Show N the last of the duanes by zane grey I 1 cast of principal characters in this thrilling story by zane grey gney buck duane last ot of the duanes cal bain i A texas bid bad man alan luko luke stevens an aa outlaw bland leader of 0 out outlaw law group mrs airs bland ills hia wile wife jennie girl at elands blands camp captain macnelly ranger captain Clie cheseldine A dangerous outlaw WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE buck duame quick on an the draw kills cal bain in eilf defense and finds himself an all outlaw flying from rom pursuit he meets luke stevens another outlaw and the two become pals luko luke narrowly escapes capture and duane is shocked to find tin his brother outlaw serenely seve cly nely wounded duane buries stevens stevena then ha goes on to blands camp where he gets into a tight fight with a mari man called and wounds UK the latter ile he makes a friend of 0 an outlaw at manis Blan Js camp called euchre who lens lelia him of sirs airs and tho girl jennie duane meets ineeta jennie and promises to try his utmost to get ee her away from blands camp to avert suspicion it is ie planned that he pa pra tend to care for mrs bland bland euchre introduces litia him to the lauer latter and at engages in conversation with her buck plays the game making mrs airs bland think he loves her to avert blands blanda suspicion mrs bland pretends to her husband that buck lias bas come coma to 0 visit jennie bland urges buck to become a regular member of his outlaw gang A quarrel later ati in which duane kills bland and rushes off with jennie after a to telf biffi ti struggle with mis airs bland he plans to ta have jennie in good handt bani until a relative or friend is located and then go on alone oa the trail he keeps kc eps careful guard ivr jv r 1 ir r despite his care jennie is lost then tor for three years buck is on the trail and legends about him I 1 spread and finally he takes the risk ot of calling on captain Alac macnelly Nelly of 0 the rangers who he be has heard wants to see him macnally macneily Mac greets him rather warmly NOW GO ON WITH THE STORY ile he took a long iong earnest gaze at duane an and d his ner nervous spontaneity the manner which had been bright promising volubility changed to one of grave thoughtfulness ive lots to say but where to begin lie he mused duane yoube had bad a a hard life since you went on the dodge I 1 never met you before dont know what you looked like i as a boy but I 1 can see what well even ranger life alte 1 all roses lie he rolled his cigar between his UPS lips and puffed clouds of smoke ever hear from home since you left wellston he asked ab abruptly no never a word not adne one replied duane sadly tough rm im glad to IA able to tell you that up to just lately your mother sister uncle all your folks I 1 believe were well ive kept posted dut but have ba vent nt heard lat lats ly 11 duane averted his face a moment hesitated till the swelling left his throat and then said its what I 1 went through today to hear that mat 1 I can imagine ma cinc how you feel about it when I 1 was in th the e war but lets get dowa to the business ot of this meeting ile he pulled his chair close to du an anea es youve had word note more than bonce once in the last two years that I 1 wanted to see you three times limes I 1 remember replied duane why you hunt me up 1 I supposed you imagined me one of those gull take a dare and expected me to ride up to your camp and be arrested that was natural I 1 suppose went on macnelly 11 you know me otherwise you would babe ha ye come ive been a leng time eating to you but the nature of ray my job as far as youre concerned made aitio me cautious duane you are aware of the hard bard name you bar all over the southwest ones in a while im jarred into realizing replied duane its the hardest har diet barring murrel and ori on the texas border but theres this difference murrell in his day was known own to deserve lila his infamous name chesel line in his day also dut but ive found bund hundreds reds ot of men in southwest texas whore your friends who swear you never committed a crime the farther south I 1 get the clearer this becomes what I 1 want to know Is A 1 e truth lave have you eor ear dore done anything cri criminal inal tell me the truth duane it wont make any difference in my plan and when I 1 say crime I 1 mean what I 1 would call crime of any reasonable texan I 1 that way in my y hands avo ano clean replied duane you never hold held up a man robbed a store for grub stole a horse when you needed deeded him bad never anything like that thata somehow I 1 always kept out of 0 that just when lien pressed the hardest duane im glad macnelly ex claimed gripping duanes hand glad for your mothers sake glad glad tor for the the person who has been in interesting me in your case but all the same in balt i of 0 this youre a texas outlaw ac factly aware that under existing circumstances if you fell into th tha 0 countable to the state per hands of the law probably hang at least go to jail tor for a long term what kept me on tho the dodge all these years replied du ane aale certainly Alac macnelly Nelly removed his cigar ills his eyes ayea narrowed and glittered the muscles along his brown cheeks acet hard and tense ile he leaned closer to duane laid sinewy pressing fingers upon duanes knee listen to this lie he whispered hoarsely it if I 1 place a pardon in your hand make you a tree free honest citizen once more clearm clear your name ot of infamy make your mother your sister proud of you will bod swear yourself to a service any service I 1 demand duade sat stock still stunned slowly more persuasively with show of earnest agitation captain macnelly reiterated his startling query my aly god burst from duane IMI ats Lats this macnelly you cant be in earnest never more so in my life ive a deep game im playing it square what do you say lie he rose to his feet duane as it if impelled rose with him ra jacger Rac bilger ger arid and outlaw then locked eyes that searched e each ach others souls in mac alac wilys duane read truth strong ile fiery ry purpose hope even gladness and a fugitive mounting assurance of victory twice duane endeavored to speak failed of 0 all save a hoarse incoherent sound until forcing back a i flood of speech he found a voice rolce any service every service ajac nelly I 1 give my word said duane right here ends the career of buck duane outlaw and gun fighter said macnelly and seating him self he took the pen pell from duanes fingers angera and wrote several lines la in several places upon the paper then with a smile he handed it to duane that makes you a member of company A texas Xan rangers gers so it burst out duane a light breaking in upon his bewilderment wilder merit you want wani me a tor for ranger service I 1 sure it replied the captain t dryly now to hear what that service Is to bl be ive been a busy man since bince I 1 took this ob and as you may have heard ive done a few things I 1 dont mind telling you that political influence put me in here and that up austin way theres therea a good deal of friction la in the department of state in regard to whether or not the ranger service dice Is any good whether it should be discontinued or not im on the bartys party aside elde chos defending ranger service I 1 contend mat its made texas habitable well its been up to me to produce results so tar far I 1 have been successful my great ambition la is to break up the outlaw gangs alon along g the river I 1 have mever ventured in there yet because ivo ITO been waiting to get this the lieutenant I 1 Jit needed eded you of course are the man mail I 1 had bad in mind its my idea to start way u up p the be rio grande and begin with cheseldine iles hes the strongest the worst outlaw 0 of the times hes more than a 9 rustler rustier its cheseldine and his gang who are operating on the 6 banks anks ank s loing doing bank robbing my private opinion but its not backed up by any evidence cheseldine Ches eldino leave evidences iles hes intelligent cunning I 1 ts of 0 course that you are a stranger nt ut ranger to him and to the country lie he dominates its five hundred miles your ground big as that Is well I 1 want you to drift over into Chesel dines country whatever way you decide is best you will proceed ard to act upon you are your owa bow boas you know such men and how they can ca n be approached you will take all the time needed if it la is months it will be nee necessary essary for you to communicate with me and that will be a difficult matter for ches eldene dominates several whole counties you must find some way to le let rao me know when I 1 and my rangers are needed the plan la is to i break up Cheseldine a gang its the toughest job on the border arresting him alone to be heard beard of ile he be brought out killing him much better tor for hla llis select men the onci onca he op crates with are as aa dangerous to the che community as he Is we wan want t to kill or jail this choice selection ot of robbers and break up the rest ot of the gang to tind ind them to get among then them somehow to learn their movements for us rangers t to 0 to lay your trap spring that duane la is y your 0 ii r a ser e r klco to rne me and god knows knowis its a great one I 1 1 I have accepted it replied duane your work will be secret you ire are now a ranger in my service but no one except the f few I 1 choose to tell will know of it 11 till we pull oft off the J job ob you will simply be buck duane the lone wolf till it suits our dur purpose to acquaint texas with the fact that you are a ranger youl see theres no date on oil chat pardon no one will ever know just when you entered the service perhaps we can make it that all or most ot of your outlawry has really been good service to the state at that ill believe turn out so ao captain macnelly id like to know how this came about I 1 cant realize it yet some things are very strange to me who interested you in my mi case Wont you explain sure I 1 will replied captain macnelly as he reached for another cigar it must have been three years ago when I 1 first began to lear hear your name mentioned by austin in the adjutant general s office and elsewhere just casually you understand and I 1 took no particular notice motice then I 1 heard beard that women of your family were working to abt influence h tor for you this was before you b became came famous as an outlaw of course a little later after the I 1 bland affair your name grew to be a household word vord in texas from then on your reputation grew j about this time which was j about the time I 1 became exceedingly busy with my rane rangers I 1 got an anonymous letter it was from a woman and it entreated me not to go on your trail it was a remarkable letter I 1 have it somewhere and shall find it for you 1 I was visited by a young woman vroman who claimed to be a member of t your household at wellston I 1 too took k her for your sister or near relative e in tact fact caller her miss Du duane afie which at the time she didiot correct she had been to see tee governor and of course ho he had turned her down the governor is against outlaws the same as he la is against rangers this girl wanted an audience with the adjutant gen general eral and in his absence she ran across me 1 I want to say here that she electrified me before she left my office ilce I 1 was ready to fight for her 1 I P promised to speak to the adjutant general wad and to use what influence I 1 had in her behalf she wanted a a parole tor for you it if not a pardon 1 I was absent from austin when the ehe came the next time she won the interest of adjutant general reed and he even went to go governor vr r alor with her sure they only got turned down I 1 learned from reeds secretary that this girl was a miss misa mi sa lee instead of miss duane evidently she was wealthy it was as a tact fact however that she lived at your mothers home in ill wellston it if money could have helped your case there at the capital it sure would have been forthcoming comin all this interested me I 1 wrote to miss lee and told her bar that my duties gouid would soon take me to the nueces nieces country again and that I 1 would find out all I 1 could about you she replied rei plied a grateful sweet womanly letter 1 I wrote lir from several towns on the border and heard from her tl it was was in this lil way that kept la in touch vil with lb I 1 1 it end fad it was on this YOU a 1811 I 1 ie tn arld hatched out my plan 1 I to ranger ot of you X KM ilke 1 l when I 1 got back to austin I 1 aw my plan before Aman astill I 1 ial 11 V reed lie ile hailed it with amt ea 0 1 entwit I 1 tell you your cousin ailse lH sai lo 10 presumed she wa was a your certainly bad won over ul C it went to call upon the bovein 1 ibi ap rm im not like likely I 1 to for or ri 00 arget et t to in a burr hurry we 4 e call callei V him to give elve us li a pardon ar on t loy we promised we would aid bals B 0 render the state S late a service sn er we found ourselves 0 into a fierce debate eb te 0 0 ILL t d riu clu estion of oe til the r ranger in er 1 1 meryi CIO to B be continue linued M V |