Show m 41 A 40 ALAN LE MAY W N U I 1 rz V I 1 C P ca jau al CHAPTER VI VII continued 9 go back bach to the dar bar hook he told her harry wilson ought to be back there by now tell him to take the best of the two cars and drive like h I 1 to waterman I 1 want five more men out here by sunup tomorrow I 1 want bud jeffreys jeffrey and crazy harris he be named three others he wanted and four or five alternates in case some were not to be found all were men he knew now laid of off for the winter at or near waterman can you remember those sure when youve put harry wilson on his way bring a couple of horses and come back it if your fathers there he if you see a couple of poles that would make a stretcher bring e em in alone one of the horses can trail lem em like it fl tra travels vols well take the boys to the bake ran pan camp on the jean whirled her horse arse walt point out to me where jim and billy are jean pointed kentucky jones made out a far olt off bottle shaped dot upon the snow among the other dark dots that were sage and greasewood grease wood he recognized this as billy petersons Peter sens fallen horse ue ile could not see where jim humphreys lay but far oft off to the southwest be could see bee the faintly moving specks that were SS riders there they go he be whispered bitterly one of them tried to turn back and override over ride jim humphreys she said but billy petersen drove him oft off I 1 cant see lee bishop down there guess he got down the trail yet ill be back as quick as I 1 can she turned her horse and was gone in a flurry of hoof ilfred snow kentucky jones took the bake pan trail lee bishop was twenty minutes ahead of him in reaching billy petersen and jim humphreys but he be had sighted kentucky on the down trail and he be waited now for him to come up they got jim humphreys said lee bishop morosely 1 I 1 bet he be 11 4 go back to the tha bar hook he told her never lived to hit bit the ground if that boy was shot once he was shot half bait a dozen times what about billy billy petersen was leaning against his dead horse his legs lega stretched upon his folded saddle blanket in the falling light his face looked a pale gray green im all right he be said without conviction ile he busted his ankle some way when his horse flopped we better take him over to the lower camp kentuck he thinks he can ride all right if we lead along easy well tie jim humphreys on your horse I 1 guess iles hes aing over here about a hundred yards they traveled the half mile to the bar hook bake pan camp slow ly lee bishop and kentucky walking trl and leading the horses how did this thing start me and jim was coming home billy petersen said past our southwest well the 83 had stuck atuck up a kind of a tripod there like as if to represent a well of their own anil and it made us mad we threw it down coming on about a mile farther we run into these four falleri fel leri riding toward us three of ern em was together and one laying back when we met up tip they come up in front of us and stopped one of lern em 8 said ld which one of you la Is boss here jim humphreys said who the h 1 wants to know one of em cm says 11 1 I see you threw down dowa our well tripod jim says and what it if I 1 did well one word led u u lu to a another u and finally one of e em in says D n you bishop bishop said kentucky what lie he called him jim bother to tell him different then all of a sudden the guns was out who pulled the first iron kentucky asked jim did said billy petersen mournfully jim he fired the first shot only he missed one of the 88 fetters fellers made the quickest draw I 1 ever see or heard tell of his first shot put jim out of business I 1 think one of em tool took a throw at me and the other two poured it into jim as he went down I 1 grabbed out my gun and I 1 threw a shot some place but I 1 dont know where because right then my d n pony blew up ile he made two or three pitches and then lie he took and run wild with me for two three hundred yards I 1 pulled his fool head bead rl right bt back in my lap but he just run loco star gazing I 1 I 1 got him turned around I 1 dont know where I 1 was exactly when all of a sudden he somer faulted saul ted I 1 forget what I 1 was trying to do right then paul martanez Martl nez had come up by then and he was shouting at the other fetters fellers we threw a few stints shots back and forth but I 1 was behind the horse then this this leg sure feels like something happened to it they lifted billy petersen on off his horse and carried him into the one room log bunk house kentucky hastily built a ore fire while lee bichop cut off billy Peter petersons sens boot catch hold of the top of the bunk billy be said at last A stran strangling lin cry broke from Peter petersons sens throat throat as lee bishop seized the injured ankle and suddenly jerked backward with all his weight the poor guy fainted he told kentucky 1 I dont guess ill bandage this here till we get some hot water ive got water heating beating on the stove give me the makings say where did jean go kentucky told him briefly ahat ft hat he be had done 1 I guess you done all right bishop said the old man sure cant keep from fighting now from here out its pile into them and pile into them and pile in again all I 1 ask aak Is save we me bill mccord jean angland Ila gland Is coming down here with three more horses I 1 better go on back and meet her on the trail shell break her neck deck sure rounding those horses down that trail in the dark kentucky met jean ragland near the top of the trall the news that he be had to give her burdened him heavily how badly are they hurt she asked him jim humphreys Is dead she put a hand to her face and he be thought that she swayed in the saddle ile he dropped from his horse and went to her shouldering be teen the driven ponies jean drew a deep shuddering breath why do people have to go smashing around destroying each other its bad he agreed nobody likes it any less than I 1 do but 1 well have to go on with it a I 1 little I 1 t l I 1 e way more the sheriff ought to be able to 1 billy says himself that jim humphreys fired bred the first shot range shootings always come in as self defense the fight will have to go on I 1 get anywhere any liere here with bob elliot today I 1 told him what I 1 was going to do and he salo come ahead with it and we left it there jean freed her hind hand her voice was steadier now the house was searched again she told him nothing much Is gone nothing at all all that seems to be missing Is an old 45 5 it been out of its holster for two or three years to ny my positive knowledge 11 avent y yon oil any theory yet about who keeps ransacking the house its mighty hard bard he admitted not to put a theory to that but im still following old man linn coffees way if one theory Is worse than another its a theory that covers just part of n case he mounted and they made their way single file die up the trail in silence ile he brought his horse abreast of hers as they gained the level footing of the bench and she turned to him vaguely 1 I dont know it if I 1 can stand rid this kentucky it if it goes on much longer anything la Is better than this terrible warring and mystery and nobody understanding each other well seethe beginning g of action tomorrow kentucky her voice was faint with reluctance im awfully afraid that we wont what do you mean with those boys that we sent harry wilson for he assured her 1 I could stampede half the cattle in the rimrock back where they belong see us the boys you wanted arent coming kentucky you send harry wilson to 1 I sent him I 1 told him exactly I 1 what you told me to tell him and he went ripping down that crooked road roa d fit to kill himself then sly my father was there kentucky I 1 even know he was there until I 1 had routed harry wilson out of the bunk house and started him to town ile he came running out when lie he heard harry drive out I 1 told him what had happened down on the bake pan fan kentucky his face lit ht up as if it had been what he was waiting for it was the strangest thin thing you could see how terrible it was to him yet it was as if he came hack back to himell again all in a moment he started to turn and go to his horse that was still standing saddled near the door but it if he means to take up dp the fight no kentucky all of a sudden h he e seemed to remember what he had started to ask in the first placa where harry wilson was going in the car then I 1 told him what I 1 had bad done that you told me to he stood there and he seemed to think and all that hard terrible light went out of his face again and in the end it all simmered down to just a kind of a show of mein mean tem per ile he was furious kentucky in a kind of ugly discouraged way he wanted to know who you thought you were sending for men to hire onto his outfit of course I 1 told him yet about selling you my share of the outfit what did you say to him kentucky I 1 kind of lost my tern per for a moment jean said 1 I told him this was the time to light fight if ever he meant to kentucky as I 1 sat ant on the rim and heard beard the gun and saw jim humphreys keel out of his saddle oh I 1 was plenty sick but something way down inside of me wants to hang onto the range and wont let go it they fight I 1 can see weve got to stand our ground you told him that not all thit that hut but other things what did he do ile he told me to get in the house find and stay there ile he said it plenty force forceful full 1 id give anything in the world to know got into him campo convinced himself jenn jean went on that it would be an irreparable hurt if waterman and the rimrock got the idea that we meant to make gunfight the upshot of it was that dad finally jumped into the other car and went ripping down the road to Wn waterman terman after harry to countermand your call for men there was a light in the brink house as they came into the bar hook layout and kentucky looked at jean questioningly 1 I guess joe st marle has come in jean said ile he here when I 1 started out with the horses lets leta let him stay silly where he la is I 1 dont understand that boy anyway very well does anyone 1 I doubt it together they rebuilt the fire in the stove and warmed up something to eat after they had eaten kentucky supposed that jean would leave him to his own devices or turn in but she lingered in the kit clien chen reluctant to be alone 1 I dont know but what ill sleep in the leanto lean to tonight here ot off the kitchen kentucky suggested beg do she said instantly 1 I dont know the mat matter ter with me the night seems so still and so empty find and so cold jenn jean sat down upon a low lov blanket ed settee that stood between the stove and the corner wall and kentucky came and sat beside her jean he said do you want me to find out who killed mason site cliot him a curious but bill tin nn translatable glance ile he thought that she was not going to answer him but utter after a moment she said yea for no reason that he could name mime he wondered instantly if she had lied the facts are beginning to add up tip a little bit now he said said what are you waiting for she said keeping the answer from you ile he hesitated herita ted she hiie looked so pill pitifully tired that he could hardly bring himself to bear down upon her now yet he knew that he would be unlikely to have as good a chance again to persuade her to tell him what she knew already he knew that lee bishop was in danger clanger that bill mccord had tried to draw presently she sha turned her face upward to him bishop into a fight that would almost certainly have ended bishops life and he was sure aure that jim humphreys had bad been killed because he be had posed as boss and hence was perhaps taken for bishop tie ile had a durable hunch that others were in immediate danger as an aftermath to the killing of mason and he sincerely believed that he had no more right to turn away from the trail than a hound dog has the right to swerve or break ground once he has put down his nose what Is holding me up he repeated you jean 1 IT I she said sharply dont you think he said gald that its about time for you to tell me what you know you take the bullet at the inquest without having a definite reason a definite theory of this crime she said almost inaudibly yes true but that bajew jt jewhen pi when zack sanders was found dead I 1 swear to you kentucky my theory Is dead utterly impossible now that the point he insisted the point Is that you y ou did have a theory that theory was based on something something that you saw or maybe something that you heard or knew now I 1 want you to tell me what that thing was she turned toward him but bill defensively fen and as she met his eyes her own were tormented you 1 I ills keen heen gray eyes fixed her unwaveringly im not going to let you evade me any more he said suddenly some resistance within jean ragland kagland seemed to break she swayed against him and turning hid her face against his shoulder she was breathing in long quavering drags not sobbing but as if very close to sobs for a moment kentucky jones sat motionless then he took the girl into his arms gently as if she were a weary child her hands clung to him as he drew her into his arms she said in a small voice hold me tight kentucky the night la 19 so still so cold I 1 keep thinking of how jim humphreys Is lying tonight down on the pan presently she turned her face upward to him with closed eyes and he kissed her they sat there for some time there in the corner beyond the stove in silence except for the soft cracking of the embers of the ore fire As he sat with the girl in his arms the coldness and the bleak sense of disaster seemed to go out of the night and the quiet lost its hostility that brief hour in which lie he felt against his body the faint beating of her heart seemed illimitably precious as if he were here serving as a utility fora little while in a destiny immeasurably beyond and above ills his own yet he had bad no DO illusions concerning the part lie he was playing here ile he believed as definitely as he had ever believed anything in his life that she ale had put herself in his arms as a last resort silencing his questions in this way when she could not longer otherwise evade him but some grim factor within him humbly bowed its head waiting tor for a different day jean stirred at last and freed herself lazily from his arms slit she smiled at him fall faintly itly her eyes dreamy misty with sleepiness im lead dead for steel sleep she told him 1 I think I 1 can sleep now better than I 1 have hav e been these nights 11 tie he let her go and when she was mone gone he smoked in a curio curiously ugly nixed mixed mood half softened half ironic presently he went to zack sand sanders rs bunk bink and lying alyin down without vi taking taken oft off his clothes was almost flIe TO CE BE |