Show lo 10 MARY S THE STORY THUS FAR thunderhead Is the only white horse ever foaled coaled on the goose bar ranch in Wy wyoming orning he resembles his great grandsire grands lre a wild stallion called the albino ken mclaughlin 13 years old owns thunderhead he hopes his horse will develop into a racer as he Is very fast unfortunately he Is difficult to handle so plans tor for entering him in the fall race meet are uncertain rob bob ln kens father goes east with 48 horses to an important auction la in pennsylvania this clears out most of his stock mrs airs neu mclaughlin ln left alone on the ranch feels depressed financial worries have worn her down then one day she returns from a ride to find rob hob back and a party in progress CHAPTER ive already start started edl said neu nell on her mettle now ive written aunt julia in boston she has a huge circle of friends and acquaintances and two of my school friends adelaide kinney and evelyn sharp you expect them to promote your business for you not that way oh rob youre being simply v hor horrible riblet neu nell sprang to her feet and stood b by the mantel 1 I simply want to get the idea said rob icily you wanted to teu tell it to me you go on tell the rest im particularly anxious to know now that I 1 realize beauze you have passed on the fact of my failure to your relatives and friends in the east neu nell was silent for a while then drew a long breath and said they wont have to promote my business be glad to give me lists of the right people to write to and let me use their names as reference and ive made out a letter setting out the plan descriptions of this place and everything and wed have to have pictures and all that can be mimeographed and sent to these lists of people and we have the complete setup set up practically pra c no investment needed some guest cabins yes gus and tim and you could build them yourselves and this is a lovely place and theres beautiful country to ride in and plenty of horses and im an awfully good cook nell said nothing more in a moment rob asked you say youve made out the letter yes neu nell picked it up from the table and handed it to him but rob put out a protesting hand no I 1 dont want to see it thank you and I 1 hope you set your heart on this have you set my heart on it said neu nell because I 1 dont like to deny you any of your wishes 1 I know said neu nell hesitatingly Y youre awfully nice about that I 1 wanted to thank you for for the sleigh gus is making and the monkey tree I 1 do thank you ever so much rob brushed this aside its no nothing at au all he said indifferent indifferently Y no reason you should not h have ve what you want neu nell was silent after a while she said rob you know this just something I 1 want for the fun of it P iset it I 1 thought maybe you were lonesome here with me alone you know it that at au all rob you arent even pretending to teu tell the truth about anything just a damned liar am I 1 that struck nell as funny and helped her recover her poise its because I 1 told you that thing last summer that the horses would never succeed and it made you mad at me and youve never got over being mad and I 1 was thinking afterward that it was awful of me to have knocked everything so the horses and your work without having something else to suggest so I 1 tried to find another plan all 00 rob began to knock the ashes out of his pipe 1 I meant to tell you this nell but ill have to now otherwise you wont be able to understand why I 1 say no to your proposition I 1 am not going to continue to raise horses as the main production line of the ranch they can be a side line im going to raise sheep sheep exclaimed nell but that requires an enormous investment how could we possibly raise the money for that its already raised to begin with although I 1 did not make the twenty thousand dollars from my polo ponies which I 1 might have made with good luck I 1 did make nearly ten that cleans me out of horses with the exception of the young stuff coming up ill have nothing more to sell but I 1 have put every dollar of that and more too all I 1 could borrow into a band of ewes I 1 investigated the sheep market thoroughly when I 1 was in laramie I 1 was lucky in my buy I 1 think I 1 found these up at the doughty ranch near the red desert fifteen hundred ewes when are they coming on the ranch asked nell already on said rob ive got a mexican as a herder and we drove them up from laramie two days ago we came in the back way but what about Bell amys sheep out on the back range there I 1 saw them yesterday it if you saw sheep on this ranch yesterday you saw our own sheep bellamy left with his sheep weeks ago nell was about to ask what about the lease you gave bellamy for another year but thought better of it she did say you just said you intended telling me this yet why not because it may fail said rob coldly its a gamble like all stock raising it looks good now the markets have been good for several everal years with these sheep I 1 ought to net almost ten thousand in one year that will make a sizable dent in our debts and if it continues in a few years well be out from under for nell the reversal of all she had been thinking and believing and planning was so sudden she felt flattened out why then every things all right Every things settled and arran arranged gedl our future provided for and and everything presently she found breath to say it aloud and rob acquiesced yes every things arranged and theres nothing to worry about nothing the words faded into the heavy silence nells eyes flickered to rob everything all right nothing to worry about and yet between them this cold distance and strangeness what made it was it impossible once the habits of love had been broken to mend them again even when the cause of the breach had been corrected rob stared at the fire and said slowly 1 I would have liked it if this experiment could have been worked out first so that when I 1 told you I 1 could have told you of a fait accompli money in the bank debts paid notes met a going concern not just as it is now one more hope one more plan one more good chunk of wishful thinking nell was leaning back in her armchair and made no answer but continued rob since you have made it so plain that it was not only the horses you doubted it was me too and any ability I 1 might have to care for you and provide a home for you 7 he left the sentence unfinished the clock struck eleven and pauly rose from where she had been lying near the fire and staged an elaborate stretch then ran meowing to nell nell lifted her automatically true it nell asked rob in a sudden direst direct manner what that you have lost confidence in me nell did not answer immediately finally she said rob I 1 think you would succeed with the horses I 1 told you that but not you personally P but it was me personally he insisted you think I 1 was t r VJ ma 4 Is this card phony or what going to pull us through did you you never took me into your confidence said nell you tell me you were going to try a different line you kept saying it was to be the horses or nothing 1 I suppose as good a way of answering as any said rob slowly A sudden passionate protest flung nell to her feet pauly hit the floor with a little grunt 1 I dont see why confidence means so much to youl ive never stopped loving you not the least bit suppose some of the confidence was gone that would be only human really matter between us rob got to his feet and went about blowing the lamps out and finally answered just that it sort of takes the heart out of a man it was still possible thought nell as she walked slowly upstairs when people loved each other as they had nothing more would be needed than just one look one word her name nell there would be no forgiving or explaining just a sudden coming together and all the discord flung behind them but rob stood in a sort of daze in the center of the bedroom as if he did not feel at home there one hand held his pipe as he puffed at it and he stood watching he her i r as she moved about turning the bed down closing the window taking her nightclothes night clothes from the closet and dropping them on the bed she went to his chiffonier and took out a set of pajamas and handed them to him here are some fresh pajamas for you he took them absentmindedly absent mindedly then as nell undid the belt of her skirt and stepped out of it and peeled off her sweater he said to her hesitatingly im awfully tired I 1 think ill sleep in the other room do you mind he looked at his wife with just her slip on she was seated in the low chair one ankle crossed over the other knee to untie her shoe her slender and beautiful legs shining in their long silk stockings her tawny hair hung loose over the pearl like skin on her breasts her cheeks were exquisitely flushed without raising her head her dark blue eyes slid up underneath her brows and she answered easily not at all I 1 think it would be a very good idea I 1 shall probably s sleep beep better myself charley sargent never missed the three weeks autumn race meet at saginaw falls in idaho one of the few major or recognized tracks in the rocky mountain states and had the same stables for his horses and hotel accommodations for himself year after year taking his horses down the continental divide from a high altitude to one several thousand feet lower gave them an advantage and he liked the town which lay in the long valley between the chichi and shizumo ranges and had a season of pleasant autumn weather although the distance from sar gents ranch to saginaw falls was not more than eight hundred miles he always shipped his horses by rail in charge of his trainer perry gunston rather than them or taking them in an automobile trailer this was because the highway made a rather precipitous descent winding down through several mountain passes and on the divide the unpredictable storms sometimes made the road dangerous or even impassable for trucks but he himself made the trip by motor there were always several events scheduled for two year olds in which sargent tried out his promising youngsters and one race on the last day of the meet with a ten thousand dollar purse which attracted an impressive entry it was in this race that thunderhead was to make his debut and long before school closed ken had familiarized himself with the past performances of all winners of this big event thunderhead had only oily to run the two miles on the saginaw falls track as fast as he had run it at home to win for ken to hang around his father while the letter containing his report card was being opened or even to allow the depressing event to catch him in the same room was so unusual that rob mclaughlin felt sure something was fishy he glanced up at ken who stood waiting beside his desk with hands driven deep into the pockets of his blue jeans going to take your medicine and get it over with are you he grinned then looked at the boys face again that kens usual report card face the face of one waiting for a death sentence on the contrary the sensitive face was now flushed with anticipation gleams of light played in the depths of his blue eyes and one smile after the other rippled across his lips read it dad read it quick he exclaimed and watched closely as his father took the card and studied it item by item rob simply believe belie it jf shook his head with bew ye aldern ant T Is this card phony or what ijo you know in it ken what demanded ken confidently ninety two in algebra ninety four in latin ninety seven in chemistry and one hundred in english it mean has gibson gone crazy to give you a card like that read the letter chortled ken he told me he was going to write you a letter and and congratulate you congratulate me exclaimed rob what in hell about ken placed his hand theatrically on his chest bowed said me and then threw his head back burst out laughing and did a few pran 5 ul steps around the room i j rob read the letter through and anci abruptly laid it down and turned his head to look out the window he was remembering a morning juar five years ago when ken was ten and a report card had come in which there were assorted marks below twenty climaxing with a zero in english and in defense ken had made the entirely irrelevant plea if you would only give me a colt of my own I 1 might do better and he had given ken the filly blicka and ken had almost killed himself caring for her he had also managed to write a composition retrieving his disgrace and causing mr gibson to say that he might have another chance with his class instead of being dropped gibson had said in his letter that ken had a brilliant mind and rob had asked his wife did you ever think ken was brilliant ive always thought he was dumb rob picked up the card and the letter and read both of them through carefully again brilliant all right how in hell had the kid got a hundred in english that meant no mistakes at all or superlative performances for mances every now and then rob pointed at the card howd you get this was it just one composition you had to be excellent all ye 0 f and write a perfect composition to end up with what subject did you cho choose osel 1 I wrote about that time I 1 tried to get et the eagle feather you know aown down there in the valley of the eagles and the eagle chased me all the way down the cliff and stuck his claws in my belly and it was only my belt that saved me but of course I 1 fixed it up a little howd you fix it up seems to me that was hot stuff without any fling fixing ken waved his hands in a suave and explanatory fashion oh I 1 put in in some romantic dope you know the sort of things writers write I 1 had it that I 1 had a picture of my girl in the buckle of my belt so she sort of saved my life you see sec A TO BE CONTINUED 4 t n f ai |