Show ROBBERS ROOST by bv zane grey ass es el SYNOPSIS jim wall young cowpuncher from wyoming seeks now new held field in utah he nests meets hank hays who adroit admits being a robber and tells tella will wall he I 1 a working for an englishman herrick Herr lck who has ha located a big ranch in the mountains mountain hays hay and others are plot ting tine to steal their employers cattle and money wall saves hanks life by bluffing a gambler out of shooting with hays and two other rustlers happy jack and lincoln jim wall too ROCS to herricks ranch herrick herrack announces that his sister helen Is coming to the ranch hays unfolds his plan for getting cutting possession of her racks head of live stock lie he a and n d his lieutenants ride away to drive on off the first bunch of cattle heeseman hays rival among the cattle rustlers tells wall that hays was once his heesemann Hee Ree semans partner and double crossed him CHAPTER IV continued 6 by jove I 1 never saw such marksmanship he be ejaculated that was really poor shooting indeed what would you call good shooting may I 1 ask well riding by a post and putting five ve bullets into it or splitting the edge of a card at twenty feet let me see your gun jim wall broke his rule when he be handed it over butt first herrick looked at it with mingled feelings why theres no trigger 1 he exclaimed in utter astonishment 1 I do not use a trigg trigger ger Thunder atlon man now how do you make the pistol go off look here let me show you said jim taking the gun 1 I thumb the hammer bammer like that by jove but please explain sir herrick the cocking of 0 a gun and putting pulling the trigger require twice as much time as thumbing for example supposing the eyesight and the draw of two zen men aro arc equal the one alo who thumbs his hammer will kill the other ah er yes I 1 see most extraordinary tra your american west is quite bewildering Is this thumbing a common practice among you desperadoes pera does very uncommon so uncommon that ill be obliged it if you will keep it to yourself oh yes by jove I 1 see rat hal ha I 1 ha I 1 I 1 grasp the point wall youre a comforting fellow t to have round the vince place herrick was evidently a free careless impressive man who had been used to fulfilling his desires ills his eccentricity was not apparent except in the fact of his presence there in wild utah he III liked ed horses does guns the outdoors physical effort but h he e had no conception whatever of his rem remarkable situation in this unsettled country when they arrived at the barn he asked jim to ride up to the house where they would look over some english guns the e big living room lad had three windowed d sides and was bizarre and strange to jim though attractive herrick had brought with him a quan quantity of rugs skins pictures and weapons the heavy english guns earned jims solemn shake of head no good at all here mr herrick nerr lck not even for grizzly get a forty tour four thank you I 1 shall do so im fond of the chase herrick had his desk near a window and upon it standing out in relief from books papers ornaments was a framed picture of a beautiful fair haired young woman the cast of her features resembled ner II erricks rIcks that was a portrait of his sister jim carried a vision of helen herricks derricks picture in his mind as he be rode back down the bench and he cursed the predicament into which he had bad allowed himself to become inveigled ill have to stick it out he be muttered that fair face and shining hair before his inward eye 1 I might have chucked this outfit have to hoof it up to see the boss tonight nays flays said after finishing the late supper put me wise to come off in my absence weve had no sign of smokes outfit so we dont know where his camp is 1 I do good place an out of sight I 1 gave smoky orders to pack supplies back from grand junction every trip hank reckon youre fig gerin up a long hole up said happy jack with a grin ave nave you run into eseman went on lays hays ignoring jacks hint yes ue ile called on us replied jim casually I 1 dont savvy that dodge its no good heeseman Is the slickest slackest slick est customer in utah just bryin to serape scrape acquaintance ehl 1 I think so it struck me that he might be wanting to throw his outfit with yours ahue I 1 had thet hunch it might wal be replied hays meditatively herrick put Heem heeremans emans outfit to cutting and peeling logs he wants more horses and barns barna for them theta good keep that outfit from ridin down limestone way an the cowboys where nae have they been plenty of workaround work around but little riding except after the hounds I 1 had a chase arter after jack jackrabbits rabbits with the boss hounds an lacks jacks what next however its not so bad for or us but regular ranch ln haw flaw I 1 haw I 1 herrick Herr lck took me up to see his guns went on jim easily with furtive eyes on hays have you seen them yes funny lot of knick knickknacks knacks theres one thing im to own though jim laughed tie he did not need to ask any more suddenly then a sens sensation atton shot through his vitals it was like an unexpected attack id like to own all that stuff he said carelessly 0 6 0 a 0 0 three days of genuine labor around the ranch followed but on the fourth day herrick approached jim wall I 1 want you to go to grand junction tomorrow after my sister he said take the cowboy barnes with you his home borne Is in grand junction have him hitch the black team to the buckboard and start early boss I 1 reckon ill go along with wall hays said coolly hays I 1 did not ask your services returned herrick Herr lck you are needed here his tone as much as his words settled the matter jim purposely delayed his hour of quitting in order to avoid hays aller after supper hays lighted his pipe then without facing jim he said jim had the boss mentioned this here trip before 1 no I 1 was as surprised as you wal suppose you make some excuse an let me go instead but herrick wont like that hays protested jim he turned down your proposal cold shore he did D n funny I 1 take thet too but it if you or go id be next choice hays you surprise me here you are on the eve ot of a big deal the biggest of your life and you risk angering herrick at this stage hays puffed his bis pipe ile he was beaten wal he said finally 1 I reckon debbe youre right jim only it seem so by sunrise next nest day jim wall w was as on his way to grand junction young barnes the cowboy had his hands full with the spirited team presently jims ever watchful eyes caught dust far ahead and dots of riders getting off the road into the cedar thickets they would be sm smokes 0 ays outfit jim calculated abd ga aavo vw them credit for seeing the buckboard first they did not appear again and jim knew they were hiding on their way back to star ranch at four they drove into grand junction which was considerably drably larger and busier than green river barnes here we are said jim this Is a metropolis compared to green river fust ive been home ter for ion long rejoined barnes ill take care of the team at my paws barnes drove off down the road and jim leisurely entered the lodging house which it turned out was run by a buxom woman who made herself agreeable she was loquacious and very shortly jiro jim gained the sur pt Is ing information that no cattle herds had passed through grand junction this week after supper jim turned in awakening early he got up and leisurely shaved and dressed paying more than usual attention to his appearance pe arance lie ile was there to escort an english girl fifty miles across the wilderness to star ranch one thing he was sure of and that was that it would be vastly better for miss herrick than if hank hays had been sent suddenly this fact struck jim as singular was lie he any better than hank hays after breakfast he went out and found a boy to shine his hightop high top boots and brush his dark worn suit and his black sombrero presently then he encountered barnes howdy boy did you have a nice time home gee I 1 did grinned the cowboy you sure look bright this morning wal you look kinds spick an span yourself jim drawled barnes funny how the idear of a gurl gets a fetter feller funny you tou mean terrible my friend A woman Is as terrible as an army approaching with banners gosh ever dreamed you had seen inside a bible exclaimed the cowboy its funny though how I 1 happened to remember that now barnes listen this miss bliss herrick might take me for an honest decent fellow like you but if I 1 let that pass id be sailing under false colors I 1 dont do that and as I 1 cant very well tell her myself you must tell her what queried barnes with a puzzled grin you know the kind of a man I 1 am 1 I sort of like you myself so it if you want ant me to tell her anything any Ally thin thill you must say what well veil then tell her about herrick hiring all the desperadoes in utah and that im one of them make me out worse than hays and heeseman hecteman He cseman thrown tog together gether shore abets easy but the idear jim 1 I always ark an outcast and I 1 think hurt me less it if this girl was seared scared and repelled it if she took me for a real westerner you know and talked and laughed well id go get powerfully drunk and probably shoot up star ranch so you fix it tor for me will you Bar neal shore ill fix at it replied barnes barms with a sly glance at jim you give me me a when the stage rolls up ashes due now ill run down an drive the buckboard up cut but the stage did not nat show up for an hour a long nervous dragging one for jim wall grand junction was wag no different from other western points remote from civilization everybody turned out to see the stage come in it was a gala occasion for the youngsters of whom there was a surprising number the women onlookers jim observed rather hung in the background the four horse stage came rolling up lu in a cloud of dust The Thel driver a grizzled old frontiersman brought it to a stop with a fine flourish and bawled out grand junction I 1 halt hour fer lunch there were six passengers two ot of them feminine the last to leave the stage was a tall veiled young woman her little lithe and erect figure encased in a long linen cost coat she carried a small satchel expectantly she looked around jim stepped before her baring his head are you miss herrick nerr lck ohl oh I 1 yes she exclaimed la in relief your brother sent us to meet you went on jim indicating barnes who stood to one side ile he did not comet come the full rich voice with its foreign intonation struck pleasantly upon jims ear no theres much work at star ranch but its perfectly all right miss herrick Herr lck we will drive you safely over before dark jim could not see clearly through the tan veil but he discerned well enough that big eyes studied him he send EL a letter or anything how am I 1 to know you men are employed by my brother im afraid have to take my word replied jim gravely but barnes here can prove his identity ile he lives in grand junction and of course there are responsible people who will vouch for him miss hiss the boss did send word spoke up barnes touching his hat and stepping closer he added in lower tone he told me last night you was wai to fetch what come by wells fargo then it Is all right she replied heartily relieved sly my luggage Is inside on top and tied on behind the name Is on every piece helen herrick ill attend to the baggage miss herrick rejoined jim meanwhile barnes will show you where to eat it might rest you to walk a little we have an eight hour drive thank you ive been riding steadily tor for two weeks and im stiff whereupon jim set about collecting the pieces ot of baggage marked ner her heir it appeared that the stage had been loaded down with them nineteen in all aall I 1 manifestly miss herrick had come to stay to find room for all of them in the buckboard was going to be a task he set about this methodically his mind at once busy and absent by packing carefully under the seats eats and on them too jim got the sag bags all in lie he went to the store and bought rope to tie some of them on securely wonder what she looks like he thought ile he had felt bagu vaguely uncomfortable when she looked him over through that veil his task completed jim stood beside the restless horses waiting and it seemed he was waiting for he knew not what presently barnes returned wearing an excited grin his eyes were important por tant jim I 1 fixed it I 1 shore gave her an earful be said did you much obliged cowboy she took off thet coat an veil utah never seen the likes of 0 her red lips pink cheeks hair like gold an eyes like viole violets jim for a minnit I 1 went plumb back on my gurll gurl but shucks taets crazy she asked me to set at table I 1 did ashes just as nice an free as herrick Herr lck it was while we was eaten thet I 1 had the tha to tell her about the notorious jim wall debbe I 1 spread it on an she looked gee such eyell she said so bernie herrick sent a desperado to be my escort how perfectly honest jim taets what she said so I 1 shet up pronto when I 1 jest come away she sald said shed walk a little in the orchard an after gogul into the wells fargo office shed be ready nave have you double crossed mer me queried jim suspicious of this boy you were to make me out lowdown low down jim honest to bawd it if thet gurl aint seared scared to death of you shea a new one on me declared barnes but there was f tun lin and evasion in his keen hazel eyes somehow he be had tailed failed to follow instructions ill go in the chinks here and get a bite bit to eat you watch the horses upon his return jim espied miss herrick emerging from the yard ot of mrs bowes lodging house she carried the linen coat on her arm and without it did not appear so tall she had a wonderful step a free swinging grace graceful itil stride expressive of beala health and vitality site she did not look slender as in tile the long ulster but superb broad of shoulder slie she wore a half length coat over her brown dress it had a collar of dark fur which presented vivid contrast to lier her exquisite complexion pl exion exton the veil was tucked back and now permitted sight of a wave of 8 shining golden hair at a little distance her eyes looked like great dark holes set in white but as she approached jim saw that they were violet in hue warm aarm A arm beautiful fearless TO BE BB |