New Britain herald., 1924-08-20
NOW GO ON WITH THE STORY


 "0ther psrties?" said Sally,
 "Yes, ma'am, Tho shefifl has beel telling the boss about it, Ther' we're two other automobiles stuck nl soniewhere around here within th' past couple Of weeks, As near as can make out from what the sheriff tells the boss. it's a new sort of game First they had Indians out here tha sealped people; that was quite while back. Then they ran the In dians out. or civilized 'em. and thing went along all right until they ha' road agents holding up stages. Well they got the best of the road agent after several parties had got killed and the business sort of died ouf
 And then--the sheriff has beer going right into the history Of all O it-there was new bunch got t' working on the trains. can re member reading about them in th' papers myself. They used to gt through the trains and take every thing that everybody had, and any body that didn't give up got shot l took quite a while to get rid of al the train robbers. but finally they dit and everything looked peaceful. And now they've begun again on the au, 4 tomobiles."
 "Really?" exclaimed Sally. | "Yes, ma'am. I don't mean the same bunch, understand? They hung most of the old ones. It seems, the sheriff tells the boss. that in the last two or three years there's been a lot of automobiles coming through this way; mostly rich people from the east, like the boss. They go clear on out to the coast and then drive all the way back again. Some of | 'em carry quite a lot of valuables and these new hold-up gangs sometimes make pretty good profit. The sheriff says they didn't get into his county until quite recent, but he's heard about their goings on outside of it.
 But now they've got intd his coun- | ty and he's quite stirred up. We're the third car in about two weeks. I guess the business is getting good, be- cause it seems the gang is taking on new members. There were six of 'em that stuck us up, you know"
 He said it so blandly that Sally was half persuaded he believed it.
 Six" repeated Timothy. ''The boss claims only four, but there was two more that he didn't see. didn't like to contradict him in front of the sheriff bat there was six, all right. I'm going to tell fthe sheriff when I get chance. because he ought to have all the clues, so he can get to work right" 9..-
 Certainly" said Sally in an absent way.
 She was pondering over the sur prising intelligence from Timothy and wondering how it affected the case of the Wreck and herself. If there was really gang at work in the county-and, or course, Bob Wells would not say so unless it were true it seemed to make their own case much simpler. TheSeXploit of the Wreck would naturally be blamed on those who were in the business for lying. It began to look as if they were hiding from nothing at all.
 CDc cllpptu lllto tIIt anu closed the door. behind her. At the farther end was the other door. that opened into the dining room. It was swinging door, with half-inch space between the edge of it and the frame. She tiptoed forward brought her ear close to the crack and stood there breathing softly.
 Underwood was talking, but not about bandits. He was talking about Sally's apple pie.
 I'm going to take her back to New York with me and fire my French cook" he announced "I don't know what sort of a job her husband can fill, but I'll find some- thing for him.
 Sally raised her eyebrows, for this was news And then she heard the familiar, boisterous voice of Bob Wells.
 'l don't blame you" said the sheriff. "The lady can certainly cook. You don't get a cook once in life time. When you get 'em the thing to do is to rope 'em and brand 'em, and then don't let 'em outside the corral. Cooking is woman's nat ural job, but they don't all get to be experts. But now and then, if you keep your eyes open, you can find one. Why"
 He paused 10 chuckle comfortably.
 The fact is, I'm going to marry one" he said.
 Congratulations, remarked the heavy voice of Jerome Underwood
 That's the way I look at it." said the sheriff lightly. You take that chicken, those biscuits. that pie-Tve got a girl who can cook every bit as well as that. Understand me, she can do a lot more than cook. Shes a smart girl and she's. pretty, too. But when it comes to cooking she doesn't have to take her hat off tt anybody After all, it's the main thing. It's the foundation"
 Absolutely" said the voice of I-n- derwood, out of full mouth.
 CHAPTER XIV.
 "Tie Son Of a Cunt"
 The Wreck, who had been keeping vigil from window of the bunk house. saw the tall figure of the sheriff striding down to the corral. just as dusk was settling. Next he