Tombstone epitaph., 1916-12-03
CHAPTER xxIii-continued.


 will ride over here any day. Ii
 they re friendly I'll light a fire on the
 hill there, say three nights from to
 night. If you don't see 1t thet night
 you hit the trail. I'll do what l can
 Jim Fletcher sticks to his pals. Sc
 long. Dodge"
 He left Duane in quandary. This
 Duane did not know which way to
 turn. but certainly he had no idea
 ot going back 10 Bradford. Friction
 between the two great lieutenants of
 Cheseldine! Generally such matters
 were settled with guns. Duane gath
 cred encouragement even from disas-
 ter. If Knell knew anything 1t was
 that this stranger in Ord. this new
 partner cf Fletche-'s, was nc less than
 Buck Duane. Well, 1t was about time.
 thought Duane, that he made use of
 hls name if it were to help him at all. That name had been MacNelly's hope.
 He had anchored all his scheme to pUane's fame. Duane was tempted to ride of after Fletcher and stay with him. This. however. would hardly be fair to an outlaw who had been fair to him. Duane concluded to await devel- NpmentS, and when the gang rode in to Ord. probably from their various hiding places, he would be there ready 10 be denounced by Knell. Duane could not see any other continuation of this series of events than q meeting between Knell and himself. If that terminated fatally for Knell there was all probability of Duane's being in no worse situation than he was now. If Posgin took up the quarrel, Here Duane accused himself again-tried in vain to revolt from judgment that he ~ns only reasoning out excuses to meet these outlaws.
 Meanwhile. instead of waiting, why not hunt up Cheseldine in his moun- tain retreat? The thought no sooner struck Duane than he was hurrying for his horse.
 In an hour he struck the slope of Mount Ord, and as he climbed he got among broken rocks and cliffs, and was hard put to it to find the trail. | He halted at little side-canyon with l grass and water, and here he made l camp. And on this night. lonely like | the ones he used 10 spend in the | Nueces gorge, and memorable of them | because of likeness to that old hid ! nS-place, he felt the pressing return | Of old haunting thlngs-the past so | long ago. wild flights. dead faces and the places of these were taken | by one quiveringly alive, white. tragic. | with its dark, intent, speaking eyes Ray LOngstreth's.
 That last memory he yielded to un- til he slept.
 In the morning, satisfied that he | had left still fewer tracks than he had l followed up this trail, he led his | horse up to the head of the canyon, into q narrow crack in low cliffs. and with branches of cedar fenced him in. i Then he went back and took up the . trail on foot.
 Without the horse he made better time. Once, through wide gateway between great escarpments, he saw the lower country beyond this. vast and clear as it lay in his sight, was the great river that made the Big Bend.
 He rounded a jutting corner. where view had been shut of, and presently came out upon the rim of a high wall. Beneath, like a green gulf seen through blue haze, lay an amphitheater walled in on the two sides he could see. It lay perhaps a thousand feet below him; and, plain as all the other nr ha rr-fll there shone out big red stone or ndobe cabin. white water shining away between borders, and horses and cattle dotting the levels. It was a peaceful. beautiful scene. Duane could not help grinding his teeth at the thought of rustlers living in quiet and ease.
 Duane worked halfway down to the level, and. well hidden in niche. he seated himself to watch both trail and valley.
 The sun vent down behind the wall. and shadows were born in the darker places of the valley. Duane began to want to get closer to that cabin. Still he fingered. And sudden " HIS SArA4l oA two horsemen riding up the valley. They must have entered at a point below. round the huge abutment of rock. beyond Duane's range of sight. Their horses were tired and stopped at the stream for a long drink. Duane left his perch. took to the steep trail, and descended as fast as he could without making noise. It lid not take him long to reach the valley floor. IL was almost level. with deep grass. and here and there ciuInps of bushes. Twilight was al- ready thick down there. Duane marked the location of the trail. and then began to slip like a shadow through the grass and from bush to bush. He saw bright light before he made out the dark outline of the -abin. Then he heard voices, a merry whistle, a coarse song. and the ciink , ,f iron cooking utensils. He smelled fragrant wood smoke. He saw nov Ing dark figures cross the light. Evi- denfly there was a wide door. or else he fire YVES out in the open. -uane syerved to the left. ont of