Show Y N ss ms mass L IC K aa kelp 1 RY OHARA A THE STOUT STORY SO 80 PAR farl ten year old ken Al cLaughlin liven given an opportunity to choose nay any yearling on his wy grains ranch picks the filly any of A loco mare named rockel ill ill father a re tired army officer to li ty by kens ken chole atholee e aud and by mi his sons loni failure allura in school but he be is ii pleased at the change la in ken ka since ilace he h had bad a colt of we hii own when flicki the ally Is bad badly I 1 V hurt trying to jump th the corral fence ence ken uke takes tie the opportunity to care can for or her ber and to make friends with her kent kens mother bother and father quarrel when she he tries to tell him she he has ha seen icea a wildcat nell tots into town to a movie to get et away and regal 0 ber polie poise now continue with the story CHAPTER XVI rolling along th the lincoln elincoln highway at about sixty miles an hour five miles mile faster than her usual pace nell had a delicious sense of escape es cape in cheyenne she crept along th the streets eti marveling at the neon lights that outlined the features of every booth hot dog stand shop and res caurant tau rant the streets were almost as bright abday at the theater she saw ginger rogers and fred astaire in a dance team picture and here she was lost in delight her real life was waa completely erased back again in the days of college proms broms and holl holiday dances she danced the hour through rough lai and came out of tb the e theater in a daze hardly knowing where she was or at what point her life was to be picked up again now she must get home it was nearly eleven it took her a long time she had to open the window hang her head out looking down at the front wheel trying to keep it right on tho the center line of the road it seemed three tim times s I 1 the h e actual distance of ml miles lea before she turned off the highway and drove in under the goose bar ranch sign rob was sitting in the arm chair by the radio absorbed by a he was listening to one knee was was hooked over the arm of the chair ir his boots were off slippers on the heather brown socks that were drawn up over the cuffs of his riding breeches he was smoking seeing her lie he smiled and nodded then held up a hand for silence not wanting to miss a word of what he was hearing mind if I 1 hear this out he said softly not at all nell answered stiffly and went upstairs to bed half an hour later he lay in bed beside hor her smoking a last cigarette in the darkness it seemed to him birn that the walnut b bed ed was vibrating slightly the tremor emanated from nell lying there her back turned to him she was tense from the back of her neck to her toes rob bob finished his cigarette ground out the stub in the ash tray on the table then rolled over and put his arms around her he held her tight to him one arm under her neck with the other hand he pressed her hed head against him smoothed he her r hair laid his cheek against it as he s so often did kissing it softly it took a long time for her trembling to stop when it had he said quietly what frightened you up in the stable pasture she answer was it the wildcat yes 1 I heard you shoot twice did you get a shot at him no mo that was cottontails cotton tails I 1 was shooting at did you get the cottontails cotton tails 1 I shot them but the mountain lion got them what happened you know the rock up there that iball I 1 call the sunset rock because I 1 so BO often climb up it to look at the sunset yesther yes the one in the woods a little litile way that comes up out of the earth sharp and jagged like the top of a mountain poking through yes well I 1 had shot the two Fab rabbits bits and the light was fadin fading 9 and there were beautiful colors in the sky I 1 thought there must be a fine sunset if I 1 could get up out of the woods to a high place and see it so I 1 thought I 1 would climb up the sunset rock its so steep in places you have to go up on your hands and knees you know hanging on 1 I know so I 1 set the twenty two against a pine tree near the base of the rock and tied the legs of the two rabbits together with that narrow black ribbon I 1 had around my hair and andi I 1 hung them on a jagged stump of a branch that stuck out of the trunk of the pine tree how high up not very high just opposite my face and then I 1 climbed up the rock and stood up there looking at the sunset when it was over I 1 came down on the opposite side of the rock and walked around the base of it to the he place I 1 had left the gun gua and the rabbits but before I 1 got there I 1 met the lion face to face not ten feet away he was coming around the rock too and he had bad m my y rabbits in his mouth i ill be darned we just stood facing each other 11 e r were you scared 7 not then just so surprised we neither e ther of us moved tor for a moment then he just melted away it was getting dark it just seemed as it if I 1 blinked my m eye and he was gone I 1 stood listening hear a thing then I 1 got terribly seared geared and started to run home then I 1 remembered I 1 t run and I 1 tried to walk I 1 kept looking behind me I 1 was in a regular panic 1 I knew he be was around here howd you know 1 I saw footprints footprint theother morning f where in the corral in the corrill corral I 1 yes four our perfect prints VInts tn in that patch of earth that gets the dampness from the waters trough nell was silent thinking ot of the cat stalking out from the woods across the open space to the corrals the stable pasture chats that a pretty close rob theres lots ot of game up there nell the woods are lull full ot of deer it was true several ot of the hay bay crew had told of seeing deer when they went up to the stables early in the morning and nell herself one day just pretending that the shape of some twigs and branches and little ahr shrubs alts were the delicate shapes of deer suddenly saw that it was true A group of five does and fawns sto stood od there motionless onless under her eyes its strange that the men see the prints of the mountain lion too gus saw them he was with me I 1 told him to rake them river over I 1 want the men to see them and talk about it because of ken yes iles hes gone through enough this summer without lying awake then he be just melted away worrying about the cat with school only ten days away at bat that moment they both jumped and rob leaped half out of bed A scream tore the air rising from the hill across the green going up in a snarling crescendo to a pitch of earsplitting ferocity then ebbing slowly away in heartrending heart rending sobs profound silence followed the deep still stillness nesi of the range as if it had never been broken rob struck a match lit the candle by the bed and turned to look at nell I 1 she was sitting bolt upright her eyes wide and dark and her lips parted in an expression that wa was a slightly lightly hysterical did you ever hear such a she said rob shook his head then a mo ment later said beautiful it nell nodded violently it was gorgeous they sat still listening wondering it if the cat might scream again while the flame of the candle flickered and the long shadows danced on ceiling and walls nell slipped out of bed gilme the candle I 1 just want to see it that woke the boys she came back a moment later both of lem em dead to the world we lve wont tell them rob of course not 1 I wonder if any of the men heard not a chance its midnight lis ten what do you say we go downstairs I 1 cant sleep after that thal ill III make you some hot chocolate I 1 think you should have had something to eat anyway after your evening in town and the long ride back what did you see A good show they belted robes about them went down to the kitchen and rob made chocolate for each cup one square of bitter chocolate and two spoons of sugar and a cup of 01 milk thick smooth drink topped with guernsey cream they sat down at the table to drink and nell had a chance to tell about the show about the fog about what she had seen fai ui town she never felt that she had quite completed an experience until she ehe had shared it with rob when they went up to bed an hour later all her nervousness was gone As she blew out the candle she said drat that wildcat wild cathe hes got my calr aar ribbon the afternoon that ken finished Co copying yIng his composition he went over to the post office with his mother in the studebaker and dropped the long envelope contain ing his neat three pages of writing and his mothers letter into the mall mail box driving back to the ranch he sat at silent aware of peculiar feelings within himself it was another achievement something that might amo amount to quite a good deal in the estimation of his father and mr gibson it was to be kept a k secret from his father until mr Gib gibbons gibsons sons answer came of course he may not answer said nell he may lust just tell you when you and howard get there this made school feel very near hear and that made ken think about flicks lie he had ad never dreamed that at the end of the summer blicka would still be lame and halt half tick sick he hated to leave her that way after he had gone no one would care for her so devotedly sh she a would have to shift for herself she would need her rations of oats tor for a long time yet to put the flesh back on her bones she had been getting so thin lately thinner it seemed every day and her coat was losing its ine fine color and sheen rob had no eyes and no thought for anything but the haying and the weather the extra men had gone rob and tim and gus were storing the baled hay in the barn stacking the loose hay in long lozenges that gradually took on shape and style the sides forked down until they were smooth and ular the tops shaped in rounded ridges to shed rain and snow each time they got one stack topped they stretched long strands of baling wire over it to bind it to the earth and hung heavy railroad ties on the ends of the wire this kept the wind from blowing the stacks away the weather still held but each night the banks of cloud that crept over the sky were heavier and sometimes thunder rumbled intermittently tor for hours nell dropped her sewing in her lap and looked out ot of tho window her brows knotted with anxiety and distress the filly wont pull out of it rob had said when the little mare was arst hurt and he was wag right folcka was going to die if rob mob knew it if perhaps he had known ever since the generalized infection had poisoned her blood stream and he had given her the shot of serum scrum he had said nothing and when tre men talked about her he pretended not to hear but ken how could he have failed to see that every day left the little filly with less flesh besh less strength less life nell remembered re n em a friend whose baby had been wasting away and yet because of the dally daily care and closeness the warmth and little smiles and tiny arms still clinging did not know it until the very end ken did not know soon folcka began to go down in flesh so rapidly that almost overnight she wasted away to nothing every rib showed the glossy hide was dull and brittle and was pulled over her skeleton as it if she was a dead horse for conven convenience levice of unloading the big hay was left near the cow barn corrals every evening and one morning as mclaughlin ln and howard and the men were walking down to it gus leading one of th the e work teams which was to be h harnessed ar into it ken was walking with them carrying he can of oats under his arm lie he was going to take folcka her breakfast the little mare mans was waiting f tor him at the gate of the corral when mclaughlin ln saw he her r he stopped walking and a look ot of horror spread over his tace face what Is that he shouted they oil all stopped walking and looked at her and ken with a face as white as paper looked back at his father its folcka he whispered ashes been getting awfully thin roared mclaughlin ln gus shook his curly head sadly ay bin thinking cheo not goin to pull out of it he said paid pull out ot of it ashes dead ai already mclaughlin turned to glare at ken how long has she been like that ashes been going down awful fast the last M few w days faltered ken its de fever said gus its barnin her up tim said its an awful pity she was a nifty little filly hard luck ken mclaughlin ln looked at her again she was tor for ken her head was up looking at him she was just bones and a dull lustreless hide bide the end roared mclaughlin 1 I wont have a thing like that on my place he walked on to harness the team and ken went slowly to folcka and down the path to the stream with the little creature hopping at his heels lie he poured the oats in her feed box and she dipped her nose in and ate them TO BE CONTINUED |