The Kevin review. [volume] (Kevin, Mont.) 1922-1929, 1924-11-13

big tree, too. And he has VALE
in the spring with rocks, and
Who in the world can it be? There
even a little garden of wild flowers J
Bud Lee. for no reason clear to him
self, flushed. He offered no explana
ton at first. Here he spent manl
an hour when the time was his fol
idling; here upon many a Sunday
when work was slack, did he come t.
smoke alone. loaf alone, read from the
few books on the cabins shelves.
Maybe" he suggested at last. wher
1t was clear that Judith was going
straight to the door. this is where
our stick-up gents hang out. Choice
place for a cutthroat to hibernate,
huh?"
81 don't believe it," answered Jul
dith positively. 'The man who made
his hermitage here has a soul! I'd
rather own this cabin and live here,
than have a palace on Fifth %avenuei'
She knocked at the door, knowing
that silence would answer her, but
hoping to have a man, calm-eyed,
gentle-voiced, a romantic hermit in all
of his picturesqueness, come to the
door.
Going in?' asked Lee in well-sim-
ulated carelessness.
mo-" she told him freezingly. why
should 1? Would you want people
poking about into your home just be-
cause it was In the heart of a wilder
ness and you weren't there to drive
them out?"
NO" answered Bud gravely. Nov
that you ask me, / wouldn't! Let's go
find that trail"
But" continued Judith. mot being
a fool. and realizing that one of the
men we want might possibly be in
hiding in here, I am going to peek
in.'
mot being a fool" he repeated
after her. adding gently, land being
a girl. which means filled with Gu
riosity."
A disdainfuI shoulder gave him his
answer. The door was unlocked, after
immemorial western custom, and
Judith opened it. Lee heard her little
gasp of pure delight.
Hes a dear, the man who lives
here!" she announced positively.
"You can just tell by looking at his
home"
Looking in over her shoulder, Bud
Lee wondered just what in his one
room shanty had caught her enthus-
iasm. There was the rock fireplace
with an iron hook protruding from
each side for coffee-pot and stew-pot
a bunk with a blanket smoothed over
cedar boughs; a shelf with a dozen
books; little else, SO far as he could
see or remember, to catch at Judith's
delight. Yet she, looking through
woman's eyes, read in one quick
'peek'' the character of the dweller
in this abode. One who was content
with little, who loved a clean, outdoor
life. and who was TRANQUILITY above the
pettiness of humanity. Judith closed
the door softly.
Going straight across the plateau,
she showed him where one could
Chamber up a steep way to the ridge.
Once up there, it was but ten minutes
until, in a hollow, they found the
marking a trail, a stone
set upon a boulder.
1t was after five o'clock. When,
following the trail back and forth in It's
winding along the side of the ridge,
they found the signs they sought, it
was fast growing dark. But there, in
a narrow deile where loose soil had
down, were tracks left by a
large boot. Lee went down on his
hands and knees to study them in the
dusk. He got up with a little grunt
md moved down the trail. Again he
found tracks, this time more clearly
SO dark was it now that
hey had lighted several matches.
1.-TWO men," he announced wonder
ngly. "Fresh tracks. too. Made this
morning or last night. I'll bet. One
east from Indian Head. The
coming west from the plateau
behind us. Who's he? Where'd he :
,ome from?" t
Hes the second Of the two men
Who shot at you," said Judith quickly. Y
Don't | know every trail in this neck |
# the woods, Bud Lee? He followed {
old, WORKOUT trail on the
outh side of the ranch. They met !
lere just as l knew they would"
what for?" Lee frowned through |
he darkness at her eager face. What S
would they want to get together for? '
f they had any sense they would scat v
err and clean out Of the country" t
"Unless," Judith reminded him, t
they don't intend to clean out at all! {
Jnless they mean to stick to the cliffs ]
nd try their hands again at their
ort of game. They'll figure that we I
ill expect them to be a long way o
here by now. won't they? Then
would they be safer than right u
ere in these mountains? Give me a v
life and something to eat and I'll de- n
y an army getting me out OF mere
md think Of it: If this is Trevors Il
'ork, If he means business, THINK v
hat two gunner on these heights F