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Show MYFRIEND XS$SL mlt wns In sunshine, then a little farther on, came a smother of cottony cot-tony white thnt soaked the four riders rid-ers to the skin nnd hung rows of moonstones on the whiskers of the horses. It wns hard to keep track of each other. Suddenly Ken was lost the others had vanished. He reined In Shorty nnd snt listening. The clouds and mist rolled around him. He felt as If he were alone in the world. A bluebird, color of the deep blue wild delphinium that dots the plains, became interested in him, and perched per-ched on u bush near by; and as he started Shorty forward again, the bluebird followed along, hopping from bush to bush. The boy rode slowly, not knowing in which direction to go. Then, hearing shouts, he touched heels to Shorty and cantered, and suddenly came out of the fog and saw his father and Tim and Ross. "There they are!" said McLaughlin, McLaugh-lin, pointing down over the curve of the hill. They rode forward and Ken could see the yearlings standing stand-ing bunched at the bottom, looking up, wondering who was coming. Then a huge coil of fog swirled over them and they were lost to sight again. McLaughlin told them to circle around, spread out fan-wise on the far side of the colts, and then gently bear down on them so they would THK STOItY SO FAR: Tcn-yrar-oli! 1 Ki-n McLaughlin can riilo any horse on his f.unily's Wyoming ranch, but ho h;nts a colt of his own. His f:thcr, a retired army otticer, refuses because Ken has not been promoted at school and has shown no sense of responsibility. Hut Ken's mother convinces Captain McLaughlin Mc-Laughlin that the colt may be Just what Ken needs. Ken picks the yearling filly of a "loco" (no good) mare named Rocket. A little later Rocket Is sold, but is killed before she reaches her new owner. Mclaughlin sells all of Rocket's offspring but Ken's colt. In spite of his father's displeasure Ken wants that colt and no other. Now continue with the story. CHAPTER IX They dined in town, with the Bart-letts; Bart-letts; and by the time they got back to the ranch, a number of visitors were there; and from then on the pleasant sociabilities of Sunday afternoon aft-ernoon kept the place alive with cars coming and going, trays of bottles and glasses being carried in and out, and much talk and laughter. Later in the afternoon, McLaughlin McLaugh-lin stuck a tin can on the tip of one of the branches of a pine tree on the Hill opposite and the officers took their revolvers and practiced target shooting, standing on the terrace. ter-race. Then Mrs. Grubb and Mrs. Gil-fillan Gil-fillan said they wanted to ride out and see the brood mares, so they all crowded into two automobiles, and McLaughlin led the way. When they found the brood mares, they stopped some distance off and got out. and McLaughlin promised that Banner would come out to meet them and do the honors. "How do you know he will?" asked Mrs. Gilfillan. "He always does." The mares stopped grazing and stood, alert, curious, and ready to run. Banner was amongst them. His head topped them all, and even from a distance, the men and women watching could feel the penetration pene-tration of his eye. Suddenly the big stallion moved towards them, ears pricked, inquiring inquir-ing eyes wide and fearless, and began be-gan to trot, his legs alternating in high, free, curving steps, his mane streaming, his tail up. "Flying all his flags!" cried Nell. A roar and cheer burst from the officers as the stallion, without breaking his trot, increased his pace and came down the wind to them x like a bugle call. Banner halted ten yards off and stood looking the group over. His golden coat blazed in the sunshine. "What an intelligent face!" exclaimed ex-claimed the Colonel. McLaughlin, still in his gray suit and rakish hat, went forward to the stud, apologizing apologiz-ing gravely for not having brought a bucket of oats in the car. Lying in bed that night, Ken remembered re-membered the way Banner had looked. Banner, the Sire of Flicka Flicka was the same, the same burnished bur-nished gold, the same beauty, the same flags flying Oh, mine . . . my colt . . . my own . . . my very own . . . He wondered when his father would bring her in again. He had been wondering that every day when Gus put his round pink face in at the kitchen door and said, "What's today. Boss?" But his father fa-ther had planned other work. Meadows Mead-ows to be taken care of, water to be turned out of one ditch and into the other. Endless hours of work on the three-year-olds that must be ready to ship in just a few days now. A new cattle guard being built at one of the railroad gates. But next morning, when Gus said, "What's today. Boss?" McLaughlin gave the order for the day's work and then said, "And I think" and paused. Ken looked down to hide his excitement; ex-citement; he clenched his fists under un-der the table. McLaughlin went on, "Tomorrow we'll get the yearlings in again, Gus, and cut out Ken's filly. I want to do that before Ross leaves. We may need his help." Tomorrow . . . When Ken opened his eyes next morning and looked out he saw that the house was wrapped in fog. There had been no rain at all since the day a week ago when the wind had torn the "sprinkling system" to pieces and blown all the tattered clouds away. That was the day he had found Flicka. And it had been terribly hot since then. They had hardly been able to stand the sun out on the terrace. They had gone 6wimming in the pool every day. On the hills, the grass was turning to soft tan. '; Now there were clouds and they had closed down. After a severe hot spell there often came a heavy fog, or hail, or even snow, j Standing at the window, Ken could I hardly see the pines on the Hill oppo- site. He wondered if his father would j go after the yearlings in such a fog I as this they wouldn't be able to see I them; but at breakfast McLaughlin : said there would be no change of i plans. It was just a big cloud that had settled down over the ranch it I would lift and fall perhaps up on j Saddle Back it would be clear. ! They mounted and rode out. ! The fog lay in the folds of the i WU1. Here and there a bare sum- j fog, he heard his father's low voice, "Don't move " "How'd he get In there?" said Tim. "She scrambled down tills bank. And she could scramble up again, if we weren't here. I think we've got her," said McLaughlin. "Oilier side of that pocket the ground drops twenty feet sheer," said Tim. "She can't go down there." Flicka had stopped chewing. There were still stalks of clover sticking out between her jaws, but her head was up and her ears pricked, listening, and there wns a tautness and tension in her whole body. Ken found himself trembling too. "How're you going to catch her, Dad?" he asked in a low voice. "I kin snag her from here," said Ross, and in the same breath McLaughlin Mc-Laughlin answered, "Ross can rope her. Might as well rope her here as in the corral. We'll spread out in a semi-circle above this bank. She can't get up past us, and she can't get down." They took their positions and Ross lifted his rope off the horn of his saddle. Ahead of them, far down below the pocket, the yearlings were running. run-ning. A whinny or two drifted up, and the sound of their hoofs, muffled muf-fled by the fog. Flicka heard them too. Suddenly she was aware of danger. She leaped out of the clover to the edge of the precipice which fell away down the mountainside toward where the yearlings were running. But it was too steep and too high. She came straight up on her hind legs with a neigh of terror, and whirled back toward the bank down which she had slid to reach the pocket. But on the crest of it, looming loom-ing uncannily in the fog, were four black figures she screamed, and ran around the base of the bank. Ken heard Ross' rope sing. It snaked out just as Flicka dove into the bank of clover. Stumbling, she went down and for a moment was lost to view. "Goldarn " said Ross, hauling in his rope, while Flicka floundered up and again circled her small prison, pris-on, hurling herself at every point, only to realize that there was no way out. She stood over the precipice, poised in despair and frantic longing. long-ing. There drifted up the sound of the colts running below. Flicka trembled and strained over the brink a perfect target f6r Ross, and he whirled his lariat again. It made a vicious whine. Flicka went down like a diver. She hit the ground with her legs folded under her, then rolled and bounced the rest of the way. It was exactly like the bronco that had climbed over the side of the truck and rolled down the forty-foot forty-foot bank; and in silence the four watchers sat in their saddles waiting wait-ing to see what would happen when she hit bottom Ken already thinking think-ing of the Winchester, and the way the crack of it had echoed back from the hills. Flicka lit, it seemed, on four steel springs that tossed her up and sent her flying down the mountainside perfection of speed and power and action. A hot sweat bathed Ken from head to foot, and he began to laugh, half choking The wind roared down and swept up the fog, and it went bounding away over the hills, leaving trailing streamers of white in the gullies, and coverlets of cotton around the bushes. Way below, they could see Flicka galloping toward the yearlings. year-lings. In a moment she joined them, and then there was just a many colored blur of moving shapes, with a fierce sun blazing down, striking sparks of light off their glossy coats. "Get going!" shouted McLaughlin. McLaugh-lin. "Get around behind them. They're on the run now, and it's cleared keep them running, and we may get them all in together, before be-fore they stbp. Tim, you take the short way back to the gate and help Howard turn them and get them through." Tim shot off toward the County Road and the other three riders galloped gal-loped down and around the mountain moun-tain until they were at the back of the band of yearlings. Shouting and yelling and spurring their mounts, they kept the colts running, circling them around toward the ranch in; til they had them on the County Road. Way ahead, Ken could see Tim and Howard at the gate, blocking the road. The yearlings were bearing bear-ing down on them. Now McLaughlin McLaugh-lin slowed up, and began to call, "Whoa, whoa" and the pace de-' de-' creased. Often enough the yearlings year-lings had swept down that road and through the gate and down to the corrals. It was the pathway to oats, and hay, and shelter from winter storms would they take it now? Flicka was with them right in the middle if they went, would she go too? It was all over almost before Ken could draw a breath. The yearlings turned at the gate, swept through, went down to the corrals on a dead run, and through the gates that Gus had opened. Flicka was caught again. (TO BE CONTINUED) Banner start towards the ranch. If the colts once got running in this fog, he said, there'd be no chance of catching catch-ing them. The plan worked well; the yearlings year-lings were not so frisky as usual, and allowed themselves to be driven in the right direction. It was only when they were on the County Road, and near the gate where Howard was watching, that Ken, whose eyes had been scanning the bunch, as they appeared and disappeared in the fog, realized that Flicka was missing. McLaughlin noticed it at the same moment, and as Ken rode toward his father, McLaughlin turned to him and said, "She's not in the bunch." They sat in silence a few moments mo-ments while McLaughlin planned the next step. The yearlings, dispirited dispir-ited by the fog, nibbled languidly at the grass by the roadside. McLaughlin McLaugh-lin looked at the Saddle Back and Ken looked too, the passionate desire de-sire in his heart reaching out to pierce the fog and the hillside and see where Flicka had hidden herself her-self away. "Well, we'll drive the yearlings back up," said Rob finally. "No chance of finding her alone. If they happen to pass anywhere near her, she's likely to join them." They drove the yearlings back. Once over the first hill, the colts got running and soon were out of sight. The fog closed down again so that Ken pulled up, unable to see where he was going, unable to see his father, fa-ther, or Ross or Tim. He sat listening, astonished that the sound of their hoofs had been wiped out so completely. Again he seemed alone in the world. The fog lifted in front of him and showed him that he stood at the brink of a sharp drop, almost a precipice, prec-ipice, though not very deep. It led down into a semi-circular pocket on the hillside which was fed by a spring; there was a clump of young coltonwoods, and a great bank of clover dotted with small yellow blossoms. blos-soms. In the midst of the clover stood Flicka, quietly feasting. She had seen him before he saw her and was watching him, her head up, clover sticking out of both sides of her mouth, her jaws going busily. At si?hl of her, Ken was incapable incapa-ble of cither thought or action. Suddenly from behind him in the |