Old Cap. Collier Library No. 379: The Lawyer Detective — page 4: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

4 black hair, his dress being of coarse material. ‘‘T don’t wonder that you, being a relation of the girl, feel worked up about it. I imagine I’d do the same under such circumstances. Where do you live ?” ** At Denver.” ‘‘Ah, I am really glad to meet you, sir, really glad. Iam from that city myself, and I’m proud of it. Denver is the smartest town in the West, sir, the very smartest.” ‘‘T won’t deny that.” ‘My name is Tribune Tripp. I’m in busi- ness west of Cheyenne at presew’ and may be able to help you, if so be you need any help in this matter. I have means, and should really like tosee that upstart hanged.” ‘* Upstart 7” ‘‘T refer to Evard Demming.” ‘*Did you know him?” 66 Yes.” ‘‘ What sort of person is he ?” ‘Young and uppish.” ‘‘Did he bear a good reputation ?” ‘‘ Would so nice a young woman as Olive Chester smile on him otherwise ?” ‘‘ Perhaps not.” ‘‘Not, of course. Miss Chester was a lady, gir, a lady tothe core. Being your cousin, sir, how could she be otherwise?” and Mr. Tripp leered at the Denver man in a way that was not wholly pleasing. = The fellow was very presuming on short acquaintance, and Ragsdale at once decided that this man and himself could not be friends. At Cheyenne City, Ragsdale lost sight of his car acquaintance for a time. There was no train west till almost mid- night, so the young Denverite had ample op- portunity to look about the metropolis of Wy- oming. Like many other cities of the border, Chey- enne was the abode of rough characters, and during his wanderings about the place Rags- dale saw many hard countenances, ‘‘ That’s him now.” Hilton Ragsdale heard a whispered voice. He was standing in the shadow of a build- ing, not far from a flowing stream. Instantly he turned. A club, aimed at his head, fell, and missing the-intended mark came down witha tremen- dous crash on the shoulder of the man from Denver. The hand of Hilton Ragsdale fell to the butt of a revolver—no, not that, for the weapon was gone! Before the young man could recover from his surprise, a pair of digits were at his throat, and the next moment two men rolled down the bank of the stream to the water's edge. ‘* Muider!” cried Ragsdale. It was not 2 loud cry, yet it was heard by a passing pedestrian, who ran to the edge of the bank and peered over. He seemed to take in the situation at a glance. With the bound of a deer he reached the side of the struggling men, and witha mighty strength tore them apart. Ragsdale’s assailant attempted to draw a weapon, but the man who had come to the rescue seized the villain in a vise-like grasp, and lifting him as though he were a child, held him aloft one instant, the next he flung him far out into the water. , At this nioment Ragsdale staggered to his eet. A hand grasped his arm, and led him up the bank to the level ground above. ‘* There, I reckon that fellow won't harm you here. Iknow he won’t while I'm around, you can bet your sweet life on that.” Ragsdale started at sound of the man’s voice. ‘‘T believe we have met before,” he said, trying to read the face of his rescuer by the light of the distant lamps. _ A low laugh fell from Ragsdale’s compan- ion. ‘‘Met before! Well I should say we had, Mr.— But thunder! you didn’t tell me our name to-day on the cars from Denver. "ll have it now if it’s all the same to you, sir.’ Hilton Ragsdale gave the required infor: mation at once, and grasped the Wyoming man warmly by the hand, expressing his thanks at the timely interference of Mr. Tripp. ‘‘ Don’t mention it, Mr, Ragsdale,” returned Tribune Tripp. ‘‘ It’s a small matter at most. Who was the fellow that tackled you?” “‘T do not know.” ** Sure ?” “Certainly I’m sure.” ‘‘ Well, if we had time we’d look into this and have the scoundrel arrested. As it is, the matter must drop for the present. It’s almost train time.” This was true. Ragsdale and his strange friend hurried away toward the depot together. CHAPTER II. A SURPRISE FOR RAGSDALE. ‘You received my telegram ?” ‘‘Yes,” answered Ragsdale, as he gazed into the face of the man who met him at the depot of the railway station in the western part of Wyoming ‘“You haven’t forgotten me, I hope.” Ragsdale extended his hand. ‘‘T do remember you now, Benay Flash,” answered the young lawyer's clerk. ‘‘ You were here when J came to the Chester rauch some years ago. You were then in the em- ploy of Mr. Demming. Iam glad to-see you, and hope really that you can let some light in on this horrible mystery of Olive Chester’s death.” “*T think I can.” And the young man’s black eyes snapped in a way that rather chilled Ragsdale. ‘*You are still living in this region ?” ‘‘Oh, yes,” smiling, revealing even rows of white teeth. ‘‘It would be impossible for me te go away from the garden of Wyoming, quite impossible. I expect to make my fort- une here some day.” ‘‘T hope you may.” ‘Come, Mr. Ragsdale, my buggy waits, and the mustangs are impatient to be off. am to be your guide to Colonel Redhart’s ranch,” ‘* How far is it to the Redhart ranch ?” ‘‘ Just a hundred miles as the crow flies,” said Benay Flash. ‘“‘T had forgotten. than I thought.” “It’snotfar. <A pair of fleet mustangs like the colonel’s will cover the distance in a few hours.” Ragsdale followed his guide without more ado. He reinembered Flash now as a young fac- totum on a neighboring ranch, when he had once paid a visit to his aunt’s people on the plains of Wyoming some years before. The fellow was about twenty, with tawny skin, black eyes, and long, straight hair, like an Indian’s. There was something of the cat nature in Benay Flash that did not impress the young Denverite favorably. He could well understand how the present owner of the ranch, where the remans of Miss Chester had been found, had sent Flash to the railway station with orders to communi- cate with friends of the murdered girl, and this was how it came to pass that Hilton Rags- dale was summoned hundreds of miles, to aid in ferreting out one of the most mysterious crimes that had ever blackened the annals of fair Wyoming. As for Mr. Tripp, he had gone on one sta- tion beyond the one where the Denverite left the train. ‘‘J’ll meet you again some day,” declared the burly Mr. Tripp, at parting with his young acquaintance of the journey from Denver. It was mostly a prairie ride, and to young Mr. Ragsdale a pleasant one. ‘Will you go to Mrs. Tripp’s or to Colonel Redhart’s ranch first, Mr. Ragsdale ?” ‘‘T think I will see the colonel at once,” said the Denverite. ‘‘ But you speak of Tripp. Is there a person of that name living in this region ?” ‘Yes; he lives on an adjoining ranch.” “T was not aware of that. It may be a brother to Tribune Tripp.” ‘«It is Tribune Tripp, sir.” ‘‘Indeed! The gentleman said nothing about owning a ranch in this part of Wyo- ae ‘* He’s a queer sort of man, anyhow,” ex- plained Flash. ‘‘ You'll hardly know Tribune Tripp if you stay herea year. J don’t under- stand him myself, and ]’ve known him The distance is greater THE LAWYER DETECTIVE. ever since he came to the Big Horn Val- ley.” The ranch home of Colonel Redhart ap- peared built on a slight elevation not far from the bank of a creek which emptied its waters into one branch of the Big Horn. It was a log structure of considerable di- mensions. A veranda ran the length of the front, and on this sat the colonel himself, smoking a short black pipe, on the day of Ragsdale’s ar- rival, Hilton had never met the colonel, so an in- troduction was necessary, which was grace- fully performed by Flash, who then left them, and drove away to the stables in the rear of the house. ‘‘Sit down, Mr. Ragsdale,” said the ranch- owner, who was a tall, raw-boned man with yellow complexion and a decided Southern twang to his speech. A little later the young man learned that Colonel Redhart was from Missouri, and that he had been a soldier in the ‘‘ late unpleasant- ness.” ‘‘T was most afeard you wouldn't come,” proceeded the colonel, after Ragsdale had seated himself on the chair his host had placed for him. ‘Of course you remember what a time there was when Miss Chester rid out to meet her lover and never rcturned. They do say ’at her mother had fits and sich like, and she couldn’t never be reconciled with the man ’at owned Three Oaks after that, and Inever felt ’at I could blame her. "T'was an awful thing to lose an only gal like that, Mr. Rags- dale.” ‘‘ Tt was, indeed.” ‘* And to think of the dread uncertainty all them long months, not a-knowin’ what had become of the gal.” ‘Were you in this country then, Colonel Redhart ?” ‘‘Not right in these parts, but I heard all about it. Ibought this place of the gal’s beau; mebbe you hadn’t near of that ?” ‘“‘Yes. I saw an article in the paper, too, giving an account of the finding of the bod of my poor cousin, buried on this ranch. is this true ?” ‘True as preachin’, yourg feller.” ‘* You have buried the body ?” ‘“Not yet. I wanted you to look at it—and a detective.” ‘* Have you sent for the latter ?” 66 No.” ‘You should have done that at once.” ‘‘ Mebbe so,” grunted the colonel, puffing at his pipe. ‘‘I don’t know any detectives, and I reckoned you’d know about what todo, Mr. Ragsdale.” ‘* Let us go over to the cabin at once, col- onel.” ° ‘* Yes, indeed.” Colonel Redhart sprung up and waddled into the house. When he returned to the veranda, his wife, a buxdm woman of forty, accompanied him, and was duly introduced to the gentleman from Denver. ‘‘ Have dinner on the table for us when we get back, Nancy,” ordered the colonel, and then the two men set out in company to visit the spot where the body of the murdered girl had been unearthed. Two men guarded the tumble-down hunt- er’s cabin, and several plainsmen were stand- ing near, conversing in low tones. The shanty was half a mile from the ranch- house, and hidden from it by a bit of rising; ground along the bank of a considerable stream, said rise being covered with a consid- erable growth of timber. On entering the cabin almost the first ob- ject that met the view was a big, checkered quilt, the light falling on it from a paneless window. Colonel Redhari lifted the quilt, revealing a skeleton, dark and repulsive. ‘‘That’s all that’s left of the poor gal,” said the colonel, grimly. The young Denverite gazed at the skeleton and shuddered. ‘‘Right there's where the bullet went ’at took her life,” proceeded the colonel, pointing to a ragged hole in the front of the skull. ‘*She never knew what hurt her, I reckon. It was a measly, mean trick, though, and I'd like to see the murderer swing, so I would.” ‘* IT suppose it is well understood who killed her, Colonel Redhart ?” (C(O) 6) en Q) am (C SS (C(O)