THE STORY
Garrett O'Hara, young lawyer,
on his way to practice at
Concho, wild western town, is
shot at from ambush by Shep
Sanderson, who mistakes him for
Judge Warner, whom certain
cattle interests wish to prevont
holding court, Barbara Steelman,
who thought the shot was di-
rected at her, warns Garrett not
toe go to Concho because of the
big cattle war. in town San-
derson picks a fight with Garrett
and is getting the worst of f(t
when Ingram, cattle baron, in
terrupts, Steve Worrall tells
Garrett about the cattle war be-
tween Ingram and Steelman, fa-
ther of Barbara. Garrett tells
" Ingram desires to remain
neutral, the latter declares
there neutrality. Bob
killer for 1
n, saves Garrett g
smith-Bere
¥ Sanderson 3
Garrett
CHAPTER V
Carrett Holds the Fort
From the doorway, where
Five mir
into view,
them.
rode
came
Quant
as the
wy
We
fs this {
done? O'Hara ask
“Fitch, the bird calls himself. He
gunned Two-Ace Burke from
I reckon you know all about it,”
trell answered.
“We don't. Where
Is Burke badly hurt?”
“He'll never be
replied eallously,
Boot Hill this
Men trooped from the house.
there,” one of them announced,
“No, but he's been there,” the Texas
Kid announced. “He had breakfast
right in that room. Fiteh never was
thorough. I know that bird. He didn’t
wash his cup an’ plate.”
“Some one had breakfast here.
You're right about that,” O'Hara ad-
mitted. “We Just go back from the
eamp where our boys are branding.
Whoever this fellow wad he's gone
before we got here.”
“What's the use of foolin’ with those
pligrims?’ Sanderson cut in savagely.
“They know where Fitch is at. They'll
tell us or well bump ‘em off right
ow."
“Sure they know. This from a
freckle-faced cowboy named Buck Gro-
gan, He was a brother of the man
known as the Texns Kid.
“They've thrown In with Steelman
and his outfit,” spoke up a big rangy
fe:low whose right cheek bulged from
a wad of tobacco. “Been livin' up at
his place, Betcha the Old Man's
backin' this very ranch.”
O'Hara looked around on them,
brown competent men, hard-visaged,
ruthless, They had ridden hard and
ambush,
Quan-
*
did it happen?
deader,” the Iad
“We buried him in
‘9
mornin’,
“Not
”
TEE.
far for vengeance. He realized that
they were not going to be particular
where the blow fell, If they could not
find Fitch they might strike at the
men who they thought were protecting
him. Any adherent of Wes Steel-
man's would do, given a reasonable
excuse, He could not understand the
psychology of such people. There was
Bob Quantrell, for instance. He had
been friendly with Smith-Beresford.
He had protected them both, But Gar.
rett knew that now he would not lift
a hand to save them {f Sanderson or
the others moved to strike,
Quantrell spoke. “I'm going up to
that bunch of timber an’ comb it,
Three-four of you fellows come along
with me. We'll take care of these
gents when we get back.”
Three men followed Quantrell to the
The four and rode
the grove,
O'Hara caught the eye of his partner
and the two edged back toward
Very riders
the
discovery, hi
horses, mounted
toward
the
goon woul
one which mi
reaction in
disastrous
1g trouble.
“We've nothing
O'Hara expla
here as peac
we want
bors,
about putting
te of defense. Bol
back barricaded it with
a trunk. He the window cur
tains, Another trunk he pushed into
doorway, then dragged a
there and propped It up in
front of the trunk as a protection
against bullets,
All this had taken him scarcely a
score of seconds, From a rack he
drew rifles, a repeating Winchester for
one, nnd two of Smith-Beresford's
hunting guns brought with him from
England.
From behind the trunk and mattress
O'Hara took in the situation. Two
men were wounded seriously. He
could see them lying on the ground
where thelr companions had dragged
them, Most of the others were gath-
ered in a group near the horses, San-
derson, waving a bandanna meant for
a flag of truce, had stepped a few
yards forward from the rest,
Garrett felt, as he had more than
once in the past weeks, that odd lift
of the spirit that eame with danger.
He was wounded In two places. H's
companion lay helpless on the bed, A
dozen desperate men, all heavily
armed, were ready to swoop down on
him. But he had proved his mettle,
He had fought them, one against four,
and driven them into retreat. These
killers could and they probably would
destroy him and his friend. But he
knew, with an exultant thrill of racing
blood, that he was not afraid of them;
into a st
door, he
drew
and he knew, too, that there would be
no safety in surrender. Two of them
had been wounded by him, perhaps
mortally, The others would have their
revenge, Sanderson would see to that.
From the bed came a faint murmur.
“Hold the fort, Old Top.”
“No use to give up. Sanderson
would never let us get away alive, , .
Badly hurt, Lyulph?”
“About all I can
In the chest.”
“Sorry. I'm hit in the shoulder and
the stomach, but 1 feel pretty strong
yet. Wonder if they'll rush the place.”
Garrett could see the enemy grouped
in consultation. Presently the men
They were spreading out to
house. A bullet struck
front of him. Another
mattres The Win-
answer,
carry, old chap.
scattered,
surround the
the trunk in
plowed int
chester In his
Apparently they
O'Hara could count at least
0 ine
ands barked an
had settled down to
a siege,
five foes In the fan-shaped open ¢ (
in front of him. They were all behind
cover, but the flashes of their weapons
told him
they lay Three or
“How're you
be
for the
was nothing
g
the metal
Unfa
ist, he
wound. Ti
3 1
looked
Lomach ere
+31
bruise where
there but a
ee SS
4
Ot
WNU Service
buckle
flesh,
had been driven against
Undoubtedly the had
flected the bullet and saved his life.
Hour after hour the
on. Smith-Beresford became delirious
Garrett bathed his face and
gave him water to drink, and
wet cloth on his forehead,
The lawyer knew that his
own f wns mounting. The wound
in his shoulder pained a good deal. It
wis his that the bullet had
smashed a bone,
clasp
slege dra
chest
left a
young
wer
guess
fact that
paying him a com
recornized the
were
Grimly he
the attackers
pliment by their
have rushed the
affair In two minutes,
the
he had
oblect le
caution, They might
and ended the
Evider
cabin
great to
wounded
counted
The men
ficient
cost as too
were a
them,
now?
ison to
Vhat re they up to
hed from the b
headed toward t
ve men were hel
make the grad
“Who started it?" demanded Ingram.
The Texas Kid
young fellow had a
answered him. The
blood-stained
The idea that there is
unlucky about the 82 that
persons tear the corners off
them to avert misfortune-occasional-
Iy arouses curiosity,
something
bill—s0
nany
A number of our readers have writ:
ten in with suggestions to account for
the belief in the unluckiness of this
particular note. One, however, a
merchant in Pennsylvania, says from
bis experience as a retailer that
“there is no question of superstition
in connection with the £2 bill, It Is
Just a darned nuisance.
“There Is no compartment provided
in our cash register for them.” he
writes, “and when we are handed one
by a customer we have to secrete it
away somewhere until we get a
“Higher Place” Explained
Jack was the cause of much trouble
to his parents. At school he was al
ways at the foot of the class. One
day, however, he came flying home,
“Dad<mum, I have got a higher
place in the class” he eried.
His father gave him a dollar,
“Now, Jack,” he asked, “how did
you gain promotion to a higher place?”
“Well, it's like this, dad” sald the
young hopeful. “My desk Is being
mended,”
chance to pass It on to the bank. We
can’t very well hand it out to another
customer for change, that Is If we
want to retain their good will
“The only possible use it has is
when some one purchases a 2.cent
stamp and hands us a £20 bill in pay-
ment. Then we can get back at him
by unloading all the $2 bills we have
on hand."—Literary Digest,
Semewhat Out of Place
The place was crowded. It wasn't
exactly a fashionable wedding, but
there was no gainsaying the interest
it caused, because both bride and
bridegroom had been much in the pub-
lic eye, she a8 an actress, he as a con-
Jurer,
Everything went well until they
reached the critical stage of the pro-
ceedings, and the clergyman asked
for the ring,
The bridegroom plunged his hand
into his pocket ‘and brought out a
rabbit. Then the horrified look In the
clergyman's eyes and a startled ex.
clamation from the bride made him
realize that something was wrong, He
looked down and saw the rabbit,
Whatever foreign language we try
to learn, it sounds to the foreigners
like their broken English does to us.
handkerchief
“We got
ike,
The leader of the faction turned to
Quantrell., “What was
Bob, when
tied around his
to fannin' smoke all tog
arm,
Lner,
B
aimin’ to
this
you
put on
od
bition of fancy ridin’?
do, you exhl-
“Smoke 'em out, by cripes!
this bunch of quitters a
can't bluff me out.”
with an {
body of the dead
got Fitch, Don't
about enough for
Suppose this
Before we go any farther I'd
Ingram looked
at the swaying
’ you
that's
cowboy ‘1 gre
you
reckon
gather? you leave
to know
An' why?
did.” San
3
who go n the hook
ixed Tom |
then
: 1 he rode
Garrett O'Hara watched with amaze
ment as Barbara swung her co
and put it at a canter toward
cabin She slipped from the
and the door
dragged the mattress to
way for her,
Once Inside, she looked at him, eyes
dilating with fear.
“Are hurt—-badisr ¥* she
“In the shoulder. I'll be
Afraid Lyulph is badly hurt.
him in the chest”
She looked at the bed
delirions man lay tossing. “I'll take
care of him. Watch out they don’t
rush the house. I don’t think Mr. In-
gram will let them, but I'm not sure.”
Barbara made preparations to do
what she could for the man on the
bed. Once more Garreft lay down
back of his rampart and took stock of
the enemy. Ingram appeared to be is
suing orders to his men. They hitched
horses to a wagon, put hay in the bed
of it, and lifted the two most seriously
wounded of the posse into the wagon,
after which the team was driven away,
followed by most of the riders. One
man stayed with Ingram.
Garrett reported the proceedings
to Barbara.
“Wonder what he's up to.” she sald,
molstening a bandage,
“He's coming toward the house
alone.”
The girl ran to the door,
even drawn a sixshooter,
to talk, Let him come in
wants to.”
Garrett drew back and the eattle
man pushed hizs way into the house,
(TO BR CONTINUED)
Ww pony
the
saddle
moved to
aside
make
“se
asked,
all right.
They hit
you
where the
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