Thursday, August 22, 1935
TIMES. WILLAMINA. OREGON
Pape 2
WINTER RANGE
By ALAN LE MAY
W N U Hsrvlcs.
a l!; but he told me before he died.
'Where are you going, Jean?
'What do you care where I'm going?" Didn't Lee tell you that he hailed the
she said In a small vague vole». “Who mnn he thought was Mason? lie hailed,
In the doorway Bob Elliot stood,
gives a whoop? Least of ail myself." nnd waved; the other didn’t answer—
swaying on his legs like a drunken
He went to his saddle, and took but It's certain that Elliot knew Le«
man. The muscles about his mouth
down his rope. She watched him shake law him, because McCord tried to pick
a fight with Bishop, before you talked
twitched, and his eyes were red In a
out a little cat-loop.
“What—what are you going to do?" to Elliot. Don't you see? The cards
bloodless face.
“Look each other over.” said Ken
“I thought," he said, "I’d reach me were against Lee all the time, and you
hnd nothing to do with It at all."
tucky Jones. “A fine pair to draw to—
down a horse, and come along."
She lifted her face, and gripped both
or to build a hanging around.”
Her hand« dropped the látigo, and
his arms. "Kentucky—Is this true—are
she turned to face hlin.
Bill McCord cried out, “Bob, what
“No!” she told him. “No, nol I don’t you sure—"
the h—1 you been telling these ----- ?”
“Why, of course, child. I—"
want you to come. I—I want to be
“What the devil you talking about?"
Once
more she hid her face, this time
alone—"
Her
face
was
white,
and
her
said Elliot “I—
weeping unrestrainedly. Kentucky gath
mouth quivered
Kentucky Jones offered Elliot the
"Just as you want, Jean,” he an ered her Into his arms. "Whatever has
butt of the gun that had killed San
swered slowly. “Only—I Just thought hapi>ened here." he told her, ‘this thing
ders. “Here's your gun. Elliot They’ve
that you and I had been through too Is true: nobody In the world has ever
matched It with the bullets that killed
much here, together, to ride two trails been as game, and as brave, and as
Zack."
now. I don’t blame yon, though. If you true as you've been, through all this
A light dared up In Bob Elliot's eye«
long stampede. There Isn't your equal
hate the h—I out of me.”
and he turned on Bill McCord. “If Mc
any place, and never has been, you
“It
Isn’t
that,"
she
said
brokenly.
Cord says this is my gun,” he exploded,
Kentucky, It Isn't that. It'S myself that hear me? And not a roan of us here,
“he lies.”
or anywhere. Is fit to saddle your
I
hate the h—1 out of."
“Ask Ted Baylor." Kentucky said.
bronc."
“Why,
child,
what's
the
matter?"
••Ted, tell the gentlemen where you
Presently, as he held her, the shud
Suddenly Jean broke. She sat down
last saw this gun—after you won It at
dering Jerk of her breathing subsided,
in
a
heap
upon
a
spare
saddle,
and
craps from Joe S t Marie.”
hid her face In het arma. “I—wish I and she was quiet In his arms. “It's
Ted Baylor glanced at the gun again,
were dead.” The words came to him been so lonely, so terrible, for so long,"
and he hesitated. Kentucky Jones
half smothered, Innrtlculate. ”1 wish I'd she whispered at Inst.““Hold me tight
waited, balanced In suspense. He be-
Kentucky; don’t let me go."
never b«?en born."
believed that one of the two—McCord
“No,” he answered; “not ever any
He dropped to one knee beside her.
or Elliot—would break under the one
more."
-Jean!
What
Is
I
t
r
last straw that Baylor might perhaps
C H A P T E R X III
[T I1 B E X D J
“Lee Bishop—poor Lee—”
provide. But he had not talked to Ted
Kentucky considered. “Did you love
Baylor—had found no chance to talk
“Kentucky,” said Sheriff Hopper,
W igs T riu m p h a n t
him, Jean?”
to him—and he did not know what “what’s happened here?"
From
the
days of the Stunrts to
For a moment she lifted her face to
this man would say.
The debris had been cleared away,
the
age
of
Johuson
and Goldsmith the
stare
at
him.
“Did
I
what?
Love
him?
“I guess you can remember when I by now. Elliot, not as seriously hit as,
No. But—oh, dear G—d, Kentucky— wigmaker’s craft was one of the busi
saw this gun last, yourself. Bob,” said under the circumstances, he might him
est in London, but t now owes Its sur
it's my fault he isn't alive today.”
self have wished, was officially In cus
Ted Baylor at last.
tody, as was Bill McCord; and Floyd
“What nonsense Is this?” he de vival to the lawyers. the full bottomed
“You’re crazy,” said Elliot.
wigs of Judges and the bobbed wig
manded.
“ I won that gun from Joe SL Marie, Hopper was four miles u» In the air.
of the barristers being still nade of
“Yon don’t need to watch Bill Mc
She had hidden her face again, but
In a crap game, one night last fall."
the old-fashioned horsehair. The thea
she shook her head. “1 killed him, Ken
Ted Baylor said ; “but I didn't have It Cord so close,” Kentucky said; “he’s
trical wigs, which make old men
tucky; I killed him Just as sure as
an hour before I sold It to you. Bob, for ready to tell you enough to convict
young
on the stage, and turn a pretty
as If I'd gunned him myself."
two dollats and a half, and the band Elliot before any Wolf Bench Jury,
young actress Into « grandmother, are
without
any
more
trouble.
Your
case
"That's
the
worst
bunk
I
ever
heard
for a hat."
not designed for long wear; but both
In my life!"
Bob Elliot said savagely, “You were was clinched the minute you found out
She shook her head again; her words kinds are made entirely by hand, no
so d—n drunk that night you don't re that Sanders was killed with the gun
machinery being able to supersede the
that was found In his hand. It’s been
were muffled and Incoherent "You
member what you did!”
skilled craftsman.— Tit-lilts Magazine.
plain
all
along
that
Sanders
was
killed
don't
know.
.
.
.
If
only
I'd
trusted
“So that's what you relied on?" said
you then! I’ve trusted you sluce, Ken
Kentucky Jones. “You thought Baylor because he witnessed the killing of Ma
The B ritish Isles
tucky; I have, I have. I’d put anything
was so drunk that the gun could never son ; and you've beard McCord Identify
It
is
scarcely
possible to calculate
I d the world In your hands, with never
the gun that killed Sanders."
____
be traced?”
h«»w many islands comprise the Brit
Once Mora Sha Hid Her Faca.
a
flicker
of
a
doubt
But
then—I
But
look
here,”
Hopper
lnsIsted."“L
’p
“I never saw that gun before In my
to the time that you got Elliot and Hot, who propped himself up In bed thought I had to play It out alone. ish Isles, but more than 5,<JW have been
life,” said Elliot
“It was a good Idea of yours," said McCord all crossed np, you hadn’t even and smoked Interminably, saying noth Everybody trusted me. but I trusted, charted. Most of them are to be found
nobody—Just as you said. After I<ee off the westcru shores of Scotland and
Kentucky, “to throw Bill McCord to talked to Ted Baylor.”
ing at all. Ted Baylor had left, and
“I didn’t have time to get hold of Campo had drawn off by himself and told me he had seen Mason here the Irelund, where the coast has been brok
the wolves. And It worked good enough
so that we'll hang McCord all right; him," Kentucky explained, “In the lit Into himself, in what mood no one day Mason died—1 knew It waa Bob en up by the full fury of the Atlantic.
Elliot he had seen. And when Elliot Most numerous are the Hebrides, which
tle time after 1 found out from St. knew.
but—”
began swamping our range I phoned comprise about MO. although the ma
Bill McCord took a step toward El Marie that the gun had passed through
Kentucky Jones sat alone In the big
jority of them are unlnhubited. There
liot, his face contorted. "You dirty Baylor’s hands. But then that wasn t kitchen. He wanted to talk to Jean— him, and rode out to meet him. and I
are more than 50 Inhabited Islands In
sneak! So that’s your game. Is It?” necessary, hardly. Elliot had to have knew that he must talk to Jean; and tried to bluff him out. I told him that
the Sbetlands and Orkneys, and there
Lee
had
seen
him
there—that
we
could
He swung crazily upon Sheriff Hopper. full Information before he dared to be dreaded It, for he had no remotest
are about 150 others on which no one
“He's lied to you,” he almost shouted. flood the Bar Hook range. And he notion of what he would be able to say. turn the case against him If he opened
"He's lied to you like he lied to m e'. couldn’t have got all those cattle on Now that the war of the 88 upon Bar the play. I thought I could hold that lives.
1 knew he was crazy to get Bishop the move as quick as he did unless he Hook was killed at the source, and the over him, nnd bluff him off. Instead—
Asbestos Is W oven
killed, and I tried to pick a fight with had started working them the next death of Mason no longer was a mys It only meant Lee's death. Kentucky.
Asbestos is a mineral that Is woven
Bishop for that reason. But It never morning after Mason was killed. He tery which hung over Campo Itagland. Kentucky, It's my fault he's dead. If
went through. He told me he killed could hardly have got such informa' Kentucky Jones found himself compre ever blame could be placed In this into cloth or sheets, and put to vari
ous uses because It is Incombustible.
Bishop himself In fair fight If I'd tlon so quick—unless he had killed Ma hending, as if for the first time, the world, that blame Is on me!”
Asbestos cloth was formerly used as a
Poor
child."
he
said.
"Poor
child!
known he laid for him on the rim and son himself.”
full weight of the burden which Jean
Jean, I guess I-ee didn't tel! you It shroud for dead bodies.
“But you didn't know how many had chosen to bear alone.
plugged him with a rifle, without fight,
I'd have walked out on him the min hands that gun passed through besides
At one time, he thought, Jean must
Ted Baylor’s. Ted Baylor might have have believed her father guilty of the
ute that 1 knew 1”
Bob Elliot's voice rose violently. passed it on to almost anybody. You murder of Mason. For him she had
“You fool, will you shut your d—n couldn’t count on him to name the gun smothered the evidence, at once con
mouth before—•”
as Elliot’s gun.”
cealing her father’s supposed involve
“Sure not But that didn’t matter. ment and concealing her knowledge
“I suppose," said Kentucky to Bill
McCord, “you didn’t even know that It’s McCord's Identification that counts. from Campo himself. To her I-ee Bish
Of course, It might have been that the op had told a story which he himself
Bob Elliot killed Mason.”
gun had wound up at the Bar Hook, did not understand; she had known
“No, 1 never—"
“What did you suppose he wanted and that Elliot walked In and borrowed the exact status of SL Marie and Ken
Bishop killed for? You didn’t know he It. the same as he did Campo's rifle. In tucky Jones, and the truth about the
hired you to kill Bishop because Bishop that case, of course, there wouldn’t missing rifle and the picture that was
saw him at the Bar Hook the day have been any tangible evidence gone from Its frame. What Kentucky
against Elliot, and we'd have lost out had said was true—that every one had
Mason died?”
Bob Elliot began, "Bill, don’t you all around. But I figured that the killer confided in her, and she had confided
would have shot quick with his own In none. And through every hour of
let these—"
“You d—n streak of yellow,” Bill gun, in Zack’s case; and then shoved those days she most certainly had
A m e ric a ’ s m ost p o p u la r
McCord snarled at him, “I see It now! the same gun into Zack’s hand. He known that she was carrying In her
young woman author cornea
I don't wonder you disown your d—n would have been in a hurry to get out own hands the lives of men who meant
to you in th is new spaper
of
there
about
then.”
more to her than any others In the
gun! If I'd known when you killed
w ith a story more vital, more
“But how did you know that the gun world.
J.ee Bishop that you lay off and plugged
lo v a b le th a n h e r “ W aters
In
Sanders’
hand
wasn't
Zack's
own
As Kentucky considered this It
him with a rifle—”
Under the E a rth ” or “ Pro
gun?
Now
there—that
was
the
turning
seemed
to
him
that
he
had
never
wit
“It's a d—n lie!” said Bob Elliot
logue to Love.”
point
of
the
whole
thing.”
nessed In any man the gaineness, the
again.
"You
didn’t
see
that
that
wasn’t
courage,
nor
the
fixed
fidelity
of
pur
•
T h e r e ’ s A lw a y s A n o th e r
“Is it?” McCord snarled at him. “1
pose that this one slender girl had
Y e a r" is the exciting story
suppose it's a lie that you strapped on Zack's gun?”
“Can I know every gun In the rim shown.
of Silver, the gangster’s m oll
that gun and rode after Mason, that
He wanted to seek her out now, and
who found life and love in
day when he laughed In your face—" rock? How could any man guess it
tell her that he knew what she had
the Dakota prairies.
•*By G—d, McCord—” Elliot shouted. wasn’t his?"
“You mean you thought Zack rode faced; and that the victory was not
“Put It off on me, will you? McCord
There’s always another th r ill
shouted back at him. “I thought may all over Wolf Bench carrying that gun Sheriff Hopper’s, nor his own, but hers,
fo r you in these pagesl
and
hers
only.
And
he
knew
he
would
MARTHA OSTEN8O
be you killed Mason, when you told me in his hand?”
have
no
words
to
express
any
part
of
“In
his
hand?
What
you
driving
at?”
you knew he was killed with Campo’s
“He would have had to carry it In that He almost convinced himself
rifle. Why, you dirty side-winder—”
Begin with the first installment of
Ids
hand. Sanders had no gun belt,” this was not the time to try to talk
Bob Elliot’s voice broke Into some
to her; that he should pack out of
Kentucky
reminded
him—“he
wasn’t
thing almost like a squeal. “You
there, and go to Waterman, and come
d—d— ” Suddenly he turned, lurched even wearing boots. And there wasn't
a single pocket In his clothes that that back some time a long while later.
crazily at the door behind him, and
Then a door closed softly In another
gun would go In!”
was gone from the room.
part of the house, and he Jerked *o his
Willie Helmar cried, “Shall 1 get
Within an hour after the showdown fe e t
him? Shall 1 get him?”
He found her at the Rtable shed
which
had thrown Elliot Into the sher
“McCord,” roared Sheriff Hopper, “is
where
the saddles were. She had al
iff’s hands. Hopper had forgotten his
By Martha Ostenso
this true?”
ready roped a pony—the same pony
gratification
over
the
solution
in
his
“Sure It's true!” McCord frothed. “1
with
which
she
had
met
him
early
can see It now—and I can prove It on alarm over the storm which he was that morning upon the trail—and she
1
him every step of the w ay! Hang me sure would follow. Tomorrow word of was saddling with hurried, unsteady
the charge against Elliot would have
in his place, will he? Why, t h a t - ”
hands, within the shadow of the shed.
Suddenly Bill McCord s face changed swept the rimrock. Already Floyd Hop-
C H A P T E R X II— Continued
—16—
as If It had been struck with a whip.
He whirled like a cat, snatched at the
holstered gun of Willie Helmar; and
though Helmar seize«! McCord's arm
as the gun came out, McCord wrenched
free. In that instant Jean, in the next
room, screamed, “Kentucky, look o u t!”
And Bob Elliot's first shot spoke from
the door.
The next moment was one of those
which witnesses afterward describe
conflictlngiy, so that It la difficult to
know the truth.
Kentucky Jones shouted, “Jean, get
out of line!” and though he fired In
the direction of Bob Elliot, he seemed
to fire at the floor. Elliot dropped to
one knee. Kentucky Instantly fired
again, his second shot smashing Bill
McCord’s gun wrist, so that McCord
was spun half about Almost In a<xonl
with Kentucky’s second shot Bob El
liot fired again.
Kentucky Jones
stepped sideways as he once more fired
on Bob Elliot This time Bob went
forward onto his face; and his gun,
slamming from his relaxed hand, skid
ded half way across the floor toward
Kentucky Jones. Then gun and man
lay still, and the room was still, heavy
with the peculiar unforgettable smell
of smokeless powder
per could see himself facing the mob
which he now supposed would wish to
take the law Into their own hands—
mobs made difficult by the unnolsy but
I>ecullarly efficient purposefulness of
cowmen who have made up their
minds. If the sheriff knew his brush
poppers—and he thought be did—un
pleasantness was going to come down
on him In sheets; and he was already
more Interested in plans to smuggle
Elliot to some far safe confinement
than he was In what had already been
accomplished.
With only a few hours* margin for
the completion of preventive nwasures
the sheriff barged off to Waterman.
With him went his brother. Doc Hop
per, who had been rushed out mean
time to administer first a id ; and Bill
MeOsH»
e’
I.ate afternoon found the Bar ^.ook
locked In that restive, exhausted quiet
which follows any kind of explosion.
Somewhere In the bouse Willie lleltnar
sat watchfully beside the wounded El-
NEXT WEEK
M a rth a
Ostenso
THERE’ S ALWAYS
ANOTHER YEAR
NEXT WEEK IN THIS NEWSPAPER!