The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1932-09-09

attracted 10 her. She had observed a
painful shyness on the part of the
youths about her as a symptom OF
suppressed emotion. II was an uncon-
scious warning they flung out to Julia
to Trim the sails of her manner TO
them. This Texan would not exhibit
any awkward bashfulness. He was
TOO self-contained. too much master
of every nerve and muscle. None the
less be might. within, be as much dis
turbed as they were. Why shouldn't
he be In love with Ann Clifford? She
guessed his age about forty, and in a
man that is still young.
He had walked dangerous trails, had
done dreadful things If rumors were
true But she knew instinctively that
there still burned in him that dy-
manic spark of self-respect which JUST
fed him TO himself He had his stand
ards. and he played the game by them.
She had no more doubt of this than
she had that such a man as Gitner
had no standards.
Ann Clifford needed some one TO take
from her shoulder the heavy burden
life had laid upon them. Stone was
such man. strong, quiet, self-reliant.
He was dangerous TO his foes, but 1t
came to Julia with fash of clairvoy-
ance that the very qualities that had
made his name notorious would be
sure protection TO a woman like Ann
do To ha off Of
lie Page, sheriff, swung from the sad
die. and dropped the bride reins-
lie Page looked up from the ledger
in which he was laboriously entering
some items of expense. Lo, Dave.
How's everything?"
Fine an dandy"
The Texan found chair. cigarette,
and a match.
For five minutes there was silence
except for the scratching Of the
sherifT7s pen and the gruntings with
which he accompanied the manual la
Dor of bookkeeping. Then. with sigh
of relief, the official closed the heavy
volume.
Anything new, Dave?" he asked, re-
laxing.
"Not thing with me. Hear you've
hit new trail in the McArdle case"
Looks thataway. Some Of you Cir
Gle Cross boys tipped me off that the
Clifford girl was seen maxim getaway
from the place where Tom was shot.
l went out TO see her about it She
acted mighty funny"
"How?"
"Oh. kinda defiant. The lii sister
broke down an cried. / couldn't get
thing outa her, either"
$50 you reckon Miss Ann did it2''
''Wouldnt ii look that way? Tom
McArdle had made bis brags about the
other sister. That was known. Shed
warned him off the place. Ann had
Say they meet by chance an quarrel
She's got temper. Well. say it ripped
loose an she shot him"
Looks reasonable. Only trouble is,
ii amt true"
Think she didn't do it,"
And again Stone gave the answer he
had given Phil II amt thinkin'.
know"
The sheriff lost his manner Of casual
ease.
Did you say you knew? How do
you know?"
saw him do it"
"Who?"
"rm allowin' to tell you who-pres-
emily"
"Hmp!" The sheriff looked at him,
not without resentment You've wait
ed three months to tell me- Reckon
I can wait another FIVE minutes" !.
''Sure. Fact is, | didn't aim to tell
you a-tall. But when found out there
was talk about Miss Ann-why. tha's
different Might as well begin al the
start l usta hang around the sheep.
ranch some my own self. Knew old
Clifford when he lived at Santone, so
| drifted In oncet in while to advise
Miss Ann l got kinda suspicious of
McArdle. he was one Of these black
mustached lady-killers. good lookin'
an glib with his tongue. Nora was a
mighty nice LII lady an could see she
had took a great fancy to him. What
| was worried about was that she'd
marry him, but that wasn't what hap
pened If I'd known what I knew
LATER, that McArdle had a wife living
at Prescott, well I'd sure have sat in
an took a hand"
LIE Page nodded. The Texan looked
away dreamily and blew smoke
wreaths. Presently he took up again
his story.
After Miss Ann came back from
Los Angeles she wouldn't have any of
us around. On top Of the trouble
about her sister some durn fools had
killed a bunch of her sheep. So she
JUS swept US all out Tom had been
ridin' In to Tucson to see Ethel while
she was at school an he tried goin' to
the ranch. Wish I'd been there when
be showed up. bur / wasn't Anyhow,
Miss Ann gave bin the gate. For that
matter, the iii sister was plumb
through with him when she found out
what he'd done"
You're maxim a long story of it,
Dave"
I'm comm to business now. The
mornin' Tom was killed four Of Us
from tn Circle Cross had camp near
the foot of Round Top. There was
Tom an Jas an Gitner an myself.
We separated to pick up a bunch of
vacas 10 drive back TO the ranch Long
about sun-up heard shot right close
TO me. over to the left where Tom was.
rode thataway an met Tom He
was laughing ct TO kill an right away