© Alan Le May WNU Service CHAPTER 3y~Continneq Steve Hurley kept fretting, hun- gry for action. ‘Most likely they've got Coffee and Tulare in the cooler! They should have been back an hour ago.” “More like two hours,” Val Doug- las thought. “If we was to drift into that town,’”’ Steve said, ‘‘either we'd meet 'em on the road, or they're needing our help, by God! I think we oughter—"' “We're plenty close now,” Wheel- er said. “You can see the lights of the town from here—or could be- fore they all went out. If you think I'm going to take Marian into town —into a shooting scrape—forget it. Unless Tulare and Coffee get back with my car, so that she can go on back to the ranch—I stay here. And so does the car stay here.” “Don’t you bother about me,” Marian spoke. “I'll get along all right.” It was after midnight. Their plans for the crack-out of Horse Dunn were indefinite, because their infor- mation was indefinite. First was necessary the seizure of Walt Amos, for it was known that he carried the keys to the Inspiration lock-up; but the trouble was that they did not know how many deputies were camped with Amos, in his house be- low the jail. If more than one or two were there, they thought that it would be a good idea to create a gunpowder diversion in some other quarter of the town, to draw away a part of the sheriff's force. Tulare had driven Old Man Coffee into In- spiration to make a reconnaissance, and what they feared now was that the hot temper of Tulare had got both scouts in trouble. “There ain't much left night,” Steve complained. ‘““There's other nights.” “Leave one man here with Mar- ian,’”” Steve suggested, “and let's the rest of us go take that town of the up. They finally agreed upon this; but only after it was conceded to Billy an hour more. That last quarter of an hour dragged out like a week; and still no headlights appeared upon the Inspiration road. “It must be time by now,’ Steve Hurley insisted. “Five minutes more.” A gleam of lights showed two miles off in the outskirts of the town: a car was coming out of In- spiration at last. So slowly it came that for a time they were convinced that this could not be the driving of* ‘Tulare. Even when Billy Wheeler's roadster pulled up opposite them on the road they stayed quiet for a mo- ment, suspicious that the car was no longer driven by their own men. Then Old Man Coffee sung out. ‘‘Bil- ly Wheeler?” “Here!” “Billy, let me talk td you a min- ute—alone.” Val Douglas and Steve Hurley had stariad piling out, but now they looked at each other and reluctantly settled back. Billy Wheeler trotted across to the other car. Old Man Coffee dropped his voice to a muffled undertone. “It's all over, kid.” “What's the—"" ““Horse Dunn has run his own jail break, pretty near four hours ago. It took us a long time to get the full dope. We got it now. He got clear derringer in the sheriff's back, and using the sheriff as a shield. But the deputies mowed him down.” “You sure? You sure this isn’t one of Bender's tricks—" “Yes, for 1 saw him laid out,” Coffee said. For a moment Wheeler was si- lent. He was laboring under heavy shock; but already he was wonder- ing what he was going to say to Horse Dunn’s niece. ‘Did he get anybody?” he asked, half uncon- scious of what he said. ‘‘He couldn't get a man. He made his break with an empty gun. And they found his ammunition lying on the floor inside.” Tulare whispered, fiercely, “We'll get ‘em for this—we'll get ‘em if it takes—"’ “Kind of late for that,” Coffee said. They were silent again, for a long time. And to Billy Wheeler the night turned suddenly empty, as if a great and living force had gone out of it with Old Man Coffee's words. “I suppose we may as well be getting back to the ranch,” Wheeler said at last. “Who's going to tell Marian?” “I'm going to tell Marian. I'L take her back in my car.” Coffee and Tulare stepped down, and followed him reluctantly across to Horse Dunn’s battered touring car, where the others waited. For a moment Billy Wheeler stood silent, one foot on the running board. The eyes of Marian and Steve Hurley and Val Douglas were on his face. Steve Hurley spun tha starter and the engine began to purr; he sat waiting to jump the car down the road to Inspiration at the first word. “Well?” Val Douglas demanded at last. “No action tonight,” heard himself tell them. going back to the ranch. you'd better come with me. “What the—'' Steve began. “Coffee wil give you the dope on your way back. We got to get out of here now. Come on, Marian." They stared at him; but presently they obeyed. Billy Wheeler let the others turn Horse Dunn's car in the road and start back toward the 94, before he started his engine. Even after he had set his roadster rolling he drove slowly, half paralyzed with the Wheeler “We'll be Marian— " Marian Dunn Sat Perfectly Still. He knew that Marian was watching his face, waiting for him to speak. “Suddenly she grasped his arm in her hands. “Billy—what is it?” He let his car drift to a long-roll- ing stop beside the road, and shut off the engine. “Billy! What's the matter?” Still he could not speak, but sat with his hands gripped on the wheel, and his eyes on the far off vanish- ing tail light of Horse Dunn's car, which Horse would never drive again. Once more he was seeking words, and finding no words at his command. if she had read his mind, "It can’t Ps be that—Tell me it isn’t so! ‘““Marian—I can't hardly believe it “My uncle is—"" “Dead,” he said. Marian Dunn sat perfectly still, so still that he could not hear her breathe. Still he did not look at her, as that incredible silence set- tled upon them; a silence so com- plete that somewhere, many yards from where they sat, he presently could hear the faint, small gnawing that a kangaroo rat makes, working to get at the water in a cactus heart. Over all that vast range the moon- light shone clear and clean as a light radiated by silver; you could even see the distant mountains, and there was a color of deep blue in the dark sky. This was the range As far as the eye could reach, all that lean dusty land was under the domina- tion of the 94 brand. Somewhere off in the night, scattered over the miles, were the bunches of cattle which Horse Dunn had branded in Marian's name-—scattered and few to the mile, but grazing an area so vast that Horse himself had not known how many they were, within a thousand head. It seemed a strange thing, almost impossible to believe, that the shaggy old fighter who had gained these long miles of desert, built these far-flung herds, would never ride this range again, nor count the scattered beeves, nor see this moonlight, cool and serene and clear, flooding the vast dry land that he loved. When the silence had grown until he could endure it no more, Billy Wheeler turned his eyes to Marian. She sat as still as a resting kit fox, and her face, turned straight ahead, was as white as the alkali flats un- der the moon. Only, once, he saw her eyes turn, sweeping the unlim- ited land that Horse Dunn had fought for in her name. He tried to say something. ‘“‘Mar- ian—Marian—"" Bhe turned into his arms, and hid her face in the hollow of his throat. For a few moments her breathing was irregular, but she did not weep. ‘“We-—can't let the 94 go under; not —not now." “It isn't going under,” he said. “1 tell you, you and I can show this coyote ring such a fight as they've never seen!” Marian said, “He gave me all his last years, while he was old. He had just one great lasting dream ~his dream of a cow kingdom. But somehow 1 think he could have spent his last years sitting some- where contentedly in the sun; ex- cept that he wanted to do this thing, for me.” “1 know.” “Billy, do we have a chance to whip the coyote ring?” He drew a deep new breath. “We can fight 'em to a standstill, fight 'em till they quit! I can clear the 94 of its debts at a stroke. The next step may be a little different than what he would have done—"' ‘He'd have wanted you to fight the best way you knew-—your own way." “Then—we can win. Next step is to cut down the uncontrolled herds, and build better herds in their place; make a 40 mile fenced pasture of that north land you own-—"' “We own," she corrected him. ““——and use the fenced 40 miles as a barrier, to hold the young heifers clear; get in the best bulls we can buy, by the hundred, at any cost; dig tick dips, and set up chutes; vaccinate all calves against black- leg the day they're branded, de- horn all young stock, make alliances with the feed pen outfits in west Kansas; break through a trail drive to Pahranagat, and ship our own stock, taking the breaks of the mar- ket—"' “But the coyote ring?” “Hire their best men—we’'ll need a big outfit for the new ways; buy out what little they still own in the Red Rock country—and the coyote ring is done.” “It's a gamble, Billy. If you go into this—it may break you, before you're through.” “We'll go broke together, then! If we can't gamble together—but we will.” “This is what he would have wanted, Billy; I know it is, I know!" They sat quietly there for a long time, holding each other close. “*'Bil- ly,”” Marian whispered, ‘‘1 have to { know one thing more." “Yes?” “How-—did he die?” “He died fighting, | see—well—"’ Marian; you “You mean he didn’t wait for us?” “That was it. He tried to make it on his own. He still had the der- ringer. Then it seems—this is an extraordinary thing — he almost made it look as if he had a chance! lead.” “Did he—did he get any of the" all. He had shells for the derrin- gun—yet almost made it clear.” in a choked voice. hated guns and blood; if it hadn't been for me-"' “It was his own idea; his own way. What he wanted was pretty plain. He knew we would have been drawn in, and mixed up in it for- ever, if he'd waited for us to get him clear. So he took the only way out he knew.” “I'm sorry for one thing more than anything else. If only I could have known-could have changed it—"" “Would you have wanted it any different?” he said gently. “Only this: I'm sorry that his gun was empty, because of me.” After a little while she added, “And one other thing. Before he took his long trail, 1 wish he had known that you and I have found each other.” “1 think he knew. And that was what he wanted too, I think.” “I'm sure he did.” “When the coyote ring is whipped we'll have built him such a monu- ment as few men have had; a mon- ument built of land and cows, and good horses, and men in the sad- dle." “The Cattle Kingdom he dreamed, and planned . . ." They sat silent, close together, their eves lost in the distances of the range of the 94; and the coyote moon swung low over the Tus- caroras, promising sunrise, the cool soft colors of dawn on the Red Rock, and bacon and coffee cooked by Tia THE END 400 chemists from all parts of the country participating in the four- teenth annual colloid symposium of the American Chemical Society at the University of Minnesota, writes a Minneapolis correspondent in the Chicago Daily News. Bentonite clay, found principal- ly in Wyoming, which possesses the ability of swelling in water, was put in the spotlight by Prof. Ernest A. Hauser and C. E. Reed of the Mas- sachusetts Institute of Technology. They reported several new discov- eries relating to the clay, which is becoming increasingly valuable in industry and agriculture. Benton- ite was used recently to stop a seri- ous leak in the cofferdam of the Coulle dam of the Columbia river. “Bentonite,” said the report, “is finding ever-broadeningapplicationin the oil industry, where it is used during the drilling operation as a thickener. If suspensions of ben- tonite in water are allowed to rest they will become increasingly more viscous and finally form a ‘gel’ (a gelatin - like material). Upon me- chanical agitation they are quickly liquified. This procedure can be re- peated many times and is known as ‘thixotropy.’ “A closer understanding of the rea- ties of bentonite and a better knowl- edge of the reasons for this peculiar phenomenon should materially assist in broadening out its indus- trial application. Furthermore, any more detailed knowledge should prove of great value in agriculture and soil preservation, since soil is made up to a large extent, of clay minerals.” Sek dedd ded kk dk kk kk STAR DUST Movie « Radio * *%% By VIRGINIA VALE &%% 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 26 X26 2 20 2 20 2 2 0 2 2 ACH year the Paramount + company can be counted on to present a thrilling panorama of American history in the mak- ing, and this year they offer “Wells Fargo,” which in many ways tops all previous efforts, The adventure, heroism and ro- transportation has the breathless sweep of fiction, doubly fact. Joel play a stalwart ter send the children early to see one: they will want to stay all day. Joel McCrae fashion. inn Greta Garbo stole quietly away from Hollywood without even say- ing good-by to her closest friends and sailed away to Sweden to stay Her contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer calls for on- ly one more picture, and it is likely that she will make that one in England. ecu Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer want Tru- man Bradley, narrator on the CBS Sunday Evening hour from Chi- cago to go into motion pictures, but Mr. Bradley is reluctant to take a chance so they have arranged what is probably the most comprehensive series of tests ever given a per- former. For one whole month Brad- ley will make daily film tests in New York, flying back to Chicago weekly for his Sunday evening stint. ain A new combination of talent is put- ting over the “On Broadway” pro- gram heard over NBC. Don John- son, known to radio listeners as the comie Professor Figgsbottle, is writ- ing the program and the leading player is Alice Frost of the “Big Sister’ cast. nado Fredric March and his Florence Eldridge, are runnin so much excitement on their tour, they are half tempted to write a scenario around their adventures. Recently, the company became fran- tic when one of the leading actors became ill just before a perform- ance. That persuasive Freddie March, who really should have been a salesman, talked Kay Johnson the film player into tackling the role after a brief rehearsal. Miss John- son was traveling with the com- stage "” oner of Zenda. fo if he can hold on to his popularity for One of : Richard Dix “Cimarron,” his Like Jack Holt, another veteran, he gets better with age. — during the past four years, but the popular blues singer preferred to and forget about it. Landing’’ however, she is so well photographed and her voice so beau- tifully recorded that she has suc- cumbed to Twentieth Century-Fox blandishments and will make pic- tures regularly for them from now on. Ethel, whose perfect phrasing has made her many a composer's favorite singer, thus adds one more chapter to an inspiring career. She was a stenographer, and a speedy one, who used to get occasional en- gagements to sing at parties. Taking a chance, she went into a small night club at very low salary and within a few weeks had a contract to make Warner shorts, wn Poe ODDS AND ENDS—Sonja Henie has organized an ice carnival company that will tour several cities while she waits for the scenario of her next picture to be written 5 . Jessica Dragansize is being tempted by motion picture offers again . . . Nobody can read Fred Allen's scripts but the comic himself. His writing is micro. scopic . . » Maureen O'Sulliven hurried back from England to play with Norma Shearer in “Marie Antoinette” © Western Newspaper Union ———————— woman # Favorite Recipe of the Week ~~ Vegetable Fondue a Pleasing Entree EGETABLE fondue is a deli- cate entree and one which can be easily made and is bound to please the family. To make the preparation extra simple start with a can of mixed vegetables. It may be one canned especially for salads or soup. Drain the lig- aid from the vegetables, but do not throw it away as it contains good food value. Chop the vege- tables rather fine, or mash, which- ever scems easier to do. A little suspicion of freshly grated onion is good to add to the vegetables if the family likes the flavor, and surely they do. Vegetable Fondue, 1 teaspoon grated onion Few grains cay- enne 1 No. 2 can mixed vegetables 3 egg 1 cup milk 1 cup soft bread crumbs i, teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons butter Scald milk in double boiler, add bread, butter, ca and salt, Remove from the fire and add the onion and mixed vegetables, Beat in the egg yolks and fold in the egg whites which have been beaten until stiff. Pour the mixture into a greased baking dish and bake in a moderate oven (350 degrees) until it is firm in the or about 40 minutes. hen the fon- due is done the mixture will not qdhere to a sil » when in- gserted in the center. Serves 4-6. Crisp bacon and spiced peaches would be good to serve with the fondue. The peaches all spiced in cans, too, so they do not mean extra labor. MARJORIE yenne center, come H. BLACK i ” oe Quotations —— A It is some commendation that we any long experience.— have avoided to characterize person without Swift. A wise man sees as much as he ought, not as much as he can. Montaigne. Love is bit another name for that inscrutable presence by which the soul is connected with humanity. — WF. GC. Simms. Delay is cowardice despair.— W hiteheod. The generous heart should scorn a and doubt plessure which gives others pain.— Thompson. Either I will find a way, or | will make one.—Sir Philip Sidney. Beware Coughs from common colds That Hang On No matter how many medicines you have tried for your cough, chest cold, or bronchial irritation, you can get relief now with Creomulsion. Serious trouble may be brewing and you cannot afford to take a chance with any remedy less potent than Creomulsion, which goes right to the seat of the trouble and aids na~- ture to soothe and heal the inflamed mucous membranes and to loosen and expel the germ-laden phlegm. Even if other remedies have failed, don’t be discouraged, try Creomul- sion. Your druggist is authorized to refund money if you are not thoroughly satisfied with the bene- fits obtained from the very first bottle. Creomulsion is one word—not two, ond it has no hyphen in it. Ask for it plainly, see that the name on the bottle is Creomuision, and you'll get the genuine product and the relief you want. (Adv) To Correct Errors i To err is common to all men, {| but the man who, having erred, hugs not his errors, but repents { and seeks the cure, is not a | wastrel.—Sophocles. ~ HOW'S YOUR STOMACH? Salisbury, M . W. J. Wilka 0 . ton Ave. says: © acid indigestion and eartburn, also belched g frequently. 1 never ad an appetite and felt weak and tired. After I used Dr. Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery 1 felt like a different person. My was much improved and 1 was to eat without fesr of stomach discom- fort” Buy it from your druggist today. WNU-—4 LE R(T] Kidneys / 1-38 'DOANS PILLS
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers