The guardian., 1941-04-26
Partners
By MARION SHERRARD
Mcclure Syndicate-wNU servtce.I

glutted back room of Strut
ter's small store, closing the door
firmly behind him. No longer could
he stand the strain of watching
Chuck Terry win so much money.
He blinked to erase the mental pic
ture of those stacks of silver dollars
and crumpled greenbacks.
Chuck laughingly packed the treas
ure into small tobacco sacks and
tied them up in his red bandana
handkerchief
Dan, who was the store clerk, pro-
ceeded to make up his grocery
orders for early morning de-
livery. Half that cash, just half"
he murmured yearningly, would
fix Tootsy up"
Whooping cough had left Tootsy
with bronchitis. The Doctors voice
still hovered insistently around Dan.
'That baby will never survive a
sunless Montana winter. She must
have daily unbaths-outdoors
naked. California" Then at the
CONSERVATION in their faces, he add
ed: Doesn't need to cost a for
tune. Five hundred dollars care
fully spent ."
When he was gone, Emily, pale
and jumpy with tedious hours of
nursing, said bitterly, "Why didn't
he say five thousand and be done
with it?"
Suddenly Dan recalled old Tin
horn Tully's greedy, alert face as
he watched Chuck gathering up his
winnings. All at once he realized
that Tinhorn, the most notorious
gambler in those parts, would never
let mere cowhand get away with
that money. He would certainly rob
Chuck on his way back to the ranch.
The next instant a new thought
almost knocked him over. Since
Chuck had to lose the money any,
how, why shouldn't he, Dan Hurl-
bury, have it instead of old Tinhorn?
Dan reached under the counter
and picked up his revolver, then
blew out the lamp and softly closed
the front door behind him.
All, hoof beats Chuck.
"Td better wear a mask" Ian
thought. He took a clean white
handkerchief from his pocket (Em-
lily wouldn't let him use the colorful
bandanas any more) and easily tore
Sits in the worn muslin for eye
holes. Having tied the mask on, he
looked cautiously over the top of the
large rock behind which he'd sta
toned himself He could see the
blazed face of his sorrel bobbing up
and down in the darkness. He tight
ened his grip on the revolver. ''Tn
just jump out and I'll holler-"
The next instant, just ahead, a
masked shadow stepped coolly into
the middle of the road Chuck be-
gan to sing all the louder and pre-
tended to slap his pony on the rump.
But instead his arm swung bundle
through the darkness into the brush.
1t hit near the rock where Dan was
hiding.
Tinhorn, a leveled pistol in his
hand, made Chuck climb down and
searched him thoroughly Finding
nothing, he stuck his gun close to
Chuck's breast. His tone was men
acing. 'Where did you cache that
roll?"
Didn't need it so I threw it
away" Chuck's voice carried
laughter.
There was a moments silence.
"Oh, so when you pretended to slap
your pony . it did look funny.
Ride on"
Dan stuffed the money under his
coat as he entered his own kitchen.
Finding Emily and the baby asleep,
he counted his treasure. Eleven
hundred dollars.
He gasped. What a prize! And
nobody would ever know. He divid-
ed the money into two packages of
tobacco sacks tied together. He
went to bed with them under his
pillow.
He dozed and one of the Jumps un-
der his pillow became a saddlehorn
jerking up and down, hurting him.
The night was dark and the horse
kept stumbling. He knew that his
leg had been crushed by a falling
horse and that Chuck was carrying
him to the doctor through a long
night of black torture. He awoke
suddenly and found that it was time
to get up.
Dan had finished sweeping the
store when the door opened and
Chuck came in. Bedraggled, defect
ed, he leaned on the counter.
"Seen Tinhorn this morning,
Dan?"
''Not yet"
"You know he lifted my roll last
night l recognized him. 1 wanted
that money to buy a few head of
cattle to start out for myself"
Dan hesitated minute, then reso-
lutely put a hand in each pocket
and brought out two packages of
stuffed tobacco sacks.
"What? Did Tinhorn give them
to your"
''No. / was behind that rock when
/ Won fbrpNry fba Y,oOpau -