OCR Text |
Show . - ' ; . j \ , " ' , . . . : . ( \ ( t .f)1 .f1 f1 . ' ) , ' " . , . .t t . \ \ B ' " t f f ' " Ef . \ . . " j\1 j 1 " 'tf tf ' rl 1 In\1 In 1 ( . .w w . .wit it J \J J , \ , . JI . Iv jK . . . : f . < ' ' .0 0 . < : . , 4'HARjOLD 4HARjOLD - ' HA lOLD < , CHANNIN6 CHANNING WIRE WIR Wl.U.ULLKASE WlU.ULLKASE WlUULLKASE w.u.LIAS wu.LIAS wuLIAS . . . . . ! . . . . ' ' .S S . &f f & . . + I IW EW BUXNBT BtmNft iaa Baa . , . a . , ( ar < . . . , yTOM 'toM toM ' ARNOLD AnHOLD , o owaf * ot t tan &be be & cro Cm * , " Tf , to ad ct a . Tan Ir'aIJ IraIJ ' k ' 'N N s ' OIl OM Ie ariv CIde , froJIa froJIasoutbel'll tr trcuthTM cuthTM soutbel'll soutbelll ' 'l'ua lua ' Texas . f to Oxalala O'aDa14 OaDa14 ' ta III tile ( ha .prba prba . rias1,1 rias11 , 01 , 1111 18'11 1811 ' TUB 'l'om lom ' , . with "tab tab " Us 1111 en lOA aaa aII4 4&8.11 48.11 4811 & axarr.srxvx axarrsrxvx . " " . , srEVB aDd for IOY . , ftr " ' WTtaCto $ ; 'to to ' Wro- Wro WromIne Wyo-mr Wyo mr : - - mIne 1'0Di 10Di ' TM mUl Blast ' .uvu uvu . < * Uvr " 9 , 0 N " Ioqberaa toacaorBsf Ioqberaato to Ur tbl urflaa lDdIaD aft aeat , " by 8e * t IDb'e.r IDbe.r IDber ib ' r . 1 I , , ot otlose > lose in . * a yfltaM JlroAca'le JlroAcale ' * CODnact tract . . I.e Ie . Law Jaaa aas rea rea- reaSOD - . SOD , to 0 & " B .Ueve Ueve . U VO out Uaat Ur tlte taaUa uUaa . aaaly .P P . 17 Co ce : . . 15 tryIq to deJQr &h h & , en . . T "erG erG " , and .n n . < h b . sasyeets l1IIIMIe&l l1IIIMIel & 1Iaa taat & Clay CIaJ , lteYtr St v od aaaco I IgO gO SPU&NM SPUNM IPL4NN & are an .or or . wrklac . la ba I iff iffitk . . . .Itb Itb . itk Uae th eODp coiBaay ) . IA Low . k ad 4i . " weit "ell ell aII4 aII4nuUl aa nuUl rir * bite II1to a fertoas larIoa , Cut al stem Itor a . thairk . rhoket ka * IUId RB 'ODd ODd ' kuiies . mea M a aaa &D4 D4 & eatti caW ; * . aUk auk.i auki . * . I 1 he be berd k r I li . Dear ar death e ata from fr aaar CUrst . , .baa baa . wa .baath ath th . stwraa ltorm Ilid aa * . IUId 4 a . aslsty .tJ tJ , 1 ' rala . . tan * . \ i . cnxrTEB CDAPTEB VBI vn VB vnrar I - I IFar rar Far off . In what wbat be b knew now wall wantouth : south , . Lew picked out the first Orst col col- column column - umn of 01 his hi * scattered ca tiered herd Two oth oth- othera other - , era er perIhaps * were separa separated d from It by per-I per I per-h per h - - haps p thy three mlle miles On behind beh1nd them he heround bfound * round the th white whit * top topi . 01 o < the wagon wagonsBut . But ai as he b moved his hi * gaze caze on lowly .lowly . lowlyround , arolU1d round the harp sharp horizon ( her ere * was wasno I Ino no lign ien of water nor the double doublebutte doublebutte butte to let hirn hbn on hi nil . course Ws Wsmoment's Iliamoment's Iliamoments moment's moments ' gratefulness gratefuInes . sank ank to a aheavy aheavy heavy dread . . They bad come too toofar toofar far from the last watered camp campThe campThe The cattle couldn't couldnt ' 'Q Q | ' Q on . on . Another Anotherday Anotherday day would bring brl1\g brl1 g \ its killing tJ1Un1 beat heat . , for forcloudl torcloud cloudl * that followed foDowed a _ dust storm stormnever stormnever never held IODItHe long IODIt longHe He wax was tarinc staring eas eait , . he gave bls blshead bishead head a . sudden .udden udden Jerk to clear it . He Hewiped Hewiped wiped one band . acro . his hi * swoDen wolleneyes 'yes yes ( ' They weren't werent ' tricking him himAs himAs As if from the graSIl ( rar roots amoke amoketwisted smoketwisted twisted upward over there It rOle rOleand ro eand and lhaped shaped a pillar pUlaI ' , . broke and rose roseand roteand and broke again . . Willy Nickle Nicklesending Nicklelending sending up hi his . talklHe talkl talklHe He purred spurred bl bi < . tired horse borse south southHalfway couthHalfway Halfway toward the scattered col column . umn umns * he drew his bts fun CUD again and andfired andnred fired it . He pulled bis hone horn around aroundInto aroundInto Into short tact fast circle clrcle ; They heard beard hia hb . shots .hots hots that tlme tlmeand timeand and caw saw hia bls signal ugnaL . Little LltUe figures ftcure . of ofmen , men started Itarted out toward him blm . . He Herode I Irode rode on and met John Quartemlaht Quartemlghtfirst I Ifirst first The old man'a mana man's mans ' ' beard was wa mud muddy muddj dy white , . hia his eyea eyes puffed pufted almost almostI almostclosed almostclosed I closed . . I IBay Boy Bay , " , " ' be he said . . "we we " got cot bere bereWherever hereWherever Wherever that be There'1 There1 There'l Therel ' some- some someone Borne-one Borne one - - one s camp though . , yonder " I Willy Nickle I think " . Lew .ald ald . laid.I laidI . . I II I rn m going to look . . I 111 D leave you to togather toBather gather up ' . The creek wai Was sun UU two mile mllel * oft oftand offand and before he reached it the smoke smokeended mokeended ended Riding into a little UtUe grove groveof groveof of treea trees , . he be found only the ember ember.no emberno " * . no sign of Willy WUly Nickle at fttst first . . un until . til tll he caw saw the forked stick . . 1\ 1 1had It \ ; had hadbeen hadbeen been thrutt thrus1 into the ground grolU1d with oneprone ne neprong prong like a thumb pointing down downstream downstream stream He followed in the stick s sdirection adirection adirectionSheltered direction directionSheltered Sheltered from wind and rain . . a aS asnug S > lUg retreat , . Willy Nickle sat can contentedly I Itentedly tentedly . smoking .moklng moklng bis his black clay pipe pipeHe pipeHe He threijr thre\f thre f \ up his .ts ts . left hand band hi In a sUent sUentsalute ilentsalute salute and dropped it m His . genUe genUeface gentleface face was brown and smooth from a arecent arecent recent ahave shave . . Lew grinned and Bnd . shifted .hlfted hlfted over Into Intoone intoone one stirrup halting baltlng ' 'Well Well ' : . " . 'he he 'hesaid ' "besaid besaid " said 'we we ' * we had a wind " . Willy nodded . . ' "So So 'So " ' you did " . I guess ' . Lew said said . , "we we 'we " ' clean cleanmissed cleanmissed missed the double butte Came too toofar toofar far north maybe But here a . a rlv rlver river riverSouth er erSouth South branch brancb ef of the tb Pease ' said saidWilly saidWilly Willy He took the cherry pipe- pipe pipestem pipe-ttem pipe ttem - - stem from his mouth and pointed pointedwith pointedwith with it . If U a man beads out of ofhere ofhere here quarterin quarterln east of north be he II IIh 11h h t a creek of the Red He U II fonow fonowtha foUowthat tha t to the Red herself ten mUes mUesabove milesabove above Doan s store Two days may maybe maybe be if his men have bave made it . ' In three days daYI th they y were It stillcrawling III IIIcrawling crawling throuth through low bills billa south louth of ofthe ofthe the Red Blindness BUndness healed slowly In Inboth inboth both animals and men Three had ridden in the cook's cooks ' wagon Clay Clayand Clayand and Steve rod rode with Joy They Theyboth Theyboth both ha had d bandages smeared with withaxle withaxle axle crease grease over their ey eyea s lid d sat satup satup up with hef hefon her oa on the seat seatHe . He had a 8 queer feeling sometimes sometimesseeing sometimesseeing seeing them In II a row row like Uke thaL thaLWhen thatWhen When he dropped ba back k alone along the theherd theherd herd he be could see their fun tun and hear hearthem bearthem them laui laughing lng together They sang sanga a lot . Old songs that he be used tosing to toing sing ing with her It to took k him blm back to toThree toThree Three Little LltUe Apaches , . only it was wasClay wasClay Clay s . big shape sbape sbapether ther ther " now Insteadof tead teadof of his hisBut But today all aD of 01 his bis crew were In Intheir Intheir their . saddles .addle addle . , eager to reach the theRed theRed Red That meant something It ItWIIS Itwas WIIS halfway haltwaf , to Dodge It was the thelast thelast last of ' Texas 'texas soil . Beyond the Red RedRiver RedRiver River lay the Indian Nations Nattons and andthe andthe the north Every trail erive drive mark * H It with a celebration of aome some kind kindHe He rode the point with Quarter Quarternight Quarternight night and could see old Rebel John Johnwas Johnwas was feeling what wbat be felt lt A man manwould manwould would never feel this lonesomenen lonesomenenabout lonesomenessabout about leaving any place up north northHe northHe He was sure lUre of that not a Texa Texasman . man There was Torn To'rn ' Arnold rid ridIng ridinf Ing . back behind the horse bone herd- herd herdwhat herd herdwhat - what must this crossing the Re4 Re4River ReRivr * River mean melln to one like him himT T It Itmust Itmust must KO 10 bard He wa wai . leaving leavinlt the thebiggest thebiggest biggest part of 01 his Ilf life . down b bere berethe < : re , the best part . What was Tom look lookIng lookIng Ing ahead to to I Wyoming ? Not Notmuch Notmuch much , , so far , . if he be was counting countingon on aleve Meve That bad been his bis bqpe bqpea hopeat a t the . start .tart tart . WcU WeD , . what was wa be belooking belooking looking ahead to himself ? Noth1na Noth1nathat Nothing.that Nothingthat . that he be could eould see Not the rancb rancbhe ranchh he d planned there "Ob Ob " n the Powder"hen Powder Powderhcn "hen hen " hcn be bad had thought thouibt be waa was goln goingto , to build it up alone . . You didn dido t pen pentwo pentwo two bulblD bulls ( a the tha same me pasture aasture . . GetI Get I this tbt.e tbte . herd to ba1la1a Ogallala , . . OeyonJ Deyon ' " that thathe thath he * didn'jk didnjk . ' know knoWr knoWrHi " m . Hi * head he.d hed . b bobbed bbe to tb 0 . . * . alow .1ow 1ow .aUt aUt . walkof 01 hia hiI horse borlle He Be let U It nod nod . . eace- eace eacefu > eace-ully eace ully - - fu 7 ( drowsy dl'OWly dlOWly ' , . until oatil Quartemil11 Quarternlgbt'squick Quarternlgbtsquick ' . ' ' quick Telce votce came acro across . . to him bIm . . . . | ' There 'There ' the Ibe 1,1 11 1 , 1 " ' Ha Be 16 locked ked up . . The told fold betwe betweeathe the hllli bills bad widened widene . * . Beyon Be70nd * lu lutnouth ifmeuth tnouth lay a five-mile five mile Ve-mJ1 Ve mJ1 - - level "vel vel " ahelf melf of ofitl'all tfrass itl'all itlall ' Far-off Far off - - red bluffa bluff . marked theriver the | river , . high hlib and shining Iin in the sun lUlL lUlLHe . He irlnned grinned aq4 anc . said .ald ald , ' "A A " .A A . map ' . * . , lad to sea .ee ee . that oU old girl aid . somehow .omehow omehow " ' "Glad Glad " when bel he'a hea ' , across her bel ' " ' .OW OW . "WeH WeH " D . . aura sure . , ' " . be he .a14 a14 . aid . . . "thafaritht thafaritht " "that that " . , rlght . . " . Men bad b.d bd . reason rea.on reaon . to want tbla tblarive thisriver rive . behind them . . Ho No ether other , . ex ex- - except except cept perhaps perutp ! . the Canadlaa CanacUen with ita itaqultksands Itsquicksands qultksands , . farther north , , bad tak taken . en . so .0 0 many maD ) ' I1ve lives livesIn . In a little UtUe wbUe while he ae wa was . polntln polntintout ' out upon the open shelf sheU . , as Bat ftat a as , . afloor fioor , and he oould could look tar east eastalonl eastalone alonl its ereat bend . . No ether o1ber herd herdsswarmed . swarmed across acroll Ita era crass . Doan Ooan'sstora Ooansstora ' , 'tore tore ' and the mala main tran trail's trails ' . Croslin crossinwere { , were ten mOes mDes downstream dOWl18tream . . "We're.atone Were.atone Wereatone "We're Were " ' . .alone alone . here bere . Jobn Joan , , " be he said aald"That'a aaldThata . . " 1bat ' ' . . good Coad " Behind them the crack or t rope ropeenc repeends enc against aealn.t aealnt . leather . Bounded .ounded ounded Uk likepistol . plstolahot shots . . Swing men were crowd crowdine crewtog * ine the longhorns lonlhol11l on . . Buten But . , even the thecattle thecattle cattle had seased sensed the river and andwalked andwalked walked at a _ taster fa.ter fater . pace at of their theirown theirawn own accordma accord accordHia Hia ma plan p1an bad been ta to cros cross . at once onceand enceand and go into camp on the north side sideThere aideThere There would still sun be time ter for an aft an- an - ' He De let the herd her * sprea4 yrea eat eDt todrink te to tearlak arlak drink . ernooa's ernooas erooon's erooons ' rest and the night'a nighta nlght'a nlghta ' fun . tun.But tunBut . But ridln riding , ahead , , he be reached the thelower thelower lower bluffs of the south BOUth shore and andloekea 10 ked down upon aa an angry an-y an y . - , . ebum ebumIn churnmg In , stream The Red was full from frombank frombank bank to bank . . There bad been heavy heavyrains heavyrains rains somewhere west westHe . He swung back and anI ! met the point pointand pointand and told Quartemlgbt Quarternlht , . She s . up upJohn upJohn John Too high hleb to swim We n nbave Uhave bave to hold bold over ' He shook sbook his hishead hishead head I don t like Uke It much We Wemay Wemay may get some neighbors nel&hbon nelhbon & we den don t twant twant want . He waved bJ hJs . . swing .wIng wIng men menup menup up No use worrying worryln , about that thatnow thatnow now I [ U D ride down te to Doan a s after afterwe afterwe we waterand water . , and see lee what herds berds are on onthe onthe the trail traU ' Under the added pressure 01 01swing ofswing swing riders be bent the point Jlolnt west westtoward westtoward toward a creek . . Ha He let the herd herdspread herdspread spre-ad spre ad - out there te to Tink drink and alter alterward afterward ward left them lltandln standing , dJ'owaUy dJowaUy dJ'owaUyunder ' Towsilyunder under a two-man two man - - guard lUard lUard'Lew . Lew 'Lew ' . Is this a holiday T ? ' asked askedClayPart Iay , - -ClayPart ClayPart IayPari . . Pari . . " Then 'Then ' I'm Im Fm ' riding ridlna dow down to Don Doaa'a Doaaa _ ' , . * ' It waa was an n ordinary-enough ordinary enough orcflnaJ-eno11b orcflnaJ eno11b ' ) - - # re re- - request request quest a man could get t a few thing thingsat . at the . atore .tore tore Hut Hilt that was not &be be &bereason & thereason reason , , be he felt felt . , with Clay H He . mook mookb1 shookbis b1 . bead . . ' None of the crew'a crewa creW-a creW a - ' go 10- 10 10Ing going - . ing tJIere ; there I don't dont ' figure It Ifa . . sate .ate ate . " " C1a Claya . stare sharpened en on blM him.Kind himKind . . Kind of or high highhanded bandect , arent aren't ' you yeuTMaybe ? Maybe you'll youll you'D youD ' find And It b hard rd f to mal makethat t tthat . that order stickl stlckl He didn t answer But afterward afterward.standing afterwardstanding , . standing ankle deep in the water watershaving , shaving te ID front of a mirror minor propped proppedagainst proppedagainst against a willow wtDow fork . . ha be went ltaQ ltaQto kackto to One find Cl Clay's Clays y ' " meaning rneanJnC : . , ft It . wasn't wasnt wasn'tclear wasa'tclear wasatclear ' clear If U a map tnaQ aeserted de1lerted against aainat , the thetralJ thetrail tralJ boss bos * ' order ha be might mIch1 . a * 'feU feU 'feUquit ' wellquit quit day Clay woulda't wouldat wcu1dD.t wcu1dDt ' . da 40 that . . Be Becontlnue4 Hecontinued contlnue4 his cbave shave TaB The scar sea ! ' ntade ntadehis madehi his * cheek .t11I t11I . tiff . . He bad torgottea fOfcotten about Cla Clayathreat " * . threat and ana be felt good aQOd . . cleaned deaned and anddreed aaadrerced dreed " , ence once more , . watting walklna back backInto backinto Into the shady ' grove 'oye oye of I the camp camp.Then campThen . . Then he be . saw .w w . Xd Ed , SpJ . Salaon an- an anSplann . - Splann , had bad no nof ' been at the 'the ' rtnr rtnrand riverand and he had bad W wondered Ddered . Only 0n1 ! Jim JimHope JimHope Hope and Tom Arnold AmoJd wew WeJ'l\ WeJ'l WeJl WeJ'lon ' \ on onguard CMguard guard with the 'beteL |