| Show h w TI a II BEE F I 11 I Pf I HAROLD HAROLD CHANNING WIRE iX A B LEW DURKET has bat b been f n engaged d by TOM JO I ARNOLD own owner r of the Cross Cron T 1 to act ad at as trail boss on the drive from Irom southern rn Texas Ten to In the spring of ef f 1875 Tom with hit his ion on and daughter STEVE STEVEE IT EVE and JOY tie ire moving to Wye- Wye ruing mint Tom TO must deliver d lIver 1000 to the toe Indian agent acut i nt by September 1 or orlo lo lose o a contract Lew hat has b. b rea tea reason son ion to believe belleve that the Indian Supply Co li Is trying to delay d lay the toe Cross T. T T Lew beads Welt weft and brings the toe herd through the toe danger from dust alarms torms and drouth to the toe banks banki o of the toe Red RIver Lew L w rides on to Doans Doan's store and Ends that none of et the toe other berdi have bare crossed yet n na Dark k at camp j I be he has bai another run run-In with ED i CHAPTER VIII The Indian Supply Company's Open A might be among those herds held up on the south bank by the high water of ot the Red River Or Orthey Orthey Orthey they play may have crossed before the rains He wanted to know some someway someway someway way without his own presence being known Unless there had been a aleak aleak aleak leak his Cross T 1 had vanished com com- completely as far tar as the Open A knew Lew slid sUd his horse houe down the high riverbank and then on an the gravel shore rode at a lope again Little side ravines began to cut the red redwall redwall wall In half halt an hours hour's riding He came to Doans Doan's flatboat ferry terry tied up because of at the flood He lie had seen no one He lie rode on to a point that would bring him up behind the store and hid his horse In the wil wll lows Noise of the crowd that had gath gathered gathered ered here floated off the rim He walked directly up Into It the wild mingled voices of ot two or three hundred hun hundred dred restless men spending their time and money In the only two ways that Doans Doan's store offered Whoever Doan was he didn't know This place had been here long before his first trip up the trail As soon as he walked in even while his eyes caught little at first erst firstIn firstIn erstin In the dim light he had a quick sense of something wrong The room was not crowded Trail men took their drinks outside He saw mostly among the fifteen or twenty figures the blue yellow striped yellow striped uni uniforms uniforms forms of the army moving across the damp clay floor door The talk t lk was waslow waslow waslow low the smells of ot tobacco and liquor liquor and oiled leather were right Then farther inside he knew It was the big Swedes Swede's jovial voice he missed so quickly Ole wasn't here He had counted on Ole They The were friends and they could talk and that talk would never leak out of the Swedes Swede's head A man he didn't know was on a ablah high blah stool tool behind the counter at the back bach of He Ne wai mall and wore wor a black suit with a white shirt hirt oddly out of ot place in this frontier store Shrewd eyes in a pinched face were watching him him closely He reached the counter Soder lund gone gona Only a curt nod answered him For Tor good Sold out He could feel teel a guarded suspicion behind the shrewd eyes and he won won- dered Did he look like anything but another trail hand handT Something you want Maybe he said and turned away putting aside for tor now the one question he had come came here to ask Tonight's celebration called for a treat He found the sardines on a shelf shelt and took down fourteen cans A trail crew always ran short of ot tobacco He spread his rawhide coat and piled into it with the sar sar- sardines sardines dines a pound five-pound box of Honey Tip TwiSt for the old men who chewed and a dozen cloth sacks of ot Dixie Durham for the smokers Three army men stood around an open cracker barrel He turned to toone toone toone one who had a lieutenants lieutenant's gold bars What brings you boys so far south The lieutenant smiled Whisky Well he grinned theres plenty of it W iii He lie looked at the smooth boyish face tace and thought the government never did show much sense Like this youngster A green West Pointer hardly two twenty or three sent out here to cut his Ws milk teeth on the Indians Soberly the lieutenant was saying Youre right theres there's plenty here Too much liquor too close to the res res- Ill I'll warn you If U youre you're going north dont don't d nt load up your wagons wag wagons ons with more than Ulan you need Theres There's a tribe loose If they cut your herd for tor beef dont don't trade them whisky instead He nodded I see What he saw was a reason for the new trad trad- traders trader's traders trader's ers er's watchfulness Ole had never traded snake-juice snake across across across' the Red But it could be a good thing if it a man wanted to risk it loose again he I asked I No Its It's the Dakota They're out on a hunting permit aft after after er antelope Six hundred of ot them But antelope are scarce Trail beef is a lot easier The lieutenant looked stern Dont ask me for help if U you ou get caught You Texans have got no right crossing the Na Na- Theres There's a treaty against that thai Surf Sure Su a treaty This boy was talking out of ot a book Did any Texan sign it I know We ought to drive clean around by way of the Mississippi Lew grinned and stared on No hard feelings Bub flub Come and get a good meal if you sight eight my camp The Cheyenne loose were bad news He Ill le understood about the Dakota By Dy what hat fool decision the government was set seton seton on making Northern Indians live In Inthe Inthe Inthe the South he didn't know It wasn't home and they wouldn't stay slay Only three years ago they had made a break in the dead of winter Eleven hundred that time leaving a swath of burned ranches and dead whites as far as Dakota Troops brought them back ba k A great chief Red Cloud had led that break Red Cloud was not here now he ht was a guest at the capItol capItolIn In Washington where ladles of the Indian Friends' Friends society were making making mak ing fools tools of themselves and a bigger one out of him It was all In the papers As good a way as any Lew guessed to tame a wild Chey Cheyenne cane enne But Dut there were young chiefs with the tribe more dangerous even than the old one because they knew white mens men's tricks and had known white women He could handle them If they stayed sober Outtalk them and present a o few old from rom the herd lint But full of o whisky whisky- lie He was vas back again at the counter spreading out his coat He lie stacked slacked five silver dollars on the boards Right The man nodded and he rolled his coat coa t round around a the bundle once on e more and then casually he asked Has lias an Open A herd crossed here yet A thin hand reached out for the cartwheels and dropped them into Inlo 1 ti I t r It 4 r r I Is s II 1 1 S 4 looking for tor or the Open Op n A AT ATan an iron cashbox Who looking for the Open A I asked didn't I 11 You did That's what I 1 want to know He shrugged warned Never mind My question wasn't so im He walked out slowly tak taking ing tag his time yet even more guard lUard guarded ed and threw a long look around the clearing before he turned toward the river He lie had seen nothing But ButtiS Butas cs as soon as he was gone a man whom ne tie might have recognized stepped from behind the buffalo bone buffalo bone pile and hurriedly entered the store The late afternoon turned gray beneath a bank of thunderclouds Dark piled up flat at atthe atthe atthe the base round on top Loping back along the river bottom that was his his' only A storm would spoil the evenings evening's tion Night fell swiftly He climbed up Into the darkness of the flat shelf Campfires of ot those herds at the crossing were out of sight now but ahead was a single huge blaze to guide him Still a mile off ofT he could see fig fig- figures figures g- g gures ures moving in that wide circle of ot light Trees stood up above them tall and red He lie caught a drift of ot music and grinned An organ had never been beer played in this spot be be- before before fore torel Then someone must have heard hed hea d his approach for tor all of ot the figures stood suddenly motionless until he yelled Let her rip boys boys' I Go on with the dance He picketed his horse and walked In with his bundle The cook met him as complaining as a wife Where you been Suppers Supper's gettin cold A white towel stood up around his bald brown head like a aches ache's chefs chef's hat He wore a burlap sack for an apron Fishing Lew said He dumped his sardines on the of ot the chuck wagon Part of the meal was stacked there in a deep pan thin steaks floured and cooked quick quickly ly Iy In hot lard They made a golden pile juicy meat coated with crisp Over the the- fire pit two long combs of ot ribs were braising came in from the outer darkness and stopped to say I only left a two-man two guard Lew Moonlight and offered Guess its it's safe enough for a while I 1 jess guess g less he be said The rbt line of men me mt was already mow ing lag past the fire nrc pit They TIley loaded loade-d i their tin plates with steaks and laid I braised ribs on top At the table they marked their places by drop dropS dropping ping their hats on the bedrolls bedroll b drawn up for tor seats came back ba k tc the pit again for beans and corn cornbread cornbread bread out lut of ot the Dutch ovens and pickles s from the wagon chuck keg ke-g. They poured blackstrap blacks trap molasses over their bread and grinned when hen the cook tossed tosse-d each ach one a can of ol sardines But lint all talk soon died Eating was a sober business Only Joy said sold Lew Low Just lust like tike Christmas 1 and smiled at 8 t him her eyes lingering with a steady warmth as If It t to tell toll him something thIng He lie didn't understand the look but bu buthis this meal was like Christmas din dim dinner ner nor that one time at home on tho Cross T when crew and family ato sta together In the big front room A ruddy glow from the pit flooded the tho bent nt dark and light and bald heads as if It from the fireplace of ot the Ue room roum while branches of elm and oak arched a II roof above them lie He was hallway halfway along the table with Rebel John his Inevitable part part- partner partner partner ner at his right elbow Tom Tam Arnold occupied one end Joy the other He lie watched Tom Torn Tills This was their last meal on Texas I soil He lIe looked around the table i and knew that some of these men chances were would never come comeback comeback I Iback back to It He lie saw Joy watchIng I him again I the news from Doans Doan's she asked Not much h. h The dress she had hadon hadon hadon on tonight was suddenly familiar made of ot fine cream colored cream colored linen with a high collar and long sleeves A narrow red ribbon drawn tight above her waist shaped a womans woman's i full softness She had worn that dress Bress the night of the Ox Bow Dow dance when Clay Manning had told the world she was going to be his wife I A dozen herds heros he said held up south by the flood men Hoe are crowding in along the river Saw a troop of ot yellowlegs yellow around he add added ed but didn't say what they were there for far No use bringing up about the Dakota He lie saw Clay around the corner of ot the table at Joys Joy's right lift his blond head What outfits did you see Strangers mostly He lie waited walled feeling there was vas another question in Clays Clay's mind But Dut Clay dropped his head and went on eating It was Steve directly across the table who brought out casually see the Open A did you ou Guess Gues they're too far tar on No h he said IBId dont don think they are Steve and watched a change chango set instantly across the boys boy's face t ce They didn't have enough start on us The river rivers been higher than It Jt Itis itis is now maybe up for a week You Youcan Youcan Youcan can tell tel that by ring marks on the trees He saw the tight look grow Were even with them I figure and nd got a good chance to get ahead He had been feeling better about Steve these past days The hounded look of ot watching his back trail seemed to have gone as III if ii Steve felt easier somehow as they ap approached approached the north line of ot Texas But that look was there again now In some way the Indian Supply herd being behind them and not ahead made a difference Yet ho he was learning a 8 mans man's guard and that boyish giveaway passed p quickly Only Tom Arnold showed he had caught it lie He paused with a coffee cup half halt lifted his puckered gaze fixed intently on his hisTO son When Owl Head Owl Hend had cut the pies exactly in halves and had given each man his piece he saw that the red red- freckled kid was not the only one who'd had plenty Tom Arnold fin fin- finished finished part of his and sat there wait walt waiting ing until the other plates rattled empty again He lie stood up Lew he said Its a shame to have anyone eat CONTINUED seconds at a meal like this Im I'm going out to relieve Moonlight and lie He looked down dawn at Steve You want to come along SaI Say Steve objected Why me What's the rush anyway His back stiffened his bis face going young and truculent Never was a 8 time Lew thought when the pup didn't show himself at his bis worst to his father tather He Ill expected the old flare between them Instead gently Tom urged Come on son I want you OU to ride with wi th me m ma There was a moment of remain remaining ing lag stubbornness and challenge and then he felt that Steve could find no noway noway noway way to meet his fathers father's strangely quiet urging In the outer rim of firelight the old man laid one arm across his bis boys boy's shoulder They vanished into the dark like that walking slowly Lew uncrossed his legs and stretched them out and making a cigarette In brown corn paper he offered ered idly Anyone Anone short on to to- tobacco tobacco bacco I laid in a supply He saw Clay swing his broad back to the table and sit there as if U listen listening ing ink off into the night But no sound came from that direction south where the longhorns well watered and fed were sleeping peacefully tully And there was nothing to see se see Clouds had blotted out the stars fill flU filling ing the world with absolute black blackness ness ties beyond the circle of ot firelight I TO 10 HF nF CONTINUED |
