Thursday, July 21, 1932
TIMES, WILLAM1NÄ. OREGON
Pape 4
The
Desert’s
Price
By W illiam
MacLeod Ralne
W N U S «M eo
Copyright by William MacLeod Raise
S Y N O P S IS
W ilson M cC a n n , youn< A rix o n a ran chm an,
« called to help an ©id friend. J im Y e rb y , w ith
a hrcken le y . Julia S ta rk , d a u g h te r of M a tth e w
S ta rk , in v e te ra te enemy of the M c C a n n a, is
W h him. T a k in g a note from J u lia to her
fa th e r. W ils o n is fired on by Jasper. J u l a's
h rc th e r. A rm G iffo rd , w ith her young sister.
E th e l, are sheep raisers, and on th a t account
un popular w ith the cattlem e n . “ N ig h t rid e rs ”
shoot a M cC ann rider. P e te r M c C a n n . W ils o n 's
fa th e r, offers a rew a rd for the disclosure of
th e ir id e n tity .
W ils o n M c C a n n horsewhips
Jasper, he m aking p ra ctic ally no resistance.
M a tth e w disowns his son for his cowardice,
an d posts notice he w ill k ill W ils o n M c C a n n
on s ig h t. A nn G iffo rd ’ s tra g e d y is the fa te of
her dead sister. N o ra , b e trayed and abandoned
b y her lo ve r. Jasper S ta rk and C a rl G itr.e r,
know n as a “k ille r .” hold secret conferences.
A S ta rk rid e r, To m M c A r d l* . is hel eved by
th e S ta rk s to have been k ille d by the M cC an n s,
b u t ru m o r lin k s his nam e w ith th a t of N o ra
G iffo rd . M a tth e w S ta rk is shot and killed ,
fre tn am bush. J u lia finds him dead, w ith W i l
son M c C a n n stooping over him - She and P h il,
her younger bto th e r. both accuse M c C a n n of
the k illin g , despite his vehem ent denial. W i l
son is shot from th e chapparaU w h ile standing
ov e r M a tth e w S ta rk 's body.
B elie v in g him
dyin g, th e S ta rk s have him ta k e n to th e ir
home. D espite opposition, his fa th e r is allowed
to see him . D ave Stone. S ta rk rid e r, a T e x a n
w ith a record as a “ k ille r ,” openly doubts W i l
son’s g u ilt.
Jasper is disin h e rite d by his
fa th e r's wiU.
C H A PTER V I—Continued
—7—
“ Jule, you an' Phil wouldn’t keep me
outa my share of the property, would
you? That would be a low-dor n trick,
ju s’ because Dad got sore at me an'
hadn't time to forget it.”
“ Phil and I haven’t talked this over.
We haven’t even thought about it.”
She broke into sudden passionate pro
test. “ I’d think, Ja s , you’d have the
decency to forget it till— for a few
days anyhow.”
“ Easy enough for you to talk,” he
grumbled.
“ Nobody's done you a
meanness like they have me.”
“ We’ll do what's right, Phil and I.
Bur you can’t come here and bully us.
We don't want the McCanns here any
more ’n you do. We hate it— espe
cially—’*
She bit her lip to keep back a sob.
Both the men knew she was thinking
o f her father.
"Well, then, why not throw ’em out?”
Jasper wanted to know.
“ Because we're not savages. Be
cause one o f ’em is dying— and the
other is his father. Can't you see,
Ja s ? It's not what we want to do, but
what we’ve got to do.”
“ Folks are liable to do a lot of
talkin’. I ’ll say that.”
“ Then they’ll have to talk.
We
can't help it.”
" I don’t sabe this business, Jule,” he
told her, narrowed eyes full In hers.
“ What's back of it? What game are
you playin’ ?”
A flush swept the girl’s cheeks and
died away leaving her white and still.
She knew whaf he meant— that this
was a covert insinuation o f a love
affair between her and Wilson Mc
Cann. A wave of nausea engulfed her.
"I think you're the mosr hateful man
I ever knew,” she flamed, and went out
of the room on a crescendo o f sobs.
Phil missed the point but knew that
his sister thought Jasper had Insulted
her. He asked a question bluntly.
“ What you drivin’ at, anyhow?”
“Don’t you get sore, too, kid,” the
older brother answered. “ I got eyes,
an’ I use ’em. She's mighty high-
heeled, Ju le is. But she can't draw
the wool over my eyes. It ain’t all
Christian kindness that's moving her.
N ot on yore sweet life. It’s that Wlls
McCann. She’s in love with him.”
“ W h a t!”
“ Sure as you’re a foot high. There’s
somethin’ doin' between her an’ that
lobo w olf that killed Dad.” Jasper
nodded malevolently and triumphantly.
H is brother recoiled, hard hit. “ I
don’t believe it.”
"You’ll see,” Jasper promised, wisely.
To those stricken by grief it seems
at first that death has dammed the
river of life and that its channel must
be forever dry. But if is of the for
tunate essence of our being that life
flows on In spite of us. The very de
tail o f existence so absorbs us that our
sorrow is pushed into the background.
Thus it was with Ju lia in the days
after her father’s body had been laid
to rest. H er time was very fully occu
pied, for she had Inherited the joint
management of large Interests. Jasper
still called tbe ranch his home appar
ently. though he was of no use what
ever in looking after it. Julia did not
understand him at all.
It was not
o d I v that' he considered himself Ill-
used. There was something on his
mind that made him savage and Ir
ritable. H is idea of justice was that
Phil nnd she should make out a deed
to him o f one-third the property left
by their father nnd should let him run
the ranch according to his fancy with
out Interference.
If he had been at all reasonable
Ju lia would have been tempted to Join
with Phil in acceding to his demand.
But she knew in her heart that If she
gave way it would be wenkness. In
this Phil concurred. He knew, better
even than Ju lia, that Jasper had flung
away the reins of all self-control, that
he was drinking heavily and spending
his time with worse than worthless
characters. In Mesa was a Mexican
tendejon that had become a sink of
iniquity where the scum of humanity
gathered. It was known as Pedro's
place. Here Jasper went every morn
ing and remained most of the day.
Wilson McCann and his father were
still at the Stark ranch. Slowly, inch
by inch, the young man was beating
back the tide that had almost engulfed
him.
H is strength began to renew
itself. He was so nearly out of danger
that the question of moving him be
came imminent. Neither Phil nor Julia
ever entered the sick room or ex
changed a word with the McCanns.
On an afternoon Julia made a sug
gestion to Phil tlint flushed his boyish
face with pleasure.
“ Let's go see the Gifford girls. We
ought to show we feel friendly. Don’t
you think so? You used to know them,
didn't you?”
“ Yes, before— before Nora went
away. I knew 'em right well. But
now nobody's welcome there.”
"And Jasper knew them, too. I've
heard.”
“ Y'ep. Quite a few of the boys went
there. Toni McArdle did—an’ Gitoer
—an’ I’ve seen Dave Stone there.
They don't any of 'em go any more.
Ann won't have 'em. Makes it mighty
lonesome for Ethel. She's a mighty
nice gal, Jule.
If you could make
friends with her an’ Ann—”
He left his sentence unfinished, but
it was expressive enough as it stood.
“ I’ll try,” she promised.
They rode up out of the valley
toward Tincup pass. From the dis
tance came faint voices. The foreman
of the Circle Cross was making a
gather of beeves for the trail. The
plaintive bleating of a calf Just reached
them. Through the pass they moved
down to the desert. The girl thought
of almost the last time she had crossed
it, in the moonlight, beside her the
strong sun-browned man who had be
come anathema to her family. She
had talked with Dave Stone. In her
heart she knew that Wilson McCann
had not killed her father. He had
given her his word that he would not
wage any but a fair fight. In spite of
her resentment against him she be
lieved he would keep his word.
The horses climbed the mesa where
the sheep ranch had its headquarters.
A shy-eyed girl came to the door to
meet them. At sight of Phil her
cheeks flew a flag of color.
The boy swung from the saddle.
“ Miss Ethel, meet my sister. She’ll be
right glad to know you.”
Ethel Gifford's blue eyes filmed with
tears when Ju lia came forward and
impulsively kissed her.
She was
starved for affection. There was none
o f It in her life except that which came
from Ann, who Jealously protected her
from any chance of it on the part of
others.
"My dear, we're going to be friends,”
Julia said.
The other girl's lip trembled. "W on’t
you—come In?” she invited dubiously.
Ann was away from home, but the
thought of her obtruded. She would
not like her asking the Starks into
the house.
The visitors followed her Into the
low-ceillnged room. It was a homelike
place, Julia saw in the first swift
glance. In the deep windows o f the
adobe walls were potted flowers, gera
niums, begonias, and fuchsias. They
were curtained with clean muslin. A
piano filled one corner. On the mantel
were photographs and a framed print
o f a Del Sarto madonna.
There was a moment of silence be
fore Ethel explained that her sister
was out at one of the camps. “ But I
expect her back any time,” she added.
“ I think she must be a pretty good
manager,” Ju lia said. “ I hear you are
doing so well. I am glad.”
" If we could only sell out and go
away,” Ethel wistfully replied. “ Per
haps we can when folks find out we re
making money here.”
"You don't like the desert?” the
older girl asked.
"I hate I t
It’s . . . horrible.
It . . . takes us and . . . crashes
our lives.” She flung out her hands
in a gesture of passionate despair.
"Folks that are good and kind— they
change— and awful things happen.”
“ Yes,” said Julia, struck by a sud
den depression of sadness.
Ethel’s sweet mouth quivered. "Oh,
I’m sorry.
I forgot— about you.
I
was thinking of myself. It gets so
terrible sometimes— when I let myself
think— ”
She broke off. In her eyes was an
expression of fear, of some haunting
dread too great for endurance.
Phil’s heart was very tender to this
charming creature, so soft and de
fenseless. It tched for her now. The
generous youth lu him wus eager to de
fend her.
But defend her against what? Not
grief nlone for her sister Nora’s death
hud brought that stricken look Into her
face. There was something else—
something sinister and evil that she
felt like a shadow of disaster hovering
over her life. What could It be? What
had so moved her to futile nnd pro-
testant outburst? Was it possible that
some threat still overhung, one of the
nature of which he was to the dark?
“ Couldn’t you and your sister come
and stay with us a few days?” Julia
asked, her fingers caressing the soft
and dimpled chffeek. "We'd love to have
you?”
"Oh, I wish we could. But we can’t.
There’s no use talking,” Ethel cried.
“ It's sweet of you to ask us, though.
Ann wouldn't want to go. I'm sure
she w ouldn't”
A shadow darkened the doorway.
"Where la it Ann wouldn't want
to go?”
M iss Gifford came Into the room, a
quirt dangling from her wrist. In an
unlovely khaki divided skirt and
spurred boots, a revolver cased In the
belt at her hip, she looked very much
a denizen of the desert. But she had
an aspect of efficient competence.
“ I was asking your sister If you and
she wouldn't come and stay for a few
Ills troubled gaze elung to Ethel.
For her his heart was wrung. Ho soft
and young she looked, so little able to
cope with the harsh world Into which
circumstances had flung her. Ann’s
attitude was unjust lie knew that.
But he wus still •• hoy, and ho did uot
know how to cope will» It
Ueluctantly he followed Julln from
the house nnd swung to the saddle.
They rode across the mesa and
dipped Into a draw. Bound a sharp
bend they moved—and came face to
face with Jasper.
The meeting was a surprise to all
three, to Jasper a disconcerting one.
•” Lo. J a s ! Where you headin’ for?”
his sister asked.
He murmured something about a calf
cached by Its mother while the cow
went to the nearest water hole.
Neither Phil nor Julia voiced their
doubts after they had ridden on. He
was going to the Gifford sheep ranch.
Both of them believed that. But why?
Was It possible that In spite of Ann's
watchfulness he could be holding
secret meetings with Ethel? It might
be so. He was good-looking In his
way. There wus a swagger about him
some women found attractive.
Roth Phil and Julia hoped that little
Ethel Gifford was not one of them.
Though Jasper was their brother, they
much distrusted him.
C H A PTE R V II
Court of Public Opinion
Jasper did not ride up to the house
nt the sheep ranch nnd announce him
self. lie turned up an arroyo that
brought him unobserved to a pocket In
the hills. Here he left tils horse and
climbed to the rolling ground above.
Carefully, so as not to be at any time
within observation from tbe bouse, he
worked his way to a grove of live oaks
In a draw. From this he could look
down on the ranch.
He laced his hands around ids mouth
aqd gave the hoot of an owl. Twice,
nt intervals of half a minute, he re
peated this.
Presently from the back door of the
house a slim and graceful figure
emerged. As she walked up the rise
toward the grove a little breath of
wind brought the print dress about her
limbs so that the skirt clung to her
knees and remodeled Itself at each
step. There was something In the ges
ture o f her fine and exquisite. Mo
mentarily she stood silent, her breast
rising and falling fast from the climb.
"Stop Right Where You Are,” She
After one swift glance her eye« had
Said.
’ ’ fallen before his.
days at the Circle Cross.
We're—
“ What do you want with me?” she
lonesome just now." explained Julia.
asked at lust.
“ No, thank you,” Ann answered
The hateful note of triumphant vic
bluntly.
tory was In Ills laugh. “ What do you
“ We’d so like to have you come,”
reckon I want with you?”
Ju lia persisted. "There aren't many
The look on his face sent the color
of us women folk on the desert. Don't
flying to her cheeks. There was noth
you think we ought to be friends?”
ing In the armory of her Innocent and
“ Friends!” Ann’s voice carried a girlish coquetry to protect against such
laugh far removed from humor. “ Why grossoeaa.
not? When we have lived here two
“ You— keep at roe,” she faltered.
years and none of you have come to “ You won’t let me alone. If I had any
see us, when you’ve all treated us as thing to give you—anything at all—”
though we had the plague, when you've
She was considering In her mind,
harried our sheep over cliffs and poi as she had done a hundred times,
soned them, when your vile men—”
whether there was any way to raise
She stopped abruptly, to add a moment
money enough to buy him off, and she
later contemptuously, "Yes, let's be knew, as she had each time decided,
friends.”
that there was no chance o f this un
"Phil and I didn't do any o f this,
less she made a clean breast of her
did we?” Julia asked gently. “ Oh, I dilemma to Ann.
know you haven’t been treated right.
“ I ain't onreasonable,” he said. "I'm
3ut give us a chance now. If you're
askin' you to marry me, girl. Do that,
generous yon'll give us a chance to
an’ what I know will be burled. Fair
make up for it. We’d love to try.”
enough, ain’t It? You’ll be makln' a
“ I’m not generous,” Ann Gifford re
good deal. I'll he some husband, If I
plied, and In her eyes there burned
do say so my own self.”
sparks of anger. ‘‘The less we have to
At this she flared o u t
"Never!
do with any of you the better pleased
Never! No matter how much you bully
we’ll be.”
me. I'd rather kill myself,” she pas
“ That's plain enough,” Ju lia said
sionately cried, with the unconscious
stiffly, “ it doesn’t leave much room
melodrama o f youth.
for argument. I f you won’t have our
“ It ain’t a question of you killin’
friendship, why o f course we can’t
yoreself, hut o f you sending yore sister
give i t ”
to be hanged, or leastways to the pen
Phil spoke. "Miss Ann, some time
for life. You’ll throw In with me or
you might need friends, don’t you
I'll sure enough put her through. I
reckon? You can’t play a Ione hand
'way off here. You ain't livin' In Den never rue hack. Not me.’’ He em
phasized the claim with an oath. "You
ver or El Paso. You seen yoreself how
can’t help yoreself. I got the dead
It was with old Jim Yerby. He bust'
wood on you, an’ I'll certainly go
his lalg an’ would of died if Sis hadn't
drapped around an' took care o f him. through.”
“ You wouldn't do that,” she begged,
You went up there every day an’ looked
one hand clasping the other small
af»er him. Folks are dependent on
knotted fist In nn agony of indecision.
each other in this country. You gotta
have friends here. It ain’t reasonable "No man would do that to two lone
girls when— when things were like
to say you won't have ’em. We’re try-
in’ to say, Jule an’ I a*-e, that we’d they were.”
“ Wouldn’t I? ”
He thrust his face
like to be neighborly even If you don’t
forward, lids narrowed no that" his
exactly want us for friends.
Miss
Ethel an’ you, why you need good eyes were mere points of glittering
light. “ Grab It from me, I would.
neighbors—”
“ When we’re ’ ooklng for some one to Chieto, compadre! What's eatln’ you
neighbor with, Mr. Stark,” Ann cut In anyhow? Ain’t Jasper Stark good
with a swift flare of feminine ferocity, enough for a s'leepwoman?”
" I didn’t say you weren’t' good
“ we'll not choose any of the Circle
enough. I don't want to— to marry
Cross outfit.”
you.”
"W hy?” Julia asked.
“ Why don’t you?”
" I ’ll not tell you why.”
“ Because.”
There was nothing more to he said.
"That ain’t a reason.”
Ann had closed the matter by Impera
" I don't—”
tive veto. I’hll longed for a rehear
She stopped. Her mind refused to
ing, but knew It would be of no
let her utter the word love even In
use. Better than his sister, he guessed
denial to him. It seemed a desecration.
at the grounds o f Ann's resentment
“ I ’m mighty fond of you, honey,
toward the Circle Cross. 5W«t of the
more'n of any girl I ever did see.” He
cowboys visiting the sheep ranr had
moved close and put his arms around
heard whispered comment at the bunk
her.
house. Probably *he *” >'1 reason to
She shivered but offered no resist
think some one of them was respon
sible for the trouble that had come to ance. He was stronger than she. The
weapon he held wns one she could not
her sister Nora.
parry. If he Insisted on using It she
must surrender, ¿bough the very
thought struck all tbe warm Joyous
life out o f tier body. Ills ravenous
kisses fell on cold lips nnd cheeks, on
a soft throat line from which the pulse
seemed to have (lied.
With a curse he released her. Ethel
turned. Her sister wns swiftly breast
ing the hill toward them. She must
have seen.
With nn awkward swagger the mnn
strode forward a step or two. "Pleased
to meet up with you,” he laughed.
"W e hadn’t aimed to make any an
nouncement yet, but since you drapped
in wny we gotta admit the corn.”
The older sister looked at Ethel, stand
ing there white nnd stricken. She did
not understand, but she knew tuutlnc-
lively that the girl hated this bully
and wns afraid of him. Her fierce
eyes went back to Stark nnd atnhhed
at him.
"G et off our land,” she ordered In a
low tense voice. " If I ever see you on
It again I'll kill you.”
"Like you did Tom McArdle,’’ he
suggested significantly.
The blood ebbed from her face, hut
the hard and shining eyes did not fal
ter, "W ho says I killed him?” she
asked, almost in a whisper.
"W hy, I’m sayin’ It right now, an’
I know another fellow who could say
It,” he told her exultantly.
"You're a prince of liars,” she told
him.
"Thought you’d get nwuy with It,
didn't you? Thought nobody knew
how you’d dry gttlched Tom nt the cut-
bank? Pretty slick work, eh?”
lie straddled, bow-legged In his
leather chaps, fleering nt her ex
ultantly. The slim brown-faced woman
looktal like a child beside him, but she
faced him without quailing. She might
have stood for a portrait of quiet de
fensive resolution.
“ 1’ut a sk in g you what you mean.”
"Plain enough, ain't It? You shot
Torn from the brush, an' I can prove It.”
The older sister turned to tbe
younger. "How long has he been meet
ing you?”
"H e catne the w<-ek after—after he
wns killed.”
Ethel spoke In a low
voice o f distress. The pronoun of In
definite antecedent wns quite clear to
all present as to who was meant.
"And he has been here since?”
"Four-five times.”
“ Threatening you?”
Ethel nodded.
"That he would tell—what he claims
to know about me? Is that It?”
“ Yes.”
“ If you wouldn't marry him? I sup
pose he does you the honor to offer
marriage. Or does he?” Ann spoke
In a low clear note of concentrated
bitterness.
“ Yes.”
"I'm on the square with her,” Stark
said virtuously. "That's the kind of
a fellow I am . I'm here as a friend,
understand.”
"But If she doesn't marry you I’m to
go to the penitentiary. Is that It?"
"Sh e’ll marry me. I ain’t worried
about that.”
“ Or you'll send me to prison,” the
other sister persisted.
“ H ave It yore own way,” he laughed
brutally.
The pupils of her eyes dilated as
they blazed scorn at him. “ You yellow
co yo te 1 If there's anything that walks
as low as you— ”
llis teeth showed In a snarl. “ Tha’s
no way to talk ro me, you crazy hell
cat. I got you where the wool's short
—got you right. Get on tbe hook with
me, an' I’ll sure enough put you
through.”
"D o whatever you've a mind to do.
But get off-our ranch and stay off. If
I ever see you on It again I'll pump
lead Into you—as I would Into a dia
mond-back.” Voice and manner were
full of disgust and bitterness. She
felt degraded at having to wrangle
with him. It seemed to put her on his
level.
“ I’ll get off when I’m good an’ ready
to go. But get It straight, girl. IPs a
showdown. I’m tellln’ you. Me, Ja s
Stark.” He swaggered Into the shade
of a live oak and rolled a cigarette for
effect.
"I'm tellln’ you that' either
Ethel an' me take a trip to the sky
pilot or you take one to the pen. Un
derstand?”
“ I told you to go,” Ann warned.
"Don't run on me,” he advised sav
agely
“ I’m dangerous, girl. Don’t
fool yoreself till It's too lute. I want
the kid, an’ I allow to have her io
spite of h— 1 an’ high water.”
“ You’d better go.”
"W hat's the sense of all this the-a-
ter talk? I’m mnkin' a reasonable
proposition?” He turned to Ethel.
” Ix)ok here, honey. She ain’t In tWs
a-tall. It's between you’n me. Listen.”
“ I don’t want to,” she cried at hlng
a little hysterically.
"W ell, you’re going to listen.”
H e moved toward Ethel In his heavy
domineering way. What his Intentions
were perhaps he did not quite know
himself. He meant to take her Into
his arms and by sheer momentum ride
down her w ill; Just how, he did not
know.
But Ann was taking no chances. Out
of Its acubbard she whipped the small
revolver she carried.
“ Stop right
where you are.” she said.
(TO BE CONTINUED.»