San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-02-18

uOu See uOW eau IcllSH thO
flavors of bacon and coffee under
such circumstances, Billings NUT
tered, putting the cover on the coffee
can, and bundling up the pork in its
canvas sack.
Sorry" said Dryden, shut you go
ahead and have your breakfast. You
won't bother me. Why, Billings, you
go as long without grub as we have,
and grub don't matter any more. I'm
in training for a regular hunger
strike"
1t wasn't easy after that for RAN
ger Billings to carry out his half
formed idea to rope Dryden securely
and leave him here, while he rode
over to Caliente to head off Dave
Ilcomb. Billings just couldn't bring
himself to coil his lariat around a
man half-dead from starvation, who
wouldn't eat until his pal came. All
the time, the thought was gnawing
at him, too, that Dave Ilcomb would
run into somebody else's hands on his
way, or meet recognition over there
in the desert town. The thousand
dollars reward for the train-robber
looked mighty good to Billings in con-
nection with the stake he could pull
down from bringing in Dryden. Also,
the idea of bringing both the boys
in, gave fascination to the idea of
his writing a letter to the girl in
Iowa. But his heart failed, and that
was the end of it.
Dryden was strangely clear-headed
but hopeless, like man ready to die.
He seemed not to hold the slightest
grudge against Billings, but there was
deep aching bitterness in his mind
against the face surgeon in New York.
"That's the sort of guy they leave
wide open in this mans world" he
muttered. ~You can be yellow pole
cat, and get by with it."
Billings saw the point, all right,
and it didn't make him feel any more
comfortable.
"Why, Dave was on an honest-to-
God job over in the zig town, hold
ing onto a rivet hammer, six or seven
hours a day, going steady and straight.
/ had to get the scar cut out Of my
cheek or run the risk of arrest every
time l passed bull on the street.
Dave and ] agreed that I'd better have
that operation. You sec, he was
masked for his last job on the Tran
con. He felt pretty safe, too, be-
cause the word was out he was dead.
But he never felt safe for me-"
"Was he with you when you were
arrested in New York;"
no." Dryden answered. %I didn't
see him afterward. He was on his
job. They picked me up in the street
and railroaded me west that night.
Couldn't get word to Dave. He
must have got his news from the after
noon papers and followed on by the
next train. 1t was as much of
surprise to me, as to anyone else
what he pulled off in the courtroom
in Pasadena"
That day was like half a summer
to Ranger Billings. He strolled off
in the thicket and munched a bacon
sandwich by himself. He smoked up
weeks supply of cigarettes. He
came to share the dull hopelessness of
Dryden, but his mind was confused
while the others was clear. All
through the afternoon he studied the
agony of the starving one; not the
agony for food, but an agony that
called upon heaven and earth for some
way to warn his pal. Billings saw
the sweat come to Dryden's wasted
face, as he listened-looked down to-
ward the spring and listened. Bill
ings also studied the mysterious thing
called Fidelity-the first and last
article of Roger Dryden's code.
The Ranger realized he was taking
longer chance every minute now. If
not prevented, Dryden would surely
signal the instant he heard his pal
down by the spring. That would
mean a pistol duel. Billings had had
about all the pistol stuff he cared for
with master like Dave Ilcomb; and
yet he couldn't bring himself to force
a gag into Dryden's mouth, as the
shadows of afternoon heightened, any
more than he had found it possible to
rope him early in the day. One idea
troubled him until he spoke:
"But Dawes been starvin' just as
you have. How was he fit to foot it
the twenty miles to Caliente, there
and back, when you can't get up?" p
Yellow day still lay upon the peaks,
but evening was deep in the valley,
and dim upon the slope where they
camped. Billings now heard the tri-
butte of one bad boy for another.
you saw Dave keep his foot in the
day-coach. Why, that kid couldn't
die, unless he let go himself. He
wasn't fit to go to Caliente any more
than / was. Only he's game. That
kids so game, Ranger, he freezes you,
and he's just as square as he is
gamew
Dryden was shivering in the night
cold. Billings brought his saddle
blanket and put it over the little man.
"Your blood's all whitened out. Mis-
ter he said gently. 81 can't start a