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ALAN LE MAY W.N .U. 5 t nvict CHAPTER VII ? Continued ? 9? "He was charging back Into 'em," grunted Lee Bishop, "that's what he was trying to do." "Paul Martinez had come up by then and he was shouting at the other fel lers. We threw a few shots back and . forth, but I was behind the horse then. This?this leg sure feels like something happened to It." They lifted Billy Petersen off his horse and carried him into the one room log bunk house. Kentucky hastily torn ? ^ WhUe ^ Blsh?P CUt Off Billy Petersen's boot. "Catch hold of the top of the bunk, Billy," he said at last A strangling cry broke from Pe tersen's throat as Lee Bishop seized the injured ankle and suddenly jerked backward with all his weight. "The poor guy fainted," he told Kentucky. I don't guess I'll bandage this here till we get some hot water." ()I v? B0' water heating on the stove." "Give me the makings. Say? where ?Id Jean go?" Kentucky told him briefly what he had done. "I guess you done all right," Bishop said. "The old man sure can't keep from fighting now. From here out It's P e Into them and pile into them, and Jj* again. All I ask Is, save me Bill McOord !" "Jean Ragland is coming down here with three more horses. I better go on back and meet her on the trail. She'll break her neck sure, rounding those horses down that trail in the dark." "Get going then. When you get back to the house phone to Waterman for the Doc to come out and reset this leg tomorrow." "O. K." Kentucky met Jean Ragland near the top of the trail. The news that he had to give her burdened him heavily. "How badlv are they hurt?" she asked htm. "Jim Humphreys Is dead." She put a hand to her face and he thought that she swayed In the saddle. He dropped from his horse and went to her, shouldering between the driven ponies. Her hand gripped his and clung; and even through their heavy gloves he detected the tremor of her fingers. Jean drew a deep shuddering breath. Why do people have to go smashing around, destroying each other?" "It's bad;" he agreed; "nobody likes It any less than I do. But we'll have to go on with It a little way more." "The sheriff ought to be able to " "Billy says himself that Jim Hum phreys fired the first shot. Kange shoot ings always come in as self defense. The fight will have to go on. I didn't get anywhere with Bob Elliot today. I told him what I was going to do, and he said come ahead with It; and we left It there." Jean freed her hand. Her voice was steadier now. "The house was searched again," she told him. "Nothing much is gone." "Nothing at all?" "All that Beems to be missing is an old .45; it hasn't been out of its holster for two or three years, to my positive knowledge. Haven't you any theory yet, about who keeps ransacking the house?" "It's mighty hard," he admitted, "not to put a theory to that. But I'm still following Old Man Coffee's way. If ono theory Is worse than another, It's a theory that covers Just part of a case." He mounted, and they made their way single file up the trail In silence. He brought his horse abreast of hers as they gained the level footing of the Bench and Rho turned to him vaguely. "I don't know If I can stand this, Ken tucky, If It goes on much longer. Any thing In bettor than this terrible war ring, and mystery, and nobody under standing each other." "We'll see the beginning of action tomorrow 1" "Kentucky," ? her voice was faint with reluctance ? "I'm awfully afraid that we won't."' "What do you mean? With those boyn that we sent Harry Wilson for," he assured her, "I could stampede half the cattle In the rlmrock back where they belong. You'll see us?" The boys you wanted aren't com ing, Kentucky," ?'Didn't you send Harry Wilson to M "I went him; I told him exactly what you told me to tell him, and he went ripping down that crooked road fit to kill himself." "Then?" "My father was there, Kentucky. I didn't even know he was there until I had routed Harry Wilson out of the hunk house and started him to town. He came running out when he heard Harry drive out I told him what had happen*! down on the Bake Pan. Ken tuckjr, his face lit op as If it had been ">'? n w? ft. thing. could ?ee how tor* ? T' ? rlble It was to him ; yet it was as If be came back to blmself again, a.l in a moment He started to turn and go to his horse that was still standing sad dled near the door." "But if he means to take up the flght ? " "No, Kentucky ; all of a sudden he seemed to remember what he had started to ask in the first place ? where Harry Wilson was going in the car. Then I told him what I had done, that you told me to do. Ho 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 mean tem per. I never saw him go into moods anything like that before Mason died. This terrible thing has done something to us all." "You mean he didn't want us to send to Waterman for more ? " "He was furious, Kentucky ? in a kind of ugly, dlscouroged way. He wanted to know who you thought you were, sending for men to hire onto his outfit Of course I hadn't told him yet about selling you my share of the out fit." "What did you say to him?" "Kentucky, I kind of lost my temper for a moment," Jean said. "I told him this was the time to flght, if ever he meant to. Kentucky, as I sat on the rim and heard the guns and saw Jim Humphreys keel out of his saddle? oh, Presently She Turned Her Face Upward to Him. I was plenty sick. But something way down lnBide of me wants to hang onto the range and won't let go. If they fight ? I can see we've got to stand our ground." "You told him that?" "Not all that ? but other things. It was enough. I guess It was too much." "What did he do?" "He told mo to get In the house and stay there. He said It plenty forceful I I'd give anything in the world to know what's got Into him. "Campo convinced himself," Jean went on, "that It would be an Irrepa rable hurt If Waterman ? and the rlm rock ? got the Idea that we meant to make gunfight. The upshot of It was that Dad finally jumped Into the other car and went rlppltig down the road to Waterman after Harry Wilson, to coun termand your cnll for men." There was a light In the bunk house as they came Into the Rar Hook lay out, and Kentucky looked at Jean ques tlonlngly. "I guess Joe St. Marie has come In," Jean said. "Ho wasn't here when I started out with the horses. Let's let him stay where ho Is. I don't under stand that hoy anyway, very well." i "Does anyone?" "I doubt It" Together they rebuilt the fire In the stove, and warmed up something to eat. After thoy had eaten, Kentucky supposed that Jean would leave him to his own devices, or turn In ; but she lingered In the kitchen, reluctant to bo alone. "I don't know bnt what I'll sleep In the lean-to tonight, here off tho kitch en," Kentucky suggested. "Yes, do," she said Instantly. "I don't know what's the matter with mo. The night seems so still, and so empty, and bo cold . . .?? Jean sat down upon a low blanketed settee that stood between the stove and the corner wall, and Kentucky came and sat beside her. There were circles under Jean Ragland's pyes; she was beginning at last to show the effects of the strain which the last ten days had placed upon her. But as she turned to look into his face, he learned again that her blue eyes could be deep and unreadable. He wondered what lay within those eyes which could look so silently, so secretively wise. "Jean," he said, "do you want me to And out who killed Mason?" She shot him a curious but untrans latable glance. He thought that she was not going to answer him; but after a moment she said, "Yes." For no reason that he could name, he wondered Instantly if she had lied. "The facts are beginning to add up a little bit now," he said. "What are you waiting for?" she said. "What's keeping the answer from you?" He hesitated. She looked so piti fully 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 per suade her to tell him what she knew. Already he knew that Lee Bishop was In danger, that Bill McCord had tried to draw Bishop Into a fight that would almost certainly have ended Bishop's life; and he was sure that Jim Hum phreys had been killed because he had posed as boss ? and hence was perhaps taken for Bishop. He 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 re peated. "You, Jean." "I?" she said sharply. "Don't you think," he said, "that It's about time for you to tell me what you know? You didn't take the bullet at the Inquest without having a definite reason, a definite theory of this crime." She said almost lnaudblly, "Yes; that's true. But that blew up when ?ack Sanders was found dead. I swear to you, Kentucky? my theory Is dead? utterly Impossible now." "That Isn't the point," he Insisted 'The point Is that you did have a theory. That theory was based on something. Something that you Baw' Or maybe something that you heard, or knew. Now I want you to tell me what that thing was." She turned toward him, but defend slvely; and as she met his eyes her own were tormented. "You I " His keen gray eyes fixed her un waveringly. "I'm not going to let you evade me any more," he said. Suddenly some resistance within Jean Ragland seemed to break. She swayed aga nst him, and turning, hid her face against his shoulder. She was breath ing in long quavering drags ; not sob- I blng, but as If very close to sobs. For a moment Kentucky Jones sat motionless. Then he took the girl into I his arms, gently, as if she were a weary child. Her hands clung to him as he drew *<lRtLhl* arm8' She 8a,d ln a small Ice, Hold me tight, Kentucky. The night Is so still, so cold. I keep thlnk i , ^ how Jim Humphreys Is lying to 2SL T" ? the Pan " Presently she turned her face upward to him with closed eyes and he kissed her. * Ihey sat there for some time, there in the corner beyond the stove, In silence except for the soft crackling of IZiT ?J, the flre" As he ?at with . ? j* k'8 arms the coldness and the bleak sense of disaster seemed to S h n,ght* and the <lu,et ,08t Its hostility. That brief hour ln which he felt against his body the faint beat ng of her heart seemed inimitably he were here "ervlng as a utility for a little while in a des tiny Immeasurably beyond and above his own. Yet he had no Illusions concerning the part he was playing here. He be eved, as definitely as he had ever be lleved anything In his life, that she 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 with in him humbly bowed Its head, waiting for a different day. ntlrTed at ,n8t' nnd her self iazlly from his arms. She smiled at him faintly, her eyes dreamy, misty she told him; "I think I can sloop now nights;" 1 have bfif!n' th0? He let her go, and when she was gone he smoked In a curiously mixed mood, half softened, half grimly ironic I resenfly he went to Zaok Handera' Rn(1 ,ylnK f,own without taking on: his clothes, wni, aImoflt Immed|. ately asleep. CHAPTER VIII Not more than half an hour could have passed when he was Jerked broad awake by a fluttering knock upon his door. Before he could answer It, the door opened half hnrrledly, half In stealth, and Jean's whisper came to THE STORY FROM THE OPENING CHAPTER At the Inquest Into the rtoath of John Maaon, hanker, Jean, <1m>srht*r of Ctmpo Kagland, owner of the Bar Hook ranch, where Maaon mot death, ?ur reptltloualy paaaea to Kentucky Jones the bullet whloh had killed Mnson. Ken tucky goes to work on the Bar Hook ranch. The Mason verdlot In accidental death. Bob Klllot, owner of the adjoining ranire, driven hla cattle on the Bar Hook land. Lee Blahop, Raglanfl'a ranch boaa, expostulates, and BUI MoCord, Billot's foreman, Insults him. Blahop and Jonea are aatounded at Ragland's In difference to Klllot'a action. Blahop urges Kentucky to try to Influence Jean to arottte her father. He doe* ao, unwillingly, and her reaction mystifies him. Zaok Banders, Bar Hook cook, la found dead, murdered. Bherlff Hopper announoea hie knowledge that Maaon alao waa murdered. Jonea aeeka to traoe the ownerahlp of. ft |un found 6n Stack Bandera, aa having a bearing on the myatery. Jean sail* htm her ahara In the Bar Hook ranch, thua giving him a free hand with Billot. In a gun light with riders of tha "88" ranch Jim Humphreya, Bar Hook oowboy, Is killed, and hie partner wounded. Jones sends t6t fighting cownten. him through the dart "Kentucky, are you there?" *Here, Jean." He Jerked a match out of his pocket and struck It Into flame with his thumb nail. As he stood up she come close to him, her eyes very big and dark in her pale face. She was wearing mocca 8 ns, and without the high heels of her riding boots she looked less fall than he was accustomed to think of her, and somehow Infinitely softer and more easily hurt "Jean ? what Is it?" Kentucky ? somebody Is walking all around us? Just as quietly as? one of Joe St. Marie's ghosts/' "All around us? What do you mean?" I mean around the layout here near the house." "How many of them?" "I only saw one. He was prowling through the shadows? I saw him plaln y, not more than ten horse Jumps away He was carrying something on his shoulders. Then I thought I heard a walking horse." "Where did you see this?" From the window of my room. I couldn't. stand it alone there any more. Sometimes I think I'm going crazy ? "Let's have a look." Kentucky picked up his gun belt. "Be quiet," she cautioned him. "Who ever it is doesn't want to be seen? that s certain. If we're going to find out who it is. he mustn't know that he s been seen." "O. Iv." She groped for his hand and led the way through the cold dark of th? lone ranch house. Jean's room had two windows, one of which was wide open. At this win dow she knelt, peering out, and he dropped to one knee beside her. I first saw him from my bed," she whispered. "He went behind that dwarfed spruce. For a while he stood there behind It ? as if he was watching the house. Then he w<?nt on, walking ns quietly as ? as nothing human. As he went out of sight I got up and came to the window; and I watched him until I couldn't see him any more. He went toward the pump house, and out of sight." "I tlon,t 8ee any sign of him now." Jean seized his arm, and he heard her breath In her teeth. "What's that? There, close in rhe shadow of the pump house?" Kentucky looked hard where she pointed. As he stared, straining his eyes against the bad light, he pres ently began to believe that he could make out the crouching figure of a man. For what seemed a long time they knelt there, their eyes fixed upon the shadow against the pump house. Once Kentucky was certain that he not only perceived the whole outline of the crouched figure, but had seen ft move; and his hand moved toward his gun But the shadow blurred and lost out line, again, and he waited, unsure. When the telephone broke Into abrupt outcry in the house behind them the sudden burst of sound struck across their tense nerves like the crack of a whip against fiddle strings. Jean Jerked violently; then, pulling herself together, whispered. "D? n !" The tele phone continued to ring. Kentucky whispered, "One of us will have to answer that. I think you'd better go. I'll stay and watch the shadow here. If it's for me, please take the message." Jean Itagland hesitated, then silently obeyed. With his?.eyes riveted upon their mark, Kentucky listened for what seemed a long time to the low murmur of Jean's voice, two rooms away. Presently, alone, and with his eyei accustomed to their work, he saw the secret of the mysterious shadow dis solve, so that . he finally recognized It for what it was? a bush, ? wngort spring, and a broken buckboard wheel. Whomever Jean had seen prowl the layout, and wherever he might be now, he was no longer In the shadow of the pump house ? and had not been, since they had watched that shadow to gether. Disgusted, Kentucky rose, straight ening his crnmped knees. One long Btep from the window stood Jean Rag land a bed. He sat down upon it, careful to avoid a creaking of tho springs. Her bed was still warm to his hand where Jean had lain and tried to sleep; and for a moment he marveled that the toss of circumstances should have brought him so near to this girl even for so little time. Then? he no ticed something else. Something was wrong with the mat tress upon which he sat. Unrnlstak ably, there was something within that mattress that had nothing to do with sleep. Suddenly Kentucky dropped to one knee beside the bed and thrust his hand between the mattress and tho sheet. Burled In the mattress his fingers found the polished wood of a rifle stock; and beside It, dismounted, the cool smooth steel of the barrel. For a moment his hand rested on these wftila something turned over In the pit of his stomach and refused to go back Into place. He withdrew his hand, and sat down limply on the edge of the bed. He was not rendj to say what tho discovery meant; but ho knew Instant ly that Jean was more deeply Involved than he had supposed? perhaps for more deeply. "Dear O? d," he whls pered, "what have we here? What have we here?" (TO UK CONTINUED) F.flfact* of Moonlight Scientists long have scoffed at the ancient belief that moonlight can cause lunacy and render food unfit for nM. However, persistent claims that certain fish caught In the River Nile would spoil overnight If left In the light of the moon have been found t* be true.?Colller'a Weekly. I'm Letting You .Off Easy By NARD JONES C McClure Newspaper Syndicate. WNU Service. "\iniEE-ee-ee-ee ! ? V Dismal yet Imperative was the sound Just beyond the left elbow which George had .thrust Jauntily from his straight-eight roadster. With sinking heart he glanced out to see the goggled apparition drawing abreast of hltn. "Pinched," breathed George. As the traffic officer dismounted and strode toward them Sarah Anne patted her blond hair. "Oh, dear!" Bhe said. "That's what we get for pulling the curtain down," whispered Sarah Anne. "You couldn't watch In the mirror." George didn't reply nt once, for the officer had put one boot on the run ning board and was reaching Inside his Jacket for the ticket book. "Pretty fast for Sunday afternoon, brother," he remarked pleasantly. George's eyes opened Innocently. ?'Was I over the limit, officer?" "About ten over," said the law. "Sorry, but I'll have to give you a ticket" "Okay," said George. He hoped Cora wouldn't sound oft from the rum ble scat; he wanted to take his medi cine like a good sport before Sarah Anne. Probably his wife would start trying to argue with the cop. But strangely enough, Cora didn't say anything, and neither did Sara Anne's husband. Naturally Pete wouldn't, George told himself sourly. Nor would he offer to split the fine. Funny how he had let the bus go over the limit. With Sarah Anne beside him he might have hopped up the bus without noticing It. If he hadn't pulled down the curtain he might have seen the cop in the mirror and slowed down. George grinned, watching the officer's busy pencil. Well, pulling down that curtain had been worth get ting pinched. What a laugh on Pete, telling him the sun was on their necks so they'd have to pull the curtain down ? then kissing Sarah Anne not a foot from Pete's nose ! "There you are," said the traffic of ficer, tearing the slip from his book and handing It to George. "You ap pear tomqrrow, either at ten in the morning or three in the afternoon." "Okay, officer. But the fact is, I think ray speedometer's off." Tho officer grinned cryptically, his glance wavering Just for a second over the golden Sarah Anne whose robe did not quite conceal 'ier charming blue bathing suit. "Maybe so. Sometimes the Judge takes that into considera tion If you can show a speedometer test." ^When the officer had roared away, Pete yelled from the rumble seat: "Tough luck, old man," and Cora said: "George, you ought to be more care ful." "I'd think," said Sarah Anne, in the acid tone reserved for her husband, "you'd tell George when you hear a motorcycle." "He was mighty quiet," said Pete plaintively. "He coasted down this hill on us and I didn't know he was there until he sounded the siren." ? ??*??? As he gave his black tie final touches, and admired his chin In the mirror that night dressing for the Beach club dance, George congratulated himself on his smoothness. Not ev ery guy could have a little fun on the side and not get into a Jam. Right under Cora's nose, too, that was the scream. Next day George went to the Motor Flxlt shop. From several summers at Romona Beach he knew young Jasper. "Think you could make that speedome ter alow ? for a couple of bucks?" asked George Jovially. Jasper smiled Just a little. Said Jas per, "It'll cost you one buck to have It tested, and maybe It will really be ofT. We'll see." As a matter of fact, It was. Jasper found the speedometer seven miles slow. "Say, that's great !" George ex claimed. "That makes me liable for only three miles over the limit. The Judge ought to let that pass." "Probably. I'll give you a letter on the test and you can show him that." So that afternoon promptly at three, Oeorge waited with half a dozen other violators. The big Irish cop was pres ent nnd tho sour old Judge was slap ping on the limit. George heard hlrn impose fines of twenty, fifty, and seven ty-five like nothing at all. When his turn came he handed up his ticket nlong with the affidavit from tho Motor Flxlt shop, and winked at the Irish cop. "Fifty dollars," said the Judge. "Next case." George blinked. "F-flfty dollars?" "That's what I said. Death has been riding these rosds, young man, nnd that's got to stop." "But what about that letter there ? shout tho speedometer?" "I snw It," said the Judge. "Speed's not the only thing we're, wntchlng. Young people spooning In motor car* on the move ? that's part of the trou ble, so we ring the Blue law fines on that kind." "But, your honor," snld George Indig nantly. "We were ft respectable parky. We ? " "Yes, sir. Tho defendant whs going fifty-five miles ?n hour In a forty-five mile r.one. They all had bathing suits on, and the pair In the rumble seat wore doing a clinch that would make the movies nshnmed of themselves." Somebody In the courtroom laughed. The Judge pounded furiously. "Fifty dollars," he said to George, "and I'm letting you off easy." Housewife's Idea Box A Time Saver Did you every try sifting flour onto a piece of waxed paper or a ! large paper napkin? Try It the next ! time you bake. You will find it I easier to handle than when sifted 1 Into a bowl. Besides, the paper can be thrown away and there is no J bowl to wash and replace. You will I And It an economy of time and flour. THE 1IOUSKWIFE. i Copyright by Public L.Pd(fcr, Ino. WNU Service. BOYS! GIRLS! Read the Grape Nuts ad In another column of this paper and learn how to Join the Dizzy Dean Winners and win valuable free prizes. ? Adv. Household Pet! Strathbogle Cochlarachie Lochin var Mister, a Great Dane, owned by a finance expert In London, Is seven feet long and weighs 2:*8 pounds. He will answer to all or any of hla four names. The dog eats three pounds of raw meat and a beef heart dally, and his food costs nearly $4 a week. PARKER'S HAIR BALSAM B?moTM Dandnjff -Stop* H*lr Fall Ins Impart* Color and Baauty t?Grnjr and Faded Hair *nd II.06 at DninUu. HUcox Cham. ffk?? P?t<hogu?.N.T FLOKESTON SHAMPOO ? Ideal for dm In connection with Parker's Hair Balsam. Makes thf hair soft and fluffy. GO cents by mail or at drujr KiBts. Iliscox Chemical Works, Patchotrue, N. Y. Rash on Baby Caused Constant Irritation Relieved by Cuticura "About three months after my ba by wns born, eczema broke out all over her body. It came out In a rash and was very red. It caused con stant Irritation and loss of sleep so that I had to put gloves on her hands to prevent scratching. I could not bathe her. "For nearly two years this erup tion lasted. Then I read about Cuti cura Soap and Ointment, and sent for a free sample. I bought more, and after using two boxes of 01nt-> ment with the Soap she was re lieved completely of the Itching." (Signed) Mrs. Raymond Parks, 1409 Massachusetts Ave., North Adams, Mass. Soap 25c. Ointment 25c and 50c. Talcum 25c. Sold everywhere. Pro prietors: Potter Drug & Chemical Corp., Maiden, Mass." ? Adv. I MAKE THEM HAPPY ! One bottle of 'DEAD SHOT' Dr. Peery's Vermifuge will Bave you money, time, anxiety, and restore the health of your children In case of Worms or Tapeworm. Dr. Peery's 'DEAD SHOT' Vermifuge - 4n,(>0-il?h?tt'* ftt drartliti or Wright'* nil Co., I IK) ftold St.. N.V. CAty. WNU ? 7 82 ? 85 DO you suffer burning, scanty of too frequent urination; backache, headache, dizziness, swollen f??t and ankles? Are you tired, nervous ? f??l ?II unstrung and don't know what It wrong? Then give iom? thought to your kidneys. B? sure th?y function proper* ly, for functional kidney disorder per mite ixc*u wait* to *tay In the bloody and to poison and upset the whole sytlam. Use Dom'i Pills. Doan's are for the kidneys only. They are recommended the world over. You can get the gen uine, time-tested Doan'a at any drug ??ore.