Show C CATTLE AT L ea K KINGDOM I 1 N gwi IJ M by ALAN LE MAY 0 alan service TA T may CHAPTER E IX Continued 11 not very much arent you going to help me find some breakfast you bet I 1 am they went into the cook shack and he be lighted the lamp again moving slowly he quietly shoved wood into the banked fire and got bacon into a skillet im sure sorry I 1 cant stay while this cooks he said but ive got to make a ride maybe ill go with you im afraid he be said gently you want to do that you mean you dont want me it that but i it you had any imagination you d know I 1 got up at this unearthly hour because I 1 want to talk to you he waited disturbed she stood close to him talking almost in whispers he knew he must got get going but he could not bring himself to move away you see I 1 heard part of what you and uncle john said last night you heard what uncle john has a voice like old rock bock in full cry she explained my room next to his but it far away and when hes angry ill bet he can be heard ten miles back into the I 1 coul ant help hearing what you said about bob flagg being dead and if true wheeler was startled marlan marian he looked at her square what else did you hear her eyes did not waver that was all ail he thought he detected a taint faint wicked gleam in her eyes but he kept his face expressionless and stood pat weve got to find old man coffee she said seems like hes left marian youve got to take me to him the girl said you can find him I 1 know you can find him what makes you think so cant you wheeler hesitated what old man coffee had told him had been told in confidence yet invariably he found it almost impossible to speak untruly truly to this girl his hesitation was fatal you know where he is she said su suddenly he picked up his bridle ive got to get out of here billy youre riding out to meet old man coffee tell your uncle ill be back tonight he said abruptly and move moved toward the door im going with you im sorry he said but youre not youre a pest what you are go on and eat your breakfast yet he knew that he could not bluff this girl nor control anything that she did and what was worse she knew it too As he left her she was writing a note to her uncle telling him where she had gone and she was with him mounted on her own pony as he left the layout wheeler pressed his pony along steadily eyes to the front and he was combating his keen awareness that the girl was at his side he ha had oved loved this gaunt clear colored country of blasting sun and sharp shadows aws differently than he be had lov loved ed the girl but as a man loves his home but now he knew he would need another different country a new type of grazing land if he was ever going to forget this girl who rode beside him whom he could never possess they were almost in the shadow of lost whiskey butte when she broke the silence between them billy I 1 told you something that so he waited it was when we were talking about bob flagg and how I 1 heard what you and uncle john said about that and I 1 said that was all I 1 heard beard well that all what else did you hear 1 I heard it all 11 unexpectedly he found it difficult to tell himself that it matter but now he realized that she was waiting tor for him to answer and he managed to say all right it better she said that we both know now how things really stand between us I 1 mean he made himself say 1 I guess so marian it is better she said and he wondered why her voice seemed so sad because dont you see sec theres nothing to keep us from being friends now really friends and each of us all of us are going to need what friendliness there is left in the world I 1 think CHAPTER X As coffee with his dogs about him rode out to meet wheeler and marian dunn from lost whiskey butte the girl pushed her horse ahead she stopped close to the old man facing him s squarely qu arely ile he tried to keep me irom from coming ng she told coffee but there anything he could really do now it if you want me to go back I 1 will old man coffee grin grinned nea he moved his mule nearer marians pony and leaned forward to peer into her eyes then he laid a bony old hand on her shoulder child what happened to you nothing something did though wheeler contradicted he told coffee ot of the shot from the brush the old hunter scowled he looked as nearly startled as they had bad ever seen him look this changes the whole setup set up he complained 1 I thought I 1 had it licked I 1 thought I 1 could pretty near give names and cases but this smears it it 1 I dont follow that marian said neither do I 1 coffee said dismissing discussion he turned to wheeler you told her what we aimed to try no well you should have this Is afkind a kind of a sad dark job were on today girl were going to try to find the the man that was killed at short crick 1 I guessed that marian said old man coffee led oft off to the northeast his sleepy eared mule in an ambling shuffle and they rode in silence for a little way coffee signaled to them to come abreast maybe youve wondered some he said why ive been kind of 0 prowling around of nights as your Y I 1 WF k s alfs en ill V Z W I 1 marian this Is as far as you go wagon boss was at pains to make known well I 1 guess it wont hurt nothing to tell how a thing like this is done did you ever listen to coyote voices of a night marian 1 I very well help it could I 1 theres a funny thing about them more things interest coyotes than expect and if something kind of strange and interesting happens on the range all of em know it all over the desert wed learn queer things from em if we could understand their talk a little better coyotes wont touch a dead man neither will a loafer wolf but circle around and kind of wail and sing once before this I 1 found out where a corpse was hid by listening to the coyote voices at night this time we got a break theres a loafer wolf on the range hell only talk about certain things and maybe speak only two three times a week so when he lets out the same kind of queer cry in the same place three or tour four nights in a row a man begins to wonder that was a long day and a strange day the strangest in marian an dunns life their work carried them a great distance much of which was wasted in quartering and the long following of false trails some queer geometry of landmarks was working in coffees head bead but what it was like they could not guess and he did not explain repeatedly old man coffee pulled the dogs off invisible trails which he be declared were those of coyotes it was after noon before a new note came into the howling of the hounds signaling the trail of the loafer wolf this loafer trail said old man coffee is three days old I 1 dont reckon serve it did not serve though coffee let lei it lead them seven miles in no particular direction before he pulled off the dogs the sun had gone down behind the and the long gray dusk was on the range as they came on to the broken wilderness ot of red rock that was known as the red sleep the dogs were ing uncertainty here obviously running no trail though old man coffee seemed to know where he was going and now old rock made a curious play the old dog had been in a s sulk ill all day long un unwilling willin g to quarter the trail of the loafer wolf but now he sent up a long full throated cry and drifted swiftly nose doa down doan n a hundred yards along the red rock old man coffee said under his breath ill be eternally dam nedi abruptly the old dog turned to look at old man coffee let his tail drop again and quit the trall trail the matter everything coffee said 1 I never done so much false figuring figurine in my eifel he pushed ahead quickly now shouting to his bis hounds jerking new life into them with lutteral gut teral indian words that the others did not understand now suddenly the big spotted leader hound sprang ahead bawling and in another moment the rest of the hounds were with him running full cry outdistancing the horses the wolf again said coffee a new keen edge on his voice children were neat near the end of the trail yet because the trail of the wolf was indirect and circling they spent another hour in following the dogs the ponies were scrambling over broken rock now keeping up as best they could the dusk was very deep when old man coffee pulled up at last and sat waiting 4 they did not see what had stopped him at first but after a few moments they saw that the hounds had made a circle and were coming back coffee got down off his mule called in his bis dogs and tied up each of them separately to rock or scrub oak but he had to crack the long dog whip over them more than once before they would lie down sulking and moaning in their throats old rock the only one untied lay down under the feet of the mule raised his nose to heavert heaven and let out a long deep cheated ch ested wai wail L old man coffee tightened his sad dle die marian he said this is as tar far as you go you stay with her billy I 1 dont know how long this will take he said something unintelligible to the dogs and then moved away from them the dainty feet of his mule picking its way and old rock slinking close behind they sat there for what seemed like an endless time billy wheeler tried to talk to break the sad terrible stillness but this place smothered the words in his throat the first stars were showing when old man coffee came back to them at last his black mule moving like a lean tall tail shadow among shadows he came close to them then for a moment sat silent looking back over his shoulder the way he had come and wheeler knew that he was futilely seeking words tor for what he had to say long before the old man spoke they knew he had found what he had sought its bob flagg old man coffee said horse dunn accepted the news that flagg was dead mo more re quietly more steadily than wheeler had expected how was he killed dunn asked by a shotgun the same as cayuse cayetano wheres coffee coffee wheeler had found could not be persuaded to return with them to the 94 it was coffees belief that dunn had made a serious mistake when he had chosen to hold magoonis Mag saddle instead of turning it in to the sheriff the sheriff will be out here in the morning sure wheeler said 1 I think walt amos means to be fair but theres better than a hundred men in inspiration all out of outfits that hate the 94 amos is sitting on a stove and its getting hotter every minute let him come any more dope on the cayetano killing 1 I sent gil baker to ace springs but he come back val douglas went to did he he left this morning I 1 suppose be late tomorrow night before he gets back maybe longer steve and tulare and me we spent the day prospecting around in the tuscarora foothills here and find anything wheeler supposed billy said horse dunn theres somebody been slinking around over there we found the ashes of two different fires and im not a darrin damn bit sure there somebody prowling around there yet now who the devil would that be just it we dont know who that would be I 1 guess it matter now they had expected sheriff walt amos to appear in the course of the night or at least no later than the first light but it was noon before amos appeared he again came alone as he had come after billy wheeler at the 84 94 he found only horse dunn and billy wheeler tor for steve hurley and tulare callahan were in the in search of the unknown prowler now believed to be hiding there val douglas and gil baker had not yet returned and marian was out with her pony walt amos climbed out of his car and walked slowly to the gallery of the cook shack where the 94 people happened to be they awaited him in silence horse said walt amos the time has come when I 1 cant put oil off acting no more what have you done with gil baker horse dunn demanded hes in inspiration we had to take him in Is he hurt not bad he came prowling aroun around d ace springs where cayetano was killed and one of the deputies hollered to him to halt but he in made ade a run tor for it they had to throw down on him before hed give himself up turned out he was shot in the leg youre getting almighty highhanded around here amos sorry but I 1 reckon its going to seem still a little more so dunn I 1 got to take you in on what charge held for questioning concerning murder horse dunn stood up his thumbs hooked in his belt and his eyes rolled slowly over the foothills of the it seemed to wheeler that he was looking tor for a sign now dunn answered him at last and wheeler saw that somehow in the course of the night the old man had been able to prepare himself for this thing when you want to move out he asked id like to get on back as soon as youre ready dunn and now out of a trail that wound through the tall back of the layout a rider came his horse was at a quiet running walk but the animal shone wet with sweat and from under the edges of tile the saddle blanket the lather rolled it was tulare callahan he rode directly to the cook shack gallery and swung down horse ive seen lon he announced tulare are you sure we only sighted him tar far off on a high ridge at battern bet tern a mile but horse I 1 knew him as sure as I 1 know my name his horse looked like that good sorrel of ours we call brandy we signed him to come and talk but he sloped we took out after him hell for leather steve curleys Hur leys trying to trail him yet but he got loose about four miles up the tamale vine I 1 knew you was looking for the sheriff and I 1 thought you might want to know this if you was still here amos said horse dunn im going to have to ask tor for a little more time TO BE CONTINUED |