INSTALLMENT 14
THE STORY SO FAR:
Dusty King and Lew Gordon had built
tip a vast string of ranches. King was
killed by his powerful and unscrupulous
competitor, Ben Thorpe. BUI Roper,
King's adopted son, was determined to
avenge his death tn spite of the opposi
• a
tlon of his sweetheart, Jody Gordon,
and her father. After wiping Thorpe
out of Texas, Roper conducted a great
raid upon Thorpe's vast herds In Mon
tana. Unable to reconcile her father
with Roper, Jody set out with Shoshone
• •
"’lice to find him. They were attacked
by tome of Thorpe'* men hiding In Rop
er'* shack. Wllce escaped, but Jody
was captured. Roper was approaching
one of his own shacks when he no
ticed outposts keeping a careful watch.
* •
CHAPTER XIX—Continued
To Roper’s right, surprisingly
close, a rifle spoke, one# only. Roper
could neither see the man who had
fired nor guess his target He waited
five minutes, gun ready, then stood
up and moved his pony down-slope
Into a shallow draw in which it was
hidden by the brush. Moving cau
tiously, he proceeded north along
the cut, seeking the position of the
man who had fired.
Through the hillside brush a figure
moved, crouching so low that his
dark shape resembled a bear. Aft
er a moment Bill Roper was able to
make out that the approaching man
carried a light carbine.
The man with the carbine moved
swiftly down the hillside, sliding on
the hard crust of the snow, but sur
prisingly silent in the brush.
The watched man dropped into the
ravine, angling toward the bend
where Roper stood. Bill Roper
pulled himself out of the gully. He
was crouched in dense brush, gun in
hand, as the scout appeared below
him.
Roper stood up. “Steady,” he
said.
The man in the draw jumped as
if he had been struck; but as he
raised his hands he straightened so
that Roper saw his face.
His captive was Shoshone Wilce.
“By God,” said Shoshone, “I was
never so glad to see anybody in my
life!”
Roper’s voice bit like frosty ice.
"You know where she is?”
“Yeah,” said Shoshone. "Yeah, I
know where she is.”
Roper dropped into the gully to
snarl close into Shoshone’s face. “Is
she alive? Is she all right?”
“Oh, yeah, sure,” Wilce assured
him. “She’s alive, all right Don’t
seem like she’s hurt any. I—”
“Don’t seem like?” Roper repeat
ed. “Damn your hide, where is
she?”
“Bill, seems like them buzzards
have her down there at that cabin,
and won’t leave her loose.”
“Who won’t?”
“Bill, I don’t know who.”
“Well, how the devil did she get
there?”
“Me,” Shoshone said. He met Rop
► er’s eye bleakly. Obviously, he knew
that he was in trouble here. “I
brought her.”
“Why in all—”
"She would have come anyway,
Bill. She was dead set on locating
you. She didn’t have nobody else to
ride with her. I figured you’d soon
er I’d try to bring her direct to
you, so somebody would be with
her, than have her wandering loose
around the country by herself. A j
bartender in Miles told me you I
were here, and we rode here. And
then—and then—”
“Well, then—what?”
"As I come into the valley," Sho
shone said, “seemed to me like
something was wrong. But I couldn’t
make out what. We come up to the
cabin careful and slow, in the dark.
But they seen us coming and they
laid for us, I guess. Before we
knew what had busted, they gunned
her pony down, and they drilled
mine twice so bad that I had to turn
him loose. Most likely he’s dead
by now. I—” Shoshone hesitated.
"And you run out and left her,”
Bill filled in for him.
“Bill, I swear, I wouldn’t have
done nothing like that, not for no
amount. Thing was, they was all
around me; I couldn’t see where to
shoot or who they was. I figured
first it was your own boys, mak
ing a mistake, and after I seen it
6 wasn’t, I just figured to keep in a
fighting position, you might say, and
close in first chance. Only—”
“Only you never saw any chance,”
Roper said with contempt.
“Well, no; there’s seven of ’em
down there. Bill, and they keep an
awful steady watch. And I been
scouting ’em steady ever since.
Sometimes I get in a long shot at
one or another of ’em. This car
bine don’t carry so very good, but
I plugged two of ’em; don’t know
how bad.”
How do you know she wasn’t
shot or hurt when her horse went
down?” Roper demanded. ‘‘By God,
Shoshone, if you let anything hap
pen to that girl—”
“They let her walk outside some
times during the day,” Shoshone
said. “That’s how I seen she’s all
right."
“Can you make out who the bunch
down there is?”
"I figure they’re some Thorpe gun
squad, out after your scalp. I figure
they was laying to gun you. And
now that they got the girl, I figure
that they aim to hold her for bait,
kind of.”
Shoshone fell silent, and Roper,
deep in thought, let him rest.
“You’re most likely right,” Roper
said morosely at last. “There’s four
or five of these Thorpe war parties
out after me; and this could easy be
one. But of all the infernal luck I
ever saw—What did Jody want with
me? Did she tell you?”
“Thorpe has made up his mind
to kill her old man,” Shoshone said.
“I went and told her, because I
thought you’d want her to know, so
^ she could maybe look out for him
some. But the old man wouldn’t
listen to her and they had a row.
So then the only thing she could
think of was to come to you. She's
got some notion of trying to get you
and her old man together again.”
"A fine chancel”
"That’s what I told her. But
she—”
"Why in God’s name.” Roper
flared at him again, "didn't you go
after help?”
“I figured I’d get strung up for
sure,” Shoshone said flatly, "if I
went and told Gordon what I’d done.
I wanted to come for you, but nat
urally I didn’t know where you’d
went The only thing I could figure
out, I better try to ghost around
these hills and maybe whittle ’em
down to my size.”
"You say there are seven men In
the cabin," Roper asked at last;
"two wounded?”
Shoshone nodded. "They ain’t all
in the cabin all of the time. Seems
like they must have had the girl tell
’em that she come here to meet
you. Naturally they’d think you
knew she was coming. Most likely
they figure that if I ain’t dead I’m
carrying you word that will bring
you here a-kiting. So they're hold
ing her there now until they see if
they can’t get you. I ain’t watched
“They’re taking an awful
chance,” Roper said.
those fellers for fifteen years with
out knowing how they work.”
‘‘They’re taking an awful chance,”
Roper said, iron death in his eye.
“If I rode in here, warned, with
my wild bunch—”
“It ain’t such a bad chance they’re
taking,” Shoshone contradicted.
“Night and day their outposts are
out. Two men can check the whole
country daytimes, so they can see
you coming twenty miles. You only
got here because you come up
through the timber to the south, on
the trail from Miles—the last way
they’d figure you’d come. Nights
there are more men on lookout than
that, near as I can make out, and
their lookout is strongest just be
fore dawn—I suppose Iron Dog
taught ’em that trick in the old days,
always striking just before daylight,
and now they can’t get it out of
their heads. Night and day they got
ponies saddled. If ever they spot
ted your wild bunch riding in, they’d
be almighty hard to catch.”
“If only,” Roper said, "the wild
bunch was going to ride in! But it
isn’t.”
"Maybe there's some way we
could fake it, so they’d give up and
clear out. I figure they’d leave the
girl behind if ever they set out to
run.”
“I’m going down and smoke em
out,” Roper said through his teeth.
“I’m going to smoke ’em out before
the sun ever comes up again, and
you're going to help me.”
Shoshone nodded. “If we tackled
’em just before daylight, when the
outpost is strong and the cabin is
weak—”
They talked it over for a long
time) In the hidden gulch where
Shoshone had been holing up they
made coffee and cooked meat, and
completed their plans.
“We can get in,” was Shoshone’s
verdict at last. “We can get in, and
we can take the cabin. But God
knows how we’re ever going to get
out.”
“I’ve got a plan for that,” Roper
said.
He wouldn’t tell Shoshone what It
was.
CHAPTER XX
There were no stars when Roper
roused himself in his blankets, and
he had no mechanical means of tell
I
ing the time. Yet he knew very
definitely that dawn was just two
hours away.
He shook Shoshone Wilce. The lit
tle man groaned once, then came
full awake with the sudden response
of an animal.
Without the snow the rock-like im
penetrability of the overcast sky
would have made the night utterly
black, but the ghostly pallor of the
snow had the effect of faintly modi
fying the darkness. The eye might
possibly have made out a moving
dark shape at ten yards; beyond
that there was nothing but a muf
fling blackness.
"You lead out," Roper said. His
voice was instinctively hushed, even
at this distance from the enemy.
“You’ve had more chance to study
the lay than me.”
Shoshone Wilce delayed. “Bill," he
said, “I lay thinking about this time
for a long time, after you was
asleep.” A dogged stubbornness
came into his tone. “I figure we
can probably take the cabin. And if
we take the cabin without fighting
we’ve got a chance to get away. But
if so much as one shot is fired—Bill,
the outposts will close like a b'ar
trap. I don’t see no way we can
ever get clear.”
By the sudden frozen silence, Sho
shone Wilce was able to sense Bill
Roper’s anger.
**1 wish to God,” Bill Roper said
at last, “I had Hat Crick Tommy
here, or Tex Long; or even the very
greenest kid cowboy that’s riding
the range with them, somewhere to
night I need one other man for this
job. It wouldn’t take an especially
brave man, or smart man, nor a
real good gunfighter. I just need
one fairly good man. But I haven’t
even got that!”
"Bill, I only claim—look, Bill: I
ain’t afraid of ’em. I only—”
“You ain’t afraid,” Bill Roper re
peated; “no—not much. But when
the guns spoke, you left a girl down
under her horse in the snow—maybe
hurt, maybe dead—and you ran for
your life.”
When Bill Roper had said that,
both were utterly still, while a man
might have counted a hundred.
Shoshone’s voice was flat and dead.
“Is that the way it looks to you?”
“Look at it yourself.”
“Then,” Shoshone said, “I guess
there ain’t anything more to say.”
He stood up.
“There’s this to say,” Bill Roper
said. “You’re going to work with
me tonight because I haven’t got
anybody else. You’re going to do
exactly what I say, and when I say,
without any back talk or question.
You make one slip tonight and the
West won’t hold you, nor the world
won’t hold you, and you’ll answer tc
me in the end. You hear me?”
“Okay,” Shoshone said in the
same flat, dead voice.
“One thing more,” Roper said.
“If we make a quiet job, we’ll try
to go out slow and quiet, the three
of us together. Otherwise, you take
Jody’s lead rope and ride like hell.
Six miles below here, near the creek,
there’s a kind of a brush corral.
You and the girl will wait for me
there. Wait for me until daylight
begins to come; then go on.”
They moved down into the valley
of the Fork, walking fast. When they
had dropped into the bed of Fork
Creek itself they moved northward,
following its windings, for what
seemed a long way; but no sign ol
approaching dawn yet showed, and
Roper felt that they had plenty of
time. As they at last passed the
point where the cabin stood, invisi
ble in the dark, Shoshone indicated
its location with raised arm; but
they moved on fifty yards farther, so
that they might approach the cabin
from the north.
Cautiously now, Shoshone climbed
the bank, silent as the Indians with
whom he had spent his youth. Turn
ing, he gripped Bill Roper’s arm.
His words were whispered close to
Roper’s ear.
“One of the night guards is out
that-a-way, about five hundred
yards.” he whispered; “about in line
with where you see that big dead
pine.”
Roper could see no dead pine. It
annoyed him that Shoshone’s eyes
were better than his own—as good
as the eyes of an Indian, or a lyrtx.
“I'll leave my carbine standing
just outside the door,” Shoshone
said. “I only want it for later, after
we’ve took to the horses.”
“That’s all right,” Roper said.
“But you remember this: If there’s
any trouble in the cabin, you stand
and fight! Because if you don’t, I’ll
turn and plug you myself, if it takes
my last shot to do it.”
“Okay.”
Roper went ahead now, walking
boldly across the snow. Better, he
thought, to simulate the casual ap
proach of friends than to depend
upon a hope of complete surprise.
As he raised his hand to the door
a strange thrill of dread momen
tarily stirred him at the thought that
Jody Gordon was inside — with
whom?
(TO BE CONTINUEDJ
American Fashion Designers
Stress Chic Simplicity Lines
n> CHERIE NICHOLAS
YOU’LL find this a very exciting
season, the most exciting we've
had for years. The new fall fash
ions are really “new” and the new
look can be distilled into the one
word, simplicity. Simplicity is in
deed America’s fashion for fall,
1941.
Our American designers, standing
squarely on their own feet and in
dependent of Paris, have produced
an entirely new silhouette inspired
by our lithe, slim-hipped American
figures. Highspots in the new styl
ing are smoothly wide shoulders and
deep armholes tapering down into
an elongated midriff, softly rounded
hips and slim skirt. The easyfit
of the blouse above the waistline
trends to almost a topheavy effect
that is somewhat suggestive of an
inverted triangle. Accent is often
on hips, especially in tunic effects
done in various ways. Deep neck
lines either "V,” oval or square,
are often used to bring the eye
down to the diminishing midriff and
feminine hips.
In coats and suits this new sim
plicity is seen in smooth shoulders
and longer midriffs. Exaggerated
padding is passe. You have a wide
choice of raglans, shoulder yokes
cut in one with the sleeves, deep
dolmans and akin types. Most of
us, however, will find the smoothly
padded set-in shoulder easiest to
wear. Suits, more important than
ever this fall, are marked by longer
jackets with easyfitting or inset
belts to bring out this year’s smaller
waist. Coat and suit sleeves are
kept very simple and the straight
generously large sleeve looks fresh.
Dresses express the smooth shoul
der in a still wider variety. Dolman
sleeves cut in one, with the dress,
cap sleeves, wide smooth shoulder
yokes, shirred shoulders leading
M_
into a plain smooth sleeve, these are
some of the ingenious ways our de
signers have found to interpret the
smooth-shoulder, deeper armhole
theme.
Displayed in the foreground of the
illustrated group is a dress that ex
presses unmistakably the simplicity
that is America’s fashion for fall.
Taupe wool lends itself admirably to
this princess coat dress. Here you
see a dolman sleeve shirred for
batwing fullness, with smooth shoul
der panel cut in one and empha
sizing the top of the tapering figure.
Dramatically “new”—this frockl
Skirt fullness is used a great deal
this year, but a slim look is in
variably the rule. The silhouette
is always kept fluid as shown in the
dress to the right The long-torso
smooth-fitting top is notably new
and smart This dress is especially
good style made of brown (a fea
tured color for fall) crepe, the deep
armhole seaming accented with
bands of crochet done in contrast
colors, gold, white and green. With
black crepe the banding would be
effective in bright cerise, blue and
beige.
It's going to be a season of tunics.
Note the dress to the left with a
tunic Russian blouse. Note the
subtle fullness introduced via an
action pleat at the front of the skirt.
The sleeves achieve the deep arm
hole and smooth-shoulder effect
with fullness introduced at the
wrist.
The row of thumb sketches below
indicate new trends in coats,
dresses and suits that will stand
out in the new autum fashion pic
ture. Variously interpreted in
plaids, jerseys, velvets, corduroys,
wooiknit fabrics, gabardines and an
endless variety of rayon weaves.
(Released by Western Newspaper Union.)
Frilly Accents
If one has to keep within an econ
omy budget a sensible "buy" is a
black crepe dinner dress that is
styled along lines of simplicity. For
week-end trips you will find a dress
of this type easy to pack. Be sure
to acquire a goodly collection of
flattering accessories. Then with
various changes, your simple black
frock can be transformed in appear
j ance to tune into the picture of any
more or less formal social occasion.
The vogue for exquisitely feminiz
ing snowy frilly accents will con
tinue through the fall. As you see
here, there is eye-appeal in every
detail.
Millinery Stresses
Feathers and Veils
Feathers galore are adorning the
new fall hats. The restrictions that
have been lifted this season on the
use of wild bird plumage is reacting
in a tremendous revival of the use
of feathers. It will not only be a
case of a “feather in your cap”
but entire hats made of feathers is
fashion’s latest decree. The use of
veils and veiling is assured for fall.
Back-view interest in hats leads
to a new emphasis being placed on
snoods, wimples, and curtain ef
fects that conceal long bobs and
hair-dos at the back. Very fanciful
treatments are being given to these
wimples and snoods, and also to
bringing back the brims-down style,
so as to fit snugly and securely.
Corduroy Is Topmost
Fabric for Fall Wear
A big revival is on for corduroy.
It is being styled to perfection in
sports clothes, in campus outfits, in
mother and daughter fashions. In
fact, recent showings displayed
the entire family, mother, father,
little sister and junior smartly out
fitted in corduroy. You’ll love the
new corduroy suits, the slack cos
tumes and the onepiece dresses of
corduroy that are the last word
for office and school wear.
Velvet Trim
One of the smartest fashion trends
for fall is the use of velvet as trim
ming on contrasting materials.
Afternoon gowns of black faille are
given new distinction in way of wide
borderings of black velvet that fin
ish off peplums and tunics and hem
lines in general. This tendency to
trim with velvet is well worth
watching for the movement gives
, promise of developing into an im
portant vogue.
Farm!
Topics [|
ELIMINATE HENS
THAT DON’T LAY
-Will.
Don’t Keep Poor Layers
When Easy to Cull.
By U. H. ALP
(Poultry CxtniiM Sooctolixt, University
Of Illinois Collet• el Agriculture.)
Can the birds In the home poultry
flock pass the “physical” test?
If they can't, they shouldn't be
"drafted" for another year of serv
ice in the "army” of egg layers,
because chickens, like soldiers, are
playing an important part in the
present emergency. They have
been "drafted" to furnish millions
of healthful eges under the nation
wide food-for-defen*e program.
If flock owners haven’t kept accu
rate records of their layers’ abili
ties, it is especially important that
the birds’ physical characteristics
be studied carefully before they are
put in their quarters for the winter.
Fortunately, it is comparatively
easy to distinguish layers from non
layers by the culling method, after
a little practice.
Bald-headed as they often are,
good layers are usually tight-feath
ered over the rest of their bodies.
The feathers generally are dry,
frayed and "washed-out.” and good
layers are active, good feeders, and
have good dispositions.
The head of a good layer is usual
ly clean-cut, well-balanced, of me
dium length and depth, and the eyes
are quite large and prominent Be
suspicious of the laying ability of the
bird with a thick or coarse head or
the bird with a crow-head.
And the back of a good layer
should be wide over its entire length
and free from hard fat A narrow
spring of ribs or a back that tapers
decidedly or slopes sharply to the
rear indicates small feeding
capacity.
The body should be deep, but flock
owners shouldn't be fooled into
thinking thA birds have body depth
just because the feathers are long
and loose. Depth of the body can
be measured by placing the thumbs
on the front end of the keel bone
and the middle fingers on the rear
of the heel bone. Depth of the front
and rear can be measured by span
ning the body from back to breast
with the thumb and middle finger
and sliding them along the keel and
back.
If the bird is a good layer, her
comb, wattles and earlobes will be
large, plump, smooth and waxy. If
the comb is limp, the bird may be
laying, but when the comb is dried,
especially at molting time, the bird
is not laying.
'-F? -V ZVF5—*rj
% AGRICULTURE |
IN INDUSTRY |
By Florence C. Weed
Has sjkiwwwh wrara amm*M
(This i* one of a series of articles show
ing how farm products are Boding an im
portant market in industry.)
Peaches for Fuel
Ingenious is the fuel business de
veloped by a California man who
makes a round of canning plants,
collects discarded peach stones,
dries them in the sun, then resells
them for fireplace fuel. Scientists
believe that some day important in
dustrial products will be found in
peach stones.
In colonial days, peaches were
used for cider and brandy and were
preserved by drying. Forsythe's fa
mous fruit book of 1803 reports that
peaches ripened from July to No
vember and the great surplus was
"applied as food to hogs.”
When canning methods were per
fected, the fruit grew in favor and
now ranks next to the apple. From
30 to 50 million bushels are grown
annually. In the Pacific states, 90
per cent of the 20-million-bushel
crop is canned. Some commercial
pectin is derived from the peach
| skins.
California, Georgia, Arkansas.
North Carolina and Virginia produce
peaches by the million bushels. Im
portant areas are along the eastern
and southern shores of the Great
Lakes in Michigan and Ohio and
around the Finger Lakes in New
York. There in the spring, the heat
absorbed by the lakes retards
blooming and lessens the danger of
frost. In the winter, the heat re
leased from the water moderates the
temperature and prevents wood and
bud injury from freezing.
Nowhere, except in America, are
peaches grown commercially. In
England and on the continent, the
fruit is a delicacy, grown under
glass or trained on trellises. The
results are excellent, but costly, and
peaches there are a luxury only for
the rich.
Rural Briefs
Water piped to the poultry range
by a temporary system of old pipe
or hose laid on lie surface of the
ground will save many hours in
doing poultry chores.
• • •
Carelessness in handling eggs for
market lost 5 per cent of the United
States egg production in 1939. This
loss represented 175,000,000 dozen
eggs with a cash value of $30,000,000.
Independent Opinion
It is easy in the world to live
after the world's opinion; it is
easy in solitude to live after our
own; but the great man Is he who
in the midst of the crowd keeps
with perfect sweetness the inde
pendence of solitude.—Emerson.
Tobacco tops the gift list with
men in the service. They’ve said
so themselves in survey after sur
vey. A gift of a carton of cigarettes
or a tin of smoking tobacco is al
ways welcome, and more than wel
come the week before pay day.
Actual sales records from service
stores show the favorite cigarette
with men in the Army, the Navy,
the Marines, and the Coast Guard
is Camel. Prince Albert Smoking
Tobacco is another popular favo
rite. With these sales figures and
Rreferences in mind, local dealers
ave been featuring Camels by
the carton and Prince Albert in
the big pound tin «s gifts preferred
by men in the service from the
folks back home.—Adv,
FAMOUS ALL-BRAN
MUFFINS. EASY TO
MAKE. DELICIOUS!
They really are the moat delicious muf
fins that ever melted a pat of butter I
Made with crisp, toasted shreds Of
KELLOGG'S ALL-BRAN, they have •
texture and flavor that have made than
famous all over America.
KELLOGG’S ALL-BRAN MUFFINS
3 tablespoons % cup milk
shortening 1 cup flour
K cup sugar % teaspoon salt
1 eci? 25 - teaspoons
1 cup All-Bran baking powder
Cream shortening and sugar; add egg
and beat well. Stir In All-Bran and
milk; let soak until most of moisture
Is taken up. 81ft flour with salt and
baking powder; add to first mixture
and stir only until flour disappears. Fill
greased muffin pans two-thirds full and
bake In moderately hot oven (400°F.)
about 30 minutes. Yield: 6 large muf
fins. 3 Inches In diameter, or 12 small
muffins, 2)4 Inches In diameter.
Try these delicious muffins for din
ner tonight or for tomorrow morning’s
breakfast. They’re not only good to eat;
they’re mighty good /or you as well.
For several of these muffins will add
materially to your dally supply of what
physicians call “bulk" In the diet, and
thus help combat the common kind of
constipation that Is due to lack of this
dietary essential. Eat ALL-BRAN every
day (either as a cereal or In muffins),
drink plenty of water, and see If you
don’t forget all about constipation due
to lack of “bulk." ALL-BRAN Is made
by Kellogg's In Battle Creek.
Happiness to Others
Happiness is watching other*
drink from springs which we have
caused to rise in the desert.—
B. H. Metson.
rNervous Restless-.
Iall*lft V Cranky? Restless?
$5 ' i |\ * Can t sleep? Tire
lHllllla easily? Because of
distress of monthly
functional disturbances? Then try
Lydia E. Plnkham’s Vegetable Com
pound.
Plnkham’s Compound Is famous
for relieving pain of irregular periods
and cranky nervousness due to such
disturbances. One of the most effec
tive medicines you can buy today
for this purpose — made especially
for women. WORTH TRYING I
Despised Danger
Danger comes the sooner when
it is despised.—Syrus.
WNU—U 36—41
MMMMMMMHBMMMMMMMMMmMMMNMMMMMHMi
Qwhat "makin's*
1 TOBACCO
STAYS PUT, ROUS
FASTER, SAAOKES
MILDER f
^/nO OTHER TOBACCO UKE
W PRINCE ALBERT FOR. AIIL0NB* 1
9 RICH TASTE. P.A. BURNS J
C00UR! IT'S THE FAST- M
W ROUJNG EASY-FORMING i
■ BRAND, TOO—NO SR LUNG, M
NO WASTE.
V ThatS
I ECONOAW.'J
70
fine roll-your
own cigarette*
in every handy
pocket tin of
Prince Albert
B.J.bmolfe'M.O*.
hlaMea-Shlaei. N.C.
mcE/fmr
THE NATIONAL JOY SMOKE