The Coolidge examiner., 1935-05-31

hide Of his own range bred ponies,
Behind his genial facade Campo
had always been completely sure q
himself But now. while the outer
aspect 81 the man was siill little
/ changed. Jones saw that the Inner
confidence was gone. rs II the quail
tiles which had made h!m the 90
boss Of a hard held and forever re-
si-iant range were cut through AZ
the root
"We may as well get some shut.
eye. ! guess" Campo said "Onc o'
I you iellers better turn out in the
morning and load the stove
~I'm a pot buster" Kentucky of.
fered. Leave breakfast 20 me"
-All right Nights well turn into
I Zack's bunk. then
Alone In the little lean-to room
OF the kitchen where Zack had
lived. Kentucky Jones sat for lit
ile while on the bunk. and smoked
nnal cigarette. II wns time to
take stock OF what be knew.
lie did not conceal from himself
that his interest In the murder of
Mason turned upon the involvement
of Jean The foundation Of the
thing was. Of course. the fact that
John Mason was dead. shot from
the saddle within nfty yards of Rag
lands door as be arrived from the
s. on Bob Elllo;'s pinto horse. Jean
/ Rngland had stolen from the evil
dence the bullet that had killed Ma.
son--and the sheriff probably had
the mate 90 that bullet Upon this
foundation now rested a miscellany
of puExllng and unrelated detail
a Bar Hook rider had lied about
bis whereabouts az the hour o.
Mason's death a lame cowboy cook
was missing from the Bar Hook
Somebody had ransacked the Bar
Hook ranch house. taking away
rife and a picture out of the frame.
Jean thought little of the disappear
ancc of the rifle. much of the empty
frame. Uuquestionably be needed
more of the missing fragments be-
fore he could piece that picture to.
gether.
In the meantime the range was
thrown ont OF balance by the death
OF the cow financier Bob Elliot. fac.
Ing ruin. could save himself only By
forcing Ragland over the edge In
bis place. 10 one stride Kentucky
Jones had stepped into a situation
of greater pressure than any he
had before encountered In an active
lIfe.
For what seemed a long time he
lay awake. while his mind quar-.
tered the case Ike lion hound
failed of the scent. Presently he
became aware that there was some.
thing be had Jeff undone. without
striking n lIghi be opened a seam
In the lining of his coat and extract.
ed the bullet which Jean Ragland
bad pressed into his hand that after
noon. lie opened the window. aud
found that the snow was drlfied
here against the log wall Kentucky
Jones hesitated n moment more:
then clicked the bullet that had
killed John Mason out into the
drified snow.
Campo Ragland had contracted 10
ship Eve carloads of two-year old
steers 20 a southern feeder. but al
though the cars were already walt
ing on the Waterman siding. the
gather and cut FOR the shipment still
lacked many head. The two other
Bar Hook eowboys-Harry Wilson
and Joe ST. Marie-had come in
from Waterman during the night:
and with this full force Campo him
self Jumped into the Job Of nnlsh.
INK the work 10 a day.
After breakfast Kentucky Jones
made an opportunity 10 famlllarIxe
himself with the scene OF Mason's
death. Il suppose" he asked Lee
Bishop. that's the pump housef"
yeah. that stone dump. The
place whore found Mason is about
three horse jumps southwest. He
was lying face down with his head
this way. and but guess you
heard all that"
~It worked out so missed part
OF the inquest" Kentucky said. "Did
II come ont why Mason was riding
from the s. TO the Bar Hook? Seems
kind OF funny-the way things stand
between the two brands"
yeah. that was all thrashed out"
said Lee Bishop. "Old Ironsldes
was always a great hand to keep
In touch with all corners OF Wolf
Bench: and he was Just making
one OF his regular circuits OF the
range"
II heard he was riding one OF
Elliots plugs"
Yeah His way OF doing was 10
borrow some horse that could be
counted on to 90 home by itself.
and AT the next outfit borrow an
other such horse. and 20 on. This
tine he was riding an IS horse"
~Yes. ! got that" Kentucky said.
"one OF Bob Eliot's top horses-a
big pinto. with white forelegs."