New Britain herald., 1921-08-09

| been on the ranch a little more than a week.
 Kerr was out looking for strays, he said, although he seemed to overlook | the joke that he made in neg1ecting to state from whose herd. He rode up | to the fence, affable as man who never had an evil intention in his | life, and made inquiry concerning I Lambert's connection with the ranch. i making a pretense of not having heard
 that vesta had hired new men. l Well, she needs couple of good
 men that will stand by her steady,
 he said with all the generosity of one 1 who had her interests close to his | heart She's good girl and she's been havin' a hard time of it. But if
 you want to do her the biggest favor I that a man ever did do under cir | cumstances of similar nature, per
 suade her to tear this fence out. all
 around, an throw the range open like l it used to be. Then all this fool | quarreling and shooting will stop, and
 everybody here will be on good terms again. That's the best way out of 1t for her, and will be the best way out of it for you if you intend to stay here and yun this ranch"
 ''There'l never be a yard of this
 fence torn down on my advise. MT. | Kerr" Lambert said. You people
 around here will have to learn to give
 it a good deal more respect from l now on than you have in the past. I m going to teach this crowd around here to take off their hats when they come to fence.
 ,.'Tm afraid you've bit off more fL, 1ncC T. low, young man." Kerr said. With
 that he rode away, knowing that he
 had failed in what he probably had
 some hope of accomplishing in his sly
 and unworthy way.
 Things went along quietly after that
 for few weeks. Hargus did not at
 tempt any retaliatory move; on the side of Kerr's ranch all was quiet.
 But neither Lambert or Taterleg for
 a moment relaxed the vigilance of
 their watch and one mid-afternoon,
 about six weeks after taking charge of affairs on the ranch, the Duke found justification for his belief that
 Vesta's enemies were only watching a , favorable opportunity to renew their pernicious activities.
 At the top of grassy hill he found the fence cut for a hundred yards or
 more. It was cut at every post mak- , ing it impossible to piece. Lambert rode along to see if any cattle had escaped, and drew his 5 breath again with relief when he } found that none had passed. There was the track of but one l horse: the fence-cutter had been r alone, probably not more than an 5 hour ahead of him. The job finished, 3 he had gone boldly in the direction s of Kerr's ranch, on whose side the } repredation had been com mitted
 Lambert followed the trail some dis t tance It led on toward Kerr's ranch, . defiance in it's very boldness.
 It was early morning after an all | night watch along the three miles y of fence where the wire-cutter a worked, when Lambert rode to the ] top of the ridge where the first breach S in his line had been made. Below y that point, not more than half a mile 7, he had stopped to boil his breakfast 3 coffee. His first discovery on mount t ing the ridge was a panel of fence r cut his next a piece of white paper n twisted to the end of one of the curl 5 ing wires.
 This he disengaged and unfolded
 1t was a page LOIH lTOIl d Il1ouAeAHS memorandum book such as cow z punchers usually carry their time in and the addresses of friends. :, !, "Why don't you come and get me :, Mr. Duke?"
 u This was the message it bore. "All right; I'll take you up or
 that" Lambert said. g
 q (Cnntinued in tomorroW'S Herald