Show 4 4 m LICK A A t a H A 1 Z A ais TUB SO 80 FARI FAR ten year old ld ron ken mclaughlin can ride any horse hone on his fam family ilys wyoming ranch kot but he ha wants wanti a colt of his own nil his lather father a r retired Is tired army officer 1111 refuses to alve if him one until his bli school grades improve and he be learns to take responsibility ken keni mother arlei leg to protect him from bom the tern stern discipline ol of his ahli lather father and the youthful bullying ol of his ahli older brother noward noi rard who always manages inana ici to do things right captain mclaughlin has bai fee elred 4 a letter from kens school ad ar him that ken has not teen leea pro Ino teil so while the ne aben others prepare to mad up 1 the mares marei and colts colt ken has hai to st stay its I 1 the house home and study now continue with the story CHAPTER n U when ken left the kitchen the al alarm c clock I 1 ock on en the wall shelf beside tarm the spice closet pointed to twenty minutes to nine he wondered if he be should time himself right from bk the then or from the moment be went V into his room or from when he a set his books on the table this was a boock very important point but ashe could not decide he went upstairs i Ip stairs as slowly as he could just in case it was all part of the hour he paused on the landing in front of the picture of the duck if be tood stood there looking at the duck picture he could got 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 be felt misgivings standing there his mother would hear from the kitchen that he gone all the way upstairs he wea went t on up down the hall ball into his room and noisily closed the door possibly she he would time him too he stood a few moments looking around he and howard each had a small room to himself K ken n loved his roona room the walls wallis were whitewashed white washed and there was a bit big window opening out front over the terrace and the green he could see ee everything from it sunshine poured in best 0 of f all ken loved his little walnut bed because tha really home borne it very tidy he and howard had bad to make their own beds and he be had made his bis in a hurry burry b before he be 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 rowers on it was crooked and humped bumped over the bedclothes underneath he threw it back then paused his bis 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 bat 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 peasant people his mother had bad 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 alter 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 looking at the maiden for whom he was waiting but the she had ruri run back to throw her arms around a woman and there they stood arms arm about each other and the verse in the corner was what she was saying baying they were dressed in long draped brightly colored shawls me he jumped and ran back to the bed when he heard beard quick steps across the kitchen floor below outside the kit kitchen chert door his mothers voice called herie here kirn here chaps af this time he really thiJs finished hed the w bed and smoothed the quilt it looked very nice he stood regarding it it thinking that now he must take down his books resolutely he picked out his arithmetic book sat down opened it and began to think suddenly ken heard beard the sound of horses horse coming near the house homeland and started up to so quickly that ahw the leg of his chair tangled with the leg of the th table and ht be went sprawling on the floor then scrambled up and over to the window ken leaned out the window as far its s he could to see the last of them as they went down the green just log trotting and ana disappeared around the th end of cf the house home kent nells voice came floating up from the open epen window below ft what are you doing y he scurried back to the table and made it true before he be answered im doing my arithmetic what was that crash mychail My chair tell foll ever wha intal made it tall fall over overt it just flover fall over J nothing more from noll nell and ken summoned all his on energy gy and frowned at his bis open book he be must bust make a plan plain he would 6 do cancellation over ever he 99 liked cancellation it was u fun cro eroding osing out the figures agures bov above mid md below the line and aad torn ton kv bit everything law into aoth tec he hunted bunted for his pad opened all the drawers and found ailt 11 then he hard noll nell coming up the atie stairs and she opened his bis door she bad some fresh bureau scarves over her arm and came in briskly and went to his chiffonier to change the scarf 1 I was thinking ken it would be abood a good idea it if you spent your study hour on that composition the composition yes the one you write if you write it nicely we could send it to mr gibson and tell him bun how bow it was you came not to write anything that you were th thinking biking about it it and he might let you have some credit for it th the a one a bout about the albino said ken and his eyes went event thoughtfully to the window how would I 1 begin it have you got paper there yes well just pretend youre telling someone about it someone who d 0 ernt know me tor for instance perhaps ive forgotten who was the albino anyway ken grinned and said A big white stallion just a brone bronc who came over the border from montana when they had a drouth there dad called him a big ugly devil but a lotta horse JI fine encouraged nell and what did he do ken sighed deeply and wrote the story of gypsy carefully at the top of the paper ken tore down the road hed take the tha short cut been gone almost an hour and they were on horseback hed meet kneet them than FRI 11 she snorted in terror and went a craight up on her hind legs about halfway coming back maybe and see the whole bunch moving hed find a good place and hide so 10 his father see him he trotted along alone 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 stationed at any one of the tha gates he left the ditch and climbed up a hill from here he could see sea gus and tim working in the ditch in the crooked meadow and could hear their voices tim was swinging a pick the sound of the blow reached him after he be saw caw the pick land and a mile or more away he co could uld see bee castle rock the great beetling be etline 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 wai rethey were down there near the rock his Es father was wai rounding up the mares mare with their foals setting getting thern them out of the woods wood bringing them back through the meadow slowly he ha never ran theta them ken ran down the bill and headed for the big rock he ran as ai far as ai he could and then topped stopped to get oil his wind again and make a calculation from where ho he was wai now BOW on an the grazing land which sloped doped down to the barbed wire fence around the meadow he could see the wide gate open and fastened back bacil that was wai so go the mares could come through up to where he be was there was w a sort of road read hero here and the mares would follow it naturally and ty stay r right ight on it it if he be could hide somewhere near here where he be could keep bis bin eye on the gate hed see lee them pan quite close he looked about for shelter here and there was a jagged out cropping of the pink granite which underlay the soil poll here and there a small clump of wild wad currant bushes bushel no he drew back behind the bush and lay down ud lad suddenly felt very tired and very vera happy bappe the hie report end card and the saddle blanket blank tt and the tha study stu dyall all unpleasant the things were behind him I 1 he woke with a jerk coming coining up from such a deep place that it seemed he must have slept for hours he was bewildered and sat up trying to gather his wits then he ha remembered and scrambled t to 0 his feet would he be too late they might have passed while he was asleep he ran out from behind the bushhead bush head on into the bunch the mares were coming up from the meadow almost noiselessly on the grass mclaughlin in the rear and banner offside in the middle they ney were walking as quietly an a the cows coming in for or milking in the lead was a powerful long legged mare with a shiny black coa coat t she carried her nose in the a air ir her wild staring eyes ringed with white rocket the loco maze maie daughter of the albino As ken shot out from behind ah the bush almost colliding with her sha h snorted in terror and went straight up on an her hind legs for a moment ken was under the tha dangling black hoofs of her fore legs and smelled the beat of her body then she twisted to one side made a great leap and shot away end 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 he be could see all that happened rocket had gone oft off at an angle on a dead run stretched out uke like a ra raca ce horse with the whole bunch after her she was heading tor for the rock slide a place where the tea grazing land broke down to the lower levels of the next pasture over a long curving hill of sheer rock to go down it on an toot foot he and howard had to sit and slide no horse not even the most sure footed could negotiate a te that drop if she went over shed so go head over heels shed roll and bounce to the bottom and all the th others too it they followed her the whole band of mares and colts pitch ing in down somersaulting rolling crashing whoa there whoa whoa ap malati voice rang out on oil a note cote of desperation he was galloping as last fast as he be could to head oft am rocket but she had bad a long lead and shorty was slow then ken saw the big stallion banner shoot out of the crush his bright chestnut coat was like flame la in the pun sunlight light his feet thundered oh go it it banner go etl shouted ken in an agony dancing up and down dowa on his rock the two horses were running at an angle to each other banner gaining they converged near the rac rock k slide banners head was suddenly right over rockets his golden a mane mingled with her black m mane ne his mouth open and his bis big t teeth eth bared suddenly his jaws snapped and rocket gave a furious squeal and stopped with a jar banner whirled and lashed and his heels struck her side with a ringing smack the oth ota er mares telescoped up against them then banner was everywhere at once biting driving wheeling and kicking the mares back not one single mare lost not a colt hurt or crushed bocket herself panting and foam flecked walking meekly back towards the road kens terror was now tor for himself if his father should see hw him he might not have might have thought it was so something methin g else that seared them a coyote 0 or r perhaps just rockets craziness he slid down the rock and sat but hunched up at the base of it it he H was fairly well hidden there rocks rocki and currant bushes all around hira him he could hear the pounding of the horses hoofs boots going farther away and he be began to breathe more easily then a shadow tell fell on him an and d he looked up and saw his father sitting there on oa shorty after one look into the blazing eyes under the down drawn brim of the stetson hat ken dropped his bis head and sat silent 1 I I 1 just came to see the horses he muttered at last mclaughlin said nothing ken looked up again and the look on oa his hlll fathers face made him burn all over he cried out sharply 1 I mean maa to do it dad I 1 t mean to scare them the J ho he wanted to go on and explain that bo be had fallen asleep and then run out to see if they had iad gone and rocket racket was right there B but ut 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 an if he be had been put out of the ranch out of an all the concern that howard was in on al and am out of his bis fathers fathies heart that was vu the worst what he was always hoping for was to be friends blends with his lather father and now this to so soon 1000 after getting horne home his bis despair nudo made him feel weak ho he put his head bd down on his drawn up knees and his hb hanis hands were clenched tight after a while ho he slid down gat flat an and d slept again a deep exhausted slop this time that made up the hours ho he had it riding so early that mom lug ln TO DS BE CONTINUED |