The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1932-10-21

L
| melted Gitner to kill his own father to
protect himself from being cut out of
| Matthew Stark's will. But vile though
| he was, the man would never stand by
and let his young brother be murdered
| if he could help it.
All his senses were alert as he crept
forward, keeping close to the sheer
rock walls that shut In the sunken
valley. He made use of every bush.
every depression, every hillock, that
| might serve as a screen. But his I'M
| DERIVING thoughts chung to the per-
| plexity which somehow had come to
| involve his life. A few months ago
| he had been free. Now he was fet-
| tered fast by inhibitions. For instance,
if he should meet Jasper now face to
face! What would he do? What
could he do? He was Julia's brother.
The man was an insolvable problem
| to him. More than once he had seen
cowboys "go bad" as. the phrase of
the country was He had known kill
ers, men of the Gitner type, with cold
cruel eyes that held no mercy and
into which one would look in vain for
| any faith or loyalty. But Jasper
| was different. He had come of good
stock, had been given advantages
which he had deliberately thrown
away. His type was that which is
both weak and vicious, which chooses
by some perverted instinct the bad in
stead of the good. Led astray by greed
and vanity, he could plot some horri-
bly, evil thing and afterward probably
be tortured by the memory of it. 1t
| took strength to be bad in the
thoroughgoing fashion of Gitner. The
devil that lurked in Jasper's heart was
an erratic and impulsive one. SILVER
ing cowardly demon afraid of its
shadow. How could such man pos
si5ly be the son of game grim Matt
Stark, the brother of so decent boy
| as Phil, of so sweet and gallant
desert flower as Julia?
| The afternoon was half spent before
he reached clump of manzanita back
of the grazing cattle Here he lay
| quietly, waiting until dusk should fall
over the valley and lessen the risk
| of being seen when he moved out into
the open pasture.
| His mind was not easy. He could
| not get Phil out of his thoughts. Was
the boy still concealed in the pines
safe from observation? He had heard
no shots, but his anxiety was keen. If
it would have done any good he would
have given up his purpose and hur-
ried back to his companion. But to do
so might be increasing the risk, since
he would run a chance of being seen
| himself.
"Soon now," he told himself as the
sun dropped back of the cliff behind
| him. "Half an hour an I'll be NOV
| ing"
| The shadows crept up the face Of
| the wall opposite, leaving only the
| upper half canvas of yellows and
ochres and copper greens. The ribbon
| of sunshine narrowed, at last disap-
| peared.
Through the long grass Wilson crept.
| pushing his rifle in front of him. The
nearest cattle were grazing head on
toward him, so that he did not get a
| chance to see the brands WELL All
afternoon they had been out of xighs
! behind a clump of alders, making 1t
impossible for him to use the field
| glasses on them.
He circled round to see the brands,
taking wide detour. Presently, with
| the glasses, he was able to make out
| the markings of the cattle He read
| the Flying Wy brand and the Circle
| Cross. That was all he wanted to
know. Cautiously he began to retreat
| toward the cliff.
The sound of galloping horse
( stopped him. Someone was swinging
| around the cattle to drive them to the
other end of the valley, probably to
| take the stock to water.
Wilson crouched low, but he knew
| he would be seen. For he was 10 the
path of the approaching rider. His
heart dropped into his stomach.
Not twenty yards from him the
horseman pulled up with a startled
oath. The man was Jasper Stark. He
looked down. with fear-filled eyes, at
his enemy. Mccain was kneeling on
one knee, rifle ready for action.
1t could not have been more tran
fraction of a second that Jasper
stared at this unexpected and menae-
ing intruder. Before the other could
speak he gave yell of terror, swung
his horse in its tracks, and drove home
the spurs.
Mechanically Wilson raised his
weapon and covered the flying man.
| He drew dead bead on him-then
lowered the weapon. Swiftly his
thoughts canvassed the situation. De
liberately he pointed the barrel of the
rifle into the air and fired four shots.
| This done, he ran back quickly to
the cover Of the manzanita, passed
rapidly through it, and headed for
mass of rugged boulders at the upper
end of the park. Here he could make
a stand with some chance of success.
Several times his anxious eyes trav-
eled toward the grove of pines where
Phil was waiting. Already the mist
| of darkness was falling like a cloak
from the darkening sky. He could
barely make out the pines and be knew
it would be impossible to detect any
sign of life among them. Had Phil
reached the entrance to the canyon?
The rustlers would of course promptly
close it. but if he had moved instantly
at the signal he ought to have got
there first. for they would wait to hear
from Jasper the cause of the shots
No doubt they would be greatly dis
turbed at what he had to tell them.
/ They would hurriadlu dahato tho ci4,,