Show 11 d BEEF 7 s 's I HAROLD CHANNING WALE r I ii A 44 e RELEASE t. LEIS LEW BURNET back baek to southern texas In la Ins meet meek WILLY NICKLE SICKLE in D old trapper Way Hilly tells L Lew ew w the lb sews lews that the tb bank at Ox Or flow Dow has bai bl teen seen robbed that TOM TO I ARNOLD owner ol It If f the Cross T plans te to move mon to 10 Wyoming l that STEVE STE ARNOLD may be In the tb robbery and that JOY I ARNOLD Is li not yet married marred to CLAY Y Cross T I foreman Later LatH Lew Uw encounters encounter tour lour men They offer crier Mm alm the Job as ai trap boss bosi When hen be he re reo refuses loses fuses they the capture him and keep him prisoner at their camp During the night toe hew recognizes Clay Mannings Manning's voice Im through Willy releases Lew and he be arrives ei at the ranch to lu s I the Cross T berd be rd Is CHAPTER Hi HiThe I IThe The Longhorns were still In n D closely packed formation but be beginning ginning to string out wedge shaped with a small bunch of ot leaders at atthe atthe the point Coming abreast of ot these be tie threw his horse against their bard ribbed hard ribbed bodies firing his gun close to the long gaunt faces They were running like frightened lack rabbits But they edged away from rom his blazing gun That broke their galloping stride for a moment Slowly the black wedge began to curve until In time the point was bent In and Joining to the base The cattle were still running but in an endless round merry now getting nowhere Their run slackened Un tin tinder Under der er the pressure of ot men closing In Inthey inthey they made at a t last a solid milling pool He turned his horse of off to one tide side where a little group of riders had bad ad halted In the dust and dark he had rec rec- recognized recognized no one and had not been recognized himself Then their talk ti b began gan to reach him o Someone said Were lucky hats that's all They didn't get a good tart luck either another put In Who was it got up to the point 10 so fast tasU That was Tom Arnold Arnoldi rough low voice They were aware of ot his horse borse then coming out of ot the dark and their talk broke off oft He rode in grin sing ning Hello lIello Tom be said Lew Arnolds Arnold's low voice lifted Boys its it's Lew Burnett Burnet The group moved and they were suddenly n around round him their horses horse crowding his legs and he was wai shak shako shaking shakIng ing hands bands and grinning in the 1 warmth of ot friendly faces Tom faces Tom Ar At Arnold 1 I Gold nold and Joe Wheat and old Rebel John who had taught him all aU be he knew mew about cattle He was aware afterward att of one rider eider who had remained apart from these others and he called out Hello Clay Clay Manning brought his horse borse around ground How are you Lew Lev His big shape leaned across the saddle saddlehorn saddlehorn horn born with all aU expression on a wide widemouth widemouth widemouth mouth closely guarded He lIe was a II nigh high square built square built man nan young and blond and strikingly looking good-looking one mine who could be forgiven tor given Lew of often ten thought for tor watching his shadow on the ground There had been some reason for tor forbis forbis bis his wait walt off oft there In the dark but now DOW casually enough he said Guess you got here Just In time Howd How'd you come Down the valley Lew said and added from Dripping Spring to to- day At that he saw the brief di dl direct rest stare Clay gave him yet in inthe Inthe inthe the taint faint light be he could read noth nothing nothing ing more One by one at spaced intervals the guard riders had bad come past and as their dim figures loomed out of ot the dark Tom Arnold had kept close watch patch He lIe swung back now ask asking ing suddenly Clay Wheres Where's Steve You were together said and started Ill look Clay off aft Near him bim Joe Wheat straightened str up his thin slat frame offering Better take someone Ill I'll go with you rou et But Clay refused with a quick Impatience Stay with the guard k Nothings Nothing's happened Tom you go- go goIng going Ing back to the house bouse Well We'll get no nomore nomore more trouble now Theres There's too many jf of f us Someone ought to be with Joy Im going Arnold said Send Steve In when you find Kim him Lew some ome on with me They loped into the black valley mouth side by side but aware of ot Tom rom Arnolds Arnold's strict silence he held gown the questions that crowded his bis mind With the days day's dust scrubbed from His Us face and his bis long hair watered hack Back slick sUck be he went out into the hall haU ind Uld turned to the Cross Ts T's family lining fining room Owl Head Jackson the cook same came Into the dining dicing room from the kitchen carrying a heaped platter of You He good lood Lewt Lew grinned maverick its it's good to tolee see lee that ugly face tace of yours again From the front room Joy called Pour a cup of ot coffee for me Owl Owl- Head and came on back Tell me about Wyoming she ike laid said a lot of country he 4 smiled What do you want Everything What its iti It like and andA A that hat hat you do there Well WellI I lived In a dugout be he laid in the bank of a creek and Spent most of my time fighting rats rat ra 1 No she laughed I dont don't wean nean that Arent Aren't there some moun WOUD mountain bins tain Oh sure mountains high ones Some ott of of them with snow all the year In summer the streams dont don't go dry there I guess Its It's sort of a pretty place be admitted I liked the pines Then its it's beautiful Im I'm going to love it I 1 know I wills willi will That Tha t stopped him lie He put down his fork tork Joy what do you ou mean Her cheeks were er flushed the sup sup- suppressed suppressed pressed excitement had turned her breathless I h wanted to be the first I Ito to tell you I asked Dad to let me You dont don't know do you ou No he said I dont don't know any any- anything thing It burst from her then wildly Im going north Were We're all going gain Were We're moving up there for tor good You dont don't mean with the herd Yes He lIe could only stare at her There had been nothing of this in Toms Tom's letter either no more than that he was sending his longhorns on a drive north Yet it U wasn't his thought of the long trail up which few women had ever gone that held him silent but the three of them Clay and Joy and himself riding that trail trall together Ills His silence brought a little scowl semis across cross her dark eyes the matter Joy he asked when are you and Clay getting married Her lips parted and closed the high color drained from her cheeks checks When she he spoke her voice was very quiet I dont don't know Lew Why She paused and looked away away- from him and then didn't wait walt for his an answer answer Iwer Hes Ues been wanting it U before we started But I cant can't and per perhaps haps Im I'm not being fair Im I'm just afraid I guess Afraid of what She brought her eyes back to his face and he could feel them trace the crescent mark on his forehead I dont don't know she said Weve waited too long Too many things l X I t I I Ic 00 c 1 I 1 c. c I 1 1 q tn 1 s II I d I f i 1 v vIm Im Just afraid I guess ruess have happened now Whether Im I'm married or not doesn't seem so im tin important any more Im sorry Joy He reached across the table and took her ber two folded hands bands in his big fist pressed them and let them go ge In front of ot the big bl rock fireplace Tom Arnold had done more than wait walt He lIe could hear bear the familiar sound of ot Lew Burnet's Burnet talk in the dining room a slow and easy sound and something restful and grateful had bad come over him with this knowl knowledge knowledge edge that Lew Burnet was back Thinking of at Steve Tom Arnold sat wholly still held beld by a dead heavy beavy feeling tee ling compounded of loneliness and a fathers father's defeat It was his bis own fault tault he guessed For he be knew himself for tor what be was was strict strict and unsparing with a single-minded single be be- belief belief lief that a man was born into this thle rich new land to make the best use of his time Ume The talk in the dining room end ed He heard beard the chairs chair scrape crape back and thought of another ambi ambition ambition tion hed he'd had bad once end and watched die Then the two figures were pacing toward him Joy with her ber hand in inLew InLew inLew Lew Burnet's Burnet arm looking small and so much alive beside his straight high shape Her cheeks were flushed Bushed And he be understood what it was in the man that mild could make him watch her in an amused but intently steady way and the old hope hed he'd had once rose in him again He smiled You get filled up boy I did Lew grinned Its worth wortha of Owl Owl- a months month's riding to get iet one Heads Head's meals Joy released his arm and sat down on a halved log with short legs at ather ather ather her fathers father's knee He ranged him himself self seU beside the fireplace its blaze warming him and a sense of at com comfort comfort fort sweeping over him powerfully lids Ibis 11 s was borne bome Here in la this room was the peace of ot family life lUe for tor tormore more than forty t rt years yean With his pipe going h he h. looked down and said uld Well Tom here her I 1 Iam I am Theres There's one tiling thing Id I'd like to know first Joy says saS youre you're moving mavin I north I thought it was only a trail trall herd berd Arnold nodded right Were We're leaving here for tor good His ills head lifted sharply In an old chal chal- challenging challenging fling flint of his gray hair He lie said sold You needn't look so 0 confounded Lew A man has moved before And I dont don't own owls the Cross T Tany Tany Tany any longer The cattle are mine yes es but not this He waved Into the room Nor the land laDd Sold out No Arnold turned his head a 0 little Joy Id I'd like to talk with Lew alone a lone and threw Dad She sprang up her arm across his shoulders She shook him You cant can't go on keep keeping ing things back from tram me I What What's the use user Im I'm not a little girl any anymore more morel Well all right he hI said to her You know most of ot what's what hap hap- You might RS S well hear the rest rest She sat down again on the halved I Ilog log with short legs and watched his II I face I We had a bank robbery a month i iago ago Lew he said saldo At a bad time Trail buyers had been here making up their herds for tor the north The money they paid to a dozen Ox OxBow OxBow OxBow Bow cattlemen was on deposit in my vaults It was characteristic of or Lew Bur Bur- Burnet Burnet net lIet not to tell that he already knew this He lie waited Arnolds Arnold's eyes centered themselves into the smoldering Juniper logs He said quietly I took the blame It Its It's my m bank and these tt are j my friends They've got only small I outfits and if they lose their money mane now it'll break them I know by bylaw b bylaw I Ilaw law I dont don't have to make malle It up But Im I'm going to Ive I've already turned I Ithe the ranch In for assets appointed a anew anew I new Dew president find end Im I'm out You pay a big price for tor your peace of ot mind Tom Tam Its all aU a mans man's got worth keep keep- keeping keeping ing Log Arnold said He sat eat back in his t-Js chair Im making a new start tart in to the north That's That the only rea reason reason son as far tar as anyone should know why Im I'm leaving the Little Co Co- manche But theres there's another The gray head nodded Steve SteveA A man was wai killed in town the night of ot the robbery Rayburn our sher ghee Lit iff Jr Nobody knows who pulled the bank job jab or killed Rayburn but some tome talk about Steve has reached my ears I dont don't believe it U If I 1 Idid Idid did Id I'd hang bang his hide on 01 a fence I II I do know he was off of somewhere aU all 11 that night He lIe came back late the next day drunk On her low seat Joy had made no sound but something brought Lews Lew's gaze down to her ber and he be saw the tight lines of ot fear and horror In her face She looked only at her father and then Tom Arnolds Arnold's voice dropped all the way to an old mans man's deep bitterness Ive done all I 1 Ican Ican can to help that boy I still wont won't admit his wildness has taken him himas as far tar as this talk says But it brings brin home bome to me that hes he's he gone out of ot my hands bands Theres There's only one more thing I can do get him out of this country away from the friends hes he's made here The trail north is one ODe job he cant can't shift out of It'll make a man of or him or break him Im I'm pretty sure It will Lew agreed Ive seen it work both ways way And then in Wyoming Arnold said its Us Steve that th t can make a anew anew new start I hope Not me Im I'm too old now Dad you arent aren't Joy mur mur- What a thing to say I Using a sliver of wood Lew explored ex explored the Ule hearthstone crack for a cricket didn't find him and looked up tJ to say There wasn't much In la your letter Tom And I know less leu since I 1 got here Like that stampede i tonight Ive I've been wondering wOl what was behind it It My beef contract contract Arnold said You know what's happened to the price of ot longhorns up north Dorth I do Six hundred thousand head bead came up the trail last year Therell There'll be a million on the march this thi I spring That's That too many Unless trail troubles thin it out cut a whole lot a man wont won't get more than ten tea dollars at the end What does your contract call for Three thousand head at t thirty I deliver the Indian beef bed at Ogallala on the first of September Its It's It my myown myown own stun stuff Im I'm taking on to Wyom Wyom- ing tag Ninety thousand dollars Lew Lt figured J ed That a jack pot for tor youl you Youre You're lucky Tom But Arnold shook his hll stead lead I 1 would be if n my m contract was direct with the government It The Indian Supply Company got a blan blan- blanket blanket blanket ket award for tor the northern reserva reservations lions this year and I bad to take a subcontract delivering to them You Youcan Youcan Youcan can see the joker in that They handle all the money and pay me only oDly when and if it I r reach rach ach Ogallala on September first Ant They signed limed with me five ve months month ago Now they want to back out outA A couple of 01 their men came down here offering oftering five ve thousand dollars dollar to cancel my mr deal dealTO TO BE UE CONTINUED |