The Washington times., 1938-01-22

1st stepped through.
gently, flatly. Take it or leave it,
and do it now"
Two-Way,s own Illustration
gagged him. He started to speak
and then checked himself and
sat down on the bed, glaring at
POGO. Nov look here, POGO. I
wrote"
"What'Il it be?" POGO cut in.
Two-Way glared at him in i'm
potent fury. Then he laughed
quietly, ruefully, grudgingly, Shak-
ing his head slowly. "I'll have to
take it, I guess. I called you in
on this, though, because I knew
you were one man could trust.
a man who would be fair and
stick to his word. Maybe I made
a mistake"
POGO regarded him a moment
with blank eyes, then walked over
to the bed and laid both hands
on the footboard. Maybe you
did," he said flatly, do you think
you did?"
Two-Way shook his head en-
phatically, his eyes uneasy.
POGO continued, "I'll tell you
why you called me in here. Be
cause you don't have the CUTS
never did have, never will have
to carry out a thing like this.
You're a rat, Two-Way. With any
CUTS, you'd be a real crook. But
you've got a big, wide, woolly,
yellow stripe down your back that
q shirt won't cover. And it won't
wash off. Remember that"
Two-Way'S face was flushed
with anger, but he said no word.
POGO smiled crookedly, gently at
him, and then he said in a pleas
ant voice, "I'u have a look at
those papers,"
RECALLS OLD JOB
1t was a two days ride from
Christian City to the foothills of
the San ions, the first half of
it through gaunt-ribbed, switch
back canyons that wove their
maze fitting to the San ions table
land to the West. This gently
rolling and grassy plateau, POGO
remembered, was part of the Nc
CandleSs holdings, as were most
of the unfenced and lush grazing
lands in a half dozen counties to
the south. He recalled with
quiet and impassive bitterness
that it was on just such a range
as this, only further south, that
he had served his apprenticeship
under Abe McCandless. He had
been a youngSter then, tough,
eager to learn, and he had ac-
cepted their starvation wages, the
endless work, the primitive living
OF their frowsy and unlovely home
ranch without complaint.
He had been loyal, caught in
the fever of helping to build a
cattle empire, and the twenty q
month Abe paid him seemed a
generous sum for which to fight
and maverick and risk his life a
dozen times a week. But the day
a conscientious sheriff rode into
the home ranch and was closeted
with big Abe McCandless for sew
eral hours POGO learned and di.
geSted a large slice of life.
The memory of it, undimmed
by years, came back now.
Stretched out under the lone cot
tonWood by the blacksmith shop,
on that day years ago, he was
smoking contentedly when a hand
told him McCandleSs wanted him
In the office he faced Abe and the
sheriff. Abe started the ball roll
ing by announcing that even a
kid must pay for his mistakes
that the sheriff had positive evi.
dence against him, and that he.
Abe, proposed to harbor no mur.
derers.
Murderer" POGO had echoed.
The sheriff said, "a hester over
here on the Cuerva rim was
beefed yesterday. He must have
put up a fight, because there were
signs of struggle, on horses and
of. A TIC iron was found nearby.
You were seen over that way. Nc.
Candless said he gave orders to
you to talk to this hester. How
about it? Will you confess?"
NO BRIEF FOR KILLER
He's yours, sheriff." Big Abe
said, when POGO did not answer.
Il hold no brief for a killer, young
or old, and I'm hard man."
Those long, still nights in jail,
the hot, quiet days, had shaped
POGO more than he knew. He ac-
cepted the fact that it was
frameup; that McCandlesS had
sacrificed him, a friendless or
phan, as the least important cog
in his vast machine that was
Strangling and digesting this coun-
try with the rapacious hunger Of
an octopus. 1t fed his fury until
it burned like a still, cold flame
inside him. The Jail couldn't hold
him, and he escaped.
In later years, when he had
been hunted over a thousand
trails, when men held their peace
when he walked into a room,
when his name had become at
once a threat and a curse, he
looked back on his days under
McCandless with a kind Of wry
affection. They had put him on
his feet, had opened his eyes, had
made him realize that a man
stands unutterably alone in this
world. He had never forgotten.
tn Re Continued)