The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1942-03-12

mum, but no more shooting. He
rode UP to Mrs. Reiss' corral, twist
ed reins around saddle horn and
slapped the horse into trot.
The browsing hostler gaped at him
when he came to the corral gate.
Con and Caramba had talked brief
ly to him, but now Con only said
that he was riding out to see man.
He saddled quickly, took belt and
holstered pistol from an alforja and
looked to the hang of his gun with
more interest than he had ever felt
in his forty days of wearing it.
eff I'm not back by the time Ca
ramba Wear gets in" he said easily
to the hostler, ''just tell him that
that he was right about Badly and
me being different. Give him this
five-he'n ask about it. And have
drink on me before you Sleep"
After a while he turned vaguely
westward and then through the night
he rode and rested, rode and rested.
With daylight he was in open coun-
try and Wild Horse, or any other
town, might have been thousands of
miles away.
The hills were still far away when
the sun dropped over them. Cot
tontails jumped up before Pancho
and it was easy to kill half-dozen
with the pistol. He camped on an
other tiny creek and broiled his sup
per. Before daylight he had eaten
rabbit again and packed one,
cooked, in an alforja.
By noon he was against the hills
and he had enjoyed every hour of
his riding.
He came upon a Triangle Tail rid
er in late afternoon and turned off
with the cheerful youngster to line
camp. Two more cowboys, one
from the adjoining Hogpen outfit,
were already at the camp. Con
passed the cigars accumulated in
Wild Horse and ate venison steaks
and beans and sourdough biscuits.
"It amt the rabbit-or the veni-
son or the turkey or the beef-that
you mind" the Hogpen cowboy said
Understandings. cts not having
salt. How about some stud horse
poker?"
None of them had much money.
The Hogpen man and Con won the
few dollars of easy" and 1.-TWO
Eyes," the Triangle Tail punchers.
Then Cons three tours beat the Hog
pen players kings and queens and
stripped him.
"Two Eyes," the cross-eyed man,
staked "A Winchester carbine with
scabbard and shells against thirty
dollars, on single cut of the cards.
He shuff1ed the deck and at Cons
insistence took first cut. His six of
diamonds lost to Cons king of hearts
"Why'n't you ride over to head
quarters and hit up the Ramrod for
a job?" Easy asked him. "This is a
good outfit, by and large. And am
bilious! Man, if your cards always
run the way we've seen 'em, you
ought to own the outfit inside a
year."
"Oh, I've got too much iron in my
BLOOD" Con evaded him. Besides,
you're too close to town."
"Yeh," the Hogpen rider drawled,
studying the end of his cigarette,
''this is close to Wild Horse. And a
man don't like to have to walk
around with bowling ball in his
hand, when he's in town."
"Oh!" Con said softly. $50 the
fo1o hoe cot around
81 run into one of the 80 busters
this morning." the Hogpen man ex-
planned, with sudden grin. 'He was
in the Drovers' when that little son,
Muchacho, aimed to kill the strang-
er. I kind of wondered about you
from the first. But don't worry,
Cameron; you can shave off your
whiskers and show your own face.
You're with kinfolks!"
They talked of Wild Horse and its
controlling ring. All agreed that the
man who was in the black books of
the leaders was safe only behind
a small army or when out of reach.
''They know your name, looks
like" the friendly Hogpen cowboy
said. $50 it looks like rolling up
miles, for you'll"
When he saddled Pancho and hung
the little carbine cannily under his
leg, next morning, the trio gave him
directions about his road. Particu-
larly, they warned him against the
town of Fronteras, and every resi-
dent or visitor of it.
ITO BE CONTINUEDJ