The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1933-04-07
CHAPTER III-Continued

or death or accident please notify my
next of kin, Miss Roberta Antrim
etc. Well. it sort of looks like old
Toms made mess of things He was
too old to have attempted to do this
Job himself. His eyes probably
weren't as good as they used to be,
and when a fellow takes to BUSH
whacking he ought to be reasonably
fast and accurate with a rifle. When
you borrowed my rifle you sort of
spilled old Toms beans. Don jaime"
His sheep we still have with us,
also his foreman and sheep-herders,"
Don Jaime announced thOughtfully.
81 suppose his sheep are now the prop
erty of his next of kin, and God for
bid that l should wage war on
woman. Ken, my friend, | think We'll
defer the war of the water-holes. The
sensible thing to do now is to wire
Miss Roberta Antrim to get down here
on the job and look after the assets
of her late Uncle Tom. She's lady.
She'll probably listen TO reason and
wen get rid of these sinking sheep
without additional bloodshed. They'll
ruin a lot of the range in the interim,
of course Oh, HI, let 'em drink
If we shoe them off now they'll die
and that would be putting crimp In
the lady's bankrolL"
Whatever else we may be, let US,
at least, try to be gentlemen" the
ranger agreed humorously. "Well,
now, the next business before the
meeting is to find old Toms horse,
drape Thomas across the saddle, take
him into Los Algodones and deliver
him to the local undertaken. My re-
port of this affair will close the in
doctor. It's ten miles to your ranch
and ten miles to Los Algodones. I'm
in commando All aboard for Los
Algodones, amigo miO."
They had proceeded but short dis
lance along the narrow, rutty road TO
Los AlgodOnes when they were over
taken by a man driving an old QUITO
mobile that had been converted into
a truck. Hearing it rafting along be-
hind them, the ranger rode his horse
into the middle of the road and held
up his hand. The vehicle stopped.
The ranger looked the driver over.
81 know you" he announced. Aren't
you Tom Antrim's camp cook? Seems
to me / saw you at his camp this
noon"
The man glanced from the ranger to
Antrim's horse, with Antrims limp
body hanging across the saddle; his
dark face paled as he saw the dead
mans head bundled up in his canvas
coat.
whats happened?" he cried. THAT
dead mans my boss, amt hep
"He used to be. He rode out of his
camp in a devil of a hurry shortly
after l was there, you may remember.
Well, his mission was to circle around
Senior Higuenes, waylay and murder
him. He tried very hard to succeed,
as you may judge by casual inspec-
ton of Senior Higuenes, but somehow
his proposition back-fired and now
he's on his way to the undertaken.
Suppose we dispose Antrims body on
your truck. He keeps shifting in the
saddle and making as great nuisance
of himself in death as he did in life.
I'm afraid he'll fall off. Don Jaime
will ride on the seat beside you and
I'll sit on back with the corpse and
lead these two horses. You got gun
on your"
"Yes, sir"
"Give it to me. You might be tempt
ed to use 1t on Don Jaime. Hop out
now and pay the last sad tribute of
love to your late boss"
81 don't think I'll go to Los Algo-
dones after all, ranger. The boys
ought to be notified of this killing"
You'll go. i desire it. my friend.
] don't feel like having your friends
organize reprisal raid on the Rancho
Vale Verde until I'm there to receive
them" Hobart flashed his rangers
shield on the man who. without fur
ther ado, assisted him to place An
trims body in the box of the car.
Hobart then lifted Don Jaime down
from his horse and deposited him be-
side the driver, after which he seated
himself in the rear of the car and
with his long legs hangini, out the
tailgate held the leading ropes of the
three horses. They proceeded to Los
Algodones, where Hobart turned An
trims body over to the coroner and
made his report to the sheriff, having
first seen Don Jaime in bed at the
hotel with doctor in charge of him.
About an hour later coroner's
jury trooped into Don james room
and listened to his story of the kill.
i ing. The ranger added his testimony,
and the foreman of the jury looked
humorously at his fellow Jurors.
"Don't seem to be anything mystic
rious about this case, boys" he an
nounced. "All those in favor of rem
dering verdict of suicide hold up
their right hands. All up? We. the
jury, find that the deceased came to
his death at the hands of Don Jaime
Miguel Higuenes and that the said
Higuenes acted In self-defense and
cannot be charged with any crime
worse than justifable homicide"
al thank you, senores," said Don
Jaime. Ken, take the jury down to
the hotel bar and set up the drinks.
Go way, you chaps. I'm not in suffi-
cient pain to groan, but I'd like to
cuss freely for a while"
The jury retired in an atmosphere
of profound geniality, and when Ken
Hobart had sufficiently upheld the ira
ditions of Vale Verde he returned to
his employer.
"Well I've wired nv resignation II
ought to reach the governor before
the Office closes, and his wire of ac-
ceptance will come to me in your