The Ely miner., 1943-03-11
CHAPTER XVI

soft IoveIiness of her curly hair as
she, blinking her eyes turlously,
looked unseeingly down at the
ground and the queer designs the
mems boots had made.
Tits so terrible" she said,
her Voice quivering, and he saw how
her breast filed to a deep draught
of air.
IT'S awful" said Cody simply.
eyes, it is awful. Everything has
been awful, hasn't it? Since-Why,
since you and I first saw each 9TH
er, Cole Cody! And somehow you
and I seem to be to blame for II.
And then, for the first time he did
think of the two wills, and new
light flashed into his eyes. Maybe
you and I are somehow to blame,
he said, and she looked up at him
swiftly, near-frightened by his tone.
"And maybe it was robbery. And
maybe two men had hand In 1t,
and enc of them got away!"
What makes you talk like that?"
She drew back a step or two from
him: his eyes fascinated her, hold
ing her gaze hypnotically.
''It Just dawned on me-" he said,
cutting across her rush Of words,
"that you gave certain document
to Doc Joe to keep for you, and l
gave"
Rance WaIdronl" she gasped,
and forgot herself and her pet feud
SO far as to clutch his arm, tight IN
both hands.
''If you guessed right, you know
what this is going to mean, don t
you?" he said. "If Waldron staged
this affair, it was because somehow,
though I'm hanged if I can figure
it out. he learned that the two old
BOYS had the two wills along with
them. And if he got away with
them-WeIl, then it's goodby for
keeps to any hope of yours OF ever
coming to own this outfit"
Darn the outfit and all that goes
with it," she exclaimed passionately.
'I dSn't care what happens to it
now. It's just those two dear old
men"
WHY. shake!" cried Cole Cody,
and shot his hand out, and before
she knew it her hand had sped to a
meeting with his, to be clasped tight
held hard.
Hand in hand, there was almost
a smile in their eyes, though trouble
Law back of it. Slowly their hands
fell apart and her eyes drifted away.
'I guess III drift along" he said.
He was turning away when she
called after him, sounding excited.
Cole! It was Rance Waldron! I
knew it at first and know it better
nowl And I know how he found out
about the wills! I told him myself!
Oh, / was right about that other
thing: Somehow you and I, or one
of US. seem to be to blame for ev-
erythng! When Rance Waldron was
battering at our door, called to
him that I was going to hand over
nv will to Doc Joe the very first
chance I got! I wish I had bit my
tongue out first! Don't you see? He
couldn't have known that the
Judge"
But he would figure that if he had
the ene only, yours, he could may
be dicker! But don't you go blam-
ing yourself, Ann Lee girl. I tell
YOU things like this are either in
the cards or not, and that's all there
is to it."
And Rance"
Right now he's got the game by
the taa with a good old-fashioned,
down-hiu drag! All he's got to do
is set a match to couple of pieces
of paper and sit tight. If he can
get away with it! You run along up
to the house, Ann; you and Aunt
Jenifer will be all right; in the
first place Waldron isn't apt to
show I'D here again in hurry; be-
sides I'll have Porfrio stick around
with YOU"
He headed toward the corral. She
started toward the house, once in
her life obedient simply because she
hadn't thought to be otherwise, but
glanced back over her shoulder. She
thought that Cody's eyes, despite
their sternness and fash Of fierce
ness and that hidden, gentle smile
of his. looked haggard, and that
there was an unaccustomed pallor
under his rich bronze tan-and she
bit her lip and muttered to herself,
"Ann Lee, you little spit-fre, what
q nasty little beast you can be!''
For she thought, too, Of how she
had shot him, and she shuddered
there in the warmly glowing SUM-
light as though with cold; how she
had shot him, half if not quite mean
ing il, and how she might have killed
him.
Then she saw that he was not
going for the blackboard at all. She
watched him rope a horse in the
corral, lead it into the barn, come
out sitting in the saddle. She called
sharply, her hand at her throat, for
already she guessed a change of
purpose in him:
''Ysn are going to town."
He kesitated, then shook his head.
Bill Cole Cody rode straight to the
lonely, abandoned cabin in the
mountain ravine to which he and
Cal Rsundtree had followed Rance
WaIdFen and Tom Cough. He had
no great hope of finding Waldron
lingering on here now that the Judge
and Doc Joe had been cut down and
robbed, now that Tom Cough was
dead and in all likelihood would be
Judged the sole highwayman and
killer. Yet Rance must be some
where, and Cody meant to find him,
and here was as likely a place to
look as any.