in his peculiarly unpleasant grin hell no he said CHAPTER perhaps lew gordon should have known that if bill roper learned of dodys disappearance at all roper would come directly to him and knowing this he should have prepared himself but lew gordon had not met roper face to face in nearly two years and nothing was farther from his mind than the possibility lity that roper would walk in upon him now upon this night lew gordon was pacing the main room of his little miles city house forty eight hours had passed since his daughters disappearance and the old cattleman had lashed himself into a state of repressed fury comparable to that of a trap baffled mountain lion or a goaded bear everything that could be done to locate his daughter was being done he knew that dodys disappearance was voluntary and he knew its purpose the brief but highly informative note that jody had left him told him that much it simply said one of you must be made to see reason I 1 am going to talk to billy roper myself what this did not tell him was where roper was or how jody expected to find him impatient of mystery and delay he could not understand der stand why his many far scattered cowboys could dig up no word for all he knew his daughter was by this time lost somewhere in the frozen wastes of snow in immediate desperate need of help lew gordon sat alone for a little while suddenly it struck him how curious it was that in this bare room oom r in which he sat there was no sign of any kind that jody had ever been here at all this was partly because she had never lived here nor even been expected here but it brought home to him sharply how much of his life had been given to cattle how little to his daughter it made him realize how little he knew his daughter and how little he be had ever given her of himself this was lew gordons state of mind as the door thrust open letting in a brief lash of wintry wind and he wheeled in his chair to face the last man on earth he had expected to see bill roper shook a powdering of dry snow off the roll of his coat collar then stood looking at lew gordon in a cool hard silence as he pulled off his gloves once this man had been almost a son to lew gordon the adopted son in actuality of lew gordons Cor dons dead partner but a definite enmity now replaced what a little while ago had been a friendship as deep and close as the variance in their ages could permit AU all the meaning of their association almost as long as bill ropers life was gone wiped out by those two smoky years since the death of dusty king for a moment or two lew gordon stared at him in utter disbelief then he whipped to his feet where is she he demanded intensely furiously what have you done with her bill roper no longer looked like the youngster dusty king had raised on the trail his gray eyes looked hard and extremely competent old beyond his age in a face so dark and lean carved it was hard to recognize behind it the face of dusty kings kid 1 I heard yesterday that jody has turned up missing he said 1 I came to miles hell for leather to see X f a lew gordons eyes were savagely intent on ropers face if its so from what I 1 could find out down in the town no word has come in on where she is if true I 1 dont aim to give my time to anything else until ashes found you mean to deny you know where she is gordon shouted ropers voice did not change you talk like a fool he said lew gordons eyes were savagely intent upon ropers face he was trying to discover if this man could be believed you may be lying he added at last and you may not but ill tell you this you sure wont leave here till I 1 find out where my girl is youre wanted anyway my laddie buck theres a legal reward on your head right now and part of it was put up by me 1 I heard that bill roper said when I 1 get ready to leave ill leave all right my advice to you is is to begin using your head I 1 may be in a kind of funny position but it puts me where I 1 know things about the montana range that neither you nor your outfits have got any clue to if you want your daughter back you better figure to use what I 1 know about the deep grass lew gordon compelled himself to temporize what he get around was his own belief that roper knew something definite specific about where jody had gone or had started out to go he must have known also in spite of the bluff to which anger had prompted him that he could not hold roper here when roper decided to leave nor force any information from him in any way whatever what is it you want to know he asked at last helpless and angry in his helplessness in the first place I 1 want to know what made you think jody was with me you swear lew gordon demanded you dont know the answer to that 1 I dont swear anything roper said raid 1 I asked you a question lew lew gordon hesitated it was a good many years since anyone had talked to him in the tone bill roper took but for once the purpose in hand out powered the violence of his natural reaction he turned from his litter of papers and handed bill roper the little scrap of dodys handwriting which was all she had left to indicate where she was gone one of you must be made to see reason I 1 am going to talk to billy roper rny myself self when bill roper had read that the eyes of the two men m met et in hostile question this looks mighty like a false lead to me bill roper said at last like as if she aimed to cover up where she really went dont hardly seem likely shed start out to come to me 1 I know she went looking for you because she said she did my girl dont lie roper shrugged why should she do that it was your own man talked her into it gordon said with menace my own man what man A little sniveler called shoshone wilce everybody knows he was a scout coyote for you before texas ever run you out nobody run me out of any place roper said but his mind whipped to something else it was true that he talked to certain men in the town before he had come here now suddenly he knew that he had learned what he had come to find out he buttoned his coat pulled on his gloves gordon confronted him stubbornly 1 I mean you shant leave here without telling me what you know 11 A glint of hard amusement was plain in bill ropers eyes 1 I know w what hat youve told me but ill add this onto it I 1 think soon have back your girl im walking out of here now lew because its time for me to look into a couple of things but ill be seeing you if thorpe dont get you first A trick of the wind sent a great whirl of papers across the room as he went out he had not come here without providing that the horse which waited under his saddle was fresh and good he struck westward now out of miles city at the half mile he found a broad cross trail where some random band of cattle had trampled the snow into a trackless pavement he turned north in this followed it for a mile ahert swung northwest over markless snow now that this horse was warmed a little he be settled deep in his saddle and pushed the animal into a steady trot at that gait even in the snow he could expect the tough range bred pony to last most of the night CHAPTER A tired horse is not much inclined to shy toward the end of a long days travel and when bill ropers horse borse snorted and jumped sidewise out of its tracks the rider looked twice curiously at the carcass which had spooked spooned his pony A dead pony on the winter range be ing a fairly common thing he was about to ride on when he noticed something about this particular dead pony which caused him to pull up and dismount fora closer examination after leaving lew gordon he had r ridden deep into the night half an hour would bring him within sight of the fork creek rendezvous and he was eager to push on so that his deduction as to dodys whereabouts might have a quick answer one way or the other but when he had examined the dead pony he was glad that he had checked this was no winter killed pony pon the bright trace of frozen blood that had first caught ropers eye was the result of two gunshot wounds in neck and quarters A dark foreboding possessed roper as he studied the dead pony roper himself was short cutting through the hills following no trail the coincidence that he had stumbled upon the carcass in all those snowy wastes could be accounted for only in one way both roper and the pony had followed a line of least resistance through the hills a line that had the fork creek rendezvous at its far end his discovery told him that there had been fighting at fork creek within the last forty eight hours if he was right in believing that jody had come to fork creek he re mounted and swung northward mercilessly whipping up his weary pony but approaching the fork creek camp roundabout behind masking hills and through gh hidden ravines an hour passed before he be threw down his reins and crept on hands and knees to the crest of a ridge commanding the valley of the fork he moved a half mile closer ands and resumed his watch but for some time he could make out nothing then just as the sun set three men moved out of the cabin for a moment or two they stood in the snow close together one went back into the cabin the two others disappeared for a moment to reappear mounted they separated and roper watched them ride in opposite directions ions up the nearest slopes of the hills these passed beyond his sight but in another minute or two their ways were retraced by two other riders outposts roper decided keeping a hell bell of a careful watch TO BE CONTINUED |