The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1935-05-16

was sill little changed. Jones saw That
The inner confidence was gone. as If
The qualities Which had made him the
III boss of Il hard held and forever-re.
sistant range were cut through al the
root.
I'VE may rs well get some shut-eye,
| guess" Campo said. 'One of you
fellers better turn out In the morning
and load the stose.e
I'm not.buster.s Kentucky offered
"I.eave breakfast to me
All right. Nights we'll turn Into
lacks bunk. then
Alone in the little lean.to room off
the kitchen where Zack had lived. Ken
lucky Jones sat for n little while on
the hunk, and smoked a final cigarette
II WAS time to take stock of what he
knew.
He did not conceal from himself that
his interest il the murder o. Nilsson
turned upon the involvement nf Jean.
The foundation If the thing was. Of
course. the fact t.at John Mason WAS
dead, shot from the saddle WITHIN
iifly yards of Ragland's daor MS he mr..
rived from the IS on Bob Ellint's pinto
horse. Jean Ragand had stolen from
The evidence the bullet TINT had killed
Masun-and the sheriff probably had
ire mite 10 TtIat bHttet. tFon This
foundation now rested miscellany OF
pnzziing and unrelated detail.
A Bar Hook rider had lied about his
whereabouts at the hasr If Masan's
Heath. 4 lame cowboy cook WIS MISS
ing from the Bar Hook Somebody had
ransacked the Ear Hook ranch house.
taking away IL rifle and picture out
Of Tie frame Jean thought little of
llie disappearance of the rifle much of
the empty frame. Unqnestionahly he
needed more OF the missing fragments
before he could piece that picture to-
gether.
In the meantime the range was
thrown out of balance by the death Of
the COW financer Bob Elliot, facIng
ruin. could save himself only by fore
ing Ragland over the edge In his place
In one stride Kentucky Jones had
stepped into situation Of greater
pressure than any he had before en-
countered In An active life.
For what seemed long time he lay
awake. while his mind quartered the
case like a lion hound failed of the
scent. Presently he become aware thar
there was something he had left I'M
done. Without striking light he
opened seam In the lining Of his coat
and extracted the bullet which Iean
Ragland had pressed Into his hand that
afternoon. He opened the window, and
found that the snow was drifted here
against the log wall Kentucky Jones
hesitated moment more, then fllcked
the bullet that had killed John Mason
out into the drifted snow.
Whatever else happened the work
| had to go on. Campo Ragand had
| contracted to ship five carloads OF
| tWo-year-od steers to a southern
/ feeder, but although the cars were al
! ready waiting on the Waterman siding
the gather and cut for the shipment
still lacked many head. Tho two Other
| Bar Hook cowboys--fIarry Wilson an(
/ Joe st. Marie-had come In from Wa
/ terman during the night and with this
! full force Campo himself jumped int
the job OF finishing the work In day
After breakfast Kentucky Jone.
made an opportunity to familiarlz,
himself with the scene of Masonl
death. Il suppose" he asked lie,
Bishop, that's the pump house,"
Yeah, that stone dump. The plac,
where | found Mason Is about thre,
| horse-jnmps southwest. He was lyin,
face down with his head this way. ant
I-hnr | guess you heard all that
1T worked out so missed part o
the inquest Kentucky said ibid |
come out why Mason was riding iron
the S. TO the Bar Hook? Seems kin,
eff fnnny-the way things stand be
tween the two brands"
sYeah, thar was all thrashed out,
said Lee Bishop. "Old Ironsldes wa
always great hand to keep In touc
with all corners Of Wolf Bench an
he was Just making one of his regula
circuits of the range"
Il heard he was riding one of r
lots plugs"
Yeah. His way of doing was TO boz
row some horse that could be connte
on TO 90 home by itself, and at tn
next outfit borrow another such
horse. and so on. This time he wa
riding an IS horse"
Yes. | got that Kentucky sal,
"One of Bob Elliot's top horses-a bl
pinto, with white forelegs. ID
so they said. We got 10 get goin
kentuck. You and me aren't w0rkir
with Campo today; there's little jf
over here we got to wrangle separat
Rope you low grade horse"
They took the trail toward the ri
before Kentucky could talk to Jea
alone.
For a long time they rode In slenc,
! Bishop had given no hint as to the II
lure of their errand. as yet.
Il don't know exactly what we're
against here" the foreman said AZ las