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Show -H-H-H I I I I I 1 I I I 1 I I I I I I ! t 1 1 I I I I 1 I 1 I 1 I I I I I I 1 1 I 1 I I I 1 i i I HHH-H-H-t-1 I I I I I 1 I I H-H- Nameless River. By VINGIE E. ROE Copyright by tti. McC.11 Comp.ny SerT)ce 4 1 1 I I 1 I 1 l l l t ' l ' ' l l I 1 1 1 '1- CHAPTER XII Continued 11 The big girl standing on the threshold thres-hold looked over her head at the trader. trad-er. There was a little white line pinched in at the base of Nance's nostrils, her blue eyes were colder and narrower than any one had ever seen them in her life. "McKane," she said clearly, so that the hushed listeners behind her caught every syllable, "you know what a fight I've made to hold my own on Nameless ilnce my father died or was killed, fou know how close to the wind I've ailed to eat, for you've sold me what we've had. And I've always managed to keep even, haven't I?" "Yes," said the trader uneasily. "Up till six months ago when I had to go In debt for a new harness or do no work In my fields this spring, I told you when I bought It, didn't I, why I had to buy it?" "Yes," he said again. "It was because someone went into my barn one night and cut the old harness into ribbons. That put me In debt to you for the first time." She stopped and wet her lips. There tvas the sound of someone rising on the porch and Price Sehvood moved In behind her. She felt him there and a thrill went through her, as If he had put a hand on her shoulder. "I told you when I bought It that I'd pay you when my corn was ripe that, If It went well, I'd have far and away more than enough. Well, It went well so well that I knew yesterday I'd come out ahead and be able to meet that debt and live besides. This morning that field of corn was gone trampled out cut to pieces like my harness pounded into the dirt by a band of cattle that bad been driven driven, you understand over every foot of It. There was a wide gap cut In the fence at the upper end. That's all but I can't pay my debt to you." She stopped and a sharp silence fell. Outside the store in the shade the stallion Blueflre screamed and stamped. Kate Cathrew took a quick step forward. for-ward. "What for did you tell this drivel before me?" she said. "What's it to me?" "Nothing, I know," said Nance ; "maybe a laugh maybe a hope. My big fiats on the rlver'd feed a pretty bunch of cattle through. And homesteaders home-steaders have been driven out of the cattle country before now." - "You hussy !" cried Cattle Kate, and, bending back she flung up the hand which held the braided quirt. The lash snapped viciously, but Nance Allison Alli-son was quicker than the whip. Her own arm flashed up and she caught the descending wrist in the grip of a hand which had held a plow all spring. Like a lever her arm came down and forced Kate's hand straight down to her knee, so that the flaming black eyes were within a few inches of her face. "Woman," said Nance clearly, "I'm living up to my lights the best I can. I'm holding myself hard to walk In the straight road. The hand of God is before be-fore my face and you can't hurt me not lastingly. Now you get out of that door." And turning, she moved Selwood with her as she swung the other, whirling like a dervish, clear to the middle of the porch. Kate Cathrew's face was livid, terrible ter-rible to look upon. She ran the short distance to the end of the platform, leaped off and darted to her horse, her hands claw-lug claw-lug at the rifle which hung on her saddle. Selwood pushed Nance Inside the store and flung the door shut. "That woman's a maniac for the moment," he said, "you're best in there." When Kate came running back with the gun in her hands he faced her he-fore he-fore the closed door, his hands In his pockets. If any of the tense watchers had had a doubt of Price Selwood's courage they lost It then, for he took his life In his hands. "Kate." he said quietly, "put up that gun. This isn't outlaw country. If you make a blunder you'll hang just like any other murderer even if you are Kale Cathrew." For a moment the woman looked at him as a trapped wildcat might have done, her lips loose and shaking, her eyes mad with rage. . Then she struck the rifle, butt down, on the hard earth and with a fu'.l-mouthed fu'.l-mouthed oath, Hung around the corner, tore the stallion's reins from the ring In the wall and mounted with a whirl. She struck Iilnetire once and was gone down the road In a streak of dust. Selwood opened the door. "A narrow shave," he said gravely. "If .hat had happened anywhere but hete you'd he a dead woman. Miss Allison." Alli-son." "Perhaps," said Nance, "she's taken two shots at me already from the liill-ide liill-ide or someone hs. Well I've told you, McKane. as was your right. Now Til go back to Nameiess." Hhe turned away, but the trader sunred his throat. -Ab about the money tor the hai I 1 1 H I I I I I 1 1 I I I I 1 1 I H-I-H ness," he said, apologetically, "I that is I've got to collect it. Times ain't" Price Sehvood swung around and shot a look at him. "Eh?" he said. "Got to collect? Ah, yes, I see at Cattle Kate's request re-quest I You are a fool, McKane. Here, Miss Allison I'm the sheriff of this county. Wouldn't you rather owe me that money than owe It to McKane? I can wait till you raise another crop I'm not so pushed as our friend here. What do you say?" Nance raised her eyes to his and they were suddenly soft and blue again. The tight line let go about her upper lip and a 6mlle came Instead. "You knew my pappy and I have not forgot how kind you were after after. Yes, Mr. Selwood, I'd rather owe you, a whole lot rather, and I'll work doubly hard to pay you back." Sehvood drew some bills from his pocket. "How much, McKane?" he asked. The trader sullenly named the amount and received It on the spot. "Now, if you'd Just as soon," said the sheriff, "I'll ride out to Nameless with you. I'd like to take a look at that trampled field." As they left the town and rode out Into the trail that led to Nameless. Nance took off her hat and drew a long, deep breath. Sehvood laughed. "Do you feel like that?" he asked. "Exactly," said she, "like a weight was off my shoulders. That debt to McKane was a bitter load." "The trader Is getting Into deep water," said the sheriff. "I hate to see him do it" "How deep water?" "He's failing more and more Into Cattle Kate's power and all for nothing. He knows it, but seems helpless. help-less. I've seen the like before. She's a bad woman to tie to." She's handsome that's one thing sure." "Yes. Her type is always handsome. But I'm surprised to bear you say so." "Why?" asked the girl, wonderingly. "Because most women hate to admit beauty in another, and of all people on Nameless, you have the least reason rea-son to see anything attractive In her." Nance sighed again, thinking of her lost cornfield and of her present appalling ap-palling poverty. "As near as I'll let myself come to hate," she said, "I do hate her. I've got to fight It mighty hard. You know how hard It is to fight that way inside in-side your own soul." "Hardest battleground we ever stand on," said Selwood, with conviction. "I've had some skirmishes there myself my-self and I can't say I always came off victor." "You can't, sometimes, without a lot of prayer," returned Nance soberly sober-ly ; "I've pretty near worn out my L-rippq on the 1ob." Selwood wanted to laugh at her naive earnestness, but caught himself in time. They rode for a time In silence, Nance and Buckskin ahead, the sheriff following on his lean bay horse. Presently Nance turned with a hand on her pony's" rump and looked at him speculatively. "You sort of lay up something to Cattle Kate about this rustling, don't you?" she asked. He nodded. "I've watched her for months, but can't get anything on her not anything any-thing tangible." "I was In Little Blue canyon the other day," said Nance," and saw Sud Provlne pass Its mouth In Blue Stone driving a red steer north. I've wondered won-dered a lot where he could have been taking It." "North In Blue Stone? That's odd. There Isn't enough feed In that canyon to graze a calf two days." "And what's at Its head?" asked Nance, "I've never been clear up." "Blue Stone heads high In the Deep Heart hills." said the sheriff, "but about eilH miles up from Its moutli on Nameless Its right wall falls abruptly abrupt-ly away for a distance of a couple of miles and there one can go out on the open plain that stretches over toward the Sawtooth range and leads out to Marsion ""d the railroad. There's some hunch grass there, but mighty little water. Nothing hut the stream in the canyon Itself to come hack to. And cattle driven so far away from the home range would be a poor risk, it seems to me, for Sky Line." Well I wondered about it. Thought I'd tell you any way." "I'm glad you did. I shall remember remem-ber It." At the homestead Nance led Selwood Sel-wood to the cornfield's lower gate and left him. "Go over it If you want," she said, "and I'll be out in a minute or so." At the cabin she told Sonny to go into her room and stay until she came for him. "1 feel guilty," she thought, "for 1 can trust the sheriff, but Brand asked me to keep him hidden. I've got to b tre to my promise." "You ask the sheriff to supper." sal.! Mrs. Allison, "I'll kill a fryer an' make some biscuits." When Nance went out she found Selwood examining the trampled field I minutely. I"l"l' 1 1"H"M M I I 1 I 1 M 1 I 1 I 1 1 Ml "Must have had 50 head or more," he said, "and five or six riders. Sud Provlne was one of them." "Yes. How can you tell?" "I know his horse's tracks," grinned the sheriff, "It's that big gray gelding." CHAPTER XIII "We're Our Pappy's Own and We Belong on Nameless." That night at dusk as Nance sat In the open door with Sonny drowsing In her lap, Dirk shot out across the yard like a tawny streak and headed away toward the river. He made no outcry, but went straight as a dart, and presently there caine the little crack of shod hoofs on the stones of Nameless' lip, and a rider came up out of the farther shadows with the collie leaping In ecstasy against his stirrup. Something tightened in Nance's throat, a thrill shot through her from head to foot. That strange surge of warmth and light seemed to flood her whole being again. "Mammy Bud " she said softly, "I think Brand Fair Is coming." Bud stirred in the darkened room, but Mrs. Allison was silent. "Always, soon or late," she thought to herself, "a man comes rldin' out th' night an' a woman is wnitln'. It's comin' late to her she'll be twenty-two twenty-two come June but It's comin'. An' sha don't know It yet." "Good evening," said a deep voice pleasantly, as the dark horse stopped in the dooryard, "Is a stranger welcome?" wel-come?" "We've been listening for you every M Ifft MM "Nance Allison Was, as Her Mammy Would Say, 'Flabbergasted!'" night," said the girl simply, "it's been a long time." "Brand!" cried the child sharply, struggling frantically to find his feet, "Oh! Oh! Brand!" The man dismounted and came forward. for-ward. He lifted the boy and kissed him, holding him on his breast, while he held out a hand to Nance. At Its warm clasp the surging glory inside her deepened strangely. Mrs. Allison rose and lighted the lamp on the table. "Come In, stranger," she said, "and set." Fair came In and Nance presented him to her two relatives. Mrs. Allison looked deep In his face with her discerning eyes as she gave him her toil-hard hand and nodded unconsciously. With Bud it was a different matter. There was a faint coldness in his young face, a sullen disapproval. But Nance saw none of these things. Her eyes were dark with the sudden dilation dila-tion of the pupils which this man's presence always caused. There was a soft excitement in her. For a little while they sat In the well-worn, well-scrubbed and polished room which was parlor, dining room and kitchen, and talked of the warmth of the season, the many deer that were in the hills, and such minor mutters, while Sonny clung to the man and devoured de-voured his face with adoring eyes. Then (he mother, harking buck to the customs of another time, another environment, rose, bade good-niglit. signaled her son and retired to the inner in-ner regions. Bud spoke with studied coldness and shambled after her. Nance regarded this unusual proceeding pro-ceeding with some astonishment. She diil not realize that this was the peak of proper politeness In the backwoods of her Mammy's day that a girl must have her chance and a clear field when a man came "settin' up" to her. And so it was that presently she found herself silting beside Brand Fair In the doorway, for the man pre- I ferred the inconspicuous spot, while Sonny sighed with happiness In his arms and Dirk sat gravely on his plumy iftil at his master's knee. Diamond stood like a statue In the farther shudowa. i A little soft wind was drawrng up the river, the stars were thick In the night sky, and something as sweet as fairy music seemed to puis In the lonely silence. "Has old-timer been good?" Fair wanted to know Jocosely, rubbing ths curly head which was no longer tousled. "Sure I have, Brand," the little fellow fel-low ventured eagerly, "awful good haven't I, Nance?" "Miss Allison, Sonny," said Brand severely. "No Nance. She told me so herself." her-self." "That settles It. No one could go against such authority. But has be been good?" "Good?" said Nance. "He's brought all the happiness into this bouse It's seen for many a long day or is likely to see." "That's good hearing," returned the man, "and I have done a lot of riding this past week. Tell me, Miss Allison what soil of a chap is this sheriff of yours?" "He's the best man on Nameless river!" cried the girl swiftly, "the kindest, the steadiest. I'd trust him with anything." "Does he talk?" "Talk?" "Can he keep a still tongue In his head?" "I don't know as to that but I do know he's been a friend to me In my tribulation. He probably saved my life today and he saved me a lot of trouble." "Saved your life?" queried Fair sharply, "How's that?" "I swung Cattle Kate Cathrew out of McKaue's store and she was going to shoot me, but the sheriff faced her. I told her some things she didn't like." Fair drew a long breath. "What was the occasion?" he asked. "My field of corn," said Nance miserably, miser-ably, her trouble flooding back upon her, "last night it was rich with promise prom-ise what 1 was building on for my debt and my winter's furnishing. This morning It was nothing but a dirty mass of pulp trampled out by cattle and we know that a Sky Line rider was behind those cattle. It's some more of the same work that's been going go-ing on with us since before our pappy died. It's old stuff what the cattle kings have done to the homesteaders for many years in this country. "If we weren't our pappy's own Bud and I we'd have been run out long ago. I would, I think, when Bud got hurt, If it hadn't been for him. He's a fighter, and won't let go. The land is ours, right and fair, and he says no bunch of cut-throats Is going to tak, it from us. I say so, too," she finished, doggedly. Fair reached out a hand and for a moment laid it over her's clasped on her folded arm. "Miss Allison," he said admiringly, "you're a wonderful woman I Not many men would stick iu the face of .such colossal misfortunes. You must love your land." "I do," she said, "but it's something more than that. It's a proving, sort of a battle line, you know, and Bud and I, we're soldiers. We hope we cannot run." "By George!" said the man, "you can't you won't. Your kind don't. But it's a grim battle, I can see that." "It's so grim," said Nance quietly, "that we couldn't survive this winter if it wasn't for the hogs that will be ready to market this fail. McKane wouldn't give me time on my debt Cattle Kate won't let him. So the sheriff paid it he says he can wait till next year for his money he's not so hard pushed as the trader and he's rich, they say." For a little while they sat in silence while Sonny, blissfully happy, fell fast asleep in Fair's arms. Then the man stirred and spoke. "Miss Allison," he said, "the time has come when I am going to tell you something just a little hit that may give you comfort in this hard going of yours. I want you to know that more than one force is at work against this woman at Sky Line ranch against her and all those with her. Sheriff Selwood Sel-wood is not the only one who suspects her of dark doings and the other knows. " I am that other." Nance gasped in the shadows. The flickering lamp, blowing iu the wind, had gone low. "You?" "Yes. That's why I have been so much a mystery In this country why I have kept Sonny hidden in the canyon can-yon why I have spent two years of my life riding the buck places of the West. I knew she was somewhere and I knew she was crooked. The men she has with her are not cattle men they are criminals, every one." "Good gracious!" whispered the girl again. "And the reason I am not ready to run into her yet is this she would recognize me before I am ready, he-Vause he-Vause she knew me once some six years ago." Nance Allison was. as her mammy would say. "flabbergasted." Se was loo astonished to speak. (TO BE CONTINUED I |