Show ahe newlin burt 11 hir KATHARINE jon joan landle eighteen yr years old wife of pierre ti to th the daugh uh tr ter of jhn lohn carver who mur ird hr mother for adultery her lonay life lit with hr her father la to a Wy imin cabin unbearable joan 1 leaves him to work in A hotl hotel in a nearby town V CHAPTER 11 II continued 2 if joan had stayed long at upper uppers i he would have begun iney 1 stably to model hernek herself on maud who as in her ayom a marvelous marv elou thing thin of beauty hut but juit just a week after tier arial there came to the inn pierre I 1 and for jonn joan began the strange range and nil terrible history letory li of love in the lives of most women of the rust ant majority the clatter and clash if f acry prelude and postlude post ludo the spring mong of their years and the rattle of dieges 4 of busy knies und and forks the quick tapping of maud a attendant feet the hound mound of young lind and rave jabis at work ork these coundi were in jonn joan a bewildered ears and the he eight sights which they nied riled in her bewildered eye eyes just before she he heard board I 1 berros voice jut juat before ehe she saw hi bilm faco face it win uns dinner hoar hour at the hotel an baur most dreadful to joan because of the hurry the Atran genesi and the crotta tro 1 I because of the responsibility of her work but chiefly lipe nume nt that hour he expected the appearance of her ather her tier eleb were often on an the he door it opened to admit the young men the he riders and rancher ranchers atho ha hung up their hat hats swaggered with a little jingle of spurs to their chi chmir tIrs clean faced clean handed wet viet haired and effling 11 to the fucci of the uniting nj now and entrain their strange young brooding eyes bold lau hidir unit afraid hungry pathetic arrogant arn rant as the eyes of pf young men are qi and untamable but full of the pathos of the untamed joan q heart shook a little under their looka looks but when pierre lifted hie his eyes to lier tier her heart stood still she had not seen them following her re ress s around the room lie had coni coma in late and finding no place at the long central table mt sat apart at a smaller one under a high window by the time ehe she met his eyes they were charged ft ith light smoky blue eyes they were the irl iris heavily ringed with black the pupils delatt a little for the first time it occurred to joan loan looking down with a it still heart into bis eyes that a man might be beautiful the blood came up from ber her heart to her face tam her iler eyes struggled away from frim hi his what auts yer name gell 1 murmured joan carver yon YOU run away from hornet home ile loo had beard heard of pt her tes talu IN ill your father be you bacar 1 1 I wont be golle with him she wae was about to pass on pierre cat cast a swift look about the table bent beads and busy hande bands ejes bejes cast down dom ears he knew alert it war wair a land of few women and of many men lie ile must leave in the morning early and tar months he would not be back lie ile put out a lone long hard hand caught joan wrist and glye it a queer urgent shake the gesture of an impatient and beseeching child will you be comin home with me beir eel asked pierre hurriedly she looked at him her lips part apart and she he shook her head bead mauds wads voice screamed at her from the kitchen door pierre let her go she went on very white whim she did not sleep at all that night her fathers face face looked at her in the moraine morning pierre would be cone gone she had heard maud say that the queer landis feller teller would be makin makla tracks back to that randl og 0 bis his accost the riter yes he would be cone gone she might hare been rotor going with him she felt the urgent pressure of his hand on her arm in 10 her heart hearl it shook her with uch such a longing for lore love for all the unknown largesse of lore love that she the cried the next morning pale she came down and went about her work pierre wa was not at breakfast and she felt a sinking of heart though she had not known that she had bad built upon seeing ahrn again then as she the stepped out at the back to empty a bucket there he was I 1 jot even en the beauty of dawn could lend tend mystery to the hideous littered yard as the yards of frontier towns invariably are to the board fence to the trampled half acre of dirt ku known as the square and to they frame me building buildings straggled about it but it could and did tire give an en im earthly look of to the bar bm vay lay brown buttes that ringed tt so town m and ft a clou to the sky y while aven 9 waiting at his k 1 ft shed a and nd tender wa tt 4 so B V irs dread in his cowboys cow bojes beit best a white silk milk handkerchief knot led under his chin leather chap bright purs spurs a sombrero om brero on his head his face wa was grave excited wistful at sight might of joan he moved forward the pony trailing after him at the full length of if its reins and topping stopping b be for fore her herre took off the embrer om som brer lowly slowly tripped stripped the gauntlet from hl him right hand and pressing both hat and glore against bla hip with the left hand held out the free clean palm to joan woodby bood dby by aid paid he unless you 11 be comin with roe me after all joan felt again that ruih rush of fire to her brow brows she took his hand and her finger fingers closed around it like the fright ened lonely finger fingers of a little girl she came near to him and looked up be comin with you pierre she he laid said jut just above her breath he lie hot shot up a full inch stiffened searched her with smoldering eyes then held her hard against him not be sorry joan carver paid he gently and put her away from him then unsmiling he hade bade her go in and get her belongings he got her a horse and told his news to sin upper that ride was dreamlike to jonn joan pierre put her in her saddle and she rode after him across acro the square and along a rond road flanked by the ugly houses of the town own albere are ue a agol coln nt she asked him timidly lie stopped nt at that turned and resting his hand on the cantle of his saddle smiled at her for the first time dont you savvy the answer to that question joan slie she shook her bead the emile smile faded 1 11 e ere re coln to be married said he sternly and they rode on ney were hy by the justice a it pleasant silent fellow who with western courte courtesy ty asked no more ques i will you B be comin home with M me all air alons than were absolutely needful and in fifteen minutes joan mounted her horse again a ring on the third finder finger of her left band hand now aid said pierre standing at her stirrup hi his shining moke smoke blue eyes lifted to her his hand on her boot be some things so some clothes no eald bald joan maud wen with me an helped me buy thine things with my pay just yesterday jest erday I 1 wont be T anyhony all right ald said he be were off then I 1 and he flun flung himself with a udden sudden wild boyish whoopee on 1111 pony PODY gave a clip to joans horse and his own and away they cal Call loped a pair of young wild things out from the town through a straying treet street lo 10 where the road boldly stretched itself toward a great land of aye sage broth brush of buttes humping their back against the brilliant eky sky down the valley they rode trot tint walking galloping till turning westward they mounted a sharp lope slope and came up U P above the plain below in the heart of the ion long narrow talley valley the river 1 lolled and wandered divided and came together again into a swift eft earn amongst aspen island islands and willow swampy beyond this strange lonely riverbed river bed the cottonwoods cotton wooda be bo gan an and above them the pine forests forest massed themselves and strode up the foothills of the gigantic range a that range of iron rocks sharp thin and brittle where they scraped the sky at tir the top of the hill pierre put out his band hand and pulled joans jogles rein drawing her to a stop beside him jam over yo aders air MY ranch said he be joan looked obre waa wn biot a I dg sifa of hour house or cl etring riny but the h followed his gesture and nodded under the mounta insi she ih said id at tb the foot of thunder canyon fou YOU can CAM see e i A rip gap in the pin theres ahr a waterfall just above that white streak now youve rot got it t uhre where you come from i to the tb auth south away yonder joan would not turn her head ye yes mid bald she he 1 I know suddenly tears rushed to her eyes oye L she had a moment of unbearable long lag ing and regret alerre aad said nothing he lie wa was not watching her come ON on aid mid he be or your father will be after ui us they rode rods at a gallop donn dovin the hill CHAPTER III two picture urse ain in the fire the no period which followed had a quality of brOa almost unearthly happ lne they were ere young avage simple and end their love 1 wai was ai as joyous as the 1 love of animal animals joyous with that clear gravity charne i te to ristle of the boy and girl alerre dad had been terribly alone before jon joon came and the building up of hie his ranch had occupied his mind day and except now and again for dream tet yet he waa was of a passionate panl onate nature joan felt in him sometimes a billay of violence two incident incidents of this time blazed themselves theme elvee i on her memory the one her father fathers 1 visit 1 the other an irrelevant enough picture until after eventa events threw back a glare upon it they had been at pierres ranch for a fortnight before john carver found them then one morning as opened the door to go out to work joan law saw a thin red rm pony tied to the he fence and a small acure walking toward the cabin pierre if its fa father therl t ghe she paid and pierre stopped in hie his track tracks drew himself up and waited hands on his cartridge belt how ilow mean and old and furtive her father looked in contrast to this beau ticul young husbands hue hus bandt bandl joan was en unafraid she leaned against the elde side of the door and watched as silent and as any equaw while the two no men settled their property rights in her so you ve vo took my gel said sat d john carver topping a foot or two in front of pierre hi hai eyes shifting up and down one long hand fingering hin him lips pierre answered courteously some man was bound to hev hey her sir car ver ter soon or late you cant net set your face ag agin iq the laws lawi of 11 ill you tie be step pin in joan will give you some breakfast carver paid no heed to the invitation tier you married her herr said he the blood rose to brown f face joe st sure r I 1 hev hey inell ell sir you her married the darter of a can carver caner er used a brutal word look out for her tier if you see her eyes lookin an lookin at another man you kin know what a to come pierre was white ive done with her she kin never come to me fer ter bite or bed shoot her if it you hev hey to pierre lan lie lis but when botched at her mother a game dont send her back to me that I 1 all r come to say II 11 turned with limber agility and went back to his horse lie ile was on it j and off gallopin galloping madly across the i sagebrush flat pierre turned anil and walked into the house past joan with out a word she still leaned against the door but her head bead was bent presently ehe she went about her housework every now and then she he shot a IL wistful look took at all morning long he eat sat there his hands bands hanging between his knees bis his eyes full of a brooding trouble at noon he shook his head bead got up and still without word or caress be strode out and did not come back till dark joan suffered heartache and terror when he came carn she ran into his arms ile kissed her quite himself again and I 1 the he strange interview was never mentioned by either of then them they were to feelings and to action rather than to thought thoughts and words the other memory was of a certain sunset hour when she came at pierres call out to the 1118 shed he had built at one side aide of their cabin cabla its open aide side faced the west and as joan cume CO her shadow went before her tier and fell across pierre at work the no atam of the west gave a weird pallor to the firmes over which he bent benl lie ile was whistling and hammering at a long piece of iron joan JORZ came and stood beside him suddenly he straightened up and held in the air a bar of metal the shaped end white hot joan blinked our brand gel get 11 said bald dont you furgit it when inane made roy my fortune therell be stock all fill over the country marked with them thern to bars hem be famous the two bar brand dont you fergle it joan and he brought the white iron cloe elope so that she felt its heat beat on her face and drew back flinching ile laughed let it fall and kissed her joan was very glad and proud TO BE CONTINUED |