The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1910-11-17

When the last man was out Of sight Johnny's
rope sailed up and out and the ghost swayed
Violently and then began to sag toward the
trail as the owner Of the ariat tied its free
end around bowldcr. Then he feverishly
scrambled down to join his friends on the
OTHER side. i
IIcpalong and Red paused in amazemcnt
1t tie antics Of the ghost end then the Tor;
mcr chuckled, and whispered 4. his COM
ppnion's ear: "That's ~ luggcd his
d--n rope alongl lIe's ~ -.ct "no III to
want a sonvctir sa' play y'i.rs Il tn r'sk of
losing tn garc Fw come n -thcyi
trmbc in a.minut. AZ 5r t@ay . we Jo,'s
hustle"
When the two plnctcrs entered thr
crevicc, they heard tts'l'; ~~eg gNff, = sren-
ish by The man wl'p wcia, ir' sfss..src
who could not ri.ls,t..ie. ~ SCR, am
bition 70 tekc root. w i.eea ps.Te'J'y
plain to him moment lsi..,, VI, n par
OF hands reached out of the ..st.~.@., be-
hind him and encirclcd II. neil. lands
width bclowhis cleaning cigarette. Another
pair used cords with definess and diat..ch
and he was soon left by irlself t. hrowcc
upon the gag when all ha scrses retsned
Hopalong, with Red ineor siderate,s'stp-
ping on his heels, felt lis way a - the
rough rock wall Of the c-cvicc, acrt and
silent, his Colt nesting co:ntcr,se.s y his
right hand. AS they wcr~ed fu.ih-r aw~v
from the cafoa distant voices on;'T be
heard and they proceeded even MI, slowly.
When Hopalong came to the second s'1in
the narrow passage he peered around it
cautiously and stopped SO sudJcris that
Reds nose tried to spread it's .n'-,o The
back of the leaders he'd. Reds lndiena-
ton was all the harder to bear because it
must seethe unheard.
In huge, irregular room whose roof
could not be discerned in the dim light Of
the candles, five men we're resting in various
attitudes of case as they discussed the
events of the night and tried to compute
their profits. They were secure because
Manuel, having put away the ghost and
horn, was, as usual, on guard at the mouth
Of TIE crevice and be was as sensitive to
danger as hound.
"The risks are not much, the work far
apart, and the profits large" Pedro re-
marked in Spanish as he rolled new cga-
rettc. "Wemust burn candle for the reposc
OF the soul of Carlos Martinez, who has"
"Hdnds nbi" said quiet voice in Eng
lish, followed by grim commands Two OF
the rowdy Gringo cow-punchers could just
be disccrned in the heavy shadows Of the
opposite wall, but the candle light glinted
in rings on the bright muzzles cf their Colts.
Easy, therel" shouted Red, his finger
Tightening on the trigger, and Pcdro's hand
stopped half way to his chest where he
carried his knife.
Stick 'em up, higher yet. Stick 'emup
kigh,' purred soft voice from the othe,:
end Of the room, where Dick Martin smiletly
with pleasure upon them and wondered x
there was anything harder to pound good /.
common sense into than "Greasers'2'
head. His gun was blue and not as easily
seen as those Of the cow-punchers, but it was
the most prominent part Of his makeup.
One of the Mexicans, gun-man, reached
involuntarily to his hip, v'hile his COM
panions stealthily felt for YES, deadly
weapons in melee. Mirtin, crying,
"Watch 'em, Cassidy side-steppod and
lunged forward with the speed and skill Of
boxer, and bis left hand larded flush on the
jaw of Juan Alvarez, the nar with the gun,
with force and precision rot to be denied.
Things were about to become interesting,
when two legged cyclone burst upon the
scene in the person of Johnny Nelson, whose
rage had been worked UP to the weeping
point because he had lost so much time
hunting for the opening in the cafion wall
where it wasn't. Seeing Juan fall, and the
CLINT OF knives, he started in to clean house,
yelling: I'm ghost I'm ghost Take
'em alive Take EN- alive!"
Hopalong and Red, clubbing the nearest
Mexican with reversed Colts, felt that they
were in Johnny's way, and dragged their
victim aside to bind him and to give their
youthful friend plenty of room. Martin
took care Of another smuggler witha crush
ing right swing, and then grinned at Johnny
who had cleaned up the remaining two and
was looking around to see il be had missed
any He paused triumphantly, and then
showed his nose up in Hopalong's fsec.
"Triedto lose me, heylo he shouted For
seven cents and toothlbrush I'd finish up
on You'll ss5~ VII
RED grabbed him by trousers and collar
and heaved him into hepassage: Get out
OF here an play with yore souvenir, or
Hoppyll step on you'll"
Johnny sat up, felt Of himself and grinned.
1--WE got it, all right; my ropes on it. I'm
going to take it back home with me an
make somebody eat it'
And I'm going to take Alvarez to 'Paso
and feed him to a jail, along with the