The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1918-01-17

walked his horse. with Duane beside
him, till they reached the log bridge.
when he halted.
dodge. I'm in bad with Knell." he
said. "An' 1t pears I'm the cause of
friction between Knell an Peggy.
Knell never had any use fer me, hut
Poggy's been squar If not friendly.
The boss had a big deal on, an here
It's been held up because of this
scrap. He's waitin' over there on the
mountain to give orders to Knell or
Peggy. an neither ones shown up.
I've got to stand in the breach, an
I amt enjoyin' the prospects"
whats the trouble about, Jim?"
asked Duane.
Reckon it's a little about you,
Dodge said Fletcher, dryly. "Knell
hadn't any use fer you tibet day.
Knell claims to know somethin' about
you that II make both the boss an
Peggy sick when he springs 1t. But
he's keepin' quiet. Hard man to fig
ger, tibet Knell. Reckon you'd better
go back to Bradford fer a day or so.
then camp out here till I come back"
"Why?"
oval, because there amt any use
fer you to git in bad, too. The gang
will ride over here any day. If
they're friendly I'll light a fire on the
hill there, say three nights from to-
night. If you don't see 1T tibet night
you hit the trail. I'll do what / can.
Jim Fletcher sticks to his pals. So
long. Dodge"
He left Duane in a quandary. This
news was black. At the moment
Duane did not know which way to
turn, but certainly he had no idea
Of going back to Bradford. Friction
between the we great ~lieutenants of
Cheseldine! Generally such matters
were settled with uns Duane gath
cred encouragement ven from disas-
ter. II Knell knew anything it was
that this stranger in Ord, this new
partner of Fletcher's, vas no less than
Buck Duane. Well, 1t was about time,
thought Duane, that he made use of
his name If ii were to help him at all.
That name had been MacNelly's hope.
He had anchored all his scheme to
Duane's fame. Duane was tempted to
ride off 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-
opments, and when the gang rode in
TO Ord. probably from their various
hiding places, he would be there ready
to be denounced by Knell. Duane
could not see any other elimination Of
this series of events than a 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
Poggin took up the quarrel! Here
Duane accused himself again-tried in
vain to revolt from a judgment that he
was only reasoning out excuses to
meet these outlaws.
Meanwhile, instead of waiting, why
not hunt up Cheseldtne in his moun-
tain retreat? The thought no ooner
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 ii to find the trail.
He halted at a little ~side-canyon with
grass and water, and here he made
camp. And on this night, lonely like
the ones he used to spend in the
Nueces gorge, and memorable of them
hnnorfSn Of N I;I~ow1.. a.. Shak nI1 hid
ing-place, he felt the pressing return
OF old haunting things-the past so
long ago, wild flights, dead faces
and the places of these were taken
by n quiveringly alive, white, tragic,
with its dark, intent, speaking eyes
Ray Longstreth's.
That last memory he yielded to I'M
til he slept.
In the morning, satisfied that he
had left still fewer tracks than he had
followed up this trail, he led his
horse up to the head of the canyon,
into a narrow crack In low cliffs, and
with branches of cedar fenced him in.
Then he went back and took up the
trail on foot.
Without the horse he made better
time. Once. through a wide gateway
between great escarpments. he saw he
lower country beyond this, vast and
clear as 1t lay in his sight, was the
great river that made the Big Bend.
He rounded a jutting corner, where
view had been shut off, 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. 1t lay perhaps a thousand feet
below him and, plain as all the other
features of that wild environment,
there shone out a big red stone or
adobe cabin. white water shining
away between borders, and horses
and cattle dotting the levels. 1t was
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