The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1937-09-09


to say.
They were near Short Creek when
the girl spoke unexpectedly. "I'm
glad you came. You make things
seem straighter and smoother, just
the way you pace your horse along,
without any worry or fret"
''There isn't anything to worry
about"
you've changed since two years
ago." the girl told him. 'Some-
how you're nicer to ride with
quieter, more restful."
He glanced at her but didn't an
SWer.
"You used to be a stampedey
sort of person" she explained, cal
ways rushing your horse at things.
Whatever you went at, you always
went at it by the same way-thun-
der of hoofs, taking all obstacles by
storm. I think I used to be afraid
of you"
For moment he wondered if
things would have gone differently
between them if he had been less
eager, less turbulent. When you
wanted thing too much you over
played your hand and lost out alto
gether. Maybe you could love
girl too much, too soon, and de-
feat yourself the same way. Per-
hapS if
A quarter of mile away within
the sharp-cut bed of Short Creek
something moved, held steady
moment, then disappeared. 1t was
rider there, who was watching
them; but it was not a rider who
meant to rise in his stirrups and
hail.
''Wel," he said briskly, "this is
Short Crick.
"You see," he said, pulling up his
horse at the spot the cattle had
trampled, ''this is nothing but a
place where it just happened that
somebody took shot at somebody.
What is there to see? Nothing. !
want you to think of this place as
just crick where horses come to
drink"
Marian Dunn sat very quiet, star
ing at the shallow water. He won
dered what things, terrible to her,
she might be picturing.
I'm glad I came" Marian said.
"But especially I'm glad you came.
YOU
Listen" he said.
A horse as yet unseen was com.
ing fast down the cut. It's unshod
hoofs padded quietly in the sand al
the margin of the water, so that its
thudding lope was sensed less by
sound than by shock-the faint dis
tant tremor of the ground.
"What is it?" the girl asked.
Don't you hear? A horse is com.
ing up"
81 don't She started to say
that she didn't hear anything; but
just then the unseen rider cut
through the shadows with sud-
den sharp sound of thrown water
and the ring of hoofs on stone,
''Who is it?"
"Quien sabe? Turn and ride back
the way we've come" he told her
without emphasis. "I'll be along in
a minute"
Without a word Marian turned her
horse; she was at the two hundred
yards as a hard-run horse surged
up over the lip of the cut. The rider
was Kid Bender.
The Kid half wheeled his pony,
drove close to Billy Wheeler's
boreo. bic 1oon Go,,ra cy,rouoJ hool
wards as he brought his pony to a
sliding stop, very close. Across the
back of his right hand showed the
heavy purple welt that Wheeler's
quirt had laid there; and in his face
was the joyous anger of a man
who takes payment for past hui.
initiation.
''What you doing here?"
Wheeler ignored the question.
you're a little off your range,
Kid" he said. ''This range comes
under the head of the "a. Maybe
I'll be ordering you off it pretty
quick. 1 haven't decided yet"
"No," said Kid Bender. 81 don't
think you will. You're dealing with
a peace officer-patroling the scene
of crime"
"Peace officer?"
Kid Bender tipped over the tail
end of his neckerchief to reveal a
nickel-plated shield. It was cheap
and it was new; but as it flashed in
the sun Wheeler felt his scalp stir
oddly, as if he had glimpsed fire
behind smoke. Horse Dunn's view
of the situation was shaping up fast
er than Horse himself had mag
ined.
Yesterday" said the Kid, "you
knocked a gun out of my hand"
Billy Wheeler said distinctly,
"With a quirt. I whipped it out of
your hand with quirt."
Kid Bender's face darkened for
an instant but the hard CLEAN of a
joyous anticipation Immediately re-
turned to his eye. 81 have ORDERS"
he said, 'to see that the hired men
of the "a don't trample over the
scene of this crime any more. I'm
starting with you; I'll give you fell
lers something to remember orders
by. I'm taking your horse and your
gun. Maybe your girl there will
give you a lift after you're afoot.
Or maybe I'll send her on home-I
haven't decided that yet"
mo" said Wheeler, you're not
taking either horse or gum"
you're against an officer of the
law. You know what that means?"
81 know" Billy Wheeler said,
"what hope it means"
For a moment Kid Bender hest
tated; they sat watching each other,
two men in a situation from which
neither could withdraw. One of
them had sought this meeting-the