The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1938-03-11
III-Continued

-
During the days that followed he
held his friendship back from her.
At times he was choleric, at times
sullen and distant. Ruth was sorry,
because she was aware of his de-
sire for a reconciliation. She
guessed that her attention to his
wants and her apparent humility
were a reproach to him. Since she
had a sense of humor, she chuckled
over the situation.
"I'm a deceitful little scamp" she
told her brother Frank, who had
heard the story from Dan Brand.
I'm not half as humble as I was
butter wouldn't melt in my mouth
whenever Father is about, and real
ly I'm beginning to think it's sort
of fun"
"Hmp!" Frank snorted. II can
tell you someone who won't think
it's fun if I meet him."
Ruth's bright eyes snapped.
Don't you dare touch Lou Howard.
Frank Chiswick. If you do"
She left her threat in the air, feel
ing it stronger not completed.
Ruth was riding circle above the
rimrock. She had come out with
her brothers and the other vaqueros
to round up the yearlings for the
Broderick order.
She had combed the ridge above
and was coming down an arroyo
thick with prickly pear. Her broth
er Bob had been with her, but he
had bolted down a neighboring draw
after a small bunch of high-tailing
stuff. For the time she could take
it easy. Blue Chip had done his
full share and was entitled to a
breathing space.
Ruth pulled up abruptly. In front
of her a pebble had rolled down a
steep bank to the path. From the
little rock her eyes Travelled up the
incline down which it had come.
Stones sometimes start downhill
from force of gravity; more often
they need an impetus to set them
in motion.
Above the top of q bisnago she
saw a Stetson hat, beneath this a
brown, sardonic face.
"Buenos dias, %senorita," a cool
voice drawled.
The girl stared at the owner of
that voice, the man who had called
himself Jeff Gray.
"Wha are you doing here?" she
asked, and answered her W ques-
ton: "You are lying in wait to kill
my father"
He slithered down the SCARED
slope, to face a little revolver that
had somehow jumped to her hand.
We'll talk about that" he said,
q smile on his face.
To Ruth it was a hateful smile,
one that Knocked confidently the pic
ture of feminine ferocity she made.
well talk about nothing" she
cried, anger afiame in her eyes.
"You light out of here, you dirty
killer, or I'll call my brothers."
"Why would I want to kill Lee
Chiswick when I had never seen him
b~efore?" he asked, paying no at
tention at all to the weapon in her
hand.
"For money!" she told him con-
temptuously. ellis enemies sent for
you to do the murder they were
afraid to do themselves"
He shook his head. "I'm a stran-
ger here. I don't know Howard or
any of his crowd. Besides, that
gang doesn't need an outsider to do
its bushwhacking. They have plenty
of bull-rattlers right in their midst"
"Why are you arguing about it,"
she burst out stormily. Didn't I
see you shoot him? Didn't you run
close to try to finish the job?"
"No," he replied quietly.
"What d'you mean, no?"
81 mean you didn't see either one
of those things. You just think you
saw them"
"You talk like a fool. A dozen
men saw you. Smoke vas coming
out of your gun while you were run
ming forward"
so it was. I'll ask you a question.
How many shots were fired before
yore friends turned loose on me?"
ssTwo. You fired twice. What
has that got to do with it,"
"A whole lot. ] fred once. Cues
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