Evening star., 1934-10-21
illustrated by
PAUL KROESEN


scorntulIy. '.FH do as please
What iciH you do, Mr.. Ciiroy?"
fercely. Curly is going for vannie. You
stop them. Hear me, Scud?"
"Yep," said Scud duly. "All right" It was
q habit. He could not break loose, seemed like,
from the habit of being bossed by Neal, by all
the Golfers. He wanted to know about this
gun he had found. 1t was mighty queer about
the pearl-handled 80. But Scud just said. "Al
right Neal. What about you. thought"
Morning I'll have the team hitched and
me hauled down to Doc Taylor" Neal Golfer
twisted out the words. doc won't let it out
I was shot. Only way to head on scandal.
Moslander clears out, there1l be some talk, but
no worse-1ess Vannie trails with him. De-
pend on you to stop that. You ramble now.
Scud.
"An right"
"Ill stop at nothing to keep this mess from
being smeared all over the valley. know
you're with me-"
Sure. All right, Neal I'll be going"
TWO hours down. a huge black cloud slid over
the moon and a heavy shower pelted the
rider and the blaze-face. Maybe 40 minutes
later moonlight splashed the road again. Pretty
soon Scud began to notice certain tracks in
the wetted dust. They became more and more
plain, until at last each track was distinct,
gray blur in the blackness of the road. They
were horse tracks, going in the same direction
he was going.
Scud Gilroy knew now that Curly Moslander
had been running dead ahead of him all this
time.
1t was JOLT For minute Scud Giroy had
the feeling Of horse kick under his ribs.
Curly, he slowly realized, must have doubled
back through the buckbrush and woods from
the Mawl Creek trail. 1t would have been
plenty easy for him to have avoided Scud on
the trail, in the pouring rain and darkness.
Scud Gilroy heeled the black on and rode
hard.
Rain was on the moon when he pulled into
the Golfer ranch. Sometime back the weather
had thickened into cloudy drizzle. and now
a black curtain over all the sky. Scud
had unrolled his slicker from the saddle thongs
and its long skirt tapped about his legs as he
swung from the saddle at the ranch house yard.
He shouldered through a side gate and tramped
swiftly for the kitchen L of the house, from
which dim light shone.
Scud cat-footed over the porch and took an
easy turn on the door knob. The gentle pres
sure of his hand opened the door noiselessly.
A slowly widening oblong of light struck the
porch floor.
Glancing down in that light Scud saw that
mud had been freshly tracked here. But right
now Curly Moslander was not in the big kitchen
room. There was only Vannie Golfer.
She was in riding boots and belted camels
that color. Her back was toward the door, and
she stopped toward the faint glow of a lamp
that was turned down to raveling of flame.
1t shone through a fluff of dark hair that
waved out above the broad collar of the coat.
In Scud's sidewise view her face, so shadowed
about seemed white and strained.
She was stopped at the table. writing jerkily
with pencil.
Scud Gilroy stepped quietly inside the door.
He said, 'Vannie" in low tone, then closed
the door and stood against it.
Vannie Golfer breathed in sharp gasp and
whipped around from the table. The pencil
dropped from her hand, clicking duly on the
floor. She CROPPED for a gun that was propped
against the base of the lamp. It was PEARL
handled revolver, a mate for the one in Scud's
pocket. She let it lie as her gaze struck the
quiet figure at the door,
"Oh it's only you, Scud" Vannie said, with
. nervous laugh. 81 thought-whatS hap
pened to Neal?s she demanded sharply