Licking Valley courier., 1921-03-10

o. SIVaEeS on ne Wli Iglh. There hu .
been no attempt to plUnder orr DE-
strOy The very fact that The pOEig'
remained undisturbed convinced him
that this was no deed of Indian raid 8,
ers That it might have been white out
laws was not quite so easily dis
missed. There were desperate men
hiding out yOnder in the Bad Lands
but he never had known Of their ven
turing to attack any settler, except 'Oc-
caslonalIy TO run off cattle on the
range. In this case there was. no ap-
parent object-they had taken moth
ing, neither food nor stock. Then it
must have been Macklin.
His sudden disappearance was. at
least proof he must have had hand
in 1t. But why? To what end? Shelby
Strengthened up Il new fash Of intel
Ilgence in his eyes. Perhaps this all
harked back TO that early mystery in
her life. She had told him that Cal
klns had taken her from place to
place. apparently always afraid that
he was being followed. Was it pos
sible that he had been hunted down al
last; that he recognized the approach
Of the end, and had committed suicide
on that account? And was this strHngp
seizure Of Olga part Of the plot, either
If revenge or restitution? This eX-
DlanatiOn seemed more probable than
any other; in way it appeared 10 fiji
the case, although he possessed no
more knowledge Of what Il all meant
than he did before. Only, evidently
all that had been desired was posses
sion Of the girl, and that was deemed
of sufficient Importance to even justify
murder. He had been left for dead
in order that she might be borne away
alive.
No longer doubling hut what this
theory at least apprOximated the
truth, Shelby faced the facts frankly,
and with no further hesitation. It
was up to him to act promptly; there
was no one to whom he could turn for
heip. His eyes darkened, and his jaws
set. All right then, he would certain
~ give the Kid run for his money.
There must he some trail left; such Il
deed as this could never he accom-
pisEed without leaving some mark
behind. Whether they Travelled on
foot, or horseback the party must
surely leave some trace Of passage,
and Shelby, who had been the best
trailer in his regiment. felt confident
Of being able to run the outfit down.
With this once settled in his mind
and his plan OF pursuit outlined, Shell
by threw or his depression, and he
came cool and resOute. First he
searched over every foot Of grount
within quarter Of mile of the
house, seeking TO discover just how
Macklin had operated. and, whether
or not, he was alone. The result was
only partially successful. The hard
packed earth revealed little of value
Down below the cabin on the slOninc
side of the hill. he found the mari; oi
high-hCeled boot such as the KID
wore. and. a foot or so beyond, the
plain impression Of mOccasln. a
hundred yards to the north the i'm
prints were again visible making Il
clear to his mind that the fugitives
were then making for the lower ford
The girl was evidently being carried
and two men must have been engaged
on the job, one Of them possibly III In
dian. He passed straight on TO the
ford to verify this theory. and here
the mud exhibited clearly the move
ments Of both the fellows, while close
at the waters edge he came upon u
narrow pink ribbon, which the cir
had evidently hurriedly dropped ii
guidance.
1t was clearly manifest now the III
rection IN which they had disappeared
but Shelby remained unsatished. II,
could not believe that they would ut
tempt to escape thus ON foot will
their burden. II Macklln haG one us
sistunt, It was highly probable ther,