Thursday, March 7, 1940
CHAPTER X
Synopsis
Lee Hollister returns unex
pectedly from a trip abroad to
find Matt Blair, his foster
father and owner of the Circle
V ranch, dead by his own hand.
The ranch is groin# to ruin and
Matt's daughter, Virginia, now
owner of the ranch, is living in
New York with the Archers, her
aunt and uncle. Her uncle
wants her to sell the ranch to
Milton Bradish, one time Matt's
associate. Lee persuades Vir
ginia to return to the ranch.
Her aunt follows her, accom
panied by Stanley, son of Mil
ton Bradish. Stanley tries to
discredit Lee in Virginia's eyes.
One evening: Josefa Ramirez,
who is jealous of Lee's interest
in Virgiiiia, dances for Lee and
throws herself into his arms
just as Virginia rides past with
Stanley. Stanley visits Josefa,
and is shot from ambush.
From the side of a rock on the
hillside Francisco watched his
flight with a grunt of contempt.
"I theenk you not fool 'round
here no more," he said calmly,
and went back to his sheep. He
had protected the honor of his
house efficiently and in his own
way.
Stanley drew in his sweating
horse only when he came in view
of the Circle V ranch house. Vir
ginia, sitting at Matt's desk,
heard her aunt's terrified scream.
"Stanley, what has happened?
Virginia!"
Fear gripped her. She ran.
Stanley was just coming in.
Blood stained his shirt on the
shoulder, blood was crusted on
the fingers of one hand, where he
had pressed them against the
wound to staunch the flow.
"Stanley! What is the matter?"
"Oh, nothing to be frightened
about." He smiled pallidly.
"Somebody winged me . Just a
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pleasant little attention."
Mrs. Archer moaned, but Vir
ginia was very quiet. She was as
pale as Stanley now, but her
voice was steady and cool.
"Sit down here in this big
chair. Curly, please help me."
They worked quickly. A call to
Ling brought warm water, iodine
and bandages, and Curly's strong
fingers made short work of the
stained shirt.
Curly squinted at the wound
judicially. "Whoever plugged ye
must've been considerable higher
up than you was," he said inno
cently: "Did ye get a chance at
him?"
"I don't go around armed," he
said curtly, "and he took good
care not to show himself. I was
on my way here, just entering
the mouth of Turkey Gulch."
Mrs. Archer shot a triumphant
glance at her niece; Virginia
looked steadily down at the
wound she was bathing. Curly's
brick red face was as nearly ex
pressionless as a human face can
be. The mouth of Turkey Gulch
was in a direct downward " line
from Lee Hollister's cabin.
"We should have a doctor.
Curly. Will you get him?" That
was the only comment Virginia
made.
"I'll go and bring him," sug
gested Curly obligingly. Mrs.
Archer followed him with a ner
vous backward glance at Virginia
as she left the room.
"Stanley, how did it happen?"
Virginia's low voiced question
came the moment they were
alone.
"Why, just as I told you, Vee."
"But you suspect someone,"
she persisted. "Who is it?"
"No one that I would care to
accuse," he answered evasively.
She ignored his light tone, but
she could not ignore the implica
tion back of it. "But I'm sure no
one here would do such a thing."
"No one?" he queried ironical
ly.
She flushed. "If you mean Lee
Hollister, he would never fight
that way, from ambush."
"Oh, I'm not accusing him."
He raised cynical brows that did
accuse.
Out on the veranda Curly took
some hastily written messages
from Mrs. Archer and started
back to the corral with Stanley's
waiting horse.
"He's a liar," reflected Curly
dispassionately. "I've been plug
ged myself, and I'll bet two dol
lars Mex that he carried that cat
scratch from a blame' sight
further than Turkpy Gulch."
The doctor came and went,
pronouncing Stanley's injury only
a flesh wound that might be
painful for a few days, but was
not dangerous.
Virginia wandered restlessly
from room to room. It was all
maddening and impossible. Only
one thing stood out definitely. A
guest in her house had been the
victim of a cowardly attack from
ambush, almost within the limits
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of her own land. That could not
be passed in silence.
Footsteps on the veranda
caught her attention. She went
to the door.
"Good evening," said Lee. "I
hear Bradish has met with an ac
cident."
"I should scarcely call it that."
Virginia chilled instantly under
this casual reference.
"Stanley was shot in the back
this afternoon by some contempt
ible assassin who hadn't the cour
age to let himself be seen. He is
a guest in my house and a friend,
and I shall expect every man
connected with the Circle V or
interested in it to make it his
business to find the man who did
it."
His steady eyes were on her,
unsmilingly. "Men don't usually
ask women to fight their battles
for them," he commented.
"He hasn't asked anything!"
she flamed back at him.
"Hope you find your man," he
said politely. "Is Bradish in? I'd
like to see him. Alone, please."
Stanley looked up sharply at
the tall figure in the door.
"How d'you do," he said lan
guidly. "Looking for Miss Blair?
She just stepped out."
"No, I'm looking for you. I
hear that you're spreading the
report that some friend of mine
tried to kill you in my interest.
You happen to know that it's a
lie. In the first place, I wouldn't
take the trouble to have you kill
ed. In the second place, I don't
hand dirty work to other people,
and in the third place, my friends
don't miss."
The curt contempt of it brought
a dull red to Stanley's face. "Look
here," he began angrily, but the
sardonic voice went on.
"If any friend of mine winged
you like that, he wasn't trying to
commit murder. He was posting
a warning, and I advise you to
take it. Whatever you were up
to when that thing happened,
don't do it again."
Without waiting for any reply
he turned to go, not by the way
he had come, but by another
door.
From the veranda Virginia saw
him go without making any at
tempt to see her again. She went
slowly into the house to meet her
aunt.
"I thought I heard voices."
Mrs. Archer glanced nervously
past her niece. "You really ought
not to leave that door open, Vir
ginia. You don't know who may
be out there in the dark."
"There is no one out there. It's
perfectly safe."
"Safe!" Mrs. Archer cried hys
terically. "How can you say such
a thing when Stanley has been
nearly murdered! I shall not
feel safe for one minute until we
get away from here. I have tele
graphed to your uncle and Mr.
Bradish—"
"Oh, darling! Without even
telling me."
Mrs. Archer flushed guiltily.
"Why not?" she demanded with
injured dignity. "One might al
most think that you were trying
to shield this criminal."
She shot an indignant glance
at her niece and then broke into
hysterical sobs.
"Oh, I can't stand it any long
er! I've been worried to death
for weeks, ever since that inso
lent, lawless man came east and
persuaded you to come back here.
He's at the bottom of all this; I
know it."
"Aunt Adele, please. That isn't
so."
"It's true, Virginia. And you
just keep on, dropping r "j/ into
this'bottomless pit to My the
greed of that mtp* of
taking the wond r price Mr.
Bradish has off x you just out
of friendship sentiment for
the place!" /
On anu> /and on. Accusa
tions, plet /babbling, hysterical
reproaches. Virginia closed her
eyes.
"You needn't worry any more,"
she said wearily. "I wrote to Mr.
Bradish some days ago that I was
ready to sell. I'll keep my word."
• • *
A second telegram a few days
later announced the hour of Mil
ton Bradish's arrival. Virginia
went to meet him, and he greet
ed her genially.
"How d'you do? Has that boy
of mine been making trouble for
you up here? I'll take him in
hand. By the way, just drive
around to Gideon Morse's office
first, will you? He has something
there that we'll both want to
see."
She drove him there. Half an
hour later, when they left Saun
ders, Bradish was in an expen
sively contented frame of mind.
Virginia was unusually quiet, with
steady eyes fixed ahead of her.
• • »
"Well, what have you been up
to?"
It was the first moment that
Stanley and his father had been
alone, but there was more sus
picion than sympathy in the
stare that Bradish bent on his
son.
Stanley looked sulky. "I've
told you I was riding horseback in
this infernal desolation, and some
sniper tried to pick me off."
"Don't talk bosh with me! You
were probably meddling around
with some girl. One more affair
of that kind and I'll cut off your
allowance. You must think I'm
asleep."
"Far from It." Stanley drawled
It out with the slightly patroniz
ing air that his father particu
larly hated. "But I'm not exactly
unconscious myself. And some-
thing seems to tell me that Matt
Blair's ore samples weren't quite
so—er—harmless as they were
assayed."
Bradish's eyes bored Into the
insolent weakness of his son's
face.
"Well?" he snapped. "What of
It?"
"Oh nothing," Stanley was
bland. "I just thought I'd re
mind you that I have some busi
ness acumen myself. How about
a half Interest, giving you a first
option on buying me out? You
know," he added, "I might have
advised Virginia not to sell, and
managed my wife's interests my
self."
Bradish regarded his son with
a heavy stare.
"Trying to buck the old man,
are you?" he demanded. "Bigger
men than you have tried that,
and most of 'em are in the bread
lines or adding up columns of
other people's assets."
Stanley looked annoyed. "Hol
lister bucked you pretty success
fully until I took him in hand,"
he hinted sulkily, but got no
further.
"What's that out there?" his
father demanded abruptly.
Stanley went to the window.
"The gentleman himself," he
murmured maliciously. "That's
your amiable friend, Mr. Lee Hol
lister. I wonder what he's up to
now?"
"Humph! Looks like a compe
tent young devil." Bradish stared
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after him with Interest. "I was
a fool not t> get him on my side,"
he rejected. "Maybe 111 do It
yet. Rides like an Indian and
has as cool an eye as I ever look
ed at. Bet he can handle men.
11l get him. I'll have him on my
payroll Inside of two weeks."
Lee had been looking for Vir
ginia, going first to make his in
quiries of the friendly Ling, but
Virginia was not there. She had
slipped out without a word to
anyone, wanting only to get away
from the house and everyone in
it. High up on Monument Rock
where they had carried her
father to look down forever on
the Valley of the Sun, she sat in
a disconsolate little huddle, her
chin in her hand, staring out at
the rugged country he had loved.
Hot tears came into her eyes.
She laid her cheek against the
rough rock. "I had to do it! I
had to! You understand, don't
you?"
Quiet and solitude were around
her. Far above, a hawk wheeled
in smooth curves, 'watching for
prey. Back of her was a grassy
flat where a few pines whispered.
A squirrel whisked up a tree; a
darting wren scolded.
Virginia jumped up quickly.
The girl from the sheep ranch
stood a short distance away,
leaning against the rough trunk
of a pine.
"You wish to see me?" asked
Virginia.
"No. I not wish to see you. I
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hate you. But I come."
"But why do you hate me?"
"I hate you because he love
you! I hate you because he
theenk always of you and never
of me. I hate you because you
throw heem away like the soiled
rag, like a poison snake, because
you see heem touch me."
Virginia listened, astonished
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and a little angry. The last words
caught her attention sharply.
"What are you talking about?
What have sou been' doing?"
(Continued Next Week)
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