River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1923-05-31
Buck whIstIed.

"Who's been here to. tip 1t OFF,
asked Jordan.
Buck looked at him serenely, took
plug of chewing from his pocket,
took his knife, opened it deliberately
and slowly cut off a corner of the
tobacco.
| "Search me-" he drawled. me, I
| don't stay up to the house."
! Jordan, temporarily discounted but
still confident of bringing back his
| quarry, marked the trail of the buck
board in the alkali soil, noted the
footprints of the diverging riders and
nodded with the semi-smile and half
| closed eyes of conscious superiority.
| He had already elected apparently
| reluctant information from Pedro as
to the four passengers in the buck
| board.
"You 'tendin' rancho" Jordan asked
Buck.
yep. Till l get fresh orders"
| "I'll bring you back those orders,
also yore bosses, before shutdown"
Buck permitted himself his first
| grin.
you'll have to go some," he said.
"Goin' to bring 'em back in irons?
| Figgerin' on abduction?'
| Jordan gave no hint of how Bucks
shaft might have targeted his inten-
| tons, but climbed into the car and
started it. Reaching the lava strip
where the blackboard had halted for
water and the noon meal, they found
| the trail skirting the flow toward the
south. The main mass of the mesa,
broken up into gorges, gaps, stair
way cliffs, marked by purple shad-
ows, scanty in the early afternoon but
gradually widening, was about fifty
miles away. Jordan turned TO one
of his deputies.
! (which way do you fgger they're
headin', Phil?' he asked. as there a
cut or pass through the mesa?"
''Dam'fino. One things sure an GER
| tain. Them fellers from the Three
Star usually know where they are
headin'. Trails plain
"Sure is" But Jordan scratched
his head tri1e doubtfully. If Sandy
Bourke and his chums had been tipped
off, this trail was little too plain to
be true.
They're on about US gettin the pa
pers," said Plimsoll. He had not said
much on the trip so far. "Too much
talk nowadays Bourke sabes that
getting the girl out of the county
won't do any good; he aims to get her
out of the state and any Arizona court
or sheriff jurisdiction. He's the brains
OF the outfit. We've got to get her,
Jordan"
you amt tellin' me a thing don't
know, Jim. But there's one thing you
can tell me. Is that tip you got about
Dynamite sure one?"
! Plimsoll, sitting beside Jordan,
flashed him a look of contempt
do you think I'm chasing this girl
because I'm stuck on her? One of
the party with this eastern crowd
dropped into my place and talked.
Here is where / get back the money
| / put up to grubstake Casey"
Jordan gave him grin of derision.
l
Plimsoll said nothing more.
4 mo shootin' i'm this DEAL" Jordan
warned. Come to showdown,
Bourke won't buck the law soon's we
show papers. So longs he amt been
| notified the court is maxim a ward
of the girl they amt done nothin'
wrong. Buff he resists, that's diff
ferent"
II amt goin' to be awful anxious
b start shootin'," said Jim. SANDY
Bourke's two-handed lead finger
| an Soda-Water Sans no SLOUGH. Mel
theirs Mormon. Me, I'll be peaceable
| less it's forced on me otherwise"
They entered the split In the mesa.
The floor was fairly smooth, swept
| clean by occasional cloudbursts, save
for the skeleton of a tree and another
| of a too-far wandering steer, both
blanched white as the alkali-crusted
/ powders. 1t was nearly level going
and the car pounded along, all the oc-
/ cupants looking for trail sign.
Keep an eye peeled for rain" said
Jordan. I'D sure hate to get caught
| in here with a clOudburst."
| Ahead was an abrupt turn. Jordan
| slowed. Making the curve, fence
stretched across the gorge, reaching
| from wall to wall, four-strand bar
/ rier of barbed-wire, strung on patent
| steel posts. Jordan braked with emer-
| gency. The sight of such fence in
| such place was as unexpected as
| the sun-dried carcass of a steer would
be on Broadway. Plimsoll and Jordan
| cursed, the former in pure anger. the
latter with some appreciation of the
stratagem for delay.
| 1--WE can tear it down quicker'n they
| fixed it," he said. 1--WE got pair of
nippers in the tool kit. They can't
have driven in those posts deep.
Come on"
A voice fioated down to them.
"You leave that fence alone, gents,
If you please. ! went to a heap of
II