The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1937-08-26
CHAPTER CONTINUED

he's getting a slow start. He is.
That's the nature of the man. You
ready?"
Lead OUT" said Wheeler, buck
ling his chap belt.
wait"
Horse Dunn reached down a
broad cartridge belt whose holster
carried a heavy six-gun, and swung
this about his waist. 'Pick your
self a gun," he told Wheeler.
whats this for?" Wheeler de-
manded.
Gin case of emergency, boy"
Wheeler stared at him. Then he
shrugged, picked a weighted gun
belt from the wall, and strapped it
on.
Bring your saddle"
At the corrals Horse Dunn pointed
out a stocky buckskin pony, and
when Billy Wheeler had roped and
way out of the layout. Promptly
Horse Dunn pushed his own tall
sorrel into hard lamming trot.
81 want to join up with the sher-
if somewheres about Chuck Box
WASH" Dunn explained. "I'm right
anxious to be with him when he
makes his look-see at Short Crick."
Horse" said Billy Wheeler,
whats happened here?"
you'll see for yourself, better
than I can tell you, knowing the lay
of country like you do. But I'll tell
you what I know"
In abrupt sentences he told
Wheeler what had happened.
Morning of the day before, Horse
Dunn had been riding Short Creek
in the course of making a cattle
count. The range of the "a was far
flung and broken; the first step to-
ward count was to read the water
holes, to find out what part of the
range the big punches were fire.
quenting. Reading sign on Short
Creek, Dunn had come upon the
double trail of a shod horse and an
unshod horse, ridden side by side.
The trail was going his way. He
rode along it without attention-un-
til he came upon blood-stained
ground.
81 studied the ground very care
full, tracing the trails" Dunn said.
''In five minutes / knew for sure
I'd come on the place where man
met his DEATH
''But there was no body?"
Dunn shook his head. 'The dead
man keeled out of the saddle as he
was shot," he reported the sign.
''But guess he got stirrup hung,
for he was dragged. His pony pulled
him through the crick. I followed
across, and found where he come
loose. But the dead man was no
more there"
81 don't know as I get this"
Wheeler said.
Dunn gave it as his opinion that
the man on the other horse had fol-
lowed and picked up his victim.
"When I saw that" said Dunn, 81
knew was looking at the beginning
of something. Maybe-at the begin
ming of the end"
For a moment Wheeler stared at
Dunn; then the spell broke To as
sumo fatty that man was killed,
when even the identity of the vic
tim was unknown, seemed to
Wheeler an outlandish stretch, even
for an old tracker.
''This is the darnedest thing I
ever heard of, Horse" Wheeler
complained. What - no corpse?
What kind of murder is this? Who's
missing?"
''Nobody's missing, that's known
yet"
''Well, what don't see," Wheeler
said, sis why you were in such a
hurry to report to the sheriff, with
so little known"
81 had no choice l was still look
ing over the ground when 1 sighted
a rider, about mile off. In min
ute / made out it was Link Bender.
Maybe you can remember when
Links Seven S was bigger than the
"a. Maybe you remember how he
tried to pinch out the 94-almost
put Marian's father to the wall. I
broke him of all that! But he's
never swallered that he was licked.
I've got plenty enemies, Billy; but
Link Bender is the smartest of 'em.
Naturally I couldn't leave it SOS
he could report he seen me sneak
ing away. So I had to signal him
over and show him what found"
'And he read the sign the same
as your"
BILLY, / keep telling you! There
amt any other way to read that
sign"
"Yes, but look here-the supposed
dead mans horse"
Link Bender took off on the trail
of the dead mans horse. Hoping
to find the body, like a fool I let
him go, and haven't seen him since.
So ! don't know what he found But
he went and reported to the sheriff,
like knew he would"
81 should think you'd have been
some interested in the dead mans
caballo yourself"
more interested in the other side
of it. The killers trail took to the
crick. Short Crick runs two hands
deep on stone for two miles, then
disappears in the sand. I took to
the crick and hunted for where the
killer left it. Plenty horse bands
water at Short Crick, wading in and
out. lost the trail.
$50 pretty soon," Horse Dunn fin
ished, 81 rode back to the ranch.
BY that time it had come to me
what might be up against here. So
] had wire sent to you"
They trotted two miles in silence.
"Pve been trying to figure OUT"
Billy Wheeler said at last, where
fit in this"