" MT. ADAMS SUN
Friday, Septerfibbt 30, 1938
WILLIAM
MACLEOD
RAINE'S
O WILLIAM MACLEOD RAINI
WNU SERVICE
i
To them drifted the sound of a
galloping horse. Instantly Gray lift-
ed his pony to a canter and rode out
of the draw in which they were.
The approaching rider was a wom-
an. He moved forward to meet
her. She caught, sight of Sorley
and dragged her horse to a halt.
"They've got Ruthl" she cried.
"Who?" asked Pat sharply.
"I don't know. Two men. I--I--
got a horse and ran away."
Nelly broke down and began to
sob.
"Two men with one horse?" Gray
inquired.
"Yes. They found horses in the
corral, and they made us pack
food."
"What d'you mean. they've got
Ruth?" the crook-nosed man asked
grimly.
"They're faking her with them.
I was to go, too. but I got away like
I said• One of the men let me go."
"Which one? Did you hear his
name?"
The girl suspended her sobs. She
looked at this hard-faced stranger
whose eyes were like a day of judg-
ment. His strength communicated
itself to her.
"No. Yes, I did, too. He said his
nam was Kansas, and that I was
to tell Mr. Chiswick he would try to
look after Ruth. He said he was
against taking her and to remem-
ber that they would make first for
the Walsh cabin back of Crowfoot.
That is where they will hide."
"Did he call the other man Mary
Norris?"
"He called him Morg."
"'How didKansas get a chance to
leLyou go?" ,
"The other man had sent him out
to rope and saddle horses and I
slipped away to the .stable. This
,?msas catlghtm there. But he
let me go. He pretended to shoot
at me as.I rode: away." :
" 'Way up in the hills. You fob
_Io, Lance creekha'S the: one
i) t'hSg--trev fl f:io its
headwaters. Then yo/'.cut across
Unless you knew where it was, you
wouldn't find it in fi':Imr/dred years."
"You'll have ,tQ ga. with me, L
reckon, S0rley: : "/' never find it
alone We'll. stop ,at th ranch and
pick up some grub.':; Gray turned to
Nelly., "You'r not afraid to ridei
aloneto meef'Chiswick, are you?",J
She.said, "No," Very. dubiously. 'I
"Good girl,, .the ' stranger said-]
quietly. "we wouldn t .let you, go J
al ,oe if there @as any danger, . I
Youy0u wont-let them hurt
Ruth, will you?" she begged. :
No muscle ih the man's grim im-
mobile/face changed, cRi :,her eyes:
that looked into hers hd a coldi
words, no promise:;.
"Quien sabe?" he murm (
A moment later he was gaiiiing
toward the ,ranch, " ..:,
The found : the place eserted.
Gray tung himself from tl#saddle, :
grounded the reins,- and str,0de into::
the house. ,. ..... • , ' .• .'.
Od the .kitchen'. table he :faired a :
note written o.;tle margin of a
torn piece of newspaper,
• .'Deer Lee;
"We had to- borrow some grub for
our honeymood in'tile hillS.
"Yotr son-in-law,
" 'Morg. NorriS"
CHAPTER IX
Ruth kne she):must: not "show
fear, No matter, hOw re'gently t
knocked ather heart, she dared not
Iet'it appear on her face. The'man
who had her in his power was a
bully, 'end if she gave "anY sign o:
panic, he won!eL take a devilh de
light in tra on it. "' "
Hour after hoar they wund deep
er into he=hills. Each addemih
increasedher worry. N0t:many pea
ple had peneiratedthe :fo2d between
these steep and rv, gged,aes. Her
friehds ,W0uld n.b where to
find her, They .!Jgh s ell look
NOrris rode beside Ruth, insult-
ing her with his jeers and even more
with his admiration. She looked
straight ahead, hot shame in her
Hour after hour they wound
deeper into the hills.
cheeks'. It was in her mind that
she deserved this. Punishment had
come home to imr for all the care-
less flirting she had done in the
past.
Upon her hand, lying for the mo-
ment on the pommel of the saddle,
he let his fingers close. Ruth did
not snatch her arm away. She
moved it definitely but without
haste.
He grinned. "You don't like me,
sweetheart."
Her Scornful eyes rested upon him
for an instant. "I come of decent
people," she said.
His vanity was colossal. It came
to her that perhaps she could play
upon it to save herself, He liked to
talk about his prowess. By flattery
she might deflect him from the pur-
pose playing in the shallow surface
of his mind, might at least lead
him to move toward it with finesse.
She made a change of front. It was
useless to reproach him with out-
raging her rights, since he recog-
nized no Claims of others• Better
to let him see himself as a lover Jr.
resistible, gradually wearing dowr
her will to fight his fascination.
,"Don't you believedn any moral
law at all?" she asked, looking at
him with critical interest.
• "I qui t ctnday school a right long
time gd,'" he sneered. "Likely
you'd say I was headed for dam-
nation."
She'eSsed he was proud of his
reputation for evil.
"They say there is honor among
thieves," she said. "You would
th'y'le-arn to answer their master's
voice. I make 'era know who is in
the saddle."
stand by a friend, wouldn't you?"
"HOW do you know a friend?" he The look in the eyes of the killer
wanted to know, with a curl of the had been venomous. Could he have
n ......... I discovered in any possible way that
"I know mine, she answered [Kansas had told Nelf where the
"What about the sapPiead. you've l WOuid camp? .....
a t orrm watched the wretched man
flirted with off and on for the p s land R t
1 hem u h watched first one and then
two years. Would you cal t
friends, when you were making the, other. ---, ..
P40, you w uln t a 0 m
them think they were ace high with . P' Y e,A<,an-
you and they only stacked up as sas," sid Nor$, low an soft.:
deuces?" .You'd f..,,me' ev wa from
She shook her head, smiling at meace, Won't you?" ) .
him faintly. "Don't quote Ruth Chis- "Yes," Kansas pleaded, his voice '
wick to me. I don't set her up as an parched and dry. "I sure would,
example. But I do think I have Mary."
more sense now than I had then."
"Lemme see. How long is it since
you ran off with Lou Howard and
then jilted him?"
"I'm a reformed character," she
'told him lightly.
"Don't you get too reformed and
we'll get along fine. Understand
one thing. Where I'm at I rule the
roost. That's all you got to remem-
ber. I know yore kind. You have
to be treated like a bronc with hell
in his neck. Soon as he finds out
w:m is boss, there's no more trou-
ble. Until then I keep my quirt
hot."
"Don't you think kindness might
work better sometimes?" Ruth in-
quired, rather casually.
His crooked smile chilled her.
"All these lads tried kindness with
you. How far did they ge? .I
wouldn't know that. Some of 'em
farther than others, I reckon." He
waited to give her a chance to pr 0-
test, but she did not do so. "Sorae
need the whip. You can lash sense
into them quicker than you can
teach it any other way."
*'That's a coression of failure,"
Ruth said. "I've noticed it often in
horse-breakers. The poorer ones,
those not in the front rank, lose
patience and get vicious with the
"Brute force is one way," Ruth
agreed, a touch of contempt in her
voice. "I suppose it's good enough
for those who don't know a better
one . . . How far are we going
tonight?"
I "We're going to the Walsh cab-
I in," he said sulkily. "Maybe we'll
keep going from there. Haven't
I made up my mind."
Ii They moved along the brow of a
hill, dipped into a canyon, and
I climbed its rocky bed to a ledge
from which they looked down into a
small park not more than an eighth
of a mile across from one lip to the
opposite one. A log cabin stood
about a stone's throw below them.
Back of it was a mountain corral.
At present the place looked desert-
ed.
The horses picked a way lown
along a slope of rubble. In front of
the cabin Norris drew up.
He called to Kansas, "We'll throw
off here awhile."
"What you mean awhile?" Kan-
sas asked. "Aren't we camping
.here tonight?"
The suggestion of opposition was
enough for Norris. "No," he
snapped.
"Why not?" the other man per-
sisted. "We're sure holedup mighty
good here."
"Because I say so. That reason
enough for you?"
"We're in this together, ain't
we?" Kansas grumbled. "You act
like I'm some dirty Mexican sheep-
herder."
"You trying to pick on me, fel-
low?" Norris demanded, his mouth
an ugly slit.
"Nothing like that, Mary. Seemed"
to jkhis was a good place to
roost. Good ied for the horses.
Filled with absentees, as you might
say. I'll bet outside of some of
our crowd there aren't half a dozen
folks in the world know about this
place. Nobody would find us in a
thousand years. No, sir. What's
the idea in moving on?"
"Kinda like this place, Kansas,
don't ou?" the other outlaw asked
with silky suavity.
"Looks all right to me," Kansas
said stubbornly. He added hastily,
reading suspicion in the narrowed
eyes of his companion, "But helll
I don:t care where we camp."
"Maybe we could agree for you
to stay here and for us to go on,"
suggested Norris significantly.
"What you mean, Mary? 'Course
I'll go on if you do."
"Ydu're so fond of me you'd hate
to split up," Norris jeered. He
turned to Ruth. "One of these
friends you were talking about, the
kind that stick closer than a broth-
er,"
"What's eatin' you, Morg?" asked
Kansas unhappily. "I didn't aim to
say a thing to annoy you., With the
sleeve of his shirt he brushed away
tiny beads of perspiration from his
forehead. For the moment the heart
of the man died under his ribs.
"You wouldn't want me to stay
here where nobody could find us in
a thousand years, would you?"
grinned the killer.
"Not if you didn't want to stay."
"Good old Kansas, faithful as Old
Dog Tray," jeered the other.
"Youyou got me wrong, Mary,"
burst out Kansas.
'2Vlaybe so." Norrm continued to
smile, the mocking grin on his face
something dreadful to see. "Well,
I'm going to the spring to fix up
this scratch on my arm while yQu
unsaddle and p €e
Ruth offered timidly to dress and
tie up the wound. She did not want
to do it, for there was sble
just now horribl-nenadlhg;abotit
the man. When he refused her of-
fer se was glad.
"- ri sauntered to tl1" priK,
contriving not to turn his back up-
on the other man. He carried his.
rjd e. with.trim .......... : ::
Assoon as he was out of hearing,
Kansas spoke to the girl. "Don't
look this-way," .he aid htiri'iedly, i
uncihehing the horse gffe" hfid been
riding. "Act like I ain't even talk-
in' to you. Keep a-lookin' at Mary.
Ie aims to kill me, because he fig-
ures I sent word to yore paw we
would camp here. I did, too, by
ldre long as ou can. im-gohg
back to hurry up yore friends."
Ruth wanted to beg him not to
leave her alone with Norris. She
would be safer if another man was
with them. But his next words
stopped her.
"Mary must be headin' for Wild
Horse basin," the man went on.
"I'll have Lee comb that country
thorough. I got to light out now.
Mary is fixin' to kill me." The man
was pallid with fear. His eyes dart-
ed toward the spring. Now was the
time. "I'll be sayin' adios, Miss."
Without touching the stirrup he
flung himself into the saddle and
lifted the horse to a gallop. Not
an expert rider, one of his feet
failed to find its stirrup. He clung
to the horn to steady himself, his
fingers dragging on one of the reins.
The pony swerved sharply and the
man lost his seat. A shoulder
plowed into the ground when he
struck. Almost instantly he was
on his feet.
The eyes in his chalk face were
glazed with fear• For a fraction of a
second he hesitated, uncertain what
to do. He started for the horse Nor-
ris had been riding.
Before he had taken two steps a
rifle cracked. The body of the run-
ning man plunged forward as if it
had been flung from a catapult. He
lay face down, motionless..
Ruth caught at the saddle-horn
of the horse beside her. She clung
to it, trying to steadyherself in a
tip-tilted world. For a moment ev-
erything went hazy . She saw
Norris moving forwardl the,rifle in
PAGI FI¥]
his hands. I:Ie pad-d'e'd
prone figure, his supple body 1WIN YOUR RACE1
crouched and wary as that of a cat l---_.____- -_ ..... 1
stalking its prey. The face of the rur us, n.e ouP_remacy
man was demoniac. Upon it was Adng
stamped the horrid sadistic lust that > .
comes to the habitual killer who (/tb__'k , ."' &"'N
has made his kill. 2.111/..../ _,
(Continued next week) .....
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