Show h BEEF 7 i 1 yf y T HAROLD CHAN CHANNING N I ING NG WIRE 1 s l e LEN LEft BURNET ha has been engaged by byrOM byraM rOM raM ARNOLD owner of ot tb the Cross Croll T to 10 act a at trail tr here bon on the drive tram from southern Texas Ten I to Ogallala Oe lJ In the spring of 1873 1815 Tom with ble ton Ion and Slid daughter STEVE and Sad JOY JOT art are moving to 10 Wyo- Wyo Tom mutt moat deliver longhorns to the Indian agent lIy by September 1 I or lose a profitable contract Lew suspects that the Indian Supply Co It Is trying to Belay leboy the aM Cross Croll T herd lIerd He n. encamps on the bank buIE of ot the Red river During a tamped stampede e Tom Ar Arnold II U killed and nd It Is hurled on the prairie Both CLAY CL MAN MAN- MANNINO NINO and sad ED dispute Lets Lewi authority now and Lew Le defeating to In a tight Debt him Lew LeI decides to 10 cross cron the tile river CHAPTER XI The mules nules balked at the wa wa- waters waters water's ter's edge Clay leaped up on the footboard The heavy wagon shoved the mules on and they were out In Inthe inthe Inthe the flood in a scrambling tangle Quarter light and Joe Wheat got there first They grabbed the mules' mules bridles straightening them out then lashed them on across the river It had been a bad moment threatening to spill the outfit Into the water wa ter Aft Afterward erward coming back to help with the cattle growled Lew one of these times times- and let It go He lie shrugged It didn't matter now Owl Head Owl Jackson had followed with the commissary taking time to let lethis lethIs lethis his own team feel teel their way The Thereal Thereal Thereal real Job was ahead lIe He saw that all the longhorns had risen and turned to watch their dumb brains growing more and more auspicious They were back a mile from the river tar Jar enough for him to string his men behind them and start the pool gently at first in a B walk But when they were aimed right with the arrowhead taking shape he waved a 8 signal to Rebel John On either tide side they sent their horses borses racing forward to the point while behind them and along the flanks all the others crowded in sud sud- suddenly suddenly denly slapping their rope ends ends against their chaps Four thousand closely bunched longhorns were Instantly running end and to a trail mans man's eye no sight was ever prettier than Ulan that brown wedge truly a flying arrow now as os it hit the river carried on by its own momentum unable to stop or turn aside Guiding the point with Quarter Quarter- night he drew his first easy breath And when the last steer had risen Up the bank and the herd began to graze out with their fright gone he shook his head and end grinned That much was over with They had crossed the Red fled An hours hour's travel took them wind wind- windIng Ing through low bald hills on this thi fide Aide Ide of the river A little later point pointing ing onto a flat plain beyond them he be rode around to John he said Im leaving you for tor a e while Theres There's something I 1 want to look at You wave Joe Wheat up here when Im I'm gone and it If I dont don't get back by dark choose your own bed ground He pulled oft off adding Keep it out in the open away from creek creek bottom bottom trees But you know that This was Indian country now Lew turned his horse east keeping deep in the hill folds out of sight of the river The trail was immediately beyond the mesquite not in one rib rib- ribbon ribbon bon of ot tracks but miles wide from the hoofs of millions of longhorns bound north But no herds moved there now and running his gaze along south two or three miles to Doans Doan's Crossing he saw that an m earlier speculation had been right A darkly massed pool of at cattle spread over the flat shelf with little streams trickling into it from the distant hills A dozen outfits too close together had run and mixed in last nights night's storm It would take time to part them out He was lucky Darkened by the late afternoon sun the showed nothing of the maze of broken canyons and scrubby forest and looked wholly tame But he knew of the tribes swarming in there in that last land landof landof landof of the with the Dakota added now The North NorthFork NorthFork NorthFork Fork was wy wars a bloody stream The Texans had made it so following It with their eIF herds across a country which had bad been guaranteed forever to the Indians Those attacks were no longer in open pen warfare They had settled down to trail raids raids' from the Wichita canyon canyon mouths mo For what chance did the Indian In Uan have against the man mn now Poor devils he thought not much He was back beck in the mesquite belt gain again almost through it U toward the bald open hills hUIs when some soma alert in instinct warned him He halted It Ii seemed minutes before he be first beard the distant talk talk of at mens men's voices and still more time before there thue came the thud of hoofs Their pace was as' as asa a quick trot and by the mingled mingle beats he be Judged five ve or six riders in the bunch He moved e a little not to be caught at close quarters tern in the le mesquite until past the he thin screen of ot fernlike leaves he saw the men There There were only two But they were leading four heavily packed horses They were coming out of the southwest and seeing that direction tion he be wondered From the Cross Ts T's last camp He had his answer in to a moment Down DOWD in n the fold told between the hills bills they cut his trail tran halted and faced toward the brush that hid him He lie dr drew w his hll gun Un waiting waltin yet et some Borne need for haste was driving them themon on With only a short pause they continued their quick trot up the next bill hill and vanished to the north He lie shoved the gun down into Its holster and sat a little longer to tomake tomake tomake make sure they would not turn back He lIe had his answer One of ot the men was WB Ed bedroll from camp was lashed on one of the packs Heading on west he turned the meaning of their fast travel over in his mind and was certain of only one thing They were not following the Cross T herd now but presence was sign sl n enough that they intended to meet it somewhere up the trail In his cool thinking now he felt that firing the man back there at the river may have been a abad abad abad bad mistake He lie could no longer watch what was doing and it had set Clay Mannings Manning's antagonism antagonism in a new and more dangerous way Hed He'd rather have a man blow oH of his surly temper any time His Ills horse loped on with an easy rhythm and the smooth green land and the warm sun laid their peace peace- peacefulness upon him turn and it seemed a strange thing now that he couldn't condemn Clay altogether Time was when he would have hated the big blonds blond's hair Age maybe He lIe was twenty five last month And he knew himself what jealousy could do But that didn't explain it all either Clay was caught with his taU tall in some kind of a crack Jealousy over a 8 girl wouldn't account for tor the three three- rill J Js Jr p t s r I I I i i A AOne One hand reached out and tugged lugged him close cornered up tie between Clay and and Steve Twilight dropped swiftly full tuf darkness caught him at the edge of the hills He lie turned north with a 8 off far point of light to guide him in Yet by bythe the time he had ridden the three or four miles the fire had died to embers and the camp was Wall wholly silent Pulling off of his saddle he could see seethe seethe seethe the dark bed of longhorn longhorne and the dim shapes of at three of the night guard All others must have fallen dead asleep at sundown As he walked past the end of Joys Joy's wagon the tile flaps parted Her voice reached him in a little wordless cry only half bal uttering his name He lIe turned toward her ber Lew she said again and then Where have you been She was crouched at the foot ot of other other her bed with a e coat pulled across her shoulders over a necked high-necked gown He could tell by her wide wide- open eyes that th t she he hadn't been sleeping One hand reached out and tugged him bim close gone and nobody could tell me where He put an arm around her She laid her head against his coat Ill always come back he said Dont you worry worry I know She waited Then her voice came with a desperate plead lag ing In I thought you went because of Clay Cla Something happened be between tween you south of ot the river about Ed I saw it What has haa Clay done He lIe shook hook his head above her quiet one I 1 dont don't know Hes He's following his own trail somewhere looks like That's That all aU anyone can tell teu Ye Yes and youve you've got to help him She moved her cheek gently Youve got to Dont Don't you OU see He did and the ache in him to do dotor for tor her lier sank away a wa to its lonely depths With her father gone there was but one man she wanted to turn to for a womans woman's security There would always alway be Clay He lIe tightened hi arm and let Jet her go Youn have to gel get some sleep leep She nodded drawing up from tram him h n past and and past the canvas flaps saps he saw the small box against wagons the side He lii reached ie bed in Iii i 1 and raised the cover saying laying Theres an account book in inhere inhere I here Id I'd like to have i She watched with no question as II his hit hand touched the ald ld leather leather- bound book and drew It out H He did d not open it U then There had never been a I time on the Cross T or on OD this trail trall when Tom Arnold Arnold's presence had bad not been like a I strong controlling pressure II I over all the crew It was a thing thine i Lew had felt ever even In these week weeks when Tom had tried to keep him himself self seU in obedience to his trail boss Now that pressure was wall suddenly gone He lie could feel the release definitely around him and for two days while they crawled northward up a rising plain with the dark Ita ten teh miles east he watched a change Among the older men it showed j jonly only in a deeper quietness for tor a lit lit- litI littie tie lie while and in their talk taUt Death had been a 8 frequent part of their experience I I It was Steve he fell to watching mostly these two days das as the Red River Valley vanished behind them and a brackish stream the Salt I Fork began to curve in on the west 1 forcing them over toward an on arm of the Wichita Mountains thrust out dark and knotted onto the plain Steve for tor the first time in twenty twenty- I Ione one years was no longer under the restraint of a stern forceful man Even at twenty one hed he'd had lit lit- little little littie tle tie experience with which to carry off oft this new freedom easily and less I Ito to give live him any knowledge of how to walk in his fathers father's boots boota They didn't fit st It would have been only amusing his young and exaggerated Importance now among men who had fed him from a bottle it if his growing sense of ot ownership had stayed within the limits that even Tom Arnold had put upon himself But he was like a I young bull buU now head up looking for an on older one to challenge And it was plain enough that he be was being urged on It was a habit of at his now to leave his swing position whenever he chose to and late this second afternoon he came riding to the point frown frown- frownIng frowning Ing down his long straight nose Lew he asked why wt WI keep keep- keepIng keeping Ing big so 10 far tar off the trail trall Better grass gross over here You call coll this grass He lie nodded Best there Is is They were out of the curly buffalo and bluestem now in the Uie grama of these I middle plains It was short hardly more than six inches and dry dr even evenin evenin evenin in this month of at June Dont look at it from your saddle he be said Get down and rub some of the tops in your hand You'll find And a 8 lot of little black seeds They're as s good Rood goodas as corn for putting tallow on a 8 herd Steve pulled oft off his hat His light curly hair sprang up He lIe put the hat on again Same grass over there Id I'd say Sure Lew said and too many man longhorns eating it down He 11 grinned a little What else elseT Were losing time over here that's that what The trail was was made for tor a man to follow tollow Its It's shorter Wed We'd better get tet back He lIe shook his head Too thin Steve You didn't think all that up by yourself Clays Clay's advice He 11 gave his own answer I guess cuell But ut Im I'm snot lot taking it No mutiny ei el ei ther He grinned again to ease what he wanted Steve to understand Mutiny in a trail herd is the same as mutiny on the ocean Im I'm cap cap- captain captain tain tam n of this ship Their horses carried them for forward ward through a silent time His HI grin died lIe He could see an odd struggle struggle gle file against words that in the end bad had to come out His scowling eyes turned from him Steve said sold It wont won't be muti mutiny ny sly Lew Weve We've been talking it over You know this leaves Joy and me me- me meNow meNow Now wait walt wait he said Walt Watt a minute Lets Let's get one thing straight From here to Ogallala Im I'm trail trao boss bos of this outfit Therell There'll be no change The light brown eyes jerked across to him talk Talk he said that I can back up Steve youve you've got no fight with me Dont Don't let anyone rib you into it Youve You've got too much at stake Youre You're headed toward all an that a aman aman man could want Youve You've never asked me about this new land you'll yoUn have in Wyoming You want to know knew He went on oa without an answer Its It paradise he said for cattle No dry years up there Youve You've got mountains at your back door and a 8 river in your y ur front yard the Pow Pow- Powder Powder der and a I sweet grass sweet gras country as asfar asfar far tar as u you can look His ow own vision of that valley stirred him Steve be he said youve got the biggest chance there is Something like Uke a sneer had bad come across the thin wide lips pulling them downward in a disdainful look and nd yet In a bitter way A pretty pre picture Steve said but not not for fox forme me His head came up in la t a high arrogance Me Im I'm not tying my myself self felt to any an cow ranch Im I'm through with that He He swung i his hla horse away awe Riding Eliding his own slow pace Jace beside the point Lew turned his bit head heat and watched him go 10 and in the arro arro- arrogance arrogance gance ganee and the swaggering ini roll roU ot of the young shoulders was wa an all the Ufa concert of those men who held themselves above the common man of work TO Oro BE DE DI |