by Fran Striker
Chapter XXIX
AN ACE IS TRUMPED
The Lone Ranger closed the door. Wallie looked at him and smirked. "Nowyer showin' good judgment," he said. "I've got a story all fixed up.It'll put us in the clear an'--"
A shout outside the door.
"Come in alone, Yuma," the masked man replied, stepping back against thewall. There was a hurried conversation in the hall, then Yuma came in.His face was red and sweaty. His eyes went wide with surprise at thescene before him.
"Close the door," said the masked man softly.
Yuma slapped it closed and then exclaimed, "What in hell's been goin'on?" He saw Bryant, then the others with their hands still held slightlylifted.
"Yuma," the masked man said, "Jeb is about the house some place. Youmight have a couple of the men look beneath the living-room floor."
"But what's been goin' on here?" repeated the big cowboy. "Has that oldbuzzard confessed?"
"Bryant is in the clear. Get the story briefly. Wallie led the gang.Bryant's half-blind, but I know of a doctor who can help him. Bryantdidn't know what went on here. Penelope is supposed to inheriteverything, but I have an idea that she and Bryant will be together fora good many years before there's any inheritance to talk about."
Yuma nodded, still wide-eyed. He looked from Bryant to Wallie, then atthe men on the floor. He said, "There'll be a nice hunk o' reward moneycomin' fer the capture o' these critters."
"I won't be here to collect any reward, Yuma. You helped capture them.Perhaps you and Bryant can split the rewards."
Yuma looked surprised. "Yuh mean tuh say yuh don't want the rewardmoney?"
The masked man shook his head. Then Yuma saw his drawn face and theblood-soaked shirt.
"Look here, yore hurt bad. Yuh need some patchin' up." He stepped to thedoor. "I'll call the Rangers in here tuh take things in hand an' seeabout you."
"No, no," the Lone Ranger said quickly. "Tonto will be here and he'llfix the wound. It doesn't amount to much."
"The hell it don't."
"There's something more important. Wallie was just trying to buy hisfreedom. He had Penelope taken to Breed Martin in Red Oak."
"Breed Martin!" howled Yuma, following the name with a string ofinvectives. "Why that--"
"Wallie said that Breed was to take the girl to a hiding place and if hedidn't hear from Wallie to go on to Mexico with her."
Yuma's face lost color. His eyes flashed angry fire in a look toward theerstwhile bandit leader. "An' so he wants tuh be let go free," said Yumawith terrible coldness in his voice. "Where is this hidin' place?"
Wallie spoke. "D'you think I'm fool enough to tell you? Not me. You letme go an' you'll see Penny back here soon."
"I think," said Yuma slowly, "yore agoin' tuh tell where at that placeis." He took one step forward, swinging his right hand in a wide arc. Itlanded open-palmed with a resounding slap on Wallie's cheek. "That,"cried Yuma, "ain't even the start!" He brought his left around to slapthe other side of Wallie's face, and then began a dazzling sequence ofopen-handed slaps, each one delivered with a force that bounced Wallie'shead from one side to the other. A blow with a closed fist would haveknocked the killer out, and Yuma didn't want this. He slapped until theother's face became a livid mass of swollen flesh. He would have gone onuntil exhaustion made him stop, but the Lone Ranger halted him.
"That's enough, Yuma--enough," the masked man called above cries of"give 'im hell!" that came from Bryant.
Yuma, breathing hard, stepped back. "That's just the start, yuh orneryrat," he gasped. "Now you speak up or I'll wade in with more o' thesame!"
Wallie was reeling, clutching at a table for support. His eyes were red,and blood drooled from a corner of his mouth.
"I didn't intend to let you go that far," the masked man said. "There isno need of trying to make him reveal this hiding place."
"No need?" demanded Yuma.
"No. Tonto didn't take Penelope to Martin's. He went to Red Oak and thenfollowed you and the Texas Rangers back here."
"I ain't seen him or that girl," argued Wallie.
"Look out the window." The buckboard with its team still hitched wasnear the corral. The children were still on board.
"Where at," cried Yuma, "is my girl?"
"She and Tonto came into the house."
Wallie had slumped to the floor and sat there completely beaten andwearing a dazed, bewildered expression.
"Now listen to me carefully," the masked man told Yuma. "If the TexasRangers see me here, with this mask on, they'll ask no end of questions.I don't want that. I want to slip out of this house by the rear stairs.You can turn these men over to the law, and Bryant will tell the entirestory."
There was a hammering upon the bedroom door. "The Rangers," said themasked man softly. "Tell them to go back downstairs."
Yuma shouted through the door, "Vamoose, I'll be down tuh meet yuh in aminute!"
"Don't you tell me to vamoose in my own house," a girl's voice retorted.
"Penny!" breathed the big cowboy.
"See if she is at the door alone," the masked man said while he stillheld the latch of the door.
Penny's voice gave the answer. "Open up, you big galoot. Tonto is herewith me! I've got to see that masked man in a hurry!"
The Lone Ranger told Yuma to stay in the room and bind the hands of thethree prisoners. Then he stepped out to the hall.
Tonto said, "Me watch for Ranger. Girl want talk with you." The Indiantook a place at the head of the stairs to give a sign in case the Texanscame up the stairs.
Penelope clutched the masked man's arm. "Please," she said withintensity in her eyes and voice, "don't let them take Uncle Bryant away.I'm sure there must be some reason for--for everything. He's been like afather to me, he's been honest and good all his life. If he's changed itmust be for some reason. You promised me--"
Penny held a silver bullet toward the Lone Ranger. "You gave me yourword!"
The Lone Ranger took the girl's small hand in his and closed her fingersabout the bit of precious metal. "Keep that," he said. "Your UncleBryant isn't going to jail. He's going to a doctor and have his eyesfixed up."
"Then--then I was right in the first place!" Penelope's face lighted upwith the announcement.
"The worst crime of your uncle was his refusal to let friends help him."
A new note came into the confusion of voices on the first floor. Tontoexplained that Jeb had been found and was telling everything he knewabout the others. The masked man listened for a moment to the heavyvoice that told how Wallie planned to place the murder guilt on themasked man and Bryant.
Then the bedroom door jerked open. Yuma came out like a charging bulland halted abruptly at the sight of Penny. Bryant, leaning against theedge of the door, stood right behind him. "Yuh can't leave here yet,"Yuma told the Lone Ranger. "I got them critters roped so's they won'tmake no more trouble; now yuh got tuh wait an' listen tuh what Bryant'sgot tuh say."
Yuma looked at Penny; then his old confusion overcame him. He fumbledwith the buttons of his shirt and barely raised his eyes above thefloor.
Bryant Cavendish went to the point at once. "You," he said to the LoneRanger, "have gotta stay here an' run this ranch."
The masked man shook his head slowly.
"I won't take 'no' fer an answer. I've got tuh go an' take a trip tuhgit my eyes fixed up an' I cain't leave this place with no one tuh runit an' no cowhands tuh run it with. We've gotta git all new men an' weedout the cattle that's been stolen, an' see that the folks that losttheir cattle are paid back in full fer it an' no end of other things.Now you stay here an' name yer own price."
"I can't do it, Bryant. Tonto and I must leave here."
Penelope clutched the masked man. "Please," she said. "Please stay." Shelooked into his eyes in a way that made big Yuma squirm.
"Doggone," he said softly and wistfully, "if she ever said that tuh me aspan o' wild hosses couldn't drag me off this ranch. I'm damned if--"
Penny turned quickl
y. "_You_!" she said. "If you're to stay here, you'vegot to stop that cussing."
"Huh? M-me stay? I been fired!" Yuma looked at Bryant. "Y-yore uncletold me tuh git the hell--"
"More swearing," snapped Penelope.
Bryant broke in. "You look here, you big sidewinder, you was tryin' tuhtell me how this outfit should be run. Yuh did a heap of braggin' an'boastin' on how much yuh knowed an' now yore goin' tuh make good. I'dlike tuh have that masked man stay an' do the bossin', but I'd have tohave you as well. If he won't stay, then it's you that'll have to do thebossin'. I can't stop the masked man from leavin', but, by damn, if_you_ run out on me, I'll make yuh wish yuh hadn't."
"Yuh-yuh mean that I ain't fired then?" Yuma blinked at Bryant, thenlooked at Penny and his face fell. "A-w-w hell, Cavendish, I cain't stayaround here. That doggone purty girl jest ain't no use fer me, an' everytime I speak tuh her I rile her more. I reckon I--"
"Yuma!" said Penny sharply. "It's bad enough for you to swear likea--like a mule skinner. Are you going to fib as well?"
"M-me fib?"
"Blaming _me_ because you won't stay here! Trying to say that it is myfault, and that I have no use for you!"
"I--I--er uh ... that is...."
"That's an out 'n' out _fib_!"
Yuma's jaw dropped and he stared. Comprehension came to him slowly. Itwas incredible, unthinkable! "Y-you--you _want_ me tuh stay?" hefaltered.
Penelope looked at him and spoke softly. "Please." She took one of hisbig hands in both of hers. "At least stay for a little while so I cantell you what I mean."
Yuma let out a wild yell that rang throughout the house. "I'm astayin',"he roared. "She wants me tuh stay. I'm drunk--I'm adreamin', an' I'lldrill the critter that wakes me up."
"Blast yuh," bellowed Bryant. "If yer goin' loco, git those mendownstairs first; then I don't care what yuh do! Clear out my room an'after that yer runnin' this place on yer own!"
"I'm adoin' it!" cried Yuma, dashing through the door. In an instant hewas back with Wallie under one arm, Vince beneath the other, bothkicking their legs and crying at their undignified position. At thestairs, big Yuma met the Rangers coming up. "Hyar yuh are, boys," hecalled heartily. "Thar's a couple o' yore prisoners an' the rest arecomin' pronto." He let go his grip, and the captive pair dropped to thestairs and rolled down part way, where the Texas Rangers caught them.
It was then that Penny realized it: the Lone Ranger and Tonto were notthere. Sometime during the conversation with big Yuma, the two hadslipped away. They hadn't gone down the front stairs; the Texas Rangershad been in that part of the house. Penny hurried down the hall to herown bedroom and looked out the window. It faced the same as Bryant'swindow did. There were two horses at the corner of the house: Tonto'spaint horse and the big white stallion. She saw the masked man in thesaddle, Tonto about to mount. The girl watched as the two rode outacross the Basin toward the distant Gap. She felt that something vitalleft her as that masked man rode away, and yet she wouldn't have calledhim back. "Good-by," she breathed, "good-by, my friend."
The Gap yawned in the distance, a colorful opening under a westeringsun. Penelope's eyes were bright as she finally saw the two horsemendisappear beyond the bend.
Chapter XXX
THE BADGE OF A RANGER
Riding through the gap at Tonto's side, the Lone Ranger seemed lost inhis thoughts. His mood was one of introspection. He had no desire formoney; he never in the least desired to own land and large droves oflivestock and make deals with other men. His silver mine would stillremain unworked. Why, he wondered, should men want to make a trade thatwas to any other person's disadvantage? True, self-preservation was thefirst law of life, but wild things of the forest interpreted that law ofnature without greed or dishonesty. They lived by the rule of what wasbest for the greatest number.
On the other hand, because men preyed on one another, should he turnhis back upon a so-called civilization? The answer came to him then,clear and unmistakable. Since he had been a boy, the strong masked manhad gone to nature for his education. Now, as a man unnamed, he wouldtry to make mankind benefit by what he had learned.
Tonto studied the masked man with grave concern. He had tried topersuade his friend to halt and let his wounds be dressed, but the LoneRanger had refused. "We'll go on," he said. "There's one more thing Iwant to do."
A period of riding in silence brought them deep inside the Gap. Tontoasked no questions, made no comments. He simply rode in stolid patience,wondering if the Lone Ranger could know what he so desperately hoped forthe future. The pledge the masked man had made had been fulfilled. Nowthe Lone Ranger could unmask, reclaim his name, and take his place oncemore with white men. Would that be his decision? Tonto wondered.
The Texan reined up, then dismounted. He still breathed with difficulty,and his face was white and drawn. Hard lines showed at each side of hismouth as he stepped close to one wall of the canyon. Tonto recognizedthe place. Six mounds of earth and stone were there, surmounted by sixrough crosses.
The Lone Ranger stood before the first of these and removed his hat andthen his mask. The soft, warm light of the sunset brought a glow intothe Texan's upraised face and wiped away the lines of pain and fatigue.His lips moved slowly, though the Texan's voice was silent. Then hedropped his eyes and whispered, "Bert." He moved to the next grave andpaused there, whispering, "For you too, Jim." At the third small crossthe Texan whispered, "Dave," and at the next he called to, "Grant," then"Don."
At the sixth grave, the tall white man crouched and scooped aside thedirt and shale. He reached into the pocket of his shirt and withdrew astar of metal. He looked at it for just a moment. The badge of theRanger caught the sun's light and sent it sparkling into Tonto's eyes.Then the Texan dropped the badge into the hollow he had made, andcovered it.
Now he rose and faced the Indian. He nodded ever so slightly as if heunderstood what Tonto hoped for and desired. A faint smile broke thecorners of his mouth as he replaced the mask across his eyes.
"A little rest," he said, "to give my wounds a chance to heal, and thenwe'll ride again!"
Tonto said, "Me know good camp. We go there? Tonto fix wound?"
The masked man put on his hat and jerked it low. He placed one foot inthe stirrup. "We," he said, "will go there now!" He swung his leg acrossthe saddle, and his voice rang out with a crystal clearness that carriedthrough Bryant's Gap, echoing and re-echoing from wall to wall. "Hi-YoSilver, Away-y-y!"
Silver leaped ahead, his master in the saddle. Tonto rode behind andgrinned in happiness, following the tall masked man whom he called"friend."
