Part 8 (1/2)
”Five hundred dollars!” said ”Boss” Kelley, who by virtue of his position took it upon hie when matters came before them that were so: that his as law to the tboys, and that when he spoke the other two reo into Dan's hands How long do you suppose it will last hiet to Cale's bar,” said Hank Monroe
”And no longer,” chiht to have it, if we can find him when he is sober,”
said Kelley ”Now, doctor, how came you by it in the first place?”
”I am plain Tom Mason, and I don't like to answer to any other name,”
said the latter; and with the words he settled back in his chair and told the history of his
He knew he could tell it just as it happened, for these amblers, and knew the h, he found that he had the,” said Stanley ”Go home and tell your uncle just what you have told us, and take the racket”
”Boys, I knowhis head
”Perhaps he had better go on,” said Kelley ”His uncle will throw things at hio away and let hi to take help fro to take help froe place, and don't knohathis hand to be shaken by To in which he was irip, and whenever you get it out here, youfriends Tom is one of our party now”
Tom Mason told himself that never had a runaway been blessed with such luck No sooner did onefor assistance turn out to be unreliable than another one caotten hihty and would prevail After that he had nothing to do during the rest of his trip but sit alongside one of his co the future of Black Dan All he could learn regarding the latter was that he was going to the bad as rapidly as he could
”All gamblers come to that sooner or later,” said Kelley ”All the ot was made honestly I don't know one card fro If a man of Kelley's stamp--Tom kneell off, for he had heard hi fast to until the government came up to his price--could live all these years on the prairie and never learn one card froht do so
At last, after innu which her spars had been used until they were all mud, and it seemed impossible for her to proceed a foot farther, the _Ivanhoe_ whistled for Fort Haiven it that name A short distance above the little circle of houses that always spring up around a fortification, crowning a hill, was a stockade fro the crowd of loungers who assembled to see the boat come in were several men dressed in the unifor was et the money he had locked in the safe, and made his way down the stairs to find Kelley and Stanley waiting for him They all had horses, with their extra wardrobe tied up in ponchos behind their saddles, but they had given them over to one of their number with orders to take them to the Eldorado, the hotel which all the best men in that country patronized
”Noant to find out what's left of Black Dan,” said Kelley ”I think ill get on his trail somewhere up here”
CHAPTER VII
A TEMPERANCE LECTURE
It was a muddy, miry place in which To some there and Fort Hae There were no sidewalks except in front of the various saloons and stores they passed, and half the way they walked throughto him to notice how nized his companions It was ”Howdy, Mr Kelley?” and ”hello, Stanley!” or ”hello, Arrow-foot!” until To that his two friends were raised right in town instead of co from a country a hundredI do not understand”
”Well, you see that when my employer first came to this country and wanted a name for his cattle, he picked up on his piece of land, close by the spot where his dugout is now located, a small piece of clay plainly marked with an arrow-foot There was the stem of the arrow all complete, and so he named his cattle 'Arrow-foot' Almost everybody out here is known by the brand his cattle wears”
”But how do they come to call you 'Mr' Kelley?”
”I don't know, unless it is because I don't drink or ga all the rows”
Presently Mr Kelley made his way into a spacious saloon that occupied one end of the block It had evidently been built by someone who had an idea of refinement about him, for its verandas were spacious, the s can over the door Inside the rooe and airy, with a bar on one side and a nu away to the other end It was quiet enough now in the daytime, but when Tohted, he thought pandemonium had broken loose