FIRST INSTALMENT
The massive, steel-barred gates
of the Jarillo Penitentiary swung
back, disclosing a cavernous,
shadowy, hopeless arch beyond.
From those gates walked a man,
a slender, wiry man of slightly
more than medium height.
His shoulders were not of ex
traordinary width, but they were
erect, flat, and packed with
smoothly coordinating muscles.
His chest was arched and deep,
his waist lean.
His face, from the nose upward
was of a young man, not over
thirty years in age at most. That
nose was straight, thin and sen
sitive of nostril. The eyes were of
steely gray, clear with the tonic
of perfect health. But there was
something hard about them a
glimmer, far in the depths, like a
living, never fading flame.
Nests of tiny wrinkles spread
from the corners of them, telling
of long years of facing strong
sunlight, hot winds, and illimit
able distances. The short, crisp
hair beneath his floppy and bat
tered old sombrero was dark
brown, slightly curly and with a
dusting of gray at the temples.
It was the mouth and jaw which
made a cold, stern mask of what
was otherwise a reasonably ami
able countenance. The jaw was
lean and strong, the mouth wide
and hinting whimsicality, were it
not for the sensitive lips set in a
hard line of repression. Besides
the worn sombrero, his garb was
made up of faded shirt and jeans,
and a pair of battered, high-heel
ed boots boots which showed
signs of long disuse.
This, on that sunny, early
spring morning, was Edward
(Slim) Loyale, ex-convict Num
ber 8214, with eighteen months
served of a three-year sentence,
and with eighteen months of pa
role ahead of him, before he
would once more be an entirely
free man.
A closer observer than the stol
id guard who had opened the
gates would have noticed that
Slim Loyale was trembling as he
left the prison behind him. This
quiver, which traversed the en
tire length of his body, held
something of a strange, exalting
ecstasy about it.
A captive bird, freed of its cage
might have acted the same. A
wild stallion, surrounded by the
high walls of a man-made corral,
might have lifted its head to gaze
long at the dim, mist-shrouded
rim of some great mesa country,
its nostrils dilated and quivering,
just as Slim Loyale's nostrils di
lated and quivered now.
Slim's pace quickened. He took
no notice of the sun-bleached,
squalid little town of Jarillo a
quarter of a mile to his left. Nor
did he once look back at the
sprawling bulk of the prison,
which crouched like some unmov
ing, heartless, drab beast in the
immensity of the plain. Slim's
face was to the north, and his
eyes never wavered from a point
out there where a dim, violet line
of saw-edged mountains hung
against the horizon, nebulous and
beckoning.
Inside of an hour the prison
and the town of Jarillo had fall
en far behind him. He was en
tering now a slightly rolling
country of chemisal and man-'
zanita. With strange abandon
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Slim forced his way through the
brush. As he walked he caught
handfuls of pungent chemisal,
holding it to his face and snif
fing with little, quick sighs cf
Joy. ♦
His lean cheeks, slightly pale
from long months away from the
sun, glowed with the quickened
beat of his stirring blood. In a
little meadow, thick-grown with
tar-weed and still a little damp
from the night dew, he kicked
about with his feet, inhaling deep
of the keen, wild odor which
arose.
Then as a long-eared Jack-rab
bit hopped sedately away and a
tiny, pert brush wren twittered
at him, he laughed, low and deep,
and for a moment the hard mask
fell away from him. He was a
boy again, just a boy going home
—going home.
The sun arched to the zenith,
passed it and swung low into the
west. Still Slim .Loyale plodded
onward, a little wearily now, for
many miles lay behind him and
he had been long hours without
food or water. But the glow in
his eyes was still strong, and his
thin face still eager.
For over two miles he had been
breasting a long, gradual slope,
matted with brush clumps and
broken here and there by rough
spines of rock. Abruptly he reach
ed the crest.
Before him the ridge fell away
In dusty slides to a wide-spread
ing basin, spotted with groups of
shimmery, silver-barked syca
mores. A line of scrub willow
twisted from east to west through
the basin, coming from one nar
row gorge to plunge from sight
into a like one.
Slim paused, his eyes flitting
keenly over the country below.
Off there to his left, in an elbow
of the creek, a faint haze of blu
ish smoke was rising. Slim went
down a handy slide in great, fall
ing strides and hurried on along
the edge of the willows, A mo
ment later he stepped into a little
clearing, carpeted with green and
rimmed with a wall of willov..
In that clearing a fire glowed,
and over it crouched a tall, gaunt
leatherji-faced old-timer, with
keen blue eyes and faded hair and
mustache. At one edge of the
clearing three horses cropped
lazily at the succulent grass. Near
the fire was a heap of dunnage.
"Hello, Dakota," said Slim
quietly, though his voice trem
bled slightly. "Faithful as ever, I
see." v
The man by the fire straight
ened quickly and turned. "Slim,"
he ejaculated. "Kid!' Then with
three quick strides he was over
to Slim and was wringing his
hand, his free arm going about
the young fellow's shoulders.
For a long minute neither of
them spoke again. A strange
mistiness dimmed Slim Loyale's
eyes, and even Dakota Blue was
winking fast. Slim cleared his
throat. "Grub ready?" he asked
gruffly. "I'm damn near starved.
It—lt's a Ring walk back from—
hell."
Glad of the chance to hide his
emotion. Dakota Blue turned to
the fire and jabbed at the glow
ing coals with a stick. "Be ready
in a jiffy, slim. The coffee is
about to turn over an' there's a
panful of trout waitin* to go on.
Slim nodded and went over to
the creek. Plat on its moist, sweet
rim he lay, his face buried in the
sparkling, chill depths. When he
had drunk his fill he stripped off
his shirt and had a good wash.
Then he went back to the fire
where a black frying-pan was siz
zling, and Dakota was setting out
tin plates and cups on a piece of
tarpaulin.
"Got yore letter two weeks ago,"
said Dakota casually. "I rode in
here to the basin yesterday morn
ing. I'd have come down—there
for yuh, only I knew yuh'd want
to be alone for a few hours an'
get the feel of the earth under
yuh once more. Well, light in,
Slim; there's plenty of it."
They ate in silence. When the
meal was over, Dakota tossed
Slim a sack of tobacco and a book
of papers. Keep it," he said. "I
brought plenty."
Slim rolled and lit his cigarette
and leaned back against the heap
of dunnage. "Now tell me," he
commanded, "everythin'."
Dakota rolled a smoke himself
before answering, and squatted
on his heels before the fire.
"Things ain't changed much," he
drawled finally. "Sarg Brockwell
is still Sarg Brockwell. Jigger
Starbuck is still sheriffin' an'
Spud Dillon is still doin' business
at the same ole tand."
"I suppose crime disappeared
about the same time I did?" mur
mured Slim, his low voice bitter.
"No." said Dakota softly. "It
ain't disappeared, slim. In the
past month the Vasco stage has
been held up twice, an* the Dot
H Dot has lost about a hundred
haid more cattle,-Some folks in
Pinnacle have been wondering a
heap if they didn't make a bad
' mistake, when they sent yuh up.''
Slim Loyale laughed curtly.
"They shoulde done their wonder
in' a year an' a half ago. How's
things at the ole Circle L, Dako
ta?"
.'"pout as usual. Since yore
daddy died, the spread is kinda
empty-like. But yore cowfe—they
are yores now. yuh know—well,
they keep right on haviD' calves.
Yo're pretty well fixed with this
world's goods, Slim."
"Yeah, but a pauper with rep-
THE ET..KTN
uuuo. a - d.d »> rigger
that 1 was guilty, Dakota?"
Dakota Blue snorted. "Hell, 110!
Whmaot a week before he died
that sanctimonious law-shark,
George Arthur, came to see him
an' made some crack about It be
ing too bad that yuh shoulda fell
foul of the law.
"Man- I though ole Bart Loy
ale was gonna crawl right outa
bed, sick as he was, an' scalp that
lawyer right there. 'Damn yore
law!* yelled Bart. 'That boy is
innocent an' yuh know it, Arthur,
yuh crooked, lyin* polecat! Get
outa here, 'fore yo're packed out
on a board.' Don't worry, Slim;
yore daddy stood behind yuh to
his last breath."
A long silence fell. Slim's chin
was on his chest. Presently he
stirred. "Yuh seen Mona Hall
lately?"
Dakota nodded. "Saw her day
before yesterday. She asked about
yuh, Slim. I told her yuh were
gettin' out today."
"What—what did she saw?"
"Nothin'—with her lips. But
she kinda twisted them slim, lit
tle brown hands of hers an' look
ed away out past me—like she
was lookin' at a sunrise an' findin'
it good."
Silence fell again, unbroken ex
cept for the steady munching of
the horses. A sap pocket in a
piece of glowing wood snapped
sharply, scattering a little cloud
of ashes from the fire. The crim
son of the sunset sky faded and
dusk thickened. A hoot owl
boomed hollowly from a neigh
boring sycamore. Thin and far
away a coyote yammered at the
first stars.
Slim Loyale got to his feet and
dragged a blanket roll from the
dunnage heap. He set about
spreading them in the very cen
ter of the little meadow.
"It'll be a heavy dew tonight,
Slim," counseled Dakota Blue.
"Yuh better spread 'em back un
der the willows where mine are.
Slim laughed softly. "I wanta
taste that dew once more, Dako
ta. I wanta feel it on my face,
an' I wanta look at the stars a
heap. I ain't seen much of 'eir
for—for a long time."
Shortly before midday, Slim
Loyale and Dakota Blue rode in
to the cow town of Pinnacle. The
single street was dusty and wide,
and flanked with warped, splint
ery board sidewalks. The build
ings were nearly all of frame con
struction. their high false fronts
throwing blocks of shadow.
The street ran north and south,
and at the north end stood a liv
ery stable and corral with a wa
tering trough in front. Across
from the livery stable was Sher
iff Jigger Starbuck's office and
behind the office stood the jail.
The latter was a small square
chubby, which differed in. con
struction from the majority of
the buildings inasmuch as it was
made of stout fir logs, brought
down from the slopes of the jag
ged Mineral Mountains to the
north.
At the hitching-rail before the
sheriff's office, Slim and Dakota
dismounted. "Yuh go ahead with
yore business, S}im," said
"When yo're done, come on over
to Spud Dillons 'place. I'll be wait
in' for yuh there."
Slim nodded, twisted the reins
of his mount around the rail, then
walked up to the door of the of
fice and knocked. He entered at
the summons of a deep reasonant
voice.
Sheriff starbuck sat behind a
battered, paper-littered desk. He
was a tall man of middle age, thin
and leathery-brown. His clean
shaven face was hard from the
habitual grim set of his jutting
j'iw. His eyes were a light blue,
cold and searching. He showed no
evidence of surprise at sight of
Slim. Instead, lie rose to his feet
and thrust forth his hand.
"Hello Slim," he said. "Glad to
see yuh back?"
Slim shook hands. "Glad to be
back. Jigger. Yuh knew I was
comin'?"
Continued Next Issue
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