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Show -MAK. U W.N.O. FEATURES- THE STORV THUS FAR: Thunder-head,, Thunder-head,, the only white horse ever foaled on Goose Bar ranch In Wyoming, It a throwback to a wild stallion, Uic Albino. Because of Ws speed,1 Thnnderhcad is' trained as a racer and entered In a meet In Idaho. - A month before the race, Thtmdcrhend wanders Into a mountain valley, meets the Albino, kills him and takes over the herd of wild horses. Ken McLaughlin, Thundcrhead's 14 year-old owner, recovers his horse a day before the race. . During the big race Thunder-bead Thunder-bead acts up, shows amazing speed, then throws his Jockey and. leaps the fence. In another race, Touch and Go. another McLaughlin horse, wins. . Greenway; a rich horse fancier, buys her. CHAPTER XXVII . "I'm a collector of fine horses, my boy. That's the second one I've acquired ac-quired this afternoon. Hop up on her now, son.' and ride her over to my stables." Mr. Greenway limped over to the filly. Rob caught Ken's arm and showed him the check. It was made out to Kenneth McLaughlin, and the amount was five thousand dollars. Ken looked up at his father. Rob McLaughlin's big white teeth were flashing in a wide and Joyful grin. "That does It, Ken!" he exclaimed. But Ken could only stare at his father's fa-ther's face, then at the check, and feel dazed . Greenway called Ken, "Take a last ride on her, son." ' Ken thought over all that had happened hap-pened and all that was going to happen. hap-pen. He and his father and Thun-derhead Thun-derhead were starting back to the ranch this day. Then Thunderhead would be gelded plenty of money now to have Doc Hicks come to the ranch and do It and then he would be sold to the army for a band horse. They brought the most money mon-ey of all, his father had said, more than the army paid for ordinary horses. ' He 'might bring as much as three hundred dollars. . White horses for cavalry bands were not easy to find. Ken thought suddenly of getting on Thunderhead and running away with him. .Turning him loose somewhere. some-where. Giving him away When they were getting ready to load the stallion, Ken asked, "Dad, is the reason you've got to geld him because you can't get rid of him unless you do?" . "Bright boy!" said Rob sarcastically. sarcasti-cally. Then he put his hand on Ken's shoulder. "It's not the money. Ken not any more, although three hundred dollars isn't to be sneezed at. But it's really because there's no other .way to save Banner and to save myself, incidentally, from having to adopt about" thirty wild mares." Before eight o'clock they had the stallion in the trailer and had started start-ed the long drive back to the ranch. The eagle headed into the strong westerly wind and hung on motionless motion-less wings high over the valley. The "easterner" had blown itself out and no sign of it remained except ex-cept for patches of snow under the trees and in the depressions of the hills. Here was summer again. Indian In-dian summer, with' the quakin'-asp a riot of crimson and ochre and the cottonwoods shedding golden leaves on the surface of the river. Ken .McLaughlin was leading his stallion through the keyhole. As they emerged on the threshold of the valley they hailed. The horse was' saddled with the small horsehair horse-hair saddle Ken had made himself. Underneath the bridle was a heavy chain halter and lead, and over his eyes a blindfold, but in spile of this ' he knew where he was and his body was tense, and fierce snorting breaths came from bis nostrils. He pawed the earth. .' With one hand Ken uncinched the girth, lifted the saddle off and dropped It on the ground. The glint of the sun on' steel stirrups struck the eagle's eyes, and a sudden lift of his body registered the resction. Again he spread his wings wide, circled cir-cled and centered over the pass. Ken undid the latch of the throat strap, talking softly to his horse. "You don't know it. Thunderhead . but this is good-by . . .' you've got to go to your mares and lake care of them and live a stallion's life . . - you're a true throwback. Thunderhead .. . . you're not a race horse Ihough you can go like the wind when you want to . . V and you're not an army horse prancing around carrying a kettledrum . . . you've got to go back . . and I've got to go to school and do a lot of other things . . fo : . - we . can't be together any more . . Thunderhead's hoof dug Impatiently Impa-tiently at the earth. Ken slid his arm up underneath the stallion's neck and laid his own head fignint it' His voice went on while his fingers fin-gers drew of! the bridle, the chain halter, and at -last the blindfold. -Don't forget me. Thunderhead I won't forget you . . never, limn, dernead, . . " ! Ken stepped back, the stallion was free and he knew it He took a step' forward, switching his tail His head was high, his ears alert, his eyes roved over the valley. It was as' if he, counted every mare, and eolt -grazing there a quarter mile or so away. But he seemed in no hurry hur-ry to join them. They were all his. and now there was no one to dispute dis-pute him He turned toward Ken 8gain, poked out his head and gave the boy an affectionate shove. Ken slipped his arm around the stallion's nose. "But you've got to go, Thunderhead - . . those are your mares ... I think you do know it's good-by ..." This farewell had attracted the attention of the mares. There came trotting out from the band the black mare with the white colts her csrs pricked inquiringly at Thunderhead. She neighed. . He answered He left Ken and went to meet her. lowering his head, curving and wagging it from side to side. His tail lifted, flared wide, and streamed behind him. And now all the mares were staring. They recognized him and rushed to meet him. They milled around him, kicking and nipping each otherin the excited jealousy of having him back. Finally they settled set-tled down to the real business of life, which was grazing. Ken watched it all with a smile on his face. At last he picked up the equipment he had dropped on the ground and went back through the keyhole to finish the business He had spent hours with drill and sledge hammer working on the rock around and underneath that monster boulder boul-der which formed the roof of the keyhole. He had studied where each stick of dynamite should go. He did not Intend that there should be a single .one of those small slips or miscalculations which brought so many of his good- intentions to nought. The dynamite was tamped Into the holes, the fuses attached. Now he lit the fuses, turned and ran. He didn't stop running until he reached the place where he had picketed Flicka. He slipped his arm up underneath her head and held it against him so she would not be startled, and, standing so. waited for the explosion. It came. The pile of boulders around and above the keyhole rose with a dull boom. The earth under Ken's feet seemed to heave. There was a frightened chattering of birds, and small animals scurried out of the rocks. A cloud of dust floated up from the passage. And as earth and rocks settled back again, the valley was filled with detonations caroming back from the hills. Last of all came a deep rumble from the Thunderer. After some minutes Ken entered the passage to see exactly what had happened to the keyhole. It no longer long-er existed. Just as he had planned, the support for the boulder had been blasted away, and with Its fall, all' the other boulders had found a new ing at him. Then he put it into position. There were some crannies a cat or a small, dog could have crawled through, but for Thunderhead Thunder-head the passage was closed for all time. Ken retraced his steps, ran along the rampart until he came to the place Thunderhead had made the trail to the summit, and climbed up There was excitement amongst the mares over the blasting. Thunderhead Thun-derhead was nowhere to be seen. Ken lay down, hanging his head over the edge, certain that the horse was below there, pawing at those stones, investigating every 'cranny, discovering discov-ering that there would be no more going in and out of the valley. At least, thought Ken. not from this end. You might be able to find a way out the other end. old fellow, through thoFe valleys and mountain passes and glaciers, but it would be a hundred miles around for you to get home, and all of it strange going no I think you'll stay in And then it was as If his father's fiery, commanding eyes were suddenly sud-denly looking into his, and he spoke. tOMhem, "I've done it. dad. He won't come back to bother you any 'more Or to kill Banner. . .' ." - His father! It wasa warm anc happy thing to remember how his father had looked at him and spoken to him and squeezed his shoulder even at that moment of disturbance getting ready to take his mother to the hospital And the friendly words. "If you think you can do it, son. I'll leave It to you. I don't want to shoot your horse or geld him." And his mother had slipped her arm around his neck and kissed him and said, "Keep your fingers crossed, darling, we want a little flicka, don't we? And Ken thanks to you and Touch And Go, I'm going away without with-out the slightest worry about expenses ex-penses and I shall send out from the hospital and order a new negligee! negli-gee! Velvet! With feathers!" Thunderhead came out from under un-der the rampart at, a gallop and rushed back to his mares. Ken leaped to his feet. What would he do now? What did he think about the blocked passage? Thunderhead was heading away from this end of the valley as if that gunpowder were behind him. He began to round up his mares. Ken "watched it for the last time . . the weaving in and out, the snaking snak-ing head, the plunges of the mares as they felt the stallion's teeth in their haunches. . . . The daylight was fading. Ken had to strain his eyes to see how every mare and colt was gathered up and swept into that rushing charge of pounding bodies and sweeping hair and flying limbs. Wild exultation filled the boy., He had. done it, after all! He had given back the mares to his horse! And this round-up! And a thousand others oth-ers like It and the valley and the snow-peaks and the river That other life he had tried to give Thunderhead the life of a race horse how desperately he had prayed for It! He felt almost bewildered. be-wildered. For all his prayers had been denied and all his efforts frustrated, frus-trated, and yet this this was the answer. The boy's head lifted and his eyes flashed from crest to crest. All the world was beginning to glow with the sunset. Three cream-colored cream-colored antelopes were drinking at the edge of the river. The river was emerald green and turquoise blue and rose pink and there was a big golden star In It. Yellow light swept eastward from the sunset in long, level shafts. A half moon, lying ly-ing on its back, began to glow like a lamp. All this for Thunderhead! Thunderhead floated past the band of mares that now, in the gathering darkness, seemed like a swift-moving blot of shadow, and took the lead. Ken strained his eyes to see the last of that rushing white form. Here it was, now, the parting. He put up his hand and brushed warm tears from his cheeks, surprised to find them there, because, in spite of the loneliness and the sense of bitter loss, it was as if the beauty of the valley and the gloriousness of Thunderhead's Thun-derhead's freedom were Inside him too. And now they were gone. In the deep breath that Ken drew, there was the wideness and the emptiness emp-tiness of the world. It was time, and more than time, for Ken to go. Flicka was waiting Once again it was just himself and Flicka, as it had been before Thunderhead. Thun-derhead. before Touch And Go. He ran down the trail, packed up, mounted, and was off. (THE END) |