| Show t- t 0 y 11 d r HAROLD CHAN CHANNING N I NG Wl WIRE E f D RELEASE ASE l 4 LEW BURNET has been engaged by I TOM ARNOLD owner of the Cross T to act as trail boss on the drive from southern Texas to Ogallala In the spring It of 1875 Tom with his bis son and daughter STEVE and JOY are moving to Wyo Wyo- ming ining Tom must deliver dellver longhorns to the Indian agent by September 1 or ore e lose Jose a profitable contract Lew has reason rea rea- reason son to believe that the Indian Supply Co is ts trying to delay the Cross T her herd He lie suspects aspects that CIa Clay Steve and ED are In some way connected With the company but he be does docs not wish to make charges until he be Is sure sore The drive gets started but CLAY MANNING lANNING foreman and ED a new hand rebel at Lews Lew's orders j n ti w CHAPTER VI VII I From the point he saw Steve and Clay and gather far behind him lim They rode like that for most of the afternoon The two white-topped white wagons had hadj hadr j r vanished early northward over a aswell aswell aswell I swell of ground It was almost dark when he saw sate Owl Owl-H Owl Heads ads ad's plume of smoke He waved Joe Wheat up to take his place To he hei i said Im going on There was was' something he wanted to look at nt before the longhorns' longhorns h trampled out all sign His knowledge that Cross T horses had been run up Crazy Woman Creek to these plains had gnawed inside of him its puzzle only half clear Now Nowa a a deep notch in the plains plain's edge to the east marked the entrance to i Crazy razy Woman While off on his left was vas as the tank a natural hollow iring ering several acres It still held I enough nough muddy water he saw from fromI I the he winters winter's rain and brought himself himself himself him him- self to a sudden stop next moment It was clear enough in his mind that hat the Indian Supply herd had needed horses and had got them by trading trading rading Cross T stock via the New Mexico exchange The men who I had lad caught him near Crazy Woman I were not only rustlers but part of I the he Indian Supply crew Yet what still till still had no answer was Clay Manning's Mannings Mannings Manning's Man Man- ning's Wings par part in that deal Approaching camp where the two wagons had stopped beside the tanks tank's rim he saw the charred embers embers em em- bers hers of other camps near the cooks cook's fire ire Owl-Head Owl rose from stirring something in a Dutch oven and jerked a thumb toward them What do io you make of that He didn't say No use spreading what he knew But Moonlight Bailey Bailey Bai- Bai ley ey driving ahead of the longhorns with his horse herd had cut that trail rail from Crazy Woman He was riding iding in between the wagons now a small brown man with a bullfrog voice By Judas Lew he burst out I I know where our saddle stock went I All right Keep it to yourself Keep it Moonlights Moonlight's round simple face turned dusty red Toms ribbed me plenty for losin horses If I hadn't listened to Clay him lim tellin me there was no use lookin Moonlight he said shut up He Ie had seen the canvas of Joys Joy's wagon open Now you mind Then he heard her voice behind him Lew come here He wheeled his horse around She was sitting on the blankets of her bed jed her hat off and her dark hair falling loose What was Moonlight saying Nothing he said Your wrangler wrangler wrangler wran wran- gler sleeps out in the moon too much He sees things No It was about the horses and Ive I've been thinking it wasn't possible for twenty or thirty head to vanish the way they did What has Moonlight Moonlight Moonlight Moon Moon- light found He didn't want to worry her with mysteries and yet he didn't want this discovery to get back to Clay Manning either He said right it was about the horses Moonlight Moonlight Moon Moon- light thinks he has the answer I dont don't think he has But let it go for now will you Dont Don't talk She nodded and smiled a little I 11 learned to keep things to myself Lew long ago Ive I've had such a good example from you men He grinned and yet riding from her he hated that any doubt and suspicion should begin to trouble her so early on the trail Long before Lew felt a an n uneasiness uneasiness uneasiness ness himself the cattle were smelling smelling smell smell- ing ing something in the air He had marked six days in his logbook estimating estimating estimating es es- es- es one hundred miles when they came that late afternoon to the first stream bed on the plains Pointing Pointing Point Point- ing the herd into it he searched on north for the double mountain landmark landmark landmark land land- mark and saw only the unbroken horizon hard and sharp against the sky There was no warning One moment moment moment mo mo- mo- mo ment all the camp made its picture clear before his eyes Tom Arnold stood with a tin cup waiting for lor his coffee Joy and Steve were sitting sitting sitting sit sit- ting on the tongue of her wagon in one of their rare times together Three shaped dim-shaped riders were coming coming com com- ing in for lor their meal The next instant an unseen hand struck the campfire scattering its red coals outward for a hundred feet feet The wagon canvases bellied and slapped the bows like pistol shots The stars were suddenly gone and the winds wind's full force with its choking dust was something that thata a n man had to lean into strongly No one needed his yelled order Men were already running in the Ditch dark toward their horses Yet i no sound broke the almost silent thrust of the wind Here on the flat fiat plain with nothing to strike against it made only a thin hiss through the short grass Th Then n the ragged black blackpool blackpool blackpool pool was ahead f of him He could see the way they had swung north now in the direction the wind was blowing and knew they were held from a run so far because no leader lead lead- er had started it off Their tight fear had to be broken He understood the slim chance a aman aman aman man would have caught in th that t mass massif if it jumped suddenly into its blind stampede But there was no other way he rode directly in among the hard unyielding bodies The familiarity of a ar a horseman his voice lifted in a wordless crooning crooning croon croon- ing seemed to ease their dumb brains They began to move aside They brought their heads down He crowded on weaving toward the middle There were other riders around aroundhim aroundhim aroundhim him in the dusty dark Ghost shapes appeared higher than the ridgepole backs and va vanished Until after midnight he had a certain certain certain tain hope These storms came up yup with the suddenness of a hurricane then often ended in a short time as abruptly as they had come But at midnight the wind was still rising with a harder thrust It would not end soon By three it was blowing with a d strength that made his horse unsteady He knew the time by bythe bythe bythe the strange unearthly y light beginning beginning beginning begin begin- ning to show a little of the herd rj rl t fy t. t C fo foA s A tE i Breakfast Lew Got some beans with plenty of sand around him Their moaning low-moaning complaint had gone on these hours They began to move now in a solid way too tired to stand any longer too restless to lie down Riding back in the first dusty brown light of dawn he saw that Moonlight Bailey had already met one danger by leading four mares mareson on picket ropes Most of the horses were crowding up close They would not desert their ladies Jim Hope was riding behind them to catch any drift From the campfire loading up his kegs for an early start Owl-Head Owl yelled Breakfast Lew Got some beans with plenty of sand He shook his head and rode on to where Joys Joy's mules were harnessed She was up on the wagon seat with a handkerchief across her nose and mouth ready to drive He stepped down and tied the mules' mules halter ropes to the tail gate of the chuck wagon He had to shout above the slapping rattle of canvas canvas Get in inside inside inside in- in side I Only the blinking squint of her eyes showed over the handkerchief edge Her voice reached him stub stub- This is my job He moved back to her head down and leaning against the wind You want to go blind Sliding his arms under her legs and behind her back he carried her to the rear end and put her in on the wagon bed He grinned feeling the dust dry in his mouth You wont won't miss anything Dont Don't stick your head out today She pulled the handkerchief down squinting up at his rimmed red-rimmed burning eyes Have you had any sleep at all Sure he said plenty It was like trying to talk inside of a drum Passing the cook again he shouted shout shout- ed Keep up close I A man could lose himself in this smother if he ever missed the longhorns' longhorns trail In the short time since dawn the herd had drifted more than a mile He followed their trampled swath and came to the ragged edge of drags Only a few of their bony rumps showed all others on either side and up toward the lead were blotted out by the brown dust It was not a matter of driving the herd now but of holding it back They came on in a solid front their great horns swinging from side to side as 5 they crowded and spread out for a distance that he could neither see nor guess And above the rumble and clack of their walk the openmouthed openmouthed openmouthed open- open mouthed groaning rose to a sharper key that turned a mans man's nerves raw He could no longer locate his rock piles only a slim chance would let him blunder onto the double butte Each hour he could feel himself being being being be be- ing pressed farther into the desert of the Staked Plain beyond the last water that he knew Dragging off his saddle and throwing throwing throwing throw throw- ing it onto the fresh horse that Jim Hope brought he spied two masked figures butting into the wind Moving Moving Moving ing toward them he recognized Clay Manning Tom Arnold They were shouting together He wanted a moments moment's talk somehow somehow somehow some some- I how the reassurance of other mens men's words Bending beside them he yelled Weve sure hit a bad one onel It was Clay next to him His head turned The violence of his answer bulged the handkerchief from his mouth A hell of a time to think of that How you going to get us out of this Tight nerves snapped Fly out You got a better way Did have Clay flung back It was a fool move at the start Lew Tom Arnold thrust himself himself him him- self in front of them He looked shrunken and dried out You got I any idea where we are He couldn't have they knew that He shook his head and started to say All we can do do- do doA A lash of the theold theold I old mans man's temper cut him off Then by God Im I'm damned if I know what youre you're here for forI This I Iwas was no way to come I He had no answer you didn't fight Tom Arnolds Arnold's temper It would cool And he understood the bitterness of what the man could lose But at the same time he saw the quick vengeance vengeance vengeance ven ven- in Clay Mannings Manning's shot blood-shot eyes He had got in his word with Tom There was a horse bolting toward them through the dust He didn't I Isee see for for- foran an nn instant that it was running running running run run- ning loose its head up high searching searching searching search search- ing for the herd and that a man I Iwas was hunched over clinging to the saddle horn with both hands He grabbed its bridle The sudden stop flung the rider down into his arms He pulled the handkerchief off It was Steve Both of his eyes were glued shut the swollen red lids puffed out of their sockets Struggling in the wind he brought the slack body up against him Steve J He yelled Its all right boy Try to walk Close to his side sia Tom Arnold shouted Get him to to the girls girl's wagon and reached out outto outto outto to help Dont t worry he said to Joy Bathe his eyes and let him rest Hell He'll be all right He swung from her and fought back to his horse But her look went with him turning turning turning turn turn- ing him cold with what ft it t showed This was what it meant to be a trail boss Whatever happened h he would get a little credit and all the blame Steve he knew was only the be be- ginning By nightfall he had l led d others one by one back bick to the wag wag- ons For a short time all the dusty air around him had turned to gold It was blood red now in the sunset sunset sunset sun sun- set as he crossed the front of the herd counting his men Five were left spaced at far-apart far intervals himself three older hands Joe Wheat and Ash Brownstone and Charley Storms As Ashe Ashe Ashe he passed each one he warned them Dont try to stick it too long Sheer fatigue had slackened the pace It was again a slow walk but butas butas butas as relentless as a powerful machine Thirst was what drove these animals animals animals ani ani- ani- ani mals now a mad fever that would keep them going until they found water or dropped dead Their hoarse and frenzied bawling was swept forward around him in waves that rose and fell and sometimes burst into almost human screams If he hadn't known this same experience experience experience ex ex- once before he would not believe that men or beasts could hold through another hour You reached an an absolute limit and then what kept you going he didn't know Yet his awareness of being dead tired had passed a dull slack feeling feeling feeling feel feel- ing had come over his body It was wasas wasas wasas as if he ha hard hag no weight He locked both hands on the saddle horn and let his head nod Then men something waKened him that was like a cold damp rag wiped across his face It jerked him up up- right There was a faint grayness beyond his swollen lids He was suddenly suddenly suddenly sud sud- denly aware of a strange quiet Then he saw the cattle a thin line that trailed behind him shoving their muzzles through wet grass A drop of water splashed from his he was riding in a misty rain with only a part of the herd that somewhere had split up There was no wind He drew his hisgun hisgun hisgun gun firing it into t the e air but had no answer Dawn had never made him feel fee more grateful as he sat waiting while the gray light turned to silver and a little morning breeze sprang up pushing back the mist The longhorns were spent They had halted to stand with drooping heads soaking the wetness into their hides The mist rose and became a thick layer and then a golden sunrise e spread beneath it across s the level leval plain g vf tat TIVI TO D DI |
