Carbon County news., 1937-12-10
By
ALAN
q Alan LIE May
WNU Service

came him. This had been his posi-
tion here ever since the beginning
boxed in without weapons and with
out choice. Now, unable to manage
this girl, he still had to go on. With
out word he turned his pony'S head
up the gulch.
He put his horse into the soundless
sand Of the dry stream, and pressed
into shutting jog; and they rode
for long time, while the slow twi.
light deepened. Wheeler thought
that he had never seen any desert
country so bleak and lifeless-not
excepting the Red Sleep, where COT
fee had found Bob Flagg wrapped in
eternal stiffness under the red rock.
And although Marian's pony
trailed close behind his own, it
seemed to him that he had never
been so utterly alone, in vacant
world. Once as he swung crosswise
in his saddle to turn to Marian,
he caught her brushing tears from
her cheeks with her gloved fingers.
Presently, he said in low voice,
''If gun cracks, go to the ground,
and take any cover there is"
They plugged along another mile,
while the canyon narrowed. The
light was failing fast.
Marian whispered, "Billy!"
He stopped his horse and she
came up, stirrup to stirrup. Her
eyes were fixed on the high south
rim of the gulch. She said almost
inaudibly, There's a rider up there.
I saw him cross between those rab-
bit-ear rocks"
They sat still for a long minute,
listening. The cash in the rocks
that Marian indicated was no more
than a. hundred yards away on a
high-angled line, and the dusk was
very still, but Wheeler could detect
no least sound of a walking horse.
lit must have been a trick Of the
light" Wheeler said.
BILLY, I saw him as plainly as I
see you here, now."
He hesitated moment more, then
stepped to the ground.
''Hold my pony"
Billy Wheeler's eyes we're sweep
ing the upper levels as he stepped
out of the saddle. In the ragged
brush and upthrust lodges above
that forgotten, nameless canyon, a
thousand horsemen could have been
hidden within the quarter mile. His
eyes were grim as he passed his
reins to the girl.
Marian, for the last tine-won't
anything can say or do make you
60 back?"
mol" She smiled, family, lit
tie grim stubborn smile. "You can't
seem to understand that T."
A sharp report sounded above,
and Marian's pony suddenly folded
at the knees. It went down on its
side like a great sand bag, and was
still before the echoes had died from
the rifle in the upper rocks. Wheel
er's pony reared, tearing free its
head, and bolted down the canyon.
He sprang toward Marian. She
had swung herself clear, and was
already getting up beside her fallen
horse. ''Get down-quick, behind
the horse!" She hesitated, but he
did not. He seized her shoulders,
deftly kicked her heels from under
her and laid her fat behind her
dead pony. Stay there!"
He pulled his gun and moved five
yards to one side, standing up to
draw what further fire there might
be. A minute passed, two minutes,
while he watched for movement on
the upper rim; but there was no
sound or shot.
The desert hills were as silent and
empty as before, except for the dy-
ing rattle of hoofs down-canyon
from Wheeler's stampeding pony.
Marian's voice came to him.
What in the world happened?"
Somebody took your pony
through the head with a rifle, is
ALL" A crazy red anger was on him.
Loose in these hills was a man as
dangerous and unaccountable as a
wild animal with hydrophobia. For
the first time he inclined to Tulare's
belief that Magoon was the killer.
(TO BE CONTINUEDJ