Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1929-05-23

Harris stated.
Suppose that was true" Harper
said. 'sThen what?"
SIN one country after the next
they've hit the toboggan whenever
they got to feeling too strong. II you
line up against me that time has
come again. II get potted from the
brush I've hedged 1t so that those
boys that fled over there won't be
left In the lurch. Thereu be re-
ward Of q thousand dollars hung up
for the scalp Of each Of fifteen men
whose names / gathered while was
providing round-reliable men to carry
on what I've begun; and marshals
thicker than flies to protect the home
stead filings on the Three Bar"
"Then it might be bad policy to
bushwhack YOU" Harper observed.
"You can 60 your own gait" Harris
said. "As long as you lay of Three
Bar cows. You invited me one time
to come down to your hang0ut in the
Breaks. I won't ever make that visit
unless you call on the Three Bar
first; then, just out Of politeness, I'll
ride over at ta head Of hundred
men.
'Then 1t don't look as If we'd get
anywhere, visiting back and forth"
Harper said.
snow don't think I'm throwing q
bluff or threatening; I'm just telling
you. You could recite a number Of
things that could happen to me in re-
turn-all of 'em true. I'm just count
ing that you've got brains and can
see it's not going to help either one
of us to get lined up wrong. What
do you say-shall we call 1t hands of
between the Three Bar and your"
The albino half-closed his eyes, the
pale eyeballs glittering through the
slit of his lids as he reflected on this
proposition, tapping q careless finger
on his knee. He glanced absent-mind-
edly toward the bar, his thoughts
wholly occupied with the matter In
hand. A pair Of eyes that gazed back
at him drew his own and he found
himself looking at Bentley, the man
who repped with the Three Bar for
Slade. The albino's suspicious were
as fluid and easily reused as those of
a beast Of prey In a dangerous neigh
borhood. With one of those quick
shifts Of which his mind was capable
he concentrated every mental effort
toward linking Bentley with some un-
pleasant episode Of the past. The
man had turned away and Harper
could only sense vague feeling that
he was dangerous to him, without
definite point upon which to base his
suspicious. At the sound of Harris
voice his mind made another lightning
shift back to the present
"Well?" Harris asked.
"Why, If l had anything to do with
it, like you seem to think, I'd advise
against our bucking each other" Har.
per said. I'D try to get along-and
declare hands Off" He rose, nodded
to the two men and returned to the
stud game.
"HeU do it, too," Evans predicted.
There's that much fixed anyway
not q bad piece of work"
The two men returned to the bar
and Brill moved close to Harris. For
fifteen years he had stood behind that
bar and observed the men Of the
whole countryside at their wOrst-and
best; and he knew men. AS well as
if he had heard the words Of the three
at the table he knew that Harris and
Harper had reached an agreement Of
some sort that was satisfactory to
both.
Ten minutes later the five men rose
to go. Harris looked at his watch
I'm off," he said to Evans. 'Try
and get the boys home by tomorrow
morning If it's possible"
He went outside and mounted as
the five rustlers swung to their sad
dies.
I'm going your way as far as the
forks" he said to Harper.
The three Bar men were treated to
the sight Of their foreman riding
down the road beside Harper at the
head of four Of the worst ruffians In
the state.
And behind the bar Brill moved
softly back and forth when not serv.
ing drinks, pausing opposite first one
group and then the next to dab at the
polished wood with his cloth, listen
ing carefully to the conversation and
gauging- 1t to determine whether the
apparent sentiment toward the squat
ter foreman was sincere or would
prove different when the men, flushed
with undiluted rye, were unrestrained
by his presence.
Continued Next Weeh)
1--WE must have the baby's photo