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Show T THE SMITH FIELD SENTINEL. SMITH FIELD. UTAH Catch Up on Chic By ALAN LEMAY- C Alan La May CHAPTER XIII Continued 16 "Seems to me," he said, "thats whole lot different from what you Were Baying Just a little while ago. "1 wasnt able to believe my own eyes, I guess. I wasnt able to get idea that eastover the settled-uern people have. Nobody but westp erners will ever be able to understand our dry land. Theyll never !elieve that a country can be over-settle-d and yet have nothing in it but coyotes and jackrabbits and half a dozen poor cows to the mile. He noticed that she called it "our , idry land, now. "And so?" "Im going to stay with my brand, until there isnt one bit of the 94 left. After all, I'm my fathers daughter. The country is part of sne, bred in. "I know how you feel, he said slowly. But it isnt as if you could really do anything here, now. "I'll be able to keep you informed of what's happening here, at least. 1 hardly think Val Douglas would take much interest in that, left to himself. But it isnt that. Its simply I cant always run away from everything. I've run aw'ay from too many things, and sometimes afterward Ive been sorry. He could understand that, but it surprised him to find her looking at things in that way. He had to p' and looked away, but she did not away now. Her eyes looked lazy, but not sleepy; they were as darkly blue as a night sky, but he look to naturally, as unhurriedly, as inevitably as the dry land takes up the rare rains; and his heart lifted up like tire April grass of the dry melts ranges, when the snow-loc- k off and is forgotten as if it had what?" I know duction. He tried to set his mind to the factors he had discussed with Coffee, in one more supreme effort to short-cu- t the case, but his mind would not work for him. Even with his eyes upon a saddle or a gun he could still see nothing but the girl every glint of light in the loose bush of her hair, the slim cordir.gs of a wrist, the resting look of a hand that lay palm up upon the blanket. It was impossible for him not to wonder if things between them might not have been different had he never known her two years before at all, but could have started over again now. to win her in a new way. Then it occurred to him that it was a waste of time to be looking at a gun or u saddle blanket, trying to think, when he might be looking at her. Perhaps it would be a long time before he would sec her again; perhaps he would never see her again at all. So now he let murder and cows and money slide into the lost shadows, and he turned to her; and as he did so he found that her eyes were on his face. They looked at each other steadily, while the moments passed. If he had held her eyes so long two years ago she would have flushed MMWIMP11 ambnanbi m who fired on Harlan, Hell, son, you had that figured out last time I seen you, two hours ago. Coffee glanced at the stars a clock. "Two which he used as and fifteen minutes, he cor- Old Mon Coffee started to say, You sound like you was full of but he hesitated and studied Billy Wheeler sidelong through the thin dark. "Answer m i one thing, son, he said at last. What was the thing that showed you the killer trail? "It was two things, Coffee, Wheeler said; not one. Two kind of trivial-lookinthings, that I knew and then forgot. But as soon as I saw the meaning of one of them, right away I saw the meaning of the other. Like as if the two clues were that way? I dont know as I could ever som- sat down slowly and stiffly on the step beside the old man, he ran his hands over his face, shook his head all. "Wouldnt you rather have me even an were hours rected g tied together by the neck. Coffee, Marian doesnt know a thing in the world about this. But the first thing that come to me was something I remembered that she member after "Stop, said Old Man Coffee. So sharply had the old man com- said. You re- manded him that Wheeler at first thought Coffee was listening to some distant sound. Whats the mat- His Hungry Mouth Found an Answering Quiver in Her Lips. never been. His hungry mouth found an answering quiver in her lips; and for a while, under the spell of the gentle warmth that he had thought would never be his, he no longer worried about what might happen to the cow kingdom of Horse Dunn. Presently she said, Two years ago it was my fault. But laSt flight in the hills it was yours. If you had only put your hands on me then but you had to stand with a face like granite, and eyes like death in tho foothills I know that now. "I don't know how Im going to let you go. So many things anything can happen before were together again. But we have this hour, now. "Nothing can ever rob us of that! Each was seeing a person he had never seen before. He was still whipcord and braided leather, the saddle man who could hold his own in the upheaval of markets and the shifting games of the financiers; but all the barbed and dour hardness of him was gone, so that in the arms of this girl it was as if he were reborn. And in the girl the hidden steel of the will he had not been able to bend seemed melted, and the curve of her body within his arm was a surrender without reserve. They did not know how long they lay together on the bunk that fur the time was not his. but theirs, in that lonely and deserted house; and he learned here that she was neither east nor west, but all woman. A harsh, taut strain that had held them for days seemed to slacken and go out of the night, as if guns and cattle were unimportant things; and in that hour that was theirs alone, one bitterness went out of the world forever. It was not a surprise, but a consummation, when presently he found that she was asleep. He picked her up and carried her to her own room, and put her in her own bed; and she smiled faintly in her sleep as he kissed tier eyes. Then he walked out of the house, by a different door than the one where Coffee sat, and stood listening to the still night. Then, while his mind was entirely away from hatred and violence for the first time in a week, something in the back of his mind found the answer, and all in a moment he saw through the tangle that had roped the 94. He knew suddenly not only who had killed Flagg at Short Creek, but why Flagg had had more than a hunch that he was riding into death; he knew why Marian had been fired on; and he knew how he could prove, inevitably and inescapably, who had killed Bob Flagg and the taut strain of range war M. ter? I've heard enough. Then," laid Billy Wheeler, know "you answer too? "Ive kind of suspected it these the didnt know for sure many days. I until today. Do knows?" think you anyone else certain that virtuallyknows but you world "Son, I'm no one in and me." the have come at it difdid. Coffee. "Different than you, Coffee agreed. "God knows how you come at it. I dont want to know. In a You must than I ferently minute now more. Rock But could Im going to say no nobody else in the Red have found it out ex- maybe Cayuse Cayetano and dead. They sat silent for a little time. "What's the next move?" Wheeler cept hes presently asked. "Until you said, I knew what my next move was going to be. My next move' was going to be out. But now that you've come onto the right trail, I guess mAybe it's kind of up to me to stand by e little while, until I see what you do." Something in Old Man Coffees voice bothered Wheeler. "You mean were not Coffee spoke, working together, then? we might not be, I'm on old man; and I long ago learned that sometimes it's a good idee to leave sleeping dogs "Seomi like son. lie." You mean, ing to pull leave youd of out have been willthis case and it unsolved forever? Old Han Coffee drew half a dozen slow puffs on his pipe before he of Miiciangs The first murder case worked on, he said at last, "was a long time ago. Sometimes I think that one first case was the misfortune of my life. Because it gave I himself. I had the wrong reason," Wheeler said; "this time I know. And knowing that, I know now why Bob Flagg had forenotice that he was near his end. And I can prove it the drouth. berly, but unafraid. He wondered why he had not realized before how changed she was. Every movement she made, every pose she took, was different from what he had seen in the girl he had made love to two years before. Two years ago Marian Dunn would not have been able to lounge relaxed upon his bunk in pajamas and an Indian blanket, thinking about the factors of range war, and the business affairs of men; she would have been nervously conscious then of the fact that the man she was with loved her would have worried about what he would do or say. This girl did not worry, but steadily faced the situation in which they found themselves. He looked away from her, unable any longer to think of murder clues or cow mortgages while she was in his eyes. He fixed his gaze gunbeit and upon his thrown-dow- n tried to think of what he must do. Bitterly he was blaming himself that he could not see through this billing case; for he had a persistent hunch that everything necessary for solution was in his hands. He blamed only himself that he must now take a long trail to discover what might be obvious, here and now, to a more brilliant de- turning answered. like a fighter trying to clear away the effects of a killing right cross. guessed. Coffee did not speak and for a litHe said slowly, "I was th, one tle while Wheeler also sat silent, who was a fool. trying to compute how much he He never knew wbat move he wished to say. Coffee," he said made that brought her into his last, "I see it. I see it all arms. With the barrier gone from at Coffee took his pipe out of his between them at las they founip and looked at Wheeler. "All mouth themselves in each oner's arms as set-u- p ture understanding, night, Wheeler walked arounij the house where Old Man Coffee still sat. As far as the naked eye could observe Old Man Coffee had not changed his position; he could sit Indian hours on like s rock or his natural way end, as if this of living out his life. Wheeler them unreadable at first Then after a moment or two he recognized that she was not thinking about murder clues. All at once he knew that there was no barrier between them any more at all, and had not been any for a long time, except the barrier put there by his old defeat. And he knew now that he had never failed at all, but that the years had worked for him in ways he would not b; ve found respect her for it, but it didnt make tiie any easier for him. "I suppose there isnt anything I can he admitted do, regretfully. "Youve already shown me that when you set out to do a thing, you'll do it in spite of all hell and bring myself to want you any different than you are. He made a cigarette, and lit it, and gloomily studied its smoke. He was thinking that it was pretty near too much to ask of a man to go off on a long trail, the way things were here, and leave this child Suddenly he realized that this girl was not any longer a child. He had rot known that he had always before seen her as a child, until bow he saw her as something else. Her face had a color that was like a childs color, clear and lovely, but its contours no longer suggested a little girl. It was a quiet face, thoughtful and awake, and somehow competent looking; and her eyes, looking into that distance beyond the walls, were looking into the fu- came back into the him cold. WHO Soviet - Texas me a kind of a reputation in a small way, so that ever since then I've been called in on speh, from time to time, over and over again. Man hunting isnt a pretty job, Billy, nor anything a man would care to turn his hand to more than once, if he could get out of it. But Ive always worked hard and honestly on my case where I once set my hand. And now that Im old I figure to keep one right to myself the right to keep my mouth shut if I cant see where clearing up a mystery will serve no proper end. Take this case, here. Do you think that solving this crime can possibly come uhder the head of helping any living person, or preserving the peace? You know better than that. You know as well as I do that the minute the answer is made known the guns will crack out, and good boys that's got nothing to do with either side will be throwing lead into each others guts. IF YOU'RE a bit behind in the You think Horse Dunn will take thrilling game of to the guns? Milady, why not take ad"Of course hell take to the guns! vantage of the holiday season and You know him well enough to know that. The guns will be talking be- catch up? Todays trio is especially right for "vacation sewing before ever the thing is proved. The proof ought to be easy cause it consists of simple pracn, enough. I got no doubt of that. I see at least one way of proof and maybe you see more. But what I'm telling you is this, son think what youre doing before you raise this lid. Dont raise it unless you think youd rather see what will come of it, in place of what we already got. The moon was gone, and they sat in the chill blackness before dawn; but it seemed to Wheeler that the night was no darker than his mood. I thought of all that," he said. I thought of all that the moment it come to me. And first off, I thought like you. But now Im not so sure. Sometimes it seems like there's something unsound at the bottom of any plan that calls for Just hiding our heads. "Then Ill give you your answer, said Old Man Coffee abruptly. "I'll give you the whole thing, once and for all, in four words. Think of the girl." He took a couple of drags on his pipe. "Forget Horse Dunn, and the cattle, and the money, and the range. Forget even the good fighting boys, here on the 94 Tulare and Steve Hurley and Val Douglas theyll fight while they can hold up their guns. And Gil Baker, he'll be in it if he has to drag a broken leg into the street. But forget all them. And think what this here head-o- n smash between the 94 and all of the rest of the range is going to mean to the girl. Wheeler sat silent for a long time. At last, needing to be alone, he got up and walked off into the dark, leaving Old Man Coffee with the darkness and his pipe. He went out and he sat on the corrals, and he was thinking about Horse Dunn and the cow kingdom of the 94; but mostly he was thinking about the girl who had at last taken him into her heart, now at the end. He could never think about anything any more except in terms of its effect upon her. He had an hour to come to his decision there before the first pale, reddish light of the dawn showed at the edge of the world; and it was the hardest hour of his life, because he knew that he held in his hands the future of them all. More than once he turned to Coffees easier way. But as a gray light begar. to come slowly across the 94 he thought he knew what he must do. He went in and rapped on Marians door; and when she called to him sleepily he went in and stood beside her bed. You and I are going to Inspiration. he told her. (TO HE COMIMED) tical pieces that require little time and trouble. Make all three and you'll have gone a long way toward putting the old punch back in the. game. Streamlined Styling. The slip at the left is all you could wish for from the standpoint of styling. It offers superb lines from the moderately low cut V d waist neck, through the right down to the very hem. The clever overlapping back is light proof and provides an action pleat so necessary for complete satisfaction. Important, too, is the fact that you may choose the material you wish in your own color. Better make it in duplicate for many meticulous months ahead. dart-fitte- Pretty In Sheer tVool. The two-piein the center is, like the slip, heavy on style. The defined waist is effectively young as is the flowing skirt and little round collar.' 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These smaller ranches, writes a Del Rio, Texas, correspondent in the Cleveland Piuin Dealer, with new methods ef stock raising, and the free use of motor vehicles, have less need of the mustang. durable, Racing, with blooded itodr, its hs inexpensive constant call for had a strong in 35 fluence on years. It may in Texas siderably of cattle breeding in the last few be significant that horses today arc valued at conmore than all the millions or sheep in this g state. stock-raisin- Cattlemen are concentrating o n thoroughbred stables, breeding fine horses for racing, polo and show purposes. The mustang, a decidedly "cheap" horse in contrast with the spirited animal required for these sports, may eventually suffer the fate cf the buffalo, say some stockmen. fast on his feet, Light and equipped by nature to pick his way over the rockiest hills and through brushy tangles, the mustang was the ideal mount in the early days of the ranching industry. Flathead Lake in Montana lake in western Montana is about thirty miles long; area, 189 square miles, and depth. Flulhead 289 feet. That feels beUer of 39 inch Pattern 1390 is designed for sizes 34 to 40. Size 30 requires 45, yards of 35 inch maicriai. The collar and cuffs in contrast require lVt yards material. Send your order to The Sewing Circle Pattern Dept., 119 New Montgomery Ave., San Francisco, Calif. Patterns 15 cents (in coins) snow-crowne- Respect Due Precedent Respect for precedent has a solid basis. Dont be contemptu-- : 30 years. It was when paid $8 for a silk shirt. butt'ia-ill-the-wa- vari-color- ed ScuyA: last at the right. This model is different enough to delight you and simple enough to set you sewing at sigi.i. It is cut for comfort but v.;.h an ever watchful eye on that elusive littl thing called chic. Crlrn contrast may be had in the colh.r and cuffs and in that trim row of br"ons that march down the line and then back again. Look fresh in your version in pretty percale. The Patterns. ... but It's stiU a little " |