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diff --git a/old/fusls10.txt b/old/fusls10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..04f872f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/fusls10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9398 @@ + +Project Gutenberg Etext of The Flying U's Last Stand +by B. M. Bower, #8 in our series by B. M. Bower + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. We need your donations. + + +The Flying U's Last Stand + +by B. M. 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THE HAPPY FAMILY TURN NESTERS + +6. THE FIRST BLOW IN THE FIGHT + +7. THE COMING OF THE COLONY + +8. FLORENCE GRACE HALLMAN SPEAKS PLAINLY + +9. THE HAPPY FAMILY BUYS A BUNCH OF CATTLE + +10. WHEREIN ANDY GREEN LIES TO A LADY + +ll. THE MOVING CHAPTER IN EVENTS + +12. SHACKS, LIVESTOCK AND PILGRIMS PROMPTLY AND PAINFULLY +REMOVED + +13. IRISH WORKS FOR THE CAUSE + +14. JUST ONE THING AFTER ANOTHER + +15. THE KID HAS IDEAS OF HIS OWN + +16. "A RELL OLD COWPUNCHER" + +17. "LOST CHILD" + +18. THE LONG WAY ROUND + +19. HER NAME WAS ROSEMARY + +20. THE RELL OLD COWPUNCHER GOES HOME + +21. THE FIGHT GOES ON + +22. LAWFUL IMPROVEMENTS + +23. THE WATER QUESTION AND SOME GOSSIP + +24. THE KID IS USED FOR A PAWN IN THE GAME + +25. "LITTLE BLACK SHACK'S ALL BURNT UP!" + +26. ROSEMARY ALLEN DOES A SMALL SUM IN ADDITION + +27. "IT'S AWFUL EASY TO GET LOST" + +28. AS IT TURNED OUT + + + +THE FLYING U'S LAST STAND + + +CHAPTER 1. OLD WAYS AND NEW + +Progress is like the insidious change from youth to old age, +except that progress does not mean decay. The change that is +almost imperceptible and yet inexorable is much the same, +however. You will see a community apparently changeless as +the years pass by; and yet, when the years have gone and you +look back, there has been a change. It is not the same. It +never will be the same. It can pass through further change, +but it cannot go back. Men look back sick sometimes with +longing for the things that were and that can be no more; +they live the old days in memory--but try as they will they +may not go back. With intelligent, persistent effort they may +retard further change considerably, but that is the most that +they can hope to do. Civilization and Time will continue the +march in spite of all that man may do. + +That is the way it was with the Flying U. Old J. G. Whitmore +fought doggedly against the changing conditions--and he +fought intelligently and well. When he saw the range +dwindling and the way to the watering places barred against +his cattle with long stretches of barbed wire, he sent his +herds deeper into the Badlands to seek what grazing was in +the hidden, little valleys and the deep, sequestered +canyons. He cut more hay for winter feeding, and he sowed his +meadows to alfalfa that he might increase the crops. He +shipped old cows and dry cows with his fat steers in the +fall, and he bettered the blood of his herds and raised +bigger cattle. Therefore, if his cattle grew fewer in number, +they improved in quality and prices went higher, so that the +result was much the same. + +It began to look, then, as though J. G. Whitmore was +cunningly besting the situation, and was going to hold out +indefinitely against the encroachments of civilization upon +the old order of things on the range. And it had begun to +look as though he was going to best Time at his own game, and +refuse also to grow old; as though he would go on being the +same pudgy, grizzled, humorously querulous Old Man beloved of +his men, the Happy Family of the Flying U. + +Sometimes, however, Time will fill a four-flush with the +joker, and then laugh while he rakes in the chips. J. G. +Whitmore had been going his way and refusing to grow old for +a long time--and then an accident, which is Time's joker, +turned the game against him. He stood for just a second too +long on a crowded crossing in Chicago, hesitating between +going forward or back. And that second gave Time a chance to +play an accident. A big seven-passenger touring car mowed him +down and left him in a heap for the ambulance from the +nearest hospital to gather on its stretcher. + +The Old Man did not die; he had lived long on the open range +and he was pretty tough and hard to kill. He went back to his +beloved Flying U, with a crutch to help him shuffle from bed +to easy chair and back again. + +The Little Doctor, who was his youngest sister, nursed him +tirelessly; but it was long before there came a day when the +Old Man gave his crutch to the Kid to use for a stick-horse, +and walked through the living room and out upon the porch +with the help of a cane and the solicitous arm of the Little +Doctor, and with the Kid galloping gleefully before him on +the crutch. + +Later he discarded the help of somebody's arm, and hobbled +down to the corral with the cane, and with the Kid still +galloping before him on "Uncle Gee Gee's" crutch. He stood +for some time leaning against the corral watching some of the +boys halter-breaking a horse that was later to be sold--when +he was "broke gentle"--and then he hobbled back again, +thankful for the soft comfort of his big chair. + +That was well enough, as far as it went. The Flying U took it +for granted that the Old Man was slowly returning to the old +order of life, when rheumatism was his only foe and he could +run things with his old energy and easy good management. But +there never came a day when the Old Man gave his cane to the +kid to play with. There never came a day when he was not +thankful for the soft comfort of his chair. There never came +a day when he was the same Old Man who joshed the boys and +scolded them and threatened them. The day was always coming-- +of course!--when his back would quit aching if he walked to +the stable and back without a long rest between, but it never +actually arrived. + +So, imperceptibly but surely, the Old Man began to grow old. +The thin spot on top of his head grew shiny, so that the Kid +noticed it and made blunt comments upon the subject. His +rheumatism was not his worst foe, now. He had to pet his +digestive apparatus and cut out strong coffee with three +heaping teaspoons of sugar in each cup, because the Little +Doctor told him his liver was torpid. He had to stop giving +the Kid jolty rides on his knees,--but that was because the +Kid was getting too big for baby play, the Old Man declared. +The Kid was big enough to ride real horses, now, and he ought +to be ashamed to ride knee-horses any more. + +To two things the Old Man clung almost fiercely; the old +regime of ranging his cattle at large and starting out the +wagons in the spring just the same as if twenty-five men +instead of twelve went with them; and the retention of the +Happy Family on his payroll, just as if they were actually +needed. If one of the boys left to try other things and other +fields, the Old Man considered him gone on a vacation and +expected him back when spring roundup approached. + +True, he was seldom disappointed in that. For the Happy +Family looked upon the Flying U as home, and six months was +about the limit for straying afar. Cowpunchers to the bone +though they were, they bent backs over irrigating ditches and +sweated in the hay fields just for the sake of staying +together on the ranch. I cannot say that they did it +uncomplainingly--for the bunk-house was saturated to the +ridge-pole with their maledictions while they compared +blistered hands and pitchfork callouses, and mourned the days +that were gone; the days when they rode far and free and +scorned any work that could not be done from the saddle. But +they stayed, and they did the ranch work as well as the range +work, which is the main point. + +They became engaged to certain girls who filled their dreams +and all their waking thoughts--but they never quite came to +the point of marrying and going their way. Except Pink, who +did marry impulsively and unwisely, and who suffered himself +to be bullied and called Percy for seven months or so, and +who balked at leaving the Flying U for the city and a +vicarious existence in theaterdom, and so found himself free +quite as suddenly as he had been tied. + +They intended to marry and settle down--sometime. But there +was always something in the way of carrying those intentions +to fulfillment, so that eventually the majority of the Happy +Family found themselves not even engaged, but drifting along +toward permanent bachelorhood. Being of the optimistic type, +however, they did not worry; Pink having set before them a +fine example of the failure of marriage and having returned +with manifest relief to the freedom of the bunk-house. + + +CHAPTER 2. ANDY GREEN'S NEW ACQUAINTANCE + +Andy Green, chief prevaricator of the Happy Family of the +Flying U--and not ashamed of either title or connection-- +pushed his new Stetson back off his untanned forehead, +attempted to negotiate the narrow passage into a Pullman +sleeper with his suitcase swinging from his right hand, and +butted into a woman who was just emerging from the +dressingroom. He butted into her so emphatically that he was +compelled to swing his left arm out very quickly, or see her +go headlong into the window opposite; for a fullsized +suitcase propelled forward by a muscular young man may prove +a very efficient instrument of disaster, especially if it +catches one just in the hollow back of the knee. The woman +tottered and grasped Andy convulsively to save herself a +fall, and so they stood blocking the passage until the porter +arrived and took the suitcase from Andy with a tip-inviting +deference. + +Andy apologized profusely, with a quaint, cowpunchery +phrasing that caused the woman to take a second look at him. +And, since Andy Green would look good to any woman capable of +recognizing--and appreciating--a real man when she saw him, +she smiled and said it didn't matter in the least. + +That was the beginning of the acquaintance. Andy took her by +her plump, chiffon-veiled arm and piloted her to her seat, +and he afterward tipped the porter generously and had his own +belongings deposited in the section across the aisle. Then, +with the guile of a foreign diplomat, he betook himself to +the smoking-room and stayed there for three quarters of an +hour. He was not taking any particular risk of losing the +opportunity of an unusually pleasant journey, for the dollar +he had invested in the goodwill of the porter had yielded the +information that the lady was going through to Great Falls. +Since Andy had boarded the train at Harlem there was plenty +of time to kill between there and Dry Lake, which was his +destination. + +The lady smiled at him rememberingly when finally he seated +himself across the aisle from her, and without any serious +motive Andy smiled back. So presently they were exchanging +remarks about the journey. Later on, Andy went over and sat +beside her and conversation began in earnest. Her name, it +transpired, was Florence Grace Hallman. Andy read it engraved +upon a card which added the information that she was engaged +in the real estate business--or so the three or +four words implied. "Homemakers' Syndicate, Minneapolis and +St. Paul," said the card. Andy was visibly impressed thereby. +He looked at her with swift appraisement and decided that she +was "all to the good." + +Florence Grace Hallman was tall and daintily muscular as to +figure. Her hair was a light yellow--not quite the shade +which peroxide gives, and therefore probably natural. Her +eyes were brown, a shade too close together but cool and calm +and calculating in their gaze, and her eyebrows slanted +upward a bit at the outer ends and were as heavy as beauty +permitted. Her lips were very red, and her chin was very +firm. She looked the successful business woman to her +fingertips, and she was eminently attractive for a woman of +that self-assured type. + +Andy was attractive also, in a purely Western way. +His gray eyes were deceivingly candid and his voice +was pleasant with a little, humorous drawl that matched +well the quirk of his lips when he talked. He was +headed for home--which was the Flying U--sober +and sunny and with enough money to see him through. +He told Florence Hallman his name, and said that he +lived "up the road a ways" without being too definite. +Florence Hallman lived in Minneapolis, she said; though she +traveled most of the time, in the interests of her firm. + +Yes, she liked the real estate business. One had a chance to +see the world, and keep in touch with people and things. She +liked the West especially well. Since her firm had taken up +the homeseekers' line she spent most of her time in the West. + +They had supper--she called it dinner, Andy observed-- +together, and Andy Green paid the check, which was not so +small. It was after that, when they became more confidential, +that Florence Hallman, with the egotism of the successful +person who believes herself or himself to be of keen interest +to the listener spoke in greater detail of her present +mission. + +Her firm's policy was, she said, to locate a large tract of +government land somewhere, and then organize a homeseekers' +colony, and settle the land-hungry upon the tract--at so much +per hunger. She thought it a great scheme for both sides of +the transaction. The men who wanted claims got them. The firm +got the fee for showing them the land--and certain other +perquisites at which she merely hinted. + +She thought that Andy himself would be a success at the +business. She was quick to form her opinions of people whom +she met, and she knew that Andy was just the man for such +work. Andy, listening with his candid, gray eyes straying +often to her face and dwelling there, modestly failed to +agree with her. He did not know the first thing about the +real estate business, he confessed, nor very much about +ranching. Oh, yes--he lived in this country, and he knew THAT +pretty well, but-- + +"The point is right here," said Florence Grace Hallman, +laying her pink fingertips upon his arm and glancing behind +her to make sure that they were practically alone--their +immediate neighbors being still in the diner. "I'm speaking +merely upon impulse--which isn't a wise thing to do, +ordinarily. But--well, your eyes vouch for you, Mr. Green, +and we women are bound to act impulsively sometimes--or we +wouldn't be women, would we?" She laughed--rather, she gave a +little, infectious giggle, and took away her fingers, to the +regret of Andy who liked the feel of them on his forearm. + +"The point is here. I've recognized the fact, all along, that +we need a man stationed right here, living in the country, +who will meet prospective homesteaders and talk farming; keep +up their enthusiasm; whip the doubters into line; talk +climate and soil and the future of the country; look the +part, you understand." + +"So I look like a rube, do I?" Andy's lips quirked a half +smile at her. + +"No, of course you don't!" She laid her fingers on his sleeve +again, which was what Andy wanted--what he had intended to +bait her into doing; thereby proving that, in some respects +at least, he amply justified Hiss Hallman in her snap +judgment of him. + +"Of course you don't look like a rube! I don't want you to. +But you do look Western--because you are Western to the bone +Besides, you look perfectly dependable. Nobody could look +into your eyes and even think of doubting the truth of any +statement you made to them." Andy snickered mentally at that +though his eyes never lost their clear candor. "And," she +concluded, "being a bona fide resident of the country, your +word would carry more weight than mine if I were to talk +myself black in the face!" + +"That's where you're dead wrong," Andy hastened to correct +her. + +"Well, you must let me have my own opinion, Mr. Green. You +would be convincing enough, at any rate. You see, there is a +certain per cent of--let us call it waste effort--in this +colonization business. We have to reckon on a certain number +of nibblers who won't bite--" Andy's honest, gray eyes +widened a hair's breadth at the frankness of her language--" +when they get out here. They swallow the folders we send out, +but when they get out here and see the country, they +can't see it as a rich farming district, and they won't +invest. They go back home and knock, if they do anything. + +"My idea is to stop that waste; to land every homeseeker that +boards our excursion trains. And I believe the way to do that +is to have the right kind of a man out here, steer the +doubtfuls against him--and let his personality and his +experience do the rest. They're hungry enough to come, you +see; the thing is to keep them here. A man that lives right +here, that has all the earmarks of the West, and is not known +to be affiliated with our Syndicate (you could have rigs to +hire, and drive the doubtfuls to the tract)--don't you see +what an enormous advantage he'd have? The class I speak of +are the suspicious ones--those who are from Missouri. They're +inclined to want salt with what we say about the resources of +the country. Even our chemical analysis of the soil, and +weather bureau dope, don't go very far with those hicks. They +want to talk with someone who has tried it, you see." + +"I--see," said Andy thoughtfully, and his eyes narrowed a +trifle. "On the square, Miss Hallman, what are the natural +advantages out here--for farming? What line of talk do you +give those come-ons?" + +Miss Hallman laughed and made a very pretty gesture with her +two ringed hands. "Whatever sounds the best to them," she +said. "If they write and ask about spuds we come back with +illustrated folders of potato crops and statistics of average +yields and prices and all that. If it's dairy, we have dairy +folders. And so on. It isn't any fraud--there ARE sections of +the country that produce almost anything, from alfalfa to +strawberries. You know that," she challenged. + +"Sure. But I didn't know there was much tillable land left +lying around loose," he ventured to say. + +Again Miss Hallman made the pretty gesture, which might mean +much or nothing. "There's plenty of land 'lying around +loose,' as you call it. How do you know it won't produce, +till it has been tried?" + +"That's right," Andy assented uneasily. "If there's water to +put on it--" + +"And since there is the land, our business lies in getting +people located on it. The towns and the railroads are back of +us. That is, they look with favor upon bringing settlers into +the country. It increases the business of the country--the +traffic, the freights, the merchants' business, everything." + +Andy puckered his eyebrows and looked out of the window upon +a great stretch of open, rolling prairie, clothed sparely in +grass that was showing faint green in the hollows, and with +no water for miles--as he knew well--except for the rivers +that hurried through narrow bottom lands guarded by high +bluffs that were for the most part barren. The land was +there, all right. But-- + +"What I can't see," he observed after a minute during which +Miss Florence Hallman studied his averted face, "what I can't +see is, where do the settlers get off at?" + +"At Easy street, if they're lucky enough," she told him +lightly. "My business is to locate them on the land. Getting +a living off it is THEIR business. And," she added +defensively, "people do make a living on ranches out here." + +"That's right," he agreed again--he was finding it very +pleasant to agree with Florence Grace Hallman. "Mostly off +stock, though." + +"Yes, and we encourage our clients to bring out all the young +stock they possibly can; young cows and horses and--all that +sort of thing. There's quantities of open country around +here, that even the most optimistic of homeseekers would +never think of filing on. They can make out, all right, I +guess. We certainly urge them strongly to bring stock with +them. It's always been famous as a cattle country--that's one +of our highest cards. We tell them--" + +"How do you do that? Do you go right to them and TALK to +them?" + +"Yes, if they show a strong enough interest--and bank +account. I follow up the best prospects and visit them in +person. I've talked to fifty horny-handed he-men in the past +month." + +"Then I don't see what you need of anyone to bring up the +drag," Andy told her admiringly. "If you talk to 'em, there +oughtn't be any drag!" + +"Thank you for the implied compliment. But there IS a 'drag,' +as you call it. There's going to be a big one, too, I'm +afraid--when they get out and see this tract we're going to +work off this spring." She stopped and studied him as a chess +player studies the board. + +"I'm very much tempted to tell you something I shouldn't +tell," she said at length, lowering her voice a little. +Remember, Andy Green was a very good looking man, and his +eyes were remarkable for their clear, candid gaze straight +into your own eyes. Even as keen a business woman as Florence +Grace Hallman must be forgiven for being deceived by them." +I'm tempted to tell you where this tract is. You may know +it." + +"You better not, unless you're willing to take a chance," he +told her soberly. "If it looks too good, I'm liable to jump +it myself." + +Miss Hallman laughed and twisted her red lips at him in what +might be construed as a flirtatious manner. She was really +quite taken with Andy Green. "I'll take a chance. I don't +think you'll jump it. Do you know anything about Dry Lake, up +above Havre, toward Great Falls--and the country out east of +there, towards the mountains?" + +The fingers of Andy Green closed into his palms. His eyes, +however, continued to look into hers with his most guileless +expression. + +"Y-es--that is, I've ridden over it," he acknowledged simply. + +"Well--now this is a secret; at least we don't want those +mossback ranchers in there to get hold of it too soon, though +they couldn't really do anything, since it's all government +land and the lease has only just run out. There's a high +tract lying between the Bear Paws and--do you know where the +Flying U ranch is?" + +"About where it is--yes." + +"Well, it's right up there on that plateau--bench, you call +it out here. There are several thousand acres along in there +that we're locating settlers on this spring. We're just +waiting for the grass to get nice and green, and the prairie +to get all covered with those blue, blue wind flowers, and +the meadow larks to get busy with their nests, and then we're +going to bring them out and--" She spread her hands again. It +seemed a favorite gesture grown into a habit, and it surely +was more eloquent than words. "These prairies will be a dream +of beauty, in a little while," she said. "I'm to watch for +the psychological time to bring out the seekers. And if I +could just interest you, Mr. Green, to the extent of being +somewhere around Dry Lake, with a good team that you will +drive for hire and some samples of oats and dry-land spuds +and stuff that you raised on your claim--" She eyed him +sharply for one so endearingly feminine. "Would you do it? +There'd be a salary, and besides that a commission on each +doubter you landed. And I'd just love to have you for one of +my assistants." + +"It sure sounds good," Andy flirted with the proposition, and +let his eyes soften appreciably to meet her last sentence and +the tone in which she spoke it. "Do you think I could get by +with the right line of talk with the doubters?" + +"I think you could," she said, and in her voice there was a +cooing note. "Study up a little on the right dope, and I +think you could convince--even me." + +"Could I?" Andy Green knew that cooing note, himself, and one +a shade more provocative. "I wonder!" + +A man came down the aisle at that moment, gave Andy a keen +glance and went on with a cigar between his fingers. Andy +scowled frankly, sighed and straightened his shoulders. + +"That's what I call hard luck," he grumbled got to see that +man before he gets off the train--and the h--worst of it is, +I don't know just what station he'll get off at." He sighed +again. "I've got a deal on," he told her confidentially, +"that's sure going to keep me humping if I pull loose so as +to go in with you. How long did you say?" + +"Probably two weeks, the way spring is opening out here. I'd +want you to get perfectly familiar with our policy and the +details of our scheme before they land. I'd want you to be +familiar with that tract and be able to show up its best +points when you take seekers out there. You'd be so much +better than one of our own men, who have the word 'agent' +written all over them. You'll come back and--talk it over +won't you?" For Andy was showing unmistakable symptoms of +leaving her to follow the man. + +"You KNOW it," he declared in a tone of "I won't sleep nights +till this thing is settled--and settled right." He gave her a +smile that rather dazzled the lady, got up with much +reluctance and with a glance that had in it a certain element +of longing went swaying down the aisle after the man who had +preceded him. + +Andy's business with the man consisted solely in mixing +cigarette smoke with cigar smoke and of helping to stare +moodily out of the window. Words there were none, save when +Andy was proffered a match and muttered his thanks. The +silent session lasted for half an hour. Then the man got up +and went out, and the breath of Andy Green paused behind his +nostrils until he saw that the man went only to the first +section in the car and settled there behind a spread +newspaper, invisible to Florence Grace Hallman unless she +searched the car and peered over the top of the paper +to see who was behind. + +After that Andy Green continued to stare out of the +window, seeing nothing of the scenery but the flicker +of telegraph posts before his eyes that were visioning +the future. + +The Flying U ranch hemmed in by homesteaders from the East, +he saw; homesteaders who were being urged to bring all the +stock they could, and turn it loose upon the shrinking range. +Homesteaders who would fence the country into squares, and +tear up the grass and sow grain that might never bear a +harvest. Homesteaders who would inevitably grow poorer upon +the land that would suck their strength and all their +little savings and turn them loose finally to forage a +living where they might. Homesteaders who would ruin the land +that ruined them.... It was not a pleasing picture, but it +was more pleasing than the picture he saw of the Flying U +after these human grass hoppers had settled there. + +The range that fed the Flying U stock would feed no more and +hide their ribs at shipping time. That he knew too well. Old +J. G. Whitmore and Chip would have to sell out. And that was +like death; indeed, it IS death of a sort, when one of the +old outfits is wiped out of existence. It had happened +before--happened too often to make pleasant memories for Andy +Green, who could name outfit after outfit that had been +forced out of business by the settling of the range land; who +could name dozens of cattle brands once seen upon the range, +and never glimpsed now from spring roundup until fall. + +Must the Flying U brand disappear also? The good old Flying +U, for whose existence the Old Man had fought and schemed +since first was raised the cry that the old range was +passing? The Flying U that had become a part of his life? +Andy let his cigarette grow cold; he roused only to swear at +the porter who entered with dust cloth and a deprecating +grin. + +After that, Andy thought of Florence Grace Hallman--and his +eyes were not particularly sentimental. There was a hard line +about his mouth also; though Florence Grace Hallman was but a +pawn in the game, after all, and not personally guilty of +half the deliberate crimes Andy laid upon her dimpled +shoulders. With her it was pure, cold-blooded business, this +luring of the land-hungry to a land whose fertility was at +best problematical; who would, for a price, turn loose the +victims of her greed to devastate what little grazing ground +was left. + +The train neared Havre. Andy roused himself, rang for the +porter and sent him after his suitcase and coat. Then he +sauntered down the aisle, stopped beside Florence Grace +Hallman and smiled down at her with a gleam behind the clear +candor of his eyes. + +"Hard luck, lady," he murmured, leaning toward her. "I'm just +simply loaded to the guards with responsibilities, and here's +where I get off. But I'm sure glad I met yuh, and I'll +certainly think day and night about you and--all you told me +about. I'd like to get in on this land deal. Fact is, I'm +going to make it my business to get in on it. Maybe my way of +working won't suit you--but I'll sure work hard for any boss +and do the best I know how." + +"I think that will suit me," Miss Hallman assured him, and +smiled unsuspectingly up into his eyes, which she thought she +could read so easily. "When shall I see you again? Could you +come to Great Falls in the next ten days? I shall be stopping +at the Park. Or if you will leave me your address--" + +"No use. I'll be on the move and a letter wouldn't get me. +I'll see yuh later, anyway. I'm bound to. And when I do, +we'll get down to cases. Good bye." + +He was turning away when Miss Hallman put out a soft, +jewelled hand. She thought it was diffidence that made Andy +Green hesitate perceptibly before he took it. She thought it +was simply a masculine shyness and confusion that made him +clasp her fingers loosely and let them go on the instant. She +did not see him rub his palm down the leg of his dark gray +trousers as he walked down the aisle, and if she had she +would not have seen any significance in the movement. + +Andy Green did that again before he stepped off the train. +For he felt that he had shaken hands with a traitor to +himself and his outfit, and it went against the grain. That +the traitor was a woman, and a charming woman at that, only +intensified his resentment against her. A man can fight a man +and keep his self respect; but a man does mortally dread +being forced into a position where he must fight a woman. + + + +CHAPTER 3. THE KID LEARNS SOME THINGS ABOUT HORSES + +The Kid--Chip's Kid and the Little Doctor's--was six years +old and big for his age. Also he was a member in good +standing of the Happy Family and he insisted upon being +called Buck outside the house; within it the Little Doctor +insisted even more strongly that he answer to the many +endearing names she had invented for him, and to the more +formal one of Claude, which really belonged to Daddy Chip. + +Being six years old and big for his age, and being called +Buck by his friends, the Happy Family, the Kid decided that +he should have a man's-sized horse of his own, to feed and +water and ride and proudly call his "string." Having settled +that important point, he began to cast about him for a horse +worthy his love and ownership, and speedily he decided that +matter also. + +Therefore, he ran bareheaded up to the blacksmith shop where +Daddy Chip was hammering tunefully upon the anvil, and +delivered his ultimatum from the door way. + +"Silver's going to be my string, Daddy Chip, and +I'm going to feed him myself and ride him myself and +nobody else can touch him 'thout I say they can." + +"Yes?" Chip squinted along a dully-glowing iron +bar, laid it back upon the anvil and gave it another +whack upon the side that still bulged a little. + +"Yes, and I'm going to saddle him myself and everything. And +I want you to get me some jingling silver spurs like Mig has +got, with chains that hang away down and rattle when you +walk." The Kid lifted one small foot and laid a grimy finger +in front of his heel by way of illustration. + +"Yes?" Chip's eyes twinkled briefly and immediately became +intent upon his work. + +"Yes, and Doctor Dell has got to let me sleep in the +bunk-house with the rest of the fellers. And I ain't +going to wear a nightie once more! I don't have to, do I, +Daddy Chip? Not with lace on it. Happy Jack says I'm a girl +long as I wear lace nighties, and I ain't a girl. Am I, Daddy +Chip?" + +"I should say not!" Chip testified emphatically, and carried +the iron bar to the forge for further heating. + +"I'm going on roundup too, tomorrow afternoon." The Kid's +conception of time was extremely sketchy and had no +connection whatever with the calendar. "I'm going to keep +Silver in the little corral and let him sleep in the box +stall where his leg got well that time he broke it. I 'member +when he had a rag tied on it and teased for sugar. And the +Countess has got to quit a kickin' every time I need sugar +for my string. Ain't she, Daddy Chip? She's got to let us men +alone or there'll be something doing!" + +"I'd tell a man," said Chip inattentively, only half hearing +the war-like declaration of his offspring--as is the way +with busy fathers. + +"I'm going to take a ride now on Silver. I guess I'll ride in +to Dry Lake and get the mail--and I'm 'pletely outa the +makings, too." + +"Uh-hunh--a--what's that? You keep off Silver. He'll kick +the daylights out of you, Kid. Where's your hat? Didn't your +mother tell you she'd tie a sunbonnet on you if you didn't +keep your hat on? You better hike back and get it, young man, +before she sees you." + +The Kid stared mutinously from the doorway. "You said I could +have Silver. What's the use of having a string if a feller +can't ride it? And I CAN ride him, and he don't kick at all. +I rode him just now, in the little pasture to see if I liked +his gait better than the others. I rode Banjo first and I +wouldn't own a thing like him, on a bet. Silver'll do me till +I can get around to break a real one." + +Chip's hand dropped from the bellows while he stared hard at +the Kid. "Did you go down in the pasture and--Words failed +him just then. + +"I'd TELL a man I did!" the Kid retorted, with a perfect +imitation of Chip's manner and tone when crossed. "I've been +trying out all the darned benchest you've got--and there +ain't a one I'd give a punched nickel for but Silver. I'd a +rode Shootin' Star, only he wouldn't stand still so I could +get onto him. whoever broke him did a bum job. The horse I +break will stand, or I'll know the reason why. Silver'll +stand, all right. And I can guide him pretty well by slapping +his neck. You did a pretty fair job when you broke Silver," +the Kid informed his father patronizingly. + +Chip said something which the Kid was not supposed to hear, +and sat suddenly down upon the stone rim of the forge. It had +never before occurred to Chip that his Kid was no longer a +baby, but a most adventurous man-child who had lived all his +life among men and whose mental development had more than +kept pace with his growing body. He had laughed with the +others at the Kid's quaint precociousness of speech and at +his frank worship of range men and range life. He had gone to +some trouble to find a tractable Shetland pony the size of a +burro, and had taught the Kid to ride, decorously and fully +protected from accident. + +He and the Little Doctor had been proud of the Kid's +masculine traits as they manifested themselves in the +management of that small specimen of horse flesh. That the +Kid should have outgrown so quickly his content with Stubby +seemed much more amazing than it really was. He eyed the Kid +doubtfully for a minute, and then grinned. + +"All that don't let you out on the hat question," he said, +evading the real issue and laying stress upon the small +matter of obedience, as is the exasperating habit of parents. +"You don't see any of the bunch going around bareheaded. Only +women and babies do that." + +"The bunch goes bareheaded when they get their hats blowed +off in the creek," the Kid pointed out unmoved. "I've seen +you lose your hat mor'n once, old timer. That's nothing." He +sent Chip a sudden, adorable smile which proclaimed him the +child of his mother and which never failed to thrill Chip +secretly,--it was so like the Little Doctor. "You lend me +your hat for a while, dad," he said. "She never said what hat +I had to wear, just so it's a hat. Honest to gran'ma, my +hat's in the creek and I couldn't poke it out with a stick or +anything. It sailed into the swimmin' hole. I was goin' to go +after it," he explained further, "but--a snake was swimmin +--and I hated to 'sturb him." + +Chip drew a sharp breath and for one panicky moment +considered imperative the hiring of a body-guard for his Kid. + +"You keep out of the pasture, young man!" His tone was stern +to match his perturbation. "And you leave Silver alone--" + +The Kid did not wait for more. He lifted up his voice and +wept in bitterness of spirit. Wept so that one could hear him +a mile. Wept so that J. G. Whitmore reading the Great Falls +Tribune on the porch, laid down his paper and asked the world +at large what ailed that doggoned kid now. + +"Dell, you better go see what's wrong," he called afterwards +through the open door to the Little Doctor, who was examining +a jar of germ cultures in her "office." "Chances is he's +fallen off the stable or something--though he sounds more +mad than hurt. If it wasn't for my doggoned back--" + +The Little Doctor passed him hurriedly. When her man-child +wept, it Needed no suggestion from J. G. or anyone else to +send her flying to the rescue. So presently she arrived +breathless at the blacksmith shop' and found Chip within, +looking in urgent Need of reinforcements, and the Kid yelling +ragefully beside the door and kicking the log wall with +vicious boot-tees. + +"Shut up now or I'll spank you!" Chip was saying desperately +when his wife appeared. "I wish you'd take that Kid and tie +him up, Dell," he added snappishly. "Here he's been riding +all the horses in the little pasture--and taking a chance on +breaking his neck! And he ain't satisfied with Stubby--he +thinks he's entitled to Silver!" + +"Well, why not? There, there, honey--men don't cry when +things go wrong--" + +"No--because they can take it out in cussing!" wailed the +Kid." I wouldn't cry either, if you'd let me swear all I want +to!" + +Chip turned his back precipitately and his shoulders were +seen to shake. The Little Doctor looked shocked. + +"I want Silver for my string!" cried the Kid, artfully +transferring his appeal to the higher court. "I can ride +him--'cause I have rode him, in the pasture; and he never +bucked once or kicked or anything. Doggone it, he likes to +have me ride him! He comes a-runnin' up to me when I go down +there, and I give him sugar. And then he waits till I climb +on his back, and then we chase the other horses and play ride +circle He wants to be my string!" Something in the feel of +his mother's arm around his shoulder whispered hope to the +Kid. He looked up at her with his most endearing smile. "You +come down there and I'll show you," he wheedled. "We're pals. +And I guess YOU wouldn't like to have the boys call you Tom +Thumb, a-ridin' Stubby. He's nothing but a five-cent sample +of a horse. Big Medicine says so. I--I'd rather walk than +ride Stubby. And I'm going on roundup. The boys said I could +go when I get a real horse under me--and I want Silver. Daddy +Chip said 'yes' I could have him. And now he's Injun-giver. +Can't I have him, Doctor Dell?" + +The gray-blue eyes clashed with the brown. "It wouldn't hurt +anything to let the poor little tad show us what he can do," +said the gray-blue eyes. + +"Oh--all right," yielded the brown, and their owner threw the +iron bar upon the cooling forge and began to turn down his +sleeves. "Why don't you make him wear a hat?" he asked +reprovingly. "A little more and he won't pay any attention to +anything you tell him. I'd carry out that sunbonnet bluff, +anyway, if I were you." + +"Now, Daddy Chip! I 'splained to you how I lost my hat," +reproached the Kid, clinging fast to the Little Doctor's +hand. + +"Yes--and you 'splained that you'd have gone into that deep +hole and drowned--with nobody there to pull you out--if you +hadn't been scared of a water snake," Chip pointed out +relentlessly. + +"I wasn't 'zactly scared," amended the Kid gravely. +"He was havin' such a good time, and he was swimmin' around +so--comf'table--and it wasn't polite to 'sturb him. Can't I +have Silver?" + +"We'll go down and ask Silver what he thinks about it," said +the Little Doctor, anxious to make peace between her two +idols. "And we'll see if Daddy Chip can get the hat. You must +wear a hat, honey; you know what mother told you--and you +know mother keeps her word." + +"I wish dad did," the Kid commented, passing over the hat +question. "He said I could have Silver, and keep him in a box +stall and feed him my own self and water him my own self and +nobody's to touch him but me." + +"Well, if daddy said all that--we'll have to think it over, +and consult Silver and see what he has to say about it." + +Silver, when consulted, professed at least a willingness to +own the Kid for his master. He did indeed come trotting up +for sugar; and when he had eaten two grimy lumps from the +Kid's grimier hand, he permitted the Kid to entice him up to +a high rock, and stood there while the Kid clambered upon the +rock and from there to his sleek back. Ho even waited until +the Kid gathered a handful of silky mane and kicked him on +the ribs; then he started off at a lope, while the Kid risked +his balance to cast a triumphant grin--that had a gap in the +middle--back at his astonished parents. + +"Look how the little devil guides him!" exclaimed Chip +surrenderingly. "I guess he's safe enough old Silver seems to +sabe he's got a kid to take care of. He sure would strike a +different gait with me! Lord how the time slides by; I can't +seem to get it through me that the Kid's growing up." + +The Little Doctor sighed a bit. And the Kid, circling grandly +on the far side of the little pasture, came galloping back to +hear the verdict. It pleased him--though he was inclined to +mistake a great privilege for a right that must not be +denied. He commanded his Daddy Chip to open the gate for him +so he could ride Silver to the stable and put him in the box +stall; which was a superfluous kindness, as Chip tried to +point out and failed to make convincing. + +The Kid wanted Silver in the box stall, where he could feed +him and water him his own self. So into the box stall Silver +reluctantly went, and spent a greater part of the day with +his head stuck out through the window, staring enviously at +his mates in the pasture. + +For several days Chip watched the Kid covertly whenever his +small feet strayed stableward; watched and was full of secret +pride at the manner in which the Kid rose to his new +responsibility. Never did a "string" receive the care which +Silver got, and never did rider sit more proudly upon his +steed than did the Kid sit upon Silver. There seemed to be +practically no risk--Chip was amazed at the Kid's ability to +ride. Besides, Silver was growing old--fourteen years being +considered ripe old age in a horse. He was more given to +taking life with a placid optimism that did not startle +easily. He carried the Kid's light weight easily, and he had +not lost all his springiness of muscle. The Little Doctor +rode him sometimes, and loved his smooth gallop and his even +temper; now she loved him more when she saw how careful he +was of the Kid. She besought the Kid to be careful of Silver +also, and was most manfully snubbed for her solicitude. + +The Kid had owned Silver for a week, and considered that he +was qualified to give advice to the Happy Family, including +his Daddy Chip, concerning the proper care of horses. He +stood with his hands upon his hips and his feet far apart, +and spat into the corral dust and told Big Medicine that +nobody but a pilgrim ever handled a horse the way Big +Medicine was handling Deuce. Whereat Big Medicine gave a +bellowing haw-haw-haw and choked it suddenly when he saw that +the Kid desired him to take the criticism seriously. + +"All right, Buck," he acceded humbly, winking openly at the +Native Son. "I'll try m'best, old-timer. Trouble with me is, +I never had nobody to learn me how to handle a hoss." + +"Well, you've got me, now," Buck returned calmly. "I don't +ride MY string without brushing the hay out of his tail. +There's a big long hay stuck in your horse's tail." He +pointed an accusing finger, and Big Medicine silently edged +close to Douce's rump and very carefully removed the big, +long hay. He took a fine chance of getting himself kicked, +but he did not tell the Kid that. + +"That all right now, Buck?" Big Medicine wanted to know, +when he had accomplished the thing without accident. + +"Oh, it'll do," was the frugal praise he got. "I've +got to go and feed my string, now. And after a while I'll +water him. You want to feed your horse always +before you water him, 'cause eatin' makes him firsty. +You 'member that, now." + +"I'll sure try to, Buck," Big Medicine promised soberly, and +watched the Kid go striding away with his hat tilted at the +approved Happy-Family angle and his small hands in his +pockets. Big Medicine was thinking of his own kid, and +wondering what he was like, and if he remembered his dad. He +waved his hand in cordial farewell when the Kid looked back +and wrinkled his nose in the adorable, Little-Doctor smile he +had, and turned his attention to Deuce. + +The Kid made straight for the box stall and told Silver hello +over the half door. Silver turned from gazing out of the +window, and came forward expectantly, and the Kid told him to +wait a minute and not be so impatience Then he climbed upon a +box, got down a heavy canvas nose-bag with leather bottom, +and from a secret receptacle behind the oats box he brought a +paper bag of sugar and poured about a teacupful into the bag. +Daddy Chip had impressed upon him what would be the tragic +consequences if he fed oats to Silver five times a day. +Silver would die, and it would be the Kid that killed him. +Daddy Chip had not said anything about sugar being fatal, +however, and the Countess could not always stand guard over +the sugar sack. So Silver had a sweet taste in his mouth +twelve hours of the twenty-four, and was getting a habit of +licking his lips reminiscently during the other twelve. + +The Kid had watched the boys adjust nose bags ever since he +could toddle. He lugged it into the stall, set it artfully +upon the floor and let Silver thrust in his head to the eyes: +then he pulled the strap over Silver's neck and managed to +buckle it very securely. He slapped the sleek neck afterward +as his Daddy Chip did, hugged it the way Doctor Dell did, and +stood back to watch Silver revel in the bag. + +"'S good lickums?" he asked gravely, because he had once +heard his mother ask Silver that very question, in almost +that very tone. + +At that moment an uproar outside caught his youthful +attention. He listened a minute, heard Pink's voice and a +shout of laughter, and ran to see what was going on; for +where was excitement, there the Kid was also, as nearly in +the middle of it as he could manage. His going would not have +mattered to Silver, had he remembered to close the half-door +of the stall behind him; even that would not have mattered, +had he not left the outer door of the stable open also. + +The cause of the uproar does not greatly matter, except that +the Kid became so rapturously engaged in watching the foolery +of the Happy Family that he forgot all about Silver. And +since sugar produces thirst, and Silver had not smelled water +since morning, he licked the last sweet grain from the inside +of the nose bag and then walked out of the stall and the +stable and made for the creek--and a horse cannot drink with +a nose bag fastened over his face. All he can do, if he +succeeds in getting his nose into the water, is to drown +himself most expeditiously and completely. + +Silver reached the creek unseen, sought the deepest hole and +tried to drink. Since his nose was covered with the bag ho +could not do so but he fussed and splashed and thrust his +head deeper until the water ran into the bag from the top. He +backed and snorted and strangled, and in a minute he fell. +Fortunately he struggled a little, and in doing so he slid +backward down the bank so that his head was up the slope a +and the water ran out of the bag, which was all that saved +him. + +He was a dead horse, to all appearances at least, when Slim +spied him and gave a yell to bring every human being on the +ranch at a run. The Kid came with the rest, gave one scream +and hid his face in the Little Doctor's skirts, and trembled +so that his mother was more frightened for him than for the +horse, and had Chip carry him to the house where he could not +watch the first-aid efforts of the Happy Family. + +They did not say anything, much. By their united strength +they pulled Silver up the bank so that his limp head hung +downward. Then they began to work over him exactly as if he +had been a drowned man, except that they did not, of course, +roll him over a barrel. They moved his legs backward and +forward, they kneaded his paunch, they blew into his +nostrils, they felt anxiously for heart-beats. They sweated +and gave up the fight, saying that it was no use. They saw a +quiver of the muscles over the chest and redoubled their +efforts, telling one another hopefully that he was alive, all +right. They saw finally a quiver of the nostrils as well, and +one after another they laid palms upon his heart, felt there +a steady beating and proclaimed the fact profanely. + +They pulled him then into a more comfortable position where +the sun shone warmly and stood around him in a crude circle +and watched for more pronounced symptoms of recovery, and +sent word to the Kid that his string was going to be all +right in a little while. + +The information was lost upon the Kid, who wept hysterically +in his Daddy Chip's arms listen to anything they told him. He +had seen Silver stretched out dead, with his back in the edge +of the creek and his feet sprawled at horrible angles, and +the sight obsessed him and forbade comfort. He had killed his +string; nothing was clear in his mind save that, and he +screamed with his face hidden from his little world. + +The Little Doctor, with anxious eyes and puckered eyebrows, +poured something into a teaspoon and helped Chip fight to get +it down the Kid's throat. And the Kid shrieked and struggled +and strangled, as is the way of kids the world over, and +tried to spit out the stuff and couldn't, so he screamed the +louder and held his breath until he was purple, and his +parents were scared stiff. The Old Man hobbled to the door in +the midst of the uproar and asked them acrimoniously why they +didn't make that doggoned Kid stop his howling; and when +Chip, his nerves already strained to the snapping point, told +him bluntly to get out and mind his own business, he hobbled +away again muttering anathemas against the whole outfit. + +The Countess rushed in from out of doors and wanted to know +what under the shinin' sun was the matter with that kid, and +advised his frantic parents to throw water in his face. Chip +told her exactly what he had told the Old Man, in exactly the +same tone; so the Countess retreated, declaring that he +wouldn't be let to act that way if he was her kid, and that +he was plumb everlastingly spoiled. + +The Happy Family heard the disturbance and thought the Kid +was being spanked for the accident, which put every man of +them in a fighting humor toward Chip, the Little Doctor, the +Old Man and the whole world. Pink even meditated going up to +the White House to lick Chip--or at least tell him what he +thought of him--and he had plenty of sympathizers; though +they advised him half-heartedly not to buy in to any family +mixup. + +It was into this storm centre that Andy Green rode headlong +with his own burden of threatened disaster. + + +CHAPTER 4. ANDY TAKES A HAND IN THE GAME + +Andy Green was a day late in arriving at the Flying U. First +he lost time by leaving the train thirty miles short of the +destination marked on his ticket, and when he did resume his +journey on the next train, he traveled eighty-four miles +beyond Dry Lake, which landed him in Great Falls in the early +morning. There, with the caution of a criminal carefully +avoiding a meeting with Miss Hallman, he spent an hour in +poring over a plat of a certain section of Chouteau County, +and in copying certain description of unoccupied land. + +He had not slept very well the night before and he looked it. +He had cogitated upon the subject of land speculations and +the welfare of his outfit until his head was one great, dull +ache; but he stuck to his determination to do something to +block the game of the Homeseekers' Syndicate. Just what that +something would be he had not yet decided. But on general +principles it seemed wise to learn all he could concerning +the particular tract of land about which Florence Grace +Hallman had talked. + +The day was past when range rights might be defended +honorably with rifles and six-shooters and iron nerved men to +use them--and I fear that Andy Green sighed because it was +so. Give him the "bunch" and free swing, and he thought the +Homeseekers would lose their enthusiasm before even the first +hot wind blew up from the southwest to wither their crops. +But such measures were not to be thought of; if they fought +at all they must fight with the law behind them--and even +Andy's optimism did not see much hope from the law; none, in +fact, since both the law and the moneyed powers were eager +for the coming of homebuilders into that wide land. All up +along the Marias they had built their board shacks, and back +over the benches as far as one could see. There was nothing +to stop them, everything to make their coming easy. + +Andy scowled at the plat he was studying, and admitted to +himself that it looked as though the Home Seekers' Syndicate +were going to have things their own way; unless--There he +stuck. There must be some way out; never in his life had he +faced a situation which had been absolutely hopeless; always +there had been some chance to win, if a man only saw it in +time and took it. In this case it was the clerk in the office +who pointed the way with an idle remark. + +"Going to take up a claim, are you?" + +Andy looked up at him with the blank stare of preoccupation, +and changed expression as the question filtered into his +brain and fitted somehow into the puzzle. He grinned, said +maybe he would, folded the sheet of paper filled with what +looked like a meaningless jumble of letters and figures, +bought a plat of that township and begged some government +pamphlets, and went out humming a little tune just above a +whisper. At the door he tilted his hat down at an angle over +his right eye and took long, eager steps toward an obscure +hotel and his meagre baggage. + +There was no train going east until midnight, and he caught +that train. This time he actually got off at Dry Lake, ate a +hurried breakfast, got his horse out of the livery stable and +dug up the dust of the lane with rapid hoof-beats so that he +rode all the way to the first hill followed by a rolling, +gray cloud that never quite caught him. + +When he rode down the Hog's Back he saw the Happy Family +bunched around some object on the creek-bank, and he heard +the hysterical screaming of the Kid up in the house, and saw +the Old Man limping excitedly up and down the porch. A man +less astute than Andy Green would have known that some thing +had happened. He hurried down the last slope, galloped along +the creek-bottom, crossed the ford in a couple of leaps and +pulled up beside the group that surrounded Silver. + +"What's been taking place here?" he demanded curiously, +skipping the usual greetings. + +"Hell," said the Native Son succinctly, glancing up at him. + +"Old Silver looked over the fence into Kingdom Come," Weary +enlarged the statement a little. "Tried to take a drink with +a nose bag on. I guess he'll come through all right." + +"What ails the Kid?" Andy demanded, glancing toward the house +whence issued a fresh outburst of shrieks. + +The Happy Family looked at one another and then at the White +House. + +"Aw, some folks hain't got a lick of sense when it comes to +kids," Big Medicine accused gruffly. + +"The Kid," Weary explained, "put the nose bag on Silver and +then left the stable door open." + +"They ain't--spanking him for it, are they?" Andy demanded +belligerently. "By gracious, how'd a kid know any better? +Little bit of a tad like that--" + +"Aw, they don't never spank the Kid!" Slim defended the +parents loyally. "By golly, they's been times when I would-a +spanked him, if it'd been me. Countess says it's plumb +ridiculous the way that Kid runs over 'em--rough shod. If +he's gittin' spanked now, it's the first time." + +"Well," said Andy, looking from one to another and reverting +to his own worry as he swung down from his sweating horse, +"there's something worse than a spanked kid going to happen +to this outfit if you fellows don't get busy and do +something. There's a swarm of dry-farmers coming in on us, +with their stock to eat up the grass and their darned fences +shutting off the water--" + +"Oh, for the Lord's sake, cut it out!" snapped Pink. "We +ain't in the mood for any of your joshes. We've had about +enough excitement for once." + +"Ah, don't be a damn' fool," Andy snapped back. "There's no +josh about it. I've got the whole scheme, just as they framed +it up in Minneapolis. I got to talking with a she-agent on +the train, and she gave the whole snap away; wanted me to go +in with her and help land the suckers. I laid low, and made a +sneak to the land office and got a plat of the land, and all +the dope--" + +"Get any mail?" Pink interrupted him, in the tone that took +no notice whatever of Andy's ill news. + +"Time I was hearing from them spurs I sent for." Andy +silently went through his pockets and produced what mail he +had gleaned from the post-office, and led his horse into the +shade of the stable and pulled off the saddle. Every movement +betrayed the fact that he was in the grip of unpleasant +emotions, but to the Happy Family he said not another word. + +The Happy Family did not notice his silence at the time. But +afterwards, when the Kid had stopped crying and Silver had +gotten to his feet and wobbled back to the stable, led by +Chip, who explained briefly and satisfactorily the cause of +the uproar at the house, and the boys had started up to their +belated dinner, they began to realize that for a returned +traveler Andy Green was not having much to say. + +They asked him about his trip, and received brief answers. +Had he been anyone else they would have wanted to know +immediately what was eatin' on him; but since it was Andy +Green who sat frowning at his toes and smoking his cigarette +as though it had no comfort or flavor, the boldest of them +were cautious. For Andy Green, being a young man of vivid +imagination and no conscience whatever, had fooled them too +often with his lies. They waited, and they watched him +covertly and a bit puzzled. + +Silence and gloom were not boon companions of Andy Green, at +any time. So Weary, having the most charitable nature of any +among them, sighed and yielded the point of silent +contention. + +"What was all that you started to tell us about the dry- +farmers, Andy?" he asked indulgently. + +"All straight goods. But there's no use talking to you bone- +heads. You'll set around chewing the rag and looking wise +till it's too late to do anything but holler your heads off." +He got up from where he had been lounging on a bench just +outside the mess house and walked away, with his hands thrust +deep into his pockets and his shoulders drooped forward. + +The Happy Family looked after him doubtfully. + +"Aw, it's just some darned josh uh his," Happy Jack declared. +"I know HIM." + +"Look at the way he slouches along--like he was loaded to the +ears with trouble!" Pink pointed out amusedly. "He'd fool +anybody that didn't know him, all right." + +"And he fools the fellows that do know him, oftener than +anybody else," added the Native Son negligently. "You're +fooled right now if you think that's all acting. That HOMBRE +has got something on his mind." + +"Well, by golly, it ain't dry-farmers," Slim asserted boldly. + +"If you fellows wouldn't say it was a frame-up between us +two, I'd go after him and find out. But . . ." + +"But as it stands, we'd believe Andy Green a whole lot +quicker'n what we would you," supplemented Big Medicine +loudly. "You're dead right there." + +"What was it he said about it?" Weary wanted to know. "I +wasn't paying much attention, with the Kid yelling his head +off and old Silver gaping like a sick turkey, and all. What +was it about them dryfarmers?" + +"He said," piped Pink, "that he'd got next to a scheme to +bring a big bunch of dry-farmers in on this bench up here, +with stock that they'd turn loose on the range. That's what +he said. He claims the agent wanted him to go in on it." + +"Mamma!" Weary held a match poised midway between his thigh +and his cigarette while he stared at Pink. "That would be +some mixup--if it was to happen." His sunny blue eyes--that +were getting little crow's-feet at their corners--turned to +look after the departing Andy. "Where's the josh?" he +questioned the group. + +"The josh is, that he'd like to see us all het up over it, +and makin' war-talks and laying for the pilgrims some dark +night with our six-guns, most likely," retorted Pink, who +happened to be in a bad humor because in ten minutes he was +due at a line of post-holes that divided the big pasture into +two unequal parts. "He can't agitate me over anybody's +troubles but my own. Happy, I'll help Bud stretch wire this +afternoon if you'll tamp the, rest uh them posts." + +"Aw, you stick to your own job! How was it when I wanted you +to help pull the old wire off that hill fence and git it +ready to string down here? You wasn't crazy about workin' +with bob wire then, I noticed. You said--" + +"What I said wasn't a commencement to what I'll say again," +Pink began truculently, and so the subject turned effectually +from Andy Green. + +Weary smoked meditatively while they wrangled, and when the +group broke up for the afternoon's work he went unobtrusively +in search of Andy. He was not quite easy in his mind +concerning the alleged joke. He had looked full at the +possibilities of the situation--granting Andy had told the +truth, as he sometimes did--and the possibilities had not +pleased him. He found Andy morosely replacing some broken +strands in his cinch, and he went straight at the mooted +question. + +Andy looked up from his work and scowled. "This ain't any +joke with me," he stated grimly. "It's something that's going +to put the Flying U out of business if it ain't stopped +before it gets started. I've been worrying my head of[, ever +since day before yesterday; I ain't in the humor to take +anything off those imitation joshers up there--I'll tell yuh +that much" + +"Well, but how do you figure it can be stopped?" Weary sat +soberly down on the oats box and absently watched Andy's +expert fingers while they knotted the heavy cotton cord +through the cinch-ring. "We can't stand 'em off with guns." + +Andy dropped the cinch and stood up, pushing back his hat and +then pulling it forward into place with the gesture he used +when he was very much in earnest. "No, we can't. But if the +bunch is game for it there's a way to block their play--and +the law does all our fighting for us. We don't have to yeep. +It's like this, Weary counting Chip and the Little Doctor and +the Countess there's eleven of us that can use our rights up +here on the bench. I've got it all figured out. If we can get +Irish and Jack Bates to come back and help us out, there's +thirteen of us. And we can take homesteads along the creeks +and deserts back on the bench, and--say, do you know how much +land we can corral, the bunch of us? Four thousand acres and +if we take our claims right, that's going to mean that we get +a dead immortal cinch on all the bench land that's worth +locating, around here, and we'll have the creeks, and also +we'll have the breaks corralled for our own stock. + +"I've gone over the plat--I brought a copy to show you +fellows what we can do. And by taking up our claims right, we +keep a deadline from the Bear Paws to the Flying U. Now the +Old Man owns Denson's ranch, all south uh here is fairly +safe--unless they come in between his south line and the +breaks; and there ain't room for more than two or three +claims there. Maybe we can get some of the boys to grab what +there is, and string ourselves out north uh here too. + +"That's the only way on earth we can save what little feed +there is left. This way, we get the land ourselves and hold +it, so there don't any outside stock come in on us. If +Florence Grace Hallman and her bunch lands any settlers here, +they'll be between us and Dry Lake; and they're dead welcome +to squat on them dry pinnacles--so long as we keep their +stock from crossing our claims to get into the breaks. Savvy +the burro?" + +"Yes-s--but how'd yuh KNOW they're going to do all this? +Mamma! I don't want to turn dry-farmer if I don't have to!" + +Andy's face clouded. "That's just what'll block the game, I'm +afraid. I don't want to, either. None of the boys'll want to. +It'll mean going up there and baching, six or seven months of +the year, by our high lonesomes. We'll have to fulfill the +requirements, if we start in--because them pilgrims'll be +standing around like dogs at a picnic, waiting for something +to drop so they can grab it and run. It ain't going to be any +snap. + +"And there's another thing bothers me, Weary. It's going to +be one peach of a job to make the boys believe it hard enough +to make their entries in time." Andy grinned wrily. "By +gracious, this is where I could see a gilt-edged reputation +for telling the truth!" + +"You could, all right," Weary agreed sympathetically. "It's +going to strain our swallowers to get all that down, and +that's a fact. You ought to have some proof, if you want the +boys to grab it, Andy." His face sobered. "Who is this +Florence person? If you could get some kinda proof--a letter, +say . . ." + +"Easiest thing in the world!" Andy brightened at the +suggestion. "She's stopping at the Park, in Great Falls, and +she wanted me to come up or write. Anybody going to town +right away? I'll send that foxy dame a letter that'll produce +proof enough. You've helped ma a lot, Weary." + +Weary scrutinized him sharply and puckered his lips into a +doubtful expression. "I wish I knew for a fact whether all +this is straight goods, Andy," he "said pensively. "Chances +are you're just stringing me. But if you are, old boy, I'm +going to take it outa your hide--and don't you forget that." +He grinned at his own mental predicament. "Honest, Andy, is +this some josh, or do you mean it?" + +"By gracious, I wish it was a josh! But it ain't, darn it. In +about two weeks or so you'll all see the point of this joke-- +but whether the joke's on us or on the homeseekers' Syndicate +depends on you fellows. Lord! I wish I'd never told a lie!" + +Weary sat knocking his heels rhythmically against the side of +the box while he thought the matter over from start to +hypothetical finish and back again. Meanwhile Andy Green went +on with his work and scowled over his well-earned reputation +that hampered him now just when he needed the confidence of +his fellows in order to save their beloved Flying U from slow +annihilation. Perhaps his mental suffering could not rightly +be called remorse, but a poignant regret it most certainly +was, and a sense of complete bafflement which came out in his +next sentence. + +"Even if she wrote me a letter, the boys'd call it a frame-up +just the same. They'd say I had it fixed before I left town. +Doctor Cecil's up at the Falls. They'd lay it to her." + +"I was thinking of that, myself. What's the matter with +getting Chip to go up with you? Couldn't you ring him in on +the agent somehow, so he can get the straight of it?" + +Andy stood up and looked at Weary a minute. "How'd I make +Chip believe me enough to GO?" he countered. "Darn it, +everything looked all smooth sailing till I got back here to +the ranch and the boys come at me with that same old smart- +aleck brand uh talk. I kinda forgot how I've lied to 'em and +fooled 'em right along till they duck every time I open my +face." His eyes were too full of trouble to encourage levity +in his listener. "You remember that time the boys' rode off +and left me laying out here on the prairie with my leg +broke?" he went on dismally. "I'd rather have that happen to +me a dozen times than see 'em set back and give me the laugh +now, just when--Oh, hell!" He dropped the finished cinch and +walked moodily to the door. "Weary, if them dry-farmers come +flockin' in on us while this bunch stands around callin' me a +liar, I--" He did not attempt to finish the sentence; but +Weary, staring curiously at Andy's profile, saw a quivering +of the muscles around his lips and felt a responsive thrill +of sympathy and belief that rose above his long training in +caution. + +Spite of past experience he believed, at that moment, every +word which Andy Green had uttered upon the subject of the +proposed immigration. He was about to tell Andy so, when Chip +walked unexpectedly out of Silver's stall and glanced from +Weary to Andy standing still in the doorway. Weary looked at +him enquiringly; for Chip must have heard every word they +said, and if Chip believed it-- + +"Have you got that plat with you, Andy?" Chip asked tersely +and with never a doubt in his tone. + +Andy swung toward him like a prisoner who has just heard a +jury return a verdict of not guilty to the judge. "I've got +it, yes," he answered simply, with only his voice betraying +the emotions he felt--and his eye? "Want it?" + +"I'll take a look at it, if it's handy," said Chip. + +Andy felt in his inside coat pocket, drew out a thin, folded +map of that particular part of the county with all the +government land marked upon it, and handed it to Chip without +a word. He singled out a couple of pamphlets from a bunch of +old letters such as men are in the habit of carrying upon +their persons, and gave them to Chip also. + +"That's a copy of the homestead and desert laws," he said. +"I guess you heard me telling Weary what kinda deal we're up +against, here. Better not say anything to the Old Man till +you have to; no use worrying him--he can't do nothing." It +was amazing, the change that had come over Andy's face and +manner since Chip first spoke. Now he grinned a little. + +"If you want to go in on this deal," he said quizzically, +"maybe it'll be just as well if you talk to the bunch +yourself about it, Chip. You ain't any tin, angel, but I'm +willing to admit the boys'll believe you; a whole lot quicker +than they would me." + +"Yes--and they'll probably hand me a bunch of pity for +getting stung by you," Chip retorted. "I'll take a chance, +anyway--but the Lord help you, Andy if you can't produce +proof when the time comes." + + +CHAPTER 5. THE HAPPY FAMILY TURN NESTERS + +Say, Andy, where's them dry-farmers?" Big Medicine inquired +at the top of his voice when the Happy Family had reached the +biscuit-and-syrup stage of supper that evening. + +"Oh, they're trying to make up their minds whether to bring +the old fannin'-mill along or sell it and buy new when they +get here," Andy informed him imperturbably. "The women-folks +are busy going through their rag bags, cutting the buttons +off all the pants that ain't worth patching no more, and +getting father's socks all darned up." + +The Happy Family snickered appreciatively; this was more like +the Andy Green with whom they were accustomed to deal. + +"What's daughter doin', about now?" asked Cal Emmett, fixing +his round, baby-blue stare upon Andy. + +"Daughter? Why, daughter's leaning over the gate telling him +she wouldn't never LOOK at one of them wild cowboys--the +idea! She's heard all about 'em, and they're too rough and +rude for HER. And she's promising to write every day, and +giving him a lock of hair to keep in the back of his dollar +watch. Pass the cane Juice, somebody." + +"Yeah--all right for daughter. If she's a good looker we'll +see if she don't change her verdict about cowboys." + +"Who will? You don't call yourself one, do yuh?" Pink flung +at him quickly. + +"Well, that depends; I know I ain't any LADY broncho--hey, +cut it out!" This last because of half a biscuit aimed +accurately at the middle of his face. If you want to know +why, search out the history of a certain War Bonnet Roundup, +wherein Pink rashly impersonated a lady broncho-fighter. + +"Wher'e they going to live when they git here?" asked Happy +Jack, reverting to the subject of dry farmers. + +"Close enough so you can holler from here to their back door, +my boy--if they have their say about it," Andy assured him +cheerfully. Andy felt that he could afford to be facetious +now that he had Chip and Weary on his side. + +"Aw, gwan! I betche there ain't a word of truth in all that +scarey talk," Happy Jack fleered heavily. + +"Name your bet. I'll take it." Andy filled his mouth with hot +biscuit and stirred up the sugar in his coffee like a man who +is occupied chiefly with the joys of the table. + +"Aw, you ain't going to git me that way agin," Happy Jack +declared. "They's some ketch to it." + +"There sure is, Happy. The biggest ketch you ever seen in +your life. It's ketch the Flying U outfit and squeeze the +life out of it; that's the ketch." Andy's tone had in it no +banter, but considerable earnestness. For, though Chip would +no doubt convince the boys that the danger was very real, +there was a small matter of personal pride to urge Andy into +trying to convince, them himself, without aid from Chip or +any one else. + +"Well, by golly, I'd like to see anybody try that there +scheme," blurted Slim. "That's all--I'd just like to see 'em +TRY it once!" + +"Oh, you'll see it, all right--and you won't have to wait +long, either. Just set around on your haunches a couple of +weeks or so. That's all you'll have to do, Slim; you'll see +it tried, fast enough." + +Pink eyed him with a wide, purple glance. "You'd like to make +us fall for that, wouldn't you?" he challenged warily. + +Andy gave him a level look. "No, I wouldn't. I'd like to put +one over on you smart gazabos that think you know it all; but +I don't want to bad enough to see the Flying U go outa +business just so I could holler didn't-I-tell-you. There's a +limit to what I'll pay for a, josh." + +"Well," put in the Native Son with his easy drawl, "I'm +coming to the centre with my ante, just for the sake of +seeing the cards turned. Deal 'em out, amigo; state your case +once more, so we can take a good, square look at these dry- +farmers." + +"Yeah--go ahead and tell us what's bustin' the buttons off +your vest," Cal Emmett invited. + +"What's the use?" Andy argued. "You'd all just raise up on +your hind legs and holler your heads off. You wouldn't DO +anything about it--not if you knew it was the truth!" This, +of course, was pure guile upon his part. + +"Oh, wouldn't we? I guess, by golly, we'd do as much for the +outfit as what you would--and a hull lot more if it come to a +show-down." Slim swallowed the bait. + +"Maybe you would, if you could take it out in talking," +snorted Andy. "My chips are in. I've got three-hundred-and- +twenty acres picked out, up here, and I'm going to file on +'em before these damned nesters get off the train. Uh course, +that won't be more'n a flea bite--but I can make it +interesting for my next door neighbors, anyway; and every +flea bite helps to keep a dog moving, yuh know." + +"I'll go along and use my rights," Weary offered suddenly and +seriously. "That'll make one section they won't get, anyway." + +Pink gave him a startled look across the table. "You ain't +going to grab it, are yuh?" he demanded disappointedly. + +"I sure am--if it's three-hundred-and-twenty acres of land +you mean. If I don't, somebody else will." He sighed +humorously. "Next summer you'll see me hoeing spuds, most +likely--if the law says I GOT to." + +"Haw-haw-haw-w!" laughed Big Medicine suddenly. "It'd sure be +worth the price, jest to ride up and watch you two marks down +on all fours weedin' onions." He laughed again with his big, +bull-like bellow. + +"We don't have to do anything like that if we don't want to," +put in Andy Green calmly. "I've been reading up on the law. +There's one little joker in it I've got by heart. It says +that homestead land can be used for grazing purposes if it's +more valuable for pasture than for crops, and that actual +grazing will be accepted instead of cultivation--if it is +grazing land. So--" + +"I betche you can't prove that," Happy lack interrupted him. +"I never heard of that before--" + +"The world's plumb full of things you never heard of, Happy," +Andy told him witheringly. "I gave Chip my copy of the +homestead laws, and a plat of the land up here; soon as he +hands 'em back I can show you in cold print where it says +that very identical thing. + +"That's what makes it look good to me, just on general +principles," he went on, his honest, gray eyes taking in the +circle of attentive faces. "If the bunch of us could pool our +interests and use what rights we got, we can corral about +four thousand acres--and we can head off outsiders from +grazing in the Badlands, if we take our land right. We've +been overlooking a bet, and don't you forget it. We've been +fooling around, just putting in our time and drawing wages, +when we could be owning our own grazing land by now and +shipping our own cattle, if we had enough sense to last us +overnight. + +"A-course, I ain't crazy about turning nester, myself--but +we've let things slide till we've got to come through or get +outa the game. It's a fact, boys, about them dry-farmers +coming in on us. That Minneapolis bunch that the blonde lady +works for is sending out a colony of farmers to take up this +land between here and the Bear Paws. The lady tipped her +hand, not knowing where I ranged and thinking I wouldn't be +interested in anything but her. She's a real nice lady, too, +and goodlooking--but a grafter to her last eye winker. And +she hit too close home to suit me, when she named the place +where they're going to dump their colony." + +"Where does the graft come in?" inquired Pink cautiously. +"The farmers get the land, don't they?" + +"Sure, they get the land. And they pungle up a good-sized fee +to Florence Grace Hallman and her outfit, for locating 'em. +Also there's side money in it, near as I can find out. They +skin the farmers somehow on the fare out here. That's their +business, according to the lady. They prowl around through +the government plats till they spot a few thousand acres of +land in a chunk; they take a look at it, maybe, and then they +boom it like hell, and get them eastern marks hooked--them +with money, the lady said. Then they ship a bunch out here, +locate 'em on the land and leave it up to THEM, whether they +scratch a living or not. She said they urge the rubes to +bring all the stock they can, because there's plenty of range +left. She says they play that up big. You can see for +yourself how that'll work out, around here!" + +Pink eyed him attentively, and suddenly his dimples stood +deep. "All right, I'm It," he surrendered. + +"It'd be a sin not to fall for a yarn like that, Andy. I +expect you made it all up outa your own head, but that's all +right. It's a pleasure to be fooled by a genius like you. +I'll go raising turnips and cabbages myself." + +By golly, you couldn't raise nothing but hell up on that dry +bench," Slim observed ponderously. "There ain't any water. +What's the use uh talking foolish?" + +"They're going to tackle it, just the same," Andy pointed out +patiently. + +"Well, by golly, if you ain't just lyin' to hear yourself, +that there graftin' bunch had oughta be strung up!" + +"Sure, they had. Nobody's going to argue about that. But +seeing we can't do that, the next best thing is to beat them +to it. If they came out here with their herd of pilgrims and +found the land all took up--" Andy smiled hypnotically upon +the goggling group. + +"Haw-haw-haw-w!" bawled Big Medicine. "It'd be wuth it, by +cripes!" + +"Yeah--it would, all right. If that talk Andy's been giving +us is straight, about grazing the land instead uh working +it--" + +"You can mighty quick find out," Andy retorted. "Go up and +ask Chip for them land laws, and that plat. And ask him what +he thinks about the deal. You don't have to take my word for +it." Andy grinned virtuously and pushed back his chair. From +their faces, and the remarks they had made, he felt very +confident of the ultimate decision. "What about you, Patsy?" +he asked suddenly, turning to the bulky, bald German cook who +was thumping bread dough in a far corner. "You got any +homestead or desert rights you ain't used?" + +"Py cosh, I got all der rights dere iss," Patsy returned +querulously. "I got more rights as you shmartys. I got +soldier's rights mit fightin'. Und py cosh, I use him too if +dem fellers coom by us mit der dry farms alreatty!" + +"Well, you son-of-a-gun!" Andy smote him elatedly upon a fat +shoulder. "What do you know about old Patsy for a dead game +sport? By gracious, that makes another three hundred and +twenty to the good. Gee, it's lucky this bunch has gone along +turning up their noses at nesters and thinkin' they couldn't +be real punchers and hold down claims too. If any of us had +had sense enough to grab a piece of land and settle down to +raise families, we'd be right up against it now. We'd have to +set back and watch a bunch of down-east rubes light down on +us like flies on spilt molasses, and we couldn't do a thing." + +"As it is, we'll all turn nesters for the good of the cause!" +finished Pink somewhat cynically, getting up and following +Cal and Slim to the door. + +"Aw, I betche they's some ketch to it!" gloomed Happy Jack. +"I betche Andy jest wants to see us takin' up claims on that +dry bench, and then set back and laugh at us fer bitin' on +his josh." + +"Well, you'll have the claims, won't you. And if you hang +onto them there'll be money in the deal some day. Why, darn +your bomb-proof skull, can't you get it into your system that +all this country's bound to settle up?" Andy's eyes snapped +angrily. "Can't you see the difference between us owning the +land between here and the mountains, and a bunch of outsiders +that'll cut it all up into little fields and try to farm it. +If you can't see that, you better go hack a hole in your head +with an axe, so an idea can squeeze in now and then when you +ain't looking!" + +"Well, I betche there ain't no colony comin' to settle that +there bench," Happy Jack persisted stubbornly. + +"Yes there is, by cripes!" trumpeted Big Medicine behind him. +"Yes there is! And that there colony is goin' to be us, and +don't you forget it. It's time I was doin' somethin' fer that +there boy uh mine, by cripes! And soon as we git that fence +strung I'm goin' to hit the trail fer the nearest land +office. Honest to grandma, if Andy's lyin' it's goin' to be +the prof't'blest lie HE ever told, er anybody else. I don't +care a cuss about whether them dry-farmers is fixin' to light +here or not. That there land-pool looks good to ME, and I'm +comin' in on it with all four feet!" + +Big Medicine was nothing less than a human land slide when +once he threw himself into anything, be it a fight or a +frolic. Now ho blocked the way to the door with his broad +shoulders and his big bellow and his enthusiasm, and his +pale, frog-like eyes fixed their protruding stare accusingly +upon the reluctant ones. + +"Cal, you git up there and git that plat and bring it here," +he ordered. "And fer criminy sakes git that table cleared +off, Patsy, so's't we kin have a place to lay it! What's +eatin' on you fellers, standin' around like girls to a party, +waitin' fer somebody to come up and ast you to dance! Ain't +you got head enough to see what a cinch we got, if we only +got sense enough to play it! Honest to grandma you make me +sick to look at yuh! Down in Conconino County the boys +wouldn't stand back and wait to be purty-pleased into a thing +like this. You're so scared Andy's got a josh covered up +somewheres, you wouldn't take a drink uh whisky if he ast yuh +up to the bar! You'd pass up a Chris'mas turkey, by cripes, +if yuh seen Andy washin' his face and lookin' hungry! +You'd--" + +What further reproach he would have heaped upon them was +interrupted by Chip, who opened the door just then and bumped +Big Medicine in the back. In his hand Chip carried the land +plat and the pamphlets, and in his keen, brown eyes he +carried the light of battle for his outfit. The eyes of Andy +Green sent bright glances from him to Big Medicine, and on to +the others. He was too wise then to twit those others with +their unbelief. His wisdom went farther than that; for he +remained very much in the background of the conversation and +contented himself with answering, briefly and truthfully, the +questions they put to him about Florence Grace Hallman and +the things she had so foolishly divulged concerning her +plans. + +Chip spread the plat upon an end of the table hastily and +effectually cleared by a sweep of Big Medicine's arm, and the +Happy Family crowded close to stare down at the checker-board +picture of their own familiar bench land. They did not doubt, +now--nor did they Hang back reluctantly. Instead they +followed eagerly the trail Chip's cigarette-yellowed finger +took across the map, and they listened intently to what he +said about that trail. + +The clause about grazing the land, he said, simplified +matters a whole lot. It was a cinch you couldn't turn loose +and dry-farm that land and have even a fair chance of reaping +a harvest. But as grazing land they could hold all the land +along One Man Creek--and that was a lot. And the land lying +back of that, and higher up toward the foothills, they could +take as desert. And he maintained that Andy had been right in +his judgment: If they all went into it and pulled together +they could stretch a line of claims that would protect the +Badland grazing effectually. + +"I wouldn't ask you fellows to go into this," said Chip, +straightening from his stooping over the map and looking from +one sober face to another, "just to help the outfit. But +it'll be a good thing for you boys. It'll give you a +foothold--something better than wages, if you stay with your +claims and prove up. Of course, I can't say anything about us +buying out your claims--that's fraud, according to Hoyle; but +you ain't simple-minded--you know your land won't be begging +for a buyer, in case you should ever want to sell. + +"There's another thing. This will not only head off the dry- +farmers from overstocking what little range is left--it'll +make a dead-line for sheep, too. We've been letting 'em graze +back and forth on the bench back here beyond our leased land, +and not saying much, so long as they didn't crowd up too +close, and kept going. With all our claims under fence, do +you realize what that'll mean for the grass?" + +"Josephine! There's feed for considerable stock, right over +there on our claims, to say nothing of what we'll cover," +exclaimed Pink. + +"I'd tell a man! And if we get water on the desert claims--" +Chip grinned down at him. "See what we've been passing up, +all this time. We've had some of it leased, of course--but +that can't be done again. There's been some wire-pulling, and +because we ain't politicians we got turned down when the Old +Man wanted to renew the lease. I can see now why it was, +maybe. This dry-farm business had something to do with it, if +you ask me." + +"Gee whiz! And here we've been calling Andy a liar," sighed +Cal Emmett. + +"Aw, jest because he happened to tell the truth once, don't +cut no ice," Happy Jack maintained with sufficient ambiguity +to avert the natural consequences. + +"Of course, it won't be any gold-mine," Chip added +dispassionately. "But it's worth picking up, all right; and +if it'll keep out a bunch of tight-fisted settlers that don't +give a darn for anything but what's inside their own fence, +that's worth a lot, too." + +"Say, my dad's a farmer," Pink declared defiantly in his soft +treble." And while I think of it, them eastern farmers ain't +so worse--not the brand I've seen, anyway. They're narrow, +maybe--but they're human. Damn it, you fellows have got to +quit talking about 'em as if they were blackleg stock or +grasshoppers or something." + +"We ain't saying nothing aginst farmers AS farmers, Little +One" Big Medicine explained forebearingly. "As men, and as +women, and as kids, they're mighty nice folks. My folks have +got an eighty-acre farm in Wisconsin," he confessed +unexpectedly, "and I think a pile of 'em. But if they was to +come out here, trying to horn in on our range, I'd lead 'em +gently to the railroad, by cripes, and tell 'em goodbye +so's't they'd know I meant it! Can't yuh see the difference?" +he bawled, goggling at Pink with misleading savageness in his +ugly face. + +"Oh, I see," Pink admitted mildly. "I only just wanted to +remind you fellows that I don't mean anything personal and I +don't want you to. Say, what about One Man Coulee?" he asked +suddenly. "That's marked vacant on the map. I always +thought--" + +"Sure, you did!" Chip grinned at him wisely, "because we used +it for a line camp, you thought we owned a deed to it. Well, +we don't. We had that land leased, is all." + +"Say, by golly, I'll file on that, then," Slim declared +selfishly. For One Man coulee, although a place of gruesome +history, was also desirable for one or two reasons. There was +wood, for instance, and water, and a cabin that was +habitable. There was also a fence on the place, a corral and +a small stable. "If Happy's ghost don't git to playin' music +too much," he added with his heavy-handed wit. + +"No, sir! You ain't going to have One Man coulee unless Andy, +here, says he don't want it!" shouted Big Medicine. "I leave +it to Chip if Andy hadn't oughta have first pick. He's the +feller that's put us onto this, by cripes, and he's the +feller that's going to pick his claim first." + +Chip did not need to sanction that assertion. The whole Happy +Family agreed unanimously that it should be so, except Slim, +who yielded a bit unwillingly. + +Till midnight and after, they bent heads over the plat and +made plans for the future and took no thought whatever of the +difficulties that might lie before them. For the coming +colony they had no pity, and for the balked schemes of the +Homeseekers' Syndicate no compunctions whatever. + +So Andy Green, having seen his stratagem well on the way to +success, and feeling once more the well-earned confidence of +his fellows, slept soundly that night in his own bed, +serenely sure of the future. + + +CHAPTER 6. THE FIRST BLOW IN THE FIGHT + +Letters went speeding to Irish and Jack Bates, absent members +of the Happy Family of the Flying U; letters that explained +the situation with profane completeness, set forth briefly +the plan of the proposed pool, and which importuned them to +come home or make haste to the nearest land-office and file +upon certain quarter-sections therein minutely described. +Those men who would be easiest believed wrote and signed the +letters, and certain others added characteristic postscripts +best calculated to bring results. + +After that, the Happy Family debated upon the boldness of +going in a body to Great Falls to file upon their claims, or +the caution of proceeding instead to Glasgow where the next +nearest land-office might be found. Slim and Happy Jack +favored caution and Glasgow. The others sneered at their +timidity, as they were wont to do. + +"Yuh think Florence Grace Hallman is going to stand guard +with a six-gun?" Andy challenged at last." She's tied up +till her colony gets there. She can't file on all that land +herself, can she?" He smiled reminiscently. "The lady asked +me to come up to the Falls and see her," he said softly. "I'm +going. The rest of you can take the same train, I reckon--she +won't stop you from it, and I won't. And who's to stop you +from filing? The land's there, open for settlement. At least +it was open, day before yesterday. + +"Well, by golly, the sooner we go the better," Slim declared +fussily. "That fencin' kin wait. We gotta go and git back +before Chip wants to start out the wagons, too." + +"Listen here, hombres," called the Native Son from the +window, where he had been studying the well-thumbed pamphlet +containing the homestead law. "If we want to play dead safe +on this, we all better quit the outfit before we go. Call for +our time. I don't like the way some of this stuff reads." + +"I don't like the way none of it reads," grumbled Happy Jack. +"I betche we can't make it go; they's some ketch to it. We'll +never git a patent. I'll betche anything yuh like." + +"Well, pull out of the game, then!" snapped Andy Green, whose +nerves were beginning to feel the strain put upon them. + +"I ain't in it yet," said Happy Jack sourly, and banged the +door shut upon his departure. + +Andy scowled and returned to studying the map. Finally he +reached for his hat and gloves in the manner of one who has +definitely made up his mind to some thing. + +"Well, the rest of you can do as you darned please," he +delivered his ultimatum from the doorway. "I'm going to catch +up my horse, draw a month's wages and hit the trail. I can +catch the evening train to the Falls, easy, and be ready to +file on my chunk first thing in the morning." + +"Ain't in any rush, are yuh?" Pink inquired facetiously. "If +I had my dinner settled and this cigarette smoked, I might go +along--provided you don't take the trail with yuh." + +"Hold on, boys, and listen to this," the Native Son called +out imperatively. "I think we better get a move on, too; but +we want to get a fair running start, and not fall over this +hump. Listen here! We've got to swear that it is not for the +benefit of any other person, persons or corporation, and so +on; and farther along it says we must not act in collusion +with any person, persons or corporation, to give them the +benefit of the land. There's more of the same kind, too, but +you see--" + +"Well, who's acting in collusion? What's collusion mean +anyhow?" Slim demanded aggressively. + +"It means what we're aiming to do--if anybody could prove it +on us," explained the Native Son. "My oldest brother's a +lawyer, and I caught some of it from him. And my expert, +legal advice is this: to get into a row with the Old Man, +maybe--anyway, quit him cold, so we get our time. We must let +that fact percolate the alleged brains of Dry Lake and +vicinity--and if we give any reason for taking claims right +under the nose of the Flying U, why, we're doing it to spite +the Old Man. Sabe? Otherwise we're going to have trouble-- +unless that colony scheme is just a pipe dream of Andy's." + +The Happy Family had learned to respect the opinions of the +Native Son, whose mixture of Irish blood with good Castilian +may have had something to do with his astuteness. Once, as +you may have heard, the Native Son even scored in a battle of +wits with Andy Green, and scored heavily. And he had helped +Andy pull the Flying U out of an extremely ticklish +situation, by his keen wit saving the outfit much trouble and +money. Wherefore they heeded now his warning to the extent of +unsmilingly discussing the obstacle he had pointed out to +them. One after another they read the paragraph which they +had before passed over too hastily, and sensed the +possibilities of its construction. Afterward they went into +serious consultation as to ways and means, calling Happy Jack +back so that he might understand thoroughly what must be +done. For the Happy Family was nothing if not thorough, and +their partisanship that had been growing insensibly stronger +through the years was roused as it had not been since Dunk +Whittaker drove sheep in upon the Flying U. + +The Old Man, having eaten a slice of roast pork the size of +his two hands, in defiance of his sister's professional +prohibition of the indulgence, was sitting on the sunny side +of the porch trying to ignore the first uneasy symptoms of +indigestion. The Little Doctor had taken his pipe away from +him that morning, and had badgered him into taking a certain +decoction whose taste lingered bitterly. The paper he was +reading was four days old and he disagreed with its political +policy, and there was no telling when anyone would have time +to go in after the mail and his favorite paper. Ranch work +was growing heavier each year in proportion to the lightening +of range work. He was going to sow another twenty acres of +alfalfa, and to do that he must cut down the size of his +pasture--something that always went against the grain. He had +not been able to renew his lease of government land,--which +also went against the grain. And the Kid, like the last +affliction which the Lord sent unto Job--I've forgotten +whether that was boils or the butchery of his offspring--came +loping down the length of the porch and kicked the Old Man's +bunion with a stubby boot-toe. + +Thus was born the psychological moment when the treachery of +the Happy Family would cut deepest. + +They came, bunched and talking low-voiced together with +hatbrims hiding shamed eyes, a type-true group of workers +bearing a grievance. Not a man was absent--the Happy Family +saw to that! Even Patsy, big and sloppy and bearing with him +stale kitchen odors, limped stolidly in the rear beside Slim, +who looked guilty as though he had been strangling somebody's +favorite cat. + +The Old Man, bent head-foremost over his growing paunch that +he might caress his outraged bunion, glared at them with +belligerent curiosity from under his graying eyebrows. The +group came on and stopped short at the steps--and I don't +suppose the Happy Family will ever look such sneaks again +whatever crime they may commit. The Old Man straightened with +a grunt of pain because of his lame back, and waited. Which +made it all the harder for the Happy Family, especially for +Andy Green who had been chosen spokesman--for his sins +perhaps. + +"We'd like our time," blurted Andy after an unpleasant +silence, and fixed his eyes frigidly upon the lowest rung of +the Old Man's chair. + +"Oh, you would, hunh? The whole bunch of yuh?" The Old Man +eyed them incredulously. + +"Yes, the whole bunch of us. We're going to quit." + +The Old Man's jaw dropped a little, but his eyes didn't waver +from their Hangdog faces. "Well, I never coaxed a man to stay +yet," he stated grimly, "and I'm gittin' too old in the +business to start coaxin' now. Dell!" He turned stiffly in +his chair so that he faced the open door. "Bring me my time +and check books outa the desk!" + +A gray hardness came slowly to the Old Man's face while he +waited, his seamed hands gripping the padded arms of his +chair. A tightness pulled at his lips behind the grizzled +whiskers. It never occurred to him now that the Happy Family +might be perpetrating one of their jokes. He had looked at +their faces, you see. They meant to quit him--quit him cold +just as spring work was beginning. They were ashamed of +themselves, of course; they had a right to be ashamed, he +thought bitterly. It hurt--hurt so that he would have died +before he would ask for excuse, reason, grievance, +explanation--for whatever motive impelled them. So he waited, +and he gripped the arms of his chair, and he clamped his +mouth shut and did not speak a word. + +The Happy Family had expected him to swear at them stormily; +to accuse them of vile things; to call them such names as his +memory could seize upon or his ingenuity invent. They had +been careful to prepare a list of plausible reasons for +leaving then. They had first invented a gold rumor that they +hoped would sound convincing, but Andy had insisted upon +telling him straightforwardly that they did not favor fence- +building and ditch-digging and such back-breaking toil; that +they were range men and they demanded range work or none; +that if they must dig ditches and build fences and perform +like menial tasks, they preferred doing it for themselves. +"That," said Andy, "makes us out such dirty, low-down sons- +of-guns we'd have to climb a tree to look a snake in the eye, +but it's got the grain of truth that'll make it go down. We +DON'T love this farming graft, and the Old Man knows it. He's +heard us kicking often enough. That's where it'll git him. +He'll believe this last stretch of fence is what made us +throw him down, and he'll be so mad he'll cuss us out till +the neighbors'll think the smoke's a prairie fire. We'll get +our time, all right' and the things he'll say will likely +make us so hot we can all talk convincing when we hit town. +Keep a stiff upper lip, boys. We got to do it, and he'll make +us mad, so it won't be as hard as you imagine." + +The theory was good, and revealed a knowledge of human nature +that made one cease to wonder why Andy was a prince of +convincing liars. The theory was good--nothing in the world +was the matter with it, except that in this particular +instance it did not work. The Old Man did not ask for their +reasons, excuses or explanations. Neither did he say anything +or do anything to make them mad. He just sat there, with his +face gray and hard, and said nothing at all. + +The Little Doctor appeared with the required books and a +fountain pen; saw the Happy Family standing there like +condemned men at the steps; saw the Old Man's face, and +trembled wide-eyed upon the verge of speech. Then she decided +that this was no time for questioning and hurried, still wide +of eye, away from sight of them. The Happy Family did not +look at one another--they looked chiefly at the wall of the +house. + +The Old Man reckoned the wages due each one, and wrote a +check for the exact amount. And he spoke no word that did not +intimately concern the matter in hand. He still had that +gray, hard look in his face that froze whatever explanation +they would otherwise have volunteered. And when he handed the +last man--who was Patsy--his check, he got up stiffly and +turned his back on them, and went inside and closed the door +while yet they lingered, waiting to explain. + +At the bunk-house, whence they walked silently, Slim turned +suddenly upon their leader. His red face had gone a sallow +white, and the whites of his eyes were veined with red. + +"If that there land business falls down anywhere because you +lied to us, Andy Green' I'll kill you fer this" he stated +flatly. + +"If it Does, Slim, I'll stand and let yuh shoot me as full of +lead as you like," Andy promised, in much the same tone. Then +he strove to shake off the spell of the Old Man's stricken +silence. "Buck up, boys. He'll thank us for what we aim to +do--when he knows all about it." + +"Well, it seems to me," sighed Weary lugubriously, "we mighta +managed it without hitting the Old Man a wallop in the back, +like that." + +"How'n hell did I know he'd take it the way he did?" Andy +questioned sharply, and began throwing his personal +belongings into his "war-bag" as if he had a grudge against +his own clothes. + +"Aw, looks to me like he was glad to git shet of us!" +grumbled Happy Jack. "I betche he's more tickled than sorry, +right now." + +It was an exceedingly unhappy Family that rode up the Hog's +Back upon their private mounts, and away from the Flying U; +in spite of Chip's assurance that he would tell the Old Man +all about it as soon as he could, it was an ill-humored +Family that rode into Dry Lake and cashed their several +checks at the desk of the General store which also did an +informal banking business, and afterwards took the train for +Great Falls. + +The news spread through the town that old J. G. Whitmore had +fired the Happy Family in a bunch for some unforgivable crime +against the peace and dignity of the outfit, and that the +boys were hatching up some scheme to get even. From the +gossip that was rolled relishfully upon the tongues of the +Dry Lake scandal lovers, the Happy Family must have been more +than sufficiently convincing. + + +CHAPTER 7. THE COMING OF THE COLONY + +If you would see northern Montana at its most beautiful best, +you should see it in mid-May when the ground-swallows are +nesting and the meadow larks are puffing their throats and +singing of their sweet ecstasy with life; when curlews go +sailing low over the green, grassy billows, peering and +perking with long bills thrust rapier-wise through the sunny +stillness, and calling shrilly, "Cor-r-ECK, cor-r-eck!"-- +which, I take it, is simply their opinion of world and +weather given tersely in plain English. You should see the +high prairies then, when all the world is a-shimmer with +green velvet brocaded brightly in blue and pink and yellow +flower-patterns; when the heat waves go quivering up to meet +the sun, so that the far horizons wave like painted drop- +scenes stirred by a breeze; when a hypnotic spell of peace +and bright promises is woven over the rangeland--you should +see it then, if you would love it with a sweet unreason that +will last you through all the years to come. + +The homeseekers' Syndicate, as represented by Florence Grace +Hallman--she of the wheat-yellow hair and the tempting red +lips and the narrow, calculating eyes and stubborn chin--did +well to wait for the spell of the prairies when the wind +flowers and the lupines blue the hillsides and the new grass +paints green the hollows. + +There is in us all a deep-rooted instinct to create, and +never is that instinct so nearly dominant as in the spring +when the grass and the flowers and the little, new leaves and +the birds all sing the song of Creation together. Then is +when case-hardened city dwellers study the bright array of +seed-packets in the stores, and meditate rashly upon the +possibilities of back-yard gardening. Then is when the +seasoned country-dwellers walk over their farms in the sunset +and plan largely for harvest time. Then is when the salaried- +folk read avidly the real-estate advertisements, and pore +optimistically over folders and dream of chicken ranches and +fruit ranches and the like. Surely, then, the homeseekers' +Syndicate planned well the date of their excursion into the +land of large promise (and problematical fulfillment) which +lay east of Dry Lake. + +Rumors of the excursion seeped through the channels of gossip +and set the town talking and chuckling and speculating--after +the manner of very small towns. + +Rumors grew to definite though erroneous statements of what +was to take place. Definite statements became certified facts +that bore fruit in detailed arrangements. + +Came Florence Grace Hallman smilingly from Great Falls, to +canvass the town for "accommodations." Florence Grace Hallman +was a capable woman and a persuasive one, though perhaps a +shade too much inclined to take certain things for granted-- +such as Andy's anchored interest in her and her project, and +the probability of the tract remaining just as it had been +when last she went carefully over the plat in the land +office. Florence Grace Hallman had been busy arranging the +details of the coming of the colony, and she had neglected to +visit the land office lately. Since she cannily represented +the excursion as being merely a sight-seeing trip--or some +such innocuous project--she failed also to receive any +inkling of recent settlements. + +On a certain sunny morning in mid-May, the Happy Family stood +upon the depot platform and waited for the westbound +passenger, that had attached to it the special car of the +homeseekers' Syndicate. The Happy Family had been very busy +during the past three weeks. They had taken all the land they +could, and had sighed because they could still look from +their claims upon pinnacles as yet unclaimed save by the +government. They had done well. From the south line of +Meeker's land in the very foothills of the Bear Paws, to the +north line of the Flying U, the chain of newly-filed claims +remained unbroken. It had taken some careful work upon the +part of the Happy Family to do this and still choose land not +absolutely worthless except from a scenic viewpoint. But they +had managed it, with some bickering and a good deal of +maneuvering. Also they had hauled loads of lumber from Dry +Lake, wherewith to build their monotonously modest ten-by- +twelve shacks with one door and one window apiece and a round +hole in the roof big enough for a length of stove-pipe to +thrust itself aggressively into the open and say by its smoke +signal whether the owner was at home. And now, having heard +of the mysterious excursion due that day, they had come to +see just what would take place. + +"She's fifteen minutes late," the agent volunteered, +thrusting his head through the open window. "Looking for +friends, boys?" + +"Andy is," Pink informed him cheerfully. "The rest of us are +just hanging around through sympathy. It's his girl coming." + +"Well, I guess he thinks he needs a housekeeper now," the +agent grinned. "Why don't you fellows get busy now and rustle +some cooks?" + +"Girls don't like to cook over a camp-fire," Cal Emmett told +him soberly. "We kinda thought we ought to build our shacks +first." + +"You can pick you out some when the train gets in," said the +agent, accepting a match from Weary. "There's a carload of--" +He pulled in his head hurriedly and laid supple fingers on +the telegraph key to answer a call, and the Happy Family +moved down to the other end of the platform where there was +more shade. + +The agent presently appeared pushing the truck of outgoing +express, a cheap trunk and a basket "telescope" belonging to +one of the hotel girls--who had quit her job and was sitting +now inside waiting for the train and seeing what she could of +the Flying U boys through the window--and the mail sack. He +placed the truck where the baggage car would come to a halt, +stood for a minute looking down the track where a smudge of +smoke might at any moment be expected to show itself over the +low ridge of a hill, glanced at the lazy group in the patch +of shade and went back into the office. + +"There's her smoke," Cal Emmett announced in the midst of an +apathetic silence. + +Weary looked up from whittling a notch in the end of a +platform plank and closed his jack-knife languidly. + +Andy pushed his hat backward and then tilted it forward over +one eyebrow and threw away his cigarette. + +"Wonder if Florence Grace will be riding point on the bunch?" +he speculated aloud. "If she is, I'm liable to have my hands +full. Florence Grace will sure be sore when she finds out how +I got into the game." + +"Aw, I betche there ain't no such a person," said Happy Jack, +doubter to the last. + +"I wish there wasn't," sighed Andy. "Florence Grace is kinda +getting on my nerves. If I done what I feel like doing, I'd +crawl under the platform and size up the layout through a +crack. Honest to gracious, Boys, I hate to meet that lady." + +They grinned at him heartlessly and stared at the black +smudge that was rolling toward them. "She's sure hittin' her +up," Pink vouchsafed with a certain tenseness of tone. That +train was not as ordinary trains; dimly they felt that it was +relentlessly bringing them trouble, perhaps; certainly a +problem--unless the homeseekers hovered only so long as it +took them to see that wisdom lay in looking elsewhere for a +home. Still-- + +"If this was August instead of May, I wouldn't worry none +about them pilgrims staying long," Jack Bates voiced the +thought that was uppermost in their minds. + +"There comes two livery rigs to haul 'em to the hotel," Pink +pointed out as he glanced toward town. And there's another +one. Johnny told me every room they've got is spoke for, and +two in every bed." + +"That wouldn't take no crowd," Happy Jack grumbled, +remembering the limitations of Dry Lake's hotel. "Here come +Chip and the missus. Wonder what they want?" + +The Little Doctor left Chip to get their tickets and walked +quickly toward them. + +"Hello, boys! Waiting for someone, or just going somewhere?" + +"Waiting. Same to you, Mrs. Chip," Weary replied. + +"To me? Well, we're going up to make our filings. Claude +won't take a homestead, because we'll have to stay on at the +Flying U, of course, and we couldn't hold one. But we'll both +file desert claims. J. G. hasn't been a bit well, and I +didn't dare leave him before--and of course Claude wouldn't +go till I did. That the passenger coming, or a freight?" + +"It's the train--with the dry-farmers," Andy informed her +with a glance at the nearing smoke-smudge. + +"Is it? We aren't any too soon then, are we? I left Son at +home--and he threatened to run away and live with you boys. I +almost wish I'd brought him along. He's been perfectly awful. +So have the men Claude hired to take your places, if you want +to know, boys. I believe that is what made J. G. sick--having +those strange men on the place. He's been like a bear." + +"Didn't Chip tell him--" + +"He did, yes. He told him right away, that evening. But-- +J. G. has such stubborn ideas. We couldn't make him believe +that anyone would be crazy enough to take up that land and +try to make a living farming it. He--" She looked sidewise at +Andy and pursed her lips to Keep from smiling. + +"He thinks I lied about it, I suppose," said that young man +shrewdly. + +"That's what he says. He pretends that you boys meant to +quit, and just thought that up for an excuse. He'll be all +right--you mustn't pay any attention--" + +"Here she comes!" + +A black nose thrust through a Deep cut that had a curve to +it. At their feet the rails began to hum. The Little Doctor +turned hastily to see if Chip were coming. The agent came out +with a handful of papers and stood waiting with the rest. +Stragglers moved quickly, and the discharged waitress +appeared and made eyes covertly at Pink, whom she considered +the handsomest one of the lot. + +The train slid up, slowed and stopped. Two coaches beyond the +platform a worried porter descended and placed the box-step +for landing passengers, and waited. From that particular +coach began presently to emerge a fluttering, exclaiming +stream of humanity--at first mostly feminine. They hovered +there upon the cindery path and lifted their faces to watch +for others yet to come, and the babble of their voices could +be, heard above the engine sounds. + +The Happy Family looked dumbly at one another and drew back +closer to the depot wall. + +"Aw, I knowed there was some ketch to it!" blurted Happy Jack +with dismal satisfaction. "That there ain't no colony--It's +nothin' but a bunch of schoolma'ams!" + +"That lady ridin' point is the lady herself," Andy murmured, +edging behind Weary and Pink as the flutter came closer. +"That's Florence Grace Hallman, boys." + +"Well, by golly, git out and speak your little piece, then!" +muttered Slim, and gave Andy an unexpected push that sent him +staggering out into the open just as the leaders were coming +up. + +"Why, how de do, Mr. Green!" cried the blonde leader of the +flock. "This is an unexpected pleasure, I'm sure." + +"Yes ma'am, it is," Andy assented mildly, with an eye cocked +sidewise in search of the guilty man. + +The blonde leader paused, her flock coming to a fluttering, +staring stand behind her. The nostrils of the astonished +Happy Family caught a mingled odor of travel luncheons and +perfume. + +"Well, where have you been, Mr. Green? Why didn't you come +and see me?" demanded Florence, Grace Hallman in the tone of +one who has a right to ask leading questions. Her cool, +brown, calculating eyes went appraisingly over the Happy +Family while she spoke. + +"I've been right around here, all the time," Andy gave meek +account of himself. "I've been busy." + +"Oh. Did you go over the tract, Mr. Green?" she lowered her +voice. + +"Yes-s--I went over it." + +"And what do you think of it--privately?" + +"Privately--it's pretty big." Andy sighed. The bigness of +that tract had worried the Happy Family a good deal. + +"Well, the bigger the better. You see I've got 'em started." +She flicked a glance backward at her waiting colony. "You men +are perfectly exasperating! Why didn't you tell me where you +were and what you were doing?" She looked up at him with +charming disapproval. "I feel like shaking you! I could have +made good use of you, Mr. Green." + +"I was making pretty good use of myself," Andy explained, and +wished he knew who gave him that surreptitious kick on the +ankle. Did the chump want an introduction? Well! In that +case-- + +"Miss Hallman, if you don't mind I'd like to introduce some +men I rounded up and brought here," he began before the Happy +Family could move out of the danger zone of his imagination. +"Representative citizens, you see. You can sic your bunch +onto 'em and get a lot of information. This is Mr. Weary +Davidson, Miss Hallman: He's a hayseed that lives out that +way and he talks spuds better than anything else. And here's +Slim--I don't know his right name--he raises hogs to a fare- +you-well. And this is Percy Perkins"--meaning Pink--"and +he's another successful dryfarmer. Goats is his trade. He's +got a lot of 'em. And Mr. Jack Bates, he raises peanuts--or +he's trying 'em this year--and has contracts to supply the +local market. Mr. Happy Jack is our local undertaker. He +wants to sell out if he can, because nobody ever dies in this +country and that makes business slow. He's thinking some of +starting a duck-ranch. This man--" indicating Big Medicine--" +has got the finest looking crop of volunteer wild oats in the +country. He knows all about 'em. Mr. Emmett, here, can put +you wise to cabbage-heads; that's his specialty. And Mr. +Miguel Rapponi is up here from Old Mexico looking for a +favorable location for an extensive rubber plantation. The +natural advantages here are simply great for rubber. + +"I've gone to some trouble gathering this bunch together for +you, Miss Hallman. I don't reckon you knew there was that +many dry-farmers in the country. They've all got ranches of +their own, and the prettiest folders you ever sent under a +four-cent stamp can't come up to what these men can tell you. +Your bunch won't have to listen to one man, only--here's half +a dozen ready and waiting to talk." + +Miss Hallman was impressed. A few of the closest homeseekers +she beckoned and introduced to the perspiring Happy Family-- +mostly feminine homeseekers, of whom there were a dozen or +so. The men whom the hotel had sent down with rigs waited +impatiently, and the unintroduced male colonists stared at +the low rim of Lonesome Prairie and wondered if over there +lay their future prosperity. + +When the Happy Family finally made their escape, red-faced +and muttering threats, Andy Green had disappeared, and no one +knew when he went or where. He was not in Rusty Brown's place +when the Happy Family went to that haven and washed down +their wrongs in beer. Pink made a hurried trip to the livery +stable and reported that Andy's horse was gone. + +They were wondering among themselves whether he would have +the nerve to go home and await their coming--home at this +stage of the game meaning One Man coulee, which Andy had +taken as a homestead and desert claim and where the Happy +Family camped together until such time as their claim shacks +were habitable. Some thought that he was hiding in town, and +advised a thorough search before they took to their horses. +The Native Son--he of mixed Irish and Spanish blood--told +them with languid certainty that Andy was headed straight for +the camp because he would figure that in camp was where they +would least expect to find him. + +The opinions of the Native Son were usually worth adopting. +In this case, however, it brought them into the street at the +very moment when Florence Grace Hallman and two homeseekers +had ventured from the hotel in search of them. Slim and Jack +Bates and Cal Emmett saw them in time and shied across the +street and into the new barber shop where they sat themselves +down and demanded unnecessary hair-cuts and a shampoo apiece, +and spied upon their unfortunate fellows through the window +while they waited; but the others met the women fairly since +it was too late to turn back without making themselves +ridiculous. + +"I was wondering," began Miss Hallman in her brisk, business +tone, "if some of you gentlemen could not help us out in the +matter of conveyances. I have made arrangements for most of +my guests, but we simply can't squeeze another one into the +rigs I have engaged--and I've engaged every vehicle in town +except a wheelbarrow I saw in the back yard of the hotel." + +"How many are left out?" asked Weary, since no one else +showed any symptoms of speech. + +"Oh, not many, thank goodness. Just us three here. You've met +Miss Allen, Mr. Davidson--and Miss Price. And so have you +other gentlemen, because I introduced you at the depot. I +went blandly ahead and told everybody just which rig they +were to ride in, and put three in a seat, at that, and in +counting noses I forgot to count our own--" + +"I really don't see how she managed to overlook mine," sighed +Miss Allen, laying a dainty, gloved finger upon a nose that +had the tiniest possible tilt to it. "Nobody ever overlooked +my nose before; it's almost worth walking to the tract." + +Irish, standing close beside Weary and looking enough like +him to be a twin instead of a mere cousin, smiled down at her +with traitorous admiration. Miss Allen's nose was a nice +nose, and above it twinkled a pair of warm brown eyes with +humorous little wrinkles , around them; and still above them +fluffed a kinky-curly mass of brown hair. Weary looked at her +also, but he did not smile, because she looked a little like +his own schoolma'am, Miss Ruty Satterly--and the resemblance +hurt a sore place in his heart. + +"--So if any of you gentlemen could possibly take us out to +the tract, we'd be eternally grateful, besides keeping our +independence intact with the usual payment. Could you help us +out?" + +"We all came in on horseback," Weary stated with a gentle +firmness that was intended to kill their hopes as painlessly +as possible. + +"Wouldn't there be room on behind?" asked Miss Allen with +hope still alive and flourishing. + +"Lots of room," Weary assured her. "More room than you could +possibly use." + +"But isn't there any kind of a rig that you could buy, beg, +borrow or steal?" Miss Hallman insisted. "These girls came +from Wisconsin to take up claims, and I've promised to see +that they get the best there is to be had. They are hustlers, +if I know what the word means. I have a couple of claims in +mind, that I want them to see--and that's why we three hung +back till the rest were all arranged for. I had a rig +promised that I was depending on, and at the last minute +discovered it was not to be had. Some doctor from Havre came +and got it for a trip into the hills. There's no use talking; +we just must get out to the tract as soon as the others do--a +little sooner wouldn't hurt. Couldn't you think of some way?" + +"We'll try," Irish promised rashly, his eyes tying to meet +Miss Allen's and succeeding admirably. + +"What has become of Mr. Green?" Miss Hallman demanded after +she had thanked Irish with a smile for the qualified +encouragement. + +"We don't know,," Weary answered mildly. "We were trying to +locate him ourselves." + +"Oh, were you? He seems a rather uncertain young man. I +rather counted on his assistance; he promised--" + +"Mr. Irish has thought of a rig he can use, Miss Hallman," +said the Allen girl suddenly. "He's going to drive us out +himself. Let's hurry and get ready, so we can start ahead of +the others. How many minutes will it take you, Mr. Irish, to +have that team here, for us?" + +Irish turned red. He HAD thought of a rig, and he had thought +of driving them himself, but he could not imagine how Miss +Allen could possibly; have known his thoughts. Then and there +he knew who would occupy the other half of the front seat, in +case he did really drive the team he had in mind. + +"I told you she's a hustler," laughed Miss Hallman. "She'll +be raising bigger crops than you men--give her a year to get +started. Well, girls, come on, then." + +They turned abruptly away, and Irish was left to his +accounting with the Happy Family. He had not denied the +thoughts and intentions imputed to him by the twinkling-eyed +Miss Allen. They walked on toward the livery stable--where +was manifested an unwonted activity--waiting for Irish to +clear himself; which he did not do. + +"You going to drive them women out there?" Pink demanded +after an impatient silence. + +"Why not ? Somebody'll have to." + +"What team are you going to use!" asked Jack Bates. + +"Chip's" Irish did not glance around, but kept striding down +the middle of the road with his hands stuck deep in his +pockets. + +"Don't you think you need help, amigo?" the Native Son +insinuated craftily. "You can't talk to three girls at once; +I could be hired to go along and take one off your hands. +That should help some." + +"Like hell you will!" Irish retorted with characteristic +bluntness. Then he added cautiously, "Which one?" + +"That old girl with the blue eyes should not be permitted to +annoy the driver," drawled the Native Son. "Also, Florence +Grace might want some intelligent person to talk to." + +"Well, I got my opinion of any man that'll throw in with that +bunch," Pink declared hotly. "Why don't you fellows keep your +own side the fence. What if they are women farmers? They can +do just as much harm--and a darn sight more. You make me +sick." + +"Let 'em go," Weary advised calmly. "They'll be a lot sicker +when the ladies discover what they've helped do to that +bench-land. Come on, boys--let's pull out, away from all +these lunatics. I hate to see them get stung, but I don't see +what we can do about it--only, if they come around asking me +what I think of that land, I'm going to tell 'em." + +"And then they'll ask you why you took claims up there, and +you'll tell 'em that, too--will you?" The Native Son turned +and smiled at him ironically. + +That was it. They could not tell the truth without harming +their own cause. They could not do anything except stand +aside and see the thing through to whatever end fate might +decree. They thought that Irish and the Native Son were +foolish to take Chip's team and drive those women fifteen +miles or so that they might seize upon land much better left +alone; but that was the business of Irish and the Native Son, +who did not ask for the approval of the Happy Family before +doing anything they wanted to do. + +The Happy Family saddled and rode back to the claims, gravely +discussing the potentialities of the future. Since they rode +slowly while they talked, they were presently overtaken by a +swirl of dust, behind which came the matched browns which +were the Flying U's crack driving team, bearing Irish and +Miss Allen of the twinkling eyes upon the front seat of a two +seated spring-wagon that had seen far better days than this. +Native Son helped to crowd the back seat uncomfortably, and +waved a hand with reprehensible cheerfulness as they went +rattling past. + +The Happy Family stared after them with frowning disapproval, +and Weary turned in the saddle and looked ruefully at his +fellows. + +"Things won't ever be the same around here," he predicted +soberly. "There goes the beginning of the end of the Flying +U, boys--and we ain't big enough to stop it." + + +CHAPTER 8. FLORENCE GRACE HALLMAN SPEAKS PLAINLY + +Andy Green rode thoughtfully up the trail from his cabin in +One Man coulee, his hat tilted to the south to shield his +face from the climbing sun, his eyes fixed absently upon the +yellow soil of the hillside. Andy was facing a problem that +concerned the whole Happy Family--and the Flying U as well. +He wanted Weary's opinion, and Miguel Rapponi's, and Pink's-- +when it came to that, he wanted the opinion of them all. + +Thus far the boys had been wholly occupied with getting their +shacks built and in rustling cooking outfits and getting +themselves settled upon their claims with an air of +convincing permanency. Also they had watched with keen +interest--which was something more vital than mere +curiosity--developments where the homeseekers were concerned, +and had not given very much thought to their next step, +except in a purely general way. + +They all recognized the fact that, with all these new +settlers buzzing around hunting claims where there was some +promise of making things grow, they would have to sit very +tight indeed upon their own land if they would avoid trouble +with "jumpers." Not all the homeseekers were women. There +were men, plenty of them; a few of them were wholly lacking +in experience it is true, but perhaps the more greedy for +land because of their ignorance. The old farmers had looked +askance at the high, dry prairie land, where even drinking +water must be hauled in barrels from some deep-set creek +whose shallow gurgling would probably cease altogether when +the dry season came on the heels of June. The old farmers had +asked questions that implied doubt. They had wanted to know +about sub-soil, and average rainfall, and late frosts, and +markets. The profusely illustrated folders that used blue +print for emphasis here and there, seemed no longer to +satisfy them. + +The Happy Family did not worry much about the old farmers who +knew the game, but there were town men who had come to see +the fulfillment of their dreams; who had burned their +bridges, some of them, and would suffer much before they +would turn back to face the ridicule of their friends and the +disheartening task of getting; a fresh foothold in the wage- +market. These the Happy Family knew for incipient enemies +once the struggle for existence was fairly begun. And there +were the women--daring rivals of the men in their +fight for independence--who had dreamed dreams and raised up +ideals for which they would fight tenaciously. School- +teachers who hated the routine of the schools, and who wanted +freedom; who were willing to work and wait and forego the +little, cheap luxuries which are so dear to women; who would +cheerfully endure loneliness and spoiled complexions and +roughened hands and broken nails, and see the prairie winds +and sun wipe the sheen from their hair; who would wear +coarse, heavy-soled shoes and keep all their pretty finery +packed carefully away in their trunks with dainty sachet pads +for month after month, and take all their pleasure in +dreaming of the future; these would fight also to have and to +hold--and they would fight harder than the men, more +dangerously than the men, because they would fight +differently. + +The Happy Family, then, having recognized these things and +having measured the fighting-element, knew that they were +squarely up against a slow, grim, relentless war if they +would save the Flying U. They knew that it was going to be a +pretty stiff proposition, and that they would have to obey +strictly the letter and the spirit of the land laws, or there +would be contests and quarrels and trouble without end. + +So they hammered and sawed and fitted boards and nailed on +tar-paper and swore and jangled and joshed one another and +counted nickels--where they used to disdain counting anything +but results--and badgered the life out of Patsy because he +kicked at being expected to cook for the bunch just the same +as if he were in the Flying U mess-house. Py cosh, he +wouldn't cook for the whole country just because they were +too lazy to cook for themselves, and py cosh if they wanted +him to cook for them they could pay him sixty dollars a +month, as the Old Man did. + +The Happy Family were no millionaires, and they made the fact +plain to Patsy to the full extent of their vocabularies. But +still they begged bread from him, a loaf at a time, and +couldn't see why he objected to making pie, if they furnished +the stuff. Why, for gosh sake, had they planted him in the +very middle of their string of claims, then? With a dandy +spring too, that never went dry except in the driest years, +and not more than seventy-five yards, at the outside, to +carry water. Up hill? Well, what of that? Look at Pink--had +to haul water half a mile from One Man Creek, and no trail. +Look at Weary--had to pack water twice as far as Patsy. And +hadn't they clubbed together and put up his darned shack +first thing, just so he COULD get busy and cook? What did the +old devil expect, anyway? + +Well--you see that the Happy Family had been fully occupied +in the week since the arrival of the homeseekers' excursion. +They could not be expected to give very much thought to their +next steps. But there was Andy, who had only to move into the +cabin in One Man coulee, with a spring handy, and a stable +for his horse, and a corral and everything. Andy had not been +harassed with the house-building and settling, except as he +assisted the others. As fast as the shacks were up, the Happy +Family had taken possession, so that now Andy was alone, +stuck down there in the coulee out of sight of everybody. +Pink had once named One Man coulee as the lonesomest hole in +all that country, and he had not been far wrong. But at any +rate the lonesomeness had served one good purpose, for it had +started Andy to thinking out the details of their so called +land-pool. Now the thinking had borne fruit to the extent +that he felt an urgent need of the Happy Family in council +upon the subject. + +As he topped at last the final rise which put him on a level +with the great undulating bench-land gashed here and there +with coulees and narrow gulches that gave no evidence of +their existence until one rode quite close, he lifted his +head and gazed about him half regretfully, half proudly. He +hated to see that wide upland dotted here and there with new, +raw buildings, which proclaimed themselves claim-shacks as +far a one could see them. Andy hated the sight of claim- +shacks with a hatred born of long range experience and the +vital interests of the cattleman. A claim-shack stuck out on +the prairie meant a barbed wire fence somewhere in the +immediate vicinity; and that meant a hindrance to the easy +handling of herds. A claim-shack meant a nester, and a nester +was a nuisance, with his plowed fields and his few head of +cattle that must be painstakingly weeded out of a herd to +prevent a howl going up to high heaven. Therefore, Andy Green +instinctively hated the sight of a shack on the prairie. On +the other hand, those shacks belonged to the Happy Family-- +and that pleased him. From where he sat on his horse he could +count five in sight, and there were more hidden by ridges and +tucked away in hollows. + +But there were others going up--shacks whose owners he did +not know. He scowled when he saw, on distant hilltops, the +yellow skeletons that would presently be fattened with boards +and paper and made the dwellingplace of interlopers. To be +sure, they had as much right to take government land as had +he or any of his friends--but Andy, being a normally selfish +person, did not think so. + +From one partially built shack three quarters of a mile away +on a bald ridge which the Happy Family had passed up because +of its barrenness and the barrenness of the coulee on the +other side, and because no one was willing to waste even a +desert right on that particular eighty-acres, a team and +light buggy came swiftly toward him. Andy, trained to quick +thinking, was puzzled at the direction the driver was taking. +That eighty acres joined his own west line, and unless the +driver was lost or on the way to One Man coulee, there was no +reason whatever for coming this way. + +He watched and saw that the team was comin' straight toward +him over the uneven prairie sod, and at a pace that +threatened damage to the buggy-springs. Instinctively Andy +braced himself in the saddle. At a half mile he knew the +team, and it did not require much shrewdness to guess at the +errand. He twitched the reins, turned his spurred heels +against his horse and went loping over the grassland to meet +the person who drove in such haste; and the probability that +he was meeting trouble halfway only sent him the more eagerly +forward. + +Trouble met him with hard, brown eyes and corn yellow hair +blown in loose strands across cheeks roughened by the spring +winds and sun-glare of Montana. Trouble pulled up and twisted +sidewise in the seat and kicked the heads off some wild +larkspurs with her whip while her tongue flayed the soul of +Andy Green with sarcasm. + +"Well, I have found out just how you helped me colonize this +tract, Mr. Green," she began with a hard inflection under the +smoothness of her voice. "I must compliment you upon your +promptness and thoroughness in the matter; for an amateur you +have made a remarkable showing--in--in treachery and deceit. +I really did not suppose you had it in you." + +"Remember, I told you I might buy in if it looked good to +me," Andy reminded her in the mildest tone of which he was +capable--and he could be as mild as new milk when he chose. + +Florence Grace Hallman looked at him with a lift of her full +upper lip at the left side. "It does look good, then? You +told Mr. Graham and that Mr. Wirt a different story, Mr. +Green. You told them this land won't raise white beans, and +you were at some pains, I believe, to explain why it would +not. You convinced them, by some means or other, that the +whole tract is practically worthless for agricultural +purposes. Both Mr. Wirt and Mr. Graham had some capital to +invest here, and now they are leaving, and they have +persuaded several others to leave with them. Does it really +look good to you--this land proposition?" + +"Not your proposition--no, it don't." Andy faced her with a +Keen level glance as hard as her own. One could get the truth +straight from the shoulder if one pushed Andy Green into a +corner. "You know and I know that you're trying to cold-deck +this bunch. The land won't raise white beans or anything else +without water, and you know it. You can plant folks on the +land and collect your money and tell 'em goodbye and go to +it--and that settles your part of it. But how about the poor +devils that put in their time and money?" + +Florence Grace Hallman spread her hands in a limited gesture +because of the reins, and smiled unpleasantly. "And yet, you +nearly broke your neck filing on the land yourself and +getting a lot of your friends to file," she retorted. "What +was your object, Mr. Green--since the land is worthless?" + +"My object don't matter to anyone but myself." Andy busied +himself with his smoking material and did not look at her. + +"Oh, but it Does! It matters to me, Mr. Green, and to my +company, and to our clients." + +"I'll have to buy me a new dictionary," Andy observed +casually, reaching behind him to scratch a match on the skirt +of his saddle. "The one I've got don't say anything about +'client' and 'victim' meaning the same thing. It's getting +all outa date." + +"I brought enough clients--" she emphasized the word--" to +settle every eighty acres of land in that whole tract. The +policy of the company was eminently fair. We guaranteed to +furnish a claim of eighty, acres to every person who joined +our homeseekers' Club, and free pasturage to all the stock +they wanted to bring. Failing to do that, we pledged +ourselves to refund the fee and pay all return expenses. We +could have located every member of this lot, and more--only +for YOU." + +"Say, it'd be just as easy to swear as to say 'you' in that +tone uh voice," Andy pointed out placidly. + +"You managed to gobble up just exactly four thousand acres of +this tract--and you were careful to get all the water and all +the best land. That means you have knocked us out of fifty +settlements--" + +"Fifty wads of coin to hand back to fifty come-ons, and fifty +return tickets for fifty fellows glad to get back--tough +luck, ain't it?" Andy smiled sympathetically. "You oughta be +glad I saved your conscience that much of a load, anyway." + +Florence Grace Hallman bit her lip to control her rage. +"Smart talk isn't going to help you, Mr. Green. You've simply +placed yourself in a position you can't' hold. You've put it +up to us to fight--and we're going to do it. I'm playing fair +with you. I'll tell you this much: I've investigated you and +your friends pretty thoroughly, and it's easy to guess what +your object is. We rather expected the Flying U to fight this +colonization scheme, so we are neither surprised nor +unprepared. Mr. Green, for your own interest and that of your +employer, let me advise you to abandon your claims now, +before we begin action in the matter. It will be simpler, and +far, far cheaper. We have our clients to look after, and we +have the law all on our side. These are bona fide settlers we +are bringing in; men and women whose sole object is to make +homes for themselves. The land laws are pretty strict, Mr. +Green. If we set the wheels in motion they will break the +Flying U." + +Andy grinned while he inspected his cigarette. "Funny--I +heard a man brag once about how he'd break the Flying U, with +sheep," he drawled. "He didn't connect, though; the Flying U +broke him." He smoked until he saw an angry retort parting +the red lips of the lady, and then continued calmly: + +"The Flying U has got nothing to do with this case. As a +matter of fact, old man Whitmore is pretty sore at us fellows +right now, because we quit him and turned nesters right under +his nose. Miss Hallman, you'll have one sweet time proving +that we ain't bona fide settlers. We're just crazy to make +homes for ourselves. We think it's time we settled down--and +we're settling here because we're used to this country. We're +real sorry you didn't find it necessary to pay your folks for +the fun of pointing out the land to us and steering us to the +land office--but we can't help that. We needed the money to +buy plows." He looked at her full with his honest, gray eyes +that could so deceive his fellow men--to say nothing of +women. "And that reminds me, I've got to go and borrow a +garden rake. I'm planting a patch of onions," he explained +engagingly. "Say, this farming is a great game, isn't it? +Well, good day, Miss Hallman. Glad I happened to meet you." + +"You won't be when I get through with you!" predicted the +lady with her firm chin thrust a little forward. "You think +you've got everything your own way, don't you? Well, you've +just simply put yourself in a position where we can get at +you. You deceived me from the very start--and now you shall +pay the penalty. I've got our clients to protect--and besides +that I shall dearly love to get even. Oh, you'll squeal for +mercy, believe me!" She touched up the horses with her whip +and went bumping away over the tough sod. + +"Wow!" ejaculated Andy, looking after her with laughter in +his eyes. "She's sure one mad lady, all right. But shucks!" +He turned and galloped off toward the farthest claim, which +was Happy Jack's and the last one to be furnished with a +lawful habitation. + +He was lucky. The Happy Family were foregathered there, +wrangling with Happy Jack over some trifling thing. He joined +zealously in the argument and helped them thrash Happy Jack +in the word-war, before he came at his errand. + +"Say, boys, we'll have to get busy now," he told them +seriously at last. "Florence Grace is onto us bigger'n a +wolf--and if I'm any judge, that lady's going to be some +fighter. We've either got to plow up a bunch of ground and +plant some darn thing, or else get stock on and pasture it. +They ain't going to over look any bets from now on. I met her +back here on the bench. She was so mad she talked too much +and I got next to their scheme--seems like we've knocked the +Syndicate outa quite a bunch of money, all right. They want +this land, and they think they're going to get it. + +"Now my idea is this: We've got to have stock, or we can't +graze the land. And if we take Flying U cattle and throw 'em +on here, they'll contest us for taking fake claims, for the +outfit. So what's the matter with us buying a bunch from the +Old Man?" + +"I'm broke," began Pink promptly, but Andy stopped him. + +"Listen here. ;We buy a bunch of stock and give him mortgages +for the money, with the cattle for security. We graze 'em +till the mortgage runs out--till we prove up, that means--and +then we don't spot up, and the Old Man takes the stock back. +see? We're grazing our own stock, according to law--but the +outfit--" + +"Where do we git off at?" demanded Happy Jack suspiciously. +"We got to live--and it takes money to buy grub, these days." + +"Well, we'll make out all right. We can have so many head of +cattle named for the mortgage; there'll be increase, and we +should get that. By the time we all prove up we'll have a +little bunch of stock of our own' d',uh see? And we'll have +the range--what there is left. These squatters ain't going to +last over winter, if you ask me. And it'll be a long, cold +day when another bunch of greenhorns bites on any colony +scheme." + +"How do you know the Old Man'll do that, though?" Weary +wanted to know. "He's pretty mad. I rode over to the ranch +last week to see Chip, and the Old Man wouldn't have anything +to say to me." + +"Well, what's the matter with all of us going? He can't pass +up the whole bunch. We can put it up to him just the way it +is, and he'll see where it's going to be to his interest to +let us have the cattle. Why, darn it, he can't help seeing +now why we quit!" Pink looked ready to start then, while his +enthusiasm was fresh. + +"Neither can Florence Grace help seeing why we did it," Andy +supplemented dryly. "She can think what she darn pleases--all +we got to do is deliver the goods right up to the handle, on +these claims and not let her prove anything on us." + +"It'll take a lot uh fencing," Happy Jack croaked +pessimistically. "We ain't got the money to buy wire and +posts, ner the time to build the fence." + +"What's the matter with rang-herding 'em?" Andy seemed to +have thought it all out, and to have an answer for every +objection. "We can take turns at that--and we must all be +careful and don't let 'em graze on our neighbors!" + +Whereat the Happy Family grinned understandingly. + +"Maybe the Old Man'll let us have three or four hundred head +uh cows on shares," Cal hazarded optimistically. + +"Can't take 'em that way," said the Native Son languidly. "It +wouldn't be safe. Andy's right; the way to do is buy the +cattle outright, and give a mortgage on the bunch. And I +think we better split the bunch, and let every fellow buy a +few head. We can graze 'em together--the law can't stop us +from doing that." + +"Sounds good--if the Old Man will come to the centre," said +Weary dubiously. The chill atmosphere of Flying U coulee, +with strangers in the bunk-house and with the Old Man +scowling at his paper on the porch, had left its effect upon +Weary, sunny-souled as he was. + +"Oh, he'll come through," cried Cal, moving toward his horse. +"gee whiz, he's got to! Come on--let's go and get it done +with. As it stands now, we ain't got a thing to do but set +around and look wise--unless we go spoiling good grass with +plows. First thing we know our neighbors will be saying we +ain't improving our claims!" + +"You improve yours every time you git off it!" stated Happy +Jack spitefully because of past wrongs. "You could improve +mine a whole lot that way, too," he added when he heard the +laugh of approval from the others. + +They rung all the changes possible upon that witticism while +they mounted and rode away, every man of them secretly glad +of some excuse for making overtures to the Old Man. Spite of +the excitement of getting on to their claims, and of watching +strangers driving here and there in haste, and hauling loads +of lumber toilfully over the untracked grass and building +chickencoop dwellings as nearly alike as the buttons on a new +shirt--spite of all that they had felt keenly their exile +from Flying U ranch. They had stayed away, for two reasons: +one was a latent stubbornness which made them resent the Old +Man's resentment; the other was a matter of policy, as +preached by Andy Green and the Native Son. It would not do, +said these two cautious ones, to be running to the Flying U +outfit all the time. + +So the Happy Family had steered clear since that afternoon +when they had simulated treachery to the outfit. And fate +played them a scurvy trick in spite of their caution, for +just as they rode down the Hog's Back and across the ford, +Florence Grace Hallman rode away from the White House and met +them fairly at the stable. + +Florence Grace smiled a peculiar smile as she went past them. +A smile that promised she would not forget; a smile that told +them how sure she felt of having caught them fairly. With the +smile went a chilly, supercilious bow that was worse than a +direct cut, and which the Happy Family returned doubtfully, +not at all sure of the rules governing warfare with a woman. + + +CHAPTER 9. THE HAPPY FAMILY BUYS A BUNCH OF CATTLE + +With the Kid riding gleefully upon Weary's shoulder they +trooped up the path their own feet had helped wear deep to +the bunk-house. They looked in at the open door and snorted +at the cheerlessness of the place. + +"Why don't you come back here and stay?" the Kid demanded. "I +was going to sleep down here with you--and now Doctor Dell +won't let me. These hobees are no good. They're damn' bone- +head. Daddy Chip says so. I wish you'd come back, so I can +sleep with you. One man's named Ole and he's got a funny eye +that looks at the other one all the time. I wish you'd come +back." + +The Happy Family wished the same thing, but they did not say +so. Instead they told the Kid to ask his mother if he +couldn't come and visit them in their new shacks, and +promised indulgences that would have shocked the Little +Doctor had she heard them. So they went on to the house, +where the Old Man sat on the porch looking madder than when +they had left him three weeks before. + +"Why don't yuh run them nesters outa the country?" he +demanded peevishly when they were close enough for speech. +"Here they come and accuse me to my face of trying to defraud +the gov'ment. Doggone you boys, what you think you're up to, +anyway? What's three or four thousand acres when they're +swarming in here like flies to a butcherin'? They can't make +a living--serve 'em right. What you doggone rowdies want +now?" + +Not a cordial welcome, that--if they went no deeper than his +words. But there was the old twinkle back of the +querulousness in the Old Man's eyes, and the old pucker of +the lips behind his grizzled whiskers. "You've got that +doggone Kid broke to foller yuh so we can't keep him on the +ranch no more," he added fretfully. "Tried to run away twice, +on Silver. Chip had to go round him up. Found him last time +pretty near over to Antelope coulee, hittin' the high places +for town. Might as well take yuh back, I guess, and save time +running after the Kid." + +"We've got to hold down our claims," Weary minded him +regretfully. In three weeks, he could see a difference the +Old Man, and the change hurt him. + +Lines were deeper drawn, and the kind old eyes were a shade +more sunken. + +"What's that amount to?" grumbled the Old Man, looking from +one to the other under his graying eye brows. "You can't stop +them dry-farmers from taking the country. Yuh might as well +try to dip the Missouri dry with a bucket. They'll flood the +country with stock--" + +"No, they won't," put in Big Medicine, impatient for the real +meat of their errand. "By cripes, we got a scheme to beat +that--you tell 'im, Weary." + +"We want to buy a bunch of cattle from you," Weary said +obediently. "We want to graze our claims, instead of trying +to crop the land. We haven't any fence up, so we'll have to +range-herd our stock, of course. I--don't hardly think any +nester stock will get by us, J. G. And seeing our land runs +straight through from Meeker's line fence to yours, we kinda +think we've got the nesters pretty well corralled. They're +welcome to the range between Antelope coulee and Dry Lake, +far as we're concerned. Soon as we can afford it," he added +tranquilly, "we'll stretch a fence along our west line +that'll hold all the darn milkcows they've a mind to ship out +here." + +"Huh!" The Old Man studied them quizzically, his chin on his +chest. + +"How many yuh want?" he asked abruptly. + +"All you'll sell us. We want to give mortgages, with the +stock for security." + +"Oh, yuh do, ay? What if I have to foreclose on yuh?" The +pucker of his lips grew more pronounced." Where do you git +off at, then?" + +"Well, we kinda thought we could fix it up to save part of +the increase outa the wreck, anyway." + +"Oh. That's it ay?" He studied them another minute. "You'll +want all my best cows, too, I reckon--all that grade stock I +shipped in last spring. Ay?" + +"We wouldn't mind," grinned Weary, glancing at the others +roosting at ease along the edge of the porch. + +"Think you could handle five-hundred head--the pick uh the +bunch?" + +"Sure, we could! We'd rather split 'em up amongst us, +though--let every fellow buy so many. We can throw in +together on the herding." + +"Think you can keep the milk-cows between you and Dry Lake, +ay?" The Old Man chuckled--the first little chuckle since the +Happy Family left him so unceremoniously three weeks before. +"How about that, Pink?" + +"Why, I think we can," chirped Pink cheerfully. + +"Huh! Well, you're the toughest bunch, take yuh up one side +and down the other, I ever seen keep onta jail--I guess maybe +you can do it. But lemme tell you boys something--and I want +you to remember it: You don't want to git the idea in your +heads you're going to have any snap; you ain't. If I know B +from a bull's foot, you've got your work cut out for yuh. +I've been keeping cases pretty close on this dry-farm craze, +and this stampede for claims. Folks are land crazy. They've +got the idea that a few acres of land is going to make 'em +free and independent--and it don't matter much what the land +is, or where it is. So long as it's land, and they can git it +from the government for next to nothing, they're satisfied. +And yuh want to remember that. Yuh don't want to take it for +granted they're going to take a look at your deadline and +back up. If they ship in stock, they're going to see to it +that stock don't starve. You'll have to hold off men and +women that's making their last stand, some of 'em, for a home +of their own. They ain't going to give up if they can help +it. You get a man with his back agin the wall, and he'll +fight till he drops. I don't need to tell yuh that." + +The Happy Family listened to him soberly, their eyes staring +broodily at the picture he conjured. + +"Well, by golly, we're makin' our last stand, too," Slim +blurted with his customary unexpectedness. "Our back's agin +the wall right now. If we can't hold 'em back from takin' +what little range is left, this outfit's going under. We got +to hold 'em, by golly, er there won't be no more Flying U." + +"Well," said Andy Green quietly, "that's all right. We're +going to hold 'em." + +The Old Man lifted his bent head and looked from one to +another. Pride shone in his eyes, that had lately stared +resentment. "Yuh know, don't yuh, the biggest club they can +use?" He leaned forward a little, his lips working under his +beard. + +"Sure, we know. We'll look out for that." Weary smiled +hearteningly. + +"We want a good lawyer to draw up those mortgages," put in +the Native Son lazily. "And we'll pay eight per cent. +interest." + +"Doggonedest crazy bunch ever I struck," grumbled the Old Man +with grateful insincerity. "What you fellers don't think of, +there ain't any use in mentioning. Oh, Dell! Bring out that +jug Blake sent me! Doggoned thirsty bunch out here--won't +stir a foot till they sample that wine! Got to get rid of 'em +somehow--they claim to be full uh business as a jack rabbit +is of fleas! When yuh want to git out and round up them cows? +Wagon's over on Dry creek som'ers--or ought to be. Yuh might +take your soogans and ride ove' there tomorrow or next day +and ketch 'em. I'll write a note to Chip and tell 'im what's +to be done. And while you're pickin' your bunch you can draw +wages just the same as ever, and help them double-dutch +blisterin' milk-fed pilgrims with the calf crop." + +"We'll sure do that," promised Weary for the bunch. "We can +start in the morning, all right." + +"Take a taste uh this wine. None of your tobaccojuice stuff; +this comes straight from Fresno. Senator Blake sent it the +other day. Fill up that glass, Dell! What yuh want to be so +doggone stingy fer? Think this bunch uh freaks are going to +stand for that? They can't git the taste outa less'n a pint. +This ain't any doggone liver-tonic like you dope out." + +The Little Doctor smiled understandingly and filled their +glasses with the precious wine from sunland. She did not know +what had happened, but she did know that the Old Man had +seized another hand-hold on life in the last hour, and she +was grateful. She even permitted the Kid to take a tiny sip, +just because the Happy Family hated to see him refused +anything he wanted. + +So Flying U coulee was for the time being filled with the +same old laughter and the same atmosphere of care-free +contentment with life. The Countess stewed uncomplainingly in +the kitchen, cooking dinner for the boys. The Old Man +grumbled hypocritically at them from his big chair, and named +their faults in the tone that transmuted them into virtues. +The Little Doctor heard about Miss Allen and her three +partners, who were building a four-room shack on the four +corners of four claims, and how Irish had been caught more +than once in the act of staring fixedly in the direction of +that shack. She heard a good many things, and she guessed a +good many more. + +By mid afternoon the Old Man was fifty per cent brighter and +better than he had been in the morning, and he laughed and +bullied them as of old. When they left he told them to clear +out and stay out, and that if he caught them hanging around +his ranch, and making it look as if he were backing them and +trying to defraud the government, he'd sic the dog onto them. +Which tickled the Kid immensely, because there wasn't any dog +to sic. + + +CHAPTER 10. WHEREIN ANDY GREEN LIES TO A LADY + +In the soft-creeping dusk came Andy Green, slouched in the +saddle with the weariness of riding since dawn; slouched to +one side and singing, with his hat far back on his head and +the last of a red sunset tinting darkly the hills above him. +Tip-toe on a pinnacle a great, yellow star poised and winked +at him knowingly. Andy's eyes twinkled answer as he glanced +up that way. "We've got her going, old-timer," he announced +lazily to the star. + +Six miles back toward the edge of the "breaks" which are +really the beginning of the Badlands that border the Missouri +River all through that part of Montana, an even five hundred +head of the Flying U's best grade cows and their calves were +settling down for the night upon a knoll that had been the +bed-ground of many a herd. At the Flying U ranch, in the care +of the Old Man, were the mortgages that would make the Happy +Family nominal owners of those five hundred cows and their +calves. In the morning Andy would ride back and help bring +the herd upon its spring grazing ground, which was the +claims; in the meantime he was leisurely obeying an impulse +to ride into One Man coulee and spend the night under his own +roof. And, say what you will, there is a satisfaction not to +be denied in sleeping sometimes under one's own roof; and it +doesn't matter in the least that the roof is made of prairie +dirt thrown upon cottonwood poles. So he sang while he rode, +and his voice boomed loud in the coulee and scared long +stilled echoes into repeating the song: + + "We're here because we're here, because we're here, + because we're here, + + We're here because we're here, because we're here, + because we're here--" + +That, if you please, is a song; there are a lot more verses +exactly like this one, which may be sung to the tune of Auld +Lang Syne with much effectiveness when one is in a certain +mood. So Andy sang, while his tired horse picked its way +circumspectly among the scattered rocks of the trail up the +coulee. + + "It's time you're here, it's time you're here, + It's time that you were here--" + +mocked an echo not of the hills. + +Andy swore in his astonishment and gave his horse a kick as a +mild hint for haste. He thought he knew every woman-voice in +the neighborhood--or had until the colony came--but this +voice, high and sweet and with a compelling note that stirred +him vaguely, was absolutely strange. While he loped forward, +silenced for the moment, he was conscious of a swift, keen +thankfulness that Pink had at the last minute decided to stay +in camp that night instead of accompanying Andy to One Man. +He was in that mood when a sentimental encounter appealed to +him strongly; and a woman's voice, singing to him from One +Man cabin, promised undetermined adventure. + +He did not sing again. There had been something in the voice +that held him quiet, listening, expectant. But she also was +silent after that last, high note--like a meadow lark +startled in the middle of his song, thought Andy whimsically. + +He came within sight of the cabin, squatting in the shadow of +the grove at its back. He half expected ,to see a light, but +the window was dark, the door closed as he had left it. He +felt a faint, unreasoning disappointment that it was so. But +he had heard her. That high note that lingered upon the word +"here" still tingled his senses. His eyes sent seeking +glances here and there as he rode up. + +Then a horse nickered welcomingly, and someone rode out from +the deeper shadow at the corner of the cabin, hesitated as +though tempted to flight, and came on uncertainly. They met +full before the cabin, and the woman leaned and peered +through the dusk at Andy. + +"Is this--Mr. Mallory--Irish?" she asked nervously. "Oh dear! +Have I gone and made a fool of myself again?" + +"Not at all! Good evening, Miss Allen." Andy folded his hands +upon the saddle horn and regarded her with a little smile, +Keen for what might come next. + +"But you're not Irish Mallory. I thought I recognized the +voice, or I wouldn't have--" She urged her horse a step +closer, and Andy observed from her manner that she was not +accustomed to horses. She reined as if she were driving, so +that the horse, bewildered, came sidling up to him. "Who are +you?" she asked him sharply. + +"Me? Why, I'm a nice young man--a lot better singer than +Irish. I guess you never heard him, did you?" He kept his +hands folded on the horn, his whole attitude passive--a +restful, reassuring passivity that lulled her uneasiness more +than words could have done. + +"Oh, are you Andy Green? I seem to connect that name with +your voice--and what little I can see of you." + +"That's something, anyway." Andy's tone was one of gratitude. +"It's two per cent. better than having to tell you right out +who I am. I met you three different times, Miss Allen," he +reproached. + +"But always in a crowd," she defended, "and I never talked +with you, particularly." + +"Oh, well, that's easily fixed," he said. "It's a nice +night," he added, looking up appreciatively at the +brightening star-sprinkle. "Are you living on your claim now? +We can talk particularly on the way over." + +Miss Allen laughed and groped for a few loose hairs, found +them and tucked them carefully under her hatcrown. Andy +remembered that gesture; it helped him to visualize her +clearly in spite of the deepening night. + +"How far have you ridden today, Mr. Green?" she asked +irrelevantly. + +"Since daylight, you mean? Not so very far counting miles--We +were trailing a herd, you see. But I've been in the saddle +since sunrise, except when I was eating." + +"Then you want a cup of coffee, before you ride any farther. +If I get down, will you let me make it or you? I'd love to. +I'm crazy to see inside your cabin, but I only rode up and +tried to peek in the window before you came. I have two +brothers and a cousin, so I understand men pretty well and I +know you can talk better when you aren't hungry." + +"Are you living on your claim?" he asked again, without +moving. + +"Why, yes. We moved in last week." + +"Well, we'll ride over, then, and you can make coffee there. +I'm not hungry right now." + +"Oh." She leaned again and peered at him, trying to read his +face. "You don't WANT me to go in!" + +"Yes, I do--but I don't. If you stayed and made coffee, +tomorrow you'd be kicking yourself for it, and you'd be +blaming me." Which, considering the life he had lived, almost +wholly among men, was rather astute of Andy Green. + +"Oh." Then she laughed. "You must have some sisters, Mr. +Green." She was silent for a minute, looking at him. "You're +right," she said quietly then. "I'm always making a fool of +myself, just on the impulse of the moment. The girls will be +worried about me, as it is. But I don't want you to ride any +farther, Mr. Green. What I came to say need not take very +long, and I think I can find my way home alone, all right." + +"I'll take you home when you're ready to go," said Andy +quietly. All at once he had wanted to shield her, to protect +her from even so slight an unconventionality as making his +coffee for him. He had felt averse to putting her at odds +with her conventional self, of inviting unfavorable criticism +of himself; dimly, because instinct rather than cold analysis +impelled him. What he had told her was the sum total of his +formulated ideas. + +"Well, I'm ready to go now, since you insist on my being +conventional. I did not come West with the expectation of +being tied to a book of etiquette, Mr. Green. But I find one +can't get away from it after all. Still, living on one's own +claim twelve miles from a town is something!" + +"That's a whole lot, I should say," Andy assured her +politely, and refrained from asking her what she expected to +do with that eighty acres of arid land. He turned his tired +horse and rode alongside her, prudently waiting for her to +give the key. + +"I'm not supposed to be away over here, you know," she began +when they were near the foot of the bluff up which the trail +wound seeking the easiest slopes and avoiding boulders and +deep cuts. "I'm supposed to be just out riding, and the girls +expected me back by sundown. But I've been trying and trying +to find some of you Flying U boys--as they call you men who +have taken so much land--on your claims. I don't know that +what I could tell you would do you a particle of good--or +anyone else. But I wanted to tell you, anyway, just to clear +my own mind." + +"It does lots of good just to meet you," said Andy with +straightforward gallantry. "Pleasures are few and far +between, out here." + +"You said that very nicely, I'm sure," she snubbed. "Well, +I'm going to tell you, anyway--just on the chance of doing +some good." Then she stopped. + +Andy rode a rod or two, glancing at her inquiringly, waiting +for her to go on. She was guiding her horse awkwardly where +it needed only to be let alone, and he wanted to give her a +lesson in riding. But it seemed too early in their +acquaintance for that, so he waited another minute. + +"Miss Hallman is going to make you a lot of trouble," she +began abruptly. "I thought perhaps it might be better for +you--all of you--if you knew it in advance, so there would be +no sudden anger and excitement. All the settlers are +antagonistic, Mr. Green--all but me, and one or two of the +girls. They are going to do everything they can to prevent +your land-scheme from going through. You are going to be +watched and--and your land contested--" + +"Well, we'll be right there, I guess, when the dust settles," +he filled in her thought unmoved. + +"I--almost hope so," she ventured. "For my part, I can see +the side--your side. I can see where it is very hard for the +cattle men to give up their range. It is like the big +plantations down south, when the slaves were freed. It had to +be done, and yet it was hard upon those planters who depended +on free labor. They resented it deeply; deeply enough to shed +blood--and that is one thing I dread here. I hope, Mr. Green, +that you will not resort to violence. I want to urge you all +to--to--" + +"I understand," said Andy softly. "A-course, we're pretty bad +when we get started, all right. We're liable to ride up on +dark nights and shoot our enemies through the window--I can't +deny it, Miss Allen. And if it comes right to a show-down, I +may as well admit that some of us would think nothing at all +of taking a man out and hanging him to the first three we +come to, that was big enough to hold him. But now that ladies +have come into the country, a-course we'll try and hold our +tempers down all we can. Miss Hallman, now--I don't suppose +there's a man in the bunch that would shoot her, no matter +what she done to us. We take pride in being polite to women. +You've read that about us, haven't you, Miss Allen? And +you've seen us on the stage--well, it's a fact, all right. +Bad as we are, and wild and tough, and savage when we're +crossed, a lady can just do anything with us, if she goes at +it the right way." + +"Thank you. I felt sure that you would not harm any of us. +Will you promise not to be violent--not to--to--" + +Andy sat sidewise in the saddle, so that he faced her. Miss +Allen could just make out his form distinctly; his face was +quite hidden, except that she could see the shine of his +eyes. + +"Now, Miss Allen," he protested with soft apology "You musta +known what to expect when you moved out amongst us rough +characters. You know I can make any promises about being mild +with the men that try to get the best of us. If you've got +friends--brothers--anybody here that you think a lot of Miss +Allen, I advise you to send 'em outa the country, before +trouble breaks loose; because when she starts she'll start a- +popping. I know I can't answer for my self, what I'm liable +to do if they bother me; and I'm about the mildest one in the +bunch. What the rest of the boys would do--Irish Mallory for +instance--I hate to think, Miss Allen. I--hate--to--think!" + +Afterwards, when he thought it all over dispassionately, Andy +wondered why he had talked to Miss Allen like that. He had +not done it deliberately, just to frighten her--yet he had +frightened her to a certain extent. He had roused her +apprehension for the safety of her neighbors and the ultimate +well-being of himself and his fellows. She had been so +anxious over winning him to more peaceful ways that she had +forgotten to give him any details of the coming struggle. +Andy was sorry for that. He wished, on the way home, that he +knew just what Florence Grace Hallman intended to do. + +Not that it mattered greatly. Whatever she did, Andy felt +that it would be futile. The Happy Family were obeying the +land laws implicitly, except as their real incentive had been +an unselfish one. He could not feel that it was wrong to try +and save the Flying U; was not loyalty a virtue? And was not +the taking of land for the preservation of a fine, fair +dealing outfit that had made itself a power for prosperity +and happiness in that country, a perfectly laudable +enterprise? Andy believed so. + +Even though they did, down in their deepest thoughts, think +of the Flying U's interest, Andy did not believe that +Florence Grace Hallman or anyone else could produce any +evidence that would justify a contest for their land. Though +they planned among themselves for the good of the Flying U, +they were obeying the law and the dictates of their range- +conscience and their personal ideas of right and justice and +loyalty to their friends and to themselves. They were not +conspiring against the general prosperity of the country in +the hope of great personal gain. When you came to that, they +were saving fifty men from bitter disappointment--counting +one settler to every eighty acres, as the Syndicate +apparently did. + +Still, Andy wondered why he had represented himself and his +friends to be such bloodthirsty devils. He grinned wickedly +over some of the things he had said, and over her womanly +perturbation and pleading that they would spare the lives of +their enemies. Oh, well--if she repeated half to Florence +Grace Hallman, that lady would maybe think twice before she +tackled the contract of boosting the Happy Family off their +claims. So at the last he managed to justify his lying to +her. He liked Miss Allen. He was pleased to think that at +least she would not forget him the minute he was out of her +sight. + +He went to sleep worrying, not over the trouble which +Florence Grace Hallman might be plotting to bring upon him, +but about Miss Allen's given name and her previous condition +of servitude. He hoped that she was not a stenographer, and +he hoped her first name was not Mary; and if you know the +history of Andy Green you will remember that he had a reason +for disliking both the name and the vocation. + + +CHAPTER 11. A MOVING CHAPTER IN EVENTS + +Having nothing more than a general warning of trouble ahead +to disturb him, Andy rode blithely back down the coulee and +met the herd just after sunrise. Dreams of Miss Allen had +left a pleasant mood behind them, though the dreams +themselves withdrew behind the veil of forgetfulness when he +awoke. He wondered what her first name was. He wondered how +far Irish's acquaintance with her had progressed, but he did +not worry much about Irish. Having represented himself to be +an exceedingly dangerous man, and having permitted himself to +be persuaded into promising reform and a calm demeanor--for +her sake--he felt tolerably sure of her interest in him. He +had heard that a woman loves best the taming of a dangerous +man, and he whistled and sang and smiled until the dust of +the coming herd met him full. Since he felt perfectly sure of +the result, he hoped that Florence Grace Hallman would start +something, just so that he might show Miss Allen how potent +was her influence over a bad, bad man who still has virtues +worth nurturing carefully. + +Weary, riding point on the loitering herd, grinned a wordless +greeting. Andy passed with a casual wave of his hand and took +his place on the left flank. From his face Weary guessed that +all was well with the claims, and the assurance served to +lighten his spirits. Soon he heard Andy singing at the top of +his voice, and his own thoughts fell into accord with the +words of the ditty. He began to sing also, whenever he knew +the words. Farther back, Pink took it up, and then the others +joined in, until all unconsciously they had turned the +monotonous drive into a triumphal march. + +"They're a little bit rough I must confess, the most of them +at least," prompted Andy, starting on the second verse alone +because the others didn't know the song as well as he. He +waited a second for them to join him, and went on extolling +the valor of all true cowboys: + +"But long's you do not cross their trail you can live with +them at peace. + +"But if you do they're sure to rule, the day you come to +their land, + +"For they'll follow you up and shoot it out, and do it man to +man." + +"Say, Weary! They tell me Florence Grace is sure hittin' the +warpost! Ain't yuh scared?" + +Weary shook his head and rode forward to ease the leaders +into a narrow gulch that would cut off a mile or so of the +journey. + +"Taking 'em up One Man?" called Pink, and got a nod for +answer. There was a lull in the singing while they shouted +and swore at these stubborn cows who would have tried to +break back on the way to a clover patch, until the gulch +broadened into an arm of One Man Coulee itself. It was all +peaceful and easy and just as they had planned. The morning +was cool and the cattle contented. They were nearing their +claims, and all that would remain for them to do was the +holding of their herd upon the appointed grazing ground. So +would the requirements of the law be fulfilled and the +machinations of the Syndicate be thwarted and the land saved +to the Flying U, all in one. + +And then the leaders, climbing the hill at a point half a +mile below Andy's cabin, balked, snorted and swung back. +Weary spurred up to push them forward, and so did Andy and +Pink. They rode up over the ridge shouting and urging the +reluctant cattle ahead, and came plump into the very dooryard +of a brand new shack. A man was standing in the doorway +watching the disturbance his presence had created; when he +saw the three riders come bulging up over the crest of the +bluff, his eyes widened. + +The three came to a stop before him, too astonished to do +more than stare. Once past the fancied menace of the new +building and the man, the cattle went trotting awkwardly +across the level, their calves galloping alongside. + +"Hello," said Weary at last, "what do you think you're doing +here?" + +"Me? I'm holding down a claim. What are you doing?" The man +did not seem antagonistic or friendly or even neutral toward +them. He seemed to be waiting. He eyed the cattle that kept +coming, urged on by those who shouted at them in the coulee +below. He watched them spread out and go trotting away after +the leaders. + +"Say, when did yuh take this claim?" Andy leaned negligently +forward and looked at him curiously. + +"Oh, a week or so ago. Why?" + +"I just wondered. I took it up myself, four weeks ago. Four +forties I've got, strung out in a line that runs from here to +yonder. You've got over on my land--by mistake, of course. I +just thought I'd tell yuh he added casually, straightening +up, "because I didn't think you knew it before." + +"Thanks." The man smiled one-sidedly and began filling a pipe +while he watched them. + +"A-course it won't be much trouble to move your shack," Andy +continued with neighborly interest. "A wheelbarrow will take +it, easy. Back here on the bench a mile or so, yuh may find a +patch of ground that nobody claims." + +"Thanks." The man picked a match from his pocket and striking +it on the new yellow door-casing lighted his pipe. + +Andy moved uneasily. He did not like that man, for all he +appeared so thankful for information. The fellow had a narrow +forehead and broad, high cheek bones and a predatory nose. +His eyes were the wrong shade of blue and the lids drooped +too much at the outer corners. Andy studied him curiously. +Did the man know what he was up against, or did he not? Was +he sincere in his ready thanks, or was he sarcastic? The man +looked up at him then. His eyes were clean of any hidden +meaning, but they were the wrong shade of blue--the shade +that is opaque and that you feel hides much that should be +revealed to you. + +"Seems like there's been quite a crop of shacks grown up +since I rode over this way," Weary announced suddenly, +returning from a brief scurry after the leaders, that +inclined too much toward the south in their travel. + +"Yes, the country's settling up pretty fast," conceded the +man in the doorway. + +"Well, by golly!" bellowed Slim, popping up from below on a +heaving horse. Slim was getting fatter every year, and his +horses always puffed when they climbed a hill under his +weight. His round eyes glared resentfully at the man and the +shack and at the three who were sitting there so quietly on +their horses--just as if they had ridden up for a friendly +call. "Ain't this shack on your land?" he spluttered to Andy. + +"Why, yes. It is, just right at present." Andy admitted, +following the man's example in the matter of a smoke, except +that Andy rolled and lighted a cigarette. "He's going to move +it, though." + +"Oh. Thanks." With the one-sided smile. + +"Say, you needn't thank ME," Andy protested in his polite +tone. "YOU'RE going to move it, you know." + +"You may know, but I don't," corrected the other. + +"Oh, that's all right. You may not know right now, but don't +let that worry yuh. This is sure a great country for pilgrims +to wise up in." + +Big Medicine came up over the hill a hundred feet or so from +them; goggled a minute at the bold trespass and came loping +across the intervening space. "Say, by cripes, what's this +mean?" he bawled. "Claim-jumper, hey? Say, young feller, do +you realize what you're doing--squattin' down on another +man's land. Don't yuh know claim-jumpers git shot, out here? +Or lynched?" + +"Oh, cut out all that rough stuff!" advised the man wearily. +"I know who you are, and what your bluff is worth. I know you +can't held a foot of land if anybody is a mind to contest +your claims. I've filed a contest on this eighty, here, and +I'm going to hold it. Let that soak into your minds. I don't +want any trouble--I'm even willing to take a good deal in the +way of bluster, rather than have trouble. But I'm going to +stay. See?" He waved his pipe in a gesture of finality and +continued to smoke and to watch them impersonally, leaning +against the door in that lounging negligence which is so +irritating to a disputant. + +"Oh, all right--if that's the way you feel about it," Andy +replied indifferently, and turned away. "Come on, boys--no +use trying to bluff that gazabo. He's wise." + +He rode away with his face turned over his shoulder to see if +the others were going to follow. When he was past the corner +and therefore out of the man's sight, he raised his arm and +beckoned to them imperatively, with a jerk of his head to add +insistence. The four of them looked after him uncertainly. +Weary kicked his horse and started, then Pink did the same. +Andy beckoned again, more emphatically than before, and Big +Medicine, who loved a fight as he loved to win a jackpot, +turned and glared at the man in the doorway as be passed. +Slim was rumbling by-golly ultimatums in his fat chest when +he came up. + +"Pink, you go on back and put the boys next, when they come +up with the drag they won't do anything much but hand out a +few remarks and ride on." Andy said, in the tone of one who +knows exactly what he means to do. "This is my claim-jumper. +Chances are I've got three more to handle--or will have. +Nothing like starting off right. Tell the boys just rag the +fellow a little and ride on, like we did. Get the cattle up +here and set Happy and Slim day-herding and the rest of us'll +get busy." + +"You wouldn't tell for a dollar, would yuh?" Pi asked him +with his dimples showing. + +"I've got to think it out first," Andy evaded. feel all the +symptoms of an idea. You let me alone a while." + +"Say, yuh going to tell him he's been found out and yuh know +his past," began Slim, "like yuh done Dunk? I'll bet, by +golly--" + +"Go on off and lay down!" Andy retorted pettishly. "I never +worked the same one off on you twice, did I? Think I'm +getting feeble-minded? It ain't hard to put his nibs on the +run--that's dead easy. Trouble is I went and hobbled myself. +I promised a lady I'd be mild." + +"Mamma!" muttered Weary, his sunny eyes taking in the shack- +dotted horizon. "Mild!--and all these jumpers on our hands!" + +"Oh, well--there's more'n one way to kill a cat," Andy +reminded them cheerfully. "You go on back and post the boys, +Pink, not to get too riled." + +He galloped off and left them to say and think what they +pleased. He was not uneasy over their following his advice or +waiting for his plan. For Andy Green had risen rapidly to a +tacit leadership, since first he told them of the coming +colony. From being the official Ananias of the outfit, king +of all joke-makers, chief irritator of the bunch, whose +lightest word was suspected of hiding some deep meaning and +whose most innocent action was analysed, he had come to the +point where they listened to him and depended upon him to see +a way out of every difficulty. They would depend upon him +now; of that he was sure--therefore they would wait for his +plan. + +Strange as it may seem, the Happy Family had not seriously +considered the possibility of having their claims "jumped" so +long as they kept valid their legal residence. They had +thought that they would be watched and accused of collusion +with the Flying U, and they intended to be extremely careful. +They meant to stay upon their claims at least seven months in +the year, which the law required. They meant to have every +blade of grass eaten by their own cattle, which would be +counted as improving their claims. They meant to give a +homelike air of permanency to their dwellings. They had +already talked over a tentative plan of bringing water to +their desert claims, and had ridden over the bench-land for +two days, with the plat at hand for reference, that they +might be sure of choosing their claims wisely. They had +prepared for every contingency save the one that had arisen-- +which is a common experience with us all. They had not +expected that their claims would be jumped and contests filed +so early in the game, as long as they maintained their +residence. + +However, Andy was not dismayed at the turn of events. It was +stimulating to the imagination to be brought face to face +with an emergency such as this, and to feel that one must +handle it with strength and diplomacy and a mildness of +procedure that would find favor in the eyes of a girl. + +He looked across the waving grass to where the four roomed +shack was built upon the four corners of four "eighties" so +that four women might live together and yet be said to live +upon their own claims. That was drawing the line pretty fine, +of course; finer than the Happy Family would have dared to +draw it. But no one would raise any objection, on account of +their being women and timid about living alone. Andy smiled +sympathetically because the four conjunctive corners of the +four claims happened to lie upon a bald pinnacle bare of +grass or shelter or water, even. The shack stood bleakly +revealed to the four winds--but also it over looked the +benchland and the rolling, half-barren land to the west, +which comprised Antelope Coulee and Dry Coulee and several +other good-for-nothing coulees capable of supporting nothing +but coyotes and prairie dogs and gophers. + +A mile that way Andy rode, and stopped upon the steep side of +a gulch which was an arm of Antelope Coulee. He looked down +into the gulch, searched with his eyes for the stake that +marked the southeast corner of the eighty lying off in this +direction from the shack, and finally saw it fifty yards away +on a bald patch of adobe. + +He resisted the temptation to ride over and call upon Miss +Allen--the resistance made easier by the hour, which was +eight o'clock or thereabouts--and rode back to the others +very well satisfied with himself and his plan. + +He found the whole Happy Family gathered upon the level land +just over his west line, extolling resentment while they +waited his coming. Grinning, he told them his plan, and set +them grinning also. He gave them certain work to be done, and +watched them scatter to do his bidding. Then he turned and +rode away upon business of his own. + +The claim-jumper, watching the bench land through a pair of +field glasses, saw a herd of cows and calves scattered and +feeding contentedly upon the young grass a mile or so away. +Two men on horseback loitered upon the outer fringe of the +herd. From a distance hilltop came the staccato sound of +hammers where an other shack was going up. Cloud shadows slid +silently over the land, with bright sunlight chasing after. +Of the other horsemen who had come up the bluff with the +cattle, he saw not a sign. So the man yawned and went in to +his breakfast. + +Many times that day he stood at the corner of his shack with +the glasses sweeping the bench-land. Toward noon the cattle +drifted into a coulee where there was water. In a couple of +hours they drifted leisurely back upon high ground and +scattered to their feeding, still watched and tended by the +two horsemen who looked the most harmless of individuals. One +was fat and red-faced and spent at least half of his time +lying prone upon some slope in the shade of his horse. The +other was thin and awkward, and slouched in the saddle or sat +upon the ground with his knees drawn up and his arms clasped +loosely around them, a cigarette dangling upon his lower lip, +himself the picture of boredom. + +There was nothing whatever to indicate that events were +breeding in that peaceful scene, and that adventure was +creeping close upon the watcher. He went in from his fourth +or fifth inspection, and took a nap. + +That night he was awakened by a pounding on the side of the +shack where was his window. By the time he had reached the +middle of the floor--and you could count the time in seconds- +-a similar pounding was at the door. He tried to open the +door and couldn't. He went to the window and could see +nothing, although the night had not been dark when he went to +bed. He shouted, and there was no reply; nor could he hear +any talking without. His name, by the way, was H. J. Owens, +though his name does not matter except for convenience in +mentioning him. Owens, then, lighted a lamp, and almost +instantly was forced to reach out quickly and save it from +toppling, because one corner of the shack was lifting, +lifting . . . + +Outside, the Happy Family worked in silence. Before they had +left One Man Coulee they had known exactly what they were to +do, and how to do it. They knew who was to nail the hastily +constructed shutter over the window. They knew who was to +fasten the door so that it could not be opened from within. +They knew also who were to use the crow-bars, who were to +roll the skids under the shack. + +There were twelve of them--because Bert Rogers had insisted +upon helping. In not many more minutes than there were men, +they were in their saddles, ready to start. The shack lurched +forward after the straining horses. Once it was fairly +started it moved more easily than you might think it could +do, upon crude runners made of cottonwood logs eight inches +or so in diameter and long enough for cross pieces bolted in +front and rear. The horses pulled it easily with the ropes +tied to the saddle-horns, just as they had many times pulled +the roundup wagons across mirey creeks or up steep slopes; +just as they had many times pulled stubborn cattle or dead +cattle--just as they had been trained to pull anything and +everything their masters chose to attach to their ropes. + +Within, Owens called to them and cursed them. When they had +just gained an even pace, he emptied his revolver through the +four sides of the shack. But he did not know where they were, +exactly, so that he was compelled to shoot at random. And +since the five shots seemed to have no effect whatever upon +the steady progress of the shack, he decided to wait until he +could see where to aim. There was no use, he reflected, in +wasting good ammunition when there was a strong probability +that he would need it later. + +After a half hour or more of continuous travel, the shack +tilted on a steep descent. H. J. Owens blew out his lamp and +swore when a box came sliding against his shins in the dark. +The descent continued until it was stopped with a jolt that +made him bite his tongue painfully, so that tears came into +the eyes that were the wrong shade of blue to please Andy +Green. He heard a laugh cut short and a muttered command, and +that was all. The shack heaved, toppled, righted itself and +went on down, and down, and down; jerked sidewise to the +left, went forward and then swung joltingly the other way. +When finally it came to a permanent stand it was sitting with +an almost level floor. + +Then the four corners heaved upward, two at a time, and +settled with a final squeal of twisted boards and nails. +There was a sound of confused trampling, and after that the +lessening sounds of departure. Mr. Owens tried the door +again, and found it still fast. He relighted the lamp, +carried it to the window and looked upon rough boards outside +the glass. He meditated anxiously and decided to remain quiet +until daylight. + +The Happy Family worked hard, that night. Before daylight +they were in their beds and snoring except the two who +guarded the cattle. Each was in his own cabin. His horse was +in his corral, smooth-coated and dry. There was nothing to +tell of the night's happenings,--nothing except the satisfied +grins on their faces when they woke and remembered. + + +CHAPTER 12. SHACKS, LIVE STOCK AND PILGRIMS PROMPTLY AND +PAINFULLY REMOVED + +"I'm looking rather seedy now, while holding down my + claim, +And my grub it isn't always served the best, +And the mice play shyly round me as I lay me down to rest In +my little old sod shanty on my claim. +Oh, the hinges are of leather and the windows have no glass, +And the roof it lets the howling blizzards in, +And I hear the hungry kiote as he sneaks up through + grass-- + +"Say! have they got down the hill yet, Pink;" +Pink took his cigarette from his fingers, leaned +and peered cautiously through the grimy window. "Unh-huh. +They're coming up the flat." + +Whereupon Andy Green, ostentatiously washing his +breakfast dishes, skipped two or three verses and lifted +his voice in song to fit the occasion. + +"How I wish that some kind-hearted girl would pity on me + take, +And relieve me of the mess that I am in! +Oh, the angel, how I'd bless her if her home with me she'd + make, +In my little old sod shanty-- + +"Got her yet?" And he craned his neck to look. "Aw, they've +pulled up, out there, listening!" + +"My clothes are plastered o'er with dough, I'm looking like a + fright, +And everything is scattered round the room--" + +"Why don't yuh stop that caterwauling?" Pink demanded +fretfully. "You'll queer the whole play if you keep it up. +They'll swear you're drunk!" + +There was sense in that. Andy finished the line about +remaining two happy lovers in his little old sod shanty, and +went to the door with the dishpan. He threw out the water, +squeezed the dishrag in one hand and gave the inside of the +pan a swipe before he appeared to discover that Miss Allen +and Florence Grace Hallman were riding up to his door. As a +matter of fact, he had seen them come over the top of the +bluff and had long ago guessed who they were. + +He met them with a smile of surprised innocence, and invited +them inside. They refused to come, and even Miss Allen showed +a certain reproachful coolness toward him. Andy felt hurt at +that, but he did not manifest the fact. Instead he informed +them that it was a fine morning. And were they out taking a +look around? + +They were. They were looking up the men who had perpetrated +the outrage last night upon four settlers. + +"Outrage?" Andy tilted the dishpan against the cabin wall, +draped the dishrag over the handle and went forward, pulling +down his sleeves. "What outrage is that, Miss Hallman? +Anybody killed?" + +Miss Hallman watched him with her narrowed glance. She saw +the quick glance he gave Miss Allen, and her lids narrowed +still more. So that was it! But she did not swerve from her +purpose, for all this unexpected thrust straight to the heart +of her self-love. + +"You know that no one was killed. But you damaged enough +property to place you on the wrong side of the law, Mr. +Green. Not one of those shacks can be gotten out of the gulch +except in pieces!" + +Andy smiled inside his soul, but his face was bewildered; his +eyes fixed themselves blankly upon her face. "Me? Damaging +property? Miss Hallman, you don't know me yet! "Which was +perfectly true. "What shacks are you talking about? In what +gulch? All the shacks I've seen so far have been stuck up on +bald pinnacles where the blizzards will hit 'em coming and +going next winter." He glanced again at Miss Allen with a +certain sympathetic foretaste of what she would suffer next +winter if she stayed in her shack. + +"Don't try to play innocent, Mr. Green." Florence Grace +Hallman drew her brows together. "We all know perfectly well +who dragged those shacks off the claims last night." + +"Don't you mean that you think you know? I'm afraid you've +kinda taken it for granted I'd be mixed up in any deviltry +you happened to hear about. I've got in bad with you--I know +that--but just the same, I hate to be accused of everything +that takes place in the country. All this is sure interesting +news to me. Whereabouts was they taken from? And when, and +where to? Miss Allen, you'll tell me the straight of this, +won't you? And I'll get my hoss and you'll show me what gulch +she's talking about, won't you?" + +Miss Allen puckered her lips into a pout which meant +indecision, and glanced at Florence Grace Hallman. And Miss +Hallman frowned at being shunted into the background and +referred to as she, and set her teeth into her lower lip. + +"Miss Allen prefers to choose her own company," she said with +distinct rudeness. "Don't try to wheedle her--you can't do +it. And you needn't get your horse to ride anywhere with us, +Mr. Green. It's useless. I just wanted to warn you that +nothing like what happened last night will be tolerated. We +know all about you Flying U men--you Happy Family." She said +it as if she were calling them something perfectly +disgraceful. "You may be just as tough and bad a you please-- +you can't frighten anyone into leaving the country or into +giving up one iota of their rights. I came to you because you +are undoubtedly the ring-leader of the gang." She accented +gang. "You ought to be shot for what you did last night. And +if you keep on--" She left the contingency to his +imagination. + +"Well, if settling up the country means that men are going to +be shot for going to bed at dark and asleeping till sun-up, +all I've got to say is that things ain't like they used to +be. We were all plumb peaceful here till your colony came, +Miss Hallman. Why, the sheriff never got out this way often +enough to know the trails! He always had to ask his way +around. If your bunch of town mutts can't behave themselves +and leave each other alone, I don't know what's to be done +about it. We ain't hired to keep the peace." + +"No, you've been hired to steal all the land you can and make +all the trouble you can. We understand that perfectly." + +Andy shook his head in meek denial, and with a sudden impulse +turned toward the cabin. "Oh, Pink!" he called, and brought +that boyish-faced young man to the door, his eyes as wide and +as pure as the eyes of a child. + +Pink lifted his hat with just the proper degree of confusion +to impress the girls with his bashfulness and his awe of +their presence. His eyes were the same pansy-purple as when +the Flying U first made tumultuous acquaintance with him. +His apparent innocence had completely fooled the Happy +Family, you will remember. They had called him Mamma's Little +Lamb and had composed poetry and horrific personal history +for his benefit. The few years had not changed him. His hair +was still yellow and curly. The dimples still dodged into his +cheeks unexpectedly; he was still much like a stick of +dynamite wrapped in white tissue and tied with a ribbon. He +looked an angel of innocence, and in reality he was a little +devil. + +Andy introduced him, and Pink bowed and had all the +appearance of blushing--though you will have to ask Pink how +he managed to create that optical illusion. "What did you +want?" he asked in his soft, girlish voice, turning to Andy +bashfully. But from the corner of his eye Pink saw that a +little smile of remembrance had come to soften Miss +Hallman's angry features, and that the other girl was smiling +also. Pink hated that attitude of pleasant patronage which +women were so apt to take toward him, but for the present it +suited his purpose to encourage it. + +"Pink, what time was it when we went to bed last night?" +Andy asked him in the tone of one who wished to eliminate all +doubt of his virtue. + +"Why--it was pretty early. We didn't light the lamp at all, +you remember. You went to bed before I did--we couldn't see +the cards--" He stopped confusedly, and again he gave the two +women the impression that he blushed. "We weren't playing for +money," he hurriedly explained. "Just for pastime. It's-- +pretty lonesome--sometimes." + +"Somebody did something to somebody last night," Andy +informed Pink with a resentful impatience. "Miss Hallman +thinks we're the guilty parties--me in particular, because +she don't like me. It's something about some shacks--damaging +property, she called it. Just what was it you said was done, +Miss Hallman?" He turned his honest, gray eyes toward her and +met her suspicious look steadily. + +Miss Hallman bit her lip. She had been perfectly sure of the +guilt of Andy Green, and of the others who were his friends. +Now, in spite of all reason she was not so sure. And there +had been nothing more tangible than two pairs of innocent- +looking eyes and the irreproachable manners of two men to +change her conviction. + +"Well, I naturally took it for granted that you did it," she +weakened. "The shacks were moved off +eighties that you have filed upon, Mr. Green. Mr. Owens told +me this morning that you men came by his place and threatened +him yesterday, and ordered him to move. No one else would +have any object in molesting him or the others." Her voice +hardened again as her mind dwelt upon the circumstances. "It +must have been you!" she finished sharply. + +Whereupon Pink gave her a distressed look that made Miss +Hallman flush unmistakably. "I'm just about distracted, this +morning," she apologized. "I took it upon myself to see these +settlers through--and everybody makes it just as hard as +possible for me. Why should all you fellows treat us the way +you do? We--" + +"Why, we aren't doing a thing!" Pink protested diffidently. +"We thought we'd take up some claims and go to ranching for +ourselves, when we got discharged from the Flying U. We +didn't mean any harm--everybody's taking up claims. We've +bought some cattle and we're going to try and get ahead, like +other folks. We--I wanted to cut out all this wildness--" + +"Are those your cattle up on the hill? Some men shipped in +four carloads of young stock, yesterday, to Dry Lake. They +drove them out here intending to turn them on the range, and +a couple of men--" + +"Four men," Miss Allen corrected with a furtive twinkle in +her eyes. + +"Some men refused to let them cross that big coulee back +there. They drove the cattle back toward Dry Lake, and told +Mr. Simmons and Mr. Chase and some others that they shouldn't +come on this bench back here at all. That was another thing I +wanted to see you men about." + +"Maybe they were going to mix their stock up with ours," Pink +ventured mildly. + +"Your men shot, and shot, and shot--the atmosphere up there +is shot so full of holes that the wind just whistles +through!" Miss Allen informed then gravely, with her eyebrows +all puckered together and the furtive little twinkle in her +eyes. "And they yelled so that we could hear them from the +house! They made those poor cows and those poor, weenty +calves just go trotting back across the coulee. My new book +on farming says you positively must not hurry cattle. It--oh, +it does something to the butter-fat--joggles it all up or +something--I'll lend you the book. I found the chapter on +Proper Treatment of Dairy Stock, and I watched those men with +the book in my hands. Why, it was terribly unscientific, the +way they drove those cow-critters!" + +"I'll come over and get the book," Andy promised her, with a +look in his eyes that displeased Miss Hallman very much. +"We're ashamed of our ignorance. We'd like to have you learn +us what's in the book." + +"I will. And every week--just think of that! I'm to get a +real farm paper." + +"I'd like to borrow the paper too," Andy declared instantly. + +"Oh, and--what's going to be done about all those bullet- +holes? They--they might create a draught--" + +"We'll ride around that way and plug 'em up," Andy assured +her solemnly. "Whenever you've got time to show me about +where they're at." + +"It will be a pleasure. I can tell where they are, but +they're too high for me to reach. Wherever the wind whistles +there's a hole in the atmosphere. And there are places where +the air just quivers, so you can see it. That is the shock +those bold, bad men gave it with the words they used. They-- +used--words, Mr. Green! If we could scheme some way to pull +out all those wrinkles--I do love a nice, clean, smooth +atmosphere where I live. It's so wrinkly--" + +"I'll attend to all that, right away." + +Miss Hallman decided that she had nothing further to say to +Mr. Green. She wheeled her horse rather abruptly and rode off +with a curt goodbye. Miss Allen, being new at the business of +handling a horse, took more time in pulling her mount around. +While her back was turned to Florence Grace and her face was +turned toward Pink and Andy, she gave them a twinkling glance +that had one lowered eyelid to it, twisted her lips, and +spoke sharply to her horse. They might make of it what they +would. Florence Grace looked back impatiently--perhaps +suspiciously also--and saw Miss Allen coming on with docile +haste. + +So that ended the interview which Miss Hallman had meant to +be so impressive. A lot of nonsense that left a laugh behind +and the idea that Miss Allen at least did not disapprove of +harassing claim-jumpers. Andy Green was two hundred per cent. +more cheerful after that, and his brain was more active and +his determination more fixed. For all that he stared after +them thoughtfully. + +"She winked at us--if I've got eyes in my head. What do you +reckon she meant, Pink?" he asked when the two riders had +climbed over the ridge. "And what she said about the bold, +bad men shooting holes that have to be plugged up--and about +liking a nice, smooth atmosphere? Do you suppose she meant +that it's liable to take bold, bad men to clean the +atmosphere, or--" + +"What difference does it make what she meant? There's jumpers +left--two on Bud's place--and he's oary-eyed over it, and was +going to read 'em the riot act proper, when I left to come +over here. And a couple of men drove onto that south eighty +of Mig's with a load of lumber, just as I come by. Looks to +me like we've got our hands full, Andy. There'll be holes to +plug up somewhere besides in the atmosphere, if you ask me." + +"Long as they don't get anything on us I ain't in the state +of mind where I give a darn. That little brown-eyed Susan'll +keep us posted if they start anything new--what did she mean +by that wink, do you reckon?" + +"Ah, don't get softening of the emotions," Pink advised +impatiently. "That's the worst thing we've got to steer clear +of, Andy! All them women in the game is going to make it four +times as hard to stand 'em off. Irish is foolish over this +one you're gettin' stuck on--you'll be fighting each other, +if you don't look out. That Florence Grace lady ain't so +slow--she's going to use the women to keep us fellows +guessing. + +Andy sighed. "We can block that play, of course," he said. +"Come on, Pink. let's go round up the boys and see what's +been taking place with them cattle. Shipped in four carloads +already, have they?" He began pulling on his chaps rather +hurriedly. "Worst of it is, you can't stampede a bunch of +darned tame cows, either," he complained. + +They found Irish and the Native Son on day-herd, with the +cattle scattered well along the western line of the claims. +Big Medicine, Weary, Cal Emmett and Jack Bates were just +returning from driving the settlers' stock well across +Antelope Coulee which had been decided upon as a hypothetical +boundary line until such time as a fence could be built. + +They talked with the day-herders, and they talked with the +other four. Chip came up from the ranch with the Kid riding +proudly beside him on Silver, and told them that the +Honorable Mr. Blake was at the Flying U and had sent word +that he would be pleased to take the legal end of the fight, +if the Happy Family so desired. Which was in itself a vast +encouragement. The Honorable Blake had said that they were +well within their rights thus far, and advised them to permit +service of the contest notices, and to go calmly on +fulfilling the law. Which was all very well as far as it +went, providing they were permitted to go on calmly. + +"What about them cattle they're trying to git across our +land?" Slim wanted to know. "We got a right to keep 'em off, +ain't we?" + +Chip said that he thought they had, but to make sure, he +would ask the Honorable Blake. Trespassing, he said, might be +avoided-- + +Right there Andy was seized with an idea. He took Chip-- +because of his artistic talents which, he said, had been +plumb wasted lately--to one side. After wards they departed +in haste, with Pink and Weary galloping close at their heels. +In a couple of hours they returned to the boundary where the +cattle still fed all scattered out in a long line, and behind +them drove Pink and Weary in the one wagon which the Family +possessed. + +"It oughta help some," grinned Andy, when the Native Son came +curiously over to see what it was they were erecting there on +the prairie. "It's a fair warning, and shows 'em where to +head in at." + +The Native Son read the sign, which was three feet long and +stood nailed to two posts ready for planting solidly in the +earth. He showed his even, white teeth in a smile of +approval. "Back it up, and it ought to do some good," he +said. + +They dug holes and set the posts, and drove on to where they +meant to plant another sign exactly like the first. That day +they planted twelve sign-boards along their west line. They +might not do any good, but they were a fair warning and as +such were worth the trouble. + +That afternoon Andy was riding back along the line when he +saw a rider pull up at the first sign and read it carefully. +He galloped in haste to the spot and found that his +suspicions were correct; it was Miss Allen. + +"Well," she said when he came near, "I suppose that means me. +Does it?" She pointed to the sign, which read like this: + +WARNING ! ! +N0 TRESPASSING EAST OF HERE +All Shacks, Live-Stock and Pilgrims Promptly +AND +Painfully Removed From These Premises + +"I'm over the line," she notified him, pulling her horse +backward a few feet. "You're getting awfully particular, +seems to me. Oh, did you know that a lot of men are going to +play it's New Year's Eve and hold watch meetings tonight?" + +"Never heard a word about it," he declared truthfully, and +waited for more. + +"That's not strange--seeing it's a surprise party. Still--I'm +sure you are expected to--attend." + +"And where is all this to take place?" Andy looked at her +intently, smiling a little. + +"Oh, over there--and there--and there." She pointed to three +new shacks--the official dwellings of certain contestants." +Stag parties, they are, I believe. But I doubt if they'll +have any very exciting time; most of these new settlers are +too busy getting the ground ready for crops, to go to +parties. Some people are pretty disgusted, I can tell you, +Mr. Green. Some people talk about ingratitude and wonder why +the colony doesn't hang together better. Some people even +wonder why it is that folks are interested mainly in their +own affairs, and decline to attend watch meetings and-- +receptions. So I'm afraid very few, except your nearest +neighbors, will be present, after all might I ask when you +expect to--to MOVE again, Mr. Green?" + +Smiling still, Andy shook his head. "I expect to be pretty +busy this spring," he told her evasively. "Aren't any of you +ladies invited to those parties, Miss Allen?" + + +Not a one. But let me tell you something, Mr. Green. Some +folks think that perhaps we lady-settlers ought to organize a +club for the well being of our intellects. Some folks are +trying to get up parties just for women--see the point? They +think it would be better for the--atmosphere." + +"Oh." Andy studied the possibilities of such a move. If +Florence Grace should set the women after them, he could see +how the Happy Family would be hampered at every turn. "Well, +I must be going. Say, did you know this country is full of +wild animals, Miss Allen? They prowl around nights. And +there's a gang of wild men that hang out up there in those +mountains--they prowl around nights, too. They're outlaws. +They kill off every sheriff's party that tries to round them +up, and they kidnap children and ladies. If you should hear +any disturbance, any time, don't be scared. Just stay inside +after dark and keep your door locked. And if you should +organize that ladies' club, you better hold your meetings in +the afternoon, don't you think?" + +When he had ridden on and left her, Andy was somewhat ashamed +of such puerile falsehoods. But then, she had started the +allegorical method of imparting advice, he remembered. So +presently went whistling to round up the boys and tell them +what he had learned. + + +CHAPTER 13. IRISH WORKS FOR THE CAUSE + +Big Medicine with Weary and Chip to bear him company, rode up +to the shack nearest his own, which had been hastily built by +a raw-boned Dane who might be called truly Americanized. Big +Medicine did not waste time in superfluities or in making +threats of what he meant to do. He called the Dane to the +door--claim-jumpers were keeping close to their cabins, these +days--and told him that he was on another man's land, and +asked him if he meant to move. + +"Sure I don't intend to move!" retorted the Dane with +praiseworthy promptness. "I'm going to hold 'er down solid." + +"Yuh hear what says, boys." Big Medicine turned to his +companions "He ain't going to git off'n my land, he says. +Weary, yuh better go tell the bunch I need'em." + +Weary immediately departed. He was not gone so very long, and +when he returned the Happy Family was with him, even to Patsy +who drove the wagon with all the ease of a veteran of many +roundups. The Dane tried bluster, but that did not seem to +work. Nothing seemed to work, except the Happy Family. + +There in broad daylight, with no more words than were +needful, they moved the Dane, and his shack. When they began +to raise the building he was so unwise as to flourish a gun, +and thereby made it perfectly right and lawful that Big +Medicine should take the gun away from him and march him +ahead of his own forty-five. + +They took the shack directly past one of the trespassing +signs, and Big Medicine stopped accommodatingly while the +Dane was permitted to read the sign three times aloud. That +the Dane did not seem truly appreciative of the privilege was +no fault of Big Medicine's, surely. They went on, skidding +the little building sledlike over the uneven prairie. They +took it down into Antelope Coulee and left it there, right +side up and with not even a pane of glass broken in the +window. + +"There, darn yuh, live there awhile!" Andy gritted to when +the timbers were withdrawn from beneath the cabin and they +were ready to leave. "You can't say we damaged your +property--this time. Come back, and there's no telling what +we're liable to do." + +Since Big Medicine kept his gun, the Dane could do nothing +but swear while he watched them ride up the hill and out of +sight. + +They made straight for the next interloper, remarking +frequently that it was much simpler and easier to do their +moving in daylight. There they had an audience, for Florence +Grace rode furiously up just as they were getting under way. +The Happy Family spoke very nicely to Florence Grace, and +when she spoke very sharply to them they were discreetly hard +of hearing and became absorbed in their work. + +Several settlers came before that shack was moved, but they +only stood around and talked among themselves, and were +careful not to get in the way or to hinder, and to lower +their voices so that the Happy Family need not hear unless +they chose to listen. + +So they slid that shack into the coulee, righted it carefully +and left it there--where it would be exceedingly difficult to +get it out, by the way; since it is much easier to drag a +building down hill than up, and the steeper the hill and the +higher, the greater the difference. + +They loaded the timbers into the wagon and methodically on to +the next shack, their audience increased to a couple of dozen +perturbed settlers. The owner of this particular shack, +feeling the strength of numbers behind him, was disposed to +argue the point. + +"Oh, you'll sweat for this!" he shouted impotently when the +Happy Family was placing the timbers. + +"Ah, git outa the way!" said Andy, coming toward him with a +crowbar. "We're sweating now, if that makes yuh feel any +better." + +The man got out of the way, and went and stood with the group +of onlookers, and talked vaguely of having the law on them-- +whatever he meant by that. + +By the time they had placed the third shack in the bottom of +the coulee, the sun was setting. They dragged the timbers up +the steep bluff with their ropes and their saddle-horses, +loaded them on to the wagon and threw the crowbars and +rolling timbers in, and turned to look curiously and +unashamed at their audience. Andy, still tacitly their +leader, rode a few steps forward. + +"That'll be all today," he announced politely. "Except that +load of lumber back here on the bench where it don't belong-- +we aim to haul that over the line. Seeing your considerable +interest in our affairs, I'll just say that we filed on our +claims according to law, and we're living on 'em according to +law. Till somebody proves in court that we're not, there +don't any shack, or any stock, stay on our side the line any +longer than it takes to get them off. There's the signs, +folks--read 'em and take 'em to heart. You can go home now. +The show's over." + +He lifted his hat to the women--and there were several now-- +and went away to join his fellows, who had ridden on slowly +till he might overtake them. He found Happy Jack grumbling +and predicting evil, as it was his nature to do, but he +merely straightened his aching back and laughed at the +prophecies. + +"As I told you before, there's more than one way to kill a +cat," he asserted tritely but never the less impressively. +"Nobody can say we wasn't mild; and nobody can say we hadn't +a right to get those chickencoops off our land. If you ask +me, Florence Grace will have to go some now if she gets the +best of the deal. She overlooked a bet. We haven't been +served with any contest notices yet, and so we ain't obliged +to take their say-so. Who's going to stand guard tonight? +We've got to stand our regular shifts, if we want to keep +ahead of the game. I'm willing to be It. I'd like to make +sure they don't slip any stock across before daylight." + +"Say, it's lucky we've got a bunch of boneheads like them to +handle," Pink observed thankfully. Would a bunch of natives +have stood around like that with their hands in their pockets +and let us get away with the moving job? Not so you could +notice!" + +"What we'd better do," cut in the Native Son without any +misleading drawl, "is try and rustle enough money to build +that fence." + +"That's right," assented Cal. "Maybe the Old Man--" + +"We don't go to the Old Man for so much as a bacon rind!" +cried the Native Son impatiently. "Get it into your systems, +boys, that we've got to ride away around the Flying U. We +ought to be able to build that fence, all right, without help +from anybody. Till we do we've got to hang and rattle, and +keep that nester stock from getting past us. I'll stand guard +till midnight." + +A little more talk, and some bickering with Slim and Happy +Jack, the two chronic kickers, served to knock together a +fair working organization. Weary and Andy Green were +informally chosen joint leaders, because Weary could be +depended upon to furnish the mental ballast for Andy's +imagination. Patsy was told that he would have to cook for +the outfit, since he was too fat to ride. They suggested that +he begin at, once, by knocking together some sort of supper. +Moving houses, they declared, was work. They frankly hoped +that they would not have to move many more--and they were +very positive that they would not be compelled to move the +same shack twice, at any rate. + +"Say, we'll have quite a collection of shacks down in +Antelope Coulee if we keep on," Jack Bates reminded them. +"Wonder where they'll get water?" + +"Where's the rest of them going to get water?" Cal Emmett +challenged the crowd. "There's that spring the four women up +here pack water from--but that goes dry in August. And +there's the creek--that goes dry too. On the dead, I feel +sorry for the women--and so does Irish," he added dryly. + +Irish made an uncivil retort and swung suddenly away from the +group. "I'm going to ride into town, boys," he announced +curtly. "I'll be back in the morning and go on day-herd." + +"Maybe you will and maybe you won't," Weary amended somewhat +impatiently. "This is certainly a poor time for Irish to +break out," he added, watching his double go galloping toward +the town road. + +"I betche he comes back full and tries to clean out all them +nesters," Happy Jack predicted. For once no one tried to +combat his pessimism--for that was exactly what every one of +them believed would happen. + +"He's stayed sober a long while--for him," sighed Weary, who +never could quite shake off a sense of responsibility for the +moral defections of his kinsman. "Maybe I better go along and +ride herd on him." Still, he did not go, and Irish presently +merged into the dusky distance. + +As is often the case with a family's black sheep, his +intentions were the best, even though they might have been +considered unorthodox. While the Happy Family took it for +granted that he was gone because an old thirst awoke within +him, Irish was thinking only of the welfare of the outfit. He +did not tell them, because he was the sort who does not +prattle of his intentions, one way or the other. If he did +what he meant to do there would be time enough to explain; if +he failed there was nothing to be said. + +Irish had thought a good deal about the building of that +fence, and about the problem of paying for enough wire and +posts to run the fence straight through from Meeker's south +line to the north line of the Flying U. He had figured the +price of posts and the price of wire and had come somewhere +near the approximate cost of the undertaking. He was not at +all sure that the Happy Family had faced the actual figures +on that proposition. They had remarked vaguely that it was +going to cost some money. They had made casual remarks about +being broke personally and, so far as they knew, permanently. + +Irish was hot-headed and impulsive to a degree. He was given +to occasional tumultuous sprees, during which he was to be +handled with extreme care--or, better still, left entirely +alone until the spell was over. He looked almost exactly like +Weary, and yet he was almost his opposite in disposition. +Weary was optimistic, peace-loving, steady as the sun above +him except for a little surface-bubbling of fun that kept him +sunny through storm and calm. You could walk all over Weary-- +figuratively speaking--before he would show resentment. You +could not step very close to Irish without running the risk +of consequences. That he should, under all that, have a +streak of calculating, hard-headed business sense, did not +occur to them. + +They rode on, discussing the present situation and how best +to meet it; the contingencies of the future, and how best to +circumvent the active antagonism of Florence Grace Hallman +and the colony for which she stood sponsor. They did not +dream that Irish was giving his whole mind to solving the +problem of raising money to build that fence, but that is +exactly what he was doing. + +Some of you at least are going to object to his method. Some +of you--those of you who live west of the big river--are +going to understand his point of view, and you will recognize +his method as being perfectly logical, simple, and altogether +natural to a man of his temperament and manner of life. It is +for you that I am going to relate his experiences. Sheltered +readers, readers who have never faced life in the raw, +readers who sit down on Sunday mornings with a mind purged of +worldly thoughts and commit to memory a "golden text" which +they forget before another Sunday morning, should skip the +rest of this chapter for the good of their morals. The rest +is for you men who have kicked up alkali dust and afterwards +washed out the memory in town; who have gone broke between +starlight and sun; who know the ways of punchers the West +over, and can at least sympathize with Irish in what he meant +to do that night. + +Irish had been easing down a corner of the last shack, with +his back turned toward three men who stood looking on with +the detached interest which proved they did not own this +particular shack. One was H. J. Owens--I don't think you have +met the others. Irish had not. He had overheard this scrap of +conversation while he worked: + +"Going to town tonight?" + +"Guess so--I sure ain't going to hang out on this prairie any +more than I have to. You going?" + +"Ye-es--~I think I will. I hear there's been some pretty +swift games going, the last night or two. A fellow in that +last bunch Florence rounded up made quite a clean up last +night." + +"That so. let's go on in. This claim-holding gets my goat +anyway. I don't see where--" + +That was all Irish heard, but that was enough. + +Had he turned in time to catch the wink that one speaker gave +to the other, and the sardonic grin that answered the lowered +eyelid, he would have had the scrap of conversation properly +focused in his mind, and would not have swallowed the bait as +greedily as he did. But we all make mistakes. Irish made the +mistake of underestimating the cunning of his enemies. + +So here he was, kicking up the dust on the town trail just as +those three intended that he should do. But that he rode +alone instead of in the midst of his fellows was not what the +three had intended; and that he rode with the interest of his +friends foremost in his mind was also an unforeseen element +in the scheme. + +Irish did not see H. J. Owens anywhere in town--nor did he +see either of the two men who had stood behind him. But there +was a poker game running in Rusty Brown's back room, and +Irish immediately sat in without further investigation. Bert +Rogers was standing behind one of the players, and gave Irish +a nod and a wink which may have had many meanings. Irish +interpreted it as encouragement to sail in and clean up the +bunch. + +There was money enough in sight to build that fence when he +sat down. Irish pulled his hat farther over his eyebrows, +rolled and lighted a cigarette while he waited for that +particular jackpot to be taken, and covertly sized up the +players. + +Every one of them was strange to him. But then, the town was +full of strangers since Florence Grace and her Syndicate +began to reap a harvest off the open country, so Irish merely +studied the faces casually, as a matter of habit They were +nesters, of course--real or prospective. They seemed to have +plenty of money--and it was eminently fitting that the Happy +Family's fence should be built with nester money. + +Irish had in his pockets exactly eighteen dollars and fifty- +cents. He bought eighteen dollars' worth of chips and began +to play. Privately he preferred stud poker to draw, but he +was not going to propose a change; he felt perfectly +qualified to beat any three pilgrims that ever came West. + +Four hands he played and lost four dollars. He drank a glass +of beer then, made himself another cigarette and settled down +to business, feeling that he had but just begun. After the +fifth hand he looked up and caught again the eye of Bert +Rogers. Bert pulled his eyebrows together in a warning look, +and Irish thought better of staying that hand. He did not +look at Bert after that, but he did watch the other players +more closely. + +After awhile Bert wandered away, his interest dulling when he +saw that Irish was holding his own and a little better. Irish +played on, conservative to such a degree that in two hours he +had not won more than fifteen dollars. The Happy Family would +have been surprised to see him lay down kings and refuse to +draw to them which he did once, with a gesture of disgust +that flipped them face up so that all could see. He turned +them over immediately, but the three had seen that this tall +stranger, who had all the earmarks of a cowpuncher, would not +draw to kings but must have something better before he would +stay. + +So they played until the crowd thinned; until Irish, by +betting safely and sticking to a caution that must have cost +him a good deal in the way of self-restraint, had sixty +dollars' worth of chips piled in front of him. + +Some men, playing for a definite purpose, would have quit at +that. Irish did not quit, however. He wanted a certain sum +from these nesters. He had come to town expecting to win a +certain sum from them. He intended to play until he got it or +went broke. He was not using any trickery--and he had stopped +one man in the middle of a deal, with a certain look in his +eye remarking that he'd rather have the top card than the +bottom one, so that he was satisfied they were not trying to +cheat. + +There came a deal when Irish looked at his cards, sent a +slanting look at the others and laid down his five cards with +a long breath. He raised the ante four blue ones and rolled +and lit a cigarette while the three had drawn what cards they +thought they needed. The man at Irish's left had drawn only +one card. Now he hesitated and then bet with some assurance. +Irish smoked imperturbably while the other two came in, and +then he raised the bet three stacks of blues. His neighbor +raised him one stack, and the next man hesitated and then +laid down his cards. The third man meditated for a minute and +raised the bet ten dollars. Irish blew forth a leisurely +smoke wreath and with a sweep of his hand sent in all his +chips. + +There was a silent minute, wherein Irish smoked and drummed +absently upon the table with his fingers that were free. His +neighbor frowned, grunted and threw down his hand. The third +man did the same. Irish made another sweep of his hand and +raked the table clean of chips. + +"That'll do for tonight," he remarked dryly. "I don't like to +be a hog." + +Had that ended the incident, sensitive readers might still +read and think well of Irish. But one of the players was not +quite sober, and he was a poor loser and a pugnacious +individual anyway, with a square face and a thick neck that +went straight up to the top of his head. His underlip pushed +out, and when Irish turned away, to cash in his chips, this +pugnacious one reached over and took a look at the cards +Irish had held. + +It certainly was as rotten a hand as a man could hold. Suits +all mixed, and not a face card or a pair in the lot. The +pugnacious player had held a king high straight, and he had +stayed until Irish sent in all his chips. He gave a bellow +and jumped up and hit Irish a glancing blow back of the ear. +Let us not go into details. You know Irish--or you should +know him by this time. A man who will get away with a bluff +like that should be left alone or brained in the beginning of +the fight--especially when he can look down on the hair of a +six-foot man, and has muscles hardened by outdoor living. +When the dust settled, two chairs were broken and some +glasses swept off the bar by heaving bodies, and two of the +three players had forgotten their troubles. The third was +trying to find the knob on the back door, and could not +because of the buzzing in his head and the blood in his eyes. +Irish had welts and two broken knuckles and a clear +conscience, and he was so mad he almost wound up by thrashing +Rusty, who had stayed behind the bar and taken no hand in the +fight. Rusty complained because of the damage to his +property, and Irish, being the only one present in a +condition to listen, took the complaint as a personal insult. + +He counted his money to make sure he had it all, evened the +edges of the package of bank notes and thrust the package +into his pocket. If Rusty had kept his face closed about +those few glasses and those chairs, he would have left a +"bill" on the bar to pay for them, even though he did need +every cent of that money. He told Rusty this, and he accused +him of standing in with the nesters and turning down the men +who had helped him make money' all these years. + +"Why, darn your soul, I've spent money enough over this bar +to buy out the whole damn joint, and you know it!" he cried +indignantly. "If you think you've got to collect damages, +take it outa these blinkety-blink pilgrims you think so much +of. Speak to 'em pleasant, though, or you're liable to lose +the price of a beer, maybe! They'll never bring you the money +we've brought you, you--" + +"They won't because you've likely killed 'em both," Rusty +retorted angrily. "You want to remember you can't come into +town and rip things up the back the way you used to, and +nobody say a word. You better drift, before that feller that +went out comes back with an officer. You can't--" + +"Officer be damned!" retorted Irish, unawed. + +He went out while Rusty was deciding to order him out, and +started for the stable. Halfway there he ducked into the +shadow of the blacksmith shop and watched two men go up the +street to Rusty's place, walking quickly. He went on then, +got his horse hurriedly without waiting to cinch the saddle, +led him behind the blacksmith shop where he would not be +likely to be found, and tied him there to the wreck of a +freight wagon. + +Then he went across lots to where Fred Wilson, manager of the +general store, slept in a two-room shack belonging to the +hotel. The door was locked--Fred being a small man with +little trust in Providence or in his overt physical prowess-- +and so he rapped cautiously upon the window until Fred awoke +and wanted to know who in thunder was there. + +Irish told his name, and presently went inside. "I'm pulling +outa town, Fred," he explained, "and I don't know when I'll +be in again. So I want you to take an order for some posts +and bob wire and steeples. I--" + +"Why didn't you come to the store?" Fred very naturally +demanded, peevish at being wakened at three o'clock in the +morning. "I saw you in town when I closed up." + +"I was busy. Crawl back into bed and cover up, while I give +you the order. I'll want a receipt for the money, too--I'm +paying in advance, so you won't have any excuse for holding +up the order. Got any thing to write on?" + +Fred found part of an order pad and a pencil, and crept +shivering into his bed. The offer to pay in advance had +silenced his grumbling, as Irish expected it would. So Irish +gave the order--thirteen hundred cedar posts, I remember--I +don't know just how much wire, but all he would need. + +"Holy Macintosh! Is this for YOU?" Fred wanted to know as he +wrote it down. + +"Some of it. We're fencing our claims. If I don't come after +the stuff myself, let any of the boys have it that shows up. +And get it here as quick as you can--what you ain't got on +hand--" + +Fred was scratching his jaw meditatively with the pencil, and +staring at the order. "I can just about fill that order outa +stock on hand," he told Irish. "When all this land rush +started I laid in a big supply of posts and wire. First thing +they'd want, after they got their shacks up. How you making +it, out there?" + +"Fine," said Irish cheerfully, feeling his broken knuckles. +"How much is all that going to cost? You oughta make us a +rate on it, seeing it's a cash sale, and big." + +"I will." Fred tore out a sheet and did some mysterious +figuring, afterwards crumpling the paper into a little wad +and hipping it behind the bed. "This has got to be on the +quiet, Irish. I can't sell wire and posts to those eastern +marks at this rate, you know. This is just for you boys--and +the profit for us is trimmed right down to a whisper." He +named the sum total with the air of one who confers a great +favor. + +Irish grinned and reached into his pocket. "You musta +knocked your profit down to fifty percent.," he fleered. "But +it's a go with me." He peeled off the whole roll, just about. +He had two twenties left in his hand when he stopped. He was +very methodical that night. He took a receipt for the money +before he left and he looked at it with glistening eyes +before he folded it with the money. "Don't sell any posts and +wire till our order's filled, Fred," he warned. "We'll begin +hauling right away, and we'll want it all." + +He let himself out into the cool starlight, walked in the +shadows to where he had left his horse, mounted and rode +whistling away down the lane which ended where the hills +began. + + +CHAPTER 14. JUST ONE THING AFTER ANOTHER + +A gray clarity of the air told that daylight was near. The +skyline retreated, the hills came out of the duskiness like a +photograph in the developer tray. Irish dipped down the steep +slope into Antelope Coulee, cursing the sprinkle of new +shacks that stood stark in the dawn on every ridge and every +hilltop, look where one might. He loped along the winding +trail through the coulee's bottom and climbed the hill +beyond. At the top he glanced across the more level upland to +the east and his eyes lightened. Far away stood a shack-- +Patsy's, that was. Beyond that another, and yet another. Most +of the boys had built in the coulees where was water. They +did not care so much about the view--over which Miss Allen +had grown enthusiastic. + +He pulled up in a certain place near the brow of the hill, +and looked down into the narrower gulch where huddled the +shacks they had moved. He grinned at the sight. His hand went +involuntarily to his pocket and the grin widened. He hurried +on that he might the sooner tell the boys of their good luck; +all the material for that line fence bought and paid for-- +there would certainly laugh when they heard where the money +had come from! + +First he thought that he would locate the cattle and tell his +news to the boys on guard. He therefore left the trail and +rode up on a ridge from which he could overlook the whole +benchland, with the exception of certain gulches that cut +through. The sky was reddening now, save where banked clouds +turned purple. A breeze crept over the grass and carried the +fresh odor of rain. Close beside him a little brown bird +chittered briskly and flew away into the dawn. + +He looked away to where the Bear Paws humped, blue-black +against the sky, the top of Old Baldy blushing faintly under +the first sun rays. He looked past Wolf Butte, where the land +was blackened with outcroppings of rock. His eyes came back +leisurely to the claim country. A faint surprise widened his +lids, and he turned and sent a glance sweeping to the right, +toward Flying U Coulee. He frowned, and studied the bench +land carefully. + +This was daybreak, when the cattle should be getting out for +their breakfast-feed. They should be scattered along the +level just before him. And there were no cattle anywhere in +sight. Neither were there any riders in sight. Irish gave a +puzzled grunt and turned in his saddle, looking back toward +Dry Lake. That way, the land was more broken, and he could +not see so far. But as far as he could see there were no +cattle that way either. Last night when he rode to town the +cattle of the colonists had been feeding on the long slope +three or four miles from where he stood, across Antelope +Coulee where he had helped the boys drive them. + +He did not waste many minutes studying the empty prairie from +the vantage point of that ridge, however. The keynote of +Irish's nature was action. He sent his horse down the +southern slope to the level, and began looking for tracks, +which is the range man's guide-book. He was not long in +finding a broad trail, in the grass where cattle had lately +crossed the coulee from the west. He knew what that meant, +and he swore when he saw how the trail pointed straight to +the east--to the broken, open country beyond One Man Coulee. +What had the boys been thinking of, to let that nester stock +get past them in the night? What had the line-riders +been doing? They were supposed to guard against just +such a move as this. + +Irish was sore from his fight in town, and he had not +had much sleep during the past forty-eight hours, and +he was ravenously hungry. He followed the trail of +the cattle until he saw that they certainly had gotten across +the Happy Family claims and into the rough country beyond; +then he turned and rode over to Patsy's shack, where a blue +smoke column wobbled up to the fitful air-current that seized +it and sent it flying toward the mountains. + +There he learned that Dry Lake had not hugged to itself all +the events of the night. Patsy, smoking a pipefull of Durham +while he waited for the teakettle to boil, was wild with +resentment. In the night, while he slept, something had +heaved his cabin up at one corner. In a minute another corner +heaved upward a foot or more. Patsy had yelled while he felt +around in the darkness for his clothes, and had got no +answer, save other heavings from below. + +Patsy was not the man to submit tamely to such indignities. +He had groped and found his old 45-70 riffle, that made a +noise like a young cannon and kicked like a broncho cow. +While the shack lurched this way and that, Patsy pointed the +gun toward the greatest disturbance and fired. He did not +think: he hit anybody, but he apologized to Irish for missing +and blamed the darkness for the misfortune. Py cosh, he sure +tried--witness the bullet holes which he had bored through +the four sides of the shack; he besought Irish to count them; +which Irish did gravely. And what happened then? + +Then? Why, then the Happy Family had come; or at least all +those who had been awake and riding the prairie had come +pounding up out of the dark, their horses running like +rabbits, their blood singing the song of battle. They had +grappled with certain of the enemy--Patsy broke open the door +and saw tangles of struggling forms in the faint starlight. +The Happy Family were not the type of men who must settle +every argument with a gun, remember. Not while their hands +might be used to fight with. Patsy thought that they licked +the nesters without much trouble. He knew that the settlers +ran, and that the Happy Family chased them clear across the +line and then came back and let the shack down where it +belonged upon the rock underpining. + +"Und py cosh! Dey vould move my shack off'n my land!" he +grunted ragefully as he lived over the memory. + +Irish went to the door and looked out. The wind had risen in +the last half hour, so that his hat went sailing against the +rear wall, but he did not notice that. He was wondering why +the settlers had made this night move against Patsy. Was it +an attempt to irritate the boys to some real act of violence- +-something that would put them in fear of the law? Or was it +simply a stratagem to call off the night-guard so that they +might slip their cattle across into the breaks? They must +have counted on some disturbance which would reach the ears +of the boys on guard. If Patsy had not begun the bombardment +with his old rifle, they would very likely have fired a few +shots themselves--enough to attract attention. With that end +in view, he could see why Patsy's shack had been chosen for +the attack. Patsy's shack was the closest to where they had +been holding the cattle. It was absurdly simple, and +evidently the ruse had worked to perfection. + +"Where are the boys at now?" he asked abruptly, turning to +Patsy who had risen and knocked the ashes from his pipe and +was slicing bacon. + +"Gone after the cattle. Dey stampede alreatty mit all der +noise," Patsy growled, with his back to Irish. + +So it was just as Irish had suspected. He faced the west and +the gathering bank of "thunder heads" that rode swift on the +wind and muttered sullenly as they rode, and he hesitated. +Should he go after the boys and help them round up the stock +and drive it back, or should he stay where he was and watch +the claims? There was that fence--he must see to that, too. + +He turned and asked Patsy if all the boys were gone. But +Patsy did not know. + +Irish stood in the doorway until breakfast was ready +whereupon he sat down and ate hurriedly--as much from habit +as from any present need of haste. A gust of wind made the +flimsy cabin shake, and Patsy went to close the door against +its sudden fury. + +"Some riders iss coming now," he said, and held the door half +closed against the wind. "It ain't none off der boys," he +added, with the certainty which came of his having watched, +times without number, while the various members of the Happy +Family rode in from the far horizons to camp. "Pilgrims, I +guess--from der ridin'." + +Irish grunted and reached for the coffee pot, giving scarce a +thought to Patsy's announcement. While he poured his third +cup of coffee he made a sudden decision. He would get that +fence off his mind, anyway. + +"Say, Patsy, I've rustled wire and posts--all we'll need. I +guess I'll just turn this receipt over to you and let you get +busy. You take the team and drive in today and get the stuff +headed out here pronto. The nesters are shipping in more +stock--I heard in town that they're bringing in all they can +rustle, thinkin' the stock will pay big money while the +claims are getting ready to produce. I heard a couple of +marks telling each other just how it was going to work out so +as to put 'em all on Easy Street--the darned chumps! Free +grass--that's what they harped on; feed don't cost anything. +All yuh do is turn 'em loose and wait till shippin' season, +and then collect. That's what they were talking. + +"The sooner that fence is up the better. We can't put in the +whole summer hazing their cattle around. I've bought the +stuff and paid for it. And here's forty dollars you can use +to hire it hauled out here. Us fellows have got to keep cases +on the cattle, so you 'tend to this fence." He laid the money +and Fred's receipt upon the table and set Patsy's plate over +them to hold them safe against the wind that rattled the +shack. He had forgotten all about the three approaching +riders, until Patsy turned upon him sharply. + +"Vot schrapes you been into now?" he demanded querulously. +"Py cosh you done somet'ings. It's der conshtable comin' +alreatty. I bet you be pinched." + +"I bet I don't," Irish retorted, and made for the one window, +which looked toward the hills. "Feed 'em some breakfast, +Patsy. And you drive in and tend to that fencing right away, +like I told you." + +He threw one long leg over the window sill, bent his lean +body to pass through the square opening, and drew the other +leg outside. He startled his horse, which had walked around +there out of the wind, but he caught the bridle-reins and led +him a few steps farther where he would be out of the direct +view from the window. Then he stopped and listened. + +He heard the three ride up to the other side of the shack and +shout to Patsy. He heard Patsy moving about inside, and after +a brief delay open the door. He heard the constable ask Patsy +if he knew anything about Irish, and where he could be found; +and he heard Patsy declare that he had enough to do without +keeping track of that boneheaded cowpuncher who was good for +nothing but to fight and get into schrapes. + +After that he heard Patsy ask the constable if they had had +any breakfast before leaving town. He heard certain saddle- +sounds which told of their dismounting in response to the +tacit invitation. And then, pulling his hat firmly down upon +his head, Irish led his horse quietly down into a hollow +behind the shack, and so out of sight and hearing of those +three who sought him. + +He did not believe that he was wanted for anything very +serious; they meant to arrest him, probably, for laying out +those two gamblers with a chair and a bottle of whisky +respectively. A trumped-up charge, very likely, chiefly +calculated to make him some trouble and to eliminate him from +the struggle for a time. Irish did not worry at all over +their reason for wanting him, but he did not intend to let +them come close enough to state their errand, because he did +not want to become guilty of resisting an officer--which +would be much worse than fighting nesters with fists and +chairs and bottles and things. + +In the hollow he mounted and rode down the depression and +debouched upon the wide, grassy coulee where lay a part of +his own claim. He was not sure of the intentions of that +constable, but he took it for granted that he would presently +ride on to Irish's cabin in search of him; also that he would +look for him further, and possibly with a good deal of +persistence; which would be a nuisance and would in a measure +hamper the movements and therefore the usefulness of Irish. +For that reason he was resolved to take no chance that could +be avoided. + +The sun slid behind the scurrying forerunners of the storm +and struggled unavailingly to shine through upon the prairie +land. From where he was Irish could not see the full extent +of the storm-clouds, and while he had been on high land he +had been too absorbed in other matters to pay much attention. +Even now he did no more than glance up casually at the inky +mass above him, and decided that he would do well to ride on +to his cabin and get his slicker. + +By the time he reached his shack the storm was beating up +against the wind which had turned unexpectedly to the +northeast. Mutterings of thunder grew to sharper booming. It +was the first real thunderstorm of the season, but it was +going to be a hard one, if looks meant anything. Irish went +in and got his slicker and put it on, and then hesitated over +riding on in search of the cattle and the men in pursuit of +them. + +Still, the constable might take a notion to ride over this +way in spite of the storm. And if he came there would be +delay, even if there were nothing worse. So Irish, being one +to fight but never to stand idle, mounted again and turned +his long-suffering horse down the coulee as the storm swept +up. + +First a few large drops of rain pattered upon the earth and +left blobs of wet where they fell. His horse shook its head +impatiently and went sidling forward untill an admonitory +kick from Irish sent him straight down the dim trail. Then +the clouds opened recklessly the headgates and let the rain +down in one solid rush of water that sluiced the hillsides +and drove muddy torrents down channels that had been dry +since the snow left. + +Irish bent his head so that his hat shielded somewhat his +face, and rode doggedly on. It was not the first time that he +had been out in a smashing, driving thunderstorm, and it +would not be his last if his life went on logically as he had +planned it. But it was not the more comfortable because it +was an oft-repeated experience. And when the first fury had +passed and still it rained steadily and with no promise of a +let-up, his optimism suffered appreciably. + +His luck in town no longer cheered him. He began to feel the +loss of sleep and the bone-weariness of his fight and the +long ride afterwards. His breakfast was the one bright spot, +and saved him from the gnawing discomfort of an empty +stomach--at first. + +He went into One Man Coulee and followed it to the arm that +would lead to the rolling, ridgy open land beyond, where the +"breaks" of the Badlands reached out to meet the prairie. He +came across the track of the herd, and followed it to the +plain. Once out in the open, however, the herd had seemed to +split into several small bunches, each going in a different +direction. Which puzzled Irish a little at first. Later, he +thought he understood. + +The cattle, it would seem, had been driven purposefully into +the edge of the breaks and there made to scatter out through +the winding gulches and canyons that led deeper into the +Badlands. It was the trick of range-men--he could not believe +that the strange settlers, ignorant of the country and the +conditions, would know enough to do this. He hesitated before +several possible routes, the rain pouring down upon him, a +chill breeze driving it into his face. If there had been +hoofprints to show which way the boys had gone, the rain had +washed them so that they looked dim and old and gave him +little help. + +He chose what seemed to him the gorge which the boys would be +most likely to follow--especially at night and if they were +in open pursuit of those who had driven the cattle off the +benchland; and that the cattle had been driven beyond this +point was plain enough, for otherwise he would have overtaken +stragglers long before this. + +It was nearing noon when he came out finally upon a little, +open flat and found there Big Medicine and Pink holding a +bunch of perhaps a hundred cattle which they had gleaned from +the surrounding gulches and little "draws" which led into the +hills. The two were wet to the skin, and they were chilled +and hungry and as miserable as a she-bear sent up a tree by +yelping, yapping dogs. + +Big Medicine it was who spied him first through the haze of +falling water, and galloped heavily toward him, his horse +flinging off great pads of mud from his feet as he came. + +"Say!" he bellowed when he was yet a hundred yards away. "Got +any grub with yuh?" + +"No!" Irish called back. + +"Y'AIN'T" Big Medicine's voice was charged with incredulous +reproach. "What'n hell yuh doin' here without GRUB? Is Patsy +comin' with the wagon?" + +"No. I sent Patsy on in to town after--" + +"Town? And us out here--" Big Medicine choked over his +wrongs. + +Irish waited until he could get in a word and then started to +explain. But Pink rode up with his hatbrim flapping soggily +against one dripping cheek when the wind caught it, and his +coat buttoned wherever there were buttons, and his collar +turned up, and looking pinched and draggled and wholly +miserable. + +"Say! Got anything to eat?" he shouted when he came near, +his voice eager and hopeful. + +"No!" snapped Irish with the sting of Big Medicine's +vituperations rankling fresh in his soul. + +"Well why ain't yuh? Where's Patsy?" Pink came closer and +eyed the newcomer truculently. + +"How'n hell do I know?" Irish was getting a temper to match +their own. + +"Well, why don't yuh know? What do yuh think you're out here +for? To tell us you think it's going to rain? If we was all +of us like you, there'd be nothing to it for the nester- +bunch. It's a wonder you come alive enough to ride out this +way at all! I don't reckon you've even got anything to drink! +"Pink paused a second, saw no move toward producing anything +wet and cheering, and swore disgustedly. "Of course not! You +needed it all yourself! So help me Josephine, if I +was as low-down ornery as some I could name I'd tie myself to +a mule's tail and let him kick me to death! Ain't got any +grub! Ain't got--" + +Irish interrupted him then with a sentence that stung. Irish, +remember, distinctly approved of himself and his actions. +True, he had forgotten to bring anything to eat with him, but +there was excuse for that in the haste with which he had left +his own breakfast. Besides how could he be expected to know +that the cattle had been driven away down here, and +scattered, and that the Happy Family would not have overtaken +them long before? Did they think he was a mind-reader? + +Pink, with biting sarcasm, retorted that they did not. That +it took a mind to read a mind. He added that, from the looks +of Irish, he must have started home drunk, anyway, and his +horse had wandered this far of his own accord. Then three or +four cows started up a gulch to the right of them and Pink, +hurling insults over his shoulder, rode off to turn them +back. So they did not actually come to blows, those two, +though they were near it. + +Big Medicine lingered to bawl unforgivable things at; Irish, +and Irish shouted back recklessly that they had all acted +like a bunch of sheepherders, or the cattle would never have +been driven off the bench at all. He declared that anybody +with the brains of a sick sage hen would have stopped the +thing right in the start. He said other things also. + +Big Medicine said things in reply, and Pink, returning to the +scene with his anger grown considerably hotter from feeding +upon his discomfort, made a few comments pertinent to the +subject of Irish's shortcomings. + +You may scarcely believe it, unless you have really lived, +and have learned how easily small irritations grow to the +proportions of real trouble, and how swiftly--but this is a +fact: Irish and Big Medicine became so enraged that they +dismounted simultaneously and Irish jerked off his slicker +while Big Medicine was running up to smash him for some +needless insult. + +They fought, there in the rain and the mud and the chill wind +that whipped their wet cheeks. They fought just as +relentlessly as though they had long been enemies, and just +as senselessly as though they were not grown men but +schoolboys. They clinched and pounded and smashed until Pink +sickened at the sight and tore them apart and swore at them +for crazy men and implored them to have some sense. They let +the cattle that had been gathered with so much trouble drift +away into the gulches and draws where they must be routed out +of the brush again, or perhaps lost for days in that rough +country. + +When the first violence of their rage had like the storm +settled to a cold steadiness of animosity, the two remounted +painfully and turned back upon each other. + +Big Medicine and Pink drew close together as against a common +foe, and Irish cursed them both and rode away--whither he did +not know nor care. + + +CHAPTER 15. THE KID HAS IDEAS OF HIS OWN + +The Old Man sat out in his big chair on the porch, smoking +and staring dully at the trail which led up the bluff by way +of the Hog's Back to the benchland beyond. Facing him in an +old, cane rocking chair, the Honorable Blake smoked with that +air of leisurely enjoyment which belongs to the man who knows +and can afford to burn good tobacco and who has the sense to, +burn it consciously, realizing in every whiff its rich +fragrance. The Honorable Blake flicked a generous half-inch +of ash from his cigar upon a porch support and glanced +shrewdly at the Old Man's abstracted face. + +"No, it wouldn't do," he observed with the accent of a second +consideration of a subject that coincides exactly with the +first. "It wouldn't do at all. You could save the boys time, +I've no doubt--time and trouble so far as getting the cattle +back where they belong is concerned. I can see how they must +be hampered for lack of saddle-horses, for instance. But--it +wouldn't do, Whitmore. If they come to you and ask for horses +don't let them have them. They'll manage somehow--trust them +for that. They'll manage--" +"But doggone it, Blake, it's for--" + +"Sh-sh--" Blake held up a warning hand. "None of that, my +dear Whitmore! These young fellows have taken claims in--er-- +good faith." His bright blue eyes sparkled with a sudden +feeling. "In the best of good faith, if you ask me. I--admire +them intensely for what they have started out to do. But-- +they have certain things which they must do, and do alone. If +you would not thwart them in accomplishing what they have set +out to do, you must go carefully; which means that you must +not run to their aid with your camp-wagons and your saddle- +horses, so they can gather the cattle again and drive them +back where they belong. You would not be helping them. They +would get the cattle a little easier and a little quicker-- +and lose their claims." + +"But doggone it, Blake, them boys have lived right here at +the Flying U--why, this has been their home, yuh might say. +They ain't like the general run of punchers that roam around, +workin' for this outfit and for that; they've stuck. Why, +doggone it, what they done here when I got hurt in Chicago +and they was left to run themselves, why, that alone puts me +under obligations to help 'em out in this scrape. Anybody +could see that. Ain't I a neighbor? Ain't neighbors got a +right to jump in and help each other? There ain't no law +agin--" + +"Not against neighbors--no." Blake uncrossed his perfectly +trousered legs and crossed them the other way, after +carefully avoiding any bagging tendency. "But this syndicate- +-or these contestants--will try to prove that you are not a +neighbor only, but a--backer of the boys in a land-grabbing +scheme. To avoid--" + +"Well, doggone your measly hide, Blake, I've told you fifty +times I ain't! "The Old Man sat forward in his chair and +shook his fist unabashed at his guest. "Them boys cooked that +all up amongst themselves, and went and filed on that land +before ever I knowed a thing about it. How can yuh set there +and say I backed 'em? And that blonde Jezebel--riding down +here bold as brass and turnin' up her nose at Dell, and +callin' me a conspirator to my face!" + +"I sticked a pin in her saddle blanket, Uncle Gee-gee. I'll +bet she wished she'd stayed away from here when her horse +bucked her off." The Kid looked up from trying to tie a piece +of paper to the end of a brindle kitten's switching tail, and +smiled his adorable smile--that had a gap in the middle. + +"Hey? You leave that cat alone or he'll scratch yuh. Blake, +if you can't see--" + +"He! He's a her and her name's Adeline. Where's the boys, +Uncle Gee-gee?" + +"Hey? Oh, away down in the breaks after their cattle that got +away. You keep still and never mind where they've gone." His +mind swung back to the Happy Family, combing the breaks for +their stock and the stock of the nesters, with an average of +one saddlehorse apiece and a camp outfit of the most +primitive sort--if they had any at all, which he doubted. The +Old Man had eased too many roundups through that rough +country not to realize keenly the difficulties of the Happy +Family. + +"They need horses," he groaned to Blake, "and they need help. +If you knowed the country and the work as well as I do you'd +know they've got to have horses and help. And there's their +claims--fellers squatting down on every eighty--four +different nesters fer every doggoned one of the bunch to +handle! And you tell me I got to set here and not lift a +hand. You tell me I can't put men to work on that fence they +want built. You tell me I can't lend 'em so much as a horse!" + +Blake nodded. "I tell you that, and I emphasize it," he +assured the other, brushing off another half inch of ash from +his cigar. "If you want to help those boys hold their land, +you must not move a finger." + +"He's wiggling all of 'em!" accused the Kid sternly, and +pointed to the Old Man drumming irritatedly upon his chair +arms. "He don't want to help the boys, but I do. I'll help +'em get their cattle, Mr. Blake. I'm one of the bunch anyway. +I'll lend 'em my string." + +"You've been told before not to butt in to grownup talk," his +uncle reproved him irascibly. "Now you cut it out. And take +that string off'n that cat!" he added harshly. "Dell! Come +and look after this kid! Doggone it, a man can't talk five +minutes--" + +The Kid giggled irrepressibly. "That's one on you, old man. +You saw Doctor Dell go away a long time ago. Think she can +hear yuh when she's away up on the bench?" + +"You go on off and play!" commanded the Old Man. "I dunno +what yuh want to pester a feller to death for--and say! Take +that string off'n that cat!" + +"Aw gwan! It ain't hurting the cat. She likes it." He lifted +the kitten and squeezed her till she yowled. "See? She said +yes, she likes it." + +The Old Man returned to the trials of the Happy Family, and +the Kid sat and listened, with the brindle kitten snuggled +uncomfortably, head downward in his arms. + +The Kid had heard a good deal, lately, about the trials +of his beloved "bunch." About the "nesters" who brought +cattle in to eat up the grass that belonged to the cattle of +the bunch. The Kid understood that perfectly--since he had +been raised in the atmosphere of range talk. He had heard +about the men building shacks on the claims of the Happy +Family--he understood that also; for he had seen the shacks +himself, and he had seen where there had been slid down hill +into the bottom of Antelope Coulee. He knew all about the +attack on Patsy's cabin and how the Happy Family had been +fooled, and the cattle driven off and scattered. The breaks-- +he was a bit hazy upon the subject of breaks. He had heard +about them all his life. The stock got amongst them and had +to be hunted out. He thought--as nearly as could be put in +words--that it must be a place where all the brakes grow that +are used on wagons and buggies. These were of wood, therefore +they must grow somewhere. They grew where the Happy Family +went sometimes, when they were gone for days and days after +stock. They were down there now--it was down in the breaks, +always--and they couldn't round up their cattle because they +hadn't horses enough. They needed help, so they could hurry +back and slide those other shacks off their claims and into +Antelope Coulee where they had slid the others. On the whole, +the Kid had a very fair conception of the state of affairs. +Claimants and contestants--those words went over his head. +But he knew perfectly well that the nesters were the men that +didn't like the Happy Family, and lived in shacks on the way +to town, and plowed big patches of prairie and had children +that went barefooted in the furrows and couldn't ride horses +to save their lives. Pilgrim kids, that didn't know what +"chaps" were--he had talked with a few when he went with +Doctor Dell and Daddy Chip to see the sick lady. + +After a while, when the Honorable Blake became the chief +speaker and leaned forward and tapped the Old Man frequently +on a knee with his finger, and used long words that carried +no meaning, and said contestant and claimant and evidence so +often that he became tiresome, the Kid slid off the porch and +went away, his small face sober with deep meditations. + +He would need some grub--maybe the bunch was hungry without +any camp-wagons. The Kid had stood around in the way, many's +the time, and watched certain members of the Happy Family +stuff emergency rations into flour sacks, and afterwards tie +the sack to their saddles and ride off. He knew all about +that, too. + +He hunted up a flour sack that had not had all the string +pulled out of it so it was no longer a sack but a dish-towel, +and held it behind his back while he went cautiously to the +kitchen door. The Countess was nowhere in sight--but it was +just as well to make sure. The Kid went in, took a basin off +the table, held it high and deliberately dropped it on the +floor. It, made a loud bang, but it did not elicit any shrill +protest from the Countess; therefore the Countess was nowhere +around. The Kid went in boldly and filled his four-sack so +full it dragged on the floor when he started off. + +At the door he went down the steps ahead of the sack, and +bent his small back from the third step and pulled the sack +upon his shoulders. It wobbled a good deal, and the Kid came +near falling sidewise off the last step before he could +balance his burden. But he managed it, being the child of his +parents and having a good deal of persistence in his makeup; +and he went, by a roundabout way, to the stable with the +grub-sack bending him double. Still it was not so very heavy; +it was made bulky by about two dozen fresh-made doughnuts and +a loaf of bread and a jar of honey and a glass of wild- +currant jelly and a pound or so of raw, dried prunes which +the Kid called nibblin's because he liked to nibble at them, +like a prairie dog at a grass root. + +Getting that sack tied fast to the saddle after the saddle +was on Silver's back was no easy task for a boy who is six, +even though he is large for his age. Still, being Chip's Kid +and the Little Doctor's he did it--with the help of the oats +box and Silver's patient disposition. + +There were other things which the bunch always tied on their +saddles; a blanket, for instance, and a rope. The Kid made a +trip to the bunk-house and pulled a gray blanket off Ole's +bed, and spent a quarter of an hour rolling it as he had seen +the boys roll blankets The oats box, with Silver standing +beside it, came in handy again. He found a discarded rope and +after much labor coiled it crudely and tied it beside the +saddle-fork. + +The Kid went to the door, stood beside it and leaned away +over so that he could peek out and not be seen Voices came +from the house--the voice of the Old Man; to be exact, high- +pitched and combative. The Kid looked up the bluff, and the +trail lay empty in the afternoon sun. Still, he did not like +to take that trail. Doctor Dell might come riding down there +almost any minute. The Kid did not want to meet Doctor Dell +just right then. + +He went back, took Silver by the bridle reins and led him out +of the barn and around the corner where he could not be seen +from the White House. He thought he had better go down the +creek, and out through the wire gate and on down the creek +that way. He was sure that the "breaks" were somewhere beyond +the end of the coulee, though he could not have explained why +he was sure of it. Perhaps the boys, in speaking of the +breaks, had unconsciously tilted heads in that direction. + +The Kid went quickly down along the creek through the little +pasture, leading Silver by the reins. He was terribly afraid +that his mother might ride over the top of the hill and see +him and call him back. If she did that, he would have to go, +of course. Deliberate, open disobedience had never yet +occurred to the Kid as a moral possibility. If your mother or +your Daddy Chip told you to come back, you had to come; +therefore he did not want to be told to come. Doctor Dell had +told him that he could go on roundup some day--the Kid had +decided that this was the day, but that it would be foolish +to mention the decision to anyone. People had a way of +disagreeing with one's decisions--especially Doctor Dell, she +always said one was too little. The Kid thought he was +getting pretty big, since he could stand on something and put +the saddle on Silver his own self, and cinch it and +everything; plenty big enough to get out and help the bunch +when they needed help. + +He did not look so very big as he went trudging down +alongside the creek, stumbling now and then in the coarse +grass that hid the scattered rocks. He could not keep his +head twisted around to look under Silver's neck and watch the +hill trail, and at the same time see where he was putting his +feet. And if he got on Silver now he would be seen and +recognized at the first glance which Doctor Dell would give +to the coulee when she rode over the brow of the hill. +Walking beside Silver's shoulder , on the side farthest from +the bluff, he might not be seen at all; Doctor Dell might +look and think it was just a horse walking along the creek +his own self. + +The Kid was extremely anxious that he should not be seen. The +bunch needed him. Uncle Gee-gee said they needed help. The +Kid thought they would expect him to come and help with his +"string", He helped Daddy Chip drive the horses up from the +little pasture, these days; just yesterday he had brought the +whole bunch up, all by his own self, and had driven them into +the big corral alone, and Daddy Chip had stood by the gate +and watched him do it. Daddy Chip had lifted him down from +Silver's back, and had squeezed him hard, and had called him +a real, old cowpuncher. The Kid got warm all inside him when +he, thought of it. + +When a turn in the narrow creek-bottom hid him completely +from the ranch buildings and the hill trail, the Kid led +Silver alongside a low bank, climbed into the saddle. Then he +made Silver lope all the way to the gate. + +He had some trouble with that gate. It was a barbed wire +gate, such as bigger men than the Kid sometimes swear over. +It went down all right, but when he came to put it up again, +that was another matter. He simply had to put it up before he +could go on. You always had to shut gates if you found them +shut--that was a law of the range which the Kid had learned +so long ago he could not remember when he had learned And +there was another reason--he did not want em to know he had +passed that way, if they took a notion to call him back. So +he worked and he tugged and he grew so red in the face it +looked as if he were choking. But he got the gate up and the +wire loop over the stake--though he had to hunt up an old +piece of a post to stand on, and even then had to stand on +his toes to reach the loop--since he was Chip's Kid and the +Little Doctor's. + +He even remembered to scrape out the tell-tale prints of his +small feet in the bare earth there, and the prints of +Silver's feet where he went through. Yarns he had heard the +Happy Family tell, in the bunk-house on rainy days, had +taught him these tricks. He was extremely thorough in all +that he did--being a good deal like his dad--and when he went +the grass, no one would have suspected that he had passed +that way. + +After a while he left that winding creek-bottom and climbed a +long ridge. Then he went down hill and pretty soon he climbed +another hill that made old Silver stop and rest before he +went on to the top. The Kid stood on the top for a few +minutes and stared wistfully out over the tumbled mass of +hills, and deep hollows, and hills, and hill and hills--till +he could not see where they left off. He could not see any of +the bunch; but then, he could not see any brakes growing +anywhere, either. The bunch was down in the brakes--he had +heard that often enough to get it fixed firmly in his mind. +Well, when he came to where the brakes grew--and he would +know them, all right, when he saw them!--he would find the +bunch. He thought they'd be s'prised to see him ride up! The +bunch didn't know that he could drive stock all his own self, +and that he was a real, old cowpuncher now. He was a lot +bigger. He didn't have to hunt such a big rock, or such a +high bank, to get on Silver now. He thought he must be pretty +near as big as Pink, any way. They would certainly be +s'prised! + +The brakes must be farther over. Maybe he would have to go +over on the other side of that biggest hill before he came to +the place where they grew. He rode unafraid down a steep, +rocky slope where Silver picked his way very, very carefully, +and sometimes stopped and smelt of a ledge or a pile of +rocks, and then turned and found some other way down. + +The Kid let him choose his path--Daddy Chip had taught him to +leave the reins loose and let Silver cross ditches and rough +places where he wanted to cross. So Silver brought him safely +down that hill where even the Happy Family would have +hesitated to ride unless the need was urgent. + +He could not go right up over the next hill--there was a rock +ledge that was higher than his head when he sat on Silver. He +went down a narrow gulch--ah, an awfully narrow gulch! +Sometimes he was afraid Silver was too fat to squeeze +through; but Silver always did squeeze through somehow. And +still there were no brakes growing anywhere. Just choke- +cherry trees, and service-berries, and now and then a little +flat filled with cottonwoods and willows--familiar trees and +bushes that he had known all his six years of life. + +So the Kid went on and on, over hills or around hills or down +along the side of hill. But he did not find the Happy Family, +and he did not find the brakes. He found cattle that had the +Flying U brand--they had a comfortable, homey look. One bunch +he drove down a wide coulee, hazing them out of the brush and +yelling "HY-AH!" at them, just the way the Happy Family +yelled. He thought maybe these were the cattle the Happy +Family were looking for; so he drove them ahead of him and +didn't let one break back on him and he was the happiest Kid +in all Montana with these range cattle, that had the Flying U +brand, galloping awkwardly ahead of him down that big coulee. + + +CHAPTER 26. "A RELL OLD COWPUNCHER" + +The hills began to look bigger, and kind of chilly and blue +in the deep places. The Kid wished that he could find some of +the boys. He was beginning to get hungry, and he had long ago +begun to get tired. But he was undismayed, even when he heard +a coyote yap-yap-yapping up a brushy canyon. It might be that +he would have to camp out all night. The Kid had loved those +cowboy yarns where the teller--who was always the hero--had +been caught out somewhere and had been compelled to make a +"dry camp." His favorite story of that type was the story of +how Happy Jack had lost his clothes and had to go naked +through the breaks. It was not often that he could make Happy +Jack tell him that story--never when the other boys were +around. And there were other times; when Pink had got lost, +down in the breaks, and had found a cabin just--in--TIME, +with Irish sick inside and a blizzard just blowing outside, +and they were mad at each other and wouldn't talk, and all +they had to eat was one weenty, teenty snow-bird, till the +yearling heifer came and Pink killed it and they had +beefsteak and got good friends again. And there were other +times, that others of the boys could tell about, and that the +Kid thought about now with pounding pulse. It was not all +childish fear of the deepening shadows that made his eyes big +and round while he rode slowly on, farther and farther into +the breaks. + +He still drove the cattle before him; rather, he followed +where the cattle led. He felt very big and very proud--but he +did wish he could find the Happy Family! Somebody ought to +stand guard, and he was getting sleepy already. + +Silver stopped to drink at a little creek of clear, cold +water. There was grass, and over there was a little hollow +under a rock ledge. The sky was all purple and red, like +Doctor Dell painted in pictures, and up the, coulee, where he +had been a little while ago, it was looking kind of dark. The +Kid thought maybe he had better camp here till morning. He +reined Silver against a bank and slid off, and stood looking +around him at the strange hills with the huge, black boulders +that looked like houses unless you knew, and the white cliffs +that looked--queer--unless you knew they were just cliffs. + +For the first time since he started, the Kid wished +guiltily that his dad was here or--he did wish the bunch +would happen along! He wondered if they weren't camped, +maybe, around that point. Maybe they would hear him if he +hollered as loud as he could. which he did, two or three +times; and quit because the hills hollered back at him and +they wouldn't stop for the longest time--it was just like +people yelling at him from behind these rocks. + +The Kid knew, of course, who they were; they were Echo-boys, +and they wouldn't hurt, and they wouldn't let you see them. +They just ran away and hollered from some other place. There +was an Echo-boy lived up on the bluff somewhere above the +house. You could go down in the little pasture and holler, +and the Echo-boy would holler back The Kid was not afraid-- +but there seemed to be an awful lot of Echo-boys down in +these hills. They were quiet after a minute or so, and he did +not call again. + +The Kid was six, and he was big for his age; but he looked +very little, there alone in that deep coulee that was really +more like a canyon--very little and lonesome and as if he +needed his Doctor Dell to take him on her lap and rock him. +It was just about the time of day when Doctor Dell always +rocked him and told him stories--about the Happy Family, +maybe. The Kid hated to be suspected of baby ways, but he +loved these tunes, when his legs were tired and his eyes +wanted to go shut, and Doctor Dell laid her cheek on his hair +and called him her baby man. Nobody knew about these times-- +that was most always in the bed room and the boys couldn't +hear. + +The Kid's lips quivered a little. Doctor Dell would be +surprised when he didn't show up for supper, he guessed. He +turned to Silver and to his man ways, because he did not like +to think about Doctor Dell just right now. + +"Well, old feller, I guess you want your saddle off, huh?" he +quavered, and slapped the horse upon the shoulder . He lifted +the stirrup--it was a little stock saddle, with everything +just like a big saddle except the size; Daddy Chip had had it +made for the Kid in Cheyenne, last Christmas--and began to +undo the latigo, whistling self-consciously and finding that +his lips kept trying to come unpuckered all the time, and +trying to tremble just the way they did when he cried. He had +no intention of crying. + +"Gee! I always wanted to camp out and watch the stars," he +told Silver stoutly. "Honest to gran'ma, I think this is +just--simply--GREAT! I bet them nester kids would be scared. +Hunh!" + + +That helped a lot. The Kid could whistle better after that. +He pulled of the saddle, laid it down on its side so that the +skirts would not bend out of shape--oh, he had been well- +taught, with the whole Happy Family for his worshipful +tutors!--and untied the rope from beside the fork. "I'll have +to anchor you to a tree, old-timer," he told the horse +briskly. "I'd sure hate to be set afoot in this man's +country!" And a minute later--"Oh, funder! I never brought +you any sugar!" + +Would you believe it, that small child of the Flying U +picketed his horse where the grass was best, and the knots he +tied were the knots his dad would have tied in his place. He +unrolled his blanket and carried it to the sheltered little +nook under the ledge, and dragged the bag of doughnuts and +the jelly and honey and bread after it. He had heard about +thievish animals that will carry off bacon and flour and +such. He knew that he ought to hang his grub in a tree, but +he could not reach up as far as the fox who might try to help +himself, so that was out of the question. + +The Kid ate a doughnut while he studied the matter out for +himself. "If a coyote or a skink came pestering around ME, +I'd frow rocks at him," he said. So when he had finished the +doughnut he collected a pile of rocks. He ate another +doughnut, went over and laid himself down on his stomach the +way the boys did, and drank from the little creek. It was +just a chance that he had not come upon water tainted with +alkali--but fate is kind sometimes. + +So the Kid, trying very, very hard to act just like his Daddy +Chip and the boys, flopped the blanket vigorously this way +and that in an effort to get it straightened, flopped himself +on his knees and folded the blanket round and round him until +he looked like a large, gray cocoon, and cuddled himself +under the ledge with his head on the bag of doughnuts and his +wide eyes fixed upon the first pale stars and his mind +clinging sturdily to his mission and to this first real, man- +sized adventure that had come into his small life. + +It was very big and very empty--that canyon. He lifted his +yellow head and looked to see if Silver were there, and was +comforted at the sight of his vague bulk close by, and by the +steady KR-UP, KR-UP of bitten grasses. + +"I'm a rell ole cowpuncher, all right," he told himself +bravely; but he had to blink his eyelashes pretty fast when +he said it. A "rell ole cowpuncher" wouldn't cry! He was +afraid Doctor Dell would be AWFULLY s'prised, though . . . + +An unexpected sob broke loose, and another. He wasn't +afraid--but . . . Silver, cropping steadily at the grass +which must be his only supper, turned and came slowly toward +the Kid in his search for sweeter grass-tufts. The Kid choked +off the third sob and sat up ashamed. He tugged at the bag +and made believe to Silver that his sole trouble was with his +pillow. + +"By cripes, that damn' jelly glass digs right into my ear," +he complained aloud, to help along the deception. "You go +back, old-timer--I'm all right. I'm a--rell--ole cowpuncher; +ain't I, old-timer? We're makin' a dry-camp, just like--Happy +Jack. I'm a rell--ole--" The Kid went to sleep before he +finished saying it. There is nothing like the open air to +make one sleep from dusk till dawn. The rell ole cowpuncher +forgot his little white bed in the corner of the big bedroom. +He forgot that Doctor Dell would be awfully s'prised, and +that Daddy Chip would maybe be cross--Daddy Chip was cross, +sometimes. The rell ole cowpuncher lay with his yellow curls +pillowed on the bag of doughnuts and the gray blanket wrapped +tightly around him, and slept soundly; and his lips were +curved in the half smile that came often to his sleeping +place and made him look ever so much like his Daddy Chip. + + +CHAPTER 27. "LOST CHILD" + +"Djuh find 'im?" The Old Man had limped down to the big gate +and stood there bare headed under the stars, waiting, hoping- +-fearing to hear the answer. + +"Hasn't he showed up yet?" Chip and the Little Doctor rode +out of the gloom and stopped before the gate. Chip did not +wait for an answer. One question answered the other and there +was no need for more. "I brought Dell home," he said. "She's +about all in--and he's just as likely to come back himself as +we are to run across him. Silver'll bring him home, all +right. He can't be--yuh can't lose a horse. You go up to the +house and lie down, Dell. I--the Kid's all right." + +His voice held all the tenderness of the lover, and all the +protectiveness of the husband and all the agony of a father-- +but Chip managed to keep it firm and even for all that. He +lifted the Little Doctor bodily from the saddle, held her +very close in his arms for a minute, kissed her twice and +pushed her gently through the gate. + +"You better stay right here," he said authoritatively, "and +rest and look after J.G. You can't do any good riding--and +you don't want to be gone when he comes." He reached over the +gate, got hold of her arm and pulled her towards him. "Buck +up, old girl," he whispered, and kissed her lingeringly. +"Now's the time to show the stuff you're made of. You needn't +worry one minute about that kid. He's the goods, all right. +Yuh couldn't lose him if you tried. Go up and go to bed." + +"Go to bed!" echoed the Little Doctor and sardonically. J.G., +are you sure he didn't say anything about going anywhere?" + +"No. He was settin' there on the porch tormenting the cat." +The Old Man swallowed a lump. "I told him to quit. He set +there a while after that--I was talkin'' to Blake. I dunno +where he went to. I was--" + +"'S that you, Dell? Did yuh find 'im?" The Countess came +flapping down the path in a faded, red kimono. "What under +the shinin' sun's went with him, do yuh s'pose? Yuh never +know what a day's got up its sleeve--'n I always said it. Man +plans and God displans--the poor little tad'll be scairt +plumb to death, out all alone in the dark--" + +"Oh, for heaven's sake shut up!" cried the tortured Little +Doctor, and fled past her up the path as though she had some +hope of running away from the tormenting thoughts also. "Poor +little tad, all alone in the dark,"--the words followed her +and were like sword thrusts through the mother heart of her. +Then Chip overtook her, knowing too well the hurt which the +Countess had given with her blundering anxiety. Just at the +porch he caught up with her, and she clung to him, sobbing +wildly. + +"You don't want to mind what that old hen says," he told her +brusquely. "She's got to do just so much cackling or she'd +choke, I reckon. The Kid's all right. Some of the boys have +run across him by this time, most likely, and are bringing +him in. He'll be good and hungry, and the scare will do him +good." He forced himself to speak as though the Kid had +merely fallen on the corral fence, or something like that. +"You've got to make up your mind to these things," he argued, +"if you tackle raising a boy, Dell. Why, I'll bet I ran off +and scared my folks into fits fifty times when I was a kid." + +"But--he's--just a baby!" sobbed the Little Doctor with her +face pressed hard against Chip's strong, comforting shoulder. + +"He's a little devil!" amended Chip fiercely. "He ought to be +walloped for scaring you like this. He's just as capable of +looking after himself as most kids twice his size. He'll get +hungry and head for home--and if he don't know the way, +Silver does; so he can't--" + +"But he may have fallen and--" + +"Come, now! Haven't you got any more sense than the Countess? +If you insist of thinking up horrors to scare yourself with, +I don't know as anybody can stop you. Dell! Brace up and quit +worrying. I tell you--he's--all right!" + +That did well enough--seeing the Little Doctor did not get a +look at Chip's face, which was white and drawn, with sunken, +haggard eyes staring into the dark over her head. He kissed +her hastily and told her he must go, and that he'd hurry back +as soon as he could. So he went half running down the path +and passed the Countess and the Old Man without a word; piled +onto his horse and went off up the hill road again. + +They could not get it out of their minds that the Kid must +have ridden up on the bluff to meet his mother, had been too +early to meet her--for the Little Doctor had come home rather +later than she expected to do--and had wandered off to visit +the boys, perhaps, or to meet his Daddy Chip who was over +there some where on the bench trying to figure out a system +of ditches that might logically be expected to water the +desert claims of the Happy Family--if they could get the +water. + +They firmly believed that the kid had gone up on the hill, +and so they hunted for him up there. The Honorable Blake had +gone to Dry Lake and taken the train for Great Falls, before +ever the Kid had been really missed. The Old Man had not seen +the Kid ride up the hill--but he had been sitting with his +chair turned away from the road, and he was worried about +other things and so might easily have missed seeing him. The +Countess had been taking a nap, and she was not expected to +know anything about his departure. And she had not looked +into the doughnut jar--indeed, she was so upset by supper +time that, had she looked, she would not have missed the +doughnuts. For the same reason Ole did not miss his blanket. +Ole had not been near his bed; he was out riding and +searching and calling through the coulee and up toward the +old Denson place. + +No one dreamed that the :Kid had started out with a camp- +outfit--if one might call it that--and with the intention of +joining the Happy Family in the breaks, and of helping them +gather their cattle. How could they dream that? How could +they realize that a child who still liked to be told bedtime +stories and to be rocked to sleep, should harbor such man- +size thoughts and ambitions? How could they know that the Kid +was being "a rell ole cowpuncher"? + +That night the whole Happy Family, just returned from the +Badlands and warned by Chip at dusk that the Kid was missing, +hunted the coulees that bordered the benchland. A few of the +nesters who had horses and could ride them hunted also. The +men who worked at the Flying U hunted, and Chip hunted +frantically. Chip just about worshipped that kid, and in +spite of his calmness and his optimism when he talked to the +Little Doctor, you can imagine the state of mind he was in. + +At sunrise they straggled in to the ranch, caught up fresh +horses, swallowed a cup of coffee and what food they could +choke down and started out again. At nine o'clock a party +came out from Dry Lake, learned that the Kid was not yet +found, and went out under a captain to comb systematically +through the hills and the coulees. + +Before night all the able-bodied men in the country and some +who were not--were searching. It is astonishing how quickly a +small army will volunteer in such an emergency; and it +doesn't seem to matter very much that the country seems big +and empty of people ordinarily. They come from somewhere, +when they're needed. + +The Little Doctor--oh, let us not talk about the Little +Doctor. Such agonies as she suffered go too deep for words. + +The next day after that, Chip saddled a horse and let her +ride beside him. Chip was afraid to leave her at the ranch-- +afraid that she would go mad. So he let her ride--they rode +together. They did not go far from the ranch. There was +always the fear that someone might bring him in while they +were gone. That fear drove them back, every hour or two. Then +another fear would drive them forth again. + +Up in another county there is a creek called Lost Child +Creek. A child was lost--or was it two children?--and men +hunted and hunted and hunted, and it was months before +anything was found. Then a cowboy riding that way found--just +bones. Chip knew about that creek which is called Lost Child. +He had been there and he had heard the story, and he had seen +the--father and had shuddered--and that was long before he +had known the feeling a father has for his child. What he was +deadly afraid of now was that the Little Doctor would hear +about that creek, and how it had gotten its name. + +What he dreaded most for himself was to think of that creek. +He kept the Little Doctor beside him and away from that Job's +comforter, the Countess, and tried to keep her hope alive +while the hours dragged their leaden feet over the hearts of +them all. + +A camp was hastily organized in One Man Coulee and another +out beyond Denson's place, and men went there to the camps +for a little food and a little rest, when they could hold out +no longer. Chip and the Little Doctor rode from camp to camp, +intercepted every party of searchers they glimpsed on the +horizon, and came back to the ranch, hollow-eyed and silent +for the most part. They would rest an hour, perhaps. Then +they would ride out again. + +The Happy Family seemed never to think of eating, never to +want sleep. Two days--three days--four days--the days became +a nightmare. Irish, with a warrant out for his arrest, rode +with the constable, perhaps--if the search chanced to lead +them together. Or with Big Medicine, whom he had left in hot +anger. H. J. Owens and these other claim-jumpers hunted with +the Happy Family and apparently gave not a thought to claims. + +Miss Allen started out on the second day and hunted through +all the coulees and gulches in the neighborhood of her +claim--coulees and gulches that had been searched frantically +two or three times before. She had no time to make whimsical +speeches to Andy Green, nor he to listen. When they met, each +asked the other for news, and separated without a thought for +each other. The Kid--they must find him--they must. + +The third day, Miss Allen put up a lunch, told her three +claim partners that she should not come back until night +unless that poor child was found, and that they need not look +for her before dark and set out with the twinkle all gone +from her humorous brown eyes and her mouth very determined. + +She met Pink and the Native Son and was struck with the +change which two days of killing anxiety had made in them. +True, they had not slept for forty-eight hours, except an +hour or two after they had been forced to stop and eat. True, +they had not eaten except in snatches. But it was not that +alone which made their faces look haggard and old and +haunted. They, too, were thinking of Lost Child Creek and How +it had gotten its name. + +Miss Allen gleaned a little information from them regarding +the general whereabouts of the various searching parties. And +then, having learned that the foothills of the mountains were +being searched minutely because the Kid might have taken a +notion to visit Meeker's; and that the country around Wolf +Butte was being searched, because he had once told Big +Medicine that when he got bigger and his dad would let him, +he was going over there and kill wolves to make Doctor Dell +some rugs: and that the country toward the river was being +searched because the Kid always wanted to see where the Happy +Family drove the sheep to, that time when Happy Jack got shot +under the arm; that all the places the Kid had seemed most +interested in were being searched minutely--if it could be +possible to; search minutely a country the size of that! +Having learned all that, Miss Allen struck off by herself, +straight down into the Badlands where nobody seemed to have +done much searching. + +The reason for that was, that the Happy Family had come out +of the breaks on the day that the Kid was lost. They had not +ridden together, but in twos and threes because they drove +out several small bunches of cattle that they had gleaned, to +a common centre in One Man Coulee. They had traveled by the +most feasible routes through that rough country, and they had +seen no sign of the Kid or any other rider. + +They did not believe that he had come over that far, or even +in that direction; because a horseman would almost certainly +have been sighted by some of them in crossing a ridge +somewhere. + +It never occurred to anyone that the Kid might go down Flying +U Creek and so into the breaks and the Badlands. Flying U +Creek was fenced, and the wire gate was in its place--Chip +had looked down along there, the first night, and had found +the gate up just as it always was kept. Why should he +suspect that the Kid had managed to open that gate and to +close it after him? A little fellow like that? + +So the searching parties, having no clue to that one incident +which would at least have sent them in the right direction, +kept to the outlying fringe of gulches which led into the +broken edge of the benchland, and to the country west and +north and south of these gulches. At that, there was enough +broken country to keep them busy for several days, even when +you consider the number of searchers. + +Miss Allen did not want to go tagging along with some party. +She did not feel as if she could do any good that way, and +she wanted to do some good. She wanted to find that poor +little fellow and take him to his mother. She had met his +mother, just the day before, and had ridden with her for +several miles. The look in the Little Doctor's eyes haunted +Miss Allen until she felt sometimes as if she must scream +curses to the heavens for so torturing a mother. And that was +not all; she had looked into Chip's face, last night--and she +had gone home and cried until she could cry no more, just +with the pity of it. + +She left the more open valley and rode down a long, twisting +canyon that was lined with cliffs so that it was impossible +to climb out with a horse. She was sure she could not get +lost or turned around, in a place like that, and it seemed to +her as hopeful a place to search as any. When you came to +that, they all had to ride at random and trust to luck, for +there was not the faintest clue to guide them. So Miss Allen +considered that she could do no better than search all the +patches of brush in the canyon, and keep on going. + +The canyon ended abruptly in a little flat, which she +crossed. She had not seen the tracks of any horse going down, +but when she was almost across the flat she discovered tracks +of cattle, and now and then the print of a shod hoof. Miss +Allen began to pride herself on her astuteness in reading +these signs. They meant that some of the Happy Family had +driven cattle this way; which meant that they would have seen +little Claude Bennett--that was the Kid's real name, which no +one except perfect strangers ever used--they would have seen +the Kid or his tracks, if he had ridden down here. + +Miss Allen, then, must look farther than this. She hesitated +before three or four feasible outlets to the little flat, and +chose the one farthest to the right. That carried her farther +south, and deeper into a maze of gulches and gorges and +small, hidden valleys. She did not stop, but she began to see +that it was going to be pure chance, or the guiding hand of a +tender Providence, if one ever did find anybody in this +horrible jumble. She had never seen such a mess. She believed +that poor little tot had come down in here, after all; she +could not see why, but then you seldom did know why children +took a notion to do certain unbelievable things. Miss Allen +had taught the primary grade in a city school, and she knew a +little about small boys and girls and the big ideas they +sometimes harbored. + +She rode and rode, trying to put herself mentally in the +Kid's place. Trying to pick up the thread of logical +thought--children were logical sometimes--startlingly so. + +"I wonder," she thought suddenly, "if he started out with the +idea of hunting cattle! I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he +did--living on a cattle ranch, and probably knowing that the +men were down here somewhere." Miss Allen, you see, came +pretty close to the truth with her guess. + +Still, that did not help her find the Kid. She saw a high, +bald peak standing up at the mouth of the gorge down which +she was at that time picking her way, and she made up her +mind to climb that peak and see if she might not find him by +looking from that point of vantage. So she rode to the foot +of the pinnacle, tied her horse to a bush and began to climb. + +Peaks like that are very deceptive in their height Miss Allen +was slim and her lungs were perfect, and she climbed steadily +and as fast as she dared. For all that it took her a long +while to reach the top--much longer than she expected. When +she reached the black rock that looked, from the bottom, like +the highest point of the hill, she found that she had not +gone much more than two-thirds of the way up, and that the +real peak sloped back so that it could not be seen from below +at all. + +Miss Allen was a persistent young woman. She kept climbing +until she did finally reach the highest point, and could look +down into gorges and flats and tiny basins and canyons and +upon peaks and ridges and worm-like windings, and patches of +timber and patches of grass and patches of barren earth and +patches of rocks all jumbled up together--. Miss Allen gasped +from something more than the climb, and sat down upon a rock, +stricken with a sudden, overpowering weakness. "God in +heaven!" she whispered, appalled. "What a place to get lost +in!" + +She sat there a while and stared dejectedly down upon that +wild orgy of the earth's upheaval which is the Badlands. She +felt as though it was sheer madness even to think of finding +anybody in there. It was worse than a mountain country, +because in the mountains there is a certain semblance of some +system in the canyons and high ridges and peaks. Here every +thing--peaks, gorges, tiny valleys and all--seemed to be just +dumped down together. Peaks rose from the middle of canyons; +canyons were half the time blind pockets that ended abruptly +against a cliff. + +"Oh!" she cried aloud, jumpin up and gesticulating wildly. +Baby! Little Claude! Here! Look up this way!" She saw him, +down below, on the opposite side from where she had left her +horse. + +The Kid was riding slowly up a gorge. Silver was picking his +way carefully over the rocks--they looked tiny, down there! +And they were not going toward home, by any means. They were +headed directly away from home. + +The cheeks of Miss Allen were wet while she shouted and +called and waved her hands. He was alive, anyway. Oh, if his +mother could only be told that he was alive! Oh, why weren't +there telephones or something where they were needed! If his +poor mother could see him! + +Miss Allen called again, and the Kid heard her. She was sure +that he heard her, because he stopped--that pitiful, tiny +speck down there on the horse!--and she thought he looked up +at her. Yes, she was sure he heard her, and that finally he +saw her; because he took off his hat and waved it over his +head--just like a man, the poor baby! + +Miss Allen considered going straight down to him, and then +walking around to where her horse was tied. She was afraid to +leave him while she went for the horse and rode around to +where he was. She was afraid she might miss him somehow the +Badlands had stamped that fear deep into her soul. + +"Wait!" she shouted, her hands cupped around her trembling +lips, tears rolling down her cheeks "Wait baby! I'm coming +for you." She hoped that the Kid heard what she said, but she +could not be sure, for she did not hear him reply. But he did +not go on at once, and she thought he would wait. + +Miss Allen picked up her skirts away from her ankles and +started running down the steep slope. The Kid, away down +below, stared up at her. She went down a third of the way, +and stopped just in time to save herself from going over a +sheer wall of rocks--stopped because a rock which she +dislodged with her foot rolled down the slope a few feet, +gave a leap into space and disappeared. + +A step at a time Miss Allen crept down to where the rock had +bounced off into nothingness, and gave one look and crouched +close to the earth. A hundred feet, it must be, straight +down. After the first shock she looked to the right and the +left and saw that she must go back, and down upon the other +side. + +Away down there at the bottom, the Kid sat still on his horse +and stared up at her. And Miss Allen calling to him that she +would come, started back up to the peak. + + +CHAPTER 18. THE LONG WAY ROUND + +Miss Allen turned to yell encouragingly to the Kid, and she +saw that he was going on slowly, his head turned to watch +her. She told him to wait where he was, and she would come +around the mountain and get him and take him home. "Do you +hear me, baby?" she asked imploringly after she had told him +just what she meant to do. "Answer me, baby!" + +"I ain't a baby!" his voice came faintly shrill after a +minute. "I'm a rell ole cowpuncher" + +Miss Allen thought that was what he said, but at the time she +did not quite understand, except his denial of being a baby; +that was clear enough. She turned to the climb, feeling that +she must hurry if she expected to get him and take him home +before dark. She knew that every minute was precious and must +not be wasted. It was well after noon--she had forgotten to +eat her lunch, but her watch said it was nearly one o'clock +already. She had no idea how far she had ridden, but she +thought it must be twelve miles at least. + +She had no idea, either, how far she had run down the butte +to the cliff--until she began to climb back. Every rod or so +she stopped to rest and to look back and to call to the Kid +who seemed such a tiny mite of humanity among these huge +peaks and fearsome gorges. He seemed to be watching her very +closely always when she looked she could see the pink blur of +his little upturned face. She must hurry. Oh, if she could +only send a wireless to his mother! Human inventions fell far +short of the big needs, after all, she thought as she toiled +upward. + +From the top of the peak she could see the hazy outline of +the Bear Paws, and she knew just about where the Flying U +Coulee lay. She imagined that she could distinguish the line +of its bluff in the far distance. It was not so very far--but +she could not get any word of cheer across the quivering air +lanes. She turned and looked wishfully down at the Kid, a +tinier speck now than before--for she had climbed quite a +distance She waved her hand to him, and her warm brown eyes +held a maternal tenderness. He waved his hat--just like a +man; he must be brave! she thought. She turned reluctantly +and went hurrying down the other side, her blood racing with +the joy of having found him, and of knowing that he was safe. + +It seemed to take a long time to climb down that peak; much +longer than she thought it would take. She looked at her +watch nervously--two o'clock, almost! She must hurry, or they +would be in the dark getting home. That did not worry her +very much, However, for there would be searching parties--she +would be sure to strike one somewhere in the hills before +dark. + +She came finally down to the level--except that it was not +level at all, but a trough-shaped gulch that looked +unfamiliar. Still, it was the same one she had used as a +starting point when she began to climb--of course it was the +same one. How in the world could a person get turned around +going straight up the side of a hill and straight down again +in the very same place. This was the gorge where her horse +was tied, only it might be that she was a little below the +exact spot; that could happen, of course. So Miss Allen went +up the gorge until it petered out against the face of the +mountain--one might as well call it a mountain and be done +with it, for it certainly was more than a mere hill. + +It was some time before Miss Allen would admit to herself +that she had missed the gorge where she had left her horse, +and that she did not know where the gorge was, and that she +did not know where she was herself. She had gone down the +mouth of the gulch before she made any admissions, and she +had seen not one solitary thing that she could remember +having ever seen before. + +Not even the peak she had climbed looked familiar from where +she was. She was not perfectly sure that it was the same peak +when she looked at it. + +Were you ever lost? It is a very peculiar sensation--the +feeling that you are adrift in a world that is strange. Miss +Allen had never been lost before in her life. If she had +been, she would have been more careful, and would have made +sure that she was descending that peak by the exact route she +had followed up it, instead of just taking it for granted +that all she need do was get to the bottom. + +After an hour or two she decided to climb the peak again, get +her bearings from the top and come down more carefully. She +was wild with apprehension--though I must say it was not for +her own plight but on account of the Kid. So she climbed. And +then everything looked so different that she believed she had +climbed another hill entirely. So she went down again and +turned into a gorge which seemed to lead in the direction +where she had seen the little lost boy. She followed that +quite a long way--and that one petered out like the first. + +Miss Allen found the gorges filling up with shadow, and she +looked up and saw the sky crimson and gold, and she knew then +without any doubts that she was lost. Miss Allen was a brave +young woman, or she would not have been down in that country +in the first place; but just the same she sat down with her +back against a clay bank and cried because of the eeriness +and the silence, and because she was hungry and she knew she +was going to be cold before morning--but mostly because she +could not find that poor, brave little baby boy who had waved +his hat when she left him, and shouted that he was not a +baby. + +In a few minutes she pulled herself together and went on; +there was nothing to be gained by sitting in one place and +worrying. She walked until it was too dark to see, and then, +because she had come upon a little, level canyon bottom-- +though one that was perfectly strange--she stopped there +where a high bank sheltered her from the wind that was too +cool for comfort. She called, a few times, until she was sure +that the child was not within hearing. After that she +repeated poetry to keep her mind off the loneliness and the +pity of that poor baby alone like herself. She would not +think of him if she could help it. + +When she began to shiver so that her teeth chattered, she +would walk up and down before the bank until she felt warm +again; then she would sit with her back against the clay and +close her eyes and try to sleep. It was not a pleasant way in +which to pass a whole night, but Miss Allen endured it as +best she could. When the sun tinged the hill-tops she got up +stiffly and dragged herself out of the canyon where she could +get the direction straight in her mind, and then set off +resolutely to find the Kid. She no longer had much thought of +finding her horse, though she missed him terribly, and wished +she had the lunch that was tied to the saddle. + +This, remember, was the fourth day since the Kid rode down +through the little pasture and stood on a piece of fence-post +so that he could fasten the gate. Men had given up hope of +finding him alive and unharmed. They searched now for his +body. And then the three women who lived with Miss Allen +began to inquire about the girl, and so the warning went out +that Miss Allen was lost; and they began looking for her +also. + +Miss Allen, along towards noon of that fourth day, found a +small stream of water that was fit to drink. Beside the +stream she found the footprints of a child, and they looked +quite fresh--as if they had been made that day. She whipped +up her flagging energy and went on hopefully. + +It was a long while afterwards that she met him coming down a +canyon on his horse. It must have been past three o'clock, +and Miss Allen could scarcely drag herself along. When she +saw him she turned faint, and sat down heavily on the steep- +sloping bank. + +The Kid rode up and stopped beside her. His face was terribly +dirty and streaked with the marks of tears he would never +acknowledge afterwards. He seemed to be all right, though, +and because of his ignorance of the danger he had been in he +did not seem to have suffered half as much as had Miss Allen. + +"Howdy do," he greeted her, and smiled his adorable little +smile that was like the Little Doctor's. "Are you the lady up +on the hill? Do you know where the bunch is? I'm--lookin' for +the bunch." + +Miss Allen found strength enough to stand up and put her arms +around him as he sat very straight in his little stock +saddle; she hugged him tight. + +"You poor baby!" she cried, and her eyes were blurred with +tears. "You poor little lost baby!" + +"I ain't a baby!" The Kid pulled himself free. "I'm six years +old goin' on thirty. I'm a rell ole cowpuncher. I can slap a +saddle on my string and ride like a son-a-gun. And I can put +the bridle on him my own self and everything. I--I was +lookin' for the bunch. I had to make a dry-camp and my +doughnuts is smashed up and the jelly glass broke but I never +cried when a skink came. I shooed him away and I never cried +once. I'm a rell ole cowpuncher, ain't I? I ain't afraid of +skinks. I frowed a rock at him and I said, git outa here, you +damn old skink or I'll knock your block off!' You oughter +seen him go! I--I sure made him hard to ketch, by cripes!" + +Miss Allen stepped back and the twinkle came into her eyes +and the whimsical twist to her lips. She knew children. Not +for the world would she offend this manchild. + +"Well, I should say you are a real old cowpuncher!" she +exclaimed admiringly. "Now I'm afraid of skinks. I never +would dare knock his block off! And last night when I was +lost and hungry and it got dark, I--cried!" + +"Hunh!" The Kid studied her with a condescending pity. "Oh, +well--you're just a woman. Us fellers have to take care of +women. Daddy Chip takes care of Doctor Dell--I guess she'd +cry if she couldn't find the bunch and had to make dry-camp +and skinks come around--but I never." + +"Of course you never!" Miss Allen agreed emphatically, trying +not to look conscious of any tear-marks on the Kid's +sunburned cheeks. "Women are regular cry babies, aren't they? +I suppose," she added guilefully: "I'd cry again if you rode +off to find the bunch an left me down here all alone. I've +lost my horse, an I've lost my lunch, and I've lost myself, +and I'm awful afraid of skunks--skinks." + +"Oh, I'll take care of you," the Kid comforted. "I'll give +you a doughnut if you're hungry. I've got some left, but +you'll have to pick out the glass where the jelly broke on +it." He reined closer to the bank and slid off and began +untying the sadly depleted bag from behind the cantle. Miss +Allen offered to do it for him, and was beautifully snubbed. +The Kid may have been just a frightened, lost little boy +before he met her--but that was a secret hidden in the +silences of the deep canyons. Now he was a real old +cowpuncher, and he was going to take care of Miss Allen +because men always had to take care of women. + +Miss Allen offended him deeply when she called him Claude. +She was told bluntly that he was Buck, and that he belonged +to the Flying U outfit, and was riding down here to help the +bunch gather some cattle. "But I can't find the brakes," he +admitted grudgingly. "That's where the bunch is--down in the +brakes; I can't seem to locate them brakes" + +"Don't you think you ought to go home to your mother?" Miss +Allen asked him while he was struggling with the knot he had +tied in the bag. + +"I've got to find the bunch. The bunch needs me," said the +Kid. "I--I guess Doctor Dell is s'prised--" + +"Who's Doctor Dell? Your mother? Your mother has just about +cried herself sick, she's so lonesome without you." + +The Kid looked at her wide-eyed. "Aw, gwan! he retorted after +a minute, imitating Happy Jack's disbelief of any unpleasant +news. "I guess you're jest loadin' me. Daddy Chip is takin' +care of her. He wouldn't let her be lonesome." + +The Kid got the sack open and reached an arm in to the +shoulder . He groped there for a minute and drew out a +battered doughnut smeared liberally with wild currant jelly, +and gave it to Miss Allen with an air of princely generosity +and all the chivalry of all the Happy Family rolled into one +baby gesture. Miss Allen took the doughnut meekly and did not +spoil the Kid's pleasure by hugging him as she would have +liked to do. Instead she said: "Thank you, Buck of the Flying +U," quite humbly. Then something choked Miss Allen and she +turned her back upon him abruptly. + +"I've got one, two, free, fourteen left," said the Kid, +counting them gravely. "If I had 'membered to bring matches," +he added regretfully, "I could have a fire and toast rabbit +legs. I guess you got some glass, didn't you? I got some and +it cutted my tongue so the bleed came--but I never cried," he +made haste to deny stoutly. "I'm a rell ole cowpuncher now. I +just cussed." He looked at her gravely. "You can't cuss where +women can hear," he told Miss Allen reassuringly. "Bud +says--" + +"Let me see the doughnuts," said miss Allen abruptly. "I +think you ought to let me keep the lunch. That's the woman's +part. Men can't bother with lunch--" + +"It ain't lunch, it's grub," corrected the Kid. But he let +her have the bag, and Miss Allen looked inside. There were +some dried prunes that looked like lumps of dirty dough, and +six dilapidated doughnuts in a mess of jelly, and a small +glass jar of honey. + +"I couldn't get the cover off," the Kid explained, "'theut I +busted it, and then it would all spill like the jelly. Gee I- +I wish I had a beefsteak under my belt!" + +Miss Allen leaned over with her elbows on the bank and +laughed and laughed. Miss Allen was closer to hysterics than +she had ever been in her life. The Kid looked at her in +astonishment and turned to Silver, standing with drooping +head beside the bank. Miss Allen pulled herself together and +asked him what he was going to do. + +"I'm going to LOCATE your horse," he said, "and then I'm +going to take you home." He looked at her disapprovingly. "I +don't like you so very much," he added. "It ain't p'lite to +laugh at a feller all the time." + +"I won't laugh any more. I think we had better go home right +away," said Miss Allen contritely. "You see, Buck, the bunch +came home. They--they aren't hunting cattle now. They want to +find you and tell you. And your father and mother need you +awfully bad, Buck. They've been looking all over for you, +everywhere, and wishing you'd come home." + +Buck looked wistfully up and down the canyon. His face at +that moment was not the face of a real old cowpuncher, but +the sweet, dirty, mother-hungry face of a child. "It's a far +ways," he said plaintively. "It's a million miles, I guess I +wanted to go home, but I couldn't des' 'zactly 'member--and I +thought I could find the bunch, and they'd know the trail +better. Do you know the trail?" + +Miss Allen evaded that question and the Kid's wide, wistful +eyes. "I think if we start out, Buck, we can find it. We must +go toward the sun, now. That will be towards home. Shall I +put you on your horse?" + +The Kid gave her a withering glance and squirmed up into the +saddle with the help of both horn and cantle and by the grace +of good luck. Miss Allen gasped while she watched him. + +The Kid looked down at her triumphantly. He frowned a little +and flushed guiltily when he remembered something. "'Scuse +me," he said. "I guess you better ride my horse. I guess I +better walk. It ain't p'lite for ladies to walk and men +ride." + +"No, no!" Miss Allen reached up with both hands and held the +Kid from dismounting. "I'll walk, Buck. I'd rather. I--why, I +wouldn't dare ride that horse of yours. I'd be afraid he +might buck me off." She pinched her eyebrows together and +pursed up her lips in a most convincing manner. + +"Hunh!" Scorn of her cowardice was in his tone. "Well, a +course I ain't scared to ride him." + +So with Miss Allen walking close to the Kid's stirrup and +trying her best to keep up and to be cheerful and to remember +that she must not treat him like a little, lost boy but like +a real old cowpuncher, they started up the canyon toward the +sun which hung low above a dark, pine-covered hill. + + +CHAPTER 19. HER NAME WAS ROSEMARY + +Andy Green came in from a twenty-hour ride through the Wolf +Butte country and learned that another disaster had followed +on the heels of the first; that miss Allen had been missing +for thirty-six hours. While he bolted what food was handiest +in the camp where old Patsy cooked for the searchers, and the +horse wrangler brought up the saddle-bunch just as though it +was a roundup that held here its headquarters, he heard all +that Slim and Cal Emmett could tell him about the +disappearance of Miss Allen. + +One fact stood significantly in the foreground, and that was +that Pink and the Native Son had been the last to speak with +her, so far as anyone knew. That was it--so far as anyone +knew. Andy's lips tightened. There were many strangers riding +through the country, and where there are many strangers there +is also a certain element of danger. That Miss Allen was lost +was not the greatest fear that drove Andy Green forth without +sleep and with food enough to last him a day or two. + +First he meant to hunt up Pink and Miguel--which was easy +enough, since they rode into camp exhausted and disheartened +while he was saddling a fresh horse. From them he learned the +direction which Miss Allen had taken when she left them, and +he rode that way and never stopped until he had gone down off +the benchland and had left the fringe of coulees and canyons +behind. Pink and the Native Son had just come from down in +here, and they had seen no sign of either her or the Kid. +Andy intended to begin where they had left off, and comb the +breaks as carefully as it is possible for one man to do. He +was beginning to think that the Badlands held the secret of +the Kid disappearance, even though they had seen nothing of +him when they came out four days ago. Had he seen Chip he +would have urged him to send all the searchers--and there +were two or three hundred by now--into the Badlands and keep +them there until the Kid was found. But he did not see Chip +and had no time to hunt him up. And having managed to evade +the supervision of any captain, and to keep clear of all +parties, he meant to go alone and see if he could find a +clue, at least. + +It was down in the long canyon which Miss Allen had followed, +that Andy found hoof-prints which he recognized. The horse +Miss Allen had ridden whenever he saw her--one which she had +bought somewhere north of town--had one front foot which +turned in toward the other. "Pigeon-toed," he would have +called it. The track it left in soft soil was unmistakable. +Andy's face brightened when he saw it and knew that he was on +her trail. The rest of the way down the canyon he rode +alertly, for though he knew she might be miles from there by +now, to find the route she had taken into the Badlands was +something gained. + +The flat, which Andy knew very well--having driven the bunch +of cattle whose footprints had so elated Miss Allen--he +crossed uneasily. There were so many outlets to this rich +little valley. He tried several of them, which took time; and +always when he came to soft earth and saw no track of the +hoof that turned in toward the other, he would go back and +ride into another gulch. And when you are told that these +were many, and that much of the ground was rocky, and some +was covered with a thick mat of grass, you will not be +surprised that when Andy finally took up her trail in the +canyon farthest to the right, it was well towards noon. He +followed her easily enough until he came to the next valley, +which he examined over and over before he found where she had +left it to push deeper into the Badlands. And it was the same +experience repeated when he came out of that gulch into +another open space. + +He came into a network of gorges that would puzzle almost +anyone, and stopped to water his horse and let him feed for +an hour or so. A man's horse meant a good deal to him, down +here on such a mission, and even his anxiety could not betray +him into letting his mount become too fagged. + +After a while he mounted and rode on without having any clue +to follow; one must trust to chance, to a certain extent, in +a place like this. He had not seen any sign of the Kid, +either, and the gorges were filling with shadows that told +How low the sun was sliding down the sky. At that time he was +not more than a mile or so from the canyon up which Miss +Allen was toiling afoot toward the sun; but Andy had no means +of knowing that. He went on with drooping head and eyes that +stared achingly here and there. That was the worst of his +discomfort--his eyes. Lack of sleep and the strain of +looking, looking, against wind and sun, had made them red- +rimmed and bloodshot. Miss Allen's eyes were like that, and +so were the eyes of all the searchers. + +In spite of himself Andy's eyes closed now. He had not slept +for two nights, and he had been riding all that time. Before +he realized it he was asleep in the saddle, and his horse was +carrying him into a gulch that had no outlet--there were so +many such!--but came up against a hill and stopped there. The +shadows deepened, and the sky above was red and gold. + +Andy woke with a jerk, his horse having stopped because he +could go no farther. But it was not that which woke him. He +listened. He would have sworn that he had heard the shrill, +anxious whinney of a horse not far away. He turned and +examined the gulch, but it was narrow and grassy and had no +possible place of concealment, and save himself and his own +horse it was empty. And it was not his own horse that +whinnied--he was sure of that. Also, he was sure that he had +-not dreamed it. A horse had called insistently. Andy knew +horses too well not to know that there was anxiety and +rebellion in that call. + +He waited a minute, his heart beating heavily. He turned and +started back down the gulch, and then stopped suddenly. He +heard it again--shrill, prolonged, a call from somewhere; +where, he could not determine because of the piled masses of +earth and rock that flung the sound riotously here and there +and confused him as to direction. + +Then his own horse turned his head and looked toward the +left, and answered the call. From far off the strange horse +made shrill reply. Andy got down and began climbing the left- +hand ridge on the run, tired as he was. Not many horses +ranged down in here--and he did not believe, anyway, that +this was any range horse. It did not sound like Silver, but +it might be the pigeon-toed horse of Miss Allen. And if it +was, then Miss Allen would be there. He took a deep breath +and went up the last steep pitch in a spurt of speed that +surprised himself. + +At the top he stood panting and searched the canyon below +him. Just across the canyon was the high peak which Miss +Allen had climbed afoot. But down below him he saw her horse +circling about in a trampled place under a young cottonwood. + +You would never accuse Andy Green of being weak, or of having +unsteady nerves, I hope. + +But it is the truth that he felt his knees give way while he +looked; and it was a minute or two before he had any voice +with which to call to her. Then he shouted, and the great +hill opposite flung back the echoes maddeningly. + +He started running down the ridge, and brought up in the +canyon's bottom near the horse. It was growing shadowy now to +the top of the lower ridges, although the sun shone faintly +on the crest of the peak. The horse whinnied and circled +restively when Andy came near. Andy needed no more than a +glance to tell him that the horse had stood tied there for +twenty-four hours, at the very least. That meant. . . . + +Andy turned pale. He shouted, and the canyon mocked him with +echoes. He looked for her tracks. At the base of the peak he +saw the print of her riding boots; farther along, up the +slope he saw the track again. Miss Allen, then, must have +climbed the peak, and he knew why she had done so. But why +had she not come down again? + +There was only one way to find out, and he took the method in +the face of his weariness. He climbed the peak also, with now +and then a footprint to guide him. He was not one of these +geniuses at trailing who could tell, by a mere footprint, +what had been in Miss Allen's mind when she had passed that +way; but for all that it seemed logical that she had gone up +there to see if she could not glimpse the kid--or possibly +the way home. + +At the top he did not loiter. He saw, before he reached the +height, where Miss Allen had come down again--and he saw +where she had, to avoid a clump of boulders and a broken +ledge, gone too far to one side. He followed that way. She +had descended at an angle, after that, which took her away +from the canyon. + +In Montana there is more of daylight after the sun has gone +than there is in some other places. Andy, by hurrying, +managed to trail Miss Allen to the bottom of the peak before +it grew really dusky. He knew that she had been completely +lost when she reached the bottom, and had probably wandered +about at random since then. At any rate, there were no tracks +anywhere save her own, so that he felt less anxiety over her +safety than, when he had started out looking for her. + +Andy knew these breaks pretty well. He went over a rocky +ridge, which Miss Allen had not tried to cross because to her +it seemed exactly in the opposite direction from where she +had started, and so he came to her horse again. He untied the +poor beast and searched for a possible trail over the ridge +to where his own horse waited; and by the time he had found +one and had forced the horse to climb to the top and then +descend into the gulch, the darkness lay heavy upon the +hills. + +He picketed Miss Allen's horse with his rope', and fashioned +a hobble for his own mount. Then he ate a little of the food +he carried and sat down to rest and smoke and consider how +best he could find Miss Allen or the Kid--or both. He +believed Miss Allen to be somewhere not far away--since she +was afoot, and had left her lunch tied to the saddle. She +could not travel far without food. + +After a little he climbed back up the ridge to where he had +noticed a patch of brush, and there he started a fire. Not a +very large one, but large enough to be seen for a long +distance where the vision was not blocked by intervening +hills. Then he sat down beside it and waited and listened and +tended the fire. It was all that he could do for the present, +and it seemed pitifully little. If she saw the fire, he +believed that she would come; if she did not see it, there +was no hope of his finding her in the dark. Had there been +fuel on the high peak, he might have gone up there to start +his fire; but that was out of the question, since the peak +was barren. + +Heavy-eyed, tired in every fibre of his being, Andy dragged +up a dead buck-bush and laid the butt of it across his blaze. +Then he lay down near it--and went to sleep as quickly as if +he had been chloroformed. + +It may have been an hour after that--it may have been more. +He sat up suddenly and listened. Through the stupor of his +sleep he had heard Miss Allen call. At least, he believed he +had heard her call, though he knew he might easily have +dreamed it. He knew he had been asleep, because the fire had +eaten part of the way to the branches of the bush and had +died down to smoking embers. He kicked the branch upon the +coals and a blaze shot up into the night. He stood up and +walked a little distance away from the fire so that he could +see better, and stood staring down into the canyon. + +From below he heard a faint call--he was sure of it. The +wonder to him was that he had heard it at all in his sleep. +His anxiety must have been strong enough even then to send +the signal to his brain and rouse him. + +He shouted, and again he heard a faint call. It seemed to be +far down the canyon. He started running that way. + +The next time he shouted, she answered him more clearly. And +farther along he distinctly heard and recognized her voice. +You may be sure he ran, after that! + +After all, it was not so very far, to a man who is running +recklessly down hill. Before he realized how close he was he +saw her standing before him in the starlight. Andy did not +stop. He kept right on running until he could catch her in +his arms; and when he had her there he held her close and +then he kissed her. That was not proper, of course--but a man +does sometimes do terribly improper things under the stress +of big emotions; Andy had been haunted by the fear that she +was dead. + +Well, Miss Allen was just as improper as he was, for that +matter. She did say "Oh!" in a breathless kind of way, and +then she must have known who he was. There surely could be no +other excuse for the way she clung to him and without the +faintest resistance let him kiss her. + +"Oh, I've found him!" she whispered after the first terribly +unconventional greetings were over. "I've found him, Mr. +Green. I couldn't come up to the fire, because he's asleep +and I couldn't carry him, and I wouldn't wake him unless I +had to. He's just down here--I was afraid to go very far, for +fear of losing him again. Oh, Mr. Green! I--" + +"My name is Andy," he told her. "What's your name?" + +"Mine? It's--well, it's Rosemary. Never mind now. I should +think you'd be just wild to see that poor little fellow--he's +a brick, though." + +"I've been wild," said Andy, "over a good many things--you, +for one. Where's the Kid?" + +They went together, hand in hand--terribly silly, wasn't +it?--to where the Kid lay wrapped in the gray blanket in the +shelter of a bank. Andy struck a match and held it so that he +could see the Kid face--and Miss Allen, looking at the man +whose wooing had been so abrupt, saw his mouth tremble and +his lashes glisten as he stared down while the match-blaze +lasted. + +"Poor little tad--he's sure a great Kid," he said huskily +when the match went out. He stood up and put his arm around +Miss Allen just as though that was his habit. "And it was you +that found him!" he murmured with his face against hers. "And +I've found you both, thank God." + + +CHAPTER 20. THE RELL OLE COWPUNCHER GOES HOME + +I don't suppose anything can equal the aplomb of a child that +has always had his own way and has developed normally. The +Kid, for instance, had been wandering in the wild places-- +this was the morning of the sixth day. The whole of Northern +Montana waited anxiously for news of him. The ranch had been +turned into a rendezvous for searchers. Men rode as long as +they could sit in the saddle. Women were hysterical in the +affection they lavished upon their own young. And yet, the +Kid himself opened his eyes to the sun and his mind was +untroubled save where his immediate needs were concerned. He +sat up thinking of breakfast, and he spied Andy Green humped +on his knees over a heap of camp-fire coals, toasting rabbit- +hams--the joy of it--on a forked stick. Opposite him Miss +Allen crouched and held another rabbit-leg on a forked stick. +The Kid sat up as if a spring had been suddenly released, and +threw off the gray blanket + +"Say, I want to do that too!" he cried. "Get me a stick, +Andy, so I can do it. I never did and I want to!" + +Andy grabbed him as he came up and kissed him--and the Kid +wondered at the tremble of Andy's arms. He wondered also at +the unusual caress; but it was very nice to have Andy's arms +around him and Andy's cheek against his, and of a sudden the +baby of him came to the surface. + +"I want my Daddy Chip!" he whimpered, and laid his head down +on Andy's shoulder . "And I want my Doctor Dell and my--cat! +She's lonesome for me. And I forgot to take the string off +her tail and maybe it ain't comfortable any more!" + +"We're going to hit the trail, old-timer, just as soon as we +get outside of a little grub." Andy's voice was so tender +that Miss Allen gulped back a sob of sympathy. "You take this +stick and finish roasting the meat, and then see what you +think of rabbit-hams. I hear you've been a real old +cowpuncher, Buck. The way you took care of Miss Allen proves +you're the goods, all right. Not quite so close, or you'll +burn it, Buck. That's better. I'll go get another stick and +roast the back." + +The Kid, squatting on his heels by the fire, watched gravely +the rabbit-leg on the two prongs of the willow stick he held. +He glanced across at Miss Allen and smiled his Little Doctor +smile. + +"He's my pal," he announced. "I bet if I stayed we could round +up all them cattle our own selves. And I bet he can find your +horse, too. He--he's 'customed to this country. I'd a found +your horse today, all right--but I guess Andy could find him +quicker. Us punchers'll take care of you, all right." The +rabbit-leg sagged to the coals and began to scorch, and the +Kid lifted it startled and was grateful when Miss Allen did +not seem to have seen the accident. + +"I'd a killed a rabbit for you," he explained, "only I didn't +have no gun or no matches so I couldn't. When I'm ten my +Daddy Chip is going to give me a gun. And then if you get +lost I can take care of you like Andy can. I'll be ten next +week, I guess." He turned as Andy came back slicing off the +branches of a willow the size of his thumb. + +"Say, old-timer, where's the rest of the bunch?" he inquired +casually. "Did you git your cattle rounded up?" + +"Not yet." Andy sharpened the prongs of his stick and +carefully impaled the back of the rabbit. + +"Well, I'll help you out. But I guess I better go home +first--I guess Doctor Dell might need me, maybe." + +"I know she does, Buck." Andy's voice had a peculiar, shaky +sound that the Kid did not understand. "She needs you right +bad. We'll hit the high places right away quick." + +Since Andy had gone at daybreak and brought the horses over +into this canyon, his statement was a literal one. They ate +hurriedly and started--and Miss Allen insisted that Andy was +all turned around, and that they were going in exactly the +wrong direction, and blushed and was silent when Andy, +turning his face full toward her, made a kissing motion with +his lips. + +"You quit that!" the Kid commanded him sharply. "She's my +girl I guess I found her first 'fore you did, and you ain't +goin' to kiss her." + +After that there was no lovemaking but the most decorous +conversation between these two. + +Flying U Coulee lay deserted under the warm sunlight of early +forenoon. Deserted, and silent with the silence that tells +where Death has stopped with his sickle. Even the Kid seemed +to feel a strangeness in the atmosphere--a stillness that +made his face sober while he looked around the little pasture +and up at the hill trail. In all the way home they had not +met anyone--but that may have been because Andy chose the +way up Flying U Creek as being shorter and therefore more +desirable. + +At the lower line fence of the little pasture Andy refused to +believe the Kid's assertion of having opened and shut the +gate, until the Kid got down and proved that he could open +it--the shutting process being too slow for Andy's raw +nerves. He lifted the Kid into the saddle and shut the gate +himself, and led the way up the creek at a fast trot. + +"I guess Doctor Dell will be glad to see me," the Kid +observed wistfully. "I've been gone most a year, I guess." + +Neither Andy nor Miss Allen made any reply to this. Their +eyes were searching the hilltop for riders, that they might +signal. But there was no one in sight anywhere. + +"Hadn't you better shout?" suggested Miss Allen. "Or would it +be better to go quietly--" + +Andy did not reply; nor did he shout. Andy, at that moment, +was fighting a dryness in his throat. He could not have +called out if he had wanted to. They rode to the stable and +stopped. Andy lifted the Kid down and set him on his two feet +by the stable door while he turned to Miss Allen. For once in +his life he was at a loss. He did not know how best to bring +the Kid to the Little Doctor; How best to lighten the shock +of seeing safe and well the manchild who she thought was +dead. He hesitated. Perhaps he should have ridden on to the +house with him. Perhaps he should have fired the signal when +first he came into the coulee. Perhaps. . . + +The Kid himself swept aside Andy's uncertainties. Adeline, +the cat, came out of the stable and looked at them +contemplatively. Adeline still had the string tied to her +tail, and a wisp of paper tied to the string. The Kid pounced +and caught her by the middle. + +"I guess I can tie knots so they stay, by cripes!" he shouted +vaingloriously. "I guess Happy Jack can't tie strings any +better 'n me, can he? Nice kitty--c'm back here, you son-a- +gun!" + +Adeline had not worried over the absence of the Kid, but his +hilarious arrival seemed to worry her considerably. She went +bounding up the path to the house, and after her went the +Kid, yelling epithets which were a bit shocking for one of +his age. + +So he came to the porch just when Chip and the Little Doctor +reached it, white-faced and trembling. Adeline paused to +squeeze under the steps, and the Kid catching her by the +tail, dragged her back yowling. While his astounded parents +watched him unbelievingly, the Kid gripped Adeline firmly and +started up the steps. + +"I ketched the son-a-gun!" he cried jubilantly. + +"Say, I seen a skink, Daddy Chip, and I frowed a rock and +knocked his block off 'cause he was going to swipe my grub. +Was you s'prised, Doctor Dell?" + +Doctor Dell did not say. Doctor Dell was kneeling on the +porch floor with the Kid held closer in her arms than ever he +held the cat, and she was crying and laughing and kissing him +all at once--though nobody except a mother can perform that +feat. + + +CHAPTER 21. THE FIGHT GOES ON + +It is amazing how quickly life swings back to the normal +after even so harrowing an experience as had come to the +Flying U. Tragedy had hovered there a while and had turned +away with a smile, and the smile was reflected upon the faces +and in the eyes of everyone upon whose souls had fallen her +shadow. The Kid was safe, and he was well, and he had not +suffered from the experience; on the contrary he spent most +of his waking hours in recounting his adventures to an +admiring audience. He was a real old cowpuncher. He had gone +into the wilderness and he had proven the stuff that was in +him. He had made "dry-camp" just exactly as well as any of +the Happy Family could have done. He had slept out under the +stars rolled in a blanket--and do you think for one minute +that he would ever submit to lace-trimmed nighties again? If +you do, ask the little Doctor what the Kid said on the first +night after his return, when she essayed to robe him in +spotless white and rock him, held tight in her starved arms. +Or you might ask his Daddy Chip, who hovered pretty close to +them both, his eyes betraying how his soul gave thanks. Or-- +never mind, I'll tell you myself. + +The Little Doctor brought the nightie, and reached out her +two eager arms to take the kid off Chip's knees where he was +perched contentedly relating his adventures with sundry hair- +raising additions born of his imagination. The Kid was +telling Daddy Chip about the skunk he saw, and he hated to be +interrupted. He looked at his Doctor Dell and at the +familiar, white garment with lace at the neck and wristbands, +and he waved his hand with a gesture of dismissal. + +"Aw, take that damn' thing away!" he told her in the tone of +the real old cowpuncher. "When I get ready to hit the bed- +ground, a blanket is all I'll need." + +Lest you should think him less lovable than he really was, I +must add that, when Chip set him down hastily so that he +himself could rush off somewhere and laugh in secret, the Kid +spread his arms with a little chuckle and rushed straight at +his Doctor Dell and gave her a real bear hug. + +"I want to be rocked," he told her--and was her own baby man +again, except that he absolutely refused to reconsider the +nightgown. "And I want you to tell me a story--about when +Silver breaked his leg. Silver's a good ole scout, you bet. I +don't know what I'd a done 'theut Silver. And tell about the +bunch makin' a man outa straw to scare you, and the horses +runned away. I was such a far ways, Doctor Dell, and I +couldn't get back to hear them stories and I've most forgot +about 'em. And tell about Whizzer, Doctor Dell." + +The Little Doctor rocked him and told him of the old days, +and she never again brought him his lace-trimmed nightie at +bedtime. She never mentioned his language upon the subject, +either. The Little Doctor was learning some things about her +man-child, and one of them was this: When he rode away into +the Badlands and was lost, other things were lost, and lost +permanently; he was no longer her baby, for all he liked to +be rocked. He had come back to her changed, so that she +studied him amazedly while she worshipped. He had entered +boldly into the life which men live, and he would never come +back entirely to the old order of things. He would never be +her baby; there would be a difference, even while she held +him in her arms and him rocked him to sleep. + +She knew that it was so, when the Kid insisted, next day, +upon going home with the bunch; with Andy, rather, who was +just now the Kid's particular hero. He had to help the bunch +he said; they needed him, and Andy needed him and Miss Allen +needed him. + +"Aw, you needn't be scared, Doctor Dell," he told her +shrewdly. "I ain't going to find them brakes any more. I'll +stick with the bunch, cross my heart. and I'll come back +tonight if you're scared 'theut me. Honest to gran'ma, I've +got to go and help the bunch lick the stuffen' outa them +nesters, Doctor Dell." + +The Little Doctor looked at him strangely, hugged him tight-- +and let him go. Chip would be with them, and he would bring +the Kid home safely, and--the limitations of dooryard play no +longer sufficed; her fledgling had found what his wings were +for, and the nest was too little, now. + +"We'll take care of him," Andy promised her understandingly. +"If Chip don't come up, this afternoon, I'll bring him home +myself. Don't you worry a minute about him." + +"I'd tell a man she needn't!" added the Kid patronizingly. + +"I suppose he's a lot safer with you boys than he is here at +the ranch--unless one of us stood over him all the time, or +we tied him up," she told Andy gamely. "I feel like a hen +trying to raise a duck! Go on, Buck--but give mother a kiss +first." + +The Kid kissed her violently and with a haste that betrayed +where his thoughts were, in spite of the fact that never +before had his mother called him Buck. + +To her it was a supreme surrender of his babyhood--to him it +was merely his due. The Little Doctor sighed and watched him +ride away beside Andy. "Children are such self-centred little +beasts!" she told J. G. rue-fully. "I almost wish he was a +girl." + +"Ay? If he was a girl he wouldn't git lost, maybe, but some +feller'd take him away from yuh just the same. The Kid's all +right. He's just the kind you expect him to be and want him +to be. You're tickled to death because he's like he is. +Doggone it, Dell, that Kid's got the real stuff in him! He's +a dead ringer fer his dad--that ought to do yuh." + +"It does," the Little Doctor declared. "But it does seem as +if he might be contented here with me for a little while-- +after such a horrible time--" + +"It wasn't horrible to him, yuh want to recollect. Doggone +it, I wish that Blake would come back. You write to him, +Dell, and tell him how things is stacking up. He oughta be +here on the ground. No tellin' what them nesters'll build up +next." + +So the Old Man slipped back into the old channels of worry +and thought, just as life itself slips back after a stressful +period. The little Doctor sighed again and sat down to write +the letter and to discuss with the Old Man what she should +say. + +There was a good deal to say. For one thing, more contests +had been filed and more shacks built upon claims belonging to +the Happy Family. She must tell Blake that. Also, Blake must +help make some arrangement whereby the Happy Family could +hire an outfit to gather their stock and the alien stock +which they meant to drive back out of the Badlands. And there +was Irish, who had quietly taken to the hills again as soon +as the Kid returned. Blake was needed to look into that +particular bit of trouble and try and discover just how +serious it was. The man whom Irish had floored with a chair +was apparently hovering close to death--and there were these +who emphasized the adverb and asserted that the hurt was only +apparent, but could prove nothing. + +"And you tell 'im," directed the Old Man querulously, "that +I'll stand good for his time while he's lookin' after things +for the boys. And tell 'im if he's so doggoned scared I'll +buy into the game, he needn't to show up here at the ranch at +all; tell him to stay in Dry Lake if he wants to--serve him +right to stop at that hotel fer a while. But tell him for the +Lord's sake git a move on. The way it looks to me, things is +piling up on them boys till they can't hardly see over the +top, and something's got to be done. Tell 'im--here! Give me +a sheet of paper and a pencil and I'll tell him a few things +myself. Chances are you'd smooth 'em out too much, gitting +'em on paper. And the things I've got to say to Blake don't +want any smoothing." + +The things he wrote painfully with his rheumatic hand were +not smoothed for politeness' sake, and it made the Old Man +feel better to get them off his mind. He read the letter over +three times, and lingered over the most scathing sentences +relishfully. He sent one of his new men to town for the +express purpose of mailing that letter, and he felt a glow of +satisfaction at actually speaking his mind upon the subject. + +Perhaps it was just as well he did not know that Blake was in +Dry Lake when the letter reached his office in Helena, and +that it was forwarded to the place whence it had started. +Blake was already "getting a move on," and he needed no such +spur as the Old Man's letter. But the letter did the Old Man +a lot of good, so that it served its purpose. + +Blake had no intention of handling the case from the Flying U +porch, for instance. He had laid his plans quite +independently of the Flying U outfit. He had no intention of +letting Irish be arrested upon a trumped up charge, and he +managed to send a word of warning to that hot-headed young +man not to put himself in the way of any groping arm of the +law; it was so much simpler than arrest and preliminary trial +and bail, and all that. He had sent word to Weary to come and +see him, before ever he received the Old Man's letter, and he +had placed at Weary's disposal what funds would be needed for +the immediate plans of the Happy Family. He had attended in +person to the hauling of the fence material to their boundary +line on the day he arrived and discovered by sheer accident +that the stuff was still in the warehouse of the general +store. + +After he did all that, the Honorable Blake received the Old +Man's letter, read it through slowly and afterwards stroked +down his Vandyke beard and laughed quietly to himself. The +letter itself was both peremptory and profane, and commanded +the Honorable Blake to do exactly what he had already done, +and what he intended to do when the time came for the doing. + + +CHAPTER 22. LAWFUL IMPROVEMENTS + +Florence Grace Hallman must not be counted a woman without +principle or kindness of heart or these qualities which make +women beloved of men. She was a pretty nice young woman, +unless one roused her antagonism. Had Andy Green, for +instance, accepted in good faith her offer of a position with +the Syndicate, he would have found her generous and humorous +and loyal and kind. He would probably have fallen in love +with her before the summer was over, and he would never have +discovered in her nature that hardness and that ability for +spiteful scheming which came to the surface and made the +whole Happy Family look upon her as an enemy. + +Florence Grace Hillman was intensely human, as well as +intensely loyal to her firm. She had liked Andy Green better +than anyone--herself included--realized. It was not +altogether her vanity that was hurt when she discovered how +he had worked against her--how little her personality had +counted with him. She felt chagrined and humiliated and as +though nothing save the complete subjugation of Andy Green +and the complete thwarting of his plans could ease her own +hurt. + +Deep in her heart she hoped that he would eventually want her +to forgive him his treachery. She would give him a good, hard +fight--she would show him that she was mistress of the +situation. She would force him to respect her as a foe; after +that--Andy Green was human, certainly. She trusted to her +feminine intuition to say just what should transpire after +the fight; trusted to her feminine charm also to bring her +whatever she might desire. + +That was the personal side of the situation. There was also +the professional side, which urged her to do battle for the +interests of her firm. And since both the personal and the +professional aspects of the case pointed to the same general +goal, it may be assumed that Florence Grace was prepared to +make a stiff fight. + +Then Andy Green proceeded to fall in love with that sharp- +tongued Rosemary Allen; and Rosemary Allen had no better +taste than to let herself be lost and finally found by Andy, +and had the nerve to show very plainly that she not only +approved of his love but returned it. After that, Florence +Grace was in a condition to stop at nothing--short of +murder--that would defeat the Happy Family in their latest +project. + +While all the Bear Paw country was stirred up over the lost +child, Florence Grace Hillman said it was too bad, and had +they found him yet? and went right along planting contestants +upon the claims of the Happy Family. She encouraged the +building of claim-shacks and urged firmness in holding +possession of them. She visited the man whom Irish had +knocked down with a bottle of whisky, and she had a long talk +with him and with the doctor who attended him. She saw to it +that the contest notices were served promptly upon the Happy +Family, and she hurried in shipments of stock. Oh, she was +very busy indeed, during the week that was spent in hunting +the Kid. When he was found, and the rumor of an engagement +between Rosemary Allen and that treacherous Andy Green +reached her, she was busier still; but since she had changed +her methods and was careful to mask her real purpose behind +an air of passive resentment, her industry became less +apparent. + +The Happy Family did not pay much attention to Florence Grace +Hallman and her studied opposition. They were pretty busy +attending to their own affairs; Andy Green was not only busy +but very much in love, so that he almost forgot the existence +of Florence Grace except on the rare occasions when he met +her riding over the prairie trails. + +First of all they rounded up the stock that had been +scattered, and they did not stop when they crossed Antelope +Coulee with the settlers' cattle. They bedded them there +until after dark. Then they drove them on to the valley of +Dry Lake, crossed that valley on the train traveled road and +pushed the herd up on Lonesome Prairie and out as far upon +the benchland as they had time to drive them. + +They did not make much effort toward keeping it a secret. +Indeed Weary told three or four of the most indignant +settlers, next day, where they would find their cattle. But +he added that the feed was pretty good back there, and +advised them to leave the stock out there for the present. + +"It isn't going to do you fellows any good to rear up on your +hind legs and make a holler," he said calmly. "We haven't +hurt your cattle. We don't want to have trouble with anybody. +But we're pretty sure to have a fine, large row with our +neighbors if they don't keep on their own side the fence." + +That fence was growing to be more than a mere figure of +speech The Happy Family did not love the digging of post- +holes and the stretching of barbed wire; on the contrary they +hated it so deeply that you could not get a civil word out of +one of them while the work went on; yet they put in long +hours at the fence-building. + +They had to take the work in shifts on account of having +their own cattle to watch day and night. Sometimes it +happened that a man tamped posts or helped stretch wire all +day, and then stood guard two or three hours on the herd at +night; which was wearing on the temper. Sometimes, because +they were tired, they quarreled over small things. + +New shipments of cattle, too, kept coming to Dry Lake. +Invariably these would be driven out towards Antelope +Coulee--farther if the drivers could manage it--and would +have to be driven back again with what patience the Happy +Family could muster. No one helped them among the settlers. +There was every attitude among the claim-dwellers, from open +opposition to latent antagonism. None were quite neutral--and +yet the Happy Family did not bother any save these who had +filed contests to their claims, or who took active part in +the cattle driving. + +The Happy Family were not half as brutal as they might have +been. In spite of their no-trespassing signs they permitted +settlers to drive across their claims with wagons and water- +barrels, to haul water from One Man Creek when the springs +and the creek in Antelope Coulee went dry. + +They did not attempt to move the shacks of the later +contestants off their claims. Though they hated the sight of +them and of the owners who bore themselves with such +provocative assurance, they grudged the time the moving would +take. Besides that the Honorable Blake had told them that +moving the shacks would accomplish no real, permanent good. +Within thirty days they must appear before the register and +receiver and file answer to the contest, and he assured them +that forbearance upon their part would serve to strengthen +their case with the Commissioner. + +It goes to prove how deeply in earnest they were, that they +immediately began to practice assiduously the virtues of +mildness and forbearance. They could, he told them, postpone +the filing of their answers until close to the end of the +thirty days; which would serve also to delay the date of +actual trial of the contests, and give the Happy Family more +time for their work. + +Their plans had enlarged somewhat. They talked now of fencing +the whole tract on all four sides, and of building a dam +across the mouth of a certain coulee in the foothills which +drained several miles of rough country, thereby converting +the coulee into a reservoir that would furnish water for +their desert claims. It would take work, of course; but the +Happy Family; were beginning to see prosperity on the trail +ahead and nothing in the shape of hard work could stop them +from coming to hang-grips with fortune. + +Chip helped them all he could, but he had the Flying U to +look after, and that without the good team-work of the Happy +Family which had kept things moving along so smoothly. The +team-work now was being used in a different game; a losing +game, one would say at first glance. + +So far the summer had been favorable to dry-farming. The more +enterprising of the settlers had some grain and planted +potatoes upon freshly broken soil, and these were growing +apace. They did not know about these scorching August winds, +that might shrivel crops in a day. They did not realize that +early frosts might kill what the hot winds spared. They +became enthusiastic over dry-farming, and their resentment +toward the Happy family increased as their enthusiasm waxed +strong. The Happy Family complained to one another that you +couldn't pry a nester loose from his claim with a crowbar. + +In this manner did civilization march out and take possession +of the high prairies that lay close to the Flying U. They had +a Sunday School organized, with the meetings held in a double +shack near the trail to Dry Lake. The Happy family, riding +that way, sometimes heard voices mingled in the shrill +singing of some hymn where, a year before, they had listened +to the hunting song of the coyote. + +Eighty acres to the man--with that climate and that soil they +never could make it pay; with that soil especially since it +was mostly barren. The Happy Family knew it, and could find +it in their hearts to pity the men who were putting in +dollars and time and hard work there. But for obvious reasons +they did not put their pity into speech. + +They fenced their west line in record time. There was only +one gate in the whole length of it, and that was on the trail +to Dry Lake. Not content with trusting to the warning of four +strands of barbed wire stretched so tight that they hummed to +the touch, they took turns in watching it--"riding fence," in +range parlance--and in watching the settlers' cattle. + +To H. J. Owens and his fellow contestants they paid not the +slightest attention, because the Honorable Blake had urged +them personally to ignore any and all claimants. To Florence +Grace Hallman they gave no heed, believing that she had done +her worst, and that her worst was after all pretty weak, +since the contests she had caused to be filed could not +possibly be approved by the government so long as the Happy +Family continued to abide by every law and by-law and +condition and requirement in their present through-going and +exemplary manner. + +You should have seen how mild-mannered and how industrious +the Happy Family were, during these three weeks which +followed the excitement of the Kid's adventuring into the +wild. You would have been astonished, and you would have made +the mistake of thinking that they had changed permanently and +might be expected now to settle down with wives and raise +families and hay and cattle and potatoes, and grow beards, +perhaps, and become well-to-do ranchers. + +The Happy Family were almost convinced that they were +actually leaving excitement behind them for good and all. +They might hold back the encroaching tide of immigration from +the rough land along the river--that sounded like something +exciting, to be sure. But they must hold back the tide with +legal proceedings and by pastoral pursuits, and that promised +little in the way of brisk, decisive action and strong nerves +and all these qualities which set the Happy Family somewhat +apart from their fellows. + + +CHAPTER 23. THE WATER QUESTION AND SOME GOSSIP + +Miss Rosemary Allen rode down into One Man Coulee and boldly +up to the cabin of Andy Green, and shouted musically for him +to come forth. Andy made a hasty pass at his hair with a +brush, jerked his tie straight and came out eagerly. There +was no hesitation in his manner. He went straight up to her +and reached up to pull her from the saddle, that he might +hold her in his arms and kiss her--after the manner of bold +young men who are very much in love. But Miss Rosemary Allen +stopped him with a push that was not altogether playful, and +scowled at him viciously. + +"I am in a most furious mood today," she said. "I want to +scratch somebody's eyes out! I want to say WORDS. Don't come +close, or I might pull your hair or something, James." She +called him James because that was not his name, and because +she had learned a good deal about his past misdeeds and liked +to take a sly whack at his notorious tendency to forget the +truth, by calling him Truthful James. + +"All right; that suits me fine. It's worth a lot to have you +close enough to pull hair. Where have you been all this long +while?" Being a bold young man and very much in love, he +kissed her in spite of her professed viciousness. + +"Oh, I've been to town--it hasn't been more than three days +since we met and had that terrible quarrel James. What was it +about?" She frowned down at him thoughtfully. "I'm still +furious about it--whatever it is. Do you know, Mr. Man, that +I am an outlaw amongst my neighbors, and that our happy +little household, up there on the hill, is a house divided +against itself? I've put up a green burlap curtain on my +southwest corner, and bought me a smelly oil stove and I +pos-i-tively refuse to look at my neighbors or speak to them. +I'm going to get some lumber and board up that side of my +house. + +"Those three cats--they get together on the other side of my +curtain and say the meanest things!" + +Andy Green had the temerity to laugh. "That sounds good to +me," he told her unsympathetically. "Now maybe you'll come +down and keep house for me and let that pinnacle go to +thunder. It's no good anyway, and I told you so long ago. +That whole eighty acres of yours wouldn't support a family of +jackrabbits month. What--" + +"And let those old hens say they drove me off? That Kate +Price is the limit. The things she said to me you wouldn't +believe. And it all started over my going with little Buck a +few times to ride along your fence when you boys were busy. I +consider that I had a perfect right to ride where I pleased. +Of course they're furious anyway, because I don't side +against you boys and--and all that. When--when they found out +about--you and me, James, they said some pretty sarcastic +things, but I didn't pay any attention to that. Poor old +freaks, I expected them to be jealous, because nobody ever +pays any attention to THEM. Kate Price is the worst--she's an +old maid. The others have had husbands and can act superior. + +"Well, I didn't mind the things they said then; I took that +for granted. But a week or so ago Florence Hallman came, and +she did stir things up in great style! Since then the girls +have hardly spoken to me except to say something insulting. +And Florence Grace came right out and called me a traitor; +that was before little Buck and I took to 'riding fence' as +you call it, for you boys. You imagine what they've been +saying since then!" + +"Well, what do you care? You don't have to stay with them, +and you know it. I'm just waiting--" + +"Well, but I'm no quitter, James. I'm going to hold down that +claim now if I have to wear a sixshooter!" Her eyes twinkled +at that idea. "Besides, I can stir them up now and then and +get them to say things that are useful. For instance, +Florence Hallman told Kate Price about that last trainload of +cattle coming, and that they were going to cut your fence and +drive them through in the night--and I stirred dear little +Katie up so she couldn't keep still about that. And +therefore--" She reached out and gave Andy Green's ear a +small tweek--"somebody found out about it, and a lot of +somebodys happened around that way and just quietly managed +to give folks a hint that there was fine grass somewhere +else. That saved a lot of horseflesh and words and work, +didn't it?" + +"It sure did." Andy smiled up at her worshipfully. "Just the +same--" + +"But listen here, nice, level-headed Katiegirl has lost her +temper since then, and let out a little more that is useful +knowledge to somebody. There's one great weak point in the +character of Florence Hallman; maybe you have noticed it. +She's just simply GOT to have somebody to tell things to, and +she doesn't always show the best judgment in her choice of a +confessional--" + +"I've noticed that before," Andy Green admitted, and smiled +reminiscently. "She sure does talk too much--for a lady that +has so much up her sleeve." + +"Yes--and she's been making a chum of Katie Price since she +discovered what an untrustworthy creature I am. I did a +little favor for Irish Mallory, James. I overheard Florence +Grace talking to Kate about that man who is supposed to be at +death's door. So I made a trip to Great Falls, if you please, +and I scouted around and located the gentleman--well, anyway, +I gave that nice, sleek little lawyer of yours a few facts +that will let Irish come back to his claim." + +"Irish has been coming back to his claim pretty regular as it +is," Andy informed her quietly. "Did you think he was hiding +out, all this time? Why"--he laughed at her--"you talked to +him yourself, one day, and thought it was Weary. Remember +when you came over with the mail? That was Irish helping me +string wire. He's been wearing Weary's hat and clothes and +cultivating a twinkle to his eyes--that's all" + +"Why, I--well, anyway, that man they've been making a fuss +over is just as well as you are, James. They only wanted to +get Irish in jail and make a little trouble--pretty cheap +warfare at that, if you want my opinion." + +"Oh, well--what's the odds? While they're wasting time and +energy that way, we're going right along doing what we've +laid out to do. Say, do you know I'm kinda getting stuck on +this ranch proposition. If I just had a housekeeper--" + +Miss Rosemary Allen seldom let him get beyond that point, and +she interrupted him now by wrinkling her nose at him in a +manner that made Andy Green forget altogether that he had +begun a sentence upon a subject forbidden. Later she went +back to her worries; she was a very persistent young woman. + +"I hope you boys are going to attend to that contest business +right away," she said, with a pucker between her eyes and not +much twinkle in them. "There's something about that which I +don't quite understand. I heard Florence Hallman and Kate +talking yesterday about it going by default. Are you sure +it's wise to put off filing your answers so long? When are +you supposed to appear, James?" + +"Me? On or before the twenty-oneth day of July, my dear girl. +They lumped us up and served us all on the same day--I reckon +to save shoe-leather; therefore, inasmuch as said adverse +parties have got over a week left--" + +"You'd better not take a chance, waiting till the last day in +the afternoon," she warned him vaguely. "Maybe they think +you've forgotten the date or something--but whatever they +think, I believe they're counting on your not answering in +time. I think Florence Hallman knows they haven't any real +proof against you. I know she knows it. She's perfectly wild +over the way you boys have stuck here and worked. And from +what I can gather, she hasn't been able to scrape up the +weentiest bit of evidence that the Flying U is backing you-- +and of course that is the only ground they could contest your +claims on. So if it comes to trial, you'll all win; you're +bound to. I told Kate Price so--and those other old hens, +yesterday, and that's what we had the row over." + +"My money's on you, girl," Andy told her, grinning. "How are +the wounded?" + +"The wounded? Oh, they've clubbed together this morning and +are washing hankies and collars and things, and talking about +me. And they have snouged every speck of water from the +barrel--I paid my share for the hauling, too--and the man +won't come again till day after tomorrow with more. Fifty +cents a barrel, straight, he's charging now, James. And you , +boys with a great, big, long creekful of it that you can get +right in and swim in! I've come over to borrow two water-bags +of it, if you please, James I never dreamed water was so +precious. Florence Hallman ought to be made to lie on one of +these dry claims she's fooled us into taking. I really don't +know, James, what's going to become of some of these poor +farmers. You knew, didn't you, that Mr. Murphy spent nearly +two hundred dollars boring a well--and now it's so strong of +alkali they daren't use a drop of it? Mr. Murphy is living +right up to his name and nationality, since then. He's away +back there beyond the Sands place, you know. He has to haul +water about six miles. Believe me, James, Florence Hallman +had better keep away from Murphy! I met him as I was coming +out from town, and he called her a Jezebel!" + +"That's mild!" Andy commented dryly. "Get down, why don't +you? I want you to take a look at the inside of my shack and +see how bad I need a housekeeper--since you won't take my +word for it. I hope every drop of water leaks outa these bags +before you get home. I hope old Mister falls down and spills +it. I've a good mind not to let you have any, anyway. Maybe +you could be starved and tortured into coming down here where +you belong." + +"Maybe I couldn't. I'll get me a barrel of my own, and hire +Simpson to fill it four times a week, if you please! And I'll +put a lid with a padlock on it, so Katie dear can't rob me in +the night--and I'll use a whole quart at a time to wash +dishes, and two quarts when I take a bath! I shall," she +asserted with much emphasis, "lie in luxury, James!" + +Andy laughed and waved his hand toward One Man Creek. "That's +all right--but how would you like to have that running past +your house, so you could wake up in the night and hear it go +gurgle-gurgle?, Wouldn't that be all right?" + +Rosemary Allen clasped her two gloved hands together and drew +a long breath. "I should want to run out and stop it," she +declared. "To think of water actually running around loose in +this world!! And think of us up on that dry prairie, paying +fifty cents a barrel for it--and a lot slopped out of the +barrel on the road!" She glanced down into Andy's lovelighted +eyes, and her own softened. She placed her hand on his +shoulder and shook her head at him with a tender +remonstrance. + +"I know, boy--but it isn't in me to give up anything I set +out to do, any more than it is in you. You wouldn't like me +half so well if I could just drop that claim and think no +more about it. I've got enough money to commute, when the +time comes, and I'll feel a lot better if I go through with +it now I've started. And--James!" She smiled at him +wistfully. "Even if it is only eighty acres, it will make +good pasture, and--it will help some, won't it?" + +After that you could not expect Andy Green to do any more +badgering or to discourage the girl. He did like her better +for having grit and a mental backbone--and he found a way of +telling her so and of making the assurance convincing enough. + +He filled her canvas water-bags and went with her to carry +them, and he cheered her much with his aircastles. Afterwards +he took the team and rustled a water-barrel and hauled her a +barrel of water and gave Kate Price a stony-eyed stare when +she was caught watching him superciliously; and in divers +ways managed to make Miss Rosemary Allen feel that she was +fighting a good fight and that the odds were all in her favor +and in the favor of the Happy Family--and of Andy Green in +particular. She felt that the spite of her three very near +neighbors was really a matter to laugh over, and the spleen +of Florence Hallman a joke. + +But for all that she gave Andy Green one last warning when he +climbed up to the spring seat of the wagon and unwound the +lines from the brake-handle, ready to drive back to his own +work. She went close to the front wheel, so that +eavesdroppers could not hear, and held her front hair from +blowing across her earnest, windtanned face while she looked +up at him. + +"Now remember, boy, do go and file your answer to those +contests--all of you!" she urged. "I don't know why--but I've +a feeling some kind of a scheme is being hatched to make you +trouble on that one point. And if you see Buck, tell him I'll +ride fence with him tomorrow again. If you realized how much +I like that old cowpuncher, you'd be horribly jealous, +James." + +"I'm jealous right now, without realizing a thing except that +I've got to go off and leave you here with a bunch of +lemons," he retorted--and he spoke loud enough so that any +eavesdroppers might hear. + + +CHAPTER 24. THE KID IS USED FOR A PAWN IN THE GAME + +Did you ever stop to think of the tremendous moral lesson in +the Bible tale of David and Goliath? And how great, human +issues are often decided one way or the other by little +things? Not all crises are passed in the clashing of swords +and the boom of cannon. It was a pebble the size of your +thumbend, remember, that slew the giant. + +In the struggle which the Happy Family was making to preserve +the shrunken range of the Flying U, and to hold back the +sweeping tide of immigration, one might logically look for +some big, overwhelming element to turn the tide one way or +the other. With the Homeseekers' Syndicate backing the +natural animosity of the settlers, who had filed upon +semiarid land because the Happy Family had taken all of the +tract that was tillable, a big, open clash might be +considered inevitable. + +And yet the struggle was resolving itself into the question +of whether the contest filings should be approved by the +land-office, or the filings of the Happy Family be allowed to +stand as having been made in good faith. Florence Hallman +therefore, having taken upon herself the leadership in the +contest fight, must do one of two things if she would have +victory to salve the hurt to her self-esteem and to vindicate +the firm's policy in the eyes of the settlers. + +She must produce evidence of the collusion of the Flying U +outfit with the Happy Family, in the taking of the claims. Or +she must connive to prevent the filing of answers to the +contest notices within the time-limit fixed by law, so that +the cases would go by default. That, of course, was the +simplest--since she had not been able to gather any evidence +of collusion that would stand in court. + +There was another element in the land struggle--that was the +soil and climate that would fight inexorably against the +settlers; but with them we have little to do, since the Happy +Family had nothing to do with them save in a purely negative +way. + +A four-wire fence and a systematic patrol along the line was +having its effect upon the stock question. If the settlers +drove their cattle south until they passed the farthest +corner of Flying U fence, they came plump against Bert +Rogers' barbed boundary line. West of that was his father's +place--and that stretched to the railroad right-of-way, +fenced on either side with a stock-proof barrier and hugging +the Missouri all the way to the Marias--where were other +settlers. If they went north until they passed the fence of +the Happy Family, there were the Meeker holdings to bar the +way to the very foot of Old Centennial, and as far up its +sides as cattle would go. + +The Happy Family had planned wisely when they took their +claims in a long chain that stretched across the benchland +north of the Flying U. Florence Grace knew this perfectly +well--but what could she prove? The Happy Family had bought +cattle of their own, and were grazing them lawfully upon +their own claims. A lawyer had assured her that there was no +evidence to be gained there. They never went near J. G. +Whitmore, nor did they make use of his wagons, his teams or +his tools or his money; instead they hired what they needed, +openly and from Bert Rogers. They had bought their cattle +from the Flying U, and that was the extent of their business +relations--on the surface. And since collusion had been the +ground given for the contests, it will be easily seen what +slight hope Florence Grace and her clients must have of +winning any contest suit. Still, there was that alternative-- +the Happy Family had been so eager to build that fence and +gather their cattle and put them back on the claims, +and so anxious lest in their absence the settlers should slip +cattle across the dead line and into the breaks, that they +had postponed their trip to Great Falls as long as possible. +The Honorable Blake had tacitly advised them to do so; and +the Happy Family never gave a thought to their being hindered +when they did get ready to attend to it. + +But--a pebble killed Goliath. + +H. J. Owens, whose eyes were the wrong shade of blue, sat +upon a rocky hilltop which overlooked the trail from Flying U +Coulee and a greater portion of the shack-dotted benchland as +well, and swept the far horizons with his field glasses. Just +down the eastern slope, where the jutting sandstone cast a +shadow, his horse stood tied to a dejected wild-currant bush. +He laid the glasses across his knees while he refilled his +pipe, and tilted his hatbrim to shield his pale blue eyes +from the sun that was sliding past midday. + +H. J. Owens looked at his watch, nevertheless, as though the +position of the sun meant nothing to him. He scowled a +little, stretched a leg straight out before him to ease it of +cramp, and afterwards moved farther along in the shade. The +wind swept past with a faint whistle, and laid the ripening +grasses flat where it passed. A cloud shadow moved slowly +along the slope beneath him, and he watched the darkening of +the earth where it touched, and the sharp contrast of the +sun-yellowed sea of grass all around it. H. J. Owens looked +bored and sleepy; yet he did not leave the hilltop--nor did +he go to sleep. + +Instead, he lifted the glasses, turned them toward Flying U +Coulee a half mile to the south of him, and stared long at +the trail. After a few minutes he made a gesture to lower the +glasses, and then abruptly fixed them steadily upon one spot, +where the trail wound up over the crest of the bluff. He +looked for a minute, and laid the glasses down upon a rock. + +H. J. Owens fumbled in the pocket of his coat, which he had +folded and laid beside him on the yellow gravel of the hill. +He found something he wanted, stood up, and with his back +against a boulder he faced to the southwest. He was careful +about the direction. He glanced up at the sun, squinting his +eyes at the glare; he looked at what he held in his hand. + +A glitter of sun on glass showed briefly. H. J. Owens laid +his palm over it, waited while he could count ten, and took +his palm away. Replaced it, waited, and revealed the glass +again with the sun glare upon it full. He held it so for a +full minute, and slid the glass back into his pocket. + +He glanced down toward Flying U Coulee again--toward where +the trail stretched like a brown ribbon through the grass. He +seemed to be in something of a hurry now--if impatient +movement meant anything--yet he did not leave the place at +once. He kept looking off there toward the southwest--off +beyond Antelope Coulee and the sparsely dotted shacks of the +settlers. + +A smudge of smoke rose thinly there, behind a hill. Unless +one had been watching the place, one would scarcely have +noticed it, but H. J. Owens saw it at once and smiled his +twisted smile and went running down the hill to where his +horse was tied. He mounted and rode down to the level, +skirted the knoll and came out on the trail, down which he +rode at an easy lope until he met the Kid. + +The Kid was going to see Rosemary Allen and take a ride with +her along the new fence; but he pulled up with the air of +condescension which was his usual attitude toward "nesters," +and in response to the twisted smile of H. J. Owens he +grinned amiably. + +"Want to go on a bear-hunt with me, Buck?" began H. J. Owens +with just the right tone of comradeship, to win the undivided +attention of the Kid. + +"I was goin' to ride fence with Miss Allen," the Kid declined +regretfully. "There ain't any bears got very close, there +ain't. I guess you musta swallered something Andy told you." +He looked at H. J. Owens tolerantly. + +"No sir. I never talked to Andy about this." Had he been +perfectly truthful he would have added that he had not talked +with Andy about anything whatever, but he let it go. "This is +a bear den I found myself; There's two little baby cubs, +Buck, and I was wondering if you wouldn't like to go along +and get one for a pet. You could learn it to dance and play +soldier, and all kinds of stunts." + +The Kid's eyes shone, but he was wary. This man was a nester, +so it would be just at well to be careful "Where 'bouts is +it?" he therefore demanded in a tone of doubt that would have +done credit to Happy Jack. + +"Oh, down over there in the hills. It's a secret, though, +till we get them out. Some fellows are after them for +themselves, Buck. They want to--skin 'em." + +"The mean devils!" condemned the Kid promptly. "I'd take a +fall outa them if I ketched 'em skinning any baby bear cubs +while I was around." + +H. J. Owens glanced behind him with an uneasiness not +altogether assumed. + +"Let's go down into this next gully to talk it over, Buck," +he suggested with an air of secretiveness that fired the +Kid's imagination. "They started out to follow me, and I +don't want 'em to see me talking to you, you know." + +The Kid went with him unsuspectingly. In all the six years of +his life, no man had ever offered him injury. Fear had not +yet become associated with those who spoke him fair. Nesters +he did not consider friends because they were not friends +with his bunch. Personally he did not know anything about +enemies. This man was a nester--but he called him Buck, and +he talked very nice and friendly, and he said he knew where +there were some little baby bear cubs. The Kid had never +before realized how much he wanted a bear cub for a pet. So +do our wants grow to meet our opportunities. + +H. J. Owens led the way into a shallow draw between two low +hills, glancing often behind him and around him until they +were shielded by the higher ground. He was careful to keep +where the grass was thickest and would hold no hoofprints to +betray them, but the Kid never noticed. He was thinking how +nice it would be to have a bear cub for a pet. But it was +funny that the Happy Family had never found him one, if there +were any in the country. + +He turned to put the question direct to H. J. Owens, I but +that gentleman forestalled him. + +"You wait here a minute, Buck, while I ride back on this hill +a little ways to see if those fellows are on our trail," he +said, and rode off before the Kid could ask him the question. + +The Kid waited obediently. He saw H. J. Owens get off his +horse and go sneaking up to the brow of the hill, and take +some field glasses out of his pocket and look all around over +the prairie with them. The sight tingled the Kid's blood so +that he almost forgot about the bear cub. It was almost +exactly like fighting Injuns, like Uncle Gee-gee told about +when he wasn't cross. + +In a few minutes Owens came back to the Kid, and they went on +slowly, keeping always in the low, grassy places where there +would be no tracks left to tell of their passing that way. +Behind them a yellow-brown cloud drifted sullenly with the +wind. Now and then a black flake settled past them to the +ground. A peculiar, tangy smell was in the air--the smell of +burning grass. + +H. J. Owens related a long, full-detailed account of how he +had been down in the hills along the river, and had seen the +old mother bear digging ants out of a sand-hill for her cubs. + +"I know--that's jes' 'zactly the way they do!" the Kid +interrupted excitedly. "Daddy Chip seen one doing it on the +Musselshell one time. He told me 'bout it." + +H. J. Owens glanced sidelong at the Kid's flushed face, +smiled his twisted smile and went on with his story. He had +not bothered them, he said, because he did not have any way +of carrying both cubs, and he hated to kill them. He had +thought of Buck, and how he would like a pet cub, so he had +followed the bear to her den and had come away to get a sack +to carry them in, and to tell Buck about it. + +The Kid never once doubted that it was so. Whenever any of +the Happy Family found anything in the hills that was nice, +they always thought of Buck, and they always brought it to +him. You would be amazed at the number of rattlesnake +rattles, and eagle's claws, and elk teeth, and things like +that, which the Kid possessed and kept carefully stowed away +in a closet kept sacred to his uses. + +"'Course you'd 'member I wanted a baby bear cub; for a pet," +he assented gravely and with a certain satisfaction. "Is it a +far ways to that mother bear's home?" + +"Why?" H. J. Owens turned from staring at the rolling smoke +cloud, and looked at the Kid curiously. "Ain't you big enough +to ride far?" + +"'Course I'm big enough" The Kid's pride was touched. "I can +ride as far as a horse can travel I bet I can ride farther +and faster 'n you can, you pilgrims" He eyed the other +disdainfully. "Huh! You can't ride. When you trot you go this +way!" The Kid kicked Silver into a trot and went bouncing +along with his elbows flapping loosely in imitation of H. J. +Owens' ungraceful riding. + +"I don't want to go a far ways," he explained when the other +was again Riding alongside, "'cause Doctor Dell would cry if +I didn't come back to supper. She cried when I was out +huntin' the bunch. Doctor Dell gets lonesome awful easy." He +looked over his shoulder uneasily. "I guess I better go back +and tell her I'm goin' to git a baby bear cub for a pet," he +said, and reined Silver around to act upon the impulse. + +"No--don't do that, Buck." H. J. Owens pulled his horse in +front of Silver. "It isn't far--just a little ways. And it +would be fun to surprise them at the ranch Gee! When they saw +you ride up with a pet bear cub in your arms--" H. J. Owens +shook his head as though he could not find words to express +the surprise of the Kid's family + +The Kid smiled his Little Doctor smile. "I'd tell a man!" he +assented enthusiastically. "I bet the Countess would holler +when she seen it. She scares awful easy. She's scared of a +mice, even! Huh! My kitty ketched a mice and she carried it +right in her mouth and brought it into the kitchen and let it +set down on the floor a minute, and it started to run away-- +the mice did. And it runned right up to the Countess, and she +jes' hollered and yelled And she got right up and stood on a +chair and hollered for Daddy Chip to come and ketch that +mice. He didn't do it though. Adeline ketched it herself. And +I took it away from her and put it in a box for a pet. I +wasn't scared." + +"She'll be scared when she sees the bear cub," H. J. Owens +declared absent-mindedly. "I know you won't be, though. If we +hurry maybe we can watch how he digs ants for his supper. +That's lots of fun, Buck" + +"Yes--I 'member it's fun to watch baby bear cubs dig ants," +the Kid assented earnestly, and followed willingly where +H. J. Owens led the way. + +That the way was far did not impress itself upon the Kid, +beguiled with wonderful stories of how baby bear cubs might +be taught to do tricks. He listened and believed, and +invented some very wonderful tricks that he meant to teach +his baby bear cub. Not until the shadows began to fill the +gullies through which they rode did the Kid awake to the fact +that night was coming close and that they were still +traveling away from home and in a direction which was strange +to him. Never in his life had he been tricked by any one with +unfriendly intent. He did not guess that he was being tricked +now. Ho rode away into the wild places in search of a baby +bear cub for a pet. + + +CHAPTER 25. "LITTLE BLACK SHACK'S ALL BURNT UP" + +It is a penitentiary offense for anyone to set fire to +prairie grass or timber; and if you know the havoc which one +blazing match may work upon dry grassland when the wind is +blowing free, you will not wonder at the penalty for lighting +that match with deliberate intent to set the prairie afire. + +Within five minutes after H. J. Owens slipped the bit of +mirror back into his pocket after flashing a signal that the +Kid was riding alone upon the trail, a line of fire several +rods long was creeping up out of a grassy hollow to the +hilltop beyond, whence it would go racing away to the east +and the north, growing bigger and harder to fight with every +grass tuft it fed on. + +The Happy Family were working hard that day upon the system +of irrigation by which they meant to reclaim and make really +valuable their desert claims. They happened to be, at the +time when the fire was started, six or seven miles away, +wrangling over the best means of getting their main ditch +around a certain coulee without building a lot of expensive +flume. A surveyor would have been a blessing, at this point +in the undertaking; but a surveyor charged good money for his +services, and the Happy Family were trying to be very +economical with money; with time, and effort, and with words +they were not so frugal. + +The fire had been burning for an hour and had spread so +alarmingly before the gusty breeze that it threatened several +claim-shacks before they noticed the telltale, brownish tint +to the sunlight and smelled other smoke than the smoke of the +word-battle then waging fiercely among them. They dropped +stakes, flags and ditch-level and ran to where their horses +waited sleepily the pleasure of their masters. + +They reached the level of the benchland to see disaster +swooping down upon them like a race-horse. They did not stop +then to wonder how the fire had started, or why it had gained +such headway. They raced their horses after sacks, and after +the wagon and team and water barrels with which to fight the +flames. For it was not the claim-shacks in its path which +alone were threatened. The grass that was burning meant a +great deal to the stock, and therefore to the general welfare +of every settler upon that bench, be he native or newcomer. + +Florence Grace Hallman had, upon one of her periodical visits +among her "clients," warned them of the danger of prairie +fires and urged them to plow and burn guards around all their +buildings. A few of the settlers had done so and were +comparatively safe in the face of that leaping, red line. But +there were some who had delayed--and these must fight now if +they would escape. + +The Happy Family, to a man, had delayed; rather they had not +considered that there was any immediate danger from fire; it +was too early in the season for the grass to be tinder dry, +as it would become a month or six weeks later. They were +wholly unprepared for the catastrophe, so far as any +expectation of it went. But for all that they knew exactly +what to do and how to go about doing it, and they did not +waste a single minute in meeting the emergency. + +While the Kid was riding with H. J. Owens into the hills, his +friends, the bunch, were riding furiously in the opposite +direction. And that was exactly what had been planned +beforehand. There was an absolute certainty in the minds of +those who planned that it would be so, Florence Grace +Hallman, for instance, knew just what would furnish complete +occupation for the minds and the hands of the Happy Family +and of every other man in that neighborhood, that afternoon. +Perhaps a claim-shack or two would go up in smoke and some +grass would burn. But when one has a stubborn disposition and +is fighting for prestige and revenge and the success of ones +business, a shack or two and a few acres of prairie grass do +not count for very much. + +For the rest of that afternoon the boys of the Flying U +fought side by side with hated nesters and told the +inexperienced how best to fight. For the rest of that +afternoon no one remembered the Kid, or wondered why H. J. +Owens was not there in the grimy line of fire-fighters who +slapped doggedly at the leaping flames with sacks kept wet +from the barrels of water hauled here and there as they were +needed. No one had time to call the roll and see who was +missing among the settlers. No one dreamed that this +mysterious fire that had crept up out of a coulee and spread +a black, smoking blanket over the hills where it passed, was +nothing more nor lees than a diversion while a greater crime +was being committed behind their backs. + +In spite of them the fire, beaten out of existence at one +point, gained unexpected fury elsewhere and raced on. In +spite of them women and children were in actual danger of +being burned to death, and rushed weeping from flimsy shelter +to find safety in the nearest barren coulee. The sick lady +whom the Little Doctor had been tending was carried out on +her bed and laid upon the blackened prairie, hysterical from +the fright she had received. The shack she had lately +occupied smoked while the tarred paper on the roof crisped +and curled; and then the whole structure burst into flames +and sent blazing bits of paper and boards to spread the fire +faster. + +Fire guards which the inexperienced settlers thought safe +were jumped without any perceptible check upon the flames. +The wind was just right for the fanning of the fire. It +shifted now and then erratically and sent the yellow line +leaping in new directions. Florence Grace Hallman was in Dry +Lake that day, and she did not hear until after dark how +completely her little diversion had been a success; how more +than half of her colony had been left homeless and hungry +upon the charred prairie. Florence Grace Hallman would not +have relished her supper, I fear, had the news reached her +earlier in the evening. + +At Antelope Coulee the Happy Family and such of the settlers +as they could muster hastily for the fight, made a desperate +stand against the common enemy. Flying U Coulee was safe, +thanks to the permanent fire-guards which the Old Man +maintained year after year as a matter of course. But there +were the claims of the Happy Family and all the grassland +east of there which must be saved. + +Men drove their work horses at a gallop after plows, and when +they had brought them they lashed the horses into a trot +while they plowed crooked furrows in the sun-baked prairie +sod, just over the eastern rim of Antelope Coulee. The Happy +Family knelt here and there along the fresh-turned sod, and +started a line of fire that must beat up against the wind +until it met the flames, rushing before it. Backfiring is +always a more or less, ticklish proceeding, and they would +not trust the work to stranger. + +Every man of them took a certain stretch of furrow to watch, +and ran backward and forward with blackened, frayed sacks to +beat out the wayward flames that licked treacherously through +the smallest break in the line of fresh soil. They knew too +well the danger of those little, licking flame tongues; not +one was left to live and grow and race leaping away through +the grass. + +They worked--heavens, how they worked!--and they stopped the +fire there on the rim of Antelope Coulee. Florence Grace +Hallman would have been sick with fury, had she seen that +dogged line of fighters, and the ragged hem of charred black +ashes against the yellow-brown, which showed how well those +men whom she hated had fought. + +So the fire was stopped well outside the fence which marked +the boundary of the Happy Family's claims. All west of there +and far to the north the hills and the coulees lay black as +far as one could see--which was to the rim of the hills which +bordered Dry Lake valley on the east. Here and there a claim- +shack stood forlorn amid the blackness. Here and there a heap +of embers still smoked and sent forth an occasional spitting +of sparks when a gust fanned the heap. Men, women and +children stood about blankly or wandered disconsolately here +and there, coughing in the acrid clouds of warm grass cinders +kicked up by their own lagging feet. + +No one missed the Kid. No one dreamed that he was lost again. +Chip was with the Happy Family and did not know that the Kid +had left the ranch that afternoon. The Little Doctor had +taken it for granted that he had gone with his daddy, as he +so frequently did; and with his daddy and the whole Happy +Family to look after him, she never once doubted that he was +perfectly safe, even among the fire-fighters. She supposed he +would be up on the seat beside Patsy, probably, proudly +riding on the wagon that hauled the water barrels. + +The Little Doctor had troubles of her own to occupy her mind +She had ridden hurriedly up the hill and straight to the +shack of the sick woman, when first she discovered that the +prairie was afire. And she had found the sick woman lying on +a makeshift bed on the smoking, black area that was +pathetically safe now from fire because there was nothing +more to burn. + +"Little black shack's all burnt up! Everything's black now. +Black hills, black hollows, black future, black world, black +hearts--everything matches--everything's black. Sky's black, +I'm black--you're black--little black shack won't have to +stand all alone any more--little black shack's just black +ashes--little black shack's all burnt up!" And then the woman +laughed shrilly, with that terrible, meaningless laughter of +hysteria. + +She was a pretty woman, and young. Her hair was that bright +shade of red that goes with a skin like thin, rose-tinted +ivory. Her eyes were big and so dark a blue that they +sometimes looked black, and her mouth was sweet and had a +tired droop to match the mute pathos of her eyes. Her husband +was a coarse lout of a man who seldom spoke to her when they +were together. The Little Doctor had felt that all the +tragedy of womanhood and poverty and loneliness was +synthesized in this woman with the unusual hair and skin and +eyes and expression. She had been coming every day to see +her; the woman was rather seriously ill, and needed better +care than she could get out there on the bald prairie, even +with the Little Doctor to watch over her. If she died her +face would haunt the Little Doctor always. Even if she did +not die she would remain a vivid memory. Just now even the +Little Doctor's mother instinct was submerged under her +professional instincts and her woman sympathy. She did not +stop to wonder whether she was perfectly sure that the Kid +was with Chip. She took it for granted and dismissed the Kid +from her mind, and worked to save the woman. + +Yes, the little diversion of a prairie fire that would call +all hands to the westward so that the Kid might be lured away +in another direction without the mishap of being seen, proved +a startling success. As a diversion it could scarcely be +improved upon--unless Florence Grace Hallman had ordered a +wholesale massacre or something like that. + + +CHAPTER 26. ROSEMARY ALLEN DOES A SMALL SUM IN ADDITION + +Miss Rosemary Allen, having wielded a wet gunny sack until +her eyes were red and smarting and her lungs choked with +cinders and her arms so tired she could scarcely lift them, +was permitted by fate to be almost the first person who +discovered that her quarter of the four-room shack built upon +the four contiguous corners of four claims, was afire in the +very middle of its roof. Miss Rosemary Allen stood still and +watched it burn, and was a trifle surprised because she felt +so little regret. + +Other shacks had caught fire and burned hotly, and she had +wept with sympathy for the owners. But she did not weep when +her own shack began to crackle and show yellow, licking +tongues of flame. Those three old cats--I am using her own +term, which was spiteful--would probably give up now, and go +back where they belonged. She hoped so. And for herself-- + +"By gracious, I'm glad to see that one go, anyhow!" Andy +Green paused long enough in his headlong gallop to shout to +her. "I was going to sneak up and touch it off myself, if it +wouldn't start any other way. Now you and me'll get down to +cases, girl, and have a settlement. And say!" He had started +on, but he pulled up again. "The Little Doctor's back here, +somewhere. You go home with her when she goes, and stay till +I come and get you." + +"I like your nerve!" Rosemary retorted ambiguously. + +"Sure--folks generally do. I'll tell her to stop for you. You +know she'll be glad enough to have you--and so will the Kid." + +"Where is Buck?" Rosemary was the first person who asked that +question. "I saw him ride up on the bench just before the +fire started. I was watching for him, through the glasses--" + +"Dunno--haven't seen him. With his mother, I guess." Andy +rode on to find Patsy and send him back down the line with +the water wagon. He did not think anything more about the +Kid, though he thought a good deal about Miss Allen. + +Now that her shack was burned, she would be easier to +persuade into giving up that practically worthless eighty. +That was what filled the mind of Andy Green to the exclusion +of everything else except the fire. He was in a hurry to +deliver his message to Patsy, so that he could hunt up the +Little Doctor and speak her hospitality for the girl he meant +to marry just as soon as he could persuade her to stand with +him before a preacher. + +He found the Little Doctor still fighting a dogged battle +with death for the life of the woman who laughed wildly +because her home was a heap of smoking embers. The Little +Doctor told him to send Rosemary Allen on down to the ranch, +or take her himself, and to tell the Countess to send up her +biggest medicine case immediately. She could not leave, she +said, for some time yet. She might have to stay all night--or +she would if there was any place to stay. She was half +decided, she said, to have someone take the woman in to Dry +Lake right away, and up to the hospital in Great Falls. She +supposed she would have to go along. Would Andy tell J. G. to +send up some money? Clothes didn't matter--she would go the +way she was; there were plenty of clothes in the stores, she +declared. And would Andy rustle a team, right away, so they +could start? If they went at all they ought to catch the +evening train. The Little Doctor was making her decisions and +her plans while she talked, as is the way with those strong +natures who can act promptly and surely in the face of an +emergency. + +By the time she had thought of having a team come right away, +she had decided that she would not wait for her medicine-case +or for money. She could get all the money she needed in Dry +Lake; and she had her little emergency case with her. Since +she was going to take the woman to a hospital, she said, +there was no great need of more than she had with her. She +was a thoughtful Little Doctor. At the last minute she +detained Andy long enough to urge him to see that Miss Allen +helped herself to clothes or anything she needed; and to send +a goodbye message to Chip--in case he did not show up before +she left--and a kiss to her manchild. + +Andy was lucky. He met a man driving a good team and spring +wagon, with a barrel of water in the back. He promptly +dismounted and helped the man unload the water-barrel where +it was, and sent him bumping swiftly over the burned sod to +where the Little Doctor waited. So Fate was kinder to the +Little Doctor than were those who would wring anew the mother +heart of her that their own petty schemes might succeed. She +went away with the sick woman laughing crazily because all +the little black shacks were burned and now everything was +black so everything matched nicely--nicely, thank you. She +was terribly worried over the woman's condition, and she gave +herself wholly to her professional zeal and never dreamed +that her manchild was at that moment riding deeper and deeper +into the Badlands with a tricky devil of a man, looking for a +baby bear cub for a pet. + +Neither did Chip dream it, nor any of the Happy Family, nor +even Miss Rosemary Allen, until they rode down into Flying U +Coulee at supper-time and were met squarely by the fact that +the Kid was not there. The Old Man threw the bomb that +exploded tragedy in the midst of the little group. He heard +that "Dell" had gone to take a sick woman to the hospital in +Great Falls, and would not be back for a day or so, probably. + +"What'd she do with the Kid?" he demanded. Take him with +her?" + +Chip stared blankly at him, and turned his eyes finally to +Andy's face. Andy had not mentioned the Kid to him. + +"He wasn't with her," Andy replied to the look. "She sent him +a kiss and word that he was to take care of Miss Allen. He +must be somewhere around here." + +"Well, he ain't. I was looking fer him myself," put in the +Countess sharply. "Somebody shut the cat up in the flour +chest and I didn't study much on what it was done it! If I'd +a got my hands on 'im--" + +"I saw him ride up on the hill trail just before the fire +started," volunteered Rosemary Allen. "I had my opera glasses +and was looking for him, because I like to meet him and hear +him talk. He said yesterday that he was coming to see me +today. And he rode up on the hill in sight of my claim. I saw +him." She stopped and looked from one to the other with her +eyebrows pinched together and her lips pursed. + +"Listen," she went on hastily. "Maybe it has nothing to do +with Buck--but I saw something else that was very puzzling. I +was going to investigate, but the fire broke out immediately +and put everything else out of my mind. A man was up on that +sharp-pointed knoll off east of the trail where it leaves +this coulee, and he had field glasses and was looking for +something over this way. I thought he was watching the trail. +I just caught him with the glasses by accident as I swung +them over the edge of the benchland to get the trail focused. +He was watching something--because I kept turning the glasses +on him to see what he was doing. + +"Then Buck came into sight, and I started to ride out and +meet him. I hate to leave the little mite riding alone +anywhere--I'm always afraid something may happen. But before +I got on my horse I took another look at this man on the +hill. He had a mirror or something bright in his hands. I saw +it flash, just exactly as though he was signaling to +someone--over that way." She pointed to the west. "He kept +looking that way, and then back this way; and he covered up +the, piece of mirror with his hand and then took it off and +let it shine a minute, and put it in his pocket. I know he +was making signals. + +"I got my horse and started to meet little Buck. He was +coming along the trail and rode into a little hollow out of +sight. I kept looking and looking toward Dry Lake--because +the man looked that way, I guess. And in a few minutes I saw +the smoke of the fire--" + +"Who was that man?" Andy took a step toward her, his eyes +hard and bright in their inflamed lids. + +"The man? That Mr. Owens who jumped your south eighty." + +"Good Lord, what fools!" He brushed past her without a look +or another word, so intent was he upon this fresh disaster. +"I'm going after the boys, Chip. You better come along and +see if you can pick up the Kid's trail where he left the +road. It's too bad Florence Grace Hallman ain't a man! I'd +know better what to do if she was." + +"Oh, do you think--?" Miss Rosemary looked at him wide-eyed. + +"Doggone it, if she's tried any of her schemes with fire +and--why, doggone it, being a woman ain't going to help her +none!" The Old Man, also, seemed to grasp the meaning of it +almost as quickly as had Andy. "Chip, you have Ole hitch up +the team. I'm going to town myself, by thunder, and see if +she's going to play any of her tricks on this outfit and git +away with it! Burnt out half her doggoned colony tryin' to +git a whack at you boys! Where's my shoes? Doggone it, what +yuh all standin' round with your jaws hangin' down for? We'll +see about this fire-settin' and this--where's them shoes?" + +The Countess found his shoes, and his hat, and his second- +best coat and his driving gloves which he had not worn for +more months than anyone cared to reckon. Miss Rosemary Allen +did what she could to help, and wondered at the dominant note +struck by this bald old man from the moment when he rose +stiffly from his big chair and took the initiative so long +left to others. + +While the team was being made ready the Old Man limped here +and there, collecting things he did not need and trying to +remember what he must have, and keeping the Countess moving +at a flurried trot. Chip and Andy were not yet up the bluff +when the Old Man climbed painfully into the covered buggy, +took the lines and the whip and cut a circle with the wheels +on the hard-packed earth as clean and as small as Chip +himself could have done, and went whirling through the big +gate and across the creek and up the long slope beyond. He +shouted to the boys and they rode slowly until he overtook +them--though their nerves were all on edge and haste seemed +to them the most important thing in the world. But habit is +strong--it was their Old Man who called to them to wait. + +"You boys wait to git out after that Owens," he shouted when +he passed them. "If they've got the Kid, killing's too good +for 'em!" The brown team went trotting up the grade with back +straightened to the pull of the lurching buggy, and nostrils +flaring wide with excitement. The Old Man leaned sidewise and +called back to the two loping after him in the obscuring +dust-cloud he left behind. + +"I'll have that woman arrested on suspicion uh setting +prairie fires!" he called. "I'll git Blake after her. You +git that Owens if you have-to haze him to hell and back! Yuh +don't want to worry about the Kid, Chip--they ain't goin' to +hurt him. All they want is to keep you boys huntin' high and +low and combin' the breaks to find 'im. I see their scheme, +all right." + + +CHAPTER 27. "ITS AWFUL EASY TO GET LOST" + +The Kid wriggled uncomfortably in the saddle and glanced at +the narrow-browed face of H. J. Owens, who was looking this +way and that at the enfolding hills and scowling +abstractedly. The Kid was only six, but he was fairly good at +reading moods and glances, having lived all his life amongst +grown-ups. + +"It's a pretty far ways to them baby bear cubs," he remarked. +"I bet you're lost, old-timer. It's awful easy to get lost. I +bet you don't know where that mother-bear lives." + +"You shut up!" snarled H. J. Owens. The Kid had hit +uncomfortably close to the truth. + +"You shut up your own self, you darned pilgrim." the Kid +flung back instantly. That was the way he learned to say rude +things; they were said to him and he remembered and gave them +back in full measure. + +"Say, I'll slap you if you call me that again." H. J. Owens, +because he did not relish the task he had undertaken, and +because he had lost his bearing here in the confusion of +hills and hollows and deep gullies, was in a very bad humor. + +"You darn pilgrim, you dassent slap me. If you do the +bunch'll fix you, all right. I guess they'd just about kill +you. Daddy Chip would just knock the stuffin' outa you." He +considered something very briefly, and then tilted his small +chin so that he looked more than ever like the Little Doctor. +"I bet you was just lying all the time," he accused. "I bet +there ain't any baby bear cubs." + +H. J. Owens laughed disagreeably, but he did not say whether +or not the Kid was right in his conjecture. The Kid pinched +his lips together and winked very fast for a minute. Never, +never in all the six years of his life had anyone played him +so shabby a trick. He knew what the laugh meant; it meant +that this man had lied to him and led him away down here in +the hills where he had promised his Doctor Dell, cross-his- +heart, that he would never go again. He eyed the man +resentfully. + +"What made you lie about them baby bear cubs?" he demanded. +"I didn't want to come such a far ways." + +"You keep quiet. I've heard about enough from you, young man. +A little more of that and you'll get something you ain't +looking for." + +"I'm a going home!" The Kid pulled Silver half around in the +grassy gulch they were following. "And I'm going to tell the +bunch what you said. I bet the bunch'll make you hard to +ketch, you--you son-agun!" + +"Here! You come back here, young man!" H. J. Owens reached +over and caught Silver's bridle. "You don't go home till I let +you go; see. You're going right along with me, if anybody +should ask you. And you ain't going to talk like that either. +now mind!" He turned his pale blue eyes threateningly upon +the Kid. "Not another word out of you if you don't want a +good thrashing. You come along and behave yourself or I'll +cut your ears off." + +The Kid's eyes blazed with anger. He did not flinch while he +glared back at the man, and he did not seem to care, just at +that moment, whether he lost his ears or kept them. "You let +go my horse!" he gritted. "You wait. The bunch'll fix YOU, +and fix you right. You wait!" + +H. J. Owens hesitated, tempted to lay violent hands upon the +small rebel. But he did not. He led Silver a rod or two, +found it awkward, since the way was rough and he was not much +of a horseman, and in a few minutes let the rein drop from +his fingers. + +"You come on, Buck, and be a good boy--and maybe we'll find +them cubs yet," he conciliated. "You'd die a-laughing at the +way they set up and scratch their ears when a big, black ant +bites 'em, Buck. I'll show you in a little while. And there's +a funny camp down here, too, where we can get some supper." + +The Kid made no reply, but he rode along docilely beside H. +J. Owens and listened to the new story he told of the bears. +That is, he appeared to be listening; in reality he was +struggling to solve the biggest problem he had ever known-- +the problem of danger and of treachery. Poor little tad, he +did not even know the names of his troubles. He only knew +that this man had told him a lie about those baby bear cubs, +and had brought him away down here where he had been lost, +and that it was getting dark and he wanted to go home and the +man was mean and would not let him go. He did not understand +why the man should be so mean--but the man was mean to him, +and he did not intend to "stand for it." He wanted to go +home. And when the Kid really wanted to do a certain thing, +he nearly always did it, as you may have observed. + +H. J. Owens would not let him go home; therefore the Kid +meant to go anyway. Only he would have to sneak off, or run +off, or something, and hide where the man could not find him, +and then go home to his Doctor Dell and Daddy Chip, and tell +them how mean this pilgrim had been to him. And he would tell +the bunch The bunch would fix him all right! The thought +cheered the Kid so that he smiled and made the man think he +was listening to his darned old bear story that was just a +big lie. Think he would listen to any story that pilgrim +could tell? Huh! + +The gulches wore growing dusky now The Kid was tired, and he +was hungry and could hardly keep from crying, he was so +miserable. But he was the son of his father--he was Chip's +kid; it would take a great deal more misery and unkindness to +make him cry before this pilgrim who had been so mean to him. +He rode along without saying a word. H. J. Owens did not say +anything, either. He kept scanning each jagged peak and each +gloomy canyon as they passed, and he seemed uneasy about +something. The Kid knew what it was, all right; H. J. Owens +was lost. + +They came to a wide, flat-bottomed coulee with high ragged +bluffs shutting it in upon every side. The Kid dimly +remembered that coulee, because that was where Andy got down +to tighten the cinch on Miss Allen's horse, and looked up at +her the way Daddy Chip looked at Doctor Dell sometimes, and +made a kiss with his lips--and got called down for it, too. +The Kid remembered. + +He looked at the man, shut his mouth tight and wheeled Silver +suddenly to the left. He leaned forward as he had always seen +the Happy Family do when they started a race, and struck +Silver smartly down the rump with the braided romal on his +bridle-reins. H. J. Owens was taken off his guard and did +nothing but stare open-mouthed until the Kid was well under +way; then he shouted and galloped after him, up the little +flat. + +He might as well have saved his horse's wind and his own +energy. He was no match for little Buck Bennett, who had the +whole Flying U outfit to teach him how to ride, and the +spirit of his Daddy Chip and the little Doctor combined to +give him grit and initiative. H. J. Owens pounded along to +the head of the coulee, where he had seen the Kid galloping +dimly in the dusk. He turned up into the canyon that sloped +invitingly up from the level, and went on at the top speed of +his horse--which was not fast enough to boast about. + +When he had left the coulee well behind him, the Kid rode out +from behind a clump of bushes that was a mere black shadow +against the coulee wall, and turned back whence he had come. +The Kid giggled a little over the way he had fooled the +pilgrim, and wished that the bunch had been there to see him +do it. He kept Silver galloping until he had reached the +other end of the level, and then he pulled him down to a walk +and let the reins drop loosely upon Silver's neck. That was +what Daddy Chip and the boys had told him he must do, next +time he got lost and did not know the way home. He must just +let Silver go wherever he wanted to go, and not try to guide +him at all. Silver would go straight home; he had the word of +the whole bunch for that, and he believed it implicitly. + +Silver looked back inquiringly at his small rider, hesitated +and then swung back up the coulee. The Kid was afraid that H. +J. Owens would come back and see him and cut off his ears if +he went that way--but he did not pull Silver back and make +him go some other way, for all that. If he left him alone, +Silver would take him right straight home. Daddy Chip and the +boys said so. And he would tell them how mean that man was. +They would fix him, all right! + +Halfway up the coulee Silver turned into a narrow gulch that +seemed to lead nowhere at all except into the side of a big, +black-shadowed bluff. Up on the hillside a coyote began to +yap with a shrill staccato of sounds that trailed off into a +disconsolate whimper. The Kid looked that way interestedly. +He was not afraid of coyotes. They would not hurt anyone; +they were more scared than you were--the bunch had told him +so. He wished he could get a sight of him, though. He liked +to see their ears stick up and their noses stick out in a +sharp point, and see them drop their tails and go sliding +away out of sight. When he was ten and Daddy Chip gave him a +gun, he would shoot coyotes and skin them his own self. + +The coyote yapped shrilly again, and the Kid wondered what +his Doctor Dell would say when he got home. He was terribly +hungry, and he was tired and wanted to go to bed. He wished +the bunch would happen along and fix that man. His heart +swelled in his chest with rage and disappointment when he +thought of those baby bear cubs that were not anywhere at +all--because the man was just lying all the time. In spite of +himself the Kid cried whimperingly to himself while he rode +slowly up the gorge which Silver had chosen to follow because +the reins were drooping low alongside his neck and he might +go where he pleased. + +By and by the moon rose and lightened the hills so that they +glowed softly; and the Kid, looking sleepily around him, saw +a coyote slinking along a barren slope. He was going to shout +at it and see it run, but he thought of the man who was +looking for him and glanced fearfully over his shoulder. The +moon shone full in his face and showed the tear-streaks and +the tired droop to his lips. + +The Kid thought he must be going wrong, because at the ranch +the moon came up in another place altogether. He knew about +the moon. Doctor Dell had explained to him how it just kept +going round and round the world and you saw it when it came +up over the edge. That was how Santa Claus found out if kids +were good; he lived in the moon, and it went round and round +so he could look down and see if you were bad. The Kid rubbed +the tears off his cheeks with his palm, so that Santa Claus +could not see that he had been crying. After that he rode +bravely, with a consciously straight spine, because Santa +Claus was looking at him all the time and he must be a rell +ole cowpuncher. + +After a long while the way grew less rough, and Silver +trotted down the easier slopes. The Kid was pretty tired now. +He held on by the horn of his saddle so Silver would not jolt +him so much. He was terribly hungry, too, and his eyes kept +going shut. But Santa Claus kept looking at him to see if he +were a dead game sport, so he did not cry any more. He wished +he had some grub in a sack, but he thought he must be nearly +home now. He had come a terribly far ways since he ran away +from that pilgrim who was going to cut off his ears. + +The Kid was so sleepy, and so tired that he almost fell out +of the saddle once when Silver, who had been loping easily +across a fairly level stretch of ground, slowed abruptly to +negotiate a washout crossing. He had been thinking about +those baby bear cubs digging ants and eating them. He had +almost seen them doing it; but he remembered now that he was +going home to tell the bunch how the man had lied to him and +tried to make him stay down here. The bunch would sure fix +him when they heard about that. + +He was still thinking vengefully of the punishment which the +Happy Family would surely mete out to H. J. Owens when Silver +lifted his head, looked off to the right and gave a shrill +whinny. Somebody shouted, and immediately a couple of +horsemen emerged from the shadow of a hill and galloped +toward him. + +The Kid gave a cry and then laughed. It was his Daddy Chip +and somebody. He thought the other was Andy Green. He was too +tired to kick Silver in the ribs and race toward them. He +waited until they came up, their horses pounding over the +uneven sod urged by the jubilance of their riders. + +Chip rode up and lifted the Kid bodily from the saddle and +held him so tight in his arms that the Kid kicked half- +heartedly with both feet, to free himself. But he had a +message for his Daddy Chip, and as soon as he could get his +breath he delivered it. + +"Daddy Chip, I just want you to kill that damn' pilgrim!" he +commanded. "There wasn't any baby bear cubs at all. He was +just a-stringin' me. And he was going to cut off my ears. He +said it wasn't a far ways to where the baby bear cubs lived +with the old mother bear, and it was. I wish you'd lick the +stuffin' outa him. I'm awful hungry, Daddy Chip." + +"We'll be home pretty quick," Chip said in a queer, choked +voice. "Who was the man, Buck? Where is he now?" + +The Kid lifted his head sleepily from his Daddy Chip's +shoulder and pointed vaguely toward the moon. "He's the man +that jumped Andy's ranch right on the edge of One Man," he +explained. "He's back there ridin' the rim-rocks a lookin' +for me. I'd a come home before, only he wouldn't let me come. +He said he'd cut my ears off. I runned away from him, Daddy +Chip. And I cussed him a plenty for lying to me--but you +needn't tell Doctor Dell." + +"I won't, Buck." Chip lifted him into a more comfortable +position and held him so. While the Kid slept he talked with +Andy about getting the Happy Family on the trail of H. J. +Owens. Then he rode thankfully home with the Kid in his arms +and Silver following docilely after. + + +CHAPTER 28. AS IT TURNED OUT + +They found H. J. Owens the next forenoon wandering hopelessly +lost in the hills. Since killing him was barred, they tied +his arms behind him and turned him toward the Flying U. He +was sullen, like an animal that is trapped and will do +nothing but lie flattened to the ground and glare red-eyed at +its captors. For that matter, the Happy Family themselves +were pretty sullen. They had fought fire for hours--and that +is killing work; and they had been in the saddle ever since, +looking for the Kid and for this man who rode bound in their +midst. + +Weary and Irish and Pink, who had run across him in a narrow +canyon, fired pistol-shot signals to bring the others to the +spot. But when the others emerged from various points upon +the scene, there was very little said about the capture. + +In town, the Old man had been quite as eager to come close to +Florence Grace Hallman--but he was not so lucky. Florence +Grace had heard the news of the fire a good half hour before +the train left for Great Falls. + +She would have preferred a train going the other way, but she +decided not to wait. She watched the sick woman put aboard +the one Pullman coach, and then she herself went into the +stuffy day-coach. Florence Grace Hallman was not in the habit +of riding in day-coaches in the night-time when there was a +Pullman sleeper attached to the train. She did not stop at +Great Falls; she went on to Butte--and from there I do not +know where she went. Certainly she never came back. + +That, of course, simplified matters considerably for Florence +Grace--and for the Happy Family as well. For at the +preliminary hearing of H. J. Owens for the high crime of +kidnapping, that gentleman proceeded to unburden his soul in +a way that would have horrified Florence Grace, had she been +there to hear. Remember, I told you that his eyes were the +wrong shade of blue. + +A man of whom you have never heard tried to slip out of the +court room during the unburdening process, and was stopped by +Andy Green, who had been keeping an eye on him for the simple +reason that the fellow had been much in the company of H. J. +Owens during the week preceding the fire and the luring away +of the Kid. The sheriff led him off somewhere--and so they +had the man who had set the prairie afire. + +As is the habit of those who confess easily the crimes of +others, H. J. Owens professed himself as innocent as he +consistently could in the face of the Happy Family and of the +Kid's loud-whispered remarks when he saw him there. He knew +absolutely nothing about the fire, he said, and had nothing +to do with the setting of it. He was two miles away at the +time it started. + +And then Miss Rosemary Allen took the witness stand and told +about the man on the hilltop and the bit of mirror that had +flashed sun-signals toward the west. + +H.J. Owens crimpled down visibly in his chair. Imagine for +yourself the trouble he would have in convincing men of his +innocence after that. + +Just to satisfy your curiosity, at the trial a month later he +failed absolutely to convince the jury that he was anything +but what he was--a criminal without the strength to stand by +his own friends. He was sentenced to ten years in Deer Lodge, +and the judge informed him that he had been dealt with +leniently at that, because after all he was only a tool in +the hands of the real instigator of the crime. That real +instigator, by the way, was never apprehended. + +The other man--he who had set fire to the prairie--got six +years, and cursed the judge and threatened the whole Happy +Family with death when the sentence was passed upon him--as +so many guilty men do. + +To go back to that preliminary, trial: The Happy Family, when +H. J. Owens was committed safely to the county jail, along +with the fire-bug, took the next train to Great Falls with +witnesses and the Honorable Blake. They filed their answers +to the contests two days before the time-limit had expired. +You may call that shaving too close the margin of safety. But +the Happy family did not worry over that--seeing there was a +margin of safety. Nor did they worry over the outcome of the +matter. With the Homeseekers' Syndicate in extremely bad +repute, and with fully half of the colonists homeless and +disgusted, why should they worry over their own ultimate +success? + +They planned great things with their irrigation scheme.... I +am not going to tell any more about them just now. Some of +you will complain, and want to know a good many things that +have not been told in detail. But if I should try to satisfy +you, there would be no more meetings between you and the +Happy Family--since there would be no more to tell. + +So I am not even going to tell you whether Andy succeeded in +persuading Miss Rosemary Allen to go with him to the parson. +Nor whether the Happy Family really did settle down to raise +families and alfalfa and beards. Not another thing shall you +know about them now. + +You may take a look at them as they go trailing contentedly +away from the land-office, with their hats tilted at various +characteristic angles and their well-known voices mingled in +more or less joyful converse, and their toes pointed toward +Central Avenue and certain liquid refreshments. You need not +worry over that bunch, surely. You may safely leave them to +meet future problems and emergencies as they have always met +them in the past--on their feet, with eyes that do not wave +or flinch, shoulder to shoulder, ready alike far grin fate or +a frolic. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext of The Flying U's Last Stand by B. M. Bower + diff --git a/old/fusls10.zip b/old/fusls10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a3b6744 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/fusls10.zip |