The Raymer enterprise., 1921-05-26


Il reckon ye're right, HANK" he ad.
mitted slowly, his speech heavy and
coarse. mo tenderfoot amt goin' ter
make that trail At night Morn like.
iy he's aimin' ter COM through the
other way"
"What'll We do, then-ride on?"
After bit: It's early yet. an may
be It'll do no harm to lie quiet awhile.
But we kin light up. an be COM
Portable"
he struck Z match, following the
name 10 his hands. revealing the
bearded face Of man Of fifty, shad.
owed beneath q soft hat brim. Be
yond him appeared the obscure out.
line Of the other. a mere smudEe. A
moment the two puffed away content
edly. Shelby not venturing to move a
muscle.
Say, Hanley, I've alters played my
hand the best ! knew how. but l do
Ike ter know what the game is I'm
playin' at. What do yer know. any
howr
The other chuckled In his beard.
rustllng his feet In the leaves.
Easier ter ask about than explain.
Hank" he answered slowly. specially
Us there is things I don't Just cotton
to myself. Mostly pulled the facts
out Of that Kid Macklin when he was
drunk, cause he wanted me to help
him. But Il seems he's only hired fer
the job: It's that guy we're waitIn' for
who has got the real dope, and like
wise the long-green."
"Churchlll's his name, amt itr
THAT'S the duffer; some big feller
down East; Virginia. a. I understand
Judge Cornelius Churchill; the
whole story goes q h-i Of q long
ways, back"
He leaned his head against the tree
trunk behind him. pufiing away 1t
the cigarette between his bearded
lips, the dull glow barely touching his
face. The younger man leaned for.
ward waiting.
"Well." be said impatiently, that
amt all Of Il: what started the rump-
usf What's the idea Of stealth the
giii An Just whar do you an me
come in1"
We'll, - ! nguS It. we've got to
make our own medicine. You saw that
outfit 90 along afors dark-Macklin
an the four redsr'
"sure: they had Q woman with
'emr
That's the ticket. an they was
bound for Wolves hole. thought
maybe they'd camp down here, but
they didn't-tust kept movin'. Well,
that's one thing You an laid out here
for, to get q line on Macklin. The
other thing Is that this yere Cornelius
Churchill is about due also. an Is
most likely to blow In along this same
trail. II is my notion to have q word
privatellke with that gent before Joe
gets to him-seer
Cant say that I do Hanley. exact
ly. What's It all about--the girl!"
"Mostly, ! reckon. an q HI Of a
slice Of money down East. This Is
how the Kid blew II to me. II seems
an army officer named Carlyn bout
the time the Civil war closed, ran
away with Rose Churchill down In
Virginia, and married her. All he
cared for was the girl. an he never
even knew she was rich. only that her
family objected to him, an that they'd
have to skip out. reckon, maybe,
she didn't know II herself at the time.
nor the rest O. the Churchill family,
for they didn't make no great effort
to find her for some while. Then,
when they opened a will. they discov-
cred that most all the Churchill for.
tune had been left to this Rose. and
they naturally becom' mighty inter.
ested. Cornelius, as understand.
was the brother Of Roses father, an
the property was put In his hands as
trustee on behalf Of the girl. Maybe
he was straight enough guy general.
" speaking, but he had expected to
get most Of this dough after the girl
skipped out. an was consequently al
mighty hot. Naturally he wanted to
keep the stuff, an he didn't make no
great effort to locate the heiress. BY
the time he did learn who she had
married. Rose died, leaving q daugh.
ter. BY the terms Of the will II she
died chlldless the entire estate revert.
ed to Cornelius and he wasn't the
sort o guy to lose that kind O. bet"
AN this soldier never suspected
nothing?"
mot thing. He was q colonel by
this time, out at some frontier post.
and left his baby to the care Of some
relatives In the East. There wasn't
no fuss made, an so Churchill sorter
let affairs slide along. He had the use
OF the money. an begun to think
there never would be no trouble. OF
course he kept line on the husband,
but lost trace Of the kid entirely"
Yer mean the colonel never even
know'd he'd married a rich girlr'
$50 II seems. reckon she didn't
even know II, his wife. But after
awhile some inkllng Of the truth must
have reached him, for he went East,
and began to make inquiries through
lawyer. When Churchill heard about
this he rot scared. I reckon he,d