| Show ROBBERS ROOST by zane grey Crey T service moms SYNOPSIS jim wall young cowpuncher from wyoming in the th early days of the cattle industry seeks ft a new field in utah he be meet meats hunk hank hays who admits being a robber and tells wall he be Is 13 working tor for an englishman herrick Herr lck who wha has ha located ft a big biff ra ranch in the mountains herrick ha has a employed a small army of rustlers and gunfight gun kun fight era ra and hays and others are plotting to steal their employers cattle and money hays gets beta into an argument with ft a gambler over a poker sums game wall waal saves hanks life by bluffing the cabbler out of shooting CHAPTER II 11 continued IH H 1 you say panted stud but that ringing taunt had cut the force of his purpose youve got a gun in each inside yest vest pocket said wall contemptuously the gambler let his hands relax and slide elide off the table stud shuffled to his feet malignant and beaten for the moment hays you an me are even he said gru gruffly irly but rit meet your new pard some other time and then therell be a showdown show down shore stud no hard feell ns on my lay side drawled hays the little gambler stalked to the bar drank and left the saloon nank hank hays turned round jim thet fetter feller did have two guns inside his vest I 1 never saw them till you gave it away lie ile would have wiled billed me 1 I think he would hays returned wall you were sitting bad for action right you are jim and im much obliged to you id like to know some thin that did you bluff him s hardly I 1 had him figured it was a pretty good bet he try to draw but if he had made a move ahue been all day with him this gambler stud has a cama out here tor for beta swift on the draw lies iles killed bah I 1 cut to in wall good men who can handle guns dont pack them that way presently they bade red good night and went outside where you sleep ln asked hays lett left my pack in the stall out back with my horse what do we do tomorrow rn 1 I was th lakIn of thet well shake the dust of green rier I 1 reckon tomorrow wed better stock up on every ahw an bit the trail tor for the henrys suits me replied will wall wal then good night breakfast here early concluded hays A red sunrise greeted wall upon his awakening when a little later he presented himself at the back of reds house for breakfast he was to find hays happy jack and brad lincoln ahead of him they had breakfast brad you retch your pack horses round back ordered the leader when they got outside happy you get yourself a boss loss then meet us at the store quick as you can get there jim you come with me hays im in need of some thin things s said wall hays days drew out a handful of bills and a nd pressed them upon wall shore buy what outfit you need an dont forget a lot ot of shells replied hays it if I 1 dont miss my guess well have a smoky summer howl haw haw I 1 heres the store A bright young fellow who looked bi b be the son of the proprietor took charge of wall A new saddle blan iret was wills walls first choice after which be bought horseshoes and nails a and file articles he be had long ing needed and the lack of which had made bay lame after that he selected a complete new outfit of wearing ap apparel paret a new tarpaulin a blanket rope and wound up with a goodly supply of shells tor for his 45 revolver likewise he got some boxes of 44 rifle shells halt half an hour later the four men driving five packed horses and two unpacked rode on oft behind the town across the flat toward the west coming to a road hays led on that for a mile or so and then branched off on a seldom used trail towards sunset they drew down to the center of a vast swale where the green intensified and the eye of the range rider could see the influence of water hays halted for camp at a swampy sedge plot where water oozed out and grass was thick enough to hold the horses borses aha I 1 good to be out again boys said eald hays heartily throw saddles an packs turn the bosses loose happy youre elected cook rest of us rustle so methin to burn jim rambled far afield to collect au armload of dead stalks of cactus greasewood grease wood sunflower anil and dusk was mantling the desert when he got back to hocamp camp happy jack was whistling about a little fire hays knelt before a pan of dough which he was snead ing linclon was busy at some camp chore wall I 1 dont like store bread hays haya was saying give me sourdough i t 1 biscuits i 1 how about you jim I 1 me too and ana ail id like some cake replied jim dropping his load bakel wal listen to our new hand jack can you bake cake sure we got flour an su sugar ar an milk did you fetch some eggs hawl hawl thet reminds me though well get eggs over at star ranch none of you ever seen such a ranch why fellers herricks bought every durn boss burro sow steer chicken in the whole country so you said before returned lincoln im sure curious to see this angll englisher s her must have more money than brains ile he got any sense cut but lordy the money lies hes spent I 1 jim sat down to rest and listen queer deal a rich englishman arrin men like us to run its his outfit pondered lincoln in a puzzled tone 1 I dont understand it wal who does I 1 cant taets shore but its a tact fact an were coln to be so rich pronto thet well jest a about b 0 ut kill each other more truth than fun full in thet lank hank old boy nn an dont you forget it rejoined lincoln now how do you aim to get rich shore ive no idee all come ive got the stop step on heeseman an his bards hell be alman at precisely the same deal as you shore well have to kill heeseman an sooner or later id like it sooner 1 I dont like the deal concluded lincoln forcibly presently they sat to their meal and ate almost in silence darkness I 1 1 6 4 4 I 1 10 he felt an overpowering sense of the immensity of this thi region settled down one by one they sought their beds and wall was the last dawn found them up and doing wall fetched in some of the horses lincoln the others by sunrise they were on the trail which about led down through high gravel banks to a wide stream bed dry except in the middle of the sandy waste this heres the muddy announced hays flays for jims benefit bad enough when the waters up but to the dirty devil bothin at all the dirty devil asked jim its a river an its well named you can gamble on that well cross it tomorrow some time next camp was on higher ground above the muddy here hays and lincoln renewed their argument about the herrick ranch deal it proved what wall had divined this brad lincoln was shrewd cold doubtful and aggressive hays was not distinguished for any cleverness he was merely an all unscrupulous robber these men were going to clash that was inevitable jim calculated early the next day jim wall had reason to be curious about the dirty devil river tor for the descent into the defiles of desert to reach it was a most remarkable one the trail now only a few dim old hoot hoof tracks wound tortuously down and down into deep canyons the tracks hays was following failed talle dand and begot lost ina in a labyrinthine maze of deep washes impossible to climb and seemingly impossible to escape from lincoln got off his bis horse and went down the canyon evidently searching in for a place to climb up to the rim above ile he returned in an assertive manner and mounting called for the others to follow 1 I hear the river an im makin for it sat said lincoln jim had heard a faint low murmur which had him and which lie had not recognized they all followed lincoln eventually he led them into a narrow elgh walled canyon where ran the dirty darly devil the water was muddy but as it was shallow sli allow the riders forded corded it without more mishap than a wetting still they were lost there was nothing to do however but work up a side canyon hays led thorn them to a campsite camp site that never could have been expected there fellers ill bet you so methin he said before dismounting theres Th pres a roost down in thet country where never in dawds world could anybody find us tig ual ilat an when they did be only our bleached bones scoffed lincoln there never had bad been any love lost between rth the ese 1 two wo men jim conjectured 1 4 1 A afaf after ter supper jim strolled away from camp down to where the canyon yan opened upon a nothingness of space and blackness and depth the hour hung suspended between dusk and night ite ile felt an overpowering sense of the immensity of this region of mountain gorge plain and butte while jim wall meditated there in the ga gathering darkness he be was visited by ah an inexplicable reluctance to go on with this adventure CHAPTER III I 1 next morn morning fing they got a late start nevertheless mays hays assured jim that they would reach star ranch towards evening the trail led up ul a wide shallow sli allow gravelly canyon full of green growths they rode on side by side the trail le dInto a wider one coming around from the northeast jim did not miss fresh hoof tracks and hays flays was not far behind I 1 in n discovering them woods full of riders he muttered how flow long have you been gone hays flays inquired jim 7 from rom star ranch lets see must be a couple of weeks too long by gosh I 1 herrick sent me to grand junction an on the way back I 1 circled theta how I 1 happened to make green river did you expect to meet happy jack and lincoln there shore an some more of my outfit cut but I 1 guess moren make up for the other fetters fellers hope I 1 dont disappoint you said jim dryly well you so far only id feel better jim if come clean with who you air an what you air hays I 1 ask you to take me on shore youre right reckon I 1 figured everybody knew hank hays flays why theres a town down here named after me A town no one would think it wal it aint much to brag on A few cabins the first of which I 1 threw up with my father years ago in his later years he was a prospector we lived there for years I 1 tripped trapped fur up here in the mountains in fact I 1 got to know the whole country except thet black dragon canyon an thet liell hellhole hole of the dirty devil my old man was shot by rustlers 1 I gathered no use for rustlers well then hays howd you fall into your present line of business J i i t M hawl haw I 1 haw haw I 1 present line abets a a good one now jim what do you reckon thet line Is you seem to be versatile versaille hays but it if I 1 was to judge id say you relieved people of surplus cash very nice put jim id hate to be a lowdown low down thief jim I 1 was hn an honest man once not sa so long ago it was a woman who made me what I 1 am today abets why im cold on women were you ever married went on jim stirred a little by the others crude pathos I 1 thet was tile the h 1 of lt it replied hays flays and he seemed to lose desire to confide further they rode into the zone of the foothills with ever increasing evidence of fertility but jims view had been restricted for several hours permitting only occasional glimpses up the gray black slopes of the henrys and none at all of the low country therefore jim was scarcely prepared to come round a corner and out into the open stunned by the magnificence of the scene he would have halted bay on the spot but he espied hays waiting for him ahead wal pard this here Is utah said hays as jim came up and his voice held a note of pride round the corner here you can see herricks valley an ranch its a bit of rich land thirty miles long an half as wide nar narrowing narrow rowin ln like a wedge now lets ride on jim an have a look at it across the mouth of herricks grayn reen valley which opened under the escarpment from which jim gazed extended vast level green and black lines of range one above the other each projecting farther out into that blue abyss down in there somewhere this hank flank hays will find his robbers roost soliloquized jim and turned his horse again into the trail before late afternoon of that day jim wall had seen as many cattle dotting a verdant grass watered valley as ever he had viewed in the great herds driven up from texas to abilene and dodge or on the wind river range of wyoming A rough estimate exceeded ten thousand head ile he had taken hays with a grain of salt but here was an incomparable range and hero here were the cattle no doubt beyond the timbered bluff across the valley lay another depression like this one and perhaps there were many extending like spokes of a wheel down from the great hub of the henry mountains but where was the maibet for this unparalleled range TO BE CONTINUED |
