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Show I iRflMllb-' By IZOLA FORRESTER. ' l fl wEII r 'AVk heifers and plants and kids, fl VP3' )' 'Sy , vLewT-nER The' 1,ke t0 be tue whole fl (I L-vi $MWsi iMQvnl show and bo0B a place llke fl K (iBfli fllljk me' B1" wre get fl XT 7HhN the call came to moTe H "yV south. Chance laid it to the H prairie fires. H "Nowadays, the minute I see that H yellow in the air, and the grasB H crookleB up crisp and ready under H Siwesh's tootsies, why, I don't Btop H to do any plowing or back-firing. Si- H wash and me get the call of the eouth j Quick, and wo take the trail toward H vYankton." H "Going to stop off at old man H Nawn's place, as por usual r' Inquired fl Bill mildly. .,, H "Sore," said Chance. H " "Going to bring a miasua back -rrlth j yer?" Still tho tono was gentle. 1 Chance laughed and rubbed his fia- 1 gero up through his thick, curly hair H dubiously. j "She wouldn't like it 'way oat here, 1 mould she, Bill? Even you and nwv 1 find it lonely. I guesB a woman would H "Nope." Ono of the brown 1?upple6' H rolled nonchalantly over Into tho pan H of milk, and Bill Ashed him out oare- H fully and rolled him on the ground H in tender, motherly faehion, to dry H him off, "Women don't mind behig H lonesome If they've got the man they H love host and a few ohiokons to look 1 ut lqrandeome 'dogs and oats and. Jfj ting too Get in onr jtk$ ways. We're getting j$S Hko a conplo of half- r' petrified polllwogs down under the oreek bed. We're getting so plumb set that we dont care what we turn into In the next thousand years, if they'll only let ub alone. I'm going to ride south to-morrow, and I'm going to stop off at old man Nawn's place and say 'howdy.' " It was a challenge to further argument, argu-ment, but Bill took It not up. He knew tho spring was against him, as well as the memory of Madelaine's tanned, dimpled face, with its quick smile and big, soft, dark eyes. So 'the next morning at daybreak Chance rodo eouth, rode with hiB head held high to greet the dawn-light over his shoulder, nnd his hat brim turned low with a jaunty twist, as bsfltting a wooing cavalier. Every spring, for six years back, ho had taken tho same route. It had constituted his spring run after the long, alow, snowbound winter back up in the foothills whore the prairie breaks against their base like long, rolling waves. Through tho winter he and his partner part-ner would live quietly in the Htle rough shack that hugged the shelter of the shelving butte behind it When a big storm was in the air, they would ride out with tho doss and drive the herds down Into tho gullies. It was the only exciting thing that ever happened hap-pened from November to April, But when it wns over, the winter wait, then the sap of sDfiag ran tost in Chance's veins and he took the southern trail for relaxation. He. was whistling softly ns he rode this time. It was getting on toward sunset before he checked Siwash and rested to take his bearings. They were on the crest of a creek bed. It was one of those meandering, dried-up dried-up affairs, with tangled masses of mud-caked grasses down in tho bottoms bot-toms and a few scrawny young cot-tonwoodB cot-tonwoodB hero and there along the slopes. Tho bleached, weather-beaten weather-beaten skull of a steer lay half buried in tho Bun-baked earth midway down the slope; but it was not a mere skull that caused Siwash to droop his long neck and whinny reBtlesaly. "Not moaning to arguo with you. Si," said Chance, "but I don't see a blame thing suspiclouB on thl3 horizon." hori-zon." The horse nosed at the long, dry grass tops; and suddenly Chance looked down, not at tho creek bed, but at tho deep, tangled moss of weedu where the land dipped to the slope, and he swung off tho pony's baok with a sharp exclamation. It waa the body of a man. "61, you're the most sagacious" and pcrBplcaoious animal on four legB in the State of South Dakota." He turned the body over and lookod 'at the faoo. The eyes opened widely and stared back at him, dully at first, then with slow-gathering consciousness conscious-ness in their listless, filmed depths. "Hallo, Chance," whispered the parched, blackened lips. "Hallo, Lucky Chance. Give me a drink." Chance drew the bottle from his hip pocket and put it to the dry lips. The man drank thirstily. Chance laid him back on the dusty, yellow grass and sat on his heels, his square chin tilted inquiringly forward. "Where's Leroux?" ho askod. "Heard you and he had Bwung into partnership since he got thrown out of tho reservation, Pete. Heard he and you were making quite a bit of money out ot land speoulatlpn. Indian In-dian mortgages ain't muoh value when Uncle Sammy uses pen and ink, are they, Peter The half-breed dosed his eyes obstinately, ob-stinately, his lips shut in a curious half moon of bitterness. Chance watched him closely. Pete Frozen Nose he waa called outcast from his own people, and from the whites also, because of crooked deals carried on in Indian mortgages. Not by his own wit, however. Chance knew he had been merely the outward symbol of the business intricacies of Leroux, one-time Indian agent, and now a stroller from station to Btatlon among the hill camps and prairie ranches, -getting money wherever It grew eBay. For over three years the two had carried on their trade in thoir own -ayt vlrtuo of hia steading with fl a::i:!:r:,:;:MBMI tho reservation Indians, the name of Leroux had been enough to lend confidence con-fidence to any deal tho half-breed proposed, pro-posed, until miles of the best land bay under paper bearing the Leroux stamp. And from out tho far east of red-taped red-taped officialdom had swung the thunderbolt. thun-derbolt. After years of bickering and dallying, the reservation was to be opened up that fall. The Indians had moved northward to good, arable, guaranteed land, bomeBeokers had crowded in down at Dallas, and, as a Bide isBue, totally unimportant, two llght-Ongered gentlemen partners hafl found themselves and their projects squolchod. "It's too bad, Pete, It sure te," said Ohanco soothingly. "Who gave you this one?" Hatred showed in Pete's eyes. "Leroux." ho muttered. "He not want mo to tell Modelaine NawaZ' "Tell what 7" domandod Ohance, The half-bTeed shivered, and his head dropped lower on his chest. The nun was half an hour above the lino of the earth and sky. Before that time the soul of Pete FTozon Nose wouM have slipped out past the sky Umitfl. Chanco pulled him up on his arm and gave him another drink. He didn't want the soul to Blip out before he had all the news. "Did he try to kill you, Peter he askod, bracing tho half-breed's head againBt his own shoulder and knee. Siwash whinnied anxiously, lifting his nose to the wind. "He shoot about tho girl and the-land," the-land," bogan the half-breed slowly. "She draw big land last fallbig Indian In-dian land down at Dallas." "I know," interrupted Chanoe impatiently. im-patiently. "At the land drawing. Go on, quick." "Me an' Leroux hold Indian mortgage mort-gage on'that land. LoBt week Leroux finds ore there, some silver, some gold. Then he go down an' get old man Nawn, and thoy play cards, and Leroux gets back the land." "But It's the girl's land," broke In Chance, "Sure," Pete's llpa formed the words stiffly. "Girl rode down with old man Nawn to buy Btuff. Come in where Leroux's making the old man give up, and stlrB up big row. Then they chase Leroux en' me out of town, and Leroux soys wait for the two out here." "Wait out herer Chanco lifted up his head and Btarcd dully around at the wide expanse of "out here," .miles upon miles of bleak, silent land, with no living soul as far as the eye could nee. "What forr "To kill old man Nawn. Then wo talk about Madelalne; nnd I say I take Madelalne, and Loroux shoot mo like one yellow dog." Chance bent over the form that suddenly sud-denly gTew heavier as he held it. "Which way, Poto, which way?" ho cried, Bhaking the half-breed almost savagely to force him to spoak again. And Pete lifted one hand slightly, with a queer, unsteady motion southeast, south-east, but ho made no enswer. Power of speech had left him. Chance waited a while, staring blankly out at tho wide, darkening land with half-shut eyes. When the lost sunset gkiv broke hazily through the etill, yellow hoee in long, widening widen-ing Itnes of dull red, he mounted Siwash Si-wash and rodo southeast, leaving a dofanot half-breed In the dry, mud-caked mud-caked grosses of tho oreek bed. Miles to the southweat lay what had been tho reservation land, covered now with tho muahroora growth of tents and shacks of the fall home-eeekera. home-eeekera. Miles north and east stretched the prairie, a great dry sea of tawny, heafcscorched grass; and every time Slwaak lifted his nose and sniffed tho air, it modnt a fresh whiff of fire on tho wind. Chance lifted bis hat and rodo fast. bb fast as ho dared with Siwash's dread of a stray badger hole. Ho knew enough of old man Nawn's weak-nets weak-nets and Leroux's far-oighted guile to guess the missing parts in the half-breed's half-breed's narrotlvo. Leroux held an Indian In-dian mortgago on the land drawn by Madelalne Nawn. Whilo it didn't amount to tho paper it was written on in the eyos of the law, still he had made old Nawn beliovo tie claim was a just one. pouy puBhed ahead, his nooe pointing out aggreosively toward the point his rider aimed at. Just ahead lay old man Nawn'fl home, a meager dot somewhere out under the wnato of tho darkening blue Bky on tho solitary soli-tary prairie. To Chauco that night It was like a sheep shelter and he herder, hurrying to save it from wolves. "Home," ho muttered. "As if any spot on the faco of God'B earth could be a homo just because it was ground with your own particular tag on it Si, a few hours back I was homesick. I wanted somo doggono Uttlo hole in the ground for a home? wanted plants at the windows, and a real clothes-Una clothes-Una out back, with women's aprons and general dingbats hanging on it, maybe kids' dingbats, too. And in tho middle of tho dream. Si, waB a little girl-woman, . understand. Name of Madolaino." He pursed up his lips into a whistle. He had almost forgotten that stark, dead body back in tho tangled dry grasses of the creek bed. "Little bit of a girl-woman, Siwash, with brown eyes and curly ittfr G00d deal tho color of this here prairio grua. Nl3laiS?i.A3.d!h i i , t-i-i r t-"' '" ' needs us now, Si; she sure needs us bad." There was no moon in tho sky. A strange, nebulous glow seemed to overhang the prairie since the night had come on. It was hard to take in a deep, full breath. And suddenly Siwash came to a dead stop, head up, ears pricked forward, listening. From somewhere out of the darkness dark-ness ahead there came the troubled whinny of a horse. Chance, peering keenly ahead, could see nothing; but tho doIbo oame again. The land was not level. It lay in long, deep rolls; and Siwash made straight for the nearest dip of lend. Behind it, at first sight, reposed a peaceful and unsuspecting camp. A couple of ponies were picketed m the shelter of the slope. A buckboard, with boxes of provisions protruding from its buffalo robeB, stood by. Under Un-der ft reposed old man Nawn, sound asleep. But, standing, facing each other, were Jim Leroux and Made-laino. Made-laino. The sound of their voices came clearly on the silence of the night. "It don't make no difference what you say," Madelaine was saying her head back like a fighting little wildcat. wild-cat. "I know all about you, Jim Leroux. Le-roux. You can't talk your way round me the way you do with dodd.y. The land belongs to me. I drew it. Daddy never even knew I was putting in a ' bid for it It was my idea and mother's. You can't have -it. We've lived ever since I can remember In that old Bhack, and first it wasn't oven a shack. It was just a dugouL And daddy ain't got a mite of ambition. ambi-tion. He'd just as soon we all died there. But wo ain't a-going to. We're going to have that land of mine do you hear mo? and we're going to have a real house on it, a cottage-houBo cottage-houBo like mother used to live in back East. And wcro going to bo real town folks. I know all about you, Jim Leroux.-" -Her voice rose higher. Chance listened, tho muscleB of his throat tightening, his hands clenched on Siwash's bridle as ho waitod. "You'vo followed daddy and me out hero all the way from town. I ain't afraid of you, do you hear? You can't do a thing to us." "Can't I?" Leroux throw back his head and laughed. Ho was in no hurry. The turn things had taken amused him. Her sat down on the buckboard's chafe and looked at the girl. It seemed almost al-most a pity to do what he meant to, and leave tho two of them at the mercy of the firo that was certain to come. Perhaps there'd bo a ohanco of saving out the girl if aho'd bohavo herself, if she wouldn't tell on him, if sho'd get tamed down and give up tho land without a holler. & He took out hlsrovolver carelessly, . - - r ." ," --" : - "-- , - r r4 - 3 and before she was aware of his intent he had deliberately shot tho two ' ponies dead. At Madelaine's 3cream old man Nawn stumbled heavily out from un- ' der the buckboard; but, before Leroux Le-roux could shoot again, tfeere came a j no! so that checked his move, tha steady, hard thud of horse's hoofs, , and, even louder still, a low, queer roar and the soft, quick wind that comoB before a prairie fire. "It's got usl" yelled old Nawn, a3 he raised both hauds helplessly skyward. sky-ward. LeToux rose. His own borBB stood safe, and be hesitated, looking at Madelalne. And even as lie lingered, lin-gered, there whizzed out aver hla head the circling lino of Chance Hainea lariat, thrown neatly and with precision, until it threw him flat on the earth, roped as surely and safely, as any steer. "It wasn't that I meant for him t die outright" Chance was fond of e gaining. "But there wasn't no ttm for fine calculations. Hero was two dead horses. Hero was a prairie firo a-sweeping down on us like kingdom come, at short range. Here wns old Pa Nawn, and ,ovar there was my own little girl. How teas I to etop and r take notice of Jim Lerour againtft such odds? All I had time to do was to put him out of business. And I .sure did. Then pop took his horse, and I swung the little girl up dlosp to mo, and we were off. That's all, ain't it, Madelalne, honey dear?" Madelaine said nothing. A "miasuft" rkf thn rnnnVi KocMna n 1 house in the making, sho fed ihb brown puppieo and lot Chance do the talking. "It sure must -have dawned on Jim, pretty suddbn that he'd landed in tho right place when tho firo caught him," said Bill as he sorted ou flower seed envelopes on tho wash bench outside tho kitchen door. "God help him, anyway," whispered Madelaine, with a shudder, and eho leaned her head back on Chance's shoulder. "Let's have morning gloriea ' all over the porch, Chanae. And 1 double hollyhocks, pink ones with deep-rod hearts, Chanco." "Sure," laughed Chance, kis3ing her K5 upturned lips. "You can hang Bill I Sg and me up for ornaments. If you want ' aB to, honey girl. 'Cause why? 'Cpusq f H jfa going to bo homo. And vou won't ' 9 be lonesome, will you, with just old V fli Bill and mo and tho dogs?" He gnzed Hi at her tonderly. i "Lonesome?" she ropeated, her big H eyes wide and roproaohful "Lone- . ilflj eorao, Chanco, whore you aro?" Ticl Bill looked up thoughtfully at tho iW blue sky and winked with an under- fl sifen hCftrt Th ther two werQ M CopurJ&ll The Frank Ju 11 tint j aa.SL j I T-rr . fA |
