The evening world. Newspaper, May 11, 1915, Page 17

aL A Story of the tig West Anda ‘Bad Man's" Love Bs is CHAPTER 111. ening Hietting ar Main know a, ond Viaying poker ho whe then followed a cot of from @ to 1b With bian f opposite each number for Ho of some new thing to “out when it should suggest iteeif ve student Chart 2 was labelled sak THINGS ‘TO PUT IN PLACK OF ‘s rHinas cor our Black Hal Dances lack Hal had yet " And, ae far as Bi MB bad laughingly admitted ine with thom, they were to the Judge that she ought Head some Dickens and Shake fing hers #peare and Hob't Chambers” th (He had seen ate nove) with Sibyl Establook's name upon the fy all her life whe eumed of Head some b forcing herself upon na dance, taphy Mut she had seen that he had y Phecliee wen danced with no one elve, had +. Learn some evan that be had pot more than Hf day ed hia bat to any woman ther 1 ating talk @ goo it was not her way to go unnoticed ene were daye he bad invested him with @ Cer seemed. up tale romance out of bim, had that no other man there had this one's matural beauty or siow-mov- ing grace, and that although he was u @ cowboy, a bein, had builded an oudiaw th t life flowed 4 4 Upon th boys working und came and went wy tomed duties, to been quic the beef for wa little beyou pale of her set, none the leas he wax round-up and a woman wan a bit tired of Mr. Daa- monotonous, tudes, and @ bit reck thing im the open air. a he put his arm cor'e And now, hey. and they caught the beat of the muaic, there wi th Oxcar Estabrook more of a blac of his father management of might play eful plati- with some. And to F jout back the gladness talking pre Rear slipping into the same old regime story and geom nar and spelling or new Words every do deal with I during whieh tt ) the surface of things oth amd serene Kk. The cow- fer Club Jordan pon their accus Hy back hich had disturbed by the Saw a great dea! ved itl than he did cattle, the range in the hands of his foreman n Wins: leaving the o's eyes came which had left them @ little during the round-up @ little Muah of tri. And yet, under the surface of winph'in her cheeks, a quick light of things, there was a certain vague un- action in her ‘eyes. rest, known at first only to Blacy ht to speak further of the Hal, sensed little by little by Dica Wayne's road-house for a Sperry, grasped almost fully by jerry. ae little, but Black Hal made no an- ‘ower, With a little gasp of this cowboy never danve, she gave herself over to his auick #, gave her aul ov keen enjoyment of the moment. She just remembered that after alt he was a man, she a woman; that they both were young; that the mu- ‘and the night and the stars made The: @ of the two of th pbe looked up into hi: ran red into hers. For there was a smile in his eyes, and back of the simile were the flat- tering things which many men hal said to her, but that none had s gulda: known with the Wags being said wor llessly to her now she made room fr him, drawing her skirts aside. HM stood for A moment looking’ down ai her, very gravely. ~- At her seat us! steadily, she thought eloy he said bed now. He put on his hi going acr dropping down into the shado rupt And he Good didn't wamen among w ‘Therefore strange or novel in WRich resulted from his seeing Siby! #7 Batabrook—from bis dancing ner. He did not go to bed as he had told her he was going to do, but instead ‘went down to the stable, saddled the Colonel, and rode far out acro: flat lands tying bright in the star- He was in love. In love with Sibyl Estabrook. He knew that he did not have the social refinements of Mr. Dancer, of He knew that these people could speak together and In his presence of many things intelli- givle to them of which he would understand no word. He saw a thousand points in which he fell far, far below her and her And, because he had made of * her in his thoughts the true woman, he did not see the one great thing the thing which made bis plane so far removed from her think of tt even. In many things he was unworthy, light. Mr, Cushin; kind, CHAPTER IV. the Black Hal Smelis a Rat. LACK HAL had seen little tirst stirred EL enough u young, pretty, women, And he was there was ife, and espe vould dance And Jerry had go rprise that she had a dancing-master when That in suspicions i to the to Pompey Estab: trayed from m. And when unfenced range ace the blood into the rich mountains skifting have said what wi them. The Bear Trac nee with which It from Club Jc the broken tine ‘0! the scattered herds, that they should ni a bit un- to quietly, In such a conditio nigh! and left her the pl some losses, that few head of cattle and perhaps never Was but a part of of profit and loss, vned with, Such g see the men ant bom he moved thing hai little mention had And yet it was thi ok that appeared; had the outfit. wa one, for no reason en discharged short-handed, itself had stirred certain mn the minds of Mlack Hal and Sperry. The great herds of cattle belonging rook carried the Bear Track brand over considerably more than a hundred thousand acres. end to end of the they pushed on back eding-grounds of the the range; they came and went and no man could the number of cowbo under the instructions which came to then rode far out along { the borders of always watching ray beyond the encircling imaginary dead line. on of things it was Natural enough that there should be now and then a should disappear be missed, ‘That the game, a part and to be reck- d happened upon vr Track two months ago, aad been made of it at incident which Hal's suspicions of women in his and which now made tem quick to hy of fire ugain. Three months b come three men to well-dressed puns: nothing the situation work. Club and had sent them nge slipped | with 4 loyal Bear because he knew went promptly to what he knew, “One of them j the Jim Gates an’ on Me knew it pen to know ‘em they are aroun’. men from the Diam for a job if you wa curiously. “You're @ real n had ar lence, ‘an’ real n hear you talkin’ | face for you An’ you listen t ntin’ your advic it. ‘Them men they he did aot an’ good cow men, an’ ordan had Club Jordan had ered with might be crooked, don’t cure which it is, pefore there had » the Bear Track riding from the south and asking for taken them on to ride line where nto the mountain And Black Hal, because be Track man, and wo of these men, the foreman with spers is Yellow is Shifty Ward, an’ both of ?em got run out in Colo- radu for crooked cattle worl T hap- a man both, an’ oughta keep bis hoss tied up while There's some good hond B Bar lookin’ nt more me: looked him lee boy, Hal,” he leisurely ins: ice lookin’, Lf 1 was you 1 wouldn't let them boys ike that, One of ‘em might spoil the looks of your ome; When I'm et askin’ you might be straight not They're all I need good cow int nobody goin’ ing on this here but he would force himself upward men. An’ there a from his plane to hers to pull off anyth He had, in his boyish way, been range | don't Know all about.” proud of ‘his evil reputation drinking and brawling ashamed, and the shame of it dyed w his face a stinging red He would would choke down all desire for such not drink of his Now he was nd had gone vad been strai house and to Osc It was n to interfere In anot ders again; he wild nights as had earned him bis and yet it was no title of the outlaw To-night he rode on to a canyon cave he had long ago discovered and had fitted up as @ sort of rude sit- pity cntering he lghted a ting re lantern. To the middle of the rough floor he had dragged a boulder, and upon this pom. trouble coming to main silent, And something of and a sort tabrook. been on ame West young he eet his lantern, A lot of cut brush suddenly left his was pi mouth of the vave, Beside the boulder he had placed a soap-box taken from the cook’s heap dred miles north, southeast and we: Ringling wood, und. thin Was his ot led high writing-table. A cracker-box And a dictionary, ttered copy of ‘ol, 2, and some half table magazines were his librory. nad Black Hal, before he picket up the book fr: took up pencil and paper, sat for a little looking steadfastly at two card boards which had once been bottom of & shoe-box and which now Were essential parts of the OD. They bore big, black letters, care- fully and plainly printed, and w numbered at the tops “Chart 1° “Chart ac THINGS TO CLT OUT And below, carefully tabulated, fol- Ga sowed: 8 the top of Chart 1 was writ- im large characters; between it and the citles of the Bust here in the cattle had been ta vas bi he had study chair. keograph failur id Copperfield,” paid his gumbling dozen dis hi out here with sibilities, hoping make ‘Da » the soap-box or young Estabrook's seen the letters whi larly, and he had young fellow was t work- trying to make goo his feoc Por these things ¢ frank open, good nature felt at once a kin hus employer, And now, seeing be well with men of extreme wurus. sympathy, of thinys, that his father steadily in the new smile and hi Black Hal had shrugged bis shoul- his way, And hi ight to the range r Estabrook, t the custom of Black Hal her man's affairs, t his way to see a friend and re- in a way he felt much of of friendship to the rapge when he knew why tho son of the Eastern millionaire bad old trails in the for a new tral count... He knew, as men knew for a hun- Est n Out of college, made a dism: debts had ser &@ man's respon- that they might A man of him He knew that there was a girl in story rhe bad ich Came so regu- yensed that the ying to make his stand, trying to grasp the manhood that had always been beyond him, od, trying to keep trai! and because of bis arty laugh and the cowboy ha Ng and a pity fi that all might not like Yellow Jim nd Shifty Ward in @ position ponsiviity upon the J \ THERE WAS A LITT BLUSE Gm rm UNO IM He CHREKS border of the mountain herds, know- ing that if they wished to do the thing it would be a very simple mat- ter for them to rush very many cat- Ue across into the next county and Into the hands of accomplices, Black Hal did what he had never of doing before, and, p: foreman, went up to the ys Oscar Estabrook had heard him, bad smiled and thanked him, and had said that he would look into the matter, would take it up with Jordan, And there had been the end of it And then, only four weeks after the coming of Yellow Jim Gates and Shifty Ward, one of the old hands— it had been the same Jerry whom Jordan had recently discharged—had reported that a band of fifty young steers which he had seen one day in the Valley of the Waterfalls had suddenly dropped out of sight, as though the earth had swallowed them hor Yellow Jim Gu and Shifty Ward v mphatic in denying that the particular band had ever passed through their territory. Yet the Steers had never been seen sino. Now there was no faintest doubt in the mind of Black Hal as to what was going on under his very eyes. 1 had long distrusted and liked Club Jordan, And he had known all along that there was not a better cattle man in the Wost Black Hal suw one after another of the old hands discharged, saw new men put into their pl and sensed rather than saw that all wa not well upon the Bear Tra So, while Black Hal spent his days upon the duties allotted him, and many hours of the nights at his work in his studio, he watched and waited and wondered—for there was nothing further to do after the one morning with young Eastabrook, nothing fur- ther to aay, until he had proof, And be told himself grimly that when he found the proof he wanted it would mean the end of Club Jor- + dan's reign “That inan could a put away ten thousan’ dollars in them two year he thought, frowning. ‘An’ men | Yellow Jim an’ Shifty don't hol’ onto @ real job this long Unless there's something crooked in it somewhere. “An'" as an afterthought which settled matters entirely in his mind, “a man as'll treat a hoss like Club treated the Colonel won't stop at cattle rustiin’ And now there was something else which added fuel to the smoldering fires of his suspicion The roundup was over id the visitors and cowboys from the neigh boring ranges had gone. And. still Prince Victor Dufresne stayed on, still he loitered in the shade with ths ladies, still he and Oscar now and then bad their litle game of poker, And, what was a great deal more to the point, Prince Victor seemed to have formed a great friendship for Club Jordan at man," reasoned Black Hal, each time he saw the dark, hand- some, smiling face and immaculate Prince Albert, “can make big money every day in the week in a dozen towns playing crooked cards, W. does he stick here for unless then money in it? Tt isn’t just his) win- nings offfn Estabr ‘cause the games t bie enough.” He shook his head, forgot bis Chart 1," and swore softly to bim- self. “They must be gittin’ awful sure, for their work's giitin’ awful raw An’ I'm a big Swede if { don’t giv the dead don the bunch of ‘em be- fore snow fies” CHAPTER V, School-Days Again. F in his adoration for wha he chose to see in Sibyl Estabrook lack Hal shun- ned her until the day when he might be less ashamed to stand in ber presence, there was no reason why he should avoid her grave-eyed sister, Yvonne. And within the week the secret which he hugged to lis bosom was no secre; to Yvoune, “It he has set himself to it," she mused when frat the thing dawned do it make her love him.” ¥, when he had been de- talled ax guide for the party ing them through the picturesque country about Death-Trap Mine, and she had dropped and he had suddenly coming very near opening tesy he @id not mention Sibyl, But he confessed simply, and without the flush which would have rushed into his cheeks had he been speak- ing with any of her friends, that he was trying to better. himself intel- wanted to read, then very ser- th through their own efforts and with jog fire i many difficulties confronting had mastered an education and who had risen to prominence through it, takes work,” she ended, help you any way? quickly ‘And if 1 coul ing @ letter to a itelted the Kast, sending for Sil unsolicited. pr ‘The letter Black Hal carried twen- ty miles that same night to give to much. @ man on the Diamond B Bar who was going to town within the week. They rode on that day to Death- Mine, the whole party, Black Hal guiding them since Oncar Esta- brook could not get away Jordan had told him briefly that he was to ride with them, thinking that Hre he saw the reason w tle he was being given duties which kept him from knowing what hap- spirit, pened to the herds along the border. But now, as he galloped along at catching glimpses of frowned when ust too late,” t jovially, “L have y little by lite these pe until they Yvonne's side, ich there Wan her ‘hiding from him, he grew very Oscar quickly ‘The preacher laughed and laid a heavy hand lightly upon his host's in @ new endeavor a man al ways wants encouragement, encouragement, and she gave it to Ufting himself can som: in his stirrups and bis horse's bobb ragged gash in th ahead of them, There was right sn ut minin’ there ston's nerves, They took the ere out on hosses an’ mules across the mountains an’ to feet From there they ty clean across the county to the ral it any it's there yet if a man could find tt was like this im awful quick ant ore they knew their picks an’ shovels twenty of ‘em funny what a wint fore men could in th Mine wi used to call it Jaspers got little and h towering calin, ste had got out may ed relocate the whole two miles along the mountain vould "a bel And yet where the lansiide o the diggings might be along them two miles & spring there an’ we'll by it an’ res’ bet oe 8 eee Now at last face. Fern Wins who first felt thi yes wor sand the events of whic the man she loved Again and again there came awitt- ly into the eyes of Oscar Estabrook was like the look of He will a look whic haunting fear, show- behind the house, found himself thers, and despite his hix extrem ladies, Fern camo t with his smooth manner, = only th host Sibyl, even to Theophile Cushing. it Wae Buliday over Rather for the sake who men in the night air, them, this afternoon from a the south, and only the Bible upon his ki: He had read to the tors in his fine, rich hallway they both lo It_was Oscar Estabrook. on to the sitting-room. in my ti reason for der. needa sho here in ‘inting beyond chaffed. ci o Fern’ back. and went Goll! The talk Said Brent forty mile shifted it in’ wagons and a spendthrift--he more?” drunk and he forg coming back his Father-and- y oto rest upon proud to have a son |i Did they get all of the should be hopeful of outcome explained. "LA woman is what he heap sight more when a) An’ 1 reckon man of him Winter atr un a urst cloud| way an’ flung ito} ht there with they »w Boy until covered up ad heen speak What is it she asked Tiere's been trouble, ’ auietly sf no moment the glow place showed the suppre ment in his eyes, _ of fem even ter vere Was a any again pointing it out to 4 abin. See it? Some lone py 4 lookin’ for the oi Nit. We're goin’ up. there startin to Yv thundered preached and prayed at them re all chafed and raw in Aud you time your arrival, brother, so that I cannot include you de_and chide you for the wickedness of which you have been the frank, open sincerity of Ner na- gullty during the day.” “What do you mean?" demanded 8 side, hin Go and from eu down Death ‘Trap made here’ the undercurrent of trouble running through life on the Hear Track began to ruffie the aur- it was, pera; all was not we the eyes which yes Hot blind, and she had guessed nothing were setting their brand upon ‘Through the thick tan of his cheeks glow flittully and he grew restless, laughed litle’ and when he did laugh Fern frowned at the false note. Prince Victor was still at the range & welcome guest like the reat cour- deferen ate the man and gentle and felt instinctively that in some way he was the cause of Oscar Extubrook's trouble. Yet there had been no poker games of late, and Dufresne seemed to b best of good will for his What Fern noticed first soon enough to study, to learn to be such a man [8M on to the other externally ay the men sho knew at «6 f its cheeri- ness than because of the faint chill there biased a greut the deep rock fireplace in the sltting-room of the range house, Big John Brent had returned onl: two-week: visit to the churchless lands lying to ow as he cloned the 1 did the roar- have it all its ow! in helping him that the quiet toon, a mer night by slipping to him under the cover of darkness a little bundle of books, and by wr a fow chap ©, and had, ched them the! Sunday sermon, such # sermon they had never heard before and which sbocked Mrs, Estabrook very Now that there came a step in tho ked up quickly, They heard him drop bis spura « the door of his own room aud come u start as though you were a Macbeth and there were @ dead Dun- the house,” y boy, you are working too hard, you are getting nervous Oscar linighed with him, t laugh which Jarred so on Fern Win- d to the others, dropping down wearily upon the rug at her to Black Hal “He is a gambler and a brawler ts blind who is should him, and I the ultimate needs, and comes, if she is the right woman, sbo is going to make a good he will always ng man—and if she is the wroog There came a sudden loud knock something, an’ a lon'siide on top of ing at the front door, The whole side of the mountain above seemed to have giv come down on n’ things hurried stride as weil ax in the quic an’ covered ‘em up, linpetuous blows that made them 4 turn curigs, half anxious eyes to the tke that neweom Oscar got hurriedly yh & month his foot e, an’ by And then on the threshold, vould say just spurs catching the winking firelight, his face showing very grave as he awept his broad bat from his head, stood the man of whom John Brent demanded young he mountain, Estabrook sharpty ind, st sepmod — Hiack Hal's eyes roved from one to euteningly, a of the faces which ph tight over yonder on that cliff,’ her, “is ispactor, eriah phe and Louls Dancer and force! be without waiting the one who bad knocked on and cate rapidly down the hallway and to the sitting-room ‘rhere Was something im the short, were to him before he answered he suid very 1s though speaking of 4 mat 6 fire excites Hear Crook Cromsing The agent is half a mile behind Mr sok to gil the boys. au help corral the man as did Choy were all on their feet now, Hg clone Up to the news-bearer, flutter with excited interent Did did he get away with any- thing’ asked Oncar out of @ short a with the ff moin’ to the Yes Got the b thousand dollars as toi Was any one hurt antekly The driver,” grunted Binck Hal, a little spurt of anger faring up through his short-apoken words “HII utter, An’ Hill had his bands up, It was cold-blooded murder an’ use for It ‘ern cried out and clutohed at Or- car's arm. And Oscar was running to his room for hin rifle “Whore's Club Jordan?" he cried back at Black Hal. “Have you told him Where's Club Jordan?” repeated Hal dryly “Nobody can't 1 a ant to know, ked Yvunne ohn Brent spoke ou don't mean’ Black Hal laughe Pretty laugh to hea “T mean,” he said gentiy—and Mre Fatabrook got up quickly from her chair and drew away from him--"f mean that Hill Cutter was a frien’ of mine, an’ somebody's goin’ to pay for a dirty deal They hoard his pure clank and Jingle down the hall. And a sudd chill fell over tl room which the leaping fire could not and it wasn't a thaw. . CHAPTER VI. Black Hal—Kavesdropper. LACK HAL cloned the new aTammar which Yvonne had bought and had pen- oll-marked for him, laid it carefully upon his soap- box, trimmed the wick of his lantern, and sighed deeply. “They're all Hurs! he muttered heavily, ‘lub Jordan an’ Yellow Jim an’ Shifty Ward. Every one of ‘em ia a ar an’ I know it! They'd Me for a drink an’ they'd lio to save a@ pal's neck, Hut, jes’ the eame"-— He broke off where he had brok off many times before, They would Me—yes, But how could a man be certain that they had lied in this particular case? How could a man be positive? And he must be very sure of hia ground before he accused another man of murder. he went on in a@ little, “if Club Jordan didn't do tt, who dia?” He mhook his head, and at last lighted his cigarette, ain't quit yet, Club Jordan; ai Vil get the dead wood on you Foor of BM, an’ with bis bands up, too!" There had been haste and search er the word of the Bear Creek Crossing tragedy had been brought to the range-houne, and byron and search had been alike prof- tleas, The crossing was full ten miles from the range-house and close to the broken mountain country, and the man who had held up the stage had had ample time to make hie vscape before the cowboys got to horse after him, Hack Hal had made no attempt to hide his #uapicion, and all ears wait- ed for Club Jordan's explanation of his absenc But the explanation came amoothly enough when the foreman was at last located near morning in camp with Yellow Jim Gates and Shifty Ward upon the southeastern border And both Yel Jim and Shifty had told that he had been with them all the late afternoon and evening. There days of speculation, of mispicion, of watchfulness, “The only way,” Hal puzzled it out, “is to wait an’ wateh. An’ when ons of them faspers flashes u fistful of inoney make him show where It came from. Suddenly he jerked his hand up, lus listless body @rew tense, and he learned forward, peering out over the cliff'a edge. For he had seen a spurt of tmnt. 4 quick, short-lived glow through the darkness below him, and had known that ihe shod no of & howe had ck & spark fri a bit Fock on the trait, SUB le strode back to where his lantern was and put out the flame, for fear that A pale-yellow ray might leak wag le™ the brush across Mw door. And then he cama back mouth of the e in the thick Uatening ‘Then he had heard the rattle of stones and knew that some one was climbing the clits “He's comin’ up here! he teringly. “Up here? em!" Ho could see them plainiy enough although he could not see the could not make out who they They were drawing steadily, t y, Nearer to him, Now they were but ten feet below wild night of to the vo and crouched there shadow, watching, nuttered Phore’s two W'vanr wears courte bevel Te “— we No. 2 Schuyler Place he drow nearer 0 resumed Unelr pl to hem acer” Die ying eerned as ever m, and he lay fat, peering down at Then bem And then, one aft hey stepped out upe edging off feriher tot Now Heten ¢ jim Jordan . five ed ude apart ab pushed up ie « for (he stare to abine throug plains some time ‘peat ; The « went ahead moved back inte the hille, Prines Vietor Dute nd the man KNOW, ond he'll pase the word te ho followed, panting, whose de. “ Lwo uf three weeks the Cormed foot owns will be in your territory iMeult for Youre to keep them preity well Ive @ fe an, WHnChed, where can Kot as for a little he rested to hovt ’ A rueged knob of rock the Jevil's own Work, an’ 1# takin’ (oo many cha Dufresne lau | push (he cathe on to the 6 Double Triangle. La soln hed soft te yo *, Jordan, ean mahoy will pay ona asd as (he cows are within curse the chances Come on then Again they syed on, and Hiack Ferd 2 om ratir M Aad Wal saw that they had passed out of (ATUVEN Vou are to pase the sight along the ledge of rock; that at (p19 \"" © this deal ie leant thay were not coming to Where siey wil) their my mney. and it he waa He followed caut he them up to each one of them to i There befor £ OUP. neck whole And stan twenty feet flinty spires Hack Hal could nagement (ie Thess mon were spanking @ running off ten, fifteen, 1 but of five hundred a, hollow of trom of rock, @ which @ man could not gue below, into whieh he could not ase woleas he came upon it from as HWiack Hal was coming now And in the hollow there was a light, two lig! the olga ret on he naw that the men below him were not the mea be t df lowed, saw both Jordan and Dufreane not believe Willow pull themscivas up over the edge of ft where was the Mimeultese Moore the cliff and drop down into the Fook — “At lant.” he thought, ert “an rimmed basin ., Know something. At last T can 4 “he muttered. “Who's the cards; T can mo to young Yellow Jim ag’ Shifty, brook an’ ahow him the kind of man oe! Iihety.’ ted lun Jordan i" foreman ie An’ there's goint 1° ve L) grun' “hal ordan be « squarin’ of slimped acrona the narrow hollow ant poor Hill Cutters Om ove, Why of DURING he nothing left of the Bear ore win bie f Willoughby of the Do e had fol- angie wore in with them —and at that rate there would and stopped before the two men who "ite anw that the threa men were smoking “Ain't we takin’ et hye anough chances without you two Nett eM a. 2 watchfully toward the edge of iff And in a little he enw ane burnin’ tebsceo? You'd oughta know the tter'n that, Andy.” other man. climb upwi ‘drop Andy! fown into the hollow. “Rd So Andy Holloway, the young fel. As he came forward Dufreme tow whom they had taken on only two picked up the buckskin bag and montha batore, was one of them} Sinwled tt before him Andy laugl Little insolently aeck's runnt hich!” he crted, “Whatia eatin’ you, Jordan?” he tantly. "One more wnt and we can scoffed. “Scared the Sheriff's goin’ to PAY our debts and take a frewh amell it down to Queen City? You're start!” Kittin’ nerves, you are. And then—Rtack Hot fott an ti “Nerves?” grunted Jordan sourly. & man had atruck him ae “1 got aenae, that’s all. You young face He went auddenly diage pups think it's amart to show off swayed back against the rock behind take chances, You're a fool if you him $ run into any danger as a in the For the man who had come for. mine. Maybe I am gittin’ nerves, ward to join tham was young Oscar nyway, I'll be almighty glad when Estabrook! this thing is over with - Dufresne had followed him and now CHAPTER Vi, The Landslide. stood leaning against a bou! look- SCAR was one of the gag ) stealing his own cattle! ing down at them, “There'n ulwaya danger in taking kid Hike And: "he said gently Hut this thing tw too bie for un to worry about a chanoe here qnd there And ince the others are amoking-— No word of what passed Mave a aigar, Jordan” Detween ti Jordan grunted and turned to the the hotoe ee eee man who had not_yet spoken. low was lost to him. ‘That you, Jim?” he aaked, He heard how they had driven off w¥en." shortly | “I been here an other bande; how they were now pre- hour, too, an’ I want to olean out Paring to rash the band of five hun- didn't siegp nono Ia’ night, What's dred steers across the border and iat “Did Ward send anything?” the hands of Willoughby on the Deu- Yellow Jim fed something from ble Triangle; how Wittoughby would hin belt and dropped It at Jordan's have them in cattle care and on the lent way to Chicago within forty-eight Aw it atruck against a atone tt gave d. out the unmistakable Jingle of minted Pure After they were turned evee to gold. 5 Jordan picked it up and weighed He learned that these things were {tin his hands and then passed It on planned very largely by Victor Dus to Dufresne, ufresne, and “Look a here.” put in Andy sud ner aerdes wan te ean was man Genly,, “Pin gittin’ (need of thie Dual: aging the colossal steal, d lor of mine.” You are right," nodded Dufreane. [le heard how it wae Di : plan to wait a little for the here has heen a whole lot too much ? § turning of talking “You wore quick, werwn't you, (8 14st trick, to move slowly amd to pick up things and put them to- . to have the steers xether and see the truth? And then {B® border at the time of the demanded your share, and you've y deen demanding your rights ever optyie {would not be long now—feur since, haven't you? reat whea the sea. Yes, T have; an’ T mean to have £01 Would break in the mountains, ‘em. An’ Tl take my share of that fownpoue witcha cme, the money nor re o ‘ would wipe out all signs that a Andy," went on the gambler in the herd of cattle had passed that Mime serene, untroubled tone, “we And Oscar Eastabrook, haven't Anished this thing yet. We're among them, asked nervously just about half through; we've turned and of that where Andy was, Why just about half the money there is had not co: it ‘Shitty Ward in it, Jordan here haan't got hia yot. doing his part and keeping hie He'n willing tu wait. So is Jim, so is shut; if Willoughby could be Shifty, @o are the other boys, to have the cash ready when the ‘We've got to be careful, don't you came, it hia voice almost pleading, | And then Oscar Estabrook and Wie- if you get your money the other boys tor Dufresne and Club Jorden ne will have a right to theirs, Then Yellow Jim Gates, one after the a some one of you In going to apend Clitnbed out of the rock-bound eup his, he is Koing to get drunk and M4 dropped silently out of sight. talk, and before you know it the _ And Black Hal, with only a bagk~ whole kettle of fat will be kicked in Ward glance at the shadows where a ’ h, heap of brush had been piled o the Gre and we'll sil navn to run [eAp OF Brush hed been Bled over Ae way, slipped awa: “It's only a month longer now through the @ark. Ww put the last big deal across Nes! and went slowly back to the then, and then you can take your °&¥@ money in a lump and do aa you please | Sitting in the darkness there upon with It, Tt would be better to walt, DS cracker-box, forgetting to smoke, Andy, and" ho tried to work the thing out, teed "1 don't. walt! eried Motloway '0. explain to himself why Oscar Be- ices Se nt what's coming t&?feok should be one of a crowd stubbornly Want What's COMME stealing Bear Track cattle. The r 5 ‘The gambler untied the bag from yop By apie Estabrook” soloed his belt and tossed it to the ground Hal to tho explanation be punt it, count your share,” he fi aaid Hehtly. “You're a fool, Andy.” "One more whirl,” he had ald, “and can all pay our debts and take a Andy stooped, bis Angers closed yw on the heavy buckskin bag—and he trosh start r lifted tt an inch from the Oscar's poker games alone with Du- und, fresne— games in which he lost ever Vor Dufresne had sprung forward oud over, winning now and then uat wr uddeniy, and as he e@prang had enough to make him hope to win whipped high above his head the largely must have put him in deeply knife which he always wore under in Dufresne's debt hia vest, and, panting audibly with “If” Black Hal worked {t @ut the exertion he pul into the blow, finally——if he's in the hole deep, Be's drove the long, keen blade deep into to git the money without Ris young Holloway's neck sther knowin’. An’ if he sol? eattle He was a fool, and [told him go." the regular way his dad would know, Dufresne said as be slipped the knife en’ the money would have to be back Into hiv aheath, “Lt was afrad turned over to his dad I'd have to do that all along, Ifyou've An’ the chances is they've snaWed got anything to say you, Jim, and him into this, an’ he's takin’ the ene you, too, Jordan-eay it now enance he sees to git out'n Dufresne’a He paused, and Black Hal could claws an’ before Dufresne goes to hin see his head turn as he looked again man with @ fist full of not from he other of oor, deluded young fool!” 7 ay Vike 1" on 4 Yel And now, what to do” low Jim after a little ‘oO rustle (To He Continued.) is one thing; to murder a 0000 “He had it coming.” mutered Jor. dan, throatily, "Victor's right, Jim An’ we better move him, an’ quick, GOING AWAY FOR THE SUMMER? Remember The Eve- too. ‘There's no use everybody know Ng about i x ning World prints each week a Tack Mai, feelings ashe NA rere watoned th irow. back a litt complete uptodate novel a when Dufresne and Jordan took up ek’s reading! 7 the quiet. hady ‘aad moved tabore, | Week's reading! Have The Bye ously with it to t far ¢ hollow, putting it in the 0 there ang\throwing « | over it, Ke or the tek 1 le brush ning World sent to your sume mer address. > a ae) re ra Tan a