Show N LICK AM 1 ak 4 M A a THE STOUT STORY saifan SO PAH Teny earold ken mclaughlin can ride any horse hone on his hl fam family ilys wyoming ranch but he wants wan is a colt of his own nil ills father a retired army officer refuses to give him ont one until his bla school grades improve and he 1 learns earns to take responsibility kens keni mother tries trie to protect him from rom the tern stern discipline of his father and the youthful bullying of bl older ider bro brother 10 howard who always alway ina manages nages to do things right captain mclaughlin has bai received a letter from kens keni school ad him that ken has not been promoted so while the others ethers prepare to round up the ware mares and colts ken has to stay in the house and study now continue with the story atory CHAPTER ER 11 II when ken left the kitchen the alarm clock on the wall shelf beside the spice closet pointed to twenty minutes to nine he wondered if he should time himself right from th then ell or from the moment he went in into to his room or from when he set his books on the table this was a very important point but as he could not decide he went upstairs as slowly as he could just in case it was all part of the hour he paused on the landing an fn m front of the picture of tho the duck if he stood there looking at the duck picture he could get into another world he knew how to do it to get into another world you had to make yourself the same size in your mind but he hd felt misgivings standing there his mother would hear from the kitchen that he gone all the way upstairs he went on up down the hall into his room and noisily closed the door possibly she would time him too he stood a few moments looking around he and howard each had a S small mall room to himself ken loved his room the walls were whitewashed white washed and there was a big window opening out front over the terrace and the green he could see everything from it sunshine poured in best of all ken loved his little walnut bed because that was really home it very tidy he and howard had to make their own beds and he had haa made his in in a hurry before he went out riding now would be a good time to straighten it up that was a good dutiful deed about as good as studying it probably could be counted in the hour the quilt which was light green with sprigs of pink and blue flowers on it was crooked and humped over the bedclothes underneath he threw it back then paused his eyes on the wall at the head of the bed there were these pictures one on each side about eight inches square with a flat wooden frame an inch wide and inside the frame he dropped the quilt moved up to one picture and stood minutely examining it what people 1 peasant people his hii mother had told him probably swiss down at the end of his room was the strangest picture of all ken went to look at it there was a verse written in the corner which he knew by heart me not to leave thee nor to return from following after thee for whither thou boest I 1 will go and where thou hodgest I 1 will lodge it was a picture of a desert land and a man stood as if waiting to go 99 looking at the maiden for whom he was waiting but she had run back to throw her arms around a woman and there they stood arms about each other and the verse in the corner was what she was saying they were dressed in long draped brightly colored shawls il me he jumped and ran back to the bed when he heard quick steps across the kitchen floor below outside the kitchen door his mothers voice called here kim here chaps this time he really finished the bed and smoothed the quilt it looked veranice very nice he stood re regarding gard it thinking that now he m must take down his books resolutely he picked out his a arithmetic rith book sat down opened it and began to think suddenly ken heard t the he sound of horses coming near the house and started up so quickly that the leg of his chair tangled with the leg of the i table and he went sprawling lingon lon the floor then scrambled up and over to the window ken leaned out the window as tar far as he could to see the last of them as they went ent down tte the green just jog trotting and disappeared around the end of the house kerl kerill nells vol voice ace came floating up from the open window below what are you doing he scurried back to the table and made it true before he answered 1 im I m doing ray my arithmetic what was that crash my chair fell over what made it fall over it just fell over nothing more from nell and ken summoned all his energy and frowned at his open book ile he must make a plan he would do cancellation over he liked cancellation it was fun crossing out the figures above and below the line and turning everything into nothing he hunted for his pad opened all the drawers and found it then he heard nell coming up the stairs and she opened his door she had some fresh bureau scarves over her arm and came in briskly and went to his chiffonier to change the 1 I was thinking ken it would be a good idea it if you spent your study hour on that composition the composition yes the olie one you write if you write it nicely we could send it to mr gibson and tell him how it was vas you came nat to write anything that you were thinking about it and he might let you have some credit for it the one about the albino sa said ld ken and his eyes went thought thoughtfully fulli t to 0 the window how would I 1 begin it have you got paper there yes i well just pretend youre telling someone about it someone ehg who know ow me for instance perhaps ive forgotten who was was the ehg albino anyway ken grinned and said A big white stallion just a bronc who came over the border from montana when hey had a drouth there dad called him a big ugly devil but a lotta horse fine encouraged nell and what did he do kerr ken sighed deeply and wrote the story of gypsy carefully at the top of the paper ken tore down the road held hed take the short cut been gone almost an hour and they were on horseback hed meet the them m N 1 1 I 1 n I 1 she snorted in terror and went straight up on her hind bind legs about halfway coming back maybe land band seethe see the whole bunch moving he hed d find a good place and hide so his father see him he trotted along in the irrigation ditch it was dry because the water been turned in yet this way he would avoid the road and the gates howard might be sta tinned at any one of the gates he left the ditch and climbed up uli a hill from here he could see gus and tim working in the ditch in the crooked meadow and could hear bear their voices tim was swinging a pick the sound of the blow reached him after he saw the pick land and a mile or more away he could see castle castl e rock the great beetling rock jutting up seventy feet high with peaks and parapets and turrets shaped like a castle it overhung the aspen grove at the far end of the meadow that was where they were do down wn there near the rock his father was bounding Toun ding up the mares with their foals getting them out of the w woods bringing them back through the meadow slowly he never ran them ken ran down the hill and headed for the big rock he ran as far as he could and then stopped to get his wind again and make a calculation from where he was now on the grazing land which sloped down to the barbed wire fence around the meadow he could see the wide gate open and fast fastened enid back that was so the mares could come through up to where he was ks there was a sort of road here and the mares would follow it nata naturally rally and stay right oh it it if he could hide somewhere near here where he could keep his eye on the gate hed see them pass quite close he looked about for shelter here and there ther ewas was a jagged outcropping cropping out of the pink granite which underlay the soil here and there a small clump of wild currant bushes he drew back behind the bush and lay down and suddenly felt very tired and very happy the report card and the saddle addle blanket and the stud stu yau dyall Y au the unpleasant things iiii gs were behind him if he e woke with a jerk coming up from such a deep place that tt it seemed ho he must have slept for hows houts lie ile was bewildered and set sat up trying to gather his wits then he ha remembered and scrambled to his feet would he be too late they might have passed while he was asleep he ran out from behind ane bush head on into the bunch the mares were up from the meadow almost noiselessly on the grass mclaughlin in the rear and banner offside in the middle they were walking as quietly as the cows coming in for milking in the load lead was a powerful long legged mare with a shiny black coat she carried her nose in the air her wild staring eyes ringed with white rocket the loco mare daughter of the albino As ken shot out from behind the bush almost colliding with her she snorted in terror and went straight up on her hind bind legs for a moment ken was under the dan dangling ling black hoofs of her fore legs and smelled the heat of her body then she twisted to one side made a great leap cap and shot away and it seemed to ken that it was a hundred horses that leaped and scattered after her instead of just twenty ken ran to a pile of rocks and scrambled to the top so ho he could see all that happened rocket had gone off at an anile angle to the line ot of march and was on a dead run stretched ou like a race horse with the whole bunch after her she was heading for the rock sh slide d e a p place a c e where the grazing I land ind broke d down 0 w n to the lower levels of the next pasture over a long curving hill of sheer rock to go down it on foot he and howard had to sit and slide no horse not even the most sure footed could negotiate that drop it if she went over shed go head over heels shed roll and bounce to the bottom and all the others too it if they follo followed wod her the whole band of mares and colts pitching down somersaulting rolling crashing whoa there whoa whoa 11 mclaughlins ins voice rang out on a note of desperation he was galloping as fast as he could to head oft off rocket but she had a long lead and shorty was slow then ken saw the big stallion banner shoot out of the crush his was like flame in the sunlight his feet thundered oh go it banner Bann ergo go itt hout phout ed kenan ken in an agony agony dancing up and down on his rock the two horses were running at an angle to each other banner gain gaming they converged near the rock slide banners head was suddenly right over rockets his golden mane mingled with her black mane his mouth open and his bli big teeth bared suddenly his jaws snapped and rocket gave a furious squeal and stopp stopped edwith with a jar banner whirled an and d lashed and his heels struck her side with a ringing smack the other mares telescoped up against them then banner was everywhere ere at once biting driving wheeling and kicking the mares back not one single mare lost not a colt hurt hurl or crushed rocket herself panting and foam flecked walking meekly back towards the road kens terror was now for himself if his father should see him I 1 he might not have have thought it was something else that scared them a coyote or perhaps rockets craziness he slid down the rock and sat i hunched up at the base of it ile he was fairly well hidden there rocks i and currant bushes all around him he could hear the pounding of the horses hoofs going farther away and he began to breathe more easily then a shadow fell on him and he looked up and saw his father sitting there on oil shorty after one look into the blazing eyes eye under sunder the down drawn brim of the stetson hat ken dropped his head and sat sil silent lent 1 c 1 I I 1 just came to see the horses he h muttered m U at last mclaughlin said nothing ken looked up again and the look on his fathers bacs made him burn all over he cried out sharply 1 I mean to do it dadi mean to scare scare them he wanted to go on and explain that he had fallen asleep and then run out to see tt if they had gone and rocket was right there but there time without a word of answer or blame mclaughlin wheeled shorty and went cantering bantering cant ering away after the mares ken felt as it if he had been put out of the ranch out of all the concerns that howard was druon and out of his fathers heart that was the worst what mat he was always hoping for was to be friends with his father and now this so soon after getting home ills despair made him feel weak re he put his head down on his drawn up knees and his hands were clenched blehi cleu ched ed tight after a while he slid down flat and slept pt a again aln a deep exhausted sleep this time that made up the hours he had lo lost striding riding so early that morning TO BE CONTINUED |