Show labeef Wa BEEF wa HAROLD CHANNING CHANNIN 6 WIRE jr LEW BURNET has hai been engaged by ARNOLD owner ol of the cross cron T to act as ai trall trail boil on the drive from loii thern to ogallala los in the spring of 1875 TOM with kith hit his son and daughter STEVE SIEVE ind and JOY JOT are movant to W wyoming yo tom must deliver longhorns to the he indian agent by september I 1 0 or lose a pofi profitable table contract le lew suspect that th the ellodia indian supply co ll 11 trying to delay the cross I 1 herd he encamps on an the bank of 0 the red river during a stampede tom arnold ll Is 1111 hilled led and ll Is buried on the prairie be both CLAY MANNINO MANNING and ED dispute lews authority now and low lew defeating in ID a fight discharges him lew decides 10 lo cross tb the e river CHAPTER XI the mules balked at the waters e edge dge clay leaped up on the footboard oot board the heavy wagon shoved B the mules on and they were out in ay the flood in a scrambling tangle I 1 Quarter night and J joe oe wheat got I 1 there first they grabbed the mules bridles straightening them out then lashed themon them on across the river it had been a bad moment threatening to spill the outfit into the water afterward coming back to help with the cattle Quarter night g growled led lew one of 0 these times and let it go he shrugged it matter now owl head jackson had followed with the hie commissary taking time to let his ats own team feel their way the real job was ahead he saw that all the longhorns had risen and turned to watch their dumb brains growing more and more auspicious they we were back a mile from the river far enough for him to string his men behind them and start the pool gently at first in a walk but when they were aimed right with kith the arrowhead taking shape he be waved a signal to rebel john on either side they sent their horses racing forward to the point while behind them and along the flanks banks all the others crowded in suddenly slapping their rope ends against their chaps four thousand closely bunched longhorns were instantly running and to a trail mans eye no sight was ever prettier than that brown wedge truly a flying arrow now as it ral hit t the river carried on an by its own momentum nien turris unable to stop or turn aside guiding the point with quarter night he drew his first easy breath and when the last steer had bad risen tip lip the bank and the herd began to graze out with theirs their fright gone he shook his head bead and grinned that much was over with they had crossed the red an hours travel took took them winding through low bald hills on this side bide of the river A little later pointing onto a let flat plain beyond them tee e rode around to Quarter night john he be said im leaving you or a while theres something I 1 bant ant to look at you wave joe heat up here when im gone and if I 1 dont get back by dark choose your own bed ground he pulled off adding keep it out in the open away from creek bottom trees but you know that this was indian country now lew turned his horse east keeping deep in the hill folds out ot of sight of the river the trail was immediately beyond the mesquite not in one ribbon of tracks but miles wide from the hoofs of millions of longhorns bound north but bu t no herds in moved oved there now and nd running his gaze along south two or three miles to doans crossing he saw that an earlier speculation had been right A darkly massed pool of cattle spread over the flat bat shelf with little at streams eams trickling into it from the d distant 1 tent hills A dozen outfits too close together had run and mixed in last nights storm it would take time to part them out he was lucky darkened by the late afternoon a bun urs the Wi chitas showed bothin nothing g of the maze of broken canyons and scrubby forest and looked wholly tame but he knew of the tribes swarming in there in that last land of the Co manches with the dakota added now the norm fork was a bloody stream the texans had made it so following it with their herds across a country which had been guaranteed forever to the indians those attacks were no longer in yen en warfare they had settled awn w to trail raids from the wichita canyon mouths for what chance did the indian have against the white man now poor devils he thought not much he was back in the mesquite belt gain again almost through it toward the bald open hills when some alert instinct warned him he halted baited it seemed minutes before he be first heard the distant talk of mens 1 voices and still more time before IP 9 there came the thud of hoofs th their air pace was a quick trot and by the mingled beats he judged five or six riders aders in the bunch he moved a a little not to be caught at close quarters r in the mesquite until past the thin screen of fernlike tern like leaves he ww W the men M othere tT here were only two but they ere leading four heavily packed horses they were coming out of the southwest a and nd seeing that direction he be wondered from the cross Ts last camp he had bad his answer in a moment down in the fold between we the hul fillis they cut his trill trail halted and faced toward the brush that hid him he drew his gun waiting yet some need for haste was driving them on with only a short pause they continued their quick trot up the next hill and van vanished shed to the north aln he shoved the tha gun down into its holster bolster and sat a little longer to make sure they would not turn back he bad his answer one of the men was ed Sp lanit Sp lanns bedroll from camp was lashed on one of the packs heading on west he turned the meaning of their last fast travel over in his mind and was certain of only one thing they were not following the cross T herd now but Sp lanns presence was sign enough that they intended to meet it somewhere up the trail in his cool thirk thinking irig now he felt that firing the man back there at the river may have been a bad mistake he could no longer watch what was doing and it had bad set clay mannings antagonism in a new and more dangerous way held hed rather have a man blow off his surly temper any time his horse loped on with an easy rhythm and the smooth green land and the warm sun laid their peacefulness upon him and it seemed a strange thing now that he condemn clay altogether time was when he would have hated the big blonds hair age maybe he was twenty five last month and he knew himself what jealousy could do but that explain it all either clay was caught with his bis tall tail in some some kind of a crack jealousy over a girl account tor for the three 0 one hand reached out and bugged tugged him close cornered tie up between clay and and steve twilight dropped swiftly hill darkness caught him at the edge ol of the hills bills he turned north nor th with is a tar far oft off point of light to guide him in yet by the time he be had ridden the three or four miles the fire had died to embers and the camp was wholly silent pulling off his saddle he could see the dark bed 0 of longhorns longhorn and the dim shapes ol of three of the night guard all others must have fallen dead asleep at sundown Bun down As he walked past the end of joys wagon the flaps parted her voice reached him to in a little wordless cry only half uttering his name he turned toward her hewl she said again and then where have you been she was crouched at the foot of her bed with a coat pulled across her shoulders over ever a high necked gown he could tell by her wide open eyes that she been sleeping one hand reached out and tugged him close gone and nobody could tell me where he put an arm around her she laid her head against his coat iu ill always come back he said dont you worry 1 I know she waited then her voice came with a desperate pleading 1 I thought you went because of clay something happened between you south of the river about ed I 1 saw naw it what has clay done he shook his head above her quiet one 1 I dont know hes following his own trail somewhere looks like all anyone can tell yes and youve got to help him she moved her cheek gently youve gotto Dont you see I 1 he did and the ache in him to do for her sank away to its lonely depths with her father gone there was but one man she wanted to turn to tor for a domans womans security there would always be clay he tightened his disarm arms and let her go have to get some sleep she nodded drawing up from rom him bindi an past the canvas flaps he saw the small box against the wagons side he reached in and raised the cover saying laying there an account book in here id like to have she watched with no do question as his hand touched the old leather bound book and drew it out he did not open it then there had never been a time on the cross T or on this trail when tom arnolds Arnold 1 presence had not been like a strong controlling pressure over all the crew it was a thing lew had bad felt even in these weeks when tom had tried to keep himself in obedience to his trail boss now that pressure was suddenly gone he could leel feel the release definitely around him and for two days while they crawled northward up a rising plain with the dark atas ten miles east he watched a change among the older men it showed only in a deeper quietness for a little while and in their talk death had bad been a frequent part of their experience it was steve he fell to watching mostly these two days as the red river valley vanished behind them and a brackish stream the salt fork began to curve in on the west forcing them over toward an arm of the wichita mountains thrust out dark and knotted onto the plain steve lor for the first time in twenty one years was no longer under the restraint of a stern stem forceful man even at twenty one hed had little experience with which to carry off this new freedom easily and less to give him any knowledge of ho bow w to walk in his fathers boots the they y fit it would have been only y amusing his young and exaggerated importance now among men who had bad led fed him from a bottle if his growing sense of ownership had bad stayed within the limits that even tom arnold had bad put upon himself but he be was like a young bull now head up looking tor for an older one to challenge and it was plain enough that he be was being urged on it was a habit of his now to leave his swing position whenever he chose to and late this second aftem afternoon dop he came riding to the point frowning down his long straight nose lew ew he asked why we w keeping in g so 10 tar far off the trail better grass over here you call this grass grassl he nodded best there Is they were out of tle the curly buffalo a and 11 d blu bluestem estern now in the grama of these middle plains it was short hardly more than six inches and dry even in this month of june dont look at it from your saddle he said aid get down and rub some of the tops in your hand find a lot of little black seeds as good as corn for putting tallow on a herd steve pulled off his hat bat his light curly hair sprang up he ha put the hat bat on again same grass over there id say sure lew said and too many longhorns long horng eating it down he grinn grinned 0 d a little what else were losing time over here that what the trail was made tor for a man to follow its shorter wed better get back he shook his head too thin steve you think all that up by yourself claya advice he ha gave his own answer 1 I guess but im not taking it no mutiny either he grinned again to ease what he wanted steve to understand mutiny in a trail herd is the same as mutiny on the ocean rm im captain of this ship their horses carried them tor for ward through a silent time his grin died he could see an odd add struggle against words that in tb the end and had bad to come out his scowling eyes turned from him steve said it wont be mutiny lew weve been talking it over you know this leaves joy and me now wait be said walt wait a lets get one thing straight from here to ogallala im trail boss of this outfit therell be no change the light brown eyes jerked across to him talk talk he be said that I 1 can back up steve youve got no fight with me dont let anyone rib you into it youve got too much at stake youre headed beaded toward all that a man could want youve never asked me about this new land have in wyoming you want to know ile he went on without an answer its paradise he be said tor for cattle no dry years up there youve g got ot mountains at your back door and a river to in your front yard the powder and a sweet grass country as far as you can cari look his own vision of that valley stirred him store he said youve got the biggest chance there is I 1 something like a sneer had bad come across the thin wide ups lips pulling them downward in a disdainful look and yet in a bitter way A pretty picture steve said but not fet me his head came upla up isa a high arrogance me im not tying myself to any cow ranch im through with thail he swung his horse away riding his bis own slow pace beside the point lew turned his head and watched him go and in the arr arrogance and the swaggering roll ot of the young shoulders was all the conceit of those men who wh held themselves above the common man of work TO ITO sz BE CONTIN Dl |