The Ely miner., 1943-03-04

the Judge and Doc Joe. He glanced
at the two wills and put them into
his pocket. He gathered up the rest
of their personal effects, money and
watches, and dropped the lot close
to Tom Coughs outfiung hand. Then
he went to Tom Coughs horse and
rode away into the thickest of the
wooded hills, leaving his own horse,
not dead yet, but dying slowly, to
kick its life out.
It was sweet day, averred young
Gaucho Ortega, idling homeward
from Bald Eagle, as he came first
of all upon the wreckage of brutal
tragedy.
Only three or four miles from
town, where a canyon debouched
upon the valley on the farther rim
of which Bald Eagle summed itself,
he saw the runaway team. He rec
ognized the horses with a sweeping
glance: Doc Joe and the Judge had
had a runaway. But where were
they?
Then, a couple of miles farther
on, he came upon the three bodies
asprawl in the road or at its edge.
Holy Mother of God!" gasped
Gaucho, and turned sick, horror
struck. Three men dead! And the
old Judge and Doc Joe two OF
theml"
When his wits returned to him he
thought straight to the point: It was
less than half a dozen miles back
to Bald Eagle, more than twice that
distance to the ranch. So he rode
back toward Bald Eagle like dark
streak through the afternoon sun
shine.
And it was the same Gaucho who
later brought the heavy tidings to
the King Cole Ranch.
Aunt Jenifer and Ann Lee were
in the patio, and when Gaucho burst
upon them they stared back at him,
speechless. At first, so great was
the shock, that they felt nothing
they couldn't make his running
words make sense, there was nc
reality in what he was voicing SO
wildly. The Judge and Doc Joe,
dead? DeadI When so little while
ago
And they didn't say a word, didn't
ask a question, didn't even look al
each other until Gaucho sped away
to find Cal Roundtree and the 9TH
er boys and tell all that had hap
pened. For one thing, there was
nothing to ask, so complete If hur-
ried had been the boys details. And
there was nothing to say.
Slowly their impass1ve faces
changed and their eyes met. The
dazed look had gone and in its place
came horror, then grief splashed
with sudden tears. Those two fine
gallant old men, dead!
Ann Lee wept softly then, her face
hidden in her hands, her body rock
ing, convulsed. Aunt Jenifer dashed
the tears from her eyes and sat very
straight, her head up, her eyes
steady now with almost the CLINT OF
steel in them, bent upon far away
distances. Presently she spoke very
gently, but she did not stir from
where she sat on the old green
bench.
''They were two fine men, Ann
darling; they were old; they had to
go sometime; like Early Bill they
had had their fun" Her lips thinned
to bleak silence; then she added
crisply, "And they killed the muir
derer who shot them down! That's
something"
Ann was hushed, but not for long.
Hope that will not down without a
death struggle sprang up in her
breast.
maybe they are not really
dead!" she exclaimed excitedly. "a
man can be shot, be can be badly
hurt, unconscious even, and yet
Hve!"
And she started running to the
mems quarters.
She came upon a small knot OF
men, Cole Cody and Cal Roundtree
and Porfrio and two others, grouped
in sort of circle, their heads down,
their boot toes for the most part
scraping in the dirt, as they listened
to Gaucho's words. She screamed
at them before she reached them to
hurry for doctor, to do what they
could to save two lives which other
wise might be lost even while they
stood here doing nothing.
The men looked at her gravely as
she came running to them; no one
answered her; she thought Cole Co
dy's eyes were horribly Indifferent,
cold and unsympathetic, and that
Cal Roundtree listened as though not
particularly interested.
Cody said, not to her but to Gau-
cho,
what was he like, the man who
killed them? The other dead man
in the road?"
Gaucho screws UP his face. II
is hard thing, making you see a
man the way he really looks, draw
ing pictures with words. He did
his best which was very bad indeed
one gathered that the man had two
legs, two arms and eyes, the usual
complement of features-Oh, yes; he
hadn't had a shave for a week may
be; he looked like a sick man, but
maybe that was because he was
dead. He had big hands with lots
of black hair on them, like hair on a
tarantula. Yes, his face was kind
of square, and he wasn't a very
big man UP and down, but wide
Cody and Roundtree looked at
each other and nodded: Tom Cough,
for bet, sent to do the job for
Rance Waldron. But why? Not yet
had either of them and not yet had
Al