| Show I RANCH 11 tI h i i l C 1 CI rr I INI i s S C j oo I Y Co 7 Irrer Ora f SYNOPSIS CHAPTER I larth I Marthy I lo low uncombed uncombed uncombed un un- combed harsh harah of or voice olce and speech and nature with her shiftless shirtless husband Jase Jasa journey over de desert ert trail driving four tour oxen and are the pioneers whose lurching wagon first fords the tho Wolverine stream Jase Jace is ready to stop at the first green spot but Marthy Insists on plodding alon along another full ull days day's journey That night through natural Instinct two of Ir the oxen ocen stray Into a narrow gorge and feast on the lie rich grass ras S 'S of or the tho Cove where they are arc found round by Marth Marthy who ho recognizes the little ittle lIttle hidden Eden as the place of or her dreams dream and the pioneers at once take possession pos pos- session Later thc they are arc joined by another another anther an- an other ther couple who nho are Impressed Jl with the the- Wolverine ol and also establish a home To them hem is born a a. daughter christened Billy Louise tad IJ on tue auto a minute If its it's a bear or anything like Ike that you can make a run for it It If f Its It's a wolf Ill I'll shoot it You needn't stand here all night an anyway anyway wu Blue went on out from behind the willow growth that hid the open He Ht returned to his calm picking a smooth trail rail through the scattered rocks and tiny washouts It was the girls girl's turn to stare store and speculate She did not know mow enow this horseman who sat negligent negligent- nt ly y in the saddle and looked up at t the cedar grown bluff blua beyond while his horse horge stood knee deep In hi the little stream She did not know him bim and there were not so RO many travelers in inthe inthe the laud land that stran strangers ers were a matter of or Indifference I Blue welcomed the horse with a dem- dem democratic democratic nicker and went forward brisk ly And the rider turned his bis head bead eyed ered the girl sharply as she came up I land and Lind nodded a cursory greeting His aLJ horse lifted its head to look decided that it wanted another swallow or two and Vel IO lowered louvered d its muzzle again to the water I nUl Billy Louise could not form any opinIon opinion ion lon of ot the mans man's age or personality for tor forthe he the was encased in a emit coot which covered him completely from That hat brim to ankles She got an impression Ision sion of or a thin thlu dark face tace and a sharp glance glance from e eyes es that seemed dark also There was a thin high nose and beyond that Billy BUly Louise did Id not look II If f she hid had the mouth must certainly have reassured her somewhat Blue stepped nonchalantly Gown lown into the stream beside the stran strange e horse and jand and went across without stopping to drink The strange horse moved on also as if it that were the natural thing thine to o do which do-which which it was since chance sent them hem tra traveling yeUng the same trail BIB Louise set her teeth together with the queer little vicious click that had al always always al ways ways been her habit when she felt thwarted and constrained to yield to circumstances and straightened herself In n the saddle Looks like a storm the fur tur coated one observed ed with a perfectly transparent transparent trans trans- parent attempt to lighten the awk awk- Billy Louise tilted her chin upward and gazed at the gray sweep of ot clouds cloudt moving sullenly toward the mountains at her back She glanced at the man and caught him looking intently at her het face tace He did not look awn away immediately as as' as he be should have done and Billy Looise Louise Lou Loo- ise felt a little heat beat wave of ot embarrassment embarrassment embar embar- emphasized by resentment Are Arc you ou going far fare he queried In Inbe Inthe the be same tone be he had employed before Six Sir she answered shortly though she tried to be decently civil Ive I've about eighteen he said Looks like well we'll both get t caught out in hi a blizzard Certainly ho had bad a pleasant enough ough voice jolce voice and after all it was not his fault fault that he happened to be at the crossing when she ebe rode out of or the gorge gore Billy Dilly Louise In common Ju justice Justice Jus jus- tice laid a aside ide her resentment nt and ami looKed at him with a hint of ot a smile at the comers corners of DC her lips what we have to expect when we travel in this country In the winter whiter winter win win- ter she replied Eighteen X miles will Sake lake you long after atter dark Well I was sort of figuring on putting put tin ting up at some BOine ranch if It it got too bad Theres There's a ranch somewhere ahead on the fhe be Wolverine isn't there Yes Billy DUly Louise bit her lip but hospitality Is la an on un unwritten written In law w pf the theW W West t a law not to be lightly broken where I live Well Wel b be glad to have you OU stop there of ot course The stranger must have ban felt and admired ad mired the unconscious dignity of ot her tone tono and words for tor he be thanked her simply and refrained from looking too intently at her face tace Fine sittings of ot snow like meal eAI flung down from a gigantic sieve swept into their faces faced as they rode on The Tho man turned his face lace toward her after atter a 8 long silence She was riding with bowed head bead and face tace half halt turned from him and the wind alike aUke better ride on ahead and get Jn hi out of ot this he said curtly Your horse is LI fresh Its It's going to b be worse and more o of it be before ore long This of ot mine has haa had hod thirty miles or so 80 of ot rough going I I think Id I'd better wait walt for tor you she paid ald primly There are bAd tad places wora wb wi ni re the tb trail trait IlO woes roes IJ Hoy to the toe Muff bluff and lull the lava u rock will be slippery with this snow V and Its It's getting etting dark so fast that a stranger might go over If It that's the case cuse the sooner you are litre past the bad ball places the better Im I'm all right You drift along DUI Billy Louise speculated briefly upon the note of oC calm authority In his biB voice He did not know evidently that she was as more accustomed to giving commands commands com com- mands mantis than thun to obeying them Her lips Ups gave a little quirk of amusement at his mistake You go on I dont don't want a guide He ITe tilted his head peremptorily toward the blurred trail ahead Billy Bills Louise lau laughed bed a little She did not feel in the least embarrassed now Do Io 1 0 you never get what you dont don't want oho gho asked mildly Id lid a a. lot r Better Ride On Ahead and Get In Out of This rather lead you on past those places than have you go over the ed edge e. e she said because nobody could get et you up or even e go down and bury you Jou decently It wouldn't be a bit nice Its It's much simpler to k keep p you on top He said something but Billy DUly Louise could not hear h he r what it was WiS She suspected suspected sus sus- him of swearing She rode on in silence Blues mues a dandy horse on bad trails and in the dark she observed companionably companionably companionably com- com at last He simply cant can't lose his footing or 01 his way Yes That's nice Billy Dilly Louise felt like putting out her ber tongue at him for tor the cool remoteness of ot his lus tone It would serve him right to ride on and let him break his hiB neck over OTer the bluff if It he wanted to She shut her teeth together and turned her tare race away from him hire So In hi silence and with no very good feeling between n them they went precariously precariously pre pre- down the steep hill the tho hill up which Marth Marthy and the oxen and nd Jase had tolled so 80 laboriously twenty twenty- seven years before and across the tiny Uny flat to where the cabin window winked winked winked wink wink- ed a welcome at them through the storm CHAP CHAPTER T E R II If A Book a Bannock and a Bed LUI UE led the way straight to the thelow thelow BI B low dirt roofed rooted stable of or logs and stopped with his Ws nose against the closed dosed door Billy DUly Louise herself was waa deceived by the whirl of ot snow and would have misled the stable entirely If It f the leadership had been hers She Sho Blue gratefully on the shoulder when she unsaddled him She groped with her fingers for tor the wooden peg In Inthe Inthe inthe the wall where the saddle should hang bang failed tailed to find Ond It and BO so laid the down against the logs and covered atwith it at with the blanket Just uJust turn your horse in loose she directed the man shortly Blue wont won't fight and I think Wink the rest of ot the hOrses borses are In hi the other part port And come on t to to the tho house It pleased her Tier a little to see that be btu obeyed her without protest but she was not so 80 pleased at his bis silence and an she led the way rather Indignantly to toward toward ward the winking g eye eya which was waa the tho cabins cabin's window At the sound BOund of ot their feet fert on the tha wide doorstep her mother pulled open the he door and stood fair In the light looking out with an anxious lookIs lookIs look Is la that you Billy DUly Louise O Oh aint Peter Howling Dog with you What makes you so 60 terrible late Billy BIDy Louise Come Coine right in stranger 1 l' dont don't know your name nam but I 1 don don'ts need to know it t. t A storm like this la is all 1111 the a fellow needs Iguess I 1 guess 1 i What about Peter Ieter Billy BlUr Louise Louis asked he here herer No and he be aint been since an hour or so 80 after you left Ho He saddled up and rode off down YU the river fiver to the sea rea- 1 T recK reCKon n. n Then the chores arent aren't done I sup pose Billy nilly Louise went over and took a lantern down from Its nail nan turning up the wick so that she could light It with the candle Go up to the fire and thaw out she Invited tho thoman thoman man Well Wen have supper In a few minutes Instead he reached out and took the lantern from her as soon as she had lighted lightell it You go to the fire yourself yourself your your- self he sai said Ill do what's necessary necessary sary sury outside y Why Billy Louise her fingers still sun clinging to the lantern looked up at him He was staring down at her with that Int intent nt look she had objected to on the trail but she saw his mouth anti and the little smile that hid Just back bacle backof of oC his lips She smiled back without knowing it Ill ba have ve to go along anyway There are cows to milk mUk and andou you ou couldn't very well find the cow stable alone Think not Together they went out again Into the storm they had left lett so eagerly Billy DUly Louise showed him where was was was' the pitchfork and the hay bay and then did the milking while he piled full tun th the mangers mangelS After that they went to toi gether ther and turned the shivering work hor hordes es into the stable from the corral where they huddled rumps to the storm and the man lifted great forkfuls forkfuls fork tork- fuls of ot hay and carried it into their stalls while Billy BUly Louise held the lantern lantern lantern lan lan- tern high over her head bead like Uke a western Liberty They did not talk much except except except ex ex- ex- ex when there was need for speech but they were beginning to feel a little lIttle little lit lIt- tle glow of oC companionship by the time they were ready to fight their way against the blizzard to the house Billy Louise going before with the lantern while whale the man followed close behind carrying can the two pails palls of ot milk that was already freezing ing In to little crystals to the tinI tinI tin I didn't quite catch your name mister mister mister mis mis- ter Mrs Mm MacDonald l said sald after they had begun the meal But Dut take another another another an an- other biscuit anyway Warren is my me returned theman the theman theman man with that hidden smile because she had nev never l' l before given him any opportunity to tell it it Ward It Ward Warren Ive I've got a claim over on Mill l creek crek llly Louise gave ave a little gasp and distractedly poured two spoonfuls o ot of sugar ugar in hi her tea although she hated It sweetened i TB Ve e got gOl to tell you why even at the price of ot digression ion Long ago when Billy Louise was twelve or so and lived largely In hi a dream world of ot her own vu she bad had one day chanced upon a paragraph in a paper palter that had come como from town wrapped around a package of ot matches tt K was all about Ward Warren ren The name caught her fancy tancy and the text of ot the paragraph seized upon her imagination Until school filled her mind with other things she had built bunt adventures without end in which Ward Warren was the central figure Sometimes when she rode in inThe inthe the hills Ward Warren abducted her herand herand herand and led her into strange places where she ehe tried to I shiver in honest dread Often otten and often otten however howe Ward Warren War War- War War-j ten ren ren was a fugitive who bo came to he her herfor herfor for lor help Then she would take him to toa ton n 11 a cave and hide him perhaps or she would mount her horse and lead him by devious ways to safety and upon some Bome hilltop from which she could point out the route he must follow she would bid him Mini a touching adieu and he beseech him In hi the impossible language language language lan lan- guage of ot some Home old romancer to go and lead a blameless life lite Jase has got all gone feelings now mommie nommie Billy Dilly Louise Louiso remarked Irrel- Irrel during a brief briet pause and re to- lapsed lapsed Into silence again She fhe knew that was good for at least five minutes minute of 01 straight ht monologue with her mother in hi that talking mood She finished her supper while Warren listened abstractedly abstract edl edly to a complete biography of ot the and earned all about Marthya Marthy energy and Jasey Janes shiftlessness Ward Warrens Warren r Billy Louise was saying paying to herself Ward Warren There couldn't possibly be two Ward Warrens its it's such an odd name Well Wem Then she went mentally over that Paragraph She wished she did not remember every single word wod of ot it but She did And she idle was afraid to look rut ut at him after atter that and she wanted to dreadfully She felt as though bo ho belonged belonged belonged be be- longed to her Why he was her ber old playmate And she had bad saved saYed his life ute hundreds of ot times at immense risk to hers and he had always been her devoted devoted devoted de de- de- de voted slave afterward and neTer never failed tailed to appear at the precise moment when she was beset by Indians Indiana or robbers or something and in dire need The blood he ho had shed In la her behalf r At that point Billy BUly Louise startled herself her her- self and the others by suddenly laughing laughing laughIng laugh- laugh ing out loud at the memory of ot onetime one ono time when Ward Warren bAd had killed klUe J enough Indians Indiana to fi fill l a de deep p washout I 50 so that he might carry her across to the other side Is MIa there anything funny about dying Billy Louise Y her mo moer mother moth moth- er es- asked her In a perfectly shocked tone No I 1 was waa thinking of ot something else She glanced at the man eying her bel eo so distrustfully from across the table ta table table ta- ta ble and gurgled again It war wag terribly silly eilly but she ahe simply could not help belp I seeing Ward Warren calmly filling that washout with dead Indians Indiana BO so that ho I might carry her across it in hia ida arms arma The more ahe he tried to forget torget that the J funnier it became She SOO ended by leavIng lean leav- leavi I i Ing lag the table and Ito I to her ber own tiny room In the lean to where she ahe burled buried her ber face 04 IllS deep as asIt asIt I It |
