Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1941-06-20

DO0 KAs md Lsw Gordon had built up
. voss strtng 4 ranches IN ths west King
- kinsa b. III powerful and unscrupa-
~ ss0pssaAor. Zen fhorpe- Bm Roper.
KAGs sdopesd son. Vas determined 70
av0ss ~ death IN sptts q tie opposition
CHAPTER -Ceatinued
When Lew Gordon spoke. his voice
was % quiet that its very stiffness
carried threat Of imminent destruc-
ton. Bill Roper sent 4 man to
yoa!"
II didn't say that. He's a man
who was with Bill Roper in the
Texas Rustlers' War; he doesn't
seem to be in the Montana raids"
Who was it," Lew Gordon rum
bled. Whats his name?"
''Shoshone Wilce."
"Wilcel know that name. I know
it well. I'd rope and drag him in
second, Il I caught him talking to
you!"
This man has talked with Ben
Thorpe in Dodge" Jody told her
father. "A lot Of strange news il
working down to Thorpe from up
here in Montana. Some bands Of
rustlers are slashing up and down
Montana throwing lead and leather
into the Thorpe outfits under LASH
am; they say he's badly hurt al
ready-nobody will know how badly
until the winter breaks"
Her father waited, his eyes angry.
The word from Dodge explains
hah the trouble that King Gordon i
up against" Jody said. Thorpe
can't believe that one lone cowboy,
deserted BY everyone who should
have been his friend, could manage
70 smash his Texas holdings, and 60
on 70 cut away his herds in Montana.
He thought that we were backing
Billy Roper in the Texas Rustlers'
War. And he believes that we're
backing him now"
"Wen?" Lew Gordon said. "You
mean to say you came all this way
to tell me that?"
Ben Thorpe means to kill you"
Lew Gordon's face showed no
change of expression. But he did
not reply at once.
Il don't doubt it," he said at last;
what would you expect? You bring
war into . range and anybody is
likely to 60 down."
Jody's face was white.
you know what's at the bottom
Of al the trouble we're having" her
father said. "You know n well as
I do that two years Of nothing but
trouble lays square At the door Of
Bill Roper"
Jody sprans up to face him. Il
certainly do not know anything Of
the kind!" she answered him.
Lew Gordon stared at her.
ITS an everlasting shame upon
the COW country that Dusty Kings
killers are still in their saddles.
tell you, Billy Roper is the only
man I've seen with courage enough
to-"
And now her father angered as she
had seldom seen him anger. You'll
ten me nothing!" he roared. "Rop-
eri I'm sick of hearing his name-a
dirty outlaw whelp that knows moth
ing but kill and burn and raidi"
Jody's eyes narrowed and filed
with tears. "You may as well know
this" she told her father. 1.-THE day
that Billy Roper dies I want to die
too"
For a moment Lew Gordon
seemed bewildered; he stared at his
as if the devil had come up
through the floor. The girl who faced
him was entirely strange to him.
He heard her say, IF you had
stayed by him, as Dusty King would
have done, Thorpe would have been
whipped and through. long ago."
Child" he said queerly. what
are you talking about?"
IF you'd only take Billy Roper
back into King-Gordon-"
'That'n never happen while I
live," her father said fatty.
A silence fell between them, pres
emily broken by the girl. He asked
me to ride with him once, when he
first took the outlaw trail. I wish
had. To the last day I live, I'll
wish I'd ridden with him then. And
now IN tell you something more. II
ever he asks me again, III CO."
For several moments he stared at
her, more shaken than he had been
since the death Of Dusty King. Then
his face eongested, and he rose up
On his bost heels to tower over the
girl.
by God" he said. his voice un-
steady with the repression he put
upon II, that closes the deal! I've
kept my riders OF him because Of
Dusty King, and I let him run on
and On, rousing up range war that
has close to busted King Gordon.
But when II comes to tampering
With yos,-it's the end! I'm through,
you hear mel"
he caught up his battered sombre-
TO, and his spurs rang as he turned
toward the door.
'Dad, what are you going to dot"
Thorpe has q reward On Bin Rop-
ee's head. King Gordon ID going to