Evening star., 1923-09-10

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:, CHAPTER VI -. ..,s-,
Pete had no opportunity to be alone
with Hawkins again that night. He
had hardly finished naming the loca-
ton of the money. in fact, before
! preparations were made for the re-
moval of the wounded man. A. deep
| wagon box, once used for hauling
gravel, but now resting on crude
runners. was backed up to the door
Although fully a foot of straw COW
cred the bottom, he insisted on plac-
ing his own mattress. on top of 1t,
| fdeclaring to the. gangsters that even
the slightest bump might mean death
l,for his friend.
Tears of grief flooded his eyes as he
tenderly dressed once more the Jag
| geds HOLE. made by Alguin's bullet.
me rough sled doomed horribly like
comm in the, semi i-darkness of the
doorway. as with choking voice he
uttered words of hope and encourc
agemeHt. tucked his heavy fur Goa {
over the form and placed a hard nil
low low beneath the grizzled head
J kins was wide awake and an
p5rentfy aware of the meaning of
| his trip. yet he said mo word: For
! a moment their eyes met. eyes OF two
sLrong men sorely pressed. saying to
eacn other: TIL We meet again"
slim Eliot cracked whip; the
sled moved out into the night and
the door is though begrudgfnE even
the pitifully weak light that
streanled out. slammed shut
| win black despair in his heart,
! Pete ignored al invitation to sit hy
the fire and went to his room He
tried to think clearly, to form a plan
but nothing came to him. The air
| seemed oppressive and the room.
changed its aspect from a dungeon
! made sacred by the blood Of Brud
J Hawkins. He seemed still to look
| into the eyes that said: You are
my pardner, and it's your lead" AS
Pete dweit on the thought he fer
i vently raised his eyes toward heaven,
| clenched his fists and made a VOW
"Pardner. I'm not holding many cards
right now, but such as I have, by
God. I'm going to play"
| with his solemn oath came new
J zeal that sent blood tingling through
| his veins, as he nervously paced the
room. pausing each time like a
! Gagged panther to gaze menacIngly
out at the gagnster befort the fire.
Whlskey and cards absorbed the at
tention of all save Butler, who alone
drink.
Questions criss-crossed construc-
tive thoughts. as ne tried to make
| a plan. Why had Tam written the
! note? Why had Hawkins warned
him against her? He had Hawkins
own words as a partial answer to
, this, anyway-"Company trick, want
! Dead Horse Mine" he had whispered.
; Why they wanted il, Ae did not
know. He remembered Hawkins say
ing he hadn't struck anything there.
/ Even IL he had, why did they
resort to murder? AS he pondered
| this In his mind. his answer, in the
shape of Bulled Garret, looked
straight at him from behind the
gambling table. Putting together
little scraps of what he had heard.
Pete came to the conclusion that
Hawkins must in some way have
been crossing these very gangsters
Butler. at any rate. Probably the
Company knew of it, and used their
knowledge to get rid of the miner
Carefully Pete checked up the de-
tails of the past five days He re-,
membered that a crew was due to
join Hawkins and himself at the
mine. Just when or where he knew
not. II only he could have talked
with Hawkins more!
Pete recalled the words spoken