Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1934-05-16
Treasure for Two
By FLORENCE B. JACOBS
@ by Mcclure Newspaper Syndicate.
WHU Service


The cowboy famed himself with
his sombrero, then finally wiped
his face with a bandanna whose
color seemed to give the mercury
fresh impetus. Gosh, amt 1t hot p
"Tll say. Les go %swimmin'."
Later, maybe :. afterwards"
Afterwards" The sheriff seemed
a bit slow on the uptake, due per
haps to the heat, perhaps to a re-
cent surfeit of BURBERRY pie. The
sheriff loved good things to eat, and
In consequence his shining badge
rode on the topmost curve of q
series which made up his stomach.
"Sure. Afterwards. You know
after we check up on the map and
decide about things"
"Oh, yeah" the sheriff knew now
and knowing, forgot about the sec
ond helping of pie, forgot even q
few degrees of the sultry August
heat. "Gee, yes -. You got the
map?"
Il should say so. Right here,
boy" Shaping a greasy pocket
then, with a careful glance up at
the overhanglng branches and down
the railroad tracks to the far hori-
zon, bringing from the same pocket
a worn scrap of paper.
Together they pored over 1t, eyes
and hands twitching with eager
ness.
"You see the mark-kind of q
dagger, like? That's where the
stuff's buried. You follow this trail"
a grimy forefinger showed the way,
through Devil Mans Hollow, past
Skeleton Rocks, It'll you come to q
pine 'thout branches, shaped like a
cross. They hung a Teller there
once. . :"
A cold wind blew through the
August heat. "Gee," said t. sher-
if, "what'd he do"
HE was after the gold, too.
That's why they hung him. But they
did other things to him first" The
long look which passed between
them was too heavy with terror for
the comfort of words. $50 you can
see how careful we got to be-"
"We'll meet here tomorrow night
he went on-"It's the dark o. the
moon now-and start out. And
when we come back, with the doub-
looms and the gold caskets an them
long strings o. pearls big as mar
bles boyr"
The cowboys face became grave
ly calculating. "Now we're goin' to
need money for this, Bill. There's
things to be bought-grub an tools
and such. Wen pool what VIC got
and then / better take charge of 1t.
You know what happened last time.
when you had the money"
The sheriff looked doubtful; but
his slower wits were no match for
the others keen gray eyes. Besides,
a certain crimson memory brought
his cheeks almost to the boiling
point. He turned his pockets inside
out and put their specie yield into
the cowboys hand.
"Okay And it's settled that
when we get to Spaniards' Rest,
We pick our spots, and the one that
finds the chest first, keeps it7 The
other one has to help him bring 1t
back, but he can't claim nothln'l"
"That's what we said"
"Then there's just M more
thing, Bill"
what is it?" asked Bill, In a
carefully toneless voice which prom
Used nothing.
"Why, about Milly. You know
that the guy who gets the gold
oughtta get the girl. It'd be just
like Milly to stick by the man that
loses-she's that way. But you and
me know that wimmen need clothes
and jewels n things. SO | think we
ought to protect Milly from herself;
fix 1t up so the one who finds the
treasure Gets Mllly, and the other
one fades outta the picture"
"Mmm," said the sheriff, "but sup
pose | get 1t? Would you be willin'
to clear out and leave me Milly?"
"Sure !" the other assured him,
with a large, free gesture which In
dictated how far he vas prepared to
go. "You bet | will. Why, Bill, I
won't never see Milly again, If you
get the treasure"
But the stress which he put on
the last words overreached itself.
The sheriff was pricked to suspi-
cion.
"Yeah |" he sneered, IF | get the
treasure. And prob'ly you got 1t
fixed some way so there's no chance
o. my gettin' 1t. know you, Jim
Riley. You're too darned smart. |
amt gonna promise nothin'."
"All right" said the cowboy, "all
right for you, Billy Thomas. The
expeditions off. I was lettin' you In
on this because you was my pal
but you amt any more. I'll just go
alone and have all the treasure for
myself"
In a single decisive move the cow
boy returned the map to his pocket
and fastened the flap. Then he took