” Bv ALAN Lt MAY W.N.U. Release
INSTALLMENT 16
THE STORY SO FAR:
Oiuty King and Lew Gordon had built up
• raat string of ranches. King was killed by
Ha powerful and unscrupulous competitor,
fen Thorpe Bill Roper, King's adopted
son, was determined to avenge his death in
Iptte of the opposition of his sweetheart,
CHAPTER XXII
We’re making a big mistake, not
to hang him and be done with it,"
Red Kane said.
They were two days from Fork
Creek now. This long and narrow
room, which Jim Leathers paced so
restlessly, was the kitchen of the
main house at Walk Lasham’s south
west camp—a convenient stop-over
on the way to Sundance, where Rop
er was to be turned over to Ben
Thorpe.
"The quicker we hang him, the
better we’ll be off,” Red Kane said
again.
Wearily, doggedly, Jim Leathers
rolled a cigarette. He took his time
about replying. “Seems like you al
ready said that once before.”
“I’m liable to keep on saying it,”
Red Kane told him. "Things is dif
ferent now.”
In the doorway, behind the two
men who watched Bill Roper, a girl
now appeared, a slim, full-breasted
girl, whose dark, slanting eyes had
sometimes troubled Bill Roper be
fore now.
He had not been surprised to find
Marquita here in Walk Lasham’s
southwest cow camp, to which his
captors had brought him. He had
guessed, when he had last talked to
her in Miles City, that she was Walk
Lasham’s girl; and in spite of her
expressed eagerness to leave Lash
am and ride with Roper, he real
ized that Marquita still had to live
in some way.
Girls of her stamp could not afr
ford to throw down such a man as
Lasham, until more interesting op
portunities offered.
Her face was impassive now, but
one of the slanting dark eyes nar
rowed in a definite signal to Roper.
The combination of Spanish and In
dian blood in this girl from the Texas
border gave her a lithe, lazy grace,
end a haunting depth of dark eyes;
end the same blood made her un
accountable—sometimes stoic and
smouldering, sometimes livened by
the lightning flashes of an inner fire.
Undoubtedly she was capable of a
passionate devotion, and an equally
passionate cruelty. Anything could
happen in a situation which included
Marquita—with Marquita in love.
For a moment Bill Roper resented
the fact that he couldn’t be. interest
ed in any girl except Jody Gordon—
a girl who didn’t want him or need
him. All the worst aspects of his
own situation were apparent to him,
then. He was an outlaw wanted
the length of the Trail; probably
would be an outlaw all the rest of
his life, which gave every promise
of being a short one. That even
Marquita wanted him, or had any
use for him, was a gift which he
phould have been glad to accept.
What he had to think of now, though,
was that Marquita was extremely
likely to precipitate a lot of imme
diate disturbance.
Troubled, he wished to shake his
head, or in some other way caution
her that she must make no attempt
to interfere. Roper had no inten
tion of Over coming into the hands
of Ben Thorpe alive. Somewhere
between this place and Sundance,
where Thorpe waited,he would make
his play, however slim the chance.
Yet he would rather take his
chances with some unforeseen op
portunity later, when they were
again on the trail, than to be plunged
Into some helpfully intended situa
tion which the girl might devise—
with danger to herself and question
able advantage to him. She had
never brought him any luck.
He was unable, however, with the
eyes of his two enemies upon him,
to signal her in any way.
"Ben wanted him alive, if I could
get him,” Jim Leathers said stub
bornly. “Well, I got him alive, and
I aim to keep him that way. You
bums ain’t going to talk me into
anything different just because you
figure a dead man is easier to
pack.”
Bill Roper listened sardonically.
In the two days spent in traveling
from Fork Creek rendezvous, the
scalp wound which had brought him
down had nearly healed; but when
he laced his fingers behind his head
he winced and dropped his hands
again.
It was typical of the quality of his
captors that his hands were not tied
or manacled. They told him where
to they made him stay put,
and tney were careful that no op
portunity was given him to snatch a
gun from an unwary holster; but
these were merely the routine pre
cautions of sensible men. For these
riders were the picked gunfighters
of Ben Thorpe’s scores of outfits.
They did not fear Roper, would not
have feared him had he been armed.
Bill Roper had no doubt that Red
Kane and perhaps one or two of
the others would kill a doomed pris
oner for no more reason than Jim i
Leathers had suggested.
The Lasham camp had been boil
•ng with news as Jim Leathers’ men
had ridden in at dusk with their ‘
prisoner Much had happened on 1
Ihe range while Leathers had waited 1
0111 Bill Riper at the Fork Creek
wmc **•*>.( new* that had reached
Jody Gordon, and her father. After break
ing Thorpe In Texai, Roper conducted a
great raid upon Thorpe'* vast herds In Mon
tana. Jody was captured by seven of
Thorpe 1 * men. Roper and Shoshone Wllce
rescued her In a surprise attack. Shoshone
• • •
Lasham’s southwest camp was bro
ken, and seemed to have been little
understood by the men who had
brought it; but Roper, with his in
side knowledge of the force he had
turned loose against Lasham, could
piece together its meaning well
enough. Lasham’s southwest out
post, with its big herds of picked
cattle wintering in this deepest and
richest of the Montana grass, had
been more powerfully manned than
any other Lasham camp. But twice
in the past week frantic calls for
reinforcements from the outfits to
the east had drained most of this
man power away—first five picked
gunfighters, then a dozen cowboys
more, until only five men had been
left.
The messengers who had killed
their ponies to come for help had
brought the camp a fragmentary
story which gave Roper the deep
est satisfaction.
In their tales of incredible losses,
of raiders who struck night after
night at far separated points, driv
ing cattle unheard-of distances to
disa{)pear weirdly in the northern
wastes, Roper read the success of
his Great Raid.
Dry Camp Pierce was sweeping
westward across Montana like a de
stroying wind; by unexpected dar
ing, by speed of movement, by wild
Dry Camp Pierce was sweeping
westward across Montana.
riding relays which punished them
selves no less than the cattle they
drove, Dry Camp was feeding an
increasing stream of Lasham beef
into the hands of Iron Dog’s bands,
who spirited the beef forever from
the face of Montana. By the very
boldness of its conception and the
wild savagery of its execution the
unbelievable Great Raid was meet
ing with success.
And now Dry Camp had struck
even deeper than Roper had
planned, lifting the best of Lash
am’s beeves from almost within gun
shot of Lasham’s strongest camp.
So well had Dry Camp planned, and
so steadily did the luck hold, that a
full day had passed before the loss
inflicted by the raiders was discov
ered. The five remaining cowboys
at the southwest camp were only
tightening their cinches as Jim
Leathers rode in.
Most of the Leathers party had
joined the Lasham men in pursuit
of Dry Camp’s raiders. Only Jim
Leathers himself and the unwilling
Red Kane remained to convoy Rop
er to Ben Thorpe at Sundance.
Because of the confusion involved
in the organization of the pursuit,
the night was now far gone; already
it was long past midnight.
"There’s still another reason,”
Red Kane said, “why it would be
better to hang him now. Suppose
that wild bunch of his knows he’s
here?”
“How the devil would they know
that?” Leathers said with disgust.
“Maybe they was scouting us with
sdv glasses as we come over the
trail today."
"If they was, they would have
landed on us right then, in place of
waiting till we got into camp.”
“Maybe the girl run to them—”
“The girl! You make me sick.”
“Have it your own way.”
“You’re darned right I’ll have it
my own way. I don’t want to hear
no more about it. And I’ll tell you
this: if your trigger finger gets itchy
while you’re on watch tonight, you
better soak it in a pan of water, and
leave the gun be. Because if any
thing comes up while you’re on
watch such that you got to shoot
him, by God, next thing you got to
shoot me—you understand?”
a map* ot fi n E fiction
HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL, PERKY, GEOituiA
and Jody rode to a prearranged spot, but
Roper was captured while fighting a rear
guard action to assure their escape.
While waiting for Roper to meet them at
their secret hiding place, Jody saw Sho
shone (all down. dead.
• •
“I guess it could be done,” Red
Kane said nastily.
Leathers Ignored this, and Red
Kane disappeared. This time the
door shut after him.
Leathers said, ‘‘Get me a drink.”
Marquita unhurriedly set out a bot
tle and a glass on the table beside
Jim Leathers’ elbow.
“A deck of cards,” Leathers said.
She produced this, too.
Marquita strolled over to Leath
ers, the high heels of her slippers
clicking lazily on the puncheon floor.
“Why are you so cross with me?”
she asked reproachfully. She moved
behind Jim Leathers, ana slowly ran
her fingers through his hair.
“Ain’t going to get you a thing,”
Jim Leathers said sourly.
“No?” said Marquita. For a mo
ment one hand was lost In the folds
of her skirt; then deftly, unhurried
ly, she planted the muzzle of a .38
against the back of Jim Leathers’
neck.
There was a moment of absolute
silence, absolute immobility. Jim
Leathers’ eyes were perfectly still
upon Bill Roper’s face, as still as
his hands, in one of which a playing
card hung suspended. But though
his face did not notably change,
Marquita, with her .38 pressed hard
against the back of the gunman’s
neck, had turned white; her mouth
worked as she tried to speak, and
her wide eyes were upon Bill Roper
in terrified appeal. Perhaps no more
than a second could have passed in
that way, but to them all it seemed
as if time had stopped, so that that
little fraction of eternity held them
motionless forever.
Bill Roper, moving up and for
ward, exploded into action smoothly,
like a cat. It was the length of the
room between them that saved Jim
Leathers then.
Leathers twisted, lightning fast,
Marquita’s gun blazed into the floor
as her wrist swept down in the grip
of Leathers’ left hand; and Bill Rop
er checked a yard from the table as
Leathers’ gun flashed into sight, be
coming instantly steady. Marquita
sagged away from Leathers, and her
gun clattered upon the puncheons;
but although Leathers’ whole atten
tion was concentrated upon Rbper,
Marquita’s wrist remained locked in
his grasp.
The gunfighter’s voice was more
hard and cold than the steel of his
gun; it was as hard and cold as his
eyes.
“Get back there where you was.”
Bill Roper shrugged and moved
back.
Leathers flung Marquita away
from him and with his left hand
picked up her gun as the door of
the storeroom was torn open and
Red Kane bulged in.
“What the—”
“This thing come behind me and
stuck a gun in my neck,” Leathers
told him.
"The devil! You hurt?”
“Hell, nol I took it away from
her.”
Gently, tentatively, his long fin
gers ran over his wounded leg. That
bullet wound in his thigh must have
tortured him unspeakably through
the two days in the saddle; and it
must have been jerking at his nerves
now with red-hot hooks, roused by
the swift action that had preserved
his command.
His face had turned gray so that
the black circles under his eyes
made them seem to burn from
death’s-head hollows, and his face,
which had changed so little in this
moment of action was relaxed inU
an ugly contortion. Slowly the gray
color was turning to the purp'e of
a dark and terrible anger.
“By God.” said Red Kane, “I told
you we should have hung him!”
"You told me right," Jim Leath
ers said. The burn of his eyes
never for a moment left Bill Ro
per’s face. "You was right and I
was wrong. I should have bunf
him at the start.”
A pleasurable hope came into Red
‘ Kane’s face. "Well —it ain’t toe
late!”
"No, it ain’t too late. Tie his
hands.”
Keeping Roper between himself
and Leathers, so that his partner’s
gun bore steadily upon Roper’s belt
; buckle, Kane lashed Roper’s hands
behind him. The frost-stiff rope bit
deep.
"Tie up this girl,” Leathers or
dered when Kane had finished.
want her to see this show.”
Marquita said, “I’m sorry, Bill.’
Her voice was broken by hard, jerk
ing sobs, and tears were running
down her face, yet somehow her
words sounded dull and dead. “1
did the best 1 could.”
“You did fine," Roper said. “Tha
was a game try.” Hobbling on hii
stiff leg, Leathers moved to the out
er door, flung it open; coatless, h«
stopped and signaled Red Kan<
back with one hand.
"Red, get back! Get out of liner
With the quick instinct of a mat
who has always been in trouble, Re*
Kane jumped back into the room
carrying Bill Roper with him The
all could hear now the sound of rw
ning horses.
(TO BE CONTWVtn
Chicken a la King for Fifty
(See Recipes Below.)
■
Church Supper Ideas
What is so gay as a grand, big
get-together full of informal fun, the
, hum of pleasant conversation and
plenty of good food thrown into the
bargain? A church supper, of
course!
The fun will take care of itself
and the food—well, almost if you get
* the right amount
of it, for the cook
mAr ti/ S> ing’s as simple
—l as onl y simple
| V can be. Chicken’s
Vpi i H\ a treat any way
’ m you serve but
v ° ry easy to pre *
' pare and serve if
you do it this time-tried, old-fash
ioned, favorite way ladled out of a
big kettle with plenty of cream sauce
onto feathery light hot biscuits:
♦Chicken or Turkey a la King.
(Serves 50)
4 4-pound chickens, stewed, then
cut meat into pieces
Or
1 18-pound turkey, stewed or
roasted, meat diced
1 pound fat (chicken or turkey
fat and butter mixed)
4 cups flour
2 gallons scalded milk
1 pound fresh mushrooms or 2
large cans
2 tablespoons minced onion
IV2 teaspoons or more salt
% teaspoon white pepper
IV2 teaspoons paprika
2 sweet green peppers, chopped
(optional)
2 pimientos, chopped (optional)
% cup egg yolks (6 eggs)
Melt about three-fourths of the fat,
add the flour, and blend thoroughly;
: add scalded milk, stirring rapidly
with a wire whisk to keep well
mixed. Cook until starch taste is
gone—about 10 minutes. Cook the
mushrooms, sliced, in remaining fat,
until delicately browned and add to
sauce with the onion. Beat egg yolks
and mix with a small amount of the
hot mixture to blend and add to the
sauce, stirring thoroughly. Cook 4
or 5 minutes more. Add turkey
meat. Season to taste (with paprika
and pepper mixed into salt). Add
peppers and pimiento, if used. Serve
on hot biscuits.
The simplest way to prepare the
chickens is to cook them in sea
soned water, to
which a small on
ion, 2 carrots and -t Vi
a small bunch of
celery are added.
Chickens are han
died best if dis- P 3
jointed and the > j,
breast and back ' *
sections cut into
convenient-sized pieces.
Baking Powder Biscuits.
(Serves 50) 1
4 pounds flour
% cup double-acting baking
powder
2 tablespoons salt
1 pound shortening (l x k cups)
5 cups milk
Sift the dry ingredients together,
add fat and mix lightly. Make a
well in the center and add the milk.
LYNN SAYS:
Attractive salads pep up meals
besides adding nourishment plus
to menus. Salads in winter are a
little hard to plan because of the
scarcity of fresh fruits and vege
tables, so I suggest you try these
for solving your salad problem:
Prunes stuffed with cream
cheese and nuts, served with or
ange sections and lettuce.
Cooked beets and cooked car
rots diced with celery, mixed
with mayonnaise.
Orange sections served with
tiny cream cheese balls. Mari
nate oranges in french dressing
first.
Canned pineapple and fresh or
anges served in alternate sections
on lettuce. Alternating orange
and grapefruit sections are a good
idea, too.
Chunks of lettuce with crum
bled hard-cooked egg and a few
leftover peas, tossed together with
•salad oil. salt, pepper, vinegar.
THIS WEEK’S MENU
♦Chicken a la King
♦Scalloped Potatoes
♦Sunset Salad
Bread and Butter
Assorted Cakes
♦Coffee
♦Recipe given
Mix just until the dough holds to
gether. Divide dough into fourths
and make V\ at a time. Roll on a
floured board, pat to % inch thick
ness, cut and place on baking sheet.
Bake 12 to 15 minutes in a hot (450
degree) oven until golden brown.
♦Scalloped Potatoes.
(Serves 50)
10 pounds (6 quarts) sliced potatoes
2 quarts hot milk
1 k cup flour
Vk cups butter
3 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon pepper
Peel potatoes before weighing. Be
fore measuring, peel and slice. If
large, cut in two lengthwise before
slicing. Into six baking dishes put
a layer of potato, then a slight layer
of flour, and repeat until all potatpes
are used. Dissolve salt, pepper and
butter in hot milk. Pour over pota
toes, cover and cook in slow oven
for 1 x h. hours or until done.
Best idea for a salad is this one
that’s made in ad
vance and needs V ( *'
only to be sliced V- jtl*
and placed on 'rj 1 f
lettuce leaves for (_ 1
serving. It’s as Z
gay and colorful \
as the get-togeth- W— 1
er itself.
♦Sunset Salad.
13 ounces lemon gelatin
2Mi quarts hot water and canned
pineapple juice
IV2 quarts grated raw carrots
1% pints canned crushed pine
apple, drained
2 teaspoons salt
Dissolve gelatin in hot water and
pineapple juice which has been heat
ed to 130 degrees F. Chill. Combine
carrots, pineapple and salt. When
mixture is slightly thickened, fold in 1
carrot and pineapple mixture. Turn
into individual molds. Chill until
firm. Unmold on crisp lettuce. Gar- i
nish with mayonnaise and grated ;
carrots. Makes 32 portions.
Just in case you want to make up
a church supper menu of your own,
I’m listing additional recipes:
Meat Loaf.
10 pounds ground round steak
2 pounds ground pork or salt pork
4 eggs
V 2 pound bread crumbs
2 onions
2 tablespoons salt
1 2 teaspoons pepper
1 quart cold mashed potatoes
1 quart milk or canned tomatoes
Mix thoroughly, mold into five
loaves, and bake in a moderate oven
350 degrees F., until done. Makes
50 servings.
♦Boiled Coffee.
(Serves 50)
IVt pounds coffee (6Mi cups)
2Mz gallons water
2 eggs
Mix shells, whole eggs and 1 addi
tional cup of cold water with coffee.
When the water comes to a boil,
add the coffee egg mixture which
has been tied in a bag, to the boil
ing water, and boil for 3 to 5 min
utes. Test for strength. When ready,
remove bag, let coffee stand 10 to 15
minutes before serving.
• * *
The wife of one of our famous
football coaches, Mrs. Lou Little,
likes to serve a simple but hearty
meal after the game. Jot this one
down as an idea for an after the
game supper or church supper idea;
Hot mulled cider, casserole of pork
and beans, buttered hot date-nut
bread, celery, pickles, and chili
sauce; jellied cole slaw; doughnuts
and coffee.
For the casserole, used canned
pork and beans with tomato sauce,
heat in the oven about 20 minutes.
As a decoration use half slices ol
date-nut bread. Put them around the
top of the beans for 5 minutes be
fore the casserole comes out from
the oven.
(Ueleabtcl b> V«'cstern Newspaper Union.)
I They Got Me Covered*
Is Funniest Book of Year
A NEW all-around champion
has been crowned ... in ths
entertainment world. He is
Hope. Not satisfied with being
rated tops on the radio, Number
One in screen box office receipts,
he is author «f one of the nation’s
best sellers, which just about nail*
down this triple crown for Bob.
“They Got Me Covered,” Hope’s
autobiography, has been claimed
by critics and readers alike as one
of the year’s funniest books. It is
a hilarious story, in narrative
form, of Bob Hope’s life, gener
ously illustrated with photographs,
in addition to having cartoons de
picting scenes from his life.
The book is now available at
drug and department stores
throughout America at 10 cents
per copy with the purchase of a
Pcpsodent product. This low price
is possible because the sale of the
book has been sponsored by the
Pepsodent Company.-—Adv.
ft * SOOTHES CHAFED SKIM. **
POROLINf
WORLD S LARGEST SELLER AT
Influence of Church
The churches are the greatest
influence in this world of ours to
overcome the present tendency
toward greed.—President Frank
lin D. Roosevelt.
How To Relieve
Bronchitis
Crcomulslon relieves promptly be
cause It goes right to the seat of the
trouble to help loosen and expel
germ laden phlegm, and aid nature
to soothe and heal raw, tender, in
flamed bronchial mucous mem
branes. Tell your druggist to sell you
a bottle of Creomulsion with the un
derstanding you must like the way it
quickly allays the cough or you are
to have your money back.
CREOMULSION
for Coughs, Chest Colds, Bronchitis
Customs Change
The customs and fashions of
men change like leaves on ths
bough, some df which go and oth
ers come.—Dante.
INDIGESTION
Gas may excite the Heart action
At the first nlpn of dintresn smart men and women
depend on Beltane Tablets to net free. No laxa
tive hut made of the fastest-acting medicines known
for symptomatic relief of gastric hyperacidit y. If the
FIRST TRIAL doesn’t prove Bell-arm Imlter, return
bottle to us and receive DOUBLE Money Back. 26a.
First Virtue
I think the first virtue is to re
strain the tongue; he approaches
nearest to the gods who knows how
to be silent.—Cato.
Don’t Blame Your Husband
lif he'» "dead tired” when he cornea from I
work and hatet going placet. Mental I
or phyaical over-exertion occur* m
eaaily if appetite for neceaaary body- I
building food* ia abaent- VINOL with I
Vitamin BI and Iron helpa promote 1
appetite. Druggiata have VINOL. I
Sleep Heals
The long sleep of death closes
our scars, and the short sleep of
life our wounds. Jean Paul
Richter.
! middle-age;
WOMENS
HEED THIS ADVICEII
If you’re cross, restless, nervous
—suffer hot flashes, dizziness —
caused by this period in a
woman’s life try Lydia Pink
ham’s Vegetable Compound.
Made especially for women. Helps
to relievo distress due to this
functional disturbance. Thou
sands upon thousands of women
report remarkable benefits. Fol
low label directions.
V J
|ssssssssssssss sT|
We Can All Be
EXPERT
BUYERS
• In bringing ui buying Information, a*
to prlcei that or* being asked for
what wo Intend to buy, and as to the
quality we can expect, the advertising
columns of this newspaper perform a
worth while service which saves us
many dollars a year.
• If Is a good habit to form, the habit
of consulting the advertisements every
time we make a purchase, though we
have already decided just what we
want and where we are going to buy
It. It gives us the most priceless feeling
In the worldi the feeling of being
adequately prepared.
• When we go into a store, prepared
beforehand with knowledge of what is
offered and at what price, we go as
an expert buyer, filled with self-confi
dence. It is a pleasant feeling to have,
the feeling of adequacy. Most of the
unhappiness in the world can be traced
to a lack of this feeling. Thus adver
tising shows another of its manifold
facets —shows Itself as an aid toward
making all our business relationship:
more secure and pleasant.
ssssssssssssssTs
