The McDowell times. [volume] (Keystone, W. Va.) 1904-1941, 1941-06-27
CHAPTER VII

selves, but a man who was more
imam one man. Ben Thorpe was a
tnousand men; operating under
Cleve Tanner in the south, and Walk
Lasham in the north, his innumer-
able retainers filamented the plains
from the Rio Grande to the Big
Horn. That Roper's men hated Ben
'ihorpe was no coincidence: Roper
had picked men of personal grudge.
Most OF them had first been out
lawed because they had not suited a
single organization - the organiza-
ton of Ben Thorpe.
UP and down and across half of
Texas, constantly in the saddle, Bill
Roper threaded his new organiza-
ton. Sometimes Dry Camp Pierce
was with him; more often he trav-
eled alone. These famous gunfght-
erS and outlaWed men whom Roper
gathered were just youngsters, most
ly. Some of them were true killers;
some merely reckless kids who had
got off on the wrong foot All of
them were badly wanted by what
little law there was.
One night in early June, Dry Camp
Pierce and Bill Roper sat in the
back room of a saloon, deep in
Texas.
Look" Dry Camp Pierce said.
i've stole cows until could pave
my way to hell with their hides.
Butt don't know-to steal COWS for
Dusty's kid"
Bill Roper's teeth flashed clean in
his grin. "Whose cows?"
1--WE stole cows
You're going to steal cows that
belong to me, now"
Figure you own these cows?"
I'm half of King-Gordon, now
split. I've taken. out of King Cor
don, seven camps without COWS; now
I'm claiming the COWS that Thorpe
took from Dusty King. And from
some other men that we're going to
lend hand to, pretty SOON"
Dry Camp Pierce-he was called
that because he hated to camp too
near to water-went to work for
Bill Roper as he had never worked
before; and thus the king of cow
thieves, the brand changer extraor-
binary, for once aligned on the side
of the law that was not.
Ten rustlers' camps hooked into
Thorpe-Tanner territory
But Dry Camp also helped in 9TH
er ways.
A hot June dusk, five days after
the meeting at Whipper Forks, found
Bill Roper at the Dry Saddle Cross
ing, where he was to meet Lee Har-
nlsh; and this meeting, too, was ar
ranged by Dry Camp Pierce, though
by this time Pierce was already far
away.
Here ran the broad, many-chan-
ncled river, dividing two countries
a river whose split wanderings made
two miles of intermittent shadows.
AT this border of vast, imperccpti-
bly, rolling prairie stood a narrow
string of adobe shacks. That was
the Dry Saddle Crossing
Two men-Bill Roper and Lee
Harnish-sat in front of one of those
abandoned shacks, and tried to get
together.
1--WE always understood" Roper
said, that you were acquainted
some, below the line"
Harnish's hard eyes studied Rop-
er, and for a little while nothing
could be heard except the mourn
ing of doves in the willow scrub by
the water. Next to Dry Camp Pierce,
Lee HarniSh was the oldest of those
to join "Dcr; he was twenty-eiGht.
He W '".i arl Iank, sun-baked a.
most 4, Geo" color of an Indian; his
green eyes were curlously blank, inn
penetrabIc, and lie liked TO look his
man in the eye with the peculiar
fXity seen in the gaze of hawks.
1--WE been down there some" he
admitted. eve made a few drives
into Chihuahua; one drive to Mex
leo City"
IF you had a big wet herd run
to you just below the line, would
you know no to get rid of it,"
Il can't make ont your hand"
Harnish said. "King-Gordon never
swung the long rcpe yet that
heard Of"
"Im not King-Gol Ion now. My
stunt is TO smash Clcy2 Tanner; and
1 don't care what it costs"
whats wrong with backing him
ulLO a - .yCb-oNtNJ "a tlAHL . NaleAb y w
WANT"
THAT comes later. If bust Tan
ner ! can bust Thorpe. But if Tan
ncr is Gunned before he's busted,
Thorpe Will take over in Texas, and
the chance TO break up his Texas
layout Will be gone"
"You amt going to bust him by
running off a few head of cattle.
This river crossing is slow work,
kid"
81 figure to cross five thousand
head within the next three months, I"
Roper told him.
Give thousand head won't even
scratch the hide of Thorpe and Tan
.ner, SON" -
Il know that as we'll as you. What
it will do, it'll draw Tanner to throw
his warriors onto the border. That's
what / want. Because by then Ill
be working somewhere efse."