(the girl at the! t halfway house? H ' X A STORY OK T II E PLAINS i H c y b. nouon, author of tiih stohy op tub covvnov T H f Ctirrtekud, DOS, tr D. Attlttt & Ctmtant, .Vtu, Vcrk CHAPTER VI. Continued. H ; "Hato to loso you," said tlio Judgo H politely "hato to loso you, of course, H but then a young man's Rot to mako H nM way; ho's cot to cot his start," H rranklln rose and turned toward tha H elder man. "If roil plcaso, Judgo," H said ho, "got tlio commlttoo npolutcd H . for tonight If you can. I'll tako tlio H examination now," H "Yes? You nro In a linrryl" H "Then tomorrow I'll go over and m say good-byo to my Blstor; and tho H next day I think I'll follow tho wagons H West. I'vo not much to put In a H wagon, so I can go by rail. Tho road's H away west of tho Missouri now, and M my lotter comes from tho very last H station, at tho head of tho track." H "So?" said tho judgo. "Woll, that H ou'it to bo far enough, suro, If you H go 'clean to tha Jumping off placo." H CHAPTER VII. H The New World. H Franklin crossed tho Missouri river, H that dividing stroam known to a gen- H oration of Western men simply as "tho 1 lUvor," and acknowledged an tho boun- M dary between tho old nnd tho now, tho M known nnd untried. When ho do- M saended from tho rudo train he needed B no ono to tell him ho had como to H Klllsvlllo. Ho was at tho limit, tho H edge, tho boundary! "Well, friend," M said the flrcman, who was oiling tho onglno as ho passed, and who grinned M amiably as ho spoko, "you'ro suro at fl tho front now," H Franklin hnd not ndvlsod his lrlond H Unttorslclgh of his Intcmlod nrrlval, m but as ho looked about htm ho saw M that ho had llttlo need for nny guldo. M Elllsvlllo an nn actual town did not M yet exist. A rudo shanty or two and M lino of tonts Indlcutcd tho courso of M n coming street. Moro than forty M cow ponies stood In tho Cottngo corral M or In tho straot near by. Afar" thcro M swelled tho sound of morning revel- H H mill h"''i" SSSfe" H Rubbed hit head and made sundry exclamations of surprise. M After broakfast Franklin paused for B a moment at tho hatol olllco, almost as H largo and empty as tho dining room. H Different mon now and thon came and H passod him by, each scorning to have H somo buslnoss of his own. Tho clork H at tho hotel naked him It ho wanted H to locate somo land. Still nnothor H stranger, a florid and loosoly clad H young man with a mild hluo oyo, np- H proachod him nnd held soma convorso. B Mornln', friend," said tho young H "Good morning," said Franklin. H "I allow you'ro Just In on tho front," H said the other. H "Yes," said Franklin, "I camo on 1 tho last train." 1 "Stay long?" M "Well, as to that," said Franklin, "I H hardly know, but I shall look around H a H "I didn't know but ir.nybo you'd llko H to go south o' hero, to I'lum Center. H I run tho stngo lino down tlioro, about H forty-six miles, twlct a wcok. Thnt'H H. ruy livery barn over thcro second H wooden building In tho town. Sum's H my name; Sam Poston. It you want H to go down tlioro, como ovor nnd I'll H ox H Franklin repllod that ho would bo glad to do so In easo ho had tho need, H nnd was about to turn away, llo was H Interrupted by tho othur, who stopped H him with nn oxplnslvo "Sayl" H "Yos," said Franklin. H "Did you notice that girl In tho din- H Ing room, pony-built llko, slick, black- Hj haired, dark oyos wears glasses? Say that's tho smoothest girl wost of tho B rlvor. BIio'h waltln', In tho hotel horo. H but say" (confidentially), "she taught B school onct yos, sir. You know, I'm H gono on that girl tho worst way. If BVJ you get a chnnct to put In a word for mo, you do It, won't you?" J Franklin was somewhat improssod B with tho swiftness of acquaintance- ships In this new land, but ho retained J his own tnctfulness and m&do pollto nnsuranco of .aid Bhould It becomo pos- 1 "I'd bo mighty obliged," said his VM new-found frlond. "Seems llko I loso HH my nervo every ilmo I try to suy a KhV word to that girl. Do you want a H w "Thank you." wild Fmnklln, "but I B hardly think so. I went to And my H frltnd Colonel Ilattertlelau, and I nn- H derstand ho liver not ry far away." H "Oh, you mean old Hatty. Yes, ho J lives Just out south a little ways H Section No, 9, southeast quarter." J Franklin passed cm In tho direction B . which had beoa pointed out to him, B ' 1 '' By looking nbout him at tho strango, now country, In which ho felt tho proprlo tornhlp of early discovery. As Franklin was walking on, busy with tho ImprosslonB of his new world, ho becamo conscious of rnpld hoof-beats hoof-beats coming up behind him, nnd turned turn-ed to soo a horHomsn careering across tho open In his direction, with no apparent ap-parent object In view beyond that of making all tho nolso possible to be mado by tho frockledfnccd cowbo) who had bcon up nil night but still had somo vitality which noedod vent. "Kccooe-yow-hceeeool" yelled the cowboy, both spurring nnd reining his supplo, cringing steed. "Fecceoe-ylp-ycoecol" Thus vociferating, ho rode straight at tho footman, with apparently appar-ently tho dcllberato wish to rldo lilm down. Finding thnt ho fallod to create a panic, ho pulled up with tho pony's noso almost over Franklin's BliouldT "Hello, stranger," cried tho rld-r. cheerfully; "whero nro you goln', this bright an' hnppy mornln'?" Franklin mndo no immcdlato reply, and tho cowboy rosumed. "Havo a chaw?" ho Raid affably, and looked surprised when Franklin thanked thank-ed him but did not accept. "Bay," said tho cowboy, after a time "say, reckon I kin lick you." "Do you think so?" said Franklin calmly, pulling up his shoulders and feeling no alarm. "Shorely I do," said tho other; "I reckon I kin lick you, cr beat you shootln', cr throw you down." "Frlond," said Franklin, "got down off thnt horse, nnd I'll glvo you a llttlo wrcstlo to soo who rides. What's your nimo, anyhow?" "Whoa!" snld tho other. "Namo's Curly." Ho was on tho ground as he said this last, nnd throwing tho bridle over tho horse's neck. Tho animal stood as though nnchorod. Curly cat his hnt upon the ground and trod upon It In a sort of ecstasy of combat. He rushod at Franklin without argument or premeditation. Tho lattor had not nttondod country coun-try school for nothing. Stopping lightly light-ly asldo, ho caught his ready opponont as ho passed, and, with ono nrm about his neck, gavo him n speclmon of tho "hlplock" which sent him in tho air over his own shoulder. Tho cowboy camo down much In n hip, but presently pres-ently snt up, his hair Bomowhnt rumpled nnd snndy. Ho rubbed his hoad and mndo sundry oxclamatlons of surprise "Huh!" snld he. "Well I'm d d! Now, how you s'poso that happoned. You knln't do thnt again," ho said to I'rnnklln, finally. "tihouldn't wonder If I could," said Frnuklln, laughing. "Look out for mo I'm coraln'1" cried Curly. Thoy mot moro fairly this time, and Franklin found thnt ha had an antagonist antag-onist of llttlo skill In tho gnrao of wrostllng, but of a surprising wiry, bodily strength. Tlmo and ngnln tho cowboy writhed away from tho hold, nnd camo bnck again with tho light of battlo In his oyo. It was only after several moments thnt he succumbed, thin time to tho Insidious "grapovlno." Ho fell wi sharply thnt Franklin had diniculty In breaking Iroo In order not to fall upon him. Tho cowboy lay prone for n moment, thou got up and dusted off his hat. "Mount, frlond," said ho, throwing tho bridlo back over tho horse's neok without othor word. "You done It fair!" "I'll toll you what wo'll do," said Franklin, extending his hnnd. "We'll Just both walk along together a way, If you don't mind. I'll get mo a liorso protty soon. You see, I'm a now man horo Just got in this morning nnd I haven't had time to look around much yet. I thought I'd go out nnd meet my frlond, and porhnps then we could talk over such thing together." "Shoro," said Curly. "Why didn't you toll mo? Say. olo Hatty, lie' crazy to ketch a whole lot o' hosses out'n n band o' wild bosses down to tho Hoavor Creek. lit always it-want-ln' mo to help him ketch them hotse." "Battorslulgh In tond of horses." said Franklin, "nnd ho's a rider, too." That'll so" ndmlttod Curly. "He kin ride. You ortor sou him when he gits bis full outfit on, sword an' pistol by his 3ldo, uh-huh!" "Ho hns n horso, thon?" "Hir a hoss? Hns a boss has what? Why o' courso Iiq hns a hots. In thcro anybody that ain't got a liosn?" "WJ1, I haven't." said Vrnnklln. "Ysu got thU on?" said Curly. How?" said Frank, pazzlod. "Why, you won him." "Oh, pshaw!" said Franklin. "No scnsel I wasn't wrestling for you horse, only for a ride. Hesldes, I didn't hnvo nny horse put up against yours. I couldn't loso anything. "That's so," said Curly. "I hadn't thought of thnt. Say, you aoom llko a whllo sort o' feller. Toll you what I'll Just do with you. I think a hoap o' my saddle, nn' long's you Bln't got no saddto yot that you hnvo got used to, llko It don't mnko much dlffcrenco to you If you get another saddle. But you Just tako this hero hoss along. No, that's all right. I kin git mo another bnck to tlio cut nil, J.-.nt as good as this nno. Jim Parsons, feller on tho big uunch o' cows that come up from the dim Marcos this spring, why, ho got tilled night beforo last. I'll Just taki ono o' his bosses, I reckon. I kin fix it so'st you klu git his saddle, it yoa tako a notion to u." Franklin looked twlco to seo If there .vas affectation In this calm statement, .jut was forced, with a cortaln horror, 'o believe that his now acquaintance spoko of thin nB a matter of fact, and as nothing startling. Ho had made no comment, when ho was prevented from doing so by tho exclamation of tho cowboy, who pointed out ahead. "There's Hatty's placo," said he, "an' (hero's Hatty blmsolf. Git up, quick; ?lt up, an' rldo In llko a gentleman. It's bnd luck to walk." Franklin lnughud, nnd, taking tho reins, swung himself Into tho saddto villi tho oase of tho cavalry mount, though with the old-fashlonod grasp at tho entitle, with tho ends of tho reins in his right hand. "Well, that's a d d funny way ;lttln' on top of a boss," said Curly. 'Aru you 'frnld tho saddlo's goln' to lt away from you? Bettor bo 'frald bout tho hoss. Olt up, Bronchi" ho slapped tho horso on tho hip a Hit Ills lint, and gavo. tho lattor a vhlrl In tho air with a shrill "Wboooop-eeo!" which was nil that re--unlned needful to set tho horso off on i norlcs of wild, stiff-legged plunges tho "bucking" of which Franklin had heard so much; n maneuver peculiar to tho half-wild Western horses, and Jiio which Is at the first exiiurlenco a desperatoly dldlcult ono for even a skilful horsoman to overcome It perhaps per-haps did not occur to Curly that he vvna inflicting any hardship upon tho newcomer, nnd perhaps ho did not roally auticlpato what followed on tho part cither of tho horso or Its rider. Had Franklin not been a good rider, and accustomed to keeping his head whllo sitting half-broken mounts, he must hnvo suffered almost Instantaneous Instantane-ous defeat In this sudden encounter, Tho horso threw his head down far between be-tween his foro legs at tho start, and then went nngllng and zigzagging away over tho hard ground in a wild careor of humpbacked antics, which Jarred Franklin to tho mnrrow of his bonos. The nlr becamo scintillant and luminously red. His head scomod flllcd with looso liquid, his splno turned into a column of mero gelatine gela-tine Tho thudding of tho hoofs was so rapid ami so punishing to his senses thnt for a moment ho did not realize where ho actually was. Yet with tho sheer Instinct of horsoman-ship horsoman-ship ho clung to tho saddto In somo fashion, until Anally ho was fairly forced to relax tho muscular strain, and so by accident fell Into tho secret of tho seat looso, yielding, not tonso and strung. "Oo It, go It whooop-o-o-o!" cried Curly, somowhero out In a dark world. "Kc-elkeo-hooo! Sot him fair, pard-ncr! pard-ncr! Set him fnlr, now! Let go that leather! Ittdo blm straight up! That's right!" (To bo continued.)