Evening star., 1924-11-09

| trey. Ed make any fuss about selling
| the horse?' he asked.
Paltrey shook hs head. He go,
about twice what it was worth" he ex-
planned. Il was in hurry. and | had
| to have It.. He was a kind of sour Gus
| toner. | could see
Have to argue him into it?'
Not "A bit"
There was another pause: and
What did you have to shoot him
| for?''
This question, SO entirely unexpect-
| ed, threw Paltrey into momentary
confusion. He must have turned pale
His first word was: who you talk
ing about, anyway"
Ed Hatch" said his interrogation
"The old man I bought this here
| horse FROM"
Il guess you know"
DALTREY threw out his hand in
an argumentative way, swea,
starting on his brow. Il was rid
| ing downstream" he urged. THAT
gorge up above his place made me
climb around over the ridge, and
my horse stuck his leg between two
rocks on the way down. I lugged
| my saddle to the old mans place and
got a horse from him and come on
He was standing in the door looking
| after me. the last | see Of him"
Anybody with you?"
Not a soul
The five younger men in the party
had now all drawn aside. They sa,
| their horses at little distance. The
| two oldtimers. still mounted. looked
down upon Paltrey, on his feet be-
nd iy,,
Where you headed"
Paltrey named the town he had
mentioned to old Hatch.
What for"
I'm aiming to see a man there"
whats his name?"
Garland" said Paltrey at ven.
ture. BILL Garland"
The two exchanged glances.
II don't recollect any Bill Garland
around there"
Hes coming up to meet me there
tonight or tomorrow morning"
Where you from?'
| white Cow. Paltrey's my name
Everybody up there known me. Dave
Paltrey."
Live there"
Run the store" Paltrey replied
Been there six years
Their attention was turned aside
| by a shout from the red-headed young
man and. looking that way, Paltrey
| saw that they had opened his saddle.
bags and discovered the currency
packed in them. Look at here" the
discoverer shouted. Look at here
Dan"
The man who had been questioning
Paltrey inspected the money and re.
turned to where his companion held
Paltrey motionless under a vigilant
eye. How about that?" he asked
| with a gesture behind him.
It's for Garland" Paltrey said des-
| perately. That's what I'm going to
meet him for. We were pardners in
a proposition up north and he had to
leave. I'm fetching down his share ;
You done we'll" Dan commended
in a sardonic tone.
Paltrey was nettled and alarm ed
by this change in the others man
ner. Say. listen" he exclaimed
I've told you everything you wanted
to know. Guess you've got a right to
ask questions. But / can stand only
about SO much You don't think
killed that old man, do you?"
Dan replied in a leisurely tone:
We'll, it's this way. Four of you
held up Nineteen. You got a bunch
| of stuff, some loose change from the
passengers and a bundle from the
express. I figure what you've got
over on your saddle would be just
about one-fourth share Well, a
bunch Of us followed the tracks Of the
horses. The four of you separated
by and by, and us here kept after
you. Your horse come right down to
Ed Hatch's place. Tracks all plain
Ed was lying right inside his front
door. He'd been shot in the face and
he was done. Tracks come on to the
crick. Kept in the water. going
downstream, for ways, then climb
ed up over the bank and come on
Them tracks brought US to you. You
got Eds horse, you got more money
than is reasonable, your gun has
been shot of. I never heard tell OF
this Bill Garland and 1 know most
folks around here"
Paltrey had listened to this accu-
sation with his wits working. He
said quickly now: You fools had
your eyes shut or you'd have seen
my tracks around Hatch's place.
come in on foot. and him and me
went and got this horse out OF the
| corral. The other man must have
come along after and probably when
he hit the crick he see where I'd
climbed out, so he went on down
stream. You go on back there and
| look around, or go down the crick
aways, and you'll see where he come
| out somewhere else. You can't pin
anything on me this way"
The red-headed young man said
| loudly: She's all pinned. mister"
you'll look right foolish. going to
court with what you got" Paltrey
challenged.
|
A MOMENTARY silence held them
"A all. and 1t was Dan, the Older
man, who said mildly: ''Some Of the
boys think there amt no sense ir