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Didn't Jean find the black hoss up at Jorth's ranch?" demanded Blaisdell. "What more do we want?" "Jean couldn't swear Jorth stole the black." "Wal, by thunder, I can swear to it!" growled Blaisdell. "An' we're losin' cattle all the time. Who's stealin' 'em?" "We've always lost cattle ever since we started ranchin' heah." "Gas, I reckon yu want Jorth to start this fight in the open."
Jean heard the clink of a cap, the lazy drawl of a Texan, and then a strong, harsh voice Jorth's. It strung Jean's whole being tight and vibrating. Inside he was on fire while cold thrills rippled over his skin. It took tremendous effort of will to hold himself back another instant to listen, to look, to feel, to make sure.
Wal, I'm gamblin' thet as soon as it's dark Jorth's gang will be celebratin'. They'll be drinkin' an' they'll have a light, an' the winders will be shut. They're not goin' to worry none aboot us. Thet store is like a fort. It won't burn. An' shore they'd never think of us chargin' them in there.
Lorenzo saw y'u follered y'u watched y'u. Bruce pointed at the grinnin' greaser. 'Lorenzo is Kurnel Jorth's foreman. He seen y'u maulin' of Ellen Jorth. An' when he tells the Kurnel an' Tad Jorth an' Jackson Jorth! ... Haw! Haw! Haw! Why, hell 'd be a cooler place fer yu then this heah Tonto. "Greaves an' his gang hed come round, sure tickled clean to thar gizzards at this mess.
I knowed it.... I could hev killed him.... But I was after Lee Jorth an' his brothers...." Blue's voice failed there. "Wal!" ejaculated Blaisdell. "Shore was funny Jorth's face when I said King Fisher," whispered Blue. "Funnier when I bored him through.... But it was Queen " His whisper died away. "Blue!" called Blaisdell, sharply.
These calls to the primitive in Jean, to the Indian, were not in vain. But even so, when the dark tide rose in him, there was still a haunting consciousness of the cruelty of this singular doom imposed upon him. Strangely Ellen Jorth's face floated back in the depths of his vision, pale, fading, like the face of a spirit floating by.
The cedared ridge back of the ranch was the one approach by which Jorth's gang might come close without being detected, but even so, Jean could see them and ride to the house in time to prevent a surprise. The moments dragged by, and at the end of an hour Jean was in hopes that Blaisdell would soon come. These hopes were well founded.
That's where Tad got his hurt.... Then we hit the trail for Jorth's ranch.... An now, Ellen, that's all my story. Your dad was ready to bury the hatchet with his old enemy. An' that Nez Perce Jean Isbel, like the sneakin' savage he is, murdered your uncle an' your dad.... Cut him horrible made him suffer tortures of hell all for Isbel revenge!"
Then facin' Greaves, he said, deliberately: 'Greaves, this drunken Bruce is excuse enough fer a show-down. I take it that you are sheepmen, an' you're goin' on Jorth's side of the fence in the matter of this sheep rangin'. "'Wal, Nez Perce, I reckon you hit plumb center, said Greaves, dryly. He spread wide his big hands to the other men, as if to say they'd might as well own the jig was up.
I'm rangin' sheep heahaboots, an' I hev interest in Kurnel Lee Jorth's bizness. "'Hod do, Mister Bruce, replied Isbel, very civil ant cool as you please. Bruce hed an eye fer the crowd thet was now listenin' an' watchin'. He swaggered closer to Isbel. "'We heerd y'u come into the Tonto Basin to run us sheepmen off the range. How aboot thet? "'Wal, you heerd wrong, said Isbel, quietly.
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